m fice, was said to signify the effusion of the Spirit; to be a symbol of the law; to be a commemoration of Moses's bringing water out of the rock in the wilderness; and to be offered that the rains of the year might be blessed, which began about the time when this feast was celebrated. It seems probable that, after the performance of this rite, "Jesus stood and eried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink: He that believeth in me, as the scripture hath [in effect] said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water:" abundance of pure and perennial streams of spiritual grace and doctrine shall flow from him. When Jesus said to the Pharisees, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life;" it is thought probable that he spake this at sun rising, as the evangelist had observed that early in the 1 morning he came into the temple. Sir Isaac Newton is followed by many in supposing that it was the Sabbatical year, and that several Jewish bond servants had been newly set free at the feast of tabernacles, when our Lord said, "If ' ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Servants were manumitted in the seventh year of their servitude; and in the fiftieth year of Jubilee, on the tenth day of that month See Lightfoot, Schoettgen, and Wetstein in loc. and Bust. lex. Rabb. voc. NY. " John vii. 37, 38. • Isai. xliv. 3. Joel ii. 28. in which the feast of tabernacles was kept. But whether there was an actual manumission at this time is quite uncertain. The passage has sufficient force by referring to a common custom. Immediately before Jesus restored sight to a man blind from his birth, he thus expressed himself: “As "long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world:" where the image of his being the light of the world in a moral sense was naturally suggested by the occasion. And when the man on whom the miracle was wrought believed in Jesus, and worshipped him, Jesus said, "For " judgment I am come into this world; that they who see not might see; and that they who see might be made blind." By my coming into the world, the just judgments of God are displayed: plain and good men see the truth; wise and vicious men are judicially blinded. Then said the Pharisees, "Are we blind also ?" Jesus answered, "If ye were blind," if ye were incapable of religious light and knowledge, "ye should have no sin :" "but now ye say, We see," we have wisdom and understanding, "therefore your sin remaineth;" you pervert your faculties, and are guilty of criminal unbelief. It is ably suggested by Sir Isaac Newton that our Lord, during the feast of tabernacles, was near' folds in Jerusalem, which contained sheep for sacrifice, had a porter, and a certain height to obstruct the entrance of thieves; when he represented himself as the door of the sheepfold, as the good shepherd, as John ix. 5. * v. 40, 41. w v. 39. " John x. 1-16. having other sheep of a different fold, as knowing his sheep and laying down his life for them. * It appears that the feast of tabernacles was just ended, and that many were going from Jerusalem to their respective places of abode, when our Lord spake the parable which begins, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho :" and again, as he and many of the Jews were going up to the feast of dedication, he thus lays the scene of another parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray." a b While Jesus was eating bread with one of the Pharisees on the sabbath, he spake three parables arising from the occasion: one, in censure of choosing the chief places; another, in praise of disinterested hospitality and beneficence; and a third, representing the gospel under the idea of a great feast, from which the Jews should be excluded on their refusal to partake of it, and to which the Gentiles should be earnestly and importunately invited. * The covetous Pharisees being present, he spake the parable of a certain rich man who had an unjust steward; exhorted men to make themselves friends of riches which are so often procured by unrighteousness, and so often administer to it; and distinguished between the precarious and dangerous riches of this life and the true heavenly treasures. The Pharisees deriding him on this account, he with great dignity added another parable, of one who was rich, and unfeeling to the distresses of his fellow z Luke x. 30. a Luke xviii. 10. This illustration is doubtful, as the phrase is applicable to inhabitants of Jerusalem. John vii. 14. Luke xvi. 14. creatures, in this life, and became the just object of divine punishment in the next. d * When he was near the mount of transfiguration, which the evangelists describe as a high mountain, he said to his Apostles," If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence unto yonder place: and it shall remove." And Jortin has observed that, as he passed by the mount of Olives, the disciples wondered at the sudden withering of the fig tree; upon which Jesus answered, "Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this * mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done." * A like pointing out of present objects occurs while our Lord was in the way to the feast of dedication. "The apostles said to him, Increase our faith. And he said, f If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." *Martha having said to him, "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me:" he answered, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful.” Being about to raise Lazarus, he extended his discourse to the general resurrection: "I am the h resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, d Matt. xvii. 20. 8 Luke x. 40, 41, 42. • Matt. xxi. 21. f Luke xvii. 5, 6. AS A DIVINE INSTRUCTOR. though he die yet shall he live [at the last day :] and whosoever liveth [at the general resurrection] and believeth in me, shall never die." i When some brought young children to him, he took occasion to observe that of such like was the kingdom of heaven: adding, "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." *The remark of one of his disciples as he went out of the temple, "Master, see what manner of stones, and what buildings, are here," occasioned this reply," Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down;" and introduced a most illustrious prophecy relating to the destruction of Jeru salem. m At the time of the vernal equinox, when the trees put forth their leaves in Judea, he spake this parable: "Behold " the fig tree and all the trees: when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your ownselves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” When Peter said to Jesus, "Thou shalt never wash my feet," Jesus answered him, "If I wash thee not [in a spiritual sense] thou hast no part with me." Having called the fruit of the vine his blood, or appointed it as the perpetual representation of his blood shed for mankind, he went on to call himself the true vine, his father the husbandman, and his i See John iv. 14. Luke xxi. 29-31. k Mark x. 14, 15. " John xiii. 8. 'ib. xiii. 1, 2, &c. • John xv. 1-6. Grotius observes here, and John vii. 37. Mos est Christi ex rebus obviis |