nto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God." Notice to whom he writes it "You that believe on the
name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life,
and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." There are
only five short chapters in this first Epistle, and the word "know"
occurs over forty times. It is "_Know!_ Know!! KNOW!!!" The Key to it
is Know! and all through the Epistle there rings out the
refrain--"that we might know that we have eternal life."

I went twelve hundred miles down the Mississippi in the spring some
years ago; and every evening, just as the sun went down, you might
have seen men, and sometimes women, riding up to the banks of the
river on either side on mules or horses, and sometimes coming on
foot, for the purpose of lighting up the Government lights; and all
down that mighty river there were landmarks which guided the pilots
in their dangerous navigation. Now God has given us lights or
landmarks to tell us whether we are His children or not; and what we
need to do is to examine the tokens He has given us.

In the third chapter of John's first Epistle there are five things
worth knowing.

In the fifth verse we read the first: "And ye _know_ that He was
manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin." Not what I
have done, but what HE has done. Has He failed in His mission? Is He
not able to do what He came for? Did ever any heaven-sent man fail
yet? and could God's own Son fail? He was manifested to take away our
sins.

Again, in the nineteenth verse, the second thing worth knowing: "And
hereby _we know_ that we are of the truth, and shall _assure_ our
hearts before Him." We know that we are of the truth. And if the
truth make us free, we shall be free indeed. "If the Son therefore
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John viii. 36.)

The third thing worth knowing is in the fourteenth verse, "_We know_
that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the
brethren." The natural man does not like godly people, nor does he
care to be in their company. "He that loveth not his brother abideth
in death." He has no spiritual life.

The fourth thing worth knowing we find in verse twenty-four: "And he
that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And
hereby _we know_ that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath
given us." We can tell what kind of Spirit we have if we possess the
Spirit of Christ--a Christ-like spiri