y conduct and teaching. It matters little what you know of
Me, if through Me you are not brought to the knowledge of God. He is the
real One, He is the Supreme Truth; and Him, alas! you do not know while
you profess to know Me.

3. John notes the insufficient tests used both by the people and by the
authorities for ascertaining whether Jesus was or was not their promised
King. The tests they used were such as these, "Will Christ do more
miracles?" "Will He come from the same part of the country?" and so
forth. Among ourselves it has become customary to speak as if it were
impossible to find or apply any sufficient test to the claims of Christ;
impossible to ascertain whether He is, in a peculiar sense, Divine, and
whether we can absolutely trust all He said, and accept the views of God
He cherished and proclaimed. Certainly Christ Himself does not
countenance this mode of speaking. In all His conversations with the
unbelieving Jews He condemned them for their unbelief, ascribed it to
moral defects, and persistently maintained that it was within the reach
of any man to ascertain whether He was true or a pretender. There is a
class of expressions which occur in this Gospel which clearly show what
Jesus Himself considered to be the root of unbelief. To Pilate He says,
"Every one that is _of the truth_ heareth My voice." To the Jews He
says, "He that is of God, heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them
not, because ye are not of God." And again in this seventh chapter, "If
any man is desirous to do the will of God, he will know of My doctrine
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself." All these
statements convey the impression that Christ's person and teaching will
uniformly be acceptable to those who love the truth, and who are anxious
to do the will of God.

Faith in Christ is thus represented as an act rather of the spiritual
nature than of the intellect, and as the result of sympathy with the
truth rather than of critical examination of evidence. A painter or
art-critic familiar with the productions of great artists feels himself
insulted if you offer him evidence to convince him of the genuineness of
a work of art over and above the evidence which it carries in itself,
and which to him is the most convincing of all. If one of the lost books
of Tacitus were recovered, scholars would not judge it by any account
that might be given of its preservation and discovery, but would say,
Let us see it and read it, a