John VII. 36. all feek me, and shall not 54 Reflections on the fatal Tendency of Error. Sect. 100. the Idolatrous Gentiles, after his being thus rejected by his own Nation at Home and Abroad? What [fort of] Saying is this, which he has now Spoken, You shall feek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, you cannot poffibly come? Thus they continued cavilling at his Words; yet were fo over-awed by his Prefence, that they did not dare to offer him any Violence, notwithstanding the Commiffion with which fome of them came. John vii. 26, 27. Ver. 28. Ver. 29. Ver. 34. S 36 What manner of Saying is this that he faid, Ye find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come? IMPROVEMENT. confident is Error in its own Decifions, and fo vain in its SelfApplaufes! These Unhappy People, every Way mistaken, censure their Rulers for a fuppofed Credulity, in feeming, as it were, to acquiefce in Christ's Claim to be the Meffiah; and imagined themselves, no doubt, exceeding wife in rejecting him, while they blindly took it for granted, he was the Son of Jofeph, and had not Patience to wait for the authentic Story of his miraculous Conception. Surely Men had need to look well to the Force of those Arguments, on which they venture their Souls, by rejecting the Gospel. Our Lord answered their fecret Reasoning, in a Manner which might justly have alarmed them; charging them with Ignorance of that GOD, whom they pretended to know, and whom they claimed as theirs. And oh, that it may not be found at last, that many who have appeared most confident of their Interest in GOD, neither know him, nor are known by him! The Bleffed Jefus, who is the Brightness of his Glory, and the express Image of his Perfon, has the compleatest Knowledge of the Father. May we be fo wife and happy, as to feek Instructions from him, that the Eyes of our Understandings may be inlightened, and the Temper of our Hearts proportionably regulated, by all the Discoveries of the Divine Being which he makes! May we learn this Heavenly Wisdom in Time, fince the Hour is approaching, when Chrift will be fought in vain, and all Correfpondence between him and Sinners will be finally cut off! Where he is, they cannot then come; and to be excluded from him, will at length appear infupportable Mifery, even to those, who with proud Folly, and fatal Selffufficiency, are now moft ready to fay unto him, Depart from us, for we defire not the Knowledge of thee, or thy Ways. (Job xxi. 14.) SECT. CHRIST invites them to come, and receive the Spirit from him. SECT. CI. CHRIST invites his Hearers to come, and imbibe the Spirit from him; and by thefe, and other gracious Difcourfes, difarms the Refolution of the Officers, who return to the Sanhedrim without him; where a fhort Debate arifes between Nicodemus and his Brethren. John VII. 37, to the End. JOHN VII. 37. IN unto me, and drink. SUCH JOHN VII. 37. ; 55 John VII. 37. UCH were the Difcourfes which our Lord Sect. 10 made to the People, in the Prefence of those, who were fent by the Sanhedrim to feize him and this happened in the eighth and laft Day, that great [Day] of the Feast of Tabernacles, when, according to the Institution of Mofes, (Lev. xxiii. 34, 36. Numb. xxix. 35.) there was to be an holy Convocation, attended with fome extraordinary Sacrifices. Now on this Day, when it was customary for the Priests to furround the Altar with their Palm-Branches, and to pour out Water in the Temple, as an Expreffion of the general Defire of the Meffiah's Appearance, and the pouring forth of the Spirit by him (a), Jefus food on an Eminence, that he might be the better heard and feen, and proclaimed with a loud Voice, faying, If any Man thirst, i. e. if he ardently defire true Happiness, and long for the Bleffings promised under the Adminiftration of the Meffiah, let him come unto me by Faith, and drink his Fill; for I am most ready freely to communicate them, and particularly thofe Supplies of the Spirit, which you seem so earnestly to defire. (Compare Ifa. Iv. 1.) For (a) When it was cuftomary for the Priests to pour out Water, &c.] That there was a Cuftom on this Day of drawing Water out of the Fountain of Siloam, and pouring it out" before the Lord in the Temple, at the Time of Evening Sacrifice; and that the Priest who did it food on fome Eminence, the Jewish Rabbi's unanimoufly affure us. (See Reland's Antiq. Heb. part. iv. cap. 6. §. 6.)—Some think, it was intended, to fupplicate the former Rain: But the Context inclines me much rather to believe thofe Jewish Writers, produced by Dr. Lightfoot, (in his Hor. Heb. on this Place,) who fay, it was meant, as a Way of invoking the Divine Influences of the Bleffed Spirit, and as a Mark of their Defire of having it poured out upon them. See Tremellius's excellent Note on this Text. (b) As John VII. 38. 56 Sect. 101. For he that truly believeth on me, as the Scripture bath in many Places faid and promifed (b), fhall receive thofe Supplies in fo great an Abundance, that he shall not only be refreshed himself, but out. of his Belly, or from within him (c), shall flow vital Streams, and as it were Rivers of living Water, for the Refreshment and Comfort of others. The People are divided in their Sentiments about him. 39 40 41 38 He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath flow Rivers of living Water. faid, out of his Belly fhall 39 (But this fpake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him, should receive: for the Holy Ghoft was not yet given, because that Jefus was not yet glorified.) Now this, which was true in a more extensive Senfe, be peculiarly spake of the Spirit (d), which they who believed on him fhould receive, and which fome of them should also be enabled to communicate to others. But it was not then generally understood; for the Holy Spirit was not yet [given] in that extraordinary Manner, because Jefus was not yet glorified; and it was the wife and gracious Purpose of GOD, to fend him down on the Church, after the Afcenfion of Jefus, as a triumphant Conqueror, into the Prefence of his Father. (See Eph. iv. 7,-12. John xvi. 7. and Acts ii. 33.) Then many of the People, when they heard this gracious Saying, which was indeed a more free Declaration and Profeffion than he commonly made, faid, Surely this [Man] is at least a Prophet (e), and probably comes to introduce the Meffiah. And others faid, Nay, this is certainly the Meffiab himself: But fome objected and said, Shall the the Chrift. But fome faid, Meffiab 40 Many of the People therefore, when they heard this Saying, faid, Of a Truth this is the Prophet. 41 Others faid, This is Shall (b) As the Scripture hath in many Places faid and promifed.] Chryfoftom, and after him many other eminent Criticks, refer this to the former Claufe, and understand it, as if he had faid, He that hath that Faith in me, which the Scripture requires: (See Caftalio, Zegerus, and Fac. Cappellus in loc.) And thus they avoid the Difficulty, which arifes from our not finding the following Words in Scripture. But it feems much more natural, with Grotius, to fuppofe, that here is a general Reference to the feveral Prophecies, which refer to the Effufion of the Spirit by the Meffiah under the Similitude of pouring out Water; and accordingly I have paraphrafed the Words in that View of the Connection. See Ifa. lii. 15. xliv. 3. Iviii. 11. and Joel ii. 28. (c) Out of his Belly, or from within him.] The Belly is frequently put for the Mind, or Heart. Compare Job xv. 35. xx. 20. and Prov. xx. 27, 30.-It fometimes fignifies in a more general Way, the Inward Part of a Thing; (1 Kings vii. 20. Mat. xii. 40.) and may perhaps have fome Allufion here to the Prominency of that capacious Golden Vafe, from which the Water was now poured out in a large Stream. (d) This he spake of the Spirit.] It is ftrange, that, when the Evangelift has thus plainly commented on thefe Words of Chrift, a late eminent Writer fhould venture to advance a different Interpretation, and explain them as spoke of the Doctrine of the Gospel. (e) Surely this Man is a Prophet.] As the Article is prefixed, it might feem natural to render it the Prophet, were it not afterwards diftinguished from the Chrift. On this Account I conclude, that here, as alfo John i. 21. o @poons fignifies only a Prophet, i. e. one of the antient Prophets revived. See Sect. 20. Note (c), Vol. i. pag. 117, 118. (f) A The Officers admire his Preaching, and return without him. Shall Chrift come out of Galilee? 42 Hath not the Scripture faid, That Chrift cometh of the Seed of David, and out of the Town of Bethlehem, where David was? 43 So there was a Divifion among the People be caufe of him. 44 And fome of them would have taken him; but 57 John VII. Meffiah come out of Galilee, as we know this Jefus Sect. 101. And the Officers alfo, who had been fent to 44 45 Then came the Officers to the Chief Priests and to them, Why have ye not brought him? Pharifees; and they faid un 46 The Officers answer this Man. Then the Officers came back to the Chief Priests 45 The Officers replied, We could not find in our 46 Then (f) A warm Diffention.] So I apprehend the Word Exopa always fignifies. And thus the Word Schifm, which is juft the fame, (with an English Termination,) expreffes, not merely, nor neceffarily, a Separation from each other, but an angry Debate, whether it be, or be not, attended with Separation. (g) No Man ever fpake, as this Man doth.] Plutarch mentions it as a memorable Proof of the extraordinary Eloquence of Mark Anthony, when Marius fent Soldiers to kill him, that when he began wapaileas Tov Javalov, to plead for his Life, he difarmed their Refolution, and melted them into Tears. (Plutarch. Vit. pag. 431.) But these Officers are thus vanquished, merely by hearing Chrift's gracious Difcourfes to the People, which is a Circumftance much more remarkable. They return in a Kind of Amaze, and instead of seizing him as their Prifoner, or making a laboured Apology for their Failure, only break out into a pathetick Exclamation, that no Man in the World ever fpake like him. It is a Reflection, which I hope we often make, as we read his Difcourfes. VOL. II. H (b) Have 58 Sect. 101. John VII. 47. The Pharifees are angry, but Nicodemus ftands up for him. 47 Then anfwered them deceived? 48 Have any of the Ru lieved on him? Then the Pharifees, far from being softened by the Account they gave them, anfwered them in the Pharifees, Are ye also a fcornful and upbraiding Way, What, are you alfo deceived by his artful and popular Address? Surely you cannot be fo weak, as to be thus infa48 tuated? Pray confider the Conduct of those, who are most capable of judging of this Point: lers, or of the Pharifees beHave any of the Rulers believed on him, or [any] of the Pharifees of a more private Station (b)? Yet you know, these are most eminent for their Acquaintance with Religion, and the most authentic Interpreters of the Sacred Writings in which it is 49 contained: But this wretched Herd of People, who are fo inchanted with him, know and regard not any thing of the true Meaning of the Law, and it is eafy to be feen, are curfed with a judicial Blindness, and given up to the most abfurd and fatal Miftake (i). 50 Upon this Nicodemus, whom we before have from 49 But this People, who knoweth not the Law, are curfed. 50 Nicodemus faith unto them, (he that came to Jefus by Night, being one of them,) 51 Doth our Law judge any Man before it hear him, and know what he doth ? (b) Have any of the Rulers believed on him, or any of the Pharifees, &c ?] I cannot think, with Grotius, that this is any Intimation, that if there were any of the great Council, who had favourable Thoughts of Jefus, they were the Sadducees. The Interpretation of the Paraphrafe is much eafier. There is no Reason to believe, any of the Sadducees were inclined to receive the Gofpel; and if the Pharifees had fecretly fufpected them of fuch an Inclination, they would hardly have affronted them by fuch an Infinuation in this grand Affembly, confidering the high Rank in which many of that Sect were. (i) This People, who know not the Law, are curfed.] I cannot think, with Grotius, that this refers to Deut. xxvii. 26. and is built on a Suppofition, that the Ignorance of the Populace muft always expose them to a Curfe. It rather intimates an Apprehenfion, that God had given them up to a Spirit of fatal Infatuation. Inftances of their Contempt of the common People may be feen in Lightfoot, (Hor. Hebr. in loc.) and Vitringa. (Obferv. Sacr. lib. iii. cap. 2. pag. 498.) (k) Doth our Law, which you boast fo much Acquaintance with.] Soft as thefe Words feem, there is a fevere Sting in them; and they, in Effect, amount to a Charge, that while they profeffed fuch Knowledge of the Law, and Zeal for it, they either knew not, or regarded not, fome of its plaineft Precepts, and were even unmindful of thofe, which, as they were a Court of Judicature, were their peculiar Concern. |