power our Saviour then proceeds to specify, namely, the raising of the dead to life, and the final judgment of mankind; which he declares to be committed to him by the Father, and yet to belong to him, by virtue of his own power. For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. Let me ask, would any man of com'mon understanding, who has no preconceived opinions upon disputed points of theology, put any other interpretation upon these words, than that which lies on the surface, that the Son is to be believed in, and loved, and worshipped, equally with the Father? Our Saviour adds, He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. As the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.

There is a peculiar propriety, if we may presume so to speak, in the appointment of Christ to be the judge of men, because he has himself

been made flesh, or taken a human body; because he has been in all points tempted like as

As the Redeemer of power of conferring

we are, yet without sin. mankind, as having the eternal life, he is spoken of in the Scriptures under the title of the Son of God: as having taken their nature upon him, as the second Adam, and as the great judge of the human race, he is called the Son of Man.

Our Lord then states, that he can do nothing distinctly from, and independently of the Father; that the same judgment, which the Father would pronounce, will be pronounced by the Son; who, in knowledge, and in will, is one with the Father I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just: because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.†

Let us now briefly recapitulate the chief points of this remarkable discourse to the Jews. Our Lord declares, that he came from the Father; that he did nothing of his own independent will and judgment, as distinct from those of the Father; but every thing in intimate conjunction with him; that he was the Son of God, and, as such, co-equal with him in power and *Heb. iv. 15. + John v. 30.

authority; that he was appointed to raise the dead, and to judge the human race according to their works; that he was therefore the Messiah, spoken of by the prophets, and expected by the Jews; Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me :--had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words ?*

To him, who can rise from the perusal of this chapter of St. John, unmoved by the evidence which it affords to the great doctrine of a divine Redeemer, we may surely apply the same language of expostulation in which our Lord addressed the Jews. No reasoning, no moral demonstration will satisfy him, who will not receive, with simplicity and meekness, the plain words of Scripture. We refer him to the Evangelist, the companion and friend of Christ; we intreat him seriously and candidly to weigh his testimony, against the surmises of his own limited understanding; and if he still remain in a state of doubt and unbelief, all further argument is vain; if ye believe not his writings, how shall

ye

believe my words?

LECTURE IV.

JOHN viii. 58.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

We have already considered those expressions in the six first chapters of this Gospel, which bear most strongly upon the point of our Saviour's divinity. Before we proceed to examine the following chapters, let us take notice of the manner in which our Lord on all occasions spoke of God as the Father, in contradistinction to himself, as the Son; and of the still more peculiar expression of my Father, which he used without any qualification or definition; whereas in addressing his disciples, he spoke of God, as of their heavenly Father-their Father in heaven. "Christ has directed us to say, Our Father; a form of speech which he never used himself; sometimes he calls him the Father, sometimes

my Father, sometimes your, but never our : he makes no such conjunction of us to himself, as to make no distinction between us and himself."*

Towards the conclusion of the eighth chapter, our Saviour tells the Jews; your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad: he rejoiced in the promise, that in his seed all nations of the earth should be blessed: he understood it to refer to a future Redeemer ; and he exulted in the prospect. The Scripture, says St. Paul, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. The faith which the same Apostle attributes to the patriarchs and holy men of old, was a faith in the promised Redeemer. But the Jews understood Jesus to say, that Abraham had seen him alive; upon which they asked, with a natural incredulity, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Our Saviour answers them, according to their own sense of his words, in the affirmative. From their misapprehension he takes occasion to place his superiority to Abraham in a fresh point of

*

Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. I. from Augustin. + Gal. iii. 8.