supposed momoril\ls w,Jro of tho one and same Juhn tho apostle," indicatina an obscurity mnong the guides in tho city as to the true resting-place of John" th,! apostlo. But Jerome had not finally concluded in favour of this mythical John th 9 presbyter, for ho enumemtes soven Catholic Epistles of James, Peter, ,T,,hn, and ,Ju<la.s (' Epist. ii. ad Paulinum '). In referring (p. xxxiii.) to the frngm8nt of Papias preserverl by J,;usobius, we have seen how much rcnson there is for doubt ag to the interpretation which Eusebius put upon this passage of Papiae, and also the very small and shadowy evidence that exists for the tradition that there was any veritable individual answerin.,. to the misunderstood suggestion of Papias. Of l~te years Riggenbach(' Leben Jesu'; French trane., pp. 69, 60), Zahn (' Stuclien u. Kr1tiken,' p. 662: 1866), Dr. Milligan (Journal of Bibl. Literature), Dr. Farrar (Expositor, November, 1881, and' Early Years of Christianity,' voL ii.), have thrown the gravest doubts upon his personality. Never- theless, Ebrard, in his' Commentary and Introduction to the Epistles of John,' has power- fully defended his coexistence with St. John in Ephesus, and has referred to the presbyter the composition of the Second and Third Epistles. He has done this on the following grounds: (a) that I, 1rp<trfJ6npos was a title which John would not have assumed to the disregard of the other presbyters of the Church; (b) that the Presbyter John might l1ave done so simply with the view of discriminating himself from the grand personality of the aged and venerable apostle; (c) that Diotrephes would not have been likely to have prated with malicious words against the last of the apostles, though he might against a secondary and less dignified person. A large number of distinguished critics, while holding to the existence of the Presbyter John, see little or nothing in this argument. Thus Ruther, Godet, Ewald, Liicke, Diisterdieck, Boltzmann, Bishop Alexander(' Speaker's Commentary'), maintain that the two brief Epistles are from the same hand; that the negative and positive evidence points to the same author as that of the First Epistle and of the Gospel ; that there is the same reticence or verbal silence in them as to the "Church" as an institution, though the idea pervades the several documents; that the full title "Lord Jesus Christ" never occurs in any one of them; that there is no definite reference in either of them to the sacramental system of the early Church; that the author warns us in the First Epistle against the danger (a) of denying the true Christ, the danger (b) of failing in true love to the brethren, the danger (c) of not observing Christ'~ com- mandments; and finally, that the author adopts a whole vocabulary of expressions which are peculiar to the other Joha.nnine writings. Thus abridging Bishop Alexander's note-
2 EPIBTLB, 3 EPISTLE, GosPEL, 1 EJ.ol5TLL
five 'All.710,la., times Vere. 3, 4, 8 (twice), Ccmtinuonsly Very frequently (vers. 1-4) 12 'E')'VCQICOTU T~V al\.~Brn,v viii. 32 ii. 21 (ver. 1) n,p,1ra.T<1v twice) (vers. 4, 6, Vers. S, 4 . viii. H, eto.; xi. !)• i 6, 7; ii 6 (twice), 11 xii. 35 'A')'<i1M1 ••• inol\.~ (ver. 6) Continuously v. 3 'AYT,lxpitr-ros (ver. 7), ii. IS, 22; iv. 3 Xa.pa . , . 1r,1rll.71p,.,µ•V11 xv. 11 ; xvi. 2!, etc. i4 (ver.12) (a) In the allegation that John wonld not have called himself" the presbyter," we are naturally reminded that St. Peter (1 Epist. v. 1) calls himself a truµ-rrpE<r{Jv-repos, and that the word must have had in this pince a technical meaning. The modest manner in which James, Peter, and Jude, as well as the author of these Epistles and the .A.pocalyps13, describe their own functions or official position, undoubtedly ~ontrasts itself with the repeated insistence on the position of apostlo which characterizes the Epistles of Paul The age e.nd solitary dignity of St. John would find abundant embodiment in the use of this term, so well known and apprehended throughout the Greek cities of Asia Minor, If it bo John, be simply adopte<l here, as elsewhere, the feast 1tssuming of the dignities which belonged to him-the governor, referee, teacher, .JOIIN. f IN'l'RODUCTION 'l'O