There is a mass of traditions respecting the latter years of this apostle, which are, however, of a very uncertain character.  Among the more striking of these are:  his being taken to Rome during the persecution under Domitian, and there thrown into a caldron of boiling oil, whence he escaped unhurt; his refusal to remain under the same roof with the heretic Cerinthus, lest it should fall upon him and crush him; his successful journey on horseback into the midst of a band of robbers to reclaim a fallen member of the church who had become their leader; and especially, that during the last days of his life, he was customarily carried into the assembly of the church, where he simply repeated the words:  “Little children, love one another.”

34.  The arguments for the late composition of this gospel—­after the destruction of Jerusalem—­have already been given.  Chap. 2, No. 14.  If we say between A.D. 70 and 100, it will be as near an approximation to the time as we can make.  The place, according to Irenaeus (in Eusebius, Hist.  Eccl. 5. 8) was Ephesus, with which statement all that we know of his later life is in harmony.

35.  From the beginning of our Lord’s ministry John was, as we have seen, admitted to his intimate companionship and friendship.  He was not therefore, dependent on tradition.  His gospel is the testimony of what he had himself seen and heard.  Yet it covers only a part of the Saviour’s ministry; and the question remains why, with the exception of the closing scenes of our Lord’s life on earth, that part should be to so remarkable an extent precisely what the earlier evangelists have omitted.  In answer to this question it might be said that those actions and discourses of our Lord which John selected most clearly exhibit his person and office as the son of God; and that these were especially, (1) his encounters with the Jewish rulers at Jerusalem, (2) his private confidential intercourse with his disciples.  Whatever weight we may allow to this consideration, it cannot be regarded as a full explanation of the difference between John and the other evangelists in the selection of materials.  With the exception of the miracle of the loaves and fishes and the incidents connected with it (chap. 6:1-21) his notices of our Lord’s ministry in Galilee relate almost entirely to incidents and discourses omitted by the other evangelists.  It is altogether probable that, although John did not write his gospel simply as supplementary to the earlier gospels, he yet had reference to them in the selection of his materials.  His own statement:  “Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name” (chap. 20:30, 31), is not inconsistent with such a supposition.  The “many other signs” he may have omitted,