Two of John's disciples

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37 And the two disciples heard him came and saw where he dwelt, and A. M.40.30. abode with him that day: for it was

An. Olymp. speak, and they followed Jesus.

CCL. 2.

38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where

est thou?

dwell

about the tenth hour.

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40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, 39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They and saith unto him, We have found the Mes

a Or, abidest.

That was two hours before night.—— Matt. 4. 18.

only as the great sacrifice for the sin of the world, but also his light they should see light. Reader, if thou art seriously as the complete teacher of heavenly truth.

Verse 37. And the two disciples heard him] And they perfectly understood their master's meaning; in consequence of which, they followed Jesus. Happy they, who on hearing of the salvation of Christ, immediately attach themselves to its author! Delays are always dangerous; and in this case, often fatal. Reader! hast thou ever had Christ as a sacrifice for thy sin pointed out unto thee? If so, hast thou followed him? If not, thou art not in the way to the kingdom of God. Lose not another moment! Eternity is at hand! and thou art not prepared to meet thy God. Pray that he may alarm thy conscience, and stir up thy soul to seek till thou have found.

enquiring where Christ dwelleth, take the following for answer: He dwells not in the tumult of worldly affairs, nor in profane assemblies, nor in worldly pleasures, nor in the place where drunkards proclaim their shame, nor in carelessness and indolence. But he is found in his temple, wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, in secret prayer, in self-denial, in fasting, in self-examination. He also dwells in the humble, contrite spirit, in the spirit of faith, of love, of forgiveness, of universal obedience; in a word, he dwells in the heaven of heavens, whither he graciously purposes to bring thee, if thou wilt come and learn of him, and receive the salvation which he has bought for thee by his own blood.

The tenth hour.] Generally supposed to be about what we Verse 38. What seek ye?] These disciples might have felt call four o'clock in the afternoon. According to chap. xi. 9. some embarrassment in addressing our blessed Lord, after the Jews reckoned twelve hours in the day, and of course hearing the character which the Baptist gave of him; to each hour of the day thus reckoned, must have been someremove or prevent this, he graciously accosts them, and gives thing longer or shorter, according to the different times of thein an opportunity of explaining themselves to him. Such the year in that climate. The sixth hour with them, ansquestions, we may conceive the blessed Jesus still puts to wered to our twelve o'clock, as appears from what Josephus those who in simplicity of heart desire an acquaintance with says in his Life, chap. liv. that on the sabbath day it was the him. A question of this nature we may profitably ask our- rule for the Jews to go to dinner at the sixth hour, (xtn úzx.) selves: What seek ye? In this place? In the company you The Romans had the same way of reckoning twelve hours frequent? In the conversation you engage in? In the affairs in each of their days. Hence what we meet with in Hor. with which you are occupied? In the works which you per- lib. ii. sat. vi. 1. 34. ante secundam signifies, as we should form? Do ye seek the humiliation, illumination, justifica- express it, before eight o'clock. And when in lib. i. sat. vi. tion, edification, or sanctification of your soul? The edifica-1. 122. he says, ad quartam jaceo, he means that he lay in tion of your neighbour? The good of the church of Christ? Or, The glory of God? Questions of this nature often put to our hearts in the fear of God, would induce us to do many things which we now leave undone; and to leave undone many things which we now perform.

bed till ten o'clock. See Bishop Pearce on this place. Dr. Macknight, however, is of opinion that the Evangelist is to be understood as speaking of the Roman hour, which was ten o'clock in the morning: and as the Evangelist remarks, they abode with him that day, it implies there was a considerable Rabbi] Teacher. Behold the modesty of these disciples-portion of time spent with our Lord, in which by his conwe wish to be scholars, we are ignorant-we desire to be versation, he removed all their scruples, and convinced them taught; we believe thou art a teacher come from God. that he was the Messiah. But had it been the Jewish tenth

Where dwellest thou?] That we may come and receive thy hour, it would have been useless to remark their abiding with him that day, as there were only two hours of it, still remaining. Harmony, vol. i. p. 52.

instructions.

Verse 39. Come and see.] If those who know not the salvation of God, would come at the command of Christ, they should soon see that with him is the fountain of life, and in

Verse 41. Findeth his own brother Simon] Every discovery of the gospel of the son of God produces benevolence, and

The call of Peter,

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CCI. 2.

a

CHAP. I.

sias, which is, being interpreted, the
Christ.

b

Philip, and Nathanael,

44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, A. M.400. the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and

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he said, Thou saith unto him, We have found him, of whom

с

h

42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, art Simon, the son of Jona: thou shalt bef Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.

stone.

43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.

i

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and

a Or, the anointed.-
- Matt. 16. 18.-
ch. 21. 2.-f Gen. 3. 15. & 49. 10.

C

- Or, Peter.₫ eh. 12. 21.Deut. 18. 18. See on Luke 21. 27.

Isai. 4. 2. & 7. 14. & 9. 6. & 53. 2. Mic. 5. 2. Zech. 6. 12. & 9. 9. Sce more on Luke 24. 27. Matt. 2. 23. Luke 2. 4. ch. 7. 41, 42, 52.

and Thomas, the two sons of Zebedee, Nathanael, and two other disciples, being gone a fishing, Jesus shewed himself to them, John xxi. 2—4.

Moses in the law] See Gen. iii. 15. xxii. 18. xlix. 10. Deut. xviii. 18.

leads those to whom it is made, to communicate it to others. Those who find Jesus, find in him a treasure of wisdom and knowledge, through which they may not only become rich themselves, but be instruments in the hand of God, of enriching others. These disciples having tasted the good word of Christ, were not willing to eat their bread alone, but went And the prophets] See Isai. iv. 2. vii. 14. ix. 5. xl. 10. and invited others to partake with them. Thus the know- liii. 1, &c. Jer. xxiii. 5. xxxiii. 14, 15. Ezek. xxxiv. 23. ledge of Christ became diffused, one invited another to come xxxvii. 24. Dan. ix. 24. Mic. v. 2. Zach. vi. 12. ix. 9. xii. 10. and see: Jesus received all, and the number of disciples was Verse 46. Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ?} increased, and the attentive hearers were innumerable. Every Bp. Pearce supposes that the ayadov of the Evangelist, has man who has been brought to an acquaintance with God should some particular force in it: for in Jer. xxxiii. 14. God says, endeavour to bring at least, another with him and his first at- I will perform that good thing which I promised, &c. and this tention should be fixed upon those of his own household. in ver. 15. is explained to mean, his causing the branch of Verse 42. Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.] IIT-righteousness, (i. e. the Messiah) to grow up unto David, gos, signifies a stone, or fragment of a rock. The reason why this name was given to Simon who was ever afterwards called Peter, may be seen in the notes on Matt. xvi. 18, 19. and particularly in Luke at the end of chap. ix.

Verse 43. Philip] This apostle was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee. Eusebius says he was a married man, and had several daughters. Clemens Alexandrinus mentions it as a thing universally acknowledged, that it was this apostle who, when commanded by our Lord to follow him, said, Let me first go and bury my father, Matt. viii. 21, 22. Theodoret says he preached in the two Phrygias; and Eusebius says he was buried in Phrygia Pacatiana. He must not be confounded with Philip the Deacon, spoken of Acts vi. 5.

Verse 45. Nathanael] This apostle is supposed to be the same with Bartholomew, which is very likely, for these reasons: 1. That the Evangelists who mention Bartholomew, say nothing of Nathanael; and that St. John who speaks of Nathanael, says nothing of Bartholomew. 2. No notice is taken any where of Bartholomew's vocation, unless his and that of Nathanael mentioned here, be the same. 3. The name of Bartholomew is not a proper name; it signifies the son of Ptolomy: and Nathanael might have been his own name. 4. St. John seems to rank Nathanael with the apostles, when he says that Peter

from whom Jesus was descended: in this view, Nathanael's question seems to imply, that not Nazareth, but Bethlehem, was to be the birth-place of the Messiah, according to what the chief priests and Scribes had determined, Matt. ii. 4, 5, 6. If this conjecture be not thought solid, we may ṣuppose that Nazareth at this time, was become so abandoned, that no good could be expected from any of those who dwelt in it: and that its wickedness had passed into a proverb; Can any thing good be found in Nazareth? Or, that the question is illiberal, and full of national prejudice.

Come and see.] He who candidly examines the evidences of the religion of Christ, will infallibly become a believer. No history ever published among men, has so many external and internal proofs of authenticity as this has. A man should judge of nothing by first appearances, or human prejudices. Who are they who cry out, The Bible is a fable? Those who have never read it, or read it only with the fixed purpose to gainsay it. I once met with a person, who professed to disbelieve every tittle of the New Testament, a chapter of which, he acknowledged, he had never read: I asked him, had he ever read the Old? He answered, No! and yet this man had the assurance to reject the whole as an imposture! God has mercy on those whose ignorance leads them to form

prejudices against the truth: but he confounds those who take them up through envy and malice, and endeavour to communicate them to others.

Verse 47. Behold an Israelite indeed] A worthy descendant of the patriarch Jacob, who not only professes to believe in Israel's God, but who worships him in sincerity and truth,|| according to his light.

In whom is no guile !] Deceitfulness ever has been, and still is the deeply marked characteristic of the Jewish people. To find a man living in the midst of so much corruption, walking in uprightness before his Maker, was a subject worthy the attention of God himself. Behold this man! and while you see and admire, imitate his conduct.

Verse 48. Whence knowest thou me ?] He was not yet acquainted with the divinity of Christ, could not conceive that he could search his heart, and therefore asks how he could acquire this knowledge of him, or who had given him that character. It is the comfort of the sincere and upright, that God knows their hearts; and it should be the terror of the deceitful and of the hypocrite, that their false dealing is ever noticed by the all-seeing eye of God.

Verse 50. Because I said-I saw thee, &c.] As thou hast credited my divine mission on this simple proof, that I saw thee when and where no human eye, placed where mine was, could see thee; thy faith shall not rest merely upon this, for thou shalt see greater things than these-more numerous and express proofs of my eternal power and Godhead.

Verse 51. Verily, verily] Amen, amer. The doubling of this word probably came from this circumstance: that it was written in both Hebrew and in Greek aμn”, signifying, it is true.

Heaven open] This seems to be a figurative expression: 1. Christ may be understood by this saying to mean, that a clear and abundant revelation of God's will should be now made unto men; that heaven itself should be laid as it were open, and all the mysteries which had been shut up, and hidden in it from eternity, relative to the salvation and glorification of man, should be now fully revealed. 2. That by the angels of God ascending and descending, is to be understood, that a perpetual intercourse should now be opened between heaven and earth, through the medium of Christ who was God manifested in the flesh. Our blessed Lord is represented Under the fig-tree] Probably engaged in prayer with God, in his mediatorial capacity as the ambassador of God to men: for the speedy appearing of the salvation of Israel: and the and the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man, shade of this fig-tree, was perhaps the ordinary place of re- is a metaphor taken from the custom of dispatching couriers treat for this upright man. It is not A fig-tree, but τny ovxny, or messengers from the prince to his ambassador in a foreign THE fig-tree, one particularly distinguished from the others. court, and from the ambassador back to the prince. This There are many proofs that the Jewish Rabbins chose the metaphor will receive considerable light, when compared with shade of trees, and particularly the fig-tree, to sit and study || 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. God was in Christ reconciling the world ununder. See many examples in Schoetgen. How true is the to himself:-we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God saying, The eyes of the Lord are through all the earth, be- did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead to be reconholding the evil and the good. Wheresoever we are, what-ciled to God. The whole concerns of human salvation shall soever we are about, may a deep conviction of this truth rest be carried on from henceforth, through the Son of man; and an incessant intercourse be established between heaven and upon our hearts, Thou God seest ME!

Verse 49. Rabbi] That is, Teacher and so this word earth. Some have illustrated this passage by the account of should be translated.

Thou art the Son of God] The promised Messiah.

Thou art the King of Israel.] The real descendant of David, who art to sit on that spiritual throne, of which the throne of David was the type.

Jacob's vision, Gen. xxviii. 12. But though that vision may intimate, that God had established at that time, a communication between heaven and earth, through the medium of angels; yet it does not appear that our Lord's saying here has any reference to it; but that it should be understood as stated above.

What a glorious view does this give us of the Gospel dispensation! It is heaven opened to earth; and heaven opened on earth. The church militant and the church triumphant Zoroaster consulted Ormusd, and spoke thus to him: "O become one, and the whole heavenly family in both, see and Ormusd, absorbed in excellence, just Judge of the world, adore their common Lord. Neither the world nor the church pure, who existest by thy own power, what is that great is left to the caprices of time or chance. The Son of man WORD given by God, that living and powerful WORD; O Orgoverns as he upholds all. Wherever we are praying, stu-musd, tell me plainly, which existed before the heavens, bedying, hearing, meditating, his gracious eye is upon us. He notes our wants, our weakness, and our petitions; and his eye affects his heart. Let us be without guile, deeply, habitually sincere, serious, and upright; and then we may rest assured, that not only the eye, but the hand of our Lord shall be ever upon us for good. Happy the man whose heart can rejoice in the reflection, Thou God seest me!

Various testimonies concerning

"

"

ST. JOHN.

Through the whole governinent of Ormusd, men are · commanded to invoke that most pure and excellent wORD." Ibid. p. 264.

4

the Logos, or WORD of God.

Prayer is made to the soul of the excellent word, the the Image of God: and Iony ang segas aytλng, The Shepherd body of which is supremely luminous." Ibid. p. 262. of his holy flock. In his treatise upon Creation, he speaks of the WORD, as the divine operator by whom all things were disposed and mentions him as superior to the angels and all created beings, and the image and likeness of God, and says, that this Image of the true God was esteemed the same as God – ως αυτον (Θεον) κατανοουσι. 8 This LOGOS, the WORD of God, says he, is superior to all the world, and more ancient; being the productor of all that was produced. The eternal Word of the everlasting God is the sure and fixed foundation, upon which all things depend. He mentions man as in need of redemption, and says, what intelligent person, who views mankind

That the word in the above places, does not mean the sacred books of the Parsees, it is expressly said, that "The, Law of the Mazdejesnans (the disciples of Zoroaster) comes from this super-excellent Word." Ibid. Si-Rouzé; Mansrespand, p. 323, 354.

7

"The Law is the body under which the primitive WORD, which created the world, is manifested. The primitive wORD therefore is worshipped in reading and reverencing that Law:"engaged in unworthy and wicked pursuits, but 10 and the effects produced in the soul by it, are no less than a new creation, in some sort similar to that, which this omnific Word formed in the beginning." Ibid. vol. ii. p. 595.

"The WORD proceeds from the first principle, time without bounds, i. e. eternity: it is before all created beings, and by it all the creation of God has been formed." Ibid. vol. ii. p. 592.

I find a word of the same import, used in exactly the same sense, in the Zend Avesta, attributed to the ancient Persian lawgiver, Zoroaster.

One might suppose that Mohammed had the first chapter of St. John's Gospel in his eye when he wrote ver. 33. of Surat xix. of his Koran:

Ja żalyka Isa ibno Mareema Kawlolhokki, This is Jesus the son of Mary, the WORD of TRUTH.-Some may understand the Arabic differently: This is a true word, that Jesus is the son of Mary.

3. TESTIMONIES

CONCERNING THE LOGOS, OR WORD OF GOD,

FROM PHILO JUDEUS.

After I had begun my collections from Philo Judæus, relative to the Logos; I casually met with a work of the late very learned Mr. Jacob Bryant, entitled, The sentiments of Philo Judæus concerning the AOгOE, or WORD or GOD. 8° Cambridge 1797. From this valuable tract, I shall make a few extracts, and beg leave to refer the Reader to the pamphlet itself.

"Philo Judæus speaks at large in many places, of the Word of God, the second person, which he mentions as (durigos Os) the second divinity, the great cause of all things, and styles him as Plato, as well as the Jews, had done before, the Logos. Of the divine Logos or Word, he speaks in many places, and maintains at large, the divinity of the Second person, and describes his attributes in a very precise and copious manner, styling him * τον δευτερον Θεόν ος εσιν εκείνου (Θεού gwTov) Acyos, the second Deity, who is the Word of the supreme IIgwToyovor vior, his first begotten Son; Είκων Θεού,

3

must be

grieved to the heart, and call upon that only Saviour God, that
these crimes may be extenuated, and that, by a ransom and price
of redemption, being given for his soul, it may again obtain its
freedom. It pleased God therefore to appoint his Logos to be
a Mediator. "To his WORD, the chief and most ancient of all
in heaven, the Great Author of the world gave this especial gift,
that he should stand as a medium, (or intercessor) between the
Creator and the created; and he is accordingly the advocate for
all mortals.
The same
2 WORD is the Intercessor for man, who
is always tending to "corruption: and he is the appointed mes
senger of God, the governor of all things, to man in subjection
to him. He therefore exhorts every person, who is able, to
exert himself in the race which he is to run, to bend his course
without remission to the divine WORD above, who is the foun-
tain of all wisdom; that by drinking at this sacred spring, he,
instead of death, may obtain the reward of everlasting life.

12

He repeats continually, that the Logos is the express image

of God.

4

p. 4.
p.

656. one. Naë. 1. 50.

18

not uncreated, like God; nor

'De Mundi Opif. vol. i. 'De Somniis. vol. i.

De Agricult. vol. i. p. 308. De Profugis. vol. i. p. 561. 9 De PlantatiDe Leg. Alleg. vol. i. p. 121. vol. i. p. 331. De Confus. Ling. vol. i. p. 418. "Quis Rerum Divin. Hares. vol. i. p. 501, 502. 12 Ibid. p. 501. 1. 49. 13 For κηραίνοντος αει προς το άφθαρτον, we should certainly read προς το φθαρτον. "De Profugis. vol. i. p. 560. 1. 31. 15 The present reading is aws, the meaning of which I do not comprehend. The true reading is probably avust, from aveusos, without remission-indesinenter, without stopping to take breath.

16

De Monarchid, vol. ii. 1. ii. p. 225. Τον δε αόρατον και νοητον Θείον Λόγον εικονα Xeyti tov. De Mundi Opif. vol. i. p. 6. 17 De Somniis. vol. i. 656. 1. 33. 19 Quis Rer. Divin. Hæres. vol. i. p. 502.

p.