tell you, that it is my Father that speaketh honourably of me, by the miracles which he enables me to perform, by the descent of his Spirit upon me at my baptism, and by his voice uttered from heaven declaring me to be his beloved Son. This, I think, may be sufficient to convince you that I am able to do for my disciples what I said, especially when I tell you farther, that my Father is he whom this nation pretends to worship as its God. It is my Father that honoureth me, of whom ye say, that he is your God. 55. Yet we have not known him, but I know him; and if I should say I know him not, I should be a liar like unta you; but I know him, and keep his saying: Though you profess to worship my Father as your God, you are ignorant of him. You neither form right conceptions of him, nor acknowledge him in the manner you ought to do; so that you give the lie to your profession. And though you may reckon it vain glory, yet I must tell you, that if I should say I do not think justly of him, nor acknowledge him as he deserves, I should be a liar like unto you; for I both entertain proper apprehensions of him, and obey his laws. This clause plainly shews, that the sense given of the former is just; for Christ is not speaking here of a specu Jative, but a practical knowledge of God. 56. Your father Ab raham rejoiced, or, as it may be translated, "earnestly desired," to see my day, the time when I the promised seed should come, in whom all nations were to be blessed, by being + converted from idolatry to the knowledge and worship of the true God. He earnestly desired to see the great transactions of my life, by which this blessing was to be procured for all nations, and to take a view of the happy state unto which the world would be brought when this blessing was bestowed upon them. And he saw it, and was glad: by the favour of a particular revelation, Abraham had a distinct foresight of the principal transactions of my life, together with a clear view of the happy state into which I will bring the world, and was exceedingly transported with the prospect. If you ask then an account of my person and character, you may form some notion of both from the disposition with which Abraham regarded me. Our Lord, therefore, plainly enough The translation proposed above is founded on an observation of the critics, who tell us, that the Greek word nyaλhiarato, signifies to leap forward with joy to meet the object of one's wishes, as well as to exult in the possession thereof. Accordingly the ancient versions, particularly the Syriac, render it by words which express earnest desire. + Conversion from idolatry to the knowledge and worship of the true God, was the great blessing bestowed on Abraham himself. It is therefore reasonable to believe, that that patriarch, who is so highly celebrated for his extensive views of the divine perfections and providence, distinctly affixed this idea to the promise concerning his seed; and that by all na tions being blessed in his seed, he understood the happiness they were to enjoy through the knowledge and practice of true religion, published to them by Messiah. enough assumed the character of Messiah on this occasion. John viii. 57. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Understanding what he said in a natural sense, they thought he affirmed that he lived in the days of Abraham, which they took to be ridiculous nonsense, as he was not arrived at the age of fifty; for they had no conception of his divinity, notwithstanding he had told them several times, that he was the Son of God. Jesus, therefore, finding them thus stupid and perverse, asserted his own dignity yet more plainly. 58. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, *Before Abraham was, I am. 59. Then they took up stones to cast at him: The Jews thinking him a blasphemer, because he made himself not only greater than Abraham, but equal with God, John v. 18. fell into a violent rage, and, as Dr Clagget expresses it, reckoning him not worthy to be answered any other way, than by an immediate and zealous attempt upon his life, they took up the stones that happened to be lying thereabouts for the reparation of the temple, and being in a great fury, were going with one accord to have rushed on him, and murdered him outright. But Jesus, making himself invisible, passed through the crowd, and so escaped safe. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. Le Clerc thinks the word unhurt should be supplied here to prevent a needless repetition, which perhaps was the reason that in Ver. 58. Before Abraham was, I am.] Пgu Abgaaμ yersodan syco ciplin Erasmus and Raphelius would have this clause translated, Before Abraham quas born, I avas. In which perfect sense we find the present tense sur used, John xiv. 9. τοσέτον χρόνον μεθ' υμων ειμι, Have I been so long evith you? Also Cyropæd. p. 582. edit. Hutch. Ž 078 8v ta αgxa siμ, Prom the sime I have been in power. Most of the Oriental languages having only two tenses, the present and the future, the present was often used to denote the past time, an idiom which the Easterns in writing Greek naturally preserved, notwithstanding the Greek language abounds in tenses. The critics, however, who make this observation, apply it differently in the present case. For some of them contend, that the substantive verb aui, in this construction, contains an allusion to the name by which God made himself known to Moses in the bush, Exod. iii. 14. I am that I am; consequently, that our Lord, upon this occasion, attributed to himself proper divinity and, to illustrate their conjecture, they ariduce the phrase, Heb. 1. 12. συ δε ο αυτός ε. Nay, Beza goes so far as to think it comprehends even Christ's humanity, which he affirms was before Abraham in the decree of God, who calls that which is not as if it was, Rom. iv. 8. The Socinians, contrary to the natural meaning of the words, translate the passage thus: Before Abraham avas made Abraham, i. e. the father of many nations, in the spiritual sense of the promise, I am the Messiah Grotius and others are of opinion, that our Lord only affirms of himself that he was before Abraham in the divine decree. But this sense of the passage is trifling, if our Lord was no more than a man, it being certain, that all creatures of whatever order, existed equally soon in the divine decree. Besides, that our Lord did truly exist at the time mentioned in the text, is plain likewise from chap. xvii. 5. in several MSS. the whole latter clause is omitted, viz. going through the midst of them, and so passed by. LXXVIII. The man that was born blind, is sent by Jesus to wash in the pool of Siloam, and there receives his sight. This miracle makes a great noise in Jerusalem, and is examined by the senate. See Antiq. Disc. I. chap. v. John ix. 1,—34. As Jesus and his disciples were fleeing from the Jews, they found a blind beggar, (see ver. 8.) in one of the streets of the city, who, to move peoples compassion, told them he was born in that miserable condition. The disciples on hearing this, asked their Master, whether it was the man's own sin, or the sin of his parents, which had occasioned his blindness from the womb. John ix. 1. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? It seems the Jews having derived from the Egyptians the * doctrines of the pre-existence and transmigration of souls (see Wisdom viii. 19, 20, &c.) supposed that men were punished in this world for the sins they had committed in their pre-existent state. Jesus told them, that it was neither for the man's own sin, nor for the sin of his parents, that he had been born blind. 3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but he was born blind that the works of God should be made manifest in him: particularly his sovereignty in bringing him into the world blind, his power in conferring the faculty of sight upon him, and his goodness in bearing witness to the doctrine by which men are to be saved. 4. I must work the works of him that sent me, called in the preceding verse the works of God, while it is day, while I have an opportunity, the night cometh when no man can work. It was now the sabbath-day, and Jesus was about to perform a miracle, in which there was to be a small degree of servile work done. Clay was to be made of earth and spittle, and the blind man's eyes were to be anointed with it. Wherefore, before he began, he told his disciples that they needed not be surprised when they saw him perform miracles of Dd VOL. II. that Doctrines of the pre-existence and transmigration of souls.] From the account which Josephus gives of this matter, it appears the Pharisees believed that the souls of good men only went into other bodies, whereas the souls of the wicked they thought went immediately into eternal pu nishment; an opinion somewhat different from that which the discip'es expressed on this occasion. For if they spake accurately, they must have thought, that in his pre-existent state this person had been a sinner, and was now punished for his sins then committed, by having his soul thrust into a blind body. Nevertheless, from what they say we cannot certainly determine, whether they thought that in his pre-existent state this person had lived on earth as a man, which is the notion Josephus describes, (see Jewish Antiq. Disc. I. chap. i. 2.) or whether they fancied he had pre existed in some higher order of being, which was the Platonic notion. that kind on the sabbath. For though they might imagine that he could easily defer them till the holy rest was over, he had so little time to remain on earth, that he was obliged to embrace every opportunity of working miracles that offered. Besides, Jesus might chuse to work this miracle on the sabbath, knowing that the time when it was performed would occasion it to be more strictly inquired into by the Pharisees, and of consequence would tend to make it more generally known. And because he was going to confer sight on a man that was born blind, he took occasion from thence to speak of himself as one appointed to give sight likewise unto the darkened minds of men *. 5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Perhaps our Lord, by calling himself the light of the world, insinuated also to his disciples, that they might safely have believed the lawfulness of the action, though they had had no other evidence of it but that it was done by him. John ix. 6. When he had thus spoken, the spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7. And said unte Hence we learn, that our Lord's miracles were designed not only as proofs of his mission, but to be specimens of the power which he possessed as Messiah. For example, by feeding the multitude with meat that perished, he signified that he was come to quicken and nourish mankind with the bread of life, that sovereign cordial and salutary nutriment of the soul. His giving sight to the blind was a lively emblem of the efficacy of his doctrine to illuminate the blinded understandings of men. His healing their bodies, represented his power to heal their souls, and was a specimen of his authority to forgive sins, as it was a real, though but a partial removal of its punishment. His casting out devils, was an earnest of his final victory over Satan and all his associates. His raising particular per sons from the dead, was the beginning of his triumphs over death, and a demonstration of his ability to accomplish a general resurrection. And, to give no more examples, his curing all promiscuously who applied to him, shewed that he was come not to condemn the world, but to save even the chief of sinners. Accordingly, at performing these miracles, or soon after, when the memory of them was fresh in the minds of his hearers, we often find him turning his discourse to the spiritual things that were signified by them, as in the case before us. So likewise Luke iv. 18. Matt. ix. 5. 33. John vi. 27, 35. § 62. Luke x. 17, 18. § 81. John ix. 39. 84. 24. Ver. 6. He spat on the ground, &c.] We are not to imagine that he did this because it any way contributed towards the cure. Like the other external actions which accompanied his miracles, it was designed to signify to the blind man that his sight was coming to him, not by accident, but by the gift of the person who spake to him. The general reason which Cyril has assigned for Christ's touching the lepers, his taking hold of the dead, his breathing on the apostles when he communicated to them the Holy Ghost, and such like bodily actions wherewith he accompanied his miracles, may be mentioned here. He thinks that our Lord's body was, by the inhabitation of the divinity, endued with a vivifying quality, to shew men in a visible manner, that his human nature was by no means to be excluded cut of the business of their salvation. * unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. From ver. 11. it appears, that this beggar knew that it was Jesus who spake to him; probably he distinguished him by his voice, having formerly heard him preach, or he might know him by the information of the disciples. Hence he cheerfully submitted to the operation, though in itself a very improper means of obtaining sight, and obeyed without scruple, when Jesus bade him go and wash his eyes in the waters of Siloam, entertaining no doubt of his miraculous power. John ix. 8. The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Those who lived in this beggar's neighbourhood, and those who had frequent ly * Ver. 7. Siloam, which is by interpretation Sent.] Concerning these waters the evangelist observes, that their name Siloam, or according to the Hebrew orthography Shiloah, signifies a thing that is sent. This remark Grotius, Dr Clarke, and others, think was designed to insinuate that Christ's command to the blind man was symbolical, teaching him that he owed his cure to Messiah, one of whose names was Shiloh, the Sent of God. The waters here mentioned came from a spring that was in the rocks of Mount Sion, and were gathered into two great basons, the lower called the pool of fleeces, and the upper Shiloah, Neh. ii. 15. because the waters that filled it were sent to them by the goodness of God, from the bowels of the earth; for in Judea springs of water being very rare, were esteemed peculiar blessings. Hence the waters of Shiloah were made by the prophet a type of David's descendants, and among the rest of Messiah, Isa. viii. 5. and the two basons which received these waters are called the avells of salvation, Isa. xii. 3. Christ's benefits are fitly represented by the image of water, for his blood purifies the soul from the foolest stains of sin, just as water cleanses the body from its defilements. Moreover, his doctrine imparts wisdom and affords refreshment to the spirit, like that which cool draughts of water impart to one who is ready to faint away with thirst and heat. But beside the emblematical reason mentioned by the evangelist, Jesus might order the blind man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, because there were generally great numbers of people there, who seeing the man led thither blind, having his eyes bedawbed with clay, must have gathered round him to enquire into the cause of so strange an appearance. These having examined the man, and found that he was stone blind, they could not but be prodigiously struck with his relation, when, after washing in the pool, they saw the new faculty instantly imparted to him; especially if his relation was confirmed by the person who led him, as in all probability it would be. For it is reasonable to suppose, that his conductor was one of them who stood by, when Jesus anointed his eyes, and ordered him to wash them in Silvam Accordingly, when he went away, and washed, and came seeing, i. e. walked by the assistance of his own eyes without being led, the miracle was earnestly and accurately inquired into by all his acquaintance, and was so universally known that it became the general topic of conversation at Jerusalem, as the evangelist informs us, ver. 8, 9. nay, it was accurately examined by the literati there. For the man was brought before them; they looked at his eyes; they inquired what had been done to them; they sent for his parents to know from them if he had been really born blind: and they excommunicated the man because he would not join them in saying, that Jesus, who had cured him, was an impostor. |