Like Ruth in the field of Boaz he followed the reapers--the first three Evangelists in the field of their Lord,--to "glean even among the sheaves." He "gleaned in the field until evening," the close of the long day of his life, "and beat out that he had gleaned," and gave it to others. There was not need for them to ask him, "Where hast thou gleaned?" There was only one field from which such harvest could be gathered. Rather could they say as Naomi to Ruth, "Blessed is he that did take knowledge of thee." There have been more noted illustrations of change in character than is furnished in St. John. His early life was not profligate like that of John Newton or John Bunyan. And yet the change in him was marked enough to furnish an exhibition of contrast, showing the power of Christ's teachings and example upon him, until he reached an unwonted degree of perfection. He combined the noblest traits of the loftiest manhood and womanhood, with the simplicity of childhood. His human kinship to Jesus illustrated but faintly the closer and tenderer relation formed by the transforming of his spirit into the likeness of Christ. This was more royal than any merely human relationship. It was the closest relation of which we know of the perfect Christ with imperfect man. We have watched the changes in John's spirit, and seen his imperfections smoothed away, and his character so polished that it became the brightest reflector of the image of Jesus Christ. Yet from the first there were budding virtues in him which Mary Magdalene's supposed gardener brought to perfection. [Illustration: RUINS OF LAODICEA _Old Engraving_ Page 233] In history John stands and must ever stand alone. He was one of the two who first accepted the call of Christ to come to Him: he was the last of the Apostles to repeat, in another and yet as true a sense, that invitation to multitudes of men. He was one of those two who first saw what may be called the beginning of the Christian Church, in the little booth by the Jordan: and the last one of the Twelve to remember its fuller establishments in the Upper Chamber of Jerusalem. He was the last man who had seen the last prophet who told of the coming Messiah; and was the last Evangelist to tell that He had come. He was one of the three who were the last to behold the Shechinah, and to whom came the voice of God the Father.