wise, all-holy, almighty God, great suffering evermore implies great sin.

II. SOUL RELIEFS. Some of the reliefs that the suffering soul has at its disposal are here indicated. What are they? First: Memory. "I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar." "I will remember Thee." Here away an exile in the awful solitude of nature, I will call to memory Thy kindness to my race and myself in days that are gone. The remembrance of God's past kindness to us is a wonderful relief in great sorrow, I think of Thy goodness of old in dividing this river of Jordan for Thy chosen people, and here in Hermon Thy mercy in crushing Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan. Another soul relief is

Secondly: Hope. "The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me." He believed that his Maker would soon hush the storm and command a blessed calm. I hope for His merciful interposition, and it will come to me, and in the day time and the night continually His song shall be with me. "His song," a song of exultant gratitude which I will sing, but which He will inspire and accept. "Hope," says a modern writer, "is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us." What an antidote is hope! Another soul relief is

Thirdly: Prayer. "My prayer is unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast Thou forgotten me?" God of my life, God from whom I derive my existence, who claims my existence. God my rock, my strength, my support, my resting-place, to Him I pray.

What comfort comes with prayer. The burdened soul, in the conscious presence of God, feels its burden fall away. Another soul relief is

Fourthly: Self-fellowship. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" etc. "David," says Calvin, "represents himself here as divided into two parts. In so far as he rests through faith in God's promises, he raises himself, equipped with the

spirit of an invincible valour against the feelings of the flesh, and at the same time blames his weakness.' David here does two things, (1) inquires of his own soul the cause of his own sorrows; and (2) exhorts it to trust in God. "Hope thou in God." God is the "health of my countenance;" that is, the salvation of my countenance. This means, He will clear away all the gloom that lays over my face, and make it bright with the sunshine of His love. The soul can relieve itself often by self-communion. A power which it has and which distinguishes it from all other mundane existences. It can withdraw itself from the outer world, retire into the chambers of its own nature, and there work in order to relieve its own burden, invigorate its energies, and brighten its hopes.

Sermonic Glances at the Gospel of St. John.

As our purpose in the treatment of this Gospel is purely the development, in the briefest and most suggestive form, of Sermonic outlines, we must refer our readers to the following works for all critical inquiries into the author and authorship of the book, and also for any minute criticisms on difficult clauses. The works we shall especially consult are:-"Introduction to New Testament," by Bleek; "Commentary on John," by Tholuck; Commentary on John," by Hengstenberg; "Introduction to the Study of the Gospels," by Westcott; "The Gospel History," by Ebrard; "Our Lord's Divinity," by Liddon; "St. John's Gospel," by Oosterzee; "Doctrine of the Person of Christ," by Dorner; Lange; etc., etc.

"

Subject: Christ's two Discourses at the Feast of Tabernacles.

(Continued from Vol. X., Editor's Series, p. 344.)

"Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill Me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill Thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the Sabbath-day circumcise a man. 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? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this He, whom they seek to kill? But,'lo, He speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence He is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is. Then cried Jesus in the temple as He taught, saying, Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am and I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, whom ye know not. But I know Him: for I am from Him, and He hath sent Me. Then they sought to take Him: but no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come."-JOHN vii. 19-30.

EXPOSITION: Ver. 19.-" Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill Me?" Why seek ye to kill Me? They professed to believe in Moses. The law of Moses prohibited murder. "Thou shalt not kill was one of its salient, sovereign, edicts; hence Christ's question, Why seek ye to kill Me? Where is your consistency?

Ver. 20.-" The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill Thee?" The "people;" not the rulers, but the mixed multitude. These by implication deny any desire to kill Him, and charge Him with madness for supposing it. "Thou hast a devil." Probably this was a proverbial expression, denoting gloominess, melancholy, brooding suspiciousness. Perhaps they meant to say, If Thou wert not mentally diseased, Thou wouldest not suppose that we intended to kill Thee. Mayhap these mixed multitudes had no intention to kill Him, and were ignorant of the malicious purpose of their rulers.

Ver. 21.-"Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel." Christ disregards the interruption, and proceeds to show that there was no reason for them, as believers in Moses, to be indignant with Him for the miracle He had wrought on the Sabbathday. The "one work" at which they did "marvel" was undoubtedly the miracle He performed on the Sabbath at Bethesda, as recorded in chapter fifth, verses second to ninth. Why should this one work" offend them, for He had done many works? The reason was, because it was wrought on the Sabbath-day.

Ver. 22, 23.-" Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it

C

is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the Sabbath-day circumcise a man. 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?" Every male child was circumcised on the eighth day after birth; and this eighth day would, of course, frequently fall on the Sabbath. Moses enjoined the circumcision, although the ordinance was of much higher antiquity, reaching back to the patriarchs. The argument of Jesus is this:-If it be right to perform such an external ceremony as circumcision on the eighth day, as you are bound to admit it was; it certainly cannot be wrong to perform an act of benevolence upon a poor suffering man; nay, it is more justifiable, for the one is a work of mutilation, the other of restoration. The law of benevolence transcends ceremonialism, and sets it at defiance. "I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath-day." Glorious work !-the complete

restoration of a man!

Ver. 24.-"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." Righteous judgment would justify the act; but righteous judgment cannot be always reached by appearances. A right judgment requires penetration into the moral meaning or spirit of the deed; and in this case, the spirit of the act being benevolence, was right in the Divinest sense.

Ver. 25.-"Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this He, whom they seek to kill?" These Jerusalemites seemed more favourably disposed towards Christ than the "people" mentioned in verse, the twenty-third. They seem to be mere on-lookers acquainted with the murderous designs of the rulers.

Ver. 26. "But, lo, He speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?" They seem, "as an ultra party, to be solicitous even over the circumspection of the rulers, and to treat it with irony. They follow their ironical expression with their own judgment, which breathes the haughtiness of the citizens of a hierarchical capital. As the Rabbis reproached the Lord with His lack of a regular education and graduation, these Jerusalemites cast up against Him His mean extraction."-Lange. Ver. 27.-" Howbeit we know this man whence He is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is." In the Old Testament there are passages, such as Isaiah liii. 8; Micah v. 2, which convey the idea that the origin of the Messiah would be wrapped in mystery. Hence they mean to say that, inasmuch as they knew His origin, He could not be the true Messiah.

Ver. 28.-" Then cried Jesus in the temple as He taught, saying, Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am : and I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, whom ye know not." Christ seems to have raised His voice above their disputatious din, and boldly avows His Divine mission. "Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am."

Very likely you know My birthplace, My parentage, and earthly history; but though you know My human side, you are ignorant of the Divine. "I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, whom ye know not." You know whence My human body came, but you know not whence I came. I came from God, and you know Him not. Ver. 29." But I know Him: for I am from Him, and He hath sent Me." His counsels, though unknown to you, are known to Me. "I am from Him." My origin and My commission are Divine.

Ver. 30.-" Then they sought to take Him: but no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come." So exasperated were they at the bold avowal of His Divinity, that they sought to seize Him at once. Yet some mysterious force held them back. "No man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come." "His hour," that is, the time of His death.

HOMILETICS.-To gather all the verses together in order to illustrate some one subject of thought suited for public discourse, is a purpose which we feel to be important, but yet not a little difficult. The reigning passion of the various classes which Christ now addressed, and with which He in His remarks mainly contended, was a desire to kill Him. "Why go ye about to kill me?" With this He starts His address; and then the Jerusalemites inquire, "Is not this He whom they seek to kill?" As if they had said, We know a mortal malignity towards some one reigns in the heart of our rulers; is this the person? The following remarks are suggested concerning the malignant passion that now reigned amongst the rulers of the Jews.

I. This desire to kill Him WAS INCONSISTENT WITH THEIR RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. They were all confessedly believers in Moses. His authority was supreme, his word was their law, he was their religious leader, their chief lawgiver, their illustrious prophet. But there was nothing in Moses that would sanction their malignant antagonism to Christ.

First: The spirit of their opposition was inconsistent with the moral law of Moses. "Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?" You seek to kill Me, when the man whom you regard as your chief moral master has distinctly and in God's own name said, "Thou shalt not kill." None of you keepeth