XXXII.

bond of Truth and Peace, of Faith and Charity, LECT. that we may with one mind and one mouth glorify" the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And let us ever pray and labour, and labour and pray, "that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life."

But there was yet another party which went farther than these. The rest had contented themselves with calm criticism, but this lot display energetic hate, and proceed, at least in intention, to extreme measures. Yet is there an invisible hand controlling and restraining them, as the raging waves of the sea; and what they would, that for the present they cannot do. Though they would willingly have apprehended Him, no man stirred from his place, or yet ventured to lay a hand upon Him. So their conspiracy was for the present abortive, for His hour was not yet come. And this may teach us in the path of duty never to fear. Not that we are to rush into danger, or to contend absurdly for a trifle, or to court martyrdom; but where and when duty leads, then and there ever fearlessly to follow. For again and again is Job's question forced upon us, "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?" And the circumstances and events of both life and death give but one answer. Observation and experience both confirm the truth of God, and should enforce

h A Form of Prayer for the Twentieth of June.

A Prayer for all Conditions of Men.

66

LECT. the duty of man. Seeing his days are deterXXXII. mined." "All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come." For God has put us each into the world to do a work for Him, and

"Man is immortal till his work is done."

k Job vii. 1. xiv. 5. 14.

LECTURE XXXIII.

NICODEMUS AGAIN.

JOHN Vii. 45—53.

enemies of the

steps, "like as
prey, and as it

THE officers who had been dispatched to ap- LECT. prehend Jesus return to their employers, their XXXIII. errand unaccomplished. See the eagerness of these men! See how these Lord compassed Him in His a lion that is greedy of his were a lion's whelp lurking in secret places"!" How true the prophetic description of His sufferings! How no less literally true of the antitype Christ, than of the type David! "In the secret places doth he murder the innocent. For he lieth waiting secretly, even as a lion lurketh he in his den. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall into the hands of his captains." So are these men here waiting in their cruel conclave. The Sanhedrim is all expectation to learn the issue of the mission on which it had sent its servants. And when these come back without their captive, we may see how the countenance of their employers suddenly fell, as in a tone of mingled surprise and vexation, they ask, eagerly and impatiently, “Why have ye not brought Him?"

a Ps. xvii. 11, 12, x. 8-10. quoted partly from the Prayer Book Version. See also Zeph. iii. 1—5.

LECT.

Scarcely less perplexing, scarcely less disapXXXIII. pointing, is the too candid answer of their emissaries, "Never man spake like this man." For these even "bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth." Even these His adversaries "were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which He spake." Nay, the conviction forced itself upon them, in spite of their readiness to believe the contrary, that He was something more than man; that there was something superhuman about Him: if this is a mere man, he is such as hath never yet been seen. The inference, though not expressed out of deference to their masters, is too plainly implied. Their argument is in effect the same with that of the man whom the Lord healed of his native blindness; "Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, He could do nothing."

Such is the answer of the messengers of the Sanhedrim. However willing, like Balaam, to accept the wages of unrighteousness, like Balaam they find themselves restrained from doing the evil they were ready to do. Employed to curse, they are unexpectedly constrained to bless. The good that they would not, that they do.

The rejoinder of their masters, those who dispatched them on the wicked errand, demands examination. The reply is threefold. First, they answer the answer of their servants with another question, and that a reproachful one: "Are ye

bch. ix. 32, 33.

XXXIII.

also deceived?" Ye, the servants of the Sanhe- LECT. drim, the chosen messengers of this council, are you even capable of being imposed upon by this pretender? Then comes a second question, in which a grain or two of contempt mingles with the reproach: "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?" The rulers was the general name for the members of the Sanhedrim or common council of the Jews; and the Pharisees, we know, affected to give the tone to public opinion, to lead and direct the common mind. How then could these dare to receive any thing which had not received their imprimature? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him, and are you wiser than they? We have not recognised him, and

e In the original the pronoun is emphatically expressed.

d See Rom. ii. 17-20. This may be a proper place to insert the portrait of these as drawn by Bp. Taylor in his Sermon entitled, "The Righteousness Evangelical described:”—“ The Pharisees,” says this great Prelate, " obeyed the commandments in the letter, not in the spirit. They minded what God spake, but not what He intended.... Their error was plainly this: they never distinguished duties natural from duties relative; that is, whether it were commanded for itself, or in order to something that was better; whether it were a principal grace, or an instrumental action. So God was served in the letter, they did not much inquire into His purpose. And therefore they were curious to wash their hands, but cared not to purify their hearts. They would give alms, but hate him that received it. They would go to the temple, but did not revere the glory of God that dwelt there between the Cherubims. They would fast, but not mortify their lusts. They would say good prayers, but not labour for the grace they prayed for. This was just as if a man should run on his master's errand, and do no business when he came there.... They would devour widows' houses, and make it up by long prayers; they would love their nation, and hate their prince; offer sacrifice, and curse Cæsar in their hearts; advance Judaism, and destroy humanity."

e "Sic inferunt: in quem non credunt principes, in eum non est credendum. Simili argumentatione ac fremitu utuntur zelotæ hodierni, . præsertim Romanenses." Bengel.