Second point. Now I come to the perniciousuess and danger of this sin, ' No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.' I shall clear it by these considerations —
1. That it is a blessed thing to have eternal life abiding in us before we enter into the i)os.se8sion of it. This will appear sufficiently by explaining the terms, what it is to have eternal life, and then what it is to have it abiding in us.
[1.] What is it to have eternal life ? It is to have a right to it by a new covenant grant : 1 John v. 12, ' He that hath the Sou hath life,
132 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III, [SeR. XXL
and he that hath not the Son hath not life.' He hath a stated right, and well secured, as firm as God's covenant can make it ; a right pleadable before the tribunal of God : 1 John v. 24, ' He that believeth on the Sou hath eternal life, and shall not come into condemnation.'
[2.] To have it, is firmly to believe it, and hope and look for it : Heb. xi. 1, ' Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Faith giveth to its object presence and evidence. As it is substance, so it is equal to present subsistence ; as it is an evidence, so it is equal to visibility ; it is present to our view and sight in point of truth, to our affections in point of worth.
[3.] To have it abiding in us is to have it begun in the spiritual life. The spiritual life is an introduction to this life of glory. There is an eternal principle in our hearts ; therefore grace is called an immortal or incorruptible seed, 1 Peter i. 23. There is an eternal principle put into them, to carry them to eternal ends. The life is begun, and is still working towards its final perfection. Nothing is perfected in heaven but what is begun here upon earth. It is an earnest to show liow sure, 2 Cor. i. 22, the first-fruits, to show how good, Eom. viii. 23. The comforts of the Spirit are some foretastes of the sweetness which is in heaven. It is also a disposition ; it doth qualify and prepare us for glory: Col. i. 12, ' Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;' and Kom. ix. 23, 'Prepared unto glory.' As their natures are more a,nd more renewed and purified, and more dispositively fitted.
2. This is the privilege of the true believer, and none else ; for it is expressly said, John iii. 36, ' He that believeth on the Son hath ever- lasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.'
3. None is a true believer but he that loveth God above all, and his people for God's sake ; for true faith worketh by love. Gal. v. 6, and the great commands of the gospel are faith in Christ, and love to one another: 1 John iii. 23, 'And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave commandment.'
4. Therefore those that live in the allowed hatred of their brethren are cut off from all those privileges ; they have not a right to God's covenant, for they are not sound believers ; they have no true faith and hope concerning the world to come, for then they would prepare more for it; for our certain and desirous expectation of the promised glory is seen in our seriousness, diligence, and watchfulness against sin. They have not the beginnings of heaven in their souls, because they have not the divine nature, which is love ; yea, they cherish that which destroy eth Ihe power and forfeits the comforts of the spiritual life, hatred, which is the satanical nature, and utterly contrary and inconsistent with the divine and heavenly life.
VeR, 16.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN IIL 131:
SERMON XXII.
Hereby perceive loe the love of God, becmcse he laid doion his life for us : and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. — 1 John iii. 16.
The apostle having instanced in the lowest act of love, not hating our brother, and destroying the life of another, as Cain did ; now he Cometh to instance in the highest act of love, laying down our own lives for the brethren. Lest by the former discourse he should seem to beat down the price of love too low in the world, he seeketli here to advance it again. A christian should be so far from destroying the life of another, that he should venture his own, ' Hereby perceive we the love of God,' &c.
In the words observe two things — (1.) An instance of God's love; (2.) The inference of duty drawn from thence.
First, The instance of God's love, * Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.'
1. The phrase of laying down of life imports his deatli was not forced, but he yielded to it by a voluntary submission ; so it is explained, John X. 17, 18, ' I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself : I have power to lay it down, and have power to take it again.'