within him that he acquiesces in the revealed counsel of God's grace. With what gladness of heart does he receive the unspeakable gift of the Son! so far from rejecting the counsel of God against himself, how does he flee to his eternal counsel devised for the recovery of his ruined soul! Instead of presuming to imagine that he can have a father in heaven out of Christ, how anxiously does he continually take refuge within his Saviour's breast, that in that hiding-place he may meet the eye of God, and be accepted in the beloved! And out of Christ, where is he? what is he? He often asks himself this question, and embraces his Saviour yet more closely: "O thou wounded lamb of God," he exclaims, "for me thou hast died and risen again; I have part in thy cruel death and sufferings, endured "for the sins of the world;” I have part also in thy resurrection which has made me righteous. In thy ascension too I have part, for I sit down with thee even now, wretched sinner as I am, at the right hand of God. And is not that God my Father? He has owned me for a child by the price he has paid, out of his own bosom, for my life. Thou wast his gift, freely given for my redemption, and thou art proved to be mine by my acceptance of thy divine person; an acceptance I confess, not of my own natural willing, but of his mercy who drew me to thy sacred feet with the cords of his own love. And now Lord, as thou art mine, so the Father also is mine. Fain would Satan persuade me to the contrary; fain would my unbelieving heart suggest, perchance I have not come to thee aright, for my works do not give due evidence of my faith; but yet I cleave to thee, Lord Jesus, as to my Father's gift, and to thy Father, as being mine also. I have no works of righteousness to produce, save some scanty ones which thy Spirit had made more perfect but for the sin I have intermingled with them; but from these imperfect works of faith, and from my manner of coming to thee I turn, thanking thee for my coming, and for all my attempts at righteousness, but still praying to thee to help me to renounce self more perfectly, that I may acknowledge thee more entirely, and in that acknowledgment know myself to possess the Father also." How madly do those persons argue, who conceive it possible to enjoy the favour of a reconciled God, whilst Christ is not duly honoured! If the Son be denied, how shall the Father be possessed, seeing that he is enjoyed only in and through his well-beloved Son! God declares distinctly and unequivocally that he is to be approached only by Jesus, who as God-man is a mediator by nature as well as office. And proud man will yet presume to question the necessity of this medium of approach, and will challenge his right to call God his Father, whilst he refuses to bend the knee to the anointed Jesus. But in vain are his attempts, either to dispense with the help or to withdraw himself from the authority of Christ. If the person and offices of Jesus are despised, rebellious man is still subject to his sovereignty. God's decree is not annulled, because his creature would fain oppose it. Far from this, it is in full force, and the truth remains on record, "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." If Christ be rejected as a Saviour and compassionate high-priest, he is still a mighty potentate, to whom all authority in heaven and earth is committed by the Father, and who is constituted head over all things to his church; and if unacknowledged in his names of love, he must at last be feared as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But again we turn to the more pleasing view of those who delight to know him whom the Father honours, and who in their consciousness of love to Jesus, are enabled to apply to their soul's comfort the inference which may be so fairly deduced from our Apostle's words, and which is so properly supplied in our translation; "but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also." For necessary as it sometimes is to enter into the nature of that antichristian warfare which the wicked carry on against the Son of God, our main business in connexion with the study of this epistle consists in establishing the truth itself; and this, for the edification of the saints, rather than in attempting to refute false doctrine by the detailed exposure of particular errors. I would have you simple concerning evil and wise concerning that which is good," is an apostolic saying which should never be lost sight of, for it may sometimes happen, that the time which might be more happily occupied in the exhibition of Christ is engrossed by the confutation of error. But still, bearing this in mind, we must also admit, that the apostle's prayer for the Roman converts would be answered most perfectly by their being found in a condition, not of actual ignorance as to the existence or nature of false doctrine, but in a state of freedom from its contamination; and that this very purity is also in very many cases maintained, by the fearful consciousness of abounding error; a consciousness which is altogether opposed to participation in evil, and which produces a caution which had been otherwise unknown, and such a sense of the continual need of the protecting care of God, as perchance had not been felt, but for some such knowledge of abounding iniquity. 24. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. errors. The apostle John now follows up his doctrine in regard to antichristian teachers, with an exhortation to believers, and a suitable admonition as to the means by which they may escape from the infection of pestilential He says, "Let that abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning;" or in other words, 'hold fast the doctrine already delivered to you concerning the person of Christ, and do not cease to remember that Jesus is not only God over all, and the only wise God, but also God our Saviour, and Emmanuel, God with us. Forget not that which ye have heard from the beginning in regard to the name of your Messiah, and why he was to be called Jesus. Forget not the Gospel message, and the glad tidings of salvation through Christ the Lord. Let the simple narration of the birth, and life, and death, and resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, abide with you; yea, let it abide in you, having a lodgment in your inmost heart, for it is by this simple narrative of facts, which ye have heard from the beginning of your faith in Christ, that that faith must still be kept alive and ever more increased. And it is only by means of that which ye have already heard of Christ, that ye can successfully oppose the antichristian lies which are forged in connexion with his name, and which shall be offered you by heretics in lieu of that doctrine which alone has power to save. Retain, then, the simple truth as it is in Jesus. To this truth cling as to your precious life. It is your life, for if it shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father." And is not the believer sweetly and powerfully exhorted in these words of apostolic guidance, dearly to prize, and firmly to hold fast that word of life, which has set him free from the condemning power of the Law; from sin, death, and hell? John speaks of that which the believer has heard, that is, of the word of the Gospel, the word upon which faith reposes, as soon as it is quickened by that word. And that which the believer is said to have heard may also be applied to the word and voice of Christ, as distinguishable from any mere word or voice of man. The Father has spoken from heaven to the believer's heart by his Son. Oh, believers, retain that which ye have heard, nor let the memory and sense of those accents of love die away from off the tablets of your hearts! Ye have heard the Shepherd's voice. It must be so; for Jesus says, "my sheep hear my voice." And surely ye can attest that it is even so. Your experience bears witness to the truth of that delightful statement. Not only has the word of grace sounded in your ears, not only has the minister of the word, duly commissioned by his Lord, announced to you that Christ is your salvation, Jesus has himself told it you. He has said, "Fear not, I am thine." The Father has revealed his Son in your hearts, and from time to time ye have exclaimed, Behold! the voice of my beloved." (Cant. ii. 8. 11, &c.) That voice has been recognized by your waking spirits at a time perhaps when sleep had almost overpowered your souls; (Cant. v. 2, and 1 Thess. v. 6.) and again have you distinguished those tones of love which ye had heard in the beginning. 66 But pleasing as it is to the believer to be reminded of the Lord's peculiar visitations to his soul, and in |