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temple in building. Or, forty six years has this temple been in building. Herod commenced it about sixteen years before Christ, who was now thirty years old. The main part of the edifice was finished in nine years and a half, but the out-buildings and additions occupied many years more, so that even long after our Lord's day, 18,000 workmen, according to Josephus, were discharged at one time, and, for want of work, spread disorder in the land, and hastened the last fatal conflict with Rome. Wilt thou rear it. The old Syriac version represents them as saying, "Wilt thou rear it up in three days; -thou, it?" as if " the finger and eye of the scornful Jews glanced from the person of the despised and lowly Galilean, to that proud and massive building, which they imagined was to endure forever."

21, 22. The temple of his body. In which God more fully dwelt than in the temple of Herod, the splendid structure of marble and gold. Col. ii. 9. The words of Jesus were long after brought up as an accusation against him, when he was tried before the Sanhedrim, but without the construction here given. It is very unusual for the evangelists to offer explanations. His disciples remembered, &c. When the prediction was made, it was not understood; but afterwards, when it was fulfilled, the sense occurred to their minds. If Jesus had said plainly, that he should be put to death, and should rise again on the third day, instead of thus in

tentionally veiling the fact in an obscure figure of speech, he would have drawn down upon him immediate danger, and perhaps death. Scripture, i. e. the Hebrew Scriptures. Word. The verbal declaration of our Lord.

23. What follows, from this verse, is connected with the next chapter by Olshausen.-Many believed — when they saw the miracles. This was perfectly natural. Miracles were designed to create belief, to arouse the sluggish, imbruted soul, and make it thrill before the tokens of divine power. Although the evangelist John does not relate so many cases of miracles, as the others, yet he dwells more emphatically than any one upon their great use, as producing faith in Jesus, as the Christ, the Son of God; and he narrates enough to effect his object, and those, moreover, in several instances, that are supplementary to the previous histories, as the making of the water into wine, the cures of the cripple, and the blind man at Jerusalem, and the raising of Lazarus from the dead; which underwent the searching investigation of the unbelieving Jews.

24, 25. Did not commit himself. Animated with enthusiasm, the people were ready to raise the banner of their new king, and go forth conquering and to conquer. But Jesus came for a different purpose, and he avoided being entangled in any such temporal, political movements. The expressions here used imply the newness of Jesus' ministry and doctrine,

THERE

and strengthen the view that this was not, as some maintain, the last passover, spoken of in Mat. xxi. — Knew what was in man. Knew the inward man. This power was delegated to him, by the Omniscient Father, as an important instrument of his mission. It deepens our faith in Christianity, as the religion intended for the whole world, to recollect that its Great Preacher was perfectly familiar with the wants, and woes, and sins of men, and knew how to temper the awful mysteries of God, the mighty truths of eternity, to the present tenderness and weakness of the heart, as well as to its vast and unfolding energies. Man, rent with passion, stained with sin, or bleeding with sorrow, reposes, as the beloved disciple at the last supper, on the bosom of such a Saviour, with a delighted, childlike confidence.

Jesus had a profound knowledge of human nature, and human character. He knew man, and men; both the original powers, and the acquired peculiarities. Hence the value of his eulogy on childhood, Mark x. 14, 15, and the marvellous adaptation of his spiritual instructions to different classes and individuals.

It would be an omission here, not to take notice of the benevolent use, to which Jesus ever applied his knowledge of mankind. While the brilliant poet, the ambitious warrior, the artful statesman, and the unscrupulous money-maker, are so often guilty of employing their acquaintance with the human heart, to further their own sensual or selfish purposes, our holy

Master touched the secret springs of our nature, only to bless and heal. He lighted the pure flame of love and truth on the altar of the soul, not the smouldering fires of lust and passion. He dealt as a brother with erring brethren, and never took advantage of their weakness or ignorance. God give us grace to imitate this magnanimous trait of our high Exemplar!

CHAPTER III.

The desire has, perhaps, at some time, crossed our minds, while reading the various conversations of Jesus, that we possessed the history of such an interview, as he would have been likely to hold with an intelligent, devout, and candid Jew, in his retired and quiet hours. That wish is gratified in the following narration. We here see, how Jesus was ready to meet and instruct those who would attentively listen to him. This account is introduced, as a signal illustration of the last verses of the preceding chapter, and should not have been separated from them.

1. Nicodemus, a ruler, i. e. a member of the great national council, or Sanhedrim, and, therefore, a man of high rank and influence. Nothing is known, with certainty, of Nicodemus, except that here and there a casual incident is related of him in the progress of this wonderful history. But his character possesses a marked individuality, which allows it not to be confounded with others. Though naturally timid, his honest love of the truth, tinctured, perhaps,

partially with the fond Jewish expectation of a temporal Messiah, constrained him, despite the pride of a learned caste, and the prevailing prejudice against the Galilean Prophet, to visit Jesus in private, to defend him in public before the Sanhedrim, and to assist in paying him the last funeral honors. Still it has been conjectured, with reason, that he was not destitute of ambitious hopes of personal preferment, if the new kingdom should be established.

2. Came to Jesus by night. Chap. vii. 50, xix. 39. Probably, his want of moral courage led him to resort to Jesus under the vail of darkness, though he might also select the night as the most favorable time for a long and quiet conversation. - Rabbi This was a title of respect, and in some places is rendered Master. A teacher come from God. He acknowledges the divine authority of Jesus, though he assigns him no higher rank than that of a teacher, or prophet, not that of the expected Messiah. These miracles that thou doest, &c. We have here the valuable acknowledgment of a Jewish ruler, of the reality of our Lord's miracles, and the not less valuable inference which he draws from them, that they attested his mission to be from God. In discussing the great subject of miracles, as evidences of authority from on high, the view, here presented by Nicodemus, deserves our attention.

3. Jesus answered. His reply was directed, as many have remarked, not so much to any thing which Nicodemus had said, as to his state of mind, which was intimately known to our

Saviour.- Verily, verily. Expressing the strongest affirmation. Except a man be born again, &c. The margin reads, "born from above." The difference is not material. To be born again, was the customary phrase among the Jews, to describe the change, through which a Gentile passed, to embrace their religion. When the proselyte was introduced to a knowledge of the worship and love of the one true God, he became, as it were, "a new creature." This idea of a second moral birth also prevails elsewhere in the east; thus we are told, that the Sanscrit name of a brahmin is duija, the twice-born. The Jews, whose religious prejudices Nicodemus shared, supposed themselves to be already prepared for their Messiah's kingdom by virtue of their descent from Abraham. But Jesus teaches, that in order to become his disciples, they must pass through a change, as great as that of a Gentile convert to Judaism - they must be born again-they must be regenerated, — and, instead of a formal adherence to rites and ceremonies, must be brought, in heart and life, under the dominion of the spiritual laws of God. He thus spoke to the inmost thoughts, though not to the words, of the Jewish ruler, and showed, that he knew what was in man. Chap. ii. 25. We see, therefore, that in this celebrated passage, he did not argue, in general and abstract terms, the Christian doctrine of regeneration, but addressed himself directly to the heart of his hearer. In this particularity and adaptation to the precise case before him, Jesus is unequalled as a teacher.

4. How can a man be born when he is old? Nicodemus criticises the phrase, being born again, as if he did not understand its import; and absurdly speaks of it in its bald and literal sense. Is it uncharitable to deem this as the vail, under which his prejudices sought to withdraw from direct contact with the unwelcome truth, then propounded?

5. Jesus answered, &c. "He speaks again, only to touch again the point of the noble, but irresolute and timeserving inquirer's deficiency. Except a man be born of water'-be baptized into an open profession of his faith-except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' The great obstacle in the way of Nicodemus, was his worldly pride, ambition, subserviency to the world; and our Saviour lays the stress precisely there; he tells the Jewish ruler, that if he would be a Christian, he must throw away these vain compromises with the world, and be an open, bold, and decided professor of Christianity. Religion, to him, was to be a victory over worldly fears and compliances." -DEWEY.-And of the Spirit. Rom. ii. 28, 29. This signifies born again, as above, only a new expression is selected by way of contrast to being born of water. "By being born of the Spirit, is meant, having a new character formed through those good influences upon the mind, direct and indirect, of which God is the source. In the style of Scripture, all good moral influences are referred to the Spirit of God. This Spirit, the invisible en

ergy by which God is drawing men to goodness, is around us as well as within us. It does not merely operate upon the mind, in directly imparting light and strength; its power is to be felt in the works and providence of God, in our natural sentiments of right and wrong, in the events of life, and in all the truths, which revelation makes known to us. It is to be acknowledged in whatever enlarges our conceptions of duty, raises our affections, gives us strength to resist temptation, or animates us in any good purpose. In the passage before us, our Saviour, I conceive, had particular reference to the truths and motives of Christianity, as the means which God was employing to effect the moral renovation of men; and to those direct influences upon the mind, which, as we believe, accompanied the reception of the Christian faith."- NORTON. If these and the following remarks be true, this conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus, furnishes no support to the doctrine of a supernatural, mysterious, instantaneous, and irresistible regeneration by the Holy Spirit, but insists on that moral and spiritual change of the principles and affections, in order to become a disciple of Christ, in which man and God are co-workers.

6. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh. Like produces like. Man is naturally born into a life of the senses, in which the chief objects of interest and pursuit are visible and earthly. But he is spiritually born into a spiritual life, in which the leading aim and affections are of a

spiritual and immortal nature; so that by the flesh, is here meant what is corrupt, and perishable, and by the Spirit, what is pure, divine, and everlasting. Some suppose an allusion to be made here to the Jewish boast, of being by blood the descendants of Abraham.

7. Marvel not. Perhaps Nicodemus expressed wonder and astonishment in his countenance and manner, as well as in the language of ver. 4. Cyril remarks, that our Lord's reprehensions in this conversation, in some respects more severe than ordinary, are to be understood as directed, not so much against Nicodemus, as against the guides and instructors of the age, the class to which Nicodemus belonged.

8. Wind. The same word in the original, that is elsewhere translated spirit. Thomson suggests, that a sudden blast may have blown at this moment, and given rise to the illustration of the text.- So is every one, i. e. so is every one born. The coming of spiritual influences to man, is beautifully described under the figure of the wind; for, like that, they move invisibly and mysteriously, and are only known by their effects. Luke xvii. 20, 21.

"Children of thee, we own

A new and heavenly birth;
Kindred to spirits round thy throne,
Though sojourners of earth.

"Born of thy Spirit, Lord,

Thy Spirit may we share;

Deep in our hearts inscribe thy word,
And place thine image there."

9, 10. How can these things be? A question of incredulous surprise and doubt.-A master of Israel. Rather, according to the Greek, the teacher of Israel, by way of eminence. The idea is, that his high standing as a religious instructor, should prevent his amazement at these simple truths.

11. We speak that we do know. Plural for the singular. The truths which Jesus had proclaimed, belonged to his inmost consciousness and experience. They were part of his life and being. The Jews, however, rejected his testimony, and would not receive him as a divinely-authorized teacher. Notwithstanding the dif ferences of belief among Christians respecting the precise state of the unregenerate man, and respecting the mode, time, and instrument of regeneration, yet none can doubt the necessity of a radical change of heart, before the bad can become good, the selfish disinterested, the impure holy, the dishonest upright, and the earthly-minded heavenly-minded. We should estimate our proficiency in the Christian course according to the thoroughness, with which, by the cooperation of God, this change goes on, reaching to every faculty of our nature, every trait of our character, and every act of our life, until we are completely transformed from the image of the earthly to the image of the heavenly. So only shall we be born again, born of the Spirit, born of God, and be prepared for the service and blessedness of an everlasting and