it is also the word of the Father; he that believeth on the Father for salvation, must likewise believe on the Son whom He has sent to be the Saviour of the world: we cannot be saved without a Saviour, and there is no other Saviour sent or given by God. They who so believe, shall escape the condemnation of the unbelieving and the ungodly, and have everlasting life; nay, they have the beginning of that life already; they have passed from a state of death to a state of life; they have the1 John 3. 14. life of God within them, as the foretaste and earnest of an endless life in heaven. Stop here.

This portion of Holy Scripture shews us, in a very striking manner, the light in which we are to view and regard the ever blessed Son of God; shews us, that we are to hold Him in supreme honour; that we are to pay Him, in all respects, the same honour as that which we pay to the Father. Many Christians are apt to overlook and forget their duty in this great point they feel, as they ought to feel, a fervent affection for their dear and only Saviour, who has so marvellously condescended to their wants and infirmities, and has even been pleased to call them brethren but they think and speak of Him too familiarly, as if He were only their equal; they do not perceive or remember the infinite distance between

Him and them; they speak of Him as man, and are not sufficiently impressed with the assurance, that He is also God, "the mighty God," (Isai. ix. 6. Tit. ii. 13.) equal with the Father. We cannot love Him too well; we cannot love Him enough, for what He has done and suffered on our behalf; but let us bear in mind, that it must be a holy love, chastened with holy fear; not a disturbing or distressing fear, but an awful sense of His Majesty as the Great Eternal God, the Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth; at whose name every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth." (Com pare Isaiah xlv. 23. with Phil. ii. 10.) He is our King; He is our Judge; He is the Lord of life and death, of the living and the dead. To Him we must pray; Him we must praise; Him we must worship with holy worship. " Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever." (Rev. v. 13.)

LECTURE XVII.

Jesus continues to set forth His nature and office, His sovereign and divine power.

CHAP. V. 25.

25. Verily, Verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead

Our Lord may

& 5. 14.

shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and Eph. 2.1, 5. they that hear shall live. mean, that they who are

"dead in trespasses

Acts 10. 42. Dan.7.13,14.

and sins," shall be raised and delivered from them, just as they who are actually dead shall be raised to life again. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; the power of giving life, as He pleases: 27. And hath givenô him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Because, being the Son of God, he became the son of man, to redeem and save the world. Christ has and uses this authority, not of Himself only, but in agreement with the Father also. 28. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29. And shall come forth; they that Cor. 15. 52. have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

This is a most plain and positive assurance, that all mankind, every one that ever breathed and died shall be raised again on the latter day: some" to the resurrection of life," shall rise to life eternal; some "to the resurrection of damnation," to be everlastingly condemned and cast away. Observe the words of Jesus: "They that have done good, and they that have done evil;" the deeds, the conduct, the

Dan. 12. 2.

character, will be the proof and testimony, to shew whether we have truly and savingly believed or not. We shall not be accepted on account of our works, as if they deserved life in themselves; but according to our works, as a proof and evidence of faith.

30. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but Matt. 26.39. the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Jesus says this again to shew, that He came not of Himself, as the Jews fancied, but from the Father; and that all He did was agreeable to the Father's will.

Deut. 17. 6. two

31. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. That is, I would not then ask you to take it as true: the law required witnesses, and Jesus was willing to be tried by this rule. 32. There is another that beareth witness of me; that is, the Holy Spirit, by the miracles which He worked ; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. 33. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. John the Baptist, as we read in the 1st. Chapter. 34. But I receive not testimony from man; it is not that which I depend upon; my chief testimony is from the Father and the Spirit: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. I appeal to John, because ye profess a respect

:

for him, and therefore ought to believe him; I would bring you to the truth by any and every means. 35. He was a burning and a shining light and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. For a time, ye received him gladly; but when he preached of Me, ye turned away from him. 36. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

His miracles were the witness; for they were certainly wrought by the power of God, and that power would not have been given, had not His word been true, had He not come from God; and " John did no miracle,” there- John 10. 41. fore the witness of His own works was greater.

37. And the Father himself, which hath

sent me, hath borne witness of me, by His works as well as at His baptism. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen Deut. 4. 12. his shape.

Ye have not indeed actually heard Him, nor seen Him, but still He has manifested Himself, on My behalf, by the word and the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus it is said, 1 John 1. 12. "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." Perhaps our Lord might also here imply, that the various appear

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