a He endeayours in this to ſteer them a middle Courſe, that they might neither preſume to ſin, nor deſpair, if they did. And beſpeaks them with a Compellation, importing both Authority and Love ; well-becoming him as then an aged Perſca, and Apoſtle, their Teach- er, and who was their moſt affe&ionate ſpiritual Father. And lets them know the firſt Deſign of what he was now writing ( had hither to written, and was farther t6 write ) was, that they might to thar uttermoſt avoid inning at all But adds, if, through human Fraity, they did fin, we have an Advocate, &c. b Implying our ned of Chriſt for renewed, as well as firſt pardon; and not of his Dath on- ly, but continual Interceffion ; and repreſents the Adantages Chriſt hath for ſucceſs inhis interpoſing for us; in Reſpeg both of hs Relation to God as his Father, which is put indefinitely #he Fa- ther, that the Confideration might not be excluded of his 2e1ng our Father alſo. c And his Rizhteouſnefs, by which he could ot but be acceptable to him. A
2 And * he is the propitiation for our firs 4: and
- not for ours only, but alſo + for zhe Sins of the whole
world c. | | d The adding of theſe Words, ſhews that our Lod grounds his
Interceſſion for Pardon of Sin unto penitent Believes, upon his ha- : And therefore that he doth not herein meerly ſupplicate for Favour, but ( whick is the proper bu- fineſs of an Advocate ) plead Law and Right, agreeable to what is ſaid above, chap. 1. 9. e Nor is his undertaking herein limited to an) ſele& Perſons among Believers, but he muſt be underſtood to be a! Advocate for all, for whom he is effeually a Propitzation, 1. 6 for all that truly believe in him ( Rom. 3+ 25.) all the Worl
"; And hereby we do know that we know him f, F
we keep his commandments. :
f This Faith is often in the Holy Scripture ſignified by the Nne of Knowledze, Tſe. $3. 11. John 17, 3. viz, an appropriative, tn formative Knowledge, by which we own and accept God 1n Cit, as ours, ( expreſſed alſo by Acknowledgment, &1y1wnc, Eph. 117. Col. 2.2.) and are changed into his likeneſs, 2 Cor. 3. 18. The meaning then is, That we perceive, or diſcern our ſelves to | ſin- cere Bzlievers, and conſequently that Chriſt is both our Prop?arzon and Advocate, when it is become habitual and cafie to us to EY his
Commandment. : | : 4 * He thatfaith, I know him, and keepeth ot his
" commandments, is a liar g, and the truth is .ot in
him. | g A falſe hypocritical Pretender, as chap. 1. 6. _ "IRE 5 But * whoſo keepeth his word T, 1n hinverily is
the love of God perfeQted þ : * hereby knovwe that *we are in him.
h Hy Faith worbeth by Love, Gal. 5.6. His Love | perfeRted, whereof it is the Vi! Principle, chap. 5. 3. John 14. 15. ſuch an efficacious governing powledge of him; therefore, as by the Power of the Love which! produces, ſubdues our Souls to the Obedience of him, 1s a certairIFoof to us of our Union with him, chap. 5. 20. and Relation to him /
6 He that faith he abideth in him, * aght alſo to
i And this Proof we ought to give. For where fur Lord Jeſus Chriſt was not only our Lawgiver, but our Patt and practifed himſelf what he commanded us; if indeed we hrgan abiding, real Union with him, we partake of his Spirit, Rom. ' }- Which muſt be underſtood to work Uniformly, and enable us twa!k, (in the main of our Courſe, according to our meaſure of tha#pirit ) as be walk: ed,
I FOHN
which ye have heard trom the beginning.
k This Commandment muſt be that which he inſiſts en, verſe 9 to, Ix. and which in different reſpetts he calleth both o/d and new. Net new, he ſays, in oppoſition to their Gnoftich Seducers, to inti- mate he was not about toentertain them with vain Novelties, as they did; all whoſe peculiar Do&rines were no other than Innovations upon true Chriſtianity. / But old, viz. a part of original Chriſtianity, as it
or Word which they had, or had heard from the beginning. This Phraſe from the beginning, being here put in ConjunRion with ſome a& of theirs, ye had, or have heard, as alſo Eph. 2. 5, 6. ſhews it to intend a much later Term of Commencement than chap.. 1. 1. Though alſo conſidering them as Fews, whom he here writes to, it mightrun up as high as the Law given by Moſes ; or, even as Men, to the Creation, and the firſt Impreſſion of the Law of Nature ( whereof this was a very noble part ) upon the Heart of Man.
s Again,* a new zcommandmentI write unto you, which thing is true in o him, and in you p : Þ becauſe the darkneſs is paſt *, and the eth 9.
n Yet alſo he calls it a new Commandment, as our Saviour did, John 13. 34. upon the ſubjoyned accounts; which thing is true, i.e. evident, or verified, fulfilled, exemplified., o Viz. In that new and high Demonſtration he had given of the ſincerity and greatneſs of his own Love, laying down his Life for us, as Fohn 15.13. þ Or, us ( as ſome read ) 7. e. the mind of God herein is by a new and freſh _ moſt evidently and gloriouſly ſignified in, or among you ( the Subjett being here colleRive and plural, admits this varied, and very uſual Senſe of the Particle $1) in as much as the Darkneſs is paſt *, 1. e. the heatheniſh Ignorance that made the World barbarous; a Dark- neſs jn which the furious Luſts, and Paſſions of Men were wont to rage, turning this Earth inte another Hell, Pſal.74. 20. isin a great meaſure vaniſhed ; and alſo the dark Umbrage of the Fudaich Diſpen- ſ#ton, ( ſome read oxia for oxen'z, not Darkneſs, but Shadow) in vhich the Love of God to Men was more obſcurely repreſented, is paſt away and gone ; q and the true Light now ſhineth, the Love and
Grace of God towards Sinners, (the Pattern and Argument of our mutual Love to one another) ſhines with true light, that is evident in oppoſition to Darkneſs, or, immediately Subſtantial, in oppoſition to Type or Shadow, as John 1. 9, 14, 17. repreſenting the gracious Deſign of God, and his very Nature who 1s Love, chap. 4. 8, 16. with ſo bright and glorious Beams as ought to transform us into his Likeneſs ; and which therefore render the mutual Hatred of one ano- ther, the moſt incongruous thing to us in all the World. Where- upon he adds, : RA
9 * He that faith he is in the light, and hateth his
brother, is in darkneſs until now /.