recommend to attention: viz. John x. 1-7; xiv. 11, 12; xvi. 19—23.* Even this very sixth chapter of St John affords clear indications that the phrase is usually employed, not as the means of deducing consequences, but of presenting additional truths. In the 26th verse, our Lord thus commences his discourse: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life." When the Jews afterwards taunted him with the manna given (daily, I suppose they meant) from heaven, by Moses, "Then (v. 32) Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you * I here transcribe the passages. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.... Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep." John x. 1-7. : "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." xiv. 11, 12. "Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy....... And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." xvi. 19-23. not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven." So likewise is our Lord's discourse continued, in the verses under review (vv. 47, 48, &c.): "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die."... All therefore that we have observed in the course of our enquiry-and it is but little, compared with what might have been adduced-leads to the inference, that "the emphatic asseveration," Verily, verily, I say unto you, instead of being employed in summing up and terminating what has preceded, is made use of as the means of inculcating new considerations; and of resuming, expanding and enforcing doctrines antecedently laid down. We are thus compelled to decide that Dr Wiseman's scheme, of drawing a line of separation between the 47th verse and the 48th verse, is overthrown by the general analogy of other passages, as well as by the manifest import of the whole context. There is something odd in Dr Wiseman's next mode of reasoning; which appears to be of this kind:-Reckoning from verse 35 on the one hand, and from somewhere about verse 48 on the other, we find a great change of thought and expression : it is usual, in our Lord's discourses, to originate different trains of sentiment from the same ex B pression: verses 35 and 48 contain the same expression" I am the bread of life:"-therefore verse 48 is the commencement of the change of thought which is so apparent. Such I conceive to be the reasoning in the following extract: "But these words [I am the bread of life] are exactly the same as open the first part of our Saviour's lecture, at v. 35. Now, I find it an ordinary form of transition with him, when he applies the same images to different purposes, to repeat the very words by which he originally commenced his discourse. I will give two or three instances. In John x. 11, he says, I am the good shepherd; and he then expatiates upon this character, as it regards himself, contrasting himself with the hireling, and expressing himself ready to die for his sheep. At v. 14, he repeats the words once more, I am the good shepherd;' and explains them with reference to the sheep, how they hear and obey him, and how his flock will be increased. Again, John xv. 1, he commences his discourse by I am the true vine;' and applies the figure negatively to the consequences of not being united to him. Then at v. 5, he repeats the same words, and explains them positively of the fruits produced by those who do abide in him. Exactly in the same manner, in our passage, our Saviour having spoken of himself as bread, I am the living bread,' and expatiated on this thought, in respect to his being the spiritual nourishment of the soul by faith, makes the same form of transition, to treat of himself as bread in another sense, in as much as his flesh is our real sustenance." (p. 41-43.) The instances thus adduced by Dr Wiseman, even if correctly explained, could only be admitted as answers to objections founded on the improbability of different trains of sentiment being deduced from the same primary thought. They could afford no direct proof that such a mode of instruction has been adopted in the sixth chapter of St John. Let, however, the passages referred to be produced and examined; and in the first place, John x. 11-16: "11. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep....14. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." The 11th and the 14th of the preceding verses commence with the affirmation, "I am the good shepherd." This character, according to Dr Wiseman, is explained, in vv. 11-13, with regard to our Lord himself; and from v. 14 to the end, with reference to the sheep: in other words, there is, at the 14th verse, a transition from one object to another. Now it appears to me, as I have no doubt it will to the reader, that the regard to our Lord himself, as distinguished from reference to the sheep, is far more conspicuous after the 14th verse, than in the preceding verses. the former section, after our Saviour had avowed himself to be "the good shepherd," giving "his life for the sheep," he immediately proceeded to describe the hireling: in the latter, he dwells upon In མ - "I know himself" I am the good shepherd""I my sheep”—“I know the Father"—"I lay down my life for the sheep"-" Other sheep I havethem also I must bring." In fact, it is more especially in the latter section that he contrasts himself with the hireling, and insists upon his own perfect knowledge of his sheep-his great care of them and his resolution to secure their welfare, even by his death. This indeed must have been felt by the learned lecturer himself; when, to remove any such impression, he observed in a note (p. 42), that he considered the latter part of v15 (and I lay down my life for the sheep)-off as merely incidental and parenthetic." This truly seems to be a strange mode of dealing with Scripture. In the 11th verse, our Lord, after affirming that he was "the good shepherd," went on to say “THE GOOD SHEPHERD GIVEth his LIFE for the sheep." In the 14th verse, he repeats, "I am the good shepherd;" and when we find him, very soon after, declaring, "I LAY DOWN MY LIFE for the sheep" can this be for any other purpose than that of impressing, still more deeply upon the minds of his hearers, the great truth which he had just before announced? Not a single reader, I am well persuaded, will endure the idea that a sentiment so momentous in itself, and so connected with the entire passage, should be considered "as merely incidental and parenthetic." When I see such notions as these seriously ad |