I John - Ferrar Fenton Bible Translation page 1045

evidently the concluding section of thc same, and forms a perfect summary ofthe essentials ofthe Gospel Message. li would seem Lo have been added to the Ephesirm edition of the Gosel bthe Evanel h the erusa pfy gist about A.¤. go, and not issued witjlem edition written shortly ai tcr the Crucihxion. This section forms an address from the writer to his readers, from which it is clearly seen why he merely recorded a few of the conversations of his Master, instead of writing an exhaustive history of His life.——F. F.

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we have seen with our eyes; Whom we have contemplated; and our hands have felt, accompanying the LIVING WORD : for the L1FE was manifested ; and we have seen Him and have given evidence, and proctaim to you the LIFE Who was eternal, Who existed with the Father, and was manifested to us-What we have seen and heard, we also declare to you, in order that you might be participators with ourselves; yes, and our union is with the Father, and with His Son jesus Christ. And we have written this, in order that your delight might be complete. This, moreover, is the announce-

ment which we have learned from Him, and convey to you : namely, that GOD is LIGHT, and darkness in Him there is none. lf we say that we are in union with Him, and still follow the darkness, we are false, and act not up to the Truth. But if, ot. the other hand, we follow the Light (as He Himself is in the light), we are in union with each other; and the blood of jesus, His Son, purihes us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is foreign to us. If we acknow- ledge our sins, He is faithful and just although he should take away our sins, and purify us from all our unrigh- teousness. If we deny that we have committed sin, we make Him false, and we do not grasp His doctrine. My little children, Iwrite this to

you, in order that you may not sin. And if any one should sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, ]esus Christ the Righteous. And He is an offering for our sins; and not for ours alone, but also for all the world. And by this we recognise that we know Him, if we observe His com— I know and fails to observe His com- mands, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. But whoever observes His message, the love of God is undoubt- edly perfected in him. By this we recognise that we are in Him. Who- ever says that he remains in Him, ought to conduct himself inthe same way as He conducted Himself. Dear friends, 1 write to you no new

command; but on the contrary, an old command, the same which you possessed from the beginning. The old command is the message which you learned. Again, I write you a new command, which is true in itself and also in you; because the dark- ness is clearing away, and the true Light already shines. Whoever, therefore, says he is in the Light, yet hates his brother, is even until now in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother, dwells in the Light; and there is no stumbling·block in him. Whoever hates his brother, however, is in the darkness; he walks in the dark, and knows not where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I write to you, little children, be-

cause your sins are expelled through His Name. I write to you, fathers_ because you have known Him from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have conquered the IO45 IO II I2