SECTION IV. short time. JOHN ii. 12. Julian Period, 4740. After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his Capernaum. Vulgar Æra, mother, and his brethren, and his disciples : and they 27. continued there not many days ". SECTION V. JOHN ii, 13, to the end. Jerusalem. 13 The expression, not many days, is used in Acts i. 5. In that passage it denotes ten days only, being the interval between the Ascension and the day of Pentecost. 14 We are informed by Josephus (a), that a stranger was not allowed to pass into the holy place, that is, into the second court of the temple, where the Jews and circumcised proselytes, when not legally unclean, were admitted. The third court was without the sacred limits, and divided from the other by little pillars, or columns, with this inscription-My deiv Módulov εντός τ8 “Αγία παριέναι, and the reason is assigned, το γαρ δευτερόν ίερον "Αγιον εκαλείτο. This part of the temple was intended for the Jews who were unclean, and the devout Gentiles, the Proselytes of the Gate. Although the Jews held the Gentiles in the greatest contempt, stigmatizing them with the opprobrious epithet of “ dogs," refusing all intercourse or familiarity with them, still we find them so inconsistent as to suffer them to carry on, even in the very preciocts of their temple, in the courts appointed for the Gentiles, a traffic in oxen, sheep, and doves, which were required by the worshippers, for their sacritices and purifications. In every age of the Jewish Church many proselytes of the Gate united themselves to the congregation of Israel: but in consequence of the constant merchandize going on, which must be attributed to the negligence of the governors of the temple, the devout Gentiles were at all times disturbed in their devotions, and at the greater festivals must have been nearly or altogether excluded from the place of worship. It was worthy then of the Messiah, to commence his public ministry, by cleansing the temple, by driving from it the profane and worldly; an action, by which he declared himself at once the Lord of the temple, and the protector of all those from among the mass of mankind, who sought him in the way he had appointed. It was impossible that the composure of spirit, and serenity of mind, which are necessary to the duty of prayer (6) could have been preserved among the loud talking and disputing of buyers and sellers, the jingling of money, the lowing of oxen, and the bleating of sheep. Yet it was among these only that the Gentile worshippers could find admission. Our Lord's motive, in the second instance, for thus cleansing the temple, is given by St. Mark, xi. 17. which passage, says the learned Mede, Julian Pe 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and Temple at riod, 4740. sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting : Jerusalem. , 27. 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen ; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables ; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandize. 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. 18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou dost these things? 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them ; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in senses. ought to be translated—My house shall be called a house of This action of our Lord was a visible and open mani- (a) De bello Judaico, lib. 6. chap. vi. Mede's works, p. 44. fol. Camb. 1677. (6) That great master of our noble language, Jeremy Taylor, in his second sermon on the return of prayers, has this beautiful passage :-Prayer is the peace of our spirit, the stillness of our thoughts, the evenness of recollection, the seat of meditation, the rest of our cares, and the calm of our tempest. Prayer is the issue of a quiet mind, and untroubled thoughts ; it is the daughter of charity-it is the sister of meekness; and he that prays to God with a troubled and discomposed spirit, is like him that retires into a battle to meditate, or chooses a frontier garrison to indulge in contemplation.- Taylor's Discourses, &c. vol. i. p. 88. Longman's edit. 1807. (c) Vide Mede's sermon on this text-Works, fol. p. 41. (d) Vide Archbishop Newcome's notes to bis Harmony of the New Testament, p. 7. Jalian Pe- the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw Temple at riod, 4740. the miracles which he did. Jerusalem. Vulgar Æra, 27. 24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, beThe first cause he knew all men, Passover. 25 And needed not that any should testify of man : for he knew what was in man. SECTION VI. Conversation of Christ with Nicodemus "5. JOHN iii. 1-21. 1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, Jerusalem. a ruler of the Jews : 15 The conversation of our Lord with Nicodemus, has given rise to more discussion and controversy than any other passage of the New Testament. This circumstance, indeed, ought not to excite surprize. On the interpretation of this passage depend the most important decisions, which can engage the attention of a Christian. The questions how, or when, we are first admitted into covenant with God—the necessity of the means of grace—the efficacy and meaning of the sacramentswith many more interesting considerations, are essentially connected with the interpretation given to the conversation of our Lord with one of the heads of the Jewish Sanhedrim. The occason was such as to justify the expectation that some new and important doctrine would be revealed to the world; suited alike to the state of mind, the condition of the inquirer, and the sublimity of the Messiah's character and office. This doc. trine was the absolute necessity of Regeneration, or being born again. The various interpretations given to our Lord's address may be reduced to two principal divisions: one class of Christians believes that regeneration is a spiritual change wrought upon any person, whether an infant, or an adult, in the right use of baptism, whereby he is translated from a spiritual state in Adam, to a spiritual state in Christ. They believe that regeneration is so appropriated to baptism, as to exclude any other new birth, which is not considered in conjunction with that ordinance. They believe that the water is an outward and visible sign, of an inward and spiritual grace which attends the administration of the sacrament of baptism: and the consequence of baptism is, that the baptized person is taken into covenant with God, and is admitted into a different state with respect to God, than he was at his natural birth. He was born a child of wrath, he is now a child of God-he is washed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and obtains the privileges of an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. Another class of Christians, on the contrary, believe that regeneration is a change which takes place at some uncertain period of life, when, by the mercy of God, the heart is changed, and the sinner becomes a new man, possessed of new perceptions, affections, and dispositions; and becomes capable of employments, and satisfactions, to which he was before a stranger. He can frequently, some assert that he can always tell, the very moment when the change was effected. This re Julian Pe 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Jerusalem. nature and reasonable faculties of man, effected by the power Such are the two divisions of opinion, which I have endea- One chief cause of the difficulty which has attended the interpretation of this passage, is, the apparent abruptness of our Lord's address. Some suppose (a) that a part of the conversation is omitted. Others (6), that our Lord reproved the timidity of the Jewish teacher, by declaring immediately on the attempt of Nicodemus to begin a conversation, that whoever would be his disciple must come to his baptism, and publicly profess his religion. Others, that our Lord perceived at once the object of Nicodemus's visit, that it was to enquire concerning the Messiah's kingdom; and, in reference to this, immediately began his conversation, “ Except a man be born again." -Another difficulty arises from the surprize of Nicodemus at the mention of the new birth; whereas this was a subject with which he must have been well acquainted, as the Jews were accustomed to call their proselytes, after they bad been baptized, “new born children.” Ön whatever account our Lord thus addressed Nicodemus, the purport of his conversation is evident. He relates the manner in which a man must enter the kindom of God. On such a subject the Jewish leader must have entertained the potions wbich were common to his countrymen. It will be necessary, then, to understand thorongbly the object which our Lord bad in view, and to ascertain what were the previous ideas of Nicodemus, respecting that change by which a man was admitted into covenant with God. It must be con Julian Pe- for no man can do these miracles that thou dost, except Jerusalem. cluded, that as Nicodemus was a master in Israel, he must have The Jews believed that Abraham before his call was an If any one shall persuade another to embrace the true religion, it is as if he had created bim anew (d). A priest was made a new creature, by the oil which was poured upon his head, at his inauguration into his office (e). A man wbo is newly born does not immediately receive the spirit from above until he is circumcised. But when he is circumcised the spirit is poured upon him with a heavenly effusion. When he has become a youth, and studies the law, a greater effusion is poured out upon bim. When he observes the precepts of the law, a greater effusion is poured out upon him. When he is established in life, and trains up his family in the |