Let us next remark the partiality attributed by this gospel to Him Who
has said--according to the Bible--"all souls-are Mine." We find the
doctrine of predestination, i.e., of favouritism, constantly put
forward. "_All that the Father giveth me_ shall come to me." "No man can
come to me except the Father draw him." "That of all _which He hath given
me_ I should lose nothing." "Ye believe not, _because_ ye are not of
my sheep." "Though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they
believed not on him: _that the saying_ of Esaias the prophet _might be
fulfilled._" "Therefore, they _could not believe because_ that Esaias
said," &c. "I have chosen you out of the world." "Thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to _as many as
Thou hast given him?_" "Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none
of them is lost, but the son of perdition, _that the Scriptures might
be fulfilled._" These are the most striking of the passages which teach
that doctrine which has been the most prolific parent of immorality and
the bringer of despair to the sinner. Frightfully immoral as it is, this
doctrine is taught in all its awful hopelessness and plainness by this
gospel: some "_could not_ believe" because an old prophet prophesied
that they should not-So, "according to St. John," these unbelieving Jews
were pre-ordained to eternal damnation and the abiding wrath of God.
They were cast into an endless hell, which "they _could not_" avoid. We
reject this gospel, secondly, for the partiality it dares to attribute
to Almighty God.
We will now pass to the historical discrepancies between this gospel and
the three synoptics, following the order of the former.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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