Vers. 41-47.-Troe spirif'll,(l,l paternity. Notice- I. TBEUl MISTAKEN SPIRITUAL PATERNITY. "We have one Father, even God." This in a sense is true. (1) God was their Father as creatures; (2) he was their Father as a nation; (3) he was their Father still in his yearning love to save and pity them. But it is substantially hollow and false, as proved by their conduct towards Christ. 1. Th,ey faile,d t-0 recognize his connection with God. (1) He was tlie Son of God. "I came forth out of God." He was, in fact, God's Son, as•evidenced by his person and miracles. (2) He was come on a IJivine misbion. Come to them, and come on a mission of love and salvation. (3) He was divinely sent. "Neither came I of myself, but he sent me "-he whom you call your Father. 2. They Jailed to under- stand Ms message. .Although (1) he spoke with Divine authority; (2) with Divine simplicity; (3) with Divine importunity and tenderness, so that he could naturally ask the pretended children of God, " Why do ye not understand my speech? " 3. 'Il,ey failed tc believe him and liis message. Although: (1) His character was peif~ct. "Wl,id1 of you," etc.? (2) His mtssage was truthful. He could challenge them with reoard to the -truthfulness of bis messaoe, as well as the perfection of his character, an~ both deserved. and demanded attention°and faith. (3) Yet tliey disbelieved and re-jected on. vm, 1-60.J THE OOSPHT, ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 305
liim for the very renson which should induce them to believe and accept him. "Becanse I tell you the truth, ye," etc. 4. These sad failures flatly ccntradict their pretended relation~hip to God. (Vers. 42-47.) II, 'l'HEm TRUE SPIRITUAL PATERNITY. " Ye are of your father," etc. Look at the picture of the father and the children and their likeneBB, 1. Look at his murderous propensities. (1) 'l'he devil is a mtirderer. 'l'he murderer of human bodies an<l souls; the destroyer of human happiness and the Divine image in man. 'l'he Jewish nation bore this character. From time to time they manifested murderous propensities; they became the murderers of the Messiah, the Son of God and the Lord of glory. (2) 'l'he devil was a murderer from the beginning. Not the beginning of all things, nor even tbe very beginning of his own existence, but the beginning of the human race. His fall preceded that of man, and perhaps the existence of man; but no sooner ha<l he perceived Adam, young, innocent, and loyal in his happy paradise, than the Just of mmder wns excited in his breast, and he fixed upon man as his victim, and effected his foul purpose in the spiritual murder of our first parents. This was the character of the Jews from the beginning, and the character of these very persons since the beginning of Christ's earthly existence. No sooner had the second Adam appeared on the scene than they sought by every means to kill him. (3) The devil is a most selfish and wilful murderer. 'l'bis was the case with regard to our first parents. There was no pro- vocation, uo gain beyond the gratification of his own selfishness and malice. This was the case with these Jews iu the murder of their Messiah; they could find no reason for it but in their own dark and selfish hatred. 2. Look at his lying propensities. (1) The clevil is a liar. He is opposed to truth, to all truth, especially to the great system of truth brought to light by Christ. Thus his falsehood serves well bis murderous opposi- tionJo the redeemiug truth of the gospel. In this the beads of the Jewish nation resembled him; they murderously opposed Jesus, and lie came to help murder; they bore false witness against him. (2) 'l'he devil became a liar by falling from the truth. He was in the truth once and the truth in him, but abode not in it long enough to be morally safe. He fell wilfully, of his own accord. He is a back.slitler, and, having fallen from truth, he bad no place to fall but into the whirlpool of falsehood, with all its concomitant vices. How like their spiritual father were the Jewish nation! 'rhey were born into great religious privileges, they bad eminent spiritual fathers, brought up under the watchful care and in the tender lap of a kind Providence, nursed on the breast of Divine and precious promises, and familiarized with the idea of a coming Messiah, their Divine Deliverer; but they abode not in the truth, but wilfully fell into falsehood. It seems as if only the children of special light alone arc capable of becoming the veritable children of the prince of darkness. (3) The devil as a liar is most complete. "There is no truth in him." He is completely lost to truth, and truth to him; there is not a vestige of it in bis nature. It is so completely gone, that eternal hatred of it now sits on its old throne, and the very thought of it is repugnant and unbearable. In this how like their father these children were! Jesus appealed to el'ery sentiment of virtue and affection in their breast, but in vain. He exhibited in his life and character all that is attractive in human nature, and all that is mighty and benevolent in the Divine; but all this not only did not excite their ailmiration and gratitude, but excited their most deadly hatred, which proves the sad hollowaess and falsiLy of their cbnracter. There was no truth in)hcm. (4) The devil as a liar is terribly original. "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketb of his own," etc. It is not a passing impulse, the result of temptation, but the natural outflow, and a part aud parcel of his nature. Here the problem of the existeace of evil is somewhat sol_v~<l ; we have found its father, its original propagator. His children partake of his spmtual nature, otherwiso they would not be bis children. The days of repentance, struggle, resistance, and prayer are past; these are days of spiritual generation, and in this case the result is a progeny of the (levil. 'l'hese Jews were more than under his Influence; they were his progony. 'l.'erribly origiual, self-responsible, voluntary, inde- 11endent and complacent in their sic, they spoke of their own; their falsehoods wern their own, and their murderous act was especially their own, the outflow of their evil nature. "Let bis blood be upon us," etc. The father of murder has not finished with any one till that 0110 carries on business ou his own footing, manufoctnres his own goods and disposes of them at his own risk, and does all this naturally. 'l'heu 896 TB:E GOSPEL AOOOR:t)ING TO ST. JOHN. [ctt. vtn. 1--89,