He did not deal with them as Servants, but as Friends. 467 John XV. 15. with Referve; for the Servant is not let into the Sect. 176. Remember that you have not first chofen me, 16 if you (a) I do not any longer call you Servants; for the Servant knoweth not &c.] Mr. Locke (in his Reasonableness of Christianity, pag. 105.) refers this to the Caution, with which our Lord had spoke of his being the Meffiah; fome Inftances of which have been already pointed out. See Note (g) on John iv. 26. Vol. i. pag. 177. (b) All Things that I have heard from my Father, I have declared to you.] Our Lord had, no doubt, the fullest View of the Scheme of Redemption undertaken by him; but the Apoftles not being yet able to bear many Things, (compare Chap. xvi. 12. Sect. 177.) especially relating to the Calling of the Gentiles, and the Abolition of the Mofaic Law, he wifely deferred the Discovery of them: So that these Words must be taken with the Limitation mentioned in the Paraphafe, and fignify that he had done it fo far as was convenient. (c) That you should go, and bear Fruit, &c.] This was a Security to them, that they should be preserved from immediate Dangers, and that their Life fhould be guarded by Providence, till fome confiderable Services had been accomplished by their Means. When our Lord adds, that your Fruit fhould continue, he may allude to the Cuftom of keeping rich and generous Wines a great many Years, fo, that in fome Cafes, (which was especially applicable to the fweet Eastern Wines,) they might prove a Cordial to thofe, who were unborn when the Grapes were produced. In this View there is a beautiful Propriety in the Representation, which I hope will be particularly felt, when thefe reviving Chapters are read. 17 you, that another. 468 John XV. 17. 19 18 cution. Yet if you find the World hate and 20 . 20 Remember the Word Remember, and recollect upon this Occafion, the Word which I spake to you fome Time that I said unto you, The ago,, Ser (d) It has hated me your Chief.] The Words in the Original, (eue gator upar peplomer,) which we render, It hated me before it hated you, may (as Mr. Lardner has well obferved,j be more literally rendered, It hated me your Chief; which makes the Expreffion more lively, and exactly parallel to Mat. x. 24, 25. Sect. 75. (See Lardner's Credibility, Vol. i. pag. 404.) Thus wo apatos cue sya, (1 Tim. i. 15.) is well tranflated, of whom I am chief. (e) If you were of the World, the World would love its own.] This feems to me a ftrong. Intimation, that even in Nations which profefs Chriftianity, if true Religion fall, as it very poffibly may, to a very low Ebb, they that exert themfelves remarkably for the Revival of it, muft, on the very Principle here laid down, expect Hatred and Oppofition; and that the Paffages in Scripture relating to Perfecution are not fo peculiar to the firft Ages, or to Chriftians living in Idolatrous Countries, as fome have fuppofed. Would to GOD, the Malignity to be found in fome of us againft our Brethren, did not too plainly illuftrate this Remark! Men will probably experience the Truth of it, in Proportion to the Degeneracy of thofe around them, and to the Vigour and Refolution with which they bear their Teftimony against prevailing Errors and Vices. Yet it is certain, that the Imprudence and Bigotry of fome very good Men has fometimes made Matters worse, than they would otherwise have been, and perhaps has irritated the Vices of their Enemies, fo as in Part to have been acceffary to their own Damage, and the much greater Mischief of those that have injured them. Servant is not greater than the Lord. If they have perfecuted me, they will alfo perfecute you: if they have kept my Saying, they will keep yours alfo. 21 But all these Things will they do unto you for my Name's fake, because they know not him that fent me.. John XV. 20. The Jews were inexcufable in their Hatred of him. 22 If I had not come, and spoken unto them, they had not had Sin: but now they have no Cloak for their Sin. 23 He that hateth me, hateth my Father alfo.. this (f) If they have kept my Saying, &c.] I am furprized, that fuch a Multitude of learned Commentators, and among the reft Gataker and Knatchbull, fhould contend that Tnge dogov fhould here be understood of abferving a Perfon's Difcourfe with a malignant Defign to carp at it. (See Wolfius, in loc.) Пaganpe has indeed that Senfe, Mark iii. 2. Luke vi. 7. xiv. I.. But no certain Argument can be drawn from hence, especially confidering how conftantly the Phrafe before us is taken in a good Senfe, for an obedient Regard, in this very Difcourfe, in which it often occurs. See John xiv. 15, 21, 23. xv. 10. xvii. 6, XX. 20. (8) They would have had no Sin.] It is fo evident from the Word of GOD, (see Rom. i.. 20, 21. and ii. 12,-15.) as well as from the Reafon of Things, that Sin may be imputed to those that have no Revelation, that it is moft evident, this is only a Hebraifm; as when. according to the pathetic Manner of speaking, especially in Ufe among the Eastern Nations, that is faid to be nothing at all, which when compared with fomething elfe, is inconfiderably Small. See Pfal. xxxix. 5. Isa. xl. 17. 1 Cor. i. 28. iii. 7. and compare John ix. 41. (b) Hateth my Father alfo.] How much is it to be wifhed, that thofe who make light of Chrift, while they pretend a great Veneration for the Father, would feriously attend to this weighty Admonition, left haply they be found even to fight against GOD! (Acts v. 39.) (i) They 470 24. John XV. If I had wrought no Miracle at all, nay, if I bad not done among them fuch extraordinary Works as no other Man ever did, not even their Prophets, or Mofes himself, they had not had any Degree of Sin, comparable to that which they are now under; but now, as they have rejected my fuperior Miracles, which they have feen with their own Eyes, at the fame Time that they own the Evidence of those which Mofes wrought, of which they have heard only by diftant Report, they manifeft fuch an obftinate Perverseness of Tem 25 26 ་ per, that I may truly fay, they have both feen, 24 If I had not done'a mong them the Works which had not had Sin: but now none other Man did, they they have both feen, and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the Word might be fulLaw, They hated me without a Cause. filled that is written in their 26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will fend unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he fhall testify of me. But when the Comforter is come, whom, as I 27 upon it. to 27 And ye alfo fhall bear Witnefs, because ye have been with me from the Be ginning. (i) They have hated me without a Caufe.] It appears to me very evident, that Pfal. xxxv. cannnot be strictly speaking a Prophecy concerning the Meffiah, especially from ver. 13, 14. which represent a Perfon incapable of helping his Enemies, when fick, otherwife than by Fafting and Prayer; whereas Chrift (and fo far as we can find, he alone,) had a Power of working Miracles, whenever he pleased. Nevertheless, that the Enemies of the Meliah fhould bate him without a Caufe, was exprefsly foretold; (Ifa. liii. 3,9. Dan. ix. 26. and Zech. xii. 10.) not to mention the Argument arifing, from comparing all the Places, in which his Innocence and Holiness are defcribed, with thofe which refer to his Sufferings. So that I apprehend the Turn given in the Paraphrafe fufficiently juftified. Reflections on the World's Hatred of CHRIST, &c. 471 to give an Account of my whole Conduct; which Sect. 176. the better it is known, the more it will justify my Cause, and expofe the Wickednefs of thofe John XV. that rife up against me. IMPROVEMENT. 27. HE Son of GOD condefcends to speak under the Character of John xv. 15. a Friend; and with what humble Gratitude fhould we atttend TH to his Words! He lays afide the Majefty of a Sovereign, to affume this more tender Relation; and furely our overflowing Hearts must enquire, Bleffed Jefus, what fhall we do to exprefs the Friendship on our Side? Let us obferve what he has here declared, Ye are my Friends indeed, if Ver. 14. ye do whatever I command you. Lord, we will run the Way of these thy Commandments, when on this nobleft Principle thou shalt enlarge our Hearts! (Pfal. cxix. 32.) He has loved us with an unexampled Affection, which has approved Ver. 12, 13. itself stronger than Death; and in Return he requires us, to love one another. How gracious a Command! How merciful to our Fellow-Creatures, and to ourselves, who fhould infallibly feel the Benefit of the Practice of it, both in the Delight infeparable from benevolent Affections, and in the Circulation of kind and friendly Offices, which, degenerate as Human Nature is, few are fo abandoned as not to endeavour to repay! Who would not imagine, that the whole World fhould feel Ver. 18, 25, and obey the Charm? And yet, instead of this, behold, they hate Chrift, and his Servants for his fake, tho' without a Caufe, and against the strongest Engagements. Miferable Creatures! who by a neceffary Confequence, whatever they may fondly imagine, hate the Father alfo, and Ver. 23, 24stand daily and hourly expofed to all the dreadful Terrors of an Almighty Enemy. Let us not wonder, if the World hate us; nor greatly regard, if it Ver. 19, 20. injure us. We are not of the World, nor is the Servant greater than his Lord: But furely the Oppofition, which the Gofpel brings along with it, is nothing, when compared with those Bleffings which it entails on all who faithfully embrace it. Were the Sufferings and Difficulties a thousand times greater than they are, we ought to efteem the Pearl of Price, the most happy Purchase at any Rate; and to be daily returning our most thankful Acknowledgements, that Chrift fent forth bis Apoftles, qualified with fuch a Knowledge of himself, and affifted by fuch Power from his Spirit, appointing them to go, and bring forth Ver. 16. Fruit, even Fruit which should remain to the remoteft Ages. Thro' his guardian Care it ftill remains in the World: Oh may it flourish, more abundantly among us! and may its Efficacy on our Hearts and Lives be |