V. 9. "I, John, your brother and companion in tribulation," — that was a winsome address. He stood with them on common ground. Every hardship they bore, he endured. Every prospect of martyrdom they faced, he had already contemplated. He was even in the vanguard bearing the first baptism of fire and blood. They would listen to the words of one who suffered in their sufferings, and stood in the forefront of their dangers. Patmos--a small rocky island off the coast from Ephesus, eight miles by one, fit place for meditation, with the sound of many waters ever murmuring on the rock bound shore.