your tins; tor if ye believe not that] am he, ye ſhall dic in your fins q,
q In the Greek it 18 only, If you believe not that 1 am. Some re- fer this to Chriſts Divine Nature. (1am, is the Name of God, Exod. 3. 14+ ) But others rather think, that Chriſt here ſpeakerh of hwlſcit as the Meſſtab and Mediator, and ſo the Obje&t of Peoples Faith ; and he, out of whom there is no Salvation: The latter indeed includeth the former ; for, Curſed 5 he that truſteth in man, and maketh fleſh bis Arm. The Text plainly holds forth an impoflibility of Salvation for thoſe, who under the Revelations of the Goſpel, re- ccive nor, and believe not in Chriſt as Mediator.
25 Then ſaid they unto him, Who are thou r ? Je- ?us taith unto them, Even the ſame that I ſaid unto you irom the beginning /.
r What good Chriitian will not learn tocontemn the Slights and Reproaches of {infal Men, when he readeth a Company of Miſcreants ti:us uhng their Lord and Malter, ſaying to him, #ho art thou ? It is 10 Wondzr if the World which knew him not, doth not know us /. The latter pait of the Verſe, as ir lies in the Greek, ts exceeding Cukecult, word for word it is, The beginning, becauſe alſo I ſpeak unto 2-4, Come tink that our Saviour calleth himſelf The beginning. Ocers tk the Neun 1s in this place pur for an Adverb; of which Ve 1,ve many Inſtances in Scripture, though none as to this Noun ; bt 1 ſhail leave thoſe who detrre Satisfaction as ro what is ſaid by Criticks about this Verſe, to what Mr. Pool hath collected in his Sy- 7:.pj.5 Criticorums, and Only conſider it as our Interpreters undcritood Ir, n wh1ch form 1t feemeth ro be a meer {lighting of them, as much 5s iT he bad (atd, T have often enough, even from the beginning, roid you wholam; I need ſiy no more to you upon that Head than 1
Te ave laid. Lam the ſame, and no other, than 1 ar firlt rold you Il wag
,, 25 I have many things to fay, ani to judge of you ;.*, bur * he that ſent me is true 4, and TI * ſpeak to the world thoſe things which I have heard of him w.. *
ciples who come after Chriſt ro hear him, bur they are his Diſciples indeed, who make his Doctrine the Rule of their Lives. He there fore tells them. f Thar not a meer ſaying to him Lord, Lord, and yielding ſome lighr Affent ro ſome Propoſitions of Truth in the Gol- pel, would make them his Diſciples in truth and reality, without an abiding and continuance in the words which he taught rhem,
ſhall make you free 5. Ih h Thar is, you ſhall more fully and clearly know the Truth; by which may be either underſtood of Chriſt, who ftilerh himſelf The way, the Trath,and the Life ; or thoſe Propofitions of Truch which Chrit hath revealed. There miuſt be ſome knowledge of Truth in a Soul before it can believe ; for how ſhall they believe ( ſaith the Apoſtle ) in him of whom they have not heard ? bur a fuller and clearer kno - ledge of the Truth is got by degrees. by thoſe who {tudiouſly ſeal af- ter 1, and walk cloſe with God. # And the Truth ſhall make you free. Ir appears by ver. 35.. That by the Truth he means hinſelt; there he ſaith, If the Son make you free, and indeed though Uk know ledge of the Propoſition of Truth, gives men ſome liberty from the bondage of Ignorance, and ſome Lufts, yer it is only the m_ knowledge ofChritt, which brings men into a perfect Liberty from #* Law, the rigour, curſe, and terror of ir, and from the dominionÞi Sin and Corruption. (ed, 33 They anſwered him *®, We be Abrahams IK and were never in bondage to any man &, how laye thou, ye {hall be made tree /* = 2 k How carnally doth a carnal Heart underftandSpiritual My TE Thus Nicodemus hearing of being born again, grotly dreamed,” - ring into his Mothers Wo:nb, and being born again. The m_— . Samarsa, hearing of Living water,dreamr of Water that _ - - tishe her Thirit, as ſhe ſhould never come again to the We draw. The Fews here hearing of being made tree, dreath of 4 dom from humane Bondage and Slavery. To what our rey faid, That if they knew the Truth, the Truth ſhould make _— they reply, We are Abrahams ſeed, and were never 11 bon 23 -— any. Admitting that they were Abrahams ſeed, that 1s —_— = the Fews in Bondage? Firſt to Pharav9bKing of EgIP?, then SE chadnezzer ſing of Babylon,they were now 1n Bondage tO _— —_ They maſt either undecttand it of their own Perſons, chougn chei were Triburaries, they wete no Slavyts 5-57 cif mammal * wy
by
32 And ye ſhall know the Truth 6, and * the trah*Ba
Chap, VII
Fathe . [ x 111 ” Ci,
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i
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Wil Jap VIII.
* Chap,
age 0 re not Nebu- 1m4ns- 1 Tlicy . thetf Regt
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! = 1014 'K arry” Ty {+ 7” AP if an - Fe. Right, ney had a r19:t 70 Le! erty 4 t:10 riiey Were under an ka 'S. 4 8. a mn{f1CK d81 | - : —_ Chrilt ſhould ſpeak of their being made free ; for thoſe rhar are Ces WA Not in a Capacity LO be made tree. The Ferwws were a Peo- "te yer renacious of their Liberty, and gloried much in the right "1.-y had IO 1t. 1 a bet ( . [> $- F [ G y jp 24 :ſs anſwered them, Verily, veiily, I {ay unto ' + Wholocver commirteth 1in, 15 the fervant of fji1 778 , EE . Orr Saviour here Correctern their Mittake, lerting them know, - he was not ſpeaking about anyCorporal bur Spiritual Servitade;
eh - : Por: :
not of the Freedom of mens Bodies from rhe power of Enemies, irs the Freedom of mens Souls from the Slavery and dominion of jt 4 Corrnptions. Hz that doth jin ((latth he) i the ſervant of
0s The committing or doing of Sin here1ntended, 1s not to be un: 1.2004 of (ingle Acts of Sin, (for in that ſenſe, who /ives and ſin- on 112 {The righteous man finning ſeven times in a day) fo as all wn world be concluded the ſervants of Sin) bur of living indul- _— Etitually in a courle of Sin, and m the practice of Groſs vng, 10 which fenſe, gorgers of 11.4 jrity 18 tobe taken, Mat 7. 23. &nd chis very Phraſe, 1 Fobn 3. 4. And indeed the very Heather -q11d ſee, thar there was no ſuch Slavery, as a Servitude to Luſts -n4 Pailions: Men are the Servants of Corruption, 2 Pet. 2. 16. under ch# Dominion of Sin, Rom. 6. 20.
15 And the Servant z avideth not in the houſe for e167 0, brit the Son abiderh for ever p.