sletont with John's manner, ancl with well- their grievnnce, to being marle into robust nscertalnod matters of foct; nncl the clanee men upon whom the burden ot· respr,nsibilit;y would give nuthontic ground for the glo~e will immediately fall. In this case the l'i-m that follows, Hoffmann and I-lcngstenberg of his palsied nnture was written upon his dofoncl !ho pass:igc, nncl bclio'l'C that "the fncc, an<l WIIB probably known to every nngcl of' tho waters" in the Apocnlypso pnsser-by. botrnys tho enmo lmncl. Dut there run be Ver. 7.-The siok (impotent) man answered no fair comparison hctwocn o.n historical fu.ct him, Sir,' I have no man, when tbe water anrl a symbolical figure. bas been troubled, to put me 2 into the pool : Ver. 5.-And a certain man was there, who but while I am coming, another ateppetb down had been thirty and eight years in bis in- before me. This implies that some special firmity. He hall not lost nil his powcr~-he advontage !\CCOmpe.nied the troubling of the crawled probably from some nenr home to wntcr. 'fhe sudden escape of the medicinal the healing well; but for thirty-eight years gas may have soon enbsided, and, with it, be hnd been dragging out hiH impotent ex- the specio.l virtue of the well. The diffi- istence. The length implies the inveteracy culty which the sirk man found iu reaching of the <liseru;o. Hengstenberg, Wordsworth, the point of distmbance may be occounted Westcott (in pnrt), imply 11, market! corre- for in many ways. 'l.'he steps which led spondence between these thirty-eight years into the water; the weakness of the sufferer, and the eimilnr period of time during which which me.de it an impossible task without Israel was compelled to wander in the wilder- help; the eagerness of many other impotent ness. It is not so.id how long the man hnd folk to take ndvantage of the supposed core, le.in in. the five porches waiting listlessly for jostling one another with selfish haste; or healing, but that tho malady was of old the absence of o.ny personal frienrl to fight standing, nnd to all human appearance in- his battle for him, and cast him (/Ja.A!)) with curable. Thomo. finds allegorical meaning the required plunge into water. The last in "Bethesda "-a synonym of the metro- point may be expla.ined ou the supposition polis, and keeps up a series of comparisons that he was a comparative stranger in J em- with Acts iii. salem, and had made no friends ; or by an- Ver. 6.-When Jesus saw bimlyingthere, other, which several other a.llusions jnstify, and peroeived (crone to know by his search- viz. that he was a man who, from some rea- ing glance and intuitive knowledge of the son or other, could neither moke nor retain history of others) that he bad during a long friendship. The melo.ncholy recital of his time alrea.dy been (in that coodition, or in frequent disappointment is given with an Bioknl!8B,) said unto him-spontaneously, in air of mendicant resignation-a k:inJ of mor- the roya.lty of his benefactions, not demanding bid satisfaction with his lot The phrase, from the man even the faith to be healed, "while I om coming, another," etc., implies and dee.ling with him almost as he did with that he could move, if slowly, without help. the dead-Wilt thou be ma.de whole 1 The The moroseness of self-dependence chamc- leper came beseeching him, "Lord, if thou terizes some sufferers, who rather glory in wilt, thou co.nst make me clean." The leper isola.tion than lament it. Still, the words was quite sure of his own intense desire for express the hopelessness of thousands who, cleansing, and all he questioned was the for lack of human help, are jostled out of toill, not the power, of J eeus. The ad.mission life, peace, and ea.I vation. of the power wns n tacit cry for healing. The Ver. 8.-Jesus eaith to him, Rise, take up questioning of Jesus on this occasion in- thy bed (1<pa/J/Ja.Tdv 1To11)-thy mattress or volved an offer of mercv. "Dost thou veri- pallet ; the word is so.id to be of Mncerlonian tably ioish for health and strength ? " The origin, it is Latinized in the Vulgate into question implies a doubt. The man may have grabbatU8, and is not unfrequen tly fo11I1d in got so aocustomed to hie life of indolence the New Testament (Mark ii. 4, 9; vi. 55; and mendicancy as to regard deliverance Acts v. 15; ix. 33); the ordinnry Greek word from hie apparent wretchedness, with all con- 1T1<lJL,ro11s, a-1e,µ.1r&610v----an.d walk. These are sequent responsibilities of work and energy in part the identical words which J csus au- and self-dependence, as a doubtful blessing. dressed to the paralytic (Mark ii. 9). He diJ He whined out, with professional dre.wl, his not touch him or use any other menns than oft-told story, reJlecting very muoh upon his hie own life-giving word to confer the cure. lovelessness and quarrelsomen•Jss, and ugly He put forth, in royal might anJ spontaneous temper. 'l'here are m1my who nre not unsolicited exertion, the mixaculous force. anxious for salvation, with all the demands it makes upon the life, with its summons to 1 Some manuscripts and Fathers (C 3 , E,
eelf-eacrifico and the repression of self-iudul- F, G, H, 33, Syriac) read va, before Kvpie. gonce. There are many religious impos- • BIL\]1 is adopted by recent crlitors in pre- t-Ore who pref.ir te,ning open their spiritunl ference to Bd>.1'.!) by the almost unanimeus wounds to the first 1mss~r-by, and hugging consent of the uncial manuscripts. 208 THE GOSPEL AOCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [c11. v. 1---47.