declare that they "would not come to him that they might have life?" Had he declared, in the former part of his discourses, that "whoso heareth his word, and believeth on him that sent him, hath everlasting life; and that all judicial authority was committed to the Son, that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father?" Was, then, the applause, respect, and adulation of man the object at which he aimed? This he explicitly renounced; this he ever refused.—“ I receive not honour from men."-He claimed it not, as if he needed any such thing; nor as if that could accomplish his purposes, or increase his joy. He sought it not, except so far as it might lead to higher and more holy principles; he demanded it not, except upon the motive that "he, who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which had sent him." If it were not of this character, he rejected, exposed, and repressed it. And little did he find of the honour which was due to him, who left the bosom of the Father that he might be made in the likeness of men. He was

by men despised and rejected; they hid, as it were, their faces from him, and esteemed him not." "He came to his own, and his own received him not."

Do we inquire into the cause of their strange infatuation? We may learn it from the mouth of him, "who knew all men, and who needed not

that any should testify of man, because he knew what was in man ;" who exhibited throughout his ministry this intimate knowledge of the thoughts of the heart, who thereby confounded his enemies, and drew from Nathanael, and the woman of Samaria, and his own disciples, an acknowledgment of his divinity and prophetic character. "I know you"," said he to the Jewish rulers, "that ye have not the love of God in you." Do we say, this is a hard saying? Yet can we not discover evident proofs of it in their principles and conduct? Though "to love the Lord their God with all their heart, and soul, and strength," was "the first and great commandment of their law,” did they not," while they made their boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonour God?" Did they not "make void his commandment through their traditions; and omit the weightier

a We took some notice, in one or two former Lectures, of this instance of our Saviour's superhuman knowledge. It is often expressly stated by the Evangelists, and in many other cases it supplies a valuable illustration. See Newcome's Observations on our Lord's Conduct. Chap. ii. Sect. 7, 8. Dr. Gerard observes, that our Lord" scarce ever urged or appealed to it as an evidence." (Dissertations, p. 165.) He certainly never noticed it in the same form as he did the other arguments. But it appealed so directly to the heart and conscience that it was not so necessary to do it. But he did expressly notice it, and in a very varied manner. See John i. 50. Matt. ix. 2, 4. Luke vii. 39-50; viii. 45-48; ix. 47. John xiii. 10, 11; 18-27; xvi. 30, 31. Luke xxii. 61. Mark xvi. 14. Luke xxiv. 38. John xx. 27.

matters of the law, judgment and mercy, and the love of God?" Did not a scrupulous and spiritless formality and a specious hypocrisy distinguish some, while profaneness and licentiousness characterized others? Undoubtedly so it was; and, therefore, we cease to wonder at those, who, in the face of a public miracle wrought on the sabbath, arraigned, and then would fain have stoned Jesus, because he called God his Father; and who scrupled to enter into the judgment-hall lest they should be defiled, at the very time when, by a foul conspiracy, they employed bribery and subornation to put Jesus to death, in order to satisfy their malignity.-But let us beware how we judge them, lest we condemn ourselves. For how imperfectly do we obey the word of Jesus, and believe in him that sent him! How little are we impressed with the majesty of God! How little do we seek his glory, dread his wrath, or seek his favour! Hereby do we prove that we are not Christians in deed and in truth, and that "the love of God is not in us;" and we are not Christians in deed and in truth, if "the love of God is not in us." For he loveth the Father, who loveth the only-begotten Son who hath declared him; whom, “ though he has not seen him in the flesh, he loves, and in whom, though he sees him not, yet believing, he rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory." If we say that we love

God, where then are the effects of it?

"He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world." Now if it be an evident and notorious truth, that there is much unchecked disobedience, and little habitual obedience, even in the Christian world; does not this prove a proportionate want of the love of God? If it be true, that he who loveth another will desire to possess a conformity of disposition, it follows that if we are not partakers of a divine nature, so as to escape the pollutions that are in the world through lust," we do not love God, and cannot be his obedient children; and, therefore, cannot rightly value, esteem, and believe in him, whom God hath sent to "call us with a holy calling."

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But mark another symptom and operation of unbelief. "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."-The history of the Jews, both as it respects their rejection of Jesus, and also their readiness to follow any impostor, who, for his own purposes, deluded them, affords a lamentable illustration of the just

ness of this declaration. We find them despising, opposing, and calumniating him who called them to holiness, and gave to his followers the promise of eternal life. Yet he alone came with the witness of the law, of the prophets, of the Baptist; with the witness of his miraculous works, and of the Father himself. He alone "sought not his own glory." All his instructions and labours and sufferings tended to the glory of God, and to the benefit of mankind. In what dark and melancholy colours, therefore, does the infatuation of the Jews appear, when we behold that "deceivableness of unrighteousness," which led myriads to follow, and perish with every interested, ambitious, and deluded upstart; who succeeded so far, not because he could offer any evidence of his mission, but because he came in his own name, and encouraged those temporal hopes, to which that unhappy people have ever clung with such unparalleled pertinacity, even amidst the ruins of their city and temple, and in every country through which they have been dispersed. But they have not been the only people thus deluded. Not Jews only, but Pagans, and even Christians, received and followed the Arabian impostor, treading in the path of lust, murder, and ambition, without a single argument but such as would appeal to men's interests or sensualities. But here again let us also look at ourselves. Do we not live in times "when men will not

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