irredeemable sinners. Then the others: "But they hearing this went out one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained and the woman standing in the midst."

What a singular spectacle-Jesus standing alone with the adulteress in sight of the people! This represents His position towards our poor fallen race, pitiful, hating no one but our haters, glad to save us publicly and privately, not ashamed to be our advocate in our deepest guilt, craving no victory except to win us from our evil ways. There stood that unclean thing, her face purpled with shame, her form bent and trembling with her agony, but a little thrill of hope and a strong wave of thankfulness in her soul. No Roman conqueror ever rode in triumph up to the Capitol, followed by his captive kings and his rich booty, with half the joy with which Jesus Christ looked upon this woman, the spoils of His battle with His enemies and hers. What tender music was in His voice as He said to her: "Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee? Who said: No man, Lord. And Jesus said: Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more."

It is a curious fact that this touching incident is omitted from many early versions of the Gospels. St. Augustine and St. Ambrose attribute this to the overcareful prudence of some of the Eastern churches, which feared that the laxity of morals in the Orient might misuse this lesson of divine compassion: a singular misunderstanding of God's ways, and an equally singular mistrust of the latent nobility of human nature even when degraded by sin. ·

CHAPTER LVI.

JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

John viii. 12-19.

THE most gorgeous spectacle of the Feast of Tabernacles was the illumination of the western side of the Temple. Two high towers were covered with lights which flashed brilliantly across that slope of the city, every house hanging out its responsive lamps. Jesus on His return from Olivet in the early hours of the day following had gone into the court of the treasury, not far from the meeting-room of the Sanhedrin, the fading lanterns showing in sad. contrast with the bright morning sunshine.

After the sudden and startling incident of the adulterous woman, Jesus resumed His discourse, taking a suggestion from the illumination of the evening before and its present forlorn aspect. He thus began: "I am the light of the world."

Who but God's only begotten Son could say that? How

bold a claim, made in the heart of the Hebrew ANCIENT HORN LAMP. Temple!" He that followeth Me walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Malachias had indeed said of Him that He should rise as a sun of righteousness for the friends of God" (iv. 2). And Simeon, who received Him in that same Temple, had seen in Him so bright a light for Jew and Gentile that it made him long for the glorious beams of Paradise. But the Pharisees were otherwise minded. "They said to Him: Thou givest testimony of Thyself; Thy testimony is not true." It was the old attack upon His credentials. Jesus answered them with a double argument. First, admitting that He was His own authentication, His word was yet to be received,

at least as a first step, for no man knows another's mission so well as he does himself. Light does not need other light to prove that it is light. Truth accredits itself. The air of conviction, the lofty doctrine of Jesus, were like the official dress and courtly bearing of an ambassador. "Jesus answered and said to them: Although I give testimony of Myself, My testimony is true; for I know whence I came and whither I go; but you know not whence I come and whither I go." He that claims positive knowledge of a question should at least be given a hearing by those who admit no knowledge at all. But they had base motives, as He had charitable ones even in dealing with His enemies: "You judge according to the flesh; I judge not any man." Upon which He advanced-how many times before had He not done it ?-the argument of His Father's approval, shown by His miracles, and that of His Father's appointment, shown by the fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies: "And if I do judge, My judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me." Then He takes their own view of the rules of evidence and turns it against them: "And in your own law it is written that the testimony of two men is true." He sums up the two authentics of His right to teach: "I am One that give testimony of Myself, and the Father that sent Me giveth testimony of Me." A flippant answer is the ready refuge of guilty ignorance. They knew full well whom He meant by His "Father," yet they would annoy Him, if nothing more. "They said therefore to Him: Where is thy Father? Jesus answered: Neither Me do you know nor My Father; if you did know Me, perhaps you would know My Father also."

His cause is gained in the court of the law of Moses, for He has two witnesses who approve Him. First, His own established character: it is that of superhuman virtue, wisdom, loving kindness; second, the living God is with Him, for, as Nicodemus had said, no man could do the works which He did unless God were with Him. He will soon add third witness, that of the Holy Spirit of God inspiring the heart of the individual believer by His direct illumination. This will complete the testimony for Jesus in all ages, the Father by His mission and His miracles, the Son by His wisdom and His love unto death, the Spirit by His personal sanctification.

CHAPTER LVII.

"YOU SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS."-JESUS TEACHES TRUE FREedom. the SECRET OF LIFE.“ BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS MADE, I AM."

John viii. 20-59.

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ONTINUING to teach in the Temple, and in open defiance of the Pharisees' purpose to seize Him ("for His time was not yet come"), Jesus discoursed upon His union with the Father, upon the emancipation of the human soul from error, and upon His relation as the Messias to the Patriarch Abraham. He was continually interrupted and insulted, but He turned everything to the advantage of His argument.

The feast being over, the great multitudes of strangers had begun to go home. Many of those who remained and heard Him were earnest seekers after

truth; others were hot enemies. He openly pro

claimed His power to escape their cruel designs: "I go, and you shall seek Me, and you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come." His prophecy of their evil end enraged them only the more, and they asked derisively, "Will He kill Himself? because He said, Whither I go, you cannot come?" But both His power over them and the motive of their

"THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE."

Then Jesus said to those Jews that believed him: If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed: And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him: We are the seed of Abraham; and we have never been slaves to any man; how sayest thou, You shall be free. Jesus answered them: Amen, amen I say unto you: That whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin. Now the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth for ever. If, therefore, the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are the children of Abraham: but

hatred He disclosed, saying: "You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins." If God has sent Him, God will avenge His rejection.

What followed was an implied

you seek to kill me, because my word hath teaching of His Divinity.

no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and you do the things that you have seen with your

father.

They

were baiting Him with malicious questions, and He turned upon them a blinding flash of light: "They said therefore to Him: Who art Thou? Jesus said to them: The Beginning, who also speak to you. Many things I have to speak and to judge of you." The Beginning is God, and now it has taken form and voice, it teaches and it judges. That would be plain enough to a thoughtful mind, only that the succeeding words brought in another view of the Deity, and until the Trinity were fully known, involved the mind in mystery: "But He that sent Me is true, and the things I have heard of Him, these same I speak in the world." What God the Word had received of God the Father in the beginning and before the world was, He now speaks in the world and as messenger of the Father. But "they understood not that He called God His Father."