Explanatory Notes upon the Old and New Testaments

1. One Lazarus - It is probable, Lazarus was younger than his sisters. Bethany is named, the town of Mary and Martha, and Lazarus is mentioned after them, ver. 5. Ecclesiastical history informs us, that Lazarus was now thirty years old, and that he lived thirty years after Christ's ascension.

2. It was that Mary who afterward anointed, &c. She was more known than her elder sister Martha, and as such is named before her.

4. This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God - The event of this sickness will not be death, in the usual sense of the word, a final separation of his soul and body; but a manifestation of the glorious power of God.

7. Let us go into Judea - From the country east of Jordan, whither he had retired some time before, when the Jews sought to stone him, chap. x, 39, 40.

9. Are there not twelve hours in the day? - The Jews always divided the space from sunrise to sunset, were the days longer or shorter, into twelve parts: so that the hours of their day were all the year the same in number, though much shorter in winter than in summer. If any man walk in the day he stumbleth not - As if he had said, So there is such a space, a determined time, which God has allotted me. During that time I stumble not, amidst all the snares that are laid for me. Because he seeth the light of this world - And so I see the light of God surrounding me.

10. But if a man walk in the night - If he have not light from God; if his providence does no longer protect him.

11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth - This he spoke, just when he died. Sleepeth - Such is the death of good men in the language of heaven. But the disciples did not yet understand this language. And the slowness of our understanding makes the Scripture often descend to our barbarous manner of speaking.

16. Thomas in Hebrew, as Didymus in Greek, signifies a twin. With him - With Jesus, whom he supposed the Jews would kill. It seems to be the language of despair.

20. Mary sat in the house - Probably not hearing what was said.

22. Whatsoever thou wilt ask, God will give it thee - So that she already believed he could raise him from the dead.

25. l am the resurrection - Of the dead. And the life - Of the living. He that believeth in me, though he die, yet shall he live - In life everlasting.

32. She fell at his feet - This Martha had not done. So she makes amends for her slowness in coming.

33. He groaned - So he restrained his tears. So he stopped them soon after, ver. 38. He troubled himself - An expression amazingly elegant, and full of the highest propriety. For the affections of Jesus were not properly passions, but voluntary emotions, which were wholly in his own power. And this tender trouble which he now voluntarily sustained, was full of the highest order and reason.

35. Jesus wept - Out of sympathy with those who were in tears all around him, as well as from a deep sense of the misery sin had brought upon human nature.

37. Could not this person have even caused, that this man should not have died? - Yet they never dreamed that he could raise him again! What a strange mixture of faith and unbelief.

38. It was a cave - So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their wives, except Rachel, were buried in the cave of Machpelah, Gen. xlix, 29-31. These caves were commonly in rocks, which abounded in that country, either hollowed by nature or hewn by art. And the entrance was shut up with a great stone, which sometimes had a monumental inscription.

39. Lord, by this time he stinketh - Thus did reason and faith struggle together.

40. Said I not - It appears by this, that Christ had said more to Martha than is before recorded.

41. Jesus lifted up his eyes - Not as if he applied to his Father for assistance. There is not the least show of this. He wrought the miracle with an air of absolute sovereignty, as the Lord of life and death. But it was as if he had said, I thank thee, that by the disposal of thy providence, thou hast granted my desire, in this remarkable opportunity of exerting my power, and showing forth thy praise.

43. He cried with a loud voice - That all who were present might hear. Lazarus, come forth - Jesus called him out of the tomb as easily as if he had been not only alive, but awake also.

44. And he came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes - Which were wrapt round each hand and each foot, and his face was wrapt about with a napkin - If the Jews buried as the Egyptians did, the face was not covered with it, but it only went round the forehead, and under the chin; so that he might easily see his way.

45. Many believed on Him - And so the Son of God was glorified, according to what our Lord had said, ver. 4.

46. But some of them went to the Pharisees - What a dreadful confirmation of that weighty truth, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead!

47. What do we? - What? Believe. Yea, but death yields to the power of Christ sooner than infidelity.

48. All men will believe - And receive him as the Messiah. And this will give such umbrage to the Roman that they will come and subvert both our place - Temple; and nation - Both our Church and state. Were they really afraid of this? Or was it a fair colour only? Certainly it was no more. For they could not but know, that he that raised the dead was able to conquer the Romans.

49. That year - That memorable year, in which Christ was to die. It was the last and chief of Daniel's seventy weeks, the fortieth year before the destruction of Jerusalem, and was celebrated for various causes, in the Jewish history. Therefore that year is so peculiarly mentioned: Caiaphas was the high priest both before and after it. Ye know nothing - He reproves their slow deliberations in so clear a case.

50. It is expedient that one man should die for the people - So God overruled his tongue, for he spake not of himself, by his own spirit only, but by the spirit of prophecy. And thus he gave unawares as clear a testimony to the priestly, as Pilate did to the kingly office of Christ.

52. But that, he might gather into one - Church, all the children of God that were scattered abroad - Through all ages and nations.

55. Many went up to purify themselves - That they might remove all hindrances to their eating the passover.

1. Six days before the passover - Namely, on the Sabbath: that which was called by the Jews, "The Great Sabbath." This whole week was anciently termed "The great and holy week." Jesus came - From Ephraim, chap. xi, 54.

2. It seems Martha was a person of some figure, from the great respect which was paid to her and her sister, in visits and condolences on Lazarus' death, as well as from the costly ointment mentioned in the next verse. And probably it was at their house our Lord and his disciples lodged, when he returned from Jerusalem to Bethany, every evening of the last week of his life, upon which he was now entered.

3. Then Mary, taking a pound of ointment - There were two persons who poured ointment on Christ. One toward the beginning of his ministry, at or near Nain, Luke vii, 37, &c. The other six days before his last passover, at Bethany; the account of whom is given here, as well as by St. Matthew and Mark.

7. Against the day of my burial - Which now draws nigh.

10. The chief priests consulted, how to kill Lazarus also - Here is the plain reason why the other evangelists, who wrote while Lazarus was living, did not relate his story.

12. The next day - On Sunday. Who were come to the feast - So that this multitude consisted chiefly of Galileans, not men of Jerusalem. Matt. xxi, 8.

15. Fear not - For his meekness forbids fear, as well as the end of his coming. Zech. ix, 9.

16. These things his disciples understood not at first - The design of God's providential dispensations is seldom understood at first. We ought therefore to believe, though we understand not, and to give ourselves up to the Divine disposal. The great work of faith is, to embrace those things which we knew not now, but shall know hereafter. When he had been glorified - At his ascension.

17. When he called Lazarus out of the tomb - How admirably does the apostle express, as well the greatness of the miracle, as the facility with which it was wrought! The easiness of the Scripture style on the most grand occurrences, is more sublime than all the pomp of orators.

18. The multitude went to meet him, because they heard - From those who had seen the miracle. So in a little time both joined together, to go before and to follow him.

20. Certain Greeks - A prelude of the Gentile Church. That these were circumcised does not appear. But they came up on purpose to worship the God of Israel.

21. These came to Philip of Bethsaida in Galilee - Perhaps they used to lodge there, in their journey to Jerusalem. Or they might believe, a Galilean would be more ready to serve them herein, than a Jew. Sir - They spake to him, as to one they were little acquainted with. We would see Jesus - A modest request. They could scarce expect that he would now have time to talk with them.

23. The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified - With the Father and in the sight of every creature. But he must suffer first.

24. Unless a grain of wheat die - The late resurrection of Lazarus gave our Lord a natural occasion of speaking on this subject. And agreeable to his infinite knowledge, he singles out, from among so many thousands of seeds, almost the only one that dies in the earth: and which therefore was an exceeding proper similitude, peculiarly adapted to the purpose for which he uses it. The like is not to be found in any other grain, except millet, and the large bean.

25. He that loveth his life - More than the will of God; shall lose it eternally: and he that hateth his life - In comparison of the will of God, shall preserve it. Matt. x, 39.

26. Let him follow me - By hating his life: and where I am - In heaven. If any man serve me - Thus, him will the Father honour.

27. Now is my soul troubled - He had various foretastes of his passion. And what shall I say? - Not what shall I choose? For his heart was fixed in choosing the will of his Father: but he laboured for utterance. The two following clauses, Save me from this hour - For this cause I came - Into the world; for the sake of this hour (of suffering) seem to have glanced through his mind in one moment. But human language could not so express it.

28. Father, glorify thy name - Whatever I suffer. Now the trouble was over. I have glorified it - By thy entrance into this hour. And I will glorify it - By thy passing through it.

29. The multitude who stood and heard - A sound, but not the distinct words - In the most glorious Revelations there may remain something obscure, to exercise our faith. Said, It thundered -Thunder did frequently attend a voice from heaven. Perhaps it did so now.

31. Now - This moment. And from this moment Christ thirsted more than ever, till his baptism was accomplished. Is the judgment of this world - That is, now is the judgment given concerning it, whose it shall be. Now shall the prince of this world - Satan, who had gained possession of it by sin and death, be cast out -That is, judged, condemned, cast out of his possession, and out of the bounds of Christ's kingdom.

32. Lifted up from the earth - This is a Hebraism which signifies dying. Death in general is all that is usually imported. But our Lord made use of this phrase, rather than others that were equivalent, because it so well suited the particular manner of his death. I will draw all men - Gentiles as well as Jews. And those who follow my drawings, Satan shall not be able to keep.

34. How sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? - How can these things be reconciled? Very easily. He first dies, and then abideth forever. Who is this Son of man? - Is he the Christ? Psalm cx, 4.

35. Then Jesus said to them - Not answering them directly, but exhorting them to improve what they had heard already. The light - I and my doctrine.

36. The children of light - The children of God, wise, holy, happy.

37. Though he had done so many miracles before them - So that they could not but see them.

38. The arm of the Lord - The power of God manifested by Christ, in his preaching, miracles, and work of redemption. Isaiah liii, 1.

39. Therefore now they could not believe - That is, by the just judgment of God, for their obstinacy and wilful resistance of the truth, they were at length so left to the hardness of their hearts, that neither the miracles nor doctrines of our Lord could make any impression upon them.

41. When he saw his glory - Christ's, Isaiah vi, 1, &c. And it is there expressly said to be the glory of the Lord, Jehovah, the Supreme God.

44. Jesus said with a loud voice - This which follows to the end of the chapter, is with St. John the epilogue of our Lord's public discourses, and a kind of recapitulation of them. Believeth not on me - Not on me alone, but also on him that sent me: because the Father hath sent the Son, and because he and the Father are one.

45. And he that seeth me - By the eye of faith.

47. I judge him not - Not now: for I am not come to judge the world. See, Christ came to save even them that finally perish! Even these are a part of that world, which he lived and died to save.

50. His commandment - Kept, is life everlasting - That is the way to it, and the beginning of it.

1. Before the feast - Namely, on Wednesday, in the paschal week. Having loved his own - His apostles, he loved them to the end - Of his life.

2. Having now - Probably now first.

3. Jesus knowing - Though conscious of his own greatness, thus humbled himself.

4. Layeth aside his garments - That part of them which would have hindered him.

5. Into the basin - A large vessel was usually placed for this very purpose, wherever the Jews supped.

7. What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter - We do not now know perfectly any of his works, either of creation, providence, or grace. It is enough that we can love and obey now, and that we shall know hereafter.

8. If I wash thee not - If thou dost not submit to my will, thou hast no part with me - Thou art not my disciple. In a more general sense it may mean, If I do not wash thee in my blood, and purify thee by my Spirit, thou canst have no communion with me, nor any share in the blessings of my kingdom.

9. Lord, not my feet only - How fain would man be wiser than God! Yet this was well meant, though ignorant earnestness.

10. And so ye, having been already cleansed, need only to wash your feet - That is, to walk holy and undefiled.

14. Ye ought also to wash one another's feet - And why did they not? Why do we not read of any one apostle ever washing the feet of any other? Because they understood the Lord better. They knew he never designed that this should be literally taken. He designed to teach them the great lesson of humble love, as well as to confer inward purity upon them. And hereby he teaches us,

1. In every possible way to assist each other in attaining that purity;

2. To wash each other's feet, by performing all sorts of good offices to each other, even those of the lowest kind, when opportunity serves, and the necessity of any calls for them.

16. The servant is not greater than his Lord - Nor therefore ought to think much of either doing or suffering the same things.

18. I speak not of you all - When I call you happy, I know one of you twelve whom I have chosen, will betray me; whereby that scripture will be fulfilled. Psalm xli, 9.

20. And I put my own honour upon you, my ambassadors. Matt. x, 40.

21. One of you - The speaking thus indefinitely at first was profitable to them all.

23. There was lying in the bosom of Jesus — that is, sitting next to him at table. This phrase only expresses the then customary posture at meals, where the guests all leaned sidewise on couches. And each was said to lie in the bosom of him who was placed next above him. One of the disciples whom Jesus loved - St. John avoids with great care the expressly naming himself. Perhaps our Lord now gave him the first proof of his peculiar love, by disclosing this secret to him.

24. Simon Peter - Behind Jesus, who lay between them.

25. Leaning down, and so asking him privately.

26. Jesus answered - In his ear. So careful was he not to offend (if it had been possible) even Judas himself. The sop - Which he took up while he was speaking. He giveth it to Judas - And probably the other disciples thought Judas peculiarly happy! But when even this instance of our Lord's tenderness could not move him, then Satan took full possession.

27. What thou doest, do quickly - This is not a permission, much less a command. It is only as if he had said, If thou art determined to do it, why dost thou delay? Hereby showing Judas, that he could not be hid, and expressing his own readiness to suffer.

28. None knew why he said this - Save John and Judas.

30. He went out - To the chief priests. But he returned afterward, and was with them when they ate the passover, Matt. xxvi, 20, though not at the Lord's Supper.

31. Jesus saith - Namely, the next day; on Thursday, in the morning. Here the scene, as it were, is opened, for the discourse which is continued in the following chapters. Now - While I speak this, the Son of man is glorified - Being fully entered into his glorious work of redemption. This evidently relates to the glory which belongs to his suffering in so holy and victorious a manner.

33. Ye cannot come - Not yet; being not yet ripe for it. John vii, 34.

34. A new commandment - Not new in itself; but new in the school of Christ: for he had never before taught it them expressly. Likewise new, as to the degree of it, as I have loved you.

36. Peter saith, Lord, whither goest thou? - St. Peter seems to have thought, that Christ, being rejected by the Jews, would go to some other part of the earth to erect his throne, where he might reign without disturbance, according to the gross notions he had of Christ's kingdom. Thou canst not follow me now - But Peter would not believe him. And he did follow him, Chap. xviii, 15. But it was afar off. And not without great loss.

38. The cock shall not have crowed - That is, cock crowing shall not be over, till thou hast denied me thrice - His three-fold denial was thrice foretold; first, at the time mentioned here; secondly, at that mentioned by St. Luke; lastly, at that recorded by St. Matthew and Mark.

1. Let not your heart be troubled - At my departure. Believe - This is the sum of all his discourse, which is urged till they did believe, Chap. xvi, 30. And then our Lord prays and departs.

2. In my Father's house are many mansions - Enough to receive both the holy angels, and your predecessors in the faith, and all that now believe, and a great multitude, which no man can number.

4. The way - Of faith, holiness, sufferings.

5. Thomas saith - Taking him in a gross sense.

6. To the question concerning the way, he answers, I am the way. To the question concerning knowledge, he answers, I am the truth. To the question whither, I am the life. The first is treated of in this verse; the second, ver. 7-17; the third, xiv, 18, &c.

7. Ye have known - Ye have begun to know him.

10. I am in the Father - The words that I speak, &c. - That is, I am one with the Father, in essence, in speaking, and in acting.

11. Believe me - On my own word, because I am God. The works - This respects not merely the miracles themselves, but his sovereign, Godlike way of performing them.

12. Greater works than these shall he do - So one apostle wrought miracles merely by his shadow, Acts v, 15; another by handkerchiefs carried from his body, Acts xix, 12; and all spake with various tongues. But the converting one sinner is a greater work than all these. Because I go to my Father - To send you the Holy Ghost.

15. If ye love me, keep my commandments - Immediately after faith he exhorts to love and good works.

16. And I will ask the Father - The 21st verse, ver. 21, shows the connection between this and the preceding verses. And he will give you another Comforter - The Greek word signifies also an advocate, instructer, or encourager. Another - For Christ himself was one. To remain with you forever - With you, and your followers in faith, to the end of the world.

17. The Spirit of truth - Who has, reveals, testifies, and defends the truth as it is in Jesus. Whom the world - All who do not love or fear God, cannot receive, because it seeth him not - Having no spiritual senses, no internal eye to discern him; nor consequently knoweth him. He shall be in you - As a constant guest. Your bodies and souls shall be temples of the Holy Ghost dwelling in you.

18. I will not leave you orphans - A word that is elegantly applied to those who have lost any dear friend. I come to you - What was certainly and speedily to be, our Lord speaks of as if it were already.

19. But ye see me - That is, ye shall certainly see me. Because I live, ye shall live also - Because I am the living One in my Divine nature, and shall rise again in my human nature, and live for ever in heaven: therefore ye shall live the life of faith and love on earth, and hereafter the life of glory.

20. At that day - When ye see me after my resurrection; but more eminently at the day of pentecost.

21. He that hath my commandments - Written in his heart. I will manifest myself to him - More abundantly.

23. Jesus answered - Because ye love and obey me, and they do not, therefore I will reveal myself to you, and not to them. My Father will love him - The more any man loves and obeys, the more God will love him. And we will come to him, and make our abode with him - Which implies such a large manifestation of the Divine presence and love, that the former in justification is as nothing in comparison of it.

26. In my name - For my sake, in my room, and as my agent. He will teach you all things - Necessary for you to know. Here is a clear promise to the apostles, and their successors in the faith, that the Holy Ghost will teach them all that truth which is needful for their salvation.

27. Peace I leave with you - Peace in general; peace with God and with your own consciences. My peace - In particular; that peace which I enjoy, and which I create, I give - At this instant. Not as the world giveth - Unsatisfying unsettled, transient; but filling the soul with constant, even tranquillity. Lord, evermore give us this peace! How serenely may we pass through the most turbulent scenes of life, when all is quiet and harmonious within! Thou hast made peace through the blood of thy cross. May we give all diligence to preserve the inestimable gift inviolate, till it issue in everlasting peace!

28. God the Father is greater than I - As he was man. As God, neither is greater nor less than the other.

29. I have told you - Of my going and return.

30. The prince of this world is coming - To make his grand assault. But he hath nothing in me - No right, no claim, or power. There is no guilt in me, to give him power over me; no corruption to take part with his temptation.

31. But I suffer him thus to assault me,

1. Because it is the Father's commission to me, Chap. x, 18.

2. To convince the world of my love to the Father, in being obedient unto death, Phil. ii, 8. Arise, let us go hence - Into the city, to the passover. All that has been related from Chap. xii, 31, was done and said on Thursday, without the city. But what follows in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters, was said in the city, on the very evening of the passover just before he went over the brook Kedron.

1. I am the true vine - So the true bread, Chap. vi, 32; that is, the most excellent.

2. Everyone that beareth fruit, he purifieth - by obeying the truth, 1 Pet. i, 22; and by inward or outward sufferings, Heb. xii, 10, 11. So purity and fruitfulness help each other. That it may bear more fruit - For this is one of the noblest rewards God can bestow on former acts of obedience, to make us yet more holy, and fit for farther and more eminent service.

3. Ye are clean - All of you, to whom I now speak, are purged from the guilt and power of sin; by the word - Which, applied by the Spirit, is the grand instrument of purifying the soul.

4. Abide in me - Ye who are now pure by living faith, producing all holiness; by which alone ye can be in me.

5. I am the vine, ye are the branches - Our Lord in this whole passage speaks of no branches but such as are, or at least were once, united to him by living faith.

6. If any one abide not in me - By living faith; not by Church communion only. He may thus abide in Christ, and be withered all the time, and cast into the fire at last. He is cast out - Of the vineyard, the invisible Church. Therefore he was in it once.

7. If ye abide in me, ye shall ask - Prayers themselves are a fruit of faith, and they produce more fruit.

8. So shall ye be my disciples - Worthy of the name. To be a disciple of Christ is both the foundation and height of Christianity.

9. Abide ye in my love - Keep your place in my affection. See that ye do not forfeit that invaluable blessing. How needless a caution, if it were impossible for them not to abide therein?

10. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love - On these terms, and no other, ye shall remain the objects of my special affection.

11. That my joy might remain in you - The same joy which I feel in loving the Father, and keeping his commandments.

12. Your joy will be full, if ye so love one another.

13. Greater love - To his friends. He here speaks of them only.

14. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you - On this condition, not otherwise. A thunderbolt for Antinomianism! Who then dares assert that God's love does not at all depend on man's works?

15. All things - Which might be of service to you.

16. Ye - My apostles, have not chosen me, but I have chosen you - As clearly appears from the sacred history: and appointed you, that ye may go and bear fruit - I have chosen and appointed you for this end, that ye may go and convert sinners: and that your fruit may remain - That the fruit of your labours may remain to the end of the world; yea, to eternity; that whatsoever ye shall ask - The consequence of your going and bearing fruit will be, that all your prayers will be heard.

19. Because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you - Because your maxims, tempers, actions, are quite opposite to theirs. For the very same reason must the world in all ages hate those who are not of the world.

21. All these things will they do to you, because they know not him that sent me - And in all ages and nations they who know not God will, for this cause, hate and persecute those that do.

22. They had not had sin - Not in this respect.

23. He that hateth me - As every unbeliever doth, For as the love of God is inseparable from faith, so is the hatred of God from unbelief.

25. Psalm lxix, 4.

26. When the Comforter is come, whom I will send from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me - The Spirit's coming, and being sent by our Lord from the Father, to testify of him, are personal characters, and plainly distinguish him from the Father and the Son; and his title as the Spirit of truth, together with his proceeding from the Father, can agree to none but a Divine person. And that he proceeds from the Son, as well as from the Father, may be fairly argued from his being called the Spirit of Christ, 1 Pet. i, 11; and from his being here said to be sent by Christ from the Father, as well as sent by the Father in his name.

2. The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think he doth God service - But, blessed be God, the time is so far past, that those who bear the name of Christ do not now generally suppose they do him service by killing each other for a difference in opinion or mode of worship.

3. They have not known the Father nor me - This is the true root of persecution in all its forms.

4. I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you - To bear the chief shock in my own person, and to screen you from it.

5. None of you asketh me - Now when it is most seasonable. Peter did ask this before, Chap. xiii, 36.

7. It is expedient for you - In respect of the Comforter, ver. 7, &c., and of me, ver. 16, &c., and of the Father, ver. 23, &c.

8. He - Observe his twofold office; toward the world, ver. 8, &c.; toward believers, ver. 12, &c.: will convince - All of the world - Who do not obstinately resist, by your preaching and miracles, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment - He who is convinced of sin either accepts the righteousness of Christ, or is judged with Satan. An abundant accomplishment of this we find in the Acts of the Apostles.

9. Of sin - Particularly of unbelief, which is the confluence of all sins, and binds them all down upon us.

10. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father - Which the Spirit will testify, though ye do not then see me. But I could not go to him if I were not righteous.

11. The prince of this world is judged - And in consequence thereof dethroned, deprived of the power he had so long usurped over men. Yet those who reject the deliverance offered them will remain slaves of Satan still.

12. I have yet many things to say - Concerning my passion, death, resurrection, and the consequences of it. These things we have, not in uncertain traditions, but in the Acts, the Epistles, and the Revelation. But ye cannot bear them now - Both because of your littleness of faith, and your immoderate sorrow.

13. When he is come - It is universally allowed that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost dwell in all believers. And the internal agency of the Holy Ghost is generally admitted. That of the Father and the Son, as represented in this Gospel, deserves our deepest consideration.

15. All things that the Father hath are mine - Could any creature say this?

16. A little while and ye shall not see me - When I am buried: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me - When I am risen: because I go to my Father - I die and rise again, in order to ascend to my Father.

19. Jesus said to them - Preventing their question.

20. Ye will weep and lament - When ye see me dead; but your sorrow will be turned into joy - When ye see me risen.

22. Ye now therefore have sorrow - This gives us no manner of authority to assert all believers must come into a state of darkness. They never need lose either their peace, or love, or the witness that they are the children of God. They never can lose these, but either through sin, or ignorance, or vehement temptation, or bodily disorder.

23. Ye shall not question me about any thing - Which you do not now understand. You will not need to inquire of me; for you will know all things clearly. Whatsoever ye shall ask - Knowledge, love, or any thing else, he will give it - Our Lord here gives us a charte blanche. Believer, write down what thou wilt. He had said, Chap. xiv, 13, I will do it, where the discourse was of glorifying the Father through the Son. Here, speaking of the love of the Father to believers, he saith, He will give it.

24. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name - For they had asked him directly for all they wanted.

26. At that day ye shall ask - For true knowledge begets prayer. And I say not that I will pray - This in nowise implies that he will not: it means only, The Father himself now loves you, not only because of my intercession, but also because of the faith and love which he hath wrought in you.

30. Thou knowest all things - Even our hearts. Although no question is asked thee, yet thou answerest the thoughts of every one. By this we believe that thou camest forth from God - They, as it were, echo back the words which he had spoken in ver. 27, implying, We believe in God; we believe also in thee.