This boast of the Jews, that they had Abraham to their father, only ferved to point out the more forcibly their own depravity, in acting fo contrary to the bright example he had fet them. A profligate and vicious person, who fucceeds to the honors of a long and noble line of anceftors whose names and characters have been transmitted down with unblemished luftre, derives no title to refpect from this accidental circumftance; on the contrary, he has not only to anfwer for his own vicious conduct, but must blush, if he has fhame left, whenever he is addreffed by a name which, till it came to him, had always commanded refpect and veneration. Let no one prefume to think highly of himself, on account of fuch accidental distinctions, but fuch as, instead of tarnishing their luftre, have added brilliancy to them by the practice of virtue; which alone nobility; and let us all endeavor to dignify our feveral flations, by the rectitude of our conduct, and by adorning

any

is true

our minds with thofe Chriftian

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graces and

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accomplishments which will alone avail us in the fight of that Being on whom all our happiness, both here and hereafter, depends. Let us take for our conftant guide and pattern, the divine author of our religion, Jefus Chrift, our Lord; in whom was united whatever of excellence we can form an idea of

To check this falfe pride of the Jews, our Saviour tells them, that, fo far from being free, they were under the worst of fervitude the fhameful and degrading flavery of fin; and that their plea as the feed of Abraham,' inftead of securing to them the advantages they fuppofed, would only add to their condemnation, whilft they perfifted in their unbelief. Let us apply this to ourselves, nor fuppofe, that because under the name of Chriftians we belong to the church militant here on earth, we fhall be admitted into the church triumphant in Heaven: to entitle us to fo ineftimable a privilege, we must become Chriftians, not in name only, but in fincerity and truth.

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'39. They

39. They answered and faid unto “him, Abraham is our father. Jefus faith "unto them, If ye were Abraham's chil"dren, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40. But now ye feek to kill me, a man "that hath told you the truth, which I "have heard of God: this did not Abra"ham.

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41. Ye do the deeds of your father. "Then faid they to him, We be not born "of fornication; we have one Father, even "God.

42. Jefus faid unto them, If God "were your Father, ye would love me: "for I proceeded forth and came from "God; neither came I of myfelf, but he "fent me."

How different was the conduct of the patriarch, from whom they boafted their descent ! "Abraham believed in God, " and it was imputed to him for righteouf"ness:" upon the first call, he quitted his idolatrous friends and country, for the fake of the true God, whom he worshipped Sf2

and

and ferved with the utmost reverence; nay, so implicit a confidence did he place in his Maker, that he fhewed himself ready, on his requifition, to facrifice to him his only fon--that fon through whom all the gracious promifes of God to him were to be accomplished. So far were the Jews from following his example, that they laid in wait to kill the Saviour of the world, because he told them the truth. Their whole conduct proved that they belonged rather to the father of lies, than to faithful Abraham.

43. Why do ye not underftand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

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44. Ye are of your father the devil, " and the lufts of your father ye will do: " he was a murderer from the beginning, "and abode not in the truth, because "there is no truth in him. When he fpeaketh a lye, he fpeaketh of his own: " for he is a lyar, and the father of it.

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45. And

45. And because I tell you the truth, " ye believe me not.

46. Which of you convinceth me of "fin? And if I fay the truth, why do ye 66 not believe me?

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47. He that is of God heareth God's "words: ye, therefore, hear them not, "because ye are not of God."

Their understandings were fo much clouded, by the bondage of fin and Satan, that they could not discern the truth, tho' offered to them in the plainest language, and with the most convincing arguments. As the children of the devil (as they are here properly called), they delighted in lies: these were his proper weapons, with which from the beginning he had fubdued mankind, murdering those fouls whom he had feduced to forfake the true God for idolatry, and with which he was now working to induce his followers to reject God's mercy, offered them through Jefus Christ. Our Lord's appeal to the purity of his own life for the truth of his doc