,expositions of ,holy ,scriptures by ,alexander ,maclaren1 ,d4 ,d41 ,litt4 ,d4 ,,st4 ,,john ,vols4 ,i and ,,ii ,contents ,,the ,,word ,,in ,,eternity1 ,,in ,,the ,,world1 ,,and ,,in ,,the ,,flesh 7,john i4 #a-ad7 ,,the ,,light ,,and ,,the ,,lamps 7,john i4 #h2 v4 #ce7 ',,three ,,tabernacles' 7,john i4 #ad2 ,rev4 vii4 #ae2 xxi4 #c7 ,,the ,,fulness ,,of ,,christ 7,john i4 #af7 ,,grace ,,and ,,truth 7,john i4 #ag7 ,,the ,,world',s ,,sin-,,bearer 7,john i4 #bi7 ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,i4 ,,john ,,and ,,andrew 7,john i4 #cg-ci7 ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,,ii4 ,,simon ,,peter 7,john i4 #dj-db7 ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,,iii4 ,,philip 7,john i4 #dc7 ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,,iv4 ,,nathanael 7,john i4 #de-di7 ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,v4 ,,believing ,,and ,,seeing 7,john i4 #ej1 #ea7 ,,jesus ,,the ,,joy-,,bringer 7,john ii4 #a-aa7 ,,the ,,first ,,miracle ,,in ,,cana--,,the ,,water ,,made ,,wine 7,john ii4 #aa7 ,,christ ,,cleansing ,,the ,,temple 7,john ii4 #af7 ,,the ,,destroyers ,,and ,,the ,,restorer 7,john ii4 #ai7 ,,teacher ,,or ,,saviour8 7,john iii4 #b7 ,,wind ,,and ,,spirit 7,john iii4 #h7 ,,the ,,brazen ,,serpent 7,john iii4 #ad7 ,,christ',s ,,musts 7,john iii4 #ad7 ,,the ,,lake ,,and ,,the ,,river 7,john iii4 #af7 ,,the ,,wearied ,,christ 7,john iv4 #f1 #cb7 ',,give ,,me ,,to ,,drink' 7,john iv4 #g1 #bf7 ,,the ,,gift ,,and ,,the ,,giver 7,john iv4 #aj7 ,,the ,,springing ,,fountain 7,john iv4 #ad7 ,,the ,,second ,,miracle 7,john iv4 #ed7 ,,the ,,third ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel 7,john v1 #h7 ,,the ,,life-,,giver ,,and ,,judge 7,john v4 #ag-bg7 ,,the ,,fourth ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel 7,john vi4 #aa7 ',,fragments' ,,or ',,broken ,,pieces' 7,john vi4 #ab7 ,,the ,,fifth ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel 7,john vi4 #ai1 #bj7 ,,how ,,to ,,work ,,the ,,work ,,of ,,god 7,john vi4 #bh1 #bi7 ,,the ,,manna 7,john vi4 #dh-ej7 ,,one ,,saying ,,with ,,two ,,meanings 7,john vii4 #cc1 #cd2 xiii4 #cc7 ,,the ,,rock ,,and ,,the ,,water 7,john vii4 #cg1 #ch7 ,,the ,,light ,,of ,,the ,,world 7,john viii4 #ab7 ,,three ,,aspects ,,of ,,faith 7,john viii4 #cj1 #ca7 ',,never ,,in ,,bondage' 7,john viii4 #cc7 ,,one ,,metaphor ,,and ,,two ,,meanings 7,john ix4 #d2 ,romans xiii4 #ab7 ,,the ,,sixth ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel--,,the ,,blind ,,made ,,to ,,see1 ,,and ,,the ,,seeing ,,made ,,blind 7,john ix4 #f1g7 ,,the ,,gifts ,,to ,,the ,,flock 7,john x4 #i7 ,,the ,,good ,,shepherd 7,john x4 #ad1 #ae7 ',,other ,,sheep' 7,john x4 #af ,r4,v47 ,,the ,,delays ,,of ,,love 7,john xi4 #e1 #f7 ,,christ',s ,,question ,,to ,,each 7,john xi4 #bf1 #bg7 ,,the ,,open ,,grave ,,at ,,bethany 7,john xi4 #cj-de7 ,,the ,,seventh ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel--,,the ,,raising ,,of ,,lazarus 7,john xi4 #dc1 #dd7 ,,caiaphas 7,john xi4 #di1 #ej7 ,,love',s ,,prodigality ,,censured ,,and ,,vindicated 7,john xii4 #a-al7 ,a ,,new ,,kind ,,of ,,king 7,john xii4 #ab-bf7 ,,after ,,christ3 ,,with ,,christ 7,john xii4 #bf7 ,,the ,,universal ,,magnet 7,john xii4 #cb7 ,,the ,,son ,,of ,,man 7,john xii4 #cd7 ,a ,,parting ,,warning 7,john xii4 #ce1 #cf ,r ,v47 ,,the ,,love ,,of ,,the ,,departing ,,christ 7,john xiii4 #a7 ,,the ,,servant-,,master 7,john xiii4 #c-e7 ,,the ,,dismissal ,,of ,,judas 7,john xiii4 #bg7 ,,the ,,glory ,,of ,,the ,,cross 7,john xiii4 #ca1 #cb7 ,,cannot ,,and ,,can 7,john xiii4 #cc7 ,,seeking ,,jesus 7,john xiii4 #cc7 ',,as ,i ,,have ,,loved' 7,john xiii4 #cd1 #ce7 ',,quo ,,vadis8' 7,john xiii4 #cg1 #ch7 ,a ,,rash ,,vow 7,john xiii4 #ch7 ,,faith ,,in ,,god ,,and ,,christ 7,john xiv4 #a7 ',,many ,,mansions' 7,john xiv4 #b7 ,,the ,,forerunner 7,john xiv4 #b1 #c7 ,,the ,,way 7,john xiv4 #d-g7 ,,the ,,true ,,vision ,,of ,,god 7,john xiv4 #h-aa7 ,,christ',s ,,works ,,and ,,ours 7,john xiv4 #ab-ad7 ,,love ,,and ,,obedience 7,john xiv4 #ae7 ,,the ,,comforter ,,given 7,john xiv4 #af1 #ag7 ,,the ,,absent ,,present ,,christ 7,john xiv4 #ah1 #ai7 ,,the ,,gifts ,,of ,,the ,,present ,,christ 7,john xiv4 #bj1 #ba7 ,,who ,,bring ,,christ 7,john xiv4 #bb-bd7 ,,the ,,teacher ,,spirit 7,john xiv4 #be1 #bf7 ,,christ',s ,,peace 7,john xiv4 #bg7 ,,joy ,,and ,,faith1 ,,the ,,fruits ,,of ,,christ',s ,,departure 7,john xiv4 #bh1 #bi7 ,,christ ,,foreseeing ,,his ,,passion 7,john xiv4 #cj1 #ca7 ,,the ,,word ,,in ,,eternity1 ,,in ,,the ,,world1 ,,and ,,in ,,the ,,flesh ',in the beginning was the ,word1 and the ,word was with ,god1 and the ,word was ,god4 #b4 ,the same was in the beginning with ,god4 #c4 ,all things were made by ,him2 and without ,him was not any thing made that was made4 #d4 ,in ,him was life2 and the life was the light of men4 #e4 ,and the light shineth in darkness2 and the darkness comprehended it not4 #f4 ,there was a man sent from ,god1 whose name was ,john4 #g4 ,the same came for a witness1 to bear witness of the ,light1 that all men through him might believe4 #h4 ,he was not that ,light1 but was sent to bear witness of that ,light4 #i4 ,that was the true ,light1 which lighteth every man that cometh into the world4 #aj4 ,he was in the world1 and the world was made by ,him1 and the world knew ,him not4 #aa4 ,he came unto ,his own1 and ,his own received ,him not4 #ab4 ,but as many as received ,him1 to them gave ,he power to become the sons of ,god1 even to them that believe on ,his name3 #ac4 ,which were born1 not of blood1 nor of the will of the flesh1 nor of the will of man1 but of ,god4 #ad4 ,and the ,word was made flesh1 and dwelt among us1 7and we beheld ,his glory1 the glory as of the only-begotten of the ,father17 full of grace and truth4'--,,john i4 #a-ad4 ,the other ,gospels begin with ,bethlehem2 ,john begins with 'the bosom of the ,father4' ,luke dates his narrative by ,roman emperors and ,jewish high-priests2 ,john dates his 'in the beginning4' ,to attempt adequate exposition of these verses in our narrow limits is absurd2 we can only note the salient points of this1 the profoundest page in the ,new ,testament4 ,the threefold utterance in verse #a carries us into the depths of eternity1 before time or creatures were4 ,genesis and ,john both start from 'the beginning1' but1 while ,genesis works downwards from that point and tells what followed1 ,john works upwards and tells what preceded--if we may use that term in speaking of what lies beyond time4 ,time and creatures came into being1 and1 when they began1 the ,word 'was4' ,surely no form of speech could more emphatically declare absolute1 uncreated being1 outside the limits of time4 ,clearly1 too1 no interpretation of these words fathoms their depth1 or makes worthy sense1 which does not recognise that the ,word is a person4 ,the second clause of verse #a asserts the eternal communion of the ,word with ,god4 ,the preposition employed means accurately 'towards1' and expresses the thought that in the ,word there was motion or tendency towards1 and not merely association with1 ,god4 ,it points to reciprocal1 conscious communion1 and the active going out of love in the direction of ,god4 ,the last clause asserts the community of essence1 which is not inconsistent with distinction of persons1 and makes the communion of active ,love possible2 for none could1 in the depths of eternity1 dwell with and perfectly love and be loved by ,god1 except one who ,himself was ,god4 ,verse #a stands apart as revealing the pretemporal and essential nature of the ,word4 ,in it the deep ocean of the divine nature is partially disclosed1 though no created eye can either plunge to discern its depths or travel beyond our horizon to its boundless1 shoreless extent4 ,the remainder of the passage deals with the majestic march of the self-revealing ,word through creation1 and illumination of humanity1 up to the climax in the ,incarnation4 ,john repeats the substance of verse #a in verse #b1 apparently in order to identify the ,agent of creation with the august person whom he has disclosed as filling eternity4 ,by ,him creation was effected1 and1 because ,he was what verse #a has declared ,him to be1 therefore was it effected by ,him4 ,observe the three steps marked in three consecutive verses4 ',all things were made by ,him'2 literally 'became1' where the emergence into existence of created things is strongly contrasted with the divine 'was' of verse #a4 ',through ,him' declares that the ,word is the agent of creation2 'without ,him' 7literally1 'apart from ,him'7 declares that created things continue in existence because ,he communicates it to them4 ,man is the highest of these 'all things1' and verse #d sets forth the relation of the ,word to ,him1 declaring that 'life1' in all the width and height of its possible meanings1 inheres in ,him1 and is communicated by ,him1 with its distinguishing accompaniment1 in human nature1 of light1 whether of reason or of conscience4 ,so far1 ,john has been speaking as from the upper or divine side1 but in verse #e he speaks from the under or human1 and shows us how the self-revelation of the ,word has1 by some mysterious necessity1 been conflict4 ,the 'darkness' was not made by ,him1 but it is there1 and the beams of the light have to contend with it4 ,something alien must have come in1 some catastrophe have happened1 that the light should have to stream into a region of darkness4 ,john takes 'the ,fall' for granted1 and in verse #e describes the whole condition of things1 both within and beyond the region of special revelation4 ,the shining of the light is continuous1 but the darkness is obstinate4 ,it is the tragedy and crime of the world that the darkness will not have the light4 ,it is the long-suffering mercy of ,god that the light repelled is not extinguished1 but shines meekly on4 ,verses #f-ac deal with the historical appearance of the ,word4 ,the ,forerunner is introduced1 as in the other ,gospels2 and1 significantly enough1 this ,evangelist calls him only ',john1'--omitting 'the ,baptist1' as was very natural to him1 the other ,john1 who would feel less need for distinguishing the two than others did4 ,the subordinate office of a witness to the light is declared positively and negatively1 and the dignity of such a function is implied4 ,to witness to the light1 and to be the means of leading men to believe1 was honour for any man4 ,the limited office of the ,forerunner serves as contrast to the transcendent lustre of the true ,light4 ,the meaning of verse #i may be doubtful1 but verses #aj and #aa clearly refer to the historical manifestation of the ,word1 and probably verse #i does so too4 ,possibly1 however1 it rather points to the inner revelation by the ,word1 which is the 'light of men4' ,in that case the phrase 'that cometh into the world' would refer to 'every man1' whereas it is more natural in this context to refer it to 'the light1' and to see in the verse a reference to the illumination of humanity consequent on the appearance of ,jesus ,christ4 ,the use of 'world' and 'came' in verses #aj and #aa points in that direction4 ,verse #i represents the ,word as 'coming'2 verse #aj regards ,him as come--',he was in the world4' ,note the three clauses1 so like1 and yet so unlike the august three in verse #a4 ,note the sad issue of the coming--',the world knew ,him not4' ,in that 'world' there was one place where ,he might have looked for recognition1 one set of people who might have been expected to hail ,him2 but not only the wide world was blind 7'knew not'71 but the narrower circle of ',his own' fought against what they knew to be light 7'received not'74 ,but the rejection was not universal1 and ,john proceeds to develop the blessed consequences of receiving the light4 ,for the first time he speaks the great word 'believe4' ,the act of faith is the condition or means of 'receiving4' ,it is the opening of the mental eye for the light to pour in4 ,we possess ,jesus in the measure of our faith4 ,the object of faith is ',his name1' which means1 not this or that collocation of letters by which ,he is designated1 but ,his whole self-revelation4 ,the result of such faith is 'the right to become children of ,god1' for through faith in the only-begotten ,son we receive the communication of a divine life which makes us1 too1 sons4 ,that new life1 with its consequence of sonship1 does not belong to human nature as received from parents1 but is a gift of ,god mediated through faith in the ,light who is the ,word4 ,verse #ad is not mere repetition of the preceding1 but advances beyond it in that it declares the wonder of the way by which that divine ,word did enter into the world4 ,john here1 as it were1 draws back the curtain1 and shows us the transcendent miracle of divine love1 for which he has been preparing in all the preceding4 ,note that he has not named 'the ,word' since verse #a1 but here he again uses the majestic expression to bring out strongly the contrast between the ante-temporal glory and the historical lowliness4 ,these four words1 ',the ,word became flesh1' are the foundation of all our knowledge of ,god1 of man1 of the relations between them1 the foundation of all our hopes1 the guarantee of all our peace1 the pledge of all blessedness4 ',he tabernacled among us4' ,as the divine glory of old dwelt between the cherubim1 so ,jesus is among men the true ,temple1 wherein we see a truer glory than that radiant light which filled the closed chamber of the holy of holies4 ,rapturous remembrances rose before the ,apostle as he wrote1 ',we beheld ,his glory'2 and he has told us what he has beheld and seen with his eyes1 that we also may have fellowship with him in beholding4 ,the glory that shone from the ,incarnate ,word was no menacing or dazzling light4 ,he and it were 'full of grace and truth1' perfect ,love bending to inferiors and sinners1 with hands full of gifts and a heart full of tenderness and the revelation of reality1 both as regards ,god and man4 ,his grace bestows all that our lowness needs1 ,his truth teaches all that our ignorance requires4 ,all our gifts and all our knowledge come from the ,incarnate ,word1 in whom believing we are the children of ,god4 ,,the ,,light ,,and ,,the ,,lamps ',he was not that ,light1 but was sent to bear witness of that ,light4'--,,john i4 #h4 ',he was a burning and a shining light2 and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in ,his light4'--,,john v4 #ce4 ,my two texts both refer to ,john the ,baptist4 ,one of them is the ,evangelist's account of him1 the other is our ,lord's eulogium upon him4 ,the latter of my texts1 as the ,revised ,version shows1 would be more properly rendered1 ',he was a lamp' rather than ',he was a light1' and the contrast between the two words1 the 'light' and 'the lamps1' is my theme4 ,i gather all that ,i would desire to say into three points3 'that ,light' and its witnesses2 the underived ,light and the kindled lamps2 the undying ,light and the lamps that go out4 ,i4 ,first of all1 then1 the contrast suggested to us is between 'that ,light' and its witnesses4 ,john1 in that profound prologue which is the deepest part of ,scripture1 and lays firm and broad in the depths the foundation-stones of a reasonable faith1 draws the contrast between 'that ,light' and them whose business it was to bear witness to it4 ,as for the former1 ,i cannot here venture to dilate upon the great1 and to me absolutely satisfying and fundamental1 thoughts that lie in these eighteen first verses of this ,gospel4 ',the ,word was with ,god1' and that ,word was the ,agent of ,creation1 the ,fountain of ,life1 the ,source of the ,light which is inseparable from all human life4 ,john goes back1 with the simplicity of a child's speech1 which yet is deeper than all philosophies1 to a ,beginning1 far anterior to 'the ,beginning' of which ,genesis speaks1 and declares that before creation that ,light shone2 and he looks out over the whole world1 and declares1 that before and beyond the limits of the historical manifestation of the ,word in the flesh1 its beams spread over the whole race of man4 ,but they are all focussed1 if ,i may so speak1 and gathered to a point which burns as well as illuminates1 in the historical manifestation of ,jesus ,christ in the flesh4 ',that was the true ,light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world4' ,next1 he turns to the highest honour and the most imperative duty laid1 not only upon mighty men and officials1 but upon all on whose happy eyeballs this ,light has shone1 and into whose darkened hearts the joy and peace and purity of it have flowed1 and he says1 ',he was sent'--and they are sent--'to bear witness of that ,light4' ,it is the noblest function that a man can discharge4 ,it is a function that is discharged by the very existence through the ages of a community which1 generation after generation1 subsists1 and generation after generation manifests in varying degrees of brightness1 and with various modifications of tint1 the same light4 ,there is the family character in all true ,christians1 with whatever diversities of idiosyncrasies1 and national life or ecclesiastical distinctions4 ,whether it be ,francis of ,assisi or ,john ,wesley1 whether it be ,thomas a ,kempis or ,george ,fox1 the light is one that shines through these many-coloured panes of glass1 and the living ,church is the witness of a living ,lord1 not only before it1 and behind it1 and above it1 but living in it4 ,they are 'light' because they are irradiated by ,him4 ,they are 'light' because they are 'in the ,lord4' ,but not only by the fact of the existence of such a community is the witness-bearing effected1 but it comes as a personal obligation1 with immense weight of pressure and immense possibilities of joy in the discharge of it1 to every ,christian man and woman4 ,what1 then1 is the witness that we all are bound to bear1 and shall bear if we are true to our obligations and to our ,lord8 ,mainly1 dear brethren1 the witness of experience4 ,that a ,christian man shall be able to stand up and say1 ',i know this because ,i live it1 and ,i testify to ,jesus ,christ because ,i for myself have found ,him to be the life of my life1 the ,light of all my seeing1 the joy of my heart1 my home1 and my anchorage'--that is the witness that is impregnable4 ,and there is no better sign of the trend of ,christian thought to-day than the fact that the testimony of experience is more and more coming to be recognised by thoughtful men and writers as being the sovereign attestation of the reality of the ,light4 ',i see'2 that is the proof that light has touched my eyeballs4 ,and when a man can contrast1 as some of us can1 our present vision with our erstwhile darkness1 then the evidence1 like that of the sturdy blind man in the ,gospels1 who had nothing to say in reply to the subtleties and ,rabbinical traps and puzzles but only ',i was blind2 now ,i see'--his experience is likely to have the effect that it had in another miracle of healing3 ',beholding the man which was healed standing amongst them1 they could say nothing against it4' ,i should think they could not4 ,but there is one thing that will always characterise the true witnesses to that ,light1 and that is self-suppression4 ,remember the beautiful1 immovable humility of the ,baptist about whom these texts were spoken3 ',what sayest thou of thyself8' ',i am a ,voice1' that is all4 ',art thou that ,prophet8' ',no6' ',art thou the ,christ8' ',no6 ,i am nothing but a ,voice4' ,and remember how1 when ,john's disciples tried to light the infernal fires of jealousy in his quiet heart by saying1 ',he whom thou didst baptise1 and to whom thou didst give witness'--,he whom thou didst start on ,his career--'is baptising1' poaching upon thy preserves1 'and all men come unto ,him1' the only answer that he gave was1 ',the friend of the ,bridegroom'--who stands by in a quiet1 dark corner--'rejoices greatly because of the ,bridegroom's voice4' ,keep yourself out of sight1 ,christian teachers and preachers2 put ,christ in the front1 and hide behind ,him4 ,,ii4 ,now let me ask you to look at the other contrast that is suggested by our other text4 ,the underived light and the kindled lamps4 ,it is possible to read the words of that second text thus--',he was a lamp kindled and 7therefore7 shining4' ,but whether that be the meaning1 or whether the usual rendering is correct1 the emblem itself carries the same thought1 for a lamp must be lit by contact with a light1 and must be fed with oil1 if its flame is to be sustained4 ,and so the very metaphor-whatever the force of the ambiguous word--in its eloquent contrast between the ,light and the lamp1 suggests this thought1 that the one is underived1 self-fed1 and therefore undying1 and that the other owes all its flame to the touch of that uncreated ,light1 and burns brightly only on condition of its keeping up the contact with ,him1 and being fed continually from ,his stores of radiance4 ,i need not say more than a word with regard to the former member of that contrast suggested here4 ,that unlit ,light derives its brilliancy1 according to the ,scriptural teaching1 from nothing but its divine union with the ,father4 ,so that long before there were eyes to see1 there was the eradiation and outshining of the ,father's glory4 ,i do not enter into these depths1 but this ,i would say1 that what is called the 'originality' of ,jesus is only explained when we reverently see in that unique life the shining through a pure humanity1 as through a sheet of alabaster1 of that underived1 divine ,light4 ,jesus is an insoluble problem to men who will not see in ,him the ,eternal ,light which 'in the beginning was with ,god4' ,you find in ,him no trace of gradual acquisition of knowledge1 or of arguing or feeling ,his way to ,his beliefs4 ,you find in ,him no trace of consciousness of a great horizon of darkness encompassing the region where ,he sees light4 ,you find in ,him no trace of a recognition of other sources from which ,he has drawn any portion of ,his light4 ,you find in ,him the distinct declaration that ,his relation to truth is not the relation of men who learn1 and grow1 and acquire1 and know in part2 for1 says ,he1 ',i am the ,truth4' ,he stands apart from us all1 and above us all1 in that ,he owes ,his radiance to none1 and can dispense it to every man4 ,the question which the puzzled ,jews asked about ,him1 ',how knoweth this ,man letters1 having never learned8' may be widened out to all the characteristics of ,his human life4 ,to me the only answer is3 ',thou art the ,king of glory1 ,o ,christ6 ,thou art the ,everlasting ,son of the ,father4' ,dependent on ,him are the little lights which ,he has lit1 and in the midst of which ,he walks4 ,union with ,jesus ,christ--'that ,light'--is the condition of all human light4 ,that is true over all regions1 as ,i believe4 ',the inspiration of the ,almighty giveth understanding4' ,the candle of the ,lord shines in every man1 and 'that true ,light lighteth every man that cometh into the world4' ,thinker1 student1 scientist1 poet1 author1 practical man--all of them are lit from the uncreated ,source1 and all of them1 if they understand their own nature1 would say1 ',in ,thy light do we see ,light4' ,but especially is this great thought true and exemplified within the limits of the ,christian life4 ,for the ,christian to be touched with ,christ's ,promethean finger is to flame into light4 ,and the condition of continuing to shine is to continue the contact which first illuminated4 ,a break in the contact1 of a finger's breadth1 is as effectual as one of a mile4 ,let ,christian men and women1 if they would shine1 remember1 ',ye are light in the ,lord'2 and if we stray1 and get without the circle of the ,light1 we pass into darkness1 and ourselves cease to shine4 ,brethren1 it is threadbare truth1 that the condition of ,christian vitality and radiance is close and unbroken contact with ,jesus ,christ1 the ,source of all light4 ,threadbare2 but if we lived as if we believed it1 the ,church would be revolutionised and the world illuminated2 and many a smoking wick would flash up into a blazing torch4 ,let ,christian people remember that the words of my text define no special privilege or duty of any official or man of special endowments1 but that to all of us has been said1 ',ye are ,my witnesses1' and to all of us is offered the possibility of being 'burning and shining lights' if we keep ourselves close to that ,light4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 the second of my texts suggests--the contrast between the ,undying ,light and the lamps that go out4 ',for a season ye were willing to rejoice in ,his light4' ,there is nothing in the present condition of the civilised and educated world more remarkable and more difficult for some people to explain than the contrast between the relation which ,jesus ,christ bears to the present age1 and the relation which all other great names in the past--philosophers1 poets1 guides of men--bear to it4 ,there is nothing in the world the least like the vividness1 the freshness1 the closeness1 of the personal relation which thousands and thousands of people1 with common sense in their heads1 bear to that ,man who died nineteen hundred years ago4 ,all others pass1 sooner or later1 into the darkness4 ,thickening mists of oblivion1 fold by fold1 gather round the brightest names4 ,but here is ,jesus ,christ1 whom all classes of thinkers and social reformers have to reckon with to-day1 who is a living power amongst the trivialities of the passing moment1 and in whose words and in the teaching of whose life serious men feel that there lie undeveloped yet1 and certainly not yet put into practice1 principles which are destined to revolutionise society and change the world4 ,and how does that come8 ,i am not going to enter upon that question2 ,i only ask you to think of the contrast between ,his position1 in this generation1 to communities and individuals1 and the position of all other great names which lie in the past4 ,why1 it does not take more than a lifetime such as mine1 for instance1 to remember how the great lights that shone seventy years ago in ,english thinking and in ,english literature1 have for the most part gone out1 and what we young men thought to be bright particular stars1 this new generation pooh-poohs as mere exhalations from the marsh or twinkling and uncertain tapers1 and you will find their books in the twopenny-box at the bookseller's door4 ,a cynical diplomatist1 in one of our modern dramas1 sums it up1 after seeing the death of a revolutionary1 ',i have known eight leaders of revolts4' ,and some of us could say1 ',we have known about as many guides of men who have been forgotten and passed away4' ',his ,name shall endure for ever4 ,his name shall continue as long as the sun1 and men shall be blessed in ,him2 all generations shall call ,him blessed4' ,even ,shelley had the prophecy forced from him-- ',the moon of ,mahomet ,arose and it shall set1 ,while blazoned as on heaven's eternal noon1 ,the ,cross leads generations on4' ,we may sum up the contrast between the undying ,light and the lamps that go out in the old words3 ',they truly were many1 because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death1 but this ,man1 because ,he continueth ever''' is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto ,god through ,him4' ,so1 brethren1 when lamps are quenched1 let us look to the ,light4 ,when our own lives are darkened because our household light is taken from its candlestick1 let us lift up our hearts and hopes to ,him that abideth for ever4 ,do not let us fall into the folly1 and commit the sin1 of putting our heart's affections1 our spirit's trust1 upon any that can pass and that must change4 ,we need a ,person whom we can clasp1 and who never will glide from our hold4 ,we need a ,light uncreated1 self-fed1 eternal4 ',whilst ye have the ,light1 believe in the ,light1 that ye may be the children of light4' ',,three ,,tabernacles' ',the ,word ''' dwelt among us4'--,,john i4 #ad4 '''' ,he that sitteth on the ,throne shall dwell among them4'--,,rev4 vii4 #ae4 '''' ,behold1 the ,tabernacle of ,god is with men1 and ,he will dwell with them4'--,,rev4 xxi4 #c4 ,the word rendered 'dwelt' in these three passages1 is a peculiar one4 ,it is only found in the ,new ,testament--in this ,gospel and in the ,book of ,revelation4 ,that fact constitutes one of the many subtle threads of connection between these two books1 which at first sight seem so extremely unlike each other2 and it is a morsel of evidence in favour of the common authorship of the ,gospel and of the ,apocalypse1 which has often1 and very vehemently in these latter days of criticism1 been denied4 ,the force of the word1 however1 is the matter to which ,i desire especially to draw attention4 ,it literally means 'to dwell in a tent1' or1 if we may use such a word1 'to tabernacle1' and there is no doubt a reference to the ,tabernacle in which the divine ,presence abode in the wilderness and in the land of ,israel before the erection4 ,in all three passages1 then1 we may see allusion to that early symbolical dwelling of ,god with man4 ',the ,word tabernacled among us'2 so is the truth for earth and time4 ',he that sitteth upon the throne shall spread ,his tabernacle upon' the multitude which no man can number1 who have made their robes white in the blood of the ,lamb2 that is the truth for the spirits of just men made perfect1 the waiting ,church1 which expects the redemption of the body4 ',god shall tabernacle with them'2 that is the truth for the highest condition of humanity1 when the ,tabernacle of ,god shall be with redeemed men in the new earth4 ',let us build three tabernacles1' one for the ,incarnate ,christ1 one for the interspace between earth and heaven1 and one for the culmination of all things4 ,and it is to these three aspects of the one thought1 set forth in rude symbol by the movable tent in the wilderness1 that ,i ask you to turn now4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 we have to think of that ,tabernacle for earth4 ',the ,word was made flesh1 and dwelt1 as in a tent1 amongst us4' ,the human nature1 the visible1 material body of ,jesus ,christ1 in which there enshrined itself the everlasting ,word1 which from the beginning was the ,agent of all divine revelation1 that is the true ,temple of ,god4 ,when we begin to speak about the special presence of ,omnipresence in any one place1 we soon lose ourselves1 and get into deep waters of glory1 where there is no standing4 ,and ,i do not care to deal here with theological definitions or thorny questions1 but simply to set forth1 as the language of my text sets before us1 that one transcendent1 wonderful1 all-blessed thought that this poor human nature is capable of1 and has really once in the history of the world received into itself1 the real1 actual presence of the whole fulness of the ,divinity4 ,what must be the kindred and likeness between ,godhood and manhood when into the frail vehicle of our humanity that wondrous treasure can be poured2 when the fire of ,god can burn in the bush of our human nature1 and that nature not be consumed8 ,so it has been4 ',in ,him dwelleth all the fulness of the ,godhead bodily4' ,and when we come with our questions1 ,how8 ,in what manner8 ,how can the lesser contain the greater8 we have to be content with the recognition that the manner is beyond our fathoming1 and to accept the fact1 pressed upon our faith1 that our hearts may grasp it and be at peace4 ,god hath dwelt in humanity4 ,the everlasting ,word1 who is the forthcoming of all the fulness of ,deity into the realm of finite creatures1 was made flesh and dwelt among us4 ,but the ,tabernacle was not only the dwelling-place of ,god1 it was also and1 therefore1 the place of ,revelation of ,god4 ,so in our text there follows1 'we beheld ,his glory4' ,as in the tent in the wilderness there hovered between the outstretched wings of the silent cherubim1 above the ,mercy-seat1 the brightness of the symbolical cloud which was expressly named 'the glory of ,god1' and was the visible manifestation of ,his real presence2 so ,john would have us think that in that lowly humanity1 with its curtains and its coverings of flesh1 there lay shrined in the inmost place the brightness of the light of the manifest glory of ,god4 ',we beheld ,his glory4' ,the rapturous adoration of the remembrance overcomes him1 and he breaks his sentence1 reckless of grammatical connection1 as the fulness of the blessed memory floods into his soul4 ',that glory was as of the ,only ,begotten of the ,father4' ,the manifestation of ,god in ,christ is unique1 as becomes ,him who partakes of the nature of that ,god of whom ,he is the ,representative and the ,revealer4 ,and how did that glory make itself known to us8 ,by miracle8 ,yes6 ,as we read in the story of the first that ,christ wrought1 ',he manifested forth ,his glory and ,his disciples believed upon ,him4' ,by miracle8 ,yes6 ,as we read ,his own promise at the grave of ,lazarus3 ',said ,i not unto thee1 that1 if thou wouldest believe1 thou shouldest see the glory of ,god8' ,but1 blessed be ,his name1 miracle is not the highest manifestation of ,christ's glory and of ,god's4 ,the uniqueness of the revelation of ,christ's glory in ,god does not depend upon the deeds which ,he wrought4 ,for1 as the context goes on to tell1 the ,word which tabernacled among us was 'full of grace and truth1' and therein is the glory most gloriously revealed4 ,the lambent light of stooping love that shone forth warning and attracting in ,his gentle life1 and the clear white beam of unmingled truth that streamed from the radiant purity of ,christ's life1 revealed ,god to hearts that pine for love and spirits that hunger for truth1 as no others of ,god's self-revealing works have done4 ,and that revelation of the glory of ,god in the fulness of grace and truth is the highest possible revelation4 ,for the divinest thing in ,god is love1 and the true 'glory of ,god' is neither some symbolical flashing light nor the pomp of mere power and majesty2 nor even those inconceivable and incommunicable attributes which we christen with names like ,omnipotence and ,omnipresence and ,infinitude1 and the like4 ,these are all at the fringes of the brightness4 ,the true central heart and lustrous light of the glory of ,god lie ,in ,his love1 and of that glory ,christ is the unique ,representative and ,revealer1 because ,he is the only ,begotten ,son1 and 'full of grace and truth4' ,thus the ,word tabernacled amongst us4 ,and though the ,tabernacle to outward seeming was covered by curtains and skins that hid all the glowing splendour within2 yet in that lowly life that was lived in the body of ,his humiliation1 and knew our limitations and our weaknesses1 'the glory of the ,lord was revealed2 and all flesh hath seen it together' and acknowledged the divine ,presence there4 ,still further the ,tabernacle was the place of sacrifice4 ,so in the tabernacle of ,his flesh ,jesus offered up the one sacrifice for sins for ever4 ,in the offering up of ,his human life in continuous obedience1 and in the offering up of ,his body and blood in the bitter ,passion of the ,cross1 ,he brought men nigh unto ,god4 ,therefore1 because of all these things1 because the ,tabernacle is the dwelling-place of ,god1 the place of revelation1 and the place of sacrifice1 therefore1 finally is it the meeting-place betwixt ,god and man4 ,in the ,old ,testament it is always called by the name which our ,revised ,version has accurately substituted for 'tabernacle of the congregation1' namely 'tent of meeting4' ,the correctness of that rendering and the meaning of the name are established by several passages in the ,old ,testament1 as for instance1 ',there ,i will meet with you1 to speak there unto thee1 and there ,i will meet with the children of ,israel4' ,so in ,christ1 who by ,his ,incarnation lays ,his hand upon both1 ,god touches man and man touches ,god4 ,we who are afar off are made nigh1 and in that 'true tabernacle which the ,lord pitched and not man' we meet ,god and are glad4 ',and so the word was flesh1 and wrought ,with human hands the creed of creeds1 ,in loveliness of perfect deeds4' ,the temple for earth is 'the temple of ,his body4' ,,ii4 ,we have the ,tabernacle for the ,heavens4 ,in the context of our second passage we have a vision of the great multitude redeemed out of all nations and kindreds1 'standing before the ,throne and before the ,lamb1 arrayed in white robes1 and palms in their hands4' ,the palms in their hands give important help towards understanding the vision4 ,as has been often remarked1 there are no heathen emblems in the ,book of the ,apocalypse4 ,all its metaphors move within the circle of ,jewish experiences and facts4 ,so that we are not to think of the ,roman palm of victory1 but of the ,jewish palm which was borne at the ,feast of ,tabernacles4 ,what was the ,feast of ,tabernacles8 ,a festival established on purpose to recall to the minds and to the gratitude of the ,jews settled in their own land the days of their wandering in the wilderness4 ,part of the ritual of it was that during its celebration they builded for themselves booths or tabernacles of leaves and boughs of trees1 under which they dwelt1 thus reminding themselves of their nomad condition4 ,now what beauty and power it gives to the word of my text1 if we take in this allusion to the ,jewish festival6 ,the great multitude bearing the palms are keeping the feast1 memorial of past wilderness wanderings2 and ',he that sitteth on the throne shall spread ,his tabernacle above them1' as the word might be here rendered4 ,that is to say1 ,he ,himself shall build and be the tent in which they dwell2 ,he ,himself shall dwell with them in it4 ,he ,himself1 in closer union than can be conceived of here1 shall keep them company during that feast4 ,what a thought of that condition--the condition as ,i believe represented in this vision--of the spirits of the just made perfect1 'who wait for the adoption1 to wit1 the resurrection of the body1' is given us if we take this point of view to interpret the whole lovely symbolism4 ,it is all a time of glad1 grateful remembrance of the wilderness march4 ,it is all a time in which festal joys shall be theirs1 and the memory of the trials and the weariness and the sorrow and the solitude that are past shall deepen to a more exquisite poignancy of delight1 the rest and the fellowship and the felicity of that calm ,presence1 and ,god ,himself shall spread ,his tent above them1 lodge with them1 and they with ,him4 ,and so1 dear brethren1 rest in that assurance1 that though we know so little of that state1 we know this3 ',absent from the body1 present with the ,lord1' and that the happy company who bear the palms shall dwell in ,god1 and ,god in them4 ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 look at that final vision which we have in these texts1 which we may call the ,tabernacle for the renewed earth4 ,i do not pretend to interpret the scenery and the setting of these ,apocalyptic visions with dogmatic confidence1 but it seems to me as if the emblems of this final vision coincide with dim hints in many other portions of ,scripture2 to the effect that some cosmical change having passed upon this material world in which we dwell1 it1 in some regenerated form1 shall be the final abode of a regenerated and redeemed humanity4 ,that1 ,i think1 is the natural interpretation of a great deal of ,scriptural teaching4 ,for that highest condition there is set forth this as the all-sufficing light upon it4 ',behold1 the ,tabernacle of ,god is with men1 and ,he will tabernacle with them4' ,the climax and the goal of all the divine working1 and the long processes of ,god's love for1 and discipline of1 the world1 are to be this1 that ,he and men shall abide together in unity and concord4 ,that is ,god's wish from the beginning4 ,we read in one of the profound utterances of the ,book of ,proverbs how from of old the 'delights' of the ,incarnate ,wisdom which foreshadowed the ,incarnate ,word 'were with the sons of men4' ,and1 at the close of all things1 when the vision of this final chapter shall be fulfilled1 ,god will say1 settling ,himself in the midst of a redeemed humanity1 ',lo6 here will ,i dwell1 for ,i have desired it4 ,this is ,my rest for ever4' ,he will tabernacle with men1 and men with ,him4 ,we know not1 and never shall know until experience strips the bandages from our eyes1 what new methods of participation of the divine nature1 and new possibilities of intimacy and intercourse with ,him may be ours when the veils of flesh and sense and time have all dropped away4 ,new windows may be opened in our spirits1 from which we shall perceive new aspects of the divine character4 ,new doors may be opened in our souls1 from out of which we may pass to touch parts of ,his nature1 all impalpable and inconceivable to us now4 ,and when all the veils of a discordant moral nature are taken away1 and we are pure1 then we shall see1 then we shall draw nigh to ,god4 ,the thing that chiefly separates man from ,god is man's sin4 ,when that is removed1 the centrifugal force which kept our tiny orb apart from the great central sun being withdrawn1 we shall1 as it were1 fall into the brightness and be one1 not losing our sense of individuality1 which would be to lose all the blessedness1 but united with ,him in a union far more intimate than earth can parallel4 ',the ,tabernacle of ,god shall be with men1 and ,he will tabernacle with them4' ,do not let us forget that this highest and ultimate hope that is held forth here1 of the union and communion1 perfect and perpetual1 of humanity with ,god1 does not sweep aside ,jesus ,christ4 ,for through all eternity the ,everlasting ,word1 the ,christ who bears our nature in its glorified form1 or1 rather1 whose nature in its glorified form we shall bear1 is the ,medium of ,revelation1 and the ,medium of communication between man and ,god4 ',i saw no ,temple therein1' says this final vision of the ,apocalypse1 but ',god ,almighty and the ,lamb1' and these are the ,temples thereof4 ,therefore through eternity ,god shall tabernacle with men1 as ,he does tabernacle with us now through ,him1 in whom dwelleth as in its perennial habitation1 'all the fulness of the ,godhead bodily4' ,so we have the three tabernacles1 for earth1 for heaven1 for the renewed earth2 and these three1 if ,i may say so1 are like the triple division of that ancient ,tabernacle in the wilderness3 the ,outer ,court2 the ,holy ,place2 the ,holiest of all4 ,let us enter into that outer court1 and abide and commune with that ,god who comes near to us1 revealing1 forgiving1 in the person of ,his ,son1 and then we shall pass from court to court1 'and go from strength to strength1 until every one of us in ,zion appear before ,god'2 and enter into the ,holiest of all1 where 'within the veil' we shall receive splendours of revelation undreamed of here1 and enjoy depths of communion to which the selectest moments of fellowship with ,god on earth are shallow and poor4 ,,the ,,fulness ,,of ,,christ ',and of ,his fulness have all we received1 and grace for grace4'--,,john #a4af4 ,what a remarkable claim that is which the ,apostle here makes for his ,master6 ,on the one side he sets ,his solitary figure as the universal ,giver2 on the other side are gathered the whole race of men1 recipients from ,him4 ,as in the wilderness the children of ,israel clustered round the rock from which poured out streams1 copious enough for all the thirsty camp1 ,john1 echoing his ,master's words1 ',if any man thirst1 let him come unto ,me and drink1' here declares ',of ,his fulness have all we received4' ,i4 ,notice1 then1 the one ever full ,source4 ,the words of my text refer back to those of the fourteenth verse3 ',the ,word was made flesh and dwelt among us1 full of grace and truth4' ',and of ,his fulness have all we received4' ,the 'fulness' here seems to mean that of which the ,incarnate ,word was full1 the 'grace and truth' which dwelt without measure in ,him2 the unlimited and absolute completeness and abundance of divine powers and glories which 'tabernacled' in ,him4 ,and so the language of my text1 both verbally and really1 is substantially equivalent to that of the ,apostle ,paul4 ',in ,him dwelleth all the fulness of the ,godhead bodily2 and ye are complete in ,him4' ,the whole infinite ,majesty1 and inexhaustible resources of the divine nature1 were incorporated and insphered in that ,incarnate ,word from whom all men may draw4 ,there are involved in that thought two ideas4 ,one is the unmistakable assertion of the whole fulness of the divine nature as being in the ,incarnate ,word1 and the other is that the whole fulness of the divine nature dwells in the ,incarnate ,word in order that men may get at it4 ,the words of my text go back1 as ,i said1 to the previous verse2 but notice what an advance upon that previous verse they present to us4 ,there we read1 ',we beheld ,his glory4' ,to behold is much1 but to possess is more4 ,it is much to say that ,christ comes to manifest ,god1 but that is a poor1 starved account of the purpose of ,his coming1 if that is all you have to say4 ,he comes to manifest ,him4 ,yes6 but ,he comes to communicate ,him1 not merely to dazzle us with a vision1 not merely to show us ,him as from afar1 not merely to make ,him known to understanding or to heart2 but to bestow--in no mere metaphor1 but in simple1 literal fact--the absolute possession of the divine nature4 ',we beheld ,his glory' is a reminiscence that thrills the ,evangelist1 though half a century has passed since the vision gleamed upon his eyes2 but 'of ,his fulness have all we received' is infinitely and unspeakably more4 ,and the manifestation was granted that the possession might be sure1 for this is the very centre and heart of ,christianity1 that in ,him who is ,christianity ,god is not merely made known1 but given2 not merely beheld1 but possessed4 ,in order that that divine fulness might belong to us there was needed that the ,word should be made flesh2 and there was further needed that incarnation should be crowned by sacrifice1 and that life should be perfected in death4 ,the alabaster box had to be broken before the house could be filled with the odour of the ointment4 ,if ,i may so say1 the sack1 the coarse-spun sack of ,christ's humanity1 had to be cut asunder in order that the wealth that was stored in it might be poured into our hands4 ,god came near us in the life1 but ,god became ours in the death1 of ,his dear ,son4 ,incarnation was needed for that great privilege--'we beheld ,his glory'2 but the ,crucifixion was needed in order to make possible the more wondrous prerogative3 ',of ,his fulness have all we received4' ,god gives ,himself to men in the ,christ whose life revealed and whose death imparted ,him to the world4 ,and so ,he is the sole ,source4 ,all men1 in a very real sense1 draw from ,his fulness4 ',in ,him was life1 and the life was the light of men4' ,the life of the body and the life of the spirit willing1 knowing1 loving1 all which makes life into light1 all comes to us through that everlasting ,word of ,god4 ,and when that ,word has 'become flesh and dwelt among us1' ,his gifts are not only the gifts of light and life1 which all men draw from ,him1 but the gifts of grace and truth which all those who love ,him receive at ,his hands4 ,his gifts1 like the water from some fountain1 may flow underground into many of the pastures of the wilderness2 and many a man is blessed by them who knows not from whence they come4 ,it is ,he from whom all the truth1 all the grace which illuminates and blesses humanity1 flow into all lands in all ages4 ,,ii4 ,consider1 then1 again1 the many receivers from the one ,source4 ',of ,his fulness have all we received4' ,observe1 we are not told definitely what it is that we receive4 ,if we refer back to words in a previous verse1 they may put us on the right track for answering the question1 ,what is it that we get8 ',he came unto ,his own1' says verse #aa1 'and ,his own received ,him not2 but as many as received ,him1 to them gave ,he power1' etc4 ,that answers the question1 ,what do we receive8 ,christ is more than all ,his gifts4 ,all ,his gifts are treasured up in ,him and inseparable from ,him4 ,we get ,jesus ,christ ,himself4 ,the blessings that we receive may be stated in many different ways4 ,you may say we get pardon1 purity1 hope1 joy1 the prospect of ,heaven1 power for service2 all these and a hundred more designations by which we might describe the one gift4 ,all these are but the consequences of our having got the ,christ within our hearts4 ,he does not give pardon and the rest1 as a king might give pardon and honours1 a thousand miles off1 bestowing it by a mere word1 upon some criminal1 but ,he gives all that ,he gives because ,he gives ,himself4 ,the real possession that we receive is neither more nor less than a loving ,saviour1 to enter our spirits and abide there1 and be the spirit of our spirits1 and the life of our lives4 ,then1 notice the universality of this possession4 ,john has said1 in the previous words1 ',we beheld ,his glory4' ,he refers there1 of course1 to the comparatively small circle of the eye-witnesses of our ,master's life2 who1 at the time when he wrote1 must have been very1 very few in number4 ,they had had the prerogative of seeing with their eyes and handling with their hands the ,word of life that 'was manifested unto us'2 and with that prerogative the duty of bearing witness of ,him to the rest of men4 ,but in the 'receiving1' ,john associates with himself1 and with the other eyewitnesses1 all those who had listened to their word1 and had received the truth in the love of it4 ',we beheld' refers to the narrower circle2 'we all received' to the wider sweep of the whole ,church4 ,there is no exclusive class1 no special prerogative4 ,every ,christian man1 the weakest1 the lowliest1 the most uncultured1 rude1 ignorant1 foolish1 the most besotted in the past1 who has wandered furthest away from the ,master2 whose spirit has been most destitute of all sparks of goodness and of ,god--receives from out of ,his fulness4 ',if any man have not the ,spirit of ,christ he is none of ,his4' ,and every one of us1 if we will1 may have dwelling in our hearts1 in the greatness of ,his strength1 in the sweetness of ,his love1 in the clearness of ,his illuminating wisdom1 the ,incarnate ,word1 the ,comforter1 the ,all-in-all whom 'we all receive4' ,and1 as ,i said1 that word 'all' might have even a wider extension without going beyond the limits of the truth4 ,for on the one side there stands ,christ1 the universal ,giver2 and grouped before ,him1 in all attitudes of weakness and of want1 is gathered the whole race of mankind4 ,and from ,him there pours out a stream copious enough to supply all the necessities of every human soul that lives to-day1 of every human soul that has lived in the past1 of every one that shall live in the future4 ,there is no limit to the universality except only the limit of the human will3 ',whosoever will1 let him take the water of life freely4' ,think of that solitary figure of the ,christ reared up1 as it were1 before the whole race of man1 as able to replenish all their emptiness with ,his fulness1 and to satisfy all their thirst with ,his sufficiency4 ,dear brother6 you have a great gaping void in your heart--an aching emptiness there1 which you know better than ,i can tell you4 ,look to ,him who can fill it and it shall be filled4 ,he can supply all your wants as ,he can supply all the wants of every soul of man4 ,and after generations have drawn from ,him1 the water will not have sunk one hairsbreadth in the great fountain1 but there will be enough for all coming eternities as there has been enough for all past times4 ,he is like ,his own miracle--the thousands are gathered on the grass1 they do 'all eat and are filled4' ,as their necessities required the bread was multiplied1 and at the last there was more left than there had seemed to be at the beginning4 ,so 'of ,his fulness have all we received'2 and after a universe has drawn from it1 for an ,eternity1 the fulness is not turned into scantiness or emptiness4 ,,iii4 ,and so1 lastly1 notice the continuous flow from the inexhaustible ,source4 ',of ,his fulness have all we received1 and grace for grace4' ,the word 'for' is a little singular4 ,of course it means instead of1 in exchange for2 and the ,evangelist's idea seems to be that as one supply of grace is given and used1 it is1 as it were1 given back to the ,bestower1 who substitutes for it a fresh and unused vessel1 filled with new grace4 ,he might have said1 grace upon grace2 one supply being piled upon the other4 ,but his notion is1 rather1 one supply given in substitution for the other1 'new lamps for old ones4' ,just as a careful gardener will stand over a plant that needs water1 and will pour the water on the surface until the earth has drunk it up1 and then add a little more2 so ,he gives step by step1 grace for grace1 an uninterrupted bestowal1 yet regulated according to the absorbing power of the heart that receives it4 ,underlying that great thought are two things3 the continuous communication of grace1 and the progressive communication of grace4 ,we have here the continuous communication of grace4 ,god is always pouring ,himself out upon us in ,christ4 ,there is a perpetual out flow from ,him to us3 if there is not a perpetual inflow into us from ,him it is our fault1 and not ,his4 ,he is always giving1 and ,his intention is that our lives shall be a continual reception4 ,are they8 ,how many ,christian men there are whose ,christian lives at the best are like some of those ,australian or ,siberian rivers2 in the dry season1 a pond here1 a stretch of sand1 waterless and barren there1 then another place with a drop of muddy water in some hollow1 and then another stretch of sand1 and so on4 ,why should not the ponds be linked together by a flashing stream8 ,god is always pouring ,himself out2 why do we not always take ,him in8 ,there is but one answer1 and the answer is1 that we do not fulfil the condition1 which condition is simple faith4 ',as many as received ,him1 to them gave ,he power to become the sons of ,god2 even to them that believed on ,his name4' ,faith is the condition of receiving1 and wherever there is a continuous trust there will be an unbroken grace2 and wherever there are interrupted gifts it is because there has been an intermitted trust in ,him4 ,do not let your lives be like some dimly lighted road1 with a lamp here1 and a stretch of darkness1 and then another twinkling light2 let the light run all along the side of your path1 because at every moment your heart is turning to ,christ with trust4 ,make your faith continuous1 and ,god will make ,his grace incessant1 and out of ,his fulness you will draw continual supplies of needed strength4 ,but not only have we here the notion of continuous1 but also1 as it seems to me1 of progressive gifts4 ,each measure of ,christ received1 if we use it aright1 makes us capable of possessing more of ,christ4 ,and the measure of our capacity is the measure of ,his gift1 and the more we can hold the more we shall get4 ,the walls of our hearts are elastic1 the vessel expands by being filled out2 it throbs itself wider by desire and faith4 ,the wider we open our mouths the larger will be the gift that ,god puts into them4 ,each measure and stage of grace utilised and honestly employed will make us capable and desirous1 and1 therefore1 possessors1 of more and more of the grace that ,he gives4 ,so the ideal of the ,christian life1 and ,god's intention concerning us1 is not only that we should have an uninterrupted1 but a growing possession1 of ,christ and of ,his grace4 ,is that the case with you1 my friend8 ,can you hold more of ,god than you could twenty years ago8 ,is there any more capacity in your soul for more of ,christ than there was long1 long ago8 ,if there is you have more of ,him2 if you have not more of ,him it is because you cannot contain more2 and you cannot contain more because you have not desired more1 and because you have been so wretchedly unfaithful in your use of what you had4 ,the ideal is1 'they go from strength to strength1' and the end of that is1 'every one of them appeareth before ,god4' ,so1 dear brother1 as the dash of the waves will hollow out some little indentation on the coast1 and make it larger and larger until there is a great bay1 with its headlands miles apart1 and its deep bosom stretching far into the interior1 and all the expanse full of flashing waters and leaping waves1 so the giving ,christ works a place for ,himself in a man's heart1 and makes the spirit which receives and faithfully uses the gifts which ,he brings1 capable of more of ,himself1 and fills the widened space with larger gifts and new grace4 ,only remember the condition of having ,him is trusting to ,his name and longing for ,his presence4 ',if any man open the door ,i will come in4' ,we have ,him if we trust ,him4 ,that trust is no mere passive reception1 such as is the case with some empty jar which lies open-mouthed on the shore and lets the sea wash into it and out of it1 as may happen4 ,but the 'receive' of our text might be as truly rendered 'take4' ,faith is an active taking1 not a passive receiving4 ,we must 'lay hold on eternal life4' ,faith is the hand that grasps the offered gift1 the mouth that feeds upon the bread of ,god1 the voice that says to ,christ1 ',come in1 ,thou blessed of the ,lord2 why standest ,thou without8' ,such a faith alone brings us into vital connection with ,jesus4 ,without it1 you will be none the richer for all ,his fulness1 and may perish of famine in the midst of plenty1 like a man dying of hunger outside the door of a granary4 ,they who believe take the ,saviour who is given1 and they who take receive1 and they who receive obtain day by day growing grace from the fulness of ,christ1 and so come ever nearer to the realisation of the ultimate purpose of the ,father1 that they should be 'filled with all the fulness of ,god4' ,,grace ,,and ,,truth ',the law was given by ,moses1 but grace and truth came by ,jesus ,christ4'--,,john #a4 #ag4 ,there are scarcely any traces1 in the writings of the ,apostle ,john1 of that great controversy as to the relation of the ,law and the ,gospel which occupied and embittered so much of the work of the ,apostle ,paul4 ,we have floated into an entirely different region in ,john's writings4 ,the old controversies are dead--settled1 ,i suppose1 mainly by ,paul's own words1 and also to a large extent by the logic of events4 ,this verse is almost the only one in which ,john touches upon that extinct controversy1 and here the ,law is introduced simply as a foil to set off the brightness of the ,gospel4 ,all artists know the value of contrast in giving prominence4 ,a dark background flashes up brighter colours into brilliancy4 ,white is never so white as when it is relieved against black4 ,and so here the special preciousness and distinctive peculiarities of what we receive in ,christ are made more vivid and more distinct by contrast with what in old days 'was given by ,moses4' ,every word in this verse is significant4 ',law' is set against 'grace and truth4' ,it was 'given'2 they 'came4' ,moses is contrasted with ,christ4 ,so we have a threefold antithesis as between ,law and ,gospel3 in reference to their respective contents2 in reference to the manner of their communication2 and in reference to the person of their ,founders4 ,and ,i think1 if we look at these three points1 we shall get some clear apprehension of the glories of that ,gospel which the ,apostle would thereby commend to our affection and to our faith4 ,i4 ,first of all1 then1 we have here the special glory of the contents of the ,gospel heightened by the contrast with ,law4 ,law has no tenderness1 no pity1 no feeling4 ,tables of stone and a pen of iron are its fitting vehicles4 ,flashing lightnings and rolling thunders symbolise the fierce light which it casts upon men's duty and the terrors of its retribution4 ,inflexible1 and with no compassion for human weakness1 it tells us what we ought to be1 but it does not help us to be it4 ,it 'binds heavy burdens1 and grievous to be borne1' upon men's consciences1 but puts not forth 'the tip of a finger' to enable men to bear them4 ,and this is true about law in all forms1 whether it be the ,mosaic ,law1 or whether it be the law of our own country1 or whether it be the laws written upon men's consciences4 ,these all partake of the one characteristic1 that they help nothing to the fulfilment of their own behests1 and that they are barbed with threatenings of retribution4 ,like some avenging goddess1 law comes down amongst men1 terrible in her purity1 awful in her beauty1 with a hard light in her clear grey eyes--in the one hand the tables of stone1 bearing the commandments which we have broken1 and in the other a sharp two-edged sword4 ,and this is the opposite of all that comes to us in the ,gospel4 ,the contrast divides into two portions4 ,the ',law' is set against 'grace and truth4' ,let us look at these two in order4 ,what we have in ,christ is not law1 but grace4 ,law1 as ,i said1 has no heart2 the meaning of the ,gospel is the unveiling of the heart of ,god4 ,law commands and demands2 it says3 ',this shalt thou do1 or else--'2 and it has nothing more that it can say4 ,what is the use of standing beside a lame man1 and pointing to a shining summit1 and saying to him1 ',get up there1 and you will breathe a purer atmosphere'8 ,he is lying lame at the foot of it4 ,there is no help for any soul in law4 ,men are not perishing because they do not know what they ought to do4 ,men are not bad because they doubt as to what their duty is4 ,the worst man in the world knows a great deal more of what he ought to do than the best man in the world practises4 ,so it is not for want of precepts that so many of us are going to destruction1 but it is for want of power to fulfil the precepts4 ,grace is love giving4 ,law demands1 grace bestows4 ,law comes saying ',do this1' and our consciences respond to the imperativeness of the obligation4 ,but grace comes and says1 ',i will help thee to do it4' ,law is ,god requiring2 grace is ,god bestowing4 ',give what ,thou commandest1 and then command what ,thou wilt4' ,oh1 brethren6 we have all of us written upon the fleshly tablets of our hearts solemn commandments which we know are binding upon us2 and which we sometimes would fain keep1 but cannot4 ,is this not a message of hope and blessedness that comes to us8 ,grace has drawn near in ,jesus ,christ1 and a giving ,god1 who bestows upon us a life that will unfold itself in accordance with the highest law1 holds out the fulness of ,his gift in that ,incarnate ,word4 ,law has no heart2 the ,gospel is the unveiling of the heart of ,god4 ,law commands2 grace is ,god bestowing ,himself4 ,and still further1 law condemns4 ,grace is love that bends down to an evildoer1 and deals not on the footing of strict retribution with the infirmities and the sins of us poor weaklings4 ,and so1 seeing that no man that lives but hears in his heart an accusing voice1 and that every one of us knows what it is to gaze upon lofty duties that we have shrunk from1 upon plain obligations from the yoke of which we have selfishly and cowardly withdrawn our necks2 seeing that every man1 woman1 and child listening to me now has1 lurking in some corner of their hearts1 a memory that only needs to be quickened to be a torture1 and deeds that only need to have the veil drawn away from them to terrify and shame them--oh6 surely it ought to be a word of gladness for every one of us that1 in front of any law that condemns us1 stands forth the gentle1 gracious form of the ,christ that brings pardon1 and 'the grace of ,god that bringeth salvation unto all men4' ,thank ,god6 law needed to be 'given1' but it was only the foundation on which was to be reared a better thing4 ',the law was given ,by ,moses'--'a schoolmaster1' as conscience is to-day1 'to bring us to ,christ' by whom comes the grace that loves1 that stoops1 that gives1 and that pardons4 ,still further1 there is another antithesis here4 ,the ,gospel which comes by ,christ is not law1 but truth4 ,the object of law is to regulate conduct1 and only subordinately to inform the mind or to enlighten the understanding4 ,the ,mosaic ,law had for its foundation1 of course1 a revelation of ,god4 ,but that revelation of ,god was less prominent1 proportionately1 than the prescription for man's conduct4 ,the ,gospel is the opposite of this4 ,it has for its object the regulation of conduct2 but that object is less prominent1 proportionately1 than the other1 the manifestation and the revelation of ,god4 ,the ,old ,testament says ',thou shalt'2 the ,new ,testament says ',god is4' ,the ,old was ,law2 the ,new is ,truth4 ,and so we may draw the inference1 on which ,i do not need to dwell1 how miserably inadequate and shallow a conception of ,christianity that is which sets it forth as being mainly a means of regulating conduct1 and how false and foolish that loose talk is that we hear many a time4--',never mind about theological subtleties2 conduct is the main thing4' ,not so4 ,the ,gospel is not law2 the ,gospel is truth4 ,it is a revelation of ,god to the understanding and to the heart1 in order that thereby the will may be subdued1 and that then the conduct may be shaped and moulded4 ,but let us begin where it begins1 and let us remember that the morality of the ,new ,testament has never long been held up high and pure1 where the theology of the ,new ,testament has been neglected and despised4 ',the law came by ,moses2 truth came by ,jesus ,christ4' ,but1 still further1 let me remind you that1 in the revelation of a ,god who is gracious1 giving to our emptiness and forgiving our sins--that is to say1 in the revelation of grace--we have a far deeper1 nobler1 more blessed conception of the divine nature than in law4 ,it is great to think of a righteous ,god1 it is great and ennobling to think of ,one whose pure eyes cannot look upon sin1 and who wills that men should live pure and noble and ,godlike lives4 ,but it is far more and more blessed1 transcending all the old teaching1 when we sit at the feet of the ,christ who gives1 and who pardons1 and look up into ,his deep eyes1 with the tears of compassion shining in them1 and say3 ',lo6 ,this is our ,god6 ,we have waited for ,him and ,he will save us4' ,that is a better truth1 a deeper truth than prophets and righteous men of old possessed2 and to us there has come1 borne on the wings of the mighty angel of ,his grace1 the precious revelation of the ,father-,god whose heart is love4 ',the law was given by ,moses1' but brighter than the gleam of the presence between the ,cherubim is the lambent light of gentle tenderness that shines from the face of ,jesus ,christ4 ,grace1 and therefore truth1 a deeper truth1 came by ,him4 ,and1 still further1 let me remind you of how this contrast is borne out by the fact that all that previous system was an adumbration1 a shadow and a premonition of the perfect revelation that was to come4 ,temple1 priest1 sacrifice1 law1 the whole body of the ,mosaic constitution of things was1 as it were1 a shadow thrown along the road in advance by the swiftly coming ,king4 ,the shadow fell before ,him1 but when ,he came the shadow disappeared4 ,the former was a system of types1 symbols1 pictures4 ,here is the reality that antiquates and fulfils and transcends them all4 ',the law was given by ,moses2 grace and truth came by ,jesus ,christ4' ,,ii4 ,now1 secondly1 look at the other contrast that is here1 between giving and coming4 ,i do not know that ,i have quite succeeded in making clear to my own mind the precise force of this antithesis4 ,certainly there is a profound meaning if one can fathom it2 perhaps one might put it best in something like the following fashion4 ,the word rendered 'came' might be more correctly translated 'became1' or 'came into being4' ,the law was given2 grace and truth came to be4 ,now1 what do we mean when we talk about a law being given8 ,we simply mean1 ,i suppose1 that it is promulgated1 either in oral or in written words4 ,it is1 after all1 no more than so many words4 ,it is given when it is spoken or published4 ,it is a verbal communication at the best4 ',but grace and truth came to be4' ,they are realities2 they are not words4 ,they are not communicated by sentences1 they are actual existences2 and they spring into being as far as man's historical possession and experience of them are concerned--they spring into being in ,jesus ,christ1 and through ,him they belong to us all4 ,not that there was no grace1 no manifest lore of ,god1 in the world1 nor any true knowledge of ,him before the ,incarnation1 but the earlier portions of this chapter remind us that all of grace1 however restrained and partial1 that all of truth1 however imperfect and shadowy it may have been1 which were in the world before ,christ came1 were owing to the operation of that ,eternal ,word ',who became flesh and dwelt among us1' and that these1 in comparison with the affluence and the fulness and the nearness of grace and truth after ,christ's coming1 were so small and remote that it is not an exaggeration to say that1 as far as man's possession and experience of them are concerned1 the giving love of ,god and the clear and true knowledge of ,his deep heart of tenderness and grace1 sprang into being with the historical manifestation of ,jesus ,christ the ,lord4 ,he comes to reveal by no words4 ,his gift is not like the gift that ,moses brought down from the mountain1 merely a writing upon tables2 ,his gift is not the letter of an outward commandment1 nor the letter of an outward revelation4 ,it is the thing itself which ,he reveals by being it4 ,he does not speak about grace1 ,he brings it2 ,he does not show us ,god by ,his words1 ,he shows us ,god by ,his acts4 ,he does not preach about ,him1 but ,he lives ,him1 ,he manifests ,him4 ,his gentleness1 ,his compassion1 ,his miracles1 ,his wisdom1 ,his patience1 ,his tears1 ,his promises2 all these are the very ,deity in action before our eyes2 and instead of a mere verbal revelation1 which is so imperfect and so worthless1 grace and truth1 the living realities1 are flashed upon a darkened world in the face of ,jesus ,christ4 ,how cold1 how hard1 how superficial1 in comparison with that fleshly table of the heart of ,christ on which grace and truth were written1 are the stony tables of law1 which bore after all1 for all their majesty1 only words which are breath and nothing besides4 ,,iii4 ,and so1 lastly1 look at the contrast that is drawn here between the persons of the ,founders4 ,i do not suppose that we are to take into consideration the difference between the limitations of the one and the completeness of the other4 ,i do not suppose that the ,apostle was thinking about the difference between the reluctant service of the ,lawgiver and the glad obedience of the ,son2 or between the passion and the pride that sometimes marred ,moses' work1 and the continual calmness and patient meekness that perfected the sacrifice of ,jesus4 ,nor do ,i suppose that there flashed before his memory the difference between that strange tomb where ,god buried the prophet1 unknown of men1 in the stern solitude of the desert1 true symbol of the solemn mystery and awful solitude with which the law which we have broken invests death1 to our trembling consciences1 and the grave in the garden with the spring flowers bursting round it1 and visited by white-robed angels1 who spoke comfort to weeping friends1 true picture of what ,his death makes the grave for all ,his followers4 ,but ,i suppose he was mainly thinking of the contrast between the relation of ,moses to his law1 and of ,christ to ,his ,gospel4 ,moses was but a medium4 ,his personality had nothing to do with his message4 ,you may take away ,moses1 and the law stands all the same4 ,but ,christ is so interwoven with ,christ's message that you cannot rend the two apart2 you cannot have the figure of ,christ melt away1 and the gift that ,christ brought remain4 ,if you extinguish the sun you cannot keep the sunlight2 if you put away ,christ in the fulness of ,his manhood and of ,his divinity1 in the power of ,his ,incarnation and the omnipotence of ,his cross--if you put away ,christ from ,christianity1 it collapses into dust and nothingness4 ,so1 dear brethren1 do not let any of us try that perilous experiment4 ,you cannot melt away ,jesus and keep grace and truth4 ,you cannot tamper with ,his character1 with ,his nature1 with the mystery of ,his passion1 with the atoning power of ,his cross1 and preserve the blessings that ,he has brought to the world4 ,if you want the grace which is the unveiling of the heart of ,god1 the gift of a giving ,god and the pardon of a forgiving ,judge2 or if you want the truth1 the reality of the knowledge of ,him1 you can only get them by accepting ,christ4 ',i am the ,truth1 and the ,way1 and the ,life4' ,there is a 'law given which gives life1' and 'righteousness is by that law4' ,there is a ,person who is the ,truth1 and our knowledge of the truth is through that ,person1 and through ,him alone4 ,by humble faith receive ,him into your hearts1 and ,he will come bringing to you the fulness of grace and truth4 ,,the ,,world',s ,,sin-,,bearer ',the next day ,john seeth ,jesus coming unto him1 and saith1 ,behold the ,lamb of ,god1 which taketh away the sin of the world4'--,,john i4 #bi4 ,our ,lord1 on returning from ,his temptation in the wilderness1 came straight to ,john the ,baptist4 ,he was welcomed with these wonderful and rapturous words1 familiarity with which has deadened our sense of their greatness4 ,how audacious they would sound to some of their first hearers6 ,think of these two1 one of them a young ,galilean carpenter1 to whom ,his companion witnesses and declares that ,he is of worldwide and infinite significance4 ,it was the first public designation of ,jesus ,christ1 and it throws into exclusive prominence one aspect of ,his work4 ,john the ,baptist summing up the whole of former revelation which concentrated in ,him1 pointed a designating finger to ,jesus and said1 ',that is ,he6' ,my text is the sum of all ,christian teaching ever since4 ,my task1 and that of all preachers1 if we understand it aright1 is but to repeat the same message1 and to concentrate attention on the same fact--',the ,lamb of ,god which taketh away the sin of the world4' ,it is the one thing needful for you1 dear friend1 to believe4 ,it is the truth that we all need most of all4 ,there is no reason for our being gathered together now1 except that ,i may beseech you to behold for yourselves the ,lamb of ,god which takes away the world's sin4 ,i4 ,now let me ask you to note1 first1 that ,jesus ,christ is the world's sin-bearer4 ,the significance of the first clause of my text1 'the ,lamb of ,god1' is deplorably weakened if it is taken to mean only1 or mainly1 that ,jesus ,christ1 in the sweetness of ,his human nature1 is gentle and meek and patient and innocent and pure4 ,it does mean all that1 thank ,god6 ,but it was no mere description of ,christ's disposition which ,john the ,baptist conceived himself to be uttering1 as is clear by the words that follow in the next clause4 ,his reason for selecting 7under divine guidance1 as ,i believe7 that image of 'the ,lamb of ,god1' went a great deal deeper than anything in the temper of the ,person of whom he was speaking4 ,many streams of ancient prophecy and ritual converge upon this emblem1 and if we want to understand what is meant by the designation 'the ,lamb of ,god1' we must not content ourselves with the sentimentalisms which some superficial teachers have supposed to exhaust the significance of the expression2 but we must submit to be led back by ,john1 who was the summing up of all the ancient ,revelation1 to the sources in that ,revelation from which he drew this metaphor4 ,first and chiefest of these1 as ,i take it1 are the words which no ,jew ever doubted referred to the ,messiah1 until after ,he had come1 and the ,rabbis would not believe in ,him1 and so were bound to hunt up another interpretation--,i mean the great words in the prophecy which1 ,i suppose1 is familiar to most of us1 where there are found two representations1 one1 ',he was led as a ,lamb to the slaughter1 and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb1 so ,he opened not ,his mouth'2 and the other1 still more germane to the purpose of my text1 'the ,lord hath laid on ,him the iniquity of us all'''4 ,by ,his knowledge shall ,he justify many1 for ,he shall bear their iniquities4' ,john the ,baptist1 looking back through the ages to that ancient prophetic utterance1 points to the young ,man standing by his side1 and says1 ',there it is fulfilled4' ,but the prophetic symbol of the ,lamb1 and the thought that ,he bore the iniquity of the many1 had their roots in the past1 and pointed back to the sacrificial lamb1 the lamb of the daily sacrifice1 and especially to the lamb slain at the ,passover1 which was an emblem and sacrament of deliverance from bondage4 ,thus the conceptions of vicarious suffering1 and of a death which is a deliverance1 and of blood which1 sprinkled on the doorposts1 guards the house from the destroying angel1 are all gathered into these words4 ,nor do these exhaust the sources of this figure1 as it comes from the venerable and sacred past4 ,for when we read 'the ,lamb of ,god1' who is there that does not recognise1 unless his eyes are blinded by obstinate prejudice1 a glance backward to that sweet and pathetic story when the father went up with his son to the top of ,mount ,moriah1 and to the boy's question1 ',where is the lamb8' answered1 ',my son1 ,god ,himself will provide the lamb6' ,john says1 ',behold the ,lamb that ,god has provided1 the ,sacrifice1 on whom is laid a world's sins1 and who bears them away4' ,note1 too1 the universality of the power of ,christ's sacrificial work4 ,john does not say 'the sins1' as the ,litany1 following an imperfect translation1 makes him say4 ,but he says1 'the sin of the world1' as if the whole mass of human transgression was bound together1 in one black and awful bundle1 and laid upon the unshrinking shoulders of this better ,atlas who can bear it all1 and bear it all away4 ,your sin1 and mine1 and every man's1 they were all laid upon ,jesus ,christ4 ,now remember1 dear brethren1 that in this wondrous representation there lie1 plain and distinct1 two things which to me1 and ,i pray they may be to you1 are the very foundation of the ,gospel to which we have to trust4 ,one is that on ,christ ,jesus1 in ,his life and in ,his death1 were laid the guilt and the consequences of a world's sin4 ,i do not profess to be ready with an explanation of how that is possible4 ,that it is a fact ,i believe1 on the authority of ,christ ,himself and of ,scripture2 that it is inconsistent with the laws of human nature may be asserted1 but never can be proved4 ,theories manifold have been invented in order to make it plain4 ,i do not know that any of them have gone to the bottom of the bottomless4 ,but ,christ in ,his perfect manhood1 wedded1 as ,i believe it is1 to true divinity1 is capable of entering into--not merely by sympathy1 though that has much to do with it--such closeness of relation with human kind1 and with every man1 as that on ,him can be laid the iniquity of us all4 ,oh1 brethren6 what was the meaning of ',i have a baptism to be baptized with1' unless the cold waters of the flood into which ,he unshrinkingly stepped1 and allowed to flow over ,him1 were made by the gathered accumulation of the sins of the whole world8 ,what was the meaning of the agony in ,gethsemane8 ,what was the meaning of that most awful word ever spoken by human lips1 in which the consciousness of union with1 and of separation from1 ,god1 were so marvellously blended1 ',my ,god6 my ,god6 why hast ,thou forsaken ,me8' unless the ,guiltless was then loaded with the sins of the world1 which rose between ,him and ,god8 ,dear friends1 it seems to me that unless this transcendent element be fairly recognised as existing in the passion and death of ,jesus ,christ1 ,his demeanour when ,he came to die was far less heroic and noble and worthy of imitation than have been the deaths of hundreds of people who drew all their strength to die from ,him4 ,i do not venture to bring a theory1 but ,i press upon you the fact1 ,he bears the sins of the world1 and in that awful load are yours and mine4 ,there is the other truth here1 as clearly1 and perhaps more directly1 meant by the selection of the expression in my text1 that the ,sin-bearer not only carries1 but carries away1 the burden that is laid upon ,him4 ,perhaps there may be a reference--in addition to the other sources of the figure which ,i have indicated as existing in ritual1 and prophecy1 and history--there may be a reference in the words to yet another of the eloquent symbols of that ancient system which enshrined truths that were not peculiar to any people1 but were the property of humanity4 ,you remember1 no doubt1 the singular ceremonial connected with the scapegoat1 and many of you will recall the wonderful embodiment of it given by the ,christian genius of a modern painter4 ,the sins of the nation were symbolically laid upon its head1 and it was carried out to the edge of the wilderness and driven forth to wander alone1 bearing away upon itself into the darkness and solitude--far from man and far from ,god--the whole burden of the nation's sins4 ,jesus ,christ takes away the sin which ,he bears1 and there is1 as ,i believe1 only one way by which individuals1 or society1 or the world at large1 can thoroughly get rid of the guilt and penal consequences and of the dominion of sin1 and that is1 by beholding the ,lamb of ,god that takes upon ,himself1 that ,he may carry away out of sight1 the sin of the world4 ,so much1 then1 for the first thought that ,i wish to suggest to you4 ,,ii4 ,now let me ask you to look with me at a second thought1 that such a world's ,sin-bearer is the world's deepest need4 ,the sacrifices of every land witness to the fact that humanity all over the world1 and through all the ages1 and under all varieties of culture1 has been dimly conscious that its deepest need was that the fact of sin should be dealt with4 ,i know that there are plenty of modern ingenious ways of explaining the universal prevalence of an altar and a sacrifice1 and the slaying of innocent creatures1 on other grounds1 some of which ,i think it is not uncharitable to suppose are in favour mainly because they weaken this branch of the evidence for the conformity of ,christian truth with human necessities4 ,but notwithstanding these1 ,i venture to affirm1 with all proper submission to wiser men1 that you cannot legitimately explain the universal prevalence of sacrifice1 unless you take into account as one--,i should say the main--element in it1 this universally diffused sense that things are wrong between man and the higher ,power1 and need to be set right even by such a method4 ,but ,i do not need to appeal only to this world-wide fact as being a declaration of what man's deepest need is4 ,i would appeal to every man's own consciousness--hard though it be to get at it2 buried as it is1 with some of us1 under mountains of indifference and neglect2 and callous as it is with many of us by reason of indulgence in habits of evil4 ,i believe that in every one of us1 if we will be honest1 and give heed to the inward voice1 there does echo a response and an amen to the ,scripture declaration1 ',god hath shut up all under sin4' ,i ask you about yourselves1 is it not so8 ,do you not know that1 however you may gloss over the thing1 or forget it amidst a whirl of engagements and occupations1 or try to divert your thoughts into more or less noble or ignoble channels of pleasures and pursuits1 there does lie1 in each of our hearts1 the sense1 dormant often1 but sometimes like a snake in its hybernation1 waking up enough to move1 and sometimes enough to sting--there does lie1 in each of us1 the consciousness that we are wrong with ,god1 and need something to put us right8 ,and1 brethren1 let modern philanthropists of all sorts take this lesson3 ,the thing that the world wants is to have sin dealt with--dealt with in the way of conscious forgiveness2 dealt with in the way of drying up its source1 and delivering men from the power of it4 ,unless you do that1 ,i do not say you do nothing1 but you pour a bottle full of cold water into ,vesuvius1 and try to put the fire out with that4 ,you may educate1 you may cultivate1 you may refine2 you may set political and economical arrangements right in accordance with the newest notions of the century1 and what then8 ,why6 the old thing will just begin over again1 and the old miseries will appear again1 because the old grandmother of them all is there1 the sin that has led to them4 ,now do not misunderstand me1 as if ,i were warring against good and noble men who are trying to remedy the world's evils by less thorough methods than ,christ's ,gospel4 ,they will do a great deal4 ,but you may have high education1 beautiful refinement of culture and manners2 you may divide out political power in accordance with the most democratic notions2 you may give everybody 'a living wage1' however extravagant his notions of a living wage may be4 ,you may carry out all these panaceas and the world will groan still1 because you have not dealt with the tap-root of all the mischief4 ,you cannot cure an internal cancer with a plaster upon the little finger1 and you will never stanch the world's wounds until you go to the ,physician that has balm and bandage1 even ,jesus ,christ1 that takes away the sins of the world4 ,i profoundly distrust all these remedies for the world's misery as in themselves inadequate1 even whilst ,i would help them all1 and regard them all as then blessed and powerful1 when they are consequences and secondary results of the ,gospel1 the first task of which is to deal by forgiveness and by cleansing with individual transgression4 ,and if ,i might venture to go a step further1 ,i would like to say that this aspect of our ,lord's work on which ,john the ,baptist concentrated all our attention is the only one which gives ,him power to sway men1 and which makes the ,gospel--the record of ,his work--the kingly power in the world that it is meant to be4 ,depend upon it1 that in the measure in which ,christian teachers fail to give supreme importance to that aspect of ,christ's work they fail altogether4 ,there are many other aspects which1 as ,i have just said1 follow in my conception from this first one2 but if1 as is obviously the tendency in many quarters to-day1 ,christianity be thought of as being mainly a means of social improvement1 or if its principles of action be applied to life without that basis of them all1 in the ,cross which takes away the world's iniquity1 then it needs no prophet to foretell that such a ,christianity will only have superficial effects1 and that1 in losing sight of this central thought1 it will have cast away all its power4 ,i beseech you1 dear brethren1 remember that ,jesus ,christ is something more than a social reformer1 though ,he is the first of them1 and the only one whose work will last4 ,jesus ,christ is something more than a lovely pattern of human conduct1 though ,he is that4 ,jesus ,christ is something more than a great religious genius who set forth the ,fatherhood of ,god as it had never been set forth before4 ,the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ is the record not only of what ,he said but of what ,he did1 not only that ,he lived but that ,he died2 and all ,his other powers1 and all ,his other benefits and blessings to society1 come as results of ,his dealing with the individual soul when ,he takes away its guilt and reconciles it to ,god4 ,,iii4 ,and so1 lastly1 let me ask you to notice that this ,sin-bearer of the world is our ,sin-bearer if we 'behold' ,him4 ,john was simply summoning ignorant eyes to look1 and telling of what they would see4 ,but his call is susceptible1 without violence1 of a far deeper meaning4 ,this is really the one truth that ,i want to press upon you1 dear friends--',behold the ,lamb of ,god6' ,what is that beholding8 ,surely it is nothing else than our recognising in ,him the great and blessed work which ,i have been trying to describe1 and then resting ourselves upon that great ,lord and sufficient ,sacrifice4 ,and such an exercise of simple trust is well named beholding1 because they who believe do see1 with a deeper and a truer vision than sense can give4 ,you and ,i can see ,christ more really than these men who stood round ,him1 and to whom ,his flesh was 'a veil'--as the ,epistle to the ,hebrews calls it--hiding ,his true divinity and work4 ,they who thus behold by faith lack nothing either of the directness or of the certitude that belong to vision4 ',seeing is believing1' says the cynical proverb4 ,the ,christian version inverts its terms1 ',believing is seeing4' ',whom having not seen ye love1 in whom though now ye see ,him not1 yet believing ye rejoice4' ,and your simple act of 'beholding1' by the recognition of ,his work and the resting of yourself upon it1 makes the world's ,sin-bearer your ,sin-bearer4 ,you appropriate the general blessing1 like a man taking in a little piece of a boundless prairie for his very own4 ,your possession does not make my possession of ,him less1 for every eye gets its own beam1 and however many eyes wait upon ,him1 they all receive the light on to their happy eyeballs4 ,you can make ,christ your own1 and have all that ,he has done for the world as your possession1 and can experience in your own hearts the sense of your own forgiveness and deliverance from the power and guilt of your own sin1 on the simple condition of looking unto ,jesus4 ,the serpent is lifted on the pole1 the dying camp cannot go to it1 but the filming eyes of the man in his last gasp may turn to the gleaming image hanging on high2 and as he looks the health begins to tingle back into his veins1 and he is healed4 ,and so1 dear brethren1 behold ,him2 for unless you do1 though ,he has borne the world's sin1 your sin will not be there1 but will remain on your back to crush you down4 ',o ,lamb of ,god1 that taketh away the sins of the world1 have mercy upon me6' ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,i4 ,,john ,,and ,,andrew ',and the two disciples heard ,him speak1 and they followed ,jesus4 #ch4 ,then ,jesus turned1 and saw them following1 and saith unto them1 ,what seek ye8 ,they said unto ,him1 ,rabbi1 7which is to say1 being interpreted1 ,master17 where dwellest ,thou8 #ci4 ,he saith unto them1 ,come and see4 ,they came and saw where ,he dwelt1 and abode with ,him that day3 for it was about the tenth hour4'--,,john i4 #cg-ci4 ,in these verses we see the head waters of a great river1 for we have before us nothing less than the beginnings of the ,christian ,church4 ,so simply were the first disciples made4 ,the great society of believers was born like its ,master1 unostentatiously and in a corner4 ,jesus has come back from ,his conflict in the wilderness after ,his baptism1 and has presented ,himself before ,john the ,baptist for his final attestation4 ,it was a great historical moment when the last of the ,prophets stood face to face with the ,fulfilment of all prophecy4 ,in his words1 ',behold the ,lamb of ,god which taketh away the sin of the world6' ,jewish prophecy sang its swan-song1 uttered its last rejoicing1 ',eureka6 ,i have found ,him6' and died as it spoke4 ,we do not sufficiently estimate the magnificent self-suppression and unselfishness of the ,baptist1 in that he1 with his own lips1 here repeats his testimony in order to point his disciples away from himself1 and to attach them to ,jesus4 ,if he could have been touched by envy he would not so gladly have recognised it as his lot to decrease while ,jesus increased4 ,bare magnanimity that in a teacher6 ,the two who hear ,john's words are ,andrew1 ,simon ,peter's brother1 and an anonymous man4 ,the latter is probably the ,evangelist4 ,for it is remarkable that we never find the names of ,james and ,john in this ,gospel 7though from the other ,gospels we know how closely they were associated with our ,lord71 and that we only find them referred to as 'the sons of ,zebedee1' once near the close of the book4 ,that fact points1 ,i think1 in the direction of ,john's authorship of this ,gospel4 ,these two1 then1 follow behind ,jesus1 fancying themselves unobserved1 not desiring to speak to ,him1 and probably with some notion of tracking ,him to ,his home1 in order that they may seek an interview at a later period4 ,but ,he who notices the first beginnings of return to ,him1 and always comes to meet men1 and is better to them than their wishes1 will not let them steal behind ,him uncheered1 nor leave them to struggle with diffidence and delay4 ,so ,he turns to them1 and the events ensue which ,i have read in the verses that follow as my text4 ,we have1 ,i think1 three things especially to notice here4 ,first1 the ,master's question to the whole world1 ',what seek ye8' ,second1 the ,master's invitation to the whole world1 ',come and see6' ,lastly1 the personal communion which brings men's hearts to ,him1 ',they came and saw where ,he dwelt1 and abode with ,him that day4' ,i4 ,so1 then1 first look at this question of ,christ to the whole world1 ',what seek ye8' ,as it stands1 on its surface1 and in its primary application1 it is the most natural of questions4 ,our ,lord hears footsteps behind ,him1 and1 as any one would do1 turns about1 with the question which any one would ask1 ',what is it that you want8' ,that question would derive all its meaning from the look with which it was accompanied1 and the tone in which it was spoken4 ,it might mean either annoyance and rude repulsion of a request1 even before it was presented1 or it might mean a glad wish to draw out the petition1 and more than half a pledge to bestow it4 ,all depends on the smile with which it was asked and the intonation of voice which carried it to their ears4 ,and if we had been there we should have felt1 as these two evidently felt1 that though in form a question1 it was in reality a promise1 and that it drew out their shy wishes1 made them conscious to themselves of what they desired1 and gave them confidence that their desire would be granted4 ,clearly it had sunk very deep into the ,evangelist's mind2 and now1 at the end of his life1 when his course is nearly run1 the never-to-be-forgotten voice sounds still in his memory1 and he sees again1 in sunny clearness1 all the scene that had transpired on that day by the fords of the ,jordan4 ,the first words and the last words of those whom we have learned to love are cut deep on our hearts4 ,it was not an accident that the first words which the ,master spoke in ,his ,messianic office were this profoundly significant question1 ',what seek ye8' ,he asks it of us all1 ,he asks it of us to-day4 ,well for them who can answer1 ',rabbi6 where dwellest ,thou8' ',it is ,thou whom we seek6' ,so1 venturing to take the words in that somewhat wider application1 let me just suggest to you two or three directions in which they seem to point4 ,first1 the question suggests to us this3 the need of having a clear consciousness of what is our object in life4 ,the most of men have never answered that question4 ,they live from hand to mouth1 driven by circumstances1 guided by accidents1 impelled by unreflecting passions and desires1 knowing what they want for the moment1 but never having tried to shape the course of their lives into a consistent whole1 so as to stand up before ,god in ,christ when ,he puts the question to them1 ',what seek ye8' and to answer the question4 ,these incoherent1 instinctive1 unreflective lives that so many of you are living are a shame to your manhood1 to say nothing more4 ,god has made us for something else than that we should thus be the sport of circumstances4 ,it is a disgrace to any of us that our lives should be like some little fishing-boat1 with an unskilful or feeble hand at the tiller1 yawing from one point of the compass to another1 and not keeping a straight and direct course4 ,i pray you1 dear brethren1 to front this question3 ',after all1 and at bottom1 what is it ,i am living for8 ,can ,i formulate the aims and purposes of my life in any intelligible statement of which ,i should not be ashamed8' ,some of you are not ashamed to do what you would be very much ashamed to say1 and you practically answer the question1 ',what are you seeking8' by pursuits that you durst not call by their own ugly names4 ,there may be many of us who are living for our lusts1 for our passions1 for our ambitions1 for avarice1 who are living in all uncleanness and godlessness4 ,i do not know4 ,there are plenty of shabby1 low aims in all of us which do not bear being dragged out into the light of day4 ,i beseech you to try and get hold of the ugly things and bring them up to the surface1 however much they may seek to hide in the congenial obscurity and twist their slimy coils round something in the dark4 ,if you dare not put your life's object into words1 bethink yourselves whether it ought to be your life's object at all4 ,ah1 brethren6 if we would ask ourselves this question1 and answer it with any thoroughness1 we should not make so many mistakes as to the places where we look for the things for which we are seeking4 ,if we knew what we were really seeking1 we should know where to go to look for it4 ,let me tell you what you are seeking1 whether you know it or not4 ,you are seeking for rest for your heart1 a home for your spirits2 you are seeking for perfect truth for your understandings1 perfect beauty for your affections1 perfect goodness for your conscience4 ,you are seeking for all these three1 gathered into one white beam of light1 and you are seeking for it all in a ,person4 ,many of you do not know this1 and so you go hunting in all manner of impossible places for that which you can only find in one4 ,to the question1 ',what seek ye8' the deepest of all answers1 the only real answer1 is1 ',my soul thirsteth for ,god1 for the living ,god4' ,if you know that1 you know where to look for what you need6 ',do men gather grapes of thorns8' ,if these are really the things that you are seeking after1 in all your mistaken search--oh6 how mistaken is the search6 ,do men look for pearls in cockle-shells1 or for gold in coal-pits2 and why should you look for rest of heart1 mind1 conscience1 spirit1 anywhere and in anything short of ,god8 ',what seek ye8'--the only answer is1 ',we seek ,thee6' ,and then1 still further1 let me remind you how these words are not only a question1 but are really a veiled and implied promise4 ,the question1 ',what do you want of ,me8' may either strike an intending suppliant like a blow1 and drive him away with his prayer sticking in his throat unspoken1 or it may sound like a merciful invitation1 ',what is thy petition1 and what is thy request1 and it shall be granted unto thee8' ,we know which of the two it was here4 ,christ asks all such questions as this 7and there are many of them in the ,new ,testament71 not for ,his information1 but for our strengthening4 ,he asks people1 not because ,he does not know before they answer1 but that1 on the one hand1 their own minds may be clear as to their wishes1 and so they may wish the more earnestly because of the clearness2 and that1 on the other hand1 their desires being expressed1 they may be the more able to receive the gift which ,he is willing to bestow4 ,so ,he here turns to these men1 whose purpose ,he knew well enough1 and says to them1 ',what seek ye8' ,herein ,he is doing the very same thing on a lower level1 and in an outer sphere1 as is done when ,he appoints that we shall pray for the blessings which ,he is yearning to bestow1 but which ,he makes conditional on our supplications1 only because by these supplications our hearts are opened to a capacity for receiving them4 ,we have1 then1 in the words before us1 thus understood1 our ,lord's gracious promise to give what is desired on the simple condition that the suppliant is conscious of his own wants1 and turns to ,him for the supply of them4 ',what seek ye8' ,it is a blank cheque that ,he puts into their hands to fill up4 ,it is the key of ,his treasure-house which ,he offers to us all1 with the assured confidence that if we open it we shall find all that we need4 ,who is ,he that thus stands up before a whole world of seeking1 restless spirits1 and fronts them with the question which is a pledge1 conscious of ,his capacity to give to each of them what each of them requires8 ,who is this that professes to be able to give all these men and women and children bread here in the wilderness8 ,there is only one answer--the ,christ of ,god4 ,and ,he has done what ,he promises4 ,no man or woman ever went to ,him1 and answered this question1 and presented their petition for any real good1 and was refused4 ,no man can ask from ,christ what ,christ cannot bestow4 ,no man can ask from ,christ what ,christ will not bestow4 ,in the loftiest region1 the region of inward and spiritual gifts1 which are the best gifts1 we can get everything that we want1 and our only limit is1 not ,his boundless omnipotence and willingness1 but our own poor1 narrow1 and shrivelled desires4 ',ask1 and ye shall receive2 seek1 and ye shall find4' ,christ stands before us1 if ,i may so say1 like some of those fountains erected at some great national festival1 out of which pour for all the multitude every variety of draught which they desire1 and each man that goes with his empty cup gets it filled1 and gets it filled with that which he wishes4 ',what seek ye8' ,wisdom8 ,you students1 you thinkers1 you young men that are fighting with intellectual difficulties and perplexities1 ',what seek ye8' ,truth8 ,he gives us that4 ,you others1 ',what seek ye8' ,love1 peace1 victory1 self-control1 hope1 anodyne for sorrow8 ,whatever you desire1 you will find in ,jesus ,christ4 ,the first words with which ,he broke the silence when ,he spake to men as the ,messias1 were at once a searching question1 probing their aims and purposes1 and a gracious promise pledging ,him to a task not beyond ,his power1 however far beyond that of all others1 even the task of giving to each man his heart's desire4 ',what seek ye8' ',seek1 and ye shall find4' ,,ii4 ,then1 still further1 notice how1 in a similar fashion1 we may regard here the second words which our ,lord speaks as being ,his merciful invitation to the world4 ',come and see4' ,the disciples' answer was simple and timid4 ,they did not venture to say1 ',may we talk to you8' ',will you take us to be your disciples8' ,all they can muster courage to ask now is1 ',where dwellest ,thou8' ,at another time1 perhaps1 we will go to this ,rabbi and speak with ,him4 ,his answer is1 ',come1 come now2 come1 and by intercourse with ,me learn to know ,me4' ,his temporary home was probably nothing more than some selected place on the river's bank1 for ',he had not where to lay ,his head'2 but such as it was1 ,he welcomes them to it4 ',come and see6' ,take a plain1 simple truth out of that4 ,christ is always glad when people resort to ,him4 ,when ,he was here in the world1 no hour was inconvenient or inopportune2 no moment was too much occupied2 no physical wants of hunger1 or thirst1 or slumber were ever permitted to come between ,him and seeking hearts4 ,he was never impatient4 ,he was never wearied of speaking1 though ,he was often wearied in speaking4 ,he never denied ,himself to any one or said1 ',i have something else to do than to attend to you4' ,and just as in literal fact1 whilst ,he was here upon earth1 nothing was ever permitted to hinder ,his drawing near to any man who wanted to draw near to ,him1 so nothing now hinders it2 and ,he is glad when any of us resort to ,him and ask ,him to let us speak to ,him and be with ,him4 ,his weariness or occupation never shut men out from ,him then4 ,his glory does not shut them out now4 ,then there is another thought here4 ,this invitation of the ,master is also a very distinct call to a firsthand knowledge of ,jesus ,christ4 ,andrew and ,john had heard from the ,baptist about ,him1 and now what ,he bids them to do is to come and hear ,himself4 ,that is what ,he calls you1 dear brethren1 to do4 ,do not listen to us1 let the ,master ,himself speak to you4 ,many who reject ,christianity reject it through not having listened to ,jesus ,himself teaching them1 but only to theologians and other human representations of the truth4 ,go and ask ,christ to speak to you with ,his own lips of truth1 and take ,him as the ,expositor of ,his own system4 ,do not be contented with traditional talk and second-hand information4 ,go to ,christ1 and hear what ,he ,himself has to say to you4 ,then1 still further1 in this ',come and see' there is a distinct call to the personal act of faith4 ,both of these words1 'come' and 'see1' are used in the ,new ,testament as standing emblems of faith4 ,coming to ,christ is trusting ,him2 trusting ,him is seeing ,him1 looking unto ,him4 ',come unto ,me1 and ,i will give you rest1' ',look unto ,me1 and be ye saved1 all ye ends of the earth4' ,there are two metaphors1 both of them pointing to one thing1 and that one thing is the invitation from the dear lips of the loving ,lord to every man1 woman1 and child in this congregation4 ',come and see6' ',put your trust in ,me1 draw near to ,me by desire and penitence1 draw near to ,me in the fixed thought of your mind1 in the devotion of your will1 in the trust of your whole being4 ,come to ,me1 and see ,me by faith2 and then--and then--your hearts will have found what they seek1 and your weary quest will be over1 and1 like the dove1 you will fold your wings and nestle at the foot of the ,cross1 and rest for evermore4 ,come6 ,come and see6' ,,iii4 ,so1 lastly1 we have in these words a parable of the blessed experience which binds men's hearts to ,jesus for ever4 ',they came and saw where ,he dwelt1 and abode with ,him that day1 for it was about the tenth hour4' ',dwelt' and 'abode' are the same words in the original4 ,it is one of ,john's favourite words1 and in its deepest meaning expresses the close1 still communion which the soul may have with ,jesus ,christ1 which communion1 on that never-to-be-forgotten day1 when he and ,andrew sat with ,him in the quiet1 confidential fellowship that disclosed ,christ's glory 'full of grace and truth' to their hearts1 made them ,his for ever4 ,if the reckoning of time here is made according to the ,hebrew fashion1 the 'tenth hour' will be ten o'clock in the morning4 ,so1 one long day of talk6 ,if it be according to the ,roman legal fashion1 the hour will be four o'clock in the afternoon1 which would only give time for a brief conversation before the night fell4 ,but1 in any case1 sacred reserve is observed as to what passed in that interview4 ,a lesson for a great deal of blatant talk1 in this present day1 about conversion and the details thereof6 ',not easily forgiven ,are those1 who setting wide the doors1 that bar ,the secret bridal chambers of the heart4 ,let in the day4' ,john had nothing to say to the world about what the ,master said to him and his brother in that long day of communion4 ,one plain conclusion from this last part of our narrative is that the impression of ,christ's own personality is the strongest force to make disciples4 ,the character of ,jesus ,christ is1 after all1 the central and standing evidence and the mightiest credential of ,christianity4 ,it bears upon its face the proof of its own truthfulness4 ,if such a character was not lived1 how did it ever come to be described1 and described by such people8 ,and if it was lived1 how did it come to be so8 ,the historical veracity of the character of ,jesus ,christ is guaranteed by its very uniqueness4 ,and the divine origin of ,jesus ,christ is forced upon us as the only adequate explanation of ,his historical character4 ',truly this man was the ,son of ,god4' ,i believe that to lift ,him up is the work of all ,christian preachers and teachers2 as far as they can to hide themselves behind ,jesus ,christ1 or at the most to let themselves appear1 just as the old painters used to let their own likenesses appear in their great altar-pieces--a little kneeling figure there1 away in a dark corner of the background4 ,present ,christ1 and ,he will vindicate ,his own character2 ,he will vindicate ,his own nature2 ,he will vindicate ,his own gospel4 ',they came and saw where ,he dwelt1 and abode with ,him1' and the end of it was that they abode with ,him for evermore4 ,and so it will always be4 ,once more1 personal experience of the grace and sweetness of this ,saviour binds men to ,him as nothing else will3 ',he must be loved ere that to you ,he will seem worthy of your love4' ,the deepest and sweetest and most precious part of ,his character and of ,his gifts can only be known on condition of possessing ,him and them1 and they can be possessed only on condition of holding fellowship with ,him4 ,i do not say to any man3 ',try trust in order to be sure that ,jesus ,christ is worthy to be trusted1' for by its very nature faith cannot be an experiment or provisional4 ,i do not say that my experience is evidence to you1 but at the same time ,i do say that it is worth any man's while to reflect upon this1 that none who ever trusted in ,him have been put to shame4 ,no man has looked to ,jesus and has said3 ',ah6 ,i have found ,him out6 ,his help is vain1 ,his promises empty4' ,many men have fallen away from ,him1 ,i know1 but not because they have proved ,him untruthful1 but because they have become unfaithful4 ,and so1 dear brethren1 ,i come to you with the old message1 ',oh6 taste1' and thus you will 'see that the ,lord is good4' ,there must be the faith first1 and then there will be the experience1 which will make anything seem to you more credible than that ,he whom you have loved and trusted1 and who has answered your love and your trust1 should be anything else than the ,son of ,god1 the ,saviour of mankind4 ,come to ,him and you will see4 ,the impregnable argument will be put into your mouth--',whether this man be a sinner or no1 ,i know not4 ,one thing ,i know1 that whereas ,i was blind1 now ,i see4' ,look to ,him1 listen to ,him1 and when ,he asks you1 ',what seek ye8' answer1 ',rabbi1 where dwellest ,thou8 ,it is ,thou whom ,i seek4' ,he will welcome you to close blessed intercourse with ,him1 which will knit you to ,him with cords that cannot be broken1 and with ,his loving voice making music in memory and heart1 you will be able triumphantly to confess--',now we believe1 not because of any man's saying1 for we have heard ,him ourselves1 and know that this is indeed the ,christ1 the ,saviour of the world4' ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,,ii4 ,,simon ,,peter ',one of the two which heard ,john speak1 and followed him1 was ,andrew1 ,simon ,peter's brother4 #da4 ,he first findeth his own brother ,simon1 and saith unto him1 ,we have found the ,messias1 which is1 being interpreted1 the ,christ4 #db4 ,and he brought him to ,jesus4 ,and when ,jesus beheld him1 ,he said1 ,thou art ,simon the son of ,jona3 thou shalt be called ,cephas1 which is1 by interpretation1 a stone4'--,,john i4 #dj-db4 ,there are many ways by which souls are brought to their ,saviour4 ,sometimes1 like the merchantman seeking goodly pearls1 men seek ,him earnestly and find ,him4 ,sometimes1 by the intervention of another1 the knowledge of ,him is kindled in dark hearts4 ,sometimes ,he ,himself takes the initiative1 and finds those that seek ,him not4 ,we have illustrations of all these various ways in these simple records of the gathering in of the first disciples4 ,andrew and his friend1 with whom we were occupied in our last sermon1 looked for ,christ and found ,him4 ,peter1 with whom we have to do now1 was brought to ,christ by his brother2 and the third of the group1 consisting of ,philip1 was sought by ,christ while he was not thinking of ,him1 and found an unsought treasure2 and then ,philip again1 like ,andrew1 finds a friend1 and brings him to ,christ4 ,each of the incidents has its own lesson1 and each of them adds something to the elucidation of ,john's two great subjects3 the revelation of ,jesus as the ,son of ,god1 and the development of that faith in ,him which gives us life4 ,it may be profitable to consider each group in succession1 and mark the various aspects of these two subjects presented by each4 ,in this incident1 then1 we have two things mainly to consider3 first1 the witness of the disciple2 second1 the self-revelation of the ,master4 ,i4 ,the witness of the disciple4 ,we have seen that the unknown companion of ,andrew was probably the ,evangelist himself1 who1 in accordance with his uniform habit1 suppresses his own name1 and that that omission points to ,john's authorship of this ,gospel4 ,another morsel of evidence as to the date and purpose of the ,gospel lies in the mention here of ,andrew as ',simon ,peter's brother4' ,we have not yet heard anything about ,simon ,peter4 ,the ,evangelist has never mentioned his name1 and yet he takes it for granted that his hearers knew all about ,peter1 and knew him better than they did ,andrew4 ,that presupposes a considerable familiarity with the incidents of the ,gospel story1 and is in harmony with the theory that this fourth ,gospel is the latest of the four1 and was written for the purpose of supplementing1 not of repeating1 their narrative4 ,hence a number of the phenomena of the ,gospel1 which have troubled critics1 are simply and sufficiently explained4 ,but that by the way4 ,passing that1 notice first the illustration that we get here of how instinctive and natural the impulse is1 when a man has found ,jesus ,christ1 to tell some one else about ,him4 ,nobody said to ,andrew1 ',go and look for your brother1' and yet1 as soon as he had fairly realised the fact that this ,man standing before him was the ,messiah1 though the evening seems to have come1 he hurries away to find his brother1 and share with him the glad conviction4 ,now1 that is always the case4 ,if a man has any real depth of conviction1 he cannot rest till he tries to share it with somebody else4 ,why1 even a dog that has had its leg mended1 will bring other limping dogs to the man that was kind to it4 ,whoever really believes anything becomes a propagandist4 ,look round about us to-day6 and hearken to the ,babel1 the wholesale ,babel of noises1 where every sort of opinion is trying to make itself heard4 ,it sounds like a country fair where every huckster is shouting his loudest4 ,that shows that the men believe the things that they profess4 ,thank ,god that there is so much earnestness in the world6 ,and now are ,christians to be dumb whilst all this vociferous crowd is calling its wares1 and quacks are standing on their platforms shouting out their specifics1 which are mostly delusions8 ,have you not a medicine that will cure everything1 a real heal-all1 a veritable pain-killer8 ,if you believe that you have1 certainly you will never rest till you share your boon with your brethren4 ,if the natural effect of all earnest conviction1 viz4 a yearning and an absolute necessity to speak it out1 is no part of your ,christian experience1 very grave inferences ought to be drawn from that4 ,this man1 before he was four-and-twenty hours a disciple1 had made another4 ,some of you have been disciples for as many years1 and have never even tried to make one4 ,whence comes that silence which is1 alas1 so common among us8 ,it is very plain that1 making all allowance for changed manners1 for social difficulties1 for timidity1 for the embarrassment that besets people when they talk to other people about religion1 which is 'such an awkward subject to introduce into mixed company1' and the like1--making all allowance for these1 there is a deplorable number of ,christian people who ought to be1 in their own circles1 evangelists and missionaries1 who are1 if ,i may venture to quote very rude words which the ,bible uses1 ',dumb dogs lying down1 and loving to slumber4' ',he first findeth his own brother1 ,simon6' ,now1 take another lesson out of this witness of the disciple1 as to the channel in which such effort naturally runs4 ',he first findeth his own brother'2 does not that imply a second finding by the other of the two8 ,the language of the text suggests that the ,evangelist's tendency to the suppression of himself1 of which ,i have spoken1 hides away1 if ,i may so say1 in this singular expression1 the fact that he too went to look for a brother1 but that ,andrew found his brother before ,john found his4 ,if so1 each of the original pair of disciples went to look for one who was knit to him by close ties of kindred and affection1 and found him and brought him to ,christ2 and before the day was over the ,christian ,church was doubled1 because each member of it1 by ,god's grace1 had added another4 ,home1 then1 and those who are nearest to us1 present the natural channels for ,christian work4 ,many a very earnest and busy preacher1 or ,sunday-school teacher1 or missionary1 has brothers and sisters1 husband or wife1 children or parents at home to whom he has never said a word about ,christ4 ,there is an old proverb1 ',the shoemaker's wife is always the worst shod4' ,the families of many very busy ,christian teachers suffer wofully for want of remembering 'he first findeth his own brother4' ,it is a poor affair if all your philanthropy and ,christian energy go off noisily in ,sunday-schools and mission-stations1 and if your own vineyard is neglected1 and the people at your own fireside never hear anything from you about the ,master whom you say you love4 ,some of you want that hint2 will you take it8 ,but then1 the principle is one that might be fairly expanded beyond the home circle4 ,the natural relationships into which we are brought by neighbourhood and by ordinary associations prescribe the direction of our efforts4 ,what1 for instance1 are we set down in this swarming population of ,lancashire for8 ,for business and personal ends8 ,yes1 partly4 ,but is that all8 ,surely1 if we believe that 'there is a divinity that shapes our ends' and determines the bounds of our habitation1 we must believe that other purposes affecting other people are also meant by ,god to be accomplished through us1 and that where a man who knows and loves ,christ ,jesus is brought into neighbourly contact with thousands who do not1 he is thereby constituted his brethren's keeper1 and is as plainly called to tell them of ,christ as if a voice from ,heaven had bid him do it4 ,what is to be said of the depth and vital energy of the ,christianity that neither hears the call nor feels the impulse to share its blessing with the famishing ,lazarus at its gate8 ,what will be the fate of such a church8 ,why1 if you live in luxury in your own well drained and ventilated house1 and take no heed to the typhoid fever or cholera in the slums at its back1 the chances are that seeds of the disease will find their way to you1 and kill your wife1 or child1 or yourself4 ,and if you ,christian people1 living in the midst of godless people1 do not try to heal them1 they will infect you4 ,if you do not seek to impress your conviction that ,christ is the ,messiah upon an unbelieving generation1 the unbelieving generation will impress upon you its doubts whether ,he is2 and your lips will falter1 and a pallor will come over the complexion of your love1 and your faith will become congealed and turn into ice4 ,notice again the simple word which is the most powerful means of influencing most men4 ,andrew did not begin to argue with his brother4 ,some of us can do that and some of us cannot4 ,some of us are influenced by argument and some of us are not4 ,you may pound a man's mistaken creed to atoms with sledge-hammers of reasoning1 and he is not much the nearer being a ,christian than he was before2 just as you may pound ice to pieces and it is pounded ice after all4 ,the mightiest argument that we can use1 and the argument that we can all use1 if we have got any religion in us at all1 is that of ,andrew1 ',we have found the ,messias4' ,i recently read a story in some newspaper or other about a minister who preached a very elaborate course of lectures in refutation of some form of infidelity1 for the special benefit of a man that attended his place of worship4 ,soon after1 the man came and declared himself a ,christian4 ,the minister said to him1 ',which of my discourses was it that removed your doubts8' ,the reply was1 ',oh6 it was not any of your sermons that influenced me4 ,the thing that set me thinking was that a poor woman came out of the chapel beside me1 and stumbled on the steps1 and ,i stretched out my hand to help her1 and she said ,thank you6 ,then she looked at me and said1 ,do you love ,jesus ,christ1 my blessed ,saviour8 ,and ,i did not1 and ,i went home and thought about it2 and now ,i can say ,i love ,jesus4' ,the poor woman's word1 and her frank confession of her experience1 were all the transforming power4 ,if you have found ,christ1 you can say that you have4 ,never mind about the how6 ,any how6 ,only say it6 ,a boy that is sent on an errand by his father has only one duty to perform1 and that is to repeat what he was told4 ,whether we have any eloquence or not1 whether we have any logic or not1 whether we can speak persuasively and gracefully or not1 if we have laid hold of ,christ at all we can say that we have2 and it is at our peril that we do not4 ,we can say it to somebody4 ,there is surely some one who will listen to you more readily than to any one else4 ,surely you have not lived all your life and bound nobody to you by kindness and love1 so that they will gladly attend to what you say4 ,well1 then1 use the power that is given to you4 ,remember the beginnings of the ,christian ,church--two men1 each of whom found his brother4 ,two and two make four2 and if every one of us would go1 according to the old law of warfare1 and each of us slay our man1 or rather each of us give life by ,god's grace to some one1 or try to do it1 our congregations and our churches would grow as fast as1 according to the old problem1 the money grew that was paid down for the nails in the horse's shoes4 ,two snowflakes on the top of a mountain gather an avalanche by the time they reach the valley4 ',he first findeth his brother1 ,simon4' ,,ii4 ,and now ,i turn to the second part of this text1 the self-revelation of the ,master4 ,the bond which knit these men to ,christ at first was by no means the perfect ,christian faith which they afterwards attained4 ,they recognised ,him as the ,messiah1 they were personally attached to ,him1 they were ready to accept ,his teaching and to obey ,his commandments4 ,that was about as far as they had gone4 ,but they were scholars4 ,they had entered the school4 ,the rest would come4 ,it would be absurd to expect that ,christ would begin by preaching to them faith in ,his divinity and atoning work4 ,he binds them to ,himself4 ,that is lesson enough for a beginner for one day4 ,it was the impression which ,christ ,himself made on ,simon which completed the work begun by his brother4 ,what1 then1 was the impression8 ,he comes all full of wonder and awe1 and he is met by a look and a sentence4 ,the look1 which is described by an unusual word1 was a penetrating gaze which regarded ,peter with fixed attention4 ,it must have been remarkable1 to have lived in ,john's memory for all these years4 ,evidently1 as ,i think1 a more than natural insight is implied4 ,so1 also1 the saying with which our ,lord received ,peter seems to me to be meant to show more than natural knowledge3 ',thou art ,simon1 the son of ,jonas4' ,christ may1 no doubt1 have learned the ,apostle's name and lineage from his brother1 or in some other ordinary way4 ,but if you observe the similar incident which follows in the conversation with ,nicodemus1 and the emphatic declaration of the next chapter that ,jesus knew both 'all men1' and 'what was in man'--both human nature as a whole1 and each individual--it is more natural to see here superhuman knowledge4 ,so then1 the first point in our ,lord's self-revelation here is that ,he shows ,himself possessed of supernatural and thorough knowledge4 ,one remembers the many instances where our ,lord read men's hearts1 and the prayer addressed to ,him probably1 by ,peter1 ',thou1 ,lord1 which knowest the hearts of all men1' and the vision which ,john saw of 'eyes like a flame of fire1' and the sevenfold ',i know thy works4' ,it may be a very awful thought1 ',thou1 ,god1 seest me4' ,it is a very unwelcome thought to a great many men1 and it will be so to us unless we can give it the modification which it receives from the belief in the divinity of ,jesus ,christ1 and feel sure that the eyes which are blazing with divine omniscience are dewy with divine and human love4 ,do you believe it8 ,do you feel that ,christ is looking at you1 and searching you altogether8 ,do you rejoice in it8 ,do you carry it about with you as a consolation and a strength in moments of weakness and in times of temptation8 ,is it as blessed to you to feel ',thou ,christ beholdest me now1' as it is for a child to feel that1 when it is playing in the garden1 its mother is sitting up at the window watching it1 and that no harm can come8 ,there have been men driven mad in prisons because they knew that somewhere in the wall there was a little pinhole1 through which a gaoler's eye was always1 or might be always1 glaring down at them4 ,and the thought of an absolute ,omniscience up there1 searching me to the depths of my nature1 may become one from which ,i recoil shudderingly1 and will not be altogether a blessed one unless it comes to me in this shape3--',my ,christ knows me altogether and loves me better than ,he knows4 ,and so ,i will spread myself out before ,him1 and though ,i feel that there is much in me which ,i dare not tell to men1 ,i will rejoice that there is nothing which ,i need to tell to ,him4 ,he knows me through and through4 ,he knew me when ,he died for me4 ,he knew me when ,he forgave me4 ,he knew me when ,he undertook to cleanse me4 ,like this very ,peter ,i will say1 ,lord1 ,thou knowest all things1 and1 like him1 ,i will cling the closer to ,his feet1 because ,i know1 and ,he knows1 my weakness and my sin4' ,another revelation of our ,lord's relation to ,his disciples is given in the fact that ,he changes ,simon's name4 ,jehovah1 in the ,old ,testament1 changes the names of ,abraham and of ,jacob4 ,babylonian kings in the ,old ,testament change the names of their vassal princes4 ,masters impose names on their slaves2 and ,i suppose that even the marriage custom of the wife's assuming the name of the husband rests originally upon the same idea of absolute authority4 ,that idea is conveyed in the fact that our ,lord changes ,peter's name1 and so takes absolute possession of him1 and asserts ,his mastery over him4 ,we belong to ,him altogether1 because ,he has given ,himself altogether for us4 ,his absolute authority is the correlative of ,his utter self-surrender4 ,he who can come to me and say1 ',i have spared not my life for thee1' and ,he only1 has the right to come to me and say1 'yield yourself wholly to ,me4' ,so1 ,christian friends1 your ,master wants all your service2 do you give yourselves up to ,him out and out1 not by half and half4 ,lastly1 that change of name implies ,christ's power and promise to bestow a new character and new functions and honours4 ,peter was by no means a ',peter' then4 ,the name no doubt mainly implies official function1 but that official function was prepared for by personal character2 and in so far as the name refers to character1 it means firmness4 ,at that epoch ,peter was rash1 impulsive1 headstrong1 self-confident1 vain1 and therefore1 necessarily changeable4 ,like the granite1 all fluid and hot1 and fluid because it was hot1 he needed to cool in order to solidify into rock4 ,and not until his self-confidence had been knocked out of him1 and he had learned humility by falling2 not until he had been beaten from all his presumption1 and tamed down1 and sobered and steadied by years of difficulty and responsibilities1 did he become the rock that ,christ meant him to be4 ,all that lay concealed in the future1 but in the change of his name1 while he stood on the very threshold of his ,christian career1 there was preached to him1 and there is preached to us1 this great truth1 that if you will go to ,jesus ,christ ,he will make a new man of you4 ,no man's character is so obstinately rooted in evil but that ,christ can change its set and direction4 ,no man's natural dispositions are so faulty and low but that ,christ can develop counterbalancing virtues1 and out of the evil and weakness make strength4 ,he will not make a ,peter into a ,john1 or a ,john into a ,paul1 but ,he will deliver ,peter from the 'defects of his qualities1' and lead them up into a higher and a nobler region4 ,there are no outcasts in the view of the transforming ,christ4 ,he dismisses no people out of ,his hospital as incurable1 because anybody1 everybody1 the blackest1 the most rooted in evil1 those who have longest indulged in any given form of transgression1 may all come to ,him2 with the certainty that if they will cleave to ,him1 ,he will read all their character and all its weaknesses1 and then with a glad smile of welcome and assured confidence on ,his face1 will ensure to them a new nature and new dignities4 ',thou art ,simon--thou shalt be ,peter4' ,the process will be long4 ,it will be painful4 ,there will be a great deal pared off4 ,the sculptor makes the marble image by chipping away the superfluous marble4 ,ah6 and when you have to chip away superfluous flesh and blood it is bitter work1 and the chisel is often deeply dyed in gore1 and the mallet seems to be very cruel4 ,simon did not know all that had to be done to make a ,peter of him4 ,we have to thank ,god's providence that we do not know all the sorrows and trials of the process of making us what ,he wills us to be4 ,but we may be sure of this1 that if only we keep near our ,master1 and let ,him have ,his way with us1 and work ,his will upon us1 and if only we will not wince from the blows of the ,great ,artist's chisel1 then out of the roughest block ,he will carve the fairest statue2 and ,he will fulfil for us at last ,his great promise3 ',i will give unto him a white stone1 and in the stone a new name written1 which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it4' ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,,iii4 ,,philip ',the day following ,jesus would go forth into ,galilee1 and findeth ,philip1 and saith unto him1 ,follow ,me4'--,,john i4 #dc4 ',the day following'--we have a diary in this chapter and the next1 extending from the day when ,john the ,baptist gives his official testimony to ,jesus1 up till our ,lord's first journey to ,jerusalem4 ,the order of events is this4 ,the deputation from the ,sanhedrim to ,john occupied the first day4 ,on the second ,jesus comes back to ,john after ,his temptation1 and receives his solemn attestation4 ,on the third day1 ,john repeats his testimony1 and three disciples1 probably four1 make the nucleus of the ,church4 ,these are the two pairs of brothers1 ,james and ,john1 ,andrew and ,peter1 who stand first in every catalogue of the ,apostles1 and were evidently nearest to ,christ4 ',the day following' of our text is the fourth day4 ,on it our ,lord determines to return to ,galilee4 ,his objects in ,his visit to ,john were accomplished--to receive his public attestation1 and to gather the first little knot of ,his followers4 ,thus launched upon ,his course1 ,he desired to return to ,his native district4 ,these events had occurred where ,john was baptising1 in a place called in the ,english version ,bethabara1 which means ',the house of crossing1' or as we might say1 ,ferry-house4 ,the traditional site for ,john's baptism is near ,jericho1 but the next chapter 7verse i47 shows that it was only a day's journey from ,cana of ,galilee1 and must therefore have been much further north than ,jericho4 ,a ford1 still bearing the name ,abarah1 a few miles south of the lake of ,gennesaret1 has lately been discovered4 ,our ,lord1 then1 and ,his disciples had a day's walking to take them back to ,galilee4 ,but apparently before they set out on that morning1 ,philip and ,nathanael were added to the little band4 ,so these two days saw six disciples gathered round ,jesus4 ,andrew and ,john sought ,christ and found ,him4 ,to them ,he revealed ,himself as very willing to be approached1 and glad to welcome any to ,his side4 ,peter1 who comes next1 was brought to ,christ by his brother1 and to him ,christ revealed ,himself as reading his heart1 and promising and giving him higher functions and a more noble character4 ,now we come to the third case1 ',jesus findeth ,philip1' who was not seeking ,jesus1 and who was brought by no one4 ,to him ,christ reveals ,himself as drawing near to many a heart that has not thought of ,him1 and laying a masterful hand of gracious authority on the springs of life and character in that autocratic word ',follow ,me4' ,so we have a gradually heightening revelation of the ,master's graciousness to all souls1 to them that seek and to them that seek ,him not4 ,it is only to the working out of these simple thoughts that ,i ask your attention now4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 let us deal with the revelation that is given us here of the seeking ,christ4 ,every one who reads this chapter with even the slightest attention must observe how 'seeking' and 'finding' are repeated over and over again4 ,christ turns to ,andrew and ,john with the question1 ',what seek ye8' ,andrew1 as the narrative says1 'findeth his own brother1 ,simon1 and saith unto him1 ,we have found the ,messias6' ,then again1 ,jesus finds ,philip2 and again1 ,philip1 as soon as he has been won to ,jesus1 goes off to find ,nathanael2 and his glad word to him is1 once more1 ',we have found the ,messias4' ,it is a reciprocal play of finding and seeking all through these verses4 ,there are two kinds of finding4 ,there is a casual stumbling upon a thing that you were not looking for1 and there is a finding as the result of seeking4 ,it is the latter which is here4 ,christ did not casually stumble upon ,philip1 upon that morning1 before they departed from the fords of the ,jordan on their short journey to ,cana of ,galilee4 ,he went to look for this other ,galilean1 one who was connected with ,andrew and ,peter1 a native of the same little village4 ,he went and found him2 and whilst ,philip was all unexpectant and undesirous1 the ,master came to him and laid ,his hand upon him1 and drew him to ,himself4 ,now that is what ,christ often does4 ,there are men like the merchantman who went all over the world seeking goodly pearls1 who with some eager longing to possess light1 or truth1 or goodness1 or rest1 search up and down and find it nowhere1 because they are looking for it in a hundred different places4 ,they are expecting to find a little here and a little there1 and to piece all together to make of the fragments one all-sufficing restfulness4 ,then when they are most eager in their search1 or when1 perhaps1 it has all died down into despair and apathy1 the veil seems to be withdrawn1 and they see ,him whom they have been seeking all the time and knew not that ,he was there beside them4 ,all1 and more than all1 that they sought for in the many pearls is stored for them in the one ,pearl of great price4 ,the ancient covenant stands firm to-day as for ever4 ',seek and ye shall find1 knock and it shall be opened unto you4' ,but then there are others1 like ,paul on the road to ,damascus or like ,matthew the publican1 sitting at the receipt of custom1 on whom there is laid a sudden hand1 to whom there comes a sudden conviction1 on whose eyes1 not looking to the ,east1 there dawns the light of ,christ's presence4 ,such cases occur all through the ages1 for ,he is not to be confined1 bless ,his name6 within the narrow limits of answering seeking souls1 or of showing ,himself to people that are brought to ,him by human instrumentality2 but far beyond these bounds ,he goes1 and many a time discloses ,his beauty and ,his sweetness to hearts that wist not of ,him1 and who can only say1 ',lo6 ,god was in this place1 and ,i knew it not4' ',thou wast found of them that sought ,thee not4' ,as it was in ,his miracles upon earth1 so it has been in the sweet and gracious works of ,his grace ever since4 ,sometimes ,he healed in response to the yearning desire that looked out of sick eyes1 or that spoke from parched lips1 and no man that ever came to ,him and said ',heal me6' was sent away beggared of ,his blessing4 ,sometimes ,he healed in response to the beseeching of those who1 with loving hearts1 carried their dear ones and laid them at ,his feet4 ,but sometimes1 to magnify the spontaneity and the completeness of ,his own love1 and to show us that ,he is bound and limited by no human co-operation1 and that ,he is ,his own motive1 ,he reached out the blessing to a hand that was not extended to grasp it2 and by ,his question1 ',wilt thou be made whole8' kindled desires that else had lain dormant for ever4 ,and so in this story before us2 ,he will welcome and over-answer ,andrew and ,john when they come seeking2 ,he will turn round to them with a smile on ,his face1 that converts the question1 ',what seek ye8' into an invitation1 ',come and see4' ,and when ,andrew brings his brother to ,him1 ,he will go more than halfway to meet him4 ,but when these are won1 there still remains another way by which ,he will have disciples brought into ,his ,kingdom1 and that is by ,himself going out and laying ,his hand on the man and drawing him to ,his heart by the revelation of ,his love4 ,but further1 and in a deeper sense1 ,he really seeks us all1 and1 unasked1 bestows ,his love upon us4 ,whether we seek ,him or no1 there is no heart upon earth which ,christ does not desire2 and no man or woman within the sound of ,his gospel whom ,he is not in a very real sense seeking that ,he may draw them to ,himself4 ,his own word is a wonderful one3 ',the ,father seeketh such to worship ,him'2 as if ,god went all up and down the world looking for hearts to love ,him and to turn to ,him with reverent thankfulness4 ,and as the ,father1 so the ,son--who is for us the revelation of the ,father3 ',the ,son of ,man is come to seek and to save that which was lost4' ,no one on earth wanted ,him1 or dreamed of ,his coming4 ,when ,he bowed the heavens and gathered ,himself into the narrow space of the manger in ,bethlehem1 and took upon ,him the limitations and the burdens and the weaknesses of manhood1 it was not in response to any petition1 it was in reply to no seeking2 but ,he came spontaneously1 unmoved1 obeying but the impulse of ,his own heart1 and because ,he would have mercy4 ,he who is the ,beginning1 and will be ,first in all things1 was first in this1 that before they called ,he answered1 and came upon earth unbesought and unexpected1 because ,his own infinite love brought ,him hither4 ,christ's mercy to a world does not come like water in a well that has to be pumped up1 by our petitions1 by our search1 but like water in some fountain1 rising sparkling into the sunlight by its own inward impulse4 ,he is ,his own motive2 and came to a forgetful and careless world1 like a shepherd who goes after his flock in the wilderness1 not because they bleat for him1 while they crop the herbage which tempts them ever further from the fold and remember him and it no more1 but because he cannot have them lost4 ,men are not conscious of needing ,christ till ,he comes4 ,the supply creates the demand4 ,he is like the 'dew which tarrieth not for man1 nor waiteth for the sons of men4' ,but not only does ,christ seek us all1 inasmuch as the whole conception and execution of ,his great work are independent of man's desires1 but ,he seeks us each in a thousand ways4 ,he longs to have each of us for ,his disciples4 ,he seeks each of us for ,his disciples1 by the motion of ,his ,spirit on our spirits1 by stirring conviction in our consciences1 by pricking us often with a sense of our own evil1 by all our restlessness and dissatisfaction1 by the disappointments and the losses1 as by the brightnesses and the goodness of earthly providences1 and often through such agencies as my lips and the lips of other men4 ,the ,master ,himself1 who seeks all mankind1 has sought and is seeking you at this moment4 ,oh6 yield to ,his search4 ,the shepherd goes out on the mountain side1 for all the storm and the snow1 and wades knee-deep through the drifts until he finds the sheep4 ,and your ,shepherd1 who is also your ,brother1 has come looking for you1 and at this moment is putting out ,his hand and laying hold of some of you through my poor words1 and saying to you1 as ,he said to ,philip1 ',follow ,me6' ,,ii4 ,and now let us next consider that word of authority which1 spoken to the one man in our text1 is really spoken to us all4 ',jesus findeth ,philip1 and saith unto him1 ,follow ,me6' ,no doubt a great deal more passed1 but no doubt what more passed was less significant and less important for the development of faith in this man than what is recorded4 ,the word of authority1 the invitation which was a demand1 the demand which was an invitation1 and the personal impression which ,he produced upon ,philip's heart1 were the things that bound him to ,jesus ,christ for ever4 ',follow ,me1' spoken at the beginning of the journey of ,christ and ,his disciples back to ,galilee1 might have meant merely1 on the surface1 ',come back with us4' ,but the words have1 of course1 a much deeper meaning4 ,they mean--be ,my disciple4 ,think what is implied in them1 and ask yourself whether the demand that ,christ makes in these words is an unreasonable one1 and then ask yourselves whether you have yielded to it or not4 ,we lose the force of the image by much repetition4 ,sheep follow a shepherd4 ,travellers follow a guide4 ,here is a man upon some dangerous cornice of the ,alps1 with a ledge of limestone as broad as the palm of your hand1 and perhaps a couple of feet of snow above that1 for him to walk upon1 a precipice on either side2 and his guide says1 as he ropes himself to him1 ',now1 tread where ,i tread6' ,travellers follow their guides4 ,soldiers follow their commanders4 ,there is the hell of the battlefield2 here a line of wavering1 timid1 raw recruits4 ,their commander rushes to the front and throws himself upon the advancing enemy with the one word1 ',follow' and the coward becomes a hero4 ,soldiers follow their captains4 ,your ,shepherd comes to you and calls1 ',follow ,me4' ,your ,captain and ,commander comes to you and calls1 ',follow ,me4' ,in all the dreary wilderness1 in all the difficult contingencies and conjunctions1 in all the conflicts of life1 this ,man strides in front of us and proposes ,himself to us as ,guide1 ,example1 ,consoler1 ,friend1 ,companion1 everything2 and gathers up all duty1 all blessedness1 in the majestic and simple words1 ',follow ,me4' ,it is a call at the least to accept ,him as a ,teacher1 but the whole gist of the context here is to show us that from the beginning ,christ's disciples did not look upon ,him as a ,rabbi's disciples did1 as being simply a teacher1 but recognised ,him as the ,messias1 the ,son of ,god1 the ,king of ,israel4 ,so that they were called upon by this command to accept ,his teaching in a very special way1 not merely as ,hillel or ,gamaliel asked their disciples to accept theirs4 ,do you do that8 ,do you take ,him as your illumination about all matters of theoretical truth1 and of practical wisdom8 ,is ,his declaration of ,god your theology8 ,is ,his declaration of ,his own ,person your creed8 ,do you think about ,his ,cross as ,he did when ,he elected to be remembered in all the world by the broken body and the shed blood1 which were the symbols of ,his reconciling death8 ,is ,his teaching1 that the ,son of ,man comes to 'give ,his life a ransom for many1' the ground of your hope8 ,do you follow ,him in your belief1 and following ,him in your belief1 do you accept ,him as1 by ,his death and passion1 the ,saviour of your soul8 ,that is the first step--to follow ,him1 to trust ,him wholly for what ,he is1 the ,incarnate ,son of ,god1 the ,sacrifice for the sins of the whole world1 and therefore for your sins and mine4 ,this is a call to faith4 ,it is also a call to obedience4 ',follow ,me' certainly means ',do as ,i bid you1' but softens all the harshness of that command4 ,sedulously plant your tremulous feet in ,his firm footsteps4 ,where you see ,his track going across the bog be not afraid to walk after ,him1 though it may seem to lead you into the deepest and the blackest of it4 ',follow ,him' and you will be right4 ',follow ,him' and you will be blessed4 ,do as ,christ did1 or as according to the best of your judgment it seems to you that ,christ would have done if ,he had been in your circumstances2 and you will not go far wrong4 ',the ,imitation of ,christ1' which ,thomas a ,kempis wrote his book about1 is the sum of all practical ,christianity4 ',follow ,me6' makes discipleship to be something more than intellectual acceptance of ,his teaching1 something more than even reliance for my salvation upon ,his work4 ,it makes discipleship--springing out of these two--the acceptance of ,his teaching and the consequent reliance1 by faith1 upon ,his word--to be a practical reproduction of ,his character and conduct in mine4 ,it is a call to communion4 ,if a man follows ,christ he will walk close behind ,him1 and near enough to ,him to hear ,him speak1 and to be 'guided by ,his eye4' ,he will be separated from other people1 and from other paths4 ,in these four things1 then--,faith1 ,obedience1 ,imitation1 ,communion--lies the essence of discipleship4 ,no man is a ,christian who has not in some measure all four4 ,have you got them8 ,what right has ,jesus ,christ to ask me to follow ,him8 ,why should ,i8 ,who is ,he that ,he should set ,himself up as being the perfect ,example and the ,guide for all the world8 ,what has ,he done to bind me to ,him1 that ,i should take ,him for my ,master1 and yield myself to ,him in a subjection that ,i refuse to the mightiest names in literature1 and thought1 and practical benevolence8 ,who is this that assumes thus to dominate over us all8 ,ah6 brethren1 there is only one answer4 ',this is none other than the ,son of ,god who has given ,himself a ransom for me1 and therefore has the right1 and only therefore has the right1 to say to me1 ,follow ,me4' ,,iii4 ,and now one last word4 ,think for a moment about this silently and swiftly obedient disciple4 ,philip says nothing4 ,of course the narrative is mere sketchy outline4 ,he is silent1 but he yields4 ,ah1 brethren1 how quickly a soul may be won or lost6 ,that moment1 when ,philip's decision was trembling in the balance1 was but a moment4 ,it might have gone the other way1 for ,christ has no pressed men in ,his army2 they are all volunteers4 ,it might have gone the other way4 ,a moment may settle for you whether you will be ,his disciple or not4 ,people tell us that the belief in instantaneous conversions is unphilosophical4 ,it seems to me that the objections to them are unphilosophical4 ,all decisions are matters of an instant4 ,hesitation may be long1 weighing and balancing may be a protracted process1 but the decision is always a moment's work1 a knife-edge4 ,and there is no reason whatever why any one listening to me may not now1 if he or she will1 do as this man ,philip did on the spot1 and when ,christ says ',follow ,me1' turn to ,him and answer1 ',i will follow ,thee whithersoever ,thou goest4' ,there is an old church tradition which says that the disciple who at a subsequent period answered ,christ1 ',lord6 suffer me first to go and bury my father1' was this same ,apostle4 ,i do not think that at all likely1 but the tradition suggests to us one last thought about the reasons why people are kept back from yielding this obedience to ,christ's invitation4 ,many of you are kept back1 as that procrastinating follower was1 because there are some other duties which you feel1 or make to be1 more important4 ',i will think about ,christianity and turning religious when this1 that1 or the other thing has been got over4 ,i have my position in life to make4 ,i have a great many things to do that must be done at once1 and really1 ,i have not time to think about it4' ,then there are some of you that are kept from following ,christ because you have never yet found out that you need a guide at all4 ,then there are some of you that are kept back because you like very much better to go your own way1 and to follow your own inclination1 and dislike the idea of following the will of another4 ,there are a host of other reasons that ,i do not need to deal with now2 but oh6 brethren1 none of them is worth pleading4 ,they are excuses1 they are not reasons4 ',they all with one consent began to make excuse'--excuses1 not reasons2 and manufactured excuses1 in order to cover a decision which has been taken before1 and on other grounds altogether1 which it is not convenient to bring up to the surface4 ,i am not going to deal with these in detail1 but ,i beseech you1 do not let what ,i venture to call ,christ's seeking of you once more1 even by my poor words now1 be in vain4 ,follow ,him4 ,trust1 obey1 imitate1 hold fellowship with ,him4 ,you will always have a ,companion1 you will always have a ,protector4 ',he that followeth ,me1' saith ,he1 'shall not walk in darkness1 but shall have the light of life4' ,and if you will listen to the ,shepherd's voice and follow ,him1 that sweet old promise will be true1 in its divinest and sweetest sense1 about your life1 in time2 and about your life in the moment of death1 the isthmus between two worlds1 and about your life in eternity--',they shall not hunger nor thirst1 neither shall the sun nor heat smite them2 for ,he that hath mercy on them shall lead them1 even by the springs of water shall ,he guide them4' ',follow thou ,me4' ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,,iv4 ,,nathanael ',philip findeth ,nathanael1 and saith unto him1 ,we have found ,him1 of whom ,moses in the law1 and the prophets1 did write1 ,jesus of ,nazareth1 the son of ,joseph4 #df4 ,and ,nathanael said unto him1 ,can there any good thing come out of ,nazareth8 ,philip saith unto him1 ,come and see4 #dg4 ,jesus saw ,nathanael coming to ,him1 and saith of him1 ,behold an ,israelite indeed1 in whom is no guile6 #dh4 ,nathanael saith unto ,him1 ,whence knowest ,thou me8 ,jesus answered and said unto him1 ,before that ,philip called thee1 when thou wast under the fig tree1 ,i saw thee4 #di4 ,nathanael answered and saith unto ,him1 ,rabbi1 ,thou art the ,son of ,god2 ,thou art the ,king of ,israel4'--,,john i4 #de-di4 ,the words are often the least part of a conversation4 ,the ,evangelist can tell us what ,nathanael said to ,jesus1 and what ,jesus said to ,nathanael1 but no ,evangelist can reproduce the look1 the tone1 the magnetic influence which streamed out from ,christ1 and1 we may believe1 more than anything ,he said1 riveted these men to ,him4 ,it looks as if ,nathanael and his companions were very easily convinced1 as if their adhesion to such tremendous claims as those of ,jesus ,christ was much too facile a thing to be a very deep one4 ,but what can be put down in black and white goes a very short way to solve the secret of the power which drew them to ,himself4 ,the incident which is before us now runs substantially on the same lines as the previous bringing of ,peter to ,jesus ,christ4 ,in both cases the man is brought by a friend1 in both cases the friend's weapon is simply the expression of his own personal experience1 ',we have found the ,messias1' although ,philip has a little more to say about ,christ's correspondence with the prophetic word4 ,in both cases the work is finished by our ,lord ,himself manifesting ,his own supernatural knowledge to the inquiring spirit1 though in the case of ,nathanael that process is a little more lengthened out than in the case of ,peter1 because there was a little ice of hesitation and of doubt to be melted away4 ,and ,nathanael1 starting from a lower point than ,peter1 having questions and hesitations which the other had not1 rises to a higher point of faith and certitude1 and from his lips first of all comes the full articulate confession1 beyond which the ,apostles never went as long as our ,lord was upon earth3 ',rabbi1 ,thou art the ,son of ,god2 ,thou art the ,king of ,israel4' ,so that both in regard to the revelation that is given of the character of our ,lord1 and in regard to the teaching that is given of the development and process of faith in a soul1 this last narrative fitly crowns the whole series4 ,in looking at it with you now1 ,i think ,i shall best bring out its force by asking you to take it as falling into these three portions3 first1 the preparation--a soul brought to ,christ by a brother2 then the conversation--a soul fastened to ,christ by ,himself2 and then the rapturous confession--',rabbi1 ,thou art the ,son of ,god2 ,thou art the ,king of ,israel4' ,i4 ,look1 then1 first of all1 at the preparation--a soul brought to ,christ by a brother4 ',philip findeth ,nathanael4' ,nathanael1 in all probability1 as commentators will tell you1 is the ,apostle ,bartholomew2 and in the catalogues of the ,apostles in the ,gospels1 ,philip and he are always associated together4 ,so that the two men1 friends before1 had their friendship riveted and made more close by this sacredest of all bonds1 that the one had been to the other the means of bringing him to ,jesus ,christ4 ,there is nothing that ties men to each other like that4 ,if you want to know the full sweetness of association with friends1 and of human love1 get some heart knit to yours by this sacred and eternal bond that it owes to you its first knowledge of the ,saviour4 ,so all human ties will be sweetened1 ennobled1 elevated1 and made perpetual4 ',we have found ,him1 of whom ,moses in the law1 and the prophets1 did write3 ,jesus of ,nazareth1 the ,son of ,joseph4' ,philip knows nothing about ,christ's supernatural birth1 nor about its having been in ,bethlehem2 to him ,he is the son of a ,nazarene peasant4 ,but1 notwithstanding that1 ,he is the great1 significant1 mysterious ,person for whom the whole sacred literature of ,israel had been one long yearning for centuries2 and he has come to believe that this ,man standing beside him is the ,person on whom all previous divine communications for a millennium past focussed and centred4 ,i need not dwell upon these words1 because to do so would be to repeat substantially what ,i said in a former sermon on these first disciples1 about the value of personal conviction as a means of producing conviction in the minds of others1 and about the necessity and the possibility of all who have found ,christ for themselves saying so to others1 and thereby becoming ,his missionaries and evangelists4 ,i do not need to repeat what ,i said on that occasion2 therefore ,i pass on to the very natural hesitation and question of ,nathanael3 ',can there any good thing come out of ,nazareth8' ,a prejudice1 no doubt1 but a very harmless one2 a very thin ice which melted as soon as ,christ's smile beamed upon him4 ,and a most natural prejudice4 ,nathanael came from ,cana of ,galilee1 a little hill village1 three or four miles from ,nazareth4 ,we all know the bitter feuds and jealousies of neighbouring villages1 and how nothing is so pleasant to the inhabitants of one as a gibe about the inhabitants of another4 ,and in ,nathanael's words there simply speaks the rustic jealousy of ,cana against ,nazareth4 ,it is easy to blame him1 but do you think that you or ,i1 if we had been in his place1 would have been likely to have said anything very different8 ,suppose you were told that a peasant out of ,ross-shire was a man on whom the whole history of this nation hung4 ,do you think you would be likely to believe it without first saying1 ',that is a strange place for such a person to be born in'8 ,galilee was the despised part of ,palestine1 and ,nazareth obviously was a proverbially despised village of ,galilee2 and this ,jesus was a carpenter's son that nobody had ever heard of4 ,it seemed to be a strange head on which the divine dove should flutter down1 passing by all the ,pharisees and the ,scribes1 all the great people and wise people4 ,nathanael's prejudice was but the giving voice to a fault that is as wide as humanity1 and which we have every day of our lives to fight with2 not only in regard to religious matters but in regard to all others--namely1 the habit of estimating people1 and their work1 and their wisdom1 and their power to teach us1 by the class to which they are supposed to belong1 or even by the place from which they come4 ',can any good thing come out of ,nazareth8' ',can a ,german teach an ,englishman anything that he does not know8' ',is a ,protestant to owe anything of spiritual illumination to a ,roman ,catholic8' ',are we ,dissenters to receive any wisdom or example from ,churchmen8' ',will a ,conservative be able to give any lessons in politics to a ,liberal8' ',is there any other bit of ,england that can teach ,lancashire8' ,take care that whilst you are holding up your hands in horror against the prejudices of our ,lord's contemporaries1 who stumbled at ,his origin1 you are not doing the same thing in regard to all manner of subjects twenty times a day4 ,that is one very plain lesson1 and not at all too secular for a sermon4 ,take another4 ,this three-parts innocent prejudice of ,nathanael brings into clear relief for us what a very real obstacle to the recognition of our ,lord's ,messianic authority ,his apparent lowly origin was4 ,we have got over it1 and it is no difficulty to us2 but it was so then4 ,when ,jesus ,christ came into this world ,judaea was ruled by the most heartless of aristocracies1 an aristocracy of cultured pedants4 ,wherever you get such a class you get people who think that there can be nobody worth looking at1 or worth attending to1 outside the little limits of their own supercilious superiority4 ,why did ,jesus ,christ come from 'the men of the earth1' as the ,rabbis called all who had not learned to cover every plain precept with spiders' webs of casuistry8 ,why1 for one thing1 in accordance with the general law that the great reformers and innovators always come from outside these classes1 that the ,spirit of the ,lord shall come on a herdsman like ,amos1 and fishermen and peasants spread the ,gospel through the world2 and that in politics1 in literature1 in science1 as well as in religion1 it is always true that 'not many wise men after the flesh1 not many mighty1 not many noble are called4' ,to the cultivated classes you have to look for a great deal that is precious and good1 but for fresh impulse1 in unbroken fields1 you have to look outside them4 ,and so the highest of all lives is conformed to the general law4 ,more than that1 ',jesus of ,nazareth1 the ,son of ,joseph1' came thus because ,he was the poor man's ,christ1 because ,he was the ignorant man's ,christ1 because ,his word was not for any class1 but as broad as the world4 ,he came poor1 obscure1 unlettered1 that all who1 like ,him1 were poor and untouched by the finger of earthly culture1 might in ,him find their ,brother1 their ,helper1 and their ,friend4 ',philip saith unto him1 ,come and see4' ,he is not going to argue the question4 ,he gives the only possible answer to it--',you ask ,me1 can any good thing come out of ,nazareth8' ',come and see whether it is a good thing or no2 and if it is1 and if it came out of ,nazareth1 well then1 the question has answered itself4' ,the quality of a thing cannot be settled by the origin of the thing4 ,as it so happened1 this ,man did not come out of ,nazareth at all1 though neither ,philip nor ,nathanael knew it2 but if ,he had1 it would have been all the same4 ,the right answer was ',come and see4' ,now although1 of course1 there is no kind of correspondence between the mere prejudice of this man ,nathanael and the rooted intellectual doubts of other generations1 yet ',come and see' carries in it the essence of all ,christian apologetics4 ,by far the wisest thing that any man who has to plead the cause of ,christianity can do is to put ,christ well forward1 and let people look at ,him1 and trust ,him to produce ,his own impression4 ,we may argue round1 and round1 and round about ,him for evermore1 and we shall never convince as surely as by simply holding ,him forth4 ',i1 if ,i be lifted up1 will draw all men unto ,me4' ,yet we are so busy proving ,christianity that we sometimes have no time to preach it2 so busy demonstrating that ,jesus ,christ is this1 that1 and the other thing1 or contradicting the notion that ,he is not this1 that1 and the other thing1 that we forget simply to present ,him for men to look at4 ,depend upon it1 whilst argument has its function1 and there are men that must be approached thereby2 on the whole1 and for the general1 the best way of propagating ,christianity is to proclaim it1 and the second best way is to prove it4 ,our arguments do fare very often very much as did that elaborate discourse that a bishop once preached to prove the existence of a ,god1 at the end of which a simple old woman who had not followed his reasoning very intelligently1 exclaimed1 ',well1 for all he says1 ,i can't help thinking there is a ,god after all4' ,the errors that are quoted to be confuted often remain more clear in the hearers' minds than the attempted confutations4 ,hold forth ,christ--cry aloud to men1 ',come and see6' and some eyes will turn and some hearts cleave to ,him4 ,and on the other side1 dear brethren1 you have not done fairly by ,christianity until you have complied with this invitation1 and submitted your mind and heart honestly to the influence and the impression that ,christ ,himself would make upon it4 ,,ii4 ,we come now to the second stage--the conversation between ,christ and ,nathanael1 where we see a soul fastened to ,christ by ,himself4 ,in general terms1 as ,i remarked1 the method by which our ,lord manifests ,his ,messiahship to this single soul is a revelation of ,his supernatural knowledge of him4 ,but a word or two may be said about the details4 ,mark the emphasis with which the ,evangelist shows us that our ,lord speaks this discriminating characterisation of ,nathanael before ,nathanael had come to ,him3 ',he saw him coming4' ,so it was not with a swift1 penetrating glance of intuition that ,he read his character in his face4 ,it was not that ,he generalised rapidly from one action which ,he had seen him do4 ,it was not from any previous personal knowledge of him1 for1 obviously1 from the words of ,philip to ,nathanael1 the latter had never seen ,jesus ,christ4 ,as ,nathanael was drawing near ,him1 before he had done anything to show himself1 our ,lord speaks the words which show that ,he had read his very heart3 ',behold an ,israelite indeed1 in whom is no guile4' ,that is to say1 here is a man who truly represents that which was the ideal of the whole nation4 ,the reference is1 no doubt1 to the old story of the occasion on which ,jacob's name was changed to ,israel4 ,and we shall see a further reference to the same story in the subsequent verses4 ,jacob had wrestled with ,god in that mysterious scene by the brook ,jabbok1 and had overcome1 and had received instead of the name ,jacob1 'a supplanter1' the name of ,israel1 'for as a ,prince hast thou power with ,god and hast prevailed4' ,and1 says ,christ3 ',this man also is a son of ,israel1 one of ,god's warriors1 who has prevailed with ,him by prayer4' ',in whom is no guile'--,jacob in his early life had been marked and marred by selfish craft4 ,subtlety and guile had been the very keynote of his character4 ,to drive that out of him1 years of discipline and pain and sorrow had been needed4 ,and not until it had been driven out of him could his name be altered1 and he become ,israel4 ,this man has had the guile driven out of him4 ,by what process8 ,the words are a verbal quotation from ,psalm xxxii43 ',blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven1 whose sin is covered4 ,blessed is the man unto whom the ,lord imputeth not iniquity1 and in whose spirit there is no guile4' ,clear1 candid openness of spirit1 and the freedom of soul from all that corruption which the ,psalmist calls 'guile1' is the property of him only who has received it1 by confession1 by pardon1 and by cleansing1 from ,god4 ,thus ,nathanael1 in his wrestling1 had won the great gift4 ,his transgression had been forgiven2 his iniquity had been covered2 to him ,god had not imputed his sin2 and in his spirit1 therefore1 there was no guile4 ,ah1 brother6 if that black drop is to be cleansed out of your heart1 it must be by the same means--confession to ,god and pardon from ,god4 ,and then you too will be a prince with ,him1 and your spirit will be frank and free1 and open and candid4 ,nathanael1 with astonishment1 says1 ',lord1 whence knowest ,thou me8' ,not that he appropriates the description to himself1 or recognises the truthfulness of it1 but he is surprised that ,christ should have means of forming any judgment with reference to him1 and so he asks ,him1 half expecting an answer which will show the natural origin of our ,lord's knowledge3 ',whence knowest ,thou me8' ,then comes the answer1 which1 to supernatural insight into ,nathanael's character1 adds supernatural knowledge of ,nathanael's secret actions3 ',before that ,philip called thee1 when thou wast under the fig tree1 ,i saw thee4 ,and it is because ,i saw thee under the fig-tree that ,i knew thee to be an ,israelite indeed1 in whom there is no guile4' ,so then1 under the fig-tree1 ,nathanael must have been wrestling in prayer2 under the fig-tree must have been confessing his sins2 under the fig-tree must have been longing and looking for the ,deliverer who was to 'turn away ungodliness from ,jacob4' ,so solitary had been that vigil1 and so little would any human eye that had looked upon it have known what had been passing in his mind1 that ,christ's knowledge of it and of its significance at once lights up in ,nathanael's heart the fire of the glad conviction1 ',thou art the ,son of ,god4' ,if we had seen ,nathanael1 we should only have seen a man sitting1 sunk in thought1 under a fig-tree2 but ,jesus had seen the spiritual struggle which had no outward marks1 and to have known which ,he must have exercised the divine prerogative of reading the heart4 ,i ask you to consider whether ,nathanael's conclusion was not right1 and whether that woman of ,samaria was not right when she hurried back to the city1 leaving her water-pot1 and said1 ',come and see a man that told me all that ever ,i did4' ,that 'all' was a little stretch of facts1 but still it was true in spirit4 ,and her inference was absolutely true3 ',is not this the ,christ1 the ,son of ,god8' ,this is the first miracle that ,jesus ,christ wrought4 ,his supernatural knowledge1 which cannot be struck out from the ,new ,testament representations of ,his character1 is as much a mark of divinity as any of the other of ,his earthly manifestations4 ,it is not the highest2 it does not appeal to our sympathies as some of the others do1 but it is irrefragable4 ,here is a man to whom all men with whom ,he came in contact were like those clocks with a crystal face which shows us all the works4 ,how does ,he come to have this perfect and absolute knowledge8 ,that omniscience1 as manifested here1 shows us how glad ,christ is when ,he sees anything good1 anything that ,he can praise in any of us4 ',behold an ,israelite indeed1 in whom there is no guile4' ,not a word about ,nathanael's prejudice1 not a word about any of his faults 7though no doubt he had plenty of them71 but the cordial praise that he was an honest1 a sincere man1 following after ,god and after truth4 ,there is nothing which so gladdens ,christ as to see in us any faint traces of longing for1 and love towards1 and likeness to1 ,his own self4 ,his omniscience is never so pleased as when beneath heaps and mountains of vanity and sin it discerns in a man's heart some poor germ of goodness and longing for ,his grace4 ,and then again1 notice how we have here our ,lord's omniscience set forth as cognisant of all our inward crises and struggles1 ',when thou wast under the fig tree1 ,i saw thee4' ,i suppose all of us could look back to some place or other1 under some hawthorn hedge1 or some boulder by the seashore1 or some mountain-top1 or perhaps in some back-parlour1 or in some crowded street1 where some never-to-be-forgotten epoch in our soul's history passed1 unseen by all eyes1 and which would have shown no trace to any onlooker1 except perhaps a tightly compressed lip4 ,let us rejoice to feel that ,christ sees all these moments which no other eye can see4 ,in our hours of crisis1 and in our monotonous1 uneventful moments1 in the rush of the furious waters1 when the stream of our lives is caught among rocks1 and in the long1 languid reaches of its smoothest flow1 when we are fighting with our fears or yearning for ,his light1 or even when sitting dumb and stolid1 like snow men1 apathetic and frozen in our indifference1 ,he sees us1 and pities1 and will help the need which ,he beholds4 ',think not thou canst sigh a sigh1 ,and thy ,saviour is not by2 ,think not thou canst weep a tear1 ,and thy ,saviour is not near4' ',when thou wast under the fig tree1 ,i saw thee4' ,,iii4 ,one word more about this rapturous confession1 which crowns the whole3 ',rabbi1 ,thou art the ,son of ,god2 ,thou art the ,king of ,israel4' ,where had ,nathanael learned these great names8 ,he was a disciple of ,john the ,baptist1 and he had no doubt heard ,john's testimony as recorded in this same chapter1 when he told us how the voice from ,heaven had bid him recognise the ,messiah by the token of the descending ,dove1 and how he 'saw and bare record that this is the ,son of ,god4' ,john's testimony was echoed in ,nathanael's confession4 ,undoubtedly he attached but vague ideas to the name1 far less articulate and doctrinal than we have the privilege of doing4 ,to him ',son of ,god' could not have meant all that it ought to mean to us1 but it meant something that he saw clearly1 and a great deal beyond that he saw but dimly4 ,it meant that ,god had sent1 and was in some special sense the ,father of1 this ,jesus of ,nazareth4 ',thou art the ,king of ,israel1' ,john had been preaching1 ',the ,kingdom of ,heaven is at hand4' ,the ,messiah was to be the theocratic ,king1 the ,king1 not of ',judah' nor of 'the ,jews1' but of ',israel1' the nation that had entered into covenant with ,god4 ,so the substance of the confession was the ,messiahship of ,jesus1 as resting upon ,his special divine relationship and leading to ,his ,kingly sway4 ,notice also the enthusiasm of the confession2 one's ear hears clearly a tone of rapture in it4 ,the joy-bells of the man's heart are all a-ringing4 ,it is no mere intellectual acknowledgment of ,christ as ,messiah4 ,the difference between mere head-belief and heart-faith lies precisely in the presence of these elements of confidence1 of enthusiastic loyalty1 and absolute submission4 ,so the great question for each of us is1 not1 ,do ,i believe as a piece of my intellectual creed that ,christ is 'the ,messiah1 the ,son of ,god1 the ,king of ,israel'8 ,i suppose almost all my hearers here now do that4 ,that will not make you a ,christian1 my friend4 ,that will neither save your soul nor quiet your heart1 nor bring you peace and strength in life1 nor open the gates of the ,kingdom of ,heaven to you4 ,a man may be miserable1 wholly sunk in all manner of wickedness and evil1 die the death of a dog1 and go to punishment hereafter1 though he believe that ,jesus ,christ is the ,son of ,god and the ,king of ,israel4 ,you want something more than that4 ,you want just this element of rapturous acknowledgment1 of loyal submission1 absolute obedience1 of unfaltering trust4 ,look at these first disciples1 six brave men that had all that loyalty and love to ,him2 though there was not a soul in the world but themselves to share their convictions4 ,do they not shame you8 ,when ,he comes to you1 as ,he does come1 with this question1 ',whom do ye say that ,i am8' may ,god give you grace to answer1 ',thou art the ,christ1 the ,son of the living ,god1' and not only to answer it with your lips1 but to trust ,him wholly with your hearts1 and with enthusiastic devotion to bow your whole being in adoring wonder and glad submission at ,his feet4 ,if we are ',israelites indeed1' our hearts will crown ,him as the ',king of ,israel4' ,,the ,,first ,,disciples3 ,v4 ,,believing ,,and ,,seeing ',jesus answered and said unto him1 ,because ,i said unto thee1 ,i saw thee under the fig tree1 believest thou8 thou shalt see greater things than these4 #ea4 ,and ,he saith unto him1 ,verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you1 ,hereafter ye shall see heaven open1 and the angels of ,god ascending and descending upon the ,son of ,man4'--,,john i4 #ej1 #ea4 ,here we have the end of the narrative of the gathering together of the first disciples1 which has occupied several sermons4 ,we have had occasion to point out how each incident in the series has thrown some fresh light upon two main subjects1 namely1 upon some phase or other of the character and work of ,jesus ,christ1 or upon the various ways by which faith1 which is the condition of discipleship1 is kindled in men's souls4 ,these closing words may be taken as the crowning thoughts on both these matters4 ,our ,lord recognises and accepts the faith of ,nathanael and his fellows1 but1 like a wise ,teacher1 lets ,his pupils at the very beginning get a glimpse of how much lies ahead for them to learn2 and in the act of accepting the faith gives just one hint of the great tract of yet uncomprehended knowledge of ,him which lies before them2 ',because ,i said unto thee1 ,i saw thee under the fig tree1 believest thou8 thou shalt see greater things than these4' ,he accepts ,nathanael's confession and the confession of his fellows4 ,human lips have given ,him many great and wonderful titles in this chapter4 ,john called ,him 'the ,lamb of ,god'2 the first disciples hailed ,him as the ',messias1 which is the ,christ'2 ,nathanael fell before ,him with the rapturous exclamation1 ',thou art the ,son of ,god2 ,thou art the ,king of ,israel6' ,all these crowns had been put on ,his head by human hands1 but here ,he crowns ,himself4 ,he makes a mightier claim than any that they had dreamed of1 and proclaims ,himself to be the medium of all communication and intercourse between heaven and earth3 ',hereafter ye shall see heaven opened1 and the angels of ,god ascending and descending upon the ,son of ,man4' ,so1 then1 there are two great principles that lie in these verses1 and are contained in1 first1 our ,lord's mighty promise to ,his new disciples1 and second1 in our ,lord's witness to ,himself4 ,let me say a word or two about each of these4 ,i4 ,our ,lord's promise to ,his new disciples4 ,christ's words here may be translated either as a question or as an affirmation4 ,it makes comparatively little difference to the substantial meaning whether we read 'believest thou8' or 'thou believest4' ,in the former case there will be a little more vivid expression of surprise and admiration at the swiftness of ,nathanael's faith1 but in neither case are we to find anything of the nature of blame or of doubt as to the reality of his belief4 ,the question1 if it be a question1 is no question as to whether ,nathanael's faith was a genuine thing or not4 ,there is no hint that he has been too quick with his confession1 and has climbed too rapidly to the point that he has attained4 ,but in either case1 whether the word be a question or an affirmation1 we are to see in it the solemn and glad recognition of the reality of ,nathanael's confession and belief4 ,here is the first time that that word 'belief' came from ,christ's lips2 and when we remember all the importance that has been attached to it in the subsequent history of the ,church1 and the revolution in human thought which followed upon our ,lord's demand of our faith1 there is an interest in noticing the first appearance of the word4 ,it was an epoch in the history of the world when ,christ first claimed and accepted a man's faith4 ,of course the second part of this verse1 ',thou shalt see greater things than these1' has its proper fulfilment in the gradual manifestation of ,his person and character1 which followed through the events recorded in the ,gospels4 ,his life of service1 ,his words of wisdom1 ,his deeds of power and of pity1 ,his death of shame and of glory1 ,his ,resurrection and ,his ,ascension1 these are the 'greater things' which ,nathanael is promised4 ,they all lay unrevealed yet1 and what our ,lord means is simply this3 ',if you will continue to trust in ,me1 as you have trusted ,me1 and stand beside ,me1 you will see unrolled before your eyes and comprehended by your faith the great facts which will make the manifestation of ,god to the world4' ,but though that be the original application of the words1 yet ,i think we may fairly draw from them some lessons that are of importance to ourselves2 and ,i ask you to look at the hint that they give us about three things1--faith and discipleship1 faith and sight1 faith and progress4 ',believest thou8 thou shalt see greater things than these4' ,first1 here is light thrown upon the relation between faith and discipleship4 ,it is clear that our ,lord here uses the word for the first time in the full ,christian sense1 that ,he regards the exercise of faith as being practically synonymous with being a disciple1 that from the very first1 believers were disciples1 and disciples were believers4 ,then1 notice still further that our ,lord here employs the word 'belief' without any definition of what or whom it is that they were to believe4 ,he ,himself1 and not certain thoughts about ,him1 is the true object of a man's faith4 ,we may believe a proposition1 but faith must grasp a person4 ,even when the person is made known to us by a proposition which we have to believe before we can trust the person1 still the essence of faith is not the intellectual process of laying hold upon a certain thought1 and acquiescing in it1 but the moral process of casting myself in full confidence upon the ,being that is revealed to me by the thought1--of laying my hand1 and leaning my weight1 on the ,man about whom it tells me4 ,and so faith1 which is discipleship1 has in it for its very essence the personal element of trust in ,jesus ,christ4 ,then1 further1 notice how widely different from our creed was ,nathanael's creed1 and yet how identical with our faith1 if we are ,christians1 was ,nathanael's faith4 ,he knew nothing about the very heart of ,christ's work1 ,his atoning death4 ,he knew nothing about the highest glory of ,christ's person1 ,his divine ,sonship1 in its unique and lofty sense4 ,these lay unrevealed1 and were amongst the greater things which he was yet to see2 but though thus his knowledge was imperfect1 and his creed incomplete as compared with ours1 his faith was the very same4 ,he laid hold upon ,christ1 he clave to ,him with all his heart1 he was ready to accept ,his teaching1 he was willing to do ,his will1 and as for the rest--',thou shalt see greater things than these4' ,so1 dear brethren1 from these words of my text here1 from the unhesitating attribution of the lofty notion of faith to this man1 from the way in which our ,lord uses the word1 are gathered these three points that ,i beseech you to ponder3 there is no discipleship without faith2 faith is the personal grasp of ,christ ,himself2 the contents of creeds may differ whilst the element of faith remains the same4 ,i beseech you let ,christ come to you with the question of my text1 and as ,he looks you in the eyes1 hear ,him say to you1 ',believest thou8' ,secondly1 notice how in this great promise to the new disciples there is light thrown upon another subject1 viz4 the connection between faith and sight4 ,there is a great deal about seeing in this context4 ,christ said to the first two that followed ,him1 ',come and see4' ,philip met ,nathanael's thin film of prejudice with the same words1 ',come and see4' ,christ greeted the approaching ,nathanael with ',when thou wast under the fig tree ,i saw thee4' ,and now ,his promise is cast into the same metaphor3 ',thou shalt see greater things than these4' ,there is a double antithesis here4 ',i saw thee1' ',thou shalt see ,me4' ',thou wast convinced because thou didst feel that thou wert the passive object of ,my vision4 ,thou shalt be still more convinced when illuminated by ,me4 ,thou shalt see even as thou art seen4 ,i saw thee1 and that bound thee to ,me2 thou shalt see ,me1 and that will confirm the bond4' ,there is another antithesis1 namely--between believing and seeing4 ',thou believest--that is thy present2 thou shalt see1 that is thy hope for the future4' ,now ,i have already explained that1 in the proper primary meaning and application of the words1 the sight which is here promised is simply the observance with the outward eye of the historical facts of our ,lord's life which were yet to be learned4 ,but still we may gather a truth from this antithesis which will be of use to us4 ',thou believest--thou shalt see'2 that is to say1 in the loftiest region of spiritual experience you must believe first1 in order that you may see4 ,i do not mean1 as is sometimes meant1 by that statement that a man has to try to force his understanding into the attitude of accepting religious truth1 in order that he may have an experience which will convince him that it is true4 ,i mean a very much simpler thing than that1 and a very much truer one1 viz4 this1 that unless we trust to ,christ and take our illumination from ,him1 we shall never behold a whole set of truths which1 when once we trust ,him1 are all plain and clear to us4 ,it is no mysticism to say that4 ,what do you know about ,god8--,i put emphasis upon the word 'know'--,what do you know about ,him1 however much you may argue and speculate and think probable1 and fear1 and hope1 and question1 about ,him8 ,what do you know about ,him apart from ,jesus ,christ8 ,what do you know about human duty1 apart from ,him8 ,what do you know of all that dim region that lies beyond the grave1 apart from ,him8 ,if you trust ,him1 if you fall at ,his feet and say ',rabbi6 ,thou art my ,teacher and mine illumination1' then you will see4 ,you will see ,god1 man1 yourselves1 duty2 you will see light upon a thousand complications and perplexities2 and you will have a brightness above that of the noonday sun1 streaming into the thickest darkness of death and the grave and the awful hereafter4 ,christ is the ,light4 ,in that ',light shall we see light4' ,and just as it needs the sun to rise in order that my eye may behold the outer world1 so it needs that ,i shall have ,christ shining in my heaven to illuminate the whole universe1 in order that ,i may see clearly4 ',believe and thou shalt see4' ,for only when we trust ,him do the mightiest truths that affect humanity stand plain and clear before us4 ,and besides that1 if we trust ,christ1 we get a living experience of a multitude of facts and principles which are all mist and darkness to men except through their faith2 an experience which is so vivid and brings such certitude as that it may well be called vision4 ,the world says1 ',seeing is believing4' ,so it is about the coarse things that you can handle1 but about everything that is higher than these invert the proverb1 and you get the truth4 ',seeing is believing4' ,yes1 in regard to outward things4 ,believing is seeing in regard to ,god and spiritual truth4 ',believest thou8 thou shalt see4' ,then1 thirdly1 there is light here about another matter1 the connection between faith and progress4 ',thou shalt see greater things than these4' ,a wise teacher stimulates his scholars from the beginning1 by giving them glimpses of how much there is ahead to be learnt4 ,that does not drive them to despair2 it braces all their powers4 ,and so ,christ1 as ,his first lesson to these men1 substantially says1 ',you have learnt nothing yet1 you are only beginning4' ,that is true about us all4 ,faith at first1 both in regard to its contents and its quality1 is very rudimentary and infantile4 ,a man when he is first converted--perhaps suddenly--knows after a fashion that he himself is a very sinful1 wretched1 poor creature1 and he knows that ,jesus ,christ has died for him1 and is his ,saviour1 and his heart goes out to ,him1 in confidence and love and obedience4 ,but he is only standing at the door and peeping in as yet4 ,he has only mastered the alphabet4 ,he is but on the frontier of the promised land4 ,his faith has brought him into contact with infinite power1 and what will be the end of that8 ,he will indefinitely grow4 ,his faith has started him on a course to which there is no natural end4 ,as long as it keeps alive he will be growing and growing1 and getting nearer and nearer to the great centre of all4 ,so here is a grand possibility opened out in these simple words1 a possibility which alone meets what you need1 and what you are craving for1 whether you know it or not1 namely1 something that will give you ever new powers and acquirements2 something which will ensure your closer and ever closer approach to an absolute object of joy and truth2 something that will ensure you against stagnation and guarantee unceasing progress4 ,everything else gets worn out1 sooner or later2 if not in this world1 then in another4 ,there is one course on which a man can enter with the certainty that there is no end to it1 that it will open out1 and out1 and out as he advances--with the certainty that1 come life1 come death1 it is all the same4 ,when the plant grows too tall for the greenhouse they lift the roof1 and it grows higher still4 ,whether you have your growth in this lower world1 or whether you have your top up in the brightness and the blue of heaven1 the growth is in one direction4 ,there is a way that secures endless progress1 and here lies the secret of it3 ',thou believest6 thou shalt see greater things than these4' ,now1 brethren1 that is a grand possibility1 and it is a solemn lesson for some of you4 ,you professing ,christian people1 are you any taller than you were when you were born8 ,have you grown at all8 ,are you growing now8 ,have you seen any further into the depths of ,jesus ,christ than you did on that first day when you fell at ,his feet and said1 ',thou art the ,son of ,god1 ,thou art the ,king of ,israel'8 ,his promise to you then was1 ',thou believest1 thou shalt see greater things4' ,if you have not seen greater things it is because your faith has broken down1 if it has not expired4 ,,ii4 ,now let me turn to the second thought which lies in these great words4 ,we have here1 as ,i said1 our ,lord crowning ,himself by ,his own witness to ,his own dignity4 ',hereafter ye shall see the heavens opened4' ,mark how1 with superbly autocratic lips1 ,he bases this great utterance upon nothing else but ,his own word4 ,prophets ever said1 ',thus saith the ,lord4' ,christ ever said3 ',verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you4' ',because ,he could swear by no greater1 ,he sware by ,himself4' ,he puts ,his own assurance instead of all argument and of all support to ,his words4 ',hereafter4' ,a word which is possibly not genuine1 and is omitted1 as you will observe1 in the ,revised ,version4 ,if it is to be retained it must be translated1 not 'hereafter1' as if it were pointing to some indefinite period in the future1 but 'from henceforth1' as if asserting that the opening heavens and the descending angels began to be manifested from that first hour of ,his official work4 ',ye shall see heaven open1 and the angels of ,god ascending and descending4' ,that is an allusion from the story of ,jacob at ,bethel4 ,we have found reference to ,jacob's history already in the conversation with ,nathanael1 ',an ,israelite indeed1 in whom is no guile4' ,and here is an unmistakable reference to that story1 when the fugitive1 with his head on the stony pillow1 and the violet ,syrian sky1 with all its stars1 rounding itself above him1 beheld the ladder on which the angels of ,god ascended and descended4 ',so1' says ,christ1 'you shall see1 in no vision of the night1 in no transitory appearance1 but in a practical waking reality1 that ladder come down again1 and the angels of ,god moving upon it in their errands of mercy4' ,and who1 or what1 is this ladder8 ,christ4 ,do not read these words as meaning that the angels of ,god were to come down on ,him to help1 and to honour1 and to succour ,him as they did once or twice in ,his life1 but as meaning that they are to ascend and descend by ,him for the help and blessing of the whole world4 ,that is to say1 to put it into plain words1 ,christ is the sole medium of communication between heaven and earth1 the ladder with its foot upon the earth in ,his humanity1 and its top in the heavens4 ',no man hath ascended up into heaven save ,he which came down from heaven1 even the ,son of ,man which is in heaven4' ,my time will not allow me to expand these thoughts as ,i would have done2 let me put them in the briefest outline4 ,christ is the medium of all communication between heaven and earth1 inasmuch as ,he is the medium of all revelation4 ,i have spoken incidentally about that in the former part of this sermon1 so ,i do not dwell on it now4 ,christ is the ladder between heaven and earth1 inasmuch as in ,him the sense of separation1 and the reality of separation1 are swept away4 ,sin has shut heaven2 there comes down from it many a blessing upon unthankful heads1 but between it in its purity and the earth in its muddy foulness 'there is a great gulf fixed4' ,it is not because ,god is great and ,i am small1 or because ,he is ,infinite and ,i am a mere pin-point as against a great continent1 it is not because ,he lives for ever1 and my life is but a hand-breadth1 it is not because of the difference between ,his ,omniscience and my ignorance1 ,his strength and my weakness1 that ,i am parted from ,him4 ',your sins have separated between you and your ,god1' and no man1 build he ,babels ever so high1 can reach thither4 ,there is one means by which the separation is at an end1 and by which all objective hindrances to union1 and all subjective hindrances1 are alike swept away4 ,christ has come1 and in ,him the heavens have bended down to touch1 and touching to bless1 this low earth1 and man and ,god are at one once more4 ,he is the ladder1 or sole medium of communication1 inasmuch as by ,him all divine blessings1 grace1 helps1 and favours1 come down angel-like1 into our weak and needy hearts4 ,every strength1 every mercy1 every spiritual power1 consolation in every sorrow1 fitness for duty1 illumination in darkness1 all gifts that any of us can need1 come to us down on that one shining way1 the mediation and the work of the ,divine-,human ,christ1 the ,lord4 ,he is the ladder1 the sole medium of communication between heaven and earth1 inasmuch as by ,him my poor desires and prayers and intercessions1 my wishes1 my sighs1 my confessions rise to ,god4 ',no man cometh to the ,father but by ,me4' ,he is the ladder1 the means of all communication between heaven and earth1 inasmuch as at the last1 if ever we enter there at all1 we shall enter through ,him and through ,him alone1 who is 'the ,way1 the ,truth1 and the ,life4' ,ah1 dear brethren6 men are telling us now that there is no connection between earth and heaven except such as telescopes and spectroscopes can make out4 ,we are told that there is no ladder1 that there are no angels1 that possibly there is no ,god1 or if that there be1 we have nothing to do with ,him nor ,he with us2 that our prayers cannot get to ,his ears1 if ,he have ears1 nor ,his hand be stretched out to help us1 if ,he have a hand4 ,i do not know how this cultivated generation is to be brought back again to faith in ,god and delivered from that ghastly doubt which empties heaven and saddens earth to its victims1 but by giving heed to the word which ,christ spoke to the whole race while ,he addressed ,nathanael1 ',ye shall see heaven open1 and the angels of ,god ascending and descending upon the ,son of ,man4' ,if ,he be the ,son of ,god1 then all these heavenly messengers reach the earth by ,him4 ,if ,he be the ,son of ,man1 then every man may share in the gifts which through ,him are brought into the world1 and ,his ,manhood1 which evermore dwelt in heaven1 even while on earth1 and was ever girt about by angel presences1 is at once the measure of what each of us may become1 and the power by which we may become it4 ,one thing is needful for this wonderful consummation1 even our faith4 ,and oh6 how blessed it will be if in waste solitudes we can see the open heaven1 and in the blackest night the blaze of the glory of a present ,christ1 and hear the soft rustle of angels' wings filling the air1 and find in every place 'a house of ,god and a gate of heaven1' because ,he is there4 ,all that may be yours on one condition3 ',believest thou8 ,thou shalt see heaven open1 and the angels of ,god ascending and descending upon the ,son of ,man4' ,,jesus ,,the ,,joy-,,bringer ',and the third day there was a marriage in ,cana of ,galilee2 and the mother of ,jesus was there3 #b4 ,and both ,jesus was called1 and ,his disciples1 to the marriage4 #c4 ,and when they wanted wine1 the mother of ,jesus saith unto ,him1 ,they have no wine4 #d4 ,jesus saith unto her1 ,woman1 what have ,i to do with thee8 ,mine hour is not yet come4 #e4 ,his mother saith unto the servants1 ,whatsoever ,he saith unto you1 do it4 #f4 ,and there were set there six waterpots of stone1 after the manner of the purifying of the ,jews1 containing two or three firkins apiece4 #g4 ,jesus saith unto them1 ,fill the waterpots with water4 ,and they filled them up to the brim4 #h4 ,and ,he saith unto them1 ,draw out now1 and bear unto the governor of the feast4 ,and they bare it4 #i4 ,when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine1 and knew not whence it was3 7but the servants which drew the water knew27 the governor of the feast called the bridegroom1 #aj4 ,and saith unto him1 ,every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine2 and when men have well drunk1 then that which is worse2 but thou hast kept the good wine until now4 #aa4 ,this beginning of miracles did ,jesus in ,cana of ,galilee1 and manifested forth ,his glory2 and ,his disciples believed on ,him4'--,,john ii4 #a-aa4 ,the exact dating of this first miracle indicates an eye-witness4 ,as ,nazareth was some thirty miles distant from the place where ,john was baptizing1 and ,cana about four miles from ,nazareth1 the 'third day' is probably reckoned from the day of the calling of ,philip4 ,jesus and ,his disciples seem to have been invited to the marriage feast later than the other guests1 as ,mary was already there4 ,she appears to have been closely connected with the family celebrating the feast1 as appears from her knowledge of the deficiency in the wine1 and her direction to the servants4 ,the first point1 which ,john makes all but as emphatic as the miracle itself1 is the new relation between ,mary and ,jesus1 the lesson she had to learn1 and her sweet triumphant trust4 ,now that she sees her ,son surrounded by ,his disciples1 the secret hope which she had nourished silently for so long bursts into flame1 and she turns to ,him with beautiful faith in ,his power to help1 even in the small present need4 ,what an example her first word to ,him sets us all6 ,like the two sad sisters at ,bethany1 she is sure that to tell ,him of trouble is enough1 for that ,his own heart will impel ,him to share1 and perchance to relieve it4 ,let us tell ,jesus our wants and leave ,him to deal with them as ,he knows how4 ,of course1 ,his addressing her as ',woman' has not the meaning which it would have with us1 for the term is one of respect and courtesy1 but there is a plain intimation of a new distance in it1 which is strengthened by the question1 ',what is there in common between us8' ,what in common between a mother and her son6 ,yes1 but she has to learn that the assumption of the position of ,messiah in which her mother's pride so rejoiced1 carried necessarily a consequence1 the first of the swords which were to pierce that mother's heart of hers4 ,that her ,son should no more call her 'mother1' but 'woman1' told her that the old days of being subject to her were past for ever1 and that the old relation was merged in the new one of ,messiah and disciple--a bitter thought1 which many a parent has to taste the bitterness of still1 when wider outlooks and new sense of a vocation come to their children4 ,few mothers are able to accept the inevitable as ,mary did1 ,jesus' 'hour' is not to be prescribed to ,him1 but ,his own consciousness of the fit time must determine ,his action4 ,what gave ,him the signal that the hour was struck is not told us1 nor how soon after that moment it came4 ,but the saying gently but decisively declares ,his freedom1 ,his infallible accuracy1 and certain intervention at the right time4 ,we may think that ,he delays1 but ,he always helps1 'and that right early4' ,mary's sweet humility and strong trust come out wonderfully in her direction to the servants1 which is the exact opposite of what might have been expected after the cold douche administered to her eagerness to prompt ,jesus4 ,her faith had laid hold of the little spark of promise in that 'not yet1' and had fanned it into a flame4 ',then ,he will intervene1 and ,i can leave ,him to settle when4' ,how firm1 though ignorant1 must have been the faith which did not falter even at the bitter lesson and the apparent repulse1 and how it puts to shame our feebler confidence in our better known ,lord1 if ever ,he delays our requests6 ,mary left all to ,jesus2 ,his commands were to be implicitly obeyed4 ,do we submit to ,him in that absolute fashion both as to the time and the manner of ,his responses to our petitions8 ,the next point is the actual miracle4 ,it is told with remarkable vividness and equally remarkable reserve4 ,we do not even learn in what precisely it consisted4 ,was all the water in the vessels turned into wine8 ,did the change affect only what was drawn out8 ,no answer is possible to these questions4 ,jesus spoke no word of power1 nor put forth ,his hand4 ,his will silently effected the change on matter4 ,so ,he manifested forth ,his glory as ,creator and ,sustainer1 as wielding the divine prerogative of affecting material things by ,his bare volition4 ,the reality of the miracle is certified by the jovial remark of the 'ruler of the feast4' ,as ,bengel says3 ',the ignorance of the ruler proves the goodness of the wine2 the knowledge of the servants1 the reality of the miracle4' ,his palate1 at any rate1 was not so dulled as to be unable to tell a good 'brand' when he tasted it1 nor is there any reason to suppose that ,jesus was supplying more wine to a company that had already had more than enough4 ,the ruler's words are not meant to apply to the guests at that feast1 but are quite general4 ,but this ,evangelist is fond of quoting words which have deeper meanings than the speakers dreamed1 and with his mystically contemplative eye he sees hints and symbols of the spiritual in very common things4 ,so we are not forcing higher meanings into the ruler's jest1 but catching one intention of ,john's quotation of it1 when we see in it an unconscious utterance of the great truth that ,jesus keeps ,his best wine till the last4 ,how many poor deluded souls are ever finding that the world does the very opposite1 luring men on to be its slaves and victims by brilliant promises and shortlived delights1 which sooner or later lose their deceitful lustre and become stale1 and often positively bitter6 ',the end of that mirth is heaviness4' ,the dreariest thing in all the world is a godless old age1 and one of the most beautiful things in all the world is the calm sunset which so often glorifies a godly life that has been full of effort for ,jesus1 and of sorrows patiently borne as being sent by ,him4 ',full often clad in radiant vest ,deceitfully goes forth the morn1' but ,christ more than keeps ,his morning's promises1 and ,christian experience is steadily progressive1 if ,christians cling close to ,him1 and ,heaven will supply the transcendent confirmation of the blessed truth that was spoken unawares by the 'ruler' at that humble feast4 ,what effect the miracle produced on others is not told2 probably the guests shared the ruler's ignorance1 but its effect on the disciples is that they 'believed on ,him4' ,they had 'believed' already1 or they would not have been disciples 7,john i4 #ej71 but their faith was deepened as well as called forth afresh4 ,our faith ought to be continuously and increasingly responsive to ,his continuous manifestations of ,himself which we can all find in our own experience4 ,jesus 'manifested ,his glory' in this first sign4 ,what were the rays of that mild radiance8 ,surely the chief of them1 in addition to the revelation of ,his sovereignty over matter1 to which we have already referred1 is that therein ,he hallowed the sweet sacred joys of marriage and family life1 that therein ,he revealed ,himself as looking with sympathetic eye on the ties that bind us together1 and on the gladness of our common humanity1 that therein ,he reveals ,himself as able and glad to sanctify and elevate our joys and infuse into them a strange new fragrance and power4 ,the 'water' of our ordinary lives is changed into 'wine4' ,jesus became 'acquainted with grief' in order that ,he might impart to every believing and willing soul ,his own joy1 and that by its remaining in us1 our joy might be full4 ,,the ,,first ,,miracle ,,in ,,cana--,,the ,,water ,,made ,,wine ',this beginning of miracles did ,jesus in ,cana of ,galilee1 and manifested forth ,his glory4'--,,john ii4 #aa4 ,the keynote of this ,gospel was struck in the earlier verses of the first chapter in the great words1 ',the ,word was made flesh and dwelt among us1 and we beheld ,his glory1 full of grace and truth4' ,to these words there is an evident reference in this language4 ,the ,evangelist regards ,christ's first miracle as the first ray of that forth-flashing glory of the ,incarnate ,word4 ,to this ,evangelist all miracles are especially important as being signs1 which is the word he generally employs to designate them4 ,they are not mere portents1 but significant revelations as well as wonders4 ,it is not1 ,i think1 accidental that there are just seven miracles of our ,lord's1 before ,his crucifixion1 recorded by ,john1 and one of the ,risen ,lord4 ,these signs are all set forth by the ,evangelist as manifestations of various aspects of that one white light1 of uncreated glory which rays from ,christ4 ,they are1 if ,i may so say1 the sevenfold colours into which the one beam is analysed4 ,each of them might be looked at in turn as presenting some fresh thought of what the 'glory'''full of grace and truth' is4 ,i begin with the first of the series4 ,what1 then1 is the 'glory of the only ,begotten ,son' which flashes forth upon us from the miracle8 ,my object is simply to try to answer that question for you4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 we see here the revelation of ,his creative power4 ,it is very noteworthy that the miraculous fact is veiled entirely in the narrative4 ,not a word is said of the method of operation1 it is not even said that the miracle was wrought2 we are only told what preceded it1 and what followed it4 ,itself is shrouded in deep silence4 ,the servants fill the water-pots4--',draw out now1' and they draw1 'and bear it to the governor of the feast4' ,where the miraculous act comes in we do not know2 what was its nature we cannot tell4 ,how far it extended is left obscure4 ,was all the large quantity of water in these six great vessels of stone transformed into wine1 or was the change effected in the moment when the portion that was wanted was drawn from them and on that portion only8 ,we cannot answer the question4 ,probably1 ,i think1 the latter2 but at all events a veil is dropped over the fact4 ,only this1 we see that in this miracle1 even more conspicuously than in any other of our ,lord's1 there are no means at all employed4 ,sometimes ,he used material vehicles1 anointing a man's eyes with clay1 or moistening the ear with the spittle2 sometimes sending a man to bathe in the ,pool of ,siloam2 sometimes laying ,his hand on the sick2 sometimes healing from a distance by the mere utterance of ,his word4 ,but here there is not even a word2 no means of any kind employed1 but the silent forth-putting of ,his will1 which1 without token1 without visible audible indication of any sort1 passes with sovereign power into the midst of material things and there works according to ,his own purpose4 ,is not this the signature of divinity1 that without means the mere forth-putting of the will is all that is wanted to mould matter as plastic to ,his command8 ,it is not even1 ',he spake and it was done1' but silently ,he willed1 and 'the conscious water knew its ,lord1 and blushed4' ,this is the glory of the ,incarnate ,word4 ,now that was no interruption of the order of things established in the ,creation4 ,there was no suspension of natural laws here4 ,what happened was only this1 that the power which generally works through mediating links came into immediate connection with the effect4 ,what does it matter whether your engine transmits its powers through half a dozen cranks1 or two or three less8 ,what does it matter whether the chain be longer or shorter8 ,some parenthetical links are dropped here1 that is all that is unusual4 ,for in all ordinary natural operations1 as we call them1 the profound prologue of this ,gospel teaches us to believe that ,christ1 the ,eternal ,word1 works according to ,his will4 ,he was the ,agent of creation4 ,he is the ,agent of that preservation which is only a continual creation4 ,in ,him is life1 and all living things live because of the continual presence and operation upon them of ,his divine power4 ,and again ,i say1 what is phenomenal and unusual in this miracle is but the suppression of two or three of the connecting links between the continual cause of all creatural existences1 and its effect4 ,so let us learn that whether through a long chain of so-called causes1 or whether close up against the effect1 without the intervention of these parenthetical and transmitting media1 the divine power works4 ,the power is one1 and the reason for the effect is one1 that ,christ ever works in the world1 and is that ,eternal ,word1 'without whom was not anything made that was made4' ',this beginning of miracles did ,christ''' and manifested ,his glory4' ,,ii4 ,then1 again1 we see here1 ,i think1 the revelation of one great purpose of our ,lord's coming1 to hallow all common1 and especially all family1 life4 ,what a strange contrast there is between the simple gladness of the rustic village wedding and the tremendous scene of the ,temptation in the wilderness1 which preceded it only by a few days6 ,what a strange contrast there is between the sublime heights of the first chapter and the homely incident which opens the ministry6 ,what a contrast between the rigid asceticism of the ,forerunner1 'who came neither eating nor drinking1' and the ,son of ,man1 who enters thus freely and cheerfully into the common joys and relationships of human nature6 ,how unlike the scene at the marriage-feast must have been to the anticipations of the half-dozen disciples that had gathered round ,him1 all a-tingling with expectation as to what would be the first manifestation of ,his ,messianic power6 ,the last thing they would have dreamed of would have been to find ,him in the humble home in ,cana of ,galilee4 ,some people say 'this miracle is unworthy of ,him1 for it was wrought upon such a trivial occasion4' ,and was it a trivial occasion that prompted ,him thus to commence ,his career1 not by some high and strained and remote exhibition of more than human saintliness or power1 but by entering like a ,brother into the midst of common1 homespun1 earthly joys1 and showing how ,his presence ennobled and sanctified these8 ,surely the world has gained from ,him1 among the many gifts that ,he has given to it1 few that have been the fountain of more sacred sweetness and blessedness than is opened in that fact that the first manifestation of ,his glory had for its result the hallowing of the marriage tie4 ,and is it not in accordance with the whole meaning and spirit of ,his works that 'forasmuch as the brethren were partakers of' anything1 ',he ,himself likewise should take part of the same1' and sanctify every incident of life by ,his sharing of it8 ,so ,he protests against that faithless and wicked division of life into sacred and secular1 which has wrought such harm both in the sacred and in the secular regions4 ,so ,he protests against the notion that religion has to do with another world rather than with this4 ,so ,he protests against the narrowing conception of ,his work which would remove from its influence anything that interests humanity4 ,so ,he says1 as it were1 at the very beginning of ,his career1 ',i am a ,man1 and nothing that is human do ,i reckon foreign to ,myself4' ,brethren6 let us learn the lesson that all life is the region of ,his ,kingdom2 that the sphere of ,his rule is everything which a man can do or feel or think4 ,let us learn that where ,his footsteps have trod is hallowed ground4 ,if a prince shares for a few moments in the festivities of his gathered people on some great occasion1 how ennobled the feast seems6 ,if he joins in their sports or in their occupations for a while as an act of condescension1 how they return to them with renewed vigour6 ,and so we4 ,we have had our ,king in the midst of all our family life1 in the midst of all our common duties2 therefore are they consecrated4 ,let us learn that all things done with the consciousness of ,his presence are sacred4 ,he has hallowed every corner of human life by ,his presence2 and the consecration1 like some pungent and perennial perfume1 lingers for us yet in the else scentless air of daily life1 if we follow ,his footsteps4 ,sanctity is not singularity4 ,there is no need to withdraw from any region of human activity and human interest in order to develop the whitest saintliness1 the most ,christlike purity4 ,the saint is to be in the world1 but not of it2 like the ,master1 who went straight from the wilderness and its temptations to the homely gladness of the rustic marriage4 ,,iii4 ,still further1 we have here a symbol of ,christ's glory as the ennobler and heightener of all earthly joys4 ,that may be taken with perhaps a permissible play of fancy as one meaning1 at any rate1 of the transformation of water into wine2 the less savoury and fragrant and powerful liquid into the more so4 ,wine1 in the ,old ,testament especially1 is the symbol of gladness1 and though it received a deeper and a sacreder meaning in the ,new ,testament as being the emblem of ,his blood shed for us1 it is the ,old ,testament point of view that prevails here4 ,and therefore1 ,i say1 we may read in the incident the symbol of ,his transforming power4 ,he comes1 the ,man of ,sorrows1 with the gift of joy in ,his hand4 ,it is not an unworthy object--not unworthy1 ,i mean1 of a divine sacrifice--to make men glad4 ,it is worth ,his while to come from ,heaven to agonise and to die1 in order that ,he may sprinkle some drops of incorruptible and everlasting joy over the weary and sorrowful hearts of earth4 ,we do not always give its true importance to gladness in the economy of our lives1 because we are so accustomed to draw our joys from ignoble sources that in most of our joys there is something not altogether creditable or lofty4 ,but ,christ came to bring gladness1 and to transform its earthly sources into heavenly fountains2 and so to change all the less sweet1 satisfying1 and potent draughts which we take from earth's cisterns into the wine of the ,kingdom2 the new wine1 strong and invigorating1 'making glad the heart of man4' ,our commonest blessings1 our commonest joys1 if only they be not foul and filthy1 are capable of this transformation4 ,link them with ,christ2 be glad in ,him4 ,bring ,him into your mirth1 and it will change its character4 ,like a taper plunged into a jar of oxygen1 it will blaze up more brightly4 ,earth1 at its best and highest1 without ,him is like some fair landscape lying in the shadow2 and when ,he comes to it1 it is like the same scene when the sun blazes out upon it1 flashes from every bend of the rippling river1 brings beauty into many a shady corner1 opens all the flowering petals and sets all the birds singing in the sky4 ,the whole scene changes when a beam of light from ,him falls upon earthly joys4 ,he will transform them and ennoble them and make them perpetual4 ,do not meddle with mirth over which you cannot make the sign of the ,cross and ask ,him to bless it2 and do not keep ,him out of your gladness1 or it will leave bitterness on your lips1 howsoever sweet it tastes at first4 ,ay6 and not only can this ,master transform the water at the marriage feast into the wine of gladness1 but the cups that we all carry1 into which our tears have dropped--upon these too ,he can lay ,his hand and change them into cups of blessing and of salvation4 ',blessed are they''' who1 passing through the valley of weeping1 gather their tears into a well2 the rain also covereth it with blessings4' ,so the old ,psalm put the thought that sorrow may be turned into a solemn joy1 and may lie at the foundation of our most flowery fruitfulness4 ,and the same lesson we may learn from this symbol4 ,the ,christ who transforms the water of earthly gladness into the wine of heavenly blessedness1 can do the same thing for the bitter waters of sorrow1 and can make them the occasions of solemn joy4 ,when the leaves drop we see through the bare branches4 ,shivering and cold they may look1 but we see the stars beyond1 and that is better4 ',this beginning of miracles' will ,jesus repeat in every sad heart that trusts itself to ,him4 ,,iv4 ,and last of all1 we have here a token of ,his glory as supplying the deficiencies of earthly sources4 ',his mother saith unto ,him1 ,they have no wine4' ,the world's banquet runs out1 ,christ supplies an infinite gift4 ,these great water-pots that stood there1 if the whole contents of them were changed1 as is possible1 contained far more than sufficient for the modest wants of the little company4 ,the water that flowed from each of them1 in obedience to the touch of the servant's hand1 if the change were effected then1 as is possible1 would flow on so long as any thirsted or any asked4 ,and ,christ gives to each of us1 if we choose1 a fountain that will spring unto life eternal4 ,and when the world's platters are empty1 and the world's cups are all drained dry1 ,he will feed and satisfy the immortal hunger and the blessed thirst of every spirit that longs for ,him4 ,the rude speech of the governor of the feast may lend itself to another aspect of this same thought4 ,he said1 in jesting surprise1 ',thou hast kept the good wine until now1' whereas the world gives its best first1 and when the palate is dulled and the appetite diminished1 then 'that which is worse4' ,how true that is2 how tragically true in some of our lives6 ,in the individual the early days of hope and vigour1 when all things were fresh and wondrous1 when everything was apparelled in the glory of a dream1 contrast miserably with the bitter experiences of life that most of us have made4 ,habit comes1 and takes the edge off everything4 ,we drag remembrance1 like a lengthening chain1 through all our life2 and with remembrance come remorse and regret4 ',the vision splendid' no more attends men1 as they plod on their way through the weariness of middle life1 or pass down into the deepening shadows of advancing and solitary old age4 ,the best comes first1 for the men who have no good but this world's4 ,and some of you have got nothing in your cups but dregs that you scarcely care to drink4 ,but ,jesus ,christ keeps the best till the last4 ,his gifts become sweeter every day4 ,no time can cloy them4 ,advancing years make them more precious and more necessary4 ,the end is better in this course than the beginning4 ,and when life is over1 and we pass into the heavens1 the word will come to our lips1 with surprise and with thankfulness1 as we find how much better it all is than we had ever dreamed it should be3 ',thou hast kept the good wine until now4' ,oh1 my brother6 do not touch that cup that is offered to you by the harlot world1 spiced and fragrant and foaming2 'at the last it biteth like a serpent1 and stingeth like an adder4' ,but take the pure joys which the ,christ1 loved1 trusted1 obeyed1 summoned to your feast and welcomed in your heart1 will bring to you2 and these shall grow and greaten until the perfection of the ,heavens4 ,,christ ,,cleansing ,,the ,,temple ',take these things hence2 make not ,my ,father's house an house of merchandise4'--,,john ii4 #af4 ,the other ,evangelists do not record this cleansing of the ,temple at the beginning of ,christ's ministry1 but1 as we all know1 tell of a similar act at its very close4 ,john1 on the other hand1 has no notice of the latter incident4 ,the question1 then1 naturally arises1 are these diverse narratives accounts of the same event8 ,the answer seems to me to be in the negative1 because ,john's ,gospel is evidently intended to supplement the other three1 and to record incidents either unknown to1 or unnoticed by1 them1 and1 as a matter of fact1 the whole of this initial visit of our ,lord to ,jerusalem is omitted by the three ,evangelists4 ,then the two incidents are distinctly different in tone1 in setting1 and in the words with which our ,lord accompanies them4 ,they are both appropriate in the place in which they stand1 the one as the initial and the other as all but the final act of ,his ,messiahship4 ,so we may learn from the repetition of this cleansing the solemn lesson3 that outward reformation of religious corruptions is of small and transient worth4 ,for in three years--perhaps in as many weeks--the abuse that ,he corrected returned in full force4 ,now1 this narrative has many points of interest1 but ,i think ,i shall best bring out its meaning if ,i remind you1 by way of introduction1 that the ,temple of ,jerusalem was succeeded by the ,temple of the ,christian ,church1 and that each individual ,christian man is a temple4 ,so there are three things that ,i want to set before you3 what ,christ did in the ,temple2 what ,he does in the ,church2 what ,he will do to each of us if we will let ,him4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 what ,christ did in the ,temple4 ,now1 the scene in our narrative is not unlike that which may be witnessed in any ,roman ,catholic country in the cathedral place or outside the church on the saint's day1 where there are long rows of stalls1 fitted up with rosaries1 and images of the saint1 and candles1 and other apparatus for worship4 ,the abuse had many practical grounds on which it could be defended4 ,it was very convenient to buy sacrifices on the spot1 instead of having to drag them from a distance4 ,it was no less convenient to be able to exchange foreign money1 possibly bearing upon it the head of an emperor1 for the statutory half-shekel4 ,it was profitable to the sellers1 and no doubt to the priests1 who were probably sleeping partners in the concern1 or drew rent for the ground on which the stalls stood4 ,and so1 being convenient for all and profitable to many1 the thing became a recognised institution4 ,being familiar it became legitimate1 and no one thought of any incongruity in it until this young ,nazarene felt a flash of zeal for the sanctity of ,his ,father's house consuming ,him4 ,catching up some of the reeds which served as bedding for the cattle1 ,he twisted them into the semblance of a scourge1 which could hurt neither man nor beast4 ,he did not use it4 ,it was a symbol1 not an instrument4 ,according to the reading adopted in the ,revised ,version1 it was the sheep and cattle1 not their owners1 whom ,he 'drove out4' ,and then1 dropping the scourge1 ,he turned to the money-changers1 and1 with the same hand1 overthrew their tables4 ,and then came the turn of the sellers of doves4 ,he would not hurt the birds1 nor rob their owners4 ,and so ,he neither overthrew nor opened the cages1 but bade them ',take these things hence'2 and then came the illuminating words1 ',make not ,my ,father's house a house of merchandise4' ,now this incident is very unlike our ,lord's usual method1 even if we do not exaggerate the violence which ,he employed4 ,it is unlike in two respects3 in the use of compulsion1 and in aiming at mere outward reformation4 ,and both of these points are intimately connected with its place in ,his career4 ,it was the first public appearance of ,jesus before ,his nation as ,messiah4 ,he inaugurates ,his work by a claim--by an act of authority--to be the ,king of ,israel and the ,lord of the ,temple4 ,if we remember the words from the last prophet1 in which ,malachi says that 'the ,messenger of the ,covenant'''shall suddenly come to ,his ,temple1 and purify the sons of ,levi1' we get the significance of this incident4 ,we have to mark in it our ,lord's deliberate assumption of the role of ,messiah2 ,his shaping ,his conduct so as to recall to all susceptible hearts that last utterance of prophecy1 and to recognise the fact that at the beginning of ,his career ,he was fully conscious of ,his ,son-ship1 and inaugurated ,his work by the solemn appeal to the nation to recognise ,him as their ,lord4 ,and this is the reason1 as ,i take it1 why the anomalous incident is in its place at the beginning of ,his career no less than the repetition of it was at the close4 ,and this is the explanation of the anomaly of the incident4 ,it is ,his solemn1 authoritative claiming to be ,god's ,messenger1 the ,messiah long foretold4 ,then1 further1 this incident is a singular manifestation of ,christ's unique power4 ,how did it come that all these sordid hucksters had not a word to say1 and did not lift a finger in opposition1 or that the ,temple ,guard offered no resistance1 and did not try to quell the unseemly disturbance1 or that the very officials1 when they came to reckon with ,him1 had nothing harsher to say than1 ',what sign showest ,thou unto us1 seeing that ,thou doest these things'8 ,no miracle is needed to explain that singular acquiescence4 ,we see in lower forms many instances of a similar thing4 ,a man ablaze with holy indignation1 and having a secret ally in the hearts of those whom ,he rebukes1 will awe a crowd even if he does not infect them4 ,but that is not the full explanation4 ,i see here an incident analogous to that strange event at the close of ,christ's ministry1 when1 coming out from beneath the shadows of the olives in the garden1 ,he said to the soldiers ',whom seek ye8' and they fell backwards and wallowed on the ground4 ,an overwhelming impression of ,his personal majesty1 and perhaps some forth-putting of that hidden glory which did swim up to the surface on the mountain of ,transfiguration1 bowed all these men before ,him1 like reeds before the wind4 ,and though there was no recognition of ,his claim1 there was something in the ,claimant that forbade resistance and silenced remonstrance4 ,further1 this incident is a revelation of ,christ's capacity for righteous indignation4 ,no two scenes can be more different than the two recorded in this chapter3 the one that took place in the rural seclusion of ,cana1 nestling among the ,galilean hills1 the other that was done in the courts of the ,temple swarming with excited festival-keepers2 the one hallowing the common joys of daily life1 the other rebuking the profanation of what assumed to be a great deal more sacred than a wedding festival2 the one manifesting the love and sympathy of ,jesus1 ,his power to ennoble all human relationships1 and ,his delight in ministering to need and bringing gladness1 and the other setting forth the sterner aspect of ,his character as consumed with holy zeal for the sanctity of ,god's name and house4 ,taken together1 one may say that they cover the whole ground of ,his character1 and in some very real sense are a summary of all ,his work4 ,the programme contains the whole of what is to follow hereafter4 ,we may well take the lesson1 which no generation ever needed more than the present1 both by reason of its excellences and of its defects1 that there were no love worthy of a perfect spirit in which there did not lie dormant a dark capacity of wrath1 and that ,christ ,himself would not have been the ,joy-bringer1 the sympathising ,gladdener which ,he manifested ,himself as being in the 'beginning of miracles in ,cana of ,galilee' unless1 side by side1 there had lain in ,him the power of holy indignation and1 if need be1 of stern rebuke4 ,brethren1 we must retain our conception of ,his anger if we are not to maim our conception of ,his love4 ,there is no wrath like the wrath of the ,lamb4 ,the ,temple court1 with the strange figure of the ,christ with a scourge in ,his hand1 is a revelation which this generation1 with its exaggerated sentimentalism1 with its shrinking1 by reason of its good and of its evil1 from the very notion of a divine retribution based upon the eternal antagonism between good and evil1 most sorely needs4 ,,ii4 ,now1 secondly1 notice what ,christ does in ,his ,church4 ,i need not remind you how ,god's method of restoration is always to restore with a difference and a progress4 ,the ruined ,temple on ,zion was not to be followed by another house of stone and lime1 but by 'a spiritual house1' builded together for 'a habitation of ,god in the ,spirit4' ,the ,christian ,church takes the place of that material sanctuary1 and is the dwelling-place of ,god4 ,that being so1 let us take the lesson that that house1 too1 may be desecrated4 ,there may be1 as there were in the original ,temple1 the externals of worship1 and yet1 eating out the reality of these1 there may be an inward mercenary spirit4 ,note how insensibly such corruption creeps in to a community4 ,you cannot embody an idea in a form or in an external association without immediately dragging it down1 and running the risk of degradation4 ,it is just like a drop of quicksilver which you cannot expose to the air but instantaneously its brightness is dimmed by the scum that forms on its surface4 ,a church as an outward institution is exposed to all the dangers to which other institutions are exposed4 ,and these creep on insensibly1 as this abuse had crept on4 ,so it is not enough that we should be at ease in our consciences in regard to our practices as ,christian communities4 ,we become familiar with any abuse1 and as we become familiar we lose the power of rightly judging of it4 ,therefore conscience needs to be guided and enlightened quite as much as to be obeyed4 ,how long has it taken the ,christian ,church to learn the wickedness of slavery8 ,has the ,christian ,church yet learned the unchristianity of ,war8 ,are there no abuses amongst us1 which subsequent generations will see to be so glaring that they will talk about us as we talk about our ancestors1 and wonder whether we were ,christians at all when we could tolerate such things8 ,they creep on gradually1 and they need continual watchfulness if they are not to assume the mastery4 ,the special type of corruption which we find in this incident is one that besets the ,church always4 ,of course1 if ,i were preaching to ministers1 ,i should have a great deal to say about that4 ,for men that are necessarily paid for preaching have a sore temptation to preach for pay4 ,but it is not only we professionals who have need to lay to heart this incident4 ,it is all ,christian communities1 established and non-established churches1 ,roman ,catholic and ,protestant4 ,the same danger besets them all4 ,there must be money to work the outward business of the house of ,god4 ,but what about people that 'run' churches as they run mills8 ,what about people whose test of the prosperity of a ,christian community is its balance-sheet8 ,what about the people that hang on to religious communities and services for the sake of what they can make out of them8 ,we have heard a great deal lately about what would happen 'if ,christ came to ,chicago4' ,if ,christ came to any community of professing ,christians in this land1 do you not think ,he would need to have the scourge in ,his hand1 and to say ',make not ,my ,father's house a house of merchandise'8 ,he will come2 ,he does come2 ,he is always coming if we would listen to ,him4 ,and at long intervals ,he comes in some tremendous and manifest fashion1 and overthrows the money-changers' tables4 ,ah1 brethren6 if ,jesus ,christ had not thus come1 over and over again1 to ,his ,church1 ,christian men would have killed ,christianity long ago4 ,did you ever think that ,christianity is the only religion that has shown recuperative power and that has been able to fling off its peccant humours8 ,they used to say--,i do not know whether it is true or not--that ,thames water was good to put on board ship because of its property of corrupting and then clearing itself1 and becoming fit to drink4 ,we and our brethren1 all through the ages1 have been corrupting the ,water of ,life4 ,and how does it come to be sweet and powerful still8 ,this tree has substance in it when it casts its leaves4 ,that unique characteristic of ,christianity1 its power of reformation1 is not self-reformation1 but it is a coming of the ,lord to ,his temple to 'purify the sons of ,levi1 that their offering may be pleasant as in days of yore4' ,so one looks upon the spectacle of churches labouring under all manner of corruptions2 and one need not lose heart4 ,the shortest day is the day before the year turns2 and when the need is sorest the help is nearest4 ,and so ,i1 for my part1 believe that very much of the organisations of all existing churches will have to be swept away4 ,but ,i believe too1 with all my heart--and ,i hope that you do--that1 though the precious wheat is riddled in the sieve1 and the chaff falls to the ground1 not one grain will go through the meshes4 ,whatever becomes of churches1 the ,church of ,christ shall never have its strength so sapped by abuses that it must perish1 or its lustre so dimmed that the ,lord of the ,temple must depart from ,his sanctuary4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 note what ,christ will do for each of us if we will let ,him4 ,it is not a community only which is the temple of ,god4 ,for the ,apostles in many places suggest1 and in some distinctly say1 'ye are the temples' individually1 as well as the ,temple collectively1 of the ,most ,high4 ,and so every ,christian soul--by virtue of that which is the deepest truth of ,christianity1 the indwelling of ,christ in men's hearts by faith--is a temple of ,god2 and every human soul is meant to be and may become such4 ,that temple can be profaned4 ,there are many ways in which professing ,christians make it a house of merchandise4 ,there are forms of religion which are little better than chaffering with ,god1 to give ,him so much service if ,he will repay us with so much ,heaven4 ,there are too many temptations1 to which we yield1 to bring secular thoughts into our holiest things4 ,some of us1 by reason not of wishing wealth but of dreading penury1 find it hard to shut worldly cares out of our hearts4 ,we all need to be on our guard lest the atmosphere in which we live in this great city shall penetrate even into our moments of devotion1 and the noise of the market within earshot of the ,holy of ,holies shall disturb the chant of the worshippers4 ,it is ,manchester's temptation1 and it is one that most of us need to be guarded against4 ,so engrossed1 and1 as we should say1 necessarily engrossed--or1 at all events1 legitimately engrossed--are we in the pursuits of our daily commerce1 that we have scarcely time enough or leisure of heart and mind enough to come into 'the secret place of the ,most ,high4' ,the worshippers stop outside trading for beasts and doves1 and they have no time to go into the ,temple and present their offerings4 ,it is our besetting danger4 ,forewarned is forearmed1 to some extent4 ,would that we could all hear1 as we go about our ordinary avocations1 that solemn voice1 ',make not ,my ,father's house a house of merchandise1' and could keep the inner sanctuary still from the noises1 and remote from the pollutions1 of the market hard by6 ,we cannot cast out these or any other desecrating thoughts and desires by ourselves1 except to a very small degree4 ,and if we do1 then there happens what our ,lord warned us against in profound words4 ,the house may be emptied of the evil tenant in some measure by our own resolution and self-reformation4 ,but if it is not occupied by ,him1 it remains 'empty1' though it is 'swept and garnished4' ,nature abhors a vacuum1 and into the empty house there come the old tenant and seven brethren blacker than himself4 ,the only way to keep the world out of my heart is to have ,christ filling it4 ,if we will ask ,him ,he will come to us4 ,and if ,he has the scourge in ,his hand1 let ,him be none the less welcome a guest for that4 ,he will come1 and when ,he enters1 it will be like the rising of the sun1 when all the beasts of the forest slink away and lay them down in their dens4 ,it will be like the carrying of the ,ark of the ,covenant of the ,lord of the whole earth into the temple of ,dagon1 when the fish-like image fell prone and mutilated on the threshold4 ,if we say to ,him1 ',arise1 ,o ,lord1 into ,thy rest1 ,thou and the ,ark of ,thy strength1' ,he will enter in1 and by ,his entrance will 'make the place of ,his feet glorious' and pure4 ,,the ,,destroyers ,,and ,,the ,,restorer ',jesus answered and said unto them1 ,destroy this ,temple1 and in three days ,i will raise it up4'--,,john ii4 #ai4 ,this is our ,lord's answer to the ,jewish request for a sign which should warrant ,his action in cleansing the ,temple4 ,there are two such cleansings recorded in the ,gospels2 this one ,his first public act1 and another1 omitted by ,john1 but recorded in the other ,gospels1 which was almost ,his last public act4 ,it has been suggested that these are but two versions of one incident2 and although there is no objection in principle to admitting the possibility of that explanation1 yet in fact it appears to me insufficient and unnecessary4 ,for each event is appropriate in its own place4 ,in each there is a distinct difference in tone4 ,the incident recorded in the present chapter has our ,lord's commentary1 ',make not ,my ,father's house a house of merchandise'2 in that recorded in the ,synoptic ,gospels the profanation is declared as greater1 and the rebuke is more severe4 ,the 'house of merchandise' has become1 by their refusal to render to ,him what was ,his1 'a den of thieves4' ,in the later incident there is a reference in our ,lord's quotation from the ,old ,testament to the entrance of the ,gentiles into the ,kingdom4 ,there is no such reference here4 ,in the other ,gospels there is no record of this question which the ,jews asked1 nor of our ,lord's significant answer1 whilst yet a caricatured and mistaken version of that answer was known to the other ,evangelists1 and is put by them into the mouths of the false witnesses at our ,lord's trial4 ,they thus attest the accuracy of our narrative even while they seem not to have known of the incident4 ,all these things being taken into account1 ,i think that we have to do with a double1 of which there are several instances in the ,gospels1 the same event recurring under somewhat varied circumstances1 and reflecting varied aspects of truth4 ,but it is to our ,lord's words in vindication of ,his right to cleanse the ,temple rather than to the incident on which they are based that ,i wish to turn your attention now3 ',destroy this ,temple1' said our ,lord1 as ,his sufficient and only answer to the demand for a sign1 'and in three days ,i will raise it up4' ,now these words1 enigmatical as they are1 seem to me to be very profound and significant2 and ,i wish1 on this ,easter ,sunday1 to look at them as throwing a light upon the gladness of this day4 ,they suggest to me three things3 ,i find in them1 first1 an enigmatical forecast of our ,lord's own history2 second1 a prophetic warning of ,israel's2 and last1 a symbolical foreshadowing of ,his world-wide work as the ,restorer of man's destructions4 ',destroy this ,temple1 and in three days ,i will raise it up4' ,i4 ,first then1 ,i think1 we see here an enigmatical forecast of our ,lord's own history4 ,notice1 first1 that marvellous and unique consciousness of our ,lord's as to ,his own dignity and nature4 ',he spake of the temple of ,his body4' ,think that here is a man1 apparently one of ourselves1 walking amongst us1 living the common life of humanity1 who declares that in ,him1 in an altogether solitary and peculiar fashion1 there abides the fulness of ,deity4 ,think that there has been a ,man who said1 ',in this place is ,one greater than the ,temple4' ,and people have believed ,him1 and do believe ,him1 and have found that the tremendous audacity of the words is simple verity1 and that ,christ is1 in inmost reality1 all which the ,temple was but in the poorest symbol4 ,in it there had dwelt1 though there dwelt no longer at the time when ,he was speaking1 a material and symbolical brightness1 the expression of something which1 for want of a better name1 we call the 'presence of ,god4' ,but what was that flashing fire between the cherubim that brooded over the ,mercy-seat1 with a light that was lambent and lustrous as the light of love and of life--what was that to the glory1 moulded in meekness and garbed in gentleness1 the glory that shone1 merciful and hospitable and inviting--a tempered flame on which the poorest1 diseased1 blind eyes could look1 and not wince--from the face and from the character of ,jesus ,christ the ,lord8 ,he is greater than the ,temple1 for in ,him1 in no symbol but in reality1 abode and abides the fulness of that unnameable ,being whom we name ,father and ,god4 ,and not only does the fulness abide1 but in ,him that awful ,remoteness becomes for us a merciful ,presence2 the infinite abyss and closed sea of the divine nature hath an outlet1 and becomes a 'river of water of life4' ,and as the ancient name of that ,temple was the ',tent of ,meeting1' the place where ,israel and ,god1 in symbolical and ceremonial form1 met together1 so1 in inmost reality in ,christ's nature1 ,manhood and ,divinity cohere and unite1 and in ,him all of us1 the weak1 the sinful1 the alien1 the rebellious1 may meet our ,father4 ',he that hath seen ,me hath seen the ,father4' ',in this place is ,one greater than the ,temple4' ,and so this ,jewish ,peasant1 at the very beginning of ,his earthly career1 stands up there1 in the presence of the ancestral sanctities and immemorial ceremonials which had been consecrated by all these ages and commanded by ,god ,himself1 and with autocratic hand sweeps them all on one side1 as one that should draw a curtain that the statue might be seen1 and remains poised ,himself in the vacant place1 that all eyes may look upon ,him1 and on ,him alone4 ',destroy this ,temple'''4 ,he spake of the temple of ,his body4' ,still further1 notice how here we have1 at the very beginning of our ,lord's career1 ,his distinct prevision of how it was all going to end4 ,people that are willing to honour ,jesus ,christ1 and are not willing to recognise ,his death as the great purpose for which ,he came1 tell us that1 like as with other reformers and heroes and martyrs1 ,his death was the result of the failure of ,his purpose4 ,and some of them talk to us very glibly1 in their so-called ',lives of ,jesus ,christ' about the alteration in ,christ's plan which came when ,he saw that ,his message was not going to be received4 ,i do not enter upon all the reasons why such a construction of ,christ's work cannot hold water1 but here is one--for any one who believes this story before us--that at the very beginning1 before ,he had gone half a dozen steps in ,his public career1 when the issues of the experiment1 if it was a man that was making the experiment1 were all untried2 when1 if it were merely a martyr-enthusiast that was beginning his struggle1 some flickering light of hope that ,he would be received of ,his brethren must have shone1 or ,he would never have ventured upon the path--that then1 with no mistake1 with no illusion1 with no expectation of a welcome and a ,hosanna1 but with the clearest certitude of what lay before ,him1 our ,lord beheld and accepted ,his ,cross4 ,its shadow fell upon ,his path from the beginning1 because the ,cross was the purpose for which ,he came4 ',to this end was ,i born1 and for this cause came ,i into the world1' said ,he--when the reality of it was almost within arm's length of ,him--'to bear witness to the ,truth1' and ,his bearing witness to the truth was perfected and accomplished on the ,cross4 ,here1 at the very commencement of ,his career1 we have it distinctly set forth1 'the ,son of ,man came to give ,his life a ransom for many4' ,and1 brethren1 that fact is important1 not only because it helps us to understand that ,his death is the centre of ,his work1 but also because it helps us to a loving and tender thought of ,him1 how all ,his life long1 with that issue distinctly before ,him1 ,he journeyed towards it of ,his own loving will2 how every step that ,he took on earth's flinty roads1 taken with bleeding and pure feet1 ,he took knowing whither ,he was going4 ,this ,isaac climbs the mountain to the place of sacrifice1 with no illusions as to what ,he is going up the mountain for4 ,he knows that ,he goes up to be the lamb of the offering1 and knowing it1 ,he goes4 ,therefore let us love ,him with love as persistent as was ,his own1 who discerning the end from the beginning1 willed to be born and to live because ,he had resolved to die1 for you and me and every man4 ,and then1 further1 we have here our ,lord's claim to be ,himself the ,agent of ,his own resurrection4 ',i will raise it up in three days4' ,of course1 in ,scripture1 we more frequently find the ,resurrection treated as being the result of the power of ,god the ,father4 ,we more ordinarily read that ,christ was raised2 but sometimes we read1 as here1 that ,christ rises1 and we have solemn words of ,his own1 ',i have power to lay it down1 and ,i have power to take it again4' ,think of a man saying1 ',i am going to bring ,my own body from the dust of death1' and think of the man who said that doing it4 ,if that is true1 if this prediction was uttered1 and being uttered was fulfilled--what then8 ,i do not need to answer the question4 ,my brother1 this day declares that ,jesus ,christ is the ,son of ,god4 ',destroy this ,temple'--there is a challenge--'and in three days ,i will raise it up'2 and ,he did it4 ,and ,he is the ,lord of the ,temple as well as the ,temple4 ,down on your knees before ,him1 with all your hearts and with all your confidence1 and worship1 and trust1 and love for evermore 'the ,second ,man1' who 'is the ,lord from ,heaven6' ,,ii4 ,now let us turn to the other aspects of these words4 ,i think we see here1 in the next place1 a prophetic warning of the history of the men to whom ,he was speaking4 ,there must be a connection between the interpretation of the words which our ,evangelist assures us is the correct one1 and the interpretation which would naturally have occurred to a listener1 that by 'this ,temple' our ,lord really meant simply the literal building in which ,he spoke4 ,there is such a connection1 and though our ,lord did not only mean the ,temple1 ,he did mean the ,temple4 ,to say so is not forcing double meanings in any fast and loose fashion upon ,scripture1 nor playing with ambiguities1 nor indulging in any of the vices to which spiritualising interpretation of ,scripture leads1 but it is simply grasping the central idea of the words of my text4 ,rightly understood they lead us to this3 ',the death of ,christ was the destruction of the ,jewish ,temple and polity1 and the raising again of ,christ from the dead on the third day was the raising again of that destroyed ,theocracy and ,temple in a new and nobler fashion4' ,let us then look for a moment1 and it shall only be for a moment1 at these two thoughts4 ,if any one had said to any of that howling mob that stood round ,christ at the judgment-seat of the ,high ,priest1 and fancied themselves condemning ,him to death1 because ,he had blasphemed the ,temple3 ',you1 at this moment1 are pulling down the holy and beautiful house in which your fathers praised2 and what you are doing now is the destruction of your national worship and of yourselves1' the words would have been received with incredulity2 and yet they were simple truth4 ,christ's death destroyed that outward ,temple4 ,the veil was 'rent in twain from the top to the bottom' at the moment ,he died2 which was the declaration indeed that henceforward the ,holiest of ,all was patent to the foot of every man1 but was also the declaration that there was no more sanctity now within those courts1 and that ,temple1 and priesthood1 and sacrifice1 and altar1 and ceremonial and all1 were antiquated4 ,that 'which was perfect having come1' ,christ's death having realised all which ,temple-worship symbolised1 that which was the shadow was put away when the substance appeared4 ,and in another fashion1 it is also true that the death of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 inflicted by ,jewish hands1 was the destruction of the ,jewish worship1 in the way of natural sequence and of divine chastisement4 ,when the husbandmen rejected the ,son who was sent 'last of all1' there was nothing more for it but that they should be 'cast out of the vineyard1' and the firebrand which the ,roman soldier1 forty years afterwards1 tossed into the ,holiest of ,all1 and which burned the holy and beautiful house with fire1 was lit on the day when ,israel cried ',crucify ,him6 ,crucify ,him6' ,oh1 brethren6 ,what a lesson it is to us all of how blind even so-called religious zeal may be2 how often it is true that men in their madness and their ignorance destroy the very institutions which they are trying to conserve6 ,how it warns us to beware lest we1 unknowing what we are about1 and thinking that we are fighting for the honour of ,god1 may really all the while be but serving ourselves and rejecting ,his message and ,his ,messenger6 ,and then let me remind you that another thing is also true1 that just as the ,jewish rejection of ,christ was their own rejection as the people of ,god1 and their attempted destruction of ,christ the destruction of the ,jewish ,temple1 so the other side of the truth is also here1 viz4 that ,his rising again is the restoration of the destroyed ,temple in nobler and fairer form4 ,of course the one real ,temple is the body of ,jesus ,christ1 as we have said1 where sacrifice is offered1 where ,god dwells1 where men meet with ,god4 ,but in a secondary and derivative sense1 in the place of the ,jewish ,temple has come the ,christian ,church1 which is1 in a far deeper and more inward fashion1 what that ancient system aspired to be4 ,christ has builded up the ,church on ,his ,resurrection4 ,on ,his ,resurrection1 ,i say1 for there is nothing else on which it could rest4 ,if men ask me what is the great evidence of ,christ's ,resurrection1 my answer is--the existence in the world of a ,church4 ,where did it come from8 ,how is it possible to conceive that without the ,resurrection of ,jesus ,christ such a structure as the ,christian society should have been built upon a dead man's grave8 ,it would have gone to pieces1 as all similar associations would have gone4 ,what had happened after that moment of depression which scattered them every man to his own1 and led some of them to say1 with pathetic use of the past tense to describe their vanished expectations1 ',we trusted that it had been ,he which should have redeemed ,israel'8 ,what was the force that instead of driving them asunder drew them together8 ,what was the power that1 instead of quenching their almost dead hopes1 caused them to flame up with renewed vigour heaven-high8 ,how came it that that band of cowardly1 dispirited ,jewish peasants1 who scattered in selfish fear and heart-sick disappointment1 were in a few days found bearding all antagonism1 and convinced that their hopes had only erred by being too faint and dim8 ,the only answer is in their own message1 which explained it all3 ',him hath ,god raised from the dead1 whereof we are all witnesses4' ,the destroyed ,temple disappears1 and out of the dust and smoke of the vanishing ruins there rises1 beautiful and serene1 though incomplete and fragmentary and defaced with many a stain1 the fairer reality1 the ,church of the living ,christ4 ',destroy this ,temple1 and in three days ,i will raise it up4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 we have here a foreshadowing of our ,lord's world-wide work as the ,restorer of man's destructions4 ,man's folly1 godlessness1 worldliness1 lust1 sin1 are ever working to the destruction of all that is sacred in humanity and in life1 and to the desecrating of every shrine4 ,we ourselves1 in regard to our own hearts1 which are made to be the temples of the 'living ,god1' are ever1 by our sins1 shortcomings1 and selfishness1 bringing pollution into the holiest of all2 'breaking down the carved work thereof with axes and hammers1' and setting up the abomination of desolation in the holy places of our hearts4 ,we pollute them all--conscience1 imagination1 memory1 will1 intellect4 ,how many a man listening to me now has his nature like the facade of some of our cathedrals1 with the empty niches and broken statues proclaiming that wanton desecration and destruction have been busy there8 ,my brother6 what have you done with your heart8 ',destroy this temple4' ,christ spoke to men who did not know what they were doing2 and ,he speaks to you4 ,it is the inmost meaning of the life of many of you4 ,hour by hour1 day by day1 action by action1 you are devastating and profaning the sanctities of your nature1 and the sacred places there where ,god ought to live4 ,listen to ,his confident promise4 ,he knows that in me ,he is able to restore to more than pristine beauty all which ,i1 by my sin1 have destroyed2 to reconsecrate all which ,i1 by my profanity1 have polluted2 to cast out the evil deities that desecrate and deform the shrine2 and to make my poor heart1 if only ,i will let ,him come in to the ruined chamber1 a fairer temple and dwelling-place of ,god4 ',in three days1' does ,he do it8 ,in one sense--,yes6 ,thank ,god6 the power that hallows and restores the desecrated and cast-down temple in a man's heart1 was lodged in the world in those three days of death and resurrection4 ,the fact that ,he 'died for our sins1' the fact that ,he was 'raised again for our justification1' are the plastic and architectonic powers which will build up any character into a temple of ,god4 ,and yet more than 'forty and six years' will that temple have to be 'in building4' ,it is a lifelong task till the top-stone be brought forth4 ,only let us remember this3 ,christ1 who is ,architect and ,builder1 ,foundation and ,top-stone2 ay6 and ,deity indwelling in the temple1 and building it by ,his indwelling--this ,christ is not one of those who 'begin to build and are not able to finish4' ,he realises all ,his plans4 ,there are no ruined edifices in 'the ,city'2 nor any half-finished fanes of worship within the walls of that great ,jerusalem whose builder and maker is ,christ4 ,if you will put yourselves in ,his hands1 and trust yourselves to ,him1 ,he will take away all your incompleteness1 and will make you body1 soul1 and spirit1 temples of the ,lord ,god2 as far above the loftiest beauty and whitest sanctity of any ,christian character here on earth as is the building of ,god1 'the house not made with hands1 eternal in the heavens1' above 'the earthly house of this tabernacle4' ,he will perfect this restoring work at the last1 when ,his ,word to ,his servant ,death1 as ,he points him to us1 shall be ',destroy this temple1 and ,i will raise it up4' ,,teacher ,,or ,,saviour8 ',the same came to ,jesus by night1 and said unto ,him1 ,rabbi1 we know that ,thou art a ,teacher come from ,god3 for no man can do these miracles that ,thou doest1 except ,god be with him4'--,,john iii4 #b4 ,the connection in which the ,evangelist introduces the story of ,nicodemus throws great light on the aspect under which we are to regard it4 ,he has just been saying that upon our ,lord's first visit to ,jerusalem at the ,passover there was a considerable amount of interest excited1 and a kind of imperfect faith in ,him drawn out1 based solely on ,his miracles4 ,he adds that this faith was regarded by ,christ as unreliable2 and he goes on to explain that our ,lord exercised great reserve in ,his dealings with the persons who professed it1 for the reason that ',he knew all men1 and needed not that any should testify of man1 for ,he knew what was in man4' ,now1 if you note that reiteration of the word 'man1' you will understand the description which is given of the person who is next introduced4 ',he knew what was in man4 ,there was a man of the ,pharisees named ,nicodemus1 a ruler of the ,jews4' ,it would have been enough to have said1 ',there was a ,pharisee4' ,when ,john says 'a man of the ,pharisees1' he is not merely carried away by the echo in his ears of his own last words1 but it is as if he had said1 ',now1 here is one illustration of the sort of thing that ,i have been speaking about2 one specimen of an imperfect faith built upon miracles2 and one illustration of the way in which ,jesus ,christ dealt with it4' ,nicodemus was 'a ,pharisee4' ,that tells us the school to which he belonged1 and the general drift of his thought4 ,he was 'a ruler of the ,jews4' ,that tells us that he held an official position in the supreme court of the nation1 to which the ,romans had left some considerable shadow of power in ecclesiastical matters4 ,and this man comes to ,christ and acknowledges ,him4 ,christ deals with him in a very suggestive fashion4 ,his confession1 and the way in which our ,lord received it1 are what ,i desire to consider briefly in this sermon4 ,i4 ,note then1 first1 this imperfect confession4 ,everything about it1 pretty nearly1 is wrong4 ',he came to ,jesus by night1' half-ashamed and wholly afraid of speaking out the conviction that was working in him4 ,he was a man in position4 ,he could not compromise himself in the eyes of his co-,sanhedrists4 ',it would be a grave thing for a man like me to be found in converse with this new ,rabbi and apparent ,prophet4 ,i must go cautiously1 and have regard to my reputation and my standing in the world2 and shall steal to ,him by night4' ,there is something wrong with any convictions about ,jesus ,christ which let themselves be huddled up in secret4 ,the true apprehension of ,him is like a fire in a man's bones1 that makes him 'weary of forbearing' when he locks his lips1 and forces him to speak4 ,if ,christians can be dumb1 there is something dreadfully wrong with their ,christianity4 ,if they do not regard ,jesus ,christ in such an aspect as to oblige them to stand out in the world and say1 ',whatever anybody says or thinks about it1 ,i am ,christ's man1' then be sure that they do not yet know ,him as they ought to do4 ,nicodemus 'came to ,jesus by night1' and therein condemned himself4 ,he said1 ',rabbi1 we know4' ,there is more than a soupcon of patronage in that4 ,he is giving ,jesus ,christ a certificate1 duly signed and sealed by ,rabbinical authority4 ,he evidently thinks that it is no small matter that he and some of his fellows should have been disposed to look with favour upon this new ,teacher4 ,and so he comes1 if not patronising the young man1 at all events extremely conscious of his own condescension in recognising ,him with his ',we know4' ,had he the right to speak for any of his colleagues8 ,if so1 then at that very early stage of our ,lord's ministry there was a conviction beginning to work in that body of ecclesiastics which casts a very lurid light on their subsequent proceedings4 ,it was a good long while after1 when ,jesus ,christ's attitude towards them had been a little more clearly made out than it was at the beginning1 that they said officially1 ',as for this fellow1 we know not whence ,he is4' ,they 'knew' when ,he did not seem to be trenching on their prerogatives1 or driving ,his ,ithuriel-spear through their traditional professions of orthodoxy and punctilious casuistries4 ,but when ,he trod on their toes1 when ,he ripped up their pretensions1 when ,he began to show ,his antagonism to their formalism and traditionalism1 then they did not know where ,he came from4 ,and there are many of us who are very polite to ,jesus ,christ as long as ,he does not interfere with us1 and who begin to doubt ,his authority when ,he begins to rebuke our sins4 ,the man that said ',we know1' and then proceeded to tell ,christ the grounds upon which ,he was accepted by him1 was not in the position which becomes sinful men drawing near to their ,saviour4 ',we know that ,thou art a ,teacher'--contrast that1 with its ring of complacency1 and1 if not superior1 at least co-ordinate1 authority1 with ',jesus6 ,master6 have mercy on me1' or with ',lord6 save or ,i perish1' and you get the difference between the way in which a formalist1 conceited of his knowledge1 and a poor1 perishing sinner1 conscious of his ignorance and need1 go to the ,saviour4 ,further1 this imperfect confession was of secondary value1 because it was built altogether upon miraculous evidence4 ,now1 there has been a great deal of exaggeration about the value of the evidence of miracle4 ,the undue elevation to which it was lifted in the apologetic literature of the eighteenth century1 when it was almost made out as if there was no other proof that ,jesus came from ,god than that ,he wrought miracles1 has naturally led1 in this generation and in the last one1 to an equally exaggerated undervaluing of its worth4 ,jesus ,christ did appeal to signs2 ,he did also most distinctly place faith that rested merely upon miracle as second best2 when ,he said1 for instance1 ',if ye believe not ,me1 yet believe the works4' ,nicodemus says1 ',we know that ,thou art a ,teacher sent from ,god1 because no man can do these miracles except ,god be with him4' ,ah6 ,nicodemus6 did not the substance of the teaching reveal the source of the teaching even more completely than the miracles that accompanied it8 ,surely1 if ,i may use an old illustration1 the bell that rings in to the sermon 7which is the miracles7 is less conclusive as to the divine source of the teaching than is the sermon itself4 ,christ ,himself is ,his own best evidence1 and ,his words shine in their own light1 and need no signs in order to authenticate their source4 ,the signs are there1 and are precious in my eyes less as credentials of ,his authority than as revelations of ,his character and ,his work4 ,they are wonders2 that is much4 ,they are proofs2 as ,i believe4 ,but1 high above both of these characteristics1 they are signs of the spiritual work that ,he does1 and manifestations of ,his redeeming power4 ,and so a faith that had no ears for the ring of the divine voice in the words1 and no eyes for the beauty and perfection of the character1 was vulgar and low and unreliable1 inasmuch as it could give no better reason for itself than that ,jesus had wrought miracles1 ,i need not remind you of how noticeable it is that at this very early stage in our ,lord's ministry there were a sufficient number of miracles done to be qualified by the ,evangelist as 'many1' and to have been a very powerful factor in bringing about this real1 though imperfect1 faith4 ,john has only told us of one miracle prior to this2 and the other ,evangelists do not touch upon these early days of our ,lord's ministry at all4 ,so that we are to think of a whole series of works of power and supernatural grace which have found no record in these short narratives4 ,how much more ,jesus ,christ was1 and did1 and said1 than any book can ever tell6 ,these are but parts of ,his ways2 a whisper of ,his power4 ,the fulness of it remains unrevealed after all revelation4 ,but the central deficiency of this confession lies in the altogether inadequate conception of ,jesus ,christ and ,his work which it embodies4 ',we know that ,thou art a ,teacher1 a miracle-worker1 a man sent from ,god1 and in communion with ,him4' ,these are large recognitions1 far too large to be spoken of any but a select few of the sons of men4 ,but they fall miserably beneath the grandeur1 and do not even approach within sight of the central characteristic1 of ,christ and of ,his work4 ,nicodemus is the type of large numbers of men nowadays4 ,all the people that have a kind of loose1 superficial connection with ,christianity re-echo substantially his words4 ,they compliment ,jesus ,christ out of ,his divinity and out of ,his redeeming work1 and seem to think that they are rather conferring an honour upon ,christianity when they condescend to say1 ',we1 the learned pundits of literature2 we1 the arbiters of taste2 we1 the guides of opinion2 we1 the writers in newspapers and magazines and periodicals2 we1 the leaders in social and philanthropic movements--we recognise that ,thou art a ,teacher4' ,yes1 brethren1 and the recognition is utterly inadequate to the facts of the case1 and is insult1 and not recognition4 ,,ii4 ,let me ask you to look now1 in the next place1 at the way in which ,jesus ,christ deals with this imperfect confession4 ,it was a great thing for a young ,rabbi from ,nazareth1 who had no certificate from the authorities1 to find an opening thus into the very centre of the ,sanhedrim4 ,there is nothing in life1 to an ardent young soul1 at the beginning of his career--especially if he feels that he has a burden laid upon him to deliver to his fellows--half so sweet as the early recognition by some man of wisdom and weight and influence1 that he too is a messenger from ,god4 ,in later years praise and acknowledgment cloy4 ,and one might have expected some passing word from the ,master that would have expressed such a feeling as that1 if ,he had been only a young ,teacher seeking for recognition4 ,i remember that in that strange medley of beauty and absurdity1 the ,koran1 somewhere or other1 there is an outpouring of ,mahomet's heart about the blessedness of his first finding a soul that would believe in him4 ,and it is strange that ,jesus ,christ had no more welcome for this man than the story tells that ,he had4 ,for ,he meets him without a word of encouragement2 without a word that seemed to recognise even a growing and a groping confidence1 and yet ,he would not 'quench the smoking flax4' ,yes6 sometimes the kindest way to deal with an imperfect conception is to show unsparingly why it is imperfect2 and sometimes the apparent repelling of a partial faith is truly the drawing to ,himself by the ,christ of the man1 though his faith be not approved4 ,so1 notice how our ,lord meets the imperfections of this acknowledgment4 ,he begins by pointing out what is the deepest and universal need of men4 ,nicodemus had said1 ',rabbi1 we know that ,thou art a ,teacher come from ,god4' ,and ,christ says1 ',verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you1 ye must be born again4' ,what has that to do with ,nicodemus's acknowledgment8 ,apparently nothing2 really everything4 ,for1 if you will think for a moment1 you will see how it meets it precisely1 and forces the ,rabbi to deepen his conception of the ,lord4 ,the first thing that you and ,i want1 for our participation in the ,kingdom of ,god1 is a radical out-and-out change in our whole character and nature4 ',ye must be born again'2 now1 whatever more that means1 it means1 at all events1 this--a thorough-going renovation and metamorphosis of a man's nature1 as the sorest need that the world and all the individuals that make up the world have4 ,the deepest ground of that necessity lies in the fact of sin4 ,brother1 we can only verify our ,lord's assertion by honestly searching the depths of our own hearts1 and looking at ourselves in the light of ,god4 ,think what is meant when we say1 ',he is ,light1 and in ,him is no darkness at all4' ,think of that absolute purity1 that1 to us1 awful aversion from all that is evil1 from all that is sinful4 ,think of what sort of men they must be who can see the ,lord4 ,and then look at yourself4 ,are we fit to pass that threshold8 ,are we fit to gaze into that ,face8 ,is it possible that we should have fellowship with ,him8 ,oh1 brethren1 if we rightly meditate upon two facts1 the holiness of ,god and our own characters1 ,i think we shall feel that ,jesus ,christ has truly stated the case when ,he says1 ',ye must be born again4' ,unless you and ,i can get ourselves radically changed1 there is no ,heaven for us2 there is no fellowship with ,god for us4 ,we must stand before ,him1 and feel that a great gulf is fixed between us and ,him4 ,and so when a man comes with his poor little ',thou art a ,teacher1' no words are wanted in order to set in glaring light the utter inadequacy of such a conception as that4 ,what the world wants is not a ,teacher1 it is a ,life-giver4 ,what men want is not to be told the truth2 they know it already4 ,what they want is not to be told their duty2 they know that too4 ,what they want is some power that shall turn them clean round4 ,and what each of us wants before we can see the ,lord is that1 if it may be1 something shall lay hold of us1 and utterly change our natures1 and express from our hearts the black drop that lies there tainting everything4 ,now1 this necessity is met in ,jesus ,christ4 ,for there were two 'musts' in ,his talk with ,nicodemus1 and both of them bore directly on the one purpose of deepening ,nicodemus's inadequate conception of what ,he was and what ,he did4 ,he said1 ',ye must be born again1' in order that his hearer1 and we1 might lay to heart this1 that we need something more than a ,teacher1 even a ,life-giver2 and ,he said1 ',the ,son of ,man must be lifted up1' in order that we might all know that in ,him the necessity is met1 and that the ,son of ,man1 who came down from ,heaven1 and is in ,heaven1 even whilst ,he is on earth1 is the sole ladder by which men can ascend into ,heaven and gaze upon ,god4 ,thus it is ,christ's work as ,redeemer1 ,christ's sacrifice on the ,cross1 ,christ's power as bringing to the world a new and holy life1 and breathing it into all that trust in ,him1 which make the very centre of ,his work4 ,set by the side of that this other1 ',thou art a ,teacher sent from ,god4' ,ah1 brethren1 that will not do2 it will not do for you and me6 ,we want something a great deal deeper than that4 ,the secret of ,jesus is not disclosed until we have passed into the inner shrine1 where we learn that ,he is the ,sacrifice for the world1 and the ,source and ,fountain of a new life4 ,i beseech you1 take ,christ's way of dealing with this certificate of ,his character given by the ,rabbi who did not know his own necessities1 and ponder it4 ,mark the underlying principle which is here--viz4 if you want to understand ,christ you must understand sin2 and whoever thinks lightly of it will think meanly of ,him4 ,an underestimate of the reality1 the universality1 the gravity of the fact of sin lands men in the superficial and wholly impotent conception1 ',rabbi6 ,thou art a ,teacher sent from ,god4' ,a true knowledge of myself as a sinful man1 of my need of pardon1 of my need of cleansing1 of my need of a new nature1 which must be given from above1 and cannot be evolved from within1 leads me1 and ,i pray it may lead you1 to cast yourself down before ,him1 with no complaisant words of intellectual recognition upon your lips1 but with the old cry1 ',lord6 be merciful to me a sinner4' ,,iii4 ,and now1 dear friends1 one last word4 ,notice when and where this imperfect disciple was transformed into a courageous confessor4 ,we do not know what came immediately of this conversation4 ,we only know that some considerable time after1 ,nicodemus had not screwed himself up to the point of acknowledging out and out1 like a brave man1 that he was ,christ's follower2 but that he timidly ventured in the ,sanhedrim to slip in a remonstrance ingeniously devised to conceal his own opinions1 and yet to do some benefit to ,christ1 when he said1 ',does our law judge any man before it hear him8' ,and1 of course1 the timid remonstrance was swept aside1 as it deserved to be1 by the ferocious antagonism of his co-,sanhedrists4 ,but when the ,cross came1 and it had become more dangerous to avow discipleship1 he plucked up courage1 or rather courage flowed into him from that ,cross1 and he went boldly and 'craved the body of ,jesus1' and got it1 and buried it4 ,no doubt when he looked at ,jesus hanging on the ,cross1 he remembered that night in ,jerusalem when the ,lord had said1 ',the ,son of ,man must be lifted up1' and he remembered how ,he had spoken about the serpent lifted in the wilderness1 and a great light blazed in upon him1 which for ever ended all hesitation and timidity for him4 ,and so he was ready to be a martyr1 or anything else1 for the sake of ,him whom he now found to be far more than a ',teacher1' even the ,sacrifice by whose stripes he was healed4 ,dear brethren1 ,i bring that ,cross to you now1 and pray you to see there ,christ's real work for us1 and for the world4 ,he has taught us1 but ,he has done more4 ,he has not only spoken1 ,he has died4 ,he has not only shown us the path on which to walk1 ,he has made it possible for us to walk in it4 ,he is not merely one amongst the noble band that have guided and inspired and instructed humanity1 but ,he stands alone--not a ,teacher1 but the ,redeemer1 'the ,lamb of ,god1 which taketh away the sins of the world4' ,if ,he is a ,teacher1 take ,his teachings1 and what are they8 ,these1 that ,he is the ,son of ,god2 that ',he came from ,god'2 that ,he 'went to ,god'2 that ,he 'gives ,his life a ransom for many'2 that ,he is to be the ,judge of mankind2 that if we trust in ,him1 our sins are forgiven and our nature is renewed4 ,do not go picking and choosing amongst ,his teachings1 for these which ,i have named are as surely ,his as ',whatsoever ye would that men should do to you1 do ye even so to them1' or any other of the moral teachings which the world professes to admire4 ,take the whole teachings of the whole ,christ1 and you will confess ,him to be the ,redeemer of your souls1 and the ,life-giver by whom1 and by whom alone1 we enter the ,kingdom of ,god4 ,,wind ,,and ,,spirit ',the wind bloweth where it listeth1 and them hearest the sound thereof1 but canst not tell whence it cometh1 and whither it goeth3 so is every one that is born of the ,spirit4'--,,john iii4 #h4 ,perhaps a gust of night wind swept round the chamber where ,nicodemus sat listening to ,jesus1 and gave occasion for this condensed parable4 ,but there is occasion sufficient for it in the word ',spirit1' which1 both in the language in which our ,lord addressed the ruler of the ,sanhedrim1 and in that which ,john employed in recording the conversation1 as in our own ,english1 means both 'spirit' and 'breath4' ,this double signification of the word gives rise to the analogies in our text1 and it also raises the question as to the precise meaning of the text4 ,there are two alternatives1 one adopted by our ,authorised and ,revised ,version1 and one which you will find relegated to the margin of the latter4 ,we may either read 'the wind bloweth' or 'the ,spirit breathes4' ,i must not be tempted here to enter into a discussion of the grounds upon which the one or the other of these two renderings may be preferred4 ,suffice it to say that ,i adhere to the rendering which lies before us1 and find here a comparison between the salient characteristics of the physical fact and the operations of the ,divine ,spirit upon men's spirits4 ,but then1 there is another step to be taken4 ,our ,lord has just been laying down the principle that like begets like1 that flesh produces flesh1 and spirit1 spirit4 ,and so1 applying that principle1 ,he says here1 not as might be expected1 ',so is the work of the ,divine ,spirit in begetting new life in men1' but ',so is he that is born of the ,spirit4' ,there are three things brought into relation with one another3 the physical fact2 the operations of the ,spirit of ,god1 of which that physical fact in its various characteristics may be taken as a symbol2 and the result of its operations in the new man who is made 'after the image of ,him that created him4' ,it is to the last of these that ,i wish to turn4 ,here you have the ideal of the ,christian life1 considered as the product of the free ,spirit of ,god1 the picture of what all ,christian people have the capacity of being1 the obligation to be1 and are1 just in the measure in which that new life1 which the ,spirit of ,god bestows1 is dominant in them and moulding their character4 ,so ,i take these characteristics just as they arise4 ,i4 ,here you have the freedom of the new life4 ',the wind bloweth where it listeth4' ,of course1 in these days of weather forecasts and hoisting cones1 we know that the wind is subject to as rigid physical laws as any other phenomena4 ,but ,jesus ,christ speaks here1 as the ,bible always speaks about ,nature1 from two points of view--one the popular1 regarding the thing as it looks on the surface1 and the other what ,i may call the poetico-devout--finding 'sermons in stones1 books in the running brooks1' and hints of the spiritual world in all the phenomena of the natural4 ,so1 just as in spite of meteorological science1 there has passed into common speech the proverbial simile 'as free as the wind1' so ,jesus ,christ says here1 ',the wind bloweth where it listeth1 ''' so is every one that is born of the ,spirit4' ,he passes by the intermediate link1 the ,spirit that is the parent of the life1 and deals with the resulting life and declares that it is self-impelled and self-directed4 ,is that a characteristic to be desired or admired8 ,is doing as we list precisely the description of the noblest life8 ,it is the description of the purely animal one4 ,it is the description of an entirely ignoble and base one4 ,it may become the description of an atrociously criminal one4 ,but we do not generally think that a man that says ',thus ,i will2 thus ,i command2 let the fact that ,i will it stand in the place of all reason1' is speaking from a lofty point of view4 ,but there are two sorts of 'listing4' ,there is the listing which is the yielding to the mob of ignoble passions and clamant desires of the animal nature within us1 and there is the 'listing' which is obeying the impulses of a higher will1 that has been blended with ours4 ,and there you come to the secret of true freedom1 which does not consist in doing as ,i like1 but in liking to do as ,god wishes me to do4 ,when our ,lord says 'where it listeth1' ,he implies that a change has passed over a man1 when that new life is born within him1 whereby the law1 the known will of ,god1 is written upon his heart1 and1 inscribed on these fleshly tables1 becomes no longer an iron force external to him1 but a vital impulse within him4 ,that is freedom1 to have my better will absolutely conterminous and coincident with the will of ,god1 so far as ,i know it4 ,just as a man is not imprisoned by limits beyond which he has no desire to go1 so freedom1 and elevation1 and nobility come by obeying1 not the commands of an external authority1 but the impulse of an inward life4 ',ye have not received the spirit of bondage1' because ,god hath given us the ,spirit of power1 and of love1 and of self-control1 which keeps down that base and inferior 'listing1' and elevates the higher and the nobler one1 ',where the ,spirit of the ,lord is1 there is liberty1' because duty has become delight1 and there is no desire in the new and higher nature for anything except that which ,god enjoins4 ,the true freedom is when1 by the direction of our will1 we change 'must' into ',i delight to do ,thy will4' ,so we are set free from the bondage and burden of a law that is external1 and is not loved1 and are brought into the liberty of1 for dear love's sake1 doing the will of the beloved4 ',myself shall to my darling be ,both law and impulse1' says one of the poets about a far inferior matter4 ,it is true in reference to the ,christian life1 and the 'liberty wherewith ,christ hath made us free1' ,but1 then1 in order freely to understand the sweep and the greatness of this perfect law of liberty1 we must remember that the new life is implanted in us precisely in order that we may suppress1 and1 if need be1 cast out and exorcise1 that lower 'listing1' of which ,i have said that it is always ignoble and sometimes animal4 ,for this freedom will bring with it the necessity for continual warfare against all that would limit and restrain it--namely1 the passions and desires and inclinations of our baser or nobler1 but godless1 self4 ,these are1 as it were1 deposed by the entrance of the new life4 ,but it is a dangerous thing to keep dethroned and discrowned tyrants alive1 and the best thing is to behead them1 as well as to cast them from their throne4 ',if ye1 through the ,spirit1 do put to death the deeds' and inclinations and wills 'of the flesh1 ye shall live'2 and if you do not1 they will live and will kill you4 ,so the freedom of the new life is a militant freedom1 and we have to fight to maintain it4 ,as ,burke said about the political realm1 'the price of liberty is eternal vigilance1' so we say about the new life of the ,christian man--he is free only on condition that he keeps well under hatches the old tyrants1 who are ever plotting and struggling to have dominion once again4 ,still further1 whilst this new life makes us free from the harshness of a law that can only proclaim duty1 and also makes us free from our own baser selves1 it makes us free from all human authority4 ,the true foundation of the ,christian democracy is that each individual soul has direct and immediate access to1 and direct and real possession of1 ,god1 in his spirit and life4 ,therefore1 in the measure in which we draw into ourselves the new life and the ,spirit of ,god shall we be independent of men round us1 and be able to say1 ',with me it is a very small matter to be judged of you or of man's judgment4' ,that new life ought to make men original1 in the deep and true sense of the word1 as drawing their conceptions of duty and their methods of life1 not at second hand from other men1 but straight from ,god ,himself4 ,if the ,christian ,church was fuller of that divine life than it is1 it would be fuller of all varieties of ,christian beauty and excellence1 and all these would be the work of 'that one and the selfsame ,spirit dividing to every man severally as ,he will4' ,if this congregation were indeed filled with the new life1 there would be an exuberance of power1 and a harmonious diversity of characteristics about it1 and a burning up of the conventionalities of ,christian profession such as we do not dream of to-day4 ',the wind bloweth where it listeth4' ,,ii4 ,here we have this new life in its manifestation4 ',thou hearest the sound1' or1 as the ,word might literally be rendered1 the 'voice thereof1' from the little whisper among the young soft leaves of the opening beeches in our woods to-day1 up to the typhoon that spreads devastation over leagues of tropical ocean4 ,that voice1 now a murmur1 now a roar1 is the only manifestation of the unseen force that sweeps around us4 ,and if you are a ,christian man or woman your new life should be thus perceptible to others1 in a variety of ways1 no doubt1 and in many degrees of force4 ,you cannot show its roots2 you are bound to show its fruits4 ,you cannot lay bare your spirits1 and say to the world1 ',look6 there is the presence of a divine germ in me1' but you can go about amongst men1 and witness to the possession of it by the life that you live4 ,there are a great many ,christian people from whom1 if you were to listen ever so intently1 you would not hear a sough or a ripple4 ,there is a dead calm2 the 'rushing mighty wind' has died down2 and there is nothing but a greasy swell upon the windless ocean4 ',the wind bloweth1' and the 'sound' is heard4 ,the wind ceases1 and there is a hideous silence4 ,and that is the condition of many a man and woman that has a name to live and is dead4 ,does anybody hear the whisper of that breath in your life1 ,christian man8 ,it is not for me to answer the question2 it is for you to ask it and answer it for yourselves4 ,and ,christians should be in the world1 as the very breath of life amidst stagnation4 ,when the ,christian ,church first sprung into being it did come into that corrupt1 pestilential march of ancient heathenism with healing on its wings1 and like fresh air from the pure hills into some fever-stricken district4 ,wherever there has been a new outburst1 in the experience of individuals and of churches1 of that divine life1 there has come1 and the world has felt that there has come1 a new force that breathes over the dry bones1 and they live4 ,alas1 alas6 that so frequently the professing ,christian ,church has ceased to discharge its plain function1 to breathe on the slain that they may live4 ,they are curing1 or say they are curing1 consumption nowadays1 by taking the patient and keeping him in the open air1 and letting the wind of heaven blow freely about him4 ,that1 and not shutting people in warm chambers1 and coddling them with the prescriptions of social and political reformation1 that is the cure for the world's diseases4 ,wherever the new life is vigorous in men1 men will hear the sound thereof1 and recognise that it comes from heaven4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 here we have the new life in its double secret4 ,i have been saying that it has a means of manifestation which all ,christian people are bound to exemplify4 ,but our ,lord draws a broad distinction between that which can be manifested and that which cannot4 ,as ,i said1 you can show the leaves and the fruits2 the roots are covered4 ',thou hearest the sound thereof1 but canst not tell whence it cometh1 nor whither it goeth4' ,the origin of that new life is 'hid with ,christ in ,god4' ,and so1 since we are not dependent upon external things for the communication of the life1 we should not be dependent upon them for its continuation and its nourishment1 and we should realise that1 if we are ,christians1 we are living in two regions1 and1 though as regards the surface life we belong to the things of time1 as regards the deepest life1 we belong to eternity4 ,all the surface springs may run dry4 ,what then8 ,as long as there is a deep-seated fountain that comes welling up1 the fields will be green1 and we may laugh at famine and drought4 ,if it be true that 'our lives are hid with ,christ in ,god1' then it ought to be true that the nourishments1 as well as the direction and impulse of them1 are drawn from ,him1 and that we seek not so much for the abundance of the things that minister to the external as for the fulness of those that sustain the inward1 the true life1 the life of ,christ in the soul4 ,the world does not know where that ,christian life comes from4 ,if you are a ,christian1 you ought to bear in your character a certain indefinable something that will suggest to the people round you that the secret power of your life is other than the power which moulds theirs4 ,you may be naturalised1 and you may speak fairly well the language of the country in which you are a sojourner1 but there ought to be something in your accent which tells where you come from1 and betrays the foreigner4 ,we ought to move amongst men1 having about us that which cannot be explained by what is enough to explain their lives4 ,a ,christian life should be the manifestation to the world of the supernatural4 ,they 'know not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth4' ,no2 that new life in its feeblest infancy1 and before it speaks1 if ,i may so say1 is1 by its very existence1 a prophet1 and declares that there must be1 beyond this 'bank and shoal of time1' a region to which it is native1 and in which it may grow to maturity4 ,you will find in your greenhouses exotics that stand there1 after all your pains and coals1 stunted1 and seeming to sigh for the tropical heat which is their home4 ,the earnest of our inheritance1 the first-fruits of the ,spirit1 the ,christian life which originated in1 and is sustained by1 the flowing of the divine life into us1 demands that1 somehow or other1 the stunted plant should be lifted and removed into that 'higher house where these are planted'--and what shall be the spread of its branches1 and the lustre of its leaves1 and what the gorgeousness of its blossoms1 and what the perennial sweetness of its fruits then and there1 'it doth not yet appear4' ,they 'know not whither it goeth4' ,and even those who themselves possess it know not1 nor shall know1 through the ages of a progressive approximation to the ever-approached and never-attained perfection4 ',this spake ,he of the ,holy ,ghost1 which they that believe on ,him should receive4' ,trust ,christ1 and 'the law of the ,spirit of ,life in ,christ ,jesus shall make you free from the law of sin and death4' ,,the ,,brazen ,,serpent ',moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness4'--,,john iii4 #ad4 ,this is the second of the instances in this ,gospel in which our ,lord lays ,his hand upon an institution or incident of the ,old ,testament1 as shadowing forth some aspect of ,his work4 ,in the first of these instances1 under the image of the ladder that ,jacob saw1 our ,lord presented ,himself as the sole medium of communication between heaven and earth2 here ,he goes a step further into the heart of ,his work1 and under the image1 very eloquent to the ,pharisee to whom ,he was speaking1 of the brazen serpent lifted up on the pole in the desert1 proclaims ,himself as the medium of healing and of life to a poisoned world4 ,now1 ,nicodemus has a great many followers to-day4 ,he took up a position which many take up4 ,he recognised ,christ as a ,teacher1 and was willing to accord to the almost unknown young man from ,galilee the coveted title of ',rabbi4' ,he came to ,him with a little touch of condescension1 and evidently thought that for him1 a ruler of the ,jews1 a member of the upper and educated classes1 to be willing to speak of ,jesus as a ,teacher1 was an endorsement that the young aspirant might be gratified to receive4 ',rabbi1 we know that ,thou art a ,teacher sent from ,god'--but he stopped there4 ,he is not the only one who compliments ,jesus ,christ1 while he degrades ,him from ,his unique position4 ,now1 to this inadequate conception of our ,lord's ,person and work1 ,christ opposed the solemn insistence on the incapacity of human nature as it is1 to enter into communion with1 and submission to1 ,god4 ,and then ,he passes on to speak--in precise parallelism with the position that ,he took up when ,he likened ,himself to the ,ladder of ,jacob's vision--of ,himself as being the ,son of ,man that came down from ,heaven1 and therefore is able to reveal heavenly things4 ,in my text ,he further unveils in symbol the mystery and dignity of ,his ,person and of ,his work1 whilst ,he speaks of a mysterious lifting up of this ,son of ,man who came down from heaven4 ,these are the truths that the conception of ,christ as a great ,teacher needs for its completion2 the contrariety of human nature with the divine will1 the ,incarnation of the ,son of ,god1 the ,crucifixion of the ,incarnate ,son4 ,and so we have here three points1 to which ,i desire to turn1 as setting forth the conception of ,his own work which ,jesus ,christ presented as completing the conception of it1 to which ,nicodemus had attained4 ,i4 ,there is1 first1 the lifting up of the ,son of ,man4 ,now1 of course1 the sole purpose of setting that brazen serpent on the pole was to render it conspicuous1 and all that ,nicodemus could then understand by the symbol was that1 in some unknown way1 this heaven-descended ,son of ,man should be set forth before ,israel and the world as being the ,healer of all their diseases4 ,but we are wiser1 after the event1 than the ruler of the ,jews could be at the threshold of ,christ's ministry4 ,we have also to remember that this is not the only occasion1 though it is the first1 on which our ,lord used this very significant expression4 ,for twice over in this ,gospel we find it upon ,his lips--once when1 addressing the unbelieving multitude1 ,he says ',when ye have lifted up the ,son of ,man1 then shall ye know that ,i am ,he'2 and once when in soliloquy1 close on ,calvary1 ,he says1 as the vision of a world flocking to ,him rises before ,him on occasion of the wish of a few ,greek proselytes to see ,him1 ',i1 if ,i be lifted up1 will draw all men unto ,me4' ,we do not need1 though we have1 the ,evangelist's commentary1 'this ,he spake signifying what death ,he should die4' ,so1 if we accept the historical veracity of this ,gospel1 we here perceive ,jesus ,christ1 at the very beginning of ,his career1 and before the dispositions of the nation towards ,him had developed themselves in action1 discerning its end1 and seeing1 gaunt and grim before ,him1 the ,cross that was lifted up on ,calvary4 ,enthusiasts and philanthropists and apostles of all sorts1 in the regions of science and beneficence and morals and religion1 begin their career with trusting that their 'brethren should have understood' that ,god was speaking through them4 ,but no illusion of that sort1 according to these ,evangelists1 drew ,jesus ,christ out of ,his seclusion at ,nazareth and impelled ,him on ,his career4 ,from the beginning ,he knew that the ,cross was to be the end4 ,that ,cross was not to ,him a necessity1 accepted as the price of faithfulness in doing ,his work1 so that ,his attitude was1 ',i will speak what is in ,me1 though ,i die for it1' but it was to ,him the very heart of the work which ,he came to do4 ,therefore1 after ,he had said to the ruler of the ,jews that the ,son of ,man1 as descended from ,heaven1 was able to speak of heavenly things1 ,he added the deeper necessity1 ,he 'must be lifted up4' ,where lay the 'must'8 ,in the requirement of the work which ,he had set ,himself to do4 ,beneath this great saying there lies a pathetic1 stern1 true conception of the condition of human nature4 ,that desert encampment1 with the poisoned men dying on every hand1 is the emblem under which ,jesus ,christ1 the gentlest and the sweetest soul that ever lived1 looked out upon humanity4 ,and it was because the facts of human nature called for something far more than a teacher that ,he said 'the ,son of ,man must be lifted up4' ,for what they needed1 and what ,he had set ,himself to bring1 could only be brought by ,one who yielded ,himself up for the sins of the whole world4 ,but that 'must1' which thus arose from the requirements of the task that ,he had set before ,him1 had its source in ,his own heart2 it was no necessity imposed upon ,him from without4 ,true1 it was a necessity laid on ,him by filial obedience1 but also true1 it was the necessity accepted by ,him in pursuance of the impulse of ,his own heart4 ,he must die because ,he must save1 and ,he must save because ,he loved4 ,so ,he was not nailed to the ,cross by the nails and hammers of the ,roman soldiers1 and the taunt that was flung at ,him as ,he hung there had a deeper meaning1 as scoffs thrown at ,him and ,his cause ordinarily have1 than the scoffers understood3 ',he saved others1' and therefore ',himself ,he cannot save4' ,so here we have ,christ accepting1 as well as discerning1 the ,cross4 ,and we have more than that4 ,we have ,christ looking at the ,cross as being1 not humiliation1 but exaltation4 ',the ,son of ,man must be lifted up4' ,and what does that mean8 ,it means the same thing that ,he said when1 near the end1 ,he declared1 ',the hour is come that the ,son of ,man should be glorified4' ,we are accustomed to speak--and we speak rightly--of ,his death as being the lowest point of the humiliation which was inherent in the very fact of ,his humanity4 ,he condescended to be born2 ,he stooped yet more to die4 ,but whilst that is true1 the other side is also true--that in the ,cross ,christ is lifted up1 and that it is ,his ,throne4 ,for what see we there8 ,the highest exhibition1 the tenderest revelation1 of ,his perfect love4 ,and what see we there besides8 ,the supreme manifestation of the highest power4 '',twas great to speak a world from nought1 ',tis greater to redeem4' ,to save humanity1 to make it possible that men should receive that second birth1 and should enter into the ,kingdom of ,god--that was a greater work1 because a work not only of creation1 but of restoration1 than it was to send forth the stars on their courses and to 'preserve' the ancient heavens 'from wrong4' ,there is a revelation of divine might when we 'lift up our eyes on high1' and see how1 'because ,he is great in power1 not one faileth4' ,but there is a mightier revelation of divine power when we see how1 from amidst the ruins of humanity1 ,he can restore the divine image1 and piece together1 as it were1 without sign of flaw or crack or one fragment wanting1 the fair image that was shattered into fragments by the blow of ,sin's heavy mace4 ,power in its highest operation1 power in its tenderest efficacy1 power in its widest sweep1 are set forth on the ,cross of ,christ1 and that weak ,man hanging there1 dying in the dark1 is 'the power of ,god' as well as 'the wisdom of ,god4' ,the ,cross is ,christ's ,throne1 but it is ,his sovereign manifestation of love and power only if it is what1 as ,i believe ,he told us it was1 and what ,his servants from ,his lips caught the interpretation of it as being1 the death for the sins of the sin-stricken world4 ,unless we can believe that1 when ,he died1 ,he died for us1 ,i know not why ,christ's death should appeal to our love4 ,but if we recognise--as ,i pray that we all may recognise--that our deep need for something far more than ,teacher or ,pattern has been met in that great 'one ,sacrifice for sins for ever1' then the magnetism of the ,cross begins to tell1 and we understand what ,he meant when ,he said1 ',i1 if ,i be lifted up1 will draw all men unto ,me4' ,brethren1 the ,cross is ,his ,throne1 from which ,he rules the world1 and if you strike ,his sacrifice for sins out of your conception of ,his work1 you have robbed ,him of sovereignty1 and taken out of ,his hand the sceptre by which ,he governs the hearts and wills of rebellious and restored men4 ,,ii4 ,notice1 again1 how we have here the look at the uplifted ,son of ,man4 ,i do not need to paint for you what your own imaginations can sufficiently paint for yourselves--the scene in the wilderness where the dying men from the very outskirts of the camp could turn a filmy eye to the brazen serpent hanging in their midst4 ,that look is the symbol of what we need1 in order that the life-giving power of ,christ should enter into our death4 ,there is no better description of the act of ,christian faith than that picture of the dying ,israelite turning his languid eye to the symbol of healing and life4 ,that trust which ,jesus emphasises here in 'whosoever believeth on ,him1' ,he opposes very emphatically to ,nicodemus's confession1 ',we know that ,thou art a ,teacher4' ,we know--you have to go a step further1 ,nicodemus6 ',we know'2 well and good1 but are you included in 'whosoever believeth'8 ,faith is an advance on credence4 ,there is an intellectual side to it1 but its essence is what is the essence of trust always1 the act of the will throwing itself on that which is discerned to be trustworthy4 ,you know that a given man is reliable--that is not relying on him4 ,you have to go a step further4 ,and so1 dear brethren1 you may believe thirty-nine or thirty-nine thousand ,articles with an unfaltering credence1 and you may be as far away from faith as if you did not believe one of them4 ,there may be a perfect belief and an absolute want of faith4 ,and on the other hand1 blessed be ,god6 there may be a real and an operative trust with a very imperfect or mistaken creed4 ,the wild flowers on the rock bloom fair and bright1 though they have scarcely any soil in which to strike their roots1 and the plants in the most fertile garden may fail to produce flowers and seed4 ,so trust and credence are not always of the same magnitude4 ,this trust is no arbitrary condition4 ,the ,israelite was bid to turn to the brazen serpent4 ,there was no connection between his look and his healing1 except in so far as the symbol was a help to1 and looking at it was a test of1 his faith in the healing power of ,god4 ,but it is no arbitrary appointment1 as many people often think it is1 which connects inseparably together the look of faith and the eternal life that ,christ gives4 ,for seeing that salvation is no mere external gift of shutting up some outward ,hell and opening the door to some outward ,heaven1 but is a state of heart and mind1 of relation to ,god1 the only way by which that salvation can come into a man's heart is that he1 knowing his need of it1 shall trust ,christ1 and through ,him the new life will flow into his heart4 ,faith is trust1 and trust is the stretching out of the hand to take the precious gift1 the opening of the heart for the influx of the grace1 the eating of the bread1 the drinking of the water1 of life4 ,it is the only possible condition4 ,god forbid that ,i should even seem to depreciate other forms of healing men's evils and redressing men's wrongs1 and diminishing the sorrows of humanity6 ,we welcome them all2 but education1 art1 culture1 refinement1 improved environment1 bettered social and political conditions1 whilst they do a great deal1 do not go down to the bottom of the necessity4 ,and after you have built your colleges and art museums and stately pleasure-houses1 and set every man in an environment that is suited to develop him1 you will find out what surely the world might have found out already1 that1 as in some stately palace built in the ,campagna1 the malaria is in the air1 and steals in at the windows1 and infects all the inhabitants4 ,thank ,god for all these other things6 but you cannot heal a man who has poison in his veins by administering cosmetics1 and you cannot put out ,vesuvius with a jugful of water4 ,if the camp is to be healed1 the ,christ must be lifted up4 ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 here we have the life that comes with a look at the lifted-up ,son of ,man4 ,those of you who are using the ,revised ,version will see that there is a little change made here1 partly by the exclusion of a clause and partly by changing the order of the words4 ,the alteration is not only nearer the original text1 but brings out a striking thought4 ,it reads that 'whosoever believeth may in ,him have eternal life4' ,now1 it is far too late a period of my discourse to enlarge upon all that these great words would suggest to us1 but let me just1 in a sentence or two1 mark the salient points4 ',eternal life'2 do not bring that down to the narrow and inadequate conception of unending existence4 ,it involves that1 but it means a great deal more4 ,it means a life of such a sort as is worth calling life1 which is a life in union with ,god1 and therefore full of blessedness1 full of purity1 full of satisfaction1 full of desire and aspiration1 and all these with the stamp of unendingness deeply impressed upon them4 ,and that is what comes to us through the look4 ,not only is the process of dying arrested1 but there is substituted for it a new process of growing possession of a new life4 ,you 'must be born again1' ,christ had been saying to ,nicodemus4 ,the change that passes upon a man when once he has anchored his trust on ,jesus ,christ1 the uplifted ,son of ,man1 is so profound that it is nothing else than a new birth1 and a new life comes into his veins untainted by the poison1 and with no proclivity to death4 ',may have eternal life'--now1 here1 on the instant4 ,that eternal life is no future gift to be bestowed upon mortal men when they have passed through the agony of death1 but it is a gift which comes to us here1 and may come to any man on the instant of his looking to ,jesus ,christ4 ',may in ,him have eternal life'--union with ,christ by faith1 that profound incorporation--if ,i may use the word--into ,him1 which the ,new ,testament sets forth in all sorts of aspects as the very foundation of the blessings of ,christianity2 that union is the condition of eternal life4 ,so1 dear brethren1 we all need that the poison shall be cast out of our veins4 ,we all need that the tendency downwards to a condition which can only be described as death may be arrested1 and the motion reversed4 ,we all need that our knowledge shall be vitalised into faith4 ,we all need that the past shall be forgiven1 and the power of sin upon us in the present shall be cancelled4 ',the blood of ,jesus ,christ cleanseth from all sin1' because it was shed for the remission of the sins of the many1 and is transfused1 an untainted principle of life1 into our veins4 ,what ,jesus said to ,nicodemus by night in that quiet chamber in ,jerusalem1 what ,he said in effect and act upon the ,cross1 when uplifted there1 is what ,he says to each of us from the ,throne where ,he is now lifted up3 ',whosoever believeth shall in ,me have eternal life4' ,take ,him at ,his word1 and you will find that it is true4 ,,christ',s ,,musts '''' ,even so must the ,son of ,man be lifted up4'--,,john iii4 #ad4 ,i have chosen this text for the sake of one word in it1 that solemn 'must' which was so often on our ,lord's lips4 ,i have no purpose of dealing with the remainder of this clause1 nor indeed with it at all1 except as one instance of ,his use of the expression4 ,but ,i have felt it might be interesting1 and might set old truths in a brighter light1 if we gather together the instances in which ,christ speaks of the great necessity which dominated ,his life1 and shaped even small acts4 ,the expression is most frequently used in reference to the ,passion and ,resurrection4 ,there are many instances in the ,gospels1 in which ,he speaks of that must4 ,the first of these is that of my text4 ,then there is another class1 of which ,his word to ,his mother when a twelve-year-old child may be taken as a type3 ',wist ye not that ,i must be about ,my ,father's business8' where the mysterious consciousness of a special relation to ,god in the child's heart drew ,him to the ,temple and to ,his ,father's work4 ,other similar instances are those in which ,he responded to the multitude when they wanted to keep ,him to themselves3 ',i must preach in other cities also'2 or as when ,he said1 ',i must work the works of ,him that sent ,me while it is day4' ,yet another aspect of the same necessity is presented when1 looking far beyond the earthly work and suffering1 ,he discerned the future triumph which was to be the issue of these1 and said1 ',other sheep ,i have''' them also ,i must bring4' ,and yet another is in reference to a very small matter3 ,his selection of a place for a few hours' rest on ,his last fateful journey to ,jerusalem1 when ,he said1 ',zaccheus1''' to-day ,i must abide at thy house4' ,now1 if we put these instances together1 we shall get some precious glimpses into our ,lord's heart1 and ,his view of life4 ,i4 ,here we see ,christ recognising and accepting the necessity for ,his death4 ,my text1 if we accept ,john's ,gospel1 contributes an altogether new element to our conception of our ,lord as announcing ,his death4 ,for the other three ,gospels lay emphasis on it as being part of ,his teaching1 especially during the later stage of ,his ministry4 ,but it does not follow that ,he began to think about it or to see it1 when ,he began to speak about it4 ,there are reasons for the earlier comparative reticence1 and there is no ground for the conclusion that then first began to dawn upon a disappointed enthusiast the grim reality that ,his work was not going to prosper1 and that martyrdom was necessary4 ,that is a notion that has been frequently upheld of late years1 but to me it seems altogether incongruous with the facts of the case4 ,and1 if ,john's ,gospel is a true record1 that theory is shivered against this text1 which represents ,him at the very beginning of ,his career--the time when1 according to that other theory1 ,he was full of the usual buoyant and baseless anticipations of a reformer commencing ,his course--as telling ,nicodemus1 ',even so must the ,son of ,man be lifted up4' ,in like manner1 in the previous chapter of this same ,gospel1 we have the significant though enigmatical utterance3 ',destroy this ,temple1 and in three days ,i will raise it up'2 with the ,evangelist's authoritative comment3 ',he spake of the ,temple of ,his body4' ,so1 from the beginning of ,his career1 the end was clear before ,him4 ,and why must ,he go to the ,cross8 ,not merely1 as the other ,evangelists put it1 in order that 'it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the prophets4' ,it was not that ,jesus must die because the prophets had said that ,messiah should1 but that the prophets had said that ,messiah should because ,jesus must4 ,there was a far deeper necessity than the fulfilment of any prophetic utterance1 even the necessity which shaped that utterance4 ,the work of ,jesus ,christ could not be done unless ,he died4 ,he could not be the ,saviour of the world unless ,he was the sacrifice for the sins of the world4 ,we cannot see all the grounds of that solemn imperative1 but this we can see1 that it was because of the requirements of the divine righteousness1 and because of the necessities of sinful men4 ,and so ,christ's was no martyr's death1 who had to die as the penalty of the faithful discharge of ,his duty4 ,it was not the penalty that ,he paid for doing ,his work1 but it was the work itself4 ,not that gracious life1 nor 'the loveliness of perfect deeds1' nor ,his words of sweet wisdom1 nor ,his acts of transcendent power1 equalled only by the pity that moved the power1 completed ,his task1 but ,he 'came to give ,his life a ransom for many4' ',must' is a hard word4 ,it may express an unwelcome necessity4 ,was this necessity unwelcome8 ,when ,he said1 ',the ,son of ,man must be lifted up1' was ,he shrinking1 or reluctantly submitting8 ,ah1 no6 ,he must die because ,he would save1 and ,he would save because ,he did love4 ,his filial obedience to ,god coincided with ,his pity for men3 and not merely in obedience to the requirements of the divine righteousness1 but in compassion for the necessities of sinners1 necessity was laid upon ,him4 ,oh1 brethren6 nothing held ,christ to the ,cross but ,his own desire to save us4 ,neither priests nor ,romans carried ,him thither4 ,what fastened ,him to it was not the nails driven by rude hands4 ,and the reason why ,he did not1 as the taunters bade ,him do1 come down from it1 was neither a physical nor a moral necessity unwelcome to ,himself1 but the yielding of ,his own will to do all which was needed for man's salvation4 ,this sacrifice was bound to the altar by the cords of love4 ,we have heard of martyrs who have refused to be tied to the stake1 and have kept themselves motionless in the centre of the fierce flames by the force of their wills4 ,jesus ,christ fastened ,himself to the ,cross and died because ,he would4 ,and1 oh6 if we think of that sweet1 serene life as having clear before it from the very first steps that grim end1 how infinitely it gains in pathetic beauty and in heart-touchingness6 ,what wonderful self-abnegation6 ,how he was at leisure from ,himself1 with a heart of pity for every sorrow1 and loins girt for all service1 though during all ,his life the ,cross closed the vista6 ,think that human shrinking was felt by ,him1 think that it was so held back that ,his purpose never faltered1 think that each of us may say1 ',he must die because ,he would save me'2 and then ask1 ',what shall ,i render to the ,lord for all ,his benefits toward me8' ,,ii4 ,in a second class of these utterances1 we see ,christ impelled by filial obedience and the consciousness of ,his mission4 ',wist ye not that ,i must be about ,my ,father's business8' ,that was a strange utterance for a boy of twelve4 ,it seems to negative the supposition that what is called the ',messianic consciousness' dawned upon ,jesus ,christ first after ,his baptism and the descent of the ,spirit4 ,but however that may be1 it and the similar passages to which ,i have already referred1 bearing upon ,his discharge of ,his work prior to ,his death1 teach that the necessity was an inward necessity springing from ,his consciousness of ,sonship1 and ,his recognition of the work that ,he had to do4 ,and so ,he is our great ,example of spontaneous obedience1 which does violence to itself if it does not obey4 ,it was instinct that sent the boy into the ,temple4 ,where should a ,son be but in ,his ,father's house8 ,how could ,he not be doing ,his ,father's business8 ,thus ,he stands before us1 the pattern for the only obedience that is worth calling so1 the obedience which would be pained and ill at ease unless it were doing the work of ,god4 ,religion is meant to make it a second nature1 or1 as ,i have ventured to call it1 an instinct--a spontaneous1 uncalculating1 irrepressible desire--to be in fellowship with ,god1 and to be doing ,his will4 ,that is the meaning of our ,christianity4 ,there is no obedience in reluctant obedience2 forced service is slavery1 not service4 ,christianity is given for the specific purpose that it may bring us so into touch with ,jesus ,christ as that the mind which was in ,him may be in us2 and that we too may be able to say1 with a kind of wonder that people should have expected to find us in any other place1 or doing anything else1 ',wist ye not that because ,i am a ,son1 ,i must be about my ,father's business8' ,as certainly as the sunflower follows the sun1 so certainly will a man animated by the mind that was in ,jesus ,christ1 like ,him find his very life's breath in doing the ,father's will4 ,so then1 brethren1 what about our grudging service8 ,what about our reluctant obedience8 ,what about the widespread mistake that religion prohibits wished-for things and enforces unwelcome duties8 ,if my ,christianity does not make me recoil from what it forbids1 and spring eagerly to what it commends1 my ,christianity is of very little use4 ,if when in the ,temple we are like idle boys in school1 always casting glances at the clock and the door1 and wishing ourselves outside1 we may just as well be out as in4 ,glad obedience is true obedience4 ,only he who can say1 ',thy law is within my heart1 and ,i do ,thy will because ,i love ,thee1 and cannot but do as ,thou desirest1' has found the joy possible to a ,christian life4 ,it is not 'harsh and crabbed1' as those that look upon it from the outside may 'suppose1' but musical and full of sweetness4 ,there is nothing more blessed than when ',i choose' covers exactly the same ground as ',i ought4' ,and when duty is delight1 delight will never become disgust1 nor joy pass away4 ,,iii4 ,we see1 in yet another use of this great 'must1' ,christ anticipating ,his future triumph4 ',other sheep ,i have which are not of this fold2 them also ,i must bring1 and there shall be one flock and one ,shepherd4' ,striking as these words are in themselves1 they are still more striking when we notice their connection2 for they follow immediately upon ,his utterance about laying down ,his life for the sheep4 ,so1 then1 this was a work beyond the ,cross1 and whatever it was1 it was to be done after ,he had died4 ,i need not point out to you how far afield ,christ's vision goes out into the dim1 waste places1 where on the dark mountains the straying sheep are torn and frightened and starving4 ,i need not dwell upon how far ahead in the future ,his glance travels1 or how magnificent and how rebuking to our petty narrowness this great word is4 ',there shall be one flock' 7not fold72 and they shall be one1 not because they are within the bounds of any visible 'fold1' but because they are gathered round the one ,shepherd1 and in their common relation to ,him are knit together in unity4 ,but what sort of a ,man is this who considers that ,his widest work is to be done by ,him after ,he is dead8 ',them also ,i must bring4' ,thou8 how8 when8 ,surely such words as these1 side by side with a clear prevision of the death that was so soon to come1 are either meaningless or the utterance of an arrogance bordering on insanity1 or they anticipate what an ,evangelist declares did take place--that the ,lord was 'taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of ,god1' whilst ,his servants 'went everywhere preaching the ,word1 the ,lord also working with them and confirming the ,word' with the signs ,he wrought4 ',them also ,i must bring4' ,that is not merely a necessity rooted in the nature of ,god and the wants of men4 ,it is not merely a necessity springing from ,christ's filial obedience and sense of a mission2 but it is a 'must' of destiny1 a 'must' which recognises the sure results of ,his passion2 a 'must' which implies the power of the ,cross to be the reconciliation of the world4 ,and so for all pessimistic thoughts to-day1 or at any time1 and when ,christian men's hearts may be trembling for the ,ark of ,god--although1 perhaps1 there may be little reason for the tremor--and in the face of all blatant antagonisms and of proud ,goliaths despising the 'foolishness of preaching1' we fall back upon ,christ's great 'must4' ,it is written in the councils of ,heaven more unchangeably than the heavens2 it is guaranteed by the power of the ,cross2 it is certain1 by the eternal life of the crucified ,saviour1 that ,he will one day be the ,king of humanity1 and must bring ,his wandering sheep to couch in peace1 one flock round one ,shepherd4 ,,iv4 ,lastly1 we have ,christ applying the greatest principle to the smallest duty4 ',zaccheus6 make haste and come down2 to-day ,i must abide in thy house4' ,why must ,he8 ,because ,zaccheus was to be saved1 and was worth saving4 ,what was the 'must'8 ,to stop for an hour or two on ,his road to the ,cross4 ,so ,he teaches us that in a life penetrated by the thought of the divine will1 which we gladly obey1 there are no things too great1 and none too trivial1 to be brought under the dominion of that law1 and to be regulated by that divine necessity4 ,obedience is obedience1 whether in large things or in small4 ,there is no scale of magnitude applicable to the distinction between ,god's will and that which is not ,god's will4 ,gravitation rules the motes that dance in the sunshine as well as the mass of ,jupiter4 ,a triangle with its apex in the sun1 and its base beyond the solar system1 has the same properties and comes under the same laws as one that a schoolboy scrawls upon his slate4 ,god's truth is not too great to rule the smallest duties4 ,the star in the ,east was a guide to the humble house at ,bethlehem1 and there are starry truths high in the heavens that avail for our guidance in the smallest acts of life4 ,so1 brethren1 bring your doings under that all-embracing law of duty--duty1 which is the heathen expression for the will of ,god4 ,there are great regions of life in which lower necessities have play4 ,circumstances1 our past1 bias and temper1 relationship1 friendship1 civic duty1 and the like--all these bring their necessities2 but let us think of them all as being1 what indeed they are1 manifestations to us of the will of our ,father4 ,there are great tracts of life in which either of two courses may be right1 and we are left to the decision of choice rather than of duty2 but high above all these1 let us see towering that divine necessity4 ,it is a daily struggle to bring ',i will' to coincide with ',i ought'2 and there is only one adequate and always powerful way of securing that coincidence1 and that is to keep close to ,jesus ,christ and to drink in ,his spirit4 ,then1 when duty and delight are conterminous1 'the rough places will be plain1 and the crooked things straight1 and every mountain shall be brought low1 and every valley shall be exalted1' and life will be blessed1 and service will be freedom4 ,joy and liberty and power and peace will fill our hearts when this is the law of our being2 ',all that the ,lord hath spoken1 that must ,i do4' ,,the ,,lake ,,and ,,the ,,river ',god so loved the world1 that ,he gave ,his only begotten ,son1 that whosoever believeth in ,him should not perish1 but have everlasting life4'--,,john iii4 #af4 ,i venture to say that my text shows us a lake1 a river1 a pitcher1 and a draught4 ',god so loved the world'--that is the lake4 ,a lake makes a river for itself--',god so loved the world that ,he gave ,his''' ,son4' ,but the river does not quench any one's thirst unless he has something to lift the water with3 ',god so loved the world that ,he gave ,his''' ,son1 that whosoever believeth on ,him4' ,last comes the draught3 'shall not perish1 but have everlasting life4' ,i4 ,the great lake1 ,god's love4 ,before ,jesus ,christ came into this world no one ever dreamt of saying ',god loves4' ,some of the ,old ,testament psalmists had glimpses of that truth and came pretty near expressing it4 ,but among all the 'gods many and lords many1' there were lustful gods and beautiful gods1 and idle gods1 and fighting gods and peaceful gods3 but not one of whom worshippers said1 ',he loves4' ,once it was a new and almost incredible message1 but we have grown accustomed to it1 and it is not strange any more to us4 ,but if we would try to think of what it means1 the whole truth would flash up into fresh newness1 and all the miseries and sorrows and perplexities of our lives would drift away down the wind1 and we should be no more troubled with them4 ',god loves' is the greatest thing that can be said by lips4 ',god ''' loved the world4' ,now when we speak of loving a number of individuals--the broader the stream1 the shallower it is1 is it not8 ,the most intense patriot in ,england does not love her one ten-thousandth part as well as he loves his own little girl4 ,when we think or feel anything about a great multitude of people1 it is like looking at a forest4 ,we do not see the trees1 we see the whole wood4 ,but that is not how ,god loves the world4 ,suppose ,i said that ,i loved the people in ,india1 ,i should not mean by that that ,i had any feeling about any individual soul of all those dusky millions1 but only that ,i massed them all together2 or made what people call a generalisation of them4 ,but that is not the way in which ,god loves4 ,he loves all because ,he loves each4 ,and when we say1 ',god so loved the world1' we have to break up the mass into its atoms1 and to think of each atom as being an object of ,his love4 ,we all stand out in ,god's love just as we should do to one another's eyes1 if we were on the top of a mountain-ridge with a clear sunset sky behind us4 ,each little black dot of the long procession would be separately visible4 ,and we all stand out like that1 every man of us isolated1 and getting as much of the love of ,god as if there was not another creature in the whole universe but ,god and ourselves4 ,have you ever realised that when we say1 ',he loved the world1' that really means1 as far as each of us is concerned1 ,he loves me8 ,and just as the whole beams of the sun come pouring down into every eye of the crowd that is looking up to it1 so the whole love of ,god pours down1 not upon a multitude1 an abstraction1 a community1 but upon every single soul that makes up that community4 ,he loves us all because ,he loves us each4 ,we shall never get all the good of that thought until we translate it1 and lay it upon our hearts4 ,it is all very well to say1 ',ah yes6 ,god is love1' and it is all very well to say ,he loves 'the world4' ,but ,i will tell you what is a great deal better--to say--what ,paul said--',who loved me and gave ,himself for me4' ,now1 there is one other suggestion that ,i would make to you before ,i go on1 and that is that all through the ,new ,testament1 but especially in ,john's ,gospel1 'the world' does not only mean men1 but sinful men1 men separated from ,god4 ,and the great and blessed truth taught here is that1 however ,i may drag myself away from ,god1 ,i cannot drive ,him away from me1 and that however little ,i may care for ,him1 or love ,him1 or think about ,him1 it does not make one hairs-breadth of difference as to the fact that ,he loves me4 ,i know1 of course1 that if a man does not love ,him back again1 ,god's love has to take shapes that it would not otherwise take1 which may be extremely inconvenient for the man4 ,but though the shape may alter1 must alter1 the fact remains2 and every sinful soul on the earth1 including ,judas ,iscariot--who is said to head the list of crimes--has ,god's love resting upon him4 ,,ii4 ,the river4 ,now1 to go back to my metaphor1 the lake makes a river4 ',god so loved the world that ,he gave ,his only begotten ,son4' ,so then1 it was not ,christ's death that turned ,god from hating and being angry1 but it was ,god's love that appointed ,christ's death4 ,if you will only remember that1 a great many of the shallow and popular objections to the great doctrine of the ,atonement disappear at once4 ',god so loved ''' that ,he gave4' ,but some people say that when we preach that ,jesus ,christ died for our sins1 that ,god's wrath might not fall upon men1 our teaching is immoral1 because it means ',christ came1 and so ,god loved4' ,it is the other way about1 friend4 ',god so loved ''' that ,he gave4' ,but now let me carry you back to the ,old ,testament4 ,do you remember the story of the father taking his boy who carried the bundle of wood and the fire1 and tramping over the mountains till they reached the place where the sacrifice was to be offered8 ,do you remember the boy's question that brings tears quickly to the reader's eyes3 ',here is the wood1 and here is the fire1 where is the lamb'8 ,do you not think it would be hard for the father to steady his voice and say1 ',my son1 ,god will provide the lamb'8 ,and do you remember the end of that story8 ',the ,angel of the ,lord said unto ,abraham1 ,because thou hast done this thing1 and hast not withheld thy son1 thine only son1 from ,me1 therefore blessing ,i will bless thee1' etc4 ,remember that one of the ,apostles said1 using the very same word that is used in ,genesis as to ,abraham's giving up his son to ,god1 ',he spared not ,his own ,son1 but delivered ,him up to the death for us all4' ,does not that point to a mysterious parallel8 ,somehow or other--we have no right to attempt to say how--somehow or other1 ,god not only sent ,his ,son1 as it is said in the next verse to my text1 but far more tenderly1 wonderfully1 pathetically1 ,god gave--gave up ,his ,son1 and the sacrifice was enhanced1 because it was ,his only begotten ,son4 ,ah6 dear brethren1 do not let us be afraid of following out all that is included in that great word1 ',god ''' loved the world4' ,for there is no love which does not delight in giving1 and there is no love that does not delight in depriving itself1 in some fashion1 of what it gives4 ,and ,i1 for my part1 believe that ,paul's words are to be taken in all their blessed depth and wonderfulness of meaning when he says1 ',he gave up'--as well as gave--',him to the death for us all4' ,and now1 do you not think that we are able in some measure to estimate the greatness of that little word 'so'8 ',god so loved'--so deeply1 so holily1 so perfectly--that ,he 'gave ,his only begotten ,son'2 and the gift of that ,son is1 as it were1 the river by which the love of ,god comes to every soul in the world4 ,now there are a great many people who would like to put the middle part of this great text of ours into a parenthesis4 ,they say that we should bring the first words and the last words of this text together1 and never mind all that lies between4 ,people who do not like the doctrine of the ,cross would say1 ',god so loved the world that ,he gave''' everlasting life'2 and there an end4 ',if there is a ,god1 and if ,he loves the world1 why cannot ,he save the world without more ado8 ,there is no need for these interposed clauses4 ,god so loved the world that everybody will go to heaven'--that is the gospel of a great many of you2 and it is the gospel of a great many wise and learned people4 ,but it is not ,john's ,gospel1 and it is not ,christ's ,gospel4 ,the beginning and the end of the text cannot be buckled up together in that rough-and-ready fashion4 ,they have to be linked by a chain2 and there are two links in the chain3 ,god forges the one1 and we have to forge the other4 ',god so loved the world that ,he gave'--then ,he has done ,his work4 ',that whosoever believeth'--that is your work4 ,and it is in vain that ,god forges ,his link1 unless you will forge yours and link it up to ,his4 ',god so loved the world1' that is step number one in the process2 'that ,he gave1' that is step number two2 and then there comes another 'that'--'that whosoever believeth1' that is step number three2 and they are all needed before you come to number four1 which is the landing-place and not a step--'should not perish1 but have everlasting life4' ,,iii4 ,the pitcher4 ,i come to what ,i called the pitcher1 with which we draw the water for our own use--'that whosoever believeth4' ,you perhaps say1 ',yes1 ,i believe4 ,i accept every word of the ,gospel1 ,i quite believe that ,jesus ,christ died1 as a matter of history2 and ,i quite believe that ,he died for men's sins4' ,and what then8 ,is that what ,jesus ,christ meant by believing8 ,to believe about ,him is not to believe on ,him2 and unless you believe on ,him you will get no good out of ,him4 ,there is the lake1 and the river must flow past the shanties in the clearing in the forest1 if the men there are to drink4 ,but it may flow past their doors1 as broad as the ,mississippi1 and as deep as the ocean2 but they will perish with thirst1 unless they dip in their hands1 like ,gideon's men1 and carry the water to their own lips4 ,dear friend1 what you have to do--and your soul's salvation1 and your peace and joy and nobleness in this life and in the next depend absolutely upon it--is simply to trust in ,jesus ,christ and ,his death for your sins4 ,i sometimes wish we had never heard that word 'faith4' ,for as soon as we begin to talk about 'faith1' people begin to think that we are away up in some theological region far above everyday life4 ,suppose we try to bring it down a little nearer to our businesses and bosoms1 and instead of using a word that is kept sacred for employment in religious matters1 and saying 'faith1' we say 'trust4' ,that is what you give to your wives and husbands1 is it not8 ,and that is exactly what you have to give to ,jesus ,christ1 simply to lay hold of ,him as a man lays hold of the heart that loves him1 and leans his whole weight upon it4 ,lean hard on ,him1 hang on ,him1 or1 to take the other metaphor that is one of the ,old ,testament words for trust1 'flee for refuge' to ,him4 ,fancy a man with the avenger of blood at his back1 and the point of the pursuer's spear almost pricking his spine--don't you think he would make for the ,city of ,refuge with some speed8 ,that is what you have to do4 ,he that believeth1 and by trust lays hold of the ,hand that holds him up1 will never fall2 and he that does not lay hold of that ,hand will never stand1 to say nothing of rising4 ,and so by these two links ,god's love of the world is connected with the salvation of the world4 ,,iv4 ,the draught4 ,finally1 we have here the draught of living water4 ,did you ever think why our text puts 'should not perish' first8 ,is it not because1 unless we put our trust in ,him1 we shall certainly perish1 and because1 therefore1 that certainty of perishing must be averted before we can have 'everlasting life'8 ,now ,i am not going to enlarge on these two solemn expressions1 'perishing' and 'everlasting life4' ,i only say this3 men do not need to wait until they die before they 'perish4' ,there are men and women here now who are dead--dead while they live1 and when they come to die1 the perishing1 which is condemnation and ruin1 will only be the making visible1 in another condition of life1 of what is the fact to-day4 ,dear brethren1 you do not need to die in order to perish in your sins1 and1 blessed be ,god1 you can have everlasting life before you die4 ,you can have it now1 and there is only one way to have it1 and that is to lay hold of ,him who is the ,life4 ,and when you have ,jesus ,christ in your heart1 whom you will be sure to have if you trust ,him1 then you will have life--life eternal1 here and now1 and death will only make manifest the eternal life which you had while you were alive here1 and will perfect it in fashions that we do not yet know anything about4 ,only remember1 as ,i have been trying to show you1 the order that runs through this text4 ,remember the order of these last words1 and that we must first of all be delivered from eternal and utter death1 before we can be invested with the eternal and absolute life4 ,now1 dear brethren1 ,i dare say ,i have never spoken to the great majority of you before2 it is quite possible ,i may never speak to any of you again4 ,i have asked ,god to help me to speak so as that souls should be drawn to the ,saviour4 ,and ,i beseech you now1 as my last word1 that you would listen1 not to me1 but to ,him4 ,for it is ,he that says to us1 ',god so loved the world1 that ,he gave ,his ,son1 that whosoever'--'whosoever1' a blank cheque1 like the ,m4 or ,n4 of the ,prayer-book1 or the ,a4 ,b4 of a schedule2 you can put your own name in it--'that whosoever believeth on ,him shall not perish1 but have'--here1 now--'everlasting life4' ,,the ,,wearied ,,christ ',jesus therefore1 being wearied with ,his journey1 sat thus on the well'''4 ,he said unto them1 ,i have meat to eat that ye know not of4'--,,john iv4 #f1cb4 ,two pictures result from these two verses1 each striking in itself1 and gaining additional emphasis by the contrast4 ,it was during a long hot day's march that the tired band of pedestrians turned into the fertile valley4 ,there1 whilst the disciples went into the little hill-village to purchase1 if they could1 some food from the despised inhabitants1 ,jesus1 apparently too exhausted to accompany them1 'sat thus on the well4' ,that little word thus seems to have a force difficult to reproduce in ,english4 ,it is apparently intended to enhance the idea of utter weariness1 either because the word 'wearied' is in thought to be supplied1 'sat1 being thus wearied1 on the well'2 or because it conveys the notion which might be expressed by our 'just as ,he was'2 as a tired man flings ,himself down anywhere and anyhow1 without any kind of preparation beforehand1 and not much caring where it is that he rests4 ,thus1 utterly worn out1 ,jesus ,christ sits on the well1 whilst the western sun lengthens out the shadows on the plain4 ,the disciples come back1 and what a change they find4 ,hunger gone1 exhaustion ended1 fresh vigour in their wearied ,master4 ,what had made the difference8 ,the woman's repentance and joy4 ,and ,he unveils the secret of ,his reinvigoration when ,he says1 ',i have meat to eat that ye know not of'--the hidden manna4 ',my meat is to do the will of ,him that sent ,me1 and to finish ,his work4' ,now1 ,i think if we take just three points of view1 we shall gain the lessons of this remarkable contrast4 ,note1 then1 the wearied ,christ2 the devoted ,christ2 the reinvigorated ,christ4 ,i4 ,the wearied ,christ4 ,how precious it is to us that this ,gospel1 which has the loftiest things to say about the manifest divinity of our ,lord1 and the glory that dwelt in ,him1 is always careful to emphasise also the manifest limitations and weaknesses of the ,manhood4 ,john never forgets either term of his great sentence in which all the gospel is condensed1 'the ,word became flesh4' ,ever he shows us 'the ,word'2 ever 'the flesh4' ,thus it is he only who records the saying on the ,cross1 ',i thirst4' ,it is he who tells us how ,jesus ,christ1 not merely for the sake of getting a convenient opening of a conversation1 or to conciliate prejudices1 but because ,he needed what ,he asked1 said to the woman of ,samaria1 ',give ,me to drink4' ,so the weariness of the ,master stands forth for us as pathetic proof that it was no shadowy investiture with an apparent ,manhood to which ,he stooped1 but a real participation in our limitations and weaknesses1 so that work to ,him was fatigue1 even though in ,him dwelt the manifest glory of that divine nature which 'fainteth not1 neither is weary4' ,not only does this pathetic incident teach us for our firmer faith1 and more sympathetic and closer apprehension1 the reality of the ,manhood of ,jesus ,christ1 but it supplies likewise some imperfect measure of ,his love1 and reveals to us one condition of ,his power4 ,ah6 if ,he had not ,himself known weariness ,he never could have said1 ',come unto ,me1 all ye that are weary and heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest4' ,it was because ,himself 'took our infirmities1' and amongst these the weakness of tired muscles and exhausted frame1 that ',he giveth power to the faint1 and to them that have no might ,he increaseth strength4' ,the ,creator must have no share in the infirmities of the creature4 ,it must be ,his unwearied power that calls them all by their names2 and because ,he is great in might 'not one' of the creatures of ,his hand can 'fail4' ,but the ,redeemer must participate in that from which ,he redeems2 and the condition of ,his strength being 'made perfect in our weakness' is that our weakness shall have cast a shadow upon the glory of ,his strength4 ,the measure of ,his love is seen in that1 long before ,calvary1 ,he entered into the humiliation and sufferings and sorrows of humanity2 a condition of ,his power is seen in that1 forasmuch as the 'children were partakers of flesh and blood1 ,he also ,himself likewise took part of the same1' not only that 'through death ,he might deliver' from death1 but that in life ,he might redeem from the ills and sorrows of life4 ,nor does that exhausted ,figure1 reclining on ,jacob's ,well1 preach to us only what ,he was4 ,it proclaims to us likewise what we should be4 ,for if ,his work was carried on to the edge of ,his capacity1 and if ,he shrank not from service because it involved toil1 what about the professing followers of ,jesus ,christ1 who think that they are exempted from any form of service because they can plead that it will weary them8 ,what about those who say that they tread in ,his footsteps1 and have never known what it was to yield up one comfort1 one moment of leisure1 one thrill of enjoyment1 or to encounter one sacrifice1 one act of self-denial1 one aching of weariness for the sake of the ,lord who bore all for them8 ,the wearied ,christ proclaims ,his manhood1 proclaims ,his divinity and ,his love1 and rebukes us who consent to 'walk in the way of ,his commandments' only on condition that it can be done without dust or heat2 and who are ready to run the race that is set before us1 only if we can come to the goal without perspiration or turning a hair4 ',jesus1 being wearied with ,his journey1 sat thus on the well4' ,,ii4 ,still further1 notice here the devoted ,christ4 ,it is not often that ,he lets us have a glimpse into the innermost chambers of ,his heart1 in so far as the impelling motives of ,his course are concerned4 ,but here ,he lays them bare4 ',my meat is to do the will of ,him that sent ,me1 and to finish ,his work4' ,now1 it is no mere piece of grammatical pedantry when ,i ask you to notice that the language of the original is so constructed as to give prominence to the idea that the aim of ,christ's life was the doing of the ,father's will2 and that it is the aim rather than the actual performance and realisation of the aim which is pointed at by our ,lord4 ,the words would be literally rendered ',my meat is that ,i may do the will of ,him that sent ,me and finish ,his work'--that is to say1 the very nourishment and refreshment of ,christ was found in making the accomplishment of the ,father's commandment ,his ever-impelling motive1 ,his ever-pursued goal4 ,the expression carries us into the inmost heart of ,jesus1 dealing1 as it does1 with the one all-pervading motive rather than with the resulting actions1 fair and holy as these were4 ,brethren1 the secret of our lives1 if they are at all to be worthy and noble1 must be the same--the recognition1 not only as they say now1 that we have a mission1 but that there is a ,sender2 which is a wholly different view of our position1 and that ,he who sends is the loving ,father1 who has spoken to us in that dear ,son1 who ,himself made it ,his aim thus to obey1 in order that it might be possible for us to re-echo ,his voice1 and to repeat ,his aim4 ,the recognition of the ,sender1 the absolute submission of our wills to ,his1 must run through all the life4 ,you may do your daily work1 whatever it be1 with this for its motto1 'the will of the ,lord be done'2 and they who thus can look at their trade1 or profession1 and see the trivialities and monotonies of their daily occupations1 in the transfiguring light of that great thought1 will never need to complain that life is small1 ignoble1 wearisome1 insignificant4 ,as with pebbles in some clear brook with the sunshine on it1 the water in which they are sunk glorifies and magnifies them4 ,if you lift them out1 they are but bits of dull stone2 lying beneath the sunlit ripples they are jewels4 ,plunge the prose of your life1 and all its trivialities1 into that great stream1 and it will magnify and glorify the smallest and the homeliest4 ,absolute submission to the divine will1 and the ever-present thrilling consciousness of doing it1 were the secret of ,christ's life1 and ought to be the secret of ours4 ,note the distinction between doing the will and perfecting the work4 ,that implies that ,jesus ,christ1 like us1 reached forward1 in each successive act of obedience to the successive manifestations of the ,father's will1 to something still undone4 ,the work will never be perfected or finished except on condition of continual fulfilment1 moment by moment1 of the separate behests of that divine will4 ,for the ,lord1 as for ,his servants1 this was the manner of obedience1 that ,he 'pressed towards the mark1' and by individual acts of conformity secured that at last the whole 'work' should have been so completely accomplished that ,he might be able to say upon the ,cross1 ',it is finished4' ,if we have any right to call ourselves ,his1 we too have thus to live4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 notice the reinvigorated ,christ4 ,i have already pointed out the lovely contrast between the two pictures1 the beginning and the end of this incident2 so ,i need not dwell upon that4 ,the disciples wondered when they found that ,christ desired and needed none of the homely sustenance that they had brought to ,him4 ,and when ,he answered their sympathy rather than their curiosity--for they did not ask ,him any questions1 but they said to ,him1 ',master1 eat'--with ',i have meat to eat that ye know not of1' they1 in their blind1 blundering fashion1 could only imagine that some one had brought ,him something4 ,so they gave occasion for the great words upon which we have been touching4 ,notice1 however1 that ,christ here sets forth the lofty aim at conformity to the divine will and fulfilment of the divine ,work as being the meat of the soul4 ,it is the true food for us all4 ,the spirit which feeds upon such food will grow and be nourished4 ,and the soul which feeds upon its own will and fancies1 and not upon the plain brown bread of obedience1 which is wholesome1 though it be often bitter1 will feed upon ashes1 which will grate upon the teeth and hurt the palate4 ,such a soul will be like those wretched infants that are discovered sometimes at 'baby-farms1' starved and stunted1 and not grown to half their right size4 ,if you would have your spirits strong1 robust1 well nourished1 live by obedience1 and let the will of ,god be the food of your souls1 and all will be well4 ,souls thus fed can do without a good deal that others need4 ,why1 enthusiasm for anything lifts a man above physical necessities and lower desires1 even in its poorest forms4 ,a regiment of soldiers making a forced march1 or an athlete trying to break the record1 will tramp1 tramp on1 not needing food1 or rest1 or sleep1 until they have achieved their purpose1 poor and ignoble though it may be4 ,in all regions of life1 enthusiasm and lofty aims make the soul lord of the body and of the world4 ,and in the ,christian life we shall be thus lords1 exactly in proportion to the depth and earnestness of our desires to do the will of ,god4 ,they who thus are fed can afford 'to scorn delights and live laborious days4' ,they who thus are fed can afford to do with plain living1 if there be high impulses as well as high thinking4 ,and sure ,i am that nothing is more certain to stamp out the enthusiasm of obedience which ought to mark the ,christian life than the luxurious fashion of living which is getting so common to-day amongst professing ,christians4 ,it is not in vain that we read the old story about the ,jewish boys whose faces were radiant and whose flesh was firmer when they were fed on pulse and water than on all the wine and dainties of the ,babylonish court4 ',set a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite1' and let us remember that the less we use1 and the less we feel that we need1 of outward goods1 the nearer do we approach to the condition in which holy desires and lofty aims will visit our spirits4 ,i commend to you1 brethren1 the story of our text1 in its most literal application1 as well as in the loftier spiritual lessons that may be drawn from it4 ,to be near ,christ1 and to desire to live for ,him1 delivers us from dependence upon earthly things2 and in those who thus do live the old word shall be fulfilled1 ',better is a little that a righteous man hath1 than the abundance of many wicked4' ',,give ,,me ,,to ,,drink' '''' ,jesus saith unto her1 ,give ,me to drink'''4 ,jesus saith unto her1 ,i that speak unto thee am ,he4'--,,john iv4 #g1 #bf4 ,this ,evangelist very significantly sets side by side our ,lord's conversations with ,nicodemus and with the woman of ,samaria4 ,the persons are very different3 the one a learned ,rabbi of reputation1 influence1 and large theological knowledge of the then fashionable kind2 the other an alien woman1 poor--for she had to do this menial task of water-drawing in the heat of the day--and of questionable character4 ,the diversity of persons necessitates great differences in the form of our ,lord's address to each2 but the resemblances are as striking as the divergencies4 ,in both we have ,his method of gradually unveiling the truth to a susceptible soul1 beginning with symbol and a hint1 gradually enlarging the hint and translating the symbol2 and finally unveiling ,himself as the ,giver and the ,gift4 ,there is another resemblance2 in both the characteristic gift is that of the ,spirit of ,life1 and1 perhaps1 in both the symbol is the same4 ,for we read in one of 'water and the ,spirit'2 and in the other of the fountain within1 springing into everlasting life4 ,however that may be1 the process of teaching is all but identical in substance in both cases1 though in form so various4 ,the words of our ,lord which ,i have taken for our text now are ,his first and last utterance in this conversation4 ,what a gulf lies between6 ,they are linked together by the intervening sayings1 and constitute with these a great ladder1 of which the foot is fast on earth1 and the top fixed in heaven4 ,on the one hand1 ,he owns the lowest necessities2 on the other1 ,he makes the highest claims4 ,let us ponder on this remarkable juxtaposition1 and try to gather the lessons that are plain in it4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 ,i think we see here the mystery of the dependent ,christ4 ',give ,me to drink'3 ',i am ,he4' ,try to see the thing for a moment with the woman's eyes4 ,she comes down from her little village1 up amongst the cliffs on the hillside1 across the narrow1 hot valley1 beneath the sweltering sunshine reflected from the bounding mountains1 and she finds1 in the midst of the lush vegetation round the ancient well1 a solitary1 weary ,jew1 travel-worn1 evidently exhausted--for ,his disciples had gone away to buy food1 and ,he was too wearied to go with them--looking into the well1 but having no dipper or vessel by which to get any of its cool treasure4 ,we lose a great deal of the meaning of ,christ's request if we suppose that it was merely a way of getting into conversation with the woman1 a 'breaking of the ice4' ,it was a great deal more than that4 ,it was the utterance of a felt and painful necessity1 which ,he ,himself could not supply without a breach of what ,he conceived to be ,his filial dependence4 ,he could have brought water out of the well4 ,he did not need to depend upon the pitcher that the disciples had perhaps unthinkingly carried away with them when they went to buy bread4 ,he did not need to ask the woman to give1 but ,he chose to do so4 ,we lose much if we do not see in this incident far more than the woman saw1 but we lose still more if we do not see what she did see4 ,and the words which the ,master spoke to her are no mere way of introducing a conversation on religious themes2 but ,he asked for a draught which ,he needed1 and which ,he had no other way of getting4 ,so1 then1 here stands1 pathetically set forth before us1 our ,lord's true participation in two of the distinguishing characteristics of our weak humanity--subjection to physical necessities and dependence on kindly help4 ,we find ,him weary1 hungry1 thirsty1 sometimes slumbering4 ,and all these instances are documents and proofs for us that ,he was a true man like ourselves1 and that1 like ourselves1 ,he depended on 'the woman that ministered to ,him' for the supply of ,his necessities1 and so knew the limitations of our social and else helpless humanity4 ,but then a wearied and thirsty man is nothing of much importance4 ,but here is a ,man who humbled ,himself to be weary and to thirst4 ,the keynote of this ,gospel1 the one thought which unlocks all its treasures1 and to the elucidation of which1 in all its aspects1 the whole book is devoted1 is1 ',the ,word was made flesh4' ,only when you let in the light of the last utterance of our text1 ',i that speak unto thee am ,he1' do we understand the pathos1 the sublimity1 the depth and blessedness of meaning which lie in the first one1 ',give ,me to drink4' ,when we see that ,he bowed ,himself1 and willingly stretched out ,his hands for the fetters1 we come to understand the significance of these traces of ,his manhood4 ,the woman says1 with wonder1 ',how is it that ,thou1 being a ,jew1 askest drink of me8' and that was wonderful4 ,but1 as ,he hints to her1 if she had known more clearly who this ,person was1 that seemed to be a ,jew1 a deeper wonder would have crept over her spirit4 ,the wonder is that the ,eternal ,word should need the water of the well1 and should ask it of a poor human creature4 ,and why this humiliation8 ,he could1 as ,i have said1 have wrought a miracle4 ,he that fed five thousand1 ,he that had turned water into wine at the rustic marriage-feast1 would have had no difficulty in quenching ,his thirst if he had chosen to use ,his miraculous power therefore4 ,but ,he here shows us that the true filial spirit will rather die than cast off its dependence on the ,father1 and the same motive which led ,him to reject the temptation in the wilderness1 and to answer with sublime confidence1 ',man doth not live by bread alone1 but by every word from the mouth of ,god1' forbids ,him here to use other means of securing the draught that ,he so needed than the appeal to the sympathy of an alien1 and the swift compassion of a woman's heart4 ,and then1 let us remember that the motive of this willing acceptance of the limitations and weaknesses of humanity is1 in the deepest analysis1 simply ,his love to us2 as the mediaeval hymn has it1 ',seeking me1 ,thou satest weary4' ,in that lonely ,traveller1 worn1 exhausted1 thirsty1 craving for a draught of water from a stranger's hand1 is set forth 'the glory of the ,father1 full of grace and truth4' ,a strange manifestation of divine glory this6 ,but if we understand that the glory of ,god is the lustrous light of ,his self-revealing love1 perhaps we shall understand how1 from that faint1 craving voice1 ',give ,me to drink1' that glory sounds forth more than in the thunders that rolled about the rocky peak of ,sinai4 ,strange to think1 brethren1 that the voice from those lips dry with thirst1 which was low and weak1 was the voice that spoke to the sea1 ',peace6 be still1' and there was a calm2 that said to demons1 ',come out of him6' and they evacuated their fortress2 that cast its command into the grave of ,lazarus1 and he came forth2 and which one day all that are in the grave shall hear1 and hearing shall obey4 ',give ,me to drink4' ',i that speak unto thee am ,he4' ,,ii4 ,secondly1 we may note here the self-revealing ,christ4 ,the process by which ,jesus gradually unveils ,his full character to this woman1 so unspiritual and unsusceptible as she appeared at first sight to be1 is interesting and instructive4 ,it would occupy too much of your time for me to do more than set it before you in the barest outline4 ,noting the singular divergence between the two sayings which ,i have taken as our text1 it is interesting to notice how the one gradually merges into the other4 ,first of all1 ,jesus ,christ1 as it were1 opens a finger of ,his hand to let the woman have a glimpse of the gift lying there1 that that may kindle desire1 and hints at some occult depth in ,his person and nature all undreamed of by her yet1 and which would be the occasion of greater wonder1 and of a reversal of their parts1 if she knew it4 ,then1 in answer to her1 half understanding that ,he meant more than met the ear1 and yet opposing the plain physical difficulties that were in the way1 in that ,he had 'nothing to draw with1 and the well is deep1' and asking whether ,he were greater than our father ,jacob1 who also had given1 and given not only a draught1 but the well1 our ,lord enlarges her vision of the blessedness of the gift1 though ,he says but little more of its nature1 except in so far as that may be gathered from the fact that the water that ,he will give will be a permanent source of satisfaction1 forbidding the pangs of unquenched desire ever again to be felt as pangs2 and from the other fact that it will be an inward possession1 leaping up with a fountain's energy1 and a life within itself1 towards1 and into everlasting life4 ,next1 he strongly assails conscience and demands repentance1 and reveals ,himself as the reader of the secrets of the heart4 ,then ,he discloses the great truths of spiritual worship4 ,and1 finally1 as a prince in disguise might do1 ,he flings aside the mantle of which ,he had let a fold or two be blown back in the previous conversation1 and stands confessed4 ',i that speak unto thee am ,he4' ,that is to say1 the kindling of desire1 the proffer of the all-satisfying gift1 the quickening of conscience1 the revelation of a ,father to be worshipped in spirit and in truth1 and the final full disclosure of ,his person and office as the ,giver of the gift which shall slake all the thirsts of men--these are the stages of ,his self-revelation4 ,then note1 not only the process1 but the substance of the revelation of ,himself4 ,the woman had a far more spiritual and lofty conception of the office of ,messiah than the ,jews had4 ,it is not the first time that heretics have reached a loftier ideal of some parts of the truth than the orthodox attain4 ,to the ,jew the ,messiah was a conquering king1 who would help them to ride on the necks of their enemies1 and pay back their persecutions and oppressions4 ,to this ,samaritan woman--speaking1 ,i suppose1 the conceptions of her race--the ,messiah was ,one who was to 'tell us all things4' ,jesus ,christ accepts the position1 endorses her anticipations1 and in effect presents ,himself before her and before us as the ,fountain of all certitude and knowledge in regard to spiritual matters4 ,for all that we can know1 or need to know1 with regard to ,god and man and their mutual relations2 for all that we can or need know in regard to manhood1 its ideal1 its obligations1 its possibilities1 its destinies2 for all that we need to know of men in their relation to one another1 we have to turn to ,jesus ,christ1 the ,messiah1 who 'will tell us all things4' ,he is the ,fountain of light2 ,he is the ,foundation of certitude2 and they who seek1 not hypotheses and possibilities and conjectures and dreams1 but the solid substance of a reliable knowledge1 must grasp ,him1 and esteem the words of ,his mouth and the deeds of ,his life more than their necessary food4 ,he meets this woman's conceptions as ,he had met those of ,nicodemus4 ,to him ,he had unveiled ,himself as the ,son of ,god1 and the ,son of ,man who came down from heaven1 and is in heaven1 and ascends to heaven4 ,to the woman ,he reveals ,himself as the ,messiah1 who will tell us all truth1 and to both as the ,giver of the gift which shall communicate and sustain and refresh the better life4 ,but ,i cannot help dwelling for a moment upon the remarkable1 beautiful1 and significant designation which our ,lord employs here4 ',i that speak unto thee4' ,the word in the original1 translated by our version 'speak1' is even more sweet1 because more familiar1 and conveys the idea of unrestrained frank intercourse4 ,perhaps we might render ',i who am talking with ,thee6' and that our ,lord desired to emphasise to the woman's heart the notion of ,his familiar intercourse with her1 ,messiah though ,he were1 seems to me confirmed by the fact that ,he uses the same expression1 with additional grace and tenderness about it1 when ,he says1 with such depth of meaning1 to the blind man whom ,he had healed1 ',thou hast both seen ,him1' with the eyes to which ,he gave sight and object of sight1 'and it is ,he that talketh with thee4' ,the familiar ,christ who will come and speak to us face to face and heart to heart1 'as a man speaketh with his friend1' is the ,christ who will tell us all things1 and whom we may wholly trust4 ,note too how this revelation has for its condition the docile acceptance of the earlier and imperfect teachings4 ,if the woman had not yielded herself to our ,lord's earlier words1 and1 though with very dim insight1 yet with a heart that sought to be taught1 followed ,him as ,he stepped from round to round of the ascending ladder1 she had never stood on the top and seen this great vision4 ,if you see nothing more in ,jesus ,christ than a man like yourself1 compassed with our infirmities1 and yet sweet and gracious and good and pure1 be true to what you know1 and put it into practice1 and be ready to accept all the light that dawns4 ,they that begin down at the bottom with hearing ',give me to drink1' may stand at the top1 and hear ,him speak to them ,his unveiled truth and ,his full glory4 ',to him that hath shall be given4' ',if any man wills to do ,his will he shall know of the teaching4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 we have here the universal ,christ4 ,the woman wondered that1 being a ,jew1 ,he spoke to her4 ,as ,i have said1 our ,lord's first utterance is simply the expression of a real physical necessity4 ,but it is none the less what the woman felt it to be1 a strange overleaping of barriers that towered very high4 ,a ,samaritan1 a woman1 a sinner1 is the recipient of the first clear confession from ,jesus ,christ of ,his ,messiahship and dignity4 ,she was right in her instinct that something lay behind ,his sweeping aside of the barriers and coming so close to her with ,his request4 ,these two1 the prejudices of race and the contempt for woman1 two of the crying evils of the old world1 were overpassed by our ,lord as if ,he never saw them4 ,they were too high for men's puny limbs2 they made no obstacle to the march of ,his divine compassion4 ,and therein lies a symbol1 if you like1 but none the less a prophecy that will be fulfilled1 of the universal adaptation and destination of the ,gospel1 and its independence of all distinctions of race and sex1 condition1 moral character4 ,in ,jesus ,christ 'there is neither ,jew nor ,greek1 male nor female1 neither bond nor free'2 ye 'are all one in ,christ4' ,if ,he had been but a ,jew1 it was wonderful that ,he should talk to a ,samaritan4 ,but there is nothing in the character and life of ,christ1 as recorded in ,scripture1 more remarkable and more plain than the entire absence of any racial peculiarities1 or of characteristics owing to ,his position in space or time4 ,so unlike ,his nation was ,he that the very elite of ,his nation snarled at ,him and said1 ',thou art a ,samaritan6' ,so unlike them was ,he that one feels that a character so palpitatingly human to its core1 and so impossible to explain from its surroundings1 is inexplicable1 but on the ,new ,testament theory that ,he is not a ,jew1 or man only1 but the ,son of ,man1 the divine embodiment of the ideal of humanity1 whose dwelling was on earth1 but ,his origin and home in the bosom of ,god4 ,therefore ,jesus ,christ is the world's ,christ1 your ,christ1 my ,christ1 every man's ,christ1 the ,tree of ,life that stands in the midst of the garden1 that all men may draw near to it and gather of its fruit4 ,brother1 answer ,his proffer of the gift as this woman did3 ',sir1 give me this water1 that ,i thirst not2 neither go all the way to the world's broken cisterns to draw'2 and ,he will put into your hearts that indwelling fountain of life1 so that you may say like this woman's townspeople3 ',now ,i have heard ,him myself1 and know that this is indeed the ,christ1 the ,saviour of the world4' ,,the ,,gift ,,and ,,the ,,giver ',jesus answered and said unto her1 ,if thou knewest the gift of ,god1 and who it is that saith unto thee1 ,give ,me to drink2 thou wouldest have asked of ,him1 and ,he would have given thee living water4'--,,john iv4 #aj4 ,this ,gospel has two characteristics seldom found together3 deep thought and vivid character-drawing4 ,nothing can be more clear-cut and dramatic than the scene in the chapter before us4 ,there is not a word of description of this ,samaritan woman4 ,she paints herself1 and it is not a beautiful picture4 ,she is apparently of the peasant class1 from a little village nestling on the hill above the plain1 come down in the broiling sunshine to ,jacob's well4 ,she is of mature age1 and has had a not altogether reputable past4 ,she is frivolous1 ready to talk with strangers1 with a tongue quick to turn grave things into jests2 and yet she possesses1 hidden beneath masses of unclean vanities1 a conscience and a yearning for something better than she has1 which ,christ's words awoke1 and which was finally so enkindled as to make her fit to receive the full declaration of ,his ,messiahship1 which ,pharisees and priests could not be trusted with4 ,i need scarcely do more than remind you of the way in which the conversation between this strangely assorted pair began4 ,the solitary ,jew1 sitting spent with travel on the well1 asks for a draught of water2 not in order to get an opening for preaching1 but because ,he needs it4 ,she replies with an exclamation of light wonder1 half a jest and half a sarcasm1 and challenging a response in the same tone4 ,but ,christ lifts her to a higher level by the words of my text1 which awed levity1 and prepared for a fuller revelation4 ',thou dost wonder that ,i1 being a ,jew1 ask drink of thee1 a ,samaritan4 ,if thou knewest who ,i am1 thy wonder at ,my asking would be more4 ,if thou knewest what ,i have to give1 we should change places1 and thou wouldest ask1 and ,i should bestow4' ,so then1 we have here gift1 ,giver1 way of getting1 and ignorance that hinders asking4 ,let us look at these4 ,i4 ,first1 the gift of ,god4 ,now it is quite clear that our ,lord means the same thing1 whatever it may be1 by the two expressions1 the 'gift of ,god' and the 'living water4' ,for1 unless ,he does1 the whole sequence of my text falls to pieces4 ',living water' was suggested1 no doubt1 by the circumstances of the moment4 ,there1 in the well1 was an ever-springing source1 and1 says ,he1 a like supply1 ever welling up for thirsty lips and foul hands1 ever sweet and ever sufficient1 ,god is ready to give4 ,we may remember how1 all through ,scripture1 we hear the tinkle of these waters as they run4 ,the force of the expression is to be gathered largely from the ,old ,testament and the uses of the metaphor there4 ,it has been supposed that by the 'living water' which ,god gives is here meant some one specific gift1 such as that of the ,holy ,spirit1 which sometimes is expressed by the metaphor4 ,rather ,i should be disposed to say the 'living water' is eternal life4 ',with ,thee is the fountain of life4' ,and so1 in the last resort1 the gift of ,god is ,god ,himself4 ,nothing else will suffice for us1 brethren4 ,we need ,him1 and we need none but ,him4 ,our ,lord1 in the subsequent part of this conversation1 again touches upon this great metaphor1 and suggests one or two characteristics1 blessings1 and excellences of it4 ',it shall be in him1' it is something that we may carry about with us in our hearts1 inseparable from our being1 free from all possibility of being filched away by violence1 being rent from us by sorrows1 or even being parted from us by death4 ,what a man has outside of him he only seems to have4 ,our only real possessions are those which have passed into the substance of our souls4 ,all else we shall leave behind4 ,the only good is inward good2 and this water of life slakes our thirst because it flows into the deepest place of our being1 and abides there for ever4 ,oh6 you that are seeking your satisfaction from fountains that remain outside of you after all your efforts1 learn that all of them1 by reason of their externality1 will sooner or later be 'broken cisterns that can hold no water4' ,and ,i beseech you1 if you want rest for your souls and stilling for their yearnings1 look for it there1 where only it can be found1 in ,him1 who not only dwells in the heavens to rule and to shower down blessings1 but enters into the waiting heart and abides there1 the inward1 and therefore the only real1 possession and riches4 ',it shall be in him a fountain of water4' ,it is 'springing up'--with an immortal energy1 with ever fresh fulness1 by its own inherent power1 needing no pumps nor machinery1 but ever welling forth its refreshment1 an emblem of the joyous energy and continual freshness of vitality1 which is granted to those who carry ,god in their hearts1 and therefore can never be depressed beyond measure1 nor ever feel that the burden of life is too heavy to bear1 or its sorrows too sharp to endure4 ,it springs up 'into eternal life1' for water must seek its source1 and rise to the level of its origin1 and this fountain within a man1 that reaches up ever towards the eternal life from which it came1 and which it gives to its possessor1 will bear him up1 as some strong spring will lift the clods that choked its mouth1 will bear him up towards the eternal life which is native to it1 and therefore native to him4 ,brethren1 no man is so poor1 so low1 so narrow in capacity1 so limited in heart and head1 but that he needs a whole ,god to make him restful4 ,nothing else will4 ,to seek for satisfaction elsewhere is like sailors who in their desperation1 when the water-tanks are empty1 slake their thirst with the treacherous blue that washes cruelly along the battered sides of their ship4 ,a moment's alleviation is followed by the recurrence1 in tenfold intensity1 of the pangs of thirst1 and by madness1 and death4 ,do not drink the salt water that flashes and rolls by your side when you can have recourse to the fountain of life that is with ,god4 ',oh6' you say1 'commonplace1 threadbare pulpit rhetoric4' ,yes6 ,do you live as if it were true8 ,it will never be too threadbare to be dinned into your head until it has passed into your lives and regulated them4 ,,ii4 ,now1 in the next place1 notice the ,giver4 ,jesus ,christ blends in one sentence1 startling in its boldness1 the gift of ,god1 and ,himself as the ,bestower4 ,this ,man1 exhausted for want of a draught of water1 speaks with parched lips a claim most singularly in contrast with the request which ,he had just made3 ',i will give thee the living water4' ,no wonder that the woman was bewildered1 and could only say1 ',the well is deep1 and ,thou hast nothing to draw with4' ,she might have said1 ',why then dost ,thou ask me8' ,the words were meant to create astonishment1 in order that the astonishment might awaken interest1 which would lead to the capacity for further illumination4 ,suppose you had been there1 had seen the ,man whom she saw1 had heard the two things that she heard1 and knew no more about ,him than she knew1 what would you have thought of ,him and ,his words8 ,perhaps you would have been more contemptuous than she was4 ,see to it that1 since you know so much that explains and warrants them1 you do not treat them worse than she did4 ,jesus ,christ claims to give ,god's gifts4 ,he is able to give to that poor1 frivolous1 impure-hearted and impure-lifed woman1 at her request1 the eternal life which shall still all the thirst of her soul1 that had often in the past been satiated and disgusted1 but had never been satisfied by any of its draughts4 ,and ,he claims that in this giving ,he is something more than a channel1 because1 says ,he1 ',if thou hadst asked of ,me ,i would give thee4' ,we sometimes think of the relation between ,god and ,christ as being typified by that of some land-locked sea amidst remote mountains1 and the affluent that brings its sparkling treasures to the thirsting valley4 ,but ,jesus ,christ is no mere vehicle for the conveyance of a divine gift1 but ,his own heart1 ,his own power1 ,his own love are in it2 and it is ,his gift just as much as it is ,god's4 ,now ,i do not do more than pause for one moment to ask you to think of what inference is necessarily involved in such a claim as this4 ,if we know anything about ,jesus ,christ at all1 we know that ,he spoke in this tone1 not occasionally1 but habitually4 ,it will not do to pick out other bits of ,his character or actions and admire these and ignore the characteristic of ,his teachings--,his claims for ,himself4 ,and ,i have only this one word to say1 if ,jesus ,christ ever said anything the least like the words of my text1 and if they were not true1 what was ,he but a fanatic who had lost ,his head in the fancy of ,his inspiration8 ,and if ,he said these words and they were true1 what is ,he then8 ,what but that which this ,gospel insists from its beginning to its end that ,he was--the ,eternal ,word of ,god1 by whom all divine revelation from the beginning has been made1 and who at last 'became flesh' that we might 'receive of ,his fulness1' and therein 'be filled with all the fulness of ,god4' ,other alternative ,i1 for my part1 see none4 ,but ,i would have you notice1 too1 the connection between these human needs of the ,saviour and ,his power to give the divine gift4 ,why did ,he not simply say to this woman1 ',if thou knewest who ,i am8' ,why did ,he use this periphrasis of my text1 ',who it is that saith unto thee1 ,give ,me to drink'8 ,why but because ,he wanted to fix her attention on the startling contradiction between ,his appearance and ,his claims--on the one hand asserting divine prerogative1 on the other forcing into prominence human weakness and necessity1 because these two things1 the human weakness and the divine prerogative1 are inseparably braided together and intertwined4 ,some of you will remember the great scene in ,shakespeare where the weakness of ,caesar is urged as a reason for rejecting his imperial authority3-- ',ay6 and that tongue of his1 that bade the ,romans ,mark him1 and write his speeches in their books1 ,alas6 it cried1 ,give me some drink1 ''' ,like a sick girl4' ,and the inference that is drawn is1 how can he be fit to be a ruler of men8 ,but we listen to our ,caesar and ,emperor1 when ,he asks this woman for water1 and when ,he says on the ,cross1 ',i thirst1' and we feel that these are not the least of ,his titles to be crowned with many crowns4 ,they bring ,him nearer to us1 and they are the means by which ,his love reaches its end1 of bestowing upon us all1 if we will have it1 the cup of salvation4 ,unless ,he had said the one of these two things1 ,he never could have said the other4 ,unless the dry lips had petitioned1 ',give ,me to drink1' the gracious lips could never have said1 ',i will give thee living water4' ,unless1 like ,jacob of old1 this ,shepherd could say1 ',in the day the drought consumed ,me1' it would have been impossible that the flock 'shall hunger no more1 neither shall they thirst any more1 ''' for the ,lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall lead them to living fountains of water4' ,,iii4 ,again1 notice how to get the gift4 ,christ puts together1 as if they were all but contemporaneous1 'thou wouldst have asked of ,me1' and ',i would have given thee4' ,the hand on the telegraph transmits the message1 and back1 swift as the lightning1 flashes the response4 ,the condition1 the only condition1 and the indispensable condition1 of possessing that water of life--the summary expression for all the gifts of ,god in ,jesus ,christ1 which at the last are essentially ,god ,himself--is the desire to possess it turned to ,jesus ,christ4 ,is it not strange that men should not desire2 is it not strange and sad that such foolish creatures are we that we do not want what we need2 that our wishes and needs are often diametrically opposite8 ,all men desire happiness1 but some of us have so vitiated our tastes and our palates by fiery intoxicants that the water of life seems dreadfully tasteless and unstimulating1 and so we will rather go back again to the delusive1 poisoned drinks than glue our lips to the river of ,god's pleasures4 ,but it is not enough that there should be the desire4 ,it must be turned to ,him4 ,in fact the asking of my text1 so far as you and ,i are concerned1 is but another way of speaking the great keyword of personal religion1 faith in ,jesus ,christ4 ,for they who ask1 know their necessity1 are convinced of the power of ,him to whom they appeal to grant their requests1 and rely upon ,his love to do so4 ,and these three things1 the sense of need1 the conviction of ,christ's ability to save and to satisfy1 and of ,his infinite love that desires to make us blessed--these three things fused together make the faith which receives the gift of ,god4 ,remember1 brethren1 that another of the scriptural expressions for the act of trusting in ,him1 is taking1 not asking4 ,you do not need to ask1 as if for something that is not provided4 ,what we all need to do is to open our eyes to see what is there4 ,if we like to put out our hands and take it4 ,why should we be saying1 ',give me to drink1' when a pierced hand reaches out to us the cup of salvation1 and says1 ',drink ye all of it'8 ',ho1 every one that thirsteth1 come ''' and drink ''' without money and without price4' ,there is no other condition but desire turned to ,christ1 and that is the necessary condition4 ,god cannot give men salvation1 as veterinary surgeons drench unwilling horses--forcing the medicine down their throats through clenched teeth4 ,there must be the opened mouth1 and wherever there is1 there will be the full supply4 ',ask1 and ye shall receive'2 take1 and ye shall possess4 ,,iv4 ,lastly1 mark the ignorance that prevents asking4 ,jesus ,christ looked at this poor woman and discerned in her1 though1 as ,i said1 it was hidden beneath mountains of folly and sin1 a thirsty soul that was dimly longing for something better4 ,and ,he believed that1 if once the mystery of ,his being and the mercy of ,god's gifts were displayed before her1 she would melt into a yearning of desire that is certain to be fulfilled4 ,in some measure the same thing is true of us all4 ,for surely1 surely1 if only you saw realities1 and things as they are1 some of you would not be content to continue as you are--without this water of life4 ,blind1 blind1 blind1 are the men who grope at noon-day as in the dark and turn away from ,jesus4 ,if you knew1 not with the head only1 but with the whole nature1 if you knew the thirst of your soul1 the sweetness of the water1 the readiness of the ,giver1 and the dry and parched land to which you condemn yourselves by your refusal1 surely you would bethink yourself and fall at ,his feet and ask1 and get1 the water of life4 ,but1 brethren1 there is a worse case than ignorance2 there is the case of people that know and refuse1 not by reason of imperfect knowledge1 but by reason of averted will4 ,and ,i beseech you to ponder whether that may not be your condition4 ',whosoever will1 let him come4' ',ye will not come unto ,me that ye might have life4' ,i do not think ,i venture much when ,i say that ,i am sure there are people hearing me now1 not ,christians1 who are as certain1 deep down in their hearts1 that the only rest of the soul is in ,god1 and the only way to get it is through ,christ1 as any saint of ,god's ever was4 ,but the knowledge does not touch their will because they like the poison and they do not want the life4 ,oh6 dear friends1 the instantaneousness of ,christ's answer1 and the certainty of it1 are as true for each of us as they were for this woman4 ,the offer is made to us all1 just as it was to her4 ,we can gather round that ,rock like the ,israelites in the wilderness1 and slake every thirst of our souls from its outgushing streams4 ,jesus ,christ says to each of us1 as ,he did to her1 tenderly1 warningly1 invitingly1 and yet rebukingly1 ',if thou knewest ''' thou wouldst ask1 ''' and ,i would give4' ,take care lest1 by continual neglect1 you force ,him at last to change ,his words1 and to lament over you1 as ,he did over the city that ,he loved so well1 and yet destroyed4 ',if thou hadst known in thy day the things that belong to thy peace4 ,but now they are hid from thine eyes4' ,,the ,,springing ,,fountain ',the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a well of water1 springing up into everlasting life4'--,,john iv4 #ad4 ,there are two kinds of wells1 one a simple reservoir1 another containing the waters of a spring4 ,it is the latter kind which is spoken about here1 as is clear not only from the meaning of the word in the ,greek1 but also from the description of it as 'springing up4' ,that suggests at once the activity of a fountain4 ,a fountain is the emblem of motion1 not of rest4 ,its motion is derived from itself1 not imparted to it from without4 ,its 'silvery column' rises ever heavenward1 though gravitation is too strong for it1 and drags it back again4 ,so ,christ promises to this ignorant1 sinful ,samaritan woman that if she chose ,he would plant in her soul a gift which would thus well up1 by its own inherent energy1 and fill her spirit with music1 and refreshment1 and satisfaction4 ,what is that gift8 ,the answer may be put in various ways which really all come to one4 ,it is ,himself1 the unspeakable ,gift1 ,his own greatest gift2 or it is the ,spirit 'which they that believe on ,him should receive1' and whereby ,he comes and dwells in men's hearts2 or it is the resulting life1 kindred with the life bestowed1 a consequence of the indwelling ,christ and the present ,spirit4 ,and so the promise is that they who believe in ,him and rest upon ,his love shall receive into their spirits a new life principle which shall rise in their hearts like a fountain1 'springing up into everlasting life4' ,i think we shall best get the whole depth and magnitude of this great promise if1 throwing aside all mere artificial order1 we simply take the words as they stand here in the text1 and think1 first1 of ,christ's gift as a fountain within2 then as a fountain springing1 leaping up1 by its own power2 and then as a fountain 'springing into everlasting life4' ,i4 ,first1 ,christ's gift is represented here as a fountain within4 ,most men draw their supplies from without2 they are rich1 happy1 strong1 only when externals minister to them strength1 happiness1 riches4 ,for the most of us1 what we have is that which determines our felicity4 ,take the lowest type of life1 for instance1 the men of whom the majority1 alas6 ,i suppose1 in every time is composed1 who live altogether on the low plane of the world1 and for the world alone1 whether their worldliness take the form of sensuous appetite1 or of desire to acquire wealth and outward possessions4 ,the thirst of the body is the type of the experience of all such people4 ,it is satisfied and slaked for a moment1 and then back comes the tyrannous appetite again4 ,and1 alas6 the things that you drink to satisfy the thirst of your souls are too often like a publican's adulterated beer1 which has got salt in it1 and chemicals1 and all sorts of things to stir up1 instead of slaking and quenching1 the thirst4 ,so 'he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver1 nor he that loveth abundance with increase4' ,the appetite grows by what it feeds on1 and a little lust yielded to to-day is a bigger one to-morrow1 and half a glass to-day grows to a bottle in a twelvemonth4 ,as the old classical saying has it1 he 'who begins by carrying a calf1 before long is able to carry an ox'2 so the thirst in the soul needs and drinks down a constantly increasing draught4 ,and even if we rise up into a higher region and look at the experience of the men who have in some measure learned that 'a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth1' nor in the abundance of the gratification that his animal nature gets1 but that there must be an inward spring of satisfaction1 if there is to be any satisfaction at all2 if we take men who live for thought1 and truth1 and mental culture1 and yield themselves up to the enthusiasm for some great cause1 and are proud of saying1 ',my mind to me a kingdom is1' though they present a far higher style of life than the former1 yet even that higher type of man has so many of his roots in the external world that he is at the mercy of chances and changes1 and he1 too1 has deep in his heart a thirst that nothing1 no truth1 no wisdom1 no culture1 nothing that addresses itself to one part of his nature1 though it be the noblest and the loftiest1 can ever satisfy and slake4 ,i am sure ,i have some such people in my audience1 and to them this message comes4 ,you may have1 if you will1 in your own hearts1 a springing fountain of delight and of blessedness which will secure that no unsatisfied desires shall ever torment you4 ,christ in ,his fulness1 ,his ,spirit1 the life that flows from both and is planted within our hearts1 these are offered to us all2 and if we have them we carry inclosed within ourselves all that is essential to our felicity2 and we can say1 ',i have learned in whatsoever state ,i am therewith to be self-satisfying1' not with the proud1 stoical independence of a man who does not want either ,god or man to make him blessed1 but with the humble independence of a man who can say 'my sufficiency is of ,god4' ,no independence of externals is possible1 nor wholesome if it were possible1 except that which comes from absolute dependence on ,jesus ,christ4 ,if you have ,christ in your heart then life is possible1 peace is possible1 joy is possible1 under all circumstances and in all places4 ,everything which the soul can desire1 it possesses4 ,you will be like the garrison of a beleaguered castle1 in the courtyard of which is a sparkling spring1 fed from some source high up in the mountains1 and finding its way in there by underground channels which no besiegers can ever touch4 ,sorrows will come1 and make you sad1 but though there may be much darkness round about you1 there will be light in the darkness4 ,the trees may be bare and leafless1 but the sap has gone down to the roots4 ,the world may be all wintry and white with snow1 but there will be a bright little fire burning on your own hearthstone4 ,you will carry within yourselves all the essentials to blessedness4 ,if you have ',christ in the vessel' you can smile at the storm4 ,they that drink from earth's fountains 'shall thirst again'2 but they who have ,christ in their hearts will have a fountain within which will not freeze in the bitterest cold1 nor fail in the fiercest heat4 ',the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a fountain4' ,,ii4 ,christ's gift is a springing fountain4 ,the emblem1 of course1 suggests motion by its own inherent impulse4 ,water may be stagnant1 or it may yield to the force of gravity and slide down a descending river-bed1 or it may be pumped up and lifted by external force applied to it1 or it may roll as it does in the sea1 drawn by the moon1 driven by the winds1 borne along by currents that owe their origin to outward heat or cold4 ,but a fountain rises by an energy implanted within itself1 and is the very emblem of joyous1 free1 self-dependent and self-regulated activity4 ,and so1 says ,christ1 ',the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a springing fountain'2 it shall not lie there stagnant1 but leap like a living thing1 up into the sunshine1 and flash there1 turned into diamonds1 when the bright rays smile upon it4 ,so here is the promise of two things3 the promise of activity1 and of an activity which is its own law4 ,the promise of activity4 ,there seems small blessing1 in this overworked world1 in a promise of more active exertion2 but what an immense part of our nature lies dormant and torpid if we are not ,christians6 ,how much of the work that is done is dreary1 wearisome1 collar-work1 against the grain4 ,do not the wheels of life often go slowly8 ,are you not often weary of the inexpressible monotony and fatigue8 ,and do you not go to your work sometimes1 though with a fierce feeling of 'need-to-do-it1' yet also with inward repugnance8 ,and are there not great parts of your nature that have never woke into activity at all1 and are ill at ease1 because there is no field of action provided for them8 ,the mind is like millstones2 if you do not put the wheat into them to grind1 they will grind each other's faces4 ,so some of us are fretting ourselves to pieces1 or are sick of a vague disease1 and are morbid and miserable because the highest and noblest parts of our nature have never been brought into exercise4 ,surely this promise of ,christ's should come as a true ,gospel to such1 offering1 as it does1 if we will trust ourselves to ,him1 a springing fountain of activity in our hearts that shall fill our whole being with joyous energy1 and make it a delight to live and to work4 ,it will bring to us new powers1 new motives2 it will set all the wheels of life going at double speed4 ,we shall be quickened by the presence of that mighty power1 even as a dim taper is brightened and flames up when plunged into a jar of oxygen4 ,and life will be delightsome in its hardest toil1 when it is toil for the sake of1 and by the indwelling strength of1 that great ,lord and ,master of our work4 ,and there is not only a promise of activity here1 but of activity which is its own law and impulse4 ,that is a blessed promise in two ways4 ,in the first place1 law will be changed into delight4 ,we shall not be driven by a commandment standing over us with whip and lash1 or coming behind us with spur and goad1 but that which we ought to do we shall rejoice to do2 and inclination and duty will coincide in all our lives when our life is ,christ's life in us4 ,that should be a blessing to some of you who have been fighting against evil and trying to do right with more or less success1 more or less interruptedly and at intervals1 and have felt the effort to be a burden and a wearisomeness4 ,here is a promise of emancipation from all that constraint and yoke of bondage which duty discerned and unloved ever lays upon a man's shoulders4 ,when we carry within us the gift of a life drawn from ,jesus ,christ1 and are able to say like ,him1 ',lo1 ,i come to do ,thy will1 and ,thy law is within my heart1' only then shall we have peace and joy in our lives4 ',the law of the ,spirit of life in ,christ ,jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death4' ,and then1 in the second place1 that same thought of an activity which is its own impulse and its own law1 suggests another aspect of this blessedness1 namely1 that it sets us free from the tyranny of external circumstances which absolutely shape the lives of so many of us4 ,the lives of all must be to a large extent moulded by these1 but they need not1 and should not be completely determined by them4 ,it is a miserable thing to see men and women driven before the wind like thistledown4 ,circumstances must influence us1 but they may either influence us to base compliance and passive reception of their stamp1 or to brave resistance and sturdy nonconformity to their solicitations4 ,so used1 they will influence us to a firmer possession of the good which is most opposite to them1 and we shall be the more unlike our surroundings1 the more they abound in evil4 ,you can make your choice whether1 if ,i may so say1 you shall be like balloons that are at the mercy of the gale and can only shape their course according as it comes upon them and blows them along1 or like steamers that have an inward power that enables them to keep their course from whatever point the wind blows1 or like some sharply built sailing-ship that1 with a strong hand at the helm1 and canvas rightly set1 can sail almost in the teeth of the wind and compel it to bear her along in all but the opposite direction to that in which it would carry her if she lay like a log on the water4 ,i beseech you all1 and especially you young people1 not to let the world take and shape you1 like a bit of soft clay put into a brick-mould1 but to lay a masterful hand upon it1 and compel it to help you1 by ,god's grace1 to be nobler1 and truer1 and purer4 ,it is a shame for men to live the lives that so many amongst us live1 as completely at the mercy of externals to determine the direction of their lives as the long weeds in a stream that yield to the flow of the current4 ,it is of no use to preach high and brave maxims1 telling men to assert their lordship over externals1 unless we can tell them how to find the inward power that will enable them to do so4 ,but we can preach such noble exhortations to some purpose when we can point to the great gift which ,christ is ready to give1 and exhort them to open their hearts to receive that indwelling power which shall make them free from the dominion of these tyrant circumstances and emancipate them into the 'liberty of the sons of ,god4' ',the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a leaping fountain4' ,,iii4 ,the last point here is that ,christ's gift is a fountain 'springing up into everlasting life4' ,the water of a fountain rises by its own impulse1 but howsoever its silver column may climb it always falls back into its marble basin4 ,but this fountain rises higher1 and at each successive jet higher1 tending towards1 and finally touching1 its goal1 which is at the same time its course4 ,the water seeks its own level1 and the fountain climbs until it reaches ,him from whom it comes1 and the eternal life in which ,he lives4 ,we might put that thought in two ways4 ,first1 the gift is eternal in its duration4 ,the water with which the world quenches its thirst perishes4 ,all supplies and resources dry up like winter torrents in summer heat4 ,all created good is but for a time4 ,as for some1 it perishes in the use2 as for other1 it evaporates and passes away1 or is 'as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up'2 as for all1 we have to leave it behind when we go hence4 ,but this gift springs into everlasting life1 and when we go it goes with us4 ,the ,christian character is identical in both worlds1 and however the forms and details of pursuits may vary1 the essential principle remains one4 ,so that the life of a ,christian man on earth and his life in heaven are but one stream1 as it were1 which may1 indeed1 like some of those ,american rivers1 run for a time through a deep1 dark canyon1 or in an underground passage1 but comes out at the further end into broader1 brighter plains and summer lands2 where it flows with a quieter current and with the sunshine reflected on its untroubled surface1 into the calm ocean4 ,he has one gift and one life for earth and heaven--,christ and ,his ,spirit1 and the life that is consequent upon both4 ,and then the other side of this great thought is that the gift tends to1 is directed towards1 or aims at and reaches1 everlasting life4 ,the whole of the ,christian experience on earth is a prophecy and an anticipation of heaven4 ,the whole of the ,christian experience of earth evidently aims towards that as its goal1 and is interpreted by that as its end4 ,what a contrast that is to the low and transient aims which so many of us have6 ,the lives of many men go creeping along the surface when they might spring heavenwards4 ,my friend6 which is it to be with you8 ,is your life to be like one of those ,northern ,asiatic rivers that loses itself in the sands1 or that flows into1 or is sluggishly lost in1 a bog2 or is it going to tumble over a great precipice1 and fall sounding away down into the blackness2 or is it going to leap up 'into everlasting life'8 ,which of the two aims is the wiser1 is the nobler1 is the better8 ,and a life that thus springs will reach what it springs towards4 ,a fountain rises and falls1 for the law of gravity takes it down2 this fountain rises and reaches1 for the law of pressure takes it up1 and the water rises to the level of its source4 ,christ's gift mocks no man1 it sets in motion no hopes that it does not fulfil2 it stimulates to no work that it does not crown with success4 ,if you desire a life that reaches its goal1 a life in which all your desires are satisfied1 a life that is full of joyous energy1 that of a free man emancipated from circumstances and from the tyranny of unwelcome law1 and victorious over externals1 open your hearts to the gift that ,christ offers you2 the gift of ,himself1 of ,his death and passion1 of ,his sacrifice and atonement1 of ,his indwelling and sanctifying ,spirit4 ,he offered all the fulness of that grace to this ,samaritan woman1 in her ignorance1 in her profligacy1 in her flippancy4 ,he offers it to you4 ,his offer awoke an echo in her heart1 will it kindle any response in yours8 ,oh6 when ,he says to you1 ',the water that ,i shall give will be in you a fountain springing into everlasting life1' ,i pray you to answer as she did--',sir6--,lord--give me this water1 that ,i thirst not2 neither come to earth's broken cisterns to draw4' ,,the ,,second ,,miracle ',this is again the second miracle that ,jesus did1 when ,he was come out of ,judaea into ,galilee4'--,,john iv4 #ed4 ,the ,evangelist evidently intends us to connect together the two miracles in ,cana4 ,his object may1 possibly1 be mainly chronological1 and to mark the epochs in our ,lord's ministry4 ,but we cannot fail to see how remarkably these two miracles are contrasted4 ,the one takes place at a wedding1 a homely scene of rural festivity and gladness4 ,but life has deeper things in it than gladness1 and a ,saviour who preferred the house of feasting to the house of mourning would be no ,saviour for us4 ,the second miracle1 then1 turns to the darker side of human experience4 ,the happiest home has its saddened hours2 the truest marriage joy has associated with it many a care and many an anxiety4 ,therefore1 ,he who began by breathing blessing over wedded joy goes on to answer the piteous pleading of parental anxiety4 ,it was fitting that the first miracle should deal with gladness1 for that is ,god's purpose for ,his creatures1 and that the second should deal with sicknesses and sorrows1 which are additions to that purpose made needful by sin4 ,again1 the first miracle was wrought without intercession1 as the outcome of ,christ's own determination that ,his hour for working it was come4 ,the second miracle was drawn from ,him by the imperfect faith and the agonising pleading of the father4 ,but the great peculiarity of this second miracle in ,cana is that it is moulded throughout so as to develop and perfect a weak faith4 ,notice how there are three words in the narrative1 each of which indicates a stage in the history4 ',except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe4' ''' ',the man believed the word that ,jesus had spoken unto him1 and he went his way4' ''' ',himself believed and his whole house4' ,we have here1 then1 ,christ manifested as the ,discerner1 the ,rebuker1 the ,answerer1 and therefore the ,strengthener1 of a very insufficient and ignorant faith4 ,it is a lovely example of the truth of that ancient prophecy1 ',he will not quench the smoking flax4' ,so these three stages1 as it seems to me1 are the three points to observe4 ,we have1 first of all1 ,christ lamenting over an imperfect faith4 ,then we have ,him testing1 and so strengthening1 a growing faith4 ,and then we have the absent ,christ rewarding and crowning a tested faith4 ,i think if we look at these three stages in the story we shall get the main points which the ,evangelist intends us to observe4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 we have here our ,lord lamenting over an ignorant and sensuous faith4 ,at first sight ,his words1 in response to the hurried1 eager appeal of the father1 seem to be strangely unfeeling1 far away from the matter in hand4 ,think of how breathlessly1 feeling that not an instant is to be lost1 the poor man casts himself at the ,master's feet1 and pleads that his boy is 'at the point of death4' ,and just think how1 like a dash of cold water upon this hot impatience1 must have come these strange words that seem to overleap his case altogether1 and to be gazing beyond him--',except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe4' ',what has that to do with me and my dying boy1 and my impatient agony of petition8' ',it has everything to do with you4' ,it is the revelation1 first of all1 of ,christ's singular calmness and majestic leisure1 which befitted ,him who needed not to hurry1 because ,he was conscious of absolute power4 ,as when the pleading message was sent to ,him3 ',he whom ,thou lovest is sick1 ,he abode still two days in the same place where ,he was'2 because ,he loved ,lazarus and ,martha and ,mary2 and just as when ,jairus is hurrying ,him to the bed where his child lies dead1 ,he pauses on the way to attend to the petition of another sufferer2 so1 in like calmness of majestic leisure1 ,he here puts aside the apparently pressing and urgent necessity in order to deal with a far deeper1 more pressing one4 ,for in the words there is not only a revelation of our ,lord's majestic leisure1 but there is also an indication of what ,he thought of most importance in ,his dealing with men4 ,it was worthy of ,his care to heal the boy2 it was far more needful that ,he should train and lead the father to faith4 ,the one can wait much better than the other4 ,and there is in the words1 too1 something like a sigh of profound sorrow4 ,christ is not so much rebuking as lamenting4 ,it is ,his own pained heart that speaks2 ,he sees in the man before ,him more than the man's words indicated2 reading his heart with that divine omniscience which pierces beyond the surface1 and beholding in him the very same evil which affected all his countrymen4 ,so ,he speaks to him as one of a class1 and thus somewhat softens the rebuke even while the answer to the nobleman's petition seems thereby to become still less direct1 and ,his own sorrowful gaze at the wide-reaching spirit of blindness seems thereby to become more absorbed and less conscious of the individual sufferer kneeling at ,his feet4 ,christ had just come from ,samaria1 the scorn of the ,jews1 and there ,he had found people who needed no miracles1 whose conception of the ,messiah was not that of a mere wonder-worker1 but of one who will 'tell us all things1' and who believed on ,him not because of the portents which ,he wrought1 but because they heard ,him themselves1 and ,his words touched their consciences and stirred strange longings in their hearts4 ,on the other hand1 this ,evangelist has carefully pointed out in the preceding chapters how such recognition as ,christ had thus far received 'in ,his own country' had been entirely owing to ,his miracles1 and had been therefore regarded by ,christ ,himself as quite unreliable 7chap4 ii4 #bc-be71 while even ,nicodemus1 the ,pharisee1 had seen no better reason for regarding ,him as a divinely sent ,teacher than 'these miracles that ,thou doest4' ,and now here ,he is no sooner across the border again than the same spirit meets ,him4 ,he hears it even in the pleading1 tearful tones of the father's voice1 and that so clearly that it is for a moment more prominent even to ,his pity than the agony and the prayer4 ,and over that ,christ sorrows4 ,why8 ,because1 to their own impoverishing1 the nobleman and his fellows were blind to all the beauty of ,his character4 ,the graciousness of ,his nature was nothing to them4 ,they had no eyes for ,his tenderness and no ears for ,his wisdom2 but if some vulgar sign had been wrought before them1 then they would have run after ,him with their worthless faith4 ,and that struck a painful chord in ,christ's heart when ,he thought of how all the lavishing of ,his love1 all the grace and truth which shone radiant and lambent in ,his life1 fell upon blind eyes1 incapable of beholding ,his beauty2 and of how the manifest revelation of a ,godlike character had no power to do what could be done by a mere outward wonder4 ,this is not to disparage the 'miraculous evidence4' ,it is only to put in its proper place the spirit1 which was blind to the self-attesting glory of ,his character1 which beheld it and did not recognise it as 'the glory of the ,only ,begotten of the ,father4' ,that very same blindness to the divine which is in ,jesus ,christ1 because material things alone occupy the heart and appeal to the mind1 is still the disease of humanity4 ,it still drives a knife into the loving heart of the pitying and helpful ,christ4 ,the special form which it takes in such a story as this before us is long since gone4 ,the sense-bound people of this generation do not ask for signs4 ,miracles are rather a hindrance than a help to the reception of ,christianity in many quarters4 ,people are more willing to admire1 after a fashion1 the beauty of ,christ's character1 and the exalted purity of ,his teaching 7meaning thereby1 generally1 the parts of it which are not exclusively ,his71 than to accept ,his miracles4 ,so far round has the turn in the wheel gone in these days4 ,but although the form is entirely different the spirit still remains4 ,are there not plenty of us to whom sense is the only certitude8 ,we think that the only knowledge is the knowledge that comes to us from that which we can see and touch and handle1 and the inferences that we may draw from these2 and to many all that world of thought and beauty1 all those divine manifestations of tenderness and grace1 are but mist and cloudland4 ,intellectually1 though in a somewhat modified sense1 this generation has to take the rebuke3 ',except ye see1 ye will not believe4' ,and practically do not the great mass of men regard the material world as all-important1 and work done or progress achieved there as alone deserving the name of 'work' or 'progress1' while all the glories of a loving ,christ are dim and unreal to their sense-bound eyes8 ,is it not true to-day1 as it was in the old time1 that if a man would come among you1 and bring you material good1 that would be the prophet for you8 ,true wisdom1 beauty1 elevating thoughts1 divine revelations2 all these go over your heads4 ,but when a man comes and multiplies loaves1 then you say1 ',this is of a truth the prophet that should come into the world4' ',except ye see signs and wonders1 ye will not believe4' ,and on the other side1 is it not sadly true about those of us who have the purest and the loftiest faith1 that we feel often as if it was very hard1 almost impossible1 to keep firm our grasp of ,one who never is manifested to our sense8 ,do we not often feel1 ',o that ,i could for once1 for once only1 hear a voice that would speak to my outward ear1 or see some movement of a divine hand'8 ,the loftiest faith still leans towards1 and has an hankering after1 some external and visible manifestation1 and we need to subject ourselves to the illuminating rebuke of the ,master who says1 ',except ye see signs and wonders1 ye will not believe1' and1 therefore1 your faith that craves the support of some outward thing1 and often painfully feels that it is feeble without it1 is as yet but very imperfect and rudimentary4 ,,ii4 ,and so we have here1 as the next stage of the narrative1 our ,lord testing1 and thus strengthening1 a growing faith4 ,the nobleman's answer to our ,lord's strange words sounds1 at first sight1 as if these had passed over him1 producing no effect at all4 ',sir1 come down ere my child die'2 it is almost as if he had said1 ',do not talk to me about these things at present4 ,come and heal my boy4 ,that is what ,i want2 and we will speak of other matters some other time4' ,but it is not exactly that4 ,clearly enough1 at all events1 he did not read in ,christ's words a reluctance to yield to his request1 still less a refusal of it4 ,clearly he did not misunderstand the sad rebuke which they conveyed1 else he would not have ventured to reiterate his petition4 ,he does not pretend to anything more than he has1 he does not seek to disclaim the condemnation that ,christ brings against him1 nor to assume that he has a loftier degree or a purer kind of faith than he possesses4 ,he holds fast by so much of ,christ's character as he can apprehend2 and that is the beginning of all progress4 ,what he knows he knows4 ,he has sore need2 that is something4 ,he has come to the ,helper2 that is more4 ,he is only groping after ,him1 but he will not say a word beyond what he knows and feels2 and1 therefore1 there is something in him to work upon2 and faith is already beginning to bud and blossom4 ,and so his prayer is his best answer to ,christ's word3 ',sir1 come down ere my child die4' ,ah6 dear brethren1 any true man who has ever truly gone to ,christ with a sense even of some outward and temporal need1 and has ever really prayed at all1 has often to pass through this experience1 that the first result of his agonising cry shall be only the revelation to him of the unworthiness and imperfection of his own faith1 and that there shall seem to be strange delay in the coming of the blessing so longed for4 ,and the true attitude for a man to take when there is unveiled before him1 in his consciousness1 in answer to his cry for help1 the startling revelation of his own unworthiness and imperfection--the true answer to such dealing is simply to reiterate the cry4 ,and then the ,master bends to the petition1 and because ,he sees that the second prayer has in it less of sensuousness than the first1 and that some little germ of a higher faith is beginning to open1 ,he yields1 and yet ,he does not yield4 ',sir1 come down ere my child die4' ,jesus saith unto him1 ',go thy way1 thy son liveth4' ,why did ,he not go with the suppliant8 ,why1 in the act of granting1 does ,he refuse8 ,for the suppliant's sake4 ,the whole force and beauty of the story come out yet more vividly if we take the contrast between it and the other narrative1 which presents some points of similarity with it--that of the healing of the centurion's servant at ,capernaum4 ,there the centurion prays that ,christ would but speak1 and ,christ says1 ',i will come4' ,there the centurion does not feel that ,his presence is necessary1 but that ,his word is enough4 ,here the nobleman says ',come1' because it has never entered his mind that ,christ can do anything unless ,he stands like a doctor by the boy's bed4 ,and he says1 too1 ',come1 ere my child die1' because it has never entered his mind that ,christ can do anything if his boy has once passed the dark threshold4 ,and because his faith is thus feeble1 ,christ refuses its request1 because ,he knows that so to refuse is to strengthen4 ,asked but to 'speak' by a strong faith1 ,he rewards it by more than it prays1 and offers to 'come4' ,asked to 'come' by a weak faith1 ,he rewards it by less1 which yet is more1 than it had requested2 and refuses to come1 that ,he may heal at a distance2 and thus manifests still more wondrously ,his power and ,his grace4 ,his gentle and wise treatment is telling2 and he who was so sense-bound that 'unless he saw signs and wonders he would not believe1' turns and goes away1 bearing the blessing1 as he trusts1 in his hands1 while yet there is no sign whatever that he has received it4 ,think of what a change had passed upon that man in the few moments of his contact with ,christ4 ,when he ran to ,his feet1 all hot and breathless and impatient1 with his eager plea1 he sought only for the deliverance of his boy1 and sought it at the moment1 and cared for nothing else4 ,when he goes away from ,him1 a little while afterwards1 he has risen to this height1 that he believes the bare word1 and turns his back upon the ,healer1 and sets his face to ,capernaum in the confidence that he possesses the unseen gift4 ,so has his faith grown4 ,and that is what you and ,i have to do4 ,we have ,christ's bare word1 and no more1 to trust to for everything4 ,we must be content to go out of the presence-chamber of the ,king with only ,his promise1 and to cleave to that4 ,a feeble faith requires the support of something sensuous and visible1 as some poor trailing plant needs a prop round which it may twist its tendrils4 ,a stronger faith strides away from the ,master1 happy and peaceful in its assured possession of a blessing for which it has nothing to rely upon but a simple bare word4 ,that is the faith that we have to exercise4 ,christ has spoken4 ,that was enough for this man1 who from the babyhood of ,christian experience sprang at once to its maturity4 ,is it enough for you8 ,are you content to say1 ',thy word1 ,thy naked word1 is all that ,i need1 for ,thou hast spoken1 and ,thou wilt do it'8 ',go thy way2 thy son liveth4' ,what a test6 ,suppose the father had not gone his way1 would his son have lived8 ,no6 ,the son's life and the father's reception from ,christ of what he asked were suspended upon that one moment4 ,will he trust ,him1 or will he not8 ,will he linger1 or will he depart8 ,he departs1 and in the act of trusting he gets the blessing1 and his boy is saved4 ,and look how the narrative hints to us of the perfect confidence of the father now4 ,cana was only a few miles from ,capernaum4 ,the road from the little city upon the hill down to where the waters of the lake flashed in the sunshine by the quays of ,capernaum was only a matter of a few hours2 but it was the next day1 and well on into the next day1 before he met the servants that came to him with the news of his boy's recovery4 ,so sure was he that his petition was answered that he did not hurry to return home1 but leisurely and quietly went onwards the next day to his child4 ,think of the difference between the breathless rush up to ,cana1 and the quiet return from it4 ',he that believeth shall not make haste4' ,,iii4 ,and so1 lastly1 we have here the absent ,christ crowning and rewarding the faith which has been tested4 ,we have the picture of the father's return4 ,the servants meet him4 ,their message1 which they deliver before he has time to speak1 is singularly a verbal repetition of the promise of the ,master1 ',thy son liveth4' ,his faith1 though it be strong1 has not yet reached to the whole height of the blessing1 for he inquires 'at what hour he began to amend1' expecting some slow and gradual recovery2 and he is told 'that at the seventh hour1' the hour when the ,master spoke1 'the fever left him1' and all at once and completely was he cured4 ,so1 more than his faith had expected is given to him2 and ,christ1 when he lays ,his hand upon a man1 does ,his work thoroughly1 though not always at once4 ,why was the miracle wrought in that strange fashion8 ,why did our ,lord fling out ,his power as from a distance rather than go and stand at the boy's bedside8 ,we have already seen the reason in the peculiar condition of the father's mind2 but now notice what it was that he had learned by such a method of healing1 not only the fact of ,christ's healing power1 but also the fact that the bare utterance of ,his will1 whether ,he were present or absent1 had power4 ,and so a loftier conception of ,christ would begin to dawn on him4 ,and for us that working of ,christ at a distance is prophetic4 ,it represents to us ,his action to-day4 ,still ,he answers our cries that ,he would come down to our help by sending forth from the city on the hills1 the city of the wedding feast1 ,his healing power to descend upon the sick-beds and the sorrows and the sins that afflict the villages beneath4 ',he sendeth forth ,his commandment upon earth1 ,his word runneth very swiftly4' ,this new experience enlarged and confirmed the man's faith4 ,the second stage to which he had been led by ,christ's treatment was simply belief in our ,lord's specific promise1 an immense advance on his first position of belief which needed sight as its basis4 ,but he had not yet come to the full belief of1 and reliance upon1 that ,healer recognised as ,messiah4 ,but the experience which he now has had1 though it be an experience based upon miracle1 is the parent of a faith which is not merely the child of wonder1 nor the result of beholding an outward sign4 ,and so we read3--',so the father knew that it was at the same hour in the which ,jesus said unto him1 ,thy son liveth4 ,and himself believed and his whole house4' ,a partial faith brings experience which confirms and enlarges faith2 and they who dimly apprehend ,him1 and yet humbly love ,him1 and imperfectly trust ,him1 will receive into their bosoms such large gifts of ,his love and gracious ,spirit that their faith will be strengthened1 and they will grow into the full stature of peaceful confidence4 ,the way to increase faith is to exercise faith4 ,and the true parent of perfect faith is the experience of the blessings that come from the crudest1 rudest1 narrowest1 blindest1 feeblest faith that a man can exercise4 ,trust ,him as you can1 do not be afraid of inadequate conceptions1 or of a feeble grasp4 ,trust ,him as you can1 and ,he will give you so much more than you expected that you will trust ,him more1 and be able to say3 ',now ,i believe1 because ,i have heard ,him myself1 and know that this is the ,christ1 the ,saviour of the world4' ,,the ,,third ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel ',jesus saith unto him1 ,rise1 take up thy bed1 and walk4'--,,john v4#h ,this third of the miracles recorded in ,john's ,gospel finds a place there1 as it would appear1 for two reasons3 first1 because it marks the beginning of the angry unbelief on the part of the ,jewish rulers1 the development of which it is one part of the purpose of this ,gospel to trace2 second1 because it is the occasion for that great utterance of our ,lord about ,his ,sonship and ,his divine working as the ,father also works1 which occupies the whole of the rest of the chapter1 and is the foundation of much which follows in the ,gospel4 ,it is for these reasons1 and not for the mere sake of adding another story of a miraculous cure to the many which the other ,evangelists have given us1 that ,john narrates for us this history4 ,if1 then1 we consider the reason for the introduction of the miracle into the ,gospel1 we may be saved from the necessity of dwelling1 except very lightly1 upon some of the preliminary details which preceded the actual cure4 ,it does not matter much to us for our present purpose which ,feast it was on which ,jesus went up to ,jerusalem1 nor whether the pool was by the sheep-market or by the sheep-gate1 nor whereabouts in ,jerusalem ,bethesda might happen to be4 ,it may be of importance for us to notice that the mention of the angel who appears in the fourth verse is not a part of the original narrative4 ,the true text only tells us of an intermittent pool which possessed1 or was supposed to possess1 curative energy2 and round which the kindness of some forgotten benefactor had built five rude porches4 ,there lay a crowd of wasted forms1 and pale1 sorrowful faces1 with all varieties of pain and emaciation and impotence marked upon them1 who yet were gathered in ,bethesda1 which being interpreted means 'a house of mercy4' ,it is the type of a world full of men suffering various sicknesses1 but all sick2 the type of a world that gathers with an eagerness1 not far removed from despair1 round anything that seems to promise1 however vaguely1 to help and to heal2 the type of a world1 blessed be ,god1 which1 amidst all its sad variety of woe and weariness1 yet sits in the porches of 'a house of mercy1' and has in the midst a 'fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness1' whose energy is as mighty for the last comer of all the generations as for the first that stepped into its cleansing flood4 ,this poor man1 sick and impotent for eight and thirty years--many of which he had spent1 as it would appear1 day by day1 wearily dragging his paralysed limbs to the fountain with daily diminishing hope--this poor man attracts the regard of ,christ when ,he enters1 and ,he puts to him the strange question1 ',wilt thou be made whole8' ,surely there was no need to ask that2 but no doubt the many disappointments and the long years of waiting and of suffering had stamped apathy upon the sufferer's face1 and ,christ saw that the first thing that was needed1 in order that ,his healing power might have a point of contact in the man's nature1 was to kindle some little flicker of hope in him once more4 ,and so1 no doubt1 with a smile on ,his face1 which converted the question into an offer1 ,he says3 ',wilt thou be made whole8' meaning thereby to say1 ',i will heal thee if thou wilt4' ,and there comes the weary answer1 as if the man had said3 ',will ,i be made whole8 ,what have ,i been lying here all these years for8 ,i have nobody to put me into the pool4' ,yes1 it is a hopeful prospect to hold out to a man whose disease is inability to walk1 that if he will walk to the water he will get cured1 and be able to walk afterwards4 ,why1 he could not even roll himself into the pond1 and so there he had lain1 a type of the hopeless efforts at self-healing which we sick men put forth1 a type of the tantalising gospels which the world preaches to its subjects when it says to a paralysed man3 ',walk that you may be healed2 keep the commandments that you may enter into life4' ,and so we have come at last to the main point of the narrative before us1 and ,i fix upon these words1 the actual words in which the cure was conveyed1 as communicating to us some very important lessons and thoughts about ,christ and our relation to ,him4 ,i4 ,first1 ,i see in them ,christ manifesting ,himself as the ,giver of power to the powerless who trust ,him4 ,his words may seem at first hearing to partake of the very same almost cruel irony as the condition of cure which had already proved hopelessly impracticable4 ,he1 too1 says1 ',walk that you may be cured'2 and ,he says it to a paralysed and impotent man4 ,but the two things are very different1 for before this cripple could attempt to drag his impotent limbs into an upright position1 and take up the little light couch and sling it over his shoulders1 he must have had some kind of trust in the person that told him to do so4 ,a very ignorant trust1 no doubt1 it was2 but all that was set before him about ,jesus ,christ he grasped and rested upon4 ,he only knew ,him as a ,healer1 and he trusted ,him as such4 ,the contents of a man's faith have nothing to do with the reality of his faith2 and he that1 having only had the healing power of ,christ revealed to him1 lays hold of that ,healer1 cleaves to ,him with as genuine a faith as the man who has the whole fulness and sublimity of ,christ's divine and human character and redeeming work laid out before him1 and who cleaves to these4 ,the hand that grasps is one1 whatsoever be the thing that it grasps4 ,so it is no spiritualising of this story1 or reading into it a deeper and more religious meaning than belongs to it1 to say that what passed in that man's heart and mind before he caught up his little bed and walked away with it1 was essentially the same action of mind and heart by which a sinful man1 who knows that ,christ is his ,redeemer1 grasps ,his ,cross and trusts his soul to ,him4 ,in the one case1 as in the other1 there is confidence in the person2 only in the one case the person was only known as a ,healer1 and in the other the person is known as a ,saviour4 ,but the faith is the same whatever it apprehends4 ,christ comes and says to him1 ',rise1 take up thy bed and walk4' ,there is a movement of confidence in the man's heart2 he tries to obey1 and in the act of obedience the power comes to him4 ,ah1 brother6 it is always so4 ,all ,christ's commandments are gifts4 ,when ,he says to you1 ',do this6' ,he pledges ,himself to give you power to do it4 ,whatsoever ,he enjoins ,he strengthens for4 ,he binds ,himself1 by ,his commandments1 and every word of ,his lips which says to us ',thou shalt6' contains as its kernel a word of ,his which says ',i will4' ,so when ,he commands1 ,he bestows2 and we get the power to keep ,his commandments when in humble faith we make the effort to do ,his will4 ,it is only when we try to obey for the love's sake of ,him that has healed us that we are able to obey4 ,and be sure of this1 whensoever we attempt to do what we know to be the ,master's will1 because ,he has given ,himself for us1 our power will be equal to our desire1 and enough for our duty4 ,as ,st4 ,augustine says3 ',give what ,thou commandest1 and command what ,thou wilt4' ',rise1 take up thy bed and walk1' or as in another case1 ',stretch forth thy hand4' ',and he stretched it forth1 and his hand was restored whole as the other4' ,christ gives power to keep ,his commandments to the impotent who try to obey1 because they have been healed by ,him4 ,,ii4 ,in the next place1 we have in this miracle our ,lord set forth as the absolute ,master1 because ,he is the ,healer4 ,the ,pharisees and their friends had no eyes for the miracle2 but if they found a man carrying his light couch on the ,sabbath day1 that was a thing that excited their interest1 and must be seen to immediately4 ,and so1 paying no attention to the fact that it was a paralysed man who was doing this1 with the true narrow instinct of the formalist1 they lay hold only of the fact of the broken ,rabbinical restrictions1 and try to stop him with these4 ',it is the ,sabbath day6 ,it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed4' ,and they get an answer which goes a great deal deeper than the speaker knew1 and puts the whole subject of ,christian obedience on its right footing4 ',he answered them1 ,he that made me whole1 the same said unto me1 ,take up thy bed and walk4' ,as if he had said3 ',he gave me the power1 had ,he not a right to tell me what to do with it8 ,it was ,his gift that ,i could lift my bed2 was ,i not bound to walk when and where ,he that had made me able to walk at all chose to bid me8' ,and if you generalise that it just comes to this3 the only person that has a right to command you is the ,christ who saves you4 ,he has the absolute authority to do as ,he will with your restored spiritual powers1 because ,he has bestowed them all upon you4 ,his dominion is built upon ,his benefits4 ,he is the ,king because ,he is the ,saviour4 ,he rules because ,he has redeemed4 ,he begins with giving1 and it is only afterwards that ,he commands2 and ,he turns to each of us with that smile upon ,his lips1 and with tenderness in ,his voice which will bind any man1 who is not an ingrate1 to ,him for ever4 ',if ye love ,me1 keep ,my commandments4' ,there is always something hard and distasteful to the individual will in the tone of authority assumed by any man whatsoever4 ,we always more or less rebel and shrink from that2 and there is only one thing that makes commandment sweet1 and that is when it drops like honey from the honeycomb1 from lips that we love4 ,so does it in the case of ,christ's commands to us4 ,it is joy to know and to do the will of ,one to whom the whole heart turns with gratitude and affection4 ,and ,christ blesses and privileges us by the communication to us of ,his pleasure concerning us1 that we may have the gladness of yielding to ,his desires1 and so meeting the love which commands with the happy love which obeys4 ',he that made me whole1 the same said unto me'''' and what ,he says it must be joy to do4 ,so1 ',my yoke is easy and ,my burden is light1' not because ,christ diminishes the requirements of law2 not because the standard of ,christian obedience is lowered beneath any other standard of conduct and character4 ,it is far higher4 ,the things which make ,christian duty are often very painful in themselves4 ,there is always self-sacrifice in ,christian virtue1 and self-sacrifice has always a sting in it2 but the 'yoke is easy and the burden is light1' because1 if ,i may so say1 the yoke is padded with the softest velvet of love1 and lies upon our necks lightly because ,he has laid it there4 ,all the rigid harshness of precept is done away when the precept comes from ,christ's lips1 and ,his commandment 'makes the crooked things straight and the rough places plain'2 and turns duty1 distasteful duty1 into joyful service4 ,the blessed basis of ,christian obedience1 and of ,christ's authority1 is ,christ's redemption4 ,,iii4 ,and then1 still further1 we have here our ,lord setting ,himself forth as the divine ,son1 whose working needs and knows no rest4 ,we find1 in the subsequent part of the chapter1 that 'the ,jews1' as they are called1 by which is meant the antagonistic portion of the nation1 sought to slay ,christ 'because ,he had done these things on the ,sabbath day4' ,but ,jesus answered them1 ',my ,father worketh hitherto1 and ,i work4' ,unquestionably the form which the healing took was intended by our ,lord to bring into prominence the very point which these pedantic casuists laid hold of4 ,he meant to draw attention to ,his sweeping aside of the ,rabbinical casuistries of the law of the ,sabbath4 ,and ,he meant to do it in order that ,he might have the occasion of making this mighty claim1 which is lodged in these solemn and profound words1 to possess a ,sonship1 which1 like the divine working1 wrought1 needing and knowing no repose4 ',my ,father worketh hitherto1 and ,i work4' ,the rest1 which the old story in ,genesis attributed to the ,creator after the ,creation1 was not to be construed as if it meant the rest of inactivity2 but it was the rest of continuous action4 ,god's rest and ,god's work are one4 ,throughout all the ages preservation is a continuous creation4 ,the divine energy is streaming out for evermore1 as the bush that burns unconsumed1 as the sun that flames undiminished for ever1 pouring out from the depth of that divine nature1 and for ever sustaining a universe4 ,so that there is no ,sabbath1 in the sense of a cessation from action1 proper to the divine nature2 because all ,his action is repose1 and 'e'en in ,his very motion there is rest4' ,and this divine coincidence of activity and of repose belongs to the divine ,son in ,his divine-human nature4 ,with that arrogance which is the very audacity of blasphemy1 if it be not the simplicity of a divine consciousness1 ,he puts ,his own work side by side with the ,father's work1 as the same in principle1 the same in method1 the same in purpose1 the same in its majestic coincidence of repose and of energy4 ',my ,father worketh hitherto1 and ,i work4 ,therefore for ,me1 as for ,him1 there is no need of a ,sabbath of repose4' ,human activity is dissipated by toil1 human energy is exhausted by expenditure4 ,man works and is weary2 man works and is distracted4 ,for the recovery of the serenity of his spirit1 and for the renewal of his physical strength1 repose of body and gathering in of mind1 such as the ,sabbath brought1 were needed2 but neither is needed for ,him who toils unwearied in the heavens2 and neither is needed for the divine nature of ,him who labours in labours parallel with the ,father's here upon the earth4 ,now remember that this is no abolition of the ,sabbatic rest for ,christ's followers4 ,rather the ground on which ,he here asserts ,his superiority over1 and ,his non-dependence upon1 such a repose shows1 or at all events implies1 that all mere human workers need such rest1 and should thankfully accept it4 ,but it is a claim on ,his part to a divine equality4 ,it is a claim on ,his part to do works which are other than human works4 ,it is a claim on ,his part to be the ,lord of a divine institution1 living above the need of it1 and able to mould it at ,his will4 ,and so it opens up depths1 into which we cannot go now1 of the relations of that divine ,father and that divine ,son2 and makes us feel that the little incident in which ,he turned to a paralysed man and said3 ',rise1 take up thy bed and walk1' on the ,sabbath day1 like some small floating leaf of sea-weed upon the surface1 has great deep tendrils that go down and down into the very abyss of things1 and lays hold upon that central truth of ,christianity1 the divinity of the ,son of ,god1 who is ,one with the ever-working ,father4 ,,iv4 ,lastly1 we have in this incident yet another lesson4 ,we have the ,healer who is also the ,judge1 warning the healed of the possibilities of a relapse4 ',jesus findeth him in the ,temple1 and said unto him1 ,behold1 thou art made whole3 sin no more1 lest a worse thing come unto thee4' ,the man's eight-and-thirty years of illness had apparently been brought on by dissipation4 ,it was a sin of flesh1 avenged in the flesh1 that had given him that miserable life4 ,one would have thought he had got warning enough1 but we all know the old proverb about what happened when the devil was ill1 and what befell his resolutions when he got better4 ,and so ,christ comes to him again with this solemn warning3 ',there is a worse thing than eight-and-thirty years of paralysis4 ,you fell once1 and sore was your punishment4 ,if you fall twice1 your punishment will be sorer4' ,why8 ,because the first one had done him no good4 ,so here are lessons for us4 ,there is always danger that we shall fall back into old sins1 even if we think we have overcome them4 ,the mystic influence of habit1 enfeebled will1 the familiar temptation1 the imagination rebelling1 the memory tempting1 sometimes even1 as in the case of a man that has been a drunkard1 the physical effect of the odour of his temptation upon his nostrils--all these things make it extremely unlikely that a man who has once been under the condemnation of any evil shall never be tempted to fall under its sway again4 ,and such a fall is not only more criminal than the former1 it is more deadly than the former4 ',it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness1 than after they have known it to turn aside4' ',the last state of that man is worse than the first4' ,my brother1 there is no blacker condemnation2 and if ,i may use a strong word1 there is no hotter hell1 than that which belongs to an apostate ,christian4 ',it has happened unto them according to the true proverb4 ,the dog is turned to his vomit again4' ,very unpolite1 a very coarse metaphor8 ,yes2 to express a far worse reality4 ,christian men and women6 you have been made whole4 ',sin no more1 lest a worse thing come unto you4' ,and turn to that ,lord and say1 ',hold ,thou me up and ,i shall be saved4' ,then the enemies will not be able to recapture you1 and the chains which have dropped from your wrists will never enclose them any more4 ,,the ,,life-,,giver ,,and ,,judge ',but ,jesus answered them1 ,my ,father worketh hitherto1 and ,i work4 #ah4 ,therefore the ,jews sought the more to kill ,him1 because ,he not only had broken the ,sabbath1 but said also that ,god was ,his ,father1 making ,himself equal with ,god4 #ai4 ,then answered ,jesus and said unto them1 ,verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you1 ,the ,son can do nothing of ,himself1 but what ,he seeth the ,father do3 for what things soever ,he doeth1 these also doeth the ,son likewise4 #bj4 ,for the ,father loveth the ,son1 and sheweth ,him all things that ,himself doeth3 and ,he will shew ,him greater works than these1 that ye may marvel4 #ba4 ,for as the ,father raiseth up the dead1 and quickeneth them2 even so the ,son quickeneth whom ,he will4 #bb4 ,for the ,father judgeth no man1 but hath committed all judgment unto the ,son3 #bc4 ,that all men should honour the ,son1 even as they honour the ,father4 ,he that honoureth not the ,son1 honoureth not the ,father which hath sent ,him4 #bd4 ,verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you1 ,he that heareth ,my word1 and believeth on ,him that sent ,me1 hath everlasting life1 and shall not come into condemnation2 but is passed from death unto life4 #be4 ,verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you1 ,the hour is coming1 and now is1 when the dead shall hear the voice of the ,son of ,god3 and they that hear shall live4 #bf4 ,for as the ,father hath life in ,himself2 so hath ,he given to the ,son to have life in ,himself2 #bg4 ,and hath given ,him authority to execute judgment also1 because ,he is the ,son of ,man4'--,,john v4 #ag-bg4 ',the ,jews' were up in arms because ,jesus had delivered a man from thirty-eight years of misery4 ,they had no human sympathies for the sufferer1 whom hope deferred had made sick and hopeless1 but they shuddered at the breach of the ,sabbath4 ',sacrifice' was more important in their view than 'mercy4' ,they did not acknowledge that the miracle proved ,christ's ,messiahship1 but they were quite sure that doing it on the ,sabbath proved ,his wickedness4 ,how formalism twists men's judgments of the relative magnitude of form and spirit6 ,jesus' vindication of ,his action roused them still farther1 for ,he put it on a ground which seemed to them nothing short of blasphemy3 ',my ,father worketh even until now1 and ,i work4' ,they fastened on one point in that great saying1 namely1 that it claimed ,sonship in a special sense1 and vindicated ,his right to disregard the ,sabbath law on that ground4 ,god's rest is not inaction4 ',preservation is a continual creation4' ,all being subsists because ,god is ever working4 ,the ,son co-operates with the ,father1 and for ,him1 as for the ,father1 the ,sabbath law does not apply4 ,the charge of breaking the ,sabbath fades into insignificance before the sin1 in the objectors' eyes1 of making such claims4 ,therefore our ,lord proceeds to expand and justify them4 ,he makes1 first1 a general statement in verses #ai and #bj1 in which ,he sets forth the relation involved in the very idea of ,fatherhood and ,sonship4 ,he1 as perfect ,son of ,god1 is perfectly one with the ,father in will and act1 and so knit to ,him in sympathy that a self-originated action is impossible1 not by reason of defect of power1 but by reason of unity of being4 ,that perfect unity is expressed negatively 7'can do nothing'7 and then positively 7'doeth likewise'74 ,but it is not manifest in actions alone1 but has its deep roots in the perfect love which flows ever from each to each1 and in the ,father's perfect communication to the ,son1 and the ,son's perfect reception from the ,father4 ,jesus claimed to stand in such a relation to the ,father that ,he was able to do whatsoever the ,father did1 and 'in like manner' as the ,father did it2 that ,he was the unique object of the ,father's love1 and capable of receiving complete communications as to 'all things that ,himself doeth'2 that ,he lived in such complete unity with the ,father that ,his every act was the result of it1 and that no trace of self-will had ever tinged ,his perfect spirit4 ,what man has ever made such claims and not been treated as insane8 ,he makes them1 and likewise says that ,he is 'lowly of heart'2 and the world listens1 if not believing1 at any rate reverent1 as in the presence of the best man that ever lived4 ,strange goodness1 to claim such divine prerogatives1 unless the claim is valid6 ,it is expanded in verses #ba-bc into two great classes of works1 which ,jesus says that ,he does4 ,both are distinctively divine works4 ,to give life and to judge the world are equally beyond human power2 they are equally ,his actions4 ,these are the 'greater works' which ,he foretells in verse #bj1 and they are greater than the miracle of healing which had originated the whole conversation4 ,to give life at first1 and to give it again to the dead1 and not only to revivify1 but to raise them1 are plainly competent to no power short of the divine2 and here ,jesus calmly claims them4 ,that tremendous claim is here made in the widest sense1 including both the corporeally and the spiritually dead1 who are afterwards treated of separately4 ,the ,son is the fountain of life in all the aspects of that wide-reaching word2 and ,he 'quickeneth whom ,he will1' as ,he had spontaneously healed the impotent man4 ,does that assertion contradict the other1 just before it1 that ,he does nothing of ,himself8 ,no2 for ,his will1 while ,his1 is ever harmonious with the ,father's1 just as ,his love1 which is ever coincident with the ,father's4 ,does that assertion imply ,his arbitrary pleasure1 or make man's will a cipher8 ,no2 for ,his will is guided by righteous love1 and wills to quicken those who comply with ,his conditions4 ,but the assertion does declare that ,his will to quicken is omnipotent1 and that ,his voice can pierce 'the dull1 cold ear of death1' and bring back the soul to the empty house of this tabernacle1 or rouse the spirit 'dead in trespasses4' ,the other divine prerogative of judging is inseparable from that of revivifying1 and in regard to it ,christ's claim is still higher1 for ,he says that it is wholly vested in ,him as ,son4 ,the idea of judgment here1 like that of quickening1 with which it is associated1 is to be taken in its more general sense 7'all judgment'71 and therefore as including both the present judgment1 for which ,jesus said that ,he was come into the world1 and which men pass on themselves by the very fact of their attitude to ,him and ,his ,gospel1 and also the future final judgment1 which manifests character and determines destiny4 ,both these has the ,father given into the hands of the ,son4 ,the purpose1 so far as men are concerned1 of the ,son's investiture1 with these solemn prerogatives1 is that ,he may receive universal divine honour4 ,a narrower purpose was stated in verse #bj1 where the persons seeing ,his works are only ,his then audience1 and the effect sought to be produced is merely 'marvel4' ,but wonder is meant to lead on to recognition of the meaning of ,his power1 and of the mystery of ,his person1 and that1 again1 to rendering to ,him precisely the same honour as is due to the ,father4 ,no more unmistakable demand for worship1 no more emphatic assertion of divinity1 can be made than lie in these words4 ,to worship ,christ does not intercept the honour due to ,god2 to worship the ,son is to worship the ,father2 and no man honours the ,father who sent ,him who does not honour the ,son whom ,he has sent4 ,in verses #bd-bg the two related prerogatives are presented in their spiritual aspect1 while in the later verses of the chapter the resurrection and quickening of the literally dead are dealt with4 ,mark the significant new term introduced in verse #bd1 ',he that believeth4' ,that spiritual resurrection from the death of sin and self is wrought on 'whom ,he will1' but ,he wills that it shall be wrought on them who believe4 ,similarly1 in verse #be1 it is 'they that hear' who 'shall live4' ,it must be so1 for there is no other way by which life from ,him1 who is the ,life1 can pass into and quicken us than by our opening our hearts by faith for its inflow4 ,the mysteries of the ,son's divinity and of ,his imparted life are deep1 but the condition of receiving that life is plain4 ,if we will trust ,jesus1 we shall live2 if not1 we are dead4 ,trusting ,him is trusting the ,father that sent ,him1 and that ,father becomes accessible to our trust when we 'hear' ,christ's 'word4' ,the effects of faith are immediate1 and the poor present may be enriched and clothed in celestial light for each of us1 if we will4 ,for ,jesus does not point first to the mysteries of the resurrection of the dead1 and the tremendous solemnities of the final judgment1 but to what we may each enter upon at any moment4 ,the believing man 'hath eternal life1' and 'cometh not into judgment4' ,that life is not reserved to be entered on in the blessed future1 but is a present possession4 ,true1 it will blossom into unexampled nobleness when it is transported into its native country1 like some exotic in our colder climates if it were carried back to the tropics4 ,but it is a present possession1 and heaven is not different in kind from the ,christian life on earth1 but differs mainly in degree and in circumstances4 ,and he that has the life here and now is1 by its moulding of his outward life1 preserved from the sins which would bring him into judgment1 and the merciful judgment to which he is still subject is that for which his truest self longs4 ,and that blessed condition carries in it the pledge that1 at the last great day1 which is to others a 'day of wrath1 a dreadful day1' he whom ,christ has quickened by ,his own indwelling life shall have 'boldness before ,him4' ,obviously1 in these verses the present effects of faith are in view1 since ,jesus emphatically declares that the 'hour now is' when they can be realised4 ,once more ,he states in the strongest terms1 and as the reason for the assurance that faith secures to us life1 ,his possession of the two divine prerogatives of quickening and judging4 ,what a paradox it is to say that it is 'given' to ,him to have 'life in ,himself'6 ,and when was that gift given8 ,in the depths of eternity4 ,he 'sits on no precarious throne1 nor borrows leave to be1' and hence ,he can impart life and lose none4 ,inseparably connected with that given1 and yet self-inherent1 life1 is the capacity for executing judgment which belongs to ,him as 'a ,son of man4' ,it has been as 'the ,son' of the ,father that it has been considered1 in the previous verses1 as belonging to ,him2 but now it is as a true man that ,he is fitted to bear1 and actually is clothed with1 that judicial power4 ,no doubt ,he is ,judge of all1 because by ,his incarnation and earthly life ,he presents to all the offer of eternal life1 by their attitude to which offer men are judged4 ,but the connection of thought seems rather to be that ,christ's ,manhood1 inextricably intertwined with ,his divinity1 is equally needed with the latter to constitute ,him our ,judge4 ,he 'knoweth our frame1' from the inside1 as it were1 and the participation in our nature which fits ,him to 'be a merciful and faithful ,high ,priest' also fits ,him to be the ,judge of mankind4 ,,the ,,fourth ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel ',and ,jesus took the loaves2 and when ,he had given thanks1 ,he distributed to the disciples1 and the disciples to them that were set down2 and likewise of the fishes as much as they would4'--,,john vi4 #aa4 ,this narrative of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand is introduced into ,john's ,gospel with singular abruptness4 ,we read in the first verse of the chapter3 ',after these things ,jesus went over the ,sea of ,galilee1' i4e4 from the western to the eastern side4 ,but the ,evangelist does not tell us how or when ,he got to the western side4 ',these things1' which are recorded in the previous chapter1 are the healing of the impotent man at the ,pool of ,bethesda1 the consequent outburst of ,jewish hostility1 and the profound and solemn discourse of our ,lord1 in which ,he claims filial relationship to the ,father4 ,so that we must insert between the chapters a journey from ,jerusalem to ,galilee1 and a lapse at all events of some months--or1 if the feast referred to in the previous chapter be1 as it may be1 the ,passover1 an interval of nearly a year4 ,so little care for the mere framework of events has this fourth ,gospel2 so entirely would the ,evangelist have us see that his reason for narrating this miracle is mainly its spiritual lessons and the revelation which it makes of ,christ as ,himself the ,bread of ,life4 ,similarly1 he has no care to tell us anything about the reasons for our ,lord's retirement with ,his disciples from ,galilee to the eastern bank4 ,these we have to learn from the other ,evangelists4 ,they give us several concurrent motives--the news of the death of ,john the ,baptist2 and of the desire of the bloody tyrant to see ,jesus1 which foreboded evil2 also the return of the twelve ,apostles from their trial journey1 which involved the necessity of rest for them2 and1 perhaps1 the approach of the ,passover1 which our ,lord did not purpose to observe in ,jerusalem because of the ,jewish hostility1 and which1 therefore1 suggested the withdrawal to temporary retirement4 ,all these reasons concurring1 ,he and ,his disciples would seek for a brief space of seclusion and repose4 ,but the hope of securing such was vain4 ,the people followed in crowds so eagerly1 so hastily1 in such enormous numbers1 that no natural or ordinary provision for their wants could be thought of4 ,hence the occasion for the miracle before us4 ,now ,i think that this narrative1 with which ,i wish to deal1 falls mainly into two portions1 both of which suggest for us some important lessons4 ,there is1 first1 the preparations for the sign2 and then there is the sign itself4 ,let us look at these two points in succession4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 the preparations for the sign4 ,now it is to be observed that this is the only incident before our ,lord's last journey to ,jerusalem which is recorded by all four ,evangelists2 therefore the variations between the narratives are of especial interest1 and these variations are very considerable4 ,we find1 for instance1 that in ,john's account the question as to how the bread was to be provided came from ,christ2 in the other ,evangelists' accounts that question is discussed first amongst the ,apostles privately4 ,we find from ,john's narrative that the question was suggested even before the multitudes had come to ,jesus4 ,we find in the ,synoptic ,gospels that it arose at the close of a long day of teaching and of healing4 ,now it is possible that this diversity of time may be the solution of the diversity of the person proposing4 ,that is to say1 it is quite legitimate to conclude that ,john's account takes up the incident at an earlier period than the other ,evangelists do1 and that the full order of events was this2 that1 privately1 at the beginning of the day1 whilst the people were yet flocking to our ,lord1 ,he1 to one of the disciples alone1 suggests the question1 ',whence shall we buy bread that these may eat8' and that the answer1 ',two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient that every one of them may take a little1' explains for us the suggestion of the same amount at a subsequent part of the day1 by the ,apostles when they asked our ,lord the question1 ',shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread that these may eat8' ,be that as it may1 we may pause for a moment upon this question of our ,lord's1 ',whence shall we buy bread that these may eat8' ,now notice what a lovely glimpse we get there into the quick-rising sympathy of the ,saviour with all forms of human necessity4 ,he had gone away to snatch a brief moment of rest4 ,the rest is denied ,him2 the hurrying crowds come pressing with their vulgar curiosity--for it was nothing better--after ,him4 ,no movement of impatience passes across ,his mind2 no reluctance as ,he turns away from the vanishing prospect of a quiet afternoon with ,his friends4 ,he looks upon them1 and the first thought is a quick1 instinctive movement of a divine and yet most human sympathy4 ,the question rises in ,his mind of how ,he was to provide for them2 they were not hungry yet2 they had not thought where their bread was to come from4 ,but ,he cared for the careless1 and ,his heart was prophetic of their necessities1 and quick to determine 'what ,he should do' to supply them4 ,so is it ever4 ,before we call1 ,he answers4 ,thy mercy1 ,o loving ,christ6 needs no more than the sight of human necessities1 or even the anticipation of them1 swiftly to bestir itself for their satisfaction and their supply4 ,but1 farther1 ,he selects for the question ,philip1 a man who seems to have been what is called--as if it were the highest praise--an 'intensely practical person'2 who seems to have had little faith in anything that he could not get hold of by his senses1 and who lived upon the low level of 'common sense4' ,he always lays stress upon 'seeing4' ,his answer to ,nathanael when he said1 ',can any good thing come out of ,nazareth8' was1 ',come and see4' ,a very good answer1 and yet one that relies only on the external manifestation of ,christ to the senses4 ,then1 on another occasion1 he breaks in upon the lofty spiritualities of our ,lord's final discourse to ,his disciples1 with the malapropos request1 ',lord1 show us the ,father1 and it sufficeth us4' ,and so here1 to the man who believed in his eyesight1 and did not easily apprehend much else1 ,jesus puts this question1 ',where is the bread to come from for all these people8 ,this ,he said to prove him4' ,he hoped that the question might have shaped itself in the hearer's mind into a promise1 and that he might have been able to say in answer1 ',thou canst supply2 we need not buy4' ,so ,christ does still4 ,he puts problems before us1 too1 to settle2 takes us1 as it were1 into ,his confidence with interrogations that try us1 whether we can rise above the level of the material and visible1 or whether all our conceptions of possibilities are bounded by these4 ,and sometimes1 even though the question at first sight seems to evoke only such a response as it did here1 it works more deeply down below afterwards1 and we are helped by the very difficulty to rise to a clear faith4 ,philip's answer is very significant4 ',two hundred pennyworth of bread are not sufficient4' ,he casts his eye over the multitude1 he makes a rough1 rapid calculation1 one does not exactly see the data on which it was based2 and he comes to the conclusion1 ',two hundred pennyworth' 7in our ,english money some ,l4 #g or ,l4 #h worth7 would give them each a morsel4 ,and no doubt he thought himself very practical4 ,he was a man of figures2 he believed in what could be put into tables and statistics4 ,yes2 and like a great many other people of his sort1 he left out one small element in his calculation1 and that was ,jesus ,christ1 and so his answer went creeping along the low levels1 dragging itself like a half-wounded snake1 when it might have risen on the wings of faith into the empyrean1 and soared and sung4 ,so learn that when we have to deal with ,christ's working--and when have we not to deal with ,christ's working8--perhaps probabilities that can be tabulated are not altogether the best bases upon which to rest our calculations4 ,learn that the audacity of a faith that expects great things1 though there be nothing visible upon which to build1 is wiser and more prudent than the creeping common-sense that adheres to facts which are shadows1 and forgets that the chief fact is that we have an ,almighty ,helper and ,friend at our sides4 ,still further1 among these preliminaries1 let us point to the exhibition of the inadequate resources which ,christ1 according to the fuller narrative in the other ,evangelists1 desired to know4 ',there is a little lad here with five barley loaves'--one per thousand--'and two small fishes'--insufficient in quantity and very1 very common in quality1 for barley bread was the food of the poorest4 ',but what are they among so many8' ,and ,christ says1 ',bring them to ,me4' ,christ's preparation for making our poor resources adequate for anything is to drive home into our hearts the consciousness of their insufficiency4 ,we need1 first of all1 to be brought to this1 ',all that ,i have is this wretched little stock2 and what is that measured against the work that ,i have to do1 and the claims upon me8' ,only when we are brought to that can ,his great power pour itself into us and fill us with rejoicing and overcoming strength4 ,the old mystics used to say1 and they said truly3 ',you must be emptied of yourself before you can be filled by ,god4' ,and the first thing for any man to learn1 in preparation for receiving a mightier power than his own into his opening heart1 is to know that all his own strength is utter and absolute weakness4 ',what are they among so many8' ,when we have once gone right down into the depths of felt impotence1 and when our work has risen before us1 as if it were far too great for our poor strengths which are weaknesses1 then we are brought1 and only then1 into the position in which we may begin to hope that power equal to our desire will be poured into our souls4 ,and so the last of the preparations that ,i will touch upon is that majestic preparation for blessing by obedience4 ',and ,jesus said1 ,make the men sit down4' ,and there they sat themselves1 as ,mark puts it in his picturesque way1 like so many garden plots--the rectangular oblongs in a garden in which pot-herbs are grown--on the green grass1 below the blue sky1 by the side of the quiet lake4 ,cannot you fancy how some of them seated themselves with a scoff1 and some with a quiet smile of incredulity2 and some half sheepishly and reluctantly2 and some in mute expectancy2 and some in foolish wonder2 and yet all of them with a partial obedience8 ,and says ,john in the true translation3 ',so the men sat down1 therefore ,jesus took the loaves4' ,sit you down where ,he bids you1 and your mouths will not be long empty4 ,do the things ,he tells you1 and you will get the food that you need4 ,our business is to obey and to wait1 and ,his business is1 when we are seated1 to open ,his hand and let the mercy drop4 ,so much for the preparations for this great miracle4 ,,ii4 ,now1 in the next place1 a word as to the sign itself4 ,i take two lessons1 and two only1 out of it4 ,i see in it1 first1 a revelation of ,christ1 as continually through all the ages sustaining men's physical life4 ,and ,i see in it1 second1 a symbol of ,christ as ,himself the ,bread of ,life4 ,as to the first1 there is here1 ,i believe1 a revelation of the law of the universe1 of ,christ as being through all the ages the ,sustainer of the physical life of men4 ,what was done then once1 with the suppression of certain links in the chain1 is done always1 with the introduction of those links4 ,the miraculous moment in the narrative is not described to us4 ,we do not know where or when there came in the supernatural power which multiplied the loaves--probably as they passed from the hand of the ,master4 ,but be that as it may1 it was ,christ's will that made the provision which fed all these five thousand4 ,and ,i believe that the teaching of ,scripture is in accordance with the deepest philosophy1 that the one cause of all physical phenomena is the will of a present ,god2 howsoever that may usually conform to the ordinary method of working which people generalise and call laws4 ,the reason why anything is1 and the reason why all things change1 is the energy there and then of the indwelling ,god who is in all ,his works1 and who is the only ,will and ,power in the physical world4 ,and ,i believe1 further1 that ,scripture teaches us that that continuous will1 which is the cause of all phenomena and the underlying subsistence on which all things repose1 is all managed and mediated by ,him who from of old was named the ,word2 'in whom was life1 and without whom was not anything made that was made4' ,our ,christ is ,creator1 our ,christ is ,sustainer1 our ,christ moves the stars and feeds the sparrows4 ,he was 'before all things1 and in ,him all things consist4' ,he opens ,his hand--and there is the print of a nail in it--and 'satisfies the desire of every living thing4' ,so learn how to think of second causes1 and see in this story a transient manifestation1 in unusual form1 of an eternal and permanent fact4 ,jesus took the loaves and distributed to them that were set down4 ,and so1 secondly1 the miracle is a sign--a symbol of ,him as the true ,bread and ,food of the world4 ,that is the explanation and commentary which ,he ,himself appends to it in the subsequent part of the chapter1 in the great discourse which is founded upon this miracle4 ',i am the ,bread of ,life4' ,there is a triple statement by our ,lord upon this subject in the remaining portion of the chapter4 ,he says1 ',i am the ,bread of ,life4' ,my personality is that which not only sustains life when it is given1 but gives life to them that feed upon it4 ,but more than that1 'the bread which ,i will give1' pointing to some future 'giving' beyond the present moment1 and therefore something more than ,his life and example1 'is ,my flesh1 which'--in some as yet unexplained way--',i give for the life of the world4' ,and that there may be no misunderstanding1 there is a third1 deeper1 more mysterious statement still3 ',my flesh is meat indeed1 and ,my blood is drink indeed4' ,repulsive and paradoxical1 but in its very offensiveness and paradox1 proclaiming that it covers a mighty truth1 and the truth1 brother1 is this1 the one ,food that gives life to will1 affections1 conscience1 understanding1 to the whole spirit of a man1 is that great ,sacrifice of the ,incarnate ,lord who gave upon the ,cross ,his flesh1 and on the ,cross shed ,his blood1 for the life of the world that was 'dead in trespasses and sins4' ,christ1 our ,passover1 is sacrificed for us1 and we feed on the sacrifice4 ,let your conscience1 your heart1 your desires1 your anticipations1 your understanding1 your will1 your whole being feed on ,him4 ,he will be cleansing1 ,he will be love1 ,he will be fruition1 ,he will be hope1 ,he will be truth1 ,he will be righteousness1 ,he will be all4 ,feed upon ,him by that faith which is the true eating of the true ,bread1 and your souls shall live4 ,and notice finally here1 the result of this miracle as transferred to the region of symbol4 ',they did all eat and were filled'2 men1 women1 children1 both sexes1 all ages1 all classes1 found the food that they needed in the bread that came from ,christ's hands4 ,if any man wants dainties that will tickle the palates of ,epicureans1 let him go somewhere else4 ,but if he wants bread1 to keep the life in and to stay his hunger1 let him go to this ,christ who is 'human nature's daily food4' ,the world has scoffed for nineteen centuries at the barley bread that the ,gospel provides2 coarse by the side of its confectionery1 but it is enough to give life to all who eat it4 ,it goes straight to the primal necessities of human nature4 ,it does not coddle a class1 or pander to unwholesome1 diseased1 or fastidious appetites4 ,it is the food of the world1 and not of a section4 ,all men can relish it1 all men need it4 ,it is offered to them all4 ,and more than that2 notice the inexhaustible abundance4 ',they did all eat1 and were filled4' ,and then they took up--not 'of the fragments1' as our ,bible gives it1 conveying the idea of the crumbs that littered the grass after the repast was over1 but of the 'broken pieces'--the portions that came from ,christ's hands--twelve baskets full1 an immensely greater quantity than they had to start with4 ',the gift doth stretch itself as 'tis received4' ,other goods and other possessions perish with the using1 but this increases with use4 ,the more one eats1 the more there is for him to eat4 ,and all the world may live upon it for ever1 and there will be more at the end than there was at the beginning4 ,brethren1 why do ye 'spend your money for that which is not bread'8 ,there is no answer worthy of a rational soul1 no answer that will stand either the light of conscience or the clearer light of the ,day of ,judgment4 ,i come to you now1 and although my poor words may be but like the barley bread and the two fishes--nothing amongst all this gathered audience--,i come with ,christ in my hands1 and ,i say to you1 ',eat1 and your souls shall live4' ,he will spread a table for you in the wilderness1 and take you to sit at last at ,his table in ,his ,kingdom4 ',,fragments' ,,or ',,broken ,,pieces' ',when they were filled1 ,he said unto ,his disciples1 ,gather up the fragments that remain1 that nothing be lost4'--,,john vi4 #ab4 ,the ,revised ,version correctly makes a very slight1 but a very significant change in the words of this verse4 ,instead of 'fragments' it reads 'broken pieces4' ,the change seems very small1 but the effect of it is considerable4 ,it helps our picture of the scene by correcting a very common misapprehension as to what it was which the ,apostles are bid to gather up4 ,the general notion1 ,i suppose1 is that the 'fragments' are the crumbs that fell from each man's hands1 as he ate1 and the picture before the imagination of the ordinary reader is that of the ,apostles' carefully collecting the debris of the meal from the grass where it had dropped4 ,but the true notion is that the 'broken pieces which remain over' are the unused portions into which our ,lord's miracle-working hand had broken the bread1 and the true picture is that of the ,apostles carefully putting away in store for future use the abundant provision which their ,lord had made1 beyond the needs of the hungry thousands4 ,and that conception of the command teaches far more beautiful and deeper lessons than the other4 ,for if the common translation and notion be correct1 all that is taught us1 or at least what is principally taught us1 is the duty of thrift and careful economy2 whereas the other shows more clearly that what is taught us is that ,jesus ,christ always gets ready for ,his people something over and above the exact limits of their bare need at the moment1 that ,he prepares for ,his poor and hungry dependants in royal fashion1 leaving ever a wide margin of difference between what would be just enough to keep the life in them1 and ,his liberal housekeeping4 ,further1 we are taught a lesson of wise husbandry and economy in the use of that overplus of grace which ,christ ministers1 and are instructed that the laws of prudent thrift have as honoured a place in the management of spiritual as of temporal wealth4 ',gather up1' says our ,lord1 'the pieces which ,i broke1 the large provision which ,i made for possible wants4 ,my gifts are in excess of the requirements of the moment4 ,take care of them till you need them4' ,that is a worthier interpretation of ,his command than one which merely sees in it an exhortation to thrifty taking care of the crumbs that fell from the lips of the hungry eaters4 ,looking at this command1 then1 with this slight alteration of rendering1 and consequent widening of scope1 we may briefly try to gather up the lessons which it obviously suggests4 ,i4 ,we have that thought1 to which ,i have already referred1 as more strikingly brought out by the slight alteration of translation1 which1 by the use of 'broken pieces1' suggests the connection with ,christ's breaking the loaves and fishes4 ,we are taught to think of the large surplus in ,christ's gifts over and above our need4 ,our ,lord has ,himself given us a commentary upon this miracle4 ,all ,christ's miracles are parables1 for all teach us1 on the level of natural and outward things1 lessons that are true in regard to the spiritual world2 but this one is especially symbolical1 as indeed are all these recorded in ,john's ,gospel4 ,and here we have ,christ1 on the day after the miracle1 commenting upon it in ,his long and profound discourse upon the ,bread of ,life1 which plainly intimates that ,he meant ,his office of feeding the hungry crowds1 with bread supernaturally increased by the touch of ,his hand1 to be but a picture and a guide which might lead to the apprehension of the higher view of ,himself as the 'bread of ,god which came down from heaven1' feeding and 'giving life to the world' by ,his broken body and shed blood4 ,so that we are not inventing a fanciful interpretation of an incident not meant to have any meaning deeper than shows on the surface1 when we say that the abundance far beyond what the eaters could make use of at the moment really represented the large surplus of inexhaustible resources and unused grace which is treasured for us all in ,christ ,jesus4 ,whom ,he feeds ,he feasts4 ,his gifts answer our need1 and over-answer it1 for ,he is 'able to do exceeding abundantly above that which we ask or think1' and neither our conceptions1 nor our petitions1 nor our present powers of receiving1 are the real limits of the illimitable grace that is laid up for us in ,christ1 and which1 potentially1 we have each of us in our hands whenever we lay our hands on ,him4 ,oh1 dear friends6 what you and ,i have ever had and felt of ,christ's power1 sweetness1 preciousness1 and love is as nothing compared with the infinite depths of all those which lie in ,him4 ,the sea fills the little creeks along its shore1 but it rolls in unfathomed depths1 boundless to the horizon away out there in the mid-,atlantic4 ,and all the present experience of all ,christian people1 of what ,christ is1 is like the experience of the first settlers in some great undiscovered continent2 who timidly plant a little fringe of population round its edge and grow their scanty crops there1 whilst the great prairies of miles and miles1 with all their wealth and fertility1 are lying untrodden and unknown in the heart of the untraversed continent4 ,the most powerful telescope leaves nebulae unresolved1 which1 though they seem but a dim dust of light1 are all ablaze with mighty suns4 ,the 'goodness' which ,he has 'wrought before the sons of men for them that fear' ,him is1 as the ,psalmist adoringly exclaims1 wondrously 'great1' but still greater is that which the same verse of the ,psalm celebrates--the goodness which ,he has 'laid up for them that fear ,him4' ,the gold which is actually coined and passing from hand to hand1 is but a fraction1 a mere scale1 as it were1 off the surface of the great uncoined mass of bullion that lies stored in the vaults there4 ,christ is a great deal more than any man1 or than all men1 have yet found ,him to be4 ',gather up the broken pieces'2 and see that nothing of that infinite preciousness of ,his be lost by us4 ,,ii4 ,then there is another very simple lesson which ,i draw4 ,this command suggests for us ,christ's thrift 7if ,i may use the word7 in the employment of ,his miraculous power4 ,surely they might have said3 ',if thou canst multiply five loaves into all this abundance1 why should we be trudging about1 each with a basket on his back full of bread1 when we have with us ,he whose word can make it for us at any moment8' ,yes1 but a law which characterises all the miraculous1 in both the ,old and the ,new ,testament1 and which broadly distinguishes ,christ's miracles from all the false miracles of false religions is this1 that the miraculous is pared down to the smallest possible amount1 that not one hairsbreadth beyond the necessity shall be done by miracle2 that whatever men can do they shall do2 that their work shall stop as late1 and begin again as soon as possible4 ,thus1 though ,christ was going to raise ,lazarus1 men's hands had to roll away the stone2 and when ,christ had raised ,lazarus1 men's hands had to loose the napkins from his face4 ,and though ,christ was able to say to the daughter of ,jairus1 ',talitha cumi6' 7damsel1 arise67 ,his next word was3 ',give her something to eat4' ,where the miraculous was needed it was used1 and not a hairsbreadth beyond absolute necessity did it extend4 ,and so here ,christ multiplies the bread1 and yet each of the ,apostles has to take a basket1 probably some kind of woven wicker-work article which they would carry for holding their little necessaries in their peregrinations2 each ,apostle has to take his basket1 and perhaps emptying it of some of his humble apparel1 to fill it with these bits of bread2 for ,christ was not going to work miracles where men's thrift and prudence could be employed4 ,nor does ,he do so now4 ,we live by faith1 and our dependence on ,him can never be too absolute4 ,only laziness sometimes dresses itself in the garb and speaks with the tongue of faith1 and pretends to be truthful when it is only slothful4 ',why criest thou unto ,me8' said ,god to ,moses1 'speak unto the children of ,israel that they go forward4' ,true faith sets us to work4 ,it is not to be perverted into idle and false depending upon ,him to work for us1 when by the use of our own ten fingers and our own brains1 guided and strengthened by ,his working in us1 we can do the work that is set before us4 ,,iii4 ,still further1 there is another lesson here4 ,not only does the injunction show us ,christ's thrift in the employment of the supernatural1 but it teaches us our duty of thrift and care in the use of the spiritual grace bestowed upon us4 ,these men had given to them this miraculously made bread2 but they had to exercise ordinary thrift in the preservation of the supernatural gift4 ,christ has been given to you by the most stupendous miracle that ever was or can be wrought1 and if you are ,christian people1 you have the ,spirit of ,christ given to you1 to dwell in your hearts1 to make you wise and fair1 gentle and strong1 and altogether ,christlike4 ,but you have to take care of these gifts4 ,you have to exercise the common virtues of economy and thrift in your use of the divine gifts as in your use of the common things of daily life4 ,you have to use wisely and not waste the ,bread of ,god that came down from heaven1 or that ,bread of ,god will not feed you4 ,you have to provide the basket in which to carry the unexhausted residue of the divine gift1 or you may stand hungry in the very midst of plenty1 and whilst within arm's length of you there is bread enough and to spare to feed the whole world4 ,the lesson of my text1 which is most eminently brought out if we adopt the translation which ,i have referred to at the beginning of these remarks1 is1 then1 just this3 ,christian men1 be watchful stewards of that great gift of a living ,christ1 the food of your souls1 that has been by miracle bestowed upon you4 ,such gathering together for future need of the unused residue of grace may be accomplished by three ways4 ,first1 there must be a diligent use of the grace given4 ,see that you use to the very full1 in the measure of your present power of absorbing and your present need1 the gift bestowed upon you4 ,be sure that you take in as much of ,christ as you can contain before you begin to think of what to do with the overplus4 ,if we are not careful to take what we can1 and to use what we need1 of ,christ1 there is little chance of our being faithful stewards of the surplus4 ,the water in a mill-stream runs over the trough in great abundance when the wheel is not working1 and one reason why so many ,christians seem to have so much more given to them in ,christ than they need is because they are doing no work to use up the gift4 ,a second essential to such stewardship is the careful guarding of the grace given from whatever would injure it4 ,let not worldliness1 business1 cares of the world1 the sorrows of life1 its joys1 duties1 anxieties or pleasures--let not these so come into your hearts that they will elbow ,christ out of your hearts1 and dull your appetite for the true ,bread that came down from heaven4 ,and lastly1 not only by use and by careful guarding1 but also by earnest desire for larger gifts of the ,christ who is large beyond all measure1 shall we receive more and more of ,his sweetness and ,his preciousness into our hearts1 and of ,his beauty and glory into our transfigured characters4 ,the basket that we carry1 this recipient heart of ours1 is elastic4 ,it can stretch to hold any amount that you like to put into it4 ,the desire for more of ,christ's grace will stretch its capacity1 and as its capacity increases the inflowing gift greatens1 and a larger ,christ fills the larger room of my poor heart4 ,so the lesson is taught us of our prudence in the care and use of the grace bestowed on us1 and we are bidden to cherish a happy confidence in the inexhaustible resources of ,christ1 and the continual gift in the future of even larger measures of grace1 which are all ours already1 given to us at the first reception of ,him into our hearts1 and only needing our faithfulness to be growingly ours in experience as they are ours from the first in germ4 ,,iv4 ,finally1 a solemn warning is implied in this command1 and its reason 'that nothing be lost4' ,then there is a possibility of losing the gift that is freely given to us4 ,we may waste the bread1 and so1 sometime or other when we are hungry1 awake to the consciousness that it has dropped out of our slack hands4 ,the abundance of ,christ's grace may1 so far as you are profited or enriched by it1 be like the unclaimed millions of money which nobody asks for and that is of use to no living soul4 ,you may be paupers while all ,god's riches in glory are at your disposal1 and starving while baskets full of bread broken for us by ,christ lie unused at our sides4 ,some of us have never tasted the sweetness or been fed by the nutritiousness of that ,bread of ,god which came down from heaven4 ,and more marvellous still1 there may be some of us1 who having come to ,christ hungry and been fed by ,him1 have ceased to care for the pure nourishment and taste for the manna1 and are turning again with gross appetite to the husks in the swine's trough4 ,negligent ,christians6 worldly ,christians6 you who care more for money and other dainties and delights which perish with the using--backsliding ,christians1 who once hungered and thirsted for more of ,christ1 and now have no longing for ,him--awake to the danger in which you stand of letting all your spiritual wealth slip through your fingers2 behold the treasures1 yet unreached1 within your grasp1 and seek to garner and realise them4 ,gather up the broken pieces which remain over1 lest everything be lost4 ,,the ,,fifth ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel ',so when they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs1 they see ,jesus walking on the sea1 and drawing nigh unto the ship3 and they were afraid4 #bj4 ,but ,he said unto them1 ,it is ,i2 be not afraid4'--,,john vi4 #ai1bj4 ,there are none of our ,lord's parables recorded in this ,gospel1 but all the miracles which it narrates are parables4 ,moral and religious truth is communicated by the outward event1 as in the parable it is communicated by the story4 ,the mere visible fact becomes more than semi-transparent4 ,the analogy between the spiritual and the natural world which men instinctively apprehend1 of which the poet and the orator and the religious teacher have always made abundant use1 and which it has sometimes been attempted1 unsuccessfully as ,i think1 to elevate to the rank of a scientific truth1 underlies the whole series of these miracles4 ,it is the principal if not the only key to the meaning of this one before us4 ,the symbolism which regards life under the guise of a voyage1 and its troubles and difficulties under the metaphor of storm and tempest1 is especially natural to nations that take kindly to the water1 like us ,englishmen4 ,i do not know that there is any instance1 either in the ,old or in the ,new ,testament1 of the use of that to us very familiar metaphor2 but the emblem of the sea as the symbol of trouble1 unrest1 rebellious power1 is very familiar to the writers of the ,old ,testament4 ,and the picture of the divine path as in the waters1 and of the divine prerogative as being to 'tread upon the heights of the sea1' as ,job has it1 is by no means unknown4 ,so the natural symbolism1 and the ,old ,testament use of the expressions1 blend together1 as ,i think1 in suggesting the one point of view from which this miracle is to be regarded4 ,it is found in two of the other ,evangelists1 and the condensed account of it which we have in this ,gospel1 by its omission of ,peter's walking on the water1 and of some other smaller but graphic details that the other ,evangelists give us1 serves to sharpen the symbolical meaning of the whole story1 and to bring that as its great purpose and signification into prominence4 ,we shall1 ,i think1 then1 best gain the lessons intended to be drawn if we simply follow the points of the narrative in their order as they stand here4 ,i4 ,we have here1 first of all1 then1 the struggling toilers4 ,the other ,evangelists tell us that after the feeding of the five thousand our ,lord 'constrained' ,his disciples to get into the ship1 and to pass over to the other side4 ,the language implies unwillingness1 to some extent1 on their part1 and the exercise of authority upon ,his4 ,our ,evangelist1 who does not mention the constraint1 supplies us with the reason for it4 ,the preceding miracle had worked up the excitement of the mob to a very dangerous point4 ,crowds are always the same1 and this crowd thought1 as any other crowd anywhere and in any age would have done1 that the prophet that could make bread at will was the kind of prophet whom they wanted4 ,so they determined to take ,him by force1 and make ,him a king2 and ,christ1 seeing the danger1 and not desiring that ,his ,kingdom should be furthered by such unclean hands and gross motives1 determined to withdraw ,himself into the loneliness of the bordering hills4 ,it was wise to divide the little group2 it would distract attention2 it might lead some of the people1 as we know it did lead them1 to follow the boat when they found it was gone4 ,it would save the ,apostles from being affected by the coarse1 smoky enthusiasm of the crowd4 ,it would save them from revealing the place of ,his retirement4 ,it might enable ,him to steal away more securely unobserved2 so they are sent across to the other side of the lake1 some five or six miles4 ,an hour or two might have done it1 but for some unknown reason they seem to have lingered4 ,perhaps they had no special call for haste4 ,the ,paschal moon1 nearly full1 would be shining down upon the waters2 their hearts and minds would be busy with the miracle which they had just seen4 ,and so they may have drifted along1 not caring much when they reached their destination4 ,but suddenly one of the gusts of wind which are frequently found upon mountain lakes1 especially towards nightfall1 rose and soon became a gale with which they could not battle4 ,our ,evangelist does not tell us how long it lasted1 but we get a note of time from ,st4 ,mark1 who says it was 'about the fourth watch of the night'2 that is between the hours of three and six in the morning of the subsequent day4 ,so that for some seven or eight hours at least they had been tugging at the useless oars1 or sitting shivering1 wet and weary1 in the boat4 ,is it not the history of the ,church in a nutshell8 ,is it not the symbol of life for us all8 ,the solemn law under which we live demands persistent effort1 and imposes continual antagonism upon us2 there is no reason why we should regard that as evil1 or think ourselves hardly used1 because we are not fair-weather sailors4 ,the end of life is to make men2 the meaning of all events is to mould character4 ,anything that makes me stronger is a blessing1 anything that develops my morale is the highest good that can come to me4 ,if therefore antagonism mould in me ',the wrestling thews that throw the world1' and give me good1 strong muscles1 and put tan and colour into my cheek1 ,i need not mind the cold and the wet1 nor care for the whistling of the wind in my face1 nor the dash of the spray over the bows4 ,summer sailing in fair weather1 amidst land-locked bays1 in blue seas1 and under calm skies1 may be all very well for triflers1 but ',blown seas and storming showers' are better if the purpose of the voyage be to brace us and call out our powers4 ,and so be thankful if1 when the boat is crossing the mouth of some glen that opens upon the lake1 a sudden gust smites the sheets and sends you to the helm1 and takes all your effort to keep you from sinking4 ,do not murmur1 or think that ,god's ,providence is strange1 because many and many a time when 'it is dark1 and ,jesus is not yet come to us1' the storm of wind comes down upon the lake and threatens to drive us from our course4 ,let us rather recognise ,him as the ,lord who1 in love and kindness1 sends all the different kinds of weather which1 according to the old proverb1 make up the full-summed year4 ,and then notice how1 in this first picture of our text1 the symbolism so naturally lends itself to spiritual meanings1 not only in regard to the tempest that caught the unthinking voyagers1 but also in regard to other points2 such as the darkness amidst which they had to fight the tempest1 and the absence of the ,master4 ,once before1 they had been caught in a similar storm on the lake1 but it was daylight then1 and ,jesus was with them1 and that made all the difference4 ,this time it was night1 and they looked up in vain to the green ,eastern hills1 and wondered where in their folds ,he was lurking1 so far from their help4 ,mark gives us one sweet touch when he tells us that ,christ on the hillside there saw them toiling in rowing1 but they did not see ,him4 ,no doubt they felt themselves deserted1 and sent many a wistful glance of longing towards the shore where ,he was4 ,hard thoughts of ,him may have been in some of their minds4 ',master1 carest ,thou not8' would be springing to some of their lips with more apparent reason than in the other storm on the lake4 ,but ,his calm and loving gaze looked down pitying on all their fear and toil4 ,the darkness did not hide from ,him1 nor ,his own security on the steadfast land make ,him forget1 nor his communion with the ,father so absorb ,him as to exclude thoughts of them4 ,it is a parable and a prophecy of the perpetual relation between the absent ,lord and the toiling ,church4 ,he is on the mountain while we are on the sea4 ,the stable eternity of the ,heavens holds ,him2 we are tossed on the restless mutability of time1 over which we toil at ,his command4 ,he is there interceding for us4 ,whilst ,he prays ,he beholds1 and ,he beholds that ,he may help us by ,his prayer4 ,the solitary crew were not so solitary as they thought4 ,that little dancing speck on the waters1 which held so much blind love and so much fear and trouble1 was in ,his sight1 as on the calm mountain-top ,he communed with ,god4 ,no wonder that weary hearts and lonely ones1 groping amidst the darkness1 and fighting with the tempests and the sorrows of lift1 have ever found in our story a symbol that comes to them with a prophecy of hope and an assurance of help1 and have rejoiced to know that they on the sea are beheld of the ,christ in the sky1 and that 'the darkness hideth not from' ,his loving eye4 ,,ii4 ,and now turn to the next stage of the story before us4 ,we have the approaching ,christ4 ',when they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs1' and so were just about the middle of the lake1 'they see ,jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship4' ,they were about half-way across the lake4 ,we do not know at what hour in the fourth watch the ,master came4 ,but probably it was towards daybreak4 ,toiling had endured for a night4 ,it would be in accordance with the symbolism that joy and help should come with the morning4 ,if we look for a moment at the miraculous fact1 apart from the symbolism1 we have a revelation here of ,christ as the ,lord of the material universe1 a kingdom wider in its range and profounder in its authority than that which that shouting crowd had sought to force upon ,him4 ,his will consolidated the yielding wave1 or sustained ,his material body on the tossing surges4 ,whether we suppose the miracle as wrought on the one or the other1 makes no difference to its value as a manifestation of the glory of ,christ1 and of ,his power over the physical order of things4 ,in the latter case there would1 perhaps1 be a hint of a power residing in ,his material frame1 of which we possibly have other phases1 as in the ,transfiguration1 which may be a prophecy of what lordship over nature is possible to a sinless manhood4 ,however that may be1 we have here a wonderful picture which is true for all ages of the mighty ,christ1 to whose gentle footfall the unquiet surges are as a marble pavement2 and who draws near in the purposes of ,his love1 unhindered by antagonism1 and using even opposing forces as the path for ,his triumphant progress4 ,two lessons may be drawn from this4 ,one is that in ,his marvellous providence ,christ uses all the tumults and unrest1 the opposition and tempests which surround the ship that bears ,his followers1 as the means of achieving ,his purposes4 ,we stand before a mystery to which we have no key when we think of these two certain facts2 first1 the ,omnipotent redeeming will of ,god in ,christ2 and1 second1 the human antagonism which is able to rear itself against that4 ,and we stand in the presence of another mystery1 most blessed1 and yet which we cannot unthread1 when we think1 as we most assuredly may1 that in some mysterious fashion ,he works ,his purposes by the very antagonism to ,his purposes1 making even head-winds fill the sails1 and planting ,his foot on the white crests of the angry and changeful billows4 ,how often in the world's history has this scene repeated itself1 and by a divine irony the enemies have become the helpers of ,christ's cause1 and what they plotted for destruction has turned out rather to the furtherance of the ,gospel6 ',he maketh the wrath of man to praise ,him1 and with the residue thereof ,he girdeth ,himself4' ,another lesson for our individual lives is this1 that ,christ1 in ,his sweetness and ,his gentle sustaining help1 comes near to us all across the sea of sorrow and trouble4 ,a more tender1 a more gracious sense of ,his nearness to us is ever granted to us in the time of our darkness and our grief than is possible to us in the sunny hours of joy4 ,it is always the stormy sea that ,christ comes across1 to draw near to us2 and they who have never experienced the tempest have yet to learn the inmost sweetness of ,his presence4 ,when it is night1 and it is dark1 at the hour which is the keystone of night's black arch1 ,christ comes to us1 striding across the stormy waters4 ,sorrow brings ,him near to us4 ,do you see that sorrow does not drive you away from ,him6 ,,iii4 ,then1 still further1 we note in the story before us the terror and the recognition4 ,st4 ,john does not tell us why they were afraid4 ,there is no need to tell us4 ,they see1 possibly in the chill uncertain light of the grey dawn breaking over the ,eastern hills1 a ,thing coming to them across the water there4 ,they had fought gallantly with the storm1 but this questionable shape freezes their heart's blood1 and a cry1 that is audible above even the howling of the wind and the dash of the waves1 gives sign of the superstitious terror that crept round the hearts of those commonplace1 rude men4 ,i do not dwell upon the fact that the average man1 if he fancies that anything from out of the ,unseen is near him1 shrinks in fear4 ,i do not ask you whether that is not a sign and indication of the deep conviction that lies in men's souls1 of a discord between themselves and the unseen world2 but ,i ask you if we do not often mistake the coming ,master1 and tremble before ,him when we ought to be glad8 ,we are often so absorbed with our work1 so busy tugging at the oar1 so anxiously watching the set of current1 so engaged in keeping the helm right1 that we have no time and no eyes to look across the ocean and see who it is that is coming to us through all the hurly-burly4 ,our tears fill our eyes1 and weave a veil between us and the ,master4 ,and when we do see that there is ,something there1 we are often afraid of it1 and shrink from it4 ,and sometimes when a gentle whisper of consolation1 or some light air1 as it were1 of consciousness of ,his presence1 breathes through our souls1 we think that it is only a phantasm of our own making1 and that the coming ,christ is nothing more than the play of our thoughts and imaginations4 ,oh1 brethren1 let no absorption in cares and duties1 let no unchildlike murmurings1 let no selfish abandonment to sorrow1 blind you to the ,lord who always comes near troubled hearts1 if they will only look and see6 ,let no reluctance to entertain religious ideas1 no fear of contact with the ,unseen1 no shrinking from the thought of ,christ as a ,kill-joy keep you from seeing ,him as ,he draws near to you in your troubles4 ,and let no sly1 mocking ,mephistopheles of doubt1 nor any poisonous air1 blowing off the foul and stagnant marshes of present materialism1 make you fancy that the living ,reality1 treading on the flood there1 is a dream or a fancy or the projection of your own imagination on to the void of space4 ,he is real1 whatever may be phenomenal and surface4 ,the storm is not so real as the ,christ1 the waves not so substantial as ,he who stands upon them4 ,they will pass and quieten1 ,he will abide for ever4 ,lift up your hearts and be glad1 because the ,lord comes to you across the waters1 and hearken to ,his voice3 ',it is ,i6 ,be not afraid4' ,the encouragement not to fear follows the proclamation1 ',it is ,i6' ,what a thrill of glad confidence must have poured itself into their hearts1 when once they rose to the height of that wondrous fact6 ',well roars the storm to those who hear ,a deeper voice across the storm4' ,there is no fear in the consciousness of ,his presence4 ,it is ,his old word3 ',be not afraid6' ,and ,he breathes it whithersoever ,he comes2 for ,his coming is the banishment of danger and the exorcism of dread4 ,so that if only you and ,i1 in the midst of all storm and terror1 can say ',it is the ,lord1' then we may catch up the grand triumphant chorus of the old psalm1 and say3 ',though the waters thereof roar and be troubled1 and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea1 yet ,i will not fear4' ,the ,lord is with us2 the everlasting ,christ is our ,helper1 our ,refuge1 and our ,strength4 ,,iv4 ,so1 lastly1 we have here in this story the end of the tempest and of the voyage4 ,our ,evangelist does not record1 as the others do1 that the storm ceased upon ,christ's being welcomed into the little boat4 ,the other ,evangelists do not record1 as he does1 the completion of the voyage4 ',immediately the ship was at the land whither they went4' ,the two things are cause and effect4 ,i do not suppose1 as many do1 that a subordinate miracle is to be seen in that last clause of our text1 or that the 'immediately' is to be taken as if it meant that without one moment's delay1 or interval1 the voyage was completed2 but only1 which ,i think is all that is needful1 that the falling of the tempest and the calming of the waters which followed upon the ,master's entrance into the vessel made the remainder of the voyage comparatively brief and swift4 ,it is not always true1 it is very seldom true1 that when ,christ comes on board opposition ends1 and the haven is reached4 ,but it is always true that when ,christ comes on board a new spirit enters into the men who have ,him for their companion1 and are conscious that they have4 ,it makes their work easy1 and makes them 'more than conquerors' over what yet remains4 ,with what a different spirit the weary men would bend their backs to the oars once more when they had the ,master on board1 and with what a different spirit you and ,i will set ourselves to our work if we are sure of ,his presence4 ,the worst of trouble is gone when ,christ shares it with us4 ,there is a wonderful charm to stay ,his rough wind in the assurance that in all our affliction ,he is afflicted4 ,if we feel that we are following in ,his footsteps1 we feel that ,he stands between us and the blast1 a refuge from the storm and a covert from the tempest4 ,and if still1 as no doubt will be the case1 we have our share of trouble and storm and sorrow and difficulty1 yet the worst of the gale will be passed1 and though a long swell may still heave1 the terror and the danger will have gone with the night1 and hope and courage and gladness revive as the morning's sun breaks over the still unquiet waves1 and shows us our ,master with us and the white walls of the port glinting in the level beams4 ,friends1 life is a voyage1 anyhow1 with plenty of storm and danger and difficulty and weariness and exposure and anxiety and dread and sorrow1 for every soul of man4 ,but if you will take ,christ on board1 it will be a very different thing from what it will be if you cross the wan waters alone4 ,without ,him you will make shipwreck of yourselves2 with ,him your voyage may seem perilous and be tempestuous1 but ,he will 'make the storm a calm1' and will bring you to the haven of your desire4 ,,how ,,to ,,work ,,the ,,work ,,of ,,god ',then said they unto ,him1 ,what shall we do1 that we might work the works of ,god8 #bi4 ,jesus answered and said unto them1 ,this is the work of ,god1 that ye1 believe on ,him whom ,he hath sent4'--,,john vi4 #bh1 #bi4 ,the feeding of the five thousand was the most 'popular' of ,christ's miracles4 ,the ,evangelist tells us1 with something between a smile and a sigh1 that 'when the people saw it1 they said1 ,this is of a truth that ,prophet that should come into the world1' and they were so delighted with ,him and with it1 that they wanted to get up an insurrection on the spot1 and make a ,king of ,him4 ,i wonder if there are any of that sort of people left4 ,if two men were to come into ,manchester to-morrow morning1 and one of them were to offer material good1 and the other wisdom and peace of heart1 which of them1 do you think1 would have the larger following8 ,we need not cast a stone at the unblushing1 frank admiration that these men had for a ,prophet who could feed them1 for that is exactly the sort of prophet that a great number of us would like best if they spoke out4 ,so ,jesus ,christ had to escape from the inconvenient enthusiasm of these mistaken admirers of ,his2 and they followed ,him in their eagerness1 but were met with words which lift them into another region and damp their zeal4 ,he tries to turn away their thoughts from the miracle to a far loftier gift4 ,he contrasts the trouble which they willingly took in order to get a meal with their indifference as to obtaining the true bread from heaven1 and ,he bids them work for it just as they had shown themselves ready to work for the other4 ,they put to ,him this question of my text1 so strangely blending as it does right and wrong1 ',you have bid us work2 tell us how to work8 ,what must we do that we may work the works of ,god8' ,christ answers1 in words that illuminate their confusions and clear the whole matter1 ',this is the work of ,god1 that ye believe on ,him whom ,he hath sent4' ,i4 ,faith1 then1 is a work4 ,you know that the commonplace of evangelical teaching opposes faith to works2 and the opposition is perfectly correct1 if it be rightly understood4 ,but ,i have a strong impression that a great deal of our preaching goes clean over the heads of our hearers1 because we take for granted1 and they fancy that they understand1 the meaning of terms because the terms themselves are so familiar4 ,and ,i believe that many people go to churches and chapels all their lives long1 and hear this doctrine dinned into them1 that they are to be saved by faith1 and not by works1 and never approach a definite understanding of what it means4 ,so let me just for a moment try to clear up the terms of this apparently paradoxical statement that faith is a work4 ,what do we mean by faith8 ,what do you mean by saying that you have faith in your friend1 in your wife1 in your husband1 in your guide8 ,you simply mean1 and we mean1 that you trust the person1 grasping him by the act of trust4 ,on trust the whole fabric of human society depends1 as well as in another aspect of the same expression does the whole fabric of ,manchester commerce4 ,faith1 confidence1 the leaning of myself on one discerned to be true1 trusty1 strong1 sufficient for the purpose in hand1 whatever it may be--that1 and nothing more mysterious1 nothing further away from daily life and the common emotions which knit us to one another1 is1 as ,i take it1 what the ,new ,testament means when it insists upon faith4 ,ah1 we all exercise it4 ,you put it forth in certain low levels and directions4 ',the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her1' is the short summary of the happy lives of many1 ,i have no doubt1 of my present hearers4 ,have you none of that confidence to spare for ,god8 ,is it all meant to be poured out upon weak1 fallible1 changeful creatures like ourselves1 and none of it to rise to the ,one in whom absolute confidence may eternally be fixed8 ,but then1 of course1 as we may see by the exercise of the same emotion in regard to one ,another1 the under side 7as ,i have been accustomed to say to you7 of this confidence in ,god or ,christ is diffidence of myself4 ,there is no real exercise of confidence which does not involve1 as an essential part of itself1 the going out from myself in order that ,i may lay all the weight and the responsibility of the matter in hand upon ,him in whom ,i trust4 ,and so ,christian faith is compounded of these two elements1 or rather1 it has these two sides which correspond to one another4 ,the same figure is convex or concave according as you look at it from one side or another4 ,if you look at faith from one side1 it rises towards ,god2 if from the other1 it hollows itself out into a great emptiness4 ,and so the under side of faith is distrust2 and he that puts his confidence in ,god thereby goes out of himself1 and declares that in himself there is nothing to rest upon4 ,now that two-sided confidence and diffidence1 trust and distrust1 which are one1 is truly a work4 ,it is not an easy one either2 it is the exercise of our own inmost nature4 ,it is an effort of will4 ,it has to be done by coercing ourselves4 ,it has to be maintained in the face of many temptations and difficulties4 ,the contrast between faith and work is between an inward act and a crowd of outward performances4 ,but the faith which knits me to ,god is my act1 and ,i am responsible for it4 ,but yet it is not a work1 just because it is a ceasing from my own works1 and going out from myself that ,he may enter in4 ,only remember1 when we say1 ',not by works of righteousness1 but by the faith of ,christ1' we are but proclaiming that the inward man must exercise that act of self-abnegation and confession of its own impotence1 and ceasing from all reliance on anything which it does1 whereby1 and whereby alone1 it can be knit to ,god4 ',labour not for the meat that perisheth1 but for that meat which endureth unto eternal life'''4 ,this is the work of ,god1 that ye believe4' ,you are responsible for doing that1 or for not doing it4 ,,ii4 ,secondly1 faith1 and not a multitude of separate acts1 is what pleases ,god4 ,mark the difference between the form of the question and that of the answer4 ,the people say1 ',what are we to do that we may work the works of ,god8' ,christ answers in the singular3 ',this is the work4' ,they thought of a great variety of observances and deeds4 ,he gathers them all up into one4 ,they thought of a pile1 and that the higher it rose the more likely they were to be accepted4 ,he unified the requirement1 and ,he brought it all down to this one act1 in which all other acts are included1 and on which alone the whole weight of a man's salvation is to rest4 ',what shall we do that we might work the works of ,god8' is a question asked in all sorts of ways1 by the hearts of men all round about us2 and what a babble of answers comes6 ,the priest says1 ',rites and ceremonies4' ,the thinker says1 ',culture1 education4' ,the moralist says1 ',do this1 that1 and the other thing1' and enumerates a whole series of separate acts4 ,jesus ,christ says1 ',one thing is needful'''4 ,this is the work of ,god4' ,he brushes away the sacerdotal answer and the answer of the mere moralist1 and ,he says1 ',no6 ,not do2 but trust4' ,in so far as that is act1 it is the only act that you need4 ,that is evidently reasonable4 ,the man is more than his work2 motive is more important than action2 character is deeper than conduct4 ,god is pleased1 not by what men do1 but by what men are4 ,we must be first1 and then we shall do4 ,and it is obviously reasonable1 because we can find analogies to the requirement in all other relations of life4 ,what would you care for a child that scrupulously obeyed1 and did not love or trust8 ,what would a prince think of a subject who was ostentatious in acts of loyalty1 and all the while was plotting and nurturing treason in his heart8 ,if doing separate acts of righteousness be the way to work the works of ,god1 then no man has ever done them4 ,for it is a plain fact that every man falls below his own conscience--which conscience is less scrupulous than the divine law4 ,the worst of us knows a great deal more than the best of us does2 and our lives1 universally1 are1 at the best1 lives of partial effort after unreached attainments of obedience and of virtue4 ,but1 even supposing that we could perform1 far more completely than we do1 the requirements of our own consciences1 and conform to the evident duties of our position and relations1 do you think that without faith we should be therein working the works of ,god8 ,suppose a man were able fully to realise his own ideal of goodness1 without any confidence in ,god underlying all his acts2 do you think that these would be acts that would please ,god8 ,it seems to me that1 however lovely and worthy of admiration1 looked at with human eyes only1 many lives are1 which have nobly and resolutely fought against evil1 and struggled after good1 if they have lacked the crowning grace of doing this for ,god's sake1 they lack1 ,i was going to say1 almost everything2 ,i will not say that1 but ,i will say that they lack that which makes them acceptable1 well-pleasing to ,him4 ,the poorest1 the most imperfect realisation of our duty and ideal of conduct which has in it a love towards ,god and a faith in ,him that would fain do better if it could1 is a nobler thing1 ,i venture to say1 in the eyes of ,heaven--which are the truth-seeing eyes--than the noblest achievements of an untrusting soul4 ,it does not seem to me that to say so is bigotry or narrowness or anything else but the plain deduction from this1 that a man's relation to ,god is the deepest thing about him1 and that if that be right1 other things will come right1 and if that be wrong nothing is as right as it might be4 ,here we have ,jesus ,christ laying the foundation for the doctrine which is often said to be ,pauline1 as if that meant something else than coming from ,jesus ,christ4 ,we often hear people say1 ',oh1 your evangelical teaching of justification by faith1 and all that1 comes out of ,paul's ,epistles1 not out of ,christ's teaching1 nor out of ,john's ,gospel4' ,well1 there is a difference1 which it is blindness not to recognise1 between the seeds of teaching in our ,lord's words1 and the flowers and fruit of these seeds1 which we get in the more systematised and developed teaching of the ,epistles4 ,i frankly admit that1 and ,i should expect it1 with my belief as to who ,christ is1 and who ,paul is4 ,but in that saying1 ',this is the work of ,god1 that ye believe on ,him whom ,he hath sent1' is the germ of everything that ,paul has taught us about the works of the law being of no avail1 and faith being alone and unfailing in its power of uniting men to ,god1 and bringing them into the possession of eternal life4 ,the saying stands in ,john's ,gospel1 and so ,paul and ,john alike received1 though in different fashions1 and wrought out on different lines of subsequent teaching1 the germinal impulse from these words of the ,master4 ,let us hear no more about salvation by faith being a ,pauline addition to ,christ's ,gospel1 for the lips of ,christ ,himself have declared 'this is the work of ,god1 that ye believe on ,him whom ,he hath sent4' ,,iii4 ,thirdly1 this faith is the productive parent of all separate works of ,god4 ,the teaching that ,i have been trying to enforce has1 ,i know1 been so presented as to make a pillow for indolence1 and to be closely allied to immorality4 ,it has been so presented1 but it has not been so presented half as often as its enemies would have us believe4 ,for ,i know of but very few1 and those by no means the most prominent and powerful of the preachers of the great doctrine of salvation by faith1 who have not added1 as its greatest teacher did3 ',let ours also be careful to maintain good works for necessary uses4' ,but the true teaching is not that trust is a substitute for work1 but that it is the foundation of work4 ,the ,gospel is1 first of all1 ,trust2 then1 set yourselves to do the works of faith4 ,it works by love1 it is the opening of the heart to the entrance of the life of ,christ1 and1 of course1 when that life comes in1 it will act in the man in a manner appropriate to its origin and source1 and he that by faith has been joined to ,jesus ,christ1 and has opened his heart to receive into that heart the life of ,christ1 will1 as a matter of course1 bring forth1 in the measure of his faith1 the fruits of righteousness4 ,we are surely not despising fruits and flowers when we insist upon the root from which they shall come4 ,a man may take separate acts of partial goodness1 as you see children in the springtime sticking daisies on the spikes of a thorn-twig picked from the hedges4 ,but these will die4 ,the basis of all righteousness is faith1 and the manifestation of faith is practical righteousness4 ',show ,me thy faith by thy works' is ,christ's teaching quite as much as it is the teaching of ,his sturdy servant ,james4 ,and so1 dear friends1 we are going the shortest way to enrich lives with all the beauties of possible human perfection when we say1 ',begin at the beginning4 ,the longest way round is the shortest way home2 trust ,him with all your hearts first1 and that will effloresce into whatsoever things are lovely and whatever things are of good report4' ,in the beautiful metaphor of the ,apostle ,peter1 in his second ,epistle1 ,faith is the damsel who leads in the chorus of consequent graces2 and we are exhorted to 'add to our faith virtue1' and all the others that unfold themselves in harmonious sequence from that one central source4 ,if ,i had time ,i should be glad to turn for a moment to the light which such considerations cast upon subjects that are largely occupying the attention of the ,christian ,church to-day4 ,i should like to insist that1 before you talk much about applied ,christianity1 you should be very sure that in men there is a ,christianity to apply4 ,i venture to profess my own humble belief that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred1 ,christian ministers and churches will do no more for the social1 political1 and intellectual and moral advancement of men and the elevation of the people by sticking to their own work and preaching this ,gospel--',this is the work of ,god1 that ye believe on ,him whom ,he hath sent4' ,,iv4 ,lastly1 this faith secures the bread of life4 ,the bread of life is the starting-point of the whole conversation4 ,in the widest possible sense it is whatsoever truly stills the hunger of the immortal soul4 ,in a deeper sense it is the person of ,jesus ,christ ,himself1 for ,he not only says that ,he will give1 but that ,he is the ,bread of ,life4 ,and1 in the deepest sense of all1 it is ,his flesh broken for us in ,his sacrifice on the ,cross4 ,that bread is a gift4 ,so the paradox results which stands in our text--work for the bread which ,god will give4 ,if it be a gift1 that fact determines what sort of work must be done in order to possess it4 ,if it be a gift1 then the only work is to accept it4 ,if it be a gift1 then we are out of the region of quid pro quo2 and have not to bring1 as ,chinese do1 great strings of copper cash that1 all added up together1 do not amount to a shilling1 in order to buy what ,god will bestow upon us4 ,if it be a gift1 then to trust the ,giver and to accept the gift is the only condition that is possible4 ,it is not a condition that ,god has invented and arbitrarily imposed4 ,the necessity of it is lodged deep in the very nature of the case4 ,air cannot get to the lungs of a mouse in an air-pump4 ,light cannot come into a room where all the shutters are up and the keyhole stopped4 ,if a man chooses to perch himself on some little stool of his own1 with glass legs to it1 and to take away his hand from the conductor1 no electricity will come to him4 ,if ,i choose to lock my lips1 ,jesus ,christ does not prise open my clenched teeth to put the bread of life into my unwilling mouth4 ,if we ask1 we get2 if we take1 we get4 ,and so the paradox comes1 that we work for a gift1 with a work which is not work because it is a departure from myself4 ,it is the same blessed paradox which the prophet spoke when he said1 ',buy ''' without money and without price4' ,oh6 what a burden of hopeless effort and weary toil--like that of the man that had to roll the stone up the hill1 which ever slipped back again--is lifted from our shoulders by such a word as this that ,i have been poorly trying to speak about now6 ',thou art careful and troubled about many things1' poor soul6 trying to be good2 trying to fight yourself1 and the world1 and the devil4 ,try the other plan1 and listen to ,him saying1 ',give up self-imposed effort in thine own strength4 ,take1 eat1 this is ,my body1 which is broken for you4' ,,the ,,manna ',i am that bread of life4 #di4 ,your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness1 and are dead4 #ej4 ,this is the bread which cometh down from heaven1 that a man may eat thereof1 and not die4'--,,john vi4 #dh-ej4 ',this is of a truth that ,prophet1' said the ,jews1 when ,christ had fed the five thousand on the five barley loaves and the two small fishes4 ,that was the kind of ,teacher for them2 they were quite unaffected by the wisdom of ,his words and the beauty of ,his deeds1 but a miracle that found food precisely met their wants1 and so there was excited an impure enthusiasm1 very unwelcome to ,jesus4 ,therefore ,he withdrew ,himself from it1 and when the people followed ,him1 all full of expectation1 to get some more loaves and see some more miracles1 ,he met them with a douche of cold water that cooled their enthusiasm and flung them back into a critical1 questioning mood4 ,they pointed to the miracle of the manna1 and hinted that1 if ,he expected them to accept ,him1 ,he must do as ,moses had done1 or something like it4 ,probably there was a ,jewish tradition in existence then to the effect that the ,messiah was to repeat the miracle of the manna4 ,but1 at all events1 ,christ lays hold of the reference that they put into ,his hands1 and ,he said in effect1 ',manna8 ,yes2 ,i give1 and am1 the true ,manna4' ,so this is the third of the instances in this ,gospel in which our ,lord pointed to ,old ,testament incidents and institutions as symbolising ,himself4 ,in the first of them1 when ,he likened ,himself to the ladder that ,jacob saw1 ,he claimed to be the ,medium of communication between heaven and earth4 ,in the second of them1 when ,he likened ,himself to the brazen serpent lifted in the camp1 ,he claimed to be the ,healer of a sin-stricken and poisoned world4 ,and now1 with an allusion both to the miracle and to the ,jewish demand for the repetition of the manna sign1 ,he claims to be the true ,food for a starving world4 ,so there are three things in my text3 ,christ's claim1 ,his requirements1 and ,his promise2 the bread1 the eating1 the issues4 ,i4 ,here is a claim of ,christ's4 ,as ,i have already said1 in the whole wonderful conversation of which ,i have selected a portion for my text1 there is a double reference to the miracle of the loaves and of the manna4 ,what our ,lord means to assert for ,himself is that which is common to both of these--viz4 that ,he supplies the great primal wants of humanity1 the hunger of the heart4 ,there may be another reference also1 which ,i just notice without dwelling upon it4 ,barley loaves were the coarsest and least valuable form of bread4 ,they were not only of little worth1 but altogether inadequate to feeding the five thousand4 ,the palates1 unaccustomed to the stinging savours of the garlic and the leeks of ,egypt1 loathed the light bread4 ,and so ,jesus ,christ comes into the world in lowly form1 like the barley loaf or the light bread from which men whose tastes have been vitiated by the piquant savours of more earthly nourishment turn away as insipid4 ,and yet ,he in ,his lowliness1 ,he in ,his savourlessness1 is that which meets the deepest wants of humanity1 and is every man's fare because ,he will be any man's satisfaction4 ,but ,i wish to bring before your notice the wonderful way in which our ,lord1 in this great dissertation concerning ,himself as the ,bread of ,life1 gradually unfolds the depths of ,his meaning and of ,his offer4 ,he began with saying that ,he1 the ,son of ,man1 will give to men the bread that 'endures to everlasting life4' ,and then when that saying is but dimly understood1 and yet awakes some strange new desires and appetites in the hearers1 and they come to ,him and ask1 ',lord1 evermore give us this bread1' ,he answers them with opening another finger of ,his hand1 as it were1 and showing them a little more of the treasure that lies in ,his palm4 ,for ,he says1 ',i am that ,bread of ,life4' ,that is an advance on the previous saying4 ,he gives bread1 and any man that was conscious of possessing some great truth or some great blessing which1 believed and accepted1 would refresh and nourish humanity1 might have said the same thing4 ,but now we pass into the penumbra of a greater mystery3 ',i am that ,bread of ,life4' ,you cannot separate what ,christ gives from what ,christ is4 ,you can take the truths that another man proclaims1 altogether irrespective of him and his personality4 ,that only disturbs1 and the sooner it is got rid of1 the firmer and the purer our possession of the message for which he is only the medium4 ,you can take ,plato's teaching and do as you like with ,plato4 ,but you cannot take ,christ's teaching and do as you like with ,christ4 ,his personality is the centre of ,his gift to the world4 ',i am that ,bread of ,life4' ,that ,he should give it is much2 that ,he should be it is far more4 ,and notice how1 when ,he has thus drawn us a little further into the magic circle of the light1 ,he not only asserts the inseparableness of ,his gift from ,his ,person1 but also asserts1 with a reference1 no doubt1 to the manna1 ',i am the ,bread that came down from heaven4' ,the listeners immediately laid hold of that one point1 and neglected for the moment all the rest1 and they fixed with a true instinct--although it was for the purpose of contradicting it--on this central point1 'that came down from heaven4' ,they said one to the other1 ',how can this man say that ,he came down from heaven8 ,is not this ,jesus the ,son of ,joseph1 whose father and mother we know8' ,so1 brethren1 as the manna that descended from above in the dew of the night was to the bread that was baked in a baker's oven1 so is the ,christ to the manhood that has its origin in the natural processes of birth4 ,the ,incarnation of the ,son of ,god1 becoming ,son of ,man for us and for our salvation1 is involved in this great claim4 ,you do not get to the heart of ,christ's message unless you have accepted this as the truth concerning ,him1 that 'in the beginning was the ,word1 and the ,word was with ,god1 and the ,word was ,god1' and that at a definite point in the long process of the ages1 'the ,word became flesh1 and dwelt amongst us4' ,he will never be 'the ,bread of ,life' unless ,he is 'the ,bread that came down from heaven4' ,for humanity needs that the blue heavens that bend remote above should come down2 and we cannot be lifted 'out of the horrible pit and the miry clay' unless a ,hand from above be reached down into the depths of our degradation1 and lift us from our lowness4 ,heaven must come to earth1 if earth is to rise to heaven4 ,the ladder must be let down from above1 if ever from the lower levels men are to ascend thither where at the summit the face of ,god can be seen4 ,but that is not all4 ,our ,lord1 if ,i may recur to a former figure1 went on to open another finger of ,his hand1 and to show still more of the gift4 ,for ,he not only said1 'the ,son of ,man gives the bread1' and ',i am the ,bread that came down from heaven1' but ,he went on to say1 in a subsequent stage of the conversation1 'the ,bread that ,i will give is ,my flesh1 which ,i will give for the life of the world4' ,now1 notice that 'will give4' ,then1 though the ,word was made flesh1 and the manna came down from heaven1 the especial gift of ,his flesh for the life of the world was1 at the time of ,his speaking1 a future thing4 ,and what ,he meant is still more clearly brought out1 when we read other words which are the very climax of this conversation1 when ,he declares that the condition of our having life in ourselves is our 'eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the ,son of ,man4' ,the figure is made repulsive on purpose1 in order that it may provoke us to penetrate to its meaning4 ,it was even more repulsive to the ,jew1 with his religious horror of touching or tasting anything in which the blood was4 ,and yet our ,lord not only speaks of ,himself as the ,bread1 but of ,his flesh and blood as being the ,food of the world4 ,the separation of the two clearly indicates a violent death1 and ,i1 for my part1 have no manner of doubt that1 in these great words in which our ,lord lays bare the deepest foundations of ,his claim to be the ,food of humanity1 there is couched1 in the veiled language which was necessary at the then stage of ,his mission1 a distinct reference to ,his death1 as being the ,sacrifice on which a hunger-stricken world may feed and be satisfied4 ,so here we have1 in three steps1 the great central truth of the ,gospel set forth in symbolical aspect3 the ,son that gives1 the ,son that is1 the ,bread of the world1 and the death whereby ,his flesh and blood are separated and become the nourishment of all sin-stricken souls4 ,i do not say one word to enforce these claims1 but ,i beseech you deal fairly with these ,gospel narratives1 and do not go on picking out of them bits of ,christ's actions or words1 which commend themselves to you1 and ignoring all the rest4 ,there is no more reason to believe that ,jesus ,christ ever said1 ',as ye would that men should do to you1 do ye even so to them likewise1' or any other part of that ,sermon on the ,mount which some people take as their ,christianity1 than there is to believe that ,he said1 ',the bread which ,i give is ,my flesh1 which ,i will give for the life of the world4' ,believe it or not1 it is not dealing with the ,scripture records as you deal with other historical records if1 for subjective reasons1 you brush aside all that department of our ,lord's teaching4 ,and if you do accept it1 what becomes of ,his 'sweet reasonableness'8 ,what becomes of ,his meekness and lowliness of heart8 ,i was going to say what becomes of ,his sanity1 that ,he should stand up1 a youngish man from ,nazareth1 in the synagogue of ,capernaum1 and should say1 ',i1 heaven-descended1 and slain by men1 am the ,bread of ,life to the whole world'8 ,i was going to make another observation1 which ,i must just pass with the slightest notice1 and that is that1 taking this point of view and giving full weight to these three stages of our ,lord's progressive revelation of ,himself1 we have the answer to the question1 ,what is the connection between these discourses and the ordinance of the ,lord's ,supper8 ,our modern sacramentarian friends will have it that ,jesus ,christ is speaking of the ,communion in this chapter4 ,i take it1 and ,i venture to think it the reasonable explanation1 that ,he is not speaking about the ,communion1 but that this discourse and that rite are dealing with the same truths--the one in articulate words1 the other in equivalent symbols4 ,and so we have not to read into the text any allusion to the rite1 but to see in the text and in the rite the proclamation of the same thing--viz4 that the flesh and the blood of the ,sacrifice for sins is the food on which a sinful and cleansed world may feed4 ,,ii4 ,so1 secondly1 let me ask you to note our ,lord's requirement here4 ,he carries on the metaphor4 ',this is the ,bread which cometh down from heaven1 that a man may eat thereof and not die4' ,the eating necessarily follows from the symbol of the bread1 as the designation of the way by which we all1 with our hungry hearts1 may feed upon this ,bread of ,god4 ,i need not remind you that in many a place1 and in this whole context1 we find the explanation of the symbol very plainly4 ,in another part of this conversation we read1 under another metaphor which comes to the same thing1 ',he that cometh unto ,me shall never hunger1 and he that believeth on ,me shall never thirst4 ,so the eating and the coming are diverse symbols for the one thing1 the believing4 ,when a man eats he appropriates to himself1 and incorporates into his very being1 the food of which he partakes4 ,and when a man trusts ,christ he appropriates to himself1 and incorporates into his inmost being1 the very life of ,jesus ,christ4 ,you say1 ',that is mysticism'2 but it is the ,new ,testament teaching1 that when ,i trust ,christ ,i get more than ,his gifts--,i get ,himself2 that when my faith goes out to ,him it not only rests me on ,him1 but it brings ,him into me1 and that food of the spirit becomes the life1 as we shall see1 of my spirit4 ,that condition is indispensable4 ,it is useless to have food on your table or your plate or in your hand1 it does not nourish you there3 you must eat it1 and then you gain sustenance from it4 ,many a hungry man has died at the door of a granary4 ,some of us are starving1 though beside us there is 'the ,bread of ,god that came down from heaven4' ,brethren1 you must eat1 and ,i venture to put the question to you--not ,do you believe that ,jesus ,christ is the world's ,saviour8 not ,do you believe in an ,incarnation8 not ,do you believe in an ,atonement8 but ,have you claimed your portion in the ,bread8 ,have you taken it into your own lips8 ,crede et manducasti1 said ,augustine1 'believe'--or1 rather1 trust--'and thou hast eaten4' ,have you8 ,further1 let me remind you that under this eating is included not only some initial act of faith1 but a continuous course of partaking4 ,the dinner you ate this day last year is of no use for to-day's hunger4 ,the act of faith done long ago will not bring the ,bread to nourish you now4 ,you must repeat the meal4 ,and very strikingly and beautifully in the last part of this conversation our ,lord varies the word for eating1 and substitutes--as if ,he were speaking to those who had fulfilled the previous condition--another one which implies the ruminant action of certain animals4 ,and that is what ,christian men have to do1 to feed over and over and over again on the ',bread of ,god which came down from heaven4' ,christ1 and especially in and through ,his death for us1 can nourish and sustain our wills1 giving them the pattern of what they should desire1 and the motive for which they should desire it4 ,christ1 and especially through ,his death1 can feed our consciences1 and take away from them all the painful sense of guilt1 while ,he sharpens them to a far keener sensitiveness to evil4 ,christ1 and especially through ,his death1 can feed our understandings1 and unveil therein the deepest truths concerning ,god and man1 concerning man's destiny and ,god's mercy4 ,christ1 and especially in ,his death1 can feed our affections1 and minister to love and desire and submission and hope their celestial nourishment4 ,he is 'the ,bread of ,god1' and we have but to eat of that which is laid before us4 ,,iii4 ,so1 lastly1 we have here the issues4 ',your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness1 and are dead4' ,this ,bread secures that if 'a man eat thereof he shall not die4' ,the bread that perishes feeds a life that perishes2 but this ,bread not only sustains but creates a life that cannot perish1 and1 taken into the spirits of men that are 'dead in trespasses and sins1' imparts to them a life that has no affinity to evil1 and therefore no dread of extinction4 ,if 'a man eats thereof he shall not die1' ,christ annihilates for us the mere accident of physical death4 ,that is only a momentary jolt on the course4 ,that may all be crammed into a parenthesis4 ',he shall not die1' but live the true life which comes from the possession of union with ,him who is the ,life4 ,the bread which we eat sustains life2 the ,bread which ,he gives originates it4 ,the bread which we eat is assimilated to our bodily frame1 the ,bread which ,he gives assimilates our spiritual nature to ,his4 ,and so it comes to be the only food that stills a hungry heart1 the only food that satisfies and yet never cloys1 which1 eating1 we are filled1 and being filled are made capable of more1 and1 being capable of more1 receive more4 ,in blessed and eternal alternation1 fruition and desire1 satisfaction and appetite1 go on4 ',why do ye spend money for that which is not bread8' ,you cannot answer the question with any reasonable answer4 ,oh1 dear friends6 ,i beseech you1 listen to that ,lord who is saying to each of us1 ',take1 eat1 this is ,my body1 which is broken for you4' ,,one ,,saying ,,with ,,two ,,meanings ',then said ,jesus unto them1 ,yet a little while am ,i with you1 and then ,i go unto ,him that sent ,me4 #cd4 ,ye shall seek ,me1 and shall not find ,me3 and where ,i am1 thither ye cannot come4'--,,john vii4 #cc1 #cd4 ',little children1 yet a little while ,i am with you4 ,ye shall seek ,me2 and as ,i said unto the ,jews1 ,whither ,i go1 ye cannot come2 so now ,i say to you4'--,,john xiii4 #cc4 ,no greater contrast can be conceived than that between these two groups to whom such singularly similar words were addressed4 ,the one consists of the officers1 tools of the ,pharisees and of the priests1 who had been sent to seize ,christ1 and would fain have carried out their masters' commission1 but were restrained by a strange awe1 inexplicable even to themselves4 ,the other consists of the little company of ,his faithful1 though slow1 scholars1 who made a great many mistakes1 and sometimes all but tired out even ,his patience1 and yet were forgiven much because they loved much4 ,hatred animated one group1 loving sorrow the other4 ,christ speaks to them both in nearly the same words1 but with what a different tone1 meaning1 and application6 ,to the officers the saying is an exhibition of ,his triumphant confidence that their malice is impotent and their arms paralysed2 that when ,he wills ,he will go1 not be dragged by them or any man1 but go to a safe asylum1 where foes can neither find nor follow4 ,the officers do not understand what ,he means4 ,they think that1 bad ,jew as they have always believed ,him to be1 ,he may very possibly consummate ,his apostasy by going over to the ,gentiles altogether2 but1 at any rate1 they feel that ,he is to escape their hands4 ,the disciples understand little more as to whither ,he goes1 as they themselves confess a moment after2 but they gather from ,his words ,his loving pity1 and though the upper side of the saying seems to be menacing and full of separation1 there is an under side that suggests the possibility of a reunion for them4 ,the words are nearly the same in both cases1 but they are not absolutely identical4 ,there are significant omissions and additions in the second form of them4 ',little children' is the tenderest of all the names that ever came from ,christ's lips to ,his disciples1 and never was heard on ,his lips except on this one occasion1 for parting words ought to be very loving words4 ',a little while ,i am with you1' but ,he does not say1 ',and then ,i go to ,him that sent ,me4' ',ye shall seek ,me1' but ,he does not say1 ',and shall not find ,me4' ',as ,i said unto the ,jews1 whither ,i go ye cannot come1 so now ,i say to you1' that little word 'now' makes the announcement a truth for the present only4 ,his disciples shall not seek ,him in vain1 but when they seek they shall find4 ,and though for a moment they be parted from ,him1 it is with the prospect and the confidence of reunion4 ,let us1 then1 look at the two main thoughts here4 ,first1 the two 'seekings1' the seeking which is vain1 and the seeking which is never vain2 and the two 'cannots1' the inability of ,his enemies for evermore to come where ,he is1 and the inability of ,his friends1 for a little season1 to come where ,he is4 ,i4 ,the two seekings4 ,as ,i have observed1 there is a very significant omission in one of the forms of the words4 ,the enemies are told that they will never find ,him1 but no such dark words are spoken to the friends4 ,so1 then1 hostile seeking of the ,christ is in vain1 and loving seeking of ,him by ,his friends1 though they understand ,him but very poorly1 and therefore seek ,him that they may know ,him better1 is always answered and over-answered4 ,let me deal just for a moment or two with each of these4 ,in their simplest use the words of my first text merely mean this3 ',you cannot touch ,me1 ,i am passing into a safe asylum where your hands can never reach ,me4' ,we may generalise that for a moment1 though it does not lie directly in our path1 and preach the old blessed truth that no man with hostile intent seeking for ,christ in ,his person1 in ,his ,gospel1 or in ,his followers and friends1 can ever find ,him4 ,all the antagonism that has stormed against ,him and ,his cause and words1 and ,his followers and lovers1 has been impotent and vain4 ,the pursuers are like dogs chasing a bird1 sniffing along the ground after their prey1 which all the while sits out of their reach on a bough1 and carols to the sky4 ,as in the days of ,his flesh1 ,his foes could not touch ,his person till ,he chose1 and vainly sought ,him when it pleased ,him to hide from them1 so ever since1 in regard to ,his cause1 and in regard to all hearts that love ,him1 no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper4 ,they shall be wrapped1 when need be1 in a cloud of protecting darkness1 and stand safe within its shelter4 ,take good cheer1 all you that are trying to do anything1 however little1 however secular it may appear to be1 for the good and well-being of your fellows6 ,all such service is a prolongation of ,christ's work1 and an effluence from ,his1 if there be any good in it at all2 and it is immortal and safe1 as is ,his4 ',ye shall seek ,me and shall not find ,me4' ,but then1 besides that1 there is another thought4 ,it is not merely hostile seeking of ,him that is hopeless vain4 ,when the dark days came over ,israel1 under the growing pressure of the ,roman yoke1 and amidst the agonies of that last siege1 and the unutterable sufferings which all but annihilated the nation1 do you not think that there were many of these people who said to themselves3 ',ah6 if we had only that ,jesus of ,nazareth back with us for a day or two2 if we had only listened to ,him6' ,do you not think that before ,israel dissolved in blood there were many of those who had stood hostile or alienated1 who desired to see 'one of the days of the ,son of ,man1' and did not see it8 ,they sought ,him1 not in anger any more2 they sought ,him1 not in penitence1 or else they would have found ,him2 but they sought ,him simply in distress1 and wishing that they could have back again what they had cared so little for when they had it4 ,and are there no people listening to me now1 to whom these words apply8-- ',he that will not1 when he may1 ,when he will it shall be--,nay6' ,although it is 7blessed be ,his name7 always true that a seeking heart finds ,him1 and whensoever there is the faintest trace of penitent desire to get hold of ,christ's hand it does grasp ours1 it is also true that things neglected once cannot be brought back2 that the sowing time allowed to pass can never return2 and that they who have turned1 as some of you have turned1 dear friends1 all your lives1 a deaf ear to the ,christ that asks you to love ,him and trust ,him1 may one day wish that it had been otherwise1 and go to look for ,him and not find ,him4 ,there is another kind of seeking that is vain1 an intellectual seeking without the preparation of the heart4 ,there are1 no doubt1 some people here to-day that would say1 ',we have been seeking the truth about religion all our lives1 and we have not got to it yet4' ,well1 ,i do not want to judge either your motives or your methods1 but ,i know this1 that there is many a man who goes on the quest for religious certainty1 and looks at1 if not for ,jesus ,christ1 and is not really capable of discerning ,him when he sees ,him1 because his eye is not single1 or because his heart is full of worldliness or indifference1 or because he begins with a foregone conclusion1 and looks for facts to establish that2 or because he will not cast down and put away evil things that rise up between him and his ,master4 ,my brother6 if you go to look for ,jesus ,christ with a heart full of the world1 if you go to look for ,him while you wish to hold on by all the habitudes and earthlinesses of your past1 you will never find ,him4 ,the sensualist seeks for ,him1 the covetous man seeks for ,him1 the passionate1 ill-tempered man seeks for ,him2 the woman plunged in frivolities1 or steeped to the eyebrows in domestic cares1--these may in some feeble fashion go to look for ,him and they will not find ,him1 because they have sought for ,him with hearts overcharged with other things and filled with the affairs of this life1 its trifles and its sins4 ,i turn for a moment to the seeking that is not vain4 ',ye shall seek ,me' is not on ,christ's lips to any heart that loves ,him1 however imperfectly1 a sentence of separation or an appointment of a sorrowful lot1 but it is a blessed law1 the law of the ,christian life4 ,that life is all one great seeking after ,christ4 ,love seeks the absent when removed from our sight4 ,if we care anything about ,him at all1 our hearts will turn to ,him as naturally as1 when the winter begins to pinch1 the migrating birds seek the sunny south1 impelled by an instinct that they do not themselves understand4 ,the same law which sends loving thoughts out across the globe to seek for husband1 child1 or friend when absent1 sets the really ,christian heart seeking for the ,christ1 whom1 having not seen1 it loves1 as surely as the ivy tendril feels out for a support4 ,as surely as the roots of a mountain-ash growing on the top of a boulder feel down the side of the rock till they reach the soil2 as surely as the stork follows the warmth to the sunny ,mediterranean1 so surely1 if your heart loves ,christ1 will the very heart and motive of your action be the search for ,him4 ,and if you do not seek ,him1 brother1 as surely as ,he is parted from our sense you will lose ,him1 and ,he will be parted from you wholly1 for there is no way by which a person who is not before our eyes may be kept near us except only by diligent effort on our part to keep thought and love and will all in contact with ,him2 thought meditating1 love going out towards ,him1 will submitting4 ,unless there be this effort1 you will lose your ,master as surely as a little child in a crowd will lose his nurse and his guide1 if his hand slips from out the protecting hand4 ,the dark shadow of the earth on which you stand will slowly steal over ,his silvery brightness1 as when the moon is eclipsed1 and you will not know how you have lost ,him1 but only be sadly aware that your heaven is darkened4 ',ye shall seek ,me1' is the condition of all happy communion between ,christ and us4 ,and that seeking1 dear brother1 in the threefold form in which ,i have spoken of it--effort to keep ,him in our thoughts1 in our love1 and over our will--is neither a seeking which starts from a sense that we do not possess ,him1 nor one which ends in disappointment4 ,but we seek for ,him because we already have ,him in a measure1 and we seek ,him that we may possess ,him more abundantly1 and anything is possible rather than that such a search shall be vain4 ,men may go to created wells1 and find no water1 and return ashamed1 and with their vessels empty1 but every one who seeks for that ,fountain of salvation shall draw from it with joy4 ,it is as impossible that a heart which desires ,jesus ,christ shall not have ,him1 as it is that lungs dilated shall not fill with air1 or as it is that an empty vessel put out in a rainfall shall not be replenished4 ,he does not hide ,himself1 but ,he desires to be found4 ,may ,i say that as a mother will sometimes pretend to her child to hide1 that the child's delight may be the greater in searching and in finding1 so ,christ has gone away from our sight in order1 for one reason1 that ,he may stimulate our desires to feel after ,him6 ,if we seek ,him hid in ,god1 we shall find ,him for the joy of our hearts4 ,a great thinker once said that he would rather have the search after truth than the possession of truth4 ,it was a rash word1 but it pointed to the fact that there is a search which is only one shade less blessed than the possession4 ,and if that be so in regard to any pure and high truth1 it is still more so about ,christ ,himself4 ,to seek for ,him is joy2 to find ,him is joy4 ,what can be a happier life than the life of constant pursuit after an infinitely precious object1 which is ever being sought and ever being found2 sought with a profound consciousness of its preciousness1 found with a widening appreciation and capacity for its enjoyment8 ',ye shall seek ,me' is a word not of evil but of good cheer2 for buried in the depth of the commandment to search is the promise that we shall find4 ,,ii1 ,secondly1 let us look briefly at these two 'cannots4' ',whither ,i go1 ye cannot come1' says ,he to ,his enemies1 with no limitation1 with no condition4 ,the 'cannot' is absolute and permanent1 so long as they retain their enmity4 ,to ,his friends1 on the other hand1 ,he says1 ',so now ,i say to you1' the law for to-day1 the law for this side the flood1 but not the law for the beyond1 as ,he explains more fully in the subsequent words3 ',thou canst not follow ,me now1 but thou shalt follow ,me afterwards4' ,so1 then1 ,christ is somewhere4 ,when ,he passed from life it was not into a state only1 but into a place2 and ,he took with ,him a material body1 howsoever changed4 ,he is somewhere1 and there friend and enemy alike cannot enter1 so long as they are compassed with 'the earthly house of this tabernacle4' ,but the incapacity is deeper than that4 ,no sinful man can pass thither4 ,where has ,he gone8 ,the preceding words give us the answer4 ',god shall glorify ,him in ,himself4' ,the prospect of that assumption into the inmost glory of the divine nature directly led our ,lord to think of the change it would bring about in the relation of ,his humble friends to ,him4 ,while for ,himself ,he triumphs in the prospect1 ,he cannot but turn a thought to their lonesomeness1 and hence come the words of our text4 ,he has passed into the bosom and blaze of divinity4 ,can ,i walk there1 can ,i pass into that tremendous fiery furnace8 ',who shall dwell with the everlasting burnings8' ',ye cannot follow ,me now4' ,no man can go thither except ,christ goes thither4 ,there are deep mysteries lying in that word of our ,lords1--',i go to prepare a place for you4' ,we know not what manner of activity on ,his part that definitely means4 ,it seems as if somehow or other the presence in ,heaven of our ,brother in ,his glorified humanity was necessary in order that the golden pavement should be trodden by our feet1 and that our poor1 feeble manhood should live and not be shrivelled up in the blaze of that central brightness4 ,we know not how ,he prepares the place1 but heaven1 whatever it be1 is no place for a man unless the ,man1 ,christ ,jesus1 be there4 ,he is the ,revealer of ,god1 not only for earth1 but for heaven2 not only for time1 but for eternity4 ',no man cometh unto the ,father but by ,me1' is true everywhere and always1 there as here4 ,so ,i suppose that1 but for ,his presence1 heaven itself would be dark1 and its ,king invisible1 and if a man could enter there he would either be blasted with unbearable flashes of brightness or grope at its noonday as the blind1 because his eye was not adapted to such beams4 ,be that as it may1 'the ,forerunner is for us entered4' ,he has gone before1 because ,he knows the great ,city1 ',his own calm home1 ,his habitation from eternity4' ,he has gone before to make ready a lodging for us1 in whose land ,he has dwelt so long1 and ,he will meet us1 who would else be bewildered like some dweller in a desert if brought to the capital1 when we reach the gates1 and guide our unaccustomed steps to the mansion prepared for us4 ,but the power to enter there1 even when ,he is there1 depends on our union with ,christ by faith4 ,when we are joined to ,him1 the absolute 'cannot1' based upon flesh1 and still more upon sin1 which is a radical and permanent impossibility1 is changed into a relative and temporary incapacity4 ,if we have faith in ,christ1 and are thereby drawing a kindred life from ,him1 our nature will be in process of being changed into that which is capable of bearing the brilliance of the felicities of heaven4 ,but just as these friends of ,christ1 though they loved ,him very truly1 and understood ,him a little1 were a long way from being ready to follow ,him1 and needed the schooling of the ,cross1 and ,olivet1 and ,pentecost1 as well as the discipline of life and toil1 before they were fully ripe for the harvest1 so we1 for the most part1 have to pass through analogous training before we are prepared for the place which ,christ has prepared for us4 ,certainly1 so soon as a heart has trusted ,christ1 it is capable of entering where ,he is1 and the real reason why the disciples could not come where ,he went was that they did not yet clearly know ,him as the divine ,sacrifice for theirs and the world's sins1 and1 however much they believed in ,him as ,messiah1 had not yet1 nor could have1 the knowledge on which they could found their trust in ,him as their ,saviour4 ,but1 while that is true1 it is also true that each advance in the grace and knowledge of our ,lord and ,saviour will bring with it capacity to advance further into the heart of the far-off land1 and to see more of the ,king in ,his beauty4 ,so1 as long as ,his friends were wrapped in such dark clouds of misconception and error1 as long as their ,christian characters were so imperfect and incomplete as they were at the time of my text being spoken1 they could not go thither and follow ,him4 ,but it was a diminishing impossibility1 and day by day they approximated more and more to ,his likeness1 because they understood ,him more1 and trusted ,him more1 and loved ,him more1 and grew towards ,him1 and1 therefore1 day by day became more and more able to enter into that ,kingdom4 ,are you growing in power so to do8 ,is the only thing which unfits you for heaven the fact that you have a mortal body8 ,in other respects are you fit to go into that heaven1 and walk in its brightness and not be consumed8 ,the answer to the question is found in another one--,are you joined to ,jesus ,christ by simple faith8 ,the incapacity is absolute and eternal if the enmity is eternal4 ,state and place are determined yonder by character1 and character is determined by faith4 ,take a bottle of some solution in which heterogeneous substances have all been melted up together1 and let it stand on a shelf and gradually settle down1 and its contents will settle in regular layers1 the heaviest at the bottom and the lightest at the top1 and stratify themselves according to gravity4 ,and that is how the other world is arranged--stratified4 ,when all the confusions of this present are at an end1 and all the moisture is driven off1 men and women will be left in layers1 like drawing to like4 ,as ,peter said about ,judas with equal wisdom and reticence1 ',he went to his own place4' ,that is where we shall all go1 to the place we are fit for4 ,god does not slam the door of heaven in anybody's face2 it stands wide open4 ,but there is a mystic barrier1 unseen1 but most real1 more repellent than cherub and flaming sword1 which makes it impossible for any foot to cross that threshold except the foot of the man whose heart and nature have been made ,christlike1 and fitted for heaven by simple faith in ,him4 ,love ,him and trust ,him1 and then your life on earth will be a blessed seeking and a blessed finding of ,him whom to seek is joyous effort1 whom to find is an ,elysium of rest4 ,you will walk here not parted from ,him1 but with your thoughts and your love1 which are your truest self1 going up where ,he is1 until you drop 'the muddy vesture of decay' which unfits you whilst you wear it for the presence-chamber of the ,king1 and so you will enter in and be 'for ever with the ,lord4' ,,the ,,rock ,,and ,,the ,,water ',in the last day1 that great day of the feast1 ,jesus stood and cried1 saying1 ,if any man thirst1 let him come unto ,me1 and drink4 #ch4 ,he that believeth on ,me1 as the ,scripture hath said1 out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water4'--,,john vii4 #cg1ch4 ,the occasion and date of this great saying are carefully given by the ,evangelist1 because they throw much light on its significance and importance4 ,it was 'on the last day1 that great day of the ,feast1' that ',jesus stood and cried4' ,the ,feast was that of ,tabernacles1 which was instituted in order to keep in mind the incidents of the desert wandering4 ,on the anniversary of this day the ,jews still do as they used to1 and in many a foul ghetto and frowsy back street of ,european cities1 you will find them sitting beneath the booths of green branches1 commemorating the ,exodus and its wonders4 ,part of that ceremonial was that on each morning of the seven1 and possibly on the eighth1 'the last day of the ,feast1' a procession of white-robed priests wound down the rocky footpath from the ,temple to ,siloam1 and there in a golden vase drew water from the spring1 chanting1 as they ascended and re-entered the ,temple gates where they poured out the water as a libation1 the words of the prophet1 'with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation4' ,picture the scene to yourselves--the white-robed priests toiling up the pathway1 the crowd in the court1 the sparkling water poured out with choral song4 ,and then1 as the priests stood with their empty vases1 there was a little stir in the crowd1 and a ,man who had been standing watching1 lifted up a loud voice and cried1 ',if any man thirst1 let him come unto ,me1 and drink4' ,strange words to say1 anywhere and anywhen1 daring words to say there in the ,temple court6 ,for there and then they could mean nothing less than ,christ's laying ,his hand on that old miracle1 which was pointed to by the rite1 when the rock yielded the water1 and asserting that all which it did and typified was repeated1 fulfilled1 and transcended in ,himself1 and that not for a handful of nomads in the wilderness1 but for all the world1 in all its generations4 ,so here is one more instance to add to those to which ,i have directed your attention on former occasions1 in which1 in this ,gospel1 we find ,christ claiming to be the fulfilment of incidents and events in that ancient covenant1 ,jacob's ladder1 the brazen serpent1 the manna1 and now the rock that yielded the water4 ,he says of them all that they are the shadow1 and the substance is in ,him4 ,i4 ,so then1 we have to look1 first1 at ,christ's view of humanity as set forth here4 ,you remember the story of how the people in the wilderness1 distressed by that most imperative of all physical cravings1 thirst1 turned upon ,moses and ,aaron and said1 ',why have ye brought us here to die in the wilderness1 where there are neither vines nor pomegranates1' but a land of thirst and death8 ,just as ,christ1 in the former instances to which we have already referred1 selected and pointed to the poisoned and serpent-stricken camp as an emblem of humanity1 and just as ,he pointed to the hunger of the men that were starving there1 as an emblem1 go here ,he says3 ',that is the world--a congregation of thirsty men raging in their pangs1 and not knowing where to find solace or slaking for their thirst4' ,i do not need to go over all the dominant desires that surge up in men's souls1 the mind craving for knowledge1 the heart calling out for love1 the whole nature feeling blindly and often desperately after something external to itself1 which it can grasp1 and in which it can feel satisfied4 ,you know them2 we all know them4 ,like some plant growing in a cellar1 and with feeble and blanched tendrils feeling towards the light which is so far away1 every man carries about within himself a whole host of longing desires1 which need to find something round which they may twine1 and in which they can be at rest4 ',the misery of man is great upon him1' because1 having these desires1 he misreads so many of them1 and stifles1 ignores1 atrophies to so large an extent the noblest of them4 ,i know of no sadder tragedy than the way in which we misinterpret the meaning of these inarticulate cries that rise from the depths of our hearts1 and misunderstand what it is that we are groping after1 when we put out empty1 and1 alas6 too often unclean1 hands1 to lay hold on our true good4 ,brethren1 you do not know what you want1 many of you1 and there is something pathetic in the endless effort to fill up the heart by a multitude of diverse and small things1 when all the while the deepest meaning of aspirations1 yearnings1 longings1 unrest1 discontent is1 ',my soul thirsteth for ,god1 for the living ,god4' ,nothing less than infinitude will satisfy the smallest heart of the humblest and least developed man4 ,nothing less than to have all our treasures in one accessible1 changeless ,infinity will ever give rest to a human soul4 ,you have tried a multiplicity of trifles4 ,it takes a great many bags of coppers to make up ,l4 #ajjj1 and they are cumbrous to carry4 ,would it not be better to part with a multitude of goodly pearls1 if need be1 in order to have all your wealth1 and the satisfaction of all your desires1 in the ',one ,pearl of great price'8 ,it is ,god for whom men are thirsting1 and1 alas6 so many of us know it not4 ,as the old prophet says1 in words that never lose their pathetic power1 'they have hewn out for themselves cisterns'--one is not enough--they need many4 ,they are only cisterns1 which hold what is put into them1 and they are 'broken cisterns1' which cannot hold it4 ,yet we turn to these with a strange infatuation1 which even the experience that teaches fools does not teach us to be folly4 ,we turn to these2 and we turn from the ,fountain2 the one1 the springing1 the sufficient1 the unfailing1 the exuberant ,fountain of living waters4 ,some of you have cisterns on the tops of your houses1 with a coating of green scum and soot on them1 and do you like that foul draught better than the bright blessing that comes out of the heart of the rock1 flashing and pure8 ,but not only are these desires misread1 but the noblest of them are stifled4 ,i have said that the condition of humanity is that of thirst4 ,christ speaks in my text as if that thirst was by no means universal1 and1 alas6 it is not1 ',if any man thirst'2 there are some of us that do not1 for we are all so constituted that1 unless by continual self-discipline1 and self-suppression1 and self-evolution1 the lower desires will overgrow the loftier ones1 and kill them1 as weeds will some precious crop4 ,and some of you are so much taken up with gratifying the lowest necessities and longings of your nature1 that you leave the highest all uncared for1 and the effect of that is that the unsatisfied longing avenges itself1 for your neglect of it1 by infusing unrest and dissatisfaction into what else would satisfy the lowest4 ',he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver1 nor he that loveth abundance with increase1' but he that loves ,god will be satisfied with less than silver1 and will continue satisfied when decrease comes4 ,if you would suck the last drop of sweetness out of the luscious purple grapes that grow on earth1 you must have the appetite after the best things1 recognised1 and ministered to1 and satisfied4 ,and when we are satisfied with ,god1 we shall 'have learnt in whatsoever state we are1 therewith to be self-sufficing4' ,but1 as ,i say1 the highest desires are neglected1 and the lowest are cockered and pampered1 and so the taste is depraved4 ,many of you have no wish for ,god1 and no desire after high and noble things1 and are perfectly contented to browse on the low levels1 or to feed on 'the husks that the swine do eat1' whilst all the while the loftiest of your powers is starving within4 ,brethren1 before we can come to the ,rock that yields the water1 there must be the sense of need4 ,do you know what it is that you want8 ,have you any desire after righteousness and purity and nobleness1 and the vision of ,god flaming in upon the pettinesses and commonplaces of this life which is 'sound and fury1 signifying nothing1' and is trivial in all its pretended greatness1 unless you have learned that you need ,god most of all1 and will never be at rest till you have ,him8 ,,ii4 ,secondly1 note here ,christ's consciousness of ,himself4 ,is there anything in human utterances more majestic and wonderful than this saying of my text1 ',if any man thirst1 let him come to ,me'8 ,there ,he claims to be separate altogether from those whose thirst ,he would satisfy4 ,there ,he claims to be able to meet every aspiration1 every spiritual want1 every true desire in this complex nature of ours4 ,there ,he claims to be able to do this for one1 and therefore for all4 ,there ,he claims to be able to do it for all the generations of mankind1 right away down to the end4 ,who is ,he who thus plants ,himself in the front of the race1 knows their deep thirsts1 takes account of the impotence of anything created to satisfy them1 assumes the divine prerogative1 and says1 ',i come to satisfy every desire in every soul1 to the end of time'8 ,yes1 and from that day when ,he stood in the ,temple and cried these words1 down to this day1 there have been1 and there are1 millions who can say1 ',we have drawn water from this fountain of salvation1 and it has never failed us4' ,christ's audacious presentation of ,himself to the world as adequate to fill all its needs1 and slake all its thirst1 has been verified by nineteen centuries of experience1 and there are many men and women all over the world to-day who would be ready to set to their seals that ,christ is true1 and that ,he1 indeed1 is all-sufficient for the soul4 ,brethren1 ,i do not wish to dwell upon this aspect of our ,lord's character in more than a sentence1 but ,i beseech you to ask yourselves what is the impression that is left of the character of a man who says such things1 unless ,he was something more than one of our race8 ,jesus ,christ1 it is as clear as day1 in these words makes a claim which only divinity can warrant ,him in making1 or can fulfil when it is made4 ,and ,i would urge you to consider what the alternative is1 if you do not believe that ,jesus ,christ here sets ,himself forth as the ,incarnate ,word of ,god1 sufficient for all humanity4 ',i am meek and lowly in heart'--and ,his lowliness of heart is proved in a strange fashion1 if ,he stands up before the race and says1 ',if any man thirst1 let him come unto ,me and drink4' ,,iii4 ,note1 further1 ,christ's invitation4 ',let him come ''' and drink'--two expressions for one thing4 ,that invitation sounds all through ,scripture1 and1 perhaps1 there was lingering in our ,lord's mind1 besides the reference to the rock that yielded the water1 some echo of the words of the second ,isaiah3 ',ho6 every one that thirsteth1 come ye to the waters4' ',nay6' said ,christ1 'not to the waters1 but to ,me4' ,and then we hear from ,his own lips the same invitation addressed to the woman of ,samaria1 with the difference that to her1 an alien1 ,he pointed only to the natural water in the well that had been ,jacob's1 whereas1 to these people1 the descendants of the chosen race1 ,he pointed to the miracle in the desert1 and claimed to fulfil that4 ,and on the very last page of ,scripture1 as it is now arranged1 there stands the echo again of this saying of my text1 ',let him that is athirst come'--there must be the sense of need1 as ,i was saying1 before there is the coming--'and whosoever will1 let him take of the water of life freely4' ,now1 dear friends1 beneath these two metaphorical expressions there lies one simple condition4 ,i put it into three words1 which1 for the sake of being easily remembered1 ,i cast into an alliterative form3 approach ,christ1 appropriate ,christ1 adhere to ,christ4 ,approach ,christ4 ,you come by faith1 you come by love1 you come by communion4 ,and you can come if you will1 though ,he is now on the throne4 ,appropriate ,christ4 ,it is vain that the water should be gushing from the rock there1 unless you make it your own by drinking4 ,it must pass your lips4 ,it must become your personal possession4 ,you must enclose a piece of the common1 and make it your very own4 ',he loved us1 and gave ,himself for us'2 well and good1 but strike out the 'us' and put in 'me4' ',he loved me and gave ,himself for me4' ,the river may be flowing right past your door1 yet your lips may be cracked with thirst1 even whilst you hear the tinkle of its music amongst the sedges and the pebbles4 ,appropriate ,christ4 ',come ''' and drink4' ,adhere to ,christ4 ,you were thirsty yesterday3 you drank4 ,that will not slake to-day's thirst1 nor prevent its recurrence4 ,and you must keep on drinking if you are to keep from perishing of thirst4 ,day by day1 drop by drop1 draught by draught1 you must drink4 ,according to the ancient ,jewish legend1 which ,paul in one of his letters refers to1 about this very miracle1 you must have the ,rock following you all through your desert pilgrimage1 and you must drink daily and hourly1 by continual faith1 love1 and communion4 ,,iv4 ,we have here not only these points1 but a fourth4 ,christ's promise4 ',he that believeth on ,me1 out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water4' ,that is one case of the universal law that a man who trusts ,christ becomes like the ,christ whom he trusts4 ,derivatively and by impartation1 no doubt1 but still the man who has gone to that ,rock1 to the springing fountain as it pushes forth1 receives into himself an inward life by the communication of ,christ's divine ,spirit1 so that he has in him a fountain 'springing up into life everlasting4' ,the ,book of ,proverbs says1 ',the good man shall be satisfied from himself1' but the good man is only satisfied from himself when he can say1 ',i live1 yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me1' and from that better self he will be satisfied4 ,so we may have a well in the courtyard1 and may be able to bear in ourselves the fountain of water1 and where the divine life of ,christ by ,his ,spirit has through faith been implanted within us1 it will come out from us4 ,there is a question for you ,christian people--do any rivers of living water flow out of you8 ,if they do not1 it is to be doubted whether you have drunk of the fountain4 ,there are many professing ,christians who are like the foul little rivers that pass under the pavements in ,manchester1 all impure1 and covered over so that nobody sees them4 ',out of him shall flow rivers of living water'--that is ,christ's way of communicating the blessing of eternal life to the world--by the medium of those who have already received it4 ,christian men and women1 if your faith has brought the life into you1 see to it that approaching ,christ1 and appropriating ,christ1 and adhering to ,christ1 you are becoming assimilated to ,christ1 and in your daily life1 ,god's grace fructifying through you to all1 are 'become as rivers of water in a dry place1 and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land4' ,,the ,,light ,,of ,,the ,,world '''' ,i am the light of the world3 he that followeth ,me shall not walk in darkness1 but shall have the light of life4'--,,john viii4 #ab4 ,jesus ,christ was ,his own great theme4 ,whatever be the explanation of the fact1 there stands the fact that1 if we know anything at all about ,his habitual tone of teaching1 we know that it was full of ,himself4 ,we know1 too1 that what ,he said about ,himself was very unlike the language becoming a wise and humble religious teacher4 ,both the prominence given to ,his own personality1 and the tremendous claims ,he advances for ,himself1 are hard to reconcile with any conception of ,his nature and work except one1--that there we see ,god manifest in the flesh4 ,are such words as these fit to be spoken by any man conscious of his own limitations and imperfections of life and knowledge8 ,would they not be fatal to any one's pretensions to be a teacher of religion or morality8 ,they assert that the ,speaker is the ,source of illumination for the world2 the only ,source2 the ,source for all4 ,they assert that 'following' ,him1 whether in belief or in deed1 is the sure deliverance from all darkness1 either of error or of sin2 and implants in every follower a light which is life4 ,and the world1 instead of turning away from such monstrous assumptions1 and drowning them in scornful laughter1 or rebelling against them1 has listened1 and largely believed1 and has not felt them to mar the beauty of meekness1 which1 by a strange anomaly1 this ,man says that ,he has4 ,words parallel to these are frequent on our ,lord's lips4 ,in each instance they have some special appropriateness of application1 as is probably the case here4 ,the suggestion has been reasonably made1 that there is an allusion in them to part of the ceremonial connected with the ,feast of ,tabernacles1 at which we find our ,lord present in the previous chapter4 ,commentators tell us that on the first evening of the ,feast1 two huge golden lamps1 which stood one on each side of the altar of burnt offering in the ,temple court1 were lighted as the night began to fall1 and poured out a brilliant flood over ,temple and city and deep gorge2 while far into the midnight1 troops of rejoicing worshippers clustered about them with dance and song4 ,the possibility of this reference is strengthened by the note of place which our ,evangelist gives4 ',these things spake ,jesus in the treasury1 as ,he taught in the ,temple1' for the 'treasury' stood in the same court1 and doubtless the golden lamps were full in sight of the listening groups4 ,it is also strengthened by the unmistakable allusion in the previous chapter to another portion of the ceremonial of the ,feast1 where our ,lord puts forth another of ,his great self-revelations and demands1 in singular parallelism with that of our text1 in the words1 ',if any man thirst1 let him come unto ,me and drink4' ,that refers to the custom during the ,feast of drawing water from the fountain of ,siloam1 which was poured out on the altar1 while the gathered multitude chanted the old strain of ,isaiah's prophecy3 ',with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation4' ,it is to be remembered1 too1 in estimating the probability of our text belonging to these ,temple-sayings at the ,feast1 that the section which separates it from them1 and contains the story about the woman taken in adultery1 is judged by the best critics to be out of place here1 and is not found in the most valuable manuscripts4 ,if1 then1 we suppose this allusion to be fairly probable1 ,i think it gives a special direction and meaning to these grand words1 which it may be worth while to think of briefly4 ,the first thing to notice is--the intention of the ceremonial to which our ,lord here points as a symbol of ,himself4 ,what was the meaning of these great lights that went flashing through the warm autumn nights of the festival8 ,all the parts of that ,feast were intended to recall some feature of the forty years' wanderings in the wilderness2 the lights by the altar were memorials of the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night4 ,when1 then1 ,jesus says1 ',i am the ,light of the world1' ,he would declare ,himself as being in reality1 and to every soul of man to the end of time1 what that cloud with its heart of fire was in outward seeming to one generation of desert wanderers4 ,now1 the main thing which it was to these1 was the visible vehicle of the divine presence4 ',the ,lord went before them in a pillar of a cloud4' ',the ,lord looked through the pillar4' ',the ,lord came down in the cloud and spake with him4' ,the 'cloud covered the ,tabernacle1 and the glory of the ,lord appeared4' ,such is the way in which it is ever spoken of1 as being the manifestation to ,israel in sensible form of the presence among them of ,god their ,king4 ',the glory of the ,lord' has a very specific meaning in the ,old ,testament4 ,it usually signifies that brightness1 the flaming heart of the cloudy pillar1 which for the most part1 as it would appear1 veiled by the cloud1 gathered radiance as the world grew darker at set of sun1 and sometimes1 at great crises in the history1 as at the ,red ,sea1 or on ,sinai1 or in loving communion with the law-giver1 or in swift judgment against the rebels1 rent the veil and flamed on men's eyes4 ,i need not remind you how this same pillar of cloud and fire1 which at once manifested and hid ,god1 was thereby no unworthy symbol of ,him who remains1 after all revelation1 unrevealed4 ,whatsoever sets forth1 must also shroud1 the infinite glory4 ,concerning all by which ,he makes ,himself known to eye1 or mind1 or heart1 it must be said1 ',and there was the hiding of ,his power4' ,the fire is ever folded in the cloud4 ,nay1 at bottom1 the light which is full of glory is therefore inaccessible1 and the thick darkness in which ,he dwells is but the 'glorious privacy' of perfect light4 ,that guiding pillar1 which moved before the moving people--a cloud to shelter from the scorching heat1 a fire to cheer in the blackness of night--spread itself above the sanctuary of the wilderness2 and 'the glory of the ,lord filled the ,tabernacle4' ,when the moving ,tabernacle gave place to the fixed ,temple1 again 'the cloud filled the house of the ,lord'2 and there--dwelling between the cherubim1 the types of the whole order of creatural life1 and above the mercy-seat1 that spoke of pardon1 and the ark that held the law1 and behind the veil1 in the thick darkness of the holy of holies1 where no feet trod1 save once a year one white-robed priest1 in the garb of a penitent1 and bearing the blood that made atonement--shone the light of the glory of ,god1 the visible majesty of the present ,deity4 ,but long centuries had passed since that light had departed4 ',the glory' had ceased from the house that now stood on ,zion1 and the light from between the cherubim4 ,shall we not1 then1 see a deep meaning and reference to that awful blank1 when ,jesus standing there in the courts of that ,temple1 whose inmost shrine was1 in a most sad sense1 empty1 pointed to the quenched lamps that commemorated a departed ,shechinah1 and said1 ',i am the ,light of the world'8 ,he is the ,light of the world1 because in ,him is the glory of ,god4 ,his words are madness1 and something very like blasphemy1 unless they are vindicated by the visible indwelling in ,him of the present ,god4 ,the cloud of the humanity1 'the veil1 that is to say1 ,his flesh1' enfolds and tempers2 and through its transparent folds reveals1 even while it swathes1 the ,godhead4 ,like some fleecy vapour flitting across the sun1 and irradiated by its light1 it enables our weak eyes to see light1 and not darkness1 in the else intolerable blaze4 ,yes6 ,thou art the ,light of the world1 because in ,thee dwelleth 'the fulness of the ,godhead bodily4' ,thy servant hath taught us the meaning of ,thy words1 when he said3 ',the ,word was made flesh1 and dwelt among us2 and we beheld ,his glory1 the glory as of the only begotten of the ,father1 full of grace and truth4' ,then1 subordinate to this principal thought1 is the other on which ,i may touch for a moment--that ,christ1 like that pillar of cloud and fire1 guides us in our pilgrimage4 ,you may remember how emphatically the ,book of ,numbers 7chap4 ix47 dwells upon the absolute control of all the marches and halts by the movements of the cloud4 ,when it was taken up1 they journeyed2 when it settled down1 they encamped4 ,as long as it lay spread above the ,tabernacle1 there they stayed4 ,impatient eyes might look1 and impatient spirits chafe--no matter4 ,the camp might be pitched in a desolate place1 away from wells and palm-trees1 away from shade1 among fiery serpents1 and open to fierce foes--no matter4 ,as long as the pillar was motionless1 no man stirred4 ,weary slow days might pass in this compulsory inactivity2 but 'whether it were two days1 or a month1 or a year1 that the cloud tarried upon the ,tabernacle1 the children of ,israel journeyed not4' ,and whenever ,it lifted itself up1--no matter how short had been the halt1 how weary and footsore the people1 how pleasant the resting-place--up with the tent-pegs immediately1 and away4 ,if the signal were given at midnight1 when all but the watchers slept1 or at midday1 it was all the same4 ,there was the true ,commander of their march4 ,it was not ,moses1 nor ,jethro1 with his quick ,arab eye and knowledge of the ground1 that guided them2 but that stately1 solemn pillar1 that floated before them4 ,how they must have watched for the gathering up of its folds as they lay softly stretched along the ,tabernacle roof2 and for its sinking down1 and spreading itself out1 like a misty hand of blessing1 as it sailed in the van6 ',i am the ,light of the world4' ,we have in ,him a better guide through worse perplexities than theirs4 ,by ,his ,spirit within us1 by that all-sufficient and perfect example of ,his life1 by the word of ,his ,gospel1 and by the manifold indications of ,his providence1 ,jesus ,christ is our ,guide4 ,if ever we go astray1 it is not ,his fault1 but ours4 ,how gentle and loving that guidance is1 none who have not yielded to it can tell4 ,how wise and sure1 none but those who have followed it know4 ,he does not say ',go1' but ',come4' ,when ,he puts forth ,his sheep1 ,he goes before them4 ,in all rough places ,his quick hand is put out to save us4 ,in danger ,he lashes us to ,himself1 as ,alpine guides do when there is perilous ice to get across4 ,as one of the psalms puts it1 with wonderful beauty3 ',i will guide thee with ,mine eye'--a glance1 not a blow--a look of directing love1 that at once heartens to duty and tells duty4 ,we must be very near ,him to catch that look1 and very much in sympathy with ,him to understand it2 and when we do1 we must be swift to obey4 ,our eyes must be ever toward the ,lord1 or we shall often be marching on1 unwitting that the pillar has spread itself for rest1 or idly dawdling in our tents long after the cloud has gathered itself up for the march4 ,do not let impatience lead you to hasty interpretation of ,his plans before they are fairly evolved4 ,many men by self-will1 by rashness1 by precipitate hurry in drawing conclusions about what they ought to do1 have ruined their lives4 ,take care1 in the old-fashioned phrase1 of 'running before you are sent4' ,there should always be a good clear space between the guiding ark and you1 'about two thousand cubits by measure1' that there may be no mistakes about the road4 ,it is neither reverent nor wise to be treading on the heels of our ,guide in our eager confidence that we know where ,he wants us to go4 ,do not let the warmth by the camp-fire1 or the pleasantness of the shady place where your tent is pitched1 keep you there when the cloud lifts4 ,be ready for change1 be ready for continuance1 because you are in fellowship with your ,leader and ,commander2 and let ,him say1 ,go1 and you go2 ,do this1 and you gladly do it1 until the hour when ,he will whisper1 ,come2 and1 as you come1 the river will part1 and the journey will be over1 and 'the fiery1 cloudy pillar1' that 'guided you all your journey through1' will spread itself out an abiding glory1 in that higher home where 'the ,lamb is the light thereof4' ,all true following of ,christ begins with faith1 or we might almost say that following is faith1 for we find our ,lord substituting the former expression for the latter in another passage of this ,gospel parallel with the present4 ',i am come a ,light into the world1 that whosoever believeth on ,me should not walk in darkness4' ,the two ideas are not equivalent1 but faith is the condition of following2 and following is the outcome and test1 because it is the operation1 of faith4 ,none but they who trust ,him will follow ,him4 ,he who does not follow1 does not trust4 ,to follow ,christ1 means to long and strive after ,his companionship2 as the ,psalmist says1 ',my soul followeth hard after ,thee4' ,it means the submission of the will1 the effort of the whole nature1 the daily conflict to reproduce ,his example1 the resolute adoption of ,his command as my law1 ,his providence as my will1 ,his fellowship as my joy4 ,and the root and beginning of all such following is in coming to ,him1 conscious of mine own darkness1 and trustful in ,his great light4 ,we must rely on a ,guide before we accept ,his directions2 and it is absurd to pretend that we trust ,him1 if we do not go as ,he bids us4 ,so ',follow thou ,me' is1 in a very real sense1 the sum of all ,christian duty4 ,that thought opens out very wide fields1 into which we must not even glance now2 but ,i cannot help pausing here to repeat the remark already made1 as to the gigantic and incomprehensible self-confidence that speaks here4 ',followeth ,me'2 then ,jesus ,christ calmly proposes ,himself as the aim and goal for every soul of man2 sets up ,his own doings as an all-sufficient rule for us all1 with all our varieties of temper1 character1 culture1 and work1 and quietly assumes to have a right of precedence before1 and of absolute command over1 the whole world4 ,they are all to keep behind ,him1 ,he thinks1 be they saints or sages1 kings or beggars2 and the liker they are to ,himself1 ,he thinks1 the nearer they will be to perfectness and life4 ,he puts ,himself at the head of the mystic march of the generations1 and1 like the mysterious ,angel that ,joshua saw in the plain by ,jericho1 makes the lofty claim3 ',nay1 but as ,captain of the ,lord's host am ,i come up4' ,do we admit ,his claim because we know ,his ,name8 ,do we yield ,him full trust because we have learned that ,he is the ,light of men since ,he is the ,word of ,god8 ,do we follow ,him with loyal obedience1 longing love1 and lowly imitation1 since ,he has been and is to us the ,saviour of our souls8 ,in the measure in which we do1 the great promises of this wonderful saying will be verified and understood by us--',he that followeth ,me shall not walk in darkness4' ,that saying has1 as one may say1 a lower and a higher fulfilment4 ,in the lower1 it refers to practical life and its perplexities4 ,nobody who has not tried it would believe how many difficulties are cleared out of a man's road by the simple act of trying to follow ,christ4 ,no doubt there will still remain obscurities enough as to what we ought to do1 to call for the best exercise of patient wisdom2 but an enormous proportion of them vanish like mist when the sun breaks through1 when once we honestly set ourselves to find out whither the pillared ,light is guiding4 ,it is a reluctant will1 and intrusive likings and dislikings1 that obscure the way for us1 much oftener than real obscurity in the way itself4 ,it is seldom impossible to discern the divine will1 when we only wish to know it that we may do it4 ,and if ever it is impossible for us1 surely that impossibility is like the cloud resting on the ,tabernacle--a sign that for the present ,his will is that we should be still1 and wait1 and watch4 ,but there is a higher meaning in the words than even this promise of practical direction4 ,in the profound symbolism of ,scripture1 especially of this ,gospel1 'darkness' is the name for the whole condition of the soul averted from ,god4 ,so our ,lord here is declaring that to follow ,him is the true deliverance from that midnight of the soul4 ,there are a darkness of ignorance1 a darkness of impurity1 a darkness of sorrow2 and in that threefold gloom1 thickening to a darkness of death1 are they enwrapt who follow not the ,light4 ,that is the grim1 tragical side of this saying1 too sad1 too awful for our lips to speak much of1 and best left in the solemn impressiveness of that one word4 ,but the hopeful1 blessed side of it is1 that the feeblest beginnings of trust in ,jesus ,christ1 and the first tottering steps that try to tread in ,his1 bring us into the light4 ,it does not need that we have reached our goal1 it is enough that our faces are turned to it1 and our hearts desire to attain it1 then we may be sure that the dominion of the darkness over us is broken4 ,to follow1 though it be afar off1 and with unequal steps1 fills our path with increasing brightness1 and even though evil and ignorance and sorrow may thrust their blackness in upon our day1 they are melting in the growing glory1 and already we may give thanks 'unto the ,father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light1 who hath delivered us from the power of darkness1 and hath translated us into the kingdom of ,his dear ,son4' ,but we have not merely the promise that we shall be led by the light and brought into the light4 ,a yet deeper and grander gift is offered here3 ',he shall have the light of life4' ,i suppose that means1 not1 as it is often carelessly taken to mean1 a light which illuminates the life1 but1 like the similar phrases of this ,gospel1 'bread of life1' 'water of life1'--light which is life4 ',in ,him was life1 and the life was the light of men4' ,these two are one in their source1 which is ,jesus1 the ,word of ,god4 ,of ,him we have to say1 ',with ,thee is the fountain of life1 in ,thy light shall we see light4' ,they are one in their deepest nature2 the life is the light1 and the light the life4 ,and this one gift is bestowed upon every soul that follows ,christ4 ,not only will our outward lives be illumined or guided from without1 but our inward being will be filled with the brightness4 ',ye were sometimes darkness1 now are ye light in the ,lord4' ,that pillar of fire remained apart and without4 ,but this true and better ,guide of our souls enters in and dwells in us1 in all the fulness of ,his triple gift of life1 and light1 and love4 ,within us ,he will chiefly prove ,himself the ,guide of our spirits1 and will not merely cast ,his beams on the path of our feet1 but will fill and flood us with ,his own brightness4 ,all light of knowledge1 of goodness1 of gladness will be ours1 if ,christ be ours2 and ours ,he surely will be if we follow ,him4 ,let us take heed1 lest turning away from ,him we follow the will-o'-the-wisps of our own fancies1 or the dancing lights1 born of putrescence1 that flicker above the swamps1 for they will lead us into doleful lands where evil things haunt1 and into outer darkness4 ,let us take heed how we use that light of ,god2 for ,christ1 like ,his symbol of old1 has a double aspect according to the eye which looks4 ',it came between the camp of the ,egyptians and the camp of ,israel1 and it was a cloud and darkness to them1 but it gave light by night to these4' ,he is either a ,stone of stumbling or a sure ,foundation1 a savour of life or of death1 and which ,he is depends on ourselves4 ,trusted1 loved1 followed1 ,he is light4 ,neglected1 turned from1 ,he is darkness4 ,though ,he be the ,light of the world1 it is only the man who follows ,him to whom ,he can give the light of life4 ,therefore1 man's awful prerogative of perverting the best into the worst forced ,him1 who came to be the light of men1 to that sad and solemn utterance3 ',for judgment ,i am come into this world1 that they which see not might see1 and that they which see might be made blind4' ,,three ,,aspects ,,of ,,faith ',many believed on ,him4 ,then said ,jesus to those ,jews which believed on ,him'''4'--,,john viii4 #cj1ca4 ,the ,revised ,version accurately represents the original by varying the expression in these two clauses1 retaining 'believed on ,him' in the former1 and substituting the simple 'believed ,him' in the latter4 ,the variation in two contiguous clauses can scarcely be accidental in so careful a writer as the ,apostle ,john4 ,and the reason and meaning of it are obvious enough on the face of the narrative4 ,his purpose is to distinguish between more and less perfect acceptance of ,jesus ,christ4 ,the more perfect is the former1 'they believed on ,him'2 the less perfect is the latter1 the simple acceptance of ,his word on ,his claim of ,messiahship1 which is stigmatised as shallow1 and proved to be transient by the context4 ,they were ',jews' which believed1 and they continued to be so whilst they were believing4 ,now1 the word ',jew' in this ,gospel always connotes antagonism to ,jesus ,christ2 and as for these persons1 how slight and unreliable their adhesion to the ,lord is1 comes out in the course of the next few verses2 and by the end of the chapter they are taking up stones to stone ,him4 ,so ,john would show us that there is a kind of acceptance which may be real1 and may be the basis of something much better hereafter1 but which1 if it does not grow1 rots and disappears2 and he would draw a broad line of distinction between that and the other mental act1 far deeper1 more wholesome1 more lasting and vital1 which he designates as 'believing on ,him4' ,i take these words1 then1 for consideration1 not so much to deal with other thoughts suggested by them1 as because they afford me a starting-point for the consideration of the various phases of the act of believing1 its blessings and its nature1 and its relation to its objects1 which are expressed in the ,new ,testament by the various grammatical connections and constructions of this word4 ,now1 the facts with which ,i wish to deal may be very briefly stated4 ,there are three ways in which the ,new ,testament represents the act of believing1 and its relation to its ,object1 ,christ4 ,these three are1 first1 the simple one which appears in the text as 'believed ,him4' ,then there is a second1 which appears in two forms1 slightly different1 but which1 for our purpose1 may be treated as substantially the same--'believing on ,him4' ,and then there is a third1 which1 literally and accurately translated is1 'believing unto' or 'into ,him4' ,that phrase is ,john's favourite one1 and rather unfortunately1 though perhaps necessarily1 it has been generally rendered by our translators by the less forcible 'believing in1' which gives the idea of repose in1 but does not give the idea of motion towards4 ,these three1 then1 ,i think1 do set forth1 if we will ponder them1 very large lessons as to the essence of this act of believing1 as to the ,object upon which it fastens1 and as to the blessings which flow from it1 which it will be worth our while to consider now4 ,i may cast the whole into the shape of three exhortations3 believe ,him1 believe on ,him1 believe unto ,him4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 believe ,christ4 ,we accept a man's words when we trust the man4 ,even if belief1 or faith1 is represented in the ,new ,testament1 as it very rarely is1 as having for its object the words of revelation1 behind that acceptance of the words lies confidence in the person speaking4 ,and the beginning of all true ,christian faith has in it1 not merely the intellectual acceptance of certain propositions as true1 but a confidence in the veracity of ,him by whom they are made known to us--even ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,i do not need to insist upon that at any length here--it would take me away from my present purpose2 but what ,i do wish to emphasise is1 that from the very starting-point1 the smallest germ of the most rudimentary and imperfect faith which knits a soul to ,jesus ,christ has ,him for its ,object1 and is thus distinguished from the mere acceptance of truths which1 on other grounds than the authority of the speaker1 may legitimately commend themselves to a man4 ,then believe ,him4 ,now1 that breaks up into two thoughts1 which are all that ,i intend to deduce from it now1 although many more might be suggested4 ,the one is this1 that the least and the lowest that ,jesus ,christ asks from us is the entire and unhesitating acceptance of ,his utterances as final1 conclusive1 and absolutely true4 ,whatever more ,jesus ,christ may be1 ,he is1 by ,his life and words1 the ,communicator of divine and certain truth4 ,he is a ,teacher1 though ,he is a great deal more4 ,and whatever more ,christian faith may be--and it is a great deal more--it requires1 at least1 the frank and full recognition of the authority of every word that comes from ,his lips4 ,a ,christianity without a creed is a dream4 ,bones without flesh are very dry1 no doubt2 but what about flesh without bones8 ,an inert1 shapeless mass4 ,you will never have a vigorous and true ,christian life if it is to be moulded according to the fantastic dream of these latter days1 which tells us that we may take ,jesus as the ,guide of our conduct and need not mind about what ,he says to us4 ',believe ,me' is ,his requirement4 ,the words of ,his mouth1 and the revelations which ,he has made in the sweetness of ,his life1 and in all the graciousness of ,his dealings1 are the very unveiling to man of absolute and final and certain truth4 ,but then1 on the other hand1 let us remember that1 while all this is most clear and distinct in the teaching of ,scripture1 it carries us but a very short way4 ,we find1 in the instance from which we take our starting-point in this sermon1 the broad distinction drawn1 and practically illustrated in the conduct of the persons concerned1 between the simple acceptance of what ,christ says1 and a true faith that clings to ,him for evermore4 ,and the same kind of disparagement of the lower process of merely accepting ,his word is found more than once in connection with the same phrases4 ,we find1 for instance1 the two which are connected in our texts used in a previous conversation between our ,lord and ,his antagonists4 ,when ,he says to them1 ',this is the work of ,god1 that ye believe on ,him whom ,he hath sent1' they reply1 dragging down ,his claim to a lower level1 ',what sign showest ,thou1 that we may see1 and believe ,thee8' ,he demanded belief on ,himself2 they answer1 ',we are ready to believe you1 on condition that we see something that may make the rendering of our belief a logical necessity for us4' ,let us lay to heart the rudimentary and incomplete character of a faith which simply accepts the teaching of ,jesus ,christ1 and does no more4 ,the notion that orthodoxy is ,christianity1 that a man who does not contradict the teaching of the ,new ,testament is thereby a ,christian1 is a very old and very perilous and very widespread one4 ,there are many of us who have no better claim to be called ,christians than this1 that we never denied anything that ,jesus ,christ said1 though we are not sufficiently interested in it1 ,i was going to say1 even to deny it4 ,this rudimentary faith1 which contents itself with the acceptance of the truth revealed1 hardens into mere formalism1 or liquefies into mere careless indifference as to the very truth that it professes to believe4 ,there is nothing more impotent than creeds which lie dormant in our brains1 and have no influence upon our lives4 ,i wonder how many readers of this sermon1 who fancy themselves good ,christians1 do with their creed as the ,japanese used to do with their ,emperor--keep him in a palace behind bamboo screens1 and never let him do anything1 whilst all the reality of power was possessed by another man1 who did not profess to be a king at all4 ,do you think you are ,christians because you would sign thirty-nine or three hundred and ninety articles of ,christianity1 if they were offered to you1 while there is not one of them that influences either your thinking or your conduct8 ,do not let us have these 'sluggish kings1' with a mayor of the place to do the real government1 but set on the throne of your hearts the principles of your religion1 and see to it that all your convictions be translated into practice1 and all your practice be informed by your convictions4 ,this belief in a set of dogmas1 on the authority of ,jesus ,christ1 about which dogmas we do not care a rush1 and which make no difference upon our lives1 is the faith about which ,james has so many hard things to say2 and he ventures upon a parallel that ,i should not like to venture on unless ,i were made bold by his example3 ',thou believest1 ,o vain man6 thou doest well3 the devils also believe1 and'--better than you1 in that their belief does something for them1 they 'believe--and tremble6' ,but what shall we say about a man who professes himself a disciple1 and neither trembles1 nor thrills1 nor hopes1 nor dreads1 nor desires1 nor does any single thing because of his creed8 ,believe ,jesus1 but do not stop there4 ,,ii4 ,believe on ,christ4 ,now1 as ,i have remarked already1 and as many of you know1 there is a slightly different1 twofold form of this phrase in ,scripture4 ,i need not trouble you with the minute distinction between the one and the other4 ,both forms coincide in the important point on which ,i wish to touch4 ,that representation of believing on ,christ carries us away at once from the mere act of acceptance of ,his word on ,his authority to the far more manifestly voluntary1 moral1 and personal act of reliance upon ,him4 ,the metaphor is expanded in various ways in ,scripture1 and instead of offering any thoughts of my own about it1 ,i would simply ask attention to three of the forms in which it is set forth in the ,old and in the ,new ,testaments4 ,the first of them1 and the one which we may regard as governing the others1 is that found in the words of ,isaiah1 ',behold1 ,i lay in ,zion a stone1 a sure ,foundation'2 and1 as the ,apostle ,peter comments1 ',he that believeth on ,him shall not be confounded4' ,there the thoughts presented are the superposition of the building upon its ,foundation1 the rest of the soul1 and the rearing of the life on the basis of ,jesus ,christ4 ,how much that metaphor says to us about ,him as the ,foundation1 in all the aspects in which we can apply that term6 ,he is the ,basis of our hope1 the ,guarantee of our security1 the ,foundation-stone of our beliefs1 the very ,ground on which our whole life reposes1 the ,source of our tranquillity1 the ,pledge of our peace4 ,all that ,i think1 feel1 desire1 wish1 and do1 ought to be rested upon that dear ,lord1 and builded on ,him by simple faith4 ,by patient persistence of effort rearing up the fabric of my life firmly upon ,him1 and grafting every stone of it--if ,i might so use the metaphor--into the bedding-stone1 which is ,christ1 ,i shall be strong1 peaceful1 and pure4 ,the storm comes1 the waters rise1 the winds howl1 the hail and the rain 'sweep away the refuge of lies1' and the dwellers in these frail and foundationless houses are hurrying in wild confusion from one peak to another1 before the steadily rising tide4 ,but he that builds on that ,foundation 'shall not make haste1' as ,isaiah has it2 shall not need to hurry to shift his quarters before the flood overtake him2 shall look out serene upon all the hurtling fury of the wild storm1 and the rise of the sullen waters4 ,so1 reliance on ,christ1 and the honest making of ,him the ,basis1 not of our hopes only1 but of our thinkings and of our doings1 and of our whole being1 is the secret of security1 and the pledge of peace4 ,then there is another form of the same phrase1 'believing on1' in which is suggested not so much the figure of building upon a foundation1 as of some feeble man resting upon a strong stay1 or clinging to an outstretched and mighty arm4 ,the same metaphor is implied in the word 'reliance4' ,we lean upon ,christ when1 forsaking all other props1 and realising ,his sufficiency and sweetness1 we rest the whole weight of our weariness and all the impotence of our weakness upon ,his strong and unwearied arm1 and so are saved4 ,all other stays are like that one to which the prophet compares the ,king of ,egypt--the papyrus reed in the ,nile stream1 on which1 if a man leans1 it will break into splinters which will go into his flesh1 and make a poisoned wound4 ,but if we lean on ,christ1 we lean on a brazen wall and an iron pillar1 and anything is possible sooner than that that stay shall give4 ,there is still another form of the metaphor1 in which neither building upon a foundation1 nor leaning upon a support which is thought of as below what rests upon it1 are suggested1 but rather the hanging upon something firm and secure which is above what hangs from it4 ,the same picture is suggested by our word 'dependence4' ',as a nail fastened in a sure place1' said one of the prophets1 'on ,him shall hang all the glory of ,his ,father's house4' ',hangs my helpless soul on ,thee4' ,the rope lowered over the cliffs supports the adventurous bird-nester in safety above the murmuring sea4 ,they who clasp ,christ's hand outstretched from above1 may swing over the deepest1 most vacuous abyss1 and fear no fall4 ,so1 brother1 build on ,christ1 rely on ,him1 depend on ,him1 and it shall not be in vain4 ,but if you will not build on the sure ,foundation1 do not wonder if the rotten one gives way4 ,if you will not lean on the strong ,stay1 complain not when the weak one crumbles to dust beneath your weight4 ,and if you choose to swing over the profound depth at the end of a piece of pack-thread1 instead of holding on by an adamantine chain wrapped round ,god's throne1 you must be prepared for its breaking and your being smashed to pieces below4 ,,iii4 ,the last exhortation that comes out of this comparative study of these phrases is--,believe into ,christ4 ,that is a very pregnant and remarkable expression1 and it can scarcely1 as you see1 be rendered into our language without a certain harshness2 but still it is worth while to face the harshness for the sake of getting the double signification that is involved in it4 ,for when we speak of believing unto or into ,him1 we suggest two things1 both of which1 apparently1 were in the minds of the writers of the ,new ,testament4 ,one is motion towards1 and the other is repose in1 that dear ,lord4 ,so1 then1 true ,christian faith is the flight of the soul towards ,christ4 ,therein is one of the special blessednesses of the ,christian life1 that it has for its object and aim absolutely infinite and unattainable completeness and glory1 so that unwearied freshness1 inexhaustible buoyancy1 endless progress1 are the dower of every spirit that truly trusts in ,christ4 ,all other aims and objects are limited1 transient1 and will be left behind4 ,every other landmark will sink beneath the horizon1 where so many of our landmarks have sunk already1 and where they will all disappear when the last moment comes4 ,but we may have1 and if we are ,christian people we shall have1 bright before us1 sufficiently certain of being reached to make our efforts hopeful and confident1 sufficiently certain of never being reached to make our efforts blessed with endless aspirations1 the great light and love of that dear ,lord1 to yearn after whom is better than to possess all besides1 and following hard after whom1 even in the very motion there is rest1 and in the search there is finding4 ,religion is the flight of the soul1 the aspiration of the whole man after the unattainable ,attainable--'that ,i may know ,him1 and be found in ,him4' ,oh1 how such thoughts ought to shame us who call ourselves ,christians6 ,growth1 progress1 getting nearer to ,christ1 yearning ever with a great desire after ,him6--do not the words seem irony when applied to most of us8 ,think of the average type of sluggish contentment with present attainments that marks ,christian people--tortoises in their crawling rather than eagles in their flight4 ,and let us take our portion of shame1 and remember that the faith which believes ,him1 and that which believes on ,him1 both need to be crowned and perfected by that which believes towards ,him1 of which the motto is1 ',forgetting the things that are behind1 ,i reach forward to the things that are before4' ,but there is another side to this last phase of faith4 ,that true believing towards or unto ,christ is the rest of the soul in ,him4 ,by faith that deep and most real union of the believing soul with ,jesus ,christ is effected which may be fitly described as our entrance into and abode in ,him4 ,the believer is as if incorporated into ,him in whom he believes4 ,indeed1 the ,apostle ventures to use a more startling expression than incorporation when he says that 'he that is joined to the ,lord is one ,spirit4' ,if by faith we press towards1 by faith we shall be in1 ,christ4 ,faith is at once motion and rest1 search and finding1 desire and fruition4 ,the felicity of this last form of the phrase is its expression of both these ideas1 which are united in fact as in word4 ,a rare construction of the verb to believe1 with the simple preposition in1 coincides with this part of the meaning of believing unto or into1 and need not be separately considered4 ,with this understanding of its meaning1 we see how natural is ,john's preference for this construction4 ,for surely1 if he has anything to tell us1 it is that the true ,christian life is a life enclosed1 as it were1 in ,jesus ,christ4 ,nor need ,i remind you how ,paul1 though he starts from a different point of view1 yet coincides with ,john in this teaching4 ,for1 to him1 to be 'in ,christ' is the sum of all blessedness1 righteousness1 peace1 and power4 ,as in an atmosphere1 we may dwell in ,him4 ,he may be the strong ,habitation to which we may continually resort4 ,one of the ,old ,testament words for trusting means taking refuge1 and such a thought is naturally suggested by this ,new ,testament form of expression4 ',i flee unto ,thee to hide me4' ,in that ,fortress we dwell secure4 ,to be in ,jesus1 wedded to ,him by the conjunction of will and desire1 wedded to ,him in the oneness of a believing spirit and in the obedience of a life1 to be thus in ,christ is the crown and climax of faith1 and the condition of all perfection4 ,to be in ,christ is life2 to be out of ,him is death4 ,in ,him we have redemption2 in ,him we have wisdom1 truth1 peace1 righteousness1 hope1 confidence4 ,to be in ,him is to be in heaven4 ,we enter by faith4 ,faith is not the acceptance merely of ,his ,word1 but is the reliance of the soul on ,him1 the flight of the soul towards ,him1 the dwelling of the soul in ,him4 ',come1 ,my people1 into thy chambers1 and shut thy doors about thee ''' until the indignation be overpast4' ',,never ,,in ,,bondage' ',we''' were never in bondage to any man3 how gayest ,thou1 ,ye shall be made free6'--,,john viii4 #cc4 ',never in bondage to any man'8 ,then what about ,egypt1 ,babylon1 ,persia1 ,syria8 ,was there not a ,roman garrison looking down from the castle into the very ,temple courts where this boastful falsehood was uttered8 ,it required some hardihood to say1 ',never in bondage to any man1' in the face of such a history1 and such a present4 ,but was it not just an instance of the strange power which we all have and exercise1 of ignoring disagreeable facts1 and by ingenious manipulation taking the wrinkles out of the photograph8 ,the ,jews were perhaps not misunderstanding ,jesus ,christ quite so much as these words may suggest4 ,if ,he had been promising1 as they chose to assume1 political and external liberty1 ,i fancy they would have risen to the bait a little more eagerly than they did to ,his words4 ,but be that as it may1 this strange answer of theirs suggests that power of ignoring what we do not want to see1 not only in the way in which ,i have suggested1 but also in another4 ,for if they had any inkling of what ,jesus meant by slavery and freedom1 they1 by such words as these1 put away from themselves the thought that they were1 in any deep and inward sense1 bondsmen1 and that a message of liberty had any application to them4 ,ah1 dear friends6 there was a great deal of human nature in these men1 who thus put up a screen between them and the penetrating words of our ,lord4 ,were they not doing just what many of us--all of us to some extent--do3 ignoring the facts of their own necessities1 of their own spiritual condition1 denying the plain lessons of experience8 ,like them1 are not we too often refusing to look in the face the fact that we all1 apart from ,him1 are really in bondage8 ,because we do not realise the slavery1 are we not indifferent to the offer of freedom8 ',we were never in bondage'2 consequently we add1 ',how sayest ,thou1 ,ye shall be made free8' ,so then1 my text brings us to think of three things3 our bondage1 our ignorance of our bondage1 our consequent indifference to ,christ's offer of liberty4 ,let me say a word or two about each of these4 ,first as to-- ,i4 ,our bondage4 ,christ follows the vain boast in the text1 with the calm1 grave1 profound explanation of what ,he meant3 ',whoso committeth sin is the slave of sin4' ,that is true in two ways4 ,by the act of sinning a man shows that he is the slave of an alien power that has captured him2 and in the act of sinning1 he rivets the chains and increases the tyranny4 ,he is a slave1 or he would not obey sin4 ,he is more a slave because he has again obeyed it4 ,now1 do not let us run away with the idea that when ,jesus speaks of sin and its bondage1 ,he is thinking only1 or mainly1 of gross outrages and contradictions of the plain law of morality and decency1 that ,he is thinking only of external acts which all men brand as being wrong1 or of those which law qualifies as crimes4 ,we have to go far deeper than that1 and into a far more inward region of life than that1 before we come to apprehend the inwardness and the depth of the ,christian conception of what sin is4 ,we have to bring our whole life close up against ,god1 and then to judge its deeds thereby4 ,therefore1 though ,i know ,i am speaking to a mass of respectable1 law-abiding people1 very few of you having any knowledge of the grosser and uglier forms of transgression1 and ,i dare say none of you having any experience of what it is to sin against human law1 though ,i do not charge you--,god forbid6--with vices1 and still less with crimes1 ,i bring to each man's conscience a far more searching word than either of these two1 when ,i say1 ',we all have sinned and come short of the glory of ,god4' ,this declaration of the universality and reality of the bondage of sin is only the turning into plain words of a fact which is of universal experience1 though it may be of a very much less universal consciousness4 ,we may not be aware of the fact1 because1 as ,i have to show you1 we do not direct our attention to it4 ,but there it is2 and the truth is that every man1 however noble his aspirations sometimes1 however pure and high his convictions1 and however honest in the main may be his attempts to do what is right1 when he deals honestly with himself1 becomes more or less conscious of just that experience which a great expert in soul analysis and self-examination made3 ',i find a law'--an influence working upon my heart with the inevitableness and certainty of law--'that when ,i would do good1 evil is present with me4' ,we all know that1 whether we regard it as we ought or no4 ,we all say ,amen to that1 when it is forced upon our attention4 ,there is something in us that thwarts aspiration towards good1 and inclines to evil4 ',what will but felt the fleshly screen8' ,and it is not only a screen4 ,it not only prevents us from rising as high as we would1 but it sinks us so low as to do deeds that something within us recoils from and brands as evil4 ,jesus teaches us that he who commits sin is the slave of sin2 that is to say1 that an alien power has captured and is coercing the wrongdoer4 ,that teaching does not destroy responsibility1 but it kindles hope4 ,a foreign foe1 who has invaded the land1 may be driven out of the land1 and all his prisoners set free1 if a stronger than he comes against him4 ,christianity is called gloomy and stern1 because it preaches the corruption of man's heart4 ,is it not a gospel to draw a distinction between the evil that a man does1 and the self that a man may be8 ,is it not better1 more hopeful1 more of a true evangel1 to say to a man1 ',sin dwelleth in you1' than to say1 ',what is called sin is only the necessary action of human nature'8 ,to believe that their present condition is not slavery makes men hopeless of ever gaining freedom1 and the true gospel of the emancipation of humanity rests on the ,christian doctrine of the bondage of sin4 ,let me remind you that freedom consists not in the absence of external constraints1 but in the animal in us being governed by the will1 for when the flesh is free the man is a slave4 ,and it means that the will should be governed by the conscience2 and it means that the conscience should be governed by ,god4 ,these are the stages4 ,men are built in three stories1 so to speak4 ,down at the bottom1 and to be kept there1 are inclinations1 passions1 lust1 desires1 all which are but blind aimings after their appropriate satisfaction1 without any question as to whether the satisfaction is right or wrong2 and above that a dominant will which is meant to control1 and above that a conscience4 ,that is the pyramid2 and as by the sunshine on the gilded top of some spire1 the shining apex1 the conscience1 is illnmined when the light of ,god falls upon it4 ,and when a man is built in that fashion1 and keeps to that fashion1 then1 and only then1 is he free4 ,i need not remind you of how the metaphor of my text receives its most tragical and yet most common illustration and confirmation in the awful fact of the power of any evil thing1 once thought or done by a man1 to reproduce itself1 onwards and ever onwards4 ,it is a far commoner thing for a man never to have done some given evil1 never to have got drunk1 never to have stolen1 or the like1 than to have done it only once4 ,i have heard of a mysterious illness1 in which at first medical analysis detected with difficulty one single bacterion in a great quantity of blood4 ,but in a few days1 so had they multiplied that no drop could be taken anywhere from the veins which was not full of them4 ,that is how men get under the slavery of any evil thing2 and habit becomes stronger than anything except that strong ,son of ,god1 immortal ,love1 whose ,spirit can conquer even it4 ,can the ,ethiopian change his skin1 or the leopard his spots8 ,then may ye that are wont to do evil learn to do well4 ,the bondage is real and hard4 ,my text suggests to us that strange1 sad fact ,,ii4 ,,our ,,ignorance ,,of ,,our ,,slavery4 ,we were never in bondage to any man1 said the ,jews4 ,we are but too apt to repeat the empty boast1 and as they forgot ,pharaoh and ,nebuchadnezzar1 ,antiochus1and ,cesar1 we forget our failures1 our faults1 our sins4 ,we ignore them4 ,is not that1 too1 a plain fact of experience8 ,a sadly large percentage of men never have really opened their eyes to the undeniable truth that sin has dominion over them4 ,they go along on the surface of things1 keeping to the shallows of human life1 occupying themselves with their various duties and enjoyments1 and they never know1 just because they shut their eyes to facts1 or rather turn their eyes away from facts-what is their real condition in ,god's sight4 ,some of my present hearers are1 in regard to this matter1 what the old ,puritans used to call ,gospel-hardened4 ,they have their hearts and minds1 ,i was going to say water-proofed1 by repeated application to them1 as ,i am trying to apply them now1 of truths which but add one more film to the layers between their hearts and the ,gospel4 ,because they are so familiar with the words of our message1 they all but lose the faculty of bringing its power into contact with themselves4 ,oh6 if ,i could overcome that tendency which there is in all regular church and chapel-goers to make themselves comfortable in their corners1 and suppose that the man in the pulpit is saying what he ought to say1 and that they need not give much heed to his message because they have heard it all before-if ,i could once get the sharp point of this great ,christian truth of our slavery under sin1 through the manifold layers with which your heart is encrusted1 you would find out the weight of a good many things that some of you think very phantasmal and of little consequence4 ,there is nothing about us that is more remarkable and more awful1 when you come to think of it1 than the power that we have1 by not attending to something1 of making that something practically non-existent4 ,the great search-lights1 that they now have on battleships1 will fling a beam of terrible revealing power on one sma#aa segment of the vast circle of the sea2 and all the rest1 though it may be filled with the enemy's fleet1 will be lying in darkness4 ,so just because we cannot get you to think of the facts of your slavery to sin1 the facts are non-existent as far as you are concerned4 ,let me plead with you4 ,surely6 sure#ay1 it is not a thing worthy of a man never to go down into the deep places of your own hearts and see the ugly things that coil and wrestle and swarm and multiply there6 ,ezekiel was once led to a place where1 through a hole broken in the wall1 there was showed him an inner chamber1 on the walls of which were painted the hideous idols of the heathen4 ,and there1 in the presence of the foul shapes1 stood venerable priests and official dignitaries of ,israel1 with their censers in their hands1 and their backs to the oracle of ,god4 ,there is a chamber like that in all our hearts2 and it would be a great deal better that we should go down1 through the hole in the wall1 and see it1 than that we should live1 as so many of us do1 in this fool's paradise of ignorance of our own sin4 ,it is because we will not attend to the facts that we ignore the facts4 ,the evils that we do1 and that we cherish undone in our hearts1 are like the wreckers on some stormy coast1 that begin operations by taking the tongue out of the bell that hangs on the buoy1 and putting out the light that beams from the beacon4 ,sin chokes conscience2 and so the worse a man is1 the less he feels himself to be bad2 and while a saint will be tortured with agonies of remorse for some slight peccadillo1 a brigand will add a murder or two to his list1 and wipe his mouth and say1 ,i have done no harm4 ,we are ignorant of our sin because we bribe our consciences1 because we drug our consciences1 because we will not attend to the facts of our own spiritual being4 ,that ignorance of our bondage is characteristic of the tone of mind of this generation4 ,things have changed in that respect1 as in a great many others1 since ,i was a boy4 ,i do not hear now1 from people who desire to unite themselves to ,jesus ,christ1 the deep poignant penitence and confession of sin that one used to hear4 ,i do not hear the facts of sin1 its gravity and universality1 preached from pulpits in the way it used to be4 ,i notice in the ordinary1 average man a tendency to think more about environment and heredity1 than about individidual responsibility1 and on the whole a very much lowered sense of the depth and the power and the universality of transgression4 ,and that is why1 to a large extent1 the ,christianity of this generation is so shallow a thing as it is4 ,that brings me1 lastly1 to say a word about ,,iii4 ,,the ,,consequent ,,indifference ,,to ,,christ',s ,,offer ,,of ,,freedom4 ,how sayest ,thou1 ,ye shall be made free8 ,of course1 if they had no consciousness of bondage1 there was no attraction for them in a promise of freedom4 ,that remark opens out two thoughts1 on which ,i do not dwell4 ,first1 the ignoring of the fact of sin which is so common amongst us all to-day1 makes it impossible to understand ,christ and ,christianity4 ,brethren1 that great ,gospel1 and that great ,lord who is the subject of the ,gospel1 have many other aspects than this4 ,but this is the central thought as to it and ,him1 that it is the emancipation from sin1 because ,he is the ,emancipator4 ,the spirit of the ,lord is upon ,me1 because ,he hath anointed ,me to preach deliverance to the captives4 ,and wherever we find1 as we do find1 in many quarters to-day1 that the central fact of ,christianity1 the ,death for the sin of the world1 is deposed from its place1 there the life-blood is ebbing out of the ,gospel4 ,historically1 the beginning of almost all heresies has been the under-estimate of the fact of sin4 ,as long as you dwell in the shallows of human experience1 a shallow ,christianity and a shallow ,christ will be enough for you4 ,but when once you get to understand the depths of your own need1 and the depths of your brother's need1 then nothing less than the ,christ that died to solve the problem1 insoluble else1 of how to emancipate the soul and the world from the tyranny of sin1 will be enough for you4 ,once the waters of the great deep are broken up1 and the floods are out1 there is nothing for it but the ,ark4 ,it is not enough then to speak of a human ,christ2 it is not enough1 when a man's conscience has been roused1 not to exaggeration1 but to clear sight1 of what he isit is not enough then to speak of an example ,christ1 or of a teaching ,christ4 ,ah6 we want more than that4 ,we want that which first of all ,i delivered unto you1 how that ,jesus ,christ died for our sins1 according to the ,scriptures4 ,and1 brethren1 just as the ignoring of the fact of sin makes the understanding of ,christ and ,his word impossible1 so it makes real reception of ,him for ourselves impossible4 ,many men are brought near to ,jesus by other roads2 thank ,god for it6 ,there are a thousand ways to the ,cross1 but it is the ,cross that we must clasp if in any true sense we are to clasp ,christ4 ,and there is all the difference between the superficial1 partial1 and easy-going profession of ,christianity which is so common amongst us to-day1 and the life and death clutching and clinging to ,him which comes when1 and only when1 a man feels that the tyrant whom he served as a slave1 is close behind him1 and that his only chance of freedom is to hold fast by the horns of the altar of the ,sanctuary1 and to cleave to the ,christ in ,whom1 and in ,whom alone1 we are free indeed4 ,,one ,,metaphor ,,and ,,two ,,meanings ',i must work the works of ,him that sent ,me1 while it is day3 the night cometh when no man can work4'--,,john ix4 #d4 ',the night is far spent1 the day is at hand3 let us therefore cast off the works of darkness1 and let us put on the armour of light4'--,,romans xiii4 #ab4 ,the contrast between these two sayings will strike you at once4 ,using the same metaphors1 they apply them in exactly opposite directions4 ,in the one1 life is the day1 and the state beyond death the night2 in the other1 life is the night1 and the state beyond death the day4 ,remarkable as the contrast is1 it comes to be still more so if we remember the respective speakers4 ,for each of them says what we should rather have expected the other to say4 ,it would have been natural for ,paul to have given utterance to the stimulus to diligence caused by the consciousness that the time of work was brief2 and it would have been as natural for ,jesus1 who1 as we believe1 came from ,god1 from the place of the eternal supernal glory1 to have said that life here was night as compared with the illumination that ,he had known4 ,but it is the divine ,master who gives utterance to the common human consciousness of a brief life ending in inactivity1 and it is the servant who takes the higher point of view4 ,so strange did the words of my first text seem as coming from our ,lord's lips1 that the sense of incongruity seems to have been the occasion of the remarkable variation of reading which the ,revised ,version has adopted when it says ',we must work the works of ,him that sent ,me4' ,but that thought seems to me to be perfectly irrelevant to our ,lord's purpose in this context1 where ,he is vindicating ,his own action1 and not laying down the duty of ,his servants4 ,he is giving here one of these glimpses1 that we so rarely get1 into ,his own inmost heart4 ,and so we have to take the sharp contrast between the ,master's thought and the servant's thought1 and to combine them1 if we would think rightly about the present and the future1 and do rightly in the present4 ,i4 ,let me ask you to look at the ,master's thought about the present and the future4 ,as ,i have already said1 our ,lord gives utterance here to the very common1 in fact1 universal human consciousness4 ,the contrast between the intense little spot of light and the great ring of darkness round about it2 between 'the warm precincts of the cheerful day' and the cold solitudes of the inactive night has been the commonplace and stock-in-trade of moralists and thoughtful men from the beginning2 has given pathos to poetry1 solemnity to our days2 and has been the ally of base as well as of noble things4 ,for to say to a man1 'there are twelve hours in the day of life1 and then comes darkness1 the blackness that swallows up all activity1' may either be made into a support of all lofty and noble thoughts1 or1 by the baser sort1 may be1 and has been1 made into a philosophy of the ',let us eat and drink1 for to-morrow we die' kind2 ',gather ye roses while ye may'2 ',a short life and a merry one4' ,the thought stimulates to diligence1 but it does nothing to direct the diligence4 ,it makes men work furiously1 but it never will prevent them from working basely4 ',whatsoever thy hand findeth to do1 do it with thy might1' is a conclusion from the consideration that 'there is neither wisdom nor knowledge nor device in the grave whither we go1' but what the hand should find to do must be settled from altogether different considerations4 ,our ,lord here takes the common human point of view1 and says1 ',life is the time for activity1 and it must be the more diligent because it is ringed by the darkness of the night4' ,what precisely does our ,lord intend by ,his use of that metaphor of the night8 ,no figures1 we know1 run upon all-fours4 ,the point of comparison may be simply in some one feature common to the two things compared1 and so all sorts of mischief may be done by trying to extend the analogy to other features4 ,now1 there are a great many points in which day and night may respectively be taken as analogues of ,life and ,death and the state beyond death4 ,there is a 'night of weeping'2 there is a 'night of ignorance4' ,but our ,lord ,himself tells us what is the one point of comparison which alone is in ,his mind1 when ,he says1 ',the night cometh1 when no man can work4' ,it is simply the night as a season of compulsory inactivity that suggests the comparison in our text4 ,and so we have here the presentation of that dear ,lord as influenced by the common human motive1 and feeling that there was work to be done which must be crowded into a definite space1 because when that space was past1 there would be no more opportunity for the work to be done4 ,look at how1 in the words of my first text1 we have1 as ,i said1 a glimpse into ,his inmost heart4 ,he lets us see that all ,his life was under the solemn compulsion of that great must which was so often upon ,his lips1 that ,he felt that ,he was here to do the ,father's will1 and that that obligation lay upon ,him with a pressure which ,he neither could1 nor would if ,he could1 have got rid of4 ,there are two kinds of 'musts' in our lives4 ,there is the unwelcome necessity which grips us with iron and sharpened fangs2 the needs-be which crushes down hopes and dreams and inclinations1 and forces the slave to his reluctant task4 ,and there is the 'must' which has passed into the will1 into the heart1 and has moulded the inmost desire to conformity with the obligation which no more stands over against us as a taskmaster with whip and chain1 but has passed within us and is there an inspiration and a joy4 ,he that can say1 as ,jesus ,christ in ,his humanity could1 and did say3 ',my meat'--the refreshment of my nature1 the necessary sustenance of my being--'is to do the will of my ,father'2 that man1 and that man alone1 feels no pressure that is pain from the incumbency of the necessity that blessedly rules ,his life4 ,when ',i will' and ',i choose' coincide1 like two of ,euclid's triangles atop of one another1 line for line and angle for angle1 then comes liberty into the life4 ,he that can say1 not with a knitted brow and an unwilling ducking of his head to the yoke1 ',i must do it1' but can say1 ',thy law is within my heart1' that is the ,christlike1 the free1 the happy man4 ,further1 our ,lord here1 in ,his thoughts of the present and the future1 lets us see what ,he thought that the work of ,god in the world was4 ,the disciples looked at the blind man sitting by the wayside1 and what he suggested to them was a curious1 half theological1 half metaphysical question1 in which ,rabbinical subtlety delighted4 ',who did sin1 this man or his parents8' ,they only thought of talking over the theological problem involved in the fact that1 before he had done anything in this world to account for the calamity1 he was born blind4 ,jesus ,christ looked at the man1 and ,he did not think about theological cobwebs4 ,what was suggested to ,him was to fight against the evil and abolish it4 ,it is sometimes necessary to discuss the origin of an evil thing1 of a sorrow or a sin1 in order to understand how to deal with and get rid of it4 ,but unless that is the case1 our first business is not to say1 ',how comes this about8' but our business is to take steps to make it cease to come about4 ,cure the man first and then argue to your heart's content about what made him blind1 but cure him first4 ,and so ,jesus ,christ taught us that the meaning of the day of life was that we should set ourselves to abolish the works of the devil1 and that the work of ,god was that we should fight against sin and sorrow1 and in so far as it was in our power1 abolish these1 in all the variety of their forms1 in all the vigour of their abundant growth4 ,sorrow and sin are ,god's call to every one of ,his sons and daughters to set themselves to cast them out of ,his fair creation2 and 'the day' is the opportunity for doing that4 ,our ,lord here1 as ,i have already suggested1 shows us very touchingly and beautifully1 how entirely ,he bore our human nature1 and had entered into our conditions1 in that ,he1 too1 felt that common human emotion1 and was spurred to unhasting and yet unresting diligence by the thought of the coming of the night4 ,i suppose that although we have few chronological data in this ,gospel of ,john1 the hour of our ,lord's death was really very near at that time4 ,he had just escaped from a formidable attempt upon ,his life4 ',they took up stones to stone ,him1 but ,he1 passing through the midst of them1 went ,his way1' is the statement which immediately precedes the account of ,his meeting with this blind man4 ,and so under the pressure1 perhaps1 of that immediate experience which revealed the depths of hatred that was ready for anything against ,him1 ,he gives utterance to this expression3 ',if it be the case that the time is at hand1 then the more need that1 ,sabbath day as it is1 ,i should pause here4' ,though the multitude were armed with stones to stone ,him1 ,he stopped in ,his flight because there was a poor blind man there whom ,he felt that ,he needed to cure4 ,beautiful it is1 and drawing ,him very near to us1--and it should draw us very near to ,him--that thus ,he shared in that essentially human consciousness of the limitation of the power to work1 by the ring of blackness that encircled the little spot of illuminated light4 ,but some will say1 ',how is it possible that such a consciousness as this should really have been in the mind of ,jesus ,christ8' ',did ,he not know that ,his death was not to be the end of ,his work8 ,did ,he not know1 and say over and over again1 in varying forms1 that when ,he passed from earth1 it was not into inactivity8 ,is it not the very characteristic of ,his mission that it is different from that of all other helpers and benefactors and teachers of the world1 in that ,his death stands in the very middle of ,his work1 and that on the one side of it there is activity1 and on the other side of it there is still1 and in some sense loftier and greater1 activity8' ,yes2 all that is perfectly true1 and ,i do not for a moment believe that our ,lord was forgetting that the life on the earth was but the first volume of ,his biography1 and of the records of ,his deeds1 and that ,he contemplated them1 as ,he contemplated always1 the life beyond1 as working in and on and over and through ,his servants1 even unto the end of the world4 ,but you have only to remember the difference between the earthly and the heavenly life of the ,lord fully to understand the point of view that ,he takes here4 ,the one is the basis of the other2 the one is the seedtime1 the other is the harvest4 ,the one has only the limited years of the earthly life1 in which it can be done2 the other has the endless years of ,eternity1 through which it is to be continued4 ,and if any part of that earthly life of the ,lord had been void of its duty1 and of its discharge of the ,father's will1 not even ,he1 amidst the blaze of the heavenly glory1 could have thereafter filled up the tiny gap4 ,all the earthly years were needed to be filled with service1 up to the great service and sacrifice of the ,cross1 in order that upon them might be reared the second stage and phase of ,his heavenly life4 ,with regard to the one1 ,he said on the ,cross1 ',it is finished4' ,but when ,he died ,he passed not into the night of inactivity1 but into the day of greater service4 ,and that higher and heavenly form of ,his work continues1 and not until 'the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our ,god and of ,his ,christ1' and the whole benefit and effect of ,his earthly life are imparted to the whole race of man1 will it be said1 ',it is done1' and the angels of heaven proclaim the completion of ,his work for man4 ,but seeing that that work has its twofold forms1 ,jesus1 like us1 had to be conscious of the limitations of life1 and of the night that followed the day4 ,,ii4 ,and now turn1 in the second place1 to the servant's thought4 ,as ,i have already pointed out1 it is the precise reversal of the other4 ,what to ,christ is 'day' to ,paul is 'night4' ,what to ,christ is 'night' to ,paul is 'day4' ,now the first point that ,i would make is this1 that the future would never have been 'day' to ,paul if ,jesus had not gone down into the darkness of the 'night4' ,i have said that there was only one point of comparison in our ,lord's mind between night and death4 ,but we may venture to extend the figure a little1 and to say that the ,light went into the 'valley of the shadow of ,death1' and lit it up from end to end4 ,the ,life went into the palace of ,death1 and breathed life into all there4 ,there is a great picture by one of the old monkish masters1 on the walls of a ,florentine convent1 which represents the descent of ,jesus to that dim region of the dead4 ,around ,him there is a halo of light that shines into the gloomy corridor1 up which the thronging patriarchs and saints of the ,old ,dispensation are coming1 with outstretched hands of eager welcome and acceptance1 to receive the blessing4 ,ah6 it is true1 'the people that walked in darkness have seen a great ,light2 and to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death1 unto them hath the ,light shined4' ,christ the ,light has gone down into the darkness1 and what to ,him was night ,he has made for us day4 ,just as ,scripture all but confines the name of death to ,christ's experience upon the ,cross1 and by virtue of that experience softens it down for the rest of us into the blessed image of sleep1 so the ,master has turned the night of death into the dawning of the day4 ,further1 to the servant the brightness of that future day dimmed all earth's garish glories into darkness4 ,it was because ,paul saw the ,beyond flaming with such lustre that the nearer distance to him seemed to have sunk into gloom4 ,just as a man or other object between you and the western sky when the sun is there will be all dark1 so earth with heaven behind it becomes a mere shadowy outline4 ,the day that is beyond outshines all the lustres and radiances of earth1 and turns them into darkness4 ,you go into a room out of blazing tropical sunshine1 and it is all gloom and obscurity4 ,he whose eyes are fixed on the day that is to come will find that here he walks as one in the night4 ,and the brightness of that day1 as well as the darkness of the present night1 directed the servant as to what he should be diligent in4 ,since it is true that 'the day is at hand1' let us put on the armour of light1 and dress ourselves in garb fitting for it4 ,since it is true that 'the night is far spent' let us put off the works of darkness4 ,,iii4 ,and so that brings me to the last point1 and that is the combination of the ,master's and the servant's thought1 and the effect that it should produce upon us4 ,it is not enough either for our hearts or our minds that we should say 'the night cometh when no man can work4' ,life is day1 but it is night also4 ,death is night but it is dawning as well4 ,we cannot understand either the present or the future unless we link them together4 ,that death which is the cessation of activity in one aspect1 is1 for ,christ's servants1 as truly as for ,christ1 the beginning of an activity in a higher and nobler form4 ,i do not believe in a heaven of rest1 meaning by that1 inaction2 ,i still less believe in a death which puts an end to the activity of the human spirit4 ,i believe that this world is our school1 our apprenticeship1 the place where we learn our trade and exercise our faculties1 where we paint the picture1 as it were1 which we offer when we desire to be admitted to the great guild of artists1 and according to the result of which1 in the eye of the ,judge1 is our place hereafter4 ,what the ,germans call 'proof pieces'--that is the meaning of life4 ,and though 'the night cometh when no man can work1' the day cometh when the characters we have made ourselves here1 the habits we have cultivated and indulged in1 the capacities we have exercised1 and the set and drift of all our activity upon earth1 will determine the work that we get to do there4 ,so then1 stereoscoping these two thoughts1 we get the solid image that results from them both4 ,and it teaches us not only diligence1 and thus supplies stimulus1 but it determines the direction of our diligence1 and thus supplies guidance4 ,we ought to be misers of our time and opportunities4 ,jesus ,christ said1 ',i must work the work of ,him that sent ,me while it is day2 the night cometh4' ,how much more ought you and ,i to say so8 ,and some of us ought very specially to say it1 and to feel it1 because the hour when we shall have to lay down our tools is getting very near1 and the shadows are lengthening4 ,if you had been in the fields in these summer evenings during the last few days1 you would have seen the haymakers at work with more and more diligence as the evening drew on darker and darker4 ,dear friends1 some of us are at the eleventh hour4 ,let us fill it with diligent work4 ,the night cometh4 ,but my texts not only stimulate to diligence1 but they direct the diligence4 ,if it be that there is a day beyond1 and that ,christ's folk are 'the children of the day1' then 'let us not sleep as do others1 but let us watch and be sober4' ,we have to cast ourselves on ,him as our ,saviour1 to love ,him as our ,lord and ,friend1 to take ,him as our ,pattern and our ,guide1 our ,help1 our ,light1 and our ,life4 ,and then we shall neither be deceived by life's garish splendours nor oppressed by its gloom and its sorrow2 we shall neither shrink from that last moment1 as a night of inaction1 nor be too eager to cast off the burden of our present work1 but we shall cheerfully toil at what will prepare us for 'the day1' and the bell at night that rings us out of mill and factory will not be unwelcome1 for it will ring us in to higher work and nobler service4 ,the transition will be like one of those summer nights in the ,arctic circle1 when the sun does not dip4 ,through a little thin film of less light we shall pass into the perfect day1 where 'the ,lord ,god ,almighty and the ,lamb are the light thereof1' and 'there shall be no more night4' ,,the ,,sixth ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel--,,the ,,blind ,,made ,,to ,,see1 ,,and ,,the ,,seeing ,,made ,,blind ',when ,jesus had thus spoken1 ,he spat on the ground1 and made clay of the spittle1 and ,he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay1 #g4 ,and said unto him1 ,go1 wash in the ,pool of ,siloam1 7which is by interpretation1 ,sent74 ,he went his way1 therefore1 and washed1 and came seeing4'--,,john ix4 #f1 #g4 ,the proportionate length at which this miracle and its accompanying effects are recorded1 indicates very clearly the ,evangelist's idea of their relative importance4 ,two verses are given to the story of the miracle2 all the rest of the chapter to its preface and its issues4 ,it was a great thing to heal a man that was blind from his birth1 but the story of the gradual illumination of his spirit until it came to the full light of the perception of ,christ as the ,son of ,god1 was far more to the ,evangelist1 and ought to be far more to us than giving the outward eye power to discern the outward light4 ,the narrative has a prologue and an epilogue1 and the true point of view from which to look at it is found in the solemn words with which our ,lord closes the incident4 ',for judgment am ,i come into this world1 that they which see not might see1 and that they which see might be made blind4' ,so then the mere sign1 important as it is1 is the least thing that we have to look at in our contemplations now4 ,i4 ,we have here our ,lord unveiling ,his deepest motives for bestowing an unsought blessing4 ,it is remarkable1 ,i think1 that out of the eight miracles recorded in this ,gospel1 there is only one in which our ,lord responds to a request to manifest ,his miraculous power2 the others are all spontaneous4 ,in the other ,gospels ,he heals sometimes because of the pleading of the sufferer2 sometimes because of the request of compassionate friends or bystanders2 sometimes unasked1 because ,his own heart went out to those that were in pain and sickness4 ,but in ,john's ,gospel1 predominantly we have the ,son of ,god1 who acts throughout as moved by ,his own deep heart4 ,that view of ,christ reaches its climax in ,his own profound words about ,his own laying down of ,his life3 ',i came forth from the ,father1 and am come into the world4 ,again1 ,i leave the world and go unto the ,father4' ,so1 not so much influenced by others as deriving motive and impulse and law from ,himself1 ,he moves upon earth a fountain and not a reservoir1 the ,originator and the ,beginner of the blessings that ,he bears4 ,and that is the point of view from which most strikingly the prologue of our narrative sets forth ,his action in the miracle here4 ',as ,jesus passed by1' says the story1 ',he saw a man which was blind from his birth4' ,he fixes ,his eye upon him4 ,no cry from the blind man's lips draws ,him4 ,he sits there unconscious of the kind eyes that were fastened upon him4 ,the disciples stand at ,christ's side1 and have no share in ,his feelings4 ,they ask ,him to do nothing4 ,to them the blind man is--what8 ,a theological problem4 ,no trace of pity touches their hearts4 ,they do not even seem to have reckoned upon or expected ,christ's miraculous intervention4 ,and that is a very remarkable feature in the ,gospels4 ,at all events1 they evidently do not expect it here2 but all that the sight of this lifelong sufferer does in them is to raise a question1 ',who did sin2 he or his parents8' ,perhaps they do not quite see to the bottom of the alternative that they are suggesting2 and we need not trouble ourselves to ask whether there was a full-blown notion of the pre-existence of the man's soul in their minds as they ask the question4 ,perhaps they remembered the impotent man to whom our ,lord said1 ',go and sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee4' ,and they may have thought that they had ,his sanction to the doctrine--as old as ,job's friends--that wherever there was great suffering there must first have been great sin4 ,that is all that the sight of sorrow does for some people4 ,it leads to censorious judgments1 or to mere idle and curious speculations4 ,christ lets us see what it did for ,him1 and what it is meant to do for us4 ',neither hath this man sinned nor his parents1 but he is born blind that the works of ,god may be made manifest in him4' ,that is to say1 human sorrow is to be looked at by us as an opportunity for the manifestation through us of ,god's mercy in relieving and stanching the wounds through which the lifeblood is ebbing away4 ,do not stand coldly curious or uncharitably censorious4 ,do not make miserable men theological problems1 but see in them a call for service4 ,see in them an opportunity for letting the light of ,god1 so much of it as is in you1 shine from you1 and your hands move in works of mercy4 ,and then the ,master goes on to state still more distinctly the law which dominated ,his life1 and which ought to dominate ours3 ',i must work the works of ,him that sent ,me while it is day2 the night cometh when no man can work4' ,then poor men's misery is an occasion for the love of ,god manifesting itself4 ,yes4 ,but the love of ,god manifests itself through human media1 through persons2 and if we adopt the reading of these words which you will find in the ,revised ,version1 and instead of saying ',i must work1' read ',we must work1' then we have ,christ extending the law which ruled over ,his own life to all ,his followers1 and making it supremely obligatory and binding upon each of us4 ,he for ,his part1 as ,i have said1 moves through this ,gospel as the ,son of ,god1 whose mercy1 and all whose doings are self-originated4 ,but the other side of that is that ,he moves through this ,gospel in the humble attitude of filial obedience1 ever recognising that the ,father's will is supreme in ,his life2 and that ,he is bound1 with an obligation in which ,he rejoices1 to do the will of ,him that sent ,him4 ,the consciousness of a mission1 the sense of filial obedience1 the joyful surrender and harmonising of the will of the ,son with the will of the ,father2 these things were the secret of the ,master's life4 ,and coupled with them1 even in ,him there was the consciousness that time was short2 and although beyond the ,cross and the grave there stretched for ,him an eternity in which ,he would work for the blessing of the world1 yet the special work which ,he had to do1 while wearing the veil and weakness of flesh1 had but few days and hours in which it could be done4 ,therefore1 as we ought to do1 ,he worked under the limitations of mortality1 and recognised in the brevity of life another call to eager and continuous service4 ,these were ,his motives which1 in common with ,him1 we may share4 ,but ,he adds another in which we have no share2 and declares the unique consciousness which ever stirred ,him to ,his self-manifesting and ,god-manifesting acts3 ',as long as ,i am in the world ,i am the ,light of the world4' ,thus1 moved by sorrow1 recognising in man's misery the dumb cry for help1 seeing in it the opportunity for the manifestation of the higher mercy of ,god2 taking all evil to be the occasion for a brighter display of the love and the good which are divine2 feeling that ,his one purpose upon earth was to crowd the moments with obedience to the will1 and with the doing of the works of ,him that sent ,him2 and possessing the sole and strange consciousness that from ,his person streams out all the light which illuminates the world--the ,christ pauses before the unconscious blind man1 and looking upon the poor1 useless eyeballs1 unaware how near light and sight stood1 obeys the impulse that shapes ,his whole life1 'and when ,he had spoken thus1' proceeds to the strange cure4 ,,ii4 ,so we come1 in the next place1 to consider ,christ as veiling ,his power under material means4 ,there is only one other instance in the ,gospels where a miracle is wrought in the singular fashion which is here employed1 namely1 the healing of the deaf-mute recorded in ,mark's ,gospel1 where1 in like manner1 our ,lord makes clay of the spittle1 and anoints the ears of the deaf man with the clay4 ,the variety of method in our ,lord's miracles serves important purposes1 as teaching us that the methods are nothing1 and that ,he moved freely amongst them all1 the real cause in every case being one and the same1 the bare forth-putting of ,his will2 and teaching us further that in each specific case there were reasons in the moral and religious condition of the persons operated upon for the adoption of the specific means employed1 which we of course have no means of discovering4 ,there is here1 first then1 healing by material means4 ,the clay had no power of healing2 the water of ,siloam had no power of healing4 ,the thing that healed was ,christ's will1 but ,he uses these externals to help the poor blind man to believe that he is going to be healed4 ,he condescends to drape and veil ,his power in order that the dim eye1 unaccustomed to the light1 may look upon that shadowed representation of it when it could not gaze upon the pure brightness2 as an eye may look upon a shaded lamp which could not bear its brilliance unsoftened and naked4 ,this healing by material means in order to accommodate ,himself to the weak faith which ,he seeks to evoke1 and to strengthen thereby1 is parallel1 in principle1 to ,his own ,incarnation1 and to ,his appointment of external rites and ordinances4 ,baptism1 the ,lord's ,supper1 a visible ,church1 outward means of worship1 and so on1 all these come under that same category4 ,there is no life nor power in them except ,his will works through them1 but they are crutches and helps for a weak and sense-bound faith to climb to the apprehension of the spiritual reality4 ,it is not the clay1 it is not the water1 it is not the ,church1 the ordinances1 the outward worship1 the form of prayer1 the sacrament--it is none of these things that have the healing and the grace in them4 ,they are only ladders by which we may ascend to ,him4 ,so let us neither presumptuously antedate the time when we shall be able to do without them--the ,heaven in 'which there is no ,temple'--nor grovellingly and superstitiously elevate them to a place of importance and of power in the ,christian life which ,christ never meant them to fill4 ,he heals through material means2 the true source of healing is ,his own loving will4 ,further1 ,he heals at a distance4 ,we have here a parallel with the story of the nobleman's son at ,capernaum1 which we have already considered4 ,there1 too1 we have the same phenomenon1 the healing power sent forth from the ,master1 and operating far away from ,his corporeal personal presence4 ,this was a test of faith1 as the use of the clay had been a help to faith4 ,still ,he works ,his healing from afar1 because to ,him there is neither near nor far4 ,in ,his divine ubiquity1 that ,son of ,man1 who in ,his glorified manhood is at the right hand of ,god the ,father ,almighty1 is here and everywhere where there are weakness and suffering that turn to ,him2 ready to help1 ready to bless and heal4 ',lo1 ,i am with you always1 even unto the end of the world4' ,our ,evangelist sees in the very name of that fountain in which the man washed1 a symbol which is not to be passed by4 ',go1 wash in the ,pool of ,siloam1' which1 says ,john1 'is by interpretation1 ,sent4' ,we have heard already about the ,pool of ,siloam in this section of the ,gospel4 ,in ,chapter vii4 we read1 ',in the last day1 that great day of the ,feast1 ,jesus stood and said1 ,if any man thirst let him come to ,me and drink4' ,these words were probably spoken on the last day of the ,feast of ,tabernacles1 on which one part of the ceremonial was the drawing1 with exuberant rejoicing1 of water from the ,pool of ,siloam1 and bearing it up to the ,temple4 ,in these words ,christ pointed to that fountain which rises 'fast by the oracles of ,god1' and wells up from beneath the hill1 that on which the ,temple is built1 as being a symbol of ,himself4 ,and here the ,evangelist would have us suppose that1 in like manner1 the very name which the fountain bore 7whether as being an outgush from beneath the ,temple rock1 or whether as being the gift of ,god7 as applicable to ,himself4 ,the lesson to be learned is that the fountain in which we have to be cleansed 'from sin and from uncleanness1' whose waters are the lotion that will give eyesight to the blind1 the true 'fountain of perpetual youth1' which men have sought for in every land1 is ,christ ,himself4 ,in ,him we have the welling forth of the heart of ,god1 the water of life1 the water of gladness1 the immortal stream of which 'whoso drinketh shall never thirst1' and which1 touching the blind eyeballs1 washes away obscuration and gives new power of vision4 ,,iii4 ,then1 still further1 we have here our ,lord suspending healing on obedience4 ',go and wash4' ,as ,he said to the impotent man3 ',stretch forth thine hand'2 as ,he said to the paralytic in this ,gospel3 ',take up thy bed and walk'2 so here ,he says1 ',go and wash4' ,and some friendly hand being stretched out to the blind man1 or he himself feeling his way over the familiar path1 he comes to the pool and washes1 and returns seeing4 ,there is a double lesson there1 on which ,i have no need to dwell4 ,there is1 first1 the general truth that healing is suspended by ,christ on compliance with ,his conditions4 ,he does not simply say to any man1 ,be whole4 ,he could and did say so sometimes in regard to bodily healing4 ,but ,he cannot do so as regards the cure of our blind souls4 ,to the sin-sick and sin-blinded man ,he says1 ',thou shalt be whole1 if'--or ',i will make thee whole1 provided that'--what8--provided that thou goest to the fountain where ,he has lodged the healing power4 ,the condition on which sight comes to the blind is compliance with ,christ's invitation1 ',come to ,me2 trust in ,me2 and thou shalt be whole4' ,then there is a special lesson here1 and that is1 ,obedience brings sight4 ',if any man will do ,his will he shall know of the doctrine4' ,are there any of you groping in darkness1 compassed about with theological perplexities and religious doubts8 ,obey what you know4 ,do what you see clearly you ought to do4 ,bow your wills to the recognised truth4 ,he who has turned all his knowledge into action will get more knowledge as soon as he needs it4 ',go and wash2 and he went1 and came seeing4' ,,iv4 ,and now1 lastly1 we have here our ,lord shadowing ,his highest work as the ,healer of blind souls4 ,it is impossible for me to enter upon that wonderfully dramatic and instructive narrative which follows the account of the miracle1 and describe the controversies between the sturdy1 quick-witted1 candid1 blind man1 and the narrow1 bitter ,pharisees4 ,but just notice one or two points4 ,the two parties are evidently represented as types of two contrasted classes4 ,the blind man stands for an example of honest ignorance1 knowing itself ignorant1 and not to be coaxed or frightened or in any way provoked to pretending to knowledge which it does not possess2 firmly holding by what it does know1 and because conscious of its little knowledge1 therefore waiting for light and willing to be led4 ,hence he is at once humble and sturdy1 docile and independent1 ready to listen to any voice which can really teach1 and formidably quick to prick with wholesome sarcasm the inflated claims of mere official pretenders4 ,the ,pharisees1 on the other hand1 are sure that they know everything that can be known about anything in the region of religion and morality1 and in their absolute confidence of their absolute possession of the truth1 in their blank unconsciousness that it was more than their official property and stock-in-trade1 in their complete incapacity to discern the glory of a miracle which contravened ecclesiastical proprieties and conventionalities1 in their contempt for the ignorance which they were responsible for and never thought of enlightening1 in their cruel taunt directed against the man's calamity1 and in their swift resort to the weapon of excommunication of one whom it was much easier to cast out than to answer1 are but too plain a type of a character which is as ready to corrupt the teachers of the ,church as of the synagogue4 ,one cannot but notice how constantly the phrase ',we know' occurs4 ,the parents of the man use it thrice4 ,the ,pharisees have it on their lips in their first interview with him3 ',we know that this man is a sinner4' ,he answers1 declining to affirm anything about the character of the ,man ,jesus1 because he1 for his part1 'knows not1' but standing firmly by the solid reality which he 'knows1' in a very solid fashion1 that his eyes have been opened4 ,so we have the first encounter between knowledge which is ignorant1 and ignorance which knows1 to the manifest victory of the latter4 ,again1 in the second round1 they try to overbear the man's cool sarcasm with their vehement assertion of knowledge that ,god spake to ,moses1 but by the admission that even their knowledge did not reach to the determination of the question of the origin of ,jesus' mission1 lay themselves open to the sudden thrust of keen-eyed1 honest humility's sharp rapier-like retort4 ',herein is a marvellous thing1' that you ,know-alls1 whose business it is to know where a professed miracle-worker comes from1 'know not from whence ,he is1 and yet ,he hath opened mine eyes4' ',now we know' 7to use your own words7 'that ,god heareth not sinners1 but if any man be a worshipper of ,god1 and doeth ,his will1 him ,he heareth4' ,then observe how1 on both sides1 a process is going on4 ,the man is getting more and more light at each step4 ,he begins with 'a ,man which is called ,jesus4' ,then he gets to a 'prophet1' then he comes to 'a worshipper of ,god1 and one that does ,his will4' ,then he comes to1 ',if this man were not of ,god1' in some very special sense1 ',he could do nothing4' ,these are his own reflections1 the working out of the impression made by the fact on an honest mind2 and because he had so used the light which he had1 therefore ,jesus gives him more1 and finds him with the question1 ',dost thou believe on the ,son of ,god8' ,then the man who had shown himself so strong in his own convictions1 so independent1 and hard to cajole or coerce1 shows himself now all docile and submissive1 and ready to accept whatever ,jesus says3 ',lord1 who is ,he1 that ,i might believe on ,him8' ,that was not credulity4 ,he already knew enough of ,christ to know that he ought to trust ,him4 ,and to his docility there is given the full revelation2 and he hears the words which ,pharisees and unrighteous men were not worthy to hear3 ',thou hast both seen it is ,he that talketh with thee4' ,then intellectual conviction1 moral reliance1 and the utter prostration and devotion of the whole man bow him at ,christ's feet4 ',lord1 ,i believe2 and ,he worshipped ,him4' ,there is the story of the progress of an honest1 ignorant soul that knew itself blind1 into the illumination of perfect vision4 ,and as he went upwards1 so steadily and tragically1 downwards went the others4 ,for they had light and they would not look at it2 and it blasted and blinded them4 ,they had the manifestation of ,christ1 and they scoffed and jeered at it1 and turned their backs upon it1 and it became a curse to them2 falling not like dew but like vitriol on their spirits1 blistering1 not refreshing4 ,therefore ,christ pronounces their fate1 and sums up the story in the solemn two-edged sentence3 ',for judgment am ,i come into the world1 that they which see not might see1 and that they which see might be made blind4' ,the purpose of ,his coming is not to judge1 but to save4 ,but if men will not let ,him save1 the effect of ,his coming will be to harm4 ,therefore1 ,his coming will separate men into two parts1 as a magnet will draw all the iron filings out of a heap and leave the brass4 ,he comes not to judge1 but ,his coming does judge4 ,he is set for the rise or for the fall of men1 and is 'a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart4' ,light has a twofold effect4 ,it is torture to the diseased eye2 it is gladdening to the sound one4 ,christ is the light1 as ,he is also both the power of seeing and the thing seen4 ,therefore1 it cannot but be that ,his shining upon men's hearts shall judge them1 and shall either enlighten or darken4 ,we all have eyes--the organs by which we may see 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of ,god4' ,we have all blinded ourselves by our sin4 ,christ is come to show us ,god1 to be the light by which we see ,god1 and to strengthen and restore our faculty of seeing ,him4 ,if you welcome ,him1 and take ,him into your hearts1 ,he will be at once light and eyesight to you4 ,but if you turn away from ,him ,he will be blindness and darkness to you4 ,he comes to pour eyesight on the blind1 but ,he comes therefore also1 most assuredly1 to make still blinder those who do not know themselves to be blind1 and conceit themselves to be clear-sighted4 ',i thank ,thee1 ,father1 that ,thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent1 and hast revealed them unto babes4' ,they who see themselves to be blind1 who know themselves to be ignorant1 the lowly who recognise their sinfulness and misery and helplessness1 and turn in their sore need to ,christ1 will be led by paths of growing knowledge and blessedness to the perfect day where their strengthened vision will be able to see light in the blaze which to us now is darkness4 ,they who say ',i see1' and know not that they are miserable and blind1 nor hearken to ,his counsel to 'anoint their eyes with eye salve that they may see1' will have yet another film drawn over their eyes by the shining of the light which they reject1 and will pass into darkness where only enough of light and of eyesight remain to make guilt4 ,jesus ,christ is for us light and vision4 ,trust to ,him1 and your eyes will be blessed because they see ,god4 ,turn from ,him and ,egyptian darkness will settle on your soul4 ',to him that hath shall be given1 and from him that hath not1 even that which he hath shall be taken away4' ,,the ,,gifts ,,to ,,the ,,flock '''' ,by ,me if any man enter in1 he shall be saved1 and shall go in and out1 and find pasture4'--,,john x4 #i4 ,one does not know whether the width or the depth of this marvellous promise is the more noteworthy4 ,jesus ,christ presents ,himself before the whole race of man1 and declares ,himself able to deal with the needs of every individual in the tremendous whole4 ',if any man'--no matter who1 where1 when4 ,for all noble and happy life there are at least three things needed3 security1 sustenance1 and a field for the exercise of activity4 ,to provide these is the end of all human society and government4 ,jesus ,christ here says that ,he can give all these to every one4 ,the imagery of the sheep and the fold is still1 of course1 in ,his mind1 and colours the form of the representation4 ,but the substance is the declaration that1 to any and every soul1 no matter how ringed about with danger1 no matter how hampered and hindered in work1 no matter how barren of all supply earth may be1 ,he will give these1 the primal requisites of life4 ',he shall be saved1 and shall go in and out1 and find pasture4' ,now ,i only wish to deal with these three aspects of the blessedness of a true ,christian life which our ,lord holds forth here as accessible to us all3 security1 the unhindered exercise of activity1 and sustenance or provision4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 in and through ,christ any man may be saved4 ,i take it that the word 'saved' here is rather used with reference to the imagery of the parable than in its full ,christian sense of ultimate and everlasting salvation1 and that its meaning in its present connection might perhaps better be set forth by the rendering 'safe' than 'saved4' ,at the same time1 the two ideas pass into one another2 and the declaration of my text is that because1 step by step1 conflict by conflict1 in passing danger after danger1 external and internal1 ,jesus ,christ1 through our union with ,him1 will keep us safe1 at the last we shall reach eternal and everlasting salvation4 ',he will save us' by the continual exercise of ,his protecting power1 'into ,his everlasting kingdom4' ,there is none other shelter for men's defenceless heads and naked1 soft1 unarmed bodies except only the shelter that is found in ,him4 ,there are creatures of low grade in the animal world which have the instinct1 because their own bodies are so undefended and impotent to resist contact with sharp and penetrating substances1 that they take refuge in the abandoned shells of other creatures4 ,you and ,i have to betake ourselves behind the defences of that strong love and mighty ,hand if ever we are to pass through life without fatal harm4 ,for consider that1 even in regard to outward dangers1 union with ,jesus ,christ defends and delivers us4 ,suppose two men1 two ,manchester merchants1 made bankrupt by the same commercial crisis2 or two shipwrecked sailors lashed upon a raft2 or two men sitting side by side in a railway carriage and smashed by the same collision4 ,one is a ,christian and the other is not4 ,the same blow is altogether different in aspect and actual effect upon the two men4 ,they endure the same thing externally1 in body or in fortune4 ,the outward man is similarly affected1 but the man is differently affected4 ,the one is crushed1 or embittered1 or driven to despair1 or to drink1 or to something or other to soothe the bitterness2 the other bows himself with ',it is the ,lord6 ,let ,him do what seemeth ,him good4' ,so the two disasters are utterly different1 though in form they may be the same1 and he that has entered into the fold by ,jesus ,christ is safe1 not from outward disaster--that would be but a poor thing--but in it4 ,for to the true heart that lives in fellowship with ,jesus ,christ1 ,sorrow1 though it be dark-robed1 is bright-faced1 soft-handed1 gentle-hearted1 an angel of ,god4 ',by ,me if any man enter in1 he shall be safe4' ,and further1 in our union with ,jesus ,christ1 by simple faith in ,him and loyal submission and obedience1 we do receive an impenetrable defence against the true evils1 and the only things worth calling dangers4 ,for the only real evil is the peril that we shall lose our confidence and be untrue to our best selves1 and depart from the living ,god4 ,nothing is evil except that which tempts1 and succeeds in tempting1 us away from ,him4 ,and in regard to all such danger1 to cleave to ,christ1 to realise ,his presence1 to think of ,him1 to wear ,his name as an amulet on our hearts1 to put the thought of ,him between us and temptation as a filter through which the poisonous air shall pass1 and be deprived of its virus1 is the one secret of safety and victory4 ,real gift of power from ,jesus ,christ1 the influx of ,his strength into our weakness1 of some portion of the ,spirit of life that was in ,him into our deadness1 is promised1 and the promise is abundantly fulfilled to all men who trust ,him when their hour of temptation comes4 ,as the dying martyr1 when he looked up into heaven1 saw ,jesus ,christ 'standing at the right hand of ,god' ready to help1 and1 as it were1 having started from ,his eternal seat on the ,throne in the eagerness of ,his desire to succour ,his servant1 so we may all see1 if we will1 that dear ,lord ready to succour us1 and close by our sides to deliver us from the evil in the evil1 its power to tempt4 ,if we could carry that vision into our daily life1 and walk in its light1 when temptation rings us round1 how poor all the inducements to go away from ,him would look6 ,there is a power in the remembrance of ,jesus to slay every wicked thought2 and the things that tempt us most1 that most directly appeal to our worst sides1 to our sense1 our ambition1 our pride1 our distrust1 our self-will1 all these lose their power upon us1 and are discovered in their emptiness and insignificance1 when once this thought flashes across the mind--,jesus ,christ is my ,defence1 and ,jesus ,christ is my ,pattern and my ,companion4 ,oh1 brother6 do not trust yourself out amongst the pitfalls and snares of life without ,him4 ,if you do1 the real evil of all evils will seize you for its own2 but keep close to that dear ,lord1 and then 'there shall no evil befall thee1 neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling4' ,the hidden temptation thou wilt pass by without being harmed2 the manifest temptation thou wilt trample under foot4 ',thou shalt not be afraid for the pestilence that walketh in darkness1 nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday4' ,hidden known temptations will be equally powerless2 and in the fold into which all pass by faith in ,christ thou shalt be safe4 ,and so1 kept safe from each danger and in each moment of temptation1 the aggregate and sum of the several deliverances will amount to the everlasting salvation which shall be perfected in the heavens4 ,only remember the condition1 ',by ,me if any man enter in4' ,that is not a thing to be done once for all1 but needs perpetual repetition4 ,when we clasp anything in our hands1 however tight the initial grasp1 unless there is a continual effort of renewed tightening1 the muscles become lax1 and we have to renew the tension1 if we are to keep the grasp4 ,so in our ,christian life it is only the continual repetition of the act which our ,lord here calls 'entering in by ,him' that will bring to us this continual exemption from1 and immunity in1 the dangers that beset us4 ,keep ,christ between you and the storm4 ,keep on the lee side of the ,rock of ,ages4 ,keep behind the breakwater1 for there is a wild sea running outside2 and your little boat1 undecked and with a feeble hand at the helm1 will soon be swamped4 ,keep within the fold1 for wolves and lions lie in every bush4 ,or1 in plain ,english1 live moment by moment in the realising of ,christ's presence1 power1 and grace4 ,so1 and only so1 shall you be safe4 ,,ii4 ,now1 secondly1 note1 in ,jesus ,christ any man may find a field for the unrestricted exercise of his activity4 ,that metaphor of 'going in and out' is partly explained to us by the image of the flock1 which passes into the fold for peaceful repose1 and out again1 without danger1 for exercise and food2 and is partly explained by the frequent use1 in the ,old ,testament and in common conversation1 of the expression 'going out and in' as the designation of the two-sided activity of human life4 ,the one side is the contemplative life of interior union with ,god by faith and love2 the other1 the active life of practical obedience in the field of work which ,god provides for us4 ,these two are both capable of being raised to their highest power1 and of being discharged with the most unrestricted and joyous activity1 on condition of our keeping close to ,christ1 and living by the faith of ,him4 ,note1 then1 ',he shall go in4' ,that comes first1 though it interferes with the propriety of the metaphor1 since the previous words already contemplate an initial 'entering in by ,me1 the ,door4' ,that is to say1 that1 given the union with ,jesus ,christ by faith1 there must then1 as the basis of all activity1 follow very frequent and deep inward acts of contemplation1 of faith1 and aspiration1 and desire4 ,you must go into the depths of ,god through ,christ4 ,you must go into the depths of your own souls through ,him4 ,you must become accustomed to withdraw yourselves from spreading yourselves out over the distractions of any external activity1 howsoever imperative1 charitable1 or necessary1 and live alone with ,jesus1 'in the secret place of the ,most ,high4' ,it is through ,him that we have access to the mysteries and innermost shrine of the ,temple4 ,it is through ,him that we draw near to the depths of ,deity4 ,it is through ,him that we learn the length and breadth and height and depth of the largest and loftiest and noblest truths that concern the spirit4 ,it is through ,him that we become familiar with the inmost secrets of our own selves4 ,and only they who habitually live this hidden and sunken life of solitary and secret communion will ever do much in the field of outward work4 ,christians of this generation are far too much accustomed to live only in the front rooms of the house1 that look out upon the street2 and they know very little--far too little for their soul's health1 and far too little for the freshness of their work and its prosperity--of that inward life of silent contemplation and expectant adoration1 by which all strength is fed4 ,do not keep all your goods in the shop windows1 and have nothing on your shelves but dummies1 as is the case with far too many of us to-day4 ,remember that the ,lord said first1 ',he shall go in1' and unless you do you will not be 'saved4' ,but then1 further1 if there have been1 and continue to be1 this unrestricted exercise through ,christ of that sweet and silent life of solitary communion with ,him1 then there will follow upon that an enlargement of opportunity1 and power for outward service such as nothing but emancipation by faith in ,him can ever bring4 ,howsoever1 by external circumstances1 you and ,i may be hampered and hindered1 however often we may feel that if something outside of us were different1 the development of our active powers would be far more satisfactory1 and we could do a great deal more in ,christ's cause1 the true hindrance lies never without1 but within2 and it is only to be overcome by that plunging into the depths of fellowship with ,him4 ,and then1 if we carry with us into the field of work1 whether it be the commonplace1 dusty1 tedious1 and often repulsive duties of our monotonous business2 or whether it be the field of more distinctly unselfish and ,christian service--if we carry with us into all places where we go to labour1 the sweet thought of ,his presence1 of ,his example1 of ,his love1 and of the smile that may come on ,his face as the reward of faithful service1 then we shall find that external labour1 drawing its pattern1 its motive1 its law1 and the power for its discharge1 from communion with ,him1 is no more task-work nor slavery2 and even 'the rough places will be made smooth1 and the crooked things will be made straight1' and distasteful work will be made at least tolerable1 and hard burdens will be lightened1 and the things that are 'seen and temporal' will shimmer into transparency1 through which will shine out the things that are 'unseen and eternal4' ,some of us are constitutionally made to prefer the one of these forms of ,christian activity2 some of us to prefer the other4 ,the tendencies of this generation are far too much to the latter1 to the exclusion of the former4 ,it is hard to reconcile the conflicting claims1 and ,i know of no better way to hit the just medium than by trying to keep ourselves always in touch with ,jesus ,christ1 and then outward labour of any sort1 whether for the bread that perishes or for ,his kingdom and righteousness1 will never become so absorbing but that in it we may have our hearts in heaven1 and the silent hour of communion with ,him will never be so prolonged as to neglect outward duties4 ,there was a demoniac boy in the plain1 and therefore it was impossible to build tabernacles on the ,mount of ,transfiguration4 ,but the disciples that had not climbed the ,mount were all impotent to cast out the demoniac boy4 ,we1 if we keep near to ,jesus ,christ1 will find that through ,him we can 'go in and out1' and in both be pursuing the one uniform purpose of serving and pleasing ,him4 ,so shall be fulfilled in our cases the ,psalmist's prayer1 that ',i may dwell in the house of the ,lord all the days of ray life1 to behold ,his beauty1 and to inquire in ,his ,temple4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 in ,jesus ,christ any man may receive sustenance4 ',they shall find pasture4' ,the imagery of the sheep and the fold is still1 of course1 present to the ,master's mind1 and shapes the form in which this great promise is set forth4 ,i need only remind you1 in illustration of it1 of two facts1 one1 that in ,jesus ,christ ,himself all the true needs of humanity are met and satisfied4 ,he is 'the ,bread of ,god that came down from heaven to give life to the world4' ,do ,i want an outward object for my intellect8 ,i have it in ,him4 ,does my heart feel with its tendrils1 which have no eyes at the ends of them1 after something round which it may twine1 and not fear that the prop shall ever rot or be cut down or pulled up8 ,jesus ,christ is the home of love in which the dove may fold its wings and be at rest4 ,do ,i want 7and ,i do if ,i am not a fool7 an absolute and authoritative command to be laid upon my will2 some one 'whose looks enjoin1 whose lightest words are spells'8 ,i find absolute authority1 with no taint of tyranny1 and no degradation to the subject1 in that ,infinite ,will of ,his4 ,does my conscience need some strong detergent to be laid upon it which shall take out the stains that are most indurated1 inveterate1 and ingrained8 ,i find it only in the 'blood that cleanseth from all sin4' ,do my aspirations and desires seek for some solid and substantial and unquestionable and imperishable good to which1 reaching out1 they may be sure that they are not anchoring on cloudland8 ,christ is our hope4 ,for all this complicated and craving commonwealth that ,i carry within my soul1 there is but one satisfaction1 even ,jesus ,christ ,himself4 ,nothing else nourishes the whole man at once1 but in ,him are all the constituents that the human system requires for its nutriment and its growth in every part4 ,so in and through ,christ we find 'pasture4' ,but beyond that1 if we are knit to ,him by simple and continual faith1 love1 and obedience1 then what is else barrenness becomes full of nourishment1 and the unsatisfying gifts of the world become rich and precious4 ,they are nought when they are put first1 they are much when they are put second4 ,i remember when ,i was in ,australia seeing some wretched cattle trying to find grass on a yellow pasture where there was nothing but here and there a brown stalk that crumbled to dust in their mouths as they tried to eat it4 ,that is the world without ,jesus ,christ4 ,and ,i saw the same pasture six weeks after1 when the rains had come1 and the grass was high1 rich1 juicy1 satisfying4 ,that is what the world may be to you1 if you will put it second1 and seek first that your souls shall be fed on ,jesus ,christ4 ,then1 and only then1 will what is else water be turned by ,his touch and blessing into wine that shall fill the great jars to the brim1 and be pronounced by skilled palates to be the good wine4 ',i will feed them in a good pasture1 and upon the high mountains of ,israel shall their fold be4 ,there shall they lie in a good fold1 and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of ,israel4' ,,the ,,good ,,shepherd ',i am the ,good ,shepherd1 and know ,my sheep1 and am known of ,mine4 #ae4 ,as the ,father knoweth ,me1 even so know ,i the ,father3 and ,i lay down ,my life for the sheep4'--,,john x4 #ad1ae4 ',i am the ,good ,shepherd4' ,perhaps even ,christ never spoke more fruitful words than these4 ,just think how many solitary1 wearied hearts they have cheered1 and what a wealth of encouragement and comfort there has been in them for all generations4 ,the little child as it lays itself down to sleep1 cries-- ',jesus1 tender ,shepherd1 hear me1 ,bless ,thy little lamb to-night1' and the old man lays himself down to die murmuring to himself1 ',though ,i walk through the valley of the shadow of ,death1 ,i will fear no evil1 for ,thou art with me4' ',i am the ,good ,shepherd4' ,no preaching can do anything but weaken and dilute the force of such words1 and yet1 though in all their sweet1 homely simplicity they appeal to every heart1 there are great depths in them that are worth pondering1 and profound thoughts that need some elucidation4 ,there are three points to be noticed--,first1 the general force of the metaphor1 and then the two specific applications of it which our ,lord ,himself makes4 ,i4 ,first of all1 then1 let me say a few words as to the general application of the metaphor4 ,the usual notion of these words confines itself to the natural meaning1 and runs out into very true1 but perhaps a little sentimental1 considerations1 laying hold of what is so plain on the very surface that ,i need not spend any time in speaking about it4 ,christ's pattern is my law2 ,christ's providence is my guidance and defence--which in the present case means ,christ's companionship--is my safety1 my sustenance--which in the present case means that ,christ ,himself is the bread of my soul4 ,the ,good ,shepherd exercises care1 which absolves the sheep from care1 and in the present case means that my only duty is meek following and quiet trust4 ',i am the ,good ,shepherd'--here is guidance1 guardianship1 companionship1 sustenance--all responsibility laid upon ,his broad shoulders1 and all tenderness in ,his deep heart1 and so for us simple obedience and quiet trust4 ,another way by which we get the whole significance of this symbol is by noticing how the idea is strengthened by the word that accompanies it4 ,christ does not say ',i am a ,shepherd1' but ,he says1 ',i am the good ,shepherd4' ,at first sight that word 'good' is interpreted1 as ,i have said1 in a kind of sentimental1 poetic way1 as expressing our ,lord's tenderness and love and care2 but ,i do not think that is the full meaning here4 ,you find up and down this ,gospel of ,st4 ,john phrases such as1 ',i am the true bread1' ',i am the true vine1' and the meaning of the word that is here translated 'good' is very nearly parallel with that idea4 ,the true bread1 the true vine1 the true ,shepherd--which comes to this1 to use modern phraseology1 that ,jesus ,christ1 in ,his relation to you and me1 fulfils all that in figure and shadow is represented to the meditative eye by that lower relationship between the material shepherd and his sheep4 ,that is the picture1 this the reality4 ,there is another point to be made clear1 and that is1 that whilst the word 'good' is perhaps a fair enough representation of that which is employed by our ,lord1 there is a special force and significance attached to the original1 which is lost in our ,bible4 ,i do not know that it could have been preserved2 but still it is necessary to state it4 ,the expression here is the one that is generally rendered 'fair1' or 'lovely1' or 'beautiful1' and it belongs to the genius of that wonderful tongue in which the ,new ,testament is written that it has a name for moral purity1 considered as being lovely1 the highest goodness1 and the serenest beauty1 which was what the old ,greeks taught1 howsoever little they may have practised it in their lives4 ,and so here the thought is that the ,shepherd stands before us1 the realisation of all which that name means1 set forth in such a fashion as to be infinitely lovely and perfectly fair1 and to draw the admiration of any man who can appreciate that which is beautiful1 and can admire that which is of good report4 ,there is another point still in reference to this first view of the text4 ,our ,lord not only declares that ,he is the reality of which the earthly shepherd is the shadow1 and that ,he as such is the flawless1 perfect ,one1 but that ,he alone is the reality4 ',i am the ,good ,shepherd2 in ,me and in ,me alone is that which men need4' ,and that leads me to another point which must just be mentioned1 that we shall not reach the full meaning of these great words without taking into account the history of the metaphor in the ,old ,testament4 ,christ gives a second edition of the figure1 and we are to remember all that went before4 ',the ,lord is my ,shepherd1 ,i shall not want'2 ',thou leddest ,thy people like a flock1 by the hand of ,moses and ,aaron4' ,these are but specimens of a continuous series of utterances in the old ,revelation in which ,jehovah ,himself is the ,shepherd of mankind2 and there is also another class of passages of which ,i will quote one or two4 ',he shall feed ,his flock like a shepherd1 and carry them in ,his arms4' ',awake1 ,o sword1 against the ,man who is my fellow2 smite the ,shepherd1 and the sheep shall be scattered4' ,there were1 we should remember1 two streams of representation1 according to the one of which ,god ,himself was the ,shepherd of ,israel1 and according to the other of which the ,messiah was the ,shepherd2 and here1 as ,i believe1 ,jesus lays ,his hand on both the one and the other1 and says3 ',they are ,mine1 and they testify of ,me4' ,so sweet1 so gracious are the words1 that we lose the sense of the grandeur of them1 and need to think before we are able to understand how great and immense the claim that is made here upon our faith1 and that this ,man stands before us and arrogates to ,himself the divine prerogative witnessed from of old by psalmist and prophet1 and says that for ,him were meant the prophecies of ancient times that spake of a human shepherd1 and asserts that all the sustenance1 care1 authority1 command1 which the emblem suggests meet in ,him in perfect measure4 ,,ii4 ,now let us turn to the two special points which our ,lord emphasises here1 as being those in which ,his relation as the ,good ,shepherd is most conspicuously given4 ,the language of my text runs3 ',i am the ,good ,shepherd1 and know ,my sheep1 and am known of ,mine4 ,as the ,father knoweth ,me1 even so know ,i the ,father4' ,our ,western ways fail to bring out the full meaning of the emblem2 but all ,eastern travellers tell us what a strange bond of sympathy and loving regard1 and docile recognition1 springs up between the shepherd and his sheep away there in the ,eastern pastures and deserts2 and how he knows every one1 though to a stranger's eye they are so like each other2 and how even the dumb instincts and the narrow intelligence of the silly sheep recognise the shepherd1 and will not be deceived by shepherd's garments worn to deceive1 and will not follow the voice of a stranger4 ,but we must further note that ,christ lays hold of the dumb instincts of the animal1 as illustrating1 at the one end of the scale1 the relation between ,him and ,his followers1 and lays hold of the communion between the ,father and the ,son at the other end of the scale1 as illustrating the same thing4 ',i know ,my sheep4' ,that is a knowledge like the knowledge of the shepherd1 a bond of close intimacy4 ,but ,he does not know them by reason of looking at them and thinking about them4 ,it is something far more blessed than that4 ,he knows me because ,he loves me2 ,he knows me because ,he has sympathy with me1 and ,i know ,him1 if ,i know ,him at all1 by my love1 and ,i know ,him by my sympathy1 and ,i know ,him by my communion4 ,a loveless heart does not know the ,shepherd1 and unless the ,shepherd's heart was all love ,he would not know ,his sheep4 ,the ,shepherd's love is an individualised love4 ,he knows ,his flock as a flock because ,he knows the units of it1 and we can rest ourselves upon the personal knowledge1 which is personal love and sympathy1 of ,jesus ,christ4 ',and ,my sheep know ,me'--not by force of intellect1 not by understanding certain truths1 all-important as that may be1 but by having our hearts harmonised in ,him1 and our spirits put into sympathy and communion with ,him4 ',they know ,me1' and rest comes with the knowledge2 'they know ,me1' and in that knowing is the best answer to all doubt and fear4 ,they are exposed to danger1 but in the fold they can go quietly to rest1 for they know that ,he is at the door watching through all dangers4 ,,iii4 ,turn for a moment to the last point1 ',i lay down ,my life for the sheep4' ,i have said that our ,western ways fail to bring out fully the element of the metaphor which refers to the kind of sympathy between the shepherd and the sheep2 and our ,western life also fails to bring out this other element also4 ,shepherds in ,england never have need to lay down their life for the sheep4 ,shepherds in ,palestine often did1 and sometimes do4 ,you remember ,david with the lion and the bear1 which is but an illustration of the reality which underlies this metaphor4 ,so1 then1 in some profound way1 the shepherd's death is the sheep's safety4 ,first of all1 look at that most unmistakable1 emphatic--,i was going to say vehement1 at any rate1 intense--expression of the absolute voluntariness of ,christ's death1 ',i lay down ,my life1' as a man might strip off a vesture4 ,and this application of the metaphor is made all the stronger by the words which follow3 ',therefore doth ,my ,father love ,me1 because ,i lay down ,my life that ,i might take it again4 ,no man taketh it from ,me1 but ,i lay it down of ,myself4 ,i have power to lay it down1 and ,i have power to take it again4' ,we read1 ',smite the shepherd1 and the sheep shall be scattered1' but here1 somehow or other1 the smiting of the ,shepherd is not the scattering but the gathering of the flock4 ,here1 somehow or other1 the dead ,shepherd has power to guard1 to guide1 to defend them4 ,here1 somehow or other1 the death of the ,shepherd is the security of the sheep2 and ,i say to you1 the flock1 that for every soul the entrance into the flock of ,god is through the door of the dying ,christ1 who laid down ,his life for the sheep1 and makes them ,his sheep who trust in ,him4 ',,other ,,sheep' ,footnote3 ,preached before the ,baptist ,missionary ,society4 ',other sheep ,i have1 which are not of this fold3 them also ,i must bring1 and they shall hear ,my voice2 and they shall become one flock and one ,shepherd4'--,,john x4 #af 7,r4,v474 ,there were many strange and bitter lessons in this discourse for the false shepherds1 the ,pharisees1 to whom it was first spoken4 ,but there was not one which would jar more upon their minds1 and as they fancied1 on their sacredest convictions1 than this1 that ,god's flock was wider than ,god's fold4 ,our ,lord distinctly recognises ,judaism with its middle wall of partition as a divine institution1 and then as distinctly carries ,his gaze beyond it4 ,to ,his hearers 'this fold1' their own national polity1 held all the flock4 ,without were dogs1 a doleful land1 where 'the wild beasts of the desert met with the wild beasts of the islands4' ,and now this new ,teacher1 not content with declaring them hirelings1 and ,himself the only true ,shepherd of ,israel1 breaks down the hedges and speaks of ,himself as the ,shepherd of men4 ,no wonder that they said1 ',he hath a devil and is mad4' ,during ,his earthly life our ,lord1 as we know1 confined ,his own personal ministry for the most part to the lost sheep of the house of ,israel4 ,not exclusively so1 for ,he made at least one journey into the coasts of ,tyre and ,sidon1 teaching and healing2 a ,syro-,phcenician woman held ,his feet1 and received her request2 and one of ,his miracles1 of feeding the multitude1 was wrought for hungry ,gentiles4 ,but while ,his work was in ,israel1 it was for mankind2 and while 'this fold1' generally speaking1 circumscribed ,his toils1 it did not confine ,his love nor ,his thoughts4 ,more than once world-wide declarations and promises broke from ,his lips1 even before the final universal commission1 ',preach the ,gospel to every creature4' ',i1 if ,i be lifted up1 will draw all men unto ,me4' ',i am the ,light of the world4' ,these and other similar sayings give us ,his lofty consciousness that ,he has received 'the heathen for ,his inheritance1 and the uttermost parts of the earth for ,his possession4' ,parallel with them in substance are the words before us1 which1 for our present purpose1 we may regard as containing lessons from our ,lord ,himself of how ,he looked and would have us look on the heathen world1 on ,his work and ours1 and on the certain issues of both4 ,i4 ,we have here ,christ teaching us how to think of the heathen world4 ,observe that ,his words are not a declaration that all mankind are ,his sheep4 ,the previous verses have distinctly defined a class of men as possessing the name1 and the succeeding ones reiterate the definition1 and with equal distinctness exclude another class4 ',ye believe not1 because ye are not ,my sheep as ,i said unto you4' ,his sheep are they who know ,him and are known of ,him4 ,between ,him and them there is a communion of love1 a union of life1 and a consequent reciprocal knowledge1 which transcends the closest intimacies of earthly life1 and finds its only analogue in that deep and mysterious oneness which subsists between the ,father1 who alone knoweth the ,son1 and the only begotten ,son1 who being ever in the bosom of the ,father1 alone knoweth ,him and revealeth ,him to us4 ',i know ,my sheep and am known of ,mine2 as the ,father knoweth ,me and ,i know the ,father4 ,they hear ,my voice and follow ,me1 and ,i give unto them eternal life4' ,such are the characteristics of that relation between ,christ and men by which they become ,his sheep4 ,it is such souls as these whom our ,lord beholds in the wasteful wilderness4 ,he is speaking not of a relation which all men bear to ,him by virtue of their creation1 but of one which they bear to ,him who believe in ,his name4 ,now this interpretation of the words does by no means contradict1 but rather presupposes and rests upon the truth that all mankind come within the love of the divine heart1 that ,he died for all1 that all may be the subjects of ,his mediatorial kingdom1 recipients of the offered mercy of ,god in ,christ1 and committed to the stewardship of the missionary ,church4 ,resting upon these truths1 the words of our text advance a step further and contemplate those who 'shall hereafter believe on ,me4' ,whether they be few or many is not the matter in hand4 ,whether at any future time they shall include all the dwellers upon earth is not the matter in hand4 ,that every soul of man is included in the adaptation and intention and offer of the ,gospel is not the matter in hand4 ,but this is the matter in hand1 that ,jesus ,christ in that moment of lofty elevation when ,he looked onwards to giving ,his life for the sheep1 looked outwards also1 far afield1 and saw in every nation and people souls that ,he knew were ,his1 and would one day know ,him1 and be led by ,him 'in green pastures and beside still waters4' ,but where or what were they when ,he spoke8 ,he does not mean that already they had heard ,his voice and were following ,his steps1 and knew ,his love1 and had received eternal life at ,his hand4 ,this ,he cannot mean1 for the plain reason that ,he goes on to speak of ,his 'bringing' them and of their 'hearing1' a work yet to be done4 ,it can only be1 then1 that ,he speaks of them thus in the fullness of that divine knowledge which 'calls things that are not as though they were4' ,it is then a prophetic word which ,he speaks here4 ,we have only to think of the condition of the civilised heathendom of ,christ's own day in order to feel the force of our text in its primary application4 ,while the work of salvation was being prepared for the world in the life and death of our ,lord1 the world was being prepared for the tidings of salvation4 ,everywhere men were losing their faith in their idols1 and longing for some deliverer4 ,some had become weary of the hollowness of philosophical speculation1 and1 like ,pilate1 were asking ',what is truth8' whilst1 unlike ,him1 they waited for an answer1 and will believe it when it comes from the lips of the ,incarnate wisdom4 ,such were the ,magi who were led by their starry science to ,his cradle1 and went back to the depths of the ,eastern lands with a better light than had guided them thither4 ,such were not a few of the early ,christian converts1 who had long been seeking hopelessly for goodly pearls1 and had so been learning to know the worth of the ,one when it was offered to them4 ,there were men who had been long sickening with despair amidst the rottenness of decaying mythologies and corrupting morals1 and longing for some breath from heaven to blow health to themselves and to the world1 and had so been learning to welcome 'the rushing mighty wind' when it came in power4 ,there were simple souls1 without as well as within the chosen people1 waiting for the ,consolation1 though they knew not whence it was to come4 ,there were many who had already learned to believe that 'salvation is of the ,jews1' though they had still to learn that salvation is in ,jesus4 ,such were that ,aethiopian statesman who was poring over ,isaiah when ,philip joined him1 the ,roman centurion at ,caesarea whose prayers and alms came up with acceptance before ,god1 these ,greeks of the ,west who came to ,his cross as the ,eastern sages to ,his cradle1 and were in ,christ's eyes the advance guard and first scattered harbingers of the flocks who should come flying for refuge to ,him lifted on the ,cross1 'like doves to their windows4' ,the whole world showed that the fullness of time had come2 and the history of the early years of the ,church reveals in how many souls the process of preparation had been silently going on4 ,it was like the flush of early spring1 when all the buds that had been maturing and swelling in the cold1 burst1 and the tender flowers that had been reaching upwards to the surface in all the hard winter laugh out in beauty1 and a green veil covers all the hedges at the first flash of the ,april sun4 ,not only these were in our ,lord's thoughts when ,he saw ,his sheep in heathen lands4 ,there were many who had no such previous preparation1 but were plunged in all the darkness1 nor knew that it was dark4 ,not only those wearied of idolatry1 and dissatisfied with creeds outworn1 but the barbarous people of ,illyricum1 the profligates of ,corinth1 hard rude men like the jailer at ,philippi1 and many more were before ,his penetrating eye4 ,he who sees beneath the surface1 and beyond the present1 beholds ,his sheep where men can only see wolves4 ,he sees an ,apostle in the blaspheming ,saul1 a teacher for all generations in the ,african ,augustine while yet a sensualist and a ,manichee1 a reformer in the eager monk ,luther1 a poet-evangelist in the tinker ,bunyan4 ,he sees the future saint in the present sinner1 the angel's wings budding on many a shoulder where the world's burdens lie heavy1 and the new name written on many a forehead that as yet bears but the mark of the beast1 and the number of ,his name4 ,and the sheep whom ,he sees while ,he speaks are not only the men of that generation4 ,these mighty words are world-wide and world-lasting4 ,the whole of the ages are in ,his mind4 ,all nations are gathered before ,his prophetic vision1 even as they shall one day be gathered before ,his judgment throne1 and in all the countless mass ,his hand touches and ,his love clasps those who to the very end of time shall come to ,his call with loving faith1 shall follow ,his steps with glad obedience4 ,thus does ,christ look out upon the world that lay beyond the fold4 ,i cannot stay to do more than refer in passing to the spirit which the words of our text breathe4 ,there is the lofty consciousness that ,he is the ,leader and ,guide1 the ,friend and ,helper of all1 that ,he stands solitary in ,his power to bless4 ,there is the full confidence that the earth is ,his to its uttermost border4 ,there is the clear vision of the sorrowful condition of these heathen people1 without a shepherd and without a fold1 wandering on every high mountain and dying in every thirsty land where there is no water4 ,there are the tenderest pity and yearning love for them in their extremity4 ,there is the clear assurance that they will come and be blessed in ,him4 ,i pass by all the other thoughts1 which naturally found themselves on these words1 in order to urge the one which is most appropriate to our present engagement4 ,let us1 dear brethren1 take ,christ as our pattern in our contemplations of the heathen world4 ,he has set us the example of an outgoing look directed far beyond the limits of the existing churches1 far beyond the point of present achievement4 ,we are but too apt to circumscribe our operative thoughts and our warm sympathies within the circle of our sight1 or of our own personal associations4 ,our selfishness and our indolence affect the objects of our contemplations quite as much as they do the character of our work4 ,they vitiate both1 by making ourselves the great object of both1 and by weakening the force of both in a ratio that increases rapidly with the increasing distance from that favourite centre4 ,it is but a subtle form of the same disease which keeps our thoughts penned within the bounds of any fold1 or limited by the progress already achieved4 ,for us the whole world is the possession of our ,lord1 who has died to redeem us4 ,by us the whole ought to be contemplated with that same spirit of prophetic confidence which filled ,him when ,he said1 ',other sheep ,i have which are not of this fold4' ,to press onwards1 'forgetting the things that are behind1 and reaching forth to those which are before1' is the only fitting attitude for ,christian men1 either in regard to the gradual purifying of their own characters1 or in regard to the gradual winning of the world for ,christ4 ,we ought to make all past successes stepping-stones to nobler things4 ,the true use of the present is to reach up from it to a loftier future4 ,the distance beckons2 well for us if it do not beckon us in vain4 ,we have yet to learn the first lesson of our ,master's spirit1 as expressed in these words1 if we have not become familiar with the pitying contemplation of the wastes beyond the fold1 nor fixed deep in our minds the faith that the amplitude of its walls will have to be widened with growing years till it fills the world4 ,the cry echoes to us from of old1 ',lengthen thy cords1 and strengthen thy stakes1 for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left4' ,we take the first step to respond to the summons when we make the 'regions beyond' one of the standing subjects of our devout thoughts1 and take heed of supposing that the ,church as we know it1 has the same measurement which the man with the golden rod has measured for the eternal courts of ,jerusalem1 that shall be the joy of the whole earth4 ,the very genius of the ,gospel is aspiring4 ,it is content with nothing short of universality for the sweep1 and eternity for the duration1 and absolute completeness for the measure1 of its bestowments on man4 ,we should be like men on a voyage of discovery1 whose task is felt to be incomplete until headland after headland that fades in the dim distance has been rounded and surveyed1 and the flag of our country planted upon it4 ,after each has been passed another arises from the water1 onwards we must go4 ,there is no pause for our thoughts1 none for our sympathy1 none for our work1 till our keels have visited1 and the 'shout of a ,king' has been heard on every shore that fills 'the breadth of ,thy land1 ,o ,emmanuel6' ,the limits of the visible community of ,christ's ,church to-day are far within the borders to which it must one day stretch4 ,it is for us1 taught by ,his words1 to understand that we are yet as it were but encamped by ,jericho1 and at the beginning of the campaign4 ,ai and ,bethhoron1 and many a fight more are before us yet4 ,the camp of the invaders1 when they lay around the city of palm-trees1 with the mountains in front and the ,jordan behind1 was not more unlike the settled order of the nation when it filled the land1 than the ranks of ,christ's army to-day are to the mighty multitudes that shall one day name ,his name1 and follow ,his banner4 ,let us live in the future1 and lay strongly hold on the distant2 for both are our ,lord's1 and by so doing we shall the better do our ,master's work in the present1 and at hand4 ,he has set us the example of a penetrating gaze into heathenism1 which reveals beneath its monotonous miseries1 the souls that are ,his4 ,we ought to look on every field of ,christian effort with the assurance that in it there are some who will hear ,his voice4 ,as it was when ,he came1 so it is ever and everywhere4 ,the world is being prepared for the ,gospel4 ,in some broad regions1 faith in idolatry is dying out1 and the moral condition of the people is undergoing a slow elevation4 ,individuals are being weaned from their gods1 they know not how1 and they will not know why till they hear of ,christ4 ,he sees in every land where the ,gospel is being taken 'a people prepared for the ,lord4' ,he sees the gold gleaming in the crevices of the caves1 the gems1 rough and unpolished1 lying in the matrix4 ,he looks not merely on the great mass of idolaters1 but ,he sees the single souls who shall hear4 ,it is for us to look on the same mass with confidence caught from ,his4 ,neither apathetic indifference nor faint-hearted doubt should be permitted to weaken our hands4 ,the prospect may seem very dark1 the power of the enemy very great1 our resources very inadequate2 but let us look with ,christ's eye1 we shall know that everywhere we may hope to find a response to our message4 ,who they may be1 we know not4 ,how many they may be1 we know not4 ,how they may be guided by ,him1 they know not4 ,but ,he knows all4 ,we may know that they are there4 ,and as we cannot tell who they are but only that they are1 we are bound to cherish hopes for all--the most degraded and outcast of our race4 ,we have no right to give up any field or any man as hopeless4 ,christ's sheep will be found coming out of the midst of wolves and goats4 ,darkness may cover the earth1 and gross darkness the people2 but if we look upon it as ,christ did1 and as ,he would have us to look1 we shall see lights flickering here and there in the obscurity1 which shall burst out into a blaze4 ,the prophetic eye1 the boundlessly hopeful heart1 the strong confidence that in every land where ,he is preached there will be those who shall hear--these are what ,he gives us when ,he says1 ',other sheep ,i have1 which are not of this fold4' ,there is one other thought connected with these words which may be briefly referred to4 ,it is that even now1 in all lands where the ,gospel has been preached1 there are those whom ,christ has received1 although they have no connection with ,his visible ,church4 ,there are many goats within the fold4 ,there are many sheep without it4 ,even in lands where the ,gospel has long been preached1 we do not venture to identify profession by ,church fellowship with living union with ,christ4 ,much more is this true of our missionary efforts1 and the apparent converts whom they make4 ,the results that appear are no measure of the results that have actually been accomplished4 ,we often hear of men who had caught up some stray word in a ,bengali market-place1 or received a tract by the roadside from some passing missionary1 and who1 having carried away the seed in their hearts1 had long been living as ,christians remote from all churches and unknown by any4 ,we can easily conceive that timidity in some cases1 and distance in others1 swell the ranks of these secret disciples4 ,though they follow not the footsteps of the flock1 the ,shepherd will lead them in their solitude4 ,there will be many more names in the ,lamb's book of life1 depend upon it1 than ever are written on the roll-calls of our churches1 or in missionary statistics4 ,the shooting-stars that yearly fill our sky are visible to us for a moment1 when their orbit passes into the lighted heavens1 and then they disappear in the shadow of the earth4 ,but astronomers tell us that they are always there though to us they seem to blaze but for a moment4 ,we cannot see them1 but they move on their darkling path and have a sun round which they circle4 ,so be sure that in many heathen lands there are believing souls1 seen by us but for an instant and then lost1 who yet fill their unseen place1 and move obedient round the ,sun of ,righteousness4 ,their names on earth are dark1 but when the manifestation of the sons of ,god shall come1 they shall shine as the brightness of the firmament1 and as the stars for ever and ever4 ,our work has results beyond our knowledge now4 ,when the ,church1 the ,lamb's wife1 shall lift up her eyes at the end of the days1 prophecy tells us that she shall wonder to see her thronging children1 whom she had never known till then1 and will say1 ',who hath begotten me these8 ,behold ,i was left alone4 ,these1 where had they been8' ,these were ,god's hidden ones1 nourished and brought up beyond the pale of the outward ,church1 but brought at last to share her triumph1 and to abide at her side4 ',other sheep ,i have1 which are not of this fold4' ,what confidence then1 what tender pity1 what hope should fill our minds when we look on the heathen world6 ,we must never be contented with present achievements4 ,we are committed to a task which cannot end till all the world hears the joyful sound and is blessed by walking in the light of ,his countenance4 ,when the great ,roman ,catholic missionary1 the ,apostle of the ,east1 was lying on his dying bed among the barbarous people whom he loved1 his passing spirit was busy about his work1 and1 even in the article of death1 while the glazing eye saw no more clearly and the ashen lips had begun to stiffen into eternal silence1 visions of further conquests flashed before him1 and his last word was ',amplius'--,onward6 ,it ought to be the motto of the missionary work of us1 who boast a purer faith1 to carry to the heathen and to fire our own souls4 ,if ever we are tempted to repose1 to despondency1 to rest and be thankful when we number up our work and our converts1 let us listen to ,his voice as it speaks in that supreme hour when ,he beheld the vision of the ,cross1 and beyond it that of a gathered world3 ',other sheep ,i have1 which are not of this fold4' ,we have here-- ,,ii4 ,christ teaching us how to think of ,his work and ours4 ',them also ,i must bring4' ,a necessity is laid upon ,him1 which springs at once from that divine work which is the law of ,his life1 and from ,his own love and pity4 ,the means for accomplishing this necessary work are implied in the context1 as in other parallel ,scriptural sayings1 to be ,his propitiatory death4 ,the instrumentality employed is not only ,his own personal agency on earth1 nor only ,his throned rule on the right hand of ,god with power over the ,spirit of holiness1 but also the work of ,his ,church1 and ,his work through them4 ,of that ,he is mainly speaking when ,he says1 ',them also ,i must bring4' ,here1 then1 are some truths which ought to underlie and shape as well as animate our efforts for heathenism4 ,and first1 remember that the same sovereign necessity which was laid on ,him presses on us4 ,the ',spirit of life' which was in ,christ had its 'law1' which was the will of ,god4 ,that shaped all ,his being1 and ,he set us the example of perfectly clear recognition of1 and perfect obedience to it1 from the first moment when ,he said1 ',i must be about ,my ,father's business1' to the last1 when ,he sighed forth1 ',father1 into ,thy hands ,i commit ,my spirit4' ,hence the frequent sayings setting forth ,his work as determined by an imperative 'must1' which1 whether it be alleged in reference to some apparently small or to some manifestly great thing in ,his life1 is always equally imperative1 and whether it seem to be based on the need for the fulfilment of some prophetic word1 or on the proprieties and congruities of sonship1 reposes at last on the will of ,god4 ,his final words on the ,passover night1 before he went out to ,gethsemane in the moonlight1 contain the influence which moulded ,his whole earthly life1 ',as the ,father gave ,me commandment1 even so ,i do4' ,and this divine will constitutes for ,him the deepest ground of the necessity in the case before us4 ,the eternal counsels of ,god had willed that 'all the ends of the earth should see the salvation of the ,lord'2 therefore1 whatever the toils and the pains1 the loss and the death1 ,he1 whose meat and drink was to do the will of ,him that sent ,him1 must give ,himself to the task1 nor rest till1 one by one1 the weary wanderers are brought back on ,his shoulders and folded in ,his love4 ,in all which1 let us remember1 ,jesus ,christ is our pattern1 not in ,his work for the salvation of men1 but in the spirit in which ,he did ,his work4 ,the solemn law of duty before which ,he bowed ,his head is a law for us also4 ,the authoritative imperative which ,he obeyed has power over us4 ,if we would have our lives holy and strong1 wise and good1 we must have 'the law of the ,spirit of life in ,christ ,jesus1 making us free from the law of sin and death1' for the obedience to the higher law enfranchises from slavery to the lower1 and all other authority ceases over us when we are ,christ's men4 ,we are bound to service directed to the same end as ,his--even the salvation of the world4 ,the same voice which says to ,him1 ',i will give ,thee for a light to the ,gentiles1' says to us1 ',ye are ,my witnesses1 and ,my servant whom ,i have chosen4' ,the same ,will which hath constituted ,him the anointed ,prophet1 says of us1 ',touch not ,mine anointed and do ,my prophets no harm4' ,we are redeemed that we may show forth ,god's praises4 ,not for ourselves alone1 nor for purposes terminating in our own personal acceptance with ,god1 or the perfecting of our own characters1 priceless as these are1 but for ends which affect the world has ,god had mercy on us4 ,we are bought with a price that we may be the servants of ,god4 ,we have received that we may give forth1 ',god doth with us1 as we with torches do1 ,not light them for themselves4' ',arise1 shine1 for thy light is come4' ,this missionary work of ours1 then1 is not one that can be taken up and laid down at our own pleasure4 ,it is no excrescence1 or accidental outgrowth of the ,church's life4 ,we are all too apt to think of it as an extra1 a kind of work of supererogation1 which those may engage in who have a liking that way1 and which those who do not care about it may leave alone1 and no harm done4 ,when shall we come to feel deeply1 constantly1 practically1 that it must be done1 and that we are sinning when we neglect it8 ,dear brethren1 have we laid on our hearts and consciences the solemn weight of that necessity which moulded ,his life8 ,have we felt the awful power of ,god's plainly spoken will1 driving us to this task8 ,do we know anything of that spirit which hears ever-pealing in our ears that awful commandment1 ',go1 go to all the world1 preach1 preach the ,gospel to every creature8' ,god commands us to take the trumpet1 and if we would not soil our souls with gross and palpable sin1 we must set it to our lips and sound an alarm1 that by ,his grace shall wake the sleepers1 and make the hoary walls of the robber-city that has afflicted the earth for so many weary millenniums1 rock to their fall1 that the redeemed of the ,lord may pass over and set the captives free4 ,if we felt this as we ought1 surely our consecration would be more complete1 and our service more worthy4 ,a clear conviction of ,god's will pointing the path for us1 is1 in all things1 a wondrous help to vigorous action1 to calmness of heart1 and thus to success4 ,in this mighty work1 it would brace us for larger efforts1 and fit us for larger results4 ,it would simplify and deepen our motives1 and thus evolve from them nobler deeds and purer sacrifices4 ,to all objections from so-called prudence1 to all calculations from sparse results1 to all cavils of onlookers who may carp and seek to hinder1 we should have one all-sufficient answer4 ,it is not for us to bandy arguments on such points as these4 ,we care nothing for difficulties1 for discouragements1 for cost4 ,we may think about these till we lose all the manly chivalry of ,christian character1 like the ,apostle who gazed on the white crests of the angry breakers flashing in the pale moonlight1 till he forgot who stood on the storm1 and began to sink in his great fear4 ,a nobler spirit ought to be ours4 ,the toil is sore1 the sacrifices many1 and the yield seems small4 ,be it so6 ,to all such thoughts we have one answer--,oh6 that we felt more its solemn power6--such is the will of ,god4 ,we are doing as we are bid1 and we mean to go on4 ',them also must ,i bring1' says the ,master4 ',necessity is laid upon me1 yea1 woe is me if ,i preach not the ,gospel1' echoes the ,apostle4 ,let us1 in the consecration of resolved hearts1 and in trembling obedience to the divine will1 add our choral ,amen1 and in the face of all the paralysing suggestions of our own selfishness1 and all the tempting voices of worldly wisdom and unbelieving scornfulness that would stay our enterprise1 let us fling back the grand old answer1 ',whether it be right in the sight of ,god to hearken unto you more than unto ,god1 judge ye1 for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard4' ,we must not forget1 however1 that it was no abhorrent toil to which ,christ reluctantly consented4 ,but in this case1 as always with ,him1 the words of prophecy were true1 ',i delight to do ,thy will4' ,the schism between law and choice had no existence for ,him2 and when ,he says that ,he must bring the wandering sheep into the fold1 ,he means not more because of ,god's will than because of ,his own yearning desire to pour out the treasures of ,his mercy4 ,so it ought to be with us4 ,our missionary work should not be degraded beneath the level of duty indeed1 but neither should it be left on that level4 ,we ought not only to be led to it by a power without1 but impelled by an energy within4 ,if we would be like our ,master1 we must know the necessity arising from our own heart's promptings1 which leads us to work for ,him4 ,he has very imperfectly caught the spirit of the ,gospel who has never felt the word as a fire in his bones1 making him weary of forbearing4 ,if we only take to this work because we are bid1 and without sympathy for men1 and longing desire to bring them all to ,him who has blessed us1 we may almost as well leave it alone4 ,we shall do very little good to anybody1 to ourselves little1 to the world less4 ,that our own hearts may teach us this necessity1 we must live near our ,master1 and know ,his grace for ourselves4 ,in proportion as we do1 we shall be eager to proclaim it1 and not stand idling in a corner of the market-place1 till some unmistakable order sends us into the vineyard1 but go for the relief of our own feelings4 ',this is a day of good tidings1 and we cannot hold our peace1' said the poor lepers in the camp to one another4 ,the same feeling that we must tell the good news just because we know it1 and it will make our brethren glad1 is part of the ,christian character4 ,a blessed necessity1 then1 is laid upon us4 ,a blessed work is given us1 which brings with it at once the joy of obedience to our ,father's will1 and the joy of gratifying a deep instinct of our nature4 ',them also must ,i bring1' said the ,saviour1 because ,he loved men4 ',to me who am less than the least of all saints1 is this grace given1 that ,i should preach among the ,gentiles the unsearchable riches1' echoes the ,apostle4 ,let us live in the light of our ,lord's eye1 and drink deep of ,his spirit1 till the talk becomes a grace and privilege1 not a burden1 and till silence and idleness in ,his cause shall be felt to be impossible1 because it would be violence to our own feelings1 and the loss of a great joy as well as sin against our ,father's will4 ,consider again1 by what means the sheep are to be brought to ,christ8 ,the context distinctly answers the question4 ,there ,his propitiatory death is emphatically set forth as the power by which it is to be accomplished4 ,the verse before our text says1 ',i lay down ,my life for the sheep'2 that after our text says1 ',therefore doth ,my ,father love ,me1 because ,i lay down ,my life4' ,it is the same connection of means and end as appears in the wonderful words with which ,he received the ,greeks who came up to the feast1 and heard the great truth1 for want of which their philosophy and art came to nothing4 ',except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone'--',i1 if ,i be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto ,me4' ,yes1 brethren6 the ,cross of ,christ1 and it alone1 gathers men into a unity2 for it alone draws men to ,christ4 ,his death1 as our propitiation1 effects such a change in the aspects of the divine government1 and in the incidence of the divine justice1 that 'we who were far off are made nigh by the blood of ,christ4' ,his death1 as the constraining motive of life in the hearts which receive it1 draws them away from their own ways by the cords of love1 and binds them to ,him4 ,his death is ,his purchase of the gifts of that divine ,spirit for the rebellious1 who now convinces the world and endows the ,church1 'till we all come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of ,christ4' ,the ,first ,begotten from the dead is therefore the prince of all the kings of the earth1 and ,he so rides among the nations as to bring the world to ,himself4 ,the philosophy of history lies in the words1 ',other sheep ,i have1 them also ,i must bring4' ,christian missions abundantly prove that the ,cross and the proclamation of the ,cross have this power1 and that nothing else has4 ,it is not the ethics of ,christianity1 nor the abstract truths which may be deduced from its story1 but it is the story of the suffering ,redeemer that gives it its power over human hearts1 in all conditions1 and climates1 and stages of culture4 ,the magnetism of the ,cross alone is mighty enough to overcome the gravitation of the soul to sin and the world4 ,we hear much nowadays about a new reformation which is to be effected on ,christianity1 by purifying it of its historical facts and of its repulsive sacrificial aspect4 ,when this is done1 and the pure spiritual ideas are disengaged from their fleshly garb1 then1 we are told1 will be the apotheosis and glorification of ,christ4 ,this will be the real lifting up from the earth2 this will draw all men4 ,aye1 and when this is done what will be left8 ,christianity will be purified back again into a vague ,deism1 which one would have thought had proved itself toothless and impotent1 centuries ago4 ,spiritualising will turn out to be very like evaporating1 the residuum will be a miserably unsatisfactory something1 near akin to nothing1 and certainly incapable either of firing its disciples with a desire to spread their faith1 if we may call it so by courtesy1 or of drawing men to itself4 ,a ,christianity without a ,sacrifice on the altar will be a ,christianity without worshippers in the ,temple4 ,the ,king of ,kings who rides forth conquering is clothed in a vesture dipped in blood4 ,the ,christian ,emperor saw in the heavens the ,cross1 with the legend3 ',in this sign thou shalt conquer6' ,it is an emblem true for all time4 ,the ,cross is the power unto salvation4 ,the races scattered on the earth have often sought to make for themselves a rallying-point1 and their attempts at union have become ,babels1 centres of repulsion and confusion4 ,god has given us the ,centre1 the ,tree of life in the midst4 ,the crucified ,saviour is the ,root of ,jesse1 which shall stand for an ensign for the people2 to it shall the ,gentiles seek1 and resting beneath the shadow of the ,cross be at peace4 ',i1 if ,i be lifted up from the earth1 will draw all men unto ,me4' ,once more our ,lord teaches us here to identify the work of the ,church with ,his own4 ,what ,his servants do for ,him ,he does1 for from ,him they derive the power to do it1 and from ,him comes the blessing which makes it effectual4 ,he works in us1 ,he works with us1 ,he works for us4 ,he works in us4 ,we have the grace of ,his ,spirit to touch our hearts and sanctify us for service4 ,he puts it into the wills and desires of ,his ,church to consecrate themselves to the task4 ,he teaches them sympathy and self-devotion4 ,he breathes world-wide aspirations into them4 ,he raises up men to go forth4 ,he works with us1 helping our weakness1 enlightening our ignorance1 directing our steps1 giving power to the student at his dry task of grammar and dictionary1 being mouth and wisdom to them that speak in ,his name1 touching the hearts of them that hear4 ,in our basket ,he puts the seed-corn2 the furrows of the field ,he makes soft with showers1 and when it is sown ,he blesses the springing thereof4 ,he works for us1 opening doors among the nations1 ordering the courses of providence1 and holding ,his hand around ,his servants1 so that they are immortal till their work is done2 and can ever lift up thankful voices to ,him who leads them joyful captives at ,his own triumphal car1 as it rolls on its stately march1 scattering the sweet odours of ,his name wherever the long procession sweeps through the world4 ,we neither go a warfare at our own charges1 nor in our own might4 ,he will fight with us1 and ,he will pay us liberally at the last4 ,when we count up our own resources1 do not we often leave ,christ out of the reckoning8 ,do we not measure our strength against the enemies'1 and forget that one weak man1 plus ,christ1 is always in the majority8 ',it is not ye that speak1 but the ,spirit of ,my ,father which speaketh in you4' ',i laboured1 yet not ,i1 but the grace of ,god which was with me4' ,so helped1 so inspired1 we are wrong to despond2 we are wrong not to expect great things and attempt great things2 we are wrong not to dare1 we are wrong to do the work of the ,lord negligently4 ,let us feel that ,christ's work is ours1 and we shall be bowed beneath the solemnity of the thought1 shall accept joyfully the necessity4 ,let us feel that our work is ,christ's1 and we shall rejoice in infirmity that ,his power may rest upon us1 shall bid adieu to faint-hearted fears1 and be sure that then it must prosper4 ',arise1 ,o ,lord6 plead ,thine own cause4' ,not unto us1 ,o ,lord6 not unto us1 but to ,thy name give glory4 ',the ,lord ascended into ,heaven and sat on the right hand of ,god1 and they went everywhere preaching the word4' ,it seems a strange contrast between the rest of the ,lord1 sitting in sublime expectancy of conscious power til ,his enemies become ,his footstool1 and the toils of ,his scattered disciples4 ,it is like that moment which the genius of the great painter has caught in an immortal work1 when ,jesus in rapt communion with the mighty dead1 and crowned with the accepting word from ,heaven1 floated transfigured above the ,holy ,mount1 while below ,his disciples wrestled impotently with the demon that would not be cast out4 ,but it is not really contrast4 ,he has not so parted the toils as that ,his are over ere ours begin4 ,he has not left ,his ,church militant to bear the brunt of the battle while the ,captain of the ,lord's host only watches the current of the heady fight--like ,moses from the safe mountain4 ,the ,evangelist goes on to tell us that the ,lord also was working with them and sharing their toils1 lightening their burdens1 preparing for them successes on earth1 and a rest like ,his when ,he shall gird ,himself and serve them4 ,thus1 the first time that the heavens opened again to mortal eyes after they closed on ,his ascending form1 was to show ,him to the martyr in the council chamber1 not sitting careless or restful1 but standing at the right hand of ,god1 to intercede for1 to strengthen1 to receive and glorify ,his dying servant4 ,he goes with us where we go1 and through our works and gifts and prayers1 through our proclamation of the ,cross1 ,he worketh ,his will1 and shall finally accomplish that great necessity laid upon ,him by the ,father's counsels1 and upon us by ,his commandment1 and to be effected by ,his death1 that ,he should die1 not for that nation only1 but also that ,he should gather together in one the children of ,god who are scattered abroad4 ,we have here-- ,,iii4 ,our ,lord teaching us how to think of the certain issues of ,his work and ours4 ',they shall hear ,my voice1 and there shall be one fold and one ,shepherd4' ,we may regard these words as embracing two things2 a nearer issue1 namely1 the response that will always attend ,his call2 and a more remote1 namely1 the completion of ,his work4 ,there is1 of course1 a very blessed sense in which the latter words are true now1 and have been ever since ,paul could say to those who had been aliens from the commonwealth of ,israel1 ',he hath made both one4 ,now1 therefore1 ye are no more foreigners but fellow-citizens with the saints4' ,but the fold which now exists1 limited in numbers1 with its members but partially conscious of their unity1 and surrounded by those who follow hireling shepherds1 does not exhaust these great words4 ,they shall not be accomplished till that far-off future have come4 ,but for the present we have the predictions of the former clause1 ',they shall hear ,my voice4' ,what manner of expectations does it teach us to cherish8 ,it seems to speak not of universal reception of ,christ's message1 but of some as hearing and some as forbearing4 ,it teaches us to look for divers results attending our missionary work4 ,there will always be a ,dionysius the ,areopagite1 the woman ,lydia1 the kindly barbarians1 the conscience-stricken jailer4 ,there will always be the scoffers1 who mock when they hear of ',jesus and the resurrection'2 the hesitating who compound with conscience by promising to hear again of this matter1 the fierce opponents who invoke constituted authorities or mob violence to crush the message4 ,again1 the words seem to contemplate a long task4 ,there is nothing about the rate at which ,his ,kingdom shall spread1 not a syllable to answer inquiries as to when the end shall come4 ,the whole tone of the language suggests the idea that bringing back the sheep is to take a long time1 and to cost many a tedious journey into the wilderness4 ,not a sudden outburst1 but a slow kindling of the flame1 is what our ,lord teaches us here to expect4 ,but while thus calm in tone and moderate in expectation1 the words breathe a hope as confident as it is calm1 as clear as it is moderate4 ,there will always be a response4 ,his voice shall never be lifted up in the snow-storm or lonely hillsides only to be blown back into ,his own ears1 unheard and unheeded4 ,be they few or many1 they shall hear4 ,be the toil longer or shorter1 more or less severe1 it shall not be in vain4 ,and to these expectations we shall do wisely if we attune ours4 ,omit from your hopes what your ,lord has omitted from ,his promises2 do not ask what ,he has not told4 ,do not wonder if you encounter what ,he met1 for the disciple is not greater than his ,master1 and only if they have kept ,my saying will they keep yours also4 ,but1 on the other hand1 expect as much as ,he has prophesied2 accept it when it comes as the fruit of ,his work1 not of yours1 and build a firm faith that your labour shall not be in vain on these calm and prescient words4 ,so much for the course of the kingdom4 ,and what of the end8 ,one by one the sheep have been brought1 at last they are all gathered in1 not a hoof left behind4 ,the stars steal singly into their places in the heavens as the darkness deepens1 and ,he 'bringeth them forth by number1' until at the noon of night the sky is crowded with their lights1 and 'for that ,he is great in power1 not one faileth4' ,what expectations are we here taught to cherish then of the final issue8 ,mark1 to begin with1 that there is implied the ultimate universality of ,his dominion and sole supremacy of ,his throne4 ,there is to be but one ,shepherd1 and over all the earth a great unity of obedience to ,him4 ,here is the knell of all authority that does not own ,him1 and the subordination of all that does4 ,the hirelings1 the blind guides1 that have misled and afflicted humanity for so many weary ages1 shall be all sunk in oblivion4 ,the false gods shall be discrowned1 and lie shattered on their temple-sill1 and there shall be no worshippers to care for or to try to repair their discomfiture4 ,bow your heads before ,him1 thinkers who have led men on devious paths and spoken but a partial truth and a wisdom all confused with foolishness6 ,lower your swords before ,him1 warriors who have builded your cities on blood and led men like sheep to the slaughter6 ,he is more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey4 ,cast your crowns before ,him1 princes and all judges of the earth1 for ,he is ,king by right of the crown of thorns6 ,this is the ,lord of all--,teacher1 ,leader1 ,ruler of all men4 ,all other names shall be forgotten but ,his shall abide4 ,if they have been shepherds who would not come in by the door1 a ransomed world shall rejoice over their fall with the ancient hymn1 ',other gods beside ,thee have had dominion over us2 they are dead1 they shall not live1 ,thou hast destroyed them1 and made all their memory to perish4' ,if they have been subject to the chief ,shepherd and ensamples to the flock1 they will rejoice to decrease before ,his increase1 and having helped to bring the ,bride to the ,bridegroom1 will gladly stand aside and be forgotten in the perfect love that enters into full fruition at the last4 ,then when none contest nor intercept the reverential obedience that the whole world brings to ,him1 shall be fulfilled the firm promise which declared long ago3 ',i will set up one ,shepherd over them1 and ,he will feed them and be their ,shepherd4' ,mark again the blessed nature of the relation between ,christ and all men which is here foretold4 ,from of old1 the shepherd has been in all nations the emblem of kingly power1 of leadership of every sort4 ,how often the fact has contradicted the symbol let history tell4 ,but with ,jesus the reality does not only contradict1 but even transcends1 the tender old comparison4 ,he rules with a gentle sway4 ,his sceptre is no rod of iron1 but the shepherd's crook1 and the inmost meaning of its use is that it may 'comfort' us1 as ,david learned to feel4 ,there gather round the metaphor all thoughts of merciful guidance1 of tender care1 of a helping arm when we are weak1 of a loving bosom where we are carried when we are weary4 ,it speaks of a seeking love that roams over every high hill till it finds1 and of a strong shoulder that bears us back when ,he has found4 ,it tells of sweet hours of rest in the hot noontide by still waters1 of ample provision for all the soul's longings in green pastures4 ,it speaks of footsteps that go before1 in which men may follow and find them ways of pleasantness4 ,it speaks of gentle callings by name which draw the heart4 ,it speaks of defence when lion and bear come ravening down1 and of safe couching by night when the silent stars behold the sleeping sheep and the wakeful shepherd4 ,he ,himself gives its highest significance to the emblem1 in the words of this great discourse1 when ,he fixes on ,his knowledge1 ,his calling of ,his sheep1 ,his going before them1 ,his giving ,his life for them4 ,such are the gracious blessings which here ,he teaches us to think of as possessed in the happy days that shall be1 by all the world4 ,and1 on the other hand1 the symbol speaks of confiding love in the hearts of men1 of a great peacefulness of meek obedience stilling and gladdening their wills1 of the consciousness of ,his perfect love1 and the knowledge of all ,his gracious character1 of sweet answering communion with ,him1 of safety from all enemies1 of freedom1 of familiar passage in and out to ,god4 ,thus knit together shall be the one fold and the one ,shepherd4 ',they shall feed in the ways1 and their pastures shall be in all high places4 ,they shall not hunger nor thirst1 neither shall the heat nor sun smite them1 for ,he that hath mercy on them shall feed them1 even by the springs of water shall ,he guide them4' ,mark again what a vision is here given of the relations of men with one another4 ,they are to be all gathered into a peaceful unity4 ,they are to be one because they all hearken to one voice4 ,it is to be observed that our ,lord does not say1 as our ,english ,bible makes ,him say1 that there is to be one fold4 ,he drops that word of set purpose in the latter clause of our text1 and substitutes for it another1 which may perhaps be best rendered flock4 ,why this change in the expression8 ,because1 as it would seem1 he would have us learn that the unity of that blessed future time is not to be like the unity of the ,jewish ,church1 a formal and external one4 ,that ancient polity was a fold4 ,it held its members together by outward bonds of uniformity4 ,but the universal ,church of the future is to be a flock4 ,it is to be really and visibly one4 ,but it is to be so1 not because it is hemmed in by one enclosure1 but because it is to be gathered round one ,shepherd4 ,the more closely they are drawn to ,him1 the more near will they be to each other4 ,the centre in which all the radii meet keeps them all in their places4 ',we being many are one bread1 for we are all partakers of that one bread4' ,in the ritual of the ,old ,covenant1 the great golden candlestick with its seven branches stood in the court of the ,temple1 emblem of the formal oneness of the people1 which was meant to be the light of the ,lord to a dark world4 ,in the vision of the ,new ,covenant1 the seer in ,patmos beheld not the one lamp with its branches1 but the seven golden candlesticks1 which were made into a holier and a freer unity because the ,son of ,man walked in their midst--emblem of the oneness in diversity of the peoples1 who were sometimes darkness1 but shall one day be light in the ,lord4 ,there may continue to be national distinctions4 ,there may or there may not be any external unity4 ,but at all events our ,lord turns away our thoughts from the outward to the inward1 and bids us be sure that though the folds be many the flock shall be one1 because they shall all hear and follow ,him4 ,the words1 however1 suggest for us the blessed thought of the peaceful relations that shall then subsist among men4 ,the tribes of the earth shall couch beside each other like the quiet sheep in the fold1 and having learned of ,his great meekness1 they shall no more bite nor devour one another4 ,alas6 alas6 the words seem too good to be true4 ,they seem long1 long of coming to pass4 ,ever since they were spoken the old bloody work has been going on1 and the old lusts of the human heart have been busy sowing the dragon's teeth that shall spring up in wars and fightings4 ,in savage lands warfare rages on1 ceaseless1 ignoble1 unrecorded1 and seemingly purposeless as that of animalcules in a drop of water4 ,on civilised soil1 men1 who love the same ,christ and worship ,him in the same tongue1 are fronting each other at this hour4 ,the war of actual swords1 and the war of conflicting creeds1 and the jostling of human selfishness in the rough road of life1 are all around us1 and their seeds are within ourselves4 ,the race of men do not live like folded sheep1 rather like a flock of wolves1 who first run over and then devour their weaker fellows4 ,but here is a fairer hope1 and it will be fulfilled when all evil thoughts1 and all selfish desires1 and all jealous grudgings shall vanish from men's hearts1 as unclean spirits at cockcrow1 and shall leave them1 self-forgetful1 yielding of their own prerogatives1 desirous of no other man's1 abhorrent of inflicting1 and patient of receiving wrong4 ,there will be no fuel then to blow into sulphurous flame1 though all the blasts from hell were to fan the embers4 ,but peace and concord shall be in all men1 for ,christ shall be in all4 ,national distinctions may abide1 but national enmities--the oldest and deepest1 shall disappear4 ,there shall still be ,assyria1 and ,egypt1 and ,israel1 but their former relation will be replaced by a bond of amity in their common possession of ,him who is our peace4 ',in that day shall ,israel be the third with ,egypt1 and with ,assyria1 even a blessing in the midst of the land1 whom the ,lord shall bless1 saying1 ,blessed be ,egypt my people1 and ,assyria the work of my hands1 and ,israel mine inheritance4' ,god be thanked6 that though we see1 and our fathers have seen1 so much that seems to contradict our hopes of a peaceful world1 and though to-day the hell-hounds of war are baying over the earth1 and though nowhere can we see signs even of the approach of the halcyon time1 yet we can wait for the vision1 knowing that it will come at the appointed time1 when ',no war or battle's sound ,is heard the world around1 ,the idle spear and shield are high uphung2 ,the trumpet speaks not to the armed throng1 ,and ,kings sit still1 with awful eye1 ,as if they surely knew their ,sovereign ,lord was by4' ,such are the thoughts which our ,lord would teach us as to the present and as to the future of our missionary work4 ,for the one1 moderate expectations of success1 not unchequered by disappointment1 and a brave patience in long toil4 ,for the other1 hopes which cannot be too glowing1 and a faith which cannot be too obstinate4 ,the one is being fulfilled in our own and our brethren's experience even now2 we may be therefore all the more sure that the other will be so in due time4 ,if we look with ,christ's eyes1 we shall not be depressed by the apparent unbroken surface of heathenism but see1 as ,he did1 everywhere souls that belong to ,him1 who may and must be won2 we shall joyfully embrace the work which ,he has given us to do2 we shall arm ourselves against the discouragements of the present1 by living much in the past at the foot of the ,cross1 till we catch the true image of the ,saviour's love1 and much in the future in the midst of the ransomed flock1 till we too behold the roses blossoming in the wilderness1 the bright waters covering all the dry places in the desert1 and the families of men sitting1 clothed and in their right mind1 at the feet of ,jesus4 ,our missionary work is the pure and inevitable result of a belief in these words of my text4 ,can a man believe that ,christ has other sheep for whom ,he died because ,he must bring them in1 whom ,he will bring in because ,he died1 and not work according to his power in the line of the divine purposes8 ,the missionary spirit is but the ,christian spirit working in one particular direction4 ,missionary societies are but one of the authentic outcomes of ,christian principles1 as natural as holiness of life1 or the act of prayer4 ,to secure1 then1 a more vigorous energy in such work1 we need chiefly what we need for all ,christian growth--namely1 more and deeper communion with ,christ1 a more vivid realisation of ,his grace and love for ourselves4 ,and then we need that1 under the double stimulus of ,his love and of ,his commandment--which at bottom are one--our minds should be more frequently occupied with this subject of ,christian missions4 ,most of us know too little about the matter to feel very much4 ,and then we need that we should more seriously reflect upon the facts in relation to our own personal responsibility and duty4 ,you complain of the triteness of such appeals as this sermon4 ,brethren1 have you ever tried that recipe for freshening up well-worn truths1 namely1 thinking about them in connection with the simplest1 most important of all questions--what1 then1 ought ,i to do in view of these truths8 ,am ,i exaggerating when ,i say1 that not one-half of the professing ,christians of our day give an hour in the year to pondering that question1 with reference to missionary work8 ,oh6 dear friends1 see to it that you live in ,christ for yourselves1 and then see to it that you think ,his thoughts about the heathen world1 till your pity is stirred and your mind braced to the firm resolve that you too will work the works of ,christ and bring in the wanderers4 ,we have had as large results as ,christ has led us to expect1 and far larger than we deserved4 ,christian missions are yet in their infancy--alas6 that it should be so4 ,but in these seventy years since they may be said to have begun1 what wonderful successes have been achieved4 ,we are often told that we have done nothing4 ,is it so8 ,the plant has been got together1 methods of working have been systematised1 mistakes in some measure corrected4 ,we have spent much of our time in learning how to work1 and that process is by no means over yet4 ,but with all these deductions1 which ought fairly to be made1 how much has been accomplished8 ,the ,bible has been put into the languages of seven hundred millions of men4 ,the beginnings of a ,christian literature have been supplied for five-sixths of the world4 ,half a million of professed converts have been gathered in1 or as many as there were at the end of the first century1 after about the same number of years of labour1 and with apostles for missionaries and miracles for proof4 ,and if these still bear on their ankles the marks of the fetters1 and limp as they walk1 or cannot see very clearly at first1 it is no more than might be expected from their long darkness in the prison-house1 and it is no more than ,paul had to contend with at ,ephesus and ,corinth4 ,every church that has engaged in the toil has shared in the blessing1 and has its own instances of special prosperity4 ,we have had ,jamaica2 the ,london ,missionary ,society1 ,madagascar1 and the ,south ,seas2 the ,wesleyans1 ,fiji2 the ,episcopal ,societies1 ,tinnevelly2 the ,american brethren1 ,burmah1 and the ,karens4 ,some of the ruder mythologies have been so utterly extirpated that the children of idolaters have seen the gods whom their fathers worshipped for the first time in the ,british ,museum4 ,while over those more compact and scientific systems which lie like an incubus on mighty peoples1 there has crept a sickening consciousness of a coming doom1 and they already half own their conqueror in the ,stronger ,one than they4 ',they feel from ,judah's land ,the dreaded ,infant's hand4' ',bel boweth down1 ,nebo stoopeth1 the idols are upon the beasts4' ,surely ,god has granted us success enough for our thankful confidence1 more than enough for our deserts4 ,i repeat it1 it is as much as ,he promised1 as much as we had any right to expect1 and it is a vast deal more than any other system of belief or of no belief1 any of your spiritualised ,christianities1 or still more intangible creeds has ever managed1 or ever thought of trying4 ,to those who taunt us with no success1 and who perhaps would not dislike ,christian missions so much if they disliked ,christian truth a little less1 we may very fairly and calmly answer--,this rod has budded at all events2 do you the same with your enchantments4 ,but the past is no measure of the future4 ,from the very nature of the undertaking the ratio of progress increases at a rapid rate4 ,the first ten years of labour in ,india showed twenty-seven converts1 the seventh ten showed more than twenty-seven thousand4 ,the preparation may be as slow as the solemn gathering of the thunder-clouds1 as they noiselessly steal into their places1 and slowly upheave their grey billowing crests2 the final success may be as swift as the lightning which flashes in an instant from one side of the heavens to the other4 ,it takes long years to hew the tunnel1 to 'make the crooked straight1 and the rough places plain1' and then smooth and fleet the great power rushes along the rails4 ,to us the cry comes1 ',prepare ye in the desert an highway for our ,god4' ,the toil is sore and long1 but 'the glory of the ,lord shall be revealed1 and all flesh shall see it together4' ,the ,alpine summits lie white and ghastly in the spring sunshine1 and it seems to pour ineffectual beams on their piled cold2 but by slow degrees it is silently loosening the bands of the snow1 and after a while a goat's step1 as it passes along a rocky ledge1 or a breath of wind will move a tiny particle1 and in an instant its motion spreads over a mile of mountain side1 and the avalanche is rushing swifter and mightier at every foot down to the valley below1 where it will all turn into sweet water1 and ripple glancing in the sunshine4 ,such is our work4 ,it may seem very hopeless1 and be mostly unobservable in surface results1 but it is very real for all that4 ,the conquering impulse1 for which our task may have been to prepare the way1 will be given1 and then we shall wonder to see how surely the kingdom was coming1 even when we observed it not4 ,ye have need of patience1 and to feed your patience1 ye have need of fellowship with ,christ1 of faith in ,his promises1 of sympathy with ,his mind4 ,god has given us1 dear brethren1 special reason for renewed consecration to this service in the blessings which have during the year terminated our anxieties and crowned our work for our own ,society4 ,but let us not dwell upon what has been done4 ,these successes are brooks by the way at which we may drink--nothing more4 ,we ought to be like shepherds in the lonely mountain glens1 who see in the fast-falling snow and the bitter blast a summons to the hillside1 and there all the night long wherever the drift lies deepest and the wind bites the most sharply1 search the most eagerly for the poor half-dead creatures1 and as they find each1 bear it back to the safe shelter1 nor stay behind to count the rescued1 nor to rest their weariness1 for all the bright light in the cottage and the blackness without1 but forth again on the same quest1 till all the ,master's sheep have been rescued from the white death that lay treacherous around1 and are sleeping at peace in ,his folds4 ,a mighty ,voice ought ever to be sounding in our ears1 ',other sheep ,i have1' and the answer of our hearts and of our lives should be1 ',them also1 ,o ,lord6 will ,i try to bring4' ,not till the far-off issue is accomplished shall we have a right to rest1 and then we1 with all those ,he has helped us to gather to ,his side1 shall be among that flock1 whom ,he who is at once ,lamb and ,shepherd1 our ,brother and our ,lord1 our ,sacrifice and ,king1 'shall feed and lead by living fountains of waters1' in the sweet pastures of the upper world1 where there are no ravening wolves1 nor false guides to terrify and bewilder ,his flock any more at all for ever4 ,,the ,,delays ,,of ,,love ',now ,jesus loved ,martha1 and her sister1 and ,lazarus4 ,when ,he had heard therefore that he was sick1 ,he abode two days still in the same place where ,he was4'--,,john xi4 #e1 #f4 ,we learn from a later verse of this chapter that ,lazarus had been dead four days when ,christ reached ,bethany4 ,the distance from that village to the probable place of ,christ's abode1 when ,he received the message1 was about a day's journey4 ,if1 therefore1 to the two days on which ,he abode still after the receipt of the news1 we add the day which the messengers took to reach ,him and the day which ,he occupied in travelling1 we get the four days since which ,lazarus had been laid in his grave4 ,consequently the probability is that1 when our ,lord had the message1 the man was dead4 ,christ did not remain still1 therefore1 in order to work a greater miracle by raising ,lazarus from the dead than ,he would have done by healing1 but ,he stayed--strange as it would appear--for reasons closely connected with the highest well-being of all the beloved three1 and because ,he loved them4 ,john is always very particular in his use of that word 'therefore1' and he points out many a subtle and beautiful connection of cause and effect by his employment of it4 ,i do not know that any of them are more significant and more full of illumination with regard to the ways of divine providence than the instance before us4 ,how these two sisters must have looked down the rocky road that led up from ,jericho during those four weary days1 to see if there were any signs of ,his coming4 ,how strange it must have appeared to the disciples themselves that ,he made no sign of movement1 notwithstanding the message4 ,perhaps ,john's scrupulous carefulness in pointing out that ,his love was ,christ's reason for ,his quiescence may reflect a remembrance of the doubts that had crept over the minds of himself and his brethren during these two days of strange inaction4 ,the ,evangelist will have us learn a lesson1 which reaches far beyond the instance in hand1 and casts light on many dark places4 ,i4 ,christ's delays are the delays of love4 ,we have all of us1 ,i suppose1 had experience of desires for the removal of bitterness or sorrows1 or for the fulfilment of expectations and wishes1 which we believed1 on the best evidence that we could find1 to be in accordance with ,his will1 and which we have been able to make prayers out of1 in true faith and submission1 which prayers have had to be offered over and over and over again1 and no answer has come1 ,it is part of the method of ,providence that the lifting away of the burden and the coming of the desires should be a hope deferred4 ,and instead of stumbling at the mystery1 or feeling as if it made a great demand upon our faith1 would it not be wiser for us to lay hold of that little word of the ,apostle's here1 and to see in it a small window that opens out on to a boundless prospect1 and a glimpse into the very heart of the divine motives in ,his dealings with us8 ,if we could once get that conviction into our hearts1 how quietly we should go about our work6 ,what a beautiful and brave patience there would be in us1 if we habitually felt that the only reason which actuates ,god's providence in its choice of times of fulfilling our desires and lifting away our bitterness is our own good6 ,nothing but the purest and simplest love1 transparent and without a fold in it1 sways ,him in all that ,he does4 ,why should it be so difficult for us to believe this8 ,if we were more in the way of looking at life1 with all its often unwelcome duty1 and its arrows of pain and sorrow1 and all the disappointments and other ills that it is heir to1 as a discipline1 and were to think less about the unpleasantness1 and more about the purpose1 of what befalls us1 we should find far less difficulty in understanding that ,his delay is born of love1 and is a token of ,his tender care4 ,sorrow is prolonged for the same reason as it was sent4 ,it is of little use to send it for a little while4 ,in the majority of cases1 time is an element in its working its right effect upon us4 ,if the weight is lifted1 the elastic substance beneath springs up again4 ,as soon as the wind passes over the cornfield1 the bowing ears raise themselves4 ,you have to steep foul things in water for a good while before the pure liquid washes out the stains4 ,and so time is an element in all the good that we get out of the discipline of life4 ,therefore1 the same love which sends must necessarily protract1 beyond our desires1 the discipline under which we are put4 ,if we thought of it1 as ,i have said1 more frequently as discipline and schooling1 and less frequently as pain and a burden1 we should understand the meaning of things a great deal better than we do1 and should be able to face them with braver hearts1 and with a patient1 almost joyous1 endurance4 ,if we think of some of the purposes of our sorrows and burdens1 we shall discern still more clearly that time is needed for accomplishing them1 and that1 therefore1 love must delay its coming to take them away4 ,for example1 the object of them all1 and the highest blessing that any of us can obtain1 is that our wills should be bent until they coincide with ,god's1 and that takes time4 ,the shipwright1 when he gets a bit of timber that he wants to make a 'knee' out of1 knows that to mould it into the right form is not the work of a day4 ,a will may be broken at a blow1 but it will take a while to bend it4 ,and just because swiftly passing disasters have little permanent effect in moulding our wills1 it is a blessing1 and not an evil1 to have some standing fact in our lives1 which will make a continual demand upon us for continually repeated acts of bowing ourselves beneath ,his sweet1 though it may seem severe1 will4 ,god's love in ,jesus ,christ can give us nothing better than the opportunity of bowing our wills to ,his1 and saying1 ',not mine1 but ,thine be done4' ,if that is why ,he stops on the other side of ,jordan1 and does not come even to the loving messages of beloved hearts1 then ,he shows ,his love in the sweetest and the loftiest form4 ,so1 dear friends1 if you carry a lifelong sorrow1 do not think that it is a mystery why it should lie upon your shoulders when there are omnipotence and an infinite heart in the heavens4 ,if it has the effect of bending you to ,his purpose1 it is the truest token of ,his loving care that ,he can send4 ,in like manner1 is it not worth carrying a weight of unfulfilled wishes1 and a weariness of unalleviated sorrows1 if these do teach us three things1 which are one thing--faith1 endurance1 prayerfulness1 and so knit us by a threefold cord that cannot be broken1 to the very heart of ,god ,himself8 ,,ii4 ,this delayed help always comes at the right time4 ,do not let us forget that ,heaven's clock is different from ours4 ,in our day there are twelve hours1 and in ,god's a thousand years4 ,what seems long to us is to ,him 'a little while4' ,let us not imitate the shortsighted impatience of ,his disciples1 who said1 ',what is this that ,he saith1 ,a little while8 ,we cannot tell what ,he saith4' ,the time of separation looked so long in anticipation to them1 and to ,him it had dwindled to a moment4 ,for two days1 eight-and-forty hours1 ,he delayed ,his answer to ,mary and ,martha1 and they thought it an eternity1 while the heavy hours crept by1 and they only said1 ',it's very weary1 ,he cometh not1 they said4' ,how long did it look to them when they had got ,lazarus back8 ,the longest protraction of the fulfilment of the most yearning expectation and fulfilled desire will seem but as the winking of an eyelid when we get to estimate duration by the same scale by which ,he estimates it1 the scale of ,eternity4 ,the ephemeral insect1 born in the morning and dead when the day fades1 has a still minuter scale than ours1 but we should not think of regulating our estimate of long and short by it4 ,do not let us commit the equal absurdity of regulating the march of ,his providence by the swift beating of our timepieces4 ,god works leisurely because ,god has eternity to work in4 ,the answer always comes at the right time1 and is punctual though delayed4 ,for instance1 ,peter is in prison4 ,the ,church keeps praying for him2 prays on1 day after day4 ,no answer4 ,the week of the feast comes4 ,prayer is made intensely and fervently and continuously4 ,no answer4 ,the slow hours pass away4 ,the last day of his life1 as it would appear1 comes and goes4 ,no answer4 ,the night gathers2 prayer rises to heaven4 ,the last hour of the last watch of the last night that he had to live has come1 and as the veil of darkness is thinning1 and the day is beginning to break1 'the angel of the ,lord shone round about him4' ,but there is no haste in his deliverance4 ,all is done leisurely1 as in the confidence of ample time to spare1 and perfect security4 ,he is bidden to arise quickly1 but there is no hurry in the stages of his liberation4 ',gird thyself and bind on thy sandals4' ,he is to take time to lace them4 ,there is no fear of the quaternion of soldiers waking1 or of there not being time to do all4 ,we can fancy the half-sleeping and wholly-bewildered ,apostle fumbling at the sandal-strings1 in dread of some movement rousing his guards1 and the calm angel face looking on4 ,the sandals fastened1 he is bidden to put on his garments and follow4 ,with equal leisure and orderliness he is conducted through the first and the second guard of sleeping soldiers1 and then through the prison gate4 ,he might have been lifted at once clean out of his dungeon1 and set down in the house many were gathered praying for him4 ,but more signal was the demonstration of power which a deliverance so gradual gave1 when it led him slowly past all obstacles and paralysed their power4 ,god is never in haste4 ,he never comes too soon nor too late4 ',the ,lord shall help them1 and that right early4' ,sennacherib's army is round the city1 famine is within the walls4 ,to-morrow will be too late4 ,but to-night the angel strikes1 and the enemies are all dead men4 ,so ,god's delay makes the deliverance the more signal and joyous when it is granted4 ,and though hope deferred may sometimes make the heart sick1 the desire1 when it comes1 is a tree of life4 ,,iii4 ,the best help is not delayed4 ,the principle which we have been illustrating applies only to one half--and that the less important half--of our prayers and of ,christ's answers4 ,for in regard to spiritual blessings1 and our petitions for fuller1 purer1 and diviner life1 there is no delay4 ,in that region the law is not ',he abode still two days in the same place1' but ',before they call ,i will answer1 and while they are yet speaking ,i will hear4' ,if you have been praying for deeper knowledge of ,god1 for lives liker ,his1 for hearts more filled with the ,spirit1 and have not had the answer1 do not fall back upon the misapplication of such a principle as this of my text1 which has nothing to do with that region2 but remember that the only reason why good people do not immediately get the blessings of the ,christian life for which they ask lies in themselves1 and not at all in ,god4 ',ye have not1 because ye ask not4 ,ye ask and have not1 because'--not because ,he delays1 but because--'ye ask amiss1' or because1 having asked1 you get up from your knees and go away1 not looking to see whether the blessing is coming down or not4 ,ah6 there is a sad amount of lying and hypocrisy in prayers for spiritual blessings4 ,many petitioners do not want to have them4 ,they would not know what to do with them if they got them4 ,they make the requests because their fathers did so before them1 and because these are the right kind of things to say in a prayer4 ,such prayers get no answers4 ,if a man prays for some spiritual enlargement1 and then goes out into the world and lives clean contrary to his prayers1 what right has he to say that ,god delays ,his answers8 ,no1 ,he does not delay ,his answers1 but we push back ,his answers1 and the gift that is given we will not take4 ,let us remember that the two halves of the divine dealings are not regulated by the same principle1 though they be regulated by the same motive2 and that the love which often delays for our good1 in regard to the desires that have reference to outward things1 is swift as the lightning to answer every petition which moves within the circle of our spiritual life4 ',whatsoever things ye desire1 when ye stand praying1 believe that' then and there 'ye receive them'2 and the undelaying ,god will take care that 'you shall have them4' ,,christ',s ,,question ,,to ,,each ,for the ,young '''' ,believest then this8 ,she saith unto ,him1 ,yea1 ,lord4'--,,john xi4 #bf1 #bg4 ,as each of these annual sermons which ,i have preached for so long comes round1 ,i feel more solemnly the growing probability that it may be the last4 ,like a man nearing the end of his day's work1 ,i want to make the most of the remaining moments4 ,whether this is the last sermon of the sort that ,i shall preach or not1 it is certainly the last of the kind that some of you will hear from me1 or possibly from any one4 ,so1 dear friends1 ,i have felt that neither you nor ,i can afford to waste this hour in considering subjects of secondary interest1 appropriate as some of them might be4 ,i wish to come to the main point at once1 and to press upon you all1 and especially on the younger portion of this audience1 the question of your own personal religion4 ,the words of my text1 as you will probably remember1 were addressed by our ,lord to ,martha1 as she was writhing in agony over her dead brother4 ,christ proclaims1 with singular calmness and majesty1 ,his character and work as the ,resurrection and the ,life1 and then seeks to draw her from her absorbing sorrow to an effort of faith which shall grasp the truths ,he proclaims4 ,he flashes out this sudden question1 like the swift thrust of a gleaming dagger4 ,it is a demand for credence to ,his assertion--on ,his bare word--tremendous as that assertion is4 ,and nobly was the demand met by the as swift1 unfaltering answer1 ',yea1 ,lord1' ,i believe in ,thee1 and so ,i believe in ,thy word4 ,now1 friends1 ,jesus ,christ is putting the same question to each of us4 ,and ,i pray that our answers may be ,martha's4 ,i4 ,note1 first1 the significance of the question4 ',this4' ,what is this8 ,the answer will tell us what are the central essential facts1 faith in which makes a ,christian4 ,of course the form in which our ,lord's previous utterance was cast was coloured by the circumstances under which ,he spoke1 and was so shaped as to meet the momentary exigency4 ,but whilst thus the form is determined by the fact that ,he was speaking to a heart wrung by separation1 and as a preliminary to a mighty act of resurrection1 the essential truths which are so expressed are those which1 as ,i believe1 constitute the fundamental truths of ,christianity--the very core and heart of the ,gospel4 ,turn1 then1 but for a moment1 to what immediately precedes my text4 ,our ,lord says three things4 ,first1 ,he asserts ,his supernatural character and divine relation to life3 ',i am the ,resurrection and the ,life4' ,next1 ,he declares that it is possible for ,him to communicate to dying and to dead men a life which triumphs over death1 and laughs at change1 and persists through the superficial experience which we christen by the name of ,death1 unaffected1 undiminished1 as some sweet spring might gush up in the heart of a salt1 solitary sea4 ,and then ,he declares that the condition on which ,he1 the ,life-giver1 gives of ,his immortal life to dying men1 is their trust in ,him4 ,these three--,his character and work1 the gifts of which ,his hands are full1 and the way by which the gifts may be appropriated by us men--these three are1 as ,i take it1 the central facts of ,christianity4 ',believest thou this8' ,the question comes to us all2 and in these days of unsettlement it is well to have some clear understanding of what is the 'irreducible minimum' of ,christian teaching4 ,i take it that it lies here4 ,there are two opposite errors which1 like all opposite errors1 are bolted together1 and revolve round a common centre4 ,the one of them is the extreme conservative tendency which regards every pin and bolt of the tabernacle as if it were equally sacred with the altar and the ark4 ,and the other is the tendency which christens itself 'liberal and progressive1' and which is always ready to exchange old lamps1 though they have burnt brightly in the past1 for new ones that are as yet only glittering metal and untried4 ,in these days1 when it is a presumption against any opinion1 that our fathers believed it 7an error into which young people are most prone to fall71 and when1 by the energy of contradiction1 that error has evoked1 and is evoking1 the opposite exaggeration that adheres to all that is traditional1 to all that has been regarded as belonging to the essentials of the ,christian faith1 and so is fearful1 trembling for the ,ark of ,god when there is no need1 let us fall back upon these great words of the ,master1 and see that the things which constitute the living heart of ,his message and gift to the world are neither more nor less than these three3 the supernatural ,christ1 the life which ,he imparts1 and the condition on which ,he bestows it4 ',believest thou this8' ,if you do1 you need take very little heed of the fluctuations of contemporary opinion as to other matters1 valuable and important as these may be in their place2 and may let men say what they will about disputed questions--about the method by which the vehicle of revelation has been created and preserved1 about the regulation of the external forms of the ,church1 about a hundred other things that men often lose their tempers and spoil their ,christianity by fighting for1 and fall back upon the great central verity1 a ,christ from above1 the ,giver of ,life to all that put their trust in ,him4 ,let me expand this question for you4 ',we all have sinned and come short of the glory of ,god'--'believest thou this8' ',we must all appear before the judgment-seat of ,christ'--'believest thou this8' ',god so loved the world that ,he gave ,his only begotten ,son1 that whosoever believeth on ,him should not perish'--'believest thou this8' ',the ,son of ,man came''' to give ,his life a ransom for many'--'believest thou this8' ',being justified by faith we have peace with ,god through our ,lord ,jesus ,christ'--'believest thou this8' ',now is ,christ risen from the dead1 and become the first fruits of them that slept'--'believest thou this8' ',i go to prepare a place for you'--'believest thou this8' ',where ,i am there shall also ,my servant be'--'believest thou this8' ',so shall we ever be with the ,lord'--'believest thou this8' ,that is ,christianity2 and not theories about inspiration1 and priesthood1 and sacramental efficacy1 or any of the other thorny questions which have1 in the course of ages1 started up4 ,here is the living centre2 hold fast1 ,i beseech you1 by it4 ,then1 again1 the significance of this question is in the direction of making clear for us the way by which men lay hold of these great truths4 ,the truths are of such a sort as that merely to say1 ',oh yes1 ,i believe it2 it is quite true6' is by no means sufficient4 ,if a man tells me that two parallel lines produced ever so far will never meet1 ,i say1 ',yes1 ,i believe it'2 and there is nothing more to be done or said4 ,if a man says to me1 ',two and two make four1' ,i say1 ',yes'2 and there my assent ends4 ,if a man says1 ',it is right to do right1' it is quite clear that the attitude of intellectual assent1 which was quite enough for the other order of statements1 is not enough for this one2 and to merely say1 ',oh yes1 it is right to do right1' is by no means the only attitude which we ought to take in regard to such a truth4 ,and if ,god comes to me and says1 ',thou art a sinful man1 and ,jesus ,christ has died for thee2 and if thou takest ,him for thy ,saviour thou shalt be saved in this life1 and saved for ever1' it is just as clear that no mere acceptance of the saying as a verity exhausts my proper attitude in reference to it4 ,or to come to plainer words1 no man will really1 and out and out1 and adequately1 believe this gospel unless he does a great deal more than assent to it or refrain from contradicting it4 ,so ,i desire to urge this form of the question on you now4 ,dear brethren1 do you trust in 'this1' which you say you believe8 ,there is no greater enemy of the ,christian faith than the ordinary lazy--what the philosophers call otiose1 which is only a grand word for lazy--assent of the understanding1 because men will not take the trouble to contradict it or think about it4 ,that is the sort of ,christianity which is the ,christianity of a good many church and chapel-goers4 ,they do not care enough about the subject to contradict the ordinary run of belief4 ,of all impotent things there is nothing more impotent than a creed which lies idly in a man's head1 and never has touched his heart or his will4 ,why1 ,i should get on a great deal better if ,i were talking to people that had never heard anything about the gospel than ,i have any chance of getting on with you1 who have been drenched with it all your days1 till it goes over you and runs off like water off a duck's back4 ,the shells that were hurled against the earthworks of ,sebastopol broke away the front surface of the mounds1 and then the rubbish protected the fortifications2 and that is what happens with many of my hearers4 ,you have heard the gospel so often that the debris of your old hearings is raised between you and me1 and my words cannot get at you4 ',believest thou this8'--not in the fashion in which people stand up in church or chapel and look about them and rattle off the ,creed every ,sunday of their lives1 and attach not the ghost of an idea to a single clause of it2 but in the sense that the conviction of these truths is so deep in your hearts that it moves your whole nature to cast yourselves on ,jesus ,christ as your ,saviour and your all4 ,that is the belief to which alone the life that is promised here will come4 ,oh6 brethren1 ,i have no business to ask you the question1 and you have no need to answer it to me6 ,sometimes good1 well-meaning people do a mint of harm by pushing such questions into the faces of people unprepared4 ,but take the question into your own hearts1 and remember what belief is1 and what it is that you have to believe1 and answer according to its true significance1 and in the light of conscience1 the solemn question that ,i press upon you4 ,,ii4 ,now1 secondly1 let me ask you to think of what depends upon the answer4 ,in the case before us--if ,i may look back to it for an instant--there is a very illuminative instance of what did depend upon it4 ,martha had to believe that ,christ was the ,resurrection and the ,life as a condition precedent to her seeing that ,he was so4 ,for1 as ,he said ,himself before ,he spoke the mighty word which raised ,lazarus1 ',said ,i not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe1 thou shouldest see the glory of ,god8' and so her faith was the condition of her being able to verify the facts which her faith grasped4 ,well1 let me put that into plainer words4 ,it is just this--a man gets from ,christ what he trusts ,christ to give him1 and there is no other way of proving the truth of ,his promises than by accepting ,his promises1 and then they fulfil themselves4 ,you cannot know that a medicine will cure you till you swallow it4 ,you must first 'taste' before you 'see that ,god is good4' ,faith verifies itself by the experience it brings4 ,and what does it bring8 ,i said1 all for which a man trusts ,christ4 ,all is summed up in that one favourite word of our ,lord as revealed in this fourth ,gospel1 which includes in itself everything of blessedness and of righteousness--life1 life eternal4 ,dear brethren1 you and ,i1 apart from ,jesus ,christ1 are dead in trespasses and sins4 ,the life that we live in the flesh is an apparent life1 which covers over the true death of separation from ,god4 ,and you young people1 fix this in your minds at the beginning1 it will save you many a heartache1 and many an error--there is nothing worth calling life1 except that which comes to a quiet heart submissive and enfranchised through faith in ,jesus ,christ4 ,and if you will trust yourselves to ,him1 and answer this question with your ringing ',yea1 ,lord6' then you will get a life which will quicken you out of your deadness2 a life which will mould you day by day into more entire beauty of character and conformity with ,himself2 a life which will shed sweetness and charm over dusty commonplaces1 and make sudden verdure spring in dreary1 herbless deserts2 a life which will bring a solemn joy into sorrow1 a strength for every duty2 which will bring manna in the wilderness1 honey from the rock1 light in darkness1 and a present ,god for your sufficient portion2 a life which will run on into the dim glories of eternity1 and know no change but advancement1 through the millenniums of ages4 ,but1 dear brethren1 whilst thus1 on condition of their faith1 the door into all divine and endless blessedness and progress is flung wide open for men1 do not forget the other side of the issues which depend on this question4 ,for if it is true that ,jesus ,christ is ,life1 and the ,source of it1 and that faith in ,him is the way by which you and ,i get it1 then there is no escape from the solemn conclusion that to be out of ,christ1 and not to be exercising faith in ,him1 is to be infected with death1 and to be shut up in a charnel-house4 ,i dare not suppress the plain teaching of ,jesus ,christ ,himself3 ',he that hath the ,son hath life2 he that hath not the ,son hath not life4' ,the issues that depend upon the answer to this question of my text may be summed up1 if ,i may venture to say so1 by taking the words of our ,lord ,himself and converting them into their opposite4 ,he said1 ',he that believeth ''' though he were dead1 yet shall he live2 and whosoever liveth and believeth on ,me shall never die4' ,that implies1 ,he that believeth not in ,christ1 though he were living1 yet shall he die1 and whosoever liveth and believeth not shall never live4 ,these are the issues--the alternative issues--that depend on your answer to this question4 ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 let me ask you to think of the direct personal appeal to every soul that lies in this question4 ,i have dwelt upon two out of the three words of which the question is composed--'believest thou this8' ,let me dwell for a moment on the third of them--'believest thou8' ,now that suggests the thought on which ,i do not need to dwell1 but which ,i seek briefly to lay upon your hearts and consciences--viz41 the intensely personal act of your own faith1 by which alone ,jesus ,christ can be of any use to you4 ,do not be led away by any vague notions which people have about the benefits of a ,church or its ordinances4 ,do not suppose that any sacraments or any priest can do for you what you have to do in the awful solitude of your own determining will--put out your hand and grasp ,jesus ,christ4 ,can any person or thing be the condition or channel of spiritual blessing to you1 except in so far as your own individual act of trust comes into play8 ,you must take the bread with your own hands1 you must masticate it with your own teeth1 you must digest it with your own organs1 before it can minister nourishment to your blood and force to your life4 ,and there is only one way by which any man can come into any vital and life-giving connection with ,jesus ,christ1 and that is1 by the exercise of his own personal faith4 ,and remember1 too1 that as the exercise of uniting trust in ,jesus ,christ is exclusively your own affair1 so exclusively your own affair is the responsibility of answering this question4 ,to you alone is it addressed4 ,you1 and only you1 have to answer it4 ,there was once a poor woman who went after ,jesus ,christ1 and put out a pale1 wasted1 tremulous finger to touch the hem of ,his garment4 ,his fine sensitiveness detected the light pressure of that petitioning finger1 and allowed virtue to go out1 though the crowd surged about ,him and thronged ,him4 ,no crowds come between you and ,jesus ,christ4 ,you and ,he1 the two of you1 have1 so to speak1 the world to yourselves1 and straight to you comes this question1 ',believest thou8' ,ah6 brethren1 that habit of skulking into the middle of the multitude1 and letting the most earnest appeal from the pulpit go diffused over the audience is the reason why you sit there quiet1 complacent1 perhaps wholly unaffected by what ,i am trying to make a pointed1 individual address4 ,suppose all the other people in this place of worship were away but you and ,i1 would not the word that ,i am trying to speak come with more force to your hearts than it does now8 ,well1 think away the world and all its millions1 and realise the fact that you stand in ,christ's presence1 with all ,his regard concentrated upon you1 and that to thee individually this question comes from a gracious1 loving heart1 which longs that you answer1 ',yea1 ,lord1 ,i believe6' ,why should you not8 ,suppose you said to ,him1 ',no1 ,lord1 ,i do not'2 and suppose ,he said1 ',why do you not8' what do you think you would say then8 ,you will have to answer it one day1 in very solemn circumstances1 when all the crowds will fall away1 as they do from a soldier called out of the ranks to go up and answer for mutiny to his commanding officer4 ',every one of us shall give an account of himself1' and the lips that said so lovingly at the grave of ,lazarus1 ',believest thou this8' and are saying it again1 dear friend1 to you1 even through my poor words1 will ask it once more4 ,for this is the question the answer to which settles whether we shall stand at ,his right hand or at ,his left4 ,say now1 with humble faith1 ',yea1 ,lord6' and you will have the blessing of them who have not seen1 and yet have believed4 ,,the ,,open ,,grave ,,at ,,bethany ',now ,jesus was not yet come into the town1 but was in that place where ,martha met ,him4 ,the ,jews then which were with her in the house1 and comforted her1 when they saw ,mary1 that she rose up hastily and went out1 followed her1 saying1 ,she goeth unto the grave to weep there4 ,then when ,mary was come where ,jesus was1 and saw ,him1 she fell down at ,his feet1 saying unto ,him1 ,lord1 if ,thou hadst been here1 my brother had not died4 ,when ,jesus therefore saw her weeping1 and the ,jews also weeping which came with her1 ,he groaned in the spirit1 and was troubled1 ,and said1 ,where have ye laid him8 ,they say unto ,him1 ,lord1 come and see4 ,jesus wept4 ,then said the ,jews1 ,behold how ,he loved him6 ,and some of them said4 ,could not this ,man1 which opened the eyes of the blind1 have caused that even this man should not have died6 ,jesus therefore again groaning in ,himself1 cometh to the grave4 ,it was a cave1 and a stone lay upon it4 ,jesus said1 ,take ye away the stone4 ,martha1 the sister of him that was dead1 saith unto ,him1 ,lord1 by this time he stinketh3 for he hath been dead four days4 ,jesus saith unto her1 ,said ,i not unto thee1 that1 if thou wouldest believe1 thou shouldest see the glory of ,god8 ,then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid4 ,and ,jesus lifted up ,his eyes1 and said1 ,father1 ,i thank ,thee that ,thou hast heard ,me4 ,and ,i know that ,thou hearest ,me always3 but because of the people which stand by ,i said it1 that they may believe that ,thou hast sent ,me4 ,and when ,he thus had spoken1 ,he cried with a loud voice1 ,lazarus1 come forth4 ,and he that was dead came forth1 bound hand and foot with graveclothes3 and his face was bound about with a napkin4 ,jesus saith unto them1 ,loose him1 and let him go4 ,then many of the ,jews which came to ,mary1 and had seen the things which ,jesus did1 believed on ,him4'--,,john xi4 #cj-de4 ,why did ,jesus stay outside ,bethany and summon ,martha and ,mary to come to ,him8 ,apparently that ,he might keep ,himself apart from the noisy crowd of conventional mourners whose presence affronted the majesty and sanctity of sorrow1 and that ,he might speak to the hearts of the two real mourners4 ,a divine decorum forbade ,him to go to the house4 ,the ,life-bringer keeps apart4 ,his comforts are spoken in solitude4 ,he reverenced grief4 ,how beautifully ,his sympathetic delicacy contrasts with the heartless rush of those who 'were comforting' ,mary when they thought that she was driven to go suddenly to the grave by a fresh burst of sorrow6 ,if they had had any real sympathy or perception1 they would have stayed where they were1 and let the poor burdened heart find ease in lonely weeping4 ,but1 like all vulgar souls1 they had one idea--never to leave mourners alone or let them weep4 ,three stages seem discernible in the self-revelation of ,jesus in this crowning miracle3 ,his agitation and tears1 ,his majestic confidence in ,his life-giving power now to be manifested1 and ,his actual exercise of that power4 ,i4 ,the repetition by ,mary of ,martha's words1 as her first salutation1 tells a pathetic story of the one thought that had filled both sisters' hearts in these four dreary days4 ,why had ,he not come8 ,how easily ,he could have come6 ,how surely ,he could have prevented all this misery6 ,confidence in ,his power blends strangely with doubt as to ,his care4 ,a hint of reproach is in the words1 but more than a hint of faith in ,his might4 ,he does not rebuke the rash judgment implied1 for ,he knew the true love underlying it2 but ,he does not directly answer ,mary1 as ,he had done ,martha1 for the two sisters needed different treatment4 ,we note that ,mary has no such hope as ,martha had expressed4 ,her more passive1 meditative disposition had bowed itself1 and let the grief overwhelm her4 ,so in her we see a specimen of the excess of sorrow which indulges in the monotonous repetition of what would have happened if something else that did not happen had happened1 and which is too deeply dark to let a gleam of hope shine in4 ,words will do little to comfort such grief4 ,silent sharing of its weeping and helpful deeds will do most4 ,so a great wave of emotion swept across the usually calm soul of ,jesus1 which ,john bids us trace to its cause by 'therefore' 7ver4 #cc74 ,the sight of ,mary's real1 and the mourners' half-real1 tears1 and the sound of their loud 'keening1' shook ,his spirit1 and ,he yielded to1 and even encouraged1 the rush of feeling 7'troubled ,himself'74 ,but not only sympathy and sorrow ruffled the clear mirror of ,his spirit2 another disturbing element was present4 ,he 'was moved with indignation' 7,rev4 ,ver4 marg474 ,anger at ,providence often mingles with our grief1 but that was not ,christ's indignation4 ,the only worthy explanation of that strange ingredient in ,christ's agitation is that it was directed against the source of death1--namely1 sin4 ,he saw the cause manifested in the effects4 ,he wept for the one1 ,he was wroth at the other4 ,the tears witnessed to the perfect love of the man1 and of the ,god revealed in the man2 the indignation witnessed to the recoil and aversion from sin of the perfectly righteous ,man1 and of the holy ,god manifested in ,him4 ,we get one glimpse into ,his heart1 as on to some ocean heaving and mist-covered4 ,the momentary sight proclaims the union in ,him1 as the ,incarnate ,word1 of pity for our woes and of aversion from our sins4 ,his question as to the place of the tomb is not what we should have expected2 but its very abruptness indicates effort to suppress emotion1 and resolve to lose no time in redressing the grief4 ,most sweetly human are the tears that start afresh after the moment's repression1 as the little company begin to move towards the grave4 ,and most sadly human are the unsympathetic criticisms of ,his sacred sorrow4 ,even the best affected of the bystanders are cool enough to note them as tokens of ,his love1 at which perhaps there is a trace of wonder2 while others snarl out a sarcasm which is double-barrelled1 as casting doubt on the reality either of the love or of the power4 ',it is easy to weep1 but if ,he had cared for him1 and could work miracles1 ,he might surely have kept him alive4' ,how blind men are6 ',jesus wept1' and all that the lookers-on felt was astonishment that ,he should have cared so much for a dead man of no importance1 or carping doubt as to the genuineness of ,his grief and the reality of ,his power4 ,he shows us ,his pity and sorrow still--to no more effect with many4 ,,ii4 ,the passage to the tomb was marked by his continued agitation4 ,but his arrival there brought calm and majesty4 ,now the time has come which ,he had in view when ,he left his refuge beyond ,jordan2 and1 as is often the case with ourselves1 suddenly tremor and tumult leave the spirit when face to face with a moment of crisis4 ,there is nothing more remarkable in this narrative than the contrast between ,jesus weeping and indignant1 and ,jesus serene and authoritative as ,he stands fronting the cave-sepulchre4 ,the sudden transformation must have awed the gazers4 ,he points to the stone1 which1 probably like that of many a grave discovered in ,palestine1 rolled in a groove cut in the rocky floor in front of the tomb4 ,the command accords with ,his continual habit of confining the miraculous within the narrowest limits4 ,he will do nothing by miracle which can be done without it4 ,lazarus could have heard and emerged1 though the stone had remained4 ,if the story had been a myth1 he very likely would have done so4 ,like 'loose him1 and let him go1' this is a little touch that cannot have been invented1 and helps to confirm the simple1 historical character of the account4 ,not less natural1 though certainly as unlikely to have been told unless it had happened1 is ,martha's interruption4 ,she must have heard what was going on1 and1 with her usual activity1 have joined the procession1 though we left her in the house4 ,she thinks that ,jesus is going into the grave2 and a certain reverence for the poor remains1 as well as for ,him1 makes her shrink from the thought of even ,his loving eyes seeing them now4 ,clearly she has forgotten the dim hopes which had begun in her when she talked with ,jesus4 ,therefore ,he gently reminds her of these2 for ,his words 7ver4 #dj7 can scarcely refer to anything but that interview1 though the precise form of expression now used is not found in the report of it 7vers4 #be-bg74 ,we mark ,christ's calm confidence in ,his own power4 ,his identification of its effect with the outflashing of the glory of ,god1 and ,his encouragement to her to exercise faith by suspending her sight of that glory upon her faith4 ,does that mean that ,he would not raise her brother unless she believed8 ,no2 for ,he had determined to 'awake him out of sleep' before ,he left ,peraea4 ,but ,martha's faith was the condition of her seeing the glory of ,god in the miracle4 ,we may see a thousand emanations of that glory1 and see none of it4 ,we shall see it if we exercise faith4 ,in the natural world1 'seeing is believing'2 in the spiritual1 believing is seeing4 ,equally remarkable1 as breathing serenest confidence1 is the wonderful filial prayer4 ,our ,lord speaks as if the miracle were already accomplished1 so sure is ,he3 ',thou heardest ,me4' ,does this thanksgiving bring ,him down to the level of other servants of ,god who have wrought miracles by divine power granted them8 ,certainly not2 for it is in full accord with the teaching of all this ,gospel1 according to which 'the ,son can do nothing of ,himself1' but yet1 whatsoever things the ,father doeth1 'these also doeth the ,son likewise4' ,both sides of the truth must be kept in view4 ,the ,son is not independent of the ,father1 but the ,son is so constantly and perfectly one with the ,father that ,he is conscious of unbroken communion1 of continual wielding of the whole divine power4 ,but the practical purpose of the thanksgiving is to be specially noted4 ,it suspends ,his whole claims on the single issue about to be decided4 ,it summons the people to mark the event4 ,never before had ,he thus heralded a miracle4 ,never had ,he deigned to say thus solemnly1 ',if ,god does not work through ,me now1 reject ,me as an impostor2 if ,he does1 yield to ,me as ,messiah4' ,the moment stands alone in ,his life4 ,what a scene6 ,there is the open tomb1 with its dead occupant2 there are the eager1 sceptical crowd1 the sisters pausing in their weeping to gaze1 with some strange hopes beginning to creep into their hearts1 the silent disciples1 and1 in front of them all1 ,jesus1 with the radiance of power in the eyes that had just been swimming in tears1 and a new elevation in ,his tones4 ,how all would be hushed in expectance of the next moment's act6 ,,iii4 ,the miracle itself is told in the fewest words4 ,what more was there to tell8 ,the two ends1 as it were1 of a buried chain1 appear above ground4 ,cause and effect were brought together4 ,rather1 here was no chain of many links1 as in physical phenomena1 but here was the life-giving word1 and there was the dead man living again4 ,the 'loud voice' was as needless as the rolling away of the stone4 ,it was but the sign of ,christ's will acting4 ,and the acting of ,his will1 without any other cause1 produces physical effects4 ,lazarus was far away from that rock cave4 ,but1 wherever he was1 he could hear1 and he must obey4 ,so1 with graveclothes entangling his feet1 and a napkin about his livid face1 he came stumbling out into the light that dazed his eyes1 closed for four dark days1 and stood silent and motionless in that awestruck crowd4 ,one ,person there was not awestruck4 ,christ's calm voice1 that had just reverberated through the regions of the dead1 spoke the simple command1 ',loose him1 and let him go4' ,to ,him it was no wonder that ,he should give back a life4 ,for the ,christ who wept is the ,christ whose voice all that are in the graves shall hear1 and shall come forth4 ,,the ,,seventh ,,miracle ,,in ,,john',s ,,gospel--,,the ,,raising ,,of ,,lazarus ',and when ,jesus thus had spoken1 ,he cried with a loud voice1 ,lazarus1 ,come forth4 #dd4 ,and he that was dead came forth1 bound hand and foot with grave-clothes2 and his face was bound about with a napkin4'--,,john xi4 #dc1 #dd4 ,the series of our ,lord's miracles before the ,passion1 as recorded in this ,gospel1 is fitly closed with the raising of ,lazarus4 ,it crowns the whole1 whether we regard the greatness of the fact1 the manner of our ,lord's working1 the minuteness and richness of the accompanying details1 the revelation of our ,lord's heart1 the consolations which it suggests to sorrowing spirits1 or the immortal hopes which it kindles4 ,and besides all this1 the miracle is of importance for the development of the ,evangelist's purpose1 in that it makes the immediate occasion of the embittered hostility which finally precipitates the catastrophe of the ,cross4 ,therefore the great length to which the narrative extends4 ,of course it is impossible for us to attempt1 even in the most cursory manner1 to go over the whole4 ,we must content ourselves with dealing with one or two of the salient points4 ,and there are three things in this narrative which ,i think well worthy of our notice4 ,there is the revelation of ,christ as our ,brother1 by emotion and sorrow4 ,there is the revelation of ,christ as our ,lord by ,his consciousness of divine power4 ,there is the revelation of ,christ as our ,life by ,his mighty life-giving word4 ,and to these three points ,i ask you to turn briefly4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 we have here a revelation of ,christ as our ,brother1 by emotion and sorrow4 ,this miracle stands alone in the whole majestic series of ,his mighty works by the fact that it is preceded by a storm of emotion1 which shakes the frame of the ,master1 which ,he is represented by the ,evangelist not so much as suppressing as fostering1 and which diverges and parts itself into the two feelings expressed by ,his groans and by ,his tears4 ,the word which is rendered in our version ',he groaned in the spirit1' and which is twice repeated in the narrative1 is1 according to the investigations of the most careful philological commentators1 expressive not only of the outward sign of an emotion1 but of the nature of it4 ,and the nature of the emotion is not merely the grief and the sympathy which distilled in tears1 but it is something deeper and other than that4 ,the word contains in it at least a tinge of the passion of 'indignation' 7as it is expressed in the margin of the ,revised ,version74 ,what caused the indignation8 ,cannot we fancy how there rose up1 as in pale1 spectral procession before ,his vision1 the whole long series of human sorrows and losses1 of which one was visible there before ,him8 ,he saw1 in the one individual case1 the whole genus4 ,he saw the whole mass represented there1 the ocean in the drop1 and ,he looked beyond the fact and linked it with its cause4 ,and as there rose before ,him the reality of man's desolation through sin1 and the thought that all this misery1 loss1 pain1 parting1 death1 was a contradiction of the divine purpose1 and an interruption of ,god's order1 and that it had all been pulled down upon men's desperate heads by their own evil and their own folly1 there rose in ,his heart the anger which is part of the perfectness of humanity when it looks upon sorrow linked by adamantine chains with sin4 ,but the lightning of the wrath dissolved soon into the rain of pity and of sorrow1 and1 as we read1 ',jesus wept4' ,looking upon the weeping ,mary and the lamenting crowd1 and ,himself feeling the pain of the parting from the friend whom ,he loved1 the tears1 which are the confession of human nature that it is passing through an emotion too deep for words1 came to ,his all-seeing eyes4 ,oh6 brethren1 surely--surely in this manifestation1 or call it better1 this revelation of ,christ the ,lord1 expressed in these two emotions--surely there are large and blessed lessons for us6 ,on them ,i can only touch in the lightest manner4 ,here1 for one thing1 is the blessed sign and proof of ,his true brotherhood with us4 ,this ,evangelist1 to whom it was given to tell the ,church and the world more than any of the others had imparted to them of the divine uniqueness of the ,master's person1 had also given to him in charge the corresponding and complementary message--to insist upon the reality and the verity of ,his manhood4 ,his proclamation was 'the ,word was made flesh1' and he had to dwell on both parts of that message1 showing ,him as the ,word and showing ,him as flesh4 ,so he insists upon all the points which emerge in the course of his narrative that show the reality of ,christ's corporeal manhood4 ,he joins with the others1 who had no such lofty proclamation entrusted to them1 in telling us how ,he was 'bone of our bone1 and flesh of our flesh1' in that ,he hungered and thirsted and slept1 and was wearied2 how ,he was man1 reasonable soul and human spirit1 in that ,he grieved and rejoiced1 and wondered and desired1 and mourned and wept4 ,and so we can look upon ,him1 and feel that this in very deed is ,one of ourselves1 with a spirit participant of all human experiences1 and a heart tremulously vibrating with every emotion that belongs to man4 ,here we are also taught the sanction and the limits of sorrow4 ,christianity has nothing to do with the false ,stoicism and the false religion which is partly pride and partly insincerity1 that proclaims it wrong to weep when ,god smites4 ,but just as clearly and distinctly as the story before us says to us1 ',weep for yourselves and for the loved ones that are gone1' so distinctly does it draw the limits within which sorrow is sacred and hallowing1 and beyond which it is harmful and weakening4 ,set side by side the grief of these two poor weeping sisters1 and the grief of the weeping ,christ1 and we get a large lesson4 ,they could only repine that something else had not happened differently which would have made all different4 ',if ,thou hadst been here1 my brother had not died4' ,one of the two sits with folded arms in the house1 letting her sorrow flow over her pained head4 ,martha is unable1 by reason of her grief1 to grasp the consolation that is held out to her2 her sorrow has made the hopes of the future seem to her very dim and of small account1 and she puts away ',thy brother shall rise again' with almost an impatient sweep of her hand4 ',i know that he will rise in the resurrection at the last day4 ,but oh6 that is so far away1 and what ,i want is present comfort4' ,thus oblivious of duty1 murmuring with regard to the accidents which might have been different1 and unfitted to grasp the hopes that fill the future1 these two have been hurt by their grief1 and have let it overflow its banks and lay waste the land4 ,but this ,christ in ,his sorrow checks ,his sorrow that ,he may do ,his work2 in ,his sorrow is confident that the ,father hears2 in ,his sorrow thinks of the bystanders1 and would bring comfort and cheer to them4 ,a sorrow which makes us more conscious of communion with the ,father who is always listening1 which makes us more conscious of power to do that which ,he has put it into our hand to do1 which makes us more tender in our sympathies with all that mourn1 and swifter and readier for our work--such a sorrow is doing what ,god meant for us2 and is a blessing in so thin a disguise that we can scarcely call it veiled at all4 ,and then1 still further1 there are here other lessons on which ,i cannot touch4 ,such1 for instance1 is the revelation in this emotion of the ,master's1 of a personal love that takes individuals to ,his heart1 and feels all the sweetness and the power of friendship4 ,that personal love is open to every one of us1 and into the grace and the tenderness of it we may all penetrate4 ',the disciple whom ,jesus loved' is the ,evangelist who1 without jealousy1 is glad to tell us that the same loving ,lord took into the same sanctuary of ,his pure heart1 ,mary and ,martha1 and her brother4 ,that which was given to them was not taken from him1 and they each possessed the whole of the ,master's love4 ,so for every one of us that heart is wide open1 and you and ,i1 brethren1 may contract such personal relations to the ,master that we shall live with ,christ as a man with his friend1 and may feel that ,his heart is all ours4 ,so much for the lessons of the emotions whereby ,christ is manifested to us as our ,brother4 ,,ii4 ,and now turn1 in the next place1 and that very briefly1 to what lies side by side with this in the story1 and at first sight may seem strangely contradictory of it1 but in fact only completes the idea1 viz4 the majesties1 calm consciousness of divine power by which ,he is revealed as our ,lord4 ,at one step from the agitation and the storm of feeling there comes1 ',take ye away the stone4' ,and in answer to the lamentations of the sister are spoken the great and wonderful words1 ',said ,i not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe1 thou shouldst see the glory of ,god8' ,and ,he looks back there to the message that had been sent to the sisters in response to their unspoken hope that ,he would come1 ',this sickness is not unto death1 but for the glory of ,god1 that the ,son of ,god may be glorified thereby4' ,and ,he shows us that from the first moment1 with the spontaneousness which1 as ,i have already remarked in previous sermons on these 'signs1' characterises all the miracles of ,john's ,gospel1 ',he ,himself knew what ,he would do1' and in the consciousness of ,his divine power had resolved that the dead ,lazarus should be the occasion for the manifestation1 the flashing out to the world1 of the glory of ,god in the life-giving ,son4 ,and then1 in the same tone of majestic consciousness1 there follows that thanksgiving prior to the miracle as for the accomplished miracle4 ',i thank ,thee that ,thou hast heard ,me1 and ,i knew that ,thou hearest ,me always3 but because of the people which stand by ,i said it1 that they may believe that ,thou hast sent ,me4' ,the best commentary upon these words1 the deepest and the fullest exposition of the large truths that lie in them concerning the co-operation of the ,father and the ,son1 is to be found in the passage from the fifth chapter of this ,gospel1 wherein there is set forth1 drawn with the firmest hand1 the clearest lines of truth upon this great and profound subject4 ',the ,son does nothing of ,himself1' but 'whatsoever the ,father doeth1 that doeth the ,son likewise4' ,a consciousness of continual co-operation with the ,almighty ,father1 a consciousness that ,his will continually coincides with the ,father's will1 that unto ,him there comes the power ever to do all that ,omnipotence can do1 and that though we may speak of a gift given and a power derived1 the relation between the giving ,father and the recipient ,son is altogether different from1 and other than the relation between1 the man that asks and the ,god that bestows4 ,poor ,martha said1 ',i know that even now1 whatsoever ,thou askest of ,god ,he will give ,thee4' ,she thought of ,him as a good ,man whose prayers had power with ,heaven4 ,but up into an altogether other region soars the consciousness expressed in these words as of a divine ,son whose work is wholly parallel with the ,father's work1 and of whom the two things that sound contradictory can both be said4 ,his omnipotence is ,his own2 ,his omnipotence is the ,father's3 ',as the ,father hath life' and therefore power in ,himself1 'so hath ,he given'--there is the one half of the paradox--'so hath ,he given to the ,son to have life in ,himself'2 there is the other4 ,and unless you put them both together you do not think of ,christ as ,christ has taught us to think4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 we have here the revelation of ,christ as our ,life in ,his mighty1 life-giving word4 ,the miracle1 as ,i have said1 stands high in the scale1 not only by reason of what to us seems the greatness of the fact1 though of course1 properly speaking1 in miracles there is no distinction as to the greatness of the fact1 but also by reason of the manner of the working4 ,the voice thrown into the cave reaches the ears of the sheeted dead3 ',lazarus1 come forth6' ,and then1 in words which convey the profound impression of awfulness and solemnity which had been made upon the ,evangelist1 we have the picture of the man with the graveclothes wrapped about his limbs1 stumbling forth2 and loving hands are bidden to take away the napkin which covered his face4 ,perhaps the hand trembled as it was put forth1 not knowing what awful sight the veil might cover4 ,with tenderest reticence1 no word is spoken as to what followed4 ,no hint escapes of the joy1 no gleam of the experiences which the traveller brought back with him from that 'bourne' whence he had come4 ,surely some draught of ,lethe must have been given him1 that his spirit might be lulled into a wholesome forgetfulness1 else life must have been a torment to him4 ,but be that as it may1 what we have to notice is the fact here1 and what it teaches us as a fact4 ,is it not a revelation of ,jesus ,christ as the absolute ,lord of ,life and ,death1 giving the one1 putting back the other8 ,death has caught hold of his prey4 ',shall the prey be taken from the mighty1 and the lawful captive delivered8 ,yea1 the prey shall be taken from the mighty4' ,his bare word is divinely operative4 ,he says to that grisly shadow ',come6' and he cometh2 ,he says to him ',go6' and he goeth4 ,and as a shepherd will drive away the bear that has a lamb between his bloody fangs1 and the brute retreats1 snarling and growling1 but dropping his prey1 so at the ,lord's voice ,lazarus comes back to life1 and disappointed ,death skulks away to the darkness4 ,the miracle shows ,him as ,lord of ,death and ,giver of ,life4 ,and it teaches another lesson1 namely1 the continuous persistency of the bond between ,christ and ,his friend1 unbroken and untouched by the superficial accident of life or death4 ,wheresoever ,lazarus was he heard the voice1 and wheresoever ,lazarus was he knew the voice1 and wheresoever ,lazarus was he obeyed the voice4 ,and so we are taught that the relationship between ,christ our life1 and all them that love and trust ,him1 is one on which the tooth of death that gnaws all other bonds in twain hath no power at all4 ,christ is the ,life1 and1 therefore1 ,christ is the ,resurrection1 and the thing that we call death is but a film which spreads on the surface1 but has no power to penetrate into the depths of the relationship between us and ,him4 ,such1 in briefest words1 are the lessons of the miracle as a fact1 but before ,i close ,i must remind you that it is to be looked at not only as a fact1 but as a prophecy and as a parable4 ,it is a prophecy in a modified sense1 telling us at all events that ,he has the power to bid men back from the dust and darkness1 and giving us the assurance which ,his own words convey to us yet more distinctly3 ',the hour is coming when all that are in the graves shall hear ,his voice and shall come forth4' ,my brother6 there be two resurrections in that one promise3 the resurrection of ,christ's friends and the resurrection of ,christ's foes4 ,and though to both ,his voice will be the awakening1 some shall rise to joy and immortality and 'some to shame and everlasting contempt4' ,you will hear the voice2 settle it for yourselves whether when ,he calls and thou answerest thou wilt say1 ',lo6 here am ,i1' joyful to look upon ,him2 or whether thou wilt rise reluctant1 and 'call upon the rocks and the hills to cover thee1 and to hide thee from the face of ,him that sitteth upon the ,throne4' ,and this raising is a parable as well as a prophecy2 for even as ,christ was the life of this ,lazarus1 so1 in a deeper and more real sense1 and not in any shadowy1 metaphorical1 mystical sense1 is ,jesus ,christ the life of every spirit that truly lives at all4 ,we are 'dead in trespasses and sins4' ,for separation from ,god is death in all regions1 death for the body in its kind1 death for the mind1 for the soul1 for the spirit in their kinds2 and only they who receive ,christ into their hearts do live4 ,every ,christian man is a miracle4 ,there has been a true coming into the human of the divine1 a true supernatural work1 the infusion into a dead soul of the ,god-life which is the ,christ-life4 ,and you and ,i may have that life4 ,what is the condition8 ',they that hear shall live4' ,do you hear8 ,do you welcome8 ,do you take that ,christ into your hearts8 ,is ,he your ,life1 my brother8 ,it is possible to resist that voice1 to stuff your ears so full of clay1 and worldliness1 and sin1 and self-reliance as that it shall not echo in your hearts4 ',the hour is coming1 and now is1 when the dead shall hear the voice of the ,son of ,man1 and they that hear shall live1' and obtain to-day 'a better resurrection' than the resurrection of the body4 ,if you do not hear that voice1 then you will 'remain in the congregation of the dead4' ,,caiaphas ',and one of them1 named ,caiaphas being the high priest that same year1 said unto them1 ,ye know nothing at all1 nor consider that it is expedient for us1 that one man should die for the people1 and that the whole nation perish not4'--,,john xi4 #di1ej4 ,the resurrection of ,lazarus had raised a wave of popular excitement4 ,any stir amongst the people was dangerous1 especially at the ,passover time1 which was nigh at hand1 when ,jerusalem would be filled with crowds of men1 ready to take fire from any spark that might fall amongst them4 ,so a hasty meeting of the principal ecclesiastical council of the ,jews was summoned1 in order to dismiss the situation1 and concert measures for repressing the nascent enthusiasm4 ,one might have expected to find there some disposition to inquire honestly into the claims of a ,teacher who had such a witness to ,his claims as a man alive that had been dead4 ,but nothing of the sort appears in their ignoble calculations4 ,like all weak men1 they feel that 'something must be done' and are perfectly unable to say what4 ,they admit ,christ's miracles3 ',this man doeth many miracles1' but they are not a bit the nearer to recognising ,his mission1 being therein disobedient to their law and untrue to their office4 ,they fear that any disturbance will bring ,rome's heavy hand down on them1 and lead to the loss of what national life they still possess4 ,but even that fear is not patriotism nor religion4 ,it is pure self-interest4 ',they will take away our place'--the ,temple1 probably--'and our nation4' ,the holy things were1 in their eyes1 their special property4 ,and so1 at this supreme moment1 big with the fate of themselves and of their nation1 their whole anxiety is about personal interests4 ,they hesitate1 and are at a loss what to do4 ,but however they may hesitate1 there is one man who knows his own mind--,caiaphas1 the high priest4 ,he has no doubt as to what is the right thing to do4 ,he has the advantage of a perfectly clear and single purpose1 and no sort of restraint of conscience or delicacy keeps him from speaking it out4 ,he is impatient at their vacillation1 and he brushes it all aside with the brusque and contemptuous speech3 ',ye know nothing at all6' ',the one point of view for us to take is that of our own interests4 ,let us have that clearly understood2 when we once ask what is expedient for us1 there will be no doubt about the answer4 ,this man must die4 ,never mind about ,his miracles1 or ,his teaching1 or the beauty of ,his character4 ,his life is a perpetual danger to our prerogatives4 ,i vote for death6' ,and so he clashes his advice down into the middle of their waverings1 like a piece of iron into yielding water2 and the strong man1 restrained by no conscience1 and speaking out cynically the thought that is floating in all their minds1 but which they dare not utter1 is master of the situation1 and the resolve is taken4 ',from that day forth' they determined to put ,him to death4 ,but ,john regards this selfish1 cruel advice as a prophecy4 ,caiaphas spoke wiser things than he knew4 ,the ,divine ,spirit breathed in strange fashion through even such lips as his1 and moulded his savage utterance into such a form as that it became a fit expression for the very deepest thought about the nature and the power of ,christ's death4 ,he did indeed die for that people--thinks the ,evangelist--even though they have rejected ,him1 and the dreaded ,romans have come and taken away our place and nation--but ,his death had a wider purpose1 and was not for that nation only1 but that also ',he should gather together in one the children of ,god that are scattered abroad4' ,let us1 then1 take these two aspects of the man and his counsel3 the unscrupulous priest and his savage advice2 the unconscious prophet and his great prediction4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 let us take the former point of view1 and think of this unscrupulous priest and his savage advice4 ',it is expedient for us that one man die for the people1 and that the whole nation perish not4' ,remember who he was1 the high priest of the nation1 with ,aaron's mitre on his brow1 and centuries of illustrious traditions embodied in his person2 set by his very office to tend the sacred flame of their ,messianic hopes1 and with pure hands and heart to offer sacrifice for the sins of the people2 the head and crown of the national religion1 in whose heart justice and mercy should have found a sanctuary if they had fled from all others2 whose ears ought to have been opened to the faintest whisper of the voice of ,god2 whose lips should ever have been ready to witness for the truth4 ,and see what he is6 ,a crafty schemer1 as blind as a mole to the beauty of ,christ's character and the greatness of ,his words2 utterly unspiritual2 undisguisedly selfish2 rude as a boor2 cruel as a cut-throat2 and having reached that supreme height of wickedness in which he can dress his ugliest thought in the plainest words1 and send them into the world unabashed4 ,what a lesson this speech of ,caiaphas1 and the character disclosed by it1 read to all persons who have a professional connection with religion6 ,he can take one point of view only1 in regard to the mightiest spiritual revelation that the world ever saw2 and that is1 its bearing upon his own miserable personal interests1 and the interests of the order to which he belongs4 ,and so1 whatever may be the wisdom1 or miracles1 or goodness of ,jesus1 because ,he threatens the prerogatives of the priesthood1 ,he must die and be got out of the way4 ,this is only an extreme case of a temper and a tendency which is perennial4 ,popes and inquisitors and priests of all ,churches have done the same1 in their degree1 in all ages4 ,they have always been tempted to look upon religion and religious truth and religious organisations as existing somehow for their personal advantage4 ,and so 'the ,church is in danger6' generally means 'my position is threatened1' and heretics are got rid of1 because their teaching is inconvenient for the prerogatives of a priesthood1 and new truth is fought against1 because officials do not see how it harmonises with their pre-eminence4 ,it is not popes and priests and inquisitors only that are examples of the tendency4 ,the warning is needed by every man who stands in such a position as mine1 whose business it is professionally to handle sacred things1 and to administer ,christian institutions and ,christian ritual4 ,all such men are tempted to look upon the truth as their stock-in-trade1 and to fight against innovations1 and to array themselves instinctively against progress1 and frown down new aspects and new teachers of truth1 simply because they threaten1 or appear to threaten1 the position and prerogatives of the teachers that be4 ,caiaphas's sin is possible1 and ,caiaphas's temptation is actual1 for every man whose profession it is to handle the oracles of ,god4 ,but the lessons of this speech and character are for us all4 ,caiaphas's sentence is an undisguised1 unblushing avowal of a purely selfish standpoint4 ,it is not a common depth of degradation to stand up1 and without a blush to say3 ',i look at all claims of revelation1 at all professedly spiritual truth1 and at everything else1 from one delightfully simple point of view--,i ask myself1 how does it bear upon what ,i think to be to my advantage8' ,what a deal of perplexity a man is saved if he takes up that position6 ,yes6 and how he has damned himself in the very act of doing it6 ,for1 look what this absorbing and exclusive self-regard does in the illustration before us1 and let us learn what it will do to ourselves4 ,this selfish consideration of our own interests will make us as blind as bats to the most radiant beauty of truth2 aye1 and to ,christ ,himself1 if the recognition of ,him and of ,his message seems to threaten any of these4 ,they tell us that fishes which live in the water of caverns come to lose their eyesight2 and men that are always living in the dark holes of their own selfishly absorbed natures1 they1 too1 lose their spiritual sight2 and the fairest1 loftiest1 truest1 and most radiant visions 7which are realities7 pass before their eyes1 and they see them not4 ,when you put on regard for yourselves as they do blinkers upon horses1 you have no longer the power of wide1 comprehensive vision1 but only see straight forward upon the narrow line which you fancy to be marked out by your own interests4 ,if ever there comes into the selfish man's mind a truth1 or an aspect of ,christ's mission1 which may seem to cut against some of his practices or interests1 how blind he is to it6 ,when ,lord ,nelson was at ,copenhagen1 and they hoisted the signal of recall1 he put his telescope up to his blind eye and said1 ',i do not see it6' ,and that is exactly what this self-absorbed regard to our own interests does with hundreds of men who do not in the least degree know it4 ,it blinds them to the plain will of the ,commander-in-chief flying there at the masthead4 ',there are none so blind as those who will not see'2 and there are none who so certainly will not see as those who have an uneasy suspicion that if they do see they will have to change their tack4 ,so ,i say1 look at the instance before us1 and learn the lesson of the blindness to truth and beauty which are ,christ ,himself1 which comes of a regard to one's own interests4 ,then again1 this same self-regard may bring a man down to any kind and degree of wrongdoing4 ,caiaphas was brought down by it1 being the supreme judge of his nation1 to be an assassin and an accomplice of murderers4 ,and it is only a question of accident and of circumstances how far that man will descend who once yields himself up to the guidance of such a disposition and tendency4 ,we have all of us to fight against the developed selfishness which takes the form of this1 that1 and the other sin2 and we have all of us1 if we are wise1 to fight against the undeveloped sin which lies in all selfishness4 ,remember that if you begin with laying down as the canon of your conduct1 ',it is expedient for me1' you have got upon an inclined plane that tilts at a very sharp angle1 and is very sufficiently greased1 and ends away down yonder in the depths of darkness and of death1 and it is only a question of time how far and how fast1 how deep and irrevocable1 will be your descent4 ,and lastly1 this same way of looking at things which takes ',it is expedient' as the determining consideration1 has in it an awful power of so twisting and searing a man's conscience as that he comes to look at evil and never to know that there is anything wrong in it4 ,this cynical high priest in our text had no conception that he was doing anything but obeying the plainest dictates of the most natural self-preservation when he gave his opinion that they had better kill ,christ than have any danger to their priesthood4 ,the crime of the actual crucifixion was diminished because the doers were so unconscious that it was a crime2 but the crime of the process by which they had come to be unconscious--,oh how that was increased and deepened6 ,so1 if we fix our eyes sharply and exclusively on what makes for our own advantage1 and take that as the point of view from which we determine our conduct1 we may1 and we shall1 bring ourselves into such a condition as that our consciences will cease to be sensitive to right and wrong2 and we shall do all manner of bad things1 and never know it4 ,we shall 'wipe our mouths and say3 ,i have done no harm4' ,so1 ,i beseech you1 remember this1 that to live for self is hell1 and that the only antagonist of such selfishness1 which leads to blindness1 crime1 and a seared conscience1 is to yield ourselves to the love of ,god in ,jesus ,christ and to say3 ',i live1 yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me4' ,,ii4 ,and now turn briefly to the second aspect of this saying1 into which the former1 if ,i may so say1 melts away4 ,we have the unconscious prophet and his great prediction4 ,the ,evangelist conceives that the man who filled the office of high priest1 being the head of the theocratic community1 was naturally the medium of a divine oracle4 ,when he says1 'being the high priest that year1 ,caiaphas prophesied1' he does not imply that the high priestly office was annual1 but simply desires to mark the fateful importance of that year for the history of the world and the priesthood4 ',in that year' the great ',high ,priest for ever' came and stood for a moment by the side of the earthly high priest--the ,substance by the shadow--and by ,his offering of ,himself as the one ,sacrifice for sin for ever1 deprived priesthood and sacrifice henceforward of all their validity4 ,so that ,caiaphas was in reality the last of the high priests1 and those that succeeded him for something less than half a century were but like ghosts that walked after cock-crow4 ,and what the ,evangelist would mark is the importance of 'that year1' as making ,caiaphas ever memorable to us4 ,solemn and strange that the long line of ,aaron's priesthood ended in such a man--the river in a putrid morass--and that of all the years in the history of the nation1 'in that year' should such a person fill such an office6 ',being high priest he prophesied4' ,and was there anything strange in a bad man's prophesying8 ,did not the ,spirit of ,god breathe through ,balaam of old8 ,is there anything incredible in a man's prophesying unconsciously8 ,did not ,pilate do so1 when he nailed over the ,cross1 ',this is the ,king of the ,jews1' and wrote it in ,hebrew1 and in ,greek1 and in ,latin1 conceiving himself to be perpetrating a rude jest1 while he was proclaiming an everlasting truth8 ,when the ,pharisees stood at the foot of the ,cross and taunted ,him1 ',he saved others1 ,himself ,he cannot save1' did they not1 too1 speak deeper things than they knew8 ,and were not the lips of this unworthy1 selfish1 unspiritual1 unscrupulous1 cruel priest so used as that1 all unconsciously1 his words lent themselves to the proclamation of the glorious central truth of ,christianity1 that ,christ died for the nation that slew ,him and rejected ,him1 nor for them alone1 but for all the world8 ,look1 though but for a moment1 at the thoughts that come from this new view of the words which we have been considering4 ,they suggest to us1 first of all1 the twofold aspect of ,christ's death4 ,from the human point of view it was a savage murder by forms of law for political ends3 ,caiaphas and the priests slaying ,him to avoid a popular tumult that might threaten their prerogatives1 ,pilate consenting to ,his death to avoid the unpopularity that might follow a refusal4 ,from the divine point of view it is ,god's great sacrifice for the sin of the world4 ,it is the most signal instance of that solemn law of ,providence which runs all through the history of the world1 whereby bad men's bad deeds1 strained through the fine network1 as it were1 of the divine providence1 lose their poison and become nutritious and fertilising4 ',thou makest the wrath of men to praise ,thee2 with the residue thereof ,thou girdest ,thyself4' ,the greatest crime ever done in the world is the greatest blessing ever given to the world4 ,man's sin works out the loftiest divine purpose1 even as the coral insects blindly build up the reef that keeps back the waters1 or as the sea in its wild1 impotent rage1 seeking to overwhelm the land1 only throws upon the beach a barrier that confines its waves and curbs their fury4 ,then1 again1 this second aspect of the counsel of ,caiaphas suggests for us the twofold consequences of that death on the nation itself4 ,this ,gospel of ,john was probably written after the destruction of ,jerusalem4 ,by the time that our ,evangelist penned these words1 the ,romans had come and taken away their place and their nation4 ,the catastrophe that ,caiaphas and his party had1 by their short-sighted policy1 tried to prevent1 had been brought about by the very deed itself4 ,for ,christ's death was practically the reason for the destruction of the ,jewish commonwealth4 ,when 'the husbandmen said1 ,come6 let us kill ,him1 and seize on the inheritance1' which is simply putting ,caiaphas's counsel into other language1 they thereby deprived themselves of the inheritance4 ,and so ,christ's death was the destruction and not the salvation of the nation4 ,and yet1 it was true that ,he died for that people1 for every man of them1 for ,caiaphas as truly as for ,john1 for ,judas as truly as for ,peter1 for all the ,scribes and the ,pharisees that mocked round ,his ,cross1 as truly as for the women that stood silently weeping there4 ,he died for them all1 and ,john1 looking back upon the destruction of his nation1 can yet say1 ',he died for that people4' ,yes6 and just because ,he did1 and because they rejected ,him1 ,his death1 which they would not let be their salvation1 became their destruction and their ruin4 ,oh6 brethren1 it is always so6 ,he is either 'a savour of life unto life1 or a savour of death unto death6' ',behold6 ,i lay in ,zion for a foundation1 a tried ,stone4' ,build upon it and you are safe4 ,if you do not build upon it1 that ,stone becomes 'a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence4' ,you must either build upon ,christ or fall over ,him2 you must either build upon ,christ1 or be crushed to powder under ,him4 ,make your choice6 ,the twofold effect is wrought ever1 but we can choose which of the two shall be wrought upon us4 ,lastly1 we have here the twofold sphere in which our ,lord's mighty death works its effects4 ,i have already said that this ,gospel was written after the fall of ,jerusalem4 ,the whole tone of it shows that the conception of the ,church as quite separate from ,judaism was firmly established4 ,the narrower national system had been shivered1 and from out of the dust and hideous ruin of its crushing fall had emerged the fairer reality of a ,church as wide as the world4 ,the ,temple on ,zion--which was but a small building after all--had been burned with fire4 ,it was their place1 as ,caiaphas called it4 ,but the clearing away of the narrower edifice had revealed the rising walls of the great temple1 the ,christian ,church1 whose roof overarches every land1 and in whose courts all men may stand and praise the ,lord4 ,so ,john1 in his home in ,ephesus1 surrounded by flourishing churches in which ,jews formed a small and ever-decreasing element1 recognised how far the dove with the olive-branch ,in its mouth flew1 and how certainly that nation was only a little fragment of the many for whom ,christ died4 ',the children of ,god that were scattered abroad' were all to be united round that ,cross4 ,yes6 the only thing that unites men together is their common relation to a ,divine ,redeemer4 ,that bond is deeper than all national bonds1 than all blood-bonds1 than community of race1 than family1 than friendship1 than social ties1 than community of opinion1 than community of purpose and action4 ,it is destined to absorb them all4 ,all these are transitory and they are imperfect2 men wander isolated notwithstanding them all4 ,but if we are knit to ,christ1 we are knit to all who are also knit to ,him4 ,one life animates all the limbs1 and one life's blood circulates through all the veins4 ',so also is ,christ4' ,we are one in ,him1 in whom all the body fitly joined together maketh increase1 and in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth4 ,if we have yielded to the power of that ,cross which draws us to itself1 we shall have been more utterly alone1 in our penitence and in our conscious surrender to ,christ1 than ever we were before4 ,but ,he sets the solitary in families1 and that solemn experience of being alone with our ,judge and our ,saviour will be followed by the blessed sense that we are no more solitary1 but 'fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of ,god4' ,that death brings men into the family of ,god4 ,he will 'gather into one the scattered children of ,god4' ,they are called children by anticipation4 ,for surely nothing can be clearer than that the doctrine of all ,john's writings is that men are not children of ,god by virtue of their humanity1 except in the inferior sense of being made by ,him1 and in ,his image as creatures with spirit and will1 but become children of ,god through faith in the ,son of ,god1 which brings about that new birth1 whereby we become partakers of the ,divine nature4 ',to as many as received ,him1 to them gave ,he power to become the sons of ,god1 even to them that believe on ,his name4' ,so ,i beseech you1 turn yourselves to that dear ,christ who has died for us all1 for us each1 for me and for thee1 and put your confidence in ,his great sacrifice4 ,you will find that you pass from isolation into society1 from death into life1 from the death of selfishness into the life of ,god4 ,listen to ,him1 who says3 ',other sheep ,i have which are not of this fold1 them also ,i must bring1 and they shall hear ,my voice3 and there shall be one flock' because there is 'one ,shepherd4' ,,love',s ,,prodigality ,,censured ,,and ,,vindicated ',then ,jesus1 six days before the passover1 came to ,bethany1 where ,lazarus was which had been dead1 whom ,he raised from the dead4 ,there they made ,him a supper2 and ,martha served3 but ,lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with ,him4 ,then took ,mary a pound of ointment of spikenard1 very costly1 and anointed the feet of ,jesus1 and wiped ,his feet with her hair3 and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment4 ,then saith one of ,his disciples1 ,judas ,iscariot1 ,simon's son1 which should betray ,him1 ,why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence1 and given to the poor8 ,this he said1 not that he cared for the poor2 but because he was a thief1 and had the bag1 and bare what was put therein4 ,then said ,jesus1 ,let her alone3 against the day of ,my burying hath she kept this4 ,for the poor always ye have with you2 but ,me ye have not always4 ,much people of the ,jews therefore knew that ,he was there3 and they came not for ,jesus' sake only1 but that they might see ,lazarus also1 whom ,he had raised from the dead4 ,but the chief priests consulted that they might put ,lazarus also to death2 because that by reason of him many of the ,jews went away1 and believed on ,jesus4'--,,john xii4 #a-aa4 ,jesus came from ,jericho1 where ,he had left ,zacchaeus rejoicing in the salvation that had come to his house1 and whence ,bartimaeus1 rejoicing in ,his new power of vision1 seems to have followed ,him4 ,a few hours brought ,him to ,bethany1 and we know from other ,evangelists what a tension of purpose marked ,him1 and awed the disciples1 as ,he pressed on before them up the rocky way4 ,his mind was full of the struggle and death which were so near4 ,the modest village feast in the house of ,simon the leper comes in strangely amid the gathering gloom2 but1 no doubt1 ,jesus accepted it1 as ,he did everything1 and entered into the spirit of the hour4 ,he would not pain ,his hosts by self-absorbed aloofness at the table4 ,the reason for the feast is obviously the raising of ,lazarus1 as is suggested by his being twice mentioned in verses #a and #b4 ,our ,lord had withdrawn to ,ephraim so immediately after the miracle that the opportunity of honouring ,him had not occurred4 ,it was a brave tribute to pay ,him in the face of the ,sanhedrim's commandment 7ch4 xi4 #eg74 ,this incident sets in sharpest contrast the two figures of ,mary1 the type of love which delights to give its best1 and ,judas1 the type of selfishness which is only eager to get2 and it shows us ,jesus casting ,his shield over the uncalculating giver1 and putting meaning into her deed4 ,i4 ,in ,eastern fashion1 the guests seem to have all been males1 no doubt the magnates of the village1 and ,jesus with ,his disciples4 ,the former would have become accustomed to seeing ,lazarus1 but ,christ's immediate followers would gaze curiously on him4 ,and how he would gaze on ,jesus1 whom he had probably not seen since the napkin had been taken from his face4 ,the two sisters were true to their respective characters4 ,the bustling1 practical ,martha had perhaps not very fine or quickly moved emotions4 ,she could not say graceful things to their benefactor1 and probably she did not care to sit at ,his feet and drink in ,his teaching2 but she loved ,him with all her heart all the same1 and showed it by serving4 ,no doubt1 she took care that the best dishes were carried to ,jesus first1 and1 no doubt1 as is the custom in those lands1 she plied ,him with invitations to partake4 ,we do ,martha less than justice if we do not honour her1 and recognise that her kind of service is true service4 ,she has many successors among ,christ's true followers1 who cannot 'gush' nor rise to the heights of ,his loftiest teaching1 but who have taken ,him for their ,lord1 and can1 at any rate1 do humble1 practical service in kitchen or workshop4 ,their more 'intellectual' or poetically emotional brethren are tempted to look down on them1 but ,jesus is as ready to defend ,martha against ,mary1 if she depreciates her1 as ,he is to vindicate ,mary's right to her kind of expression of love1 if ,martha should seek to force her own kind on her sister4 ',there are differences of ministries1 but the same ,lord4' ,mary was one of the unpractical sort1 whom ,martha is very apt to consider supremely useless1 and often to lose patience with4 ,could she not find something useful to do in all the bustle of the feast8 ,had she no hands that could carry a dish1 and no common sense that could help things on8 ,apparently not4 ,every one else was occupied1 and how should she show the love that welled up in her heart as she looked at ,lazarus sitting there beside ,jesus8 ,she had one costly possession1 the pound of perfume4 ,clearly it was her own1 for she would not have taken it if ,lazarus and ,mary had been joint owners4 ,so1 without thinking of anything but the great burden of love which she blessedly bore1 she 'poured it on ,his head' 7,mark7 and on ,his feet1 which the fashion of reclining at meals made accessible to her1 standing behind ,him1 ,true love is profuse1 not to say prodigal4 ,it knows no better use for its best than to lavish it on the beloved1 and can have no higher joy than that4 ,it does not stay to calculate utility as seen by colder eyes4 ,it has even a subtle delight in the very absence of practical results1 for the expression of itself is the purer thereby4 ,a basin of water and a towel would have done as well or better for washing ,christ's feet1 but not for relieving ,mary's full heart4 ,do we know anything of that omnipotent impulse8 ,can we complacently set our givings beside ,mary's8 ,,ii4 ,judas is the foil to ,mary4 ,his sullen1 black selfishness1 stretching out hands like talons in eagerness to get1 makes more radiant1 and is itself made darker by1 her shining deed of love4 ,goodness always rouses evil to self-assertion1 and the other ,evangelists connect ,mary's action with ,judas's final treachery as part of its impelling cause4 ,they also show that his specious objection1 by its apparent common sense and charitableness1 found assent in the disciples4 ,three hundred pence worth of good ointment wasted which might have helped so many poor6 ,yes1 and how much poorer the world would have been if it had not had this story6 ,mary was more utilitarian than her censors4 ,she served the highest good of all generations by her uncalculating profusion1 by which the poor have gained more than some few of them might have lost4 ,judas's criticism is still repeated4 ,the world does not understand ,christian self-sacrifice1 for ends which seem to it shadowy as compared with the solid realities of helping material progress or satisfying material wants4 ,a hundred critics1 who do not do much for the poor themselves1 will descant on the waste of money in religious enterprises1 and smile condescendingly at the enthusiasts who are so unpractical4 ,but love knows its own meaning1 and need not be abashed by the censure of the unloving4 ,john flashes out into a moment's indignation at the greed of ,judas1 which was masquerading as benevolence4 ,his scathing laying bare of ,judas's mean and thievish motive is no mere suspicion1 but he must have known instances of dishonesty4 ,when a man has gone so far in selfish greed that he has left common honesty behind him1 no wonder if the sight of utterly self-surrendering love looks to him folly4 ,the world has no instruments by which it can measure the elevation of the godly life4 ,mary would not be ,mary if ,judas approved of her or understood her4 ,,iii4 ,jesus vindicates the act of ,his censured servant4 ,his words fall into two parts1 of which the former puts a meaning into ,mary's act1 of which she probably had not been aware1 while the latter meets the carping criticism of ,judas4 ,that ,jesus should see in the anointing a reference to ,his burying1 pathetically indicates how that near end filled ,his thoughts1 even while sharing in the simple feast4 ,the clear vision of the ,cross so close did not so absorb ,him as to make ,him indifferent either to ,mary's love or to the villagers' humble festivity4 ,however weighed upon1 ,his heart was always sufficiently at leisure from itself to care for ,his friends and to defend them4 ,he accepts every offering that love brings1 and1 in accepting1 gives it a significance beyond the offerer's thought4 ,we know not what use ,he may make of our poor service2 but we may be sure that1 if that which we can see to is right--namely1 its motive1--,he will take care of what we cannot see to--namely1 its effect1--and will find noble use for the sacrifices which unloving critics pronounce useless waste4 ',the poor always ye have with you4' ,opportunities for the exercise of brotherly liberality are ever present1 and therefore the obligation to it is constant4 ,but these permanent duties do not preclude the opportunities for such special forms of expressing special love to ,jesus as ,mary had shown1 and as must soon end4 ,the same sense of approaching separation as in the former clause gives pathos to that restrained 'not always4' ,the fact of ,his being just about to leave them warranted extraordinary tokens of love1 as all loving hearts know but too well4 ,but1 over and above the immediate reference of the words1 they carry the wider lesson that1 besides the customary duties of generous giving laid on us by the presence of ordinary poverty and distresses1 there is room in ,christian experience for extraordinary outflows from the fountain of a heart filled with love to ,christ4 ,the world may mock at it as useless prodigality1 but ,jesus sees that it is done for ,him1 and therefore ,he accepts it1 and breathes meaning into it4 ',wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world1 there shall also this1 that this woman hath done1 be told for a memorial of her4' ,the ,evangelist who records that promise does not mention ,mary's name2 ,john1 who does mention the name1 does not record the promise4 ,it matters little whether our names are remembered1 so long as ,jesus beam them graven on ,his heart4 ,a ,,new ,,kind ,,of ,,king ',on the next day much people that were come to the feast1 when they heard that ,jesus was coming to ,jerusalem1 took branches of palm-trees1 and went forth to meet ,him1 and cried1 ,hosanna3 ,blessed is the ,king of ,israel that cometh in the name of the ,lord4 ,and ,jesus1 when ,he had found a young ass1 sat thereon2 as it is written1 ,fear not1 daughter of ,sion3 behold1 thy ,king cometh1 sitting on an ass's colt4 ,these things understood not ,his disciples at the first3 but when ,jesus was glorified1 then remembered they that these things were written of ,him1 and that they had done these things unto ,him4 ,the people therefore that was with ,him when ,he called ,lazarus out of his grave1 and raised him from the dead1 bare record4 ,for this cause the people also met ,him1 for that they heard that ,he had done this miracle4 ,the ,pharisees therefore said among themselves1 ,perceive ye how ye prevail nothing6 behold1 the world is gone after ,him4 ,and there were certain ,greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast3 ,the same came therefore to ,philip1 which was of ,bethsaida of ,galilee1 and desired him1 saying1 ,sir1 we would see ,jesus4 ,philip cometh and telleth ,andrew3 and again ,andrew and ,philip tell ,jesus1 and ,jesus answered them1 saying1 ,the hour is come1 that the ,son of ,man should be glorified4 ,verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you1 except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die1 it abideth alone3 but if it die1 it bringeth forth much fruit4 ,he that loveth his life shall lose it2 and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal4 ,if any man serve ,me1 let him follow ,me2 and where ,i am1 there shall also ,my servant be3 if any man serve ,me1 him will ,my ,father honour4'--,,john xii4 #ab-bf4 ,the difference between ,john's account of the entry into ,jerusalem and those of the ,synoptic ,gospels is very characteristic4 ,his is much briefer1 but it brings the essentials out clearly1 and is particular in showing its place as a link in the chain that drew on the final catastrophe1 and in noting its effect on various classes4 ',the next day' in verse #ab was probably the ,sunday before the crucifixion4 ,to understand the events of that day we must try to realise how rapidly1 and1 as the rulers thought1 dangerously1 excitement was rising among the crowds who had come up for the ,passover1 and who had heard of the raising of ,lazarus4 ,the ,passover was always a time when national feeling was ready to blaze up1 and any spark might light the fire4 ,it looked as if ,lazarus were going to be the match this time1 and so1 on the ,saturday1 the rulers had made up their minds to have him put out of the way in order to stop the current that was setting in1 of acceptance of ,jesus as the ,messiah4 ,they had already made up their minds to dispose of ,jesus1 and now1 with cynical contempt for justice1 they determined to 'put ,lazarus also to death4' ,so there were to be two men who were to 'die for the people4' ,keeping all this wave of popular feeling in view1 it might have been expected that ,jesus would1 as hitherto1 have escaped into privacy1 or discouraged the offered homage of a crowd whose ,messianic ideal was so different from ,his4 ,john is mainly concerned in bringing out two points in his version of the incident4 ,first1 he tells us what we should not have gathered from the other ,evangelists1 that the triumphal procession began in ,jerusalem1 not in ,bethany4 ,it was the direct result of the ebullition of enthusiasm occasioned by the raising of ,lazarus4 ,the course of events seems to have been that 'the common people of the ,jews' came streaming out to ,bethany on the ,sunday to gape and gaze at the risen man and ,him who had raised him1 that they and some of those who had been present at the raising went back to the city and carried thither the intelligence that ,jesus was coming in from ,bethany next day1 and that then the procession to meet ,him was organised4 ,the meaning of the popular demonstration was plain1 both from the palm branches1 signs of victory and rejoicing1 and from the chant1 which is in part taken from ,psalm cxviii4 ,the ,messianic application of that quotation is made unmistakable by the addition1 'even the ,king of ,israel4' ,in the ,psalm1 'he that cometh in the name of ,jehovah1' means the worshipper drawing near to the ,temple1 but the added words divert the expression to ,jesus1 hail ,him as the ,king1 and invoke ,him as ',saviour4' ,little did that shouting crowd understand what sort of a ,saviour ,he was4 ,deliverance from ,rome was what they were thinking of4 ,we must remember what gross1 unspiritual notions of the ,messiah they had1 and then we are prepared to feel how strangely unlike ,his whole past conduct ,jesus' action now was4 ,he had shrunk from crowds and their impure enthusiasm2 ,he had slipped away into solitude when they wished to come by force to make ,him a ,king1 and had in every possible way sought to avoid publicity and the rousing of popular excitement4 ,now ,he deliberately sets ,himself to intensify it4 ,his choice of an ass on which to ride into ,jerusalem was1 and would be seen by many to be1 a plain appropriation to ,himself of a very distinct ,messianic prophecy1 and must have raised the heat of the crowd by many degrees4 ,one can fancy the roar of acclaim which hailed ,him when ,he met the multitude1 and the wild emotion with which they strewed ,his path with garments hastily drawn off and cast before ,him4 ,why did ,he thus contradict all ,his past1 and court the smoky enthusiasm which ,he had hitherto damped8 ,because ,he knew that ',his hour' had come1 and that the ,cross was at hand1 and ,he desired to bring it as speedily as might be1 and thus to shorten the suffering that ,he would not avoid1 and to finish the work which ,he was eager to complete4 ,the impatience1 as we might almost call it1 which had marked ,him on all that last journey1 reached its height now1 and may indicate to us for our sympathy and gratitude both ,his human longing to get the dark hour over and ,his fixed willingness to die for us4 ,but even while ,jesus accepted the acclamations and deliberately set ,himself to stir up enthusiasm1 ,he sought to purify the gross ideas of the crowd4 ,what more striking way could ,he have chosen of declaring that all the turbulent passions and eagerness for a foot-to-foot conflict with ,rome which were boiling in their breasts were alien to ,his purposes and to the true ,messianic ideal1 than that choosing of the meek1 slow-pacing ass to bear ,him8 ,a conquering king would have made his triumphal entry in a chariot or on a battle-horse4 ,this strange type of monarch is throned on an ass4 ,it was not only for a verbal fulfilment of the prophecy1 but for a demonstration of the essential nature of ,his kingdom1 that ,he thus entered the city4 ,john characteristically takes note of the effects of the entry on two classes1 the disciples and the rulers4 ,the former remembered with a sudden flash of enlightenment the meaning of the entry when the ,cross and the ,resurrection had taught them it4 ,the rulers marked the popular feeling running high with bewilderment1 and were1 as ,jesus meant them to be1 made more determined to take vigorous measures to stop this madness of the mob4 ,the second incident in this passage contrasts remarkably with the first1 and yet is1 in one aspect1 a continuation of it4 ,in the former1 ,jesus brought into prominence the true nature of ,his rule by ,his choosing the ass to carry ,him1 so declaring that ,his dominion rested1 not on conquest1 but on meekness4 ,in the latter1 ,he reveals a yet deeper aspect of ,his work1 and teaches that ,his influence over men is won by utter self-sacrifice1 and that ,his subjects must tread the same path of losing their lives by which ,he passes to ,his glory4 ,the details of the incident are of small importance as compared with that great and solemn lesson2 but we may note them in a few words4 ,the desire of a few ,greeks to see ,him was probably only a reflection of the popular enthusiasm1 and was prompted mainly by curiosity and the characteristic ,greek eagerness to see any 'new thing4' ,the addressing of the request to ,philip is perhaps explained by the fact that he 'was of ,bethsaida of ,galilee1' and had probably come into contact with these ,greeks in the neighbouring ,decapolis1 on the other side of the lake4 ,philip's consultation of his fellow-townsman1 ,andrew1 who is associated with him in other places1 probably implies hesitation in granting so unprecedented a request4 ,they did not know what ,jesus might say to it4 ,and what ,he did say was very unlike anything that they could have anticipated4 ,the trivial request was as a narrow window through which ,jesus' yearning spirit saw a great expanse--nothing less than the coming to ,him of myriads of ,gentiles1 the 'much fruit' of which ,he immediately speaks1 the 'other sheep' whom ,he 'must bring4' ,the thought must have been ever present to ,him1 or it would never have leaped to utterance on such an occasion4 ,the little window shows us1 too1 what was habitually in ,his mind and heart4 ,he1 as it were1 hears the striking of the hour of ,his glorification2 in which expression the ideas of ,his being glorified by drawing men to the knowledge of ,his love1 and of the ,cross being not the lowest depth of ,his humiliation1 but the highest apex of ,his glory--as it is always represented in this ,gospel--seemed to be fused together4 ,the seed must die if a harvest is to spring from it4 ,that is the law for all moral and spiritual reformations4 ,every cause must have its martyrs4 ,no man can be fruit-bearing unless he sacrifices himself4 ,we shall not 'quicken' our fellows unless we 'die1' either literally or by the not less real martyrdom of rigid self-crucifixion and suppression4 ,but that necessity is not only for ,apostles or missionaries of great causes2 it is the condition of all true1 noble life1 and prescribes the path not only for those who would live for others1 but for all who would truly live their own lives4 ,self-renunciation guards the way to the 'tree of life4' ,that lesson was specially needed by ',greeks1' for ignorance of it was the worm that gnawed the blossoms of their trees1 whether of art or of literature4 ,it is no less needed by our sensuously luxurious and eagerly acquisitive generation4 ,the world's war-cries to-day are two--',get6' ',enjoy6' ,christ's command is1 ',renounce6' ,and in renouncing we shall realise both of these other aims1 which they who pursue them only1 never attain4 ,christ's servant must be ,christ's follower3 indeed service is following4 ,the ,cross has aspects in which it stands alone1 and is incapable of being reproduced and makes all repetition needless4 ,but it has also an aspect in which it not only may1 but must1 be reproduced in every disciple4 ,and he who takes it for the ground of his trust only1 and not as the pattern of his life1 has need to ask himself whether his trust in it is genuine or worth anything4 ,of course they who follow a leader will arrive where the leader has gone1 and though our feet are feeble and our progress devious and slow1 we have here ,his promise that we shall not be lost in the desert1 but1 sustained by ,him1 will reach ,his side1 and at last be where ,he is4 ,,after ,,christ3 ,,with ,,christ ',if any man serve ,me1 let him follow ,me2 and where ,i am1 there shall also ,my servant be4'--,john xii4 #bf4 ,our ,lord was strangely moved by the apparently trivial incident of certain ,greeks desiring to see ,him4 ,he recognised and hailed in them the first-fruits of the ,gentiles4 ,the ,eastern sages at ,his cradle1 and these representatives of ,western culture within a few hours of the ,cross1 were alike prophets4 ,so1 in ,his answer to their request1 our ,lord passes beyond the immediate bearing of the request1 and contemplates it in its relation to the future developments of ,his work4 ,and the thought that the ,son of ,man is now about to begin to be glorified1 at once brings ,him face to face with the fact which must precede the glory1 viz41 ,his death4 ,that great law that a higher life can only be reached by the decay of the lower1 of which the ,cross is the great instance1 ,he illustrates1 first1 by an example from ,nature1 the corn of wheat which must die ere it brings forth fruit4 ,then ,he declares that this is a universal law1 ',he that loveth his life shall lose it2 and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal4' ,and then ,he declares that this universal law1 which has its adumbration in ,nature1 and applies to all mankind1 and is manifested in its highest form on the ,cross1 is the law of the ,christian discipleship4 ',if any man serve ,me1 let him follow ,me1' and1 as a consequence1 'where ,i am1 there shall also ,my servant be4' ,in two clauses ,he covers the whole ground of the present and the future4 ,many thinkers and teachers have tried to crystallise their systems into some brief formula which may stick in the memory and be capable of a handy application4 ',follow ,nature1' said ancient sages1 attaching a nobler meaning to the condensed commandment than its modern repeaters often do2 ',follow duty1' say others2 ',follow ,me' says ,christ4 ,that is enough for life4 ,and for all the dim regions beyond1 this prospect is sufficient1 ',where ,i am1 there shall also ,my servant be4' ,one ,form towers above the present and the future1 and they both derive their colouring and their worth from ,him and our relation to ,him4 ',to follow'--that is the condensed summary of life's duty4 ',to be with'--that is the crystallising of all our hopes4 ,i4 ,the all-sufficient law for life4 ',if any man serve ,me1 let him follow ,me4' ,everything is smelted down into that2 and there you have a sufficient directory for every man's every action4 ,now although it has nothing to do with my present purpose1 ,i can scarcely avoid pausing1 just for a moment1 to ask you to consider the perfect uniqueness of such an utterance as that4 ,think of one ,man standing up before all mankind1 and coolly and deliberately saying to them1 ',i am the realised ,ideal of human conduct2 ,i am ,incarnate ,perfection2 and all of you1 in all the infinite variety of condition1 culture1 and character1 are to take ,me for your pattern and your guide4' ,the world has listened1 and the world has not laughed nor been angry4 ,neither indignation nor mockery1 which one might have expected would have extinguished such absurdity1 has waited upon ,christ's utterance4 ,i have no time to dwell on this2 it is apart from my purpose1 but ,i would ask you fairly to consider how strange it is1 and to ask how it is to be accounted for1 that a ,man said that1 and that the wisest part of the world has consented to take ,him at ,his own valuation2 and after such an utterance as that1 yet calls ,him 'meek and lowly of heart4' ,but ,i pass away from that4 ,what does ,he mean by this commandment1 ',follow ,me'8 ,of course ,i need not remind you that it brings all duty down to the imitation of ,jesus ,christ4 ,that is a commonplace that ,i do not need to dwell upon1 nor to follow out into the many regions into which it would lead us1 and where we might find fruitful subjects of contemplation2 because ,i desire1 in a sentence or two1 to insist upon the special form of following which is here enjoined4 ,it is a very grand thing to talk about the imitation of ,christ1 and even in its most superficial acceptation it is a good guide for all men4 ,but no man has penetrated to the depths of that stringent and all-comprehensive commandment who has not recognised that there is one special thing in which ,christ is to be our ,pattern1 and that is in regard to the very thing in which we think that ,he is most unique and inimitable4 ,it is ,his ,cross1 and not ,his life2 it is ,his death1 and not ,his virtues1 which ,he is here thinking about1 and laying it upon all of us as the encyclopaedia and sum of all morality that we should be conformed to it4 ,i have already pointed out to you in my introductory remarks the force of the present context4 ,and so ,i need not further enlarge upon that1 nor vindicate my declaration that ,christ's death is the pattern which is here set before us4 ,of course we cannot imitate that in its effects1 except in a very secondary and figurative fashion4 ,but the spirit that underlay it1 as the supreme ,example of self-sacrifice1 is commended to us all as the royal law for our lives1 and unless we are conformed thereto we have no right to call ourselves ,christ's disciples4 ,to die for the sake of higher life1 to give up our own will utterly in obedience to ,god1 and in the unselfish desire to help and bless others1 that is the ,alpha and the ,omega of discipleship4 ,it always has been so and always will be so4 ,and so1 dear brethren1 let us lay it to our own hearts1 and make very stringent inquiry into our own conduct1 whether we have ever come within sight of what makes a true disciple--viz41 that we should be 'conformable unto ,his death4' ,now our modern theology has far too much obscured this plain teaching of the ,new ,testament1 because it has been concerned--,i do not say too much1 but too exclusively1 concerned--in setting forth the other aspect of ,christ's death1 by which it is what none of ours can ever even begin to be1 the sacrifice for a world's sin4 ,but1 mind1 there are two ways of looking at ,christ's ,cross4 ,you must begin with recognising it as the basis of all your hope1 the power by which you are delivered from sin as guilt1 habit1 and condemnation4 ,and then you must take it1 if it is to be the sacrifice and atonement for your sins1 for the example of your lives1 and mould yourselves after it4 ',if any man serve ,me1 let him follow ,me1' and here is the special region in which the following is to be realised3 ',he that loveth his life shall lose it1 and he that hateth his life shall keep it unto life eternal4' ,now1 further1 let me remind you that this brief1 crystallised commandment1 the essence of all practical godliness and ,christianity1 makes the blessed peculiarity of ,christian morality4 ,people ask what it is that distinguishes the teaching of the ,new ,testament in regard to duty1 from the teaching of lofty moralists and sages of old4 ,not the specific precepts1 though these are1 in many cases1 deeper4 ,not the individual commandments1 though the perspective of human excellences and virtues has been changed in ,christianity1 and the gentler and sweeter graces have been enthroned in the place where the world's morality has generally set the more ostentatious ones2 the hero is1 roughly speaking1 the world's type1 the saint is the ,new ,testament's4 ,but the true characteristic of ,christian teaching as to conduct lies in this1 that the law is in a ,person1 and that the power to obey the law comes from the love of the ,person4 ,all things are different2 unwelcome duties are made less repulsive1 and hard tasks are lightened1 and sorrows are made tolerable1 if only we are following ,him4 ,you remember the old story in ,scottish history of the knight to whom was entrusted the king's heart2 how1 beset by the bands of the infidels1 he tossed the golden casket into the thickest of their ranks and said1 ',go on1 ,i follow thee'2 and death itself was light when that thought spurred his steed forward4 ,and so1 brethren1 it is far too hard a task to tread the road of duty which our consciences command us1 unless we are drawn by ,him ,who is before us there on the road1 and see the shining of ,his garments as ,he sets ,his face forward1 and draws us after ,him4 ,it is easy to climb a glacier when the guide has cut with his ice-axe the steps in which he sets his feet1 and we may set ours4 ,the sternness of duty1 and the rigidity of law1 and the coldness of ',i ought1' are all changed when duty consists in following ,christ1 and ,he is before us on the rocky and narrow road4 ,this precept is all-sufficient4 ,of course it will be a task of wisdom1 of common sense1 of daily culture in prudence and other graces2 to apply the generalised precept to the specific cases that emerge in our lives4 ,but whilst the application may require a great many subordinate by-laws1 the royal statute is one1 and simple1 and enough4 ',follow ,me4' ,is it not a strange thing--it seems to me to be a perfectly unique thing1 inexplicable except upon one hypothesis--that a life so brief1 of which the records are so fragmentary1 in which some of the relationships in which we stand had no place1 and which was lived out in a world so utterly different from our own1 should yet avail to be a guide to men1 not in regard to specific points1 so much as in regard to the imperial supremacy in it of these motives--,even ,christ pleased not ,himself2 ',my meat is to do the will of ,him that sent ,me4' ,and so1 brethren1 take this sharp test and apply it honestly to your own lives1 day by day1 in all their minutiae as well as in their great things4 ',if any man serve ,me1' how miserably that ,christian 'service' has been evacuated of its deepest meaning1 and superficialised and narrowed6 ',service'--that means people getting into a building and singing and praying4 ,service--that means acts of beneficence1 teaching and preaching and giving material or spiritual helps of various kinds4 ,these things have almost monopolised the word4 ,but ,christ enlarges its shrivelled contents once more1 and teaches us that1 far above all specifically so-called acts of religious worship1 and more indispensable than so-called acts of ,christian activity and service1 lies the self-sacrificing conformity of character to ,him4 ',if any man serve ,me1' let him sing and praise and pray8 ,yes2 ',if any man serve ,me1' let him try to help other people1 and in the service of man do service to ,me8 ,yes2 but deeper than all1 and fundamental to the others1 ',if any man serve ,me1 let him follow ,me'--,is that my discipleship8 ,let each one of us professing ,christians ask himself4 ,,ii4 ,we have here the all-sufficient hope for the future4 ,i know few things more beautiful than the perfectly naive way in which the greatest of thoughts is here set forth by the simplest of figures4 ,if two men are walking on the same road to a place1 the one that is in front will get there first1 and his friend that is coming up after him will get there second1 if he keeps on2 and they will be united at the end1 because1 one after the other1 they travel the road4 ,and so says ,christ3 ',of course1 if you follow ,me1 you will join ,me2 and where ,i am1 there shall also ,my servant be4' ,the implications of a ,christian life1 which is true following of ,christ here1 necessarily led to the confidence that in that future there will be union with ,him4 ,that is a deep thought1 which might afford material for much to be said1 but on which ,i cannot dwell now4 ,i remarked at an early stage of this sermon how singular it was that our ,lord should present ,himself as the ,pattern for all human excellence4 ,is it not even more singular that ,he should venture to present ,his own companionship as the sufficient recompense for every sorrow1 for every effort1 for all pain1 for all pilgrimage8 ,to be with ,him1 ,he thinks1 is enough for any man and enough for all men4 ,who did ,he think ,himself to be8 ,what did ,he suppose ,his relation to the rest of us to be1 who could thus calmly suggest to the world that the only thing that a heart needed for blessedness was to be beside ,him8 ,and we believe it1 too little as it influences our lives4 ',to be with ,christ' is 'very much better'2 better than all beneath the stars2 better than all on this side eternity4 ,what does our ,lord mean by this all-sufficient hope8 ,we know very little of that dim region beyond1 but we know that until ,he comes again ,his departed servants are absent from the body4 ,and1 in our sense of the word1 there can be no place for spirits thus free from corporeal environment4 ,and so place1 to-day at all events for the departed saints1 and in a subordinate degree all through eternity1 even when they are clothed with a glorified body1 must be but a symbol of state1 of condition1 of spiritual character4 ',where ,i am there shall ,my servant be1' means specially ',what ,i am1 that shall ,my servant be4' ,this perfect conformity to that dear ,lord1 whose footsteps we have followed2 assimilation there1 which is the issue of imitation here1 though broken and imperfect1 this is the hope that may gladden and animate every ,christian heart4 ,to be with ,him is to be like ,him1 and therefore to be conscious of ,his presence in some fashion so intimate1 so certain1 as that all our earthly notions of presence1 derived from the juxtaposition of corporeal frames1 are infinite distance as compared with it4 ,that is what my text dimly shadows for us4 ,we know not how that union1 which is to be as close as is possible while the distinction of personality is retained1 may be accomplished4 ,but this we know1 that the coalescence of two drops of mercury1 the running together of two drops of water1 the blending of heart with heart here in love1 are distance in comparison with the complete union of ,christ and of the happy soul that rests in ,him1 as in an atmosphere and an ocean4 ,oh1 brethren6 it is not a thing to talk about2 it is a thing to take to our hearts1 and in silence to be thankful for2 'absent from the body2 present with the ,lord4' ,and is that not enough8 ,the ground of it is enough4 ',if we believe that ,jesus died and rose again1 even so them also which sleep in ,jesus will ,god bring with ,him4' ,that future companionship is guaranteed to the ,christian man by the words of ,incarnate ,truth1 and by the resurrection of his ,lord4 ,the ground of it is enough1 and the contents are enough--enough for faith2 enough for hope2 enough for peace2 enough for work2 and eminently enough for comfort4 ,ah6 there are many other questions that we would fain ask1 but to which there is no reply2 but as the good old rough music of one of the eighteenth-century worthies has it1 we have sufficient4 ',my knowledge of that life is small1 ,the eye of faith is dim2 ,but 'tis enough that ,christ knows all1 ,and ,i shall be with ,him4' ',it is enough for the disciple that he be as' 7that is1 with7 'his ,master4' ,so let us take that thought to our hearts and animate ourselves with it1 for it is legitimate for us to do so4 ,that one hope is sufficient for us all4 ,only let us remember that1 according to the teaching of my text1 the companionship that blesses the future is the issue of following ,him now4 ,i know of no magic in death that is able to change the direction in which a man's face is turned4 ,as he is travelling and has travelled1 so he will travel when he comes through the tunnel1 and out into the brighter light yonder4 ,the line of a railway marked upon a map may stop at the boundaries of the country with which the map is concerned1 but it is clearly going somewhere1 and in the same direction4 ,you want the other sheet of the map in order to see whither it is going4 ,that is like your life4 ,the map stops very abruptly1 but the line does not stop4 ,take an unfinished row of tenements4 ,on the last house there stick out bricks preparatory to the continuation of the row4 ,and so our lives are1 as it were1 studded over with protuberances and preparations for the attachment thereto of a 'house not made with hands1' and yet conformed in its architecture to the row that we have built4 ,the man that follows will attain4 ,for life1 the all-sufficient law is1 after ,christ2 for hope1 the all-sufficient assurance is1 with ,christ4 ,,the ,,universal ,,magnet ',i1 if ,i be lifted up ''' will draw all men unto ,me4'--,,john xii4 #cb4 ',never man spake like this ,man1' said the wondering ,temple officials who were sent to apprehend ,jesus4 ,there are many aspects of our ,lord's teaching in which it strikes one as unique2 but perhaps none is more singular than the boundless boldness of ,his assertions of ,his importance to the world4 ,just think of such sayings as these3 ',i am the ,light of the world'2 ',i am the ,bread of ,life'2 ',i am the ,door'2 ',a greater than ,solomon is here'2 ',in this place is ,one greater than the ,temple4' ,we do not usually attach much importance to men's estimate of themselves2 and gigantic claims such as these are generally met by incredulity or scorn4 ,but the strange thing about ,christ's loftiest assertions of ,his world-wide worth and personal sinlessness is that they provoke no contradiction1 and that the world takes ,him at ,his own valuation4 ,so profound is the impression that ,he has made1 that men assent when ,he says1 ',i am meek and lowly in heart1' and do not answer as they would to anybody else1 ',if you were1 you would never have said so4' ,now there is no more startling utterance of this extraordinary self-consciousness of ,jesus ,christ than the words that ,i have used for my text4 ,they go deep down into the secret of ,his power4 ,they open a glimpse into ,his inmost thoughts about ,himself which ,he very seldom shows us4 ,and they come to each of us with a very touching and strong personal appeal as to what we are doing with1 and how we individually are responding to1 that universal appeal on which ,he says that ,he is exercising4 ,i4 ,so ,i wish to dwell on these words now1 and ask you first to notice here our ,lord's forecasting of the ,cross4 ,a handful of ,greeks had come up to ,jerusalem to the ,passover1 and they desired to see ,jesus1 perhaps only because they had heard about ,him1 and to gratify some fleeting curiosity2 perhaps for some deeper and more sacred reason4 ,but in that tiny incident our ,lord sees the first green blade coming up above the ground which was the prophet of an abundant harvest2 the first drop of a great abundance of rain4 ,he recognises that ,he is beginning to pass out from ,israel into the world4 ,but the thought of ,his world-wide influence thus indicated and prophesied immediately brings along with it the thought of what must be gone through before that influence can be established4 ,and he discerns that1 like the corn of wheat that falls into the ground1 the condition of fruitfulness for ,him is death4 ,now we are to remember that our ,lord here is within a few hours of ,gethsemane1 and a few days of the ,cross1 and that events had so unfolded themselves that it needed no prophet to see that there could only be one end to the duel which he had deliberately brought about between ,himself and the rulers of ,israel4 ,so that ,i build nothing upon the anticipation of the ,cross1 which comes out at this stage in our ,lord's history1 for any man in ,his position might have seen1 as clearly as ,he did1 that ,his path was blocked1 and that very near at hand1 by the grim instrument of death4 ,but then remember that this same expression of my text occurs at a very much earlier period of our ,lord's career1 and that if we accept this ,gospel of ,john1 at the very beginning of it ,he said1 ',as ,moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness1 even so must the ,son of ,man be lifted up'2 and that that was no mere passing thought is obvious from the fact that midway in ,his career1 if we accept the testimony of the same ,gospel1 ,he used the same expression to cavilling opponents when ,he said3 ',when ye have lifted up the ,son of ,man1 then shall ye know that ,i am ,he4' ,and so at the beginning1 in the middle1 and at the end of ,his career the same idea is cast into the same words1 a witness of the hold that it had upon ,him1 and the continual presence of it to ,his consciousness4 ,i do not need to refer here to other illustrations and proofs of the same thing1 only ,i desire to say1 as plainly and strongly as ,i can1 that modern ideas that ,jesus ,christ only recognised the necessity of ,his death at a late stage of ,his work1 and that like other reformers1 ,he began with buoyant hope1 and thought that ,he had but to speak and the world would hear1 and1 like other reformers1 was disenchanted by degrees1 are1 in my poor judgment1 utterly baseless1 and bluntly contradicted by the ,gospel narratives4 ,and so1 dear brethren1 this is the image that rises before us1 and that ought to appeal to us all very plainly2 a ,christ who1 from the first moment of ,his consciousness of ,messiahship--and how early that consciousness was ,i am not here to inquire--was conscious likewise of the death that was to close it4 ',he came not to be ministered unto1 but to minister1' and likewise for this end1 'to give ,his life a ransom for the many4' ,that gracious1 gentle life1 full of all charities1 and long-suffering1 and sweet goodness1 and patience1 was not the life of a ,man whose heart was at leisure from all anxiety about ,himself1 but the life of a ,man before whom there stood1 ever grim and distinct away on the horizon1 the ,cross and ,himself upon it4 ,you all remember a well-known picture that suggests the ',shadow of ,death1' the shadow of the ,cross falling1 unseen by ,him1 but seen with open eyes of horror by ,his mother4 ,but the reality is a far more pathetic one than that2 it is this1 that ,he came on purpose to die4 ,but now there is another point suggested by these remarkable words1 and that is that our ,lord regarded the ,cross of shame as exaltation or 'lifting up4' ,i do not believe that the use of this remarkable phrase in our text finds its explanation in the few inches of elevation above the surface of the ground to which the crucified victims were usually raised4 ,that is there1 of course1 but there is something far deeper and more wonderful than that in the background1 and it is this in part1 that that ,cross1 to ,christ's eyes1 bore a double aspect4 ,so far as the inflicters or the externals of it were concerned1 it was ignominy1 shame1 agony1 the very lowest point of humiliation4 ,but there was another side to it4 ,what in one aspect is the nadir1 the lowest point beneath men's feet1 is in another aspect the zenith1 the very highest point in the bending heaven above us4 ,so throughout this ,gospel1 and very emphatically in the text1 we find that we have the complement of the ,pauline view of the ,cross1 which is1 that it was shame and agony4 ,for our ,lord says1 ',now the hour is come when the ,son of ,man shall be glorified4' ,whether it is glory or shame depends on what it was that bound ,him there4 ,the reason for ,his enduring it makes it the very climax and flaming summit of ,his flaming love4 ,and1 therefore1 ,he is lifted up not merely because the ,cross is elevated above the ground on the little elevation of ,calvary1 but that ,cross is ,his throne1 because there1 in highest and sovereign fashion1 are set forth ,his glories1 the glories of ,his love1 and of the 'grace and truth' of which ,he was 'full4' ,so let us not forget this double aspect1 and whilst we bow before ,him who 'endured the ,cross1 despising the shame1' let us also try to understand and to feel what ,he means when1 in the vision of it1 ,he said1 'the hour is come that the ,son of ,man shall be glorified4' ,it was meant for mockery1 but mockery veiled unsuspected truth when they twined round ,his pale brows the crown of thorns1 thereby setting forth unconsciously the everlasting truth that sovereignty is won by suffering2 and placed in ,his unresisting hand the sceptre of reed1 thereby setting forth the deep truth of ,his kingdom1 that dominion is exercised in gentleness4 ,mightier than all rods of iron1 or sharp swords which conquerors wield1 and more lustrous and splendid than tiaras of gold glistening with diamonds1 are the sceptre of reed in the hands1 and the crown of thorns on the head1 of the exalted1 because crucified1 ,man of ,sorrows4 ,but there is still another aspect of ,christ's vision of ,his ,cross1 for the 'lifting up' on it necessarily draws after it the lifting up to the dominion of the heavens4 ,and so the ,apostle1 using a word kindred with that of my text1 but intensifying it by addition1 says1 ',he became obedient even unto the death of the ,cross1 wherefore ,god also hath highly lifted ,him up4' ,so here we have ,christ's own conception of ,his death1 that it was inevitable1 that it was exaltation even in the act of dying1 and that it drew after it1 of inevitable necessity1 dominion exercised from the heavens over all the earth4 ,he was lifted up on ,calvary1 and because ,he was lifted up ,he has carried our manhood into the place of glory1 and sitteth at the right hand of the ,majesty on high4 ,so much for the first point to which ,i would desire to turn your attention4 ,,ii4 ,now we have here our ,lord disclosing the secret of ,his attractive power4 ',i1 if ,i be lifted up from the earth1 will draw all men unto ,me4' ,that 'if' expresses no doubt1 it only sets forth the condition4 ,the ,christ lifted up on the ,cross is the ,christ that draws men4 ,now ,i would have you notice the fact that our ,lord thus unveils1 as it were1 where ,his power to influence individuals and humanity chiefly resides4 ,he speaks about ,his death in altogether a different fashion from that of other men1 for ,he does not merely say1 ',if ,i be lifted up from the earth1 this story of the ,cross will draw men1' but ,he says1 ',i will' do it2 and thus contemplates1 as ,i shall have to say in a moment1 continuous personal influence all through the ages4 ,now that is not how other people have to speak about their deaths1 for all other men who have influenced the world for good or for evil1 thinkers and benefactors1 and reformers1 social and religious1 all of them come under the one law that their death is no part of their activity1 but terminates their work1 and that thereafter1 with few exceptions1 and for brief periods1 their influence is a diminishing quantity4 ,so one ,apostle had to say1 ',to abide in the flesh is more needful for you1' and another had to say1 ',i will endeavour that after my decease ye may keep in mind the things that ,i have told you'2 and all thinkers and teachers and helpers glide away further and further1 and are wrapped about with thicker and thicker mists of oblivion1 and their influence becomes less and less4 ,the best that history can say about any of them is1 ',this man1 having served his generation by the will of ,god1 fell on sleep4' ,but that other ,man who was lifted on the ,cross saw no corruption1 and the death which puts a period to all other men's work was planted right in the centre of ,his1 and was itself part of that work1 and was followed by a new form of it which is to endure for ever4 ,the ,cross is the magnet of ,christianity4 ,jesus ,christ draws men1 but it is by ,his ,cross mainly1 and that ,he felt this profoundly is plain enough1 not only from such utterances as this of my text1 but1 to go no further1 from the fact that ,he has asked us to remember only one thing about ,him1 and has established that ordinance of the ,communion or the ,lord's ,supper1 which is to remind us always1 and to bear witness to the world1 of where is the centre of ,his work1 and the fact which ,he most desires that men should keep in mind1 not the graciousness of ,his words1 not their wisdom1 not the good deeds that ,he did1 but ',this is ,my body broken for you ''' this cup is the ,new ,testament in ,my blood4' ,a religion which has for its chief rite the symbol of a death1 must enshrine that death in the very heart of the forces to which it trusts to renew the world1 and to bless individual souls4 ,if1 then1 that is true1 if ,jesus ,christ was not all wrong when ,he spoke as ,he did in my text1 then the question arises1 what is it about ,his death that makes it the magnet that will draw all men8 ,men are drawn by cords of love4 ,they may be driven by other means1 but they are drawn only by love4 ,and what is it that makes ,christ's death the highest and noblest and most wonderful and transcendent manifestation of love that the world has ever seen1 or ever can see8 ,no doubt you will think me very narrow and old-fashioned when ,i answer the question1 with the profoundest conviction of my own mind1 and1 ,i hope1 the trust of my own heart4 ,the one thing that entitles men to interpret ,christ's death as the supreme manifestation of love is that it was a death voluntarily undertaken for a world's sins4 ,if you do not believe that1 will you tell me what claim on your heart ,christ has because ,he died8 ,has ,socrates any claim on your heart8 ,and are there not hundreds and thousands of martyrs who have just as much right to be regarded with reverence and affection as this ,galilean carpenter's ,son has1 unless1 when ,he died1 ,he died as the ,sacrifice for the sins of the whole world1 and for yours and mine8 ,i know all the pathetic beauty of the story4 ,i know how many men's hearts are moved in some degree by the life and death of our ,lord1 who yet would hesitate to adopt the full-toned utterance which ,i have now been giving4 ,but ,i would beseech you1 dear friends1 to lay this question seriously to heart1 whether there is any legitimate reason for the reverence1 the love1 the worship1 which the world is giving to this ,galilean young man1 if you strike out the thought that it was because ,he loved the world that ,he chose to die to loose it from the bands of its sin4 ,it may be1 it is1 a most pathetic and lovely story1 but it has not power to draw all men1 unless it deals with that which all men need1 and unless it is the self-surrender of the ,son of ,god for the whole world4 ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 we have here our ,lord anticipating continuous and universal influence4 ,i have already drawn attention to the peculiar fullness of the form of expression in my text1 which1 fairly interpreted1 does certainly imply that our ,lord at that supreme moment looked forward1 as ,i have already said1 to ,his death1 not as putting a period to ,his work1 but as being the transition from one form of influence operating upon a very narrow circle1 to another form of influence which would one day flood the world4 ,i do not need to dwell upon that thought1 beyond seeking to emphasise this truth1 that one ought to feel that ,jesus ,christ has a living connection now with each of us4 ,it is not merely that the story of the ,cross is left to work its results1 but1 as ,i for my part believe1 that the dear ,lord1 who1 before ,he became ,man1 was the ,light of the ,world1 and enlightened every man that came into it1 after ,his death is yet more the ,light of the ,world1 and is exercising influence all over the earth1 not only by conscience and the light that is within us1 nor only through the effects of the record of ,his past1 but by the continuous operations of ,his ,spirit4 ,i do not dwell upon that thought further than to say that ,i beseech you to think of ,jesus ,christ1 not as ,one who died for our sins only1 but as one who lives to-day1 and to-day1 in no rhetorical exaggeration but in simple and profound truth1 is ready to help and to bless and to be with every one of us4 ',it is ,christ that died1 yea1 rather that is risen again1 who is even at the right hand of ,god1 who also maketh intercession for us4' ,but1 beyond that1 mark ,his confidence of universal influence3 ',i will draw all men4' ,i need not dwell upon the distinct adaptation of ,christian truth1 and of that sacrifice on the ,cross1 to the needs of all men4 ,it is the universal remedy1 for it goes direct to the universal epidemic4 ,the thing that men and women want most1 the thing that you want most1 is that your relation with ,god shall be set right1 and that you shall be delivered from the guilt of past sin1 from the exposure to its power in the present and in the future4 ,whatever diversities of climate1 civilisation1 culture1 character the world holds1 every man is like every other man in this1 that he has 'sinned and come short of the glory of ,god4' ,and it is because ,christ's ,cross goes direct to deal with that condition of things that the preaching of it is a gospel1 not for this phase of society or that type of men or the other stage of culture1 but that it is meant for1 and is able to deliver and to bless1 every man4 ,so1 brethren1 a universal attraction is raying out from ,christ's ,cross1 and from ,himself to each of us4 ,but that universal attraction can be resisted4 ,if a man plants his feet firmly and wide apart1 and holds on with both hands to some staple or holdfast1 then the drawing cannot draw4 ,there is the attraction1 but he is not attracted4 ,you demagnetise ,christianity1 as all history shows1 if you strike out the death on the ,cross for a world's sin4 ,what is left is not a magnet1 but a bit of scrap iron4 ,and you can take yourself away from the influence of the attraction if you will1 some of us by active resistance1 some of us by mere negligence1 as a cord cast over some slippery body with the purpose of drawing it1 may slip off1 and the thing lie there unmoved4 ,and so ,i come to you now1 dear friends1 with the plain question1 ,what are you doing in response to ,christ's drawing of you8 ,he has died for you on the ,cross2 does that not draw8 ,he lives to bless you2 does that not draw8 ,he loves you with love changeless as a ,god1 with love warm and emotional as a man2 does that not draw8 ,he speaks to you1 ,i venture to say1 through my poor words1 and says1 ',come unto ,me1 and ,i will give you rest'2 does that not draw8 ,we are all in the bog4 ,he stands on firm ground1 and puts out a hand4 ,if you like to clutch it1 by the pledge of the nail-prints on the palm1 ,he will lift you from 'the horrible pit and the miry clay1 and set your feet upon a rock4' ,god grant that all of us may say1 ',draw us1 and we will run after ,thee'6 ,,the ,,son ,,of ,,man '''' ,who is this ,son of ,man8'--,,john xii4 #cd4 ,i have thought that a useful sermon may be devoted to the consideration of the remarkable name which our ,lord gives to ,himself--'the ,son of ,man4' ,and ,i have selected this instance of its occurrence1 rather than any other1 because it brings out a point which is too frequently overlooked1 viz4 that the name was an entirely strange and enigmatical one to the people who heard it4 ,this question of utter bewilderment distinctly shows us that1 and negatives1 as it seems to me1 the supposition which is often made1 that the name ',son of ,man1' upon the lips of ,jesus ,christ1 was equivalent to ,messiah4 ,obviously there is no such significance attached to it by those who put this question4 ,as obviously1 for another reason1 the two names do not cover the same ground2 for our ,lord sedulously avoided calling ,himself the ,christ1 and habitually called ,himself the ,son of ,man4 ,now one thing to observe about this name is that it is never found upon the lips of any but ,jesus ,christ4 ,no man ever called him the ,son of ,man whilst ,he was upon earth1 and only once do we find it applied to ,him in the rest of ,scripture1 and that is on the occasion on which the first martyr1 ,stephen1 dying at the foot of the old wall1 saw 'the heavens opened1 and the ,son of ,man standing at the right hand of ,god4' ,two other apparent instances of the use of the expression occur1 both of them in the ,book of ,revelation1 both of them quotations from the ,old ,testament1 and in both the more probable reading gives 'a ,son of ,man1' not 'the ,son of ,man4' ,one more preliminary remark and ,i will pass to the title itself4 ,the name has been often supposed to be taken from the remarkable prophecy in the ,book of ,daniel1 of one 'like a son of man1' who receives from the ,ancient of ,days an everlasting kingdom which triumphs over those kingdoms of brute force which the prophet had seen4 ,no doubt there is a connection between the prophecy and our ,lord's use of the name1 but it is to be observed that what the prophet speaks of is not 'the ,son1' but 'one like a son of man'2 or in other words1 that what the prophecy dwells upon is simply the manhood of the future ,king in contradistinction to the bestial forms of ,lion and ,leopard and ,bear1 whose kingdoms go down before him4 ,of course ,christ fulfils that prediction1 and is the ',one like a son of man1' but we cannot say that the title is derived from the prophecy1 in which1 strictly speaking1 it does not occur4 ,what1 then1 is the force of this name1 as applied to ,himself by our ,lord8 ,first1 we have in it ,christ putting out ,his hand1 if ,i may say so1 to draw us to ,himself--identifying ,himself with us4 ,then we have1 just as distinctly1 ,christ1 by the use of this name1 in a very real sense distinguishing ,himself from us1 and claiming to hold a unique and solitary relation to mankind4 ,and then we have ,christ1 by the use of this name in its connection with the ancient prophecy1 pointing us onward to a wonderful future4 ,i4 ,first then1 ,christ thereby identifies ,himself with us4 ,the name ,son of ,man1 whatever more it means1 declares the historical fact of ,his ,incarnation1 and the reality and genuineness1 the completeness and fullness1 of ,his assumption of humanity4 ,and so it is significant to notice that the name is employed continually in the places in the ,gospels where especial emphasis is to be placed1 for some reason or other1 upon our ,lord's manhood1 as1 for instance1 when ,he would bring into view the depth of ,his humiliation4 ,it is this name that ,he uses when ,he says3 ',foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests1 but the ,son of ,man hath not where to lay ,his head4' ,the use of the term there is very significant and profound2 ,he contrasts ,his homelessness1 not with the homes of men that dwell in palaces1 but with the homes of the inferior creatures4 ,as if ,he would say1 ',not merely am ,i individually homeless and shelterless1 but ,i am so because ,i am truly a man1 the only creature that builds houses1 and the only creature that has not a home4 ,foxes have holes1 anywhere they can rest1 the birds of the air have1' not as our ,bible gives it1 'nests1' but 'roosting-places1 any bough will do for them4 ,all living creatures are at home in this material universe2 ,i1 as a ,representative of humanity1 wander a pilgrim and a sojourner4' ,we are all restless and homeless2 the creatures correspond to their environment4 ,we have desires and longings1 wild yearnings1 and deep-seated needs1 that 'wander through eternity'2 the ,son of ,man1 the representative of manhood1 'hath not where to lay ,his head4' ,then the same expression is employed on occasions when our ,lord desires to emphasise the completeness of ,his participation in all our conditions4 ,as1 for instance1 'the ,son of ,man came eating and drinking1' knowing the ordinary limitations and necessities of corporeal humanity2 having the ordinary dependence upon external things2 nor unwilling to taste1 with pure and thankful lip1 whatever gladness may be found in man's path through the supply of natural appetites4 ,and the name is employed habitually on occasions when ,he desires to emphasise ,his manhood as having truly taken upon itself the whole weight and weariness of man's sin1 and the whole burden of man's guilt1 and the whole tragicalness of the penalties thereof1 as in the familiar passages1 so numerous that ,i need only refer to them and need not attempt to quote them1 in which we read of the ,son of ,man being 'betrayed into the hands of sinners'2 or in those words1 for instance1 which so marvellously blend the lowliness of the ,man and the lofty consciousness of the mysterious relation which ,he bears to the whole world2 ',the ,son of ,man came1 not to be ministered unto1 but to minister1 and to give ,his life a ransom for the many4' ,now if we gather all these instances together 7and they are only specimens culled almost at random71 and meditate for a moment on the ,name as illuminated by such words as these1 they suggest to us1 first1 how truly and how blessedly ,he is 'bone of our bone1 and flesh of our flesh4' ,all our human joys were ,his4 ,he knew all human sorrow4 ,the ordinary wants of human nature belonged to ,him2 ,he hungered1 ,he thirsted1 and was weary2 ,he ate and drank and slept4 ,the ordinary wants of the human heart ,he knew2 ,he was hurt by hatred1 stung by ingratitude1 yearned for love2 ,his spirit expanded amongst friends1 and was pained when they fell away4 ,he fought and toiled1 and sorrowed and enjoyed4 ,he had to pray1 to trust1 and to weep4 ,he was a ,son of ,man1 a true man among men4 ,his life was brief2 we have but fragmentary records of it for three short years4 ,in outward form it covers but a narrow area of human experience1 and large tracts of human life seem to be unrepresented in it4 ,yet all ages and classes of men1 in all circumstances1 however unlike those of the peasant ,rabbi who died when he was just entering mature manhood1 may feel that this man comes closer to them than all beside4 ,whether for stimulus for duty1 or for grace and patience in sorrow1 or for restraint in enjoyment1 or for the hallowing of all circumstances and all tasks1 the presence and example of the ,son of ,man are sufficient4 ,wherever we go1 we may track ,his footsteps by the drops of ,his blood upon the sharp flints that we have to tread4 ,in all narrow passes1 where the briars tear the wool of the flock1 we may see1 left there on the thorns1 what they rent from the pure fleece of the ,lamb of ,god that went before4 ,the ,son of ,man is our ,brother and our ,example4 ,and is it not beautiful1 and does it not speak to us touchingly and sweetly of our ,lord's earnest desire to get very near us and to bring us very near to ,him1 that this name1 which emphasises humiliation and weakness and the likeness to ourselves1 should be the name that is always upon ,his lips8 ,just as1 if ,i may compare great things with small1 some teacher or philanthropist1 that went away from civilised into savage life1 might leave behind him the name by which he was known in ,europe1 and adopt some barbarous designation that was significant in the language of the savage tribe to whom he was sent1 and say to them3 ',that is my name now1 call me by that1' so this great ,leader of our souls1 who has landed upon our coasts with ,his hands full of blessings1 ,his heart full of love1 has taken a name that makes ,him one of ourselves1 and is never wearied of speaking to our hearts1 and telling us that it is that by which ,he chooses to be known4 ,it is a touch of the same infinite condescension which prompted ,his coming1 that makes ,him choose as ,his favourite and habitual designation the name of weakness and identification1 the name ',son of ,man4' ,,ii4 ,but now turn to what is equally distinct and clear in this title4 ,here we have our ,lord distinguishing ,himself from us1 and plainly claiming a unique relationship to the whole world4 ,just fancy how absurd it would be for one of us to be perpetually insisting on the fact that he was a man1 to be taking that as his continual description of himself1 and pressing it upon people's attention as if there was something strange about it4 ,the idea is preposterous2 and the very frequency and emphasis with which the name comes from our ,lord's lips1 lead one to suspect that there is something lying behind it more than appears on the surface4 ,that impression is confirmed and made a conviction1 if you mark the article which is prefixed1 the ,son of ,man4 ,a ,son of man is a very different idea4 ,when ,he says 'the ,son of ,man' ,he seems to declare that in ,himself there are gathered up all the qualities that constitute humanity2 that ,he is1 to use modern language1 the realised ,ideal of manhood1 the typical ,man1 in whom is everything that belongs to manhood1 and who stands forth as complete and perfect4 ,appropriately1 then1 the name is continually used with suggestions of authority and dignity contrasting with those of humiliation4 ',the ,son of ,man is ,lord of the ,sabbath1' ',the ,son of ,man hath power on earth to forgive sins' and the like4 ,so that you cannot get away from this1 that this ,man whom the whole world has conspired to profess to admire for ,his gentleness1 and ,his meekness1 and ,his lowliness1 and ,his religious sanity1 stood forward and said3 ',i am complete and perfect1 and everything that belongs to manhood you will find in ,me4' ,and it is very significant in this connection that the designation occurs more frequently in the first three ,gospels than in the fourth2 which is alleged to present higher notions of the nature and personality of ,jesus ,christ than are found in the other three4 ,there are more instances in ,matthew's ,gospel in which our ,lord calls ,himself the ,son of ,man1 with all the implication of uniqueness and completeness which that name carries2 there are more even in the ,gospel of the ,servant1 the ,gospel according to ,mark1 than in the ,gospel of the ,word of ,god1 the ,gospel according to ,john4 ,and so ,i think we are entitled to say that by this name1 which the testimony of all our four ,gospels makes it certain1 even to the most suspicious reader1 that ,christ applied to ,himself1 ,he declared ,his humanity1 ,his absolutely perfect and complete humanity4 ,in substance ,he is claiming the same thing for ,himself that ,paul claimed for ,him when he called ,him 'the second ,adam4' ,there have been two men in the world1 says ,paul1 the fallen ,adam1 with his infantile and undeveloped perfections1 and the ,christ1 with ,his full and complete humanity4 ,all other men are fragments1 ,he is the 'entire and perfect chrysolite4' ,as one of our epigrammatic seventeenth-century divines has it1 ',aristotle is but the rubbish of an ,adam1' and ,adam is but the dim outline sketch of a ,jesus4 ,between these two there has been none4 ,the one ,man as ,god meant him1 the type of man1 the perfect humanity1 the realised ideal1 the home of all the powers of manhood1 is ,he who ,himself claimed that place for ,himself1 and stepped into it with the strange words upon ,his lips1 ',i am meek and lowly of heart4' ',who is this ,son of ,man8' ,ah1 brethren6 'who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean8 ,not one4' ,a perfect ,son of ,man1 born of a woman1 'bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh1' must be more than a ,son of ,man4 ,and that moral completeness and that ideal perfection in all the faculties and parts of ,his nature which drove the betrayer to clash down the thirty pieces of silver in the sanctuary in despair that 'he had betrayed innocent blood'2 which made ,pilate wash his hands 'of the blood of this just person'2 which stopped the mouths of the adversaries when ,he challenged them to convince ,him of sin1 and which all the world ever since has recognised and honoured1 ought surely to lead us to ask the question1 ',who is this ,son of ,man8' and to answer it1 as ,i pray we all may answer it1 ',thou art the ,christ1 the ,son of the living ,god6' ,this fact of ,his absolute completeness invests ,his work with an altogether unique relationship to the rest of mankind4 ,and so we find the name employed upon ,his own lips in connections in which ,he desires to set ,himself forth as the single and solitary medium of all blessing and salvation to the world--as1 for instance1 ',the ,son of ,man came to give ,his life a ransom for the many'2 ',ye shall see the heavens opened1 and the angels of ,god ascending and descending on the ,son of ,man4' ,he is what the ladder was in the vision to the patriarch1 with his head upon the stone and the ,syrian sky over him--the ,medium of all communication between earth and heaven4 ,and that ladder which joins heaven to earth1 and brings all angels down on the solitary watchers1 comes straight down1 as the sunbeams do1 to every man wherever he is4 ,each of us sees the shortest line from his own standing-place to the central light1 and its beams come straight to the apple of each man's eye4 ,so because ,christ is more than a man1 because ,he is the ,man1 ,his blessings come to each of us direct and straight1 as if they had been launched from the throne with a purpose and a message to us alone4 ,thus ,he who is in ,himself perfect manhood touches all men1 and all men touch ,him1 and the ,son of ,man1 whom ,god hath sealed1 will give to every one of us the bread from heaven4 ,the unique relationship which brings ,him into connection with every soul of man upon earth1 and makes ,him the ,saviour1 ,helper1 and ,friend of us all1 is expressed when ,he calls ,himself the ,son of ,man4 ,,iii4 ,and now one last word in regard to the predictive character of this designation4 ,even if we cannot regard it as being actually a quotation of the prophecy in the ,book of ,daniel1 there is an evident allusion to that prophecy1 and to the whole circle of ideas presented by it1 of an everlasting dominion1 which shall destroy all antagonistic power1 and of a solemn coming for judgment of ,one like a ,son of ,man4 ,we find1 then1 the name occurring on our ,lord's lips very frequently in that class of passages with which we are so familiar1 and which are so numerous that ,i need not quote them to you2 in which ,he speaks of the second coming of the ,son of ,man2 as1 for instance1 that one which connects itself most distinctly with the ,book of ,daniel1 the words of high solemn import before the tribunal of the ,high ,priest4 ',hereafter shall ye see the ,son of ,man sitting at the right hand of power1 and coming in the glories of heaven'2 or as when ,he says1 ',he hath given ,him authority to execute judgment also because ,he is the ,son of ,man'2 or as when the proto-martyr1 with his last words1 declared in sudden burst of surprise and thrill of gladness1 ',i see the heavens opened1 and the ,son of ,man standing at the right hand of ,god4' ,two thoughts are all that ,i can touch on here4 ,the name carries with it a blessed message of the present activity and perpetual manhood of the risen ,lord4 ,stephen does not see ,him as all the rest of ,scripture paints ,him1 sitting at the right hand of ,god1 but standing there4 ,the emblem of ,his sitting at the right hand of ,god represents triumphant calmness in the undisturbed confidence of victory4 ,it declares the completeness of the work that ,he has done upon earth1 and that all the history of the future is but the unfolding of the consequences of that work which by ,his own testimony waa finished when ,he bowed ,his head and died4 ,but the dying martyr sees him standing1 as if ,he had sprung to ,his feet in response to the cry of faith from the first of the long train of sufferers4 ,it is as if the ,emperor upon ,his seat1 looking down upon the arena where the gladiators are contending to the death1 could not sit quiet amongst the flashing axes of the lictors and the purple curtains of ,his throne1 and see their death-struggles1 but must spring to ,his feet to help them1 or at least bend down with the look and with the reality of sympathy4 ,so ,christ1 the ,son of ,man1 bearing ,his manhood with ,him1 ',still bends on earth a ,brother's eye1' and is the ever-present ,helper of all struggling souls that put their trust in ,him4 ,then as to the other and main thought here in view--the second coming of that perfect ,manhood to be our ,judge4 ,it is too solemn a subject for human lips to say much about4 ,it has been vulgarised1 and the power taken out of it by many well-meant attempts to impress it upon men's hearts4 ,but that coming is certain4 ,that manhood could not end its relationship to us with the ,cross1 nor yet with the slow1 solemn1 upward progress which bore ,him1 pouring down blessings1 up into the same bright cloud that had dwelt between the cherubim and had received ,him into its mysterious recesses at the ,transfiguration4 ,that ,he should come again is the only possible completion of ,his work4 ,that ,judge is our ,brother4 ,so in the deepest sense we are tried by our ,peer4 ,man's knowledge at its highest cannot tell the moral desert of anything that any man does4 ,you may judge action1 you may sentence for breaches of law1 you may declare a man clear of any blame for such1 but for any one to read the secrets of another heart is beyond human power2 and if ,he that is the ,judge were only a man there would be wild work1 and many a blunder in the sentences that were given4 ,but when we think that it is the ,son of ,man that is our ,judge1 then we know that the ,omniscience of divinity1 that ponders the hearts and reads the motives1 will be all blended with the tenderness and sympathy of humanity2 that we shall be judged by ,one who knows all our frame1 not only with the knowledge of a ,maker1 if ,i may so say1 as from outside1 but with the knowledge of a possessor1 as from within2 that we shall be judged by ,one who has fought and conquered in all temptations2 and most blessed of all1 that we shall be judged by ,one with whom we have only to plead ,his own work and ,his own love and ,his ,cross that we may stand acquitted before ,his throne4 ,so1 brethren1 in that one mighty ,name all the past1 present1 and future are gathered and blended together4 ,in the past ,his ,cross fills the retrospect3 for the future there rises up1 white and solemn1 ,his judgment throne4 ',the ,son of ,man is come to give ,his life a ransom for the many'2 that is the centre point of all history4 ,the ,son of ,man shall come to judge the world2 that is the one thought that fills the future4 ,let us lay hold by true faith on the mighty work which ,he has done on the ,cross1 then we shall rejoice to see our ,brother on the throne1 when the 'judgment is set and the books are opened4' ,oh1 friends1 cleave to ,him ever in trust and love1 in communion and imitation1 in obedience and confession1 that ye may be accounted worthy 'to stand before the ,son of ,man' in that day6 ,a ,,parting ,,warning ',jesus therefore said unto them1 ,yet a little while is the light among you4 ,walk while ye have the light1 that darkness overtake you not3 and he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth4 ,while ye have the light1 believe on the light1 that ye may become sons of light4'--,,john xii4 #ce1cf 7,r4,v474 ,these are the last words of our ,lord's public ministry4 ,he afterwards spoke only to ,his followers in the sweet seclusion of the sympathetic home at ,bethany1 and amid the sanctities of the upper chamber4 ',yet a little while am ,i with you'2--the sun had all but set4 ,two days more1 and the ,cross was reared on ,calvary1 but there was yet time to turn to the light4 ,and so ,his divine charity 'hoped all things1' and continued to plead with those who had so long rejected ,him4 ,as befits a last appeal1 the words unveil the heart of ,christ4 ,they are solemn with warning1 radiant with promise1 almost beseeching in their earnestness4 ,he loves too well not to warn1 but ,he will not leave the bitterness of threatening as a last savour on the palate1 and so the lips1 into which grace is poured1 bade farewell to ,his enemies with the promise and the hope that even they may become 'the sons of light4' ,the solemnity of the occasion1 then1 gives great force to the words2 and the remembrance of it sets us on the right track for estimating their significance4 ,let us see what lessons for us there may be in ,christ's last words to the world4 ,i4 ,there is1 first1 a self-revelation4 ,it is no mere grammatical pedantry that draws attention to the fact that four times in this text does our ,lord employ the definite article1 and speak of 'the light4' ,and that that is no mere accident is obvious from the fact that1 in the last clause of our text1 where the general idea of light is all that is meant to be emphatic1 the article is omitted4 ',yet a little while is the light with you2 walk while ye have the light'''4 ,while ye have the light1 believe in the light1 that ye may be the children of light4' ,so then1 most distinctly here1 in ,his final appeal to the world1 ,he draws back the curtain1 as it were1 takes away the shade that had covered the lamp1 and lets one full beam stream out for the last impression that ,he leaves4 ,is it not profoundly significant and impressive that then1 of all times1 over and over again1 in the compass of these short verses1 this ,galilean peasant makes the tremendous assertion that ,he is what none other can be1 in a solitary and transcendent sense1 the ,light of ,mankind8 ,undismayed by universal rejection1 unfaltering in spite of the curling lips of incredulity and scorn1 unbroken by the near approach of certain martyrdom1 ,he presents ,himself before the world as its ,light4 ,nothing in the history of mad1 fanatical claims to inspiration and divine authority is to be compared with these assertions of our ,lord4 ,he is the fontal ,source1 ,he says1 of all illumination2 ,he stands before the whole race1 and claims to be 'the ,master-,light of all our seeing4' ,whatsoever ideas of clearness of knowledge1 of rapture of joy1 of whiteness of purity1 are symbolised by that great emblem1 ,he declares that ,he manifests them all to men4 ,others may shine2 but they are1 as ,he said1 'lights kindled1' and therefore 'burning4' ,others may shine1 but they have caught their radiance from ,him4 ,all teachers1 all helpers1 all thinkers draw their inspiration1 if they have any1 from ,him1 in whom was life1 and the ,life was the ,light of men4 ,there has been blazing in the heavens of late a new star1 that burst upon astonished astronomers in a void spot2 but its brilliancy1 though far transcending that of our sun1 soon began to wane1 and before long1 apparently1 there will be blackness again where there was blackness before4 ,so all lights but ,his are temporary as well as derived1 and men 'willing for a season to rejoice' in the fleeting splendours1 and to listen to the teacher of a day1 lose the illumination of his presence and guidance of his thoughts as the ages roll on4 ,but the ,light is 'not for an age1 but for all time4' ,now1 brethren1 this is ,christ's estimate of ,himself4 ,i dwell not on it for the purpose of seeking to exhaust its depth of significance4 ,in it there lies the assertion that ,he1 and ,he only1 is the source of all valid knowledge of the deepest sort concerning ,god and men1 and their mutual relations4 ,in it lie the assertion that ,he1 and ,he only1 is the source of all true gladness that may blend with our else darkened lives1 and the further assertion that from ,him1 and from ,him alone1 can flow to us the purity that shall make us pure4 ,we have to turn to that ,man close by ,his ,cross1 on whom while ,he spoke the penumbra of the eclipse of death was beginning to show itself1 and to say to ,him what the ,psalmist said of old to the ,jehovah whom he knew1 and whom we recognise as indwelling in ,jesus3 ',with ,thee is the fountain of life4 ,thou makest us to drink of the river of ,thy pleasures4 ,in ,thy light shall we see light4' ,so ,christ thought of ,himself2 so ,christ would have as to think of ,him4 ,and it becomes a question for us how1 if we refuse to accept that claim of a solitary1 underived1 eternal1 and universal power of illuminating mankind1 we can save ,his character for the veneration of the world4 ,we cannot go picking and choosing amongst the ,master's words1 and say ',this is historical1 and that mythical4' ,we cannot select some of them1 and leave others on one side4 ,you must take the whole ,christ if you take any ,christ4 ,and the whole ,christ is ,he who1 within sight of ,calvary1 and in the face of all but universal rejection1 lifted up ,his voice1 and1 as ,his valediction to the world1 declared1 ',i am the ,light of the world4' ,so ,he says to us4 ,oh that we all might cast ourselves before ,him1 with the cry1 ',lighten our darkness1 ,o ,lord1 we beseech ,thee6' ,,ii4 ,secondly1 we have here a double exhortation4 ',walk in the light2 believe in the light4' ,these two sum up all our duties2 or rather1 unveil for us the whole fullness of the possible privileges and blessings of which our relation to that light is capable4 ,it is obvious that the latter of them is the deeper in idea1 and the prior in order of sequence4 ,there must be the 'belief' in the light before there is the 'walk' in the light4 ,walking includes the ideas of external activity and of progress4 ,and so1 putting these two exhortations together1 we get the whole of ,christianity considered as subjective4 ',believe in the light2 trust in the light1' and then 'walk' in it4 ,a word1 then1 about each of these branches of this double exhortation4 ',trust in the light4' ,the figure seems to be dropped at first sight2 for it wants little faith to believe in the sunshine at midday2 and when the light is pouring out1 how can a man but see it8 ,but the apparent incongruity of the metaphor points to something very deep in regard to the spiritual side4 ,we cannot but believe in the light that meets the eye when it meets it1 but it is possible for a man to blind himself to the shining of this light4 ,therefore the exhortation is needed--',believe in the light1' for only by believing it can you see it4 ,just as the eye is the organ of sight1 just as its nerves are sensitive to the mysterious finger of the beam1 just as on its mirroring surface impinges the gentle but mighty force that has winged its way across all the space between us and the sun1 and yet falls without hurting1 so faith1 the 'inward eye which makes the bliss' of the solitary soul1 is the one organ by which you and ,i can see the light4 ',seeing is believing1' says the old proverb4 ,that is true in regard to the physical4 ,believing is seeing1 is much rather the way to put it in regard to the spiritual and divine4 ,only as we trust the light do we see the light4 ,unless you and ,i put our confidence in ,jesus ,christ1 the ,son of ,god and ,son of ,man1 we have no adequate knowledge of ,him and no clear vision of ,him4 ,we must know that we may love2 but we must love that we may know4 ,we must believe that we may see4 ,true1 we must see that we may believe1 but the preliminary vision which precedes belief is slight and dim as compared with the solidity and the depth of assurance with which we apprehend the reality and know the lustre of ,him whom our faith has grasped4 ,you will never know the glory of the light1 nor the sweetness with which it falls upon the gazing eye1 until you turn your face to that ,master1 and so receive on your susceptible and waiting heart the warmth and the radiance which ,he only can bestow4 ',believe in the light4' ,trust it2 or rather1 trust ,him who is it4 ,he cannot deceive4 ,this light from heaven can never lead astray4 ,absolutely we may rely upon it2 unconditionally we must follow it4 ,lean upon ,him--to take another metaphor--with all your weight4 ,his arm is strong to bear the burden of our weaknesses1 sorrows1 and1 above all1 our sins4 ',while ye have light1 trust the light4' ,but then that is not enough4 ,man1 with his double relations1 must have an active and external as well as an inward and contemplative life4 ,and so our ,lord1 side by side with the exhortation on which ,i have been touching1 puts the other one1 ',walk in the light4' ,our inward emotions1 however deep and precious1 however real the affiance1 however whole-hearted the love1 are maimed and stunted1 and not what the light requires1 unless there follows upon them the activity of the walk4 ,what do we get the daylight for8 ,to sit and gaze at it8 ,by no means2 but that it may guide us upon our path and help us in all our work4 ,and so all ,christian people need ever to remember that ,jesus ,christ has indissolubly bound together these two phases of our relation to ,him as the light of life-inward and blessed contemplation by faith and outward practical activity4 ,to walk is1 of course1 the familiar metaphor for the external life of man1 and all our deeds are to be in conformity with the ,light1 and in communion with ,him4 ,this is the deepest designation1 perhaps1 of the true character of a ,christian life in its external aspect--that it walks in ,christ1 doing nothing but as ,his light shines1 and ever bearing along with it conscious fellowship with ,him who is thus the guiding and irradiating and gladdening and sanctifying life of our lives1 ',walk in the light as ,he is in the light4' ,our days fleet and change2 ,his are stable and the same4 ,for1 although these words which ,i have quoted1 in their original application refer to ,god the ,father1 they are no less true about ,him who rests at the right hand of ,god1 and is one light with ,him4 ,he is in the light4 ,we may approximate to that stable and calm radiance1 even though our lives are passed through changing scenes1 and effort and struggle are their characteristics4 ,and oh6 how blessed1 brother1 such a life will be1 all gladdened by the unsetting and unclouded sunshine that even in the shadiest places shines1 and turns the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death into solemn light2 teaching gloom to glow with a hidden sun6 ,but there is not only the idea of activity here1 there is the further notion of progress4 ,unless ,christian people to their faith add work1 and have both their faith and their consequent work in a continual condition of progress and growth1 there is little reason to believe that they apprehend the light at all4 ,if you trust the light you will walk in it2 and if your days are not in conformity nor in communion with ,him1 and are not advancing nearer and nearer to the central blaze1 then it becomes you to ask yourselves whether you have verily seen at all1 or trusted at all1 'the ,light of life4' ,,iii4 ,thirdly1 there is here a warning4 ',walk whilst ye have the light1 lest the darkness come upon you4' ,that is the summing up of the whole history of that stiff-necked and marvellous people4 ,for what has all the history of ,israel been since that day but groping in the wilderness without any pillar of fire8 ,but there is more than that in it4 ,christ gives us this one solemn warning of what falls on us if we turn away from ,him4 ,rejected light is the parent of the densest darkness1 and the man who1 having the light1 does not trust it1 piles around himself thick clouds of obscurity and gloom1 far more doleful and impenetrable than the twilight that glimmers round the men who have never known the daylight of revelation4 ,the history of un-,christian and anti-,christian ,christendom is a terrible commentary upon these words of the ,master1 and the cries that we hear all round us to-day from men who will not follow the light of ,christ1 and moan or boast that they dwell in agnostic darkness1 tell us that1 of all the eclipses that can fall upon heart and mind1 there is none so dismal or thunderously dark as that of the men who1 having seen the light of ,christ in the sky1 have turned from it and said1 ',it is no light1 it is only a mock sun4' ,brethren1 tempt not that fate4 ,and if ,christian men and women do not advance in their knowledge and their conformity1 like clouds of darkness will fall upon them4 ,none is so hopeless as the unprogressive ,christian1 none so far away as those who have been brought nigh and have never come any nigher4 ,if you believe the light1 see that you growingly trust and walk in it1 else darkness will come upon you1 and you will not know whither you go4 ,,iv4 ,and lastly1 there is here a hope and a promise4 ',that ye may be the sons of light4' ,faith and obedience turn a man into the likeness of that in which he trusts4 ,if we trust ,jesus we open our hearts to ,him2 and if we open our hearts to ,him ,he will come in4 ,if you are in a darkened room1 what have you to do in order to have it filled with glad sunshine8 ,open the shutters and pull up the blinds1 and the light will do all the rest4 ,if you trust the light1 it will rush in and fill every crevice and cranny of your hearts4 ,faith and obedience will mould us1 by their natural effect1 into the resemblance of that on which we lean4 ,as one of the old ,german mystics said1 ',what thou lovest1 that thou dost become4' ,and it is blessedly true4 ,the same principle makes ,christians like ,christ1 and makes idolaters like their gods4 ',they that make them are like unto them2 so is every one that trusteth in them1' says one of the ,psalms4 ',they followed after vanity and are become vain1' says the chronicler of ,israel's defections4 ',we with unveiled faces beholding'--or mirroring--'the glory of the ,lord1 are changed into the same image4' ,trust the light and you become 'sons of the light4' ,and so1 dear friends1 all of us may hope that by degrees1 as the reward of faith and of walking1 we still may bear the image of the heavenly1 even here on earth4 ,while as yet we only believe in the light1 we may participate in its transforming power1 like some far-off planet on the utmost bounds of some solar system1 that receives faint and small supplies of light and warmth1 through a thick atmosphere of vapour1 and across immeasurable spaces4 ,but we have the assurance that we shall be carried nearer our centre1 and then1 like the planets that are closer to the sun than our earth is1 we shall feel the fuller power of the heat1 and be saturated with the glory of the light4 ',we shall see ,him as ,he is'2 and then we too 'shall blaze forth like the sun in the kingdom of our ,father4' ,,the ,,love ,,of ,,the ,,departing ,,christ '''' ,when ,jesus knew that ,his hour was come that ,he should depart out of this world unto the ,father1 having loved ,his own which were in the world1 ,he loved them unto the end4'--,,john xiii4 #a4 ,the latter half of ,st4 ,john's ,gospel1 which begins with these words1 is the ,holy of ,holies of the ,new ,testament4 ,nowhere else do the blended lights of our ,lord's superhuman dignity and human tenderness shine with such lambent brightness4 ,nowhere else is ,his speech at once so simple and so deep4 ,nowhere else have we the heart of ,god so unveiled to us4 ,on no other page1 even of the ,bible1 have so many eyes1 glistening with tears1 looked and had the tears dried4 ,the immortal words which ,christ spoke in that upper chamber are ,his highest self-revelation in speech1 even as the ,cross to which they led up is ,his most perfect self-revelation in act4 ,to this most sacred part of the ,new ,testament my text is the introduction4 ,it unveils to us gleams of ,christ's heart1 and does what the ,evangelists very seldom venture to do1 viz4 gives us some sort of analysis of the influences which then determined the flow and the shape of our ,lord's love4 ,many good commentators prefer to read the last words of my text1 ',he loved them unto the uttermost' rather than 'unto the end'--so taking them to express the depth and degree rather than the permanence and perpetuity of our ,lord's love4 ,and that seems to me to be by far the worthier and the nobler meaning1 as well as the one which is borne out by the usual signification of the expression in other ,greek authors4 ,it is much to know that the emotions of these last moments did not interrupt ,christ's love4 ,it is even more to know that in some sense they perfected it1 giving even a greater vitality to its tenderness1 and a more precious sweetness to its manifestations4 ,so understood1 the words explain for us why it was that in the sanctity of the upper chamber there ensued the marvellous act of the foot-washing1 the marvellous discourses which follow1 and the climax of all1 that ,high-priestly prayer4 ,they give utterance to a love which ,christ's consciousness at that solemn hour tended to shapen and to deepen4 ,so1 under the ,evangelist's guidance1 we may venture to gaze at least a little way into these depths1 and with all reverence to try and see something at all events of the fringe and surface of the love 'which passeth knowledge4' ',jesus1 knowing that ,his hour was come1 that ,he should depart out of the world unto the ,father1 having loved ,his own which were in the world1 loved them then unto the uttermost4' ,my object will be best accomplished by simply following the guidance of the words before us1 and asking you to look first at that love as a love which was not interrupted1 but perfected by the prospect of separation4 ,i4 ,it would take us much too far away1 however interesting the contemplation might be1 to dwell with any particularity upon our ,lord's consciousness as it is here set forth in that ',he knew that ,his hour was come1 that ,he should depart out of the world unto the ,father4' ,but ,i can scarcely avoid noticing1 though only in a few sentences1 the salient points of that ,christ-consciousness as it is set forth here4 ',he knew that ,his hour was come4' ,all ,his life was passed under the consciousness of a divine necessity laid upon ,him1 to which ,he lovingly and cheerfully yielded ,himself4 ,on ,his lips there are no words more significant1 and few more frequent1 than that divine ',i must6' ',it behoves the ,son of ,man' to do this1 that1 and the other--yielding to the necessity imposed by the ,father's will1 and sealed by ,his own loving resolve to be the ,saviour of the world4 ,and in like manner1 all through ,his life ,he declares ,himself conscious of the hours which mark the several crises and stages of ,his mission4 ,they come to ,him and ,he discerns them4 ,no external power can coerce ,him to any act till the hour come4 ,no external power can hinder ,him from the act when it comes4 ,when the hour strikes ,he hears the phantom sound of the bell2 and1 hearing1 ,he obeys4 ,and thus1 at the last and supreme moment1 to ,him it dawned unquestionable and irrevocable4 ,how did ,he meet it8 ,whilst on the one hand there was the shrinking of which we have such pathetic testimony in the broken prayer that ,he ,himself amended--',father6 save ,me from this hour'''4 ,yet for this cause came ,i unto this hour1'--there is a strange1 triumphant joy1 blending with the shrinking1 that the decisive hour is at last come4 ,mark1 too1 the form which the consciousness took--not that now the hour had come for suffering or death or bearing the sins of the world--all which aspects of it were nevertheless present to ,him1 as we know2 but that now ,he was soon to leave all the world beneath ,him and to return to the ,father4 ,the terror1 the agony1 the shame1 the mysterious burden of a world's sins were now to be laid upon ,him--all these elements are submerged1 as it were1 and become less conspicuous than the one thought of leaving behind all the limitations1 and the humiliations1 and the compelled association with evil which1 like a burning brand laid upon a tender skin1 was an hourly and momentary agony to ,him1 and soaring above them all1 unto ,his own calm home1 ,his habitation from eternity with the ,father1 as ,he had been before the world was4 ,how strange this blending of shrinking and of eagerness1 of sorrow and of joy1 of human trembling consciousness of impending death1 and of triumphant consciousness of the approach of the hour when the ,son of ,man1 even in ,his bitterest agony and deepest humiliation1 should1 paradoxically1 be glorified1 and should 'leave the world to go unto the ,father'6 ,we cannot enter with any particularity or depth into this marvellous and unique consciousness1 but it is set forth here--and that is the point to which especially ,i desire to turn your attention--as the basis and the reason for a special tenderness softening ,his voice1 and taking possession of ,his heart1 as ,he thought of the impending separation4 ,and is that not beautiful8 ,and does it not help us to realise how truly 'bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh1' and bearing a heart thrilling with all innocent human emotions that divine ,saviour was8 ,we1 too1 have known what it is to feel1 because of approaching separation from dear ones1 the need for a tenderer tenderness4 ,at such moments the masks of use and wont drop away1 and we are eager to find some word1 to put our whole souls into some look1 our whole strength into one clinging embrace that may express all our love1 and may be a joy to two hearts for ever after to remember4 ,the ,master knew that longing1 and felt the pain of separation2 and ,he1 too1 yielded to the human impulse which makes the thought of parting the key to unlock the hidden chambers of the most jealously guarded heart1 and let the shyest of its emotions come out for once into the daylight4 ,so1 'knowing that ,his hour was come1 ,he loved them unto the uttermost4' ,but there is not only in this a wonderful expression of the true humanity of the ,christ1 but along with that a suggestion of something more sacred and deeper still4 ,for surely amidst all the parting scenes that the world's literature has enshrined1 amidst all the examples of self-oblivion at the last moment1 when a martyr has been the comforter of his weeping friends1 there are none that without degradation to this can be set by the side of this supreme and unique instance of self-oblivion4 ,did not ,christ1 for the sake of that handful of poor people1 first and directly1 and for the rest of us afterwards1 of course1 secondarily and indirectly1 so suppress all the natural emotions of these last moments as that their absolute absence is unique and singular1 and points onwards to something more1 viz4 that this ,man who was susceptible of all human affections1 and loved us with a love which is not merely high above our grasp1 absolute1 perfect1 changeless and divine1 but with a love like our own human affection1 had also more than a man's heart to give us1 and gave us more1 when1 that ,he might comfort and sustain1 ,he crushed down ,himself and went to the ,cross with words of tenderness and consolation and encouragement for others upon ,his lips8 ,knowing all that was lying before ,him1 ,he was neither absorbed nor confounded1 but carried a heart at leisure to love even then 'unto the uttermost4' ,and if the prospect only sharpened and perfected1 nor interrupted for one instant the flow of ,his love1 the reality has no power to do aught else4 ,in the glory1 when ,he reached it1 ,he poured out the same loving heart2 and to-day ,he looks down upon us with the same ,face that bent over the table in the upper room1 and the same tenderness flows to us4 ,when ,john saw his ,master next1 after ,his ,ascension1 amidst the glories of the vision in his rocky ,patmos1 though ,his face was as the sun shineth in his strength1 it was the old face4 ,though ,his hand bore the stars in a cluster1 it was the hand that had been pierced with the nails4 ,though the breast was girded with the golden girdle of sovereignty and of priesthood1 it was the breast on which ,john's happy head had lain2 and though the ',voice was as the sound of many waters1' it soothed itself to a murmur1 gentle as that with which the tideless sea about him rippled upon the silvery sand when ,he said1 ',fear not ''' ,i am the ,first and the ,last4' ,knowing that ,he goes to the ,father1 ,he loves to the uttermost1 and being with the ,father1 ,he still so loves4 ,,ii4 ,and now ,i must1 with somewhat less of detail1 dwell upon the other points which this text brings out for us4 ,it suggests to us next that we have in the love of ,jesus ,christ a love which is faithful to the obligations of its own past4 ,having loved1 ,he loves4 ,because ,he had been a certain thing1 therefore ,he is and ,he shall be that same4 ,that is an argument that implies divinity4 ,about nothing human can we say that because it has been therefore it shall be4 ,alas6 about much that is human we have to say the converse1 that because it has been1 therefore it will cease to be4 ,and though1 blessed be ,god6 they are few and they are poor who have had no experience in their lives of human hearts whose love in the past has been such that it manifestly is for ever1 yet we cannot with the same absolute confidence say about one another1 even about the dearest1 ',having loved1 he loves4' ,but we can say so about ,christ4 ,there is no exhaustion in that great stream that pours out from ,his heart2 no diminution in its flow4 ,they tell us that the central light of our system1 that great sun itself1 pouring out its rays exhausts its warmth1 and were it not continually replenished1 must gradually1 and even though continually replenished1 will ultimately cease to blaze1 and be a dead1 cold mass of ashes4 ,but this central ,light1 this heart of ,christ1 which is the ,sun of the ,world1 will endure like the sun1 and after the sun is cold1 ,his love will last for ever4 ,he pours it out and has none the less to give4 ,there is no bankruptcy in ,his expenditure1 no exhaustion in ,his effort1 no diminution in ,his stores4 ',thy mercy endureth for ever'2 ',thou hast loved1 therefore ,thou wilt love' is an inference for time and for eternity1 on which we may build and rest secure4 ,,iii4 ,then1 still further1 we have here this love suggested as being a love which has special tenderness towards its own4 ',having loved ,his own1 ,he loved them to the uttermost4' ,these poor men who1 with all their errors1 did cleave to ,him2 who1 in some dim way1 understood somewhat of ,his greatness and ,his sweetness--and do you and ,i do more8--who1 with all their sins1 yet were true to ,him in the main2 who had surrendered very much to follow ,him1 and had identified themselves with ,him1 were they to have no special place in ,his heart because in that heart the whole world lay8 ,is there any reason why we should be afraid of saying that the universal love of ,jesus ,christ1 which gathers into ,his bosom all mankind1 does fall with special tenderness and sweetness upon those who have made ,him theirs and have surrendered themselves to be ,his8 ,surely it must be that ,he has special nearness to those who love ,him2 surely it is reasonable that ,he should have special delight in those who try to resemble ,him2 surely it is only what one might expect of ,him that ,he should in a special manner honour the drafts1 so to speak1 of those who have confidence in ,him1 and are building their whole lives upon ,him4 ,surely1 because the sun shines down upon dunghills and all impurities1 that is no reason why it should not lie with special brightness on the polished mirror that reflects its lustre4 ,surely1 because ,jesus ,christ loves--,blessed be ,his name6--the publicans and the harlots and the outcasts and the sinners1 that is no reason why ,he should not bend with special tenderness over those who1 loving ,him1 try to serve ,him1 and have set their whole hopes upon ,him4 ,the rainbow strides across the sky1 but there is a rainbow in every little dewdrop that hangs glistening on the blades of grass4 ,there is nothing limited1 nothing sectional1 nothing narrow in the proclamation of a special tenderness of ,christ towards ,his own1 when you accompany with that truth this other1 that all men are besought by ,him to come into that circle of ',his own1' and that only they themselves shut any out therefrom4 ,blessed be ,his name6 the whole world dwells in ,his love1 but there is an inner chamber in which ,he discovers all ,his heart to those who find in that heart their ,heaven and their all4 ',he came to ,his own1' in the wider sense of the word1 and ',his own received ,him not'2 but also1 'having loved ,his own ,he loved them unto the end4' ,there are textures and lives which can only absorb some of the rays of light in the spectrum2 some that are only capable of taking1 so to speak1 the violet rays of judgment and of wrath1 and some who open their hearts for the ruddy brightness at the other end of the line4 ,do you see to it1 brethren1 that you are of that inner circle who receive the whole ,christ into their hearts1 and to whom ,he can unfold the fullness of ,his love4 ,,iv4 ,and1 lastly1 my text suggests that love of ,christ as being made specially tender by the necessities and the dangers of ,his friends4 ',he loved ,his own which were in the world1' and so loving them1 'loved them to the uttermost4' ,we have1 running through these precious discourses which follow my text1 many allusions to the separation which was to ensue1 and to ,his leaving ,his followers in circumstances of peculiar peril1 defenceless and solitary4 ',i come unto ,thee1 and am no more in the world1' says ,he in the final ,high-priestly prayer1 'but these are in the world4 ,holy ,father1 keep them through ,thine own name4' ,the same contrast between the certain security of the ,shepherd and the troubled perils of the scattered flock seems to be in the words of my text1 and suggests a sweet and blessed reason for the special tenderness with which ,he looked upon them4 ,as a dying father on his deathbed may yearn over orphans that he is leaving defenceless1 so ,christ is here represented as conscious of an accession even to the tender longings of ,his heart1 when ,he thought of the loneliness and the dangers to which ,his followers were to be exposed4 ,ah6 ,it seems a harsh contrast between the ,emperor1 sitting throned there between the purple curtains1 and the poor athletes wrestling in the arena below4 ,it seems strange to think that a loving ,master has gone up into the mountain1 and has left ,his disciples to toil in rowing on the stormy sea of life2 but the contrast is only apparent4 ,for you and ,i1 if we love and trust ,him1 are with ,him 'in the heavenly places' even whilst we toil here1 and ,he is with us1 working with us1 even whilst ,he 'sitteth at the right hand of ,god4' ,we may be sure of this1 brethren1 that that love ever increases its manifestations according to our deepening necessities4 ,the darker the night the more lustrous the stars4 ,the deeper1 the narrower1 the savager1 the ,alpine gorge1 usually the fuller and the swifter the stream that runs through it4 ,and the more that enemies and fears gather round about us1 the sweeter will be the accents of our ,comforter's voice1 and the fuller will be the gifts of tenderness and grace with which ,he draws near to us4 ,our sorrows1 dangers1 necessities1 are doors through which ,his love can come nigh4 ,so1 dear friends1 we have had experience of sweet and transient human love2 we have had experience of changeful and ineffectual love2 turn away from them all to this immortal1 deep heart of ,christ's1 welling over with a love which no change can affect1 which no separation can diminish1 which no sin can provoke1 which becomes greater and tenderer as our necessities increase1 and ask ,him to fill your hearts with that1 that you may 'know the length and breadth and depth and height of that love which passeth knowledge1' and so 'be filled with all the fullness of ,god4' ,,the ,,servant-,,master ',jesus knowing that the ,father had given all things into ,his hands1 and that ,he was come from ,god1 and went to ,god2 ,he riseth from supper1 and laid aside ,his garments2 and took a towel1 and girded ,himself4 ,after that ,he poureth water into a basin1 and began to wash the disciples' feet1 and to wipe them with the towel wherewith ,he was girded4'--,,john xiii4 #c-e4 ,it has been suggested that the dispute as to 'which was the greatest1' which broke the sanctities of the upper chamber1 was connected with the unwillingness of each of the ,apostles to perform the menial office of washing the feet of his companions4 ,they had come in from ,bethany1 and needed the service4 ,but apparently it was omitted1 and although we can scarcely suppose that the transcendent act which is recorded in my text was performed at the beginning of the meal1 yet ,i think we shall not be wrong if we see in it a reference to the neglected service4 ,the ,evangelist who tells us of the dispute1 and does not tell us of the foot-washing1 preserves a sentence which finds its true meaning only in this incident1 ',i am among you as ,he that serveth4' ,and although ,john is the only recorder of this pathetic incident1 there are allusions in other parts of ,scripture which seem to hint at it4 ,as1 for instance1 when ,paul speaks of 'taking upon ,him the form of a servant'2 and still more strikingly when ,peter employs the remarkable word1 which he does employ in his exhortation1 ',be ye clothed with humility4' ,for the word rendered there 'clothed' occurs only in that one place in ,scripture1 and means literally the putting on of a slave's costume4 ,one can scarcely help1 then1 seeing in these three passages to which ,i have referred echoes of this incident which ,john alone preserves to us4 ,and so we get at once a hint of the harmony and of the incompleteness of the ,gospel records4 ,i4 ,consider the motives of this act4 ,now that is ground upon which the ,evangelists very seldom enter4 ,they tell us what ,christ did1 but very rarely do they give us any glimpses into why ,he did it4 ,but this section of the ,gospel is remarkable for its full and careful analysis of what ,christ's impelling motives were in the final acts of ,his life4 ,how did ,john find out why ,christ did this deed8 ,perhaps he who had 'leaned upon ,his bosom at supper1' and was evidently very closely associated with ,him1 may1 in some unrecorded hour of intimate communion during the forty days between the ,resurrection and the ,ascension1 have heard from the ,master the exposition of ,his motives4 ,but more probably1 ,i think1 the long years of growing likeness to his ,lord1 and of meditation upon the depth of meaning in the smallest events that his faithful memory recalled1 taught him to understand ,christ's purpose and motives4 ',the secret of the ,lord is with them that fear ,him1' and the liker we get to our ,master and the more we are filled with ,his ,spirit1 the more easy will it be for us to divine the purpose and the motives of ,his actions1 whether as they are recorded in the ,scripture or as they come to us in the experience of daily life4 ,but1 passing that point1 ,i desire for a moment to fix your attention on the twofold key to our ,lord's action which is given in this context4 ,there is1 first of all1 in the first verse of the chapter1 a general exposition of what was uppermost in ,his mind and heart during the whole of the period in the upper room4 ,the act in our text1 and the wonderful words which follow in the subsequent chapters1 crowned by that great intercessory prayer1 seem to me to be all explained for us by this first unveiling of ,his motives4 ',when ,jesus knew that ,his hour was come that ,he should depart out of this world unto the ,father1 having loved ,his own which were in the world1 ,he loved them unto the end4' ,and then the words of my text1 which apply more specifically to the single incident with which they are brought into connection1 tell us in addition why this one manifestation of ,christ's love was given4 ',knowing that the ,father had given all things into ,his hands1 and that ,he was come from ,god1 and went to ,god4' ,there1 then1 are two explanations of motive1 the one covering a wider area than the other1 but both converging on the incident before us4 ,the first of these is just this--the consciousness of impending separation moved ,christ to a more than ordinarily tender manifestation of ,his love4 ,for the rendering which you will find in the margin of the ,revised ,version1 ',he loved them to the uttermost1' seems to me to be truer to the ,evangelist's meaning than the other1 ',he loved them unto the end4' ,for it was more to ,john's purpose to tell us that the shadow of the ,cross only brought to the surface in more blessed and wonderful representation the deep love of ,his heart1 than simply to tell us that that shadow did not stop its flow4 ,it is much to know that all through ,his sorrow ,he continued to love2 it is far more to know that the sorrow sharpened its poignancy1 and deepened its depth1 and made more tender its tenderness4 ,how near to the man ,christ that thought brings us6 ,do we not all know the impulse to make parting moments tender moments8 ,the masks of use and wont drop off2 the reticence which we1 perhaps wisely1 ordinarily cultivate in regard to our deepest feelings melts away4 ,we yearn to condense all our unspoken love into some one word1 act1 look1 or embrace1 which it may afterwards be life to two hearts to remember4 ,and ,jesus ,christ felt this4 ,because ,he was going away ,he could not but pour out ,himself yet more completely than in the ordinary tenor of ,his life4 ,the earthquake lays bare hidden veins of gold1 and the heart opens itself out when separation impends4 ,we shall never understand the works of ,jesus ,christ if we do as we are all apt to do1 think of them as having only a didactic and doctrinal purpose4 ,we must remember that there is in ,him the true play of a human heart1 and that it was to relieve ,his own love1 as well as to teach these men their duty1 that he rose from the supper1 and prepared ,himself to wash the disciples' feet4 ,then1 on the other hand1 the other motive which is brought by the ,evangelists more immediately into connection with this incident is1 'knowing that the ,father had given all things into ,his hands1 and that ,he was come from ,god1 and went to ,god4' ,the consciousness of the highest dignity impels to the lowliest submission4 ',all things given into ,his hands1' means universal and absolute dominion4 ',that ,he was come from ,god1' means pre-existence1 voluntary incarnation1 an eternal divine nature1 and unbroken communion with the ,father4 ',that ,he went to ,god1' means a voluntary departure from this low world1 and a return to ',his own calm home1 ,his habitation from eternity4' ,and1 gathered all together1 the phrases imply ,his absolute consciousness of ,his divine nature4 ,it was that that sent ,him with the towel round ,his loins to wash the foul feet of the pedestrians who had come by the dusty and hot way from ,bethany1 and through all the abominations of an ,eastern city1 into the upper chamber4 ,this was ,he who from the beginning 'was with ,god1 and was ,god4' ,this was ,he who was the ,lord of ,death1 ,victor over the grave4 ,this was ,he who by ,his own power ascended up on high1 and reigns on the throne of the universe to-day4 ,this was ,he whose breast the same ,evangelist had seen before he wrote his ,gospel1 'girded with the golden girdle' of priesthood and of sovereignty2 and holding1 in the hands that had laid the towel on the disciples' feet1 the seven stars4 ,oh1 brethren6 if we believed our creeds1 how our hearts would melt with wonder and awe that ,he who was so high stooped so low6 ',knowing that ,he came from ,god1 and went to ,god1' and that even when ,he was kneeling there before these men1 'the ,father had given all things into ,his hands1' what did ,he do8 ,triumph8 ,show ,his majesty8 ,flash ,his power8 ,demand service8 ',girded ,himself with a towel and washed ,his disciples' feet'6 ,the consciousness of loftiness does not alone avail to explain the transcendent lowliness4 ,you need the former motive to be joined with it1 because it is only love which bends loftiness to service1 and turns the consciousness of superiority into yearning to divest oneself of the superiorities that separate1 and to emphasise the emotions which unite4 ,,ii4 ,the detailed completeness of the act4 ,the remarkable particularity of the account of the stages of the humiliation suggests the eye-witness4 ,john carried them all in his mind ineffaceably1 and long1 long years after that memorable hour we hear him recalling each detail of the scene4 ,we can see the little group startled by the disturbance of the order of the meal as ,he rose from the table1 and the hushed wonder and the open-lipped expectation with which they watched to see what the next step would be4 ,he rises from the table and divests ,himself of the upper garments which impeded movement4 ',what will ,he do next8' ,he takes the basin1 standing there to be ready for washing the apostles' feet1 but unused1 and not even filled with water4 ,he fills it ,himself1 asking none to help ,him4 ,he girds the towel round ,him2 and then1 perhaps1 begins with the betrayer2 at any rate1 not with ,peter4 ,cannot you see them1 as they look8 ,do not you feel the solemnity of the detailed particular account of each step8 ,and may we not also say that all is a parable1 or illustration1 on a lower level1 of the very same principles which were at work in the mightier fact of the greater condescension of ,his 'becoming flesh and dwelling among us'8 ,he 'rose from the table1' as ,he rose from ,his place in 'the bosom of the ,father4' ,he disturbed the meal as ,he broke the festivities of the heavens4 ,he divested ,himself of ,his garments1 as ',he thought not equality with ,god a thing to be worn eagerly'2 and ',he girded ,himself with the towel1' as ,he put on the weakness of flesh4 ,himself ,he filled the basin1 by ,his own work providing the means of cleansing2 and ,himself applied the cleansing to the feet of those who were with ,him4 ,it is all a working out of the same double motive which drew ,him downwards to our earth4 ,the reason why ,he stooped1 with ,his hands to wash the disciples' feet1 is the same as the reason why ,he had hands to wash with--viz41 that knowing ,himself to be high over all1 and loving all1 ,he chose to become one with us1 that we might become like unto ,him4 ,so the details of the act are a parable of ,his incarnation and death4 ,,iii4 ,and then1 still further1 note the purpose of the deed4 ,now although ,i have said that we never rightly understand our ,lord's actions if we are always looking for dogmatic or doctrinal purposes1 and thinking of them rather as being lectures1 and sometimes rebukes in act1 than as being the outgush of ,his emotions and ,his human-divine nature1 yet we have also to take into account their moral and spiritual lessons4 ,his acts are words and ,his words are acts4 ,and although the main and primary purpose of this incident1 in so far as it had any other purpose than to relieve ,christ's own love by manifesting itself1 and to comfort the disciples' hearts by the tender manifestation1 was to teach them their duty1 as we shall presently see1 yet the special aspect of cleansing1 which comes out so emphatically and prominently in the episode of ,peter's refusal1 is to be carried all along through the interpretation of the incident4 ,this was the reason why ,jesus ,christ came from heaven and assumed flesh1 and this was the reason why ,jesus ,christ1 assuming flesh1 bowed ,himself to this menial office--to make men clean4 ,i venture to say that we never understand ,jesus ,christ and ,his work until we recognise this as its prominent purpose1 to cleanse us from sin4 ,an inadequate conception of what we need1 shallow1 superficial views of the gravity and universality and obstinacy of the fact of sin1 are an impenetrable veil between us and all real understanding of ,jesus ,christ4 ,there is no adequate motive for such an astounding fact as the incarnation and sacrifice of the ,son of ,god1 except the purpose of redeeming the world4 ,if you do not believe that you--you individually1 and all of us your brethren--need to be cleansed1 you will find it hard to believe in the divinity and atonement of ,jesus ,christ4 ,if you have been down into the depths of your own heart1 and found out what tremendous1 diabolic power your own evil nature and sin have upon you1 then you will not be content with anything less than the incarnate ,god who stoops from heaven to bear the burden of your sin1 and to take it all away4 ,if you want to understand why ,he laid aside ,his garments and took the servile form of our manhood1 the appeal of man's sin to ,his love and the answer of ,his ,divine condescension are the only explanation4 ,again1 let me remind you that there is no cleansing without ,christ4 ,can you do it for yourselves1 do you think8 ,there is an old proverb1 ',one hand washes the other4' ,that is true about stains on the flesh4 ,it is not true about stains on our spirits4 ,nobody can do it for us but ,jesus ,christ alone4 ,he kneels before us1 having the right and the power to wash us because ,he has died for us4 ,kings of ,england used to touch for 'the king's evil1' and lay their pure fingers upon feculent masses of corruption4 ,our ,king's touch is sovereign for the corruption and incipient putrefaction of our sin2 and there is no power in heaven or earth that will make a man clean except the power of ,jesus ,christ4 ,it is either ,jesus ,christ or filthiness4 ,if ,i might pass from my text for one moment1 ,i would remind you of the episode which immediately follows1 and suggest that if ,jesus ,christ is not cleansing us ,he is nothing to us4 ',if ,i wash thee not1 thou hast no part in ,me4' ,i know1 of course1 that it is possible to have partial1 rudimentary1 and sometimes reverent conceptions of that ,lord without recognising in ,him the great ',fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness4' ,but ,i am sure of this1 that there is no real1 living possession of ,jesus ,christ such as men's souls need1 and such as will outlast the disintegrating influences of death1 unless it be such a possession of ,him as appropriates for its own1 primarily1 ,his cleansing power4 ,first of all ,he must cleanse1 and then all other aspects of ,his glory1 and gifts of ,his grace1 will pour into our hearts4 ,no understanding of ,christ1 then1 without the recognition that cleansing is the purpose and the vindication of ,his incarnation and sacrifice2 no cleansing without ,christ2 no ,christ worth calling by the name without cleansing4 ,,iv4 ,and so1 lastly1 note the pattern in this act4 ,you will remember that it is followed by solemn words spoken after ,he had taken ,his garments and resumed ,his place at the table1 in which there blended1 in the most wonderful fashion1 the consciousness of authority1 both as ,teacher of truth and as ,guide of life1 and the sweetest and most loving lowliness4 ,in them ,jesus prescribed the wonderful act of ,his condescending love and cleansing power as the law of the ,christian life4 ,there are too many of us who profess to be quite willing to trust to ,jesus ,christ as the ,cleanser of our souls who are not nearly so willing to accept ,his ,example as the pattern for our lives2 and ,i would have you note1 as an extremely remarkable point1 that all the ,new ,testament references to our ,lord as being our ,example are given in immediate connection with ,his passion4 ,the very part of ,his life which we generally regard as being most absolutely unique and inimitable is the fact in ,his life which ,apostles and ,evangelists select as the one to set before us for our example4 ,do you ask if any man can copy the sufferings of ,jesus ,christ8 ,in regard to their virtue and efficacy1 ,no4 ,in regard to their motive--in one aspect1 ,no2 in another aspect1 ,yes4 ,in regard to the spirit that impelled ,him we may copy ,him4 ,the smallest trickle of water down a city gutter will carve out of the mud at its side little banks and cliffs1 and exhibit all the phenomena of erosion on the largest scale1 as the ,mississippi does over half a continent1 and the tiniest little wave in a basin will fall into the same curves as the billows of mid-ocean4 ,you and ,i1 in our little lives1 may even aspire to 'do as ,i have done to you4' ,the true use of superiority is service4 ,noblesse oblige6 ,bank1 wealth1 capacity1 talents1 all things are given to us that we may use them to the last particle for our fellows4 ,only when the world and society have awakened to that great truth which the towel-girded1 kneeling ,christ has taught us1 will society be organised on the principles that ,god meant4 ,but1 further1 the highest form of service is to cleanse4 ,cleansing is always dirty work for the cleaners1 as every housemaid knows4 ,you cannot make people clean by scolding them1 by lecturing them1 by patronising them4 ,you have to go down into the filth if you mean to lift them out of it2 and leave your smelling-bottles behind2 and think nothing repulsive if your stooping to it may save a brother4 ,the only way by which we can imitate that example is by1 first of all1 participating in it for ourselves4 ,we must1 first of all1 have the ,cross as our trust1 before it can become our pattern and our law4 ,we must first say1 ',lord6 not my feet only1 but also my hands and my head1' and then1 in the measure in which we ourselves have received the cleansing benediction1 we shall be impelled and able to lay our gentle hands on foulness and leprosy2 and to say to all the impure1 ',jesus ,christ1 who hath cleansed me1 makes thee clean4' ,,the ,,dismissal ,,of ,,judas '''' ,then said ,jesus unto ,judas1 ,that thou doest1 do quickly4'--,,john xiii4 #bg4 ,when our ,lord gave the morsel1 dipped in the dish1 to ,judas1 only ,john knew the significance of the act4 ,but if we supplement the narrative here with that given by ,matthew1 we shall find that1 accompanying the gift of the sop1 was a brief dialogue in which the betrayer1 with unabashed front1 hypocritically said1 ',lord6 ,is it ,i8' and heard the solemn1 sad answer1 ',thou sayest6' ,two things1 then1 appealed to him at the moment3 one1 the conviction that he was discovered2 the other1 the wonderful assurance that he was still loved1 for the gift of the morsel was a token of friendliness4 ,he shut his heart against them both2 and as he shut his heart against ,christ he opened it to the devil4 ,so 'after the sop ,satan entered into him4' ,at that moment a soul committed suicide2 and none of those that sat by1 with the exception of ,christ and the 'disciple whom ,he loved1' so much as dreamed of the tragedy going on before their eyes4 ,i know not that there are anywhere words more weighty and wonderful than those of our text4 ,and ,i desire to try if ,i can at all make you feel as ,i feel1 their solemn signification and force4 ',that thou doest1 do quickly4' ,i4 ,i hear in them1 first1 the voice of despairing love abandoning the conflict4 ,if ,i have rightly construed the meaning of the incident1 this is the plain meaning of it4 ,and you will observe that the ,revised ,version1 more accurately and closely rendering the words of our text1 begins with a ',therefore4' ',therefore said ,jesus unto him1' because the die was cast2 because the will of ,judas had conclusively welcomed ,satan1 and conclusively rejected ,christ2 therefore1 knowing that remonstrance was vain1 knowing that the deed was1 in effect1 done1 ,jesus ,christ1 that ,incarnate ,charity which 'believeth all things1 and hopeth all things1' abandoned the man to himself1 and said1 ',there1 then1 if thou wilt thou must4 ,i have done all ,i can2 my last arrow is shot1 and it has missed the target4 ,that then doest1 do quickly4' ,there is a world of solemn meaning in that one little word 'doest4' ,it teaches us the old lesson1 which sense is so apt to forget1 that the true actor in man's deeds is 'the hidden man of the heart1' and that when it has acted1 it matters comparatively little whether the mere tool and instrument of the hands or of the other organs have carried out the behest4 ,the thing is done before it is done when the man has resolved1 with a fixed will1 to do it4 ,the betrayal was as good as in process1 though no step beyond the introductory ones1 which could easily have been cancelled1 had yet been accomplished4 ,because there was a fixed purpose which could not be altered by anything now1 therefore ,jesus ,christ regards the act as completed4 ,it is what we think in our hearts that we are2 and our fixed determinations1 our inclinations of will1 are far more truly our doings than the mere consequences of these1 embodied in actuality4 ,it is but a poor estimate of a man that judges him by the test of what he has done4 ,what he has wanted to do is the true man2 what he has attempted to do4 ',it was well that it was in thine heart6' saith ,god to the king who thought of building the ,temple which he was never allowed to rear4 ',it is ill that is in thine heart1' says ,he by whom actions are weighed1 to the sinner in purpose1 though his clean hands lie idly in his lap4 ,these hidden movements of desire and will that never come to the surface are our true selves4 ,look after them1 and the deeds will take care of themselves4 ,serpent's eggs have serpents in them4 ,and he that has determined upon a sin has done the sin1 whether his hands have been put to it or no4 ,but1 then1 turn for a moment to the other thought that is suggested here--that solemn picture of a soul left to do as it will1 because divine love has no other restraints which it can impose1 and is bankrupt of motives that it can adduce to prevent it from its madness4 ,now ,i do not believe1 for my part1 that any man in this world is so all-round 'sold unto sin' as that the seeking love of ,god gives him up as irreclaimable4 ,i do not believe that there are any people concerning whom it is true that it is impossible for the grace of ,god to find some chink and cranny in their souls through which it can enter and change them4 ,there are no hopeless cases as long as men are here4 ,but1 then1 though there may not be so1 in regard to the whole sweep of the man's nature1 yet every one of us1 over and over again1 has known what it is to come exactly into that position in regard to some single evil or other1 concerning which we have so set our teeth and planted our feet at such an angle of resistance as that ,god gives up dealing with us and leaves us1 as ,he did with ,balaam when ,he opposed his covetous inclinations to all the remonstrances of ,heaven4 ,god said at last to him ',go6' because it was the best way to teach him what a fool he had been in wanting to go4 ,thus1 when we determine to set ourselves against the pleadings and the beseechings of divine love1 the truest kindness is to fling the reins upon our necks1 and let us gallop ourselves into a sweat and weariness1 and then we shall be more amenable to the touch of the rein thereafter4 ,are there any people whom ,god is teaching obedience to ,his light touch1 by letting them run their course after some one specific sin8 ,perhaps there are4 ,at all events1 let us remember that that position of being allowed to do as we like is one to which we all tend1 in the measure in which we indulge our inclinations1 and shut our hearts against ,god's pleadings4 ,there is such a thing as a conscience seared as with a hot iron4 ,they used to say that there were witches' marks on the body1 places where1 if you stuck a pin in1 there was no feeling4 ,men cover themselves all over with marks of that sort1 which are not sensitive even to the prick of a divine remonstrance1 rebuke1 or retribution4 ,they 'wipe their mouths and say ,i have done no harm4' ,you can tie up the clapper of the bell that swings on the black rock1 on which1 if you drift1 you go to pieces4 ,you can silence the ,voice by the simple process of neglecting it4 ,judas set his teeth against two things1 the solemn conviction that ,jesus ,christ knew his sin1 and the saving assurance that ,jesus ,christ loved him still4 ,and whosoever resists either of these two is getting perilously near to the point where1 not in petulance but in pity1 ,god will say1 ',very well1 ,i have called and ye have refused4 ,now go1 and do what you want to do1 and see how you like it when it is done4 ,what thou doest1 do quickly4' ,do you remember the other word1 ',if 'twere done when 'tis done1 then 'twere well it were done quickly'8 ,but since consequences last when deeds are past1 perhaps you had better halt before you determine to do them4 ,,ii4 ,now1 secondly1 ,i hear in these words the voice of strangely blended majesty and humiliation4 ',what thou doest1 do6' ,judas thought he had got possession of ,christ's person1 and was ,his master in a very real sense4 ,when lo6 all at once the victim assumes the position of the ,lord and commands1 showing the traitor that instead of thwarting and counterworking1 he was but carrying out the designs of his fancied victim2 and that he was an instrument in ,christ's hands for the execution of ,his will4 ,and these two thoughts1 how1 in effect1 all antagonism1 all malicious hatred1 all violent opposition of every sort but work in with ,christ's purpose1 and carry out ,his intention2 and how1 at the moments of deepest apparent degradation1 ,he towers1 in manifest ,majesty and ,masterhood1 seem to me to be plainly taught in the word before us4 ,he uses his foes for the furtherance of ,his purpose4 ,that has been the history of the world ever since4 ',the floods1 ,o ,lord1 have lifted up their voice4' ,and what have they done8 ,smashing against the breakwater1 they but consolidate its mighty blocks1 and prove that 'the ,lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters4' ,it has been so in the past1 it is so to-day2 it will be so till the end4 ,every ,judas is unconsciously the servant of ,him whom he seeks to betray2 and finds out to his bewilderment that what he meant for a death-blow is fulfilling the very purpose and will of the ,lord against whom he has turned4 ,again1 the combination here1 in such remarkable juxtaposition1 of the two things1 a willing submission to the utmost extremity of shame1 which the treasonous heart can froth out in its malice and1 at the same time1 a rising up in conscious majesty and lordship1 are suggested to us by the words before us4 ,that combination of utter lowliness and transcendent loftiness runs through the whole life and history of our ,lord4 ,did you ever think how strong an argument that strange combination1 brought out so inartificially throughout the whole of the ,gospels1 is for their historical veracity8 ,suppose the problem had been given to poets to create and to set in a series of appropriate scenes a character with these two opposites stamped equally upon it1 neither of them impinging upon the domain of the other--viz41 utter humility and humiliation in circumstance1 and majestic sovereignty and elevation above all circumstances--do you think that any of them could have solved the problem1 though--,aeschylus and ,shakespeare had been amongst them1 as these four men that wrote these four little tracts that we call ,gospels have done8 ,how comes it that this most difficult of literary problems has been so triumphantly solved by these men8 ,i think there is only one answer1 ',because they were reporters1 and imagined nothing1 but observed everything1 and repeated what had happened4' ,he reconciled these opposites who was the ,man of ,sorrows and acquainted with grief1 and yet the ,eternal ,son of the ,father2 and the ,gospels have solved the problem only because they are simple records of its solution by ,him4 ,wherever in ,his history there is some trait of lowliness there is by the side of it a flash of majesty4 ,wherever in ,his history there is some gleaming out from the veil of flesh of the hidden glory of divinity1 there is immediately some drawing of the veil across the glory4 ,and the two things do not contradict nor confuse1 but we stand before that double picture of a ,christ betrayed and of a ,christ commanding ,his betrayer1 and using his treason1 and we say1 ',the ,word was made flesh1 and dwelt among us4' ,,iii4 ,again1 ,i hear the voice of instinctive human weakness4 ',that thou doest1 do quickly4' ,it may be doubtful1 and some of you perhaps may not be disposed to follow me in my remark1 but to my ear that sounds just like the utterance of that instinctive dislike of suspense and of the long hanging over us of the sword by a hair1 which we all know so well4 ,better to suffer than to wait for suffering4 ,the loudest thunder-crash is not so awe-inspiring as the dread silence of nature when the sky is black before the peal rolls through the clouds4 ,many a martyr has prayed for a swift ending of his troubles4 ,many a sorrowing heart1 that has been sitting cowering under the anticipation of coming evils1 has wished that the string could be pulled1 as it were1 and they could all come down in one cold flood1 and be done with1 rather than trickle drop by drop4 ,they tell us that the bravest soldiers dislike the five minutes when they stand in rank before the first shot is fired4 ,and with all reverence ,i venture to think that ,he who knew all our weaknesses in so far as weakness was not sin1 is here letting us see how ,he1 too1 desired that the evil which was coming might come quickly1 and that the painful tension of expectation might be as brief as possible4 ,that may be doubtful2 ,i do not dwell upon it1 but ,i suggest it for your consideration4 ,,iv4 ,and then ,i pass on to the last of the tones that ,i hear in these utterances--the voice of the willing ,sacrifice for the sins of the world4 ',that thou doest1 do quickly4' ,there is nothing more obvious throughout the whole of the latter portion of the ,gospel narrative than the way in which1 increasingly towards its close1 ,jesus seemed to hasten to the ,cross4 ,you remember ,his own sayings3 ',i have a baptism to be baptized with1 and how am ,i straitened till it be accomplished4 ,i am come to cast fire on the earth2 would it were already kindled6' ,you remember with what a strange air--,i was going to use an inappropriate word1 and say1 of alacrity2 but1 at all events1 of fixed resolve--,he journeyed from ,galilee1 in that last solemn march to ,jerusalem1 and how the disciples followed1 astonished at the unwonted look of decision and absorption that was printed upon ,his countenance4 ,if we consider ,his doings in that last week in ,jerusalem1 how he courted publicity1 how ,he avoided no encounter with ,his official enemies1 how ,he sharpened ,his tones1 not exactly so as to provoke1 but certainly so as by no means to conciliate1 we shall see1 ,i think1 in it all1 ,his consciousness that the hour had come1 and ,his absolute readiness and willingness to be offered for the world's sin4 ,he stretches out ,his hands1 as it were1 to draw the ,cross nearer to ,himself1 not with any share in the weakness of a fanatical aspiration after martyrdom1 but under a far deeper and more wonderful impulse4 ,why was ,christ so willing1 so eager1 if ,i may use the word1 that ,his death should be accomplished8 ,two reasons1 which at the bottom are one1 answer the question4 ,he thus hastened to ,his ,cross because ,he would obey the ,father's will1 and because ,he loved the whole world--you and me and all our fellows4 ,we were each in ,his heart4 ,it was because ,he wanted to save thee that ,he said to ,judas1 ',do it quickly1 that the world's salvation and that man's salvation may be accomplished4' ,these were the cords that bound ,him to the altar4 ,let us never forget that ,judas with his treachery1 and rulers with their hostility1 and ,pilate with his authority1 and the soldiers with their nails1 and centurions with their lances1 and the grim figure of ,death itself with its shaft1 would have been all equally powerless against ,christ if it had not been his loving will to die on the ,cross for each of us4 ,therefore1 brethren1 as we hear this voice1 let us discern in it the tones which warn us of the danger of yielding to inclination and stifling ,his rebukes1 till ,he abandons us for the moment in despair2 let us hear in it the pathetic voice of a ,brother1 who knows all our weaknesses and has felt our emotions2 let us hear the voice of ,sovereign ,authority which uses its enemies for its purposes1 and is never loftier than when it is most lowly1 whose ,cross is ,his throne of glory1 whose exaltation is ,his deepest humiliation1 and let us hear a love which1 discerning each of us through all the ages and the crowds1 went willingly to the ,cross because ,he willed that ,he should be our ,saviour4 ,and seeing that time is short1 and the future precarious1 and delay may darken into loss and rejection1 let us take these words as spoken to us in another sense1 and hear in them the warning that 'to-day1 if we will hear ,his voice1 we harden not our hearts1' and when ,he says to us1 in regard to repentance and faith1 and ,christian consecration and service1 ',that thou doest1 do quickly1' let us answer1 ',i made haste and delayed not1 but made haste to keep ,thy commandments4' ,,the ,,glory ,,of ,,the ,,cross ',therefore1 when he was gone out1 ,jesus said1 ,now is the ,son of ,man glorified1 and ,god is glorified in ,him4 ,if ,god be glorified in ,him1 ,god shall also glorify ,him in ,himself1 and shall straightway glorify ,him4'--,,john xiii4 #ca1 #cb4 ,there is something very weird and awful in the brief note of time with which the ,evangelist sends ,judas on his dark errand4 ',he ''' went immediately out1 and it was night4' ,into the darkness that dark soul went4 ,that hour was 'the power of darkness1' the very keystone of the black arch of man's sin1 and some shadow of it fell upon the soul of ,christ ,himself4 ,in immediate connection with the departure of the traitor comes this singular burst of triumph in our text4 ,the ,evangelist emphasises the connection by that3 ',therefore1 when he was gone out1 ,jesus said4' ,there is a wonderful touch of truth and naturalness in that connection4 ,the traitor was gone4 ,his presence had been a restraint2 and now that that 'spot in their feast of charity' had disappeared1 the ,master felt at ease2 and like some stream1 out of the bed of which a black rock has been taken1 ,his words flow more freely4 ,how intensely real and human the narrative becomes when we see that ,christ1 too1 felt the oppression of an uncongenial presence1 and was relieved and glad at its removal6 ,the departure of the traitor evoked these words of triumph in another way1 too4 ,at his going away1 we may say1 the match was lit that was to be applied to the train4 ,he had gone out on his dark errand1 and that brought the ,cross within measurable distance of our ,lord4 ,out of a new sense of its nearness ,he speaks here4 ,so the note of time not only explains to us why our ,lord spoke1 but puts us on the right track for understanding ,his words1 and makes any other interpretation of them than one impossible4 ,what ,judas went to do was the beginning of ,christ's glorifying4 ,we have here1 then1 a triple glorification--the ,son of ,man glorified in ,his ,cross2 ,god glorified in the ,son of ,man2 and the ,son of ,man glorified in ,god4 ,let us look at these three thoughts for a few moments now4 ,i4 ,first1 we have here the ,son of ,man glorified in ,his ,cross4 ,the words are a paradox4 ,strange1 that at such a moment1 when there rose up before ,christ all the vision of the shame and the suffering1 the pain and the death1 and the mysterious sense of abandonment1 which was worse than them all1 ,he should seem to stretch out ,his hands to bring the ,cross nearer to ,himself1 and that ,his soul should fill with triumph6 ,there is a double aspect under which our ,lord regarded ,his sufferings4 ,on the one hand we mark in ,him an unmistakable shrinking from the ,cross1 the innocent shrinking of ,his manhood expressed in such words as ',i have a baptism to be baptized with1 and how am ,i straitened till it be accomplished'2 and in such incidents as the agony in ,gethsemane4 ,and yet1 side by side with that1 not overcome by it1 but not overcoming it1 there is the opposite feeling1 the reaching out almost with eagerness to bring the ,cross nearer to ,himself4 ,these two lie close by each other in ,his heart4 ,like the pellucid waters of the ,rhine and the turbid stream of the ,moselle1 that flow side by side over a long space1 neither of them blending discernibly with the other1 so the shrinking and the desire were contemporaneous in ,christ's mind4 ,here we have the triumphant anticipation rising to the surface1 and conquering for a time the shrinking4 ,why did ,christ think of ,his ,cross as a glorifying8 ,the ,new ,testament generally represents it as the very lowest point of ,his degradation2 ,john's ,gospel always represents it as the very highest point of ,his glory4 ,and the two things are both true2 just as the zenith of our sky is the nadir of the sky for those on the other side of the world4 ,the same fact which in one aspect sounds the very lowest depth of ,christ's humiliation1 in another aspect is the very highest culminating point of ,his glory4 ,how did the ,cross glorify ,christ8 ,in two ways4 ,it was the revelation of ,his heart2 it was the throne of ,his sovereign power4 ,it was the revelation of ,his heart4 ,all his life long ,he had been trying to tell the world how much ,he loved it4 ,his love had been1 as it were1 filtered by drops through ,his words1 through ,his deeds1 through ,his whole demeanour and bearing2 but in ,his death it comes in a flood1 and pours itself upon the world4 ,all ,his life long he had been revealing ,his heart1 through the narrow rifts of ,his deeds1 like some slender lancet windows2 but in ,his death all the barriers are thrown down1 and the brightness blazes out upon men4 ,all through ,his life ,he had been trying to communicate ,his love to the world1 and the fragrance came from the box of ointment exceeding precious1 but when the box was broken the house was filled with the odour4 ,for ,him to be known was to be glorified4 ,so pure and perfect was ,he1 that revelation of ,his character and glorification of ,himself were one and the same thing4 ,because ,his ,cross reveals to the world for all time1 and for eternity1 too1 a love which shrinks from no sacrifice1 a love which is capable of the most entire abandonment1 a love which is diffused over the whole surface of humanity and through all the ages1 a love which comes laden with the richest and the highest gifts1 even the turning of selfish and sinful hearts into its own pure and perfect likeness1 therefore does ,he say1 in contemplation of that ,cross which was to reveal ,him for what ,he was to the world1 and to bring ,his love to every one of us1 ',now is the ,son of ,man glorified4' ,we can fancy a mother1 for instance1 in the anticipation of shame1 and ignominy1 and suffering1 and sorrow1 and death which she encounters for the sake of some prodigal child1 forgetting all the ignominy1 and the shame1 and the suffering1 and the sorrow1 and the death1 because all these are absorbed in the one thought3 ',if ,i bear them1 my poor1 wandering1 rebellious child will know at last how much ,i loved him4' ,so ,christ yearns to impart the knowledge of ,himself to us1 because by that knowledge we may be won to ,his love and service2 and hence when ,he looks forward to the agony1 and contumely1 and sorrow of the close1 every other thought is swallowed up in this one3 ',they will be the means by which the whole world will find out how deep my heart of love to it was4' ,therefore does ,he triumph and say1 ',now is the ,son of ,man glorified4' ,still further1 ,he regards ,his ,cross as the means of ,his glorifying1 because it is ,his throne of saving power4 ,the paradoxical words of our text rest upon ,his profound conviction that in ,his death ,he was about to put forth a mightier and diviner power than ever ,he had manifested in ,his life4 ,they are the same in effect and in tone as the great words3 ',i1 if ,i be lifted up1 will draw all men unto ,me4' ,now ,i want you to ask yourselves one question3 ,in what sense is ,christ's ,cross ,christ's glorifying1 unless ,his ,cross bears an altogether different relation to ,his life from what the death of a great teacher or benefactor ordinarily bears to his8 ,it is impossible that ,christ could have spoken such words as these of my text if ,he had simply thought of ,his death as a ,plato or a ,john ,howard might have thought of his1 as being the close of his activity for the welfare of his fellows4 ,unless ,christ's death has in it some substantive value1 unless it is something more than the mere termination of ,his work for the world1 ,i see not how the words before us can be interpreted4 ,if ,his death is ,his glorifying1 it must be because in that death something is done which was not completed by the life1 however fair2 by the words1 however wise and tender2 by the works of power1 however restorative and healing4 ,here is something more than these present4 ,what more8 ,this more1 that ,his ,cross is the 'propitiation for the sins of the whole world4' ,he is glorified therein1 not as a ,socrates might be glorified by his calm and noble death2 not because nothing in ,his life became ,him better than the leaving of it2 not because the page that tells the story of ,his passion is turned to by us as the tenderest and most sacred in the world's records2 but because in that death ,he wrestled with and overcame our foes1 and because1 like the ,jewish hero of old1 dying1 ,he pulled down the house which our tyrants had built1 and overwhelmed them in its ruins4 ',now is the ,son of ,man glorified4' ,and so1 brethren1 there blend1 in that last act of our ,lord's--for ,his death was ,his act--in strange fashion1 the two contradictory ideas of glory and shame2 like some sky1 all full of dark thunderclouds1 and yet between them the brightest blue and the blazing sunshine4 ,in the ,cross1 ,death crowns ,him the ,prince of ,life1 and ,his ,cross is ,his throne4 ,all ,his life long ,he was the ,light of the ,world1 but the very noontide hour of ,his glory was that hour when the shadow of eclipse lay over all the land1 and ,he hung on the ,cross dying in the dark4 ,at ,his 'eventide it was light4' ',he endured the ,cross1 despising the shame'2 and lo6 the shame flashed up into the very brightness of glory1 and the ignominy and the suffering became the jewels of ,his crown4 ',now is the ,son of ,man glorified4' ,,ii4 ,now let us turn for a moment to the second of the threefold glorifications that are set forth here3 ,god glorified in the ,son of ,man4 ,the mystery deepens as we advance4 ,that ,god should be glorified in a man is not strange1 but that ,he should be so glorified in the eminent and special fashion which ,jesus contemplates here1 is strange2 and stranger still when we think that the act in which ,he was to be glorified was the death of an innocent ,man4 ,if ,god1 in any special and eminent manner1 is glorified in the ,cross of ,jesus ,christ1 that implies1 as it seems to me1 two things at all events--many more which ,i have not time to touch upon1 but two things very plainly4 ,one is that ',god was in ,christ1' in some singular and eminent manner4 ,if all ,his life was a continual manifestation of the divine character1 if ,christ's words were the divine wisdom1 if ,christ's compassion was the divine pity1 if ,christ's lowliness was the divine gentleness1 if ,his whole human life and nature were the brightest and clearest manifestation to the world of what ,god is1 we can understand that the ,cross was the highest point of the revelation of the divine nature to the world1 and so was the glorifying of ,god in ,him4 ,but if we take any lower view of the relation between ,god and ,christ1 ,i know not how we can acquit these words of our ,master of the charge of being a world too wide for the facts of the case4 ,the words involve1 as it seems to me1 not only that idea of a close1 unique union and indwelling of ,god in ,christ1 but they involve also this other3 that these sufferings bore no relation to the deserts of the person who endured them4 ,if ,christ1 with ,his pure and perfect character--the innocency and nobleness of which all that read the ,gospels admit--if ,christ suffered so2 if the highest virtue that was ever seen in this world brought no better wages than shame and spitting and the ,cross2 if ,christ's life and ,christ's death are simply a typical example of the world's treatment of its greatest benefactors2 then1 if they have any bearing at all on the character of ,god1 they cast a shadow rather than a light upon the divine government1 and become not the least formidable of the difficulties and knots that will have to be untied hereafter before it shall be clear that ,god did everything well4 ,but if we can say1 ',he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows'2 if we can say1 ',god was in ,christ reconciling the world to ,himself'2 if we can say1 that ,his death was the death of ,him whom ,god had appointed to live and die for us1 and 'to bear our sins in ,his own body on the tree1' then1 though deep mysteries come with the thought1 still we can see that1 in a very unique manner1 ,god is glorified and exalted in ,his death4 ,for if the dying ,christ be the ,son of ,god dying for us1 then the ,cross glorifies ,god1 because it teaches us that the glory of the divine character is the divine love4 ,of wisdom1 or of power1 or of any of the more 'majestic' attributes of the divine nature1 that weak ,man1 hanging dying on the ,cross1 was a strange embodiment2 but if the very heart of the divine brightness be the pure white fire of love2 if there be nothing diviner in ,god than ,his giving of ,himself to ,his creatures2 if the highest glory of the divine nature be to pity and to bestow1 then the ,cross upon which ,christ died towers above all other revelations as the most awful1 the most sacred1 the most tender1 the most complete1 the most heart-touching1 the most soul-subduing manifestation of the divine nature2 and stars and worlds1 and angels and mighty creatures1 and things in the heights and things in the depths1 to each of which have been entrusted some broken syllables of the divine character to make known to the world1 dwindle and fade before the brightness1 the lambent1 gentle brightness that beams out from the ,cross of ,christ1 which proclaims--,god is love1 is pity1 is pardon4 ,and is it not so--is it not so8 ,is not the thought that has flowed from ,christ's ,cross through ,christendom of what our ,father in ,heaven is1 the highest and the most blessed that the world has ever had8 ,has it not scattered doubts that lay like mountains of ice upon man's heart8 ,has it not swept the heavens clear of clouds that wrapped it in darkness8 ,has it not delivered men from the dreams of gods angry1 gods capricious1 gods vengeful1 gods indifferent1 gods simply mighty and vast and awful and unspeakable8 ,has it not taught us that love is ,god1 and ,god is love2 and so brought to the whole world the true ,gospel1 the ,gospel of the grace of ,god8 ,in that ,cross the ,father is glorified4 ,,iii4 ,now1 lastly1 we have here the ,son of ,man glorified in the ,father4 ,the mysteries and the paradoxes seem to deepen as we advance4 ',if ,god be glorified in ,him1 ,god shall also glorify ,him in ,himself1 and shall straightway glorify ,him4' ,do these words sound to you as if they expressed no more than the confidence of a good man1 who1 when he was dying1 believed that he would be accepted of a loving ,father1 and would be at rest from his sufferings8 ,to me they seem to say infinitely more than that4 ',he shall also glorify ,him in ,himself4' ,mark that 'in ,himself4' ,that is the obvious antithesis to what has been spoken about in the previous clause1 a glorifying which consisted in a manifestation to the external universe1 whereas this is a glorifying within the depths of the divine nature4 ,and the best commentary upon it is our ,lord's own words3 ',father6 glorify ,thou ,me with the glory which ,i had with ,thee before the world was4' ,we get a glimpse1 as it were1 into the very centre of the brightness of ,god2 and there1 walking in that beneficent furnace1 we see ',one like unto the ,son of ,man4' ,christ anticipates that1 in some profound and unspeakable sense1 ,he shall1 as it were1 be caught up into the divinity1 and shall dwell1 as indeed ,he did dwell from the beginning1 'in the bosom of the ,father4' ',he shall glorify ,him in ,himself4' ,but then mark1 still further1 that this reception into the bosom of the ,father is given to the ,son of ,man4 ,that is to say1 the ,man ,christ ,jesus1 the ,son of ,mary1 the ,brother of us all1 'bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh1' the very ,person that walked upon earth and dwelt amongst us is taken up into the heart of ,god1 and in ,his manhood enters into that same glory1 which1 from the beginning1 the ,eternal ,word had with ,god4 ,and still further1 not only have we here set forth1 in most wondrous language1 the reception and incorporation1 if we may use such words1 into the very centre of divinity1 as granted to the ,son of ,man1 but we have that glorifying set forth as commencing immediately upon the completion of ,god's glorifying by ,christ upon the ,cross4 ',he shall straightway glorify ,him4' ,at the instant then1 that ,he said1 ',it is finished1' and all that the ,cross could do to glorify ,god was done1 at that instant there began1 with not a pin-point of interval between them1 ,god's glorifying of the ,son in ,himself4 ,it began in that ,paradise into which we know that upon that day ,he entered4 ,it was manifested to the world when ,he 'raised ,him from the dead and gave ,him glory4' ,it reached a still higher point when 'they brought ,him near unto the ,ancient of ,days1' and ascending up on high1 a dominion and a throne and a glory were given to ,him which last now1 whilst the ,son of ,man sits in the heavens on the throne of ,his glory1 wielding the attributes of divinity1 and administering the laws of the universe and the mysteries of providence4 ,it shall rise to its highest manifestation before an assembled world1 when ,he 'shall come in ,his glory1 and before ,him shall be gathered all nations4' ,this1 then1 was the vision that lay before the ,christ in that upper room1 the vision of ,himself glorified in ,his extreme shame1 because ,his ,cross manifested ,his love and ,his saving power2 of ,god glorified in ,him above all other of ,his acts of manifestation when ,he died on the ,cross1 and revealed the very heart of ,god2 and of ,himself glorified in the ,father when1 exalted high above all creatures1 ,he sitteth upon the ,father's throne and rules the ,father's realm4 ,and yet from that high1 and1 to us1 inaccessible and all but inconceivable summit of ,his elevation1 ,he looks down ready to bless each poor creature here1 toiling and moiling amidst sufferings1 and meannesses1 and commonplaces1 and monotony1 if we will only put our trust in ,him1 and love ,him1 and see the brightness of the ,father's face in ,him4 ,he cares for us all2 and if we will but take ,him as our ,saviour1 ,his all-prevalent prayer1 presented within the veil for us1 will certainly be fulfilled at last3 ',father1 ,i will that they also whom ,thou hast given ,me may be with ,me where ,i am1 that they may behold ,my glory4' ,,cannot ,,and ,,can ',little children1 yet a little while ,i am with you4 ,ye shall seek ,me3 and as ,i said unto the ,jews1 ,whither ,i go ye cannot come2 so now ,i say to you4'--,,john xiii4 #cc4 ,the preceding context shows how large and black the ,cross loomed before ,jesus now1 and how radiant the glory beyond shone out to ,him4 ,but it was only for a moment that either of these two absorbed ,his thoughts2 and with wonderful self-forgetfulness and self-command1 ,he turned away at once from the consideration of how the near future was to affect ,him1 to the thought of how it was to affect the handful of helpless disciples who had to be left alone4 ,impending separation breaks up the fountains of the heart1 and we all know the instinct that desires to crowd all the often hidden love into some one last token4 ,so here our ,lord addresses ,his disciples by a name that is never used except this once1 'little children1' a fond diminutive that not only reveals an unusual depth of tender emotion1 but also breathes a pitying sense of their defencelessness when they are to be left alone4 ,so might a dying mother look at her little ones4 ,but the words that follow1 at first sight1 are dark with the sense of a final and complete separation4 ',ye shall seek ,me'--and not only so1 but ,he seems to put back ,his humble friends into the same place as had been occupied by ,his bitter foes--'as ,i said to the ,jews1 whither ,i go ye cannot come2 so now ,i say to you4' ,there was something that prevented both classes alike from keeping ,him company2 and ,he had to walk ,his path both into the darkness and into the glory1 alone4 ,the words apply in their fullness only to the parenthesis of time whilst ,he lay in the grave1 and the disciples despairingly thought that all was ended4 ,it was a brief period3 it was a revolutionary moment2 and though it was soon to end1 they needed to be guarded against it4 ,but though the words do not apply to the permanent relation between the glorified ,christ and us1 ,his disciples1 yet partly by similarity1 and still more by contrast1 they do suggest great ,christian blessedness and imperative ,christian duties4 ,these gather themselves mainly round two contrasts1 a transitory 'cannot' soon to be changed into a permanent 'can'2 and a momentary seeking1 soon to be converted into a blessed seeking which finds4 ,i now deal only with the former4 ,we have here a transitory 'cannot' soon to be changed into a permanent 'can4' ',whither ,i go ye cannot come4' ,does not one hear a tone of personal sorrow in that saying8 ,jesus had always hungered for understanding and sympathetic companions1 and one of ,his lifelong sorrows had been ,his utter loneliness2 but ,he had never1 in all the time that ,he had been with them1 so put out ,his hand1 feeling for some warm clasp of a human hand to help ,him in ,his struggle1 as ,he did during the hours terminating with ,gethsemane4 ,and perhaps we may venture to say that we hear in this utterance an expression of ,christ's sorrow for ,himself that ,he had to tread the dark way1 and to pass into the brightness beyond1 all alone4 ,he yearned for the impossible human companionship1 as well as sorrowed for the imperfections which made it impossible4 ,why was it that they could not 'follow ,him now'8 ,the answer to that question is found in the consideration of whither it was that ,he went4 ,when that bright ,shekinah-cloud at the ,ascension received ,him into its radiant folds1 it showed why they could not follow ,him1 because it revealed that ,he went unto the ,father1 when ,he left the world4 ,so we are brought face to face with the old1 solemn thought that character makes capacity for heaven4 ',who shall ascend into the hill of the ,lord1 or who shall stand in ,his holy place8' asked the ,psalmist2 and a prophet put the question in a still sharper form1 and by the very form of the question suggested a negative answer--',who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire2 who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings8' ,who can pass into that ,presence1 and stand near ,god1 without being1 like the maiden in the old legend1 shrivelled into ashes by the contact of the celestial fire8 ',holiness' is that 'without which no man shall see the ,lord4' ,and we1 all of us1 in the depths of our own hearts1 if we rightly understand the voices that ever echo there1 must feel that the condition which is1 obviously and without any need for arguing it1 required for abiding with ,god1 and so going into the glory where ,christ is1 is a condition which none of us can fulfil4 ,in that respect the imperfect and immature friends1 the little children1 the babes who loved and yet knew not ,him whom they loved1 and the scowling enemies1 were at one4 ,for they had all of them the one human heart1 and in that heart the deep-lying alienation and contrariety to ,god4 ,therefore ,christ trod the winepress alone1 and alone 'ascended up where ,he was before4' ,but let us remember that this 'cannot' was only a transitory cannot4 ,for we must underscore very deeply that word in my text 'so now ,i say to you1' and a moment afterwards1 when one of the ,apostles puts the question3 ',why cannot ,i follow ,thee now8' the answer is3 ',thou canst not follow ,me now2 but thou shalt follow ,me afterwards4' ,the text1 too1 is succeeded immediately by the wonderful parting consolations and counsels spoken to the disciples1 through all of which there gleams the promise that they will be with ,him where ,he is1 and behold ,his glory4 ,set side by side with these sad words of our ,lord in the text1 by which ,he unloosed their clasping hands from ,him1 and turned ,his face to ,his solitary path1 the triumphant language in which habitually the rest of the ,new ,testament speaks of the ,christian man's relation to ,christ4 ,think of that great passage3 ',ye are come unto the city of the living ,god1 the heavenly ,jerusalem1 ''' and to ,god the ,judge of all1 ''' and to ,jesus the ,mediator of the new ,covenant4' ,what has become of the impossibility8 ,vanished4 ,where is the 'cannot'8 ,turned into a blessed 'can4' ,and so ,apostles have no scruple in saying1 ',our citizenship is in ,heaven1' nor in saying1 ',we sit together with ,him in heavenly places in ,christ ,jesus4' ,the path that was blocked is open4 ,the impossibility that towered up like a great black wall has melted away2 and the path into the ,holiest of all is made patent by the blood of ,christ4 ,for in that death there lies the power that sweeps away all the impediments of man's sin1 and in that life of the risen1 glorified1 indwelling ,christ there lies the power which cleanses the inmost heart from 'all filthiness of flesh and spirit1' and makes it possible for our mortal feet to walk on the immortal path1 and for us1 with all our unworthiness1 with all our shrinking1 to stand in ,his presence and not be ashamed or consumed4 ',ye cannot come' was true for a few days4 ',ye can come' is true for ever2 and for all ,christian men4 ,but let us not forget that the one attitude of heart and mind1 by which a poor1 sinful man1 who dare not draw near to ,god1 receives into himself the merit and power of the death1 and the indwelling power of the life1 of ,jesus ,christ1 is personal faith in ,jesus ,christ4 ,to trust ,him is to come to ,him1 and it is represented in ,scripture as conferring an instantaneous fitness for access to ,god4 ,people pray sometimes that they may be made 'meet for the inheritance of the saints in light1' and the prayer is1 in a sense1 wise and true4 ,but they too often forget that the ,apostle says1 in the original connection of the words which they so quote3 ',he hath translated us from the tyranny of the darkness1 and hath made us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light4' ,that is to say1 whenever a poor soul1 compassed and laden with its infirmity and sin1 turns itself to that ,lord whose ,cross conquers sin1 and whose blood infused into our veins--the ,spirit of whose life granted to us--gives us to partake of ,his own righteousness1 that moment that soul can tread the path that brings into the presence of ,god1 and 'has access with confidence by the faith of ,him4' ,so1 brethren1 seeing that thus the incapacity may all be swept away1 and that instead of a 'cannot1' which relegates us to darkness1 we may receive a 'can' which leads us into the light1 let us see to it that this communion1 which is possible for all ,christian men1 is real in our cases1 and that we use the access which is given to us1 and dwell for ever in1 and with1 the ,lord4 ,i have said that the act of faith1 by associating a man with ,jesus ,christ in the power of ,his death and of ,his life1 makes any who exercise it capable of passing into the presence of ,god4 ,but ,i would remind you1 too1 that to make us more fit for more full and habitual communion is the very purpose for which all the discipline of our earthly life1 its sorrows and its joys1 its tasks and its repose1 is exercised upon us--',he for our profit1 that we might be partakers of ,his holiness4' ,surely if we habitually took that point of view in reference to our work1 in reference to our joys1 in reference to our trials1 everything would be different4 ,we are being prepared with sedulous love1 with patient reiteration of 'line upon line1 precept upon precept1' with singularly varied methods but a uniform purpose1 by all that meets us in life1 to be more capable of treading the eternal path into the eternal light4 ,is that how we daily think of our own circumstances8 ,do we bring that great thought to bear upon all that we1 sometimes faithlessly1 call mysterious or murmuringly think of--if we dare not speak our thought--as being cruel and hard8 ,what does it matter if some precious things be lifted off our shoulders1 and out of our hearts1 if their being taken away makes it more possible for us to tread with a lighter step the path of peace8 ,what matters it though many things that we would fain keep are withdrawn from us1 if by the withdrawal we are sent a little further forward on the road that leads to ,god8 ,as ,george ,herbert says1 sorrows and joys are like battledores that drive a shuttlecock1 and they may all 'toss us to ,his breast4' ,in faith1 however infantile it may be1 there is an undeveloped capacity1 a germ of fitness1 for dwelling with ,god4 ,but that capacity is meant to be increased1 and the little children are meant to be helped to grow up into full-grown men1 'the measure of the stature of the fullness of ,christ1' by all that comes here to them on earth4 ,do you not think we should understand life better1 do you not think it would all be flashed up into new radiance1 do you not think we should more seldom stand bewildered at what we choose to call the inscrutable dispensations of ,providence1 if this were the point of view from which we looked at them all--that they were fitting us for perpetual abiding with our ,father ,god8 ,nor let us forget that there was a transient 'cannot' of another sort4 ,for 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the ,kingdom of ,god4' ,so1 as life is changed when we think of it as helping us toward ,him1 death is changed when we think of it as being1 if ,i may so say1 the usher in attendance on the ,presence-chamber1 who draws back the thin curtain that separates us from the throne1 and takes us by the hands and leads us into the ,presence4 ,surely if we habitually thought thus of that otherwise grim chamberlain1 we should be willing to put our hands into ,his1 as a little child will1 when straying1 into the hands of a stranger who says1 ',come with me and ,i will take you home to your father4' ',as ,i said unto the ,jews ''' so now ,i say to you1 whither ,i go1 ye cannot come4' ,let us press on you and on myself the one thought that comes out of all that ,i have been saying1 the blessed possibility1 which1 because it is a possibility1 is an obligation1 to use far more than most of us do1 the right of access to the ,king who is our ,father4 ,there are nobles and corporate bodies1 who regard it as one of their chief distinctions that they have always the right of entree to the court of the sovereign4 ,every ,christian man has that4 ,and in old days1 when a baron did not show himself at court1 suspicion naturally arose1 and he was in danger of being thought disaffected1 if not traitorous4 ,ah6 if you and ,i were judged according to that law1 what would become of us8 ,we can go when we like4 ,how seldom we do go6 ,we can live in the heavens whilst our work lies down here4 ,we prefer the low earth to the lofty sky4 ',we are come'--ideally1 and in the depths of our nature1 our affinities are there--'unto ,god1 the ,judge of all1 and to ,jesus the ,mediator of the new ,covenant4' ,are we come8 ,are we day by day1 in all the pettiness of our ordinary lives1 when compassed by hard duties1 weighed upon by sore distress--still keeping our hearts in heaven1 and our feet familiar with the path that leads us to ,god8 ',set your affection on things above1 where ,jesus is1 sitting at the right hand of ,god4' ,for there is no 'cannot' for ,his servants in regard to their access to any place where ,he is4 ,,seeking ,,jesus '''' ,ye shall seek ,me4'--,,john xiii4 #cc4 ,in the former sermon on this verse ,i pointed out that it1 in its fullness1 applies only to the brief period between the crucifixion and the resurrection1 but that1 partly by contrast and partly by analogy1 it suggests permanent relations between ,christ and ,his disciples4 ,these relations were mainly--as ,i pointed out then--two3 there was that one expressed by the subsequent words of the verse1 ',whither ,i go1 ye cannot come'--a brief 'cannot1' soon to be changed into a permanent 'can'2 and there was a second1 a brief1 sad1 and vain seeking1 soon to be changed into a seeking which finds4 ,it is to the latter that ,i wish to turn now4 ',ye shall seek ,me' fell1 like the clods on a coffin-lid1 with a hollow sound on the hearts of the ,apostles4 ,it comes to us as a permission and a command and a promise4 ,i do not dwell on that sad seeking1 which was so brief but so bitter4 ,we all know what it is to put out an empty hand into the darkness and the void1 and to grope for a touch which we know1 whilst we grope1 that we shall not find4 ,and these poor1 helpless disciples1 by their forlorn sense of separation1 by their yearning that brought no satisfaction1 by their very listless despair1 were saying1 during these hours of agony into which an eternity of pain was condensed1 ',oh6 that ,he were beside us again6' ,that sad seeking ended when ,he came to them1 and 'then were the disciples glad when they saw the ,lord4' ,but another kind of seeking began1 when 'the cloud received ,him out of their sight'2 as joyful as the other was laden with sorrow1 as sure to find the object of its quest as the other was certain to be disappointed4 ,what ,he said in the darkness to them1 ,he says in the light to us3 ,what ',i say unto you ,i say unto all1' ,seek6 ,so now we have to deal with that joyful search which is sure of finding its object1 and is only a little1 if at all1 less blessed than the finding itself4 ,i4 ,every ,christian is1 by his very name1 a seeker after ,christ4 ,there are two kinds of seeking1 one like that of a bird whose young have been stolen away1 which flutters here and there1 because it knows not where that is which it seeks2 another1 like the flight of the same bird1 when the migrating instinct rises in its little breast1 and straight as an arrow it goes1 not because it knows not its goal1 but because it knows it1 yonder where the sun is warm and the sky is blue1 and winter is left behind in the cold north4 ',ye shall seek ,me' is the word of promise1 which changes the vain search that is ignorant of where the object of its quest is1 into a blessed going out of the heart towards that which it knows to be the home of its homelessness4 ,thus the text brings out the very central blessedness and peculiarity of the ,christian life1 that it has no uncertainty in its aims1 and that1 instead of seeking for things which may or may not be found1 or if found may or may not prove to be what we dreamt them to be4 ,it seeks for a ,person whom it knows where to find1 and of whom it knows that all its desires will be met in ,him4 ,we have1 then1 on the one side the multifarious1 divergent searchings of man2 and on the other side the one quest in which all these others are gathered up1 and translated into blessedness--the seeking after ,jesus ,christ4 ,men know that they need1 if ,i may so put it1 four things3 truth for the understanding1 love round which the heart may coil1 authority for the will which may direct and restrain1 and energy for the practical life4 ,but1 apart from the quest after ,christ1 men for the most part seek these necessary goods in divers objects1 and fragmentarily look for the completion of their desires4 ,but fragments will never satisfy a man's soul1 and they who have to go to one place for truth1 and to another for love1 and to another for authority1 and to another for energy1 are wofully likely never to find what they search for4 ,they are seeking in the manifold what can be found only in the ,one4 ,it is as if some vessel1 full of precious stones1 were thrown down before men1 and whilst they are racing after the diamonds1 they lose the emeralds and the sapphires4 ,but the wise concentrate their seekings on the 'one ,pearl of great price1' in whom is truth for the brain1 love for the heart1 authority for the will1 power for the life1 and all summed in that which is more blessed than all1 the ,person of the ,brother who died for us1 the ,christ who lives to fill our hearts for ever4 ,one sun dims all the stars2 and the 'one entire and perfect ,chrysolite' beggars and reduces to fragments 'all the precious things that thou canst desire4' ,to seek ,him is the very hall-mark of a ,christian1 and that seeking comes to be an earnest desire and effort after more conscious communion with ,him1 and a more entire possession of ,his imparted life which is righteousness and peace and joy and power4 ,according to the ,rabbis1 the manna tasted to each man what each man most desired4 ,the manifoldness of the one ,christ is far more manifold than the manifoldness of the multiplicity of fragmentary and partial aims which foolish men perceive4 ,the ways of seeking are very plain4 ,first of all1 we seek if1 and in proportion as1 we make the effort to occupy our thoughts and minds1 not with theological dogmas1 but with the living ,christ ,himself4 ,ah6 brethren1 it is hard to do1 and ,i daresay a great many of you are thinking that it is far harder for you1 in the distractions and rush and conflict of business and daily life1 than it is for people like me1 whom you imagine as sitting in a study1 with nothing to distract us4 ,i do not know about that2 ,i fancy it is about equally hard for us all2 but it is possible4 ,i have been in ,alpine villages where1 at the end of every squalid alley1 there towered up a great1 pure1 silent1 white peak4 ,that is what our lives may be2 however noisome1 crowded1 petty the little lane in which we live1 the ,alp is at the end of it there1 if we only choose to lift our eyes and look4 ,it is possible that not only 'into the sessions of sweet silent thought1' but into the rush and bustle of the workshop or the exchange1 there may come1 like 'some sweet1 beguiling melody1 so sweet we know not we are listening to it1' the thought that changes pettiness into greatness1 that makes all things go smoothly and easily1 that is a test and a charm to discover and to destroy temptation1 the thought of a present ,christ1 the ,lover of my soul1 and the ,helper of my life4 ,again1 we seek ,him when1 by aspiration and desire1 we bring ,him--as ,he is always brought thereby--into our hearts and into our lives4 ,the measure of our desire is the measure of our possession4 ,wishing is the opening of our hearts1 but1 alas1 often we wish and desire1 and the heart opens and nothing enters4 ,wishes are like the tentacles of some marine organism waving about in a waste ocean1 feeling for the food that they do not find4 ,but if we open our hearts for ,him1 that is simultaneous with the coming of ,him to us4 ',ye have not1 because ye ask not4' ,do not forget1 dear friends1 that desire1 if it is genuine1 will take a very concrete form and will be prayer4 ,and it is prayer--by which ,i do not mean the utterance of words without desire1 any more than ,i mean desire without the direct casting of it into the form of supplication--it is prayer that brings ,christ into any1 and it is prayer that will bring ,him into every1 life4 ,nor let us forget that there is another way of seeking besides these two1 of looking up to ,him through1 and in the midst of1 all the shows and trifles of this low life1 and the reaching out of our desires towards ,him1 as the roots of a tree beneath the soil go straight for the river4 ,that other way is imitation and obedience4 ,it is vain to think of ,him1 and it is unreal to pretend to desire ,him1 if we are not seeking ,him by treading in the path that ,he has trod1 and which leads to ,him4 ,imitation and obedience--these are the steps by which we go straight through all the trivialities of life into the presence of the ,lord ,himself4 ,the smallest deflection from the path that leads to ,him will carry us away into doleful wastes4 ,the least invisible cloud that steals across the sky will blot out half a hemisphere of stars2 and we seek not ,christ unless1 thinking of ,him1 and desiring ,him1 we also walk in the path in which ,he has walked1 and so come where ,he is4 ,he ,himself has said that if ,his servant follows ,him1 where ,he is there shall also ,his servant be4 ,these things make up the seeking which ought to mark us all4 ,i note that-- ,,ii4 ,the ,christian seeker always finds4 ,i pointed out in my last sermon the strange identity of our ,lord's words to ,his humble friends1 with those which on another occasion ,he used to ,his bitter enemies4 ,he reminds the disciples of that identity in the verse from which my text comes3 ',as ,i said to the ,jews ''' so now ,i say to you4' ,but there was one thing that ,he said to the ,jews that ,he did not say to them4 ,to the former ,he said1 ',ye shall seek ,me1 and shall not find ,me'2 and ,he did not say that--even for the sad hours it was not quite true--,he did not say that to ,his followers1 and ,he does not say it to us4 ,if we seek we shall find4 ,there is no disappointment in the ,christian life4 ,anything is possible rather than that a man should desire ,christ and not have ,him4 ,that has never been the experience of any seeking soul4 ,and so ,i urge upon you what has already been suggested1 that inasmuch as1 by reason of ,his infinite longing to give truth and love and guidance and energy and ,his whole ,self1 to all of us1 the amount of our possession of the power and life of ,jesus ,christ depends on ourselves4 ,if you take to the fountain a tiny cup1 you will only bring away a tiny cupful4 ,if you take a great vessel you will bring it away full4 ,as long as the woman in the old story held out her vessels to the miraculous flow of the oil1 the flow continued4 ,when she had no more vessels to take1 the flow stopped4 ,if a man holds a flagon beneath a spigot with an unsteady hand1 half of the precious liquor will be spilt on the ground4 ,those who fulfil the conditions1 of which ,i have already been speaking1 may make quite sure that according to their faith will it be unto them4 ,and if you1 dear friend1 have not in your experience the conscious presence of a ,christ who is all that you need1 there is no one in heaven or earth or hell to blame for it but only your own self4 ',i have never said to any of the seed of ,jacob1 ,seek ye ,my face in vain'2 and when the ,lord said1 ',ye shall seek ,me1' ,he was implicitly binding ,himself to meet the seeking soul1 and give ,himself to the desiring heart4 ,remember1 too1 that this seeking1 which is always crowned with finding1 is the only search in which failure is impossible4 ,there is only one course of life that has no disappointments4 ,we all know how frequently we are foiled in our quests2 we all know how often a prize won is a bitterer disappointment than a prize unattained4 ,like a jelly-fish in the water1 as long as it is there its tenuous substance is lovely1 expanded1 tinged with delicate violets and blues1 and its long filaments float in lines of beauty4 ,lay it on the beach1 and it is a shapeless lump1 and it poisons and stings4 ,you fish your prize out of the great ocean1 and when you have it1 does it disappoint1 or does it fulfil1 the raised expectations of the quest8 ,there is ,one who does not disappoint4 ,there is one gold mine that comes up to the prospectus4 ,there is one spring that never runs dry4 ,the more deep our ,christian experience is1 the more we shall take the rapturous exclamation of the ,arabian queen to ourselves3 ',the half was not told us6' ,and so1 lastly1 ,i suggest that-- ,,iii4 ,the finding impels to fresh seeking4 ,the object of the ,christian man's quest is ,jesus ,christ4 ,he is ,incarnate ,infinitude2 and that cannot be exhausted4 ,the seeker after ,jesus ,christ is the ,christian soul4 ,that soul is the incarnate possibility of indefinite expansion and approximation and assimilation2 and that cannot be exhausted4 ,and so1 with a ,christ who is infinite1 and a seeker whose capacities may be indefinitely expanded1 there can be no satiety1 there can be no limit1 there can be no end to the process4 ,this wine-skin will not burst when the new wine is put into it4 ,rather like some elastic vessel1 as you pour it will fill out and expand4 ,possession enlarges1 and the more of ,christ's fullness is poured into a human heart1 the more is that heart widened out to receive a greater blessing4 ,dear brethren1 there is one course of life1 and ,i believe but one1 on which we may all enter with the sure confidence that in the nature of things1 in the nature of ,christ1 and in the nature of ourselves1 there is no end to growth and progress4 ,think of the freshness and blessedness and energy that puts into a life4 ,to have an unattained and unattainable object1 a goal to which we can never come1 but to which we may ever be approximating1 seems to me to be the secret of perpetual joy and of perpetual youthfulness4 ,to say1 'forgetting the things that are behind1 ,i reach forward unto the things that are before1' is a charm and an amulet that repels monotony and weariness1 and goes with a man to the very end1 and when all other aims and objects have died down into grey ashes1 that flame1 like the fabled lamp in ,virgil's tomb1 burns clear in the grave1 and lights us to the eternity beyond4 ,for certainly1 if there be neither satiety nor limit to ,christian progress here1 there can be no better and stronger evidence that ,christian progress here is but the first 'lap' of the race1 the first stadium of the course1 and that beyond that narrow1 dark line which lies across the path1 it runs on1 rising higher1 and will run on for ever4 ',on earth the broken arc2 in heaven the perfect round4' ,seek for what you are sure to find2 seek for what will never disappoint you2 seek for what will abide with you for ever4 ,the very first word of ,christ's recorded in ,scripture is a question which ,he puts to us all3 ',what seek ye8' ,well for us1 if like the two to whom it was originally addressed1 we answer1 ',we are not seeking a ,what2 we are seeking a ,whom4--,master1 where dwellest ,thou8' ,and if we have that answer in our hearts1 we shall receive the invitation which they received1 ',come and see1'--come and seek4 ',ye shall seek ,me' is a gracious invitation1 an imperative command1 and a faithful promise that if we seek we shall find4 ',whoso findeth ,him findeth life2 whoso misseth ,him'--whatever else he has sought and found--'wrongeth his own soul4' ',,as ,i ,,have ,,loved' ',a new commandment ,i give unto you1 ,that ye love one another3 as ,i have loved you1 that ye also love one another4 ,by this shall all men know that ye are ,my disciples1 if ye have love one to another4'--,,john xiii4 #cd1 #ce4 ,wishes from dying lips are sacred4 ,they sink deep into memories and mould faithful lives4 ,the sense of impending separation had added an unwonted tenderness to our ,lord's address1 and ,he had designated ,his disciples by the fond name of 'little children4' ,the same sense here gives authority to ,his words1 and moulds them into the shape of a command4 ,the disciples had held together because ,he was in their midst4 ,will the arch stand when the keystone is struck out8 ,will not the spokes fall asunder when the nave of the wheel is taken away8 ,he would guard them from the disintegrating tendencies that were sure to set in when ,he was gone2 and ,he would point them to a solace for ,his absence1 and to a kind of substitute for ,his presence4 ,for to love the brethren whom they see would be1 in some sense1 a continuing to love the ,christ whom they had ceased to see4 ,and so1 immediately after ,he said3 ',whither ,i go ye cannot come1' ,he goes on to say3 ',love one another as ,i have loved you4' ,he called this a 'new commandment1' though to love one's neighbour as one's self was a familiar commonplace amongst the ,jews1 and had a recognised position in ,rabbinical teaching4 ,but ,his commandment proposed a new object of love1 it set forth a new measure of love1 so greatly different from all that had preceded it as to become almost a new kind of love1 and it suggested and supplied a new motive power for love4 ,this commandment 'could give life' and fulfil itself4 ,therefore it comes to us as a 'new commandment'--even to us--and1 unlike the words which preceded it1 which we were considering in former sermons1 it is wholly and freshly applicable to-day as in the ages that are passed4 ,i ask you1 first1 to consider-- ,i4 ,the new scope of the new commandment4 ',love one another4' ,the newness of the precept is realised1 if we think for a moment of the new phenomenon which obedience to it produced4 ,when the words were spoken1 the then-known civilised ,western world was cleft by great1 deep gulfs of separation1 like the crevasses in a glacier1 by the side of which our racial animosities and class differences are merely superficial cracks on the surface4 ,language1 religion1 national animosities1 differences of condition1 and saddest of all1 difference of sex1 split the world up into alien fragments4 ,a 'stranger' and an 'enemy' were expressed in one language1 by the same word4 ,the learned and the unlearned1 the slave and his master1 the barbarian and the ,greek1 the man and the woman1 stood on opposite sides of the gulfs1 flinging hostility across4 ,a ,jewish peasant wandered up and down for three years in ,his own little country1 which was the very focus of narrowness and separation and hostility1 as the ,roman historian felt when he called the ,jews the 'haters of the human race'2 ,he gathered a few disciples1 and ,he was crucified by a contemptuous ,roman governor1 who thought that the life of one fanatical ,jew was a small price to pay for popularity with his troublesome subjects1 and in a generation after1 the clefts were being bridged and all over the ,empire a strange new sense of unity was being breathed1 and ',barbarian1 ,scythian1 bond and free1' male and female1 ,jew and ,greek1 learned and ignorant1 clasped hands and sat down at one table1 and felt themselves 'all one in ,christ ,jesus4' ,they were ready to break all other bonds1 and to yield to the uniting forces that streamed out from ,his ,cross4 ,there never had been anything like it4 ,no wonder that the world began to babble about sorcery1 and conspiracies1 and complicity in unnameable vices4 ,it was only that the disciples were obeying the 'new commandment1' and a new thing had come into the world--a community held together by love and not by geographical accidents or linguistic affinities1 or the iron fetters of the conqueror4 ,you sow the seed in furrows separated by ridges1 and the ground is seamed1 but when the seed springs the ridges are hidden1 no division appears1 and as far as the eye can reach1 the cornfield stretches1 rippling in unbroken waves of gold4 ,the new commandment made a new thing1 and the world wondered4 ,now then1 brethren1 do not let us forget that1 although to obey this commandment is in some respects a great deal harder to-day than it was then1 the diverse circumstances in which ,christian individuals and ,christian communities are this day placed may modify the form of our obedience1 but do not in the smallest degree weaken the obligation1 for the individual ,christian and for societies of ,christians1 to follow this commandment4 ,the multiplication of numbers1 the cessation of the armed hostility of the world1 the great varieties in intellectual position in regard to the truths of ,christianity1 divergencies of culture1 and many other things1 are separating forces1 ,but our ,christianity is worth very little1 if it cannot master these separating tendencies1 even as in the early days of freshness1 the ,christianity that sprang in these new converts' minds mastered the far more powerful separating tendencies with which they had to contend4 ,every ,christian man is under the obligation to recognise his kindred with every other ,christian man--his kindred in the deep foundations of his spiritual being1 which are far deeper1 and ought to be far more operative in drawing together1 than the superficial differences of culture or opinion or the like1 which may part us4 ,the bond that holds ,christian men together is their common relation to the one ,lord1 and that ought to influence their attitude to one another4 ,you say ,i am talking commonplaces4 ,yes2 and the condition of ,christianity this day is the sad and tragical sign that the commonplaces need to be talked about1 till they are rubbed into the conscience of the ,church as they never have been before4 ,do not let us suppose that ,christian love is mere sentiment4 ,i shall have to speak a word or two about that presently1 but ,i would fain lift the whole subject1 if ,i can1 out of the region of mere unctuous words and gush of half-feigned emotion1 which mean nothing1 and would make you feel that it is a very practical commandment1 gripping us hard1 when our ,lord says to us1 ',love one another4' ,i have spoken about the accidental conditions which make obedience to this commandment difficult4 ,the real reason which makes the obedience to it difficult is the slackness of our own hold on the ,centre4 ,in the measure in which we are filled with ,jesus ,christ1 in that measure will that expression of ,his spirit and ,his life become natural to us4 ,every ,christian has affinities with every other ,christian1 in the depths of his being1 so as that he is a great deal more like his brother1 who is possessor of 'like precious faith1' however unlike the two may be in outlook1 in idiosyncrasy1 and culture and in creed1 than he is to another man with whom he may have a far closer sympathy in all these matters than he has with the brother in question1 but from whom he is parted by this1 that the one trusts and loves and obeys ,jesus ,christ1 and the other does not4 ,so1 for individuals and for churches1 the commandment takes this shape--,go down to the depths and you will find that you are closer to the ,christian man or community which seems furthest from you1 than you are to the non-,christian who seems nearest to you4 ,therefore1 let your love follow your kinship1 and your heart recognise the oneness that knits you together4 ,that is a revolutionary commandment2 what would become of our present organisations of ,christianity if it were obeyed8 ,that is a revolutionary commandment2 what would become of our individual relations to the whole family who1 in every place1 and in many tongues1 and with many creeds1 call on ,jesus as on their ,lord1 their ,lord and ours1 if it were obeyed8 ,i leave you to answer the question4 ,only ,i say the commandment has for its first scope all who1 in every place1 love the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,but there is more than that involved in it4 ,the very same principle which makes this love to one another imperative upon all disciples1 makes it equally imperative upon every follower of ,jesus ,christ to embrace in a real affection all whom ,jesus so loved as to die for them4 ,if ,i am to love a ,christian man because he and ,i love ,christ1 ,i am to love everybody1 because ,christ loves me and everybody1 and because ,he died on the ,cross for me and for all men4 ,and so one of the other ,apostles1 or1 at least1 the letter which goes by his name1 laid hold on the true connection when1 instead of concentrating ,christian affection on the ,church1 and letting the world go to the devil as an alien thing1 he said3 ',add to your faith1' this1 that1 and the other1 and 'brotherly kindness1 and to brotherly kindness1 charity4' ,the particular does not exclude the general1 it leads to the general4 ,the fire kindled upon the hearth gives warmth to all the chamber4 ,the circles are concentric1 and the widest sweep is struck from the same middle point as the narrow4 ,so the new commandment does not cut humanity into two halves1 but gathers all diversity into one1 and spreads the great reconciling of ,christian love over all the antagonisms and oppositions of earth4 ,let me ask you to notice-- ,,ii4 ,the example of the new commandment1 ',as ,i have loved you4' ,that solemn 'as' lifts itself up before us1 shines far ahead of us1 ought to draw us to itself in hope1 and not to repel us from itself in despair4 ',as ,i have loved'--what a tremendous thing for a man to stand up before his fellows1 and say1 ',take ,me as the perfect example of perfect love2 and let ,my example--un-dimmed by the mists of gathering centuries1 and un-weakened by the change of condition1 and circumstance1 fresh as ever after ages have passed1 and closely-fitting as ever all varieties of human character and condition--stand before you2 the ideal that ,i have realised1 and you will be blessed in the proportion in which you seek1 though you fail1 to realise it6' ,there is1 ,i venture to believe1 only one aspect of ,jesus ,christ in which such a setting forth of ,himself as the perfect ,incarnation of perfect love is warrantable2 and that is found in the old belief that ,his very birth was the result of ,his love1 and that ,his death was the climax of that love4 ,and if so1 we have to turn to ,bethlehem1 and the whole life1 and the ,cross at its end1 as being the ,christ-given example and model for our love to our brethren4 ,what do we see there8 ,i have said that there is too much of mere sickly sentimentality about the ordinary treatment of this great commandment1 and that ,i desired to lift it out of that region into a far nobler1 more strenuous1 and difficult one4 ,this is what we see in that life and in that death3--,first of all--the activity of love--',let us not love in words1 but in deed and in truth'2 then we see the self-forgetfulness of love--',even ,christ pleased not ,himself'2 then we see the self-sacrifice of love--',greater love hath no man than this1 that a man lay down his life for his friends4' ,and in these three points1 on which ,i would fain enlarge if ,i might1 active love1 self-oblivious love1 self-sacrificing love1 you have the pattern set for us all4 ,christian love is no mere sickly maiden1 full of sentimental emotions and honeyed words4 ,she is a strenuous virgin1 girt for service1 a heroine ready for dangers1 and prepared to be a martyr if it be needful4 ,love's language is sacrifice4 ',i give thee myself1' is its motto4 ,and that is the pattern that is set before us all--'as ,i have loved you4' ,i have tried to show you how the commandment was new in many particulars1 and it is for ever new in this particular1 that it is for ever before us1 unattained1 and drawing faithful hearts to itself1 and ever opening out into new heroisms and1 therefore1 blessedness1 of self-sacrifice1 and ever leading us to confess the differences1 deep1 tragic1 sinful1 between us and ,him who--we sometimes think too presumptuously--we venture to say is our ,lord and ,master4 ,did you ever see in some great picture gallery a copyist sitting in front of a ,raffaelle1 and comparing his poor feeble daub1 all out of drawing1 and with little of the divine beauty that the master had breathed over his canvas1 even if it preserved the mere mechanical outline8 ,that is what you and ,i should do with our lives3 take them and put them down side by side with the original4 ,we shall have to do it some day4 ,had we better not do it now1 and try to bring the copy a little nearer to the masterpiece2 and let that 'as ,i have loved you' shine before us and draw us on to unattainable heights8 ,and now1 lastly1 we have here-- ,,iii4 ,the motive power for obedience to the commandment4 ,that is as new as all the rest4 ,that 'as' expresses the manner of the love1 but it also expresses the motive and the power4 ,it might be translated into the equivalent 'in the fashion in which1' or it might be translated into the equivalent 'since--' ',i have loved you4' ,the original might bear the rendering1 'that ye also may love one another4' ,that is to say1 what keeps men from obeying this commandment is the instinctive self-regard which is natural to us all4 ,there are muscles in the body which are so constructed that they close tightly2 and the heart is something like one of these sphincter muscles--it shuts by nature1 especially if there has been anything put inside it over which it can shut and keep it all to itself4 ,but there is one thing that dethrones ,self1 and enthrones the angel ,love in a heart1 and that is1 that into that heart there shall come surging the sense of the great love 'wherewith ,i have loved you4' ,that melts the iceberg2 nothing else will4 ,that love of ,christ to us1 received into our hearts1 and there producing an answering love to ,him1 will make us1 in the measure in which we live in it and let it rule us1 love everything and every person that ,he loves4 ,that love of ,jesus ,christ1 stealing into our hearts and there sweetening the ever-springing 'issues of life1' will make them flow out in glad obedience to any commandment of ,his4 ,that love of ,jesus ,christ1 received into our hearts1 and responded to by our answering love1 will work1 as love always does1 a magical transformation4 ,a great monastic teacher wrote his precious book about ,the ,imitation of ,christ4 ',imitation' is a great word1 ',transformation' is a greater4 ',we all1' receiving on the mirror of our loving hearts the love of ,jesus ,christ1 'are changed into the same likeness4' ,thus1 then1 the love1 which is our pattern1 is also our motive and our power for obedience1 and the more we bring ourselves under its influences1 the more we shall love all those who are beloved by1 and lovers of1 ,jesus4 ,that is the one foundation for a world knit together in the bonds of amity and concord4 ,there have been attempts at brotherhood1 and the guillotine has ended what was begun in the name of 'fraternity4' ,men build towers1 but there is no cement between the bricks1 unless the love of ,christ holds them together1 and therefore ,babel after ,babel comes down about the ears of its builders4 ,but notwithstanding all that is dark to-day1 and though the war-clouds are lowering1 and the hearts of men are inflamed with fierce passions1 ,christ's commandment is ,christ's promise2 and though the vision tarry1 it will surely come4 ,so even to-day ,christian men ought to stand for ,christ's peace1 and for ,christ's love4 ,the old commandment which we have had from the beginning1 is the new commandment that fits to-day as it fits all the ages4 ,it is a dream1 say some4 ,yes1 a dream2 but a morning dream which comes true4 ,let us do the little we can to make it true1 and to bring about the day when the flock of men will gather round the one ,shepherd1 who loved them to the death1 and who has bid them and helped them to 'love one another as'--and since--',he has loved them4' ,,quo ,,vadis8 ',peter said unto ,him1 ,lord1 why cannot ,i follow ,thee now6 ,i will lay down my life for ,thy sake4 ,jesus answered him1 ,wilt thou lay down thy life for ,my sake8 ,verily1 verily1 ,i say unto thee1 ,the cock shall not crow1 till thou hast denied ,me thrice4'--,,john xiii4 #cg1 #ch4 ,peter's main characteristics are all in operation here2 his eagerness to be in the front1 his habit of blurting out his thoughts and feelings1 his passionate love for his ,master1 and withal his inability to understand ,him1 and his self-confident arrogance4 ,he has broken in upon ,christ's solemn words1 entirely deaf to their deep meaning1 but blindly and blunderingly laying hold of one thought only1 that ,jesus is departing1 and that he is to be left alone4 ,so he asks the question1 ',lord6 thither goest ,thou8'--not so much caring about that1 as meaning by his question--'tell me where1 and then ,i will come too'2 pledging himself to follow faithfully1 as a dog behind his master1 wherever ,he went4 ,our ,lord answered the underlying meaning of the words1 repeating with a personal application what ,he had just before said as a general principle--',whither ,i go thou canst not follow ,me now1 but thou shall follow ,me afterwards4' ,then followed this noteworthy dialogue4 ,the whole significance of the incident is preserved for us in the beautiful legend which tells us how1 near the city of ,rome1 on the ,appian ,way1 as ,peter was flying for his life1 he met the ,lord1 and again said to ,him3 ',lord1 whither goest ,thou8' ,the words of the question1 as given in the ,vulgate1 are the name of the site of the supposed interview1 and of the little church which stands on it4 ,the ,master answered3 ',i go to ,rome1 to be crucified again4' ,the answer smote the heart of the ,apostle1 and turned the cowardly fugitive into a hero2 and he followed his ,lord1 and went gladly to his death4 ,for it was that death which had to be accomplished before ,peter was able to follow his ,lord4 ,now1 as to the words before us1 ,i think we shall best gather their significance1 and lay it upon our own hearts1 if we simply follow the windings of the dialogue4 ,there are three points3 the audacious question1 the rash vow1 and the sad forecast4 ,i4 ,the audacious question4 ,as ,peter's first question1 ',lord1 whither goest ,thou8' meant not so much what it said1 as ',i will follow ,thee whithersoever ,thou goest2 tell me1 that ,i may'2 so the second question1 in like manner1 is really not so much a question1 ',why cannot ,i follow ,thee now8' as the nearest possible approach to a flat contradiction of our ,lord4 ,peter puts his words into the shape of an interrogation2 what he means is1 ',yes1 ,i can follow ,thee2 and in proof thereof1 ,i will lay down my life for ,thy sake4' ,the man's persistence1 the man's love leading him to lack of reverence1 came out in this 7as ,i have ventured to call it7 audacious question4 ,its underlying meaning was a refusal to believe the ,master's word4 ,but yet there was in it a nobility of resolution--broken afterwards1 but never mind about that--to endure anything rather than to be separate from the ,lord4 ,yet1 though it was noble in its motive1 but lacking in reverence in its form1 there was a deeper error than that in it4 ,peter did not know what 'following' meant1 and he had to be taught that first4 ,one of the main reasons why he could not follow was because he did not understand what was involved4 ,it was something more than marching behind his ,master1 even to a ,cross4 ,there was a deeper discipline and a more strenuous effort needed than would have availed for such a kind of following4 ,let us look a little onwards into his life4 ,recall that scene on the morning of the day by the banks of the lake1 when he waded through the shallow water1 and cast himself1 dripping1 at his ,master's feet1 and1 having by his threefold confession obliterated his threefold denial1 was taken back to his ,lord's love1 and received the permission for which he had hungered1 and which he had been told1 in the upper room1 could not 'now' be given3 ',jesus said to him1 ,follow thou ,me4' ,what a flood of remembrances must then have rushed over the penitent ,peter6 how he must have thought to himself1 ',so soon1 so soon is the canst not changed into a canst6 ,so soon has the afterwards come to be the present6' ,and long years after that1 when he was an old man1 and experience had taught him what following meant1 he shared his privilege with all the dispersed strangers to whom he wrote1 and said to them1 with a definite reference to this incident1 and to the other after the ,resurrection1 'leaving us an example1 that we 7not only1 as ,i used to think1 in my exuberant days of ignorance7 should follow in ,his steps4' ,so1 brethren1 this blundering1 loving1 audacious question suggests to us that to follow ,jesus ,christ is the supreme direction for all conduct4 ,men of all creeds1 men of no creed1 admit that4 ,the ',loveliness of perfect deeds1 ,more strong than all poetic thought1' which is set forth in that life constitutes the living law to which all conduct is to be conformed1 and will be noble in proportion as it is conformed4 ,there is the great blessing1 and solemn obligation1 and lofty prerogative of ,christian morality1 that for obedience to a precept it substitutes following a ,person1 and instead of saying to men ',be good' it says to them ',be ,christlike4' ,it brings the conception of duty out of the region of abstractions into the region of living realities4 ,for the cold statuesque ideal of perfection it substitutes a living ,man1 with a heart to love1 and a hand to help us4 ,thereby the whole aspect of striving after the right is changed2 for the work is made easier1 and companionship comes in to aid morality1 when ,jesus ,christ says to us1 ',be like ,me2 and then you will be good and blessed4' ,effort will be all but as blessed as attainment1 and the sense of pressing hard after ,him will be only less restful than the consciousness of having attained4 ,to follow ,him is bliss1 to reach ,him is heaven4 ,but in order that this following should be possible1 there must be something done that had not been done when ,peter asked1 ',why cannot ,i follow ,thee now8' ,one reason why he could not was1 as ,i said1 because he did not know yet what 'following' meant1 and because he was yet unfit for this assimilation of his character and of his conduct to the likeness of his ,lord4 ,and another reason was because the ,cross still lay before the ,lord1 and until that death of infinite love and utter self-sacrifice for others had been accomplished1 the pattern was not yet complete1 nor the highest ideal of human life realised in life4 ,therefore the 'following' was impossible4 ,christ must die before ,he has completed the example that we are to follow1 and ,christ must die before the impulse shall be given to us1 which shall make us able to tread1 however falteringly and far behind1 in ,his footsteps4 ,the essence of ,his life and of ,his death lies in the two things1 entire suppression of personal will in obedience to the will of the ,father1 and entire self-sacrifice for the sake of humanity4 ,and however there is--and ,god forbid that ,i should ever forget in my preaching that there is--a uniqueness in that sacrifice1 in that life1 and in that death1 which beggars all imitation1 and needs and tolerates no repetition whilst the world lasts1 still along with this1 there is that which is imitable in the life and imitable in the death of the ,master4 ,to follow ,jesus is to live denying self for ,god1 and to live sacrificing self for men4 ,nothing less than these are included in the solemn words1 'leaving us'--even in the act and article of death when ,he 'suffered for us'--'an example that we should follow ,his steps4' ,the word rendered 'example' refers to the headline which the writing-master gives his pupils to copy1 line by line4 ,we all know how clumsy the pothooks and hangers are1 how blurred the page with many a blot4 ,and yet there1 at the top of it1 stands the ,master's fair writing1 and though even the last line on the page will be blotted and blurred1 when we turn it over and begin on the new leaf1 the copy will be like the original1 'and we shall be like ,him1 for we shall see ,him as ,he is4' ',thou shalt follow ,me afterwards' is a commandment2 blessed be ,god1 it is also a promise4 ,for let us not forget that the 'following' ends in an attaining2 even as the ,lord ,himself has said in another connection1 when ,he spake3 ',if any man serve ,me1 let him follow ,me1 and where ,i am1 there shall also ,my servant be4' ,of course1 if we follow1 we shall come to the same place one day4 ,and so the great promise will be fulfilled2 'they shall follow the ,lamb1' in that higher life1 'whithersoever ,he goeth'2 and not as here imperfectly1 and far behind1 but close beside ,him1 and keeping step for step1 being with ,him first1 and following ,him afterwards4 ,but let us remember that with regard to that future following and its completeness1 the same present incapacity applies1 as clogs and mars the 'following1' which is conforming our lives to ,his4 ,for1 as ,he ,himself has said to us1 ',i go to prepare a place for you1' and until ,he had passed through death and into ,his glory1 there was no standing-ground for human feet on the golden pavements1 and heaven was inaccessible to man until ,christ had died4 ,thus1 as all life is changed when it is looked upon as being a following of ,jesus1 so death becomes altogether other when it is so regarded4 ,the first martyr outside the city wall1 bruised and battered by the cruel stones1 remembered his ,master's death1 and shaped his own to be like it4 ,as ,jesus1 when ,he died1 had said3 ',father1 into ,thy hands ,i commend ,my spirit1' ,stephen1 dying1 said3 ',lord ,jesus1 receive ,my spirit4' ,as the ,master had given ,his last breath to the prayer1 ',father1 forgive them2 they know not what they do1' so ,stephen shaped his last utterance to a conformity with his ,lord's1 in which the difference is as significant as the likeness1 and said1 ',lord1 lay not this sin to their charge4' ,and then1 as the record beautifully says1 amidst all that wild hubbub and cruel assault1 'he fell on sleep1' as a child on its mother's breast4 ,death is changed when it becomes the following of ,christ4 ,,ii4 ,we have here a rash vow4 ',i will lay down my life for ,thy sake4' ,what a strange inversion of parts is here6 ',lay down thy life for ,my sake'--with ,calvary less than four-and-twenty hours off1 when ,christ laid down ,his life for ,peter's sake4 ,peter was guilty of an anachronism in the words1 for the time did not come for the disciple to die for his ,lord till after the ,lord had died for ,his disciple4 ,but he was right in feeling1 though he felt it only in regard to an external and physical act1 that to follow ,jesus1 it was necessary to be ready to die for ,him4 ,and that is the great truth which underlies and half redeems the rashness of this vow1 and needs to be laid upon our hearts1 if we are ever to be the true followers of the ,master4 ,death for ,christ is necessary if we are to follow ,him4 ,there is nothing that a man can do deeply and truly1 in a manner worthy of a ,christian1 which has not underlying it1 either the death of self-will and all the godless nature1 or if need be the actual physical death1 which is a much smaller matter4 ,you cannot follow ,christ except you die daily4 ,no man has ever yet trodden in ,his footsteps except on condition of1 moment by moment1 slaying self1 suppressing self1 abjuring self1 breaking the connection of self with the material world1 and yielding up himself as a living sacrifice1 in a living death1 to the ,lord of life and death4 ,do not think that 'following ,christ' is a mere sentimental expression for so much morality as we can conveniently get into our daily life4 ,but remember that here1 with all his rashness1 with all his ignorance1 with all his superficiality1 the ,apostle has laid hold upon the great permanent1 but alas6 much-forgotten principle1 that to die is essential to following ,jesus4 ,this daily dying1 which is a far harder thing to do than to go to a cross once1 and have done with it--was impossible for ,peter then1 though he did not know it4 ,his vow was a rash one1 because the laying down of ,christ's life1 for ,peter's sake and for ours1 had not yet been accomplished4 ,there is the motive-power by which1 and by which alone1 drawn in gratitude1 and melted down from all our selfishness1 we1 too1 in our measure and our turn1 are able to yield ourselves1 in daily crucifixion of our evil1 and daily abnegation of self-trust1 and self-pleasing1 and self-will1 to the ,lord that has died for us4 ,he must lay down ,his life for our sakes1 and we must know ,he has done it1 and rest upon ,him as our great ,sacrifice and our atoning ,priest1 or else we shall never be so loosed from the tyranny of self as to be ready to live by dying1 and to die that we may live for ,his sake4 ',i go to ,rome to be crucified again' were the words in which the old legend braced the fugitive and made a hero of him1 and sent him back to be crucified like his ,lord and to offer up his physical life1 as he had long since offered up his self-will and his arrogance to the ,lord that had died for him4 ,o ,lord our ,father6 help us1 we beseech ,thee1 that we may be of the sheep that hear the ,shepherd's voice and follow ,him4 ,strengthen our faith in that dear ,lord who has laid down ,his life for us1 that we may daily1 by self-denial and self-sacrifice1 lay down our lives for ,him1 and follow ,him here in all the footsteps of ,his love4 ,a ,,rash ,,vow ',jesus answered him1 ,wilt them lay down thy life for ,my sake8 ,verily1 verily ,i say unto thee1 ,the cock shall not crow1 till thou hast denied ,me thrice4'--,,john xiii4 #ch4 ,in the last sermon ,i partly considered the dialogue of which this is the concluding portion1 and found that it consisted of an audacious question3 ',why cannot ,i follow ,thee now8' which really meant a contradiction of our ,lord2 of a rash vow2 ',i will lay down my life for ,thy sake'--and of a sad forecast3 ',the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied ,me thrice4' ,i paused in the middle of considering the second of these three stages1 the rash vow4 ,i then pointed out that1 however ignorant the ,apostle was of what 'following ,christ' meant1 he had hit the mark1 and stumbled unknowingly upon the very essence of the ,christian life1 and an eternal truth1 when he recognised that1 somehow or other1 to 'follow ,christ' meant to die for ,him4 ,that is so1 and is so always1 for there is no following ,christ which is not a 'dying daily1' by self-immolation and detachment from the world1 and from the life of sense and self4 ,but this rash vow has to be looked at from a somewhat different point of view1 and we have to consider not only the strangely blended right and wrong1 error and deep truth1 that lie in its substance1 but the strangely blended right and wrong in the state of feeling and thought1 on the part of the ,apostle1 which it represents4 ,and taking up the dropped thread1 ,i first deal with that1 and then with the sad forecast which follows4 ,so then1 looking at these words as being like all our words1 even the best of them1 strangely mingled of right and wrong1 good and evil1 ,i find in them-- ,i4 ,a noble1 sincere1 but transient emotion and impulse4 ',i will lay down my life for ,thy sake4' ,peter meant it1 every word of it2 and he would have done it too1 if only a gibbet or cross could have been set up then and there in the upper room4 ,but unfortunately the moments of elevation and high-wrought enthusiasm1 and the calls to martyrdom1 do not always coincide4 ,in the upper room1 with its sacred atmosphere1 it was easy to feel1 and would have been easy to do1 nobly4 ,but it was not so easy1 lying drowsily in ,gethsemane1 in the cold spring night1 waiting for the ,master's coming out from beneath the trembling shadows of the olive trees1 or huddled up by the fire at the lower end of the hall in the grey morning1 when vitality is at its lowest4 ,so the sincere1 noble utterance was but the expression of impulse and emotion which lifted ,peter for a moment1 and did him good1 but which likewise1 running through him1 left him dry1 and all the weaker because of the gush of feeling which had foamed itself away in empty words4 ,for let us never forget that however high1 noble1 or divinely inspired emotion may be1 in its nature it is transient and is sure to be followed by reaction4 ,like the winter torrents in some parched land1 the more they foam1 the more speedily does the bed of them dry up again1 and the more they carry down the very soil in which growth and fertility would be possible4 ,a rush of feeling is apt to leave behind hard1 insensitive rock4 ,there is a close connection between a predominantly emotional ,christianity and a very imperfect life4 ,feeling is apt to be a substitute for action4 ,is it not a very remarkable thing that the word 'benevolence1' which means 'kindly feeling1' has come to take on the meaning rightly belonging to 'beneficence1' which means 'kindly doing'8 ,the emotional man blinds and hoodwinks himself1 by thinking that his quick sensibility and lofty enthusiasm and warmth of emotion are action or as good as action4 ',be thou warmed and filled1' he says to his brother1 and1 in a lazy expansion of heart1 forgets that he has never lifted a finger to help4 ,god forbid that ,i should seem to deprecate emotional religion or religious emotion6 that is the last thing that needs to be done in this generation4 ,if the ,churches want one thing more than another1 it is that their ,christianity should become far more emotional than it is1 and their impulses stronger1 swifter1 more spontaneous1 more overmastering1 and that they should be urged by these1 and not merely by the reluctant recognition that such and such a piece of sacrifice or effort is a debt that they are obliged to clear off4 ,their service will be glad service1 only when it is impulsive service and emotional service4 ,dear brethren1 a ,christian man whose life is not influenced by the deepest and most fervid emotion of love to the great ,love that died for him1 is a monster4 ',the ,lord's fire is in ,jerusalem1 and ,his furnace in ,zion'--is that a description of the fervour of this ,church1 or of any ,church in ,christendom8 ,a furnace8 ,an ice-house6 ,think of some deserted cottage1 with the roof fallen in1 and in the cold chimney-place a rusty grate with some dead embers in it1 and the snow lying upon the top of it--that is a truer description of a great many of our churches than 'the ,lord's furnace4' ,but the lesson to be taken from this incident before us is not the danger of emotion2 it is rather the necessity of emotion1 but with two provisoes1 that it shall be emotion based upon a clear recognition of the great truth that ,he has laid down ,his life for me2 and that it shall be emotion harnessed to work1 and not wasted in words4 ,the mightier the plunge of the fall1 the more electrical energy you can get out of it1 and set that to work to drive the wheels of life4 ,do not be afraid of emotion2 you will make little of your ,christianity unless you have it4 ,but be sure that it is under the guidance of a clear perception of the truth that evokes it1 and that it is all used to turn the wheels of life4 ',better is it that thou shouldest not vow1 than that thou shouldest vow and not pay4' ,better is it that emotion should be reticent and active than that it should be voluble and idle4 ,it is a good servant1 but a bad master4 ,a man that trusts to impulse and emotion to further his ,christian course1 is like a ship in that belt of variable winds that lies near the ,equator1 where there will be a fine ten-knot breeze for an hour or two1 and then a sickly1 stagnating calm4 ,push further south1 and get into the steady 'trades1' where the wind blows with equable and persistent force all the year round in the same direction4 ,convert impulses and emotions into steadfast principle1 warmed by emotion and borne on by impulse4 ,,ii4 ,again1 this rash vow is an illustration of a confidence1 also strangely blended of good and evil4 ',i will lay down my life for ,thy sake4' ,as ,i have said1 ,peter meant it4 ,his words are paralleled by other words1 in which two of the ,lord's disciples answered ,his solemn question3 ',are ye able to drink of the cup that ,i drink of8' with the unhesitating answer1 ',we are able4' ,a great teacher has regarded that saying as one of 'the ventures of faith4' ,perhaps it was4 ,perhaps there was as much self-confidence as faith in it4 ,certainly there was more self-confidence than faith in ,peter's answer1 and his self-confidence collapsed when the trial came4 ,the world and the ,church hold entirely antagonistic notions about the value of self-reliance4 ,the world says that it is a condition of power4 ,the ,church says that it is the root of weakness4 ,self-confidence shuts a man out from the help of ,god1 and so shuts him out from the source of power4 ,for if you will think for a moment1 you will see that the faith which the ,new ,testament1 in conformity with all wise knowledge of one's self1 preaches as the one secret of power1 has for its obverse--its other side--diffidence and self-distrust4 ,no man trusts ,god as ,god ought to be trusted1 who does not distrust himself as himself ought to be distrusted4 ,to level a mountain is the only way to carry the water across where it stood4 ,you can1 by mechanism and locks1 take a canal up to the top of a hill1 but you cannot take a river up to the top1 and the river of ,god's help flows through the valley and seeks the lowest levels4 ,faith and self-despair are the upper and the under sides of the same thing1 like some cunningly-woven cloth1 the one side bearing a different pattern from the other1 and yet made of the same yarn1 and the same threads passing from the upper to the under sides4 ,so faith and self-distrust are but two names for one composite whole4 ,i was once shown an old ,jewish coin which had on the one side the words 'sackcloth and ashes1' and on the other side the words 'a crown of gold4' ,the coin meant to contrast what ,israel had been with what ,israel then was4 ,the crown had come first2 the sackcloth and ashes last4 ,but we may use it for illustrating this point1 on which ,i am now dwelling4 ,wherever1 and only where1 there are the sackcloth and ashes of self-despair there will be the crown of gold of an answering faith4 ,when thus1 as ,wesley has it1 in his great hymn3 ',confident in self-despair1' we cling to ,god1 then we can say3 ',when ,i am weak then am ,i strong1' ',behold6 we have no might1 but our eyes are upon ,thee4' ,if ,peter had only said1 ',by ,thy help ,i will lay down my life for ,thy sake1' his confidence would have been reasonable and blessed self-confidence1 because it would have been confidence in a self inspired by divine power4 ,and so1 brethren1 whilst utter diffidence is right for us1 and is the condition of all our reception of energy according to our need1 the most absolute confidence--a confidence which1 to the eye of the man that measures only visible things1 will seem sheer insanity--is sobriety for a ,christian4 ,the world is perfectly right when it says3 ',if you believe you can do a thing1 you have gone a long way towards doing it4' ,the expectation of success has often the knack of fulfilling itself4 ,but the world does not know our secret1 and our secret is that our humble faith brings into the field the reserves with the ,captain of our salvation at their head4 ,therefore a self-distrusting ,christian can say1 and say without exaggeration or presumption1 ',i can do all things in ,christ1 strengthening me from within4' ,the ,church's ideals are possibilities1 when you bring ,god into the account1 and they look like insanity when you do not4 ,take1 for instance1 missions4 ,what an absurdity to talk about a handful of ,christian people--for we are only a handful as compared with the whole world--carrying their ,gospel into every corner of the earth1 and finding everywhere a response to it4 ,yes2 it is absurd2 but1 wise ,mr4 ,calculator1 counter of heads1 you have forgotten ,god in your estimate of whether it is reasonable or unreasonable4 ,again1 take the ,christian ideal of absolute perfection of character4 ',what nonsense to talk as if any man could ever come to that4' ,yes6--as if any man could come to that1 ,i grant you4 ,but if ,god is with him1 the nonsense is to suppose that he will not come to it4 ,here is a row of cyphers as long as your arm4 ,they mean nothing4 ,put a #a at the left-hand end of the row2 and what does it mean then8 ,so the faith that brings ,christ into the life1 and into the ,church1 makes 'nobodies' into mighty men--'laughs at impossibilities1 and cries1 ,it shall be done6' ,still further1 here1 in this rash vow1 we have an underestimate of difficulties4 ,there was another incident in the life of the ,apostle1 a strange replica of this one1 into which he pushed himself1 just as he did into the high priest's hall1 partly out of curiosity and a wish to be prominent2 partly out of love to his ,master4 ,without a moment's consideration of the peril into which he was thrusting himself1 he sat in the boat1 and said1 ',bid me come to ,thee on the water4' ,he forgot that ,he was heavy1 and that water was not solid1 and that the wind was high and the lake rough1 and when he put his foot over the side and felt the cold waves creeping up his knees1 his courage ebbed out with his faith1 and he began to sink4 ,then he cried1 ',lord6 help me6' ,if he had thought for a moment of the reality of the case1 he would have sat still in the boat4 ,if he had thought of what would be in his way in following ,jesus to death1 he would have hesitated to vow4 ,but it is so much easier to resolve heroisms in a quiet corner than to do them when the strain comes1 and it is so much easier to do some one great thing that has in it enthusiasm and nobility1 and conspicuousness of sacrifice1 especially if it can be got over in a moment1 like having one's head cut off with an axe1 than it is to 'die daily4' ,ah6 brethren1 it is the little difficulties that make the difficulty4 ,you read in the newspapers in the autumn1 every now and then1 of trains1 in that wonderful country across the water1 being stopped by caterpillars4 ,the ,christian train is stopped by an army of caterpillars1 far oftener than it is by some solid and towering barrier4 ,our ,christian lives are a great deal likelier to come to failure1 because we do not take into account the multiplied small antagonisms than because we are not ready to face the greater ones4 ,what would you think of a bridge builder1 who built a bridge across some mountain torrent and made no allowance for freshets and floods when the ice melted8 ,his bridge and his piers would be gone the first winter4 ,you remember who it was that said that he went into the ,franco-,german ,war 'with a light heart1' and in seven weeks came ,sedan and the dethronement of an ,emperor1 and the surrender of an army4 ',blessed is he that feareth always4' ,there is no more fatal error than an underestimate of our difficulties4 ,,iii4 ,let me say a word about the sad forecast here4 ',thou shalt deny me thrice4' ,we cannot say that poor ,peter's fall was at all an anomalous or uncommon thing4 ,he did exactly what a great many of us are doing4 ,he could--and ,i have no doubt he would--have gone to the death for ,jesus ,christ2 but he could not stand being laughed at for ,him4 ,he would have been ready to meet the executioner's sharp sword1 but the servant-girl's sharp tongue was more than he could bear4 ,and so he denied ,jesus1 not because he was afraid of his skin--for ,i do not suppose that the servants had any notion of doing anything more than amusing themselves with a few clumsy gibes at his expense--but because he could not bear to be made sport of4 ,now1 dear brethren1 ,i suppose we are all of us more or less movers in circles in which it sometimes is not considered 'good form' to show that we are ,christian people4 ,you young men in your warehouses1 you students at the ,university1 where it is a sign of being 'fossils' and 'behind the times' and 'not up to date' to say ',i am a ,christian1' and all of us in our several places have sometimes to gather our courage together1 and not be afraid to declare whose we are4 ,no doubt life is a better witness than words1 but no doubt also life is not so good a witness as it might be1 unless it sometimes has the commentary of words as well4 ,thus1 to confess ,christ means two things2 to say sometimes--in the face of a smile of scorn1 which is often harder to bear than something much more dangerous--',i am ,his1' and to live ,christ1 and to say by conduct ',i am ,his1' ',whosoever shall confess ,me before men1 him will ,i also confess before ,my ,father1 and whosoever shall deny ,me1 him will ,i also deny4' ,do not button your coats over your uniform4 ,do not take the cockade out of your hats when you go amongst 'the other side4' ,live ,jesus1 and1 when advisable1 preach ,jesus4 ,but ,peter's fall1 which is typical of what we are all tempted to do1 has in it a gracious message2 for it proclaims the possibility of recovery from any depth of descent1 and of coming back again from any distance of wandering4 ,did you ever notice how ,peter's fall was burnt in upon his memory1 so as that when he began to preach after ,pentecost1 the shape that his indictment of his hearers takes is1 ',ye denied the ,holy ,one and the ,just1' and how1 long after--if the second ,epistle which goes by his name is his--in summing up the crimes of the heretics whom he is branding1 he speaks of their 'denying the ,lord that bought them4' ,he never forgot his denial1 and it remained with him as the expression for all that was wrong in a man's relation to ,jesus ,christ4 ,and ,i suppose not only was it burnt in upon his memory1 but it burnt out all his self-confidence4 ,it is beautiful to see how1 in his letter1 he speaks over and over again of 'fear' as being a wise temper of mind for a ,christian4 ,as ,george ,herbert has it1 ',a sad1 wise valour is the true complexion4' ,thus the man that had been so confident in himself learned to say ',be ready to give to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you1 with meekness and fear4' ,and do you not think that his fall drew him closer to ,jesus ,christ than ever he had been before1 as he learned more of ,his pardoning love and mercy8 ,was he not nearer the ,lord on that morning when the two together1 alone1 talked after the ,resurrection8 ,was he not nearer ,him when he struggled to his feet from the boat on the lake1 on that morning when he was received back into his office as ,christ's ,apostle8 ,did he ever forget how he had sinned8 ,did he ever forget how ,christ had pardoned8 ,did he ever forget how ,christ loved and would keep him8 ,ah1 no6 ,the rope that is broken is strongest where it is spliced1 not because it was broken1 but because a cunning hand has strengthened it4 ,we may be the stronger for our sins1 not because sin strengthens1 for it weakens1 but because ,god restores4 ,it is possible that we may build a fairer structure on the ruins of our old selves4 ,it is possible that we may turn every field of defeat into a field of victory4 ,it is possible that we may ',fall to rise2 be beaten1 to fight better4' ,if only we cling to the ,lord our ,strength1 the promise shall be ours--whatever our failures1 denials1 backslidings1 inconsistencies--'though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down1 for the ,lord upholdeth him with ,his hand4' ,,faith ,,in ,,god ,,and ,,christ ',let not your heart be troubled ''' believe in ,god1 believe also in ,me4'--,,john xiv4 #a4 ,the twelve were sitting in the upper chamber1 stupefied with the dreary1 half-understood prospect of ,christ's departure4 ,he1 forgetting ,his own burden1 turns to comfort and encourage them4 ,these sweet and great words most singularly blend gentleness and dignity4 ,who can reproduce the cadence of soothing tenderness1 soft as a mother's hand1 in that ',let not your heart be troubled'8 ,and who can fail to feel the tone of majesty in that ',believe in ,god1 believe also in ,me'8 ,the ,greek presents an ambiguity in the latter half of the verse1 for the verb may be either indicative or imperative1 and so we may read four different ways1 according as we render each of the two 'believes' in either of these two fashions4 ,our ,authorised and ,revised ,versions concur in adopting the indicative ',ye believe' in the former clause and the imperative in the latter4 ,but ,i venture to think that we get a more true and appropriate meaning if we keep both clauses in the same mood1 and read them both as imperatives3 ',believe in ,god1 believe also in ,me4' ,it would be harsh1 ,i think1 to take one as an affirmation and the other as a command4 ,it would be irrelevant1 ,i think1 to remind the disciples of their belief in ,god4 ,it would break the unity of the verse and destroy the relation of the latter half to the former1 the former being a negative precept3 ',let not your heart be troubled'2 and the latter being a positive one3 ',instead of being troubled1 believe in ,god1 and believe in ,me4' ,so1 for all these reasons1 ,i venture to adopt the reading ,i have indicated4 ,i4 ,now in these words the first thing that strikes me is that ,christ here points to ,himself as the object of precisely the same religious trust which is to be given to ,god4 ,it is only our familiarity with these words that blinds us to their wonderfulness and their greatness4 ,try to hear them for the first time1 and to bring into remembrance the circumstances in which they were spoken4 ,here is a man sitting among a handful of ,his friends1 who is within four-and-twenty hours of a shameful death1 which to all appearance was the utter annihilation of all ,his claims and hopes1 and ,he says1 ',trust in ,god1 and trust in ,me'6 ,i think that if we had heard that for the first time1 we should have understood a little better than some of us do the depth of its meaning4 ,what is it that ,christ asks for here8 ,or rather let me say1 ,what is it that ,christ offers to us here8 ,for we must not look at the words as a demand or as a command1 but rather as a merciful invitation to do what it is life and blessing to do4 ,it is a very low and inadequate interpretation of these words which takes them as meaning little more than ',believe in ,god1 believe that ,he is2 believe in ,me1 believe that ,i am4' ,but it is scarcely less so to suppose that the mere assent of the understanding to ,his teaching is all that ,christ is asking for here4 ,by no means2 what ,he invites us to goes a great deal deeper than that4 ,the essence of it is an act of the will and of the heart1 not of the understanding at all4 ,a man may believe in ,him as a historical person1 may accept all that is said about ,him here1 and yet not be within sight of the trust in ,him of which ,he here speaks4 ,for the essence of the whole is not the intellectual process of assent to a proposition1 but the intensely personal act of yielding up will and heart to a living person4 ,faith does not grasp a doctrine1 but a heart4 ,the trust which ,christ requires is the bond that unites souls with ,him2 and the very life of it is entire committal of myself to ,him in all my relations and for all my needs1 and absolute utter confidence in ,him as all-sufficient for everything that ,i can require4 ,let us get away from the cold intellectualism of 'belief' into the warm atmosphere of 'trust1' and we shall understand better than by many volumes what ,christ here means and the sphere and the power and the blessedness of that faith which ,christ requires4 ,further1 note that1 whatever may be this believing in ,him which ,he asks from us or invites us to render1 it is precisely the same thing which ,he bids us render to ,god4 ,the two clauses in the original bring out that idea even more vividly than in our version1 because the order of the words in the latter clause is inverted2 and they read literally thus3 ',believe in ,god1 in ,me also believe4' ,the purpose of the inversion is to put these two1 ,god and ,christ1 as close together as possible2 and to put the two identical emotions at the beginning and at the end1 at the two extremes and outsides of the whole sentence4 ,could language be more deliberately adopted and moulded1 even in its consecution and arrangement1 to enforce this thought1 that whatever it is that we give to ,christ1 it is the very same thing that we give to ,god8 ,and so ,he here proposes ,himself as the worthy and adequate recipient of all these emotions of confidence1 submission1 resignation1 which make up religion in its deepest sense4 ,that tone is by no means singular in this place4 ,it is the uniform tone and characteristic of our ,lord's teaching4 ,let me remind you just in a sentence of one or two instances4 ,what did ,he think of ,himself who stood up before the world and1 with arms outstretched1 like that great white ,christ in ,thorwaldsen's lovely statue1 said to all the troop of languid and burdened and fatigued ones crowding at ,his feet3 ',come unto ,me all ye that are weary and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest'8 ,that surely is a divine prerogative4 ,what did ,he think of ,himself who said1 ',all men should honour the ,son even as they honour the ,father'8 ,what did ,he think of ,himself who1 in that very ,sermon on the ,mount 7to which the advocates of a maimed and mutilated ,christianity tell us they pin their faith1 instead of to mystical doctrines7 declared that ,he ,himself was the ,judge of humanity1 and that all men should stand at ,his bar and receive from ,him 'according to the deeds done in their body'8 ,upon any honest principle of interpreting these ,gospels1 and unless you avowedly go picking and choosing amongst ,his words1 accepting this and rejecting that1 you cannot eliminate from the scriptural representation of ,jesus ,christ the fact that ,he claimed as ,his own the emotions of the heart to which only ,god has a right and only ,god can satisfy4 ,i do not dwell upon that point1 but ,i say1 in one sentence1 we have to take that into account if we would estimate the character of ,jesus ,christ as a ,teacher and as a ,man4 ,i would not turn away from ,him any imperfect conceptions1 as they seem to me1 of ,his nature and ,his work--rather would ,i foster them1 and lead them on to a fuller recognition of the full ,christ--but this ,i am bound to say1 that for my part ,i believe that nothing but the wildest caprice1 dealing with the ,gospels according to one's own subjective fancies1 irrespective altogether of the evidence1 can strike out from the teaching of ,christ this its characteristic difference4 ,what signalises ,him1 and separates ,him from all other religious teachers1 is not the clearness or the tenderness with which ,he reiterated the truths about the divine ,father's love1 or about morality1 and justice1 and truth1 and goodness2 but the peculiarity of ,his call to the world is1 ',believe in ,me4' ,and if ,he said that1 or anything like it1 and if the representations of ,his teaching in these four ,gospels1 which are the only source from which we get any notion of ,him at all1 are to be accepted1 why1 then1 one of two things follows4 ,either ,he was wrong1 and then ,he was a crazy enthusiast1 only acquitted of blasphemy because convicted of insanity2 or else--or else--,he was ',god1 manifest in the flesh4' ,it is vain to bow down before a fancy portrait of a bit of ,christ1 and to exalt the humble sage of ,nazareth1 and to leave out the very thing that makes the difference between ,him and all others1 namely1 these either audacious or most true claims to be the ,son of ,god1 the worthy ,recipient and the adequate ,object of man's religious emotions4 ',believe in ,god1 in ,me also believe4' ,,ii4 ,now1 secondly1 notice that faith in ,christ and faith in ,god are not two1 but one4 ,these two clauses on the surface present juxtaposition4 ,looked at more closely they present interpenetration and identity4 ,jesus ,christ does not merely set ,himself up by the side of ,god1 nor are we worshippers of two ,gods when we bow before ,jesus and bow before the ,father2 but faith in ,christ is faith in ,god1 and faith in ,god which is not faith in ,christ is imperfect1 incomplete1 and will not long last4 ,to trust in ,him is to trust in the ,father2 to trust in the ,father is to trust in ,him4 ,what is the underlying truth that is here8 ,how comes it that these two objects blend into one1 like two figures in a stereoscope2 and that the faith which flows to ,jesus ,christ rests upon ,god8 ,this is the underlying truth1 that ,jesus ,christ1 ,himself divine1 is the divine ,revealer of ,god4 ,i need not dwell upon the latter of these two thoughts3 how there is no real knowledge of the real ,god in the depth of ,his love1 the tenderness of ,his nature or the lustrousness of ,his holiness2 how there is no certitude2 how the ,god that we see outside of ,jesus ,christ is sometimes doubt1 sometimes hope1 sometimes fear1 always far-off and vague1 an abstraction rather than a person1 'a stream of tendency' without us1 that which is unnameable1 and the like4 ,i need not dwell upon the thought that ,jesus ,christ has showed us a ,father1 has brought a ,god to our hearts whom we can love1 whom we can know really though not fully1 of whom we can be sure with a certitude which is as deep as the certitude of our own personal being2 that ,he has brought to us a ,god before whom we do not need to crouch far off1 that ,he has brought to us a ,god whom we can trust4 ,very significant is it that ,christianity alone puts the very heart of religion in the act of trust4 ,other religions put it in dread1 worship1 service1 and the like4 ,jesus ,christ alone says1 the bond between men and ,god is that blessed one of trust4 ,and ,he says so because ,he alone brings us a ,god whom it is not ridiculous to tell men to trust4 ,and1 on the other hand1 the truth that underlies this is not only that ,jesus ,christ is the ,revealer of ,god1 but that ,he ,himself is divine4 ,light shines through a window1 but the light and the glass that makes it visible have nothing in common with one another4 ,the ,godhead shines through ,christ1 but ,he is not a mere transparent medium4 ,it is ,himself that ,he is showing us when ,he is showing us ,god4 ',he that hath seen ,me hath seen'--not the light that streams through ,me--but 'hath seen1' in ,me1 'the ,father4' ,and because ,he is ,himself divine and the divine ,revealer1 therefore the faith that grasps ,him is inseparably one with the faith that grasps ,god4 ,men could look upon a ,moses1 an ,isaiah1 or a ,paul1 and in them recognise the eradiation of the divinity that imparted itself through them1 but the medium was forgotten in proportion as that which it revealed was beheld4 ,you cannot forget ,christ in order to see ,god more clearly1 but to behold ,him is to behold ,god4 ,and if that be true1 these two things follow4 ,one is that all imperfect revelation of ,god is prophetic of1 and leads up towards1 the perfect revelation in ,jesus ,christ4 ,the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews gives that truth in a very striking fashion4 ,he compares all other means of knowing ,god to fragmentary syllables of a great word1 of which one was given to one man and another to another4 ,god 'spoke at sundry times and in manifold portions to the fathers by the prophets'2 but the whole word is articulately uttered by the ,son1 in whom ,he has 'spoken unto us in these last times4' ,the imperfect revelation1 by means of those who were merely mediums for the revelation leads up to ,him who is ,himself the ,revelation1 the ,revealer1 and the ,revealed4 ,and in like manner1 all the imperfect faith that1 laying hold of other fragmentary means of knowing ,god1 has tremulously tried to trust ,him1 finds its climax and consummate flower in the full-blossomed faith that lays hold upon ,jesus ,christ4 ,the unconscious prophecies of heathendom2 the trust that select souls up and down the world have put in ,one whom they dimly apprehended2 the faith of the ,old ,testament saints2 the rudimentary beginnings of a knowledge of ,god and of a trust in ,him which are found in men to-day1 and amongst us1 outside of the circle of ,christianity--all these things are as manifestly incomplete as a building reared half its height1 and waiting for the corner-stone to be brought forth1 the full revelation of ,god in ,jesus ,christ1 and the intelligent and full acceptance of ,him and faith in ,him4 ,and another thing is true1 that without faith in ,christ such faith in ,god as is possible is feeble1 incomplete1 and will not long last4 ,historically a pure theism is all but impotent4 ,there is only one example of it on a large scale in the world1 and that is a kind of bastard ,christianity--,mohammedanism2 and we all know what good that is as a religion4 ,there are plenty of people amongst us nowadays who claim to be very advanced thinkers1 and who call themselves ,theists1 and not ,christians4 ,well1 ,i venture to say that that is a phase that will not last4 ,there is little substance in it4 ,the ,god whom men know outside of ,jesus ,christ is a poor1 nebulous thing2 an idea1 not a reality4 ,he1 or rather ,it1 is a film of cloud shaped into a vague form1 through which you can see the stars4 ,it has little power to restrain4 ,it has less to inspire and impel4 ,it has still less to comfort2 it has least of all to satisfy the heart4 ,you will have to get something more substantial than the far-off god of an unchristian ,theism if you mean to sway the world and to satisfy men's hearts4 ,and so1 dear brethren1 ,i come to this--perhaps the word may be fitting for some that listen to me--',believe in ,god1' and that you may1 'believe also in ,christ4' ,for sure ,i am that when the stress comes1 and you want a god1 unless your god is the ,god revealed in ,jesus ,christ1 he will be a powerless deity4 ,if you have not faith in ,christ1 you will not long have faith in ,god that is vital and worth anything4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 this trust in ,christ is the secret of a quiet heart4 ,it is of no use to say to men1 ',let not your hearts be troubled1' unless you finish the verse and say1 ',believe in ,god1 believe also in ,christ4' ,for unless we trust we shall certainly be troubled4 ,the state of man in this world is like that of some of those sunny islands in southern seas1 around which there often rave the wildest cyclones1 and which carry in their bosoms1 beneath all their riotous luxuriance of verdant beauty1 hidden fires1 which ever and anon shake the solid earth and spread destruction4 ,storms without and earthquakes within--that is the condition of humanity4 ,and where is the 'rest' to come from8 ,all other defences are weak and poor4 ,we have heard about 'pills against earthquakes4' ,that is what the comforts and tranquillising which the world supplies may fairly be likened to4 ,unless we trust we are1 and we shall be1 and should be1 'troubled4' ,if we trust we may be quiet4 ,trust is always tranquillity4 ,to cast a burden off myself on others' shoulders is always a rest4 ,but trust in ,jesus ,christ brings infinitude on my side4 ,submission is repose4 ,when we cease to kick against the pricks they cease to prick and wound us4 ,trust opens the heart1 like the windows of the ,ark tossing upon the black and fatal flood1 for the entrance of the peaceful dove with the olive branch in its mouth4 ,trust brings ,christ to my side in all ,his tenderness and greatness and sweetness4 ,if ,i trust1 'all is right that seems most wrong4' ,if ,i trust1 conscience is quiet4 ,if ,i trust1 life becomes 'a solemn scorn of ills4' ,if ,i trust1 inward unrest is changed into tranquillity1 and mad passions are cast out from him that sits 'clothed and in his right mind' at the feet of ,jesus4 ',the wicked is like the troubled sea which cannot rest4' ,but if ,i trust1 my soul will become like the glassy ocean when all the storms sleep1 and 'birds of peace sit brooding on the charmed wave4' ',peace ,i leave with you4' ',let not your hearts be troubled4 ,trust in ,god2 trust also in ,me4' ,help us1 ,o ,lord6 to yield our hearts to ,thy dear ,son1 and in ,him to find ,thyself and eternal rest4 ',,many ,,mansions' ',in ,my ,father's house are many mansions3 if it were not so1 ,i would have told you4'--,,john xiv4 #b4 ,sorrow needs simple words for its consolation2 and simple words are the best clothing for the largest truths4 ,these eleven poor men were crushed and desolate at the thought of ,christ's going2 they fancied that if ,he left them they lost ,him4 ,and so1 in simple1 childlike words1 which the weakest could grasp1 and in which the most troubled could find peace1 ,he said to them1 after having encouraged their trust in ,him1 ',there is plenty of room for you as well as for ,me where ,i am going2 and the frankness of our intercourse in the past might make you sure that if ,i were going to leave you ,i would have told you all about it4 ,did ,i ever hide from you anything that was painful8 ,did ,i ever allure you to follow ,me by false promises8 ,should ,i have kept silence about it if our separation was to be eternal8' ,so1 simply1 as a mother might hush her babe upon her breast1 ,he soothes their sorrow4 ,and yet1 in the quiet words1 so level to the lowest apprehension1 there lie great truths1 far deeper than we yet have appreciated1 and which will enfold themselves in their majesty and their greatness through eternity4 ',in ,my ,father's house are many mansions2 if it were not so1 ,i would have told you4' ,i4 ,now note in these words1 first1 the ',father's house1' and its ample room4 ,there is only one other occasion recorded in which our ,lord used this expression1 and it occurs in this same ,gospel near the beginning2 where in the narrative of the first cleansing of the ,temple we read that ,he said1 ',make not ,my ,father's house a house of merchandise4' ,the earlier use of the words may help to throw light upon one aspect of this latter employment of it1 for there blend in the image the two ideas of what ,i may call domestic familiarity1 and of that great future as being the reality of which the earthly ,temple was intended to be the dim prophecy and shadow4 ,its courts1 its many chambers1 its ample porches with room for thronging worshippers1 represented in some poor way the wide sweep and space of that higher house2 and the sense of ,sonship1 which drew the ,boy to ,his ,father's house in the earliest hours of conscious childhood1 speaks here4 ,think for a moment of how sweet and familiar the conception of heaven as the ,father's house makes it to us4 ,there is something awful1 even to the best and holiest souls1 in the thought of even the glories beyond4 ,the circumstances of death1 which is its portal1 our utter unacquaintance with all that lies behind the veil1 the terrible silence and distance which falls upon our dearest ones as they are sucked into the cloud1 all tend to make us feel that there is much that is solemn and awful even in the thought of eternal future blessedness4 ,but how it is all softened when we say1 ',my ,father's house4' ,most of us have long since left behind us the sweet security1 the sense of the absence of all responsibility1 the assurance of defence and provision1 which used to be ours when we lived as children in a father's house here4 ,but we may all look forward to the renewal1 in far nobler form1 of these early days1 when the father's house meant the inexpugnable fortress where no evil could befall us1 the abundant home where all wants were supplied1 and where the shyest and timidest child could feel at ease and secure4 ,it is all coming again1 brother1 and amidst the august and unimaginable glories of that future the old feeling of being little children1 nestling safe in the ,father's house1 will fill our quiet hearts once more4 ,and then consider how the conception of that ,future as the ,father's house suggests answers to so many of our questions about the relationship of the inmates to one another4 ,are they to dwell isolated in their several mansions8 ,is that the way in which children in a home dwell with each other8 ,surely if ,he be the ,father1 and heaven be ,his house1 the relation of the redeemed to one another must have in it more than all the sweet familiarity and unrestrained frankness which subsists in the families of earth4 ,a solitary heaven would be but half a heaven1 and would ill correspond with the hopes that inevitably spring from the representation of it as 'my ,father's house4' ,but consider further that this great and tender name for heaven has its deepest meaning in the conception of it as a spiritual state of which the essential elements are the loving manifestation and presence of ,god as ,father1 the perfect consciousness of sonship1 the happy union of all the children in one great family1 and the derivation of all their blessedness from their ,elder ,brother4 ,the earthly ,temple1 to which there is some allusion in this great metaphor1 was the place in which the divine glory was manifested to seeking souls1 though in symbol1 yet also in reality1 and the representation of our text blends the two ideas of the free1 frank intercourse of the home and of the magnificent revelations of the ,holy of holies4 ,under either aspect of the phrase1 whether we think of 'my ,father's house' as temple or as home1 it sets before us1 as the main blessedness and glory of heaven1 the vision of the ,father1 the consciousness of sonship1 and the complete union with ,him4 ,there are many subsidiary and more outward blessednesses and glories which shine dimly through the haze of metaphors and negations1 by which alone a state of which we have no experience can be revealed to us2 but these are secondary4 ,the heaven of heaven is the possession of ,god the ,father through the ,son in the expanding spirits of ,his sons4 ,the sovereign and filial position which ,jesus ,christ in ,his manhood occupies in that higher house1 and which ,he shares with all those who by ,him have received the adoption of sons1 is the very heart and nerve of this great metaphor4 ,but ,i think we must go a step further than that1 and recognise that in the image there is inherent the teaching that that glorious future is not merely a state1 but also a place4 ,local associations are not to be divorced from the words2 and although we can say but little about such a matter1 yet everything in the teaching of ,scripture points to the thought that howsoever true it may be that the essence of heaven is condition1 yet that also heaven has a local habitation1 and is a place in the great universe of ,god4 ,jesus ,christ has at this moment a human body1 glorified4 ,that body1 as ,scripture teaches us1 is somewhere1 and where ,he is there shall also ,his servant be4 ,in the context ,he goes on to tell us that ',he goes to prepare a place for us1' and though ,i would not insist upon the literal interpretation of such words1 yet distinctly the drift of the representation is in the direction of localising1 though not of materialising1 the abode of the blessed4 ,so ,i think we can say1 not merely that what ,he is that shall also ,his servants be1 but that where ,he is there shall also ,his servants be4 ,and from the representation of my text1 though we cannot fathom all its depths1 we can at least grasp this1 which gives solidity and reality to our contemplations of the future1 that heaven is a place1 full of all sweet security and homelike repose1 where ,god is made known in every heart and to every consciousness as a loving ,father1 and of which all the inhabitants are knit together in the frankest fraternal intercourse1 conscious of the ,father's love1 and rejoicing in the abundant provisions of ,his royal ,house4 ,and then there is a second thought to be suggested from these words1 and that is of the ample room in this great house4 ,the original purpose of the words of my text1 as ,i have already reminded you1 was simply to soothe the fears of a handful of disciples4 ,there was room where ,christ went for eleven poor men4 ,yes1 room enough for them6 but ,christ's prescient eye looked down the ages1 and saw all the unborn millions that would yet be drawn to ,him uplifted on the ,cross1 and some glow of satisfaction flitted across ,his sorrow1 as ,he saw from afar the result of the impending travail of ,his soul in the multitudes by whom ,god's heavenly house should yet be filled4 ',many mansions6' the thought widens out far beyond our grasp4 ,perhaps that upper room1 like most of the roof-chambers in ,jewish houses1 was open to the skies1 and whilst ,he spoke1 the innumerable lights that blaze in that clear heaven shone down upon them1 and ,he may have pointed to these4 ,the better ,abraham perhaps looked forth1 like ,his prototype1 on the starry heavens1 and saw in the vision of the future those who through ,him should receive the 'adoption of sons' and dwell for ever in the house of the ,lord1 'so many as the stars of the sky in multitude1 and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable4' ,ah6 brethren1 if we could only widen our measurement of the walls of the ,new ,jerusalem to the measurement of that 'golden rod which the man1 that is the angel1' as ,john says1 applied to it1 we should understand how much bigger it is than any of these poor sects and communities of ours here on earth4 ,if we would lay to heart1 as we ought to do1 the deep meaning of that indefinite 'many' in my text1 it would rebuke our narrowness4 ,there will be a great many occupants of the mansions in heaven that ,christian men here on earth--the most ,catholic of them--will be very much surprised to see there1 and thousands will find their entrance there that never found their entrance into any communities of so-called ,christians here on earth4 ,that one word 'many' should deepen our confidence in the triumphs of ,christ's ,cross1 and it may be used to heighten our own confidence as to our own poor selves4 ,a chamber in the great ,temple waits for each of us1 and the question is1 ,shall we occupy it1 or shall we not8 ,the old ,rabbis had a tradition which1 like a great many of their apparently foolish sayings1 covers in picturesque guise a very deep truth4 ,they said that1 however many the throngs of worshippers who came up to ,jerusalem at the passover1 the streets of the city and the courts of the sanctuary were never crowded4 ,and so it is with that great city4 ,there is room for all4 ,there are throngs1 but no crowds4 ,each finds a place in the ample sweep of the ,father's house1 like some of the great palaces that barbaric ,eastern kings used to build1 in whose courts armies might encamp1 and the chambers of which were counted by the thousand4 ,and surely in all that ample accommodation1 you and ,i may find some corner where we1 if we will1 may lodge for evermore4 ,i do not dwell upon subsidiary ideas that may be drawn from the expressions4 ',mansions' means places of permanent abode1 and suggests the two thoughts1 so sweet to travellers and toilers in this fleeting1 labouring life1 of unchangeableness and of repose4 ,some have supposed that the variety in the attainments of the redeemed1 which is reasonable and scriptural1 might be deduced from our text1 but that does not seem to be relevant to our ,lord's purpose4 ,one other suggestion may be made without enlarging upon it4 ,there is only one other occasion in this ,gospel in which the word here translated 'mansions' is employed1 and it is this3 ',we will come and make our abode with him4' ,our mansion is in ,god2 ,god's dwelling-place is in us4 ,so ask yourselves1 ,have you a place in that heavenly home8 ,when prodigal children go away from the father's house1 sometimes a broken-hearted parent will keep the boy's room just as it used to be when he was young and pure1 and will hope and weary through long days for him to come back and occupy it again4 ,god is keeping a room for you in ,his house2 do you see that you fill it4 ,,ii4 ,in the next place1 note here the sufficiency of ,christ's revelation for our needs4 ',if it were not so ,i would have told you4' ,he sets ,himself forward in very august fashion as being the ,revealer and ,opener of that house for us4 ,there is a singular tone about all our ,lord's few references to the future--a tone of decisiveness2 not as if ,he were speaking1 as a man might do1 that which he had thought out1 or which had come to him1 but as if ,he was speaking of what he had ,himself beheld1 ',we speak that we do know1 and testify that we have seen4' ,he stands like one on a mountain top1 looking down into the valleys beyond1 and telling ,his comrades in the plain behind ,him what ,he sees4 ,he speaks of that unseen world always as ,one who had been in it1 and who was reporting experiences1 and not giving forth opinions4 ,his knowledge was the knowledge of ,one who dwelt with the ,father1 and left the house in order to find and bring back ,his wandering brethren4 ,it was ',his own calm home1 ,his habitation from eternity1' and therefore ,he could tell us with decisiveness1 with simplicity1 with assurance1 all which we need to know about the geography of that unknown land--the plan of that1 by us unvisited1 house4 ,very remarkable1 therefore1 is it1 that with this tone there should be such reticence in ,christ's references to the future4 ,the text implies the rationale of such reticence4 ',if it were not so ,i would have told you4' ,i tell you all that you need1 though ,i tell you a great deal less than you sometimes wish4 ,the gaps in our knowledge of the future1 seeing that we have such a ,revealer as we have in ,christ1 are remarkable4 ,but my text suggests this to us--we have as much as we need4 ,i know1 and many of you know1 by bitter experience1 how many questions1 the answers to which would seem to us to be such a lightening of our burdens1 our desolated and troubled hearts suggest about that future1 and how vainly we ply heaven with questions and interrogate the unreplying ,oracle4 ,but we know as much as we need4 ,we know that ,god is there4 ,we know that it is the ,father's house4 ,we know that ,christ is in it4 ,we know that the dwellers there are a family4 ,we know that sweet security and ample provision are there2 and1 for the rest1 if we ,i needed to have heard more1 ,he would have told us4 ',my knowledge of that life is small1 ,the eye of faith is dim2 ,but 'tis enough that ,christ knows all2 ,and ,i shall be with ,him4' ,let the gaps remain4 ,the gaps are part of the revelation1 and we know enough for faith and hope4 ,may we not widen the application of that thought to other matters than to our bounded and fragmentary conceptions of a future life8 ,in times like the present1 of doubt and unrest1 it is a great piece of ,christian wisdom to recognise the limitations of our knowledge and the sufficiency of the fragments that we have4 ,what do we get a revelation for8 ,to solve theological puzzles and dogmatic difficulties8 to inflate us with the pride of quasi-omniscience8 or to present to us ,god in ,christ for faith1 for love1 for obedience1 for imitation8 ,surely the latter1 and for such purposes we have enough4 ,so let us recognise that our knowledge is very partial4 ,a great stretch of wall is blank1 and there is not a window in it4 ,if there had been need for one1 it would have been struck out4 ,he has been pleased to leave many things obscure1 not arbitrarily1 so as to try our faith--for the implication of the words before us is that the relation between ,him and us binds ,him to the utmost possible frankness1 and that all which we need and ,he can tell us ,he does tell--but for high reasons1 and because of the very conditions of our present environment1 which forbid the more complete and all-round knowledge4 ,so let us recognise our limitations4 ,we know in part1 and we are wise if we affirm in part4 ,hold by the ,central ,light1 which is ,jesus ,christ4 ',many things did ,jesus which are not written in this book1' and many gaps and deficiencies from a human point of view exist in the contexture of revelation4 ',but these are written that ye may believe that ,jesus is the ,christ1' for which enough has been told us1 'and that1 believing1 ye may have life in ,his name4' ,if that purpose be accomplished in us1 ,god will not have spoken1 nor we have heard1 in vain4 ,let us hold by the ,central ,light1 and then the circumference of darkness will gradually retreat1 and a wider sphere of illumination be ours1 until the day when we enter our mansion in the ,father's house1 and then 'in ,thy ,light shall we see light'2 and we shall 'know even as we are known4' ,let your ,elder ,brother lead you back1 dear friend1 to the ,father's bosom1 and be sure that if you trust ,him and listen to ,him1 you will know enough on earth to turn earth into a foretaste of ,heaven1 and will find at last your place in the ,father's house beside the ,brother who has prepared it for you4 ,,the ,,forerunner '''' ,i go to prepare a place for you4 ,and if ,i go and prepare a place for you1 ,i will come again1 and receive you unto ,myself2 that where ,i am1 there ye may be also4'--,,john xiv4 #b1 #c4 ,what divine simplicity and depth are in these words6 ,they carry us up into the unseen world1 and beyond time2 and yet a little child can lay hold on them1 and mourning hearts and dying men find peace and sweetness in them4 ,a very familiar image underlies them4 ,it was customary for travellers in those old days to send some of their party on in advance1 to find lodging and make arrangements for them in some great city4 ,many a time one or other of the disciples had been 'sent before ,his face into every place where ,he ,himself should come4' ,on that very morning two of them had gone in1 at ,his bidding1 from ,bethany to make ready the table at which they were sitting4 ,christ here takes that office upon ,himself4 ,the emblem is homely1 the thing meant is transcendent4 ,not less wonderful is the blending of majesty and lowliness4 ,the office which ,he takes upon ,himself is that of an inferior and a servant4 ,and yet the discharge of it1 in the present case1 implies ,his authority over every corner of the universe1 ,his immortal life1 and the sufficiency of ,his presence to make a heaven4 ,nor can we fail to notice the blending of another pair of opposites3 ,his certainty of ,his impending death1 and ,his certainty1 notwithstanding and thereby1 of ,his continual work and ,his final return1 are inseparably interlaced here4 ,how comes it that1 in all ,his premonitions of ,his death1 ,jesus ,christ never spoke about it as failure or as the interruption or end of ,his activity1 but always as the transition to1 and the condition of1 ,his wider work8 ',i go1 and if ,i go ,i return1 and take you to ,myself4' ,so1 then1 there are three things here1 the departure with its purpose1 the return1 and the perfected union4 ,i4 ,the ,departure4 ,our ,lord's going away from that little group was a journey in two stages4 ,calvary was the first2 ,olivet was the second4 ,he means by the phrase the whole continuous process which begins with ,his death and ends in ,his ascension4 ,both are embraced in ,his words1 and each co-operates to the attainment of the great purpose4 ,he prepares a place for us by ,his death4 ,the ,high ,priest1 in the ancient ritual1 once a year was privileged to lift the heavy veil and pass into the darkened chamber1 where only the light between the cherubim was visible1 because he bore in his hand the blood of the sacrifice4 ,but in our ,new ,testament system the path into 'the holiest of all1' the realisation of the most intimate fellowship with heavenly things and communion with ,god ,himself1 are made possible1 and the way patent for every foot1 because ,jesus has died4 ,and as the communion upon earth1 so the perfecting of the communion in the heavens4 ,who of us could step within those awful sanctities1 or stand serene amidst the region of eternal light and stainless purity1 unless1 in ,his death1 ,he had borne the sins of the world1 and1 having 'overcome' its 'sharpness' by enduring its blow1 had 'opened the ,kingdom of ,heaven to all believers'8 ,old legends tell us of magic gates that resisted all attempts to force them1 but upon which1 if one drop of a certain blood fell1 they flew open4 ,and so1 by ,his death1 ,christ has opened the gates and made the heaven of perfect purity a dwelling-place for sinful men4 ,but the second stage of ,his departure is that which more eminently is in ,christ's mind here4 ,he prepares a place for us by ,his entrance into and ,his dwelling in the heavenly places4 ,the words are obscure because we have but few others with which to compare them1 and no experience by which to interpret them4 ,we know so little about the matter that it is not wise to say much2 but though there be vast tracts of darkness round the little spot of light1 this should only make the spot of light more vivid and more precious4 ,we know little1 but we know enough for mind and heart to rest upon4 ,our ignorance of the ways in which ,christ by ,his ascension prepares a heaven for ,his followers should neither breed doubt nor disregard of ,his assurance that ,he does4 ,if ,christ had not ascended1 would there have been 'a place' at all8 ,he has gone with a human body1 which1 glorified as it is1 still has relations to space1 and must be somewhere4 ,and we may even say that ,his ascending up on high has made a place where ,his servants are4 ,but apart from that suggestion1 which1 perhaps1 is going beyond our limits1 we may see that ,christ's presence in heaven is needful to make it a heaven for poor human souls4 ,there1 as here 7,scripture assures us71 and throughout eternity as to-day1 ,jesus ,christ is the ,mediator of all human knowledge and possession of ,god4 ,it is from ,him and through ,him that there come to men1 whether they be men on earth or men in the heavens1 all that they know1 all that they hope1 all that they enjoy1 of the wisdom1 love1 beauty1 peace1 power1 which flow from ,god4 ,take away from the heaven of the ,christian expectation that which comes to the spirit through ,jesus ,christ1 and you have nothing left4 ,he and ,his mediation and ministration alone make the brightness and the blessedness of that high state4 ,the very glories of all that lies beyond the veil would have an aspect appalling and bewildering to us1 unless our ,brother were there4 ,like some poor savages brought into a great city1 or rustics into the presence of a king and his court1 we should be ill at ease amidst the glories and solemnities of that future life unless we saw standing there our ,kinsman1 to whom we can turn1 and who makes it possible for us to feel that it is home4 ,christ's presence makes heaven the home of our hearts4 ,not only did ,he go to prepare a place1 but ,he is continuously preparing it for us all through the ages4 ,we have to think of a double form of the work of ,christ1 ,his past work in ,his earthly life1 and ,his present in ,his exaltation4 ,we have to think of a double form of ,his present activity--,his work with and in us here on earth1 and ,his work for us there in the heavens4 ,we have to think of a double form of ,his work in the heavens--that which the ,scripture represents in a metaphor1 the full comprehension of which surpasses our present powers and experiences1 as being ,his priestly intercession2 and that which my text represents in a metaphor1 perhaps a little more level to our apprehension1 as being ,his preparing a place for us4 ,behind the veil there is a working ,christ1 who1 in the heavens1 is preparing a place for all that love ,him4 ,,ii4 ,in the next place1 note the ,return4 ,the purpose of our ,lord's departure1 as set forth by ,himself here1 guarantees for us ,his coming back again4 ,that is the force of the simple argumentation of my text1 and of the pathetic and soothing repetition of the sweet words1 ',i go to prepare a place for you2 and if ,i go to prepare a place for you1 ,i will come again and receive you unto ,myself4' ,because the departure had for its purpose the preparing of the place1 therefore it is necessarily followed by a return4 ,he who went away as the ,forerunner has not done ,his work until ,he comes back1 and1 as ,guide1 leads those for whom ,he had prepared the place to the place which ,he had prepared for them4 ,now that return of our ,lord1 like ,his departure1 may be considered as having two stages4 ,unquestionably the main meaning and application of the words is to that final and personal coming which stands at the end of history1 and to which the hopes of every ,christian soul ought to be steadfastly directed4 ,he will 'so come in like manner as' ,he has gone4 ,we are not to water down such words as these into anything short of a return precisely corresponding in its method to the departure2 and as the departure was visible1 corporeal1 literal1 personal1 and local1 so the return is to be visible1 corporeal1 literal1 personal1 local too4 ,he is to come as ,he went1 a visible ,manhood1 only throned amongst the clouds of heaven with power and great glory4 ,this is the aim that ,he sets before ,him in ,his departure4 ,he leaves in order that ,he may come back again4 ,and1 oh1 dear friends6 remember--and let us live in the strength of the remembrance--that this return ought to be the prominent subject of ,christian aspiration and desire4 ,there is much about the conception of that solemn return1 with all the convulsions that attend it1 and the judgment of which it is preliminary1 that may well make men's hearts chill within them4 ,but for you and me1 if we have any love in our hearts and loyalty in our spirits to that ,king1 ',his coming' should be 'prepared as the morning1' and we should join in the great burst of rapture of many a psalm1 which calls upon rocks and hills to break forth into singing1 and trees of the field to clap their hands1 because ,he cometh as the ,king to judge the earth4 ,his own parable tells us how we ought to regard ,his coming4 ,when the fig-tree's branch begins to supple1 and the little leaves to push their way through the polished stem1 then we know that summer is at hand4 ,his coming should be as the approach of that glorious1 fervid time1 in which the sunshine has tenfold brilliancy and power1 the time of ripened harvests and matured fruits1 the time of joy for all creatures that love the sun4 ,it should be the glad hope of all ,his servants4 ,we have a double witness to bear in the midst of this as of every generation4 ,one half of the witness stretches backwards to the ,cross1 and proclaims ',christ has come'2 the other reaches onwards to the ,throne1 and proclaims ',christ will come4' ,between these two high uplifted piers swings the chain of the world's history1 which closes with the return1 to judge and to save1 of the ,lord who came to die and has gone to prepare a place for us4 ,but do not let us forget that we may well take another point of view than this4 ,scripture knows of many comings of the ,lord preliminary to1 and in principle one with1 ,his last coming4 ,for nations all great crises of their history are 'comings of the ,lord1' the ,judge1 and we are strictly in the line of ,scripture analogy when1 in reference to individuals1 we see in each single death a true coming of the ,lord4 ,that is the point of view in which we ought to look upon a ,christian's death-bed4 ',the ,master is come1 and calleth for thee4' ,beyond all secondary causes1 deeper than disease or accident1 lies the loving will of ,him who is the ,lord of life and of death4 ,death is ,christ's minister1 'mighty and beauteous1 though his face be dark1' and he1 too1 stands amidst the ranks of the 'ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of salvation4' ,it is ,christ that says of one1 ',i will that this man tarry1' and to another1 ',go6' and he goeth4 ,but whensoever a ,christian man lies down to die1 ,christ says1 ',come6' and he comes4 ,how that thought should hallow the death-chamber as with the print of the ,master's feet6 ,how it should quiet our hearts and dry our tears6 ,how it should change the whole aspect of that 'shadow feared of man'6 ,with ,him for our companion1 the lonely road will not be dreary2 and though in its anticipation1 our timid hearts may often be ready to say1 ',surely the darkness shall cover me1' if we have ,him by our sides1 'even the night shall be light about us4' ,the dying martyr beneath the city wall lifted up his face to the heavens1 and said1 ',lord ,jesus1 receive my spirit6' ,it was the echo of the ,master's promise1 ',i will come again1 and receive you to ,myself4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 notice the ,perfected ,union4 ,the departure for such a purpose necessarily involved the return again4 ,both are stages in the process1 which is perfected by complete union--',that where ,i am there ye may be also4' ,christ1 as ,i have been saying1 is ,heaven4 ,his presence is all that we need for peace1 for joy1 for purity1 for rest1 for love1 for growth4 ,to be 'with ,him1' as ,he tells us in another part of these wonderful last words in the upper chamber1 is to 'behold ,his glory4' ,and to behold ,his glory1 as ,john tells us in his ,epistle1 is to be like ,him4 ,so ,christ's presence means the communication to us of all the lustre of ,his radiance1 of all the whiteness of ,his purity1 of all the depth of ,his blessedness1 and of a share in ,his wondrous dominion4 ,his glorified manhood will pass into ours1 and they that are with ,him where ,he is will rest as in the centre and home of their spirits1 and find ,him all-sufficient4 ,his presence is my ,heaven4 ,that is almost all we know4 ,oh6 it is more than all we need to know4 ,the curtain is the picture4 ,it is because what is there transcends in glory all our present experience that ,scripture can only hint at it and describe it by negations--such as 'no night1' 'no sorrow1' 'no tears1' 'former things passed away'2 and by symbols of glory and lustre gathered from all that is loftiest and noblest in human buildings and society4 ,but all these are but secondary and poor4 ,the living heart of the hope1 and the lambent centre of the brightness1 is1 ',so shall we ever be with the ,lord4' ,and it is enough4 ,it is enough to make the bond of union between us in the outer court and them in the holy place4 ,parted friends will fix to look at the same star at the same moment of the night and feel some union2 and if we from amidst the clouds of earth1 and they from amidst the pure radiance of their heaven1 turn our eyes to the same ,christ1 we are not far apart4 ,if ,he be the companion of each of us1 ,he reaches a hand to each1 and1 clasping it1 the parted ones are united2 and 'whether we wake or sleep we live together1' because we both live with ,him4 ,brother6 ,is ,jesus ,christ so much to you that a heaven which consists in nearness and likeness to ,him has any attraction for you8 ,let ,him be your ,saviour1 your ,sacrifice1 your ,helper1 your ,companion4 ,obey ,him as your ,king1 love ,him as your ,friend1 trust ,him as your ,all4 ,and be sure that then the darkness will be but the shadow of ,his hand1 and instead of dreading death as that which separates you from life and love and action and joy1 you will be able to meet it peacefully1 as that which rends the thin veil1 and unites you with ,him who is the ,heaven of heavens4 ,he has gone to prepare a place for us4 ,and if we will let ,him1 ,he will prepare us for the place1 and then come and lead us thither4 ',thou wilt show me the path of life' which leads through death4 ',in ,thy presence is fullness of joy1 and at ,thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore4' ,,the ,,way ',and whither ,i go ye know1 and the way ye know4 ,thomas saith unto ,him1 ,lord1 we know not whither ,thou goest2 and how can we know the way8 ,jesus saith unto him1 ,i am the ,way1 the ,truth1 and the ,life3 no man cometh unto the ,father1 but by ,me4 ,if ye had known ,me1 ye should have known ,my ,father also3 and from henceforth ye know ,him1 and have seen ,him4'--,,john xiv4 #d-g4 ,our ,lord has been speaking of ,his departure1 of its purpose1 of ,his return as guaranteed by that purpose1 and of ,his servants' eternal and perfect reunion with ,him4 ,but even these cheering and calming thoughts do not exhaust ,his consolations1 as they did not satisfy all the disciples' needs4 ,they might still have said1 ',yes2 we believe that ,you will come back again1 and we believe that we shall be together2 but what about the parenthesis of absence8' ,and here is the answer1 or at least part of it3 ',whither ,i go ye know1 and the way ye know'2 or1 if we adopt the shortened form which the ,revised ,version gives us1 ',whither ,i go ye know the way4' ,when you say to a man1 ',you know the way1' you mean ',come4' ,and in these words there lie1 as it seems to me1 a veiled invitation to the disciples to come to ,him before ,he came back for them1 and the assurance that they1 though separated1 might still find and tread the road to the ,father's house1 and so be with ,him still4 ,they are not left desolate4 ,the ,christ who is absent is present as the path to ,himself4 ,and so the parenthesis is bridged across4 ,now in these verses we have several large and important lessons which ,i think may best be drawn by simply seeking to follow their course4 ,i4 ,observe the disciples' unconscious knowledge4 ,jesus ,christ says3 ',ye know the way and ye know the goal4' ,one of them ventures flatly to contradict ,him1 and to traverse both assertions with a brusque and thorough-going negative4 ',we do not know whither ,thou goest1' says ,thomas2 'how can we know the way8' ,he is the same man in this conversation that we find him in the interview before our ,lord's journey to raise ,lazarus1 and in the interview after our ,lord's resurrection4 ,in all three cases he appears as mainly under the dominion of sense1 as slow to apprehend anything beyond its limits1 as morbidly melancholy and disposed to take the blackest possible view of things--a practical pessimist--and yet with a certain kind of frank outspokenness which half redeems the other characteristics from blame4 ,he could not understand all the ,lord's deep words just spoken4 ,his mind was befogged and dimmed1 and he blurts out his ignorance1 knowing that the best place to carry it to is to the ,illuminator who can make it light4 ',we know not whither ,thou goest1 and how can we know the way8' ,was ,jesus right8 was ,thomas right8 or were they both right8 ,the fact is that ,thomas and all his fellows knew1 after a fashion1 but they did not know that they knew4 ,they had heard much in the past as to where ,christ was going4 ,plainly enough it had been rung in their ears over and over again4 ,it had made some kind of lodgment in their heads1 and1 in that sense1 they did know4 ,it is this unused and unconscious knowledge of theirs to which ,christ appeals1 and which ,he tries to draw out into consciousness and power when ,he says1 ',you know whither ,i am going1 and you know the road4' ,is not that exactly what a patient teacher will do with some flustered child when he says to it3 ',take time6 ,you know it well enough if you will only think'8 ,so the ,master says here3 ',do not be agitated and troubled in heart4 ,reflect1 remember1 overhaul your stores1 and think what ,i have told you over and over again1 and you will find that you do know whither ,i am going1 and that you do know the way4' ,the patient gentleness of the ,master with the slowness of the scholars is beautifully exemplified here1 as is also the method1 which ,he lovingly and patiently adopts1 of sending men back to consult their own consciousness as illuminated by ,his teaching1 and to see whether there is not lying somewhere1 unrecked of and unemployed in some dusty corner of their mind1 a truth that only needs to be dragged out and cleaned in order to show itself for what it is1 the all-sufficient light and strength for the moment's need4 ,the dialogue is an instance of what is true about us all1 that we have in our possession truths given to us by ,jesus ,christ1 the whole sweep and bearing of which1 the whole majesty and power and illuminating capacity of which1 we do not dream of yet4 ,how much in our creeds lies dim and undeveloped6 ,time and circumstances and some sore agony of spirit are needed in order to make us realise the riches that we possess1 and the certitudes to which our troubled spirits may cling2 and the practice of far more patient1 honest1 profound meditation and reflection than finds favour with the average ,christian man is needed1 too1 in order that the truths possessed may be possessed1 and that we may know what we know1 and understand 'the things that are given to us of ,god4' ,in all your creeds1 there are large tracts that you1 in some kind of a fashion1 do believe2 and yet they have no vitality in your consciousness nor power in your lives4 ,and the ,master here does with these disciples exactly what ,he is trying to do day by day with us1 namely1 fling us back on ourselves1 or rather upon ,his revelation in us1 and get us to fathom its depths and to walk round about its magnitudes1 and so to understand the things that we say we believe4 ,all our knowledge is ignorance4 ,ignorance that confesses itself to ,him is in the way of becoming knowledge4 ,his light will touch the smoke and change it into red spires of flame4 ,if you do not know1 go to ,him and say1 ',lord6 ,i do not4' ,an accurate understanding of where the darkness lies is the first step to the light4 ,we are meant to carry all our inadequate and superficial realisations of ,his truth into ,his presence1 that1 from ,him1 we may gain deeper knowledge1 a firmer faith1 and a more joyous certitude in ,his inexhaustible lessons4 ,in every article and item of the ,christian faith there is a transcendent element which surpasses our present comprehension4 ,let us be confident that the light will break2 and let us welcome the new illumination when it comes1 sure that it comes from ,god4 ,be not puffed up with the conceit that you know all4 ,be sure of this1 that1 according to the good old metaphor1 we are but as children on the shore of the great ocean1 gathering a few of the shells that it has washed to our feet1 itself stretching boundless1 and1 thank ,god1 sunlit1 before us4 ',ye know the way4' ',master1 we know not the way4' ,,ii4 ,observe here1 in the second place1 our ,lord's great self-revelation which meets this unconscious knowledge4 ',jesus saith unto him3 ,i am the ,way1 the ,truth1 and the ,life2 no man cometh unto the ,father but by ,me4' ,now it is quite plain1 ,i think1 from the whole strain of the context and the purpose of these words that the main idea in them is the first--',i am the ,way4' ,and that is made more certain because of the last words of the verse1 which1 summing up the force of the three preceding assertions1 dwell only upon the metaphor of the ,way2 ',no man cometh unto the ,father but by ,me4' ,so that of these three great words1 the ,way1 the ,truth1 the ,life1 we are to regard the second and the third as explanatory of the first4 ,they are not co-ordinate1 but the first is the more general1 and the other two show how the first comes to be true4 ',i am the ,way' because ',i am the ,truth and the ,life4' ,there are no words of the ,master1 perhaps1 to which my previous remarks are more necessary to be applied than these4 ,we know2 and yet oh6 what an overplus of glory and of depth is here that we do not know and never can know4 ,the most fragmentary and inadequate grasp of them with heart and mind will bring light to the mind and quietness and peace to the heart2 but the whole meaning of them goes beyond men and angels4 ,we can only skim the surface and seek to shift back the boundaries of our knowledge a little further1 and to embrace within its limits a little more of the broad land into which the words bring us4 ,so just take a thought or two which may tend in that direction4 ,note1 then1 as belonging to all three of these clauses that remarkable ',i am4' ,we show a way1 ,christ is it4 ,we speak truth1 ,christ is it4 ,parents impart life1 which they have received1 ,christ is ,life4 ,he separates ,himself from all men by that representation that ,he is not merely the communicator or the teacher or the guide1 but that ,he ,himself is1 in ,his own personal ,being1 ,way1 ,truth1 ,life4 ,he said that1 when ,calvary was within arm's-length4 ,what did ,he think about ,himself1 and what should we think of ,him8 ,and then note1 further1 that ,he sets forth ,his unique relation to the truth as being one ground on which ,he is the ,way to ,god4 ,he is the ,truth in reference to the divine nature4 ,that ,truth1 then1 is not a mere matter of words4 ,it is not only ,his speech that teaches us1 but ,himself that shows us ,god4 ,his whole life and character1 ,his personality1 are the true representation within human conditions of the ,invisible ,god2 and when ,he says1 ',i am the ,way and the ,truth1' ,he is saying substantially the same thing as the great prologue of this ,gospel says when it calls ,him the ,word and the ,light of men1 and as ,paul says when he names ,him 'the ,image of the ,invisible ,god4' ,there is all the difference between talking about ,god and showing ,him4 ,men reveal ,god by their words2 ,christ reveals ,him by ,himself and the facts of ,his life4 ,the truest and highest representation of the divine nature that men can ever have is in the face of ,jesus ,christ4 ,i need only remind you in a sentence about other and lower applications of this great saying1 which do not1 as ,i think1 enter into the purpose of the context4 ,he is the ,truth1 inasmuch as1 in the life and historical manifestation of ,jesus ,christ as recorded in the ,scriptures1 men find foundation truths of a moral and spiritual sort4 ',whatsoever things are true1 whatsoever things are noble1 whatsoever things are lovely and of good report1' ,he is these1 and all true ethics is but the formulating into principles of all the facts of the life and character of ,jesus ,christ4 ,further1 my text says ,he is the ,way because ,he is the ,life4 ,on the one side ,god is brought to all hearts1 and in some real sense to our comprehension1 by the life of ,jesus ,christ1 and so ,he is the ,way4 ,but that is not enough4 ,there must be an action upon us as well as an action having reference to the divine nature4 ,god is brought to men by the manifestation in ,christ2 and we1 the dead1 are quickened by the communication of the ,life4 ,the one phrase points to all ,his work as a ,revealer1 the other points to all ,his work upon us as life-giving ,spirit1 a ,quickener and an ,inspirer4 ,dead men cannot walk a road4 ,it is of no use to make a path if it starts from a cemetery4 ,christ taught that men apart from ,him are dead1 and that the only life that they can have by which they can be knit to ,god is the divine life which was in ,himself1 and of which ,he is the source and the principle for the whole world4 ,he does not tell us here what yet is true1 and what ,he abundantly tells in other parts of this great conversation1 that the only way by which the life which ,he brings can be diffused and communicated is by ,his death4 ',except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die1 it abideth alone4' ,he is the ,life1 and--paradox of mystery and yet fact which is the very heart and centre of ,his ,gospel--,his only way of giving ,his life to us is by giving up ,his physical life for us4 ,he must die that ,he may be the life-spring for the world4 ,the alabaster box must be broken if the ointment and its fragrance are to be poured out2 and 'death is the gate of life' in a deeper than the ordinary sense of the saying1 inasmuch as the death of the ,life which is ,christ is the life of the death which we are4 ,and so1 because1 on the one hand1 ,he brings a ,god to our hearts that we can love and trust1 and because1 on the other1 ,he communicates to our spirits1 dead in the only true death which is the separation from ,god by sin1 the life by which we are knit to ,god1 ,he is the ,way to the ,father4 ,and what about people that never heard of ,him1 to whom that ,way has been closed1 to whom that ,truth has never been manifested1 to whom that ,life has never been brought8 ,ah6 ,christ has other ways of working than through ,his historical manifestation1 for there is no truth more plainly taught in this great fourth ,gospel than this1 that that ,light 'lighteth every man that cometh into the world4' ,the eternal ,word works through all the earth1 in ways beyond our ken1 and wherever any man has1 however imperfectly1 felt after and grasped the thought of a ,father in the heavens1 there the ,word1 which is the ,light of men1 has wrought4 ,but for us to whom this ,book has come1 for what people call in bitter irony ',christendom1' the law of my text rigidly applies1 and it is being worked out all round us to-day4 ',no man cometh unto the ,father but by ,me4' ,and here we are1 in this ,england of ours1 and in our sister nations on the continent of ,europe and in ,america1 face to face as ,i believe with this alternative--either ,jesus ,christ the ,revealer of ,god and the ,life of men1 or an empty ,heaven4 ,and for you1 individually1 it is either--take ,christ for the ,way1 or wander in the wilderness and forget your ,father4 ,it is either--take ,christ for the ,truth1 or be given over to the insufficiencies of mere natural1 political1 and intellectual truths1 and the shows and illusions of time and sense4 ,it is either--take ,christ for your ,life1 or remain in your deadness1 separate from ,god4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 we have here the disciples' ignorance and the new vision which dispels it4 ',if ye had known ,me1 ye should have known ,my ,father also1 and from henceforth ye know ,him1 and have seen ,him4' ,our ,lord accepts for the moment ,thomas's standpoint4 ,he supplements ,his former allegation of the disciples' knowledge with the admission of the ignorance which went with it as its shadow1 and was only too sadly and plainly shown by their failure to discern in ,him the manifestation of the ,father4 ,he has just told them that they did know what they thought they knew not2 ,he now tells them that they did not know what they thought they knew so well1 after so many years of companionship--even ,himself4 ,the proof that they did not is that they did not know the ,father as revealed in ,him1 nor ,him as revealing the ,father4 ,if they missed that1 they missed everything2 and for all they had known of ,his graciousness1 were strangers to ,his truest ,self4 ,their ignorance would turn out knowledge1 if they would think1 and their supposed knowledge would turn out ignorance4 ,the lesson for us is that the true test of the completeness and worth of our knowledge of ,christ lies in its being knowledge of ,god the ,father1 brought near to us by ,him4 ,this saying puts a finger on the radical deficiency of all merely humanitarian views of ,christ's person1 however clearly they may see and admiringly extol the beauty of ,his character and the 'sweet reasonableness' of ,his wisdom4 ,they all break down here1 and are arraigned as so shallow and incomplete that they do not deserve to be called knowledge of ,him at all4 ,if you know anything about ,jesus ,christ rightly1 this is what you know about ,him1 that in ,him you see ,god4 ,if you have not seen ,god in ,him1 you have not got to the heart of the mystery4 ,the knowledge of ,christ which stops with the ,man and the ,martyr1 and the ,teacher and the beautiful1 gentle ,brother1 is knowledge so partial that even ,he cannot venture to call it other than ignorance4 ,oh6 brethren1 do our conceptions of ,him meet this test which ,he ,himself has laid down1 and can we say that1 seeing ,him1 we see in ,him ,god8 ,and then our ,lord passes on to another thought1 the new vision which at the moment was being granted to this unconscious ignorance that was passing into conscious knowledge4 ',from henceforth ye know ,him and have seen ,him4' ,we must give that 'from henceforth1' as a note of time1 a somewhat liberal interpretation1 and apply it to the whole series of utterances and deeds of which the words of our text are but a portion4 ,and1 if so1 we come to this--it was in the wisdom1 and the gentleness1 and the deep truths of that upper chamber2 it was in the agony and submission of ,gethsemane2 it was in the meek patience before the judges1 and the silent acceptance of ignominy and shame2 it was in the willing1 loving endurance of the long hours upon the ,cross1 that ,christ inaugurated the new stage in ,his revelation of ,god and in ,his life-giving to the world4 ,and it is from thenceforth and thereby that in the man ,jesus1 men know and see 'the ,father' as they never did before4 ,the ,cross and the ,passion of ,christ are the unveiling to the world of the heart of ,god2 and by the side of that new vision the fairest and the loftiest and the sweetest of ,christ's former manifestations and utterances sink into comparative insignificance4 ,it is the dying ,christ that reveals the living ,god4 ,so1 dear friends1 ,he is your way to ,god4 ,see that ye seek the ,father by ,him alone4 ,he is your ,truth2 grapple ,him to your hearts1 and by patient meditation and continual faithfulness enrich yourselves with all the communicated treasures that you have already received in ,him4 ,he is your ,life2 cleave to ,him1 that the quick ,spirit that was in ,him may pass into you and make you victors over all deaths1 temporal and eternal4 ,know ,him as a ,friend1 not as a mere historical person1 or with mere head-knowledge1 for to know a friend is something far deeper than to know a truth4 ',acquaint thyself with ,him and be at peace4' ',this is life eternal1 to know1' with the knowledge which is life and possession1 ',thee1 the only true ,god1 and ,jesus ,christ whom ,thou hast sent4' ,,the ,,true ,,vision ,,of ,,god ',philip saith unto ,jesus1 ,lord1 shew us the ,father1 and it sufficeth us4 #i4 ,jesus saith unto ,him1 ,have ,i been so long time with you1 and yet hast thou not known ,me1 ,philip8 ,he that hath seen ,me hath seen the ,father2 and how sayest thou then1 ,shew us the ,father8 ,believest thou not that ,i am in the ,father1 and the ,father in ,me8 ,the words that ,i speak unto you ,i speak not of ,myself3 but the ,father1 that dwelleth in ,me1 ,he doeth the works4 ,believe ,me that ,i am in the ,father1 and the ,father in ,me3 or else believe ,me for the very works' sake4'--,,john xiv4 #h-aa4 ,the vehement burst with which ,philip interrupts the calm flow of our ,lord's discourse is not the product of mere frivolity or curiosity4 ,one hears the ring of earnestness in it1 and the yearnings of many years find voice4 ,philip had felt out of his depth1 no doubt1 in the profound teachings which our ,lord had been giving1 but ,his last words about seeing ,god set a familiar chord vibrating4 ,as an ,old ,testament believer he knew that ,moses had once led the elders of ,israel up to the mount where 'they saw the ,god of ,israel1' and that to many others had been granted sensible manifestations of the divine presence4 ,as a disciple he longed for some similar sign to confirm his faith4 ,as a man he was conscious of the deep need which all of us have1 whether we are conscious of it or not1 for something more real and tangible than an unseeable and unknowable ,god4 ,the peculiarities of ,philip's temperament strengthened the desire4 ,the first appearance that he makes in the ,gospels is characteristically like this his last4 ,to all ,nathanael's objections he had only the reply1 ',come and see4' ,and here he says3 ',oh6 if we could see the ,father it would be enough4' ,he was one of the men to whom seeing is believing1 and so he speaks4 ,his petition is childlike in its simplicity1 beautiful in its trust1 noble and true in its estimate of what men need4 ,he longs to see ,god4 ,he believes that ,christ can show ,god2 he is sure that the sight of ,god will satisfy the heart4 ,these are errors1 or truths1 according to what is meant by 'seeing4' ,philip meant a palpable manifestation1 and so far he was wrong4 ,give the word its highest and its truest meaning1 and ,philip's error becomes grand truth4 ,our ,lord gently1 lovingly1 and with only a hint of rebuke1 answers the request1 and seeks to disengage the error from the truth4 ,his answer lies in the verses that we have read4 ,let us try to follow them1 and1 as we may1 to skim their surface1 for their depths are beyond us4 ,first of all1 then1 we have the sight of ,god in ,christ as enough to answer men's longings4 ,there is a world of sadness and tenderness1 of suppressed pain and of grieved affection1 in the first words of our ,lord's reply4 ',have ,i been so long time with you1 and yet hast thou not known ,me1 ,philip8' ,he seldom names ,his disciples4 ,when ,he does1 there is a deep cadence of affection in the designation4 ,this man was one of the first disciples1 the little original band called by ,christ ,himself1 and thus had been with ,him all the time of ,his ministry1 and the ,master wonders with a gentle wonder that1 before eyes that loved ,him as much as ,philip's did1 ,his continual self-revelation had been made to so little purpose4 ,in the answer1 in its first portion1 there lies the reiteration of the thoughts that ,i was trying to dwell upon in the last sermon1 which1 therefore1 ,i may lightly touch now--viz41 that the sight of ,christ is the sight of ,god--',he that hath seen ,me hath seen the ,father'--and that not to know ,christ as thus showing ,god is not to know ,him at all--',thou hast not known ,me1 ,philip4' ,further1 there is the thought that the sight of ,god in ,christ is sufficient1 ',how sayest thou1 ,shew us the ,father8' ,from all this we may gather some thoughts on which ,i lightly touch4 ,i4 ,the first is1 that we all do need to have ,god made visible to us4 ,the history of heathendom shows us that1 in every land men have said1 ',the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men4' ,and the highest cultivation of this highly cultivated and self-conscious twentieth century has not removed us from the same necessity that the rudest savage has1 to have some kind of manifestation of the divine nature other than the dim and vague ones which are possible apart from the revelation of ,god in ,christ4 ,a ,god who is only the product of inferences from creation1 or providence1 or the mysteries of history1 or the wonders of my own inner life1 the creature of logic or of reflection1 is very powerless to sway and influence men4 ,the limitations of our faculties and the boundlessness of our hearts both cry out for a ,god who is nearer to us than that1 and whom we can see and love and be sure of4 ,the whole world wants the making visible of divinity as its deepest want4 ,and your heart and mind require it4 ,nothing else will ever stay our hunger1 will ever answer our questioning minds4 ,christ meets this need4 ,how can you make wisdom visible8 ,how can a man see love or purity8 ,how do ,i see your spirit8 ,by the deeds of your body4 ,and the only way by which ,god can ever come near enough to men to be a constant power and a constant motive in their lives is by their seeing ,him at work in a ,man1 who amongst them is ,his image and revelation4 ,christ's whole life is the making visible of the invisible ,god4 ,he is the manifestation to the world of the unseen ,father4 ,that vision is enough--enough for mind1 enough for heart1 enough for will4 ,there is none else that is sufficient1 but this is4 ',how sayest thou1 ,shew us the ,father8' ,if we can see ,god it suffices us4 ,then the mind settles down upon the thought of ,him as the basis of all being1 and of all change1 and the heart can twine itself round ,him1 and the seeking soul folds its wings and is at rest1 and the troubled spirit is quiet1 and the accusing conscience is silent1 and the rebellious will is subdued1 and the stormy passions are quieted1 and in the inner kingdom is a great peace4 ,the sight of ,god in ,christ brings rest to every heart1 and1 ,oh6 the absence of the vision is the true secret of all disquiet4 ,we are troubled and careful1 and tossed from one stormy billow to another1 and swept over by all the winds that blow1 because we see not ,god1 our ,father1 in the face of ,jesus4 ',show us the ,father1 and it sufficeth us1' is either a puerile petition1 or the deepest and noblest prayer of the human heart4 ,blessed are they who have learned what it is to see1 and know where that great sight is to be seen6 ,our present knowledge and vision are far higher than that mere external symbol of ,god which this man wanted4 ,the elders of ,israel saw the ,god of ,israel1 but what they saw was but some symbolical manifestation of that which in itself is unseen and unattainable4 ,but we who see ,god in ,christ see no symbol but the ,reality1 and there is nothing more possible or to be hoped for here4 ,our present manifestation and sight of ,god in ,christ does fall1 in some ways unknown to us1 beneath the bright hopes that we are entitled to cherish4 ,but howsoever imperfect it may be1 as measured against the perfection of the vision when we shall see face to face1 and know even as we are known1 it is enough1 and more than enough1 for all the questionings and desires of our hungering spirits4 ,,ii4 ,our ,lord goes on to a further answer1 and points to the divine and mutual indwelling by which this sight is made possible4 ',believest thou not that ,i am in the ,father1 and the ,father in ,me8 ,the words that ,i speak unto you1 ,i speak not of ,myself1 but the ,father that dwelleth in ,me1 ,he doeth the works4' ,there are here1 mainly1 two things1 ,christ's claim to the oneness of unbroken communion1 and ,christ's claim1 consequently1 to the oneness of complete co-operation4 ',i am in the ,father' indicates the suppression of all independent and therefore rebellious will1 consciousness1 thought and action2 ',and the ,father in ,me' indicates the influx into that perfectly filial ,manhood of the whole fullness of ,god in unbroken1 continuous1 gentle1 deep flow4 ,these are the two sides of this great mystery on which neither wisdom nor reverence lead us to dilate2 and they combine to express the closest and most uninterrupted blending1 interpenetration1 and communion4 ,and then follows the other claim1 that because of this continuous mutual indwelling there is perfect cooperation4 ,this is also stated in terms corresponding to the preceding double representation4 ',the words that ,i speak unto you1 ,i speak not of ,myself1' corresponds to1 ',i am in the ,father4' ',the ,father that dwelleth in ,me1 ,he doeth the works1' corresponds to ',the ,father in ,me4' ,the two put together teach us this1 that by reason of that mysterious and ineffable union of communion1 ,jesus ,christ in all ,his words and in all ,his works is the perfect instrument of the divine will1 so that ,his words are ,god's words1 and ,his works are ,god's works2 so that1 when ,he speaks1 ,his gentle wisdom1 ,his loving sympathy1 ,his melting tenderness1 ,his authoritative commands1 ,his prophetic threatenings1 are the speech of ,god1 and that when ,he acts1 whether it be by miracle or in the ordinary deeds of ,his life1 what we see is ,god working before our eyes as we never see ,him in any human being4 ,and from all this follow just two or three considerations which ,i name4 ,note the absolute absence of any consciousness on ,christ's part of the smallest deflection or disharmony between ,himself and the ,father4 ,two triangles laid on each other are in every line1 point1 and angle absolutely coincident4 ,that humanity is capable of receiving the whole inflow of ,god1 and that indwelling ,god is perfectly expressed in the humanity4 ,there is no trace of a consciousness of sin4 ,everything that ,jesus ,christ said ,he knew to be ,god's speaking2 everything that ,he did ,he knew to be ,god's acting4 ,there were no barriers between the two4 ,jesus ,christ was conscious of no separation--not the thinnest film of air between these ,two who adhered and inhered so closely and so continuously4 ,it is an awful assertion4 ,now ,i pray you to ask yourselves the question3 ,if this was what ,christ said1 what did ,he think of ,himself8 ,and is this a ,man1 like the rest of us1 with blotches and sins1 with failures to embody ,his own ideas1 and still more to carry out in life the will that ,he knows to be ,god's will8 ,is this a man like other men who thus speaks to us8 ,if ,jesus had this consciousness1 either ,he was ludicrously1 tragically1 blasphemously1 utterly mistaken and untrustworthy1 or ,he is what the ,church in all ages has confessed ,him to be1 'the ,everlasting ,son of the ,father4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 our ,lord further sets before us the faith to which ,he invites us on the ground of ,his union with1 and revelation of1 ,god4 ',believe ,me that ,i am in the ,father1 and the ,father in ,me1 or else believe ,me for the very works' sake4' ,observe that the verb at the beginning of this last verse of our text passes into a plural form4 ,our ,lord has done with ,philip especially1 and speaks now to all who hear ,him1 and to us amongst the rest of ,his auditors4 ,he bids us believe ,him1 and believe something about ,him on the strength of ,his own testimony1 or1 in default of that1 and as second best1 believe ,him on the testimony of ,his works4 ,i gather together what ,i have to say about this point into three remarks4 ,the true bond of union between men and ,jesus ,christ is faith4 ,we have to trust1 and that is better than sight4 ,we have to trust ,him4 ,he is the personal ,object of our faith4 ,in all faith there is what ,i may call a moral and a voluntary element4 ,a man believes a proposition because it is forced upon him1 and his intelligence is obliged to accept it4 ,a man trusts ,christ because he will trust ,him1 and the moral and voluntary element carries us far beyond the mere intellectual conception of faith as the assent to a set of theological propositions4 ,faith really is the outgoing of the whole man--heart1 will1 intellect1 and all--to a person whom it grasps4 ,but the ,christ that you and ,i have to trust is the ,christ as ,he ,himself has declared ,himself to us4 ',believe ,me that ,i am in the ,father1 and the ,father in ,me4' ,there is a bastard1 mutilated kind of thing that calls itself ,christian faith1 that goes about the world in this generation1 which believes in ,jesus ,christ in all sorts of beautiful ways1 but it will not believe in ,him as the ,personal ,revelation and making visible of the unseen ,god4 ,jesus ,christ ,himself tells us here that that is not the kind of faith which ,he invites us to put forth4 ,if we put forth that only1 we have not yet come to understand ,him4 ,oh1 dear friends6 ,christ as here declared to us by ,himself is the only ,christ to whom it is right to give our trust4 ,if ,he be not ,god manifest in the flesh1 ,i ought not to trust ,him4 ,i may admire ,him as a historical personage2 ,i may reverence ,him for ,his wisdom and beauty2 ,i may even in some vague way have a kind of love to ,him4 ,but what in the name of common sense shall ,i trust ,him for8 ,and why should ,he call upon me to exercise faith in ,him unless ,he stand before me as the adequate ,object of a man's trust--namely1 the manifest ,god8 ,and then1 further1 note that believing in the sense of trusting is seeing and knowing4 ,philip said1 ',shew us the ,father4' ,christ answers1 ',believe1 and thou dost see4' ,if you look back upon the previous verses of this chapter1 you will find that in the earlier portion of them the key-word is 'know'2 that in the second portion of them the key-word is 'see'2 that in this portion of them the key-word is 'believe4' ,the world says1 ',ah6 seeing is believing4' ,the ,gospel says1 ',believing is seeing4' ,the true way to knowledge1 and to a better vision than the uncertain vision of the eye1 is faith4 ,in certitude and in directness1 the knowledge of ,god that we have through faith in the ,christ whom our eyes have never seen is far ahead of the certitude and the directness that attach to our mere bodily sight2 and so the key to all divine knowledge1 and the sure road to the truest vision of ,god1 is faith4 ,further1 faith1 even if based upon lower than the highest grounds1 is still faith1 and acceptable to ,him3 ',or else believe ,me for the very works' sake4' ,the 'works' are mainly1 ,i suppose1 though not exclusively1 ,his miracles4 ,and if so1 we are here taught that1 if a man has not come to that point of spiritual susceptibility in which the image of ,jesus ,christ lays hold upon ,his heart and obliges him to trust ,him and to love ,him1 there are yet the miracles to look at2 and the faith that grasps them1 and by help of that ladder climbs to ,him1 though it be second best1 is yet real4 ,the evidence of miracles is subordinate1 and yet it is valid and true4 ,so our ,lord contradicts both the exaggerations of past generations and the exaggerations of this1 and neither asserts that the great reason for faith is miracles1 nor that miracles are of no use at all4 ,former centuries in the ,christian ,church reiterated the former exaggeration1 and thus partly provoked the exaggeration of this day4 ,let us keep the middle course3 there is a better way of coming to ,christ than through the gate of miracles1 and that is that ,he should stamp ,his own divine sweetness and elevation upon our minds and hearts4 ,but if we have not reached that point1 do not let us kick away the ladder that may help us to it4 ',believe ,him for the very works' sake4' ,imperfect faith may be the highway to perfection4 ,let us follow the light1 if it be but a far-off glimmer1 sure that it will bring us into noontide day if we are faithful to its leading4 ,on the other hand1 dear friends1 let us remember that no faith avails itself of all the treasures laid up for it1 which does not lay hold upon ,christ in the character in which ,he presents ,himself4 ,the only adequate1 worthy trust in ,him is the trust which grasps ,him as the ,incarnate ,god and ,saviour4 ,only such a faith does justice to ,his own claim4 ,only such a faith is the sure path to vision and to knowledge4 ,only such a faith draws down the blessing of a questioning intellect answered1 a hungry heart satisfied1 a conscience1 accusing and prophetic of a judgment to come1 cleansed and purified4 ,to each of us ,christ addresses ,his merciful invitation1 ',believe ,me that ,i am in the ,father1 and the ,father in ,me4' ,may we all answer1 ',we believe that ,thou art the ,christ1 the ,son of the living ,god6' ,,christ',s ,,works ,,and ,,ours ',verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you1 ,he that believeth on ,me1 the works that ,i do shall he do also2 and greater works than these shall he do2 because ,i go unto ,my ,father4 #ac4 ,and whatsoever ye shall ask in ,my name1 that will ,i do1 that the ,father may be glorified in the ,son4 #ad4 ,if ye shall ask any thing in ,my name1 ,i will do it4'--,,john xiv4 #ab-ad4 ,i have already pointed out in a previous sermon that the key-word of this context is ',believe6' ,in three successive verses we find it1 each time widening in its application4 ,we have first the question to the single disciple3 ',philip6 believest thou not8' ,we have then the invitation addressed to the whole group3 ',believe ,me6' ,and here we have a wholly general expression referring to all who1 in every generation and corner of the world1 put their trust in ,christ1 and extending the sunshine of this great promise to whosoever believeth in ,him4 ,our ,lord has pointed to believing as the great antidote to a troubled heart1 as the sure way of knowing the ,father1 as the better substitute for sight2 and now here ,he opens before us still more wonderful prerogatives and effects of faith4 ,his words carry us up into lofty and misty regions1 where we can neither breathe freely nor see clearly1 except as we hold to ,his words4 ,therefore ,he prefaces them with ,his ',verily1 verily6' bidding us listen to them with sharpened attention as the disclosure of something wonderful1 and receive them with unfaltering confidence1 on ,his authority1 however marvellous and otherwise undiscoverable they may be4 ,what is it1 then1 that ,he thus commends to our acceptance8 ,if ,i may venture a paraphrase which may at least have the advantage of being cast into less familiar words1 it is just this1 that because of1 and after1 ,christ's departure from earth1 ,he will1 in response to prayer1 work upon faithful souls in such a fashion as that they will do what ,he did1 and in some sense will do even more4 ,i4 ,we have here the continuous work of the exalted ,lord for and through ,his servants4 ,these disciples1 of course1 were trembling and oppressed with the thought that the departure of ,jesus would be the end of ,his ceaseless activity for them1 on which they had depended implicitly for so long4 ,henceforward1 whatever distress or need might come1 that ,voice would be silent1 and that ,hand motionless1 and they would be left to face every storm1 uncompanioned and uncounselled4 ,some of us know how dreary such experience makes life1 and we can understand how these men shrank from the prospect4 ,christ's words give strength to meet that trial1 and not only tell them that after ,he is gone they will be able to do what they cannot do now1 and what ,he used to do for them1 but that in them ,he will work as well as for them1 and be the power of their action1 after ,he has departed4 ,for1 notice the remarkable connection of the words with which we are dealing4 ',he that believeth on ,me1 the works that ,i do shall he do1' and the ground of that is 'because ,i go to ,my ,father1' and whatsoever the believer 'shall ask1 ,i will do4' ,so1 then1 there are here two very distinct paths on which ,christ represents to us that ,his future activity will travel2 the one1 that of doing for us1 in response to our prayers2 the other that of working on us and in us1 so that our acts are ,his and ,his acts are ours4 ,we may look at these two for a moment separately4 ,here1 then1 there is clearly stated this great thought1 that ,christ's removal from the world is not the end of ,his activity in the world and on material things1 but that1 absent1 ,he still is a present power1 and having passed through death1 and been removed from sense1 ,he can still operate upon the things round us1 and move these according to ,his will4 ,we are not to water down such words as these into any such thought as that the continuous influence of the memory and history of ,his past will be a present power in all ages4 ,that is true1 gloriously and uniquely true1 but that is not the truth which ,he speaks here4 ,over and above that perpetual influence of past recorded work1 there is the present influence of ,his present work1 and to-day ,he is working as truly as ,he wrought when on earth4 ,one form of ,his work was finished on ,calvary1 as ,his dying breath proclaimed2 but there is another work of ,christ in the midst of the ages1 moving the pawns on the chessboard of the world1 and presiding over the fortunes of the solemn conflict1 which will not be ended until that day when the angel voices shall chant1 ',it is done6 ,the kingdoms of the world are the kingdoms of our ,god and of ,his ,christ4' ,the living ,christ works by a true forth-putting of ,his own present power upon material things1 and amidst the providences of life4 ,and therefore these disciples were not to be cast down as if ,his work for them were ended4 ,now it is clear1 of course1 that such words as these do demand for their vindication something perfectly unique and solitary in the nature and person of ,jesus ,christ4 ,all other men's work is cut in twain by death4 ',this man1 having served his generation by the will of ,god1 fell on sleep and was gathered to his fathers1 and saw corruption1' that is the epitaph over the greatest thinkers1 statesmen1 heroes1 poets1 the epitaph for the tenderest and most hopeful4 ,father1 mother1 husband1 wife1 child1 friend1 all cease to act when they die1 and though thunders should break1 they are silent and can help no more4 ,but ,christ is living to-day1 and working all around us4 ,now1 brethren1 it is of the last importance for the joyousness of our ,christian lives1 and for the courage of our conflict with sorrow and sin1 that we should give a very prominent place in our creeds1 and our hearts1 to this great truth of a living ,christ4 ,what a joyful sense of companionship it brings to the solitary1 what calmness of vision in contemplating the complications and calamities of the world's history1 if we grasp firmly the assurance that the living ,christ is actually working by the present forth-putting of ,his power in the world to-day6 ,but that is not all4 ,there is another path on which our ,lord shows us here a glimpse of ,his working1 not only for us1 but on and in and therefore through us1 so that the deeds that we do in faith that rests upon ,him are in one aspect ,his1 and in another ours4 ',the works that ,i do shall ,he do also'2 because 'whatsoever ye shall ask ,i will do it4' ,we have not to think only of a ,lord whose activity for us1 beneficent and marvellous as it is1 was finished in the misty past upon the ,cross1 nor have we only to think of a ,lord whose activity for us1 mighty and comforting as it is to all the solitary and struggling1 is wrought as from the heights of the heavens1 but we have to think of ,one who is beside us and in us and knows the hidden paths that no eye sees1 and no foot but ,his can tread1 into the inmost recesses of our souls1 and there can enter as ,king and righteousness1 as life and strength4 ,this is the deepest of the lessons that ,he would teach us here4 ',i live1 yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me1' and through me1 if ,i keep close to ,him1 will work mightily in forms that my poor manhood could never have reached4 ,the emblem of the vine and the branches1 and the other emblem of the house and its inhabitants1 and the other of the head and the members1 all point to this one same thing which shallow and unspiritual men call 'mystical1' but which is the very heart of the ,christian prerogative and the anchor of the ,christian hope4 ,christ in us is our present righteousness and our hope of a future glory4 ,and now mark that a still more solemn and mysterious aspect of this union of ,jesus ,christ and the believer is given1 since it is set forth as resulting in our doing ,christ's works1 and ,christ doing ours2 and therein is paralleled with the yet more wonderful and ineffable union between the ,father and the ,son4 ,it is no accident that in one clause ,he says1 ',i am in the ,father1 and the ,father in ,me4 ,the words that ,i speak unto you ,i speak not of ,myself1 but the ,father that dwelleth in ,me1 ,he doeth the works'2 and that in the next ,he says1 ',the works that ,i do shall he do also'2 and so bids us see in that union between the ,father and the ,son1 and in that consequent union of co-operation between ,him and ,his ,father1 a pattern after which our union with ,him is to be moulded1 both as regards the closeness of its intimacy and as regards the resulting manifestations in life4 ,christ is in us and we in ,christ in some measure as the ,son is in the ,father and the ,father in the ,son4 ,and the works that we do ,he does in some fashion that faintly echoes and shadows the perfect co-operation of the ,father and the ,son in the works that the ,christ did upon the earth4 ,all the doings of a ,christian man1 if done in faith1 and holding by ,christ1 are ,christ's doings1 inasmuch as ,he is the life and the power which does them all4 ,and ,christ's deeds are reproduced and perpetuated in ,his humble follower1 inasmuch as the life which is imparted will unfold itself according to its own kind2 and he that loves ,christ will be changed into ,his likeness1 and become a partaker of ,his ,spirit4 ,so let us curb all self-dependence and self-will1 that that mighty tide may flow into us2 and let us cast from us all timidity1 distrust1 and gloom1 and be strong in the assurance that we have a ,christ living in the heavens to work for us1 and living within us to work through us4 ,there is no record of the ,ascension in ,john's ,gospel1 but these words of my text unveil to us the inmost meaning of that ,ascension1 and are in full accord with the great picture which one of the ,evangelists has drawn--a picture in two halves1 which yet are knit together into one4 ',so then1 after ,he had spoken unto them1 ,he was received up into heaven1 and sat at the right hand of ,god2 and they went forth and preached everywhere4' ,what a contrast between the two--the repose above1 the toil below6 ,yes6 ,but the next words knit them together--',the ,lord also working with them1 and confirming the word with signs following4' ,,ii4 ,note1 in the next place1 the greater work of the servants on and for whom the ,lord works4 ',greater works than these shall he do4' ,is1 then1 the servant greater than his ,lord1 and he that is sent greater than ,he that sent him8 ,not so1 for whatsoever the servant does is done because the ,lord is with and in him1 and the contrast that is drawn between the works that ,christ does on earth and the greater works that the servant is to do hereafter is1 properly and at bottom1 the contrast between ,christ's manifestations in the time of ,his earthly limitation and humiliation1 and ,his manifestations in the time of ,his ,ascension and celestial glory4 ,we need not be afraid that such great words as these in any measure trench on the unique and unapproachable character of the earthly work of ,christ in its two aspects1 which are one--of ,revelation and ,redemption4 ,these are finished1 and need no copy1 no repetition1 no perpetuation1 until the end of time4 ,but the work of objective ,revelation1 which was completed when ,he ascended1 and the work of ,redemption which was finished when ,he rose--these require to be applied through the ages4 ,and it is in regard to the application of the finished work of ,christ to the actual accomplishment of its contemplated consequences1 that the comparison is drawn between the limited sphere and the small results of ,christ's work upon earth1 and the worldwide sweep and majestic magnitude of the results of the application of that work by ,his servants' witnessing work4 ,the wider and more complete spiritual results achieved by the ministration of the servants than by the ministration of the ,lord is the point of comparison here4 ,and ,i need only remind you that the poorest ,christian who can go to a brother soul1 and by word or life can draw that soul to a ,christ whom it apprehends as dying for its sins and raised for its glorifying1 does a mightier thing than it was possible for the ,master to do by life or lip whilst ,he was here upon earth4 ,for the ,redemption had to be completed in act before it could be proclaimed in word2 and ,christ had no such weapon in ,his hands with which to draw men's souls1 and cast down the high places of evil1 as we have when we can say1 ',we testify unto you that the ,son of ,god hath died for our sins1 and is raised again according to the ,scriptures4' ,nor need ,i do more than remind you of the comparison1 so exalting for ,his humility and so humbling for our self-exaltation1 between the narrow sphere in which ,his earthly ministrations had to operate and the worldwide scope which is given to ,his servants4 ',he laid ,his hands on a few sick folk1 and healed them'2 and at the end of ,his life there were one hundred and twenty disciples in ,jerusalem and five hundred in ,galilee1 and you might have put them all into this chapel and had ample room to spare4 ,that was all that ,jesus ,christ had done2 while to-day and now the world is being leavened and the kingdoms of the earth are beginning to recognise ,his name4 ',greater works than these shall he do' who lets ,christ in him do all ,his works4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 notice the conditions on which the exalted ,lord works for and on ,his servants4 ,these are two1 faith and prayer4 ',he that believeth on ,me1 the works that ,i do shall he do also4' ,faith1 the simple act of loving trust in ,jesus ,christ1 opens the door of our hearts and natures for the entrance of all ,his solemn ,omnipotence1 and makes us possessors of it4 ,it is the condition1 and the only condition1 and plainly the indispensable condition1 of possessing this divine ,christ's power1 that we should trust ourselves to ,him that gives it4 ,and if we do1 then we shall not trust in vain1 but to us there will come power that will surpass our desire1 and fill us with its own rejoicing and pure energy4 ,faith will make us like ,christ4 ,faith is intensely practical4 ',he that believeth shall do4' ,it is no mere cold assent to a creed which is utterly impotent to operate upon men's acts1 no mere hysterical emotion which is utterly impotent to energise into nobilities of service and miracles of consecration1 but it is the affiance of the whole nature which spreads itself before ,him and prays1 ',fill my emptiness and vitalise me with ,thine own ,spirit4' ,that is the faith which is ever answered by the inrush of the divine power1 and the measure of our capacity of receiving is the measure of ,his gift to us4 ,so if ,christian individuals and ,christian communities are impotent1 or all but impotent1 there is no difficulty in understanding why4 ,they have cut the connection1 they have shut the tap4 ,they lack faith2 and so their power is weakness4 ',why could we not cast him out8' said they1 perplexed when they had no need to be4 ',why could you not cast him out8 ,because you do not believe that ,i1 working in you1 can cast him out4 ,that is why2 and the only why4' ,let us learn that the secret of ,christians' weakness is the weakness of their ,christian faith4 ,and the other condition is prayer4 ',whatsoever ye shall ask in ,my name ,i will do it1' and ,he repeats it1 for confirmation and for greater emphasis4 ',if ye shall ask anything in ,my name1' or1 as perhaps that clause ought to be read with some versions1 ',if ye shall ask ,me anything in ,my name ,i will do it4' ,three points may be named here4 ,our power depends upon our prayer4 ,god's and ,christ's fullness and willingness to communicate do not depend upon our prayer4 ,but our capacity to receive of that fullness1 and so the possibility of its communication to us1 do depend upon our prayer4 ',we have not because we ask not4' ,the power of our prayer depends upon our conscious oneness with the revealed ,christ4 ',if ye shall ask in ,my name1' says ,he4 ,and people think they have fulfilled the condition when1 in a mechanical and external manner1 they say1 as a formula at the end of petitions that have been all stuffed full of self-will and selfishness1 'for ,christ's sake4 ,amen6' and then they wonder they do not get them answered6 ,is that asking in ,christ's name8 ,christ's name is the revelation of ,christ's character1 and to do a thing in the name of another person is to do it as ,his representative1 and as realising that in some deep and real sense--for the present purpose at all events--we are one with ,him4 ,and it is when we know ourselves to be united to ,christ and one with ,him1 and representative in a true fashion of ,himself1 as well as when1 in humble reliance on ,his work for us and ,his loving heart1 we draw near1 that our prayer has power1 as the old divines used to say1 'to move the ,hand that moves the world1' and to bring down a rush of blessing upon our heads4 ,prayer in the name of ,christ is hard to offer4 ,it needs much discipline and watchfulness2 it excludes all self-will and selfishness4 ,and if1 as my text tells us1 the end of the ,son's working is the glory of the ,father1 that same end1 and not our own ease or comfort1 must be the end and object of all prayer which is offered in ,his name4 ,when we so pray we get an answer4 ,and the reason why such multitudes of prayers never travel higher than the roof1 and bring no blessings to him who prays1 is because they are not prayers in ,christ's name4 ,prayer in ,his name will pass into prayer to ,him4 ,as ,he not obscurely teaches us here 7if we adopt the reading to which ,i have already referred71 ,he has an ear to hear such requests1 and ,he wields divine power to answer4 ,surely it was not blasphemy nor any diversion of the worship due to ,god alone1 when the dying martyr outside the city wall cried and said1 ',lord ,jesus6 receive my spirit4' ,nor is it any departure from the solemnest obligations laid upon us by the unity of the divine nature1 nor are we bringing idolatrous petitions to another than the ,father1 when we draw near to ,christ and ask ,him to give us that which ,he gives as the ,father's gift1 and to work on us that which the ,father that dwelleth in ,him works through ,him for us4 ,trust yourselves to ,christ1 and let your desires be stilled1 to listen to ,his voice in you1 and let that voice speak4 ,and then1 dear brethren1 we shall be lifted above ourselves1 and strength will flow into us1 and we shall be able to say1 ',i can do all things1 through the ,christ that dwells in me and makes me strong4' ,and just as the glad1 sunny waters of the incoming tide fill the empty places of some oozy harbour1 where all the ships are lying as if dead1 and the mud is festering in the sunshine1 so into the slimy emptiness of our corrupt hearts there will pour the flashing sunlit wave1 the ever fresh rush of ,his power2 and 'everything will live whithersoever it cometh1' and we shall be able to say in all humility1 and yet in glad recognition of ,christ's faithfulness to this1 ,his transcendent promise1 ',i live1 yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me1' 'because the life which ,i live in the flesh ,i live by faith of the ,son of ,god4' ,,love ,,and ,,obedience ',if ye love ,me1 keep ,my commandments4'--,,john xiv1 #ae4 ,as we have seen in former sermons1 the keyword of the preceding context is ',believe6' and that word passes now into ',love4' ,the order here is the order of experience4 ,there is first the believing gaze upon the ,christ as ,he is revealed--the image of the invisible ,god4 ,that kindles love1 and prompts to obedience4 ,there is another very beautiful and subtle link of connection between these words and the preceding4 ,our ,lord has just been saying1 ',whatsoever ye shall ask in ,my name1 that will ,i do4' ,is the parallel wholly accidental or fanciful between the ,lord who does as the servant asks and the servant who is to do as the ,lord commands8 ,on both sides there is love delighting to be set in motion by a message from the other side4 ,on the one part there is love supreme which commands and delights to be asked1 on the other part there is love dependent1 which asks and delights to be commanded2 and though the gulf between the two is great1 and the difference between ,christ's law and our petitions is infinite1 yet there is an analogy4 ,i pause on these words1 though they are introduced here only as the basis of the great promise which follows1 because they open out into such wide fields4 ,they contain the all-sufficient law of ,christian conduct4 ,they contain the one motive adequate to bring that law into realisation4 ,they disclose the very roots of ,christian morality1 and part of the secret of ,christ's unique power and influence amongst men4 ,they come with a message of encouragement to all souls despairing of being able to do that which they would1 and of freedom to all men burdened with a crowd of minute and external regulations4 ',if ye love ,me1 keep ,my commandments'--there are three points to be dwelt upon here--namely1 the all-sufficient ideal or guide of life1 the all-powerful motive which ,christ brings to bear1 and the all-subduing gaze of faith by which that motive is brought into action4 ,i4 ,we have here the all-sufficient ideal or guide for life4 ,jesus ,christ is not speaking merely to that little handful of men in the upper chamber1 but to all generations and to all lands1 to the end of time and round the world4 ,the authoritative tone which ,he assumes here is very noteworthy4 ,he speaks as ,jehovah spoke from ,sinai1 and quotes the very words of the old law when ,he speaks of 'keeping ,my commandments4' ,there are distinctly involved in this quite incidental utterance of ,christ's two startling things--one the assumption of ,his right to impose ,his will upon every human being1 and the other ,his assumption that ,his will contains the all-sufficient directory for human conduct4 ,what1 then1 are ,his commandments8 ,those which ,he spoke are plain and simple2 and people who wish to pick holes in the greatness of ,christ's work in the world tell us that you can match almost all ,his precepts up and down amongst moralists and philosophers1 and they crow very loud if1 scratching amongst ,rabbinical dust-heaps1 they find something that looks like anything that ,he once said4 ,be it so6 ,what does that matter8 ,christ's 'commandments' are ,christ ,himself4 ,this is the originality and uniqueness of ,christ as a moral ,teacher1 that ,he says1 not ',do this1 that1 and the other thing1' but ',copy ,me4' ',take ,my yoke upon you and learn of ,me1 for ,i am meek and lowly in heart4' ,his commandments are ,himself2 and the sum of them all is this--a character perfectly self-oblivious1 and wholly penetrated and saturated with joyful1 filial submission to the ,father1 and uttermost and entire giving ,himself away to ,his brethren4 ,that is ,christ's commandment which ,he bids us keep1 and ,his law is to be found in ,his life4 ,and then1 if that be so1 what a change passes on the aspect of law1 when we take ,christ as being our living embodiment of it6 ,everything that was hard1 repellent1 far-off1 cold1 vanishes4 ,we have no longer 'tables of stone1' but 'fleshy tables of the heart'2 and the ,law stands before us1 a ,being to be loved1 to be clung to1 to be trusted1 and whom it is blessedness to know and perfection to resemble4 ,the rails upon which the train travels may be rigid1 but they mean safety1 and they carry men smoothly into otherwise inaccessible lands4 ,so the life of ,jesus ,christ brought to us is the firm and plain track along which we are to travel2 and all that was difficult and hard in the cold thought of duty becomes changed into the attraction of a living ,pattern and ,example4 ,this living and breathing and loving commandment is all-sufficient for every detail and complexity of human life4 ,it is so by the confession of believers and of unbelievers1 by the joyful confession of the one1 and by the frank acknowledgment of many of the others4 ,listen to one of them4 ',whatever else may be taken away from us by rational criticism1 ,christ is still left1 a unique ,figure1 not more unlike all ,his predecessors than all ,his followers'''4 ,religion cannot be said to have made a bad choice in selecting this ,man as the ideal ,representative and ,guide of humanity2 nor even now would it be easy1 even for an unbeliever1 to find a better translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract into the concrete than to endeavour so to live that ,christ would approve our life4' ,it is enough for conduct1 it is enough for character1 it is enough in all perplexities of conflicting duties1 that we listen to and obey the voice that says1 ',keep ,my commandments4' ,,ii4 ,now note1 secondly1 the all-powerful motive4 ,probably my text is best understood as the ,revised ,version understands it1 which reads1 ',if ye love ,me1 ye will keep ,my commandments1' making it an assurance and not an injunction4 ,christ speaks with the calm confidence that love to ,him will have power enough to sway the life4 ,his utterance here is not the addition of another commandment to the list1 but rather the pointing out of how they may all be kept4 ,the principle that underlies these words1 then1 is this1 that love is the foundation of obedience1 and obedience is the sure outcome and result of love4 ,that is true in regard to those lower forms of love1 which may teach us something of the operation of the higher4 ,we all know that love which is real1 and not simply passion and selfishness with a mask on1 delights most chiefly in knowing and conforming to the will of the beloved1 and that there is nothing sweeter than to be commanded by the dear voice and to obey for dear love's sake4 ,and you have only to take that which is the experience of every true heart1 in a thousand sweet ways in daily life1 and to lift it into the higher region1 and to transfer it to the bond that unites us with ,jesus ,christ1 to see that ,he has invoked no illusory1 but an omnipotent power when ,he has rested the whole force of ,his transforming and sanctifying energy upon this one principle1 ',if ye love ,me1 the ,lawgiver1 ye will keep the commandments of ,my ,law4' ,that is exactly what distinguishes and lifts the morality of the ,gospel above all other systems4 ,the worst man in the world knows a great deal more of his duty than the best man does4 ,it is not for want of knowledge that men go to the devil1 but it is for want of power or will to live their knowledge4 ,and what morality fails to do1 with its clearest utterances of human duty1 ,christ comes and does4 ,the one law is like the useless proclamations posted up in some rebellious district1 where there is no army to back them1 and the king's authority from whom they come is flouted4 ,the other law gets itself obeyed4 ,such is the difference between the powerless morality of the world and the commandment of ,jesus ,christ4 ,here is the road plain and straight4 ,what matters that1 if there is no force to draw the cart along it8 ,there might as well be no road at all4 ,here stand all your looms1 polished and in perfect order1 but there is no steam in the boilers2 and so there is no motion1 and nothing is woven4 ,what we want is not law1 but power1 and what the ,gospel gives us1 and stands alone in giving us1 is not merely the knowledge of the will of ,god1 and the clear revelation of what we ought to be1 but the power to become it4 ,love does that1 and love alone4 ,that strong force brought into action in our hearts will drive out from thence all rivals1 all false and low things4 ,the true way to cleanse the ,augean stables1 as the old myth has it1 was to turn the river into them4 ,it would have been endless work to wheel out the filth in wheelbarrows loaded by spades3 turn the stream in1 and it will sweep away all the foulness4 ,when the ,ark comes into the ,temple1 ,dagon lies1 a mutilated stump1 upon the threshold4 ,when ,christ comes into my heart1 then all the obscene and twilight-loving shapes that lurked there1 and defiled it1 will vanish like ghosts at cock-crowing before ,his calm and pure ,presence4 ,he1 and ,he alone1 entering my heart by the portals of my love1 will coerce my evil and stimulate my good4 ,and if ,i love ,him1 ,i shall keep ,his commandments4 ,now1 brethren1 here is a plain test and a double-barrelled one1 which tries both our love and our obedience with a sharp touchstone4 ',if ye love ,me1 ye will keep ,my commandments4' ,that implies1 first1 that there is no love worth calling so which does not keep the commandment4 ,all the emotional and the mystic1 and the so-called higher parts of ,christian experience1 have to be content to submit to this plain test--do they help us to live as ,christ would have us1 and that because ,he would have us8 ,love to ,him that does not keep ,his commandments is either spurious or dangerously feeble4 ,the true sign of its presence in the heart and the noblest of its operations is not to be found in high-pitched expressions of fervid emotion1 nor even in the sacred joys of solitary communion1 but in its making us1 while in the rough struggle of daily life1 and surrounded by trivial tasks1 live near ,him1 and by ,him1 and for ,him1 and like ,him4 ,if ,i live so1 ,i love ,him2 if not1 not4 ,not that ,i mean to say that in regard to each individual action of a ,christian man's life there must be the conscious presence of reference to the supreme love1 but that each individual action of the life ought to come from a character of which that reference to the supreme love is the very formative principle and foundation4 ,the colouring matter put in at the fountain will dye every drop of the stream2 and they whose inmost hearts are tinged and tinctured with the sweet love of ,jesus ,christ1 from their hearts will go forth issues of life all coloured and moulded thereby4 ,test your ,christian love by your practical obedience4 ,and1 on the other hand1 there is no obedience worth calling so which is not the child of love2 and all the multitude of right things which ,christians do without that motive are made short work of by that consideration4 ,obedience which is formal1 mechanical1 matter-of-course1 without the presence in it of a loving submission of the will2 obedience which is reluctant1 calculated1 forced upon us by dread1 imitated from others--all that is nothing2 and ,jesus ,christ does not count it as obedience at all4 ,this is a sieve with very small meshes1 and there will be a great deal of rubbish left in it after the shaking4 ',if ye love ,me1 keep ,my commandments4' ,the 'keeping of ,my commandments' which has not 'love to ,me' underlying it is no keeping at all4 ,,iii4 ,and so1 lastly1 notice the all-subduing gaze4 ,that is not included in my text1 but it is necessary in order to complete the view of the forces to which ,jesus ,christ here entrusts the hallowing of life and the sanctifying of our nature2 and we are led to refer to it by what ,i have already pointed out2 the connection between the 'love' of my text and the 'believe' of the preceding verses4 ,i can fancy a man saying1 ',keep ,his commandments8 ,woe is me6 ,how am ,i to keep8' ,the answer is ',love4' ,and ,i can fancy him saying ',love8' ,yes6 ',and how am ,i to love8 ,i cannot get up love at the word of command1 or by any voluntary effort4' ,and the answer comes again1 ',believe6' ,trust ,christ1 and you will love ,him4 ,love ,him and you will do ,his will4 ,and then the question comes again1 ',believe what8' ,and the answer comes1 ',believe that ,he is the ,son of ,god who died for you4' ,nothing else will kindle a man's love than the faithful contemplation and grasp of ,christ in that character and aspect4 ,only the redeeming ,christ affords a reasonable ground for our love to ,him4 ,here is a dead man1 dead for nineteen centuries1 expecting you and me to have towards ,him a vivid personal affection which will influence our conduct and our character4 ,what right has ,he to expect that8 ,there is only one reasonable ground upon which ,i may be called to love ,jesus ,christ1 and that is that ,he died for me1 and such a love towards such a ,christ is the only thing which will wield power sufficient to guide1 to coerce1 to restrain1 to constrain1 and to sustain my weak1 wayward1 rebellious1 and sluggish will4 ,all other emotions of so-called admiration and worship and reverence and affection for ,jesus ,christ are apt to be tepid2 but this one has power and warmth in it4 ,here is a unique fact in the history of the world1 that not only did ,he make this astounding claim upon all subsequent generations2 but that all subsequent generations have responded to it1 and that to-day there are millions of men who love ,jesus ,christ with a love warm1 personal1 deep1 powerful--the spring of all their goodness and the ,lord of their lives4 ,why do they8 ,for one reason only4 ,because they believe that ,he died for them individually1 and that ,he lives an ascended yet ever-present ,helper and ,lover of their souls4 ,my brethren1 that conviction1 and that conviction only1 as ,i venture to affirm1 has power to send a glow of love into the heart which will move all the limbs in swift and happy obedience4 ,that conviction1 and that conviction alone1 will melt the thick-ribbed ice of our spirits and will make it flow down in sweet waters4 ,the love that has looked upon the ,cross will be the fulfilling of the law of ,him that speaks from the ,throne4 ,when our faith has grasped ,him1 as enduring that cross for us1 then our love will be awakened to hear and to do ,his commandments4 ',we love ,him because ,he first loved us1' and such love will flower and fruit in obedience4 ,i shall keep ,his commandments when ,i love ,him4 ,i shall love ,him with a love that makes my will plastic and my life a glad service1 when by faith ,i grasp ,him as the ,incarnate ,lord1 'who loved me and gave ,himself for me4' ,,the ,,comforter ,,given ',and ,i will pray the ,father1 and ,he shall give you another ,comforter1 that ,he may abide with you for ever2 ,even the ,spirit of ,truth2 whom the world cannot receive1 because it seeth ,him not1 neither knoweth ,him3 but ye know ,him2 for ,he dwelleth with you1 and shall be in you4'--,,john xiv4 #af1ag4 ,the 'and' at the beginning of these words shows us that they are continuous with and the consequence of what precedes4 ',if ye love ,me1 ye will keep ,my commandments1 and ,i will pray ''' and ,he will send4' ,such is the series2 but we must also remember that1 as we have seen in previous sermons1 the obedience spoken of in the clause before my text is itself treated as a consequence of some preceding steps4 ,the ladder that is fixed upon earth and has its summit in heaven has for its rungs1 first and lowest1 'believe'2 second1 'love'2 third1 'obey4' ,and thus the context carries us from the very basis of the ,christian life up into its highest reward1 even the larger gift to an obedient spirit of that ,great ,spirit1 who is the ,comforter and the ,teacher4 ,and there is another very striking link of connection between these words and the preceding4 ,there are1 if ,i may so say1 two telephones across the abyss that separates the ascended ,christ and us4 ,one of them is contained in ,his words1 ',if ye ask anything in ,my name ,i will do it'2 the other is contained in these words1 ',if ye keep ,my commandments ,i will ask4' ,love on this side of the great cleft sets love on the other side of it in motion in a twofold fashion4 ,if we ask1 ,he does2 if we do1 ,he asks4 ,his action is the answer to our prayers1 and ,his prayers are the answer to our obedient action4 ,so we have here these points--the praying ,christ and the giving ,father2 the abiding ,gift2 the blind world and the recipient disciples4 ,i4 ,note1 then1 first1 the praying ,christ and the giving ,father4 ',i will ask and ,he will give' seems a strange drop from the lofty claims with which we have become familiar in the earlier verses of this chapter4 ',believe in ,god1 believe also in ,me'2 ',he that hath seen ,me hath seen the ,father'2 ',if ye shall ask anything in ,my name ,i will do it'2 ',keep ,my commandments4' ,all these distinctly express1 or necessarily imply1 divine nature1 prerogatives1 and authority4 ,but here the voice that spake the perfect revelation of ,god1 and gave utterance authoritatively to the perfect law of life1 softens and lowers its tones in petition2 and ,jesus ,christ joins the rank of the suppliants4 ,now common sense tells us that apparently diverse views lying so close together in one continuous stream of speech cannot have seemed to the utterer of them to be contradictory2 and ,i venture to affirm that there is no explanation which does justice to these two sides of ,christ's consciousness--the one all divine and authoritative and lofty1 and the other all lowly and identifying ,himself with petitioners and suppliants everywhere--except the old-fashioned and to-day discredited belief that ,he is ',god manifest in the flesh1' who prays in ,his ,manhood and hears prayer in ,his ,divinity4 ,the bare humanistic view which emphasises such utterances as these of my text does not1 for the life of it1 know what to do with the other ones1 and cannot manage to unite these two images into a stereoscopic solid4 ,that is reserved for the faith which believes in the ,manhood and in the ,deity of our ,lord and ,saviour4 ,his intercession is the great hope of the ,christian heart4 ,his intercession is the great activity of ,his present exalted and glorious state4 ,his intercession is no mere verbal utterance1 nor the representation to the ,father of an alien or a diverse will1 but ,his intercession1 mysterious as it is1 and unfathomable to our poor1 short lines and light plummets1 must mean this at all events--,his continual activity in presenting before the divine ,father1 as the motive and condition of ,his petition being granted1 ,his own great work upon the ,cross4 ,the ,high ,priest passes within the veil1 bearing in ,his hand the offering which ,he has made1 and by reason of that offering1 and of ,his powerful presence before the mercy-seat1 all the spiritual gifts which redeem and regenerate and sanctify humanity are for ever coming forth4 ',i will pray1 and ,he will give1' is but one way of saying1 ',seeing then1 that we have a great ,high ,priest over the ,house of ,god who is entered within the veil1 let us draw near4' ,but ,i would have you notice how1 as is always the case in all utterances of ,jesus ,christ which express the lowest humiliation and completest identification of ,himself with humanity1 there is ever present some touch of obscured glory1 some all but suppressed flash of brightness which will not be wholly concealed4 ,note two things in this great utterance2 one1 ,christ's quiet assumption that all through the ages1 and today1 nineteen centuries after ,he died1 ,he knows1 at the moment of their being done1 ,his servants' deeds4 ',keep my commandments1 and1 knowing that you keep them1 ,i will then and there pray for you4' ,he claims in the lowly words an altogether supernatural1 abnormal1 divine cognisance of all the acts of men down the ages and across the gulf between earth and heaven4 ,and the other signature of divinity stamped on the prayer of ,christ is ,his certitude of the answer4 ',i will ask and ,he will give'3 ,he puts1 as it were1 the ,father's act in pledge to us1 and assures us1 in a tone of certainty1 which is not merely the assurance of faith1 but the certitude of ,one who is 'one with the ,father1' that ,his prayer brings ever its answer4 ',father6 ,i will that they whom ,thou hast given ,me be with ,me4' ,how strange6 ,how far beyond the warrantable language of man6 ,and how impossible for a fisherman of ,bethsaida to imagine1 if he had not heard1 that strange blending of submission and of authority which speaks in such words6 ,then1 remember what ,i have already said1 that1 according to the teaching of this verse1 taken in connection with its context1 that which put in motion ,christ's ,intercessory activity1 as represented in my text1 is the obedience of a ,christian man4 ,if you obey ,he will pray1 and the ,father will send4 ,so the reward of imperfect obedience is the larger measure given to us of that divine ,spirit by whose indwelling obedience becomes possible1 and self-surrender a joy and a power4 ,and that is not merely because of the natural operation by which any kind of conduct tends to repeat itself in more complete measure1 nor is it merely a case of 'to him that hath shall be given'2 as a man's arm is strengthened by exercise1 and any faculty becomes more assured1 and swift1 and at the command of its owner1 by use4 ,but there is a distinct supernatural impartation to every obedient heart of divine gifts which come straight through ,jesus ,christ to it4 ,he ,himself1 in this immediate context1 says1 ',if ,i depart ,i will send ,him unto you1' and the true conception is that in that ,spirit's gift1 which is a reality waiting as its crown and reward upon our poor stained obedience1 the whole ,godhead is present2 the ,father the ,source1 the ,son the ,channel1 the ,spirit the ,gift4 ,,ii4 ,and so1 secondly1 note what our text tells us of that abiding gift4 ',he will send another ,comforter1' 'that ,he may abide with you for ever1 even the ,spirit of ,truth4' ,i suppose ,i may take it for granted that most of my audience know all that need be said as to the meaning of this word ',comforter4' ,in our present modern ,english it has a very much narrower range of meaning than its etymology would give it1 and than probably it had when it was first used in an ,english translation4 ',comforter' means a great deal more than 'consoler1' though we have narrowed it to that signification almost exclusively4 ,it means not only one who administers sweet whispers of consolation in sorrow1 but one who1 in any circumstances1 by his presence makes strong4 ,and the original ,greek word1 of which it is the translation here1 has a precisely analogous meaning2 its original signification being that of 'one who is called to the aid of another1' primarily as an advocate in a court of law1 but more widely as a helper in any form whatsoever4 ,and that is the idea which is to be attached to the word here3--a ,comforter who makes strong by ,his presence2 the ,paraclete1 who is our ,advocate1 ,helper1 ,guide1 and ,instructor4 ,need ,i dwell upon the great thoughts that spring from that metaphor2 how we have to look for a ,person1 and not merely a vague influence2 a divine ,person who will be by our sides on condition of our faith1 love1 and obedience1 to be our ,strength in all weakness1 our ,peace in all trouble1 our ,wisdom in all darkness1 our ,guide in every perplexity1 our ,comforter and ,cherisher1 our ,righteousness when sin is strong1 the ,victor over our temptations1 and the ,companion and ,sweetener of our solitude8 ,the metaphors with which ,scripture represents this great personal ,influence are full of instruction and beauty4 ,he comes as 'the ,fire1' which melts1 which warms1 which cleanses1 which quickens4 ,he comes as the 'rushing1 mighty ,wind1' which bears health upon its wings1 and sometimes breathes softly as an infant's breath1 and sometimes sweeps with irresistible power4 ,he comes as the ',oil1' gently flowing1 lubricating1 making every joint supple1 nourishing4 ,he comes as the ',water of ,life1' refreshing1 vitalising1 quickening all growth4 ,he comes fluttering down as the ,dove of ,god1 the bird of peace that will brood upon our hearts4 ,the predicates which ,scripture attaches to that great ,name are equally various1 and are full of teaching as to the manner in which ,he is the ,comforter and the ,advocate4 ,he is the ,spirit of ,holiness1 the ,spirit of ,truth1 the ,spirit of ,wisdom1 the ,spirit of ,power1 the ,spirit of ,love1 the ,spirit of a sound ,mind1 the ,spirit of ,sonship1 the ,spirit of ,supplication1 and of many great things besides4 ,and this sweet1 strong1 all-sufficient ,person is offered to each of us1 and waits to enter our hearts4 ,and1 says ,christ1 this ,strengthener and ,advocate is to replace ,me and to carry on ,my work4 ',he will send another ,comforter4' ,who was the other but the ,master who was speaking8 ,so all that that handful of men had found of sweetness and shelter and assured guidance1 and stay for their weakness1 and enlightenment for their darkness1 and companionship for their solitude1 and a breast on which to rest their heads1 and love in which to bathe their hearts1 all these this divine ,spirit will bring to each of us if we will4 ,and further1 our ,lord tells us that this strong continuer of ,his presence will be a permanent ,companion4 ',he will abide with you for ever4' ,he was comforting the disciples who were trembling at the thought of ,his departure1 and knowing that all the sweetness of these three short years had come to an end2 and ,he says to them1 and through them to all the ages to the end of time3 ',here is the abiding ,guest1 that nothing but your own sin will ever cast out from your hearts4' ,and ,christ tells us how this great ,spirit will do ,his work4 ,he is the ',spirit of ,truth1' not as if ,he brought new truth4 ,to suppose that ,he does so1 opens the door to all manner of fanaticism1 but the truth1 the revelation of which is all summed and finished in the person and work of ,jesus ,christ1 is the weapon by which the divine ,spirit works all ,his conquests1 the staff on which ,he makes us lean and be strong4 ,he is the ,spirit by whom the truth passes into our personal possession1 by no mere imperfect form of outward teaching which is always confused and insufficient1 but by the inward teaching that deals with our hearts and our spirits4 ,but ,christ speaks1 too1 of the blind world4 ,there is a tone of deep sadness in ,his words4 ,the thought of the immense multitude of men who were incapacitated to receive this ,strengthener steals across and casts a momentary shadow upon even the brightness and greatness of ,his promise4 ',the world cannot receive because it seeth ,him not1 neither knoweth ,him4' ,the 'world' is the mass of man1 considered as godless and separate from ,him1 and there is a bit of the world in us all2 but there are men who are wholly under its influence and dominion4 ,and these men1 says ,christ1 are perfectly incapable of receiving the teaching of this divine ,comforter4 ,of course there are other operations of that ,great ,spirit of which we shall have to hear as we go on further in this context1 in which ,his work 'convicts the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment4' ,but what our ,lord is speaking of here is the work of that ,spirit who comes in response to ,his prayer which rises in consequence of our obedience1 and who1 coming1 brings with ,him strength and purity and peace and wisdom2 and that aspect of ,his operations a heart that is all full and seething with the world is unfit to receive4 ,it cannot see ,him4 ,embruted natures are altogether incapacitated for high thoughts1 for the perception of natural beauty1 for the appreciation of art2 and worldly men1 by the very same law1 are incapable of receiving this divine ,spirit4 ,a savage stares at the sunshine and sees nothing but a glare4 ,and worldly men--that is to say1 men whose tastes1 inclinations1 desires1 hopes1 purposes1 strivings1 are all bound by this visible diurnal round--lack the organ that enables them to see that divine ,spirit moving round about them4 ,whether you have put your eyes out by fleshly lusts1 or1 as many men in this generation have done1 by intellectual self-sufficiency and conceit1 if the world1 in its grosser or in its most refined forms1 is your master1 you are stone blind to all the best realities of the universe1 and you cannot see the things that are4 ,if you look out upon the history of the ,church1 or upon the present condition of ,christendom1 and say1 ',i see no divine ,spirit working there'2 well1 then1 the only thing that is to be said to you is1 ',go to an oculist2 your sight is bad4 ,perhaps there is solid land1 as some of us see it1 where you see only mist4' ,this generation needs the preaching of a supernatural power at work beside us1 and among us1 and until we come to believe that1 we do not understand the fullness of ,christ's gift4 ,,iii4 ,then1 lastly1 note the recipient disciples4 ,observe that the order of clauses is reversed in the last part of the text4 ,the world cannot receive1 because it does not know4 ,the disciple knows1 because he receives4 ,possession and knowledge reciprocally interchange places1 and may be regarded as cause and effect of one another4 ,that is to say1 at bottom they are one and the same thing4 ,knowledge is possession1 and possession is the only knowledge4 ,these disciples knew ,christ in a fashion4 ,he had just been telling them that they did not know ,him2 but so far as they did dimly grasp ,him1 they saw the ,spirit--in another form1 indeed1 than they would hereafter see--but still truly1 though imperfectly4 ,beholding the ,spirit1 though 'through a glass darkly1' and cherishing their partial possession of ,him1 they will come to more1 and steadfastly increase from the morning's twilight to the midday glory4 ,so ,he says3 ',he dwelleth with you' now1 and ',he shall be in you' hereafter4 ,there is a better form of possession opening before them1 which came at ,pentecost1 and has lasted ever since4 ,from thenceforward we have a ,spirit that not only stands by our sides and holds fellowship with us 7for the two 'withs' of our text are two different words1 expressing respectively proximity and communion71 but who actually dwells in the central depths of our natures1 and whom we thus possess more perfectly and blessedly than is possible to even the closest outward proximity1 and the sweetest outward fellowship4 ,that possession of an abiding and indwelling ,spirit is the gift of ,christ to every ,christian soul1 and is to be found by us all upon the path so plainly marked out in our text and its connections--'believe1' 'love1' 'obey4' ,then the ,dove of ,god will flutter down upon our heads and nestle in our hearts1 and brooding over the solemn and solitary sea of our chaotic spirits1 will bring up from it a new world glistening in fresh order and beauty1 and 'very good' in its ,maker's eyes4 ,,the ,,absent ,,present ,,christ ',i will not leave you comfortless2 ,i will come to you4 ,yet a little while1 and the world seeth ,me no more2 but ye see ,me3 because ,i live1 ye shall live also4'--,,john xiv4 #ah1ai4 ,the sweet and gracious comfortings with which ,christ had been soothing the disciples' fears went very deep1 but hitherto they had not gone deep enough4 ,it was much that they should know the purpose of ,his going1 whither ,he went1 and that they had an interest in ,his departure4 ,it was much that they should have before them the prospect of reunion2 much that they should know that all through ,his absence ,he would be working in them1 and that they should be assured that1 absent1 ,he would send them a great gift4 ,but reunion1 influence from afar1 and gifts from the other side of the gulf were not all that their hearts needed4 ,and so here our ,lord gives yet more1 in the paradoxes that1 absent ,he will be present1 unseen visible1 and dying will be for them for ever1 living and life-giving4 ,these great thoughts go to the centre of their needs and of ours2 and on them ,i now touch briefly4 ,there are then in the words ,i have read1 though they be but a fragment of a closely-linked-together context1 these three great thoughts3 the absent ,christ the present ,christ2 the unseen ,christ the seen ,christ2 the ,christ who dies the living and life-giving ,christ4 ,let us look at these as they stand4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 the absent ,christ is the present ,christ4 ',i will not leave you comfortless1' or1 as the ,revised ,version has it1 'desolate--,i come to you4' ,now1 most of us know1 ,i suppose1 that the literal meaning of the word rendered 'comfortless1' or 'desolate1' is 'orphans4' ,but that is rather an unusual form in which to represent the relation between our ,lord and ,his disciples1 and so1 possibly1 our versions are accurate in giving the general idea of desolation rather than the specific idea conveyed directly by the word4 ,but still it is to be remembered that this whole conversation begins with ',little children'2 and there seems to be no strong reason for suppressing the literal meaning of the word1 if only it be remembered that it is employed not so much to define ,christ's relation to his brethren as to describe the comfortless and helpless condition of that little group when left by ,him4 ,they would be like fatherless and motherless children in a cold world4 ,and what is to hinder that8 ,one thing only4 ',i come to you4' ',then1 and only then1 will you cease to be desolate and orphans4 ,my presence will change everything and turn winter into glorious summer4' ,now1 what is this 'coming'8 ,it is to be observed that our ,lord says1 not ',i will1' as a future1 but ',i come1' or ',i am coming1' as an immediately impending1 and1 we may almost say1 present1 thing4 ,there can be no reference in the word to that final coming to judgment which lies so far ahead2 because1 if there were1 then there would follow from the text1 that1 until that period1 all that love ,him here upon earth are to wander about as orphans1 desolate and forsaken2 and that certainly can never be4 ,so that we have to recognise here the promise of a coming which is contemporaneous with ,his absence1 and which is1 in fact1 but the reverse side of ,his bodily absence4 ,it is true about ,him that ,he 'departs from' ,his people in bodily form 'for a season1 that they may receive ,him' in a better form 'for ever4' ,this1 then1 is the heart and centre of the consolation here1 that howsoever the external presence may be withdrawn1 and the 'foolish senses' may have to speak of an absent ,christ1 we may rejoice in the certainty that ,he is with all those that love ,him1 and all the more with them because of the very withdrawal of the earthly manifestation which has served its purpose1 and now is laid aside as an impediment rather than as a help to the full communion4 ,we confound bodily with real4 ,the bodily presence is at an end2 the real presence lasts for ever4 ,i do not need to insist1 ,i suppose1 upon the manifest implication of absolute divinity which lies in such words as these4 ',i come4' ',being absent1 ,i am present in all generations4 ,i am present with every single heart4' ,that is equivalent to the ,omnipresence of deity2 that is equivalent to or implies the undying existence of the divine nature1 and ,he that says1 when ,he is leaving earth and withdrawing the sweetness of ,his visible form from the eyes of men1 ',i come1' in the very act of going1 'and ,i am with you always1 with all of you to the end of the ages1' can be no less than ,god1 manifest in the flesh for a time1 and present in the ,spirit with ,his children for ever4 ,i cannot but think that the average ,christian life of this day wofully fails in the simple1 conscious realisation of this great truth1 and that we are all far too little living in the calm1 happy1 strengthening assurance that we are never alone1 but have ,jesus ,christ with each of us more closely1 more truly1 in a more available fashion1 and with more omnipotence of influence1 than they had who were nearest ,him during the days that ,he lived upon earth4 ,oh1 brethren6 if we really believed1 not as an article of our creed which has become so familiar to us that it produces little impression upon us1 but as a vital and ever-present conviction of our souls1 that with us there was ever the real presence of the real ,christ1 how all burdens and cares would be lightened1 how all perplexities would begin to smooth themselves out and be straightened1 how all the force would be sucked out of temptations1 and how sorrows and joys and all things would be changed in their aspect by that one conviction intensely realised and constantly with us6 ,a present ,christ is the ,strength1 the ,righteousness1 the ,peace1 the ,joy1 and as we shall see1 in the most literal sense1 the ,life of every ,christian soul4 ,then1 note1 further1 that this coming of our ,lord is identified with that of ,his divine ,spirit4 ,he has been speaking of sending that 'other ,comforter1' but though ,he be ,another1 ,he is yet so indissolubly united with ,him who sends as that the coming of the ,spirit is the coming of ,jesus4 ,he is no gift wafted to us as from the other side of a gulf1 but by reason of the unity of the ,godhead and the divinity of the sent ,spirit1 ,jesus ,christ and the ,spirit whom ,he sends are inseparable though separate1 and so indissolubly united that where the ,spirit is1 there is ,christ1 and where ,christ is1 there is the ,spirit4 ,these are amongst the deep things which the disciples were 'not able to carry' at that stage of their development1 and which waited for a further explanation4 ,enough for them and enough for us1 to know that we have ,christ in the ,spirit and the ,spirit in ,christ2 and to remember 'that if any man have not the ,spirit of ,christ1 he is none of ,his4' ,we stand here on the margin of a shoreless and fathomless sea2 and for my part ,i venture to think that the men who talk about the incredibilities and the contradictions of the orthodox faith would show themselves a little wiser if they were more conscious of the limitation of human faculty1 and remembered that to pronounce upon contradictions in the doctrine of the divine ,nature implies that the pronouncer stands above and goes round about the whole of that nature4 ,so1 for my part1 abjuring omniscience and the comprehension of ,deity1 ,i accept the statement that the ,father and the ,son and the ,holy ,spirit come together and dwell in the heart4 ,then1 note1 further1 that this present ,christ is the only ,remedy for the orphanhood of the world4 ,the words had a tender and pathetic reference to that little1 bewildered group of followers1 deprived of their ,guide1 their ,teacher1 and their ,companion4 ,he who had been as eyes to their weak vision1 and ,counsellor and ,inspirer and everything for three blessed years1 was going away to leave them unsheltered to the storm1 and we can understand how forlorn and terrified they were1 when they looked forward to fronting the things that must come to them1 without ,his presence4 ,therefore ,he cheers them with the assurance that they will not be left without ,him1 but that1 present still1 just because ,he is absent1 ,he will be all that ,he ever had been to them4 ,and the promise was fulfilled4 ,how did that dis-spirited group of cowardly men ever pluck up courage to hold together at all after the ,crucifixion8 ,why was it that they did not follow the example of ,john's disciples1 and dissolve and disappear2 and say1 ',the game is up4 ,it is no use holding together any longer'8 ,the process of separation began on the very day of the ,crucifixion4 ,only one thing could have stopped it1 and that is the ,resurrection and the presence with ,his ,church of the risen ,christ in ,his power and in all the fullness of ,his gifts4 ,if it had not been that ,he came to them1 they would have disappeared1 and ,christianity would have been one more of the abortive sects forgotten in ,judaism4 ,but1 as it is1 the whole of the ,new ,testament after ,pentecost is aflame with the consciousness of a present ,christ1 working amongst ,his people4 ,and although it be true that1 in one aspect1 we are absent from the ,lord when we are present with the body1 in another aspect1 and an infinitely higher one1 it is true that the strength of the ,christian life of ,apostles and martyrs was this1 the assurance that ,christ ,himself--no mere rhetorical metaphor for ,his influence or ,his example1 or ,his memory lingering in their imaginations1 but the veritable ,christ ,himself--was present with them1 to strengthen and to bless4 ,that same conviction you and ,i must have1 if the world is not to be a desert and a dreary place for us4 ,in a very profound sense it is true that if you take away ,jesus ,christ1 the elder ,brother1 who alone reveals to men the ,father1 we are all orphans1 fatherless children1 who look up into an empty heaven and see nothing there4 ,it is only ,christ who reveals to us the ,father and makes our happy hearts feel that we are of ,his children4 ,and in the wider sense of the word 'orphans1' is not life a desolation without ,him8 ,hollow joys1 fleeting blessednesses1 roses whose thorns last long after the petals have dropped1 real sorrows1 shows and shams1 bitternesses and disappointments--are not these our life1 in so far as ,christ has been driven out of it8 ,oh6 there is only one thing that saves us from being as desolate1 fatherless children1 groping in the dark for the lost ,father's hand1 and dying for want of it1 and that is that the ,christ ,himself shall come to us and be with us4 ,,ii4 ,the unseen ,christ is a seen ,christ4 ,it is clear that the period referred to in the second clause of our text is the same as that referred to in the first1 that 'yet a little while' covers the whole space up to ,his ,ascension2 and that if there be any reference at all to the forty days of ,his earthly life1 during which literally1 the work 'saw ,him no more1' but the ,apostles 'saw ,him1' that reference is only secondary4 ,these transitory appearances are not of sufficient moment or duration to bear the weight of so great a promise as this4 ,the vision1 which is the consequence of the coming1 has the same extension in time as the coming--that is to say1 it is continuous and permanent4 ,we must read here the great promise of a perpetual vision of the present ,christ4 ,it is clear1 too1 that the word 'see' is employed in these two clauses in two different senses4 ,in the former it refers only to bodily sight1 in the latter to spiritual perception4 ,for a few short hours still1 the ungodly mass of men were to have that outward vision which might have been so much to them1 but which they had used so badly that 'they seeing saw not4' ,it was to cease1 and they who loved ,him would not miss it when it did2 but the withdrawal which hid ,him from sense and sense-bound souls would reveal ,him more clearly to ,his friends4 ,they1 too1 had but dimly seen ,him while ,he stood by them2 they would gaze on ,him with truer insight when ,he was present though absent4 ,so this is what every ,christian life may and should be--the continual sight of a continually-present ,christ4 ,it is ,his part to come4 ,it is ours to see1 to be conscious of ,him who does come4 ,faith is the sight of the soul1 and it is far better than the sight of the senses4 ,it is more direct4 ,my eye does not touch what ,i look at4 ,gulfs of millions of miles may lie between me and it4 ,but my faith is not only eye1 but hand1 and not only beholds1 but grasps1 and comes into contact with that to which it is directed4 ,it is far more clear4 ,sense may deceive2 faith1 built upon ,his ,word1 cannot deceive4 ,its information is far more certain1 far more valid4 ,i have better reason for believing in ,jesus ,christ than ,i have for believing in the things that ,i touch and handle4 ,so that there is no need for men to say1 ',oh1 if we had only seen ,him with our eyes6' ,you would very likely not have known ,him if you had4 ,there is no reason for thinking that the ,church has retrograded in its privileges1 because it has to love instead of beholding1 and to believe instead of touching4 ,that is advance1 and we are better than they1 inasmuch as the blessing of those 'who have not seen1 and yet have believed1' comes down upon our heads4 ,the vision of ,christ which is granted to the faithful soul is better and not worse1 more and not less1 other in kind indeed1 but loftier in degree too1 than that which was granted to the men who saw ,him upon earth4 ,sense disturbs1 faith alone beholds4 ',the world seeth ,me no more4' ,why8 ,because it is a world4 ',ye see ,me4' ,why8 ,because1 and in the measure in which you have turned away your eyes from seeing vanity4 ,if you want the eye of the soul to be opened1 you must shut the eye of sense4 ,and the more we turn away from looking at the dazzling lies with which time and the material universe befool and bewilder us1 the more shall we see ,him whom to see is to live for ever4 ,oh1 brethren6 does that strong word 'see' in any measure express the vividness1 the directness1 the certainty of our realisation of our ,master's presence8 ,is ,jesus ,christ as clear1 as perceptible1 as sure to us as the men round us are8 ,which are the shadows and which are the realities to us8 ,the things which are seen1 which the senses crown as 'real1' or the things which cannot be seen because they are so great1 and tower above us1 invisible in their eternity8 ,which world are our eyes most open to1 the world where ,christ is1 or the world here8 ,our happy eyes may behold and our blessed hands may handle the ,word of ,life which was manifested to us4 ,let us beware that we turn not away from the one thing worthy to be looked at1 to gaze upon a desolate and dreary world4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 the present and seen ,christ is living and life-giving4 ,the last words of my text may be connected with the preceding1 as the marginal rendering of the ,revised ,version shows4 ,but it is probably better to take them as standing independently1 and presenting another and co-ordinate element of the blessedness arising from the coming of the ,christ4 ,because ,he comes1 ,his life passes into the hearts of the men to whom ,he comes1 and who gaze upon ,him4 ,time forbids me to dwell upon that majestic proclamation of ,his own absolute and divine life1 from lips that were so soon to be paled with death4 ,mark the grand ',i live'--the timeless present tense1 which expresses unbroken1 underived1 undying1 and1 as ,i believe1 divine life4 ,it is all but a quotation of the great ,old ,testament name ',jehovah4' ,the depth and sweep of its meaning are given to us in this ,apostle's ,apocalypse1 where ,christ is called 'the living ,one1' who lived whilst ,he died1 and having died 'is alive for evermore4' ,and this ,christ1 coming to all ,his friends1 possessor of the fullness of life in ,himself1 and proclaiming ,his absolute possession of that life1 even whilst ,he stands within arm's-length of ,calvary1 is ,life-giver to all that love ,him and trust ,him4 ,we live because ,he lives4 ,in all senses of the word 'life1' as ,i believe1 the life of men is derived from the ,christ who is the ,agent of creation1 the channel from whom life passes from the ,godhead into the creatures1 and who is also the one means by whom any of us can ever hope to live the better life which is the only true one1 and consists in fellowship with ,god and union to ,him4 ,we shall live as long as ,he lives1 and ,his being is the pledge and the guarantee of the immortal being of all who love ,him4 ,anything is possible1 rather than that it should be credible that a soul1 which has drawn spiritual life from ,jesus ,christ here upon earth1 should ever be rent apart from ,him by such a miserable and external trifle as the mere dissolution of the bodily frame4 ,as long as ,christ lives our life is secure4 ,if the ,head has life1 the members 'cannot see corruption1' ',take me not away in the midst of my days3 ,thy years are throughout all generations' was the prayer of a saint of old1 deeply feeling the contrast of the worshipper's transiency and ,god's eternity1 and dimly hoping that the contrast might be changed into likeness4 ,the great promise of our text answers the prayer1 and assures us that the worshipper is to live as long as does ,he whom ,he adores4 ,we shall live as ,he lives1 nor ever cease the appropriation of ,his being until all ,his life we know1 and all its fullness has expanded our natures--and that will be never4 ,therefore we shall not die4 ,men's lives have been prolonged by the transfusion of blood from vigorous frames4 ,jesus ,christ passes ,his own blood into our veins and makes us immortal4 ,the ,church chose for one of its ancient emblems of the ,saviour the pelican1 which fed its young1 according to the fable1 with blood from its own breast4 ,so ,christ vitalises us4 ,he in us is our ,life4 ,brethren1 without ,jesus ,christ we are orphans in a fatherless world4 ,without ,him1 our wearied and yet unsatisfied eyes have only trifles and trials and trash to look at4 ,without ,him1 we are 'dead whilst we live4' ,he and ,he only can give us back a ,father1 and renew in us the spirit of sons4 ,he and only ,he can satisfy our eyes with the sight which is purity and restfulness and joy4 ,he and ,he only can breathe life into our death4 ,oh6 let ,him do it for you4 ,he comes to us with all these gifts in ,his hands1 for ,he comes to give us ,himself1 and in ,himself1 as 'in a box where sweets compacted lie1' are all that lonely hearts and wearied eyes and dead souls can ever need4 ,all are yours if you are ,christ's4 ,all are yours if ,he is yours4 ,and ,he is yours if by faith and love you make yourself ,his and ,him your own4 ,,the ,,gifts ,,of ,,the ,,present ,,christ ',at that day ye shall know that ,i am in ,my ,father1 and ye in ,me1 and ,i in you4 ,he that hath ,my commandments1 and keepeth them1 he it is that loveth ,me2 and he that loveth ,me shall be loved of ,my ,father1 and ,i will love him1 and will manifest ,myself to him4'--,,john xiv4 #bj1 #ba4 ,we have heard our ,lord in the previous verse unveiling ,his deepest and strongest encouragements to ,his downcast followers4 ,these were3 ,his presence with them1 their true sight of ,him1 and their participation in ,his life4 ,the first part of our present text is closely connected with these1 for it gives us their upshot and consequence4 ,because ,christ's true disciple is conscious of ,christ's presence1 sees ,him with the eyes of his spirit1 and draws life from ,him1 therefore he will know by experience the deep truths of ,christ's indwelling at once in the ,father and in ,his servant1 and of ,his servant's indwelling in ,him4 ,our ,lord had just previously been exhorting ,his disciples to believe that ,he was in the ,father and the ,father in ,him2 and had been gently wondering at the slowness of their faith4 ,now ,he tells them that1 when ,he is gone1 their spiritual stature will be so increased as that they shall know the thing which1 with ,him by their side1 they found it so hard to believe4 ,the second part of our present text is the close of this whole section of our ,lord's discourse1 and in it ,he urges the requirement of practical obedience1 as the sign and test of love1 and as the condition of receiving these high and wonderful things of which ,he has been speaking4 ,he has been unveiling spiritual blessings1 which may seem recondite and up in the clouds1 and which1 as a matter of fact1 have often been perverted into dreamy mysticisms of a most immoral and unpractical kind4 ,and so ,he brings us sharp back again here to very plain truths1 and would teach us that all these lofty and ineffable gifts of which ,he has been dimly speaking are to be reached only by the commonplace road of honest obedience and simple conformity to ,his commandments4 ,in these last words of my text1 ,he administers the antidote and the check to the possible abuses of the great things which ,he has been saying4 ,i4 ,note1 then1 first1 the knowledge that comes with the ,christ who comes4 ',at that day' covers the whole period of which ,he has been speaking1 between ,his withdrawal from the disciples and ,his final corporeal coming to judgment--that great day of which generations are but the moments4 ,in it the men who love ,him are to have ,his presence1 ,his vision1 ,his life1 and because they have1 ',ye shall know that ,i am in ,my ,father1 and ye in ,me1 and ,i in you1' ,the principle that underlies these wonderful words is that ,christian experience is the best teacher of fundamental ,christian truth4 ,observe with what decision1 and with what strange boldness1 our ,lord carries that principle into regions where we might suppose at first sight that it was altogether inapplicable4 ',ye shall know that ,i am in ,my ,father4' ,how can such a thing as the relation between ,christ and ,god ever be a matter of consciousness to us here upon earth8 ,must it not always be a truth that we must take on trust and believe because we have been told it1 without having any verification in ourselves8 ,not so2 remember what has gone before4 ,if a man has the consciousness of ,christ's presence with ,him1 sees ,him with the true inward eye1 which is the only real organ of real vision1 and is drawing from ,him1 moment by moment1 ,his own high and immortal life1 then is it not true that this man's experiences are of such a sort as to be utterly inexplicable1 except on the ground that they come from a divine source8 ,if ,i have these experiences ,i know that it is ,jesus ,christ who gives them1 and ,i know that ,he could not give them1 if ,he did not dwell in ,god and were not divine4 ,these new influences1 this revolution in my being1 this healing1 constraining1 cleansing touch1 these calming1 gladdening1 elevating powers1 these new hopes1 these reversed desires1 loving all to which ,i was formerly indifferent1 and growing dead to all that formerly appealed most strongly to me2 all these things bear upon their very front the signature that they are wrought by a divine hand1 and as sure as ,i am of my own ,christian consciousness1 so sure am ,i that all its experiences proclaim their ,author1 and that ,christ who gives me them is in ,god4 ',ye shall know that ,i am in ,my ,father4' ,the ,new ,testament1 as ,i read it1 is full at every point of the divinity of ,jesus ,christ2 and many profound and learned arguments on that subject have been urged by theologians1 and these are all well and needful in their places1 but the true way to be sure of it is to have ,him dwelling with us and working in us2 and then what was an article of belief becomes an article of knowledge1 and we know ,him to be our ,saviour and the ,son of ,god4 ,in like manner1 and yet more obviously1 the other elements of this knowledge which ,christ promises here may be shown to flow naturally and necessarily from ,christian experiences4 ',that ye are in ,me1 and ,i in you1'--if a ,christian man carries the consciousness of ,christ's presence1 and has ,him as a ,sun in his darkness1 and as a ,life-source feeding his deadness with life1 then he knows with a consciousness which is irrefragable that ,jesus ,christ is in him1 for he feels ,his touch2 and he knows that he is in ,christ1 for he is aware of the power that girdles him1 and in which he has peace and righteousness and all4 ,so1 dear brethren1 let us learn what the ,christian man's experience ought to be and to do for him4 ,it should change the articles of our creed into elements of our consciousness4 ,it should make all the fundamentals of the ,gospel vitally and vividly true2 and certified by what has passed within our own spirits ,we should be able to say3 ',we have the witness in ourselves4' ,and though there will remain much that is uncertain1 much in ,christian doctrine which is not capable of that clear and all-sufficing verification2 much about which we must still depend on the mere teaching of others1 or on our own study1 the central facts which make the ,gospel may all become1 by this plain and short path1 elements of our very consciousness which stand undeniable to us1 whosoever denies them4 ,such a direct way to knowledge is reasonable1 is in full analogy with the manner by which we attain to the knowledge of everything except the mere external facts1 the knowledge of which has arrogated to itself the exclusive name of 'science1' ,how do you know anything about love8 ,you may read poems and tragedies to the end of time1 and you will not understand it until you come under its spell for yourself2 and then all the things that men said about it cease to be mere words1 because you yourself have experienced the emotion4 ',he must be loved1 ere that to you ,he will seem worthy of your love1' and the only way to be sure1 with a vital certitude1 of ,christ1 is to take ,christ for your very own1 and then ,he comes into your very being1 and dwells there quickening1 the ,sun and the ,life4 ,so1 dear brethren1 though such certitude arising from experience1 which in its nature is the very highest1 is not available for other people1 the fact that so many millions of men allege that in varying degrees they possess this certitude is available for other people1 and there is nothing to be said by the unbeliever to this1 the attestation of the ,christian consciousness to the truth of the truths which it has tried4 ',whether this man be a sinner or no1 ,i know not4' ,you may jangle as much as you like about the questionable and controversial points that surround the ,christian revelation1 ,i do not care in the present connection what answer you give to them4 ',whether this man be a sinner or no1 ,i know not4 ,one thing ,i know1 that whereas ,i was blind1 now ,i see4' ,and we may push the war into the enemy's quarters1 and say3 ',why6 herein is a marvellous thing1 that you that know everything do not know whence this man is1 and yet ,he has opened mine eyes4 ,you want facts2 there are some4 ,you want verification2 we have verified by experience1 and we set to our seals that ,god is true4' ',oh but1' you say1 'this is not a fair account of the way in which ,christian men and women generally feel about this matter4' ,well1 all that ,i can say about that is1 so much the worse for the so-called ,christian men and women4 ,and if they are ,christians1 and do not know by this inward experience that ,christ is divine and their ,saviour1 then there is only one of two reasons to be given for it2 either their experience is so wretchedly superficial and fragmentary1 so rudimentary as to be scarcely worth calling by the name or1 having the facts1 they have failed to appreciate their significance1 and to make their own by reflection the certitudes which are their own4 ,brethren1 it becomes every ,christian man and woman to be able to say1 ',because ,i have ,christ with me1 and see ,him1 and derive my life from ,him1 ,i know that ,he is in the ,father1 and ,i in ,him1 and ,he in me4' ,and if you cannot say that1 it is your own grasp of ,him1 or your meditation upon what you have got by your grasp1 that is painfully and sinfully defective4 ,,ii4 ,my text speaks of the obedience which is the sign and test of love4 ,the words here are substantially equivalent to former words in the chapter which we have already considered1 where our ,lord says3 ',if ye love ,me1 ye will keep ,my commandments4' ,there is1 however1 a slight difference in the point of view in the two sayings2 the former begins with the root and traces it upwards and outwards to its fruits1 love blossoming into obedience4 ,our text reverses the process1 and takes the thing by the other end2 begins with the fruits and traces them downwards and inwards to the root4 ',he that hath and keepeth ,my commandments1 he it is that loveth ,me4' ,the two sayings substantially mean the same thing2 but in the one love is put first as the cause of obedience1 and in the other obedience is put first1 as the certain fruit and sure sign of love4 ,the connection between these and the preceding words is1 as ,i have already pointed out1 that our ,lord here brings all ,his lofty promises down to the sharp1 practical requirement of obedience1 as the only condition on which they can be fulfilled4 ,so note1 and very briefly about this matter1 how remarkably our ,lord here declares the possession of ,his commandments to be a sign of love to ,him4 ',he that hath1' a word which is generally passed over in our reading--',he that hath ,my commandments1 ,he it is that loveth ,me4' ,of course there are two ways of having ,his commandments2 there is having them in the ,bible1 and there is having them in the heart2--present before my eye1 as a law that ,i ought to obey1 or present within my will1 as a power that shapes it4 ,and the latter is the only kind of 'having' that ,christ regards as real and valid4 ,the rest is only preparatory and superficial4 ,love possesses the knowledge of the loved one's will4 ,is not that true8 ,do we not all know how strange is the power of divining desires that goes along with true affection1 and how the power1 not only of divining1 but of treasuring1 these desires is the test and the thermometer of our true love8 ,some of us1 perhaps1 keep laid away in sacred1 secret places tattered1 yellow1 old bits of paper with the words of a dear one on them1 that we would not part with4 ',he that hath ,my commandments' laid up in lavender in the deepest recesses of his faithful heart1 he it is 'that loveth ,me4' ,in like manner1 our ,lord says1 the practical obedience to ,his commandments is the sure sign and test of love4 ,i need not dwell upon that4 ,there are two motives for keeping commandments--one because they are commanded1 and one because we love ,him that commands4 ,the one is slavery1 the other is liberty4 ,the one is like the ,arctic regions1 cold and barren1 the other is like tropical lands1 full of warmth and sunshine1 glorious and glad fertility4 ,the form of the sentence suggests how easy it is for people to delude themselves about their love to ,jesus ,christ4 ,that emphatic 'he1' and the putting first of the character before its root is pointed out1 are directed against false pretensions to love4 ,the love that ,christ stamps with ,his hall-mark1 and passes as genuine1 is no mere emotion1 however passionate1 however sweet2 no mere sentiment1 however pure1 however deep4 ,the tiniest little rivulet that drives a mill is better than a ,niagara that rushes and foams and tumbles idly4 ,and there is much so-called love to ,jesus ,christ that goes masquerading up and down the world1 from which the paint is stripped by the sharp application of the words of my text4 ,character and conduct are the true demonstrations of ,christian love1 and it is only love so attested that ,he accepts4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 notice the further and sweeter gifts of divine love and manifestation which reward our love and obedience4 ',he that loveth ,me shall be loved of ,my ,father1 and ,i will love him1 and will manifest ,myself to him4' ,two things1 then1 ,he tells us1 are the rich rewards and sparkling crowns with which ,he crowns our poor love to ,him--the love of the ,father and the love of the ,christ1 separate and yet united1 and the further manifestation of ,christ's sweetness to the waiting heart4 ,note1 as to the first1 the extraordinary boldness of that majestic saying3 ',if a man loves ,me1 ,my ,father will love him4' ,god regards our love to ,jesus ,christ as the fulfilling of the law1 as equivalent to our supreme love to ,himself1 as containing in it the germ of all that is pleasing in ,his sight4 ,and so1 upon our hearts1 if we love ,christ1 there falls the benediction of the ,father's love4 ,of course ,i need not remind you that our ,lord here is not beginning at the very beginning of everything2 for prior to all men's love to ,christ is ,christ's love to men1 and ours to ,him is but the reflection and the echo called forth by ,his to us4 ',we love ,him because ,he first loved us' digs a story deeper down in the building than the words of my text1 which is speaking1 not of the process by which a man comes to receive the love of ,god for the first time1 but of the process by which a ,christian man grows in his possession of it4 ,that being understood1 here is a great lesson4 ,it is not all the same to ,god whether a man is a scoundrel or a saint4 ,the divine love is over all its works1 and embraces every variety of humanity1 the most degraded1 alien1 hostile4 ,but in this generation1 as it seems to me1 there is great need for preaching that whilst that is gloriously and blessedly true1 the other thing is just as true1 that to know the deepest depth and to taste the sweetest sweetness of the love of our ,father ,god1 there must be in our hearts love to ,him whom ,he has sent1 which manifests itself by our obedience4 ,god's love is a moral love2 and whilst the sunbeams play upon the ice and melt it sometimes1 they flash back from1 and rest most graciously and fully on1 the rippling stream into which the ice has turned4 ,god loves them that love ,him not1 but the depths of ,his heart and the secret1 sacred favours of ,his grace can only be bestowed upon those who in some measure are conformed1 and are growingly being conformed1 to ,his likeness in ,jesus ,christ1 and who love ,him and obey ,him4 ,and1 in like manner1 my text tells us that if we wish to know all that it is possible for us here1 amidst the clouds1 and shadows1 and darknesses1 to know of that dear ,lord1 the path to such knowledge is plain4 ,walk in the way of obedience1 and ,christ will meet you with the unveiling of more and more of ,his love4 ,to live what we believe is the sure way to increase its amount4 ,to be faithful to the little is the certain way to inherit the much4 ,and ,christ manifests ,himself1 in all deep and recondite sweetness1 gentleness1 constraining power1 to the men who treasure the partial knowledge as yet possessed1 in their loving hearts and obedient wills1 and who make a conscience of translating all their knowledge into conduct1 and of basing all their conduct on knowledge of ,him4 ,he gives us ,his whole self at the first1 but we traverse the breadth of the gift by degrees4 ,he puts ,himself into our hands and into our hearts when we humbly trust ,him and imperfectly try to love ,him4 ,but the flower is but a bud when we get it1 and1 as we hold it1 it opens its petals to the light4 ,so1 if 'any man wills to do ,his will1 he shall know of the doctrine'2 and if1 touched by ,his divine love and infinite sacrifice for me1 ,i cast my poor self upon ,him1 and try to love ,him back again1 and to keep ,his commandments because ,i love1 then day by day ,i shall realise more and more of ,his strong1 immortal1 all-satisfying love1 and see more and more deeply into that ,saviour1 whose infinite beauties remain unrevealed after all revelation1 and to know more and more of whom shall be the ,heaven of ,heavens yonder1 as it is the joy and life of the soul here4 ,,who ,,bring ,,christ ',judas saith unto ,him1 not ,iscariot1 ,lord1 how is it that ,thou wilt manifest ,thyself unto us1 and not unto the world8 ,jesus answered and said unto him1 ,if a man love ,me he will keep ,my words3 and ,my ,father will love him1 and ,we will come unto him1 and make ,our abode with him4 ,he that loveth ,me not1 keepeth not ,my sayings3 and the word which ye hear is not ,mine1 but the ,father's which sent ,me4'--,,john xiv4 #bb-bd4 ,this ,judas held but a low place amongst the ,apostles4 ,in all the lists he is one of the last of the groups of fours1 into which they are divided1 and which were evidently arranged according to their spiritual nearness to the ,master4 ,his question is exactly that which a listener1 with some dim1 confused glimmer of ,christ's meaning1 might be expected to ask4 ,he grasps at ,his last words about manifesting ,himself to certain persons2 he rightly feels that he and his brethren possess the qualification of love4 ,he rightly understands that our ,lord contemplates no public showing of ,himself1 and that disappoints him4 ,it was only a day or two ago that ,jesus seemed to them to have begun to do what they had always wanted ,him to do1 manifest ,himself to the world4 ,and now1 as he thinks1 something unknown to them must have happened in order to make ,him change ,his course1 and go back to the old plan of a secret communication4 ,and so he says1 ',lord6 what has come to pass to induce you to abandon and falter upon the course on which we entered1 when you rode into ,jerusalem with the shouting crowd8' ,his question is no better in intelligence1 though it is a great deal better in spirit1 than the taunt of ,christ's brethren1 ',if ,thou do these things1 show ,thyself to the world4' ,judas1 too1 thought of the simple flashing of ,his ,messianic glory1 in some visible1 vulgar form1 before else blind eyes4 ,how sad and chilling such a question must have been to ,jesus6 ,slow scholars we all are2 and with what wonderful patience1 without a word of pain1 or of rebuke1 ,he reiterates ,his lesson1 here a little and there a little1 and once more unfolds the conditions of ,his self-revelation1 and the fullness of the blessings that ,he brings4 ,he moulds ,his words so as to meet both the clauses of ,judas's foolish question--',to us1 not to the world'2 and quietly tells them the positive conditions and the negative disqualifications for ,his self-revelation4 ,so my text deals with two things1 the crown of loving obedience in the possession of a fuller ,christ1 and the impassable barrier to ,his manifestation which unloving disobedience makes4 ,or to put it into briefer words1 we have in one of the verses--first1 what brings ,christ and what ,christ brings2 and1 in the other1 second1 what keeps away ,christ and all ,his gifts4 ,now let us look at these two things4 ,i4 ,we have what brings ,christ and what ,christ brings4 ',if a man love ,me1 ,he will keep ,my word' 7not 'words1' as our ,authorised ,version has it71 'and ,my ,father will love him1 and ,we will come unto him1 and make ,our abode with him4' ,now notice how here1 in the first part of this verse1 our ,lord subtly and significantly alters the form of the statement which ,he has already made4 ,he had formerly said1 ',if ye love ,me1 ye will keep ,my commandments1' but now ,he casts it into a purely impersonal form1 and says1 ',if a man1' anybody1 not 'you' only1 but anybody--',if a man love ,me1 he1' anybody1 'will keep ,my word4' ,and why the change8 ,why1 ,i suppose1 in order to strike full and square against that complacent assumption of ,judas that it was 'to us and not to the world' that the showing was to take place4 ,our ,lord1 by the studiously impersonal form into which ,he casts the promise1 proclaims its universality1 and says this to ,his ignorant questioner1 ',do not suppose that you ,apostles have the monopoly4 ,you may not even have a share in ,my self-manifestation4 ,anybody may have it4 ,and there is no world1 as you suppose1 to which ,i do not show ,myself4 ,anybody may have the vision if he observes the conditions4' ,now ,i need not dwell at any length upon the earlier words of this text1 because we have had to consider them in previous sermons on the former verses of this chapter4 ,i need only remark that here1 as there1 our ,lord brings out the thought that the very life-blood of love is the treasuring of the word of the beloved ,one2 and that there is no joy comparable to the joy of the loving heart that yields itself to the ,beloved's will4 ,that is true about earth1 and it makes the sweetest and selectest blessedness of our ordinary existence4 ,and it is true about heaven1 and it makes the liberty and the gladness of the bond that knits us to ,him4 ,but ,i would like just to notice1 before ,i come to the more immediate subject of my discourse1 that remarkable expression1 ',he will keep ,my word4' ,that is more than a 'commandment' is it not8 ,christ's 'word' is wider than precept4 ,it includes all ,his sayings1 and it includes them all as in one vital unity and organic whole4 ,we are not to go picking and choosing among them2 they are one4 ,and it includes this other thought1 that every word of ,christ1 be it revelation of the deep things of ,god1 or be it a promise of the great shower of blessings which1 out of ,his full hand1 ,he will drop upon our heads1 enshrines within itself a commandment4 ,he utters no revelations1 simply that we may know4 ,he utters no comforting words1 simply that our sore hearts may be healed1 but in all ,his utterances there is a practical bearing2 and every word of ,his teaching1 every word of ,his sweet1 whispered assurances of love and favour to the waiting heart1 has in it the imperativeness of ,his manifested will1 and has a direct bearing upon duty4 ,all ,his words are gathered into one word1 and all the variety of ,his sayings is1 in their unity1 the law of our lives4 ,so much by way of observation on the mere language of my text4 ,and now let us look at what1 as ,he says to us here1 are the rewards and crown of loving obedience4 ,christ will show ,himself to the loving heart4 ,that is true on the very lowest level4 ,every act of obedience to any moral truth is rewarded by additional insight4 ,every act of submission to ,his will cleanses the lenses of the telescope from some film that has gathered upon them1 and so the stars look brighter and larger and nearer4 ,all duty done opens out into a loftier conception of duty1 and a clearer vision of ,him4 ',to him that hath shall be given4' ,as we climb the hill we get a wider view4 ,obedience is in all things the parent of insight4 ,but in reference to our relation to ,him1 we have to do not with truths only1 but with a ,person4 ,how do we learn to know people8 ,there is only one way--that is1 by loving them4 ,sympathy is the parent of all true knowledge of one another4 ,they tell us in the foolish old proverb that 'love is blind4' ,no6 ,there is not such a pair of clear eyes anywhere as the eyes of love2 and if we want to see into a man1 the first condition is that we feel kindly towards him4 ,sympathy is the parent of insight into persons1 as ,obedience is the parent of insight into duty4 ,but both of these illustrations are only imperfect preparations for the great truth here1 which is that our loving obedience to the discerned will of ,jesus ,christ has not only an operation inwards upon us1 but has an effect outwards upon ,him4 ,i am afraid that ,christian people in this generation have but a very imperfect belief in the actual1 supernatural1 and1 if you like to call it so1 miraculous manifestation of ,jesus ,christ1 ,his very ,self1 to men that love ,him and cleave to ,him4 ,do you believe as a simple revealed truth1 plain as a sunbeam in such words as these1 that ,jesus ,christ ,himself will do something on you1 and in you1 and for you1 if you love ,him and trust ,him2 that ,his hand will be laid on your eyes as it was laid of old2 that ,he will indeed1 in no metaphor1 but in reality1 show ,himself to you8 ,i may be mistaken1 but ,i think that too commonly it is the case1 that even good ,christian people have a far more vivid and realising and real faith in the past work of ,christ on earth than in the present work of ,christ in themselves4 ,they think the one a plain truth1 and the other something like a metaphor1 whereas the ,new ,testament teaches us1 as plainly as it can teach us anything1 that1 far above all the natural operations of truth upon our understandings1 hearts1 and wills1 there is an actual1 supernatural1 continuous communication of ,christ to hearts that love ,him1 which leads day by day1 if they be faithful1 to a fuller knowledge1 a sweeter love1 a larger possession1 of a fuller ,christ4 ,and it is this that ,he tells us of1 to fire our ambition to attain1 in such words as these4 ,brethren1 one piece of honest1 loving obedience is worth all the study and speculation of an unloving heart when the question is1 ',how are we to see ,christ8' ,again1 ,jesus shows ,himself to the obedient heart in indissoluble union with the ,father4 ,look at the majesty1 and1 except upon one hypothesis1 the insane presumption1 of such words as these3 ',if a man love ,me1 ,my ,father will love him'2 as if identifying love to ,christ with love to ,himself4 ,and look at that wondrous union1 the consciousness of which speaks in ',we will come4' ,think of a man saying that4 ,it is blasphemous insanity2 or else the speech of ,him who is conscious of union with the ,father1 close and indissoluble and transcending all analogies4 ',we will come1' together1 hand-in-hand1 if ,i may so say2 or rather1 ,his coming is the ,father's coming4 ,just as in heaven so closely are they represented as united1 that there is but one throne 'for ,god and the ,lamb1' so on earth so closely are they represented as united1 that there is but one coming of the ,father in the ,son4 ,and this is the only belief1 as it seems to me1 that will keep this generation from despair and moral suicide4 ,the question for this generation is1 ,is it possible for men to know ,god8 ,science1 both of material things and of inward experiences1 is more and more unanimous in its proclamation2 ',behold6 we know not anything'2 and the only attitude to take before that great black vault above us is to say1 ',we know nothing4' ,the world has learned half of a great verse of the ,gospel3 ',no man hath seen ,god at any time1 nor can see ,him4' ,if the world is not to go mad1 if hearts are not to be tortured into despair1 if morality and enthusiasm and poetry and everything higher and nobler than the knowledge of material phenomena and their sequences is not to perish from the earth1 the world must learn the next half of the verse1 and say1 ',the only begotten ,son which is in the bosom of the ,father1 ,he hath declared ,him4' ,christ shows ,himself in indissoluble union with the ,father4 ,lastly about this matter1 ,christ shows ,himself to obedient love by a true coming4 ',we will come and make our mansion with him4' ,and that coming is a fact of a higher order1 and not to be confounded either with the mere divine ,omnipresence1 by which ,god is everywhere1 nor to be reduced to a figment of our own imaginations1 or a strong way of promising increased perception on our part of ,christ's fullness4 ,that great central ,sun1 if ,i might use so violent a figure1 draws nearer and nearer and nearer to the planets that move about it1 and having once been far off on an almost infinitely distant horizon1 approaches until planet and ,sun unite4 ,dear brethren1 if we could only get to the attitude of simple acceptance of this as a literal truth1 and believe that1 in prose reality1 ,christ comes to every heart that loves ,him1 would not all the world be different to us8 ,that coming is a permanent residence3 ',we will make our abode with him4' ,very beautiful is it to notice that our ,lord here employs that same sweet and significant word1 with which ,he began this wonderful series of encouragements1 when ,he said1 ',in ,my ,father's house are many mansions4' ,yonder they dwell for ever with ,god2 here ,god in ,christ for ever dwells with the loving heart4 ,it is a permanent abode so long as the conditions are fulfilled1 but only so long4 ,if self-will1 rising in the ,christian heart from its torpor and apparent death1 reasserts itself and shakes off ,christ's yoke1 ,christ's presence vanishes4 ,in the last hours of the ,holy ,city there was heard by the trembling priests amidst the midnight darkness the motion of departing ,deity1 and a great voice said3 ',let us depart hence'2 and to-morrow the shrine was empty1 and the day after it was in flames4 ,brethren1 if you would keep the ,christ in whom is ,god1 remember that ,he cannot be kept but by the act of loving obedience4 ,,ii4 ,now1 in the next place1 my text gives us the negative side1 and shows us what keeps away ,christ and all ,his blessings4 ,an unloving disobedience closes the eyes to the vision1 and the heart against the entrance1 of that dear ,lord4 ,our ,master lays down for us two principles1 and leaves us to draw the conclusion for ourselves4 ,the first is1 ',he that loveth ,me not1 keepeth not ,my sayings4' ,no love1 no obedience4 ,that is plainly true1 because the heart of all the commandments is love1 and where that is not1 disobedience to their very spirit is4 ,it is plainly true1 because there is no power that will lead men to true obedience to ,christ's yoke except the power of love4 ,his commandments are too alien from our nature ever to be kept1 unless by the might of love4 ,it was only the rising sunbeam that could draw music from the stony lips of ,memnon1 as he gazed out across the desert1 and it is only when ,christ's love shines on our faces that we open our lips in praise1 and move our hands in service4 ,those great rocking-stones down in ,cornwall stand unmoved by any tempest1 but a child's finger1 laid on the right place1 will set them vibrating4 ,and so the heavy1 hard1 stony bulk of our hearts lies torpid and immovable1 until ,he lays ,his loving finger upon them1 and then they rock at ,his will4 ,there is no keeping of ,christ's commandments without love4 ,that makes short work of a great deal that calls itself ,christianity1 does it not8 ,reluctant obedience is no obedience2 self-interested obedience is no obedience2 constrained obedience is no obedience2 outward acts of service1 if the heart be wanting1 are rubbish and dung4 ,morality without religion is nought4 ,the one thing that makes a good man is love to ,jesus ,christ2 and where that is1 there1 and only there1 is obedience4 ',talk they of morals8 ,o ,thou ,bleeding ,lamb6 ,the grand morality is love of ,thee4' ',if a man love ,me not1 he will not keep ,my words4' ,then the second principle is1 disobedience to ,christ is disobedience to ,god4 ',the ,word which ye hear is not ,mine1 but the ,father's4' ,christ's consciousness of union so speaks out here as that ,he is quite sure that all ,his words are ,god's words1 and that all ,god's words are spoken by ,him4 ,paul has to say1 ',so speak ,i1 not the ,lord4' ,and you would not think a man a very sound or safe religious teacher who said to you1 to begin with1 ',now1 mind1 everything that ,i say1 ,god says4' ,there are no errors then1 no deterioration of the treasure by the vessel in which it lies4 ,the water does not taste of the vase in which it is carried4 ,the personality of ,jesus ,christ is never1 through all ,his utterances1 so separated from ,god but that ,god speaks in ,him2 and1 listening to ,his voice1 we hear the absolute utterance of the uncreated and eternal ,wisdom4 ,therefore follows the conclusion1 which our ,lord does not state1 but leaves us to supply4 ,if it be true that the absence of love of ,him is disobedience to ,him1 and if it be true that disobedience to ,him is disobedience to ,god1 then it plainly follows that what keeps away ,christ and all ,his gifts1 and ,god in ,him1 is unloving obedience4 ,what brings ,him is the obedience of love2 what repels ,him is alienation and rebellion4 ,if the heart be full of confusion1 of the world1 of self1 of unbridled inclinations1 of careless indifference to ,his bleeding love1 ,he 'can but listen at the gate and hear the household jar within4' ,and so1 dear friends1 from all this there follow one or two points1 which ,i touch very briefly4 ,one is1 that it is possible for men not to see ,christ1 though ,he stands there close before them4 ,it is possible to grope at noonday as at midnight1 to see only 'bracken green and cold grey stone' on the hillside1 where another man sees the chariots of fire and the horses of fire4 ,it is possible for you--and1 alas6 it is the condition of some of my hearers--to look upon ,christ and to turn away and say1 ',i see no beauty in ,him that ,i should desire ,him1' whilst the man beside yon1 looking at the same facts and the same face1 can see in ,him the ',chief among ten thousand1 and the altogether lovely4' ,another thought is1 that ,christ's showing of ,himself to men is in no sense arbitrary4 ,it is you that determine what you shall see4 ,you can hermetically seal your heart against ,him1 you can blind yourself to all ,his beauty4 ,the door of your hearts is hinged to open from within1 and if you do not open it1 it remains shut1 and ,christ remains outside4 ,another thought is1 that you do not need to do anything to blind yourselves4 ,simple negation is fatal4 ',if a man love not'2 that is all4 ,the absence of love is your ruin4 ,and the last thought is this1 that my text does not begin at the beginning4 ,jesus ,christ has been speaking about manifestations of ,himself to the loving and obedient2 but there are manifestations of ,himself made that we may become loving and obedient4 ,you can build a barrier over which these sweeter revelations1 of which loyal love and docile submission are the conditions1 cannot rise4 ,but you cannot build a barrier over which the prior revelations to the unthankful and disobedient cannot rise4 ,no mountains of sin and neglect and alienation can be piled so high but that the flood of pardoning grace will rise above their crests1 and pour itself into your hearts4 ,you ask1 ,how can ,i get the love and obedience of which you have been singing the praises now8 ,there is only one answer1 brethren4 ,we know that we love ,him when we know that ,he loves us2 and we know that ,he loves us when we see ,him dying on ,his ,cross4 ,so here is the ladder1 that is planted in the miry clay of the horrible pit1 and fastens its golden hooks on ,his throne4 ,the first round is1 ,behold the dying ,christ and ,his love to me4 ,the second is1 ,let that love melt my heart into sweet responsive love4 ,the third is1 ,let my love mould my life into obedience4 ,and then ,christ1 and ,god in ,him1 will come to me and show ,himself to me2 and give me a fuller knowledge and a deeper love1 and make ,his dwelling with me4 ,and then there is only one round still to roach1 and that will land us by the ,throne of ,god1 in the many mansions of the ,father's house1 where we shall make our abode with ,him for evermore4 ,,the ,,teacher ,,spirit ',these things have ,i spoken unto you1 being yet present with you4 ,but the ,comforter1 which is the ,holy ,ghost1 whom the ,father will send in ,my name1 ,he shall teach you all things1 and bring all things to your remembrance1 whatsoever ,i have said unto you4'--,,john xiv4 #be1 #bf4 ,this wonderful outpouring of consolation and instruction with which our ,lord sought to soothe the pain of parting is nearing its end4 ,we have to conceive of a slight pause here1 whilst ,he looks back upon what ,he has been saying and contrasts ,his teaching with that of the ,comforter1 whom ,he has once already1 though in a different connection1 promised to ,his followers4 ,he speaks of ,his earthly residence with them as being 'an abiding1' distinctly therein referring to what ,he has just said1 that the ,father and ,he will1 in the future1 'make their abode' with ,his disciples4 ,he contrasts the outward and transitory presence which was now nearing its end1 with the inward and continuous presence1 which its end was to inaugurate4 ,and1 in like manner1 with1 at first sight1 startling humility1 ,he contrasts 'these things1' the partial and to a large extent unintelligible utterances which ,he had given with ,his human lips1 with the complete1 universal teaching of that divine ,spirit1 who was to instruct in 'all things' pertaining to man's salvation4 ,we have then1 here1 sketched in broad outline1 the great truths concerning the ever-present1 inward ,teacher of ,god's ,church who is to come1 now that the earthly manifestation of ,christ1 whom the twelve called their ',teacher1' had reached a close4 ,i think we may best gain the deep instruction which lies in the words before us1 if we look at three points of view which they bring into prominence3 the ,teacher1 ,his lesson1 and ,his scholars4 ,i4 ,now1 as to the first1 the promised ,teacher4 ,i need not repeat what ,i have said in former sermons as to the wide sweep of that word 'the ,comforter1' beyond just reminding you that it means literally one who is called to the side of another1 primarily for the purpose of being his representative in some legal process2 and1 more widely1 for any purpose of help1 encouragement1 and strength4 ,that being so1 ',comforter1' in its modern sense of ,consoler1 is far too narrow for the full force of the word1 which means much rather ',comforter1' in its ancient and etymological sense of one who1 in company with another1 makes ,him strong and brave4 ,but the point to which ,i desire to turn attention now is this1 that this comforting and strengthening office of the divine ,spirit is brought into immediate connection here with the conception of ,him as a ,teacher4 ,that is to say1 the best strength that ,god1 by ,his ,spirit1 can give us is by our firm grasp and growing clearness of understanding of the truths which are wrapped up in ,jesus ,christ4 ,all power for endurance1 for service1 is there1 and when the ,spirit of ,god teaches a man what ,god reveals in ,christ1 ,he therein and thereby most fully discharges ,his office of ,strengthener4 ,then note still further the other designation of this divine ,teacher which is here given3 ',the ,comforter1 which is the ,holy ,ghost4' ,we might have expected1 as indeed we find in another context in this great final discourse1 the ',spirit of ,truth' as appropriate in connection with the office of teaching4 ,but is there not a profound lesson for us here in this1 that1 side by side with the thought of illumination1 there lies the thought of purity built upon consecration1 which is the ,scripture definition of holiness8 ,that suggests that there is an indissoluble connection between the real knowledge of ,god's truth and practical holiness of life4 ,that connection is of a double sort4 ,there is no holiness without such knowledge1 and there is no such knowledge without holiness4 ,there is no real knowledge of ,christ and ,his truth without purity of heart4 ,the man who has no music in his soul can never be brought to understand the deep harmonies of the great masters and magicians of sound4 ,the man who has no eye for beauty can never be brought to bow his spirit before some of those embodiments of loveliness and sublimity which the painter's brush has cast upon the canvas4 ,and the man who has no longings after purity1 nor has attained to any degree of moral conformity with the divine image1 is not in possession of the sense which is needed in order that he should understand the 'deep things of ,god4' ,the scholars in this school have to wash their hands before they go to school1 and come there with clean hands and clean hearts4 ,foulness and the love of it are bars to all understanding of ,god's truth4 ,and1 on the other hand1 the truest inducements1 motives1 and powers for purity are found in that great word which is all 'according to godliness1' and is meant much rather to make us good than to make us wise4 ,so1 in this designation of the teaching ,spirit as holy1 there lie lessons for two classes of people4 ,all fanatical professions of possessing divine illumination1 which are not warranted and sealed by purity of life1 are lies or self-delusion4 ,and1 on the other hand1 coldblooded intellectualism will never force the locks of the palace of divine truth1 but they that come there must have clean hands and a pure heart2 and only those who have the love and the longing for goodness will be wise scholars in ,christ's school4 ,your theology is nothing unless its distinct outcome is morality1 and you must be prepared to accept the painful1 the punitive1 the purifying influences of that divine ,spirit on your moral natures if you want to have ,his enlightening influences shining on the 'truth as it is in ,jesus4' ',if any man wills to do ,his will1 he1' and only he1 'shall know of the doctrine4' ,knowledge and holiness are as inseparable in divine things as light and heat4 ,and still further note that this great ,teacher is 'sent by ,god' in ,christ's name4 ,that pregnant phrase1 ',in ,my name1' cannot be represented by any one form of expression into which we may translate it1 but covers a larger space4 ,god in ,christ's name sends the ,spirit4 ,that is to say1 in some deep sense ,god acts as ,christ's representative2 just as ,christ comes in the ,father's name and acts as ,his representative4 ,and1 again1 ,god sends in ,christ's name2 that is1 the historical manifestation of ,christ is the basis on which the sending of the ,spirit is possible and rests4 ,the revelation had to be complete before ,he who came to unfold the meaning of the revelation had material to work upon4 ,the ,spirit1 which is sent in ,christ's name1 has1 for the basis of ,his mission1 and the means by which ,he acts1 the recorded facts of ,christ's life and death1 these and none other4 ,and then note finally about this matter1 the strong and unmistakable declaration here1 that that divine ,spirit is a person3 ',he shall teach you all things4' ,they tell us that the doctrine of the ,trinity is not in the ,new ,testament4 ,the word is not1 but the thing is4 ,in this verse we have the ,father1 the ,son1 and the ,spirit brought into such close and indissoluble union as is only vindicated from the charge of blasphemy by the belief in the divinity of each4 ,just as the ,apostolic benediction1 ',the grace of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and the love of ,god the ,father1 and the communion of the ,holy ,spirit' necessarily involves the divinity of all who are thus invoked1 so we stand here in the presence of a truth which pierces into the deeps of ,deity4 ,that divine ,spirit is more than an influence4 ',he shall teach1' and ,he can be grieved by evil and sin4 ,i do not enlarge upon these thoughts4 ,my purpose is mainly to bring them out clearly before you4 ,,ii4 ,i pass in the second place to the consideration of the ,lesson which this promised ,teacher gives4 ,mark the words1 ',he shall teach you all things1 and bring all things to your remembrance1 whatsoever ,i have said unto you4' ,now as we have seen in the exposition of the words 'in ,my name1' the whole subject-matter of the divine ,spirit's teaching is the life and work and death and person of ,jesus ,christ4 ',he shall teach you all things' is wider than ',he shall bring all things which ,i have said to you to your remembrance4' ,but whilst that is so1 the clear implication of the words before us is that ,christ is the lesson book1 of which the divine ,spirit is the ,teacher4 ,his weapon1 to take another metaphor1 with which ,he plies men's hearts and minds and wills1 convincing the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment1 and leading those who are convinced into deeper knowledge and larger wisdom1 is the recorded facts concerning the life and manifestation of ,jesus ,christ4 ,the significance of this lesson book1 the history of our ,lord1 cannot be unfolded all at once4 ,there is something altogether unique in the incorruption and germinant power of all ,his deeds and of all ,his words4 ,this ,carpenter of ,nazareth has reached the heights which the greatest thinkers and poets of the past have never reached1 or only in little snatches and fragments of their words4 ,his words open out1 generation after generation1 into undreamed-of wisdom1 and there are found to be hived in them stores of sweetness that were never suspected until the occasion came that drew them forth4 ,the world and the ,church received ,christ1 as it were1 in the dark2 and1 as with some man receiving a precious gift as the morning was dawning1 each fresh moment revealed1 as the light grew1 new beauties and new preciousness in the thing possessed4 ,so ,christ1 in ,his infinite significance1 fresh and new for all generations1 was given at first1 and ever since the ,church and the world have been learning the meaning of the gift which they received4 ,christ's words are inexhaustible1 and the ,spirit's teaching is to unveil more and more of the infinite significance that lies in the apparently least significant of them4 ,now1 then1 note that if this be our ,lord's meaning here1 ,jesus ,christ plainly anticipated that1 after ,his departure from earth1 there should be a development of ,christian doctrine4 ,we are often taunted with the fact1 which is exaggerated for the purpose of controversy1 that a clear and full statement of the central truths which orthodox ,christianity holds1 is found rather in the ,apostolic epistles than in the ,master's words1 and the shallow axiom is often quoted with great approbation3 ',jesus ,christ is our ,master1 and not ,paul4' ,i do not grant that the germs and the central truths of the ,gospel are not to be found in ,christ's words1 but ,i admit that the full1 articulate statement of them is to be found rather in the servant's letters1 and ,i say that that is exactly what ,jesus ,christ told us to expect1 that after ,he was gone1 words that had been all obscure1 and thoughts that had been only fragmentarily intelligible1 would come to be seen clearly1 and would be discerned for what they were4 ,the earlier disciples had only a very partial grasp of ,christ's nature4 ,they knew next to nothing of the great doctrine of sacrifice2 they knew nothing about ,his resurrection2 they did not in the least understand that ,he was going back to heaven2 they had but glimmering conceptions of the spirituality or universality of ,his ,kingdom4 ,whilst they were listening to ,him at that table they did not believe in the atonement2 but they dimly believed in the divinity of ,jesus ,christ2 they did not believe in ,his resurrection2 they did not believe in ,his ascension2 they did not believe that ,he was founding a spiritual kingdom1 a kingdom was to rule over all the world till the end of time4 ,none of these truths were in their mind4 ,they had all been in germ in ,his words4 ,and after ,he was gone1 there came over them a breath of the teaching ,spirit1 and the unintelligible flashed up into significance4 ,the history of the ,church is the proof of the truth of this promise1 and if anybody says to me1 ',where is the fulfilment of the promise of a ,spirit that will bring all things to your remembrance8' ,i say--here in this ,book6 ,these four ,gospels1 these ,apostolic ,epistles1 show that the word which our ,lord here speaks has been gloriously fulfilled4 ,christ anticipated a development of doctrine1 and it casts no slur or suspicion on the truthfulness of the apostolic representation of the ,christian truths1 that they are only sparsely and fragmentarily to be found in the records of ,christ's life1 ,then there is another practical conclusion from the words before us1 on which ,i touch for a moment1 and that is1 that if ,jesus ,christ and the deep understanding of ,him be the true lesson of the divine1 teaching ,spirit1 then real progress consists1 not in getting beyond ,christ1 but in getting more fully into ,him4 ,we hear a great deal in these days about advanced thought and progressive ,christianity4 ,i hope ,i believe in the continuous advance of ,christian thought as joyfully as any man1 but my notion of it--and ,i humbly venture to say ,christ's notion of it--is to get more and more into ,his heart1 and to find within ,him1 and not away from ,him1 'all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge4' ,we leave all other great men behind4 ,all other teachers' words become feeble by age1 as their persons become ghostly1 wrapped in thickening folds of oblivion2 but the progress of the ,church consists in absorbing more and more of ,christ1 in understanding ,him better1 and becoming more and more moulded by ,his influence4 ,the ,spirit's teaching brings out the ever fresh significance of the ancient and perpetual revelation of ,god in ,jesus ,christ4 ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 note the ,scholars4 ,primarily1 of course1 these are the ,apostolic group but the ,apostles1 in all these discourses1 stand as the representatives of the ,church1 and not as separated from it4 ,and whilst the teaching ,spirit could 'bring to the remembrance' of those only who first heard them 'the words that ,he said unto them1' that ,spirit's teaching function is not limited to those who listened to the ,lord ,jesus4 ,the fire that was kindled on ,pentecost has not died down into grey ashes1 nor the river that then broke forth been sucked up by thirsty sands of successive generations1 but the fire is still with us1 and the river still flows near our lips1 and we1 too1 may be taught by that divine ,spirit4 ,for this very ,evangelist1 in writing his ,epistle1 has at least two distinct references to1 and almost verbal quotations of1 this promise1 when he says1 addressing all his ,asiatic brethren1 ',ye have an unction from the ,holy ,one1 and know all things4' ,and again1 ',the unction which ye have of ,him abideth with you1 and ye need not that any man should teach you4' ,so1 then1 ,christian men and women1 every believing soul has this divine ,spirit for ,his ,teacher1 and the humblest of us may1 if we will1 learn of ,him and be led by ,him into profounder knowledge of that great ,lord4 ,oh6 dear brethren1 the belief in the actual presence with the ,church of a ,spirit that teaches all faithful members thereof1 is far too much hesitatingly held by the common ,christianity of this day4 ,we ought to be the standing witnesses in the world of the reality of a supernatural influence1 and how can we be1 if we do not believe it ourselves1 and never feel that we are under it8 ,but whilst a continuous inspiration from that self-same ,spirit is the prerogative of all believing souls1 let us not forget that the early teaching is the standard by which all such must be tried4 ,as to the first disciples the office of the divine ,spirit was to bring before them the deep significance of their ,master's life and words1 so to us the office of the teaching ,spirit is to bring to our minds the deep significance of the record by these earliest scholars of what they learned from ,him4 ,the authority of the ,new ,testament over our faith is based upon these words1 and ,paul's warning applies especially to this generation1 with its thoughts about a continuous inspiration and outgrowing of the ,new ,testament teaching3 ',if a man think himself to be spiritual1 let him acknowledge that the things that ,i write unto you are the commandments of the ,lord4' ,now from all this take three counsels4 ,let this great promise fill us with shame4 ,look at ,christendom4 ,does it not contradict such words as these8 ,disputatious sects1 ,christians scarcely agreed upon any one of the great central doctrines1 seem a strange fulfilment4 ,the present condition of ,christendom does not prove that ,jesus ,christ did not send the ,spirit1 but it does prove that ,christ's followers have been wofully remiss and negligent in their acceptance and use of the ,spirit4 ,what slow scholars we are6 ,how little we have learnt6 ,how we have let passion1 prejudice1 human voices1 the babble of men's tongues1 anybody and everybody1 take the office of teaching us ,god's truth1 instead of waiting before ,him and letting ,his ,spirit teach us6 ,it is the shame of us ,christians that1 with such a ,teacher1 we1 'when for the time we ought to be teachers1 have need that one teach us again which be the first principles of the oracles of ,christ6' ,let it fill us with desire and with diligence4 ,let it fill us with calm hope4 ,they tell us that ,christianity is effete4 ,have we got all out of ,jesus ,christ that is in ,him8 ,is the process that has been going on for all these centuries to stop now8 ,no6 ,depend upon it that the new problems of this generation will find their solution where the old problems of past generations have found theirs1 and the old commandment of the old ,christ will be the new commandment of the new ,christ4 ,foolish men1 both on the ,christian and on the anti-,christian side1 stand and point to the western sky and say1 ',the ,sun is setting4' ,but there is a flush in the opposite horizon in an hour1 as at midsummer2 and that which sank in the west rises fresh and bright in the east for a new day4 ,jesus ,christ is the ,christ for all the ages and for every soul1 and the world will only learn more and more of ,his inexhaustible fullness4 ,so let us be ever quiet1 patient1 hopeful amidst the babble of tongues and the surges of controversy1 assured that all change will but make more plain the inexhaustible significance of the infinite ,christ1 and that humble and obedient hearts will ever possess the promised ,teacher1 nor ever cry in vain1 ',teach me to do ,thy will1 for ,thou art my ,god4 ,thy ,spirit is good1 lead me into the land of uprightness4' ,,christ',s ,,peace ',peace ,i leave with you1 ,my peace ,i give unto you3 not as the world giveth1 give ,i unto you4 ,let not your heart be troubled1 neither let it be afraid4'--,,john xiv4 #bg4 ',peace be unto you6' was1 and is1 the common ,eastern salutation1 both in meeting and in parting4 ,it carries us back to a state of society in which every stranger might be an enemy4 ,it is a confession of the deep unrest of the human heart4 ,christ was about closing ,his discourse1 and the common word of leave-taking came naturally to ,his lips2 just as when ,he first met ,his followers after the ,resurrection1 ,he soothed their fears by the calm and familiar greeting1 ',peace be unto you6' ,but common words deepen their force and meaning when ,he uses them4 ,in ,him 'all things become new1' and on ,his lips the conventional threadbare salutation changes into a tender and mysterious communication of a real gift4 ,his words are deeds1 and ,his wishes for ,his disciples fulfil themselves4 ,i4 ,so we have here1 first1 the greeting1 which is a gift4 ',peace ,i leave with you4 ,my peace ,i give unto you4' ,we have seen1 in former discourses on this chapter1 how prominently and repeatedly our ,lord insists on the great truth of ,his dwelling with and in ,his disciples4 ,he gives ,his peace because ,he gives ,himself2 and in the bestowal of ,his life ,he bestows1 in so far as we possess the gift1 the qualities and attributes of that life4 ,his peace is inseparable from ,his presence4 ,it comes with ,him1 like an atmosphere2 it is never where ,he is not4 ,it was ,his peace inasmuch as1 in ,his own experience1 ,he possessed it4 ,his manhood was untroubled by perturbation or tumult1 by passions or contending desires1 and no outward things could break ,his calm4 ,if we open our hearts by lowly faith1 love1 and aspiration for ,his entrance1 we too may be at rest2 for ,his peace1 like all which ,he is and has1 is ,his that it may be ours4 ,the first requisite for peace is consciousness of harmonious and loving relations between me and ,god4 ,the deepest secret of ,christ's peace was ,his unbroken consciousness of unbroken communion with the ,father1 in which ,his will submitted and the whole being of the man hung in filial dependence upon ,god4 ,and the centre and foundation of all the peace-giving power of ,jesus ,christ is this1 that in ,his death1 by ,his one offering for sin for ever1 ,he has swept away the occasion of antagonism1 and so made peace between the twain1 the ,father in the heavens and the child1 rebellious and prodigal1 here below4 ,little as these disciples dreamed of it1 the death impending1 which was already beginning to cast its shadow over their souls1 was the condition of securing to them and to us the true beginning of all real peace1 the rectifying of our antagonistic relation to ,god1 and the bringing ,him and us into perfect concord4 ,my brother1 no man can be at rest down to the very roots of ,his being1 in the absence of the consciousness that he is at peace with ,god4 ,there may be tumults of gladness1 there may be much of stormy brightness in the life1 but there cannot be the calm1 still1 impregnable1 all-pervading1 and central tranquillity that our souls hunger for1 unless we know and feel that we are right with ,god1 and that there is nothing between us and ,him4 ,and it is because ,jesus ,christ1 dying on the ,cross1 has made it possible for you and me to feel this1 that ,he ,is our peace1 and that ,he can say1 ',peace ,i leave with you4' ,another requisite is that we must be at peace with ourselves4 ,there must be no stinging conscience1 there must be no unsatisfied desires1 there must be no inner schism between inclination and duty1 reason and will1 passion and judgment4 ,there must be the quiet of a harmonised nature which has one object1 one aim1 one love2 which--to use a very vulgar phrase--has 'all its eggs in one basket1' and has no contradictions running through its inmost self4 ,there is only one way to get that peace--cleaving to ,jesus ,christ and making ,him our ,lord1 our righteousness1 our aim1 our all4 ,your consciences will sting1 and that destroys peace2 or if they do not sting1 they will be torpid1 and that destroys peace1 for death is not peace4 ,unless we take ,christ for our love1 for the light of our minds1 for the ,sovereign ,arbiter and ,lord of our will1 for the home of our desires1 for the aim of our efforts1 we shall never know what it is to be at rest4 ,unsatisfied and hungry we shall go through life1 seeking what nothing short of an ,infinite ,humanity can ever give us1 and that is a heart to lean our heads upon1 an adequate object for all our faculties1 and so a quiet satisfaction of all our desires4 ',wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread8' ,a question that no man can answer without convicting himself of folly6 ,there is ,one1 and only ,one1 who is enough for me1 poor and weak and lowly and fleeting as ,i am1 and as my earthly life is4 ,take that ,one for your ,treasure1 and you are rich indeed4 ,the world without ,christ is nought4 ,christ without the world is enough4 ,nor is there any other way of healing the inner discord1 schism1 and contradiction of our anarchic nature1 except in bringing it all into submission to ,his merciful rule4 ,look at that troubled kingdom that each of us carries about within himself1 passion dragging this way1 conscience that1 a hundred desires all arrayed against one another1 inclination here1 duty there1 till we are torn in pieces like a man drawn asunder by wild horses4 ,and what is to be done with all that rebellious self1 over which the poor soul rules as it may1 and rules so poorly8 ,oh6 there is an inner unrest1 the necessary fate of every man who does not take ,christ for his ,king4 ,but when ,he enters the heart with ,his silken leash1 the old fable comes true1 and ,he binds the lions and the ravenous beasts there with its slender tie and leads them along1 tamed1 by the cord of love1 and all harnessed to pull together in the chariot that ,he guides4 ,there is only one way for a man to be at peace with himself through and through1 and that is that he should put the guidance of his life into the hands of ,jesus ,christ1 and let ,him do with it as ,he will4 ,there is one power1 and only one1 that can draw after it all the multitudinous heaped waters of the weltering ocean1 and that is the quiet1 silver moon in the heavens that pulls the tidal wave1 into which melt and merge all currents and small breakers1 and rolls it round the whole earth4 ,and so ,christ1 shining down lambent1 and gentle1 but changeless1 from the darkest of our skies1 will draw1 in one great surge of harmonised motion1 all the else contradictory currents of our stormy souls4 ',my peace ,i give unto you4' ,another element in true tranquillity1 which again is supplied only by ,jesus ,christ1 is peace with men4 ',whence come wars and fightings amongst you8 ,from your lusts4' ,or to translate the old-fashioned phraseology into modern ,english1 the reason why men are in antagonism with one another is the central selfishness of each1 and there is only one way by which men's relations can be thoroughly sweetened1 and that is1 by the divine love of ,jesus ,christ pouring into their hearts1 and casting out the devil of selfishness1 and so blending them all into one harmonious whole4 ,the one basis of true1 happy relations between man and man1 without which there is not the all-round tranquillity that we require1 lies in the common relation of all1 if it may be1 but certainly in the individual relation of myself1 to ,him who is the ,lover and the ,friend of all4 ,and in the measure in which the law of the ,spirit of life which was in ,jesus ,christ is in me1 in that measure do ,i find it possible to reproduce ,his gentleness1 sympathy1 compassion1 insight into men's sorrows1 patience with men's offences1 and all which makes1 in our relations to one another1 the harmony and the happiness of humanity4 ,another of the elements or aspects of peace is peace with the outer world4 ',it is hard to kick against the pricks1' but if you do not kick against them1 they will not prick you4 ,we beat ourselves all bruised and bleeding against the bars of the prison-house in trying to escape from it1 but if we do not beat ourselves against them1 they will not hurt us4 ,if we do not want to get out of prison1 it does not matter though we are locked in4 ,and so it is not external calamities1 but the resistance of the will to these1 that makes the disturbances of life4 ,submission is peace1 and when a man with ,christ in his heart can say what ,christ said1 ',not ,my will1 but ,thine be done1' ,oh6 then1 some faint beginnings1 at least1 of tranquillity come to the most agitated and buffeted2 and even in the depths of our sorrow we may have a deeper depth of calm4 ,if we have yielded ourselves to the ,father's will1 through that dear ,son who has set the example and communicates the power of filial obedience1 then all winds blow us to our haven1 and all 'things work together for good1' and nothing 'that is at enmity with joy' can shake our settled peace4 ,storms may break upon the rocky shore of our islanded lives1 but deep in the centre there will be a secluded1 inland dell 'which heareth not the loud winds when they call1' and where no tempest can ever reach4 ,peace may be ours in the midst of warfare and of storms1 for ,christ with us reconciles us to ,god1 harmonises us with ourselves1 brings us into amity with men1 and makes the world all good4 ,,ii4 ,so1 secondly1 note here the world's gift1 which is an illusion4 ',not as the world giveth1 give ,i unto you4' ,our ,lord contrasts1 as it seems to me1 primarily the manner of the world's bestowment1 and then passes insensibly into a contrast between the character of the world's gifts and ,his own4 ,that phrase 'the world' may have a double sense4 ,it may mean either mankind in general or the whole external and material frame of things4 ,i think we may use both significations in elucidating the words before us4 ,regarding it in the former of them1 the thought is suggested--,christ gives2 men can only wish4 ',peace be unto you' comes from many a lip1 and is addressed to many an ear1 unfulfilled4 ,christ says 'peace1' and ,his word is a conveyance4 ,how little we can do for one another's tranquillity1 how soon we come to the limits of human love and human help6 ,how awful and impassable is the isolation in which each human soul lives6 ,after all love and fellowship we dwell alone on our little island in the deep1 separated by 'the salt1 unplumbed1 estranging sea1' and we can do little more than hoist signals of goodwill1 and now and then for a moment stretch our hands across the 'echoing straits between4' ,but it is little after all that husband or wife can do for one another's central peace1 little that the dearest friend can give4 ,we have to depend upon ourselves and upon ,christ for peace4 ,that which the world wishes ,christ gives4 ,and then1 if we take the other signification of the 'world1' and the other application of the whole promise1 we may say--,outward things can give a man no real peace4 ,the world is for excitement2 ,christ alone has the secret of tranquillity4 ,it is as if to a man in a fever a physician should come and say3 ',i cannot give you anything to soothe you2 here is a glass of brandy for you4' ,that would not help the fever1 would it8 ,the world comes to us and says3 ',i cannot give you rest3 here is a sharp excitement for you1 more highly spiced and titillating for your tongue than the last one1 which has turned flat and stale4' ,that is about the best that it can do4 ,oh6 what a confession of unrest are the rush and recklessness1 the fever and the fret of our modern life with its ever renewed and ever disappointed quest after good6 ,you go about our streets and look men in the face1 and you see how all manner of hungry desires and eager wishes have imprinted themselves there4 ,and now and then--how seldom6--you come across a face out of which beams a deep and settled peace4 ,how many of you are there who dare not be quiet because then you are most troubled8 ,how many of you are there who dare not reflect because then you are wretched8 ,how many of you are uncomfortable when alone1 either because you are utterly vacuous1 or because then you are surrounded by the ghosts of ugly thoughts that murder sleep and stuff every pillow with thorns8 ,the world will bring you excitement2 ,christ1 and ,christ alone will bring you rest4 ,the peace that earth gives is a poor affair at best4 ,it is shallow2 a very thin plating over a depth of restlessness1 like some skin of turf on a volcano1 where a foot below the surface sulphurous fumes roll1 and hellish turbulence seethes4 ,that is the kind of rest that the world brings4 ,oh6 dear friends1 there is nothing in this world that will fill and satisfy your hearts except only ,jesus ,christ4 ,the world is for excitement2 and ,christ is the only real ,giver of real peace4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 note the duty of the recipients of that peace of ,christ's3 ',let not your heart be troubled1 neither let it be afraid4' ,the words that introduced this great discourse return again at its close1 somewhat enlarged and with a deepened soothing and tenderness4 ,there are two things referred to as the source of restlessness1 troubled agitation or disturbance of heart2 and that mainly1 ,i suppose1 because of terror in the outlook towards a dim and unknown future4 ,the disciples are warned to fight against these if they would keep the gift of peace4 ,that is to say1 casting the exhortation into a more general expression1 ,christ's gift of peace does not dispense with the necessity for our own effort after tranquillity4 ,there is much in the outer world that will disturb us to the very end1 and there is much within ourselves that will surge up and seek to shake our repose and break our peace2 and we have to coerce and keep down the temptations to anxiety1 the temptations to undue agitation of desire1 the temptations to tumults of sorrow1 the temptations to cowardly fears of the unknown future4 ,all these will continue1 even though we have ,christ's peace in our hearts1 and it is for us to see to it that we treasure the peace1 'and in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let our requests be made known unto ,god1' that nothing may break the calm which we possess4 ,so1 then1 another thought arises from this final exhortation1 and that is1 that it is useless to tell a man1 ',do not be troubled1 and do not be afraid1' unless he first has ,christ's peace as his4 ,is that peace yours1 my brother1 because ,jesus ,christ is yours8 ,if so1 then there is no reason for your being troubled or dreading any future4 ,if it is not1 you are mad not to be troubled1 and you are insane if you are not afraid4 ,the word for you is1 ',be troubled1 ye careless ones1' for there is reason for it1 and be afraid of that which is certainly coming4 ,the one thing that gives security and makes it possible to possess a calm heart is the possession of ,jesus ,christ by faith4 ,without ,him it is a waste of breath to say to people1 ',do not be frightened1' and it is wicked counsel to say to men1 ',be at ease4' ,they ought to be terrified1 and they ought to be troubled1 and they will be some day1 whether they think so or not4 ,but then the last thought from this exhortation is--and now ,i speak to ,christian people--your imperfect possession of this peace is all your own fault4 ,why1 there are hundreds of professing ,christian people who have some kind of faint1 rudimentary faith1 and there are many of them1 ,i dare say1 listening to me now1 who have no assured possession of any of those elements1 of which ,i have been speaking1 as the constituent parts of ,christ's peace4 ,you are not sure that you are right with ,god4 ,you do not know what it is to possess satisfied desires4 ,you do know what it is to have conflicting inclinations and impulses2 you have envy and malice and hostility against men2 and the world's storms and disasters do strike and disturb you4 ,why8 ,because you have not a firm grasp of ,jesus ,christ4 ',i have set the ,lord always at my right hand1 therefore ,i shall not be moved'2 there is the secret4 ,keep near ,him1 my brother2 and then all things are fair1 and your heart is at peace4 ,i remember once standing by the side of a little ,highland loch on a calm autumn day1 when all the winds were still1 and every birch-tree stood unmoved1 and every twig was reflected on the steadfast mirror1 into the depths of which ,heaven's own blue seemed to have found its way4 ,that is what our hearts may be1 if we let ,christ put ,his guarding hand round them to keep the storms off1 and have ,him within us for our rest4 ,but the man who does not trust ,jesus 'is like the troubled sea which cannot rest1' but goes moaning round half the world1 homeless and hungry1 rolling and heaving1 monotonous and yet changeful1 salt and barren--the true emblem of every soul that has not listened to the merciful call1 ',come unto ,me1 all ye that labour and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest4' ,,joy ,,and ,,faith1 ,,the ,,fruits ,,of ,,christ',s ,,departure ',ye have heard how ,i said unto you1 ,i go away1 and come again unto you4 ,if ye loved ,me1 ye would rejoice1 because ,i said1 ,i go unto the ,father3 for ,my ,father is greater than ,i4 ,and now ,i have told you before it come to pass1 that1 when it is come to pass1 ye might believe4'--,,john xiv4 #bh1 #bi4 ,our ,lord here casts a glance backward on the course of ,his previous words1 and gathers together the substance and purpose of these4 ,he brings out the intention of ,his warnings and the true effect of the departure1 concerning which ,he had given them notice1 as being twofold4 ,in the first verse of my text ,his words about that going away1 and the going away itself1 are represented as the source of joy1 which is an advance on the peace that ,he had just previously been promising4 ,in the second of our verses these two things--,his words1 and the facts which they revealed--are represented as being the very ground and nourishment of faith4 ,so1 then1 we have these two thoughts to look at now1 the departed ,lord1 the fountain of joy to all who love ,him2 the departed ,lord1 the ground and food of faith4 ,i4 ,the departure of the ,lord is a fountain of joy to those who love ,him4 ,in the first part of our text the going away of ,jesus is contemplated in two aspects4 ,the first is that with which we have already become familiar in previous sermons on this chapter--viz41 its bearing upon the disciples2 and in that respect it is declared that ,christ's going is ,christ's coming4 ,but then we have a new aspect1 one on which1 in ,his sublime self-repression1 ,he very seldom touches--viz41 its bearing upon ,himself2 and in that aspect we are taught here to regard our ,lord's going as ministering to ,his exaltation and joy1 and therefore as being a source of joy to all ,his lovers4 ,so1 then1 we have these thoughts1 ,christ's going is ,christ's coming1 and ,christ's going is ,christ's exaltation1 and for both reasons that departure ought to minister to ,his friends' gladness4 ,let us look at these three things for a little while4 ,first of all1 there comes a renewed utterance of that great thought which runs through the whole chapter1 that the departure of ,jesus ,christ is in reality the coming of ,christ4 ,the word 'again' is a supplement1 and somewhat restricts and destroys the true flow of thought and meaning of the words4 ,for if we read1 as our ,authorised ,version does1 ',i go away and come again unto you1' we are inevitably led to think of a coming1 separated by a considerable distance of time from the departure1 and for most of us that which is suggested is the final coming and return1 in bodily form1 of the ,lord ,jesus4 ,now great and glorious as that hope is1 it is too far away to be in itself a sufficient comfort to the mourning disciples1 and too remote to be for us1 if taken alone1 a sufficient ground of joy and of rest4 ,but if you strike out the intrusive word 'again1' and read the sentence as being what it is1 a description of one continuous process1 of which the parts are so closely connected as to be all but contemporaneous1 you get the true idea4 ',i go away1 and ,i come to you4' ,there is no gap1 the thing runs on without a break4 ,there is no moment of absolute absence2 there are not two motions1 one from us and the other back again towards us1 but all is one4 ,the 'going' is the 'coming'2 the solemn series of events which began on ,calvary1 and ended on ,olivet1 to the eye of sense were successive stages in the departure of ,jesus ,christ4 ,but looked at with a deeper understanding of their true meaning1 they are successive stages in ,his approach towards us4 ,his death1 ,his resurrection1 ,his ascension1 were not steps in the cessation of ,his presence1 but they were simply steps in the transition from a lower to a higher kind of that presence4 ,he changed the limitations and externalities of a mere bodily1 local nearness for the realities of a spiritual presence4 ,to the eye of sense1 the 'going away' was the reality1 and the 'coming' a metaphor4 ,to the eye enlightened to see things as they are1 the dropping away of the visible corporeal was but the inauguration of the higher and the more real4 ,and we need to reverse our notions of what is real and what is figurative in ,christ's presence1 and to feel that that form of ,his presence which we may all have to-day is far more real than the form which ceased when the ,shekinah cloud 'received ,him out of their sight1' before we can penetrate to the depth of ,his words1 or grasp the whole fullness of blessing and of consolation which lie in them here4 ,in a very deep and real sense1 ',he therefore departed from us for a season that we might receive ,him for ever4' ,the real presence of ,jesus ,christ to-day1 and through the long ages with every waiting heart1 is the very keynote to the solemn music of these chapters4 ,and again ,i press upon you1 and upon myself1 the question1 ,do we believe it8 ,do we live in the faith of it8 ,does it fill the same place in the perspective of our ,christian creed as it does in the revelation of the ,scripture1 or have we refined it and watered it down1 until it comes to be little more than merely the continuous influence of the record of ,his past1 just as any great and sovereign spirit that has influenced mankind may still 'rule the nations from his urn'8 ,or do we take ,him at ,his word1 and believe that ,he meant what ,he said1 in something far other than a violent figure for the continuance of ,his influence and of the inspiration drawn from ,him1 ',lo6 ,i am with you alway1 even unto the end of the world'8 ',say not in thine heart1 ,who shall ascend up into heaven8 that is1 to bring ,christ down from above1 the ,word1' the ,incarnate ,word1 'is nigh thee1 in thy heart1' if thou lovest and trustest ,him4 ,then1 again1 the other aspect of our ,lord's coming1 which is emphasised here1 is that in which it is regarded as affecting ,himself4 ,christ's going is ,christ's exaltation4 ,now observe that1 in the first clause of our verse1 there is simply specified the fact of departure1 without any reference to the 'whither'2 because all that was wanted was to contrast the going and the coming4 ,but1 in the second clause1 in which the emphasis rests not so much upon the fact of departure as upon the goal to which ,he went1 we read3 ',i go to the ,father4' ,hitherto we have been contemplating ,christ's departure simply in its bearing upon us1 but here1 with exquisite tenderness1 ,he unveils another aspect of it1 and that in order that ,he may change ,his disciples' sadness into joy2 and says to them1 ',if ye were not so absorbed in yourselves1 you would have a thought to spare about ,me1 and you would feel that you should be glad because ,i am about to be exalted4' ,very1 very seldom does ,he open such a glimpse into ,his heart1 and it is all the more tender and impressive when ,he does4 ,what a hint of the continual self-sacrifice of the human life of ,jesus ,christ lies in this thought1 that ,he bids ,his disciples rejoice with ,him1 because the time is getting nearer its end1 and ,he goes back to the ,father6 ,and what shall we say of the nature of ,him to whom it was martyrdom to live1 and a supreme instance of self-sacrificing humiliation to be 'found in fashion as a man'8 ,he tells ,his followers here that a reason for their joy in ,his departure is to be found in this fact1 that ,he goes to the ,father1 who is greater than ,himself4 ,now mark1 with regard to that remarkable utterance1 that the whole course of thought in the context requires1 as it seems to me1 that we should suppose that for ,christ to 'go to the ,father' was to share in the ,father's greatness4 ,why else should the disciples be bidden to rejoice in it8 or why should ,he say anything at all about the greatness of the ,father8 ,if so1 then this follows1 that the greatness to which ,he here alludes is such as ,he enters by ,his ascension4 ,or1 in other words1 that the inferiority1 of whatever nature it may be1 to which ,he here alludes1 falls away when ,he passes hence4 ,now these words are often quoted triumphantly1 as if they were dead against what ,i venture to call the orthodox and ,scriptural doctrine of the divinity of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,and it may be worth while to remark that that doctrine accepts this saying as fully as it does ,christ's other word1 ',i and ,my ,father are one1' ,i venture to think that it is the only construction of ,scripture phraseology which does full justice to all the elements4 ,but be that as it may1 ,i wish to remind you that the creed which confesses the unity of the ,godhead and the divinity of ,jesus ,christ is not to be overthrown by pelting this verse at it2 for this verse is part of that creed1 which as fully declares that the ,father is greater than the ,son1 as it declares that the ,son is ,one with the ,father4 ,you may be satisfied with it or no1 but as a matter of simple honesty it must be recognised that the creed of the ,catholic ,church does combine both the elements of these representations4 ,now we can only speak in this matter as ,scripture guides us4 ,the depths of ,deity are far too deep to be sounded by our plummets1 and he is a bold man who ventures to say that he knows what is impossible in reference to the divine nature4 ,he needs to have gone all round ,god1 and down to the depths1 and up to the heights of a bottomless and summitless infinitude1 before he has a right to say that4 ,but let me remind you that we can dimly see that the very names ',father' and ',son' do imply some sort of subordination1 but that that subordination1 inasmuch as it is in the timeless and inward relations of divinity1 must be supposed to exist after the ascension1 as it existed before the incarnation2 and1 therefore1 any such mysterious difference is not that which is referred to here4 ,what is referred to is what dropped away from the ,man ,jesus ,christ1 when ,he ascended up on high4 ,as ,luther has it1 in his strong1 simple way1 in one of his sermons1 ',here ,he was a poor1 sad1 suffering ,christ'2 and that garb of lowliness falls from ,him1 like the mantle that fell from the prophet as he went up in the chariot of fire1 when ,he passes behind the brightness of the ,shekinah cloud that hides ,him from our sight4 ,that in which the ,father was greater than ,he1 in so far as our present purpose is concerned1 was that which ,he left behind when ,he ascended1 even the pain1 the suffering1 the sorrow1 the restrictions1 the humiliation1 that made so much of the burden of ,his life4 ,therefore we1 as ,his followers1 have to rejoice in an ascended ,christ1 beneath whose feet are foes1 and far away from whose human personality are all the ills that flesh is heir to4 ',if ye loved ,me1 ye would rejoice1 because ,i said1 ,i go unto the ,father2 for ,my ,father is greater than ,i4' ,so then the third thought1 in this first part of our subject1 is that on both these grounds ,christ's ascension and departure are a source of joy4 ,the two aspects of ,his departure1 as affecting ,him and as affecting us1 are inseparably welded together4 ,there can be no presence with us1 man by man1 through all the ages1 and in every land1 unless ,he1 whose presence it is1 participates in the absolute glory of divinity4 ,for to be with you and me and all our suffering brethren1 through the centuries and over the world1 involves something more than belongs to mere humanity4 ,therefore1 the two sources of gladness are confluent--,christ's ascension as affecting us is inseparably woven in with ,christ's ascension as affecting ,himself4 ,love will delight to dwell upon that thought of its exalted ,lover4 ,we may fairly apply the simplicity of human relationships and affections to the elucidation of what ought to be our affection to ,him1 our ,lord4 ,and surely if our dearest one were far away from us1 in some lofty position1 our hearts and our thoughts would ever be going thither1 and we should live more there than here1 where we are 'cribbed1 cabined1 and confined4' ,and if we love ,jesus ,christ with any depth of earnestness and fervour of affection1 there will be no thought more sweet to us1 and none which will more naturally flow into our hearts1 whenever they are for a moment at leisure1 than this1 the thought of ,him1 our ,brother and ,forerunner1 who has ascended up on high2 and in the midst of the glory of the throne bears us in ,his heart1 and uses ,his glory for our blessing4 ,love will spring to where the beloved is2 and if we be ,christians in any deep and real sense1 our hearts will have risen with ,christ1 and we shall be sitting with ,him at the right hand of ,god4 ,my brother1 measure your ,christianity1 and the reality of your love to ,jesus ,christ1 by this--is it to you natural1 and a joy1 to turn to ,him1 and ever to make present to your mind the glories in which ,he loves and lives1 and intercedes1 and reigns1 for you8 ',if ye love ,me1 ye will rejoice1 because ,i go unto the ,father4' ,,ii4 ,and now ,i can deal with the second verse of our text very briefly4 ,for our purpose it is less important than the former one4 ,in it we find our ,lord setting forth1 secondly1 ,his departure and ,his announcement of ,his departure as the ground and food of faith4 ,he knew what a crash was coming1 and with exquisite tenderness1 gentleness1 knowledge of their necessities1 and suppression of all ,his own feelings and emotions1 ,he gave ,himself to prepare the disciples for the storm1 that1 forewarned1 they might be forearmed1 and that when it did burst upon them1 it might not take them by surprise4 ,so ,he does still1 about a great many other things1 and tells us beforehand of what is sure to come to us1 that when we are caught in the midst of the tempest we may not bate one jot of heart or hope4 ,why should ,i complain ,of want or distress1 ,temptation or pain8 ,he told me no less4' ,and when my sorrows come to me1 ,i may say about them what ,he says about ,his departure--,he has told us before1 that when it comes we may believe4 ,but note how1 in these final words of my text1 ,christ avows that the great aim of ,his utterances and of ,his departure is to evoke our faith4 ,and what does ,he mean by faith8 ,he means1 first of all1 a grasp of the historic facts--,his death1 ,his resurrection1 ,his ascension4 ,he means1 next1 the understanding of these as ,he ,himself has explained them--a death of sacrifice1 a resurrection of victory over death and the grave1 and an ascension to rule and guide ,his ,church and the world1 and to send ,his divine ,spirit into men's hearts if they will receive it4 ,and ,he means1 therefore1 as the essence of the faith that ,he would produce in all our hearts--a reliance upon ,himself as thus revealed1 ,sacrifice by ,his death1 ,victor by ,his resurrection1 ,king and interceding ,priest by ,his ascension--a reliance upon ,himself as absolute as the facts are sure1 as unfaltering as is ,his eternal sameness4 ,the faith that grasps the ,christ1 dead1 risen1 ascended1 as its all in all1 for time and for eternity1 is the faith which by all ,his work1 and by all ,his words about ,his work1 ,he desires to kindle in our hearts4 ,has ,he kindled it in yours8 ,then there is a second thought--viz41 that these facts1 as interpreted by ,himself1 are the ground and the nourishment of our faith4 ,how differently they looked when seen from the further side and when seen from the hither side6 ,anticipated and dimly anticipated1 they were all doleful and full of dismay2 remembered and looked back upon1 they were radiant and bright4 ,the disciples felt1 with shrinking hearts and fainting spirits1 that their whole reliance upon ,jesus ,christ was on the point of being shattered1 and that everything was going when ,he died4 ',we trusted1' said two of them1 with such a sad use of the past tense1 'we trusted that this had been ,he which should have redeemed ,israel4 ,but we do not trust it any more1 nor do we expect ,him to be ,israel's ,redeemer now4' ,but after the facts were all unveiled1 there came back the memory of ,his words1 and they said to one another1 ',did ,he not tell us that it was all to be so8 ,how blind we were not to understand ,him6' ,and so 'the ,cross1 the grave1 the skies1' are the foundations of our faith2 and they who see ,him dying1 rising1 ascended1 henceforth will find it impossible to doubt4 ,feed your faith upon these great facts1 and take ,christ's own explanation of them1 and your faith will be strong4 ,again1 we learn here that faith is the condition of the true presence of our absent ,lord4 ,faith is that on our side which corresponds to ,his spiritual coming to us4 ,whosoever trusts ,him possesses ,him1 and ,he is with and in every soul that1 loving ,him1 relies upon ,him1 in a closeness so close and a presence so real that heaven itself does not bring the spirit of the believer and the ,spirit of the ,lord nearer one another1 though it takes away the bodily film that sometimes seems to part their lives4 ,we1 too1 may and should be glad when we lift our eyes to that ,throne where our ,brother reigns4 ,we too1 may be glad that ,he is there1 because ,his being there is the reason why ,he can be here2 and we1 too1 may feed our faith upon ,him1 and so bring ,him in very deed to dwell in our hearts4 ,if we would have ,christ within us1 let us trust ,him dying1 rising1 living in the heavens2 and then we shall learn how1 by all three apparent departures1 ,he is drawing the closer to the souls that love and trust4 ,,christ ,,foreseeing ,,his ,,passion ',hereafter ,i will not talk much with you3 for the ,prince of this world cometh1 and hath nothing in ,me4 ,but that the world may know that ,i love the ,father2 and as the ,father gave ,me commandment1 even so ,i do4 ,arise1 ,let us go hence4'--,,john xiv4 #cj1ca4 ,the summons to departure which closes these verses shows that we have now reached the end of that sacred hour in the upper room4 ,in obedience to the summons1 we have to fancy the little group leaving its safe shelter1 as sailors might put out from behind a breakwater into a stormy sea4 ,they pass from its seclusion and peace into the joyous stir of the crowded streets1 filled with feast-keeping multitudes1 on whom the full paschal moon looked down1 pure and calming4 ,somewhere between the upper chamber and the crossing of the brook ,kedron1 the divine words of the following chapters were spoken1 but this discourse1 closely connected as it is with them1 reaches its fitting close in these penetrating1 solemn words of outlook into the near future1 so calm1 so weighty1 so resolute1 so almost triumphant1 with which ,christ seeks finally to impart to ,his timorous friends some of ,his own peace and assurance of victory4 ,they lead us into a region seldom opened to our view1 and never to be looked upon but with reverent awe4 ,for they tell us what ,christ thought about ,his sufferings1 and how ,he felt as ,he went down to that cold1 black river1 in which ,he was to be baptized4 ',put off thy shoes from off thy feet1 for the place where thou standest is holy ground4' ,so1 reverently listening to the words1 sacred because of the ,speaker1 the theme1 and the circumstances1 we note in them these things3 ,his calm anticipation of the assailant1 ,his unveiling of the secret and motive of ,his apparent defeat1 and ,his resolute advance to the conflict4 ,let us look at these three points4 ,i4 ,first1 we have here our ,lord's calm anticipation of the assailant4 ',hereafter ,i will not talk much with you3 for the ,prince of this world cometh1 and hath nothing in ,me4' ,one of the other ,gospels tells us1 in finishing its account of our ,lord's temptation in the wilderness1 that when ,satan had ended all these temptations 'he departed from ,him for a season4' ,and now we have the second and the intenser form of that assault4 ,the first was addressed to desires1 and sought to stimulate ambition and ostentation and the animal appetites1 and so1 through the cravings of human nature1 to shake the ,master's fixed faith4 ,the second used sharper and more fatal weapons1 and appealed1 not to desire of enjoyment1 or ease1 or good1 but to the natural human shrinking from pain and suffering and shame and death4 ,he that was impervious on the side of natural necessities and more subtle spiritual desires might yet be reached through terror4 ,and so the second form of the assault1 instead of tempting the traveller by the sunshine to cast aside his cloak1 tempted him by storm and tempest to fling it aside2 and the one1 as the other1 was doomed to failure4 ,note how the ,master1 with that clear eye which saw to the depths as well as the heights1 and before which men and things were but1 as it were1 transparent media through which unseen spiritual powers wrought1 just as ,he discerns the ,father's will as supreme and sovereign1 sees here--beneath ,judas's treachery1 and ,pharisees' and priests' envy1 and the people's stolid indifference1 and the ,roman soldiers' impartial scorn--the workings of a personal source and centre of all4 ,the ',prince of this world1' who rules men and things when they are severed from ,god1 'cometh4' ,christ's sensitive nature apprehends the approach of the evil thing1 as some organisations can tell when a thunderstorm is about to burst4 ,his divine ,omniscience1 working as it did1 even within the limits of humanity1 knows not only when the storm is about to burst upon ,him1 but knows who it is that has raised the tempest4 ,and so ,he says1 ',the ,prince of this world cometh4' ,but note1 as yet more important1 that tremendous and unique consciousness of absolute invulnerability against the assaults4 ',he hath nothing in ,me4' ,he is 'the ,prince of the world1' but ,his dominion stops outside ,my breast4 ,he has no rule or authority there4 ,his writs do not run1 nor is ,his dominion recognised1 within that sacred realm4 ,was there ever a man who could say that8 ,are there any of us1 the purest and the noblest1 who1 standing single-handed in front of the antagonistic power of evil1 and believing it to be consolidated and consecrated in a person1 dare to profess that there is not a thing in us on which he can lay his black claw and say--',that is mine8' ,is there nothing inflammable within us which the 'fiery darts of the wicked' can kindle8 ,are there any of us who bar our doors so tightly as that we can say that none of his seductions will find their way therein1 and that nothing there will respond to them8 ,christ sets ,himself here against the whole embattled and embodied power of evil1 and puts ,himself in contrast to the universal human experience1 when ,he calmly declares ',he hath nothing in ,me4' ,it is an assertion of ,his absolute freedom from sinfulness1 and it involves1 as ,i take it1 the other assertion--that as ,he is free from sin1 so ,he is not subject to that consequence of sin1 which is death1 as we know it4 ,another part of ,scripture speaks to us in strange language1 which yet has in it a deep truth1 of 'him that had the power of death1 that is1 the devil4' ,men fall under the rightful dominion of the king of evil when they sin1 and part of the proof of his dominion is the fact of physical death1 with its present accompaniments4 ,thus1 in ,his calm anticipation1 ,jesus stands waiting for the enemy's charge1 knowing that all its forces will be broken against the serried ranks of ,his immaculate purity1 and that ,he will come from the dreadful close unwounded all1 and triumphant for evermore4 ,but do not let us suppose that because ,christ1 in ,his anticipation of suffering and death1 knew ,himself invulnerable1 with not even a spot on ,his heel into which the arrow could go1 therefore the conflict was an unreal or shadowy one4 ,it was a true fight1 and it was a real struggle that ,he was anticipating1 thus calmly in these solemn words1 as knowing ,himself the ,victor ere ,he entered on the dreadful field4 ,,ii4 ,so note1 secondly1 in these words1 our ,lord's unveiling of the motive and aim of ,his apparent defeat4 ',but that the world might know that ,i love the ,father1 and1 as the ,father gave ,me commandment1 even so ,i do4' ,there may be some uncertainty about the exact grammatical relation of these clauses to one another1 with which ,i need not trouble you1 because it does not affect their substantial meaning4 ,however we solve the mere grammatical questions1 the fundamental significance of the whole remains unaffected1 and it is this3 that ,christ's sufferings and death were1 in one aspect1 for the purpose that the world might know ,his love to the ,father1 and1 in another aspect1 were obedience to the ,father's commandment4 ,and if we consider these two aspects1 ,i think we shall get some thoughts worth considering as to the way in which the ,master ,himself looks upon these sufferings and that death4 ,the first point ,i note in this division of my discourse is that ,christ would have us regard ,his sufferings and ,his death as ,his own act4 ,note that remarkable phrase1 'thus ,i do4' ,a strange word to be used in such a connection1 but full of profound meaning4 ,we speak1 and rightly1 of the solemn events of these coming days as the passion of our ,lord1 but they were ,his action quite as much as ,his passion4 ,he was no mere passive sufferer4 ,in them all ,he acted1 or1 as ,he says here1 we may look upon them all1 not as things inflicted upon ,him from without by any power1 however it might seem to have the absolute control of ,his fate1 but as things which ,he did ,himself4 ,there is one ,man who died1 not of physical necessity1 but because of free choice4 ,there is one ,man who chose to be born1 and who chose to die2 who1 in ,his choosing to be born1 chose humiliation1 and who1 in choosing to die1 chose yet deeper humiliation4 ,this sacrifice was a voluntary sacrifice1 or1 to speak more accurately1 ,he was both ,priest and ,sacrifice1 when 'through the ,eternal ,spirit ,he offered ,himself without spot unto ,god4' ,the living ,christ is the ,lord of ,life1 and lives because ,he will2 the dying ,christ is the ,lord of ,death1 and dies because ,he chose4 ,he would have us learn that all ,his bitter sufferings1 inflicted from without as they were1 and traceable to a deeper source than merely human antagonism1 were also self-inflicted and self-chosen1 and further traceable to the ,father's will in harmony with ,his own4 ',thus ,i do1' and thus ,he did when ,he died4 ,then1 further1 our ,lord would have us regard these sufferings and that death as being ,his crowning act of obedience to ,his ,father's will4 ,that is in accordance with the whole tone of ,his self-consciousness1 especially as set before us in this precious ,gospel of ,john1 which traces up everything to the submission of the divine ,son to the divine ,father1 a submission which is no mere external act1 but results from1 and is the expression of1 the absolute unity of will and the perfect oneness of mutual love4 ,and so1 because ,he loved the ,father1 therefore ,he came to do the ,father's will1 and the crowning act of ,his obedience was this1 that ,he was 'obedient unto death1 even the death of the ,cross4' ,it was a voluntary sacrifice1 but that voluntariness was not self-will4 ,it was a sacrifice in obedience to the ,father's will1 but that obedience was not reluctant4 ,christ was the embodiment of the divine purpose1 formed before the ages and realised in time1 when ,he bowed ,his head and yielded up the ghost4 ,the highest proof of ,his filial obedience was the ,cross4 ,and to it ,he points us1 if we would know what it is to love and obey the ,father4 ,now it is to be noticed that this motive of our ,lord's death is not the usual one given in ,scripture4 ,and ,i can suppose the question being put1 ',why did not ,jesus ,christ say1 in that supreme moment1 that ,he went to the ,cross because of ,his love to us rather than because of ,his love to the ,father8' ,but ,i think the answer is not far to seek4 ,there are several satisfactory ones which may be given4 ,one is that this making prominent of ,his love to ,god rather than to us1 as the motive for ,his death1 is in accordance with that comparative reticence on the part of ,jesus as to the atoning aspect of ,his death1 which ,i have had frequent occasion to point out1 and which does not carry in it the implication that that doctrine was a new thing in the ,christian preaching after ,pentecost4 ,another reason may be drawn from the whole strain and tone of this chapter1 which1 as ,i have already said1 traces up everything to the loving relations of obedience between the ,father and ,son4 ,and yet another reason may be given in that the very statement of ,christ's love to ,god1 and loving obedience to the ,father's commandment as the motive of ,his death1 includes in it necessarily the other thing--love to us4 ,for what was the ,father's commandment which ,christ with all ,his heart accepted1 and with ,his glad will obeyed unto death8 ,it was that the ,son should come as the ,ransom for the world4 ,the ,son of man was sent1 'not to be ministered unto1 but to minister1 and to give ,his life a ,ransom for many4' ,or1 as ,he ,himself said1 in one of ,his earliest discourses1 ',god so loved the world that ,he gave ,his only begotten ,son1 that whosoever believeth in ,him should not perish4' ,and for what ,he gave that ,son is clearly stated in the context itself of that passage--',as ,moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness1 even so must the ,son of ,man be lifted up4' ,to speak of ,christ's acceptance of the ,father's commandment1 then1 is but another way of saying that ,christ1 in all the fullness of ,his self-surrender1 entered into and took as ,his own the great1 eternal divine purpose1 that the world should be redeemed by ,his death upon the ,cross4 ,the heavenward side of ,his love to man is ,his love to the ,father1 ,god4 ,now there is another aspect still in which our ,lord would here have us regard ,his sufferings and death1 and that is that they are of worldwide significance4 ,think for a moment of the obscurity of the speaker1 a ,jewish peasant in an upper room1 with a handful of poor men around ,him1 all of them ready to forsake ,him1 within a few hours of ,his ignominious death2 and yet ,he says1 ',i am about to die1 that the echo of it may reverberate through the whole world4' ,he puts ,himself forth as of worldwide significance1 and ,his death as adapted to move mankind1 and as one day to be known all over the world4 ,there is nothing in history to approach to the gigantic arrogance of ,jesus ,christ1 and it is only explicable on the ground of ,his divinity4 ',this ,i do that the world may know4' ,and what did it matter to the world8 ,why should it be of any importance that the world should know8 ,for one plain reason1 because true knowledge of the true nature and motive of that death breaks the dominion of the ,prince of this world1 and sets men free from his tyranny4 ,emancipation1 hope1 victory1 purity1 the passing from the tyranny of the darkness into the blessed kingdom of the light--all depend on the world's knowing that ,christ's death was ,his own voluntary act of submission to the infinite love and will of the ,father1 which will and love ,he made ,his own1 and therefore died1 the sacrifice for the world's sin4 ,the enemy was approaching4 ,he was to be hoist with his own petard4 ',he digged a pit2 he digged it deep1' and into the pit which he had digged he himself fell4 ',oh1 death6 ,i will be thy plague' by entering into thy realm4 ',oh1 grave6 ,i will be thy destruction' by dwelling for a moment within thy dark portals and rending them irreparably as ,i pass from them4 ,the ,prince of this world was defeated when he seemed to triumph1 and ,christ's mighty words came true3 ',now shall the ,prince of this world be cast out4' ,he would have the world know--with the knowledge which is of the heart as well as the head1 which is life as well as understanding1 which is possession and appropriation--the mystery1 the meaning1 the motive of ,his death1 because the world thereby ceases to be a world1 and becomes the kingdom of ,jesus ,christ4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 notice here the resolute advance to the conflict4 ',arise1 let us go hence'--a word of swift alacrity4 ,evidently ,he rose to ,his feet whilst they lay round the table4 ,he bids them rise with ,him and follow ,him on the path4 ,but there is more in the words than the mere close of a conversation1 and a summons to change of place4 ,they indicate a kind of divine impatience to be in the fight1 and to have it over4 ,the same emotion is plainly revealed in the whole of the latter days of our ,lord's life4 ,you remember how ,his disciples followed amazed1 as ,he strode up the road from ,jericho1 hastening to ,his ,cross4 ,you remember ,his deliberate purpose to draw upon ,himself public notice during that dangerous and explosive week before the ,passover1 as shown in the publicity of ,his entry into ,jerusalem1 ,his sharp rebukes of the rulers in the ,temple1 and in every other incident of those days4 ,you remember ,his words to the betrayer3 ',that thou doest1 do quickly4' ,these latter hours of the ,lord were strongly marked by the emotion to which ,he gave utterance in ,his earlier words3 ',i have a baptism to be baptized with1 and how am ,i straitened till it be accomplished6' ,perhaps that feeling indicated ,his human shrinking2 for we all know how we sometimes are glad to precipitate an unwelcome thing1 and how the more we dread it1 the more we are anxious to get it over4 ,but there is far more than that in it4 ,there is the resolved determination to carry out the ,father's purpose for the world's salvation1 which was ,his own purpose1 and was none the less ,his though ,he knew all the suffering which it involved4 ,let us adore the steadfast will1 which never faltered1 though the natural human weakness was there too1 and which1 as impelled by some strong spring1 kept persistently pressing towards the ,cross that on it ,he might die1 the world's ,redeemer4 ,and do not let us forget that ,he summoned ,his lovers and disciples to follow ,him on the road4 ',let us go hence4' ,it is ours to take up our cross daily and follow the ,master1 to do with persistent resolve our duty1 whether it be welcome or unwelcome1 and to see to it that we plant no faltering and reluctant foot in our ,master's footsteps4 ,for us1 too1 if we have learned to flee to the ,cross for our redemption and salvation1 the resolve of our ,redeemer and the very passion of the ,saviour itself become the pattern and law of our lives4 ,we1 too1 have to cast ourselves into the fight1 and to take up our cross1 'that the world may know that we love the ,father1 and as the ,father hath given us commandment4' ,and if we so live1 then our death1 too1 in some humble measure1 may be like ,his--the crowning act of obedience to the ,father's will2 in which we are neither passively nor resistingly dragged under by a force that we cannot effectually resist1 but in which we go down willingly into the dark valley where death 'makes our sacrifice complete4'