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sooner informed that the heresiarch Cerinthus was in the same building, than he instantly left the place, as though it were infected. The disciples of Cerinthus were indignant at this conduct of the Apostle, and endeavoured to take away his life, by putting poison

_into the cup he used to drink from; but St. John having made the sign of the cross over the cup, a serpent was seen to issue from it, testifying both to the wickedness of his enemies, and to the divinity of Christ. This apostolic firmness in resisting the enemics of the Faith, made him the dread of the heretics of Asia; and hereby, he proved how justly he had received from Jesus the surname of Son of Thunder, a name which he shared with his Brother, James the Greater, the Apostle of Spain.

The miracle we have just related has suggested the assigning to St. John, as one of his emblems, a cup with a serpent coming from it; and, in many countrics, in Germany particularly, there is the cus- tom, on the Feast of St. John, of blessing wine; and the prayer, used on the occasion, alludes to the miracle. In these same countries, there also pre- vails the custom of taking, at the end of meals, what is called St. John’s Cup, putting, as it were, under the Saint’s protection, the repast just taken.

For brevity’s sake, we omit several other tradi- tions regarding our holy Apostle, to which allusion is made in many of the Medieval Liturgical pieces which we have quoted: but, we cannot refrain from saying a few words in reference to his Death.

The passage of the holy Gospel read on the Feast of St, John, has often been interpreted in the sense, that the Beloved Disciple was never to die, although our Lord’s words are easily explained without putting such a meaning upon them. The Greek Church, as we have already seen in her Offices, professes her belief in St. John’s exemption from death. It was also the opinion of several holy Doctors of the