ST. PAUL'S EXPERIENCE.

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in His sight. How did he arise out of this misery, which seemed to draw all the past and the present and the future into it? It pleased God,' he says, 'to reveal His Son ' in me, that is, it pleased God to show me the Lord 'of my spirit, the Lord of all men; to show me that

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' though in myself there dwelt this deep, radical covetous

ness,—though in myself there dwelt no good thing,—yet 'that in Him I might claim God as my Father; in Him 'I might claim men as my brethren.' Yes, claim men as + his brethren; for this discovery made him no longer a mere Israelite, though he could thank God more than ever for being an Israelite; though he could feel more than ever the responsibility of his calling and his education. But he was raised to be a Man; he had been taught what is the condition and glory of a man; and his calling and responsibility as an Israelite were, to tell all people—to tell those Heathens whom he had hated-that this condition and this glory were theirs as well as his. He could preach to them the Gospel, or good news, that Christ was revealed as their Lord, as the root of their life; that in Him they might call God their Father; that in Him they might renounce their selfish, covetous nature. Therefore, St. Paul having had this terrible experience himself, having this commission to mankind, could say once for all, The law shows us our sins; the law makes us aware of the evil nature that is in " us. It is not something to boast of; if we look at it as separate creatures, whether we be Jews or not, it simply curses us, it simply drives us to despair. But if it is our 'schoolmaster to teach us of one true Lord, of Him in 'whom we are created, of Him in whom we have a new ' and true life, then indeed it is a blessing to us; for then

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we give up boasting altogether of ourselves; then we can 'surrender ourselves freely and heartily to God as our Friend 'and our Deliverer; then we can become His ministers to

carry the news of Him to those whom He knows, though they know not Him.'

Well; St.John, we saw, began with this revelation of God to men in His Son. It was the ground of all his teaching. He had told the Ephesians already that there was that darkness, that covetousness, in them which St. Paul had found in himself, which had caused him so much horror. But he had told them also, as St. Paul had also told them, that they were not created to walk in this darkness; that they might walk in the light which Christ had revealed, and have fellowship with it. So now, taking this for granted, he can tell them that these commandments might be kept as the commandments of a God who was at one with them in His Son, and that the more they kept them the more they would know of Him.

I have been speaking to you of one of the most difficult of all questions in Christian ethics; one with which some of the greatest troubles in the lives of individuals and in the history of Christianity have been connected. But the confusion is not in the doctrine; it is in us; and it is a confusion out of which we can be delivered, I think, only in the way St. John speaks of here. He says in the next verse, 'He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.' The Apostle uses strong language, for this lie was spreading in the church of his own day, and would spread, he knew, further and further in the times that were coming. There were many in that time who used this very phrase, 'We

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ST. JOHN AND HIS OPPOSERS.

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know God,' and used it for the purpose of self-exaltation; therefore for an immoral, destructive purpose. There are a set of common Christians,' they said, ' vulgar people, who may learn certain lower lessons; they are capable of nothing better. The law is very good for them. But we can enter into the divine mysteries; we can have the most magnificent conceptions about the spiritual world which 'Christ has opened; we can talk about angels, and emanations, and divine essences and properties; we can 'give them names, and trace their relations to each other. 'What are the commandments-what is common earthly morality—to us?' 'I tell you,' says St. John, broadly and simply, that if they are nothing to you, God is nothing to you. You may use what fine language you will; you may have what fine speculations you like; but it is in practice, ' in that daily vulgar practice of life, in the struggle with 'the temptations to cheat and slander, to be unchaste and to be covetous, which beset us all in different ways and 'forms; it is in revering parents, and the name of God; it is in heeding God's rest and God's work; it is in keeping ourselves from idols; it is in worshipping Him as the common Deliverer, that we come to know Him; thus, and only thus.' And he adds words which, if understood rightly, were even more crushing to the pride of these haughty men than those which were aimed at themselves. 'But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily the love of God is perfected; hereby know we that we are in Him.' As if he had said, 'You talk about the perfect, the initiated man, ' and the mere beginners or novices. I will tell you who is 'the perfect or initiated man. Look at that poor creature who is studying hard in the midst of all opposition from

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'his own ignorance, to be right and to do right; who is

trying to hold fast that Word which is speaking to him in his heart, though he can form no high notions at all ' about things in earth or heaven. There is the initiated man ; 'he is the one who is learning the perfect lore; for God's ' own love is working in him; God's own love is perfecting itself in him. He is keeping the commandments, and they are teaching him that in himself he is nothing; that in God he has everything that he wants.'

One longed to sit at But it was the wisdom

It was so then; it is so now. I have seen hard fighters among poor men and rich men; some on sick beds and some in the world, in whom I am sure the love of God was perfecting itself. their feet and learn their wisdom. of life, not the wisdom of letters; and in life it must be learnt. They were striving according to St. John's precept to walk even as Christ walked; to live, by daily trust and daily self-renunciation, as He lived. And since they could not do this by any efforts of their own-since all their efforts only showed them their own weakness-they learned to abide in Him; they learned the deepest of all secrets, by learning more than others of their own shallowness; they came to know God by finding that they could not be honest men without knowing Him.

18. nov. '42.

LECTURE VI.

THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENTS.

2.11.42.

1 JOHN II. 6-11

He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the Word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

LAST week St. John was teaching us how very simple people, with no high imaginations and little acquired learning, may know God in the strictest sense of the word know. If they keep His commandments they acquire a knowledge of His character and of His ways, of what He is in Himself and of what He is to them, which can be reached in no other method. There are some expressions which he uses in reference to this subject that are very plain in themselves, just what you would suppose the fisherman apostle, writing for people of all kinds and classes and for those hereafter that might speak all varieties of languages, would use, and yet which, for that very reason, often puzzle scholars greatly 'Walk as He walked'