certainty to draw? Sec him; his course is no uncertain, fickle ono • he iB in love with rightconsness, and with nothing bnt righteousness; towards 'God his most devout, rc,ercnt. love goes forth; towanls man ho is uniformly trnc and kind. As for l1imseli', the ~oul regubtcs the body, the spirit hoverus the soul, and God governs all. 'l'cll us whnt he ought to be and do at any momcr,t, aud we can tell you what ho will be aud do at that mom~nt. 'l'ell us where he ought to bo at any instant, an<l we will te\l you where ~t that mslant you may be sure t-0 find him. His path is as the light, brighter and lmghter to the perfect day. Now, when we see such a man, what do wo with corhinty know about bim? 1. We I.now that lie is alfre. "Alive unto God." He is a spiritual ruau. He has passed from death unt,1 li:'o. 2. We know that sttch a li,le is .froin God. It is divinely originated aud sustained. A stream. can rise no higher than its source. Only a spiritual Ileing could originate such a spiritual life. The DiYinc Spirit h:is qnickeucd the human (Eph. i. 1-G). 3. We !mow that such a life is begotten of the Divine nature. The physical world is God's haudiwork. 'fhe social and :i·ornl wcdds sre called into bein~ by his power. The order of the cosmos proclaims ~ri,dom and skill. Ilut not here is there aught which is beaotten of God, or which is the outcome of his very nature. Music, beauty, fragrance, a~e all of God; but they arc not born of God. Ilut here, !,ere iu this man whose whole nature is rene\Ycd to rigbteousuess, there is one whom God has made in his own image and in the ima!:e of his Son. 4. We know that such a life is a very special product. It is one which is a pcculi:i.r manifestation of God. You may learn what an architect is as an arcliilcct by Eecing the building, he has designed. l3ut you may learn more of what he was as a 7/!an from one of his children than of all the products of his designing geaius. So here, and much more so. \Vhcn the Spirit of God creates and sustains a nature in lioliness, such a nature is, in its way, a manifestation of himself. 5. We /,;now that such a life sustains a peculiar relation to God. Ileing "born" of him, the man is i.i God's ramily---one of his sons. Not in the genernl sense alone, in which we all are the offspring of God, but in a higher sense; he is a member of" the household of God "-of oue family in hca.en and on earth. Of what in privilege aml prospect accrues to those "born of God" we shall sp2ak further as we follow the apostle in his thm!ght. Here we take our stand and say, "'When we know that a man resembles God in nature," we are sure that he is a child of God by the second birth, even of the Holy Ghost. JI r. To RECOGNIZE O::-."'E WIIO BESEMDLES Goo, AS IIA VING BEEN BORN OF HIM, IS A SACr:ED DUTY. "Kno1v ye" (margin,. Revised Verson) is most in harmony with the context. But whether John means tha.t we do know it, or that we ought. to kuow it, either way the practical force is the same. For: 1. In the band of holy.God-moved men we Eee the very highest manifestation of God's nature which earth affords. 2. In these we see the home of God's delight. lie dwells with his own, and communes with them. They have fellowship with the Father. 3. In these we see those of mar.kind who are ripening for a higher destiny, and whose radiant faces shine in the li"ht of a nobler state. 4. This conclusion is not to be drnied to any because they "follow uot us," nor because they do not belong to thi£ or tiiat Churcl:. TV!ierever there is a God-Ji.ke man, there is a Ileaven-born one. 5. This conclusion is not to be drawn where there is no holiness of heart and lire, however high the rank, or sound the creed, or rigid the Churchmanship, or constant the recepLion of sacraments. With- out lw!i1,css "no man shall see the Lord."
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTllOilS. Vers. 1, 2.-0ur ..1dvocate and Propitiation. "My little children, these things write I unto you," etc. Very tender and eminently J ohannean is the opening of this paragraph. "My little children." '!'he appellation suggests: 1. The spiritual pat6rnity of the aJJostle. St. Paul addressed the same words to those Galatian Christians whom he bad spiritually begotten (Gal. iv. 19). He referred with great tenderness and force to the same relationship in writing to the Corinthians (1 Cur. iv. 14, 15). l'robably.~auy of those to whom St. Johu was writiug were his spiritual chililren. 2. The spi_rz_iual affection of the apvstle. The use of the diminutive iudicatcs this. 3. The spwitual OH. 11. 1-29.] THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOUN. 61