Mateo 12:34

34. O generation of vipers Our Lord in the last verse had used these doctrines to show that he was pure and good, because his actions were so. He now turns upon his opponents to convince them that they were the reverse in nature, and must be the reverse in action. The term generation of vipers indicates that depravity is inborn. As the viper’s nature is derived by propagation from its original parents, so man’s moral nature is derived from his progenitors. Divine grace is therefore necessary as that which by nature we cannot have; and a man must as a free agent use that grace which worketh within him both to will and to do. He must not receive the grace of God in vain. How can ye They could not by mere nature, any more than an Ethiop can make himself white. Experience, Scripture, and reason teach this. God’s grace, over and above nature, must give the power of change, and man must use it. Abundance of the heart Abundance of the dispositions back of the will.