Rom. i, 20.

Rom. ii, 14, 15.

The Tragic Rejection. Verses 10, 11.

Rom. i, 20-23.

The true light is ever shining in Nature: The invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; so that even heathen are without excuse. The true light is ever shining

in Conscience: When Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law unto themselves; in that they shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts accusing or else excusing them one with another. Yes, it is sublimely true that the true light, even the Word of God, who in the beginning was and was with God, and was God, is Deity in eternal advent. The true light, which lighteth every man, was coming into the world.

"He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not."

"He was in the world." Then Jesus Christ is the light of the world as well as the light of the church. The true light, as we have seen, is ever shining in nature and in conscience. "And the world was made through him." Then those who live in the world owe Jesus Christ, the eternal Word and the true light, grateful loyalty. "And the world knew him not." Then the world was guilty of sacrilegious ingratitude to Jesus Christ. Although his eternal power and divinity were clearly seen through his works, yet they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks;

but became vain in their reasonings, and their
senseless heart was darkened; professing them-
selves to be wise, they became fools, and changed
the glory of the incorruptible God for the like-
ness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds,
and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. He
was in the world, and the world was made through
him, and the world knew him not. "Unto his
own he came." Then Jesus Christ condescended
to become a Jew. When the Word was made
flesh, he, as had been divinely covenanted, was
born of the stock of Abraham; so that the Jewish
race was in the eminent sense his own possession
and inheritance: Unto his own he came.
"And
they that were his own received him not." Then
the Jews were guilty of a special sacrilege in re-
jecting their own divine Countryman. It was his
own Nazareth who rejected him; it was his own
Jerusalem who crucified him. He came unto his
own home, and his own people accepted him not.

"But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

"But as many as received him." Then Jesus Christ found welcomers in the world that hated him, even among the Jews that spurned him. Already in our apostle's day multitudes both of Jews and Gentiles joyously accepted the Nazarene's sovereignty. "To them gave he the right to become children of God." Then Jesus Christ is the medium of the divine adoption. True, man,

The Heavenly
Right.
Verses 12, 13.

Genesis i, 26.

John iii, 3.

Acts iv, 12.

The Divine Incarnation.

in virtue of his very creation, as made in God's likeness, after God's image, is God's son. But he has fallen, and lost the sense as well as the privileges of sonship. What he needs, then, is to have the sense and privileges of sonship restored to him to be, as it were, born over again, born from above. And the Word of God is the secret of this regeneration: To as many as receive him he gives the right to become God's children. "Even to them that believe in his name." Then none but those who accept Jesus Christ as the Word of God will Jesus Christ, God's Word, empower to become God's children. There is no other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved. "Who were begotten, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Then this second birth, this recovery of the sense of divine sonship, is no wise possible in the plane of nature. No ancestral piety or birth of blood, no outward rite or birth of the will of the flesh, no personal resolve or birth of the will of man, can make us children of God. None but the Word of God himself, in whom is the life and who is the true light of men, can give the power and the right to those who believe in his name to attain the divine sonship. As many as received him, to these gave he the right to become God's children, even to them that believe in his name; who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of

the only-begotten from the Father), full of grace Verse 14. and truth."

"And the Word became flesh." Then the Divine Word became human. It is a profound statement, the corner-stone of Christianity, the turning-point in human eternity. Let us, then, ponder it most carefully. Observe, first, what it was that became flesh: it was the Word, that same Word who in the beginning was, and was with God, and was God. Observe, secondly, the verb which St. John uses. Word was changed into flesh"; he says, "The Word became flesh." When the eternal Word

He does not say, "The

was born, he was not altered into flesh, and so ceased to be the Word; he became flesh, and still continued to be the Word. Jesus Christ as the Word always was; Jesus Christ as flesh became. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh. And in the Word become flesh, the Word and the flesh blended into one new personality, the God-man. In him dwelleth all the Col. ii, 9. fullness of the Godhead bodily, in body-fashion. Observe, thirdly, that in thus becoming flesh the Word became man under disabled conditions. For take precise note of the noun which St. John uses. He does not say, "The Word became man"; he says, "The Word became flesh." And

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flesh," according to a common scriptural usage, means man as under disabilities, human nature as frail and dependent and mortal. The Word not only became man, as Adam was before he fell: the Word became flesh, as Adam was after he fell. Not that the Word took into himself a sinful

Rom. viii, 3.

Heb. iv, 15.

John ii, 19-22.

manhood-perish the thought! It was only in the likeness of sinful flesh that he became. Nevertheless, he did become flesh, and as such did become exposed to the unfortunate conditions, to the trials and sorrows and perils and mishaps of a nature lapsed in Adam's fall. He took into himself weakness without sinfulness, infirmity without guilt, possibility of fall without fall. Verily, we have not a high priest who can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. What unspeakable comfort in this little clause, "The Word became flesh"!

"And dwelt [pitched his tent, tabernacled] among us." It is a reminiscence of the old wilderness life. What the ancient tabernacle had been to the Jew, that the enfleshment of the Word was henceforth to be to the Church. The incarnation was the entempling of Deity in humanity. Jesus said unto the Jews, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews answered, "Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?" But he spake of the temple of his body. Accordingly, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had spoken this, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

"And we beheld his glory." Again it is a reminiscence of the old wilderness life, even of the Shechinah which was wont to marshal the hosts of Israel, and gleam between the cherubim over the mercy-seat. St. John himself had literal