1-2-3 John (Sections 253-258)

Section 253

"It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that when he shall appear, we shall be like
him; for we shall see him as he is."—1 John 3:2 The present condition of a believer, notwithstanding its imperfection, is a state of much joy and honor. Looked at in the light of faith, it is sublime, for "now are we the sons of God."

We are near to God's heart as his children.

We nestle under the wings of God for protection.

We abide in his pavilion for communion.

We are fed in his pasture for provision. For all this, our earthly existence is not a life which we would desire to be perpetual. It is as a traveler's pilgrimage, a sailor's voyage, a soldier's warfare: and we look forward to its end with joyful expectation.

We will let the text divide itself verbally.

I. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." At present we are veiled, and travel through the world incognito.

1. Our Master was not made manifest here below. His glory was veiled in flesh. His Deity was concealed in infirmity. His power was hidden under sorrow and weakness. His riches were buried under poverty and shame. The world knew him not, for he was made flesh.

2. We are not fit to appear in full figure as yet. The son is treated as a servant while under age. The heir is kept a pensioner till his majority. The prince serves as a soldier before he reaches the throne.

We must needs have an evening before our morning, a schooling before our college, a tuning before the music is ready.

3. This is not the world to appear in.

There are none to appreciate us, and it would be as though kings showed their royalty at a wake, or wise men discoursed philosophy before fools. A warring and waiting condition like the present would not be a fit opportunity for unveiling.

4. This is not the time in which to appear in our glory. The winter prepares flowers, but does not call them forth. The ebb-tide reveals the secrets of the sea, but many of our rivers no gallant ship can then sail. To everything there is a season, and this is not the time of glory.

II. "But we know that when he shall appear."

1. We speak of our Lord's manifestation without doubt. "We know."

2. Our faith is so assumed that it becomes knowledge.

He will be manifest upon this earth in person.

He will be manifest in perfect happiness.

He will be manifest in highest glory.

He will appear surely, and so we speak of it as a date for our own manifesting—"When he shall appear."

Oh the hope, the glory, the bliss, the fulness of delight which cluster around this great appearing!

III. "We shall be like him."

We shall then be as manifested, and as clearly seen, as he will be. The time of our open presentation at court will have come.

1. Having a body like his body.

Sinless, incorruptible, painless, spiritual, clothed with beauty and power, and yet most real and true.

2. Having a soul like his soul.

Perfect, holy, instructed, developed, strengthened, active, delivered from temptation, conflict, and suffering.

3. Having such dignities and glories as he wears.

Kings, priests, conquers, judges, sons of God.

We must be made in a measure like him now, or else we shall not be found so at his appearing.

IV. "We shall see him as he is."

1. This glorious sight will perfect our likeness.

2. This will be the result of our being like him.

3. This will be evidence of our being like him, since none but the pure in heart can see God. The sight will be ravishing. The sight will be transforming and transfiguring. The sight will be abiding, and a source of bliss for ever.

Behold what glories come out of our being the sons of God!

Let us not rest till by faith in Jesus we receive power to become sons of God, and then let us go on to enjoy the privileges of sonship.

Lights

God showed power in making us creatures, but love in making us sons. Plato gave God thanks that he had made him a man, and not a beast; but what cause have they to adore God's love, who hath made them children! The apostle puts an ecce to it, Behold!—Thomas Watson. And here, reader, wonder not if I be at a loss; and if my apprehensions receive but little of that which is in my expressions. If to the beloved disciple that durst speak and inquire into Christ's secrets, and was filled with his revelations, and saw the New Jerusalem in her glory, and had seen Christ, Moses, and Elias in part of theirs; if it did not appear to him what we shall be, but only in general, that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, no wonder if I know little.—Richard Baxter, in "The Saint's Everlasting Rest."

Such divine, God-given glimpses into the future reveal to us more than all our thinking. What intense truth, what divine meaning there is in God's creative word: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness!" To show forth the likeness of the Invisible, to be partaker of the divine nature, to share with God his rule of the universe, is man's destiny. His place is indeed one of unspeakable glory. Standing between two eternities, the eternal purpose in which we were predestinated to be conformed to the image of the first-born Son, and the eternal realization of that purpose, when we shall be like him in his glory. We hear the voice from every side: O ye image-bearers of God! on the way to share the glory of God and of Christ, live a Godlike, live a Christlike life!—Andrew Murray. A converted blind man once said, "Jesus Christ will be the first person I shall ever see, for my eyes will be opened in heaven."

Then shall we see Thee as Thou art, For ever fixed in no unfruitful gaze, But such as lifts the new-created heart, Age after age, in worthier love and praise.

—John Keble.

"You are going to be with Jesus, and to see him as he is," said a friend to Rowland Hill on his deathbed. "Yes," replied Mr. Hill, with emphasis, "and I shall be like him; that is the crowning point." To see him as he is, and in himself, is reserved till we shall have better eyes; these eyes we have are carnal and corruptible, and cannot see God till they have put on incorruption.—Sir Richard Baker.

One view of Jesus as he is Will strike all sin for ever dead.

—W. Cowper.

Section 254 "And every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure."—1 John 3:3 The Christian is a man whose main possessions lie in re-version.

Most men have a hope, but his is a peculiar one; and its effect is special, for it causes him to purify himself.

I. The believer's hope.

"Every man that hath this hope in him."

1. It is the hope of being like Jesus.

Perfect, Glorious, Conqueror over sin, death and hell.

2. It is based upon divine love. See verse 1.

3. It arises out of sonship. "Called the sons of God."

4. It rests upon our union to Jesus. "When he shall appear."

5. It is distinctly hope in Him. "We shall be like him," etc.

6. It is the hope of his second Advent.

II. The operation of that hope.

"Purifieth."

It does not puff up like the conceit of Pharisees.

It does not lead to loose living, like the presumption of Antinomians.

It shows us what course is grateful, is congruous to grace, is according to the new nature, and is preparatory to the perfect future.

1. The believer purifies himself from— His grosser sins. From evil company, etc. His secret sins, neglects, imaginings, desires, murmurings, etc. His besetting sins of heart, temper, body, relationship, etc. His relative sins in the family, the shop, the church, etc. His sins arising out of nationality, education, profession, etc. His sins of word, thought, action, and omission.

2. He does this in a perfectly natural way— By getting a clear notion of what purity really is. By keeping a tender conscience, and bewailing his faults. By having an eye to God and his continual presence. By making others his beacons or examples. By hearing rebukes for himself, and laying them to heart. By asking the Lord to search him, and practicing self-examination. By distinctly and vigorously fighting with every known sin.

3. He sets before him Jesus as his model. "He purifieth himself, even as HE is pure."

Hence he does not cultivate one grace only.

Hence he is never afraid of being too precise.

Hence he is simple, natural, and unconstrained.

Hence he is evermore aspiring after more and more holiness.

III. The test of that hope.

"He purifieth himself."

Actively, personally, prayerfully, intensely, continually, he aims at the purification of himself, looking to God for aid.

• Some defile themselves wilfully.

• Some take things as they are.

• Some believe that they need no purifying.

• Some talk about purity, but never strive after it.

• Some glory in that which is a mere counterfeit of it.

The genuine Hoper does not belong to any of these classes: he really and successfully purifies himself.

What must it be to be without a good hope?

How can there be hope where there is no faith?

Grace adopts us; adoption gives us hope; hope purifies us, till we are like the Firstborn.

Animating Words

1. First, The Workman. "Every one that hath this hope in him," every one that looks to be like the Lord Jesus in the kingdom of Glory is the man that must set about this task. 2. Secondly, The work is a work to be wrought by himself. He is a part of the Lord's husbandry, and he must take pains as it were to plough his own ground, to weed his own corn, he must purify himself; this is his present and personal work. 3. Thirdly, the pattern by which he must be directed is the Lord Jesus: his purity. Take him for a pattern and instance; look unto him that is the author and finisher of our faith; as you have seen him do, so do you; as he is pure, so labor you to express in your lives the virture of him who hath redeemed you. —Richard Sibbes.

Then thou comportest with thy hopes of salvation when thou laborest to be as holy in thy conversation as thou art high in thy expectation. This the apostle urgeth from the evident fitness of the thing, 2 Peter 3:11 : "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God?" Certainly, it becomes such to be holy, even to admiration, who look for such a blessed day: we hope then to be like the angels in glory, and therefore should, if possible, live now like angels in holiness. Every believing soul is Christ's spouse. The day of conversion is the day of espousals, wherein she is betrothed by faith to Christ, and, as such, lives in hopes for the marriage-day, when he shall come and fetch her home to his father's house, as Isaac did Rebekah to his mother's tent, there to dwell with him, and live in his sweet embraces of love, world without end. Now, would the bride have the bridegroom find her in sluttery and vile raiment? No, surely: "Can a bride forget her attire?" Jeremiah 2:32. Was it ever known that a bride forgot to have her wedding clothes made against the marriageday, or to put them on when she looks for her bridegroom's coming? Holiness is the raiment of needlework in which, Christian, thou art to be brought to thy King and husband: Psalms 45:14. Wherefore is the wedding-day put off so long, but because this garment is so long a-making? When this is once wrought, and thou art ready dressed, then that joyful day comes. Remember how the Holy Spirit wordeth it in the Book of Revelation, "the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready": Revelation 19:7.—William Gurnall. A good hope, through grace, animates and gives life to action, and purifies as it goes: like the highland stream that dashes from the rock, and purifies itself as it pursues its course to the ocean.—H. G. Salter. The Christian needs Christ in his redemption as the object of Faith, for salvation; Christ himself the object of Love, for devotion and service; and Christ in his coming glory, the object of Hope, for separation from the world.—W. Haslam. The biographer of Hewitson says of him: "He not only believed in the speedy appearing, but loved it, waited for it, watched for it. So mighty a motive power did it become, that he ever used to speak of it afterwards as bringing with it a kind of second conversion."—A. J. Gordon, D. D.

Section 255 "We know that we have passed from death unto
life, because we love the brethren."—1 John 3:14 The spiritual things which we speak of are matters of knowledge.

John, in almost every verse of this epistle, uses the words "we know." The philosophical distinction between believing and knowing is mere theory. "We know and have believed."

I. We know that we were dead.

1. We were without feeling when law and gospel were addressing us.

2. Without hunger and thirst after righteousness.

3. Without power of movement towards God in repentance.

4. Without the breath of prayer, or pulse of desire.

5. With signs of corruption; some of them most offensive.

II. We know that we have undergone a singular change.

1. The reverse of the natural change from life to death.

2. No more easy to describe than the death change would be.

3. This change varies in each case as to its outward phenomena, but it is essentially the same in all.

4. As a general rule its course is as follows—

• It commences with painful sensations.

• It leads to a sad discovery of our natural weakness.

• It is made manifest by personal faith in Jesus.

• It operates on the man by repentance and purification.

• It is continued by perseverance in sanctification.

• It is completed in joy, infinite, eternal.

5. The period of this change is an era to be looked back upon in time and through eternity with grateful praise.

III. We know that we live.

1. We know that we are not under condemnation.

2. We know that faith has given us new senses, grasping a new world, enjoying a realm of spiritual things.

3. We know that we have new hopes, fears, desires, delights, etc.

4. We know that we have been introduced into new surroundings and a new spiritual society: God, saints, angels, etc.

5. We know that we have new needs; such as heavenly breath, food, instruction, correction, etc.

6. We know that this life guarantees eternal bliss.

IV. We know that we live, because we love.

"We love the brethren."

1. We love them for Christ's sake.

2. We love them for the truth's sake.

3. We love them for their own sake.

4. We love them when the world hates them.

5. We love their company, their example, their exhortations.

6. We love them despite the drawbacks of infirmity, inferiority, etc.

Let us prove our love by our generosity.

Thus shall we supply ourselves with growing evidences of grace.

Love-lines

Just as in the gospel he rescues the word logos from antichristian uses, so in this Epistle he rescues the word "know" and aims at making his "little children" Gnostics in the divine sense. Knowledge is excellent, but the path to it is not through intellectual speculation, however keen and subtle, but through faith in Jesus Christ and subjection to him, according to those most Johannine words in the Gospel of Matthew: "Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."—Dr. Culross. The Christian apologist never further misses the mark than when he refuses the testimony of the Agnostic to himself. When the Agnostic tells me he is blind and deaf, dumb, torpid, and dead to the spiritual world, I must believe him. Jesus tells me that. Paul tells me that. Science tells me that. He knows nothing of this outermost circle; and we are compelled to trust his sincerity as readily when he deplores it, as if, being a man without an ear, he professed to know nothing of a musical world, or being without taste, of a world of art. The nescience of the Agnostic philosophy is the proof from experience that to be carnally minded is death.—Professor Henry Drummond. The world always loves to believe that it is impossible to know that we are converted. If you ask them, they will say, "I am not sure; I cannot tell"; but the whole Bible declares we may receive, and know that we have received, the forgiveness of sins.—R. M. McCheyne. In the writings of Paul, "Faith in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints," constitute a well-understood and oft-recurring sequence. It is a straitening about that upper spring of faith that makes the streams of love fail in their channels. —W. Arnot. No outward mark have we to know Who thine, O Christ, may be, Until a Christian love doth show Who appertains to thee: For knowledge may be reached unto, And formal justice gained, But till each other love we doe, Both faith and workes are feigned.

—George Wither, 1588-1667.

Yes, brethren in Christ have all one common Father, one common likeness, one object of faith, love, and adoration; one blessed hope, one present employment; alike in trials, alike in prayer. They lean upon the same hand, appear daily before the same mercy-seat, feed at the same table. How much all these things link them together, not in profession only, but in heart! Hence this is a decisive test: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." —D. Katterns. In the early days of Christianity, when it triumphed over the old heathenism of the Roman world, it founded a new society bound together by this holy mutual love. The catacombs of Rome bear remarkable testimony to this gracious brotherhood. There were laid the bodies of members of the highest Roman aristocracy, some even of the family of the Cæsars, side by side with the remains of obscure slaves and laborers. And in the case of the earliest graves the inscriptions are without a single allusion to the position in society of him who was buried there: they did not trouble themselves whether he had been a consul or a slave, a tribune of the legion or a common soldier, a patrician or an artisan. It sufficed that they knew him to have been a believer in Christ, a man who feared God. They cared not to perpetuate in death the vain distinctions of the world; they had mastered the glorious teaching of the Lord, "One is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren."—E. De Pressensé.

Section 256 "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than
our heart, and knoweth all things.

"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then
have we confidence toward God."—1 John 3:20-21 The fault of many is that they will not lay spiritual things to heart at all, but treat them in a superficial manner. This is foolish, sinful, deadly. We ought to put our case upon serious trial in the court of our own conscience.

Certain of a better class are satisfied with the verdict of their hearts, and do not remember the higher courts; and therefore either become presumptuous, or are needlessly distressed. We are about to consider the judgments of this lower court. Here we may have—

I. A correct verdict against ourselves.

Let us sum up the process.

1. The court sits under the King's arms, to judge by royal authority. The charge against the prisoner is read. Conscience accuses, and quotes the law as applicable to the points alleged.

2. Memory gives evidence. As to the fact of sin in years past, and of sin more lately committed. Items mentioned. Sabbath sins. Transgressions of each one of the ten commandments. Rejection of the gospel. Omissions in a thousand ways. Failure in motive, spirit, temper, etc.

3. Knowledge gives evidence that the present state of mind and heart and will is not according to the Word.

4. Self-love and pride urge good intents and pious acts in stay of proceedings. Hear the defense! But alas! it is not worth hearing. The defense is but one of "the refuges of lies."

5. The heart, judging by the law, condemns. Henceforth the man lives as in a condemned cell under fear of death and hell.

If even our partial, half-enlightened heart condemns, we may well tremble at the thought of appearing before the Lord God. The higher court is more strictly just, better informed, more authoritative, and more able to punish. God knows all. Forgotten sin, sins of ignorance, sins half-seen are all before the Lord.

What a terrible case is this! Condemned in the lower court, and sure to be condemned in the higher!

II. An incorrect verdict against ourselves. The case as before. The sentence apparently most clear. But when revised by the higher court it is reversed, for good reasons.

1. The debt has been discharged by the man's glorious Surety.

2. The man is not the same man; though he sinned he has died to sin, and he now lives as one born from above.

3. The evidences in his favor, such as the atonement and the new birth, were forgotten, undervalued, or misjudged in the lower court; hence he was condemned. Sentence of condemnation does not stand when these matters are duly noted.

4. The evidence looked for by a sickly conscience was what it could not find, for it did not exist, namely, natural goodness, perfection, unbroken joy, etc. The judge was ignorant, and legally inclined. The verdict was therefore a mistaken one. An appeal clears the case: "God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things."

III. A correct verdict of acquittal. Our heart sometimes justly "condemns us not." The argument for non-condemnation is good: the following are the chief items of evidence in proof of our being gracious—

1. We are sincere in our profession of love to God.

2. We are filled with love to the brethren.

3. We are resting upon Christ, and on him alone.

4. We are longing after holiness. The result of this happy verdict of the heart is that we have—

• Confidence towards God that we are really his.

• Confidence as to our reconciliation with God by Jesus Christ.

• Confidence that he will not harm us, but will bless us.

• Confidence in prayer that he will accept and answer.

• Confidence as to future judgment that we shall receive the gracious reward at the last great day.

IV. An incorrect verdict of acquittal.

1. A deceived heart may refuse to condemn, but God will judge us all the same. He will not allow self-conceit to stand.

2. A false heart may acquit, but this gives no confidence Godward.

3. A deceitful heart pretends to acquit while in its center it condemns.

If we shrink now, what shall we do in judgment?

What a waking, to find ourselves condemned at the last!

Quotations When Sir Walter Raleigh had laid his head upon the block, says an eloquent divine, he was asked by the executioner whether it lay aright. Whereupon, with the calmness of a hero and the faith of a Christian, he returned an answer, the power of which we all shall feel when our head is tossing and turning on death's uneasy pillow—"It matters little, my friend, how the head lies, providing the heart be right."—Steele. As Luther says: "Though conscience weigh us down, and tell us God is angry, yet God is greater than our heart. The conscience is but one drop; the reconciled God is an ocean of consolation."—Critical English Testament. A seared conscience thinks better of itself, a wounded worse than it ought: the former may account all sin a sport, the latter all sport a sin; melancholy men, when sick, are ready to conceive any cold to be the cough of the lungs, and an ordinary pustule to be no less than a plague-sore. So wounded consciences conceive sins of infirmity to be sins of presumption, sins of ignorance to be sins of knowledge, apprehending their case to be far more dangerous than it is indeed.—Thomas Fuller.

Conscience works after the manner so beautifully set forth in the ring that a great magician, according to an Eastern tale, presented to his prince. The gift was of inestimable value, not for the diamonds and rubies and pearls that gemmed it, but for a rare and mystic property in the metal. It set easily enough on the finger in ordinary circumstances, but as soon as its wearer formed a bad thought, designed or committed a bad action, the ring became a monitor. Suddenly contracting, it pressed painfully on his finger, warning him of sin. Such a ring, thank God, is not the peculiar property of kings; the poorest of us, those that wear none other, may possess and wear this inestimable jewel; for the ring of the fable is just that conscience which is the voice of God within us, which is his law, engraven by the finger of God, not on Sinai's granite tables, but on the fleshy tablets of the heart, which, enthroned as a sovereign in every bosom, commends us when we do right, and condemns us when we do wrong.—Dr. Guthrie. The spirit of man, that candle of the Lord, often gives but a faint and glimmering light; but the Spirit of God snuffs it, that it may burn brighter.—Benjamin Beddome.

Section 257

"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world: and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith."—1 John 5:4 What is meant by this world? The power of sin all around us: the influence which operates towards evil, and makes the commandments and purposes of God grievous to society. The Prince of this world has much to do with this evil power. This world is our foe, and we must fight with it.

We must contend till we overcome the world, or it will overcome us.

I. The conquest itself: "overcometh the world."

We are not to be litigious, eager to contradict everybody.

We are not, however, to be cowardly, and anxious to flee the fight.

We mingle among men of the world, but it must be as warriors who are ever on the watch, and are aiming at victory. Therefore—

1. We break loose from the world's customs.

2. We maintain our freedom to obey a higher Master in all things.

We are not enslaved by dread of poverty, greed of riches, official command, personal ambition, love of honor, fear of shame, or force of numbers.

3. We are raised above circumstances, and find our happiness in invisible things: thus we overcome the world.

4. We are above the world's authority. Its ancient customs or novel edicts are for its own children: we do not own it as a ruler, or as a judge.

5. We are above its example, influence, and spirit. We are crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to us.

6. We are above its religion. We gather our religion from God and his Word, not from human sources. As one in whom this conquest was seen, read the story of Abraham. Think of him in connection with his quitting home, his lonely wanderings, his conduct towards Lot, Sodom and her king, Isaac, etc.

II. The conquering nature.

"Whatsoever is born of God."

1. This nature alone will undertake the contest with the world.

2. This nature alone can continue it. All else wearies in the fray.

3. This nature is born to conquer. God is the Lord, and that which is born of him is royal and ruling.

It is not an amendment of the former creation.

It is not even a new creation without relationship to its Creator; but it is a birth from God, with eminence of descent, infusing similarity of nature, and conferring rights of heirship. The Creator cannot be overcome, nor those born of him.

Jesus, the firstborn, never was defeated, nor will those conformed to him fail of ultimate triumph. The Holy Spirit in us must be victorious, for how should he be vanquished? The idea would be blasphemous.

III. The conquering weapon: "even our faith."

We are enabled to be conquerors through regarding—

1. The unseen reward which awaits us.

2. The unseen presence which surrounds us. God and a cloud of witnesses hold us in full survey.

3. The mystic union to Christ which grace has wrought in us. Resting in Jesus we overcome the world.

4. The sanctifying communion which we enjoy with the unseen God. In these ways faith operates towards overcoming sin.

IV. The speciality of it.

"This is the victory."

1. For salvation, finding the rest of faith.

2. For imitation, finding the wisdom of Jesus, the Son of God.

3. For consolation, seeing victory secured to us in Jesus.

Behold your conflict—born to battle.

Behold your triumph—bound to conquer.

War-cries When a traveler was asked whether he did not admire the admirable structure of some stately building, "No," said he, "for I have been at Rome, where better are to be seen every day." O believer, if the world tempt thee with rare sights and curious prospects, thou mayest well scorn them, having been by contemplation, in heaven, and being able, by faith, to see infinitely better delights every hour of the day! "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."—Feathers for Arrows.

The danger to which Christians are exposed from the influence of the visible course of things, or the world (as it is called in Scripture), is a principal subject of St. John's General Epistle. He seems to speak of the world as some False Prophet, promising what it cannot fulfil, and gaining credit by its confident tone. Viewing it as resisting Christianity, he calls it the "Spirit of Antichrist," the parent of a numerous progeny of evil, false spirits like itself, the teachers of all lying doctrines, by which the multitude of men are led captive. The antagonist of this great tempter is the Spirit of Truth, which is "greater than he that is in the world"; its victorious antagoist, because gifted with those piercing Eyes of Faith which are able to scan the world's shallowness, and to see through the mists of error into the glorious kingdom of God beyond them. "This is the victory that overcometh the world," says the text, "even our faith."—J. H. Newman.

The believer not only overcomes the world in its deformities, but in its seeming excellences. Not in the way that Alexander and other conquerors overcame it, but in a much nobler way; for they, so far from overcoming the world, were slaves to the world. The man who puts ten thousand other men to death does not overcome the world. The true conqueror is he who can say, with Paul, "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," and, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation?" etc. "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us." Such an one has recourse, by faith, to an infallible standard—the Word of God: indeed, there is no other. He detects the world, and will not be imposed upon by it. When he is tempted to take the world's good things as his portion, he rejects them; because he has something better in hand. Thus, faith in Christ overcometh the corrupt influence, the inordinate love, the slavish fear, the idolatry, the friendship, the false wisdom, and the maxims of the world: it overcometh not only the folly, but the very religion of the world, as far as it is a false religion. The Christian has hold of a superior influence, and engages a superior strength. Doubtless, says he, I have great enemies to attack, but greater is he that is with me than he that is in the world.—Richard Cecil.

It is asserted of this elegant creature (the Bird of Paradise) that it always flies against the wind; as, otherwise, its beautiful, but delicate plumage would be ruffled and spoiled. Those only are the Birds of Paradise, in a spiritual sense, who make good their way against the wind of worldliness; a wind always blowing in an opposite direction to that of heaven.—J. D. Hull.

Believers, forget it not! you are the soldiers of the Overcomer.—J. H. Evans.

Section 258

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest
prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."—3 John 1:2 The gospel made a marvelous change in John. Once he could call fire from heaven on opposers; now, having received the Holy Ghost, he is full of love and kind desires. The gospel makes the morose, cheerful; the gay, serious; the revengeful, loving. Coming to such an one as John, it made him the mirror of love. A man's private letters often let you into the secrets of his heart.

Instance Rutherford, Kirke White, Cowper, and John Newton. In this letter, John gratefully wishes Gaius every blessing, and above all things better health.

Health is an invaluable mercy; it is never properly valued till lost. But John puts soul-prosperity side by side with it.

Man has two parts; the one corporeal and earthy, the other immaterial and spiritual. How foolish is the man who thinks of his body, and forgets his soul; neglects the tenant, and repairs the house; prizes the earthen vessel, and despises the treasure!

I. We will examine the words of the text.

1. "I wish"; more correctly, as in the margin, "I pray." Prayer is a wish sanctified. Turn your wishes into prayers.

2. "That thou mayest prosper." We may ask for prosperity for our friends; especially if, like Gaius, they serve God and his cause with their substance.

3. "And be in health." This is necessary to the enjoyment of prosperity. What would all else be without it?

4. "Even as thy soul prospereth." We are startled at this wish: the spiritual health of Gaius is made the standard of his outward prosperity! Dare we pray thus for many of our friends?

Dare we pray thus for ourselves? What would be the result if such a prayer were answered? Picture our bodies made like our souls.

Some would have fever, others paralysis, others ague, etc.

Let us bless God that the body is not the invariable index of the soul.

Few would care to have their spiritual condition expressed in their external condition.

II. We will mention the symptoms of ill-health.

1. A low temperature.

Lukewarmness is an ill sign. In business, such a man will make but little way; in religion, none at all. This is terrible in the case of a minister. This is dangerous in the case of a hearer.

2. A contracted heart.

While some are latitudinarian, others are intolerant, and cut off all who do not utter their Shibboleth.

If we do not love the brethren, there is something wrong with us.

3. A failing appetite as to spiritual food.

4. A difficulty in breathing. When prayer is an irksome duty, everything is wrong with us.

5. A general lethargy: unwillingness for holy service, want of heart, etc.

6. An ungovernable craving for unhealthy things. Some poor creatures will eat dirt, ashes, etc. Some professors are ill in a like way, for they seek groveling amusements and pursuits.

III. We will suggest means of recovery.

We will not here dwell upon the means God uses, though he is the great Physician; but we will think of the regimen we must use for ourselves.

1. Seek good food. Hear a gospel preacher. Study the Word.

2. Breathe freely. Do not restrain prayer.

3. Exercise yourself unto godliness. Labor for God.

4. Return to your native air: breathe the atmosphere of Calvary.

5. Live by the sea. Dwell near to God's all-sufficiency.

6. If these things fail, here is an old prescription: "Carnis et Sanguinis Christi." This taken several times a day, in a draught of the tears of repentance, is a sure cure.

God help you to practice the rules of the heavenly Physician!

IV. We will conclude with an exhortation.

Brother Christian, is it a small matter to be weak and feeble? Thou needest all thy vigor. Go to Calvary, and recruit thyself.

Sinner, thou art dead, but life and health are in Christ!

Nota Medica An ancient Roman wished that he had a window in his breast that all might see his heart, but a sage suggested that in such case he would have urgent need of shutters, and would keep them closed. We could not afford to wear the signs of our spiritual condition where all could see. We should then need all our blood for blushing.—C. H. S.

Sin is called in Scripture by the names of diseases. It is called the plague of the heart: 1 Kings 8:38. There are as many diseases of the soul as there are of the body. Drunkenness is a spiritual dropsy; security is a spiritual lethargy; envy is a spiritual canker; lust is a spiritual fever: Hosea 7:4. Apostasy or backsliding is the spiritual falling sickness; hardness of heart is the spiritual stone; searedness of conscience is a spiritual apoplexy; unsettledness of judgment is a spiritual palsy; pride is a spiritual tumor; vainglory is a spiritual itch. There is not any sickness of the body but there is some distemper of the soul that might be paralleled with it, and bear the name of it. —Ralph Robinson.

The fact of the Scriptures furnishing nutriment and upbuilding to the soul is the most real experience of which we have knowledge. None of us "by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature." But how many, by taking in God's great thoughts, feeding on them, and inwardly digesting them, have added vastly to their spiritual stature!—A. J. Gordon, D.D.

If a portrait were taken of a person in strong, vigorous health, and another was taken of the same man after a severe illness, or when he had been almost starved to death, or weakened by confinement, we should scarcely recognize them as the likeness of the same man, the dear old friend we loved! Still greater would be the change could we draw the spiritual portrait of many a once hearty, vigorous saint of God, whose soul has been starved for want of the proper spiritual nourishment, or by feeding upon "ashes" instead of bread.—G. S. Bowes.

Oh, that our friends were well in soul! We are not sufficiently concerned about this best of health! When they are well in soul, we are grieved to see them ailing in body; and yet this is often the case. The soul is healed, and the body is still suffering! Well, it is by far the smaller evil of the two! If I must be sick, Lord, let the mischief light on my coarser nature, and not on my higher and diviner part!—C. H. S.