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He retires in the Evening to Bethany.

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WH

John XII.

35.

309 therefore while you have the Light; comply with Sect. 148. the gracious Purposes of GOD in making thefe Difcoveries to you, and regulate your Temper and Conduct by them; that Darkness may not overtake you, that you may not be deprived of the Gospel, and left in a Night of Ignorance and Mifery: For you know it is a moft uncomfortable Thing for a Traveller to be benighted in his Way, as he that walks in Darkness wanders from Place to Place, and knows not whither he goes, or into what Dangers he may fall the very next Step he takes; and much more dreadful will it be for you, to be deferted of GOD, and left to the Darkness and Folly of your own Hearts. (Compare John xi.. 9, 10. Sect. 139.) Let me therefore once 36 more feriously and kindly exhort you, that while you have the Light thus clearly fhining around you, you believe in the Light, and honeftly follow it,. that you may be the Children of Light, who being now truly wife and good, fhall be the Heirs of Holiness, Glory, and Joy everlasting.

Thefe Things Jefus fpake, when the Greeks applied themselves to him; and as the unbelieving Jews were greatly irritated by the Actions and Discourses of the Day, and would not be awakened to Conviction, he left them, and departed thence to a retired Place: And when now it was late in the Evening, he privately went out of the City to Bethany, with none to attend him but the Twelve Apoftles; and knowing that his Enemies were: watching to destroy him, and might have at-. tempted to seize him by Night, if he had tarried, at Jerufalem, be lodged there at Bethany, and con-cealed himself from them, to avoid the Affaults of their deliberate Malice till his Hour was come..

IMPROVEMENT.

HO can wonder at the Defire thefe Greeks expreffed, to fee fo John xii. 20,, celebrated a Perfon as Jefus was! We hope there was fomething:

more than mere Curiosity in it, and that at length they faw him with believing Eyes, and according to his Prediction glorified him by, a cordial Ver. 23,

Accept

310

Reflections on the happy Fruits of the Death of CHRIST. Sect. 148. Acceptance of his Gospel.- His Difciples, we fee, were ready to introduce them: And furely every faithful Minifter of Chrift will undertake the Talk with Pleasure, when he fees Souls awakened by Divine Grace, and enquiring after Jefus with affectionate Concern.

Ver. 22.

Ver. 24.

Ver: 25.

Ver. 26.

Ver. 27.

Ver. 28.

Bleffed be Gop, it has already in many Inftances been seen, that by the Death of Chrift an immortal Seed was fown, which has multiplied in all Ages, and is ftill multiplying: Oh that it might have a greater Increase! One would think, that Words fo gracious as these fhould promote that Increase, and operate upon every Heart, to produce a Love to him fufficient to conquer every Danger and Oppofition, which may be met with in his Caufe: Behold the Promife, which he has left upon Record; If any Man, be he ever fo mean or unworthy, will but faithfully ferve and follow me, whatever his former Wanderings and Rebel"lions may have been, where I am, there shall also my Servant be." Happy State indeed! not only, like these Greeks, to have a tranfient Sight of Chrift, but to be for ever with him!

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How admirable is the Love and Stedfaftnefs of our Redeemer, who procured fo great a Happiness for us at fo dear an Expence ! and even when his innocent Soul was troubled in the View of his Sufferings, inftead of declining them, met them with Joy! How fhould it animate us to renew that general comprehenfive Petition, than which none can be more fuitable to us with regard to all the Divine Difpenfations; Father, glorify thine own Name! Glorify thyfelf, O Lord! and to that great End difpofe of us as thou pleafeft; for we should abhor ourselves, if we had any Intereft feparate from thine!

We may be affured, as certainly as by a Voice from Heaven, that this great End shall be answered; and in this we should rejoice. Behold, the Ver. 31, 32. Prince of this World is caft out! Behold, Satan is vanquished by Chrift! and Jefus is lifted up on the Cross, for a Standard to all the Nations. Behold the attractive Magnet, by which all Men are to be drawn, by which all his chofen People fhall be brought to him, and fo raised up to Heaven itself! Let us look unto him from the Ends of the Earth, and labour with our cold Hearts, to awaken them to that lively and ardent Affection, which we owe to him who was crucified for us.

Ver. 35, 36.

For ever adored be Divine Grace for this Gospel Light, which difcovers to us fo excellent an Object! May we use it to faving Purposes, and fo walk in it, as that we may appear to be the Children of Light! Let us think of that laft Diftribution of Mankind, when the Children and Heirs of Light and Darkness are once for all to be feparated. Let us think of the Gloom of eternal Night, which will fhortly overtake thofe, by whom the Gospel is now defpifed; and remember how much it will be aggravated by the Light we have fo long feen. Do thou, Ob GOD, at whofe Word Light arofe out of Darkness, fend forth by thine Influ

ences

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ences on our Hearts thy Light and thy Truth, that they may lead and Sect. 148. bring us to thine holy Hill; (Pfal. xliii. 3.) and that we may have the Satisfaction of knowing whither we go, even when we walk thro' the dark Valley of the Shadow of Death (Pfal. xxiii. 4.)

SECT. CXLIX.

John's Reflection on the Infidelity of the Jews. As CHRIST
was returning the next Morning to Jerufalem, he curfes
the barren Fig-tree. John XII.
John XII. 37,---43.
Mat. XXI.

18, 19.

Mark XI. 12,--- 14.

JOHN XII. 37.

BUT
fo many Miracles before
them, yet they believed not
on him:

JOHN XII. 37.

37.•

UT tho' he had done NOW fuch was the Perverseness of the Jews, Sect. 149. and fuch the Prejudice they had conceived against our Lord, that tho' he had fufficiently John XLI.. declared himself to be the true Meffiah, and tho' he had done fo many undeniable and glorious Miracles at this and other Times before them, in their most publick Places and most numerous Affemblies; yet the greater Part of them were hardened in their Infidelity, and notwithstanding all that he had faid and done, they did not generally believe on him as the Meffiah.. So 38 that the Saying of Ifaiah the Prophet was plainly fulfilled and verified in them (a), which he spake in the Name of Chrift and of his Servants, referring exprefsly to the Gofpel Times, (Ifa. liii. 1.) Lord, who hath believed our Report? and to "whom hath the Arm of the Lord been so effectually revealed or made bare (b), as to conquer

38 That the Saying of Efaias the Prophet might be fulfilled, which he fpake, Lord, who hath believed our Report? and to whom hath the Arm of the Lord

been revealed ?

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"thofe

(a) So that the Saying of Isaiah was fulfilled.] It is apparent, (as the late judicious Mr.. Jeffery has obferved, in his True Grounds &c. pag. 110.) that the Accomplishment of this: Prophecy could not be the End they propofed to themselves in their Unbelief; and confequently, that the Expreffion wa wanpon must be rendered, as it is here: Which may be applied to feveral other Paffages, and fhews, by the way, how precarious that Remark of Mr. Pierce is, by which he would make that Phrafe an Argument, that the Scripture introduced by it is quoted, not in any Inftance by way of Accommodation, but always according to its original Defign and literal Meaning.

(b) Hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed ?] I apprehend this Phrafe may allude to the Habit generally worn by the Easterns, and efpecially by Perfons of Rank, which was a

long

312

Sect. 149.

John XII. 39.

The Prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in them.

"those strong Prejudices, which Men have en-
tertained against thine appointed Method of
"Salvation?"

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39 Therefore they could Efaias faid again,

40 He hath blinded their Eyes, and hardened their

Heart; that they should not fee with their Eyes, nor underftand with their Heart, and be converted, and Í

And for this Reason they were now in a manner utterly incapable of believing, because many of not believe, because that them having long wilfully oppofed the most fufficient and proper Methods of Conviction, were at length given up by GoD to a judicial Hardnefs and Blindness; [as] the fame Prophet Isaiah 40 Jays elsewhere, (Ifa. vi. 10.) "He, i. e. GOD, bas in righteous Judgment blinded their Eyes, " and hardened their Hearts (c), left they should (as he adds in the Name of GOD) fee with "their Eyes, and understand with their Hearts, "and be converted, and I should heal and fave them, which after fuch obftinate Perverseness "I am determined that I never will." (Compare Mat. xiii. 14, 15. Vol. i. pag. 398. and Acts 41 xxviii. 27.) Thefe Things Ifaiah Spake, when be Jaw his Glory (d), i. e. the Glory of Chrift, who was then the Medium of the Divine Manifestation, and Spake of him and of his Times, in

the

fhould heal them.

41 Thefe Things faid Efaias, when he faw his Glory, and fpake of him.

long Robe without Sleeves; fo that when the Arm was ftretched out, to perform any Action which required Strength, it would appear uncovered. (Compare Ifa. lii. 10.) In this Connection, it seems ftrongly to imply, that whenever true Faith is produced in the Mind, it is to be confidered as the Effect of a Divine Energy. See Eph. i. 19. and Col. ii. 12.

(c) He has blinded their Eyes, and hardened their Hearts.] As GOD is faid to harden the Heart of Pharoah in one Place, while in another it is faid he hardened his own Heart (Exod. ix. 12. and viii. 15, 32.) and as we ought to be very tender of afcribing to GoD any thing, that looks like a neceffitating Influence to impel Men to Sin; I apprehend that all we are here to understand by GOD's blinding and hardening thefe Jews is, that he permitted them to grow more and more prejudiced against the Gofpel, and for wife Reasons acted in fuch a Manner, as he knew would in Fact be abufed by them to an Increase of those Prejudices. The Learned, by confulting the Originals of the Places below, may fee Inftances of a Phrafeology nearly resembling, and illuftrating this. Compare Lev. xiii. 3. Ezek. xiii. 19, 22. xiv. 9. xx. 25. Gen. xli. 13. Fer. i. 10. iv. 20. and A&s x. 15. where a Perfon is faid to do, what he permits, or what he declares or foretells.-The Evangelift in this Quotation has not confined himself exactly to the Words of the Prophet, but the Senfe is plainly the fame; and nothing was more ufual with the Jews, than to quote Scripture in this Way. See Surenbufius, de Formulis allegandi, pag. 367.

(d) When he faw his Glory.] Thefe Words feem fo plainly to refer to Chrift, that I cannot but approve the Argument, which the learned Bishop Pearfon draws from Ifa. vi. 1. to prove that Chrift was the Jehovah that spoke to the Prophet. (Pearf. on the Creed, pag. 125.) Dr. Clarke indeed explains it of feeing the Father's Glory: (Script. Doctr. of the Trin. pag. 58.) But it is difficult to fay on that Suppofition, what the Evangelift intended by adding that Claufe, [and Spake of him :] And it would be quite unexampled to fuppofe, that aus has two fuch different Significations in the fame Line, as that the Meaning fhould be, he faw the Father's Glory, and fpake of the Son. See Vitringa on Ifa. vi. I. pag. 142, & feq.

(e) That

The Rulers that believe, are afraid to confefs him.

42 Nevertheless, among believed on him; but be

the chief Rulers alfo, many caufe of the Pharifees they did not confess him, left they should be put out of the Synagogue.

313 the awful Words which are mentioned above, and Sect. 149. which had their terrible Accomplishment in the Men of this Generation.

Nevertheless, at this very Time there were many John XII. even of the Rulers themselves, who were inwardly 42. convinced that he was the Meffiah, and believed on him as fuch, ftill expecting that he would by fome furprizing Providence be raised to the Throne of Ifrael; but they did not think it convenient as yet, to confefs the Convictions of their own Hearts concerning [him,] on Account of the declared Enmity of the Pharifees against him, left by them they should be caft out of the Synagogue, and be exposed to the great Ignominy and fecular Detriment, which neceffarily attended fuch a Sen43 For they loved the tence. For they were fuch thoughtless and 43 Praife of Men more than mean-fpirited Creatures, that they loved the Praife

the Praise of GOD.

Ap. 3:7

MARK XI. 12. And on

the Morrow [in the Morning] when they were come from Bethany, [as he returned into the City,] he was hungry. [MAT. XXI. 18.]

of Men, more than the Praife of GOD; and
durft not face the Contempt of their Fellow-
Mortals, even to secure the Approbation of their
Maker. (Compare John v. 44. Vol. i. pag. 301.)
This was the State of Things at Jerufalem, and
this the Effect of Chrift's Entrance into it, as
related above.

12.

But tho' the Malice of his Enemies was known Mark XI. to Jefus, and he was fenfible they were contriving to destroy him, yet on the Morrow Morning he again fet out with his Difciples for Jerufalem : And when they were come from Bethany, as be returned into the City, he was very hungry; having come out early without eating, that he might neither incommode his Friends, nor break in 13 And feeing a Fig-tree his fecret or publick Devotions (e). And as 13 [in the Way] afar off, hav- he was now on the Way, feeing a Fig-tree at a ing confiderable

And pon

(e) That he might neither incommode his Friends, &c.] This muft certainly have been the Reafon of our Lord's Hunger; for none can imagine, that the hofpitable and most senfibly obliged Family of Lazarus would otherwife have fuffered Jefus to come out without eating; or that if he had eaten that Morning, he would have been fo hungry before he had walked two Miles, as to go out of the Way to gather Figs. To me there appears an inexpreffible Charm in this oblique Hint; it fhews how little the Evangelifts were inclined to enter into Panegyricks or Reflections on the excellent Character of their Mafter; and is a Specimen of that Simplicity and Modefty, which might, independent on other Arguments, almost compell the Affent of Perfons of a like Temper, to the wonderful Story which they relate in fo genuine and unaffected a Manner. VOL. II.

Rr

(f) The

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