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as dear children." And if you are the children of God, you should desire to grow, for it is thus, thus only, you can honor your Father: Herein is my Father glorified, in that ye bring forth much fruit" 2— that is, grow, make rapid progress in holy attainment. And you should desire the sincere milk of the word, you should seek to understand and practically to improve divine truth, for it is the revelation of the mind of your Father. "As obedient children," you should seek to know the will of your Father, that ye may do the will of your Father. He is an unnatural, undutiful child who acts otherwise.

(3.) Then you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and of course form one spiritual brotherhood. This is a new aspect of the statement, full of additional motive to the duties enjoined. There can be no doubt that Christians are not permitted to indulge in "malice, guile, envying, or evil-speaking," in reference to any class of men; but there can be as little, that in the passage before us, there is a direct reference to the conduct of Christians to each other, and that those evil tempers and habits are condemned as opposed to that pure fervent love of the brethren, which had been enjoined in the close of the preceding chapter. The bearing of this consideration, that they are all brethren, on the dissuasive exhortation, is direct and powerful. Brothers should treat one another with an ingenuous openness. If there is to be malice or deceit in the family circle, where is true sincerity to dwell? Love one another. Surely malice, deceit, hypocrisies, envyings, and evil-speakings, are peculiarly out of place among those who have all been "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible:" who have been bound by ties of a brotherhood that neither time nor eternity can dissolve, and who have "purified their souls, through the truth by the Spirit, to the unfeigned love of the brethren." It is substantially the same motive that is brought forward in these exhortations: "Love as brethren. Put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, which is the same thing as evil-speaking; lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man, who is corrupt in his deeds; and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him." Putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for ye are members one of another." Confraternity, in its very nature, and especially such a confraternity, implies an obligation to kindness and sincerity on the part of the members. This motive also strongly urges to compliance with the persuasive exhortation; for spiritual growth is not only necessary to individual happiness, but to the prosperity of the body. The same idea that is expressed by Christians being represented as brethren, is still more strikingly expressed by their being represented as mutually connected as members of one body. The growth of every member is necessary to the welfare of the whole body. The more individual growth, the more general prosperity. It is by every member growing up to him that is the Head, that "the whole body fitly joined maketh increase. It is by becoming wiser, better, and happier myself, that I increase the wisdom, and holiness, and peace, of the body to which I belong.

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(4.) Then still farther, you became the children of God, and were formed into a spiritual brotherhood, "by obeying the truth." Wherefore, put away all those evil habits, which can be retained only by disobeying, resisting, the influence of the truth. Every evil temper or action is a practical lie; an implied denial of, and opposition to, the truth; and thus is very inconsistent in those who profess to have submitted to "the truth," to have received it into their hearts as the animating, regulating principle of their souls. And as it was by the influence of the truth you were made holy, so it is by the continued, increased influence of the truth, that you are to continue holy, to become more and more holy. Therefore, "desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby."

(5.) Finally here, you became the children of God under the influence of the Spirit; therefore, you should put off "malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil-speakings," and all those other evil tempers and habits; for these are the fruits, not of the Spirit, but of the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit is in all "goodness"-benignity, "righteousness, and truth." You would "grieve the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption," if you "put not away from you all bitterness, and wrath, and clamor, and evilspeaking, with all malice." "If ye live in the Spirit, see that ye walk in the Spirit." And therefore, too, should you desire the sincere milk of the word; for it is by the word, understood and believed, that the Spirit carries on his sanctifying work. It is presumptuous folly to expect to be sanctified or guided by the Spirit, without the word. The Spirit leads to the word; and it is through the word that he enables us to "put off the old man who is corrupt in his deeds, and put on the new man, who, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness." Such are the variety and force of appropriate motive which is folded up in the connective particle "wherefore," with which

our text commences.

§ 2.-Motives from having tasted that the Lord is gracious.

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Let us now examine the motive which is unfolded in the statement with which our text closes. "If so be," or rather, seeing 66 ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.' There can be no doubt that the ordinary usage of the language favors the rendering of our version, "If so be." If it be admitted, the meaning is, If you have indeed tasted that the Lord is gracious, you are peculiarly bound to "lay aside those evil habits," and to "desire the sincere milk of the world;" and if you do not lay them aside, and desire the sincere milk, then it is a plain proof that, whatever profession you make, you have not “tasted that the Lord is gracious." The particle, however, admits of being rendered "since," taking for granted, not throwing into doubt, their having "tasted that the Lord is gracious." It is the same word that in 2 Thess. i. 6, is rendered, and with obvious propriety, "seeing." "We glory in you, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations which you endure; a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be accounted worthy of the Eph. v. 9; iv. 30, 31. Gal. v. 25.

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kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them who trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us." This mode of rendering the particle here, better accords with the whole strain of the epistle, in which the persons addressed are always spoken of as Christians, and gives greater point and directness to the motives, "Lay aside all malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil-speakings,' and desire the sincere milk of the word, since ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious."

To bring out the force of the motive, it is necessary to inquire, Who is meant by "the Lord?" What is meant by his being gracious? What is meant by tasting that he is gracious? And then, How the having tasted that the Lord is gracious, affords grounds for the exhortations, "Lay aside all malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil-speakings," and "desire the sincere milk of the word ?"

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(1.) "The Lord" here is plainly the Lord Jesus. This is evident from what follows: for without doubt he is the living stone" on whom, as a foundation, Christians, "as living stones, are builded into a holy temple." It is to him that the passage cited from the prophet Isaiah certainly refers.

(2.) Our Lord Jesus is "gracious," is kind. Benignity, holy love, is his leading moral attribute. His kindness is manifested in what he does, and in what he gives. "The grace" or kindness "of our Lord Jesus" is shown in that, "though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich." He bestows on man, utterly undeserving of anything but punishment, true knowledge, pardon, restoration to the divine favor, peace, holiness, abundant consolation, good hope, eternal life; in one word, happiness, perfection, suited to all the capacities of his nature, during the eternity of his being. And that he might do this, He who was in the form of God assumed the nature of man, the form of a servant, the likeness of a sinner; bore our sins, carried our sorrows; became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. 'Herein is love." This is kindness. Verily, the Lord is gracious.3

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(3.) To "taste" that the Lord is gracious, is a figurative expression. It seems borrowed from the words of the Psalmist, "O taste and see that God is good," where two of the bodily senses are employed to denote clear mental apprehension, along with appropriate mental affection. To taste that the Lord is gracious, is to know that the Lord is gracious; and to know this, not from the report of others, but from your own experience. This knowledge is derived primarily from the faith of the truth as to what the Lord is, and has proved himself to be, by his gifts; and secondarily, from the enjoyment of these gifts of his, on the possession of which we enter by the belief of this truth; and the measure of which enjoyment corresponds to the measure of our faith. He tastes that the Lord is gracious, who

1 This seems also the force of step in Rom. viii. 9. Such a use of treo can be supported by classical usage. To Túnтeσlai ddyɛivov, eineρ σaρkivoi. "To be struck is painful" to men, "since they are made of flesh;" i. e. not of dead matter.-ARISTOT. Eth. Nic. iii. 9. * 2 Cor. viii. 9. Phil. ii. 6-8. Psal xxxiv. 8.

believes the love which the Lord has to sinful men; who counts it a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that he came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many; to save sinners, even the chief; and he tastes the graciousness, the kindness of our Lord, who, in the faith of this truth, has peace with God; has access to him; holy love; fervent gratitude; good hope; joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom he has received the reconciliation. Every believer of the truth thus tastes that the Lord is gracious; and he does so just in the measure of his faith. The man who does not know Christ to be kind, and his benefits to be precious, is not a believer; and he who does so, cannot, but in the degree in which he is a believer, trust in Christ as his Saviour, and rejoice in the benefits of his salvation. "That is to taste," says Luther, "when I with the heart believe that Christ has been sent for me, and is become mine own; that my miseries are his and his life mine; when this truth enters into the heart, then it is tasted."2

It has been supposed by some, that the term is intended to intimate, not only that they have a true personal knowledge of Christ's kindness, but that that knowledge was as yet but very imperfect. They had tasted, but only tasted. They know, but they know but little, of that love that passeth knowledge. No doubt this is a truth; but we should hesitate to say it was in the apostle's mind when he used the words now before us.

(4.) It only remains that I endeavor to bring out the force of the motive to "lay aside all malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil-speakings," and to "desire the sincere milk of the word;" which is afforded by the fact, that Christians have "tasted that the Lord is gracious." The love of God in Christ Jesus, reconciling the world to himself, known and believed, is the grand source of motive to holy obedience in all its forms. "The grace of God," of which the kindness of the Lord is an expression, "which brings salvation to all," when the divine testimony regarding it is understood and believed, "teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.' "When the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man (his philanthropy) appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.' It is this faithful saying respecting the kindness of the Lord, firmly believed, that makes men "careful to maintain good works." It is "the mercies of God" through Christ, known and believed, that induce men to "present their bodies living sacrifices, holy

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1 1 John iv. 16. John i. 16. 1 Tim. i. 15. Rom. v. 1-11.

2 Xpnotos & Kúpios. Dulcis est Dominus in contemplatione, ad meditandum, Cant. ii. 3; in aure spirituali ad audiendum, Cant. v. 13; in ore ad loquendum, Psal. cxix. 39; in prospectu ad videndum, Sir. xxiii. 27.-Jo. Hus.

and acceptable unto God: rational worship;" and to be "not conformed to this present world; but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, so as to prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."1

1. If you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, "Lay aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speakings." "Sure if you have tasted of that kindness and sweetness of God in Christ, it will compose your spirits and conform you to him; it will diffuse such a sweetness through your soul, that there will be no place for malice and guile. There will be nothing but love, and meekness, and singleness of heart. They that have bitter malicious spirits, evidence that they have not tasted that the Lord is gracious; for they who have done so, cannot but, in the degree in which they have done so, be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven them." "2

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2. If you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, "desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." It was in the word that you tasted the Lord was gracious. And is not this a powerful motive to go back to the word, that again, and again, and again, you may "taste and see that God is good;" and thus grow holier and happier, "keeping yourselves in the love of God, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, and looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus, unto eternal life." 3

I cannot conclude the illustration of this point in more appropriate words than in those of the pious Archbishop, a man who always makes it evident that "he spoke what he knew, and testified what he had seen and tasted," when he spoke on such themes as these: "This is the sweetness of the word, that it has the Lord's graciousness in it; it gives us the knowledge of his love. This they find who have spiritual life and senses exercised to discern good and evil; and this engages a Christian to a further desire of the word. They are fantastical, delusive tastes, that draw men from the written word, and make them expect other revelations. This graciousness is first conveyed to us by the word when we taste it, and, therefore, there still we are to seek it; to hang upon those breasts which cannot be drawn dry. There, the love of God in Christ springs forth in the several promises. The heart that cleaves to the word of God, and delights in it, cannot but find in it daily new tastes of his goodness. There it reads true love, and by that stirs up its own to him, and so grows and loves every day more than the former, and thus is tending from tastes to fulness. It is but little we can receive here-some drops of joy that enter into us; but there we shall enter into joy as vessels put into a sea of happiness."

There is a question which here presses for an answer from the conscience of every individual who now hears me. Have I tasted that the Lord is gracious? Do I know, experimentally "know, the grace of our Lord Jesus?" You have all often heard of his grace; but have you tasted it? Have you believed his kindness? Have you enjoyed his benefits? The most satisfying evidence of this is, the lay

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Tit. ii. 12-14; iii. 4-8. Rom, xii. 1-3.

Eph. iv. 32. Leighton.

• Jude 20, 21.

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