Yea, your faith will be then so shaken, that ye shall run away, each striving to save himself at his own home, or among his kindred.

Verse 33. That in me ye might have peace.] I give you this warning as another proof that I know all things; and to the

Am come into the world] By my incarnation.
I leave the world] By my death.

And go to the Father.] By my ascension. These four words contain the whole œconomy of the gospel of man's salvation, and a consummate abridgment of the Christian faith. This gave the disciples a key to the whole of our Lord's discourse; and especially to that part, ver. 16. that had so exceedingly embarrassed them; as appears by verses 17 and 18. .. Verse 29. Lo, now speakest thou plainly] The disciples received more light now on the nature of Christ's person and office, than they had ever done before.

Verse 30. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things] Is not the following the meaning of the disciples? We believe that thou art not only the Messiah, who camest out from God; but that thou art that God who searchest the heart and triest the reins; and needest not to be asked, in order to make thee acquainted with the necessities of thy creatures; for thou perfectly knowest their wants, and art infinitely disposed to relieve them.

Verse 31. Do ye now believe?] And will ye continue to believe? Ye are now fully convinced; and will ye in the hour of trial retain your conviction, and prove faithful and steady?

Verse 32. The hour cometh] Ye shall shortly have need of all the faith ye profess-ye now believe me to be the Omniscient; but ye will find difficulty to maintain this faith, when ye see me seized, condemned, and crucified as a malefactor.

ness. The peace of God is ever to be understood as including all possible blessedness-light, strength, comfort, support, a sense of the divine favour, unction of the Holy Spirit, purification of heart, &c. &c. and all these to be enjoyed in Christ.

In the world ye shall have tribulation] Or, as most of the very best MSS. read, ỵ, ye have—the tribulation is at hand; ye are just about to be plunged into it.

But be of good cheer] Do not despond, on account of what I have said :—the world shall not be able to overcome you, how severely soever it may try you.

I have overcome the world.] I am just now going by my death to put it and its god to the rout.

My apparent weakness shall be my victory: my ignominy shall be my glory; and the victory which the world, the devil, and my adversaries in general shall appear to gain over me, shall be their own lasting defeat, and my eternal triumph-Fear not!

Luther writing to Philip Melancthon quotes this verse, and adds these remarkable words; "Such a saying as this, is worthy to be carried from Rome to Jerusalem upon one's knees.”

One of the grand subjects in this chapter, the mediation of Christ, is but little understood by most Christians. Christ having made an atonement for the sin of the world, has ascended to the right hand of the Father, and there he appears in the presence of God for us. In approaching the throne of grace, we keep Jesus, as our sacrificial victim, continually

Christ shews in what

4. M. 4033. A. D. 29. CCII. 1.

a

A. D. 99. An. Olymp. CCIL.1.

i

Isai. 53. 11. Jer. 9. 21.- b 1 Cor. 8. 4. 1 Thess. 1. 9. ch. 3. 34. & 5. 36, 37. & 6. 29, 57. & 7. 29. & 10. 36. & 11. 42.- - ch. 13. 31. & 14. 13.ch. 4. 34. & 5. 36. & 9. 3. & 19. 30.

be accomplished, he has become their sacrifice and atone

ment.

Verse 3. This is life eternal] The salvation purchased by Christ, and given to them who believe, is called life, 1. Because the life of man was forfeited to divine justice; and the sacrifice of Christ redeemed him from that death to which he was exposed. 2. Because the souls of men were dead in trespasses and sins; and Christ quickens them by his word and spirit. 3. Because men who are not sayed by the grace of Christ, do not live, they only exist: no good purpose of life being answered by them. But when they receive this salvation, they live-answer all the divine purposes, are happy in themselves, useful to each other, and bring glory to God. 4. It is called eternal life, to shew that it reaches beyond the limits of time; and that it necessarily implies, 1. the immortality of the soul, 2. the resurrection of the body, and 3. that it is never to end, hence called aswvios (wn, a life ever living; from au, always, and wv, being or existence. And indeed no words can more forcibly convey the idea of eternity than these. It is called alwylos (wn, THAT eternal life, by way of eminence. There may be an eternal existence without blessedness; but this is that eternal life, with which infinite happiness is inseparably connected.

The only true God] The way to attain this eternal life is to acknowledge, worship, and obey, the one only true God; and to accept as teacher, sacrifice and Saviour, the Lord Jesus, the one and only true Messiah. Bishop Pearce's remark here is well worthy the Reader's attention :

"What is said here of the only true God, seems said in opposition to the gods whom the heathens worshipped; not in opposition to Jesus Christ himself, who is called the true God by John in 1 Epist. v. 20."

of God to redeem men by his blood: being the author of eter nal salvation to all them that thus believe, and conscientiously keep his commandments.

A saying similar to this is found in the Institutes of Menu. Brigoo, the first emanated being, who was produced from the mind of the Supreme God, and who revealed the knowledge of his will to mankind, is represented as addressing the human race and saying: "Of all duties, the principal is to acquire from the Upanishads (their sacred writings) a true knowledge of one supreme God; that is, the most exalted of sciences, because it ensures eternal life. For in the knowledge and adoration of one God, all the rules of good conduct are fully comprised." See Institutes of Menu, chap. xii. Inst. 85, 87.

Verse 4. I have glorified thee] Our Lord, considering himself as already sacrificed for the sin of the world, speaks of having completed the work which God had given him to do; and he looks forward to that time when, through the preaching of his gospel, his sacrifice should be acknowledged, and the true God should be known and worshipped by the whole world.

Verse 5. Before the world was.] That is, from eternity, be-` fore there was any creation-so the phrase, and others similar to it, are taken in the sacred writings, see ver. 24. Psal. xc. 2. Eph. i. 4. See chap. i. 1. Let the glory of my eternal divinity surround and penetrate my humanity, in its resurrection, ascension, and in the place which it is to occupy at thy right hand, far above all creatures, Phil. ii. 6, 9.

II. Our Lord's prayer for his disciples, ver. 6. 19. Verse 6. I have manifested thy name] EQarızwoa, I have brought it into light, and caused it to shine in itself, and to illuminate others. A little of the Divine Nature was known by the works of creation; a little more was known by the Mosaic revelation: but the full manifestation of God, his nature, and his attributes, came only through the revelation of Christ.

The men which thou gavest me] That is, the apostles, who' having received this knowledge from Christ, were, by their preaching and writings, to spread it through the whole world. Out of the world] From among the Jewish people; for in this sense is the word xooμos to be understood in various parts of our Lord's last discourses.

And they have kept thy word.] Though their countrymen have rejected it: and they have received ine as thy well beloved Son in whom thou delightest.

Verse 8. I have given—them the words] I have delivered thy doctrine to them, so that they have had a pure teaching immediately from heaven: neither Jewish fables nor fictions of men have been mingled with it.

And have known surely] Are fully convinced and acknowledge that I am the promised Messiah, and that they are to look for none other; and that my mission and doctrine are all divine, ver. 7, 8.

Verse 9. I pray not for the world] I am not yet come to that part of my intercession, see ver. 20. I am now wholly employed for my disciples, that they may be properly qualified to preach my salvation to the ends of the earth. Jesus here imitates the high-priest, the second part of whose prayer on the day of expiation, was for the priests, the sons of Aaron, see on ver. 1. These words may also be understood as applying to the rebellious Jews. God's wrath was about to descend upon them, and Christ prays that his own followers might be kept from the evil, ver. 15. But he does not thus pray for the world, the rebellious Jews, because the cup of their iniquity was full, and their judgment slumbered not.

Verse 10. I am glorified in them.] Christ speaks of the things which were not, but which should be, as though they were. He anticipates the glorifying of his name, by the successful preaching of the apostles.

Verse 11. I am no more in the world] I am just going to leave the world, and therefore they shall stand in need of peculiar assistance and support. They have need of all the influence of my intercession, that they may be preserved in thy

truth.

Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me] Instead of ous didwxas μai, THOSE whom thou hast given me, ABCEHLMS. Mt. BHV. and nearly one hundred others, read , which refers to the Tw ovoμat cov, thy name, immediately

preceding. The whole passage should be read thus: Holy Father, keep them through thy own name WHICH thou hast given me, that they may be one, &c. By the name here, it is evident, that the doctrine or knowledge of the true God is intended; as if our Lord had said, Keep them in that doctrine WHICH thou hast given me, that they may be one, &c. This reading is supported by the most ample evidence and indisputable authority. Griesbach has admitted it into the text, and Professor White in his CRISENS says of it, Lectio indubiè genuina, "It is without doubt, the genuine reading."

That they may be ONE] That they, and all that believe through their word (the doctrine which I have given them), may be one body, united by one Spirit to me their living head. The union which Christ recommends here, and prays for, is so complete and glorious, as to be fitly represented by that union which subsists between the Father and the Son.

Verse 12. I kept them in thy name] In thy doctrine and truth. But the son of perdition] So we find that Judas, whom all account to have been lost, and whose case at best is extremely dubious, was first given by God to Christ? But why was he lost? Because, says St. Augustin, he would not be saved: and he farther adds, After the commission of his crime, he might have returned to God and have found mercy. Aug. Serm. 125. n. 5. Psal. cxlvi. n. 20. Ser. 352. n. 8. and in Psal. cviii. See Calmet; who remarks, Judas only became the son of perdition, because of his wilful malice, his abuse of the grace and instructions of Christ; and was condemned through his own avarice, perfidy, insensibility and despair. In behalf of the mere possibility of the salvation of Judas, see the obser vations at the end of Acts i.

Perdition or destruction is personified; and Judas is represented as being her son, i. e..one of the worst of men-one whose crime appears to have been an at, mpt to destroy not only the Saviour of the world, but also the whole kunian race, And all this he was capable of through the love of money! How many of those who are termed creditable persons in the