fruits malcee us sure of the harvest. Objectively (Rom. v. 10). Suhjcctivcly (Phil. i. 6). 5. This clear and definite goal to human existence gives to theories of wl vance, development, evolution, an intelligible meaning, a crowning glory. G. The rtasrm of life is thus magnificently told us. It is that we may become like unto the Son of God, conformed to the type of all goodness, and that for ever I 7. How guilty shall we be, and how miserably poor, if we miss this life! "Except a man be born again, ho cannot see the kingdom of God 1" Oh I if there be a higher life spoken of by others and experienced by them, and if any have not this higher life, and know they have not, ought they not to cry mightily to its Lord and Giver, saying, "Lord, give me this higher life"? They will not cry in vain. God never deserts the imploring soul. Lastly: The theme prepares us/or an answer to the charge of unbelievers, and for a retort upon them likewise. We are told tho.t the Christian aims are selfish in cherish- ing the hope of eternal life, and in being inspired thereby. What? Is it selfish to find an inspiration in the hope of being free from all selfishness, and of becoming more and more God-like for ever in benevolence and love? We reply that not to desire eternal life is base ingratitude. It is liktJ saying to the eternal Father, "Father, I know quite enough of thee already, and do not wish to know more; nor do I desire time to grow that I may become more grateful to the goodness and mercy which have crowned my days." The truly loyal son will long to do something to recompense bis Father's care, and to fulfil the words, "As a bridegroom rejoiceth over a bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee I " Ver. 29.-Re-born 1 This verse marks a transition. It is not, indeed, absolutely disconnected from the preceding ones, but yet it rather prepares the way for what is about to follow. One phrase therein contained-" born of him "-is much used by the Apostle John; as Bishop Alexander remarks (in • Speaker's Commentary,' in loc.), "it is one of the loops which connect this Epi;tle with the Fourth Gospel;" and it is also grandly developed in its meaning and bearing in the remaining chapters of this Epistle. Another feature of the verse is its recognition of different orders of know- ledge, o.s indicated by the use of the two verbs eloi;TE and -y,v~a-,cen-the one mark- ing knowledge direct and absolute; the other, a knowledge gained by observation and inference. The latter verb may be either indicative or imperative. We may read, "If ye know . . . ye perceive," or, "If ye know . . . perceive ye." We adopt the latter, understanding the apostle to point it out as a duty to exercise rightly the spiritual faculties, and, so doing, to draw the conclusion, when they see a man practising righteousness habitually, that that man has received his love of righteousness from the Righteous One. The Ut.v here by no means marks an uncertainty as to whether Christ is righteous, but merely indicates concerning the two facts named in the text that, wherever a man knows the first, he ought to be equally assured of the second. Our text, therefore, suggests- !. HERE IS A FACT PUT BEFORE US DIIlECTLY IN THE CHRISTIAN REVELATION. There is a Righteous One (cf. ver. 1; Acts iii. 14; 1 Pet. iiL 18). Inasmuch, more- over, as he, the Son, is " the Image of the invisible God," then in the righteousness of the Son we see imaged that also of the Father. And thus we come to know it as the supreme declaration of revealed truth that righteousness is on the throne of the universe. The philosophy of to-day declares, "Amid the mysteries which become the more mysterious the more they are thought about, there will remain the one absolute certainty that he [the man of science] is ever in presence of an infinite and eternal energy from which all things proceed." 1 To this "absolute certainty" of the man of science, revelation adds that that infinite and eternal energy is light without a speck of darkness (eh. i. 4); love which changeth not; righteousness without a ilaw. We know this. !I. HERE IS A SECOND FAOT GATHERED INDillECTLY FROM CHRISTIAN OBSERVATION 0
It is this: Supposing a man to be continuously living n righteous life, we can gather from thence that he is drawing his life from the Righteous One. Note: It is not a casual or occasional good deed which will manifest this. But the continuity of righteousness-always, everywhere, under all circumstance~, and in spite of all temp- tations, ,I 1ro1wv. Given, then, this man, what are the infcrcu~es which we ought with 1 Herbert Spencor, in the Nineteenth Ccn1ur-11, Ja.nuary, 188¼.
1, JOHN, g 50 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. [cu. n. 1-29,