water all the time; and you have been persuaded and made to believe by this silly physician that it was port wine. Well, you say I am mistaken; you know it is So. And I say, Well, you prove it is port wine. I tell you there are three sorts of evidence; you must show me external, internal, and experimental evidence. Well, you take the external evidence; you go to the wine merchant; he produces the bottles from which it is taken; he shows the cask from which those bottles were filled; he shows the owner of the ship which brought it; he shows the factory where the wine was fermented; he shows you the vineyard in which it was grown; and he brings credible witnesses that demonstrate that the wine you have been drinking was in the grapes at Oporto so many years ago. That would be external evidence. But I am not satisfied. You say, Very well; I will give you internal evidence. You send for a chemist; he applies his test; he says, That which you have submitted to analysis has so much water, so much tannin, so much vegetable colouring, and so much saccharine matter; in fact, I find by analysis of this fluid that it contains all the constituent elements of port wine. That would be the internal evidence. Now then I ask you for the third, the experimental evidence. Your answer is, I cannot discuss the external evidence, and I will not be at the trouble; I cannot enter into the analysis of the internal; I am not scientific enough to do it; but this I do know; I was reduced to the brink of the grave by exhaustion and fatigue; I have taken that wine as the only medicine for six weeks; the strength that I now feel is such a contrast to the weakness that I once had, that you may as well try to persuade me that my heart does not

beat, that the sun does not shine, as to persuade me that that is ditch-water, and not the very best and soundest port wine. That would be the experimental evidence. It is so with Christianity. We can give you the external evidence, we can give you the internal evidence; but the evidence that carries irresistible force is the evidence of that man that says, Once I was despairing, now I hope; once I was dead, now I am alive; once I was blind, now I see; once I was unholy, now I am holy; a revolution has passed on my heart; a transformation so great and so glorious that when you shall have convinced me that the rivers do not flow to the ocean, that the stars do not shine, and the waves of the sea do not kiss the shore, you will then have convinced me, and only then, that this religion is not from God, and that he has not changed, and sanctified, and renewed my once wicked, but now holy and happy heart.

EXPOSITION OF JOHN.

(SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN.)

THE ELECT LADY

THIS is a short but not uninteresting epistle. It is all contained in one brief chapter. It is addressed to one individual. The preceding epistles were addressed to special Churches, or to the Church Catholic and Universal; but in this epistle John selects a lady, and to her addresses a very short, very simple, but very instructive lesson. It was doubted at a very early period in the Christian Church, whether this epistle was really the writing of John. I think no one can read the first epistle, or the gospel that bears his name, and remember the peculiarities of his style, the affectionate nature of his address, without inferring that the same individual that wrote the gospel wrote also this epistle. The phrases are the same, the manner of expression is the same, the temper displayed in it is the same; and the tone of address and exhortation is substantially the same also. This epistle was read in the early Alexandrian Church, and there universally received; and secondly by Irenæus, whose name was derived from a Greek word that means "peace;" who was the successor of Polycarp; who again was the

intimate and bosom friend of John, quotes this very epistle and refers it to John.

I do not mean to say

that the opinion of an ancient Father upon any part of Scripture is to be taken as more worthy, or more precious, than that of any cultivated and instructive Christian; but all testimonies and witnesses to matters of fact, whether they were friends or foes, are extremely valuable; and when the witness to the fact is not made in order to prove the epistle to be genuine, but incidentally made in connexion with another subject, the evidence becomes the more valuable. Since that day, with the exception of one or two at the era of the Reformation, who had difficulties about this, as they had about 2 Peter, this epistle has been universally received; and indeed it is placed beyond all dispute as part and parcel of canonical Scripture; and the author of it spoke like others, as he was moved by the Holy Ghost.

Now he begins it first of all by saying, "The elder unto the elect lady." The word translated "elder" is TрeσBUTEрos, "the presbyter." Now this, perhaps, was one reason why some did not like it; that John, instead of calling himself the bishop, calls himself the presbyter. But any objection drawn from that is purely controversial, and is not of the least value. Then he addresses this letter "unto the elect lady :

"This epistle purports to be addressed, as it is in our translation, to 'the elect lady' (èkλektŷ kupią). There has been great diversity of opinion in regard to the person here referred to, and there are questions respecting it which it is impossible to determine with absolute certainty. The different opinions which have been entertained are the following: (a) some have supposed

that a Christian matron is referred to, a friend of John, whose name was either 'EkλEKTǹ (Eclecte) or Kupía (Cyria). Ecumenius and Theophylact supposed that the proper name of the female referred to was Eclecte; others have adopted the other opinion, that the name was Cyria. (b) Others among the ancients, and particularly Clement, supposed that the Church was denoted by this name, under the delicate image of an elect lady."

Whether it be a proper name, or whether it be really "lady," is a matter very immaterial. She seems to have been a widow, to have also had a family of children; and John, now near his departure, writes this epistle to her, and says, that he loves her in the truth; and not only he, but all they that know, and value, and appreciate the truth, love her as a living epistle, as a light in a dark place; as one who personated and embodied true religion in her character, her conduct, her person, and her family. Then he says, that all this is for the truth's sake that dwelleth in us. He then introduces what was common in ancient epistles—a wish that she may have every blessing. "Grace be with you." What is grace? Free favour. "Mercy," in forgiving sins; "and peace," that passeth understanding, "from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." Then he expresses, with paternal sympathy, how highly he was delighted when he heard that the fatherless children of this widow were walking in truth. How often that expression occurs, "walking in truth," walking in the knowledge of it, in the possession of it, in the profession of it, in the practice of it, in the peace of it, in the hope of it; and walking in it, not standing still, but progress; growing in the knowledge of it, in the exemplification of it, in the enjoyment of it, walking in the