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preserve ourselves, that we may have opportunities for farther service.

In the course of such service we must expect, especially if we appear under a public character, to meet with a variety of censures; but let us remember that Jesus himself went through evil report and good report; by some applauded as a good man, but by others, and those the greater part of his countrymen, condemned as deceiving the people. Let us learn of Christ patiently to endure such injurious treatment; and endeavour to behave ourselves so, that we may have a testimony in the consciences of men, and in the presence of God, that, after the example of our great Master, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have our conversation in the world. (2 Cor. i. 12.) Then will our names be had in remembrance, and the honour and reward of our faithful obedience continued, when the memories of those that reviled us are perished with them.

SECTION XV.

JOHN VII. 14-24.

Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent me, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.— Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers ;) and ye on the sabbath-day circumcise a man. If a man on the sabbath-day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken: are ye angry at mc, because I have made a man every whit whole on the

sabbath-day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Let us learn of our meek and humble Master to refer the honour of all we know and do to Divine instruction communicated to us, and Divine grace working in and by us; that, seeking the glory of God, we may have the surest evidence, that we are truly his. Let us on all occasions remember that integrity and uprightness will be a certain security to us against dangerous mistakes in matters of religion. If the light we already have, be faithfully improved, we may humbly hope that more will be given us; nor shall we then fail of convincing evidence, that the gospel-doctrine is of God; for the experience of its power on our hearts will check our passions, and destroy the prejudices, that would prevent the truth from taking place in our minds.

Let us receive his doctrine as Divine, and hearken unto Christ as sent of God; and whatsoever be the vile reproaches we may meet with from a wicked world, and the malicious designs it may form against us, let us be resolute and stedfast in the practice of the duties he has taught us, that with well-doing we may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. (1 Peter ii. 15.)

Our Lord was reviled as a demoniac and a lunatic: but instead of rendering railing for railing, he replied in the words of gentleness and sobriety. So let us endeavour to conquer the rudeness of those attacks we may meet with in his cause; that we may, if possible, remove the prejudices so fatal to those that entertain them, and form men to that equitable and impartial judgment, which would soon turn all their cavils against Christ into admiration, praise, and obedience.

SECTION XVI.

JOHN VII. 25-36.

THEN said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true,

whom ye know not. But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me. Then they sought to take him but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, thither ye cannot come. Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; and, where I am, thither ye cannot come?

So confident is error in its own decisions, and so vain in its self applauses! These unhappy people, every way mistaken, censure their rulers for a supposed credulity, in seeming, as it were to acquiesce in Christ's claim to be the Messiah; and imagined themselves, no doubt, exceeding wise in rejecting him, while they blindly took it for granted he was the son of Joseph, and had not patience to wait for the authentic story of his miraculous conception. Surely men had need to look well to the force of those arguments, on which they venture their souls by rejecting the gospel.

Our Lord answered their secret reasoning, in a manner which might justly have alarmed them, charging them with ignorance of that God, whom they pretended to know, and whom, with a presumptuous confidence, they claimed as theirs. And oh, that it may not be found at last, that many who have appeared most confident of their interest in God, neither know him, nor are known by him!

The blessed Jesus, who is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his Person, has the completest knowledge of the Father. May we be so wise and happy as to seek instructions from him, that the eyes of our understandings may be enlightened, and the temper of our hearts proportionably regulated, by all the discoveries of the Divine Being which he makes!

How obstinate and desperately hardened were the hearts of those, who, notwithstanding all the proofs that Jesus gave of his Divine mission, were yet so far from hearkening to him, as to seek opportunities to destroy him! So dangerous and fatal is the prevalence of error in such as like not to retain God in their knowledge, that they will even venture on the greatest wickedness, when once they are given over to a reprobate mind, (Rom. i. 28.)-May God preserve us from a spirit of delusion, and fill us with that wisdom, that we may know the things belonging to our peace, and, being ready to receive the truth in the love of it, may we acknowledge and attend to Christ as sent of God!

May we learn this heavenly wisdom in time, since the hour is approaching, when Christ will be sought in vain, and all correspondence between him and sinners will be finally cut off! Where he is, they cannot then come; and to be excluded from him will at length appear insupportable misery, even to those, who, with proud folly and fatal self-sufficiency are now most ready to say unto him, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thee or thy ways. (Job xxi, 14.)

SECTION XVII.

JOHN VII. 37-53.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given: because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Many

of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people because of him. And some of them would have taken him: but no man laid hands on him.

Then came the officers to the chief priests and

Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. And every man went unto his own house.

With what delight and thankfulness should we hear this gracious proclamation of Christ, which he now made in the temple, and a while after repeated from the throne of his glory! If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink ; yea, whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. (Rev. xxii. 17.) Blessed Jesus, had we been allowed to have prescribed to thee a form of words, in which thy kind purposes towards us should have been expressed, what could we have invented more pathetic, more condescending, or more reviving!-May we thirst for the blessings of thy grace, and in the confidence of faith apply unto thee for them; and particularly for these communications of thy Spirit, which are so highly excellent and desirable, and indeed so necessary for us! Supply us with them, we intreat thee, in so rich an abundance, that we, in our different spheres, may supply others, and from us there may flow rivers of living water!

Well might such gracious words as these disarm the rage of enemies and persecutors. Let us add our testimony to theirs, and say, Never man spake as Jesus speaks. Let us hear him with calm and thankful attention, while his voice still sounds in his word. Happy are those that know the joyful sound! (Psalm lxxxix. 15) The Pharisees, like deaf adders, stopped their ears against the voice of the Charmer; and, while they proudly censured the populace as a brutal herd, and gloried in their own superior wisdom, rejected the counsel of God; rashly judging without serious inquiry, and weakly borne down by vulgar senseless prejudices against names and places, which is all the senate of Israel opposes to the solid argument of Nicodemus! That good man, already considerably improved by his interview with Jesus, was undoubtedly confirmed in his adherence to him, by observing the methods

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