the world too much; " what the writer of this Epistle says is, "Love it not at all." Nay, ho is yet more explicit. With re~ard to the various thinus which constitute the world, as though each passed before him in succession, he says7 with the same per- emptoriness," Love them not at all." 2. Worldliness incompatible v,ilh love to God. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Earthly thi □ crs, such os a living, money, art, office, may be sought legitimately and worthily in co;nection with God. But when they are sought as complete, as ends in th~mselves, they become rivals to God, and love to them can only be cherished at the expense of love to God. Love to the world and love to the Father (who adopts us in Christ) are so contrary that one heart cannot contain them both. 3. Three aspecls ,f lhe worldliness /hat cannot be /raced to God. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vain-glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." We have not here all sin; for such sins as hatred of the brethren, heresy, spiritual pride, are not included; we have only three aspects of one sin, viz. worldliness. "The flesh" points to that in which worldly enjoyment has its seat; "the eyes" point to means by which there is a ministering to worldly enjoyment; "life" (means of living) points to there being guarantee of worldly enjoyment. Within the flesh there is the stirring of desire for worldly enjoyment ; the eyes are ministers to the flesh, presenting objects for desire. Objects not desired, but possessed beyond what we can appropriate of them for worldly enjoyment, produce a feeling of vain-glory. All this stirring within the flesh, this desiring through the eyes, this gloating over possession, has no high origin ; it is not of the Father, but of the world. 4. Worldliness linked to the transient, not to tlie abiding. "And the world passeth awa,y, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." The transitoriness of the world is brought in as a dis- suasive from worldliness. There is a constant flux in earthly things, and the pleasures connected with them are momentary. "But pleasures a.re· like poppies spree.d- You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or like the !nowJlake on the river, A moment white-then melts for ever; Or like the borealis race, That flit ere you can point their place; Or like the rainbow's lovely form, Eve.nishing a.mid the storm." Not merely does the world pass away, but also the lust thereef. After a time our capacity for enjoyment is diminished. Those that look out at the windows are darkened; the daughters of music are brought low; and desire fails (Eccles. xii.). Death severs our connection with the world, and puts an end to all earthly appetency. Wbat is this transitoriness of the world meant to teach us? The voice which is here given to it is this, "Love not the world." If our love is fixed on the world, then the time is coming when we shall be left with a total blank. Divine wisdom counsels another course. It is to do the will of God, i.e. to believe in Christ, and to follow Christ. The recomenda- tion of this course is that it links us to the eternal order of things. "He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." There are creatures that keep themselves from being drifted about in the waters by fastening themselves on to a rock; so in our mutable element we must secure.fixity for our being by attaching ourselves to him who is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."-R. F.
Vers. 18-29.-Antichrist. I. P,;;n10D OF ANTICHRIST. "Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that aIL,ichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrist~; whereby we know that it is the last hour." The apostle addresses his readers with the authority of age and experience. He has been referring to the trartsitoriness of the world; from that he passes to the last hour. ·what was designated in Old Testament times the age to come, extending from the Incarnation to the sec,,1uL coming, is here called ;'lot "the last age," or "the last days," but, more strongly," tit last hour," to emphasize the fact th~t we know no~ the hour when the present ?rder thincrs is to terminate. The solemruty of the end 1s fitted to have a salutary 1rupre sion ': and it is kept dark, thnt we may always have the feeling of its being the la hour'. 'l'he present era is for the Ch •istian manifestation ; but opposed to it is tl,e 68 THE l<'IRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN, [err. n. 1-29,