29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: " for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. y ver. 21, 23. ch. xv. 10, 14. 1 John v. 3.-r ch. xv. 26; & xvi. 7. Rom. viii. 15, 26.-8 ch. xv. 26; & xvi. 13. 1 John iv. 6.- 1 Cor. ii. 14.- 1 John ii. 27.- Mat. xxviii. 20. Or, orphans.-y ver. 3, 28.-≈ ch. xvi. 16.-a I Cor. xv. 20.-6 ver. 10. ch. x. 38; & xvii. 21, 23, 26.e ver. 15, 23. I John ii. 5 ; & v. iii. d Luke vi. 16.-e ver. 15.-1 John ii. 24. Rev. iii. 20.-g ver. x. ch. v. 19, 38; & vii. 16; & viii. 28; & xii. 49.- ver. 16. Luke xxiv. 49. ch. xv. 26; & xvi. 7.-i ch. ii. 22; & xii. 16; & xvi. 13. 1 John ii. 20, 27.-k Phil. iv. 7. Cel. iii. 15. 1 ver. 1.-m ver. 3, 18.-n ver. 12. ch. xvi. 16; & xx. 17. -o See ch. v. 18; & x. 30. Phil. ii. 6.-p ch. xiii. 19; & xvi. 4.-g ch. xii. 31; & xvi. 11.-r ch. x. 18. Phil. ii. 8. Heb. v. 8. READER.-If ye love me, keep my commandments.-Love will not willingly do anything that may offend and grieve the object loved. Love is an assimilating affection: it is the very cement that joins God and the soul together in the same spirit, and makes them to be of one heart and of one mind: it is the loadstone of the soul, that toucheth all other affections, and makes them stand heavenward. When once God hath wrought the love of himself in our hearts, this will constrain us to love what he loves, and to hate what he hates. Sin is the only thing that God hates; and those that love him, will not, cannot, but hate sin: their love to God will constrain them to do it. Ps. xcvii. 10: "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." And certainly, the hatred of evil is the best security against the committing of it; will any one take a toad or a there? Truly, as utterly impossible serpent into his bosom, to lodge it it is, while the exciting grace of God stirs up and quickens our love to him, that we should ever embrace a vile lust and lodge it in our hearts; since our sight of the beauty of holiness hath made it ugly, and our love to God hath made it hateful.-HOP KINS. I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth.—The Spirit is a Comforter, because an advocate to his people; for so much the word signifies, and is elsewhere rendered, 1 John ii. 1. Now He is called "Another Comforter," or Advocate, to denote the difference between Christ and the Spirit in this particu lar. Christ, by the office of his mediation and intercession, is an Advocate for his Church; and doth, in his own person in heaven, apply his merits, and further the cause of our salvation with his Father. The Spirit doth not intercede nor appear before God in person for us, as Christ doth, but maketh intercession for men in and by themselves, giving them an access unto the Father, emboldening them in their fears, and helping them in their infirmities, when they know not what to pray. The Spirit is a Comforter, by applying and representing Christ absent unto the soul again. For the Spirit carrieth a Christian's heart up to Christ in heavenly affections and conversation. As a piece of earth, when it is out of its place, doth ever move to the whole earth, so a spark of Christ's Spirit will naturally move upward unto him who hath the fulness in him. Likewise the Spirit bringeth Christ down to a Christian, formeth him in his heart, evidenceth him, and the virtue of his passion and resurrection, to the conscience, in the powerful dispensation of his holy ordinances. The Spirit is a Comforter by a work of sweet and fruitful illumination, not only giving the knowledge but the love and comfort of the truth unto a Christian, making him with open face behold as in a glass the glory of God, and thereby transforming him into the same image from glory to glory. The light of other sciences is like the light of a candle, nothing but light; but the knowledge of Christ by the Spirit is like the light of the Sun, which hath influences and virtue in it. And this is that which the Apostle calls the "Spirit of revelation in the knowledge of God;" for, though there be no prophetical nor extraordinary revelations by dreams, visions, ecstacies, or enthusiasms; yet, according to the measure of spiritual light and diligent observation of Holy Scriptures, there are still manifold revelations or manifestations of Christ unto the soul. The secret and intimate acquaintance of the soul with God; the heavings, aspirings, and harmony of the heart with Christ; the sweet illapses and flashes of heavenly light upon the soul; the knowledge of the depths of God and of Satan, of the whole armour of God and the strong man, of conflicts of spirit, protection of angels, experiences of mercy, issues of temptation, and the like, are heavenly and constant revelations out of the word manifested to the souls of the faithful by the Spirit. The Spirit is a Comforter in those effects of joy and peace which he worketh in the heart. For joy is ever the fruit and companion of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22; Acts xiii. 52; and the joy of the Spirit is like the intercession of the Spirit, "unspeakable and full of glory," 1 Pet. i. 8. Not like the joy of the world, which is empty, false, and deceitful, full of vanity, vexation, insufficiency, unsuitableness to the soul; mingled with fears of disappointment and miscarriage, with tremblings and guilt of conscience, with certainty of period and expiration; but clear, holy, constant, unmixed, satisfactory, and proportionable to the compass of the soul, exciting more gladness than all the world can take in the increase of their corn and wine. Ps. iv. 7.-REYNOLDS. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.—Oh, the happy condition of the man that is in Christ, and hath Christ in him! Shall I account him rich, that hath store of oxen, and sheep, and horses, and camels; that hath heaps of metals, and spots of ground? and shall I not account him infinitely more rich, that owns and enjoys Him, whose the earth is, and the fulness of it; whose heaven is, and the glory of it? Shall I justly account that man great, whom the king will honour, and place near to himself? and shall I not esteem that man more honourable, whom the King of Heaven is pleased to admit into such partnership of glory, as to profess, "To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne; even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." Rev. iii. 21.-HALL. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.What is there in the world, that can fill the vast desires of my soul, but only he who is infinitely above me and my desires too? Will riches do it? No, I may as soon undertake to fill my barns with grace, as my heart with gold; and as easily stuff my bags with virtue, as ever satisfy my desires with wealth. Do I hunt after pleasures? These may, indeed, charm and delight my brutish senses, but can never be agreeable or proportionate to my spiritual faculties. Do I grasp at honour and popularity? These, again, are as empty and unsatisfying as the former; they may make me look high and great in the eye of the world, turn my head giddy with applause, or puff up my heart with pride, but they can never fill up the measure of its desires. And thus, if I should have the whole world at command, and could, with Alexander, wield both sword and sceptre over all the nations and languages of it, would this content me? or rather, should I not sit down, and weep with him, that I had not another world to conquer and possess? Whereas, God being an infinite good, it is impossible for me to desire any thing which I may not enjoy in him and his mercies : let me, or any other creature, extend our desires never so far, still the graces and blessings of this infinite God will be infinitely beyond them all insomuch that though ten thousand worlds are not able to satisfy one soul, yet God is able to satisfy ten thousand souls, yea, and ten millions more to them, as well as if there was only one soul in all the world to satisfy.-BeverIDGE. Is it then possible at once to be solidly and completely happy? You have not merely the ideas of it, but the thing itself, not only clearly pointed out, but most freely offered, with Divine munificence; so that if you do not obstinately reject the offer, it must be your own; and this happiness consists in returning to the favour and friendship of God, who most mercifully grants us the free pardon of all our sins, if we do with unfeigned repentance, and a heart free of all guile, not only humbly confess and lament them, but entirely forsake, and with implacable hatred, for ever renounce them. All the names, all the variety of felicities, bliss, and happiness are accumulated on that man who has known this "change of the right hand of the Most High;" on whom this bright day of expiation and pardon has beamed, he easily looks down from on high on all the empty titles and false images of earthly happiness; and when he is bereaved of them all, yea, and beset on every side with what the world calls misfortunes and afflictions, ceases not to be happy. In sorrow he is joyful, in poverty rich, and in chains free; when he seems buried deep, so that not one ray of the sun can reach him, he is surrounded with radiant lustre; when overwhelmed with ignominy he The consolation and mutual love between of the vine. I AM the true vine, and my glories; and in death itself he lives, Christ and his members, under the parable he conquers, he triumphs. What can be heavy to that man, who is eased of the intolerable burden of sin? How animated was that saying of Luther, "Smite, Lord, smite; for thou hast absolved me from my sins." Whose anger should he fear who knows that God is propitious to him, that supreme "King, whose wrath is indeed the messenger of death, but the light of his countenance is life," who joys all by the rays of his favour, and by one smile disperses the darkest cloud, and calms the most turbulent tempest. -LEIGHTON. 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. 3' Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. 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 14 "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. the branches: He that abideth 1 Pet. i 22.-c Col. 1. 23. 1 John ii. 6.-d Hos. xiv. 8. in me, and I in him, the same a Mat. xv. 13.-b ch. xiii. 10; & xvii. 17. Eph. v. 25. Phil. i. 11; & iv. 13.- Or, severed from me. Acts iv. 12.-e Mat. ii. 10; & vii. 19.-f ver. 16. ch. xiv. 13, 14; & xvi. 23.-g Mat. v. 16. Phil. i. 11.-A ch. viii. 31; & xiii. 35.-i ch. xiv. 15, 21, 23.- cb. xvi. & bringeth forth much "fruit: for xvii. 13. 1 John i. 4.-1 ch. xiii. 34. 1 Thes. iv. 9. 1 Pet. '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. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; h so shall ye be my disciples. 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 'If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. k 12 'This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 m Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 8. 1 John iii. 1 ; & iv. 21.-m ch. x. 11, 15. Rom. v. 7,8. Eph. v. 2. 1 John iii. 16.-n ch. xiv. 15, 23. See Mat. xii. 50. READER.-I am the vine, ye are the branches.—Look but into thy garden, other fruit-bearing tree, how it or orchard; and see the vine, or any grows and fructifies. The branches are loaden with increase : whence is this, but that they are one with the stock; and the stock one with the root? Were either of these severed, the plant were barren and dead. The branch hath not sap enough to maintain life in itself, unless it receive it from the body of the tree; nor that, unless it derived The branches of the wild olive are cut off, and are grafted with choice |