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SERMON IX.

THE GIFT OF ABUNDANT LIFE.

ST. JOHN X. 10.

"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

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OUR Lord here declares the great end for which He came into the world, that we might have life." He had already said this oftentimes before; as to Nicodemus; "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Again at Capernaum: "The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world ;" and "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.”

But here He speaks with a still greater fulness of meaning. He does not only say, "I am come that they might have life;" but still more, "and that they might have it more abundantly;" pro

1 St. John iii. 16; vi. 33; v. 40.

mising some great endowment, some greater gift of God than man had ever before received. This is the great grace of the Gospel, the abundant gift of life. Let us endeavour, by His help "who is our Life," to understand the depth and blessedness of this promise.

It may be thought that the words "more abundantly" are not intended as a measure of comparison with any other previous gift of God; but that they signify, as is the undoubted usage of the original as well as of other languages, only the largeness and fulness of the grace of life, which is in Christ. But, after all, it comes to the same; for, in such modes of speech, there is always some comparison involved, though it may be remotely, and in human speakers almost unconsciously, intended. In His words, who is Truth and the Wisdom of the Father, it is something more than error to suppose such a manner of speaking. Though He humbled Himself to use our speech, man spake like this Man." divine, and perfect truth in every word of the Son of God. When He said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," He intended, we must believe, that the gift of life through Himself should be in a fulness never given to man before. And it will not

1 St. John vii. 46.

66 never There is a pure,

need many thoughts to shew us how graciously this promise is fulfilled.

St. John has in part led us into the right understanding of these words, by saying, "The law was given by Moses; but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ:" and our Lord Himself still more fully, when He said, "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." Life was given under, though not by, the law; and yet, not as it was to be given afterwards by Jesus Christ. Before He came, it was given in secret and in measure; after He came, openly and in abundance. But these words contain a deeper meaning than simply to say, that the Gospel of Christ is fuller of life than the law of Moses. In one word, they mean nothing less than this, that the gift of life, which is by Jesus Christ, is more abundant than was ever given, not only under the law, or before the law; not only to saints, prophets, patriarchs; but more abundant than in the grace of creation, and in the gift of life with which Adam was endowed in Paradise. "I am come that they might have life," in measure more abundant, in manner more divine, in continuance more abiding, than was ever yet revealed.

1 St. John i. 17.

VOL. III.

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2 St. John vi. 49, 50.

This declares to us the great gift of indwelling life, which is now bestowed upon us by the Son of God through the Holy Ghost.

First, then, the gift or spirit of life dwells in those who are united to Christ, in a fulness more abundant than was ever revealed before.

When God made man in His own image and likeness, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, he became "a living soul:" he was perfect in body and soul, endowed with the grace of God, sinless and immortal. We may ask, What more, as man, could he be? St. Paul gives us an inspired answer: "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." And again, "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven." Now, what does he intend by these words? He teaches us that Adam was a mere man, made of the earth, endowed with life as a gift of God; but that Christ, who is God and man, is a man Divine, possessing life in Himself. The life possessed by Adam was in the measure of his own infirmity; the life which is in Christ is in the fulness of a Divine manhood. Adam was united to God only by God's grace and power. Christ is God made man. The humanity of Adam was only human; in Christ the manhood is become divine. The 1 1 Cor. xv. 45, 47.

"As

union of the Godhead with the manhood endowed it with a substantial grace, whereby it was deified. And it was from the miraculous conception filled with the fulness of all grace. His very manhood became the fountain, a great deep of all grace. Therefore He said, "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son," both as God and as man, "to have life in Himself." the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." This was the prophecy of St. John Baptist: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." And it was His own promise, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" And, after He had entered into His glory, St. John bare witness that this promise had been fulfilled: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His

1 St. John v. 26.
4 St. John vii. 37-39.

2 Ib. 21.

3 St. Matt. iii. 11.

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