{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_8381/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_8381","id":"gutenberg_8381","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8381","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. John -- Commentaries","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity"],"text":"Produced by Charles Franks, John Hagerson and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE\n\nALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D.\n\nST. JOHN Chaps. XV to XXI\n\n\n\nEXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE\n\nALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D.\n\nST. JOHN Chaps. XV to XXI\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nTHE TRUE VINE (John xv. 1-4)\n\nTHE TRUE BRANCHES OF THE TRUE VINE (John xv. 5-8)\n\nABIDING IN LOVE (John xv. 9-11)\n\nTHE ONENESS OF THE BRANCHES (John xv. 12, 13)\n\nCHRIST'S FRIENDS (John xv. 14-17)\n\nSHEEP AMONG WOLVES (John xv. 18-20)\n\nTHE WORLD'S HATRED, AS CHRIST SAW IT (John xv. 21-25)\n\nOUR ALLY (John xv. 26, 27)\n\nWHY CHRIST SPEAKS (John xvi. 1-6)\n\nTHE DEPARTING CHRIST AND THE COMING SPIRIT (John xvi. 7, 8)\n\nTHE CONVICTING FACTS (John xvi 9-11)\n\nTHE GUIDE INTO ALL TRUTH (John xvi. 12-15)\n\nCHRIST'S 'LITTLE WHILES' (John xvi. 16-19)\n\nSORROW TURNED INTO JOY (John xvi. 20-22)\n\n'IN THAT DAY' (John xvi. 23, 24)\n\nTHE JOYS OP 'THAT DAY' (John xvi. 25-27)\n\n'FROM' AND 'TO' (John xvi. 28)\n\nGLAD CONFESSION AND SAD WARNING (John xvi. 29-32)\n\nPEACE AND VICTORY (John xvi. 33)\n\nTHE INTERCESSOR (John xvii. 1-19)\n\n'THE LORD THEE KEEPS' (John xvii. 14-16)\n\nTHE HIGH PRIEST'S PRAYER (John xvii. 20-26)\n\nTHE FOLDED FLOCK (John xvii. 24)\n\nCHRIST'S SUMMARY OF HIS WORK (John xvii. 26)\n\nCHRIST AND HIS CAPTORS (John xviii. 6-9)\n\nJESUS BEFORE CAIAPHAS (John xviii. 15-27)\n\n'ART THOU A KING?' (John xviii. 28-40)\n\nJESUS SENTENCED (John xix. 1-16)\n\nAN EYE-WITNESS'S ACCOUNT OF THE CRUCIFIXION (John xix. 17-30)\n\nTHE TITLE ON THE CROSS (John xix. 19)\n\nTHE IRREVOCABLE PAST (John xix. 22)\n\nCHRIST'S FINISHED AND UNFINISHED WORK (John xix. 30; Rev. xxi. 6)\n\nCHRIST OUR PASSOVER (John xix. 36)\n\nJOSEPH AND NICODEMUS (John xix. 38, 39)\n\nTHE GRAVE IN A GARDEN (John xix. 41, R.V.)\n\nTHE RESURRECTION MORNING (John xx. 1-18)\n\nTHE RISEN LORD'S CHARGE AND GIFT (John xx. 21-23)\n\nTHOMAS AND JESUS (John xx. 28)\n\nTHE SILENCE OF SCRIPTURE (John xx. 30, 31)\n\nAN ELOQUENT CATALOGUE (John xxi. 2)\n\nTHE BEACH AND THE SEA (John xxi. 4)\n\n'IT IS THE LORD' (John xxi. 7)\n\n'LOVEST THOU ME?' (John xxi. 15)\n\nYOUTH AND AGE, AND THE COMMAND FOR BOTH (John xxi. 18, 19)\n\n'THEY ALSO SERVE WHO ONLY STAND AND WAIT' (John xxi. 21, 22)\n\n\n\nTHE TRUE VINE\n\n'I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in\nMe that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth\nfruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are\nclean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I\nin you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in\nthe vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.'--JOHN xv. 14.\n\nWHAT suggested this lovely parable of the vine and the branches is\nequally unimportant and undiscoverable. Many guesses have been made,\nand, no doubt, as was the case with almost all our Lord's parables,\nsome external object gave occasion for it. It is a significant token of\nour Lord's calm collectedness, even at that supreme and heart-shaking\nmoment, that He should have been at leisure to observe, and to use for\nHis purposes of teaching, something that was present at the instant.\nThe deep and solemn lessons which He draws, perhaps from some vine by\nthe wayside, are the richest and sweetest clusters that the vine has\never grown. The great truth in this chapter, applied in manifold\ndirections, and viewed in many aspects, is that of the living union\nbetween Christ and those who believe on Him, and the parable of the\nvine and the branches affords the foundation for all which follows.\n\nWe take the first half of that parable now. It is somewhat difficult to\ntrace the course of thought in it, but there seems to be, first of all,\nthe similitude set forth, without explanation or interpretation, in its\nmost general terms, and then various aspects in which its applications\nto Christian duty are taken up and reiterated, I simply follow the\nwords which I have read for my text.\n\nI. We have then, first, the Vine in the vital unity of all its parts.\n\n'I am the True Vine,' of which the material one to which He perhaps\npoints, is but a shadow and an emblem. The reality lies in Him. We\nshall best understand the deep significance and beauty of this thought\nif we recur in imagination to some of those great vines which we\nsometimes see in royal conservatories, where for hundred of yards the\npliant branches stretch along the espaliers, and yet one life pervades\nthe whole, from the root, through the crooked stem, right away to the\nlast leaf at the top of the farthest branch, and reddens and mellows\nevery cluster, 'So,' says Christ, 'between Me and the totality of them\nthat hold by Me in faith there is one life, passing ever from root\nthrough branches, and ever bearing fruit.'\n\nLet me remind you that this great thought of the unity of life between\nJesus Christ and all that believe upon Him is the familiar teaching of\nScripture, and is set forth by other emblems besides that of the vine,\nthe queen of the vegetable world; for we have it in the metaphor of the\nbody and its members, where not only are the many members declared to\nbe parts of one body, but the name of the collective body, made up of\nmany members, is Christ. 'So also is'--not as we might expect, 'the\nChurch,' but--'Christ,' the whole bearing the name of Him who is the\nSource of life to every part. Personality remains, individuality\nremains: I am I, and He is He, and thou art thou; but across the awful\ngulf of individual consciousness which parts us from one another, Jesus\nChrist assumes the Divine prerogative of passing and joining Himself to\neach of us, if we love Him and trust Him, in a union so close, and with\na communication of life so real, that every other union which we know\nis but a faint and far-off adumbration of it. A oneness of life from\nroot to branch, which is the sole cause of fruitfulness and growth, is\ntaught us here.\n\nAnd then let me remind you that that living unity between Jesus Christ\nand all who love Him is a oneness which necessarily results in oneness\nof relation to God and men, in oneness of character, and in oneness of\ndestiny. In relation to God, He is the Son, and we in Him receive the\nstanding of sons. He has access ever into the Father's presence, and we\nthrough Him and in Him have access with confidence and are accepted in\nthe Beloved. In relation to men, since He is Light, we, touched with\nHis light, are also, in our measure and degree, the lights of the\nworld; and in the proportion in which we receive into our souls, by\npatient abiding in Jesus Christ, the very power of His Spirit, we, too,\nbecome God's anointed, subordinately but truly His messiahs, for He\nHimself says: 'As the Father hath sent Me, even so I send you.'\n\nIn regard to character, the living union between Christ and His members\nresults in a similarity if not identity of character, and with His\nrighteousness we are clothed, and by that righteousness we are\njustified, and by that righteousness we are sanctified. The oneness\nbetween Christ and His children is the ground at once of their\nforgiveness and acceptance, and of all virtue and nobleness of life and\nconduct that can ever be theirs.\n\nAnd, in like manner, we can look forward and be sure that we are so\nclosely joined with Him, if we love Him and trust Him, that it is\nimpossible but that where He is there shall also His servants be; and\nthat what He is that shall also His servants be. For the oneness of\nlife, by which we are delivered from the bondage of corruption and the\nlaw of sin and death here, will never halt nor cease until it brings us\ninto the unity of His glory, 'the measure of the stature of the\nfullness of Christ.' And as He sits on the Father's throne, His\nchildren must needs sit with Him, on His throne.\n\nTherefore the name of the collective whole, of which the individual\nChristian is part, is Christ. And as in the great Old Testament\nprophecy of the Servant of the Lord, the figure that rises before\nIsaiah's vision fluctuates between that which is clearly the collective\nIsrael and that which is, as clearly, the personal Messiah; so the\n'Christ' is not only the individual Redeemer who bears the body of the\nflesh literally here upon earth, but the whole of that redeemed Church,\nof which it is said, 'It is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth\nall in all.'\n\nII. Now note, secondly, the Husbandman, and the dressing of the vine.\n\nThe one tool that a vinedresser needs is a knife. The chief secret of\nculture is merciless pruning. And so says my text, 'The Father is the\nHusbandman.' Our Lord assumes that office in other of His parables. But\nhere the exigencies of the parabolic form require that the office of\nCultivator should be assigned only to the Father; although we are not\nto forget that the Father, in that office, works through and in His Son.\n\nBut we should note that the one kind of husbandry spoken of here is\npruning--not manuring, not digging, but simply the hacking away of all\nthat is rank and all that is dead.\n\nWere you ever in a greenhouse or in a vineyard at the season of cutting\nback the vines? What flagitious waste it would seem to an ignorant\nperson to see scattered on the floor the bright green leaves and the\nincipient clusters, and to look up at the bare stem, bleeding at a\nhundred points from the sharp steel. Yes! But there was not a random\nstroke in it all, and there was nothing cut away which it was not loss\nto keep and gain to lose; and it was all done artistically,\nscientifically, for a set purpose--that the plant might bring forth\nmore fruit.\n\nThus, says Christ, the main thing that is needed--not, indeed, to\nimprove the life in the branches, but to improve the branches in which\nthe life is--is excision. There are two forms of it given\nhere--absolutely dead wood has to be cut out; wood that has life in it,\nbut which has also rank shoots, that do not come from the all-pervading\nand hallowed life, has to be pruned back and deprived of its shoots.\n\nIt seems to me that the very language of the metaphor before us\nrequires us to interpret the fruitless branches as meaning all those\nwho have a mere superficial, external adherence to the True Vine. For,\naccording to the whole teaching of the parable, if there be any real\nunion, there will be some life, and if there be any life, there will be\nsome fruit, and, therefore, the branch that has no fruit has no life,\nbecause it has no real union. And so the application, as I take it, is\nnecessarily to those professing Christians, nominal adherents to\nChristianity or to Christ's Church, people that come to church and\nchapel, and if you ask them to put down in the census paper what they\nare, will say that they are Christians--Churchmen or Dissenters, as the\ncase may be--but who have no real hold upon Jesus Christ, and no real\nreception of anything from Him; and the 'taking away' is simply that,\nsomehow or other, God makes visible, what is a fact, that they do not\nbelong to Him with whom they have this nominal connection.\n\nThe longer Christianity continues in any country, the more does the\nChurch get weighted and lowered in its temperature by the aggregation\nround about it of people of that sort. And one sometimes longs and\nprays for a storm to come, of some sort or other, to blow the dead wood\nout of the tree, and to get rid of all this oppressive and stifling\nweight of sham Christians that has come round every one of our\nchurches. 'His fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His\nfloor,' and every man that has any reality of Christian life in him\nshould pray that this pruning and cutting out of the dead wood may be\ndone, and that He would 'come as a refiner's fire and purify' His\npriesthood.\n\nThen there is the other side, the pruning of the fruitful branches. We\nall, in our Christian life, carry with us the two natures--our own poor\nmiserable selves, and the better life of Jesus Christ within us. The\none flourishes at the expense of the other; and it is the Husbandman's\nmerciful, though painful work, to cut back unsparingly the rank shoots\nthat come from self, in order that all the force of our lives may be\nflung into the growing of the cluster which is acceptable to Him.\n\nSo, dear friends, let us understand the meaning of all that comes to\nus. The knife is sharp and the tendrils bleed, and things that seem\nvery beautiful and very precious are unsparingly shorn away, and we are\nleft bare, and, as it seems to ourselves, impoverished. But Oh! it is\nall sent that we may fling our force into the production of fruit unto\nGod. And no stroke will be a stroke too many or too deep if it helps us\nto that. Only let us take care that we do not let regrets for the\nvanished good harm us just as much as joy in the present good did, and\nlet us rather, in humble submission of will to His merciful knife, say\nto Him, 'Cut to the quick, Lord, if only thereby my fruit unto Thee may\nincrease.'\n\nIII. Lastly, we have here the branches abiding in the Vine, and\ntherefore fruitful.\n\nOur Lord deals with the little group of His disciples as incipiently\nand imperfectly, but really, cleansed through 'the word which He has\nspoken to them,' and gives them His exhortation towards that conduct\nthrough which the cleansing and the union and the fruitfulness will all\nbe secured. 'Now ye are clean: abide in Me and I in you. As the branch\ncannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye\nexcept ye abide in Me.'\n\nUnion with Christ is the condition of all fruitfulness. There may be\nplenty of activity and yet barrenness. Works are not fruit. We can\nbring forth a great deal 'of ourselves,' and because it is of ourselves\nit is nought. Fruit is possible only on condition of union with Him. He\nis the productive source of it all.\n\nThere is the great glory and distinctive blessedness of the Gospel.\nOther teachers come to us and tell us how we ought to live, and give us\nlaws, patterns and examples, reasons and motives for pure and noble\nlives. The Gospel comes and gives us life, if we will take it, and\nunfolds itself in us into all the virtues that we have to possess. What\nis the use of giving a man a copy if he cannot copy it? Morality comes\nand stands over the cripple, and says to him, 'Look here! This is how\nyou ought to walk,' and he lies there, paralysed and crippled, after as\nbefore the exhibition of what graceful progression is. But Christianity\ncomes and bends over him, and lays hold of his hand, and says, 'In the\nname of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,' and his feet and\nankle bones receive strength, and 'he leaps, and walks, and praises\nGod.' Christ gives more than commandments, patterns, motives; He gives\nthe power to live soberly, righteously, and godly, and in Him alone is\nthat power to be found.\n\nThen note that our reception of that power depends upon our own\nefforts. 'Abide in Me and I in you.' Is that last clause a commandment\nas well as the first? How can His abiding in us be a duty incumbent\nupon us? But it is. And we might paraphrase the intention of this\nimperative in its two halves, by--Do you take care that you abide in\nChrist, and that Christ abides in you. The two ideas are but two sides\nof the one great sphere; they complement and do not contradict each\nother. We dwell in Him as the part does in the whole, as the branch\ndoes in the vine, recipient of its life and fruit-bearing energy. He\ndwells in us as the whole does in the part, as the vine dwells in the\nbranch, communicating its energy to every part; or as the soul does in\nthe body, being alive equally in every part, though it be sight in the\neyeball, and hearing in the ear, and colour in the cheek, and strength\nin the hand, and swiftness in the foot.\n\n'Abide in Me and I in you.' So we come down to very plain, practical\nexhortations. Dear brethren, suppress yourselves, and empty your lives\nof self, that the life of Christ may come in. A lock upon a canal, if\nit is empty, will have its gates pressed open by the water in the canal\nand will be filled. Empty the heart and Christ will come in. 'Abide in\nHim' by continual direction of thought, love, desire to Him; by\ncontinual and reiterated submission of the will to Him, as commanding\nand as appointing; by the honest reference to Him of daily life and all\npetty duties which otherwise distract us and draw us away from Him.\nThen, dwelling in Him we shall share in His life, and shall bring forth\nfruit to His praise.\n\nHere is encouragement for us all. To all of us, sometimes, our lives\nseem barren and poor; and we feel as if we had brought forth no fruit\nto perfection. Let us get nearer to Him and He will see to the fruit.\nSome poor stranded sea-creature on the beach, vainly floundering in the\npools, is at the point of death; but the great tide comes, leaping and\nrushing over the sands, and bears it away out into the middle deeps for\nrenewed activity and joyous life. Let the flood of Christ's life bear\nyou on its bosom, and you will rejoice and expatiate therein.\n\nHere is a lesson of solemn warning to professing Christians. The lofty\nmysticism and inward life in Jesus Christ all terminate at last in\nsimple, practical obedience; and the fruit is the test of the life.\n'Depart from Me, I never knew you, ye that work iniquity.'\n\nAnd here is a lesson of solemn appeal to us all. Our only opportunity\nof bearing any fruit worthy of our natures and of God's purpose\nconcerning us is by vital union with Jesus Christ. If we have not that,\nthere may be plenty of activity and mountains of work in our lives, but\nthere will be no fruit. Only that is fruit which pleases God and is\nconformed to His purpose concerning us, and all the rest of our busy\ndoings is no more the fruit a man should bear than cankers are roses,\nor than oak-galls are acorns. They are but the work of a creeping grub,\nand diseased excrescences that suck into themselves the juices that\nshould swell the fruit. Open your hearts to Christ and let His life and\nHis Spirit come into you, and then you will have 'your fruit unto\nholiness, and the end everlasting life.'\n\n\n\nTHE TRUE BRANCHES OF THE TRUE VINE\n\n'I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in\nhim, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do\nnothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is\nwithered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they\nare burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask\nwhat ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father\nglorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.'--JOHN\nxv. 5-8.\n\nNo wise teacher is ever afraid of repeating himself. The average mind\nrequires the reiteration of truth before it can make that truth its\nown. One coat of paint is not enough, it soon rubs off. Especially is\nthis true in regard to lofty spiritual and religious truth, remote from\nmen's ordinary thinkings, and in some senses unwelcome to them. So our\nLord, the great Teacher, never shrank from repeating His lessons when\nHe saw that they were but partially apprehended. It was not grievous to\nHim to 'say the same things,' because for them it was safe. He broke\nthe bread of life into small pieces, and fed them little and often.\n\nSo here, in the verses that we have to consider now, we have the\nrepetition, and yet not the mere repetition, of the great parable of\nthe vine, as teaching the union of Christians with Christ, and their\nconsequent fruitfulness. He saw, no doubt, that the truth was but\npartially dawning upon His disciples' minds. Therefore He said it all\nover again, with deepened meaning, following it out into new\napplications, presenting further consequences, and, above all, giving\nit a more sharp and definite personal application.\n\nAre we any swifter scholars than these first ones were? Have we\nabsorbed into our own thinking this truth so thoroughly and constantly,\nand wrought it out in our lives so completely, that we do not need to\nbe reminded of it any more? Shall we not be wise if we faithfully\nlisten to His repeated teachings?\n\nThe verses which I have read give us four aspects of this great truth\nof union with Jesus Christ; or of its converse, separation from Him.\nThere is, first, the fruitfulness of union; second, the withering and\ndestruction of separation; third, the satisfaction of desire which\ncomes from abiding in Christ; and, lastly, the great, noble issue of\nfruitfulness, in God's glory, and our own increasing discipleship. Now\nlet me touch upon these briefly.\n\nI. First, then, our Lord sets forth, with no mere repetition, the same\nbroad idea which He has already been insisting upon--viz., that union\nwith Him is sure to issue in fruitfulness. He repeats the theme, 'I am\nthe Vine'; but He points its application by the next clause, 'Ye are\nthe branches.' That had been implied before, but it needed to be said\nmore definitely. For are we not all too apt to think of religious truth\nas swinging _in vacuo_ as it were, with no personal application to\nourselves, and is not the one thing needful in regard to the truths\nwhich are most familiar to us, to bring them into close connection with\nour own personal life and experience?\n\n'I am the Vine' is a general truth, with no clear personal application.\n'Ye are the branches' brings each individual listener into connection\nwith it. How many of us there are, as there are in every so-called\nChristian communion, that listen pleasedly, and, in a fitful sort of\nlanguid way, interestedly, to the most glorious and most solemn words\nthat come from a preacher's lips, and never dream that what he has been\nsaying has any bearing upon themselves! And the one thing that is most\nof all needed with people like some of you, who have been listening to\nthe truth all your days, is that it should be sharpened to a point, and\nthe conviction driven into you, that _you_ have some personal concern\nin this great message. 'Ye are the branches' is the one side of that\nsharpening and making definite of the truth in its personal\napplication, and the other side is, 'Thou art the man.' All preaching\nand religious teaching is toothless generality, utterly useless, unless\nwe can manage somehow or other to force it through the wall of\nindifference and vague assent to a general proposition, with which\n'Gospel-hardened hearers' surround themselves, and make them feel that\nthe thing has got a point, and that the point is touching their own\nconsciousness. '_Ye_ are the branches.'\n\nNote next the great promise of fruitfulness. 'He that abideth in Me,\nand I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.'\n\nI need not repeat what I have said in former sermons as to the plain,\npractical duties which are included in that abiding in Christ, and\nChrist's consequent abiding in us. It means, on the part of professedly\nChristian people, a temper and tone of mind very far remote from the\nnoisy, bustling distractions too common in our present Christianity. We\nwant quiet, patient waiting within the veil. We want stillness of\nheart, brought about by our own distinct effort to put away from\nourselves the strife of tongues and the pride of life. We want\nactivity, no doubt, but we want a wise passiveness as its foundation.\n\n  'Think you, midst all this mighty sum\n    Of things for ever speaking,\n  That nothing of itself will come,\n    But we must still be seeking?'\n\nGet away into the 'secret place of the Most High,' and rise into a\nhigher altitude and atmosphere than the region of work and effort; and\nsitting still with Christ, let His love and His power pour themselves\ninto your hearts. 'Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers and\nshut thy doors about thee.' Get away from the jangling of politics, and\nempty controversies and busy distractions of daily duty. The harder our\ntoil necessarily is, the more let us see to it that we keep a little\ncell within the central life where in silence we hold communion with\nthe Master. 'Abide in Me and I in you.'\n\nThat is the way to be fruitful, rather than by efforts after individual\nacts of conformity and obedience, howsoever needful and precious these\nare. There is a deeper thing wanted than these. The best way to secure\nChristian conduct is to cultivate communion with Christ. It is better\nto work at the increase of the central force than at the improvement of\nthe circumferential manifestations of it. Get more of the sap into the\nbranch, and there will be more fruit. Have more of the life of Christ\nin the soul, and the conduct and the speech will be more Christlike. We\nmay cultivate individual graces at the expense of the harmony and\nbeauty of the whole character. We may grow them artificially and they\nwill be of little worth--by imitation of others, by special efforts\nafter special excellence, rather than by general effort after the\ncentral improvement of our nature and therefore of our life. But the\ntrue way to influence conduct is to influence the springs of conduct;\nand to make a man's life better, the true way is to make the man\nbetter. First of all be, and then do; first of all receive, and then\ngive forth; first of all draw near to Christ, and then there will be\nfruit to His praise. That is the Christian way of mending men, not\ntinkering at this, that, and the other individual excellence, but\ngrasping the secret of total excellence in communion with Him.\n\nOur Lord is here not merely laying down a law, but giving a promise,\nand putting his veracity into pawn for the fulfilment of it. 'If a man\nwill keep near Me,' He says, 'he shall bear fruit.'\n\nNotice that little word which now appears for the first time. 'He shall\nbear _much_ fruit.' We are not to be content with a little fruit; a\npoor shrivelled bunch of grapes that are more like marbles than grapes,\nhere and there, upon the half-nourished stem. The abiding in Him will\nproduce a character rich in manifold graces. 'A little fruit' is not\ncontemplated by Christ at all. God forbid that I should say that there\nis no possibility of union with Christ and a little fruit. Little union\nwill have little fruit; but I would have you notice that the only two\nalternatives which come into Christ's view here are, on the one hand,\n'no fruit,' and on the other hand, 'much fruit.' And I would ask why it\nis that the average Christian man of this generation bears only a berry\nor two here and there, like such as are left upon the vines after the\nvintage, when the promise is that if he will abide in Christ, he will\nbear much fruit?\n\nThis verse, setting forth the fruitfulness of union with Jesus, ends\nwith the brief, solemn statement of the converse--the barrenness of\nseparation--'Apart from Me' (not merely 'without,' as the Authorised\nVersion has it) 'ye can do nothing.' _There_ is the condemnation of all\nthe busy life of men which is not lived in union with Jesus Christ. It\nis a long row of figures which, like some other long rows of algebraic\nsymbols added up, amount just to _zero_. 'Without me, nothing.' All\nyour busy life, when you come to sum it up, is made up of plus and\nminus quantities, which precisely balance each other, and the net\nresult, unless you are in Christ, is just nothing; and on your\ngravestones the only right epitaph is a great round cypher. 'He did not\ndo anything. There is nothing left of his toil; the whole thing has\nevaporated and disappeared.' That is life apart from Jesus Christ.\n\nII. And so note, secondly, the withering and destruction following\nseparation from Him.\n\nCommentators tell us, I think a little prosaically, that when our Lord\nspoke, it was the time of pruning the vine in Palestine, and that,\nperhaps, as they went from the upper room to the garden, they might see\nin the valley, here and there, the fires that the labourers had kindled\nin the vineyards to burn the loppings of the vines. That does not\nmatter. It is of more consequence to notice how the solemn thought of\nwithering and destruction forces itself, so to speak, into these\ngracious words; and how, even at that moment, our Lord, in all His\ntenderness and pity, could not but let words of warning--grave, solemn,\ntragical--drop from His lips.\n\nThis generation does not like to hear them, for its conception of the\nGospel is a thing with no minor notes in it, with no threatenings, a\nproclamation of a deliverance, and no proclamation of anything from\nwhich deliverance is needed--which is a strange kind of Gospel! But\nJesus Christ could not speak about the blessedness of fruitfulness and\nthe joy of life in Himself without speaking about its necessary\nconverse, the awfulness of separation from Him, of barrenness, of\nwithering, and of destruction.\n\nSeparation is withering. Did you ever see a hawthorn bough that\nchildren bring home from the woods, and stick in the grate; how in a\nday or two the little fresh green leaves all shrivel up and the white\nblossoms become brown and smell foul, and the only thing to be done\nwith it is to fling it into the fire and get rid of it? 'And so,' says\nJesus Christ, 'as long as a man holds on to Me and the sap comes into\nhim, he will flourish, and as soon as the connection is broken, all\nthat was so fair will begin to shrivel, and all that was green will\ngrow brown and turn to dust, and all that was blossom will droop, and\nthere will be no more fruit any more for ever.' Separate from Christ,\nthe individual shrivels, and the possibilities of fair buds wither and\nset into no fruit, and no man is the man he might have been unless he\nholds by Jesus Christ and lets His life come into him.\n\nAnd as for individuals, so for communities. The Church or the body of\nprofessing Christians that is separate from Jesus Christ dies to all\nnoble life, to all high activity, to all Christlike conduct, and, being\ndead, rots.\n\nWithering means destruction. The language of our text is a description\nof what befalls the actual branches of the literal vine; but it is made\na representation of what befalls the individuals whom these branches\nrepresent, by that added clause, 'like a branch.' Look at the\nmysteriousness of the language. 'They gather them.' Who? 'They cast\nthem into the fire.' Who have the tragic task of flinging the withered\nbranches into some mysterious fire? All is left vague with unexplained\nawfulness. The solemn fact that the withering of manhood by separation\nfrom Jesus Christ requires, and ends in, the consuming of the withered,\nis all that we have here. We have to speak of it pityingly, with\nreticence, with terror, with tenderness, with awe lest it should be our\nfate.\n\nBut O, dear brethren! be on your guard against the tendency of the\nthinking of this generation, to paste a bit of blank paper over all the\nthreatenings of the Bible, and to blot out from its consciousness the\ngrave issues that it holds forth. One of two things must befall the\nbranch, either it is in the Vine or it gets into the fire. If we would\navoid the fire let us see to it that we are in the Vine.\n\nIII. Thirdly, we have here the union with Christ as the condition of\nsatisfied desires.\n\n'If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye\nwill, and it shall be done unto you.' Notice how our Lord varies His\nphraseology here, and instead of saying 'I in you,' says 'My words in\nyou.' He is speaking about prayers, consequently the variation is\nnatural. In fact, His abiding in us is largely the abiding of His words\nin us; or, to speak more accurately, the abiding of His words in us is\nlargely the means of His abiding in us.\n\nWhat is meant by Christ's words abiding in us? Something a great deal\nmore than the mere intellectual acceptance of them. Something very\ndifferent from reading a verse of the Gospels of a morning before we go\nto our work, and forgetting all about it all the day long; something\nvery different from coming in contact with Christian truth on a Sunday,\nwhen somebody else preaches to us what he has found in the Bible, and\nwe take in a little of it. It means the whole of the conscious nature\nof a man being, so to speak, saturated with Christ's words; his\ndesires, his understanding, his affections, his will, all being steeped\nin these great truths which the Master spoke. Put a little bit of\ncolouring matter into the fountain at its source, and you will have the\nstream dyed down its course for ever so far. See that Christ's words be\nlodged in your inmost selves, by patient meditation upon them, by\ncontinual recurrence to them, and all your life will be glorified and\nflash into richness of colouring and beauty by their presence.\n\nThe main effect of such abiding of the Lord's words in us which our\nLord touches upon here is, that in such a case, if our whole inward\nnature is influenced by the continual operation upon it of the words of\nthe Lord, then our desires will be granted. Do not so vulgarise and\nlower the nobleness and the loftiness of this great promise as to\nsuppose that it only means--If you remember His words you will get\nanything you like. It means something a great deal better than that. It\nmeans that if Christ's words are the substratum, so to speak, of your\nwishes, then your wishes will harmonise with His will, and so 'ye shall\nask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.'\n\nChrist loves us a great deal too well to give to our own foolish and\nselfish wills the keys of His treasure-house. The condition of our\ngetting what we will is our willing what He desires; and unless our\nprayers are a great deal more the utterance of the submission of our\nwills to His than they are the attempt to impose ours upon Him, they\nwill not be answered. We get our wishes when our wishes are moulded by\nHis word.\n\nIV. The last thought that is here is that this union and fruitfulness\nlead to the noble ends of glorifying God and increasing discipleship.\n\n'Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.' Christ's life\nwas all for the glorifying of God. The lives which are ours in\nname--but being drawn from Him, in their depths are much rather the\nlife of Christ in us than our lives--will have the same end and the\nsame issue.\n\nAh, dear brethren, we come here to a very sharp test for us all. I\nwonder how many of us there are, on whom men looking think more loftily\nof God and love Him better, and are drawn to Him by strange longings.\nHow many of us are there about whom people will say, 'There must be\nsomething in the religion that makes a man like that'? How many of us\nare there, to look upon whom suggests to men that God, who can make\nsuch a man, must be infinitely sweet and lovely? And yet that is what\nwe should all be--mirrors of the divine radiance, on which some eyes,\nthat are too dim and sore to bear the light as it streams from the Sun,\nmay look, and, beholding the reflection, may learn to love. Does God so\nshine in me that I lead men to magnify His name? If I am dwelling with\nChrist it will be so.\n\nI shall not know it. 'Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone';\nbut, in meek unconsciousness of the glory that rays from us, we may\nwalk the earth, reflecting the light and making God known to our\nfellows.\n\nAnd if thus we abide in Him and bear fruit we shall 'be' or (as the\nword might more accurately be rendered), we shall '_become_ His\ndisciples.' The end of our discipleship is never reached on earth: we\nnever so much _are_ as we are in the process of _becoming_, His true\nfollowers and servants.\n\nIf we bear fruit because we are knit to Him, the fruit itself will help\nus to get nearer Him, and so to be more His disciples and more\nfruitful. Character produces conduct, but conduct rests on character,\nand strengthens the impulses from which it springs. And thus our action\nas Christian men and women will tell upon our inward lives as\nChristians, and the more our outward conduct is conformed to the\npattern of Jesus Christ, the more shall we love Him in our inmost\nhearts. We ourselves shall eat of the fruit which we ourselves have\nborne to Him.\n\nThe alternatives are before us--in Christ, living and fruitful; out of\nChrist, barren, and destined to be burned. As the prophet says, 'Will\nmen take of the wood of the vine for any work?' Vine-wood is worthless,\nits only use is to bear fruit; and if it does not do that, there is\nonly one thing to be done with it, and that is, 'They cast it into the\nfire, and it is burned.'\n\n\n\nABIDING IN LOVE\n\n'As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye In My\nlove. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I\nhave kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. These things\nhave I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your\njoy might be full.'--JOHN xv. 9-11.\n\nThe last of these verses shows that they are to be taken as a kind of\nconclusion of the great parable of the Vine and the branches, for it\nlooks back and declares Christ's purpose in His preceding utterances.\nThe parable proper is ended, but the thoughts of it still linger in our\nLord's mind, and echo through His words, as the vibration of some great\nbell after the stroke has ceased. The main thoughts of the parable were\nthese two, that participation in Christ's life was the source of all\ngood, and that abiding in Him was the means of participation in His\nlife. And these same thoughts, though modified in their form, and free\nfrom the parabolical element, appear in the words that we have to\nconsider on this occasion. The parable spoke about abiding in Christ;\nour text defines that abiding, and makes it still more tender and\ngracious by substituting for it, 'abiding in His love.' The parable\nspoke of conduct as 'fruit,' the effortless result of communion with\nJesus. Our text speaks of it with more emphasis laid on the human side,\nas 'keeping the commandments.' The parable told us that abiding in\nChrist was the condition of bearing fruit. Our text tells us the\nconverse, which is also true, that bearing fruit, or keeping the\ncommandments, is the condition of abiding in Christ. So our Lord takes\nHis thought, as it were, and turns it round before us, letting us see\nboth sides of it, and then tells us that He does all this for one\npurpose, which in itself is a token of His love, namely, that our\nhearts may be filled with perfect and perennial joy, a drop from the\nfountain of His own.\n\nThese three verses have three words which may be taken as their\nkey-notes--love, obedience, joy. We shall look at them in that order.\n\nI. First, then, we have here the love in which it is our sweet duty to\nabide. 'As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide ye in\nMy love.'\n\nWhat shall we say about these mysterious and profound first words of\nthis verse? They carry us into the very depths of divinity, and suggest\nfor us that wonderful analogy between the relation of the Father to the\nSon, and that of the Son to His disciples, which appears over and over\nagain in the solemnities of these last hours and words of Jesus. Christ\nhere claims to be, in a unique and solitary fashion, the Object of the\nFather's love, and He claims to be able to love like God. 'As the\nFather hath loved Me, so have I loved you'; as deeply, as purely, as\nfully, as eternally, and with all the unnameable perfectnesses which\nmust belong to the divine affection, does Christ declare that He loves\nus.\n\nI know not whether the majesty and uniqueness of His nature stand out\nmore clearly in the one or in the other of these two assertions. As\nbeloved of God, and as loving like God, He equally claims for Himself a\nplace which none other can fill, and declares that the love which falls\non us from His pierced and bleeding heart is really the love of God.\n\nIn this mysterious, awful, tender, perfect affection He exhorts us to\nabide. That comes yet closer to our hearts than the other phrase of\nwhich it is the modification, and in some sense the explanation. The\ncommand to abide in Him suggests much that is blessed, but to have all\nthat mysterious abiding in Him resolved into abiding in His love is\ninfinitely tenderer, and draws us still closer to Himself. Obviously,\nwhat is meant is not our continuance in the attitude of love to Him,\nbut rather our continuance in the sweet and sacred atmosphere of His\nlove to us. For the connection between the two halves of the verse\nnecessarily requires that the love in which we are to abide should be\nidentical with the love which had been previously spoken of, and _that_\nis clearly His love to us, and not ours to Him. But then, on the other\nhand, whosoever thus abides in Christ's love to Him will echo it back\nagain, in an equally continuous love to Him. So that the two things\nflow together, and to abide in the conscious possession of Christ's\nlove to me is the certain and inseparable cause of its effect, my\nabiding in the continual exercise and outgoing of my love to Him.\n\nNow note that this continuance in Christ's love is a thing in our\npower, since it is commanded. Although it is His affection to us of\nwhich my text primarily speaks, I can so modify and regulate the flow\nof that divine love to my heart that it becomes my duty to continue in\nChrist's love to me.\n\nWhat a quiet, blessed home that is for us! The image, I suppose, that\nunderlies all this sweet speech in these last hours, about dwelling in\nChrist, in His joy, in His words, in His peace, and the like, is that\nof some safe house, into which going, we may be secure. And what sorrow\nor care or trouble or temptation would be able to reach us if we were\nfolded in the protection of that strong love, and always felt that it\nwas the fortress into which we might continually resort? They who make\ntheir abode there, and dwell behind those firm bastions, need fear no\nfoes, but are lifted high above them all. 'Abide in My love,' for they\nwho dwell within the clefts of that Rock need none other defence; and\nthey to whom the riven heart of Christ is the place of their abode are\nsafe, whatsoever befalls. 'As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved\nyou. Abide ye in My love.'\n\nII. Now note, secondly, the obedience by which we continue in Christ's\nlove.\n\nThe analogy, on which He has already touched, is still continued. 'If\nye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept\nMy Father's commandments and abide in His love.' Note that Christ here\nclaims for Himself absolute and unbroken conformity with the Father's\nwill, and consequent uninterrupted and complete communion with the\nFather's love. It is the utterance of a nature conscious of no sin, of\na humanity that never knew one instant's film of separation, howsoever\nthin, howsoever brief, between Him and the Father. No more tremendous\nwords were ever spoken than these quiet ones in which Jesus Christ\ndeclares that never, all His life long, had there been the smallest\ndeflection or want of conformity between the Father's will and _His_\ndesires and doings, and that never had there been one grain of dust, as\nit were, between the two polished plates which adhered so closely in\ninseparable union of harmony and love.\n\nAnd then notice, still further, how Christ here, with His consciousness\nof perfect obedience and communion, intercepts _our_ obedience and\ndiverts it to Himself. He does not say, 'Obey God as I have done, and\nHe will love you'; but He says, 'Obey _Me_ as I obey God, and _I_ will\nlove you.' Who is this that thus comes between the child's heart and\nthe Father's? Does He come _between_ when He stands thus? or does He\nrather lead us up to the Father, and to a share in His own filial\nobedience?\n\nHe further assures us that, by keeping His commandments, we shall\ncontinue in that sweet home and safe stronghold of His love. Of course\nthe keeping of the commandments is something more than mere outward\nconformity by action. It is the inward harmony of will, and the bowing\nof the whole nature. It is, in fact, the same thing (though considered\nunder a different aspect, and from a somewhat different point of view),\nas He has already been speaking about as the 'fruit' of the vine, by\nthe bearing of which the Father is glorified. And this obedience, the\nobedience of the hands because the heart obeys, and does so because it\nloves, the bowing of the will in glad submission to the loved and holy\nwill of the heavens--this obedience is the condition of our continuing\nin Christ's love.\n\nHe will love us better, the more we obey His commandments, for although\nHis tender heart is charged towards all, even the disobedient, with the\nlove of pity and of desire to help, He cannot but feel a growing thrill\nof satisfied and gratified affection towards us, in the measure in\nwhich we become like Himself. The love that wept over us, when we were\nenemies, will 'rejoice over us with singing,' when we are friends. The\nlove that sought the sheep when it was wandering will pour itself yet\nmore tenderly and with selector gifts upon it when it follows in the\nfootsteps of the flock, and keeps close at the heels of the Good\nShepherd. 'If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love,' so\nwe will put nothing between us and Him which will make it impossible\nfor the tenderest tenderness of that holy love to come to your hearts.\n\nThe obedience which we render for love's sake will make us more capable\nof receiving, and more blessedly conscious of possessing, the love of\nJesus Christ. The lightest cloud before the sun will prevent it from\nfocussing its rays to a burning point on the convex glass. And the\nsmall, thin, fleeting, scarcely visible acts of self-will that\nsometimes pass across our skies will prevent our feeling the warmth of\nthat love upon our shrouded hearts. Every known piece of rebellion\nagainst Christ will shatter all true enjoyment of His favour, unless we\nare hopeless hypocrites or self-deceived. The condition of knowing and\nfeeling the warmth and blessedness of Christ's love to me is the honest\nsubmission of my nature to His commandments. You cannot rejoice in\nJesus Christ unless you do His will. You will have no real comfort and\nblessedness in your religion unless it works itself out in your daily\nlives. That is why so many of you know nothing, or next to nothing,\nabout the joy of Christ's felt presence, because you do not, for all\nyour professions, hourly and momentarily regulate and submit your wills\nto His commandments. Do what He wants, and do it because He wants it,\nif you wish that His love should fill your hearts.\n\nAnd, further, we shall continue in His love by obedience, inasmuch as\nevery emotion which finds expression in our daily life is strengthened\nby the fact that it is expressed. The love which works is love which\ngrows, and the tree that bears fruit is the tree that is healthy and\nincreases. So note how all these deepest things of Christian teaching\ncome at last to a plain piece of practical duty. We talk about the\nmysticism of John's Gospel, about the depth of these last sayings of\nJesus Christ. Yes! they are mystical, they are deep--unfathomably deep,\nthank God!--but connected by the shortest possible road with the\nplainest possible duties. 'Let no man deceive you. He that doeth\nrighteousness is righteous.' It is of no use to talk about communion\nwith Jesus Christ, and abiding in Him, in possession of His love, and\nall those other properly mystical sides of Christian experience, unless\nyou verify them for yourselves by the plain way of practice. Doing as\nChrist bids us, and doing that habitually, and doing it gladly, then,\nand only then, are we in no danger of losing ourselves on the heights,\nor of forgetting that Christ's mission has for its last result the\ninfluencing of character and of conduct. 'If ye keep My commandments,\nye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's\ncommandments, and abide in His love.'\n\nIII. Lastly, note the joy which follows on this practical obedience.\n'These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain,' (or\n'might _be_') 'in you, and that your joy might be full.'\n\n'My joy might be in you'--a strange time to talk of His 'joy.' In half\nan hour he would be in Gethsemane, and we know what happened there. Was\nChrist a joyful man? He was a 'Man of sorrows' but one of the old\nPsalms says, 'Thou hast loved righteousness ... therefore God hath\nanointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.' The deep\ntruth that lies there is the same that He here claims as being\nfulfilled in His own experience, that absolute surrender and submission\nin love to the beloved commands of a loving Father made Him--in spite\nof sorrows, in spite of the baptism with which He was baptized, in\nspite of all the burden and the weight of our sins--the most joyful of\nmen.\n\nThis joy He offers to us, a joy coming from perfect obedience, a joy\ncoming from a surrender of self at the bidding of love, to a love that\nto us seems absolutely good and sweet. There is no joy that humanity is\ncapable of to compare for a moment with that bright, warm, continuous\nsunshine which floods the soul, that is freed from all the clouds and\nmists of self and the darkness of sin. Self-sacrifice at the bidding of\nJesus Christ is the recipe for the highest, the most exquisite, the\nmost godlike gladnesses of which the human heart is capable. Our joy\nwill remain if His joy is ours. Then our joy will be, up to the measure\nof its capacity, ennobled, and filled, and progressive, advancing ever\ntowards a fuller possession of His joy, and a deeper calm of that pure\nand perennial rapture, which makes the settled and celestial bliss of\nthose who have 'entered into the joy of their Lord.'\n\nBrother! there is only one gladness that is worth calling so--and that\nis, that which comes to us, when we give ourselves utterly away to\nJesus Christ, and let Him do with us as He will. It is better to have a\njoy that is central and perennial--though there may be, as there will\nbe, a surface of sorrow and care--than to have the converse, a surface\nof joy, and a black, unsympathetic kernel of aching unrest and sadness.\nIn one or other of these two states we all live. Either we have to say,\n'as sorrowful yet always rejoicing' or we have to feel that 'even in\nlaughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is\nheaviness.' Let us choose for ourselves, and let us choose aright, the\ngladness which coils round the heart, and endures for ever, and is\nfound in submission to Jesus Christ, rather than the superficial,\nfleeting joys which are rooted on earth and perish with time.\n\n\n\nTHE ONENESS OF THE BRANCHES\n\n'This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.\nGreater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for\nhis friends.'--JOHN xv. 12, 13.\n\nThe union between Christ and His disciples has been tenderly set forth\nin the parable of the Vine and the branches. We now turn to the union\nbetween the disciples, which is the consequence of their common union\nto the Lord. The branches are parts of one whole, and necessarily bear\na relation to each other. We may modify for our present purpose the\nanalogous statement of the Apostle in reference to the Lord's Supper,\nand as He says, 'We being many, are one body, for we are all partakers\nof that one bread,' so we may say--The branches, being many, are one\nVine, for they are all partakers of that one Vine. Of this union\namongst the branches, which results from their common inherence in the\nVine, the natural expression and manifestation is the mutual love,\nwhich Christ here gives as _the_ commandment, and commends to us all by\nHis own solemn example.\n\nThere are four things suggested to me by the words of our text--the\nObligation, the Sufficiency, the Pattern, and the Motive, of Christian\nlove.\n\nI. First, the Obligation of love.\n\nThe two ideas of commandment and love do not go well together. You\ncannot pump up love to order, and if you try you generally produce,\nwhat we see in abundance in the world and in the Church, sentimental\nhypocrisy, hollow and unreal. But whilst that is true, and whilst it\nseems strange to say that we are commanded to love, still we can do a\ngreat deal, directly and indirectly, for the cultivation and\nstrengthening of any emotion. We can either cast ourselves into the\nattitude which is favourable or unfavourable to it. We can either look\nat the facts which will create it or at those who will check it. We can\ngo about with a sharp eye for the lovable or for the unlovable in man.\nWe can either consciously war against or lazily acquiesce in our own\npredominant self-absorption and selfishness. And in these and in a\nnumber of other ways, our feelings towards other Christian people are\nvery largely under our own control, and therefore are fitting subjects\nfor commandment.\n\nOur Lord lays down the obligation which devolves upon all Christian\npeople, of cherishing a kindly and loving regard to all others who find\ntheir place within the charmed circle of His Church. It is an\nobligation because He commands it. He puts Himself here in the position\nof the absolute Lawgiver, who has the right of entire and authoritative\ncontrol over men's affections and hearts. And it is further obligatory\nbecause such an attitude is the only fitting expression of the mutual\nrelation of Christian men, through their common relation to the Vine.\nIf there be the one life-sap circling through all parts of the mighty\nwhole, how anomalous and how contradictory it is that these parts\nshould not be harmoniously concordant among themselves! However unlike\nany two Christian people are to each other in character, in culture, in\ncircumstances, the bond that knits those who have the same relations to\nJesus Christ one to another is far deeper, far more real, and ought to\nbe far closer, than the bond that knits either of them to the men or\nwomen to whom they are likest in all these other respects, and to whom\nthey are unlike in this central one. Christian men! you are closer to\nevery other Christian man, down in the depths of your being, however he\nmay be differenced from you by things that are very hard to get over,\nthan you are to the people that you like best, and love most, if they\ndo not participate with you in this common love to Jesus Christ.\n\nI dread talking mere sentiment about this matter, for there is perhaps\nno part of Christian duty which has been so vulgarised and pawed over\nby mere unctuous talk, as that of the fellowship that should subsist\nbetween all Christians. But I have one plain question to put,--Does\nanybody believe that the present condition of Christendom, and the\nrelations to one another even of good Christian people in the various\nchurches and communions of our own and of other lands, is the sort of\nthing that Jesus Christ meant, or is anything like a fair and adequate\nrepresentation of the deep, essential unity that knits us all together?\n\nWe need far more to realise the fact that our emotions towards our\nbrother Christians are not matters in which our own inclinations may\nhave their way, but that there is a simple commandment given to us, and\nthat we are bound to cherish love to every man who loves Jesus Christ.\nNever mind though he does not hold your theology; never mind though he\nbe very ignorant and narrow as compared with you; never mind though\nyour outlook on the world may be entirely unlike his. Never mind though\nyou be a rich man and he a poor one, or you a poor one and he rich,\nwhich is just as hard to get over. Let all these secondary grounds of\nunion and of separation be relegated to their proper subordinate place;\nand let us recognise this, that the children of one Father are\nbrethren. And do not let it be possible that it shall be said, as so\noften has been said, and said truly, that 'brethren' in the Church\nmeans a great deal less than _brothers_ in the world. Lift your eyes\nbeyond the walls of the little sheepfold in which you live, and hearken\nto the bleating of the flocks away out yonder, and feel--'Other sheep\nHe has which are not of this fold'; and recognise the solemn obligation\nof the commandment of love.\n\nII. Note, secondly, the Sufficiency of love.\n\nOur Lord has been speaking in a former verse about the keeping of His\ncommandments. Now He gathers them all up into one. 'This is my\ncommandment, that ye love one another' All duties to our fellows, and\nall duties to our brethren, are summed up in, or resolved into, this\none germinal, encyclopaediacal, all-comprehensive simplification of\nduty, into the one word 'love.'\n\nWhere the heart is right the conduct will be right. Love will soften\nthe tones, will instinctively teach what we ought to be and do; will\ntake the bitterness out of opposition and diversity, will make even\nrebuke, when needful, only a form of expressing itself. If the heart be\nright all else will be right; and if there be a deficiency of love\nnothing will be right. You cannot help anybody except on condition of\nhaving an honest, beneficent, and benevolent regard towards him. You\ncannot do any man in the world any good unless there is a shoot of love\nin your heart towards him. You may pitch him benefits, and you will\nneither get nor deserve thanks for them; you may try to teach him, and\nyour words will be hopeless and profitless. The one thing that is\nrequired to bind Christian men together is this common affection. That\nbeing there, everything will come. It is the germ out of which all is\ndeveloped. As we read in that great chapter to the Corinthians--the\nlyric praise of Charity,--all kinds of blessing and sweetness and\ngladness come out of this, It is the central force which, being\npresent, secures that all shall be right, which, being absent, ensures\nthat all shall be wrong.\n\nAnd is it not beautiful to see how Jesus Christ, leaving the little\nflock of His followers in the world, gave them no other instruction for\ntheir mutual relationship? He did not instruct them about institutions\nand organisations, about orders of the ministry and sacraments, or\nChurch polity and the like. He knew that all these would come. His one\ncommandment was, 'Love one another,' and that will make you wise. Love\none another, and you will shape yourselves into the right forms. He\nknew that they needed no exhortations such as ecclesiastics would have\nput in the foreground. It was not worth while to talk to them about\norganisations and officers. These would come to them at the right time\nand in the right way. The 'one thing needful' was that they should be\nknit together as true participators of His life. Love was sufficient as\ntheir law and as their guide.\n\nIII. Note, further, the Pattern of love.\n\n'As I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man\nlay down his life for his friends.' Christ sets Himself forward then,\nhere and in this aspect, as He does in all aspects of human conduct and\ncharacter, as being the realised Ideal of them all. And although the\nthought is a digression from my present purpose, I cannot but pause for\na moment to reflect upon the strangeness of a man thus calmly saying to\nthe whole world, 'I am the embodiment of all that love ought to be. You\ncannot get beyond Me, nor have anything more pure, more deep, more\nself-sacrificing, more perfect, than the love which I have borne to\nyou.'\n\nBut passing that, the pattern that He proposes for us is even more\naugust than appears at first sight. For, if you remember, a verse or\ntwo before our Lord had said, 'As the Father hath loved Me so I have\nloved you.' Now He says, 'Love one another as I have loved you.' There\nstand the three, as it were, the Father, the Son, the disciple. The Son\nin the midst receives and transmits the Father's love to the disciple,\nand the disciple is to love his fellows, in some deep and august sense,\nas the Father loved the Son. The divinest thing in God, and that in\nwhich men can be like God, is love. In all our other attitudes to Him\nwe rather correspond than copy. His fullness is met by our emptiness,\nHis giving by our recipiency, His faithfulness by our faith, His\ncommand by our obedience, His light by our eye. But here it is not a\ncase of correspondence only, but of similarity. My faith _answers_\nGod's gift to me, but my love is _like_ God's love. 'Be ye, therefore,\nimitators of God as beloved children'; and having received that love\ninto your hearts, ray it out, 'and walk in love as God also hath loved\nus.'\n\nBut then our Lord here, in a very wonderful manner, sets forth the very\ncentral point of His work, even His death upon the Cross for us, as\nbeing the pattern to which our poor affection ought to aspire, and\nafter which it must tend to be conformed. I need not remind you, I\nsuppose, that our Lord here is not speaking of the propitiatory\ncharacter of His death, nor of the issues which depend upon it, and\nupon it alone, viz., the redemption and salvation of the world. He is\nnot speaking, either, of the peculiar and unique sense in which He lays\ndown His life for us, His friends and brethren, as none other can do.\nHe is speaking about it simply in its aspect of being a voluntary\nsurrender, at the bidding of love, for the good of those whom He loved,\nand that, He tells us--that, and nothing else--is the true pattern and\nmodel towards which all our love is bound to tend and to aspire. That\nis to say, the heart of the love which He commands is self-sacrifice,\nreaching to death if death be needful. And no man loves as Christ would\nhave him love who does not bear in his heart affection which has so\nconquered selfishness that, if need be, he is ready to die.\n\nThe expression of Christian life is not to be found in honeyed words,\nor the indolent indulgence in benevolent emotion, but in\nself-sacrifice, modelled after that of Christ's sacrificial death,\nwhich is imitable by us.\n\nBrethren, it is a solemn obligation, which may well make us tremble,\nthat is laid on us in these words, 'As I have loved you.' Calvary was\nless than twenty-four hours off, and He says to us, '_That_ is your\npattern!' Contrast our love at its height with His--a drop to an ocean,\na poor little flickering rushlight held up beside the sun. My love, at\nits best, has so far conquered my selfishness that now and then I am\nready to suffer a little inconvenience, to sacrifice a little leisure,\nto give away a little money, to spend a little dribble of sympathy upon\nthe people who are its objects. Christ's love nailed Him to the Cross,\nand led Him down from the throne, and shut for a time the gates of the\nglory behind Him. And He says, 'That is your pattern!'\n\nOh, let us bow down and confess how His word, which commands us, puts\nus to shame, when we think of how miserably we have obeyed.\n\nRemember, too, that the restriction which here seems to be cast around\nthe flow of His love is not a restriction in reality, but rather a\ndeepening of it. He says, 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a\nman lay down his life for his friends.' But evidently He calls them so\nfrom His point of view, and as He sees them, not from their point of\nview, as they see Him--that is to say, He means by 'friends' not those\nwho love Him, but those whom He loves. The 'friends' for whom He dies\nare the same persons as the Apostle, in his sweet variation upon the\nwords of my text, has called by the opposite name, when He says that He\ndied for His 'enemies.'\n\nThere is an old, wild ballad that tells of how a knight found, coiling\nround a tree in a dismal forest, a loathly dragon breathing out poison;\nand how, undeterred by its hideousness and foulness, he cast his arms\nround it and kissed it on the mouth. Three times he did it undisgusted,\nand at the third the shape changed into a fair lady, and he won his\nbride. Christ 'kisses with the kisses of His mouth' His enemies, and\nmakes them His friends because He loves them. 'If He had never died for\nHis enemies' says one of the old fathers, 'He would never have\npossessed His friends.' And so He teaches us here in what seems to be a\nrestriction of the purpose of His death and the sweep of His love, that\nthe way by which we are to meet even alienation and hostility is by\npouring upon it the treasures of an unselfish, self-sacrificing\naffection which will conquer at the last.\n\nChrist's death is the pattern for our lives as well as the hope of our\nhearts.\n\nIV. Lastly, we have here by implication, though not by direct\nstatement, the Motive of the love.\n\nSurely that, too, is contained in the words, 'As I have loved you.'\nChrist's commandment of love is a new commandment, not so much because\nit is a revelation of a new duty, though it is the casting of an old\nduty into new prominence, as because it is not merely a revelation of\nan obligation, but the communication of power to fulfil it. The novelty\nof Christian morality lies here, that in its law there is a\nself-fulfilling force. We have not to look to one place for the\nknowledge of our duty, and somewhere else for the strength to do it,\nbut both are given to us in the one thing, the gift of the dying Christ\nand His immortal love.\n\nThat love, received into our hearts, will conquer, and it alone will\nconquer, our selfishness. That love, received into our hearts, will\nmould, and it alone will mould, them into its own likeness. That love,\nreceived into our hearts, will knit, and it alone will knit, all those\nwho participate in it into a common bond, sweet, deep, sacred, and\nall-victorious.\n\nAnd so, brethren, if we would know the blessedness and the sweetness of\nvictory over these miserable, selfish hearts of ours, and to walk in\nthe liberty of love, we can only get it by keeping close to Jesus\nChrist. In any circle, the nearer the points of the circumference are\nto the centre, the closer they will necessarily be to one another. As\nwe draw nearer, each for himself, to our Centre, we shall feel that we\nhave approximated to all those who stand round the same centre, and\ndraw from it the same life. In the early spring, when the wheat is\ngreen and young, and scarcely appears above the ground, it comes up in\nthe lines in which it was sown, parted from one another and distinctly\nshowing their separation and the furrows. But when the full corn in the\near waves on the autumn plain, all the lines and separations have\ndisappeared, and there is one unbroken tract of sunny fruitfulness. And\nso when the life in Christ is low and feeble, His servants may be\nseparated and drawn up in rigid lines of denominations, and churches,\nand sects; but as they grow the lines disappear. If to the churches of\nEngland to-day there came a sudden accession of knowledge of Christ,\nand of union with Him, the first thing that would go would be the\nwretched barriers that separate us from one another. For if we have the\nlife of Christ in any adequate measure in ourselves, we shall certainly\nhave grown up above the fences behind which we began to grow, and shall\nbe able to reach out to all that love the Lord Jesus Christ, and feel\nwith thankfulness that we are one in Him.\n\n\n\nCHRIST'S FRIENDS\n\n'Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I\ncall you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth:\nbut I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My\nFather I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen Me, but I have\nchosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit,\nand that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the\nFather in My name, He may give it you. These things I command you, that\nye love one another.'--JOHN xv. 14-17.\n\nA wonderful word has just dropped from the Master's lips, when He spoke\nof laying down His life for His friends. He lingers on it as if the\nidea conveyed was too great and sweet to be taken in at once, and with\nsoothing reiteration He assures the little group that they, even they,\nare His friends.\n\nI have ventured to take these four verses for consideration now,\nalthough each of them, and each clause of them, might afford ample\nmaterial for a discourse, because they have one common theme. They are\na description of what Christ's friends are to Him, of what He is to\nthem, and of what they should be to one another. So they are a little\npicture, in the sweetest form, of the reality, the blessedness, the\nobligations, of friendship with Christ.\n\nI. Notice what Christ's friends do for Him.\n\n'Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.' In the former\nverse, 'friends' means chiefly those whom He loved. Here it means\nmainly those who love Him. They love Him because He loves them, of\ncourse; and the two sides of the one thought cannot be parted. But\nstill in this verse the idea of friendship to Christ is looked at from\nthe human side, and He tells His disciples that they are His lovers as\nwell as beloved of Him, on condition of their doing whatsoever He\ncommands them.\n\nHe lingers, as I said, on the idea itself. As if He would meet the\ndoubts arising from the sense of unworthiness, and from some dim\nperception of how He towers above them, and their limitations, He\nreiterates, 'Wonderful as it is, you poor men, half-intelligent lovers\nof Mine, _you_ are My friends, beloved of Me, and loving Me, if ye do\nwhatsoever I command you.'\n\nHow wonderful that stooping love of His is, which condescends to array\nitself in the garments of ours! Every form of human love Christ lays\nHis hand upon, and claims that He Himself exercises it in a\ntranscendent degree. 'He that doeth the will of My Father which is in\nheaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother.' That which is\neven sacreder, the purest and most complete union that humanity is\ncapable of--that, too, He consecrates; for even it, sacred as it is, is\ncapable of a higher consecration, and, sweet as it is, receives a new\nsweetness when we think of 'the Bride, the Lamb's wife,' and remember\nthe parables in which He speaks of the Marriage Supper of the Great\nKing, and sets forth Himself as the Husband of humanity. And passing\nfrom that Holy of Holies out into this outer court, He lays His hand,\ntoo, on that more common and familiar, and yet precious and sacred,\nthing--the bond of friendship. The Prince makes a friend of the beggar.\n\nEven if we do not think more loftily of Jesus Christ than do those who\nregard Him simply as the perfection of humanity, is it not beautiful\nand wonderful that He should look with such eyes of beaming love on\nthat handful of poor, ignorant fishermen, who knew Him so dimly, and\nsay: 'I pass by all the wise and the mighty, all the lofty and noble,\nand My heart clings to you poor, insignificant people?' He stoops to\nmake them His friends, and there are none so low but that they may be\nHis.\n\nThis friendship lasts to-day. A peculiarity of Christianity is the\nstrong personal tie of real love and intimacy which will bind men, to\nthe end of time, to this Man that died nineteen hundred years ago. We\nlook back into the wastes of antiquity: mighty names rise there that we\nreverence; there are great teachers from whom we have learned, and to\nwhom, after a fashion, we are grateful. But what a gulf there is\nbetween us and the best and noblest of them! But here is a dead Man,\nwho to-day is the Object of passionate attachment and a love deeper\nthan life to millions of people, and will be till the end of time.\nThere is nothing in the whole history of the world in the least like\nthat strange bond which ties you and me to the Saviour, and the paradox\nof the Apostle remains a unique fact in the experience of humanity:\n'Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, ye love.' We stretch out our\nhands across the waste, silent centuries, and there, amidst the mists\nof oblivion, thickening round all other figures in the past, we touch\nthe warm, throhbing heart of our Friend, who lives for ever, and for\never is near us. We here, nearly two millenniums after the words fell\non the nightly air on the road to Gethsemane, have them coming direct\nto our hearts. A perpetual bond unites men with Christ to-day; and for\nus, as really as in that long-past Paschal night, is it true, 'Ye are\nMy friends.'\n\nThere are no limitations in that friendship, no misconstructions in\nthat heart, no alienation possible, no change to be feared. There is\nabsolute rest for us there. Why should I be solitary if Jesus Christ is\nmy Friend? Why should I fear if He walks by my side? Why should\nanything be burdensome if He lays it upon me and helps me to bear it?\nWhat is there in life that cannot be faced and borne--aye, and\nconquered,--if we have Him, as we all may have Him, for the Friend and\nthe Home of our hearts?\n\nBut notice the condition, 'If ye do what I command you.' Note the\nsingular blending of friendship and command, involving on our parts the\ncultivation of the two things which are not incompatible, absolute\nsubmission and closest friendship. He commands though He is Friend;\nthough He commands He is Friend. The conditions that He lays down are\nthe same which have already occupied our attention in former sermons of\nthis series, and so may be touched very lightly. 'Ye are My friends if\nye do the things which I command you,' may either correspond with His\nformer saying, 'If a Man love Me he will keep My commandments,' or with\nHis later one, which immediately precedes our text, 'If ye keep My\ncommandments ye shall abide in My love.' For this is the relationship\nbetween love and obedience, in regard to Jesus Christ, that the love is\nthe parent of the obedience, and the obedience is the guard and\nguarantee of the love. They who love will obey, they who obey will\nstrengthen love by acting according to its dictates, and will be in a\ncondition to feel and realise more the warmth of the rays that stream\ndown upon them, and to send back more fully answering obedience from\ntheir hearts. Not in mere emotion, not in mere verbal expression, not\nin mere selfish realising of the blessings of His friendship, and not\nin mere mechanical, external acts of conformity, but in the flowing\ndown and melting of the hard and obstinate iron will, at the warmth of\nHis great love, is our love made perfect. The obedience, which is the\nchild and the preserver of love, is something far deeper than the mere\noutward conformity with externally apprehended commandments. To submit\nis the expression of love, and love is deepened by submission.\n\nII. Secondly, note what Christ does for His friends.\n\n'Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what\nhis lord doeth.' The slave may see what his lord does, but he does not\nknow his purpose in his acts--'Theirs not to reason why.' In so far as\nthe relation of master and servant goes, and still more in that of\nowner and slave, there is simple command on the one side and\nunintelligent obedience on the other. The command needs no explanation,\nand if the servant is in his master's confidence he is more than a\nservant. But, says Christ, 'I have called you friends'; and He had\ncalled them so before He now named them so. He had called them so in\nact, and He points to all His past relationship, and especially to the\nheart-outpourings of the Upper Room, as the proof that He had called\nthem His friends, in the fact that whatsoever He had heard of the\nFather He had made known to them.\n\nJesus Christ, then, recognises the obligation of absolute frankness,\nand He will tell His friends everything that He can. When He tells them\nwhat He can, the voice of the Father speaks through the Son. Every one\nof Christ's friends stands nearer to God than did Moses at the door of\nthe Tabernacle, when the wondering camp beheld him face to face with\nthe blaze of the Shekinah glory, and dimly heard the thunderous\nutterances of God as He spake to him 'as a man speaks to his friend.'\nThat was surface-speech compared with the divine depth and fullness of\nthe communications which Jesus Christ deems Himself bound, and assumes\nHimself able, to make to them who love Him and whom He loves.\n\nOf course to Christ's frankness there are limits. He will not pour out\nHis treasures into vessels that will spill them; and as He Himself says\nin the subsequent part of this great discourse, 'I have many things to\nsay unto you, but you are not able to carry them now.' His last word\nwas, 'I have declared Thy name unto My brethren, and _will declare_\nit.' And though here He speaks as if His communication was perfect, we\nare to remember that it was necessarily conditioned by the power of\nreception on the part of the hearers, and that there was much yet to be\nrevealed of what God had whispered to Him, ere these men, that\nclustered round Him, could understand the message.\n\nThat frank speech is continued to-day. Jesus Christ recognises the\nobligation that binds Him to impart to each of us all that each of us\nis in our inmost spirits capable of receiving. By the light which He\nsheds on the Word, by many a suggestion through human lips, by many a\nblessed thought rising quietly within our hearts, and bearing the token\nthat it comes from a sacreder source than our poor, blundering minds,\nHe still speaks to us, His friends.\n\nOught not that thought of the utter frankness of Jesus make us, for one\nthing, very patient, intellectually and spiritually, of the gaps that\nare left in His communications and in our knowledge? There are so many\nthings that we sometimes think we should like to know, things about\nthat dark future where some of our hearts live so constantly, things\nabout the depths of His nature and the divine character, things about\nthe relation between God's love and God's righteousness, things about\nthe meaning of all this dreadful mystery in which we grope our way.\nThese and a hundred other questionings suggest to us that it would have\nbeen so easy for Him to have lifted a little corner of the veil, and\nlet a little more of the light shine out. He holds all in His hand. Why\ndoes He thus open one finger instead of the whole palm? Because He\nloves. A friend exercises the right of reticence as well as the\nprerogative of speech. And for all the gaps that are left, let us bow\nquietly and believe that if it had been better for us He would have\nspoken. 'If it were not so I would have told you.' 'Trust Me! I tell\nyou all that it is good for you to receive.'\n\nAnd that frankness may well teach us another lesson, viz., the\nobligation of keeping our ears open and our hearts prepared to receive\nthe speech that does come from Him. Ah, brother! many a message from\nyour Lord flits past you, like the idle wind through an archway,\nbecause you are not listening for His voice. If we kept down the noise\nof that 'household jar within'; if we silenced passion, ambition,\nselfishness, worldliness; if we withdrew ourselves, as we ought to do,\nfrom the Babel of this world, and 'hid ourselves in His pavilion from\nthe strife of tongues'; if we took less of our religion out of books\nand from other people, and were more accustomed to 'dwell in the secret\nplace of the Most High,' and to say, 'Speak, Friend! for Thy friend\nheareth,' we should more often understand how real to-day is the voice\nof Christ to them that love Him.\n\n  'Such rebounds the inward ear\n     Catches often from afar;\n  Listen, prize them, hold them dear,\n     For of God--of God--they are.'\n\nIII. Thirdly, notice how Christ's friends come to be so, and why they\nare so.\n\n'Ye have not chosen,' etc. (verse 16).\n\nOur Lord refers here, no doubt, primarily to the little group of the\nApostles; the choice and ordaining as well as 'the fruit that abides,'\npoint, in the first place, to their apostolic office, and to the\nresults of their apostolic labours. But we must widen out the words a\ngreat deal beyond that reference.\n\nIn all the cases of friendship between Christ and men, the origination\nand initiation come from Him. 'We love Him because He first loved us.'\nHe has told us how, in His divine alchemy, He changes by the shedding\nof His blood our enmity into friendship. In the previous verse He has\nsaid, 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life\nfor his friends.' And as I remarked in my last sermon, the friends here\nare the same as 'the enemies' for whom, the Apostle tells us that\nChrist laid down His life. Since He has thus by the blood of the Cross\nchanged men's enmity into friendship, it is true universally that the\namity between us and Christ comes entirely from Him.\n\nBut there is more than that in the words. I do not suppose that any\nman, whatever his theological notions and standpoint may be, who has\nfelt the love of Christ in his own heart in however feeble a measure,\nbut will say, as the Apostle said, 'I was apprehended of Christ.' It is\nbecause He lays His seeking and drawing hand upon us that we ever come\nto love Him, and it is true that His choice of us precedes our choice\nof Him, and that the Shepherd always comes to seek the sheep that is\nlost in the wilderness.\n\nThis, then, is how we come to be His friends; because, when we were\nenemies, He loved us, and gave Himself for us, and ever since has been\nsending out the ambassadors and the messengers of His love--or, rather,\nthe rays and beams of it, which are parts of Himself--to draw us to His\nheart. And the purpose which all this forthgoing of Christ's initial\nand originating friendship has had in view, is set forth in words which\nI can only touch in the lightest possible manner. The intention is\ntwofold. First, it respects service or fruit. 'That ye may _go_'; there\nis deep pathos and meaning in that word. He had been telling them that\nHe was going; now He says to them, 'You are to go. We part here. My\nroad lies upward; yours runs onward. Go into all the world.' He gives\nthem a _quasi_-independent position; He declares the necessity of\nseparation; He declares also the reality of union in the midst of the\nseparation; He sends _them_ out on their course with His benediction,\nas He does _us_. Wheresoever we go in obedience to His will, we carry\nthe consciousness of His friendship.\n\n'That ye may bring forth fruit'--He goes back for a moment to the sweet\nemblem with which this chapter begins, and recurs to the imagery of the\nvine and the fruit. 'Keeping His commandments' does not explain the\nwhole process by which we do the things that are pleasing in His sight.\nWe must also take this other metaphor of the bearing of fruit. Neither\nan effortless, instinctive bringing forth from the renewed nature and\nthe Christlike disposition, nor a painful and strenuous effort at\nobedience to His law, describe the whole realities of Christian\nservice. There must be the effort, for men do not grow Christlike in\ncharacter as the vine grows its grapes; but there must also be,\nregulated and disciplined by the effort, the inward life, for no mere\noutward obedience and tinkering at duties and commandments will produce\nthe fruit that Christ desires and rejoices to have. First comes unity\nof life with Him; and then effort. Take care of modern teachings that\ndo not recognise these two as both essential to the complete ideal of\nChristian service--the spontaneous fruit-bearing, and the strenuous\neffort after obedience.\n\n'That your fruit should remain'; nothing corrupts faster than fruit.\nThere is only one kind of fruit that is permanent, incorruptible. The\nonly life's activity that outlasts life and the world is the activity\nof the men who obey Christ.\n\nThe other half of the issues of this friendship is the satisfying of\nour desires, 'That whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name He may\ngive it you.' We have already had substantially the same promise in\nprevious parts of this discourse, and therefore I may deal with it very\nlightly. How comes it that it is certain that Christ's friends, living\nclose to Him and bearing fruit, will get what they want? Because what\nthey want will be 'in His name'--that is to say, in accordance with His\ndisposition and will. Make your desires Christ's, and Christ's yours,\nand you will be satisfied.\n\nIV. And now, lastly, for one moment, note the mutual friendship of\nChrist's friends.\n\nWe have frequently had to consider that point--the relation of the\nfriends of Christ to each other. 'These things I command you, that ye\nlove one another.' This whole context is, as it were, enclosed within a\ngolden circlet by that commandment which appeared in a former verse, at\nthe beginning of it, 'This is My commandment, that ye love one\nanother,' and reappears here at the close, thus shutting off this\nportion from the rest of the discourse. Friends of a friend should\nthemselves be friends. We care for the lifeless things that a dear\nfriend has cared for; books, articles of use of various sorts. If these\nhave been of interest to him, they are treasures and precious evermore\nto us. And here are living men and women, in all diversities of\ncharacter and circumstances, but with this stamped upon them\nall--Christ's friends, lovers of and loved by Him. And how can we be\nindifferent to those to whom Christ is not indifferent? We are knit\ntogether by that bond. We are but poor friends of that Master unless we\nfeel that all which is dear to Him is dear to us. Let us feel the\nelectric thrill which ought to pass through the whole linked circle,\nand let us beware that we slip not our hands from the grasp of the\nneighbour on either side, lest, parted from them, we should be isolated\nfrom Him, and lose some of the love which we fail to transmit.\n\n\n\nSHEEP AMONG WOLVES\n\n'If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.\nIf ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye\nare not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore\nthe world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The\nservant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they\nwill also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep\nyours also.'--JOHN xv. 18-20.\n\nThese words strike a discord in the midst of the sweet music to which\nwe have been listening. The key-note of all that has preceded has been\nlove--the love of Christ's friends to one another, and of all to Him,\nas an answer to His love to all. That love, which is one, whether it\nrise to Him or is diffused on the level of earth, is the result of that\nunity of life between the Vine and the branches, of which our Lord has\nbeen speaking such great and wonderful things. But that unity of life\nbetween Christians and Christ has another consequence than the spread\nof love. Just because it binds them to Him in a sacred community, it\nseparates them from those who do not share in His life, and hence the\n'hate' of our context is the shadow of 'love'; and there result two\ncommunities--to use the much-abused words that designate them--the\nChurch and 'the World'; and the antagonism between these is deep,\nfundamental, and perpetual.\n\nUnquestionably, our Lord is here speaking with special reference to the\nApostles, who, in a very tragic sense, were 'sent forth as sheep in the\nmidst of wolves.' If we may trust tradition, every one of that little\ncompany, Speaker as well as hearers, died a martyr's death, with the\nexception of John himself, who was preserved from it by a miracle. But,\nbe that as it may, our Lord is here laying down a universal statement\nof the permanent condition of things; and there is no more reason for\nrestricting the force of these words to the original hearers of them\nthan there is for restricting the force of any of the rest of this\nwonderful discourse. 'The world' will be in antagonism to the Church\nuntil the world ceases to be a world, because it obeys the King; and\nthen, and not till then, will it cease to be hostile to His subjects.\n\nI. What makes this hostility inevitable?\n\nOur Lord here prepares His hearers for what is coming by putting it in\nthe gentle form of an hypothesis. The frequency with which 'If' occurs\nin this section is very remarkable. He will not startle them by the\nbare, naked statement which they, in that hour of depression and\nagitation, were so little able to endure, but He puts it in the shape\nof a 'suppose that,' not because there is any doubt, but in order to\nalleviate the pain of the impression which He desires to make. He says,\n'If the world hates,' not 'if the world hate'; and the tense of the\noriginal shows that, whilst the form of the statement is hypothetical,\nthe substance of it is prophetic.\n\nJesus points to two things, as you will observe, which make this\nhostility inevitable. 'If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me\nbefore it hated you.' And again, 'If ye were of the world, the world\nwould love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have\nchosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.' The very\nlanguage carries with it the implication of necessary and continual\nantagonism. For what is 'the world,' in this context, but the aggregate\nof men, who have no share in the love and life that flow from Jesus\nChrist? Necessarily they constitute a unity, whatever diversities there\nmay be amongst them, and necessarily, that unity in its banded phalanx\nis in antagonism, in some measure, to those who constitute the other\nunity, which holds by Christ, and has been drawn by Him from 'out of\nthe world.'\n\nIf we share Christ's life, we must, necessarily, in some measure, share\nHis fate. It is the typical example of what the world thinks of, and\ndoes to, goodness. And all who have 'the Spirit of life which was in\nJesus Christ' for the animating principle of their lives, will, just in\nthe measure in which they possess it, come under the same influences\nwhich carried Him to the Cross. In a world like this, it is impossible\nfor a man to 'love righteousness and hate iniquity,' and to order his\nlife accordingly, without treading on somebody's corns; being a rebuke\nto the opposite course of conduct, either interfering with men's\nself-complacency or with their interests. From the beginning the blind\nworld has repaid goodness by antagonism and contempt.\n\nAnd then our Lord touches another, and yet closely-connected, cause\nwhen He speaks of His selecting the Apostles, and drawing them out of\nthe world, as a reason for the world's hostility. There are two groups,\nand the fundamental principles that underlie each are in deadly\nantagonism. In the measure in which you and I are Christians we are in\ndirect opposition to all the maxims which rule the world and make it a\nworld. What we believe to be precious it regards as of no account. What\nwe believe to be fundamental truth it passes by as of little\nimportance. Much which we feel to be wrong it regards as good. Our\njewels are its tinsel, and its jewels are our tinsel. We and it stand\nin diametrical opposition of thought about God, about self, about duty,\nabout life, about death, about the future; and that opposition goes\nright down to the bottom of things. However it may be covered over,\nthere is a gulf, as in some of those American canons: the towering\ncliffs may be very near--only a yard or two seems to separate them; but\nthey go down for thousands and thousands of feet, and never are any\nnearer each other, and between them at the bottom a black, sullen river\nflows. 'If ye were of the world, the world would love its own.' If it\nloves you, it is because ye are of it.\n\nII. And so note, secondly, how this hostility is masked and modified.\n\nThere are a great many other bonds that unite men together besides the\nbonds of religious life or their absence. There are the domestic ties,\nthere are the associations of commerce and neighbourhood, there are\nsurface identities of opinion about many important things. The greater\nportion of our lives moves on this surface, whore all men are alike.\n'If you tickle us, do we not laugh; if you wound us, do we not bleed?'\nWe have all the same affections and needs, pursue the same avocations,\ndo the same sort of things, and a large portion of every one's life is\nunder the dominion of habit and custom, and determined by external\ncircumstances. So there is a film of roofing thrown over the gulf. You\ncan make up a crack in a wall with plaster after a fashion, and it will\nhide the solution of continuity that lies beneath. But let bad weather\ncome, and soon the bricks gape apart as before. And so, as soon as we\nget down below the surface of things and grapple with the real,\ndeep-lying, and formative principles of a life, we come to antagonism,\njust as they used to come to it long ago, though the form of it has\nbecome quite different.\n\nThen there are other causes modifying this hostility. The world has got\na dash of Christianity into it since Jesus Christ spoke. We cannot say\nthat it is half Christianised, but some of the issues and remoter\nconsequences of Christianity have permeated the general conscience, and\nthe ethics of the Gospel are largely diffused in such a land as this.\nThus Christian men and others have, to a large extent, a common code of\nmorality, as long as they keep on the surface; and they not only do a\ngood many things exactly alike, but do a great many things from\nsubstantially the same motives, and have the same way of looking at\nmuch. Thus the gulf is partly bridged over; and the hostility takes\nanother form. We do not wrap Christians in pitch and stick them up for\ncandles in the Emperor's garden nowadays, but the same thing can be\ndone in different ways. Newspaper articles, the light laugh of scorn,\nthe whoop of exultation over the failures or faults of any prominent\nman that has stood out boldly on Christ's side; all these indicate what\nlies below the surface, and sometimes not so very far below. Many a\nyoung man in a Manchester warehouse, trying to live a godly life, many\na workman at his bench, many a commercial traveller in the inn or on\nthe road, many a student on the college benches, has to find out that\nthere is a great gulf between him and the man who sits next to him, and\nthat he cannot be faithful to his Lord, and at the same time, down to\nthe depths of his being, a friend of one who has no friendship to his\nMaster.\n\nStill another fact masks the antagonism, and that is, that after all,\nthe world, meaning thereby the aggregate of godless men, has a\nconscience that responds to goodness, though grumblingly and\nreluctantly. After all, men do know that it is better to be good, that\nit is better and wiser to be like Christ, that it is nobler to live for\nHim than for self, and that consciousness cannot but modify to some\nextent the manifestations of the hostility, but it is there all the\nsame, and whosoever will be a Christian after Christ's pattern will\nfind out that it is there.\n\nLet a man for Christ's sake avow unpopular beliefs, let him try\nhonestly to act out the New Testament, let him boldly seek to apply\nChristian principles to the fashionable and popular sins of his class\nor of his country, let him in any way be ahead of the conscience of the\nmajority, and what a chorus will be yelping at his heels! Dear\nbrethren, the law still remains, 'If any man will be a friend of the\nworld he is at enmity with God.'\n\nIII. Thirdly, note how you may escape the hostility.\n\nA half-Christianised world and a more than half-secularised Church get\non well together. 'When they do agree, their agreement is wonderful.'\nAnd it is a miserable thing to reflect that about the average\nChristianity of this generation there is so very little that does\ndeserve the antagonism of the world. Why should the world care to hate\nor trouble itself about a professing Church, large parts of which are\nonly a bit of the world under another name? There is no need whatever\nthat there should be any antagonism at all between a godless world and\nhosts of professing Christians. If you want to escape the hostility\ndrop your flag, button your coat over the badge that shows that you\nbelong to Christ, and do the things that the people round about you do,\nand you will have a perfectly easy and undisturbed life.\n\nOf course, in the bad old slavery days, a Christianity that had not a\nword to say about the sin of slave-holding ran no risk of being tarred\nand feathered. Of course a Christianity in Manchester that winks hard\nat commercial immoralities is very welcome on the Exchange. Of course a\nChristianity that lets beer barrels alone may reckon upon having\npublicans for its adherents. Of course a Christianity that blesses\nflags and sings _Te Deums_ over victories will get its share of the\nspoil. Why should the world hate, or persecute, or do anything but\ndespise a Christianity like that, any more than a man need to care for\na tame tiger that has had its claws pared? If the world can put a hook\nin the nostrils of leviathan, and make him play with its maidens, it\nwill substitute good-nature, half contemptuous, for the hostility which\nour Master here predicts. It was out-and-out Christians that He said\nthe world would hate; the world likes Christians that are like itself.\nChristian men and women! be you sure that you deserve the hostility\nwhich my text predicts.\n\nIV. And now, lastly, note how to meet this antagonism.\n\nReckon it as a sign and test of true union with Jesus Christ. And so,\nif ever, by reason of our passing at the call of duty or benevolence\noutside the circle of those who sympathise with our faith and\nfundamental ideas, we encounter it more manifestly than when we 'dwell\namong our own people,' let us count the 'reproach of Christ' as a\ntreasure to be proud of, and to be guarded.\n\nBe sure that it is your goodness and not your evils or your weakness,\nthat men dislike. The world has a very keen eye for the inconsistencies\nand the faults of professing Christians, and it is a good thing that it\nhas. The loftier your profession the sharper the judgment that is\napplied to you. Many well-meaning Christian people, by an injudicious\nuse of Christian phraseology in the wrong place, and by the glaring\ncontradiction between their prayers and their talks and their daily\nlife, bring down a great deal of deserved hostility upon themselves and\nof discredit upon Christianity; and then they comfort themselves and\nsay they are bearing the 'reproach of the Cross.' Not a bit of it! They\nare bearing the natural results of their own failings and faults. And\nit is for us to see to it that what provokes, if it does provoke,\nhostile judgments and uncharitable criticisms, insulting speeches and\nsarcasms, and the sense of our belonging to another regiment and having\nother objects, is our cleaving to Jesus Christ, and not the\nimperfections and the sins with which we so often spoil that cleaving.\nBe you careful for this, that it is Christ in you that men turn from,\nand not you yourself and your weakness and sin.\n\nMeet this antagonism by not dropping your standard one inch. Keep the\nflag right at the masthead. If you begin to haul it down, where are you\ngoing to stop? Nowhere, until you have got it draggling in the mud at\nthe foot. It is of no use to try to conciliate by compromise. All that\nwe shall gain by that will be, as I have said, indifference and\ncontempt; all that we shall gain will be a loss to the cause. A great\ndeal is said in this day, and many efforts are being made--I cannot but\nthink mistaken efforts--by Christian people to bridge over this gulf in\nthe wrong way--that is, by trying to make out that Christianity in its\nfundamental principles does approximate a great deal more closely to\nthe things that the world goes by than it really does. It is all vain,\nand the only issue of it will be that we shall have a decaying\nChristianity and a dying spiritual life. Keep the flag up; emphasise\nand accentuate the things that the world disbelieves and denies, not\npushing them to the 'falsehood of extremes,' but not by one jot\ndiminishing the clearness of our testimony by reason of the world's\nunwillingness to receive it. Our victory is to be won only through\nabsolute faithfulness to Christ's ideal.\n\nAnd, lastly, meet hostility with unmoved, patient, Christlike, and\nChrist-derived love and sympathy. The patient sunshine pours upon the\nglaciers and melts the thick-ribbed ice at last into sweet water. The\npatient sunshine beats upon the mist-cloud and breaks up its edges and\nscatters it at the last. And our Lord here tells us that our\nexperience, if we are faithful to Him, will be like His experience, in\nthat some will hearken to our word though others will persecute, and to\nsome our testimony will come as a message from God that draws them to\nthe Lord Himself. These are our only weapons, brethren! The only\nconqueror of the world is the love that was in Christ breathed through\nus; the only victory over suspicion, contempt, alienation, is pleading,\npersistent, long-suffering, self-denying love. The only way to overcome\nthe world's hostility is by turning the world into a church, and that\ncan only be done when Christ's servants oppose pity to wrath, love to\nhate, and in the strength of His life who has won us all by the same\nprocess, seek to win the world for Him by the manifestation of His\nvictorious love in our patient love.\n\nDear brethren, to which army do you belong? Which community is yours?\nAre you in Christ's ranks, or are you in the world's? Do you love Him\nback again, or do you meet His open heart with a closed one, and His\nhand, laden with blessings, with hands clenched in refusal? To which\nclass do I belong?--it is the question of questions for us all; and I\npray that you and I, won from our hatred by His love, and wooed out of\nour death by His life, and made partakers of His life by His death, may\nyield our hearts to Him, and so pass from out of the hostility and\nmistrust of a godless world into the friendships and peace of the\nsheltering Vine. And then we 'shall esteem the reproach of Christ' if\nit fall upon our heads, in however modified and mild a form, 'greater\nriches than the treasures of Egypt,' and 'have respect unto the\nrecompense of the reward.'\n\nMay it be so with us all!\n\n\n\nTHE WORLD'S HATRED, AS CHRIST SAW IT\n\n'But all these things will they do unto you for My name's sake, because\nthey know not Him that sent Me. If I had not come and spoken unto them,\nthey had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that\nhateth Me, hateth My Father also. If I had not done among them the\nworks which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they\nboth seen and hated both Me and My Father. But this cometh to pass,\nthat the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They\nhated Me without a cause.'--JOHN XV. 21-25.\n\nOur Lord has been speaking of the world's hostility to His followers,\nand tracing that to its hostility to Himself. In these solemn words of\nour text He goes still deeper, and parallels the relation which His\ndisciples bear to Him and the consequent hostility that falls on them,\nwith the relation which He bears to the Father and the consequent\nhostility that falls on Him: 'They hate you because they hate Me.' And\nthen His words become sadder and pierce deeper, and with a tone of\nwounded love and disappointed effort and almost surprise at the world's\nrequital to Him, He goes on to say, 'They hate Me, because they hate\nthe Father.'\n\nSo, then, here we have, in very pathetic and solemn words, Christ's\nview of the relation of the world to Him and to God.\n\nI. The first point that He signalises is the world's ignorance.\n\n'These things they will do unto you,' and they will do them 'for My\nname's sake'; they will do them 'because they know not Him that sent\nMe.'\n\n'The world,' in Christ's language, is the aggregate of godless men. Or,\nto put it a little more sharply, our Lord, in this context, gives in\nHis full adhesion to that narrow view which divides those who have come\nunder the influence of His truth into two portions. There is no mincing\nof the matter in the antithesis which Christ here draws; no hesitation,\nas if there were a great central mass, too bad for a blessing perhaps,\nbut too good for a curse; which was neither black nor white, but\nneutral grey. No! however it may be with the masses beyond the reach of\nthe dividing and revealing power of His truth, the men that come into\ncontact with Him, like a heap of metal filings brought into contact\nwith a magnet, mass themselves into two bunches, the one those who\nyield to the attraction, and the other those who do not. The one is 'My\ndisciples,' and the other is 'the world.' And now, says Jesus Christ,\nall that mass that stands apart from Him, and, having looked upon Him\nwith the superficial eye of those men round about Him at that day, or\nof the men who hear of Him now, have no real love to Him--have, as the\nunderlying motive of their conduct and their feelings, a real ignorance\nof God, 'They know not Him that sent Me.'\n\nOur Lord assumes that He is so completely the Copy and Revealer of the\ndivine nature as that any man that looks upon Him has had the\nopportunity of becoming acquainted with God, and that any man who turns\naway from Him has lost that opportunity. The God that the men who do\nnot love Jesus Christ believe in, is not the Father that sent Him. It\nis a fragment, a distorted image tinted by the lens. The world has its\nconception of God; but outside of Jesus Christ and His manifestation of\nthe whole divine nature, the world's God is but a syllable, a fragment,\na broken part of the perfect completeness. 'The Father of an infinite\nmajesty,' and of as infinite a tenderness, the stooping God, the\npitying God, the forgiving God, the loving God is known only where\nChrist is accepted. In other hearts He may be dimly hoped for, in other\nhearts He may be half believed in, in other hearts He may be thought\npossible; but hopes and anticipations and fears and doubts are not\nknowledge, and they who see not the light in Christ see but the\ndarkness. Out of Him God is not known, and they that turn away from His\nbeneficent manifestation turn their faces to the black north, from\nwhich no sun can shine. Brother, do you know God in Christ? Unless you\ndo, you do not know the God who is.\n\nBut there is a deeper meaning in that word than simply the possession\nof true thoughts concerning the divine nature. We know God as we know\none another; because God is a Person, as we are persons, and the only\nway to know persons is through familiar acquaintance and sympathy. So\nthe world which turns away from Christ has no acquaintance with God.\n\nThis is a surface fact. Our Lord goes on to show what lies below it.\n\nII. His second thought here is--the world's ignorance in the face of\nChrist's light is worse than ignorance; it is sin.\n\nMark how He speaks: 'If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had\nnot had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.' And then again:\n'If I had not done amongst them the works which none other men did,\nthey had not had sin.' So then He puts before us two forms of His\nmanifestation of the divine nature, by His words and His works. Of\nthese two He puts His words foremost, as being a deeper and more\nprecious and brilliant revelation of what God is than are His miracles.\nThe latter are subordinate, they come as a second source of\nillumination. Men who will not see the beauty and listen to the truth\nthat lie in His word may perchance be led by His deed. But the word\ntowers in its nature high above the work, and the miracle to the word\nis but like the picture in the child's book to the text, fit for feeble\neyes and infantile judgments, but containing far less of the revelation\nof God than the sacred words which He speaks. First the words, next the\nmiracles.\n\nBut notice, too, how decisively, and yet simply and humbly and\nsorrowfully, our Lord here makes a claim which, on the lips of any but\nHimself, would have been mere madness of presumption. Think of any of\nus saying that our words made all the difference between innocent\nignorance and criminality! Think of any of us saying that to listen to\nus, and not be persuaded, was the sin of sins! Think of any of us\npointing to our actions and saying, In these God is so manifest that\nnot to see Him augurs wickedness, and is condemnation! And yet Jesus\nChrist says all this. And, what is more wonderful, nobody wonders that\nHe says it, and the world believes that He is saying the truth when He\nsays it.\n\nHow does that come? There is only one answer; only one. His words were\nthe illuminating manifestation of God, and His deeds were the plain and\nunambiguous operation of the divine hand then and there, only because\nHe Himself was divine, and in Him 'God was manifested in the flesh.'\n\nBut passing from that, notice how our Lord here declares that in\ncomparison with the sin of not listening to His words, and being taught\nby His manifestation, all other sins dwindle into nothing. 'If I had\nnot spoken, they had not had sin.' That does not mean, of course, that\nthese men would have been clear of all moral delinquency; it does not\nmean that there would not have been amongst them crimes against their\nown consciences, crimes against the law written on their own hearts,\ncrimes against the law of revelation. There were liars, impure men,\nselfish men, and men committing all the ordinary forms of human\ntransgression amongst them. And yet, says Christ, black and bespattered\nas these natures are, they are white in comparison with the blackness\nof the man who, looking into His face, sees nothing there that he\nshould desire. Beside the mountain belching out its sulphurous flame\nthe little pimple of a molehill is nought. And so, says Christ, heaven\nheads the count of sins with this--unbelief in Me.\n\nAh, brother, as light grows responsibility grows, and this is the\nmisery of all illumination that comes through Jesus Christ, that where\nit does not draw a man into His sweet love, and fill him with the\nknowledge of God which is eternal life, it darkens his nature and\naggravates his condemnation, and lays a heavier burden upon his soul.\nThe truth that the measure of light is the measure of guilt has many\naspects. It turns a face of alleviation to the dark places of the\nearth; but just in the measure that it lightens the condemnation of the\nheathen, it adds weight to the condemnation of you men and women who\nare bathed in the light of Christianity, and all your days have had it\nstreaming in upon you. The measure of the guilt is the brightness of\nthe light. No shadows are so black as those which the intense sunshine\nof the tropics casts. And you and I live in the very tropical regions\nof divine revelation, and 'if we turn away from Him that spoke on earth\nand speaketh from heaven, of how much sorer punishment, think you,\nshall we be thought worthy' than those who live away out in the\nglimmering twilight of an unevangelised paganism, or who stood by the\nside of Jesus Christ when they had only His earthly life to teach them?\n\nIII. The ignorance which is sin is the manifestation of hatred.\n\nOur Lord has sorrowfully contemplated the not knowing God, which in the\nblaze of His light can only come from wilful closing of the eyes, and\nis therefore the very sin of sins. But that, sad as it is, is not all\nwhich has to be said about that blindness of unbelief in Him. It\nindicates a rooted alienation of heart and mind and will from God, and\nis, in fact, the manifestation of an unconscious but real hatred. It is\nan awful saying, and one which the lips 'into which grace was poured'\ncould not pronounce without a sigh. But it is our wisdom to listen to\nwhat it was His mercy to say.\n\nObserve our Lord's identification of Himself with the Father, so as\nthat the feelings with which men regard Him are, _ipso facto_, the\nfeelings with which they regard the Father God. 'He that hath seen Me\nhath seen the Father.' 'He that hath loved Me hath loved the Father.'\n'He that hath hated Me hath hated the Father.' An ugly word--a word\nthat a great many of us think far too severe and harsh to be applied to\nmen who simply are indifferent to the divine love. Some say, 'I am\nconscious of no hatred. I do not pretend to be a Christian, but I do\nnot hate God. Take the ordinary run of people round about us in the\nworld; if you say God is not in all their thoughts, I agree with you;\nbut if you say that they _hate_ God, I do not believe it.'\n\nWell, what do you think the fact that men go through their days and\nweeks and months and years, and have not God in all their thoughts,\nindicates as to the central feeling of their hearts towards God?\nGranted that there is not actual antagonism, because there is no\nthought at all, do you think it would be possible for a man who loved\nGod to go on for a twelvemonth and never think of, or care to please,\nor desire to be near, the object that he loved? And inasmuch as, deep\ndown at the bottom of our moral being, there is no such thing possible\nas indifference and a perfect equipoise in reference to God, it is\nclear enough, I think, that--although the word must not be pressed as\nif it meant conscious and active antagonism,--where there is no love\nthere is hate.\n\nIf a man does not love God as He is revealed to him in Jesus Christ, he\nneither cares to please Him nor to think about Him, nor does he order\nhis life in obedience to His commands. And if it be true that obedience\nis the very life-breath of love, disobedience or non-obedience is the\nmanifestation of antagonism, and antagonism towards God is the same\nthing as hate.\n\nDear friends, I want some of my hearers to-day who have never honestly\nasked themselves the question of what their relation to God is, to go\ndown into the deep places of their hearts and test themselves by this\nsimple inquiry: 'Do I do anything to please Him? Do I try to serve Him?\nIs it a joy to me to be near Him? Is the thought of Him a delight, like\na fountain in the desert or the cool shadow of a great rock in the\nblazing wilderness? Do I turn to Him as my Home, my Friend, my All? If\nI do not, am I not deceiving myself by fancying that I stand neutral?'\nThere is no neutrality in a man's relation to God. It is one thing or\nother. 'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.' 'The friendship of the world\nis enmity against God.'\n\nIV. And now, lastly, note how our Lord here touches the deep thought\nthat this ignorance, which is sin, and is more properly named hatred,\nis utterly irrational and causeless.\n\n'All this will they do that it might be fulfilled which is written in\ntheir law, They hated Me without a cause.' One hears sighing through\nthese words the Master's meek wonder that His love should be so met,\nand that the requital which He receives at men's hands, for such an\nunexampled and lavish outpouring of it, should be such a carelessness,\nreposing upon a hidden basis of such a rooted alienation.\n\n'Without a cause'; yes! that suggests the deep thought that the most\nmysterious and irrational thing in men's whole history and experience\nis the way in which they recompense God in Christ for what He has done\nfor them. 'Be astonished, O ye heavens! and wonder, O ye earth!' said\none of the old prophets; the mystery of mysteries, which can give no\naccount of itself to satisfy reason, which has no apology, excuse, or\nvindication, is just that when God loves me I do not love Him back\nagain; and that when Christ pours out the whole fullness of His heart\nupon me, nay dull and obstinate heart gives back so little to Him who\nhas given me so much.\n\n'Without a cause.' Think of that Cross; think, as every poor creature\non earth has a right to think, that he and she individually were in the\nmind and heart of the Saviour when He suffered and died, and then think\nof what we have brought Him for it. De we not stand ashamed at-if I\nmight use so trivial a word,--the absurdity as well as at the\ncriminality of our requital? Causeless love on the one side, occasioned\nby nothing but itself, and causeless indifference on the other,\noccasioned by nothing but itself, are the two powers that meet in this\nmystery-men's rejection of the infinite love of God.\n\nMy friend, come away from the unreasonable people, come away from the\nmen who can give no account of their attitude. Come away from those who\npay benefits by carelessness, and a Love that died by an indifference\nthat will not cast an eye upon that miracle of mercy, and let His love\nkindle the answering flame in your hearts. Then you will know God as\nonly they who love Christ know Him, and in the sweetness of a mutual\nbond will lose the misery of self, and escape the deepening\ncondemnation of those who see Christ on the Cross and do not care for\nthe sight, nor learn by it to know the infinite tenderness and holiness\nof the Father that sent Him.\n\n\n\nOUR ALLY\n\n'But when the Comforter Is come, whom I will send unto you from the\nFather, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He\nshall testify of Me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have\nbeen with Me from the beginning.'--JOHN xv. 26, 27.\n\nOur Lord has been speaking of a world hostile to His followers and to\nHim. He proceeds, in the words which immediately follow our text, to\npaint that hostility as aggravated even to the pitch of religious\nmurder. But here He lets a beam of light in upon the darkness. These\nforlorn Twelve, listening to Him, might well have said, 'Thou art about\nto leave us; how can we alone face this world in arms, with which Thou\ndost terrify us?' And here He lets them see that they will not be left\nalone, but have a great Champion, clad in celestial armour, who, coming\nstraight from God, will be with them and put into their hands a weapon,\nwith which they may conquer the world, and turn it into a friend, and\nwith which alone they must meet the world's hate.\n\nSo, then, we have three things in this text; the great promise of an\nAlly in the conflict with the world; the witness which that Ally bears,\nto fortify against the world; and the consequent witness with which\nChristians may win the world.\n\nI. Now consider briefly the first of these points, the great promise of\nan Ally in the conflict with the world.\n\nI may touch, very lightly, upon the wonderful designation of this\nChampion-Friend whom Christ sends, because on former occasions in this\ncourse of sermons we have had to deal with the same thoughts, and there\nwill be subsequent opportunities of recurring to them. But I may just\nemphasise in a few sentences the points which our Lord here signalises\nin regard to the Champion whom He sends. There is a double designation\nof that Spirit, 'the Comforter' and 'the Spirit of truth.' There is a\ndouble description of His mission, as being 'sent' by Jesus, and as\n'proceeding from the Father,' and there is a single statement as to the\nposition from which He comes to us. A word about each of these things.\n\nI have already explained in former sermons that the notion of\n'Comforter,' as it is understood in modern English, is a great deal too\nrestricted and narrow to cover the whole ground of this great and\nblessed promise. The Comforter whom Christ sends is no mere drier of\nmen's tears and gentle Consoler of human sorrows, but He is a mightier\nSpirit than that, and the word by which He is described in our text,\nwhich means 'one who is summoned to the side of another,' conveys the\nidea of a helper who is brought to the man to be helped, in order to\nrender whatever aid and succour that man's weakness and circumstances\nmay require. The verses before our text suggest what sort of aid and\nsuccour the disciples will need. They are to be as sheep in the midst\nof wolves. Their defenceless purity will need a Protector, a strong\nShepherd. They stand alone amongst enemies. There must be some one\nbeside them to fight for them, to shield and to encourage them, to be\ntheir Safety and their Peace. And that Paraclete, who is called to our\nside, comes for the special help which these special circumstances\nrequire, and is a strong Spirit who will be our Champion and our Ally,\nwhatever antagonism may storm against us, and however strong and\nwell-armed may be the assaulting legions of the world's hate.\n\nThen, still further, the other designation here of this strong\nSuccourer and Friend is 'the Spirit of truth,' by which is designated,\nnot so much His characteristic attribute, as rather the weapon which He\nwields, or the material with which He works. The 'truth' is His\ninstrument; that is to say, the Spirit of God sent by Jesus Christ is\nthe Strengthener, the Encourager, the Comforter, the Fighter for us and\nwith us, because He wields that great body of truth, the perfect\nrevelation of God, and man, and duty, and salvation, which is embodied\nin the incarnation and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. The truth is His\nweapon, and it is by it that He makes us strong.\n\nThen, still further, there is a twofold description here of the mission\nof this divine Champion, as 'sent' by Christ, and 'proceeding from the\nFather.'\n\nIn regard to the former, I need only remind you that, in a previous\npart of this wonderful discourse, our Lord speaks of that divine Spirit\nas being sent by the Father in His name and in answer to His prayer.\nThe representation here is by no means antagonistic to, or diverse\nfrom, that other representation, but rather the fact that the Father\nand the Son, according to the deep teaching of Scripture, are in so far\none as that 'whatsoever the Son seeth the Father do that also the Son\ndoeth likewise,' makes it possible to attribute to Him the work which,\nin another place, is ascribed to the Father. In speaking of the\n_Persons_ of the Deity, let us never forget that that word is only\npartially applicable to that ineffable Being, and that whilst with us\nit implies absolute separation of individuals, it does not mean such\nseparation in the case of its imperfect transference to the mysteries\nof the divine nature; but rather, the Son doeth what the Father doeth,\nand therefore the Spirit is sent forth by the Father, and also the Son\nsends the Spirit.\n\nBut, on the other hand, we are not to regard that divine Spirit as\nmerely a Messenger sent by another. He 'proceeds from the Father.' That\nword has been the battlefield of theological controversy, with which I\ndo not purpose to trouble you now. For I do not suppose that in its use\nhere it refers at all to the subject to which it has been sometimes\napplied, nor contains any kind of revelation of the eternal depths of\nthe divine Nature and its relations to itself. What is meant here is\nthe historical coming forth into human life of that divine Spirit. And,\npossibly, the word 'proceeds' is chosen in order to contrast with the\nword 'sent,' and to give the idea of a voluntary and personal action of\nthe Messenger, who not only is _sent_ by the Father, but of Himself\n_proceeds_ on the mighty work to which He is destined.\n\nBe that as it may, mark only, for the last thought here about the\ndetails of this great promise, that wonderful phrase, twice repeated in\nour Lord's words, and emphasised by its verbal repetition in the two\nclauses, which in all other respects are so different--'from the\nFather.' The word translated '_from_' is not the ordinary word so\nrendered, but rather designates _a position at the side of_ than an\n_origin from_, and suggests much rather the intimate and ineffable\nunion between Father, Son, and Spirit, than the source from which the\nSpirit comes. I touch upon these things very lightly, and gather them\nup into one sentence. Here, then, are the points. A Person who is\nspoken of as 'He'--a divine Person whose home from of old has been\nclose by the Father's side--a Person whose instrument is the revealed\ntruth ensphered and in germ in the facts of Christ's incarnation and\nlife--a divine Person, wielding the truth, who is sent by Christ as His\nRepresentative, and in some sense a continuance of His personal\nPresence--a divine, personal Spirit coming from the Father, wielding\nthe truth, sent by Christ, and at the side of all the persecuted and\nthe weak, all world-hated and Christian men, as their Champion, their\nCombatant, their Ally, their Inspiration, and their Power. Is not that\nenough to make the weakest strong? Is not that enough to make us 'more\nthan conquerors through Him that loved us'? All nations have legends of\nthe gods fighting at the head of their armies, and through the dust of\nbattle the white horses and the shining armour of the celestial\nchampions have been seen. The childish dream is a historical reality.\nIt is not we that fight, it is the Spirit of God that fighteth in us.\n\nII. And so note, secondly, the witness of the Spirit which fortifies\nagainst the world.\n\n'He shall bear witness of Me.' Now we must especially observe here that\nlittle phrase, 'unto you.' For that tells us at once that the witness\nwhich our Lord has in mind here is something which is done within the\ncircle of the Christian believers, and not in the wide field of the\nworld's history or in nature. Of course it is a great truth that long\nbefore Jesus Christ, and to-day far beyond the limits of His name and\nknowledge, to say nothing of His faith and obedience, the Spirit of God\nis working. As of old He brooded over the chaotic darkness, ever\nlabouring to turn chaos into order, and darkness into light, and\ndeformity into beauty; so today, all over the field of humanity, He is\noperating. Grand as that truth is, it is not the truth here. What is\nspoken of here is something that is done in and on Christian men, and\nnot even through them on the world, but in them for themselves. 'He\nshall testify of Me' to you.\n\nNow it is to be noted, also, that the first and special application of\nthese words is to the little group listening to Him. Never were men\nmore desolate and beaten down than these were, in the prospect of\nChrist's departure. Never were men more utterly bewildered and\ndispirited than these were, in the days between His crucifixion and His\nresurrection. Think of them during His earthly life, their narrow\nunderstandings, their manifold faults, moral as well as intellectual.\nHow little perception they had of anything that He said to them, as\ntheir own foolish questions abundantly show! How little they had drunk\nin His spirit, as their selfish and ambitious janglings amongst\nthemselves abundantly show! They were but Jews like their brethren,\nbelieving, indeed, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, but not knowing\nwhat it was that they believed, or of what kind the Messiah was in whom\nthey were thus partially trusting. But they loved Him and were led by\nHim, and so they were brought into a larger place by the Spirit whom\nChrist sent.\n\nWhat was it that made these dwarfs into giants in six weeks? What was\nit that turned their narrowness into breadth; that made them start up\nall at once as heroes, and that so swiftly matured them, as the fruits\nand flowers are ripened under tropical sunshine? The resurrection and\nascension of Jesus Christ had a great deal to do with the change; but\nthey were not its whole cause. There is no explanation of the\nextraordinary transformation of these men as we see them in the pages\nof the Gospels, and as we find them on the pages of the Acts of the\nApostles, except this--the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus\nChrist as facts, and the Spirit on Pentecost as an indwelling\nInterpreter of the facts. He came, and the weak became strong, and the\nfoolish wise, and the blind enlightened, and they began to\nunderstand--though it needed all their lives to perfect the\nteaching,--what it was that their ignorant hands had grasped and their\ndim perceptions had seen, when they touched the hands and looked upon\nthe face of Jesus Christ. The witness of the Spirit of God working\nwithin them, working upon what they knew of the historical facts of\nChrist's life, and interpreting these to them, was the explanation of\ntheir change and growth. And the New Testament is the product of that\nchange. Christ's life was the truth which the Spirit used, and a\nproduct of His teaching was these Epistles which we have, and which for\nus step into the place which the historical facts held for them, and\nbecome the instrument with which the Spirit of God will deepen our\nunderstanding of Christ and enlarge our knowledge of what He is to us.\n\nSo, dear friends, whilst here we have a promise which specially\napplies, no doubt, to these twelve Apostles, and the result of which in\nthem was different from its result in us, inasmuch as the Spirit's\nteaching, recorded in the New Testament, becomes for us the\nauthoritative rule of faith and practice, the promise still applies to\neach of us in a secondary and modified sense. For there is nothing in\nthese great valedictory words of our Lord's which has not a universal\nbearing, and is not the revelation of a permanent truth in regard to\nthe Christian Church. And, therefore, here we have the promise of a\nuniversal gift to all Christian men and women, of an actual divine\nSpirit to dwell with each of us, to speak in our hearts.\n\nAnd what will He speak there? He will teach us a deeper knowledge of\nJesus Christ. He will help us to understand better what He is. He will\nshow us more and more of the whole sweep of His work, of the whole\ninfinite truth for morals and religion, for politics and society, for\ntime and for eternity, about men and about God, which is wrapped up in\nthat great saying which we first of all, perhaps under the pressure of\nour own sense of sin, grasp as our deliverance from sin: 'God so loved\nthe world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth\nin Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' That is the sum\nof truth which the Spirit of God interprets to every faithful heart.\nAnd as the days roll on, and new problems rise, and new difficulties\npresent themselves, and new circumstances emerge in our personal life,\nwe find the truth, which we at first dimly grasped as life and\nsalvation, opening out into wisdom and depth and meaning that we never\ndreamed of in the early hours. A Spirit that bears witness of Christ\nand will make us understand Him better every day we live, if we choose,\nis the promise that is given here, for all Christian men and women.\n\nThen note that this inward witness of Christ's depth and preciousness\nis our true weapon and stay against a hostile world. A little candle in\na room will make the lightning outside almost invisible; and if I have\nburning in my heart the inward experience and conviction of what Jesus\nChrist is and what He has done and will do for me--Oh! then, all the\nstorm without may rage, and it will not trouble me.\n\nIf you take an empty vessel and bring pressure to bear upon it, in go\nthe sides. Fill it, and they will resist the pressure. So with growing\nknowledge of Christ, and growing personal experience of His sweetness\nin our souls, we shall be able, untouched and undinted, to throw off\nthe pressure which would otherwise have crushed us.\n\nTherefore, dear friends, here is the true secret of tranquillity, in an\nage of questioning and doubt. Let me have that divine Voice speaking in\nmy heart, as I may have, and no matter what questions may be doubtful,\nthis is sure--'We know in whom we have believed'; and we can say,\n'Settle all your controversies any way you like: one thing I know, and\nthat divine Voice is ever saying it to me in my deepest\nconsciousness--the Son of God is come and hath given us an\nunderstanding that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that\nis true.' Labour for more of this inward, personal conviction of the\npreciousness of Jesus Christ to strengthen you against a hostile world.\n\nAnd remember that there are conditions under which this Voice speaks in\nour souls. One is that we attend to the instrument which the Spirit of\nGod uses, and that is 'the truth.' If Christians will not read their\nBibles, they need not expect to have the words of these Bibles\ninterpreted and made real to them by any inward experience. If you want\nto have a faith which is vindicated and warranted by your daily\nexperience, there is only one way to get it, and that is, to use the\ntruth which the Spirit uses, and to bring yourself into contact,\ncontinual and reverent and intelligent, with the great body of divine\ntruth that is conveyed in these authoritative words of the Spirit of\nGod speaking through the first witnesses.\n\nAnd there must be moral discipline too. Laziness, worldliness, the\nabsorption of attention with other things, self-conceit, prejudice,\nand, I was going to say, almost above all, the taking of our religion\nand religious opinions at secondhand from men and teachers and books--all\nthese stand in the way of our hearing the Spirit of God when He\nspeaks. Come away from the babble and go by yourself, and take your\nBibles with you, and read them, and meditate upon them, and get near\nthe Master of whom they speak, and the Spirit which uses the truth will\nuse it to fortify you.\n\nIII. And, lastly, note the consequent witness with which the Christian\nmay win the world.\n\n'And ye also shall bear witness of Me, because ye have been with Me\nfrom the beginning.' That 'also' has, of course, direct reference to\nthe Apostles' witness to the facts of our Lord's historical appearance,\nHis life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension; and therefore\ntheir qualification was simply the companionship with Him which enabled\nthem to say, 'We saw what we tell you; we were witnesses from the\nbeginning.'\n\nBut then, again, I say that there is no word here that belongs only to\nthe Apostles; it belongs to us all, and so here is the task of the\nChristian Church in all its members. They receive the witness of the\nSpirit, and they are Christ's witnesses in the world.\n\nNote what we have to do--to bear witness; not to argue, not to adorn,\nbut simply to attest. Note what we have to attest--the fact, not of the\nhistorical life of Jesus Christ, because we are not in a position to be\nwitnesses of that, but the fact of His preciousness and power, and the\nfact of our own experience of what He has done for us. Note, that that\nis by far the most powerful agency for winning the world. You can never\nmake men angry by saying to them, 'We have found tho Messias.' You\ncannot irritate people, or provoke them into a controversial opposition\nwhen you say, 'Brother, let me tell you my experience. I was dark, sad,\nsinful, weak, solitary, miserable; and I got light, gladness, pardon,\nstrength, companionship, and a joyful hope. I was blind--you remember\nme when my eyes were dark, and I sat begging outside the Temple; I was\nblind, now I see--look at my eyeballs.' We can all say that. This is\nthe witness that needs no eloquence, no genius, no anything except\nhonesty and experience; and whosoever has tasted and felt and handled\nof the Word of Life may surely go to a brother and say, 'Brother, I\nhave eaten and am satisfied. Will you not help yourselves?' We can all\ndo it, and we ought to do it. The Christian privilege of being\nwitnessed to by the Spirit of God in our hearts brings with it the\nChristian duty of being witnesses in our turn to the world. That is our\nonly weapon against the hostility which godless humanity bears to\nourselves and to our Master. We may win men by that; we can win them by\nnothing else. 'Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servants\nwhom I have chosen.' Christian friend, listen to the Master, who says,\n'Him that confesseth Me before men, him will I also confess before My\nFather in heaven.'\n\n\n\nWHY CHRIST SPEAKS\n\n'These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.\nThey shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that\nwhosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these\nthings will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father,\nnor Me. But these things have I told you, that, when the time shall\ncome, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said\nnot unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go My\nway to Him that sent Me; and none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou?\nBut because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your\nheart.'--JOHN xvi. 1-6.\n\nThe unbroken flow of thought, and the many subtle links of connection\nbetween the parts, of these inexhaustible last words of our Lord make\nany attempt at grouping them into sections more or less unsatisfactory\nand artificial. But I have ventured to throw these, perhaps too many,\nverses together for our consideration now, because a phrase of frequent\nrecurrence in them manifestly affords a key to their main subject.\nNotice how our Lord four times repeats the expression, 'These things\nhave I spoken unto you.' He is not so much adding anything new to His\nwords, as rather contemplating the reasons for His speech now, the\nreasons for His silence before, and the imperfect apprehension of the\nthings spoken which His disciples had, and which led to their making\nHis announcement, thus imperfectly understood, an occasion for sorrow\nrather than for joy. There is a kind of landing place or pause here in\nthe ascending staircase. Our Lord meditates for Himself, and invites us\nto meditate with Him, rather upon His past utterances than upon\nanything additional to them. So, then, whilst it is true that we have\nin two of these verses a repetition, in a somewhat more intense and\ndetailed form, of the previous warnings of the hostility of the world,\nin the main the subject of the present section is that which I have\nindicated. And I take the fourfold recurrence of that clause to which I\nhave pointed as marking out for us the leading ideas that we are to\ngather from these words.\n\nI. There is, first, our Lord's loving reason for His speech.\n\nThis is given in a double form. 'These things have I spoken unto you,\nthat ye should not be offended.' And, again, 'These things have I told\nyou, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of\nthem.' These two statements substantially coalesce and point to the\nsame idea.\n\nThey are separated, as I have said, by a reiteration, in more emphatic\nform, of the dark prospect which He has been holding out to His\ndisciples. He tells them that the world which hates them is to be fully\nidentified with the apostate Jewish Church. 'The synagogue' is for them\n'the world.' There is a solemn lesson in that. The organised body that\ncalls itself God's Church and House may become the most rampant enemy\nof Christ's people, and be the truest embodiment on the face of the\nearth of all that He means by 'the world.' A formal church is the true\nworld always; and to-day as then. And such a body will do the cruellest\nthings and believe that it is offering up Christ's witnesses as\nsacrifices to God. That is partly an aggravation and partly an\nalleviation of the sin. It is possible that the inquisitor and the man\nin the _San Benito_, whom he ties to the stake, may shake hands yet at\nHis side up yonder. But a church which has become, the world will do\nits persecution and think that it is worship, and call the burning of\nGod's people an _auto-da-fe_ (act of faith); and the bottom of it all\nis that, in the blaze of light, and calling themselves God's, 'they do\nnot know' either God or Christ. They do not know the one because they\nwill not know the other.\n\nBut that is all parenthetical in the present section, and so I say\nnothing more about it; and ask you, rather, just to look at the loving\nreasons which Christ here suggests for His present speech--'that ye\nshould not be offended,' or stumble. He warns them of the storm before\nit bursts, lest, when it bursts, it should sweep them away from their\nmoorings. Of course, there could be nothing more productive of\nintellectual bewilderment, and more likely to lead to doubt as to one's\nown convictions, than to find oneself at odds with the synagogue about\nthe question of the Messiah. A modest man might naturally say, 'Perhaps\nI am wrong and they are right.' A coward would be sure to say, 'I will\nsink my convictions and fall in with the majority.' The stumbling-block\nfor these first Jewish converts, in the attitude of the whole mass of\nthe nation towards Christ and His pretensions, is one of such a\nmagnitude as we cannot, by any exercise of our imagination, realise.\n'And,' says Christ, 'the only way by which you will ever get over the\ntemptation to intellectual doubt or to cowardly apostasy that arises\nfrom your being thrown out of sympathy with the whole mass of your\npeople, and the traditions of the generations, is to reflect that I\ntold you it would be so, before it came to pass.'\n\nOf course all that has a special bearing upon those to whom it was\noriginally addressed, and then it has a secondary bearing upon\nChristians, whose lot it is to live in a time of actual persecution.\nBut that does not in the slightest degree destroy the fact that it also\nhas a bearing upon every one of us. For if you and I are Christian\npeople, and trying to live like our Master, and to do as He would have\nus to do, we too shall often have to stand in such a very small\nminority, and be surrounded by people who take such an entirely\nopposite view of duty and of truth, as that we shall be only too much\ndisposed to give up and falter in the clearness, fullness, and\nbraveness of our utterance, and think, 'Well, perhaps after all it is\nbetter for me to hold my tongue.'\n\nAnd then, besides this, there are all the cares and griefs which befall\neach of us, with regard to which also, as well as with regard to the\ndifficulties and dangers and oppositions which we may meet with in a\nfaithful Christian life, the principles of my text have a distinct and\ndirect application. He has told us in order that we might not stumble,\nbecause when the hour comes and the sorrow comes with it, we remember\nthat He told us all about it before.\n\nIt is one of the characteristics of Christianity that Jesus Christ does\nnot try to enlist recruits by highly-coloured, rosy pictures of the\nblessing and joy of serving Him, keeping His hand all the while upon\nthe weary marches and the wounds and pains. He tells us plainly at the\nbeginning, 'If you take My yoke upon you, you will have to carry a\nheavy burden. You will have to abstain from a great many things that\nyou would like to do. You will have to do a great many things that your\nflesh will not like. The road is rough, and a high wall on each side.\nThere are lovely flowers and green pastures on the other side of the\nhedge, where it is a great deal easier walking upon the short grass\nthan it is upon the stony path. The roadway is narrow, and the gateway\nis very strait, but the track goes steadily up. Will you accept the\nterms and come in and walk upon it?'\n\nIt is far better and nobler, and more attractive also, to tell us\nfrankly and fully the difficulties and dangers than to try and coax us\nby dwelling on pleasures and ease. Jesus Christ will have no service on\nfalse pretences, but will let us understand at the beginning that if we\nserve under His flag we have to make up our minds to hardships which\notherwise we may escape, to antagonisms which otherwise will not be\nprovoked, and to more than an ordinary share of sorrow and suffering\nand pain. 'Through much tribulation we must enter the Kingdom.'\n\nAnd the way by which all these troubles and cares, whether they be\nthose incident and peculiar to Christian life, or those common to\nhumanity, can best be met and overcome, is precisely by this thought,\n'The Master has told us before.' Sorrows anticipated are more easily\nmet. It is when the vessel is caught with all its sails set that it is\nalmost sure to go down, and, at all events, sure to be badly damaged in\nthe typhoon. But when the barometer has been watched, and its fall has\ngiven warning, and everything movable has been made fast, and every\nspare yard has been sent below, and all tightened up and\nship-shape--then she can ride out the storm. Forewarned is forearmed.\nSavages think, when an eclipse comes, that a wolf has swallowed the\nsun, and it will never come out again. We know that it has all been\ncalculated beforehand, and since we know that it is coming to-morrow,\nwhen it does come, it is only a passing darkness. Sorrow anticipated is\nsorrow half overcome; and when it falls on us, the bewilderment, as if\n'some strange thing had happened,' will be escaped when we can remember\nthat the Master has told us it all beforehand.\n\nAnd again, sorrow foretold gives us confidence in our Guide. We have\nthe chart, and as we look upon it we see marked 'waterless country,'\n'pathless rocks,' 'desert and sand,' 'wells and palm-trees.' Well, when\nwe come to the first of these, and find ourselves, as the map says, in\nthe waterless country; and when, as we go on step by step, and mile\nafter mile, we find it is all down there, we say to ourselves, 'The\nremainder will be accurate, too,' and if we are in 'Marah' to-day,\nwhere 'the water is bitter,' and nothing but the wood of the tree that\ngrows there can ever sweeten it, we shall be at 'Elim' to-morrow, where\nthere are 'the twelve wells and the seventy palm trees.' The chart is\nright, and the chart says that the end of it all is 'the land that\nflows with milk and honey.' He _has_ told us _this_; if there had been\nanything worse than this, He would have told us _that_. 'If it were not\nso I would have told you.' The sorrow foretold deepens our confidence\nin our Guide.\n\nSorrow that comes punctually in accordance with His word plainly comes\nin obedience to His will. Our Lord uses a little word in this context\nwhich is very significant. He says, 'When _their hour_ is come.'\n\n'Their hour'--the time allotted to them. Allotted by whom? Allotted by\nHim. He could tell that they would come, because it was as His\ninstruments that they came. 'Their time' was His appointment. It was\nonly an 'hour,' a definite, appointed, and brief period in accordance\nwith His loving purpose. It takes all sorts of weathers to make a year;\nand after all the sorts of weathers are run out, the year's results are\nrealised and the calm comes. And so the good old hymn, with its rhythm\nthat speaks at once of fear and triumph, has caught the true meaning of\nthese words of our Lord's--\n\n  'Why should I complain\n    Of want or distress,\n  Temptation or pain?\n    He told me no less.'\n\n'These things have I spoken unto you that ye might not be offended.'\n\nII. Still further, note our Lord's loving reasons for past silence.\n'These things I said not unto you from the beginning, because I was\nwith you.'\n\nOf course there had been in His early ministry hints, and very plain\nreferences, to persecutions and trials, but we must not restrict the\n'these things' of my text to that only, but rather include the whole of\nthe previous chapter, in which He sets the sorrow and the hostility\nwhich His servants have to endure in their true light, as being the\nconsequences of their union with Him and of the closeness and the\nidentity of life and fate between the Vine and the branches. In so\nsystematic and detailed fashion, and with such an exhibition of the\ngrounds of its necessity, our Lord had not spoken of the world's\nhostility in His earlier ministry, but had reserved it to these last\nmoments, and the reason why He had given but passing hints before was\nbecause He was there. What a superb confidence that expresses in His\nability to shield His poor followers from all that might hurt and harm\nthem! He spreads the ample robe of His protection over them, or rather,\nto go back to His own metaphor, 'as a hen gathereth her chickens under\nher wings' so He gathers them to His own breast, and stretches over\nthem that which is at once protection and warmth, and keeps them safe.\nAs long as He is there, no harm can come to them. But He is going away,\nand so it is time to speak, and to speak more plainly.\n\nThat, too, yields for us, dear brethren, truths that apply to us quite\nas much as to that little group of silent listeners. For us, too,\ndifficulties and sorrows, though foretold in general terms, are largely\nhidden till they are near. It would have been of little use for Christ\nto have spoken more plainly in those early days of His ministry. The\ndisciples managed to forget and to misunderstand His plain utterances,\nfor instance, about His own death and resurrection. There needs to be\nan adaptation between the hearing ear and the spoken word, in order\nthat the word spoken should be of use, and there are great tracts of\nScripture dealing with the sorrows of life, which lie perfectly dark\nand dead to us, until experience vitalises them. The old Greeks used to\nsend messages from one army to another by means of a roll of parchment\ntwisted spirally round a baton, and then written on. It was perfectly\nunintelligible when it fell into a man's hands that had not a\ncorresponding baton to twist it upon. Many of Christ's messages to us\nare like that. You can only understand the utterances when life gives\nyou the frame round which to wrap them, and then they flash up into\nmeaning, and we say at once, 'He told us it all before, and I scarcely\nknew that He had told me, until this moment when I need it.'\n\nOh, it is merciful that there should be a gradual unveiling of what is\nto come to us, that the road should wind, and that we should see so\nshort a way before us. Did you never say to yourselves, 'If I had known\nall this before, I do not think I could have lived to face it'? And did\nyou not feel how good and kind and loving it was, that in the\nrevelation there had been concealment, and that while Jesus Christ had\ntold us in general terms that we must expect sorrows and trials, this\nspecific form of sorrow and trial had not been foreseen by us until we\ncame close to it? Thank God for the loving reticence, and for the as\nloving eloquence of His speech and of His silence, with regard to\nsorrow.\n\nAnd take this further lesson, that there ought to be in all our lives\ntimes of close and blessed communion with that Master, when the sense\nof His presence with us makes all thought of sorrows and trials in the\nfuture out of place and needlessly disturbing. If these disciples had\ndrunk in the spirit of Jesus Christ when they were with Him, then they\nwould not have been so bewildered when He left them. When He was near\nthem there was something better for them to do than to be 'over\nexquisite to cast the fashion of uncertain evils' in the\nfuture--namely, to grow into His life, to drink in the sweetness of His\npresence, to be moulded into the likeness of His character, to\nunderstand Him better, and to realise His nearness more fully. And,\ndear brethren, for us all there are times--and it is our own fault if\nthese are not very frequent and blessed--when thus, in such an hour of\nsweet communion with the present Christ, the future will be all radiant\nand calm, if we look into it, or, better, the present will be so\nblessed that there will be no need to think of the future. These men in\nthe upper chamber, if they had learnt all the lessons that He was\nteaching them then, would not have gone out, to sleep in Gethsemane,\nand to tell lies in the high priest's hall, and to fly like frightened\nsheep from the Cross, and to despair at the tomb. And you and I, if we\nsit at His table, and keep our hearts near Him, eating and drinking of\nthat heavenly manna, shall 'go in the strength of that meat forty days\ninto the wilderness,' and say--\n\n  'E'en let the unknown to-morrow\n  Bring with it what it may.'\n\nIII. Lastly, I must touch, for the sake of completeness, upon the final\nthought in these pregnant verses, and that is, the imperfect\napprehension of our Lord's words, which leads to sorrow instead of joy.\n\n'Now I go My way to Him that sent Me; and none of you asketh Me,\nWhither goest Thou? But because I have said these things unto you,\nsorrow hath filled your heart.' He had been telling them--and it was\nthe one definite idea that they gathered from His words--that He was\ngoing. And what did they say? They said, 'Going! What is to become of\n_us_?' If there had been a little less selfishness and a little more\nlove, and if they had put their question, 'Going! What is to become of\n_Him_?' then it would not have been sorrow that would have filled their\nhearts, but a joy that would have flooded out all the sorrow, 'and the\nwinter of their discontent' would have been changed into 'glorious\nsummer,' because He was going to Him that sent Him; that is to say, He\nwas going with His work done and His message accomplished. And\ntherefore, if they could only have overlooked their own selves, and the\nbearing of His departure, as it seemed to them, on themselves, and have\nthought of it a little as it affected Him, they would have found that\nall the oppressive and the dark in it would have disappeared, and they\nwould have been glad.\n\nAh, dear brethren, that gives us a thought on which I can but touch\nnow, that the steadfast contemplation of the ascended Christ, who has\ngone to the Father, having finished His work, is the sovereign antidote\nagainst all sense of separation and solitude, the sovereign power by\nwhich we may face a hostile world, the sovereign cure for every sorrow.\nIf we could live in the light of the great triumphant, ascended Lord,\nthen, Oh, how small would the babble of the world be. If the great\nWhite Throne, and He that sits upon it, were more distinctly before us,\nthen we could face anything, and sorrow would 'become a solemn scorn of\nills,' and all the transitory would be reduced to its proper\ninsignificance, and we should be emancipated from fear and every\ntemptation to unfaithfulness and apostasy. Look up to the Master who\nhas gone, and as the dying martyr outside the city wall 'saw the\nheavens opened, and the Son of Man standing'--having sprung to His feet\nto help His poor servant--'at the right hand of God,' so with that\nvision in our eyes and the light of that Face flashing upon our faces,\nand making them like the angels', we shall be masters of grief and\ncare, and pain and trial, and enmity and disappointment, and sorrow and\nsin, and feel that the absent Christ is the present Christ, and that\nthe present Christ is the conquering power in us.\n\nDear brethren, there is nothing else that will make us victors over the\nworld and ourselves. If we can grasp Him by our faith and keep\nourselves near Him, then union with Him as of the Vine and the\nbranches, which will result inevitably in suffering here, will result\nas inevitably in joy hereafter. For He will never relax the adamantine\ngrasp of His strong hand until He raises us to Himself, and 'if so be\nthat we suffer with Him we shall also be glorified together.'\n\n\n\nTHE DEPARTING CHRIST AND THE COMING SPIRIT\n\n'Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go\naway: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but\nif I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will\n_convince_ the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of\njudgment.'--JOHN xvi. 7, 8.\n\nWe read these words in the light of all that has gone after, and to us\nthey are familiar and almost thread-bare. But if we would appreciate\ntheir sublimity, we must think away nineteen centuries, and all\nChristendom, and recall these eleven poor men and their peasant Leader\nin the upper room. They were not very wise, nor very strong, and\noutside these four walls there was scarcely a creature in the whole\nworld that had the least belief either in Him or in them. They had\neverything against them, and most of all their own hearts. They had\nnothing for them but their Master's promise. Their eyes had been dimmed\nby their sorrowful hearts, so that they could not see the truth which\nHe had been trying to reveal to them; and His departure had presented\nitself to them only as it affected themselves, and therefore had\nbrought a sense of loss and desolation.\n\nAnd now He bids them think of that departure, as it affects themselves,\nas pure gain. 'It is for your profit that I go away.' He explains that\nstaggering statement by the thought which He has already presented to\nthem, in varying aspects, of His departure as the occasion for the\ncoming of that Great Comforter, who, when He is come, will through them\nwork upon the world, which knows neither them nor Him. They are to go\nforth 'as sheep in the midst of wolves,' but in this promise He tells\nthem that they will become the judges and accusers of the world, which,\nby the Spirit dwelling in them, they will be able to overcome, and\nconvict of error and of fault.\n\nWe must remember that the whole purpose of the words which we are\nconsidering now is the strengthening of the disciples in their conflict\nwith the world, and that, therefore, the operations of that divine\nSpirit which are here spoken of are operations carried on by their\ninstrumentality and through the word which they spake. With that\nexplanation we can consider the great words before us.\n\nI. The first thing that strikes me about them is that wonderful thought\nof the gain to Christ's servants from Christ's departure. 'It is\nexpedient for you that I go away.'\n\nI need not enlarge here upon what we have had frequent occasion to\nremark, the manner in which our Lord here represents the complex whole\nof His death and ascension as being His own voluntary act. He 'goes.'\nHe is neither taken away by death nor rapt up to heaven in a whirlwind,\nbut of His own exuberant power and by His own will He goes into the\nregion of the grave and thence to the throne. Contrast the story of His\nascension with that Old Testament story of the ascension of Elijah. One\nneeded the chariot of fire and the horses of fire to bear him up into\nthe sphere, all foreign to his mortal and earthly manhood; the Other\nneeded no outward power to lift Him, nor any vehicle to carry Him from\nthis dim spot which men call earth, but slowly, serenely, upborne by\nHis own indwelling energy, and rising as to His native home, He\nascended up on high, and went where the very manner of His going\nproclaimed that He had been before. 'If _I go_ away, I will send Him.'\n\nBut that is a digression. What we are concerned with now is the thought\nof Christ's departure as being a step in advance, and a positive gain,\neven to those poor, bewildered men who were clustering round Him,\ndepending absolutely upon Himself, and feeling themselves orphaned and\nhelpless without Him.\n\nNow if we would feel the full force and singularity of this saying of\nour Lord's, let us put side by side with it that other one, 'I have a\ndesire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.\nNevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.' Why is it\nthat the Apostle says, 'Though I want to go I am bound to stay?' and\nwhy is it that the Master says, 'It is for your good that I am going,'\nbut because of the essential difference in the relation of the two to\nthe people who are to be left, and in the continuance of the work of\nthe two after they had departed? Paul knew that when he went, whatever\nbefell those whom he loved and would fain help, he could not stretch a\nhand to do anything for them. He knew that death dropped the portcullis\nbetween him and them, and, whatever their sore need on the one side of\nthe iron gate, he on the other could not succour or save. Jesus Christ\nsaid, 'It is better for you that I should go,' because He knew that all\nHis influences would flow through the grated door unchecked, and that,\ndeparted, He would still be the life of them that trusted in Him; and,\nhaving left them, would come near them, by the very act of leaving them.\n\nAnd so there is here indicated for us--as we shall have occasion to see\nmore fully, presently,--in that one singular and anomalous fact of\nChrist's departure being a positive gain to those that trust in Him,\nthe singularity and uniqueness of His work for them and His relation to\nthem.\n\nThe words mean a great deal more than the analogies of our relation to\ndear ones or great ones, loves or teachers, who have departed, might\nsuggest. Of course we all know that it is quite true that death reveals\nto the heart the sweetness and the preciousness of the departed ones,\nand that its refining touch manifests to our blind eyes what we did not\nsee so clearly when they were beside us. We all know that it needs\ndistance to measure men, and the dropping away of the commonplace and\nthe familiar ere we can see 'the likeness' of our contemporaries 'to\nthe great of old.' We have to travel across the plains before we can\nmeasure the relative height of the clustered mountains, and discern\nwhich is manifestly the loftiest. And all _this_ is true in reference\nto Jesus Christ and His relation to us. But that does not go half-way\ntowards the understanding of such words as these of my text, which tell\nus that so singular and solitary is His relation to us that the thing\nwhich ends the work of all other men, and begins the decay of their\ninfluence, begins for Him a higher form of work and a wider sweep of\nsway. He is nearer us when He leaves us, and works with us and in us\nmore mightily from the throne than He did upon the earth. Who is He of\nwhom this is true? And what kind of work is it of which it is true that\ndeath continues and perfects it?\n\nSo let me note, before I pass on, that there is a great truth here for\nus. We are accustomed to look back to our Lord's earthly ministry, and\nto fancy that those who gathered round Him, and heard Him speak, and\nsaw His deeds, were in a better position for loving Him and trusting\nHim than you and I are. It is all a mistake. We have lost nothing that\nthey had which was worth the keeping; and we have gained a great deal\nwhich they had not. We have not to compare our relation to Christ with\ntheirs, as we might do our relation to some great thinker or poet, with\nthat of his contemporaries, but we have Christ in a better form, if I\nmay so speak; and we, on whom the ends of the world are come, may have\na deeper and a fuller and a closer intimacy with Him than was possible\nfor men whose perceptions were disturbed by sense, and who had to\npierce through 'the veil, that is to say, His flesh,' before they\nreached the Holy of Holies of His spirit.\n\nII. Note, secondly, the coming for which Christ's going was needful,\nand which makes that going a gain.\n\n'If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart\nI will send Him unto you.' Now we have already, in former sermons,\ntouched upon many of the themes which would naturally be suggested by\nthese words, and therefore I do not propose to dwell upon them at any\nlength. There is only one point to which I desire to refer briefly\nhere, and that is the necessity which here seems to be laid down by our\nLord for His departure, in order that that divine Spirit may come and\ndwell with men. That necessity goes down deeper into the mysteries of\nthe divinity and of the processes and order of divine revelation than\nit is given to us to follow. But though we can only speak superficially\nand fragmentarily about such a matter, let me just remind you, in the\nbriefest possible words, of what Scripture plainly declares to us with\nregard to this high and, in its fullness, ineffable matter. It tells us\nthat the complete work of Jesus Christ--not merely His coming upon\nearth, or His life amongst men, but also His sacrificial death upon the\nCross--was the necessary preliminary, and in some sense procuring\ncause, of the gift of that divine Spirit. It tells us--and there we are\nupon ground on which we can more fully verify the statement--that His\nwork must be completed ere that Spirit can be sent, because the word is\nthe Spirit's weapon for the world, and the revelation of God in Jesus\nmust be ended, ere the application of that revelation, which is the\nSpirit's work, can be begun in its full energy.\n\nIt tells us, further, (and there our eyesight fails, and we have to\naccept what we are told), that Jesus Christ must ascend on high and be\nat the right hand of God, ere He can pour down upon men the fullness of\nthe Spirit which dwelt uncommunicated in Him in the time of His earthly\nhumiliation. 'Thou hast ascended up on high,' and therefore 'Thou hast\ngiven gifts to men.' We accept the declaration, not knowing all the\ndeep necessity in the divine Nature on which it rests, but believing\nit, because He in whom we have confidence has declared it to us.\n\nAnd we are further told--and there our experience may, in some degree,\nverify the statement,--that only those, in whose hearts there is union\nto Jesus Christ by faith in His completed work and ascended glory, are\ncapable of receiving that divine gift. So every way, both as regards\nthe depths of Deity and the processes of revelation, and as regards the\npower of the humanity of Christ to impart His Spirit, and as regards\nthe capacity of us poor recipients to receive it, the words of my text\nseem to be confirmed, and we can, though not with full insight, at any\nrate with full faith, accept the statement, 'If I go not away, the\nComforter will not come to you.'\n\nThat coming is gain. It teaches a deeper knowledge of Him. It teaches\nand gives a fuller possession of the life of righteousness which is\nlike His own. It draws us into the fellowship of the Son.\n\nIII. Lastly, note here the threefold conflict of the Spirit through the\nChurch with the world.\n\n'When He is come He will convict the world' in respect 'of sin and of\nrighteousness and of judgment.' By the 'reproof,' or rather\n'conviction,' which is spoken about here, is meant the process by which\ncertain facts are borne in upon men's understanding and consciences,\nand, along with these facts, the conviction of error and fault in\nreference to them. It is no mere process of demonstration of an\nintellectual truth, but it is a process of conviction of error in\nrespect to great moral and religious truth, and of manifestation of the\ntruths in regard to which the error and the sin have been committed. So\nwe have here the triple division of the great work which the divine\nSpirit does, through Christian men and women, in the world.\n\n'He shall convict the world of sin.' The outstanding first\ncharacteristic of the whole Gospel message is the new gravity which it\nattaches to the fact of sin, the deeper meaning which it gives to the\nword, and the larger scope which it shows its blighting influences to\nhave had in humanity. Apart from the conviction of sin by the Spirit\nusing the word proclaimed by disciples, the world has scarcely a notion\nof what sin is, its inwardness, its universality, the awfulness of it\nas a fact affecting man's whole being and all his relations to God. All\nthese conceptions are especially the product of Christian truth.\nWithout it, what does the world know about the poison of sin? And what\ndoes it care about the poison until the conviction has been driven home\nto the reluctant consciousness of mankind by the Spirit wielding the\nword? This conviction comes first in the divine order. I do not say\nthat the process of turning a man of the world into a member of\nChrist's Church always begins, as a matter of fact, with the conviction\nof sin. I believe it most generally does so; but without insisting upon\na pedantic adherence to a sequence, and without saying a word about the\ndepth and intensity of such a conviction, I am here to assert that a\nChristianity which is not based upon the conviction of sin is an\nimpotent Christianity, and will be of very little use to the men who\nprofess it, and will have no power to propagate itself in the world.\nEverything in our conception of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of His\nwork for us depends upon what we think about this primary fact of man's\ncondition, that he is a sinful man. The root of all heresy lies there.\nEvery error that has led away men from Jesus Christ and His Cross may\nbe traced up to defective notions of sin and a defective realisation of\nit. If I do not feel as the Bible would have me feel, that I am a\nsinful man, I shall think differently of Jesus Christ and of my need of\nHim, and of what He is to me. Christianity may be to me a system of\nbeautiful ethics, a guide for life, a revelation of much precious\ntruth, but it will not be the redemptive power without which I am lost.\nAnd Jesus Christ will be shorn of His brightest beams, unless I see Him\nas the Redeemer of my soul from sin, which else would destroy and is\ndestroying it. Is Christianity merely a better morality? Is it merely a\nhigher revelation of the divine Nature? Or does it _do_ something as\nwell as _say_ something, and what does it do? Is Jesus Christ only a\nTeacher, a Wise Man, an Example, a Prophet, or is He the Sacrifice for\nthe sins of the world? Oh, brethren, we must begin where this text\nbegins; and our whole conception of Him and of His work for us must be\nbased upon this fact, that we are sinful and lost, and that Jesus\nChrist, by His sweet and infinite love and all-powerful sacrifice, is\nour soul's Redeemer and our only Hope. The world has to be convicted\nand convinced of sin as the first step to its becoming a Church.\n\nThe next step of this divine Spirit's conviction is that which\ncorresponds to the consciousness of sin, the dawning upon the darkened\nsoul of the blessed sunrise of righteousness. The triple subjects of\nconviction must necessarily belong to the world of which our Lord is\nspeaking. It must be the world that is convinced, and it must be the\nworld's sin and the world's righteousness and the world's judgment of\nwhich my text speaks. How, then, can there follow on the conviction of\nsin as mine a conviction of righteousness as mine? I know but one way,\n'Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which\nis of God through faith.' When a man is convinced of sin, there will\ndawn upon the heart the wondrous thought that a righteousness may be\nhis, given to him from above, which will sweep away all his sin and\nmake him righteous as Christ is righteous. That conviction will never\nawake in its blessed and hope-giving power unless it be preceded by the\nother. It is of no use to exhibit medicine to a man who does not know\nhimself diseased. It is of no use to talk about righteousness to a man\nwho has not found himself to be a sinner. And it is of as little use to\ntalk to a man of sin unless you are ready to tell him of a\nrighteousness that will cover all his sin. The one conviction without\nthe other is misery, the second without the first is irrelevant and far\naway.\n\nThe world as a world has but dim and inadequate conceptions of what\nrighteousness is. A Pharisee is its type, or a man that keeps a clean\nlife in regard to great transgressions; a whited sepulchre of some sort\nor other. The world apart from Christ has but languid desires after\neven the poor righteousness that it understands, and the world apart\nfrom Christ is afflicted by a despairing scepticism as to the\npossibility of ever being righteous at all. And there are men listening\nto me now in every one of these three conditions--not caring to be\nrighteous, not understanding what it is to be righteous, and cynically\ndisbelieving that it is possible to be so. My brother, here comes the\nmessage to you--first, Thou art sinful; second, God's righteousness\nlies at thy side to take and wear if thou wilt.\n\nThe last of these triple convictions is 'judgment.' If there be in the\nworld these two things both operating, sin and righteousness, and if\nthe two come together, what then? If there is to be a collision, as\nthere must be, which will go down? Christ tells us that this divine\nSpirit will teach us that righteousness will triumph over sin, and that\nthere will be a judgment which will destroy that which is the weaker,\nthough it seems the stronger. Now I take it that the judgment which is\nspoken about here is not merely a future retribution beyond the grave,\nbut that, whilst that is included, and is the principal part of the\nidea, we are always to regard the judgment of the hereafter as being\nprepared for by the continual judgment here.\n\nAnd so there are two thoughts, a blessed one and a terrible one,\nwrapped up in that word--a blessed thought for us sinful men, inasmuch\nas we may be sure that the divine righteousness, which is given to us,\nwill judge us and separate us day by day from our sins; and a terrible\nthought, inasmuch as if I, a sinful man, do not make friends with and\nally myself to the divine righteousness which is proffered to me, I\nshall one day have to front it on the other side of the flood, when the\ncontact must necessarily be to me destruction.\n\nTime does not allow me to dwell upon these solemn matters as I fain\nwould, but let me gather all I have been feebly trying to say to you\nnow into one sentence. This threefold conviction, in conscience,\nunderstanding, and heart, of sin which is mine, of righteousness which\nmay be mine, and of judgment which must be mine--this threefold\nconviction is that which makes the world into a Church. It is the\nmessage of Christianity to each of us. How do you stand to it? Do you\nhearken to the Spirit who is striving to convince you of these? Or do\nyou gather yourselves together into an obstinate, close-knit unbelief,\nor a loose-knit indifference which is as impenetrable? Beware that you\nresist not the Spirit of God!\n\n\n\nTHE CONVICTING FACTS\n\n'Of sin, because they believe not on Me; Of righteousness, because I go\nto My Father, and ye see Me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of\nthis world is judged.'--JOHN xvi. 9-11.\n\nOur Lord has just been telling His disciples how He will equip them, as\nHis champions, for their conflict with the world. A divine Spirit is\ncoming to them who will work in them and through them; and by their\nsimple and unlettered testimony will 'convict,' or convince, the mass\nof ungodly men of error and crime in regard to these three things--sin,\nrighteousness, and judgment.\n\nHe now advances to tell them that this threefold conviction which they,\nas counsel for the prosecution, will establish as against the world at\nthe bar, will be based upon three facts: first, a truth of experience;\nsecond, a truth of history; third, a truth of revelation, all three\nfacts having reference to Jesus Christ and His relation to men.\n\nNow these three facts are--the world's unbelief; Christ's ascension and\nsession at the right hand of God; and the 'judgment of the prince of\nthis world.' If we remember that what our Lord is here speaking about\nis the work of a divine Spirit through the ministration of believing\nmen, then Pentecost with its thousands 'pricked to the heart,' and the\nRoman ruler who trembled, as the prisoner 'reasoned of righteousness\nand judgment to come,' are illustrations of the way in which the humble\ndisciples towered above the pride and strength of the world, and from\ncriminals at its bar became its accusers.\n\nThese three facts are the staple and the strength of the Christian\nministry. These three facts are misapprehended, and have failed to\nproduce their right impression, unless they have driven home to our\nconsciences and understandings the triple conviction of my text. And so\nI come to you with the simple questions which are all-important for\neach of us: Have you looked these three facts in the face--unbelief,\nthe ascended Christ, a judged prince of the world, and have you learned\ntheir meaning as it bears on your own character and religious life?\n\nI. The first point here is the rejection of Jesus Christ as the climax\nof the world's sin.\n\nStrange words! They are in some respects the most striking instance of\nthat gigantic self-assertion of our Lord, of which we have had occasion\nto see so many examples in these valedictory discourses. The world is\nfull of all unrighteousness and wickedness, lust and immorality,\nintemperance, cruelty, hatred; all manner of buzzing evils that stink\nand sting around us. But Jesus Christ passes them all by and points to\na mere negative thing, to an inward thing, to the attitude of men\ntowards Himself; and He says, 'If you want to know what sin is, look at\nthat!' _There_ is the worst of all sins. There is a typical instance of\nwhat sin is, in which, as in some anatomical preparation, you may see\nall its fibres straightened out and made visible. Look at that if you\nwant to know what the world is, and what the world's sin is.\n\nSome of us do not think that it is sin at all; and tell us that man is\nno more responsible for his belief than he is for the colour of his\nhair, and suchlike talk. Well, let me put a very plain question: What\nis it that a man turns away from when he turns away from Jesus Christ?\nThe plainest, the loveliest, the loftiest, the perfectest revelation of\nGod in His beauty and completeness that ever dawned, or ever will dawn\nupon creation. He rejects that. Anything more? Yes! He turns away from\nthe loveliest human life that ever was, or will be, lived. Anything\nmore? Yes! He turns away from a miracle of self-sacrificing love, which\nendured the Cross for enemies, and willingly embraced agony and shame\nand death for the sake of those who inflicted them upon Him. Anything\nmore? Yes! He turns away from hands laden with, and offering him, the\nmost precious and needful blessings that a poor soul on earth can\ndesire or expect.\n\nAnd if this be true, if unbelief in Jesus Christ be indeed all this\nthat I have sketched out, another question arises, What does such an\nattitude and act indicate as to the rejector? He stands in the presence\nof the loveliest revelation of the divine nature and heart, and he sees\nno light in it. Why, but because he has blinded his eyes and cannot\nbehold? He is incapable of seeing 'God manifest in the flesh,' because\nhe 'loves the darkness rather than the light.' He turns away from the\nrevelation of the loveliest and most self-sacrificing love. Why, but\nbecause he bears in himself a heart cased with brass and triple steel\nof selfishness, against the manifestation of love? He turns away from\nthe offered hands heaped with the blessings that he needs. Why, but\nbecause he does not care for the gifts that are offered? Forgiveness,\ncleansing, purity a heaven which consists in the perfecting of all\nthese, have no attractions for him. The fugitive Israelites in the\nwilderness said, 'We do not want your light, tasteless manna. It may do\nvery well for angels, but we have been accustomed to garlic and onions\ndown in Egypt. They smell strong, and there is some taste in _them_.\nGive us _them_.' And so some of you say, 'The offer of pardon is of no\nuse to me, for I am not troubled with my sin. The offer of purity has\nno attraction to me, for I rather like the dirt and wallowing in it.\nThe offer of a heaven of your sort is but a dreary prospect to me. And\nso I turn away from the hands that offer precious things.' The man who\nis blind to the God that beams, lambent and loving, upon him in the\nface of Jesus Christ--the man who has no stirrings of responsive\ngratitude for the great outpouring of love upon the Cross--the man who\ndoes not care for anything that Jesus Christ can give him, surely, in\nturning away, commits a real sin.\n\nI do not deny, of course, that there may be intellectual difficulties\ncropping up in connection with the acceptance of the message of\nsalvation in Jesus Christ, but as, on the one hand, I am free to admit\nthat many a man may be putting a true trust in Christ which is joined\nwith a very hesitant grasp of some of the things which, to me, are the\nvery essence and heart of the Gospel; so, on the other side, I would\nhave you remember that there is necessarily a moral quality in our\nattitude to all moral and religious truth; and that sin does not cease\nto be sin because its doer is a thinker or has systematised his\nrejection into a creed. Though it is not for us to measure motives and\nto peer into hearts, at the bottom there lies what Christ Himself put\nHis finger on: 'Ye _will_ not come to me that ye might have life.'\n\nThen, still further, let me remind you that our Lord here presents this\nfact of man's unbelief as being an instance in which we may see what\nthe real nature of sin is. To use learned language, it is a 'typical'\nsin. In all other acts of sin you get the poison manipulated into\nvarious forms, associated with other elements, disguised more or less.\nBut here, because it is purely an inward act having relation to Jesus\nChrist, and to God manifested in Him, and not done at the bidding of\nthe animal nature, or of any of the other strong temptations and\nimpulses which hurry men into gross and coarse forms of manifest\ntransgression, you get sin in its essence. Belief in Christ is the\nsurrender of myself. Sin is living to myself rather than to God. And\nthere you touch the bottom. All those different kinds of sin, however\nunlike they may be to one another--the lust of the sensualist, the\ncraft of the cheat, the lie of the deceitful, the passion of the\nunregulated man, the avarice of the miser--all of them have this one\ncommon root, a diseased and bloated regard to self. The definition of\nsin is,--living to myself and making myself my own centre. The\ndefinition of faith is,--making Christ my centre and living for Him.\nTherefore, if you want to know what is the sinfulness of sin, there it\nis. And if I may use such a word in such a connection, it is all packed\naway in its _purest_ form in the act of rejecting that Lord.\n\nBrother, it is no exaggeration to say that, when you have summoned up\nbefore you the ugliest forms of man's sins that you can fancy, this one\novertops them all, because it presents in the simplest form the\nmother-tincture of all sins, which, variously coloured and perfumed and\ncombined, makes the evil of them all. A heap of rotting, poisonous\nmatter is offensive to many senses, but the colourless, scentless,\ntasteless drop has the poison in its most virulent form, and is not a\nbit less virulent, though it has been learnedly distilled and\nchristened with a scientific name, and put into a dainty jewelled\nflask. 'This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,\nand men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.'\nI lay that upon the hearts and consciences of some of my present\nhearers as the key to their rejection or disregard of Christ and His\nsalvation.\n\nII. Now, secondly, notice the ascension of Jesus Christ as the pledge\nand the channel of the world's righteousness--'Because I go to the\nFather, and ye see Me no more.'\n\nHe speaks as if the process of departure were already commenced. It had\nthree stages--death, resurrection, ascension; but these three are all\nparts of the one departure. And so He says: 'Because, in the future,\nwhen ye go forth to preach in My name, I shall be there with the\nFather, having finished the work for which He sent Me; therefore you\nwill convince the world of righteousness.'\n\nNow let me put that briefly in two forms. First of all, the fact of an\nascended Christ is the guarantee and proof of His own complete\nfulfilment of the ideal of a righteous man. Or to put it into simpler\nwords, suppose Jesus Christ is dead; suppose that He never rose from\nthe grave; suppose that His bones mouldered in some sepulchre; suppose\nthat there had been no ascension--would it be possible to believe that\nHe was other than an ordinary man? And would it be possible to believe\nthat, however beautiful these familiar records of His life, and however\nlovely the character which they reveal, there was really in Him no sin\nat all? A dead Christ means a Christ who, like the rest of us, had His\nlimitations and His faults. But, on the other hand, if it be true that\nHe sprang from the grave because 'it was not possible that He should be\nholden of it,' and because in His nature there was no proclivity to\ndeath, since there had been no indulgence in sin; and if it be true\nthat He ascended up on high because that was His native sphere, and He\nrose to it as naturally as the water in the valley will rise to the\nheight of the hill from which it has descended, then we can see that\nGod has set His seal upon that life by that resurrection and ascension;\nand as we gaze on Him swept up heavenward by His own calm power, a\nlight falls backward upon all His earthly life, upon His claims to\npurity, and to union with the Father, and we say, 'Surely this was a\nperfectly righteous Man.'\n\nAnd further let me remind you that with the supernatural facts of our\nLord's resurrection and ascension stands or falls the possibility of\nHis communicating any of His righteousness to us sinful men. If there\nbe no such possibility, what does Jesus Christ's beauty of character\nmatter to me? Nothing! I shall have to stumble on as best I can,\nsometimes ashamed and rebuked, sometimes stimulated and sometimes\nreduced to despair, by looking at the record of His life. If He be\nlying dead in a forgotten grave, and hath not 'ascended up on high,'\nthen there can come from His history and past nothing other in kind,\nthough, perhaps, a little more in degree, than comes from the history\nand the past of the beautiful and white souls that have sometimes lived\nin the world. He is a saint like them, He is a teacher like them, He is\na prophet like some of them, and we have but to try our best to copy\nthat marble purity and white righteousness. But if He hath ascended up\non high, and sits there, wielding the forces of the universe, as we\nbelieve He does, then to Him belongs the divine prerogative of\nimparting His nature and His character to them that love Him. Then His\nrighteousness is not a solitary, uncommunicative perfectness for\nHimself, but like a sun in the heavens, which streams out vivifying and\nenlightening rays to all that seek His face. If it be true that Christ\nhas risen, then it is also true that you and I, convicted of sin, and\nlearning our weakness and our faults, may come to Him, and by the\nexercise of that simple and yet omnipotent act of faith, may ally our\nincompleteness with His perfectness, our sin with His righteousness,\nour emptiness with His fullness, and may have all the grace and the\nbeauty of Jesus Christ passing over into us to be the Spirit of life in\nus, 'making us free from the law of sin and death.' If Christ be risen,\nHis righteousness may be the world's; if Christ be not risen, His\nrighteousness is useless to any but to Himself.\n\nMy brother, wed yourself to that dear Lord by faith in Him, and His\nrighteousness will become yours, and you will be 'found in Him without\nspot and blameless,' clothed with white raiment like His own, and\nsharing in the Throne which belongs to the righteous Christ.\n\nIII. Lastly, notice the judgment of the world's prince as the prophecy\nof the judgment of the world.\n\nWe are here upon ground which is only made known to us by the\nrevelation of Scripture. We began with a fact of man's experience; we\npassed on to a fact of history; now we have a fact certified to us only\non Christ's authority.\n\nThe world _has_ a prince. That ill-omened and chaotic agglomeration of\ndiverse forms of evil has yet a kind of anarchic order in it, and, like\nthe fabled serpent's locks on the Gorgon head, they intertwine and\nsting one another, and yet they are a unity. We hear very little about\n'the prince of the world' in Scripture. Mercifully the existence of\nsuch a being is not plainly revealed until the fact of Christ's victory\nover him is revealed. But however ludicrous mediaeval and vulgar\nsuperstitions may have made the notion, and however incredible the\ntremendous figure painted by the great Puritan poet has proved to be,\nthere is nothing ridiculous, and nothing that we have the right to say\nis incredible, in the plain declarations that came from Christ's lips\nover and over again, that the world, the aggregate of ungodly men,\n_has_ a prince.\n\nAnd then my text tells us that that prince is 'judged.' The Cross did\nthat, as Jesus Christ over and over again indicates, sometimes in plain\nwords, as 'Now is the judgment of this world,' 'Now is the prince of\nthis world cast out'; sometimes in metaphor, as 'I beheld Satan as\nlightning fall from heaven,' 'First bind the strong man and then spoil\nhis house.' We do not know how far-reaching the influences of the Cross\nmay be, and what they may have done in those dark regions, but we know\nthat since that Cross, the power of evil in the world has been broken\nin its centre, that God has been disclosed, that new forces have been\nlodged in the heart of humanity, which only need to be developed in\norder to overcome the evil. We know that since that auspicious day when\n'He spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them openly and\nleading them in triumph,' even when He was nailed upon the Cross, the\nhistory of the world has been the judgment of the world. Hoary\niniquities have toppled into the ceaseless washing sea of divine love\nwhich has struck against their bases. Ancient evils have vanished, and\nmore are on the point of vanishing. A loftier morality, a higher notion\nof righteousness, a deeper conception of sin, new hopes for the world\nand for men, have dawned upon mankind; and the prince of the world is\nled bound, as it were, at the victorious chariot wheels. The central\nfortress has been captured, and the rest is an affair of outposts.\n\nMy text has for its last word this--the prince's judgment prophesies\nthe world's future judgment. The process which began when Jesus Christ\ndied has for its consummation the divine condemnation of all the evil\nthat still afflicts humanity, and its deprivation of authority and\npower to injure. A final judgment will come, and that it will is\nmanifested by the fact that Christ, when He came in the form of a\nservant and died upon the Cross, judged the prince. When He comes in\nthe form of a King on the great White Throne He will judge the world\nwhich He has delivered from its prince.\n\nThat thought, my brother, ought to be a hope to us all. Are you glad\nwhen you think that there is a day of judgment coming? Does your heart\nleap up when you realise the fact that the righteousness, which is in\nthe heavens, is sure to conquer and coerce and secure under the hatches\nthe sin that is riding rampant through the world? It was a joy and a\nhope to men who did not know half as much of the divine love and the\ndivine righteousness as we do. They called upon the rocks and the hills\nto rejoice, and the trees of the forest to clap their hands before the\nLord, 'for He cometh to judge the world.' Does your heart throb a glad\nAmen to that?\n\nIt ought to be a hope; it is a fear; and there are some of us who do\nnot like to have the conviction driven home to us, that the end of the\nstrife between sin and righteousness is that Jesus Christ shall judge\nthe world and take unto Himself His eternal kingdom.\n\nBut, my friends, hope or fear, it is a fact, as certain in the future,\nas the Cross is sure in the past, or the Throne in the present. Let me\nask you this question, the question which Christ has sent all His\nservants to ask--Have you loathed your sin? have you opened your heart\nto Christ's righteousness? If you have, when men's hearts are failing\nthem for fear, and they 'call on the rocks and the hills to cover them\nfrom the face of Him that sitteth upon the Throne,' you will 'have a\nsong as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept,' and lift up your\nheads, 'for your redemption draweth nigh.' 'Herein is our love made\nperfect, that we may have boldness before Him in the day of judgment.'\n\n\n\nTHE GUIDE INTO ALL TRUTH\n\n'I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.\nHowbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into\nall truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall\nhear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He\nshall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto\nyou. All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that\nHe shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you.'--JOHN xvi. 12-15.\n\nThis is our Lord's last expansion, in these discourses, of the great\npromise of the Comforter which has appeared so often in them. First, He\nwas spoken of simply as dwelling in Christ's servants, without any more\nspecial designation of His work than was involved in the name. Then,\nHis aid was promised, to remind the Apostles of the facts of Christ's\nlife, especially of His words; and so the inspiration and authority of\nthe four Gospels were certified for us. Then He was further promised as\nthe witness in the disciples to Jesus Christ. And, finally, in the\nimmediately preceding context, we have His office of 'convincing,' or\nconvicting, 'the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.'\nAnd now we come to that gracious and gentle work which that divine\nSpirit is declared by Christ to do, not only for that little group\ngathered round Him then, but for all those who trust themselves to His\nguidance. He is to be the 'Spirit of truth' to all the ages, who in\nsimple verity will help true hearts to know and love the truth. There\nare three things in the words before us--first, the avowed\nincompleteness of Christ's own teaching; second, the completeness of\nthe truth into which the Spirit of truth guides; and, last, the unity\nof these two.\n\nI. First, then, we have here the avowed incompleteness of Christ's own\nteaching.\n\n'I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.'\nNow in an earlier portion of these great discourses, we have our Lord\nasserting that '_all_ things whatsoever He had heard of the Father He\nhad made known' unto His servants. How do these two representations\nharmonise? Is it possible to make them agree? Surely, yes. There is a\ndifference between the germ and the unfolded flower. There is a\ndifference between principles and the complete development of these. I\nsuppose you may say that all Euclid is in the axioms and definitions. I\nsuppose you may also say that when you have learned the axioms and\ndefinitions, there are many things yet to be said, of which you have\nnot grown to the apprehension. And so our Lord, as far as His frankness\nwas concerned, and as far as the fundamental and seminal principles of\nall religious truth were concerned, had even then declared all that He\nhad heard of the Father. But yet, in so far as the unfolding of these\nwas concerned, the tracing of their consequences, the exhibition of\ntheir harmonies, the weaving of them into an ordered whole in which a\nman's understanding could lodge, there were many things yet to be said,\nwhich that handful of men were not able to bear. And so our Lord\nHimself here declares that His words spoken on earth are not His\ncompleted revelation.\n\nOf course we find in them, as I believe, hints profound and pregnant,\nwhich only need to be unfolded and smoothed out, as it were, and their\ndepths fathomed, in order to lead to all that is worthy of being called\nChristian truth. But upon many points we cannot but contrast the\ndesultory, brief, obscure references which came from the Master's lips\nwith the more systematised, full, and accurate teaching which came from\nthe servants. The great crucial instance of all is the comparative\nreticence which our Lord observed in reference to His sacrificial\ndeath, and the atoning character of His sufferings for the world. I do\nnot admit that the silence of the Gospels upon that subject is fairly\nrepresented when it is said to be absolute. I believe that that silence\nhas been exaggerated by those who have no desire to accept that\nteaching. But the distinction is plain and obvious, not to be ignored,\nrather to be marked as being fruitful of blessed teaching, between the\nway in which Christ speaks about His Cross, and the way in which the\nApostles speak about it after Pentecost.\n\nWhat then? My text gives us the reason. 'You cannot bear them now.' Now\nthe word rendered 'bear' here does not mean 'bear' in the sense of\nendure, or tolerate, or suffer, but 'bear' in the sense of carry. And\nthe metaphor is that of some weight--it may be gold, but still it is a\nweight--laid upon a man whose muscles are not strong enough to sustain\nit. It crushes rather than gladdens. So because they had not strength\nenough to carry, had not capacity to receive, our Lord was lovingly\nreticent.\n\nThere is a great principle involved in this saying--that revelation is\nmeasured by the moral and spiritual capacities of the men who receive\nit. The light is graduated for the diseased eye. A wise oculist does\nnot flood that eye with full sunshine, but he puts on veils and\nbandages, and closes the shutters, and lets a stray beam, ever growing\nas the curve is perfected, fall upon it. So from the beginning until\nthe end of the process of revelation there was a correspondence between\nmen's capacity to receive the light and the light that was granted; and\nthe faithful use of the less made them capable of receiving the\ngreater, and as soon as they were capable of receiving it, it came. 'To\nhim that hath shall be given.' In His love, then, Christ did not load\nthese men with principles that they could not carry, nor feed them with\n'strong meat' instead of 'milk,' until they were able to bear it.\nRevelation is progressive, and Christ is reticent, from regard to the\nfeebleness of His listeners.\n\nNow that same principle is true in a modified form about us. How many\nthings there are which we sometimes feel we should like to know, that\nGod has not told us, because we have not yet grown up to the point at\nwhich we could apprehend them! Compassed with these veils of flesh and\nweakness, groping amidst the shadows of time, bewildered by the\ncross-lights that fall upon us from so many surrounding objects, we\nhave not yet eyes able to behold the ineffable glory. He has many\nthings to say to us about that blessed future, and that strange and\nawful life into which we are to step when we leave this poor world, but\n'ye cannot bear them now.' Let us wait with patience until we are ready\nfor the illumination. For two things go to make revelation, the light\nthat reveals and the eye that beholds.\n\nNow one remark before I go further. People tell us, 'Your modern\ntheology is not in the Gospels.' And they say to us, as if they had\nadministered a knockdown blow, 'We stick by Jesus, not Paul.' Well, as\nI said, I do not admit that there is no 'Pauline' teaching in the\nGospels, but I do confess there is not much. And I say, 'What then?'\nWhy, this, then--it is exactly what we were to expect; and people who\nreject the apostolic form of Christian teaching because it is not found\nin the Gospels are flying in the face of Christ's own teaching. You say\nyou will take His words as the only source of religious truth. You are\ngoing clean contrary to His own words in saying so. Remember that He\nproclaimed their incompleteness, and referred us, for the fuller\nknowledge of the truth of God, to a subsequent Teacher.\n\nII. So, secondly, mark here the completeness of the truth into which\nthe Spirit guides.\n\nI must trouble you with just a word or two of remark as to the language\nof our text. Note the personality, designation, and office of this new\nTeacher. 'He,' not '_it_,' He, is the Spirit of truth whose\ncharacteristic and weapon is truth. 'He will guide you'--suggesting a\nloving hand put out to lead; suggesting the graciousness, the\ngentleness, the gradualness of the teaching. 'Into all truth '--that is\nno promise of omniscience, but it is the assurance of gradual and\ngrowing acquaintance with the spiritual and moral truth which is\nrevealed, such as may be fitly paralleled by the metaphor of men\npassing into some broad land, of which there is much still to be\npossessed and explored. Not to-day, nor to-morrow, will all the truth\nbelong to those whom the Spirit guides; but if they are true to His\nguidance, 'to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant,' and\nthe land will all be traversed at the last. 'He shall not speak of\nHimself, but whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak.' Mark the\nparallel between the relation of the Spirit-Teacher to Jesus, and the\nrelation of Jesus to the Father. Of Him, too, it is said by Himself,\n'All things whatsoever I have heard of the Father I have declared unto\nyou.' The mark of Satan is, 'He speaketh of his own'; the mark of the\ndivine Teacher is, 'He speaketh not of Himself, but whatsoever things,'\nin all their variety, in their continuity, in their completeness, 'He\nshall hear,'--where? yonder in the depths of the Godhead--'whatsoever\nthings He shall hear there,' He shall show to you, and especially, 'He\nwill show you the things that are to come.' These Apostles were living\nin a revolutionary time. Men's hearts were 'failing them for fear of\nthe things that were coming on the earth.' Step by step they would be\ntaught the evolving glory of that kingdom which they were to be the\ninstruments in founding; and step by step there would be spread out\nbefore them the vision of the future and all the wonder that should be,\nthe world that was to come, the new constitution which Christ was to\nestablish.\n\nNow, if that be the interpretation, however inadequate, of these great\nand wonderful words, there are but two things needful to say about\nthem. One is that this promise of a complete guidance into truth\napplies in a peculiar and unique fashion to the original hearers of it.\nI ventured to say that one of the other promises of the Spirit, which I\nquoted in my introductory remarks, was the certificate to us of the\ninspiration and reliableness of these Four Gospels. And I now remark\nthat in these words, in their plain and unmistakable meaning, there lie\ninvolved the inspiration and authority of the Apostles as teachers of\nreligious truth. Here we have the guarantee for the authority over our\nfaith, of the words which came from these men, and from the other who\nwas added to their number on the Damascus road. They were guided 'into\n_all_ the truth,' and so our task is to receive the truth into which\nthey were guided.\n\nThe Acts of the Apostles is the best commentary on these words of my\ntext. There you see how these men rose at once into a new region; how\nthe truths about their Master which had been bewildering puzzles to\nthem flashed into light; how the Cross, which had baffled and dispersed\nthem, became at once the centre of union for themselves and for the\nworld; how the obscure became lucid, and Christ's death and the\nresurrection stood forth to them as the great central facts of the\nworld's salvation. In the book of the Apocalypse we have part of the\nfulfilment of this closing promise: 'He will show you things to come';\nwhen the Seer was 'in the Spirit on the Lord's Day,' and the heavens\nwere opened, and the history of the Church (whether in chronological\norder, or in the exhibition of symbols of the great forces which shall\nbe arrayed for and against it, over and over again, to the end of time,\ndoes not at present matter), was spread before Him as a scroll.\n\nNow, dear friends, this great principle of my text has a modified\napplication also to us all. For that divine Spirit is given to each of\nus if we will use Him, is given to any and every man who desires Him,\ndoes dwell in Christian hearts, though, alas! so many of us are so\nlittle conscious of Him, and does teach us the truth which Christ\nHimself left incomplete.\n\nOnly let me make one remark here. We do not stand on the same level as\nthese men who clustered round Christ on His road to Gethsemane, and\nreceived the first fruits of the promise--the Spirit. They, taught by\nthat divine Guide and by experience, were led into the deeper\napprehension of the words and the deeds, of the life and the death, of\nJesus Christ our Lord. We, taught by that same Spirit, are led into a\ndeeper apprehension of the words which they spake, both in recording\nand interpreting the facts of Christ's life and death.\n\nAnd so we come sharp up to this, 'If any man thinketh himself to be a\nprophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I\nspeak unto him are the commandments of the Lord.' That is how an\nApostle put his relation to the other possessors of the divine Spirit.\nAnd you and I have to take this as the criterion of all true possession\nof the Spirit of God, that it bows in humble submission to the\nauthoritative teaching of this book.\n\nIII. Lastly, we have here our Lord pointing out the unity of these two.\n\nIn the verse on which I have just been commenting He says nothing about\nHimself, and it might easily appear to the listeners as if these two\nsources of truth, His own incomplete teaching, and the full teaching of\nthe divine Spirit, were independent of, if not opposed to, one another.\nSo in the last words of our text He shows us the blending of the two\nstreams, the union of the two beams.\n\n'He shall glorify Me.' Think of a _man_ saying that! The Spirit who\nwill come from God and 'guide men into all truth' has for His\ndistinctive office the glorifying of Jesus Christ. So fair is He, so\ngood, so radiant, that to make Him known _is_ to glorify Him. The\nglorifying of Christ is the ultimate and adequate purpose of everything\nthat God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has done, because the\nglorifying of Christ is the glorifying of God, and the blessing of the\neyes that behold His glory.\n\n'For He shall take of Mine, and show it unto you.' All which that\ndivine Spirit brings is Christ's. So, then, there is no new revelation,\nonly the interpretation of the revelation. The text is given, and its\nlast word was spoken, when 'the cloud received Him out of their sight,'\nand henceforward all is commentary. The Spirit takes of Christ's;\napplies the principles, unfolds the deep meaning of words and deeds,\nand especially the meaning of the mystery of the Cradle, and the\ntragedy of the Cross, and the mystery of the Ascension, as declaring\nthat Christ is the Son of God, the Sacrifice for the world. Christ\nsaid, 'I am the Truth.' Therefore, when He promises, 'He will guide you\ninto all the truth,' we may fairly conclude that 'the truth' into which\nthe Spirit guides is the personal Christ. It is the whole Christ, the\nwhole truth, that we are to receive from that divine Teacher; growing\nup day by day into the capacity to grasp Christ more firmly, to\nunderstand Him better, and by love and trust and obedience to make Him\nmore entirely our own. We are like the first settlers upon some great\nisland-continent. There is a little fringe of population round the\ncoast, but away in the interior are leagues of virgin forests and\nfertile plains stretching to the horizon, and snow-capped summits\npiercing the clouds, on which no foot has ever trod. 'He will guide you\ninto all truth'; through the length and breadth of the boundless land,\nthe person and the work of Jesus Christ our Lord.\n\n'All things that the Father hath are Mine, therefore said I that He\nshall take of Mine and show it unto you.' What awful words! A divine,\nteaching Spirit can only teach concerning God. Christ here explains the\nparadox of His words preceding, in which, if He were but human, He\nseems to have given that teaching Spirit an unworthy office, by\nexplaining that whatsoever is His is God's, and whatsoever is God's is\nHis.\n\nMy brother! do you believe that? Is that what you think about Jesus\nChrist? He puts out here an unpresumptuous hand, and grasps all the\nconstellated glories of the divine Nature, and says, 'They are Mine';\nand the Father looks down from heaven and says, 'Son! Thou art ever\nwith Me, and all that I have is Thine.' Do you answer, 'Amen! I believe\nit?'\n\nHere are three lessons from these great words which I leave with you\nwithout attempting to unfold them. One is, Believe a great deal more\ndefinitely in, and seek a great deal more consciously and earnestly,\nand use a great deal more diligently and honestly, that divine Spirit\nwho is given to us all. I fear me that over very large tracts of\nprofessing Christendom to-day men stand up with very faltering lips and\nconfess, 'I believe in the Holy Ghost.' Hence comes much of the\nweakness of our modern Christianity, of the worldliness of professing\nChristians, 'and when for the time they ought to be teachers, they have\nneed that one teach them again which be the first principles of the\noracles of God.' 'Quench not, grieve not, despise not the Holy Spirit.'\n\nAnother lesson is, Use the Book that He uses--else you will not grow,\nand He will have no means of contact with you.\n\nAnd the last is, Try the spirits. If anything calling itself Christian\nteaching comes to you and does not glorify Christ, it is\nself-condemned. For none can exalt Him highly enough, and no teaching\ncan present Him too exclusively and urgently as the sole Salvation and\nLife of the whole earth, And if it be, as my text tells us, that the\ngreat teaching Spirit is to come, who is to 'guide us into all truth,'\nand therein is to glorify Christ, and to show us the things that are\nHis, then it is also true, 'Hereby know we the Spirit of God. Every\nspirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of\nGod; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in\nthe flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist.'\n\n\n\nCHRIST'S 'LITTLE WHILES'\n\n'A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little while,\nand ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of His\ndisciples among themselves, What is this that He saith unto us, A\nlittle while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and\nye shall see Me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore,\nWhat is this that He saith, A little while? we cannot tell what He\nsaith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask Him, and said unto\nthem, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while,\nand ye shall not see Me: and again a little while, and ye shall see\nMe?'--JOHN xvi. 16-19.\n\nA superficial glance at the former part of these verses may fail to\ndetect their connection with the great preceding promise of the Spirit\nwho is to guide the disciples 'into all truth.' They appear to stand\nquite isolated and apart from that. But a little thought will bring out\nan obvious connection. The first words of our text are really the\nclimax and crown of the promise of the Spirit; for that Spirit is to\n'guide into all the truth' by declaring to the disciples the things\nthat are Christ's, and in consequence of that ministration, they are to\nbe able to see their unseen Lord. So this is the loftiest thought of\nwhat the divine Spirit does for the Christian heart, that it shows Him\na visible though absent Christ.\n\nThen we have in the subsequent part of our text the blundering of the\nbewildered disciples and the patient answer of the long-suffering\nTeacher. So that there are these three points to take up: the times of\ndisappearance and of sight; the bewildered disciples; and the patient\nTeacher.\n\nI. First of all, then, note the deep teaching of our Lord here, about\nthe times of disappearance and of Sight.\n\nThe words are plain enough; the difficulty lies in the determination of\nthe periods to which they refer. He tells us that, after a brief\ninterval from the time at which He was speaking, there would come a\nshort parenthesis during which He was not to be seen; and that upon\nthat would follow a period of which no end is hinted at, during which\nHe is to be seen. The two words employed in the two consecutive\nclauses, for 'sight,' are not the same, and so they naturally suggest\nsome difference in the manner of vision.\n\nBut the question arises, Where are the limits of these times of which\nthe Lord speaks? Now it is quite clear, I suppose, that the first of\nthe 'little whiles' is the few hours that intervened between His\nspeaking and the Cross. And it is equally clear that His death and\nburial began, at all events, the period during which they were not to\nsee Him. But where does the second period begin, during which they are\nto see Him? Is it at His resurrection or at His ascension, when the\nprocess of 'going to the Father' was completed in all its stages; or at\nPentecost, when the Spirit, by whose ministration He was to be made\nvisible, was poured out? The answer is, perhaps, not to be restricted\nto any one of these periods; but I think if we consider that all\ndisciples, in all ages, have a portion in all the rest of these great\ndiscourses, and if we note the absence of any hint that the promised\nseeing of Christ was ever to terminate, and if we mark the diversity of\nwords under which the two manners of vision are described, and, above\nall, if we note the close connection of these words with those which\nprecede, we shall come to the conclusion that the full realisation of\nthis great promise of a visible Christ did not begin until that time\nwhen the Spirit, poured out, opened the eyes of His servants, and 'they\nsaw His glory.' But however we settle the minor question of the\nchronology of these periods, the great truth shines out here that,\nthrough all the stretch of the ages, true hearts may truly see the true\nChrist.\n\nIf we might venture to suppose that in our text the second of the\nperiods to which He refers, when they did not see Him, was not\ncoterminous with, but preceded, the second 'little while,' all would be\nclear. Then the first 'little while' would be the few hours before the\nCross. 'Ye shall not see Me' would refer to the days in which He lay in\nthe tomb. 'Again, a little while' would point to that strange\ntransitional period between His death and His ascension, in which the\ndisciples had neither the close intercourse of earlier days nor the\nspiritual communion of later ones. And the final period, 'Ye shall see\nMe,' would cover the whole course of the centuries till He comes again.\n\nHowever that may be, and I only offer it as a possible suggestion, the\nthing that we want to fasten upon for ourselves is this--we all, if we\nwill, may have a vision of Christ as close, as real, as firmly\ncertifying us of His reality, and making as vivid an impression upon\nus, as if He stood there, visible to our senses. And so, 'by this\nvision splendid' we may 'be everywhere attended,' and whithersoever we\ngo, have burning before us the light of His countenance, in the\nsunshine of which we shall walk.\n\nBrother! that is personal Christianity--to see Jesus Christ, and to\nlive with the thrilling consciousness, printed deep and abiding upon\nour spirits, that, in very deed, He is by our sides. O how that\nconviction would make life strong and calm and noble and blessed! How\nit would lift us up above temptation! 'He endured as seeing Him who is\nInvisible.' What should terrify us if Christ stood before us? What\nshould charm us if we saw Him? Competing glories and attractions would\nfade before His presence, as a dim candle dies at noon. It would make\nall life full of a blessed companionship. Who could be solitary if he\nsaw Christ? or feel that life was dreary if that Friend was by his\nside? It would fill our hearts with joy and strength, and make us\nevermore blessed by the light of His countenance.\n\nAnd how are we to get that vision? Remember the connection of my text.\nIt is because there is a divine Spirit to show men the things that are\nChrist's that therefore, unseen, He is visible to the eye of faith. And\ntherefore the shortest and directest road to the vision of Jesus is the\nsubmitting of heart and mind and spirit to the teaching of that divine\nSpirit, who uses the record of the Scriptures as the means by which He\nmakes Jesus Christ known to us.\n\nBut besides this waiting upon that divine Teacher, let me remind you\nthat there are conditions of discipline which must be fulfilled upon\nour parts, if any clear vision of Jesus Christ is to bless us pilgrims\nin this lonely world. And the first of these conditions is--If you want\nto see Jesus Christ, think about Him. Occupy your minds with Him. If\nmen in the city walk the pavements with their eyes fixed upon the\ngutters, what does it matter though all the glories of a sunset are\ndyeing the western sky? They will see none of them; and if Christ stood\nbeside you, closer to you than any other, if your eyes were fixed upon\nthe trivialities of this poor present, you would not see Him. If you\nhonestly want to see Christ, meditate upon Him.\n\nAnd if you want to see Him, shut out competing objects, and the\ndazzling cross-lights that come in and hide Him from us. There must be\na 'looking _off_ unto Jesus.' There must be a rigid limitation, if not\nexcision, of other objects, if we are to grasp Him. If we would see,\nand have our hearts filled with, the calm sublimity of the solemn,\nwhite wedge that lifts itself into the far-off blue, we must not let\nour gaze stop on the busy life of the valleys or the green slopes of\nthe lower Alps, but must lift it and keep it fixed aloft. Meditate upon\nHim, and shut out other things.\n\nIf you want to see Christ, do His will. One act of obedience has more\npower to clear a man's eyes than hours of idle contemplation; and one\nact of disobedience has more power to dim his eyes than anything\nbesides. It is in the dusty common road that He draws near to us, and\nthe experience of those disciples that journeyed to Emmaus may be ours.\nHe meets us in the way, and makes 'our hearts burn within us.' The\nexperience of the dying martyr outside the city gate may be ours.\nSorrows and trials will rend the heavens if they be rightly borne, and\nso we shall see Christ 'standing at the right hand of God.' Rebellious\ntears blind our eyes, as Mary's did, so that she did not know the\nMaster and took Him for 'the gardener.' Submissive tears purge the eyes\nand wash them clean to see His face. To do His will is the sovereign\nmethod for beholding His countenance.\n\nBrethren, is this our experience? You professing Christians, do you see\nChrist? Are your eyes fixed upon Him? Do you go through life with Him\nconsciously nearer to you than any beside? Is He closer than the\nintrusive insignificances of this fleeting present? Have you Him as\nyour continual Companion? Oh! when we contrast the difference between\nthe largeness of this promise--a promise of a thrilling consciousness\nof His presence, of a vivid perception of His character, of an\nunwavering certitude of His reality--and the fly-away glimpses and\nwandering sight, and faint, far-off views, as of a planet weltering\namid clouds, which the most of Christian men have of Christ, what shame\nshould cover our faces, and how we should feel that if we have not the\nfulfilment, it is our own fault! Blessed they of whom it is true that\nthey see 'no man any more save Jesus only'! and to whom all sorrow,\njoy, care, anxiety, work, and repose are but the means of revealing\nthat sweet and all-sufficient Presence! 'I have set the Lord always\nbefore me, therefore I shall not be moved.'\n\nII. Now notice, secondly, these bewildered disciples.\n\nWe find, in the early portion of these discourses, that twice they\nventured to interrupt our Lord with more or less relevant questions,\nbut as the wonderful words flowed on, they seem to have been awed into\nsilence; and our Lord Himself almost complains of them that 'None of\nyou asketh Me, Whither goest Thou?' The inexhaustible truths that He\nhad spoken seem to have gone clear over their heads, but the verbal\nrepetition of the 'little whiles,' and the recurring ring of the\nsentences, seem to have struck upon their ears. So passing by all the\ngreat words, they fasten upon this minor thing, and whisper among\nthemselves, perhaps lagging behind on the road, as to what He means by\nthese 'little whiles.' The Revised Version is probably correct, or at\nleast it has strong manuscript authority in its favour, in omitting the\nclause in our Lord's words, 'Because I go to the Father.' The disciples\nseem to have quoted, not from the preceding verse, but from a verse a\nlittle before that in the context, where He said that 'the Spirit will\nconvince the world of righteousness because I go to My Father, and ye\nsee Me no more.' The contradiction seems to strike them.\n\nThese disciples in their bewilderment seem to me to represent some very\ncommon faults which we all commit in our dealing with the Lord's words,\nand to one or two of these I turn for a moment.\n\nNote this to begin with, how they pass by the greater truths in order\nto fasten upon a smaller outstanding difficulty. They have no questions\nto ask about the gifts of the Spirit, nor about the unity of Christ and\nHis disciples as represented in the vine and the branches, nor about\nwhat He tells them of the love that 'lays down its life for its\nfriends.' But when He comes into the region of chronology, they are all\nagog to know the 'when' about which He is so enigmatically speaking.\n\nNow is not that exactly like us, and does not the Christianity of this\nday very much want the hint to pay most attention to the greatest\ntruths, and let the little difficulties fall into their subordinate\nplace? The central truths of Christianity are the incarnation and\natonement of Jesus Christ. And yet outside questions, altogether\nsubordinate and, in comparison with this, unimportant, are filling the\nattention and the thoughts of people at present to such an extent that\nthere is great danger of the central truth of all being either passed\nby, or the reception of it being suspended on the clearing up of\nsmaller questions.\n\nThe truth that Christ is the Son of God, who has died for our\nsalvation, is the heart of the Gospel. And why should we make our faith\nin that, and our living by it, contingent on the clearing up of certain\nexternal and secondary questions; chronological, historical, critical,\nphilological, scientific, and the like? And why should men be so\noccupied in jangling about the latter as that the towering supremacy,\nthe absolute independence, of the former should be lost sight of? What\nwould you think of a man in a fire who, when they brought the\nfire-escape to him, said, 'I decline to trust myself to it, until you\nfirst of all explain to me the principles of its construction; and,\nsecondly, tell me all about who made it; and, thirdly, inform me where\nall the materials of which it is made came from?' But that is very much\nwhat a number of people are doing to-day in reference to 'the Gospel of\nour salvation,' when they demand that the small questions--on which the\ncentral verity does not at all depend--shall be answered and settled\nbefore they cast themselves upon that.\n\nAnother of the blunders of these disciples, in which they show\nthemselves as our brethren, is that they fling up the attempt to\napprehend the obscurity in a very swift despair. 'We cannot tell what\nHe saith, and we are not going to try any more. It is all cloud-land\nand chaos together.'\n\nIntellectual indolence, spiritual carelessness, deal thus with\noutstanding difficulties, abandoning precipitately the attempt to grasp\nthem or that which lies behind them. And yet although there are no\ngratuitous obscurities in Christ's teaching, He said a great many\nthings which could not possibly be understood at the time, in order\nthat the disciples might stretch up towards what was above them, and,\nby stretching up, might grow. I do not think that it is good to break\ndown the children's bread too small. A wise teacher will now and then\nblend with the utmost simplicity something that is just a little in\nadvance of the capacity of the listener, and so encourage a little hand\nto stretch itself out, and the arm to grow because it is stretched. If\nthere are no difficulties there is no effort, and if there is no effort\nthere is no growth. Difficulties are there in order that we may grapple\nwith them, and truth is sometimes hidden in a well in order that we may\nhave the blessing of the search, and that the truth found after the\nsearch may be more precious. The tropics, with their easy, luxuriant\ngrowth, where the footfall turns up the warm soil, grow languid men,\nand our less smiling latitude grows strenuous ones. Thank God that\neverything is not easy, even in that which is meant for the revelation\nof all truth to all men! Instead of turning tail at the first fence,\nlet us learn that it will do us good to climb, and that the fence is\nthere in order to draw forth our effort.\n\nThere is another point in which these bewildered disciples are\nuncommonly like the rest of us; and that is that they have no patience\nto wait for time and growth to solve the difficulty. They want to know\nall about it now, or not at all. If they would wait for six weeks they\nwould understand, as they did. Pentecost explained it all. We, too, are\noften in a hurry. There is nothing that the ordinary mind, and often\nthe educated mind, detests so much as uncertainty, and being\nconsciously baffled by some outstanding difficulty. And in order to\nescape that uneasiness, men are dogmatical when they should be\ndoubtful, and positively asserting when it would be a great deal more\nfor the health of their souls and of their listeners to say, 'Well,\nreally I do not know, and I am content to wait.' So, on both sides of\ngreat controversies, you get men who will not be content to let things\nwait, for all must be made clear and plain to-day.\n\nAh, brethren! for ourselves, for our own intellectual difficulties, and\nfor the difficulties of the world, there is nothing like time and\npatience. The mysteries that used to plague us when we were boys melted\naway when we grew up. And many questions which trouble me to-day, and\nthrough which I cannot find my way, if I lay them aside, and go about\nmy ordinary duties, and come back to them to-morrow with a fresh eye\nand an unwearied brain, will have straightened themselves out and\nbecome clear. We grow into our best and deepest convictions, we are not\ndragged into them by any force of logic. So for our own sorrows,\nquestions, pains, griefs, and for all the riddle of this painful world,\n\n  'Take it on trust a little while,\n  Thou soon shalt read the mystery right,\n  In the full sunshine of His smile.'\n\nIII. Lastly, and very briefly, a word about the patient Teacher.\n\n'Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask Him.' He knows all our\ndifficulties and perplexities. Perhaps it is His supernatural knowledge\nthat is indicated in the words before us, or perhaps it is merely that\nHe saw them whispering amongst themselves and so inferred their wish.\nBe that as it may, we may take the comfort that we have to do with a\nTeacher who accurately understands how much we understand and where we\ngrope, and will shape His teaching according to our necessities.\n\nHe had not a word of rebuke for the slowness of their apprehension. He\nmight well have said to them, 'O fools and slow of heart to believe!'\nBut that word was not addressed to them then, though two of them\ndeserved it and got it, after events had thrown light on His teaching.\nHe never rebukes us for either our stupidity or for our carelessness,\nbut 'has long patience' with us.\n\nHe does give them a kind of rebuke. 'Do ye inquire _among yourselves_?'\nThat is a hopeful source to go to for knowledge. Why did they not ask\nHim, instead of whispering and muttering there behind Him, as if two\npeople equally ignorant could help each other to knowledge? Inquiry\n'among yourselves' is folly; to ask Him is wisdom. We can do much for\none another, but the deepest riddles and mysteries can only be wisely\ndealt with in one way. Take them to Him, tell Him about them. Told to\nHim, they often dwindle. They become smaller when they are looked at\nbeside Him, and He will help us to understand as much as may be\nunderstood, and patiently to wait and leave the residue unsolved, until\nthe time shall come when 'we shall know even as we are known.'\n\nIn the context here, Jesus Christ does not explain to the disciples the\nprecise point that troubled them. Olivet and Pentecost were to do that;\nbut He gives them what will tide them over the time until the\nexplanation shall come, in triumphant hopes of a joy and peace that are\ndrawing near.\n\nAnd so there is a great deal in all our lives, in His dealings with us,\nin His revelation of Himself to us, that must remain mysterious and\nunintelligible. But if we will keep close to Him, and speak plainly to\nHim in prayer and communion about our difficulties, He will send us\ntriumphant hope and large confidence of a coming joy, that will float\nus over the bar and make us feel that the burden is no longer painful\nto carry. Much that must remain dark through life will be lightened\nwhen we get yonder; for the vision here is not perfect, and the\nknowledge here is as imperfect as the vision.\n\nDear friends! the one question for us all is, Do our eyes fix and\nfasten on that dear Lord, and is it the description of our own whole\nlives, that we see Him and walk with Him? Oh! if so, then life will be\nblessed, and death itself will be but as 'a little while' when we\n'shall not see Him,' and then we shall open our eyes and behold Him\nclose at hand, whom we saw from afar, and with wandering eyes, amidst\nthe mists and illusions of earth. To see Him as He became for our sakes\nis heaven on earth. To see Him as He is will be the heaven of heaven,\nand before that Face, 'as the sun shining in His strength,' all\nsorrows, difficulties, and mysteries will melt as morning mists.\n\n\n\nSORROW TURNED INTO JOY\n\n'Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the\nworld shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall\nbe turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because\nher hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she\nremembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the\nworld. And ye now, therefore, have sorrow; but I will see you again,\nand your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from\nyou.'-JOHN xvi. 20-22.\n\nThese words, to which we have come in the ordinary course of our\nexposition, make an appropriate text for Easter Sunday. For their one\ntheme is the joy which began upon that day, and was continued in\nincreasing measure as the possession of Christ's servants after\nPentecost. Our Lord promises that the momentary sadness and pain shall\nbe turned into a swift and continual joy. He pledges His word for that,\nand bids us believe it on His bare word. He illustrates it by that\ntender and beautiful image which, in the pains and bliss of motherhood,\nfinds an analogy for the pains and bliss of the disciples, inasmuch as,\nin both cases, pain leads directly to blessedness in which it is\nforgotten. And He crowns His great promises by explaining to us what is\nthe deepest foundation of our truest gladness, 'I will see you again,'\nand by declaring that such a joy is independent of all foes and all\nexternals, 'and your joy no man taketh from you.'\n\nThere are, then, two or three aspects of the Christian life as a glad\nlife which are set before us in these words, and to which I ask your\nattention.\n\nI. There is, first, the promise of a joy which is a transformed sorrow.\n\n'Your sorrow shall be turned into joy,' not merely that the one emotion\nis substituted for the other, but that the one emotion, as it were,\nbecomes the other. This can only mean that _that_, which was the cause\nof the one, reverses its action and becomes the cause of the opposite.\nOf course the historical and immediate fulfilment of these words lies\nin the double result of Christ's Cross upon His servants. For part of\nthree dreary days it was the occasion of their sorrow, their panic,\ntheir despair; and then, all at once, when with a bound the mighty fact\nof the resurrection dawned upon them, that which had been the occasion\nfor their deep grief, for their apparently hopeless despair, suddenly\nbecame the occasion for a rapture beyond their dreams, and a joy which\nwould never pass. The Cross of Christ, which for some few hours was\npain, and all but ruin, has ever since been the centre of the deepest\ngladness and confidence of a thousand generations.\n\nI do not need to remind you, I suppose, of the value, as a piece of\nevidence of the historical veracity of the Gospel story, of this sudden\nchange and complete revolution in the sentiments and emotions of that\nhandful of disciples. What was it that lifted them out of the pit? What\nwas it that revolutionised in a moment their notions of the Cross and\nof its bearing upon them? What was it that changed downhearted,\ndespondent, and all but apostate, disciples into heroes and martyrs? It\nwas the one fact which Christendom commemorates to-day: the\nresurrection of Jesus Christ. That was the element, added to the dark\npotion, which changed it all in a moment into golden flashing light.\nThe resurrection was what made the death of Christ no longer the\noccasion for the dispersion of His disciples, but bound them to Him\nwith a closer bond. And I venture to say that, unless the first\ndisciples were lunatics, there is no explanation of the changes through\nwhich they passed in some eight-and-forty hours, except the\nsupernatural and miraculous fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ\nfrom the dead. That set a light to the thick column of smoke, and made\nit blaze up a 'pillar of fire.' That changed sorrow into joy. The same\ndeath which, before the resurrection, drew a pall of darkness over the\nheavens, and draped the earth in mourning, by reason of that\nresurrection which swept away the cloud and brought out the sunshine,\nbecame the source of joy. A dead Christ was the Church's despair; a\ndead and risen Christ is the Church's triumph, because He is 'the\nChrist that died... and is alive for evermore.'\n\nBut, more generally, let me remind you how this very same principle,\nwhich applies directly and historically to the resurrection of our\nLord, may be legitimately expanded so as to cover the whole ground of\ndevout men's sorrows and calamities. Sorrow is the first stage, of\nwhich the second and completed stage is transformation into joy. Every\nthundercloud has a rainbow lying in its depths when the sun smites upon\nit. Our purest and noblest joys are transformed sorrows. The sorrow of\ncontrite hearts becomes the gladness of pardoned children; the sorrow\nof bereaved, empty hearts may become the gladness of hearts filled with\nGod; and every grief that stoops upon our path may be, and will be, if\nwe keep near that dear Lord, changed into its own opposite, and become\nthe source of blessedness else unattainable. Every stroke of the\nbright, sharp ploughshare that goes through the fallow ground, and\nevery dark winter's day of pulverising frost and lashing tempest and\nhowling wind, are represented in the broad acres, waving with the\ngolden grain. All your griefs and mine, brother, if we carry them to\nthe Master, will flash up into gladness and be \"turned into joy.\"\n\nII. Still further, another aspect here of the glad life of the true\nChristian is, that it is a joy founded upon the consciousness that\nChrist's eye is upon us.\n\n'I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice.' In other parts of\nthese closing discourses the form of the promise is the converse of\nthis, as for instance--'Yet a little while, and ye shall see _Me_.'\nHere Christ lays hold of the thought by the other handle, and says,\n'_I_ will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.' Now these two\nforms of putting the same mutual relationship, of course, agree, in\nthat they both of them suggest, as the true foundation of the\nblessedness which they promise, the fact of communion with a present\nLord. But they differ from one another in colouring, and in the\nemphasis which they place upon the two parts of that communion. '_Ye_\nshall see _Me_' fixes attention upon us and our perception of Him. '_I_\nwill see you' fixes attention rather upon Him and His beholding of us.\n'Ye shall see Me' speaks of our going out after Him and being satisfied\nin Him. 'I will see you' speaks of His perfect knowledge, of His loving\ncare, of His tender, compassionate, complacent, ever-watchful eye\nresting upon us, in order that He may communicate to us all needful\ngood.\n\nAnd so it requires a loving heart on our part, in order to find joy in\nsuch a promise. 'His eyes are as a flame of fire,' and He sees all men;\nbut unless our hearts cleave to Him and we know ourselves to be knit to\nHim by the tender bond of love from Him, accepted and treasured in our\nsouls, then 'I will see you again' is a threat and not a promise. It\ndepends upon the relation which we bear to Him, whether it is\nblessedness or misery to think that He whose flaming eye reads all\nmen's sins and pierces through all hypocrisies and veils has it fixed\nupon us. The sevenfold utterance of His words to the Asiatic\nchurches-the last recorded words of Jesus Christ-begins with 'I know\nthy works.' It was no joy to the lukewarm professors at Laodicea, nor\nto the church at Ephesus which had lost the freshness of its early\nlove, that the Master knew them; but to the faithful souls in\nPhiladelphia, and to the few in Sardis, who 'had not defiled their\ngarments,' it was blessedness and life to feel that they walked in the\nsunshine of His face.\n\nIs there any joy to us in the thought that the Lord Christ sees us? Oh!\nif our hearts are really His, if our lives are as truly built on Him as\nour profession of being Christians alleges that they are, then all that\nwe need for the satisfaction of our nature, for the supply of our\nvarious necessities, or as an armour against temptation, and an amulet\nagainst sorrow, will be given to us, in the belief that His eye is\nfixed upon us. _There_ is the foundation of the truest joy for men.\n'There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift Thou up\nthe light of Thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my\nheart more than in the time when their corn and their wine abound.' One\nlook _towards_ Christ will more than repay and abolish earth's sorrow.\nOne look _from_ Christ will fill our hearts with sunshine. All tears\nare dried on eyes that meet His. Loving hearts find their heaven in\nlooking into one another's faces, and if Christ be our love, our\ndeepest and purest joys will be found in His glance and our answering\ngaze.\n\nIf one could anyhow take a bit of the Arctic world and float it down\ninto the tropics, the ice would all melt, and the white dreariness\nwould disappear, and a new splendour of colour and of light would\nclothe the ground, and an unwonted vegetation would spring up where\nbarrenness had been. And if you and I will only float our lives\nsouthward beneath the direct vertical rays of that great 'Sun of\nRighteousness,' then all the dreary winter and ice of our sorrows will\nmelt, and joy will spring. Brother! the Christian life is a glad life,\nbecause Christ, the infinite and incarnate Lover of our souls, looks\nupon the heart that loves and trusts Him.\n\nIII. Still further, note how our Lord here sets forth His disciples'\njoy as beyond the reach of violence and independent of externals.\n\n'No man taketh it from you.' Of course, that refers primarily to the\nopposition and actual hostility of the persecuting world, which that\nhandful of frightened men were very soon to face; and our Lord assures\nthem here that, whatsoever the power of the devil working through the\nworld may be able to filch away from them, it cannot filch away the joy\nthat He gives. But we may extend the meaning beyond that reference.\n\nMuch of our joy, of course, depends upon our fellows, and disappears\nwhen they fade away from our sight and we struggle along in a solitude,\nmade the more dreary because of remembered companionship. And much of\nour joy depends upon the goodwill and help of our fellows, and they can\nsnatch away all that so depends. They can hedge up our road and make it\nuncomfortable and sad for us in many ways, but no man but myself can\nput a roof over my head to shut me out from God and Christ; and as long\nas I have a clear sky overhead, it matters very little how high may be\nthe walls that foes or hostile circumstances pile around me, and how\nclose they may press upon me. And much of our joy necessarily depends\nupon and fluctuates with external circumstances of a hundred different\nkinds, as we all only too well know. But we do not need to have all our\njoy fed from these surface springs. We may dig deeper down if we like.\nIf we are Christians, we have, like some beleaguered garrison in a\nfortress, a well in the courtyard that nobody can get at, and which\nnever can run dry. 'Your joy no man taketh from you.'\n\nAs long as we have Christ, we cannot be desolate. If He and I were\nalone in the universe, or, paradoxical as it may sound, if He and I\nwere alone, and the universe were not, I should have all that I needed\nand my joy would be full, if I loved Him as I ought to do.\n\nSo, my brother! let us see to it that we dig deep enough for the\nfoundation of our blessedness, and that it is on Christ and nothing\nless infinite, less eternal, less unchangeable, that we repose for the\ninward blessedness which nothing outside of us can touch. That is the\nblessedness which we may all possess, 'For I am persuaded that neither\ndeath nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things\npresent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other\ncreature, shall be able to separate us' from the eye and the heart of\nthe risen Christ who lives for us. But remember, though externals have\nno power to rob us of our joy, they have a very formidable power to\ninterfere with the cultivation of that faith, which is the essential\ncondition of our joy. They cannot force us away from Christ, but they\nmay tempt us away. The sunshine did for the traveller in the old fable\nwhat the storm could not do; and the world may cause you to think so\nmuch about it that you forget your Master. Its joys may compel Him to\nhide His face, and may so fill your eyes that you do not care to look\nat His face; and so the sweet bond may be broken, and the consciousness\nof a living, loving Jesus may fade, and become filmy and unsubstantial,\nand occasional and interrupted. Do you see to it that what the world\ncannot do by violence and directly, it does not do by its harlot kisses\nand its false promises, tempting you away from the paths where alone\nyou can meet your Master.\n\nIV. Lastly, note that this life of joy, which our Lord here speaks of,\nis made certain by the promise of a faithful Christ.\n\n'Verily, verily, I say unto you,'--He was accustomed to use that\nimpressive and solemn formula, when He was about to speak words beyond\nthe reach of human wisdom to discover, or of prime importance for men\nto accept and believe. He tells these men, who had nothing but His bare\nword to rely upon, that the astonishing thing which He is going to\npromise them will certainly come to pass. He would encourage them to\nrest an unfaltering confidence, for the brief parenthesis of sorrow,\nupon His faithful promise of joy. He puts His own character, so to\nspeak, in pawn. His words are precisely equivalent in meaning to the\nsolemn Old Testament words which are represented as being the oath of\nGod, 'As I live saith the Lord,' 'You may be as sure of this thing as\nyou are of My divine existence, for all My divine Being is pledged to\nyou to bring it about.' 'Verily, verily, I say unto you,' 'You may be\nas sure of this thing as you are of Me, for all that I am is pledged to\nfulfil the words of My lips.'\n\nSo Christ puts His whole truthfulness at stake, as it were; and if any\nman who has ever loved Jesus Christ and trusted Him aright has not\nfound this 'joy unspeakable and full of glory,' then Jesus Christ has\nsaid the thing that is not.\n\nThen why is it that so many professing Christians have such joyless\nlives as they have? Simply because they do not keep the conditions. If\nwe will love Him so as to set our hearts upon Him, if we will desire\nHim as our chief good, if we will keep our eyes fixed upon Him, then,\nas sure as He is living and is the Truth, He will flood our hearts with\nblessedness, and His joy will pour into our souls as the flashing tide\nrushes into some muddy and melancholy harbour, and sets everything\ndancing that was lying stranded on the slime. If, my brother, you, a\nprofessing Christian, know but little of this joy, why, then, it is\n_your_ fault, and not _His_. The joyless lives of so many who say that\nthey are His disciples cast no shadow of suspicion upon His veracity,\nbut they do cast a very deep shadow of doubt upon their profession of\nfaith in Him.\n\nIs your religion joyful? Is your joy religious? The two questions go\ntogether. And if we cannot answer these questions in the light of God's\neye as we ought to do, let these great promises and my text prick us\ninto holier living, into more consistent Christian character, and a\ncloser walk with our Master and Lord.\n\nThe out-and-out Christian is a joyful Christian. The half-and-half\nChristian is the kind of Christian that a great many of you are--little\nacquainted with 'the joy of the Lord.' Why should we live half way up\nthe hill and swathed in mists, when we might have an unclouded sky and\na visible sun over our heads, if we would only climb higher and walk in\nthe light of His face?\n\n\n\n'IN THAT DAY'\n\n'And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto\nyou, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it\nyou. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall\nreceive, that your joy may be full.'--JOHN xvi. 23, 24.\n\nOur Lord here sums up the prerogatives and privileges of His servants\nin the day that was about to dawn and to last till He came again. There\nis nothing absolutely new in the words; substantially the promises\ncontained in them have appeared in former parts of these discourses\nunder somewhat different aspects and connections. But our Lord brings\nthem together here, in this condensed repetition, in order that the\nscattered rays, being thus focussed, may have more power to illuminate\nwith certitude, and to warm into hope. 'Ye shall ask Me nothing.... Ask\nand ye shall receive.... Your joy shall be full.' These are the jewels\nwhich He sets in a cluster, the juxtaposition making each brighter, and\ngives to us for a parting keepsake.\n\nNow it is to be noticed that the two askings which are spoken of here\nare expressed by different words in the Greek. Our English word 'ask'\nmeans two things, either to question or to request; to ask in the sense\nof interrogating, in order to get information and teaching, or in the\nsense of beseeching, in order to get gifts. In the former sense the\nword is employed in the first clause of my text, with distinct\nreference to the disciples' desire, a moment or two before, to ask Him\na very foolish question; and in the second sense it is employed in the\ncentral portion of my text.\n\nSo, then, there are three things here as the marks of the Christian\nlife all through the ages: the cessation of the ignorant questions\naddressed to a present Christ; the satisfaction of desires; and the\nperfecting of joy. These are the characteristics of a true Christian\nlife. My brother, are they in any degree the characteristics of yours?\n\nI. Note then, first, the end of questionings.\n\n'In that day ye shall ask Me nothing,' and do not you think that when\nthe disciples heard that, they would be tempted to say, 'Then what in\nall the world are we to do?' To them the thought that He was not to be\nat their sides any longer, for them to go to with their difficulties,\nmust have seemed despair rather than advance; but in Christ's eyes it\nwas progress. He tells them and us that we gain by losing Him, and are\nbetter off than they were, precisely because He does not any longer\nstand at our sides for us to question. It is better for a boy to puzzle\nout the meaning of a Latin book by his own brains and the help of a\ndictionary than it is lazily to use an interlinear translation. And,\nthough we do not always feel it, and are often tempted to think how\nblessed it would be if we had an infallible Teacher visible here at our\nsides, it is a great deal better for us that we have not, and it is a\nstep in advance that He has gone away. Many eager and honest Christian\nsouls, hungering after certainty and rest, have cast themselves in\nthese latter days into the arms of an infallible Church. I doubt\nwhether any such questioning mind has found what it sought; and I am\nsure that it has taken a step downwards, in passing from the spiritual\nguidance realised by our own honest industry and earnest use of the\nmaterials supplied to us in Christ's word, to any external authority\nwhich comes to us to save us the trouble of thinking, and to confirm to\nus truth which we have not made our own by search and effort. We gain\nby losing the visible Christ; and He was proclaiming progress and not\nretrogression, when He said: 'In that day ye shall ask Me no more\nquestions.'\n\nFor what have we instead? We have two things: a completed revelation,\nand an inward Teacher.\n\nWe have a completed revelation. Great and wonderful and unspeakably\nprecious as were and are the words of Jesus Christ, His deeds are far\nmore. The death of Christ has told us things that Christ before His\ndeath could not tell. The resurrection of Christ has cast light upon\nall the darkest places of man's destiny which Christ, before His\nresurrection, could not by any words so illuminate. The ascension of\nChrist has opened doors for thought, for faith, for hope, which were\nfast closed, notwithstanding all His teachings, until He had burst them\nasunder and passed to His throne. And the facts which are substituted\nfor the bodily presence of Jesus with His disciples tell us a great\ndeal more than they could ever have drawn from Him by questionings,\nhowever persistent and however wisely directed. We have a completed\nrevelation, and therefore we need 'ask Him nothing.'\n\nAnd we have a divine Spirit that will come to us if we will, and teach\nus by means of blessing the exercise of our own faculties, and guiding\nus, not, indeed, into the uniform perception of the intellectual\naspects of Christian truth, but into the apprehension and the loving\npossession, as a power in our lives, of all the truth that we need to\nmould our characters and to raise us to the likeness of Himself.\n\nOnly, brother! let us remember what such a method of teaching demands\nfrom us. It needs that we honestly use the revelation that is given us;\nit needs that we loyally, lovingly, trustfully, submit ourselves to the\nteaching of that Spirit who will dwell in us; it needs that we bring\nour lives up to the height of our present knowledge, and make\neverything that we know a factor in shaping what we do and what we are.\nIf thus we will to do His will, 'we shall know of the doctrine'; if\nthus we yield ourselves to the divine Spirit, we shall be taught the\npractical bearings of all essential truth; and if thus we ponder the\nfacts and principles that are enshrined in Christ's life, and the\nApostolic commentary on them, as preserved for us in the Scripture, we\nshall not need to envy those that could go to Him with their questions,\nfor _He_ will come to us with His all-satisfying answers.\n\nAh! but you say experience does not verify these promises. Look at a\ndivided Christendom; look at my own difficulties of knowing what I am\nto believe and to think. Well, as for a divided Christendom, saintly\nsouls are all of one Church, and however they may formulate the\nintellectual aspects of their creed, when they come to pray, they say\nthe same things. Roman Catholic and Protestant, and Quaker and\nChurchman, and Calvinist and Arminian, and Greek and Latin\nChristians--all contribute to the hymn-book of every sect; and we all\nsing their songs. So the divisions are like the surface cracks on a dry\nfield, and a few inches down there is continuity. As for the difficulty\nof knowing what I am to believe and think about controverted questions,\nno doubt there will remain many gaps in the circle of our knowledge; no\ndoubt there will be much left obscure and unanswered; but if we will\nkeep ourselves near the Master, and use honestly and diligently the\nhelps that He gives us--the outward help in the Word, and the inward\nhelp in His teaching Spirit--we shall not 'walk in darkness,' but shall\nhave light enough given to be to us 'the Light of Life.'\n\nBrother, keep close to Christ, and Christ--present though absent--will\nteach you.\n\nII. Secondly, satisfied desires.\n\nThis second great promise of my text, introduced again by the solemn\naffirmation, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you,' substantially appeared\nin a former part of these discourses with a very significant\ndifference. 'Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name that will I do.' 'If ye\nshall ask anything in My name I will do it.' There Christ presented\nHimself as the Answerer of the petitions, because His more immediate\npurpose was to set forth His going to the Father as His elevation to a\nyet loftier position. Here, on the other hand, He sets forth the Father\nas the Answerer of the petitions, because His purpose is to point away\nfrom undue dependence on His own corporeal presence. But the fact that\nHe thus, as occasion requires, substitutes the one form of speech for\nthe other, and indifferently represents the same actions as being done\nby Himself and by the Father in heaven, carries with it large teachings\nwhich I do not dwell upon now. Only I would ask you to consider how\nmuch is involved in that fact, that, as a matter of course, and without\nexplanation of the difference, our Lord alternates the two forms, and\nsometimes says, 'I will do it,' and sometimes says, 'The Father will do\nit.' Does it not point to that great and blessed truth, 'Whatsoever\nthing the Father doeth, that also doeth the Son likewise?'\n\nBut passing from that, let me ask you to note very carefully the\nlimitation, which is here given to the broad universality of the\ndeclaration that desires shall be satisfied. 'If ye shall ask anything\nin My name'; there is the definition of Christian prayer. And what does\nit mean? Is a prayer, which from the beginning to the end is reeking\nwith self-will, hallowed because we say, as a kind of charm at the end\nof it, 'For Christ's sake. Amen'? Is _that_ praying in Christ's name?\nSurely not! What is the 'name' of Christ? His whole revealed character.\nSo these disciples could not pray in His name 'hitherto,' because His\ncharacter was not all revealed. Therefore, to pray in His name is to\npray, recognising what He is, as revealed in His life and death and\nresurrection and ascension, and to base all our dependence of\nacceptance of our prayers upon that revealed character. Is that all?\nAre any kind of wishes, which are presented in dependence upon Christ\nas our only Hope and Channel of divine blessing, certain to be\nfulfilled? Certainly not. To pray 'in My name' means yet more than\nthat. It means not only to pray in dependence upon Christ as our only\nGround of hope and Source of acceptance and God's only Channel of\nblessing, but it means exactly what the same phrase means when it is\napplied to us. If I say that I am doing something in your name, that\nmeans on your behalf, as your representative, as your organ, and to\nexpress your mind and will. And if we pray in Christ's name, that\nimplies, not only our dependence upon His merit and work, but also the\nharmony of our wills with His will, and that our requests are not\nmerely the hot products of our own selfishness, but are the calm issues\nof communion with Him. _Thus_ to pray requires the suppression of self.\nHeathen prayer, if there be such a thing, is the violent effort to make\nGod will what I wish. Christian prayer is the submissive effort to make\nmy wish what God wills, and that is to pray in Christ's name.\n\nMy brother! do we construct our prayers thus? Do we try to bring our\ndesires into harmony with Him, before we venture to express them? Do we\ngo to His footstool to pour out petulant, blind, passionate,\nun-sanctified wishes after questionable and contingent good, or do we\nwait until He fills our spirits with longings after what it must be His\ndesire to give, and then breathe out those desires caught from His own\nheart, and echoing His own will? Ah! The discipline that is wanted to\nmake men pray in Christ's name is little understood by multitudes\namongst us.\n\nNotice how certain such prayer is of being answered. Of course, if it\nis in harmony with the will of God, it is sure not to be offered in\nvain. Our Revised Version makes a slight alteration in the order of the\nwords in the first clause of this promise by reading, 'If ye ask\nanything of the Father He will give it you _in My name_.' God's gifts\ncome down through the same channel through which our prayer goes up. We\nask in the name of Christ, and get our answers in the name of Christ.\n\nBut, whether that be the true collocation of ideas or not, mark the\nplain principle here, that only desires which are in harmony with the\ndivine will are sure of being satisfied. What is a bad thing for a\nchild cannot be a good thing for a man. What is a foolish and wicked\nthing for a father down here to do cannot be a kind and a wise thing\nfor the Father in the heavens to do. If you wish to spoil your child\nyou say, 'What do you want, my dear? tell me and you shall have it.'\nAnd if God were saying anything like that to us, through the lips of\nJesus Christ His Son, in the text, it would be no blessing, but a\ncurse. He knows a great deal better what is good for us; and so He\nsays: 'Bring your wishes into line with My purpose, and then you will\nget them'; 'Delight thyself in the Lord, and He will give thee the\ndesires of thine heart.' If you want God most you will be sure to get\nHim; if your heart's desires are after Him, your heart's desires will\nbe satisfied. 'The young lions do roar and suffer hunger.' That is the\nworld's way of getting good; fighting and striving and snarling, and\nforcibly seeking to grasp, and there is hunger after all. There is a\nbetter way than that. Instead of striving and struggling to snatch and\nto keep a perishable and questionable portion, let us wait upon God and\nquiet our hearts, stilling them into the temper of communion and\nconformity with Him, and we shall not ask in vain.\n\nHe who prays in Christ's name must pray Christ's prayer, 'Not My will,\nbut Thine be done.' And then, though many wishes may be unanswered, and\nmany weak petitions unfulfilled, and many desires unsatisfied, the\nessential spirit of the prayer will be answered, and, His will being\ndone in us and on us, our wishes will acquiesce in it and desire\nnothing besides. To him who can thus pray in Christ's name in the\ndeepest sense, and after Christ's pattern, every door in God's\ntreasure-house flies open, and he may take as much of the treasure as\nhe desires. The Master bends lovingly over such a soul, and looks him\nin the eyes, and with outstretched hand says, 'What wilt thou that I\nshould do unto thee? Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.'\n\nIII. Lastly, the perfect joy which follows upon these two.\n\n'That your joy may be fulfilled.' Again we have a recurrence of a\npromise that has appeared in another connection in an earlier part of\nthis discourse; but the connection here is worthy of notice. The\npromise is of joy that comes from the satisfaction of meek desires in\nunison with Christ's will. Is it possible then, that, amidst all the\nups and downs, the changes and the sorrows of this fluctuating,\ntempest-tossed life of ours we may have a deep and stable joy? 'That\nyour joy may be full,' says my text, or 'fulfilled,' like some\njewelled, golden cup charged to the very brim with rich and quickening\nwine, so that there is no room for a drop more. Can it be that ever, in\nthis world, men shall be happy up to the very limits of their capacity?\nWas anybody ever so blessed that he could not be more so? Was your cup\never so full that there was no room for another drop in it? Jesus\nChrist says that it may be so, and He tells us how it may be so. Bring\nyour desires into harmony with God's, and you will have none\nunsatisfied amongst them; and so you will be blessed to the full; and\nthough sorrow comes, as of course it will come, still you may be\nblessed. There is no contradiction between the presence of this deep,\ncentral joy and a surface and circumference of sorrow. Rather we need\nthe surrounding sorrow, to concentrate, and so to intensify, the\ncentral joy in God. There are some flowers which only blow in the\nnight; and white blossoms are visible with startling plainness in the\ntwilight, when all the flaunting purples and reds are hid. We do not\nknow the depth, the preciousness, the power of the 'joy of the Lord,'\nuntil we have felt it shining in our hearts in the midst of the thick\ndarkness of earthly sorrow, and bringing life into the very death of\nour human delights. It may be ours on the conditions that my text\ndescribes.\n\nMy dear friends! there are only two courses before us. Either we must\nhave a life with superficial, transitory, incomplete gladness, and an\naching centre of vacuity and pain, or we may have a life which, in its\noutward aspects and superficial appearance, has much about it that is\nsad and trying, but down in the heart of it is calm and joyful. Which\nof the two do you deem best, a superficial gladness and a rooted\nsorrow, or a superficial sorrow and a central joy? 'Even in laughter\nthe heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness.' But,\non the other hand, the 'ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to\nZion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain\njoy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.'\n\n\n\nTHE JOYS OF 'THAT DAY'\n\n'These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh,\nwhen I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you\nplainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in My Name: and I say\nnot unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father\nHimself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I\ncame out from God.'--JOHN xvi. 25-27.\n\nThe stream which we have been tracking for so long in these discourses\nhas now nearly reached its close. Our Lord, in these all but final\nwords, sums up the great salient features which He has already more\nthan once specified, of the time when His followers shall live with an\nabsent and yet present Christ. He reiterates here substantially just\nwhat He has been saying before, but in somewhat different connection,\nand with some slight expansion. And this reiteration of the glad\nfeatures of the day which was about to dawn suggests how much the\ndisciples needed, and how much we need, to have repeated over and over\nagain the blessed and profound lessons of these words.\n\nWhat a sublime self-repression there was in the Master! Not one word\nescapes from His lips of the personal pain and agony into which He had\nto plunge and be baptized, before that day could dawn. All that was\ncrushed down and kept back, and He only speaks to the disciples and to\nus of the joy that comes to them, and not at all of the bitter sorrow\nby which it is bought. There are set forth in these words, as it seems\nto me, especially three characteristics which belong to the whole\nperiod between the ascension of Jesus Christ and His coming again for\njudgment. It is a day of continual and clearer teaching by Him. It is a\nday of desires in His name. It is a day of filial experience of a\nFather's love. These are the characteristics of the Christian period,\nand they ought to be the characteristics of our individual Christian\nlife. My brother! are they the characteristics of yours?\n\nLet us note them in order.\n\nI. First, our Lord tells us that the whole period of the Christian life\nupon earth is to be a period of continuous and clearer teaching by\nHimself.\n\n'Hitherto I have spoken to you in proverbs,' or parables. The word\nmeans, not only a comparison or parable, but also, and perhaps\nprimarily, a mysterious and enigmatical saying. The reference is, of\ncourse, directly to the immediately preceding thoughts, in which His\ndeparture and the sorrow that accompanied it and was to merge into joy,\nwere described under that touching figure of the woman in travail. But\nthe reference must be extended very much farther than that. It includes\nnot only this discourse, but the whole of His teaching by word whilst\nHe was here upon earth.\n\nNow the first thing that strikes me here is this strange fact. Here is\na man who knew Himself to be within four-and-twenty hours of His death,\nand knew that scarcely another word of instruction was to come from His\nlips upon earth, calmly asserting that, for all the subsequent ages of\nthe world's history, He is to continue its Teacher. We know how the\nwisest and profoundest of earthly teachers have their lips sealed by\ndeath, so as that no counsel can come from them any more, and their\ndisciples long in vain for responses from the silenced oracle, which is\ndumb whatever new problems may arise. But Jesus Christ calmly poses\nbefore the world as not having His teaching activity in the slightest\ndegree suspended by that fact which puts a conclusive and complete\nclose to all other teachers' words. Rather He says that after death He\nwill, more clearly than in life, be the Teacher of the world.\n\nWhat does He mean by that? Well, remember first of all the facts which\nfollowed this saying--the Cross, the Grave, Olivet, the Heavens, the\nThrone. These were still in the future when He spoke. And have not\nthese--the bitter passion, the supernatural resurrection, the\ntriumphant ascension, and the everlasting session of the Son at the\nright hand of God--taught the whole world the meaning of the Father's\nname, and the love of the Father's heart, and the power of the Father's\nSon, as nothing else, not even the sweetest and tenderest of His\nutterances, could have taught them? When, then, He declares the\ncontinuance of His teaching functions unbroken through death and beyond\nit, He refers partly to the future facts of His earthly manifestation,\nand still more does He refer to that continuous teaching which, by that\ndivine Spirit whom He sends, is granted to every believing soul all\nthrough the ages.\n\nThis great truth, which recurs over and over again in these discourses\nof our Lord, is far too much dropped out of the consciousness and\ncreeds of the modern Christian Church. We call ourselves Christ's\ndisciples. If there be disciples, there must be a Master. His teaching\nis by no means merely the effect of the recorded facts and utterances\nof the Lord, preserved here in the Book for us, and to be pondered upon\nby ourselves, but it is also the hourly communication, to waiting\nhearts and souls that keep themselves near the Lord, of deeper insight\ninto His will, of larger views of His purposes, of a firmer grasp of\nthe contents of Scripture, and a more complete subjection of the whole\nnature to the truth as it is in Jesus. Christian men and women! do you\nknow anything about what it is to learn of Christ in the sense that He\nHimself, and no poor human voice like mine, nor even merely the records\nof His past words and deeds as garnered in these Gospels and expounded\nby His Apostles, is the source of your growing knowledge of Him? If we\nwould keep our hearts and minds clearer than we do of the babble of\nearthly voices, and be more loyal and humble and constant and patient\nin our sitting on the benches in Christ's school till the Master\nHimself came to give us His lessons, these great words of my text would\nnot, as they so often do in the mass of professing Christians, lack the\nverification of experience and the assurance that it is so with us.\nHave you sat in Christ's school, and do you know the secret and\nilluminative whispers of His teaching? If not, there is something wrong\nin your Christian character, and something insincere in your Christian\nprofession.\n\nNotice, still further, that our Lord here ranks that subsequent\nteaching before all that He said upon earth, great and precious as it\nwas. Now I do not mean for one moment to allege that fresh\ncommunications of truth, uncontained in Scripture, are given to us in\nthe age-long and continuous teaching of Jesus Christ. That I do not\nsuppose to be the meaning of the great promises before us, for the\nfacts of revelation were finished when He ascended, and the inspired\ncommentary upon the facts of revelation was completed with these\nwritings which follow the Gospels in our New Testament. But Christ's\nteaching brings us up to the understanding of the facts and of the\ncommentary upon them which Scripture contains, so that what was parable\nor proverb, dimly apprehended, mysterious and enigmatical when it was\nspoken, and what remains mysterious and enigmatical to us until we grow\nup to it, gradually becomes full of significance and weighty with a\nplain and certain meaning. This is the teaching which goes on through\nthe ages--the lifting of His children to the level of apprehending more\nand more of the inexhaustible and manifold wisdom which is stored for\nus in this Book. The mine has been worked on the surface, but the\ndeeper it goes the richer is the lode; and no ages will exhaust the\ntreasures that are hid in Christ Jesus our Lord.\n\nHe uses the new problems, the new difficulties, the new circumstances\nof each successive age, and of each individual Christian, in order to\nevolve from His word larger lessons, and to make the earlier lessons\nmore fully and deeply understood. And this generation, with all its new\nproblems, with all its uneasiness about social questions, with all its\nnew attitude to many ancient truths, will find that Jesus Christ is, as\nHe has been to all past generations,--the answer to all its doubts,\nusing even these doubts as a means of evolving the deeper harmonies of\nHis Word, and of unveiling in the ancient truth more than former\ngenerations have seen in it. 'Brethren, I write unto you no new\ncommandment. Again, a new commandment I write unto you.' The\ninexhaustible freshness of the old word taught us anew, with deeper\nsignificance and larger applications, by the everlasting Teacher of the\nChurch, is the hope that shines through these words. I commend to you,\ndear brethren, the one simple, personal question, Have I submitted\nmyself to that Teacher, and said to men and systems and preachers and\nbooks and magazines, and all the rest of the noisy and clamorous\ntongues that bewilder under pretence of enlightening this\ngeneration--have I said to them all, 'Hold your peace! and let me, in\nthe silence of my waiting soul, hear the Teacher Himself speak to me.\nSpeak, Lord! for Thy servant heareth. Teach me Thy way and lead me, for\nThou art my Master, and I the humblest of Thy scholars'?\n\nII. In the next place, another of the glad features of this dawning day\nis that it is to be a day of desires based upon Christ, and Christlike.\n\n'In that day ye shall ask in My name.' Our translators have wisely put\na colon at the end of that clause, in order that we may not hurry over\nit too quickly in haste to get to the next one. For there is a\nsubstantial blessing and privilege wrapped up in it. Our Lord has just\nbeen saying the same thing in the previous verses, but He repeats it\nhere in order to emphasise it, and to set it by the subsequent words in\na somewhat different light. But I dwell upon it for a very simple,\npractical purpose. I have already explained in former sermons the full,\ndeep meaning of that phrase, 'asking in Christ's name,' and have\nsuggested to you that it implies two things--the one, that our desires\nshould all be based upon His great work as the only ground of our\nacceptance with God; and the other, that our desires should all be such\nas represent His heart and His mind. When we 'ask in His name' we ask,\nfirst, for His sake, and, second, as in His person. And such desires,\nresting their hopes of answer solely upon His mighty sacrifice and\nall-sufficient merit, and shaped accurately and fully after the pattern\nof the wishes that are dear to His heart, are to be the prerogative and\nthe joy of His servants, in the new 'day' that is about to dawn.\n\nNote how beautifully this thought, of wishes moulded into conformity\nwith Jesus Christ, and offered in reliance upon His great sacrifice,\nfollows upon that other thought, 'I will tell you plainly of the\nFather.' The Master's voice speaks, revealing the paternal heart, the\nscholar's voice answers with desires kindled by the revelation.\nLongings and aspirations humbly offered for His sake, and after the\npattern of His own, are our true response to His teaching voice. As the\nastronomer, the more powerful his telescope, though it may resolve some\nof the nebulae that resisted feebler instruments, only has his bounds\nof vision enlarged as he looks through it, and sees yet other and\nmightier star-clouds lying mysterious beyond its ken--so each new\ninflux and tidal wave of knowledge of the Father, which Christ gives to\nHis waiting child, leads on to enlarged desires, to longings to press\nstill further into the unexplored mysteries of that magnificent and\nboundless land, and to nestle still closer into the infinite heart of\nGod. He declares to us the Father, and the answer of the child to the\ndeclaration of the Father is the cry, 'Abba! Father! show me yet more\nof Thy heart.' Thus aspiration and fruition, longing and satisfaction\nin unsatiated and inexhaustible and unwearying alternation, are the two\nblessed poles between which the life of a Christian may revolve in\nsmoothness and music.\n\nMy friend! is that anything like the transcript of our experience, that\nthe more we know of God, the more we long to know of, and to possess,\nHim? and the more we long to know of, and to possess, Him, the more\nfull, gracious, confidential, tender, and continuous are the teachings\nof our Master? Is not this a far higher level of Christian life than\nthat we live upon? And why so? Is Christ's word faithless? Hath He\nforgotten to be gracious? Was this promise of His idle wind? Or is it\nthat you and I have never grasped the fulness of privileges that He\nbestows upon us?\n\nIII. Note, lastly, that that day is to be a day of filial experience of\na Father's love.\n\n'I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father\nHimself loveth you because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I\ncame out from God.' Jesus Christ does not deny His intercession. He\nsimply does not bring it into evidence here. To deny it would have been\nimpossible, for soon afterwards we find Him saying, 'I pray for them\nwhich Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine.' But He does not\nemphasise it here, in order that He may emphasise another blessed\nsource of solace--viz., that to those who listen to the Master's\nteaching, and have their desires moulded into harmony with His, and\ntheir wishes and hopes all based upon His sacrifice and work, the\ndivine Father's love directly flows. There is no need of any\nintercession to turn Him to be merciful. Men sometimes caricature the\nthought of the intercession of Christ, as if it meant that He, by His\nprayer, bent the reluctant will of the Father in heaven. All such\nhorrible misconceptions Christ sweeps out of the field here, even\nwhilst there remains, in the fact that the prayers of which He is\nspeaking are offered in His name, the substance and reality of all that\nwe mean by the intercession of Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd now note that God loves the men who love Jesus Christ. So\ncompletely does the Father identify Himself with the Son, that love to\nChrist is love to Him, and brings the blessed answer of His love to us.\nWhosoever loves Christ loves God.\n\nWhosoever loves Christ must do so, believing that He 'came forth from\nGod.' There are the two characteristics of a Christian disciple,--faith\nin the divine mission of the Son, and love that flows from faith. Now,\nof course, it does not follow from the words before us, that this\ndivine love which comes down upon the heart which loves Christ is the\noriginal and first flow of that love towards that heart. 'We love Him\nbecause He first loved us.' Christ is not here tracking the stream to\nits source, but is pointing to it midway in its flow. If you want to go\nup to the fountain-head you have to go up to the divine Father's heart,\nwho loved when there was no love in us; and, because He loved, sent the\nSon. First comes the unmotived, spontaneous, self-originated,\nundeserved, infinite love of God to sinners and aliens and enemies;\nthen the Cross and the mission of Jesus Christ; then the faith in His\ndivine mission; then the love which is the child of faith, as it grasps\nthe Cross and recognises the love that lies behind it; and then, after\nthat, the special, tender, and paternal love of God falling upon the\nhearts that love Him in His Son. There is nothing here in the slightest\ndegree to conflict with the grand universal truth that God loves\nenemies and sinners and aliens. But there is the truth, as precious as\nthe other, that they who have 'known and believed the love that God\nhath to us' live under the selectest influences of His loving heart,\nand have a place in its tenderness which it is impossible that any\nshould have who do not so love. And that sweet commerce of a divine\nlove answering a human, which itself is the answer to a prior divine\nlove, brings with it the firm confidence that prayers in His name shall\nnot be prayers in vain.\n\nSo, dear friends, growing knowledge, an ever-present Teacher, the peace\nof calm desires built upon Christ's Cross and fashioned after Christ's\nSpirit, and the assurance in my quiet and filial heart that my Father\nin the heavens loves me, and will neither give me 'serpents' when I ask\nfor them, thinking them to be 'fishes,' nor refuse 'bread' when I ask\nfor it--these things ought to mark the lives of all professing\nChristians. Are they our experience? If not, why are they not, but\nbecause we do not believe that 'Thou art come forth from God,' nor love\nThee as we ought?\n\n\n\n'FROM' AND 'TO'\n\n'I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I\nleave the world, and go to the Father.'--JOHN xvi. 28.\n\nThese majestic and strange words are the proper close of our Lord's\ndiscourse, what follows being rather a reply to the disciples'\nexclamation. There is nothing absolutely new in them, but what is new\nis the completeness and the brevity with which they cover the whole\nground of His being, work, and glory. They fall into two halves, each\nconsisting of two clauses; the former half describing our Lord's\n_descent_, the latter His _ascent_. In each half the two clauses deal\nwith the same fact, considered from the two opposite ends as it were--the\npoint of departure and the point of arrival. 'I came forth _from_\nthe Father, and am come _into the world: again I _leave_ the world and\ngo _to_ the Father.' But the first point of departure is the last point\nof arrival, and the end comes round to the beginning. Our Lord's\nearthly life is, as it were, a jewel enclosed within the flashing gold\nof His eternal dwelling with God.\n\nSo I think we shall best apprehend the scope, and appropriate to\nourselves the blessing and power of these words, if we deal with the\nfour points to which they call our attention--the dwelling with the\nFather; the voluntary coming to the earth; the voluntary departure from\nthe earth; and, once more, the dwelling with the Father. We must grasp\nthem all if we would know the whole Christ and all that He is able to\ndo and to be to us and to the world. So, then, I deal simply with these\nfour points.\n\nI. Note then, first, the dwelling with the Father.\n\nIf we adopt the most probable reading of the first clause of my text,\nit is even more forcible than in our version: 'I came forth _out of_\nthe Father.' Such an egress implies a being _in_ the Father in a sense\nineffable for our words, and transcending our thoughts. It implies a\nfar deeper and closer relation than even that of juxtaposition,\ncompanionship, or outward presence.\n\nNow, in these great words there is involved obviously, to begin with,\nthat, during His earthly life, our Lord bore about with Him the\nremembrance and consciousness of an individual existence prior to His\nlife on earth. I need not remind you how frequently such hints drop\nfrom His lips--'Before Abraham was, I am,' and the like. But beyond\nthat solemn thought of a remembered previous existence there is this\nother one--that the words are the assertion by Christ Himself of a\nprevious, deep, mysterious, ineffable union with the Father. On such a\nsubject wisdom and reverence bid us speak only as we hear; but I cannot\nrefrain from emphasising the fact that, if this fourth Gospel be a\ngenuine record of the teaching of Jesus Christ--and, if it is not, what\ngenius was he who wrote it?--if it be a genuine record of the teaching\nof Jesus Christ, then nothing is more plain than that over and over\nagain, in all sorts of ways, by implication and by direct statement, to\nall sorts of audiences, friends and foes, He reiterated this tremendous\nclaim to have 'dwelt in the bosom of the Father,' long before He lay on\nthe breast of Mary. What did He mean when He said, 'No man hath\nascended up into heaven save He which came down from heaven'? What did\nHe mean when He said, 'What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend\nup where He was before'? What did He mean when He said, 'I came down\nfrom heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent\nMe'? And what did He mean when, in the midst of the solemnities of that\nlast prayer, He said, 'Glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with\nThee before the world was'?\n\nDear friends! it seems to me that if we know anything about Jesus\nChrist, we know _that_. If we cannot believe that He thus spoke, we\nknow nothing about Him on which we can rely. And so, without venturing\nto enlarge at all upon these solemn words, I leave this with you as a\nplain fact, that the meekest, lowliest, and most sane and wise of\nreligious teachers made deliberately over and over again this claim,\nwhich is either absolutely true, and lifts Him into the region of the\nDeity, or else is fatal to His pretensions to be either meek or modest,\nor wise or sane, or a religious teacher to whom it is worth our while\nto listen.\n\nII. Note, secondly, the voluntary coming into the world.\n\n'I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.' We all talk\nin a loose way about men coming into the world when they are born; but\nthe weight of these words and the solemnity of the occasion on which\nthey were spoken, and the purpose for which they were spoken--viz., to\ncomfort and to illuminate these disciples--forbid us to see such a mere\nplatitude as that in them. There would have been no consolation in them\nunless they meant something a great deal more than the undeniable fact\nthat Jesus Christ was born, and the melancholy fact that Jesus Christ\nwas about to die.\n\n'I am _come_ into the world.' There has been a Man who chose to be\nborn. There has been a Man who appeared here, not 'of the will of the\nflesh, nor of the will of man,' but by His own free choice. He willed\nto take upon Him the form of humanity. Now the voluntariness of the\nentrance of Jesus Christ into the conditions of our human life is\nall-important for us, for it underlies the whole value of that life and\nits whole power to be blessing and good to us. It underlies, for\ninstance, the personal sinlessness of Jesus Christ, and hence His power\nto bring a new beginning of pure and perfect life into the midst of\nhumanity. All the rest of mankind, knit together by that mysterious\nbond of natural descent which only now for the first time is beginning\nto receive its due attention on the part of men of science, by heredity\nhave the taint upon them. And if Jesus Christ is only one of the\nseries, then there is no deliverance in Him, for there is no\nsinlessness in that life. However fair its record may seem on the\nsurface, there is beneath, somewhere or other, the leprosy that infects\nus all. Unless He came in another fashion from all the rest of us, He\ncame with the same sin as all the rest of us, and He is no deliverer\nfrom sin. Rather He is one of the series who, like the melancholy\ncaptives on the road to Siberia, each carries a link of the hopeless\nchain that binds them all together. But, if it be true that of His own\nwill He took to Himself humanity, and was born as the Scripture tells\nus He was born, His birth being His 'coming' and not His being brought,\nthen, being free from taint, He can deliver us from taint, and, Himself\nunbound by the chain, He can break it from off our necks. The stream is\nfouled from its source downwards, and flows on, every successive drop\nparticipant of the primeval pollution. But, down from the white snows\nof the eternal hills of God, there comes into it an affluent which has\nno stain on its pure waters, and so can purge that into which it\nenters. Jesus Christ willed to be born, and to plant a new beginning of\nholy life in the very heart of humanity which henceforth should work as\nleaven.\n\nLet me remind you, too, that this voluntary assumption of our nature is\nall-important to us, for unless we preserve it clear to our minds and\nhearts, the power to sway our affections is struck away from Jesus\nChrist. Unless He voluntarily took upon Himself the nature which He\nmeant to redeem, why should I be thankful to Him for what He did, and\nwhat right has He to claim my love? But if He willingly came down\namongst us, and 'to this end was born, and for this cause,' of His own\nloving heart, 'came into the world,' then I am knit to Him by cords\nthat cannot be broken. One thing only saves for Jesus Christ the\nunbounded and perpetual love of mankind, and that is, that from His own\ninfinite and perpetual love He came into the world. We talk about kings\nleaving their palaces and putting on the rags of the beggar, and\nlearning 'love in huts where poor men lie,' and making experience of\nthe conditions of their lowliest subjects. But here is a fact,\ninfinitely beyond all these legends. It is set forth for us in a\ntouching fashion, in the incident that almost immediately preceded\nthese parting words of our Lord, when 'Jesus, knowing that He came\nforth from God, laid aside His garments and took a towel, and girded\nHimself,' and washed the foul feet of these travel-stained men. That\nwas a parable of the Incarnation. The consciousness of His divine\norigin was ever with Him, and that consciousness led Him to lay aside\nthe garments of His majesty, and to gird Himself with the towel of\nservice. That He had a body round which to wrap it was more humiliation\nthan that He wrapped it round the body which He took. And we may learn\nthere what it is that gives Him His supreme right to our devotion and\nour surrender--viz., that, 'being in the form of God, He thought not\nequality with God a thing to be covetously retained, but made Himself\nof no reputation, and was found in fashion as a Man.'\n\nIII. Note the voluntary leaving the world.\n\nThe stages of that departure are not distinguished. They are threefold\nin fact--the death, the resurrection, the ascension, and in all three\nwe have the majestic, spontaneous energy of Christ as their cause.\n\nThere was a voluntary death, I have so often had occasion to insist\nupon that, in the course of these sermons, that I do not need to dwell\nupon it now. Let me remind you only how distinctly and in what various\nforms that thought is presented to us in the Scriptures. We have our\nLord's own words about His having 'power to lay down His life.' We have\nin the story of the Passion hints that seem to suggest that His\nrelation to death, to which He is about to bow His head, was altogether\ndifferent from that of ours. For instance, we read: 'Into Thy hands I\n_commend_ My Spirit'; and 'He _gave up_ the Spirit.' We have hints of a\nsimilar nature in the very swiftness of His death and unexpected\nbrevity of His suffering, to be accounted for by no natural result of\nthe physical process of crucifixion. The fact is that Jesus Christ is\nthe Lord of death, and was so even when He seemed to be its Servant,\nand that He never showed Himself more completely the Prince of Life and\nthe Conqueror of Death than when He gave up His life and died, not\nbecause He must, but because He would. There is a scene in a modern\nbook of fiction of a man sitting on a rock and the ocean stretching\nround him. It reaches high upon his breast, but it threatens not his\nlife, till he, sitting there in his calm, bows his head beneath the\nwave and lets it roll over him. So Christ willed to die, and died\nbecause He willed.\n\nThere was also a voluntary resurrection by His own power; for although\nScripture sometimes represents His rising again from the dead as being\nthe Father's attestation of the Son's finished work, it also represents\nit as being, in accordance with His own claim of 'power to lay down My\nlife, and to take it again,' the Son's triumphant egress from the\nprison into which, for the moment, He willed to pass. Jesus 'was raised\nfrom the dead by the glory of the Father,' but also Jesus rose from the\ndead by His own power.\n\nThere was also a voluntary ascension to the heavens. There was no need\nfor Elijah's chariot of fire. There was no need for a whirlwind to\nsweep a mortal to the sky. There was no need for any external vehicle\nor agency whatsoever. No angels bore Him up upon their wings. But, the\ncords of duty which bound Him to earth being cut, He rose to His own\nnative sphere; and, if one might so say, the natural forces of His\nsupernatural life bore Him, by inverted gravitation, upward to the\nplace which was His own. He ascended by His own inherent power.\n\nThus, by a voluntary death, He became the Sacrifice for our sins; by\nthe might of His self-effected resurrection He proclaimed Himself the\nLord of death and the resurrection for all that trust Him; and by\nascending up on high He draws our hearts' desires after Him, so that\nwe, too, as we see Him lost from our sight, behind the bright Shekinah\ncloud that stooped to conceal the last stages of His ascension from our\nview, may return to our lowly work 'with great joy,' and 'set our\naffection on things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand\nof God.'\n\nIV. So, lastly, we have here the dwelling again with the Father.\n\nBut that final dwelling with God is not wholly identical with the\ninitial one. The earthly life was no mere parenthesis, and He who\nreturned to the Throne carried with Him the manhood which He had\nassumed, and bore it thither into the glory in which the Word had dwelt\nfrom the beginning. And this is the true consolation which Christ\noffered to these His weeping servants, and which He still offers to us\nHis waiting children, that now the manhood of Jesus Christ is exalted\nto participation in the divine glory, and dwells there in the calm,\ninvisible sweetness and solemnity of fellowship with the Father.\n\nIf that be so, it is no mere abstract dogma of theology, but it touches\nour daily life at all points, and is essential to the fullness of our\nsatisfaction and our rest in Christ.\n\n'We see not all things put under Him, but we see Jesus.' Our Brother is\nelevated to the Throne, and, if I might so say, He makes the fortunes\nof the family, and none of them will be poor as long as He is so rich.\nHe sends us from the far-off land where He is gone precious gifts of\nits produce, and He will send for us to share His throne one day.\n\nChrist's ascension to the Father is the elevation of our best and\ndearest Friend to the Throne of the Universe, and the hands that were\npierced for us on the Cross hold the helm and sway the sceptre of\nCreation, and therefore we may calmly meet all events.\n\nThe elevation of Jesus Christ to the Throne fills Heaven for our faith,\nour imagination, and our hearts. How different it is to look up into\nthose awful abysses, and to wonder where, amidst their crushing\ninfinitude, the spirits of dear ones that are gone are wandering, if\nthey are at all; and to look up and to think 'My Christ hath passed\nthrough the Heavens,' and is somewhere with a true Body, and with Him\nall that loved Him. Without an ascended Christ we recoil from the cold\nsplendours of an unknown Heaven, as a rustic might from the\nunintelligible magnificence of a palace. But if we believe that He is\n'at the right hand of God,' then the far-off becomes near, and the\nvague becomes definite, and the unsubstantial becomes solid, and what\nwas a fear becomes a joy, and we can trust ourselves and the dear dead\nin His hands, knowing that where He is they are, and that in Him they\nand we have all that we need.\n\nSo, dear friends! it all comes to this--make sure that you have hold of\nthe whole Christ for yourselves. His earthly life is little without the\ncelestial halo that rings it round. His life is nothing without His\ndeath. His death without His resurrection and ascension maybe a little\nmore pathetic than millions of other deaths, but is nothing, really, to\nus. And the life and death and resurrection are not apprehended in\ntheir fullest power until they are set between the eternal glory before\nand the eternal glory after.\n\nThese four facts--the dwelling in the Father; the voluntary coming to\nearth; the voluntary leaving earth; and, again, the dwelling with the\nFather--are the walls of the strong fortress into which we may flee and\nbe safe. With them it 'stands four square to every wind that blows.'\nStrike away one of them, and it totters into ruin. Make the whole\nChrist your Christ; for nothing less than the whole Christ, 'conceived\nof the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, ... crucified, dead, and\nburied, ... ascended into Heaven, and sitting at the right hand of\nGod,' is strong enough to help your infirmities, vast enough to satisfy\nyour desires, loving enough to love you as you need, or able to deliver\nyou from your sins, and to lift you to the glories of His own Throne.\n\n\n\nGLAD CONFESSION AND SAD WARNING\n\n'His disciples said unto Jesus, Lo! now speakest Thou plainly, and\nspeakest no proverb. Now are we sure that Thou knowest all things, and\nneedest not that any man should ask Thee: by this we believe that Thou\nearnest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold,\nthe hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every\nman to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I am not alone,\nbecause the Father is with Me.'--JOHN xvi. 29-32.\n\nThe first words of these wonderful discourses were, 'Let not your heart\nbe troubled.' They struck the key-note of the whole. The aim of all was\nto bring peace and confidence unto the disciples' spirits. And this\njoyful burst of confession which wells up so spontaneously and\nirrepressibly from their hearts, shows that the aim has been reached.\nFor a moment sorrow, bewilderment, dullness of apprehension, had all\npassed away, and the foolish questioners and non-receptive listeners\nhad been lifted into a higher region, and possessed insight, courage,\nconfidence. The last sublime utterance of our Lord had gathered all the\nscattered rays into a beam so bright that the blindest could not but\nsee, and the coldest could not but be warmed.\n\nBut yet the calm, clear eye of Christ sees something not wholly\nsatisfactory in this outpouring of the disciples' confidence. He does\nnot reject their imperfect faith, but He warns them, as if seeing the\nimpending hour of denial which was so terribly to contradict the\nrapture of that moment. And then, with most pathetic suddenness, He\npasses from them to Himself; and in a singularly blended utterance lets\nus get a glimpse into His deep solitude and the companions that shared\nit.\n\nMy words now make no attempt at anything more than is involved in\nfollowing the course of thought in the words before us.\n\nI. Note the disciples' joyful confession.\n\nTheir words are permeated throughout with allusions to the previous\npromises and sayings of our Lord, and the very allusions show how\nshallow was their understanding of what they thought so plain. He had\nsaid to them that, in that coming day which was so near its dawn, He\nwould speak to them 'no more in proverbs, but show them plainly of the\nFather'; and they answer, with a kind of rapture of astonishment, that\nthe promised day has come already, and that even now He is speaking to\nthem 'plainly,' and without mysterious sayings. Did they understand His\nwords when they thought them so plain? 'I came forth from the Father,\nand am come into the world? Again I leave the world and go unto the\nFather,' that summary statement of the central mysteries of\nChristianity, which the generations have found to be inexhaustible, and\nwhich to so many minds has been absolutely incredible, seemed to the\nshallow apprehension of these disciples to be sun-clear. If they had\nunderstood what He meant, could they have spoken thus, or have left Him\nso soon?\n\nThey begin with what they believed to be a fact, His clear utterance.\nThen follows a conviction which has allusion to His previous words.\n'Now', say they, 'we know that Thou knowest all things, and needest not\nthat any man should ask Thee.' He had said to them, 'In that day ye\nshall ask Me nothing'; and from the fact that he had interpreted their\nunspoken words, and had anticipated their desire to ask what they durst\nnot ask, they draw, and rightly draw, the conclusion of His divine\nOmniscience. They think that therein, in His answer to their question\nbefore it is asked, is the fulfilment of that great promise. Was that\nall that He meant? Certainly not. Did He merely mean to say, 'You will\nask Me nothing, because I shall know what you want to know, without\nyour asking'? No! But He meant, 'Ye shall ask Me nothing, because in\nthat day you will have with you an illuminating Spirit who will solve\nall your difficulties.' So, again, a shallow interpretation empties the\nwords which they accept of their deepest and most precious meaning.\n\nAnd then they take yet a further step. First, they begin with a fact;\nthen from that they infer a conviction; and now, upon the basis of the\ninferred conviction, they rear a faith, 'We believe that Thou camest\nforth from God.' But what they meant by 'coming forth from God' fell\nfar short of the greatness of what He meant by the declaration, and\nthey stand, in this final, articulate confession of their faith, but a\nlittle in advance of Nicodemus the Rabbi, and behind Peter the Apostle\nwhen he said: 'Thou art the Son of the living God.'\n\nSo their confession is a strangely mingled warp and woof of insight and\nof ignorance. And they may stand for us both as examples to teach us\nwhat we ought to be, and as beacons teaching us what we should not be.\n\nLet me note just one or two lessons drawn from the disciples' demeanour\nand confession.\n\nThe first remark that I would make is that here we learn what it is\nthat gives life to a creed--experience. These men had, over and over\nagain, in our Lord's earlier utterances, heard the declaration that 'He\ncame forth from God'; and in a sort of fashion they believed it. But,\nas so many of our convictions do, it lay dormant and half dead in their\nsouls. But now, rightly or wrongly, experience had brought them into\ncontact, as they thought, with a manifest proof of His divine\nOmniscience, and the torpid conviction flashed all up at once into\nvitality. The smouldering fire of a mere piece of abstract belief was\nkindled at once into a glow that shed warmth through their whole\nhearts; and although they had professed to believe long ago that He\ncame from God, now, for the first time, they grasp it as a living\nreality. Why? Because experience had taught it to them. It is the only\nteacher that teaches us the articles of our creed in a way worth\nlearning them. Every one of us carries professed beliefs, which lie\nthere inoperative, bedridden, in the hospital and dormitory of our\nsouls, until some great necessity or sudden circumstance comes that\nflings a beam of light upon them, and then they start and waken. We do\nnot know the use of the sword until we are in battle. Until the\nshipwreck comes, no man puts on the lifebelt in his cabin. Every one of\nas has large tracts of Christian truth which we think we most surely\nbelieve, but which need experience to quicken them, and need us to grow\nup into the possession of them. Of all our teachers who turn beliefs\nassented to into beliefs really believed none is so mighty as Sorrow;\nfor that makes a man lay a firm hold on the deep things of God's Word.\n\nThen another lesson that I draw from this glad confession is--the bold\navowal that always accompanies certitude. These men's stammering\ntongues are loosed. They have a fact to base themselves upon. They have\na piece of assured knowledge inferred from the fact. They have a faith\nbuilt upon the certitude of what they know. Having this, out it all\ncomes in a gush. No man that believes with all his heart can help\nspeaking. You silent Christians are so, because you do not more than\nhalf grasp the truth that you say you hold. 'Thy word, when shut up in\nmy bones, was like a fire'; and it ate its way through all the dead\nmatter that enclosed it, until at last it flamed out heaven high. Can\nyou say, 'We know and we believe,' with unfaltering confidence? Not 'we\nargue'; not 'we humbly venture to think that on the whole'; not 'we are\ninclined rather to believe'; but 'we _know_--that Thou knowest all\nthings, and that Thou hast come from God.' Seek for that blessed\ncertitude of knowledge, based upon the facts of individual experience,\nwhich 'makes the tongue of the dumb sing,' and changes all the deadness\nof an outward profession of Christianity into a living, rejoicing power.\n\nThen, further, I draw this lesson. Take care of indolently supposing\nthat you understand the depths of God's truth. These Apostles fancied\nthat they had grasped the whole meaning of the Master's words, and were\nglad in them. They fed on them, and got something out of them; but how\nfar they were from the true perception of their meaning! This\ngeneration abhors mystery, and demands that the deepest truths of the\nhighest subject, which is religion, shall be so broken down into\nmincemeat that the 'man in the street' can understand them in the\nintervals of reading the newspaper. There are only too many of us who\nare disposed to grasp at the most superficial interpretation of\nChristian truth, and lazily to rest ourselves in that. A creed which\nhas no depth in it is like a picture which has no distance. It is flat\nand unnatural, and self-condemned by the very fact. It is better that\nwe should feel that the smallest word that comes from God is like some\nlittle leaf of a water plant on the surface of a pond; if you lift that\nyou draw a whole trail after it, and nobody knows how far off and how\ndeep down are the roots. It is better that we should feel how Infinity\nand Eternity press in upon us on all sides, and should take as ours the\ntemper that recognises that till the end we are but learners, seeing\n'in a glass, in a riddle,' and therefore patiently waiting for light\nand strenuously striving to stretch our souls to the width of the\ninfinite truth of God.\n\nII. So, then, look, in the second place, at the sad questions and\nforebodings of the Master.\n\n'Do ye _now_ believe?' That does not cast doubt on the reality of their\nfaith so much as on its permanence and power. 'Behold the hour cometh\nthat ye shall be scattered'--as He had told them a little while before\nin the upper room, like a flock when the shepherd is stricken\ndown--'every man to his own.' He does not reject their imperfect\nhomage, though He discerns so clearly its imperfection and its\ntransiency, but sadly warns them to beware of the fleeting nature of\ntheir present emotion; and would seek to prepare them, by the\nknowledge, for the terrible storm that is going to break upon them.\n\nSo let us learn two or three simple lessons. One is that the dear Lord\naccepts imperfect surrender, ignorant faith and love, of which He knows\nthat it will soon turn to denial. Oh! if He did not, what would become\nof us all? _We_ reject half hearts; we will not have a friendship on\nwhich we cannot rely. The sweetness of vows is all sucked out of them\nto our apprehension, if we have reason to believe that they will be\nfalsified in an hour. But the patient Master was willing to put up with\nwhat you and I will not put up with; and to accept what we reject; and\nbe pleased that they gave Him even that. His 'charity suffereth long,\nand is kind.' Let us not be afraid to bring even imperfect\nconsecration--\n\n  'A little faith all undisproved'--\n\nto His merciful feet.\n\nThen another lesson is the need for Christian men sedulously to search\nand make sure that their inward life corresponds with their words and\nprofessions. I wonder how many thousands of people will stand up this\nday and say, 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ\nHis only Son,' whose words would stick in their throats if that\nquestion of the Master's was put to them, '_Do_ ye now believe?' And I\nwonder how many of us are the fools of our own verbal acknowledgments\nof Christ. Self-examination is not altogether a wholesome exercise, and\nit may easily be carried too far, to the destruction of the spontaneity\nand the gladness of the Christian life. A man may set his pulse going\nirregularly by simply concentrating his attention upon it, and there\nmay be self-examination of the wrong sort, which does harm rather than\ngood. But, on the other hand, we all need to verify our position, lest\nour outward life should fatally slip away from correspondence with our\ninward. Our words and acts of Christian profession and service are like\nbank notes. What will be the end if there is a whole ream of such going\nup and down the world, and no balance of bullion in the cellars to meet\nthem? Nothing but bankruptcy. Do you see to it that your reserve of\ngold, deep down in your hearts, always leaves a margin beyond the notes\nin circulation issued by you. And in the midst of your professions hear\nthe Master saying, '_Do ye_ now believe?'\n\nAnother lesson that I draw is, trust no emotions, no religious\nexperiences, but only Him to whom they turn.\n\nThese men were perfectly sincere, and there was a glow of gladness in\ntheir hearts, and a real though imperfect faith when they spoke. In an\nhours time where were they?\n\nWe often deal far too hard measure to these poor disciples, in our\nestimate of their conduct at that critical moment. We talk about them\nas cowards. Well, they were better and they were worse than cowards;\nfor their courage failed second, but their faith had failed first. The\nCross made them dastards because it destroyed their confidence in Jesus\nChrist.\n\n'We _trusted_.' Ah! what a world of sorrow there is in those two final\nletters of that word! 'We trusted that it had been He who should have\nredeemed Israel.' But they do not trust it any more, and so why should\nthey put themselves in peril for One on whom their faith can no longer\nbuild?\n\nWould we have been any better if we had been there? Suppose you had\nstood afar off and seen Jesus die on the cross, would your faith have\nlived? Do we not know what it is to be a great deal more exuberant in\nour professions of faith--and real faith it is, no doubt--in some quiet\nhour when we are with Him by ourselves, than when swords are flashing\nand we are in the presence of His antagonists? Do we not know what it\nis to grasp conviction at one moment, and the next to find it gone like\na handful of mist from our clutch? Is our Christian life always lived\nupon one high uniform level? Have we no experience of hours of\nexhaustion coming after deep religious emotion? 'Let him that is\nwithout sin among you cast the first stone'; there will not be many\nstones flung if that law be applied. Let us all, recognising our own\nweakness, trust to nothing, either in our convictions or our emotions,\nbut only to Him, and cry, 'Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe!'\n\nIII. Lastly, note the lonely Christ and His companion.\n\n'Ye shall leave Me alone'; there is sadness, though it be calm, in that\nclause, and then, I suppose, there was a moment's pause before the\nquiet voice began again: 'And yet I am not alone, for the Father is\nwith Me.' There are two currents there, both calm; but the one bright\nand the other dark.\n\nJesus was the loneliest man that ever lived. All other forms of human\nsolitude were concentrated in His. He knew the pain of unappreciated\naims, unaccepted love, unbelieved teachings, a heart thrown back upon\nitself. No man understood Him, no man knew Him, no man deeply and\nthoroughly loved Him or sympathised with Him, and He dwelt apart. He\nfelt the pain of solitude more sharply than sinful men do. Perfect\npurity is keenly susceptible; a heart fully charged with love is\nwounded sore when the love is thrown back, and all the more sorely the\nmore unselfish it is.\n\nSolitude was no small part of the pain of Christ's passion. Remember\nthe pitiful appeal in Gethsemane, 'Tarry ye here and watch with Me!'\nRemember the threefold vain return to the sleepers in the hope of\nfinding some sympathy from them. Remember the emphasis with which, more\nthan once in His life, He foretold the loneliness of His death. And\nthen let us understand how the bitterness of the cup that He drank had\nfor not the least bitter of its ingredients the sense that He drank it\nalone.\n\nNow, dear friends! some of us, no doubt, have to live outwardly\nsolitary lives. We all of us live alone after all fellowship and\ncommunion. Physicists tell us that in the most solid bodies the atoms\ndo not touch. Hearts come closer than atoms, but yet, after all, we die\nalone, and in the depths of our souls we all live alone. So let us be\nthankful that the Master knows the bitterness of solitude, and has\nHimself trod that path.\n\nThen we have here the calm consciousness of unbroken communion. Jesus\nChrist's sense of union with the Father was deep, close, constant, in\nmanner and measure altogether transcending any experience of ours. But\nstill He sets before us a pattern of what we should aim at in these\ngreat words. They show the path of comfort for every lonely heart. 'I\nam not alone, for the Father is with Me.' If earth be dark, let us look\nto Heaven. If the world with its millions seems to have no friend in it\nfor us, let us turn to Him who never leaves us. If dear ones are torn\nfrom our grasp, let us grasp God. Solitude is bitter; but, like other\nbitters, it is a tonic. It is not all loss if the trees which with\ntheir leafy beauty shut out the sky from us are felled, and so we see\nthe blue.\n\nChrist's company is to us what the Father's fellowship was to Christ.\nHe has borne solitude that He might be the companion of all the lonely,\nand the same voice which said, 'Ye shall leave Me alone,' said also, 'I\nam with you always, even to the end of the world.'\n\nBut _that_ communion of Christ with the Father was broken, in that\nawful hour when He cried: 'My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' We tread\nthere on the verge of mysteries, beyond our comprehension; but this we\nknow--that it was our sin and the world's, made His by His willing\nidentifying of Himself with us, which built up that black wall of\nseparation. That hour of utter desolation, forsaken by God, deserted by\nmen, was the hour of the world's redemption. And Jesus Christ was\nforsaken by God and deserted by men, that you and I might never be\neither the one or the other, but might find in His sweet and constant\ncompanionship at once the society of man and the presence of God.\n\n\n\nPEACE AND VICTORY\n\n'These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace.\nIn the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have\novercome the world.'--JOHN xvi. 33.\n\nSo end these wonderful discourses, and so ends our Lord's teaching\nbefore His passion. He gathers up in one mighty word the total\nintention of these sweet and deep sayings which we have so long been\npondering together. He sketches in broad outline the continual\ncharacteristics of the disciples' life, and closes all with the\nstrangest shout of victory, even at the moment when He seems most\nutterly defeated.\n\nWe shall, I think, best lay on our hearts and minds the spirit and\npurpose of these words if we simply follow their course, and look at\nthe three things which Christ emphasises here: the inward peace which\nis His purpose for us; the outward tribulation which is our certain\nfate; and the courageous confidence which Christ's victory for us gives.\n\nI. Note, then, first, the inward peace.\n\n'These things have I spoken unto you that in Me ye might have peace.'\nPeace is not lethargy; and it is very remarkable to notice how, in\nimmediate connection with this great promise, there occur words which\nsuggest its opposite--tribulation and battle. 'In the world ye have\ntribulation.' 'I have overcome'--that means a fight. These are to go\nside by side with the peace that He promises. The two conditions belong\nto two different spheres. The Christian life bifurcates, as it were,\ninto a double root, and moves in two realms--'in Me' and 'in the world'\nAnd the predicates and characteristics of these two lives are, in a\nlarge measure, diametrically opposite. So here, without any\ncontradiction, our Lord brackets together these two opposite conditions\nas both pertaining to the life of a devout soul. He promises a peace\nwhich co-exists with tribulation and disturbance, a peace which is\nrealised in and through conflict and struggle. The tree will stand,\nwith its deep roots and its firm bole, unmoved, though wildest winds\nmay toss its branches and scatter its leaves. In the fortress,\nbeleaguered by the sternest foes, there may be, right in the very\ncentre of the citadel, a quiet oratory through whose thick walls the\nnoise of battle and the shout of victory or defeat can never penetrate.\nSo we may live in a centre of rest, however wild may be the uproar in\nthe circumference. 'In Me... peace,' that is the innermost life. 'In\nthe world... tribulation,' that is only the surface.\n\nBut, then, note that this peace, which exists with, and is realised\nthrough, tribulation and strife, depends upon certain conditions. Our\nLord does not say, 'Ye have peace,' but 'These things I have spoken\nthat you _may_ have it.' It is a possibility; and He lays down\ndistinctly and plainly here the twofold set of conditions, in\nfulfilment of which a Christian disciple may dwell secure and still, in\nthe midst of all confusion. Note, then, these two.\n\nIt is peace, if we have it at all, _in Him_. Now you remember how\nemphatically and loftily, as one of the very key-notes of these\ndiscourses, our Lord has spoken to us, in them, of 'dwelling in Him' as\nthe prerogative and the duty of every Christian. We are in Him as in an\natmosphere. In Him our true lives are rooted as a tree in the soil. We\nare in Him as a branch in the vine, in Him as the members in a body, in\nHim as the residents in a house. We are in Him by simple faith, by the\ntrust that rests all upon Him, by the love that finds all in Him, by\nthe obedience that does all for Him. And it is only when we are 'in\nChrist' that we rest, and realise peace. All else brings distraction.\nEven delights trouble. The world may give excitement, the world may\ngive vulgar and fleeting joys, the world may give stimulus to much that\nis good and true in us, but there is only one thing that gives peace,\nand that is that our hearts should dwell in the Fortress, and should\never be surrounded by Jesus Christ. Brother! let nothing tempt us down\nfrom the heights, and out from the citadel where alone we are at rest;\nbut in the midst of all the pressing duties, the absorbing cares, the\ncarking anxieties, the seducing temptations of the world, and in the\npresence of all the necessity for noble conflict which the world brings\nto every man that is not its slave, let us try to keep the roots of our\nlives in contact with that soil from which they draw all their\nnourishment, and to wrap ourselves round with the life of Jesus Christ,\nwhich shall make an impenetrable shield between us and 'the fiery darts\nof the wicked.' Keep on the lee side of the breakwater and your little\ncock-boat will ride out the gale. Keep Christ between you and the\nhurtling storm, and there will be a quiet place below the wall where\nyou may rest, hearing not the loud winds when they call. 'These things\nhave I spoken that in Me ye might have peace.'\n\nBut there is another condition. Christ speaks the great words which\nhave been occupying us so long, that they may bring to us peace. I need\nnot do more than remind you, in a sentence, of the contents of these\nwonderful discourses. Think of how they have spoken to us of our\nBrother's ascension to Heaven to prepare a place for us; of His coming\nagain to receive us to Himself; of His presence with us in His absence;\nof His indwelling in us and ours in Him; of His gift to us of a divine\nSpirit. If we believed all these things; if we realised them and lived\nin the faith of them; if we meditated upon them in the midst of our\ndaily duties; and if they were real to us, and not mere words written\ndown in a Book, how should anything be able to disturb us, or to shake\nour settled confidence? Cleave to the words of the Master, and let them\npour into your hearts the quietness and confidence which nothing else\ncan give. And then, whatsoever storms may be around, the heart will be\nat rest. We find peace nowhere else but where Mary found her repose,\nand could shake off care and 'trouble about many things,' sitting at\nthe feet of Jesus, wrapt in His love and listening to His word.\n\nII. Then note, secondly, the outward tribulation which is the certain\nfate of His followers.\n\nOf course there is a very sad and true sense in which the warning, 'In\nthe world ye shall have tribulation,' applies to all men. Pain and\nsickness, loss and death, the monotony of hard, continuous, unwelcome\ntoil, hopes blighted or disappointed even in their fruition, and all\nthe other 'ills that flesh is heir to,' afflict us all. But our Lord is\nnot speaking here about the troubles that befall men as men, nor about\nthe chastisement that befalls them as sinners, nor about the evils\nwhich dog them because they are mortal or because they are bad, but of\nthe yet more mysterious sorrows which fall upon them because they are\ngood, 'In the world ye have tribulation,' is the proper rendering and\nreading. It had already begun, and it was to be the standing condition\nand certain fate of all that followed Him.\n\nI have already said that the Christian life moves in two spheres, and\nhence there must necessarily be antagonism and conflict. Whoever\nrealises the inward life in Christ will more or less, and sooner or\nlater, find himself coming into hostile collision with lives which only\nmove on the surface and belong to the world. If you and I are\nChristians after the pattern of Jesus Christ, then we dwell in the\nmidst of an order of things which is not constituted on or for the\nprinciples that regulate our lives and the objects at which we aim. And\nhence, in that fundamental discordance between the Christian life and\nsociety as it is constituted, there must always be, if there be honesty\nand consistency on the side of the Christian man, more or less of\ncollision between him and it. All that you regard as axiomatic the\nworld regards as folly, if you take Christ for your Teacher. All that\nyou labour to secure the world does not care to possess, if you have\nHim for your aim. All that you live to seek it has abandoned; all that\nyou desire to obey it will not even consult, if you are taking Christ\nand His law for your rule. And therefore there must come, sooner or\nlater, and more or less intensely in all Christian lives, opposition\nand tribulation. You cannot get away from the necessity, so it is as\nwell to face it.\n\nNo doubt the form of antagonism varies. No doubt the more the world is\npenetrated by Christian principles divorced from their root and source,\nthe less vehement and painful will the collision be. But _there_ is the\ngulf, and there it will remain, until the world is a Church. No doubt\nsome portion of the battlements of organised Christianity has tumbled\ninto the ditch, and made it a little less deep. Christians have dropped\ntheir standard far too much, and so the antagonism is not so plain as\nit ought to be, and as it used to be, and as, some day, it will be. But\nthere it is, and if you are going to live out and out like a Christian\nman, you will get the old sneers flung at you. You will be 'crotchety,'\n'impracticable,' 'spoiling sport,' 'not to be dealt with,' 'a wet\nblanket,' 'pharisaical,' 'bigoted,' and all the rest of the pretty\nwords which have been so frequently used about the men that try to live\nlike Jesus Christ. Never mind! 'In the world ye have tribulation.' 'I\nbear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,' the branding-iron which\ntells to whom the slave belongs. And if it is His initials that I carry\nI may be proud of the marks.\n\nBut at any rate there will be antagonism. You young men in your\nwarehouses, you men that go on 'Change', we people that live by our\npens or our tongues, and find ourselves in opposition to much of the\ntendencies of the present day--we have all, in our several ways, to\nbear the cross. Do not let us be ashamed of it, and, above all, do not\nlet us, for the sake of easing our shoulders, be unfaithful to our\nMaster. 'In the world ye have tribulation'; and the Christian man's\npeace has to be like the rainbow that lives above the cataract--still\nand radiant, whilst it shines above the hell of white waters that are\ntortured below.\n\nIII. Lastly, notice the courageous confidence which comes from the\nLord's victory.\n\n'Be of good cheer!' It is the old commandment that rang out to Joshua\nwhen, on the departure of Moses, the conduct of the war fell into his\nless experienced hands: 'Be strong, and of a good courage; only be thou\nstrong and very courageous.' So says the Captain of salvation, leaving\nHis soldiers to face the current of the heady fight in the field. Like\nsome leader who has climbed the ramparts, or hewed his way through the\nbroken ranks of the enemies, and rings out the voice of encouragement\nand call to his followers, our Captain sets before us His own example:\n'I have overcome the world,' He said that the day before Calvary. If\nthat was victory, what would defeat have been?\n\nNotice, then, how our Lord's life was a true battle. The world tried to\ndraw Him away from God by appealing to things desirable to sense, as in\nthe wilderness; or to things dreadful to sense, as on the cross; and\nboth the one and the other form of temptation He faced and conquered.\nIt was no shadow fight which evoked this paean of victory from His\nlips. The reality of His conflict is somewhat concealed from us by\nreason of its calm and the completeness of His conquest. We do not\nappreciate the force that drives a planet upon its path because it is\ncalm and continuous and silent, but the power that kept Jesus Christ\ncontinually faithful to His Father, continually sure of that Father's\npresence, continually averse to all self-will and selfish living, was a\npower mightier then all others that have been manifested in the history\nof humanity. The Captain of our salvation has really fought the fight\nbefore us.\n\nBut mark, again, that our Lord's life is the type of all victorious\nlife. The world conquers me when it draws me away from God, when it\nmakes me its slave, when it coaxes me to trust it, and urges to despair\nif I lose it. The world conquers me when it comes between me and God,\nwhen it fills my desires, when it absorbs my energies, when it blinds\nmy eyes to the things unseen and eternal. I conquer the world when I\nput my foot upon its temptations, when I crush it down, when I shake\noff its bonds, and when nothing that time and sense, with their\ndelights or their dreadfulnesses, can bring, prevents me from cleaving\nto my Father with all my heart, and from living as His child here.\nWhoso thus coerces Time and Sense to be the servants of his filial love\nhas conquered them both, and whoso lets them draw him away from God is\nbeaten, however successful he may dream himself to be and men may call\nhim.\n\nMy friends! there is a lesson for Manchester people. Jesus Christ was\nnot a very successful man according to the standard of Market Street\nand the Exchange. He made but a poor thing of the world, and He was\ngoing to be martyred on the cross the day after He said these words.\nAnd yet that was victory. Ay! Many a man beaten down in the struggle of\ndaily life, and making very little of it, according to our vulgar\nestimate, is the true conqueror. Success means making the world a\nstepping-stone to God.\n\nStill further, note our share in the Master's victory--'_I_ have\novercome the world. Be _ye_ of good cheer.' That seems an irrelevant\nway of arguing. What does it matter to me though He has overcome? So\nmuch the better for Him; but what good is it to me?\n\nIt may aid us somewhat to more strenuous fighting, if we know that a\nbrother has fought and conquered, and I do not under-estimate the\nblessing and the benefit of the life of Jesus Christ, as recorded in\nthese Scriptures, even from that, as I conceive it, miserably\ninadequate and imperfect point of view. But the victory of Jesus Christ\nis of extremely little practical use to me, if all the use of it is to\nshow me how to fight. Ah! you must go a deal deeper than that. 'I have\novercome the world, and I will come and put My overcoming Spirit into\nyour weakness, and fill you with My own victorious life, and make your\nhands strong to war and your fingers to fight; and be in you the\nconquering and omnipotent Power.'\n\nMy friends! Jesus Christ's victory is ours, and we are victors in it,\nbecause He is more than the pattern of brave warfare, He is even the\nSon of God, who gave Himself for us, and gives Himself to us, and\ndwells in us our Strength and our Righteousness.\n\nLastly, remember that the condition of that victory's being ours is the\nsimple act of reliance upon Him and upon it. The man who goes into the\nbattle as that little army of the Hebrews did against the\nwide-stretching hosts of the enemy, saying, 'O Lord! we know not what\nto do, but our eyes are up unto Thee,' will come out 'more than\nconqueror through Him that loved him.' For 'this is the victory that\novercometh the world, even our faith.'\n\n\n\nTHE INTERCESSOR\n\n'These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said,\nFather, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may\nglorify Thee: As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He\nshould give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is\nlife eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus\nChrist, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have\nfinished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father,\nglorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with\nThee before the world was. I have manifested Thy name unto the men\nwhich Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest\nthem Me; and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all\nthings whatsoever Thou hast given Me, are of Thee. For I have given\nunto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them,\nand have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed\nthat Thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but\nfor them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are\nThine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no\nmore in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy\nFather, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that\nthey may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept\nthem in Thy name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of\nthem is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be\nfulfilled. And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the\nworld, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have\ngiven them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are\nnot of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou\nshouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them\nfrom the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the\nworld. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth. As Thou hast\nsent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.\nAnd for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be\nsanctified through the truth.'--JOHN xvii. 1-19.\n\nWe may well despair of doing justice to the deep thoughts of this\nprayer, which volumes would not exhaust. Who is worthy to speak or to\nwrite about such sacred words? Perhaps we may best gain some glimpses\nof their great and holy sublimity by trying to gather their teaching\nround the centres of the three petitions, 'glorify' (vs. 1, 5), 'keep'\n(v. 11), and 'sanctify' (v. 17).\n\nI. In verses 1-5, Jesus prays for Himself, that He may be restored to\nHis pre-incarnate glory; but yet the prayer desires not so much that\nglory as affecting Himself, as His being fitted thereby for completing\nHis work of manifesting the Father. There are three main points in\nthese verses-the petition, its purpose, and its grounds.\n\nAs to the first, the repetition of the request in verses 1 and 5 is\nsignificant, especially if we note that in the former the language is\nimpersonal, 'Thy Son,' and continues so till verse 4, where 'I' and\n'Me' appear. In verses 1-3, then, the prayer rests upon the ideal\nrelations of Father and Son, realised in Jesus, while in verses 4 and 5\nthe personal element is emphatically presented. The two petitions are\nin their scope identical. The 'glorifying' in the former is more fully\nexplained in the latter as being that which He possessed in that\nineffable fellowship with the Father, not merely before incarnation,\nbut before creation. In His manhood He possessed and manifested the\n'glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth';\nbut that glory, lustrous though it was, was pale, and humiliation\ncompared with the light inaccessible, which shone around the Eternal\nWord in the bosom of the Father. Yet He who prayed was the same Person\nwho had walked in that light before time was, and now in human flesh\nasked for what no mere manhood could bear. The first form of the\npetition implies that such a partaking in the uncreated glory of the\nFather is the natural prerogative of One who is 'the Son,' while the\nsecond implies that it is the appropriate recompense of the earthly\nlife and character of the man Jesus.\n\nThe petition not only reveals the conscious divinity of the Son, but\nalso His willing acceptance of the Cross; for the glorifying sought is\nthat reached through death, resurrection, and ascension, and that\nintroductory clause, 'the hour is come,' points to the impending\nsufferings as the first step in the answer to the petition. The\nCrucifixion is always thus treated in this Gospel, as being both the\nlowest humiliation and the 'lifting up' of the Son; and here He is\nreaching out His hand, as it were, to draw His sufferings nearer. So\nwillingly and desiringly did this Isaac climb the mount of sacrifice.\nBoth elements of the great saying in the Epistle to the Hebrews are\nhere: 'For the joy that was set before Him, [He] endured the Cross.'\n\nThe purpose of the petition is to be noted; namely, the Son's\nglorifying of the Father. No taint of selfishness corrupted His prayer.\nNot for Himself, but for men, did He desire His glory. He sought return\nto that serene and lofty seat, and the elevation of His limited manhood\nto the throne, not because He was wearied of earth or impatient of\nweakness, sorrows, or limitations, but that He might more fully\nmanifest by that Glory, the Father's name. To make the Father known is\nto make the Father glorious; for He is all fair and lovely. That\nrevelation of divine perfection, majesty, and sweetness was the end of\nChrist's earthly life, and is the end of His heavenly divine activity.\nHe needs to reassume the prerogatives of which He needed to divest\nHimself, and both necessities have one end. He had to lay aside His\ngarments and assume the form of a servant, that He might make God\nknown; but, that revelation being complete, He must take His garments\nand sit down again, before He can go on to tell all the meaning of what\nHe has 'done unto us.'\n\nThe ground of the petition is twofold. Verses 2 and 3 represent the\nglory sought for, as the completion of the Son's mission and task.\nAlready He had been endowed with 'authority over all flesh,' for the\npurpose of bestowing eternal life; and that eternal life stands in the\nknowledge of God, which is the same as the knowledge of Christ. The\npresent gift to the Son and its purpose are thus precisely parallel\nwith the further gift desired, and that is the necessary carrying out\nof this. The authority and office of the incarnate Christ demand the\nglory of, and consequent further manifestation by, the glorified\nChrist. The life which He comes to give is a life which flows from the\nrevelation that He makes of the Father, received, not as mere\nintellectual knowledge, but as loving acquaintance.\n\nThe second ground for the petition is in verse 4, the actual perfect\nfulfilment by the Son of that mission. What untroubled consciousness of\nsinless obedience and transparent shining through His life of the\nFather's likeness and will He must have had, who could thus assert His\ncomplete realisation of that Father's revealing purpose, as the ground\nof His deserving and desiring participation in the divine glory! Surely\nsuch words are either the acme of self-righteousness or the\nself-revealing speech of the Son of God.\n\nII. With verse 6 we pass to the more immediate reference to the\ndisciples, and the context from thence to verse 15 may be regarded as\nall clustered round the second petition 'keep' (v. 11). That central\nrequest is preceded and followed by considerations of the disciples'\nrelation to Christ and to the world, which may be regarded as its\ngrounds. The whole context preceding the petition may be summed up in\ntwo grounds for the prayer--the former set forth at length, and the\nlatter summarily; the one being the genuine, though incomplete\ndiscipleship of the men for whom Christ prays (vs. 6-10), and the\nlatter their desolate condition without Jesus (v. 11).\n\nIt is beautiful to see how our Lord here credits the disciples with\ngenuine grasp, both in heart and head, of His teaching. He had shortly\nbefore had to say, 'Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast\nthou not known Me?' and soon 'they all forsook Him and fled.' But\nbeneath misconception and inadequate apprehension there lived faith and\nlove; and He saw 'the full corn in the ear,' when only the green\n'blade' was visible, pushing itself above the surface. We may take\ncomfort from this generous estimate of imperfect disciples. If He did\nnot tend, instead of quenching, 'dimly burning wicks,' where would He\nhave 'lights in the world?'\n\nVerse 6 lays down the beginning of discipleship as threefold: Christ's\nact in revealing; the Father's, in giving men to Jesus; and men's, in\nkeeping the Father's word. 'Thy word' is the whole revelation by\nChrist, which is, as this Gospel so often repeats, not His own, but the\nFather's. These three facts underlying discipleship are pleas for the\npetition to follow; for unless the feeble disciples are 'kept' in the\nname, as in a fortress, Christ's work of revelation is neutralised, the\nFather's gift to Him made of none effect, and the incipient disciples\nwill not 'keep' His word. The plea is, in effect, 'Forsake not the\nworks of thine own hands'; and, like all Christ's prayers, it has a\npromise in its depths, since God does not begin what He will not\nfinish; and it has a warning, too, that we cannot keep ourselves unless\na stronger Hand keeps us.\n\nVerses 7 and 8 carry on the portraiture of discipleship, and thence\ndraw fresh pleas. The blessed result of accepting Christ's revelation\nis a knowledge, built on happy experience, and, like the acquaintance\nof heart with heart, issuing in the firm conviction that Christ's words\nand deeds are from God. Why does He say, 'All things whatsoever Thou\nhast given,' instead of simply 'that I have' or 'declare'? Probably it\nis the natural expression of His consciousness, the lowly utterance of\nHis obedience, claiming nothing as His own, and yet claiming all, while\nthe subsequent clause 'are of Thee' expresses the disciples'\nconviction. In like fashion our Lord, in verse 8, declares that His\nwords, in their manifoldness (contrast v. 6, 'Thy word'), were all\nreceived by Him from the Father, and accepted by the disciples, with\nthe result that they came, as before, to 'know' by inward acquaintance\nwith Him as a person, and so to have the divinity of His Person\ncertified by experience, and further came to 'believe' that God had\nsent Him, which was a conviction arrived at by faith. So knowledge,\nwhich is personal experience and acquaintance, and faith, which rises\nto the heights of the Father's purpose, come from the humble acceptance\nof the Christ declaring the Father's name. First faith, then knowledge,\nand then a fuller faith built on it, and that faith in its turn passing\ninto knowledge (v. 25)--these are the blessings belonging to the growth\nof true discipleship, and are discerned by the loving eye of Jesus in\nvery imperfect followers.\n\nIn verse 9 Jesus assumes the great office of Intercessor. 'I pray for\nthem' is not so much prayer as His solemn presentation of Himself\nbefore the Father as the High-priest of His people. It marks an epoch\nin His work. The task of bringing God to man is substantially complete.\nThat of bringing men by supplication to God is now to begin. It is the\nrevelation of the permanent office of the departed Lord. Moses on the\nMount holds up the rod, and Israel prevails (Exod. xvii. 9). The\nlimitation of this prayer to the disciples applies only to the special\noccasion, and has no bearing on the sweep of His redeeming purpose or\nthe desires of His all-pitying heart. The reasons for His intercession\nfollow in verses 9-11a. The disciples are the Father's, and continue so\neven when 'given' to Christ, in accordance with the community of\npossession, which oneness of nature and perfectness of love establish\nbetween the Father and the Son. God cannot but care for those who are\nHis. The Son cannot but pray for those who are His. Their having\nrecognised Him for what He was binds Him to pray for them. He is\nglorified in disciples, and if we show forth His character, He will be\nour Advocate. The last reason for His prayer is the loneliness of the\ndisciples and their exposure in the world without Him. His departure\nimpelled Him to Intercede, both as being a leaving them defenceless and\nas being an entrance into the heavenly state of communion with the\nFather.\n\nIn the petition itself (v. 11b), observe the invocation 'Holy Father!'\nwith special reference to the prayer for preservation from the\ncorruption of the world. God's holiness is the pledge that He will make\nus holy, since He is 'Father' as well. Observe the substance of the\nrequest, that the disciples should be kept, as in a fortress, within\nthe enclosing circle of the name which God has given to Jesus. The name\nis the manifestation of the divine nature. It was given to Jesus,\ninasmuch as He, 'the Word,' had from the beginning the office of\nrevealing God; and that which was spoken of the Angel of the Covenant\nis true in highest reality of Jesus: 'My name is in Him.' 'The name of\nthe Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe.'\n\nObserve the issue of this keeping; namely, the unity of believers. The\ndepths of that saying are beyond us, but we can at least see thus\nfar--that the true bond of unity is the name in which all who are one\nare kept; that the pattern of the true unity of believers is the\nineffable union of Father and Son, which is oneness of will and nature,\nalong with distinctness of persons; and that therefore this purpose\ngoes far deeper than outward unity of organisation.\n\nThen follow other pleas, which are principally drawn from Christ's\nrelation to the disciples, now ending; whereas the former ones were\nchiefly deduced from the disciples' relation to Him. He can no more do\nwhat He has done, and commits it to the Father. Happy we if we can\nleave our unfinished tasks to be taken up by God, and trust those whom\nwe leave undefended to be shielded by Him! 'I kept' is, in the Greek,\nexpressive of continuous, repeated action, while 'I guarded' gives the\nsingle issue of the many acts of keeping. Jesus keeps His disciples now\nas He did then, by sedulous, patient, reiterated acts, so that they are\nsafe from evil. But note where He kept them--'in Thy name.' That is our\nplace of safety, a sure defence and inexpugnable fortress. One, indeed,\nwas lost; but that was not any slur on Christ's keeping, but resulted\nfrom his own evil nature, as being 'a son of loss' (if we may so\npreserve the affinity of the words in the Greek), and from the divine\ndecree from of old. Sharply defined and closely united are the two\napparent contradictories of man's free choice of destruction and God's\nforeknowledge. Christ saw them in harmony, and we shall do so one day.\n\nThen the flow of the prayer recurs to former thoughts. Going away so\nsoon, He yearned to leave them sharers of His own emotions in the\nprospect of His departure to the Father, and therefore He had admitted\nthem (and us) to hear this sacred outpouring of His desires. If we laid\nto heart the blessed revelations of this disclosure of Christ's heart,\nand followed Him with faithful gaze as He ascends to the Father, and\nrealised our share in that triumph, our empty vessels would be filled\nby some of that same joy which was His. Earthly joy can never be full;\nChristian joy should never be anything less than full.\n\nThen follows a final glance at the disciples' relation to the world, to\nwhich they are alien because they are of kindred to Him. This is the\nground for the repetition of the prayer 'keep', with the difference\nthat formerly it was 'keep _in_ Thy name,' and now it is '_from_ the\nevil.' It is good to gaze first on our defence, the 'munitions of\nrocks' where we lie safely, and then we can venture to face the thought\nof 'the evil,' from which that keeps us, whether it be personal or\nabstract.\n\nIII. Verses 16-19 give the final petition for the immediate circle of\ndisciples, with its grounds. The position of alienation from the world,\nin which the disciples stand by reason of their assimilation to Jesus,\nis repeated here. It was the reason for the former prayer, 'keep'; it\nis the reason for the new petition, 'sanctify.' Keeping comes first,\nand then sanctifying, or consecration. Security from evil is given that\nwe may be wholly devoted to the service of God. The evil in the world\nis the great hindrance to that. The likeness to Jesus is the great\nground of hope that we shall be truly consecrated. We are kept 'in the\nname'; we are consecrated 'in the truth,' which is the revelation made\nby Jesus, and in a very deep sense is Himself. That truth is, as it\nwere, the element in which the believer lives, and by abiding in which\nhis real consecration is possible.\n\nChrist's prayer for us should be our aim and deepest desire for\nourselves, and His declaration of the condition of its fulfilment\nshould prescribe our firm adhesion to, and constant abiding in, the\ntruth as revealed and embodied in Him, as the only means by which we\ncan attain the consecration which is at once, as the closing verses of\nthe passage tell us, the means by which we may fulfil the purpose for\nwhich we are sent into the world, and the path on which we reach\ncomplete assimilation to His perfect self-surrender. All Christians are\nsent into the world by Jesus, as Jesus was sent by the Father. We have\nthe charge to glorify Him. We have the presence of the Sender with us,\nthe sent. We are inspired with His Spirit. We cannot do His work\nwithout that entire consecration which shall copy His devotion to the\nFather and eager swiftness to do His will. How can such ennobling and\nexalted consecration be ours? There is but one way. He has 'consecrated\nHimself,' and by union with Him through faith, our selfishness may be\nsubdued, and the Spirit of Christ may dwell in our hearts, to make us\n'living sacrifices, consecrated and acceptable to God.' Then shall we\nbe truly 'consecrated,' and then only, when we can say, 'I live; yet\nnot I, but Christ liveth in me.' That is the end of Christ's\nconsecration of Himself--the prayer which He prayed for His\ndisciples--and should be the aim which every disciple earnestly pursues.\n\n\n\n\n'THE LORD THEE KEEPS'\n\n'...They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray\nnot that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou\nshouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I\nam not of the world.'--JOHN xvii. 14-16.\n\nWe have here a petition imbedded in a reiterated statement of the\ndisciples' isolated position when left in a hostile world without\nChrist's sheltering presence. We cannot fathom the depth of the mystery\nof the _praying_ Christ, but we may be sure of this, that His prayers\nwere always in harmony with the Father's will, were, in fact, the\nexpression of that will, and were therefore promises and prophecies.\nWhat He prays the Father for His disciples He gives to His disciples.\nOnce only had He to say, 'If it be possible'; at all other times He\nprayed as sure that 'Thou hearest Me always,' and in this very prayer\nHe speaks in a tone of strange authority, when He prays for all\nbelievers in future ages, and says: 'I will that, where I am, they also\nmay be with Me.' In this High-priestly prayer, offered when Gethsemane\nwas almost in sight, and the Judgment Hall and Calvary were near, our\nLord's tender interest in His disciples fills His mind, and even in its\nearlier portion, which is in form a series of petitions for Himself, it\nis in essence a prayer for them, whilst this central section which\nconcerns the Apostles, and the closing section which casts the mantle\nof His love and care over all who hereafter shall 'believe on Me\nthrough their word,' witnesses to the sublime completeness of His\nself-oblivion. Gethsemane heard His prayer for Himself; here He prays\nfor His people, and the calm serenity and confident assurance of this\nprayer, set against the agitation of that other, receives and gives\nemphasis by the contrast.\n\nOur text falls into two parts, the enclosing circle of the repeated\nstatement of the disciples' isolation in an alien world, and the\nenclosed jewel of the all-sufficient prayer which guarantees their\nprotection. We shall best make its comfort and cheer our own by dealing\nwith these two successively.\n\nI. The disciples' isolation.\n\nOf course we are to interpret the 'world' here in accordance with the\nethical usage of that term in this Gospel, according to which it means\nthe aggregate of mankind considered as apart from and alien to God. It\nis roughly equivalent to the modern phrase, 'society.'\n\nWith that order of things Christ's real followers are not in accord.\n\nThat want of accord depends upon their accord with Jesus.\n\nEvery Christian has the 'mind of Christ' in him, in the measure of his\nChristianity. 'It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master'\nBut Christian discipleship has a better guarantee for the assimilation\nof the disciple to his Lord than the ordinary forms of the relation of\nteacher and taught ever present. There is a participation in the\nMaster's life, an implantation in the scholar's spirit of the Teacher's\nSpirit. 'Christ in us' is not only 'the hope of glory,' but the power\nwhich makes possible and actual the present possession of a life\nkindred with, because derived from, and essentially one with, His life.\n\nThey whose spirits are touched by the indwelling Christ to the 'fine\nissues' of sympathy with the law of His earthly life cannot but live in\nthe world as aliens, and wander amid its pitfalls with 'blank\nmisgivings' and a chill sense that this is not their rest. They are\nknit to One whose 'meat and drink' was to do the will of the Father in\nheaven, who 'pleased not Himself,' whose life was all one long service\nand sacrifice for men, whose joys were not fed by earthly possessions\nor delights. How should they have a sense of community of aims with\ngrovelling hearts that cling to wealth or ambition, that are not at\npeace with God, and have no holdfasts beyond this 'bank and shoal of\ntime'? A man who has drunk into the spirit of Christ's life is thereby\nnecessarily thrown out of gear with the world.\n\nHappy is he if his union with Jesus is so deep and close that it is but\ndeepened by his experience of the lack of sympathy between the world\nand himself! Happy if his consciousness of not being 'of the world' but\nquickens his desire to help the world and glorify his Lord, by bringing\nHis all-sufficiency into its emptiness, and leading it, too, to discern\nHis sweetness and beauty!\n\nBut how little the life of the average Christian corresponds to this\nreiterated utterance of our Lord! Who of us dare venture to take it on\nour lips and to say that we are 'not of the world even as He is not of\nthe world'? Is not our relation to that world of which Jesus here\nspeaks a contrast rather than a parallel to His? The 'prince of this\nworld' had nothing in Christ, as He himself declared, but He has much\nin each of us. There are stored up heaps of combustibles in every one\nof us which catch fire only too swiftly, and burn but too fiercely,\nwhen the 'fiery darts of the wicked' fall among them. Instead of an\ninstinctive recoil from the view of life characteristic of 'the world,'\nwe must confess, if we are honest, that it draws us strongly, and many\nof us are quite at home with it. Why is this but because we do not\nhabitually live near enough to our Lord to drink in His Spirit? The\nmeasure of our discord with the world is the measure of our accord with\nour Saviour. It is in the degree in which we possess His life that we\ncome to be aliens here, and it is in the degree in which we keep in\ntouch with Jesus, and keep our hearts wide open for the entrance of His\nSpirit, that we possess His life. A worldly Christian--no uncommon\ncharacter--is a Christian who has all but shut himself off from the\nlife which Christ breathes into the expectant soul.\n\nII. The disciples' guarded security.\n\nJesus encloses His prayer between the two parts of that repeated\nstatement of the disciples' isolation. It is like some lovely, peaceful\nplain circled by grim mountains. The isolation is a necessary\nconsequence of the disciples' previous union with Him. It involves much\nthat is painful to the unrenewed part of their natures, but their\nLord's prayer is more than enough for their security and peace.\n\n'I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world.' They are\nin it by God's appointment for great purposes, affecting their own\ncharacters and affecting the world, with which Christ will not\ninterfere. It is their training ground, their school. The sense of\nbelonging to another order is to be intensified by their experiences in\nit, and these are to make more vivid the hopes that yearn towards the\ntrue home, and to develop the 'wrestling thews that throw the world.'\nThe discipline of life is too precious to be tampered with even by a\nSaviour's prayer, and He loves His people too wisely to seek to shelter\nthem from its roughness, and to procure for them exemption which would\nimpoverish their characters.\n\nSo let us learn the lesson and shape our desires after the pattern of\nour Lord's prayer for us, nor blindly seek for that ease which He would\nnot ask for us. False asceticism that shrinks from contact with an\nalien world, weak running from trials and temptations, selfish desires\nfor exemption from sorrows, are all rebuked by this prayer. Christ's\nrelation to the world is our pattern, and we are not to seek for\npillows in an order of things where He 'had not where to lay His head.'\n\nBut He does ask for His people that they may be kept 'from evil,' or\nfrom 'the evil One.' That prayer is, as we have said, a promise and a\nprophecy. But the fulfilment of it in each individual disciple hinges\non the disciple's keeping himself in touch with Jesus, whereby the\n'much virtue' of His prayer will encompass him and keep him safe. We do\nnot discuss the alternative renderings, according to one of which 'the\nevil' is impersonal, and according to the other of which it is\nconcentrated in the personal 'prince of this world.' In either case, it\nis 'the evil' against which the disciples are to be guarded, whether it\nhas a personal source or not.\n\nHere, in Christ's intercession, is the firm ground of our confidence\nthat we may be 'more than conquerors' in the life-long fight which we\nhave to wage. The sweet strong old psalm is valid in its assurances\nto-day for every soul which puts itself under the shadow of Christ's\nprotecting intercession: 'The Lord shall keep thee from all evil, He\nshall keep thy soul.' We have not 'to lift up our eyes unto the hills,'\nfor 'vainly is help hoped for from the multitude of the mountains,' but\n'Our help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth.' Therefore\nwe may dwell at peace in the midst of an alien world, having the Father\nfor our Keeper, and the Son, who overcame the world, for our\nIntercessor, our Pattern and our Hope.\n\nThe parallel between Christ and His people applies to their relations\nto the present order of things: 'They are not of the world, even as I\nam not of the world.' It applies to their mission here: 'As Thou didst\nsend Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.' It applies\nto the future: 'I am no more in the world, but these are in the world,\nand I come to Thee,' and in that 'coming' lies the guarantee that His\nservants will, each in his due time, come out from this alien world and\npass into the state which is home, because He is there. The prayer that\nthey might be kept from the evil, while remaining in the scene where\nevil is rampant, is crowned by the prayer: 'I will that, where I am,\nthey also may be with Me, that they may behold My glory.'\n\n\n\nTHE HIGH PRIEST'S PRAYER\n\n'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe\non Me through their word; That they all may be one; as Thou, Father,\nart in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the\nworld may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou\ngivest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:\nI in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and\nthat the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as\nThou hast loved Me. Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given\nMe, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou\nhast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.\nO righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known\nThee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared\nunto them Thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith Thou\nhast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.'--JOHN xvii. 20-26.\n\nThe remainder of this prayer reaches out to all generations of\nbelievers to the end. We may incidentally note that it shows that Jesus\ndid not anticipate a speedy end of the history of the world or the\nChurch; and also that it breathes but one desire, that for the Church's\nunity, as though He saw what would be its greatest peril.\nCharacteristic, too, of the idealism of this Gospel is it that there is\nno name for that future community. It is not called 'church,' or\n'congregation,' or the like--it is 'them also that believe on Me\nthrough their word,' a great spiritual community, held together by\ncommon faith in Him whom the Apostles preached. Is not that still the\nbest definition of Christians, and does not such a conception of it\ncorrespond better to its true nature than the formal abstraction, 'the\nChurch'?\n\nWe can but touch in the most inadequate fashion the profound words of\nthis section of the prayer which would take volumes to expound fitly.\nWe note that it contains four periods, in each of which something is\nasked or stated, and then a purpose to be attained by the petition or\nstatement is set forth.\n\nFirst comes the prayer for unity and what the answer to it will effect\n(v. 21). Now in this verse the unity of believers is principally\nregarded as resulting from the inclusion, if we may so say, of them all\nin the ineffable union of the Father and the Son. Jesus prays that\n'they may all be one,' and also 'that they also may be in us' (Rev.\nVer.). And their unity is no mere matter of formal external\norganisation nor of unanimity of creed, or the like, but it is a deep,\nvital unity. The pattern of it is the unity of the Father and the Son,\nand the power that brings it about is the abiding of all believers 'in\nus.' The result of such a manifestation in the world of a multitude of\nmen, in all of whom one life evidently moves, fusing their\nindividualities while retaining their personalities, will be the\nworld's conviction of the divine mission of Jesus. The world was\nbeginning to feel its convictions moving slowly in that direction, when\nit exclaimed: 'Behold how these Christians love one another!' The\nalienation of Christians has given barbs and feathers to its arrows of\nscorn. But it is 'the unity of the Spirit,' not that of a, great\ncorporation, that Christ's prayer desires.\n\nThe petitions for what would be given to believers passes for a moment\ninto a statement of what Jesus had already given to them. He had begun\nthe unifying gift, and that made a plea for its perfecting. The 'glory'\nwhich He had given to these poor bewildered Galilaeans was but in a\nrudimentary stage; but still, wherever there is faith in Him, there is\nsome communication of His life and Spirit, and some of that veiled and\nyet radiant glory, 'full of grace and truth,' which shone through the\ncovering when the Incarnate Word 'became flesh.' It is the Christ-given\nChrist-likeness in each which knits believers into one. It is Christ in\nus and we in Christ that fuses us into one, and thereby makes each\nperfect. And such flashing back of the light of Jesus from a million\nseparate crystals, all glowing with one light and made one in the\nlight, would flash on darkest eyes the lustre of the conviction that\nGod sent Christ, and that God's love enfolded those Christlike souls\neven as it enfolded Him.\n\nAgain (v. 24) comes a petition with its result. And here there is no\nmention of the effect of the answer on the world. For the moment the\nthoughts of isolation in, and a message to, the world fade away. The\npartially-possessed 'glory' seems to have led on Christ's thoughts to\nthe calm home of perfection waiting for Him who was 'not of the world'\nand was sent into it, and for the humble ones who had taken Him for\nLord. 'I will that'--that is a strange tone for a prayer. What\nconsciousness on Christ's part does it involve? The disciples are not\nnow called 'them that should believe on Me,' but 'that which Thou hast\ngiven Me,' the individuals melt into the great whole. They are\nChrist's, not merely by their faith or man's preaching, but by the\nFather's gift. And the fact of that gift is used as a plea with Him, to\n'perfect that which concerneth' them, and to complete the unity of\nbelievers with Jesus by bringing them to be 'with Him' in His\ntriumphant session at the right hand. To 'behold' will be the same as\nto share His glory, not only that which we beheld when He tabernacled\namong us, but that which He had in the pouring out on Him of God's love\n'before the foundation of the world.' Our dim eyes cannot follow the\nhappy souls as they are lost in the blaze, but we know that they walk\nin light and are like Him, for they 'see Him as He is.'\n\nThe last statement (vs. 25, 26) is not petition but vow, and, to our\nears, promise. The contrast of the world and believers appears for the\nlast time. What made the world a 'world' was its not knowing God; what\nmade believers isolated in, and having an errand to, the world, was\nthat they 'knew' (not merely 'believed,' but knew by experience) that\nJesus had been sent from God to make known His name. All our knowledge\nof God comes through Him; it is for us to recognise His divine mission,\nand then He will unveil, more and more, with blessed continuity of\nincreasing knowledge, the Name, and with growing knowledge of it\ngrowing measures of God's love will be in us, and Jesus Himself will\n'dwell in our hearts by faith' more completely and more blessedly\nthrough an eternity of wider knowledge and more fervent love.\n\n\n\nTHE FOLDED FLOCK\n\n'I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am;\nthat they may behold My glory.'--JOHN xvii. 24.\n\nThis wonderful prayer is (_a_) for Jesus Himself, (_b_) for the\nApostles, (_c_) for the whole Church on earth and in heaven.\n\nI. The prayer.\n\n'I will' has a strange ring of authority. It is the expression of His\nlove to men, and of His longing for their presence with Him in His\nglory. Not till they are with Him there, shall He 'see of the travail\nof His soul and be satisfied.'\n\nWe have here a glimpse of the blessed state of the dead in Christ.\n\n(_a_) Local presence with Christ. His glorified body is somewhere. The\nvalue of this thought is that it gives solidity to our ideas of a\nfuture life. There they _are_. We need not dwell on the metaphysical\ndifficulties about locality for disembodied spirits.\n\nIf a spirit can be localised in a body, I suppose it can be localised\nwithout a body; but passing by all that, we have the hope held out here\nof a real local presence with the glorified humanity of our Lord. We\nspeak of the dead as gone _from us_, and we have that idea far more\nvividly in our minds than that of their having gone _to Him_. We speak\nof the 'departed,' but we do not think of them as 'arrived.' We look\ndown to the narrow grave, but we forget 'He is not here, He is risen.\nWhy seek ye the living among the dead?' Ah! if we could only bring home\nto our hearts the solid prose of the conviction that where Christ is\nthere His servants are, and that not in the diffused ubiquity of His\nDivine Omnipresence, it would go far to remove the darkness and vague\nmist which wrap the future, and to set it as it really is before us, as\na solid definite reality. We see the sails glide away out into the west\nas the sun goes down, and we think of them as tossing on a midnight\nsea, an unfathomable waste. Try to think of them more truly. As in that\nold miracle, He comes to them walking on the water in the night watch,\nand if at first they are terrified, His voice brings back hope to the\nheart that is beginning to stand still, and immediately they are at the\nland whither they go. Now, as they sink from our sight, they are in\nport, sails furled and anchor dropped, and green fields round them,\neven while we watch the sinking masts, and cannot yet rightly tell\nwhether the fading sail has faded wholly.\n\n(_b_) Communion with Christ.\n\nOur Lord says not only 'that where I am, they also may be,' but adds\n'with Me.' That is not a superfluous addition, but emphasises the\nthought of a communion which is more intimate and blessed than local\npresence alone would be.\n\nThe communion here is real but imperfect. It is perfected there on our\npart by the dropping away of flesh and sin, by change of circumstances,\nby emancipation from cares and toils necessary here, by the development\nof new powers and surroundings, and on His side by new manifestations.\n\n(_c_) Vision of His glory.\n\nThe crown of this utterance of Christ's will is 'that they may behold\nMy glory.' In an earlier part of this prayer our Lord had spoken of the\n'glory which I had with Thee before the world was.' But probably the\nglory 'given' is not that of essential Divinity, but that of His\nmediatorial work. To His people 'with Him where He is,' are imparted\nfuller views of Christ as Saviour, deeper notions of His work, clearer\nperception of His rule in providence and nature. This is the loftiest\nemployment of the spirits who are perfected and lapped in 'pleasures\nfor evermore' by their union with the glorified Jesus.\n\nSurely this is grander than all metaphorical pictures of heaven.\n\nII. The incipient fulfilment now going on.\n\nThe prayer has been in process of fulfilment ever since. The dead in\nChrist have entered on its answer now.\n\nWe need not discuss difficulties about the 'intermediate state,' for\nthis at all events is true, that to be 'absent from the body' is to be\n'present with the Lord.'\n\nA Christian death is an answer to this prayer. True, for Christians as\nfor all, the physical necessity is an imperative law. True, the\npunitive aspect of death is retained for them. But yet the law is\nwielded by Christ, and while death remains, its whole aspect is\nchanged. So we may think of those who have departed in His faith and\nfear as gone in answer to this prayer.\n\nHow beautiful that is! Slowly, one by one, they are gathered in, as the\nstars one by one light up. Place after place is filled.\n\nThus through the ages the prayer works on, and our dear ones have gone\nfrom us, but they have gone to Him. We weep, but they rejoice. To us\ntheir departure is the result of an iron law, of a penal necessity, of\nsome secondary cause; but to them it is seen to be the answer to His\nmighty prayer. They hear His voice and follow Him when He says, 'Come\nup hither.'\n\nIII. The final fulfilment still future.\n\nThe prayer looks forward to a perfect fulfilment. His prayer cannot be\nvain.\n\n(_a_) Perfect in degree.\n\n(_b_) Perfect in extent, when all shall be gathered together and the\n'whole family' shall be 'in heaven,' and Christ's own word receives its\ncrowning realisation, that 'of all whom the Father hath given Him He\nhas lost nothing.'\n\nAnd these are not some handful picked out by a decree which we can\nneither fathom nor alter, but Christ is given to us all, and if we\nchoose to take Him, then for us He has ascended; and as we watch Him\ngoing up the voice comes to us: 'I go to prepare a place for you. I\nwill come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye\nmay be also.'\n\n\n\nCHRIST'S SUMMARY OF HIS WORK\n\n'I have declared onto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love\nwherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.'--JOHN\nxvii. 26.\n\nThis is the solemn and calm close of Christ's great High-priestly\nprayer; the very last words that He spoke before Gethsemane and His\npassion. In it He sums up both the purpose of His life and the\npetitions of His prayer, and presents the perfect fulfilment of the\nformer as the ground on which He asks the fulfilment of the latter.\nThere is a singular correspondence and contrast between these last\nwords to God and the last words to the disciples, which immediately\npreceded them. These were, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation, but\nbe of good cheer, I have overcome the world.' In both He sums up His\nlife, in both He is unconscious of flaw, imperfection, or limitation;\nin both He shares His own possessions among His followers. But His\nwords to men carry a trace of His own conflict and a foreboding of\ntheirs. For Him life had been, and for them it was to be, tribulation\nand a battle, and the highest thing that He could promise them was\nvictory won by conflict. But from the serene elevation of the prayer\nall such thoughts disappear. Unbroken calm lies over it. His life has\nbeen one continual manifestation of the name of God; and the portion\nthat He promises to His followers is not victory won by strife, but the\nparticipation with Himself in the love of God.\n\nBoth views are true--true to His experience, true to ours. The\ndifference between them lies in the elevation of the beholder's eye.\nLooked at on the outward side, His life and ours must be always a\nbattle and often a sorrow. Looked at from within, His life was an\nunbroken abiding in the love of God, and a continual impartation of the\nname of God, and our lives may be an ever growing knowledge of God,\nleading to and being a fuller and fuller possession of His love, and of\na present Christ. So let us ponder these deep words: our Lord's own\nsumming up of His work and aims; His statement of what we may hope to\nattain; and the path by which we may attain it. I shall best bring out\nthe whole fullness of their meaning if I simply follow them word by\nword.\n\nI. Note, first, the backward look of the revealing Son.\n\n'I have declared Thy name.'\n\nThe first thing that strikes one about these words is their boldness.\nRemember that they are spoken to God, at the close of a life the\nheights and depths of which they sum up. They are an appeal to God's\nrighteous judgment of the whole character of the career. Do they\nbreathe the tone that we might expect? Surely the prophet or teacher\nwho has most earnestly tried to make himself a mirror, without spot to\ndarken and without dint to distort the divine ray, will be the first to\nfeel, as he looks back, the imperfections of his repetition of his\nmessage. But Jesus Christ, when He looks back over His life, has no\nflaw, limitation, incompleteness, to record or to confess. As always so\nhere, He is absolutely unconscious of anything in the nature of\nweakness, error, or sin. As when He looked back upon His life as a\nconflict, He had no defeats to remember with shame, so here, when He\nlooks upon it as the revelation of God He feels that everything which\nHe has received of the Father He has made known unto men.\n\nAnd the strange thing is that we admit the claim, and have become so\naccustomed to regard it as being perfectly legitimate that we forget\nhow enormous it is. He takes an attitude here which in any other man\nwould be repulsive, but in Him is supremely natural. We criticise other\npeople, we outgrow their teachings, we see where their doctrines have\ndeviated from truth by excess or defect, or disproportion; but when He\nsays 'I have declared Thy name,' we feel that He says nothing more than\nthe simple facts of His life vindicate and confirm.\n\nNot less remarkable is the implication in these words, not only of the\ncompleteness of His message, but of the fullness of His knowledge of\nGod, and its entirely underived nature. So He claims for Himself an\naltogether special and unique position here: He has learned God from\nnone; He teaches God to all. 'That was the true Light which lighteth\nevery man that cometh into the world.'\n\nLooking a little more closely at these words before us, we have here\nChrist's own account of His whole life. The meaning of it all is the\nrevelation of the heart of God. Not by words, of course; not by words\nonly, but far more by deeds. And I would have you ask yourselves this\nquestion--If the deeds of a man are a declaration of the name of God,\nwhat sort of a man is He who thus declares Him? Must we not feel that\nif these words, or anything like them, really came from the lips of\nJesus Christ, we are here in the presence of something other than a\nholy life of a simple humanity, which might help men to climb to the\napprehension of a God who was perfect love; and that when He says 'He\nthat hath seen Me hath seen the Father,' we stand before 'God manifest\nin the flesh.'\n\nWhat is that name of God which the revealing Son declares? Not the mere\nsyllables by which we call Him, but the manifested character of the\nFather. That one name, in the narrower sense of the word, carries the\nwhole revelation that Jesus Christ has to make; for it speaks of\ntenderness, of kindred, of paternal care, of the transmission of a\nnature, of the embrace of a divine love. And it delivers men from all\ntheir creeping dreads, from all their dark peradventures, from all\ntheir stinging fears, from all the paralysing uncertainties which, like\nclouds, always misty and often thunder-bearing, have shut out the sight\nof the divine face. If this Christ, in His weakness and humanity, with\npity welling from His eyes, and making music of His voice, with the\nswift help streaming from His fingers-tips to every pain and weariness,\nand the gracious righteousness that drew little children and did not\nrepel publicans and harlots, is our best image of God, then love is the\ncentre of divinity, and all the rest that we call God is but\ncircumference and fringe of that central brightness.\n\n  'So through the thunder comes a human voice\n  Saying, \"O heart I made! a heart beats here.\"'\n\nHe has declared God's name, His last best name of Love.\n\nNeed I dwell for one moment on the fact that that name is only declared\nby this Son? There is no need to deny the presence of manifold other\nprecious sources in men's experience and lives from which something may\nbe inferred of what God truly is. But all these, rich and manifold as\nthey are, fall into nothingness before the life of Jesus Christ,\nconsidered as the making visible of God. For all the rest are partial\nand incomplete. 'At sundry times and in divers manners' God flung forth\nsyllables of the name, and 'fragments of that mighty voice came rolling\ndown the wind.' But in Jesus Christ the whole name, in all its\nsyllables, is spoken. Other sources of knowledge are ambiguous, and\nneed the interpretation of Christ's life and Cross ere they can be\nconstrued into a harmonious whole. Life, nature, our inmost being,\nhistory, all these sources speak with two voices; and it is only when\nwe hear the deep note that underlies them in the word of Christ that\ntheir discord becomes a harmony. Other sources lack authority. They\ncome at the most with a 'may be.' He comes with a 'Verily, verily.'\nOther sources speak to the understanding, or the conscience, or to\nfear. Christ speaks to the heart. Other sources leave the man who\naccepts them unaffected. Christ's message penetrates to the\ntransforming and assimilation of the whole being.\n\nSo, dear brethren! for all generations, and for this generation most of\nall, the plain alternative lies between the declaration of the name of\nGod in Jesus Christ and a godless and orphan world. Modern thought will\nmake short work of all other sources of certitude about the character\nof God, and will leave men alone in the dark. Christ, the historical\nfact of the life and death of Jesus Christ, is the sole surviving\nsource of certitude, which is blessedness, as to whether there is a\nGod, and what sort of a God He is.\n\nII. Secondly, note here that strange forward look of the dying Man: 'I\nhave declared Thy name and _will declare it_.'\n\nAnd that was said within eight and forty hours of the Cross, which, if\nHe had been a simple human teacher and martyr, would have ended all His\nactivity in the world. But here He is not merely summing up His life,\nand laying it aside, writing the last sentence, as it were, which\ngathers up the whole of the completed book, but He is closing the first\nvolume, and in the act of doing so He stretches out His hand to open\nthe second. 'I will declare it.' When? How? Did not earthly life, then,\nput a stop to this Teacher's activity? Was there still prophetic\nfunction to be done after death had sealed His lips? Certainly.\n\nThat anticipation, which at once differentiates Him from all the brood\nof merely human teachers and prophets, even the highest, does indeed\ninclude as future, at the moment when He speaks, the swiftly coming and\nclose Cross; but it goes beyond it. How much of Christendom's knowledge\nof God depended upon the Passion, on the threshold of which Christ was\nstanding? He, hanging on the Cross in weakness, and dying there amidst\nthe darkness that overspread the land, is a strange Revealer of the\nomnipotent, infinite, ever-blessed God. But Oh! if we strike Gethsemane\nand Calvary out of Christ's manifestation of the Father, how infinitely\npoorer are we and the world! 'God commendeth,' (rather 'establisheth,')\n'His love toward us in that whilst we were yet sinners Christ died for\nus.' And so as we turn ourselves to the little knoll outside the gate,\nwhere the Nazarene carpenter hangs faint and dying, we--wonder of\nWonders, and yet certainty of certainties!--have to say, 'Lo! this is\nour God; we have waited for Him.'\n\nBut that future revelation extends beyond the Cross, and includes\nresurrection, ascension, Pentecost, and the whole history of the Church\nright onwards through the ages. The difference between the two volumes\nof revelation--that which includes the work of Christ upon earth, and\nthat which includes His revelation from the heavens--is this, that the\nfirst volume contains all the facts, and the second volume contains His\ninterpretation and application of the facts in the understandings and\nhearts of His people. We have no more facts from which to construe God\nthan these which belong to the earthly life of Jesus Christ, and we\nnever shall have, here at all events. But whilst the first volume to\nthe bottom of the last page is finished and tolerates and needs no\nadditions, day by day, moment by moment, epoch by epoch Christ is\nbringing His people to a fuller understanding of the significance of\nthe first volume, and writing the second more and more upon their\nhearts.\n\nSo we have an ever-living Christ, still the active Teacher of His\nChurch. Times of unsettlement and revolutionary change and the 'shaking\nof the things that are made,' like the times in which we live, are but\ntimes in which the great Teacher is setting some new lesson from the\nold Book to His slow scholars. There is always a little confusion in\nthe schoolroom when the classes are being rearranged and new books are\nbeing put into old hands. The tributary stream, as it rushes in, makes\nbroken water for a moment. Do not let us be afraid when 'the things\nthat can be shaken' shake, but let us see in the shaking the attendant\nof a new curriculum on which the great Teacher is launching His\nscholars, and let us learn the new lessons of the old Gospel which He\nis then teaching.\n\nIII. Thirdly, note the participation in the Father's love which is the\nissue of the knowledge of the Father's name.\n\nChrist says that His end, an end which is surely attained in the\ndeclaration of the divine name, is that 'the love wherewith Thou hast\nloved Me may be in them.' We are here touching upon heights too dizzy\nfor free and safe walking, on glories too bright for close and steady\ngaze. But where Christ has spoken we may reverently follow. Mark, then,\nthat marvellous thought of the identity between the love which was His\nand the love which is ours. 'From everlasting' that divine love lay on\nthe Eternal Word which in the hoary beginning, before the beginning of\ncreatures, 'was with God, and was God.' The deepest conception that we\ncan form of the divine nature is of a Being who in Himself carries the\nSubject and the Object of an eternal love, which we speak of in the\ndeep emblem of 'the Word,' and the God with whom He eternally 'was.'\nThat love lay upon Christ, without limitation, without reservation,\nwithout interruption, finding nothing there from which it recoiled, and\nnothing there which did not respond to it. No mist, no thunderstorm,\never broke that sunshine, no tempest ever swept across that calm.\nContinuous, full, perfect was the love that knit the Father to the Son,\nand continuous, full, and perfect was the consciousness of abiding in\nthat love, which lay like light upon the spirit of Him that said 'I\ndelight to do Thy will.' 'The Father hath not left Me alone.'\n\nAnd all that love Christ gives to us as deep, as continuous, as\nunreserved. Our consciousness of God's love is meant by Christ to be\nlike His own. Alas! alas! is that our experience, Christian people? The\nsun always shines on the rainless land of Egypt, except for a month or\ntwo in the year. The contrast between the unclouded blue and continuous\nlight and heat there, and our murky skies and humid atmosphere, is like\nthe contrast between our broken and feeble consciousness of the shining\nof the divine love and the uninterrupted glory of light and joy of\ncommunion which poured on Christ's heart. But it is possible for us\nindefinitely to approximate to such an experience; and the way by which\nwe reach it is that plain and simple one of accepting Christ's\ndeclaration of the Father's name.\n\nIV. And so, lastly, notice the indwelling Christ who makes our\nparticipation in the divine love possible: 'And I in them.'\n\nOne may well say, 'How can it be that love should be transferred? How\ncan it be that the love of God to me shall be identical with the love\nof God to Christ?' There is only one answer. If Christ dwells in me,\nthen God's love to Him falls upon me by no transference, but by my\nincorporation into Him. And I would urge that this great truth of the\nactual indwelling of Christ in the soul is no mere piece of rhetorical\nexaggeration, nor a wild and enthusiastic way of putting the fact that\nthe influence of His teaching and the beauty of His example can sway\nus; but it is a plain and absolute truth that the divine Christ can\ncome into and abide in the narrow room of our poor hearts. And if He\ndoes this, then 'he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit'; and the\nChrist in me receives the sunshine of the divine love. That does not\ndestroy, but heightens, my individuality. I am more and not less myself\nbecause 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.'\n\nSo, dear brethren! it all comes to this--we may each of us, if we will,\nhave Jesus Christ for Guest and Inhabitant in our hearts. If we have,\nthen, since God loves Him, He must love me who have Him within me, and\nas long as God loves Christ He cannot cease to love me, nor can I cease\nto be conscious of His love to me, and whatsoever gifts His love\nbestows upon Jesus, pass over in measure, and partially, to myself.\nThus immortality, heaven, glory, all blessedness in heaven and earth,\nare the fruit and crystallisation, so to speak, of that oneness with\nChrist which is possible for us. And the conditions are simply that we\nshall with joyful trust accept His declaration of the Father's name,\nand see God manifest in Him; and welcome in our inmost hearts that\ngreat Gospel. Then His prayer, and the travail of His soul, will reach\ntheir end even in me, and 'the love wherewith the Father loved the Son\nshall be in me,' and the Son Himself shall dwell in my heart.\n\n\n\nCHRIST AND HIS CAPTORS\n\n'As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward,\nand fell to the ground. Then asked He them again, Whom seek ye? And\nthey said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am\nHe: if therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way: That the saying\nmight be fulfilled, which He spake, Of them which Thou gayest Me have I\nlost none.'--JOHN xviii. 6-9.\n\nThis remarkable incident is narrated by John only. It fits in with the\npurpose which he himself tells us governed his selection of the\nincidents which he records. 'These things are written,' says he, near\nthe end of the Gospel, 'that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of\nGod, and that, believing, ye might have life in His name.' The whole of\nthe peculiarities of the substance of John's Gospel are to be explained\non the two grounds that he was writing a supplement to, and not a\nsubstitute for, or a correction of, the Gospels already in existence;\nand that his special business was to narrate such facts and words as\nset forth the glory of Christ as 'the Only Begotten of the Father.'\n\nThe incident before us is, as I think, one of these. The Evangelist\nwould have us see in it, as I gather from his manner of narrating it,\nmainly three things. He emphasises that strange recoil of the would-be\ncaptors before Christ's majestic, calm 'I am He'; that was a\nmanifestation of Christ's glory. He emphasises our Lord's patient\nstanding there, in the midst of the awe-struck crowd, and even inciting\nthem, as it would seem, to do the work for which they had come out;\nthat was a manifestation of the voluntariness of Christ's sufferings.\nAnd He emphasises the self-forgetting care with which at that supreme\nmoment He steps between His faithless, weak friends and danger, with\nthe wonderful words, 'If ye seek Me, let these go their way'; to the\nEvangelist that little incident is an illustration, on a very low\nlevel, and in regard to a comparatively trivial matter, of the very\nsame principle by which salvation from all evil in time and in\neternity, is guaranteed to all that believe on Him:--\n\nI. First, then, consider this remarkable, momentary manifestation of\nour Lord's glory.\n\n'I am He!' When the Band were thus doubly assured by the traitor's kiss\nand by His own confession, why did they not lay hands upon Him? There\nHe stood in the midst of them, alone, defenceless; there was nothing to\nhinder their binding Him on the spot. Instead of that they recoil, and\nfall in a huddled heap before Him. Some strange awe and terror, of\nwhich they themselves could have given no account, was upon their\nspirits. How came it about? Many things may have conspired to produce\nit. I am by no means anxious to insist that this was a miracle. Things\nof the same sort, though much less in degree, have been often enough\nseen; when some innocent and illustrious victim has for a moment\nparalysed the hands of his would-be captors and made them feel, though\nit were but transiently, 'how awful goodness is.' There must have been\nmany in that band who had heard Him, though, in the uncertain light of\nquivering moonbeams and smoking torches, they failed to recognise Him\ntill He spoke. There must have been many more who had heard of Him, and\nmany who suspected that they were about to lay hands on a holy man,\nperhaps on a prophet. There must have been reluctant tools among the\ninferiors, and no doubt some among the leaders whoso consciences needed\nbut a touch to be roused to action. To all, His calmness and dignity\nwould appeal, and the manifest freedom from fear or desire to flee\nwould tend to deepen the strange thoughts which began to stir in their\nhearts.\n\nBut the impression which the narrative seems intended to leave, appears\nto me to be of something more than this. It looks as if there were\nsomething more than human in Christ's look and tone. It may have been\nthe same in kind as the ascendency which a pure and calm nature has\nover rude and inferior ones. It may have been the same in kind as has\nsometimes made the headsman on the scaffold pause before he struck, and\nhas bowed rude gaolers into converts before some grey-haired saint or\nvirgin martyr; yet the difference is so great in degree as practically\nto become quite another thing. Though I do not want to insist upon any\n'miraculous' explanation of the cause of this incident, yet I would\nask, May it not be that here we see, perhaps apart from Christ's will\naltogether, rising up for one moment to the surface, the indwelling\nmajesty which was always there?\n\nWe do not know the laws that regulated the dwelling of the Godhead,\nbodily, within that human frame, but we do know that at one other time\nthere came upon His features a transfiguration, and over His very\ngarments a lustre which was not thrown upon them from without, but rose\nup from within. And I am inclined to think that here, as there, though\nunder such widely different circumstances and to such various issues,\nthere was for a moment a little rending of the veil of His flesh, and\nan emission of some flash of the brightness that always tabernacled\nwithin Him; and that, therefore, just as Isaiah, when He saw the King\nin His glory, said, 'Woe is me, for I am undone!' and just as Moses\ncould not look upon the Face, but could only see the back parts, so\nhere the one stray beam of manifest divinity that shot through the\ncrevice, as it were, for an instant, was enough to prostrate with a\nstrange awe even those rude and insensitive men. When He had said 'I am\nHe,' there was something that made them feel, 'This is One before whom\nviolence cowers abashed, and in whose presence impurity has to hide its\nface.' I do not assert that this is the explanation of that panic\nterror. I only ask, May it not be?\n\nBut whatever we may think was the reason, at all events the incident\nbrings out very strikingly the elevation and dignity of Christ, and the\npowerful impressions made by His personality, even at such a time of\nhumiliation. This Evangelist is always careful to bring out the glory\nof Christ, especially when that glory lies side by side with His\nlowliness. The blending of these two is one of the remarkable features\nin the New Testament portraiture of Jesus Christ. Wherever in our\nLord's life any incident indicates more emphatically than usual the\nlowliness of His humiliation, there, by the side of it, you get\nsomething that indicates the majesty of His glory. For instance, He is\nborn a weak infant, but angels herald His birth; He lies in a manger,\nbut a star hangs trembling above it, and leads sages from afar, with\ntheir myrrh, and incense, and gold. He submits Himself to the baptism\nof repentance, but the heavens open and a voice proclaims, 'This is My\nbeloved Son!' He sits wearied, on the stone coping of the well, and\ncraves for water from a peasant woman; but He gives her the Water of\nLife. He lies down and sleeps, from pure exhaustion, in the stern of\nthe little fishing-boat, but He wakes to command the storm, and it is\nstill. He weeps beside the grave, but He flings His voice into its\ninmost recesses, and the sheeted dead comes forth. He well-nigh faints\nunder the agony in the garden, but an angel from Heaven strengthens\nHim. He stands a prisoner at a human bar, but He judges and condemns\nHis judges. He dies, and that hour of defeat is His hour of triumph,\nand the union of shame and glory is most conspicuous in that hour when\non the Cross the 'Son of Man is _glorified_, and God is glorified in\nHim.'\n\nThis strange blending of opposites--the glory in the lowliness, and the\nabasement in the glory--is the keynote of this singular event. He will\nbe 'delivered into the hands of men.' Yes; but ere He is delivered He\npauses for an instant, and in that instant comes a flash 'above the\nbrightness of the noonday sun' to tell of the hidden glory.\n\nDo not forget that we may well look upon that incident as a prophecy of\nwhat shall be. As one of the suggestive, old commentators on this verse\nsays: 'He will say \"I am He,\" again, a third time. What will He do\ncoming to reign, when He did this coming to die? And what will His\nmanifestation be as a Judge when this was the effect of the\nmanifestation as He went to be judged?' 'Every eye shall see Him'; and\nthey that loved not His appearing shall fall before Him when He cometh\nto be our Judge; and shall call on the rocks and the hills to cover\nthem.\n\nII. There is here, secondly, a manifestation of the voluntariness of\nour Lord's suffering.\n\nWhen that terrified mob recoiled from Him, why did He stand there so\npatiently? The time was propitious for flight, if He had cared to flee.\nHe might have 'passed through the midst of them and gone His way.' as\nHe did once before, if He had chosen. He comes from the garden; there\nshall be no difficulty in finding Him. He tells who He is; there shall\nbe no need for the traitor's kiss. He lays them low for a moment, but\nHe will not flee. When Peter draws his sword He rebukes his ill-advised\nappeal to force, and then He holds out His hands and lets them bind\nHim. It was not their fetters, but the 'cords of love' which held Him\nprisoner. It was not their power, but His own pity which drew Him to\nthe judgment hall and the Cross.\n\nLet us dwell upon that thought for a moment. The whole story of the\nGospels is constructed upon the principle, and illustrates the fact,\nthat our Lord's life, as our Lord's death, was a voluntary surrender of\nHimself for man's sin, and that nothing led Him to, and fastened Him\non, the Cross but His own will. He willed to be born. He 'came into the\nworld' by His own choice. He 'took upon Him the form of a servant.' He\n'took part' of the children's 'flesh and blood.' His birth was His own\nact, the first of the long series of the acts, by which for the sake of\nthe love which He bore us, He 'humbled Himself.' Step by step He\nvoluntarily journeyed towards the Cross, which stood clear before Him\nfrom the very beginning as the necessary end, made necessary by His\nlove.\n\nAs we get nearer and nearer to the close of the history, we see more\nand more distinctly that He willingly went towards the Cross, Take; for\ninstance, the account of the last portion of our Lord's life, and you\nsee in the whole of it a deliberate intention to precipitate the final\nconflict. Hence the last journey to Jerusalem when 'His face was set,'\nand His disciples followed Him amazed. Hence the studied publicity of\nHis triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Hence the studied, growing severity\nof His rebukes to the priests and rulers. The same impression is given,\nthough in a somewhat different way, by His momentary retreat from the\ncity and by the precautions taken against premature arrest, that He\nmight not die before the Passover. In both the hastening toward the\ncity and in the retreating from it, there is apparent the same design:\nthat He Himself shall lay down His life, and shall determine the how,\nand the when, and the where as seems good to Him.\n\nIf we look at the act of death itself, Jesus did not die because He\nmust. It was not the nails of the Cross, the physical exhaustion, the\nnervous shock of crucifixion that killed Him. He died because He would.\n'I have power to lay down My life,' He said, 'and I have power'--of\ncourse--'to take it again.' At that last moment, He was Lord and Master\nof death when He bowed His head to death, and, if I might so say, He\nsummoned that grim servant with a 'Come!' and he came, and He set him\nhis task with a 'Do this!' and he did it. He was manifested as the Lord\nof death, having its 'keys' in His hands, when He died upon the Cross.\n\nNow I pray you to ask yourselves the question, if it be true that\nChrist died because He would, why was it that He would die? If because\nHe chose, what was it that determined His choice? And there are but two\nanswers, which two are one. The divine motive that ruled His life is\ndoubly expressed: 'I must do the will of My Father,' and 'I must save\nthe world.'\n\nThe taunt that those Jewish rulers threw at Him had a deeper truth than\nthey dreamed, and was an encomium, and not a taunt. 'He saved\nothers'--yes, and _therefore_, 'Himself He cannot save.' He cannot,\nbecause His choice and will to die are determined by His free love to\nus and to all the world. His fixed will 'bore His body to the tree,'\nand His love was the strong spring which kept His will fixed.\n\nYou and I have our share in these voluntary sufferings, and our place\nin that loving heart which underwent them for us. Oh! should not that\nthought speak to all our hearts, and bind us in grateful service and\nlifelong surrender to Him who gave Himself for us; and _must_ die\nbecause He loved us all so much that He _could not_ leave us unsaved?\n\nIII. We have, lastly, here, a symbol, or, perhaps, more accurately, an\ninstance, on a small scale, of Christ's self-sacrificing care for us.\n\nHis words: 'If ye seek Me, let these go their way,' sound more like the\ncommand of a prince than the intercession of a prisoner. The calm\ndignity of them strikes one just as much as the perfect\nself-forgetfulness of them.\n\nIt was a very small matter which He was securing thereby. The Apostles\nwould have to die for Him some day, but they were not ready for it yet,\nand so He casts the shield of His protection round them for a moment,\nand interposes Himself between them and the band of soldiers in order\nthat their weakness may have a little more time to grow strong. And\nthough it was wrong and cowardly for them to forsake Him and flee, yet\nthese words of my text more than half gave them permission and warrant\nfor their departure: 'Let these go their way.'\n\nNow John did not think that this small deliverance was all that Christ\nmeant by these great words: 'Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost\nnone!' He saw that it was one case, a very trifling one, a merely\ntransitory one, yet ruled by the same principles which are at work in\nthe immensely higher region to which the words properly refer. Of\ncourse they have their proper fulfilment in the spiritual realm, and\nare not fulfilled, in the highest sense, till all who have loved and\nfollowed Christ are presented faultless before the Father in the home\nabove. But the little incident may be a result of the same cause as the\nfinal deliverance is. A dew-drop is shaped by the same laws which mould\nthe mightiest of the planets. The old divines used to say that God was\ngreatest in the smallest things, and the self-sacrificing care of Jesus\nChrist, as He gives Himself a prisoner that His disciples may go free,\ncomes from the same deep heart of pitying love, which led Him to die,\nthe 'just for the unjust.' It may then well stand for a partial\nfulfilment of His mighty words, even though these wait for their\ncomplete accomplishment till the hour when all the sheep are gathered\ninto the one fold, and no evil beasts, nor weary journeys, nor barren\npastures can harass them any more.\n\nThis trivial incident, then, becomes an exposition of highest truth.\nLet us learn from such an use of such an event to look upon all common\nand transitory circumstances as governed by the same loving hands, and\nworking to the same ends, as the most purely spiritual. The visible is\nthe veil which drapes the invisible, and clings so closely to it as to\nreveal its outline. The common events of life are all parables to the\ndevout heart, which is the wise heart. They speak mystic meanings to\nears that can hear. The redeeming love of Jesus is proclaimed by every\nmercy which perishes in the using; and all things should tell us of His\nself-forgetting, self-sacrificing care.\n\nThus, then, we may see in that picture of our Lord's surrendering\nHimself that His trembling disciples might go free, an emblem of what\nHe does for us, in regard to all our foes. He stands between us and\nthem, receives their arrows into His own bosom, and says, 'Let these go\ntheir way.' God's law comes with its terrors, with its penalties, to us\nwho have broken it a thousand times. The consciousness of guilt and sin\nthreatens us all more or less, and with varying intensity in different\nminds. The weariness of the world, 'the ills that flesh is heir to,'\nthe last grim enemy, Death, and that which lies beyond them all, ring\nyou round. My friends! what are you going to do in order to escape from\nthem? You are a sinful man, you have broken God's law. That law goes on\ncrashing its way and crushing down all that is opposed to it. You have\na weary life before you, however joyful it may sometimes be. Cares, and\ntroubles, and sorrows, and tears, and losses, and disappointments, and\nhard duties that you will not be able to perform, and dark days in\nwhich you will be able to see but very little light, are all certain to\ncome sooner or later; and the last moment will draw near when the King\nof Terrors will be at your side; and beyond death there is a life of\nretribution in which men reap the things that they have sown here. All\nthat is true, much of it is true about you at this moment, and it will\nall be true some day. In view of that, what are you going to do?\n\nI preach to you a Saviour who has endured all for us. As a mother might\nfling herself out of the sledge that her child might escape the wolves\nin full chase, here is One that comes and fronts all your foes, and\nsays to them, 'Let these go their way. Take Me.' 'By His stripes we are\nhealed.' 'On Him was laid the iniquity of us all.'\n\nHe died because He chose; He chose because He loved. His love had to\ndie in order that His death might be our life, and that in it we should\nfind our forgiveness and peace. He stands between our foes and us. No\nevil can strike us unless it strike Him first. He takes into His own\nheart the sharpest of all the darts which can pierce ours. He has borne\nthe guilt and punishment of a world's sin. These solemn penalties have\nfallen upon Him that we, trusting in Him, 'may go our way,' and that\nthere may be 'no condemnation' to us if we are in Christ Jesus. And if\nthere be no condemnation, we can stand whatever other blows may fall\nupon us. They are easier to bear, and their whole character is\ndifferent, when we know that Christ has borne them already. Two of the\nthree whom Christ protected in the garden died a martyr's death; but do\nyou not think that James bowed his neck to Herod's sword, and Peter let\nthem gird him and lead him to his cross, more joyfully and with a\ndifferent heart, when they thought of Him that had died before them?\nThe darkest prison cell will not be so very dark if we remember that\nChrist has been there before us, and death itself will be softened into\nsleep because our Lord has died. 'If therefore,' says He, to the whole\npack of evils baying round us, with their cruel eyes and their hungry\nmouths, 'ye seek Me, let these go their way.' So, brother, if you will\nfix your trust, as a poor, sinful soul, on that dear Christ, and get\nbehind Him, and put Him between you and your enemies, then, in time and\nin eternity, that saying will be fulfilled in you which He spake, 'Of\nthem which Thou gavest Me, have I lost none.'\n\n\n\nJESUS BEFORE CAIAPHAS\n\n'And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that\ndisciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into\nthe palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without.\nThen went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high\npriest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.\nThen saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also\none of this Man's disciples? He saith, I am not. And the servants and\nofficers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold:\nand they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed\nhimself. The high priest then asked Jesus of His disciples, and of His\ndoctrine. Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever\ntaught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always\nresort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou Me? ask them\nwhich heard Me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I\nsaid. And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by\nstruck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest Thou the high\npriest so? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of\nthe evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me? Now Annas had sent Him\nbound unto Caiaphas the high priest. And Simon Peter stood and warmed\nhimself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of His\ndisciples? He denied it, and said, I am not. One of the servants of the\nhigh priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not\nI see thee in the garden with Him? Peter then denied again: and\nimmediately the cock crew.'--JOHN xviii. 15-27.\n\nThe last verses of the preceding passage belong properly to this one,\nfor they tell us that Jesus was 'first' brought before Annas, a fact\nwhich we owe to John only. Annas himself and his five sons held the\nhigh-priesthood in succession. To the sons has to be added Caiaphas,\nwho, as we learn from John only, was Annas' son-in-law, and so one of\nthe family party. That Jesus should have been taken to him, though he\nheld no office at the time, shows who pulled the strings in the\nSanhedrim. The reference to Caiaphas in verse 14 seems intended to\nsuggest what sort of a trial might be expected, presided over by such a\nman. But verse 15 tells us that Jesus entered in, accompanied by\n'another disciple,' 'to the court,' not, as we should have expected, of\nAnnas, but 'of the high priest,' who, by the testimony of verse 13, can\nbe no one but Caiaphas. How came that about? Apparently, because Annas\nhad apartments in the high-priest's official residence. As he obviously\nexercised the influence through his sons and son-in-law, who\nsuccessively held the office, it was very natural that he should be a\nfixture in the palace.\n\nWhat John's connection was with this veteran intriguer (assuming that\nJohn was that 'other disciple') we do not know. Probably it was some\nfamily bond that united two such antipathetic natures. At all events,\nthe Apostle's acquaintance with the judge so far condoned his\ndiscipleship to the criminal, that the doors of the audience chamber\nwere open to him, though he was known as 'one of them.'\n\nSo he and poor Peter were parted, and the latter left shivering outside\nin the grey of the morning. John had not missed him at first, for he\nwould be too much absorbed in watching Jesus to have thoughts to spare\nfor Peter, and would conclude that he was following him; but, when he\ndid miss him, like a brave man he ran the risk of being observed, and\nwent for him. The sharp-witted porteress, whose business it was to\njudge applicants for entrance by a quick glance, at once inferred that\nPeter 'also' was one of this man's disciples. Her 'also' shows that she\nknew John to be one; and her 'this man' shows that either she did not\nknow Jesus' name, or thought Him too far beneath her to be named by\nher! The time during which Peter had been left outside alone, repenting\nnow of, and alarmed for what might happen to him on account of, his\nill-aimed blow at Malchus, and feeling the nipping cold, had taken all\nhis courage out of him. The one thing he wished was to slip in\nunnoticed, and so the first denial came to his lips as rashly as many\nanother word had come in old days. He does not seem to have remained\nwith John, who probably went up to the upper end of the hall, where the\nexamination was going on, while Peter, not having the _entree_ and very\nmuch terrified as well as miserable, stayed at the lower end, where the\nunderstrappers were making themselves comfortable round a charcoal\nfire, and paying no attention to the proceedings at the other end. He\nseemed to be as indifferent as they were, and to be intent only on\ngetting himself warmed. But what surges of emotion would be tossing in\nhis heart, which yet he was trying to hide under the mask of being an\nunconcerned spectator, like the others!\n\nThe examination of our Lord was conducted by 'the high priest,' by\nwhich title John must mean Caiaphas, as he has just emphatically noted\nthat he then filled the office. But how is that to be reconciled with\nthe statement that Jesus was taken to Annas? Apparently by supposing\nthat, though Annas was present, Caiaphas was spokesman. But did not a\nformal trial before Caiaphas follow, and does not John tell us (verse\n24) that, after the first examination, Annas sent Jesus bound to\nCaiaphas? Yes. And are these things compatible with this account of an\nexamination conducted by the latter? Yes, if we remember that flagrant\nwresting of justice marked the whole proceedings. The condemnation of\nJesus was a judicial murder, in which the highest court of the Jews\n'decreed iniquity by a law'; and it was of a piece with all the rest\nthat he, who was to pose as an impartial judge presently, should, in\nthe spirit of a partisan, conduct this preliminary inquiry. Observe\nthat no sentence was pronounced in the case at this stage. This was not\na court at all. What was it? An attempt to entrap the prisoner into\nadmissions which might be used against Him in the court to be held\npresently. The rulers had Jesus in their hands, and they did not know\nwhat to do with Him now that they had Him. They were at a loss to know\nwhat His indictment was to be. To kill Him was the only thing on which\nthey had made up their minds; the pretext had yet to be found, and so\nthey tried to get Him to say something which would serve their purpose.\n\n'The high priest therefore asked Jesus of His disciples, and of His\nteaching'! If they did not know about either, why had they arrested\nHim? Cunning outwits itself, and falls into the pit it digs for the\ninnocent. Jesus passed by the question as to His disciples unnoticed,\nand by His calm answer as to His teaching showed that He saw the snare.\nHe reduced Caiaphas and Annas to perpetrating plain injustice, or to\nletting Him go free. Elementary fair play to a prisoner prescribes that\nhe should be accused of some crime by some one, and not that he should\nfurnish his judges with materials for his own indictment. 'Why askest\nthou Me? ask them that have heard Me,' is unanswerable, except by such\nan answer as the officious 'servant' gave--a blow and a violent speech.\nBut Christ's words reach far beyond the momentary purpose; they contain\na wide truth. His teaching loves the daylight. There are no muttered\noracles, no whispered secrets for the initiated, no double voice, one\nfor the multitude, and another for the adepts. All is above-board, and\nall is spoken 'openly to the world.' Christianity has no cliques or\ncoteries, nothing sectional, nothing reserved. It is for mankind, for\nall mankind, all for mankind. True, there are depths in it; true, the\nsecrets which Jesus can only speak to loving ears in secret are His\nsweetest words, but they are 'spoken in the ear' that they may be\n'proclaimed on the housetops.'\n\nThe high-priest is silent, for there was nothing that he could say to\nso undeniable a demand, and he had no witnesses ready. How many since\nhis day have treated Jesus as he treated Him--condemned Him or rejected\nHim without reason, and then looked about for reasons to justify their\nattitude, or even sought to make Him condemn Himself!\n\nAn unjust judge breeds insolent underlings, and if everything else\nfails, blows and foul words cover defeat, and treat calm assertion of\nright as impertinence to high-placed officials. Caiaphas degraded his\nown dignity more than any words of a prisoner could degrade it.\n\nOur Lord's answer 'reviled not again.' It is meek in majesty and\nmajestic in meekness. Patient endurance is not forbidden to remonstrate\nwith insolent injustice, if only its remonstrance bears no heat of\npersonal anger in it. But Jesus was not so much vindicating His words\nto Caiaphas in saying, 'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the\nevil,' as reiterating the challenge for 'witnesses.' He brands the\ninjustice of Caiaphas, while meekly rebuking the brutality of his\nservant. Master and man were alike in smiting Him for words of which\nthey could not prove the evil.\n\nThere was obviously nothing to be gained by further examination. No\ncrime had been alleged, much less established; therefore Jesus ought to\nhave been let go. But Annas treated Him as a criminal, and handed Him\nover 'bound,' to be formally tried before the man who had just been\nfoiled in his attempt to play the inquisitor. What a hideous mockery of\nlegal procedure! How well the pair, father-in-law and son-in-law,\nunderstood each other! What a confession of a foregone conclusion,\nevidence or no evidence, in shackling Jesus as a malefactor! And it was\nall done in the name of religion! and perhaps the couple of priests did\nnot know that they were hypocrites, but really thought that they were\n'doing God service.'\n\nJohn's account of Peter's denials rises to a climax of peril and of\nkeenness of suspicion. The unnamed persons who put the second question\nmust have had their suspicions roused by something in his manner as he\nstood by the glinting fire, perhaps by agitation too great to be\nconcealed. The third question was put by a more dangerous person still,\nwho not only recognised Peter's features as the firelight fitfully\nshowed them, but had a personal ground of hostility in his relationship\nto Malchus.\n\nJohn lovingly spares telling of the oaths and curses accompanying the\ndenials, but dares not spare the narration of the fact. It has too\nprecious lessons of humility, of self-distrust, of the possibility of\ngenuine love being overborne by sudden and strong temptation, to be\nomitted. And the sequel of the denials has yet more precious teaching,\nwhich has brought balm to many a contrite heart, conscious of having\nbeen untrue to its deepest love. For the sound of the cock-crow, and\nthe look from the Lord as He was led away bound past the place where\nPeter stood, brought him back to himself, and brought tears to his\neyes, which were sweet as well as bitter. On the resurrection morning\nthe risen Lord sent the message of forgiveness and special love to the\nbroken-hearted Apostle, when He said, 'Go, tell My disciples and\nPeter,' and on that day there was an interview of which Paul knew (1\nCor. xv. 5), but the details of which were apparently communicated by\nthe Apostle to none of his brethren. The denier who weeps is taken to\nChrist's heart, and in sacred secrecy has His forgiveness freely given,\nthough, before he can be restored to his public office, he must, by his\nthreefold public avowal of love, efface his threefold denial. We may\nsay, 'Thou knowest that I love thee,' even if we have said, 'I know Him\nnot,' and come nearer to Jesus, by reason of the experience of His\npardoning love, than we were before we fell.\n\n\n\nART THOU A KING?\n\n'Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it\nwas early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest\nthey should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover. Pilate\nthen went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against\nthis Man? They answered and said unto him, If He were not a malefactor,\nwe would not have delivered Him up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto\nthem, Take ye Him, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews\ntherefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to\ndeath: That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spake,\nsignifying what death He should die. Then Pilate entered into the\njudgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto Him, Art Thou the\nKing of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of\nthyself, or did others tell it thee of Me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?\nThine own nation and the chief priests have delivered Thee unto me:\nwhat hast Thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world:\nif My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I\nshould not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from\nhence. Pilate therefore said unto Him, Art Thou a king then? Jesus\nanswered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for\nthis cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the\ntruth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice. Pilate saith\nunto Him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again\nunto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in Him no fault at all. But\nye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover:\nwill ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then\ncried they all again, saying, Not this Man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas\nwas a robber.'--JOHN xviii. 28-40.\n\nJohn evidently intends to supplement the synoptic Gospels' account. He\ntells of Christ's appearance before Annas, but passes by that before\nCaiaphas, though he shows his knowledge of it. Similarly he touches\nlightly on the public hearing before Pilate, but gives us in detail the\nprivate conversation in this section, which he alone records. We may\nsuppose that he was present at both the hearing before Annas and the\ninterview within the palace between Jesus and Herod, for he would not\nbe deterred from entering, as the Jews were, and there seems to have\nbeen no other impediment in the way. The passage has three stages--the\nfencing between the Sanhedrists and Pilate, the 'good confession before\nPontius Pilate,' and the preference of Barabbas to Jesus.\n\nI. The passage of arms between the priests and the governor. 'It was\nearly,' probably before 6 A.M. A hurried meeting of the Sanhedrim had\ncondemned Jesus to death, and the next thing was to get the Roman\nauthority to carry out the sentence. The necessity of appeal to it was\na bitter pill, but it had to be swallowed, for the right of capital\npunishment had been withdrawn. A 'religious' scruple, too, stood in the\nway--very characteristic of such formalists. Killing an innocent man\nwould not in the least defile them, or unfit for eating the passover,\nbut to go into a house that had not been purged of 'leaven,' and was\nfurther unclean as the residence of a Gentile, though he was the\ngovernor, that would stain their consciences--a singular scale of\nmagnitude, which saw no sin in condemning Jesus, and great sin in going\ninto Pilate's palace! Perhaps some of our conventional sins are of a\nlike sort.\n\nPilate was, probably, not over-pleased at being roused so early, nor at\nhaving to defer to a scruple which would to him look like insolence;\nand through all his bearing to the Sanhedrim a certain irritation shows\nitself, which sometimes flashes out in sarcasm, but is for the most\npart kept down. His first question is, perhaps, not so simple as it\nlooks, for he must have had some previous knowledge of the case, since\nRoman soldiers had been used for the arrest. But, clearly, those who\nbrought him a prisoner were bound to be the prosecutors.\n\nWhether or not Pilate knew that his question was embarrassing, the\nrulers felt it so. Why did they not wish to formulate a charge? Partly\nfrom pride. They hugged the delusion that their court was competent to\ncondemn, and wanted, as we all often do, to shut their eyes to a plain\nfact, as if ignoring it annihilated it. Partly because the charge on\nwhich they had condemned Jesus--that of blasphemy in calling Himself\n'the Son of God'--was not a crime known to Roman law, and to allege it\nwould probably have ended in the whole matter being scornfully\ndismissed. So they stood on their dignity and tried to bluster. 'We\nhave condemned Him; that is enough. We look to you to carry out the\nsentence at our bidding.' So the 'ecclesiastical authority' has often\nsaid to the 'secular arm' since then, and unfortunately the civil\nauthority has not always been as wise as Pilate was.\n\nHe saw an opening to get rid of the whole matter, and with just a faint\nflavour of irony suggests that, as they have 'a law'--which he, no\ndoubt, thought of as a very barbarous code--they had better go by it,\nand punish as well as condemn. That sarcastic proposal compelled them\nto acknowledge their subjection. Pilate had given the reins the least\ntouch, but enough to make them feel the bit; and though it went sore\nagainst the grain, they will own their master rather than lose their\nvictim. So their reluctant lips say, 'It is not lawful for us.' Pilate\nhas brought them on their knees at last, and they forget their dignity,\nand own the truth. Malicious hatred will eat any amount of dirt and\nhumiliation to gain its ends, especially if it calls itself religious\nzeal.\n\nJohn sees in the issue of this first round in the duel between Pilate\nand the rulers the sequence of events which brought about the\nfulfilment of our Lord's prediction of His crucifixion, since that was\nnot a Jewish mode of execution. This encounter of keen wits becomes\ntragical and awful when we remember Who it was that these men were\nwrangling about.\n\nII. We have Jesus and Pilate; the 'good confession,' and the\nindifferent answer. We must suppose that, unwillingly, the rulers had\nbrought the accusation that Jesus had attempted rebellion against Rome.\nJohn omits that, because he takes it for granted that it is known. It\nis implied in the conversation which now ensued. We must note as\nremarkable that Pilate does not conduct his first examination in the\npresence of the rulers, but has Jesus brought to him in the palace.\nPerhaps he simply wished to annoy the accusers, but more probably his\nRoman sense of justice combined with his wish to assert his authority,\nand perhaps with a suspicion that there was something strange about the\nwhole matter--and not least strange that the Sanhedrim, who were not\nenthusiastic supporters of Rome, should all at once display such\nloyalty--to make him wish to have the prisoner by himself, and try to\nfathom the business. With Roman directness he went straight to the\npoint: 'Art Thou the King of the Jews, as they have been saying?' There\nis emphasis on 'Thou'--the emphasis which a practical Roman official\nwould be likely to put as he looked at the weak, wearied, evidently\npoor and helpless man bound before him. There is almost a touch of pity\nin the question, and certainly the beginning of the conviction that\nthis was not a very formidable rival to Caesar.\n\nThe answer to be given depended on the sense in which Pilate asked the\nquestion, to bring out which is the object of Christ's question in\nreply. If Pilate was asking of himself, then what he meant by 'a king'\nwas one of earth's monarchs after the emperor's pattern, and the answer\nwould be 'No.' If he was repeating a Jewish charge, then, 'a king'\nmight mean the prophetic King of Israel, who was no rival of earthly\nmonarchs, and the answer would be 'Yes,' but that 'Yes' would give\nPilate no more reason to crucify Him than the 'No' would have given.\n\nPilate is getting tired of fencing, and impatiently answers, with true\nRoman contempt for subject-people's thoughts as well as their weapons.\n'I ... a Jew?' is said with a curl of the firm lips. He points to his\ninformants, 'Thine own nation and the chief priests,' and does not say\nthat their surrender of a would-be leader in a war of independence\nstruck him as suspicious. But he brushes aside the cobwebs which he\nfelt were being spun round him, and comes to the point, 'What hast Thou\ndone?' He is supremely indifferent to ideas and vagaries of\nenthusiasts. This poor man before him may call Himself anything He\nchooses, but _his_ only concern is with overt acts. Strange to ask the\nPrisoner what He had done! It had been well for Pilate if he had held\nfast by that question, and based his judgment resolutely on its answer!\nHe kept asking it all through the case, he never succeeded in getting\nan answer; he was convinced that Jesus had done nothing worthy of\ndeath, and yet fear, and a wish to curry favour with the rulers, drove\nhim to stain the judge's robe with innocent blood, from which he vainly\nsought to cleanse his hands.\n\nOur Lord's double answer claims a kingdom, but first shows what it is\nnot, and then what it is. It is 'not _of_ this world,' though it is\n_in_ this world, being established and developed here, but having\nnothing in common with earthly dominions, nor being advanced by their\nweapons or methods. Pilate could convince himself that this 'kingdom'\nbore no menace to Rome, from the fact that no resistance had been\noffered to Christ's capture. But the principle involved in these great\nwords goes far beyond their immediate application. It forbids Christ's\n'servants' to assimilate His kingdom to the world, or to use worldly\npowers as the means for the kingdom's advancement. The history of the\nChurch has sadly proved how hard it is for Christian men to learn the\nlesson, and how fatal to the energy and purity of the Church the\nforgetfulness of it has been. The temptation to such assimilation\nbesets all organised Christianity, and is as strong to-day as when\nConstantine gave the Church the paralysing gift of 'establishing' it as\na kingdom 'of this world.'\n\nPilate did pick out of this saying an increased certainty that he had\nnothing to fear from this strange 'King'; and half-amused contempt for\na dreamer, and half-pitying wonder at such lofty claims from such a\nhelpless enthusiast, prompted his question, 'Art Thou a king then?' One\ncan fancy the scornful emphasis on that 'Thou.' and can understand how\ngrotesquely absurd the notion of his prisoner's being a king must have\nseemed.\n\nHaving made clear part of the sense in which the avowal was to be\ntaken, our Lord answered plainly 'Yes.' Thus before the high-priest, He\ndeclared Himself to be the Son of God, and before Pilate He claimed to\nbe King, at each tribunal putting forward the claim which each was\ncompetent to examine--and, alas! at each meeting similar levity and\nrefusal to inquire seriously into the validity of the claim. The solemn\nrevelation to Pilate of the true nature of His kingdom and of Himself\nthe King fell on careless ears. A deeper mystery than Pilate dreamed of\nlay beneath the double designation of His origin; for He not only had\nbeen 'born' like other men, but had 'come into the world,' having 'come\nforth from the Father,' and having been before He was born. It was\nscarcely possible that Pilate should apprehend the meaning of that\nduplication, but some vague impression of a mysterious personality\nmight reach him, and Jesus would not have fully expressed His own\nconsciousness if He had simply said, 'I was born.' Let us see that we\nkeep firm hold of all which that utterance implies and declares.\n\nThe end of the Incarnation is to 'bear witness to the truth.' That\nwitness is the one weapon by which Christ's kingdom is established.\nThat witness is not given by words only, precious as these are, but by\ndeeds which are more than words. These witnessing deeds are not\ncomplete till Calvary and the empty grave and Olivet have witnessed at\nonce to the perfect incarnation of divine love, to the perfect\nSacrifice for the world's sin, to the Victor over death, and to the\nopening of heaven to all believers. Jesus is 'the faithful and true\nWitness,' as John calls Him, not without reminiscences of this passage,\njust because He is 'the First-begotten of the dead.' As here He told\nPilate that He was a 'king,' because a 'witness,' so John, in the\npassage referred to, bases His being 'Prince of the kings of the earth'\non the same fact.\n\nHow little Pilate knew that he was standing at the very crisis of his\nfate! A yielding to the impression that was slightly touching his heart\nand conscience, and he, too, might have 'heard' Christ's voice. But he\nwas not 'of the truth,' though he might have been if he had willed, and\nso the words were wind to him, and he brushed aside all the mist, as he\nthought it, with the light question, which summed up a Roman man of the\nworld's indifference to ideas, and belief in solid facts like legions\nand swords. 'What is truth?' may be the cry of a seeking soul, or the\nsneer of a confirmed sceptic, or the shrug of indifference of the\n'practical man.'\n\nIt was the last in Pilate's case, as is shown by his not waiting for an\nanswer, but ending the conversation with it as a last shot. It meant,\ntoo, that he felt quite certain that this man, with his high-strained,\nunpractical talk about a kingdom resting on such a filmy nothing, was\nabsolutely harmless. Therefore the only just thing for him to have done\nwas to have gone out to the impatient crowd and said so, and flatly\nrefused to do the dirty work of the priests for them, by killing an\ninnocent man. But he was too cowardly for that, and, no doubt, thought\nthat the murder of one poor Jew was a small price to pay for popularity\nwith his troublesome subjects. Still, like all weak men, he was not\neasy in his conscience, and made a futile attempt to get the right\nthing done, and yet not to suffer for doing it. The rejection of\nBarabbas is touched very lightly by John, and must be left unnoticed\nhere. The great contribution to our knowledge which John makes is this\nprivate interview between the King who reigns by the truth, and the\nrepresentative of earthly rule, based on arms and worldly forces.\n\n\n\nJESUS SENTENCED\n\n'Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him. And the soldiers\nplatted a crown of thorns, and put it on His head, and they put on Him\na purple robe. And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote Him\nwith their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto\nthem, Behold, I bring Him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no\nfault in Him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and\nthe purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the Man! When the\nchief priests therefore and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying,\nCrucify Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye Him, and\ncrucify Him: for I find no fault in Him. The Jews answered him, We have\na law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son\nof God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more\nafraid; And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus,\nWhence art Thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto\nHim, Speakest Thou not unto me I knowest Thou not that I have power to\ncrucify Thee, and have power to release Thee? Jesus answered, Thou\ncouldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee\nfrom above: therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater\nsin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him: but the Jews\ncried out, saying, If thou let this Man go, thou art not Caesar's\nfriend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When\nPilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat\ndown in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but\nin the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover,\nand about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!\nBut they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him! Pilate\nsaith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered,\nWe have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he Him therefore unto them\nto be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led Him away.'--JOHN xix.\n1-16.\n\nThe struggle between the vacillation of Pilate and the fixed malignity\nof the rulers is the principal theme of this fragment of Christ's\njudicial trial. He Himself is passive and all but silent, speaking only\none sentence of calm rebuke. The frequent changes of scene from within\nto without the praetorium indicate the steps in the struggle, and\nvividly reflect the irresolution of Pilate. These changes may help to\nmark the stages in the narrative.\n\nI. The cruelties and indignities in verses 1-3 were inflicted within\nthe 'palace,' to which Pilate, with his prisoner, had returned after\nthe popular vote for Barabbas. John makes that choice of the robber the\nreason for the scourging of Jesus. His thought seems to be that Pilate,\nhaving failed in his attempt to get rid of the whole difficulty by\nreleasing Jesus, according to the 'custom,' ordered the scourging, in\nhope that the lighter punishment might satisfy the turbulent crowd,\nwhom he wished to humour, while, if possible, saving their victim. It\nwas the expedient of a weak and cynical nature, and, like all weak\nattempts at compromise between right and wrong, only emboldened the\nhatred which it was meant to appease. If by clamour the rulers had\nsucceeded in getting Pilate to scourge a man whom he thought innocent,\nthey might well hope to get him to crucify, if they clamoured loudly\nand long enough.\n\nOne attitude only befitted Pilate, since he did not in the least\nbelieve that Jesus threatened the Roman supremacy; namely, to set Him\nat liberty, and let the disappointed rulers growl like wild beasts\nrobbed of their prey. But he did not care enough about a single\nhalf-crazy Jewish peasant to imperil his standing well with his awkward\nsubjects, for the sake of righteousness. The one good which Rome could\ngive to its vassal nations was inflexible justice and a sovereign law;\nbut in Pilate's action there was not even the pretence of legality.\nTricks and expedients run through it all, and never once does he say,\nThis is the law, this is justice, and by it I stand or fall.\n\nThe cruel scourging, which, in Roman hands, was a much more severe\npunishment than the Jewish 'beating with rods' and often ended in\ndeath, was inflicted on the silent, unresisting Christ, not because His\njudge thought that it was deserved, but to please accusers whose charge\nhe knew to be absurd. The underlings naturally followed their betters'\nexample, and after they had executed Pilate's orders to scourge,\ncovered the bleeding wounds with some robe, perhaps ragged, but of the\nroyal colour, and crushed the twisted wreath of thorn-branch down on\nthe brows, to make fresh wounds there. The jest of crowning such a\npoor, helpless creature as Jesus seemed to them, was exactly on the\nlevel of such rude natures, and would be the more exquisite to them\nbecause it was double-barrelled, and insulted the nation as well as the\n'King.' They came in a string, as the tense of the original word\nsuggests, and offered their mock reverence. But that sport became tame\nafter a little, and mockery passed into violence, as it always does in\nsuch natures. These rough legionaries were cruel and brutal, and they\nwere unconscious witnesses to His Kingship as founded on suffering; but\nthey were innocent as compared with the polished gentleman on the\njudgment-seat who prostituted justice, and the learned Pharisees\noutside who were howling for blood.\n\nII. In verses 4-8 the scene changes again to without the palace, and\nshows us Pilate trying another expedient, equally in vain. The\nhesitating governor has no chance with the resolute, rooted hate of the\nrulers. Jesus silently and unresistingly follows Pilate from the hall,\nstill wearing the mockery of royal pomp. Pilate had calculated that the\nsight of Him in such guise, and bleeding from the lash, might turn hate\ninto contempt, and perhaps give a touch of pity. 'Behold the man!' as\nhe meant it, was as if he had said, 'Is this poor, bruised, spiritless\nsufferer worth hate or fear? Does He look like a King or a dangerous\nenemy?' Pilate for once drops the scoff of calling Him their King, and\nseeks to conciliate and move to pity. The profound meanings which later\nages have delighted to find in his words, however warrantable, are no\npart of their design as spoken, and we gain a better lesson from the\nscene by keeping close to the thoughts of the actors. What a contrast\nbetween the vacillation of the governor, on the one hand, afraid to do\nright and reluctant to do wrong, and the dogged malignity of the rulers\nand their tools on the other, and the calm, meek endurance of the\nsilent Christ, knowing all their thoughts, pitying all, and fixed in\nloving resolve, even firmer than the rulers' hate, to bear the utmost,\nthat He might save a world!\n\nSome pity may have stirred in the crowd, but the priests and their\nimmediate dependants silenced it by their yell of fresh hate at the\nsight of the prisoner. Note how John gives the very impression of the\nfierce, brief roar, like that of wild beasts for their prey, by his\n'Crucify, crucify!' without addition of the person. Pilate lost\npatience at last, and angrily and half seriously gives permission to\nthem to take the law into their own hands. He really means, 'I will not\nbe your tool, and if my conviction of \"the Man's\" innocence is to be of\nno account, _you_ must punish Him; for _I_ will not.' How far he meant\nto abdicate authority, and how far he was launching sarcasms, it is\ndifficult to say. Throughout he is sarcastic, and thereby indicates his\nweakness, indemnifying himself for being thwarted by sneers which sit\nso ill on authority.\n\nBut the offer, or sarcasm, whichever it was, missed fire, as the appeal\nto pity had done, and only led to the production of a new weapon. In\ntheir frantic determination to compass Jesus' death, the rulers\nhesitate at no degradation; and now they adduced the charge of\nblasphemy, and were ready to make a heathen the judge. To ask a Roman\ngovernor to execute their law on a religious offender, was to drag\ntheir national prerogative in the mud. But formal religionists,\ninflamed by religious animosity, are often the degraders of religion\nfor the gratification of their hatred. They are poor preservers of the\nChurch who call on the secular arm to execute their 'laws.' Rome went a\nlong way in letting subject peoples keep their institutions; but it was\ntoo much to expect Pilate to be the hangman for these furious priests,\non a charge scarcely intelligible to him.\n\nWhat was Jesus doing while all this hell of wickedness and fury boiled\nround Him? Standing there, passive and dumb, 'as a sheep before her\nshearers,' Himself is the least conspicuous figure in the history of\nHis own trial. In silent communion with the Father, in silent\nsubmission to His murderers, in silent pity for us, in silent\ncontemplation of 'the joy that was set before Him,' He waits on their\nwill.\n\nIII. Once more the scene changes to the interior of the praetorium (vs.\n9-11). The rulers' words stirred a deepened awe in Pilate. He 'was the\nmore afraid'; then he had been already afraid. His wife's dream, the\nimpression already produced by the person of Jesus, had touched him\nmore deeply than probably he himself was aware of; and now this charge\nthat Jesus had 'made Himself the Son of God' shook him. What if this\nstrange man were in some sense a messenger of the gods? Had he been\nscourging one sent from them? Sceptical he probably was, and therefore\nsuperstitious; and half-forgotten and disbelieved stories of gods who\nhad 'come down in the likeness of men' would swim up in his memory. If\nthis Man were such, His strange demeanour would be explained. Therefore\nhe carried Jesus in again, and, not now as judge, sought to hear from\nHis own lips His version of the alleged claim.\n\nWhy did not Jesus answer such a question? His silence was answer; but,\nbesides that, Pilate had not received as he ought what Jesus had\nalready declared to him as to His kingdom and His relation to 'the\ntruth,' and careless turning away from Christ's earlier words is\nrighteously and necessarily punished by subsequent silence, if the same\ndisposition remains. That it did remain, Christ's silence is proof. Had\nthere been any use in answering, Pilate would not have asked in vain.\nIf Jesus was silent, we may be sure that He who sees all hearts and\nresponds to all true desires was so, because He knew that it was best\nto say nothing. The question of His origin had nothing to do with\nPilate's duty then, which turned, not on whence Jesus had come, but on\nwhat Pilate believed Him to have done, or not to have done. He who will\nnot do the plain duty of the moment has little chance of an answer to\nhis questions about such high matters.\n\nThe shallow character of the governor's awe and interest is clearly\nseen from the immediate change of tone to arrogant reminder of his\nabsolute authority. 'To me dost Thou not speak?' The pride of offended\ndignity peeps out there. He has forgotten that a moment since he half\nsuspected that the prisoner, whom he now seeks to terrify with the\ncross, and to allure with deliverance, was perhaps come from some misty\nheaven. Was that a temper which would have received Christ's answer to\nhis question?\n\nBut one thing he might be made to perceive, and therefore Jesus broke\nsilence for the only time in this section, and almost the only time\nbefore Pilate. He reads the arrogant Roman the lesson which he and all\nhis tribe in all lands and ages need--that their power is derived from\nGod, therefore in its foundation legitimate, and in its exercise to be\nguided by His will and used for His purposes. It was God who had\nbrought the Roman eagles, with their ravening beaks and strong claws,\nto the Holy City. Pilate was right in exercising jurisdiction over\nJesus. Let him see that he exercised justice, and let him remember that\nthe power which he boasted that he 'had' was 'given.' The truth as to\nthe source of power made the guilt of Caiaphas or of the rulers the\ngreater, inasmuch as they had neglected the duties to which they had\nbeen appointed, and by handing over Jesus on a charge which they\nthemselves should have searched out, had been guilty of 'theocratic\nfelony.' This sudden flash of bold rebuke, reminding Pilate of his\ndependence, and charging him with the lesser but yet real 'sin,' went\ndeeper than any answer to his question would have done, and spurred him\nto more earnest effort, as John points out. He 'sought to release Him,'\nas if formerly he had been rather simply unwilling to condemn than\nanxious to deliver.\n\nIV. So the scene changes again to outside. Pilate went out alone,\nleaving Jesus within, and was met before he had time, as would appear,\nto speak, by the final irresistible weapon which the rulers had kept in\nreserve. An accusation of treason was only too certain to be listened\nto by the suspicious tyrant who was then Emperor, especially if brought\nby the authorities of a subject nation. Many a provincial governor had\nhad but a short shrift in such a case, and Pilate knew that he was a\nruined man if these implacable zealots howling before him went to\nTiberius with such a charge. So the die was cast. With rage in his\nheart, no doubt, and knowing that he was sacrificing 'innocent blood'\nto save himself, he turned away from the victorious mob, apparently in\nsilence, and brought Jesus out once more. He had no more words to say\nto his prisoner. Nothing remained but the formal act of sentence, for\nwhich he seated himself, with a poor assumption of dignity, yet feeling\nall the while, no doubt, what a contemptible surrender he was making.\n\nJudgment-seats and mosaic pavements do not go far to secure reverence\nfor a judge who is no better than an assassin, killing an innocent man\nto secure his own ends. Pilate's sentence fell most heavily on himself.\nIf 'the judge is condemned when the guilty is acquitted,' he is tenfold\ncondemned when the innocent is sentenced.\n\nPilate returned to his sarcastic mood when he returned to his\ninjustice, and found some satisfaction in his old jeer, 'your King.'\nBut the passion of hatred was too much in earnest to be turned or even\naffected by such poor scoffs, and the only answer was the renewed roar\nof the mob, which had murder in its tone. The repetition of the\ngovernor's taunt, 'Shall I crucify your King?' brought out the answer\nin which the rulers of the nation in their fury blindly flung away\ntheir prerogative. It is no accident that it was 'the chief priests'\nwho answered, 'We have no king but Caesar.' Driven by hate, they\ndeliberately disown their Messianic hope, and repudiate their national\nglory. They who will not have Christ have to bow to a tyrant. Rebellion\nagainst Him brings slavery.\n\n\n\nAN EYE-WITNESS'S ACCOUNT OF THE CRUCIFIXION\n\n'And He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a\nskull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified\nHim, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the\nmidst. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the\nwriting was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then\nread many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh\nto the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then\nsaid the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of\nthe Jews; but that He said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered,\nWhat I have written I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had\ncrucified Jesus, took His garments, and made four parts, to every\nsoldier a part; and also His coat: now the coat was without seam, woven\nfrom the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us\nnot rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the\nscripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted My raiment among\nthem, and for My vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the\nsoldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and his\nmother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When\nJesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He\nloved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold Thy Son! Then saith He\nto the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple\ntook her unto his own home. After this, Jesus knowing that all things\nwere now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I\nthirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a\nspunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth.\nWhen Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished:\nand He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.'--JOHN xix. 17-30.\n\nIn great and small matters John's account adds much to the narrative of\nthe crucifixion. He alone tells of the attempt to have the title on the\nCross altered, of the tender entrusting of the Virgin to his care, and\nof the two 'words' 'I thirst' and 'It is finished.' He gives details\nwhich had been burned into his memory, such as Christ's position 'in\nthe midst' of the two robbers, and the jar of 'vinegar' standing by the\ncrosses. He says little about the act of fixing Jesus to the Cross, but\nenlarges what the other Evangelists tell as to the soldiers 'casting\nlots.' He had heard what they said to one another. He alone distinctly\ntells that when He went forth, Jesus was bearing the Cross which\nafterwards Simon of Cyrene had to carry, probably because our Lord's\nstrength failed.\n\nWho appointed the two robbers to be crucified at the same time? Not the\nrulers, who had no such power but probably Pilate, as one more shaft of\nsarcasm which was all the sharper both because it seemed to put Jesus\nin the same class as they, and because they were of the same class as\nthe man of the Jews' choice, Barabbas, and possibly were two of his\ngang. Jesus was 'in the midst,' where He always is, completely\nidentified with the transgressors, but central to all things and all\nmen. As He was in the midst on the Cross, with a penitent on one hand\nand a rejecter on the other, He is still in the midst of humanity, and\nHis judgment-seat will be as central as His Cross was.\n\nAll the Evangelists give the title written over the Cross, but John\nalone tells that it was Pilate's malicious invention. He thought that\nhe was having a final fling at the priests, and little knew how truly\nhis title, which was meant as a bitter jest, was a fact. He had it put\ninto the three tongues in use--'Hebrew,' the national tongue; 'Greek,'\nthe common medium of intercourse between varying nationalities; and\n'Latin' the official language. He did not know that he was proclaiming\nthe universal dominion of Jesus, and prophesying that wisdom as\nrepresented by Greece, law and imperial power as represented by Rome,\nand all previous revelation as represented by Israel, would yet bow\nbefore the Crucified, and recognise that His Cross was His throne.\n\nThe 'high-priests' winced, and would fain have had the title altered.\nTheir wish once more denied Jesus, and added to their condemnation, but\nit did not move Pilate. It would have been well for him if he had been\nas firm in carrying out his convictions of justice as in abiding by his\nbitter jest. He was obstinate in the wrong place, partly because he was\nangry with the rulers, and partly to recover his self-respect, which\nhad been damaged by his vacillation. But his stiff-necked speech had a\nmore tragic meaning than he knew, for 'what he had written' on his own\nlife-page on that day could never be erased, and will confront him. We\nare all writing an imperishable record, and we shall have to read it\nout hereafter, and acknowledge our handwriting.\n\nJohn next sets in strong contrast the two groups round the Cross--the\nstolid soldiers and the sad friends. The four legionaries went through\ntheir work as a very ordinary piece of military duty. They were well\naccustomed to crucify rebel Jews, and saw no difference between these\nthree and former prisoners. They watched the pangs without a touch of\npity, and only wished that death might come soon, and let them get back\nto their barracks. How blind men may be to what they are gazing at! If\nknowledge measures guilt, how slight the culpability of the soldiers!\nThey were scarcely more guilty than the mallet and nails which they\nused. The Sufferer's clothes were their perquisite, and their division\nwas conducted on cool business principles, and with utter disregard of\nthe solemn nearness of death. Could callous indifference go further\nthan to cast lots for the robe at the very foot of the Cross?\n\nBut the thing that most concerns us here is that Jesus submitted to\nthat extremity of shame and humiliation, and hung there naked for all\nthese hours, gazed on, while the light lasted, by a mocking crowd. He\nhad set the perfect Pattern of lowly self-abnegation when, amid the\ndisciples in the upper room, He had 'laid aside His garments,' but now\nHe humbles Himself yet more, being clothed only 'with shame.' Therefore\nshould we clothe Him with hearts' love. Therefore God has clothed Him\nwith the robes of imperial majesty.\n\nAnother point emphasised by John is the fulfilment of prophecy in this\nact. The seamless robe, probably woven by loving hands, perhaps by some\nof the weeping women who stood there, was too valuable to divide, and\nit would be a moment's pastime to cast lots for it. John saw, in the\nexpedient naturally suggested to four rough men, who all wanted the\nrobe but did not want to quarrel over it, a fulfilment of the cry of\nthe ancient sufferer, who had lamented that his enemies made so sure of\nhis death that they divided his garments and cast lots for his vesture.\nBut he was 'wiser than he knew,' and, while his words were to his own\napprehension but a vivid metaphor expressing his desperate condition,\n'the Spirit which was in' him 'did signify' by them 'the sufferings of\nChrist.' Theories of prophecy or sacrifice which deny the correctness\nof John's interpretation have the New Testament against them, and\nassume to know more about the workings of inspiration than is either\nmodest or scientific.\n\nWhat a contrast the other group presents! John's enumeration of the\nwomen may be read so as to mention four or three, according as 'His\nmother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas,' is taken to mean one woman\nor two. The latter is the more probable supposition, and it is also\nprobable that the unnamed sister of our Lord's mother was no other than\nSalome, John's own mother. If so, entrusting Mary to John's care would\nbe the more natural. Tender care, joined with consciousness that\nhenceforth the relation of son and mother was to be supplanted, not\nmerely by Death's separating fingers, but by faith's uniting bond,\nbreathed through the word, so loving yet so removing, 'Woman, behold\nthy son!' Dying trust in the humble friend, which would go far to make\nthe friend worthy of it, breathed in the charge, to which no form of\naddress corresponding to 'Woman' is prefixed. Jesus had nothing else to\ngive as a parting gift, but He gave these two to each other, and\nenriched both. He showed His own loving heart, and implied His faithful\ndischarge of all filial duties hitherto. And He taught us the lesson,\nwhich many of us have proved to be true, that losses are best made up\nwhen we hear Him pointing us by them to new offices of help to others,\nand that, if we will let Him, He will point us too to what will fill\nempty places in our hearts and homes.\n\nThe second of the words on the Cross which we owe to John is that\npathetic expression, 'I thirst.' Most significant is the insight into\nour Lord's consciousness which John, here as elsewhere, ventures to\ngive. Not till He knew 'that all things were accomplished' did He give\nheed to the pangs of thirst, which made so terrible a part of the\ntorture of crucifixion. The strong will kept back the bodily cravings\nso long as any unfulfilled duty remained. Now Jesus had nothing to do\nbut to die, and before He died He let flesh have one little\nalleviation. He had refused the stupefying draught which would have\nlessened suffering by dulling consciousness, but He asked for the\ndraught which would momentarily slake the agony of parched lips and\nburning throat.\n\nThe words of verse 28 are not to be taken as meaning that Jesus said 'I\nthirst' with the mere intention of fulfilling the Scripture. His\nutterance was the plaint of a real need, not a performance to fill a\npart. But it is John who sees in that wholly natural cry the fulfilment\nof the psalm (Ps. lxix. 21). All Christ's bodily sufferings may be said\nto be summed up in this one word, the only one in which they found\nutterance. The same lips that said, 'If any man thirst, let him come\nunto Me, and drink,' said this. Infinitely pathetic in itself, that cry\nbecomes almost awful in its appeal to us when we remember who uttered\nit, and why He bore these pangs. The very 'Fountain of living water'\nknew the pang of thirst that every one that thirsteth might come to the\nwaters, and might drink, not water only, but 'wine and milk, without\nmoney or price.'\n\nJohn's last contribution to our knowledge of our Lord's words on the\nCross is that triumphant 'It is finished,' wherein there spoke, not\nonly the common dying consciousness of life being ended, but the\ncertitude, which He alone of all who have died, or will die, had the\nright to feel and utter, that every task was completed, that all God's\nwill was accomplished, all Messiah's work done, all prophecy fulfilled,\nredemption secured, God and man reconciled. He looked back over all His\nlife and saw no failure, no falling below the demands of the occasion,\nnothing that could have been bettered, nothing that should not have\nbeen there. He looked upwards, and even at that moment He heard in His\nsoul the voice of the Father saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I\nam well pleased!'\n\nChrist's work is finished. It needs no supplement. It can never be\nrepeated or imitated while the world lasts, and will not lose its power\nthrough the ages. Let us trust to it as complete for all our needs, and\nnot seek to strengthen 'the sure foundation' which it has laid by any\nshifting, uncertain additions of our own. But we may remember, too,\nthat while Christ's work is, in one aspect, finished, when He bowed His\nhead, and by His own will 'gave up the ghost,' in another aspect His\nwork is not finished, nor will be, until the whole benefits of His\nincarnation and death are diffused through, and appropriated by, the\nworld. He is working to-day, and long ages have yet to pass, in all\nprobability, before the voice of Him that sitteth on the throne shall\nsay 'It is done!'\n\n\n\nTHE TITLE ON THE CROSS\n\n'Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross.'--JOHN xix. 19.\n\nThis title is recorded by all four Evangelists, in words varying in\nform but alike in substance. It strikes them all as significant that,\nmeaning only to fling a jeer at his unruly subjects, Pilate should have\nwritten it, and proclaimed this Nazarene visionary to be He for whom\nIsrael had longed through weary ages. John's account is the fullest, as\nindeed his narrative of all Pilate's shufflings is the most complete.\nHe alone records that the title was tri-lingual (for the similar\nstatement in the Authorised Version of Luke is not part of the original\ntext). He alone gives the Jews' request for an alteration of the title,\nand Pilate's bitter answer. That angry reply betrays his motive in\nsetting up such words over a crucified prisoner's head. They were meant\nas a savage taunt of the Jews, not as an insult to Jesus, which would\nhave been welcome to them. He seems to have regarded our Lord as a\nharmless enthusiast, to have had a certain liking for Him, and a\nlanguid curiosity as to Him, which came by degrees to be just tinged\nwith awe as he felt that he could not quite make Him out. Throughout,\nhe was convinced that His claim to be a king contained no menace for\nCaesar, and he would have let Jesus go but for fear of being\nmisrepresented at Rome. He felt that the sacrifice of one more Jew was\na small price to pay to avert his accusation to Caesar; he would have\nsacrificed a dozen such to keep his place. But he felt that he was\nbeing coerced to do injustice, and his anger and sense of humiliation\nfind vent in that written taunt. It was a spurt of bad temper and a\nmeasure of his reluctance.\n\nBesides the interest attaching to it as Pilate's work, it seems to John\nsignificant of much that it should have been fastened on the Cross, and\nthat it should have been in the three languages, Hebrew (Aramaic),\nGreek, and Latin.\n\nLet us deal with three points in succession.\n\nI. The title as throwing light on the actors in the tragedy.\n\nWe may consider it, first, in its bearing on Jesus' claims. He was\ncondemned by the priests on the theocratic charge of blasphemy, because\nHe made Himself the Son of God. He was sentenced by Pilate on the civil\ncharge of rebellion, which the priests brought against Him as an\ninference necessarily resulting from His claim to be the Son of God.\nThey drew the same conclusion as Nathanael did long before: 'Rabbi,\nThou art the Son of God,' and therefore 'Thou art the King of Israel.'\nAnd they were so far right that if the former designation is correct,\nthe latter inevitably follows.\n\nBoth charges, then, turned on His personal claims. To Pilate He\nexplained the nature of His kingdom, so as to remove any suspicion that\nit would bring Him and His subjects into collision with Rome, but He\nasserted His kingship, and it was His own claim that gave Pilate the\nmaterial for His gibe. It is worth notice, then, that these two claims\nfrom His own lips, made to the authorities who respectively took\ncognisance of the theocratic and of the civic life of the nation, and\nat the time when His life hung on the decision of the two, were the\ncauses of His judicial sentence. The people who allege that Jesus never\nmade the preposterous claims for Himself which Christians have made for\nHim, but was a simple Teacher of morality and lofty religion, have\nnever fairly faced the simple question: 'For what, then, was He\ncrucified?' It is easy for them to dilate on the hatred of the Jewish\nofficials and the gross earthliness of the masses, as explaining the\nattitude of both, but it is not so easy to explain how material was\nfound for judicial process. One can understand how Jesus was detested\nby rulers, and how they succeeded in stirring up popular feeling\nagainst Him, but not how an indictment that would hold water was framed\nagainst Him. Nor would even Pilate's complaisance have gone so far as\nto have condemned a prisoner against whom all that could be said was\nthat he was disliked because he taught wisely and well and was too good\nfor his critics. The question is, not what made Jesus disliked, but\nwhat set the Law in motion against Him? And no plausible answer has\never been given except the one that was nailed above His head on the\nCross. It was not His virtues or the sublimity of His teaching, but His\ntwofold claim to be Son of God and King of Israel that haled Him to His\ndeath.\n\nWe may further ask why Jesus did not clear up the mistakes, if they\nwere mistakes, that led to His condemnation. Surely He owed it to the\ntwo tribunals before which He stood, no less than to Himself and His\nfollowers, to disown the erroneous interpretations on which the charges\nagainst Him were based. Even a Caiaphas was entitled to be told, if it\nwere so, that He meant no blasphemy and was not claiming anything too\nhigh for a reverent Israelite, when He claimed to be the Son of God. If\nJesus let the Sanhedrim sentence Him under a mistake of what His words\nmeant, He was guilty of His own death.\n\nWe note, further, the light thrown by the Title on Pilate's action. It\nshows his sense of the unreality of the charge which he basely allowed\nhimself to be forced into entertaining as a ground of condemning Jesus.\nIf this enigmatical prisoner had had a sword, there would have been\nsome substance in the charge against Him, but He was plainly an\nidea-monger, and therefore quite harmless, and His kingship only fit to\nbe made a jest of and a means of girding at the rulers. 'Practical men'\nalways under-estimate the power of ideas. The Title shows the same\ncontempt for 'mere theorisers' as animated his question, 'What is\ntruth?' How little he knew that this 'King,' at whom he thought that he\ncould launch clumsy jests, had lodged in the heart of the Empire a\npower which would shatter and remould it!\n\nIn his blindness to the radiant truth that stood before him, in the\ntragedy of his condemnation of that to which he should have yielded\nhimself, Pilate stands out as a beacon for all time, warning the world\nagainst looking for the forces that move the world among the powers\nthat the world recognises and honours. If we would not commit Pilate's\nfault over again, we must turn to 'the base things of this world' and\nthe 'things that are not' and find in them the transforming powers\ndestined to 'bring to nought things that are.'\n\nPilate's gibe was an unconscious prophecy. He thought it an exquisite\njest, for it hurt. He was an instance of that strange irony that runs\nthrough history, and makes, at some crisis, men utter fateful words\nthat seem put into their lips by some higher power. Caiaphas and he,\nthe Jewish chief of the Sanhedrim and the Roman procurator, were\nforemost in Christ's condemnation, and each of them spoke such words,\nprofoundly true and far beyond the speaker's thoughts. Was the\nEvangelist wrong in saying: 'This spake he not of himself?'\n\nII. The Title on the Cross as unveiling the ground of Christ's dominion.\n\nIt seemed a ludicrous travesty of royalty that a criminal dying there,\nwith a crowd of his 'subjects' gloating on his agonies and shooting\narrowy words of scorn at him, should be a King. But His cross _is_ His\nthrone. It is so because His death is His great work for the world. It\nis so because in it we see, with melted hearts, the sublimest\nrevelation of His love. Absolute authority belongs to utter\nself-sacrifice. He, and only He, who gives Himself wholly to and for\nme, thereby acquires the right of absolute command over me. He is the\n'Prince of all the kings of the earth,' because He has died and become\nthe 'First-begotten from the dead.' From the hour when He said, 'I, if\nI be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me,' down to the hour when the\nseer heard the storm of praise from 'ten thousand times ten thousand,\nand thousands of thousands' breaking round the throne, every New\nTestament reference to Christ's dominion is accompanied with a\nreference to His cross, and every reference to His cross merges in a\nreference to His throne. The crown of thorns was a revelation of the\ninmost nature of Christ's rule. The famous Iron Crown of Milan is a\nhard, cold circlet within a golden covering blazing with jewels.\nChrist's right to sway men, like His power to do so, rests on His\nsacrifice for men. A Christianity without a Cross is a Christianity\nwithout authority, as has been seen over and over again in the history\nof the Church, and as is being seen again today, if men would only\nlook. A Christ without a Cross is a Christ without a Kingdom. The\ndominion of the world belongs to Him who can sway men's inmost motives.\nHearts are His who has bought them with His own.\n\nIII. The Title as prophesying Christ's universal dominion.\n\nThe three tongues in which it was written were chosen simply to make it\neasy to read by the crowd from every part of the Empire assembled at\nthe Passover. There were Palestinian Jews there who probably read\nAramaic only, and representatives from the widely diffused Jewish\nemigration in Greek-speaking lands, as well as Roman officials and Jews\nfrom Italy who would be most familiar with Latin. Pilate wanted his\nshaft to reach them all. It was, in its tri-lingual character, a sign\nof Israel's degradation and a flourishing of the whip in their faces,\nas a government order in English placarded in a Bengalee village might\nbe, or a Russian ukase in Warsaw. Its very wording betrayed a foreign\nhand, for a Jew would have written 'King of Israel,' not 'of the Jews.'\n\nBut John divined a deeper meaning in this Title, just as he found a\nsimilar prophecy of the universality of Christ's death in the analogous\nword of Caiaphas. As in that saying he heard a faint prediction that\nJesus should die 'not for that people only, but that He might also\ngather into one the scattered children of God,' so he feels that Pilate\nwas wiser than he knew, and that his written words in their threefold\ngarb symbolised the relation of Christ and His work to the three great\ntypes of civilisation which it found possessed of the field. It bent\nthem all to its own purposes, absorbed them into itself, used their\nwitness and was propagated by means of them, and finally sucked the\nlife out of them and disintegrated them. The Jew contributed the\nmorality and monotheism of the Old Testament; the Greek, culture and\nthe perfected language that should contain the treasure, the fresh\nwine-skin for the new wine; the Roman made the diffusion of the kingdom\npossible by the _pax Romana_, and at first sheltered the young plant.\nAll three, no doubt, marred as well as helped the development of\nChristianity, and infused into it deleterious elements, which cling to\nit to-day, but the prophecy of the Title was fulfilled and these three\ntongues became heralds of the Cross and with 'loud, uplifted trumpets\nblew' glad tidings to the ends of the world.\n\nThat Title thus became an unconscious prophecy of Christ's universal\ndominion. The Psalmist that sang of Messiah's world-wide rule was sure\nthat 'all nations shall serve Him,' and the reason why he was certain\nof it was '_for_ He shall deliver the needy when he crieth.' We may be\ncertain of it for the same reason. He who can deal with man's primal\nneeds, and is ready and able to meet every cry of the heart, will never\nwant suppliants and subjects. He who can respond to our consciousness\nof sin and weakness, and can satisfy hungry hearts, will build His sway\nover the hearts whom He satisfies on foundations deep as life itself.\nThe history of the past becomes a prophecy of the future. Jesus has\ndrawn men of all sorts, of every stage of culture and layer of\ncivilisation, and of every type of character to Him, and the power\nwhich has carried a peasant of Nazareth to be the acknowledged King of\nthe civilised world is not exhausted, and will not be till He is\nthroned as Saviour and Ruler of the whole earth. There is only one\nreligion in the world that is obviously growing. The gods of Greece and\nRome are only subjects for studies in Comparative Mythology, the\nlabyrinthine pantheon of India makes no conquests, Buddhism is\nmoribund. All other religions than Christianity are shut up within\ndefinite and comparatively narrow geographical and chronological\nlimits. But in spite of premature jubilations of enemies and much hasty\ntalk about the need for a re-statement (which generally means a\nnegation) of Christian truth, we have a clear right to look forward\nwith quiet confidence. Often in the past has the religion of Jesus\nseemed to be wearing or worn out, but it has a strange recuperative\npower, and is wont to startle its enemies' paeans over its grave by\nrising again and winning renewed victories. The Title on the Cross is\nfor ever true, and is written again in nobler fashion 'on the vesture\nand on the thigh' of Him who rides forth at last to rule the nations,\n'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.'\n\n\n\nTHE IRREVOCABLE PAST\n\n'What I have written I have written.'--JOHN xix. 22.\n\nThis was a mere piece of obstinacy. Pilate knew that he had prostituted\nhis office in condemning Jesus, and he revenged himself for weak\ncompliance by ill-timed mulishness. A cool-headed governor would have\nhumoured his difficult subjects in such a trifle, as a just one would\nhave been inflexible in a matter of life and death. But this man's\nfacile yielding and his stiff-necked obstinacy were both misplaced. 'So\nI will, so I command. Let my will suffice for a reason,' was what he\nmeant. He had written his gibe, and not all the Jews in Jewry should\nmake him change.\n\nBut his petulant answer to the rulers' request for the removal of the\noffensive placard carried in it a deeper meaning, as the Title also\ndid, and as the people's fierce yell, 'His blood be on us and on our\nchildren,' did. Possibly the Evangelist had some thought of that sort\nin recording this saying; but, at all events, I venture to take a\nliberty with it which I should not do if it were a word of God's, or if\nit were given for our instruction. So I take it now as expressing in a\nvivid way, and irrespective of Pilate's intention, the thought of the\nirrevocable past.\n\nI. Every man is perpetually writing a permanent record of himself.\n\nIt is almost impossible to get the average man to think of his life as\na whole, or to realise that the fleeting present leaves indelible\ntraces. They seem to fade away wholly. The record appears to be written\nin water. It is written in ink which is invisible, but as indelible as\ninvisible. Grammarians define the perfect tense as that which expresses\nan action completed in the past and of which the consequences remain in\nthe present. That is true of all our actions. Our characters, our\ncircumstances, our remembrances, are all permanent. Every day we make\nentries in our diary.\n\nII. That record, once written, is irrevocable.\n\nWe all know what it is to long that some one action should have been\notherwise, to have taken some one step which perhaps has coloured\nyears, and which we would give the world not to have taken. But it\ncannot be. Remorse cannot alter it. Wishes are vain. Repentance is\nvain. A new line of conduct is vain.\n\nWhat an awful contrast in this respect between time future and time\npast! Think of the indefinite possibilities in the one, the rigid\nfixity of the other. Our present actions are like cements that dry\nquickly and set hard on exposure to the air--the dirt of the trowel\nabides on the soft brick for ever. Many cuneiform inscriptions were\nimpressed with a piece of wood on clay, and are legible millenniums\nafter.\n\nWe have to write _currente calamo_, and as soon as written, the MS. is\nprinted and stereotyped, and no revising proofs nor erasures are\npossible. An action, once done, escapes from us wholly.\n\nHow needful, then, to have lofty principles ready at hand! The fresco\npainter must have a sure touch, and a quick hand, and a full mind.\n\nWhat a boundless field the future offers us! How much it may be! How\nmuch, perhaps, we resolve it shall be! What a shrunken heap the harvest\nis! Are you satisfied with what you have written?\n\nIII. This record, written here, is read yonder.\n\nOur actions carry eternal consequences. These will be read by\nourselves. Character remains. Memory remains.\n\nWe shall read with all illusions stripped away.\n\nOthers will read--God and a universe.\n\n'We shall all be _manifested_ before the judgment-seat of Christ.'\n\nIV. This record may be blotted out by the blood of Christ.\n\nIt cannot be made not to have been, but God's pardon will be given, and\nin respect to all personal consequences it is made non-existent.\nCircumstances may remain, but their pressure is different. Character\nmay be renewed and sanctified, and even made loftier by the evil past.\nOur dead selves may become 'stepping-stones to higher things.'\n\nMemory may remain, but its sting is gone, and new hopes, and joys, and\nwork may fill the pages of our record.\n\n'He took away the handwriting that was against us, nailing it to His\nCross.'\n\nOur lives and characters may become a palimpsest. 'I will write upon\nhim My new name.' 'Ye are an epistle of Christ ministered by us.'\n\n\n\nCHRIST'S FINISHED AND UNFINISHED WORK\n\n'Jesus ... said, It is finished.'--JOHN xix. 30.\n\n'He said unto me, It is done.'--REV. xxi. 6.\n\nOne of these sayings was spoken from the Cross, the other from the\nThrone. The Speaker of both is the same. In the one, His voice 'then\nshook the earth,' as the rending rocks testified; in the other, His\nvoice 'will shake not the earth only but also heaven'; for 'new heavens\nand a new earth' accompanied the proclamation. In the one, like some\ntraveller ready to depart, who casts a final glance over his\npreparations, and, satisfied that nothing is omitted, gives his\ncharioteer the signal and rolls away, Jesus Christ looked back over His\nlife's work, and, knowing that it was accomplished, summoned His\nservant Death, and departed. In the other, He sets His seal to the\nclosed book of the world's history, and ushers in a renovated universe.\nThe one masks the completion of the work on which the world's\nredemption rests, the other marks the completion of the age-long\nprocess by which the world's redemption is actually realised. The one\nproclaims that the foundation is laid, the other that the headstone is\nset on the finished building. The one bids us trust in a past perfected\nwork; the other bids us hope in the perfect accomplishment of the\nresults of that work. Taken singly, these sayings are grand; united,\nthey suggest thoughts needed always, never more needful than to-day.\n\nI. We see here the work which was finished on the Cross.\n\nThe Evangelist gives great significance to the words of my first text,\nas is shown by his statement in a previous verse: 'Jesus, knowing that\nall things were now accomplished, said, I thirst,' and then--'It is\nfinished.' That is to say, there is something in that dying voice a\ngreat deal deeper and more wonderful than the ordinary human utterance\nwith which a dying man might say, 'It is all over now. I have done,'\nfor this utterance came from the consciousness that all things had been\naccomplished by Him, and that He had done His life's work.\n\nNow, there, taking the words even in their most superficial sense, we\ncome upon the strange peculiarity which marks off the life of Jesus\nChrist from every other life that was ever lived. There are no loose\nends left, no unfinished tasks drop from His nerveless hands, to be\ntaken up and carried on by others. His life is a rounded whole, with\neverything accomplished that had been endeavoured, and everything done\nthat had been commanded. 'His hands have laid the foundation; His hands\nshall also finish.' He alone of the sons of men, in the deepest sense,\ncompleted His task, and left nothing for successors. The rest of us are\ntaken away when we have reared a course or two of the structure, the\ndream of building which brightened our youth. The pen drops from\nparalysed hands in the middle of a sentence, and a fragment of a book\nis left. The painter's brush falls with his palette at the foot of his\neasel, and but the outline of what he conceived is on the canvas. All\nof us leave tasks half done, and have to go away before the work is\ncompleted. The half-polished columns that lie at Baalbec are but a\nsymbol of the imperfection of every human life. But this Man said, 'It\nis finished,' and 'gave up the ghost.' Now, if we ponder on what lies\nin that consciousness of completion, I think we find, mainly, three\nthings.\n\nChrist rendered a complete obedience. All through His life we see Him,\nhearing with the inward ear the solemn voice of the Father, and\nresponding to it with that 'I must' which runs through all His days,\nfrom the earliest dawning of consciousness, when He startled His mother\nwith 'I must be about My Father's business,' until the very last\nmoments. In that obedience to the all-present necessity which He\ncheerfully embraced and perfectly discharged, there was no flaw. He\nalone of men looks back upon a life in which His clear consciousness\ndetected neither transgression nor imperfection. In the midst of His\ncareer He could front His enemies with 'Which of you convinceth Me of\nsin?' and no man then, and no man in all the generations that have\nelapsed since--though some have been blind enough to try it, and\nmalicious enough to utter their attempts,--has been able to answer the\nchallenge. In the midst of His career He said, 'I do always the things\nthat please Him'; and nobody then or since has been able to lay his\nfinger upon an act of His in which, either by excess or defect, or\ncontrariety, the will of God has not been fully represented. At the\nbeginning of His career He said, in answer to the Baptist's\nremonstrance, 'It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,' and at the\nend of His career He looked back, and knowing that He had thus done\nwhat became Him--namely, fulfilled it all--He said, 'It is finished!'\n\nThe utterance further expresses Christ's consciousness of having\ncompleted the revelation of God. Jesus Christ has made known the\nFather, and the generations since have added nothing to His revelation.\nThe very people, to-day, that turn away from Christianity, in the name\nof higher conceptions of the divine nature, owe their conceptions of it\nto the Christ from whom they turn. Not in broken syllables; not 'at\nsundry times and in divers manners,' but with the one perfect,\nfull-toned name of God on His lips, and vocal in His life, He has\ndeclared the Father unto us. In the course of His career He said, 'He\nthat hath seen Me hath seen the Father'; and, looking back on His life\nof manifestation of God, He proclaimed, 'It is finished!' And the world\nhas since, with all its thinking, added nothing to the name which\nChrist has declared.\n\nThe utterance farther expresses His consciousness of having made a\ncompleted, atoning Sacrifice. Remember that the words of my first text\nfollowed that awful cry that came from the darkness, and as by one\nlightning flash, show us the waves and billows rolling over His head.\n'My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?' In that infinitely\npathetic and profound utterance, to the interpretation of which our\npowers go but a little way, Jesus Christ blends together, in the most\nmarvellous fashion, desolation and trust, the consciousness that God is\nHis God, and the consciousness that He is bereft of the light of His\npresence. Brethren! I know of no explanation of these words which does\njustice to both the elements that are intertwined so intimately in\nthem, except the old one, which listens to Him as they come from His\nquivering lip, and says, 'The Lord hath made to meet on Him the\niniquity of us all.'\n\nAh, brethren! unless there was something a great deal more than the\nphysical shrinking from physical death in that piteous cry, Jesus\nChrist did not die nearly as bravely as many a poor, trembling woman\nwho, at the stake or the block, has owed her fortitude to Him. Many a\nblood-stained criminal has gone out of life with less tremor than that\nwhich, unless you take the explanation that Scripture suggests of the\ncry, marred the last hours of Jesus Christ. Having drained the cup, He\nheld it up inverted when He said 'It is finished!' and not a drop\ntrickled down the edge. He drank it that we might never need to drink\nit; and so His dying voice proclaimed that 'by one offering for sin for\never,' He 'obtained eternal redemption' for us.\n\nII. Now, secondly, note the work which began from the Cross. Between my\ntwo texts lie untold centuries, and the whole development of the\nconsequences of Christ's death, like some great valley stretching\nbetween twin mountain-peaks on either side, which from some points of\nview will be foreshortened and invisible, but when gazed down upon, is\nseen to stretch widely leagues broad, from mountain ridge to mountain\nridge. So my two texts, by the fact that millenniums have to interpose\nbetween the time when 'It is finished!' is spoken, and the time when\n'It is done!' can be proclaimed from the Throne, imply that the\ninterval is filled by a continuous work of our Lord's, which began at\nthe moment when the work on the Cross ended.\n\nNow it has very often been the case, as I take leave to think, that the\ninterpretation of the former of these two texts has been of such a kind\nas to distort the perspective of Christian truth, and to obscure the\nfact of that continuous work of our Lord's. Therefore it may not be out\nof place if, in a sentence or two, I recall to you the plain teaching\nof the New Testament upon this matter. 'It is finished!' Yes; and as\nthe lower course of some great building is but the foundation for the\nhigher, when 'finished' it is but begun. The work which, in one aspect,\nis the close, in another aspect is the commencement of Christ's further\nactivity. What did He say Himself, when He was here with His disciples?\n'I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.' What was the\nlast word that came fluttering down, like an olive leaf, into the\nbosoms of the men as they stood with uplifted faces gazing upon Him as\nHe disappeared? 'Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the ages.'\nWhat is the keynote of the book which carries on the story of the\nGospels in the history of the militant Church? 'The former treatise\nhave I made... of all that Jesus _began_ both to do and to teach, until\nthe day in which He was taken up'--and, being taken up, continued, in a\nnew form, both the doing and the teaching. Thus that book, misnamed the\nActs of the Apostles, sets Him forth as the Worker of all the progress\nof the Church. Who is it that 'adds to the Church daily such as were\nbeing saved?' The Lord. Who is it that opened the hearts of the hearers\nto the message? The Lord. Who is it that flings wide the prison-gates\nwhen His persecuted servants are in chains? The Lord. Who is it that\nbids one man attach himself to the chariot of the eunuch of Ethiopia,\nand another man go and bear witness in Rome? The Lord. Through the\nwhole of that book there runs the keynote, as its dominant thought,\nthat men are but the instruments, and the hand that wields them is\nChrist's, and that He who wrought the finished work that culminated on\nCalvary is operating a continuous work through the ages from His Throne.\n\nTake that last book of Scripture, which opens with a view of the\nascended Christ 'walking in the midst of the seven candlesticks, and\nholding the stars in His right hand;' which further draws aside the\ncurtains of the heavenly sanctuary, and lets us see 'the Lamb in the\nmidst of the Throne,' opening the seven seals--that is to say, setting\nloose for their progress through the world the forces that make the\nhistory of humanity, and which culminates in the vision of the final\nbattle in which the Incarnate Word of God goes forth to victory, with\nall the armies of heaven following Him. Are not its whole spirit and\nmessage that Jesus Christ, the Lamb who is the Antagonist of the Beast,\nis working through all the history of the world, and will work till its\nkingdoms are 'become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ?'\n\nNow, that continuous operation of Jesus Christ in the midst of men is\nnot to be weakened down to the mere continued influence of the truths\nwhich He proclaimed, or the Gospel which He brought. There is something\na great deal more than the diminishing vibrations of a force long since\nset in operation, and slowly ceasing to act. Dead teachers do still\n'rule our spirits from their urns'; but it is no dead Christ who, by\nthe influence of what He did when He was living, sways the world and\ncomforts His Church; it is a living Christ who to-day is working in His\npeople, by His Spirit. Further, He works on the world through His\npeople by the Word; they plant and water, He 'gives the increase.' And\nHe is working in the world, for His Church and for the world, by His\nwielding of all power that is given to Him, in heaven and on earth. So\nthat the work that is done upon earth He doeth it all Himself; and\nChristian people unduly limit the sphere of Christ's operations when\nthey look back only to the Cross, and talk about a 'finished work'\nthere, and forget that that finished work there is but the vestibule of\nthe continuous work that is being done to-day.\n\nChristian people! The present work of Christ needs working servants. We\nare here in order to carry on His work. The Apostle ventured to say\nthat he was appointed 'to fill up that which is behind of the\nsufferings of Christ'; we may well venture to say that we are here\nmainly to apply to the world the benefits resulting from the finished\nwork upon the Cross. The accomplishment of redemption, and the\nrealisation of the accomplished redemption, are two wholly different\nthings. Christ has done the one. He says to us, 'You are honoured to\nhelp Me to do the other.' According to the accurate rendering of a\ngreat saying of the Old Testament, 'Take no rest, and give Him no rest,\ntill He establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth, Christ's\nwork is finished; there is nothing for us to do with it but trust it.\nChrist's work is going on; come to His help. Ye are fellow-labourers\nwith and to the Incarnate Truth.\n\nIII. I need not say more than a word about the third thought, suggested\nby these texts--viz., the completion of the work which began on the\nCross.\n\n'It is done!' That lies, no man knows how far, ahead of us. As surely\nas astronomers tell us that all this universe is hastening towards a\ncentral point, so surely 'that far-off divine event' is that 'to which\nthe whole creation moves.' It is the blaze of light which fills the\ndistant end of the dim vista of human history. Its elements are in part\nsummed up in the context--the tabernacle of God with men, the perfected\nfellowship of the human with the divine, the housing of men in the very\nhome and heart of God; 'a new heaven and a new earth,' a renovated\nuniverse; the removal of all evil, suffering, sorrow, sin, and tears.\nThese things are to be, and shall be, when He says 'It is done!'\n\nBrethren! nothing else than such an issue can be the end of Creation,\nfor nothing else than such is the purpose of God for man, and God is\nnot going to be beaten by the world and the devil. Nothing else than\nsuch can be the issue of the Cross; for 'He shall see of the travail of\nHis soul, and shall be satisfied,' and Christ is not going to labour in\nvain, and spend His life, and give His breath and His blood for nought.\n\nNothing but the work finished on the Cross guarantees the coming of\nthat perfected issue. I know not where else there is hope for mankind,\nlooking on the history of humanity, except in that great message, that\nJesus Christ, the Son of God, has come, has died, lives for ever, and\nis the world's King and Lord.\n\nSo for ourselves, in regard to the one part of the work, let us listen\nto Him saying 'It is finished!' abandon all attempts to eke it out by\nadditions of our own, and cast ourselves on the finished Revelation,\nthe finished Obedience, the finished Atonement, made once for all on\nthe Cross. But as for the continuous work going on through the ages,\nlet us cast ourselves into it with earnestness, self-sacrifice,\nconsecration, and continuity, for we are fellow-workers with Christ,\nand Christ will work in, with, and for us if we will work for Him.\n\n\n\nCHRIST OUR PASSOVER\n\n'These things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone\nof Him shall not be broken.'--JOHN xix. 36.\n\nThe Evangelist, in the words of this text, points to the great Feast of\nthe Passover and to the Paschal Lamb, as finding their highest\nfulfilment, as he calls it, in Jesus Christ. For this purpose of\nbringing out the correspondence between the shadow and the substance he\navails himself of a singular coincidence concerning a perfectly\nunimportant matter--viz., the abnormally rapid sinking of Christ's\nphysical strength in the crucifixion, by which the final indignity of\nbreaking the bones of the sufferers was avoided in His case. John sees,\nin that entirely insignificant thing, a kind of fingerpost pointing to\nfar more important, deeper, and real correspondences. We are not to\nsuppose that he was so purblind, and attached so much importance to\nexternals, as that this outward coincidence exhausted in his conception\nthe correspondence between the two. But It was a trifle that suggested\na greater matter. It was a help aiding gross conceptions and common\nminds to grasp the inward relation between Jesus and that Passover\nrite. But just as our Lord would have fulfilled the prophecy about the\nKing coming 'meek, and having salvation,' though He had never ridden on\na literal ass into the literal Jerusalem, so our Lord would have\n'fulfilled' the shadow of the Passover with the substance of His own\nsacrifice if there had never been this insignificant correspondence, in\noutward things, between the two.\n\nBut whilst my text is the Evangelist's commentary, the question arises,\nHow did he come to recognise that our Lord was all which that Passover\nsignified? And the answer is, he recognised it through Christ's own\nteaching. He does not record the institution of the Lord's Supper. It\ndid not fall into his scheme to deal with external events of that sort,\nand he knew that it had been sufficiently taught by the three earlier\nGospels, to which his is a supplement. But though he did not narrate\nthe institution, he takes it for granted in the words of my text, and\nhis vindication of his seeing the fulfilment of 'A bone of Him shall\nnot be broken' in the incident to which I have referred, lies in this,\nthat Jesus Christ Himself swept away the Passover and substituted the\nmemorial feast of the Lord's Supper. 'This do in remembrance of Me,'\nsaid at the table where the Paschal lamb had been eaten, sufficiently\nwarrants John's allusion here.\n\nSo then, marking the fact that our Evangelist is but carrying out the\nlesson that he had learned in the upper room, we may fairly take the\nidentification of the Paschal lamb with the crucified Christ as being\nthe last instance in which our Lord Himself laid His hand upon Old\nTestament incidents and said, 'They all mean Me.' And it is from that\npoint of view, and not merely for the purpose of dealing with the words\nthat I have read as our starting-point, that I wish to speak now.\n\nI. Now then, the first thing that strikes me is that in this\nsubstitution of Himself for the Passover we have a strange instance of\nChrist's supreme authority.\n\nTry to fling yourself back in imagination to that upper room, where\nJesus and a handful of Galileans were sitting, and remember the\nsanctity which immemorial usage had cast round that centre and apex of\nthe Jewish ritual, established at the Exodus by a solemn divine\nappointment, intended to commemorate the birth of the nation, venerable\nby antiquity and association with the most vehement pulsations of\nnational feeling, the centre point of Jewish religion. Christ said:\n'Put it all away; do not think about the Exodus; do not think about the\ndestroying Angel; do not think about the deliverance. Forget all the\npast; do this in remembrance of Me.' Take into account that the\nPassover had a double sacredness, as a religious festival, and also as\ncommemorating the birthday of the nation, and then estimate what a\nstrange sense of His own importance the Man must have had who said:\n'That past is done with, and it is _Me_ that you have to think of now.'\nIf I might venture to take a very modern illustration without\nvulgarising a great thing, suppose that on the other side of the\nAtlantic somebody were to stand up and say, 'I abrogate the Fourth of\nJuly and Independence Day. Do not think about Washington and the\nestablishment of the United States any more. Think about me!' That is\nexactly what Jesus Christ did. Only instead of a century there were\nmillenniums of observance which He thus laid aside. So I say that is a\nstrange exercise of authority.\n\nWhat does it imply? It implies two things, and I must say a word about\neach of them. It implies that Christ regarded the whole of the ancient\nsystem of Judaism, its history, its law, its rites of worship, as\npointing onwards to Himself, that He recognised in it a system the\nwhole _raison d'etre_ of which was anticipatory and preparatory of\nHimself. For Him the Decalogue was given, for Him priests were\nconsecrated, for Him kings were anointed, for Him prophets spake, for\nHim sacrifices smoked, for Him festivals were appointed, and the nation\nand its history were all one long proclamation: 'The King cometh! go ye\nforth to meet Him.' You cannot get less than that out of the way in\nwhich He handled, as is told in this Gospel, Jacob's ladder, the\nSerpent in the wilderness, the Manna that fell from Heaven, the Pillar\nof Cloud that led the people, the Rock that gushed forth water, and\nnow, last of all, the Passover, which was the very shining apex of the\nwhole sacrificial and ritual system.\n\nAnd remember, too, that this way of dealing with all the institutions\nof the nation as meaning, in their inmost purpose, Himself, is exactly\nparallel to His way of dealing with the sacred words of Mosaic\ncommandment and prohibition in the Sermon on the Mount, where He set\nside by side as of equal--I was going to say, and I should have been\nright in saying, identical--authority what was 'said to them of old\ntime' and what 'I say unto you.' Amidst the dust of our present\ncontroversies as to the processes by which, and the times at which, the\nOld Testament books assumed their present form, there is grave danger\nthat the essential thing about the whole matter should be obscured. The\nway in which what is called Higher Criticism may finally locate the\norigins and dates of the various parts of that ancient record and that\nancient system does not in the slightest degree affect the outstanding\ncharacteristic of the whole, that it is the product of the divine hand,\nworking (if you will) through men who had more freedom of action whilst\nthey were its organs than our grandfathers thought. Be it so; but still\nthat divine Hand shaped the whole in order that, besides its\neducational effects upon the generations that received it, there should\nshine through it all the expectation of the coming King. And I venture\nto say that, however grateful we may be to modern investigation for\nlight upon these other points to which I have referred, the ignorant\nreader that reads Jesus Christ into all the Old Testament may be very\nuncritical and mistaken in regard to details, but he has got hold of\nthe root of the matter, and is nearer to the apprehension of the\nessence and spirit and purpose of the ancient Revelation than the most\nlearned critic who does not see that it is the preparation for, and the\nprophecy of, Jesus Christ Himself. And the vindication of such a\nposition lies in this, among other facts, that He in the upper room, in\nharmony with, and in completion of, all that He had previously spoken\nabout His relation to the Old Testament, claimed the Passover as the\nprophecy of Himself, and said, 'I am the Lamb of God.'\n\nI need not dwell, I suppose, on the other consideration that is\ninvolved in this strange exercise of authority--viz., the naturalness,\nas without any sense of doing anything presumptuous or extraordinary,\nwith which Christ assumes His right to handle divine appointments with\nthe most perfect freedom, to modify them, to reshape them, to divert\nthem from their first purpose, and to enjoin them with an authority\nequal to that with which the Lord said unto Moses, 'Keep ye this day\nthrough your generations.' There is only one supposition on which I,\nfor my part, can understand that conduct--that He was the possessor of\nauthority the same as the Authority that had originally instituted the\nrite.\n\nAnd so, dear brethren! when our Lord said, 'Do this in remembrance of\nMe,' I pray you to ask yourselves, What did that involve in regard to\nHis nature and the source of His authority over us? And what did it\ninvolve in regard to His relation to that ancient Revelation?\n\nII. And now another point that I would suggest is--we have, in this\nsubstitution of the new rite for the old, our Lord's clear declaration\nof what was the very heart of His work in the world.\n\n'This do in remembrance of Me.' What is it, then, to which He points?\nIs it to the wisdom, the tenderness, the deep beauty, the flashing\nmoral purity that gleamed and shone lambent in His words? No! Is it to\nthe gracious self--oblivion, the gentle accessibility, the loving pity,\nthe leisurely heart always ready to help, the eye ready to fill with\ntears, the hand ever outstretched and ever laden with blessings? No! It\nis the death on the Cross which He, if I might so say, isolates, at\nleast which He underscores with red lines, and which He would have us\nremember, as we remember nothing else. Brethren, rites are\ninsignificant in many aspects, but are often of enormous importance as\nwitnesses to truths. And I point to the Lord's Supper, the one rite of\nthe Christian Church, which is to be repeated over and over and over\nagain, and see in it the great barrier which has rendered it\nimpossible, and will render it impossible, as I believe, for evermore,\nthat a Christianity, which obscures the atoning sacrifice of Christ on\nthe Cross, should ever pose as the full representation of the Master's\nmind, or as the full expression of the Saviour's word.\n\nWhat do men and churches that falter in their allegiance to the truth\nof Christ's redemptive death do with the Lord's Supper? Nothing! For\nthe most part they ignore it, or if they retain it, do not, for the\nlife of them, know how to explain it, or why it should be there. The\nexplanation of why it is there is the great truth, of which it is the\nclear utterance and the strong defence, the truth that 'Jesus Christ\ndied for our sins according to the Scriptures,' and that 'the Son of\nMan came... to give His life a ransom for the many.'\n\nWhat did that Passover say? Two things it said, the blood that was\nsprinkled on the lintels and on the door-posts was the token to the\ndestroying Angel, as with his broad, silent pinions he swept through\nthe land, bringing a blacker night into Egyptian darkness, and leaving\nbehind him no house 'in which there was not one dead.' All the houses\nof which the occupants had put the ruddy mark on the lintels and on the\ndoorposts, and were wise enough not to go forth from behind the shelter\nof that mark on the door, were safe when the morning dawned. And so to\nus all who, by our sinfulness, have brought down upon our heads\nexposedness to that retribution, which, in a righteously governed\nuniverse, must needs follow sin, and to that death which the separation\nfrom God--the necessary result of sin--most surely is, there is\nproffered in that great Sacrifice shelter from the destroying sword.\n\nBut that is not all. Whilst the blood on the posts meant security, the\nLamb on the table meant emancipation. So they who find in the dying\nChrist their exemption from the last consequences of transgression,\nfind, in partaking of the Christ whose sacrifice is their pardon, the\ncommunication of a new power, which sets them free from a worse than\nEgyptian bondage, and enables them to shake from their emancipated\nlimbs the fetters of the grimmest of the Pharaohs that have wielded a\ntyrannous dominion over them. Pardon and freedom, the creation of a\nnation subject only to the law of Jehovah Himself--these were the facts\nthat the Passover festival and the Passover lamb signified, and these\nare the facts which, in nobler fashion, are brought to us by Jesus\nChrist. So, I beseech you, let Him teach you what His work in the world\nis, as He lays His own hand on that highest of the ancient festivals,\nand endorses the Baptist's declaration, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which\ntaketh away the sin of the world!'\n\nIII. Now, lastly, let me ask you to notice how, in this regal and\nauthoritative dealing by our Lord with that ancient festival, there\nlies a loving provision for our weakness.\n\nSurely we may venture to say that Jesus Christ desired to be\nremembered, even by that handful of poor people, and by us, not only\nfor our sakes, but because His heart, too, craved that He should not be\nforgotten by those whom He was leaving. As you may remember, the dying\nking turned to the bishop standing by him, with the enigmatical word\nwhich no one understood but the receiver of it--'Remember!' so did\nJesus Christ. He appeals to our thankfulness, He appeals to our\naffections, He lets us see that He wishes to live in our memories,\nbecause He delights in it, as well as because it is for our profit.\n\nThe Passover was purely and simply a rite of remembrance. I venture to\nbelieve that the Lord's Supper is nothing more. I know how people talk\nabout the bare, bald, Zwinglian ideas of the Communion. They do look\nvery bald and bare by the side of modern notions and mediaeval notions\nresuscitated. Well, I had rather have the bareness than I would have it\noverlaid by coverings under which there is room for abundance of vermin\nto lurk. Christ puts the Lord's Supper in the place of the Passover.\nThe Passover was a purely memorial rite. You Christian people will\nunderstand the spirituality of the whole Gospel system, and the nature\nof the only bond which unites men to Jesus and brings spiritual\nblessings to them--viz. faith--all the better, the more you cling, in\nspite of all that is going on round us to-day, to that simple,\nintelligible, Scriptural notion that we commemorate the Sacrifice, not\noffer the Sacrifice. Jesus Christ said that the Lord's Supper was to be\nobserved 'in remembrance of Me.' That was His explanation of its\npurpose, and I for one am content to take as the expounder of the laws\nof the feast, the feast's own Founder.\n\nNow one more word. In the Passover men fed on the Sacrifice. Jesus\nChrist presents Himself to each of us as at once the Sacrifice for our\nsins and the Food of our souls. If you will keep your minds in touch\nwith the truth about Him, and with Him whom the truth about Him reveals\nto you, if you will keep your hearts in touch with that great and\nunspeakable sign of God's love, if you will keep your wills in\nsubmission to His authority, if you will let His blood, 'which is the\nlife,' or as you may otherwise word it, His Spirit, come into your\nlives, and be your spirit, your motive, then you will go out from the\ntable, not like the disciples to flee, and deny, and forget, nor like\nthe Israelites to wander in a wilderness, but strengthened for many a\nday of joyous service and true communion, and will come at last to what\nHe has promised us: 'Ye shall sit with Me at My table in My Kingdom,'\nwhence we shall go 'no more out.'\n\n\n\nJOSEPH AND NICODEMUS\n\n'And after this Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but\nsecretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away\nthe body of Jesus; ... And there came also Nicodemus which at the first\ncame to Jesus by night.'--JOHN xix. 38, 39.\n\nWhile Christ lived, these two men had been unfaithful to their\nconvictions; but His death, which terrified and paralysed and scattered\nHis avowed disciples, seems to have shamed and stung them into courage.\nThey came now, when they must have known that it was too late, to\nlavish honour and tears on the corpse of the Master whom they had been\ntoo cowardly to acknowledge, whilst acknowledgment might yet have\navailed. How keen an arrow of self-condemnation must have pierced their\nhearts as they moved in their offices of love, which they thought that\nHe could never know, round His dead corpse!\n\nThey were both members of the Sanhedrim; the same motives, no doubt,\nhad withheld each of them from confessing Christ; the same impulses\nunited them in this too late confession of discipleship. Nicodemus had\nhad the conviction, at the beginning of Christ's ministry, that He was\nat least a miraculously attested and God-sent Teacher. But the fear\nwhich made him steal to Jesus by night--the unenviable distinction\nwhich the Evangelist pitilessly reiterates at each mention of\nhim--arrested his growth and kept him dumb when silence was treason.\nJoseph of Arimathea is described by two of the Evangelists as 'a\ndisciple'; by the other two as a devout Israelite, like Simeon and\nAnna, 'waiting for the Kingdom of God.' Luke informs us that he had not\nconcurred in the condemnation of Jesus, but leads us to believe that\nhis dissent had been merely silent. Perhaps he was more fully convinced\nthan Nicodemus, and at the same time even more timid in avowing his\nconvictions.\n\nWe may take these two contrite cowards as they try to atone for their\nunfaithfulness to their living Master by their ministrations to Him\ndead, as examples of secret disciples, and see here the causes, the\nmisery, and the cure of such.\n\nI. Let us look at them as illustrations of secret discipleship and its\ncauses.\n\nThey were restrained from the avowal of the Messiahship of Jesus by\nfear. There is nothing in the organisation of society at this day to\nmake any man afraid of avowing the ordinary kind of Christianity which\nsatisfies the most of us; rather it is the proper thing with the bulk\nof us middle-class people, to say that in some sense or other we are\nChristians. But when it comes to a real avowal, a real carrying out of\na true discipleship, there are as many and as formidable, though very\ndifferent, impediments in the way to-day, from those which blocked the\npath of these two cowards in our text. In all regions of life it is\nhard to work out into practice any moral conviction whatever. How many\nof us are there who have beliefs about social and moral questions which\nwe are ashamed to avow in certain companies for fear of the finger of\nridicule being pointed at us? It is not only in the Church, and in\nreference to purely religious belief, that we find the curse of secret\ndiscipleship, but it is everywhere. Wherever there are moral questions\nwhich are yet the subject of controversy, and have not been enthroned\nwith the hallelujahs of all men, you get people that carry their\nconvictions shut up in their own breasts, and lock their lips in\nsilence, when there is most need of frank avowal. The political,\nsocial, and moral conflicts of this day have their 'secret disciples,'\nwho will only come out of their holes when the battle is over, and will\nthen shout with the loudest.\n\nBut to turn to the more immediate subject before us, how many men and\nwomen, I wonder, are there who ought to be and are not, distinctly and\nopenly united with the Christian community?\n\nI do not mean to say--God forbid that I should--that connection with\nany existing church is the same as a connection with Jesus Christ, or\nthat the neglect to be so associated is tantamount to secret\ndiscipleship; I know there are plenty of other ways of acknowledging\nHim than that, but I am quite sure that this is one department in which\na large number of men, in all our congregations--and there are not a\nfew in this congregation--need a very plain word of earnest\nremonstrance. It is one way of manifesting whose you are, that you\nshould unite yourselves openly with those who belong to Him, and who\ntry to serve Him. I do not dwell upon this matter, because I do not\nwish to be misunderstood, as if I supposed that union to a church is\nequivalent to union with Him; or that a connection with a church is the\nonly, or even the principal way of making an open avowal of Christian\nprinciple; but I am certain that amongst us in this day there is a\nlaxity in this matter which is doing harm both to the Church and to\nsome of you. Therefore I say to you, dear friends, suffer the word of\nexhortation as to the duty of openly uniting yourselves with the\nChristian community.\n\nBut far higher and more important than that--do you ever say anyhow\nthat you belong to Jesus Christ? In a society like ours, in which the\ninfluence of Christian morality affects a great many people who have no\npersonal connection with Him, it is not always enough that the life\nshould preach, because over a very large field of ordinary daily life\nthe underground influence, so to speak, of Christian ethics has\ninfiltrated and penetrated, so that many a tree bears a greener leaf\nbecause of the water that has found its way to it from the river,\nthough it be planted far from its banks. Even those who are not\nChristians live outward lives largely regulated by Christian principle.\nThe whole level of morality has been heaved up, as the coastline has\nsometimes been by hidden fires slowly working, by the imperceptible,\ngradual influence of the gospel.\n\nSo it needs sometimes that you should _say_ 'I am a Christian,' as well\nas that you should live like one. Ask yourselves, dear friends! whether\nyou have buttoned your greatcoat over your uniform that nobody may know\nwhose soldier you are. Ask yourselves whether you have sometimes held\nyour tongues because you knew that if you spoke people would find out\nwhere you came from and what country you belonged to. Ask yourselves,\nHave you ever accompanied the witness of your lives with the commentary\nof your confession? Did you ever, anywhere but in a church, stand up\nand say, 'I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, _my_ Lord'?\n\nAnd then ask yourselves another question: Have you ever dared to be\nsingular? We are all of us in this world often thrust into\ncircumstances in which it is needful that we should say, 'So do not I\nbecause of the fear of the Lord.' Boys go to school; they used always\nto kneel down at their bedsides and say their prayers when they were at\nhome. They do not like to do it with all those critical and cruel\neyes--and there are no eyes more critical and more cruel than young\neyes--fixed upon them, and so they give up prayer. A young man comes to\nManchester, goes into a warehouse, pure of life, and with a tongue that\nhas not blossomed into rank fruit of obscenity and blasphemy. And he\nhears, at the next desk there, words that first of all bring a blush to\nhis cheek, and he is tempted into conduct that he knows to be a denial\nof his Master. And he covers up his principles, and goes with the\ntempters into the evil. I might sketch a dozen other cases, but I need\nnot. In one form or other, we have all to go through the same ordeal.\nWe have sometimes to dare to be in a minority of one, if we will not be\nuntrue to our Master and to ourselves.\n\nNow the reasons for this unfaithfulness to conviction and to Christ,\nare put by the Apostle here in a very blunt fashion--'For fear of the\nJews.' That is not what we say to ourselves; some of us say, 'Oh! I\nhave got beyond outward organisations. I find it enough to be united to\nChrist. The Christian communities are very imperfect. There is not any\nof them that I quite see eye to eye with. So I stand apart,\ncontemplating all, and happy in my unsectarianism.' Yes, I quite admit\nthe faults, and suppose that as long as men think at all they will not\nfind any Church which is entirely to their mind; and I rejoice to think\nthat some day we shall all outgrow visible organisations--when we get\nthere where the seer 'saw no temple therein.' Admitting all that, I\nalso know that isolation is always weakness, and that if a man stand\napart from the wholesome friction of his brethren, he will get to be a\ngreat diseased mass of oddities, of very little use either to himself,\nor to men, or to God. It is not a good thing, on the whole, that people\nshould fight for their own hands, and the wisest thing any of us can do\nis, preserving our freedom of opinion, to link ourselves with some body\nof Christian people, and to find in them our shelter and our home.\n\nBut these two in our text were moved by 'fear.' They dreaded ridicule,\nthe loss of position, the expulsion from Sanhedrim and synagogue,\nsocial ostracism, and all the armoury of offensive weapons which would\nhave been used against them by their colleagues. So, ignobly they kept\ntheir thumb on their convictions, and the two of them sat dumb in the\ncouncil when the scornful question was asked, 'Have any of the rulers\nor of the Pharisees believed on Him?' when they ought to have started\nto their feet and said 'Yes, we have!' And when Nicodemus ventured a\nfeeble remonstrance, which he carefully divested of all appearance of\npersonal sympathy, and put upon the mere abstract ground of fair\nplay--'Doth our law judge any man before it hear him?'--one\ncontemptuous question was enough to reduce him to silence. 'Art thou\nalso of Galilee?' was enough to cow him into dropping his timid plea\nfor Him whom in his heart he believed to be the Messiah.\n\nSo with us, the fear of loss of position comes into play. I have heard\nof people who settled the congregation which they should honour by\ntheir presence from the consideration of the social advantages which it\noffered. I have heard of their saying, 'Oh! we cannot attach ourselves\nto such and such a community; there is no society for the children.'\nThen many of us are very much afraid of being laughed at. Ridicule, I\nthink, to sensitive people in a generation like ours, is pretty nearly\nas bad as the old rack and the physical torments of martyrdom. We have\nall got so nervous and high-strung nowadays, and depend so much upon\nother people's good opinion, that it is a dreadful thing to be\nridiculed. Timid people do not come to the front and say what they\nbelieve, and take up unpopular causes, because they cannot bear to be\npointed at and pelted with the abundant epithets of disparagement,\nwhich are always flung at earnest people who will not worship at the\nappointed shrines, and have sturdy convictions of their own.\n\nRidicule breaks no bones. It has no power if you make up your mind that\nit shall not have. Face it, and it will only be unpleasant for a moment\nat first. When a child goes into the sea to bathe, he is uncomfortable\ntill his head has been fairly under water, and then after that he is\nall right. So it is with the ridicule which out-and-out Christian\nfaithfulness may bring on us. It only hurts at the beginning, and\npeople very soon get tired. Face your fears and they will pass away. It\nis not perhaps a good advice to give unconditionally, but it is a very\ngood one in regard of all moral questions--always do what you are\nafraid to do. In nine cases out of ten it will be the right thing to\ndo. If people would only discount 'the fear of men which bringeth a\nsnare' by making up their minds to neglect it, there would be fewer\n'dumb dogs' and 'secret disciples' haunting and weakening the Church of\nChrist.\n\nII. I have spent too much time upon this part of my subject, and I must\ndeal briefly with the following. Let me say a word about the\nillustrations that we have in this text of the miseries of this secret\ndiscipleship.\n\nHow much these two men lost--all those three years of communion with\nthe Master; all His teaching, all the stimulus of His example, all the\njoy of fellowship with Him! They might have had a treasure in their\nmemories that would have enriched them for all their days, and they had\nflung it all away because they were afraid of the curled lip of a\nlong-bearded Pharisee or two.\n\nAnd so it always is; the secret disciple diminishes his communion with\nhis Master. It is the valleys which lay their bosoms open to the sun\nthat rejoice in the light and warmth; the narrow clefts in the rocks\nthat shut themselves grudgingly up against the light, are all dank and\ndark and dismal. And it is the men that come and avow their\ndiscipleship that will have the truest communion with their Lord. Any\nneglected duty puts a film between a man and his Saviour; any conscious\nneglect of duty piles up a wall between you and Christ. Be sure of\nthis, that if from cowardly or from selfish regard to position and\nadvantages, or any other motive, we stand apart from Him, and have our\nlips locked when we ought to speak, there will steal over our hearts a\ncoldness, His face will be averted from us, and our eyes will not dare\nto seek, with the same confidence and joy, the light of His countenance.\n\nWhat you lose by unfaithful wrapping of your convictions in a napkin\nand burying them in the ground is the joyful use of the convictions,\nthe deeper hold of the truth by which you live, and before which you\nbow, and the true fellowship with the Master whom you acknowledge and\nconfess. And when these men came for Christ's corpse and bore it away,\nwhat a sharp pang went through their hearts! They woke at last to know\nwhat cowardly traitors they had been. If you are a disciple at all, and\na secret one, you will awake to know what you have been doing, and the\npang will be a sharp one. If you do not awake in this life, then the\ndistance between you and your Lord will become greater and greater; if\nyou do, then it will be a sad reflection that there are years of\ntreason lying behind you. Nicodemus and Joseph had the veil torn away\nby the contemplation of their dead Master. You may have the veil torn\naway from your eyes by the sight of the throned Lord; and when you pass\ninto the heavens may even there have some sharp pang of condemnation\nwhen you reflect how unfaithful you have been.\n\nBlessed be His name! The assurance is firm that if a man be a disciple\nhe shall be saved; but the warning is sure that if he be an unfaithful\nand a secret disciple there will be a life-long unfaithfulness to a\nbeloved Master to be purged away 'so as by fire.'\n\nIII. And so, lastly, let me point you to the cure.\n\nThese men learned to be ashamed of their cowardice, and their dumb lips\nlearned to speak, and their shy, hidden love forced for itself a\nchannel by which it could flow out into the light; because of Christ's\ndeath. And in another fashion that same death and Cross are for us,\ntoo, the cure of all cowardice and selfish silence. The sight of\nChrist's Cross makes the coward brave. It was no small piece of courage\nfor Joseph to go to Pilate and avow his sympathy with a condemned\ncriminal. The love must have been very true which was forced to speak\nby disaster and death. And to us the strongest motive for stiffening\nour vacillating timidity into an iron fortitude, and fortifying us\nstrongly against the fear of what man can do to us, is to be found in\ngazing upon His dying love who met and conquered all evils and terrors\nfor our sakes.\n\nThat Cross will kindle a love which will not rest concealed, but will\nbe 'like the ointment of the right hand which bewrayeth itself.' I can\nfancy men to whom Christ is only what He was to Nicodemus at first, 'a\nTeacher sent from God,' occupying Nicodemus' position of hidden belief\nin His teaching without feeling any need to avow themselves His\nfollowers; but if once into our souls there has come the constraining\nand the melting influence of that great and wondrous love which died\nfor us, then, dear brethren, it is unnatural that we should be silent.\nIf those 'for whom Christ has died' should hold their peace, 'the\nstones would immediately cry out.' That death, wondrous, mysterious,\nterrible, but radiant, and glorious with hope, with pardon, with\nholiness for us and for all the world--that death smites on the chords\nof our hearts, if I may so speak, and brings out music from them all.\nThe love that died for me will force me to express my love, 'Then shall\nthe tongue of the dumb sing,' and silence will be impossible.\n\nThe sight of the Cross not only leads to courage, and kindles a love\nwhich demands expression, but it impels to joyful surrender. Joseph\ngave a place in his own new tomb, where he hoped that one day his bones\nshould be laid by the side of the Master against whom he had\nsinned--for he had no thought of a resurrection. Nicodemus brought a\nlavish, almost an extravagant, amount of costly spices, as if by honour\nto the dead he could atone for treason to the living. And both the one\nand the other teach us that if once we gain the true vision of that\ngreat and wondrous love that died on the Cross for us, then the natural\nlanguage of the loving heart is--\n\n  'Here, Lord! I give _myself_ away;\n  'Tis all that I can do.'\n\nIf following Him openly involves sacrifices, the sacrifices will be\nsweet, so long as our hearts look to His dying love. All love delights\nin expression, and most of all in expression by surrender of precious\nthings, which are most precious because they give love materials which\nit may lay at the beloved's feet. What are position, possessions,\nreputation, capacities, perils, losses, self, but the 'sweet spices'\nwhich we are blessed enough to be able to lay upon the altar which\nglorifies the Giver and the gift? The contemplation of Christ's\nsacrifice--and that alone--will so overcome our natural selfishness as\nto make sacrifice for His dear sake most blessed.\n\nI beseech you, then, look ever to Him dying on the Cross for each of\nus. It will kindle our courage, it will make our hearts glow with love,\nit will turn our silence into melody and music of praise; it will lead\nus to heights of consecration and joys of confession; and so it will\nbring us at last into the possession of that wondrous honour which He\npromised when He said, 'He that confesseth Me before men, him will I\nalso confess; and he that denieth Me before men, him will I also deny.'\n\n\n\nTHE GRAVE IN A GARDEN\n\n'In the garden a new tomb.'--JOHN xix. 41 (R.V.).\n\nThis is possibly no more than a topographical note introduced merely\nfor the sake of accuracy. But it is quite in John's manner to attach\nimportance to these apparent trifles and to give no express statement\nthat he is doing so. There are several other instances in the Gospel\nwhere similar details are given which appear to have had in his eyes a\nsymbolical meaning--e.g. 'And it was night.' There may have been such a\nthought in his mind, for all men in high excitement love and seize\nsymbols, and I can scarcely doubt that the reason which induced Joseph\nto make his grave in a garden was the reason which induced John to\nmention so particularly its situation, and that they both discerned in\nthat garden round the sepulchre, the expression of what was to the one\na dim desire, to the other 'a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus\nChrist from the dead'--that they who are laid to rest in the grave\nshall come forth again in new and fairer life, as 'the garden causeth\nthe things that are sown in it to bud.'\n\nTo us at all events on Easter morning, with nature rising on every hand\nfrom her winter death, and 'life re-orient out of dust,' that new\nsepulchre in the garden may well serve for the starting-point of the\nfamiliar but ever-precious lessons of the day.\n\nI. A symbol of death and decay as interwoven with all nature and every\njoy.\n\nWe think of Eden and the first coming of death.\n\nThe grave was fittingly in the garden, because nature too is subject to\nthe law of decay and death. The flowers fade and men die. Meditative\nsouls have ever gathered lessons of mortality there, and invested death\nwith an alien softness by likening it to falling leaves and withered\nblooms. But the contrast is greater than the resemblance, and painless\ndropping of petals is not a parallel to the rending of soul and body.\n\nThe garden's careless wealth of beauty and joy continues unconcerned\nwhatever befalls us. 'One generation cometh and another goeth, but the\nearth abideth for ever.'\n\nThe grave is in the garden because all our joys and works have sooner\nor later death associated with them.\n\nEvery relationship.\n\nEvery occupation.\n\nEvery joy.\n\nThe grave in the garden bids us bring the wholesome contemplation of\ndeath into all life.\n\nIt may be a harm and weakening to think of it, but should be a strength.\n\nII. The dim hopes with which men have fought against death.\n\nTo lay the dead amid blooming nature and fair flowers has been and is\nnatural to men. The symbolism is most natural, deep, and beautiful,\nexpressing the possibility of life and even of advance in the life\nafter apparent decay. There is something very pathetic in so eager a\ngrasping after some stay for hope.\n\nAll these natural symbols are insufficient. They are not proofs, they\nare only pretty analogies. But they are all that men have on which to\nbuild their hopes as to a future life apart from Christ. That future\nwas vague, a region for hopes and wishes or fears, not for certainty, a\nregion for poetic fancies. The thoughts of it were very faintly\noperative. Men asked, Shall we live again? Conscience seemed to answer,\nYes! The instinct of immortality in men's souls grasped at these things\nas proofs of what it believed without them, but there was no clear\nlight.\n\nIII. The clear light of certain hope which Christ's resurrection brings.\n\nThe grave in the garden reversed Adam's bringing of death into Eden.\n\nChrist's resurrection as a fact bears on the belief in a future state\nas nothing else can.\n\nIt changes hope into certainty. It shows by actual example that death\nhas nothing to do with the soul; that life is independent of the body;\nthat a man after death is the same as before it. The risen Lord was the\nsame in His relations to His disciples, the same in His love, in His\nmemory, and in all else.\n\nIt changes shadowy hopes of continuous life into a solid certainty of\nresurrection life. The former is vague and powerless. It is impossible\nto conceive of the future with vividness unless as a bodily life. And\nthis is the strength of the Christian conception of the future life,\nthat corporeity is the end and goal of the redeemed man.\n\nIt changes terror and awe into joy, and opens up a future in which He\nis.\n\nWe shall be with Him.\n\nWe shall be like Him.\n\nNow we can go back to all these incomplete analogies and use them\nconfidently. Our faith does not rest upon them but upon what has\nactually been done on this earth.\n\nChrist is 'the First fruits of them that slept.' What will the harvest\nbe!\n\nAs the single little seed is poor and small by the side of the gorgeous\nflower that comes from it; so will be the change. 'God giveth it a body\nas it hath pleased Him.'\n\nHow then to think of death for ourselves and for those who are gone?\nThankfully and hopefully.\n\n\n\nTHE RESURRECTION MORNING\n\n'The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet\ndark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the\nsepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the\nother disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken\naway the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have\nlaid Him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came\nto the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did\noutrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down,\nand looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then\ncometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and\nseeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about His head,\nnot lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by\nitself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the\nsepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the\nscripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples\nwent away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the\nsepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into\nthe sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the\nhead, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And\nthey say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them,\nBecause they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have\nlaid Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw\nJesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her,\nWoman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be\nthe gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell\nme where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away. Jesus saith unto\nher, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to\nsay, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch Me not; for I am not yet\nascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I\nascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God.\nMary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord,\nand that He had spoken these things unto her.'--JOHN xx. 1-18.\n\nJohn's purpose in his narrative of the resurrection is not only to\nestablish the fact, but also to depict the gradual growth of faith in\nit, among the disciples. The two main incidents in this passage, the\nvisit of Peter and John to the tomb and the appearance of our Lord to\nMary, give the dawning of faith before sight and the rapturous faith\nborn of sight. In the remainder of the chapter are two more instances\nof faith following vision, and the teaching of the whole is summed up\nin Christ's words to the doubter, 'Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast\nbelieved: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed!'\n\nI. The open sepulchre and the bewildered alarm it excited. The act of\nresurrection took place before sunrise. 'At midnight,' probably, 'the\nBridegroom came.' It was fitting that He who was to scatter the\ndarkness of the grave should rise while darkness covered the earth, and\nthat no eye should behold 'how' that dead was 'raised up.' The\nearthquake and the descent of angels and the rolling away of the stone\nwere after the tomb was empty.\n\nJohn's note of time seems somewhat earlier than that of the other\nGospels, but is not so much so as to require the supposition that Mary\npreceded the other women. She appears alone here, because the reason\nfor mentioning her at all is to explain how Peter and John knew of the\nempty tomb, and she alone had been the informant. In these Eastern\nlands, 'as it began to dawn,' 'very early at the rising of the sun,'\nand 'while it was yet dark,' are times very near each other, and Mary\nmay have reached the sepulchre a little before the others. Her own\nwords, 'We know not,' show that she had spoken with others who had seen\nthe empty grave. We must therefore suppose that she had with the others\ncome to it, seen that the sacred corpse was gone and their spices\nuseless, exchanged hurried words of alarm and bewilderment, and then\nhad hastened away before the appearance of the angels.\n\nThe impulse to tell the leaders of the forlorn band the news, which she\nthinks to be so bad, was womanly and natural. It was not hope, but\nwonder and sorrow that quickened her steps as she ran through the still\nmorning to find them. Whether they were in one house or not is\nuncertain; but, at all events, Peter's denial had not cut him off from\nhis brethren, and the two who were so constantly associated before and\nafterwards were not far apart that morning. The disciple who had stood\nby the Cross to almost the last had an open heart, and probably an open\nhouse for the denier. 'Restore such an one, ... considering thyself.'\n\nMary had seen the tomb empty, and springs to the conclusion that\n'they'--some unknown persons--have taken away the dead body, which,\nwith clinging love that tries to ignore death, she still calls 'the\nLord.' Possibly she may have thought that the resting-place in Joseph's\nnew sepulchre was only meant for temporary shelter (ver. 15). At all\nevents the corpse was gone, and the fact suggested no hope to her. How\noften do we, in like manner, misinterpret as dark what is really\npregnant with light, and blindly attribute to 'them' what Jesus does! A\ntone of mind thus remote from anticipation of the great fact is a\nprecious proof of the historical truth of the resurrection; for here\nwas no soil in which hallucinations would spring, and such people would\nnot have believed Him risen unless they had seen Him living.\n\nII. Peter and John at the tomb, the dawning of faith, and the\ncontinuance of bewildered wonder. In the account, we may observe,\nfirst, the characteristic conduct of each of the two. Peter is first to\nset out, and John follows, both men doing according to their kind. The\nyounger runs faster than his companion. He looked into the tomb, and\nsaw the wrappings lying; but the reverent awe which holds back finer\nnatures kept him from venturing in. Peter is not said to have looked\nbefore entering. He loved with all his heart, but his love was\nimpetuous and practical, and he went straight in, and felt no reason\nwhy he should pause. His boldness encouraged his friend, as the example\nof strong natures does. Some of my readers will recall Bushnell's noble\nsermon on 'Unconscious Influence' from this incident, and I need say no\nmore about it.\n\nObserve, too, the further witness of the folded grave-clothes. John\nfrom outside had not seen the napkin, lying carefully rolled up apart\nfrom the other cloths. It was probably laid in a part of the tomb\ninvisible from without. But the careful disposal of these came to him,\nwhen he saw them, with a great flash of illumination. There had been no\nhurried removal.\n\nHere had been no hostile hands, or there would not have been this\ndeliberation; nor friendly hands, or there would not have been such\ndishonour to the sacred dead as to carry away the body nude. What did\nit mean? Could He Himself have done for Himself what He had bade them\ndo for Lazarus? Could He have laid aside the garments of the grave as\nneeding them no more? 'They have taken away'--what if it were not\n'they' but He? No trace of hurry or struggle was there. He did 'not go\nout with haste, nor go by flight,' but calmly, deliberately, in the\nmajesty of His lordship over death, He rose from His slumber and left\norder in the land of confusion.\n\nObserve, too, the birth of the Apostle's faith. John connects it with\nthe sight of the folded garments. 'Believed' here must mean more than\nrecognition of the fact that the grave was empty. The next clause seems\nto imply that it means belief in the resurrection. The scripture, which\nthey 'knew' as scripture, was for John suddenly interpreted, and he was\nlifted out of the ignorance of its meaning, which till that moment he\nhad shared with his fellow-disciples. Their failure to understand\nChrist's frequent distinct prophecies that He would rise again the\nthird day has been thought incredible, but is surely intelligible\nenough if we remember how unexampled such a thing was, and how\nmarvellous is our power of hearing and yet not hearing the plainest\ntruth. We all in the course of our lives are lost in astonishment when\nthings befall us which we have been plainly told will befall. The\nfulfilment of all divine promises (and threatenings) is a surprise, and\nno warnings beforehand teach one tithe so clearly as experience.\n\nJohn believed, but Peter still was in the dark. Again the former had\noutrun his friend. His more sensitive nature, not to say his deeper\nlove--for that would be unjust, since their love differed in quality\nmore than in degree--had gifted him with a more subtle and\nswifter-working perception. Perhaps if Peter's heart had not been\noppressed by his sin, he would have been readier to feel the sunshine\nof the wonderful hope. We condemn ourselves to the shade when we deny\nour Lord by deed or word.\n\nIII. The first appearance of the Lord, and revelation of the new form\nof intercourse. Nothing had been said of Mary's return to the tomb; but\nhow could she stay away? The disciples might go, but she lingered,\nwoman-like, to indulge in the bitter-sweet of tears. Eyes so filled are\nmore apt to see angels. No wonder that these calm watchers, in their\ngarb of purity and joy, had not been seen by the two men. The laws of\nsuch appearance are not those of ordinary optics. Spiritual\nsusceptibility and need determine who shall see angels, and who shall\nsee but the empty place. Wonder and adoration held these bright forms\nthere. They had hovered over the cradle and stood by the shepherds at\nBethlehem, but they bowed in yet more awestruck reverence at the grave,\nand death revealed to them a deeper depth of divine love.\n\nThe presence of angels was a trifle to Mary, who had only one\nthought--the absence of her Lord. Surely that touch in her unmoved\nanswer, as if speaking to men, is beyond the reach of art. She says 'My\nLord' now, and 'I know not,' but otherwise repeats her former words,\nunmoved by any hope caught from John. Her clinging love needed more\nthan an empty grave and folded clothes arid waiting angels to stay its\ntears, and she turned indifferently and wearily away from the\ninterruption of the question to plunge again into her sorrow.\nChrysostom suggests that she 'turned herself' because she saw in the\nangels' looks that they saw Christ suddenly appearing behind her; but\nthe preceding explanation seems better. Her not knowing Jesus might be\naccounted for by her absorbing grief. One who looked at white-robed\nangels, and saw nothing extraordinary, would give but a careless glance\nat the approaching figure, and might well fail to recognise Him. But\nprobably, as in the case of the two travellers to Emmaus, her 'eyes\nwere holden,' and the cause of non-recognition was not so much a change\nin Jesus as an operation on her.\n\nBe that as it may, it is noteworthy that His voice, which was\nimmediately to reveal Him, at first suggested nothing to her; and even\nHis gentle question, with the significant addition to the angels'\nwords, in 'Whom seekest thou?' which indicated His knowledge that her\ntears fell for some person dear and lost, only made her think of Him as\nbeing 'the gardener,' and therefore probably concerned in the removal\nof the body. If He were so, He would be friendly; and so she ventured\nher pathetic petition, which does not name Jesus (so full is her mind\nof the One, that she thinks everybody must know whom she means), and\nwhich so overrated her own strength in saying, 'I will take Him away,'\nThe first words of the risen Christ are on His lips yet to all sad\nhearts. He seeks our confidences, and would have us tell Him the\noccasions of our tears. He would have us recognise that all our griefs\nand all our desires point to one Person--Himself--as the one real\nObject of our 'seeking,' whom finding, we need weep no more.\n\nVerse 16 tells us that Mary turned herself to see Him when He next\nspoke, so that, at the close of her first answer to Him, she must have\nonce more resumed her gaze into the tomb, as if she despaired of the\nnewcomer giving the help she had asked.\n\nWho can say anything about that transcendent recognition, in which all\nthe stooping love of the risen Lord is smelted into one word, and the\nburst of rapture, awe, astonishment, and devotion pours itself through\nthe narrow channel of one other? If this narrative is the work of some\nanonymous author late in the second century, he is indeed a 'Great\nUnknown,' and has managed to imagine one of the two or three most\npathetic 'situations' in literature. Surely it is more reasonable to\nsuppose him no obscure genius, but a well-known recorder of what he had\nseen, and knew for fact. Christ's calling by name ever reveals His\nloving presence. We may be sure that He knows us by name, and we should\nreply by the same swift cry of absolute submission as sprung to Mary's\nlips. 'Rabboni! Master!' is the fit answer to His call.\n\nBut Mary's exclamation was imperfect in that it expressed the\nresumption of no more than the old bond, and her gladness needed\nenlightenment. Things were not to be as they had been. Christ's 'Mary!'\nhad indeed assured her of His faithful remembrance and of her present\nplace in His love; but when she clung to His feet she was seeking to\nkeep what she had to learn to give up. Therefore Jesus, who invited the\ntouch which was to establish faith and banish doubt (Luke xxiv. 39;\nJohn xx. 27), bids her unclasp her hands, and gently instils the ending\nof the blessed past by opening to her the superior joys of the begun\nfuture. His words contain for us all the very heart of our possible\nrelation to Him, and teach us that we need envy none who companied with\nHim here. His ascension to the Father is the condition of our truest\napproach to Him. His prohibition encloses a permission. 'Touch Me not!\nfor I am not yet ascended,' implies 'When I am, you may.'\n\nFurther, the ascended Christ is still our Brother. Neither the mystery\nof death nor the impending mystery of dominion broke the tie. Again,\nthe Resurrection is the beginning of Ascension, and is only then\nrightly understood when it is considered as the first upward step to\nthe throne. 'I ascend,' not 'I have risen, and will soon leave you,' as\nif the Ascension only began forty days after on Olivet. It is already\nin process. Once more the ascended Christ, our Brother still, and\ncapable of the touch of reverent love, is yet separated from us by the\ncharacter, even while united to us by the fact, of His filial and\ndependent relation to God. He cannot say 'Our Father' as if standing on\nthe common human ground. He is 'Son' as we are not, and we are 'sons'\nthrough Him, and can only call God our Father because He is Christ's.\n\nSuch were the immortal hopes and new thoughts which Mary hastened from\nthe presence of her recovered Lord to bring to the disciples. Fragrant\nthough but partially understood, they were like half-opened blossoms\nfrom the tree of life planted in the midst of that garden, to bloom\nunfading, and ever disclosing new beauty in believing hearts till the\nend of time.\n\n\n\nTHE RISEN LORD'S CHARGE AND GIFT\n\n'Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto yon: as My Father hath\nsent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on\nthem, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins\nye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain,\nthey are retained.'--JOHN xx. 21-23.\n\nThe day of the Resurrection had been full of strange rumours, and of\ngrowing excitement. As evening fell, some of the disciples, at any\nrate, gathered together, probably in the upper room. They were brave,\nfor in spite of the Jews they dared to assemble; they were timid, for\nthey barred themselves in 'for fear of the Jews.' No doubt in little\ngroups they were eagerly discussing what had happened that day. Fuel\nwas added to the fire by the return of the two from Emmaus. And then,\nat once, the buzz of conversation ceased, for 'He Himself, with His\nhuman air,' stood there in the midst, with the quiet greeting on His\nlips, which might have come from any casual stranger, and minimised the\nseparation that was now ending: 'Peace be unto you!'\n\nWe have two accounts of that evening's interview which remarkably\nsupplement each other. They deal with two different parts of it. John\nbegins where Luke ends. The latter Evangelist dwells mainly on the\ndisciples' fears that it was some ghostly appearance that they saw, and\non the removal of these by the sight, and perhaps the touch, of the\nhands and the feet. John says nothing of the terror, but Luke's account\nexplains John's statement that 'He showed them His hands and His side,'\nand that, 'Then were the disciples glad,' the joy expelling the fear.\nLuke's account also, by dwelling on the first part of the interview,\nexplains what else is unexplained in John's narrative, viz. the\nrepetition of the salutation, 'Peace be unto you!' Our Lord thereby\nmarked off the previous portion of the conversation as being separate,\nand a whole in itself. Their doubts were dissipated, and now something\nelse was to begin. They who were sure of the risen Lord, and had had\ncommunion with Him, were capable of receiving a deeper peace, and so\n'Jesus said to them again, Peace be unto you!' and thereby inaugurated\nthe second part of the interview.\n\nLuke's account also helps us in another and very important way. John\nsimply says that 'the disciples were gathered together,' and that might\nmean the Eleven only. Luke is more specific, and tells us what is of\nprime importance for understanding the whole incident, that 'the\nEleven... and they that were with them' were assembled. This interview,\nthe crown of the appearances on Easter Day, is marked as being an\ninterview with the assembled body of disciples, whom the Lord, having\nscattered their doubts, and laid the deep benediction of His peace upon\ntheir hearts, then goes on to invest with a sacred mission, 'As My\nFather hath sent Me, even so send I you'; to equip them with the needed\npower, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost'; and to unfold to them the solemn\nissues of their work, 'Whose sins ye remit they are remitted; and whose\nsins ye retain they are retained.' The message of that Easter evening\nis for us all; and so I ask you to look at these three points.\n\nI. The Christian Mission.\n\nI have already said that the clear understanding of the persons to whom\nthe words were spoken, goes far to interpret the significance of the\nwords. Here we have at the very beginning, the great thought that every\nChristian man and woman is sent by Jesus. The possession of what\npreceded this charge is the thing, and the only thing, that fits a man\nto receive it, and whoever possesses these is thereby despatched into\nthe world as being Christ's envoy and representative. And what are\nthese preceding experiences? The vision of the risen Christ, the touch\nof His hands, the peace that He breathed over believing souls, the\ngladness that sprang like a sunny fountain in the hearts that had been\nso dry and dark. Those things constituted the disciples' qualification\nfor being sent, and these things were themselves--even apart from the\nMaster's words--their sending out on their future life's-work. Thus,\nwhoever--and thank God I am addressing many who come under the\ncategory!--whoever has seen the Lord, has been in touch with Him, and\nhas felt his heart filled with gladness, is the recipient of this great\ncommission. There is no question here of the prerogative of a class,\nnor of the functions of an order; it is a question of the universal\naspect of the Christian life in its relation to the Master who sends,\nand the world into which it is sent.\n\nWe Nonconformists pride ourselves upon our freedom from what we call\n'sacerdotalism.' Ay! and we Nonconformists are quite willing to assert\nour priesthood in opposition to the claims of a class, and are as\nwilling to forget it, should the question of the duties of the priest\ncome into view. You do not believe in priests, but a great many of you\nbelieve that it is ministers that are 'sent,' and that you have no\ncharge. Officialism is the dry-rot of all the Churches, and is found as\nrampant amongst democratic Nonconformists as amongst the more\nhierarchical communities. Brethren! you are included in Christ's words\nof sending on this errand, if you are included in this greeting of\n'Peace be unto you!' 'I send,' not the clerical order, not the priest,\nbut 'you,' because you have seen the Lord, and been glad, and heard the\nlow whisper of His benediction creeping into your hearts.\n\nMark, too, how our Lord reveals much of Himself, as well as of our\nposition, when He thus speaks. For He assumes here the royal tone, and\nclaims to possess as absolute authority over the lives and work of all\nChristian people as the Father exercised when He sent the Son. But we\nmust further ask ourselves the question, what is the parallel that our\nLord here draws, not only between His action in sending us, and the\nFather's action in sending Him, but also between the attitude of the\nSon who was sent, and of the disciples whom He sends? And the answer is\nthis--the work of Jesus Christ is continued by, prolonged in, and\ncarried on henceforward through, the work that He lays upon His\nservants. Mark the exact expression that our Lord here uses. 'As My\nFather _hath_ sent,' that is a past action, continuing its consequences\nin the present. It is not 'as My Father _did_ send once,' but as 'My\nFather _hath_ sent,' which means 'is also at present sending,' and\ncontinues to send. Which being translated into less technical\nphraseology is just this, that we here have our Lord presenting to us\nthe thought that, though in a new form, His work continues during the\nages, and is now being wrought through His servants. What He does by\nanother, He does by Himself. We Christian men and women do not\nunderstand our function in the world, unless we have realised this:\n'Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ' and His interests and His\nwork are entrusted to our hands.\n\nHow shall the servants continue and carry on the work of the Master?\nThe chief way to do it is by proclaiming everywhere that finished work\non which the world's hopes depend. But note,--'_as_ My Father hath sent\nMe, so send I you,'--then we are not only to carry on His work in the\nworld, but if one might venture to say so, we are to reproduce His\nattitude towards God and the world. He was sent to be 'the Light of the\nworld'; and so are we. He was sent to 'seek and to save that which was\nlost'; so are we. He was sent not to do His own will, but the will of\nthe Father that sent Him; so are we. He took upon Himself with all\ncheerfulness the office to which He was appointed, and said, 'My meat\nis to do the will of Him that sent Me,--and to finish His work'; and\nthat must be our voice too. He was sent to pity, to look upon the\nmultitudes with compassion, to carry to them the healing of His touch,\nand the sympathy of His heart; so must we. We are the representatives\nof Jesus Christ, and if I might dare to use such a phrase, He is to be\nincarnated again in the hearts, and manifested again in the lives, of\nHis servants. Many weak eyes, that would be dazzled and hurt if they\nwere to gaze on the sun, may look at the clouds cradled by its side,\nand dyed with its lustre, and learn something of the radiance and the\nglory of the illuminating light from the illuminated vapour. And thus,\n'as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.'\n\nNow let us turn to\n\nII. The Christian Equipment.\n\n'He breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost!' The\nsymbolical action reminds us of the Creation story, when into the\nnostrils was breathed 'the breath of life, and man became a living\nsoul.' The symbol is but a symbol, but what it teaches us is that every\nChristian man who has passed through the experiences which make him\nChrist's envoy, receives the equipment of a new life, and that that\nlife is the gift of the risen Lord. This Prometheus came from the dead\nwith the spark of life guarded in His pierced hands, and He bestowed it\nupon us; for the Spirit of life, which is the Spirit of Christ, is\ngranted to all Christian men. Dear brethren! we have not lived up to\nthe realities of our Christian confession, unless into our death has\ncome, and there abides, this life derived from Jesus Himself, the\ncommunication of which goes along with all faith in Him.\n\nBut the gift which Jesus brought to that group of timid disciples in\nthe upper room did not make superfluous the further gift on the day of\nPentecost. The communication of the divine Spirit to men runs parallel\nwith, depends on, and follows, the revelation of divine truth, so the\nascended Lord gave more of that life to the disciples, who had been\nmade capable of more of it by the fact of beholding His ascension, than\nthe risen Lord could give on that Easter Day. But whilst thus there are\nmeasures and degrees, the life is given to every believer in\ncorrespondence with the clearness and the contents of his faith.\n\nIt is the power that will fit any of us for the work for which we are\nsent into the world. If we are here to represent Jesus Christ, and if\nit is true of us that 'as He is, so are we, in this world,' that\nlikeness can only come about by our receiving into our spirits a\nkindred life which will effloresce and manifest itself to men in\nkindred beauty of foliage and of fruit. If we are to be 'the lights of\nthe world,' our lamps must be fed with oil. If we are to be Christ's\nrepresentatives, we must have Christ's life in us. Here, too, is the\nonly source of strength and life to us Christian people, when we look\nat the difficulties of our task and measure our own feebleness against\nthe work that lies before us. I suppose no man has ever tried honestly\nto be what Christ wished him to be amidst his fellows, whether as\npreacher or teacher or guide in any fashion, who has not hundreds of\ntimes clasped his hands in all but despair, and said, 'Who is\nsufficient for these things?' That is the temper into which the power\nwill come. The rivers run in the valleys, and it is the lowly sense of\nour own unfitness for the task which yet presses upon us, and\nimperatively demands to be done, that makes us capable of receiving\nthat divine gift.\n\nIt is for lack of it that so much of so-called 'Christian effort' comes\nto nothing. The priests may pile the wood upon the altar, and compass\nit all day long with vain cries, and nothing happens. It is not till\nthe fire comes down from heaven that sacrifice and altar and wood and\nwater in the trench, are licked up and converted into fiery light. So,\ndear brethren! it is because the Christian Church as a whole, and we as\nindividual members of it, so imperfectly realise the A B C of our\nfaith, our absolute dependence on the inbreathed life of Jesus Christ,\nto fit us for any of our work, that so much of our work is ploughing\nthe sands, and so often we labour for vanity and spend our strength for\nnought. What is the use of a mill full of spindles and looms until the\nfire-born impulse comes rushing through the pipes? Then they begin to\nmove.\n\nLet me remind you, too, that the words which our Lord here employs\nabout these great gifts, when accurately examined, do lead us to the\nthought that we, even we, are not altogether passive in the reception\nof that gift. For the expression, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost' might,\nwith more completeness of signification, be rendered, 'take ye the Holy\nGhost.' True, the outstretched hand is nothing, unless the giving hand\nis stretched out too. True, the open palm and the clutching fingers\nremain empty, unless the open palm above drops the gift. But also true,\nthings in the spiritual realm that are given have to be asked for,\nbecause asking opens the heart for their entrance. True, that gift was\ngiven once for all, and continuously, but the appropriation and the\ncontinual possession of it largely depend upon ourselves. There must be\ndesire before there can be possession. If a man does not take his\npitcher to the fountain the pitcher remains empty, though the fountain\nnever ceases to spring. There must be taking by patient waiting. The\nold Friends had a lovely phrase when they spoke about 'waiting for the\nspringing of the life.' If we hold out a tremulous hand, and our cup is\nnot kept steady, the falling water will not enter it, and much will be\nspilt upon the ground. Wait on the Lord, and the life will rise like a\ntide in the heart. There must be a taking by the faithful use of what\nwe possess. 'To him that hath shall be given.' There must be a taking\nby careful avoidance of what would hinder. In the winter weather the\nwater supply sometimes fails in a house. Why? Because there is a plug\nof ice in the service-pipe. Some of us have a plug of ice, and so the\nwater has not come,\n\n'_Take_ the Holy Spirit!'\n\nNow, lastly, we have here\n\nIII. The Christian power over sin.\n\nI am not going to enter upon controversy. The words which close our\nLord's great charge here have been much misunderstood by being\nrestricted. It is eminently necessary to remember here that they were\nspoken to the whole community of Christian souls. The harm that has\nbeen done by their restriction to the so-called priestly function of\nabsolution has been, not only the monstrous claims which have been\nthereon founded, but quite as much the obscuration of the large effects\nthat follow from the Christian discharge by all believers of the office\nof representing Jesus Christ.\n\nWe must interpret these words in harmony with the two preceding points,\nthe Christian mission and the Christian equipment. So interpreted, they\nlead us to a very plain thought which I may put thus. This same Apostle\ntells us in his letter that 'Jesus Christ was manifested to take away\nsin.' His work in this world, which we are to continue, was 'to put\naway sin by the sacrifice of Himself.' We continue that work when,--as\nwe have all, if Christians, the right to do--we lift up our voices with\ntriumphant confidence, and call upon our brethren to 'behold the Lamb\nof God which taketh away the sin of the world!' The proclamation has a\ntwofold effect, according as it is received or rejected; to him who\nreceives it his sins melt away, and the preacher of forgiveness through\nChrist has the right to say to his brother, 'Thy sins are forgiven\nbecause thou believest on Him.' The rejecter or the neglecter binds his\nsin upon himself by his rejection or neglect. The same message is, as\nthe Apostle puts it, 'a savour of life unto life, or of death unto\ndeath.' These words are the best commentary on this part of my text.\nThe same heat, as the old Fathers used to say, 'softens wax and hardens\nclay.' The message of the word will either couch a blind eye, and let\nin the light, or draw another film of obscuration over the visual orb.\n\nAnd so, Christian men and women have to feel that to them is entrusted\na solemn message, that they walk in the world charged with a mighty\npower, that by the preaching of the Word, and by their own utterance of\nthe forgiving mercy of the Lord Jesus, they may 'remit' or 'retain' not\nonly the punishment of sin, but sin itself. How tender, how diligent,\nhow reverent, how--not bowed down, but--erect under the weight of our\nobligations, we should be, if we realised that solemn thought!\n\n\n\n THOMAS AND JESUS\n\n'And after eight days, again His disciples were within, and Thomas with\nthem. Then came Jesus.'--JOHN xx. 26.\n\nThere is nothing more remarkable about the narrative of the\nresurrection, taken as a whole, than the completeness with which our\nLord's appearances met all varieties of temperament, condition, and\nspiritual standing. Mary, the lover; Peter, the penitent; the two\ndisciples on the way to Emmaus, the thinkers; Thomas, the stiff\nunbeliever--the presence of the Christ is enough for them all; it cures\nthose that need cure, and gladdens those that need gladdening. I am not\ngoing to do anything so foolish as to try to tell over again, less\nvividly, this well-known story. We all remember its outlines, I\nsuppose: the absence of Thomas from Christ's first meeting with the\nassembled disciples on Easter evening; the dogged disbelief with which\nhe met their testimony; his arrogant assumption of the right to lay\ndown the conditions on which he should believe, and Christ's gracious\nacceptance of the conditions; the discovery when they were offered that\nthey were not needful; the burst of glad conviction which lifted him to\nthe loftiest height reached while Christ was on earth, and then the\nsumming up of all in our Lord's words--'Blessed are they that have not\nseen and yet have believed!'--the last Beatitude, that links us and all\nthe generations yet to come with the story, and is like a finger\npointing to it, as containing very special lessons for them all.\n\nI simply seek to try to bring out the force and instructiveness of the\nstory. The first point is--\n\nI. The isolation that misses the sight of the Christ.\n\n'Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.' No\nreason is assigned. The absence may have been purely accidental, but\nthe specification of Thomas as 'one of the Twelve,' seems to suggest\nthat his absence was regarded by the Evangelist as a dereliction of\napostolic duty; and the cause of it may be found, I think, with\nreasonable probability, if we take into account the two other facts\nthat the same Evangelist records concerning this Apostle. One is his\nexclamation, in which a constitutional tendency to accept the blackest\npossibilities as certainties, blends very strangely and beautifully\nwith an intense and brave devotion to his Master. 'Let us also go,'\nsaid Thomas, when Christ announced His intention, but a few days before\nthe Passion, of returning to the grave of Lazarus, 'that we may die\nwith Him.' 'He is going to His death, that I am sure of, and I am going\nto be beside Him even in His death.' A constitutional pessimist! The\nonly other notice that we have of him is that he broke in--with\napparent irreverence which was not real,--with a brusque contradiction\nof Christ's saying that they knew the way, and they knew His goal.\n'Lord! we know not whither Thou goest'--there spoke pained love\nfronting the black prospect of eternal separation,--'and how can we\nknow the way?'--there spoke almost impatient despair.\n\nSo is not that the kind of man who on the Resurrection day would have\nbeen saying to himself, even more decidedly and more bitterly than the\ntwo questioning thinkers on the road to Emmaus had said it, 'We trusted\nthat this had been He, but it is all over now'? The keystone was struck\nout of the arch, and this brick tumbled away of itself. The hub was\ntaken out of the wheel, and the spokes fell apart. The divisive\ntendency was begun, as I have had occasion to remark in other sermons.\nThomas did the very worst thing that a melancholy man can do, went away\nto brood in a corner by himself, and so to exaggerate all his\nidiosyncrasies, to distort the proportion of truth, to hug his despair,\nby separating himself from his fellows. Therefore he lost what they\ngot, the sight of the Lord. He 'was not with them when Jesus came.'\nWould he not have been better in the upper room than gloomily turning\nover in his mind the dissolution of the fair company and the shipwreck\nof all his hopes?\n\nMay we not learn a lesson? I venture to apply these words, dear\nfriends, to our gatherings for worship. The worst thing that a man can\ndo when disbelief, or doubt, or coldness shrouds his sky, and blots out\nthe stars, is to go away alone and shut himself up with his own,\nperhaps morbid, or, at all events, disturbing thoughts. The best thing\nthat he can do is to go amongst his fellows. If the sermon does not do\nhim any good, the prayers and the praises and the sense of brotherhood\nwill help him. If a fire is going out, draw the dying coals close\ntogether, and they will make each other break into a flame. One great\nreason for some of the less favourable features that modern\nChristianity presents, is that men are beginning to think less than\nthey ought to do, and less than they used to do, of the obligation and\nthe blessing, whatever their spiritual condition, of gathering together\nfor the worship of God. But, further, there is a far wider thought than\nthat here, which I have already referred to, and which I do not need to\ndwell upon, namely, that, although, of course, there are very plain\nlimits to be put to the principle, yet it is a principle, that solitude\nis not the best medicine for any disturbed or saddened soul. It is true\nthat 'solitude is the mother-country of the strong,' and that unless we\nare accustomed to live very much alone, we shall not live very much\nwith God. But on the other hand, if you cut yourself off from the\nlimiting, and therefore developing, society of your fellows, you will\nrust, you will become what they call eccentric. Your idiosyncrasies\nwill swell into monstrosities, your peculiarities will not be subjected\nto the gracious process of pruning which society with your fellows, and\nespecially with Christian hearts, will bring to them. And in every way\nyou will be more likely to miss the Christ than if you were kindly with\nyour kind, and went up to the house of God in company.\n\nTake the next point that is here:\n\nII. The stiff incredulity that prescribed terms.\n\nWhen Thomas came back to his brethren, they met him with the witness\nthat they had seen the Lord, and he met them as they had met the\nwitnesses that brought the same message to them. They had thought the\nwomen's words 'idle tales.' Thomas gives them back their own\nincredulity. I need not remind you of what I have already had occasion\nto say, how much this frank acknowledgment that none of these, who were\nafterwards to be witnesses of the Resurrection to the world, accepted\ntestimony to the Resurrection as enough to convince them, enhances the\nworth of their testimony, and how entirely it shatters the conception\nthat the belief in the Resurrection was a mist that rose from the\nundrained swamps of their own heated imaginations.\n\nBut notice how Thomas exaggerated their position, and took up a far\nmore defiant tone than any of them had done. He is called 'doubting\nThomas.' He was no doubter. Flat, frank, dogged disbelief, and not\nhesitation or doubt, was his attitude. The very form in which he puts\nhis requirement shows how he was hugging his unbelief, and how he had\nno idea that what he asked would ever be granted. 'Unless I have\nso-and-so I will not,' indicates an altogether spiritual attitude from\nwhat 'If I have so-and-so, I will,' would have indicated. The one is\nthe language of willingness to be persuaded, the other is a token of a\ndetermination to be obstinate. What right had he--what right has any\nman--to say, 'So-and-so must be made plain to me, or I will not accept\na certain truth'? You have a right to ask for satisfactory evidence;\nyou have no right to make up your minds beforehand what that must\nnecessarily be. Thomas showed his hand not only in the form of his\nexpression, not only in his going beyond his province and prescribing\nthe terms of surrender, but also in the terms which he prescribed.\nTrue, he is only saying to the other Apostles, 'I will give in if I\nhave what you had,' for Jesus Christ had said to them, 'Handle Me and\nsee!' But although thus they could say nothing in opposition, it is\nclear that he was asking more than was needful, and more than he had\nany right to ask. And he shows his hand, too, in another way. 'I will\nnot believe!'--what business had he, what business have you, to bring\nany question of will into the act of belief or credence? Thus, in all\nthese four points, the form of the demand, the fact of the demand, the\nsubstance of the demand, and the implication in it that to give or\nwithhold assent was a matter to be determined by inclination, this man\nstands not as an example of a doubter, but as an example, of which\nthere are too many copies amongst us always, of a determined\ndisbeliever and rejecter.\n\nSo I come to the third point, and that is:\n\nIII. The revelation that turned the denier into a rapturous confessor.\n\nWhat a strange week that must have been between the two Sundays--that\nof the Resurrection and the next! Surely it would have been kinder if\nthe Christ had not left the disciples, with their new-found, tremulous,\nraw conviction. It would have been less kind if He had been with them,\nfor there is nothing that is worse for the solidity of a man's\nspiritual development than that it should be precipitated, and new\nthoughts must have time to take the shape of the mind into which they\ncome, and to mould the shape of the mind into which they come. So they\nwere left to quiet reflection, to meditation, to adjust their thoughts,\nto get to understand the bearings of the transcendent fact. And as a\nmother will go a little way off from her little child, in order to\nencourage it to try to walk, they were left alone to make experiments\nof that self-reliance which was also reliance on Him, and which was to\nbe their future and their permanent condition. So the week passed, and\nthey became steadier and quieter, and began to be familiar with the\nthought, and to see some glimpses of what was involved in the mighty\nfact, of a risen Saviour. Then He comes back again, and when He comes\nHe singles out the unbeliever, leaving the others alone for the moment,\nand He gives him back, granted, his arrogant conditions. How much\nashamed of them Thomas must have been when he heard them quoted by the\nLord's own lips! How different they would sound from what they had\nsounded when, in the self-sufficiency of his obstinate determination,\nhe had blurted them out in answer to his brethren's testimony! There is\nno surer way of making a good man ashamed of his wild words than just\nto say them over again to him when he is calm and cool. Christ's\ngranting the request was Christ's sharpest rebuke of the request. But\nthere was not only the gracious and yet chastising granting of the\nfoolish desire, but there was a penetrating warning: 'Be not faithless,\nbut believing.' What did that mean? Well, it meant this: 'It is not a\nquestion of evidence, Thomas; it is a question of disposition. Your\nincredulity is not due to your not having enough to warrant your\nbelief, but to your tendency and attitude of mind and heart.' There is\nlight enough in the sun; it is our eyes that are wrong, and deep below\nmost questions, even of intellectual credence, lies the disposition of\nthe man. The ultimate truths of religion cannot be matters of\ndemonstration any more than the fundamental truths of any science can\nbe proved; any more than Euclid's axioms can be demonstrated; any more\nthan the sense of beauty or the ear for music depend on the\nunderstanding. 'Be not faithless, but believing.' The eye that is sound\nwill see the light.\n\nAnd there is another lesson here. The words of our Lord, literally\nrendered, are, 'become not faithless, but believing.' There are two\ntendencies at work with us, and the one or the other will progressively\nlay hold upon us, and we shall increasingly yield to it. You can\ncultivate the habit of incredulity until you descend into the class of\nthe faithless; or you can cultivate the opposite habit and disposition\nuntil you rise to the high level of a settled and sovereign belief.\n\nIt is clear that Thomas did not reach forth his hand and touch. The\nrush of instantaneous conviction swept him along and bore him far away\nfrom the state of mind which had asked for such evidence. Our Lord's\nwords must have pierced his heart, as he thought: 'Then He was here all\nthe while; He heard my wild words; He loves me still.' As Nathanael,\nwhen he knew that Jesus had seen him under the fig-tree, broke out with\nthe exclamation, 'Rabbi! Thou art the Son of God,' so Thomas, smitten\nas by a lightning flash with the sense of Jesus' all-embracing\nknowledge and all-forgiving love, forgets his incredulity and breaks\ninto the rapturous confession, the highest ever spoken while He was on\nearth: 'My Lord and my God!' So swiftly did his whole attitude change.\nIt was as when the eddying volumes of smoke in some great conflagration\nbreak into sudden flame, the ruddier and hotter, the blacker they were.\nSight may have made Thomas believe that Jesus was risen, but it was\nsomething other and more inward than sight that opened his lips to cry,\n'My Lord and my God!' Finally, we note--\n\nIV. A last Beatitude that extends to all generations.\n\n'Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.' I need not\ndo more than just in a sentence remind you that we shall very poorly\nunderstand either this saying or this Gospel or the greater part of the\nNew Testament, if we do not make it very clear to our minds that\n'believing' is not credence only but trust. The object of the\nChristian's faith is not a proposition; it is not a dogma nor a truth,\nbut a Person. And the act of faith is not an acceptance of a given\nfact, a Resurrection or any other, as true, but it is a reaching out of\nthe whole nature to Him and a resting upon Him. I have said that Thomas\nhad no right to bring his will to bear on the act of belief, considered\nas the intellectual act of accepting a thing as true. But Christian\nfaith, being more than intellectual belief, does involve the activity\nof the will. Credence is the starting-point, but it is no more. There\nmay be belief in the truth of the gospel and not a spark of faith in\nthe Christ revealed by the gospel.\n\nEven in regard to that lower kind of belief, the assent which does not\nrest on sense has its own blessing. We sometimes are ready to think\nthat it would have been easier to believe if 'we had seen with our\neyes, and our hands had handled the (incarnate) Word of Life' but that\nis a mistake.\n\nThis generation, and all generations that have not seen Him, are not in\na less advantageous position in regard either to credence or to trust,\nthan were those that companied with Him on earth, and the blessing\nWhich He breathed out in that upper room comes floating down the ages\nlike a perfume diffused through the atmosphere, and is with us fragrant\nas it was in the 'days of His flesh.' There is nothing in the world's\nhistory comparable to the warmth and closeness of conscious contact\nwith that Christ, dead for nearly nineteen centuries now, which is the\nexperience today of thousands of Christian men and women. All other\nnames pass, and as they recede through the ages, thickening veils of\noblivion, mists of forgetfulness, gather round them. They melt away\ninto the fog and are forgotten. Why is it that one Person, and one\nPerson only, triumphs even in this respect over space and time, and is\nthe same close Friend with whom millions of hearts are in loving touch,\nas He was to those that gathered around Him upon earth?\n\nWhat is the blessing of this faith that does not rest on sense, and\nonly in a small measure on testimony or credence? Part of its blessing\nis that it delivers us from the tyranny of sense, sets us free from the\ncrowding oppression of 'things seen and temporal'; draws back the veil\nand lets us behold 'the things that are unseen and eternal.' Faith is\nsight, the sight of the inward eye. It is the direct perception of the\nunseen. It sees Him who is invisible. The vision which is given to the\neye of faith is more real in the true sense of that word, more\nsubstantial in the true sense of that word, more reliable and more near\nthan that sight by which the bodily eye beholds external things. We\nsee, when we trust, greater things than when we look. The blessing of\nblessings is that the faith which triumphs over the things seen and\ntemporal, brings into every life the presence of the unseen Lord.\n\nBrethren! do not confound credence with trust. Remember that trust does\ninvolve an element of will. Ask yourselves if the things seen and\ntemporal are great enough, lasting enough, real enough to satisfy you,\nand then remember whose lips said, 'Become not faithless but\nbelieving,' and breathed His last Beatitude upon those 'who have not\nseen and yet have believed.' We may all have that blessing lying like\ndew upon us, amidst the dust and scorching heat of the things seen and\ntemporal. We shall have it, if our heart's trust is set on Him, whom\none of the listeners on that Sunday spoke of long after, in words which\nseem to echo that promise, as 'Jesus in whom though now ye see Him not,\nyet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,\nreceiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.'\n\n\n\nTHE SILENCE OF SCRIPTURE\n\n'And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples,\nwhich are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye\nmight believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that\nbelieving ye might have life through His name.'--JOHN XX. 30, 31.\n\nIt is evident that these words were originally the close of this\nGospel, the following chapter being an appendix, subsequently added by\nthe writer himself. In them we have the Evangelist's own acknowledgment\nof the incompleteness of his Gospel, and his own statement of the\npurpose which he had in view in composing it. That purpose was first of\nall a doctrinal one, and he tells us that in carrying it out he omitted\nmany things that he could have put in if he had chosen. But that\ndoctrinal purpose was subordinate to a still further aim. His object\nwas not only to present the truth that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of\nGod, but to present it in such a way as to induce his readers to\nbelieve in that Christ. And he desired that they might have faith in\norder that they might have life.\n\nNow, it is a very good old canon in judging of a book that 'in every\nwork' we are to 'regard the writer's end,' and if that simple principle\nhad been applied to this Gospel, a great many of the features in it\nwhich have led to some difficulty would have been seen to be naturally\nexplained by the purpose which the Evangelist had in view.\n\nBut this text may be applied very much more widely than to John's\nGospel. We may use it to point our thoughts to the strange silences and\nincompletenesses of the whole of Revelation, and to the explanation of\nthese incompletenesses by the consideration of the purpose which it all\nhad in view. In that sense I desire to look at these words before us.\n\nI. First, then, we have here set forth the incompleteness of Scripture.\n\nTake this Gospel first. Anybody who looks at it can see that it is a\nfragment. It is not meant to be a biography; it is avowedly a\nselection, and a selection under the influence, as I shall have to show\nyou presently, of a distinct dogmatic purpose. There is nothing in it\nabout Christ's birth, nothing in it about His baptism, nor about His\nselection of His Apostles. There is scarcely anything about the facts\nof His outward life at all. There is scarcely a word about the whole of\nHis ministry in Galilee. There is not one of His parables, there are\nonly seven of His miracles before the Resurrection, and two of these\noccur also in the other Evangelists. There is scarcely any of His\nethical teaching; there is not a word about the Lord's Supper.\n\nAnd so I might go on enumerating many remarkable gaps in this Gospel.\nNearly half of it is taken up with the incidents of one week at the end\nof His life, and the incidents of and after the Resurrection. Of the\nremainder-by far the larger portion consists of several conversations\nwhich are hung upon miracles that seem to be related principally for\nthe sake of these. The whole of the phenomena show us at once the\nfragmentary character of this Gospel as stamped upon the very surface.\n\nAnd when we turn to the other three, the same thing is true, though\nless strikingly so. Why was it that in the Church, after the completion\nof the Scriptural canon, there sprang up a whole host of Apocryphal\nGospels, full of childish stories of events which people felt had been\npassed over with strange silence, in the teachings of the four\nEvangelists: stories of His childhood, for instance, and stories about\nwhat happened between His death and His resurrection? A great many\nmiracles were added to those that have been told us in Scripture. The\ncondensed hints of the canonical Gospels received a great expansion,\nwhich indicated how much their silence about certain points had been\nfelt. What a tiny pamphlet they make! Is it not strange that the\ngreatest event in the world's history should be told in such brief\noutline, and that here, too, the mustard seed, 'less than the least of\nall seeds,' should have become such a great tree? Put the four Gospels\ndown by the side of the two thick octavo volumes, which it is the\nregulation thing to write nowadays, as the biography of any man that\nhas a name at all, and you will feel their incompleteness as\nbiographies. They are but a pen-and-ink drawing of the Sun! And yet,\nalthough they be so tiny that you might sit down and read them all in\nan evening over the fire, is it not strange that they have stamped on\nthe mind of the world an image so deep and so sharp, of such a\ncharacter as the world never saw elsewhere? They are fragments, but\nthey have left a symmetrical and an unique impression on the\nconsciousness of the whole world.\n\nAnd then, if you turn to the whole Book, the same thing is true, though\nin a modified sense there. I have no time to dwell upon that fruitful\nfield, but the silence of Scripture is quite as eloquent as its speech.\nThink, for instance, of how many things in the Bible are taken for\ngranted which one would not expect to be taken for granted in a book of\nreligious instruction. It takes for granted the being of a God. It\ntakes for granted our relations to Him. It takes for granted our moral\nnature. In its later portions, at all events, it takes for granted the\nfuture life. Look at how the Bible, as a whole, passes by, without one\nword of explanation or alleviation, a great many of the difficulties\nwhich gather round some of its teaching. For instance, we find no\nattempt to explain the divine nature of our Lord; or the existence of\nthe three Persons in the Godhead. It has not a word to say in\nexplanation of the mystery of prayer; or of the difficulty of\nreconciling the Omnipotent will of God on the one hand, with our own\nfree will on the other. It has not a word to explain, though many a\nword to proclaim and enforce, the fact of Christ's death as the\natonement for the sins of the whole world. Observe, too, how scanty the\ninformation on points on which the heart craves for more light. How\nclosely, for instance, the veil is kept over the future life! How many\nquestions which are not prompted by mere curiosity, our sorrow and our\nlove ask in vain!\n\nNor is the incompleteness of Scripture as a historical book less\nmarked. Nations and men appear on its pages abruptly, rending the\ncurtain of oblivion, and striding to the front of the stage for a\nmoment, and then they disappear, swallowed up of night. It has no care\nto tell the stories of any of its heroes, except for so long as they\nwere the organs of that divine breath, which, breathed through the\nweakest reed, makes music. The self-revelation of God, not the acts and\nfortunes of even His noblest servants, is the theme of the Book. It is\nfull of gaps about matters that any sciolist or philosopher or\ntheologian would have filled up for it. There it stands, a Book unique\nin the world's history, unique in what it says, and no less unique in\nwhat it does not say.\n\n'Many other things truly did' that divine Spirit in His march through\nthe ages, 'which are not written in this book; but these are written\nthat ye might believe.'\n\nII. And so that brings me next to say a word or two about the more\nimmediate purpose which explains all these gaps and incompletenesses.\n\nJohn's Gospel, and the other three Gospels, and the whole Bible, New\nTestament and Old, have this for their purpose, to produce in men's\nhearts the faith in Jesus as 'the Christ' and as 'the Son of God.'\n\nI need not speak at length about this one Gospel with any special\nregard to that thought. I have already said that the Evangelist avows\nthat his work is a selection, that he declares that the purpose that\ndetermined his selection was doctrinal, and that he picked out facts\nwhich would tend to represent Jesus Christ to us in the twofold\ncapacity,--as the Christ, the Fulfiller of all the expectations and\npromises of the Old Covenant, and as the Son of God. The one of these\ntitles is a name of office, the other a name of nature; the one\ndeclares that He had come to be, and to do, all to which types and\nprophecies and promises had dimly pointed, and the other declares that\nHe was 'the Eternal Word,' which 'in the beginning was with God and was\nGod,' and was manifest here upon earth to us.\n\nThis was his purpose, and this representation of Jesus Christ is that\nwhich shapes all the facts and all the phenomena of this Gospel, from\nthe very first words of it to its close.\n\nAnd so, although it is wide from my present subject, I may just make\none parenthetical remark, to the effect that it is ridiculous in the\nface of this statement for 'critics' to say, as some of them do: 'The\nauthor of the fourth Gospel has not told us this, that, and the other\nincident in Christ's life, therefore, he did not know it.' Then some of\nthem will draw the conclusion that John's Gospel is not to be trusted\nin the given case, because he does not give us a certain incident, and\nothers might draw the conclusion that the other three Evangelists are\nnot to be trusted because they do give it us. And the whole fabric is\nbuilt up upon a blunder, and would have been avoided if people had\nlistened when John said to them: 'I knew a great many things about\nJesus Christ, but I did not put them down here because I was not\nwriting a biography, but preaching a gospel; and what I wanted to\nproclaim was that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.'\n\nBut now we may extend that a great deal further. It is just as true\nabout the whole New Testament. The four Gospels are written to tell us\nthese two facts about Christ. They are none of them merely biographies;\nas such they are singularly deficient, as we have seen. But they are\nbiographies _plus_ a doctrine; and the biography is told mainly for the\nsake of carrying this twofold truth into men's understandings and\nhearts, that Jesus is, first of all, the Christ, and second, the Son of\nGod.\n\nAnd then comes the rest of the New Testament, which is nothing more\nthan the working out of the theoretical and practical consequence of\nthese great truths. All the Epistles, the Book of Revelation, and the\nhistory of the Church, as embodied in the Acts of the Apostles,--all\nthese are but the consequences of that fundamental truth; and the whole\nof Scripture in its later portions is but the drawing of the inferences\nand the presenting of the duties that flow from the facts that 'Jesus\nis the Christ, the Son of God.'\n\nAnd what about the Old Testament? Why, this about it: that whatever may\nbe the conclusion as to the date and authorship of any of the books in\nit,--and I am not careful to contend about these at present;--and\nwhatever a man may believe about the verbal prophecies which most of us\nrecognise there,--there is stamped unmistakably upon the whole system,\nof which the Old Testament is the record, an onward-looking attitude.\nIt is all anticipatory of 'good things to come,' and of a Person who\nwill bring them. Sacrifice, sacred offices, such as priesthood and\nkingship, and the whole history of Israel, have their faces turned to\nthe future. 'They that went before, and they that followed after, cried\n\"Hosanna! Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord!\"' This\nChrist towers up above the history of the world and the process of\nrevelation, like Mount Everest among the Himalayas. To that great peak\nall the country on the one side runs upwards, and from it all the\nvalleys on the other descend; and the springs are born there which\ncarry verdure and life over the world.\n\nChrist, the Son of God, is the centre of Scripture; and the\nBook--whatever be the historical facts about its origin, its\nauthorship, and the date of the several portions of which it is\ncomposed--the Book is a unity, because there is driven right through\nit, like a core of gold, either in the way of prophecy and\nonward-looking anticipation, or in the way of history and grateful\nretrospect, the reference to the one 'Name that is above every name,'\nthe name of the Christ, the Son of God.\n\nAnd all its incompleteness, its fragmentariness, its carelessness about\npersons, are intended, as are the slight parts in a skilful artist's\nhandiwork, to emphasise the beauty and the sovereignty of that one\ncentral Figure on which all lights are concentrated, and on which the\npainter has lavished all the resources of his art. So God--for _God_ is\nthe Author of the Bible--on this great canvas has painted much in\nsketchy outline, and left much unfilled in, that every eye may be fixed\non the central Figure, the Christ of God, on whose head comes down the\nDove, and round whom echoes the divine declaration: 'This is My Beloved\nSon, in whom I am well pleased.'\n\nBut it is not merely in order to represent Jesus as the Christ of God\nthat these things are written, but it is that that representation may\nbecome the object of our faith. If the intention of Scripture had been\nsimply to establish the fact that Jesus was the Christ and the Son of\nGod, it might have been done in a very different fashion. A theological\ntreatise would have been enough to do that. But if the object be that\nmen should not only accept with their understandings the truth\nconcerning Christ's office and nature, but that their hearts should go\nout to Him, and that they should rest their sinful souls upon Him _as_\nthe Son of God and the Christ, then there is no other way to accomplish\nthat, but by the history of His life and the manifestation of His\nheart. If the object were simply to make us know about Christ, we do\nnot need a Book like this; but if the object is to lead us to put our\nfaith in Him, then we must have what we have here, the infinitely\ntouching and tender Figure of Jesus Christ Himself, set before us in\nall its sweetness and beauty as He lived and moved and died for us.\n\nAnd so, dear friends, let me put one last word here about this part of\nmy subject. If this be the purpose of Scripture, then let us learn on\nthe one hand the wretched insufficiency of a mere orthodox creed, and\nlet us learn on the other hand the equal insufficiency of a mere\ncreedless emotion.\n\nIf the purpose of Scripture, in these Gospels, and all its parts, is\nthat we should believe 'that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,' that\npurpose is not accomplished when we simply yield our understanding to\nthat truth and accept it as a great many people do. That was much more\nthe fault of the last generation than of this, though many of us may\nstill make the mistake of supposing that we are Christians because we\nidly assent to--or, at least, do not deny, and so fancy that we\naccept--Christian truth. But, as Luther says in one of his rough\nfigures, 'Human nature is like a drunken peasant; if you put him up on\nthe horse on the one side, he is sure to tumble down on the other.' And\nso the reaction from the heartless, unpractical orthodoxy of half a\ncentury ago has come with a vengeance to-day, when everybody is saying,\n'Oh! give me a Christianity without dogma!' Well, I say that too, about\na great many of the metaphysical subtleties which have been called\nDoctrinal Christianity. But this doctrine of the nature and office of\nJesus Christ cannot be given up, and the Christianity which Christ and\nHis Apostles taught be retained. Do you believe that Jesus is the\nChrist, the Son of God? Do you trust your soul to Him in these\ncharacters? If you do, I think we can shake hands. If you do not,\nScripture has failed to do its work on you, and you have not reached\nthe point which all God's lavish revelation has been expended on the\nworld that you and all men might attain.\n\nIII. Now, lastly, notice the ultimate purpose of the whole.\n\nScripture is not given to us merely to make us know something about God\nin Christ, nor only in order that we may have faith in the Christ thus\nrevealed to us, but for a further end--great, glorious, but, blessed be\nHis Name! not distant--namely, that we may 'have life in His name.'\n'Life' is deep, mystical, inexplicable by any other words than itself.\nIt includes pardon, holiness, well-being, immortality, Heaven; but it\nis more than they all.\n\nThis life comes into our dead hearts and quickens them by union with\nGod. That which is joined to God lives. Each being according to its\nnature, is, on condition of the divine power acting upon it. This bit\nof wood upon which I put my hand, and the hand which I put upon it,\nwould equally crumble into nothingness if they were separated from God.\n\nYou can separate your wills and your spiritual nature from Him, and\nthus separated you are 'dead in trespasses and in sins.' And, O\nbrother! the message comes to you: there is life in that great Christ,\n'in His name'; that is to say, in that revealed character of His by\nwhich He is made known to us as the Christ and the Son of God.\n\nUnion with Him in His Sonship will bring life into dead hearts. He is\nthe true 'Prometheus' who has come from Heaven with 'fire,' the fire of\nthe divine Life in the 'reed' of His humanity, and He imparts it to us\nall if we will. He lays Himself upon us, as the prophet laid himself on\nthe little child in the upper chamber; and lip to lip, and beating\nheart to dead heart, He touches our death, and it is quickened into\nlife.\n\nThe condition on which that great Name will bring to us life is simply\nour faith. Do you believe in Him, and trust yourself to Him, as He who\ncame to fulfil all that prophet, priest, and king, sacrifice, altar,\nand Temple of old times prophesied and looked for? Do you trust in Him\nas the Son of God who comes down to earth that we in Him might find the\nimmortal life which He is ready to give? If you do, then, dear\nbrethren! the end that God has in view in all His revelation, that\nChrist had in view in His bitter Passion, has been accomplished for\nyou. If you do not it has not. You may admire Him, you may think\nloftily of Him, you may be ready to call Him by many great and\nappreciative names, but Oh! unless you have learned to see in Him the\ndivine Saviour of your souls, you have not seen what God means you to\nsee.\n\nBut if you have, then all other questions about this Book, important as\nthey are in their places, may settle themselves as they will; you have\ngot the kernel, the thing that it was meant to bring you. Many an\nerudite scholar, who has studied the Bible all his life, has missed the\npurpose for which it was given; and many a poor old woman in her garret\nhas found it. It is not meant to wrangle over, it is not meant to be\nread as an interesting product of the religious consciousness, it is\nnot to be admired as all that remains of the literature of a nation\nthat had a genius for religion; but it is to be taken as being God's\ngreat Word to the world, the record of the revelation that He has given\nus in His Son. The Eternal Word is the theme of all the written word.\nHave you made the jewel which is brought us in that casket your own? Is\nJesus to you the Son of the living God, believing on whom you share His\nlife, and become 'sons of God' by Him? Can you take on to your thankful\nlips that triumphant and rapturous confession of the doubting\nThomas,--the flag flying on the completed roof-tree of this Gospel--'My\nLord and my God'? If you can, you will receive the blessing which\nChrist then promised to all of us standing beyond the limits of that\nlittle group, 'who have not seen and yet have believed'--even that\neternal life which flows into our dead spirits from the Christ, the Son\nof God, who is the Light of the world, and the Life of men.\n\n\n\nAN ELOQUENT CATALOGUE\n\n'There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and\nNathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of\nHis disciples.'--JOHN xxi. 2.\n\nThis chapter, containing the infinitely significant and pathetic\naccount of our Lord's appearance to these disciples by the Sea of\nTiberias, is evidently an appendix to the Gospel of John. The design of\nthat Gospel is complete with the previous chapter, and there is a\nformal close, as of the whole book, at the end thereof. But whilst\nobviously an appendix, this chapter is as obviously the work of the\nsame hand as wrote the Gospel. There are many minute points of identity\nbetween the style of it and of the rest of the work, so that there can\nbe no difficulty or doubt as to whence it came. This enumeration of\nthese seven disciples, regarded as being the work of John himself,\nseems to me to be significant, and to contain a good many lessons. And\nI desire to turn to these now.\n\nI. First of all, the fact that they were together is significant.\n\nHow did they come to hold together? How had they not yielded to the\ntemptation to seek safety by flight, which would have been the natural\ncourse after the death of their Leader on a charge of treason against\nthe Roman power? The process of disintegration had begun, and we see it\ngoing on in the conduct of the disciples before the Resurrection. The\n'Shepherd was smitten,' and, as a matter of course, 'the sheep' began\nto 'scatter.' And yet here we find them back in Galilee, in their old\nhaunts, and not trying to escape by separation, which would have been\nthe first step suggested to ordinary men in an ordinary state of\nthings. But where everybody knew them, and they knew everybody, and\neverybody knew them to be disciples of Jesus Christ, thither they go,\nand hold together as if they had still a living centre and a uniting\nbond. How did that come about? The fact that after Christ's death there\nwas a group of men united together simply and solely as disciples, and\nexhibiting their unity as disciples conspicuously, in the face of the\nmen that knew them best, this forms a strange phenomenon that needs an\nexplanation. And there is only one explanation of it, that Jesus Christ\nhad risen from the dead. That drew them together once more. You cannot\nbuild a Church on a dead Christ; and of all the proofs of the\nResurrection, I take it that there is none that it is harder for an\nunbeliever to account for, in harmony with his hypothesis, than the\nsimple fact that Christ's disciples held together after He was dead,\nand presented a united front to the world.\n\nSo, then, the fact of the group is itself significant, and we may claim\nit as being a morsel of evidence for the historical veracity of the\nresurrection of Jesus Christ.\n\nII. Then the composition of this group is significant.\n\nTaken in comparison with the original nucleus of the Church, the\ncalling of which we find recorded in the first chapter of this Gospel,\nit is to be noticed that of the five men who made the Primitive Church,\nthere are three who reappear here by name--viz. Simon Peter, John and\nNathanael, and Nathanael never appears anywhere else except in these\ntwo places. Then, note that there are two unnamed men here, 'two other\nof His disciples'; who, I think, in all probability are the two of the\noriginal five that we do not find named here--viz. 'Philip and Andrew,\nSimon Peter's brother'--both of them connected with Bethsaida, the\nplace where probably this appearance of the risen Lord took place.\n\nSo, then, I think, the fair inference from the list before us is that\nwe have here the original nucleus again, the first five, with a couple\nmore, and the couple more are 'Thomas, who is called Didymus'--and we\nshall see the reason for _his_ presence in a moment--and the brother of\nJohn, one of the first pair.\n\nThus, then, to the original little group that had gathered round Him at\nthe first, and to whom He had been so often manifested in this very\nscene where they were standing now, He is revealed again. There, along\nthe beach, is the place where James and John and Simon and Andrew were\ncalled from their nets three short years ago. Across yonder, on the\nother side of the lake, is the bit of green grass where the thousands\nwere fed. Behind it is the steep slope down which the devil-possessed\nherd rushed. There, over the shoulder of the hill, is the road that\nleads up to Cana of Galilee, which they had trod together on that\nnever-to-be-forgotten first morning, and from which little village one\nof the group came. They who had companied with Him all the time of His\ntoo short fellowship, and had seen all His manifestations, were\nfittingly chosen to be the recipients of this last appearance, which\nwas to be full of instruction as to the work of the Church, its\ndifficulties, its discouragements, its rewards, its final success, and\nHis benediction of it until the very end of time. It was not for\nnothing that they who were gathered together were that first nucleus of\nthe Church, who received again from their Master the charge to be\n'fishers of men.'\n\nAnd then, if we look at the list, having regard to the history of those\nthat make it up, it seems to me that that also brings us some valuable\nconsiderations. Foremost stand, as receiving this great manifestation\nof Jesus Christ, the two greatest sinners of the whole band, 'Simon\nPeter, and Thomas, which is called Didymus,' the denier and the\ndoubter. Singularly contrasted these two men were in much of their\ndisposition; and yet alike in the fact that the Crucifixion had been\ntoo much for their faith. The one of them was impetuous, the other of\nthem slow. The one was always ready to say more than he meant; the\nother always ready to do more than he said. The one was naturally\ndespondent, disposed to look ahead and to see the gloomiest side of\neverything--'Let us also go that we may die with Him'--the other never\nlooking an inch beyond his nose, and always yielding himself up to the\nimpulse of the moment. And yet both of them were united in this, that\nthe one, from a sudden wave of cowardice which swept him away from his\ndeepest convictions and made him for an hour untrue to his warmest\nlove, and the other, from giving way to his constitutional tendency to\ndespondency, and to taking the blackest possible view of\neverything--they had both of them failed in their faith, the one\nturning out a denier and the other turning out a doubter. And yet here\nthey are, foremost upon the list of those who saw the Risen Christ.\n\nWell, there are two lessons there, and the one is this--let us\nChristian people learn with what open hearts and hands we should\nwelcome a penitent when he comes back. The other is,--let us learn who\nthey are to whom Jesus Christ deigns to manifest Himself--not\nimmaculate monsters, but men that, having fallen, have learned humility\nand caution, and by penitence have risen to a securer standing, and\nhave turned even their transgressions into steps in the ladder that\nlifts them to Christ. It was something that the first to whom the risen\nSaviour appeared when He came victorious and calm from the grave, was\nthe woman 'out of whom He had cast seven devils,' and the blessed truth\nwhich that teaches is the same as that which is to be drawn from this\nlist of those whom He regarded, and whom we regard, as then\nconstituting the true nucleus of His Church--a list which is headed by\nthe blackest denier and the most obstinate and captious sceptic in the\nwhole company. 'There were together Simon Peter and Thomas, which is\ncalled Didymus,' and the little group was glad to have them, and\nwelcomed them, as it becomes us to welcome brethren who have fallen,\nand who come again saying, 'I repent.'\n\nWell, then, take the next: he was 'Nathanael, of Cana in Galilee'; a\nguileless 'Israelite indeed,' so swift to believe, so ready with his\nconfession, so childlike in his wonder, so ardent in his love and\nfaith. The only thing that Christ is recorded as having said to him is\nthis: 'Because I said... believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things\nthan these.' A promise of growing clearness of vision and growing\nfullness of manifestation was made to this man, who never appears\nanywhere else in Scripture but in these two scenes, and so may stand to\nus as the type of the opposite kind of Christian experience from that\nstormy one of the doubter and the denier--viz. that of persistent,\nquiet, continuous growth, which is marked by faithful use of the\npresent amount of illumination, and is rewarded by a continual increase\nof the same. If the keynote to the two former lives is, that sin\nconfessed helps a man to climb, the keynote to this man's is the other\ntruth, that they are still more blessed who, with no interruptions,\nbackslidings, inconsistencies, or denials, by patient continuousness in\nwell-doing, widen the horizon of their Christian vision and purge their\neyesight for daily larger knowledge. To these, as to the others, there\nis granted the vision of the risen Lord, and to them also is entrusted\nthe care of His sheep and His lambs. We do not _need_ to go away into\nthe depths and the darkness in order to realise the warmth and the\nblessedness of the light. There is no _necessity_ that any Christian\nman's career should be broken by denials like Peter's or by doubts like\nThomas's, but we may 'grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord\nand Saviour.' 'So is the kingdom of heaven, first the blade, then the\near, after that the full corn in the ear.'\n\nThen, still further, there were here 'the two sons of Zebedee.' These\nwere the men of whom the Master said that they were 'sons of thunder,'\nwho, by natural disposition, in so far as they resembled one another\n(which they seem to have done), were eager, energetic, somewhat\nbigoted, ready with passionate rebukes, and not unwilling to invoke\ndestructive vengeance, all for the love of Him. They were also touched\nwith some human ambition which led them to desire a place at His right\nhand and His left, but the ambition, too, was touched with love towards\nHim, which half redeemed it. But by dwelling with Him one of them, at\nleast, had become of all the group the likest his Master. And the old\nmonastic painters taught a very deep truth when, in their pictures of\nthe apostles, they made John's almost a copy of the Master's face. To\nhim, too, there was granted in like manner a place amongst this blessed\ncompany, and it is surely a trace of _his_ hand that his place should\nseem so humble. Any other but himself would certainly have put James\nand John in their natural place beside Peter. It must have been himself\nwho slipped himself and his brother into so inconspicuous a position in\nthe list, and further veiled his personality under the patronymic, 'the\nsons of Zebedee.'\n\nLast of all come 'two other of His disciples,' not worth naming.\nProbably, as I have said, they were the missing two out of the five of\nthe first chapter; but possibly they were only 'disciples' in the wider\nsense, and not of the Apostolic group at all. Nobody can tell. What\ndoes it matter? The lesson to be gathered from their presence in this\ngroup is one that most of us may very well take to heart. There is a\nplace for commonplace, undistinguished people, whose names are not\nworth repeating in any record; there is a place for us one-talented\nfolk, in Christ's Church, and we, too, have a share in the\nmanifestation of His love. We do not need to be brilliant, we do not\nneed to be clever, we do not need to be influential, we do not need to\nbe energetic, we do not need to be anything but quiet, waiting souls,\nin order to have Christ showing Himself to us, as we toil wearily\nthrough the darkness of the night. Undistinguished disciples have a\nplace in His heart, a sphere and a function in His Church, and a share\nin His revelation of Himself.\n\nIII. The last point that I touch is this, that the purpose of this\ngroup is significant.\n\nWhat did they thus get together for? 'Simon Peter saith, I go a\nfishing. They say, We also go with thee.' So they went back again to\ntheir old trade, and they had not left the nets and the boats and the\nhired servants for ever, as they once thought they had.\n\nWhat sent them back? Not doubt or despair; because they had seen Jesus\nChrist up in Jerusalem, and had come down to Galilee at His command on\npurpose to meet Him. 'There shall ye see Him, lo! I have told you,' was\nringing in their ears, and they went back in full confidence of His\nappearance there. It is very like Peter that he should have been the\none to suggest filling an hour of the waiting time with manual labour.\nThe time would be hanging heavily on his hands. John could have 'sat\nstill in the house,' like Mary, the heart all the busier, because the\nhands lay quietly in the lap. But that was not Peter's way, and John\nwas ready to keep him company. Peter thought that the best thing they\ncould do, till Jesus chose to come, was to get back to their work, and\nhe was sensible and right. The best preparation for Christ's\nappearance, and the best attitude to be found in by Him, is doing our\ndaily work, however secular and small it may be. A dirty, wet fishing\nboat, all slimy with scales, was a strange place in which to wait for\nthe manifestation of a risen Saviour. But it was the right place,\nrighter than if they had been wandering about amongst the fancied\nsanctities of the synagogues.\n\nThey went out to do their work; and to them was fulfilled the old\nsaying, 'I, being in the way, the Lord met me.' Jesus Christ will come\nto you and me in the street if we carry the waiting heart there, and in\nthe shop, and the factory, and the counting-house, and the kitchen, and\nthe nursery, and the study, or wherever we may be. For all things are\nsacred when done with a hallowed heart, and He chooses to make Himself\nknown to us amidst the dusty commonplaces of daily life.\n\nHe had said to them before the Crucifixion: 'When I sent you forth\nwithout purse or scrip, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing.'\nAnd then He said, as changing the conditions: 'But now he that hath a\npurse or scrip, let him take it.' As long as He was with them they were\nabsolved from these common tasks. Now that He had left them the\nobligation recurred. And the order of things for His servants in all\ntime coming was therein declared to be: no shirking of daily tasks on\nthe plea of wanting divine communications; keep at your work, and if it\nlast all night, stick to it; and if there are no fish in the net, never\nmind; out with it again. And be sure that sooner or later you will see\nHim standing on the beach, and hear His voice, and be blessed by His\nsmile.\n\n\n\nTHE BEACH AND THE SEA\n\n'When the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore; but the\ndisciples knew not that it was Jesus.'--JOHN xxi. 4.\n\nThe incident recorded in this appendix to John's Gospel is separated\nfrom the other appearances of our risen Lord in respect of place, time,\nand purpose. They all occurred in and about Jerusalem; this took place\nin Galilee. The bulk of them happened on the day of the Resurrection,\none of them a week after. This, of course, to allow time for the\njourney, must have been at a considerably later date. Their object was,\nmainly, to establish the reality of the Resurrection, the identity of\nChrist's physical body, and to confirm the faith of the disciples\ntherein. Here, these purposes retreat into the background; the object\nof this incident is to reveal the permanent relations between the risen\nLord and His struggling Church.\n\nThe narrative is rich in details which might profitably occupy us, but\nthe whole may be gathered up in two general points of view in\nconsidering the revelation which we have here in the participation of\nChrist in His servants' work, and also the revelation which we have in\nthe preparation by Christ of a meal for His toiling servants. We take\nthis whole narrative thus regarded as our subject on this Easter\nmorning.\n\nI. First we have here a revelation of the permanent relation of Jesus\nChrist to His Church and to the individuals who compose it, in this,\nthat the risen Lord on the shore shares in the toil of His servants on\nthe restless sea.\n\nThe little group of whom we read in this narrative reminds us of the\nother group of the first disciples in the first chapter of this Gospel.\nFour out of the five persons named in our text appear there: Simon\nPeter, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, James and\nJohn. And a very natural inference is that the 'two others' unnamed\nhere are the two others of that chapter, viz. Andrew and Philip. If so,\nwe have at the end, the original little group gathered together again;\nwith the addition of the doubting Thomas.\n\nBe that as it may, there they are on the shore of the sea, and Peter\ncharacteristically takes the lead and suggests a course that they all\naccept: 'I go a fishing.' 'We also go with thee.'\n\nNow we must not read that as if it meant: 'It is all over! Our hopes\nare vain! We dreamed that we were going to be princes in the Messiah's\nKingdom, we have woke up to find that we are only fishermen. Let us go\nback to our nets and our boats!' No! all these men had seen the risen\nLord, and had received from His breath the gift of the Holy Spirit.\nThey had all gone from Jerusalem to Galilee, in obedience to His\ncommand, and were now waiting for His promised appearance. Very noble\nand beautiful is the calm patience with which they fill the time of\nexpectation with doing common and long-abandoned tasks. They go back to\nthe nets and the boats long since forsaken at the Master's bidding.\nThat is not like fanatics. That is not like people who would be liable\nto the excesses of excitement that would lead to the 'hallucination,'\nwhich is the modern explanation of the resurrection faith, on the part\nof the disciples.\n\nAnd it is a precious lesson for us, dear brethren! that whatever may be\nour memories, and whatever may be our hopes, the very wisest thing we\ncan do is to stick to the common drudgery, and even to go back to\nabandoned tasks. It stills the pulses. 'Study to be quiet; and to do\nour own business' is the best remedy for all excitement, whether it be\nof sorrow or of hope. And not seldom to us, if we will learn and\npractise that lesson, as to these poor men in the tossing fisherman's\nboat, the accustomed and daily duties will be the channel through which\nthe presence of the Master will be manifested to us.\n\nSo they go, and there follow the incidents which I need not repeat,\nbecause we all know them well enough. Only I wish to mark the distinct\nallusion throughout the whole narrative to the earlier story of the\nfirst miraculous draught of fishes which was connected with their call\nto the Apostleship, and was there by Christ declared to have a\nsymbolical meaning. The correspondences and the contrasts are obvious.\nThe scene is the same; the same green mountains look down upon the same\nblue waters. It was the same people that were concerned. They were,\nprobably enough, in the same fishing-boat. In both there had been a\nnight of fruitless toil; in both there was the command to let down the\nnet once more; in both obedience was followed by instantaneous and\nlarge success.\n\nSo much for the likenesses; the contrasts are these. In the one case\nthe Master is in the boat with them, in the other He is on the shore;\nin the one the net is breaking; in the other, 'though there were so\nmany, yet did it not break.' In the one Peter, smitten by a sense of\nhis own sinfulness, says, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O\nLord!' In the other, Peter, with a deeper knowledge of his own\nsinfulness, but also with the sweet knowledge of forgiveness, casts\nhimself into the sea, and flounders through the shallows to reach the\nLord. The one is followed by the call to higher duty and to the\nabandonment of possessions; the other is followed by rest and the\nmysterious meal on the shore.\n\nThat is to say, whilst both of the stories point the lesson of service\nto the Master, the one of them exhibits the principles of service to\nHim whilst He was still with them, and the other exhibits the\nprinciples of service to Him when He is removed from struggling and\ntoiling on the billows to the calm of the peaceful shore in the morning\nlight.\n\nSo we may take that night of toil as full of meaning. Think of them as\nthe darkness fell, and the solemn bulk of the girdling hills lay\nblacker upon the waters, and the Syrian sky was mirrored with all its\nstars sparkling in the still lake. All the night long cast after cast\nwas made, and time after time the net was drawn in and nothing in it\nbut tangle and mud. And when the first streak of the morning breaks\npale over the Eastern hills they are still so absorbed in their tasks\nthat they do not recognise the voice that hails them from the nearer\nshore: 'Lads, have ye any meat?' And they answer it with a half surly\nand wholly disappointed monosyllabic 'No!' It is an emblem for us all;\nweary and wet, tugging at the oar in the dark, and often seeming to\nfail. What then? If the last cast has brought nothing, try another. Out\nwith the nets once more! Never mind the darkness, and the cold, and the\nwetting spray, and the weariness. You cannot expect to be as\ncomfortable in a fishing-boat as in your drawing-room. You cannot\nexpect that your nets will be always full. Failure and disappointment\nmingle in the most successful lives. Christian work has often to be\ndone with no results at all apparent to the doer, but be sure of this,\nthat they who learn and practise the homely, wholesome virtue of\npersistent adherence to the task that God sets them, will catch some\ngleams of a Presence most real and most blessed, and before they die\nwill know that 'their labour has not been in vain in the Lord.' 'They\nthat sow in tears shall reap in joy.'\n\nAnd so, finally, about this first part of my subject, there stands out\nbefore us here the blessed picture of the Lord Himself, the Risen Lord,\nwith the halo of death and resurrection round about Him; there, on the\nfirm beach, in the increasing light of the morning, interested in,\ncaring about, directing and crowning with His own blessing, the\nobedient work of His servants.\n\nThe simple prose fact of the story, in its plain meaning, is more\nprecious than any 'spiritualising' of it. Take the fact. Jesus Christ,\nfresh from the grave, who had been down into those dark regions of\nmystery where the dead sleep and wait, and had come back into this\nworld, and was on the eve of ascending to the Father--this Christ, the\npossessor of such experience, takes an interest in seven poor men's\nfishing, and cares to know whether their ragged old net is full or is\nempty. There never was a more sublime and wonderful binding together of\nthe loftiest and the lowliest than in that question in the mouth of the\nRisen Lord. If men had been going to dream about what would be fitting\nlanguage for a risen Saviour, if we had to do here with a legend, and\nnot with a piece of plain, prosaic fact, do you think that the\nimagination would ever have entered the mind of the legend-maker to put\nsuch a question as that into such lips at such a time? 'Lads, have ye\nany meat?'\n\nIt teaches us that anything that interests us is not without interest\nto Christ. Anything that is big enough to occupy our thoughts and our\nefforts is large enough to be taken into His. All our ignoble toils,\nand all our petty anxieties, touch a chord that vibrates in that deep\nand tender heart. Though other sympathy may be unable to come down to\nthe minutenesses of our little lives, and to wind itself into the\nnarrow room in which our histories are prisoned, Christ's sympathy can\nsteal into the narrowest cranny. The risen Lord is interested in our\npoor fishing and our disappointments.\n\nAnd not only that, here is a promise for us, a prophecy for us, of\ncertain guidance and direction, if only we will come to Him and\nacknowledge our dependence upon Him. The question that was put to them,\n'Lads, have ye any meat?' was meant to evoke the answer, 'No!' The\nconsciousness of my failure is the pre-requisite to my appeal to Him to\nprosper my work. And just as before He would, on the other margin of\nthat same shore, multiply the loaves and the fishes, He put to them the\nquestion, 'How many have ye?' that they might know clearly the\ninadequacy of their own resources for the hungry crowd, so here, in\norder to prepare their hearts for the reception of His guidance and His\nblessing, He provides that they be brought to catalogue and confess\ntheir failures. So He does with us all, beats the self-confidence out\nof us, blessed be His name! and makes us know ourselves to be empty in\norder that He may pour Himself into us, and flood us with the joy of\nHis presence.\n\nThen comes the guidance given. We may be sure that it is given to us\nall to-day, if we wait upon Him and ask Him. 'Cast the net on the right\nside of the ship, and ye shall find.' His command is followed by swift,\nunanswering, unquestioning obedience, which in its turn is immediately\nsucceeded by the large blessing which the Master then gave on the\ninstant, which He gives still, though often, in equal love and\nunquestioned wisdom, it comes long after faith has discerned His\npresence and obedience has bowed to His command.\n\nIt may be that we shall not see the results of our toil till the\nmorning dawns and the great net is drawn to land by angel hands. But we\nmay be sure that while we are toiling on the tossing sea, He watches\nfrom the shore, is interested in all our weary efforts, will guide us\nif we own to Him our weakness, and will give us to see at last issues\ngreater than we had dared to hope from our poor service. The dying\nmartyr looked up and saw Him 'standing at the right hand of God,' in\nthe attitude of interested watchfulness and ready help. This Easter\nmorning bids us lift our eyes to a risen Lord who 'has not left us to\nserve alone,' nor gone up on high, like some careless general to a safe\nheight, while his forsaken soldiers have to stand the shock of onset\nwithout him. From this height He bends down and 'covers our heads in\nthe day of battle.' 'He was received up,' says the Evangelist, 'and sat\non the right hand of God, and they went forth and preached everywhere.'\nStrange contrast between His throned rest and their wandering toils for\nHim! But the contrast gives place to a deeper identity of work and\ncondition, as the Gospel goes on to say, 'The Lord also _working with\nthem_ and confirming the word with signs following.'\n\nThough we be on the tossing sea and He on the quiet shore, between us\nthere is a true union and communion, His heart is with us, if our\nhearts be with Him, and from Him will pass over all strength, grace,\nand blessing to us, if only we know His presence, and owning our\nweakness, obey His command and expect His blessing.\n\nII. Look at the other half of this incident before us. I pass over the\nepisode of the recognition of Jesus by John, and of Peter struggling to\nHis feet, interesting as it is, in order to fix upon the central\nthought of the second part of the narrative, viz. the risen Lord on the\nshore, in the increasing light of the morning, 'preparing a table' for\nHis toiling servants. That 'fire of coals' and the simple refreshment\nthat was being dressed upon it had been prepared there by Christ's own\nhand. We are not told that there was anything miraculous about it. He\nhad gathered the charcoal; He had procured the fish; He had dressed it\nand prepared it. They are bidden to 'bring of the fish they had\ncaught'; He accepts their service, and adds the result of their toil,\nas it would seem, to the provision which His own hand has prepared. He\nsummons them to a meal, not the midday repast, for it was still early\nmorning. They seat themselves, smitten by a great awe. The meal goes on\nin silence. No word is spoken on either side. Their hearts know Him. He\nwaits on them, making Himself their Servant as well as their Host. He\n'taketh bread and giveth them and fish likewise,' as He had done in the\nmiracles by the same shore and on that sad night in the upper room that\nseemed so far away now, and in the roadside inn at Emmaus, when\nsomething in His manner or action disclosed Him to the wondering two at\nthe table.\n\nNow what does all that teach us? Two things; and first--neglecting for\na moment the difference between shore and sea--here we have the fact of\nChrist's providing, even by doing menial offices, for His servants.\n\nThese seven men were wet and weary, cold and hungry. The first thing\nthey wanted when they came out of the fishing-boat was their breakfast.\nIf they had been at home, their wives and children would have got it\nready for them. Jesus had a great deal to say to them that day, a great\ndeal to teach them, much to do for them, and for the whole world, by\nthe words that followed; but the first thing that He thinks about is to\nfeed them. And so, cherishing no overstrained contempt for material\nnecessities and temporal mercies, let us remember that it is His hand\nthat feeds us still, and let us be glad to think that this Christ,\nrisen from the dead and with His heart full of the large blessings that\nHe was going to bestow, yet paused to consider: 'They are coming on\nshore after a night's hard toil, they will be faint and weary; let Me\nfeed their bodies before I begin to deal with their hearts and spirits.'\n\nAnd He will take care of you, brother! and of us all. The 'bread will\nbe given' us, at any rate, and 'the water made sure.' It was a modest\nmeal that He with His infinite resources thought enough for toiling\nfishermen. 'One fish,' as the original shows us, 'one loaf of bread.'\nNo more! He could as easily have spread a sumptuous table for them.\nThere is no covenant for superfluities, necessaries will be given. Let\nus bring down our wishes to His gifts and promises, and recognise the\nfact that 'he who needs least is the nearest the gods,' and he that\nneeds least is surest of getting from Christ what he needs.\n\nBut then, besides that, the supply of all other deeper and loftier\nnecessities is here guaranteed. The symbolism of our text divides,\nnecessarily, the two things which in fact are not divided. It is not\nall toiling on the restless sea here, any more than it is all rest and\nfruition yonder; but all that your spirit needs, for wisdom, patience,\nheroism, righteousness, growth, Christ will give you _in_ your work;\nand that is better than giving it to you after your work, and the very\nwork which is blessed by Him, and furthered and prospered by Him, the\nvery work itself will come to be moat and nourishment. 'Out of the\neater will come forth meat,' and the slain 'lions' of past struggles\nand sorrows, the next time we come to them, will be 'full of honey.'\n\nFinally, there is a great symbolical prophecy here if we emphasise the\ndistinction between the night and the morning, between the shore and\nthe sea. We can scarcely fail to catch this meaning in the incident\nwhich sets forth the old blessed assurance that the risen Lord is\npreparing a feast on the shore while His servants are toiling on the\ndarkling sea.\n\nAll the details, such as the solid shore in contrast with the changeful\nsea, the increasing morning in contrast with the toilsome night, the\nfeast prepared, have been from of old consecrated to shadow forth the\ndifferences between earth and heaven. It would be blindness not to see\nhere a prophecy of the glad hour when Christ shall welcome to their\nstable home, amid the brightness of unsetting day, the souls that have\nserved Him amidst the fluctuations and storms of life, and seen Him in\nits darkness, and shall satisfy all their desires with the 'bread of\nheaven.'\n\nOur poor work which He deigns to accept forms part of the feast which\nis spread at the end of our toil, when 'there shall be no more sea.' He\nadds the results of our toil to the feast which He has prepared. The\nconsequences of what we have done here on earth make no small part of\nthe blessedness of heaven.\n\n  'Their works and alms and all their good endeavour\n  Stayed not behind, nor in the grave were trod.'\n\nThe souls which a Paul or a John has won for the Master, in their\nvocation as 'fishers of men,' are their 'hope and joy and crown of\nrejoicing, in the presence of our Lord Jesus.' The great benediction\nwhich the Spirit bade the Apocalyptic seer write over 'the dead which\ndie in the Lord,' is anticipated in both its parts by this mysterious\nmeal on the beach. 'They rest from their labours' inasmuch as they find\nthe food prepared for them, and sit down to partake; 'Their works do\nfollow them' inasmuch as they 'bring of the fish which they have\ncaught.'\n\nFinally, Christ Himself waits on them, therein fulfilling in symbol\nwhat He has told us in great words that dimly shadow wonders\nunintelligible until experienced: 'Verily I say unto you, He shall gird\nHimself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth, and\nserve them.'\n\nSo here is a vision to cheer us all. Life must be full of toil and of\nfailure. We are on the midnight sea, and have to tug, weary and wet, at\na heavy oar, and to haul an often empty net. But we do not labour\nalone. He comes to us across the storm, and is with us in the night, a\nmost real, because unseen Presence. If we accept the guidance of His\ndirecting word, His indwelling Spirit, and His all-sufficient example,\nand seek to ascertain His will in outward Providences, we shall not be\nleft to waste our strength in blunders, nor shall our labour be in\nvain. In the morning light we shall see Him standing serene on the\nsteadfast shore. The 'Pilot of the Galilean lake' will guide our frail\nboat through the wild surf that marks the breaking of the sea of life\non the shore of eternity; and when the sun rises over the Eastern hills\nwe shall land on the solid beach, bringing our 'few small fishes' with\nus, which He will accept. And there we shall rest, nor need to ask who\nHe is that serves us, for we shall know that 'It is the Lord!'\n\n\n\n'IT IS THE LORD!'\n\n'Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the\nLord.--JOHN xxi. 7.\n\nIt seems a very strange thing that these disciples had not, at an\nearlier period of this incident, discovered the presence of Christ,\ninasmuch as the whole was so manifestly a repetition of that former\nevent by which the commencement of their ministry had been signalised,\nwhen He called them to become 'fishers of men.' We are apt to suppose\nthat when once again they embarked on the lake, and went back to their\nold trade, it must have been with many a thought of Him busy at their\nhearts. Yonder--perhaps we fancy them thinking--is the very point where\nwe saw Him coming out of the shadows of the mountains, that night when\nHe walked on the water; yonder is the little patch of grass where He\nmade them all sit down whilst we bore the bread to them: there is the\nvery spot where we were mending our nets when He came up to us and\ncalled us to Himself; and now it is all over. We have loved and lost\nHim; He has been with us, and has left us. 'We trusted that it had been\nHe who should have redeemed Israel,' and the Cross has ended it all!\nSo, we are apt to think, they must have spoken; but there does not seem\nto have been about them any such sentimental remembrance. John takes\npains in this narrative, I think, to show them to us as plain, rough\nmen, busy about their night's work, and thinking a great deal more of\ntheir want of success in fishing, than about the old associations which\nwe are apt to put into their minds. Then through the darkness He comes,\nas they had seen Him come once before, when they know Him not; and He\nspeaks to them as He had spoken before, and they do not detect His\nvoice yet; and He repeats the old miracle, and their eyes are all\nholden, excepting the eyes of him who loved, and _he_ first says, 'It\nis the Lord!' Now, besides all the other features of this incident by\nwhich it becomes the revelation of the Lord's presence with His Church,\nand the exhibition of the work of the Church during all the course of\nthe world's history, it contains valuable lessons on other points, such\nas these which I shall try to bring before you.\n\nNow and always, as in that morning twilight on the Galilean lake,\nChrist comes to men. Everywhere He is present, everywhere revealing\nHimself. Now, as then, our eyes are 'holden' by our own fault, so that\nwe recognise not the merciful Presence which is all around us. Now, as\nthen, it is they who are nearest to Christ by love who see Him first.\nNow, as then, they who are nearest to Him by love, are so because He\nloves them, and because they know and believe the love which He has to\nthem. I find, then, in this part of the story three thoughts,--First,\nthey only see aright who see Christ in everything. Secondly, they only\nsee Christ who love Him. Lastly, they only love Him who know that He\nloves them,\n\nI. First then, they only see aright who see Christ in everything.\n\nThis word of John's, 'It is the Lord!'--ought to be the conviction with\nthe light of which we go out to the examination of all events, and to\nthe consideration of all the circumstances of our daily life. We\nbelieve that unto Christ is given 'all power in heaven and upon earth.'\nWe believe that to Him belongs creative power--that 'without Him was\nnot anything made which was made.' We believe that from Him came all\nlife at first. In Him life was, as in its deep source. He is the\nFountain of life. We believe that as no being comes into existence\nwithout His creative power, so none continues to exist without His\nsustaining energy. We believe that He allots to all men their natural\ncharacters and their circumstances. We believe that the history of the\nworld is but the history of His influence, and that the centre of the\nwhole universe is the cross of Calvary. In the light of such\nconvictions, I take it, every man that calls himself a Christian ought\nto go out to meet life and to study all events. Let me try, then, to\nput before you, very briefly, one or two of the provinces in which we\nare to take this conviction as the keynote to all our knowledge.\n\nNo man will understand the world aright, to begin with, who cannot say\nabout all creation, 'It is the Lord!' Nature is but the veil of the\ninvisible and ascended Lord: and if we would pierce to the deepest\nfoundations of all being, we cannot stop until we get down to the\nliving power of Christ our Saviour and the Creator of the world, by\nwhom all things were made, and whose will pouring out into this great\nuniverse, is the sustaining principle and the true force which keeps it\nfrom nothingness and from quick decay.\n\nWhy, what did Christ work all His miracles upon earth for? Not solely\nto give us a testimony that the Father had sent Him; not solely to make\nus listen to His words as a Teacher sent from God; not solely as proof\nof His Messiahship,--but besides all these purposes there was surely\nthis other, that for once He would unveil to us the true Author of all\nthings, and the true Foundation of all being. Christ's miracles\ninterrupted the order of the world, because they made visible to men\nfor once the true and constant Orderer of the order. They interrupted\nthe order in so far as they struck out the intervening links by which\nthe creative and sustaining word of God acts in nature, and suspended\neach event directly from the firm staple of His will. They revealed the\neternal Orderer of that order in that they showed the Incarnate Word\nwielding the forces of nature, which He has done from of old and still\ndoes. We are then to take all these signs and wonders that He wrought,\nas a perennial revelation of the real state of things with regard to\nthis natural world, and to see in them all, signs and tokens that into\nevery corner and far-off region of the universe His loving hand\nreaches, and His sustaining power goes forth. Into what province of\nnature did He not go? He claimed to be the Lord of life by the side of\nthe boy's bier at the gate of Nain, in the chamber of the daughter of\nJairus, by the grave of Lazarus. He asserted for Himself authority over\nall the powers and functions of our bodily life, when He gave eyes to\nthe blind, hearing to the deaf, feet to the lame. He showed that He was\nLord over the fowl of the air, the beasts of the earth, the fish of the\nsea. And He asserted His dominion over inanimate nature, when the\nfig-tree, cursed by Him, withered away to its roots, and the winds and\nwaves sunk into silence at His gentle voice. He let us get a glimpse\ninto the dark regions of His rule over the unseen, when 'with authority\nHe commanded the unclean spirits, and they came out.' And all these\nthings He did, in order that we, walking in this fair world,\nencompassed by the glories of this wonderful universe, should be\ndelivered from the temptation of thinking that it is separated from\nHim, or independent of His creative and sustaining power; and in order\nthat we should feel that the continuance of all which surrounds us, the\nglories of heaven and the loveliness of earth, are as truly owing to\nthe constant intervention of His present will, and the interposition\nbeneath them of His sustaining hand, as when first, by the 'Word of\nGod' who 'was with God and who was God,' speaking forth His fiat, there\ncame light and beauty out of darkness and chaos.\n\nO Christian men! we shall never understand the Christian thought about\nGod's universe, until we are able to say, Preservation is a continual\ncreation; and beneath all the ordinary workings of Nature, as we\nfaithlessly call it, and the apparently dead play of secondary causes,\nthere are welling forth, and energising, the living love and the\nblessed power of Christ, the Maker, and Monarch, and Sustainer of all.\n'It is the Lord!' is the highest teaching of all science. The mystery\nof the universe, and the meaning of God's world, are shrouded in\nhopeless obscurity, until we learn to feel that all laws suppose a\nLawgiver, and that all working involves a divine energy; and that\nbeneath all which appears there lies for ever rising up through it and\ngiving it its life and power, the one true living Being, the Father in\nheaven, the Son by whom He works, and the Holy Ghost the Spirit.\nDarkness lies on Nature, except to those who in\n\n    'the light of setting suns,\n  And the round ocean, and the living air,\n  And the blue sky,'\n\nsee that Form which these disciples saw in the morning twilight. Let\n'It is the Lord!' be the word on our lips as we gaze on them all, and\nnature will then be indeed to us the open secret, the secret of the\nLord which 'He will show to them that fear Him.'\n\nThen again, the same conviction is the only one that is adequate either\nto explain or to make tolerable the circumstances of our earthly\ncondition. To most men--ah! to all of us in our faithless times--the\nevents that befall ourselves, seem to be one of two things equally\nhorrible, the play of a blind Chance, or the work of an iron Fate. I\nknow not which of these two ghastly thoughts about the circumstances of\nlife is the more depressing, ruining all our energy, depriving us of\nall our joy, and dragging us down with its weight. But brethren, and\nfriends, there are but these three ways for it--either our life is the\nsubject of a mere chaotic chance; or else it is put into the mill of an\niron destiny, which goes grinding on and crushing with its remorseless\nwheels, regardless of what it grinds up; or else, through it all, in it\nall, beneath it and above it all, there is the Will which is Love, and\nthe Love which is Christ! Which of these thoughts is the one that\ncommends itself to your own hearts and consciences, and which is the\none under which you would fain live if you could? I understand not how\na man can front the awful possibilities of a future on earth, knowing\nall the points at which he is vulnerable, and all the ways by which\ndisaster may come down upon him, and retain his sanity, unless he\nbelieves that all is ruled, not merely by a God far above him, who may\nbe as unsympathising as He is omnipotent, but by his Elder Brother, the\nSon of God, who showed His heart by all His dealings with us here\nbelow, and who loves as tenderly, and sympathises as closely with us as\never He did when on earth He gathered the weary and the sick around\nHim. Is it not a thing, men and women, worth having, to have this for\nthe settled conviction of your hearts, that Christ is moving all the\npulses of your life, and that nothing falls out without the\nintervention of His presence and the power of His will working through\nit? Do you not think such a belief would nerve you for difficulty,\nwould lift you buoyantly over trials and depressions, and would set you\nupon a vantage ground high above all the petty annoyances of life? Tell\nme, is there any other place where a man can plant his foot and say,\n'Now I am on a rock and I care not what comes'? The riddle of\nProvidence is solved, and the discipline of Providence is being\naccomplished when we have grasped this conviction--All events do serve\nme, for all circumstances come from His will and pleasure, which is\nlove; and everywhere I go--be it in the darkness of disaster or in the\nsunshine of prosperity--I shall see standing before me that familiar\nand beloved Shape, and shall be able to say, 'It is the Lord!' Friends\nand brethren, that is the faith to live by, that is the faith to die\nby; and without it life is a mockery and a misery.\n\nOnce more this same conviction, 'It is the Lord! should guide us in all\nour thoughts about the history and destinies of mankind and of Christ's\nChurch. The Cross is the centre of the world's history, the incarnation\nand the crucifixion of our Lord are the pivot round which all the\nevents of the ages revolve. 'The testimony of Jesus was the spirit of\nprophecy,' and the growing power of Jesus is the spirit of history, and\nin every book that calls itself the history of a nation, unless there\nbe written, whether literally or in spirit, this for its motto, 'It is\nthe Lord!' all will be shallow and incomplete.\n\n'They that went before and they that came after,' when He entered into\nthe holy city in His brief moment of acceptance and pomp, surrounded\nHim with hosannas and jubilant gladness. It is a deep and true symbol\nof the whole history of the world. All the generations that went before\nHim, though they knew it not, were preparing the way of the Lord, and\nheralding the advent of Him who was 'the desire of all nations' and\n'the light of men'; and all the generations that come after, though\nthey know it not, are swelling the pomp of His triumph and hastening\nthe time of His crowning and dominion. 'It is the Lord!' is the secret\nof all national existence. It is the secret of all the events of the\nworld. The tangled web of human history is only then intelligible when\nthat is taken as its clue, 'From Him are all things, and to Him are all\nthings.' The ocean from which the stream of history flows, and that\ninto which it empties itself, are one. He began it, He sustains it.\n'The help that is done upon earth He doeth it Himself,' and when all is\nfinished, it will be found that all things have indeed come from\nChrist, been sustained and directed by Christ, and have tended to the\nglory and exaltation of that Redeemer, who is King of kings and Lord of\nlords, Maker of the worlds, and before whose throne are for ever\ngathered for service, whether they know it or not, the forces of the\nGentiles, the riches of the nations, the events of history, the fates\nand destinies of every man.\n\nI need not dwell upon the way in which such a conviction as this, my\nfriends, living and working in our hearts, would change for us the\nwhole aspect of life, and make everything bright and beautiful, blessed\nand calm, strengthening us for all which we might have to do, nerving\nus for duty, and sustaining us against every trial, leading us on,\ntriumphant and glad, through regions all sparkling with tokens of His\npresence and signs of His love, unto His throne at last, to lay down\nour praises and our crowns before Him. Only let me leave with you this\none word of earnest entreaty, that you will lay to heart the solemn\nalternative--either see Christ in everything, and be blessed; or miss\nHim, and be miserable. Oh! it is a waste, weary world, unless it is\nfilled with signs of His presence. It is a dreary seventy years,\nbrother, of pilgrimage and strife, unless, as you travel along the\nroad, you see the marks that He who went before you has left by the\nwayside for your guidance and your sustenance. If you want your days to\nbe true, noble, holy, happy, manly, and Godlike, believe us, it is only\nwhen they all have flowing through them this conviction, 'It is the\nLord!' that they all become so.\n\nII. Then, secondly, only they who love, see Christ.\n\nJohn, the Apostle of Love, knew Him first. In religious matters, love\nis the foundation of knowledge. There is no way of knowing a Person\nexcept love. The knowledge of God and the knowledge of Christ are not\nto be won by the exercise of the understanding. A man cannot argue his\nway into knowing Christ. No skill in drawing inferences will avail him\nthere. The treasures of wisdom--earthly wisdom--are all powerless in\nthat region. Man's understanding and natural capacity--let it keep\nitself within its own limits and region, and it is strong and good; but\nin the region of acquaintance with God and Christ, the wisdom of this\nworld is foolishness, and man's understanding is not the organ by which\nhe can know Christ. Oh no! there is a better way than that: 'He that\nloveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.' As it is, in feebler\nmeasure, with regard to our personal acquaintance with one another,\nwhere it is not so much the power of the understanding, or the\nquickness of the perception, or the talent and genius of a man, that\nmake the foundation of his knowledge of his friend, as the force of his\nsympathy and the depth of his affection; so--with the necessary\nmodification arising from the transference from earthly acquaintances\nto the great Friend and Lover of our souls in heaven--so is it with\nregard to our knowledge of Christ. Love will trace Him everywhere, as\ndear friends can detect each other in little marks which are\nmeaningless to others. Love's quick eye pierces through disguises\nimpenetrable to a colder scrutiny. Love has in it a longing for His\npresence which makes us eager and quick to mark the lightest sign that\nHe for whom it longs is near, as the footstep of some dear one is heard\nby the sharp ear of affection long before any sound breaks the silence\nto those around. Love leads to likeness to the Lord, and that likeness\nmakes the clearer vision of the Lord possible. Love to Him strips from\nour eyes the film that self and sin, sense and custom, have drawn over\nthem. It is these which hide Him from us. It is because men are so\nindifferent to, so forgetful of, their best Friend that they fail to\nbehold Him, 'It is the Lord!' is written large and plain on all things,\nbut like the great letters on a map, they are so obvious and fill so\nwide a space, that they are not seen. They who love Him know Him, and\nthey who know Him love Him. The true eye-salve for our blinded eyes is\napplied when we have turned with our hearts to Christ. The simple might\nof faithful love opens them to behold a more glorious vision than the\nmountain 'full of chariots of fire,' which once flamed before the\nprophet's servant of old--even the august and ever-present form of the\nLord of life, the Lord of history, the Lord of providence. When they\nwho love Jesus turn to see 'the Voice that speaks with them,' they ever\nbehold the Son of Man in His glory; and where others see but the dim\nbeach and a mysterious stranger, it is to their lips that the glad cry\nfirst comes, 'It is the Lord!'\n\nAnd is it not a blessed thing, brethren! that thus this high and\nglorious prerogative of recognising the marks of Christ's presence\neverywhere, of going through life gladdened by the assurance of His\nnearness, does not depend on what belongs to few men only, but on what\nmay belong to all? When we say that 'not many wise men after the flesh,\nnot many mighty, not many noble, are called'--when we say that love is\nthe means of knowledge--we are but in other words saying that the way\nis open to all, and that no characteristics belonging to classes, no\npowers that must obviously always belong to but a handful, are\nnecessary for the full apprehension of the power and blessedness of\nChrist's Gospel. The freeness and the fullness of that divine message,\nthe glorious truth that it is for all men, and is offered to all, are\ncouched in that grand principle, Love that thou mayest know; love, and\nthou art filled with the fullness of God, Not for the handful, not for\nthe _elite_ of the world; not for the few, but for the many; not for\nthe wise, but for all; not for classes, but for humanity--for all that\nare weak, and sinful, and needy, and foolish, and darkened He comes,\nwho only needs that the heart that looks should love, and then it shall\nbehold!\n\nBut if that were the whole that I have to say, I should have said but\nlittle to the purpose. It very little avails to tell men to love. We\ncannot love to order, or because we think it duty. There is but one way\nof loving, and that is to see the lovely. The disciple who loved Jesus\nwas 'the disciple whom Jesus loved.' Generalise that, and it teaches us\nthis, that\n\nIII. They love who know that Christ loves them. His divine and eternal\nmercy is the foundation of the whole. Our love, brethren, can never be\nany thing else than our echo to His voice of tenderness than the\nreflected light upon our hearts of the full glory of His affection. No\nman loveth God except the man who has first learned that God loves him.\n'We love Him, because He first loved us.' And when we say, 'Love\nChrist,' if we could not go on to say, 'Nay, rather let Christ's love\ncome down upon you'--we had said worse than nothing. The fountain that\nrises in my heart can only spring up heavenward, because the water of\nit has flowed down into my heart from the higher level. All love must\ndescend first, before it can ascend. We have, then, no Gospel to\npreach, if we have only this to preach, 'Love, and thou art saved.' But\nwe have a Gospel that is worth the preaching, when we can come to men\nwho have no love in their hearts, and say, 'Brethren! listen to\nthis--you have to bring nothing, you are called upon to originate no\naffection; you have nothing to do but simply to receive the everlasting\nlove of God in Christ His Son, which was without us, which began before\nus, which flows forth independent of us, which is unchecked by all our\nsins, which triumphs over all our transgressions, and which will make\nus--loveless, selfish, hardened, sinful men--soft, and tender, and full\nof divine affection, by the communication of its own self.\n\nOh, then, look to Christ, that you may love Him! Think, brethren, of\nthat full, and free, and boundless mercy which, from eternity, has been\npouring itself out in floods of grace and loving-kindness over all\ncreatures. Think of that everlasting love which presided at the\nfoundation of the earth, and has sustained it ever since. Think of that\nSaviour who has died for us, and lives for us. Think of Christ, the\nheart of God, and the fullness of the Father's mercy; and do not think\nof yourselves at all. Do not ask yourselves, to begin with, the\nquestion, Do I love Him or do I not? You will never love by that means.\nIf a man is cold, let him go to the fire and warm himself. If he is\ndark, let him stand in the sunshine, and he will be light. If his heart\nis all clogged and clotted with sin and selfishness, let him get under\nthe influence of the love of Christ, and look away from himself and his\nown feelings, towards that Saviour whose love shed abroad is the sole\nmeans of kindling ours. You have to go down deeper than _your_\nfeelings, _your_ affections, _your_ desires, _your_ character. There\nyou will find no resting-place, no consolation, no power. Dig down to\nthe living Rock, Christ and His infinite love to you, and let _it_ be\nthe strong foundation, built into which you and your love may become\nliving stones, a holy temple, partaking of the firmness and nature of\nthat on which it rests. They that love do so because they know that\nChrist loves them; and they that love see Him everywhere; and they that\nsee Him everywhere are blessed for evermore. And let no man here\ntorture himself, or limit the fullness of this message that we preach,\nby questionings whether Christ loves Him or not. Are you a man? are you\nsinful? have you broken God's law? do you need a Saviour? Then put away\nall these questions, and believe that Christ's personal love is\nstreaming out for the whole world, and that there is a share for you if\nyou like to take it and be blessed!\n\nThere is one last thought arising from the whole subject before us,\nthat may be worth mention before I close. Did you ever notice how this\nwhole incident might be turned, by a symbolical application, to the\nhour of death, and the vision which may meet us when we come thither?\nIt admits of the application, and perhaps was intended to receive the\napplication, of such a symbolic reference. The morning is dawning, the\ngrey of night going away, the lake is still; and yonder, standing on\nthe shore, in the uncertain light, there is one dim Figure, and one\ndisciple catches a sight of Him, and another casts himself into the\nwater, and they find 'a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and\nbread,' and Christ gathers them around His table, and they all know\nthat 'It is the Lord!' It is what the death of the Christian man, who\nhas gone through life recognising Christ everywhere, may well\nbecome:--the morning breaking, and the finished work, and the Figure\nstanding on the quiet beach, so that the last plunge into the cold\nflood that yet separates us, will not be taken with trembling\nreluctance; but, drawn to Him by the love beaming out of His face, and\nupheld by the power of His beckoning presence, we shall struggle\nthrough the latest wave that parts us, and scarcely feel its chill, nor\nknow that we _have_ crossed it; till falling blessed at His feet, we\nsee, by the nearer and clearer vision of His face, that this is indeed\nheaven. And looking back upon 'the sea that brought us thither,' we\nshall behold its waters flashing in the light of that everlasting\nmorning, and hear them breaking in music upon the eternal shore. And\nthen, brethren, when all the weary night-watchers on the stormy ocean\nof life are gathered together around Him who watched with them from His\nthrone on the bordering mountains of eternity, where the day shines for\never--then He will seat them at His table in His kingdom, and none will\nneed to ask, 'Who art Thou?' or 'Where am I?' for all shall know that\n'It is the Lord!' and the full, perfect, unchangeable vision of His\nblessed face will be heaven!\n\n\n\n'LOVEST THOU ME?'\n\n'Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more\nthan these? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love\nThee. He saith unto him, Feed My lambs.'--JOHN xxi. 15.\n\nPeter had already seen the risen Lord. There had been that interview on\nEaster morning, on which the seal of sacred secrecy was impressed;\nwhen, alone, the denier poured out his heart to his Lord, and was taken\nto the heart that he had wounded. Then there had been two interviews on\nthe two successive Sundays in which the Apostle, in common with his\nbrethren, had received, as one of the group, the Lord's benediction,\nthe Lord's gift of the Spirit, and the Lord's commission. But something\nmore was needed; there had been public denial, there must be public\nconfession. If he had slipped again into the circle of the disciples,\nwith no special treatment or reference to his fall, it might have\nseemed a trivial fault to others, and even to himself. And so, after\nthat strange meal on the beach, we have this exquisitely beautiful and\ndeeply instructive incident of the special treatment needed by the\ndenier before he could be publicly reinstated in his office.\n\nThe meal seems to have passed in silence. That awe which hung over the\ndisciples in all their intercourse with Jesus during the forty days,\nlay heavy on them, and they sat there, huddled round the fire, eating\nsilently the meal which Christ had provided, and no doubt gazing\nsilently at the silent Lord. What a tension of expectation there must\nhave been as to how the oppressive silence was to be broken! and how\nPeter's heart must have throbbed, and the others' ears been pricked up,\nwhen it was broken by 'Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?' We may\nlisten with pricked-up ears too. For we have here, in Christ's\ntreatment of the Apostle, a revelation of how He behaves to a soul\nconscious of its fault; and in Peter's demeanour an illustration of how\na soul, conscious of its fault, should behave to Him.\n\nThere are three stages here: the threefold question, the threefold\nanswer, and the threefold charge. Let us look at these.\n\nI. The threefold question.\n\nThe reiteration in the interrogation did not express doubt as to the\nveracity of the answer, nor dissatisfaction with its terms; but it did\nexpress, and was meant, I suppose, to suggest to Peter and to the\nothers, that the threefold denial needed to be obliterated by the\nthreefold confession; and that every black mark that had been scored\ndeep on the page by that denial needed to be covered over with the\ngilding or bright colouring of the triple acknowledgment. And so Peter\nthrice having said, 'I know Him not!' Jesus with a gracious violence\nforced him to say thrice, 'Thou knowest that I love Thee.' The same\nintention to compel Peter to go back upon his past comes out in two\nthings besides the triple form of the question. The one is the\ndesignation by which he is addressed, 'Simon, son of Jonas,' which\ntravels back, as it were, to the time before he was a disciple, and\npoints a finger to his weak humanity before it had come under the\ninfluence of Jesus Christ. 'Simon, son of Jonas,' was the name that he\nbore in the days before his discipleship. It was the name by which\nJesus had addressed him, therefore, on that never-to-be-forgotten\nturning-point of his life, when he was first brought to Him by his\nbrother Andrew. It was the name by which Jesus had addressed him at the\nvery climax of his past life when, high up, he had been able to see\nfar, and in answer to the Lord's question, had rung out the confession:\n'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!' So the name by which\nJesus addresses him now says to him in effect: 'Remember thy human\nweakness; remember how thou wert drawn to Me; remember the high-water\nmark of thy discipleship, when I was plain before thee as the Son of\nGod, and remembering all these, answer Me--lovest thou Me?'\n\nThe same intention to drive Peter back to the wholesome remembrance of\na stained past is obvious in the first form of the question. Our Lord\nmercifully does not persist in giving to it that form in the second and\nthird instances: 'Lovest thou Me more than these?' More than these,\nwhat? I cannot for a moment believe that that question means something\nso trivial and irrelevant as 'Lovest thou Me more than these nets, and\nboats, and the fishing?' No; in accordance with the purpose that runs\nthrough the whole, of compelling Peter to retrospect, it says to him,\n'Do you remember what you said a dozen hours before you denied Me,\n\"Though all should forsake Thee, yet will not I\"? Are you going to take\nthat stand again? Lovest thou Me more than these that never discredited\ntheir boasting so shamefully?'\n\nSo, dear brethren! here we have Jesus Christ, in His treatment of this\npenitent and half-restored soul, forcing a man, with merciful\ncompulsion, to look steadfastly and long at his past sin, and to\nretrace step by step, shameful stage by shameful stage, the road by\nwhich he had departed so far. Every foul place he is to stop and look\nat, and think about. Each detail he has to bring up before his mind.\nWas it not cruel of Jesus thus to take Peter by the neck, as it were,\nand hold him right down, close to the foul things that he had done, and\nsay to him, 'Look! look! look ever! and answer, Lovest thou Me?' No; it\nwas not cruel; it was true kindness. Peter had never been so abundantly\nand permanently penetrated by the sense of the sinfulness of his sin,\nas after he was sure, as he had been made sure in that great interview,\nthat it was all forgiven. So long as a man is disturbed by the dread of\nconsequences, so long as he is doubtful as to his relation to the\nforgiving Love, he is not in a position beneficially and sanely to\nconsider his evil in its moral quality only. But when the conviction\ncomes to a man, 'God is pacified towards thee for all that thou hast\ndone'; and when he can look at his own evil without the smallest\ndisturbance rising from slavish fear of issues, then lie is in a\nposition rightly to estimate its darkness and its depth. And there can\nbe no better discipline for us all than to remember our faults, and\npenitently to travel back over the road of our sins, just because we\nare sure that God in Christ has forgotten them. The beginning of\nChrist's merciful treatment of the forgiven man is to compel him to\nremember, that he may learn and be ashamed.\n\nAnd then there is another point here, in this triple question. How\nsignificant and beautiful it is that the only thing that Jesus Christ\ncares to ask about is the sinner's love! We might have expected:\n'Simon, son of Jonas, are you sorry for what you did? Simon, son of\nJonas, will you promise never to do the like any more?' No! These\nthings will come if the other thing is there. 'Lovest thou Me?' Jesus\nChrist sues each of us, not for obedience primarily, not for\nrepentance, not for vows, not for conduct, but for a heart; and that\nbeing given, all the rest will follow. That is the distinguishing\ncharacteristic of Christian morality, that Jesus seeks first for the\nsurrender of the affections, and believes, and is warranted in the\nbelief, that if these are surrendered, all else will follow; and love\nbeing given, loyalty and service and repentance and hatred of self-will\nand of self-seeking will follow in her train. All the graces of human\ncharacter which Christ seeks, and is ready to impart, are, as it were,\nbut the pages and ministers of the regal Love, who follow behind and\nswell the _cortege_ of her servants.\n\nChrist asks for love. Surely that indicates the depth of His own! In\nthis commerce He is satisfied with nothing less, and can ask for\nnothing more; and He seeks for love because He is love, and has given\nlove. Oh! to all hearts burdened, as all our hearts ought to be--unless\nthe burden has been cast off in one way--by the consciousness of our\nown weakness and imperfection, surely, surely, it is a gospel that is\ncontained in that one question addressed to a man who had gone far\nastray, 'Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou?'\n\nHere, again, we have Jesus Christ, in His dealing with the penitent,\nwilling to trust discredited professions. We think that one of the\nsigns of our being wise people is that experience shall have taught us\n'once' being 'bit, twice' to be 'shy,' and if a man has once deceived\nus by flaming professions and ice-cold acts, never to trust him any\nmore. And we think that is 'worldly wisdom,' and 'the bitter fruit of\nearthly experience,' and 'sharpness,' and 'shrewdness,' and so forth.\nJesus Christ, even whilst reminding Peter, by that 'more than these,'\nof his utterly hollow and unreliable boasting, shows Himself ready to\naccept once again the words of one whose unveracity He had proved.\n'Charity hopeth all things, believeth all things,' and Jesus Christ is\nready to trust us when we say, 'I love Thee,' even though often in the\npast our professed love has been all disproved.\n\nWe have here, in this question, our Lord revealing Himself as willing\nto accept the imperfect love which a disciple can offer Him. Of course,\nmany of you well know that there is a very remarkable play of\nexpression here. In the two first questions the word which our Lord\nemploys for 'love' is not the same as that which appears in Peter's two\nfirst answers. Christ asks for one kind of love; Peter proffers\nanother. I do not enter upon discussion as to the distinction between\nthese two apparent synonyms. The kind of love which Christ asks for is\nhigher, nobler, less emotional, and more associated with the whole mind\nand will. It is the inferior kind, the more warm, more sensuous, more\npassionate and emotional, which Peter brings. And then, in the third\nquestion, our Lord, as it were, surrenders and takes Peter's own word,\nas if He had said, 'Be it so! You shrink from professing the higher\nkind; I will take the lower; and I will educate and bring that up to\nthe height that I desire you to stand at.' Ah, brother! however stained\nand imperfect, however disproved by denials, however tainted by earthly\nassociations, Jesus Christ will accept the poor stream of love, though\nit be but a trickle when it ought to be a torrent, which we can bring\nHim.\n\nThese are the lessons which it seems to me lie in this triple question.\nI have dealt with them at the greater length, because those which\nfollow are largely dependent upon them. But let me turn now briefly, in\nthe second place, to--\n\nII. The triple answer.\n\n'Yea, Lord! Thou knowest that I love Thee.' Is not that beautiful, that\nthe man who by Christ's Resurrection, as the last of the answers shows,\nhad been led to the loftiest conception of Christ's omniscience, and\nregarded Him as knowing the hearts of all men, should, in the face of\nall that Jesus Christ knew about his denial and his sin, have dared to\nappeal to Christ's own knowledge? What a superb and all-conquering\nconfidence in Christ's depth of knowledge and forgivingness of\nknowledge that answer showed! He felt that Jesus could look beneath the\nsurface of his sin, and see that below it there was, even in the midst\nof the denial, a heart that in its depths was true. It is a tremendous\npiece of confident appeal to the deeper knowledge, and therefore the\nlarger love and more abundant forgiveness, of the righteous Lord--'Thou\nknowest that I love Thee.'\n\nBrethren! a Christian man ought to be sure of his love to Jesus Christ.\nYou do not study your conduct in order to infer from it your love to\nothers. You do not study your conduct in order to infer from it your\nlove to your wife, or your husband, or your parents, or your children,\nor your friend. Love is not a matter of inference; it is a matter of\nconsciousness and intuition. And whilst self-examination is needful for\nus all for many reasons, a Christian man ought to be as sure that he\nloves Jesus Christ as he is sure that he loves his dearest upon earth.\n\nIt used to be the fashion long ago--this generation has not depth\nenough to keep up the fashion--for Christian people to talk as if it\nwere a point they longed to know, whether they loved Jesus Christ or\nnot. There is no reason why it should be a point we long to know. You\nknow all about your love to one another, and you are sure about that.\nWhy are you not sure about your love to Jesus Christ? 'Oh! but,' you\nsay, 'look at my sins and failures'; and if Peter had looked only at\nhis sins, do you not think that his words would have stuck in his\nthroat? He did look, but he looked in a very different way from that of\ntrying to ascertain from his conduct whether he loved Jesus Christ or\nnot. Brethren, any sin is inconsistent with Christian love to Christ.\nThank God, we have no right to say of any sin that it is incompatible\nwith that love! More than that; a great, gross, flagrant, sudden fall\nlike Peter's is a great deal less inconsistent with love to Christ than\nare the continuously unworthy, worldly, selfish, Christ-forgetting\nlives of hosts of complacent professing Christians to-day. White ants\nwill eat up the carcase of a dead buffalo quicker than a lion will. And\nto have denied Christ once, twice, thrice, in the space of an hour, and\nunder strong temptation, is not half so bad as to call Him 'Master' and\n'Lord,' and day by day, week in, week out, in works to deny Him. The\ntriple answer declares to us that in spite of a man's sins he ought to\nbe conscious of his love, and be ready to profess it when need is.\n\nIII. Lastly, we have here the triple commission.\n\nI do not dwell upon it at any length, because in its original form it\napplies especially to the Apostolic office. But the general principles\nwhich underlie this threefold charge, to feed and to tend both 'the\nsheep' and 'the lambs,' may be put in a form that applies to each of\nus, and it is this--the best token of a Christian's love to Jesus\nChrist is his service of man for Christ's sake. 'Lovest thou Me?' 'Yea!\nLord.' Thou hast _said_; go and _do_, 'Feed My lambs; feed My sheep.'\nWe need the profession of words; we need, as Peter himself enjoined at\na subsequent time, to be ready to 'give to every man that asketh us a\nreason of the hope,' and an acknowledgment of the love, that are in us.\nBut if you want men to believe in your love, however Jesus Christ may\nknow it, go and work in the Master's vineyard. The service of man is\nthe garb of the love of God. 'He that loveth God will love his brother\nalso.' Do not confine that thought of service, and feeding, and\ntending, to what we call evangelistic and religious work. That is one\nof its forms, but it is only one of them. Everything in which Christian\nmen can serve their fellows is to be taken by them as their worship of\ntheir Lord, and is taken by the world as the convincing proof of the\nreality of their love.\n\nLove to Jesus Christ is the qualification for all such service. If we\nare knit to Him by true affection, which is based upon our\nconsciousness of our own falls and evils, and our reception of His\nforgiving mercy, then we shall have the qualities that fit us, and the\nimpulse that drives us, to serve and help our fellows. I do not\nsay--God forbid!--that there is no philanthropy apart from Christian\nfaith, but I do say that, on the wide scale, and in the long run, they\nwho are knit to Jesus Christ by love will be those who render the\ngreatest help to all that are 'afflicted in mind, body, or estate'; and\nthat the true basis and qualification for efficient service of our\nfellows is the utter surrender of our hearts to Him who is the Fountain\nof love, and from whom comes all our power to live in the world, as the\nimages and embodiments of the love which has saved us that we might\nhelp to save others.\n\nBrethren! let us all ask ourselves Christ's question to the denier. Let\nus look our past evils full in the face, that we may learn to hate\nthem, and that we may learn more the width and the sweep of the power\nof His pardoning mercy. God grant that we may all be able to say, 'Thou\nknowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee!'\n\n\n\nYOUTH AND AGE, AND THE COMMAND FOR BOTH\n\n_Annual Sermon to the Young_\n\n'... When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither\nthou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy\nhands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou\nwouldest not.... And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow\nMe.'--JOHN xxi. 18, 19.\n\nThe immediate reference of these words is, of course, to the martyrdom\nof the Apostle Peter. Our Lord contrasts the vigorous and somewhat\nself-willed youth and the mellowed old age of His servant, and shadows\nforth his death, in bonds, by violence. And then He bids him,\nnotwithstanding this prospect of the issue of his faithfulness, 'Follow\nMe.'\n\nNow I venture, though with some hesitation, to give these words a\nslightly different application. I see in them two pictures of youth and\nof old age, and a commandment based upon both. You young people are\noften exhorted to a Christian life on the ground of the possible\napproach of death. I would not undervalue that motive, but I seek now\nto urge the same thing upon you from a directly opposite consideration,\nthe probability that many of you will live to be old. All the chief\nreasons for our being Christians are of the same force, whether we are\nto die to-night, or to live for a century. So in my text I wish you to\nnote what you are now; what, if you live, you are sure to become; and\nwhat, in the view of both stages, you will be wise to do. 'When thou\nwast young thou girdedst thyself, and wentest whither thou wouldest.\nWhen thou shalt be old another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither\nthou wouldest not.' Therefore, 'Follow Me.'\n\nI. So, then, note the picture here of what you are.\n\nMost of you young people are but little accustomed to reflect upon\nyourselves, or upon the special characteristics and prerogatives of\nyour time of life. But it will do you no harm to think for a minute or\ntwo of what these characteristics are, that you may know your\nblessings, and that you may shun the dangers which attach to them.\n\n'When thou wast young thou girdedst thyself.' _There_ is a picture\neasily translated, and significant of much. The act of girding implies\npreparation for action, and may be widened out to express that most\nblessed prerogative of youth, the cherishing of bright imaginations of\nits future activity and course. The dreams of youth are often laughed\nat, but if a young man or woman be faithful to them they are the\nprophecies of the future, and are given in order that at the opening of\nthe flower nature may put forth her power; and so we may be able to\nlive through many a dreary hour in the future. Only, seeing that you do\nlive so much in rich foreshadowings and fair anticipations of the times\nthat are to come, take care that you do not waste that divine faculty,\nthe freshness of which is granted to you as a morning gift, the 'dew of\nyour youth.' See that you do not waste it in anticipations which cling\nlike mist to the low levels of life, but that you lift it higher and\nembrace worthy objects. It is good that you should anticipate, that you\nshould live by hope. It is good that you should be drawn onwards by\nbright visions, whether they be ever fulfilled or no. But there are\ndangers in the exercise, and dreaming with some of you takes the place\nof realising your dreams, and you build for yourselves fair fabrics in\nimagination which you never take one step to accomplish and make real.\nBe not the slaves and fools of your imaginations, but cultivate the\nfaculty of hoping largely; for the possibilities of human life are\nelastic, and no man or woman, in their most sanguine, early\nanticipations, if only these be directed to the one real good, has ever\nexhausted or attained the possibilities open to every soul.\n\nAgain, girding _one's self_ implies independent self-reliance, and that\nis a gift and a stewardship given (as all gifts are stewardships) to\nthe young. We all fancy, in our early days, that we are going to build\n'towers that will reach to heaven.' Now _we_ have come, and we will\nshow people how to do it! The past generations have failed, but ours is\nfull of brighter promise. There is something very touching, to us older\nmen almost tragical, in the unbounded self-confidence of the young life\nthat we see rushing to the front all round us. We know so well the\ndisillusion that is sure to come, the disappointments that will cloud\nthe morning sky. We would not carry one shadow from the darkened\nexperience of middle life into the roseate tints of the morning. The\n'vision splendid'\n\n    Will fade away\n  Into the light of common day,'\n\nsoon enough. But for the present this self-reliant confidence is one of\nthe blessings of your early days.\n\nOnly remember, it is dangerous, too. It may become want of reverence,\nwhich is ruinous, or presumption and rashness. Remember what a cynical\nhead of a college said, 'None of us is infallible, not even the\nyoungest,' and blend modesty with confidence, and yet be buoyant and\nstrong, and trust in the power that may make you strong. And then your\nself-confidence will not be rashness.\n\n'Thou wentest whither thou wouldest.' That is another characteristic of\nyouth, after it has got beyond the schoolboy stage. Your own will tends\nto become your guide. For one thing, at your time of life, most other\ninward guides are comparatively weak. You have but little experience.\nMost of you have not cultivated largely the habit of patient\nreflection, and thinking twice before you act once. That comes: it\nwould not be good that it should be over-predominant in you. 'Old heads\non young shoulders' are always monstrosities, and it is all right that,\nin your early days, you should largely live by impulse, if only, as\nwell as a will, there be a conscience at work which will do instead of\nthe bitter experience which comes to guide some of the older of us.\n\nAgain, yours is the age when passion is strong. I speak now especially\nto young men. Restraints are removed for many of you. There are dozens\nof young men listening to me now, away from their father's home,\nseparated from the purifying influence of sisters and of family life,\nliving in solitary lodgings, at liberty to spend their evenings where\nthey choose, and nobody be a bit the wiser. Ah, my dear young friend!\n'thou wentest whither thou wouldest' and thou wouldest whither thou\noughtest not to go.\n\nThere is nothing more dangerous than getting into the habit of saying,\n'I do as I like,' however you cover it over. Some of you say, 'I\nindulge natural inclinations; I am young; a man must have his fling.\nLet me sow my wild oats in a quiet corner, where nobody will see the\ncrop coming up; and when I get to be as old as you are, I will do as\nyou do; young men will be young men,' etc., etc. You know all that sort\nof talk. Take this for a certain fact: that whoever puts the reins into\nthe charge of his own will when he is young, has put the reins _and the\nwhip_ into hands which will drive over the precipice.\n\nMy friend! 'I will' is no word for you. There is a far diviner and\nbetter one than that--'I ought.' Have you learnt that? Do you yield to\nthat sovereign imperative, and say, 'I _must_, because I _ought_ and,\ntherefore, I _will_'? Bow passion to reason, reason to conscience,\nconscience to God--and then, be as strong in the will and as stiff in\nthe neck as ever you choose; but only then. So much, then, for my first\npicture.\n\nII. Now let me ask you to turn with me for a moment to the second\none--What you will certainly become if you live.\n\nI have already explained that putting this meaning on the latter\nportion of our first verse is somewhat forcing it from its original\nsignification. And yet it is so little of violence that the whole of\nthe language naturally lends itself to make a picture of the difference\nbetween the two stages of life.\n\nAll the bright visions that dance before your youthful mind will fade\naway. We begin by thinking that we are going to build temples, or\n'towers that shall reach to heaven,' and when we get into middle life\nwe have to say to ourselves: 'Well! I have scarcely material enough to\ncarry out the large design that I had. I think that I will content\nmyself with building a little hovel, that I may live in, and perhaps it\nwill keep the weather off me.' Hopes diminish; dreams vanish; limited\nrealities take their place, and we are willing to hold out our hands\nand let some one else take the responsibilities that we were so eager\nto lay upon ourselves at the first. Strength will fade away. 'Even the\nyouths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail.'\nPhysical weariness, weakness, the longing for rest, the consciousness\nof ever-narrowed and narrowing powers, will come to you, and if you\ngrow up to be old men, which it is probable that many of you will do,\nyou will have to sit and watch the tide of your life ebb, ebb, ebbing\naway moment by moment.\n\nSelf-will will be wonderfully broken, for there are far stronger forces\nthat determine a man's life than his own wishes and will. We are like\nswimmers in the surf of the Indian Ocean, powerless against the\nbattering of the wave which pitches us, for all our science, and for\nall our muscle, where it will. Call it environment, call it fate, call\nit circumstances, call it providence, call it God--there is something\noutside of us bigger than we are, and the man who begins life, thinking\n'Thus I will, thus I command, let my determination stand instead of all\nother reason'; has to say at last, 'I could not do what I wanted. I had\nto be content to do what I could.' Thus our self-will gets largely\nbroken down; and patient acceptance of the inevitable comes to be the\nwisdom and peace of the old man.\n\nAnd, last of all, the picture shows us an irresistible approximation to\nan unwelcome goal: 'Another shall carry thee whither thou wouldest not.'\n\nLife to the old seems to you to be so empty and ashen grey that you\nwonder they care to live. But life to them, for all its\ndisappointments, its weariness, its foiled efforts, its vanished hopes,\nits departed companions, is yet life, and most of them cling to it like\na miser to his gold. But yet, like a man sucked into Niagara above the\nfalls, they are borne on the irresistible, smooth flood, nearer and\nnearer to the edge of the rock, and they hear the mighty sound in their\nears long before they reach the place where the plunge is to be taken\nfrom sunshine into darkness and foam.\n\nSo 'when thou shalt be old' your fancy will be gone, your physical\nstrength will be gone, your freshness will be gone, your faculty of\nhoping will work feebly and have little to work on; on earth your sense\nof power will be humbled, and yet you will not want to be borne to the\nplace whither you must be borne.\n\nFancy two portraits, one of a little chubby boy in child's dress, with\na round face and clustering curls and smooth cheeks and red lips, and\nanother of an old man, with wearied eyes, and thin locks, and wrinkled\ncheeks, and a bowed frame. The difference between the two is but the\nsymbol of the profounder differences that separate the two selves,\nwhich yet are the one self--the impetuous, self-reliant, self-willed,\nhopeful, buoyant youth, and the weary, feeble, broken, old man. And\nthat is what you will come to, if you live, as sure as I am speaking to\nyou, and you are listening to me.\n\nIII. And now, lastly, what in the view of both these stages it is wise\nfor you to do.\n\n'When He had spoken thus, He saith unto him, Follow Me.' What do we\nmean by following Christ? We mean submission to His authority. 'Follow\nMe' as Captain, Commander, absolute Lawgiver, and Lord. We mean\nimitation of His example. These two words include all human duty, and\npromise to every man perfection if he obeys. 'Follow Me'--it is enough,\nmore than enough, to make a man complete and blessed. We mean choosing\nand keeping close to Him, as Companion as well as Leader and Lord. No\nman or woman will ever be solitary, though friends may go, and\nassociates may change, and companions may leave them, and life may\nbecome empty and dreary as far as human sympathy is concerned--no man\nor woman will ever be solitary if stepping in Christ's footsteps, close\nat His heels, and realising His presence.\n\nBut you cannot follow Him, and He has no right to tell you to follow\nHim, unless He is something more and other to you than Example, and\nCommander, and Companion. What business has Jesus Christ to demand that\na man should go after Him to the death? Only this business, that He has\ngone to the death for the man. You must follow Christ first, my friend,\nby coming to Him as a sinful creature, and finding your whole salvation\nand all your hope in humble reliance on the merit of His death. Then\nyou may follow Him in obedience, and imitation, and glad communion.\n\nThat being understood, I would press upon you this thought, that such a\nfollowing of Jesus Christ will preserve for you all that is blessed in\nthe characteristics of your youth, and will prevent them from becoming\nevil. He will give you a basis for your hopes and fulfil your most\nsanguine dreams, if these are based on His promises, and their\nrealisation sought in the path of His feet. As Isaiah prophesies, 'the\nmirage shall become a pool.' That which else is an illusion, dancing\nahead and deceiving thirsty travellers into the belief that sand is\nwater, shall become to you really 'pools of water,' if your hopes are\nfixed on Jesus Christ. If you follow Him, your strength will not ebb\naway with shrunken sinews and enfeebled muscles. If you trust Christ,\nyour self-will will be elevated by submission, and become strong to\ncontrol your rebellious nature, because it is humble to submit to His\nsupreme command. And if you trust and follow Jesus Christ, your hope\nwill be buoyant, and bright, and blessed, and prolong its buoyancy, and\nbrightness, and blessedness into 'old age, when others fade.' If you\nwill follow Christ your old age will, if you reach it, be saved from\nthe bitterest pangs that afflict the aged, and will be brightened by\nfuture possibilities. There will be no need for lingering laments over\npast blessings, no need for shrinking reluctance to take the inevitable\nstep. An old age of peaceful, serene brightness caught from the nearer\ngleam of the approaching heaven, and quiet as the evenings in the late\nautumn, not without a touch of frost, perhaps, but yet kindly and\nfruitful, may be ours. And instead of shrinking from the end, if we\nfollow Jesus, we shall put our hands quietly and trustfully into His,\nas a little child does into its mother's soft, warm palm, and shall not\nask whither He leads, assured that since it is He who leads we shall be\nled aright.\n\nDear young friends! 'Follow Me!' is Christ's merciful invitation to\nyou. You will never again be so likely to obey it as you are now. Well\nbegun is half ended. 'I would have you innocent of much transgression.'\nYou need Him to keep you in the slippery ways of youth. You could not\ngo into some of those haunts, where some of you have been, if you\nthought to yourselves, 'Am I following Jesus as I cross this wicked\nthreshold?' You may never have another message of mercy brought to your\nears. If you do become a religious man in later life, you will be\nlaying up for yourselves seeds of remorse and sorrow, and in some cases\nmemories of pollution and filth, that will trouble you all your days.\n'To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.'\n\n\n\n'THEY ALSO SERVE WHO ONLY STAND AND WAIT'\n\n'Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do!\nJesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that\nto thee? Follow thou Me.'--John xxi. 21, 22.\n\nWe have seen in a former sermon that the charge of the risen Christ to\nPeter, which immediately precedes these verses, allotted to him service\nand suffering. The closing words of that charge 'Follow Me!' had a deep\nsignificance, as uniting both parts of his task in the one supreme\ncommand of imitation of his Master.\n\nBut the same words had also a simpler meaning, as inviting the Apostle\nto come apart with Christ at the moment, for some further token of His\nlove or indication of His will. Peter follows; but in following,\nnaturally turns to see what the little group, sitting silent there by\nthe coal fire on the beach, may be doing, and he notices John coming\ntowards them, with intent to join them.\n\nWhat emboldened John to thrust himself, uncalled for, into so secret an\ninterview? The words in which he is described in the context answer the\nquestion. 'He was the disciple whom Jesus loved, which also leaned on\nHis breast at Supper, and said, Lord! which is he that betrayeth Thee?'\nHe was also bound by close ties to Peter. So with the familiarity of\n'perfect love which casteth out fear,' he felt that the Master could\nhave no secrets from him, and no charge to give to his friend which he\nmight not share.\n\nPeter's swift question, 'Lord! and what shall this man do?' though it\nhas been often blamed, does not seem very blameworthy. There was\nperhaps a little touch of his old vivacity in it, indicating that he\nhad not been sufficiently subdued and sobered by the prospect which\nChrist had held out to him; but far more than that there was a natural\ninterest in his friend's fate, and something of a wish to have his\ncompany on the path which he was to tread. Christ's answer, 'If I will\nthat he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me!'\ngently rebukes any leaven of evil that there may have been in the\nquestion; warns him against trying to force other people into his\ngroove; with solemn emphasis reiterates his own duty; and, in effect,\nbids him let his brother alone, and see that he himself discharges the\nministry which he has received of the Lord.\n\nThe enigmatical words of Christ, and the long life of the Apostle,\nwhich seemed to explain them, naturally bred an interpretation of them\nin the Early Church which is recorded here, as I believe, by the\nEvangelist himself, to the effect that John, like another Enoch at the\nbeginning of a new world, was to escape the common lot. And very\nbeautiful is the quiet way in which the Evangelist put that error on\none side, by the simple repetition of his Master's words, emphasising\ntheir hypothetical form and their enigmatical character: 'Jesus said\nnot unto him, He shall not die; but _if_ I will that he _tarry_ till I\ncome, what is that to thee?'\n\nNow all this, I think, is full of lessons. Let me try to draw one or\ntwo of them briefly now.\n\nI. First, then, we have in that majestic 'If I will!' the revelation of\nthe risen Christ as the Lord of life and death.\n\nIn His charge to Peter, Christ had asserted His right absolutely to\ncontrol His servant's conduct and fix his place in the world, and His\npower to foresee and forecast his destiny and his end. But in these\nwords He goes a step further. 'I _will_ that he tarry'; to communicate\nlife and to sustain life is a divine prerogative; to act by the bare\nutterance of His will upon physical nature is a divine prerogative.\nJesus Christ here claims that His will goes out with sovereign power\namongst the perplexities of human history and into the depths of that\nmystery of life; and that He, the Son of Man, 'quickens whom He will,'\nand has power 'to kill and to make alive.' The words would be absurd,\nif not something worse, upon any but divine lips, that opened with\nconscious authority, and whose Utterer knew that His hand was laid upon\nthe innermost springs of being.\n\nSo, in this entirely incidental fashion, you have one of the strongest\nand plainest instances of the quiet, unostentatious and habitual manner\nin which Jesus Christ claimed for Himself properly divine prerogatives.\n\nRemember that He who thus spoke was standing before these seven men\nthere, in the morning light, on the beach, fresh from the grave. His\nresurrection had proved Him to be the Lord of death. He had bound it to\nHis chariot-wheels as a Conqueror. He had risen and He stood there\nbefore them with no more mark of the corruption of the grave upon Him\nthan there are traces of the foul water in which a sea bird may have\nfloated, on its white wing that flashes in the sunshine as it soars.\nAnd surely as these men looked to Christ, 'declared to be the Son of\nGod with power, by His resurrection from the dead, 'they may have\nbegun, however 'foolish and slow of heart' they were 'to believe,' to\nunderstand that 'to this end Christ both died and rose and revived,\nthat He might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living,' both of\ndeath and of life.\n\nThese two Apostles' later history was full of proofs that Christ's\nclaim was valid. Peter is shut up in prison and delivered once, at the\nvery last moment, when hope was almost dead, in order that he might\nunderstand that when he was put into another prison and _not_\ndelivered, the blow of martyrdom fell upon him, not because of the\nstrength of his persecutors, but because of the will of his Lord. And\nJohn had to see his brother James, to whom he had been so closely knit,\nwith whom he had pledged himself to drink the cup that Christ drank of,\nwhom he had desired to have associated with himself in the special\nhonours in the Messianic Kingdom--he had to see him slain, first of the\nApostles, while he himself lingered here long after all his early\nassociates were gone. He had, no doubt, many a longing to depart.\nSolitary, surrounded by a new world, pressed by many cares, he must\noften have felt that the cross which he had to carry was no lighter\nthan that laid on those who had passed to their rest by martyrdom. To\nhim it would often be martyrdom to live. His personal longing is heard\nfor a moment in the last words of the Apocalypse, 'Amen! even so, come,\nLord Jesus!'--but undoubtedly for the most part he stayed his heart on\nhis Lord's will, and waited in meek patience till he heard the welcome\nannouncement, 'The Master is come and calleth for thee.'\n\nAnd, dear friends! that same belief that the risen Christ is the Lord\nof life and death, is the only one that can stay our hearts, or make us\nbow with submission to His divine will. He who has conquered death by\nundergoing it is death's Lord as well as ours, and when He wills to\nbring His friends home to Himself, saith to that black-robed servant,\n'Go, and he goeth; do this and he doeth it.' The vision which John saw\nlong after this on another shore, washed by a stormier sea, spoke the\nsame truth as does this majestic 'I will'--'He that liveth and became\ndead and is alive for evermore,' is by virtue of His divine eternal\nlife, and has become in His humanity by virtue of His death and\nresurrection the Lord of life and death. The hands that were nailed to\nthe Cross turn the keys of death and Hades. 'He openeth and no man\nshutteth; He shutteth and no man openeth.'\n\nII. We have here before us, in this incident, the service of patient\nwaiting.\n\n'If I will that he tarry, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.' Peter\nis the man of action, not great at reflection; full of impulse,\nrestless until his hands can do something to express his thoughts and\nhis emotions. On the very Mount of Transfiguration he wanted to set to\nwork and build 'three tabernacles,' instead of listening awed to the\ndivine colloquy. In Galilee he cannot wait quietly for his Master to\ncome, but must propose to his friends to 'go a fishing.' In the\nfishing-boat, as soon as he sees the Lord he must struggle through the\nsea to get at Him; whilst John sits quiet in the boat, blessed in the\nconsciousness of his Master's presence and in silently gazing at Him\nverily there. All through the first part of the Acts of the Apostles\nhis bold energy goes flashing and flaming. It is always his voice that\nrings out in the front, whether preaching on the Pentecost Day,\nbringing healing to the sick, or fronting the Sanhedrim. His element is\nin the shock of conflict and the strain of work.\n\nJohn, on the other hand, seldom appears in the narrative. When he does\nso he stands a silent figure by the side of Peter, and disappears from\nit altogether before very long. We do not hear that he did anything. He\nseems to have had no part in the missionary work of the Church.\n\nHe 'tarried,' that was all. The word is the same--'abide'--which is so\noften upon his lips in his Gospel and in his Epistles, as expressive of\nthe innermost experience of the Christian soul, the condition of all\nfruitfulness, blessedness, knowledge and Christ-likeness. Christ's\ncharge to John to 'tarry' did not only, as his brethren misinterpreted\nit, mean that his life was to be continued, but it prescribed the\nmanner of his life. It was to be patient contemplation, a 'dwelling in\nthe house of the Lord,' a keeping of his heart still, like some little\ntarn up amongst the silent hills, for heaven with all its blue to\nmirror itself in.\n\nAnd that quiet life of contemplation bore its fruit. In his meditation\nthe deeds and words of his Master slowly grew ever more and more\nluminous to him. Deeper meanings came out, revealing new\nconstellations, as he gazed into that opening heaven of memory. He\nreaped 'the harvest of a quiet eye' and garnered the sheaves of it in\nhis Gospel, the holy of holies of the New Testament; and in his\nEpistles, in which he proclaims the first and last word of revelation,\n'God is love'--the pure diamond that hangs at the end of the golden\nchain let down from Heaven. Often, no doubt, his brethren thought him\n'but an idler in the land,' but at last his 'tarrying' was vindicated.\n\nNow, dear brethren! in all times of the world's history that form of\nChristian service needs to be pressed upon busy people. And there never\nwas a time in the world's history, or in the Church's history, when it\nmore needed to be pressed upon the ordinary Christian man than at this\nday. The good and the bad of our present Christianity, and of our\npresent social life, conspire to make people think that those who are\nnot at work in some external form of Christian service for the good of\ntheir fellows are necessarily idlers. Many of them are so, but by no\nmeans all, and there is always the danger that the external work which\ngood, earnest people do shall become greater than can be wholesomely\nand safely done by them without their constant recourse to this\nsolitary meditation, and to tarrying before God.\n\nThe stress and bustle of our everyday life; the feverish desire for\nimmediate results; the awakened conviction that Christianity is nothing\nif not practical; the new sense of responsibility for the condition of\nour fellows; the large increase of all sorts of domestic, evangelistic,\nand missionary work among all churches in this day--things to be\nprofoundly thankful for, like all other good things have their possible\ndangers; and it is laid on my heart to warn you of these now. For the\nsake of our own personal hold on Jesus Christ, for the sake of our\nprogress in the knowledge of His truth, and for the sake of the very\nwork which some of us count so precious, there is need that we shall\nbetake ourselves to that still communion. The stream that is to water\nhalf a continent must rise high in the lonely hills, and be fed by many\na mountain rill in the solitude, and the men who are to keep the\nfreshness of their Christian zeal, and of the consecration which they\nwill ever feel is being worn away by the attrition even of faithful\nservice, can only renew and refresh it by resorting again to the\nMaster, and imitating Him who prepared Himself for a day of teaching in\nthe Temple by a night of communion on the Mount of Olives.\n\nFurther, there is here a lesson of tolerance for us all. Practical men\nare always disposed, as I said, to force everybody else into their\ngroove. Martha is always disposed to think that Mary is idle when she\nis 'sitting at Christ's feet,' and wants to have her come into the\nkitchen and help her there. The eye which sees must not say to the hand\nwhich toils, nor the hand to the eye, 'I have no need of thee.' There\nare men who cannot think much; there are men who cannot work much.\nThere are men whom God has chosen for diligent external service; there\nare men whom God has chosen for solitary retired musing; and we cannot\ndispense with either the one or the other. Did not John Bunyan do more\nfor the world when he was shut up in Bedford Gaol and dreamed his dream\nthan by all his tramping about Bedfordshire, preaching to a handful of\ncottagers? And has not the Christian literature of the prison, which\nincludes three at least of Paul's Epistles, proved of the greatest\nservice and most precious value to the Church?\n\nWe need all to listen to the voice which says, 'Come ye apart by\nyourselves into a solitary place, and rest awhile.' Work is good, but\nthe foundation of work is better. Activity is good, but the life which\nis the basis of activity is even more. There is plenty of so-called\nChristian work to-day which I fear me is not life but mechanism; has\nslipped off its original foundations, and is, therefore, powerless. Let\nus tolerate the forms of service least like our own, not seek to force\nother men into our paths nor seek to imitate them. Let Peter flame in\nthe van, and beard high priests, and stir and fight; and let John sit\nin his quiet horns, caring for his Lord's mother, and holding\nfellowship with his Lord's Spirit.\n\nIII. Lastly, we have here the lesson of patient acquiescence in\nChrist's undisclosed will.\n\nThe error into which the brethren of the Apostle fell as to the meaning\nof the Lord's words was a very natural one, especially when taken with\nthe commentary which John's unusually protracted life seemed to append\nto it. We know that that belief lingered long after the death of the\nApostle; and that legends, like the stories that are found in many\nnations of heroes that have disappeared, but are sleeping in some\nmountain recess, clustered round John's grave; over which the earth was\nfor many a century believed to heave and fall with his gentle breathing.\n\nJohn did not know exactly what his Master meant. He would not venture\nupon a counter-interpretation. Perhaps his brethren were right, he does\nnot know; perhaps they were wrong, he does not know. One thing he is\nquite sure of, that what his Master said was: '_If_ I will that he\ntarry.' And he acquiesces quietly in the certainty that it shall be as\nhis Master wills; and, in the uncertainty what that will is, he says in\neffect: 'I do not know, and it does not much matter. If I am to go to\nfind Him, well! If He is to come to find me, well again! Whichever way\nit be, I know that the patient tarrying here will lead to a closer\ncommunion hereafter, and so I leave it all in His hands.'\n\nDear brethren! that is a blessed state that you and I may come to; a\nstate of quiet submission, not of indifference but of acquiescence in\nthe undisclosed will of our loving Christ about all matters, and about\nthis alternative of life or death amongst the rest. The soul that has\nhad communion with Jesus Christ amidst the imperfections here will be\nable to refer all the mysteries and problems of its future to Him with\nunshaken confidence. For union with Him carries with it the assurance\nof its own perpetuity, and 'in its sweetness yieldeth proof that it was\nborn for immortality.' The Psalmist learned to say, 'Thou shalt\nafterward receive me to glory,' because he could say, 'I am continually\nwith Thee.' And in like manner we may all rise from the experience of\nthe present to confidence in that immortal future. Death with his\n'abhorred shears' cuts other close ties, but their edge turns on the\nknot that binds the soul to its Saviour. He who has felt the power of\ncommunion with the ever-living Christ cannot but feel that such union\nmust be for ever, and that because Christ lives, and as long as Christ\nlives, he will live also.\n\nTherefore, to the soul thus abiding in Christ that alternative of life\nor death which looms so large to us when we have not Christ with us,\nwill dwindle down into very small dimensions. If I live there will be\nwork for me to do here, and His love to possess; if I die there will be\nwork for me to do there too, and His love to possess in still more\nabundant measure. So it will not be difficult for such a soul to leave\nthe decision of this as of all other things with the Lord of life and\ndeath, and to lie acquiescent in His gracious hands. That calm\nacceptance of His will and patience with Christ's '_If_' is the reward\nof tarrying in silent communion with Him.\n\nMy dear friend! has death to you dwindled to a very little thing? Can\nyou say that you are quite sure that it will not touch your truest\nself? Are you able to leave the alternative in His hands, content with\nHis decision and content with the uncertainty that wraps His decision?\nCan you say,\n\n  'Lord! It belongs not to my care,\n  Whether I die or live'?\n\nThe answer to these questions is involved in the answer to the\nother:--Have you trusted your sinful soul for salvation to Jesus\nChrist, and are you drawing from Him a life which bears fruit in glad\nservice and in patient communion? Then it will not much matter whether\nyou are in heaven or on earth, for in both places and states the\nessence of your life will be the same, your Companion one, and your\nwork identical. If it be 'Christ' for me to live it will be 'gain' for\nme to die.\n\n\n\nEND OF VOL. III.","title":"Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":127802}