among themselves as they stood in the temple : "What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?" (John xi. 55, 56.) Not so, should any of Christ's little ones be found, who seek his face for the love they bear him. They should never admit a state of doubt and suspense concerning him: his language is, "Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." (Mat. xxviii. 20.) Jesus therefore must be present. His love constrains him to it. His whole heart is with his people. And every ordinance and means of grace, is purposely instituted to open and keep open, a perpetual communion and fellowship with them; and they in him, and through him, with all the persons in the Godhead. Indeed, what is a throne of grace for, but that all his redeemed ones may come to him with holy confidence and joy? Very sweetly the Holy Ghost taught Paul so to assure the church: "Seeing then," said he, "that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. iv. 14—16.)

Concerning this pool of Bethesda, we have but a very slender account of it. Some have thought that it is the same or part of the same, by one communicating with the other, as the pool of Siloam, which we read of in John ix. 7. Certain it is, that both were for purposes of a special nature. The very name of Bethesda is significant, meaning the house of mercy. And it must have been a house of peculiar mercy: for the pool itself possessed a miraculous quality of healing. Not as some have supposed from the water's being impregnated with what flowed into them from the blood of the sacrifices offered in the temple; for

then the healing would have been very general: yea, universal, whereas we are told that it was limited to a very narrow extention.

I detain the reader, to one or two observations, before we go farther. It is very blessed to observe the special signification of names, places, persons, and characters; as marked in the Scripture of God. Jacob's Bethel, the house of God; and this poor man's Bethesda, the house of mercy; both were memorials of one and the same thing, namely, the Lord's grace manifested to the Lord's people. And we have authority to say, that Jacob to his dying day, never lost sight of Bethel; for he spake of it in his farewell blessing to his children: "The angel," said Jacob, "which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." (Gen. xlviii. 16.)

And Moses also, at the command of God, wrote a memorial in a book of the Lord's deliverance of Israel from Amalek. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua; for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi; For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." (Exod. xvii. 14-16.) But what is still more important for us to remark is this; that the Lord himself not only countenanced those acts of his servants in recording his mercies; but took to himself some new name upon several occasions of renewed blessings; as if to shew the pleasure the Lord hath in the prosperity of his people. We have a remarkable history in proof, of what the Lord Jesus said concerning the great deliverance he wrought for his people: Behold the days come saith the Lord, that

they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But, The Lord liveth, which brought up, and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I have driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land." (Jer. xxiii. 7,8.) And yet more; the very gracious and familiar manner in which the Lord hath made himself known to his people, after his first revelation to them, when in any of the future events of their history, he directs their minds back to the consideration of those love-tokens of his favour. Thus to Jacob, more than twenty years after his first revelation of himself to him at Bethel, the Lord put him in mind of it upon a renewed occasion, in proof of his unchangcable love toward him; when he said; "I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me." (Gen. xxxi. 13.) As if the Lord would claim an old acquaintance with the patriarch. And whereas the Lord upon the first interview with the patriarch, had changed his name from Jacob to Israel; at a future meeting which took place, the Lord dropped the name of Jacob, and called him Israel. (Gen. xxxv. 13.) And I doubt not but the pool of Bethesda became as dear and sacred to this poor man, because the Lord healed him there, as Jacob's Bethel. And most probably he was known; and his designation in his day was, The man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. And such is it in the present hour. As the Lord hath promised to give a new name to his people, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. (Isa. lxii. 2.) So the Lord delighteth to call them by this name, in confirmation whose they are, and to whom subject of this memorial of names and places: in all the departments of nature, providence, and grace, will be brought forth in the great day of God, when in one entire and full view, the whole proceedings of Jehovah in his Trinity of persons, towards his people will be unfolded: and all the Bethels, and Bethesdas; of all the Jacobs and Israels, in all generations of the church, shall be brought before a congregated world; and that ascription of praise and glory will burst forth from every heart of the Lord's people: "Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."

What a distressing picture is here presented to us, of those five porches, or colonades, filled with the several objects of misery, sickness, and woe, which are the sad consequences of our fallen nature. How verified are all the truths of Scripture which from age to age have been set forth in such awful exhibitions as are here described. And let it be observed that it was not one, or two, or ten, or twenty; but a great multitude. So that those five porches were filled with them. And the history is particular to remark the variety of their maladies: impotent, blind, halt, withered! Alas! what troops of diseases the frail flesh of fallen man is heir to ! And what a solemn Scripture the Holy Ghost hath given of the whole cause: "Sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Rom. v. 12.) No doubt, as the pool was known to possess this healing quality, all that could take advantage of it, repaired to the spot. But though those five porches received all that came, as far as their limits would afford; yet it is more than probable that there were many in the neighbourhood which could not get there. Such at least is the case respecting other places, if not Jerusalem: for the whole world, in this point of view, is but as one vast hospital of human woe.

Let the reader pause over the solemn representation; for it is indeed truly solemn. Let him spiri

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tualize the subject, as it may be supposed to make an appeal to himself. Let him consider, whether he hath ever had a real sense of his impotency, and blindness; his halt, and withered state of mind, as all men are, by original and actual transgression. Not in disease of the body, but in the sin of the soul; not merely maladies which affect the present life, and if remaining uncured, terminate in death; but which have reference to another world, and which we bring with us into being; and which if we depart with, unhealed by the Lord Jesus Christ, produce that state so awfully described in Scripture, “the second death." (Rev. xx. 14.) Let the reader duly ponder the subject!

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There is somewhat very significant in the account given of this angel or messenger, at a certain season, troubling or agitating the water;" by which it possessed a miraculous quality of the Lord's appointment in healing one diseased person; the first who stepped in as soon as the agitation of the water was made. A great variety of opinions have been offered upon this part of the subject; it would lead however, much beyond the limits here to be observed, éven but to enumerate them. It will be sufficient for our purpose to make one or two remarks on what seems to have been the most obvious design the Holy Ghost intended the church of God should gather from the history.

The reader will take notice, that the gospel was uniformly set forth in the prophecies of the Old Testament under the similitude of fountains, pools, rivers, and streams of water. (Isa. xxxv. 6, 7. xliii. 20, 21. Ezek. xlvii. 1-10. Zech. xiv. 8, 9, &c.) Those Scriptures may serve to shew the connection between the Old Testament prophecies, and the New Testament account of this pool of Bethesda. And that it should have continued till the days of our