fore our true Love to them, ſuppoſes our Love to him, and is to be evinced by it. 3 For this is the love of God þ that we keep his com mandments, and his commandments are not grievous. h 1.e, This is the moſt lively, certain Expreffion and Ertect of our Love to God, our keeping his Commandments, which are fo lit- tle grievous, that true Love can make no difficulty of doins ſo, Mat. II. 30. Pſal. 19.11. 4 For whatſoever is born of God 7, overcometh the world, and this is the victory & that overcometh rhe world, even our faith. i Heexplains himſelf, viz. that to onewho is born of God, His Com- mandments are not grieyous, becauſe ſucha one in that Divine Birth, hath received a Life and Nature, that makes him far ſuperior to this World, exalts him above it, makes him yiRorious ouer the world. ly Spirit ( as chap. 4+ 4. ) over all worldly Deſires, and Fears, and Hopes, and Joys, which are the great Hindrances of our Obedience to God, k. i. e. The Inſtrument, the Weapon by which they over- ' come, and which virtually includes in it ſelf this Victory over the | World, as Effects are included in the Power of their Cauſe, i thcir tf Faith, that Principle which in their Regeneration (as ab5ie \ is im- | planted in them. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but * he + <. 4.157
that believeth that Jeſus is the Son of God / 2
1 For that Faith, viz. that Feſiss is the Son of God, ( or the Chriſt, as verſe 1. ) fills the Soul with ſo great things concerning him, and the Deſign of his coming among us, and what weare to expett there- upon, as eafily turn this Worid into a contemptible Shadow, and deprive 1t of all its former Power over us.
6 This is he thatcame by waterand blood x, ever Jeſus Chriſt ; not by water o:ly, but by warcr and blood : and it Is the ſpirit that beareth witneſs, becaulc the {pirir 1s truth.
—_—
m For the explaining of this obſcure Place we muſt procecd by de- grees. It is, 1. evident, that Water and Blood cannot he here meant literally. 2. It is therefore conſequent, that they muſt be intended to ſignifie ſomewhat or other by way of Symbolical Repreſontation, or that they muſt have ſome myſtical Meaning. 3. They ouzht to have ſuch a meaning aſſigned them, as will both be agreeable to the Expreſſions themſelves, and to the Apoſtle's preſent Scope and Defign. It will, 4. be very agrecable to the Expreſſions, to un- derſtand by Water the Purity of our blefſed Lord, and by Blood his Sufferings. 5. His maniteſt Scope and Deſign is, to ſhew the abun- dantly ſufficient Credibility of the Witneſſes and Teſtimony we have, to aſſure us that Feſus was the ChriF, or the Meſſiah, and to induce us to believe this of him, with ſo efficacious and transforming a Faith, as ſhould evidence our being born of God, and make us fo viRori- ous over the World, as conſtantly to adhere to this Jeſus by Truf and Obedience againſt all the Allurements and Terrors of it. 5. This being his Scope, it ſuppoſeth that the mentioned Coming of 7eſus, as the Meſſiah, was for ſome known End, unto his Accomplij}1ment where- of theſe two, his Purity and his Sufferings, were apt and certain Means, as that they were to be conſidered under the Notion of Means, his being ſaid to have come he, by them, doth intimate. And in purſuance of this Scope, he muſt be underſtood to fignifie, that his Coming ſo remarkably by theſe two, did carry with it ſome ve- ry convietive Proof and Evidence of his being the $1n of God, and the Meſſiah, ſufficient to recommend him as the moſt deſerving Obje& of ſuch a Faith, and render it highly reaſonable we ſhould hereupon ſo truſt and obey him, and intirely reſign our ſelves to his Mercy and Government. Wherefore alſo, 7. This his C:ming muſt here be underſtood in a Senſe accommodate hereunto, and is therefore in no reaſon to be taken for the very 4 or Inſtant, preciſely, of his En- trance into this World, but to figaifie his whole Courſe in it, from firſt to laſt, a continued Motion and Agency, correſpondent to the In- ; tendment of his Miſſion. To the clearing of which Notion of hzs Corr- , ing, ſome Light may be gained, by conſidering the Account which j is given, 2 Theſſ. 2.9, 10. of the Coming of Antichriſt, which is ſaid to be after Satan, (as it were by his impulſion, and in purſuance of his Ends and Purpoſes ) with all Power, and Signs, and lying q Wonders, and all deceivableneſi of Unrighteouſneſs ; where it is mani- 4 feſt, Coming muſt ſignify a continued Courſe of doing Buſine/l. So ; here, our Lord's Commg muſt fignify his continual Employment for the diſpatch of the Bufineſs about which he was ſent. 8. The known Buſineſs and End for which he was ſent, was to reduce and bring back Sinners to God. 9g. How apt and neceſſary means theſe two, his Purity and Sufferings, were to this End, the whole Frame of the Goſpel ſhews. © His Sacrifice of himſelf, in his Sufferings, was neceſſary to our Reconciliation ; ſo he - was to come and effe&t gf his Work by Blood : His Purity was requiſite to the Acceptableneſs of his Sacrifice; fo it was to be done by Water : without which, as was wont to be proverbially ſaid among the Hebrews, there could be no Sacrifice, 10, For the Evidence his coming /o remarkably by theſe two carried with it, for the inducing of us to belicve him to be the Meſſiah, with ſuch a Faith, as whereby we ſhould imitate
his Purity, and rely upon the Value of his Sufferings; we may ſee it | 4 in the Note upon verſe 8. where the Teſtimony of theſe two Wit- Ty nefles; the Water and the Blood, comes to be given in its own Place |
| and Order. 11, Nor is it ſtrange the Apoſtle ſhould uſe _ | mMVINC a: 1
Ch
T Joh, 1.1.
* Rom. 8. FE. Gil. 4 6.
»
an. V,
the ſpirit, and the water and the blood: and theſe