Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 1.djvu/214

 his "little children," "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received from Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." (1 John ii. 20, 21, 27.) Such general illumnination by Holy Spirit might seem to make any authoritative Apostolic declarations altogether unnecessary for the converts; but we still find St. John writing to them, and declaring his testimony to the Christian doctrine with much earnestness; and why? Let us hear his own words at the beginning of his Epistle; "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with ; and truly fellowship is with the, and with His Son . And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." Here we have the object of the Apostle's affectionate address fully and clearly stated. He and his Fellow-Apostles, the witnesses of their Master's Life and Death and Resurrection, had received from Him a glorious revelation to communicate to the world; they had seen and did testify, that the sent the  to be the Saviour of the world; upon this foundation they were commissioned to build the Christian Church; and it was their holy and blessed office to "stablish, strengthen, settle" the faith of their "little children" in the Gospel; to tell them how they might keep themselves from the spirit of error; and continuing "stedfast in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship," might through them have fellowship with the  and the, and so "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Here we learn the full force of St. John's authoritative language. He was marking the lines of "the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets," in order that his disciples might duly be built upon their most holy faith into a temple meet for the habitation of through the ; they were  building, and the Apostle was one of the "wise master-builders," whom  had appointed to build His Spiritual House. And this view of the matter will become still clearer, if we study well the prayer which offered for His Church at the solemn moment when He