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wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” a Here is set forth the death of Jesus for sin and God's great love for the world, which was to ultimate in salvation through faith in Jesus. John dwells much on faith in Jesus as the principle through which salvation may be attained. In fact, so much so, that some have been led to believe it the only condition of pardon-that persons are saved by faith alone. Faith is the great fundamental principle underlying the whole remedial system. We see a recognition of its great importance in the opening chapters of the Bible. There are only eleven chapters giving a history of creation in all its departments: the origin of man, the history of his fall, the destruction of the world, its repeopling by various nations, occupying a period of two thousand years, pausing at the birth of Abraham, the father of the faithful, while we have some thirteen chapters giving an account of his eventful life. Why should such a vast period of time, laden with matters of such deep interest to the human race, be passed with such brief notice, and a single life occupy so much space? Why should Adam, Noah, the preceding nations of the earth and the creation, with its vastness, occupy less space in God's revelation than the life of Abraham, which closed one hundred and twenty-five years from his birth? The answer is a John iii. 14-16.

obvious, for in the life of this one man we have a type of faith, an example for all succeeding ages. By faith we understand that the world was formed by the word of God; through it is revealed all the coming glories of the future.

The chief object in the divine revelation was to save man from sin, from death and the grave, and not to teach him history. Hence, God developed early the principle of faith upon which His moral government should rest. It is the fundamental principle in the government of Christ. So much stress is placed upon it, that sometimes it is put for the whole remedial system—as where the apostle exhorts Christians to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Yet, strictly speaking, it does not embrace repentance or the godly life, but it leads to the one and sustains the other. "Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe."

After Jesus taught Nicodemus in regard to the new birth, the wondrous love of God, the life-giving power of faith, He and His disciples came “into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Enon, near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all

men come to him."a Again, we are told, "That Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples." John alone mentions the fact that Jesus baptized, and the passages quoted give all the information we have in regard to the place where, and the considerable number that He baptized.

Leaving Judea, Christ, in passing from Samaria, stops at Jacob's well, and holds that ever-memorable conversation with the woman of Samaria. Notwith

standing the apostles, when sent on their mission to preach the approach of the kingdom, were commanded not to enter any city of the Samaritans, yet Jesus Himself stops to teach a poor woman in regard to the spiritual nature of the worship which He was establishing, which would not require a sacred mountain or a holy temple, but would be acceptable to God if offered "in spirit and in truth." Here is one of the first intimations given of the universal character of the Christian religion, a religion in which the Samaritans and the Gentiles might rejoice. And now, although the altar-fires have been extinguished on Mount Gerizim and Mount Zion for nineteen hundred years, and God has no one sacred place on earth, yet, from the continents of the earth and the islands of the sea, the prayers from millions of kings and priests to God go up unto Him like incense from His ancient altar. At the conclusion of this conversation we are informed that many of the Samaritans believed on Him. "For the saying of the woman," and a John iii. 22-26. b John iv. 39.

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many more believed because of his own word; saying, For we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." a After this He heals a nobleman's son at Capernaum. He attends a feast of the Jews at Jerusalem, and cures at the pool of Bethesda a man who had had an infirmity thirty-eight years. The Jews sought to kill Him, because He did this on the Sabbath day, but "Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God." Upon this Jesus claims to do all the works which His Father did. "For what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." c If the "Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." d "All men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him." e And "he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life." "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the b John v. 17, 18.

a John iv. 41, 42. d John v. 21.

f

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© John v. 19. * John v. 24.

graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." a Before concluding this discourse He said, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." The claims of Jesus as set forth here and in subsequent discourses, and, in fact, throughout the gospels, are such as were never made by any being on earth. He is represented as existing in the beginning. "Before Abraham was I am," as He is before all things and "by him all things consist." The fiat of creation, "the word of God," as the revealer of the fatherhood of God; "Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to whom soever the Son will reveal him." As, "the Son of God," "the bread of life," and "the light of the world," as "bringing life and immortality to light by the gospel,” “prophet, priest and king," "the resurrection and the life," "the way, the truth and the life." Truly, never man spake as He spake, lived as He lived, or died as He died. After the conversation of Christ with Nicodemus there are no special terms of pardon given in John's gospel to any individual, but He presents himself as the great object of faith, as "the Bread of Life," "the Door,' ," "the Shepherd,” “the Vine”; in fact, the Son of God and Savior, saying, "If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me." Before leaving His disciples He said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another as I have loved

you.'

a John v. 25-29.

b

John v. 40.