tions, he has only in view the glory of God, whom lying offends, and whom truth alone honors. Still, it is not absolutely impossible that a good man, who has only in view the glory of God, should state things contrary to truth. Here is the reason why we have said that this was here rather a reasonable presumption, than an infallible proof of the truth of his doctrine. A man of this character may then deceive himself, without wishing or intending to do so it is error in him, and neither fraud nor lying. The thing is easily recognized, if he happen to be reproved for it. He submits immediately, and subscribes without resistance to the judgment which condemns him: whereas, he that seeketh his own glory, cannot bear a like humiliation; he bristles up, he is transported with passion, he judges his judges, and condemns his pastors.

It would be useless to add, that this is inapplicable to the ManGod. Incapable of lying, neither is he susceptible of error. If the thing be evident to any one who recognizes his divinity, even those who do not as yet acknowledge it, can in no way doubt it in view of his miracles, which were the seal with which God confirmed the truth of all his words. But as he then proposed to convince the Jews rather by reason than by prodigies, he proceeds to show them, by their own conduct, that what they regarded in him as a capital crime, was a lesser infraction of the law than what they permitted to themselves without scruple. For the question at issue still was, the violation of the Sabbath; and if envy was the true cause of the plots formed against the Saviour's life, the cure of a paralytic, wrought miraculously on the Sabbath-day, was the pretext on which they acted. Eighteen months had rolled away since this event, which had been fully justified at the time when it occurred. But they had forgotten the justification, and still remembered the pretended crime. Here, then, is what Jesus Christ again said to them on this subject: "Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you keepeth the law [if it be true, as you say, that I have broken it]. Why seek you to kill me? The multitude answered and said: Thou hast a devil: who seeketh to kill thee?" We perceive in these wrathful words the hatred which had conceived the crime, now wrought up to a furious height on hearing this just reproach. แ Jesus," without evincing any emotion, continued his dis

course, and "said to them: One work I have done, and you all wonder. Yet Moses gave you circumcision (not because it [origi nally] is of Moses, but of the Fathers), and on the Sabbath-day you circumcise a man," when it happens to be the eighth day after his birth. "If a man receive circumcision on a Sabbath-day, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I have healed the whole man on the Sabbath-day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment."

This last expression reminded the Jews of another law of Moses which they were actually infringing, viz., that of Deuteronomy, which admonishes them, almost in the same terms, to judge according to the very equity of the thing, without regard to persons. Now, on this occasion, they judged the action of Jesus Christ not according to what it was, but by its author, whose person was odious to them. Hence they pronounced as criminal, that which in reality was a lesser infraction of the Sabbath than circumcision. For the law of nature, which obliges us to succor the unfortunate, should take precedence of the law of circumcision, which is merely a positive injunction. To wound a man, supposing there be a law that commands the act, is always a lesser good than to cure another man; and if we wish to carry out the comparison of the two actions, circumcision being a manual operation which entails the necessity of dressing the wound, is a much more servile work than the simple word used by Jesus Christ in restoring health to the paralytic. However, those who were aware of the conspiracy which the principal men of the nation had formed against the Saviour, were highly surprised to hear him speak so publicly and so fearlessly. "Some, therefore, of Jerusalem said: Is not this he whom they seek to kill? Behold, he speaketh openly, and they say nothing to him. Have the rulers known for a truth that this is the Christ? But [added they] we know this man whence he is; but when the Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is."

We know not how they had conceived this idea, that when the Christ should come, his origin was to be entirely unknown; and it is conjectured, with sufficient probability, that the error arose from this text of Isaias: Who shall declare his generation? The prophet understood this of his eternal generation, not as of a thing to remain

concealed, but as alluding to an ineffable mystery. These persons, who were, undoubtedly, the most ignorant of the people for we shall soon hear others speak who were better informed-these persons, I say, explained the text as referring to the temporal birth, and seemed to believe that the Messiah was to appear suddenly, without it being known whence he came, or who were his parent §. Jesus was aware of their discourse, whether he was or was ot within reach of hearing. "He, therefore, cried out in the ter ple, teaching and saying: You both know me and you know whence I am. I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is tru, whom you know not." You do not, therefore, know in fact whence I am; and this character of the Messias, if indeed it be one, you cannot deny that I have. "I know him, because I am from him (2), and he hath sent me."

The first of these latter words alludes to the eternal generation of the Son of God, and the second to his birth in the course of time. The Jews must then have understood the sense of the words, since it is said, that in consequence of what he had been saying, "they sought to apprehend him ;" and we have elsewhere seen that one of the principal reasons for which they sought to put him to death is, because he said God was his father, making himself equal to God. (a)" But no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. [In the mean time] of the people many believed in him and said: When the Christ cometh, shall he do more miracles than these which this man doth (3) ?"

(a) St. John, v. 18; vii. 18-36.

(2) Literally, I am from him. This is not a French expression; hence the majority of [French] interpreters have translated, I come from him. This translation does not seem sufficient to render the full force of the ab ipso sum, which properly signifies, I draw my existence from him. N.B.-Our author thinks he comes nearest to the sense by translating thus: Je procède de lui.-P. De Ligny's French translation is considered the most faithful and exact Scriptural version in the French language. See introduction to edition of 1843, Libraire Catholique de Perisse, Frères.

(3) He performs an infinite number of miracles, in order to prove that he is the Christ; he is, therefore, such in point of fact. Common sense led them directly to this consequence. Others were drawn aside by sophistry, and rejected this plain truth. Good sense and subtlety are two very different things, and often widely opposed to each

other.

Those who were friendly towards the Saviour did not venture, as we have said, to testify it openly; but nothing escapes passion. "The Pharisees heard [that portion of] the people murmuring these things concerning him." They grew apprehensive of the consequences, and began to fear, lest what they termed seduction might in a short time captivate the minds of all. To check its course, "the rulers and Pharisees sent ministers to apprehend Jesus." We cannot say whether Jesus was yet there when the latter arrived, or if it was to them, or to the people who were still listening, that he addressed the following words, apparently that they might be repeated: "He therefore said to them: Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go to him that sent me: you shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am (4), thither you cannot come." Thus he declared to them the futility of the projects which they formed against his person, until the moment when he should permit them to do what he had resolved upon enduring. That moment was not far distant; but it was to be followed immediately by his ascension, and his entrance into heaven, whither they could not follow him, because they should have closed it forever against themselves. From that heavenly abode he was to survey them occupied with useless care, and despairing ever to find among the false Messiahs the true one whom they should have already disowned. Those who believed in him were afterwards given to understand these mysteries. But whilst the first words he uttered were then understood, the latter were still a mystery. "The Jews therefore said among themselves: Whither will he go that we shall not find him? Will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and

(4) In the text we find the present tense where I am, ubi ego sum. Among the interpreters, some translate where I am to go, où je dois aller; others, where I shall be, où je serai, in the future, because, in point of fact, Jesus Christ speaks of a time to come. We have adhered to the present, because it comprises a truth which disappears when the future is substituted. In reality Jesus Christ was already there, where he was to go; that is to say, in heaven, where he was always present by his immensity. The present had, therefore, with respect to him, its proper signification, which it would not have had if Jesus Christ were purely man. We know that Saint John, when writing his Gospel, chiefly sought to manifest the divinity of the Saviour. Every thing which refers to this should be presumed to have been written with this design, which should be ever borne in mind.

teach the Gentiles? What is this saying that he hath said: You shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am you cannot

come?"

CHAPTER XXXV.

MYSTIC WATER.-EFFUSION OF THE HOLY GHOST.-THE JEWS DIVIDED AMONGST THEMSELVES.-COUNCIL OF THE PRIESTS.-OPPOSITION OF NICODEMUS.-THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY.

A RELIGIOUS ceremony which the Jews practised during the feast of tabernacles may have given occasion for the last words which the Saviour addressed to them during this solemnity. They went to draw water from the fountain of Siloe, and then poured it upon the altar, beseeching God to bless them with an abundance of the fruits of the earth. There is every appearance that, on the subject of this water, he spoke to them, as to the Samaritan, of a more wondrous and more desirable water. It was the last and greatest day of the festivity. (a) "Jesus stood, and cried, saying: If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He that believeth in me (this explains the word 'drink'), as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This he said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in him; for as yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (1)."

"Of that multitude, therefore, when they had heard these words of his, some said: This is the prophet indeed. Others said: This is

(a) St. John, vii. 37–53.

(1) The Holy Ghost had been given to the holy sage, Simon, to Zachary, to John the Baptist, and to some others; but they were few in number. It was not until after the Lord Jesus had been fully glorified-that is to say, after his ascension, and upon Pentecost-day-that the Holy Ghost was given to all the disciples, and in such plenitude as served to diffuse the Spirit over all the earth. This diffusion, proceeding from this plenitude, is signified by the preceding words: Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living

water.