and, although his inference is mistaken, it is probably a clear corroborative account of the manner in which it was celebrated; happily he was not able to record, in its harmless and social festivities, any thing approximating to the infamous orgies with which the heathen Bacchanalia were kept.

A remarkable ceremony took place on the last day of the feast, concerning which not the least direction was given by Moses. The priest, properly attended, repaired to the pool of Siloam, from which he drew water with a golden pitcher, and, returning to the Temple, by the water-gate, poured it out, mixed with wine, upon the sacrifice of the altar. The Jewish writers differ greatly amongst themselves as to the origin and object of this ceremony; but this singular libation was performed partly, it has been thought, in commemoration of the miraculous relief of water produced from the stony rock in the wilderness, but principally perhaps to solicit the blessing of rain for the approaching seed time'. It was usual with Jesus to take occasion from the circumstances before Him to deduce doctrine; and, as He had very lately made a comparison in a metaphor of bread, He now takes occasion to refer it to the water in the ceremony, which they were then actually witnessing. The ancient prophets, especially Isaiah, had already Bishop Mann.

Pictorial Bible.

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foretold, under the same figure of living water, the effusion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, of which Jesus now spake; but as the Holy Ghost was not yet given, it was not yet understood'.

These surprising declarations of Jesus excited various debates among the people: some were disposed to honour Him as "the Prophet" foretold by Moses; others to admit Him to be the Christ; but those that were disposed to cavil, objected that nothing should persuade them that a Christ was to come out of Galilee. The very men who were employed by the Pharisees to apprehend Him, and some of them who had been disposed to take Him by force, listened to His words, till, under the strongest impressions of admiration and reverence, they were unable to execute their purpose. The Sanhedrim were exasperated at this supineness of their officers; and, reproving them, said, "Are ye also deceived?" Have any of those who understand the Law, and are fit to judge for you in matters of religion, believed on Him3 ? But you, who know nothing of the matter, follow any false teacher *. demus, who was of the Sanhedrim, suggested that such a prejudice against Jesus was hasty; for that the Law proceeded not against any

'Dr. Clagett.
3 Dr. Whitby.

2 Dr. Whitby.

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man, till his cases had been taken cognizance of, and he has been examined upon it; but he met with a severe reproof for this prudent suggestion; and it was hinted that he was himself of the sect or faction who believed in this Galilean. Finding controversies growing among themselves, they determined that nothing more should be done at this time: accordingly, they broke up their council in anger; "and every man went unto his own house "."

SECT. LXXV.-Christ dischargeth the Woman taken in Adultery.-John viii. 1-11.

WHEN the council of the Sanhedrim had broken up, and the multitude departed, every man to his own house, it is said, "Jesus went to the Mount of Olives;" not that He lodged there in the open fields, but that He went to Bethany, and lodged in the house of Lazarus'. In the morning He comes to the Temple; and in the treasury, or the court of the women, He sitteth down and teacheth the people. As He was thus sitting and teaching, "the Scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery"." Their design was to lay a snare for Christ; and they thought they had so laid it that He must fall into it either way. If He contradicted Moses, by ordering the woman to be released, they would set Him down for a false pro

phet; and if, with Moses, He sentenced her to death, He must have acted contrary to the character of a merciful Saviour; if He condemned her, He seemed to assume judicial power; if He condemned her not, He seemed to despise the Law"; if He had determined for the woman to be stoned, there was an alleged contradiction to the existing Law; and if He had declared against her being punished, He might have been denounced as a promoter and encourager of crime. It was quite true, as the Scribes and Pharisees stated, that the Mosaic Law commanded an adulteress to be stoned; but the Romans had at this time taken the power of life and death in their own hands, and had, to a considerable extent, remodelled the criminal jurisprudence of the country; and, in particular, they had abolished the punishment of death, which the Law inflicted upon an adulterous woman. The question, therefore, was, on all hands, sufficiently ensnaring, since, had He, in ignorance of these things, directed the woman to be stoned, in conformity with the Law, there would have been a pretence for denouncing Him to the Romans". But Jesus, giving no answer, stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, "He that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her;" the first stone was always thrown by the 10 Dr. Lightfoot. 11 Pictorial Bible.

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Bishop Horne.

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principal accuser 12. His meaning is this: I shall not condemn the woman Myself; for it is not My office. You may do it, if you will affirm yourselves to be those righteous men, which you desire to be accounted. I therefore challenge and defy you to proceed against her '. Why do you urge Me to give a judgment in this matter? I have nothing to say against your executing the Law. Only consider that he who is thus zealous in punishing another, should in all equity be free from guilt himself. Whoever, therefore, among you has a clear and innocent conscience, let him begin and cast the first stone at the woman 2.

The action described of Jesus, that He stooped down, and wrote on the ground, is very significant of Jewish habits; as it is known, that when an irksome inquiry was brought forward, to which they were desirous to avoid giving a negative or affirmative reply, they were accustomed to take out their tablets, and thus seem to be otherwise employed. Jesus, by this gesture, meant to intimate that the questioners merited no other answer than that which they themselves suggested, by appealing to the Mosaic precept3.

Never was triumph more complete; these hypocrites, self-conceited, confounded, and disgraced before the multitudes, slunk away one

12 Grotius.

2 Dr. S. Clarke.

1

Bishop Horne.

3 Pictorial Bible.