was with them: the COMFORTER was within them. The change, therefore, was not in the teaching, but in themselves; as when a man's eyes are dim, and you give him a Bible, and he can hardly read it. The Word is God's Word; and so, perfect: but its use to him is small. Let his eyes be healed, however, and what a change comes over his use of it. It is the same; but to him how different!.... Such is the teaching of the SPIRIT; making to mankind available the teaching of the Son of Man."(z)

In passing, we would ask those writers who are prone to suspect the Apostles and Evangelists of inaccurate memories, how they reconcile their notion of Inspiration with this promise of our LORD?(a)

The sending of the HOLY GHOST "in the Name" of JESUS CHRIST implies that His office would be to carry forward and complete the gracious work which CHRIST had effectually begun. Thus, He would add the great work of Sanctification to the work of Redemption; would recall to the Apostles our SAVIOUR'S teaching, and guide them into all the Truth of it; for he who comes "in the name" of another, comes to do the work of that other. Consider, and compare the language of St. John v. 43.

27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the World giveth, give I unto you.

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Friends are ever wont to use words of Peace at parting; and by saying, "Peace I leave with you," the Prince of Peace(b) here shows that He is about to be parted by Death from His Disciples,to whom these words convey His prevailing Benediction, and Divine legacy,-their large inheritance. But it is more than "Peace" that He leaves" them. My Peace," (He says,) "I give unto you." The nature of it, St. Paul declares in a familiar place; (c) and twice calls it "the Peace of GOD."(d) For this Peace, the Church prays daily in her second Collect at Evening Prayer: in her Litany also; and herein she bestows her parting Benediction.(f) -It is interesting to find these words of our LORD prefixed to the Confession, or Creed, of the 630 Bishops who met at Chalcedon, about A.D. 451; as the Divine warrant for uniformity of Doctrine.

Take notice that our LORD goes on to contrast His gifts with those unreal goods which the World gives; as well as His manner, with the World's manner of giving. Those, eternal, and "without repentance ;"(g) these, temporal, and altogether insecure those, proceeding from Him to whom all things of right belong; these, conferred by persons who are not their true possessors. The Blessed Speaker may have observed His Disciples growing sorrowful as well as afraid at the prospect which these sayings, ominous of His near departure, disclosed. He therefore, "whose words had cast down their hearts, raises them presently again with chosen sentences of sweet encouragement;"(h) repeating, first, the soothing exhortation.

28 Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the FATHER:

Alluding to what is found above, in verses 2 and 3; also, 12, 18, and 23: and "teaching us," (observes Cyprian,) "that we must rejoice rather than grieve at the departure out of this World of those we love."-The knowledge whither our SAVIOUR was going should have caused His Disciples to rejoice. He saith:

for My FATHER is greater than I.

In order to understand what made this a season for such rejoicing, consider Phil. ii. 5 to 11. Read also St. John xvii. 1, 2, and 5: Eph. i. 20 to 22: Hebr. i. 3, 4: ii. 9: xii. 2, &c.—For a kindred saying, see St. John x. 29, and the Commentary

(z) These valuable remarks are from a MS. Sermon by the Rev. Robert Scott, D.D., Master of Balliol.

(a) See the note on St. John xii. 15.

(c) Phil. iv. 7.

(b) Is. ix. 6: compare xxvi. 3. (d) Col. iii. 15.

(f) At the end of the Communion Service; availing herself of St. Paul's allusion to the words in Phil. iv. 7.

(g) Rom. xi. 21.

(h) Hooker.

on that place: taking note of the emphatic statement which immediately follows in verse 30,-namely, "I and [the] FATHER are One."

It remains, then, to offer a few words on the remarkable declaration before us: concerning which, it is perhaps not enough to suggest that our LORD here declares Himself inferior to the FATHER as touching His Manhood:" for, (as Gregory of Nazianzus points out,) however true, this would have been a very trifling statement for our LORD to make: so perfectly obvious is it that God is greater than Man. In the opinion of the most learned of the Fathers, a loftier doctrine is here conveyed; and the subject may be fitly introduced by a reference to what has been already offered in the notes on St. John v. 20. Because the SON received His essence from the FATHER, He which was equal, even in that equality, is considered here to confess a priority; saying, "the FATHER is greater than I:" the Sox, equal in respect of His Nature; the FATHER, greater in regard to the communication of the Gophead.

"I know Him," (saith the Holy One,) "for I am from Him."() "And because He is from the FATHER, therefore He is called by those of the Nicene Council, in their Creed, 'GOD of GOD, LIGHT of LIGHT, Very GOD of very GOD.' The FATHER is GOD, but not of GOD; LIGHT, but not of LIGHT: CHRIST is GOD, but of GOD; LIGHT, but of LIGHT. There is no difference or inequality in the Nature or E-sence, because the same in both; both the FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST hath that Essence of Himself, from none; CHRIST hath the same not of Himself, but from Him." This, then, hath been thought by many Doctors of the Church to be the ground of the superiority ascribed to the FATHER by the Son, in the text. "And the privilege or priority of the First Person, (say they,) consisteth not in this, that the Essence or attributes of the One are greater than the Essence or attributes of the Other; (for they are the same in both ;) but only in this,-that the FATHER hath that Essence of Himself; the Son, by communication from the FATHER."() And this is certainly what those 250 Bishops, who met at Sardica in A.D. 347, meant, when they said, "No one ever denies that the FATHER is greater than the SON; not because their Substance is different, nor indeed because of any other disparity whatsoever: but because the very Name ‘FATHER' is greater than the Name 'SON.'"

It may yet be a satisfaction to those who are inclined to think that it was only because He had taken "the form of a servant," that the Eternal Son said, “My FATHER is greater than I,"-to know that Augustine, in eighteen out of nineteen places in his writings, advocates their view; and that even Cyril himself, when he wrote his Commentary on St. John, was of the same opinion. Let better men decide whether the true account of the matter may not possibly be this:—that, however certain the Doctrine laid down in the former part of the present note may be, yet that, in the actual context of the words under consideration, they are to be explained otherwise. So, at least, thought all those Patriarchs and Metropolitans who discussed the saying "My FATHER is greater than I," in a Synod held at Constantinople, A.D. 1166.(k)

29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

With the same design with which He here foretells His approaching departure to the FATHER, the Blessed Speaker had before predicted the treachery of Judas Iscariot, in St. John xiii. 19; and, with the same design, He will foretell the suf ferings of the Apostles in chap. xvi. 4. Consider what is stated in St. John ii. 22. Our SAVIOUR next intimates that His time for intercourse with His Apostles is now drawing to a close. He had yet much to tell them ;(7) and they were hanging on every word with intense interest and wonder. But the night was already wearing fast away. He says therefore:

30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the Prince of this World cometh, and hath nothing in Me.

(i) St. John vii. 29: where see the note.

(j) So Bp. Pearson: also Bp. Bull, following therein Athanasius, his predecessor Alexander, Hilary, and many others.

(k) The acts of that Synod have lately been found in the Vatican.

(1) St. John xvi. 12.

He has already called Satan “the Prince of this World" in St. John xii. 31, where the note should be referred to. See also St. John xvi. 11: and consider how fearful is the intimation here given of the actual approach of that Old Serpent at the present juncture,-which may not be explained away, as if the instruments of Satan, Judas and the rest, were all that is meant. After the Temptation, he had departed from the Holy One "until a season,"— which season had now at last arrived.(m)

"A cunning searcher hath pried narrowly into every corner of His Life; and, if there had been anything amiss, would have been sure to have spied it, and proclaimed it; but he could find nothing."(n) From Sin, CHRIST "was clearly void, both in His Flesh, and in His Spirit."(o) It is not therefore because Satan, (to whom our LORD had never "given place" (p) for a moment,) had any power over Him, to hurt Him, that He was about to suffer Death, (which is “the wages of Sin ;")(q) but,—

31 But that the World may know that I love the FATHER; and as the FATHER gave Me commandment, even so I do.

That is,-But I will submit to Death, (and thus slay Satan with his own weapon,)(r) that I may redeem the World; and that thereby the World may know that I love the FATHER; and do, even as He gave Me commandment. This verse should be carefully compared with the latter portion of St. John xv. 10; where see the Commentary. See also St. John x. 18; and the notes on the place. The Blessed Speaker adds,

Arise, let us go hence.

After which, we picture to ourselves the Eleven Apostles, amazed at all they had seen and heard during the last few hours, sorrowfully rising from table; quitting the "large upper-chamber" where they had been partaking of the last Jewish Passover, the first LORD's Supper; and preparing to follow the Holy One through the streets of Jerusalem to their customy place of resort,-the Garden of Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

CHAPTER XV.

1 The consolation and mutual love between CHRIST and His members, under the parable of the Vine. 18 A comfort in the hatred and persecution of the World. 26 The office of the HOLY GHOST, and of the Apostles.

THE former chapter ended with the words,-"Arise, let us go hence." It is to be supposed that the blessed Company rose at that saying, and followed our SAVIOUR through the streets of Jerusalem in the direction of the Mount of Olives. Their way will have led them past the Temple; above the gates of which, and just beneath the coping, a golden Vine was constructed of surprising size and very costly workmanship. Its depending clusters were of the height of a man. How then can we forbear suspecting that the words which follow were spoken with special reference to that symbol; which may have all the while hung mantling above the Divine Speaker, and the little band of mournful Disciples which surrounded Him, as they reposed in one of the porches of the sacred edifice?

I am the true Vine, and My FATHER is the Husbandman.

(m) See the note on St. Luke iv. 13.

(0) Art. XV.

(p) Eph. iv. 27.

(r) Pseudo-Fell on Heb. ii. 14, 15,-which see.

(n) Bp. Sanderson.

(9) Rom. vi. 23. See Heb. ii. 14.

The sense in which our LORD here calls Himself "the true Vine," and elsewhere "the true Bread ;”(a) in which also the Evangelist St. John styles Him "the true Light;"(b) is much to be noted. It is not implied that the noble Vine(c) which He had brought out of Egypt, casting out the heathen in order to plant it; (d) the "Angels' food" with which He had fed His people in the Wilderness; or the Light which He pronounced, "in the beginning." "very good," were all otherwise than true: but only, that every thing implied in those titles, when bestowed on any of His creatures, was fulfilled in Himself alone. They were but shadows; He, the very substance. They, the signs; He, the very thing signified. They, the type; He, the antitype.(e) Wiclif translates, "I am the verri Vine." CHRIST is therefore not only the Lord of the Vineyard:"(ƒ) not only is He "the Son" of "the Lord of the Vineyard;"(g) but He is also the "Vine" itself. And this, His uni

versal character, has been already pointed out in the note on St. John x. 11. Having thus styled Himself the Vine, it became necessary, in order to pursue the Parable, to speak of the FATHER as the Husbandman; in which, moreover, there will be felt to be an exceeding propriety. Let us, however, instead of perplexing ourselves with such minor details, bear in mind a remark which has been already elsewhere offered; namely, that in interpreting each of our LORD's parables, the great purpose for which it was delivered is to be ever borne in mind, if we would understand it rightly.(h) Thus, in the present instance, our LORD is chiefly bent on showing that it is only by abiding in Him, like branches in the Vine, that we can become fruitful; or indeed, that we can live. The remark is also true, that "what is principally to be regarded in this place is, that hitherto indeed Israel had been the Vine, into which every one that would betake himself to the worship of the true GOD, was to be set and grafted in. But from henceforward they were to be planted no more into the Jewish Religion, but into the profession of CHRIST. Hence the Disciples were no longer called Jews' or 'Israelites,' but 'Christians.'”(i)

Of all the fruit-trees, then, why does our LORD here resemble Himself to a "Vine?" Doubtless, the immediate reason was in order thereby to interpret and illumine many a dark place of Psalm and ancient prophecy, where the image of the Vine was found already. But this is only to postpone our answer. The Prophets, speaking by "the Spirit of CHRIST which was in them,"(1) had been moved to discourse of a Vine, in preference to any other fruit-tree, because it was foreseen that our SAVIOUR would have occasion hereafter to refer, (as He does here,) to the image of a very fruitful tree with many branches ;(m) a tree which not only admits of pruning; but whose very productiveness depends on the judicious use of the pruning-knife. It needs, in truth, very slender powers of fancy, or a very limited acquaintance with the sacred writings, to discover a multitude of additional reasons why CHRIST should compare Himself to a Vine. Its fruit is a type of spiritual gifts, as our LORD testified both by His acts and by His sayings.(n) The use of the juice of the grape in the Holy Eucharist imparts a solemn meaning to the Psalmist's declaration, that it is this which "maketh glad the heart of man."(o) The very phrase, “blood of grapes," (p) prepares us, from the first, for something mysterious in connection with the Vine.

Delightful is it to find writers about the Grape-Vine, who had nothing less in view than the illustration of the Gospel, becoming our instructors in such passages as the following:-"It is hardly possible to plant a Vine in any situation in which it will not thrive. . . . The truth is that the roots of the Vine possess an extraordinary power of adapting themselves to any situation in which they may be planted, provided it be a dry one. They will ramble in every direction in search of food, and extract nourishment from sources apparently the most barren. In short, they are the best caterers that can possibly be imagined; for they will grow, and even thrive luxuriantly, where almost every other description of plant or tree would inevitably starve."

(a) St. John vi. 32.

(c) Jer. ii. 21.

(b) St. John i. 9.
(d) Ps. lxxx. 8.

(e) Consider Heb. viii. 2, and ix. 24. Also the note on St. John x. 11.

(f) St. Matth. xx. 8.

(h) See the note on St. Luke xvi. 8.

(7) 1 St. Pet. i. 11.

(g) St. Matth. xxi. 37, 40.

(i) Lightfoot, referring to Acts xi. 26.

(m) Ps. lxxx. 11. See the note on St. Mark iv. 32.

(n) St. John . 11, (where see the note ;) and St. Matth. ix. 17. (o) Ps. civ. 15. Compare Judges ix. 13.

(p) Gen. xlix. 11. Deut. xxxii. 14.

The author of the same treatise seems to be discoursing in a parable when he adds:-"Pruning and Training are so closely connected together, that they almost constitute one operation. In pruning a Vine, regard must be had to the manner in which it is afterwards to be trained; and, in training it, the position of the branches must, in a great measure, be regulated by the mode in which it has previously been pruned."

"The old wood of a Vine is not only of no use, but is a positive injury to the fertility of the plant."

The sole object in view in pruning a Vine is to increase its fertility." But it is added, (and there is something affecting in the remark:)—" Although by pruning a Vine its fertility is increased, its existence is no doubt thereby shortened. The severing of a healthy branch from any tree is, without doubt, doing an act of violence to it; the effects of which are only overcome by the superior strength of the vegetative powers of its roots."(q)

To understand our SAVIOUR'S next words, we must anticipate His declaration in ver. 5: "I am the Vine, ye are the branches."

2 Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Nothing is here said about unbelievers. Our SAVIOUR is talking only of Christian men,—(“Every branch in Me," He says: and He distinguishes believers into two classes; those who bear not, and those who bear fruit. The former, "He taketh away,”-“like Judas, who was even now gone forth, and severed from the Church. The latter class, He purgeth,' (or cleanseth,') - by His Word, by His Spirit, by His Providence, by trials and afflictions; as He was about to do with these His beloved Apostles: not willingly, but that they might bear more fruit.""(r) Under one of these two classes, all perforce are comprised; and take notice, that the words of Solomon, adopted by the Apostle in his exhortation, (" My son despise not thou the chastening of the LORD," &c.,)(s) must, by our LORD's showing, be applicable to all who are not reprobates.

3 Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.

"Ye are already sanctified" (He says) "by the operation of My Doctrine and Spirit upon you,(t) though ye may need further pruning in order to a greater degree of fruitfulness."(u) This saying should be thoughtfully compared with what is found in St. John xiii. 10: and let the learned reader decide whether there is not an allusion here to the precept contained in Levit. xix. 23.

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There is a slight play of sound in the original, (which disappears in the translation,) between the words "taketh away," purgeth," and "clean." Observe that here, our SAVIOUR claims to Himself the Hubandman's Office; since it is His Word which cleanseth the branches. "And thus, throughout these Discourses, He departs from them, yet He continues with them. He is One with the FATHER, yet different. He is One with the Comforter, yet another. He is the Vine, and His FATHER is the Husbandman; and yet, He and the FATHER are One. He is the Vine, and yet the Vine are. His Disciples."(x)

4 Abide in Me, and I in you.

That is, "And I will abide in you :" or, "that I also may abide in you." "How is this communion, but by prayer; by keeping His word; by good works; by His Sacraments; by His sanctifying Grace; by the Peace of GOD keeping the heart; by Faith exercised in Love?"(y) Lastly, from a comparison of this place with 1 St. John ii. 6, it must be added, - By walking even as He walked.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the Vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.

(q) Clement on the Cultivation of the Grape-Vine, 1837.

(r) Williams.

(t) Compare Eph. v. 26.

(x) Williams.

(8) Heb. xii. 5, — quoting Prov. iii. 11, 12.
(u) Hammond.

(3) Williams.