murmuring, that is, much private discussion of LECT. one man with another. For it was a subject XXIX. they durst not discuss openly and in public, for fear of the Jewish rulers; whose policy at this time was to slight Him, to treat Him with contempt, to divert if possible the minds of the people from Him, in the vain hope that the popular excitement regarding Him would die out". So they prohibited all conversation concerning Him. The impartial fidelity of the sacred historian here is very manifest, in not shunning to record the misgivings of the Lord's brethren, and the impressions of the people on the subject; and they afford a fair presumption of his veracity. Remarks of this nature too, while they illustrate the fidelity of the Evangelist, teach us also that to believe in Christ we need not enlarged evidence, but enlarged hearts. "If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." The blind man needs not that the sun's light be increased, but his own blindness removed. The darkness and defect are not in the luminary above, but in himself. Let our prayer therefore be, "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of Thy law."

can be done here is to call attention to them, and refer any, who may have opportunity of access, to what will so well repay them. They must be studied in their integrity. It is impossible to give extracts. To attempt to take parts from so perfect a whole would be to act like the pedant in Hierocles, of whom Dr. Johnson speaks (in his preface to Shakspeare), "who, when he offered his horse to sale, carried a brick in his pocket as a specimen."

0

"Ex quo intelligimus Judæorum principes nihil magis optasse quam sepeliri ejus famam." Beza.

LECTURE XXX.

CHRIST TEACHETH IN THE TEMPLE.

LECT.

JOHN Vii. 14—24.

THOUGH Our Evangelist does not report the XXX. Lord's discourse in the temple, he mentions the effect of it, and the conversation which followed. The effect was to create a present astonishment in the minds of the more learned part of His auditory. The Scribes and Pharisees thought they had the monoply of divine learning, and that every man to know the law must come to them. And in this, in a certain sense, they were right, though they had unhappily come short of their high office; corrupting and defacing the truth, obscuring the law of God with the vain traditions of men'. But here they express astonishment at our Lord's attainments, and knowledge of the Scripture and of the Law. For they knew that He had not come for teaching to them, the accredited teachers of the people; and they knew not that He was taught of God.

The Lord knew what was passing in their minds, and what they said aside, every man to his neighbour; and He anticipated it; telling

a Malachi ii. 7—9.

b Mark vii. 1—13.

• Μὴ μεμαθηκώς, ν. 15. "Nemo præceptor in Discipulorum suorum grege eum viderat."

Grotius.

d Rom. ii. 17-20.

these teachers among whom He then was in the LECT. temple, whence He derived the learning which __XXX. enabled Him thus to teach; to teach as one having authority, and not as the Scribes. They thought they knew His parentage, and were certain He had not been bred a scholar'. The Lord in reply states that He was divinely inspired, taught of God. His wisdom was not His, as a man, but from above: not human, nor from ordinary sources, but direct from God. Of man He had never learned letters, but the Lord God had given Him the tongue of the learned". He that was sent was fully furnished by Him that sent Him. And godly men, any who would i

e "Here only does our Lord call His teaching didaxh, as being now among the didάokaλoι, the Rabbis, in the temple." Alford.

f See Matt. xiii. 54-56.

g v. 15.

Mark vi. 2, 3.

h Isaiah 1. 4.

1 Θέλῃ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν. Notice the play upon the words. The force of eéλn (is willing) is often overlooked by readers of the English version. "What our Lord asserts to the Jews is, that if the will be set in His ways, if a man be really anxious to do the will of God, and thus to fulfil the first great commandment of the Law, this singleness of purpose, and subjection to the will of God, will lead him on to faith in the promised and then apparent Messiah, and to a just discrimination of the divine character of His teaching." Alford.

See one of the noblest of Jeremy Taylor's Sermons, entitled "Via Intelligentiæ," on this text. A few sentences are subjoined: "My text is simple as truth itself, but greatly comprehensive, and contains a truth that alone will enable you to understand all mysteries, and to expound all prophecies, and to interpret all Scripture, and to search into all secrets; all, I mean, which concern our happiness and our duty: and, it being an affirmative hypothetical, is plainly to be resolved into this proposition,— The way to judge of religion is by doing of our duty: and theology is rather a divine life than a divine knowledge. In heaven indeed, we shall first see, and then love; but here on earth, we must first love, and love will open our eyes as well as our hearts; and we shall then see, and perceive, and understand.... No man understands the word of God, as it ought to be understood, unless he lays aside all affections to sin.... The sweet wine that Ulysses gave to the Cyclops, put his eye out.... Every understands by his affections more than by his reason.... You see

man

LECT. do the will of God, would soon recognise this, XXX.__and acknowledge that the doctrine He taught was not His own invention, but the revelation. of God. The Jews believed not in Him that was sent, because in reality they believed not in Him that sent Him. They believed not the Son, because they believed not the Father.

With our Lord's word here as to the readiness of the mind as preparatory to its further enlightenment or complete satisfaction, we may compare the words of the Psalmist, "To him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation of God," and "no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." "If there be first a willing mind," is as needful a preliminary in things human as in things divine. "He that

what hinders us from becoming good divines.... I am now to describe to you the right way of knowledge: 'Qui facit voluntatem Patris mei,' saith Christ; that is the way; do God's will, and you shall understand God's word....The eye that is not made solar, cannot see the sun;'—the eye must be fitted to the splendour; and it is not the wit of the man, but the spirit of the man, not so much his head as his heart, that learns the divine philosophy.... There is in the things of God, to them which practise them, a deliciousness that makes us love them; and that love admits us into God's cabinet, and strangely clarifies the understanding by the purification of the heart.... So long as we know God only in the ways of man, by contentious learning, by arguing and dispute,—we see nothing but the shadow of Him; and in that shadow we meet with many dark appearances, little certainty, and much conjecture: but when we know Him...with the eyes of holiness, and the intuition of gracious experiences... then we shall hear what we never heard, and see what our eyes never saw; then the mysteries of godliness shall be open unto us, and clear as the windows of the morning. And this is rarely well expressed by the Apostle,' If we stand up from the dead, and awake from sleep, then Christ shall give us light.'.... Love is the great instrument of divine knowledge.... Love is obedience, and we learn His words best when we practise them.... Those things which they that learn ought to practise, even while they practise, they will best learn.'"

South's Sermon on the same, entitled, "Why Christ's Doctrine was rejected by the Jews," is likewise worthy a careful perusal. We may also compare Prov. ix. 10. xxviii. 5; Dan. ix. 13. xii. 10. and ch. xiv. 21. 13.

keepeth the law of the Lord, getteth the under- LECT. standing thereof."

Moreover, to continue our Lord's argument, he that speaketh from himself', merely from human sources, would seek his own glory; which Christ did not. He, on the contrary, shunned human honour, withdrawing Himself when the people would have taken Him by force and made Him King". He sought only the glory of Him that sent Him. And He who sought the glory of God only would not be likely to say or do any thing false; which would be any thing but to seek that glory for to give God the glory, and to speak the truth, were with the Jews convertible terms"; they meant the same thing. It followeth therefore, that He whose whole conduct was distinguished by this, that He sought God's glory, not His own advancement, was true, genuine, what He professed to be, and that there was no imposition in Him.

This was the test of truth or falsehood, of a just claim or a spurious one. Seeketh He God's glory, or His own advancement? It was manifest to all men which our Saviour sought; and the conclusion was equally clear, that He was what He claimed to be, and they were bound by all their own rules and canons of evidence to give all credence to Him, and to follow His teaching to all its consequences. As He Himself elsewhere puts the unanswerable question, "Which

Ecclus. xxi. 11. cited by Dr. Wordsworth. See also iii. 19. 1 ὁ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ λαλῶν.

mch. vi. 15.

Jos. vii. 19; ch. iv. 24.

U

XXX.