ever einneth ha.th not seen him, neither knoweth him," The sight and knowledge hero spoken of nro not merely intellectual, but spiritual; not theoretical, but experimental. .And the" einnelh" does not denote sin as an occasional and exceptional thing, but as grnernl nnd habitual. He who lives in the practice of sin thereby proclaims that he does not !mow tho Lord Jesus Christ. By all these reasons let Christians watch ancl pray that they sin not, ancl "follow after sanctification, without which no man shall see the Lord."-W. J. Ver. 14.-Love the evidence of life. "We know that we have pass~d from death unto life," etc. To know our t_rue character and condition in the si·-ht of God is of the greatest importance. An earnest consideration of our text will 1.1dp us to attain such knowledge. Notice- !. '£HE Gm'.AT CIIANGl!l HERE SPOKEN OF. "We have passed out of death into life." Consider: 1. The state from which the Christian has passed. It is here spoken of as "death." The death is not physical, or intellectual, or social, but moral and spiritual. "Ye were dead through your trespassed an<l sins;" " alienated from the life of God." God is the Life of the soul. In union with him the soul lives; separated from him the soul dies. Sin separates from him. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God;" "The ~oul that siuncth, it shall die." Sin is fatal to all that constitutes the life of the soul-to truth and trust, to reverence and love, etc. A state of sin is a. state of death. 2. The state upon which the Christian has entered. He has "passed out of death into life." He is united to God by faith in Jesus Christ, and thus participates in the Divine life. He has paased over from the sphere of the darkness into that of the light; from the dreary realm of death-into the blessed kingdom of life. "He that heareth my word, ond believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life" (John v. 24). "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they a.re become new" (2 Cor. v.17); "And you, being dead ihrough your trespasses . . . he quickened together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses" (Col. ii. 13). This great and blessed change i.s effected (1) through the mediation. of Jesus Christ (John vi. 40, 47; x. 10; xiv. 6); (2) by the agency of the Holy Spirit (John iii. 5, 6, 8); and (3) by the instrumentality of the sacred Word (Jas. i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23) . . II. THE EVIDENCE OF THIS GREAT CHANGE. "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren." There may be a reference in the term "brethren" to the common brotherhood of all men; but it seems to us that its chief meaning is the Christian brethren. The love spoken of is not simply natural affection, as the love of parent for child, child for pa.rent, husband for wife, wife for husband, etc. Again, there may be certain social qualities in a Christian which a.re attractive to others, yet not distinctively Christian. He may be a useful man; in society he may be inter- esting and agreeable, aud therefore be is admired and loved; but such love does not prove that t-hey who exercise it "have passed out of death into life." Again, we may love Christians, not because they are Christians, but because they belong to our ecclesiastical party or share our theological opinions ; but this affection is not to be taken as a11 evidence that we have experienced the great and saving change. The love of which St. John writes is a love of the brethren, not be.ea.use they belong to us or to our party, but because they belong to the Lord Jesus. The affection which is a proof that we have passed from death unto life is a love of the brethren: 1. Became of their relatiQ11, to Ghrist and God. 'l'hey are one with Christ by faith anJ love. Through the Saviour they are children of the Divine Father. They a.re regarded by him with complacency. They are loved by him with ti,_., iove of approbation. And they possess the filial spirit in relation to him (Rom. viii. 14-16). If we love God we shall love them, because they are his. '' Whosoever loveth him that bPgat lovefh him nlso that is begotten of him" (eh. v. 1). And such love is an evidence" that wo hsve passed out of <leath inlo life." 2. Because of their resemblance to God in Christ. Our Lord and Saviour is the Suprewe Revelation of God the Father to our race; and his character," as he lived upou earth,'' BB Hooper has said, "is like a perfect, many-sided crystal. Whichever way you look at it, it is without flaw. Whichever way you turn it, some new bEauty of colour is reflected from the rays of light shining through it. The character of the Christian is like a crystal too, but a small one, full of cracks and flaws, which break up aud disfigure 92 THE FJRST EPISTtt<: GJi;NERAL OF JOH~. [cir. m. 1-24,
the hrillinnt glee.ms reflected from the sunlight. . . . The Christia.n must he like Christ, or he is nothing; but it is a. likeness with a vast diste.nce between-the likeness of the infant to the strong rna.n; the likeness of a feeble sapling to the full-grown giant oak." To love Christia.ns because we disoover in them this moral resemblance to God rn Christ iR nn eYi<lence" that we have passed out of death Into life." 1. If we have this holy.fraternal, ajfecti,o'II,, let us draw from it the assurance which our text warranu. "We know that we have passed," etc. 2. Let us cultivate more and more of this Christian love.-W. J.