Thee to send the Holy Ghost, and pour into my heart that most excellent gift of charity, that I may be kept from judging and hastily condemning such things as may seem unfitting in those who profess to be religious; and give me grace to hope all things from the power of thy Spirit, in those who are striving to obey thy commands, through Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Our Father, &c.

FORTY-EIGHTH PORTION.

I. BEGINNING PRAYER.

MAY GOD, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST, give me the HOLY SPIRIT, that I may understand this portion of his Holy Word, and that I may profit by it. Amen.

II. THE SCRIPTURE.

Read St. John's Gospel, chap. v. verses 17 to 47.

III. THE MEANINGS;

or sense in which some words are used in this portion.

The wicked conduct of the Jews (who attempted to bring a charge of sabbath-breaking against our Lord, in consequence of the miracle he had done on the Sabbath-day at the house of mercy) induced him plainly to declare the great mystery of his divinity; that is, his being the Son of God, equal with the Father. While the Jews were trying how they could prove him to be guilty, so that he might

be condemned to death, he spoke to them in such a way as to claim the same power and authority with God the Father. He said, that up to that time, His father was always working; (God, who made all things, keeps all things in their order, as well on one day as on another) and that accordingly He himself did the same. For saying this, the Jews were more earnest in trying to make out that he deserved the punishment of death, not only for breaking the Sabbath, but also for blasphemy (Lev. xxiv. 16.); because, by calling God His Father in so peculiar a manner (very different from the way in which He is the Father of all men), they understood that Jesus claimed to be equal with God Himself.

Our Lord did not say that the Jews were mistaken in supposing that he meant to claim this; but, on the contrary, after calling their attention, by solemnly repeating the word Amen, or Verily (see vol. i. page 170), he made answer by stating several ways in which He was so connected with God the Father, as no one could be, unless he were equal with Him. He declared that, as the Son of God, He cannot act contrary to the Father; and that whatever the Father does, He can do, in the same manner as the Father. He declared the love of the Father for the Son, to be so great, that He lays open to him every thing that He himself does. He told the Jews that there were things still more extra-⚫ ordinary than the miracle they had just seen, which God the Father would lay open to the Son, to be performed before their eyes, that they would have more cause than ever to wonder: for, as God the Father at His own will and pleasure raises the dead, and gives them new life; so He, as the Son, gives

life at his own will and pleasure to whatever persons he pleases. Jesus put before them yet another way, by which his equality with the Father might be proved: the Father is not the person before whom any one is brought to trial, but He has placed that high office, of sitting in judgment on the whole world, in the hands of the Son. And the object for which this was done was, that every soul should pay as much respect and worship to the Son, as they do to the Father. Whoever therefore did not treat Jesus, being the Son of God, with equal respect and worship, failed in paying due respect and worship to the Father who had sent Him into the world.

Having in so many ways declared the fact, that He is equal to the Father, our Lord solemnly confirmed what He thus stated, by laying claim to such power as can belong to God alone. He said, that whoever hears his word, and believes on the Father as having sent Him into the world, such a person has eternal life; and that, when the day of judgment comes, he is not condemned, but that, by receiving faithfully the word of truth, he passes out of a state of spiritual death into a state of spiritual life. Keeping up the solemnity. of what he was saying, by repeating the Amen, Amen, he prophesied that a time was very close at hand, when people who were dead in their sins should hear His Gospel, and receive it as the voice of the Son of God; and should receive spiritual life, by attending to it as such. This he said he was able to do, because in the same way as God the Father is the fountain, or spring of Life, having life in himself, without receiving it from any other; so has he appointed that the Son should be the

fountain and spring of life, having life in himself without receiving it from any other. And the reason, why the office and power of sitting in judgment upon all men has been given to the Son is this; because that while equal to the Father, as being the Son of God, he has taken our flesh, and as being "born of a woman," is also the Son of Man; whereby He became especially fitted to be the judge of mankind.

From this mention of himself, as the Judge of all men, Jesus took occasion to declare the certainty of that judgment, which he will hereafter hold upon all the world. He told his hearers not to be astonished at what he was saying on this subject; for that a time would come, in which every person who had died from the beginning to the end of the world, should hear His voice, and come out of their graves. He said that there should be two kinds of resurrection for them: one he calls "the resurrection of life," which shall be for those who have lived in the practice of good things; the other he calls "the resurrection of damnation," which shall be for those who have lived in the practice of bad things. He declares that the judgment he will deliver, shall be altogether just; in his sentence, he will do nothing partially, but according to the things which are brought forward in the case of each : for that he will act in this great office, according to his Father's will who sent Him, and who is a just God; and not according to any will of his own, as different from that of the Father.

According to the law of Moses, the testimony of two persons was necessary to prove every important matter (Numb. xxxv. 30; Deut. xvii. 6; xix. 15; John viii. 17; Heb. x. 28.); and in all affairs