may be repented of and recovered from: and of sin which shows that the offender has fallen from grace. This leads him to repeat what he had said, and often said, before. We have no proof of an interest in Christ, except that of overcoming sin. "For this was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." Such was the purpose of his coming, and such must be its effect. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

Keepeth himself! A man's own care is poor guardianship, and a man's own strength is feeble protection. Neither does the apostle mean to leave us to ourselves. "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." But the Lord will not keep that city for which the watchman is not vigilant. And therefore the children of God keep themselves; are afraid of venturing where the children of this world rush without alarm or fear. They will not trust themselves in the way of danger. of danger. They will not indulge in pursuits which minister to pride and vanity they refuse to enter into temptation: and, instead of yielding to appetite and inclination, they

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keep under the body, and bring it into subjection."

Daniel and his three young countrymen (Dan. i. 3—16) gave an example of the self-restraint and self-denial here intended, when they refused to live after the manner of the servants of the king of Babylon; when "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank." And God

approved of this determination, and gave him favour with Melzar, the king's chamberlain, and "he took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they should drink, and gave them pulse." Thus they were preserved from danger, the danger of a licentious court; and "God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom, so that none were found like them." They knew that "we have an adversary, the devil," always on the watch, waiting to devour. And when he finds one of God's servants unmindful of his weakness, regardless of the dangers by which he is beset, and daring to engage among scenes of wrath, strife, emulations, rivalry, and vanity; he finds him as a sheep which has wandered from the fold, out of the reach of the shepherd's voice! Such an one cannot say with David, "I have kept myself from the path of the destroyer."1 Such an one cannot, without presumption, expect that He whose counsels he has neglected, will preserve him from the snares of that wicked one, and "keep him from falling." 2

Yet is there good reason why God's children should keep themselves. They are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people." There is a difference, a distinction, between them and others. The Lord gave himself for them, that he might purify them unto himself as "a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

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19. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

1 Ps. xvii. 4.

2 Jude 23.

31 Pet. ii. 9.

20. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

Such is the assurance of the sincere Christian. He knows that the Son of God is come: and offers "to deliver him from this present evil world," and to "give him an inheritance among the saints in light." He knows that the Spirit which leads him to accept this offer, and to "receive the Son," is not his own; it is given him of God. The light would shine on him in vain, unless God opened his eyes to discern Him that is true. "For all men have not faith." Some "love darkness rather than light." And when there is a contrary purpose, it is God that gives us an understanding, and disposes us to take refuge in his Son Jesus Christ, and separate ourselves from the ways and from the doom— first from the ways, and hereafter from the doomof a world that lieth in wickedness. This refuge is secure, this deliverance is complete. For this is the true God, and eternal life. He who has wrought out salvation for us, is one on whom we may depend. He is "Immanuel, God with us." He "was God; was in the beginning with God." "He and his Father are one." And therefore to believe in him, to have committed ourselves to him, is eternal life. It is the record to which all Scripture bears witness. "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."

The conclusion is,

21. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

*

How quick is the change, in fickle inconsistent man, from the highest to the lowest things, from the worthiest objects to the most unworthy! We rise, by the power of divine grace, towards heaven and its glories. And immediately, like one who has soared on borrowed wings, we are liable to sink and grovel in the dust. So that there is nothing unnatural in the apostle's warning, notwithstanding the connexion in which it comes. This, whom you trust in and adore, is the true God. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Called to the noblest service, keep yourselves from the meanest slavery. Called to the sublimest faith, keep yourselves from the most wretched superstition. Keep yourselves from that false worship which you see around you, and out of which many of you have been taken. And keep yourselves also from those idols which are no less dangerous than idols of wood or stone: those objects which the world sets up before us, and which are too apt to usurp the love and the service due to God. For to love reputation, or fortune, or pleasure, or anything which this world can offer instead of God, is as much idolatry as the worship of a graven image.

4 Φυλαξατε ἑαυτους. Guard yourselves.

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN.

A. D. 91.

LECTURE LXXX.

AN EXHORTATION TO STEDFASTNESS OF
FAITH AND PRACTICE.

2. JOHN 1-8.

1. The elder unto the elect lady and her children,1 whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;

2. For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

3. Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

This short and familiar letter is an example of the spirit which St. John had been inculcating in his longer and more studied epistle. It is full of the sweetness and gentleness which belong to christian faith. He calls himself, as Peter had

1 Nothing is known, or need be known, concerning the person to whom this letter is addressed, except what may be collected from the letter itself.