from amongst you, and such miseries and calamities, will overspread the land, that you will be glad of a prophet to direct your conduct, and to pray for you: the Roman armies will spread such devastation and horror over the face of your country, that you will then earnestly wish for the coming of the Messiah, in expectation of being delivered, by his power from your cruel enemy: but ye shall then find your mistake: ye shall die in your sins, and be for ever excluded the realms of blessedness and rest.

But the Jews were very far from understanding what he meant by going from them, they were so foolish as to imagine, that he designed to put an end to his life, with his own hands; for they thought the only retreat where they could not find him, must be the dark and silent chambers of the grave: Will he kill himself, said they, because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. To this the blessed JESUS replied, your base insinuation betrays at once, the wickedness of your hearts, and the corruption and depravity of your natures: ye are from the earth, and are partakers of all the corruption and depravity consequent on the fall of man; and from the evil passions which arise in your own wicked hearts, you form your conceptions of me; and, thinking me like yourselves, conclude, that I can be capable of committing so horrid a crime as self-murder: but you are mistaken in me; my extraction, and my dispositions are very different from yours: I am not of this world; I am no partaker of the evils consequent on sin; I have no propensity to corrupt and evil passions; my mind is not tainted with the corrruption of human nature, the source of temptation, and the fountain of all evil: I came from above, and if you believe in me, you will find a remedy for those evils which flow from the bitter fountain of the fall of man, and will be cleansed from · that pollution which flows from your earthly origin; but if ye still continue in unbelief, ye shall die in your

sins:

The Jews, in order to vindicate themselves, inquired what sort of a person he was, or who he pretended to be? To which our Lord replied, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning; meaning the light of the world, which he had styled himself in the beginning of this discourse: adding, I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I spake to the world those things which I have heard of him. However plain this discourse may appear, it was not understood by the stupid Jews; they did not perceive, that he spake to them of the Father. But JESUS told them, that when they had crucified him, they would be convinced by the miracles attending that awful hour his resurrection from the dead, the descent of the Holy Spirit on his disciples, and the destruction of the Jewish nation, both who he was, and who the Father was, that sent him: When ye have lifted up the Son of man, said he, then shall ye know that I am he, And that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

As he spake these words, many of the Jews believed him to be the Messiah; perhaps, by his being lifted up, they did not understand his crucifixion, but his being exalted to the throne of David: but JESUS told them, if they persevered in the belief of his word, they should really become his disciples, and being fully instructed in every doctrine of the gospel, they should not only be freed from the slavery of sin, but also from the ceremonial part of the law of Moses: If ye continue in my word, said he, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The Jews on hearing him declare, that they should be made free, hastily and warmly replied, We be Abra ham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. This assertion, if taken in a literal sense, was absolutely false, the whole nation being, at that very time, in bondage to

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the Romans; nor were their ancesters any strangers to bondage and slavery, having severely felt the tyrannical yoke of the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonish kings. It must therefore be supposed, that the expression was meant in a metaphorical sense, and alluded to spiritual bondage in this sense, it was a freedom in respect to religion which they asserted, and they meant, that they were the descendants of illustrious ancestors, who, in the worst of times, had preserved sentiments in religion and government worthy the posterity of Abraham; nor had the hottest persecution of the Assyrian kings, been able to compel them to embrace the religion of the Heathens; in respect to truth, they were never in bondage to any man, and they asked our Redeemer, How thou, ye shall be made free?

sayest

In answer to this question, JESUS replied, that they who gave themselves up to a vicious. course of life, and to the gratification of their sensual appetites, were the worst of slaves, and it was highly necessary for them to consider whether this character did not belong to themselves: Verily, verily, I say unto you, said he, whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin. And, as a slave cannot be assured of the continuance of his master's favour, nor of abiding in his house continually, so our great Redeemer observed, that his Father might justly, for their sins, deprive them of the external privileges which they had so grossly abused: as their sins had rendered them bond-slaves to divine justice, they might expect to fall under the severest marks of his displeasure, except they prevented the dreadful evils, consequent on their wickedness, by believing on his Son, and receiving him, who alone was able to make them free indeed, and place them in the heavenly Jerusalem. Our Lord then proceeded to inform them, that though, in a natural sense, they were the seed of Abraham; yet, in a moral sense, they were the offspring of Satan, which was fully manifested by their unjust, and cruel design to destroy their great deliverer: I know, said he, that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because

A

my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which you have seen with your father. To this the Jews hastily and angrily replied, Abraham is our father: but our Redeemer informed them, that it appeared from their conduct, that they were of another original: If, said he, ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

Our Lord having declared to the Jews that it was manifest from their deeds, and their wicked inclinations whose children they were; they willing to justify themselves, replied with some warmth: We be not born of fornication: we have one Father, even God. By these expressions, the Jews did not mean a natural, but a spiritual lineage, and by their not being born of fornication, their being free from idolatry, which, in the language of the prophets, is represented as fornication and adultery: they were not idolaters themselves, nor born of idolatrous parents, and therefore, they styled themselves the children of God. But JESUS gave them to understand, that if they were the children of God, they would manifest their relation by their love to his Son: If God were your Father, said he, ye would love me: for I proceedet forth and came from God: neither came I of my self, but he sent me: but ye, continued our great Redeemer, are of your father the devil; ye appear in his likeness, and continue to gratify the evil inclinations, and diabolical passions, which ye have learnt of him, and derived from him; falschood, pride, and cruelty, are the passions which he constantly inspires, and these are abundantly manifested in your temper and conduct; he delights in murder and blood, and you are plotting against the life of the innocent; falsehood and lies are natural to him, and he never speaketh the truth, but to put off some lie which he hath joined to it: Ye are, said the exalted Saviour of sinners, of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a mur

derer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth ye believe me

not.

Our Lord then publicly challenged all his enemies, to prove him guilty of any falsehood: Which of you, said he, convicteth me of sin? Are any of you able to shew that I have done any thing which renders me unworthy of belief? Can you prove that I have taught false doctrine? Ilave I reproved you unjustly for your actions? Have I charged you with crimes you were not guilty of? And can any of you prove me guilty of any sinful action, or prove any part of my conduct to be inconsistent with the character I have assumed? If none of you can do this, but must confess that my doctrine and life are such as might be expected from a messenger sent from God; Why do you not believe me? But the reason is plain, you do not belong to God, ye have no interest in his favour, nor are partakers of his grace: He that is of God, heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

This declaration exasperated and enraged the Jews to the highest pitch, and with a mixture of disdain and contempt, they replied, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? His calling the descendants of Abraham the children of the devil, they thought was a sufficient proof, that either he must be a profligate wretch, which they meant by calling him a Samaritan, or else must be instigated by some evil spirit. But JESUS replied, that he was not under the dominion of any evil spirit, but spoke the words of eternal truth; he was not in league with hell, nor in alliance with the prince of darkness: on the contrary, he honoured his Father, by speaking the words of truth, which he sent him to deliver: I have not a devil, said he, but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me, and I seek not mine own glory; there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Our