times make Ephesus the home of St. John in
the latter part of his life. From it as a centre he ministered to the
Churches of Asia Minor.

Gospel truth found its way thither, even before Paul made it the centre
of his third missionary tour. He was driven from it, but he left the
foundation of a Christian Church, upon which John builded. There were
like foundations in at least six other important cities of Asia
Minor--Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

The silence of the latter half of St. John's life is broken but once,
and that by himself. He tells us that he "was in the isle that is called
Patmos." It was not far from Ephesus, within a day's sail. It is a huge
rock, rugged and barren, only a few miles in length.

Why was John in Patmos? He says, "for the word of God and the testimony
of Jesus." What does he mean by this? Perhaps that he was led thither by
circumstances of which we do not know, or by the guidance of the Spirit
of God, who there would make wonderful revelations to him. But more
probably he was banished thither for the preaching of the Gospel of
Jesus, and for being a faithful follower of Him, notwithstanding the
persecutions of Nero or Domitian. As told in an ancient Latin hymn,--

"To desert islands banished,
With God the exile dwells,
And sees the future glory
His mystic writing tells."

The grotto of La Scala may have been the spot from which he looked out
upon the AEgean Sea, and upward into the heavens, communing in solitude
with his own thoughts, or with his Lord for whom he was there. Patmos
was for this a fitting place, whether he had gone there from his own
choice, or had been driven thither by the cruelty of his persecutor. In
such solitude did Milton muse, and Bunyan dream.

It was the "Lord's Day," says John. He alone, and at this time only,
uses that name with which we have become familiar, though it may have
been in common use among the early Christians. It meant much to John,
even more than to us. It was a reminder of the day when he looked into,
and then entered, the tomb of his Lord, and believed that He had risen
from the dead.

His meditations may have been aided by Old Testament Manuscripts, his
only companions; especially that of Daniel, in which it is claimed "the
spirit and imagery of the Book of Revelation is steeped."

What a contrast there was between the peaceful waves of Gennesaret,
creeping silently upon the sandy