But God's holy fear should be in all the recreations of youthful believers, as well as that sense of ease and liberty which His changeless, boundless love gives. They may count on their Heavenly Father's presence and on His approving eye and ear for their times of mirth and relaxation as truly as for their hours of toil or study. The bow unbent and left at ease is as much intended for the heavenly fight "the good fight of faith"-as the same bow when bent with arrow on the string. For the mind and character of the young saint, suited recreation is just what hours of sleep are for our wearied bodily powers. But though both are needed, they must both be used with caution and with self-restraint. The same Solomon who wrote in Eccles. vii. 16, "Be not righteous over much. . . . why shouldest thou destroy thyself?" also wrote in Prov. xxv. 16, "Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee;" and youthful recreation is a kind of "honey." The truth is, we are never fit for any of our surroundings except as our springs of strength and joy are above. To walk here below pleasingly to God, we must ever make God our strength and Christ our joy. If we do not, both the griefs and the joys of life will entangle and overcome us. And this is as true of the briefer pleasures and sorrows of youthful fellow-saints as it is of those of older ones. A day's or an evening's giddy amusement (especially if spent with unsaved or thoughtless companions) may do the young child of God as much soul-damage as will the giving way to a passionate sorrow. The word "temperance" in the New Testament means "self-restraint," and it is this which youthful believers are made divinely capable of exercising, and are expected to exhibit. But this "temperance" is a part of that precious "fruit of the Spirit" described in Gal. v. 22, 23, and it is only by the Spirit's power being allowed free exercise that it can be brought forth in us. If, through the Holy Spirit's inward company, the joy of the Lord is in the hearts of youthful believers, the world's entertainments will, first of all, not be wished for, and secondly, if unexpectedly entered on, they will speedily prove distasteful. The distance between young Christians and all such scenes of mirth will become greater and greater, till the pleasure-seekers of the world will as much dislike them as they in turn will pity the poor worldlings. The truth is, that being joined in one Spirit to the Lord, or, as Paul says, "married . . . . to Him who is raised from the dead," the children of God find their all in Jesus, whose love in once dying and now ever living for them has won their hearts, and has made them as His redeemed ones altogether His. II.—THEIR SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD. In God's word we meet with precious instances of separation from the world in early life, and even from those dear by earthly ties, when the claims of God clearly called for it. Surely it was the "expulsive power of a new affection" that took Rebekah straight from Mesopotamia to Isaac, and made her hasten the journey to him rather than consent to any delay; for her spirit was in fellowship with Eliezer's word to all Laban's household, "Hinder me not." In this she affords us a type of the bride's trueness of affection to Christ. It was the same strangership, for love's sake, that enabled young Ruth to cleave to feeble Naomi, spite of her sister Orpah's going back. And what a reward was hers! She found herself sheltered under the wings of the Lord God of Israel, even when poverty and exposure in the gleaning field were her lot. And in what an honourable marriage her life-story ends! Doubtless it was inward happiness of soul that pre served Joseph, though young, from taking any part in the evil ways of his own brothers; that took him unharmed through the seductions of Potiphar's house; and in prison caused him to be occupied with God-given "dreams” instead of idle talk, or murmurings at his hard lot. It was communion with God from a child that made Samuel a listener in God's sanctuary, and his early word, Speak, for Thy servant heareth," characterized him through life, and thus was he saved from the company and the manners of Eli's sons. And was it not a similar joy in God's voice in the Hebrew Scriptures that delivered Daniel from defiling himself with Gentile food and banquets? Surely this was a greater deliverance than even that from the lions afterwards, and earned for him the precious title, “O man greatly beloved!" This is an Old Testament illustration of John xiv. 20-23. As some of us in God's church are moving on in life, and are nearing its close, new thoughts are awakened in us, and greater cares occupy us, about younger saints, who are to live and witness for Jesus our Lord after we are gone. And all the more are we thus concerned because new forms of "the deceivableness of unrighteousness" keep arising, and will still more arise. "Even now are there many antichrists." Forms of error are beginning to appear which will deceive all-all, that is, in this Christendom sphereexcept those whose names are written in the "Lamb's book of life." In these deceptive days the church is so like the world, that if young Christians only rely upon the guidance and example of even fellow-believers, they may be drawn into evil things before they are aware of it. God grant that all our ordinary, and still more our unwonted and special assemblings, may quicken parents and elder ones in their care of younger believers, and also make younger ones more alive to their own eternal interests. May the ministry of God's word, whether by tongue or pen, fill them with a firmer and a holier purpose of better knowing God our Father, and Jesus our Lord, and of more openly and fully confessing Christ and serving Him in a money-getting and pleasure-seeking world. In connection with this subject Philip Doddridge's fine and godly epigram may well be remembered—an epigram which Dr. Johnson judged to be the best in the English language:— "Live while you live, the sacred Preacher cries, And give to God each moment as it flies. "Live while you live, the Epicure would say, I live in pleasure whilst I live to Thee." Yet "a little while" and the Eden of God's pleasures will be the home of all his saints for ever, and one pleasure amongst the many will be this, that as "His servants we shall "serve Him," and "shall see His face," and shall have "His Name" written on our "foreheads." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. H. D. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN: ITS GENERAL PURPORT. AT the outset several leading features are noticeable: its abruptness of commencement, without introduction or salutation; the decision and force of the language; the strong contrasts; the apparent contradictions; the positive assurances of death on the one hand, and of life on the other. These peculiarities seem to point to a state of things pressing forcibly on the apostle's attention, and calling for prompt interference and vigorous action. Because of the imperious nature of the topics he has to bring forward, the usual courtesies are withheld, whilst their absence is fully seen to arise from no want of affection towards those to whom he writes, or from any disregard of the position of favour with God wherein they stand. Those whom he addresses are in danger upon a vital point-the point upon which their salvation depends. To this he applies himself. There is no leisure for ordinary instructions or warnings. It is a question of life or death-the very substance of the Christian's hope and faith. To this and its immediate connections he confines himself. The range is limited, but the subject is of the utmost possible importance. There were those who sought to seduce the disciples of Christ. These seducers are called antichrists-that is, opposed to Christ. They are described in chap ii. 22, as denying that Jesus (of Nazareth) is the Christ. In Matt. xvi. 16, Peter owns Him as "the Christ, the Son of the living God;" as announced in Psalm ii. The knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth, who then stood before him, was the high and holy One, is declared by our Lord to be due to the Father having revealed the fact to Peter. And in John vi. 69, Peter makes the same acknowledgment on his own behalf and on that of the other disciples. In this epistle (chap ii. 22) John declares that the denial of Jesus being the Christ is tantamount to denying that He is the Son of God, and likewise to the denial of the Father; and that he who so denies the Son, hath not the Father. Thus, then, we have several indications of these parties:-They are seducers and deceivers. They deny that Jesus is the Christ. They deny that He is the Son of God. Inferentially they deny both the Father and the |