made of the seed of David according to the flesh," 7 and dwelt among us in fashion as a man. "Without controversy, great is the mystery; God manifest in the flesh." 8 Great is the mystery: but how much greater is the mercy! And now the Evangelist adds, We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Though he showed himself in the nature and weakness of man, he also showed himself in the glory of Almighty God: that while we can approach and lean upon the one, we may trust and commit ourselves to the other. St. John says, "We beheld his glory." St. John was one of those who enjoyed this privilege in a special degree. He was of that chosen party which attended Jesus on mount Tabor, when "he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." The intent, surely, of that manifestation was to leave an impression upon the mind of the witnesses, which they should in time transmit to others. St. Peter used it for this purpose, saying, "We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.” 1 Such is the clear assurance left to us, from those who spoke what they knew, and testified what they had 7 Rom. i. 3. 9 Matt. xvii. 1, 2. 8 1 Tim. iii. 16. seen. It has been handed down to us in uninterrupted order by successive generations of Christians. The apostles "related what their eyes had seen, and their hands had handled, of the Word of life," to the different assemblies among which they went, "preaching the word." And what was so witnessed and confirmed, the first companies of Christians received as true; and believed in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God: so that Peter could affirm of them, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." These, again, conveyed the word of truth to the generation that came after: the leaven was gradually diffused: the seed became a great tree, with its branches spread on every side, and "its leaves for the healing of the nations." But as the tree which may have stood for centuries, and which no man living has ever known except as a widely spreading and an ancient tree, was once a seed, and would never have existed at all if that seed had not been dropped into the ground so with our Christian faith. The believers have multiplied; ages have followed ages; nation after nation has been added to the church: and the time seems far back since that church first began to be. Still there was a first seed; and that seed was planted when the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, and the apostles beheld his glory. In one way, that glory has been evidently beheld in every age that has since passed. For in every age that has since passed, multitudes have been brought, through the preaching of the word, "from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God: " multitudes have given up their sinful practices and their worldly desires, and have laid them at the foot of the cross, and have "received the gift of the Holy Ghost," so as to become a peculiar people," living to the glory of God, and adorning the doctrine of the Saviour. Men "see their good works," see "their light shining;" and they behold in this a testimony, a glorious evidence of the Gospel. A testimony was given which it was impossible to resist, when, as Saul was on his way to Damascus, a light shone suddenly from heaven, "above the brightness of the sun," and struck the persecutor with blindness. But a few days after, Saul himself was a no less convincing spectacle, when praying for direction to him whom he had so lately persecuted, and preaching the doctrine which before he destroyed. The voice which came out of the cloud was astonishing, when it said, "This is my beloved Son, hear him." But the dying voice of the christian Stephen was equally convincing, when, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, he knelt down and prayed, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!" "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" 5 4 We need These, however, are exceptional cases. not go so far back, we need not appeal to extraordinary interpositions of divine power, to see proofs of the glory of Christ, or to be convinced by the evidence which it supplies. Every member of the fold of Christ bears about him testimony to his Shepherd's faithfulness, and truth, and power. No evidence can be stronger. When we see an individual of the Jewish nation, we see an undeniable proof of the truth of the Bible history, 5 Acts vii. 59, 60. 4 See Acts ix. 3-22. and of the prophecies it contains. So, when we behold a true and consistent Christian, we possess the same evidence of all that the Gospel says of the mercy of God, the divinity of Christ, and the power of the Spirit. What can be a greater miracle, than one who has his dealings here on earth, and his conversation in heaven : who is dead to the things with which he is daily and hourly conversant, and whose "life is hid with Christ in God?" Surely this is not natural: especially when we remember the temptations of that world to which he is crucified, and the corruption of that heart which he is subduing, and the rebellious lusts of the flesh which he habitually mortifies. We have reason to be thankful, that these evidences of the glory of Christ have never failed. We may see them in those around us; nay, we may possess them in ourselves. Every one possesses this inward testimony, who, through faith in the Son of God, is renewed after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness, and enabled to escape "the corruption which is in the world." III. THE WORD, THE LIGHT AND LIFE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. JOHN i. 4, 5. 4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. ST. JOHN had before declared that the eternal Word, whose incarnation is the subject of his Gospel, had been one with the Father from the beginning: and that "without him was not anything made that was made.” He now adds, In him was life. On him life depended, and is by him imparted and communicated. "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." 1 2 "the But the life here spoken of is something more than that which was "breathed into man's nostrils, and he became a living soul." The life was the light of men. It is the spiritual, and not the natural life which is the light of men. And this life is in the Son, and is by him shed abroad upon the heart. Accordingly, in one of his epistles, this same evangelist describes him as Word of life" (i. 1, 3); "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you." And justly is he so termed, who generates in the soul a new existence, springing up to immortality. He is to the soul, what light is to the body of man. If the eye be without light, how great is the darkness! still is the soul, without that light which proceeds from the Son of God, and enables it to answer the purposes for for which it was created, and endued with understanding. Some seeds of this divine life, some sparks of this heavenly light, had always been scattered in the world. 1 John v. 26, 21. 2 Gen. ii. 7. But darker |