ready to acknowledge him if he would but avow himself to be the Messiah, were filled with indignation on hearing these words, and showed a disposition to execute summary justice on him, as a self-convicted blasphemer.

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"Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.' Their object had all along been to entangle him in his talk. For this purpose, they assumed an air of candor, and seemed anxious that, in order to relieve them from a state of distressing doubt in reference to a subject of such deep interest, he should make a clear statement of his claims, and of the grounds on which he based them. He did substantially state his claims, and their foundation; but he did it in such a manner as at once disappointed their malignant hope, that, in doing so, he would lay himself open to a criminal charge before the Roman magistrate, and excited to something like madness their feelings of abhorrence against him, as an impious usurper of divine honors. The mask was now thrown aside, and they appeared to be what they were not anxious inquirers, but determined opposers. Shutting their eyes to the evidence of his divine mission to which our Lord had directed them, they considered his declaration, that he and the Father were one, as a blasphemous assumption of equality with God, and were about to proceed, in a most illegal manner, summarily to inflict on him the punishment which the law of Moses denounced against blasphemy-availing themselves of the stones which, as the repairs of the temple were not yet completed, lay scattered around.

It was not the first time they had thus threatened violently to take away his life. In the same place, not long before, when he had obscurely intimated that he was in reality that "I AM" who existed before Abraham, they took up stones to cast at him." Their hands, on that occasion, seem to have been mysteriously, if not miraculously, restrained. The object of their irritated malignity suddenly disappeared, and made his way safely out of the temple, through the midst of them. The prevention, at that time, of the greatest possible crime-the murder of the Son of God—did not produce its proper effect. The time for reflection was not properly improved; and, when the circumstances of temptation return, they appear as ready for the perpetration of their wickedness as ever.

Even had their view of our Lord's conduct been just, their procedure was unjustifiable. By the law of Moses, no doubt, the blasphemer ought to be stoned to death. But trial and conviction, by the proper authorities, ought in every case to precede the infliction of punishment. The law condemned no man till it had judged him. Our Lord's enemies were for taking the law into their own hands, and for acting at once the part both of judges and executioners.

Their fury excited in the mind of Jesus no alarm. He knew that "his hour was not yet come;" he knew that it was not by

16 John x. 31.

47 John viii. 59.

popular violence, but by perverted judicial procedure-not by being stoned, but by being crucified, that he had to expiate human guilt, and glorify God. While, then, the uplifted stones were ready to be hurled at his head, unprotected but by the invisible hand of his Father, he calmly expostulates with his infuriated enemies, and mildly asks them the reason why they were preparing to put him to death. By his divine power, he bridled their rage, and restrained their power, till he had set before them the wickedness of their conduct.

"Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me ?_ i. e., are ye about to stone me? In arresting the lifted stone, how did our Lord manifest his power? showing that he was indeed He who stills the noise of the sea, the noise of its waves, and the tumult of the people; who says to the tide of human passion, as well as of the ocean, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." And, in expostulating with these men, rather than destroying them, as he so easily could have done by a mere act of his will, what a display did he make of his forbearance, long-suffering, and patience? The general force of our Lord's question seems to be this 'I have never done anything to deserve such treatment. As a teacher, I have taught only the truth; as a worker of miracles, I have done only good. I have taught no false doctrine; I have done no injurious act. I have taught many important truths; I have performed many beneficent miracles. If you consider me as deserving to be stoned, it must be for teaching some of these truths, for doing some of these miracles. Which of them is it that has provoked your resentment, and led you to meditate so severe a punishment?' The word "works" seems most naturally to refer to miraculous operations; yet it is plain that our Lord represents the teaching the truth as an important part of "the work" given him to do. "I have finished," says he, in his prayer to his Father, "the work which thou hast given me to do;" and he explains that work, as manifesting the Father's name to those whom He had given him out of the world-giving to them the words which the Father had given him. We are therefore disposed to consider our Lord as referring to all that he did, as the teacher sent from God, both in speaking and doing things which no man could have spoken or done, if God had not been with him.

These works he terms "good works,"" literally beautiful, morally lovely, and praiseworthy, or beneficent, kind works. His doctrines were "full of grace," as well as of " as well as of "truth," and his miracles not more instinct with power than with mercy. What could be more morally beautiful than to teach men saving truth, and to afford them evidence of that truth, by bestowing upon them supernatural blessings? Holy benignity-the perfection of

48 John x. 32.

49 κaλù ěруa. Comp. 1 Tim. vi. 18. Gen. xliv. 4. Numb. xxiv. 13. LXX.

moral beauty-was the leading characteristic both of his doctrine and of his miracles? Our Lord's works corresponded well with the design of his mission, and the nature of the economy he came to establish. The law was introduced in words and works of terror, and Moses' mission was accredited by thunders, lightnings, earthquakes, plagues. The mission of Christ was confirmed, not by striking his enemies with sudden sickness, and destroying them by dreadful deaths, but by healing the sick, dispossessing the demoniac, and raising the dead.

He had performed many of these works. His whole life was spent in teaching truth and doing good. How many miracles are distinctly recorded in the gospel history! how many do the evangelists mention only in general terms! how many do they pass over entirely in silence! "There are many other things," says the beloved disciple, "which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books which should be written." The miracles of our Lord are far more numerous than all the miracles recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures.

"I have showed you" these "many good works." Jesus taught his doctrine, and performed his miracles, in public. He drew men's attention to them; he held them up for examination. All the land of Canaan was brightened with the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. These things were not done in a corner." "In all Galilee, and throughout all Judea, he went about," not, as his enemies said, perverting the people, but "doing good, and healing all that were possessed of the devil." He showed these many glorious works, not only to friends, but to enemies, who used all their malicious craft to discover some blemish in them, but found none-no falsehood in his doctrine, no imposition in his wonderful works.

And these numerous, glorious, public works performed by our Lord, were works from God. He showed them these many good works "from his Father." His doctrine was not his, but his Father's who sent him. It was the Father who sent him who did the works he performed: his doctrine was divine doctrine-his miracles divine miracles. The force of our Lord's words, then, is, 'I have, in my doctrines and miracles, publicly done many things, all of them of a holy and benignant character, and all of them of a divine origin.' This is our Lord's whole history. He did this, nothing but this. Not one word of an opposite kind did he ever speak; not one action of an opposite kind did he ever perform. Why then stone me?' says he, 'why, what evil have I done? If this violence be not utterly causeless, it must have its cause in some one or other of the many good works which I have showed you from my Father.' He well knew that the truth of his doctrine, and the excellence of his works, were the real cause of their enmity. They believed not, because he told them the truth; they hated him because of his excellence; and he put the question to compel them, as it were, to open the eyes of their

consciences to the baseness of their conduct. It is as if he had said, 'What injury have I ever done you, that ye seek, in so cruel and lawless a way, to take away my life? I have done you much good; I have never done any of you anything but good.' The ingratitude included in the conduct of the Jews, greatly aggravated their guilt. Our Lord was constantly engaged in bestowing favors on them, while they repay them by seeking to put him to death. His question is, 'In what have I deserved this at your hand?' It puts us in mind of Jehovah's expostulation with his ancient people-"O my people, what have I done to you, and wherein have I wearied you? testify against me."750

Awed, apparently, by the calm undaunted appearance of Jesus, the Jews desisted from executing their purpose; and, unable to resist altogether the force of his mild and unanswerable expostulation, they "answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." Ingratitude is a sin which no man will own. None could be guilty of it in a higher degree than those enemies of Jesus; and yet they will not acknowledge the justice of the charge. They dare not, indeed, call in question the substantial truth of our Lord's statement. The cure of the man blind from his birth, in its whole circumstances, was so striking an example of the many beautiful things which he had showed them from God, and had taken place so recently, that they durst not meet his assertion with a counter one; but they intimate that, however numerous and however remarkable were the good things he showed, there was one bad thing which he had done, which more than neutralized the claims of them all, and justly exposed him to the punishment they had showed themselves ready to inflict on him. They thus prove, that there is no action so bad, but men may find out some excuse for it, not altogether destitute of plausibility.

The principles on which they go, seem quite tenable. No works of any kind can be an excuse for blasphemy, or free from obligation to severe punishment him who is guilty of a foul affront to him who necessarily stands alone in the possession of independent, eternal, infinite, immutable being and excellence. And any mere man is guilty of blasphemy, or speaking reproach fully of God, who claims equality with God. Neither can there be any doubt that they were correct in their facts. Jesus was a man, and though a man, he did claim equality with God when he declared, that he was God's own Son, and that he and his Father were one. In what, then, did the Jews err in their judgment? and where was the fault of their conduct? If I believed that Jesus was a mere man, nothing but a man, I should find it difficult to answer these questions; I could not defend him, nor could I greatly blame them. But Jesus was more than a man; and they had abundance of evidence of this truth. His miracles proved his divine mission; and this divine mission gave

50 Mic. vi. 3

51 John x. 33.

him a claim for implicit belief of whatever he declared respecting his person and work. And he frequently distinctly claims divine perfections and rights.

There was a great appearance of reason in what they alleged against him, but it was only the appearance of reason. They judged according to the appearance; they did not judge righteous judgment. They were ignorant of what they might have known-of what they ought to have known,-that the Messiah was to be both human and divine, the Son of David, the Son of God, the man, Jehovah's fellow,-a child born, the Almighty God;—and they resisted the most abundant evidence, that Jesus was the Messiah, and therefore must be both human and divine; and that he was a divine messenger, and, therefore, whatever he stated of himself must be true. This ignorance and unbelief led them to the fearful guilt of blaspheming and murdering him who was God manifest in flesh, while they thought they were doing God service, by exposing blasphemy and punishing a blasphemer.

This places, in a very strong point of view, the danger of false principles in religion: they not only lead men into sin, but they make men mistake the greatest sins for important duties. False views in religion cannot be sustained as an excuse for those sins to which they naturally lead. These Jews most assuredly incurred deep guilt in the charge they brought against Jesus, and in the murderous design they formed against him. If they did not know, they ought to have known; if they did not believe, they ought to have believed.

Let us take care that we distinctly apprehend the truth respecting the person of our Lord Jesus. Mistakes here must be dangerous, may be fatal; and if, on this point, we, like the Jews, embrace false views, and follow them out like them, to their fair practical consequences, we shall have much less to say for ourselves than even they had, and shall not be found guiltless in the great day of account. It is fearful to think of the amount of guilt which must be contracted, under the completed revelation of the Divine will, by the men who, like the Jews, would accuse Jesus of blasphemy, if, like the Jews, they believedwhat it is wonderful that anybody should doubt-that he, "being a man, made himself equal with God."

Our Lord's reply to this charge of blasphemy, deserves our most considerate attention. "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him "752

1152

52 John x. 34-38.