he even doubles his tests. Let me explain my meaning; for the circumstance is very worthy of notice. We have seen how he makes brotherly love the evidence of saving faith. But is there no possibility of self-deception with regard to the exercise of this very love? 66 It is love for the truth's sake;"-love to the disciples of Christ, for their divine Master's sake; to the children of God, for their heavenly Father's sake: that is, it is love to the believers of the truth, to the disciples of Christ, to the children of God, AS SUCH. This is the testnot mere general benevolence to men, as has often been erroneously conceived, but "love to the brethren." But with some of" the brethren" a man may chance to be, in various ways, connected; and in these connexions, he may be sensible of esteem and affection. He may be attached to a disciple of Christ by the bond of natural relationship: and it may thus be a disciple whom he loves, while it is not as a disciple that he loves him. He may esteem and be fond of him for his integrity in business, and for his amiable dispositions, his courteous affability, his obliging kindness, in the intercourse of life; and yet, instead of loving him "for the truth's sake," he may smile at his profession of the truth as his weakness, and regret and lament, instead of approving and rejoicing in it. Instead of forming the ground and reason of his love, it may be the only thing about him that he dislikes. There are, then, possibilities of self-deception, in regard to that love which is the test of faith. On this account, as I have said, the Apostle doubles his tests. Having affirmed love to be the test of faith, he affirms something farther to be the test of love; that is, the evidence of its being love that regards its objects as belonging to Christ,-as fellow-believers of the truth. Thus he writes in verses already quoted, chap. v. 1, 2. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ

is born of God and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth them also that are begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments." In the connexion in which these words stand, I can understand them in no other sense than this-that the evidence of our love to the "children of God" being of the right sort,-of its regarding them as such, and arising from our love to the common Father of the family, is, our general obedience to other parts of his will: that, if we are not otherwise showing our love to God by "keeping his com. mandments," it is a proof that our love to the brethren must regard them under some other character, and must spring from some different source than "love to Him that begat."

But is not all this, some will be ready to say, calculated to subject believers to incessant uncertainty and doubt, rather than to impart to them the knowledge of their having eternal life? I would say in reply, first, that there is a previous question, namely, Have we not been giving the plain sense of scripture? Is there any possibility of interpreting the language of the Apostle John, in the passages quoted, on any other principles? They seem to me, indeed, not to require interpretation, but to contain as plain and explicit statements as words are capable of conveying. What else, then, are we to make of them? Are we to set aside their obvious meaning, to put them to the torture, and force them to give a different deliverance, in order that believers may retain their peace and comfort more easily, with less necessity for self-jealousy and the vigilance and constancy of practical godliness? Far be it. Nor is there any need. For, secondly, it is very evident that John was of a very different mind from those who fancy this view of matters fitted only to engender doubt and despondency. He saw no such

consequences. In the first chapter, verses 3, 4, he says "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." He writes to them the testimony of the Gospel, that they might have fulness of joy. Does he, then, intend immediately to damp and unsettle the very joy he meant to inspire, when he proceeds to say, verses 4-7, " This, then, is the message, which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin?" Assuredly not. He takes it for granted, that wherever the joy sprung from a right understanding and faith of the divine testimony, the faith that produced the joy would, at the same time, produce holy principles and holy practice; and that where the latter did not appear, the former was indubitably spurious. Again: so far is this inspired writer from conceiving, that to make love to the brethren a test and evidence of our having "passed from death unto life" was only to fill believers with the doubts and fears of a self-righteous spirit, and to unhinge and destroy their confidence,—that he pronounces it, as we have seen, in the most unequivocal terms, the very means of “knowing that we are of the truth," and of" assuring our hearts" before God: for indeed he had no conception of a consciousness of faith, without a consciousness of love. So that the very way of trying ourselves, which some modern Christians allege can have no effect but that of filling the mind with disquieting uncertainty and apprehension, is the very way which the Apostle pre

scribes for the attainment of knowledge, confidence, and assurance.

So there must

It is true, there is an alternative. be; so there ought to be. Let us, for a moment, take up again the different views already given of eternal life. Is it not true, that life as to spiritual character is as essential a part of life eternal, as life in regard to pardoned state? that sanctification is as necessary a part of salvation as justification? And in order to our "knowing that we have eternal life," is it not, therefore, as indispensable that we should know we have the latter as that we should know we have the former? The same faith that justifies sanctifies. The same faith that introduces to a state of pardon, becomes the principle of spiritual life in the soul. The two are inseparable. If our faith does not sanctify us, it has not justified

us.

Our peace with God, we may be assured, is not legitimate, unless the faith from which it has arisen "purifies the heart," "works by love," and is "the victory that overcometh the world." I am not, in saying so, departing from my position that the simple spiritual perception and belief of the gospel testimony, the testimony of "grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord," is enough to give immediate and well-founded peace and confidence towards God. No: I delight in the persuasion and announcement of this blessed truth. It is one of the most animating in the ministry of the gospel. "The entrance of God's word giveth light." It diffuses through the soul of the believing sinner a joy unknown and unfelt before. But all the parts of divine truth are in harmony; and each ought to have its due degree of prominence. John most clearly teaches us, that we are not to confine ourselves to the mere consciousness of believing, making that our sole inquiry;— that we must go farther; that we must look to the

subsequent effects of our faith, as the proofs, the substantial and unequivocal proofs, of its regarding the true object of faith revealed in the gospel, and consequently of our interest in Christ and our having eternal life. John, I say, does this. And Paul does this. And Christ himself does this. Listen to his own words:-"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.' 11 This is a most important and decisive passage in our present argument, and full of practical instruction. Is it asked, How are we to make it appear that we are Christ's disciples ?-the answer is "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit: so shall ye be my disciples," verse 8. How are we to continue in the enjoyment or experience of his love? "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love," verses 9, 10. How is the Saviour to

1* John xv. 8-15.