He was a very kind-hearted man, and used to
say he had lost a day whenever he had spent one without doing a good
action; but he was soon poisoned by his wicked brother, Domitian, who
succeeded to his throne in 81. Domitian was a savage tyrant, cruel to
all, because he was afraid of all. He hated the Jews; and hearing that
some persons of royal blood still existed among them, he caused search
to be made for them, and two sons of St. Jude were brought before him.
They owned that they came of the line of David; but they told him they
were poor simple men, and showed him their hands hardened with toil; and
he thought they could do him so little harm, that he let them go. He
also laid hands on the aged St. John, and caused him to be put into a
caldron of boiling oil; but the martyr in will, though not in deed, felt
no hurt, and was thereupon banished to the little Greek Isle of Patmos.
Here was vouchsafed to him a wonderful vision, answering to those of
Daniel, his likeness among the prophets. He saw the true heavenly
courts, such as Moses had shadowed in the Tabernacle, and which Ezekiel
had described so minutely; he saw the same fourfold Cherubim, and
listened to the same threefold chant of praise, as Isaiah had heard; he
saw the seven lamps of fire, and the rainbow of mercy round about the
Throne; and in the midst, in the eternal glory of His priestly robes, he
beheld Him on Whose bosom be had lain, and Who had called him beloved.
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