declBrntion, "I hBTB power [or, 'Buthority'] to lay it down." We need ever to recollect nil thnt was voluntary, delibomte, foreseen, Bnd intentional in the deBth of Jesus. On one side that dea.th ie the most concentrated illustration of human wickedness and cor- ruption the world hBs ever seen. On the other side it is not so much an illustration aa a development. Jesus shows us in himself B human possibility turned into reality. It had to be made very r,lenr to him that he might lBy his life down. And it has to be mBde very clear to us thBt there wns nothing suicidal or despairing Bbout this dedication. It wa.s the free action of the wise Jesus, taking the path of duty and love. And let it not be sKid there wns nothing difficult in this. As a matter of history, we know there was difficulty; lot GethsemBne testify to that. We should need to have the nature of Jesus ourselves to comprehend whence all his difficulties and agonies arose.-Y. Ver. 29.-The Father's perfect protectim. This verse explains, sustains, and com- pletes the previous one. The previous verse indicates the double dnty of the shepherd. He has to feed the flock, and he has to protect it. Jesus has to give eternal life, and secure it when given. But inevitably the thought arises in one's mind that oftentimes the shepherd is slain and the sheep are scattered. This was to be illustrated to a certain extent very soon after Jesus had spoken. It was not that the sheep were plucked away and the Shepherd remained; the Shepherd was plucked away, a.nd the sheep seemed as if they were to fall back into the world. But, in truth, the plucking of the Shepherd away was only the lifting of a veil which hid the real wall of defence. If we look only to Jesus, and fail to see some one beyond, we shall never estimate ej.ther the greatness of the danger or the perfection of the safety. I. LooK AT THE GREATNESS OF THE DANGER. The perils of a stupid, helpless, defence- less sheep are really but a feeble illustration of the perils besetting the Christian. We never do properly comprehend those perils. Even as it is the shepherd and not the sheep that really knows the perils of the sheep, so it is Jesus and the Father of Jesus who really know the perils of the Christian. Well is it that we know not all om perils. A perfect knowledge of them might only increase our misery without diminishing our peril in the least. We are to learn the greatness of our peril in an indirect way. We have to learn it by the provisions that have been evidently made. Jesus provides against perils that we appreciate very imperfectly; and perils we make a. great deal of, he treBts as passing inconveniences. 'l'he full power of Heaven is engaged for our safety; that alone should show ns the greatness of our danger. II. LooK AT 'l'HE PLEDGE OF SAFETY. It is not a pledge of devotion and attention merely; it is a pledge of absolute safety. It lifts shepherd and sheep a.like into a region where no wolf ever wanders, where no thief breaks through nor steals. It is the defence that comes from being in a totally different sphere of life. Those on board a ship in mid-ocean are perfectly safe from the fierce and mighty sharks that swim all around; safe so long as the ship is safe; safe so long as they keep on board; but let any of them come into the water, and the sharks snap them up at once. But if these same people are on land, they can go wherever they like and have no fear of the shark; they are utterly removed from his element. Each element has its own peril and its own safety. But those who have put themselves into the hand of the great Shepherd, the only Shepherd truly good, as uniting faithfulness with ability, are in an elemeo.t where all the essentials of life are safe. The intent of our heavenly Father is, not that we should be delivered from dangers when they actually come upon us, but that we should rise into a sphere where dangers will not really come. Observe exactly how Jesus puts it both with reference to his protection and his Father's protection. IIe does not say that he or the Father will pluck his sheep from the clutches of any foe that may seize them. Ho goes further than that: the foe is not to pluck t:Se sheep out of the Father's hand.-Y.
EXPOSITION. narrative of this oha.pter is a furthe.r advance CHAPTER XI. in the proof that the unbelief of the Jews Vere. 1-57.-7. Chriat the .Antaaoniat of wo.s aggravated by the greatness of the dsath-a viclol'y of love and patoer. The revelation. The _bsue of his suhlimo an1J 84 'l'HE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO S'l', JOHN. [on. xr. 1-57, - - -- _______________________ _____ ,