of that great but awful event,-to this extent, we are all "children of light." We know how Jesus died, and rose again; how he thereby fulfilled what was written, and was declared to be the Son of God with power. Hereafter we shall have to consider this more at large; let it suffice for the present to have observed, that Jesus previously specified this event as completing the evidence of his mission. Yet during his personal ministry "he that sent him was with him, the Father left him not alone." Even before the Sun of Righteousness arose upon the earth in all the brightness of his meridian splendour, those who waited for his salvation, saw the brightness and felt the genial warmth of those healing beams, which gave full assurance that the light of Israel was come, and which prepared them to expect the glory that should follow. But to us are made known both the wonders of his holy and spotless life, the heavenly doctrine that flowed from his lips, the miracles which he wrought, the witness of heaven and of earth, of Prophets and Apostles, of holy men and holy Angels. And in whom have we therefore believed, but in Jesus, the Mediator of the new Covenant; in Jesus, of whom all these things "were written, that we might know that he is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing we might" not die in our sins, but "have life through his name." To us, therefore, who have

known and received all these things, as well as to those who "believed on him, as he spake the words" which we have been considering, Jesus says; "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

That in these words he spoke of that slavery of sin, which is unto death, and of that spiritual liberty wherewith he maketh his people free, we learn from his own subsequent explanation of his words. In us there are probably few prepossessions so likely to frustrate his gracious intentions for our deliverance, as those which result from the debasing influence of that our slavery, which makes us in love with our fetters, which causes us even gladly to remain in the darkness of our prison-house, and which disposes us to hear with apathy, if not with regret, the words of him who

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says to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves." But whatever be the nature, and however domineering be the influence of the unhappy principles, which make us reluctant to be liberated from that service, of which "the wages is death," by the Son, "who can make us free indeed," we shall do well to reflect how severely Jesus reproved and expostulated with those Jews, to whom these words appeared

a Isai. xlii. 7.

to suggest, not, as to a Christian, a salutary and yet encouraging admonition, but an attack on the supposed hereditary and indefeisible prerogatives of the children of Abraham. If they were culpable for their ignorance and neglect of this freedom, how much more so are we!

Forgetful of the national dependence on a foreign power to which they then were, and had been so often before, subject; forgetful, also, that as little could they boast of uninterrupted religious liberty, the Jews answered Jesus with the words,

We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man; how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?"—" Verily, verily, answered Jesus,

I

say unto you, He that committeth sin, is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever; but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father; and ye do that which ye have seen with your father." They were right in supposing that Jesus intended to impute criminality both to themselves and to their father; and they repeated the assertion, that "Abraham was their father," as if to ask, whether he meant to apply such an imputation to him. But if Abraham were pure from guilt, it did not follow that they

were his children in that respect, and that they inherited his integrity. Jesus disproved their claim, acquitted Abraham, and advanced his position against them in nearly the same words as before. "If 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. Ye do the deeds of your father." They had no resemblance to Abraham in that very particular, for which he was especially commended; for "Abraham believed in the LORD, and he counted it to him for righteousness." But still, what could Jesus mean by "their father," if he meant not Abraham? Did he mean to accuse them of idolatry, termed by the prophets fornication, as being a breach of that covenant of God with his people, which was described under the similitude of a marriage? "We be not born of fornication;" they replied; "We have one Father, even God." Still had they not been aware of whom Jesus spake. He had to refute another of their unauthorized claims. He had to prove to them, that idolatry was not the only modification of error. He had to reveal to them the humiliating

a Gen. xv. 6.

b 2 Chron. xxi. 11. Jer. iii. 1-14. Ezek. xliii. 7-9. Hos. ii. 19, 20; iv. 12.

truth, which referred their original, in a spiritual sense, to another and more ancient progenitor than Abraham; to one, however, who had been described in their own Scriptures; and their relation to whom fully accounted for their opposition to himself, if he were what he claimed, and what he knew himself to be.

"Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me; for I proceeded forth, and came (am come) from God; neither came I (have I come) of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech (i. e. my phraseology)? even because ye cannot hear my word (i. e. the truths which I declare). Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye are willing to do. He was a murderer 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. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."

* ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ ἐλήλυθα, ἀλλ ̓ ἐκεῖνός με ἀπέστειλε. Διατί την ΛΑΛΙΑΝ τὴν ἐμὴν οὐ γινώσκετε; ὅτι οὐ δύνασθε ἀκούειν τὸν ΛΟΓΟΝ τὸν ἐμόν. V. 42, 43.