beach of his childhood home, and the
breakers dashing upon the rocky coast of his exile abode in his old
age! How suggestive of the calm and turmoil of his life!

[Illustration: SMYRNA _Old Engraving_ Page 233]

But his musings were suddenly broken by "a great voice, as of a
trumpet," giving a command--"What thou seest, write in a book." He says,
"I turned to see the voice that spake with me." He beheld his Lord in
greater grandeur than he had seen Him on earth, even on Hermon. As he
gazed upon the divine figure he must have exclaimed,

"Can this be He who used to stray,
A pilgrim on the world's highway,
Oppressed by power, and mocked by pride,
The Nazarene, the Crucified!"

We do not wonder that he says,--"When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as
one dead." So had Paul done when the Lord appeared to him at Damascus.
John adds, "He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not." The words
seem almost an echo from the Holy Mount,--"Jesus came and touched them,
and said, Arise, and be not afraid."

The command to John was renewed, to write--of things which he had seen,
and what he was yet to behold. The early Christians called him the
Eagle, meaning that of all the sacred writers he had the loftiest
visions of divine truth.

John's writings are of three kinds, the Book of The Revelation of the
secret purposes of God; his Gospel; and his three Epistles or letters.

Although The Revelation is the last of the books of the Bible, it is
probably the first of those by John. It contains messages from the Lord
in Heaven to the seven churches in Asia, which we have mentioned,
concerning their virtues and their failings. To each was given a special
promise of reward to those who overcame sin, and were faithful to
Christ. From this Revelation of John we get our imagery of Heaven,
helping us to understand something of its glory.

His Gospel is supposed to have been written next. Why did he write it?
As we have noticed, Matthew, Mark and Luke had already written their
Gospels. But there was abundant reason for John's writing the fourth
Gospel. We need not doubt the tradition that he was urged to do so by
the disciples, elders and bishops of the early Church. They had heard
him tell much concerning Christ of which the first three Evangelists had
not told. These things were too precious to be forgotten, or to be
changed by frequent repetition after his lips were silent. That must be
soon, for he was very old, h