The Gospel Of St. John: A Series Of Discourses. - free ebook by Frederick Denison Maurice

THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.

A Series of Discourses. BY...

3 minute read

Read Chapter

FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE, M.A.,

PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. "Johannes redet schlecht und einfältig wie ein Kind, und lauten seine Worte (wie die Weltweisen sie ansehen) recht kindisch. Es ist aber eine solche Majestät drunter verborgen, die kein Mensch, so hoch er auch erleuchtet ist, erforschen noch ausreden kann."— Luther , Auslegung des Evangel . Johannis , 1, 5. NEW EDITION. London: MACMILLAN AND CO. 1882. [ The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved. ] London: R. Clay, Sons, an

27 minute read

Read Chapter

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

A valued friend, to whose judgment on a critical question I shall always defer, has sent me the following observations upon certain passages in the 11th and 16th Discourses of this volume. I have made no alterations in the text. John v. 3, 4. It is implied at page 143 that certain "honest and earnest men" are unwilling to believe that St. John wrote the verse relating to angelic interposition in the cures wrought by the pool of Bethesda, merely because they consider the doctrine unworthy of him.

3 minute read

Read Chapter

PREFACE.

I made many attempts to write a commentary on the Gospel of St. John. All of them proved abortive; though each of them made me more alive to the duty of endeavouring to impart to others some of the lessons which I had received from it. At length I was convinced that unless I studied the Gospel first of all with reference to my own congregation, and used it as a lesson-book for them, I never should be able to express what was in my mind to men whom I did not know. Critics, I doubt not, will know

1 minute read

Read Chapter

THE JEWISH FISHERMAN, THE CHRISTIAN DIVINE.

[Lincoln's Inn, Septuagesima Sunday, January 20, 1856.] St. John I. 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. An eminent man, who died not long since in Germany, was wont to divide the life of the Church into three periods. That before the Reformation he called the Petrine; the three centuries since the Reformation, the Pauline; one he maintained was at hand, which would last to the end of this dispensation—that he named the Johannine. The classification

19 minute read

Read Chapter

THE WORD THE LIGHT OF MEN.

[Lincoln's Inn, 1st Sunday in Lent, February 10, 1856.] St. John I. 14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When I spoke to you last, I proposed to examine St. John's Gospel carefully and in order. It was impossible not to pause earnestly upon the opening sentence, ' In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God .' What does that text say to us? 'It decl

18 minute read

Read Chapter

THE TEACHING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

[Lincoln's Inn, 2d Sunday in Lent, February 17, 1856.] St. John I. 29. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John the Baptist is represented throughout this chapter as speaking of One who had been before him, though He was coming after him. This is the burden of his discourse. It has been asked by the bold critics of another country, whether such language does not presume a belief in the preexistence of our Lord,

21 minute read

Read Chapter

THE LAMB OF GOD AND THE SON OF GOD.

[Lincoln's Inn, 3d Sunday in Lent, February 24, 1856.] St. John I. 46. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. I made no attempt to explain the verse which I took for my text last Sunday. I merely endeavoured to show you how it was connected with those which preceded it. I was sure that it would receive abundance of light from those which come after it. A series of ages, I said, had confessed the force of the words. We must

19 minute read

Read Chapter

THE MARRIAGE FEAST.

[Lincoln's Inn, 4th Sunday in Lent, March 2, 1856.] John II. 11. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him. The word ' Miracles ,' which our translators have adopted in this verse, gives little trouble to a reader. He thinks of some singular, glaring effect, which makes men wonder, and which they can refer to no known principle. That effect he calls a miracle. To produce astonishment is the immediate object of him w

21 minute read

Read Chapter

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.

[Lincoln's Inn, 5th Sunday in Lent, March 9, 1856.] St. John II. 16. Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. The first three Gospels have been sometimes called the Galilæan Gospels; the fourth, the Jerusalem Gospel. The distinction would be a very false one, if it implied that our Lord's relation to Jerusalem was not present to the minds of the earlier Evangelists, or that St. John overlooked His relation to Galilee. In the ninth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel,

18 minute read

Read Chapter

THE NEW BIRTH.

[Lincoln's Inn, Palm Sunday, March 16, 1856.] St. John III. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. It is undoubtedly right to connect the beginning of this chapter with the latter verses of the preceding one. ' Now when He was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men,

23 minute read

Read Chapter

THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE BRIDEGROOM'S FRIEND.

[Lincoln's Inn, Easter Sunday, March 23, 1856.] St. John III. 30. He must increase; I must decrease. We have seen, in the first chapter of this Gospel, how much the work and office of John the Baptist are connected with all the deepest thoughts and announcements of the Apostle. The more we study him, the more probable, I think, the old tradition of the Church, that he was a disciple of the Baptist, must appear to us,—the more we shall understand the cause of his anxiety to point out the exact re

19 minute read

Read Chapter

THE WATER OF LIFE.

[Lincoln's Inn, Sunday after Easter, March 30, 1856.] St. John IV. 10. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. The dispute between John's disciples and the Jew, of which I spoke last Sunday, was about purification. Apparently, John's answer to them, when they came to tell him that Jesus was baptizing, and that all men were coming to Him, had li

18 minute read

Read Chapter

THE REWARDS OF LABOUR, AND THE KINDS OF FAITH.

[Lincoln's Inn, 2d Sunday after Easter, April 6, 1856.] St. John IV. 48. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. Distance of time is not always unfavourable to accurate recollection. We often remember a friend's words better, years after they were spoken, than the next day; because we understand them better, because we see how one of them rose out of another. So, I imagine, it must have been with the woman of Sychar. If she had repeated the dialogue with J

17 minute read

Read Chapter

THE POOL OF BETHESDA.

[Lincoln's Inn, 3d Sunday after Easter, April 13, 1856.] St. John V. 16-18. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, because He had done these things on the sabbath-day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He had not only broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making Himself equal with God. The scene changes again at the opening of this chapter. ' After these things there was a feast of th

21 minute read

Read Chapter

THE SON DOING THE FATHER'S WORK.

[Lincoln's Inn, 4th Sunday after Easter, April 20, 1856.] St. John V. 43. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. I spoke to you last week upon these words,—' Therefore the Jews sought to kill Jesus, because He not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God .' I tried to ascertain what connexion there was in their minds between these two offences; I tried also to show

23 minute read

Read Chapter

THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN.

[Lincoln's Inn, 5th Sunday after Easter, April 27, 1856.] St. John VI. 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. In general, the signs or miracles of Christ which St. John records are not the same with those which the other Evangelists have recorded. The exceptions are found in this chapter. Here, as in St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, we have a narrative of the feeding of the five thousand;

20 minute read

Read Chapter

THE TRUE LIFE OF NATIONS AND OF MAN.

[Lincoln's Inn, Sunday after Ascension (Thanksgiving-day), May 4, 1856.] St. John VI. 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before? On this day the order of our Services would lead me to speak of our Lord's Ascension. On this day the Queen commands us to give thanks for the restoration of Peace. My text will tell you that I need not break the order of my discourses on St. John, if I desire to speak on the Church Festival. I believe there are lessons in the passage wh

32 minute read

Read Chapter

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

[Lincoln's Inn, Whit-Sunday, May 11, 1856.] St. John VII. 37-39. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) If the words in the last chapter—' the P

24 minute read

Read Chapter

THE TRUE WITNESS OF CHRIST.

[Lincoln's Inn, Trinity Sunday, May 18, 1856.] St. John VIII. 29. And He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him. The belief which was expressed in the question,—' When Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than this man doeth? ' appeared not to be a very stable belief. The effect of the words which Jesus spoke on the last day of the feast must have been greater, if not more lasting. ' Many of the people (the crowd) therefore, wh

20 minute read

Read Chapter

THE TWO FATHERS.

[Lincoln's Inn, First Sunday after Trinity, May 25, 1856.] St. John VIII. 43. Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Those words of which I spoke to you last Sunday seem to have taken a sudden hold of some who listened to them. ' While He was speaking these things, many believed on Him. ' When we recollect what those words were, we may at first wonder at this impression. He spoke of ' the Father being always with Him; of His doing always those things which pleas

26 minute read

Read Chapter

THE LIGHT OF THE EYE, AND THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRIT.

[Lincoln's Inn, 2d Sunday after Trinity, June 1, 1856.] St. John IX. 39. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. The reading of the last verse of the 8th chapter, which our version has adopted, connects it directly with the first verse of the 9th. ' Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by (παρῆγεν οὕτως). And as He passed by (καὶ παράγων), He saw

21 minute read

Read Chapter

THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP.

[Lincoln's Inn, 3d Sunday after Trinity, June 8, 1856.] St. John X. 27-29. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. A recent traveller in the Holy Land, who has looked on all its localities with honest and reverent eyes, and has enabled his readers to see t

38 minute read

Read Chapter

THE RAISING OF LAZARUS.

[Lincoln's Inn, 4th Sunday after Trinity, June 15th, 1856.] St. John XI. 25. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. The words, ' I and my Father are one ;' ' The Father is in me and I in Him ,' which were spoken in the porch of the Temple at the feast of Dedication, had the same effect as the words, ' Before Abraham was, I am ,' which were spoken after the feast of Tabernacles. In both cases the Jews sought to ta

29 minute read

Read Chapter

THE DEATH FOR ALL NATIONS.

[Lincoln's Inn, 5th Sunday after Trinity, June 22, 1856.] St. John XI. 49, 50. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. We naturally ask ourselves why Caiaphas should have taken this tone in speaking to his colleagues in the Sanhedrim? What did he wish them to do which they had not shown themselves ready to d

27 minute read

Read Chapter

THE WORLD AND THE DISCIPLES.

[Lincoln's Inn, 6th Sunday after Trinity, June 29, 1856 (St. Peter's-day).] St. John XII. 44-50, and XIII. 1. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth Him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whomsoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receivet

36 minute read

Read Chapter

THE FATHER'S HOUSE.

[Lincoln's Inn, 8th Sunday after Trinity, July 13, 1856.] St. John XIV. 25, 26. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. The words to St. Peter, with which the 13th chapter closes, must have been a cause of dismay and confusion to all the disciples as well as to him. But it was not the o

26 minute read

Read Chapter

THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES.

[Lincoln's Inn, 9th Sunday after Trinity, July 20, 1856.] St. John XV. 1. I am the true Vine, and my Father is the Husbandman. The words, ' Arise, let us go hence ,' with which the 14th chapter concludes, have been taken by some to indicate that our Lord was about to lead His disciples into a higher region of thought and of hope than they had yet visited. The feeling is a very natural one that everything in these conversations must have a sublime sense, that no words can be used in them in their

19 minute read

Read Chapter

THE COMFORTER AND HIS TESTIMONY.

[Lincoln's Inn, 10th Sunday after Trinity (Morning), July 27, 1856.] St. John XVI. 1. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. The things which Jesus had just spoken to the disciples were, that His countrymen ' hated Him without a cause ;' that they ' hated both Him and His Father .' These things were to take away the scandal which it would be to them to find that they made themselves hated by proclaiming a Gospel of peace and good will. ' They shall put you out of th

21 minute read

Read Chapter

THE PRAYER OF THE HIGH PRIEST.

[Lincoln's Inn, 10th Sunday after Trinity (Afternoon), July 27, 1856.] St. John XVII. 1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. The more we enter into our Lord's teaching, the more profound is our apprehension of the dignity, the awfulness, the divinity of words; the more we confess their insufficiency. If He who was in the beginning with God is the Word, if words have been the expression

20 minute read

Read Chapter

THE PASSION.

[Lincoln's Inn, 11th Sunday after Trinity (Morning), August 3, 1856.] St. John XIX. 37. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they have pierced. In our services for the earlier days of Passion Week we read carefully and at length the narratives of the first three Evangelists. The narrative of St. John is reserved for Good Friday. There is great wisdom, I think, as well as courage in this course. The diversities in these narratives, instead of being concealed from us, are

27 minute read

Read Chapter

THE RESURRECTION.

[Lincoln's Inn, 11th Sunday after Trinity (Afternoon), August 3, 1856.] St. John XX. 30, 31. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. This morning I went through the narrative of our Lord's Passion, which is contained in the 18th and 19th chapters of this Gospel. I propose to examine, this

39 minute read

Read Chapter