assume the likeness of sinful mortals, and in their behalf to submit to a death infinitely more painful than in a Christian country the vilest and the most hardened malefactors are doomed to undergo. On the establishment therefore of this principle, of this truly Christian characteristic in our hearts, St. John very strongly insists. And when we consider that it is the absence of this divine principle from the hearts of men, which, and which alone, admits of those numerous divisions and disputes which are infinitely too prevalent even among those who call themselves Christians, we perceive how naturally and how directly the Apostle was led on to those cautions and exhortations which immediately precede our text, and to which, as he declares, our text refers. "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you, concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have

received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."

Is it possible, brethren, I ask every one of you here assembled is it possible, I ask, that any one of us can look at the present confused and distracted state of this Christian and our native country, without perceiving that this epistle is as applicable to the state of the Christian church at this identical period of our existence, as it was to that of the infant church which was coeval with the life of the Apostle St. John? That you may obtain, however, a correct idea of the extracts which have just been selected from this epistle, it is essential that you should accurately comprehend the import of certain terms or expressions which are here prevalent, and on which the spirit of the exhortations altogether depends, as well as their connection with or opposition to each other.

I would here, therefore, suggest or recall to your recollections, that the term "Christ," as applied to our Lord and Saviour, signifies Him who, according to the very ancient custom of anointing the ministers of God with oil, has been pre-eminently and spiritually anointed to perform the office of Saviour of the world. It is thus explained by the Apostle St. / Peter to Cornelius the Centurion". "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with

a Acts, x. 33-43.

power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." The term "anointing," therefore, which twice occurs in the text, has the closest affinity or relationship to that which is generally applied to designate our Saviour; and this will appear perfectly intelligible if we invert the use of the two terms now before us: thus we should speak of Christ as the anointed, and ourselves the anointed, as the christened. To the members of Christ's church St. John says, "ye have an unction," that is, an anointing, "from the Holy One, and ye know all things;" these it is who, according to the words of the other St. John, Christ "has baptized with the Holy Ghost."*

We know very well, brethren, that in this country, calling itself Christian, as well as in many others where this holy religion is professed, few pass any length of time in the world without going through the sacred rite of "christening" or of baptism. Few there are, therefore, here to be found who are not baptized with water; but the question is, brethren, are these baptized with the Spirit? For between the mere emblem of water and the efficacy of the Spirit, there is a marked distinction made by our Lord in his conversation with Nicodemus. The Spirit of Truth, therefore-" do we know him?" "does he dwell with us?" These questions are

a John, i. 33.

quite according to the phraseology of Christ, which may be found in the seventeenth verse of the fourteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel, and are answered at the commencement of the chapter from whence the text has been taken. " Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked."

Now the term used by St. John to express those who cannot successfully submit themselves to such a test; who cannot thus prove to themselves and to the world that "Christ abideth in them and they in him;" to such as these, the term "Antichrist” is applied as properly descriptive of their character. It is scarcely necessary to observe that this term means the opposite of those we have been considering. Thus "Christ" means one thing, and "Antichrist" means that which is diametrically opposed to it. And it is in this sense that St. John uses it, when he says, "it is the last time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."

In regard to this last expression, its meaning will be sufficiently explained by referring to the first verse of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, which runs thus: "God, who at sundry times and in

divers manners spake in time past by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." The last days, therefore, or the last time, applies in a peculiar manner to the period when the gospel of Christ is in the act of being proclaimed to the world. Of these St. Paul further expresses himself thus to Timothy, on two different occasions: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their consciences seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their ownselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

The distinguishing feature, therefore, of the pro

a 1 Tim. iv. 1-3, and 2 Tim. iii. 1—7.