CHRIST THE CREATOR.

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the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "All things were made by Him. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." It is impossible by any fair interpretation of these verses to deny that the Word means Jesus the Son of God. "The Word was God," and "all things were made" by the same Word, and this same "Word was made flesh." The author of creation is God the Son, and the same is the author of the work of redemption. As creatures and subjects of moral government, therefore, we have a deep concern in apprehending the true character of the Son of God, for He is our Creator and our final Judge. But it is still more important for us as sinners to apprehend the mercy of God in Christ, and receive Him as our Saviour. The work of redemption at once implies our ruin and misery, and declares the necessity for the Son of God becoming our Mediator. As sin has separated us from God, and as the very idea of religion implies our reconciliation to God, so there is no religion without faith. For whosoever cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is what He reveals Himself to be in his Word. There is no reconciling the sinner with God-no coming of the sinner to God-no receiving of the sinner by God-without a Mediator. This Mediator is God's only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. There is for us as sinners no such a thing as truly believing in God the Father, but by believing in Jesus Christ His Son. "No man comes unto the Father but by me."

It is true, there is a place for repentance and prayers and a new obedience; but nothing brings us to God except faith in Jesus. Nothing washes away our sins but the blood of the Lamb of God. We cannot worship

God but through Christ. We cannot see God but in Christ, nor can God look on us in love but as He sees us in Christ. There is then a specialty in our professing to believe in Jesus Christ that we must not overlook.

1. In our text, the sum of our duty is declared to be to believe on the Name of the Son of God, and to love one another as He hath commanded us. This is the commandment of God Himself. In other Scriptures we are taught that we must worship the Son as we worship the Father-honor Him as we honor the Father-and we are commanded to hear Him rather than Moses or Elias, and we are taught to ascribe the names, works, titles, and perfections to Him that we find given to God in the Scriptures. But here a positive command from God is given to believe in the Name-that is, in the Person, character, and mission of His Son Jesus Christ.

2. As a commandment of God, the text not only implies duty on our part, but grace from God. "Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace alone, whereby we receive and rest upon Him for salvation, as He is offered to us in the Gospel." The gift is grace, and the exercise of it is God working in us. It is God's commandment that we should believe on his Son. So Jesus commanded the man at the pool of Bethesda to rise and walk, and enabled him to obey. The same is true of the man with a withered hand. The command was accompanied with the gift of power to obey.

3. Note also that we have clear illustrations from the Scriptures that Duty and Grace are joined together. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Phil. ii. 12, 13. In the text

BELIEF GOD'S COMMAND.

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the command of faith and the command of love are linked and knit together, as if the weight of our salvation hung equally and alike upon both; as without faith it is impossible to please God, so it is equally impossible to please Him without love. No duty will profit without faith, and no faith will profit without love. As whatever is not of faith is sin, so whatever duty we perform without love to our fellow-men and towards God is not accepted of God. If I give all my goods to feed the poor, and have not love, I am nothing. See Burkitt.

The specialty of the text, then, is, that God commands us by the Gospel to believe in His Son Jesus Christ-to come to Him pleading His name and merits, that we may obtain the forgiveness of sin and the blessings of salvation; and that for His sake, and after His example, we should love one another, and be liberal and self-denying and charitable, even as Christ himself hath loved us and given Himself for us. It is this that makes a Christian a follower of the Lord Jesus, a child of God, an heir of glory.

My principal purpose for the present, however, in reference to the text, is to offer some remarks on believing in JESUS, or rather on JESUS as the object of belief. Faith, belief, and the authority of the Divine command and the reasons for obedience, cannot be here dwelt upon. The second Article of our Creed is, "And (I believe) in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord." Here are three leading subjects: 1st. The double name given to our Lord; 2d. His relation to the Father is declared: His only Son; 3d. His dominion over us, and our submission to Him as our Sovereign Lord. Or perhaps I should be more easily understood if I said, we have here. four titles ascribed to our Lord:

I. His proper name, JESUS, which like other Bible names is also significant, and in his case truly significant, of his character and work.

II. We have the name of his office, CHRIST.

III. His nature-HE IS GOD'S ONLY SON.

IV. His dignity-OUR LORD.

I limit myself this evening to the Name Jesus: "And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ.'

Then let us attend to the Name, and see how its meaning is realized.

I. The Name of a person, according to the usage of Holy Scripture, signifies the person himself, his authority, and all that is implied in or expressed by his titles. And so far are our Lord's names and titles from being insignificant, that it is boldly affirmed by our best scholars that the name of JESUS is possessed of a dignity and meaning superior to all the other names ascribed to him, or even of God the Father, and that it is for this reason it is said, "His name is above every name, and that at it every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord."

It is not considered that the double name Jesus Christ is to be reckoned as a proper and surname. This designation is not like Simon, with the surname Peter, or John, whose surname is Mark, but like John the Baptist; that is, a proper name with an official title. JESUS was his proper name, and CHRIST his official title. The learned have also called our attention to the fact that one of these names is Hebrew and the other Greek, and that

JESUS IS SAVIOUR.

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these names are intended to signify that the Son of God is a Saviour alike to Jews and Gentiles,—a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel. Perhaps, too, the first name is Hebrew and the other Greek, to show that salvation is of the Jews-to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Salvation is of the Jews, as a fountain or reservoir, until the time appointed of the Father; then it overflowed. As in baptism, the second place is assigned to the Son, so the same order is followed in the Creed. And as, in declaring our belief in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,” we acknowledge His attributes of power and majesty, so also by believing in Jesus Christ we accept of his miraculous history, and believe in his whole life, sufferings, and work, from his birth to his coming in glory as the Judge of quick and dead. Nor is it without reason that the name JESUS CHRIST is made a part of this Article of the Creed. Particular significancy is attached to the name. Twice do we find the angel referring to it. Speaking to Joseph, he said, "She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS; for He shall save his people from their sins." And on another occasion, the angel said to the Virgin Mother, "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.” The NAME, then, was intended to be significant. Its etymology admits of a twofold analysis. One is intimated by the first angelic announcement, which is a direct interpretation of the name, "for He shall save his people from their sins." This may be understood as from the Hebrew Hiphil infinitive Hosheang (win) as an abstract term, SALVATION, or as the concrete, SAVIOUR. The meaning, then, is, "He is salvation," that is, "He shall save."