SECTION V.

THE FERMENTATION, THE STRIFE, AND THE INCIPIENT SEPARATION BETWEEN THE ELEMENTS AND FOLLOWERS OF THE LIGHT, AND THE ELEMENTS AND FOLLOWERS OF THE DARKNESS, UNDER THE INFLUENCE EXERTED BY CHRIST.

(Chap. vii. 11-x. 21.)

Under the influence of the power emanating from Christ, there had thus unfolded themselves, on the one hand, all kindred germs of life congenial to the light, which had been touched by the rays of His life; on the other, all the elements of darkness had been excited into opposition against Him. In this manner had the crisis, the separation between light and darkness within the sphere of His operations, been anticipated. But this could only take place gradually, as the result of a powerful fermentation, a violent struggle. The chief features of the fermentation which preceded the separation present themselves in a series of facts.

Already, in the spirit which manifested itself at the feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, this fermentation made itself felt. Jesus had not come publicly to the celebration of the festival. But every one spake of Him. The Jews, says the Evangelist, sought Him at 'the feast — no doubt with hostile intention — and said, Where is He? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him. Some said, He is a good man. Others, on the contrary, said, Nay, but He deceiveth the people. No one, however, spoke freely and openly of Him, for fear of the Jews.

When, however, the middle of the feast had already come, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. Suddenly, therefore, He appeared amongst the multitude in the temple, and addressed the people. But immediately also the umbrage He gave, manifested itself in the most manifold forms.

The Jews — Judaists — expressed their surprise — that He taught — and said, 'How knoweth this man letters¹ — the writings of the doctors — having never learned — having never received the diploma of the Rabbis? — Jesus answered them, and said, 'My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me' — that is, He, as the highest teacher, has made Me a Rabbi. — 'If any man will do His will — will fulfil His will, as it has been made known to him, to the best of his knowledge and conscience — he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself — thus without human warrant and teaching. He that speaketh from himself, seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him² — which should make his doctrine to be false.' Thus the true learning and the true orthodoxy rest on the pure intention, the right view on the right aim; and the test of this is, that one seek the glory of God. Without call and without warrant, on the other hand, are those who seek their own honour, even should they be graduated and in office. The Lord then goes back to the first origin of their learning, and examines whether they stand in the true succession, which has its starting point in Moses: 'Did not Moses give you the law? and none of you doeth the law. Why seek ye to kill Me? ' — against the law. A practical proof that they have entirely lost their rabbinical dignity. This charge did not merely relate to the attempt which the Sanhedrists had made on His life in the previous spring, at the feast of Purim (according to chap, v.), but also to the purpose with which they now again persecuted Him. The multitude, however, who were at present in the joyous mood associated with the celebration of the feast of Tabernacles, thought they must rebut this charge, and supposed that Jesus was under the influence, at a most unseasonable time, of a gloomy dejection and madness. 'Thou hast a devil (of madness),' they said: 'who seeketh to kill Thee?' That the people, however, on the occasion of such hostile manifestations, already stood under the promptings of the pharisaical party, is shown by the answer of Christ, who boldly accuses His enemies of the attempt on His life, before the whole multitude. To their declaration regarding Himself, Jesus replied, 'I have done one work, and ye all marvel at it. Moses gave unto you circumcision (not in the sense as if it were of Moses, but of the fathers); and ye on the Sabbath-day circumcise a man (Lev. xii. 3). If then a man on the Sabbath-day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses be not broken — if the law of the Sabbath be suspended even by the law of circumcision, and that according to the requirement of the law in its integrity — are ye angry with Me that I have made the entire man whole on the Sabbath-day — whilst circumcision, which suspends the Sabbath, according to its primitive aim, apart from the typical, was appointed to heal or preserve from disease only one organ of man? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.' In this manner did He reprehend the scribes and Sanhedrists who doubted His doctrinal authority, and showed them how badly they themselves were instructed in the law.

And now some of the citizens of Jerusalem, proud of their connection with the metropolitan city, brought forward another ground of offence. 'Is not this He,' they said, 'whom they seek to kill — which the Judaists in a hypocritical manner, and with them even the people, in their inconsiderateness, had just been denying — and, lo. He speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto Him. Have then the rulers come to know in truth, that this is indeed the Christ? Have they really become convinced in the way of careful examination; and is their conviction also really well-founded? Howbeit we know whence this man is. But when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is.' They expressed thus the mystic' opinion, which among the later Jews was disseminated in a variety of forms,' that the Messiah would appear amongst the people in some mysterious way, without His origin being known.³ Then cried Jesus in the temple, as He taught, 'Ye both know Me, and know whence I am; and yet I am not come of Myself — in which case ye would certainly know Me (see v. 43, 44) — but it is He who is true that hath sent Me, whom ye know not — and therefore Me also ye do not know. But I know Him; for I am from Him, and He hath sent Me.' So little did He hesitate to discuss with those opposers the question regarding his origin, that He spoke of it with a loud voice. Then they sought to apprehend Him; but no one laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come.

Thus did His opposers manifest their enmity. The Rabbis sought to crush Him with the reproach of His want of school authority, the scribes with the reproach of His lowly descent; the former having no conception of the exalted teaching of 'His Spirit, the latter of His exalted origin. Over against these, however, stood many of the people who believed on Him, and said, 'When Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than this man hath done?' The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning Him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent out officers (officers of the temple) to apprehend Him. Jesus met these men with a boldness which deprived them entirely of their self-command, addressing Himself to them as well as to all around: 'Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto Him that sent Me.' So long, therefore. He thus intimates, must ye leave Me free. And if ye dare to apprehend Me, and think to hold Me fast, I escape then most of all from your hands — then I go of My own free choice to Him that sent Me. 'Ye shall seek me,' He continued, 'and shall not find Me; and where I am, thither ye cannot come.' Then He shall be withdrawn from them to an unapproachable distance. It is not only the distance of heaven, but the distance of the Spirit. Then said the Jews among themselves, 'Whither will He go, that we shall not find Him? Will He go unto the dispersion of the Hellenes — unto the Jews dispersed among the heathen — and teach the Hellenes? 'Mocking, they unconsciously prophesied of the fact, still future, that in the preaching of the Gospel Christ should leave the Jews and turn to the heathen. 'What manner of saying,' they continued, 'is this that He hath spoken: Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me; and where I am, thither ye cannot come? 'They seemed darkly to surmise that this word contained the sentence of their future national destiny.

The last day of the feast of Tabernacles was a great festival-day as the conclusion of the celebration, and as a Sabbath — a day on which the congregation was assembled by a special ordinance of the law, and which was therefore distinguished by a special ritual service (see Lev. xxiii. 36). One thing, however, was wanting to that day which marked the others. On the seven preceding days the festive drawing of water took place every morning. A priest, with a large golden vessel, drew water from the fountain of Siloah on the temple mount, brought it into the temple, and poured it out on the altar into a silver basin. This was the commemoration of the miraculous spring which God had opened for the people as they journeyed through the desert. As, however, the eighth day denoted their entrance into Canaan,⁴ no water was drawn on that day. The fountains of the promised land on that day flowed for the refreshment of the people, a symbol of the streams of spiritual blessing which Jehovah had promised them. To this symbolism the words of Jesus on the last day of the feast have manifestly reference. He stood up, and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst — if he not only misses the typical streaming of the water, but painfully also the true — let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said (Isa. xliv. 3, lviii. 11; Zech. xiii. 8; Ezek. xlvii.), out of his body shall flow rivers of living water.' From this declaration it followed, that He regarded Himself as the true temple-fountain, the spiritual antitype of the well of Siloah. His promise is very strong. The believer shall not only be satisfied with this water, he shall himself become a fountain — he shall become a fountain of many streams; and the streams shall all of them be living water, everywhere like fountains multiplying themselves. The Evangelist adds: 'But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet — not yet revealed in this distinctive form of the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of the perfected life of Jesus, — for Jesus was not yet glorified.⁵ The miraculous fountain of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and of the new life had not yet broken forth from its hidden depth, in order, as a perpetually flowing spring, to send forth its waters in bounteous streams through all the world.

Many of the people now, who heard- this saying of Christ, said, 'Of a truth this is the prophet ' — the mystic precursor of the. Messias. They felt how clearly He expressed the deep longing of their soul after the true spiritual water-drawing of Israel. Others said straight out, 'This is the Christ.' These felt that Jesus not only named their longing, but also satisfied it. But they were met by others with the objection, 'Cometh then Christ out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? 'These were manifestly well acquainted with the Old Testament, but ill acquainted with the life of Jesus. They formed, however, a contrast to those who had expressed the opinion, when Christ cometh, no man shall know whence He is; as in like manner those, again, formed a contrast to the Judaists, who demanded that He must proceed from the school of some acknowledged Rabbi. These opposers are thus not at one with themselves in their requirements regarding the Messias, as in like manner also His friends are divided again into two parties. And just in this does the strength of the fermentation in their minds become manifest. Nevertheless, John refers to the main contradiction between enemies and friends, when he adds, 'So there arose a division among the people with respect to Him. Some of them desired to take Him, but no man laid hands on Him.' (Comp. vers. 30, 20, viii. 59, x. 39.) This time also were the enemies of Jesus paralyzed in their attempts on Him by the power and authority that manifested themselves in His teaching and bearing.

Without doubt, to the last-mentioned persons belonged also the officers of the Sanhedrim, who had been sent to apprehend Him. They came back to the chief priests and Pharisees. And they said unto them, 'Why have ye not brought Him? 'The officers answered, 'Never spake man like this man; 'naturally, therefore, also no Jewish councillor. Then answered them the Pharisees, 'Are ye also deceived? Hath any one of the rulers believed on Him, or one of the Pharisees? Only this people — this rabble — who know not the law: accursed are they! Only the people,' said they, 'believe on Him.' This declaration constrained one of the councillors to reply. Nicodemus, namely, who had come to Jesus by night, being one of them, said, 'Doth our law judge any man till one hath first heard him, and known what he doeth? '(See Deut. i. 16.) In vain, however, did he oppose himself to their fanatical excitement. As they had thrown suspicion on their officers, and cursed the people, they now reviled their colleague: \Art thou also a Galilean? 'it was said: 'search and look; for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.' That in their fanatical zeal they did not think on, or did not trouble themselves about, the fact, that several of the prophets were from Galilee, need not surprise us; and as little that they, a moment before, ventured to assert in the presence of Nicodemus, No ruler or Pharisee believeth on Jesus. What does not an excited fanaticism venture to assert!⁶

We have above seen (vol. ii. p. 361) that the paragraph which now follows (vii. 53-viii. 11) belongs indeed to the genuine apostolical tradition, but did not originally fit into this place, and most probably belongs to the history of the last temptations which Jesus had to undergo at the hand of the Sanhedrists in the temple, and perhaps is to be reckoned as belonging to Luke. Probably, this place has been assigned to it because it seemed so entirely drawn from the life of the feast of Tabernacles, which was celebrated by the Jews as a joyous popular festival, on which occasion grosser disorders might easily have occurred. In order not to interrupt the connection of the Gospel as it lies before us, we communicate the narrative in question here as an episode of the Gospel history, in which the degeneracy of Jewish life in their festival celebrations, as well as the holy position of the Lord over against the profane administrators of the old theocratic marriage laws in this travesty on all legal decorum, are placed before our view in a very pictorial manner. In the highly organized structure of the Gospel of John, no other place could be found for it, unless we introduced it as an appendix to this section.

And every one went to his own house. But Jesus went unto the Mount of olives. And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery; and they set her in the midst, and said unto Him, 'Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned. What sayest thou then? 'This they said to tempt Him, that they might have an accusation against Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground. When they still continued asking Him the question, which He had thus by writing on the ground declined to answer. He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, 'He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.' And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard this, they went out, being convicted by their own conscience, one after another, from the eldest even unto the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the woman. He said unto her, 'Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?' She said, 'No man. Lord! 'Jesus said unto her, 'Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.'

Such scandals probably broke out not unfrequently amidst the pious formalism of the Israelitish festivals. It was, however, an offensive contrast, when the Pharisees still professed a desire to maintain the ancient theocratic typical laws concerning discipline, whilst they themselves were destitute of theocratic purity. In the few words which He uttered, Jesus brought this home to their minds. Their judgment respecting the woman became a judgment against themselves. Meanwhile, also, the woman had had to undergo the mortal fear of condemnation. Conscious of guilt, she had stood for a time under the impending sentence of the supreme Judge. Christ did not condemn her in the quality of a theocratic judge, which the Jews had attributed to Him. For, according to theocratic law, the woman had to depart free, when the theocratic accusers and witnesses, instead of standing by the charge, skink away from the place of judgment. The Lord, however, by His conduct on this occasion, brought out the fact, that now another form of administration prevailed, inasmuch as the one typical jurisdiction of the theocracy had divided itself into three parts — into the spiritual jurisdiction of God, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Israelitish Church, and the civil jurisdiction of the Romano-Jewish state. The rights of the latter He could and would not prejudice; the rights of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction had in this case been forfeited by the accusers; and the right of God to condemn the adulteress He would not put in execution in a time of grace, but rather sent the woman home, with an exhortation to repentance,⁷ after He had allowed her to feel for a little space the judgment of the Spirit in its full measure, in His own presence.

It may have been towards the evening of the last festival-day, when again the yearly recurring feeling of a want showed itself among those who had taken part in the celebration. In the court of the woman, namely, there stood in those days two large golden candelabra, which had been originally lighted on the evening of the second festival day, to illuminate the temple space, and to throw their lustre from the temple mount down upon the city; whilst a circular dance, with joyful music, was held around the lights. Without doubt, it was a symbol of the pillar of fire which had shone on the people of Israel by night in their wanderings through the desert. Afterwards they may have been disposed to repeat these illuminations daily.⁸ At all events, they missed them when they did not take place; but when they did venture to introduce them, it was as in the case of the drawing of the water on the eighth day (see vol. ii. p. 355), they had no full assurance of the traditional legality of the practice. At the least, they had to lament that the glory was now departing. To such a frame of mind Jesus now attaches a new discourse.

Jesus spake again to them, and said, 'I am the light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' What the pillar of fire represented in the type, what the temple-lights as a continuation of that type designated, is found in Christ substantially. He is the eternal pillar of fire, which shines on all wanderers through the wilderness of life, who follow its guidance in the dark night of this world, and imparts to them the true light of life — a light which secures life, rescues life, dispenses life — which is itself a life-giving life. Then said the Pharisees unto Him, 'Thou bearest record of Thyself (in Thy own matter): Thy record is not true.' Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Though I bear record of Myself, yet My record is true; for I know whence I come, and whither I go.' When Jesus previously stood before the judgment-seat of the Jews, and defended His official working on the Sabbath-day, He appealed, with reference to the requirements of the law, to the testimony of the Father as the other great witness, because in that place His own testimony could not suffice (v. 31). Here, however, in private intercourse, they must allow His own testimony concerning' Himself to possess full competence and validity, although He indicates by the form of His expression that in this case also another testifies of Him. For His witness is the sure declaration of His absolutely certain self-consciousness, and so also of His divine consciousness; therefore at the same time also a testimony of God. He knows whence He comes, and whither He goes — His origin as well as the end of His mission; therefore, also, He can give full intelligence respecting His character. And because He knows that He comes from the Father, and goes to the Father in His luminous course through the midst of an erring world, He can with confidence call Himself the light of the world. And thus must He testify of Himself over against them, as they neither know whence He comes nor whither He goes, and therefore, also, cannot testify of Him.

He then proceeds: 'Ye judge according to the flesh — ye form your judgment purely from the external appearance of things, regarding their innermost character; — I judge no man — of Myself. But if I judge. My judgment is true (valid); for I am (in it, as also generally) not alone, but I, and the Father that sent Me. And so also is it written in your law — in the law which should be for you the law in its most proper sense, the Jewish Codex — that the testimony of two men is true (Deut. xvii. 6). I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me.' The clear, sure self-consciousness of Jesus is the first witness, and is confirmed by the second, by the great facts and miraculous powers in which God operates and establishes all His words. Then said they unto Him, 'Where is Thy Father? 'They demanded thus really that He should present Him as a witness in outward form: and in this they showed to what a frightful extent they had externalized the Old Testament, and reduced it to a corpus juris.⁹ Jesus answered. Ye neither know Me, nor My Father. If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also. These words spake Jesus in the hall of the chest of offerings,¹⁰ as He taught in the temple. And no man laid hands on Him; for His hour was not yet come; — although He thus humbled them in the most central arena of Jewish sanctity.

Once more the Lord found a special opportunity to address the people, as, towards the close of the day, individuals among them began to prepare for departure.

Then said Jesus again to them, 'I go (also) away, and ye shall seek Me, and ye shall die in your sins. Whither I go, ye cannot come.' Then said the Jews, 'Will He kill Himself, because He saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come?' In wanton mockery, they gave utterance to the sentiment, that He meant, perhaps, as a self-murderer, to descend into the lowest hell (see vol. ii. 368); and thither, they thought, they, as the heirs of paradise, could certainly not follow "Him. The answer of Jesus showed how clearly He understood them: 'Ye are from beneath,' He said; 'lam from above/ A man thus goes to the place from where, according to the disposition and nature of his inward character, lie is. For further explanation, He added, 'Ye are of this world — of the old Æon in its course towards hell — I am not of this world. Therefore have I said (testified) unto you, that ye shall die in your sins.' Still, only conditionally did He say this unto them; and, once more softening the threatening announcement by an evangelical invitation, He adds: 'For if ye shall not believe that I am — who I am; if ye apprehend not My inward character in faith — ye shall die in your sins.' Then said they unto Him, with great eagerness, 'Who art Thou then? 'They conceived the certain hope that He will now present Himself to them, before their departure, publicly as the Messias. He, however, would not respond to their impure Messianic notions, but, on the contrary, demanded that they should learn the true Messiahship in the features of His own character. Hence the cautious answer which He imparted to them: 'To start with — I am — what I even say unto you.' Thus the Light of the world, the Sent of the Father, the Source of true life.¹¹ But why does He not tell them all? This He explains in what follows: 'I have many things to say of you, and to judge in you. But He that sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which 1 have heard of Him.' Therefore by the divine words, which make themselves known to Him in the reality of things under the operation of God, are the words of His revelation guided; and it is in accordance with this great law of His life, if He may not entirely describe His own life to them, because in their life there is still too much to judge and to correct.

But they did not understand that He — even now — spake to them of the Father. And from this inability to apprehend His meaning, there arose a series of misunderstandings, which Jesus allowed to come to full maturity, in order to convince them of their perverseness of heart. He thus proceeded: 'When ye shall have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He.' To these words the first misunderstanding seems to have attached itself. They understood them probably of His exaltation to the Messianic throne. 'And of Myself,' He continued, 'I do nothing; but as My Father hath taught Me, so I speak.' Here they must have thought of some secret, very cautious political instructions He had received with respect to the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. — 'And He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.' In this declaration, finally, they have probably found an intimation of some great mysterious armament which He has at His disposal. As He spake these words, many believed on Him. Without doubt, in consequence of an entire misconception of what He said, for the meaning of these words was this: When ye lift Me up on the cross, and thereby occasion My exaltation into heaven, then shall ye painfully become acquainted with My Messianic glory in the judgments which come upon you. And yet I may not now present Myself to you as the Messias, in order, if possible, to ward off that destiny. For I do nothing of Myself; and so also speak I nothing of Myself: the decisive watchword, however, has not yet been committed to Me by the Father, but rather has been withheld. This prepares, indeed, a dark path for Me; but the Father, that sent Me, is with Me: He hath not exposed Me to spiritual isolation, and to actual destruction among you. This I know; for I live for Him always in all that I do.

Thus did the Lord see Himself suddenly surrounded by a great company of believers.¹² But He now showed them under what conditions alone they could be His disciples, by at once removing their misapprehension. He said to the Jews, who had decided in favour of believing on Him: 'If ye shall continue in My word (as I mean it), then are ye truly My disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' The explanation lay in this, that the question at issue was not their deliverance from the Romans by the power of a worldly Messias, but their deliverance from the spiritual bondage of error by the truth. They now remarked the cause of the misapprehension, and replied, 'We be Abraham's seed, and have never submitted to the bondage of any man — have never acknowledged a foreign lordship. — How sayest thou then, Ye shall be made free? 'They speak this, prompting Him, as it were, in order to entice Him forward. They give Him to understand, that they, as Abraham's children, and born lords of the world, do not recognise the supremacy of the Romans. From this it should follow that they do not need an inward deliverance — that they are already inwardly free, in virtue of their perpetual protest. They thus intimate that they only stand in want of an outward deliverance. Therefore, also, they leave out from the words used by Christ, ye shall be made free, the limitation adjoined: by the truth. Jesus answered them, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. But the servant abideth not in the house for ever, the Son abideth for ever — in it. If then the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed.' First, the incontrovertible principle: the doer of sin (who lives in sin) is the servant of sin. Then the application: he who is the servant of sin, cannot be a child in the house of God; to be a servant of sin, makes one to be a slave in reference to God. And by this the right of the child to remain for ever in the house of God, in the inheritance of Abraham, is forfeited. Thus it is in their case. The Son of the house, however, can restore to them this right.

On this He disclosed to them further their own evil inward condition: 'I know that ye are Abraham's seed. But ye seek to kill Me; for My word findeth no place in you.' All that He says to them has misapprehension, resentment, affront, and vindictiveness, even to mortal enmity, for its result. They cannot, therefore, in a spiritual sense, be the seed of Abraham. 'I speak,' He then proceeded, in order to indicate to them how far removed they were from true faith in Him, 'what I have seen with My Father, and ye do what ye have seen with your father,' But who must this unnamed father be? This question filled them with suspicious alarm; hence the haughty answer: 'Abraham is our father.' To this Jesus replied, 'If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham.' How far was Abraham removed from murdering men, from murdering them because they spoke the truth, because they were even prophets of God! The Lord then added the mysterious but terrible announcement: 'Ye do the deeds of your father — of a father, thus, who is even such a murderer of men and of prophets.' They said unto Him — in anger — 'We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, God.' If the question is to be one of spiritual descent, they think, well then, God is our Father, and not in any wise an idol, with which our fathers should be supposed to have committed "spiritual fornication by idolatry¹³ To this Jesus replied, 'If God were your Father, ye would have loved Me — received Me in love — for I proceeded forth from God — in My first origin — and I come in My whole manifestation continually from Him. — For I came not of Myself, but He hath sent Me. Why do ye not then understand My speech — the language of My Father's house? For ye cannot hear My word — even listen to it. Ye are of the father, the devil; and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning — as was first made manifest in Adam's fall, Abel's murder, and the death of men generally, — and he hath not taken his stand in the truth — as this has been shown in the lying impostures which he has practised on men; — for there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of the liar.' This is the dark enigma of their enmity towards Him: satanic love of falsehood, and desire for murder, which mutually beget each other. That the lie is the starting point of this enmity, He expresses strongly in the words: 'But I, because I speak the truth, ye believe Me not.'

That He does speak the truth. He shows in the declaration He gives forth of His celestially transparent consciousness: 'Which of you convinceth Me of a transgression?' — of a transgression, namely, against the theocratic law, such as they had often desired to lay to His charge. That they had not been able to do, nor were they now able; and in this lay a proof, that He spoke the truth, for the Israelite knew well that head and heart, knowledge and conscience, are mutually dependent.¹⁴ Therefore He continues: 'And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me? " He that is of God, heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.' The truth which Christ speaks, is the word of God. But for this voice coming forth from the eternity of God, concerning the eternal God, they have no apprehension. The conclusion lies near at hand: they are not born of God, according to. their spiritual perception and character. Thus the proof for the heavy charge has been rendered. The Jews, however, assumed the air of having been maligned by Him, and of having a right to vilify Him in turn. They answered, 'Say we not truly, that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 'Jesus answered, 'I have not a devil; but I honour My Father — which is not found in a demoniac, so far as he yields himself a prey to an impure spiritual influence, as to a ruling divinity — and ye dishonour (vilify) Me. But I do not — Myself — seek Mine own glory — which ye have done despite to: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.' On this announcement of the judgment. He is again moved by the spirit of compassion, and therefore follows it with the evangelical call: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My word, he shall never see death.' The Jews immediately transformed again this word of life into a word of death. They said unto Him, 'Now have we known (we see it clearly) that Thou hast a devil,' — and yet they had already before laid it to His charge. — 'Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and Thou sayest. If a man keep My word, he shall never taste of death! Art Thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead! Whom makest Thou Thyself? 'Jesus answered, 'If I honour Myself, My honour is nothing. It is My Father that honoureth Me, of whom ye say, that He is your God; and ye have not known Him. But I know Him. And if I should say, I know Him not, I should be like unto you a liar. But I know Him, and keep His word.' Thus He declares that it is not His aim to ascribe honour to Himself: this He leaves to the Father. It is His business only, always to give expression to His own pure consciousness, always to speak from God, according as it has been commanded Him; and the rest He commits confidently to the hands of God. And this also shall be now His demeanour, in the declaration regarding His relation to Abraham, which they have demanded of Him. 'Abraham, your father, rejoiced that he should see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.' The rejoicing of Abraham was his emotion of blessedness, in the faith with which he received the promise of the coming of Christ; the beholding of the day of Christ, which was granted to Abraham, was an effect of the manifestation of Christ on his present state in the other world. Abraham's greatness thus appears here in a twofold manner, modified by the greatness of Christ. Abraham in this world rejoiced in the coming Christ, who was as yet in the other world. Abraham in the other world rejoices in Christ, who has now appeared in this world: lie ever looks towards Christ from the distance like a planet towards the sun; and Christ is the soul, the joy, the heart of his whole blessedness, Christ had in this manner expressed His eternal consciousness over against the Jews, because He could not otherwise make clear to them His relation to Abraham. They, however, heard Him with the ear of a most sterile consciousness, accessible only to the ideas of time and number, and could only marvel at the enormous deficit in the reckoning of His age. 'Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast seen Abraham! 'They could only speak out of the grossness of their own conceptions. Meanwhile they thought they had treated Him with great fairness, by allowing His age to stand at as high a figure as possible, somewhere under fifty years. The more, however, they advanced in their externalism, even to the border line where humanity ceases, to the point where an entire immersion in the ideas and objects of time already formed a prelude to the fable of the wandering Jew, the more did Jesus turn inwards, back into the full consciousness of His eternity, and as if from the depths of His Godhead, He spoke the words: —

'Before Abraham became, I am.'

This is the perfect sense of a perfect eternity, in which all times vanish — of the eternity which is before time and after it, above time and within it, in contrast to that mode of conception which sees in time only something temporary, stretched out between two eternities, of which the one is turned into a time antecedent to time, motionless as a rock, and hoary, the other into a time subsequent to time, dreamlike, flitting and pale. Abraham must become Abraham: the Son was ever the Son, and the existence of the latter is the source of the coming into existence of the first. The whole period of time implied in the children of God becoming what they are, revolves as in a circle around the eternally resting, yet moved and all-moving, centre of the self-existing Son of God. Abraham became. Christ is.

Then took they up stones to cast at Him. For the solemn declaration of His eternity and divinity, they wished to stone Him as a heretic.

But Jesus withdrew Himself from them, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them. And so He passed by.

That Jesus had not taken flight before His persecutors, was speedily shown. As He passed by — was not yet beyond all the groups of men on the temple mount — He saw a man who was blind from his birth. It is a proof of the perfect composure and calmness of His mind, that He could fasten His eyes on this man, and linger beside him. His disciples asked Him, 'Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? 'They expressed thus a Jewish prejudice, but probably not for the sake of the answer, but to urge the Lord past the supposed sinner, or child of sin, as no doubt they had still in their thoughts the heresy-judges behind them.¹⁵ Jesus answered, 'Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but — therefore is lie blind — that the works of God should be made manifest in him.' They should not therefore inquire after the concealed causes of his blindness, which lie far beyond the acts of the blind man and his parents; but fix their eye on its manifest end, that God should be glorified in him. He had thus already intimated to the disciples, that He did not intend to hasten away. 'I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world' — especially the eye-light of the blind. And while He said this — probably with reference to the decline of the day, the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, which became for Him a symbol of the close of His own life¹⁶ — He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle and dust, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.' The Evangelist remarks, This is by interpretation. Sent; so that thus Siloam appeared even in its name to be a type of the Sent of God, the Messias. The blind man had not been able to see the Lord. But he had heard Him speak, and he had heard the mention of His name. The conversation of Jesus with the disciples had preceded the act itself, and had been the means of exciting his faith. And he believed truly. He went and washed himself, and came back seeing.

It has been asked,¹⁷ Why did the Lord send the blind man to the pool of Siloam? The answer lies in the previous experiences which Jesus had made in Jerusalem. He had once already healed a sick man in Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day, and this had been reckoned to Him as a mortal offence. It was now again the Sabbath-day. He had indeed no scruple to accomplish the act of healing once more on the Sabbath, but He desired now to do it in a form which should make it still less susceptible of challenge than the previous cure. Now the pool of Siloam was well known to be the pool of the sacred temple fountain. They knew this always, but were especially full of it at the feast of Tabernacles. The fountain of Siloah was, at this feast, the third word in all they said. It was the sacred well of the people, of the temple, of the priesthood, nay, of Jehovah Himself When thus Christ made the fountain of Siloah co-operate in the healing of the blind man, He drew the sanctuary of the Jews itself into co-operation with Himself, and presented in a very clear light the co-operation of Jehovah, which He had already so strongly asserted in the judicial examination He underwent regarding the former cure. And if the Jews should this time again charge Him with Sabbath profanation, He could appeal to the co-operation of their Siloah, their temple mount, their Jehovah. They appear to have also really felt this to be a manifestation of divine skill; for however much they tormented the man that was healed with their investigations, they did not venture, on this occasion, to commence a process against the Lord Himself. The neighbours of the blind man, and those who had before seen that he was a beggar, said, 'Is not this he that sat and begged? 'Some said, 'This is he.' Others said, 'He is like him.' But he himself said, 'I am he.' Then said they unto him, 'How were thine eyes opened?' He answered and said, 'The man who is called Jesus made clay and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash! I went and washed, and received my sight.' Then said they unto him, 'Where is He? 'He said, 'I know not.' They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was the Sabbath-day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees now also asked him, in a judicial examination, either before a synagogue tribunal, or before the tribunal of the Little Sanhedrim, and probably on the day after the Sabbath,¹⁸ how he had received his sight. He said unto them, 'He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.' Then said some of the Pharisees, 'This man is not of God, because He keepeth not the Sabbath.' Others said, 'How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. They then proceeded with the examination, and said to the blind man, 'What sayest thou of Him, because He hath opened thine eyes? 'He said, 'He is a prophet.' Therefore — after this conclusion drawn by the blind man — the Jews would not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. And they questioned them, saying, 'Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? How then doth he now see? 'His parents answered them in the following words: 'We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not. He is of the necessary age — of maturity — ask him, he shall speak for himself.' They possessed the gift of a mind fully awake, and could speak to the purpose. So spake his parents, because they feared the Jews (the Judaists); for the Jews had already resolved, that if any man should confess Him as the Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. Without doubt, this had happened at the moment, immediately after which they had sent out officers to apprehend Jesus, in the middle of the feast (see vii. 32). Therefore said his parents, He is of age, ask himself. They then a second time called the man that had been blind — called him again before the tribunal — and said unto him, 'Give God the glory,' — that is, with the sound of pious words; speak by all means the truth, for the sake of God, and in His presence, but only according to its spirit; speak what is pleasing to thy priests, what accords with their notions of God, In this sense they evidently proceed: 'We know that this man is a sinner,' a transgressor of the law. He answered in the most pointed and measured terms, 'If He be a sinner, I know not. One tiling I know, that I was blind, and now I see.' This was the most discreet form in which to decline accepting their judgment regarding Jesus, and yet with the assertion of the fact to point to His glory. Then said they to him again — now perhaps expecting another answer — 'What did He to thee? How opened He thine eyes? 'It became quite evident to the man that they wanted to make him a false witness, and in the place of caution, there now appeared the expression of a lively ironical displeasure. He answered them, 'I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also become His disciples? 'As indeed it has the appearance, if it be with pure intention that ye wish to hear ever anew the report of His glorious deed. Then they reviled him, and said, 'Thou art His disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses; but of this man, we know not whence He is! 'In the measure, however, in which their fanatical zeal increased, there soared aloft in the man interrogated a heroic courage, engendered by a single eye, and a deep surmise of the glory of Christ, sustained by the sense of superiority which belongs to a clear and sagacious understanding, and inflamed by a feeling of moral contempt for this college of unworthy priests and judges. 'Herein lies also a marvel,' he said with reference to the miracle of Jesus,¹⁹ 'that ye (the scribes) know not whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes. We know, however, that God heareth not sinners; but if any man feareth God, and doeth His will, him He heareth. Since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, He could do nothing.' He bent his discourse again to a cautious termination, and leaves it to them to draw the conclusion for themselves, of an unheard-of prophetic glory, from the unheard-of miracle of Jesus, which he has thus magnified in their hearing. Their verdict on him was to the effect: 'Thou wast altogether born in sins — bodily and spiritually; according to the body, as blind; according to the spirit, as a heretic — and thou wilt teach us? '' And they cast him out' — out of the door, and out of the synagogue, both were one.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And when He found him. He said unto him, 'Dost thou believe on the Son of God?' He answered and said, 'And who is He,²⁰ Lord, that I may believe on Him? 'He is thus ready unconditionally to follow the guidance of Jesus. Jesus said unto him, 'And thou hast already seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.' The Evangelist John has preserved to us, from the ministry of Christ, many histories of the calling of disciples, in which the attraction of noble minds to Himself by Christ discovers itself in the most attractive form, in which the love which rescues appears in all the charms of its loveliness, and graciousness shows itself in union with gracefulness, so that one is reminded of the relation subsisting between grace as expressive of manner, and grace as expressive of disposition. He salutes Simon with the significant words, Thou art Simon, the son of the Dove: thou shalt be called Cephas, the rock (in which the dove nestles). He receives Nathanael, in spite of his contemptuous judgment concerning the Nazareue, with the words, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! and shows him how deep He has looked into his inner life, so that Nathanael, entering into the fellowship of this noble spirit, answers, Master, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel (of the Israelite without guile). So here He responds to the lively question of the man who believes on Him, and does not yet know that he believes on Him, with the words: And thou hast seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee. Without doubt He meant thereby to say, the man who has received his sight had already begun to see Him, while he was still blind.²¹ How otherwise would that man have so patiently allowed his eyes to be anointed with mud, and have gone in this condition to wash in the pool of Siloam? The answer of the man showed that the Lord had rightly described his spiritual state. He said, 'I believe. Lord,' and he worshipped Him. And Jesus said, 'For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and they which see might become blind.' These words stood naturally also in a close relation to the excommunication which the man who had received his sight had just had to experience at the hand of the Pharisees, for Jesus' sake. This some of the Pharisees who were with Him, listening to the conversation, understood well, and they said unto Him, 'Are we also blind? 'Jesus said unto them, 'If ye were blind — were simply blind, acted according to your best knowledge and conscience, and longed for the light — ye should have no sin; but now that ye say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth.' Just because ye pretend to see, and in part also do see, and harden yourselves against knowledge and conscience, even to total blindness, therefore is your sin retained; i.e., therefore ye, who have excommunicated the man that hath received his sight, are and remain yourselves under the ban. The expression of Jesus manifestly has reference to the excommunication which had befallen the blind man.

The parable also, which the Lord now addressed to these Pharisees, had a close connection with the reprobate exercise of pastoral duty' which they had exhibited towards the man who had been blind during his judicial examination, and in which their soul-murdering pastorate was reflected.

'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when lie putteth forth his own sheep — calling them by name, for these must in preference to others be designated by their names, as being select and peculiar — he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.'

This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which He spake unto them. He therefore gave them the explanation, as follows: —

'Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. — The condition of the entrance of the blessed operation on their souls. — All that come in My stead — who sought an entrance not in My name, spirit, and word, but in their own name — are thieves and robbers; but the sheep — the true members of the Church of God — did not listen to them. I am the door. By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief Cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.' This is the first form of the parable. It is the nocturnal image of the sheep-fold of God. The chief point is the door, and entrance by the door of the fold. The door is Christ; the entrance by the door is entrance in the name of Christ, with reference to His pre-existent and eternal character. The doorkeeper is not here further explained; doubtless it is the Spirit of God. Those who, in Christ's stead, come to the flock, are such as come in their own name — all false prophets, priests, teachers, princes, and popular leaders. They are thieves and robbers: they have no other interest, than to enrich themselves at the expense of the flock; exercise no other influence, than to destroy the flock; and one knows them by this, that the true members of the Church do not follow their call. To these enemies of the flock are placed in strong contrast the true shepherds, who enter by the door. The latter rescue their own soul, by faithfully caring for the flock. They can go in and out into the fold; for the 'doorkeeper openeth to them, and the sheep know them and follow them. They find the right pasturage for their flock. Also for themselves; for all shepherds besides Christ are under-shepherds, and as such belong themselves also to the flock. Such is the contrast between Christ and the enemy of the flock, the thief. The latter comes only to destroy the flock. Christ, on the contrary, comes for its salvation. He secures its life — as the closed, protecting door, and secures the fulness of it — as the open door to the good pasturage.

In these last words the day picture of the New Testament fold, in its contrast to the night piece, representing the fold of the Old Testament, is already introduced.

'I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But the hireling, who is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf pludereth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd — standing in the very opposite relation to the sheep — and I know Mine own, and am known of Mine, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father; and I laydown My life for the sheep.' Thus is Christ the good shepherd in the true sense, as He is likewise the true vine, the true fountain, the true bread of life. All pastoral faithfulness is only a reflection of His shepherd's care. And this is the token of His pastoral faithfulness. He lays down His life for the sheep. But the hireling, who forms a contrast to the true shepherd, is known by this, that he takes to flight so soon as he sees the wolf, the destroyer of the flock, coming. The thief, who threatens the nocturnal security of the sheep, resolves himself into the twofold form of the hireling and the wolf, who become the source of danger to the flock by day. The hireling is the official teacher and guide of the sheep, without heart for the Lord, and for the flock, appearing oftentimes under the most legalized ecclesiastical form: the wolf is the false teacher, and seducer, and destroyer, who breaks into the fold, bringing desolation with him. The hireling and the wolf stand in intimate mutual relationship: the flight of the one furthers the rapine of the other. The character given of the hireling is, that he does not care for the sheep. The good shepherd, on the contrary, is known by this, that he is devoted to the flock as it is to him. This shepherd is Jesus. As the Father hath known Him with the look of love and faithfulness, and He the Father, so He knows His flock, and the flock know Him.

In this manner did the Lord characterize the Pharisees, as the shepherds of the people. Their destructive leadership was thus judged, and the fact was explained, why the man that had been blind had not allowed himself to be seduced by them, why he had turned away from them and joined himself to Jesus: a picture of all the elect among the Jewish people.

When the Lord spoke the word, I lay down My life for the sheep, He found it needful to indicate the whole meaning in which He desired this expression to be understood. He therefore proceeded: —

'And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. And them also I must bring. And they shall hear My voice. And there shall be one fold, one shepherd.' This He spoke of the compass, of the range of the effects of His death. He will not offer Himself for the Jews alone. He has other sheep also — even now in His eternal dominion by the Spirit of God, He has other sheep without, far and wide. These He will bring by the power and operation of His death, to unite them with the sheep from among Israel; and they shall give a ready ear to His voice, and follow Him. Thus of the separated sheep there shall be one fold, as there is only one Shepherd, in whom all true under-shepherds dissolve and disappear.

'Therefore doth My Father love Me,' He continues, 'because' I lay down My life, that I might take it again.' This is the inward and intensive power of His sacrificial death, in contrast to the range of its influence already spoken of. The love of the Father is, above all, fixed on His joyful self-sacrifice, on His absolute resignation or priestly spirit. What, however, makes this priestly spirit to appear in all its truth and glory before the eyes of God, is the perfect assurance of His resurrection in this willingness to die; the courageous anticipation of life in the intrepidity of this death; the undaunted, kingly spirit in this priestly spirit; the absolute trust in God in this absolute resignation to God.

From this characteristic of His sacrificial death, it follows that it was entirely voluntary, and yet also a perfect act of obedience. This He expresses in the words: —

'No one taketh it (My life) 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 commandment have I received of My Father.' This is the law for the guidance of His life: full power and authority to die as a sacrifice for the world, full power and authority to rise again from the dead. In this way His choice is one with the appointment of the Father, as His hope of life is one with His courage in death.

The Lord was, in the first instance, led to this reference to His death by the persecutions which the man that received his sight had undergone for His sake. He took the part of the excommunicated man, and received him faithfully into communion with Himself; although this again increased the hatred of the Pharisees against Him. He declared to them, that if they, as hirelings and wolves, sought to destroy the sheep. He, as the faithful Shepherd, would become security for them with His life.

And again there arose a division among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, 'He hath a devil, and is mad: why hear ye Him?' Others said, 'These are not the words of one that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?'

Manifestly, the powerful fermentation and commencing separation between the elements and children of light, and the elements and children of darkness, is the fundamental feature of the whole section. The section begins with the delineation of a threatening collision (chap. vii. 11-13); it closes with the outbreak of an already far advanced and strongly manifested division (chap. x. 19-21). This fermentation progressing towards separation, meets us in the Sanhedrim, as also among the people. Its strongest manifestation is the great fluctuation from unbelief to faith, and again from faith to unbelief, even in the same hearers. The most pointed expression for it is found in the reference of Jesus to the fact, that now they who see are made blind, and the blind receive their sight.

Here also, again, a further development of the ideal relationships in the life of Jesus, and of the transformation of the world towards its ideal end, discovers itself throngh the light of His life. In the first place, we learn the ideal rabbinical dignity of the Lord in contrast to the rabbinical dignity among the Jews, and His true exaltation of origin in contrast to the high birth which the residents of Jerusalem bring into competition with it. To the temple police Jesus discovers Himself in regal freedom, as one who can neither be touched nor hindered when He chooses publicly to appear, and equally as one who can neither be reached nor found when He hastens away (absolutely free, alike when He keeps His ground, and when He becomes a fugitive). To the Diaspora of the Jews among the Greeks He presents the image of a higher Diaspora in the other world, to which He thinks of retiring before His persecutors. The fountain of Siloah is turned by Him into a symbol of the spiritual fulness of His own life; the joyous drawing of water into a symbol of the communication of the Spirit, to be dispensed by Him to believers. In passing, we then see a bright ray fall on the coarseness with which an antichristian conclave can curse and revile in its excitement against Him; and again a bright ray on the falsifications of history, into which antichristian scribes can fall in the violence of their passion, or which they can even allow themselves to make; a reproach from which all the efforts of a learning of a kindred spirit in our days in vain strive to purge the Sanhedrim. But Christ proceeds further, and makes us see in the festive illumination of the temple (thus indirectly also in the pillar of fire in the desert) a symbol of His soul-enlightening character and operations as the light of the world. His present farewell to the temple is, in His view, a sign of His speedy farewell to His people Israel. In the misapprehension of the Jews, who seem to be brought to believe in Him, whilst in truth they have removed themselves further from Him than before, He brings to light the poisonous nature of the inward unbelief, which lay hid in their worldly Messianic hopes and opinions, taking for the moment, as the basis of His conversation, the supposition common to both parties through this misunderstanding that He was the Messiah. He then places the image of true freedom over against their chiliastic, fanatical, and demagogical notion of freedom, or also over against their real Jewish bondage. Thereupon the relation of Abraham and his true children to the life of Jesus is exhibited in its higher light; and, on the other hand, the Lord throws a strong beam of light on the pre-existence of the devil, his dark operations amongst mankind, his kingdom: we are made acquainted with the essential characteristics of the satanic spirit, both in the father of lies and in his children. We see the earthly life of Abraham and of the prophets, as well as their life in the other world, in the light of the character of Christ: the coming into being of the children of God in its contrast to the eternal existence of Christ. A bright though isolated ray of light falls even on the inward condition of the demoniacally possessed.' Thereafter a new symbolical relation of the water of Siloam to the life of Christ is illustrated: the pool of Siloam is a symbol of the healing virtue of Christ; but at the same time a sign of the co-operation of Jehovah, to whom the temple of Israel is dedicated, with the miraculous act of Jesus on the Sabbath-day. To this is attached an illustration of the blind receiving sight in Israel and in all the world, in contrast to the seeing, who become blind, as exhibited in the case of the blind man healed by Christ, and of the Pharisees, who in their self-inflicted blindness oppose themselves to Him. We see, further, how the blind beggar, who sat at the temple -gate, becomes an enlightened preacher of repentance to the blinded priests and scribes who rule in the temple. After this, we get a sight of the clerical temple-ban in its entire impotence: how it cannot hinder the excommunicated man from attaining to the blessedness of faith; whilst the Lord, at the same time, points the eye to the really heavy ban of sin under which those who pronounce the sentence of excommunication are themselves placed (chap. ix. 41). The Lord then describes the sheep-fold and the flock in their symbolical significance for the kingdom of God. We become acquainted with the true door for the souls of men, and on the other hand, also, with the true marks of soul-seduction in all pseudo-messianic systems, in all perversions of the pastoral office, in all despotisms and hierarchical dominations; and as the false guides have been presented to us from one point of view as thieves and robbers, they appear in another respect in the forms of the hireling and the wolf, and in the mutual relation which subsists between both. In the entire threefold sphere of school, state, and church, no false exercise of spiritual influence or of official duty can occur which is not here illustrated and explained. As, however, the nocturnal thief, when seen by day, passes partly into the hireling, partly into the wolf, the nocturnal under-shepherd, on the other hand, by daylight and on the pasture-ground, melts, in the presence of the chief Shepherd, into one of the flock. But all true pastoral life on earth, as well in the department of nature as in the department of spirit, is here made a prophecy of the good Shepherd, who lays down His life for the sheep. The relation of Christ to His own, especially according to their eternal election, grounded as it is on His relation to the Father, is here brought out in its fundamental characteristics. We see the two flocks in their grand historical delineations, the one enclosed in a fold, the other which is not of that fold, or rather is without fold, and how they are made one flock under the one Shepherd. Finally, also, the death of the faithful Shepherd is explained, as well in the wide range of its influence as in the depth and intensity of its power; and at the last we see how powerfully already this reference of Jesus to His death furthers the process of separation, in which we are met by an image of the coming judgment.

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