The Gospel of St John Author:Marcus Dods Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II. RECEPTION CHRIST MET WITH. IN describing the Word of God, John mentions two attributes of His by which His relation to men becomes apparent: " All thin... more »gs were made by Him," and " the life was the light of men." By whom were all things made ? what is the originating force which has produced the world ? how are we to account for the existence, the harmony, and the progress of the universe ?—these are questions which must always be put. Everywhere in nature force and intelligence appear; the supply of life and power is unfailing, and the unconscious planets are as regular and harmonious in their action as the creatures that are endowed with conscious intelligence and the power of self-guidance. That the whole universe is one does not admit of a doubt. Far as the astronomer can search into infinite space, he finds the same laws and one plan, and no evidence of another hand or another mind. To what is this unity to be referred ? John here affirms that the intelligence and power which underlie all things belong to the Word of God : " without Him was not anything made which was made." " In Him was life." In this Divine Being, who was " in the beginning " before all things, there was that which gives existence to all else. " And the life was the light of men." That life which appears in theharmony and progress of inanimate nature, and in the wonderfully manifold and yet related forms of animal existence, appears in man as " light"—intellectual and moral light,' reason and conscience. All the endowment possessed by man as a moral being, capable of self-determination and of choosing what is morally good, springs from the one fountain of life which exists in the Word of God. It is in the light of this close relationship of the Word to the world and to men that John views the ...« less