Persons of this character are accustomed to think that all those who think, or feel, or act differently from what they do, must certainly be wrong. And this was the way John felt when he first became a disciple of Christ. He came to Jesus one day and said, “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not us.” Jesus rebuked him for giving way to his narrow-mindedness, or bigotry, or uncharitableness. It was wrong for him to think that no one could be doing good, or be serving God acceptably, unless it was done in just the same way in which he was doing it. This was a wrong feeling to have, but it shows there was a good deal of decision and strength about John’s natural character. And then another thing about John before he became a Christian, was that he was _an angry, or passionate man_. As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem on one occasion, in the company of his disciples, they came to a Samaritan village. When the Samaritans in the village found that he was going to Jerusalem, it stirred up all their prejudice against the Jews, and they refused to receive him. They would not let him stop for rest or refreshment. This made the disciples very angry, and John and his brother James showed their anger by saying, “Lord, wilt thou that we call down fire from heaven, to consume them, as Elias did?” St. Luke ix: 51-57. But Jesus rebuked them, and showed them that this was not the right spirit for his disciples to have. These traits of John’s natural character, although they are not to be approved or admired, yet show that he was a man of a good deal of force of character, and very different from what his pictures represent him to have been. But when we turn from considering what he was by nature, or before he became a Christian, and think of what he was by grace, or after he became a Christian, we see a wonderful change. The apostle Paul tells us, “that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things have become new.” And it was so with this apostle. When he learned to know and love Christ, the old things about his character passed away, and all things became new. After this we see no more of his ambition, of his narrow-mindedness, or of his passion.