~- 'J'!iey wer_e to ensure remam_~ng in thu stronghold of truth by cultivating fellowship '" him who is the Truth. (Ch. 11, 28; cf. also the analogous phrase in Phil. iv. 7, oJ>poupf/rr•• Tar 1ea.p~fa.s iiµ~~ Kal T<l vof/µa.Ta. i>µ~v.) Communion with God will ensure a holy peace that will guard the heart from restlessness and the thinkings from error. V. Tins KEEPING OF THEMSELVES IN GOARD AGAINST THE IDOLS IS HERE THROWN ON T~m ,owN PERSONAL RESPONS~IL1:l:, "Guard youi·selves.". It is as if tho apostle bad said, ' I have done what I can in writing down the truth and Ill warn mg you against the errors of the day. Now, where my responsibility euds, yours begins." Compar6 the pRrting words of Moses (Deut. xxix. 9-29; xxxi. 2-13) and of Paul (Acts xx. 28-31). V l. THIS REMINDER OF THEIR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IS GIVEN WITH THE UTMOST TF:?n>ER?sEss_ OF_ ~ASTORAL SOLICITUDE. The last stroke of the pen remin<ls the apo~tle of Ins own mab1hty to do more than be bas done. He cannot always be with the Churches. And as if tbe thoughts that they and he must soon part, and that he, the last ~un-iving apostle, must leave the Churches "as sheep in the midst of wolves," as their Lord had said, were almost overwhelming, his tone at parting is that of the utmost tenderness : "Little children, hold yourselves aloof from all the idols." Yll. THE PRECEPT, THOUGH IT HAS A LOCAL AND TEMPORAL REFERENCE, IB 01!' WORLD-WIDE A?-."D PERMANENT SIGNIFICANCE. Forms of antichrist still abound, and there is as much need for vigilant watchfulness on the part of believers now as there was in the apostle's time. Can we think of pantheism, agnosticism, positivism, mate- rialism, rationalism, anti-snpernaturalism, without seeing how many forms of error would snpplant the Christ, and put a rival in his place? Can we think of sacerdotalism, rampant and wild, withont eeeing how many there are who would put a priest between the soul and the Saviour; who teach that the Church is to he our bulwark, by remainina in which we shall keep from idols; 1 who would make an idol of the sacramental bread~ as if it would nourish the spiritual life, and even of the baptismal water, as if it could initiate it? And we venture to think that these sacerdotal •11ic.,>.a are more perilous to many tlu~n those of the unbelieving world. They are more specious, and therefore more deceptive. May the Holy Ghost grant us his enlightening unction, that we may discern and detect error with a glance of the eye I Amen. •
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-S.-The reason and the evidence of brotherly l011e. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God," etc. Our text is vitally related to the last two verses of the preceding chapter. To our mind it presents two important aspects of love amongst Christian brethren. I. THE REASON OF THE OBLIGATION 01!' BROTHERLY LOVE. The duty to love our Christian brethren is here based upon our common relation to God. 'l'he order of the apostle's thought seems to be this: 1. The Ohristian brother is a true believer in Jesus the Ohrist. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is tl.ie Christ" is included by St. John among the Christian fraternity. The genuine Christian accepts Jesus as the Christ of God, the Anointed of the Father for the great work of human redemption. He looks to him as the Being in whom ancient prophecies are fulfilled, and in whom the noblest expectatiou and the pnrest desire of the human rat:e are realize<l. .And the belief of which the apostle writes is not the mere intellectual acceptation of the proposition that Jesus is the Christ, but the hearty acceptation of Jesus himself as the Saviour appointed by God. Every one who thus receives l,im is a true member of the Christian brotherhood. 2. Every true believer in Jesus the Chrid is a child of God, " Who- soever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God.'' Where there is genuine faith in our Lord and Saviour there is a new moral disposition. 'l'bc Christian believer is born anew of the Spirit of God. "As many as received him [i.e. Jesus the Christ], to them gave he the right to become children uf God, t:vcn to them that believe on his Name," etc. (John i. 12, 13). "If any man is in Christ he is a new creature," etc. (2 Cor. v. 17)-he has new sympathies, new purposes, new principles, new relation- • So 'Speaker's Commentary,' in loc., ea.dly disfigured by its Hi6h Chlllelii111D and eacre.mentari.a.ui.sm, OH. v. 1-21.] THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. 159