Reflections on the Excellence of the Words of CHRIST. 52 They answered and faid unto him, Art thou of Galilee? Search, and look; for out of Galilee arifeth no Prophet. 53 And every Man went unto his own House. W 59 from credible Witnesses, what he hath done to de- Sect. 101. But they, without entering farther into the Ar- John VII. And having faid this, they would not wait for 53 IMPROVEMENT. ITH what Delight and Thankfulness should we hear this gracious John vii. 37. Proclamation of Christ, which he now made in the Temple, and a while after repeated from the Throne of his Glory! If any Man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink; yea, whosoever will, let him take of the Water of Life freely. (Rev. xxii. 17.) Blessed Jefus, had we been allowed to have prescribed to thee a Form of Words, in which thy kind Purposes towards us should have been expressed, what could we have invented more pathetick, more condescending, or more reviving ? May we thirst for the Bleffings of thy Grace; and in the Confidence of Faith apply unto thee for them; and particularly, for these Communications of thy Spirit, which Ver. 39. are so highly excellent and defirable, and indeed so necessary for us! Supply us with them, we intreat thee, in so rich an Abundance, that we in our different Spheres may supply others, and from us there may flow Ver. 38. Rivers of living Water! : Well might such gracious Words as these, disarm the Rage of Enemies and Perfecutors. Let us add our Testimony to theirs, and say, Never Man Ver. 46. Spake (1) No Prophet is raised up from Galilee.] As it is plain, that Jonah, and probable, that Nahum alfo, was a Galilean, Sir Norton Knatchbull, and others, who imagine that these Rulers could not be ignorant of that, suppose, that προφήτης here fignifies the great Prophet, or Meffiah. But probably, had this been their Meaning, they would rather have quoted the Text, which mentions Bethlehem as the Birth-place of the Meffiah. The Anfwer muft therefore be acknowledged to be very mean and triffing; and the abrupt Manner, in which the Affembly was broke up, seems to intimate their Confciousness, that it would not bear Examination. 60 He goes to the Mount of Olives, and returns early to the Temple. Sect. 101. fpake as Jefus speaks. Let us hear him, with calm and thankful Attention, while his Voice still sounds in his Word. Happy are those, that know the joyful Sound! (Pfal. lxxxix. 15.) The Pharifees, like deaf Adders, stopped their Ears against the Voice of the Charmer; and while they proudly cenVer. 48, 49. fured the Populace as a brutal Herd, and gloried in their own fuperior Wisdom, rejected the Counsel of GOD; rashly judging without ferious Enquiry, and weakly borne down by vulgar senseless Prejudices against Ver. 51, 52. Names and Places; which is all the Senate of Ifrael opposes, to the solid Argument of Nicodemus! That good Man, already confiderably improved by his Interview with Jefus, was undoubtedly confirmed in his Adherence to him, by observing the Methods of their Opposition: And where Magiftrates arm their Authority to overbear Argument, they will probably, in the Judgment of impartial Men, produce a Sufpicion at least, that they know their Cause to be incapable of a rational Defence. Ver. 53. Sect. 102. John VIII. I. 2 SECT. CIL. CHRIST having spent the Night in Retirement, returns to the JOHN VIII. I. HUS the Pharisees debated the Cafe, and in such Dissention their Assembly broke up; but Jefus in the mean Time, that he might. by fecret Converse with his Heavenly Father, be animated to all the Labours and Dangers before him, went up to a Mountain in the Neighbourhood of Jerufalem, which lay to the East of the City, on the other Side of the Brook Cedron, and is well known by the Name of the Mount of Olives, where he spent the Night in Meditation and Prayer. But that these Retirements might not break in on this Opportunity of publick Service, which the present Concourse of People gave him, he returned to the Temple early in the Morning ; and all the People, who came to worship there before they returned to their respective Habitations in the Country, (the Feast being now ended,) flocked a round came A Woman caught in the Act of Adultery is brought before him. came unto him, and he fat down, and taught them. 3 And the Scribes and Pharifees brought unto him a Woman taken in Adultery; and when they had fet her in the Midft, 4 They say unto him, Master, this Woman was taken in Adultery, in the very Act: 5 Now Moses in the Law commanded us, that fuch Thould 61 round him, to receive his Instructions ; and such Sect. 102. And while he was engaged in this Exercise, the 3 (a) Brought to him a Woman taken in Adultery.] It is well known, that this Story is want ing in the Syriac Verfion, as well as in the Alexandrian, and Bodleian Copies, and indeed in most of the oldest Manuscripts; which engaged Beza to question, and Le Clerc, with many others, to reject its Authority. But I acquiefce in the Reasoning of the learned Dr. Mill, to whom I refer the Reader for the Arguments to prove it authentick; the critical Exami nation of these Matters lying quite out of the Sphere of my present Design. A mistaken Apprehenfion, that fome Circumstances in the Story were indecent, and an excessive Rigour with refpect to those who had fallen into this truly detestable Crime, might perhaps be the Occafion of this Omission, if it was not accidental in some early Copies. Erasmus conjectures, it might be added by St. John, after some Copies of his Gospel had been taken ; and Grotius, that fome who heard the Story from the Apostle's Mouth, recorded it, with the Approbation of Papias, and other eminent Persons in the Church. The Notice that Eufebius, (Ecclef. Hist. lib. iii. cap. ult.) Ferom, (adv. Pelag. lib. ii. cap. 6.) and other antient Writers, have taken of the Dubiousness of this Passage, with a few other Instances of the like Nature, shews that critical Exactness with which they examined into the Genuineness of the several Parts of the New Testament, and fo, on the whole, strengthens the Evidence of Chriftianity, which (as I have shewn at large in the Ninth of my Ten Sermons,) is fo infeparably connected with the Genuineness and Purity of the New Testament. (b) Such Women should be stoned.] If they spoke accurately, this must have been a Woman, who had been betrothed to a Husband, and had been guilty of this infamous Crime, before the Marriage was compleated; for fuch only are expressly condemned to be stoned. (Deut. xxii. 22,-24.) The Jewish Writers tell us, that when (as in Cafe of other. Adulteries,) only Death in general was denounced, without specifying the particular Kind of it, Strangling was to be ufed. Custom indeed (as Grotius obferves,) might have introduced Stoning in all these Cafes: (Compare Ezek. xvi. 38, and 40.) Yet that would not justify what they here fay.. ۱ 62 He bids the guiltless Perfon throw the first Stone at ber... Sect. 102. (Lev. xx. 10. and Deut. xxii. 22.) but as thou should be stoned: but what takest upon thee, either to supersede many of his fayest thou ? John VIII.5. Precepts, or to interpret them in a very fingular Manner, we would be glad to hear thy Determination in an Affair of so great Importance; what 6 therefore dost thou say? This they faid tempting bim, that which Way foever he should determine, they might have an Opportunity to accuse him; either to the Jewish Rulers, if he acquitted such a Criminal; or to the Romans, if he ventured, tho' on the Authority of the Law, to pronounce a Capital Sentence against her, which he had no Authority from the Romans to do, and which the Jewish Rulers themselves had at present no Power to execute. (Compare John xviii. 31.). But Jefus, stooping down, wrote something on the Ground with his Finger (c), chusing (as it were) to speak to them by that Action, rather 7 than by Words. But as they, thinking that they had him at a great Advantage, continued asking him with greater Importunity, he raised himself up, and without replying directly to their Demand, only faid to them, Let him of you that is without Sin in this or any other Respect, pursue the Prosecution, and throw the first fatal Stone at her when she is condemned (d); (compare Deut. xvii. 7.) thus prudently avoiding a Decifion of on the 6 This they faid tempt ing him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his Finger wrote on the Ground, as tho' he heard them not. 7 So when they continued afking him, he lift up himself, and faid unto them, He that is without Sin among you, let him first caft a Stone at her. as fay. But our Lord's Spirit was too noble, to take the Advantage of such a Slip, if it was a (d) Let him of you that is without Sin, throw the first Stone at her.] Le Clerc makes the fuppofed Impropriety of this Reply, a farther Argument against the Genuineness of this Text; fince the Law did not require the Witnesses or Executioners to be free from Sin, in order to the Efficacy of such a Prosecution. But it may be answered, that our Lord's certain Knowledge of what the Effect would be, vindicated the Wisdom of his putting the Matter upon this Issue, by which it is plain in Fact he escaped their Snare. (e) Went ; They all retire, and be bids the Woman fin no more. 63 the Case, and leading them to reflect on their own Sect. 102. 8 And again he stooped Guilt. And ftooping down again, he wrote on down, and wrote on the the Ground, as he had done before, and left them John VIII.8, Ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own Confcience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the Woman standing in the Midst. to When Jesus had lift up himself, and faw none but the Woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine Accusers? hath no Man condemned thee? II She faid, No Man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee; go, and fin no more. to their own Reflections. But having heard [bis Answer,] and being by 9 And Jefus raising himself up, and feeing none 10 for (e) Went out one by one, beginning from the eldest.] It is strange, any should have interpreted this Clause fo rigorously, as to imagine that every particular Perfon went out juft according to his Age. It seems only to intimate, that those Elders of the People, who had been most eager in the Profecution, appeared under the most sensible Confufion, and were fome of the first that left the Assembly. And in this View it is very remarkable; especially confidering, that they were now in the Presence of the Multitude, before whom they would, no doubt, be defirous to keep up the strictest Appearance of Virtue, in order to maintain their Influence over them. Tho' (as Dr. Whitby, shews on ver. 7.) Adultery prevailed much among the Jews about this Time, yet I fee no Reason to conclude, that their Conscience convicted every one of them of this particular Crime. Their Partiality (as Mr. Lardner well observes,) seems to appear in bringing only the Woman, not the Man, when the Law condemned both. (Lardn. Credib. Vol. i. pag. 46.) (f) Sin no more.] Elfner, (Obferv. Vol. i. pag. 318.) and Suicer, (Thefaur. Vol. i. p. 205.) have shewn, that the Word αμαρτάνειν, to fin, is ufed by the most elegant Greek Claffics, (as the correfpondent Word peccare is by the Latin,) to fignify the Commission of Adultery; which strongly intimates, that even the Light of Nature taught many of the Heathens the exceed |