you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, nor bid him God speed; For he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 John, 11, 12). The love which John preached, was that which was manifested in the keeping of the commandments of God. "For this," he says, "is the love of God, that we keep his commandments" (1 John v. 3). And his epistles are as full of the condemnation of sin, as they are of the expression and laudation of love.

These then, St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist, are represented or signified by the two parallel lines of the masonic symbol now under our consideration. The relation of these lines to the Bible on which they seem to depend, is of no little significance, but its significance needs no explanation. That they are perfectly vertical, reminds us how exact is the rule of moral duty; that they are perfectly parallel, calls our attention to the perfect correspondence of the character of the one saint with that of the other in all that belongs to piety and morality. The whole symbol teaches us how we ought to live, that we may serve God upon the earth, be useful to our fellow-men, and rejoice in the hope of eternal joy.

For the advantageous study of the examples of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist, it is eminently necessary that our minds should be entirely disabused of the notion already referred to, that there is a great discrepancy between the one and the other. There are some who with perverted ingenuity labour to prove the existence of such a discrepancy, fixing attention upon single incidents and expressions, and endeavouring to extort from them evidence in favour of their mistaken opinion, instead of looking as they ought at the general tenor of the scripture narratives concerning the lives of both these holy men, and the import of their words considered with due regard to the circumstances in which they were written; just as there are some who expend much labour in the attempt to show that there is an essential difference between the religious doctrines taught by the Apostles Paul and James, or as

with a ridiculous affectation of learning they delight to phrase it, the Pauline and the Jacobean theology. But however single expressions and sentences may seem to conflict, yet when the writings of Paul and of James are duly studied and compared, there is found to be a perfect agreement between them. The same system both of doctrines and of morals is taught by both. And so the very same principles and rules of morality are taught by the examples of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist, and by comparing them together we may learn more than we could by viewing each of them separately, the contemplation of the one enabling us to correct errors into which we might be apt to fall from an exaggerated view of some particular in the other: we thus draw inferences from them more justly, and see more clearly how to make right application of them in our own conduct.

Both St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist held very eminent positions, and were called to the discharge of duties most important to the interests of mankind. St John the Baptist was the subject of prophecies uttered centuries before his birth :-of the prophecy of Isaiah, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isa. xl. 3); of the prophecy of Malachi, "Behold, I will send My messsenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts" (Mal. iii. 1); and of that other prophecy of Malachi, with which the book of his prophecies and the volume of the Old Testament are concluded, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse" (Mal. iv. 5, 6). St John the Baptist applied to himself the prophecy of Isaiah just cited, saying, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make

straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias" (John i. 23). His office as the forerunner of the Messiah is clearly indicated in Malachi's prophecy of the messenger to be sent to prepare the way before the Lord, the Messenger of the Covenant-that is the Messiah or Christ. And although when the Jews asked John if he was Elias (Elijah), he said "I am not," this reply must be understood as made to the question in the same sense in which it was asked,if he was indeed the very prophet Elijah that had been taken up in a chariot of fire to heaven, now reappearing upon earth, and not with reference to the true signification of Malachi's prophecy concerning the Elijah that was to come, as to which and the fulfilment of the prophecy in John the Baptist, as well as the application to him of the other prophecy of Malachi which has been cited, the words of our Lord Himself leave us no room for doubt: for we read in the Gospel according to Matthew, that Jesus, discoursing to the multitudes concerning John the Baptist, said "What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt. xi. 7-15). Here surely we have sufficient proof of the greatness of John the Baptist, and the importance of the special office which was assigned to him. He is the only prophet whose coming any previous prophecy announced, and the importance of

his office still further appears from the long period elapsing between the first prophetic announcement concerning him -that of Isaiah-and the time of its fulfilment, a period of almost seven hundred years. He was a prophet, our Lord says, "Yea, and more than a prophet." None greater

had ever risen, we are assured on the same unquestionable authority, among them that are born of women. In the history of the Jewish church and dispensation, two names present themselves to our notice as of greater eminence than any other-that of Moses at the commencement of the dispensation, that of John the Baptist at its close. Each filled an office altogether peculiar, and therefore each was not only a prophet, but more than a prophet. Moses was the mediator between God and His people in the giving of the law, John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way before Him in whom the law was to be fulfilled. Not even the great prophet Elijah occupied a place so important as theirs.

St John the Evangelist also occupied a very high aud important position as an apostle, and was distinguished among the apostles, not only by the peculiar honour conferred upon him in being one of the three chosen to behold the transfiguration of Jesus, and again one of the three chosen to witness His agony in the Garden of Gethsemene, but even more specially in being the disciple "whom Jesus loved, who lay on His breast as He and His apostles reclined together after the Jewish custom, at the paschal feast, and to whom, when hanging on the cross, He commended the care of His mother Mary. His own simple narrative as to this last peculiar honour conferred upon him, exhibits his character in a most attractive light, whilst it also affords most delightful evidence of the human tenderness that dwelt in the heart of the Lord Jesus himself. "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith to his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother and from

that hour that disciple took her to his own home" (John xix. 25-27). A beautiful modesty is displayed by John, in not naming himself here, but apart from all consideration of the uniform tradition of the Church, to which very ancient writers testify, it is impossible to read the narrative and to doubt that it is himself of whom the Evangelist speaks. We learn from Scripture itself, that St John the Evangelist lived to a great age; and we are assured by the testimony of the earliest ecclesiastical historians, that his life was prolonged to the close of the first century, and he is said to be the only one of the apostles who died a natural death. If, however, the honour of a martyr's death was not conferred upon him, it was not because of any unfaithfulness on his part, or any shrinking from the discharge of his duty in proclaiming the gospel, and bearing testimony to Jesus. He suffered also, although he was not put to death, for his faithfulness. When he saw the wondrous visions related by him in the Apocalypse, in being chosen to see and record which another high and peculiar honour was conferred upon him in his old age, he " was in the isle of Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. i. 9), an exile from his home, and confined to that island, by the decree of a heathen persecutor.

From the examples of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist, we may learn piety, zeal for the glory of God, charity towards men, humility, and all the other virtues which adorn the character. Charity in the highest sense-love to God and love to man-is admirably displayed in both; a love to man that is full of tenderness, but at the same time has no toleration for sin, rather seeking the good of the sinner, in reproving him that he may be brought to repentance; a love to man that is governed and guided by a supreme regard to the glory of God, and is manifested along with and in a holy zeal for the maintenance of His truth and His law. We have already directed attention to St John the Baptist's reproof of Herod for his incest, and to St John the Evangelist's strict injunctions