There have been more noted illustrations of change in character than is furnished in St. John.  His early life was not profligate like that of John Newton or John Bunyan.  And yet the change in him was marked enough to furnish an exhibition of contrast, showing the power of Christ’s teachings and example upon him, until he reached an unwonted degree of perfection.  He combined the noblest traits of the loftiest manhood and womanhood, with the simplicity of childhood.  His human kinship to Jesus illustrated but faintly the closer and tenderer relation formed by the transforming of his spirit into the likeness of Christ.  This was more royal than any merely human relationship.  It was the closest relation of which we know of the perfect Christ with imperfect man.  We have watched the changes in John’s spirit, and seen his imperfections smoothed away, and his character so polished that it became the brightest reflector of the image of Jesus Christ.  Yet from the first there were budding virtues in him which Mary Magdalene’s supposed gardener brought to perfection.

[Illustration:  RUINS OF LAODICEA Old Engraving Page 233]

In history John stands and must ever stand alone.  He was one of the two who first accepted the call of Christ to come to Him:  he was the last of the Apostles to repeat, in another and yet as true a sense, that invitation to multitudes of men.  He was one of those two who first saw what may be called the beginning of the Christian Church, in the little booth by the Jordan:  and the last one of the Twelve to remember its fuller establishments in the Upper Chamber of Jerusalem.  He was the last man who had seen the last prophet who told of the coming Messiah; and was the last Evangelist to tell that He had come.  He was one of the three who were the last to behold the Shechinah, and to whom came the voice of God the Father.

John was the lone disciple in the palace of the high priest, witnessing the injustice, mockery, and cruelty before Pilate; the last one with whom the Lord spoke and on whom His eye rested before His death.  He was the lone disciple to gaze upon the cross and witness the dying agonies; the first to look into the deserted tomb; the first of whom we are told that he believed the Lord had risen therefrom.  The last survivor of the Apostolic band, he had the fullest opportunity to witness the fulfilment of prophecies of which he was a careful student and clear interpreter.  He saw the sad close of the Jewish dispensation, and the glorious beginning of Christianity.  He saw the Holy City overthrown, as Christ declared to Him on Olivet that it would be, and had a vision of the New Jerusalem of which the old was a consecrated type, at last profaned.

Of the golden Apostolic chain he was the last link binding the Church to its Lord.  He was the last known human kindred of the Son of Man.  The last words of inspiration were spoken to and recorded by him.  He was the latest prophet, historian, and Evangelist.  One of the first to say, “I have seen the Messiah,” he was the last to say, “I have seen the Lord.”