"It is not good to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs." Instead of being better, they appear to grow worse. They are farther from comfort than ever,-feel more guilt, more blindness, more corruption. In all this, the Lord is leading them by a way which they know not; and in due time he will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. His meaning is to wean them more from self-dependence, and to hide pride from them. He is humbling them and proving them, to do them good at their latter end. At length he will turn their darkness into light, and their mourning into joy and their path, like the shining light, shall shine more and more unto the perfect day.

SERMON XXXV.

JOHN, VII. 25-36.

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. 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? The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. Then said Jesus unto them, yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. 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 dispersed 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?

THOUGH in the intermediate days between the first and the eighth day of the feast, there would be a greater proportion of strangers than of inhabitants of Jerusalem: yet a large number of these would find leisure from their secular employments to attend the services of the temple. These were well aware of the design of their rulers to destroy Christ, and therefore wondered that he was able to preach openly, no man forbidding him, though some of those very rulers might be present. The people were at a loss to account for this, and began to suspect that their rulers knew what they did not choose to confess. They began to surmise that Jesus was indeed the Christ, and that their rulers knew it; and therefore durst not either lift up their hand, or raise their voice against

him. Christ?"

"Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very

In this conjecture however they wavered. While his teaching, and his wisdom, and his miracles, and the silence of their rulers, seemed to proclaim him the Messiah, there was one consideration which weighed in their minds against his being so. They knew whence he was. Now, had they only meant by this that they knew he was of Nazareth in Galilee, whereas Christ according to the prophecies ought to have been of Bethlehem in Judæa, there would have been no difficulty here. We could have fully accounted for the doubts which they expressed, by saying that they were right in their interpretation of the prophecy, wrong in their information of the fact. Whence Christ ought to come they rightly judged: whence he did actually come they misunderstood.

But then the objection with them was not that he came from Nazareth, instead of coming from Bethlehem; but that they knew whence he was at all. If they had known him to have been of Bethlehem the objection in their minds would have been the same. And the thing which is difficult to account for in this case is,-why they should think that when the Messiah came, no man should know whence he was. This was not the prevailing opinion amongst the Jews. It was generally understood as we see in the forty-second verse of this chapter, that Christ was to come of the seed of David, and of the town of Bethlehem. Why then should these objectors entertain the idea that when he came no man should know whence he was?

The most probable explanation is that they misunderstood some of the prophecies. Perhaps when Isaiah said, “Who can declare his generation," they inferred that the parentage of Christ should be unknown. Or when they read in Micah, that out of Bethlehem "He should come forth that was to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth were of old, from everlasting;" they lost the perception of his birth in time, while they contemplated this testimony to his existence from eternity.

In fact, the prophets spoke of him both as man and as God; as man, he was of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of David, born in the world; as God, he was without Father, without

mother, without descent, having neither beginning of life, nor end of days, but being with the Father before the foundations of the world were laid. It is a common fault of men to look

at one part of scripture, and neglect another. At this day some can see in scripture the manhood of Christ, but overlook his Godhead. Now if these Jews did the contrary, if they saw his Godhead, but saw not his manhood, if they remembered that his generation was what no one could declare, and his goings forth from everlasting, but forgot that he was to spring from the root of Jesse; if they remembered that he was David's Lord, but forgot that he was David's Son, we may easily see why they should say, When Christ cometh no man knoweth whence he is." I will not take upon me to say that the above is the right explanation of the difficulty. I offer it only as what appears to me the most probable and we must bear in mind, that if it cannot be explained at all, it is no fault of the evangelist. He faithfully records what the people said, and is not to blame if their words were unaccountable.

But the next verse presents us with a more serious difficulty, and one which it behoves us to explain. For there the apparent contradiction is not with the people, but with our Lord himself. And it is on this account only that I call it a more serious difficulty; for though the contradiction in terms seems very direct, yet it is one which is very easily reconciled. Our Lord, says, "Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am." Now in the fourteenth verse of the next chapter he says to the Jews, "Ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go." Some interpreters to avoid this difficulty, have translated the words of the text as if they asked a question, "Do ye know me, and know whence I am?" which interrogatory form would amount to a denial that they did know whence he was, and would accord with the passage quoted from the eighth chapter. But there is no occasion for any change at all. The Jews did know that he was a man, the son of Mary, and that he had been brought up at Nazareth. This Jesus admits. The continuation of the verse shews that he is conceding to a certain point, and then shewing where their knowledge fails. "Ye know me, ye know whence I am." I am Jesus of Gali

lee, as ye suppose; I am the Son of Mary, as ye suppose; and further, what "I am not come of mydo not suppose. ye self, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not." Now this is the very thing which Jesus asserted in the eighth chapter. "Ye know not whence I come." They did know his descent from Mary, and his education in Galilee; but his coming forth from God they did not know: neither did they know the Father. "He that sent me is true," says our Lord,

"whom ye know not."

It was a humbling thing for those who were the children of Abraham, to whom were committed the oracles of God, and who boasted that God was their Father, to be told that they knew him not. They were greatly distinguished from the nations around them. The gods whom the Romans acknowledged they knew to be no gods; they knew that the idols of the heathen were but vanities, and they were persuaded that there was no God but one, and that Jehovah was that true and living God; yet they knew him not. They knew his name, but not himself. They had no just conceptions of his nature and perfections. And the same is the case with many a Christian. Distinguished like the Jews from heathen nations, he like them confesses the true God, and like them knows him not. A true knowledge of God is the noblest attainment of man: but it is not the name of Jew or the name of Christian which confers it. Jesus Christ had that knowledge in perfection. "I know him," he says, "for I am from him, and he hath sent me." And of Jesus we must learn if we would know God aright; for "" Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." This faithful dealing on the part of our Lord offended the Jews, so that they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.

no man knoweth the

We have already seen that Jesus, before he went to Jerusalem, knew that his hour was not yet come, and that therefore his enemies could not take away his life. And it was then to our purpose to observe that, notwithstanding this knowledge, he used great precaution to guard himself against their attempts. We are now called to view the other side of the subject, and to see how vain all human counsel or strength