Though this apostle was by much the youngest of the whole, yet he was admitted into as great a share of his Master's confidence as any. He was one of those with whom our Lord shared the most private moments of his life; one of those whom he took with him when he raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead; one of those to whom he gave a specimen of his divinity in his transfiguration on the mount; one of those who were present at his conference with Moses and Elijah, and heard that voice which declared him "the beloved Son of God;" and one of those who were his companions in his solitary, most retired devotions and bitter agonies in the garden of Gethsemane.

These instances of particular favor John endeavored in some measure to answer, by returns of particular kindness and faithfulness; for though he at first deserted Jesus when he was arrested, he must have soon realized the impropriety of his conduct and gone back to seek his Savior, confidently entering the high-priest's hall; following our Lord through several particulars of his trial; and at last watching his execution, acknowledging him, as well as being acknowledged by him, in the midst of the armed soldiers, and in the thickest crowds of his inveterate enemies. Here it was that our great redeemer committed to John's care, with his dying breath, his sorrowful and disconsolate mother. And certainly our blessed Lord could not have given a more honorable testimony of his particular kindness and respect to John, than by leaving his own mother to his trust and care, and substituting him to supply that duty he himself paid her while he resided in this valley of sorrow.

When the apostles made a division of the provinces among them after our Savior's ascension into heaven, in order to spread the doctrine of their Lord and Master, that of Asia fell to the share of St. John, though he did not immediately enter upon his charge, but continued at Jerusalem until the death of the blessed Virgin, which happened about fifteen years after our Lord's ascension.

After being thus released from the trust committed to his care by his dying Master, he went into Asia, and industriously applied himself to the propagation of Christianity, preaching where the gospel had not then been known, and confirming it where it was already planted. Many churches of note and eminence were founded by him, particularly those of Smyrna, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and others; but his chief place of residence was at Ephesus where St. Paul had founded a church, and had appointed Timothy its pastor.

After John had spent several years in Ephesus, an accusation was laid against him before the emperor Domitian (who had begun a persecution against the Christians) as being an asserter of false doctrine and impiety, and a public subverter of the religion of the empire. In consequence of this, and in conformity to the orders of Domitian, the pro-consul of Ephesus sent him bound to Rome, where he met with that treatment which might have been expected from so barbarous an emperor, being thrown into a caldron of boiling oil. But the Almighty, who reserved him for further service in the vineyard of his Son, restrained the heat and delivered him from this seemingly certain destruction. One would have thought that so miraculous a deliverance might have been enough to have persuaded any rational man that the religion that John taught was from God, and that he was protected by danger by the hand of Omnipotence. But miracles were not sufficient to convince this cruel emperor or reduce his fury. He ordered St. John to be transported to a desolate island in the Archipelago called Patmos, where he lived several years, instructing the poor inhabitants in the knowledge of the Christian faith; and here, near the end of Domitian's reign, he wrote the book of Revelation, exhibiting, by visions and prophetical representations, the state and condition of Christianity that would take place in the future periods and ages of the church.