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vi.

-LECTURE V.

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

LECTURE VI.

ST. JOHN XVIII. 36.-Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence

LECTURE VII.

ST. JOHN XIX. 30.-When Jesus, therefore, had tasted the vinegar, he said, 'It is finished;' and he bowed his head, and gave up the Ghost..

LECTURE VIII,

ST. JOHN XX. 10, 11.-Then the disciples went away again unto their own home, but Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping

LECTURE IX.

ST. JOHN XXI. 17.-Jesus saith unto him, Feed my

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LECTURE I.

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.

ST. JOHN XIII. 1.

NOW BEFORE THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER,

WHEN JESUS

KNEW THAT HIS HOUR WAS COME THAT HE SHOULD
DEPART OUT OF THIS WORLD UNTO THE FATHER, HAVING
LOVED HIS OWN THAT WERE IN THIS WORLD, HE LOVED
THEM UNTO THE END.

If a proof were wanting of the truth of the scriptures, it might be found in the language and the inimitable beauty of them. There is a dignity, and yet a simplicity, peculiarly their own; and a man can hardly read without being struck by them-even children feel their force; the rays of divinity with which the Saviour is encircled excite their reverence, and they love him for that sweetness and gentleness of soul from which their own nature, while as yet

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unspotted by the world," is less distantly removed.

B

But though all the Gospels afford abundant instances of this, that of St. John does the most so; and there are perhaps some natural causes to be assigned for it.

He was not only, after the ascension of our Lord, favoured with a special revelation from heaven, but had, during his life, shared, in a greater degree than the rest, his affection and confidence. He was chosen to be one of those before whom our Lord was transfigured, who saw Him alike in the glory of his divine, and the sufferings of his human nature: and although in one moment of temptation he, as well as the other disciples, "forsook Him and fled," he quickly returned to a sense of his duty, for he followed Him in the hour of his trial, and caught the last dying looks of his master at the foot of his cross.

Writing under these impressions (at a time too when he was able to judge of the eventful occurrences which he had witnessed), and willing to correct the false doctrines respecting the Lord's divinity and atonement which many were inclined to, he begins his narrative with

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