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and shews them that they shall die

A. D. 29.

а

in their sins, because they reject him.

CCII. 1.

21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye can

CCII. 1.

His hour was not yet come.] The time was not arrived, in which he had determined to give himself up into the hands of his crucifiers.

Verse 21. Then said Jesus again unto them] He had said the same things to them the day before. See chap. vii. 34.

Ye shall seek me] When your calamities come upon you, ye shall in vain seek for the help of the Messiah, whom ye now reject, and whom ye shall shortly crucify.

Verse 22. Will he kill himself?] They now understood that he spake concerning his death: but before, chap. vii. 35. they thought he spoke of going to some of the Grecian provinces, to preach to the dispersed Jews.

Verse 23. Ye are from beneath] Ye are capable of murder, and of self-murder too, because ye have nothing of God in you. Ye are altogether earthly, sensual, and devilish. They verified this character in murdering the Lord Jesus; and many of them afterwards to escape famine, &c. put an end to their own lives.

Verse 25. Who art thou?] This marks the indignation of the Pharisees as if they had said: Who art thou that takest upon thee to deal out threatenings in this manner against us? Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.] Rather, Just what I have already told you, i. e. that I am the light of the world--the Christ, the Saviour of mankind. There are a variety of renderings for this verse among the critics. Some consider Tax, (which makes the principal difficulty in the text) as the answer of our Lord. Who art thou? I am gx, the chief, the supreme; and have therefore a right to judge, and to execute judgment. But if our Lord had intended to convey this meaning, he would doubtless have said Ax", or Agxw,

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This mode of read

and not TM gx, in the accusative case. ing appears to have been followed by the Vulgate, some co pies of the Itala, and some of the Fathers: but this construction can never be reconciled to the Greek text. Others take any ɑgxní as an adverb, in which sense it is repeatedly used by the best Greek writers, and connecting the 25th with the 26th verse, they translate thus: I have indeed, as I assure you, many things to say of you, and to condemn in you. See Wakefield. Raphelius takes up the words nearly in the same way, and defends his mode of exposition with much critical learning; and to him I refer the Reader. I have given it that meaning, which I thought the most simple and plain, should any departure from our own version be thought ne cessary: both convey a good and consistent sense.

Verse 26. I have many things to say and to judge of you] Or, to speak and to condemn, &c. I could speedily expose all your iniquitics-your pride and ambition, your hypocrisy and irreligion, your hatred to the light, and your malice against the truth, together with the present obstinate unbelief of your hearts; and shew, that these are the reasons why I say you will die in your sins: but these will all appear in their true light, when, after you have crucified me, the judgments of God shall descend upon and consume you.

He that sent me is true] Whatever he hath spoken of you by the prophets, shall surely come to pass: his word cannot fail.

Verse 28. When ye have lifted up] When ye have crucified me, and thus filled up the measure of your iniquities, ye shall know that I am the Christ, by the signs that shall follow; and ye shall know that what I spoke is true, by the judgments that shall follow. To be lifted up, is a common mode of

Many of the Jews believe on him;

A. M. 4033. A. D. 29.

An. Olymp. me:
CCII. 1.

that please him.

C

d

A. D. 29. An. Olymp. CCII. 1.

on him.

35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

k

37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

38 'I speak that which I have seen with my

d

a Ch. 11. 10, 11. ver. 16.— ch. 4. 34. & 5. 30. & 6. 33. ch. 7.31. & 10. 42. & 11. 45.—- Rom. 6. 14, 18, 22. & 8. 2. Jam, 1. 25. & 2.12.

Gal. 5. 1.

f Lev. 25. 42. Matt. 3. 9. ver. 39. ————^ Gal. 4. 30.- Rom. 8. 2. 3. 32. & 5. 19, 30. & 14. 10, 24.

Rom. 6. 16, 20. 2 Pet. 2. 19. ch. 7. 19. ver. 40.— ch.

expression among the Jewish writers, for to die, or to be killed.

Verse 29. The Father hath not left me alone] Though ye shall have power to put me to death, yet this shall not be because he hath abandoned me. No-he is ever with me, because I do that which pleaseth him; and it is his pleasure, that I should lay down my life for the salvation of the world. Does not our Lord allude to the following scriptures? Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire: my ears hast thou opened, (or, a body hast thou prepared me: Heb. x. 5.) then said I, Lo, I come; this is written in the volume of the book concerning me. I delight to do thy will, O my God! thy law is in my heart. Psal. xl. 6, 7, 8.

Verse 30. As he spake these words, many believed on him.] The same sun that hardens the clay, softens the wax. This discourse which proved the savour of death unto death to the obstinate Pharisees, became the savour of life unto life, to many of the simple hearted people.

Verse 31. If ye continue in my word] Or, in this doctrine of mine. It is not enough to receive God's truth-we must retain, and walk in it. And it is only when we receive the truth, love it, keep it, and walk in it, that we are the genuine disciples of Christ.

Verse 33. They answered] That is, the other Jews who had not believed-the carping, cavilling Pharisees already mentioned: for the words cannot be spoken of the simple people who had already believed. See ver. 30.

Were never in bondage to any man] This assertion was not only false, but it was ridiculous in the extreme; seeing their whole history, sacred and profane, is full of recitals of their servitude in Egypt, in Chaldea, under the Persians, under the Macedonians, and under the Romans. But those who are not under the influence of the truth of God, will speak and act according to the influence of the spirit of falsehood and error. If the words are to be restrained to themselves alone, they may be understood thus: We are Abraham's seed; and we were never in bondage. Both these propositions. had a faint shadow of truth.

Verse 34. Whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin.] Or, douλos toti, &c. is the slave of sin. This was the slavery of which Christ spoke and deliverance from it, was the liberty which he promised.

Verse 35. And the servant abideth not in the house] Or ra ther, Now the slave abideth not in the family. As if Jesus had said: And now that I am speaking of a slave, I will add one thing more, viz. a slave has no right to any part of the in

heritance as he pleases. Our Lord seems here to refer to the sending away of Ishmael, mentioned Gen. xxi. 10-14. Only those who are genuine children, can inherit the estate. If sons, then heirs: heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ: Gal. iv. 21-31. Rom. viii. 17. and see Bishop Pearce's Paraphrase.

Verse 37. My word hath no place in you.] Or, this doc

trine of mine hath no place in you. Ye hear the truths of God, but ye do not heed them; the word of life has no influence over you; and how can it, when you seek to kill me, because I proclaim this truth to you?

It is a dismal omen, when a person is regardless of the truth of God: it is more so to be provoked against it: but to persecute and endeavour to destroy those who preach it, is the last degree of perverseness and obduracy. The word of God requires a heart which is empty. A heart filled with earthly projects, carnal interests, ambition, thoughts of raising a fortune, and with the love of the superfluities and pleasures of life, is not fit to receive the seed of the kingdom. When a man shuts his heart against it by his passions, he at the same time opens it to all sorts of crimes. QUESNEL.

From this whole period, says Dr. Lightfoot, it is manifest that the whole tendency of our Saviour's discourse, is to shew the Jews, that they are the seed of that serpent, which was to bruise the heel of the Messiah: else what could that mean, ver. 44. Ye are of your father the devil, i. e. ye are the seed of the serpent.

Verse 38. I speak that which I have seen] I speak nothing but that unchangeable, eternal truth which I have received from the bosom of God.

Ye do that which ye have seen] Instead of twganate, yê have |¦¦ seen, I think we should read "xovxate, ye have heard, on the authority of BCKL. fifteen others; Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, latter Syriac in the margin; Gothic, one copy of the Itala: Origen, Cyril, and Chrysostom. This reading, says Bishop Pearce (who has adopted it) seems preferable to the other, because it could not be said with the same propriety, that the Jews had seen any thing with their father the Devil, as it could that Jesus had seen with his.

Jesus saw the Father, for he was the woRD that was with God from eternity. The Jews did not see, they only felt and heard their father the Devil. It is the interest of Satan to keep himself out of sight, and to work in the dark.

Verse 39. If ye were Abraham's children] Griesbach reads

,ye are, instead of nr, ye were, on the authority of BDL. Vulgate, four copies of the Itala; Origen, and Augustin. Ye would do the works of Abraham.] As the son has the nature of his father in him, and naturally imitates him; so if ye were the children of Abraham, ye would imitate him in his faith, obedience, and uprightness; but this ye do not, for ye seek to kill me-yc are watching for an opportunity to destroy me, merely because I tell you the truth: Abraham never did any thing like this; therefore, you have no spiritual relationship to him.

Verse 41. Ye do the deeds of your father.] You have certainly another father than Abraham; one who has instilled his own malignant nature into you: and as ye seek to murder me for telling you the truth, ye must be the offspring of him who was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, ver. 44.

We be not born of fornication] We are not a mixed spurious breed our tribes and families have been kept distinct -we are descended from Abraham by his legal wife Sarah; and we are no idolaters.

We have one Father, even God.] In the spiritual sense of father and son, we are not a spurious, that is, an idolatrous race; because we acknowledge none as our spiritual father, and worship none as such, but the true God. See Bishop Pearce,

Verse 42. If God were your Father, ye would love me] I came from God, and it would be absurd to suppose that you would persecute me if you were under the influence of God. The children of the same Father should not murder each other.

Verse 43. Why do ye not understand my speech?] Try haliav this my mode of speaking-when illustrating spiritual by natural things: hazia refers to the manner of speaking; yos to the matter or subject on which he spoke. For aaas, the Codex Beze had originally andar; why do ye not acknowledge this TRUTH of mine? A few other MSS. agree in this reading.

Because ye cannot hear my word.] That is, ye eannot bear