n.nd yet we may, like Criin, "go out from the presence of the Lorrl: rinrl be cut of fellowship with him; we may, yea, we shall, remain unillumined by his brightness, I\Dd unsaved by his revelation of himself, unles, we first learn to own our gnilt, to take our right pince as sinful men before a. holy God. 'l'o this the Apostle John urge~. Hence observe- II. THERE IS ANOTHER AND A BETTER COURSE, IN OUR ADOPTION OF WHICH THE ENDS OF GoD IN REVEALING HDISELF MAY BE ACCO:llPLISl!ED IN us. A double duty and also n. double issue are here pointed out. 1. Confession. "If we confess our sins" (ver. 9); "not only acknowledge them, but acknowledge them openly in the face of men" (so Westcott). Unquestionably, open confession forms an essential part of our duty (cf. Rom. x. 9). The open confession before men of Jesus as our Saviour from sin, obviously includes as its basis the acknowledgment of the sin from which we are to be rnved. Certainly there must be (1) confession before God (Ps. xxxii. 5), and (2) confession and restitution before man where the wrong has been to man (Luke xix. 8; Jas. vi. 16). '!'his first duty will have a twofold issue. Where sin is thus confessed, there will be (1) forgiveness, (2) cleansing; and both these are guaranteed to the penitent by (a) the faithfulness and (b) the justice of God. Faithfulness in the fulfilment of the promise; and justice, in that, when the penitent puts away sin by forsaking it, God puts it away by forgiving it, through his method of mercy in Jesus Christ. 2. Walk- ing in the light is the second duty. We walk in the light, and Goll is in the li'.':ht. Ours is to be constant advance; God's is permanent being. When once a penitent has by confession avowedly quitted the realm of darkness, he at once begins to move on in light, and towards fuller light. This second duty will also have a twofold issue, (1) Fellowship. Sin is the great separator of man from God, and of men from one another. We "tum every one to his own way." Jesus is the great Reconciler, and thus the Restorer of the ruptw·ed fellowship. (2) The efficacy of the blood of Christ will then be fully realized. Few verses in Scripture have suffered so much as this seventh verse, by being first halved and then isolated. It must be read as a whole, and the full force of" the elongated present" must be given to each verb. "If we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, we are having fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son rs CLEANSING us from all sin;" i.e. the redeeming efficacy of the work of the Son of God is disclosing itself as a practical power, by removing the estrangement and the foulness which sin had brought. It can no longer be a question-Is Christ a Redeemer? for there will be the living, the manifest proof that he is so, in our being cleansed through him from guilt and sin, and restored to communion with God and to loving fellowship with our brother. Then, then, he who is the Light will not only have transferred us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, but will actually have transformed us from being darkness to becoming light in the Lord. Then will the light and purity of heaven be reflected in us on earth, and we, while living on earth, shall be steadily moving toward the brighter light abo'\"e,
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-4.-The apostle's aim and method. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard," etc. I. HERE 1B AN OBJECT EMINENTLY WORTHY OF AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST. "That ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with tbe Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, thnt )"IIUT joy may be full." St. John sought to lead his readers into: 1. Participation in the highest fellowship. "That ye also may have fellowship with us," etc. (ver. 3). The word "fellow- ship," or "communion," signifies "the common possession of anything by various per- sons." By the "with us" we understand the apostles and others, who hacl been eye- witnesses of Jesus Christ. And St. John's aim was that his readers should participate in the truth and trust, the life and love, which the older generation of Christi3n disciples already possessed; that they should share in his own highest and holie~t experiencet, And it was not into an exalted human communion merely that the apostle endeavoured to !earl his readers. "And truly," ho says," our fellowship is with the Father, anrl with his Sou Jesus Christ." In infinite condescension, the hra\'enly Father and the 10 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. [en. 1. 1-10.