J. P. 4740. Temple at Jeusalem. SECTION V. The Buyers and Sellers driven from the Temple 14. 13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 We are informed by Josephus (a), that a stranger was not allowed to pass into the holy place, that is, into the second court of the temple, where the Jews and circumcised proselytes, when not legally unclean, were admitted. The third court was without the sacred limits, and divided from the other by little pillars, or columns, with this inscription—Μὴ δεῖν ἀλλόφυλον ἐντὸς τῷ ̔Αγίς παριέ ναι, and the reason is assigned, τὸ γὰρ δευτερὸν ἵερον "Αγιον ἐκαλεῖτο. This part of the temple was intended for the Jews who were unclean, and the devout Gentiles, the Proselytes of the Gate. Although the Jews held the Gentiles in the greatest contempt, stigmatizing them with the opprobrious epithet of "dogs," refusing all intercourse or familiarity with them, still we find them so inconsistent as to suffer them to carry on, even in the very precincts of their temple, In the courts appointed for the Gentiles, a traffic in oxen, sheep, and doves, which were required by the worshippers, for their sacrifices and purifications.. In every age of the Jewish Church many Proselytes of the Gate united themselves to the congregation of Israel: but in consequence of the constant merchandise going on, which must be attributed to the negligence of the governors of the temple, the devout Gentiles were at all times disturbed in their devotions; and at the greater festivals must have been nearly or altogether excluded from the place of worship. It was worthy then of the Messiah, to commence his public ministry, by cleansing the temple, by driving from it the profane and worldly; an action, by which he declared himself at once the Lord of the temple, and the protector of all those from among the mass of mankind, who sought him in the way he had appointed. It was impossible that the composure of spirit, and serenity of mind, which are necessary to the duty of prayer (b), could have been preserved among the loud talking and disputing of buyers and sellers, the jingling of money, the lowing of oxen, and the bleating of sheep. Yet it was among these only that the Gentile worshippers could find admission. Our Lord's motive, in the second instance, for thus cleansing the temple, is given by St. Mark, xi. 17. which passage, says the learned Mede, ought to be translated-My house shall be called a house of prayer to, or for, all nations -πãoι Tоic Oveσt (c). Though the Jewish dispensation was not yet com (a) De bello Judaico, lib. 6. chap. vi. Mede's Works, p. 44. fol. Camb. 1677. (b) That great master of our noble language, Jeremy Taylor, in his second sermon on the return of prayers, has this beautiful passage:-Prayer is the peace of our spirit, the stillness of our thoughts, the evenness of recollection, the seat of meditation, the rest of our cares, and the calm of our tempest. Prayer is the issue of a quiet mind, and untroubled thoughts; it is the daughter of charity-it is the sister of meekness; and he that prays to God with a troubled and discomposed spirit, is like to him that retires into a battle to meditate, or chooses a frontier garrison to indulge in contemplation. Taylor's Discourses, &c. vol. i. p. 88. Longman's edit. 1807. (c) Vide Mede's Sermon on this text, Works, fol. p. 44. 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and J. P. 4740. sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: i V. Æ. 27. rusalem. 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he Temple at Jedrove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the Matt.xxi. 12. oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, * The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Lake xix. 45. k Ps. lxix. 9. 61. & xxvii. 18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, 'What 1 Matt. xxvi. sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these 40. Mark xiv. things? 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake "of the temple of his body. 59. & xv. 29. m Heb. viii. 2. 8. 22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, " his dis- n Luke xxiv. ciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for • he knew what was in man. o 1 Sam. xvi. 7. 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. Ch. vi. 64. Acts i. 23. pleted, the dawning of the new dispensation had begun. It is in the plans of 24. Rev. ii. Providence, as it is in the works of creation. The God of nature is the God of revelation. As in nature the seasons so beautifully and so gradually blend with each other, as the closing day insensibly changes into night, or the darkness of the night slowly gives place to the dawn of the morning, and the splendours of the rising sun; so do the various dispensations of an overruling and wise Providence gradually and slowly accomplish his own prophecies, appealing to our reason, as the visible creation appeals to our senses. This action of our Lord was a visible and open manifestation of his claim to the character of the Messiah (d); and it was the most significant proof that the temple of Jerusalem must be purified or overthrown, and that the Gentiles should be admitted into the Church of God his Father. (d) Vide Archbishop Newcome's notes to his Harmony of the New Testament, p. 7 SECTION VI. Conversation of Christ with Nicodemus. JOHN iii. 1-22. 1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born * again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born + Or, from again. above. p Num. xxi. 9. q 1 John iv. 9. r Ch. xii. 47. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 P And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. r 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be J. P. 4740. saved. V. Æ. 27. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but Jerusalem. he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. S 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is comes ch. 1.4. into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. * Or, disco vered. SECTION VII. John's last Testimony to Christ. JOHN iii. 22, to the end. t 22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into Judæa. the land of Judæa; and there he tarried with them, and t1 John iv. 2. baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. 26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, " to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27 John answered and said, *A man can treceive no-x thing, except it be given him from heaven. 28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice 15: this my joy therefore is fulfilled 16 15 This final address of the Baptist cannot be understood, unless we keep in view a peculiar custom which prevailed among the Jews. At every wedding two persons were selected, who devoted themselves for some time to the service 16 See page 123. u Ch. i. 7. 34. Heb. v. 4. + Or, take unto himself. y 1 John ii.20. J. P. 4740. Judæa. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. of the bride and bridegroom. The offices assigned to the paranymph, or rawww, were numerous and important; and, on account of these, the Baptist compares himself to the friend of the bridegroom. The offices of the paranymph were threefold-before-at-and after the marriage. Before the marriage of his friend it was his duty to select a chaste virgin, and to be the medium of communication between the parties, till the day of marriage. At that time he continued with them during the seven days allotted for the wedding festival, rejoicing in the happiness of his friend, and contributing as much as possible to the hilarity of the occasion. After the marriage, the paranymph was considered as the patron and friend of the wife and her husband, and was called in to compose any differences that might take place between them. As the forerunner of Christ, the Baptist may be well compared to the paranymph of the Jewish marriages. One of the most usual comparisons adopted in Scripture to describe the union between Christ and his Church, is that of a marriage. The Baptist was the paranymph (a), who, by the preaching of repentance, and faith, presented the Church as a youthful bride and a chaste virgin to Christ. He still continued with the bridegroom, till the wedding was furnished with guests. His joy was fulfilled when his own followers came to inform him that Christ was increasing the number of his disciples, and that all men came unto him. This intelligence was as the sound of the bridegroom's voice, and as the pledge that the nuptials of heaven and earth were completed. From this representation of John, as the paranymph; of Christ as the bridegroom; and the Church as the bride; the ministers and stewards of the Gospel of God may learn, that they also are required, by the preaching of repentance and faith, to present their hearers in all purity to the head of the Christian Church. It is for them to find their best source of joy in the blessing of the most High on their labours-their purest happiness in the improvement and perfecting of the Church confided to their care (b). Smaller circumstances and coincidences sometimes demonstrate the truth of an assertion, or the authenticity of a book, more effectually than more important facts. May not one of those unimportant yet convincing coincidences be observed in this passage? The Baptist calls himself the friend of the bridegroom, without alluding to any other paranymph, or paww. As the Jews were accustomed to have two paranymphs, there seems, at first sight, to be something defective in the Baptist's comparison. But our Lord was of Galilee, and there the custom was different from that of any other part of Palestine. The Galileans had one paranymph only (c). (a) Exemplo et vitâ, says Kuinoel, communi depromto Johannes Baptista ostendit, quale inter ipsum et Christum discrimen intercedat. Seipsum comparat cum paranympho, Christum cum sponso; quocum ipse Christus se quoque comparavit, ut patet e locis. Matt. ix. 15. and xxv. 1. Scilicet, & píλos rov vuppiov, est sponsi socius, ei peculiariter addictus, qui Græcis dicebatur apavvupios, Matt. ix. 15. viòc rov vvμowvoc. Heb. awww, filius lætitiæ.-Com. in lib. N. T. Hist. vol. iii. p. 227. (b) Applicatio totius rei est facillima, Christus est sponsus, Ecclesia sponsa, Ministri Ecclesiæ aww, 2 Cor. xi. 2. et h. l. quoque Johannes Baptista. Hi in eo elaborant, ut Christo virginem puram et illabatam adducant, huc omnis eorum labor tendit, hâc re gaudent.-Schoetgen. Hora Hebraicæ, vol. i. p. 340. (c) Ketuvoth, fol. 12. 1. Olim in Judæa duos |