THE GREAT HIGH PRIEST WITHIN THE VEIL: BEING An Exposition, DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL, OF CHAPTER XVII. OF JOHN'S GOSPEL. BY THE REV. THOMAS ALEXANDER, M.A., CHELSEA. LONDON: JAMES BROWN, 14 BURTON STREET, EATON SQUARE; AND HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLVII. 101. d. 6. PREFACE. It has been my habit to expound, every Sabbath, in regular order, some selected portion of Scripture. It is now nearly four years since I was led by circumstances to the exposition of the record of the Last Supper, as we have it in the thirteenth chapter of John's Gospel. The discourse of our Lord that followed it grows naturally out of the facts there recorded, and I found no convenient place at which to stop till I had reached the seventeenth chapter. After long hesitation, deterred by its depth and difficulty, on the one hand, and drawn by its beauty and preciousness, on the other, I at last came to the resolution, in weakness, and much fear, to endeavour to expound this chapter also. When the lectures had been delivered, I may safely say that I had more than the usual inducements to publish them; but I was so sensible of their imperfections to say no more-that delays were easily interposed. Time passed; and, as opportunity offered, I recast, and altogether rewrote, the whole, and now at last I offer them, in this form, to the reader. I felt, and still feel, that I have succeeded in throwing some light on the chapter, though it is but a little e; and if the reader, after rising from the perusal of these pages, understands this blessed prayer better, and loves it more, than he did, then one of my ends in publishing them is gained. And if any minister, or other student of God's holy Word, is led by a perusal of this volume, either on account of what it does say, or what it leaves unsaid, to a renewed study, and perhaps to the publication of a more thorough exposition, of it, then I have gained another of the ends I had in view. And finally, if the people, among whom it is my privilege, and pleasure, to labour, will receive this volume as a token of a love for them which each succeeding year deepens, and hallows: and if it should be blessed, in the Spirit's hand, for their comfort, quickening, and edification in the Lord and, above all, if it should be the means, under God, of turning were it but one sinner from the error of his ways, then I have gained all the desire, and prayer, of my heart, and will gladly join the reader in ascribing all the praise to Him to whom all the praise belongs. Unto Him be glory! CHELSEA, February, 1857. THE GREAT HIGH PRIEST WITHIN THE VEIL. Section First. "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."-JOHN xvii. 1-3. THOUGH the language of this seventeenth chapter of John's Gospel is the simplest, yet its doctrine is the most profound, of any part of the Word of God. Of all the green pastures provided for the flock of God, this is the greenest; these still waters flow silently in their depth. Many a sick-bed has been irradiated by this light from heaven streaming round, and upon, it; for this chapter has ever been the rod, and A |