that he seemed to be on familiar terms with uncircumcised Gentiles.

In these circumstances, we cannot wonder that Philip should consult Andrew, "who was in Christ before him," as to the course proper to be followed. Andrew, whom ancient tradition speaks of, not only as of note among the apostles, but as of great authority, does not seem to have advised the immediate introduction of these Greeks to Jesus; not improbably thinking, that it would not be right, without consulting the Master, to do what his enemies the Pharisees might represent as a slight put on the people of God, or an insult offered to the temple.

It is scarcely possible for Christians, and especially christian ministers, to be too cautious in their conduct respecting anything that may involve the honor of the Saviour, or the success of his cause. The two disciples take a safe course; they go and tell Jesus. He knew what should be done. And this is just what we should do, when we are doubtful as to any step connected with the cause of Christ: consult with a confidential christian friend, and along with him, seek the advice of our common Lord. We cannot expect such an answer as Andrew and Philip received, but by his word, and providence, and Spirit, he does, in answer to prayer, often relieve the perplexities of his people, and make them to know the path in which they ought to go. No voice comes to the ear, but a "word" in the Scriptures is brought to remem brance that says, often very plainly, "This is the way, walk ye

in it."1

We are not told, in express words, what was the direct result of this communication. Some have supposed that our Lord waived the proposed interview with these Greeks, as we are not told that he consented to see them, nor that they were introduced by the disciples; and that he merely availed himself of the request having been made, as an occasion for uttering the deeply impress ive sentences which follow. If it were so, there could be no ground of complaint against our Lord. He had not yet been "lifted up." It was after this that "all men were to be drawn" by him to him." And he might not choose to afford occasion to those who sought occasion, of saying, he preferred Greeks to Jews. At the same time, while the text does not expressly say that our Lord admitted these Gentiles to an interview, it is quite obvious it does not deny this; and that the, facts recorded are fully as accordant with the supposition, that there was such an interview, as with the opposite one. Such a supposition seems best to harmonize with the general spirit and conduct of our Lord, who never cast out any that came to him. We are therefore disposed to think, that Philip and Andrew, having gone into the court of the Israelites, where Jesus probably was among the Jewish worshippers, informed him of the wish of these Greeks, and that he, coming out into the court of the Gentiles, granted them the interview they so eagerly desired.

13 Isa. xxx. 21.

What took place at that interview, we shall never know in this world. That, and the many other unwritten deeds and words of our blessed Lord, will form interesting subjects of conversation among the blessed in the heavenly state. Oh, how much will the apostles have to tell us besides what they have written! No danger of their having forgotten it, even after the lapse of eighteen centuries.

We cannot say with certainty, whether those words which follow were addressed to Philip and Andrew, on their making their communication, or whether they were spoken to the Greeks on our Lord's coming to them, or whether they were addressed to the disciples in the presence of the strangers, after the inter view between them and him had closed. The last seems, upon the whole, the most probable opinion. "And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

The words, "The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified," are equivalent to, "The time when the Son of man -the Messiah-is to be remarkably glorified, is near at hand; and what has just taken place, is a token and a foretaste of that rapidly-approaching glory.' There is a striking similarity between these words, and those of our Lord on seeing the Samaritans of Sychar coming out in a body to meet with him: "Say not ve, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, Í say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields: for they are white already to harvest." The period was at hand, when our Lord was to be glorified by his sufferings; when the transcendent excellence of his character-his entire devotedness to God-his love of righteousness-his hatred of iniquity-his com passion for men-were to be most illustriously displayed; and when the great design of his mission, in the satisfactory expiation of the sins of men, was to be accomplished, in a manner reflect ing the highest honor on him. The hour was at hand, when our Lord was to be glorified for his sufferings,-in being raised from the dust of death, and being taken up into heaven, and set at the right hand of God, and having all things put under his feet.

But the glory to which our Lord refers, obviously is the glory to be derived from vast multitudes of men-Gentiles as well as Jews-submitting to his authority, and sharing his salvation. It is as if he had said, 'These Gentiles seeking intercourse with me, indicates that the period is just at hand, when the ancient oracles shall be fulfilled-when, in Abraham's seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed-when to Shiloh shall be the gathering of the nations when the decree shall be fulfilled, "I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of

14 John xii. 23, 24. 15"iva is not the adverb "when," but it marks the final end, the time when he must be glorified.'"-THOLUCK. 16 John iv. 35-38.

the earth for thy possession"-when "all the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn unto the Lord, and all the nations shall worship before him"-when "men shall be blessed in the Messiah, and all nations shall call him blessed"-when he shall "call a nation that he knew not, and nations that knew not him, shall run unto him"-when he shall be "given as a witness to the people, a leader and commander of the people"-when he shall " see his seed, and prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand"-when he, in the conversion and salvation of an innumerable multitude, out of every kindred, people, tongue, and nation, shall "see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied."" This period was just at hand. The day of Pentecost was approaching, and then commenced that glorification of the Son of man here referred to. In the anticipation of these glories, the Saviour prepares himself for the sufferings which were to precede, and to purchase them.

It would be well if his true followers would prepare themselves for their death, as he did for his. Glory awaits them as well as him; and they, like him, must die ere they inherit glory. But if, like him, they would but look steadily to the hope set before them, they would, like him, "endure the cross, and despise the shame," and rise above the fear of death; yea, like him, they would be "straitened" till they pass through death into lifethrough the dishonor of the grave, into the glories of heaven.

There can be no reasonable doubt that these were substantially the thoughts which were in the Saviour's mind, and which he expressed in the words, "The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified." But they probably excited very different ideas in the minds of the disciples, full, as they still were, of Jewish prejudices respecting the design of the Messiah's mission, and the nature of his kingdom. They probably thought that our Lord meant to declare, that he was now about to "take to him his great power and reign;" that he was now about to ascend the throne of David, and subdue the world; and that the homage of these Gentiles was but the first-fruits of the fast-approaching harvest of the complete subjugation of the pagan nations to the holy people, and to Messiah their prince. To put down such rising hopes, our Lord informs them-though in somewhat enig matical language-that his death was necessary, in order to the glory of which he had been speaking; and that all who would share with him in his glories, must, like him, be prepared to relinquish life, and all earthly blessings, to obtain them.

In order to understand our Lord's declaration in reference to himself, it is necessary distinctly to apprehend the meaning of the figurative language in which he has clothed it: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." The figure is generally misapprehended, both here and where it is employed by the apostle, 1 Cor. xv. 36, to illustrate the resurrection of the body. 17 Psal. ii. 7; xxii. 27. Isa. lv. 4, 5; liii. 10, 11.

18 John xii. 24.

I has been supposed that the death of the seed of corn takes place after it is buried in the earth, and consists in the decompo sition of the outer coatings of the germ, which takes place previously, and in order to its beginning to grow. Both our Lord and his apostles are truer to nature in their representation than the most of their expositors. With them, in the sign, as well as in the thing signified, death is represented as preceding, not fol lowing, burial. The apostle's words are, "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die," or be dead; and our Lord's, literally rendered, are, "Except a corn of wheat, falling into the ground, be dead, it abideth alone; but if it be dead, or have died, it bringeth forth much fruit." The fact referred to, in both cases, is what takes place, not after, but before, putting the seed into the ground. It is not the green, living grain, full of succulence, that in this state of apparent vigorous vegetable life, is productive. Let the plant continue as long as it may in this state, it will not reproduce itself-none of the seed will ever be productive; and, if severed in this state from the plant, and thrown into the ground, it would perish. It must ripen; it must become what has been termed dead-ripe, ready to fall from the withered dead stalk; and, if it be in this state when it falls into the earth, then will it bring forth much fruit. After lying under the mould for a short season, it will spring up, and ultimately "bring forth thirty, sixty, or even an hundred fold." A person unacquainted with the vegetable system would not expect thishe would rather expect life from living grain than from dead grain. It seems strange that the parent plant must wither, and the seed lose all apparent vegetable life, and be cast into the ground, where it might be expected to lose any life that might be latent in it; yet it is this dead and buried corn of wheat which brings forth much fruit."

The application to the case of our Lord is natural, and, to us, is easy. The glory our Lord anticipates, is the glory of numerous followers of all nations. That is not to be gained by his contin

19.64 Interpretum tantum non omnes elegantem illam et veram imaginem inepts interpretatione deformant. Translaticium quippe est et ab antiquissimis tem poribus per manus quasi traditum, miram hic inducere corruptionis, sepulturæ et mortis confusionem. Mortem quidem et sepulturam confudit, e. g. Grotius in adnotatt. ad. h. 1. præcipiens, Granum mori cum aeri ereptum terra occultatur. 'Semina non nisi corrupta et dissoluta fecundius surgunt,' scribit Tertullianus' Apolog. xlviii.. 'Diversum semina omnia corpus post corruptionem rursus ostendunt,' circumscribit Semlerus. In quo ne suspicantur quidem, quam non absona modo commemorantem faciant divinum scriptorem, sed vel ejus consilio plane contraria. An vero Paulum adeo ne physicis quidem imbutum esse existimas qui opinetur semina in terræ gremio putrescere aut corrumpi? aut cor ruptum granum ullum posse revirescere unquam? Corrupta vero semina, in eternum non progerminatura, mortis æternæ vorius exemplum præberent; non vitæ recuperandæ. Quanto rectius Paulus, ex ea tantum parte confest interqua cedit similitudo. Sepulturam sationi æquiparandam recte affirmat. Eam mors præcesserit necesse est. Neque enim sepeliunt homines ut moriantur, sed quod vita defuncti in vivis esse desierunt, ideo exanime corpus humant. Ita nee granum, ut Grotio placet, terræ condunt, ut moriatur; sed ut defunctum morti eripiatur et reviviscat." "In arbore hærens immaturum pomum terræ mandan et progerminare nequit."-JEHNE.

uing to live, and, as a mighty prince and conqueror, subduing the nations. That was the way in which the disciples were hoping that the Son of man would be glorified. But not one follower, of the kind that would glorify him, could be obtained in this way. He must not continue to live, he must die, oth erwise he must remain alone; but if, having died, he be laid in the earth, he shall have many followers. His death is the necessary and certain means of securing that vast multitude of spiritual followers, all bearing his image, all like him, in whom consists the Son of man's glory; for "in the multitude of his people is our King's honor."20"

The connection of the death of our Lord with his having a numerous spiritual offspring, is most intimate. The multitude whom he came to save were lost, dead-dead under a judicial sentence, which, if not removed, must keep them dead for ever. His dying in their room was the appointed and the appropriate method of obtaining deliverance from that condemning sentence which shut them up under death, and it was also as the concluding act of a perfect fulfilment of all righteousness, that which secured to him restored life, increased spiritual power-even "all power in heaven and in earth"-power to quicken whom he will. His becoming dead in the flesh was necessarily connected with his being quickened in the Spirit, and becoming, as the second Adam, the "quickening Spirit" of his innumerable spiritual children. It was thus that he obtained as his reward the dispensation of the Spirit of life, whose vivifying influences have quickened vast multitudes "dead in trespasses and sins," and made them show forth the glories of him through whose death they live. Without dying, he could not have had such a retinue of saved men. Had he never become incarnate, he would have remained alone, so far as man was concerned, in the possession of his uncreated glory; and even had he become incarnate, but not died, he might have alone entered heaven on the ground of his absolute perfection, but no sinner of the human race could ever have followed him ;-so far as they were concerned, he would have remained for ever alone. This is the doctrine of the evangelical prophet,-"When he shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.""

It was but little of this our Lord's disciples could at this time understand. But all this is folded up in the figure,-all this they distinctly understood afterwards; and even at this time the words served to prepare them for what was coming, and to prevent them from supposing that all hope of a glorious harvest was cut off, when they saw, as they soon did, the corn of wheat, having died, fall into the ground. They needed it, both to check their vain hopes, and to prevent them from, in the hour of trial, making ship. reck of their hope in him who, they trusted, was to redeem Israel.

20 Pro. xiv. 28.

21 Isa. liii. 10, 11.