68. "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (28)

Twenty-eight times in the first six chapters of St. John, does our Saviour declare mankind can only have life by believing in Him; yet in the face of this, a doctrine is maintained, which assumes, that men are naturally immortal.

viii. 12. "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

14. "Ye cannot tell whence I come and whither I go. 15. Ye judge after the flesh."

23. "And He said unto them, ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins."

42. "Jesus said unto them, if God were your Father ye would love me."

44. "Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do."

47. "He that is of God heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." 51. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death."

ix. 4. "I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5. As long as I am in the world, 1 am the light of the world."

Then those to whom that light did not reach, can not be condemned for rejecting it-yet all are concluded under sin.

39. "For judgment I am come into this world,

that they which see not, might see; and that they which see, might be made blind. 40. And some of the pharisees which were with Him, heard these words, and said unto him, are we blind also? 41. Jesus said unto them, if ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, we see; therefore, your sin remaineth."

All will be required to account for their endowments, whither animal, intellectual, or spiritual. Those who have no spiritual light, will have, in that respect, no sin; but as intellectual powers, when they do not lead to spiritual acts, fail of their true end (God not having left himself without a witness); so those spiritually blind, are under sin, it being a consequence of disobedience, that our natural endow. ments fail of their true end.

x. 9. "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Life to those that have it not:-more abundantly to those, who, like the Jews, have the promise, which is by faith made effectual. Opposed to this is, to steal, to kill, and to destroy-words which do not in their popular meaning, very plainly threaten Eternal Misery.

27. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. 29. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."

Let this text be considered in connection with the one hypothesis and the other-man's mortality and immortality. On the one, it exhibits God as victorious and greater than all-on the other, as gleaning a few ears, after the harvest of the evil one.

xi. 23. "Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again. 24. Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die: believest thou this?"

Do those believe it, who say that man hath naturally life in himself?—I think not.

49. "Ye know nothing at all; 50. Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 51. And this spake he not of himself; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52. And not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together. in one the children of God that were scattered abroad."

Surely the death Christ was to die for the people, must have been the curse they were by nature subject to the sting of it, the loss of that portion that was possessed of the Divine presence. The loss of that is, in the truest, the strictest, the most philosophical, and the most spiritual sense, the loss of life, including all its possible modifications: and to this all mankind were liable; but Jesus submitted: to it, that he might gather in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

xii. 25. "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal."

To love and to hate, here mean degrees of preference and aversion-the fault is to love this life better than life eternal: we are to hate it, when it is an obstacle to greater good, and then we shall keep it, so far as it ministers to the attainment of that greater good.

35. "Then Jesus said unto them, yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 36. While ye have light believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light."

Can it be believed that God is suffering mankind to walk into Eternal Misery, although they know not whither they go?

37. "But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him. 38. That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 39. Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again; 40. He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I should heal them. 41. These things said Esaias when he saw His glory and spake of Him. 46. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. 47. And if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not: for I come not to judge the world,

but to save the world. 48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day. 50. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting."

xiv. 19. "Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. (Not so the world.) 30. The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me."

xv. 1. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit. 4. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. 6. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 19. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

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It is only those whom the world hates that abide in the vine-the rest are cast forth as a branch-are withered, and then cast into the fire and burned. Any attempt to find stronger or more expressive imagery must be in vain. Let it be borne in mind by those who make this withered branch immortal.

xvii. 2. "As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as