tival had begun, when speculation became busy as to whether Jesus would be present. Opinions, also, respecting his character were various. Some said he was a good man. His old enemies, the priests, pronounced him a misleader of the people. About the middle of the week (October 15th), Jesus made his appearance. At once was he recognised by many as a superior personage. Yet they knew not what to make of his deeds and claims; for how could he be any thing great, seeing he belonged not to the learned classes? The explanation given by Jesus is sufficient; his doctrine was not so much his own as God's. Yet even now are there those who, if not in, are on the borders of his church, that maintain that all that he was and did proceeded from mere earthly sources. Error has a long life, less long only

than truth.

Determined now to keep no terms with the sacerdotal powers, Jesus openly reproached them with the intention of putting him to death. This bold step they had not expected. For a moment it put them into confusion; for they knew the state of the popular mind, and feared a rising should they resort to violence. Calumny was their resource. They charged Jesus with insanity. Meanwhile the people grew more and more warm in his favour, till at length the authorities resolved to make a desperate venture by apprehending him. The officers sent to fulfil their will returned, abashed at his presence, declaring to their employers, 'Never man spake like this man.'

A good cause and a holy life are the best of all safeguards. There, in that narrow space filled with enemies, wielding all the resources of the church, and some resources of the state as well, stood that young carpenter's son unharmed and untouched, because he was under the wings of the Almighty, and was sheltered by the generous feelings of the people no less than by his own high consciousness of rectitude. The moral courage which springs from a pure soul and a benevolent aim is stronger than armies.

Having thus kept himself out of the hands of his foes till the end of the festival on the last day (October 18)—perhaps at the time when the oblation of wine and water was being made―Jesus arose, and in a lofty tone which must have enforced his claims and excited admiration, even where it did not beget belief, proclaimed, 'If any one thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me, as the Scripture hath said (Is. xii. 3, xliv. 3, lv. 1), out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' The consequence of this discourse, of which, probably, only the theme is given, was the conversion of many. But the old prejudice prevailed. Others asked whether the Messiah was to proceed from Galilee, and in this idle question lost what was better than their life. Similar folly is committed and similar losses are incurred at the present hour. How many sacrifice their all on the

altar of prejudice at the very moment that they think themselves not only safe and wise, but very superior to others! Alas for human blindness and infirmity!

The excitement respecting Jesus had now nearly attained its height. The people were divided; the priests were alarmed. The attempt made by the Sanhedrim to seize him had proved a failure. What was to be done? While the matter was under discussion in the council, one of its members, Nicode'mus, who on a former occasion had visited Jesus by night, arose to insist that the latter had a legal right to a fair trial (Deut. xix. 15). This was a protest against contemplated violence. Those haters of justice, unable to endure a right word, began to browbeat the speaker.

Here, however, was a new difficulty. Even in their own body were there feelings friendly to this dangerous man. Care was needful. A secret hand was safer than a public apprehension. The council broke up; but these wicked priests carried to their homes all their malignity, and only waited for the right moment (John vii.).

CHAPTER VII.

JESUS, STILL TEACHING IN THE METROPOLIS, ACQUITS AND ADMONISHES THE ADULTERESS-SILENCES THE PHARISEESAFFIRMS HIS SUPERIORITY TO ABRAHAM-GIVES SIGHT TO A MAN BORN BLIND-DISCOURSES ON THE GOOD SHEPHERD' -FEAST OF DEDICATION.

Sabbath-day, October 22nd to December, A. D. 29.

Night is a favourable time for wicked deeds. Jesus, therefore, did not remain in the city. Proceeding to the Mount of Olives, he found with the family at Bethany security and solace. Early in the morning, however, he was again at the post of duty. The morning sacrifice had called numbers of people to the temple, and they soon gathered around the wonderful Teacher. As, after the manner of his times, he sat there and taught, lo! his old enemies appeared. This time they had hope of success. They dragged before him an adulteress, and demanded his opinion.

Nuptial infidelity was among the Israelites accounted a heavy crime. The law appointed death as its punishment (Lev. xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 22). Moses, however, did not determine in what way the penalty should be inflicted; but the Talmud fixed strangulation. In some cases stoning was allowed, especially in the case of females (Deut. xxii. 23, 24). The Sanhedrim had

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apparently had the case before them, and now sent it by their deputies to Jesus. In order to make their wiles the more effective, they seem to have ascribed to Moses what, in truth, had only the authority of tradition.

Jesus appeared to have no knowledge of their presence. The tempters were not to be thus defeated. They pressed for his decision. It came in the words, 'He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.' They were consciencesmitten, and went out one by one.

Their snare was this. If Jesus decided that the guilty woman was not to be stoned, he decided against Moses and the law, and in consequence was liable to an indictment for blasphemy before the ecclesiastical courts. If he decided that she was to be stoned, he assumed the power of life and death, and so made himself answerable for high treason at the tribunal of the Roman procurator. One way, it seemed, he must decide; and whichever way he decided, was alike fatal to himself. With wonderful presence and dexterity of mind, Jesus put his enemies to flight, and saved the woman without compromising his own safety.

When his enemies and her accusers were gone, Jesus, finding himself alone with the woman, said in his own merciful spirit, 'Hath no one condemned thee?' 'No one, Lord.' 'Neither,' he added, neither do I; go and sin no more.' And if any thing could keep her from farther sin, it was love such as this.

Here we find the type of the old and the type of the new spirit of penal legislation. The old spirit slew-the new spirit spares and reforms. The new spirit is that of Jesus—the old spirit that of his priestly foes. Would that the spirit of Christ had, as of old, driven his enemies wholly out of his church and out of society, so that he alone might rule there and in all our hearts with his law of forgiveness, pity, and active love!

This narrative of the adulteress, not being found in some Greek manuscripts, is by a few respectable critics accounted spurious; but it carries evidence of its authenticity in its very substance; for its Jesus is the Jesus of the New Testament. The transaction in all its essential features the designs and attempts of the Jewish priests, the relation in which they and Jesus stood to the people and to the Roman military power-especially the accordance of its tenor with what we know of both the intellect and the heart of Christ-the whole transaction is too natural not to have taken place under the alleged circumstances.

As Jesus raised his eyes, which from his position would be directed towards the east, the rays of the morning sun seem to have fallen upon them and drawn his attention to that luminary, whose splendour in the clear atmosphere of Palestine far surpasses what we behold in this cold and damp climate. An image was thus offered to him as if from heaven; and with true sublimity he said, 'I am the light of the world.' Pharisees near at

hand heard the words. Their little souls were unimpressed. They thought only how they might confute Christ. Again, however, were they silenced by his matchless wisdom (John viii. 12 -20).

This conversation took place as Jesus sat teaching in the court of the women, where stood the treasury, that is thirteen chests or boxes, in which the temple-tax was collected and many valuables belonging to the temple were kept. It was also a place of great resort; in consequence of which the enemies of our Lord did not see fit to lay hands on him.

Jesus proceeded with his divine admonitions, urging on his auditors that though death would be his lot, yet a direful fate awaited those who refused his offers and conspired for his ruin. In the discourse which ensued, he reproached the Jews with being slaves to sin and wickedness, declared they were no true descendants of faithful Abraham, who saw the day of the Messiah and rejoiced at the sight, and affirmed that, as the Son of God, he was specially dear to his Heavenly Father, and was shielded and honoured by his power. Engaged in executing a mission for which he had come forth from the Almighty, he sought not his own, but God's will and glory. These topics were offensive to those present. Especially offensive was it that Jesus affirmed himself to be superior to Abraham, who, next to David, was the idol of the nation. The offence was intolerable. Secretly urged on, perhaps, by lurking priests, some took up stones to destroy Jesus. He mingled with the crowd and escaped (John viii. 20—59).

Leaving the temple, Jesus pursued his way, when, seeing a man born blind, he was asked by his disciples whether this man or his parents had sinned. Suffering with the Jews was held to be the punishment of sin. Hence where they saw suffering they inferred sin. This error was, indeed, fully confuted in their own sacred books; for it made the ground of the imputations levelled against Job. Nevertheless, Christ's companions, blinded by it, wished to learn from him whose sin it was that had caused the blindness before them. It was to them a difficult question; for as the man had come into the world blind, if the sin lay at his door, it must have been committed by him in a previous state of existence. Jesus, from the high point of view at which he stood, had no hesitation in declaring that the blindness was no infliction in punishment of sin, but a result of God's ordinations, and a means for the display of God's works in the cure he himself was about to effect. Go,' said Jesus, turning to the blind man, 'go, wash in the pool of Silo'am.' He went, and returned seeing.

The fountain of Siloam (Sent) is found on the south-east of Jerusalem, just below Mount Zion. It springs forth from the limestone rock, on which the city stands. The name Siloam, or Siloah, is found used of water only four times in the Scripture

namely, Is. viii. 6; Nehem. iii. 15; and John ix. 7, 11; but Josephus mentions it frequently, and in such a way as to remove all doubt of its proper locality. Its water, abundant but not always flowing, was gentle in its stream and pleasant to the taste. These

qualities belong to the fountain still. The pool of Siloam is a small, deep reservoir in the form of a long quadrangle, being in length 53 feet, in breadth 18 feet, and 19 feet deep. It is by a subterranean channel connected with the fountain of the virgin' ('the king's pool,' Nehem. ii. 14, and the pool of Solomon in Josephus, Jewish War, v. 4, 2), which-so called because Mary, the mother of Jesus, is said to have gone frequently thither to wash her infant's linen-stands on the west side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, 1100 feet to the north. The water from the brook of Siloah is now made use of for irrigation, and causes fertility and loveliness. A few paces westward, once stood 'the tower of Siloam' (Luke xiii. 4). It belonged to the fortifications, being erected by Hezeki'ah to protect the fountain against the enemies of Jerusalem. From the circumstance that the flow of the water is intermitting, and from historical associations, the pool was held in reverence.

In the popular feeling, not improbably, lay the cause why Jesus sent the blind man to bathe in Siloam. When he came