impartation of new life to mankind, how, namely, He begins with spiritual quickening, in it lays the foundation of His work; how He then effects a gradual, progressive resurrection, proceeding from within outwards; and, finally, completes and crowns His work in the future resurrection of the body.

'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath—already in the centre of His being everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment; but is passed from death unto life.'

This is the resurrection in the Spirit, as the foundation of the future resurrection of the body unto life.

'Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son also to have life in Himself—as a source of life, as a creative principle of life; so that thus life does not merely proceed from the fundamental ground of the divine Being, but also from the summit of the manifestation of the divine Being in the Son-and He hath given Him power to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.' With the gift to dispense the new life, the Son possesses authority at the same time to leave the guilty under the power of death, and this because, as the Son of man, He is the absolute channel of truth, grace, righteousness, and love, with which must necessarily be conjoined the power of judgment over all who reject Him; or because, as the Son of man, He is the living norm, according to which the judgment proceeds.

This is the resurrection in its development, the spread of the quickening word in the world, the movement in the kingdom of the dead, the bursting forth of eternal life from the heart of the world, its diffusion into the members of the world, as effect of the spiritual, as token of the bodily resurrection.

'Marvel not at this-for the greatest still comes-for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life (which is the perfected form of life), and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation (which is the perfected judgment itself).'

This is the bodily resurrection at the end of the world. Thus shall the work of the Son go forth ever more irresistible and

glorious. First, His word makes itself be heard among the susceptible and the unsusceptible; and it is a question, whether men will hear it. Those, however, who do hear it, to them He gives spiritual life, as principle of life merely. Then His voice sounds so powerfully, that the dead apprehend it, and all who apprehend it begin through it to awake to life, to recover the powers of life through all their members. Finally, His voice penetrates through to all who are in the graves, and brings them all to the resurrection, not only those whose resurrection is an event in which life reveals itself, but also those in whose resurrection death itself is disclosed. As His voice at the first made itself known as the absolute, spiritual life-giving power in spite of physical death, it will discover itself at the end as the absolute, physical life-giving power in spite of spiritual death. That, however, the whole working of Jesus, so infinitely surpassing the limits of their Jewish sabbatic observance, was at bottom entirely an operation of God, and that they therefore, in their attack on His conduct, had to do with God Himself, this, He tells them

once more:

'I can of Mine own self do nothing. As I hear the divine judgment in the utterances of life-I judge; and My judgment is just. For I seek not Mine own will (0éλŋμa—the willing of My individual life), but the will of Him that hath sent Me.' In which, thus, the entire oneness with the real (material) acts of divine judgment is asserted. This is His Sabbath, His absolute rest in God. From this proceeds His Sunday, His absolute activity in God, His work of quickening. As He does nothing but live for God, God bears testimony to Him, in the miracles which He gives Him to do.

In this manner had the Lord answered the charge regarding Sabbath profanation. In this answer He had no doubt taken one thing for granted, which He had still more fully to prove, namely, that He was the Son of God. This proof He now gave them; thus passing over to the answering of the second charge, that He had made Himself equal with God:

'If I bear witness of Myself,1 My witness is not true. It is another that beareth witness of Me; and I know that the witness which He witnesseth of Me is true.'

Who is this other? they might have asked; and therefore

1 1 Compare John viii. 14, and vol. iii. 303-4.

He said to them they might well think in the first instance of John, although He did not mean him :

'Ye sent a deputation—to John, and he bare witness unto the truth-by pointing to the Messias, a witness which ye have suppressed. But I borrow not My attestation from man; but I say these things-I remind you of that testimony-that ye may be saved-for the rejection of that testimony lies as a reproach on your conscience. He was a burning and a shining light; but ye were willing for a season-only-to rejoice in his light.'

After this appeal to their conscience, He now names the other whom He had in view. 'I have a greater testimony than that of John. For the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, these works themselves bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me. And the Father, who hath sent Me, hath Himself borne witness of Me.'

He distinguishes the witness of His works from another still more immediate witness of the Father. His works are also indeed the works of the Father, and are in the first instance a testimony to His mission. Certainly one can infer from these works the co-operation of the Father; and from the divine mission of Jesus, one may draw a conclusion with respect to His being, His divine origin. But they should have the witness of the other, the Father, in a still more immediate form, namely, in the revelations of the Father. These began in the Old Covenant, but they find their completion in the whole manifestation of His own life. And this whole testimony of God He has in view. If they were enlightened, they could not fail to see in His manifestation an eternal vision of the revelation of God. But in this they were wholly wanting. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His vision. And ye have not His word abiding (as a principle of life) in you; for ye believe not Him whom He hath sent. Ye search' the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye may have

life.'

Because they are so entirely estranged from the spirit of prophecy, they cannot recognise the witness of the Father concerning Him. Above all things, they are destitute of the prophetic 1 1 špevvāte can, according to the connection, be only read as an indicative.

sense itself. They have never heard a divine voice, nor seen a vision—no breath of prophecy stirs amongst them; therefore they cannot see the revelation of the Father in the Son. Nay, even the word, which has been handed down, they have not kept as a divine word in their hearts by a living faith; therefore also they cannot understand the testimonies of the Father concerning Him in the Holy Scriptures. They still, no doubt, have always before their eyes the second form of revelation, the revelation of Holy Scripture, which proceeds from the first form of revelation, the prophetic visions,—and in the Scriptures they have the word of the Father concerning the Son. But their veneration for the Scriptures, and their searching in them, are in vain. They have estranged themselves too much from the spirit of the prophets to be able to find in their writings the testimony of Christ. The fault lies evermore in this: they will not come to Him. And thus they remain far removed from His life, and also grudge life to those whom Christ heals, as is here the case with the man cured at Bethesda. They are the dead, who have incurred the judgment of the Son, whilst they exercise judgment over Him.

Corrupt desire, a deep inward jar, must, however, lie at the root of the evil will. This is pointed out by Christ in the sequel. 'I seek not honour from men. My being glorified on your part does not concern Me. I do, indeed, care for the honour of the Father. But I have known you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in the name of My Father, and ye receive Me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from the one only God?' Faith means, to live for God, and in the depths of the inward life to attain the true glory, which shall one day be made manifest; but how can one secure this if he seeks the false glory, which those covetous of honour exact from and press on one another? This mutual seeking and giving of honour is the basis of all chiliastic fanaticism.

It has

Herewith is the justification of Christ completed. changed itself at the last into a rebuke of His judges. He who was dragged before their judgment-seat appears in the end to stand over against them, almost as their accuser. However, in regard to this position, He still speaks a word in conclusion:

'Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. He who accuseth you is Moses, in whom ye hope. For if ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings-ye who pay the highest honour to Moses and the Holy Scriptures-how shall ye believe My words?' He thus shows them that they have apostatized from the innermost centre and substance of Judaism in turning their backs on Him, and that they are therefore judged by that positive law of life, which is most peculiarly their own.

Thus it was that the bitter hostility which Jesus experienced in Judea was made to promote the glory of His name, and of、 His great work. The same is true of the first awakening of an antagonistic spirit against Him in Galilee.

The Evangelist transplants us suddenly from Jerusalem to the western shore of the Galilean lake, the Sea of Tiberias. We know on what account; because, namely, he has in view the immediate connection of the Galilean conflict with the Jewish. This new conflict had indeed a very different form from the other. It developed itself out of the culminating point of the extreme outward veneration which Jesus met with amongst the masses of the people in Galilee.

After the occurrences in Jerusalem, therefore, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee. And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw the signs which He did on them that were diseased. But Jesus went up into a mountain, and there He set Himself with His disciples. And the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He said unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?' But this He said to prove him; for He Himself knew well what He would do. Philip answered Him, 'Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient, that each of them may take only a little.' One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto Him, 'There is a lad here who hath five barley loaves and two small fishes; but what are they among so many?' And Jesus said, 'Make the people sit down.' Now there was much grass in the place, for it was the spring season of Palestine, towards Easter. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus therefore took1 the loaves; and having given 1 Ἔλαβεν οὖν.