Yet they fcruple not to circumcife on that Day.

you,

that

your

Cavil is

22.

49 ago performed one remarkable Work (e), and you Sect. 99. all to this very Day wonder on Account of it (f), that I fhould order the Man I cured to carry his Couch on the Sabbath-day: Yet a little Re- John VII. flection might convince very unreasonable, even on your own Principles: For Mofes gave you a Precept, which required Circumcifion; (not that it is originally of Mofes his Institution, but had been formerly established by the Obfervation of Abraham, and of the other Fathers of our Nation, many Ages before Mofes was born, and therefore could not properly be altered by him (g);) yet you fcruple not to circumcife a Man-Child on the Sabbath-Day, if it happen to be the eighth from his Birth. If 23 [then] to prevent the Violation of Mofes his Law by deferring this facred Rite, you acknowledge it fit, that a Man fhould receive Circumcifion on the Sabbath itself; [why] are you incenfed against me, that by fpeaking a Word, I have cured a Man, who was entirely disabled (h), on the Sabbath; as

if

(e) I have fome Time ago performed one remarkable Work.] It is plain, the Miracle here referred to, was wrought a Year and a half before this Feaft. Compare Sect. 46. Note (a), Vol. i. pag. 282.

(f) And you all wonder on Account of it.] I here follow Theophylact and Beza, in joining the Words a Tlo to the End of this Verfe, because it is certain, that in their ufual Signification they cannot properly introduce the next; and John xix. 11. (Sect. 188.) may be an Inftance of the like Kind. The Pruffian Tranflators render it, Because Mofes gave you Circumcifion, &c. and the learned Elfner inclines to this Verfion: (Elfner. Obferv. Vol. i. pag. 314, 315.) But tho' I am fenfible, & erexer fometimes fignifies becaufe, (fee Gen. xxxviii. 26. Numb. x. 31. and xiv. 43. Septuag. and Hebr.) I cannot find a 780 ever fo ufed; and think, if it be retained at the Beginning of the next Verfe, it should be rendered, As to this Matter; which Senfe it may perhaps have, in Mat. xiii. 52. xviii. 23. and in a few other Places; and fo Grotius takes it here. See Dr. Whitby on this Place.

(8) Not that it is originally of Mofes, &c.] An excellent Perfon, juftly celebrated in the Learned World, has lately fuggefted to me a Thought on thefe Words, (which I have not met with elsewhere, but have briefly hinted in the Paraphrafe,) as to the Reason why our Lord makes this obvious Remark, that Circumcifion was older than the Time of Mofes. Had Mofes inftituted it, he would probably have ordered it fo, as to make it quadrate with his Law relating to the frict Reft of the Sabbath; but finding it inftituted by a previous Covenant, which his Law could not difannul, (fee Gal. iii. 17.) he left it ftill on the fame Footing. This Argument will indeed infer, that the ftrict Sabbatical Reft was not obferved in the Patriarchal Age; but yet it might be a Day of extraordinary Devotion, which I apprehend to be proved from Gen. ii. 3.

(b) I have cured a Man entirely.] Our Tranflation lofes much of the Emphafis: The Words, onov arberov v Tomoa, literally fignify, I have healed, or made found, a whole Man. But the Ambiguity in our English Word whole, rendered fuch a Verfion very improper. I therefore thought it neceffary, a little to vary the Expreffion, but the Senfe is entirely the fame. VOL. II.

G

(i) That

50

Sect. 99.

John VII. 23.

Reflections on the Meekness we should fhew under Reproaches.

if it was a more fervile Work, to heal, than to wound? or how do you imagine, that I have not Power, when I have thus healed him, to manifeft the Perfection of the Cure, by commanding him 24 to carry his Couch (i)? Judge not according to thefe Prejudices, which the Meannefs of my Appearance tends to produce; but judge righteous and equitable Judgment; which if you do, you muft neceffarily acknowledge my Divine Miffion to be as evident and certain, as that of Mofes himself, to whofe Precepts you profefs fo great a Regard.

John vii. 16,.18.

Ver. 17.

Ver. 19.

Ver. 20.

LE

24 Judge not according righteous Judgment. to the Appearance, but judge

IMPROVEMENT.

ET us learn of our meek and humble Mafter, to refer the Honour of all we know and do, to Divine Inftructions communicated to us, and Divine Grace working in, and by us; that feeking the Glory of GOD, we may have the fureft Evidence, that we are truly his. Let us on all Occafions remember, that Integrity and Uprightness will be a certain Security to us, against dangerous Miftakes in Matters of Religion. If the Light we already have, be faithfully improved, we may humbly hope, that more will be given in; nor fhall 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 Paffions, and deftroy the Prejudices, that would prevent the Truth from taking Place in our Minds.

Let us receive his Doctrine as Divine, and hearken unto Chrift as fent of GOD; and whatsoever be the vile Reproaches we may meet with from a wicked World, and the malicious Defigns it may form against us, let us be refolute and ftedfaft 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 Pet. ii. 15.)

Our Lord was reviled as a Damoniack, and a Lunatick; but instead of rendering Railing for Railing, he replied in the Words of Gentleness and Ver. 21,-23. Sobriety. So let us endeavour to conquer the Rudeness of those Attacks, we may meet with in his Cause; that we may, if poffible, remove the Prejudices, fo fatal to those that entertain them, and form them to that equitable and impartial Judgment, which would foon turn all their Cavils against Chrift into Admiration, Praife, and Obedience.

Ver. 24.

(i) That I have not Power, when I have thus healed him, &c.] So our Lord himself states the Argument, in a Cafe nearly refembling this, (Mat. ix. 5, 6. Vol. i. pag. 279.) and might probably here intend to infinuate it, tho' in an oblique Manner.

SECT.

They are prejudiced against him, as knowing whence he was.

S. E C T. C.

The Jews pass a Variety of Cenfures on CHRIST; and the Sanhedrim alarmed by the Regard which fome expressed towards him, fend Officers to feize him; but CHRIST openly declares, that their Purposes fhould not immediately take Effect. John VII. 25,---36.

28 Then cried Jefus in the Temple as he taught, faying,

JOHN VII. 25.

25..

THEN, while our Lord was thus difcourfing Sect. 100.
bitants of Jerufalem, who knew more of the De-John VII.
at the Feast of Tabernacles, fome of the Inha-
figns of the Sanhedrim than others, (ver. 19, 20.)
faid, Is not this be, whom they feek an Opportunity
to put to Death? But behold, he is not only 26
come up hither to the Feaft, but speaks openly and
freely in the very Temple itfelf; and they are fo
far from feizing him, that they do not fo much as
fay any thing to prohibit him: Do the Rulers then
indeed know, they were mistaken in their former
Cenfures, and are they now perfuaded in their
Confciences, that this is really the Meffiah?
we have fufficient Reafon to conclude, this can-
not be the Cafe; for many of us know this Man,
from whence he is defcended, and are fure that he
was born of Jofeph's Wife; whereas when the
Meffiah comes, no Man will thus know from whence
he is; for he is to be born in a miraculous Way of
a Virgin (a).

But 27

Then Jefus, tho' they said this in a private Man- 28
ner to each other, and imagined that he could
not have heard them, as he was teaching in the
Temple,

(a) He is to be born in a miraculous Way of a Virgin.] It is evident from Mat. ii. 4, 5.
that the Jews apprehended the Meffiah was to be born at Bethlehem; and from a Multitude
of other Places, that they knew he was to be a Defcendant of David. (Compare ver. 42.)
I know not how therefore to account for their faying, that when Chrift came, no Man
would know whence he is, but by fuppofing, with Archbishop Tillotfon, (Vol. ii. pag. 454.)
that the Words refer to an Expectation they had, that he would be born of a Virgin.
As for the Notion which Juftin Martyr mentions, that the Meffiah fhould for a while be
bid, it feems more modern; and they muft put a ftrange Interpretation on Ifa. lii. 8.
Mic. v. 2. and Pfal. cx. 4. to draw any fuch Confequence from them, as Dr. Whitby,
and Mr. L'Enfant suppose, they did.

G 2

(b) Do

John VII. 28.

The Sanhedrim send Officers to feixe him.

faying, Ye both know me, and I am not come of myself, and ye know whence I am : but he that fent me is true, whom ye know not.

52 Sect. 100. Temple, and at fome Distance from them, cried out with a louder Voice than before, and faid, Do you indeed both know me, and know whence I am (b)? Alas, it is great Rashness and Folly for you to affert it; and whatever you may object, yet it is most certain, that I am not come of myself, with vain and falfe Pretences to a Divine Miffion, nor do I want any proper Evidences of it; but he who fent me is true to all his Promises and Predictions (c), whom nevertheless, with all your 29 Boafts, ye know not. But I know him in a moft intimate Manner; for I am fprung from him (d) I am from him, and he by a mysterious and divine Generation, in Confequence of which I am infinitely better acquainted with him, than you, or any mere Creatures, can be; and he hath sent me among you, as his Embaffador, on an Errand of the highest Impor

30

31

tance.

Then they were fo provoked by this Claim of a Divine Original, and by the Charge advanced against them, as ignorant of that GOD, in whom they gloried as fo peculiarly their own, that they fought an Opportunity to feize him; yet GOD impreffed their Minds in fuch a Manner, that no one of them would be the firft that laid Hands on him: And they were kept under this vifible Restraint, because his appointed Hour of Suffering was not yet come, but he had farther Services in Life to dispatch, before he was delivered to them.

And many of the People were fo much affected with these Discourses, that they fecretly believed on him, and faid to each other, When the Meffiah comes, will it be poffible, he should do greater Mi

racles

29 But I know him, for hath fent me.

(b) Do you both know me, and know whence I am?] So the prefent Bishop of Durham would render thefe Words; (fee his Defence, pag. 334.) and it feems neceffary, in order to vindicate the Propriety, and indeed the Veracity, of the Reply; unless with Beza and Camerarius we understand it ironically.

(c) Is true to all his Promises and Predictions.] There feems a Reference here, to the Accomplishment of some of the Prophecies, already fulfilled in him, with a chearful Faith in what was yet to come.

(d) I am from him.] I should have chosen to render wap' avls, with him, as I did in the firft Edition, to avoid a Tautology; but I am fenfible on farther Reflection, that I want a fufficient Authority for fuch a Verfion. I therefore acquiefce in our own: But I fee no Occafion to vary any Thing in the Paraphrafe; fince in either Senfe it fuggefts fo ftrong a Reafon for believing, that Chrift hath the most intimate Knowledge of the Father.

(e) From

He tells them, he is going where they shall not find him. than these which this Man

hath done?

32 The Pharifees heard, that the People murmured fuch Things concerning him: and the Pharifees and the Chief Priests fent Offi

cers to take him.

33 Then faid Jefus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.

34 Ye fhall feek me, and not find me and where I am, thither ye can

fhall not find

not come.

35 Then faid the Jews

among themselves, Whither find him? will he go unto the Difperfed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gen

will he go, that we shall not

tiles?

53

racles than thefe, which this [Jefus] has done here Sect. 100. at Jerufalem, and over the whole Country?

This, however, could not be fo privately faid, John VII. but fome Information of it was fent to the Pha- 32. rifees, who, when they heard that the People whif pered fuch Things concerning him, were greatly dif pleased, and alarmed at it: And the Pharifees, and the other Members of the grand Sanhedrim, particularly the Chief Priefts, among whom there were many Sadducees, (fee Acts iv. 1.) fent Officers from the Chamber in which they held their Council (e), into the adjacent Court of the Temple, to feize him, as he preached there to the Multitude.

;

Then Jefus faid to them, as foon as they appear- 33-
ed, I know the Design on which fome of you are
come, but GoD will not permit you immediately
to execute it; for yet a little while longer I am to
continue with you, and [then] I am to go again to
him that fent me. And when I am returned to 34
him, I fhall be entirely out of your Reach fo
that you fhall feek me, and wish that you had me
in your Power again, but you shall not find me;
and where I am, or where I fhall then, and al-
ways be, you cannot poffibly come: Which he said,
referring to his fpeedy Exaltation to the Heavenly
World, and to the impotent Malice with which
they should then oppofe his triumphant Caufe.

But he was not understood in that Senfe; 35
the Jews therefore who were prefent faid among
themselves, Whither is he about to go, that we shall
not find him? Will be leave Judea, and go to the
Remainders of the Holy Seed, who are difperfed
among the Greeks, and other Nations? and will
he teach them, or the Greeks themfelves (f), even
the

(e) From the Chamber in which they held their Council.] See Sect. 24. Note (e). Vol. i.. pag. 142.

(f) Will be go to the Difperfed among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks ?] By Greeks, we are here to understand Idolatrous Gentiles, and not Hellenifts, or Jews that ufed the Greek Language; for thefe were the Difperfed among them. There is therefore, I think, a Sting in thefe Words, beyond what Commentators have obferved. They infinuate, that if he wasto go into foreign Countries, to addrefs himfelf to the Jews there, who might be fuppofed, not fo well inftructed, as thofe that lived in Judea, and at Jerufalem, he would not be able to make any Profelytes, even among these; but would be conftrained to apply himself to. the ignorant and ftupid Gentiles, to feek Difciples among them; which to be fure appeared to these haughty Scorners, one of the moft infamous Circumftances that could be imagined, and moft incompatible with the true Meffiab.