After this, his brethren say unto him, John vii. 2, 3, 4, (the feast of tabernacles being near,) " Depart hence, " and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the " works that thou doest: for there is no man that does " any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be " known openly. If thou do these things, show thy- " self to the world." Here his brethren, which, the next verse tells us, " did not believe in him," seem to as delivered in the Scriptures. 61 upbraid him with the inconsistency of his carriage; as if he designed to be received for the Messiah, and yet was afraid to show himself: to whom he justified his conduct (mentioned ver. 1.) in the folio wing verses, by telling them, "That the world" (meaning the jews especially) " hated him, because he testified of it, that " the works thereof are evil; and that his timew as " not yet fully come," wherein to quit his reserve, and abandon himself freely to their malice and fury. There fore, though he " went up unto the feast," it was " not " openly, but, as it were, in secret," ver. 10. And here, coming into the temple about the middle of the feast, he justifies his being sent from God; and that he had not done any thing against the law, in curing the man at the pool of Bethesda, John v. 1 — 16, on the sabbath-day; which, though done above a year and a half before, they made use of as a pretence to destroy him. But what was the true reason of seeking his life, appears from what we have in this viith chapter, ver. 25 — 34, " Then said some of them at 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 MESSIAH?
" Howbeit, we know this man whence he is; but when " the Messiah cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. " Then cried Jesus in the temple, as he taught, 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 " [an occasion] 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 the " Messiah 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 thief priests sent officers to take " him. Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while " am I with you, and then I go to him that sent me: " ye shall seek me, and not find me; and where I am, " there you cannot come. Then said the jews among 62 The Reasonableness of Christianity, " themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not " find him?" Here we find that the great fault in our Saviour, and the great provocation to the jews, was his being taken for the Messiah; and doing such things as made the people " believe in him;" i. e. believe that he was the Messiah. Here also our Saviour declares, in words very easy to be understood, at least after his re surrection, that he was the Messiah: for, if he were " sent from God," and did his miracles by the Spirit of God, there could be no doubt but he was the Messiah. But yet this declaration was in a way that the pharisees and priests could not lay hold on, to make an accu sation of, to the disturbance of his ministry, or the seizure of his person, how much soever they desired it: for his time was not yet come. The officers they had sent to apprehend him, charmed with his discourse, re turned without laying hands on him, ver. 45, 46. And when the chief priests asked them, " Why they brought " him not?" They answered, " Never man spake like " this man." Whereupon the pharisees reply, " Are " ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers, or of the " pharisees, believed on him? But this people, who " know not the law, are cursed." This shows what was meant " by believing on him," viz. believing that he was the Messiah. For, say they, have any of the rulers, who are skilled in the law, or of the devout and learned pharisees, acknowledged him to be the Messiah? For as for those who in the division among the people concerning him, say, " That he is the Messiah," they are ignorant and vile wretches, know nothing of the scripture, and being accursed, are given up by God, to be deceived by this impostor, and to take him for the Messiah. Therefore, notwithstanding their desire to lay hold on him, he goes on; and ver. 37, 38, " In " the last and great day of the feast, Jesus stood and " cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto " me and drink: he that believeth on me, as the scrip- " ture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of " living water/* And thus he here again declares him self to be the Messiah; but in the prophetic style, as we may see by the next verse of this chapter, and those as delivered in the Scriptures. 63 places in the Old Testament, that these words of our Saviour refer to.
In the next chapter, John viii. all that he says con cerning himself, and what they were to believe, tends to this, viz. that he was sent from God his Father; and that, if they did not believe that he was the Messiah, they should die in their sins: but this, in a way, as St. John observes, ver. 27, that they did not well under stand. But our Saviour himself tells them, ver. 28, " When ye have lift up the Son of man, then ye shall '* know that I am he."
Going from them, he cures the man born blind, whom meeting with again, after the jews had questioned him, and cast him out, John ix. 35 — 38, " Jesus said " to him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? " He answered, Who is he, Lord, that I might be- " lieve on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast " both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. " And he said, Lord, I believe." Here we see this man is pronounced a believer, when all that was pro posed to him to believe, was, that Jesus was " the Son " of God," which was, as we have already shown, to believe that he was the Messiah.
In the next chapter, John x. 1 — 21, he declares the laying down of his life both for jews and gentiles; but in a parable which they understood not, ver.
As he was going to the feast of the dedication, the pharisees ask him, Luke xvii. 20, " When the king- " dom of God," i. e. of the Messiah, " should come?" He answers, That it should not come with pomp and observation, and great concourse; but that it was al ready begun amongst them. If he had stopt here, the sense had been so plain, that they could hardly have mistaken him; or have doubted, but that he meant, that the Messiah was already come, and amongst them; and so might have been prone to infer, that Jesus took upon him to be him. But here, as in the place before taken notice of, subjoining to this future revelation of himself, both in his coming to execute vengeance on the jews,, and in his coming to judgment, mixed toge- 64 The Reasonableness of Christianity, ther, he so involved his sense, that it was not easy to understand him. And therefore the jews came to him again in the temple, John x. 23, and said, " How long " dost thou make us doubt? If thou be the Christ tell us " plainly. Jesus answered, I told you, and ye BELIEVED " not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they " bear witness of me. But ye BELIEVED not, because " ye are not of my sheep, as I told you." The BELIEV ING here, which he accuses them of not doing, is plainly their not BELIEVING him to be the Messiah, as the fore going words evince; and in the same sense it is evidently meant in the following verses of this chapter.
From hence Jesus going to Bethabara, and thence re turning into Bethany; upon Lazarus's death, John xi. 25 — 27, Jesus said to Martha, " I am the resurrection " and the life; he that belie vet h in me, though he were " dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and be- " lieveth in me shall not die for ever." So I understand «7ro9ai/y] eif rov al&W, answerable to fyg-s-rxi si; TOV alwva, of the septuagint, Gen. iii. 22, or John vi. 51, which we read right, in our English translation, " live for ever." But whether this saying of our Saviour here, can with truth be translated, " He that liveth and believeth in " me shall never die," will be apt to be questioned. But to go on, " Believest thou this? She said unto him, " Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Messiah, the " Son of God, which should come into the world." This she gives as a full answer to our Saviour's demands; this being that faith, which, whoever had, wanted no more to make them believers.
We may observe farther, in this same story of the raising of Lazarus, what faith it was our Saviour ex pected, by what he says, ver. 41, 42, " Father, I thank " thee, that thou hast heard me; and I know that thou " hearest me always. But because of the people who " stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou " hast sent me." And what the consequence of it was, we may see, ver. 45, " Then many of the jews who " came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus " did, believed on him;" which belief was, that he was " sent from the Father;" which, in other words, was, as delivered in the Scriptures. 65 that he was the Messiah. That this is the meaning, in the evangelists, of the phrase, of " believing on him," we have a demonstration in the following words, ver. 47» 48, " Then gathered the chief priests and pharisees " a council, and said, What do we? For this man does " many miracles; and if we let him alone, all men will " BELIEVE ON HIM." Those who here say, all men would BELIEVE ON HIM, were the chief priests and pha risees, his enemies, who sought his life, and therefore could have no other sense nor thought of this faith in him, which they spake of; but only the believing him to be the Messiah: and that that was their meaning, the adjoining words show: " If we let him alone, all the " world will believe on him;" i. e. believe him to be the Messiah. " And the Romans will come and take " away both our place and nation." Which reasoning of theirs was thus grounded: If we stand still, and let the people " believe on him," i. e. receive him for the Messiah: they will thereby take him and set him up for their king, and expect deliverance by him; which will draw the Roman arms upon us, to the destruction of us and our country. The Romans could not be thought to be at all concerned in any other belief whatsoever, that the people might have on him. It is therefore plain, that " believing on him," was, by the writers of the gospel, understood to mean the " believing him to be " the Messiah." The sanhedrim therefore, ver. 53, 54, from that day forth consulted to put him to death. " Jesus therefore walked not yet" (for so the word m signifies, and so I think it ought here to be translated) " boldly," or open-faced, " among the jews," i. e. of Jerusalem. '"'En cannot wellhere be translated "no more," because, within a very short time after, he appeared openly at the passover, and by his miracles and speech declared himself more freely than ever he had done; and all the week before his passion, taught daily in the temple, Matt, xx. 17. Mark. x. 32. Luke xviii. 31, &c. The meaning of this place seems therefore to be this: that his time being not yet come, he durst not yet show himself openly and confidently before the scribes and pharisees., and those of the sanhedrim at Jerusalem, * 66 The Reasonableness of Christianity, who were full of rrialice against him, and had resolved his death: " But went thence into a country near the " wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there " continued with his disciples," to keep himself out of the way until the passover, " which was nigh at hand," ver. 55. In his return thither, he takes the twelve aside, and tells them before-hand what should happen to him at Jerusalem, whither they were now going; and that all things that are written by the prophets, concerning the Son of man, should be accomplished; that he should be betrayed to the chief priests and scribes: and that they should condemn him to death and deliver him to the gentiles; that he should be mocked, and spit on, and scourged and put to death; and the third day he should rise again. But St. Luke tells us, chap, xviii. 34, That the apostles " understood none of these things, and this " saying was hid from them; neither knew they the " things which were spoken/' They believed him to be the Son of God, the Messiah sent from the Father; but their notion of the Messiah was the same with the rest of the jews, that he should be a temporal prince and deliverer: accordingly we see, Mark x. 35, that, even in this their last journey with him to Jerusalem, two of them, James, and John, coming to him, and falling at his feet, said, " Grant unto us that we may sit one on " thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy " glory:" or, as St. Matthew has it, chap. xx. 21, " in " thy kingdom." That which distinguished them from the unbelieving jews, was, that they believed Jesus to be the very Messiah, and so received him as their King and Lord.
And now, the hour being come that the Son of man should be glorified, he, without his usual reserve, makes his public entry into Jerusalem, riding on a young ass! " As it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion; behold, " thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt." But " these things," says St. John, chap. xii. 16, " his dis- " ciples understood not, at the first; but when Jesus " was glorified, then remembered they that these things " were written of him, and that they had done these " things unto him." Though the apostles believed as delivered in the Scriptures. 67 him to be the Messiah, yet there were many occurrences of his life, which they understood not (at the time when they happened) to be foretold of the Messiah; which, after his ascension, they found exactly to quadrate. Thus according to what was foretold of him, he rode into the city, " all the people crying-, Hosanna, blessed is the " King of Israel, that cometh in the name of the Lord." This was so open a declaration.of his being the Messiah, that, Luke xix. 39> " Some of the pharisees from among " the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy dis- " ciples." But he was so far now from stopping them, or disowning this their acknowledgment of his being the Messiah, that he said unto them, " I tell you, that " if these should hold their peace, the stones would im- " mediately cry out." And again upon the like occa sion of their crying, " Hosanna to the Son of David," in the temple, Matt. xxi. 15, 16, " When the chief priests " and scribes were sore displeased, and said unto him, " Hearest thou what they say? Jesus said unto them, " Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes " and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" And now, ver. 14, 15, "He cures the blind and the lame openly " in the temple. And when the chief priests and " scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the " children crying in the temple, Hosanna, they were " enraged." One would not think, that after the mul titude of miracles that our Saviour had now been doing for above three years together, the curing the lame and blind should so much move them. But we must re member, that though his ministry had abounded with miracles, yet the most of them had been done about Galilee, and in parts remote from Jerusalem. There is but one left on record, hitherto done in that city; and that had so ill a reception, that they sought his life for it: as we may read John v. 16. And therefore we hear not of his being at the next passover, because he was there only privately, as an ordinary jew: the reason whereof we may read, John vii. 1, " After these things " Jesus walked in Galilee; for he would not walk in " Jewry, because the jews sought to kill him."
Hence we may guess the reason why St. John omitted 68 The Reasonableness of Christianity, the mention of his being at Jerusalem, at the third pass- over, after his baptism; probably because he did nothing memorable there. Indeed when he was at the feast of tabernacles, immediately preceding this his last pass- over, he cured the man born blind: but it appears not to have been done in Jerusalem itself, but in the way, as he retired to the mount of Olives; for there seems to have been nobody by when he did it, but his apostles. Com pare ver. 2. with ver. 8, 10, of John ix. This, at least, is remarkable, that neither the cure of this blind man, nor that of the other infirm man, at the passover, above a twelve-month before, at Jerusalem, was done in the sight of the scribes, pharisees, chief priests, or rulers. Nor was it without reason, that in the former part of his ministry, he was catitious of showing himself to them to be the Messiah. But now, that he was come to the last scene of his life, and that the passover was come, the ap pointed time, wherein he was to complete the work he came for, in his death and resurrection, he does many things in Jerusalem itself before the face of the scribes, pharisees, and whole body of the Jewish nation, to ma nifest himself to be the Messiah. And, as St. Luke says, chap. xix. 47, 48, " he taught daily in the temple: but " the chief priests, and the scribes, and the chief of the " people, sought to destroy him; and could not find " what they might do; for all the people were very at- " tentive to hear him." What he taught we are left to guess, by what we have found him constantly preach ing elsewhere: but St. Luke tells us, chap. xx. 1, " He " taught in the temple, and evangelized;" or, as we translate it, " preached the gospel;" which, as we have showed, was the making known to them the good news of the kingdom of the Messiah. And this we shall find he did, in what now remains of his history.
In the first discourse of his, which we find upon re cord, after this, John xii. 20, &c. he foretels his cru cifixion, and the belief of all sorts, both jews and gen tiles, on him after that. Whereupon the people say to him, ver. 34, " We have heard out of the law, that the " Messiah abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, that <e the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son as delivered in the Scriptures. 69 " of man?" In his answer, he plainly designs himself under the name of Light; which was what he had de clared himself to them to be, the last time that they had seen him in Jerusalem. For then at the feast of tabernacles, but six months before, he tells them in the very place where he now is, viz. in the temple, " I am " the Light of the world; whosoever follows me shall " not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life;" as we may read, John viii. 12. And ix. 5, he says, "As " long as I am in the world, I am the LIGHT of the " world." But neither here, nor any- where else, does he, even in these four or five last days of his life, (though he knew his hour was come, and was prepared to his death, ver. 27, and scrupled not to manifest himself to the rulers of the jews to be the Messiah, by doing mi racles before them in the temple,) ever once in direct words own himself to the jews to be the Messiah; though by miracles and other ways he did every-where make it known unto them, so that it might be understood. This could not be without some reason; and the pre- servation_ jof.his life, which he came now to Jerusalem on purpose to lay down, could not be it. What other could it then be, but the same which liad made him use caution in the former part of his ministry; so to con duct himself, that he might do the work which he came for, and in all parts answer the character given of the Messiah, in the law and the prophets? He had fulfilled the time of his ministry; and now taught and did miracles openly in the temple, before the rulers and the people, not fearing to be seized. But he would not be seized for any thing that might make him a criminal to the government: and therefore he avoided giving those, who, in the division that was about him, inclined towards him, occasion of tumult for his sake: or to the jews, his enemies, matter of just accusation, against him, out of his own mouth, by professing him self to be the Messiah, the King of Israel, in direct words. It was enough that by words and deeds he de clared it so to them, that they could not but under stand him; which it is plain they did, Luke xx. 16, 19. Matt. xxi. 45. But yet neither his actions, which were 70 The Reasonableness of Christianity, only doing of good; nor words, which were mystical and parabolical (as we may see, Matt. xxi. and xxii, and the parallel places of Matthew and Luke;) nor any of his ways of making himself known to be the Messiah; could be brought in testimony, or urged against him, as opposite or dangerous to the govern ment. This preserved him from being condemned as a malefactor; and procured him a testimony from the Roman governor, his judge, that he was an innocent man, sacrificed to the envy of the Jewish nation. So that he avoided saying that he was the Messiah, that to those who would call to mind his life and death, after his resurrection, he might the more clearly appear to be so. It is farther to be remarked, that though he often appeals to the testimony of his miracles, who he is, yet he never tells the jews, that he was born at Bethlehem, to remove the prejudice that lay against him, whilst he passed for a Galilean, and which was urged as a proof that he was riot the Messiah, John vii. 41, 42. The healing of the sick, and doing good miraculously, could be no crime in him, nor accusation against him. But the naming of Bethlehem for his birth-place might have wrought as much upon the mind of Pilate, as it did on Herod's; and have raised a suspicion in Pilate, as pre judicial to our Saviour's innocence as Herod was to the children born there. His pretending to be born at Beth lehem, as it was liable to be explained by the jews could not have failed to have met with a sinister inter pretation in the Roman governor, and have rendered Jesus suspected of some criminal design against the go vernment. And hence we see, that when Pilate asked him, John xix. 9, " Whence art thou? Jesus gave him no answer."
Whether our Saviour had not an eye to this straitness, this narrow room that was left to his conduct, between the new converts and the captious jews, when He says, Luke xii. 50, " I have a baptism to be baptized with, " and TTW? a-vvixopai, how am I straitened until it be ac- " complished!" I leave to be considered. " I am " come to send fire on the earth," says our Saviour, " and what if it be already kindled?" i. e. There beas delivered in the Scriptures. 71 gin already to be divisions about me, John vii. 12, 43, and ix. J6, and x. 19. And I have not the freedom, the latitude, to declare myself openly to be the Messiah; though I am he, that must not be spoken on, until af ter my death. My way to my throne is closely hedged in on every side, and much straitened; within which I must keep, until it bring me to my cross in its due time and manner; so that it do not cut short the time, nor cross the end of my ministry.
And therefore, to keep up this inoffensive character, and not to let it come within the reach of accident or calumny, he withdrew, with his apostles, out of the town, every evening; and kept himself retired out of the way, Luke xxi. 37. " And in the day-time he was " teaching in the temple, and every night he went out *e and abode in the mount, that is called the Mount of " Olives/' that he might avoid all concourse to him in the night, and give no occasion of disturbance, or sus picion of himself, in that great conflux of the whole na tion of the jews, now assembled in Jerusalem at the passover.
But to return to his preaching in the temple: he bids them, John xii. 36, " To believe in the Light, whilst " they have it." And he tells them, ver. 46, " I am *6 the Light come into the world, that every one who " believes in me, should not remain in darkness;" which believing in him, was the believing him to be the Messiah, as I have elsewhere showed.
The next day, Matt, xxi, he rebukes them for not having believed John the Baptist, who had testified that he was the Messiah. And then, in a parable, declares himself to be the " Son of God," whom they should de stroy; and that for it God would take away the king dom of the Messiah from them, and give it to the gen tiles. That they understood him thus, is plain from. Luke xxi. 16, " And when they heard it, they said, " God forbid." And ver. 19, " For they knew that " he had spoken this parable against them."
Much to the same purpose was his next parable, concern ng " the kingdom of heaven," Matt. xxi. 1 — 10. That the jews not accepting of the kingdom 72 The Reasonableness of Christianity ', of the Messiah, to whom it was first offered, other should be brought in.