{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33151/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33151","id":"gutenberg_33151","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33151","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. John","Bible. John -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Produced by Marcia Brooks, Colin Bell, Nigel Blower and\nthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images\ngenerously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian\nLibraries)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  [Transcriber's Note:\n\n  This e-text is intended for users whose text readers cannot display\n  the Unicode (utf-8) version of the file. Greek words have been\n  transliterated and enclosed in equals signs, e.g. =ho logos=.\n\n  _Italic_ words have been similarly enclosed in underscores.\n\n  A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected.\n\n  The Table of Contents refers to page numbers in the original text.\n\n  All advertising material has been placed at the end of the text.]\n\n\n\n\n\n                  THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.\n\n\n                    EDITED BY THE REV.\n             W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D.\n\n               _Editor of \"The Expositor.\"_\n\n\n                 THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.\n\n                           BY\n                    MARCUS DODS, D.D.\n\n\n                        NEW YORK:\n                 A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON,\n                   51 EAST TENTH STREET\n                     (NEAR BROADWAY).\n\n                          1891.\n\n\n\n\n                           THE\n                   GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.\n\n                           BY\n                    MARCUS DODS, D.D.,\n\n  PROFESSOR OF EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY, NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH.\n\n\n                     IN TWO VOLUMES.\n\n                        _VOL. I._\n\n\n                        NEW YORK:\n                 A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON,\n                   51 EAST TENTH STREET\n                     (NEAR BROADWAY).\n\n                          1891.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                             PAGE\n\n    INTRODUCTORY NOTE                          ix\n\n    CHAPTER I.\n    THE INCARNATION                             3\n\n    CHAPTER II.\n    RECEPTION CHRIST MET WITH                  21\n\n    CHAPTER III.\n    THE BAPTIST'S TESTIMONY                    35\n\n    CHAPTER IV.\n    THE FIRST DISCIPLES                        55\n\n    CHAPTER V.\n    THE FIRST SIGN--THE MARRIAGE IN CANA       69\n\n    CHAPTER VI.\n    THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE                87\n\n    CHAPTER VII.\n    NICODEMUS                                 101\n\n    CHAPTER VIII.\n    THE BRAZEN SERPENT                        119\n\n    CHAPTER IX.\n    THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA                      131\n\n    CHAPTER X.\n    JESUS DECLARES HIMSELF                    147\n\n    CHAPTER XI.\n    THE SECOND SIGN IN GALILEE                161\n\n    CHAPTER XII.\n    SABBATH CURE AT BETHESDA                  177\n\n    CHAPTER XIII.\n    JESUS LIFE-GIVER AND JUDGE                193\n\n    CHAPTER XIV.\n    JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE                   209\n\n    CHAPTER XV.\n    THE CRISIS IN GALILEE                     225\n\n    CHAPTER XVI.\n    JESUS DISCUSSED IN JERUSALEM              243\n\n    CHAPTER XVII.\n    THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY               259\n\n    CHAPTER XVIII.\n    CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD             273\n\n    CHAPTER XIX.\n    JESUS REJECTED IN JERUSALEM               289\n\n    CHAPTER XX.\n    SIGHT GIVEN TO THE BLIND                  305\n\n    CHAPTER XXI.\n    JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD                   321\n\n    CHAPTER XXII.\n    JESUS, SON OF GOD                         337\n\n    CHAPTER XXIII.\n    JESUS THE RESURRECTION AND LIFE           355\n\n    CHAPTER XXIV.\n    JESUS THE SCAPEGOAT                       371\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    NOTE ON CHAP. VI., VERS. 37, 44, 45       387\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTORY NOTE.\n\n\nIn order to read the Gospel of St. John with some intelligence, it is\nnecessary to understand its purpose and its plan. For in the whole range\nof literature there is no composition which is a more perfect work of\nart, or which more rigidly excludes whatever does not subserve its main\nend. From the first word to the last there is no paragraph, sentence, or\nexpression which is out of its place, or with which we could dispense.\nPart hangs together with part in perfect balance. The sequence may at\ntimes be obscure, but sequence there always is. The relevancy of this or\nthat remark may not at first sight be apparent, but irrelevancy is\nimpossible to this writer.\n\nThe object which the Evangelist had in view in writing this Gospel we\nare not left to find out for ourselves. He explicitly says that his\npurpose in writing was to promote the belief that \"Jesus is the Christ,\nthe Son of God\" (chap. xx. 31). This purpose, he judges, he will best\naccomplish, not by writing an essay, nor by framing an abstract argument\nin advocacy of the claims of Jesus, but by reproducing in his Gospel\nthose manifestations of His glory which elicited faith in the first\ndisciples and in others. That which had produced faith in his own case\nand in that of his fellow-disciples, will, he thinks, if fairly set\nbefore men, produce faith in them also. He relates, therefore, with the\nutmost simplicity of language, the scenes in which Jesus seemed to him\nmost significantly to have revealed His power and His goodness, and most\nforcibly to have demonstrated that the Father was in Him. At the same\ntime he keeps steadily in view the circumstance that these\nmanifestations had not always produced faith, but that alongside of a\ngrowing faith there ran an increasing unbelief which at length assumed\nthe form of hostility and outrage. This unbelief he feels called upon to\naccount for. He feels called upon to demonstrate that its true reason\nlay, not in the inadequacy of Christ's manifestations, but in the\nunreasonable and unspiritual requirements of the unbelieving, and in\ntheir alienation from God. The Gospel thus forms the primary apologetic,\nwhich by its very simplicity and closeness to reality touches at every\npoint the underlying causes and principles of faith and unbelief.\n\nThe object of the Gospel being kept in view, the plan is at once\nperceived. Apart from the Prologue (chap. i. 1-18) and the Appendix\n(chap. xxi.), the body of the work falls into two nearly equal parts,\nchaps. i. 19-xii., and xiii.-xx. In the former part the Evangelist\nrelates, with a singular felicity of selection, the scenes in which\nJesus made those self-revelations which it was most important that men\nshould understand, and the discussions in which their full significance\nwas brought out. Thus he shows how the glory of Christ was manifested\nat the marriage in Cana, in the cleansing of the Temple, in the\nconversation with the Samaritans, in the healing of the impotent man, in\nthe feeding of the five thousand, in the cure of the man born blind; and\nhow, through these various signs or object-lessons, Jesus makes Himself\nknown as the Life, the Light, the Judge of men, or, in one word, as the\nSon doing the Father's works, manifesting the Father's presence,\ndisclosing in His various words and deeds \"the glory as of the only\nbegotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.\"\n\nThese manifestations culminate in the raising of Lazarus, recorded in\nthe eleventh chapter. This final sign, while in \"many of the Jews\" (xi.\n45) it produced faith, aggravated at the same time the unbelief of the\nauthorities, who \"from that day forth took counsel together for to put\nHim to death\" (xi. 53). The twelfth chapter, therefore, holds a place by\nitself. In it we have three incidents related, and all related for the\nsame purpose, namely, to demonstrate that there was now no further need\nof such manifestations of the glory of Jesus as had already been given,\nand that all things were now ripe for the catastrophe. The incidents in\nwhich this became apparent were Mary's anointing of Jesus, His triumphal\nentry into Jerusalem, and the enquiry of the Greeks. By introducing\nthese three incidents together at this point, John wishes to show (1)\nthat Jesus was now embalmed in the love of His intimate friends, (2)\nthat He had found in the untutored instincts of the people a response to\nHis claim, and (3) that even in the still wider circle of the outlying\nnations His name was known. He may, therefore, now safely finish His\nself-revelation. It has done its work. And the completeness of its\nresult is seen, not only in this widely-extended impression and\nfirmly-rooted attachment, but also in the maturity of unbelief which now\ntook active steps to take Jesus and put Him to death.\n\nThis part of the Gospel therefore appropriately closes with the words:\n\"These things spake Jesus and departed, and did hide Himself from them\"\n(xii. 36). The public manifestation of Jesus is closed.\n\nBetween the first and the second part of the Gospel there is interposed\na paragraph (xii. 37-50), in which John briefly points out that the\nrejection of Jesus by the Jews was no more than had been predicted by\nthe prophet Isaiah, and that it reflects no suspicion on the\nmanifestations of His relation to the Father which Jesus had made. He\nthen sums up in one or two sentences the significance and consequences\nof receiving and of rejecting Jesus.\n\nIn the second part of the Gospel the writer is still guided by the same\npurpose of showing how Jesus manifested His glory. This is obvious not\nmerely from the contents of this second part, but also from the fact\nthat in the language of John the death of Jesus is constantly referred\nto as His glorification, being the \"lifting up\" which was an essential\nstep to, or part of, His glorification. Before entering upon the last\nscenes, which are described in chaps. xiii.-xix., Jesus is assured that\nin His death the Father is to glorify His Name (xii. 28); and in the\nprayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter, which closes the\nexplanations which our Lord Himself made of His work, it is still the\nmanifestation of His glory that is in His thoughts. The characteristic\nwhich distinguishes this second part of the Gospel is, that Jesus no\nlonger manifests His glory to the people in signs of manifest power, but\nnow, in chapters xiii.-xvii., further discloses His glory privately to\nthe Twelve; and in chapters xviii. and xix. passes triumphantly through\nthe ultimate trial which still lay between Him and the final\nconsummation of His glory. That this final glory has been achieved is\nwitnessed by the Resurrection, the record of which, and of its results\nin faith, occupies the twentieth chapter. De Wette has the credit of\nbeing the first to discern that the entire Gospel is held together by\nthis idea of the manifestation of Christ's glory, and that \"the glory of\nour Lord appears in all its brightness in the second part of the\nnarrative (xiii.-xx.), and that (_a_) inwardly and morally in His\nsufferings and death (xiii.-xix.), and (_b_) outwardly and sensibly, in\nthe triumphant event of the Resurrection.\"\n\nThe best tabulated division of the Gospel with which I am acquainted is\nthat which the Rev. A. Halliday Douglas, M.A., of Huntly, has printed\nfor private circulation. By the kindness of the author I am allowed to\npublish it here.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DIVISIONS OF ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL.\n\n\nTHE PROLOGUE OR INTRODUCTION. Chap. i. 1-18.\n\nPART I. _The Manifestation of Christ's Glory in Life\nand Power._ Chap. i. 19-xii. 36.\n\n1. Christ's Announcement of Himself, and the Beginnings\nof Faith and Unbelief. Chap. i. 19-iv.\n\n2. The Period of Conflict. Chap. v.-xii. 36.\n\n\nTHE EVANGELIST'S PAUSE FOR REFLECTION, AND REVIEW\nOF CHRIST'S TEACHING. Chaps. xii. 36-50.\n\n\nPART II. _The Manifestation of Christ's Glory in\nSuffering and Death._ Chaps. xiii.-xx.\n\n1. Moral Victory in Suffering:--\n\n_a._ In Anticipation. Chaps. xiii.-xvii. [_Faith_ finally\nsettled in the disciples, and _unbelief_ cast out from\namong them.]\n\n_b._ In the Actual Struggle. Chaps. xviii., xix. [Unbelief\napparently victorious, faith scarcely saved.]\n\n2. Actual Victory over Death. Chap. xx. [Faith proved\nright, and unbelief condemned.]\n\n\nTHE EPILOGUE OR APPENDIX. Chap. xxi.\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\n_THE INCARNATION._\n\n\n    \"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the\n    Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things\n    were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that hath\n    been made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And\n    the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it\n    not. There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. The same\n    came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all\n    might believe through him. He was not the light, but came that he\n    might bear witness of the light. There was the true light, even the\n    light which lighteth every man, coming into the world. He was in the\n    world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He\n    came unto His own, and they that were His own received Him not. But\n    as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become\n    children of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were\n    born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of\n    man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and\n    we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father),\n    full of grace and truth. John beareth witness of Him, and crieth,\n    saying, This was He of whom I said, He that cometh after me is\n    preferred before me: for He was before me. For of His fulness we all\n    received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses; grace\n    and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time;\n    the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath\n    declared Him.\"--JOHN i. 1-18.\n\n\nIn this brief introduction to his Gospel John summarises its contents,\nand presents an abstract of the history he is about to relate in detail.\nThat the Eternal Word, in whom was the life of all things, became flesh\nand was manifested among men; that some ignored while others recognised\nHim, that some received while others rejected Him,--this is what John\ndesires to exhibit at large in his Gospel, and this is what he summarily\nstates in this compact and pregnant introductory passage. He briefly\ndescribes a Being whom he names \"The Word;\" he explains the connection\nof this Being with God and with created things; he tells how He came to\nthe world and dwelt among men, and he remarks upon the reception He met\nwith. What is summed up in these propositions is unfolded in the Gospel.\nIt narrates in detail the history of the manifestation of the Incarnate\nWord, and of the faith and unbelief which this manifestation evoked.\n\nJohn at once introduces us to a Being whom he speaks of as \"The Word.\"\nHe uses the term without apology, as if already it were familiar to his\nreaders; and yet he adds a brief description of it, as if possibly they\nmight attach to it ideas incompatible with his own. He uses it without\napology, because in point of fact it already had circulation both among\nGreek and Jewish thinkers. In the Old Testament we meet with a Being\ncalled \"The Angel of the Lord,\" who is at once closely related, if not\nequivalent, to Jehovah, and at the same time manifested to men. Thus\nwhen the Angel of the Lord had appeared to Jacob and wrestled with him,\nJacob called the name of the place Peniel, for, said he, \"I have seen\nGod face to face.\"[1] In the apocryphal books of the Old Testament the\nWisdom and the Word of God are poetically personified, and occupy the\nsame relation to God on the one hand, and to man on the other, which was\nfilled by the Angel of the Lord. And in the time of Christ \"the Word of\nthe Lord\" had become the current designation by which Jewish teachers\ndenoted the manifested Jehovah. In explaining the Scriptures, to make\nthem more intelligible to the people, it was customary to substitute for\nthe name of the infinitely exalted Jehovah the name of Jehovah's\nmanifestation, \"the Word of the Lord.\"\n\nBeyond Jewish circles of thought the expression would also be readily\nunderstood. For not among the Jews only, but everywhere, men have keenly\nfelt the difficulty of arriving at any certain and definite knowledge of\nthe Eternal One. The most rudimentary definition of God, by declaring\nHim to be a Spirit, at once and for ever dissipates the hope that we can\never see Him, as we see one another, with the bodily eye. This depresses\nand disturbs the soul. Other objects which invite our thought and\nfeeling we easily apprehend, and our intercourse with them is level to\nour faculties. It is, indeed, the unseen and intangible spirit of our\nfriends which we value, not the outward appearance. But we scarcely\nseparate the two; and as we reach and know and enjoy our friends through\nthe bodily features with which we are familiar, and the words that\nstrike upon our ear, we instinctively long for intercourse with God and\nknowledge of Him as familiar and convincing. We put out our hand, but we\ncannot touch Him. Nowhere in this world can we see Him more than we see\nHim here and now. If we pass to other worlds, there, too, He is\nconcealed from our sight, inhabiting no body, occupying no place. Job is\nnot alone in his painful and baffling search after God. Thousands\ncontinually cry with him, \"Behold, I go forward, but He is not there;\nand backward, but I cannot perceive Him: on the left hand, where He doth\nwork, but I cannot behold Him: He hideth Himself on the right hand, that\nI cannot see Him.\"\n\nIn various ways, accordingly, men have striven to alleviate the\ndifficulty of mentally apprehending an invisible, infinite,\nincomprehensible God. One theory, struck out by the pressure of the\ndifficulty, and frequently advanced, was not altogether incompatible\nwith the ideas suggested by John in this prologue. This theory was\naccustomed, although with no great definiteness or security, to bridge\nthe chasm between the Eternal God and His works in time by interposing\nsome middle being or beings which might mediate between the known and\nthe unknown. This link between God and His creatures, which deemed to\nmake God and His relation to material things more intelligible, was\nsometimes spoken of as \"The Word of God.\" This seemed an appropriate\nname by which to designate that through which God made Himself known,\nand by which He came into relations with things and persons not\nHimself. Vague indeed was the conception formed even of this\nintermediary Being. But of this term \"the Word,\" and of the ideas that\ncentred in it, John took advantage to proclaim Him who is the\nmanifestation of the Eternal, the Image of the Invisible.[2]\n\nThe title itself is full of significance. The word of a man is that by\nwhich he utters himself, by which he puts himself in communication with\nother persons and deals with them. By his word he makes his thought and\nfeeling known, and by his word he issues commands and gives effect to\nhis will. His word is distinct from his thought, and yet cannot exist\nseparate from it. Proceeding from the thought and will, from that which\nis inmost in us and most ourselves, it carries upon itself the imprint\nof the character and purpose of him who utters it. It is the organ of\nintelligence and will. It is not mere noise, it is sound instinct with\nmind, and articulated by intelligent purpose. By a man's word you could\nperfectly know him, even though you were blind and could never see him.\nSight or touch could give you but little fuller information regarding\nhis character if you had listened to his word. His word is his character\nin expression.\n\nSimilarly, the Word of God is God's power, intelligence, and will in\nexpression; not dormant and potential only, but in active exercise.\nGod's Word is His will going forth with creative energy, and\ncommunicating life from God, the Source of life and being. \"Without Him\nwas not any thing made that was made.\" He was prior to all created\nthings and Himself with God, and God. He is God coming into relation\nwith other things, revealing Himself, manifesting Himself, communicating\nHimself. The world is not itself God; things created are not God, but\nthe intelligence and will that brought them into being, and which now\nsustain and regulate them, these are God. And between the works we see\nand the God who is past finding out, there is the Word, One who from\neternity has been with God, the medium of the first utterance of God's\nmind and the first forthputting of His power; as close to the inmost\nnature of God, and as truly uttering that nature, as our word is close\nto and utters our thought, _capable of being used by no one besides, but\nby ourselves only_.\n\nIt is apparent, then, why John chooses this title to designate Christ in\nHis pre-existent life. No other title brings out so clearly the\nidentification of Christ with God, and the function of Christ to reveal\nGod. It was a term which made the transition easy from Jewish Monotheism\nto Christian Trinitarianism. Being already used by the strictest\nMonotheists to denote a spiritual intermediary between God and the\nworld, it is chosen by John as the appropriate title of Him through whom\nall revelation of God in the past has been mediated, and who has at\nlength finished revelation in the person of Jesus Christ. The term\nitself does not explicitly affirm personality; but what it helps us to\nunderstand is, that this same Being, the Word, who manifested and\nuttered God in creation, reveals Him now in humanity. John wishes to\nbring the incarnation and the new spiritual world it produced into line\nwith the creation and God's original purpose therein. He wishes to show\nus that this greatest manifestation of God is not an abrupt departure\nfrom previous methods, but is the culminating expression of methods and\nprinciples which have ever governed the activity of God. Jesus Christ,\nwho reveals the Father now in human nature, is the same Agent as has\never been expressing and giving effect to the Father's will in the\ncreation and government of all things. The same Word who now utters God\nin and through human nature, has ever been uttering Him in all His\nworks.\n\nAll that God has done is to be found in the universe, partly visible and\npartly known to us. There God may be found, because there He has uttered\nHimself. But science tells us that in this universe there has been a\ngradual development from lower to higher, from imperfect towards perfect\nworlds; and it tells us that man is the last result of this process. In\nman the creature at last becomes intelligent, self-conscious, endowed\nwith will, capable to some extent of meeting and understanding its\nCreator. Man is the last and fullest expression of God's thought, for in\nman and man's history God finds room for the utterance not merely of His\nwisdom and power, but of what is most profoundly spiritual and moral in\nHis nature. In man God finds a creature who can sympathise with His\npurposes, who can respond to His love, who can give exercise to the\nwhole fulness of God.\n\nBut in saying that \"the Word become flesh\" John says much more than that\nGod through the Word created man, and found thus a more perfect means\nof revealing Himself. The Word created the visible world, but He did not\nbecome the visible world. The Word created all men, but He did not\nbecome the human race, but one Man, Christ Jesus. No doubt it is true\nthat all men in their measure reveal God, and it is conceivable that\nsome individual should fully illustrate all that God meant to reveal by\nhuman nature. It is conceivable that God should so sway a man's will and\npurify his character that the human will should be from first to last in\nperfect harmony with the Divine, and that the human character should\nexhibit the character of God. An ideal man might have been created,\nGod's ideal of man might have been realized, and still we should have\nhad no incarnation. For a perfect man is not all we have in Christ. A\nperfect man is one thing, the Word Incarnate is another. In the one the\npersonality, the \"I\" that uses the human nature, is human; in the other,\nthe personality, the \"I,\" is Divine.\n\nBy becoming flesh the Word submitted to certain limitations, perhaps\nimpossible for us to define. While in the flesh He could reveal only\nwhat human nature was competent to reveal. But as the human nature had\nbeen created in the likeness of the Divine, and as, therefore, \"good\"\nand \"evil\" meant the same to man as to God, the limitation would not be\nfelt in the region of character.\n\nThe process of the Incarnation John describes very simply: \"The Word\nbecame flesh, and dwelt among us.\" The Word did not become flesh in the\nsense that He was turned into flesh, ceasing to be what He had\npreviously been, as a boy who becomes a man ceases to be a boy. In\naddition to what He already was He assumed human nature, at once\nenlarging His experience and limiting His present manifestations of\nDivinity to what was congruous to human nature and earthly circumstance.\nThe Jews were familiar with the idea of God \"dwelling\" with His people.\nAt the birth of their nation, while they were still dwelling in tents\noutside the land of promise, God had His tent among the shifting tents\nof the people, sharing all the vicissitudes of their wandering life,\nabiding with them even in their thirty-eight years' exclusion from their\nland, and thus sharing even their punishment. By the word John here uses\nhe links the body of Christ to the ancient dwelling of God round which\nthe tents of Israel had clustered. God now dwelt among men in the\nhumanity of Jesus Christ. The tabernacle was human, the indwelling\nPerson was Divine. In Christ is realized the actual presence of God\namong His people, the actual entrance into and personal participation in\nhuman history, which was hinted at in the tabernacle and the temple.\n\nIn the Incarnation, then, we have God's response to man's craving to\nfind, to see, to know Him. Men, indeed, commonly look past Christ and\naway from Him, as if in Him God could not be satisfactorily seen; they\ndiscontentedly long for some other revelation of the unseen Spirit. But\nsurely this is to mistake. To suppose that God might make Himself more\nobvious, more distinctly apparent to us, than He has done, is to mistake\nwhat God is and how we can know Him. What are the highest attributes of\nDivinity, the most Divine characteristics of God? Are they great power,\nvast size, dazzling physical glory that overpowers the sense; or are\nthey infinite goodness, holiness that cannot be tempted, love that\naccommodates itself to all the needs of all creatures? Surely the\nlatter, the spiritual and moral qualities, are the more Divine. The\nresistless might of natural forces shows us little of God till we have\nelsewhere learned to know Him; the power that upholds the planets in\ntheir orbits speaks but of physical force, and tells us nothing of any\nholy, loving Being. There is no moral quality, no character, impressed\nupon these works of God, mighty though they be. Nothing but an\nimpersonal power meets us in them; a power which may awe and crush us,\nbut which we cannot adore, worship, and love. In a word, God cannot\nreveal Himself to us by any overwhelming display of His nearness or His\npower. Though the whole universe fell in ruins around us, or though we\nsaw a new world spring into being before our eyes, we might still\nsuppose that the power by which this was effected was impersonal, and\ncould hold no fellowship with us.\n\nOnly, then, through what is personal, only through what is like\nourselves, only through what is moral, can God reveal Himself to us. Not\nby marvellous displays of power that suddenly awe us, but by goodness\nthat the human conscience can apprehend and gradually admire, does God\nreveal Himself to us. If we doubt God's existence, if we doubt whether\nthere is a Spirit of goodness upholding all things, wielding all things,\nand triumphant in all things, let us look to Christ. It is in Him we\ndistinctly see upon our own earth, and in circumstances we can examine\nand understand, _goodness_; goodness tried by every test conceivable,\ngoodness carried to its highest pitch, goodness triumphant. This\ngoodness, though in human forms and circumstances, is yet the goodness\nof One who comes among men from a higher sphere, teaching, forgiving,\ncommanding, assuring, saving, as One sent to deal with men rather than\nspringing from them. If this is not God, what is God? What higher\nconception of God has any one ever had? What worthy conception of God is\nthere that is not satisfied here? What do we need in God, or suppose to\nbe in God, which we have not in Christ?\n\nIf, then, we still feel as if we had not sufficient assurance of God, it\nis because we look for the wrong thing, or seek where we can never find.\nLet us understand that God can best be known as God through His moral\nqualities, through His love, His tenderness, His regard for right; and\nwe shall perceive that the most suitable revelation is one in which\nthese qualities are manifested. But to apprehend these qualities as they\nappear in actual history we must have some sense for and love of them.\nThey that are pure in heart, they shall see God; they who love\nrighteousness, who seek with lowliness for purity and goodness, they\nwill find in Christ a God they can see and trust.\n\nThe lessons of the Incarnation are obvious. First, from it we are to\ntake our idea of God. Sometimes we feel as if in attributing to God all\ngood we were dealing merely with fancies of our own which could not be\njustified by fact. In the Incarnation we see what God has actually done.\nHere we have, not a fancy, not a hope, not a vague expectation, not a\npromise, but accomplished fact, as solid and unchangeable as our own\npast life. This God whom we have often shunned, and felt to be in our\nway and an obstacle, whom we have suspected of tyranny and thought\nlittle of injuring and disobeying, has through compassion and sympathy\nwith us broken through all impossibilities, and contrived to take the\nsinner's place. He, the ever blessed God, accountable for no evil and\nsole cause of all good, accepted the whole of our condition, lived as a\ncreature, Himself bare our sicknesses, all that is hardest in life, all\nthat is bitterest and loneliest in death, in His own experience\ncombining all the agonies of sinning and suffering men, and all the\nineffable sorrows wherewith God looks upon sin and suffering. All this\nHe did, not for the sake of showing us how much better a thing the\nDivine nature is than the human, but because His nature impelled Him to\ndo it; because He could not bear to be solitary in His blessedness, to\nknow in Himself the joy of holiness and love while His creatures were\nmissing this joy and making themselves incapable of all good.\n\nOur first thought of God, then, must ever be that which the Incarnation\nsuggests: that the God with whom alone and in all things we have to do\nis not One who is alienated from us, or who has no sympathy with us, or\nwho is absorbed in interests very different from ours, and to which we\nmust be sacrificed; but that He is One who sacrifices Himself for us,\nwho makes all things but justice and right bend to serve us, who\nforgives our misapprehensions, our coldness, our unspeakable folly, and\nmakes common cause with us in all that concerns our welfare. As while on\nearth He endured the contradiction of sinners, and waited till they came\nto a better mind, so does He still, with Divine patience, wait till we\nrecognise Him as our Friend, and humbly own Him as our God. He waits\ntill we learn that to be God is not to be a mighty King enthroned above\nall the assaults of His creatures, but that to be God is to have more\nlove than all besides; to be able to make greater sacrifices for the\ngood of all; to have an infinite capacity to humble Himself, to put\nHimself out of sight, and to consider our good. This is the God we have\nin Christ; our Judge becoming our atoning Victim, our God becoming our\nFather, the Infinite One coming with all His helpfulness into the most\nintimate relations with us; is this not a God to whom we can trust\nourselves, and whom we can love and serve? If this is the real nature of\nGod, if we may always expect such faithfulness and help from God, if to\nbe God be to be all this, as full of love in the future as He has shown\nHimself in the past, then may not existence yet be that perfect joy our\ninstincts crave, and towards which we are slowly and doubtfully finding\nour way through all the darkness, and strains, and shocks that are\nneeded to sift what is spiritual in us from what is unworthy?\n\nThe second lesson the Incarnation teaches regards our own duty.\nEverywhere among the first disciples was this lesson learned and\ninculcated. \"Let this mind,\" says Paul, \"be in you which was also in\nChrist Jesus.\" \"Christ suffered for us,\" says Peter, \"leaving us an\nexample.\" \"If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another\" is the\nvery spirit of John. Look steadily at the Incarnation, at the love which\nmade Christ take our place and identify Himself with us; consider the\nnew breath of life that this one act has breathed into human life,\nennobling the world and showing us how deep and lovely are the\npossibilities that lie in human nature; and new thoughts of your own\nconduct will lay hold of your mind. Come to this great central fire, and\nyour cold, hard nature will be melted; try in some sort to weigh this\nDivine love and accept it as your own, as that which embraces and cares\nfor and carries you on to all good, and you will insensibly be imbued\nwith its spirit. You will feel that no loss could be so great as to\nlose the possession and exercise of this love in your own heart. Great\nas are the gifts it bestows, you begin to see that the greatest of them\nall is that it transforms you into its own likeness, and teaches you\nyourself to love in the same sort. Understanding our security and our\njoyful prospect as saved by the care of God, and as provided for by a\nlove of perfect intelligence and absolute resource; humbled and softened\nand melted by the free spending upon us of so Divine and complete a\ngrace, our heart overflows with sympathy. We cannot receive Christ's\nlove without communicating it. It imparts a glow to the heart, which\nmust be felt by all that comes in contact with the heart.\n\nAnd as Christ's love became incarnate, not spending itself in any one\ngreat display, apart from the needs of men, but manifesting itself in\nall the routine and incident of a human life; never wearying through the\nmonotonous toil of His artisan-life, never provoked into forgetfulness\nin His boyhood; so must our love derived from Him be incarnated; not\nspent in one display, but animating our whole life in the flesh, and\nfinding expression for itself in all that our earthly condition brings\nus into contact with. The thoughts we think and the actions we do are\nmainly concerned with other people. We are living in families, or we are\nrelated as employer and employed, or we are thrown together by the\nhundred necessities of life; in all these connections we are to be\nguided by the spirit which prompted Christ to become incarnate. Our\nchance of doing good in the world depends upon this. Our review of life\nat the close will be satisfactory or the reverse in proportion as we\nhave or have not been in fact animated by the spirit of the Incarnation.\nWe must learn to bear one another's burdens, and the Incarnation shows\nus that we can do so only in so far as we identify ourselves with others\nand live for them. Christ helped us by coming down to our condition and\nliving our life. This is the guide to all help we can give. If anything\ncan reclaim the lowest class in our population, it is by men of godly\nlife living among them; not living among them in comforts unattainable\nby them, but living in all points as they live, save that they live\nwithout sin. Christ had no money to give, no knowledge of science to\nimpart; He lived a sympathetic and godly life, regardless of Himself.\nFew can follow Him, but let us never lose sight of His method. The poor\nare not the only class that need help. It is our dependence on money as\nthe medium of charity that has begotten that feeling. It is easy to give\nmoney; and so we discharge our obligation, and feel as if we had done\nall. It is not money that even the poorest have most need of; and it is\nnot money at all, but sympathy, which all classes need--that true\nsympathy which gives us insight into their condition, and prompts us to\nbear their burdens, whatever these are. There are many men on earth who\nare mere hindrances to better men; who cannot manage their own affairs\nor play their own part, but are continually entangled and in\ndifficulties. They are a drag on society, requiring the help of more\nserviceable men, and preventing such men from enjoying the fruit of\ntheir own labour. There are, again, men who are not of our kind, men\nwhose tastes are not ours. There are men who seem pursued by misfortune,\nand men who by their own sin keep themselves continually in the mire.\nThere are, in short, various classes of persons with whom we are day by\nday tempted to have no more to do whatever; we are exasperated by the\ndiscomfort they occasion us; the anxiety and vexation and expenditure of\ntime, feeling, and labour constantly renewed so long as we are in\nconnection with them. Why should we be held down by unworthy people? Why\nshould we have the ease and joy taken out of our life by the ceaseless\ndemands made upon us by wicked, careless, incapable, ungrateful people?\nWhy must we still be patient, still postponing our own interests to\ntheirs? Simply because this is the method by which the salvation of the\nworld is actually accomplished; simply because we ourselves thus tax the\npatience of Christ, and because we feel that the love we depend upon and\nbelieve in as the salvation of the world we must ourselves endeavour to\nshow. Recognising how Christ has humbled Himself to bear the burden of\nshame and misery we have laid upon Him, we cannot refuse to bear one\nanother's burdens, and so fulfil the _law_ of Christ.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] See also Gen. xvi. 13, xviii. 22; Exod. iii. 6, xxiii. 20; Judges\nxiii. 22.\n\n[2] For the need of intermediaries, see Plato, _Symposium_, pp. 202-3:\n\"God mingles not with men; but there are spiritual powers which\ninterpret and convey to God the prayers and sacrifices of men, and to\nmen the commands and rewards of God. These powers span the chasm which\ndivides them, and these spirits or intermediate powers are many and\ndivine.\" See also Philo (_Quod Deus Immut._, xiii.): \"God is not\ncomprehensible by the intellect. We know, indeed, that He is, but beyond\nthe fact of His existence we know nothing.\" The Word reveals God; see\nPhilo (_De post. Caini_, vi.) \"The wise man, longing to apprehend God,\nand travelling along the path of wisdom and knowledge, first of all\nmeets with the Divine words, and with them abides as a guest.\"\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n_RECEPTION CHRIST MET WITH._\n\n\n    JOHN i. 1-18.\n\n\nIn describing the Word of God, John mentions two attributes of His by\nwhich His relation to men becomes apparent: \"All things were made by\nHim,\" and \"the life was the light of men.\" By whom were all things made?\nwhat is the originating force which has produced the world? how are we\nto account for the existence, the harmony, and the progress of the\nuniverse?--these are questions which must always be put. Everywhere in\nnature force and intelligence appear; the supply of life and power is\nunfailing, and the unconscious planets are as regular and harmonious in\ntheir action as the creatures that are endowed with conscious\nintelligence and the power of self-guidance. That the whole universe is\none does not admit of a doubt. Far as the astronomer can search into\ninfinite space, he finds the same laws and one plan, and no evidence of\nanother hand or another mind. To what is this unity to be referred? John\nhere affirms that the intelligence and power which underlie all things\nbelong to the Word of God: \"without Him was not anything made which was\nmade.\"\n\n\"In Him was life.\" In this Divine Being, who was \"in the beginning\"\nbefore all things, there was that which gives existence to all else.\n\"And the life was the light of men.\" That life which appears in the\nharmony and progress of inanimate nature, and in the wonderfully\nmanifold and yet related forms of animal existence, appears in man as\n\"light\"--intellectual and moral light, reason and conscience. All the\nendowment possessed by man as a moral being, capable of\nself-determination and of choosing what is morally good, springs from\nthe one fountain of life which exists in the Word of God.\n\nIt is in the light of this close relationship of the Word to the world\nand to men that John views the reception He met with when He became\nflesh and dwelt among us. This reception forms the great tragedy of\nhuman history. \"In Agamemnon returning to his palace after ten years'\nabsence, and falling by the hand of his unfaithful spouse, we have the\nevent which is tragical _par excellence_ in pagan history. But what is\nthat outrage when compared with the theocratic tragedy? The God invoked\nby the nation appears in His temple, and is crucified by His own\nworshippers.\" To John it seemed as if the relationship borne by the Word\nto those who rejected Him was the tragical element in the rejection.\n\nThree different aspects of this relationship are mentioned, that the\nblindness of the rejecters may more distinctly be seen. First, he says,\nalthough the very light that was in man was derived from the Word, and\nit was by His endowment they had any power lo recognise what was\nilluminating and helpful to their spiritual nature, they yet shut their\neyes to the source of light when presented in the Word Himself. \"The\nlife was the light of men.... And the light shineth in darkness, and the\ndarkness apprehended it not.\" This is the general statement of the\nuniversal experience of the Eternal Word, and it is illustrated in His\nincarnate experience summarily related in verses 10 and 11. Again: \"He\nwas in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him\nnot.\" So little had men understood the source of their own being, and so\nlittle had they learned to know the significance and purpose of their\nexistence, that when their Creator came they did not recognise Him. And\nthirdly, even the narrow and carefully-trained circle of the Jews failed\nto recognise Him; \"He came unto His own\"--to everything which had\npointedly and of set purpose spoken of Him, and could not have existed\nbut to teach His character--\"and His own received Him not.\"\n\n1. \"The light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it\nnot.\" As yet John has said nothing of the Incarnation, and is speaking\nof the Word in His eternal or pre-incarnate state. And one thing he\ndesires to proclaim regarding the Word is, that although it is from Him\nevery man has such light as he has, yet this light is commonly rendered\nuseless, and is not cherished. As it is from the Word, from God's\nuttered will, that all men have life, so it is from the same source that\nall the light which is in reason and in conscience is derived. Before\nthe Word appeared in the world, and shone out as the true light (ver.\n9), He was in all rational creatures as their life and light, imparting\nto men a sense of right and wrong, and shining in their heart with some\nof the brightness of a Divine presence. This sense of a connection with\nGod and eternity, and this moral faculty, although cherished by some,\nwere commonly not \"comprehended.\" Evil deeds have been suffered to\ndarken conscience, and it fails to admit the true light.\n\n2. \"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world\nknew Him not.\" When our Lord came to earth the heathen world was mainly\nrepresented by the Roman Empire, and one of the earliest events of His\nlife on earth was His enrolment as a subject of that empire. If we had\nbeen invited before His coming to imagine what would be the result upon\nthis empire of His appearance, we should probably have expected\nsomething very different from that which actually happened. The real\nSovereign is to appear; the Being who made all that is, is to come and\nvisit His possessions. Will not a thrill of glad expectancy run through\nthe world? Will not men eagerly cover up whatever may offend Him, and\neagerly attempt, with such scant materials as existed, to make\npreparations for His worthy reception? The one Being who can make no\nmistakes, and who can rectify the mistakes of a worn-out, entangled\nworld, is to come for the express purpose of delivering it from all ill:\nwill not men gladly yield the reins to Him, and gladly second Him in all\nHis enterprise? Will it not be a time of universal concord and\nbrotherhood, all men joining to pay homage to their common God? \"He was\nin the world, and the world was made by Him\"--that is the true, bare,\nunvarnished statement of the fact. There He was, the Creator Himself,\nthat mysterious Being who had hitherto kept Himself so hidden and remote\nwhile yet so influential and supreme; the wonderful and unsearchable\nSource and Fountain out of which had proceeded all that men saw,\nthemselves included,--there at last He was \"_in_ the world\" Himself had\nmade, apparent to the eyes of men, and intelligible to their\nunderstandings; a real person whom they could know as an individual,\nwhom they could love, who could receive and return their expressions of\naffection and trust. He was in the world, and the world knew Him not.\n\nIndeed, it would not have been easy for the world to show a more entire\nignorance of God than while He was upon earth in human form. There was\nat that time abundance of activity and intelligent apprehension of the\nexternal wants of men and nations. There was a ceaseless running to and\nfro of the couriers of the empire, a fine system of communications\nspread over the whole known world like a network, so that what\ntranspired in the most remote corner was at once known at the centre.\nRome was intelligent to the utmost circumference through all its\ndominions; as if a nervous system radiated through the whole of it,\ntouch but the extremity in one of the remotest colonies and the touch is\nfelt at the brain and heart of the whole.[3] The rising of a British\ntribe, the discovery of some unheard-of bird or beast, the birth of a\ncalf with two heads--every scrap of gossip found its way to Rome.[4] But\nthe entrance of the Creator into the world was an event of such\ninsignificance that not even this finely sympathetic system took any\nnote of it. The great Roman world remained in absolute unconsciousness\nof the vicinity of God: they registered His birth, took account of Him\nas one to be taxed, but were as little aware as the oxen with whom He\nshared His first sleeping-place, that this was God; they saw Him with\nthe same stupid, unconscious, bovine stare.[5]\n\n3. But in this great world of men there was an inner and specially\ntrained circle, which John here designates \"His own.\" For although the\nworld might be called \"His own,\" as made and upheld by him, yet it seems\nmore likely that this verse is not a mere repetition of the preceding,\nbut is intended to mark a deeper degree of insensibility on the part of\nChrist's rejecters. Not only had all men been made in God's image, so\nthat they might have been expected to recognise Christ as the image of\nthe Father; but one nation had been specially instructed in the\nknowledge of God, and was proud of having His dwelling-place in its\nmidst. If other men were blind to God's glory, the Jews at least might\nhave been expected to welcome Christ when He came. Their temple and all\nthat was done in it, their law, their prophets, their institutions,\ntheir history and their daily life, all spoke to them of God, and\nreminded them that God dwelt among them and would come to His own.\nThough all the world should shut its doors against Christ, surely the\ngates of the Temple, His own house, would be thrown open to Him. For\nwhat else did it exist?\n\nOur Lord Himself, in the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, makes even a\nheavier accusation against the Jews, intimating, as He there does, that\nthey rejected Him not because they did not recognise Him, but because\nthey did. \"This is the Heir. Come, let us kill Him, that the inheritance\nmay be ours.\" In any case their guilt is great. They had been definitely\nand repeatedly admonished to expect some great manifestation of God;\nthey looked for the Christ to come, and immediately before His\nappearance they had been strikingly awakened to prepare for His coming.\nBut what was their actual state when Christ came? Again and again it has\nbeen pointed out that their whole thoughts were given to the schemes\nwhich usually distract conquered nations. They were \"tossing in\nunhelpful and inefficacious sedition,\" resenting or paying hollow homage\nto the rule of the foreigner, looking uneasily for deliverance, and\nbecoming the dupes of every fanatic or schemer that cried, \"Lo here!\" or\n\"Lo there!\" Their power of discerning a present God and a spiritual\nDeliverer was almost as completely gone as that of the heathen, and they\ntested the Divine Saviour by external methods which any clever charlatan\ncould have satisfied. The God they believed in and sought was not the\nGod revealed by Christ. They existed for Christ's sake, that among them\nHe might find a home on earth, and through them be made known to all;\nthey believed in a Christ that was to come, but when He came the throne\nthey raised Him to was the cross. And the suspicion that perhaps they\nwere wrong has preyed on the Jewish mind ever since, and has often\npricked them on to a fierce hatred of the Christian name, while\nsometimes it has taken almost the form of penitence, as in the prayer of\nRabbi Ben Ezra,--\n\n    \"Thou! if Thou wast He, who at mid-watch came,\n    By the starlight, naming a dubious name!\n    And if, too heavy with sleep--too rash\n    With fear--O Thou, if that martyr-gash\n    Fell on Thee coming to take Thine own,\n    And we gave the Cross, when we owed the Throne,--\n    Thou art the Judge.\"\n\nIt is the detailed history of this rejection which John presents in his\nGospel. He tells the story of Christ's miracles, and the jealousy they\nexcited; of His authoritative teaching and the opposition it aroused; of\nHis unveiling His Divine nature, His mercy, His power to give life, His\nprerogative of judgment, His humble self-sacrifice, and of the\nmisunderstanding which ran parallel to this manifestation. He tells how\nthe leaders strove to entangle Him and find Him at fault; how they took\nup stones to stone Him; how they schemed and plotted, and at length\ncompassed His crucifixion. The patience with which He met this\n\"contradiction of sinners\" was a sufficient revelation of His Divine\nnature. Though rudely received, though met on all hands with suspicion,\ncoldness, and hostility, He did not abandon the world in indignation. He\nnever forgot that He came, not to judge the world, not to deal with us\non our merits, but to save the world from its sin and its blindness. For\nthe sake of the few who received Him He bore with the many who rejected\nHim.\n\nFor some did receive Him. John could say for many, along with himself,\n\"We beheld His glory,\" and recognised that it was Divine glory, such as\nnone but an Only-begotten in the image of His Father could manifest.\nThis glory dawned upon believing men, and gradually encompassed them in\nthe brightness and beauty of a Divine revelation, by the appearance\namong them of the Incarnate Word, \"full of grace and truth\" (ver. 14).\nNot the works of wonder which He did, not the authority with which He\nlaid the angry waves and commanded the powers of evil, but the grace and\ntruth which underlay all His works, shone into their hearts as Divine\nglory. They had previously known God through the law given by Moses\n(ver. 17); but coming as it did through law, this knowledge was coloured\nby its medium, and through it God's countenance seemed stern. In the\nface of Jesus Christ they saw the Father, they saw \"grace,\" an eye of\ntender compassion and lips of love and helpfulness. In the law they felt\nthat they were seeing through a dimmed glass darkly; they became weary\nof symbols and of forms in which often they saw but flitting shadows.\nWhat must it have been for such men to live with the manifested God; to\nhave Him dwelling among them, and in Him to handle and see (1 John i. 1)\nthe \"truth,\" the reality to which all symbol had pointed? \"The law was\ngiven by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.\"[6]\n\nAnd to those who acknowledge in their hearts that this is Divine glory\nwhich is seen in Christ, the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father,\nHe gives Himself with all His fulness. \"As many as received Him, to them\ngave He the right to become children of God.\" This is the immediate\nresult of the acceptance of Christ as the Revealer of the Father. In Him\nwe see what true glory is and what true sonship is; and as we behold the\nglory of the Only-begotten, sent to declare the Father to us, we\nacknowledge the unseen Father, and His Spirit brings us into the\nrelationship of children. That which is in God passes into us, and we\nshare in the life of God; and this through Christ. He is \"full\" of grace\nand truth. In all He is and does, grace and truth overflowingly manifest\nthemselves. And \"of His fulness have all we received, and grace upon\ngrace.\"[7] John read this off his own experience and that of those for\nwhom he could confidently speak. What they had seen and valued in Christ\nbecame their own character. The inexhaustible fulness of grace in Christ\nrenewed in them grace according to their need. They lived upon Him. It\nwas His life which maintained life in them. By communion with Him they\nwere formed in His likeness.\n\nThe presentation of Christ to men now divides them into two classes, as\nat the first. There are always those who accept and those who reject\nHim. His contemporaries showed, for the most part, a complete ignorance\nof what might be expected of God, a native inability to understand\nspiritual greatness, and to relish it when presented to them. And yet\nChrist's claims were made with such an air of authority and truth, and\nHis whole character and bearing were so consistent, that they were half\npersuaded He was all He said. It is chiefly because we have not a\nperfect sympathy with goodness, and do not know its value, that we do\nnot at once and universally acknowledge Christ. There is in men an\ninstinct that tells them what blessings Christ will secure to them, and\nthey decline connection with Him because they are conscious that their\nways are not His ways, nor their hopes His hopes. The very presentation\nto men of the possibility of becoming perfectly pure reveals what at\nheart they are. By the judgment each man passes on Christ he passes\njudgment on himself.\n\nLet us stir ourselves to a clearer decision by remembering that He is\npresented to us as to His contemporaries. Time was when any one going\ninto the synagogue of Nazareth would have seen Him, and might have\nspoken with Him. But the particular thirty years during which this\nmanifestation of God on earth lasted makes no material difference to the\nthing itself. The Incarnation was to be some time, and it is as real\nhaving occurred then as if it were occurring now. It occurred in its fit\ntime; but its bearing on us is not dependent on the time of its\noccurrence. If it had been accomplished in our day, what should we have\nthought of it? Would it have been nothing to us to see God, to hear Him,\nperhaps to have had His eye turned upon us with personal observation,\nwith pity, with remonstrance? Would it have been nothing to us to see\nHim taking the sinners place, scourged, mocked, crucified? Is it\nconceivable that in presence of such a manifestation of God we should\nhave been indifferent? Would not our whole nature have burned with shame\nthat we and our fellow-men should have brought our God to this? And are\nwe to suffer the mere fact of Christ's being incarnate in a past age and\nnot in our own, to alter our attitude towards Him, and blind us to the\nreality? Of more importance than anything that is now happening in our\nown life is this Incarnation of the Only-begotten of the Father.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[3] See Isaac Taylor's _Restoration of Belief_.\n\n[4] See Pliny's _Letters to Trajan_, 23, 98.\n\n[5] Cp. Faber's _Bethlehem_.\n\n[6] The first introduction in the Gospel of the name of Jesus Christ.\n\n[7] This expression means a succession of graces, higher grace ever\ntaking the place of lower.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\n_THE BAPTIST'S TESTIMONY._\n\n\n    \"There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. The same came\n    for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might\n    believe through him. He was not the light, but came that he might\n    bear witness of the light.... John beareth witness of Him, and\n    crieth, saying, This was He of whom I said, He that cometh after me\n    is preferred before me: for He was before me. For of His fulness we\n    all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses;\n    grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any\n    time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He\n    hath declared Him. And this is the witness of John, when the Jews\n    sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art\n    thou? And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not\n    the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he\n    saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No. They\n    said therefore unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to\n    them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the\n    voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the\n    Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. And they had been sent from the\n    Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why then baptizest\n    thou, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the\n    prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: in the\n    midst of you standeth One whom ye know not, even He that cometh\n    after me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose.\n    These things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was\n    baptizing. On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith,\n    Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!\n    This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a Man which is preferred\n    before me: for He was before me. And I knew Him not; but that He\n    should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing\n    with water. And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit\n    descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon Him. And I\n    knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, He said\n    unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and\n    abiding upon Him, the same is He that baptizeth with the Holy\n    Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son\n    of God.\"--JOHN i. 6-8, 15-34.\n\n\nIn proceeding to show how the Incarnate Word manifested Himself among\nmen, and how this manifestation was received, John naturally speaks\nfirst of all of the Baptist. \"There came a man, sent from God, whose\nname was John. The same came for witness ... that all might believe\nthrough him.\" The Evangelist himself had been one of the Baptist's\ndisciples, and had been led to Christ by his testimony. And to many\nbesides, the Baptist was the true forerunner of the Messiah. He was the\nfirst to recognise and proclaim the present King. John had come under\nthe Baptist's influence at the most impressible time of his life, while\nhis character was being formed and his ideas of religion taking shape;\nand his teacher's testimony to the dignity of Jesus had left an\nindelible print upon his spirit. While his memory retained anything it\ncould not let slip what his first teacher had said of Him who became his\nTeacher and his Lord. While, therefore, the other Evangelists give us\nstriking pictures of the Baptist's appearance, habits, and style of\npreaching, and show us the connection of his work with that of Jesus,\nJohn glances very slightly at these matters, but dwells with emphasis\nand iteration on the testimony which the Baptist bore to the Messiahship\nof Jesus.\n\nTo us, at this time of day, it may seem of little importance what the\nBaptist thought or said of Jesus. We may sympathise rather with the\nwords of the Lord Himself, who, in allusion to this witness, said, \"I\nreceive not testimony from man.\" But it is plain that, at any rate from\na Jewish point of view, the witness of John was most important. The\npeople universally accepted John as a prophet, and they could scarcely\nthink him mistaken in the chief article of his mission. In point of\nfact, many of the most faithful adherents of Jesus became such through\nthe influence of John; and those who declined to accept Jesus were\nalways staggered by John's explicit indication of Him as the Christ. The\nJews had not only the predictions of prophets long since dead, and\ndescriptions of the Christ which they could perversely misconstrue; they\nhad not merely pictures of their Messiah by which they might identify\nJesus as the Christ, but of which it was also quite possible for them to\ndeny the likeness; but they had a living contemporary, whom they\nthemselves acknowledged to be a prophet, pointing out to them another\nliving contemporary as the Christ. That even such a testimony was to a\nlarge extent disregarded shows how much more the inclination to believe\nhas to do with our faith than any external proofs.\n\nBut even to us the testimony of a man like John is not without\nimportance. He was, as our Lord bore witness, \"a burning and a shining\nlight.\" He was one of those men who give new thoughts to their\ngeneration, and help men to see clearly what otherwise they might only\ndimly have seen. He was in a position to know Jesus well. He was His\ncousin; he had known Him from His childhood. He was also in a position\nto know what was involved in being the Messiah. By the very\ncircumstance that he himself had been mistaken for the Messiah, he was\ndriven to define to his own mind the distinctive and characteristic\nmarks of the Messiah. Nothing could so have led him to apprehend the\ndifference between himself and Jesus. More and more clearly must he have\nseen that he was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that\nlight. Thus he was prepared to receive with understanding the sign (ver.\n33) which gave him something more than _his own personal surmises_ to go\nupon in declaring Jesus to the world as the Messiah. If there is any\nman's testimony we may accept about our Lord it is that of the Baptist,\nwho, from his close contact with the most profligate and with the most\nspiritual of the people, saw what they needed, and saw in Jesus power to\ngive it; the business of whose life it was to make Him out, and to\narrive at certain information regarding Him; a man whose own elevation\nand force of character made many fancy he was the Messiah, but who\nhastened to disabuse their minds of such an idea, because his very\nelevation gave him capacity to see how infinitely above him the true\nChrist was. Seen from the low ground the star may seem close to the top\nof the mountain; seen from the mountain-top it is recognised as\ninfinitely above it. John was on the mountain-top.\n\nOf John's person and work nothing need here be said save what serves to\nthrow light on his witness to Christ. Going from the comfortable home\nand well-provided life and fair prospects of a priest's family, he went\nto the houseless wilderness, and adopted the meagre, comfortless life of\nan ascetic; not from any necessity, but because he felt that to entangle\nhimself with the affairs of the world would be to blind him to its\nvices, and to silence his remonstrance, if not to implicate him in its\nguilt. Like thousands besides in all ages of the world's history, he\nfelt compelled to seek solitude, to subdue the flesh, to meditate\nundisturbed on things Divine, and discover for himself and for others\nsome better way than religious routine and the \"good wine of Mosaic\nmorality turned to the vinegar of Pharisaism.\" Like the Nazarites of the\nearlier times of his country, like the old prophets, with whose\nindignation and deep regret at the national vices he was in perfect\nsympathy, he left the world, gave up all the usual prospects and ways of\nlife, and betook himself to a life of prayer, and thought, and\nself-discipline in the wilderness. When first he went there, he could\nonly dimly know what lay before him; but he gathered a few friends of\nlike disposition around him, and, as we learn, \"taught them to pray.\" He\nformed in the wilderness a new Israel, a little company of praying\nsouls, who spent their time in considering the needs of their\nfellow-countrymen, and in interceding with God for them, and who were\ncontent to let the pleasures and excitements of the world pass by while\nthey longed for and prepared themselves to meet the great Deliverer.\n\nThis adoption of the _role_ of the ancient prophets, this resuscitation\nof their long-forgotten function of mourning before God for the people's\nsin, and addressing the nation authoritatively as God's voice, was\noutwardly shown by his assumption of the prophet's dress. The rough skin\nfor a cloak; the long, uncared-for hair; the wiry, weather-beaten frame;\nthe lofty, calm, penetrating eye, were all eloquent as his lips. His\nwhole appearance and habits certified his claim to be the \"voice\" of one\ncrying in the wilderness, and gave him authority with the people.\nSlightly altering what has been said of a great modern, we may much\nmore truly say of the Baptist,--\n\n    \"He took the suffering human race,\n      He read each wound, each weakness clear:\n    He struck his finger on the place,\n      And said, 'Thou ailest here, and here.'\n    He looked on (Isr'el's) dying hour\n    Of fitful dreams and feverish power,\n    And said, 'The end is everywhere,\n    (Christ) still has truth, take refuge there.'\"\n\nHe was listened to. It is so always, in our own day as in others; the\nmen who are unworldly and have the good of their country or of any class\nof men at heart, the men who are saintly and of few desires, these are\nlistened to as the commissioned messengers of heaven. It is to these men\nwe look as the salt of the earth, who preserve us still from the\ncorrupting, disintegrating influence of doubt. To these men, no matter\nhow different they be from us in creed, we are forced to listen, because\nthe _Holy_ Spirit, wherever He is, is the Spirit of God; and all men\ninstinctively acknowledge that those who are themselves in the kingdom\nof God have authority to summon others into it, and that those who are\nthemselves unworldly have alone a right to dictate to worldly men. There\nis no power on earth like the power of a holy, consecrated life, because\nhe who is leading such a life is already above the world, and belongs to\na higher kingdom. There is hope for our country, or for any country,\nwhen its young men have something of John's spirit; when they school the\nbody until it becomes the ready instrument of a high and spiritual\nintention, fearless of hardship; when by sympathy with God's purposes\nthey apprehend what is most needed by men, and are able to detect the\nweaknesses and vices of society, and to bear the burden of their time.\n\nBut the Baptist's equipment for the most responsible office of\nproclaiming the Messiahship of Jesus was not completed by his own\nsaintliness of character and keen perception of the people's needs, and\nknowledge of Jesus, and incorruptible truthfulness. There was given to\nhim a sign from heaven, that he might be strengthened to bear this\nresponsibility, and that the Messiah might never seem to be only of the\nBaptist's appointing and not of God's. Some degree of disappointment may\nbe felt that external signs should have intruded on so profoundly\nspiritual and real an occasion as the baptism of Christ. Some may be\nready to ask, with Keim, \"Is it, or was it ever, the way of God, in the\ncourse of His spiritual world, above all upon the threshold of spiritual\ndecisions affecting the fate of the world, and in contradiction to the\nwise economy of revelation pursued by His supreme ambassador Himself, to\ntake away from seeking and finding souls the labour of deciding their\nown destiny?\" But this is to suppose that the signs at the baptism of\nJesus were mainly for His encouragement, whereas John describes them as\nbeing given for the certification of the Baptist. \"I knew Him not\"--that\nis, I did not know He was the Messiah--\"but He that sent me to baptize\nwith water, He said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit\ndescending, and abiding upon Him, the same is He that baptizeth with the\nHoly Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the\nSon of God.\"\n\nThe baptism of Jesus was, in fact, His anointing as the Messiah; and\nthis anointing by which He became the Christ was an anointing, not with\na symbolic oil, but with the Divine Spirit (Acts x. 38). This Spirit\ndescended upon Him \"in a _bodily_ shape\" (Luke iii. 22), because it was\nnot one member or faculty or power which was communicated to Jesus, but\na whole _body_ or complete equipment of all needful Divine energies for\nHis work. \"God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him;\" there is no\ngauge, no metre checking the supply. Now for the first time can the\nwhole Spirit be given, because now for the first time in Jesus is there\nroom to receive it. And that the Baptist may confidently proclaim Him as\nKing the sign is given,--not the outward sign alone, but the outward\nsign accompanying and tallying with the inward sign; for it was not said\nto the Baptist, \"Upon whomsoever thou shalt see a dove descend,\" but,\n\"upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descend.\"\n\nThis anointing of Jesus to the Messiahship occurred at the moment of His\ntruest identification of Himself with the people. John shrank from\nbaptizing One whom he knew to be already pure, and to have no sins to\nconfess. But Jesus insisted, identifying Himself with a polluted people,\nnumbered with transgressors. It was thus He became true King and Head of\nmankind, by identifying Himself with us, and taking upon Him, through\nHis universal sympathy, all our burdens, feeling more shame than the\nsinner's self for his sin, pained with the suffering in all their pain.\nIt was the Divine Spirit of universal love, attracting Him to all sorrow\nand suffering, which identified Him in the mind of His first confessor\nas the Christ, the Son of God. This to the Baptist was the glory of the\nOnly-begotten, this sympathy which felt with all, and shrank from no\nsorrow or burden.\n\nThus equipped, the Baptist gives his testimony with confidence. This\ntestimony is manifold, and uttered on several occasions,--to the\nSanhedrim's deputation, to the people, and to his own disciples. It is\nnegative as well as positive. He repudiates the suggestions of the\ndeputation from Jerusalem that he himself is the Christ, or that he is\nin their sense Elijah. But the most remarkable repudiation of honours\nwhich could be rendered to Christ alone is found recorded in chap. iii.\n22-30, when the growing popularity of Jesus excited the jealousy of\nthose who still adhered to the Baptist. Their complaint was the occasion\nof calling up clearly in the Baptist's own consciousness the relation in\nwhich he stood to Jesus, and of prompting the most emphatic enouncement\nof the unrivalled dignity of our Lord. He says to his jealous disciples,\n\"If I do not gather a crowd of followers while Jesus does, this is\nbecause God has appointed to me one place, to Him another. Beyond God's\ndesign no man's destiny and success can extend. What is designed for me\nI shall receive; beyond that I desire to receive and I can receive\nnothing. Least of all would I covet to be called the Christ. You know\nnot what you say in even remotely hinting that such a man as I could be\nthe Christ. It is no mere unworldliness or purity which can raise a man\nto this dignity. He is from above; not to be named with prophets, but\nthe Son of God, who belongs to the heavenly world of which He speaks.\"\n\nTo make the difference between himself and Christ clear, the Baptist\nhits upon the happy figure of the Bridegroom and the Bridegroom's\nfriend. \"He that has and keeps the Bride is the Bridegroom. He to whom\nthe world is drawn, and on whom all needy souls lean, is the Bridegroom,\nand to Him alone belongs this special joy of satisfying all human\nneeds. I am not the Bridegroom, because men cannot find in me\nsatisfaction and rest. I cannot be to them the source of spiritual life.\nMoreover, by instigating me to assume the Bridegroom's place you would\nrob me of my peculiar joy, the joy of the Bridegroom's friend.\" The\nfunction of the bridegroom's friend, or paranymph, was to ask the hand\nof the bride for the bridegroom, and to arrange the marriage. This\nfunction the Baptist claims as his. \"My joy,\" he says, \"is to have\nnegotiated this matter, to have encouraged the Bride to trust her Lord.\nIt is my joy to hear the glad and loving words that pass between\nBridegroom and Bride. Do not suppose I look with sadness on the\ndefection of my followers, and on their preference for Christ. These\ncrowds you complain of are evidence that I have not discharged the\nfunction of paranymph in vain. To see my work successful, to see Bride\nand Bridegroom at length resting in one another with undisturbed,\nself-forgetting confidence, this is my joy. While the Bridegroom cheers\nthe Bride with His voice, and opens to her prospects which only His love\ncan realize, shall I obtrude myself and claim consideration? Is it not\nenough for one life to have had the joy of identifying the actually\npresent Christ, and of introducing the Bride to her Lord? Has not that\nlife its ample reward which has been instrumental in achieving the\nactual union of God and man?\"\n\nProbably, then, the Baptist himself would think we waste too much\nemotion over his self-sacrifice and magnanimity. After all, it not being\npossible to him to be the Messiah, it was no small glory and joy to be\nthe friend, the next, to the Messiah. The tragic character of the\nBaptist's death, the despondent doubt which for a time shook his spirit\nduring his imprisonment, the severe life he had previously led, all tend\nto make us oblivious of the fact that his life was crowned with a deep\nand solid joy. Even the poet who has most worthily depicted him still\nspeaks of\n\n    \"John, than which man a _sadder_ or a greater\n    Not till this day has been of woman born.\"\n\nBut the Baptist was a big enough man to enjoy an unselfish happiness. He\nloved men so well that he rejoiced when he saw them forsake him to\nfollow Christ. He loved Christ so well that to see Him honoured was the\ncrown of his life.\n\nBesides this negative repudiation of honours that belonged to Jesus, the\nBaptist emits a positive and fivefold testimony in His favour, (1) to\nHis dignity (vv. 15, 27, 30), \"He that cometh after me _is preferred\nbefore me_;\" (2) to His pre-existence (vv. 15, 30), which is adduced as\nthe reason of the foregoing, \"for He _was_ before me;\" (3) to His\nspiritual fulness and power (ver. 33), \"He baptizeth with the Holy\nGhost;\" (4) to the efficacy of His mediation (ver. 29), \"Behold, the\nLamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;\" (5) to His unique\npersonality (ver. 34), \"this is the Son of God.\"\n\n1. Three times over the Baptist declared the superiority of Jesus; a\nsuperiority so immense that language failed him in trying to represent\nit. The Rabbis said, \"Every office which a servant will do for his\nmaster a scholar should perform for his teacher, except loosing his\nsandal-thong.\" But this exceptionally menial office the Baptist declares\nhe was not worthy to perform for Jesus. None so well as the Baptist\nhimself knew his limitations. He had evoked in the people cravings he\ncould not satisfy. There had gathered to him a conscience-stricken\npeople, longing for renewal and righteousness, and demanding what he had\nno power to give. Therefore, not merely his explicit enouncements from\ntime to time, but his entire ministry, pointing to a new order of things\nwhich he himself could not inaugurate, declared the incomparable\ngreatness of Him that was to come after him.\n\n2. This superiority of Christ was based on His pre-existence. \"He was\nbefore me.\" It may appear unaccountable that the Baptist, standing on\nOld Testament ground, should have reached the conclusion that Jesus was\nDivine. But it is at any rate evident that the Evangelist believed the\nBaptist had done so, for he adduces the Baptist's testimony in support\nof his own affirmation of the Divine glory of the Incarnate Word (ver.\n15). After the wonderful scene at the Baptism, John must have talked\nclosely with Jesus regarding both His work and His consciousness; and\neven if the passage at the close of the third chapter is coloured by the\nEvangelist's style, and even by his thought, we must suppose that the\nBaptist had somehow arrived at the belief that Jesus was \"from above,\"\nand made known upon earth the things which He, in a pre-existent state,\nhad \"heard and seen.\"\n\n3. The Baptist pointed to Jesus as the source of spiritual life. \"He\nbaptizeth with the Holy Ghost.\" Here the Baptist steps on to ground on\nwhich his assertions can be tested. He declares that Jesus can\ncommunicate the Holy Ghost--the fundamental article of the Christian\nCreed, which carries with it all else. No one knew better than the\nBaptist where human help failed; no one knew better than he what could\nbe effected by rites and rules, by strength of will and asceticism and\nhuman endeavour; and no one knew better at what point all these become\nuseless. More and more they seemed to him but a cleansing with water, a\nwashing of the outside. More and more did he understand that, not from\nwithout, but from within, true cleansing must proceed, and that all\nelse, save a new creation by the Spirit of God, was inefficacious. Only\nSpirit can act upon spirit; and for true renewal we need the action upon\nus of the Divine Spirit. Without this no new and eternal kingdom of God\ncan be founded.\n\n4. The Baptist pointed to Jesus as \"the Lamb of God, that taketh away\nthe sin of the world.\" That by this title he meant only to designate\nJesus as a person full of gentleness and innocence is out of the\nquestion. The second clause forbids this. He is the Lamb that takes away\nsin. And there is only one way in which a lamb can take away sin, and\nthat is, by sacrifice. The expression no doubt suggests the picture in\nthe fifty-third of Isaiah of the servant of Jehovah meekly enduring\nwrong. But unless the Baptist had been previously speaking of this\nchapter, the thoughts of his disciples would not at once turn to it,\nbecause in that passage it is not a lamb of sacrifice that is spoken of,\nbut a lamb meekly enduring. In the Baptist's words sacrifice is the\nprimary idea, and it is needless to discuss whether he was thinking of\nthe paschal lamb or the lamb of morning and evening sacrifice, because\nhe merely used the lamb as the representative of sacrifice generally.\nHere, he says, is the reality to which all sacrifice has pointed, the\nLamb of God.\n\n5. The Baptist proclaims Jesus as \"the Son of God.\" That he should do so\nneed not greatly surprise us, as we read in the other Gospels that Jesus\nhad been thus designated by a voice from heaven at His baptism. Very\nearly in His ministry, not only His disciples, but also the demoniacs\nascribe to Him the same dignity. In one sense or other He was designated\n\"Son of God.\" No doubt we must bear in mind that this was in a rigidly\nmonotheistic community, and in a community in which the same title had\nbeen freely applied to Israel and to Israel's king to designate a\ncertain alliance and close relation subsisting between the human and the\nDivine, but of course not suggesting metaphysical unity. But considering\nthe high functions which clustered round the Messianic dignity, it is\nnot unlikely that the Messiah's forerunner may have supposed that a\nfuller meaning than had yet been recognised might be latent in this\ntitle. Certainly we are safe in affirming that by applying this title to\nour Lord, the Baptist intended to indicate His unique personality, and\nto declare that He was the Messiah, God's Viceroy on earth.\n\nWhether we can add to this testimony the thoughts contained in the\nclosing paragraph of the third chapter may be doubted. The thought of\nthe passage moves within the circle of ideas familiar to the Baptist;\nand that the style is the style of the Evangelist does not prevent us\nfrom receiving the ideas as the Baptist's. But there are expressions\nwhich it is difficult to suppose that the Baptist could have used. The\npreceding conversation was occasioned by the growing popularity of\nJesus; was this, then, an occasion on which it could be said, \"No one\nreceives His testimony\"? Is this not more appropriate to the Evangelist\nthan to the Baptist? It would seem, then, that in this paragraph the\nEvangelist is expanding the Baptist's testimony, in order to indicate\nits application to the eternal relations subsisting between Jesus and\nmen generally.\n\nThe contents of the paragraph are a most emphatic testimony to the\npre-existence and heavenly origin of Christ. In contrast to persons of\nearthly origin, He is \"from heaven.\" He \"cometh\" from above, as if His\nentrance into this world were a conscious transition, a voluntary coming\nfrom another world. His origin determines also His moral relationships\nand His teaching. He is \"above all,\" in dignity, in authority, in\nspirit; and He speaks what He has seen and heard. But in the\nthirty-fourth verse a new idea is presented. There it is said that He\nspeaks the words of God, not directly, because He is from above, and\nspeaks what He has seen and heard, but \"because God giveth not the\nSpirit by measure unto Him.\" What are we to understand by this double\nDivine inhabitation of the humanity of Jesus? And what are we to\nunderstand by the Spirit being given without measure to the Incarnate\nWord?\n\nIn the Old Testament two ideas present themselves regarding the Spirit\nwhich illustrate this statement. The one is that which conveys the\nimpression that only a limited amount of spiritual influence was\ncommunicated to prophetic men, and that from them it could be conveyed\nto others. In Numb. xi. 17 the Lord is represented as saying to Moses,\n\"I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon\nthem;\" and in 2 Kings ii. 9 Elisha is represented as praying that the\neldest born's portion, the two-thirds of Elijah's spirit, might be\nbequeathed to him. The idea is a true and instructive one. The Spirit\ndoes, in point of fact, pass from man to man. It is as if in one\nreceptive person the Divine Spirit found entrance through which He might\npass to others. But another idea is also frequent in the Old Testament.\nThe Spirit is spoken of rather as conferring a gift here and a power\nthere than as dwelling wholly and permanently in men. One prophet had a\ndream, another a vision, a third legislated, a fourth wrote a psalm, a\nfifth founded an institution, a sixth in the power of the Spirit smote\nthe Philistines, or, like Samson, tore a lion in pieces.\n\nIn Christ all powers are combined--power over nature, power to teach,\npower to reveal, power to legislate. And as in the Old Testament the\nSpirit passed from man to man, so in the New Testament Christ first\nHimself receives and then communicates to all the whole Spirit. Hence\nthe law noticed at a subsequent stage of this Gospel that \"the Spirit\nwas not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified\" (vii. 39). We\ncannot see to the bottom of the law, but the fact is apparent, that\nuntil Christ received into every part of His own humanity the fulness of\nthe Divine Spirit, that Spirit could not fill with His fulness any man.\n\nBut why was the Spirit needed in a personality of which the Word, who\nhad been with God and known God, was the basis? Because the humanity of\nChrist was a true humanity. Being human, He must be indebted to the\nSpirit for all impartation to His human nature of what is Divine. The\nknowledge of God which the Word possesses by experience must be humanly\napprehended before it can be communicated to men; and this human\napprehension can only be arrived at in the case of Christ by the\nenlightenment of the Spirit. It was useless for Christ to declare what\ncould not be apprehended by human faculty, and His own human faculty was\nthe measure and test of intelligibility. By the Spirit He was\nenlightened to speak of things Divine; and this Spirit, interposed, as\nit were, between the Word and the human nature of Jesus, was as little\ncumbrous in its operation or perceptible in consciousness as our breath\ninterposed between the thinking mind and the words we speak to declare\nour mind.\n\nTo return to the direct testimony of the Baptist, we must (1)\nacknowledge its value. It is the testimony of a contemporary, of whom we\nknow from other sources that he was generally reckoned a prophet--a man\nof unblemished and inviolable integrity, of rugged independence, of the\nkeenest spiritual discernment. There was no man of larger size or more\nheroic mould in his day. In any generation he would have been\nconspicuous by his spiritual stature, his fearless unworldliness, his\nsuperiority to the common weaknesses of men; and yet this man himself\nlooks up to Jesus as standing on quite a different platform from his\nown, as a Being of another order. He can find no expressions strong\nenough to mark the difference: \"I am not worthy to loose His shoe\nlatchet;\" \"He that is of the earth\" (that is, himself) \"is earthly, and\nspeaketh of the earth: He that cometh from heaven is above all.\" He\nwould not have used such expressions of Isaiah, of Elijah, of Moses. He\nknew his own dignity, and would not have set so marked a difference\nbetween himself and any other prophet. But his own very greatness was\nprecisely what revealed to him the absolute superiority of Christ. These\ncrowds that gathered round him--what could he do for them more than\nrefer them to Christ? Could he propose to himself to found among them a\nkingdom of God? Could he ask them to acknowledge him and trust in him\nfor spiritual life? Could he promise them His Spirit? Could he even link\nto himself all kinds of men, of all nationalities? Could he be the light\nof men, giving to all a satisfying knowledge of God and of their\nrelation to Him? No; he was not that light, he could but bear witness of\nthat light. And this he did, by pointing men to Jesus, not as a brother\nprophet, not as another great man, but as the Son of God, as One who had\ncome down from heaven.\n\nIt is, I say, impossible that we can make nothing of such a testimony.\nHere was one who knew, if any man ever did, spotless holiness when he\nsaw it; who knew what human strength and courage could accomplish; who\nwas himself certainly among the six greatest men the world has seen; and\nthis man, standing thus on the highest altitudes human nature can reach,\nlooks up to Christ, and does not only admit His superiority, but\nshrinks, as from something blasphemous, from all comparison with Him.\nWhat is the flaw in his testimony, or why are we not accepting Christ as\nour light, as able to take away our sins, as willing to baptize us with\nthe Holy Ghost?\n\nBut (2) even such testimony as John's is not sufficient of itself to\ncarry conviction to the reluctant. None knew better than John's\ncontemporaries that he was a true man, not liable to make mistakes in a\nmatter of this kind. And his testimony to Christ did stagger them, and\noften held them in check, and no doubt threw a kind of undefined awe\nover the person of Christ; but, after all, not many believed on account\nof John's testimony, and those who did were not influenced solely by his\ntestimony, but by his work as well. They had become concerned about sin,\nsensitive to defilement and failure, and were thus prepared to\nappreciate the offers of Christ. The two voices chimed, John's voice\nsaying, \"Behold, the Lamb of God!\" the voice of their own conscience\ncrying for the taking away of sin. It is so still. The sense of sin,\nthe feeling of spiritual weakness and need, the craving for God, direct\nthe eye, and enable us to see in Christ what we do not otherwise see. We\nare not likely to know Christ until we know ourselves. What is the man's\njudgment regarding Christ worth who is not conscious of his own\nlittleness and humbled by his own guilt? Let a man first go to school\nwith the Baptist, let him catch something of his unworldliness and\nearnestness, let him become alive to his own shortcomings by at last\nbeginning to strive after the highest things in life, and by seeking to\nlive, not for pleasure, but for God, and his views of Christ and his\nrelation to Him will become satisfactory and true.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\n_THE FIRST DISCIPLES._\n\n\n    \"Again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his disciples;\n    and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb\n    of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed\n    Jesus. And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto\n    them, What seek ye? And they said unto Him, Rabbi (which is to say,\n    being interpreted, Master), where abidest Thou? He saith unto them,\n    Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where He abode;\n    and they abode with Him that day: it was about the tenth hour. One\n    of the two that heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew,\n    Simon Peter's brother. He findeth first his own brother Simon, and\n    saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being\n    interpreted, Christ). He brought him unto Jesus. Jesus looked upon\n    him, and said, Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called\n    Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter). On the morrow he was\n    minded to go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip: and Jesus\n    saith unto him, Follow Me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the\n    city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto\n    him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets,\n    did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said\n    unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto\n    him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and saith of\n    him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael\n    saith unto Him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto\n    him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I\n    saw thee. Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God;\n    Thou art King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I\n    said unto thee, I saw thee underneath the fig tree, believest thou?\n    thou shalt see greater things than these. And He saith unto him,\n    Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened, and\n    the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of\n    man.\"--JOHN i. 35-51.\n\n\nIn the prosecution of his purpose to tell how the Incarnate Word\nmanifested His glory to men, John proceeds to give one or two instances\nof the eagerness with which prepared souls welcomed Him, and of the\ninstinctive perception with which true and open minds confessed Him Son\nof God and King of Israel. This paragraph is the continuation of that\nwhich begins at ver. 19 with the general title, \"This is the witness of\nJohn.\" We are now introduced to some of the results of John's witness,\nand are shown that Christ is King, not only by official proclamation,\nbut by the free choice of men. These instances here cited are but the\nfirst among countless numbers who in every generation have felt and\nowned the majesty of Christ, and who have felt irresistibly drawn to Him\nby a unique affinity. In the spell which His personality laid upon these\nfirst disciples, in the uninvited yet cordial and assured\nacknowledgments of His dignity which they felt drawn to make, we see\nmuch that is significant and illustrative of the allegiance He evokes\nfrom age to age in humble and open-minded men.\n\nIn proceeding to gather to Himself subjects who might enter into His\npurposes and loyally serve Him, Jesus shows a singularly many-sided\nadaptability and inexhaustible originality in dealing with men. Each of\nthe five disciples here introduced is individually dealt with. \"The\nfinding of the one was not the finding of the other. For John and Andrew\nthere was the talk with Jesus through the hours of that\nnever-to-be-forgotten evening; for Simon, the heart-searching word,\nconvincing him he was known and his future read off; for Philip, a\nperemptory command; and for Nathanael, a gracious courtesy disarming him\nof prejudice, assuring him of a perfect sympathy in the breast of the\nLord. Thus there are those who seek Christ, those who are brought by\nothers to Christ, those whom Christ seeks for Himself, those who come\nwithout doubts, and those who come with doubts.\"[8]\n\nThe two men who enjoyed the signal distinction of leading the way in\nowning the majesty and attaching themselves to the person of Christ were\nAndrew and probably John who wrote this Gospel. The writer, indeed, does\nnot name himself, but this is in accordance with his habit. The\nsuppression of the name is an indication that he himself was the\ndisciple spoken of, since had it been another he could have had no\nscruple in mentioning his name. We know also that the families of\nZebedee and Jonah were partners in trade, and it was likely that the\nyoung men of the families would go in company to visit the Baptist when\nthe fishing was slack. These two young men had already attached\nthemselves to the Baptist; had not merely passed through the fashionable\nceremony of baptism, and returned home to talk about it, but were laid\nhold of by John's teaching and character, and had resolved to wait with\nhim till the predicted Deliverer should appear.\n\nAnd at length the day came when the master whom they trusted as God's\nprophet suddenly checked them in their walk, laid his hand breathlessly\nupon them, and gazing at a passing figure, said, \"Behold, the Lamb of\nGod!\" There in actual bodily presence was He for whom all ages of their\npeople had longed; there within sound of their voice was He who could\ntake away their sin, lift off the burden and the trouble of life, and\nlet them know the blessedness of living. We are ever ready to think it\nwas easy for those who saw Christ to follow Him. Could we read His\nsympathy and truthfulness in His face, could we hear His words addressed\ndirectly to ourselves, could we ask our own questions and have from Him\npersonal guidance, we fancy faith would be easy. And no doubt there is a\ngreater benediction pronounced on those who \"have not seen, and yet have\nbelieved.\" Still, the advantage is not wholly theirs who saw the Lord\ngrowing up among other boys, learning His trade with ordinary lads,\nclothed in the dress of a working man. The brothers of Jesus found it\nhard to believe. Besides, in giving the allegiance of the Spirit, and\nforming eternal alliance, it is well that the true affinities of our\nspirit be not disturbed by material and sensible appearances.\n\nThese two men, however, felt the spell, and \"followed\nJesus\"--representatives of all those who, scarcely knowing what they do\nor what they intend, are yet drawn by a mysterious attraction to keep\nwithin sight of Him of whom they have ever been hearing, and whom all\nages have sought, but who now for the first time stands clear before\ntheir sight. Without a word to their teacher or to one another, silent\nwith wonder and excitement, they eagerly follow the passing figure. So\ndoes enquiry begin with many a soul. He who is much spoken of by all,\nbut of whom few have personal knowledge, suddenly assumes a reality they\nscarcely were looking for. It is no longer the hearing of the ear, but\nnow, whispers the soul, mine eye seeth Him. The soul for the first time\nfeels as if some action were demanded of it; it can no longer just sit\nand listen to descriptions of Christ, it must arise on its own account,\nand for itself seek further knowledge of this unique Person.\n\n\"Then Jesus turned and saw them following,\"--turned probably because He\nheard them following, for He suffers none to follow in vain. Sometimes\nit may seem as if He did; sometimes it may seem as if the best years of\nlife were spent in following, and all to no purpose. It is not so. If\nsome have spent years in following, and cannot yet say that Christ has\nturned and made them conscious that He is responding to their search,\nthis is because in their path lie many obstacles, all of which must be\nthoroughly cleared away. And no man should grudge the time and the toil\nthat is spent on honestly clearing away whatever prevents a perfect\ncohesion to this eternal Friend.\n\nThe question put by Jesus to the following disciples, \"What seek ye?\"\nwas the first breath of the winnowing fan which the Baptist had warned\nthem the Messiah would use. It was not the gruff interrogation of one\nwho would not have his retirement invaded, nor his own thoughts\ninterrupted, but a kindly invitation to open their minds to Him. It was\nmeant to help them to understand their own purposes, and to ascertain\nwhat they expected in following Jesus. \"What seek ye?\" Have you any\nobject deeper than mere curiosity? For Christ desires to be followed\nintelligently, or not at all. At all times He used the winnowing fan to\nblow away the chaff of the great crowds that followed Him, and leave the\nfew immovably resolute souls. So many follow because a crowd streams\nafter Him and carries them with it; so many follow because it is a\nfashion, and they have no opinion of their own; so many follow\nexperimentally, and drop off at the first difficulty; so many follow\nunder misapprehension, and with mistaken expectations. Some who came to\nHim with great expectations left in shame and sorrow; some who thought\nto make use of Him for party ends left Him in anger when they found\nthemselves unmasked; and one who thought skilfully to use Him for the\ngratification of His own selfish worldliness, discovered that there was\nno surer path to eternal ruin. Christ turns away none for mere slowness\nin apprehending what He is and what He does for sinful men. But by this\nquestion He reminds us that the vague and mysterious attraction which,\nlike a hidden magnet, draws men to Him, must be exchanged for a clear\nunderstanding at least of what we ourselves need and expect to receive\nfrom Him. He will turn from none who, in response to His question, can\ntruly say, We seek God, we seek holiness, we seek service with Thee, we\nseek Thyself.\n\nThe answer which these men returned to the question of Jesus was the\nanswer of men who scarce knew their own minds, and were suddenly\nconfused by being thus addressed. They therefore reply, as men thus\nconfused commonly reply, by asking another question, \"Rabbi, where\ndwellest Thou?\" Their concern was about Him, and so far the answer was\ngood; but it implied that they were willing to leave Him with only such\ninformation as might enable them to visit Him at some future time, and\nso far the answer was not the best. Still their shyness was natural,\nand not without reason. They had felt how the Baptist searched their\nsoul, and of this new Teacher the Baptist himself had said he was not\nworthy to loose his sandal-thong. To find themselves face to face with\nthis greatest person, the Messiah, was a trying experience indeed. The\ndanger at this point is hesitation. Many persons fail at this point from\na native reluctance to commit themselves, to feel pledged, to accept\npermanent responsibilities and bind themselves with indissoluble ties.\nThey are past the stage of merely keeping Christ in view, but very\nlittle past it. The closer dealings they have had with Him have as yet\nled to nothing. Their fate hangs in the balance.\n\nOut of this condition our Lord delivers these two men by His\nirresistible invitation, \"Come and see.\" And well for them it was that\nHe did so, for next day He left that part of the country, and the mere\nknowledge of His lodging by the Jordan would have availed them nothing;\na warning to all who put themselves off with learning more about\nsalvation before they accept it. An eagerness in acquiring knowledge\n_about_ Christ may as effectually as any other pursuit retard us in\nmaking acquaintance with Him. It is mere trifling to be always enquiring\nabout One who is Himself with us; the way to secure that we shall have\nHim when we need Him is to go with Him now. How can we expect our\ndifficulties to be removed while we do not adopt the one method God\nrecognises as effectual for this purpose, fellowship with Christ? Why\nenquire longer about the way of salvation, and where we may find it at a\nfuture time? Christ offers His friendship now, \"Come with Me, now,\" He\nsays, \"and for yourself enter My dwelling as a welcome friend.\" Can the\nfriendship of Christ do us harm, or retard us in any good thing? May we\nnot most reasonably fear that hesitation now may put Christ beyond our\nreach? We cannot tell what new influences may enter our life and set an\nimpassable gulf between us and religion.\n\nSixty years after, when one of these men wrote this Gospel, he\nremembered as if it had been yesterday the very hour of the day when he\nfollowed Jesus into His house. His whole life seemed to date from that\nhour; as well it might, for what could mark a human life more deeply and\nlift it more surely to permanent altitude than an evening with Jesus?\nThey felt that at last they had found a Friend with human sympathies and\nDivine intelligence. How eagerly must these men who had of late been\nthinking much of new problems, have laid all their difficulties before\nthis master-mind, that seemed at once to comprehend all truth, and to\nappreciate the little obstacles that staggered them. What boundless\nregions of thought would His questions open up, and how entirely new an\naspect would life assume under the light He shed upon it.\n\nThe astonished satisfaction they found in their first intercourse with\nChrist is shown in the bursting enthusiasm with which Andrew sought out\nhis brother Simon, and summarily announced, \"We have found the Christ.\"\nThat is how the Gospel is propagated. The closer the tie, the more\nemphatic the testimony. It is what brother says to brother, husband to\nwife, parent to child, friend to friend, far more than what preacher\nsays to hearer, that carries in it irresistible persuasive power. When\nthe truth of the utterance is vouched for by the obvious gladness and\npurity of the life; when the finding of the Christ is obviously as\n_real_ as the finding of a better situation and as satisfying as\npromotion in life, then conviction will be carried with the\nannouncement. And he who, like Andrew, can do little himself, may, by\nhis simple testimony and honest life, bring to Christ a Simon who may\nbecome a conspicuous power for good. The mother whose influence is\nconfined to the four walls of her own house may lodge Christian\nprinciple in the heart of a son, who may give it currency in one form or\nother to the remotest corner of the earth.\n\nThe language in which Andrew announced to Simon his great fortune was\nsimple, but, in Jewish lips, most pregnant. \"We have found the Christ!\"\nWhat his people had lived and longed for through all past ages, \"_I_\nhave found\" and known. The perfect deliverance and joy which God was to\nbring by dwelling with His people, this at last had come. Taught to\nbelieve that all evil and disappointment and thwarting were but\ntemporary, the Jew had waited for the true life of man--a life in the\npresence and favour and fellowship of the Highest. This was to come in\nthe Messiah, and Andrew had found this. He had entered into life--all\ndarkness and shadow were gone; the light shone round him, making all\nthings bright, and piercing into eternity with clear radiance.\n\nThe words with which Jesus welcomes Simon are remarkable: \"Thou art\nSimon, son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas.\" This greeting yields\nits meaning when we recall the character of the person addressed. Simon\nwas hot-headed, impulsive, rash, unstable. When his name was mentioned\non the Lake of Galilee there rose before the mind a man of generous\nnature, frank and good-hearted, but a man whose uncertainty and\nhastiness had brought him and his into many troubles, and with whom,\nperhaps, it was well to have no very binding connection in trade or in\nthe family. What must the thoughts of such a man have been when he was\ntold that the Messiah was present, and that the Messianic kingdom was\nstanding with open gates? Must he not have felt that this might concern\nothers,--decent steady men like Andrew,--but not himself? Must he not\nhave felt that instead of being a strength to the new kingdom he would\nprove a weakness? Would not that happen now which so often before had\nhappened--that any society he joined he was sure to injure with his\nhasty tongue or rash hand? Other men might enter the kingdom and serve\nit well, but he must remain without.\n\nComing in this mood, he is greeted with words which seem to say to him,\nI know the character identified with the name \"Simon, son of John;\" I\nknow all you fear, all the remorseful thoughts that possess you; I know\nhow you wish now you were a man like Andrew, and could offer yourself as\na serviceable subject of this new kingdom. But no! thou art Simon;\nnothing can change that, and such as you are you are welcome; but \"thou\nshalt be called Rock,\" Peter. The men standing round, and knowing Simon\nwell, might turn away to hide a smile; but Simon knew the Lord had found\nhim, and uttered the very word which could bind him for ever to Him. And\nthe event showed how true this appellation was. Simon became\nPeter,--bold to stand for the rest, and beard the Sanhedrim. By\nbelieving that this new King had a place for him in His kingdom, and\ncould give him a new character which should fit him for service, he\nbecame a new man, strong where he had been weak, helpful and no longer\ndangerous to the cause he loved.\n\nSuch are the encouragements with which the King of men welcomes the\ndiffident. He gives men the consciousness that they are known; He begets\nthe consciousness that it is not with sin in the abstract He takes to\ndo, but with sinners He can name, and whose weaknesses are known to Him.\nBut He begets this consciousness that we may trust Him when He gives us\nassurance that a new character awaits us and a serviceable place in His\nkingdom. He assures the most despondent that for them also a useful life\nis possible.\n\nAs Andrew, in the exuberant joy of his discovery of the Messiah, had\nfirst imparted the news to his own brother Simon, so Philip, when\ninvited by Jesus to accompany him to Galilee, sought to bring with him\nhis friend Nathanael Bartholomew (son of Tolmai). This was one of the\ndevout Jews who had long been wondering who that mysterious Personage\nshould be of whom all the prophets had spoken, and for whom the world\nwaited that He might complete it. The news that He was found seemed only\ntoo good to be true. He had come too easily and unostentatiously, and\nfrom so unlooked-for a quarter, \"Can any good come out of Nazareth?\"\nGood men, as well as others, have their narrow views and illiberal\nprejudices, and mark off in their own minds as hopeless and barren whole\nreligions, sects, or countries out of which God determines to bring that\nwhich is for the healing of the nations. To rise above such prejudices\nwe must refuse to accept current rumours, traditional opinions,\nproverbial or neat dicta which seem to settle a matter; we must\nconscientiously examine for ourselves,--as Philip says, \"Come and see.\"\nHe instinctively knew how useless it was to reason with men about\nChrist's claims so long as they were not in His presence. One look, one\nword from Himself will go further to persuade a man of His majesty and\nlove than all that any one else can say. To make Christ known is the\nbest way to prove the truth of Christianity.\n\nThe shade of the fig-tree is the natural summer-house or arbour under\nwhich Eastern families delight to take their meals or their mid-day\nrest. Nathanael had used the dense foliage of its large and thick leaves\nas a screen behind which he found retirement for devotional purposes. It\nis in such absolute seclusion, retirement, and solitude that a man shows\nhis true self. It was here Nathanael had uttered himself to his Father\nwho seeth in secret; here he had found liberty to pour out his true and\ndeepest cravings. His guilelessness had been proved by his carrying into\nhis retirement the same simple and unreserved godliness he professed\nabroad. And he is astonished to find that the eye of Jesus had\npenetrated this leafy veil, and had been a witness to his prayers and\nvows. He feels that he is known best at the very point in which he had\nmost carefully contrived concealment, and he recognises that no one is\nmore likely to be the fulfiller of his prayers than that same Person who\nhas manifestly been somehow present at them and heard them.\n\nTo the man of prayer a suitable promise is given, as to the man of\nuncertain character a promise fitting his need had come. Under his\nfig-tree Nathanael had often been in sympathy with his forefather Jacob\nin his great experience of God's attentiveness to prayer. When Jacob\nfled from home and country, a criminal and outcast, he no doubt felt how\ncompletely he had himself fallen into the pit he had digged. Instead of\nthe comforts of a well-provided household, he had to lie down like a\nwild beast with nothing between him and the earth, with nothing between\nhim and the sky, with nothing but an evil conscience to speak to him,\nand no face near save the haunting faces of those he had wronged. A more\nmiserable, remorseful, abandoned-looking creature rarely lay down to\nsleep; but before he rose he had learned that God knew where he was, and\nwas with him; that on that spot which he had chosen as a hiding, because\nno one could find him, and scarcely his own dog track him to it, he was\nwaited for and met with a loving welcome by Him whom he had chiefly\nwronged. He saw heaven opened, and that from the lowest, most forlorn\nspot of earth to the highest and brightest point of heaven there is a\nclose connection and an easy, friendly communication. If Jesus, thought\nNathanael, could reopen heaven in that style, He would be worthy of the\nname of King of Israel. But he is now to learn that He will do far more;\nthat henceforth it was to be no visionary ladder, swept away by the\ndawn, which was to lead up to heaven, but that in Jesus God Himself is\npermanently made over to us; that He, in His one, visible person, unites\nheaven and earth, God and man; that there is an ever-living union\nbetween the highest height of heaven and the lowest depth of earth.\nProfound and wide as the humanity of Christ, to the most forgotten and\nremote outcast, to the most sunken and despairing of men, do God's love\nand care and helpfulness now come; high and glorious as the divinity of\nChrist may the hopes of all men now rise. He who understands the\nIncarnation of the Son of God has a surer ground of faith, and a richer\nhope and a straighter access to heaven, than if the ladder of Jacob\nstood at his bed-head and God's angels were ministering to him.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[8] See Mr. Reith's rich Handbook on _The Gospel of John_ (Clark).\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\n_THE FIRST SIGN--THE MARRIAGE IN CANA._\n\n\n    \"And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the\n    mother of Jesus was there: and Jesus also was bidden, and His\n    disciples, to the marriage. And when the wine failed, the mother of\n    Jesus saith unto Him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her,\n    Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His\n    mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.\n    Now there were six waterpots of stone set there after the Jews'\n    manner of purifying, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus\n    saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them\n    up to the brim. And He saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto\n    the ruler of the feast. And they bare it. And when the ruler of the\n    feast tasted the water now become wine, and knew not whence it was\n    (but the servants which had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the\n    feast calleth the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man setteth\n    on first the good wine; and when men have drunk freely, then that\n    which is worse: thou hast kept the good wine until now. This\n    beginning of His signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested\n    His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.\"--JOHN ii. 1-11.\n\n\nHaving recorded the testimony borne to Jesus by the Baptist, and having\ncited instances in which the overmastering personality of Jesus elicited\nfrom simple-hearted and godly men the acknowledgment of His majesty,\nJohn now proceeds to relate the homely incident which gave occasion to\nthe first public act in which His greatness was exhibited. Testimony\ncomes first; inward and intuitive recognition of the greatness declared\nby that testimony second; perception that His works are beyond the reach\nof human power comes last. But in the case of these first disciples,\nwhile this order was indeed maintained, there was no great interval\nbetween each step in it. It was but the \"third day\" after they had in\ntheir hearts felt His impressiveness that He \"manifested forth His\nglory\" to them in this first sign.\n\nFrom the place where they first met Him to Cana of Galilee was a\ndistance of twenty-one or twenty-two miles.[9] Thither Jesus repaired to\nbe present at a marriage. His mother was already there, and when Jesus\narrived, accompanied by His new-found friends, all were invited to\nremain and share in the festivities. Owing probably to this unexpected\nincrease to the number of the guests, the wine begins to fail. Among the\nminor trials of life there are few which produce more awkwardness than\nthe failure to provide suitable entertainment for a specially festive\noccasion. Mary, with the practised eye of a woman whose business it was\nto observe such matters, and perhaps with a near relative's charge and\nliberty in the house, perceives the predicament and whispers to her Son,\n\"They have no wine.\" This she said, not to hint that Jesus would do well\nto retire with His too many friends, nor that He would cover the lack of\nwine by brilliant conversation, but because she had ever been accustomed\nto turn to this Son in all her difficulties, and now that she sees Him\nacknowledged by others her own faith in Him is stimulated.\n\nConsidering the simple manner in which He had walked in, and taken His\nplace among the other guests, and partaken of the refreshment, and\njoined in the conversation and mirth of the day, it would seem more\nlikely that she should have had no definite expectation as to the way in\nwhich He would extricate the host from his difficulty, but only turned\nto Him on whom she was accustomed to lean. But His answer shows that he\nfelt Himself urged to action of some kind by her appeal; and her\ninstructions to the servants to do whatever He ordered indicates that\nshe definitely expected Him to relieve the embarrassment. How He would\ndo so she could not know, and had she definitely expected a miracle she\nwould probably have thought the help of the servants unnecessary.\n\nBut though Mary did not anticipate a miracle, it had already occurred\nto our Lord that this was a fit occasion for manifesting His kingly\npower. His words grate somewhat on the ear, but this is partly due to\nthe difficulty of translating fine shades of meaning, and to the\nimpossibility of conveying in any words that modification of meaning\nwhich is given in the tone of voice and expression of face, and which\narises also from the familiarity and affection of speaker and hearer. In\nHis use of the word \"Woman\" there is really no harshness, this being the\nordinary Greek term of address to females of all classes and\nrelationships, and being commonly used with the utmost reverence and\naffection. The phrase \"What have I to do with thee?\" is a needlessly\nstrong translation, although it might be difficult to find a better. It\n\"implies a certain resistance to a demand in itself, or to something in\nthe way of urging it;\" but might be quite sufficiently rendered by such\nan expression as \"I have other thoughts than thine.\" There is nothing\napproaching angry resentment at Mary's inviting His aid, nothing like\nrepudiation of any claim she might have upon Him, but only a calm and\ngentle intimation that in the present instance she must allow Him to act\nin His own way. The whole phrase might be rendered, \"Mother, you must\nlet Me act here in My own way: and My time for action is not yet come.\"\nShe herself was perfectly satisfied with the answer. Knowing her Son\nwell, every gleam of His expression, every tone of His voice, she\nrecognised that He meant to do something, and accordingly left the\nmatter in His hands, giving orders to the servants to do whatever He\nrequired.\n\nBut there was more in the words of Jesus than even Mary understood.\nThere were thoughts in His mind which not even she could fathom, and\nwhich had He explained them to her then she could not have sympathized\nwith. For these words, \"Mine hour is not yet come,\" which she took to be\nthe mere intimation of a few minutes' delay before granting her request,\nbecame the most solemn watchword of His life, marking the stages by\nwhich He drew near to His death. \"They sought to take Him, but no man\nlaid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come.\" So again and\nagain. From the first He knew what would come of His manifesting His\nglory among men. From the first He knew that His glory could not be\nfully manifested till He hung upon the cross.\n\nCan we wonder, then, that when He recognised in His mother's request the\ninvitation from God, though not from her, that He should work His first\nmiracle and so begin to manifest His glory, He should have said, \"My\nthoughts are not yours; Mine hour is not yet come\"? With compassion He\nlooked upon her through whose soul a sword was to pass; with filial\ntenderness He could only look with deep pity on her who was now the\nunconscious instrument of summoning Him to that career which He knew\nmust end in death. _He_ saw in this simple act of furnishing the wedding\nguests with wine a very different significance from that which she saw.\nIt was here at this wedding feast table that He felt Himself impelled to\ntake the step which altered the whole character of His life.\n\nFor from a private person He became by His first miracle a public and\nmarked character with a definite career. \"To live henceforth in the\nvortex of a whirlwind; to have no leisure so much as to eat, no time to\npray save when others slept, to be the gazing-stock of every eye, the\ncommon talk of every tongue; to be followed about, to be thronged and\njostled, to be gaped upon, to be hunted up and down by curious vulgar\ncrowds; to be hated, and detested, and defamed, and blasphemed; to be\nregarded as a public enemy; to be watched and spied upon and trapped and\ntaken as a notorious criminal\"--is it possible to suppose that Christ\nwas indifferent to all this, and that without shrinking He stepped\nacross the line which marked the threshold of His public career?\n\nAnd this was the least of it, that in this act He became a public and\nmarked character. The glory that here shed a single ray into the rustic\nhome of Cana must grow to that dazzling and perfect noon which shone\nfrom the cross to the remotest corner of earth. The same capacity and\nwillingness to bless mankind which here in a small and domestic affair\nbrought relief to His embarrassed friends, must be adapted to all the\nneeds of men, and must undauntedly go forward to the utmost of\nsacrifice. He who is true King of men must flinch from no\nresponsibility, from no pain, from no utter self-abandonment to which\nthe needs of men may call Him. And Jesus knew this: in those quiet hours\nand long, untroubled days at Nazareth He had taken the measure of this\nworld's actual state, and of what would be required to lift men out of\nselfishness and give them reliance upon God. \"I, if I be lifted up, will\ndraw all men unto Me\"--this was even now present to His mind. His glory\nwas the glory of absolute self-sacrifice, and He knew what that\ninvolved. His kingship was the rendering of service no other could\nrender.\n\nThe _manner_ in which the miracle was performed deserves attention.\nChrist does all while the servants seem to do all. The servants fill in\nthe water and the servants draw off the wine, and there is no apparent\nexercise of Divine power, no mysterious words of incantation uttered\nover the waterpots, not so much as a command given that the water should\nbecome wine. What is seen by the spectators is men at work, not God\ncreating out of nothing. The means seem to be human, the result is found\nto be Divine. Jesus says, \"Fill the water pots with water,\" and they\n_filled_ them; and filled them not as if their doing so were a mere\nform, and as if they would leave room for Christ to add to their work;\nno, they filled them up to the brim. Again He says, \"Draw out now, and\nbear to the governor of the feast,\" and they _bore_. They knew very well\nthey had only put in water, and they knew that to offer water to the\ngovernor of a marriage feast would be to insure their own punishment;\nbut they did not hesitate. There seemed every reason why they should\nrefuse to do this, or why they should at least ask some explanation or\nsecurity that Jesus would bear the evil consequences; but there was one\nreason on the other side which outweighed all these--they had the\ncommand of Him whom they had been ordered to obey. And so, where\nreasoning would have led them to folly, obedient faith makes them\nfellow-workers in a miracle. They took their place and served, and they\nwho serve Christ and do His will must do great things; for Christ wills\nnothing that is useless, futile, not worth doing. But this is how we are\ntried: we are commanded to do things which seem unreasonable, and which\nwe have no natural ability to do. We are commanded to repent, and are\nyet told that repentance is the gift of Christ; we are commanded to come\nto Christ, and are at the same time assured that we cannot come except\nthe Father draw us; we are commanded to be perfectly holy, and yet we\nknow that as the leopard cannot change his spots, nor one of us add a\ncubit to his stature, so neither can we put away the sins that stain\nour souls and walk uprightly before God. And yet these commands are\nplainly given us, not only to make us feel our helplessness, but to be\nperformed. We feel our inability, we may say it is unreasonable to\ndemand from us what we cannot perform, to require that out of the thin\nand watery substance of our human souls we should produce wine that may\nbe poured out as an offering on the holy altar of God; but this is not\nunreasonable. It is our part in simplicity to obey God; what is\ncommanded we are to do, and while we work He Himself will also work. He\nmay do so in no visible way, as Christ here did nothing visibly, but He\nwill be with us, effectually working. As the will of Christ pervaded the\nwater so that it was endowed with new qualities, so can His will pervade\nour souls, with every other part of His creation, and make them\nconformable to His purpose. \"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it;\" this\nis the secret of miracle-working. Do it, though you seem to be but\nwasting your strength and laying yourself open to the scorn of\nonlookers; do it, though in yourself there is no ability to effect what\nyou are aiming at; do it wholly, up to the brim, as if you were the only\nworker, as if there were no God to come after you and supply your\ndeficiencies, but as if any shortcoming on your part would be fatal; do\nnot stand waiting for God to work, for it is only in you and by you that\nHe performs His work among men.\n\nThe significance of this incident is manifold. First, it gives us the\nkey to the miracles of our Lord. It has become the fashion to depreciate\nmiracles, and it is often thought that they hamper the gospel and\nobscure the true claim of Christ. It is often felt that so far from the\nmiracles verifying Christ's claim to be the Son of God, they are the\ngreatest obstacle to His acceptance. This is, however, to misunderstand\ntheir significance. The miracles unquestionably formed a most important\nelement in Christ's life; and, if so, they must have served an important\npurpose; and to wish them away just because they are so important and\nmake so large a demand upon faith seems to me preposterous. To wish them\naway precisely because they alter the very essence of the religion of\nChrist, and give it that very power which through all past ages it has\nexerted, seems unreasonable.\n\nWhen the Jews discussed His claims among themselves or with Him, the\npower to work miracles was always taken into account as weighing heavily\nin His favour. He Himself distinctly stated that the crowning\ncondemnation of those who rejected His claims arose from the\ncircumstance that He had done among them the works which none other man\nhad done. He challenges them to deny that it was by the finger of God\nthat He wrought these works. After His withdrawal from earth the miracle\nof the Resurrection was still appealed to as the convincing proof that\nHe was all He had given Himself out for. There can be no doubt,\ntherefore, that the power of working miracles was one great evidence of\nthe Divine mission of Christ.\n\nBut though this is so, we are not on that account warranted in saying\nthat the only purpose for which He wrought miracles was to win men's\nbelief in His mission. On the contrary, we are told that it was one of\nHis temptations, a temptation constantly resisted by Him, to use His\npower for this object without any other motive. It was the reproach He\ncast upon the people that except they saw signs and wonders they would\nnot believe. He would never work a miracle merely for the sake of\nmanifesting His glory. Whenever the unsympathetic, ignorant crowd\nclamoured for a sign; whenever with ill-concealed dislike they cried,\n\"How long dost Thou make us to doubt? Show us a sign from heaven, that\nwe may believe,\" He was silent. To create a mere compulsory consent in\nminds which had no sympathy with Him was never a sufficient motive. Was\nthere a sick child tossing in fever, was there a blind beggar by the\nroadside, was there a hungry crowd, was there even the joy of a feast\ninterrupted: in these He could find a worthy occasion for a miracle; but\nnever did He work a miracle merely for the sake of removing the doubts\nof reluctant men. Where there was not even the beginning of faith\nmiracles were useless. He could not work miracles in some places because\nof their unbelief.\n\nWhat then was the motive of Christ's miracles? He was, as these first\ndisciples owned Him, the King of God's kingdom among men: He was the\nideal Man, the new Adam, the true Source of human goodness, health, and\npower. He came to do us good, and the Spirit of God filled His human\nnature to its utmost capacity, that it might do all that man can do.\nHaving these powers, He could not but use them for men. Having power to\nheal, He could not but heal, irrespective of the result which the\nmiracle might have on the faith of those who saw it; nay, He could not\nbut heal, though He straitly charged the healed person to let no man\nknow what had been done. His miracles were His kingly acts, by which He\nsuggested what man's true life in God's kingdom should be and will be.\nThey were the utterance of what was in Him, the manifestation of His\nglory, the glory of One who came to utter the Father's heart to His\nstrayed children. They expressed good-will to men; and to the spiritual\neye of a John they became \"signs\" of spiritual wonders, symbols and\npledges of those greater works and eternal blessings which Jesus came to\nbestow. The miracles revealed the Divine compassion, the grace and\nhelpfulness that were in Christ, and led men to trust Him for all their\nneeds.\n\nWe must, therefore, beware of falling into the error that lies at either\nextreme. We must neither, on the one hand, suppose that Christ's\nmiracles were wrought solely for the purpose of establishing His claim\nto be God's Viceroy on earth; nor, on the other hand, are we to suppose\nthat the marvels of beneficence by which He was known did nothing to\nprove His claim or promote His kingdom. The poet writes because he is a\npoet, and not to convince the world that he is a poet; yet by writing he\ndoes convince the world. The benevolent man acts just as Christ did when\nHe seemed to lay His finger on His lips and warned the healed person to\nmake no mention of this kind act to anyone; and therefore all who do\ndiscover his actions know that he is really charitable. The act that a\nman does in order that he may be recognised as a good and benevolent\nperson exhibits his love of recognition much more strikingly than his\nbenevolence; and it is because the miracles of Christ were wrought from\nthe purest and most self-denying compassion that ever explored and bound\nup the wounds of men, that we acknowledge Him as incontestably our King.\n\n2. In what respects, then, did this first miracle manifest the glory of\nChrist? What was there in it to stir the thought and attract the\nadoration and trust of the disciples? Was it worthy to be the medium of\nconveying to their minds the first ideas of His glory they were to\ncherish? And what ideas must these have been? The first impression they\nmust have received from the miracle was, no doubt, simple amazement at\nthe power which so easily and unostentatiously turned the water into\nwine. This Person, they must have felt, stood in a peculiar relation to\nNature. In fact, what John laid as the foundation of his Gospel,--that\nthe Christ who came to redeem was He by whom all things were at first\nmade,--Jesus also advanced as the first step in His revelation of\nHimself. He appears as the Source of life, whose will pervades all\nthings. He comes, not as a stranger or interloper who has no sympathy\nwith existing things, but as the faithful Creator, who loves all that He\nhas made, and can use all things for the good of men. He is at home in\nthe world, and enters physical nature as its King, who can use it for\nHis high ends. Never before has He wrought a miracle, but in this first\ncommand to Nature there is no hesitation, no experimenting, no anxiety,\nbut the easy confidence of a Master. He is either Himself the Creator of\nthe world He comes to restore to worth and peace, or He is the Delegate\nof the Creator. We see in this first miracle that Christ is not an alien\nor an usurper, but one who has already the closest connection with us\nand with all things. We receive assurance that in Him God is present.\n\n3. But it was not only the Creator's power which was shown in this\nmiracle, but some hint was given of the ends for which that power would\nbe used by Christ. Perhaps the disciples who had known and admired the\naustere life of the Baptist would expect that He whom the Baptist\nproclaimed as greater than himself would be greater in the same line,\nand would reveal His glory by a sublime abstemiousness. They had\nconfessed Him to be the Son of God, and might naturally expect to find\nin Him an independence of earthly joys. They had followed Him as the\nking of Israel; was His kingly glory to find a suitable sphere in the\nlittle family difficulties that poverty begets? It is almost a shock to\nour own ideas of our Lord to think of Him as one of a marriage party; to\nhear Him uttering the ordinary salutations, civilities, and enquiries of\na friendly and festive gathering; to see Him standing by while others\nare the principal figures in the room. And we know that many who had\nopportunity to observe His habits could never understand or reconcile\nthemselves to His easy familiarity with all kinds of people, and to His\nfreedom in partaking in mirthful scenes and hilarious entertainments.\n\nAnd just because of this difficulty we find in reconciling religion with\njoy, God with nature, does Christ reveal His glory first at a\nmarriage-feast, not in the temple, not in the synagogue, not by taking\nHis disciples apart to teach them to pray, but at a festive gathering,\nthat thus they may recognise in Him the Lord of all human life, and see\nthat His work of redemption is co-extensive with human experience. He\ncomes among us, not to crush or pour contempt on human feelings, but to\nexalt them by sharing in them; not to show that it is possible to live\nseparate from all human sympathies, but to deepen and intensify them;\nnot to do away with the ordinary business and social relations of life,\nbut to sanctify them. He comes sharing in all pure feelings and joys,\nsanctioning all natural relationships; Himself human, with interest in\nall human interests; not a mere spectator or censor of human affairs,\nbut Himself a man implicated in things human. He shows us the folly of\nfancying that God looks with an austere and morose eye upon outbursts\nof human affection and joy, and teaches us that to be holy as He is holy\nwe are not required to abandon the ordinary affairs of life, and that\nhowever we make them the apology for worldliness, it is not the\nnecessary duties or relations of life that prevent our being Christlike,\nbut these are the very material in which His glory may be most clearly\nseen, the soil in which must grow and ripen all Christian graces and\nfruits of righteousness.\n\nThis, then, was the glory Christ wished His disciples first of all to\nsee. He was to be their King, not by drilling men to fight for Him, nor\nby interrupting the natural order and upsetting the established ways of\nmen, but by entering into these with a gladdening, purifying, elevating\nspirit. His glory was not to be confined to a palace or to a small\ncircle of courtiers, or to one particular department of activity, but\nwas to be found irradiating all human life in its most ordinary forms.\nHe came, indeed, to make all things new, but the new creation was the\nfulfilment of the original idea: it was not to be achieved by thwarting\nnature, nor by a one-sided development of some elements of nature, but\nby guiding the whole to its original destination, by lifting the whole\ninto harmony with God. We see the glory of Christ, and accept Him as our\nRuler and Redeemer, because we see in Him perfect sympathy with all that\nis human.\n\n4. While enjoying the bounty of Christ at the marriage feast, John\ncannot have yet understood all that was involved in His Master's purpose\nto bring new life and happiness to this world of men. Afterwards, no\ndoubt, he saw how appropriately this miracle took the first place, and\nthrough it read his Lord's own thoughts about His whole work on earth.\nFor it is impossible that Christ Himself should not have had His own\nthoughts about the significance of this miracle. He had, during the\nprevious six weeks, passed through a time of violent mental disturbance\nand of supreme spiritual exaltation. The measureless task laid upon Him\nhad become visible to Him. Already He was aware that only through His\ndeath could the utmost of blessing be imparted to men. Is it possible\nthat while He first put forth His power to restore the joy of these\nwedding guests, He should not have seen in the wine a symbol of the\nblood He was to shed for the refreshment and revival of men? The\nBaptist, whose mind was nourished with Old Testament ideas, called\nChrist the Bridegroom, and His people the Bride. Must not Jesus also\nhave thought of those who believed in Him as His bride, and must not the\nvery sight of a marriage have set His thoughts working regarding His\nwhole relation to men? So that in His first miracle He no doubt saw a\nsummary of His whole work. In this first manifestation of His glory\nthere is, to Himself at least, a reminder that only by His death will\nthat glory be perfected. Without Him, as He saw, the joy of this wedding\nfeast had been brought to an untimely close; and without His free\noutpouring of His life for men there could be no presenting of men to\nGod unblemished and blameless, no fulfilment of those high hopes of\nmankind that nourish pure characters and noble deeds, but a swift and\ndreary extinction of even natural joys. It is to the marriage supper of\nthe _Lamb_, of Him who was slain, and has redeemed us by His blood, that\nwe are invited. It is the \"Lamb's wife\" that John saw adorned as a bride\nfor her Husband. And whosoever would sit down at that feast which\nconsummates the experience of this life, terminating all its\nvacillation of trust and love, and which opens eternal and unlimited joy\nto the people of Christ, must wash and make white his garments in this\nblood. He must not shrink from the closest fellowship with the purifying\nlove of Christ.\n\n5. His disciples, when they saw His power and His goodness in this\nmiracle, felt more than ever that He was the rightful King. They\n\"believed on Him.\" To us this first of signs is merged in the last, in\nHis death. The joy, the self-sacrifice, the holiness, the strength and\nbeauty of human character which that death has produced in the world, is\nthe great evidence which enables many now to believe in Him. The fact is\nindubitable. The intelligent secular historian, who surveys the rise and\ngrowth of European nations, counts the death of Christ among the most\nvital and influential of powers for good. It has touched all things with\nchange, and been the source of endless benefit to men. Are we then to\nrepudiate Him or to acknowledge Him? Are we to act like the master of\nthe feast, who enjoyed the good wine without asking where it came from;\nor are we to own ourselves debtors to the actual Creator of our\nhappiness? If the disciples believed on Him when they saw Him furnish\nthese wedding guests with wine, shall we not believe, who know that\nthrough all these ages He has furnished the pained and the poor with\nhope and consolation, the desolate and broken-hearted with restoring\nsympathy, the outcast with the knowledge of God's love, the sinner with\npardon, with heaven, and with God? Is not the glory He showed at this\nmarriage in Cana precisely what still attracts us to Him with confidence\nand affection? Can we not wholly trust this Lord who has a perfect\nsympathy guiding His Divine power, who brings the presence of God into\nall the details of human life, who enters into all our joys and all our\nsorrows, and is ever watchful to anticipate our every need, and supply\nit out of His inexhaustible and all-sufficient fulness? Happy they who\nknow His heart as His mother knew it, and are satisfied to name their\nwant and leave it with Him.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[9] Modern topography inclines to identify this Cana, not, as formerly,\nwith Kafr-Kenna, but with Kanet-el-Jelil, some six miles N.E. of\nNazareth. It is called Cana of Galilee to distinguish it from Cana in\nAsher, S.E. from Tyre (Joshua xix. 28).\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\n_THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE._\n\n\n    \"After this He went down to Capernaum, He, and His mother, and His\n    brethren, and His disciples: and there they abode not many days. And\n    the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to\n    Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep\n    and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and He made a scourge\n    of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the\n    oxen; and He poured out the changers' money, and overthrew their\n    tables; and to them that sold the doves He said, Take these things\n    hence; make not My Father's house a house of merchandise. His\n    disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Thine house\n    shall eat me up. The Jews therefore answered and said unto Him, What\n    sign showest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things?\n    Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three\n    days I will raise it up. The Jews therefore said, Forty and six\n    years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou raise it up in\n    three days? But He spake of the temple of His body. When therefore\n    He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He spake\n    this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had\n    said.\"--JOHN ii. 12-22.\n\n\nWhether the Nazareth family returned from Cana to their own town before\ngoing down to Capernaum, John does not inform us. Neither are we told\nwhy they went to Capernaum at all at this time. It may have been in\norder to join one of the larger caravans going up to Jerusalem for the\napproaching Feast. Not only the disciples, some of whom had their homes\non the lake-side, accompanied Jesus, but also His mother and His\nbrothers. The manner in which the brothers are spoken of in connection\nwith His mother suggests that He and they bore to her the same relation.\nThey remained in Capernaum \"not many days,\" because the Passover was at\nhand. Having come to Jerusalem, and appearing there for the first time\nsince His baptism, He performed several miracles. These John omits, and\nselects as more significant and worthy of record one authoritative act.\n\nThe circumstances which occasioned this act were familiar to the\nJerusalem Jew. The exigencies of Temple worship had bred a flagrant\nabuse. Worshippers coming from remote parts of the Holy Land, and from\ncountries beyond, found it a convenience to be able to purchase on the\nspot the animals used in sacrifice, and the material for various\nofferings--salt, meal, oil, frankincense. Traders were not slow to\nsupply this demand, and vying with one another they crept nearer and\nnearer to the sacred precincts, until some, under pretence perhaps of\ndriving in an animal for sacrifice, made a sale within the outer court.\nThis court had an area of about fourteen acres, and was separated from\nthe inner court by a wall breast high, and bearing intimations which\nforbade the encroachment of Gentiles on pain of death. Round this outer\ncourt ran marble colonnades, richly ornamented and supported by four\nrows of pillars, and roofed with cedar, affording ample shade to the\ntraders.\n\nThere were not only cattle-dealers and sellers of pigeons, but also\nmoney-changers; for every Jew had to pay to the Temple treasury an\nannual tax of half a shekel, and this tax could be paid only in the\nsacred currency. No foreign coin, with its emblem of submission to an\nalien king, was allowed to pollute the Temple. Thus there came to be\nneed of money-changers, not only for the Jew who had come up to the\nfeast from a remote part of the empire, but even for the inhabitant of\nPalestine, as the Roman coinage had displaced the shekel in ordinary\nuse.\n\nThere might seem, therefore, to be room to say much in favour of this\nconvenient custom. At any rate, it was one of those abuses which, while\nthey may shock a fresh and unsophisticated mind, are allowed both\nbecause they contribute to public convenience and because they have a\nlarge pecuniary interest at their back. In point of fact, however, the\npractice gave rise to lamentable consequences. Cattle-dealers and\nmoney-changers have always been notorious for making more than their own\nout of their bargains, and facts enough are on record to justify our\nLord calling this particular market \"a den of thieves.\" The poor were\nshamefully cheated, and the worship of God was hindered and impoverished\ninstead of being facilitated and enriched. And even although this\ntraffic had been carried on under careful supervision, and on\nunimpeachable principles, still it was unseemly that the worshipper who\ncame to the Temple seeking quiet and fellowship with God should have to\npush his way through the touts of the dealers, and have his devotional\ntemper dissipated by the wrangling and shouting of a cattle market. Yet\nalthough many must have lamented this, no one had been bold enough to\nrebuke and abolish the glaring profanation.\n\nJesus on entering the Temple finds Himself in the midst of this\nincongruous scene--the sounds and movements of a market, the loud and\neager exclamations of competing traders, the bustle of selecting one\nanimal out of a flock, the loud talk and laughter of the idle groups of\nonlookers. Jesus cannot stand it. Zeal for the honour of His Father's\nhouse possesses Him. The Temple claims Him as its vindicator from abuse.\nNowhere can He more appropriately assert His authority as Messiah. Out\nof the cords lying about He quickly knots together a formidable scourge,\nand silently, leaving the public conscience to justify His action, He\nproceeds single-handed to drive out cattle and traders together. A scene\nof violence ensued,--the cattle rushing hither and thither, the owners\ntrying to preserve their property, the money-changers holding their\ntables as Jesus went from one to another upsetting them, the scattered\ncoin scrambled for; and over all the threatening scourge and the\ncommanding eye of the Stranger. Never on any other occasion did our Lord\nuse violence.\n\nThe audacity of the act has few parallels. To interfere in the very\nTemple with any of its recognized customs was in itself a claim to be\nKing in Israel. Were a stranger suddenly to appear in the lobby of the\nHouse of Commons, and by sheer dignity of demeanour, and the force of\nintegrity, to rectify an abuse of old standing involving the interests\nof a wealthy and privileged class, it could not create a greater\nsensation. The Baptist might be with Him, cowing the truculent with his\ncommanding eye; but there was no need of the Baptist: the action of\nChrist awakening conscience in the men themselves was enough to quell\nresistance.\n\nNo doubt Jesus began His work at the house of God because He knew that\nthe Temple was the real heart of the nation; that it was belief in God\nwhich was their strength and hope, and that the loss of that belief, and\nthe consequent irreverence and worldliness, were the most dangerous\nfeatures of Jewish society. The state of matters He found in the Temple\ncould not have been tolerated had the people really believed God was\npresent in the Temple.\n\nSuch an act could not pass without being criticised. It would be keenly\ndiscussed that evening in Jerusalem. At every table it would be the\ntopic of conversation, and a most serious one wherever men in authority\nwere meeting. Many would condemn it as a piece of pharisaic ostentation.\nIf He is a reformer, why does He not turn His attention to the\nlicentiousness of the people? Why show such extravagant and unseemly\nzeal about so innocent a custom when flagrant immoralities abound? Why\nnot spend His zeal in clearing out from the land the polluting\nforeigner? Such charges are easy. No man can do everything, least of\nall can he do everything at once. And yet the advocate of temperance is\ntwitted with his negligence of other causes which are perhaps as\nnecessary; and he who pleads for foreign missions is reminded that we\nhave heathen at home. These are the carping criticisms of habitual\nfault-finders, and of men who have no hearty desire for the advancement\nof what is good.\n\nOthers, again, who approved the act could not reconcile themselves to\nthe manner of it. Might it not have been enough to have pointed out the\nabuse, and to have made a strong representation to the authorities? Was\nit fair to step in and usurp the authority of the Sanhedrim or Temple\nofficials? Was it consistent with prophetic dignity to drive out the\noffenders with His own hand? Even those most friendly to Him may have\nfelt a little jarred as they saw Him with uplifted scourge and flaming\neyes violently driving before Him men and beasts. But they remembered\nthat it was written, \"The zeal of Thine house will consume Me.\" They\nremembered perhaps how the most popular king of Israel had danced before\nthe ark, to the scandal indeed of dull-souled conventionalists, but with\nthe approval of all clear-seeing and spiritually-judging men. They might\nalso have remembered how the last of their prophecies had said, \"Behold,\nthe Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple. But who may\nabide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth?\"\n\nThis zeal at once explained and justified His action. Some abuses may be\nreformed by appeal to the constituted authorities; others can be\nabolished only by the blazing indignation of a righteous soul who cannot\nlonger endure the sight. This zeal, conquering all consideration of\nconsequences and regard to appearances, acts as a cleansing fire,\nsweeping before it what is offensive. It has always its own risks to\nrun: the authorities at Jerusalem never forgave Jesus this first\ninterference. By reforming an abuse they should never have allowed, He\ndamaged them in the eyes of the people, and they could never forget it.\nZeal also runs the risk of acting indiscreetly and taking too much upon\nit. In itself zeal is a good thing, but it does not exist \"in itself.\"\nIt exists in a certain character, and where the character is imperfect\nor dangerous the zeal is imperfect or dangerous. The zeal of the proud\nor selfish man is mischievous, the zeal of the ignorant fraught with\ndisaster. Still, with all risks, give us by all means rather the man who\nis eaten up, possessed and carried away, by a passionate sympathy with\nthe oppressed and neglected, or with unquenchable zeal for rectitude and\nhonourable dealing or for the glory of God, than the man who can stand\nand be a spectator of wrong because it is no business of his to see that\ninjustice be withstood, who can connive at unrighteous practices because\ntheir correction is troublesome, invidious, hazardous. He who lays a\nsudden hand on wrong-doing may have no legal authority to plead in his\ndefence when challenged, but to all good men such an act justifies\nitself. It was a similar zeal which at all times governed Christ. He\ncould not stand by and wash His hands of other men's sins. It was this\nwhich brought Him to the cross, this which in the first place brought\nHim to this world at all. He had to interfere. Zeal for His father's\nglory, zeal for God and man, possessed Him.\n\nIt was therefore no concern of Jesus to make Himself very intelligible\nto those who could not understand the action itself and demanded a\nsign. They did not understand His answer; and it was not intended they\nshould. Frequently our Lord's answers are enigmatical. Men have\nopportunity to stumble over them, if they will. For frequently they\nasked foolish questions, which admitted only of such answers. The\npresent question, \"What sign showest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou\ndoest these things?\" was absurd. It was to ask for a light to see light\nwith, a sign of a sign. His zeal for God that carried the crowd before\nit, and swept God's house clean of the profane, was the best proof of\nHis authority and Messiahship. But there was one sign which He could\npromise them without violating His principle to do no miracle merely for\nthe sake of convincing reluctant minds. There was one sign which formed\nan integral part of His work; a sign which He must work, irrespective of\nits effect on their opinion of Him--the sign of His own Resurrection.\nAnd therefore, when they ask Him for a sign of His authority to reform\nthe abuses of the Temple, He promises them this sign, that He will raise\nthe Temple again when they destroy it. If He can give them a Temple He\nhas authority in it. \"Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will\nraise it up.\"\n\nWhat did He mean by this enigmatical saying, which not even His\ndisciples understood till long afterwards? We cannot doubt that in their\nresistance to His first public act, righteous and necessary, and welcome\nto all right-hearted men, as it was, He plainly saw the symptom of a\ndeep-seated hatred of all reform, which would lead them on to reject His\nwhole work. He had meditated much on the tone of the authorities, on the\nreligious state of His country--what young man of thirty with anything\nin him has not done so? He had made up His mind that He would meet with\nopposition at every point, and that while a faithful few would stand by\nHim, the leaders of the people would certainly resist and destroy Him.\nHere in His very first act He is met by the spirit of hatred, and\njealousy, and godlessness which was at last to compass His death. But\nHis rejection He also knew was to be the signal for the downfall of the\nnation. In destroying Him He knew they were destroying themselves, their\ncity, their Temple. As Daniel had long ago said, \"The Messiah shall be\ncut off ... and the people of a prince who shall come shall destroy the\ncity and the sanctuary.\"\n\nTo Himself therefore His words had a very definite meaning: Destroy this\nTemple, as you certainly will by disowning My authority and resisting My\nacts of reform, and at length crucifying Me, and in three days I will\nraise it. As by denying My authority and crucifying My Person you\ndestroy this house of My Father, so by My resurrection will I put men in\npossession of God's true dwelling-place, and introduce a new and\nspiritual worship. \"It is in Christ's person this great drama is\nenacted. The Messiah perishes: the Temple falls. The Messiah lives\nagain: the true Temple rises on the ruins of the symbolical temple. For\nin the kingdom of God there is no simple restoration. Every revival is\nat the same time an advance\" (Godet). A living Temple is better than a\nTemple of stone. Human nature itself, possessed and inspired by the\nDivine, that is the true Temple of God.\n\nThis sign was in two years given to them. As Jesus drew His last breath\non the cross the veil of the Temple was rent. There was no longer\nanything to veil; the unapproachable glory was for ever gone. The Temple\nin which God had so long dwelt was now but a shell, mocking and\npathetic in the extreme, as the clothes of a departed friend, or as the\nfamiliar dwelling that remains itself the same but changed to us for\never. The Jews in crucifying the Messiah had effectually destroyed their\nTemple. A few years more and it was in ruins, and has been so ever\nsince. That building which had once the singular, wonderful dignity of\nbeing the spot where God was specially to be found and to be worshipped,\nand where He dwelt upon earth in a way apprehensible by men, was from\nthe hour of Christ's death doomed to vacuity and destruction.\n\nBut in three days a new and better Temple was raised in Christ's body,\nglorified by the presence of the indwelling God. Forty and six years had\nthe Jews spent in rearing the magnificent pile that astonished and awed\ntheir conquerors. They had thus themselves rebuilt more splendidly the\nTemple of Solomon. But to rebuild the Temple they destroyed in\ncrucifying the Lord was beyond them. The sign of rebuilding their Temple\nof marble, which they scouted as a ridiculous extravagance, was really a\nfar less stupendous and infinitely less significant sign than that which\nHe actually gave them in rising from the dead. If it was impossible to\nrear that magnificent fabric in three days, yet something might be done\ntowards it: but towards the raising of the dead body of Christ nothing\ncould be done by human skill, diligence, or power.\n\nBut it is not the stupendous difficulty of this sign which should\nchiefly engage our attention. It is rather its significance. Christ rose\nfrom the dead, not to startle godless and truth-hating men into faith,\nbut to furnish all mankind with a new and better Temple, with the means\nof spiritual worship and constant fellowship with God. There was a\nnecessity for the resurrection. Those who became intimately acquainted\nwith Christ slowly but surely became aware that they found more of God\nin Him than ever they had found in the Temple. Gradually they acquired\nnew thoughts about God; and instead of thinking of Him as a Sovereign\nveiled from the popular gaze in the hidden Holy of holies, and receiving\nthrough consecrated hands the gifts and offering of the people, they\nlearned to think of Him as a Father, to whom no condescension was too\ndeep, no familiarity with men too close. Unconsciously to themselves,\napparently, they began to think of Christ as the true Revealer of God,\nas the living Temple who at all hours gave them access to the living\nGod. But not till the Resurrection was this transference complete--nay,\nso fixed had their hearts been, in common with all Jewish hearts, upon\nthe Temple, that not until the Temple was destroyed did they wholly\ngrasp what was given them in the Resurrection of Jesus. It was the\nResurrection which confirmed their wavering belief in Him as the Son of\nGod. As Paul says, it was the resurrection which \"declared Him to be the\nSon of God with power.\" Being the Son of God, it was impossible He\nshould be held by death. He had come to the Temple calling it by an\nunheard-of name, \"_My_ Father's house.\" Not Moses, not Solomon, not\nEzra, not the holiest of high priests, would have dreamt of so\nidentifying himself with God as to speak of the Temple, not even as \"our\nFather's house\" or \"your Father's house,\" but \"my Father's house.\" And\nit was the Resurrection which finally justified His doing so, declaring\nHim to be, in a sense no other was, the Son of God.\n\nBut it was not in the body of Christ that God found His permanent\ndwelling among men. This sacred presence was withdrawn in order to\nfacilitate the end God has from the first had in view, the full\nindwelling and possession of each and all men by His Spirit. This\nintimate fellowship with all men, this free communication of Himself to\nall, this inhabitation of all souls by the ever-living God, was the end\naimed at by all that God has done among men. His dwelling among men in\nthe Temple at Jerusalem, His dwelling among men in the living Person of\nChrist, were preliminary and preparatory to His dwelling in men\nindividually. \"Ye,\" says Paul, \"are built up a spiritual house.\" \"Ye are\nbuilded together for a habitation of God.\" \"Ye are the temple of the\nliving God.\" This is the great reality towards which men have been led\nby symbol--the complete pervasion of all intelligence and of all moral\nbeings by the Spirit of God.\n\nFor us this cleansing of the Temple is a sign. It is a sign that Christ\nreally means to do thoroughly the great work He has taken in hand. Long\nago had it been said, \"Behold the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly\ncome to His Temple; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of\nsilver.\" He was to come where holiness was professed, and to sift the\ntrue from the false, the worldly and greedy religious from the devoted\nand spiritual. He was not to make pretence of doing so, but actually to\naccomplish the separation. To reform abuses such as this marketing in\nthe Temple was no pleasant task. He had to meet the gaze and defy the\nvindictiveness of an exasperated mob; He had to make enemies of a\npowerful class in the community. But He does what is called for by the\ncircumstances: and this is but a part and a sample of the work He does\nalways. Always He makes thorough, real work. He does not blink the\nrequirements of the case. We shrug our shoulders and pass by where\nmatters are difficult to mend; we let the flood take its course rather\nthan risk being carried away in attempting to stem it. Not so Christ.\nThe Temple was shortly to be destroyed, and it might seem to matter\nlittle what practices were allowed in it; but the sounds of bargaining\nand the greedy eye of trade could not be suffered by Him in His Father's\nhouse: how much more shall He burn as a consuming fire when He cleanses\nthat Church for which He gave Himself that it might be without spot or\nblemish. _He will cleanse it._ We may yield ourselves with gladness to\nHis sanctifying power, or we may rebelliously question His authority;\nbut cleansed the house of God must be.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\n_NICODEMUS._\n\n\n    \"Now when He was in Jerusalem at the passover, during the feast,\n    many believed on His name, beholding His signs which He did. But\n    Jesus did not trust Himself unto them, for that He knew all men, and\n    because He needed not that any one should bear witness concerning\n    man; for He Himself knew what was in man. Now there was a man of the\n    Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came unto\n    Him by night, and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a\n    teacher come from God: for no man can do these signs that Thou\n    doest, except God be with Him. Jesus answered and said unto him,\n    Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born anew, he\n    cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a\n    man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his\n    mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say\n    unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot\n    enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is\n    flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not\n    that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. The wind bloweth where\n    it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not\n    whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born\n    of the Spirit.\"--JOHN ii. 23-iii. 8.\n\n\nThe first visit of Jesus to Jerusalem was not without considerable\neffect on the popular mind. Many who saw the miracles He did believed\nthat He was a messenger from God. They saw that His miracles were not\nthe clever tricks of an impostor, and they were prepared to listen to\nHis teaching and enrol themselves as members of the kingdom He came to\nfound. Yet our Lord did not encourage them. He saw that they\nmisunderstood Him. He recognised their worldliness of heart and of aim,\nand did not admit them to the intimacy He had established with the five\nsimple-minded Galileans. The Jerusalem Jews were glad to fall in with\none who seemed likely to do honour to their nation, and their belief in\nHim was the belief men give to a statesman whose policy they approve.\nThe difference between them and those who rejected Christ was not a\ndifference of disposition such as exists between godly and ungodly men,\nbut consisted merely in the circumstance that they were convinced that\nHis miracles were genuine. Had our Lord encouraged these men they would\nultimately have been disappointed in Him. It was better that from the\nfirst they should be stimulated to reflect on the whole matter by being\ncoldly received by the Lord.\n\nIt is always a point that calls for reflection: we have to consider not\nonly whether we have faith in Christ, but whether He has faith in\nus--not only whether we have committed ourselves to Him, but whether\nthat committal is so genuine that He can build upon and trust it. Can He\ncount upon us for all service, for fidelity in times when much is\nneeded? Thoroughgoing confidence must always be reciprocal. The person\nyou believe in so utterly that you are entirely his, believes in you and\ntrusts himself to you--his reputation, his interests are safe in your\nkeeping. So is it with Christ. Faith cannot be one-sided here any more\nthan elsewhere. He gives Himself to those who give themselves to Him.\nThey who so trust Him that He is sure they will follow Him even when\nthey cannot see where He is going; they who trust Him, not in one or two\nmatters which they see He can manage, but absolutely and in all\nthings,--to these He will give Himself freely, sharing with them His\nwork, His Spirit, His reward.\n\nTo illustrate the state of mind of the Jerusalem Jews and Christ's mode\nof treating them, John selects the case of Nicodemus. He was one of\nthose who were much impressed by the miracles of Jesus, and were\nprepared to attach themselves to any movement in His favour. He belonged\nto the Pharisees; to that party which, with all its narrowness,\npedantry, dogmatism, and bigotry, still preserved a salt of genuine\npatriotism and genuine godliness, and reared high-toned and cultivated\nmen like Gamaliel and Saul. Nicodemus, whether a member of the\nSanhedrim's deputation to the Baptist or not, certainly knew the result\nof that deputation, and was aware that a crisis in the national history\nhad arrived. He could not wait for the community to move, but felt that\nwhatever conclusion regarding Christ the Pharisees as a body might\narrive at, he must on his own responsibility be at the bottom of those\nextraordinary events and signs that clustered round the person of Jesus.\nHe was a modest, reserved, cautious man, and did not wish openly to\ncommit himself till he was sure of his ground. He has been blamed for\ntimidity. I would only say that, if he felt it dangerous to be seen in\nthe company of Jesus, it was a bold thing to visit Him at all. He went\nby night; but he went. And would that there were more like him, who,\nwhether cautious to excess or not, do still feel constrained to judge\nfor themselves about Christ; who feel that, no matter what other men\nthink of Him, there is an interest in Him which they cannot wait for\nothers to settle, but must for themselves settle before they sleep.\n\nProbably Nicodemus made his visit by night because he did not wish to\nprecipitate matters by calling undue attention to the position and\nintentions of Jesus. He probably went with the purpose of urging some\nspecial plan of action. This inexperienced Galilean could not be\nsupposed to understand the populace of Jerusalem as well as the old\nmember of the Sanhedrim, who was familiar with all the outs and ins of\nparty politics in the metropolis. Nicodemus would therefore go and\nadvise Him how to proceed in proclaiming the kingdom of God; or at least\nsound Him, and, if he found Him amenable to reason, encourage Him to\nproceed, and warn Him against the pitfalls that lay in His path.\nModestly, and as if speaking for others as much as for himself, he says:\n\"Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God, for no man can do\nthese miracles that Thou doest except God be with Him!\" There is here\nneither patronizing acknowledgment nor flattery, but merely the natural\nfirst utterance of a man who must say something to show the state of his\nmind. It served to reveal the point at which Nicodemus had arrived, and\nthe ground on which the conversation might proceed. But \"Jesus knew what\nwas in man.\" In this acknowledgment of His miracles on the part of\nNicodemus, Jesus saw the whole mental attitude of the man. He saw that\nif Nicodemus had uttered all that was in his mind he would have said: \"I\nbelieve you are sent to restore the kingdom to Israel, and I am come to\nadvise with you on your plan of operation, and to urge upon you certain\nlines of action.\" And therefore Jesus promptly cuts him short by saying:\n\"The kingdom of God is quite another thing than you are thinking of; and\nthe way to establish it, to enlist citizens in it, is very different\nfrom the way you have been meditating.\"\n\nIn fact, Jesus was becoming embarrassed by His own miracles. They were\nattracting the wrong kind of people--the superficial worldly people; the\npeople who thought a daring and strong hand with a dash of magic would\nserve all their turn. His mind was full of this, and as soon as He has\nan opportunity of uttering Himself on this point He does so, and assures\nNicodemus, as a representative of a large number of Jews who needed this\nteaching, that all their thoughts about the kingdom must be ruled by\nthis principle, and must start from this great truth, that it was a\nkingdom into which the Spirit of God alone could give entrance, and\ncould give entrance only by making men spiritual. That is to say, that\nit was a spiritual kingdom, an inward rule over the hearts of men, not\nan outward empire--a kingdom to be established, not by political craft\nand midnight meetings, but by internal change and submission in heart to\nGod--a kingdom, therefore, into which admission could be given only on\nsome more spiritual ground than the mere circumstance of a man's natural\nbirth as a Jew.\n\nIn our Lord's _language_ there was nothing that need have puzzled\nNicodemus. In religious circles in Jerusalem there was nothing being\ntalked of but the kingdom of God which John the Baptist had declared to\nbe at hand. And when Jesus told Nicodemus that in order to enter this\nkingdom he must be born again, He told him just what John had been\ntelling the whole people. John had assured them that, though the King\nwas in their midst, they must not suppose they were already within His\nkingdom by being the children of Abraham. He excommunicated the whole\nnation, and taught them that it was something different from natural\nbirth that gave admission to God's kingdom. And just as they had\ncompelled Gentiles to be baptized, and to submit to other arrangements\nwhen they wished to partake of Jewish privileges, so John compelled them\nto be baptized. The Gentile who wished to become a Jew had to be\nsymbolically born again. He had to be baptized, going down under the\ncleansing waters, washing away his old and defiled life, being buried by\nbaptism, disappearing, from men's sight as a Gentile, and rising from\nthe water as a new man. He was thus born of water, and this time born,\nnot a Gentile, but a Jew.\n\nThe language of our Lord then could scarcely puzzle Nicodemus, but the\nidea did stagger him that not only Gentiles but Jews must be born again.\nJohn had indeed required the same preparation for entrance to the\nkingdom; but the Pharisees had not listened to John, and were offended\nprecisely on the ground of his baptism. But now Jesus presses upon\nNicodemus the very same truth, that as the Gentile had to be naturalized\nand born again that he might rank as a child of Abraham, and enjoy the\nexternal privileges of the Jew, so must the Jew himself be born again if\nhe is to rank as a child of God and to belong to the kingdom of God. He\nmust submit to the double baptism of water and of the Spirit--of water\nfor the pardon and cleansing of past sin and defilement, of the Spirit\nfor the inspiration of a new and holy life.\n\nOur Lord here speaks of the second birth as completed by two agencies,\nwater and the Spirit. To make the one of these merely the symbol of the\nother is to miss His meaning. The Baptist baptized with water for the\nremission of sins, but he was always careful to disclaim power to\nbaptize with the Holy Ghost. His baptism with water was of course\nsymbolical; that is to say, the water itself exercised no spiritual\ninfluence, but merely represented to the eye what was invisibly done in\nthe heart. But that which it symbolised was not the life-giving\ninfluence of the Holy Spirit, but the washing away of sin from the soul.\nAssurance of pardon John was empowered to give. Those who humbly\nsubmitted to his baptism with confession of their sins went from it\nforgiven and cleansed. But more than that was needed to make them new\nmen--and yet more he could not give. For that which would fill them with\nnew life they must go to a Greater than he, who alone could bestow the\nHoly Ghost.\n\nThese then are the two great incidents of the second birth--the pardon\nof sin, which is preparatory, and which cuts our connection with the\npast; the communication of life by the Spirit of God, which fits us for\nthe future. Both of these are represented by Christian baptism because\nin Christ we have both; but those who were baptized by John's baptism\nwere only _prepared_ for receiving Christ's Spirit by receiving the\nforgiveness of their sins.\n\nHaving thus declared to Nicodemus the necessity of the second birth, He\ngoes on to give the reason of this necessity. Birth by the Spirit is\nnecessary, because that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and the\nkingdom of God is spiritual. Of course our Lord does not mean by flesh\nthe mere tangible substance of the body; He does not mean that our first\nand natural birth puts us in possession of nothing but a material frame.\nBy the word \"flesh\" He signifies the appetites, desires, faculties,\nwhich animate and govern the body, as well as the body itself--the whole\nequipment with which nature furnishes a man for life in this world. This\nnatural birth gives a man entrance into much, and for ever determines\nmuch, that has important bearings on his person, character, and destiny.\nIt determines all differences of nationality, of temperament, of sex;\napart altogether from any choice of his it is determined whether he\nshall be a South Sea Islander or a European; an antediluvian living in a\ncave or an Englishman of the nineteenth century. But the kingdom of God\nis a spiritual kingdom, into which entrance can be had only by a man's\nown will and spiritual condition, only by an attachment to God which is\nno part of a man's natural equipment.\n\nAs soon as we clearly see what the kingdom of God is, we see also that\nby nature we do not belong to it. The kingdom of God so far as man is\nconcerned is a state of willing subjection to Him--a state in which we\nare in our right relation to Him. All irrational creatures obey God and\ndo His will: the sun runs his course with an exactness and punctuality\nwe cannot rival; the grace and strength of many of the lower animals,\ntheir marvellous instincts and aptitudes, are so superior to anything in\nourselves that we cannot even comprehend them. But what we have as our\nspeciality is to render to God a willing service; to understand His\npurposes and enter sympathetically into them. The lower creatures obey a\nlaw impressed upon their nature; they cannot sin; their performance of\nGod's will is a tribute to the power which made them so skilfully, but\nit lacks all conscious recognition of His worthiness to be served and\nall knowledge of His object in creation. It is God serving Himself: He\nmade them so, and therefore they do His will. So it is with men who\nmerely obey their nature: they may do kindly, noble, heroic actions, but\nthey lack all reference to God; and however excellent these actions are,\nthey give no guarantee that the men who do them would sympathize with\nGod in all things, and do His will gladly.\n\nIndeed, to establish the proposition that flesh or nature does not give\nus entrance into God's kingdom, we need go no further than our own\nconsciousness. Remove the restraints which grace puts upon our nature,\nand we are aware that we are not in sympathy with God, fond of His will,\ndisposed for His service. Let nature have its swing, and every man knows\nit is not the kingdom of God it takes him to. To all men it is natural\nto eat, drink, sleep, think; we are born to these things, and need to\nput no constraint on our nature to do them; but can any man say it has\ncome naturally to him to be what he ought to be to God? Do we not to\nthis hour feel drawn away from God as if we were not in our element in\nHis presence? Flesh, nature, in God's presence is as much out of its\nelement as a stone in the air or a fish out of water. Men who have had\nthe deepest religious experience have seen it most clearly, and have\nfelt, like Paul, that the flesh lusts against the spirit, and draws us\never back from entire submission to God and delight in Him.\n\nPerhaps the necessity of the second birth may be more clearly\napprehended if we consider it from another point of view. In this world\nwe find a number of creatures which have what is known as animal life.\nThey can work, and feel, and, in a fashion, think. They have wills, and\ncertain dispositions, and distinctive characteristics. Every creature\nthat has animal life has a certain nature according to its kind, and\ndetermined by its parentage; and this nature which the animal receives\nfrom its parents determines from the first the capabilities and sphere\nof the animal's life. The mole cannot soar in the face of the sun like\nthe eagle; neither can the bird that comes out of the eagle's egg burrow\nlike the mole. No training can possibly make the tortoise as swift as\nthe antelope, or the antelope as strong as the lion. If a mole began to\nfly and enjoy the sunlight it must be counted a new kind of creature,\nand no longer a mole. The very fact of its passing certain limitations\nshows that another nature has somehow been infused into it. Beyond its\nown nature no animal can act. You might as well attempt to give the\neagle the appearance of the serpent as try to teach it to crawl. Each\nkind of animal is by its birth endowed with its own nature, fitting it\nto do certain things, and making other things impossible. So is it with\nus: we are born with certain faculties and endowments, with a certain\nnature; and just as all animals, without receiving any new, individual,\nsupernatural help from God, can act according to their nature, so can\nwe. We, being human, have a high and richly-endowed animal nature, a\nnature that leads us not only to eat, drink, sleep, and fight like the\nlower animals, but a nature which leads us to think and to love, and\nwhich, by culture and education, can enjoy a much richer and wider life\nthan the lower creatures. Men need not be in the kingdom of God in order\nto do much that is admirable, noble, lovely, because their nature as\nanimals fits them for that. If we were to exist at all as a race of\nanimals superior to all others, then all this is just what must be found\nin us. Irrespective of any kingdom of God at all, irrespective of any\nknowledge of God or reference to Him, we have a life in this world, and\na nature fitting us for it. And it is this we have by our natural birth,\na place among our kind, an animal life. The first man, from whom we all\ndescend, was, as St. Paul profoundly says, \"a living soul,\" that is to\nsay, an animal, a living human being; but he had not \"a quickening\nspirit,\" could not give to his children spiritual life and make them\nchildren of God.\n\nNow if we ask ourselves a little more closely, What is human nature?\nwhat are the characteristics by which men are distinguished from all\nother creatures? what is it which marks off our kind from every other\nkind, and which is always produced by human parents? we may find it hard\nto give a definition, but one or two things are obvious and\nindisputable. In the first place, we could not deny human nature to men\nwho do not love God, or who even know nothing of Him. There are many\nwhom we should naturally speak of as remarkably fine specimens of human\nnature, who yet never think of God, nor in any way acknowledge Him. It\nis plain, therefore, that the acknowledgment and love of God, which\ngive us entrance into His kingdom, are _not_ a part of our nature, are\nnot the gifts of our birth.\n\nAnd yet is there anything that so distinctly separates us from the lower\nanimals as our _capacity_ for God and for eternity? Is it not our\ncapacity to respond to God's love, to enter into His purposes, to\nmeasure things by eternity, that is our real dignity? The capacity is\nthere, even when unused; and it is this capacity which invests man and\nall his works with an interest and a value which attach to no other\ncreature. Man's nature is capable of being born again, and that is its\npeculiarity; there is in man a dormant or dead capacity which nothing\nbut contact with God, the touch of the Holy Ghost, can vivify and bring\ninto actual exercise.\n\nThat there should be such a capacity, born as if dead, and needing to be\nquickened by a higher power before it can live and be of use, need not\nsurprise us. Nature is full of examples of such capacities. All seeds\nare of this nature, dead until favouring circumstances and soil quicken\nthem into life. In our own body there are similar capacities, capacities\nwhich may or may not be quickened into life. In the lower\nanimal-creation many analogous capacities are found, which depend for\ntheir vivification on some external agency over which they have no\ncontrol. The egg of a bird has in it the capacity to become a bird like\nthe parent, but it remains a dead thing and will corrupt if the parent\nforsakes it. There are many of the summer insects which are twice-born,\nfirst of their insect parents, and then of the sun: if the frost comes\nin place of the sun, they die. The caterpillar has already a life of its\nown, with which, no doubt, it is well content, but enclosed in its\nnature as a creeping thing it has a capacity for becoming something\ndifferent and higher. It may become a moth, or a butterfly; but in most\nthe capacity is never developed, they die before they reach this\nend--their circumstances do not favour their development. These\nanalogies show how common it is for capacities of life to lie dormant:\nhow common a thing it is for a creature in one stage of its existence to\nhave a capacity for passing into a higher stage, a capacity which can be\ndeveloped only by some agency peculiarly adapted to it.\n\nIt is in this condition man is born of his human parents. He is born\nwith a capacity for a higher life than that which he lives as an animal\nin this world. There is in him a capacity for becoming something\ndifferent, better and higher than that which he actually is by his\nnatural birth. He has a capacity which lies dormant or dead until the\nHoly Ghost comes and quickens it. There are many things, and great\nthings, man can do without any further Divine assistance than that which\nis lodged for the whole race in the natural laws which make no\ndistinction between godly and ungodly; there are many and great things\nman may do by virtue of his natural birth; but one thing he cannot\ndo--he cannot quicken within himself the capacity to love God and to\nlive for Him. For this there is needed an influence from without, the\nefficient touch of the Holy Spirit, the impartation of His life. The\ncapacity to be a child of God is man's, but the development of this lies\nwith God. Without the capacity a man is not a man, has not that which is\nmost distinctive of human nature. Every man is born with that in him\nwhich the Spirit of God may quicken into Divine life. This is human\nnature; but when this capacity is so quickened, when the man has begun\nto live as a child of God, he has not lost his human nature, but has\nover and above become a partaker of the Divine nature. When the image of\nGod, as well as of his earthly parents, becomes manifest in a man, then\nhis human nature has received its utmost development,--he is born again.\n\nOf the Agent who accomplishes this great transformation there is need\nonly to say that He is free in His operation and also inscrutable. He is\nlike the wind, our Lord tells us, that blows where it lists. We cannot\nbring the Spirit at will; we cannot use Him as if He were some\nunintelligent passive instrument; neither can we subject all His\noperations to our control. The grub must wait for those natural\ninfluences which are to transform it; it cannot command them. We cannot\ncommand the Spirit; but we, being free agents also, can do more than\nwait,--we can pray, and we can strive to put ourselves in line with the\nSpirit's operation. Seamen cannot raise the wind nor direct its course,\nbut they can put themselves in the way of the great regular winds. We\ncan do the same: we can slowly, by mechanical helps, creep into the way\nof the Spirit; we can set our sails, doing all we think likely to catch\nand utilize His influences--believing always that the Spirit is more\ndesirous than we are to bring us all to good. Why He breathes in one\nplace while all around lies in a dead calm we do not know; but as for\nthe wind's variations so for His, there are doubtless sufficient\nreasons. We need not expect to see the Spirit's working separate from\nthe working of our own minds; we cannot see the Spirit in Himself--we\ncannot see the wind that moves the ships, but we can see the ships\nmoving, and we know that without the wind they could not move.\n\nIf this, then, be the line on which our human nature can alone be\ndeveloped, if a profound harmony with God be that which can alone give\npermanence and completeness to our nature, if in accordance with all\nthat we see in the world around us some men fail of attaining the end of\ntheir creation, and lie for ever blighted and useless, while others are\ncarried forward to fuller and more satisfying life, we cannot but ask\nwith some anxiety to which class we belong. Good and evil are in the\nworld, happiness and misery, victory and defeat; do not let us deceive\nourselves by acting as if there were no difference between these\nopposites, or as if it mattered little in our case whether we belong to\nthe one side or the other. It matters everything: it is just the\ndifference between eternal life and eternal death. Christ did not come\nto play with us, and startle us with idle tales. He is the centre and\nfountain of all truth, and what He says fits in with all we see in the\nworld around us.\n\nBut in endeavouring to ascertain whether the great change our Lord\nspeaks of has passed upon us, our object must be not so much to\nascertain the time and manner of our new birth as its reality. A man may\nknow that he has been born though he is not able to recall, as no man\ncan recall, the circumstances of his birth. Life is the great evidence\nof birth, natural or spiritual. We may desire to know the time and place\nof birth for some other reason, but certainly not for this, to make sure\nwe have been born. Of that there is sufficient evidence in the fact of\nour being alive. And spiritual life quite as certainly implies spiritual\nbirth.\n\nAgain, we must keep in view that a man may be born though not yet full\ngrown. The child of a day old has as truly and certainly a human nature\nas the man in his prime. He has a human heart and mind, every organ of\nbody and soul, though as yet he cannot use them. So the second birth\nimpresses the image of God on every regenerate soul. It may not as yet\nbe developed in every part, but all its parts are there in germ. It is\nnot a partial but a complete result which regeneration effects. It is\nnot one member, a hand or a foot that is born, but a body, a complete\nequipment of the soul in all graces. The whole character is regenerated,\nso that the man is fitted for all the duties of the Divine life\nwhensoever these duties shall come before him. A human child does not\nneed additions made to it to fit it for new functions: it requires\ngrowth, it requires nurture, it requires education and the practice of\nhuman ways, but it requires no new organ to be inserted into its frame;\nonce born it has but to grow in order to adapt itself with ease and\nsuccess to all human ways and conditions. And if regenerate we have that\nin us which with care and culture will grow till it brings us to perfect\nlikeness to Christ. If we are not growing, if we remain small, puny,\nchildish while we should be adult and full grown, then there is\nsomething seriously wrong, which calls for anxious enquiry.\n\nBut above all let us bear in mind that it is a new birth that is\nrequired; that no care spent on our conduct, no improvement and\nrefinement of the natural man, suffices. For flying it is not an\nimproved caterpillar that is needed, it is a butterfly; it is not a\ncaterpillar of finer colour or more rapid movement or larger\nproportions, it is a new creature. We recognise that in this and that\nman we meet there is something more than men naturally have; we perceive\nin them a taming, chastening, inspiring principle. We rejoice all the\nmore when we see it, because we know that no man can give it, but only\nGod. And we mourn its absence because even when a man is dutiful,\naffectionate, temperate, honourable, yet if he have not grace, if he\nhave not that peculiar tone and colour which overspread the whole\ncharacter, and show that the man is living in the light of Christ, and\nis moved by love to God, we instinctively feel that the defect is\nradical, that as yet he has not come into connection with the Eternal,\nthat there is that awanting for which no natural qualities, however\nexcellent, can compensate--nay, the more lovely and complete the natural\ncharacter is, the more painful and lamentable is the absence of grace,\nof Spirit.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\n_THE BRAZEN SERPENT._\n\n\n    \"Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be?\n    Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel,\n    and understandest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,\n    We speak that we do know, and bear witness of that we have seen; and\n    ye receive not our witness. If I told you earthly things, and ye\n    believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you heavenly things?\n    And no man hath ascended into heaven, but He that descended out of\n    heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted\n    up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be\n    lifted up: that whosoever believeth may in Him have eternal life.\n    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that\n    whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.\n    For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that\n    the world should be saved through Him. He that believeth on Him is\n    not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because\n    he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.\n    And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and\n    men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were\n    evil. For every one that doeth ill hateth the light, and cometh not\n    to the light, lest his works should be reproved. But he that doeth\n    the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest,\n    that they have been wrought in God.\"--JOHN iii. 9-21.\n\n\nThere are two great obstacles to human progress, two errors which retard\nthe individual and the race, two inborn prejudices which prevent men\nfrom choosing and entering into true and lasting prosperity. The first\nis that men will always persist in seeking their happiness in something\noutside themselves; the second is that even when they come to see where\ntrue happiness lies they cannot find the way to it. In our Lord's time\neven wise and godly people thought the permanent glory and happiness of\nmen were to be found in a free state, in self-government, lightened\ntaxes, impregnable fortresses, and a purified social order. And they\nwere not altogether wrong; but the way to this condition, they thought,\nlay through the enthronement of a strong-handed monarch, who could\ngather round his throne wise counsellors and devoted followers. This was\nthe form of worldliness which our Lord had to contend with. This was the\ntendency of the unspiritual mind in His day. But in every generation and\nin all men the same radical misconceptions exist, although they may not\nappear in the same forms.\n\nIn dealing with Nicodemus, a sincere and thoroughly decent but\nunspiritual man, our Lord had difficulty in lifting his thoughts off\nwhat was external and worldly and fixing them on what was inward and\nheavenly.[10] And in order to effect this, He told him, among other\nthings, that the Son of man was indeed to be lifted up--yes, but not on\na throne set up in Herod's palace. He was to be conspicuous, but it was\nas the Brazen Serpent was conspicuous, hanging on a pole for the healing\nof the people. His lifting up, His exaltation, was secure; He was to be\nraised above every name that is named; He was destined to have the\npre-eminence in all things, to be exalted above all principalities and\npowers; He was to have all power in heaven and in earth; He was to be\nthe true and supreme Lord of all,--yes; but this dignity and power were\nto be attained by no mere official appointment, by no accidental choice\nof the people, by no mere hereditary title, but by the sheer force of\nmerit, by His performing services for men which made the race His own,\nby His leaving no depth of human degradation unexplored, by a sympathy\nwith the race and with individuals which produced in Him a total\nself-abandonment, and suffered Him to leave no grievance unconsidered,\nno wrong unthought of, no sorrow untouched. There is no royal road to\nhuman excellence; and Jesus could reach the height He reached by no\nswift ascension of a throne amidst the blare of trumpets, the flaunting\nof banners, and the acclamations of the crowd, but only by being exposed\nto the keenest tests with which this world can confront and search\nhuman character, by being put through the ordeal of human life, and\nbeing found the best man among us; the humblest, the truest; the most\nfaithful, loving, and enduring; the most willing servant of God and man.\n\nIt was this which Christ sought to suggest to Nicodemus, and which we\nall find it hard to learn, that true glory is excellence of character,\nand that this excellence can be reached only through the difficulties,\ntrials, and sorrows of a human life. Christ showed men a new glory and a\nnew path to it--not by arms, not by statesmanship, not by inventions,\nnot by literature, not by working miracles, but by living with the poor\nand becoming the friend of forsaken and wicked men, and by dying, the\nJust for the unjust. He has been lifted up as the Brazen Serpent was, He\nhas become conspicuous by His very lowliness; by a self-sacrifice so\ncomplete that He gave His all, His life, He has won to Himself all men\nand made His will supreme, so that it and no other shall one day\neverywhere rule. He gave Himself for the healing of the nations, and the\nvery death which seemed to extinguish His usefulness has made Him the\nobject of worship and trust to all.\n\nThis is certainly the point of analogy between Himself and the Brazen\nSerpent which our Lord chiefly intended to suggest--that as the serpent\nwas _lifted up_ so as to be seen from every part of the camp, even so\nthe death of the Son of man was to make Him conspicuous and easily\ndiscernible. It is by their death that many men have become immortalized\nin the memory of the race. Deaths of gallantry, of heroism, of\nself-devotion have often wiped out and seemed to atone for preceding\nlives of dissipation and uselessness. The life of Christ would have been\ninefficient without His death. Had He only lived and taught, we should\nhave known more than was otherwise possible, but it is doubtful whether\nHis teaching would have been much listened to. It is His death in which\nall men are interested. It appeals to all. A love that gave its life for\nthem, all men can understand. A love that atoned for sin appeals to all,\nfor all are sinners.\n\nBut though this is the chief point of analogy there are others. We do\nnot know _precisely_ what the Israelites would think of the Brazen\nSerpent. We need not repeat from the sacred narrative the circumstances\nin which it was formed and lifted up in the wilderness. The singularity\nof the remedy provided for the plague of serpents under which the\nIsraelites were suffering, consisted in this, that it resembled the\ndisease. Serpents were destroying them, and from this destruction they\nwere saved by a serpent. This special mode of cure was obviously not\nchosen without a reason. To those among them who were instructed in the\nsymbolic learning of Egypt there might be in this image a significance\nwhich is lost to us. From the earliest times the serpent had been\nregarded as man's most dangerous enemy--more subtle than any beast of\nthe field, more sudden and stealthy in its attack, and more certainly\nfatal. The natural revulsion which men feel in its presence, and their\ninability to cope with it, seemed to fit it to be the natural\nrepresentative of the powers of spiritual evil. And yet, strangely\nenough, in the very countries in which it was recognised as the symbol\nof all that is deadly, it was also recognised as the symbol of life.\nHaving none of the ordinary members or weapons of the wilder lower\ncreatures, it was yet more agile and formidable than any of them; and,\ncasting its skin annually, it seemed to renew itself with eternal youth.\nAnd as it was early discovered that the most valuable medicines are\npoisons, the serpent, as the very \"personification of poison,\" was\nlooked upon as not only the symbol of all that is deadly, but also of\nall that is health-giving. And so it has continued to be, even to our\nown days, the recognised symbol of the healing art, and, wreathed round\na staff, as Moses had it, it may still be seen sculptured on our own\nhospitals and schools of medicine.\n\nBut whatever else the agonised people saw in the brazen image, they must\nat any rate have seen in its limp and harmless form a symbol of the\npower of their God to make all the serpents round about them as harmless\nas this one. The sight of it hanging with drooping head and motionless\nfangs was hailed with exultation as the trophy of deliverance from all\nthe venomous creatures it represented. They saw in it their danger at an\nend, their enemy triumphed over, their death slain. They knew that the\nmanufactured serpent was only a sign, and had in itself no healing\nvirtue, but in looking at it they saw, as in a picture, God's power to\novercome the most noxious of evils.\n\nThat which Moses lifted up for the healing of the Israelites was a\nlikeness, not of those who were suffering, but of that from which they\nwere suffering. It was an image, not of the swollen limbs and\ndiscoloured face of the serpent-bitten, but of the serpents that\npoisoned them. It was this image, representing as slain and harmless the\ncreature which was destroying them, which became the remedy for the\npains it inflicted. Similarly, our Lord instructs us to see in the cross\nnot so much our own nature suffering the extreme agony and then hanging\nlifeless, as sin suspended harmless and dead there. All the virus seemed\nto be extracted from the fiery, burning fangs of the snakes, and hung up\ninnocuous in that brazen serpent; so all the virulence and venom of sin,\nall that is dangerous and deadly in it, our Lord bids us believe is\nabsorbed in His person and rendered harmless on the cross.\n\nWith this representation the language of Paul perfectly agrees. God, he\ntells us, \"made Christ to be sin for us.\" It is strong language; yet no\nlanguage that fell short of this would satisfy the symbol. Christ was\nnot merely made man, He was made sin for us. Had He merely become man,\nand thus become involved in our sufferings, the symbol of the serpent\nwould scarcely have been a fair one. A better image of Him would in that\ncase have been a poisoned Israelite. His choice of the symbol of the\nbrazen serpent to represent Himself upon the cross justifies Paul's\nlanguage, and shows us that He habitually thought of His own death as\nthe death of sin.\n\nChrist being lifted up, then, meant this, whatever else, that in His\ndeath sin was slain, its power to hurt ended. He being made sin for us,\nwe are to argue that what we see done to Him is done to sin. Is He\nsmitten, does He become accursed, does God deliver Him to death, is He\nat last slain and proved to be dead, so certainly dead that not a bone\nof Him need be broken? Then in this we are to read that sin is thus\ndoomed by God, has been judged by Him, and was in the cross of Christ\nslain and put an end to--so utterly slain that there is left in it not\nany so faint a flicker or pulsation of life that a second blow need be\ngiven to prove it really dead.\n\nWhen we strive to get a little closer to the reality and understand in\nwhat sense, and how, Christ represented sin on the cross, we recognise\nfirst of all that it was not by His being in any way personally tainted\nby sin. Indeed, had He Himself been in the faintest degree tainted by\nsin this would have prevented Him from representing sin on the cross. It\nwas not an actual serpent Moses suspended, but a serpent of brass. It\nwould have been easy to kill one of the snakes that were biting the\npeople, and hang up its body. But it would have been useless. To exhibit\none slain snake would only have suggested to the people how many were\nyet alive. Being itself a real snake, it could have no virtue as a\nsymbol. Whereas the brazen serpent represented all snakes. In it each\nsnake seemed to be represented. Similarly, it was not one out of a\nnumber of real sinners that was suspended on the cross, but it was one\nmade \"in the likeness of sinful flesh.\" So that it was not the sins of\none person which were condemned and put an end to there, but sin\ngenerally.\n\nThis was easily intelligible to those who saw the crucifixion. John the\nBaptist had pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin\nof the world. How does a Lamb take away sin? Not by instruction, not by\nexample, but by being sacrificed; by standing in the room of the sinner\nand suffering instead of him. And when Jesus, Himself without sin, hung\nupon the cross, those who knew His innocence perceived that it was as\nthe Lamb of God He suffered, and that by His death they were delivered.\n\nAnother point of analogy between the lifting-up of the serpent and the\nlifting-up of the Son of Man on the cross is to be found in the\ncircumstance that in each case the healing result is effected through a\nmoral act on the part of the healed person. A look at the brazen\nserpent was all that was required. Less could not have been asked: more,\nin some cases, could not have been given. If deliverance from the pain\nand danger of the snake-bite had been all that God desired, He might\nhave accomplished this without any concurrence on the part of the\nIsraelites. But their present agony was the consequence of their\nunbelief, and distrust, and rebellion; and in order that the cure may be\ncomplete they must pass from distrust to faith, from alienation to\nconfidence and attachment. This cannot be accomplished without their own\nconcurrence. But this concurrence may be exercised and may be exhibited\nin connection with a small matter quite as decisively as in connection\nwith what is difficult. To get a disobedient and stubborn child to say,\n\"I am sorry,\" or to do the smallest and easiest action, is quite as\ndifficult, if it be a test of submission, as to get him to run a mile,\nor perform an hour's task. So the mere uplifting of the eye to the\nbrazen serpent was enough to show that the Israelite believed God's\nword, and expected healing. It was in this look that the will of man met\nand accepted the will of God in the matter. It was by this look the\npride which had led them to resist God and rely upon themselves was\nbroken down; and in the momentary gaze at the remedy appointed by God\nthe tormented Israelite showed his reliance upon God, his willingness to\naccept His help, his return to God.\n\nIt is by a similar act we receive healing from the cross of Christ. It\nis by an act which springs from a similar state of mind. \"Every one that\n_believeth_,\"--that is all that is required of any who would be healed\nof sin and its attendant miseries. It is a little and an easy thing in\nitself, but it indicates a great and difficult change of mind. It is so\nslight and easy an action that the dying can do it. The feeblest and\nmost ignorant can turn in thought to Him who died upon the cross, and\ncan, with the dying thief, say, \"Lord, remember me.\" All that is\nrequired is a sincere prayer to Christ for deliverance. But before\nanyone can so pray, he must hate the sin he has loved, and must be\nwilling to submit to the God he has abandoned. And this is a great\nchange; too difficult for many. Not all these Israelites were healed,\nthough the cure was so accessible. There were those who were already\ninsensible, torpid with the heavy poison that ran through their blood.\nThere were those whose pride could not be broken, who would rather die\nthan yield to God. There were those who could not endure the thought of\na life in God's service. And there are those now who, though they feel\nthe sting of sin, and are convulsed and tormented by it, cannot bring\nthemselves to seek help from Christ. There are those who do not believe\nChrist can deliver them; and there are those to whom deliverance\nweighted with obligation to God, and giving health to serve Him, seems\nequally repugnant with death itself. But where, there is a sincere\ndesire for reconcilement with God, and for the holiness which maintains\nus in harmony with God, all that is needed is trust in Christ, the\nbelief that God has appointed Him to be our Saviour, and the daily use\nof Him as our Saviour.\n\nIn proceeding to make a practical use of what our Lord here teaches, our\nfirst duty, plainly, is to look to Him for life. He is exhibited\ncrucified--it is our part to trust in Him, to appropriate for our own\nuse His saving power. We need it. We know something of the deadly nature\nof sin, and that with the first touch of its fang death enters our\nframe. We have found our lives poisoned by it. Nothing can well be a\nfitter picture of the havoc sin makes than this plague of serpents--the\nslender weapon sin uses, the slight _external_ mark it leaves, but,\nwithin, the fevered blood, the fast dimming sight, the throbbing heart,\nthe convulsed frame, the rigid muscles no longer answering to our will.\nDo we not find ourselves exposed to sin wherever we go? In the morning\nour eyes open on its vibrating fangs ready to dart upon us; as we go\nabout our ordinary employments we have trodden on it and been bitten ere\nwe are aware; in the evening, as we rest, our eye is attracted, and\nfascinated, and held by its charm. Sin is that from which we cannot\nescape, from which we are at no time, nor in any place, secure; from\nwhich, in point of fact, no one of us has escaped, and which in every\ncase in which it has touched a man has brought death along with it.\nDeath may not at once appear; it may appear at first only in the form of\na gayer and intenser life; as, they tell us, there is one poison which\ncauses men to leap and dance, and another which distorts the face of the\ndying with a hideous imitation of laughter. Is that not a diseased soul\nwhich has no vigour for righteous and self-sacrificing work; whose\nvision is so dim it sees no beauty in holiness?\n\nOf this condition, faith in God through Christ is the true remedy.\nReturn to God is the beginning of all healthy spiritual life. Faith\nmeans that all distrust, all resentment at what has happened in our\nlife, all proud and all despondent thoughts, are laid aside. To believe\nthat God is loving us tenderly and wisely, and to put ourselves\nunreservedly into His hand, is eternal life begun in the soul.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[10] In saying, \"Art thou the teacher of Israel, and knowest not these\nthings?\" our Lord hints that it is bad enough for an ordinary Israelite\nto be so ignorant, but for a teacher how much worse. If the teacher is\nthus obtuse, what are the taught likely to be? Is this the state of\nmatters I must confront? And in saying that the subjects of conversation\nwere \"earthly\" (ver. 12) He meant that the necessity of regeneration or\nentrance into the kingdom of God was a matter open to observation and\nits occurrence a fact which might be tested here upon earth.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\n_THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA._\n\n\n    \"When therefore the Lord knew how that the Pharisees had heard that\n    Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although\n    Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples), He left Judaea, and\n    departed again into Galilee. And He must needs pass through Samaria.\n    So He cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel\n    of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: and Jacob's well was\n    there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus by\n    the well. It was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of\n    Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink. For\n    His disciples were gone away into the city to buy food. The\n    Samaritan woman therefore saith unto Him, How is it that Thou, being\n    a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews\n    have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said unto her,\n    If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,\n    Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have\n    given thee living water. The woman saith unto Him, Sir, Thou hast\n    nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast\n    Thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob,\n    which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and\n    his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that\n    drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of\n    the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water\n    that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing\n    up unto eternal life. The woman saith unto Him, Sir, give me this\n    water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw.\n    Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.\"--JOHN\n    iv. 1-16.\n\n\nJesus left Jerusalem because His miracles were attracting the wrong kind\nof people, and creating a misconception of the nature of His kingdom. He\nwent into the rural districts, where He had simpler, less sophisticated\npersons to deal with. Here He gained many disciples, who accepted\nbaptism in His name. But here again His very success endangered His\nattainment of His great end. The Pharisees, hearing of the numbers who\nflocked to His baptism, fomented a quarrel between His disciples and\nthose of John; and would, moreover, have probably called Him to account\nfor presuming to baptize at all. But why should He have feared a\ncollision with the Pharisees? Why should He not have proclaimed Himself\nthe Messiah? The reason is obvious. The people had not had sufficient\nopportunity to ascertain the character of His work; and only by going\nabout among them could He impress upon susceptible spirits a true sense\nof the nature of the blessings He was willing to bestow. To the woman of\nSamaria He did not hesitate to proclaim Himself, because she was a\nsimple-minded woman, who was in need of sympathy and spiritual strength.\nBut from controversial Pharisees, who were prepared to settle His claims\nby one or two trifling theological tests, He withdrew. The time would\ncome when, after conferring on many humble souls the blessings of the\nkingdom, He must publicly proclaim Himself King; but as yet that time\nhad not arrived, and therefore He left Judaea for Galilee.\n\nA line drawn from Jerusalem to Nazareth would pass through the entire\nbreadth of Samaria, and quite close to the town of Sychar. Between\nJudaea, where Jesus was, and Galilee, where He wished to be, the province\nof Samaria intervened. It stretched right across from the sea to the\nJordan, so that the Jews, who were too scrupulous to pass through\nSamaritan territory, were compelled to cross the Jordan twice, and make\na considerable _detour_ if they wished to go to Galilee. Our Lord had no\nsuch scruples; besides, the springs near Salim, where John was\nbaptizing, were not far from Sychar, and He might wish to see John on\nHis way north. He took, therefore, the great north road, and one day at\nnoon[11] found Himself at Jacob's well, where the road divides, and\nwhere, at any rate, it was natural that a tired traveller should rest\nduring the mid-day hours. Jacob's well is still extant, and is one of\nthe few undisputed localities associated with our Lord's life.\nTravellers of all shades of theological opinion and of no theological\nopinion are agreed that the deep well, now much choked with _debris_,\nlying twenty minutes east of Nablus, is the veritable well on the stone\nrim of which our Lord sat. Ten minutes' walk north of this well lies a\nvillage now called El-Askar, which represents in name and partly in\nlocality the Sychar of the text. Partly in locality I say, for\n\"Palestine was ten times as populous in the days of our Lord as it is\nat present;\" and there is therefore good ground for the supposition that\nalthough now but a little village or hamlet, Sychar was then\nconsiderably larger, and extended nearer to the well. Coming, then, to\nthis well, and being tired with the forenoon's walk, our Lord sat down,\nwhile the disciples went forward to the town to buy bread.\n\nAnd thus arose that conversation with the woman of Sychar, which has\nbrought hope and comfort to many a thirsting and weary soul besides.\nThat which struck the woman herself and the disciples is not that which\nis likely to impress us most distinctly. We all feel the unsurpassed\ndelicacy and grace of the whole scene. No poet ever imagined a situation\nin which the free movements of human nature, the picturesqueness of\noutward circumstance, and the profoundest spiritual interests were so\nhappily, easily, and effectively combined. Yet the chief thing which\nstruck the woman herself and the disciples was the ease with which Jesus\nbroke down the wall of partition which the hatred of centuries had\nerected between Jew and Samaritan.\n\nTo estimate aright the magnanimity and originality of our Lord's action\nin making Himself and His salvation accessible to this woman, the marked\nseparation that had hitherto existed must be borne in mind. The\nSamaritans were of heathen origin. In the Second Book of Kings, chap,\nxvii., we read that Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, pursuing the usual\npolicy of his empire, carried the Israelites to Babylonia, and sent\ncolonists from Babylonia to occupy their cities and land. These\ncolonists found the country overrun by wild beasts, which had multiplied\nduring the years of depopulation; and accepting this as proof that the\nGod of the land was not pleased, they begged their monarch to send them\nan Israelitish priest, who would teach them the manner of the God of the\nland. Their application was granted, and an adulterated Judaism was\ngrafted on their native religion. They accepted the five Books of Moses,\nand looked for a Messiah--as indeed they still do. The origin of their\nhatred of the Jews is told in Ezra. When the Jews returned from exile\nand began to rebuild the temple, the Samaritans begged to be allowed to\nshare in the work. \"Let us build with you,\" they said, \"for we seek your\nGod as ye do; and we sacrifice unto Him since the days of Esarbaddon.\"\nBut their request was bluntly refused; they were treated as heathens,\nwho had no part in the religion of Israel. Hence the implacable\nreligious enmity which for centuries manifested itself in all sorts of\npetty annoyances, and, when occasion offered, more serious injuries.\n\nThis Samaritan woman, then, was taken quite aback when the quiet figure\non the well, which by dress and accent she had recognised as that of a\nJew, uttered the simple request, \"Give me to drink.\" As any Samaritan\nwould have done, she twitted the Jew with showing a frankness and\nfriendliness which she supposed were wholly due to His own keen thirst\nand helplessness to quench it. But, to her still greater surprise, He\ndoes not wince before her thrust, nor awkwardly apologise, or seek to\nexplain, but gravely and earnestly, and with dignity, utters the\nperplexing but thought-provoking words: \"If thou knewest the gift of\nGod, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest\nhave asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.\" He\nperceived the interest of the situation, saw with compassion her entire\nignorance of the presence in which she stood, and of the possibilities\nwithin her reach. So do the most important issues often hinge on slight,\ntrivial, every-day incidents. The turning-points in our career have\noften nothing to show that they are turning-points. We unconsciously\ndetermine our future, and bind ourselves with chains we can never break,\nby the way in which we deal with apparent trifles. We do not know the\nforces that lie hidden all around us; and for want of knowledge we miss\na thousand opportunities. The sick man drags out a miserable existence,\nincapacitated and useless, while within his reach, but unrecognised, is\na remedy which would give him health. It is often by a very little that\nthe scientific or philosophical student fails to make the discovery he\nseeks; one more fact known, one idea fitted into its proper place, and\nthe thing is done. The gold-digger throws aside his pick in despair at\nthe very point where another stroke would have turned up the ore. So\nwith some among ourselves; they pass through life alongside of that\nwhich would make all eternity different to them, and yet for lack of\nknowledge, for lack of consideration, the thin veil continues to hide\nfrom them their true blessedness. Like the crew that were perishing from\nthirst, though surrounded by the fresh waters of the River Amazon that\npenetrated far into the salt ocean, so we, surrounded on all hands by\nGod and upheld by Him, and living in Him, yet do not know it, and\nrefrain from dipping our buckets and drawing out of His life-giving\nfulness. How often, looking on those who, like this Samaritan woman,\nhave gone wrong and know no recovery, who go through their daily duties\nsad and heavy at heart and weary of sin--how often do these words rise\nto our lips, \"If only thou knewest.\" How often does one long to be able\nto shed a sudden and universal light into the minds of men that would\nreveal to them the goodness, the power, the all-conquering love of God.\nYes, and even in those who can speak intelligently of things Divine and\neternal, how much blindness remains. For the knowledge of words is one\nthing, the knowledge of things, of realities, is another. And many who\ncan speak of God's love have never yet seen what that means for\nthemselves. Certainly it is true of us all, that if we are not deriving\nfrom Christ what we recognise as living water, it is because there is a\ndefect in our knowledge, because we do not know the gift of God.\n\nIn two particulars this woman's knowledge was defective: she did not\nknow the gift of God, nor who it was that spoke to her.\n\nShe did not know the gift of God. She was not expecting anything from\nthat quarter. Her expectations were limited by her earthly condition and\nher physical wants. With affections worn out, with character gone, with\nno purifying joy, she came out listlessly day by day, filled her\npitcher, and went her weary way. She had no thought of God's gift, no\nbelief that the Eternal was with her, and desired to communicate to her\na spring of deep and ever-flowing joy. Doubtless she would have\nacknowledged God as the Giver of all good; but she had no idea of the\ncompleteness of His giving, of the freeness of His love, of His\nperception and understanding of our actual wants, of the joy with which\nHe provides for them all. Through all ages and for all men there remains\nthis gift of God, sought and found by those who know it; different from\nand superior to the best human gifts, inheritances, and acquisitions;\nnot to be drawn out of the deepest, most cherished well of human\nsinking; steadily arrogating to itself an infinite superiority to all\nthat men have regarded and busily sunk their pitchers in; a gift which\neach man must ask for himself, and having for himself knows to be the\ngift of God to him, the recognition by God of his personal wants, and\nthe assurance to him of God's everlasting regard. This gift of God, that\ncarries to each soul the sense of His love, is His deliverance from\nevil. It is His answer to the misery and vanity of the world which He\nhas resolved to redeem to worth and blessedness. It is all that is given\nin Christ, the hope, the holy impulses, the new views of life--but above\nall it is the means of conveyance that brings God to us, His love to our\nhearts.\n\nWhat, then, can teach a man to know this gift? What can make a man for a\nwhile forget the lesser gifts that perish in the using? What can\nreasonably induce him to turn from the accredited sources round which\nmen in all ages have crowded, what can induce him to forego fame,\nwealth, bodily comfort, domestic happiness, and seek first of all God's\nrighteousness? May we not all well pray with Paul, \"that we may have not\nthe spirit of the world but the Spirit of God, _that we may know the\nthings that are freely given us of God_;\" that we may see the small\nvalue of wealth or power or any of those things which can be won by mere\nworldly prudence or greed; and may learn fixedly to believe that the\nthings of true value are the internal, spiritual possessions, which the\nunsuccessful may have as well as the successful, and which are not so\nmuch won by us as given by God?\n\nJesus further describes this gift as \"living water,\" a description\nsuggested by the circumstances, and only figurative. Yet it is a figure\nof the same kind as pervades all human language. Water is an essential\nof animal and vegetable life. With a constantly recurring appetite we\nseek it. To have no thirst is a symptom of disease or death. But the\nsoul also, not having life in itself, needs to be sustained from\nwithout; and when in a healthy state it seeks by a natural appetite that\nwhich will sustain it. And as most of our mental acts are spoken of in\nterms of the body, as we speak of _seeing_ truth and _grasping_ it, as\nif the mind had hands and eyes, so David naturally exclaims, \"My soul\n_thirsts_ for the living God.\" In the living soul there is a craving for\nthat which maintains and revives its life, which is analogous to the\nthirst of the body for water. The dead alone feel no thirst for God. The\nsoul that is alive sees for a moment the glory and liberty and joy of\nthe life to which God calls us; it feels the attraction of a life of\nlove, purity, and righteousness, but it seems continually to sink from\nthis and to tend to become dull and feeble, and to have no joy in\ngoodness. Just as the healthy body delights in work, but wearies and\ncannot go on exerting itself for many hours together, but must repair\nits strength, so the soul soon wearies and sinks back from what is\ndifficult, and needs to be revived by its appropriate refreshment.\n\nAnd this woman, if for a moment she felt as if Christ were playing with\nher or making her enigmatical offers that could never bring her any\nsubstantial good, was immediately made aware that He who made these\noffers had fully in view the harshest facts of her domestic life.\nMystified, she is also attracted and expectant. She cannot mistake the\nsincerity of Jesus; and, scarcely knowing what she asks, and with her\nmind still running on relief from her daily drudgery, she says, \"Sir,\ngive me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.\" In\nprompt response to her faith Jesus says, \"Go, call thy husband, and come\nhither.\" The water which He means to give cannot be given before thirst\nfor it is awakened. And in order to awaken her thirst He turns her back\nupon the shameful wretchedness of her life, that she may forget the\nwater of Jacob's well in thirst for relief from shame and misery. In\nrequiring her thus to face the facts of her guilty life, in encouraging\nher to bring clear before Him all her sinful entanglement, He responds\nto her request, and gives her the first draught of living water. For\nthere is no abiding spiritual satisfaction which does not begin with a\nfair and frank consideration of our past, and which does not proceed\nupon the actual facts of our own life. If this woman is to enter into a\nhopeful and cleansed life, she must enter through confession of her need\nof cleansing. No one can slink out of his past life, forgetting or\nhuddling up what is shameful. It is only through truth and\nstraightforwardness we can enter into that life which is all truth and\nintegrity. Before we drink the living water we must truly thirst for it.\n\nIf the inquiry be more closely pressed, and if it be asked what this\nSamaritan woman would find to be living water to her, what it was which,\nafter Christ had gone, would daily renew in her the purpose to live a\nbetter life and to bear her burden cheerfully and hopefully, it will be\nseen that it must have been simply the remembrance of Christ; the\nknowledge that in Christ God had sought her, had claimed her in the\nmidst of her evil life for some better and holier thing, had, in a word,\nloved her through all her sin, and sent deliverance to her. It is\nstill, and always, this knowledge which comes with fresh exhilarating\npower to every disconsolate, despairing, fainting soul. The knowledge\nthat there is One, the Holiest of all, who loves us, and who will be\nsatisfied with nothing short of the purest blessedness for us; the\nknowledge that our God follows us, forgives us, elevates and purifies us\nby His love, this is living water to our souls; this revives us to the\nlove of goodness, and braces us for all effort. It is not a little\ncistern that soon runs dry. To the end of a Christian's life this fact\nof God's love in Christ comes as fresh and as reviving to the soul as at\nfirst; to us this day it has the same power of supplying motive to our\nlife as it had when Christ spoke to the woman.\n\nHe further defines the gift as \"a well of water _in the soul_ itself\nspringing up to everlasting life.\" This peculiarity of the water He\nwould give was remarked upon here for the sake of contrasting it with\nthe well outside the city to which the woman in all weathers had to\nrepair; often wishing, no doubt, as she went out in the heat or in the\nrain, that she had a well at her door. The source of spiritual life is\nwithin; it cannot be inaccessible; it does not depend on anything from\nwhich we may be separated. And this is man's victory and end when within\nhimself he has the source of life and joy, so that he is independent of\ncircumstances, of position, of things present and things to come. It was\na commonplace even of heathen philosophy, that no man is happy until he\nis superior to fortune; that his happiness must have an inward source,\nmust depend on his own spiritual state, and not on outward\ncircumstances. Similarly Solomon thought it a saying worthy of\npreservation that \"the good man is satisfied from himself;\" that is, he\nshall not look to success in life, or to comfortable circumstances, or\neven to domestic happiness or the society of old friends, as a sure and\nunfailing source of joy; but shall be at bottom independent of\neverything save what he carries always and everywhere in himself.\nNothing is more pitiable than the restlessness one sees in some people;\nhow they can find nothing in themselves, but are ever going from place\nto place, from entertainment to entertainment, from friend to friend,\nseeking something to give them rest, and finding nothing, because they\nseek it without and not within. It is Christ dwelling in the heart by\nfaith that is alone the fountain of living water. It is His inward\npresence, apprehended by faith, by imagination, by knowledge, that\nrevives the soul continually. It is thus that God makes us partakers of\nthe life that is only in Him, linking us to Himself by our will, by all\nthat is deepest in us, and so producing true and lasting spiritual life.\n\nThe woman was blinded by her ignorance on a second point; she did not\nknow who it was that said to her, \"Give Me to drink.\" Until we know\nChrist we cannot know God: it is to Christ we owe all our best thoughts\nabout God. This woman, when she had met the absolute goodness and\nkindness of Christ, had for ever different thoughts of God. So as we\nlook at Christ our thought of God expands, and we learn to expect\nsubstantial good from Him. Yet often, like this woman, we are in\nChrist's presence without knowing it, and listen, like her, to His\nappeals without understanding the majesty of His person and the\ngreatness of our opportunity. He does offer largely; He speaks as if He\nwere perfect master of the human heart, knew its every experience, and\ncould satisfy it. He speaks of the gift He has to bestow in terms which\nconvict Him of silly and heartless extravagance if that gift be not\nperfect; He has, in plain words, misled and deceived a large part of\nmankind, and especially those who were well inclined and thirsting for\nrighteousness, if He cannot perfectly satisfy the soul. He challenges\nmen in the most grievous and undone conditions to come to Him; He calls\nthem off from every other source and stay, and bids them trust to Him\nfor everything. If a man expects to find in Him all that the human heart\ncan contain of joy, and all that the human nature is susceptible of, he\ndoes not expect more than the explicit offers of Christ Himself warrant.\nManifestly such offers are at least worth considering. May it not be\ntrue that if we were to awake to the knowledge of Christ, we might now\nfind His pretensions to be well founded? He professes to bestow what is\nworth our immediate acceptance, His friendship, His Spirit. What if it\nshould be now that He seeks to come to _our_ heart with these words, \"If\n_thou_ knewest who it is that speaketh.\" Yes, if but for one hour we saw\nGod's gift, and Him through whom He offers it, _we_ should become the\nsuppliants. Christ would no longer need to knock at our door; we should\nwait and knock at His.\n\nFor in truth it is always the same request He urges to all. In His words\nto the woman, \"Give Me to drink,\" there was more than the mere request\nthat He would lift her pitcher to His lips. Driven from Judaea, wearied\nas much with the blindness of men as with His journey, He sat on the\nwell. Everything He saw had that day some spiritual meaning for Him. The\nbread His disciples brought reminded Him of His true support, the\nconsciousness that He was doing His Father's will; the fields whitening\nfor harvest suggested to Him the nations unconsciously ripening for the\ngreat Christian ingathering. And when He said to the woman, \"Give Me to\ndrink,\" He thought of the intenser satisfaction she could give Him by\nconfiding in Him and accepting His help. In her person there stands\nbefore Him a new, untried race. Oh that she may prove more accessible\nthan the Jews, and may allay His thirst for the salvation of men! His\nparched tongue seems forgotten in the interest of His talk with her. And\nto which of us has He not in this sense said, \"Give Me to drink\"? Is it\ncruelty to refuse a cup of cold water to a thirsting child, and none to\nrefuse to quench the thirst of Him who hung upon the cross for us? Ought\nwe to feel no shame that the Lord is still in want of what we can give?\nThis woman knew it was a real thirst which could induce a Jew to ask\ndrink from her. Has He not sufficiently shown the reality of His thirst\nfor our friendship and trust? Could it be a feigned desire that led Him\nto do all He has done? Are we never to have the joy of appropriating His\nlove as spent upon us; are we never with humble ecstasy to exclaim:--\n\n    \"Weary satst Thou seeking _me_,\n    Diedst redeeming on the tree.\n    Can in vain such labour be\"?\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[11] Some good authorities hold that John reckoned the hours of the day\nfrom midnight, not from sunrise. It is, however, probable that John\nadopted the Roman reckoning, and counted noon the sixth hour.\n\n\n\n\nX.\n\n_JESUS DECLARES HIMSELF._\n\n\n    \"The woman answered and said unto Him, I have no husband. Jesus\n    saith unto her, Thou saidst well, I have no husband: for thou hast\n    had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband:\n    this hast thou said truly. The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I perceive\n    that Thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain;\n    and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to\n    worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh,\n    when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship\n    the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which\n    we know: for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour cometh, and\n    now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit\n    and in truth: for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers.\n    God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit\n    and truth. The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messiah cometh\n    (which is called Christ): when He is come, He will declare unto us\n    all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am\n    He.\"--JOHN iv, 17-26.\n\n\nIn this conversation at Jacob's well the woman for some time, quite\nnaturally, misses the point of what Jesus says. It does not occur to her\nthat by \"water\" He means anything else than what she could carry in her\npitcher. Even when He speaks of causing a well to spring up \"within\nherself,\" she still thinks merely of the domestic convenience of some\nsuch arrangement, and begs Him to give what would save Her the endless\ntrouble of coming to draw water out of Jacob's well. This simplicity has\nits good side, as also has her obvious confidence in His words. Jesus\nsees in this child-like simplicity and directness a much more hopeful\nsoil for His message than He had found even in a thoughtful man of\neducation like Nicodemus. He seeks, therefore, to prepare the soil\nfurther by quickening within her a sense of spiritual want. This may\nbest be effected by backing her into her actual life. Therefore He says,\n\"Go, call thy husband, and come hither.\" And in this simple way He leads\nthe woman at once to recognise His prophetic insight into her condition,\nand to bring His offers into connection with her character and her life.\nAnd there was that in her manner of owning Him as a prophet, a frankness\nand a simplicity in uttering her mind and listening to His\nexplanations, that prompted Him explicitly to say, \"I that speak unto\nthee am the Messiah.\"\n\nTo this unfortunate and ill-living alien woman, then, Jesus declared\nHimself as He had not declared Himself to the well-to-do, respectable\nJewish rabbis. The reason of this difference in our Lord's treatment of\nindividuals arises from the different dispositions they manifest.\nAcknowledgment of His power to work miracles may seem at first sight as\ngood a certificate for Christian discipleship as acknowledgment of His\nprophetic power. But it is not so; because such an acknowledgment of His\nprophetic insight as this woman made is an acknowledgment of His power\nover the human heart and life. He who is thus felt to penetrate to the\nhidden acts, and to lay His hand upon the deepest secrets of the heart,\nis recognised as in a personal connection with the individual; and this\nis the foundation on which Christ can build, this is the beginning of\nthat vital connection with Him which gives newness of life. Those who\nare merely solving a problem when they are considering the claims of\nChrist, are not likely to have any personal revelation made to them. But\nto every one, who, like this woman, shows some desire to receive His\ngifts, and who is not above owning that life is a very poor affair\nwithout some such thing as He offers; to every one who is conscious of\nsin, and who looks to Him as able to deliver from all its foul\nentanglement, He does make Himself known. To such persons He will\ndisclose Himself when He sees that they are ripe for the disclosure. To\nsuch the moment of moments will come, when to them He will say: \"I that\nspeak unto thee am He.\"\n\nThis distinction between the chemist who analyses the living water, and\nthe thirsting soul that uses it, runs very deep, and may be commended\nto the consideration of any who are apt to be carried away by the\ncurrent of unbelief that characterizes much of our literature. I think\nit may be said that in writers distinguished by a lack of Christian\nbelief there will commonly be found an absence of what is popularly and\nfitly called \"an awakened conscience.\" It will be found that they do not\nknow what it is to look at Christ from the point of view of this woman,\nfrom the point of view of a shattered and wretched life, and a\nconscience that day by day is saying, It is I myself who have broken my\nlife, and doing so I have become a transgressor, and need pardon,\nguidance, strength. Acute thought, an admirable faculty of explaining\nand enforcing what is thought, we find in abundance; but we certainly do\nnot find a spirit humbled by a sense of sin and a conscience alive to\nthe deepest obligations. So far as can be gathered from the writings of\nthe most conspicuous unbelievers, they do not possess the first\nrequisite for discerning a Saviour--namely, a sense of need. They lack\nthe prime preparation for speaking on such a subject; they have never\ndealt fairly with their own sin. We do not consult a deaf man if we wish\nto ascertain whether the noise we have heard is thunder or the rumbling\nof a cart; neither can we expect that those will be the best teachers\nregarding God in whom the faculty by which we chiefly discern God--viz.,\nthe conscience--has been less exercised than any other. It is through\nthe conscience God makes Himself most distinctly felt; it is in\nconnection with the moral law we come most clearly in contact with Him;\nand convictions of God's Being and connection with us root themselves in\nthe soul that a sense of sin has ploughed.\n\nI am far from saying that in deciding upon the claims of Christ the\nunderstanding is to have no voice. The understanding must have a voice\nhere as elsewhere. But it is a strong presumption in Christ's favour\nthat He offers precisely what sinners need; and it is decisive in His\nfavour when we find that He actually gives what sinners need. If it is\npractically found that He is the force that lifts thousands and\nthousands of human beings out of sin; if He has, in point of fact,\nbrought light to those in deep darkness, comfort and courage to the\ndesolate and heavily burdened, consecration and purity to the outcast\nand the corrupt, then, plainly, He is what He claims to be, and we owe\nHim our faith.\n\nIf God is to reveal Himself at all, the revelation must be made not\nsolely or chiefly to the understanding, but to that part of us which\ndetermines character, and is capable of appreciating character. The\nrevelation must be moral not intellectual. As our Lord's ministry\nproceeded He recognised that it was always the simple who most readily\naccepted and trusted Him; and He recognised that this was a thing to be\nthankful for: \"I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that\nThou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed\nthem unto babes.\" And every one who thinks of it sees that it must be\nso--that a man's destiny must be decided not by his understanding, but\nby his character and leanings; not by his ability or disability to\nbelieve this or that, or to prove that his belief is well grounded, but\nby his aspirations, by the real bent of his heart. We should feel that\nthere was something very far wrong if our faith depended upon proofs\nthat not every one could master, and if thus the clever man had an\nadvantage over the humble and contrite. \"The evidence must be such that\nspiritual character shall be an element in the acceptance of it.\" And\nsuch we find it to be. The reality and the significance of the\nrevelation of God in Christ are more readily apprehended by the\nspiritually than by the intellectually gifted. Persons who are either by\nnature humble and docile, or whom life has taught to be so, persons who\nfeel their need of God, and deeply long for an eternal state of peace\nand purity, these are the persons to whom God finds it possible to make\nHimself known. And if it be thought that this circumstance, that simple\nand docile spirits are convinced while hard-headed men are unconvinced,\nthrows some suspicion on the reality of the revelation, if it be thought\nthat the God and the eternity they believe in are but fancies of their\nown, it may fairly be replied, that there is no more reason for such a\nthought than for supposing that the rapture of a trained musician is\nfanciful and self-created, and not excited by any corresponding reality,\nbecause it is not shared by those whose taste for music is unawakened.\n\nConvinced that Jesus was a prophet, the woman proposes to Him the\nstanding subject of debate between Jews and Samaritans. Her statement of\nit is abrupt, and offers some appearance of being intended to turn the\nconversation away from herself; but this does not harmonise with her\nsimple and direct character, and it is quite possible that in the midst\nof her confused and disappointed life she had sometimes wondered whether\nall her misery did not arise from her being a Samaritan. She knew what\nthe Jews said of the Samaritan worship. She knew that they mocked at the\nTemple which stood on the hill over against Jacob's well; and when she\nfound how very little her worship had helped her, she may have begun to\nsuspect that there was truth in the Jewish allegations. Evidently the\naspect of the Messiah, which had chiefly struck her, was His power to\nlead men into all truth, to teach them all things. Persons in her\nstation, and quite as much overborne by sin as she, often retain their\nhold upon religious teaching; and in the midst of much that is\nsuperstitious they have a spark of true hope and longing for redemption.\nJesus shows by the gravity and importance of His answer that He\nconsidered the woman sincere in the statement of her difficulty, and\nanxious to know where God might really be found. Perplexed and\nbewildered by her earthly experience, as so many of us are, she suddenly\nawakes to the consciousness that here, before her, and conversing with\nher, is a prophet; and at once she utters to Him what had been burning\nin her heart, \"Where, where is God to be found?\"\n\nAnd so in reply to the inquiry of one sincere woman Jesus makes that\ngreat announcement which has ever since stood as the manifesto of\nspiritual worship. Not in any particular and isolated place, He tells\nthe woman, is God to be found, not in the temple at Jerusalem, nor in\nthe rival structure on Gerizim, but in spirit. \"God is a Spirit, and\nthey that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.\" As our Lord\nintimates, this was a new kind of worship, essentially different from\nthat to which Jews and Samaritans, and indeed all men, had hitherto been\naccustomed.\n\nThe magnitude of the contents of such sayings can as little be\ncomprehended as their significance can be exhausted. We have first of\nall the central affirmation: \"God is a Spirit.\" To fill out this\ndefinition with intelligible ideas is difficult. It implies that He is a\nPersonal Being, that He is self-conscious, possessed of intelligence and\nwill; but although Personal His Personality transcends our conception.\nSo far as regards the immediate application of the definition by our\nLord at this time, it suffices to note its primary meaning that God has\nnot a body, and consequently is subject to none of the limitations and\nconditions to which the possession of a body subjects human persons. He\nneeds no local dwelling-place, no temple, no material offerings. In\nlocal worship there was an advantage while the world was young, and men\ncould best be taught by symbols. A house in their midst, of which they\nmight say, \"God is there,\" was undoubtedly an aid to faith. But it had\nits disadvantages. For the more a worshipper fixed his mind on the one\nlocal habitation, the less could he carry with him the consciousness of\nGod's presence in all places.\n\nVery slowly do we learn that God is a Spirit. We think nothing is more\nsurely believed among us. Alas! make almost any application of this\nradical truth, and we find how little it is believed. Take, for example,\nthe appearances and voices by which intimations were made to godly men\nin Old Testament times. Why are many people reluctant to allow that\nthese manifestations were inward and to conscience, that they came as\nconvictions wrought by an unseen power, rather than as outward\nappearances or audible voices? Is it not because the truth that God is a\nSpirit is not adequately apprehended? Or why again do we so crave for\nsigns, for clearer demonstrations of God's being and of His presence?\nOught we not to be satisfied if He responds to spiritual aspirations,\nand if we find that our craving for holiness is met and gratified?\n\nThe inference drawn by our Lord from the truth that God is a Spirit is\none which needs still to be pressed. God seeks to be worshipped not by\noutward forms or elaborate ritual but in spirit. Ordinary teachers\nwould have put in a saving clause to preserve some forms of worship;\nChrist puts in none. Let men worship God in spirit, and let forms take\ntheir chance. To worship God in spirit is to yield the unseen but motive\npowers within us to the unseen but Almighty influences which we\nrecognise as Divine. It is to prostrate our spirit before the Divine\nSpirit. It is in our deepest being, in will and intention, to offer\nourselves up to Him in whom goodness is personified. When a man is doing\nthat, what does it matter what he says to God, or with what forms of\nworship he comes before Him? That alone is acceptable worship which\nconsists in the devout approach of the human spirit to the Divine; and\nthat is accomplished often as effectually in our business intercourse\nwith men when tempted to injustice, or in our homes when tempted to\nanger or to laxity, as when we are in the house of God. Worship in the\nspirit needs no words, no appointed place, but only a human soul that\nbows inwardly before the goodness of God, and submits itself cordially\nto His sovereign and loving will.\n\nThis certainly is a strong argument for simplicity of worship. Why, it\nmay indeed be said, why have any outward worship at all? Why have\nchurches and why have Divine service? Well, it would have been better\nfor the Church if there had been far less outward worship than there\ncommonly has been. For by its elaborate services the Church has far too\nmuch identified religion with that worship which can only be rendered in\nchurch. No one can be surprised that in utter disgust at the\ndisproportion between outward and spiritual worship, between the\ngorgeous and fussy services that profess so much, and the slender and\nrare devotion of the soul to God, discerning men should have turned\ntheir back on the whole business, and declined to be partakers in so\nhuge and profane a farce. Milton in his later years attended no Church\nand belonged to no communion. This certainly is to run to the opposite\nextreme. No doubt that worship may be real and acceptable which is\noffered in the silence and solitude of a man's spirit; but we naturally\nutter what we feel, and by the utterance strengthen the feelings that\nare good, and rid ourselves of the bitterness and strain of those that\nare painful and full of sorrow. Besides, the Church is, before all else,\na society. Our religion is meant to bring us together; and though it\ndoes so more effectually by inspiring us with kindliness and helpfulness\nin life than by a formal meeting together for no purposes of active\ncharity, yet the one fellowship aids the other, as many of us well know.\n\nWhile, then, we accept Christ's statement in its fullest significance,\nand maintain that our \"reasonable service\" is the offering of ourselves\nas living sacrifices, that spiritual worship is offered not in church\nonly or mainly, but in doing God's will with a hearty good-will, we all\nthe rather see how needful it is to utter ourselves to God as we do in\nour social worship; for as the wife would need some patience who was\ncared for indeed by her husband in the supply of her common wants, but\nhad never a word of affection spoken to her, so our relations to God are\nnot satisfactory unless we utter to Him our devotion as well as show it\nin our life. He was one of the wisest of English writers who said, \"I\nalways thought fit to keep up some mechanical forms of good breeding (in\nmy family), without which freedom ever destroys friendship.\" Precisely\nso, he who omits the outward and verbal expression of regard to God,\nwill soon lose that regard itself.\n\nBut if the words of Christ were not intended to put an end to outward\nworship altogether, they do, as I have said, form a strong argument for\nsimplicity of worship. No forms whatever are needed that our spirit may\ncome into communion with God. Let us begin with this. As true and\nperfect worship may be rendered by the dying man, who cannot lift an\neyelid or open his lips, as by the most ornate service that combines\nperfect liturgical forms with the richest music man has ever written.\nRich music, striking combinations of colour and of architectural forms,\nare nothing to God so far as worship goes, except in so far as they\nbring the human spirit into fellowship with Him. Persons are differently\nconstituted, and what is natural to one will be formal and artificial to\nanother. Some worshippers will always feel that they get closer to God\nin private, in their own silent room, and with nothing but their own\ncircumstances and wants to stimulate them; they feel that a service\ncarefully arranged and abounding in musical effects does indeed move\nthem, but does not make it easier for them to address themselves to God.\nOthers, again, feel differently; they feel that they can best worship\nGod in spirit when the forms of worship are expressive and significant.\nBut in two points all will agree: first, that in external worship, while\nwe strive to keep it simple we should also strive to make it good--the\nbest possible of its kind. If we are to sing God's praise at all, then\nlet the singing be the best possible, the best music a congregation can\njoin in, and executed with the utmost skill that care can develop. Music\nwhich cannot be sung save by persons of exceptional musical talent is\nunsuitable for congregational worship; but music which requires no\nconsideration, and admits of no excellence, is hardly suitable for the\nworship of God. I do not know what idea of God's worship is held by\npersons who never put themselves to the least trouble to improve it so\nfar as they are concerned.\n\nThe other point in which all will agree, is that where the spirit is not\nengaged there is no worship at all. This goes without saying. And yet,\nsubtract from our worship all that is merely formal, and how much do you\nleave? Worse still, there are those who do not even strive after the fit\nand decorous form, who do not bow their heads in prayer, who are not\nashamed to be seen looking about them during the most solemn acts of\nworship, who show that they are indevout, thoughtless, profane.\n\nThe true worshippers shall worship the Father not only \"in spirit,\" but\nalso \"in truth.\" The word \"truth\" here probably covers two ideas--the\nideas of reality and of accuracy. It is opposed to symbolic worship and\nto ignorant worship. It does not mean that worship was now to be\nsincere, for that it had already been both among Samaritans and Jews.\nBut among the Jews the worship of God had been symbolical, and among the\nSamaritans it had been ignorant.\n\nThe Jewish worship had been symbolical, every person and thing, every\ncolour, gesture, movement, having a meaning for the initiated. The time\nfor this, says our Lord, is past. We are to worship really. They need no\nlonger take an animal to the temple to symbolise that they gave\nthemselves to God; they were to spend their whole care on the _real_\nthing, on giving themselves to God; they were not to set candles about\ntheir altars to show that light was come into the world, they were\nthemselves to shine as lights lit by Christ; they were not to swing\ncensers to symbolise the sweet-smelling prayers of the saints, they were\nto offer prayers from humble hearts. In effect Christ said, You are\ngrown up now, and can understand the realities; put away then these\nchildish things. And those who continue to worship with various robes,\nand prescribed gesticulations and movements, and pictures, and altars,\nand everything to impress the senses, write themselves down children\namong grown-up people.\n\nTruth is opposed also to error or misconception about the object of\nworship. Christ, by His presence, enables men to worship the Father in\ntruth. He gives them the true idea of God. He makes God real, giving an\nactuality to our thought of God which we could not otherwise arrive at;\nand He shows us God as He truly is, connected with ourselves by love;\nholy, merciful, just.\n\n\n\n\nXI.\n\n_THE SECOND SIGN IN GALILEE._\n\n\n    \"In the mean while the disciples prayed Him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But\n    He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not. The\n    disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought Him\n    aught to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of\n    Him that sent Me, and to accomplish His work. Say not ye, There are\n    yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto\n    you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white\n    already unto harvest. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth\n    fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may\n    rejoice together. For herein is the saying true, One soweth and\n    another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not\n    laboured: others have laboured, and ye are entered into their\n    labour. And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on Him\n    because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all\n    things that ever I did. So when the Samaritans came unto Him, they\n    besought Him to abide with them: and He abode there two days. And\n    many more believed because of His word; and they said to the woman,\n    Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for\n    ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.\n    And after the two days He went forth from thence into Galilee. For\n    Jesus Himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own\n    country. So when He came into Galilee, the Galilaeans received Him,\n    having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast:\n    for they also went unto the feast. He came therefore again unto Cana\n    of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain\n    nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus\n    was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto Him, and besought\n    Him that He would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the\n    point of death. Jesus therefore said unto him, Except ye see signs\n    and wonders, ye will in no wise believe. The nobleman saith unto\n    Him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy\n    way; thy son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto\n    him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants\n    met him, saying, that his son lived. So he inquired of them the hour\n    when he began to amend. They said therefore unto him, Yesterday at\n    the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was\n    at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and\n    himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second sign\n    that Jesus did, having come out of Judaea into Galilee\"--JOHN iv.\n    31-54.\n\n\nThe disciples, when they went forward to buy provisions in Sychar, left\nJesus sitting on the well wearied and faint. On their return they find\nHim, to their surprise, elate and full of renewed energy. Such\ntransformations one has often had the pleasure of seeing. Success is a\nbetter stimulant than wine. Our Lord had found one who believed Him and\nvalued His message; and this brought fresh life to His frame. The\ndisciples go on eating, and are too busy with their meal to lift their\neyes; but as they eat they talk over the prospects of the harvest in the\nrich fields through which they have just walked. Meanwhile our Lord sees\nthe men of Sychar coming out of the town in obedience to the woman's\nrequest, and calls His disciples' attention to a harvest more worthy of\ntheir attention than the one they were discussing: \"Were you not saying\nthat we must wait four months till harvest comes again[12] and cheapens\nthe bread for which you have paid so dear in Sychar? But lift up your\neyes and mark the eager crowd of Samaritans, and say if you may not\nexpect to reap much this very day. Are not the fields white already to\nharvest? Here in Samaria, which you only wished quickly to pass through,\nwhere you were looking for no additions to the Kingdom, and where you\nmight suppose sowing and long waiting were needed, you see the ripened\ngrain. Others have laboured, the Baptist and this woman and I, and ye\nhave entered into their labours.\"\n\nAll labourers in the Kingdom of God need a similar reminder. We can\nnever certainly say in what state of preparedness the human heart is; we\ndo not know what providences of God have ploughed it, nor what thoughts\nare sown in it, nor what strivings are being even now made by the\nspringing life that seeks the light. We generally give men credit, not\nperhaps for less thought than they have, for that is scarcely possible,\nbut for less capacity of thought. The disciples were good men, but they\nwent into Sychar judging the Samaritans good enough to trade with, but\nnever dreaming of telling them the Messiah was outside their town. They\nmust have been ashamed to find how much more capable an apostle the\nwoman was than they. I think they would not wonder another time that\ntheir Lord should condescend to talk with a woman. The simple,\nunthinking, untroubled directness of a woman will often have a matter\nfinished while a man is meditating some ponderous and ingenious\ncontrivance for bringing it to pass. Let us not fall into the mistake of\nthe disciples, and judge men good enough to buy and sell with, but quite\nalien to the matters of the Kingdom.\n\n                    \"There is a day in spring\n    When under all the earth the secret germs\n    Begin to stir and glow before they bud.\n    The wealth and festal pomps of midsummer\n    Lie in the heart of that inglorious hour\n    Which no man names with blessing, though its work\n    Is bless'd by all the world. Such days there are\n    In the slow story of the growth of souls.\"\n\nSuch days may be passing in those around us, though all unknown to us.\nWe can never tell how many months there are till harvest. We never know\nwho or what has been labouring before we appear on the scene.\n\nThe woman's testimony was enough to excite curiosity. The men on her\nword came out to judge for themselves. What they saw and heard completed\ntheir conviction; \"And they said to the woman, Now we believe, not\nbecause of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that\nthis is indeed the Saviour of the world.\" This growth of faith is one of\nthe subjects John delights to exhibit. He is fond of showing how a weak\nand ill-founded faith may grow into a faith that is well rooted and\nstrong.\n\nThis Samaritan episode is significant as an integral part of the Gospel,\nnot only because it shows how readily unsophisticated minds perceive the\ninalienable majesty of Christ, but also because it forms so striking a\nfoil to the reception our Lord had met with in Jerusalem, and was\nshortly to meet with in Galilee. In Jerusalem He did many miracles; but\nthe people were too political and too prejudiced to own Him as a\nspiritual Lord. In Galilee He was known, and might have expected to be\nunderstood; but there the people longed only for physical blessings and\nthe excitement of miracles. Here in Samaria, on the contrary, He did no\nmiracles, and had no forerunner to herald His approach. He was found a\nweary wayfarer, sitting by the roadside, begging for refreshment. Yet,\nthrough this appearance of weakness, and dependence, and lowliness,\nthere shone His native kindness, and truth, and kingliness, to such a\ndegree, that the Samaritans, although naturally suspicious of Him as a\nJew, believed in Him, delighted in Him, and proclaimed Him \"Saviour of\nthe world.\"\n\nAfter two days of happy intercourse with the Samaritans Jesus continues\nHis journey to Galilee. The proverbial expression which our Lord used\nregarding His relation to Galilee--that a prophet has no honour in his\nown country--is one we have frequent opportunity of verifying. The man\nthat has grown up among us, whom we have seen struggling up through the\nignorance, and weakness, and folly of boyhood, whom we have had to help\nand to protect, can scarcely receive the same respect as one who\npresents himself a mature man, with already developed faculties, no\nlonger a learner, but prepared to teach. Montaigne complained that in\nhis own country he had to purchase publishers, whereas elsewhere\npublishers were anxious to purchase him. \"The farther off I am read from\nmy own home,\" he says, \"the better I am esteemed.\" The men of Anathoth\nsought Jeremiah's life when he began to prophesy among them.\n\nIt is not the truth of the proverb that presents any difficulty, but its\napplication to the present case. For the fact that a prophet has no\nhonour in his own country would seem to be a reason for His declining to\ngo to Galilee, whereas it is here introduced as His reason for going\nthere. The explanation is found in the beginning of the chapter, where\nwe are told that it was in search of retirement He was now leaving the\npopularity and publicity of Judaea, and repairing to His own country.\n\nBut, as frequently on other occasions, He now found that He could not\nbe hid. His countrymen, who had thought so little of Him previously, had\nheard of His Judaean fame, and echoed the recognition and applause of the\nsouth. They had not discovered the greatness of this Galilean, although\nHe had lived among them for thirty years; but no sooner do they hear\nthat He has created a sensation in Jerusalem than they begin to be proud\nof Him. Every one has seen the same thing a hundred times. A lad who has\nbeen despised as almost half-witted in his native place goes up to\nLondon and makes a name for himself as poet, artist, or inventor, and\nwhen he returns to his village everybody claims him as cousin. Such a\nchange of sentiment was not likely to escape the observation of Jesus\nnor to deceive Him. It is with an accent of disappointment, not\nunmingled with reproach, that He utters His first recorded words in\nGalilee: \"Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe.\"\n\nThis sets us in the point of view from which we can clearly see the\nsignificance of the one incident which John selects from all that\nhappened during our Lord's stay in Galilee at this time. John wishes to\nillustrate the difference between the Galilean and the Samaritan faith,\nand the possibility of the one growing into the other; and he does so by\nintroducing the brief narrative of the courtier from Capernaum.\nAccounts, more or less accurate, of the miracles of Jesus in Jerusalem\nhad found their way even into the household of Herod Antipas. For no\nsooner was He known to have arrived in Galilee than one of the royal\nhousehold sought Him out to obtain a boon which no royal favour could\ngrant. The supposition is not without plausibility that this nobleman\nwas Chuza, Herod's chamberlain, and that this miracle, which had so\npowerful an effect on the family in which it was wrought, was the\norigin of that devotion to our Lord which was afterwards shown by\nChuza's wife.\n\nThe nobleman, whoever he was, came to Jesus with an urgent request. He\nhad come twenty miles to appeal to Jesus, and he had been unable to\ntrust his petition to a messenger. But instead of meeting this\ndistracted father with words of sympathy and encouragement, Jesus merely\nutters a general and chilling observation. Why is this? Why does He seem\nto lament that this father should so urgently plead for his son? Why\ndoes He seem only to submit to the inevitable, if He grants the request\nat all? Might it not even seem as if He wrought the miracle of healing\nrather for His own sake than for the boy's or for the father's sake,\nsince He says, \"Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise\nbelieve\"--that is, will not believe _in Me_?\n\nBut these words did not express any reluctance on the part of Jesus to\nheal the nobleman's son. Possibly they were intended, in the first\ninstance, to rebuke the desire of the father that Jesus should go with\nhim to Capernaum and pronounce over the boy words of healing. The father\nthought the presence of Christ was necessary. He had not attained to the\nfaith of the centurion, who believed that an expression of will was\nenough. Jesus, therefore, demands a stronger faith; and in His presence\nthat stronger faith which can trust His word is developed.\n\nThe words, however, were especially a warning that His physical gifts\nwere not the greatest He had to bestow, and that a faith which required\nto be buttressed by the sight of miracles was not the best kind of\nfaith. Our Lord was always in danger of being looked upon as a mere\nthaumaturge, who could dispense cures merely as a physician could within\nhis own limits order a certain treatment. He was in danger of being\nconsidered a dispenser of blessings to persons who had no faith in Him\nas the Saviour of the world. It is therefore with the accent of one who\nsubmits to the inevitable that He says, \"Except ye see signs and\nwonders, ye will in no wise believe.\"\n\nBut especially did our Lord wish to point out that the faith He approves\nand delights in is a faith which does not require miracles as its\nfoundation. This higher faith He had found among the Samaritans. Many of\nthem believed, as John is careful to note, because of His conversation.\nThere was that in Himself and in His talk which was its own best\nevidence. Some men who introduce themselves to us, to win our\ncountenance to some enterprise, carry integrity in their whole bearing;\nand we should feel it to be an impertinence to ask them for credentials.\nIf they offer to prove their identity and trustworthiness we waive such\nproof aside, and assure them that they need no certificate. This had\nbeen our Lord's experience in Samaria. There no news of His miracles had\ncome from Jerusalem. He came among the Samaritans from nobody knew\nwhere. He came without introduction and without certificate, yet they\nhad discernment to see that they had never met His like before. Every\nword He spoke seemed to identify Him as the Saviour of the world. They\nforgot to ask for miracles. They felt in themselves His supernatural\npower, lifting them into God's presence, and filling them with light.\n\nThe Galilaean faith was of another kind. It was based on His miracles; a\nkind of faith He deplored, although He did not quite repudiate it. To be\naccepted not on His own account, not because of the truth He spoke, not\nbecause His greatness was perceived and His friendship valued, but\nbecause of the wonders He performed--this could not be a pleasant\nexperience. We do not greatly value the visits of a person who cannot\nget on without our advice or assistance; we value the friendship of him\nwho seeks our company for the pleasure he finds in it. And although we\nmust all be ceaselessly and infinitely dependent on the good offices of\nChrist, our faith should be something more than a counting upon His\nability and willingness to discharge these good offices. A faith which\nis merely selfish, which recognises that Christ can save from disaster\nin this life or in the life to come, and which cleaves to Him solely on\nthat account, is scarcely the faith that Christ approves. There is a\nfaith which responds to the glory of Christ's personality, which rests\non what He is, which builds itself on the truth He utters, and\nrecognises that all spiritual life centres in Him; it is this faith He\napproves. They who find in Him the link they have sought with the\nspiritual world, the pledge they have needed to certify them of an\neternal righteousness, they to whom the supernatural is revealed more\npatently in Himself than in His miracles, are those whom the Lord\ndelights in.\n\nBut the lower kind of faith may be a step to the higher. The agony of\nthe father can make nothing of general principles, but can only\nreiterate the one petition, \"Come down ere my child die.\" And Jesus,\nwith His perfect knowledge of human nature, sees that it is vain trying\nto teach a man in this absorbed condition of mind, and that probably the\nvery best way to clarify his faith and lead him to higher and worthier\nthoughts is to grant his request--a hint not to be overlooked or\ndespised by those who seek to do good, and who are, possibly, sometimes\na little prone to obtrude their teaching at most inopportune seasons--at\nseasons when it is impossible for the mind to admit anything but the one\nabsorbing topic. Circumstances are, in general, much better educators of\nmen than any verbal teaching; and that verbal teaching can only do harm\nwhich interposes between the moving events that are occurring and the\nperson who is passing through them. The success of our Lord's method was\nproved by the result; which was, that the slender faith of this nobleman\nbecame a genuine faith in Christ as the Lord, a faith which his whole\nhousehold shared.\n\nFrom the very greatness of Christ, and our consequent inability to bring\nHim into comparison with other men, we are apt to miss some of the\nsignificant features of His conduct. In the circumstances before us, for\nexample, most teachers at an early stage in their career would have been\nin some excitement, and would probably have shown no reluctance to\naccede to the nobleman's request, and go down to his house, and so make\na favourable impression on Herod's court. It was an opportunity of\ngetting a footing in high places which a man of the world could not have\noverlooked. But Jesus was well aware that if the foundations of His\nkingdom were to be solidly laid, there must be excluded all influence of\na worldly kind, all the overpowering constraint which fashion and great\nnames exercise over the mind. His work, He saw, would be most\nenduringly, if most slowly, done in a more private manner. His own\npersonal influence on individuals must first of all be the chief agency.\nHe speaks, therefore, to this nobleman without any regard to his rank\nand influence; indeed, rather curtly dismisses him with the words, \"Go,\nthy son lives.\" The total absence of display is remarkable. He did not\ngo to Capernaum, to stand by the sickbed, and be acknowledged as the\nhealer. He made no bargain with the nobleman that if his son recovered\nhe would let the cause be known. He simply did the thing, and said\nnothing at all about it.\n\nThough it was only one in the afternoon when the nobleman was dismissed\nhe did not go back to Capernaum that night--why, we do not know. A\nthousand things may have detained him. He may have had business for\nHerod in Cana or on the road as well as for himself; the beast he rode\nmay have gone lame where he could not procure another; at any rate, it\nis quite uncalled for to ascribe his delay to the confidence he had in\nChrist's word, an instance of the truth, \"He that believeth shall not\nmake haste.\" The more certainly he believed Christ's word the more\nanxious would he be to see his son. His servants knew how anxious he\nwould be to hear, for they went to meet him; and were no doubt\nastonished to find that the sudden recovery of the boy was due to Him\nwhom their master had visited. The cure had travelled much faster than\nhe who had received the assurance of it.\n\nThe process by which they verified the miracle and connected the cure\nwith the word of Jesus was simple, but perfectly satisfactory. They\ncompared notes regarding the time, and found that the utterance of Jesus\nwas simultaneous with the recovery of the boy. The servants who saw the\nboy recover did not ascribe his recovery to any miraculous agency; they\nwould no doubt suppose that it was one of those unaccountable cases\nwhich occasionally occur, and which most of us have witnessed. Nature\nhas secrets which the most skilful of her interpreters cannot disclose;\nand even so marvellous a thing as an instantaneous cure of a hopeless\ncase may be due to some hidden law of nature. But no sooner did their\nmaster assure them that the hour in which the boy began to amend was the\nvery hour in which Jesus said he would get better, than they all saw to\nwhat agency the cure was due.\n\nHere lies the special significance of this miracle; it brings into\nprominence this distinctive peculiarity of a miracle, that it consists\nof a marvel which is coincident with an express announcement of it, and\nis therefore referrible to a personal agent.[13] It is the two things\ntaken together that prove that there is a superhuman agency. The marvel\nalone, a sudden return of sight to the blind, or of vigour to the\nparalysed, does not prove that there is anything supernatural in the\ncase; but if this marvel follows upon the word of one who commands it,\nand does so in all cases in which such a command is given, it becomes\nobvious that this is not the working of a hidden law of nature, nor a\nmere coincidence, but the intervention of a supernatural agency. That\nwhich convinced the nobleman's household that a miracle had been wrought\nwas not the recovery of the boy, but his recovery in connection with the\nword of Jesus. What they felt they had to account for was not merely the\nmarvellous recovery, but his recovery at that particular time. Even\nthough it could be shown, then,--as it can never be,--that every cure\nreported in the Gospels might possibly be the result of some natural\nlaw, even though it could be shown that men born blind might receive\ntheir sight without a miracle, and that persons who had consulted the\nbest physician suddenly recovered strength--this, we are to remember, is\nby no means the whole of what we have to account for. We have to account\nnot only for sudden, and certainly most extraordinary cures, but also\nfor these cures following uniformly, and in every case the word of One\nwho said the cure would follow. It is this coincidence which puts it\nbeyond a doubt that the cures can be referred only to the will of\nChrist.\n\nAnother striking feature of this miracle is that the Agent was at a\ndistance from the subject of it. This is, of course, quite beyond our\ncomprehension. We cannot understand how the will of Jesus, without\nemploying any known physical means of communication between Himself and\nthe boy, without even appearing before him so as to seem to inspire him\nby look or word, should instantaneously effect his cure. The only\npossible link of such a kind between the boy and Jesus was that he may\nhave been aware that his father had gone to seek help for him, from a\nrenowned physician, and may have had his hopes greatly excited. This\nsupposition is, however, gratuitous. The boy may quite as likely have\nbeen delirious, or too young to know anything; and even though this\nslender link did exist, no sensible person will build much on that. And\ncertainly it is encouraging to find that even while on earth our Lord\ndid not require to be in contact with the person healed. \"His word was\nas effective as His presence.\" And if it is credible that while on earth\nHe could heal at the distance of twenty miles, it is difficult to\ndisbelieve that He can from heaven exercise the same omnipotent will.\n\nNOTE.--It is not apparent why John appends the remark, \"This is again\nthe second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judaea into Galilee.\"\nHe may, perhaps, have only intended to call attention more distinctly to\nthe place where the miracle was wrought. This idea is supported by the\nfact that John shows, on parallel lines, the manifestation of Christ in\nJudaea and in Galilee. It is just possible that he may have wished to\nwarn readers of the Synoptical Gospels, that Jesus had not yet begun the\nGalilaean ministry with which these Gospels open.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[12] The words (ver. 35) have quite the ring of a proverb--a proverb\npeculiar to seed-time and for the encouragement of the sower. If uttered\non this occasion in seed-time, this gives December as the date.\n\n[13] This is lucidly taught in Mozley's _Bampton Lectures_.\n\n\n\n\nXII.\n\n_SABBATH CURE AT BETHESDA._\n\n\n    \"After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up\n    to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool,\n    which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. In these\n    lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered. And a\n    certain man was there, which had been thirty and eight years in his\n    infirmity. When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a\n    long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made\n    whole? The sick man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water\n    is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another\n    steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy\n    bed, and walk. And straightway the man was made whole, and took up\n    his bed and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews\n    said unto him that was cured, It is the Sabbath, and it is not\n    lawful for thee to take up thy bed. But he answered them, He that\n    made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.\n    They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up thy bed,\n    and walk? But he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had\n    conveyed Himself away, a multitude being in the place. Afterward\n    Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art\n    made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee.\"--JOHN v.\n    1-14.\n\n\nThe miracle here recorded is selected by John because in it Jesus\nplainly signified that He had power to quicken whom He would (v. 21),\nand because it became the occasion for the unbelief of the Jews to begin\nthe hardening process and appear as opposition.\n\nThe miracle was wrought when Jerusalem was full; although whether at the\nFeast of Tabernacles, or Purim, may be doubted. The pool at the\nsheep-gate or sheep-market is commonly identified with the Fountain of\nthe Virgin, which still supplies a bath known as _Hammam esh Shefa_, the\nBath of Healing. It seems to have been an intermittent spring, which\npossessed some healing virtue for a certain class of ailments. Its\nrepute was well established, for a great multitude of hopeful patients\nwaited for the moving of the waters.[14]\n\nTo this natural hospital Jesus wended His way on the Sabbath of the\nfeast. And as the trained eye of the surgeon quickly selects the worst\ncase in the waiting-room, so is the eye of Jesus speedily fixed on \"a\nman which had an infirmity thirty and eight years,\" a man paralysed\napparently in mind as well as in body. Few employments could be more\nutterly paralysing than lying there, gazing dreamily into the water, and\nlistening to the monotonous drone of the cripples detailing symptoms\nevery one was sick of hearing about. The little periodic excitement\ncaused by the strife to be first down the steps to the bubbling up of\nthe spring was enough for him. Hopeless imbecility was written on his\nface. Jesus sees that for him there will never be healing by waiting\nhere.\n\nGoing up to this man, our Lord confronts him with the arousing question,\n\"Are you desiring to be made whole?\" The question was needful. Not\nalways are the miserable willing to be relieved. Medical men have\nsometimes offered to heal the mendicant's sores, and their aid has been\nrejected. Even the invalid who does not trade pecuniarily on his disease\nis very apt to trade upon the sympathy and indulgence of friends, and\nsometimes becomes so debilitated in character as to shrink from a life\nof activity and toil. Those who have sunk out of all honest ways of\nliving into poverty and wretchedness are not always eager to put\nthemselves into the harness of honest labour and respectability. And\nthis reluctance is exhibited in its extreme form in those who are\ncontent to be spiritual imbeciles, because they shrink from all arduous\nwork and responsible position. Life, true life such as Christ calls us\nto, with all its obligations to others, its honest and spontaneous\ndevotion to spiritual ends, its risks, its reality, and purity, does not\nseem attractive to the spiritual valetudinarian. In fact, nothing so\nthoroughly reveals a man to himself, nothing so clearly discloses to him\nhis real aims and likings, as the answer he finds he can give to the\nsimple question, \"Are you willing to be made whole? Are you willing to\nbe fitted for the highest and purest life?\"\n\nThe man is sufficiently alive to feel the implied rebuke, and\napologetically answers, \"Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool. It\nis not that I am resigned to this life of uselessness, but I have no\noption.\" The very answer, however, showed that he was hopeless. It had\nbecome the established order of things with him that some one\nanticipated him. He speaks of it as regularly happening--\"another steps\ndown before me.\" He had no friend--not one that would spare time to wait\nbeside him and watch for the welling up of the water. And he had no\nthought of help coming from any other quarter. But there is that in the\nappearance and manner of Jesus that quickens the man's attention, and\nmakes him wonder whether He will not perhaps stand by him and help him\nat the next moving of the waters. While these thoughts are passing\nthrough his mind the words of Jesus ring with power in his ears, \"Rise,\ntake up thy bed, and walk.\" And he who had so long waited in vain to be\nhealed at the spring, is instantaneously made whole by the word of\nJesus.\n\nJohn habitually considered the miracles of Jesus as \"signs\" or object\nlessons, in which the spiritual mind might read unseen truth. They were\nintended to present to the eye a picture of the similar but greater\nworks which Jesus wrought in the region of the spirit. He heals the\nblind, and therein sets Himself before men as the Light of the world. He\ngives the hungry bread, but is disappointed that they do not from this\nconclude that He is Himself the Bread sent by the Father to nourish to\nlife everlasting. He heals this impotent man, and marvels that in this\nhealing the people do not see a sign that He is the Son who does the\nFather's works, and who can give life to whom He will. It is legitimate,\ntherefore, to see in this cure the embodiment of spiritual truth.\n\nThis man represents those who for many years have known their infirmity,\nand who have continued, if not very definitely to hope for spiritual\nvigour, at least to put themselves in the way of being healed--to give\nthemselves, as invalids do, all the chances. This crowding of the pool\nof Bethesda--the house of mercy or grace--strongly resembles our\nfrequenting of ordinances, a practice which many continue in very much\nthe state of mind of this paralytic. They are still as infirm as when\nthey first began to look for cure; it seems as if their turn were never\nto come, though they have seen many remarkable cures. Theoretically they\nhave no doubt of the efficacy of Christian grace; practically they have\nno expectation that they shall ever be strong, vigorous useful men in\nHis Kingdom. If you asked them why they are so punctual in attendance on\nall religious services, they would say, \"Why, is it not a right thing to\ndo?\" Press them further with our Lord's question, \"Are you expecting to\nbe made whole? Is this your purpose in coming here?\" They will refer you\nto their past, and tell you how it has always seemed to be some other\nperson's case that was thought of, how the Spirit of God seemed always\nto have other work than that which concerned them. But here they are\nstill--and commendably and wisely so; for if this man had begun to\ndisbelieve in the virtue of the water because he himself had never\nexperienced its power, and had shut himself up in some wretched solitude\nof his own, then the eye of the Lord had never rested upon him--here\nthey are still; for the best part of a lifetime they have been on the\nbrink of health, and yet have never got it; for eight-and-thirty years\nthis man had seen that water, knew that it healed people, put his hand\nin it, gazed on it,--yes, there it was, and _could heal him_, and yet\nhis turn never came. So do these persons frequent the ordinances, hear\nthe word that can save them, touch the bread of communion, and know that\nby the blessing of God the bread of life is thereby conveyed, and yet\nyear by year goes past, and for them all remains unblessed. They begin\ndespairingly to say--\n\n    \"Thy saints are comforted, I know,\n      And love Thy house of prayer;\n    I therefore go where others go,\n      But find no comfort there.\"\n\nThis miracle shows such persons that there is a shorter way to health\nthan a languid attendance on ordinances--an attendance that is satisfied\nif there seems to be still in operation what may be useful to others. It\nis the voice of Christ they need to hear. It is that voice summoning to\nthought and hope that we all need to hear, \"Wilt thou be made whole?\"\nAre you weary and ashamed of your infirmity; would you fain be a whole\nman in Christ, able at last to walk through life as a living man, seeing\nthe beauty of God and of His work, and meeting with gladness the whole\nrequirements of a life in God? Does the very beauty of Christ's manhood,\nas He stands before you, make you at once ashamed of your weakness and\ncovetous of His strength? Do you see in Him what it is to be strong, to\nenter into life, to begin to live as a man ought always to live, and are\nyou earnestly looking to receive power from on high? To such come the\nlife-giving voice of the Word who utters God, and the life that is in\nGod.\n\nIt is important to notice that in Christ's word to the sick, \"Rise, take\nup thy bed, and walk,\" three things are implied--\n\n1. There must be a prompt response to Christ's word. He does not heal\nany one who lies sluggishly waiting to see what that word will effect.\nThere must be a hearty and immediate recognition of the speaker's truth\nand power. We cannot say to what extent the impotent man would feel a\ncurrent of nervous energy invigorating him. Probably this consciousness\nof new strength would only succeed his cordial reliance on the word of\nChrist. Obey Christ, and you will find strength enough. Believe in His\npower to give you new life, and you will have it. But do not hesitate,\ndo not question, do not delay.\n\n2. There must be no thought of failure, no making provision for a\nrelapse; the bed must be rolled up as no longer needed. How do those\ndiseased men of the Gospels rebuke us! We seem always half in doubt\nwhether we should make bold to live as whole men. We take a few feeble\nsteps, and return to the bed we have left. From life by faith in Christ\nwe sink back to life as we knew it without Christ--a life attempting\nlittle, and counting it a thing too high for us to put ourselves and our\nall at God's disposal. If we set out to swim the Channel we take care to\nhave a boat within hail to pick us up if we become exhausted. To make\nprovision for failure is in the Christian life to secure failure. It\nbetrays a half-heartedness in our faith, a lurking unbelief which must\nbring disaster. Have we rolled up our bed and tossed it aside? If Christ\nfails us, have we nothing to fall back upon? Is it faith in Him that\nreally keeps us going? Is it His view of the world and of all that is in\nit that we have accepted; or do we merely take a few steps on His\nprinciples, but in the main make our bed in the ordinary unenlightened\nworldly life?\n\n3. There must be a continuous use made of the strength Christ gives. The\nman who had lain for thirty-eight years was told to _walk_. We must\nconfront many duties without any past experience to assure us of\nsuccess. We must proceed to do them in faith--in the faith that He who\nbids us do them will give us strength for them. Take your place at once\namong healthy men; recognise the responsibilities of life. Find an\noutlet for the new strength in you. Be no longer a burden, a charge to\nothers, but begin yourself to bear the burdens of others, and be a\nsource of strength to others.\n\nBefore the man could get home with his bed he was challenged for\ncarrying it on the Sabbath. They must surely have known that he himself,\nand many more, had that very morning been carried to Bethesda. But we\ncan scarcely conclude from the Jews thus challenging the healed man that\nthey sought occasion against Jesus. They would have stopped any one\ngoing through the streets of Jerusalem with a bundle on the Sabbath.\nThey had Scripture on their side, and founded on the words of Jeremiah\n(xvii. 21), \"Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath\nday.\" Even in our own streets a man carrying a large package on Sunday\nwould attract the suspicion of the religious, if not of the police. We\nmust not, then, find a malicious intention towards Jesus, but merely the\naccustomed thoughtless bigotry and literalism, in the challenge of the\nJews.\n\nBut to their \"It is not lawful,\" the man promptly answers, perhaps only\nmeaning to screen himself by throwing the blame on another, \"He that\nmade me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed.\" The man quite\nnaturally, and without till now reflecting on his own conduct, had\nlistened to Christ's word as authoritative. He that gave me strength\ntold me how to use it. Intuitively the man lays down the great principle\nof Christian obedience. If Christ is the source of life to me, He must\nalso be the source of law. If without Him I am helpless and useless, it\nstands to reason that I must consider His will in the use of the life He\ncommunicates. This must always be the Christian's defence when the world\nis scandalised by anything he does in obedience to Christ; when he goes\nin the face of its traditions and customs; when he is challenged for\nsingularity, overpreciseness, or innovation. This is the law which the\nChristian must still bear in mind when he fears to thwart any prejudice\nof the world, when he is tempted to bide his time among the impotent\nfolk, and not fly in the face of established usage; when, though he has\ndistinctly understood what he ought to do, so many difficulties\nthreaten, that he is tempted to withdraw into obscurity and indolence.\nIt is the same Voice which gives life and directs it. Shall I then\nrefuse it in both cases, or choose it in both? Shall I shrink from its\ndirections, and lie down again in sin; or shall I accept life, and with\nit the still greater boon of spending it as Christ wills?\n\nBut though the man had thus instinctively obeyed Jesus, he actually had\nnot had the curiosity to ask who He was. It is almost incredible that he\nshould have so immediately lost sight of the person to whom he was so\nindebted. But so taken up is he with his new sensations, so occupied\nwith gathering up his mats, so beset by the congratulations and\ninquiries of his comrades at the porch, that before he bethinks himself\nJesus is gone. Among those who do undoubtedly profit by Christ's work\nthere is a lamentable and culpable lack of interest in His person. It\ndoes not seem to matter _from whom_ they have received these benefits so\nlong as they have them; they do not seem drawn to His person, ever\nfollowing to know more of Him and to enjoy His society, as the poor\ndemoniac would have done, who would gladly have left home and country,\nand who cared not what line of life he might be thrown into or what\nthrown out of, if only he might be with Christ. If one were to put the\ncase, that my prospects were eternally and in each particular changed by\nthe intervention of one whose love is itself infinite blessing, and if\nit were asked what would be my feeling towards such a person, doubtless\nI would say, He would have an unrivalled interest for me, and I should\nbe irresistibly drawn into the most intimate personal knowledge and\nrelations; but no--the melancholy truth is otherwise; the gift is\ndelighted in, the giver is suffered to be lost in the crowd. The\nspectacle is presented of a vast number of persons made blessed through\nthe intervention of Christ, who are yet more concerned to exhibit their\nown new life and acquirements, than to identify and keep hold of Him to\nwhom they owe all.\n\nAlthough the healed man seems to have had little interest in Christ,\nChrist kept His eye upon him. Finding him in the Temple, where he had\ngone to give thanks for his recovery, or to see a place he had so long\nbeen excluded from, or merely because it was a place of public resort,\nour Lord addressed him in the emphatic words, \"Sin no more, lest a\nworse thing come upon thee.\" The natural inference from these words is\nthat his disease had been brought on by sin in early life--another\ninstance of the lifelong misery a man may incur by almost his earliest\nresponsible acts, of the difficulties and shame with which a lad or a\nboy may unwittingly fill his life, but an instance also of the\nwillingness with which Christ delivers us even from miseries we have\nrashly brought upon ourselves. Further still, it is an instance of the\nvitality of sin. This man's lifelong punishment had not broken the power\nof sin within him. He knew why he was diseased and shattered. Every pain\nhe felt, every desire which through weakness he could not gratify, every\nvexing thought of what he might have made of life, made him hate his sin\nas the cause of all his wretchedness; and yet at the end of these\nthirty-eight years of punishment Christ recognised in him, even in the\nfirst days of restored health, a liability to return to his sin. But\nevery day we see the same; every day we see men keeping themselves down,\nand gathering all kinds of misery round them by persisting in sin. We\nsay of this man and that, \"How is it possible he can still cleave to his\nsin, no better, no wiser for all he has come through? One would have\nthought former lessons sufficient.\" But no amount of mere suffering\npurifies from sin. One has sometimes a kind of satisfaction in reaping\nthe consequences of sin, as if that would deter from future sin; but if\nthis will not hold us back, what will? Partly the perception that\nalready God forgives us, and partly the belief that when Christ commands\nus to sin no more He can give us strength to sin no more. Who believes\nwith a deep and abiding conviction that Christ's will can raise him\nfrom all spiritual impotence and uselessness? He, and he only, can hope\nto conquer sin. To rely upon Christ's word, \"Sin no more,\" with the same\nconfident faith with which this man acted on His word, \"Rise, take up\nthy bed\"--this alone gives victory over sin. If our own will is too\nweak, Christ's will is always mighty. Identify your will with Christ's,\nand you have His strength.\n\nBut the fear of punishment has also its place. The man is warned that a\nworse thing will fall upon him if he sins. Sinning after the beginning\nof deliverance, we not only fall back into such remorse, darkness, and\nmisery as have already in this life followed our sin, but a worse thing\nwill come upon us. But \"worse.\" What can be worse than the loss of an\nentire life; like this man, passing in disappointment, in uselessness,\nin shame, the time which all naturally expect shall be filled with\nactivity, success, and happiness; losing, and losing early, and losing\nby one's own fault, and losing hopelessly, everything that makes life\ndesirable? Few men so entirely miss life as this man did, though perhaps\nour activities are often more hurtful than his absolute inactivity, and\nunder an appearance of prosperity the heart may have been torn with\nremorse as painful as his. Yet let no man think that he knows the worst\nthat sin can do. After the longest experience we may sink deeper still,\nand indeed must do so unless we listen to Christ's voice saying,\n\"Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon\nthee.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[14] Verse 4 is omitted by recent editors on the authority of the best\nancient MSS.\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\n\n_JESUS LIFE-GIVER AND JUDGE._\n\n\n    \"The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had\n    made him whole. And for this cause did the Jews persecute Jesus,\n    because He did these things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them,\n    My Father worketh even until now, and I work. For this cause\n    therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only\n    brake the sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making\n    Himself equal with God. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them,\n    Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself,\n    but what He seeth the Father doing: for what things soever He doeth,\n    these the Son also doeth in like manner. For the Father loveth the\n    Son, and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth: and greater\n    works than these will He shew Him, that ye may marvel. For as the\n    Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son also\n    quickeneth whom He will. For neither doth the Father judge any man,\n    but He hath given all judgement unto the Son; that all may honour\n    the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the\n    Son honoureth not the Father which sent Him. Verily, verily, I say\n    unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me,\n    hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgement, but hath passed\n    out of death into life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour\n    cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of\n    God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in\n    Himself, even so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself:\n    and He gave Him authority to execute judgement, because He is the\n    Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all\n    that are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth;\n    they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they\n    that have done ill, unto the resurrection of judgement. I can of\n    Myself do nothing; as I hear, I judge: and My judgement is\n    righteous; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of Him\n    that sent Me. If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.\n    It is another that beareth witness of Me; and I know that the\n    witness which He witnesseth of Me is true. Ye have sent unto John,\n    and he hath borne witness unto the truth. But the witness which I\n    receive is not from man: howbeit I say these things, that ye may be\n    saved. He was the lamp that burneth and shineth: and ye were willing\n    to rejoice for a season in his light. But the witness which I have\n    is greater than that of John: for the works which the Father hath\n    given Me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of\n    Me, that the Father hath sent Me. And the Father which sent Me, He\n    hath borne witness of Me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any\n    time, nor seen His form. And ye have not His word abiding in you:\n    for whom He sent, Him ye believe not. Ye search the scriptures,\n    because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are\n    they which bear witness of Me; and ye will not come to Me, that ye\n    may have life. I receive not glory from men. But I know you, that ye\n    have not the love of God in yourselves. I am come in My Father's\n    name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name,\n    him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive glory one of\n    another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?\n    Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that\n    accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope. For if ye\n    believed Moses, ye would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye\n    believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?\"--JOHN v.\n    15-47.\n\n\nAs soon as the impotent man discovered who it was that had given him\nstrength, he informed the authorities, either from sheer\nthoughtlessness, or because he considered that they had a right to know,\nor because he judged that, like himself, they would rather admire the\nmiracle than take exception to the Sabbath-breaking. If this last was\nhis idea, he had not gauged the obtuseness and self-righteous spite of\nhonest and pious literalism. \"For this cause did the Jews persecute\nJesus, because He did these things on the Sabbath.\"[15] In what\nparticular form the charge of Sabbath-breaking was brought against our\nLord, whether formal or conversational and tentative, John does not say.\nHe is more concerned to give us in full the substance of His apology.\nFor the first time our Lord now gave in public an explanation of His\nclaims; and this five minutes' talk with the Jews contains probably the\nmost important truth ever uttered upon earth.\n\nThe passage embodies the four following assertions: that the healing of\nthe incurable on the Sabbath resulted from and exhibited His perfect\nunison with the Father; that this giving of life to an impotent man was\nan illustration or sign of His power to quicken whom He would, to\ncommunicate life Divine and eternal to all in whatsoever stage of\nspiritual or physical deadness they were; that His claim to possess this\nsupreme power was not mere idle assertion, but was both guaranteed by\nthis miracle, and otherwise was amply attested; and that the real root\nof their rejection of Him and His claims was to be found, not in their\nsuperior knowledge of God and regard for His will, but in their worldly\ncraving for the applause of men.[16]\n\n1. Our Lord's reply to the charge of Sabbath-breaking is, \"My Father\nworketh hitherto, and I work.\" He did not make any comment on the\nSabbath law. He did not defend Himself by showing that works of mercy\nsuch as He had done Were admissible. On other occasions He adopted this\nline of defence, but now He took higher ground. The rest of God is not\ninactivity. God does not on the Sabbath cease to communicate life to all\nthings. He does not refrain from blessing men till the sun of the\nSabbath is set. The tides rise and fall; the plants grow; the sun\ncompletes his circuit on the Sabbath as on other days. \"Why does not God\nkeep the Sabbath?\" a caviller asked of a Jew. \"Is it not lawful,\" was\nthe answer, \"for a man to move about in his own house on the Sabbath?\nThe house of God is the whole realm above and the whole realm below.\"\nFor God the Sabbath has no existence; it is a boon He has given to His\ncreatures because they need it. His untiring beneficence is needful for\nthe upholding and for the happiness of all. And it is the same\nsuperiority to the Sabbath which Jesus claims for Himself. He claims\nthat His unceasing work is as necessary to the world as the Father's--or\nrather, that He and the Father are together carrying out one work, and\nthat in this miracle the Jews find fault with He has merely acted as the\nFather's agent.\n\nFrom this statement the Jews concluded that He made Himself equal with\nGod. And they were justified in so concluding. It is only on this\nunderstanding of His words that the defence of Jesus was relevant. If He\nmeant only to say that He imitated God, and that because God did not\nrest on the Sabbath, therefore He, a holy Jew, might work on the\nSabbath, His defence was absurd. Our Lord did not mean that He was\nimitating the Father, but that His work was as indispensable as the\nFather's, was the Father's. My Father from the beginning up till now\nworketh, giving life to all; and I work in the same sphere, giving life\nas His agent and almoner to men. The work of quickening the impotent man\nwas the Father's work. In charging Him with breaking the Sabbath they\nwere charging the Father with breaking it.\n\nBut this gives Jesus an opportunity of more clearly describing His\nrelation to God. He declares He is in such perfect harmony with God that\nit is impossible for Him to do either that miracle or any other work at\nHis own instigation. \"The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He\nseeth the Father doing.\" \"I can of myself do nothing.\" He had power to\ndo it, but no will. He had life in Himself, and could give it to whom\nHe pleased; but so perfect was His sympathy with God, that it was\nimpossible for Him to act where God would not have Him act. So trained\nwas He to perceive the Divine purpose, so habituated to submit Himself\nto it, that He could neither mistake His Father's will nor oppose it. As\na conscientious man when pressed to do a wrong thing says, No, really I\n_cannot_ do it; as a son who might happen to be challenged for injuring\nHis father's business would indignantly repudiate the possibility of\nsuch a thing. \"What do I live for,\" he would say, \"but to further my\nfather's views? My father's interests and mine are identical, our views\nand purposes are identical. I _cannot_ do anything antagonistic to him.\"\nSo Jesus had from the first recognised God as His Father, and had so\ntrue and deep a filial feeling that really it was the joy of His life to\ndo His will.\n\nThis, then, was the idea the Lord sought to impress on the people on the\nfirst occasion on which He had a good opportunity of speaking in public.\nHe cannot do anything save what is suggested to Him by consideration of\nGod's will. Even as a boy He had begun to have this filial feeling.\n\"Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?\" That in Him\nwhich is most conspicuous and which He wishes to be most conspicuous is\nperfect sonship; filial trust and duty carried to its perfect height. It\nis this perfect filial unanimity with the Father which makes His life\nvaluable, significant, different from all other lives. It is this which\nmakes Him the perfect representative of the Father; which enables Him to\nbe God's perfect messenger to men, doing always and only the will of God\nin men's sight. He is in the world not for the sake of fulfilling any\nprivate schemes of His own, but having it as His sole motive and aim to\ndo the Father's will.\n\nThis perfect filial feeling had no doubt its root in the eternal\nrelation of the Son to the Father. It was the continuance, upon earth\nand under new conditions, of the life He already had enjoyed with the\nFather. Having assumed human nature, He could reveal Himself only so far\nas that nature allowed Him. His revelation, for example, was not\nuniversal, but local, confined to one place; His human nature being\nnecessarily confined to one place. He did not assert superiority to all\nhuman law; He paid taxes; He recognised lawful authority; He did not\nconvince men of His Divinity by superiority to all human infirmities; He\nate, slept, died as ordinary men. But through all this He maintained a\nperfect harmony with the Divine will. It was this which differentiated\nHim from ordinary men, that He maintained throughout His life an\nattitude of undoubting trust in the Father and devotion to Him. It was\nthrough the human will of the Lord that the Divine will of the Eternal\nSon uniformly worked and used the whole of His human nature.\n\nIt is in this perfect Sonship of Christ we first learn what a son should\nbe. It is by His perfect loyalty to the Father's will, by His uniform\nadoption of it as the best, the only, thing He can do, that we begin to\nunderstand our connection with God, and to recognise that in His will\nalone is our blessedness. Naturally we resent the rule of any will but\nour own; we have not by nature such love for God as would put His will\nfirst. To our reason it becomes manifest that there is nothing higher or\nhappier for us than to sink ourselves in God; we see that there is\nnothing more elevating, nothing more essential to a hopeful life than\nthat we make God's purposes in the world our own, and do that very thing\nwhich He sees to be worth doing and which He desires to do. Yet we find\nthat the actual adoption of this filial attitude, natural, rational, and\ninviting as it seems, is just the most difficult of all difficulties, is\nindeed the battle of life. Who among us can say that we do nothing of\nourselves, nothing at our own instance, that our life is entirely at\nGod's disposal?\n\nTo this filial disposition on the part of the Son the Father responds:\n\"The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself\ndoeth\" (ver. 20). If we ask how Jesus saw the Father's works, or how,\nfor example, He saw that the Father wished Him to heal the impotent man,\nthe answer must be that it is by inward sympathy the Son apprehends what\nthe Father wills. We in our measure can see what God is doing in the\nworld, and can forward God's work. But not by mere observation of what\nGod had done and was doing through others did Jesus see what the Father\ndid, but rather by His own inward perception of the Father's will. By\nHis own purity, love, and goodness He knew what the Father's goodness\nwilled. But the Father was not passive in the matter, merely allowing\nthe Son to discover what He could of His will. Godet illustrates this\nactive revelation on the Father's part by the simile of the father in\nthe carpenter's shop at Nazareth showing the son the things he made and\nthe method of making them. This simile, however, being external, is apt\nto misdirect the mind. It was by a wholly inward and spiritual process\nthe Father made known to the Son His purposes and mind.\n\n2. This quickening of the impotent man was meant to be an object lesson,\na sign of the power of Jesus to communicate life, Divine and eternal, to\nwhom He would. \"Greater works\" than this of curing the paralytic \"will\nthe Father show to the Son, that ye may marvel\" (ver. 20). As through\nHis word vigour had been imparted to the impotent man, so all who listen\nto His word will receive everlasting life (ver. 24). As the impotent\nman, after thirty-eight years of deadness, found life on the moment by\nbelieving Christ's word, so every one who listens to that same voice as\nthe word of God receives life eternal. Through that word he connects\nhimself with the source of life. He becomes obedient to the life-giving\nwill of God.\n\nThe question, How can the spiritually dead hear and believe? is the\nquestion. How could the impotent man rise in response to Christ's word?\nPsychologically inexplicable it may be, but happily it is practically\npossible. And here, as elsewhere, theory must wait upon fact. One thing\nis plain: that faith is the link between the Divine life and human\nweakness. Had the impotent man not believed, he would not have risen.\nChrist quickens \"whom He will;\" that is to say, there is no limit to His\nlife-giving power; but He cannot quicken those who will not have life or\nwho do not believe He can give it. Hence necessarily \"the Father hath\ncommitted all judgement unto the Son.\" To the impotent man Jesus put the\nquestion, \"Wilt thou be made whole?\" and by that question the man was\njudged. By the answer he gave to it he determined whether he would\nremain dead or receive life. Had he not on the moment believed, he would\nhave doomed himself to permanent and hopeless imbecility. Christ's\nquestion judged him.\n\nPrecisely so, says Jesus, are all men judged by My presence among them,\nand My offer of life to them. For the Father has not only given to the\nSon to have life in Himself, that He may thus communicate it (ver. 26),\nbut \"He hath given Him authority to execute judgement also, because He\nis a Son of man.\" For these words do not mean that Jesus will be Judge\nbecause men should be judged by one who shares their nature,[17] or\nbecause they must be judged by the holiest and most loving of\nmen[18]--as if God Himself were not sufficiently loving--but, as the\nobject-lesson shows us, Jesus is necessarily Judge by appearing as God's\nmessenger, and by offering to men life everlasting. By becoming a son of\nman, by living in human form as the embodied love and life of God, and\nby making intelligible God's good-will and His invitation to life,\nChrist necessarily sifts men and separates them into two classes. Every\none who hears the word of Jesus is judged. He either accepts quickening\nand passes into life, or he rejects it and abides in death. This human\nappearance, Jesus seems to say, which stumbles you, and makes you think\nthat My pretensions of judging all men are absurd, is the very\nqualification which makes judgment one of My necessary functions.\n\nAnd this explains why we find Christ uttering apparent contradictions:\nat one time saying, \"For judgment came I into this world,\" and at\nanother time saying, \"I came not to judge the world.\" The object of His\ncoming into the world was to give life, not to condemn men, not to cut\nthem off finally from life and from God, but to open a way to the\nFather, and to be their life. But this very coming of Christ and the\noffers He makes to men constitute the critical test of every soul that\nis brought into contact with them. Judgment is the necessary\naccompaniment of salvation. Man's will being free, it must be so. And\nthis judgment, determined in this life, will one day appear in final,\nirreversible, manifested result. \"The hour is coming, in the which all\nthat are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they\nthat have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have\ndone evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.\"\n\n3. But naturally the Jews would say: \"These are extraordinary and\napparently extravagant claims to make. It is not easily credible that\nthis voice which now so quietly speaks to us is one day to wake the\ndead. It is not easily credible that one whom we can carry before our\ncourts is to judge all men.\" To which thoughts Jesus replies: \"I do not\nexpect you to take My word for these things, but there are three\nguarantees of My truth to which I point you. There is first of all (1)\nthe testimony of John[19]--a man in whose prophetic gift you for a while\nprided yourselves, rejoicing that God had sent you so powerful and\nenlightening a messenger. His whole function was to testify of Me. This\nlamp, in the light of which you rejoiced, was lit solely for the purpose\nof making quite visible to you that which you now say you cannot see.\nBut this is not the best witness I have, although those of you who\ncannot see for themselves might be saved if only you would believe\nJohn's testimony. But (2) I have greater witness than that of John. John\nsaid that I should come as the Father's agent. Well, if you cannot\nbelieve John's words, can you not believe the things you see? This\nimpotent man raised to health, is this not a little hint of the Divine\npower that is in your midst? And are not all the works I do the Father's\nworks, done by His power and for His purposes? Is not My whole career\nits own best evidence? But besides, (3) the Father Himself has borne\nwitness to Me. He has not appeared to you. You have not heard His voice\nnor seen His shape, but His _word_, His own sufficient account of His\nnature and connection with you, you have. You search the Scriptures, and\nrightly, for they are they which testify of Me. They are the Father's\nword which, had you listened to, you would have known Me as sent by Him.\nHad you not mumbled only the husk of Scripture, counting its letters and\nwearing it on your foreheads, but had you, through God's law, entered\ninto sympathy with His purpose on earth, had you, through all that\nScripture tells you of Him, learned His nature, and learned to love Him,\nyou would at once have recognised Me as His messenger. \"Ye have not His\nword abiding in you;\" ye have not let it lie in your minds and colour\nthem; ye have not chewed, and digested, and assimilated the very\nquintessence of it, for had you done so you would have learned to know\nGod and seen Him in Me.[20] But \"whom He sent, Him ye believe not.\"\n\nThe very Scriptures which had been given to guide them to Christ they\nused as a veil to blind themselves to His presence. Jesus points out\nwhere their mistake lay. \"You search the Scriptures, because you suppose\nthat in them, a mere book, you have eternal life; the truth being that\nlife is in Me. The Scriptures do not give life, they lead to the\nLife-giver. The Scriptures, by your superstitiously reverent and shallow\nuse of them, actually prevent you from finding the life they were meant\nto point you to. You think you have life in them, and therefore will not\ncome to Me.\" So may a book, lifted out of its subordinate place, be\nentirely perverted from its use, and actually hinder the purpose it was\ngiven to promote. To worship the Bible as if it were Christ is to\nmistake a finger-post for a house of shelter. It is possible to have a\ngreat zeal for the Bible and yet quite to misapprehend its object; and\nto misapprehend its object is to make it both useless and dangerous. To\nset it on a level with Christ is to do both it, Him, and ourselves the\ngravest injustice. Many who seem to exalt the Scriptures degrade them;\nand those who give them a subordinate place truly exalt them. God speaks\nin Scripture, as this passage shows, but He speaks for a definite\npurpose, to reveal Christ; and this fact is the key to all difficulties\nabout the Bible and inspiration.\n\n4. The unbelief of the Jews is traced by Jesus to a moral root. They\nseemed very zealous for God's law, but beneath this superficial and\nostentatious championing of God there was detected a deep-seated\nalienation from God which unfitted them for knowing either Him or His\nmessenger. \"Glory from men I do not receive (ver. 41). But the reason of\nthis is that ye have not the love of God in you, and cannot appreciate\nDivine glory or recognise it when you see it. How can you believe, when\nyour hearts crave the glory you can give to one another, your ambition\nrising no higher than to be spoken of by ignorant people as the\nupholders of religion? You have taught yourselves to measure men by a\nwholly spurious standard, and cannot believe in one who is a\ntransparency through which the glory of God shines upon you.\" Had some\none come in his own name, seeking a glory the Jews could give him,\nadapting himself to their poor conceptions, him they would have\nreceived. But Jesus being sent by God had that glory which consisted in\nbeing a perfect medium of the Father's will, doing the Father's work and\nnever seeking His own glory.\n\nThis, then, was the reason why the Jews could not believe in Jesus.\nTheir idea of glory was earthly, and they were unfitted to see and\nappreciate such glory as He showed in deeds of kindness. And those\nsayings of Jesus penetrate deeply into the permanent roots of unbelief.\n\nIt was certainly a great demand on their faith which Jesus made. He\nasked them to believe that the most Divine of prerogatives, life-giving\nand judging, belonged to Him. But He gave them evidence. He only asks\nthem to believe what they have seen exemplified. He does not as yet even\nask them to draw inferences. He does not blame them for not seeing what\nis implied regarding His eternal relation to the Father. He adduces\nevidence \"that they may be saved;\" that they may be induced to partake\nof the life He dispenses; and He laments that they will not believe that\nHe is commissioned by God to speak words of life to men, although He has\ngiven them demonstration of His commission and power to give life.\n\nTo us also He speaks--for plainly such powers as He here claims are not\nsuch as can be capriciously given and withdrawn, rendered accessible to\none age but not to another, exhibited on earth once but never more to be\nexercised. They are not powers that could be given to more than one\nmessenger of God. To suppose more than one source of spiritual life or\nmore than one seat of judgment is against reason.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[15] Similarly in the Synoptical Gospels the hostility of the Jews is\ntraced to His apparent breach of the Sabbath law.\n\n[16] The following division of the former part of this Apology may help\nthe reader to follow the sequence of thought. In vv. 19, 20, Jesus\nenounces the general features of His relation to the Father. In vv.\n21-23 the works dictated by this relation and resulting from it are\nspoken of generally as \"quickening\" and \"judging.\" These works are in\nvv. 24-27 exhibited in the spiritual sphere, and in vv. 28, 29, in the\nphysical sphere. The first part of the defence is closed in ver. 30 with\na re-affirmation of His absolute unison with the Father.\n\n[17] Westcott.\n\n[18] Stier.\n\n[19] It is very doubtful whether ver. 32 refers to John. I think it\nrefers to the Father. Still Jesus, in vv. 33-35, refers the Jews to the\ntestimony of John, although for His own part He depends on higher\ntestimony.\n\n[20] The same idea is resumed in vv. 45-47. If you have not understood\nthe writings of Moses which you have heard from Sabbath to Sabbath, and\nhave not received the knowledge of God they were meant to give you, how\nshall ye believe the once heard words of Him whose coming was meant to\nbe prepared for, and His identification made easy by all that Moses\nwrote and by the institutions he established.\n\n\n\n\nXIV.\n\n_JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE._\n\n\n    JOHN vi. 1-59.\n\n\nIn this chapter John follows the same method as in the last. He first\nrelates the sign, and then gives our Lord's interpretation of it. As to\nthe Samaritan woman, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so now to the\nGalileans, Jesus manifests Himself as sent to communicate to man life\neternal. The sign by means of which He now manifests Himself is,\nhowever, so new that many fresh aspects of His own person and work are\ndisclosed.[21]\n\nThe occasion for the miracle arose, as usual, quite simply. Jesus had\nretired to the east side of the sea of Tiberias, probably to a spot near\nBethsaida Julias, that He might have some rest. But the people, eager to\nsee more miracles, followed Him round the head of the lake, and, as they\nwent, their number was augmented by members of a Passover caravan which\nwas forming in the neighbourhood or was already on the march. This\ninconsiderate pursuit of Jesus, instead of offending Him, touched Him;\nand as He marked them toiling up the hill in groups, or one by one, some\nquite spent with a long and rapid walk, mothers dragging hungry\nchildren after them, His first thought was, What can these poor tired\npeople get to refresh them here? He turns therefore to Philip with the\nquestion, \"Whence are we to buy bread that these may eat?\" This he said,\nJohn tells us, \"to prove\" or test Philip. Apparently this disciple was a\nshrewd business man, quick to calculate ways and means, and rather apt\nto scorn the expectations of faith. Every man must rid himself of the\ndefects of his qualities. And Jesus now gave Philip an opportunity to\novercome his weakness-in-strength by at last boldly confessing his\ninability and the Lord's ability,--by saying, We have neither meat nor\nmoney, but we have Thee. But Philip, like many another, missed his\nopportunity, and, wholly oblivious of the resources of Jesus, casts His\neye rapidly over the crowd and estimates that \"two hundred\npennyworth\"[22] of bread would scarcely suffice to give each enough to\nstay immediate cravings. Philip's friend Andrew as little as himself\ndivines the intention of Jesus, and naively suggests that the whole\nprovision he can hear of in the crowd is a little boy's five loaves and\ntwo fishes. These helpless, meagrely furnished and meagrely conceiving\ndisciples, meagre in food and meagre in faith, are set in contrast to\nthe calm faith and infinite resource of Jesus.\n\nThe moral ground being thus prepared for the miracle in the confessed\ninability of the disciples and of the crowd, Jesus takes the matter in\nhand. With that air of authority and calm purpose which must have\nimpressed the onlookers at all His miracles, He says, \"Make the men sit\ndown.\" And there where they happened to be, and without further\npreparation, on a grassy spot near the left bank of the Jordan, and\njust where the river flows into the lake of Galilee, with the evening\nsun sinking behind the hills on the western shore and the shadows lying\nacross the darkened lake, the multitude break up into groups of hundreds\nand fifties, and seat themselves in perfect confidence that somehow food\nis to be furnished. They seat themselves as those who expect a full\nmeal, and not a mere snack they could eat standing, though where the\nfull meal was to come from who could tell? This expectation must have\ndeepened into faith as the thousands listened to their Host _giving\nthanks_ over the scanty provision. One would fain have heard the words\nin which Jesus addressed the Father, and by which He caused all to feel\nhow near to each was infinite resource. And then, as He proceeded to\ndistribute the ever-multiplying food, the first awe-struck silence of\nthe multitude gave way to exclamations of surprise and to excited and\ndelighted comments. The little lad, as he watched with widening eyes his\ntwo fishes doing the work of two thousand, would feel himself a person\nof consequence, and that he had a story to tell when he went back to his\nhome on the beach. And ever and anon, as our Lord stood with a smile on\nHis face enjoying the congenial scene, the children from the nearest\ngroups would steal to His side, to get their supplies from His own hand.\n\n1. Before touching upon the points in this sign emphasised by our Lord\nHimself, it is perhaps legitimate to indicate one or two others. And\namong these it may first of all be remarked that our Lord sometimes, as\nhere, gives not medicine but food. He not only heals, but prevents\ndisease. And however valuable the one blessing is--the blessing of being\nhealed--the other is even greater. The weakness of starvation exposes\nmen to every form of disease; it is a lowered vitality which gives\ndisease its opportunity. In the spiritual life it is the same. The\npreservative against any definite form of sin is a strong spiritual\nlife, a healthy condition not easily fatigued in duty, and not easily\novercome by temptation. Perhaps the gospel has come to be looked upon\ntoo exclusively as a remedial scheme, and too little as the means of\nmaintaining spiritual health. So marked is its efficacy in reclaiming\nthe vicious, that its efficacy as the sole condition of healthy human\nlife is apt to be overlooked. Christ is needful to us not only as\nsinners; He is needful to us as men. Without Him human life lacks the\nelement which gives reality, meaning, and zest to the whole. Even to\nthose who have little present sense of sin He has much to offer. A sense\nof sin grows with the general growth of the Christian life; and that at\nfirst it should be small need not surprise us. But the present absence\nof a profound sorrow for sin is not to bar our approach to Christ. To\nthe impotent man, conscious of his living death, Christ offered a life\nthat healed and strengthened--healed by strengthening. But equally to\nthose who now conversed with Him, and who, conscious of life, asked Him\nhow they might _work_ the work of God, He gave the same direction, that\nthey must believe in Him as their life.\n\n2. Our Lord here supplied the same plain food to all.\n\nIn the crowd were men, women, and children, old and young, hard-working\npeasants, shepherds from the hillside, and fishermen from the lake; as\nwell as traders and scribes from the towns. No doubt it elicited remark\nthat fare so simple should be acceptable to all. Had the feast been\ngiven by a banqueting Pharisee, a variety of tastes would have been\nprovided for. Here the guests were divided into groups merely for\nconvenience of distribution, not for distinction of tastes. There are\nfew things which are not more the necessity of one class of men than of\nanother, or that while devotedly pursued by one nation are not despised\nacross the frontier, or that do not become antiquated and obsolete in\nthis century though considered essential in the last. But among these\nfew things is the provision Christ makes for our spiritual well-being.\nIt is like the supply of our deep natural desires and common appetites,\nin which men resemble one another from age to age, and by which they\nrecognise their common humanity. All the world round, you may find wells\nwhose water you could not say was different from what you daily use, at\nany rate they quench your thirst as well. You could not tell what\ncountry you were in nor what age by the taste of the water from a living\nwell. And so what God has provided for our spiritual life bears in it no\npeculiarities of time or place; it addresses itself with equal power to\nthe European of to-day as it did to the Asiatic during our Lord's own\nlifetime. Men have settled down by hundreds and by fifties, they are\ngrouped according to various natures and tastes, but to all alike is\nthis one food presented. And this, because the want it supplies is not\nfictitious, but as natural and veritable a want as is indicated by\nhunger or thirst.\n\nWe must beware then of looking with repugnance on what Christ calls us\nto, as if it were a superfluity that may reasonably be postponed to more\nurgent and essential demands; or as if He were introducing our nature\nto some region for which it was not originally intended, and exciting\nwithin us spurious and fanciful desires which are really alien to us as\nhuman beings. This is a common thought. It is a common thought that\nreligion is not an essential but a luxury. But in point of fact all that\nChrist calls us to, perfect reconcilement with God, devoted service of\nHis will, purity of character,--these are the essentials for us, so that\nuntil we attain them we have not begun to live, but are merely nibbling\nat the very gate of life. God, in inviting us to these things, is not\nputting a strain on our nature it can never bear. He is proposing to\nimpart new strength and joy to our nature. He is not summoning us to a\njoy that is too high for us, and that we can never rejoice in, but is\nrecalling us to that condition in which alone we can live with comfort\nand health, and in which alone we can permanently delight. If we cannot\nnow desire what Christ offers, if we have no appetite for it, if all\nthat He speaks of seems uninviting and dreary, then this is symptomatic\nof a fatal loss of appetite on our part. But as Jesus would have felt a\ndeeper compassion for any in that crowd who were too faint to eat, or as\nHe would quickly have laid His healing hand on any diseased person who\ncould not eat, so does He still more deeply compassionate all of us who\nwould fain eat and drink with His people, and yet nauseate and turn from\ntheir delights as the sickly from the strong food of the healthy.\n\n3. But what Jesus especially emphasises in the conversation arising out\nof the miracle is that the food He gives is Himself. He is the Bread of\nLife, the Living Bread. What is there in Christ which constitutes Him\nthe Bread of Life? There is, first of all, that which He Himself\nconstantly presses, that He is sent by the Father, that He comes out of\nheaven, bringing from the Father a new source of life into the world.\n\nWhen our Lord pointed out to the Galileans that the work of God was to\nbelieve in Him, they demanded a further sign as evidence that He was\nGod's Messenger: \"What sign doest Thou that we may see and believe Thee?\nWhat dost Thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; they had\nbread from heaven, not common barley loaves such as we got from You\nyesterday. Have You any such sign as this to give? If You are sent from\nGod, we may surely expect you to rival Moses.\"[23] To which Jesus\nreplies: \"The bread which your fathers received did not prevent them\ndying; it was meant to sustain physical life, and yet even in that\nrespect it was not perfect. God has a better bread to give, a bread\nwhich will sustain you in spiritual life, not for a few years but for\never\" (vv. 49, 50). \"I am the living bread which came down out of\nheaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.\"\n\nThis they could not understand. They believed that the manna came from\nheaven. Not the richest field of Egypt had produced it. It seemed to\ncome direct from God's hand. The Israelites could neither raise it nor\nimprove upon it. But how Jesus, \"whose father and mother we know,\" whom\nthey could trace to a definite human origin, could say that He came from\nheaven they could not understand. And yet, even while they stumbled at\nHis claim to a superhuman origin, they felt there might be something in\nit. Everyone with whom He came in contact felt there was in Him\nsomething unaccountable. The Pharisees feared while they hated Him.\nPilate could not classify Him with any variety of offender he had met\nwith. Why do men still continually attempt afresh to account for Him,\nand to give at last a perfectly satisfactory explanation, on ordinary\nprinciples, of all that He was and did? Why, but because it is seen that\nas yet He has not been so accounted for? Men do not thus strive to prove\nthat Shakespeare was a mere man, or that Socrates or Epictetus was a\nmere man. Alas! that is only too obvious. But to Christ men turn and\nturn again with the feeling that here is something which human nature\ndoes not account for; something different, and something more than what\nresults from human parentage and human environment, something which He\nHimself accounts for by the plain and unflinching statement that He is\n\"from heaven.\"\n\nFor my part, I do not see that this can mean anything less than that\nChrist is Divine, that in Him we have God, and in Him touch the actual\nSource of all life. In Him we have the one thing within our reach which\nis not earth-grown, the one uncorrupted Source of life to which we can\nturn from the inadequacy, impurity, and emptiness of a sin-sick world.\nNo pebble lies hid in this bread on which we can break our teeth; no\nsweetness in the mouth turning afterwards to bitterness, but a new,\nuncontaminated food, prepared independently of all defiling influences,\nand accessible to all. Christ is the Bread from heaven, because in\nChrist God gives Himself to us, that by His life we may live.\n\nThere is another sense in which Christ probably used the word \"living.\"\nIn contrast to the dead bread He had given them He was alive. The same\nlaw seems to hold good of our physical and of our spiritual life. We\ncannot sustain physical life except by using as food that which has\nbeen alive. The nutritive properties of the earth and the air must have\nbeen assimilated for us by living plants and animals before we can use\nthem. The plant sucks sustenance out of the earth--we can live upon the\nplant but not on the earth. The ox finds ample nourishment in grass; we\ncan live on the ox but not on the grass. And so with spiritual\nnutriment. Abstract truth we can make little of at first hand; it needs\nto be embodied in a living form before we can live upon it. Even God is\nremote and abstract, and non-Christian theism makes thin-blooded and\nspectral worshippers; it is when the Word becomes flesh; when the hidden\nreason of all things takes human form and steps out on the earth before\nus, that truth becomes nutritive, and God our life.\n\n4. Still more explicitly Christ says: \"The bread which I will give is My\nflesh, which I will give for the life of the world.\" For it is in this\ngreat act of dying that He becomes the Bread of Life. God sharing with\nus to the uttermost; God proving that His will is our righteousness; God\nbearing our sorrows and our sins; God coming into our human race, and\nbecoming a part of its history--all this is seen in the cross of Christ;\nbut it is also seen that absolute love for men, and absolute submission\nto God, were the moving forces of Christ's life. He was obedient even\nunto death. This was _His_ life, and by the cross He made it ours. The\ncross subdues our hearts to Him, and gives us to feel that\nself-sacrifice is the true life of man.\n\nA man in a sickly state of _body_ has sometimes to make it matter of\nconsideration, or even of consultation, what he shall eat. Were anyone\nto take the same thought about his spiritual condition, and seriously\nponder what would bring health to his spirit, what would rid it of\ndistaste for what is right, and give it strength and purity to delight\nin God and in all good, he would probably conclude that a clear and\ninfluential exhibition of God's goodness, and of the fatal effects of\nsin, a convincing exhibition, an exhibition in real life, of the\nunutterable hatefulness of sin, and inconceivable desirableness of God;\nan exhibition also which should at the same time open for us a way from\nsin to God--this, the inquirer would conclude, would bring life to the\nspirit. It is such an exhibition of God and of sin, and such a way out\nof sin to God, as we have in Christ's death.\n\n5. How are we to avail ourselves of the life that is in Christ? As the\nJews asked, _How_ can this man give us His flesh to eat? Our Lord\nHimself uses several terms to express the act by which we make use of\nHim as the Bread of Life. \"He that believeth on Me,\" \"He that cometh to\nMe,\" \"He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life.\"\nEach of these expressions has its own significance. Belief must come\nfirst--belief that Christ is sent to give us life; belief that it\ndepends upon our connection with that one Person whether we shall or\nshall not have life eternal. We must also \"come to Him.\" The people He\nwas addressing had followed Him for miles, and had found Him and were\nspeaking to Him, but they had not _come_ to Him. To come to Him is to\napproach Him in spirit and with submissive trust; it is to commit\nourselves to Him as our Lord; it is to rest in Him as our all; it is to\ncome to Him with open heart, accepting Him as all He claims to be; it is\nto meet the eye of a present, living Christ, who knows what is in man,\nand to say to Him \"I am Thine, Thine most gladly, Thine for evermore.\"\n\nBut most emphatically of all does our Lord say that we must \"eat His\nflesh and drink His blood\" if we are to partake of His life. That is to\nsay, the connection between Christ and us must be of the closest\npossible kind; so close that the assimilation of the food we eat is not\ntoo strong a figure to express it. The food we eat becomes our blood and\nflesh; it becomes our life, our self. And it does so by our eating it,\nnot by our talking of it, not by our looking at it, and admiring its\nnutritive properties, but only by eating it. And whatever process can\nmake Christ entirely ours, and help us to assimilate all that is in Him,\nthis process we are to use. The flesh of Christ was given for us; by the\nshedding of Christ's blood, by the pouring out of His life upon the\ncross, spiritual life was prepared for us. Cleansing from sin and\nrestoration to God were provided by the offering of His life in the\nflesh; and we eat His flesh when we use in our own behalf the death of\nChrist, and take the blessings it has made possible to us; when we\naccept the forgiveness of sins, enter into the love of God, and adopt as\nour own the spirit of the cross. His flesh or human form was the\n_manifestation_ of God's love for us, the visible material of His\nsacrifice; and we eat His flesh when we make this our own, when we\naccept God's love and adopt Christ's sacrifice as our guiding principle\nof life. We eat His flesh when we take out of His life and death the\nspiritual nutriment that is actually there; when we let our nature be\npenetrated by the spirit of the cross, and actually make Christ the\nSource and the Guide of our spiritual life.\n\nThis figure of _eating_ has many lessons for us. Above all, it reminds\nus of the poor appetite we have for spiritual nourishment. How\nthoroughly by this process of eating does the healthy body extract from\nits food every particle of real nutriment. By this process the food is\nmade to yield all that it contains of nourishing substance. But how far\nis this from representing our treatment of Christ. How much is there in\nHim that is fitted to yield comfort and hope, and yet to us it yields\nnone. How much that should fill us with assurance of God's love, yet how\nfearfully we live. How much to make us admire self-sacrifice and fill us\nwith earnest purpose to live for others, and yet how little of this\nbecomes in very deed _our_ life. God sees in Him all that can make us\ncomplete, all that can fill and gladden and suffice the soul, and yet\nhow bare and troubled and defeated do we live.[24]\n\n6. The mode of distribution was also significant. Christ gives life to\nthe world not directly, but through His disciples. The life He gives is\nHimself, but He gives it through the instrumentality of men. The bread\nis His. The disciples may manipulate it as they will, but it remains\nfive loaves only. None but He can relieve the famishing multitude. Still\nnot with His own hands does He feed them, but through the believing\nservice of the Twelve. And this He did not merely for the sake of\nteaching us that only through the Church is the world supplied with the\nlife He furnishes, but primarily because it was the natural and fit\norder then, as it is the natural and fit order now, that they who\nthemselves believe in the power of the Lord to feed the world should be\nthe means of distributing what He gives. Each of the disciples received\nfrom the Lord no more than would satisfy himself, yet held in his hand\nwhat would through the Lord's blessing satisfy a hundred besides. And it\nis a grave truth we here meet, that every one of us who has received\nlife from Christ has thereby in possession what may give life to many\nother human souls. We may give it or we may withhold it; we may\ncommunicate it to the famishing souls around us or we may hear\nunconcerned the weary heart-faint sigh; but the Lord knows to whom He\nhas given the bread of life, and He gives it not solely for our own\nconsumption but for distribution. It is not the privilege of the more\nenlightened or more fervent disciple, but of all. He who receives from\nthe Lord what is enough for himself holds the lives of some of his\nfellows in his hand.\n\nDoubtless the faith of the disciples was severely tried when they were\nrequired to advance each man to his separate hundred with his morsel of\nbread. There would be no struggling for the first place then. But\nencouraged in their faith by the simple and confident words of prayer\ntheir Master had addressed to the Father, they are emboldened to do His\nbidding, and if they gave sparingly and cautiously at first, their\nparsimony must soon have been rebuked and their hearts enlarged.\n\nTheirs is also our trial. We know we should be more helpful to others;\nbut in presence of the sorrowful we seem to have no word of comfort;\nseeing this man and that pursuing a way the end of which is death, we\nhave yet no wise word of remonstrance, no loving entreaty; lives are\ntrifled away at our side, and we are conscious of no ability to elevate\nand dignify; lives are worn out in crushing toil and misery, and we feel\nhelpless to aid. The habit grows upon us of expecting rather to get good\nthan to do good. We have long recognised that we are too little\ninfluenced by God's grace, and only at long intervals now are we ashamed\nof this; it has become our acknowledged state. We have found that we are\nnot the kind of people who are to influence others. Looking at our slim\nfaith, our stunted character, our slender knowledge, we say, \"What is\nthis among so many?\" These feelings are inevitable. No man seems to have\nenough even for his own soul. But giving of what he has to others he\nwill find his own store increased. \"There is that scattereth abroad and\nyet increaseth,\" is the law of spiritual growth.\n\nBut the thought which shines through all others as we read this\nnarrative is the genial tenderness of Christ. He is here seen to be\nconsiderate of our wants, mindful of our weaknesses, quick to calculate\nour prospects and to provide for us, simple, practical, earnest in His\nlove. We see here how He withholds no good thing from us, but considers\nand gives what we actually need. We see how reasonable it is that He\nshould require us to trust Him. To every fainting soul, to every one who\nhas wandered far and whose strength is gone, and round whom the shadows\nand chills of night are gathering, He says through this miracle:\n\"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your\nlabour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and\neat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in\nfatness.\"[25]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[21] At the risk of omitting points of interest, I have thought it\nadvisable to treat this whole representation of Christ, as far as\npossible, within the limits of one chapter.\n\n[22] Roughly speaking, L8.\n\n[23] From Psalm lxxii. 16 the Rabbis gathered that the Messiah when He\ncame would renew the gift of manna.\n\n[24] The figure of eating reminds us that the acceptance of Christ is an\nact which each man must do for himself. No other man can eat for me. It\nalso reminds us that as the food we eat is distributed, without our own\nwill or supervision, to every part of the body, giving light to the eye\nand strength to the arm, making bone or skin in one place, nerve or\nblood-vessel in another, so, if only we make Christ our own, the life\nthat is in Him suffices for all the requirements of human nature and\nhuman duty.\n\n[25] On verses 37, 44, and 45 see note at the end of this volume.\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\n_THE CRISIS IN GALILEE._\n\n\n    \"Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard this, said, This\n    is a hard saying; who can hear it? But Jesus knowing in Himself that\n    His disciples murmured at this, said unto them, Doth this cause you\n    to stumble? What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascending\n    where He was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh\n    profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit,\n    and are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus\n    knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it\n    was that should betray Him. And He said, For this cause have I said\n    unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it be given unto him\n    of the Father. Upon this many of His disciples went back, and walked\n    no more with Him. Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, Would ye\n    also go away? Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go?\n    thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and know\n    that Thou art the Holy One of God. Jesus answered them, Did not I\n    choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil? Now He spake of\n    Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that should betray\n    Him, being one of the twelve.\"--JOHN vi. 60-71.\n\n\nThe situation in which our Lord found Himself at this stage of His\ncareer is full of pathos. He began His ministry in Judaea, and His\nsuccess there seemed to be all that could be desired. But it soon became\napparent that the crowds who followed Him misunderstood or wilfully\nignored His purpose. They resorted to Him chiefly, if not solely, for\nmaterial advantages and political ends. He was in danger of being\naccounted the most skilful metropolitan physician; or in the greater\ndanger of being courted by politicians as a likely popular leader, who\nmight be used as a revolutionary flag or party cry. He, therefore, left\nJerusalem at an early period in His ministry and betook Himself to\nGalilee; and now, after some months' preaching and mingling with the\npeople, things have worked round in Galilee to precisely the same point\nas they had reached in Judaea. Great crowds are following Him to be\nhealed and to be fed, while the politically inclined have at last made a\ndistinct effort to make Him a king, to force Him into a collision with\nthe authorities. His proper work is in danger of being lost sight of. He\nfinds it necessary to sift the crowds who follow Him. And He does so by\naddressing them in terms which can be acceptable only to truly\nspiritual men--by plainly assuring them that He was among them, not to\ngive them political privileges and the bread that perisheth, but the\nbread that endureth. They found Him to be what they would call an\nimpracticable dreamer. They profess to go away because they cannot\nunderstand Him; but they understand Him well enough to see He is not the\nperson for their purposes. They seek earth, and heaven is thrust upon\nthem. They turn away disappointed, and many walk no more with Him. The\ngreat crowd melts away, and He is left with His original following of\ntwelve men. His months of teaching and toil seem to have gone for\nnothing. It might seem doubtful if even the twelve would be faithful--if\nany result of His work would remain, if any would cordially and lovingly\nadhere to Him.\n\nOne cannot, I think, view this situation without perceiving how\nanalogous it is in many respects to the aspect of things in our own day.\nIn all ages of course this sifting of the followers of Christ goes on.\nThere are experiences common to all times and places which test men's\nattachment to Christ. But in our own day exceptional causes are\nproducing a considerable diminution of the numbers who follow Christ, or\nat least are altering considerably the grounds on which they profess to\nfollow Him. When one views the defection of men of influence, of\nthought, of learning, of earnest and devout spirit, one cannot but\nwonder what is to be the end of this, and how far it is to extend. One\ncannot but look anxiously at those who seem to remain, and to say, \"Will\nye also go away?\" No doubt such times of sifting are of eminent service\nin winnowing out the true from the mistaken followers, and in summoning\nall men to revise the reason of their attachment to Christ. When we see\nmen of serious mind and of great attainments deliberately abandoning the\nChristian position, we cannot but anxiously inquire whether we are right\nin maintaining that position. When the question comes to us, as in\nProvidence it does, \"Will ye also go away?\" we must have our answer\nready.\n\nThe answer of Peter clearly shows what it was that bound the faithful\nfew to Jesus; and in his answer three reasons for faith may be\ndiscerned.\n\n1. Jesus satisfied their deepest spiritual wants. They had found in Him\nprovision for their whole nature, and had learned the truth of His\nsaying, \"He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and He that believeth\non Me shall never thirst.\" They could now say, \"Thou hast the words of\neternal life.\" His words made water into wine, and five loaves into five\nthousand, but His words did what was far more to their purpose,--they\nfed their spirit. His words brought them nearer to God, promised them\neternal life, and began it within them. From the lips of Jesus had\nactually fallen words which quickened within them a new life--a life\nwhich they recognised as eternal, as lifting them up into another world.\nThese words of His had given them new thoughts about God and about\nrighteousness, they had stirred hopes and feelings of an altogether new\nkind. And this spiritual life was more to them than anything else. No\ndoubt these men, like their neighbours, had their faults, their private\nambitions, their hopes. Peter could not forget that he had left all for\nhis Master, and often thought of his home, his plentiful table, his\nfamily, when wandering about with Jesus. They all, probably, had an\nexpectation that their abandonment of their occupations would not be\nwholly without compensation in this life, and that prominent position\nand worldly advantage awaited them. Still, when they discovered that\nthese were mistaken expectations, they did not grumble nor go back, for\nsuch were not their chief reasons for following Jesus. It was chiefly by\nHis appeal to their spiritual leanings that He attracted them. It was\nrather for eternal life than for present advantage they attached\nthemselves to Him. They found more of God in Him than elsewhere, and\nlistening to Him they found themselves better men than before; and\nhaving experienced that His words were \"spirit and life\" (ver. 63), they\ncould not now abandon Him though all the world did so.\n\nSo is it always. When Christ sifts His followers those remain who have\nspiritual tastes and wants. The spiritual man, the man who would rather\nbe like God than be rich, whose efforts after worldly advancement are\nnot half as earnest and sustained as His efforts after spiritual health;\nthe man, in short, who seeks first the kingdom of God and His\nrighteousness, and lets other things be added or not to this prime\nrequisite, cleaves to Christ because there is that in Christ which\nsatisfies his tastes and gives him the life he chiefly desires. There is\nin Christ a suitableness to the wants of men who live in view of God and\neternity, and who seek to adjust themselves, not only to the world\naround them so as to be comfortable and successful in it, but also to\nthe things unseen, to the permanent laws which are to govern human\nbeings and human affairs throughout eternity. Such men find in Christ\nthat which enables them to adjust themselves to things eternal. They\nfind in Christ just that revelation of God, and that reconcilement to\nHim, and that help to abiding in Him, which they need. They cannot\nimagine a time, they cannot picture to themselves a state of society, in\nwhich the words and teaching of Jesus would not be the safest guide and\nthe highest law. Life eternal, life for men as men, is taught by Him;\nnot professional life, not the life of a religious rule that must pass\naway, not life for this world only, but life eternal, life such as men\neverywhere and always ought to live--this is apprehended by Him and\nexplained by Him; and power and desire to live it is quickened within\nmen by His words. Coming into His presence we recognise the assuredness\nof perfect knowledge, the simplicity of perfect truth. That which\noutrides all such critical times as the disciples were now passing\nthrough is true spirituality of mind. The man who is bent on nourishing\nhis spirit to life everlasting simply cannot dispense with what he finds\nin Christ.\n\nWe need not then greatly fear for our own faith if we are sure that we\ncovet the words of eternal life more than the path to worldly advantage.\nStill less need we tremble for the faith of others if we know that their\ntastes are spiritual, their leanings Godward. Parents are naturally\nanxious about their children's faith, and fear it may be endangered by\nthe advances of science or by the old props of faith being shaken. Such\nanxiety is in great measure misdirected. Let parents see to it that\ntheir children grow up with a preference for purity, unselfishness,\ntruth, unworldliness; let parents set before their children an example\nof real preference for things spiritual, and let them with God's aid\ncultivate in their children an appetite for what is heavenly, a craving\nto live on terms with God and with conscience; and this appetite will\ninfallibly lead them to Christ. Does Christ supply the wants of our\nspirits? Can He show us the way to eternal life? Have men found in Him\nall needed help to godly living? Have the most spiritual and ardent of\nmen been precisely those who have most clearly seen their need of Him,\nand who have found in Him everything to satisfy and feed their own\nspiritual ardour? Has He, that is to say, the words of eternal life? Is\nHe the Person to whom every man must listen if he would find his way to\nGod and a happy eternity? Then, depend upon it, men will believe in\nChrist in every generation, and none the less firmly because their\nattention is called off from non-essential and external evidences to the\nsimple sufficiency of Christ.\n\n2. Peter was convinced not only that Jesus had the words of eternal\nlife, but that no one else had. \"To whom shall we go?\" Peter had not an\nexhaustive knowledge of all sources of human wisdom; but speaking from\nhis own experience he affirmed his conviction that it was useless to\nseek life eternal anywhere else than in Jesus. And it seems equally\nhopeless still to look to any other quarter for sufficient teaching, for\nwords that are \"spirit and life.\" Where but in Christ do we find a God\nwe can accept as God? Where but in Him do we find that which can not\nonly encourage men striving after virtue, but also reclaim the vicious?\nTo put anyone alongside of Christ as a revealer of God, as a pattern of\nvirtue, as a Saviour of men, is absurd. There is that in Him which we\nrecognise as not merely superior, but of another kind. So that those who\nreject Him, or set Him on a level with other teachers, have first of all\nto reject the chief part of what His contemporaries were struck with and\nreported, and to fashion a Christ of their own.\n\nAnd it should be observed that Christ claims this exceptional homage\nfrom His people. The \"following\" He requires is not a mere acceptance of\nHis teaching alongside of other teaching, nor an acceptance of His\nteaching apart from Himself, as if a man should listen to Him and go\nhome and try to practise what he has heard; but He requires men to form\na connection with Himself as their King and Life, as that One who can\nalone give them strength to obey Him. To call Him \"the Teacher,\" as if\nthis were His sole or chief title, is to mislead.\n\nThe alternative, then, as Peter saw, was Christ or nothing. And every\nday it is becoming clearer that this is the alternative, that between\nChristianity and the blankest Atheism there is no middle place. Indeed\nwe may say that between Christianity, with its supernatural facts, and\nmaterialism, which admits of no supernatural at all, and of nothing\nspiritual and immortal, there is no logical standing-ground. A man's\nchoice lies between these two--either Christ with His claims in all\ntheir fulness, or a material universe working out its life under the\nimpulse of some inscrutable force. There are of course men who are\nneither Christians nor materialists; but that is because they have not\nyet found their intellectual resting-place. As soon as they obey reason,\nthey will travel to one or other of these extremes, for between the two\nis no logical standing-ground. If there is a God, then there seems\nnothing incredible, nothing even very surprising, in Christianity.\nChristianity becomes merely the flower or fruit for which the world\nexists, the element in the world's history which gives meaning and glory\nto the whole of it: without Christianity and all it involves the world\nlacks interest of the highest kind. If a man finds he cannot admit the\npossibility of such an interference in the world's monotonous way as\nthe Incarnation implies, it is because there is in his mind an Atheistic\ntendency, a tendency to make the laws of the world more than the\nCreator; to make the world itself God, the highest thing. The Atheist's\nposition is thoroughgoing and logical; and against the Atheist the man\nwho professes to believe in a Personal God and yet denies miracle is\nhelpless. And in point of fact Atheistic writers are rapidly sweeping\nthe field of all other antagonists, and the intermediate positions\nbetween Christianity and Atheism are becoming daily more untenable.\n\nAny one then who is offended at the supernatural in Christianity, and is\ndisposed to turn away and walk no more with Christ, should view the\nalternative, and consider what it is with which he must throw in his\nlot. To retain what is called the spirit of Christ, and reject all that\nis miraculous and above our present comprehension, is to commit oneself\nto a path which naturally leads to disbelief in God. We must choose\nbetween Christ as He stands in the gospels, claiming to be Divine,\nrising from the dead and now alive; and a world in which there is no God\nmanifest in the flesh or anywhere else, a world that has come into being\nno one knows how or whence, and that is running on no one knows whither,\nunguided by any intelligence outside of itself, wholly governed by laws\nwhich have grown out of some impersonal force of which nobody can give\nany good account. Difficult as it is to believe in Christ, it is surely\nstill more difficult to believe in the only alternative, a world wholly\nmaterial, in which matter rules and spirit is a mere accident of no\naccount. If there are inexplicable things in the gospel, there are also\nin us and around us facts wholly inexplicable on the atheistic theory.\nIf the Christian must be content to wait for the solution of many\nmysteries, so certainly must the materialist be content to leave\nunsolved many of the most important problems of human life.[26]\n\n3. The third reason which Peter assigns for the unalterable loyalty of\nthe Twelve is expressed in the words, \"We have believed and know that\nThou art the Holy One of God.\" By this he probably meant that he and the\nrest had come to be convinced that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah,\nthe consecrated One, whom God had set apart to this office. The same\nexpression was used by the demoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum.[27]\nBut although the idea of consecration to an office rather than the idea\nof personal holiness is prominent in the word, it may very well have\nbeen the personal holiness of their Master which bore in upon the minds\nof the disciples that He was indeed the Messiah. By His life with them\nfrom day to day He revealed God to them. They had seen Him in a great\nvariety of circumstances. They had seen His compassion for every form of\nsorrow and misery, and His regardlessness of self; they had marked His\nbehaviour when offered a crown and when threatened with the cross; they\nhad seen Him at table in gay company, and they had seen Him fasting and\nin houses of mourning, in danger, in vehement discussion, in retirement;\nand in all circumstances and scenes they had found Him holy, so holy\nthat to turn from Him they felt would be to turn from God.\n\nThe emphasis with which they affirm their conviction is remarkable: \"We\nhave believed and we know.\" It is as if they felt, We may be doubtful of\nmuch and ignorant of much, but this at least we are sure of. We see men\nleaving our company who are fit to instruct and guide us in most\nmatters, but they do not know our Lord as we do. What they have said has\ndisturbed our minds and has caused us to revise our beliefs, but we\nreturn to our old position, \"We have believed and we know.\" It may be\ntrue that devils have been cast out by the prince of the devils; we do\nnot know. But a stainless life is more miraculous and Divine than the\ncasting out of devils; it is more unknown in the world, referrible to no\nfreak of nature, accomplished by no sleight of hand or jugglery, but due\nonly to the presence of God. Here we have not the sign or evidence of\nthe thing but the thing itself, God not using man as an external agent\nfor operating upon the material world, but God present in the man,\nliving in his life, one with him.\n\nUpon our faith nothing is more influential than the holiness of Christ.\nNothing is more certainly Divine. Nothing is more characteristic of\nGod--not His power, not His wisdom, not even His eternal Being. He who\nin his own person and life represents to us the holiness of God is more\ncertainly superhuman than he who represents God's power. A power to work\nmiracles has often been delegated to men, but holiness cannot be so\ndelegated. It belongs to character, to the man's self; it is a thing of\nnature, of will, and of habit; a king may give to his ambassador ample\npowers, he may fill his hands with credentials, and load him with gifts\nwhich shall be acceptable to the monarch to whom he is sent, but he\ncannot give him a tact he does not naturally possess, a courtesy he has\nnot acquired by dealing with other princes, nor the influence of wise\nand magnanimous words, if these do not inherently belong to the\nambassador's self. So the holiness of Christ was even more convincing\nthan His power or His message. It was such a holiness as caused the\ndisciples to feel that He was not a mere messenger. His holiness\nrevealed _Himself_ as well as Him that sent Him; and the self that was\nthus revealed they felt to be more than human. When, therefore, their\nfaith was tried by seeing the multitudes abandon their Lord, they were\nthrown back on their surest ground of confidence in Him; and that surest\nground was not the miracles which all had seen, but the consecrated and\nperfect life which was known to them.\n\nTo ourselves, then, I say, by the circumstances of our time this\nquestion comes, \"Will ye also go away?\" Will you be like the rest, or\nwill exceptional fidelity be found in you? Is your attachment to Christ\nso based on personal conviction, is it so truly the growth of your own\nexperience, and so little a mere echo of popular opinion, that you say\nin your heart, \"Though all men should forsake Thee, yet will not I\"? It\nis difficult to resist the current of thought and opinion that prevails\naround us; difficult to dispute or even question the opinion of men who\nhave been our teachers, and who have first awakened our mind to see the\nmajesty of truth and the beauty of the universe; it is difficult to\nchoose our own way, and thus tacitly condemn the choice and the way of\nmen we know to be purer in life, and in every essential respect better\nthan ourselves. And yet, perhaps, it is well that we are thus compelled\nto make up our own mind, to examine the claims of Christ for ourselves,\nand so follow Him with the resolution that comes of personal conviction.\nIt is this our Lord desires. He does not compel nor hasten our decision.\nHe does not upbraid His followers for their serious misunderstandings of\nHis person. He allows them to be familiar with Him even while labouring\nunder many misconceptions, because He knows that these misconceptions\nwill most surely pass away in His society and by further acquaintance\nwith Him. One thing He insists upon, one thing He asks from us--that we\nfollow Him. We may only have a vague impression that He is quite\ndifferent from all else we know; we may be doubtful, as yet, in what\nsense some of the highest titles are ascribed to Him; we may be quite\nmistaken about the significance of certain important parts of His life;\nwe may disagree among ourselves regarding the nature of His kingdom and\nregarding the conditions of entrance into it; but, if we follow Him, if\nwe join our fortunes to His, and wish nothing better than to be within\nthe sound of His voice and to do His bidding; if we truly love Him, and\nfind that He has taken a place in our life we cannot ever give to\nanother; if we are conscious that our future lies His way, and that we\nmust in heart abide with Him, then all our slowness to understand is\npatiently dealt with, all our underrating of His real dignity is\nforgiven us, and we are led on in His company to perfect conformity,\nperfect union, and perfect knowledge.\n\nAll that He desires, then, is, in the first place, not something we\ncannot give, not a belief in certain truths about which doubt may\nreasonably be entertained, not an acknowledgment of facts that are as\nyet beyond our vision; but, that we follow Him, that we be in this world\nas He was in it. Shall we, then, let Him pursue His way alone, shall we\ndo nothing to forward His purposes, shall we show no sympathy, address\nno word to Him, and pretend not to hear when He speaks to us? To drag\nourselves along murmuring, doubting, making difficulties, a mere dead\nweight on our Leader, this is not to follow as He desires to be\nfollowed. To take our own way in the main, and only appear here and\nthere on the road He has taken; to be always trying to combine the\npursuit of our own private ends with the pursuance of His ends, is not\nto follow. Had we seen these men asking leave of absence two or three\ntimes a month to go and look after the fishing, even though they\npromised to overtake their Master somewhere on the road, we should\nscarcely have recognised them as His followers. Had we found them, on\nreaching a village at night, leaving Him, and preferring to spend their\nleisure with His enemies, we should have been inclined to ask an\nexplanation of conduct so inconsistent. Yet is not our own following\nvery much of this kind? Is there not too little of the following that\nsays, \"What is enough for the Lord is enough for me; His aims are enough\nfor me\"? Is there not too little of the following that springs from a\nfrank and genuine dealing with the Lord from day to day, and from a\nconscientious desire to meet His will with us, and satisfy His idea of\nhow we should follow Him? May we each have the peace and joy of the man\nwho, when this question, \"Will ye also go away?\" comes to him, quickly\nand from the heart responds, \"I will never forsake Thee.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[26] \"Those who turn their backs on the Eternal Son must understand,\nthen, that they are on their way to a creed which denies an Eternal\nFather, and puts in His place an unconscious impersonal soul of nature,\na dead central force, of which all the forces in the universe are\nmanifestations; or an unknown, unknowable cause, remaining to be\npostulated after the series of physical causes has been traced as far\nback as science can go; and which robs mortal man of the hope that the\nseed sown in the churchyard shall one day be reaped in the harvest of\nthe resurrection.... Your so-called Christianity independent of dogmas\nis but the evening twilight of faith, the light which lingers in the\nspiritual atmosphere after the sun of truth has gone down.\"--Dr. Bruce,\n_Training of the Twelve_, p. 154, a book to which I am greatly indebted\nhere and elsewhere.\n\n[27] Mark i. 24.\n\n\n\n\nXVI.\n\n_JESUS DISCUSSED IN JERUSALEM._\n\n\n    \"And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for He would not\n    walk in Judaea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the feast of\n    the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren\n    therefore said unto Him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that Thy\n    disciples also may behold Thy works which Thou doest. For no man\n    doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If\n    Thou doest these things, manifest Thyself to the world. For even His\n    brethren did not believe on Him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My\n    time is not yet come; but your time is alway ready. The world cannot\n    hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works\n    are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast;\n    because My time is not yet fulfilled. And having said these things\n    unto them, He abode still in Galilee. But when His brethren were\n    gone up unto the feast, then went He also up, not publicly, but as\n    it were in secret. The Jews therefore sought Him at the feast, and\n    said, Where is He? And there was much murmuring among the multitudes\n    concerning Him: some said, He is a good man; others said, Not so,\n    but He leadeth the multitude astray. Howbeit no man spoke openly of\n    Him for fear of the Jews. But when it was now the midst of the feast\n    Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. The Jews therefore\n    marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never\n    learned? Jesus therefore answered them, and said, My teaching is not\n    Mine but His that sent Me. If any man willeth to do His will he\n    shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak\n    from Myself. He that speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory:\n    but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, the same is\n    true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the\n    law, and yet none of you doeth the law? Why seek ye to kill Me? The\n    multitude answered, Thou hast a devil: who seeketh to kill Thee?\n    Jesus answered and said unto them, I did one work, and ye all\n    marvel. For this cause hath Moses given you circumcision (not that\n    it is of Moses, but of the fathers); and on the Sabbath ye\n    circumcise a man. If a man receiveth circumcision on the Sabbath,\n    that the law of Moses may not be broken; are ye wroth with Me,\n    because I made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath? Judge not\n    according to appearance, but judge righteous judgement. Some\n    therefore of them of Jerusalem said, Is not this He whom they seek\n    to kill? And lo, He speaketh openly, and they say nothing unto Him.\n    Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ?\n    Howbeit we know this man whence He is; but when the Christ cometh,\n    no one knoweth whence He is. Jesus therefore cried in the temple,\n    teaching and saying, Ye both know Me, and know whence I am; and I am\n    not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, whom ye know not. I\n    know Him; because I am from Him, and He sent Me. They sought\n    therefore to take Him: and no man laid his hand on Him, because His\n    hour was not yet come. But of the multitude many believed on Him;\n    and they said, When the Christ shall come, will He do more signs\n    than those which this man hath done? The Pharisees heard the\n    multitude murmuring these things concerning Him; and the chief\n    priests and the Pharisees sent officers to take Him. Jesus therefore\n    said, Yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto Him that sent\n    Me. Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me: and where I am, ye\n    cannot come. The Jews therefore said among themselves, Whither will\n    this man go that we shall not find Him? will He go unto the\n    Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What is this word\n    that He said, Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me: and where I\n    am, ye cannot come? Now on the last day, the great day of the feast,\n    Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto\n    Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said,\n    out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake\n    He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive:\n    for the Spirit was not yet given: because Jesus was not yet\n    glorified. Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these\n    words, said, This is of a truth the prophet. Others said, This is\n    the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of\n    Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said that the Christ cometh of the\n    seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So\n    there arose a division in the multitude because of Him. And some of\n    them would have taken Him; but no man laid hands on Him. The\n    officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they\n    said unto them, Why did ye not bring Him? The officers answered,\n    Never man so spake. The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are ye\n    also led astray? Hath any of the rulers believed on Him, or of the\n    Pharisees? But this multitude which knoweth not the law are\n    accursed. Nicodemus saith unto them (he that came to Him before,\n    being one of them), Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear\n    from himself and know what he doeth? They answered and said unto\n    him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee\n    ariseth no prophet.\"--JOHN vii.\n\n\nAfter describing how matters were brought to a crisis in Galilee, and\npointing out that, as the result of our Lord's work there, only twelve\nmen adhered to Him, and in even this final selection not all were to be\ntrusted,--John passes on to describe the state of feeling towards Jesus\nin Jerusalem, and how the storm of unbelief gathered until it broke in\nviolence and outrage.[28] This seventh chapter is intended to put us in\nthe right point of view by exhibiting the various estimates that were\nformed of the work and person of Jesus, and the opinions which any one\nmight hear uttered regarding Him at every table in Jerusalem.\n\nBut the motive of His going to Jerusalem at all calls for remark. His\nbrothers, who might have been expected to understand His character best,\nwere very slow to believe in Him. They only felt He was different from\nthemselves, and they were nettled by His peculiarity. But they felt that\nthe credit of the family was involved, and also that _if_ His claims\nshould turn out to be true, their position as brothers of the Messiah\nwould be flattering. Accordingly they betray considerable anxiety to\nhave His claims pronounced upon; and seeing that His work in Galilee had\ncome to so little, they do their utmost to provoke Him to appeal at once\nto the central authority at Jerusalem. They did not as yet believe in\nHim, they could not entertain the idea that the boy they had knocked\nabout and made to run their messages could be the long-expected King;\nand yet there was such trustworthy report of the extraordinary things He\nhad done, that they felt there was something puzzling about Him, and for\nthe sake of putting an end to their suspense they do what they can to\nget Him to go again to Jerusalem. The lever they use to move Him is a\ntaunt: \"_If_ these works of yours are genuine miracles, don't hang about\nvillages and little country towns, but go and show yourself in the\ncapital. No one who is really confident that he has a claim on public\nattention wanders about in solitary places, but repairs to the most\ncrowded haunts of men. Go up now to the feast, and your disciples will\ngather round you, and your claims will be settled once for all.\"\n\nTo this Jesus replies that the hour for such a proclamation of Himself\nhas not yet come. That hour is to come. At the following Passover He\nentered Jerusalem in the manner desired by His brethren, and the result,\nas He foresaw, was His death. As yet such a demonstration was premature.\nThe brothers of Jesus did not apprehend the virulence of hatred which\nJesus aroused, and did not perceive how surely His death would result\nfrom His going up to the feast as the acknowledged King of the\nGalilaeans. He Himself sees all this plainly, and therefore declines the\nplan of operation proposed by His brothers; and instead of going up\nwith them as the proclaimed Messiah, He goes up quietly by Himself a few\ndays after. To go up as His brothers' nominee, or to go up in the way\nthey proposed, was counter to the whole plan of His life. Their ideas\nand proposals were made from a point of view wholly different from His.\nVery often we can do at our own instance, in our own way and at our own\ntime, what it would be a vast mistake to do at the instigation of people\nwho look at the matter differently from ourselves, and have quite\nanother purpose to serve. Jesus could safely do without display what He\ncould not do ostentatiously; and He could do as His Father's servant\nwhat He could not do at the whim of His brothers.\n\nThe feast to which He thus quietly went up was the Feast of Tabernacles.\nThis feast was a kind of national harvest home; and consequently in\nappointing it God commanded that it should be held \"in the end of the\nyear, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field;\" that is\nto say, in the end of the _natural_ year, or in early autumn, when the\nfarm operations finished one rotation and began a new series. It was a\nfeast, therefore, full of rejoicing.[29] Every Israelite appeared in\nholiday attire, bearing in his hands a palm-branch, or wearing some\nsignificant emblem of earth's fruitfulness. At night the city was\nbrilliantly illuminated, especially round the Temple, in which great\nlamps, used only on these occasions, were lit, and which possibly\noccasioned our Lord's remark at this time, as reported in the following\nchapter, \"I am the Light of the world.\" There can be little doubt that\nwhen, on the last day of the feast, He stood and cried, \"If any man\nthirst, let him come unto Me and drink,\" the form of his invitation was\nmoulded by one of the customs of the feast. For one of the most striking\nfeatures of the feast was the drawing of water in a golden vessel from\nthe pool of Siloam, and carrying it in procession to the Temple, where\nit was poured out with such a burst of triumph from the trumpets of the\nLevites, aided by the Hallelujahs of the people, that it became a common\nJewish saying, \"He who has not seen the rejoicing at the pouring out of\nthe water from the pool of Siloam has never seen rejoicing in his life.\"\nThis pouring out of the water before God seemed to be an acknowledgment\nof His goodness in watering the corn-lands and pastures, and also a\ncommemoration of the miraculous supply of water in the desert; while to\nsome of the more enlightened it bore also a spiritual significance, and\nrecalled the words of Isaiah, \"With joy shall ye draw water out of the\nwells of salvation.\"\n\nBut this feast was not solely a celebration of the ingathering, or a\nthanksgiving for the harvest. The name of it reminds us that another\nfeature was quite as prominent. In its original institution God\ncommanded, \"Ye shall dwell in booths or tabernacles seven days; all that\nare Israelites born shall dwell in booths,\" the reason being added,\n\"that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to\ndwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.\" The\nparticular significance of the Israelites dwelling in booths seems to be\nthat it marked their deliverance from a life of bondage to a life of\nfreedom; it reminded them how they had once no settled habitation, but\nyet found a booth in the desert preferable to the well-provided\nresidences of Egypt. And every Feast of Tabernacles seemed intended to\nrecall these thoughts. In the midst of their harvest, at the end of the\nyear, when they were once more laying up store for winter, and when\nevery one was reckoning whether it would be an abundant and profitable\nyear for him or no, they were told to live for a week in booths, that\nthey might think of that period in their fathers' experience when God\nwas their all, when they had no provision for the morrow, and which was\nyet the most triumphant period of their history. All wealth, all\ndistinctions of rank, all separation between rich and poor, was for a\nwhile forgotten, as each man dwelt in his little green hut as well\nsheltered as his neighbour. And to every one was suggested the thought,\nthat let the coming winter be well provided or ill provided, let it be\nbleak to some and bright to others, at bottom the provision of this\nworld is to all alike but as a green bough between them and destitution;\nbut that all alike, reduce them if you will to a booth which has neither\nstore nor couch in it, have still the Most High God for their deliverer,\nand provider, and habitation.[30]\n\nEven before Jesus appeared at this feast He was the subject of much talk\nand exchange of opinions.\n\n1. The first characteristic of the popular mind, as exhibited here by\nJohn, is its subservience to authority. Those who had a favourable\nopinion of Jesus uttered it with reserve and caution, \"for fear of the\nJews\"--that is, of the Jerusalem Jews, who were known to be adverse to\nHis claims. And the authorities, knowing the subservience of the people,\nconsidered it a sufficient reply to the favourable reports brought them\nby their own officers, to say, \"Have any of the rulers or of the\nPharisees believed on Him?\" This seems a very childish mode of settling\na great question, and we are ready to charge the Jews with a singular\nlack of independence; but we reflect that among ourselves great\nquestions are settled very much by authority still. In politics we take\nour cue from one or two newspapers, conducted by men who show themselves\nquite fallible; and in matters of even deeper moment, how many of us can\nsay we have thought out a creed for ourselves, and have not accepted our\nideas from recognised teachers? And whether these teachers be the\naccredited representatives of traditional theology, or have secured an\naudience by their departure from ordinary views, we have in our own\nconscience a surer guide to the truth about Christ. For much that we may\nbuild upon the foundation we must be indebted to others; but for that\nwhich is radical, for the determination of the relation we ourselves are\nto hold to Christ, we must follow not authority but our own conscience.\n\nOur equanimity need not, then, be greatly disturbed by the fact that so\nmany of the rulers of public opinion do not believe in Christ. We need\nnot tremble for Christianity when we see how widely extended is the\nopinion that miracles are the fancy of a credulous age. We need not be\nover-anxious or altogether downcast when we hear philosophers sublimely\ntalk as if they had seen all round Christ, and taken His measure, and\nrendered satisfactory account of the pious delusions He Himself was\nsubject to, and the groundless hallucinations which misled His followers\ninto unheard-of virtue, and made them good men by mistake. Consider the\nopinions of men of insight and of power, but do not be overawed by them,\nfor you have in yourself a surer guide to truth. Look at Christ with\nyour own eyes, frankly open your own soul before Him, and trust the\nimpression He makes upon you.\n\n2. Again, John notices the _perplexity_ of the people. They saw that,\nmuch as the authorities desired to put Him out of the way, they shrank\nfrom decisive measures. And from this they naturally gathered that the\nrulers had some idea that this was the Christ. Then besides, they saw\nthe miracles Jesus did, and asked whether the Christ would do more\nmiracles. They saw, too, that He was \"a good Man,\" and on the whole,\ntherefore, they were disposed to look favourably on His claims; but then\nthere always recurred the thought, \"We know this Man whence He is; but\nwhen Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is.\" They thought they\ncould account for Christ and trace Him to His origin; and therefore they\ncould not believe He was from God. This is the common difficulty. Men\nfind it difficult to believe that One who was really born on earth and\ndid not suddenly appear, nobody knew whence, can in any peculiar sense\nbe from God. They dwell upon the truly human nature of Christ, and\nconceive that this precludes the possibility of His being from God in\nany sense in which we are not from God.\n\nTo this perplexity Jesus addresses Himself in the words (ver. 28), \"Me\nyou do in a sense know, and also whence I come, but that does not give\nyou the full knowledge you need, for it is not of Myself I am come; your\nknowledge of _Me_ cannot solve your perplexity, because I am not sent by\nMyself; He that sent Me is the real[31] one, and Him you do not know. I\nknow Him because I am from Him, and He hath sent Me.\" That is to say:\nYour knowledge of Me is insufficient, because you do not, through Me,\nrecognise God. Your knowledge of Me is insufficient so long as you\nconstrue Me into a mere earthly product. To know Me, as you know Me, is\nnot enough; for not in Myself can you find the originating cause of what\nI am and what I do. You must go behind my earthly origin, and the human\nappearance which you know, if you are to account for My presence among\nyou, and for My conduct and teaching. It matters little what you know of\nMe, if through Me you are not brought to the knowledge of God. He is the\nreal One, He is the Supreme Truth; and Him, alas! you do not know while\nyou profess to know Me.\n\n3. John notes the insufficient tests used both by the people and by the\nauthorities for ascertaining whether Jesus was or was not their promised\nKing. The tests they used were such as these, \"Will Christ do more\nmiracles?\" \"Will He come from the same part of the country?\" and so\nforth. Among ourselves it has become customary to speak as if it were\nimpossible to find or apply any sufficient test to the claims of Christ;\nimpossible to ascertain whether He is, in a peculiar sense, Divine, and\nwhether we can absolutely trust all He said, and accept the views of God\nHe cherished and proclaimed. Certainly Christ Himself does not\ncountenance this mode of speaking. In all His conversations with the\nunbelieving Jews He condemned them for their unbelief, ascribed it to\nmoral defects, and persistently maintained that it was within the reach\nof any man to ascertain whether He was true or a pretender. There is a\nclass of expressions which occur in this Gospel which clearly show what\nJesus Himself considered to be the root of unbelief. To Pilate He says,\n\"Every one that is _of the truth_ heareth My voice.\" To the Jews He\nsays, \"He that is of God, heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them\nnot, because ye are not of God.\" And again in this seventh chapter, \"If\nany man is desirous to do the will of God, he will know of My doctrine\nwhether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.\" All these\nstatements convey the impression that Christ's person and teaching will\nuniformly be acceptable to those who love the truth, and who are anxious\nto do the will of God.\n\nFaith in Christ is thus represented as an act rather of the spiritual\nnature than of the intellect, and as the result of sympathy with the\ntruth rather than of critical examination of evidence. A painter or\nart-critic familiar with the productions of great artists feels himself\ninsulted if you offer him evidence to convince him of the genuineness of\na work of art over and above the evidence which it carries in itself,\nand which to him is the most convincing of all. If one of the lost books\nof Tacitus were recovered, scholars would not judge it by any account\nthat might be given of its preservation and discovery, but would say,\nLet us see it and read it, and we will very soon tell you whether it is\ngenuine or not. When the man you have seen every day for years, and\nwhose character you have looked into under the strongest lights, is\naccused of dishonesty, and damaging evidence is brought against him,\ndoes it seriously disturb your confidence in him? Not at all. No\nevidence can countervail the knowledge gained by intercourse. You know\nthe man, directly, and you believe in him without regard to what other\npersons advance in his favour or against him. Christ expects acceptance\non similar grounds. Look at Him, listen to Him, pass with Him from day\nto day of His life, and say whether it is possible that He can be a\ndeceiver, or that He can be deceived. He Himself is confident that those\nwho seek the truth, and are accustomed to acknowledge and follow the\ntruth always, will follow Him. He is confident that they will find that\nHe so fits in with what they have already learnt, that naturally and\ninstinctively they will accept Him.\n\nIt is at the point in which all men are interested that Christ appeals\nto us--at the point of life or conduct; and He says that whoever truly\ndesires to do God's will, will find that His teaching leads him right.\nAnd if men would only acknowledge Christ in this respect, and begin, as\nconscience bids them, by accepting His life as exhibiting the highest\nrule of conduct, they would sooner or later acknowledge Him in all. A\nman may not at once see all that is involved in the fact that Christ\nexhibits, as no one else exhibits, the will of God; but if He will but\nacknowledge Him as _the_ Teacher of God's will, not coming to Him with a\nspirit of suspicion but of earnest desire to do God's will, that man\nwill become a convinced follower of Christ. There are, of course,\npersons of a sound moral disposition who get entangled intellectually in\nperplexing difficulties about the person of Christ and His relation to\nGod; but if such persons are humble--and humility is a virtue of\ndecisive consequence--they will, by virtue of their experience in moral\nquestions, and by their practical knowledge of the value of harmony with\nGod, prize the teaching of Christ, and recognise its superiority, and\nsubmit themselves to its influence.\n\nIt was on the last day of the feast that our Lord made the most explicit\nrevelation of Himself to the people. For seven days the people dwelt in\ntheir booths; on the eighth day they celebrated their entrance into the\npromised land, forsook their booths, and, as it is said in the end of\nthe chapter, \"went every man to his own _house_.\" But on this great day\nof the feast no water was drawn from the pool of Siloam. On each of the\npreceding days the golden pitcher was in request, and the procession\nthat followed the priest who carried it praised God who had brought\nwater out of the rock in the desert; but on the eighth day,\ncommemorating their entrance into \"a land of springs of water,\" this\nrite of drawing the water ceased.\n\nBut the true worshippers among these Israelites had been seeing a\nspiritual meaning in the water, and had been conscious of an uneasy\nfeeling of thirst still in the midst of these Temple services--an uneasy\nquestioning whether even yet Israel had passed the thirsty desert, and\nhad received the full gift God had meant to give. There were thinking\nmen and thirsty souls then as there are now; and to these, who stood\nperhaps a little aside, and looked half in compassion, half in envy, at\nthe merry-making of the rest, it seemed a significant fact that, in the\nTemple itself, with all its grandeur and skilful appliances, there was\nyet no living fountain to quench the thirst of men--a significant fact\nthat to find water the priest had to go outside the gorgeous Temple to\nthe modest \"waters of Siloah that go softly.\" All through the feast\nthese men wondered morning by morning when the words of Joel were to\ncome true, when it should come to pass that \"a fountain should come\nforth of the house of the Lord,\" or when that great and deep river\nshould begin to flow which Ezekiel saw in vision issuing from the\nthreshold of the Lord's house, and waxing deeper and wider as it flowed.\nAnd now once more the last day of the feast had come, the water was no\nlonger drawn, and yet no fountain had burst up in the Temple itself,\ntheir souls were yet perplexed, unsatisfied, craving, athirst, when\nsuddenly, as if in answer to their half-formed thoughts and longings, a\nclear, assured, authoritative voice passed through their ear to their\ninmost soul: \"If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that\nbelieveth on Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.\"\n\nIn these words Christ proclaims that He is the great Temple-fountain; or\nrather, that He is the true Temple, and that the Holy Ghost proceeding\nfrom Him, and dwelling in men, is the life-giving fountain.[32] All the\ncravings after a settled and eternal state, all the longings for purity\nand fellowship with the Highest, which the Temple services rather\nquickened than satisfied, Christ says He will satisfy. The Temple\nservice had been to them as a screen on which the shadows of things\nspiritual were thrown; but they longed to see the realities face to\nface, to have God revealed, to know the very truth of things, and set\nfoot on eternal verity. This thirst is felt by all men whose whole\nnature is alive, whose experience has shaken them out of easy\ncontentment with material prosperity; they thirst for a life which does\nnot so upbraid and mock them as their own life does; they thirst to be\nable to live, so that the one half of their life shall not be condemned\nby the other half; they thirst to be once for all in the \"ampler ether\"\nof happy and energetic existence, not looking through the bars and\nfumbling at the lock. This thirst and all legitimate cravings we feel\nChrist boldly and explicitly promises to satisfy; nay more, all\nillegitimate cravings, all foolish discontent, all vicious\ndissatisfaction with life, all morbid thirst that is rapidly becoming\nchronic disease in us, all weak and false views of life, He will rid us\nof, and give us entrance into the life that God lives and imparts--into\npure, healthy, hopeful life.\n\nChrist stands and cries still in the midst of a thirsting world:\n\"Whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely.\" Has His voice\nbecome so familiar that it has lost all significance? For all who can\nhear and believe, His truth remains. There is life--abundant life for\nus. Drink of any other fountain, and you only intensify thirst, and make\nlife more difficult, spending energy without renewing it. Live in Christ\nand you live in God. You have found the centre, the heart, the eternal\nlife. As Christ stood and cried to the people He was conscious of power\nto impart to them a freshly welling spring of life--a life that would\noverflow for the strengthening and gladdening of others besides\nthemselves. He has the same consciousness to-day; the deep, living\nbenefits He confers are as open to all ages as the sunshine and the air;\nthere is no necessity binding any one soul to feel that life is a\nfailure, an empty, disappointing husk, serving no good purpose, bringing\ndaily fresh misery and deeper hopelessness, a thing perhaps manfully to\nfight our way through but certainly not to rejoice in. If any one has\nsuch views of life it is because he has not honestly, believingly, and\nhumbly responded to Christ's word and come to Him.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[28] It will be observed that the remaining part of the Gospel goes into\nvery small compass as regards time. Chapters vii.-x. 21 are occupied\nwith what was said and done at the Feast of Tabernacles, chapters\nxii.-xx. with the last Passover.\n\n[29] A mixture of religious thanksgiving and unrestrained social\nhilarity, analogous to the English celebration of Christmas.\n\n[30] Psalm xc. 1.\n\n[31] =alethinos=.\n\n[32] On ver. 39 see p. 48 of this volume.\n\n\n\n\nXVII.\n\n_THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY._\n\n\n    \"And they went every man unto his own house: but Jesus went unto the\n    mount of Olives. And early in the morning He came again into the\n    temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down, and\n    taught them. And the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken\n    in adultery; and having set her in the midst, they say unto Him,\n    Master, this woman hath been taken in adultery, in the very act. Now\n    in the law Moses commanded us to stone such; what then sayest Thou\n    of her? And this they said, tempting Him, that they might have\n    whereof to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger\n    wrote on the ground. But when they continued asking Him, He lifted\n    up Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you,\n    let him first cast a stone at her. And again He stooped down, and\n    with His finger wrote on the ground. And they, when they heard it,\n    went out one by one, beginning from the eldest, even unto the last:\n    and Jesus was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the\n    midst. And Jesus lifted up Himself, and said unto her, Woman, where\n    are they? did no man condemn thee? And she said, No man, Lord. And\n    Jesus said, Neither do I condemn thee; go thy way; from henceforth\n    sin no more.\"--JOHN vii. 53-viii, 11.\n\n\nThis paragraph, from chap. vii. 53-viii. 11 inclusive, is omitted from\nmodern editions of the Greek text on the authority of the best\nmanuscripts. Internal evidence is also decidedly against its admission.\nThe incident may very well have happened, and it bears every appearance\nof being accurately reported. We are glad to have so characteristic an\nexposure of the malignity of the Jews, and a view of our Lord which,\nalthough from a novel standpoint, is yet quite consistent with other\nrepresentations of His manner and spirit. But here it is out of place.\nNo piece of literary work is so compact and homogeneous as this Gospel.\nAnd an incident such as this, which would be quite in keeping with the\nmatter of the synoptical Gospels, is felt rather to interrupt than to\nforward the purpose of John to record the most characteristic and\nimportant self-manifestations of Christ.\n\nBut as the paragraph is here, and has been here from very early times,\nand as it is good Gospel material, it may be well briefly to indicate\nits significance.\n\n1. First, it reveals the unscrupulous malignity of the leading citizens,\nthe educated and religious men, \"the Scribes and Pharisees.\" They\nbrought to Jesus the guilty woman, \"tempting Him\" (ver. 6); not because\nthey were deeply grieved or even shocked at her conduct; nay, so little\nwere they impressed with that aspect of the case, that, with a\ncold-blooded indelicacy which is well-nigh incredible, they actually\nused her guilt to further their own designs against Jesus. They\nconceived that by presenting her before Him for judgment, He would be\ntransfixed on one or other horn of the following dilemma: If He said,\nLet the woman die in accordance with the law of Moses, they would have a\nfair ground on which they could frame a dangerous accusation against\nHim, and would inform Pilate that this new King was actually adjudging\nlife and death. If, on the other hand, He bid them let the woman go,\nthen He could be branded before the people as traversing the law of\nMoses.\n\nUnderhand scheming of this kind is of course always to be condemned.\nSetting traps and digging pitfalls are illegitimate methods even of\nslaughtering wild animals, and the sportsman disdains them. But he who\nintroduces such methods into human affairs, and makes his business one\nconcatenated plot, does not deserve to be a member of society at all,\nbut should be banished to the unreclaimed wilderness. These men posed as\nsticklers for the Law, as the immovably orthodox, and yet had not the\ncommon indignation at crime which would have saved them from making a\nhandle of this woman's guilt. No wonder that their unconscious and\nbrazen depravity should have filled Jesus with wonder and embarrassment,\nso that for a space He could not utter a word, but could only fix His\neyes on the ground.\n\nMaking all allowance for the freedom of Oriental manners from some\nmodern refinements, one cannot but feel some surprise that such a scene\nshould be possible on the streets of Jerusalem. It reveals a hardened\nand insensible condition of public opinion which one is scarcely\nprepared for. And yet it may well be questioned whether it was a more\nominous state of public sentiment than that in the midst of which we are\nliving, when scenes, in _character_ if not in appearance similar to\nthis, are constantly reproduced by our novelists and play-writers, who\nharp upon this one vile string, professing, like these Pharisees, that\nthey drag such things before the public gaze for the sake of exposing\nvice and making it hateful, but really because they know that there is a\nlarge constituency to whom they can best appeal by what is sensational,\nand prurient, and immoral, though to the masculine and healthy mind\ndisgusting. Many of our modern writers might take a hint from our German\nforefathers, who, in their barbarian days, held that some vices were to\nbe punished in public, but others buried quickly in oblivion, and who,\ntherefore, punished crime of this sort by binding it in a wicker crate,\nand sinking it in a pit of mud out of sight for ever. We certainly\ncannot congratulate ourselves on our advancement in moral perception so\nlong as we pardon to persons of genius and rank what would be loathed in\npersons of no brilliant parts and in our own circles. When such things\nare thrust upon us, either in literature or elsewhere, we have always\nthe resource of our Lord; we can turn away, as though we heard not; we\ncan refuse to inquire further into such matters, and turn away our eyes\nfrom them.\n\nFew positions could be more painful to a pure-minded man than that in\nwhich our Lord was placed. What hope could there be for a world where\nthe religious and righteous had become even more detestable than the\ncoarse sin they proposed to punish? No wonder our Lord was silent,\nsilent in sheer disturbance of mind and sympathetic shame. He stooped\ndown and wrote on the ground, as one who does not wish to answer a\nquestion will begin drawing lines on the ground with his foot or his\nstick. His silence was a broad hint to the accusers; but they take it\nfor mere embarrassment, and all the more eagerly press their question.\nThey think Him at a loss when they see Him with hanging head tracing\nfigures on the ground; they fancy their plot is successful, and, flushed\nwith expected victory, they close in and lay their hands on his shoulder\nas He stoops, and demand an answer. And so He lifts Himself up, and they\nhave their answer: \"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast\na stone at her.\" They fall into the pit they have digged.\n\nThis answer was not a mere clever retort such as a self-possessed\nantagonist can always command. It was not a mere dexterous evasion. What\nthese scribes would say of it to one another afterwards, or with what\nnervous anxiety they would altogether avoid the subject, we can scarcely\nconjecture; but probably none of them would affect to say, as has since\nbeen said, that it was a confounding of things that differ, that by\ndemanding that every one who brought an accusation, against another\nshould himself be open to no accusation Jesus subverted the whole\nadministration of law. For what criminal could fear condemnation, if his\ndoom were to be suspended until a judge whose heart is as pure as his\nermine be found who may pronounce it? Might not these scribes have\nreplied that they were quite aware that they themselves were guilty men,\nbut no law could lay hold of any outward actions of theirs, and that\nthey were there not to talk of their relation to God or of purity of\nheart, but to vindicate the outward purity of the morals of their city\nby bringing to judgment this offender? They did not thus bandy words\nwith our Lord, and they could not; because they knew that it was not He\nwho was trying to confound private morality and the administration of\nlaw but themselves. They had brought this woman to Jesus as if He were a\nmagistrate, though often enough He had declined to interfere with civil\naffairs and with the ordinary administration of justice. And in His\nanswer He still shows the same spirit of non-interference. He does not\npronounce upon the woman's guilt at all. Had they taken her before their\nordinary courts He would have raised no word in her favour; did her\nhusband after this prosecute her he can have feared no interference on\nthe part of Jesus. His answer is the answer not of one pronouncing from\na judgment-seat, nor of a legal counsel, but of a moral and spiritual\nteacher. And in this capacity He had a perfect right to say what He did.\nWe have no right to say to an official who in condemning culprits or in\nprosecuting them is simply discharging a public duty, \"See that your own\nhands be clean, and your own heart pure, before you condemn another,\"\nbut we have a perfect right to silence a private individual who is\nofficiously and not officially exposing another's guilt, by bidding him\nremember that he has a beam in his own eye which he must first be rid\nof, a stain on his own hands he must first wash out. The public\nprosecutor, or judge is a mere mouthpiece and representative among us of\nabsolute justice; in him we see not his own private character at all,\nbut the purity and rectitude of law and order. But these scribes were\nacting as private individuals, and came to Jesus professing that they\nwere so shocked with this woman's sin that they wished the long-disused\npunishment of stoning to be revived. And therefore Jesus had not only a\nperfect right, as any other man would have had, to say to them, \"Thou\nthat sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit\nadultery?\" but also, as the searcher of hearts; as He who knew what is\nin man, He could risk the woman's life on the chance of there being a\nsingle man of them who was really as shocked as he pretended to be, who\nwas prepared to say he had in his own soul no taint of the sin he was\nloudly professing his abhorrence of, who was prepared to say, Death is\ndue to this sin, and then to accept such proportionate punishment as\nwould fall to his own share.\n\nHaving given His answer His eye again falls, His former stooping\nattitude is resumed. He does not mean to awe them by a defiant look; He\nlets their own conscience do the work. But that their conscience should\nhave produced such a result deserves our attention. The woman, when she\nheard His answer, may for a moment have trembled and shrunk together,\nexpecting the crashing blow of the first stone. Could she expect that\nthese Pharisees, some of them at least good men, were all involved\nsomehow in her sin, tainted in heart with the pollution that had wrought\nsuch destruction in herself, or supposing they were so tainted, did they\nknow it; or supposing they knew it, would they not be ashamed to own it\nin the face of the surrounding crowd; would they not sacrifice her life\nrather than their own character? But every man waited for some other to\nlift the first stone; every man thought that some one of their number\nwould be pure enough and bold enough, if not to throw the first stone,\nat least to assert that he fulfilled the condition of doing so that\nJesus had laid down. None was willing to put himself forward to be\nsearched by the eyes of the crowd, and to be exposed to the still more\ntrying judgment of Jesus, and to risk the possibility of His, in some\nmore definite way, revealing his past life. And so they edged their way\nout through the crowd from before Him, each desiring to have no more to\ndo with the business; the oldest not so old as to forget his sin, the\nyoungest not daring to say he was not already corrupt.\n\nThis reveals two things, the amount of unascertained guilt every man\ncarries with him, guilt that he is not distinctly conscious of, but that\na little shake awakens, and that weakens him all through his life in\nways that he may be unable to trace.\n\nFurther, this encounter of Jesus with the leading men gives significance\nto His subsequent challenge: \"Which of you convinceth Me of sin?\" He had\nshown them how easy it was to convict the guilty; but the very ease and\nboldness with which He had touched their conscience convinced them His\nown was pure. In a society honeycombed with vice He stood perfect,\nuntouched by evil.\n\nThis searching purity, this stainless mirror, the woman felt it more\ndifficult to face than the accusing scribes. Alone with Him who had so\neasily unmasked their wickedness, she feels that now she has to do with\nsomething much more awful than the accusations of men--the actual\nirrevocable sin. There was no voice now accusing her, no hand laid in\narrest upon her. Why does she not go? Because, now that others are\nsilent, her own conscience speaks; now that her accusers are silenced,\nshe must listen to Him whose purity has saved her. The presence among us\nof a true and perfect human holiness in the person of Christ, that is\nthe true touchstone of character; and he who does not feel that this is\nwhat actually judges all his own ways and actions, has but a dim\napprehension of what human life is--of its dignity, its\nresponsibilities, its risks, its reality. Our sin, no doubt, hems us\nround with a thousand disabilities, and fears, and anxieties in this\nworld, often dreadful to bear as the shame of this woman; there\ngradually gathers round us a brood of mischiefs we have given birth to\nby overstepping God's law, a brood that throngs our steps, and makes a\npeaceful and happy life impossible. Other men come to recognise some of\nour infirmities, and we feel the depressing influence of their\nunfavourable judgment, and in the secresy of our own self-reflection we\nthink meanly of ourselves; but this, overwhelming as it sometimes\nbecomes, is not the worst of sin. Were all these evil consequences\nabated or removed, were we as free from accusing voices, either from the\nreflected judgment of the world or from our own memory, as that woman\nwhen she stood _alone_ in the midst, yet there would then only the more\nclearly emerge into view the essential and inseparable evil of sin, the\nactual breach between us and holiness. The accusation and misery which\nsin brings generally either make us feel that we are expiating sin by\nwhat we suffer, or put us into a self-defensive attitude. It is when\nJesus lifts His true eye to meet ours that the heart sinks humbled, and\nrecognises that apart from all punishment and in itself sin is sin, an\ninjury to God's love, a grievous wrong to our own humanity. In the\nattitude of Christ towards sin and the sinner there is an exposure of\nthe real nature of sin which makes an ineffaceable impression.\n\nBut what will Jesus do with this woman thus left on His hands? Will _He_\nnot visit her with punishment, and so assert His superiority to the\naccusers who had slunk away? He shows His superiority in a much more\nreal fashion. He sees that now the woman is self-condemned, lies under\nthat condemnation in which alone there is hope, and which alone leads to\ngood. She could not misunderstand the significance of her acquittal. Her\nsurprise must only have deepened her gratitude. He who had stood her\nfriend and brought her through so critical a passage in her history\ncould scarcely be forgotten. And yet, considering the net she had thrown\naround herself, could our Lord say \"Sin no more\" with any hope? He knew\nwhat she was going back to--a blighted home-life, a life full now of\nperplexity, of regret, of suspicion, probably of ill-usage, of contempt,\nof everything that makes men and women bitter and drives them on to sin.\nYet He implies that the legitimate result of forgiveness is renunciation\nof sin. Others might expect her to sin; He expected her to abandon sin.\nIf the love shown us in forgiveness is no barrier to sin, it is because\nwe have not been in earnest as yet about our sin, and forgiveness is but\na name. Do we need an external scene such as that before us as the\nsetting which may enable us to believe that we are sinners, and that\nthere is forgiveness for us? The entrance to life is through\nforgiveness. Possibly we have sought forgiveness; but if there follows\nus no serious estimate of sin, no fruitful remembrance of the holiness\nof Him who forgave us, then our severance from sin will last only until\nwe meet the first substantial temptation.\n\nWe do not know what became of this woman, but she had an opportunity of\nregarding Jesus with reverence and affection, and thus of bringing a\nsaving influence into her life. This scene, in which He was the chief\nfigure, must always have remained the most vivid picture in her memory;\nand the more she thought of it the more clearly must she have seen how\ndifferent He was from all besides. And unless in our hearts Christ finds\na place, there is no other sufficient purifying influence. We may be\nconvinced He is all He claims to be, we may believe He is sent to save,\nand that He can save; but all this belief may be without any cleansing\neffect upon us. What is wanted is an attachment, a real love that will\nprompt us always to regard His will, and to make our life a part of His.\nIt is our likings that have led us astray, and it is by new likings\nimplanted within us that we can be restored. So long as our knowledge of\nChrist is in our head only, it may profit us a little, but it will not\nmake new creatures of us. To accomplish that, He must command our heart.\nHe must control and move what is most influential within us; there must\narise in us a real and ruling enthusiasm for Him.\n\nPerhaps, however, the chief lesson taught by this incident is that the\nbest way to reform society is to reform ourselves. There is of course a\ngreat deal done in our own day to reclaim the vicious, to succour the\npoor, and so on; and nothing is to be said against these efforts when\nthey are the outcome of a humble and sympathising charity. But they are\nvery often adulterated with a spirit of condemnation and a sense of\nsuperiority, which on closer inspection is found to be unjust. These\nscribes and Pharisees, when they dragged this woman before Jesus, felt\nthemselves on quite another platform than that which she occupied; but\na word from Christ convinced them how hollow this self-righteous spirit\nwas. He made them feel that they too were sinners even as she, and none\nof them was sufficiently hardened to lift a stone against her. This is\ncreditable to the Pharisees. There are many among us who would very\nquickly have lifted the stone. Even while striving to reclaim the\ndrunkard, for example, they arraign him with an implacable ferocity that\nshows they are quite unconscious of being sharers in his sin. If you\nchallenged them, they would clear themselves by vehemently protesting\nthat they had not touched strong drink for years; but do they not\nconsider that the almost universal intemperance of the lowest class in\nsociety has a far deeper root than individual appetite; that it is\nrooted in the whole miserable condition of that class, and cannot be\ncured till the luxuries of the rich are by some means sacrificed for the\nbitter need of the poor, and the rational enjoyments which save the\nwell-to-do from coarse and open vice are put within reach of the whole\npopulation? Poverty, and the necessity it entails of being content with\na wage which barely keeps in life, are not the sole roots of vice, but\nthey are roots; and so long as we ourselves, in common with the society\nin which we live, are involved in the guilt of upholding a social\ncondition which tempts to every kind of iniquity, we dare not cast the\nfirst stone at the drunkard, the thief, or even their more sunken\nassociates. No one man, and no one class, is more guilty than another in\nthis great blot on our Christianity. _Society_ is guilty; but as members\nwho happen by the accident of our birth to have enjoyed advantages\nsaving us from much temptation which we know we could not have stood, we\nmust learn at least to _consider_ those who in a very real sense are\nsacrificed for us. Among certain savage tribes, when a chief's house is\nbuilt, slaughtered slaves are laid in pits as its foundation; the\nstructure of our vaunted civilisation has a very similar basement.\n\nStill it is one of the most hopeful features of present-day Christianity\nthat men are becoming sensible that they are not mere individuals, but\nare members of a society; and that they must bear the shame of the\nexisting condition of things in society. Intelligent Christian men now\nfeel that the saving of their own souls is not enough, and that they\ncannot with complacency rest satisfied with their own happy condition\nand prospects if the society to which they belong is in a state of\ndegradation and misery. It is by the growth of this sympathetic shame\nthat reformation on a great scale will be brought about. It is by men\nlearning to see in all misery and vice their own share of guilt that\nsociety will gradually be leavened. To those who cannot own their\nconnection with their fellow-men in any such sense, to those who are\nquite satisfied if they themselves are comfortable, I do not know what\ncan be said. They break themselves off from the social body, and accept\nthe fate of the amputated limb.\n\n\n\n\nXVIII.\n\n_CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD._\n\n\n    \"Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of\n    the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness, but\n    shall have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said unto Him,\n    Thou bearest witness of Thyself; Thy witness is not true. Jesus\n    answered and said unto them, Even if I bear witness of Myself, My\n    witness is true; for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye\n    know not whence I come, or whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh; I\n    judge no man. Yea and if I judge, My judgement is true; for I am not\n    alone, but I and the Father that sent Me. Yea and in your law it is\n    written, that the witness of two men is true. I am He that beareth\n    witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of\n    Me. They said therefore unto Him Where is Thy Father? Jesus\n    answered, Ye know neither Me, nor My Father: if ye knew Me, ye would\n    know My Father also.\"--JOHN viii. 12-19.\n\n\nAt the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus, who knew that He was sent to confer\nupon men the realities which had been symbolised and promised in all\nreligious rites, proclaimed that He was the fountain of life (vii. 37);\nand thus responded to the unuttered prayer of those who looked with some\nweariness at the old routine of drawing water in remembrance of the\nprovision God had made for their fathers in the desert. Another feature\nof the same Feast leads Him now to declare a further characteristic of\nHis person. In commemoration of the Pillar of Fire that led their\nfathers in the trackless desert, the people lit large lamps round the\nTemple, and gave themselves up to dancing and revelry. But this, too,\nwas no doubt felt to be for the superficial souls that can live upon\nrites and symbols, and do not seek to lay bare their inmost being to the\nvery touch of eternal reality. Not merely the cynic would smile as\nvenerable men joined in the lamp-light dance, but possibly even the\ngrave and pious onlooker, looking back on his own mistakes in life, and\nconscious of the blind way in which he was still blundering on, stood\nwondering where the true Guide of Israel, the real Light of human life\nwas to be found. In sympathy with all such longing after truth and\nclear vision Jesus cries, \"I am the light of the world; he that\nfolloweth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of\nlife.\"\n\nHis words must be interpreted by their reference to the light which was\nthen being celebrated. Of that light we read that \"the Lord went before\nthem by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in\na pillar of fire, to give them light.\" This was a customary mode of\ndirecting the movements of large bodies of men, whether caravans or\narmies. In the case of an army a tall pole was erected in front of the\nchief's tent, and from it a basket of fire was suspended, so that the\nglare of it was visible by night, and its smoke by day. The head of a\nmarching column could thus be descried from a great distance, especially\nin wide level tracts with little or no vegetation and few inequalities\nof surface to interrupt the view. The distinctive peculiarity of the\nIsraelitish march was that Jehovah was in the fire, and that He alone\ncontrolled its movements, and thereby the movements of the camp. When\nthe pillar of cloud left its place and advanced the tents were struck,\nlest they should be separated, from Jehovah and be found unfaithful to\nHim. During the whole course of their sojourn in the wilderness their\nmovements were thus controlled and ordered. The beacon-fire that led\nthem was unaffected by atmospheric influences. Dispelled by no gales,\nand evaporated by no fiercest heat of the Eastern sun, it hovered in the\nvan of the host as the guiding angel of the Lord. The guidance it gave\nwas uninterrupted and unerring; it was never mistaken for an ordinary\ncloud, never so altered its shape as to become unrecognisable. And each\nnight the flame shot up, and assured the people they might rest in\npeace.\n\nTwo obvious characteristics of this guiding Light must be kept in view.\n\n1. God's people were not led by a road already made and used, and which\nthey could have studied from beginning to end on a map before starting;\nbut they were led day by day, and step by step, by a living guide, who\nchose a route never before trodden. In the morning they did not know\nwhether they were to go forward or back, or to stay where they were.\nThey had to wait in ignorance till their guiding pillar moved, and\nfollow in ignorance till it halted. Our passage through life is similar.\nIt is not a chart we are promised but a guide. We cannot tell where next\nyear or next month may be spent. We are not informed of any part of our\nfuture, and have no means of ascertaining the emergencies which may try\nus, the new ingredients which may suddenly be thrown into our life, and\nreveal in us what till now has lain hidden and dormant. We cannot tell\nby what kind of path we shall be led onwards to our end; and our\nsecurity from day to day consists not at all in this, that we can\npenetrate the future, and see no dangers in it, but our security is that\nwe shall always be guided by infallible and loving wisdom. We have\nlearned a chief article of human wisdom if we have learned to leave\nto-morrow to God and faithfully follow Him to-day. A road as it lies in\nthe distance often looks impassably steep, but as we approach and walk\nit step by step, we find it almost level and fairly easy.\n\n2. This light was to guide, not their conduct, but their movements. All\nmen need similar guidance. All men have practical matters to determine\nwhich often greatly perplex them; they must make a choice between one or\nother course of action that is possible. Steps which will determine\ntheir whole subsequent life must be taken or declined; and for the\ndetermining of such alterations in the place or mode of their life there\nis often felt great need of a guidance which can be entirely relied\nupon. Sometimes, indeed, our course is determined for us, and we are not\nconsulted in the matter; as the pillar of fire was silent, assigning no\nreasons, condescending to no persuasion or argument, but simply moving\nforwards; passing over rugged and steep mountain ridges, past inviting\nand sheltered glens, offering no present explanation of the route, but\njustified always by the result. So we often find that our course is\ndetermined apart from our own choice, wishes, judgment, or prayers. But\nthis we commonly resent, and crave a guidance which shall approve itself\nto our own judgment and yet be infallible; which shall leave us our\nfreedom of choice, and yet carry us forwards to all possibilities of\ngood. In fact, we would rather have our freedom of choice and the\nresponsibility of guiding our own life, with all its risks, than be\ncarried forward without choice of our own.\n\nThis is the great distinction between the light which Christ is and the\nlight by which the Israelites were led from day to day. They had an\nexternal means of ascertaining promptly which way they should go. Their\nwhole life was circumscribed, and its place and mode determined for\nthem. The guidance offered to us by Christ is of an inward kind. A God\nwithout might seem perfect as a guide, but a God within is the real\nperfection. God does not now lead us by a sign which we could follow,\nthough we had no real sympathy with Divine ways and no wisdom of our\nown; but He leads us by communicating to us His own perceptions of right\nand wrong, by inwardly enlightening us, and by making us ourselves of\nsuch a disposition that we naturally choose what is good.\n\nWhen matters difficult to handle and to manage come into our life, and\nwhen we are tempted to long for some external sign which would show us\ninfallibly the right thing to do and the right way to follow, let this\nbe our consolation, that this very exercise of judgment and bearing of\nresponsibility in matters where right and wrong are not broadly\ndistinguished are among the chief instruments for the formation of\ncharacter; and that _even though we err_ in the choice we make, yet by\nour error and by all honest effort to keep right with God in the matter,\nwe shall certainly have made growth in ability to understand and to do\nwhat is right. No doubt it is easier to believe in a guide we can see\nand that moves before us like a pillar of fire; but supposing for a\nmoment that this dispensation under which we are living is not a great\ndeception, supposing for a moment that God is doing that one thing which\nHe pledged Himself to do, namely, giving a Divine Spirit to men, Himself\ndwelling with men and in them, then we cannot fail to see that this\nguidance is of a much higher kind, and has much more lasting results\nthan any external guidance could have. If, by allowing us to determine\nour own course and find our own way through all the hazards and\nperplexities of life, God is teaching us to estimate actions and their\nresults more and more by their moral value, and if thereby He is\nimpregnating you with His own mind and character, surely that is a much\nbetter thing than if He were keeping us in the right way merely by\noutward signs and irrespective of our own growth in wisdom.\n\nPersons whose opinion is not to be lightly esteemed say that if we\nhonestly seek God's guidance in any matter we cannot err, and have no\nbusiness to reflect afterwards on our conduct as if we had made a wrong\nchoice. I cannot think that is so. Sincere people who ask God's\nguidance, it seems to me, frequently make mistakes. In fact, our past\nmistakes are a great part of our education. Unless we are _habitually_\nin sympathy with God we are not infallible even in matters where a moral\njudgment is all that is required; and sometimes more is required of us\nthan to say what is right and what is wrong. Other points have to be\nconsidered--points which call for a knowledge of life, of places, and\nprofessions, of the trustworthiness of other men, and a thousand matters\nin which we are liable to err. It is of course a great satisfaction to\nknow that we wished to do right, even if we discover we have blundered;\nand it is also a satisfaction to know that God can use us for good in\nany position, even in that we have blundered into, although meanwhile we\nhave lost some present good.\n\nThe light which Christ brought to the world was the light \"of life.\"\nThis additional description \"of life\" He commonly appended to\ndistinguish the real and eternal good He bestowed from the figure by\nwhich it had been hinted at. He calls Himself the Bread _of life_, the\nWater _of life_, to point out that He is really and eternally what these\nmaterial things are in the present physical world. All this present\nconstitution of things may pass away, and the time may come when men\nshall no longer need to be sustained by bread, but the time shall never\ncome when they shall not need life; and this fundamental gift Christ\npledges Himself evermore to give. And when He names Himself the light\n_of life_ He indicates that it is on the true, eternal life of man He\nsheds light.\n\nThere may, then, be many things and important things on which Christ\nsheds no direct light, although there is nothing of importance on which\nHe does not shed light indirectly. He brought into the world no direct\nlight upon scientific questions; He did not hasten the development of\nart by any special light thrown on its objects and methods. There was no\ngreat need for light on such matters. These are not the distressing\ndifficulties of human existence. Indeed, men find stimulus and joy in\novercoming these difficulties, and resent being told nature's secrets,\nand not being allowed to find them out. But the darkness that settles on\nthe life of the individual, and upon the condition of large classes of\npeople through what is human, personal, and practical is often\noverwhelming, and compels men to cry for light. The strange miscarriage\nof justice in the life of many individuals; the compulsion put upon them\nto sin and to disbelieve through the pressure of unceasing failure and\nprivation; the triumph of cold-hearted villainy; the bitterness of\nseparation and death; the impenetrable darkness of the future; the\nincomprehensible dimness, in which the most important truths are\ninvolved--all this men find no pleasure in, but rather a torment that is\nsometimes maddening, often destructive of all faith, and always painful.\nThis is the kind of darkness that causes men to sink; they run upon the\nrocks, and go down in darkness, no living soul hearing their cry. This\nis the darkness which wrings from many a heart at this moment the\nquestion of despair, \"What has become, of God?\"\n\nThe darkness regarding conduct in which men are involved has largely a\nmoral root. Men are blinded by their appetites and passions, so that\nthey cannot see the best ends and enjoyments of life. It is the strong\ncraving we have for gratifications of sense and of worldly desire that\nmisleads us in life. As some creatures have the faculty of emitting a\ndark and turbid matter that discolours the water, and hides them from\ntheir pursuers, so it is a self-evolved and home-made darkness that\ninvolves us. False expectations are the atmosphere of our life; we live\nin an unreal world created by our own tastes and desires, which\nmisinform us, and bid us seek the good of life where it is not to be\nfound.\n\nIt is then this light that Christ is and brings, light upon human life,\nlight upon all that most intimately concerns human character, human\nconduct, and human destiny. What each of us chiefly needs to know is,\nwhat is the best kind of human life--how can I best spend my energies,\nand how can I best sustain them? Are there any results of life which are\nsatisfying and which are certain; and if so, how can I attain them? Do\nnot all things happen alike to all; is it not with the wise man and the\nrighteous as with the fool? Is life worth serious devotion; will it\nrepay what is spent upon it? Is not cynical indifference, or selfish\ncaring for present interests, the most philosophical as well as the most\npleasant and easy attitude towards life to assume? These are the\nquestions which we find answered in Christ.\n\nThe expression, \"the light of life,\" may, however, have a somewhat\ndifferent meaning. It may mean that he who follows Christ shall have\nthat light which accompanies, and is fed by, the life which Christ\ngives. At the outset of the Gospel John declared that \"the Life was the\nlight of men.\" And this is true in the sense that they who accept Christ\nas their life, and truly live in Him and by Him, walk in light and not\nin darkness. The clouds and gloom which overhung their life are\ndissipated. Their horizon is widened, their prospect cleared, and all\nthings with which they have presently to do are seen in their true\ndimensions and relations. They who live with the life of Christ have a\nclear light regarding duty. The man who has entered into the life Christ\nopens to us, however slow and dull in intellect he may be, may indeed\nmake many mistakes, but he will find his way through life, and issue\nfrom it, in his measure, triumphant.\n\nIt is further to be remarked that Jesus does not content Himself with a\nplace beside other teachers, saying, \"I will give you light,\" but\naffirms that the light is inseparable from His own person. \"I am the\nlight.\" By this He means, as already observed, that it is by receiving\nHim as our life that we have light. But His words also mean that He\nimparts this light not by oral teaching, but by being what He is, and\nliving as He does. Teaching by word and precept is well, when nothing\nbetter can be had;[33] but it is the Word made flesh that commands the\nattention of all. This is a language universally intelligible. \"A life,\nthe highest conceivable, on almost the lowest conceivable stage, and\nrecorded in the simplest form, with indifference to all outward\naccompaniments attractive whether to the few or to the many, is set\nbefore us as the final and unalterable ideal of human life, amid all\nits continual and astonishing changes.\" It is by this life led here on\nearth He becomes our Light. It is by His faith maintained in the utmost\nof trial; His calmness and hopefulness amidst all that shrouds human\nlife in darkness; His constant persuasion that God is in this world,\npresent, loving, and working. It is by His habitual attitude towards\nthis life, and towards the unseen, that we receive light to guide us. In\nHis calmness we take refuge from our own dismay. In His hopefulness we\nrefresh ourselves in every time of weariness. In His confidence our\ntimorous anxieties are rebuked. Upon the darkest parts of our life there\nfalls from Him some clear ray that brightens and directs. Thousands of\nHis followers, in every age, have verified His words: \"I am the light of\nthe world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall\nhave the light of life.\"\n\nAnd as the Teacher taught by living so must the scholar learn by living.\nChrist brings light by passing through all human experiences and\nsituations, and \"he that followeth\" Him, not he that reads about Him,\n\"shall have the light of life.\" There are very few men in the world who\ncan think to much purpose on truths so abstruse and complicated as the\nDivinity of Christ and the Atonement and Miracles; but there is no man\nso dull as not to see the difference between Christ's life and His own.\nFew men may be able to explain satisfactorily the relation Christ holds\nto God on the one hand and to us on the other; but every man who knows\nChrist at all even as he knows his friend or his father, is conscious\nthat a new light falls upon sin of all kinds, upon sins of appetite and\nsins of temper and sins of disposition, since Christ lived. It is in\nthis light Christ would have us walk, and if we follow as He leads on,\nwe shall never lack the light of life. We need not be seriously\ndisturbed about the darkness that hangs round the horizon if light falls\non our own path; we need not be disturbed by our ignorance of many\nDivine and human things, nor by our inability to answer many questions\nwhich may be put to us, and which indeed we naturally put to ourselves,\nso long only as we are sure we are living so as to please and satisfy\nChrist. If our life runs on the lines His life marked out, we shall\ncertainly arrive where He now is, in the happiest and highest human\ncondition.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[33] \"Many had spoken wonderfully the truths concerning our state, and\neven concerning our hopes; they had sounded great depths in the sea of\nwisdom; they had drawn the line between what is solid and what is vain\nin life; they had caught, firmly and clearly, what was worth living for;\nthey had measured truly the relative value of the flesh and the\nSpirit.\"--Dean Church, _Gifts of Civilisation_, p. 105.\n\n\n\n\nXIX.\n\n_JESUS REJECTED IN JERUSALEM._\n\n\n    \"He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek Me,\n    and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come. The Jews\n    therefore said, Will He kill Himself, that He saith, Whither I go,\n    ye cannot come? And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am\n    from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said\n    therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye\n    believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. They said therefore\n    unto Him, Who art Thou? Jesus said unto them, Even that which I have\n    also spoken unto you from the beginning. I have many things to speak\n    and to judge concerning you: howbeit He that sent Me is true; and\n    the things which I heard from Him, these speak I unto the world.\n    They perceived not that He spake to them of the Father. Jesus\n    therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye\n    know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself, but as the\n    Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He that sent Me is with\n    Me; He hath not left Me alone; for I do always the things that are\n    pleasing to Him. As He spake these things, many believed on Him.\n    Jesus therefore said to those Jews which had believed Him, If ye\n    abide in My word, then are ye truly My disciples; and ye shall know\n    the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered unto\n    Him, We be Abraham's seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any\n    man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them,\n    Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the\n    bondservant of sin. And the bondservant abideth not in the house for\n    ever: the son abideth for ever. If therefore the Son shall make you\n    free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's seed;\n    yet ye seek to kill Me, because My word hath not free course in you.\n    I speak the things which I have seen with My Father: and ye also do\n    the things which ye heard from your father. They answered and said\n    unto Him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were\n    Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye\n    seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard\n    from God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the works of your father. They\n    said unto Him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father,\n    even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would\n    love Me: for I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I\n    come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do ye not understand My speech?\n    Even because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the\n    devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a\n    murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because\n    there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his\n    own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof. But because I say the\n    truth, ye believe Me not. Which of you convicteth Me of sin? If I\n    say truth, why do ye not believe Me? He that is of God heareth the\n    words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of\n    God. The Jews answered and said unto Him, Say we not well that Thou\n    art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a\n    devil; but I honour My Father, and ye dishonour Me. But I seek not\n    mine own glory: there is One that seeketh and judgeth. Verily,\n    verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My word, he shall never see\n    death. The Jews said unto Him, Now we know that Thou hast a devil.\n    Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and Thou sayest, If a man keep My\n    word, he shall never taste of death. Art Thou greater than our\n    father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom\n    makest Thou Thyself? Jesus answered, If I glorify Myself, My glory\n    is nothing: it is My Father that glorifieth Me; of whom ye say, that\n    He is your God; and ye have not known Him: but I know Him; and if I\n    should say, I know Him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar: but I\n    know Him, and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My\n    day; and he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto Him,\n    Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham? Jesus\n    said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was,\n    I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at Him: but Jesus hid\n    Himself, and went out of the temple.\"--JOHN viii. 21-59.\n\n\nJohn has now briefly detailed the self-manifestations of Jesus which He\nconsidered sufficient to induce the Jews to believe in Him; and he has\nshown us how, both in Galilee and in Jerusalem, the people, with few\nexceptions, remained unconvinced. He has also very clearly shown the\nreason of His rejection in Galilee. The reason was that the blessings He\nproposed to bestow were spiritual, while the blessings they craved were\nphysical. Their Messianic expectation was not satisfied in Him. So long\nas He healed their sick, and by His mere will furnished famishing\nthousands with food, they thought, This is the King for us. But when He\ntold them that these things were mere signs of higher blessings, and\nwhen He urged them to seek these spiritual gifts, they left Him in a\nbody.\n\nIn Jerusalem opinion has followed a similar course. There also Jesus has\nexemplified His power to impart life. He has carefully explained the\nsignificance of that sign, and has explicitly claimed Divine\nprerogatives. But although individuals believe, the mass of the people\nare only perplexed, and the authorities are exasperated. The rulers,\nhowever, find it impossible to proceed against Him, owing to the\ninfluence He has with the people, and even with their own servants.\nThis state of matters, however, was not destined to continue; and in the\neighth chapter John traces the course of popular opinion from a somewhat\nhopeful perplexity to a furious hostility that, at length, for the first\ntime, broke out in actual violence (viii. 59). Jesus did not indeed\nimmediately retire, as if further efforts to induce faith were useless,\nbut when the storm broke out a second time (x. 39, 40) He finally\nwithdrew, and taught only such as sought Him out.\n\nAt this point, then, in the history we are invited to inquire what\ngrounds of faith Jesus had presented, and what were the true reasons of\nHis rejection.\n\n1. But first we must ask, In what character or capacity did Jesus\npresent Himself to men? What did He declare Himself to be? What demand\ndid He make on the faith of those to whom He presented Himself? When He\nrequired that they should believe in Him, what exactly did He mean?\nCertainly He did not mean less than that they should believe He was the\nMessiah, and should accept Him as such. The \"Messiah\" was an elastic\ntitle, perhaps not conveying to any two minds in Israel precisely the\nsame idea. It had indeed for all Israelites some contents in common. It\nmeant that here was One upon earth and accessible, who was sent to be\nthe Bearer of God's good-will to men, a Mediator through whom God meant\nto make His presence felt and His will known. But some who believed\nJesus was the Christ had so poor a conception of the Christ, that He\ncould not accept theirs as a sound faith. The minimum of acceptable\nfaith must believe in the actual Jesus, and allow the idea of the Christ\nto be formed by what was seen in Jesus. Those who believed must so trust\nJesus as to be willing that He should fashion the Messiahship as He saw\nfit. It was therefore primarily in Himself the true believer trusted. He\ndid not, in the first instance, believe He was this or that, but he\nfelt, \"Here is the greatest and best I know; I give myself to Him.\" Of\ncourse this involved that whatever Christ claimed to be, He was believed\nto be. But it is of importance to observe that the confession, \"I\nbelieve that Jesus is the Christ,\" was not enough in Christ's own day to\nguarantee the soundness of the faith of the confessor. He had further to\nanswer the question, \"What do you mean by 'the Christ'? For if you mean\na national Messiah, coming to give you political freedom and social\nblessings only, this faith cannot be trusted.\" But if any one could say,\n\"I believe in Jesus,\" and if by this he meant, \"I so believe in Him that\nwhatever He says He is, I believe He is, and whatever be the contents\nwith which He fills the Messianic name, these contents I accept as\nbelonging to the office,\" this faith was sound and acceptable.\n\nAnd, according to this Gospel, Jesus at once made it plain that His idea\nof the Messianic office was not the popular idea, It was \"eternal life\"\nHe constantly proclaimed as the gift the Father had commissioned Him to\nbestow; not physical life, not revived political life. So that it very\nshortly became impossible for any one to make the confession that Jesus\nwas the Christ, in ignorance of what He Himself judged the Christ to be.\nIt may be said, therefore, that when Jesus required men to believe in\nHim, He meant that they should trust Him as mediating efficiently\nbetween God and them, and should accept His view of all that was needful\nfor this mediation. He meant that they should look to Him for life\neternal and for perfect fellowship with God. What was doctrinally\ninvolved in this, what was implied in His claim regarding His eternal\nnature, might or might not at once be understood. What must be\nunderstood and believed was, that Jesus was empowered by God to act for\nHim, to represent Him, to impart to men all that God would impart.\n\nII. This being so, we may now inquire, what sufficient reason Jesus, as\nalready reported in this Gospel, has given why the people should accept\nHim as the Christ. In these eight chapters what do we find related which\nshould have furnished the Jews with all the evidence which reasonable\nminds would require?\n\n1. He was definitely identified as the Christ by the Baptist. It was\nJohn's function to recognise the person sent by God to fulfil all His\nwill, and to found a kingdom of God among men. For this John lived; and\nif any man was in a position to say \"yes\" or \"no\" in response to the\nquestion, Is this the Christ, the Anointed and commissioned of God? John\nwas that man. No man was in himself better qualified to judge, and no\nman had such material for judging, and his judgment was explicit and\nassured. To put aside this testimony as valueless is out of the\nquestion. It is more reasonable to ask whether it is even possible that\nin this matter the Baptist should be mistaken.\n\nJesus Himself indeed did not rest upon this testimony. For His own\ncertification of His dignity He did not require it. He did not require\nthe corroborative voice of one human being. It was not by what He was\ntold regarding Himself that He became conscious of His Sonship; nor was\nit by an external testimony, even from such a man as John, that He was\nencouraged to make the claims He made. John was but a mirror reflecting\nwhat was already in Him, possibly stimulating self-consciousness, but\nadding nothing to His fitness for His work.\n\n2. He expected that His claim to have come forth from God would be\nbelieved _on His own word_. The Samaritans believed Him on His own word.\nThis does not mean that they believed a mere assertion; they believed\nthe assertion of One whom they felt to be speaking the truth. There was\nthat in His character and bearing which compelled their faith. Through\nall He said there shone the self-evidencing light of truth. They might\nnot have been able to stand a cross-examination as to the reason of the\nfaith that was in them, they might not have been able to satisfy any\nother person or induce him to believe, but they were justified in\nfollowing an instinct which said to them, This man is neither deceiver\nnor deceived. There was nothing in the claim of Jesus absolutely\nincredible. Nay, it rather fell in with their idea of God and with the\nknowledge of their own needs. They wished a revelation, and saw nothing\nimpossible in it. This may nowadays be judged a homely rather than a\nphilosophical view to take of God and of His relation to men. But\nprimary and universal instincts have their place, and, if scientific\nknowledge does not contradict them, should be trusted. It was because\nthe Samaritans had not tampered with their natural cravings and hopes,\nand had not allowed their idea of the Messiah to harden into a definite\nconception, that they were able to welcome Jesus with a faith which He\nrarely met with elsewhere.\n\nAnd the main authentication of Christ's claim at all times is simply\nthis, that He makes the claim, and that there is that in Him which\ntestifies to His truth, while there is that in the claim itself which is\ncongruous to our instincts and needs. There was that in the bearing of\nChrist which commanded belief in natures which were not numbed and\nblunted by prejudice. The Capernaum courtier who came to Jesus expecting\nto bring Him down with him to heal his boy, when he saw Him felt he\ncould trust Him, and returned alone. Jesus was conscious that He spoke\nof what He knew, and spoke of it truly. \"I speak that which I have seen\nwith My Father\" (ver. 38). \"My record is true\" (ver. 14). \"If I say the\ntruth, why do ye not believe Me?\" (ver. 46.) This consciousness, both of\nan intention to speak the truth and of a knowledge of the truth, in a\nmind so pellucid and sane, justly impressed candid minds in His own day,\nand is irresistibly impressive still.\n\nAgain, we judge of what is probable or improbable, credible or\nincredible, mainly by its congruity with our previous belief. Is our\nidea of God such that a personal revelation seems credible and even\nlikely? Does this supposed revelation in Christ consist with previous\nrevelations and with the knowledge of God and His will which those\nrevelations have fostered? Does this final revelation actually bring us\nthe knowledge of God, and does it satisfy the longings and pure\naspirations, the thirst for God and the hunger for righteousness, which\nassert themselves in us like natural appetites? If so, then the\nuntutored human heart accepts this revelation. It is its own\nverification. Light is its own authentication. Christ brings within our\nken a God whom we cannot but own as God, and who is nowhere else so\nclearly revealed. It is this immediacy of authentication, this\nself-verification, to which our Lord constantly appeals.\n\n3. But a great part of the self-revelation of Christ could best be made\nin action. Such a work as the healing of the impotent man was visible to\nall and legible by the dullest. If His words were sometimes enigmatic,\nsuch an action as this was full of significance and easily understood.\nBy this compassionate restoration of the vital powers He proclaimed\nHimself the Father's Delegate, commissioned to express the Divine\ncompassion and to exercise the Divine power to communicate life. This\nwas meant to be an easy lesson by which men might learn that God is full\nof compassion, ceaselessly working for the good of men; that He is\npresent among us seeking to repair the mischief resulting from sin, and\nto apply to our needs the fulness of His own life, and that Jesus Christ\nis the medium through whom He makes Himself accessible to us and\navailable for us.\n\nThese works were done by our Lord not only to convince the people that\nthey should listen to Him, but also to convince them that God Himself\nwas present. \"If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if\nI do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works, that ye may know, and\nbelieve, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.\" It was this He strove\nto impress on the people, that God was with them. It was not Himself He\nwished them to recognise, but the Father in Him. \"I seek not Mine own\nglory\" (ver. 50). And therefore it was the kindness of the works He\npointed to: \"Many _good_ works have I showed you from My Father\" (x.\n32). He sought through these works to lead men to see how in His Person\nthe Father was applying Himself to the actual needs of mankind. To\naccept God for one purpose is to accept Him for all. To believe in Him\nas present to heal naturally leads to belief in Him as our Friend and\nFather. Hence these signs, manifesting the presence and good-will of\nGod, were a call upon men to trust Him and accept His messenger. They\nspoke of gifts still more akin to the Divine nature, of gifts not merely\nphysical, but spiritual and eternal. Possibly in allusion to these\nintelligible and earthly signs our Lord said to Nicodemus, \"If I have\ntold you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I\ntell you of heavenly things?\" If ye are blind to these earthly signs,\nwhat hope is there of your understanding things eternal in their own\nimpalpable essence?\n\nIII. What were the true reasons of our Lord's rejection?\n\n1. The first reason no doubt was that He so thoroughly disappointed the\npopular Messianic expectation. This comes out very conspicuously in His\nrejection in Galilee, where the people were on the point of crowning\nHim, but at once deserted Him as soon as it became clear that His idea\nof the needs of men was quite different from their's. The same reason\nlies at the root of His rejection by the authorities and people of\nJerusalem. This is brought out in this eighth chapter. \"Many had\nbelieved on Him\" (ver. 30); that is to say, they believed on Him as\nNicodemus had believed; they believed He was the Christ. But as soon as\nHe explained to them (vers. 32, 34) that the freedom He brought was a\nfreedom attained through knowing the truth, a freedom from sin, they\neither were unable to understand Him or were repelled, and from\nbelievers became enemies and assailants.\n\nIt may have been with reluctance our Lord disclosed to those who had\nsome faith in Him, that in order to be His disciples (ver. 31) they must\naccept His word, and find in it the freedom He proclaimed. He knew that\nthis was not the freedom they sought. But it was compulsory that He\nshould leave them in no dubiety regarding the blessings He promised. It\nwas impossible that they should accept the eternal life He brought to\nthem, unless there was quickened within them some genuine desire for it.\nFor what prevented them from receiving Him was not a mere easily\nrectified blunder about the Messianic office, it was an alienation in\nheart from a spiritual conception of God. And accordingly in depicting\nthe climax of unbelief John is careful in this chapter to bring out that\nour Lord traced His rejection by the Jews to their inveterate repugnance\nto spiritual life, and their consequent blinding of themselves to the\nknowledge of God. \"He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore\nhear them not, because ye are not of God\" (ver. 47). \"Ye seek to kill\nMe, because My word hath no place in you [finds no room in you]. I speak\nthat which I have seen with My Father; and ye do that which ye have seen\nwith your father\" (vers. 37, 38).\n\n2. Here, as elsewhere, therefore, our Lord traces the unbelief of the\nJews to the blindness induced by alienation from the Divine. They do not\nunderstand Him, because they have not that thirst for truth and\nrighteousness which is the best interpreter of His words. \"Why do ye not\nunderstand My speech? even because ye cannot bear My word.\" It was this\nword of His, the truth regarding sin and the way out of it, which sifted\nmen. Those who eagerly welcomed salvation from sin because they knew\nthat bondage to sin was the worst of bondages (ver. 34), accepted\nChrist's word, and continued in it, and so became His disciples (ver.\n31). Those who rejected Him were prompted to do so by their indifference\nto the Kingdom of God as exhibited in the person of Christ. He was not\ntheir ideal. And He was not their ideal, because however much they\nboasted of being God's people God was not their ideal. \"If God were your\nFather, ye would love Me; for I proceeded forth and came from God\" (ver.\n42). Jesus is conscious of adequately representing God, so that to be\nrepelled by Him is to be repelled by God. It is really God in Him that\nthey dislike. This is not only His own judgment of the matter. It is not\na mere fancy of His own that He truly represents the Father, for\n\"neither came I of Myself, but He sent me.\" He was sent into the world\nbecause He could represent the Father.\n\nThe rejection of Jesus by the Jews was therefore due to their moral\ncondition. Their condition is such that our Lord does not scruple\npungently to say, \"Ye are of your father the devil.\" Their blindness to\nthe truth and virulent opposition to Him proved their kinship with him\nwho was from the beginning a liar and a murderer. They are so completely\nunder the influence of sin that they are unable to appreciate\nemancipation from it. They look for satisfaction so determinedly in an\nanti-spiritual direction, that they are positively enraged at One who\ncertainly has power, but who steadfastly uses it for spiritual purposes.\nOut of this condition they can be rescued by believing in Christ. Into\nthe mystery which surrounds the possibility that such a belief should be\ncherished by any one in this condition, our Lord does not here enter.\nThat it is possible, He implies by blaming them for not believing.\n\nIt is, then, those who are unconscious of the bondage of sin who reject\nChrist. One of the sayings with which He sifted His profoundly attached\nfollowers from the mass is this: \"If ye continue in My word, then are\nye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall\nmake you free.\" The \"word\" of which Jesus here speaks is His whole\nrevelation, all He taught by word and action, by His own habitual\nconduct and by His miracles. This it is which gives knowledge of the\ntruth. That is to say, all the truth which men require for living they\nhave in Christ. All knowledge of duty, and all that knowledge of our\nspiritual relations, out of which we can draw perennial motive and\nunfailing hope, we have in Him. The \"truth\" disclosed in Christ, and\nwhich emancipates from sin, must not be too carefully defined. But while\nleaving it in all its comprehensiveness, it must be noted that the truth\nwhich especially emancipates from sin and gives us our place as children\nin God's house, is the truth revealed in Christ's Sonship, the truth\nthat God, in love and forgiveness, claims us as His children. In its own\nmeasure every truth we learn gives us a sense of liberty. The truth\nemancipates from superstition, from timorous waiting upon the opinion of\nauthorities, from all that cramps mental movement and stunts mental\ngrowth; but the freedom here in view is freedom from sin, and the truth\nwhich brings that freedom is the truth about God our Father, and Jesus\nChrist whom He has sent.\n\n\n\n\nXX.\n\n_SIGHT GIVEN TO THE BLIND._\n\n\n    \"And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from his birth. And His\n    disciples asked Him, saying, Rabbi, who did sin, this man, or his\n    parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered, Neither did\n    this man sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be\n    made manifest in him. We must work the works of Him that sent Me,\n    while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work. When I am\n    in the world, I am the Light of the world. When He had thus spoken,\n    He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed\n    his eyes with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of\n    Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went away, therefore,\n    and washed, and came seeing. The neighbours therefore, and they\n    which saw him aforetime, that he was a beggar, said, Is not this he\n    that sat and begged? Others said, It is he: others said, No, but he\n    is like him. He said, I am he. They said therefore unto him, How\n    then were thine eyes opened? He answered, The man that is called\n    Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to\n    Siloam, and wash: so I went away and washed, and I received sight.\n    And they said unto him, Where is He? He saith, I know not. They\n    bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. Now it was the\n    sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.\n    Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his\n    sight. And he said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I\n    washed, and do see. Some therefore of the Pharisees said, This man\n    is not from God, because He keepeth not the sabbath. But others\n    said, How can a man that is a sinner do such signs? And there was a\n    division among them. They say therefore unto the blind man again,\n    What sayest thou of Him, in that He opened thine eyes? And he said,\n    He is a prophet. The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him,\n    that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they\n    called the parents of him that had received his sight, and asked\n    them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then\n    doth he now see? His parents answered and said, We know that this is\n    our son, and that he was born blind: but how he now seeth, we know\n    not; or who opened his eyes, we know not: ask him; he is of age; he\n    shall speak for himself. These things said his parents, because they\n    feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man\n    should confess Him to be Christ, he should be put out of the\n    synagogue. Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. So\n    they called a second time the man that was blind, and said unto\n    him, Give glory to God: we know that this man is a sinner. He\n    therefore answered, Whether He be a sinner, I know not: one thing I\n    know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. They said therefore unto\n    him, What did He to thee? how opened He thine eyes? He answered\n    them, I told you even now, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye\n    hear it again? would ye also become His disciples? And they reviled\n    him, and said, Thou art His disciple; but we are disciples of Moses,\n    We know that God hath spoken unto Moses: but as for this man, we\n    know not whence He is. The man answered and said unto them, Why,\n    herein is the marvel, that ye know not whence He is, and yet He\n    opened mine eyes. We know that God heareth not sinners: but if any\n    man be a worshipper of God, and do His will, him He heareth. Since\n    the world began it was never heard that any one opened the eyes of a\n    man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.\n    They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins,\n    and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they\n    had cast him out; and finding him, He said, Dost thou believe on the\n    Son of God? He answered and said, And who is He, Lord, that I may\n    believe on Him? Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, and He\n    it is that speaketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he\n    worshipped Him. And Jesus said, For judgment came I into this world,\n    that they which see not may see; and that they which see may become\n    blind. Those of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these\n    things, and said unto Him, Are we also blind? Jesus said unto them,\n    If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but now ye say, We see: your\n    sin remaineth.\"--JOHN ix.\n\n\nWe have already considered the striking use our Lord made of the Temple\nillumination to proclaim Himself the Light of the world. A still more\nstriking physical symbol of this aspect of our Lord's person and work is\nfound in His healing of the blind man. It is, as we have already had\noccasion to see, the manner of this evangelist to select for narration\nthose miracles of Christ's which are especially \"signs,\" outward\nembodiments of spiritual truth. Accordingly he now proceeds to exhibit\nChrist as the Light of the world in His bestowal of sight on the blind.\n\nThe disciples of Jesus had apparently been exercised by one of the\noutstanding problems of human life which perplex all thoughtful men:\nWhat regulates the distribution of suffering; why is it that while many\nof the most criminal and noxious men are prosperous and exempt from\npain, many of the gentlest and best are broken and tortured by constant\nsuffering? Why is it that inexplicable suffering seems so often to fall\non the wrong people, on the innocent not on the guilty, on those who\nalready are of refined and chastened disposition, not on those who seem\nurgently to need correction and the rod? Is suffering sent that\ncharacter may be improved? But in Job's case it was sent because he was\nalready irreproachable, not to make him so. Is it sent because of a\nman's early transgressions? But this man was _born_ blind; his\npunishment preceded any possible transgression of his own. Was he then\nthe victim of his parent's wrong-doing? But suffering is often the\nresult of accident or of malice, or of mistake, which cannot be referred\nto hereditary sin. Are we then to accept the belief that this world is\nfar from perfect as yet; that God begins at the beginning in all His\nworks, and only slowly works towards perfection, and that in the\nprogress, and while we are only moving towards an eternal state, there\nmust be pains manifold and bitter? They are the shavings and sawdust and\ngeneral disorder of the carpenter's workshop, which are necessarily\nthrown off in the making of the needful article.[34] It is to it, to the\nfinished work, we must look, and not to the shavings, if we would\nunderstand and be reconciled to the actual state of things around us.\n\nWhen Jesus said, \"Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but\nthat the works of God should be made manifest in him,\" He of course did\nnot mean to suggest that there is no such thing as suffering for\nindividual or hereditary sin. By breaking the great moral laws of human\nlife men constantly involve both themselves and their children in\nlifelong suffering. There is often so direct a connection between sin\nand suffering that the most hardened and insensible do not dream of\ndenying that their pain and misery are self-inflicted. Sometimes the\nconnection is obscure, and though every one else sees the source of a\nman's misfortunes in his own careless habits, or indolence, or bad\ntemper, he himself may constantly blame his circumstances, his\nill-luck, his partners, or his friends. It was our Lord's intention to\nwarn the disciples against a curious and uncharitable scrutiny of any\nman's life to find the cause of his misfortunes. We have to do rather\nwith the future than with the past, rather with the question how we can\nhelp the man out of his difficulties, than with the question how he got\nhimself into them. The one question may indeed be involved in the other,\nbut all suffering is, in the first place, a field in which the works of\nGod may be exhibited. Wherever suffering has come from, there can be no\nmanner of doubt that it calls out all that is best in human\nnature--sympathy, self-denial, gentleness, compassion, forgiveness of\nspirit, patient forbearance, all that is most Divine in man. To seek for\nthe cause of suffering in order to blame and exonerate ourselves from\nall responsibility and claim on our pity and charity is one thing, quite\nanother to inquire into the cause for the sake of more effectually\ndealing with the effect. No matter what has caused the suffering, here\ncertainly it is always with us, and what we have to do with it is to\nfind in it material and opportunity for a work of God. To rid the world\nof evil, of wretchedness, lonely sorrow, destitution, and disease is, if\nanything, the work of God; if God is doing anything He is carrying the\nworld on towards perfection, and if the world is ever to be perfect it\nmust be purged from agony and wretchedness, irrespective of where these\ncome from. Our duty then, if we would be fellow-workers with God in what\nis real and abiding, is plain.\n\nTo the work of healing the blind man Jesus at once applies Himself.\nWhile the lifted stones were yet in His pursuers hands He paused to\nexpress His Father's love. He must, He says, work the works of Him who\nsent Him. He represented the Father not mechanically, not by getting\nwell off by rote the task His Father had set Him, not by a studied\nimitation, but by being Himself of one mind with the Father, by loving\nthat blind man just as the Father loved him, and by doing for him just\nwhat the Father would have done for him. We do the works of God when in\nour measure we do the same, becoming eyes to the blind, feet to the\nlame, help any way to the helpless. We cannot lay our hand on the\ndiseased and heal them; we cannot give sight to the blind and make a man\nthus feel, this is God's power reaching to me; this is God stooping to\nme and caring for my infirmity; but we can cause men to feel that God is\nthinking of them, and has sent help through us to them. If we will only\nbe humble enough to run the risk of failure, and of being held cheap, if\nwe will only in sincerity take by the hand those who are ill-off and\nstrive to better them, then these persons will think of God gratefully;\nor if they do not, there is no better way of making them think of God,\nfor this was Christ's way, who had rarely need to add much explanation\nof His kind deeds, but letting them speak for themselves, heard the\npeople giving God the glory. If men can be induced to believe in the\nlove of their fellow-men, they are well on the road to belief in the\nlove of God. And even though it should _not_ be so, though all our\nendeavours to help men should fail to make them think of God as their\nhelper, who has sent us and all help to them, yet we have helped them,\nand some at least of God's love for these suffering people has got\nitself expressed through us. God has got at least a little of His work\ndone, has in one direction stopped the spread of evil.\n\nNeither are we to wait until we can do things on a great scale, and\nattack the evils of human life with elaborate machinery. Our Lord was\nnot a great organiser. He did not busy Himself with forming societies\nfor this, that, and the other charitable work. He did not harangue\nassemblies convened to consider the relief of the poor; He did not press\nthe abolition of slavery; He did not found orphanages or hospitals; but\n\"as He passed by,\" He saw one blind man, and judged this a call\nsufficiently urgent. Sometimes we feel that, confronted as we are with a\nwhole world full of deep-rooted and inveterate evils, it is useless\ngiving assistance to an individual here and there. It is like trying to\ndry up the ocean with a sponge. We feel impatient with individual acts,\nand crave national action and radical measures. And that is very well,\nso long as we do not omit to use the opportunities we actually have of\ndoing even little kindnesses, of undergirding the shattered life of\nindividuals, and so enabling them to do what otherwise they could not\ndo. But we shall never do our part, either to individuals or on a large\nscale, until we apprehend that it is only through us and others that God\nworks, and that when we pass by a needy person we prevent God's love\nfrom reaching him, and disappoint the purpose of God. It was this\nfeeling that imparted to Christ so intense and wakeful an energy. He\nfelt it was God's work He was on earth to do. \"I must work the works of\nHim that sent Me while it is day.\" He recognised that God was in the\nworld looking with compassion on all human sorrow, but that this\ncompassion could find expression only through His own instrumentality\nand that of all other men. We are the channels or pipes through which\nthe inexhaustible source of God's goodness flows to the world; but it is\nin our power to turn off that flow, and prevent it from reaching those\nfor whom it is intended. We do less than we ought for our fellow-men\nuntil we believe that we are the bearers of God's gifts to men; that to\nhowever few a number and in however small a way we are the media through\nwhich God finds way for His love to men, and that if we refuse to do\nwhat we can we disappoint and thwart His love and His purpose of good.\n\nThe blind man, with the quickened hearing of the blind, heard with\ninterest the talk about himself; and a new awe fell upon his spirit as\nhe heard that his blindness was to be the object of a work of God. He\nhad learned to judge of men by the tones of their voice; and the firm,\nclear, penetrating voice which had just uttered these all-important\nwords, \"I am the Light of the world,\" could not, he knew, belong to a\ndeceiver. In other ways also Jesus compensated for his lack of sight,\nand encouraged his faith by touching him and by laying on the closed\neyes an extemporised ointment. But the miracle was not completed on the\nspot. The patient was required to go to the pool of Siloam and wash.\nJohn tells us that the name Siloam means Sent, and evidently connects\nthis name with the claim Jesus constantly made to be the Sent of God.\n\nBut as the peculiarity of the miracle consisted in this, that the man\nwas sent to the pool to be healed, we may be sure this arrangement was\nmade to meet some element in the case. The man, with his bespattered\neyes, had to grope his way to the pool, or get some kindly soul to lead\nhim through the scoffing, doubtful crowd. And whatever this taught the\nman himself, it is to us a symbol of the truth that light does not come\nby the instantaneous touch of Christ's hand so much as by our\nfaithfully doing His bidding. It is He who gives and is the light; but\nit does not stream in suddenly upon the soul, but comes upon the man\nwho, though blindly, yet faithfully, gropes his way to the place Christ\nhas bid him to, and uses the means prescribed by Him. \"He that doeth the\nwill of God, shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.\" All the\ncommands of Christ are justified in their performance; and clear light\nupon the meaning of much that we are commanded to do is only found in\nthe doing of it.\n\nBut no doubt the special significance of the man's being sent to the\npool of Siloam lay in the circumstance that it was in John's eyes a\nsymbol of Christ Himself. He was sent by God. The people found it\ndifficult to believe this, because He had slowly and unostentatiously\ngrown up like any other man. \"We know this Man, whence He is.\" \"Is not\nthis the carpenter's Son?\" \"How sayest Thou, I came down from heaven?\"\nThey could trace Him to His source. He did not appear fullgrown in their\nmidst, without home, without any who had watched over His boyhood and\ngrowth. He was like the river whose sources were known, not like the\nstream bursting in full volume from the rock. The people felt ashamed to\nlaud and celebrate as sent by God One who had grown up so quietly among\nthemselves, and whose whole demeanour was so unostentatious. So had\ntheir fathers despised the waters of Siloam, \"because they went softly;\"\nbecause there was no mighty stream and roar, but a quiet pool and a\nlittle murmuring stream.\n\nSo might this blind man have reasoned when sent to Siloam: \"Why, herein\nis a marvellous thing that I am to be healed by what has been within my\nreach since I was born, by the pool I used to dip my hand in when a boy,\nand wonder what like was the coolness to the sight. What hidden virtue\ncan there be in that spring? Am I not exposing myself to the ridicule of\nall Jerusalem?\" But, as this blind man's conduct afterwards showed, he\nwas heedless of scorn and independent of other people's opinion, a\nfearless and trenchant reasoner who stands alone in the Gospel history\nfor the firmness and sarcasm with which he resisted the bullying tone of\nthe Pharisees, and compelled them to face, even though they would not\nacknowledge, the consequences of incontrovertible facts. This\ncharacteristic contempt of contempt, and scorn of scorn served him well\nnow, for straight he went to the pool in the face of discouragements,\nand had his reward.\n\nAnd the Pharisees might, with their gift of interpreting trifles, have\ndeduced from this cure at the humble and noiseless Siloam some\nsuggestion that though Jesus did seem a powerless and common Man, and\nthough for thirty years His life had been flowing quietly on without\nviolently changing the established order of things, yet He might, like\nthis pool, be the Sent of God, to whom if a man came feeling his need of\nlight and expecting in Him to find it, there was a likelihood of his\nblindness being taken away. This, however, as our Lord had afterwards\noccasion to tell them, was precisely what they could not submit to do.\nThey could not, in the presence of a wondering and scorning crowd, admit\nthat they needed light, nor could they condescend to seek for light from\nso commonplace a source. And no doubt it was a very severe trial--it was\nwell-nigh impossible, that men in high esteem for religious knowledge,\nand who had been accustomed to reckon themselves the protectors of the\nfaith, should own that they were in darkness, and should seek to be\ninstructed by a youth from the benighted district of Galilee. Even now,\nwhen the dignity of Jesus is understood, many are prevented from giving\nthemselves cordially to the life He insists upon by mere pride. There\nare men in such repute as leaders of opinion, and so accustomed to teach\nrather than to learn, and to receive homage rather than to give it, that\nscarcely any greater humiliation could be required of them, than to\npublicly profess themselves followers of Christ. For ourselves even, who\nmight not seem to have much on which to pride ourselves, it is yet\nsometimes difficult to believe that a mere application to Christ, a mere\nsprinkling of this fountain, can change our inborn disposition, and make\nus so different from our former selves, that close observers might well\ndoubt our identity, some saying, \"This is he,\" others more cautiously\nonly venturing to assert, \"He is like him.\"\n\nThough very pleasant to contemplate, it is impossible adequately to\nimagine the sensations of a man who for the first time _sees_ the world\nin which he has for years been living blind. The sensation of light\nitself, the new sense of room and distance, the expansion of the nature,\nas if ushered into a new and ampler world, the glory of colour, of the\nskies; of the sun, of the moon walking in brightness, the first\nrecognition of the \"human face Divine,\" and the joy of watching the\nunspoken speech of its ever-changing expression, the thrill of first\nmeeting parent, child, or friend eye to eye; the sublimity of the towers\nof Jerusalem, the glittering Temple, the marble palaces, by the base of\nwhich he had before dimly crept, feeling with his hand or tapping with\nhis stick. To a man who, by the opening of one sealed sense, was thus\nushered into so new a world, nothing can have seemed \"too grand and\ngood\" for him to expect. He was prepared to believe in the glory and\nperfectness of God's world, and in Christ's power to bring him into\ncontact with that glory. If the opening of his bodily organs of vision\nhad given him such exquisite pleasure, and given him entrance to so new\na life, what might not the opening of his inward eye accomplish? He had\nno patience with the difficulties raised by those who had not his\nexperience: \"How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?\" \"Give God\nthe praise; we know that this man is a sinner.\" To all these\nslow-brained, bewildered pedants, he had but the answer, \"Whether He be\na sinner or no, I know not; _one_ thing I know, that, whereas I was\nblind, now I see.\" No arguments, happily, can rob me of the immense boon\nthis Man has conferred upon me. If it gives you any satisfaction to\napply your paltry tests to Him, and prove that He cannot have done this\nmiracle, you are welcome to your conclusions; but you cannot alter the\nfacts that I was blind, and that now I see. He who has given me so\nDivine a gift seems to me to carry with Him in some true form the Divine\npresence. I believe Him when He says, \"I am the Light of the world.\"\n\nThis miracle was so public as to challenge scrutiny. It was not\nperformed in the privacy of a sick-room, with none present but one or\ntwo disciples, who might be supposed ready to believe anything. It was\nperformed on a public character and in broad day. And we nowadays may\ncongratulate ourselves that there was a strong party in the community,\nwhose interest it was to minimise the miracles of our Lord, and who\ncertainly did what they could to prove them fictitious. In the case of\nthis blind man, the authorities took steps to sift the matter; the\nparents were summoned, and then the man himself. They did precisely what\nsceptical writers in recent years have desiderated; they instituted a\njealous examination of the affair. And so straightforward was the man's\ntestimony, and so well-known was he in Jerusalem, that instead of\ndenying the miracle, they adopted the easier course of excommunicating\nhim for acknowledging Jesus as the Christ.\n\nReady witted, bold, and independent as this man was, he cannot but have\nfelt keenly this punishment. His hope of employment was gone, and even\nhis new joy in seeing would scarcely compensate for his being shunned by\nall as a tainted person. Had he been of a fainthearted and moody\ndisposition he might have thought it had been as well had he been left\nin his blindness, and not become an object of abhorrence to all. But\nJesus heard of his punishment, and sought him out, and declared to him\nmore fully who He Himself was. He thus gave to the man assurance of a\nfriendship outweighing in value what he had lost. He made him feel that\nthough cut off from the fellowship of the visible Church, he was made a\nmember of the true commonwealth of men--numbered among those who are\nunited in friendship, and in work, and in destiny to Him who heads the\nreal work of God, and promotes the abiding interests of men. And such is\never the reward of those who make sacrifices for Christ, who lose\nemployment or friends by too boldly confessing their indebtedness to\nHim. They will themselves tell you that Christ makes up to them for\ntheir losses by imparting clearer knowledge of Himself, by making them\nconscious that they are remembered by Him, and by giving them a\nconscience void of offence, and a spirit superior to worldly\nmisfortunes.\n\nAs a final reflection on the miracle and its results our Lord says: \"For\njudgement am I come into the world, that they which see not might see,\nand that they which see might be made blind.\" A kind of sad humour\nbetrays itself in His language, as He sees how easily felt-blindness is\nremoved, but how absolutely blind presumed knowledge is. Humility ever\nwins the day. The blind man now saw because he knew he was blind, and\ntrusted that Christ could give him sight; the Pharisees were stone-blind\nto the world Christ opened to them and carried in His person, because\nthey thought that already they had all the knowledge they required. And\nwherever Christ comes men thus form themselves around Him in two groups,\nblind and seeing. \"For judgment,\" for testing and dividing men, He is\ncome. Nothing goes more searchingly into a man's character than Christ's\noffer to be to him the Light of life, to be his leader to a perfect\nlife. This offer discloses what the man is content with, and what he\nreally sighs for. This offer, which confronts us with the possibility of\nliving in close fellowship and love with God, discloses whether our real\nbent is towards what is pure, and high, and holy, or towards what is\nearthly. This man who eagerly asked, \"Who is the Son of God that I might\nbelieve on Him?\" acknowledged his blindness and his longing for light,\nand he got it. The Pharisees, who claimed to see, condemned themselves\nby their rejection of Christ. \"If,\" says our Lord, \"ye were blind, if\nyou were ignorant like this poor man, your ignorance would excuse you.\nBut now ye say, We see, you boast that you can discern the Christ, you\nhave tests of all kinds that you plume yourselves on, therefore your\ndarkness and your sin remain.\" That is to say, the one sufficient test\nof Christ's claim is need. He presents Himself as the Light of the\nworld, but if we are unconscious of darkness we cannot appreciate Him.\nBut surely there are many of us who feel as if we were born blind,\nunable to see things spiritual as we ought; as if we had a sense too\nlittle, and could not find our way satisfactorily through this life. We\nhear of God with the hearing of the ear, but do not see Him; we have not\nthe close and unmistakable discernment that comes by sight.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[34] See the _Meditations_ of Marcus Aurelius.\n\n\n\n\nXXI.\n\n_JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD._\n\n\n    \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door\n    into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same\n    is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the\n    shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear\n    his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them\n    out. When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them, and\n    the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will\n    they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice\n    of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them; but they\n    understood not what things they were which He spake unto them. Jesus\n    therefore said unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am\n    the door of the sheep. All that came before me are thieves and\n    robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by Me if\n    any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and\n    shall find pasture. The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and\n    kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it\n    abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down\n    His life for the sheep. He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd,\n    whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth\n    the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf snatcheth them, and scattereth\n    them: he fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the\n    sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know Mine own, and Mine own\n    know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father; and I\n    lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are\n    not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My\n    voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd. Therefore doth\n    the Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it\n    again. No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I\n    have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This\n    commandment received I from My Father.\"--JOHN x. 1-18.\n\n\nThis paragraph continues the conversation which arose out of the healing\nof the blind man. Jesus has pointed out to the Pharisees that they are\naffected with a more deplorable blindness than the born-blind beggar; He\nnow proceeds to contrast their harsh treatment of the healed man with\nHis own care of him, and uses this contrast as evidence of the\nillegitimacy of their usurpation of authority and the legitimacy of His\nown claim. It has been related (ix. 34) that the Jews had excommunicated\nthe blind man because he had presumed to think for himself, and\nacknowledge as the Christ One regarding whom they had quietly enacted\n(ver. 22) that if any one acknowledged Him he should be banished from\nthe synagogue. Very naturally the poor man would feel that this was a\nheavy price to pay for his eyesight. Brought up as he had been to\nconsider the ecclesiastical authorities of Jerusalem as representing the\nDivine voice, he would feel that this excommunication cut him off from\nfellowship with all good men, and from the sources of a hopeful and\ngodly life. Therefore, in pity for this poor sheep, and in indignation\nat those who thus assumed authority, Jesus explicitly declares, \"I am\nthe door.\" Not through the word of men who tyrannize over the flock to\nserve their own ends are you either admitted to or debarred from the\nreal sources of spiritual life and fellowship with the true and good.\nThrough Me only can you find access to permanent security and the free\nenjoyment of all spiritual nutriment; \"By Me if any man enter in he\nshall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.\"\n\nThe primary object, then, of this allegorical passage is to impart to\nthose who believe in Jesus the truest independence of spirit. This our\nLord accomplishes by explicitly claiming for Himself the sole right of\nadmission or rejection from the true fold of God's people. He comes into\ndirect collision with the ecclesiastical authorities, denying that they\nare the true spiritual guides of the people, and presenting Himself as\nthe supreme authority in matters spiritual. This uncompromising\nassertion of His own authority He makes in parabolic language; but that\nno one may misapprehend His meaning He Himself appends the\ninterpretation. And in this interpretation it will be observed that,\nwhile the great ideas are explained and applied, there is no attempt to\nmake these ideas square with the figure in every particular. In the\nfigure, for example, the Door and the Shepherd are necessarily distinct;\nbut our Lord does not on that account scruple to apply both figures to\nHimself. The rigidly logical explanation is thrown to the winds to make\nway for the substantial teaching.\n\nI. First, then, Jesus here claims to be the sole means of access to\nsecurity and life eternal. \"I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he\nshall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture,\" Prompted by\nconsideration for the feelings of the blind man, this expression would\nby him be interpreted as meaning, These arrogant Pharisees, then, can\nafter all do me no injury; they can neither exclude nor admit; but only\nthis Person, who has shown Himself so compassionate, so courageous, so\nready to be my champion and my friend. He is the door. And this simple\nand memorable claim has remained through all the Christian centuries the\nbulwark against ecclesiastical tyranny, not indeed preventing injustice\nand outrage, but entirely robbing excommunication of its sting in the\nconscience that is right with its Lord. Outcast from the fellowship and\nprivileges of so-called Churches of Christ many have been, who had yet\nthe assurance in their own heart that by their attachment to Him they\nhad entered into a more lasting fellowship and unspeakably higher\nprivileges.\n\nBy this claim to be the Door, Jesus claims to be the Founder of the one\npermanent society of men. Through Him alone have men access to a\nposition of security to association with all that is worthiest among\nmen, to a never-failing life and a boundless freedom. He did not use His\nwords at random, and this at least is contained in them. He gathers men\nround His Person, and assures us that He holds the key to life; that if\nHe admits us, words of exclusion pronounced by others are but idle\nbreath; that if He excludes us, the approval and applause of a world\nwill not waft us in. No claim could possibly be greater.\n\nII. Jesus also claims to be the Good Shepherd, and sets Himself in\ncontrast to hirelings and robbers. This claim He proves in five\nparticulars: He uses a legitimate mode of access to the sheep; His\nobject is the welfare of the sheep; His Spirit is self-devoted; He knows\nand is known by His sheep; and all He does the Father has given Him\ncommandment to do.\n\n1. First, then, Jesus proves His claim to be the Good Shepherd by using\nthe legitimate means of access to the sheep. He enters by the door. The\ngeneral description of the relation between sheep and shepherd was drawn\nfrom what might be seen any morning in Palestine. At night the sheep are\ndriven into a fold, that is, a walled enclosure, such as may be seen on\nour own sheep farms, only with higher walls for protection, and with a\nstrongly-barred door in place of a hurdle or light gate. Here the sheep\nrest all night, guarded by a watchman or porter. In the morning the\nshepherds come, and at the recognised signal or knock are admitted by\nthe porter, and each man calls his own sheep. The sheep, knowing his\nvoice, follow him, and if any are lazy, or stubborn, or stupid, he goes\nin and drives them out, with a gentle, kindly compulsion, A stranger's\nvoice they do not recognise, and do not heed. Besides, not only do they\ndisregard a stranger's voice, but the porter also would do so, so that\nno robber thinks of appealing to the porter, but climbs the wall and\nlays hold of the sheep he wants.\n\nHere, then, we have a picture of the legitimate and illegitimate modes\nof finding access to men and of gaining power over them. The legitimate\nleader of men comes by the door and invites: the illegitimate gets in\nanyhow and compels. The true shepherd is distinguished from the robber\nby both the action of the porter and the action of the sheep. But who is\nthe porter who gives Christ access to the fold? Possibly, as some have\nsuggested, the mind of Christ's contemporaries would revert to John the\nBaptist. The claim of Jesus to deal with men as their spiritual\nprotector and leader had been legitimated by John, and no other\npretended Messiah had been. And certainly, if any individual is\nindicated by the porter, it must be John the Baptist. But probably the\nfigure includes all that introduces Jesus to men, His own life, His\nmiracles, His loving words, providential circumstances. At all events,\nHe makes His appeal openly, and has the requisite pass-word. There is\nnothing of the thief or the robber about His approach--nothing underhand\nand stealthy, nothing audaciously violent. On the other hand, \"All that\never came before Me are thieves and robbers.\" The contemporary\nauthorities in Jerusalem had come \"before\" Jesus, in so far as they had\nprepossessed the minds of the people against Him, and forcibly kept the\nsheep from Him. Their prior claims were the great obstacle to His being\nadmitted. They held the fold against Him. It must have been plain to the\npeople who heard His words that their own ecclesiastical authorities\nwere meant. And this is not contradicted by the added clause, \"but the\nsheep did not hear them.\" For these usurping leaders did not find the\near of the people, although they terrified them into obedience.\n\n2. The Good Shepherd is identified and distinguished from the hireling\nby His object and His spirit of devotion--for these two characteristics\nmay best be considered together (vv. 10-13). The hireling takes up this\nbusiness of shepherding for his own sake, and just as he might take to\nkeeping swine, or watching vineyards, or making bricks. It is not the\nwork nor the sheep he has any interest in, but the pay. It is for\nhimself he does what he does. His object is to make gain for himself,\nand his spirit is therefore a spirit of self-regard. Necessarily he\nflees from danger, having more regard for himself than for the sheep.\nThe object of the good shepherd, on the contrary, is to find for the\nsheep a more abundant life. It is regard for them that draws him to the\nwork. Consequently, as all love is self-devoting, so the regard of the\nshepherd for the sheep prompts him to devote himself, and, at the risk\nor expense of his own life, to save them from danger.\n\nThis differentiation of the hireling and the good shepherd was, in the\nfirst instance, exemplified in the different conduct of the authorities\nand Jesus towards the blind man. The authorities having fallen into the\nidea which commonly ensnares ecclesiastical magnates, that the people\nexisted for them, not they for the people, persecuted him because he had\nfollowed his conscience: Jesus, by interposing in his favour, risked His\nown life. This collision with the Pharisees materially contributed to\ntheir determination to put Him to death.\n\nProbably our Lord intended that a larger meaning should be found in His\nwords. To all His sheep He acts the part of a good shepherd by\ninterposing, at the sacrifice of Himself, between them and all that\nthreatens (vv. 17, 18). His death was voluntary, not necessitated either\nby the machinations of men or by His being human. His life was His own,\nto use as He saw best; and when He laid it down He did so freely. It was\nnot that He succumbed to the wolf, to any power stronger than His own\nwill and His own discernment of what was right. We may resign ourselves\nto death or choose it; but even though we did not, we could not escape\nit. Christ could. He \"laid down\" His life; and He did so, moreover, that\nHe might \"take it again.\" His sheep were not to be left defenceless,\nshepherdless: on the contrary, He died that He might free them from all\ndanger and become to them an ever-living, omnipresent Shepherd. In these\nwords the figure is lost in the reality.\n\nIn the words themselves, indeed, there is no direct suggestion that the\npenalty of sin is that which chiefly threatens Christ's sheep, but\nChrist could hardly use the words, and His people can hardly read them,\nwithout having this idea suggested. It was by interposing between us and\nsin that our Shepherd was slain. At first sight, indeed, we seem to be\nexposed to the very danger that slew the Shepherd: the wolf seems to be\nalive even after slaying Him. In spite of His death, we also die. What\nthen is the danger from which He by His death has saved us?\n\nThe danger which threatened us was not bodily death, for from that we\nare not delivered. But it was something with which the death of the body\nis intimately connected. Bodily death is as it were the symptom, but not\nthe disease itself. It is that which reveals the presence of the\npestilence, but is not itself the real danger. It is like the\nplague-spot that causes the beholder to shudder, though the spot itself\nis only slightly painful. Now a skilful physician does not treat\nsymptoms, does not apply his skill to allay superficial distresses, but\nendeavours to remove the radical disease. If the eye becomes bloodshot\nhe does not treat the eye, but the general system. If an eruption comes\nout on the skin, he does not treat the skin, but alters the condition of\nthe blood; and it is a small matter whether the symptom goes on to its\nnatural issue, if thereby the eradication of the disease is rather\nhelped than hindered. So it is with death: it is not our danger; no man\ncan suppose that the mere transference from this state to another is\ninjurious; only, death is in our case the symptom of a deep disease, of\na real, fatal ailment of soul. We know death not as a mere transference\nfrom one world to another, but as our transference from probation to\njudgment, which sin makes us dread; and also as a transference which in\nform forcibly exhibits the weakness, the imperfection, the shame of our\npresent state. Thus death connects itself with sin, which our conscience\ntells us is the great root of all our present misery. It is to us the\nsymptom of the punishment of sin, but the punishment itself is not the\ndeath of the body but of the soul; the separation of the soul from all\ngood, from all hope,--in a word, from God. This is the real danger from\nwhich Christ delivers us. If this be removed, it is immaterial whether\nbodily death remain or not; or rather, bodily death is used to help out\nour complete deliverance, as a symptom of the disease sometimes promotes\nthe cure. Christ has tasted death for every man, and out of each man's\ncup has sucked the poison, so that now, as we in turn drink it, it is\nbut a sleeping draught. There was a chemistry in His love and perfect\nobedience which drew the poison to His lips; and absorbing into His own\nsystem all the virulence of it, by the immortal vigour of His own\nconstitution, He overcame its effects, and rose again triumphing over\nits lethargic potency.\n\nIt was not mere bodily death, then, which our Lord endured. That was not\nthe wolf which the Good Shepherd saved us from. It was death with the\nsting of sin in it. It is this fact which shows us, from one point of\nview, the place of Christ's death in the work of atonement Death sets\nthe seal on a man's spiritual condition. It utters the final word: He\nthat is holy, let him be holy still; he that is filthy, let him be\nfilthy still. The biblical view of death is that it marks the transition\nfrom a state of probation to a state of retribution. \"It is appointed\nunto men once to die, and after death the judgment.\" There is no coming\nback again to make another preparation for judgment. We cannot have two\nlives, one after the flesh, and another after the spirit, but one life,\none death, one judgment. Bodily death therefore thus becomes not only\nthe evidence of spiritual death, but its seal. But this, falling upon\nChrist, fell harmless. Separation from God must be separation of the\nwill, separation accomplished by the soul's self. In Christ there was no\nsuch separation. Sinners abide in death, because not only are they\njudicially separated, but they are in will and disposition separate.\nPlunge iron and wood into water: the one sinks, the other rises\nimmediately, cannot be kept under, has a native buoyancy of its own that\nbrings it to the surface, immerse it as often as we please. And Christ\nis as the wood cut by the prophet, that not only floats itself, but\nbrings to the surface the heaviest weight.\n\n3. It is the mutual recognition of sheep and shepherd which decisively\nexhibits the difference between the true shepherd and the robber. The\ntimid animals that start and flee at the sound of a stranger's voice\nsuffer their own shepherd to come among them and handle them. As the\nownership of a dog is easily determined by his conduct towards two\nclaimants, at one of whom he growls and round the other of whom he\njoyously barks and jumps; so you can tell who is the shepherd and who is\nthe stranger by the different way in which a sheep behaves in the\npresence of each. If a shepherd's claim were doubtful, it might be\nsettled either by his familiarity with its marks and ways, or by its\nfamiliarity with him, its sufferance of his hand, its answer to his\nvoice. Christ stakes His claim on a similar mutual recognition. If the\nsoul does not respond to His call and follow Him, he will admit that His\nclaim is ill-founded. He may require to enter the fold, to rouse the\nslumbering by a tap of His staff, to lift the sickly, to use a measure\nof severity with the dull and slow; but ultimately and mainly He bases\nHis claim to be the true Leader and Lord of men simply on His power to\nattract them to Him. If there is not that in Him which causes us to mark\nHim off from all other persons, and makes us expect different things\nfrom Him, and causes us to trust ourselves with Him, then He does not\nexpect that any other force will draw us to acknowledge Him.\n\nThe application of this to the attitude the blind man had assumed\ntowards the Pharisees and towards Jesus was sufficiently obvious. He had\ndisowned the Pharisees; he had acknowledged Jesus. It was plain\ntherefore that Jesus was the Shepherd, and it was also plain that the\nPharisees were not among Christ's sheep; they might be in the fold, but\nas they did not recognise and follow Christ they showed that they did\nnot belong to His flock. And Christ trusts still to His own\nattractiveness and fitness to our needs. It is very remarkable how\ninsufficient an account of their own conversion highly educated persons\ncan give. Professor Clifford's favourite pupil was, like himself, an\natheist; but racked by distress on account of Clifford's death, and\nbeing obliged to pass through other circumstances fitted to disclose the\nweakness of human nature, this pupil became an ardent Christian. One\nreads the record of this conversion expecting to find the reasoning\npower of the mathematician adding something to the demonstration of\nGod's personality, or building a sure foundation for Christian faith.\nThere is nothing of the kind. The experience of life gave new meaning to\nChrist's offer and to His revelation--that was all. So too in\ncriticizing Renan's \"Life of Christ,\" a French critic more profound\nthan himself says: \"The characteristic thing in this analysis of\nChristianity is that sin does not appear in it at all. Now if there is\nanything which explains the success of the Good News among men, it is\nthat it offered deliverance from sin--salvation. It certainly would have\nbeen more appropriate to explain a religion religiously, and not to\nevade the very core of the subject. This 'Christ in white marble' is not\nHe who made the strength of the martyrs.\" All this just means that if\nmen have no sense of need they will not own Christ; and that if Christ's\nown presence and words do not draw them, they are not to be drawn. Of\ncourse much may be done in the way of presenting Christ to men, but\nbeyond the simple exhibition of His person by word or in conduct not\nmuch can be done. It is a mystery, often oppressive, that men seem quite\nunattracted and unmoved by the Figure that so transcends all others, and\ngives a heart to the world. But Christ is known by His own.\n\nThis great fact of the mutual recognition of Christ and His people has\nan application not only to the first acceptance of Christ by the soul,\nbut also to the Christian experience throughout. A mutual recognition\nand deep-lying affinity not only at first forms but for ever renews and\nmaintains the bond between Christ and the Christian. He knows His sheep\nand is known by them. Often they do not know themselves;[35] but the\nShepherd knows them. Many of us are frequently brought into doubt of our\ninterest in Christ, but the foundation of God standeth sure, having this\nseal, \"The Lord knoweth them that are His.\" We go astray, and get so\ntorn with thorns, so fouled with mire, that few can tell to what fold we\nbelong--our owner's marks are obliterated; but the Good Shepherd in\ntelling His sheep has missed us, and come after us, and recognises and\nclaims us even in our pitiable state. Who could tell to whom we belong\nwhen we lie absolutely content with the poisonous pasture of this\nworld's vanities and rank gains; when the soul is stained with impurity,\ntorn with passion, and has every mark that distinguishes Christ's people\nobscured? Is it surprising we should begin then ourselves to doubt\nwhether we belong to the true fold or whether there is any true fold?\nShameful are the places where Christ has found us, among prayerless\ndays, unrestrained indulgences, with hardened heart and cynical\nthoughts, far from any purpose of good; and still again and again His\npresence has met us, His voice recalled us, His nearness awakened once\nmore in us the consciousness that with Him we have after all a deeper\nsympathy than with any besides.\n\nThe whole experience of Christ as our Shepherd gives Him an increasing\nknowledge of us. The shepherd is the first to see the lamb at its birth,\nand not one day goes by but he visits it. So needful and merciful a work\nis it that it has no Sabbath, but as on the day of rest the shepherd\nfeeds his own children so he cares for the lambs of his flock, sees that\nno harm is befalling them, remembers their dependence on him, observes\ntheir growth, removes what hinders it, hangs over the pale of the fold,\nwatching with a pleased and fond observance their ways, their beauty,\ntheir comfort. And thus he becomes intimately acquainted with his sheep.\nSo Christ becomes increasingly acquainted with us. We have thought much\nof Him; we have again and again pondered His life, His death, His words.\nWe have endeavoured to understand what He requires of us, and day by day\nHe has somehow been in our thoughts. Not less but far more constantly\nhave we been in His thoughts, not a day has passed without His\nrecurrence to this subject. He has looked upon and considered us, has\nmarked the working of our minds, the forming of our purposes. He knows\nour habits by watching against them; our propensities by turning us from\nthem. We are not left alone with our awful secret of sin: there is\nanother who comprehends our danger, and is bent upon securing us against\nit.\n\nSlowly but surely does Christ thus win the confidence of the soul; doing\nfor it a thousand kind offices that are not recognised, patiently\nwaiting for the recognition and love which He knows must at last be\ngiven; quietly making Himself indispensable to the soul ere ever it\ndiscerns what it is that is bringing to it so new a buoyancy and hope.\nSlowly but surely grows in every Christian a reciprocal knowledge of\nChrist. More and more clearly does His Person stand out as the one on\nwhom our expectation must rest. With Him we are brought into connection\nby every sin of ours, and by every hope. Is it not He before whom and\nabout whom our hearts thrill and tremble time after time with a depth\nand awe of emotion which nothing else excites? Is it not to Him we owe\nit that this day we live in peace, knowing that our God is a loving\nFather? Is it not still His grace we must learn more deeply, His patient\nrighteous way we must more exactly fall in with, if we are to forget our\nloved sin in the love of God, ourselves in the Eternal One? What is\ngrowth in grace but the laying bare of the sinner's heart to Christ,\nfold after fold being removed, till the very core of our being opens to\nHim and accepts Him, and the reciprocal laying bare of the heart of\nChrist toward the sinner?\n\nFor this growth in mutual understanding must advance till that perfect\nsympathy is attained which Christ indicates in the words: \"I know My\nsheep and am known of Mine, as the Father knoweth Me and I know the\nFather.\" The mutual understanding between the Eternal Father and the Son\nis the only parallel to the mutual understanding of Christ and His\npeople. In the loving union of husband and wife we see how intimate is\nthe understanding, how the one is dissatisfied if any anxiety is not\nuttered and shared, how there can be no secret on either side. We see\nhow a slight movement, a look, betrays intention more than many words of\na stranger could reveal it; we see what confidence in one another is\nestablished, how the one is not satisfied until his thought is ratified\nby the other, his opinion reflected and better judged in the other, his\nemotion partaken of and again expressed by the other. But even this,\nthough suggestive, is but a suggestion of the mutual intelligence\nsubsisting between the Father and the Son, the absolute confidence in\none another, the perfect harmony in purpose and feeling, the delight in\nknowing and being known. Into this perfect harmony of feeling and of\npurpose with the Supreme does Christ introduce His people. Gradually\ntheir thoughts are disengaged from what is trivial, and expand to take\nin the designs of the Eternal Mind. Gradually their tastes and\naffections are loosened from lower attachments, and are wrought to a\nperfect sympathy with what is holy and abiding.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[35] St. Augustine.\n\n\n\n\nXXII.\n\n_JESUS, SON OF GOD._\n\n\n    \"And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem: it was winter;\n    and Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch. The Jews\n    therefore came round about Him, and said unto Him, How long dost\n    Thou hold us in suspense? If Thou art the Christ, tell us plainly.\n    Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believe not: the works that\n    I do in My Father's name, these bear witness of Me. But ye believe\n    not, because ye are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I\n    know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life;\n    and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My\n    hand. My Father, which hath given them unto Me, is greater than all;\n    and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and\n    the Father are one. The Jews took up stones again to stone Him.\n    Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from the\n    Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me? The Jews answered\n    Him, For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy; and\n    because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God. Jesus answered\n    them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If He\n    called them gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the Scripture\n    cannot be broken), say ye of Him, whom the Father sanctified and\n    sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son\n    of God? If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I\n    do them, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye may\n    know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.\n    They sought again to take Him: and He went forth out of their hand.\n    And He went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John was\n    at the first baptizing; and there He abode. And many came unto Him;\n    and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatsoever\n    John spake of this man were true. And many believed on Him\n    there.\"--JOHN x. 22-42.\n\n\nAfter our Lord's visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles, and\nowing to His collision with the authorities in regard to the blind man\nwhom He healed, He seems to have retired from the metropolis for some\nweeks, until the Feast of the Dedication. This Feast had been instituted\nby the Maccabees to celebrate the Purification of the Temple after its\nprofanation by Antiochus Epiphanes. It began about the 20th December,\nand lasted eight days. As it was winter, possibly raining, and certainly\ncold, Jesus walked about in Solomon's Porch, where at all events He was\nunder cover and had some shelter. Here the Jews gradually gathered,\nuntil at length He found Himself ringed round by hostile questioners,\nwho bluntly, almost threateningly asked Him, \"How long dost Thou make us\nto doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly,\" a question which\nshows that, although they inferred from the assertions He had made\nregarding Himself that He claimed to be the Messiah, He had not directly\nand explicitly proclaimed Himself in terms no one could misunderstand.\n\nAt first sight their request seems fair and reasonable. In fact it is\nneither. The mere affirmation that He was the Christ would not have\nhelped those whom His works and words had only prejudiced against Him.\nAs He at once explained to them, He had made the affirmation in the only\nway possible, and their unbelief arose not from any want of explicitness\non His part, but because they were not of His sheep (ver. 26). \"My sheep\nhear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.\" Here, as elsewhere,\nHe points in confirmation of His claim to the works His Father had given\nHim to do, and to the response His manifestation awakened in those who\nwere hungering for truth and for God. Those who were given to Him by the\nFather, who were taught and led by God, acknowledged Him, and to such He\nimparted all those eternal and supreme blessings He was commissioned to\nbestow upon men.\n\nBut in describing the safety of those who believe in Him, Jesus uses an\nexpression which gives umbrage to those who hear it--\"I and the Father\nare one.\" Those who trust themselves to Christ shall not be plucked out\nof His hand: they are eternally secure. The guarantee of this is, that\nthose who thus trust in Him are given to Him by the Father for this very\npurpose of safe-keeping: the Father Himself therefore watches over and\nprotects them. \"No man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I\nand My Father are one.\" In this matter Christ acts merely as the\nFather's agent. The Pharisees might excommunicate the blind man and\nthreaten him with penalties present and to come, but he is absolutely\nbeyond their reach. Their threats are the pattering of hail on a\nbomb-proof shelter. The man is in Christ's keeping, and thereby is in\nGod's keeping.\n\nBut this assertion the Jews at once construed into blasphemy, and took\nup stones to stone Him. With marvellous calmness Jesus arrests their\nmurderous intention with the quiet question: \"Many good works have I\nshowed you from My Father; for which of these do you stone Me? You\nquestion whether I am the Father's Agent: does not the benignity of the\nworks I have done prove Me such? Do not My works evince the indwelling\npower of the Father?\" The Jews reply, and from their point of view quite\nreasonably: \"For a good work we stone Thee not; but because Thou, being\na man, makest Thyself God.\" How far they were justified in this charge\nwe must inquire.\n\nIn this conversation two points are of the utmost significance.\n\n1. The comparative equanimity with which they consider the claim of\nJesus to be the Messiah is changed into fury when they imagine that He\nclaims also equality with God. Their first appeal, \"If Thou be the\nChrist, tell us plainly,\" is calm; and His answer, though it distinctly\ninvolved an affirmation that He was the Christ, was received without any\nviolent demonstration of rage or of excitement. But their attitude\ntowards Him changes in a moment and their calmness gives place to\nuncontrollable indignation as soon as it appears that He believes\nHimself to be one with the Father. They themselves would not have\ndreamed of putting such a question to Him: the idea of any man being\nequal with God was too abhorrent to the rigid monotheism of the Jewish\nmind. And when it dawned upon them that this was what Jesus claimed,\nthey could do nothing but stop their ears and lift stones to end such\nblasphemy. No incident could more distinctly prove that the claim to be\nthe Messiah was in their judgment one thing, the claim to be Divine\nanother thing.\n\n2. The contrast our Lord draws between Himself and those who had in\nScripture been called \"gods\" is significant. It is the eighty-second\nPsalm He cites; and in it the judges of Israel are rebuked for abusing\ntheir office. It is of these unjust judges the psalm represents God as\nsaying, \"I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the\nMost High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.\"\nTo these judges this word of God, \"Ye are gods,\" had come at their\nconsecration to their office. Having been occupied with other work they\nwere now set apart to represent to men the authority and justice of God.\nBut, argues our Lord, if men were called gods, to whom God's word\ncame,--and they are so called in Scripture, which cannot be\nbroken,--appointing them to their office, may He not rightly be called\nSon of God who is Himself sent to men; whose original and sole destiny\nit was to come into the world to represent _the Father_? The words are\noverweighted with manifold contrast. The judges were persons \"to whom\"\nthe word of God came, as from without; Jesus was a person Himself \"sent\ninto the world\" from God, therefore surely more akin to God than they\nwere. The judges represented God by virtue of a commission received in\nthe course of their career--the word of God _came_ to them: Jesus, on\nthe other hand, represented God because \"sanctified,\" that is, set apart\nor consecrated for this purpose before He came into the world, and\ntherefore obviously occupying a higher and more important position than\nthey. But, especially, the judges were appointed to discharge one\nlimited and temporary function, for the discharge of which it was\nsufficient that they should know the law of God; whereas it was \"the\nFather,\" the God of universal relation and love, who consecrated Jesus\nand sent Him into the world, meaning now to reveal to men what lies\ndeepest in His nature, His love, His fatherhood. The idea of the purpose\nfor which Christ was sent into the world is indicated in the emphatic\nuse of \"the Father.\" He was sent to do the works of the Father (ver.\n37); to manifest to men the benignity, tenderness, compassion of the\nFather; to encourage them to believe that the Father, the Source of all\nlife, was in their midst accessible to them. If Jesus failed to reveal\nthe Father, He had no claim to make. \"If I do not the works of My\nFather, believe Me not.\" But if He did such works as declared the Father\nto be in their midst, then, as bearing the Father in Him and doing the\nFather's will, He might well be called \"the Son of God.\" \"Though ye\nbelieve not Me, believe the works; that ye may know, and believe, that\nthe Father is in Me, and I in Him.\"\n\nThere can be no question, then, of the conclusiveness with which our\nLord rebutted the charge of blasphemy. By a single sentence He put them\nin the position of presumptuously contradicting their own Scriptures.\nBut weightier questions remain behind. Did Jesus merely seek to parry\ntheir thrust, or did He mean positively to affirm that He was God? His\nwords do not carry a direct and explicit affirmation of His Divinity.\nIndeed, to a hearer His comparison of Himself with the judges would\nnecessarily rather tend to veil the full meaning of His previous claims\nto pre-existence and superhuman dignity. On reflection, no doubt the\nhearers might see that a claim to Divinity was implied in His words; but\neven in the saying which first gave them offence, \"I and the Father are\none,\" it is rather what is implied than what is expressed that carries\nwith it such a claim. For Calvin is unquestionably right in maintaining\nthat these words were not intended to affirm identity of substance with\nthe Father.[36] An ambassador whose actions or claims were contested\nmight very naturally say, \"I and my Sovereign are One\"; not meaning\nthereby to claim royal dignity, but meaning to assert that what he did,\nhis Sovereign did; that his signature carried his Sovereign's guarantee,\nand that his pledges would be fulfilled by the entire resources of his\nSovereign. And as God's delegate, as the great Messianic Viceroy among\nmen, it was no doubt this that our Lord wished in the first place to\naffirm, that He was the representative of God, doing His will, and\nbacked by all His authority. \"See the Father in Me,\" was His constant\ndemand. All His self-assertion and self-revelation were meant to reveal\nthe Father.\n\nBut although He does not directly and explicitly say, \"I am God\";\nalthough He does not even use such language of Himself as John uses,\nwhen he says, \"The Word was God\"; yet is not His Divine nature a\nreasonable inference from such affirmations as that which we are here\nconsidering? Some interpreters very decidedly maintain that when Christ\nsays, \"I and the Father are one,\" He means one in power. They affirm\nthat this assertion is made to prove that none of His sheep will be\nplucked out of His hand, and that this is secured because His Father is\n\"greater than all,\" and He and His Father are one. Accordingly they hold\nthat neither the old orthodox interpretation nor the Arian is correct:\nnot the orthodox, because not unity of essence but unity of power is\nmeant; not the Arian, because something more is meant than moral\nharmony. This, however, is difficult to maintain, and it is safer to\nabide by Calvin's interpretation, and believe that what Jesus means is\nthat what He does will be confirmed by the Father. It is the Father's\npower He introduces as the final guarantee, not His own power.\n\nStill, although the very terms He here uses may not even by implication\naffirm His Divinity, it remains to be asked whether there are not parts\nof Christ's work as God's commissioner on earth which could be\naccomplished by no one who was not Himself Divine. An ambassador may\nrecommend his offers and guarantees by affirming that his power and that\nof his Sovereign are one, but in many cases he must have actual power on\nthe spot. If a commissioner is sent to reduce a mutinous army or a large\nwarlike tribe in rebellion, or to define a frontier in the face of an\narmed claimant, he must in such cases be no mere lay-figure, whose\nuniform tells what country he belongs to, but he must be a man of\naudacity and resource, able to act for himself without telegraphing for\norders, and he must be backed by sufficient military force on the spot.\nIt comes therefore to be a question whether the work on which Christ was\nsent was a work which could be accomplished by a man however fully\nequipped? Jesus though nothing more than human might have said, if\ncommissioned by God to say so, \"The promises I make, God will perform.\nThe guarantees I give, God will respect.\" But is it possible that a man,\nhowever holy, however wise, however fully possessed by the Holy Spirit,\ncould reveal the Father to men and adequately represent God? Could He\ninfluence, guide, and uplift individuals? Could He give life to men,\ncould He assume the function of judging, could He bear the\nresponsibility of being sole mediator between God and men? Must we not\nbelieve that for the work Christ came to do it was needful that He\nshould be truly Divine?\n\nWhile therefore it is quite true that Christ here rebuts the charge of\nblasphemy in His usual manner, not by directly affirming His Divine\nnature, but only by declaring that His office as God's representative\ngave Him as just a claim to the Divine name as the judges had, this\ncircumstance cannot lead us to doubt the Divine nature of Christ, or\nprompt us to suppose He Himself was shy in affirming it, because the\nquestion is at once suggested whether the office He assumed is not one\nwhich only a Divine Person could undertake. It need not stumble our\nfaith, if we find that not only in this passage but everywhere Jesus\nrefrains from explicitly saying: \"I am God.\" Not even among His\nApostles, who were so much in need of instruction, does He definitely\nannounce His Divinity. This is consistent with His entire method of\nteaching. He was not aggressive nor impatient. He sowed the seed, and\nknew that in time the blade would appear. He trusted more to the faith\nwhich slowly grew with the growth of the believer's mind than to the\nimmediate acceptance of verbal assertions. He allowed men gradually to\nfind their own way to the right conclusions, guiding them, furnishing\nthem with sufficient evidence, but always allowing the evidence to do\nits work, and not breaking in upon the natural process by His\nauthoritative utterances. But when, as in Thomas's case, it did dawn on\nthe mind of any that this Person was God manifest in the flesh, He\naccepted the tribute paid. The acceptance of such a tribute proves Him\nDivine. No good man, whatever his function or commission on earth, could\nallow another to address him, as Thomas addressed Jesus, \"My Lord and my\nGod.\"\n\nIn the paragraph we are considering a very needful reminder is given us\nthat the Jews of our Lord's time used the terms \"God\" and \"Son of God\"\nin a loose and inexact manner. Where the sense was not likely to be\nmisunderstood, they did not scruple to apply these terms to officials\nand dignitaries. The angels they called sons of God; their own judges\nthey called by the same name. The whole people considered collectively\nwas called \"God's son.\" And in the 2nd Psalm, speaking of the Messianic\nKing, God says, \"Thou art My Son: this day have I begotten Thee.\" It was\ntherefore natural that the Jews should think of the Messiah not as\nproperly Divine, but merely as being of such surpassing dignity as to be\nworthily though loosely called \"Son of God.\" No doubt there are passages\nin the Old Testament which intimate with sufficient clearness that the\nMessiah would be truly Divine: \"Thy throne, O God, is for ever and\never;\" \"Unto us a Child is born ... and His name shall be called the\nMighty God;\" \"Behold the days come that I will raise unto David a\nrighteous Branch, and this is the name whereby He shall be called,\nJehovah our Righteousness.\" But though these passages seem decisive to\nus, looking on the fulfilment of them in Christ, we must consider that\nthe Jewish Bible did not lie on every table for consultation as our\nBibles do, and also that it was easy for the Jews to put a figurative\nsense on all such passages.\n\nIn a word, it was a Messiah the Jews looked for, not the Son of God.\nThey looked for one with Divine powers, the delegate of God, sent to\naccomplish His will and to establish His kingdom, the representative\namong them of the Divine presence; but they did not look for a real\ndwelling of a Divine Person among them. It is quite certain that the\nJews of the second century thought it silly of the Christians to hold\nthat the Christ pre-existed from eternity as God, and condescended to be\nborn as man. \"No Jew would allow,\" says a writer of that time, \"that any\nprophet ever said that a Son of God would come; but what the Jews do say\nis that the Christ of God will come.\"\n\nThis circumstance, that the Jews did not expect the Messiah to be a\nDivine Person, throws light upon certain passages in the Gospels. When,\nfor example, our Lord put the question, \"What think ye of Christ? Whose\nSon is He?\" The Pharisees promptly answer, \"He is the Son of David.\"\nAnd, that they had no thought of ascribing to the Messiah a properly\nDivine origin, is shown by their inability to answer the further\nquestion, \"How then does David call Him Lord?\"--a question presenting no\ndifficulty at all to any one who believed that the Messiah was to be\nDivine as well as human.[37]\n\nSo, too, if the Jews had expected the Messiah to be a Divine person, the\nascription of Messianic dignity to one who was not the Messiah was\nblasphemy, being equivalent to ascribing Divinity to one who was not\nDivine. But in no case in which Jesus was acknowledged as the Messiah\nwere those who so acknowledged Him proceeded against as blasphemous. The\nblind men who appealed to Him as the Son of David were told to be quiet;\nthe crowd who hailed His entrance to Jerusalem scandalized the Pharisees\nbut were not proceeded against. And even the blind beggar who owned Him\nwas excommunicated by a special act passed for the emergency, which\nproves that the standing statute against blasphemy could not in such a\ncase be enforced.\n\nAgain, this fact, that the Jews did not expect the Messiah to be\nstrictly Divine, sheds light on the real ground of accusation against\nJesus. So long as it was supposed that He merely claimed to be the\npromised Christ, and used the title \"Son of God\" as equivalent to a\nMessianic title, many of the people admitted His claim and were prepared\nto own Him. But when the Pharisees began to apprehend that He claimed to\nbe the Son of God in a higher sense, they accused Him of blasphemy, and\non this charge He was condemned. The account of His trial as given by\nLuke is most significant. He was tried in two courts, and in each upon\ntwo charges. When brought before the Sanhedrim He was first asked, \"Art\nThou the Christ?\" a question which, as He at once pointed out, was\nuseless; because He had taught quite openly, and there were hundreds who\ncould testify to the claims He had put forward. He merely says that they\nthemselves will one day own His claim. \"Hereafter shall the Son of Man\nsit on the right hand of the power of God.\" This suggests to them that\nHis claim was to something more than they ordinarily considered to be\ninvolved in the claim to Messiahship, and at once they pass to their\nsecond question, \"Art Thou then the Son of God?\" And on His refusing to\ndisown this title, the High Priest rends His clothes, and Jesus is there\nand then convicted of blasphemy.\n\nThe different significance of the two claims is brought out more\ndistinctly in the trial before Pilate. At first Pilate treats Him as an\namiable enthusiast who fancies Himself a King and supposes He has been\nsent into the world to lead men to the truth. And accordingly after\nexamining Him he presents Him to the people as an innocent person, and\nmakes light of their charge that He claims to be King of the Jews. On\nthis the Jews with one voice cry out, \"We have a law, and by our law He\nought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.\" The effect of\nthis charge upon Pilate is immediate and remarkable: \"When Pilate heard\nthat saying _he was the more afraid_, and went again into the judgment\nhall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art Thou?\" But Jesus gave him no\nanswer.\n\nIt is plain then that it was for blasphemy Christ was condemned; and not\nsimply because He claimed to be the Messiah. But if this is so, then how\ncan we evade the conclusion that He was in very truth a Divine person?\nThe Jews charged Him with making Himself equal with God; and, if He was\nnot equal with God, they were quite right in putting Him to death. Their\nlaw was express, that no matter what signs and wonders a man performed,\nif he used these to draw them from the worship of the true God he was to\nbe put to death. They crucified Jesus on the ground that He was a\nblasphemer, and against this sentence He made no appeal. He showed no\nhorror at the accusation, as any good man must have shown. He accepted\nthe doom, and on the Cross prayed, \"Father, forgive them, for they know\nnot what they do.\" That which they considered an act of piety was in\ntruth the most frightful of crimes. But if He was not Divine, it was no\ncrime at all, but a just punishment.\n\nBut no doubt that which lodges in the heart of each of us the conviction\nthat Christ is Divine is the general aspect of His life, and the\nattitude He assumes towards men and towards God. We may not be able to\nunderstand in what sense there are Three Persons in the Godhead, and may\nbe disposed with Calvin to wish that theological terms and distinctions\nhad never become necessary.[38] We may be unable to understand how if\nChrist were a complete Person before the Incarnation, the humanity He\nassumed could also be complete and similar to our own. But\nnotwithstanding such difficulties, which are the necessary result of our\ninability to comprehend the Divine nature, we are convinced, when we\nfollow Christ through His life and listen to His own assertions, that\nthere is in Him something unique and unapproached among men, that while\nHe is one of us He yet looks at us also from the outside, from above. We\nfeel that He is Master of all, that nothing in nature or in life can\ndefeat Him; that while dwelling in time, He is also in Eternity, seeing\nbefore and after. The most stupendous claims He makes seem somehow\njustified; assertions which in other lips would be blasphemous are felt\nto be just and natural in His. It is felt that somehow, even if we\ncannot say how, God is in Him.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[36] Calvin says: \"The ancients misinterpreted this passage to prove\nthat Christ is of one substance with the Father. For Christ is not here\ndisputing regarding unity of substance, but regarding the harmony of\nwill (consensu) which he has with the Father, maintaining that whatever\nHe does will be confirmed by the Father's power.\"\n\n[37] In this passage I borrow the convincing argument of Treffry in his\ntoo little read treatise _On the Eternal Sonship_. He says, p. 89: \"Had\nthe Jews regarded the Messiah as a Divine person, the claims of Jesus to\nthat character had been in all cases equivalent to the assertion of His\nDeity. But there is not upon record one example in which any\nconsiderable emotion was manifested against these claims; while, on the\nother hand, a palpable allusion to His higher nature never failed to be\ninstantly and most indignantly resented. The conclusion is obvious.\"\n\n[38] \"Utinam quidem sepulta essent\" (_Instit._, I., 13, 5).\n\n\n\n\nXXIII.\n\n_JESUS THE RESURRECTION AND LIFE._\n\n\n    \"Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of\n    Mary and her sister Martha. And it was that Mary which anointed the\n    Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother\n    Lazarus was sick. The sisters therefore sent unto Him, saying, Lord,\n    behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick. But when Jesus heard it, He\n    said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,\n    that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved\n    Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore He heard that he\n    was sick, He abode at that time two days in the place where He was.\n    Then after this He saith to the disciples, Let us go into Judaea\n    again. The disciples say unto Him, Rabbi, the Jews were but now\n    seeking to stone Thee; and goest Thou thither again? Jesus answered,\n    Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he\n    stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a\n    man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in\n    him. These things spake He: and after this he saith unto them, Our\n    friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awake him out\n    of sleep. The disciples therefore said unto Him, Lord, if he is\n    fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death:\n    but they thought that He spake of taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus\n    therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for\n    your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe;\n    nevertheless let us go unto him. Thomas, therefore, who is called\n    Didymus, said unto his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may\n    die with Him. So when Jesus came, He found that he had been in the\n    tomb four days already. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about\n    fifteen furlongs off; and many of the Jews had come to Martha and\n    Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Martha, therefore,\n    when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him; but Mary\n    still sat in the house. Martha, therefore, said unto Jesus, Lord, if\n    Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. And even now I know\n    that, whatsoever Thou shalt ask of God, God will give Thee. Jesus\n    saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto Him,\n    I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.\n    Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that\n    believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live: and whosoever\n    liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this? She\n    saith into Him, Yea, Lord: I have believed that Thou art the Christ,\n    the Son of God, even He that cometh into the world. And when she\n    had said this, she went away, and called Mary her sister secretly,\n    saying, The Master is here, and calleth thee. And she, when she\n    heard it, arose quickly, and went unto Him. (Now Jesus was not yet\n    come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met\n    Him.) The Jews then which were with her in the house, and were\n    comforting her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and\n    went out, followed her, supposing that she was going unto the tomb\n    to weep there. Mary therefore, when she came where Jesus was, and\n    saw Him, fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst\n    been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her\n    weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned\n    in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him?\n    They say unto Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. The Jews\n    therefore said, Behold how He loved him! But some of them said,\n    Could not this man, which opened the eyes of him that was blind,\n    have caused that this man also should not die? Jesus therefore again\n    groaning in Himself cometh to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a\n    stone lay against it. Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. Martha,\n    the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this time\n    he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her,\n    Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see\n    the glory of God? So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up\n    His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me. And\n    I know that Thou hearest Me always: but because of the multitude\n    which standeth around I said it, that they may believe that Thou\n    didst send Me. And when He had thus spoken, He cried with a loud\n    voice, Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead came forth, bound hand\n    and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a\n    napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.\"--JOHN xi.\n    1-44.\n\n\nIn this eleventh chapter it is related how the death of Jesus was\nfinally determined upon, on the occasion of His raising Lazarus. The ten\nchapters which precede have served to indicate how Jesus revealed\nHimself to the Jews in every aspect that was likely to win faith, and\nhow each fresh revelation only served to embitter them against Him, and\nharden their unbelief into hopeless hostility. In these few pages John\nhas given us a wonderfully compressed but vivid summary of the miracles\nand conversations of Jesus, which served to reveal His true character\nand work. Jesus has manifested Himself as the Light of the World, yet\nthe darkness does not comprehend Him; as the Shepherd of the Sheep, and\nthey will not hear His voice; as the Life of men, and they will not come\nunto Him that they might have Life; as the impersonated love of God come\nto dwell among men, sharing their sorrows and their joys, and men hate\nHim the more, the more love He shows; as the Truth which could make men\nfree, and they choose to serve the father of lies, and to do his work.\nAnd now, when He reveals Himself as the Resurrection and the Life,\npossessed of the key to what is inaccessible to all others, of the power\nmost essential to man, they resolve upon His death. There was an\nappropriateness in this. His love for His friends drew Him back at the\nrisk of His life to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem: it is as if to His\neye Lazarus represented all His friends, and He feels constrained to\ncome out from His safe retreat, and, at the risk of His own life,\ndeliver them from the power of death.\n\nThat this was in the mind of Jesus Himself is obvious. When He expresses\nHis resolve to go to His friends in Bethany, He uses an expression which\nshows that He anticipated danger, and which at once suggested to the\ndisciples that He was running a great risk. \"Let us go,\" not \"to\nBethany\" but \"into Judaea again.\" His disciples say unto Him, \"Master,\nthe Jews of late sought to stone Thee, and goest Thou thither again?\"\nThe answer of Jesus is significant: \"Are there not twelve hours in the\nday?\" That is to say: Has not every man his allotted time to work, his\nday of light, in which he can walk and work, and which no danger nor\ncalamity can shorten? Can men make the sun set one hour earlier? So\nneither can they shorten by one hour the day of life, of light, and toil\nyour God has appointed to you. Wicked men may grudge that God's sun\nshine on the fields of their enemies and prosper them, but their envy\ncannot darken or shorten the course of the sun: so may wicked men grudge\nthat I work these miracles, and do these deeds of My loving Father, but\nI am as far above their reach as the sun in the heavens; until I have\nrun My appointed course their envy is impotent. The real danger begins\nwhen a man tries to prolong his day, to turn night into day; the danger\nbegins when a man through fear turns aside from duty; he then loses the\nonly true guide and light of his life. A man's knowledge of duty, or\nGod's will, is the only true light he has to guide him in life: that\nduty God has already measured, to each man his twelve hours; and only by\nfollowing duty into all hazards and confusion can you live out your full\nterm; if, on the other hand, you try to extend your term, you find that\nthe sun of duty has set for you, and you have no power to bring light on\nyour path. A man may preserve his life on earth for a year or two more\nby declining dangerous duty, but his _day_ is done, he is henceforth\nonly stumbling about on earth in the outer cold and darkness, and had\nfar better have gone home to God and been quietly asleep, far better\nhave acknowledged that his day was done and his night come, and not have\nstriven to wake and work on. If through fear of danger, of straitened\ncircumstances, of serious inconvenience, you refuse to go where\nGod--_i.e._, where duty--calls you, you make a terrible mistake; instead\nof thereby preserving your life you lose it, instead of prolonging your\nday of usefulness and of brightness and comfort, you lose the very light\nof life, and stumble on henceforward through life without a guide,\nmaking innumerable false steps as the result of that first false step in\nwhich you turned in the wrong direction; not dead indeed, but living as\n\"the very ghost of your former self\" on this side of the\ngrave--miserable, profitless, _benighted_.\n\nJohn apparently had two reasons for recording this miracle; firstly,\nbecause it exhibited Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life; secondly,\nbecause it more distinctly separated the whole body of the Jews into\nbelievers and unbelievers. But there are two minor points which may be\nlooked at before we turn to these main themes.\n\nFirst, we read that when Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the Jews also\nweeping which came with her, He _groaned in spirit_ and was troubled,\nand then wept. But why did He show such emotion? The Jews who saw Him\nweep supposed that His tears were prompted, as their own were, by sorrow\nfor their loss and sympathy with the sisters. To see a woman like Mary\ncasting herself at His feet, breaking into a passion of tears, and\ncrying with intense regret, if not with a tinge of reproach, \"Lord, if\nThou hadst been here, my brother had not died,\" was enough to bring\ntears to the eyes of harder natures than our Lord's. But the care with\nwhich John describes the disturbance of His spirit, the emphasis he lays\nupon His groaning, the notice he takes of the account the Jews give of\nHis tears,--all seem to indicate that something more than ordinary grief\nor sympathy was the fountain of these tears, the cause of the distress\nwhich could vent itself only in audible groans. He was in sympathy with\nthe mourners and felt for them, but there was that in the whole scene\nwith which He had no sympathy; there was none of that feeling He\nrequired His disciples to show at His own death, no rejoicing that one\nmore had gone to the Father. There was a forgetfulness of the most\nessential facts of death, an unbelief which seemed entirely to separate\nthis crowd of wailing people from the light and life of God's presence.\n\"It was the darkness between God and His creatures that gave room for,\nand was filled with, their weeping and wailing over their dead.\" It was\nthe deeper anguish into which mourners are plunged by looking upon death\nas extinction, and by supposing that death separates from God and from\nlife, instead of giving closer access to God and more abundant life,--it\nwas this which caused Jesus to groan. He could not bear this evidence\nthat even the best of God's children do not believe in God as greater\nthan death, and in death as ruled by God.\n\nThis gives us the key to Christ's belief in immortality, and to all\nsound belief in immortality. It was Christ's sense of God, His\nuninterrupted consciousness of God, His distinct knowledge that God the\nloving Father is _the_ existence in whom all live,--it was this which\nmade it impossible for Christ to think of death as extinction or\nseparation from God. For one who consciously lived in God to be\nseparated from God was impossible. For one who was bound to God by love,\nto drop out of that love into nothingness or desolation was\ninconceivable. His constant and absolute sense of God gave Him an\nunquestioning sense of immortality. We cannot conceive of Christ having\nany shadow of doubt of a life beyond death; and if we ask why it was so,\nwe further see it was because it was impossible for Him to doubt of the\nexistence of God--the ever-living, ever-loving God.\n\nAnd this is the order or conviction in us all. It is vain to try and\nbuild up a faith in immortality by natural arguments, or even by what\nScripture records. As Bushnell truly says: \"The faith of immortality\ndepends on a sense of it begotten, not on an argument for it concluded.\"\nAnd this sense of immortality is begotten when a man is truly born\nagain, and instinctively feels himself an heir of things beyond this\nworld into which his natural birth has ushered him; when he begins to\nlive in God; when the things of God are the things among which and for\nwhich he lives; when his spirit is in daily and free communication with\nGod; when he partakes of the Divine nature, finding his joy in\nself-sacrifice and love, in those purposes and dispositions which can be\nexercised in any world where men are, and with which death seems to\nhave no conceivable relation. But, on the other hand, for a man to live\nfor the world, to steep his soul in carnal pleasures and blind himself\nby highly esteeming what belongs only to earth,--for such a man to\nexpect to have any intelligent sense or perception of immortality is out\nof the question.\n\n2. Another question, which may, indeed, be inquisitive, but can scarcely\nbe reprehended, is sure to be asked: What was the experience of Lazarus\nduring these four days? To speculate on what he saw or heard or\nexperienced, to trace the flight of his soul through the gates of death\nto the presence of God, may perhaps seem to some as foolish as to go\nwith those curious Jews who flocked out to Bethany to set eyes on this\nmarvel, a man who had passed to the unseen world and yet returned. But\nalthough no doubt good and great purposes are served by the obscurity\nthat involves death, our endeavour to penetrate the gloom, and catch\nsome glimpses of a life we must shortly enter, cannot be judged\naltogether idle. Unfortunately, it is little we can learn from Lazarus.\nTwo English poets, the one fitted to deal with this subject by an\nimagination that seems capable of seeing and describing whatever man can\nexperience, the other by an insight that instinctively apprehends\nspiritual things, and both by reverential faith, have taken quite\nopposite views of the effect of death and resurrection upon Lazarus. The\none describes him as living henceforth a dazed life, as if his soul were\nelsewhere; as if his eye, dazzled with the glory beyond, could not\nadjust itself to the things of earth. He is thrown out of sympathy with\nthe ordinary interests of men, and seems to live at cross purposes with\nall around him. This was a very inviting view of the matter to a poet:\nfor here was an opportunity of putting in a concrete way an experience\nquite unique. It was a task worthy of the highest poetic genius to\ndescribe what would be the sensations, thoughts, and ways of a man who\nhad passed through death and seen things invisible, and been \"exalted\nabove measure,\" and become certified by face to face vision of all that\nwe can only hope and believe, and had yet been restored to earth. The\nopportunity of contrasting the paltriness of earth with the sublimity\nand reality of the unseen was too great to be resisted. The opportunity\nof flouting our professed faith by exhibiting the difference between it\nand a real assurance, by showing the utter want of sympathy between one\nwho had seen and all others on earth who had only believed,--this\nopportunity was too inviting to leave room for a poet to ask whether\nthere was a basis in fact for this contrast; whether it was likely that\nin point of fact Lazarus did conduct himself, when restored to earth, as\none who had been plunged into the full light and thronging life of the\nunseen world. And, when we consider the actual requirements of the case,\nit seems most unlikely that Lazarus can have been recalled from a clear\nconsciousness and full knowledge of the heavenly life--unlikely that he\nshould be summoned to live on earth with a mind too large for the uses\nof earth, overcharged with knowledge he could not use, as a poor man\nsuddenly enriched beyond his ability to spend, and thereby only confused\nand stupefied. Apparently the idea of the other poet is the wiser when\nhe says:--\n\n    \"'Where wert thou, brother, those four days?'\n      There lives no record of reply,\n      Which, telling what it is to die,\n    Had surely added praise to praise.\n\n    \"From every house the neighbours met,\n      The streets were fill'd with joyful sound,\n      A solemn gladness even crown'd\n    The purple brows of Olivet.\n\n    \"Behold a man raised up by Christ!\n      The rest remaineth unrevealed;\n      He told it not; or something seal'd\n    The lips of that Evangelist.\"\n\nThe probability is, he had nothing to reveal. As Jesus said, He came \"to\nawake him out of sleep.\" Had he learned anything of the spirit world, it\nmust have oozed out. The burden of a secret which all men craved to\nknow, and which the scribes and lawyers from Jerusalem would do all in\ntheir power to elicit from him, would have damaged his mind and\noppressed his life. His rising would be as the awaking of a man from\ndeep sleep, scarcely knowing what he was doing, tripping and stumbling\nin the grave-clothes and wondering at the crowd. What Mary and Martha\nwould prize would be the unchanged love that shone in his face as he\nrecognized them, the same familiar tones and endearments,--all that\nshowed how little change death brings, how little rupture of affection\nor of any good thing, how truly he was their own brother still.\n\nTo our Lord Himself it was a grace that so shortly before His own death,\nand in a spot so near where He Himself was buried, He should be\nencouraged by seeing a man who had been three days in the grave rise at\nHis word. The narrative of His last hours reveals that such\nencouragement was not useless. But for us it has a still more helpful\nsignificance. Death is a subject of universal concern. Every man must\nhave to do with it; and in presence of it every man feels his\nhelplessness. Nowhere do we so come to the limit and end of our power\nas at the door of a vault; nowhere is the weakness of man so keenly\nfelt. There is the clay, but who shall find the spirit that dwelt in it?\nJesus has no such sense of weakness. Believing in the fatherly and\nundying love of the Eternal God, He knows that death cannot harm, still\nless destroy, the children of God. And in this belief He commands back\nto the body the soul of Lazarus; through the ear of that dead and\nlaid-aside body He calls to His friend, and bids him from the unseen\nworld. Surely we also may say, with Himself, we are glad that He was not\nwith Lazarus in his sickness, that we might have this proof that not\neven death carries the friend of Christ beyond His reach and power.\n\nThere is no one who can afford to look at this scene with indifference.\nWe have all to die, to sink in utter weakness past all strength of our\nown, past all friendly help of those around us. It must always remain a\ntrying thing to die. In the time of our health we may say,--\n\n    \"Since Nature's works be good, and Death doth serve\n    As Nature's work, why should we fear to die?\"\n\nbut no argument should make us indifferent to the question whether at\ndeath we are to be extinguished or to live on in happier, fuller life.\nIf a man dies in thoughtlessness, with no forecasting or foreboding of\nwhat is to follow, he can give no stronger proof of thoughtlessness. If\na man faces death cheerfully through natural courage, he can furnish no\nstronger evidence of courage; if he dies calmly and hopefully through\nfaith, this is faith's highest expression. And if it is really true that\nJesus did raise Lazarus, then a world of depression and fear and grief\nis lifted off the heart of man. That very assurance is given to us\nwhich we most of all need. And, so far as I can see, it is our own\nimbecility of mind that prevents us from accepting this assurance and\nliving in the joy and strength it brings. If Christ raised Lazarus He\nhas a power to which we can safely trust; and life is a thing of\npermanence and joy. And if a man cannot determine for himself whether\nthis did actually happen or not, he must, I think, feel that the fault\nis his, and that he is defrauding himself of one of the clearest guiding\nlights and most powerful determining influences we have.\n\nThis miracle is itself more significant than the explanation of it. The\nact which embodies and gives actuality to a principle is its best\nexposition. But the main teaching of the miracle is enounced in the\nwords of Jesus: \"I am the Resurrection and the Life.\" In this statement\ntwo truths are contained: (1) that resurrection and life are not future\nonly, but present; and (2) that they become ours by union with Christ.\n\n(1) Resurrection and Life are not blessings laid up for us in a remote\nfuture: they are present. When Jesus said to Martha, \"Thy brother shall\nrise again,\" she answered, \"I know that he shall rise again in the\nresurrection at the last day,\"--meaning to indicate that this was small\nconsolation. There was her brother lying in the tomb dead, and there he\nwould lie for ages dead; no more to move about in the home she loved for\nhis sake, no more to exchange with her one word or look. What comfort\ndid the vague and remote hope of reunion after long ages of untold\nchange bring? What comfort is to sustain her through the interval? When\nparents lose the children whom they could not bear to have for a day out\nof their sight, whom they longed for if they were absent an hour beyond\ntheir time, it is no doubt some comfort to know that one day they will\nagain fold them to their breast. But this is not the comfort Christ\ngives Martha. He comforts her, not by pointing her to a far-off event\nwhich was vague and remote, but to His own living person, whom she knew,\nsaw, and trusted. And He assured her that in Him were resurrection and\nlife; that all, therefore, who belonged to Him were uninjured by death,\nand had in Him a present and continuous life.\n\nChrist, then, does not think of immortality as we do. The thought of\nimmortality is with Him involved in, and absorbed by, the idea of life.\nLife is a present thing, and its continuance a matter of course. When\nlife is full, and abundant, and glad, the present is enough, and past\nand future are unthought of. It is life, therefore, rather than\nimmortality Christ speaks of; a present, not a future, good; an\nexpansion of the nature now, and which necessarily carries with it the\nidea of permanence. Eternal life He defines, not as a future continuance\nto be measured by ages, but as a present life, to be measured by its\ndepth. It is the quality, not the length, of life He looks at. Life\nprolonged without being deepened by union with the living God were no\nboon. Life with God, and in God, must be immortal; life without God He\ndoes not call life at all.\n\nIn evidence of this present continued life Lazarus was called back, and\nshown to be still alive. In him the truth of Christ's words was\nexemplified: \"He that believeth in Me, though he were dead yet shall he\nlive; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.\" He will\ndoubtless, like all men, undergo that change which we call death; he\nwill become disconnected from this present earthly scene, but his life\nin Christ will suffer no interruption. Dissolution may pass on his\nbody, but not on his life. His life is hid with Christ in God. It is\nunited to the unfailing source of all existence.\n\n(2) Such life, now abundant and evermore abiding, Christ affords to all\nwho believe in Him. To Martha He intimates that He has power to raise\nthe dead, and that this power is so much His own that He needs no\ninstrument or means to apply it; that He Himself, as He stood before\nher, contained all that was needful for resurrection and life. He\nintimates all this, but He intimates much more than this. That He had\nthe power to raise the dead it would, no doubt, revive the heart of\nMartha to hear, but what guarantee, what hope, was there that He would\nexercise that power? And so Christ does not say, I have the power, but,\nI am. Is any one, is Lazarus, joined to Me? has he attached himself\nconfidingly to My Person: then whatever I am finds exercise in him. It\nis not only that I have this power to exercise on whom I may; but I am\nthis power, so that if he be one with Me I cannot withhold the exercise\nof that power from him.\n\nThey who have learned to obey Christ's voice in life will most quickly\nhear it, and recognise its authority, when they sleep in death. They who\nhave known its power to raise them out of spiritual death will not doubt\nits power to raise them from bodily death to a more abundant life than\nthis world affords. They once felt as if nothing could deliver them;\nthey were dead--deaf to Christ's commands, bound in bonds which they\nthought would hold them till they themselves should rot away from within\nthem; they were buried out of sight of all that could give spiritual\nlife, and the heavy stone of their own hardened will lay on their ruined\nand outcast condition. But Christ's love sought them out and called\nthem into life. Assured that He has had power to do this, conscious in\nthemselves that they are alive with a life given by Christ, they cannot\ndoubt that the grave will be but a bed of rest, and that neither things\npresent nor things to come can separate them from a love which already\nhas shown itself capable of the utmost.\n\n\n\n\nXXIV.\n\n_JESUS THE SCAPEGOAT._\n\n\n    \"Many therefore of the Jews, which came to Mary and beheld that\n    which He did, believed on Him. But some of them went away to the\n    Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done. The chief\n    priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said,\n    What do we? for this man doeth many signs. If we let Him thus alone,\n    all men will believe on Him: and the Romans will come and take away\n    both our place and our nation. But a certain one of them, Caiaphas,\n    being high priest that year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,\n    nor do ye take account that it is expedient for you that one man\n    should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. Now\n    this he said not of himself: but being high priest that year he\n    prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; and not for the\n    nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the\n    children of God that are scattered abroad. So from that day forth\n    they took counsel that they might put Him to death. Jesus therefore\n    walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed thence into the\n    country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and\n    there He tarried with the disciples.\"--JOHN xi. 45-54.\n\n\nWhen Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead He was quite aware that He was\nrisking His own life. He knew that a miracle so public, so easily\ntested, so striking, could not be overlooked, but must decisively\nseparate between those who yielded to what was involved in the miracle,\nand those who hardened themselves against it. It is remarkable that none\nhad the hardihood to deny the fact. Those who most determinedly\nproceeded against Jesus did so on the very ground that His miracles were\nbecoming too numerous and too patent. They perceived that in this\nrespect Jesus answered so perfectly to the popular conception of what\nthe Messiah was to be, that it was quite likely He would win the\nmultitude to belief in Him as the long-looked-for King of the Jews. But\nif there were any such popular enthusiasm aroused, and loudly declared,\nthen the Romans would interfere, and, as they said, \"come and take away\nboth our place and nation.\" They felt themselves in a great difficulty,\nand looked upon Jesus as one of those fatal people who arise to thwart\nthe schemes of statesmen, and spoil well-laid plans, and introduce\ndisturbing elements into peaceful periods.\n\nCaiaphas, astute and unscrupulous, takes a more practical view of\nthings, and laughs at their helplessness. \"Why!\" he says, \"do you not\nsee that this Man, with His _eclat_ and popular following, instead of\nendangering us and bringing suspicion on our loyalty to Rome, is the\nvery person we can use to exhibit our fidelity to the Empire. Sacrifice\nJesus, and by His execution you will not merely clear the nation of all\nsuspicion of a desire to revolt and found a kingdom under Him, but you\nwill show such a watchful zeal for the integrity of the Empire as will\nmerit applause and confidence from the jealous power of Rome.\" Caiaphas\nis the type of the bold, hard politician, who fancies he sees more\nclearly than all others, because he does not perplex himself by what\nlies below the surface, nor suffer the claims of justice to interfere\nwith his own advantage. He looks at everything from the point of view of\nhis own idea and plan, and makes everything bend to that. He had no idea\nthat in making Jesus a scapegoat he was tampering with the Divine\npurposes.\n\nJohn, however, in looking back upon this council, sees that this bold,\nunflinching diplomatist, who supposed he was moving Jesus and the\ncouncil and the Romans as so many pieces in his own game, was himself\nused as God's mouthpiece to predict the event which brought to a close\nhis own and all other priesthood. In the strange irony of events he was\nunconsciously using his high-priestly office to lead forward that one\nSacrifice which was for ever to take away sin, and so to make all\nfurther priestly office superfluous. Caiaphas saw and said that it was\nexpedient that one man die for the nation; but, as in all prophetic\nutterance, so in these words, says John, a very much deeper sense lay\nthan was revealed by their primary application. It is, says John, quite\ntrue that Christ's death would be the saving of a countless multitude,\nonly it was not from the Roman legions that it would long save men, but\nfrom an even more formidable visitation. Caiaphas saw that the Romans\nwere within a very little of terminating the ceaseless troubles which\narose out of this Judaean province, by transporting the inhabitants and\nbreaking up their nationality; and he supposed that by proclaiming Jesus\nas an aspirant to the throne and putting Him to death, he would cleanse\nthe nation of all complicity in His disloyalty and stay the Roman sword.\nAnd John says, that in carrying out this idea of his, he unwittingly\ncarried out the purpose of God that Jesus should die for that\nnation--\"and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather\ntogether in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.\"\n\nNow it must be owned that it is much easier to understand what Caiaphas\nmeant than what John meant; much easier to see how fit Jesus was to be a\nnational scapegoat than to understand how His death removes the sin of\nthe world. There are, however, one or two points regarding the death of\nChrist which become clearer in the light of Caiaphas's idea.\n\nFirst, the very characteristics of Christ which made Caiaphas think of\nHim as a possible scapegoat for the nation, are those which make it\npossible that His death should serve a still larger purpose. When the\nbrilliant idea of propitiating the Roman government by sacrificing Jesus\nflashed into the mind of Caiaphas, he saw that Jesus was in every\nrespect suited to this purpose. He was in the first place a person of\nsufficient importance. To have seized an unknown peasant, who never had,\nand never could have, much influence in Jewish society, would have been\nno proof of zeal in extinguishing rebellion. To crucify Peter or John\nor Lazarus, none of whom had made the most distant claim to kingship,\nwould not serve Caiaphas's turn. But Jesus was the head of a party. In\ndisposing of Him they disposed of His followers. The sheep must scatter,\nif the Shepherd were put out of the way.\n\nThen, again, Jesus was innocent of everything but this. He was guilty of\nattaching men to Himself, but innocent of everything besides. This also\nfitted Him for Caiaphas's purpose, for the high priest recognised that\nit would not do to pick a common criminal out of the prisons and make a\nscapegoat of him. That had been a shallow fiction, which would not for a\nmoment stay the impending Roman sword. Had the Russians wished to\nconciliate our Government and avert war, this could not have been\neffected by their selecting for execution some political exile in\nSiberia, but only by recalling and degrading such an outstanding person\nas General Komaroff. In every case where any one is to be used as a\nscapegoat these two qualities must meet--he must be a really, not\nfictitiously, representative person, and he must be free from all other\nclaims upon his life. It is not everyone who can become a scapegoat. The\nmere agreement between the parties, that such and such a person be a\nscapegoat, is only a hollow fiction which can deceive no one. There must\nbe underlying qualities which constitute one person, and not another,\nrepresentative and fit.\n\nNow John does not expressly say that the deliverance Jesus was to effect\nfor men generally was to be effected in a similar manner to that which\nCaiaphas had in view. He does not expressly say that Jesus was to become\nthe scapegoat of the race: but impregnated as John's mind was with the\nsacrificial ideas in which he had been nurtured, the probability is\nthat the words of Caiaphas suggested to him the idea that Jesus was to\nbe the scapegoat of the race. And, certainly, if Jesus was the scapegoat\non whom our sins were laid, and who carried them all away, He had these\nqualities which fitted Him for this work: He had a connection with us of\nan intimate kind, and He was stainlessly innocent.\n\nThis passage then compels us to ask in what sense Christ was our\nsacrifice.\n\nWith remarkable, because significant, unanimity the consciences of men\nvery differently situated have prompted them to sacrifice. And the idea\nwhich all ancient nations, and especially the Hebrews, entertained\nregarding sacrifice is fairly well ascertained. Both the forms of their\nrites and their explicit statements are conclusive on this point,--that\nin a certain class of sacrifices they looked on the victim as a\nsubstitute bearing the guilt of the offerer and receiving the punishment\ndue to him. This seems, after all discussion, to be the most reasonable\ninterpretation to put upon expiatory sacrifice. Both heathens and Jews\nteach that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins;\nthat the life of the sinner is forfeited, and that in order to the\nsparing of his life, another life is rendered instead; and that as the\nlife is in the blood, the blood must be poured out in sacrifice.\nHeathens were as punctilious as Hebrews in their scrutiny of the\nvictims, to ascertain what animals were fit for sacrifice by the absence\nof all blemish. They used forms of deprecation as exactly expressing the\ndoctrines of substitution and of atonement by vicarious punishment. In\none significant, though repulsive, particular some of the heathen went\nfarther than the Hebrews: occasionally, the sinner who sought cleansing\nfrom defilement was actually washed in the blood of the victim slain for\nhim. By an elaborate contrivance the sinner sat under a stage of open\nwoodwork on which the animal was sacrificed, and through which its blood\npoured upon him.\n\nThe idea expressed by all sacrifices of expiation was, that the victim\ntook the place of the sinner, and received the punishment due to him.\nThe sacrifice was an acknowledgment on the sinner's part that by his sin\nhe had incurred penalty; and it was a prayer on the sinner's part that\nhe might be washed from the guilt he had contracted, and might return to\nlife with the blessing and favour of God upon him. Of course, it was\nseen, and said by the heathen themselves, as well as by the Jews, that\nthe blood of bulls and goats had in itself no relation to moral\ndefilement. It was used in sacrifice merely as a telling way of saying\nthat sin was acknowledged and pardon desired, but always with the idea\nof substitution more or less explicitly in the mind. And the ideas which\nwere inevitably associated with sacrifice were transferred to Jesus by\nHis immediate disciples. And this transference of the ideas connected\nwith sacrifice to Himself and His death was sanctioned--and indeed\nsuggested--by Jesus, when, at the Last Supper, He said, \"This cup is the\nNew Testament in My Blood, which is shed for many, for the remission of\nsins.\"\n\nBut here the question at once arises: In what sense was the Blood of\nChrist shed for the remission of sins? In what sense was He a substitute\nand victim for us? Before we try to find an answer to this question, two\npreliminary remarks may be made--first, that our salvation depends not\non our understanding how the death of Christ takes away sin, but upon\nour believing that it does so. It is very possible to accept the pardon\nof our sin, though we do not know how that pardon has been obtained. We\ndo not understand the methods of cure prescribed by the physician, nor\ncould we give a rational account of the efficacy of his medicines, but\nthis does not retard our cure if only we use them. To come into a\nperfect relation to God we do not require to understand how the death of\nChrist has made it possible for us to do so; we need only to desire to\nbe God's children, and to believe that it is open to us to come to Him.\nNot by the intellect, but by the will, are we led to God. Not by what we\nknow, but by what we desire, is our destiny determined. Not by education\nin theological requirements, but by thirst for the living God, is man\nsaved.\n\nAnd, second, even though we carry over to the death of Christ the ideas\ntaught by Old Testament sacrifice, we commit no enormous or misleading\nblunder. Christ Himself suggested that His death might be best\nunderstood in the light of these ideas, and even though we are unable to\npenetrate through the letter to the spirit, through the outward and\nsymbolic form to the real and eternal meaning of the sacrifice of\nChrist, we are yet on the road to truth, and hold the germ of it which\nwill one day develop into the actual and perfect truth. Impatience is at\nthe root of much unbelief and misconception and discontent; the\ninability to reconcile ourselves to the fact that in our present stage\nthere is much we must hold provisionally, much we must be content to see\nthrough a glass darkly, much we can only know by picture and shadow. It\nis quite true the reality has come in the death of Christ, and symbol\nhas passed away; but there is such a depth of Divine love, and so\nvarious a fulfilment of Divine purpose in the death of Christ, that we\ncannot be surprised that it baffles comprehension. It is the key to a\nworld's history; for aught we know, to the history of other worlds than\nours; and it is not likely that we should be able to gauge its\nsignificance and explain its _rationale_ of operation. And therefore,\nif, without any sluggish indifference to further knowledge, or merely\nworldly contentment to know of spiritual things only so much as is\nabsolutely necessary, we yet are able to use what we do know and to\nawait with confidence further knowledge, we probably act wisely and\nwell. We do not err if we think of Christ as our Sacrifice; nor even if\nwe somewhat too literally think of Him as the Victim substituted for us,\nand ascribe to His Blood the expiatory and cleansing virtue which\nbelonged symbolically to the blood of the ancient sacrifices.\n\nAnd, indeed, there are grave difficulties in our path as soon as we\nstrive to advance beyond the sacrificial idea, and try to grasp the very\ntruth regarding the death of Christ. The Apostles with one voice affirm\nthat Christ's death was a propitiation for the sins of the world: that\nHe died _for_ us; that He suffered not only for His contemporaries, but\nfor all men; that He was the Lamb of God, the innocent Victim, whose\nblood cleansed from sin. They affirm, in short, that in Christ's death\nwe are brought face to face, not with a symbolic sacrifice, but with\nthat act which really takes away sin.\n\nIf we read the narrative given us in the Gospels of the death of Christ,\nand the circumstances that led to it, we see that the sacrificial idea\nis not kept in the foreground. The cause of His death, as explained in\nthe Gospels, was His persistent claim to be the Messiah sent by God to\nfound a spiritual kingdom. He steadily opposed the expectations and\nplans of those in authority until they became so exasperated that they\nresolved to compass His death. The real and actual cause of His death\nwas His fidelity to the purpose for which He had been sent into the\nworld. He might have retired and lived a quiet life in Galilee or beyond\nPalestine altogether; but He could not do so, because He could not\nabandon the work of His life, which was to proclaim the truth about God\nand God's kingdom. Many a man has felt equally constrained to proclaim\nthe truth in the face of opposition; and many a man has, like Jesus,\nincurred death thereby. That which makes the death of Jesus exceptional\nin this aspect of it is, that the truth He proclaimed was what may be\ncalled _the_ truth, the essential truth for men to know--the truth that\nGod is the Father, and that there is life in Him for all who will come\nto Him. This was the kingdom of God among men--- He proclaimed a kingdom\nbased only on love, on spiritual union between God and man; a kingdom\nnot of this world, and that came not with observation; a kingdom within\nmen, real, abiding, universal. It was because He proclaimed this\nkingdom, exploding the cherished expectations and merely national hopes\nof the Jews, that the authorities put Him to death.\n\nSo much is obvious on the very face of the narrative. No one can read\nthe life of Christ without perceiving this at least--that He was put to\ndeath because He persisted in proclaiming truths essential to the\nhappiness and salvation of men. By submitting to death for the sake of\nthese truths He made it for ever clear that they are of vital\nconsequence. Before Pilate He calmly said, \"To this end was I born, and\nfor this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto\nthe truth.\" He knew that it was this witnessing to the truth that had\nenraged the Jews against Him, and even in prospect of death He could not\nrefrain from proclaiming what He felt it was vital for men to know. In\nthis very true sense, therefore, He died for our sakes--died because He\nsought to put us in possession of truths without which our souls cannot\nbe lifted into life eternal. He has given us life by giving us the\nknowledge of the Father. His love for us, His ceaseless and strong\ndesire to bring us near to God, was the real cause of His death. And,\nrecognising this, we cannot but feel that He has a claim upon us of the\nmost commanding kind. Not for His contemporaries alone, not for one\nsection of men only, did Christ die, but for all men, because the truths\nwhich He sealed by His death are of universal import. No man can live\neternal life without them.\n\nBut again, Jesus Himself explained to His disciples in what sense His\ndeath would benefit them. \"It is expedient for you that I go away, for\nif I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you.\" The spiritual\nkingdom He proclaimed could not be established while He was visibly\npresent. His death and ascension put an end to all hopes that diverted\ntheir minds from that which constituted their real union to God and\nsatisfaction in Him. When He disappeared from earth and sent the Holy\nSpirit to them, what remained to them was God's kingdom within them, His\ntrue rule over their spirits, their assimilation to Him in all things.\nWhat they now clearly saw to be still open to them was to live in\nChrist's spirit, to revive in their memories the truths His life had\nproclaimed, to submit themselves entirely to His influence, and to make\nknown far and near the ideas He had communicated to them, and\nespecially the God He had revealed. It was His death which set their\nminds free from all other expectations and fixed them exclusively on\nwhat was spiritual. And this salvation they at once proclaimed to\nothers. What were they to say about Jesus and His death? How were they\nto win men to Him? They did so in the first days by proclaiming Him as\nraised by God to be a Prince and a Saviour, to rule from the unseen\nworld, to bless men with a spiritual salvation, by turning them from\ntheir iniquities. And the instrumentality, the actual spiritual\nexperience through which this salvation is arrived at is the belief that\nJesus was sent by God and did reveal Him, that in Jesus God was present\nrevealing Himself, and that His Spirit can bring us also to God and to\nHis likeness.\n\nStill further, and not going beyond the facts apparent in the Gospel, it\nis plain that Christ died for us, in the sense that all He did, His\nwhole life on earth from first to last, was for our sake. He came into\nthe world, not to serve a purpose of His own, and forward His own\ninterests, but to further ours. He took upon Him our sins and their\npunishment in this obvious sense, that He voluntarily entered into our\nlife, polluted as it was all through with sin and laden with misery in\nevery part. Our condition in this world is such that no person can avoid\ncoming in contact with sin, or can escape entirely the results of sin in\nthe world. And in point of fact persons with any depth of sympathy and\nspiritual sensibility cannot help taking upon them the sins of others,\nand cannot help suffering their own life to be greatly marred and\nlimited by the sins of others. In the case of our Lord this acceptance\nof the burden of other men's sins was voluntary. And it is the sight of\na holy and loving person, enduring sorrows and opposition and death\nwholly undeserved, that is at all times affecting in the experience of\nChrist. It is the sight of this suffering, borne with meekness and borne\nwillingly, that makes us ashamed of our sinful condition, which\ninevitably entails such suffering on the self-sacrificing and holy. It\nenables us to see, more distinctly than anything besides, the essential\nhatefulness and evil of sin. Here is an innocent person, filled with\nlove and compassion for all, His life a life of self-sacrifice and\ndevotion to human interests, carrying in His person infinite benefits to\nthe race--this person is at all points thwarted and persecuted and\nfinally put to death. In this most intelligible sense He very truly\nsacrificed Himself for us, bore the penalty of our sins, magnified the\nlaw, illustrated and rendered infinitely impressive the righteousness of\nGod, and made it possible for God to pardon us, and in pardoning us to\ndeepen immeasurably our regard for holiness and for Himself.\n\nStill further, it is obvious that Christ gave Himself a perfect\nsacrifice to God by living solely for Him. He had in life no other\npurpose than to serve God. Again and again during His life God expressed\nHis perfect satisfaction with the human life of Christ. He who searches\nthe heart saw that into the most secret thought, down to the most hidden\nmotive, that life was pure, that heart in perfect harmony with the\nDivine will. Christ lived not for Himself, He did not claim property in\nHis own person and life, but gave Himself up freely and to the uttermost\nto God: more thoroughly, more spontaneously, and with an infinitely\nricher material did He offer Himself to God than ever burnt-offering had\nbeen offered. And God, with an infinite joy in goodness, accepted the\nsacrifice, and found on earth in the person of Jesus an opportunity for\nrejoicing in man with an infinite satisfaction.\n\nAnd this sacrifice which Christ offered to God tends to reproduce itself\ncontinually among men. As Christ said, no sooner was He lifted up than\nHe drew all men to Him. That perfect life and utter self-surrender to\nthe highest purposes, that pure and perfect love and devotion to God and\nman, commands the admiration and cordial worship of serious men. It\nstands in the world for ever as the grand incentive to goodness,\nprompting men and inspiring them to sympathy and imitation. It is in the\nstrength of that perfect sacrifice men have ceaselessly striven to\nsacrifice themselves. It is through Christ they strive to come\nthemselves to God. In Him we see the beauty of holiness; in Him we see\nholiness perfected, and making the impression upon us which a perfect\nthing makes, standing as a reality, not as a theory; as a finished and\nvictorious achievement, not as a mere attempt. In Christ we see what\nlove to God and faith in God really are; in Him we see what a true\nsacrifice is and means; and in Him we are drawn to give ourselves also\nto God as our true life.\n\nLooking then only at those facts which are apparent to every one who\nreads the life of Christ, and putting aside all that may over and above\nthese facts have been intended in the Divine mind, we see how truly\nChrist is our Sacrifice; and how truly we can say of Him that He gave\nHimself, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. We see\nthat in the actual privations, disappointments, temptations, mental\nstrain, opposition, and suffering of His life, and in the final conflict\nof death, He bore the penalty of our sins; underwent the miseries which\nsin has brought into human life. We see that He did so with so entire\nand perfect a consent to all God's will, and with so ready and\nunreserved a sacrifice of Himself, that God found infinite satisfaction\nin this human obedience and righteousness, and on the basis of this\nsacrifice pardons us.\n\nSome may be able to assure themselves better of the forgiveness of God,\nif they look at what Christ has done as a satisfaction for or reparation\nof the ill that we have done. He properly satisfies for an offence who\noffers to the offended party that which he loves as well or better than\nhe hates the offence. If your child has through carelessness broken or\nspoiled something you value, but seeing your displeasure is at pains to\nreplace it, and does after long industry put into your hands an article\nof greater value than was lost to you, you are satisfied, and more than\nforgive your child. If a man fails in business, but after spending a\nlifetime to recover himself restores to you not only what you lost by\nhim, but more than could possibly have been made by yourself with the\noriginal sum lost, you ought to be satisfied. And God is satisfied with\nthe work of Christ because there is in it a love and an obedience to\nHim, and a regard to right and holiness, that outweigh all our\ndisobedience and alienation. Often, when some satisfaction or reparation\nof injury or loss is made to ourselves, it is done in so good-hearted a\nmanner, and displays so much right feeling, and sets us on terms of so\nmuch closer intimacy with the party who injured us, that we are really\nglad, now that all is over, that the misunderstanding or injury took\nplace. The satisfaction has far more than atoned for it. So is it with\nGod: our reconciliation to Him has called out so much in Christ that\nwould otherwise have been hidden, has so stirred the deepest part, if\nwe may say so, of the Divine nature in Christ, and has called out also\nso signally the whole strength and beauty of human nature, that God is\nmore than satisfied. We cannot see how without sin there could have been\nthat display of love and obedience that there has been in the death of\nChrist. Where there is no danger, nothing tragic, there can be no\nheroism: human nature, not to speak of Divine, has not scope for its\nbest parts in the ordinary and innocent traffic and calm of life. It is\nwhen danger thickens, and when death draws near and bares his hideous\nvisage, that devotion and self-sacrifice can be exercised. And so, in a\nworld filled with sin and with danger, a world in which each\nindividual's history has something stirring and tragic in it, God finds\nroom for the full testing and utterance of our natures and of His own.\nAnd in the redemption of this world there occurred an emergency which\ncalled forth, as nothing else conceivably could call forth, everything\nthat the Divine and human natures of Christ are capable of.\n\nAnother result of Christ's death is mentioned by John: \"That the\nchildren of God which were scattered abroad might be gathered together\nin one.\" It was for a unity Christ died, for that which formed one\nwhole. When Caiaphas sacrificed Christ to propitiate Rome, he knew that\nnone but Christ's own countrymen would benefit thereby. The Romans would\nnot recall their legions from Africa or Germany because Judaea had\npropitiated them. And supposing that the Jews had received some\nimmunities and privileges from Rome as an acknowledgment of its favour,\nthis would affect no other nation. But if any members of other nations\ncoveted these privileges, their only course would be to become\nnaturalized Jews, members and subjects of the favoured community. So\nChrist's death has the effect of gathering into one all those who seek\nGod's favour and fatherhood, no matter in what ends of the earth they be\nscattered. It was not for separate individuals Christ died, but for a\npeople, for an indivisible community; and we receive the benefits of His\ndeath no otherwise than as we are members of this people or family. It\nis the attractive power of Christ that draws us all to one centre, but\nbeing gathered round Him we should be in spirit and are in fact as close\nto one another as to Him.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE ON CHAP. VI., VERS. 37, 44, 45.\n\n\nThree terms are used in these verses which call for\nexamination,--\"giving,\" \"drawing,\" \"teaching.\" The two latter are used\nin a connection which leaves little room for doubt as to their meaning.\n\"No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw\nhim.... It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of\nGod. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the\nFather, cometh unto Me;\" but, by implication, no man who has not so\nlearned. Both verses express the thought that without special aid from\nGod no man can come to Christ. There must be a Divine illumination of\nthe human faculties, enabling the man to apprehend that Jesus is the\nChrist, and to receive Him as such. These expressions cannot refer to\nthe outward illumination which is communicated by Scripture, by the\nmiracles of Christ, and so forth; because the whole of the crowd\naddressed by our Lord had such illumination, and yet not all of them\nwere \"taught of God.\" The \"hearing,\" and \"learning,\" or \"being taught of\nGod,\" here spoken of must signify the opening of the inner ear by the\nunseen operation of God Himself. Most emphatically does Jesus affirm\nthat without this exercise of the Divine will and Divine power upon the\nindividual no man can receive Him. The mere manifestation of God in the\nflesh is not enough: an inward and special enlightenment is required to\nenable a man to recognise God manifest in the flesh. The words, then, of\nver. 44 can only mean that in order to apprehend the significance of\nChrist and to yield ourselves to Him we must be aided individually and\ninwardly by God.\n\nWhether the \"giving\" of ver. 37 is intended to signify an act prior to\nthe teaching and drawing may reasonably be doubted. It is prior to the\n\"coming\" to Christ, as the terms of the verse prove: \"All that the\nFather giveth Me shall come to Me: and him that cometh to Me I will in\nno wise cast out.\" Principal Reynolds says it is \"the present activity\nof the Father's grace that is meant, not a foregone conclusion,\" No\ndoubt that is in strictness true. Our Lord, in the face of general\nunbelief, is comforting Himself with the assurance that after all He\nwill draw to Himself all whom the Father gives Him; and this implies\nthat the Father's giving is the main factor in His success.\n\n\n\n\nTHE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.\n\nEDITED BY THE REV. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D.\n\n_Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each vol._\n\n\n    FIRST SERIES, 1887-88.\n\n    Colossians.\n      By A. MACLAREN, D.D.\n\n    St. Mark.\n      By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh.\n\n    Genesis.\n      By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.\n\n    1 Samuel.\n      By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D.\n\n    2 Samuel.\n      By the same Author.\n\n    Hebrews.\n      By Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D.\n\n\n    SECOND SERIES, 1888-89.\n\n    Galatians.\n      By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A.\n\n    The Pastoral Epistles.\n      By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D.\n\n    Isaiah I.--XXXIX.\n      By G. A. SMITH, M.A. Vol. 1.\n\n    The Book of Revelation.\n      By Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D.\n\n    1 Corinthians.\n      By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.\n\n    The Epistles of St. John.\n      By Rt. Rev. W. ALEXANDER, D.D.\n\n\n    THIRD SERIES, 1889-90.\n\n    Judges and Ruth.\n      By Rev. R. A. WATSON, M.A.\n\n    Jeremiah.\n      By Rev. C. J. BALL, M.A.\n\n    Isaiah XL.--LXVI.\n      By G. A. SMITH, M.A. Vol. II.\n\n    St. Matthew.\n      By Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D.\n\n    Exodus.\n      By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh.\n\n    St Luke.\n      By Rev. H. BURTON, B.A.\n\n\n    FOURTH SERIES, 1890-91.\n\n    Ecclesiastes.\n      By Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D.\n\n    St. James and St. Jude.\n      By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D.\n\n    Proverbs.\n      By Rev. R. F. HORTON, M.A.\n\n    Leviticus.\n      By Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D.\n\n    The Gospel of St. John.\n      By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. I.\n\n    The Acts of the Apostles.\n      By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. I.\n\n\n    FIFTH SERIES, 1891-92.\n\n    The Psalms.\n      By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. I.\n\n    1 and 2 Thessalonians.\n      By JAS. DENNEY, B.D.\n\n    The Book of Job.\n      By R. A. WATSON, D.D.\n\n    Ephesians.\n      By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A.\n\n    The Gospel of St. John.\n      By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. II.\n\n    The Acts of the Apostles.\n      By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. II.\n\n\nLONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW.","title":"The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. I","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":106873}