drinking of the rivers of pleasure that are at God's right hand for evermore." Indeed such an one prefers even the reproach of Christ to the treasures of Egypt. (Heb. xi. 26.) The evils of life, the scorn of men, all is preferred to present good, except Christ be connected with that good, and it can be enjoyed as the token of a Father's love.

We inquire in the next place, what does the apostle mean by the expression, "he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever?" It is important to ascertain this, for surely no ordinary obedience of man can effect his deliverance from the fleeting vanity of time. What then is this will of God, which if performed, causes the individual who performs it, to abide for ever? The apostle cannot by any possibility refer to a righteousness of the law fulfilled by man, for the Holy Ghost has testified that eternal life is not a reward of debt given to him that worketh, but the reward of grace to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly." (Rom. iv. 1, &c.) Unregenerate man cannot perform the will of God, and by that obedience live for ever; nor do the regenerate secure eternal life by their works of faith and labours of love for the name's sake of Jesus. Then that doing of the will of God, which is connected with so vast a blessing, can be no other, than "believing on the name of the Son of God." And most true it is that eternal life hangs on this faith. When the Jews inquired of the Lord, what they must do, that they might work the works of God, his reply is a very remarkable one. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." And the answer given by the apostle to the jailor at Philippi, when he asked "What must I do to be saved? is precisely to the same effect, "Believe on the Lord

ner.

Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And we note here, that this apostolic injunction was not clogged by the addition which is now so common,- Believe, but be sure you do this with a faith producing fruits of righteousness; believe, but look well to it that sanctification goes hand in hand with justifying faith; believe, but bear in mind that faith without works is dead.' Neither the blessed Jesus nor his apostles teach after this manTheir mode of proceeding is simply this—to see in the first place that the tree is made good, and “that the inside of the cup and platter is made clean,” and this primary work being accomplished, to enforce afterwards the connexion of good fruit with a good tree, and of external, with internal purity. We must then infer, that the stability of those who do the will of God in the sense intended by John, arises from the circumstance of their having submitted themselves to that most gracious and ever-blessed counsel of God, which proclaims life to sinners upon the condition of faith. Such persons endure for ever. They are engrafted into Christ, and his life is their life. "Because I live," says Jesus to his disciples, "ye shall live also." There is no mutability for those who are one with that Christ, concerning whom it is truly affirmed, that he is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." No change can affect the creature who enjoys this union with his Creator; a union, as before observed, which is immediately connected with that peculiar action of faith, which we have shewn to be in an especial degree the will of God, who no longer says to his fallen creatures, "Do this and live," but, "Believe and live." It is plain then, that to do the will of God, so that by this doing, we abide for ever, we must believe in Jesus, we must cling to Jesus, we must abide in Him, we must beseech Him to abide in us.

it

Christ is our life," our abiding, our eternal life; and if to escape from the vanity of time, and to abide for ever, appears desirable in our eyes, let us comply with the will of God, let us perform the command to "kiss the Son, lest he be angry and we perish from the way." But as those who cavil at the annunciation of the doctrine of faith when it is simply expressed, will not cease to reiterate the question, Are we then to limit the expression of doing the will of God to acting faith in Jesus?' may be replied, that no such limitation is necessary, for Christ has himself assured us, that "if the tree be good, the fruit will be good also," and that "if the inside of the cup and platter be clean, the outside will be clean also:" from which declarations we infer; that if the primary act of obedience to God has been performed, other secondary acts will also be performed; so that the man who had first obeyed God by believing in his Son, will afterwards obey Him in innumerable other ways. the after obedience of the regenerate believer, is not connected with his eternal life in the same way in which his first obedience, viz. that of faith, is connected with that life. Therefore the general doing of the will of God is not the cause of his abiding for ever. This indissoluble life is connected with faith only. Nor does life eternal hang suspended on the good works which this faith produces. Rather, the believer obtains first the gift of eternal life in connexion with his faith, and then he proceeds afterwards to work the works of righteousness, which are wrought in him by the power of the Holy Ghost.

But

18. Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

The beloved disciple has been contrasting the fleeting nature of this world and its lusts, with the enduring condition of those who do the will of God. He now proceeds to testify that the church of the living God has entered upon its last earthly period, so that no change of any material kind is henceforth to be expected. Our apostle affirms, "It is the last time;" no new revelation of God's will is to be given; for God who before spoke to our fathers by the prophets, -hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. (Heb. i. 1, 2.) No more sacrifice for sin remains to be offered; for "Jesus has already by one offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Heb. x. 14.) The promise of the Holy Ghost has also been fulfilled; for Jesus having been glorified, the Holy Ghost has been bestowed, and is now bestowing upon men. (Acts ii. 16-21; and 32, 33.) The old covenant has been abolished, and a new and enduring covenant substituted in its place. (Heb. vii. 12, &c. viii. 6; ix. 15; x.9; and xii. 26-28.) What more, then, remains to prove that the gospel days are "the last time?" If the shadow of heavenly things is exchanged for the substance; if the Messiah, so long promised, has been bestowed; if his kingdom is established amongst us, as indeed it is, by the power of his Spirit; what further demonstration do we need in confirmation of the apostle's assertion? The Holy Ghost is however pleased to point out to us another proof that it is " the last time;"

and it is this: that the predicted Antichrist has appeared, and that too under many

66

forms; 66 even now,"

says John, are there many Antichrists;

know that it is the last time."

whereby we

Let us first inquire, who or what may be the Antichrist of whose coming the "little children" had heard? And it is obvious from the context, that no particular individual could have been in the apostle's mind when he penned this address to the babes in Christ; and that no one person constituted the predicted Antichrist. On the contrary, it is apparent that the Antichrist intended, can be no other than that combined power of earth and hell, which Jesus forewarned his disciples should be armed against his church. How very many are his predictions on this subject: his discourses teem with intimations that he must be hated in the persons of his followers, even as he was hated in his own person, and that false teachers should arise to oppose and pervert the truths he had delivered. they of his own household. man at variance against his against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." 66 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake," &c. &c. "Take heed that no man deceive you; for many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many." Also the apostolic teachers insist much upon the warfare which should be waged against the followers of Jesus, showing that their persons must be vilified and hated of men, and their faith fraudulently assailed by means of " damnable heresies privily brought into the church;" and they testify of false teachers and seducers, who, transformed into the appearance of angels of light, should seek to beguile unstable souls, "speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples

"A man's foes shall be For I am come to set a father, and the daughter