We are in the covenant.

true Church.
all right." This was their whole argument!

We must be

Strange as it may seem, there are multitudes of socalled Christians who are exactly like these Jews. Their whole religion consists of a few notions neither wiser nor better than those propounded by the enemies of our Lord. They will tell you "that they are regular church people; they have been baptized; they go to the Lord's table; "--but they can tell you no more. Of all the essential doctrines of the Gospel they are totally ignorant. Of faith, and grace, and repentance, and holiness, and spiritual mindedness they know nothing at all. But, forsooth they are Churchmen, and so they hope to go to heaven! There are myriads in this condition. It sounds sad, but unhappily it is only too true.

Let us settle firmly in our minds that connection with a good Church and good ancestors is no proof whatever that we ourselves are in the way to be saved. We need something more than this. We must be joined to Christ himself by a living faith. We must know something experimentally of the work of the Spirit in our hearts. 'Church principles," and "sound Churchmanship," are fine words and excellent party cries. they will not deliver our souls from the wrath to come, or give us boldness in the day of judgment.

But

We are taught, for another thing, the true marks of spiritual sonship. Our Lord

plain by two mighty sayings.

makes this point most

Did the Jews say, "We

have Abraham to our father"? He replies, "If ye were Abraham's children ye would do the works of Abraham."

-Did the Jews say, "We have one Father, even God "? He replies, "If God were your Father ye would love Me."

Let these two sayings of Christ sink down into our hearts. They supply an answer to two of the most mischievous, yet most common, errors of the present day. What more common, on one side, than vague talk about the universal Fatherhood of God? "All men," we are told, "are God's children, whatever be their creed or religion: all are finally to have a place in the Father's house, where there are many mansions." -What more common, on another side, than highsounding statements about the effects of baptism and the privileges of Churchmembership? By baptism," we are confidently told, "all baptized people are made children of God; all members of the Church, without distinction, have a right to be addressed as sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty."

Statements like these can never be reconciled with the plain language of our Lord in the passage before us. If words mean anything, no man is really a child of God, who does not love Jesus Christ. The charitable judgment of a baptismal service, or the hopeful estimate of a catechism, may call him by the name of a son, and reckon him among God's children. But the reality of sonship to God, and all its blessings, no one possesses who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. (Ephes. vi. 24.) In matters like these we need not be shaken by mere assertions. We may well afford to despise the charge of undervaluing the sacraments. We have only to ask one question: "What is written?

What saith the Lord?" And with this saying before us, we can only come to one conclusion: "Where there is no love to Christ, there is no sonship to God."

We are taught, lastly, in these verses, the reality and character of the devil. Our Lord speaks of him as one whose personality and existence are beyond dispute. In solemn words of stern rebuke He says to His unbelieving enemies, "Ye are of your father the devil,”led by him, doing his will, and showing unhappily that you are like him. And then He paints His picture in dark colours, describing him as a "murderer" from the beginning, as a "liar" and the father of lies.

There is a devil! We have a mighty invisible enemy always near us,-one who never slumbers and never sleeps,-one who is about our path and about our bed, and spies out all our ways, and will never leave us till we die. He is a murderer! His great aim and object is, to ruin us for ever and kill our souls. To destroy, to rob us of eternal life, to bring us down to the second death in hell, are the things for which he is unceasingly working. He is ever going about, seeking whom he may devour. He is a liar! He is continually, trying to deceive us by false representations, just as he deceived Eve at the beginning. He is always telling us that good is evil and evil good,-truth is falsehood and falsehood truth,-the broad way good and the narrow way bad. Millions are led captive by his deceit, and follow him, both rich and poor, both high and low, both learned and unlearned. Lies are his chosen weapons. By lies he slays many.

These are awful things; but they are true.

Let us live as if we believed them. Let us not be like many who mock, and sneer, and scoff, and deny the existence of the very Being who is invisibly leading them to hell. Let us believe there is a devil, and watch, and pray, and fight hard against his temptations. Strong as he is, there is One stronger than him, who said to Peter, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not,” and who still intercedes at God's right hand. Let us commit our souls to Him. (Luke xxii. 32.) With such a Being as the devil going to and fro in the world, we never need wonder to see evil abounding. Christ on our side, we need not be afraid. He that is for us, than he that is against us. It is written, "Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you." -The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." (James iv. 7; Rom. xvi. 20.)

NOTES. JOHN VIII. 37-47.

But with Greater is

37.-[I know that ye are Abraham's seed.] In this verse our Lord takes up the arrogant boast of the Jews, that they were Abraham's seed. He had replied to their assertion, "We were never in bondage to any man," by showing the nature of true bondage and true liberty. He now returns to their opening saying, "We be Abraham's seed," and begins by telling them that He knew, and fully admitted, their carnal descent from Abraham.

[But ye seek to kill me.] This must mean, "Your relation to Abraham does you no good, for ye are seeking to murder Me at this very moment, though I have come to fulfil the promises made to Abraham."

Here, as well as at the 40th verse, and chapter vii. 19, our Lord shows His perfect knowledge of all the designs of His enemies. He gives us an example of steady perseverance in God's work, even though we know our lives are in peril.

[Because my word hath no place in you.] This means, "Because the Gospel I preach, the message I brought from My Father, makes no way or progress in your hearts, or among you."-The Greek word, which our translators have rendered "hath place," is never so rendered elsewhere. The idea here seems to be that of “going forward, spreading, and marching on.’

This describes literally the condition of many who hear Christ's word in every age. It seems to come to a dead stand-still or halt in their hearts, and to make no way with them.

38.—[I speak that, etc.] The sense of this verse appears to be filled

up thus,—"The truth is, that there is an entire gulf and breach between you and Me. I speak, and am ever speaking, the doctrine which I have seen with My Father, in our eternal councils about mankind, and which I am sent by Him to proclaim to the world. You, on the other hand, do and are always doing the things which your father the devil presents to your minds, and which you have seen and imbibed into your characters, under his influence."

When our Lord speaks of what He has ", seen " with His Father, we must remember, as elsewhere, that He uses language accommodated to our weak capacities, to describe the relation between Himself and the first Person in the Trinity. Compare John iii. 32 and v. 19.

There can be no doubt that the "father" of the Jews, to whom our Lord here refers, is "the devil," when we read the verses following. It conveys an awful idea of the state of unbelieving and wicked men, that they are doing what they have seen and learned from the devil. There may, however, be special reference to the design of the Jews to kill Christ. Our Lord's meaning may be, "Ye are doing what ye have seen with the devil your father. He has suggested to you to kill Me, and you are listening to his suggestion." 39.—[They answered...Abraham is our father.] This is a repetition of what the Jews had already said. Startled at what our Lord said about their "father," they re-assert emphatically their relationship to Abraham.—“What do you mean by thus speaking of our father? Abraham is our father."

[Jesus saith...if Abraham's children...works of Abraham.] Our Lord here tells them that it is possible to be Abraham's children according to the flesh, and yet not Abraham's children according to the Spirit." If ye were true spiritual descendants of Abraham, you would show it by doing such things as Abraham did. Your works would be like his, because springing from a like faith.”