man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard
of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father." In their
blind anger they apparently construed this to imply that though they
were children of Abraham's household some other man than Abraham was
their actual progenitor, or that they were not of unmixed Israelitish
blood. "We be not born of fornication" they cried, "we have one Father,
even God." Jesus said unto them, "If God were your Father, ye would love
me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself,
but he sent me."

They failed to understand because of their stubborn refusal to listen
dispassionately. With forceful accusation Jesus told them whose children
they actually were, as evinced by the hereditary traits manifest in
their lives: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts 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 speaketh a lie,
he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.[862] And
because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." He challenged them to
find sin in Him; and then asked why, if He spake the truth, they so
persistently refused to believe Him. Answering His own question, He told
them that they were not of God and therefore they understood not the
words of God. The Master was unimpeachable; His terse, cogent assertions
were unanswerable. In impotent rage the discomfited Jews resorted to
invective and calumny. "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and
hast a devil?" they shrieked. They had before called Him a Galilean;
that appellative was but mildly depreciatory, and moreover was a
truthful designation according to their knowledge; but the epithet
"Samaritan" was inspired by hate,[863] and by its application they meant
to disown Him as a Jew.

The charge that He was a demoniac was but a repetition of earlier
slanders. "Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father,
and ye do dishonour me." Reverting to the eternal riches offered by His
gospel, the Master said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep
my saying, he shall never see death." This rendered them the more
infuriate: "Now we know that thou hast a devil" they cried, and as
evidence of what they professed to regard as His insanity, they cited
the fact that great as were Abraham and the prophets they were dead, yet
Jesus dared to say that all who kept His sayings