believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be 'reproved.

21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

22 ¶ After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judæa; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.

23 And John also was baptizing in Ænon near to

y

question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.

26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.

27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.

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31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

k

32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth ;

mony.

25 Then there arose a

33 He that hath received his

35 The Father loveth the

Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

36" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

o Rom. v. 8. 1 John iv. 9.-p Luke ix 56. ch. v. 45; & viii. 15; & xii. 47. 1 John iv. 14.-q ch. v. 24; & vi. 40, 47; & xx. 31.-r ch. i. 4, 9, 10, 11'; & viii. 12.-8 Job. xxiv. 13, 17. Eph. v. 13.-1 Or, discovered.-t ch. iv. 2.- 1 Sam. ix. 4.- Mat. iii. 5, 6.-y Mat. xiv. 3.2 ch. i. 7, 15, 27, 34.-a 1 Cor. iv. 7. Heb. v. 4. Jam. i. 17.-1 Or, take unto himself.-b ch. i. 20, 27.-c Mal. iii. 1. Mark i. 2. Luke i. 17.-d Mat. xxii. 2. 2 Cor. xi. 2. Eph. v. 25, 27. Rev. xxi. 9.-e Cant. v. 1.-f ver. 13. ch. viii. 23.-g Mat. xxviii. 18. ch. i. 15, 27. Rom. ix. 5.h 1 Cor. xv. 47.-i ch. vi. 33. 1 Cor. xv. 47. Eph. i. 21. Phil. ii. 9.-k ver. 11. ch. viii. 26; & xv. 15.-/Rom. iii. 4. 1 John v. 10.-m ch. vii. 16.-n ch. i. 16.- Mat. i.

27; & xxviii. 18. Luke x. 22. ch. v. 20, 22; & xiii. 3;

& xvii. 2. Heb. ii. 8.-p Hab. ii. 4. ch. i. 12; & vi. 47.

ver. 15, 16. Rom. i. 17. 1 John v. 10.

READER.-God so loved the world, &c. We ought to value the love of God by the price of our redemption; and we shall still have more reason to do so, when we consider,

The extent of this love of God, in sending his Son into the world. And indeed the Holy Scriptures are very plain and express as to this matter:-"God" (saith St. John iii. 17,) "so loved the world, that he sent his Son, that the world through him might be saved." And that God was no respector of persons in thus loving the world, we are assured in another Sacred Scripture, (1 Tim. ii. 4,) His will is that all men should be saved. And St. Peter affirms,

that even such as perish, through their own wilful disobedience, are of the number of those whom Jesus the Lord that bought them :" that Christ came to save. "They denied bought, and would have saved them,

but they brought upon themselves destruction. Nay; to take away all manner of scruple, and to apply this most comfortable truth to the consciences of sinners, who are apt to fear the worst. St. Paul (Rom. v.) speaks of this after a most convincing manner :-As the sin of Adam (saith he) affected all his posterity; as by one offence, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, so the merits of Christ were designed to redeem all the posterity of Adam; for "by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." As sure, therefore, as I am one of those who by the sin of Adam am become weak, corrupt, and wicked, so sure am I redeemed by Jesus Christ. And the sin, that does so easily beset me, directs me to Him who came into the world to save me. This was the doctrine of Christ, and this he taught by his example. The very persons who crucified him, had an interest in the sufferings they made him to undergo; otherwise he would not have prayed for them that God would forgive them. St. Stephen followed his Master's example, and prayed for his murderers; and the Church of Christ still continues. to pray for Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Hereticks, holding this truth,— that the Love of God, and the merits of Jesus Christ, extend to all

men who lay hold of the mercy; "That whoever believeth in Christ shall not perish, but have everlasting life." And by this charitable practice, our church endeavours to bring all her people to a god-like temper of charity and good-will for all who bear the image of God; and by this practice she endeavours to support the spirits of dejected penitents, who will have no reason to despair, since the greatest sinners are in a capacity of salvation.

We are obliged, indeed, to say, in a capacity to be saved; for the truth is, all men are not saved, that might be saved, if it were not for their own wilful blindness, resisting the Love and the Counsel of God for their good. and be made sensible of the danger they are in; others will not forsake their sins for any consideration whatever; and many even despise the very offers of pardon and grace. In all these cases the Saviour of the world declares, that it is men's own fault if they are not saved. "Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life." John v. 40.

Many will not hear

If people, when salvation is offered to them, will, notwithstanding, unworthily abuse the mercy; if men, to whom God has manifested himself, will not retain God in their knowledge; if those that have been enlightened, and have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; if they are again entangled therein, and are finally lost; this is not for want of means to be saved, but they will not be saved;

they will not seriously attend to the word preached; they will not believe, at least, they will not consider, the importance of a judgment to come; nor will they submit to the conditions of attaining eternal happiness. But then, it must not be said,-that God did not love them; that God did not desire their welfare; who has declared his Son to be the Saviour, not of some few only, but of the whole world. And therefore, the account of his birth, is said by the Angels, to be tidings of great joy to all people; i. e. all that can be prevailed upon, by the goodness of God, by the love of Christ, by the labours of his Ministers, to receive him for their Lord and Saviour.

And now we come, in the third and last particular, to consider,

What obligations this love of God lays upon Christians. For certainly, God did not design that all this love should be lost upon us. He expects some return, some fruits of his Son's humiliations, and labours, and sufferings.

Shall I put you in mind how God, by the prophet Isaiah, (ch. v.) reasoned with the people of Israel? "Judge," saith he, "I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.” The case was so plain, that he refers it to themselves; "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?" Now the punishment of this ingratitude, this unfruitfulness, followeth: "I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten

up, trodden down, laid waste." And so it came to pass. You can any of you apply this, as well as I. To proceed, therefore; The Love of God, in sending his Son into the world, obliges us to three things especially. First, to love the Father, who sent his Son that we might live through him. Secondly, to love our Lord Jesus Christ, who condescended to come down to save us. And thirdly, to love all mankind, for whose sakes, as well as for ours, he came down from Heaven.-WILSON. Ye yourselves, bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. See Commentary on Luke III. 16, in § CLXI.

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.-Although all men are condemned for the unbelief of their first parents, yet our most merciful Creator hath so ordered it, that none suffer, but for their own personal unbelief; the sentence being never executed, but only upon those who are guilty of it themselves, in their own proper persons, as well as in their common head for the same day on which the first Adam fell by his not believing the word of God, God was pleased to raise up another Adam, his only begotten Son, his own eternal Word, "that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." John iii. 16. So that as unbelief was the occasion of our fall and destruction in the first Adam, faith is now made the condition of our rise and salva

tion by the second. And, therefore no man can now perish, but by reason of his own unbelief; because he will not believe in the Son of God, nor in what God hath said concerning him; for if he doeth that, he hath God's word for it that he shall not perish, as Adam had it, that he should die if he ate of the forbidden fruit. There is only this difference between them, that God spake to Adam by way of threatening, he speaks to us by way of promise; but both are equally the word of God; and we have the same ground to believe what he hath promised to us in Christ, as Adam had to believe what he had threatened to him; or rather, if possible, more; forasmuch as the threatening was only by the word spoken, the promise is by the Word incarnate: "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," John i. 14, in our own nature, united to his Divine person. And if we do but rightly believe in this word, we shall as certainly be saved by him, as we were condemned by our unbelief in the first man.-Beveridge.

HYMN.

Not to condemn the sons of men,

Did Christ the Son of God appear; No weapons in his hands are seen, No flaming sword, nor thunder there. Such was the pity of our God,

He lov'd the race of men so well, He sent His Son to bear our load

Of sin, and save our souls from hell. Sinners believe the Saviour's word,

Trust in his mighty name and live; A thousand joys his lips afford,

His hands a thousand blessings give.

§ CCXL.

CHAP. IV. 1-26.

Christ talketh with a woman of Samaria, and revealeth himself unto her.

WHEN therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and "baptized more disciples than John,

2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3 He left Judæa, and departed again into Galilee.

4 And he must needs go through Samaria.

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground' that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a wo

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man of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee "living water.

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him,

shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

17 The woman answered and