Jobo vii. 6. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet comé : Jerusalem.

but your time is always ready.
7. The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth, because

I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.
8. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this

feast ; for my time is not yet full come.
9. When he had said these words unto them, he abode

still in Galilee.
10. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also

up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Matt. xix.l. And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these say

ings,
Mark x. 1. he arose from thence,
Matt. xix. 1. he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of

Judea beyond Jordan :
Mark z. 1. by the farther side of Jordan : and the people resort unto

him again ; and as he was wont, he taught them again.

SECTION III.
Agitation of the Pub.ic Mind at Jerusalem concerning

Christ,

JOHN vii. 11. to the end. and viï. 1.
John vii. 11. Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said,

Where is he?
12. And there was much murmuring among the people

bis wonderful works might be generally known and witnessed.
But they understood not that his hour was not yet come; and,
to avoid giving offence, or attracting attention, he followed his
brethren to the feast in the most private manner. This I
consider the probable meaning of the passage. Diodati,
Clarke in his Paraphrase, and Lightfoot, vary in their interpre-
tation. Diodati supposes his brethren did not believe with suffi.
cient firmness to enable them to undergo danger. Clarke, that
bis brethren imagined that he wished to become the leader of a
party. Lightfoot, the same in effect as that which is here
adopted.

This section gives a lively picture of the divisions among the
Jews respecting Christ. They saw his miracles—they beard his
teaching--they were generally acquainted with bis history. Yet
they could not reconcile what they saw with their preconceived
notions of the Messiah. They rejected his claims, and could
not comprehend the spiritual meaning of our Lord's language.

The Christian's peculiar happiness and privilege is to see ful-
filled, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, all the various pre-
dictions of the ancient prophets, which appear at first sight so.
inconsistent, and so irreconcileable.

$ These sections are inserted here on the concurrent testi-
mony of Lightfoot, Newcome, Doddridge, and Pilkington.
They are inserted by Michaelis in an Appendix, as belonging to
the period which begins with the miracle of the feeding the five
thousand, and ends with the request of the mother of Žebodee's
ehildren.

16.

Jobnvii. 12. concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: Jerusalem.

others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.
13. Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the

Jews.
14.

Now about the midst of the feast "Jesus went up into
the temple, and taught.
15. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this
man letters, having never learned ?

Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not
mine, but his that sent me.
17. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doc-

trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
18.

He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory:
but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is

true, and no uprighteousness is in him.
19. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you

keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me ?
20. The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil?

who goeth about to kill thee?
21. Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one

work, and ye all marvel.
22. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision ; (not be-

cause it is of Moses, but of the fathers ;) and ye on the

sabbath day circumcise a man.
23. If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that

the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at
me because I have made a man every whit whole on the

sabbath-day?
24. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge

righteous judgment.
25. Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he,

whom they seek to kill?
26. But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto

him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very

Christ?
27. Howbeit we know this man whence he is : but when

Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
28. Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying,

Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: I am not
come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye

know not.
29. But I know him ; for I am from him, and he hath sent

me.
30.

Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands
on him, because his hour was not yet come.
31.

And many of the people believed on him, and said,
When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these

which this man hath done?
32.

The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such

you,

35.

Joha vii. 32. things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the Chief Jerusalem.

Priests sent officers to take him.
33. Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I

with and then I go unto him that sent me.
34. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me : and where I
am, thither ye cannot come.

Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he
go, that we shall not find him ? will he go unto the dis-
persed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles ?

What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall
seek me, and shall not find me : and where I am, 'thither

ye cannot come ?
37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood

and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto

me, and drink.
38. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said,

out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39. (But this he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe

on him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet

given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
40. Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this

saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
41. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall

Christ come out of Galilee?
42. Hath not the Scripture said, That Christ cometh of

the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem,

where David was ® ?
43. So there was a division among the people because of

him.
44. And some of them would have taken him, but no man

laid hands on him.
45. Then came the officers to the Chief Priests and Phari-

sees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought

him ?
46. The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
47. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also de-

ceived ?
48. Have

any

of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on
him?
49. But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed'.

6 The Jews, both from their traditions and their prophecies,
expected that their Messiah should be born in Bethlehem. As
our Lord's mother remained so short a time at Bethlehem after
our Saviour's birth, it is not surprising that they should have,
forgotten this circumstance, after more than thirty years bad
elapsed.

* How beautiful is the contrast between the humility of our Lord, and the half literary, half spiritual pride, of the Jews. Christ, whose knowledge of all things, both in heaven and earth, was superior to that of men and angels, and of which the human intellect cannot form an idea, even when it shall be

John vii. 50. Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by Jerusalem.

night, being one of them,).
51. Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and

know what he doth ?
52.

They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of
Galilee? Search, and look : for out of Galilee ariseth no

prophet.

53. And every man went unto his own house. John viii, 1. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

SECTION IV.
Conduct of Christ to the Adulteress and her Accusers ®.

JOHN viii. 2-11.
John viji. 2.

And early in the morning he came again into the temple: and all the people came unto him; and he sat down and taught them.

.

elevated and enlarged in the next stage of our existence, con-
descended to the lowest of the people, and called all who were
meek and lowly his friends. The Pharisees, on the con-
trary, mistook knowledge for religion, and believed in the future
happiness of the learned, and the condemnation of the igno-
rant. Those who had not devoted themselves to the study of
the law were called Tax Dy, the people of the earth: and these
were contrasted with the vnp by, the holy people: they con-
șidered the people of the earth as cursed (a).

All mankind, like the Phariseos of old, seem to be intent
upon despising each other. The learned contemn the ignorant

-the gay the sorrowful the rich the poor-and fashion vio-
Jently breaks asunder the nearest and dearest ties of relation-
ship, where the deficiency of wealth is felt. In this world
pride, rank, and affluence, claim the pre-eminence-in the other
the highest rewards of heaven are promised to the most humble
and the most meek, whether they be rich or poor.

God prefers the heart to the head; piety to parts and capa-
city: and is much better pleased with the right use of the will,
than the advantage of the understanding (6).

(a) They had a saying, which is preserved in Pirke Aboth, c. ii. 5. T'On yox Oy is plebeius non est pios. Schoetgen Hor. Heb. vol. i. p. 363. (6) Spoken of Edward the Confessor, by Collyer, Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 225.

& The genuineness of this passage has been much controvorted. The arguments on each side of the question may be seen at great length in Kuinoel (a), who has decided in favour of its authenticity. Erasmus, Calvin, Beza, Grotius, Le Clerc, Wetstein, Semler, Schulze, Morus, Haenlein, Wegscheider, Paulus, Schmidt, and Titman, have impugned its authenticity : and, on the opposite side of the question, may be ranked Mill, Whitby, Heuman, Michaelis, Storr, Langius, Detmersius, and others, with Lightfoot, Dr. A. Clarke, Mr. Horne, and the learned Mr. Nolan (b). This eminent critic has shewn it to be probable, that this passage was omitted for certain reasons by Eusebius, in that edition of the Greek Testament which he was commanded by Constantine to prepare for the public use : and likewise in those subsequent editions which were influenced by

John viii. 3. And the Scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a Jerusalem.

woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in
the midst,

the name and anthority of Eusebius. The subject of this story,
says Mr. Nolan, forms as convincing a proof, in support of its
genuineness, as it does in subversion of the contrary notion,
that it is an interpolation. There could be no possible induce-
meat for fabricating such a passage; while there is an obvious
motive for removing it from the canon. It has besides internal
evidence of authenticity, in the testimony of the Vulgate, in
which it is uniformly found; and external, in the express ac-
knowledgment of its genuineness by St. Chrysostom, St. Je-
rome, St. Augustine, and St. Ambrose; and St. Augustine (c)
has specified the reason of its baving been withdrawn from the
text of the Evangelist. Eusebius has carefully omitted all re-
ference to this passage in his canons; it is neither discoverable
in the copies of the Greek, nor in those of the Vulgate. And,
in his Ecclesiastical History (d), he has obliquely branded it
with some other marks of disapprobation; apparently con-
founding it with a different story. From these circumstances,
it is evident that Eusebius' copies were made to agree with his
canons, and tbat this passage was purposely withdrawn from
both, by the authority with which he was entrusted by Con-
stantine.

It is remarkable that Lightfoot (e), in his very brief criticism
concerning the genuineness of this passage, has quoted the
same passage from Eusebius with Mr. Nolan. The account of the
woman is found in the harmonies of Ammonius and Tatian,
who lived before Eusebius. Lightfoot supposes that Eusebius
rejected it from the canon, either because he ascribed its in-
sertion to Papias, or to the spurious Gospel of the Nazarenes.

Dr. Doddridge (f) has justly observed, that thę Pharisees who brought the woman to Christ, wished to render him ob. noxious either to the people or to the Romans. If he condemned the woman to death, it would be considered as intrud. ing upon the judicial authority of the Romans : if he acquitted her altogether, it would be considered as sanctioning a violation of the Jewish law.

On the propriety of our Lord's conduct, in the circumstances here recorded, Bishop Law observes (9), when the woman said to be apprehended in adultery is brought before our Lord, merely with a malicious view of drawing him into a difficulty, whatever determination he should give, ver. 6. we find him stooping down, and writing on the ground. Where it is ubservable, that all that he does, in as exact conformity as the place would admit to the trial of the adulterous wife prescribed by God in Numb. v. 11, &c. where the priest was to stoop down and take some of the dust from the floor of the tabernacle, ver. 17; and likewise write out the curses denounced upon that occasion, ver. 25. By that act, therefore, Christ declares himself willing to take cognizance of this affair, if they were willing to abide the consequence, viz. according to their own traditions, to be involved in the same curse if they proved equally guilty: on which account this way of trial was abolished by the Sanbedrim about that very time since that sin, say the Jews, grew then so very common. It is likewise probable that Christ might, by his countenance and gesture, show those bypocrites how well be was aware both of their ill dosiga in thus demanding judgment from him, and of their own obnoxiousness to the same punishment which Moses' law