heaven. Go on adding to your grace, says God, " and you shall never fall1."]
Advice —
1. Reflect much and often on the day of judg- ment—
[Through a forgetfulness of that day we become the sport of every temptation: but if we would frequently endeavour to realize the strictness of the scrutiny, and the severity of the judgment which will then take place, we should be more fortified against error in principle, or evil in practice. We must expect our Lord's coming, if we would be found ready on his arrival15.]
2. Be diligent in the use of all the means of grace —
[It is in vain to hope that we shall grow in grace or know- ledge, if we do not use the means which God has appointed. But, if we watch unto prayer, and conscientiously devote our- selves to him, he will " bless us with all spiritual blessings :" " our faith and love shall grow exceedingly ;" our " hope shall abound through the power of the Holy Ghost," and, from being " babes," we shall become " children, young men, and fathers in Christ1:" and, having attained at last " the measure of the full stature of Christ"1," we shall "enter into his joy," and be partakers of his glory for evermore.]
1 2 Pet. i. 5, 10, 11. k Matt. xxiv. 42—41.
1 1 Cor. iii. 1. and 1 John ii. 12—14. « Eph. iv. 13,
1 John i. 1 — 3. That which was from, the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life ; (for the life teas manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) that which ive have seen and heard declare ive unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
IT is impossible to read these words, and not. be struck with the extreme earnestness of the Apostle in his mode of giving the testimony before us. It seems evident, that the truths which he affirms had been much controverted ; and that the evidence on which they rested had been called in question. And the fact was, that many heresies had arisen even whilst he was yet alive. Some even went so far as to deny that Jesus had ever died and risen again : they asserted, that all those transactions, which were recorded of him by the Evangelists, had taken place in appearance only, and not in reality. Against such absurd and impious conceits, St. John, now at a very advanced age, bore his testimony with a zeal suited to the occasion. He was the only surviving witness of the events referred to ; and hence he repeats, even to tautology, the evidence which he had had again and again, from all his senses, respecting the truth