The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 496

to "the dieoiple whom Jesus loved"). No one alive who know (consider this!) '!'hie wns not nn nnnaturnl snpposition, as -Sa,v with his eyes e.nd handlocl with hie ago ndvnnoed, ancl ho wne regarded aa his hands tho "grcnt light of Aeill," the depositary That which was from the fuet, the Word of the latest tmclitione, ae the link between of life. the clays of our Lord's ministry and two How will it be when none more se.ith, 'I succeeding generations or believers, the seer so.w'? of mighty visions, the enemy of all on- Such ever was love's way: to rise, i& righteoueness, nnd the npoetle of love to the stoops. lost. In virtue of this very tradition, three Since I, whom Christ's mouth taught, wns hundred ycnrs loter. it was en.id that the bidden teach, holy npostle was still sleeping in hie tomb I w~nt, for many yenrs, about the world, at Ephesus, and thU:t the dust moved lightly Se.ymg, ' It wns so; so I heard and saw ' on hie heaving breast (Augustine, 'Tr. on Spenking a.a the case asked : and m;n John,' cxxiv. 2). Here was the beginning believed. or a genuine myth, which, having no real root in fact, failed to establish itself. " John • • • • " To me that story--ay, that Life and • the Baptist is risen from the dead,"' ex- Death claimed Herod Antipas, "and therefore mighty powers energize in him." But Of which I wrote 'it we.a '-to ;ne it is; there was no life and no truth in the story, -Is, here o.nd now : I apprehend noogh '. and even among the disciples or St. John else. Baptist it did not take any place as e. sup- Yea, and the Resurrection and Uprise posed faot. It is interesting to see that here To the right hand of the throne- ... e. myth was started without positively bad I se.w the Power; I see the Love, once faith, and based itself upon a recorded say- weak, ing of the Lord ; but it perished! The aged Resume the Power ; e.nd in this word • I apostle strikes the folly dead with one stroke see' of his pen. The language is reme.rke.ble, Lo, there is recognized the Spirit of both as helping to prove that John wrote this That moving o'er the spirit of man, chapter as well as the rest of the Gospel, unblincls Yet' J'es11S said not onto him, the.the dieth His eye and bids him look. . . • not ; but, If I will that he abide .while I e.m Then stand before t.hai fact, that Life ever coming, what is that to thee 1 Meyer, e.nd Death, who e.lwe.ys insists on the e.postolio idea of Sto.y there e.t gaze, till it dispa.rt, dis. the nee.mess of the 1ra.povu(a, thinks that John pread, does not decide here whethet· the rumour As though a s!Ju' should open out, all woe true or false, and simply says it must, sides, when he wrote, have been left still uncertain Grow the world on you, as it is my and unsettled (so Luther). Thfl tradition ii! world." not .authoritatively condemned ; but it ii shown to be e. me1·e inference, one inference In ver. 23 we find the· significant close of the out of mo.ny, from words partially nnderstood. Fourth Gospel; e.nd there is much to make it The Epistles of John show how deeply John highlyprobablethat the two remainingverses pondered the idea., e.nd how mu.eh he crowded were added by the Ephesian elders, as their into the words, "a.bide in him," until the certificate of its authorship, and their iden- coming, and before and dill'ing and after the tification of the beloved d1iciple with the various comings of tho LOl'd to him. Mr. author of the Goepel It differs from the Browning, in 'A Death in the Desert,' makes similar passage, ch. m. 35, where the writer St. John say in his le.et hours- himself gives his own e.utoptic testimony to the great miracle of the spear-thrust; and "If I live yet, it ie for good, more love. where that testimony is declared by himself Through me to men : be _nought but to be all.719,v~, "veritable," i.e. answering to ashes hru·e the very idea of testimony. Here the person Tho.t keep awhile my semblanoe, who and verb are plnml. wo.s John,- Vers. 24, 25.-(4) Note of subsequent edi- . .Still when they sco.tter, there iB left on tors with ref6'Tence to the authorship and the earth fulness of u11recorded traditio11s touching tha words and deeds of Jesus. 1 On the 1mthority of N, D, 0, 33, etc., 01•1< Ver. 24.-Tbis is the disciple who testifleth .r.,,. 6~ is proforred to 1<al o~" •hr•, by West- ooncerning these things-whether those oott and Hort, 'fregelles, and R.T.: but not nnrroted in the twenty-first cho.pter or in by Tiscllondorf (8th edit.), Lachmnnn, or the entire Goepel He is still testifying. Alfor(l. He has not yet depurted. Ile still proclaims  !,12 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O S1'. JOHN. [en. x:u. 1-26,