that, in his Gospel, John was indeed an announcer and preacher of the same Christ, the true
and truthful One of whom the other three who have composed Gospels also testified, and
to whom the rest of the apostles likewise bore witness, who, although they did not take in
hand the construction of written narratives, did at least discharge the kindred service in of-
ficially preaching of Him: but that, at the same time, he was borne to far loftier heights in
the doctrine of Christ from the very beginning of his book, and that it was but on rare occa-
sions that he kept to the level pursued by the others. These occasions were the following in
particular, namely: first by the Jordan, in reference to the testimony of John the Baptist;
secondly, on the other side of the sea of Tiberias, when the Lord fed the multitudes with the
five loaves, and walked upon the waters; thirdly, in Bethany, where He had the precious
ointment poured over Him by the devotion of a woman of faith. And so he proceeds, until
he meets them at the time of the Passion, which, as matter of course, he had to relate in
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conjunction with them. But, even in that section, and on the particular subject of the Lord’s
Supper, which has been left unnoticed by none of them, he has presented us with a much
more affluent statement, as if he drew his materials directly from the treasure-store of that
bosom of the Lord on which it was his wont to recline. Then, again, [John shows us how]
He astonishes Pilate with words of a sublimer import, declaring that His kingdom is not of
this world, and that He was born a King, and that He came into the world for this purpose,
that He might bear witness to the truth.1660 [It is in this Gospel also that] He withdraws
Himself1661 from Mary with some deep mystical intention after His resurrection, and says
to her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.”1662 It is here, too, that He
imparts the Holy Spirit to the disciples by breathing on them1663 giving us thereby to under-
stand that this Spirit who is consubstantial and co-eternal with the Trinity, should not be
considered to be simply the Spirit of the Father, but should also be held to be the Spirit of
the Son.
20. Finally, He here commits His sheep to the care of Peter, who loves Him, and thrice
confesses that love, and then He states that He wills this very John so to tarry until He
comes.1664 In which utterance, again, He seems to me to have conveyed in a profound and
mystical way the fact that this1665 evangelical stewardship of John’s, in which he is borne
aloft into the most liquid light of the Word,1666 where it is possible to behold the equality
1660 John xviii. 36, 37.
1661 The text gives vitans. Many mss. and editions read visitans =coming to Mary.
1662 John xx. 17.
1663 John xx. 22.
1664 John xxi. 23.
1665 Some mss. insert secretam = secret.
1666 Reading, lucem liquidissimam verbi sublimiter. But various mss. and editions give verbi sublimitate fertur,
etc. = borne aloft in the sublimity of the word into the most liquid light.
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Of the Evangelist John, and the Distinction Between Him and the Other T…