ST. JOHN.

SECTION I.

Chap. i. ver. 1-5.

THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST ASSERTED.

1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

"In the beginning," at the creation, that is, before all time, and from eternity, then was "the Word," the onlybegotten Son of God, so called, because the nature and will of God, what he is in himself, what he does, and would have us do, are manifested by him, as words discover and exactly represent the hidden sense of the mind, which would otherwise be unknown. "And the Word was with God," and therefore a distinct person. With Him, in the distinction and relation of a Son to the Father, though one in substance and essence. "And the Word was God " No art, device, or subtlety of man, can set aside this divine declaration, and full assertion of the eternal Godhead of the Word, or Son.

2. The same was in the beginning with God.

To prevent all mistake, or evasion, and that this great truth of our religion, on which so much depends, might be more attended to, and more surely believed, St. John was directed to repeat the declaration.

3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Here the same truth is asserted in the form of a proof, and under a new discovery of divine revelation. “He that made all things is God:" Heb. iii. 4; therefore Christ is God. The evangelist has told us what Christ is in himself; he next tells us what he is, and must be,

to us.

4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

He was the root and the fountain of life to all intellectual beings, communicating happiness to them, through himself, in and with their creation. "And the life was the light of men." His life in them, so long as they retained it, was a never-failing spring of light to them, by which they were fitted to know, and live in communion with God, as much as we are fitted by our bodily eyes to receive and enjoy the light of the sun.

5. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

It shineth continually, notwithstanding that men were turned from it by the fall "of man, derived from the sin of our first parents in paradise," and would not receive it. See what our condition is at all times without Christ. Though we should have all the natural knowledge and acuteness in the world, we are in gross darkness till we have the true light again, by his life in us, a root and growth in him, by an inward work of faith. "And the darkness comprehended it not ;" that is, did not, would not perceive, or apprehend it; mankind did not perceive it from the beginning, when, according to these words, it was working in secret; nor the Jews in particular, when it shone out at his coming; neither do the generality apprehend it at any time.

In the early part of this chapter what Christ is, and what he came into the world to perform, is set forth. The

design he came upon was the recovery of lost mankind, and to convince us of the will of God for our restoration, and that none but God could effect it; hence, the Godhead of Christ, the author of it, is declared as fully and plainly as possible. How low have we fallen, how great is our danger, and how great the love of God for us perishing creatures! Well would it be for us, if we were so struck with the sense of our condition, the mercy of deliverance, and the greatness of our Redeemer, as to receive the life. which he offers to us, by receiving him into our hearts. Let us be all attention. The words of this Gospel came from heaven; they were given to St. John for us. Let us make them our own by diligent study, by meditation, and especially by prayer. The lifting up the heart to God, when Christians hear or read the Scripture, is a sure means to have it savingly opened and applied.

SECTION II.

Chap. i. ver. 6-14.

CHRIST'S HUMANITY AND OFFICE.

6. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

The office of John the Baptist was two-fold, he was a preacher of repentance, and a witness of Christ. The former is mentioned by the other three Evangelists, the latter by St. John. We must receive Christ in both respects. The repentance which John the Baptist preached is necessary, but Christ alone is our remedy.

8. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

He was not the light which we all need, but a guide to it this is all which any preacher, or outward teaching of

the word of God, can become to us. Christ, we are still in darkness.

If we stop short of

9. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

What the light of the day is to the body, and the business of this world, the same Christ is to the soul, and to all spiritual uses. What should we think of a man, who was blind and would not have his eyes opened, or who was in a dark dungeon, and would not come out of it? But this is nothing to the folly of those who reject Christ, and his light. Think whether you have received it or not, or how any can receive it but under a feeling of want, and a sense of their miserable darkness.

10. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

The Son of God was in the world at all times, and before his coming in the flesh, and he did not then begin to be, for "the world was made by him."

We are in this verse given to understand that the world might have known Christ by an inward work upon their hearts, if it had not been their own fault. This is indeed the only true knowledge of Christ, without which the outward knowledge of him, whether in the flesh, or since, is nothing. The world is still the world.

11. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

Either his own world, and workmanship; or, most probably, his own covenanted people, the Jews, who were sealed his by circumcision, as we are, by baptism, and the outward profession of Christianity: but it is in vain to us, as well as it was to them, if we do not receive him. The words, his own, carry a black mark of ingratitude in them.

to

12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

By the grace of remission, and a similitude of nature, he

conferred on them both the power and the right; and thus they were entitled to all the blessings of well-beloved children, plainly implying that they were not so before, and that none can be so but by him; and farther, he tells us how they are so: “To them that believe on his name ;” who receive him as their God and Saviour, their life and light, sole relief, and whole salvation. Gal. iii. 26. “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."

13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Believers were “not born of blood," however noble, nor by natural generation, even from Abraham: nor were they "born of the will of the flesh," which would never desire this heavenly birth: nor “of the will of man,” which could not attain to it: "but of God." By his power and will, bringing us into a new state, by a new birth, as much as when we first came into being out of nothing. Every natural man, without divine grace, is as much dead to God, as a dead body is to the world.

14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The apostles beheld his glory in his miracles, preaching, and conversation, and especially, at his baptism and transfiguration; and still most of all, in his grace and converting power.

SECTION III.

Chap. i. ver. 15—27.

THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN.

15. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me : for he was before me.

VOL. II.

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