[446] John i. 31. “And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel,” &c. This may seem strange that John did not know Jesus, seeing the families were so related; Elisabeth, his mother, being cousin to the Virgin Mary, and they were intimately acquainted one with another, and at the very time of their pregnancy, when the child of each had been already conceived, and both were thoroughly acquainted with the miraculous circumstances of each other’s conception, and what the children were that they had conceived, and to what end they were to come into the world; and conversed together of these things. Soon after Christ’s birth, he was conveyed away privately by his parents into Egypt, for fear of Herod, and probably nobody knew where they were gone, or what was become of them. There it is supposed that he remained in Egypt until the death of Herod; and Archelaus his son, reigning in his stead in the province of Judea, and manifesting by some bloody acts in the beginning of his reign, the like tyrannical disposition with his father, Joseph and Mary returned from Egypt, we may suppose, as privately as they could, into Nazareth, an obscure city in Galilee the province of Herod Antipas. And as to John the Baptist, when Herod massacred the infants at Bethlehem, his malice proceeded as far as the hill-country; for having heard great things of John, the son of Zechariah, he sent one of his messengers of death to despatch him. The care of his mother prevented the design, by flying with him into the wilderness, or unfrequented parts of the country, on the south side of the river Jordan. It is recorded by Nicephorus, lib. i. cap. 14. that he was about eighteen months old when he was conveyed into this sanctuary, that forty days after his mother died, and near the same time his father Zechariah was killed in the court of the temple. [There is an account of these things in Reading’s Evangelical History of Christ, chap. vii. viii ix. x.] However, thus much seems manifest from the Scripture, that John’s parents were both old when he was born, and therefore we may well suppose that they did not live long after, so that he could not be led by them into personal acquaintance with Jesus; and it is also manifest that John was from his infancy in the desert, in a hidden, secret state of life, even unto the day when he began his public ministry; (Luke i. 80.)and that there he lived so much separated from the rest of the Jews, and from the society of mankind, that he lived on the spontaneous productions of the uncultivated desert, his meat being locusts and wild honey, and his garment nothing but camels’ hair, girt about him with a girdle of skin, Matt. iii. 4. Mark i. 6. And so when he began to preach it was in the borders of the wilderness, where he had lived all his days, Matt. iii. 1, 3. Mark i. 4. Luke iii. 2, 4. Therefore Christ says to the multitudes concerning John, “What went ye out into the wilderness for to see?” Matt. xi 7. Luke vii. 24.

Things being thus, it is not to be wondered at that John had never seen Jesus, who lived obscurely so remote from him, and that he knew not where he was, or how to find him, till God showed him to him.

[368] John ii. 1, 2. Concerning the marriage at Cana of Galilee. The company here at this wedding may represent the church of Christ, who are often represented as the guests called together to a marriage feast. Jesus, and his mother, and his disciples were there; thus it is in the church. The former circumstances of the marriage, wherein they wanted wine, represent the state of the church before Christ came, or rather before the evangelical dispensation was established. The latter state of the wedding, wherein they had plenty of wine, represents the latter state of the church after the glorious pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, and especially after the fall of antichrist. The wine represents the spiritual supplies of his church, the grace and comforts of the Holy Spirit, which are often represented by wine in Scripture. Their wine ran low and was just out; so formerly the Old-Testament church had a supply of wine; but when Christ came into the world it was just out, they had in a manner no wine. But when Christ came and ascended up to heaven, he soon gave his church plenty of wine, and much better wine than ever the Jewish church had enjoyed, as it is said, “Thou hast kept the best wine until now.” So again, before the glorious times of the church commence, the church’s wine runs very low, and is almost out; what they allay with is water; human learning, sapless speculations and disputations, and dead morality. Formerly the Christian church had wine, as in the times of the primitive church, and in the times of the reformation, but now their wine is just gone. But after the beginning of these glorious times their water shall be turned into wine, and much better wine than ever they had before. The mother of Jesus may represent the more eminent ministers of the gospel, or the public ecclesiastical authority as exercised in synods, public schools, &c. They in a dark and dead time of the church complain to Christ of their unsuccessfulness, of the want of wine in the church, and look to him for a supply, but must not expect an answer till Christ’s time is come; their prayers are not answered till then, and then they shall be fully answered; their prayers are not rejected, they are offered up with incense, the cries of the souls under the altar that cry, “How long, Lord, holy and true!” are not rejected; but yet it is said to them that they should wait till God’s time comes. The servants represent gospel ministers, they have a command from Jesus’s mother, i. e. from the church in her public authority, to do whatsoever Jesus commands. Whence we may note that the way to have a plentiful effusion of the Spirit with his word and ordinances, is to be faithful in their work. They are to fill up the water-pots of purification with water; that is all that they can do. They can in the use of the ordinances of God’s house, and the appointed means of grace and purification, be instant in season and out of season; they can fill the water-pots up to the brim; they can be abundant in preaching the word, which as it comes only from them is but water, a dead letter, a sapless, tasteless, spiritless thing, but this is what Christ will bless for the supplying of his church with wine.

[47] John ii. 21. “But he spake of the temple of his body.” And it seems to me here that he should speak of his body in two senses: in one sense, of the church, which is called his body, and is also called the temple of God, of which the temple of Jerusalem was a type. The temple of Jerusalem may signify the Jewish church Christ put an end to by his coming, and in three ages after erected his spiritual temple, the Christian church.

[26]John v. 45. viii. 15. xii. 47. “I judge him not, for I am not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” Men are not properly judged and condemned by the covenant of grace, but by the law, a covenant of works, that is the eternal rule of judgment. The covenant of grace is a deliverance from this judgment: those who are Christ’s are delivered from the law and escape the condemnation of it; the law has its force upon Christ, and can go no further; but the law has its full force upon unbelievers.

[263] John vii. 38, 39. “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit.” The Spirit of God in the saints is called living water upon three accounts.

1. And chiefly it is meant that the water had life in it; common water is mere passive dead matter. But this water is alive, it is a living divine person. So Christ is called a living stone, 1 Peter ii. 4. This water is not only something living, but it is life itself; it is that spirit that is the very life of God, arid so is divine and infinitely perfect life, and act, and energy; for which cause partly the Spirit of God is called water of life, Rev. xxii. at the beginning. Because divine life is the very matter of this water.

2. He is living water, as he is life-giving water, as Christ is called the living bread, John vi. and as the Spirit of God is called living bread there in that chap. ver. 63. vid. No. 262. He is living bread, as he is life-giving bread; for so Christ explains himself in that chap. iii. It is living water in those in whom it is, as it is like a spring that never fails; as it gives life, so it will infallibly maintain life for ever. So it seems to be explained by Christ, John iv. 10, 11, 13, 14. and especially the 14th. So 792Christ is called bread of life, because they that eat of him shall never die, but live for ever, John vi. So the hope of Christians to which they are begotten by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, is said to be, 1 Peter i. 3. a living hope, i. e. a never-dying, never-failing hope; vid. Notes in loc. But yet it is not probable that this water would on account of its perpetuity be called living water, if there was no life in the water, and life was not the thing that was perpetual; for it does not appear that springs of water that were never dry were, on that account, called living springs then, as now, but it seems to be a metaphor invented since.

[234] John x. 34, 35, 36. “Jesus answered them, It is written in your law, I said, Ye are gods. If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him,” &c. The rulers of God’s people were called gods, because unto them the word of God came, i. e. his law was come to them, was committed to them, and trusted with them for them to enforce and execute: they were herein instead of God to the people. Because they held forth the law, or word of God, the law of God was in a sense their law. They were judges or executors of the law for God, for the judgment was God’s, Deut. i. 17. 2 Chron. xix. 6. Herein they were types of Christ, to whom the Father hath committed all judgment. Thus it was a ceremony in Israel, in inaugurating a king, to bring the law and commit it to him; as 2 Kings xi. 12. “And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and they made him king, and anointed him, and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.” Thus the word of God came to him. This interpretation of this exposition of Christ is confirmed by what God says to Moses, Exod. iv. 16. “And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall be, even he shall be unto thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God;” i. e. by speaking the word of God to him, he was instead of God, because the word of God came to him, and was committed to him to speak in God’s name, and so in the 7th chap. verse 1. “And the Lord said unto Moses, See I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet:” he represented God before Pharaoh, by the word of God in his mouth, as he spake in his name, and by his word wrought miracles before him.

These earthly rulers were called gods, because the external word of God came thus to them; whereby they were rendered types and images of the Son of God, the internal word of God; hence they are not only called gods, but the sons of God. Psal. lxxxii. 6. “I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you children of the Most High;” and if they were called gods, only for thus resembling God’s Son, how much is Christ to be justified, who was himself the Son of God, when he called himself God!

[482] John x. 34, 35, 36. “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I have said, Ye are gods,” &c. In the 82nd Psalm., to which this refers, we see, ver. 6. those who are called sons of the Highest by the word of God that came to them, are by that same word called gods. So that in that passage, son of the Highest, is the same with God. Jesus takes notice that they are called gods, and he says the scripture cannot be broken, i. e. it must be verified; but verified it could not be in them who died like men, and fell thereby like other princes, (who were not called gods,) from that eminent station wherein they were called gods. It is not every prince or potentate among men that is called god in this psalm. Those called gods, are plainly the princes of Israel, the judges in God’s land, who stood and judged among them in that theocracy; and they are manifestly distinguished from other princes on the very same account on which they are called gods. For in their office as rulers and judges of Israel, they prefigured him who was to rule the house of Jacob for ever, and they stood in that office as his types, even as the priests prefigured him in his priesthood; therefore they are called gods; and the scripture calling them so is not broken, because what is said of these types holds fully true in their antitype; who is plainly enough pointed at in that same psalm, ver. 8,. “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.” They shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes: but he arises from the dead to judge and inherit the church of all nations. His resurrection manifests him to be truly God; the same God that stood in the congregation of these mighty, and judged among them, to whom the word of God came, “Ye are gods, and sons of the highest.” Vid. Glass’s Notes on Scripture Texts, No. 1. pp. 11, 12.

They are called gods, as the manna is called the bread from heaven, and angels’ food, and as Cyrus is called God’s Christ and his beloved, Isa. xlv. 1. xlviii. 14.; and as Saul (whom the psalmist has a special respect to in Psal. lxxxii.) is called the Lord’s Christ, (he fell like one of the other princes who were not called gods,) and as the rock in the wilderness is said to be Christ, and as many things are said of Solomon in the 72nd Psalm,. that are verified only in Christ That passage, 1 Kings xviii. 31. may serve to explain these words, To whom the word of God came; “According to the number of the tribes of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel (i. e. the Prince of God) shall be thy name. The word of God came to Jacob in his prevailing with God, two ways.

1. God said to him, I have called you ISRAEL, Prince of God; as here, Psal. lxxxii. he says to the princes of Israel, “I have called you gods;” and that word of God came to them in Exod. xxii. 28.

2. God, by a special designation, made Jacob, in what he ordered concerning him, to be a type. Now, types are a sort of words; they are a language, or signs of things which God would reveal, point forth, and teach, as well as vocal or written words, and they are called the word of the Lord, in Zech. iv. 6. and xi. 11. “And thus also the word of the Lord came to the princes of Israel,” i. e. that state and those circumstances came to them, and were ordered to them, that were typical of the Son of God, and were as it were God’s word, signifying the dignity and office of the Messiah. Such divine significations, when persons were made the inherent subjects of them, were generally of the Son of God, the eternal personal Word; and therefore when such a typification happened, or was ordered to a person, or any person became the inherent subject of such a divine signification, the word of God was said to come to him. It was the signification or typification (if I may so speak) of the word of God, both as it was God’s signification, and also as the thing signified was the personal word of God.

[33] John xi. 51. “And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation.” By this it appears that things are ordered by God to be acted and spoken, after such a particular manner, with a design to indicate and represent heavenly things, without the least thought of the actors or speakers. See Note on Gen. xxii. 8.

[134] John xvi. 8,. &c. “And when the Comforter is come he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.” He shall convince the world of sin, as men must be convinced of their guilt, in order of their receiving of Christ. That is, the reason that sin and guilt lies upon them, is, because they believe not in Christ; and their rejecting Christ above all things enhances their guilt. Of his righteousness, that is, he will convince them of the sufficiency of Christ’s righteousness, of the way of removing guilt by him. Christ finished his work as priest, what he did for the removal of guilt, by his ascending into heaven, his entering into the holiest of all with his own blood to make intercession for us, and thereby gave evidence to the world, that what he had done was enough. Ver. 10. “Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;” that is, he shall convince the world of Christ’s sufficiency and excellency as a king and head of influence and government, as the sanctifier and deliverer of his people from their enemies, and he that brings them to eternal life. He delivers from the influence and power of the devil, redeems his captives, and in spite of him sanctifies and glorifies. In thus redeeming men by power, Satan is judged. John xii. 31, 32. Verse 11. “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” The conviction here spoken of righteousness and judgment is to the same purpose with that, Isa. xlv. 24. “In the Lord Jehovah have I righteousness and strength,” 793and in the next verse, “In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.”

[498] John xvi. 8, 9, 10, 11. “And when he is come he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” In these words of our Saviour is a great manifestation of his divine knowledge and wisdom.

The greatest SIN that is in the world, is sin against the gospel, contempt of, and opposition to, Jesus Christ; and the greatest evidence of the sin and wickedness of man, is the world’s ill treatment of Christ, and the gospel, and the followers of Christ. In this does most clearly appear the malignant nature of sin, and the true nature of it is fully manifest; and particularly that violent opposition that appears on occasion of the pouring out of the Spirit of God. As the coming of the Spirit is the occasion of this; so his coming eventually holds forth matter of conviction to the world of its wickedness. And those that are savingly taught by the Spirit, are in the first place convinced of sin, especially as appearing in their sinning against Christ, or against God, as revealing himself in the gospel. Thus we find that immediately after the pouring out of the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, the Jews that were awakened, were reproved for this sin, of rejecting and crucifying Christ, and for this they were pricked in their hearts, and said, “Men and brethren, what shall we do,” Acts ii.; see also chap. iii. 13, 14., &c. iv. 11,. &c. v. 30., &c. vii. 51., &c. And when Saul was converted, this especially was the sin which he was reproved for, and convinced of. Acts ix. 4, 5. In most places where the apostles preached, there first arose great opposition, and the gospel finally prevailed against their opposition, and opposers were converted; and in this case we may suppose the thing wherein chiefly they were convinced of their sinfulness, was their opposition to Christ. This seems to have been the case with the gaoler; and so in all ages, they that are truly humbled by the Spirit of God, and brought to repentance, are wont to be convinced of their sins against the gospel.

The greatest and most glorious righteousness that ever was in the world, is the righteousness of Christ. Indeed it was infinitely the most excellent righteousness that ever was wrought out by any servant of God in heaven or earth. It was the only righteousness properly so called, (i. e. agreeable to that grand and eternal rule of righteousness, the law of God,) that ever was among mankind, and the only righteousness by which any of mankind are accepted as righteous. And the greatest, strongest, and most convincing evidence of the reality, excellency, sufficiency, and completeness of this righteousness, was Christ’s going to the Father, and his being seen here no more in such a state as he was in when the disciples saw him here. God’s raising Christ from the dead, was a great testimony of God to the sufficiency and completeness of Christ’s righteousness; but his bestowing upon him so glorious a reward in heaven; God’s exalting him at his own right hand, far above all principalities, &c. and there admitting this high priest into that holy of holies, with his own blood, not merely to bow down before the throne in humble posture as the high priests of old, but to sit down on the throne, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and so to be a priest on the throne, was a far more striking evidence of it. And it was a great evidence of the transcendent excellency of this righteousness, its acceptableness to the Father, and his exceeding delight in it. And it greatly heightens the strength and brightness of the evidence, that Christ did not only go to the Father, but that he went thither to return no more to be seen on earth in a state of humiliation. He needed to suffer no more, to go through no more labours and self-denials, in order to complete his righteousness; he offered up himself; by one offering, he perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Having by his righteousness completed our redemption, he sat down for ever on the right hand of God. He entered into the holiest of all, not as the high priest of old, to be there a little while, and then to return and go there again once a year, but he there enters to abide there. He is set down for ever on the right hand of God. He ever lives there to make continual intercession for us. See Heb. x. 12, 13. and ix. 11, 13, 24, 25, 26.

Christ’s ascension into heaven, everlastingly to live and reign there, was the greatest evidence of righteousness in all senses and respects. It was the greatest evidence of Christ’s innocency, and that he suffered wrongfully. It was the greatest evidence of the righteousness and veracity in the words which he spake, the doctrine that he taught concerning God and himself, and his design in coming into the world, and concerning life and immortality, and a future state, and the greatest evidence and confirmation of the truth of his promises made to his disciples of eternal life, and heavenly glory, and indeed of all his promises, especially taken with that consequence of his ascension, the coming of the Spirit, whereby his people are sealed to the day of redemption. The great promise of Christ, the sum of all his promises, fulfilled in the earnest of it in their hearts. And this ascension taken as the completing and crowning of the grand affair of redemption, and so taken with its antecedents and the things manifested by it, particularly the divinity and infinite dignity of the person of Christ; I say, taken with these, shows it was the greatest evidence of the righteousness and holiness of God in saving sinners, of his faithfulness in fulfilling the promises of the Old Testament, and in general by far the greatest manifestation, and the brightest effulgence, of the moral perfection and glory of the Divine Being that ever was.

The greatest instance of judgment that ever was, or ever will be in the world, is in Christ’s judging Satan, the prince of this world. God hath set Christ as King on his holy hill of Zion, having put all things under his feet, made him the Head of all authority and power, and has committed all judgment to the Son, and this is the greatest instance of Christ’s power of ruling and judging. Satan is the greatest and highest of all the enemies of God, and Christ, and his people; he probably originally was the highest and strongest of all creatures. He has usurped the throne; as he is called the prince of this world, he set up himself as god of this world. It is the greatest evidence of Christ’s kingly power and his might, as the Captain of the salvation of his people, to overcome this enemy, dispossess him of his throne, cast him like lightning from heaven; and make him his footstool, and bruise his head under his feet; and it is the greatest manifestation of his high judicial authority to judge and condemn this great rebel, and head and leader of all the rebellion in the universe, and to execute vengeance upon him.

By judgment, as the word is used in the New Testament, as appears by the Greek Concordance, is most commonly meant the exercise of judicial authority, or the manifestation and effect of it; sometimes the exercise of rule and authority in general, because judging is a chief exercise of it; and sometimes particularly a righteous exercise of such authority; and when the fruit or effect of judgment is meant, in sentence or execution, commonly a sentence of condemnation, or the execution of such a sentence, is meant. Sometimes, though rarely, the word is used to signify a judgment passed in the mind concerning moral matters, or the expression of it in words, and sometimes it means one’s right in judgment. So that the use of the word in the New Testament will clearly justify the interpretation that has been given of it in this place.

Gospel light and knowledge consist in these three things, and the things implied in them.

A conviction of these three things, is the sum of that conviction which is implied in saving faith. By the knowledge of these things, God’s people say, “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.”

In the knowledge of these things consists the true knowledge of ourselves, and the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, or the light of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of these things is the foundation of all true compliance with the gospel in the heart, of repentance, faith, hope, charity, obedience, and joy.

God permitted the fall, that his elect people might know good and evil. The saving knowledge of good and evil consists in the spirit’s conviction of these three things.

These three things are the most important objects of 794knowledge in the world, in order to sanctification and comfort, holiness and happiness.

[66] John xvi. 16. “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.” A little while, and ye shall not see me, i. e. when I ascend into heaven; and a little while, and ye shall see me, that is, spiritually, when I shall send the Holy Ghost, who would not come if I did not go to the Father. Seeing of Christ is so understood, chap. xiv. 19.

[445] John xix. 14. “And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour.” Mark says (Mark xv. 25.) it was the third hour, and they crucified him, which seems by the context, to be manifestly the time of his being nailed to the cross at Golgotha, with which this place in John is reconciled thus. John is here as it were beginning a new paragraph, containing an account of that grand event of the last passion of our Saviour, which he proceeds to do from hence to the 38th verse. John had before been giving a large account of those things that went before this his last passion, and made way for it; but now he being about to proceed directly to this event itself, the greatest and most astonishing of all events, he as it were makes a pause, and begins an account of it as a distinct story, worthy to be peculiarly taken notice of. Those words in the 14th verse. are the introduction to the story of this event, giving an account at what time it came to pass, viz. on the day of the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour, that is, in the middle of the day, so that the words, it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour, do not relate especially to the words immediately following, And he said unto the Jews, Behold your King, but rather to the whole story, beginning with these words and ending with the 37th verse, or the grand event related in the story, viz. Christ’s last passion; for the words are an introduction to the story of this event, and not to that particular fact of Pilate’s saying, “Behold your King;” and this is very manifest by John’s interrupting the thread of his narrative, and standing to tell us that it was the preparation of the passover; if he only meant it was the preparation of the passover, when Pilate said, “Behold your King;” for, if so, why should he stand in this place to tell us it was the preparation of the passover, and to tell us that this fact happened on this day, any more than any of the other many facts as important as this, that he had been giving an account of before, from the 28th verse of the preceding chapter, which all were on the same day? so that John’s design is not to give us an account of the precise time when Pilate said those words, but of the time in general of that great event of Christ’s last passion, the story of which he immediately introduces in this verse, and goes on with to the end of the 37th verse. He says it was about the sixth hour, i. e. at the middle part of the day, it beginning at the third hour, or middle of the forenoon, and ending at the ninth hour, or middle of the afternoon; and if the time of this grand event be signified by mentioning any hour about which it was, it is most properly said to be about the sixth hour, for that was the very centre or middle of the time about which it was, it beginning three hours before it, and continuing three hours after it. The three preceding evangelists all agree that the darkness by the sun’s withdrawing his light, began at the sixth hour, and as they all relate the story of the crucifixion, it seems manifest that some considerable time passed after he was nailed to the cross before this darkness began. So that it seems on the whole beyond doubt that Christ was nailed to the cross about the third hour, and hung about six hours on the cross before he expired.

[313] John xxi. 25. “And there are many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” If here, by the things that Jesus did, be not only meant the actions of Christ, but the things done or accomplished by those actions, we may suppose it to be literally true, that if they were written every one, the world itself is not large enough to contain the books that should be written. There are other things that belong to what Christ did, besides merely the external action, that was immediately visible to the eye, or the words that might be heard by the ear, which we must suppose are included in what the evangelist means by the things that he did. There was the internal manner of doing, the design with which it was done, what moved and influenced Christ in doing; the ends and events brought to pass by doing, the evangelist does not mention; some of Christ’s ends, and motives, &c. in acting. The apostle John in this history mentions some of them, but to mention all, would be to write a declaration of all the glorious, wise purposes and designs of God’s wisdom and grace, and the love of Christ, and all that belongs to that manifold wisdom of God, and those unsearchable riches of wisdom and knowledge, in the work of redemption, that we read of in the Scripture, which, if they should be all written, it is probable the universe would not contain the books; for here are the multitudes of God’s mercies that we read of in Psal. v. 7. and li. 1. and lxix. 13, 16. and cvi. 7. and cxix. 156. These works that the evangelist speaks of that Christ wrought, are the same with those spoken of, “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts, which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation;” and Psal. lxxi. 15. “My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day: for I know not the numbers thereof;” and Psal. cxxxix. 17. “How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.” The wonderful things designed and virtually accomplished in what Christ did when on the earth, are so manifold as to be sufficient to employ the contemplation of saints and angels to all eternity, who will discover more and more of the manifold wisdom of God therein, and yet never will discover all.