minds than preachers are aware of. There is much secret con- viction.
[But because... Pharisees... not confess him.~\ They dared not openly confess their faith in our Lord, for fear of the persecu- tion of the Pharisees. They were cowards, and iufluenced by the fear of man. No wonder that our Lord spoke so strongly in other places about the duty of confessing Him.
[Lest. ..put out of.. .synagogue."] The thing that they feared was excommunication. We can have little idea perhaps of the extreme dread with which a Jew regarded exclusion from the visible Jewish Church. Unlike ourselves, he knew no other Church in the whole world. To be shut out of this Church was equivalent to being shut out of heaven. The dread of excom- munication in the Irish Catholic Church is perhaps the near- est thing to it in our days.
43.— [For.. .loved. .praise.. .man more.. .God.'] St. John here tells us plainly the prevailing motive in the minds of the cowardly Jews. They loved above everything to be well thought of by their fellow- men. They thought more of having the good opinion of man than the praise of God. They could not bear the idea of being laughed at, ridiculed, reviled, or persecuted by their fellow-men. To keep in with them and have their praise, they sacrificed their own convictions, and acted contrary to their conscience. How much this feeling injures the soul is shown by our Lord's words in a former place: "How can ye believe which receive honour one from another?" (John v. 44.)
Let us remember that all over the world the same miserable motive is still ruining myriads of souls. "The fear of man bringeth a snare." (Prov. xxix. 25.) Nothing seems so diffi- cult to overcome as the desire of pleasing man, keeping in with man, and retaining man's praise. Nothing will overcome it but thorough faith. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (1 John v. 4.) The expulsive power of a new principle, making us see God, Christ, heaven, hell, judgment, eternity, as realities, is the grand secret of getting the victory over the fear of man.
Poole says : " They were not willing to part with their great places in the magistracy, which brought them respect, honour, and applause from men. They valued this more than God's praise."