11 life, and that they may have it abundantly: I am the

good fhepherd; the good fhepherd layeth down his 12 life for the sheep. But the hireling, who is not the fhepherd, whofe own the fheep are not, feeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: fo the wolf 13 feizeth them, and scattereth the fheep. The hireling

fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the 14 fheep. I am the good fhepherd, and know my fheep, 15 and am known of mine, (As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father); and I lay down my life for 16 the sheep. I have alfo other fheep which are not of this fold: I must bring them likewife, and they will hear my voice, and there fhall be one flock, and one 17 fhepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because 18 I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one

V. 12. But the hireling-It is not the bare receiving hire, which denominates a man an hireling: (For the labourer is worthy of his hire; Jefus Chrift himself being the Judge: yea, and the Lord hath ordained, that they who preach the Gospel, fhould live of the Gofpel :) But the loving hire; the loving the hire more than the work; the working for the fake of the hire. He is an hireling, who would not work, were it not for the hire: to whom this is the great (if not only) motive of working. O God! If a man who works only for hire, is fuch a wretch, a mere thief and a robber: What is he who continually takes the hire, and yet does not work at all! The wolf-Signifies any enemy, who by force or fraud attacks the christian's faith, liberty, or life. So the wolf feizeth and scat-, tereth the flock-He feizeth fome, and scattereth the reft; the two ways of hurting the flock of Chrift.

V. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling-Because he loves the hire, not the fheep.

V. 14. I know my sheep-With a tender regard and special care: and am known of mine-With an holy confidence and affection.

V. 15. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father-With fuch a knowledge as implies an inexpreffible union: And I lay down my life -Speaking of the prefent time. For his whole life was only a going unto death.

V. 16. I have alfo other sheep-Which he foreknew: which are not of this fold-Not of the Jewish church or nation, but Gentiles. Imuft bring them likewife-Into my church, the general affembly of thofe whole names are written in heaven. And there fhall be one flock(Not one fold, a plain falfe print) no corrupt or divided flocks remaining. And one Shepherd-Who laid down his life for the fheep, and will leave no hireling among them. This unity both of the flock and the Shepherd, fhall be compleated in its feafon. The Shepherd fhall bring all into one flock s and the whole flock fhall hear the one Shepherd.

V. 17. I lay down my life, that I may take it again-I chearfully die to expiate the fins of men, to the end I may rife again for their juftification.

V. 18 I lay it down of myfelf-By my own free act and deed. 1 have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again-I have an

original

taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commiffion have I received of my Father. 19 There was again a divifion amongst the Jews, because 20 of these sayings. Many of them faid, He hath a devil, 21 and is mad: why hear ye him? Others faid, These are not the words of one that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

22

Now the feaft of the dedication came on at Jeru 23 falem and it was winter. And Jefus was walking in 24 the temple, in Solomon's portico. Then came the Jews round about him, and faid to him, How long dost thou keep us in fufpence? If thou be the Christ, tell 5 us plainly. Jefus anfwered them, I have told you; yet ye do not believe: the works that I do in my 26 Father's name, they testify of me. But, as I have told

you, ye do not believe, because ye are not of my fheep 27 My fheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they. original power and right of myfelf, both to lay it down as a ranfom, and to take it again, after full fatisfaction is made, for the fins of the whole world. This commiffion have I received of my Father-Which I readily execute.

He chiefly spoke of the Father, before his fuffering: of his own glory, after it. Our Lord's receiving this commiflion, as Mediator, is not to be confidered as the ground of his power to lay down and refume his life. For this he had in himself, as having an original right to dispose thereof antecedent to the Father's commiflion. But this commiffion was the reason why he thus ufed his power in laying down his life. He did it in obedience to his Father.

V. 21. Thefe are not the words-The word in the original takes in actions too.

V. 22. It was the feaft of the dedication-Inftituted by Judas Maccabeus (1 Macc. iv. 59) when he purged and dedicated the altar and temple after they had been polluted. So our Lord observed festivals even of human appointment. Is it not, at least, innocent, for us to do the fame?

V. 23. In Solomon's portico—Jofephus informs us, that when Solomon built the temple, he filled up a part of the adjacent valley, and built a portico over it towards the Eaft. This was a noble ftructure, supported by a wall four hundred cubits high; and continued even to the time of Albinus and Agrippa, which was several years after the death of Chrift.

V. 26. Ye do not believe, because ye are not of my fheep-Because ye do not, will not follow me; becaufe ye are proud, unholy, lovers of praise, lovers of the world, lovers of pleasure, not of God.

V. 27, 28, 29 My fheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, &c. Our Lord ftill alludes to the difcourfe he had before this feftival. As if he had said, My fheep are they who 1. Hear my voice. by faith: 2. Are known (that is, approved) by me, as loving me: and 3. Follow me, keep my commandments, with a believing, loving heart. And to those who i. Truly believe (obferve three promises annext to VOL, I.

three

28 follow me.

And I give them eternal life, and they fhall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of 29 my hand. My Father, who gave them me, is greater

my Father's

than all; and none fhall pluck them out of 20 hand. I and the Father are one. 81 Then the Jews again took up stones to stone him. 32 Jefus answered them, Many good works have I fhewed

you from my Father; for which of thofe works do ye 83 ftone me? The Jews anfwered him, We ftone thee not for a good work, but for blafphemy, and because 34 thou being a man, makeft thyfelf God. Jefus anfwered

them, Is it not written in your law, * I said ye are 35 Gods? If he call them gods, to whom the word of 36 God came (and the fcripture cannot be broken,) Say ye of him whom God hath fanctified and fent into the world, Thou blafphemeft, because I faid, I am the Son 37 of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe 38 me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe

the works; that ye may know and believe, that the 39 Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they fought

again to seize him; but he escaped out of their hands. three conditions) I give eternal life. He does not fay, I will, but I give. For he that believeth, hath everlasting life. Those whom 2. I know truly to love me, fhall never perish, provided they abide in my love. 3. Thofe who follow me, neither men nor devils can pluck out of my hand. My Father who hath by an unchangeable decree, given me all that believe, love and obey, is greater than all in heaven or earth, and none is able to pluck them out of his hand.

V. 30. Iand the Father are one-Not by confent of will only, but by unity of power, and confequently of nature. Are-This word confutes Sabellius, proving the plurality of perfons; One-This word confutes Arius, proving the unity of nature in God. Never did any prophet before, from the beginning of the world, use any one expreffion of himfelf, which could poffibly be fo interpreted as this and other expreffions were by all that heard our Lord fpeak. Therefore if he was not God, he must have been the vileft of men.

V. 35. If he (God) called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, (that is, to whom God was then speaking) And the Scriptures cannot be broken-That is, Nothing which is written therein can be cenfured or rejected.

V. 36. Say ye of him whom the Father hath fanctified, and fent into the world-This fanctification (whereby he is effentially, The Holy One of God) is mentioned as prior to his miffion, and together with it implies, Chrift was God in the higheft fenfe, infinitely fuperior to that wherein thofe judges were fo called.

V. 38. That ye may know and believe-In fome a more exact knowledge precedes, in others it follows faith. I am in the Father, and the Father in me-I and the Father are one-These too sentences illuftrate cach other.

Pfalin lxxxii. 6.

V. 40. To

40 And he went away again beyond Jordan, to the

place where John baptized at first, and there he abode. 41 And many came to him and faid, John did no miracle: but all things that John fpake of this man were truc 42 And many believed on him there.

XI.

Now one Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary 2 and her fifter Martha, was fick. (It was that Mary, who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whofe brother Lazarus was fick.) 3 Therefore his fifters fent to him, faying, Lord, behold 4he whom thou loveft is fick. Jefus hearing it, faid, This fickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. Now 6 Jefus loved Martha, and her fifter, and Lazarus. So after he had heard that he was fick, he abode still two 7 days in the place where he was. Then after this he faith to the difciples, Let us go into Judea again 8 The difciples fay to him, Mafter, the Jews but now fought to ftone thee, and goeit thou thither again? 9 Jefus anfwered, Are there not twelve hours in the V. 40. To the defert place where John baptized, and gave so honourable a teftimony of him."

V. 41. John did no miracle-An honour referved for him, whofe fore-runner he was.

V. 1. On Lazarus-It is probable, Lazarus was younger than his fifters. Bethany is named, the town of Mary and Martha, and Lazarus is mentioned after them, ver. 5. Ecclefiaftical hiftory informs us, That Lazarus was now thirty years old, and that he lived thirty years after Christ's afcenfion.

V. 2. It was that Mary, who afterwards anointed, &c. She was more known than her elder fifter Martha, and as fuch is named before her.

V. 4. This fickness is not to death, but for the glory of God-The event of this fickness will not be death, in the ufual sense of the word, a final feparation of his foul and body; but a manifeftation of the glorious Power of God.

V. 7. Let us go into Judea—From the country east of Jordan, whither he had retired fome time before, when the Jews fought to ftone him, ch. x. 39, 40,

V. 9. Are there not twelve hours in the day?—The Jews always divided the fpace from fun-rife to fun-fet, were the days longer or fhorter, into twelve parts: fo that the hours of their day were all the year the fame in number, though much fhorter in winter than in fummer. If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not-As if he had faid, So there is fuch a space, a determinate time, which God hath allotted me. During that time, I ftumble not, amidit all the fnares that are laid for me. Because he feeth the light of this world-And fo I fee the light of God furrounding me.

E e a

V. 10. But

day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, 10 because he feeth the light of this world. But if any man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light 11 is not in him. Thus he fpake, and after that he saith

to them, Our friend Lazarus fleepeth; but I go to 12 wake him. Then the difciples faid, Lord, if he fleep, 13 he will recover. Jefus fpake of his death; but they

thought he had spoken of the natural rest in sleep. 14 Then faid Jefus to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your fake I was not there, that ye 16 may believe: but let us go to him. Then faid Thomas called Didymus, to his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

17

When Jefus came, he found he had been now four 18 days in the tomb. (Now Bethany was near Jerufalem, 19 about fifteen furlongs off.) And many of the Jews

were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them 20 concerning their brother. When Martha heard that

Jefus was coming, fhe went and met him; but Mary 21 fat in the house. Then faid Martha to Jefus, Lord,

if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22 But I know even now, that whatsoever thou wilt afk 23 of God, God will give it thee. Jefus faith to her, 24 Thy brother fhall rise again. Martha faid to him, I

know that he fhall rife again in the refurrection at the 25 laft day. Jefus faid to her, I am the refurrection and

the life; he that believeth in me, though he die, yet 26 fhall he live; And whofoever liveth and believeth in 27 me, fhall not die for ever. Believest thou this? She faith to him, Yea, Lord, I believe thou art the Christ,

V. 10. But if a man walk in the night—If he have no light from God; if his Providence does no longer protect him.

V. 11. Our friend Lazarus fleepeth-This he fpoke just when he died. Sleepeth-Such is the death of good men in the language of heaven. But the difciples did not yet understand this language. And the flowness of our understanding makes the fcripture often defcend to our barbarous manner of fpeaking.

V. 6. Thomas in Hebrew, as Didymus in Greek, fignifies a twin. With him-With Jefus, whom he fuppofed the Jews would kill. It seems to be the language of defpair.

V. 20. Mary fat in the houfe-Probably not hearing what was said. V. 22. Whatfoever thou wilt afk, God will give it thee-So that she already believed, he could raise him from the dead.

V. 32. I am the refurrection Of the dead. And the life-Of the living. He that believeth in me, though he die, yet fhall he live-In life everlasting.

V. 32. She