which portm~·s the complete ori;::iMl; he who wou!tl Rcqul\lnt himselr wilh the whole truth of Go.I, l\s far R8 God is relntcd to m1rn, mi.st take into his mind the perfect nnd ~1<:>rions rt'pr~sentatlon offered in the gospel. There is no other way in which the trut.h can be grasped and held by the finite, cr011tcd unlure. Know him who is the '.J'ruth; and then, then only, do you know the t111th itself. III. BY WHAT MEANS IB THE TilUTB TO DE GAINED? Ir what hM been snid be accepted a5 a just expression of the fact, and a just interpretation of the text, then wo are on the way to a t1elution of the prAcfical difficulty. There is no pince for scepti- .-:ism-for that ■upcrficiRl and often unreflccting denial of the possibility of nttniniug truth, which lends eome men to despair, but more to indolence of mind or to sensuality d life. And yet tru1h is not to be found by a mere passive submission to human authority ; nor by II process of scientific inquiry applied to mnttera with which that process has no affinity. Dnt it is to be found hy those morally prepared for the discovery by humility and reverence; it is to be found by those who come-to Christ t-0 lit1tcn to him, to watch him, to win him by the wide receptiveness of faith, and by the luminoll6 sympathy of love.-T.
, er. 6.-Clirist the Life. The broadest and most impressive distinction in nature is that between what is inanimate and what lives. Deautiful as arc earth's landscapes grand ae is tbe rolling sea, av.·ful as is the storm, still there is an interest in life fa; deeper than can be found in the p:issive nnd the non-5entient creation. The power which living things possess of taking iuto themselves, and of making their own, the matter of which their own structure is composed-the growlh of framework and of organs, the exercise of function, the obvious working out in the individual of an end appointed• the reaction of living things upon the lifeless world, and the mysterious connection of life with feeling, and in its higher forms with mind; o.bo,·e all, the union between the living being, man, and the rational, accountable, immortal spirit ;-all these render life intensely and imperishably interesting. It is not, as at first sight may seem to be the case, a fall in dignity when Jesus, having asserted himself to be "the Truth,n goes on 10 claim that he is also" the Life." In fact, the true is the theoretical, and the living is the practical, in which latter the former finds its true expression, interpretation, and end. In a uni,·erse governed by infinite reason and righteousness, the highest truth and the noblest life must be for ever linked in perfect union. I. CIIRIBT lS IN IlIIISELF THE PoSSESSOB OF PERFECT SPmITUAL LIFE. Such was the testimony of evangelists nnd apostles. "In him was life; n "The life which was with the Father was manifested unto us," etc. The same witness was borne by the Lord him.self. " I am the Resurrection nnd the Lire ; " " I live." Such language declares the independence of the eternal Word, hia underived authority, his supremacy over all who live by and through him. No man can dare to say, "I am the life;" a creature of Divine power, born but yesterday, and every moment depending upon providential care, he c:innot but shrink from a claim which would be as absurd as it would be profane, But Jesus could eay, "As the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself." II. CHlllST IS THE Pll.lNCIPLE OF SPmITUAL LIFE TO mm. As far as we can trace it, life always comes from life. A mysterious priaciple,in its origin of lineal derivation, enables the living bcing to appropriate to itself its appointed nourishment, to discharge its proper functions, to do the work assigned to it in the economy of nature. Without this principle the lifeless matter is powerless. Now, the spirit of man is the breath of the Almighty. Informed by this Divine ener)!y m~n lives, spiritually as well as naturaUy. Hut there is a life which is distinctively Christian ; and this is always trace- ab'e to Christ himself. He communicates the life which he possesses. Imagine the earth 118 it is in the chill, hard grasp of winter; and in your fancy watch the change which takes place when that grasp is relax.ed. The sun shines more warmly, the breezes play BOftly over the fields and the forests, and radiant spring smiles upon the earth, which beneath that smile begins to live. 'fhe corn springs up, the flowers bloom, the leaves burst into greenness, the grove lately still and silent echoes with the songs of birds. and all creation flushes, bloaBOme, murmure into life. Such is the change which the coming of Christ brinae to the &0ul, brings to the world. "Newness of life," life "'more abundantly," the 'inovem'!nt of emancipated energies, the chorus of new-born OR, xiv. 1- 31.J TTIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOUN. 211