He has found it in ChrisL. It is the "pearl of great price." And where the truth is received in, and is leavening a. family with its blessed influence, there is a. home on which the eye of the Christian pastor can look with a. loving gla<lae8R. II. OVER THIS FAMILY THE APOSTLE HELD THE OFFICE OF Pl\EBBYTER. (Ver. 1.) "It is easy to see why St. John woulrl choose BUch a title, which, while it described an official position, suggested also a fatherly relation" (Westcott, iln loc.). It was to the office of presbyter that the pastoral _care belonged (Acts xx. 28; 1 Pet. v. 2) of feeding and tending the flock. Apostles, mdeed, were more than presbyters, overseers, and pastors, inasmuch e.s they sustained larger relations to the whole Church. But this did not annul the relation they bore to the several families in their charge. There is no spiritual bond more sacred than that of the Christian pastor, provided he does not mar the holy influence be is bound to exert, by pretending to an authority with which God's Word does not invest him. II[, To THIS FAMILY THE APOSTLE I8 DRAWN BY STRONG AND WARM ATTACHMENT, (Vera. 2, 3.) The truth which he had taught and they received knit them together in one. And seeing they were one in Christ, united in him to one common God and Father, there is e. warm and glowing forth-pouring of benediction from the aged teacher. John was no cold, heartless official. He once had a strong, fiery, despotic spirit in !lim. But that has long a.go been toned down by Divine grace, and now from him as the elder, just such outbree.things of benevolence are expressed as one Christian might utter for another. "Grace, mercy, and peace be with you," etc. IV. THIS FAMILY APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN BEREFT OF ITS EARTHLY HEAD, AND TO BE SCATTERED ABROAD. "The elect lady and her children "-no mention is made of the husband and father. The probability is that he was no longer on earth. The surviving head-the widow-had probably been "elected" among the number of widows (1 Tim. v. 9), or else chosen as e. deaconess (Rom. xvi. 1) ; and, having sus- tained her position with honour in the Church, was widely known and loved (ver. 1). Her children were not e.11 e.t home. The apostle, in his wanderings among the Churches, appears to have met some of them, and "found of them" (,/Jp711«,), to hie great joy, "walking in the truth." There is no greater joy on earth, whether to parents or pastors, than to find the children of their ea.re staunch to the true and the right. If in the home they have been baptized and trained for God, they are "beloved for the fathers' sakes," and will be surrounded with a special care when far out in the world. The children cannot a.I ways be under the home roof. If the grace of God be in them, they ar.i safe everywhere. v. THEY ALL NEEDED, HOWEVER, TO BEWARE OF SURROUNDING PEBILB. (Vera. 6-9.) 1. There were abroad, deceivers, teachers of false doctrine, such as those of whom he had warned the Churches. There were "advance'' men even in those early days (,riis 6 'llpod:yr,,11). But then, as now, the people who "go forward" too rapidly, let that which is most worth keeping drop as they go I These a.bode not in the doctrine of Christ.. 2. If the false teachers should succeed in decoying a.way any of this family, it would be e. serious loss to them (ver. 8, Revised Version).1 a. Consequently, they needed to be exceedingly wary e.nd watchful. The danger was not only outward, but inward. "Look to yourselves, that ye lose not," etc. VI. THE BOUSE WAS TO BE RESERVED AND PRESERVED FOB THE TRUTH ALONE. (Vera. 10, 11.) Much needless difficulty has been raised over the apparent exclusive- ness of theoe words, as if no one the.t did not believe in Chri~t was to be admitted to the house. 9 But the reference plainly iij to any one who wishes to come into the house to teach another doctrine, and to draw a.way the mother e.nd the children from allegiance to their Lord. What would be e.ny Christian mother's duty in such e. case? Plainly, to forbid, and that peremptorily, any attempts to tamper with her faith or that of her c~ildren. And how could she honestly wish such e. teacher ,_God-speed"? To do s,, would be to have fellowship in his errors (,co,11ow,,). No. Every Christian pa.rent is bound to lay down as the law of the house-" This home is for Christ. The children are for Christ and for the truth, and I will not imperil their souls, nor lend a hand to the propagation of error, by letting the germs thereof be planted here I " 1 Bee Revisers' Greek Testament. 1 The Apostle Pe.ul most helpfully defines the limit of 11, similar rest.riotion in 1 Cor. v &-11. 6 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN. [1-13,
NoTE. 1. It is to the laity (to use a common term) that the teachers nhd preachers of the truth must look to be its conser-ters, upholders, and defenders. Christian homes are to be its nurseries, in which the weeds of error arc not allowed to grow. '!'here nrn quite enough perils ready to meet the children-from inward corruption and outward temptation, without their being e:'.!.posed to the additional perils of finding seed-plots of heresy allowed in the home. 2. 'l'his Epistle is of great value as showing us, through the teaching of an inspired apostle, that Christian parents are expected to t.rain their children in the faith which they themselves believe, and to put and keep a holy guard around them, that their young minds may not be hi\rassed by the sl'ductions of any antichristian deceiver. Let every pa.rent say, "My homo ill for Christ., and for Christ alone!"