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diff --git a/8070-0.txt b/8070-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbaaee8 --- /dev/null +++ b/8070-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22290 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scriptures, by Alexander Maclaren + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Expositions of Holy Scriptures + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8070] +[Most recently updated: September 23, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, David King and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +Expositions of Holy Scriptures + +by Alexander Maclaren, D. D., Litt. D. + +ST. JOHN + +Vols. I and II + + +Contents + + THE WORD IN ETERNITY, IN THE WORLD, AND IN THE FLESH (John i. 1-14) + THE LIGHT AND THE LAMPS (John i. 8; v. 35) + 'THREE TABERNACLES' (John i. 14; Rev. vii. 15; xxi. 3) + THE FULNESS OF CHRIST (John i. 16) + GRACE AND TRUTH (John i. 17) + THE WORLD'S SIN-BEARER (John i. 29) + THE FIRST DISCIPLES: I. JOHN AND ANDREW (John i. 37-39) + THE FIRST DISCIPLES: II. SIMON PETER (John i. 40-42) + THE FIRST DISCIPLES: III. PHILIP (John i. 43) + THE FIRST DISCIPLES: IV. NATHANAEL (John i. 45-49) + THE FIRST DISCIPLES: V. BELIEVING AND SEEING (John i. 50, 51) + JESUS THE JOY-BRINGER (John ii. 1-11) + THE FIRST MIRACLE IN CANA—THE WATER MADE WINE (John ii. 11) + CHRIST CLEANSING THE TEMPLE (John ii. 16) + THE DESTROYERS AND THE RESTORER (John ii. 19) + TEACHER OR SAVIOUR? (John iii. 2) + WIND AND SPIRIT (John iii. 8) + THE BRAZEN SERPENT (John iii. 14) + CHRIST'S MUSTS (John iii. 14) + THE LAKE AND THE RIVER (John iii. 16) + THE WEARIED CHRIST (John iv. 6, 32) + 'GIVE ME TO DRINK' (John iv. 7, 26) + THE GIFT AND THE GIVER (John iv. 10) + THE SPRINGING FOUNTAIN (John iv. 14) + THE SECOND MIRACLE (John iv. 54) + THE THIRD MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL (John v, 8) + THE LIFE-GIVER AND JUDGE (John v. 17-27) + THE FOURTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL (John vi. 11) + 'FRAGMENTS' OR 'BROKEN PIECES' (John vi. 12) + THE FIFTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL (John vi. 19, 20) + HOW TO WORK THE WORK OF GOD (John vi. 28, 29) + THE MANNA (John vi. 48-50) + ONE SAYING WITH TWO MEANINGS (John vii. 33, 34; xiii. 33) + THE ROCK AND THE WATER (John vii. 37, 38) + THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (John viii. 12) + THREE ASPECTS OF FAITH (John viii. 30, 31) + 'NEVER IN BONDAGE' (John viii. 33) + ONE METAPHOR AND TWO MEANINGS (John ix. 4; Romans xiii. 12) + THE SIXTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL—THE BLIND MADE TO +SEE, AND THE SEEING MADE BLIND (John ix. 6,7) + THE GIFTS TO THE FLOCK (John x. 9) + THE GOOD SHEPHERD (John x. 14, 15) + 'OTHER SHEEP' (John x. 16 R.V.) + THE DELAYS OF LOVE (John xi. 5, 6) + CHRIST'S QUESTION TO EACH (John xi. 26, 27) + THE OPEN GRAVE AT BETHANY (John xi. 30-45) + THE SEVENTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL—THE RAISING OF LAZARUS (John xi. 43, 44) + CAIAPHAS (John xi. 49, 50) + LOVE'S PRODIGALITY CENSURED AND VINDICATED (John xii. 1-1l) + A NEW KIND OF KING (John xii. 12-26) + AFTER CHRIST: WITH CHRIST (John xii. 26) + THE UNIVERSAL MAGNET (John xii. 32) + THE SON OF MAN (John xii. 34) + A PARTING WARNING (John xii. 35, 36 R V.) + THE LOVE OF THE DEPARTING CHRIST (John xiii. 1) + THE SERVANT-MASTER (John xiii. 3-5) + THE DISMISSAL OF JUDAS (John xiii. 27) + THE GLORY OF THE CROSS (John xiii. 31, 32) + CANNOT AND CAN (John xiii. 33) + SEEKING JESUS (John xiii. 33) + 'AS I HAVE LOVED' (John xiii. 34, 35) + 'QUO VADIS?' (John xiii. 37, 38) + A RASH VOW (John xiii. 38) + FAITH IN GOD AND CHRIST (John xiv. 1) + 'MANY MANSIONS' (John xiv. 2) + THE FORERUNNER (John xiv. 2, 3) + THE WAY (John xiv. 4-7) + THE TRUE VISION OF GOD (John xiv. 8-11) + CHRIST'S WORKS AND OURS (John xiv. 12-14) + LOVE AND OBEDIENCE (John xiv. 15) + THE COMFORTER GIVEN (John xiv. 16, 17) + THE ABSENT PRESENT CHRIST (John xiv. 18, 19) + THE GIFTS OF THE PRESENT CHRIST (John xiv. 20, 21) + WHO BRING CHRIST (John xiv. 22-24) + THE TEACHER SPIRIT (John xiv. 25, 26) + CHRIST'S PEACE (John xiv. 27) + JOY AND FAITH, THE FRUITS OF CHRIST'S DEPARTURE (John xiv. 28, 29) + CHRIST FORESEEING HIS PASSION (John xiv. 30, 31) + + + + +THE WORD IN ETERNITY, IN THE WORLD, AND IN THE FLESH + + +'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word +was God. 2. The same was in the beginning with God. 3. All things were +made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. 4. +In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5. And the light +shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6. There was +a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7. The same came for a +witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might +believe. 8. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that +Light. 9. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh +into the world. 10. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, +and the world knew Him not. 11. He came unto His own, and His own +received Him not. 12. But as many as received Him, to them gave He +power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: +13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of +the will of man, but of God. 14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt +among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten +of the Father,) full of grace and truth.'—JOHN i. 1-14. + +The other Gospels begin with Bethlehem; John begins with 'the bosom of +the Father.' Luke dates his narrative by Roman emperors and Jewish +high-priests; John dates his 'in the beginning.' To attempt adequate +exposition of these verses in our narrow limits is absurd; we can only +note the salient points of this, the profoundest page in the New +Testament. + +The threefold utterance in verse 1 carries us into the depths of +eternity, before time or creatures were. Genesis and John both start +from 'the beginning,' but, while Genesis works downwards from that +point and tells what followed, John works upwards and tells what +preceded—if we may use that term in speaking of what lies beyond time. +Time and creatures came into being, and, when they began, the Word +'was.' Surely no form of speech could more emphatically declare +absolute, uncreated being, outside the limits of time. Clearly, too, no +interpretation of these words fathoms their depth, or makes worthy +sense, which does not recognise that the Word is a person. The second +clause of verse 1 asserts the eternal communion of the Word with God. +The preposition employed means accurately 'towards,' and expresses the +thought that in the Word there was motion or tendency towards, and not +merely association with, God. It points to reciprocal, conscious +communion, and the active going out of love in the direction of God. +The last clause asserts the community of essence, which is not +inconsistent with distinction of persons, and makes the communion of +active Love possible; for none could, in the depths of eternity, dwell +with and perfectly love and be loved by God, except one who Himself was +God. + +Verse 1 stands apart as revealing the pretemporal and essential nature +of the Word. In it the deep ocean of the divine nature is partially +disclosed, though no created eye can either plunge to discern its +depths or travel beyond our horizon to its boundless, shoreless extent. +The remainder of the passage deals with the majestic march of the +self-revealing Word through creation, and illumination of humanity, up +to the climax in the Incarnation. + +John repeats the substance of verse 1 in verse 2, apparently in order +to identify the Agent of creation with the august person whom he has +disclosed as filling eternity. By Him creation was effected, and, +because He was what verse 1 has declared Him to be, therefore was it +effected by Him. Observe the three steps marked in three consecutive +verses. 'All things were made by Him'; literally 'became,' where the +emergence into existence of created things is strongly contrasted with +the divine 'was' of verse 1. 'Through Him' declares that the Word is +the agent of creation; 'without Him' (literally, 'apart from Him') +declares that created things continue in existence because He +communicates it to them. Man is the highest of these 'all things,' and +verse 4 sets forth the relation of the Word to Him, declaring that +'life,' in all the width and height of its possible meanings, inheres +in Him, and is communicated by Him, with its distinguishing +accompaniment, in human nature, of light, whether of reason or of +conscience. + +So far, John has been speaking as from the upper or divine side, but in +verse 5 he speaks from the under or human, and shows us how the +self-revelation of the Word has, by some mysterious necessity, been +conflict. The 'darkness' was not made by Him, but it is there, and the +beams of the light have to contend with it. Something alien must have +come in, some catastrophe have happened, that the light should have to +stream into a region of darkness. + +John takes 'the Fall' for granted, and in verse 5 describes the whole +condition of things, both within and beyond the region of special +revelation. The shining of the light is continuous, but the darkness is +obstinate. It is the tragedy and crime of the world that the darkness +will not have the light. It is the long-suffering mercy of God that the +light repelled is not extinguished, but shines meekly on. + +Verses 6-13 deal with the historical appearance of the Word. The +Forerunner is introduced, as in the other Gospels; and, significantly +enough, this Evangelist calls him only 'John,'—omitting 'the Baptist,' +as was very natural to him, the other John, who would feel less need +for distinguishing the two than others did. The subordinate office of a +witness to the light is declared positively and negatively, and the +dignity of such a function is implied. To witness to the light, and to +be the means of leading men to believe, was honour for any man. + +The limited office of the Forerunner serves as contrast to the +transcendent lustre of the true Light. The meaning of verse 9 may be +doubtful, but verses 10 and 11 clearly refer to the historical +manifestation of the Word, and probably verse 9 does so too. Possibly, +however, it rather points to the inner revelation by the Word, which is +the 'light of men.' In that case the phrase 'that cometh into the +world' would refer to 'every man,' whereas it is more natural in this +context to refer it to 'the light,' and to see in the verse a reference +to the illumination of humanity consequent on the appearance of Jesus +Christ. The use of 'world' and 'came' in verses 10 and 11 points in +that direction. Verse 9 represents the Word as 'coming'; verse 10 +regards Him as come—'He was in the world.' + +Note the three clauses, so like, and yet so unlike the august three in +verse 1. Note the sad issue of the coming—'The world knew Him not.' In +that 'world' there was one place where He might have looked for +recognition, one set of people who might have been expected to hail +Him; but not only the wide world was blind ('knew not'), but the +narrower circle of 'His own' fought against what they knew to be light +('received not'). + +But the rejection was not universal, and John proceeds to develop the +blessed consequences of receiving the light. For the first time he +speaks the great word 'believe.' The act of faith is the condition or +means of 'receiving.' It is the opening of the mental eye for the light +to pour in. We possess Jesus in the measure of our faith. The object of +faith is 'His name,' which means, not this or that collocation of +letters by which He is designated, but His whole self-revelation. The +result of such faith is 'the right to become children of God,' for +through faith in the only-begotten Son we receive the communication of +a divine life which makes us, too, sons. That new life, with its +consequence of sonship, does not belong to human nature as received +from parents, but is a gift of God mediated through faith in the Light +who is the Word. + +Verse 14 is not mere repetition of the preceding, but advances beyond +it in that it declares the wonder of the way by which that divine Word +did enter into the world. John here, as it were, draws back the +curtain, and shows us the transcendent miracle of divine love, for +which he has been preparing in all the preceding. Note that he has not +named 'the Word' since verse 1, but here he again uses the majestic +expression to bring out strongly the contrast between the ante-temporal +glory and the historical lowliness. These four words, 'The Word became +flesh,' are the foundation of all our knowledge of God, of man, of the +relations between them, the foundation of all our hopes, the guarantee +of all our peace, the pledge of all blessedness. 'He tabernacled among +us.' As the divine glory of old dwelt between the cherubim, so Jesus is +among men the true Temple, wherein we see a truer glory than that +radiant light which filled the closed chamber of the holy of holies. +Rapturous remembrances rose before the Apostle as he wrote, 'We beheld +His glory'; and he has told us what he has beheld and seen with his +eyes, that we also may have fellowship with him in beholding. The glory +that shone from the Incarnate Word was no menacing or dazzling light. +He and it were 'full of grace and truth,' perfect Love bending to +inferiors and sinners, with hands full of gifts and a heart full of +tenderness and the revelation of reality, both as regards God and man. +His grace bestows all that our lowness needs, His truth teaches all +that our ignorance requires. All our gifts and all our knowledge come +from the Incarnate Word, in whom believing we are the children of God. + + + + +THE LIGHT AND THE LAMPS + + +'He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that +Light.'—JOHN i. 8. + +'He was a burning and a shining light; and ye were willing for a season +to rejoice in His light.'—JOHN v. 35. + +My two texts both refer to John the Baptist. One of them is the +Evangelist's account of him, the other is our Lord's eulogium upon him. +The latter of my texts, as the Revised Version shows, would be more +properly rendered, 'He was a lamp' rather than 'He was a light,' and +the contrast between the two words, the 'light' and 'the lamps,' is my +theme. I gather all that I would desire to say into three points: 'that +Light' and its witnesses; the underived Light and the kindled lamps; +the undying Light and the lamps that go out. + +I. First of all, then, the contrast suggested to us is between 'that +Light' and its witnesses. + +John, in that profound prologue which is the deepest part of Scripture, +and lays firm and broad in the depths the foundation-stones of a +reasonable faith, draws the contrast between 'that Light' and them +whose business it was to bear witness to it. As for the former, I +cannot here venture to dilate upon the great, and to me absolutely +satisfying and fundamental, thoughts that lie in these eighteen first +verses of this Gospel. 'The Word was with God,' and that Word was the +Agent of Creation, the Fountain of Life, the Source of the Light which +is inseparable from all human life. John goes back, with the simplicity +of a child's speech, which yet is deeper than all philosophies, to a +Beginning, far anterior to 'the Beginning' of which Genesis speaks, and +declares that before creation that Light shone; and he looks out over +the whole world, and declares, that before and beyond the limits of the +historical manifestation of the Word in the flesh, its beams spread +over the whole race of man. But they are all focussed, if I may so +speak, and gathered to a point which burns as well as illuminates, in +the historical manifestation of Jesus Christ in the flesh. 'That was +the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' + +Next, he turns to the highest honour and the most imperative duty laid, +not only upon mighty men and officials, but upon all on whose happy +eyeballs this Light has shone, and into whose darkened hearts the joy +and peace and purity of it have flowed, and he says, 'He was sent'—and +they are sent—'to bear witness of that Light.' It is the noblest +function that a man can discharge. It is a function that is discharged +by the very existence through the ages of a community which, generation +after generation, subsists, and generation after generation manifests +in varying degrees of brightness, and with various modifications of +tint, the same light. There is the family character in all true +Christians, with whatever diversities of idiosyncrasies, and national +life or ecclesiastical distinctions. Whether it be Francis of Assisi or +John Wesley, whether it be Thomas a Kempis or George Fox, the light is +one that shines through these many-coloured panes of glass, and the +living Church is the witness of a living Lord, not only before it, and +behind it, and above it, but living in it. They are 'light' because +they are irradiated by Him. They are 'light' because they are 'in the +Lord.' But not only by the fact of the existence of such a community is +the witness-bearing effected, but it comes as a personal obligation, +with immense weight of pressure and immense possibilities of joy in the +discharge of it, to every Christian man and woman. + +What, then, is the witness that we all are bound to bear, and shall +bear if we are true to our obligations and to our Lord? Mainly, dear +brethren, the witness of experience. That a Christian man shall be able +to stand up and say, 'I know this because I live it, and I testify to +Jesus Christ because I for myself have found Him to be the life of my +life, the Light of all my seeing, the joy of my heart, my home, and my +anchorage'—that is the witness that is impregnable. 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 Light. 'I see'; that is the proof that light has touched +my eyeballs. And when a man can contrast, as some of us can, our +present vision with our erstwhile darkness, then the evidence, like +that of the sturdy blind man in the Gospels, who had nothing to say in +reply to the subtleties and Rabbinical traps and puzzles but only 'I +was blind; now I see'—his experience is likely to have the effect that +it had in another miracle of healing: 'Beholding the man which was +healed standing amongst them, they could say nothing against it.' I +should think they could not. + +But there is one thing that will always characterise the true witnesses +to that Light, and that is self-suppression. Remember the beautiful, +immovable humility of the Baptist about whom these texts were spoken: +'What sayest thou of thyself?' 'I am a Voice,' that is all. 'Art thou +that Prophet?' 'No!' 'Art thou the Christ?' 'No! I am nothing but a +Voice.' And remember how, when John's disciples tried to light the +infernal fires of jealousy in his quiet heart by saying, 'He whom thou +didst baptise, and to whom thou didst give witness'—He whom thou didst +start on His career—'is baptising,' poaching upon thy preserves, 'and +all men come unto Him,' the only answer that he gave was, 'The friend +of the Bridegroom'—who stands by in a quiet, dark corner—'rejoices +greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice.' Keep yourself out of sight, +Christian teachers and preachers; put Christ in the front, and hide +behind Him. + +II. Now let me ask you to look at the other contrast that is suggested +by our other text. The underived light and the kindled lamps. + +It is possible to read the words of that second text thus—'He was a +lamp kindled and (therefore) shining.' But whether that be the meaning, +or whether the usual rendering is correct, the emblem itself carries +the same thought, for a lamp must be lit by contact with a light, and +must be fed with oil, if its flame is to be sustained. And so the very +metaphor-whatever the force of the ambiguous word—in its eloquent +contrast between the Light and the lamp, suggests this thought, that +the one is underived, self-fed, and therefore undying, and that the +other owes all its flame to the touch of that uncreated Light, and +burns brightly only on condition of its keeping up the contact with +Him, and being fed continually from His stores of radiance. + +I need not say more than a word with regard to the former member of +that contrast suggested here. That unlit Light derives its brilliancy, +according to the Scriptural teaching, from nothing but its divine union +with the Father. So that long before there were eyes to see, there was +the eradiation and outshining of the Father's glory. I do not enter +into these depths, but this I would say, that what is called the +'originality' of Jesus is only explained when we reverently see in that +unique life the shining through a pure humanity, as through a sheet of +alabaster, of that underived, divine Light. Jesus is an insoluble +problem to men who will not see in Him the Eternal Light which 'in the +beginning was with God.' You find in Him no trace of gradual +acquisition of knowledge, or of arguing or feeling His way to His +beliefs. You find in Him no trace of consciousness of a great horizon +of darkness encompassing the region where He sees light. You find in +Him no trace of a recognition of other sources from which He has drawn +any portion of His light. You find in Him the distinct declaration that +His relation to truth is not the relation of men who learn, and grow, +and acquire, and know in part; for, says He, 'I am the Truth.' He +stands apart from us all, and above us all, in that He owes His +radiance to none, and can dispense it to every man. The question which +the puzzled Jews asked about Him, 'How knoweth this Man letters, having +never learned?' may be widened out to all the characteristics of His +human life. To me the only answer is: 'Thou art the King of glory, O +Christ! Thou art the Everlasting Son of the Father.' + +Dependent on Him are the little lights which He has lit, and in the +midst of which He walks. Union with Jesus Christ—'that Light'—is the +condition of all human light. That is true over all regions, as I +believe. 'The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding.' The +candle of the Lord shines in every man, and 'that true Light lighteth +every man that cometh into the world.' Thinker, student, scientist, +poet, author, practical man—all of them are lit from the uncreated +Source, and all of them, if they understand their own nature, would +say, 'In Thy light do we see Light.' + +But especially is this great thought true and exemplified within the +limits of the Christian life. For the Christian to be touched with +Christ's Promethean finger is to flame into light. And the condition of +continuing to shine is to continue the contact which first illuminated. +A break in the contact, of a finger's breadth, is as effectual as one +of a mile. Let Christian men and women, if they would shine, remember, +'Ye are light in the Lord'; and if we stray, and get without the circle +of the Light, we pass into darkness, and ourselves cease to shine. + +Brethren, it is threadbare truth, that the condition of Christian +vitality and radiance is close and unbroken contact with Jesus Christ, +the Source of all light. Threadbare; but if we lived as if we believed +it, the Church would be revolutionised and the world illuminated; and +many a smoking wick would flash up into a blazing torch. Let Christian +people remember that the words of my text define no special privilege +or duty of any official or man of special endowments, but that to all +of us has been said, 'Ye are My witnesses,' and to all of us is offered +the possibility of being 'burning and shining lights' if we keep +ourselves close to that Light. + +III. Lastly, the second of my texts suggests—the contrast between the +Undying Light and the lamps that go out. + +'For a season ye were willing to rejoice in His light.' 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 +age, and the relation which all other great names in the +past—philosophers, poets, guides of men—bear to it. There is nothing in +the world the least like the vividness, the freshness, the closeness, +of the personal relation which thousands and thousands of people, with +common sense in their heads, bear to that Man who died nineteen hundred +years ago. All others pass, sooner or later, into the darkness. +Thickening mists of oblivion, fold by fold, gather round the brightest +names. But here is Jesus Christ, whom all classes of thinkers and +social reformers have to reckon with to-day, who is a living power +amongst the trivialities of the passing moment, and in whose words and +in the teaching of whose life serious men feel that there lie +undeveloped yet, and certainly not yet put into practice, principles +which are destined to revolutionise society and change the world. And +how does that come? + +I am not going to enter upon that question; I only ask you to think of +the contrast between His position, in this generation, to communities +and individuals, and the position of all other great names which lie in +the past. Why, it does not take more than a lifetime such as mine, for +instance, to remember how the great lights that shone seventy years ago +in English thinking and in English literature, have for the most part +gone out, and what we young men thought to be bright particular stars, +this new generation pooh-poohs as mere exhalations from the marsh or +twinkling and uncertain tapers, and you will find their books in the +twopenny-box at the bookseller's door. A cynical diplomatist, in one of +our modern dramas, sums it up, after seeing the death of a +revolutionary, 'I have known eight leaders of revolts.' And some of us +could say, 'We have known about as many guides of men who have been +forgotten and passed away.' 'His Name shall endure for ever. His name +shall continue as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him; all +generations shall call Him blessed.' Even Shelley had the prophecy +forced from him— + + 'The moon of Mahomet + Arose and it shall set, + While blazoned as on heaven's eternal noon, + The Cross leads generations on.' + +We may sum up the contrast between the undying Light and the lamps that +go out in the old words: 'They truly were many, because they were not +suffered to continue by reason of death, but this Man, because He +continueth ever… is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto +God through Him.' + +So, brethren, when lamps are quenched, let us look to the Light. When +our own lives are darkened because our household light is taken from +its candlestick, let us lift up our hearts and hopes to Him that +abideth for ever. Do not let us fall into the folly, and commit the +sin, of putting our heart's affections, our spirit's trust, upon any +that can pass and that must change. We need a Person whom we can clasp, +and who never will glide from our hold. We need a Light uncreated, +self-fed, eternal. 'Whilst ye have the Light, believe in the Light, +that ye may be the children of light.' + + + + +'THREE TABERNACLES' + + +'The Word … dwelt among us.'—JOHN i. 14. + +'… He that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them.'—REV. vii. 15. + +'… Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with +them.'—REV. xxi. 3. + +The word rendered 'dwelt' in these three passages, is a peculiar one. +It is only found in the New Testament—in this Gospel and in the Book of +Revelation. That fact constitutes one of the many subtle threads of +connection between these two books, which at first sight seem so +extremely unlike each other; and it is a morsel of evidence in favour +of the common authorship of the Gospel and of the Apocalypse, which has +often, and very vehemently in these latter days of criticism, been +denied. + +The force of the word, however, is the matter to which I desire +especially to draw attention. It literally means 'to dwell in a tent,' +or, if we may use such a word, 'to tabernacle,' 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 erection. In all three +passages, then, we may see allusion to that early symbolical dwelling +of God with man. 'The Word tabernacled among us'; so is the truth for +earth and time. 'He that sitteth upon the throne shall spread His +tabernacle upon' the multitude which no man can number, who have made +their robes white in the blood of the Lamb; that is the truth for the +spirits of just men made perfect, the waiting Church, which expects the +redemption of the body. 'God shall tabernacle with them'; that is the +truth for the highest condition of humanity, when the Tabernacle of God +shall be with redeemed men in the new earth. 'Let us build three +tabernacles,' one for the Incarnate Christ, one for the interspace +between earth and heaven, and one for the culmination of all things. +And it is to these three aspects of the one thought, set forth in rude +symbol by the movable tent in the wilderness, that I ask you to turn +now. + +I. First, then, we have to think of that Tabernacle for earth. 'The +Word was made flesh, and dwelt, as in a tent, amongst us.' + +The human nature, the visible, material body of Jesus Christ, in which +there enshrined itself the everlasting Word, which from the beginning +was the Agent of all divine revelation, that is the true Temple of God. +When we begin to speak about the special presence of Omnipresence in +any one place, we soon lose ourselves, and get into deep waters of +glory, where there is no standing. And I do not care to deal here with +theological definitions or thorny questions, but simply to set forth, +as the language of my text sets before us, that one transcendent, +wonderful, all-blessed thought that this poor human nature is capable +of, and has really once in the history of the world received into +itself, the real, actual presence of the whole fulness of the Divinity. +What must be the kindred and likeness between Godhood and manhood when +into the frail vehicle of our humanity that wondrous treasure can be +poured; when the fire of God can burn in the bush of our human nature, +and that nature not be consumed? So it has been. 'In Him dwelleth all +the fulness of the Godhead bodily.' + +And when we come with our questions, How? In what manner? How can the +lesser contain the greater? we have to be content with the recognition +that the manner is beyond our fathoming, and to accept the fact, +pressed upon our faith, that our hearts may grasp it and be at peace. +God hath dwelt in humanity. The everlasting Word, who is the +forthcoming of all the fulness of Deity into the realm of finite +creatures, was made flesh and dwelt among us. + +But the Tabernacle was not only the dwelling-place of God, it was also +and, therefore, the place of Revelation of God. So in our text there +follows, 'we beheld His glory.' As in the tent in the wilderness there +hovered between the outstretched wings of the silent cherubim, above +the Mercy-seat, the brightness of the symbolical cloud which was +expressly named 'the glory of God,' and was the visible manifestation +of His real presence; so John would have us think that in that lowly +humanity, with its curtains and its coverings of flesh, there lay +shrined in the inmost place the brightness of the light of the manifest +glory of God. 'We beheld His glory.' The rapturous adoration of the +remembrance overcomes him, and he breaks his sentence, reckless of +grammatical connection, as the fulness of the blessed memory floods +into his soul. 'That glory was as of the Only Begotten of the Father.' +The manifestation of God in Christ is unique, as becomes Him who +partakes of the nature of that God of whom He is the Representative and +the Revealer. + +And how did that glory make itself known to us? By miracle? Yes! As we +read in the story of the first that Christ wrought, 'He manifested +forth His glory and His disciples believed upon Him.' By miracle? Yes! +As we read His own promise at the grave of Lazarus: 'Said I not unto +thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of +God?' But, blessed be His name, miracle is not the highest +manifestation of Christ's glory and of God's. The uniqueness of the +revelation of Christ's glory in God does not depend upon the deeds +which He wrought. For, as the context goes on to tell, the Word which +tabernacled among us was 'full of grace and truth,' and therein is the +glory most gloriously revealed. + +The lambent light of stooping love that shone forth warning and +attracting in His gentle life, and the clear white beam of unmingled +truth that streamed from the radiant purity of Christ's life, revealed +God to hearts that pine for love and spirits that hunger for truth, as +no others of God's self-revealing works have done. And that revelation +of the glory of God in the fulness of grace and truth is the highest +possible revelation. For the divinest thing in God is love, and the +true 'glory of God' is neither some symbolical flashing light nor the +pomp of mere power and majesty; nor even those inconceivable and +incommunicable attributes which we christen with names like Omnipotence +and Omnipresence and Infinitude, and the like. These are all at the +fringes of the brightness. The true central heart and lustrous light of +the glory of God lie In His love, and of that glory Christ is the +unique Representative and Revealer, because He is the only Begotten +Son, and 'full of grace and truth.' + +Thus the Word tabernacled amongst us. And though the Tabernacle to +outward seeming was covered by curtains and skins that hid all the +glowing splendour within; yet in that lowly life that was lived in the +body of His humiliation, and knew our limitations and our weaknesses, +'the glory of the Lord was revealed; and all flesh hath seen it +together' and acknowledged the divine Presence there. + +Still further the Tabernacle was the place of sacrifice. So in the +tabernacle of His flesh Jesus offered up the one sacrifice for sins for +ever. In the offering up of His human life in continuous obedience, and +in the offering up of His body and blood in the bitter Passion of the +Cross, He brought men nigh unto God. + +Therefore, because of all these things, because the Tabernacle is the +dwelling-place of God, the place of revelation, and the place of +sacrifice, therefore, finally is it the meeting-place betwixt God and +man. In the Old Testament it is always called by the name which our +Revised Version has accurately substituted for 'tabernacle of the +congregation,' namely 'tent of meeting.' The correctness of that +rendering and the meaning of the name are established by several +passages in the Old Testament, as for instance, 'There I will meet with +you, to speak there unto thee, and there I will meet with the children +of Israel.' So in Christ, who by His Incarnation lays His hand upon +both, God touches man and man touches God. We who are afar off are made +nigh, and in that 'true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man' +we meet God and are glad. + + 'And so the word was flesh, and wrought + With human hands the creed of creeds, + In loveliness of perfect deeds.' + +The temple for earth is 'the temple of His body.' + +II. We have the Tabernacle for the Heavens. + +In the context of our second passage we have a vision of the great +multitude redeemed out of all nations and kindreds, 'standing before +the Throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in +their hands.' The palms in their hands give important help towards +understanding the vision. As has been often remarked, there are no +heathen emblems in the Book of the Apocalypse. All its metaphors move +within the circle of Jewish experiences and facts. So that we are not +to think of the Roman palm of victory, but of the Jewish palm which was +borne at the Feast of Tabernacles. What was the Feast of Tabernacles? 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 wilderness. Part of the ritual of it was that during +its celebration they builded for themselves booths or tabernacles of +leaves and boughs of trees, under which they dwelt, thus reminding +themselves of their nomad condition. + +Now what beauty and power it gives to the word of my text, if we take +in this allusion to the Jewish festival! The great multitude bearing +the palms are keeping the feast, memorial of past wilderness +wanderings; and 'He that sitteth on the throne shall spread His +tabernacle above them,' as the word might be here rendered. That is to +say, He Himself shall build and be the tent in which they dwell; He +Himself shall dwell with them in it. He Himself, in closer union than +can be conceived of here, shall keep them company during that feast. + +What a thought of that condition—the condition as I believe represented +in this vision—of the spirits of the just made perfect, 'who wait for +the adoption, to wit, the resurrection of the body,' is given us if we +take this point of view to interpret the whole lovely symbolism. It is +all a time of glad, grateful remembrance of the wilderness march. It is +all a time in which festal joys shall be theirs, 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 delight, the rest and the +fellowship and the felicity of that calm Presence, and God Himself +shall spread His tent above them, lodge with them, and they with Him. + +And so, dear brethren, rest in that assurance, that though we know so +little of that state, we know this: 'Absent from the body, present with +the Lord,' and that the happy company who bear the palms shall dwell in +God, and God in them. + +III. And now, lastly, look at that final vision which we have in these +texts, which we may call the Tabernacle for the renewed earth. + +I do not pretend to interpret the scenery and the setting of these +Apocalyptic visions with dogmatic confidence, but it seems to me as if +the emblems of this final vision coincide with dim hints in many other +portions of Scripture; to the effect that some cosmical change having +passed upon this material world in which we dwell, it, in some +regenerated form, shall be the final abode of a regenerated and +redeemed humanity. That, I think, is the natural interpretation of a +great deal of Scriptural teaching. + +For that highest condition there is set forth this as the all-sufficing +light upon it. 'Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will +tabernacle with them.' The climax and the goal of all the divine +working, and the long processes of God's love for, and discipline of, +the world, are to be this, that He and men shall abide together in +unity and concord. That is God's wish from the beginning. 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 men.' And, at the close of all things, when +the vision of this final chapter shall be fulfilled, God will say, +settling Himself in the midst of a redeemed humanity, 'Lo! here will I +dwell, for I have desired it. This is My rest for ever.' He will +tabernacle with men, and men with Him. + +We know not, and never shall know until experience strips the bandages +from our eyes, what new methods of participation of the divine nature, +and new possibilities of intimacy and intercourse with Him may be ours +when the veils of flesh and sense and time have all dropped away. New +windows may be opened in our spirits, from which we shall perceive new +aspects of the divine character. New doors may be opened in our souls, +from out of which we may pass to touch parts of His nature, all +impalpable and inconceivable to us now. And when all the veils of a +discordant moral nature are taken away, and we are pure, then we shall +see, then we shall draw nigh to God. The thing that chiefly separates +man from God is man's sin. When that is removed, the centrifugal force +which kept our tiny orb apart from the great central sun being +withdrawn, we shall, as it were, fall into the brightness and be one, +not losing our sense of individuality, which would be to lose all the +blessedness, but united with Him in a union far more intimate than +earth can parallel. 'The Tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He +will tabernacle with them.' + +Do not let us forget that this highest and ultimate hope that is held +forth here, of the union and communion, perfect and perpetual, of +humanity with God, does not sweep aside Jesus Christ. For through all +eternity the Everlasting Word, the Christ who bears our nature in its +glorified form, or, rather, whose nature in its glorified form we shall +bear, is the Medium of Revelation, and the Medium of communication +between man and God. + +'I saw no Temple therein,' says this final vision of the Apocalypse, +but 'God Almighty and the Lamb,' and these are the Temples thereof. +Therefore through eternity God shall tabernacle with men, as He does +tabernacle with us now through Him, in whom dwelleth as in its +perennial habitation, 'all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.' + +So we have the three tabernacles, for earth, for heaven, for the +renewed earth; and these three, if I may say so, are like the triple +division of that ancient Tabernacle in the wilderness: the Outer Court; +the Holy Place; the Holiest of all. Let us enter into that outer court, +and abide and commune with that God who comes near to us, revealing, +forgiving, in the person of His Son, and then we shall pass from court +to court, 'and go from strength to strength, until every one of us in +Zion appear before God'; and enter into the Holiest of all, where +'within the veil' we shall receive splendours of revelation undreamed +of here, and enjoy depths of communion to which the selectest moments +of fellowship with God on earth are shallow and poor. + + + + +THE FULNESS OF CHRIST + + +'And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.'—JOHN +1.16. + +What a remarkable claim that is which the Apostle here makes for his +Master! On the one side he sets His solitary figure as the universal +Giver; on the other side are gathered the whole race of men, recipients +from Him. As in the wilderness the children of Israel clustered round +the rock from which poured out streams, copious enough for all the +thirsty camp, John, echoing his Master's words, 'If any man thirst, let +him come unto Me and drink,' here declares 'Of _His_ fulness have _all +we_ received.' + +I. Notice, then, the one ever full Source. + +The words of my text refer back to those of the fourteenth verse: 'The +Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.' 'And +of His fulness have all we received.' The 'fulness' here seems to mean +that of which the Incarnate Word was full, the 'grace and truth' which +dwelt without measure in Him; the unlimited and absolute completeness +and abundance of divine powers and glories which 'tabernacled' in Him. +And so the language of my text, both verbally and really, is +substantially equivalent to that of the Apostle Paul. 'In Him dwelleth +all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; and ye are complete in Him.' The +whole infinite Majesty, and inexhaustible resources of the divine +nature, were incorporated and insphered in that Incarnate Word from +whom all men may draw. + +There are involved in that thought two ideas. One is the unmistakable +assertion of the whole fulness of the divine nature as being in the +Incarnate Word, and the other is that the whole fulness of the divine +nature dwells in the Incarnate Word in order that men may get at it. + +The words of my text go back, as I said, to the previous verse; but +notice what an advance upon that previous verse they present to us. +There we read, 'We beheld His glory.' To _behold_ is much, but to +_possess_ is more. It is much to say that Christ comes to manifest God, +but that is a poor, starved account of the purpose of His coming, if +that is all you have to say. He comes to manifest Him. Yes! but He +comes to communicate Him, not merely to dazzle us with a vision, not +merely to show us Him as from afar, not merely to make Him known to +understanding or to heart; but to bestow—in no mere metaphor, but in +simple, literal fact—the absolute possession of the divine nature. 'We +beheld His glory' is a reminiscence that thrills the Evangelist, though +half a century has passed since the vision gleamed upon his eyes; but +'of His fulness have all we received' is infinitely and unspeakably +more. And the manifestation was granted that the possession might be +sure, for this is the very centre and heart of Christianity, that in +Him who is Christianity God is not merely made known, but given; not +merely beheld, but possessed. + +In order that that divine fulness might belong to us there was needed +that the Word should be made flesh; and there was further needed that +incarnation should be crowned by sacrifice, and that life should be +perfected in death. The alabaster box had to be broken before the house +could be filled with the odour of the ointment. If I may so say, the +sack, the coarse-spun sack of Christ's humanity, had to be cut asunder +in order that the wealth that was stored in it might be poured into our +hands. God came near us in the life, but God became ours in the death, +of His dear Son. Incarnation was needed for that great privilege—'we +beheld His glory'; but the Crucifixion was needed in order to make +possible the more wondrous prerogative: 'Of His fulness have all we +received.' God gives Himself to men in the Christ whose life revealed +and whose death imparted Him to the world. + +And so He is the sole Source. All men, in a very real sense, draw from +His fulness. 'In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.' The +life of the body and the life of the spirit willing, knowing, loving, +all which makes life into light, all comes to us through that +everlasting Word of God. And when that Word has 'become flesh and dwelt +among us,' His gifts are not only the gifts of light and life, which +all men draw from Him, but the gifts of grace and truth which all those +who love Him receive at His hands. His gifts, like the water from some +fountain, may flow underground into many of the pastures of the +wilderness; and many a man is blessed by them who knows not from whence +they come. It is He from whom all the truth, all the grace which +illuminates and blesses humanity, flow into all lands in all ages. + +II. Consider, then, again, the many receivers from the one Source. 'Of +His fulness have all we received.' + +Observe, we are not told definitely what it is that we receive. If we +refer back to words in a previous verse, they may put us on the right +track for answering the question, What is it that we get? 'He came unto +His own,' says verse 11, 'and His own received Him not; but as many as +received Him, to them gave He power,' etc. That answers the question, +What do we receive? Christ is more than all His gifts. All His gifts +are treasured up in Him and inseparable from Him. We get Jesus Christ +Himself. + +The blessings that we receive may be stated in many different ways. You +may say we get pardon, purity, hope, joy, the prospect of Heaven, power +for service; all these and a hundred more designations by which we +might describe the one gift. All these are but the consequences of our +having got the Christ within our hearts. He does not give pardon and +the rest, as a king might give pardon and honours, a thousand miles +off, bestowing it by a mere word, upon some criminal, but He gives all +that He gives because He gives Himself. The real possession that we +receive is neither more nor less than a loving Saviour, to enter our +spirits and abide there, and be the spirit of our spirits, and the life +of our lives. + +Then, notice the universality of this possession. John has said, in the +previous words, '_We_ beheld His glory.' He refers there, of course, to +the comparatively small circle of the eye-witnesses of our Master's +life; who, at the time when he wrote, must have been very, very few in +number. They had had the prerogative of seeing with their eyes and +handling with their hands the Word of life that 'was manifested unto +us'; and with that prerogative the duty of bearing witness of Him to +the rest of men. But in the 'receiving,' John associates with himself, +and with the other eyewitnesses, all those who had listened to their +word, and had received the truth in the love of it. '_We beheld_' +refers to the narrower circle; 'we _all_ received' to the wider sweep +of the whole Church. There is no exclusive class, no special +prerogative. Every Christian man, the weakest, the lowliest, the most +uncultured, rude, ignorant, foolish, the most besotted in the past, who +has wandered furthest away from the Master; whose spirit has been most +destitute of all sparks of goodness and of God—receives from out of His +fulness. 'If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His.' +And every one of us, if we will, may have dwelling in our hearts, in +the greatness of His strength, in the sweetness of His love, in the +clearness of His illuminating wisdom, the Incarnate Word, the +Comforter, the All-in-all whom 'we all receive.' + +And, as I said, that word 'all' might have even a wider extension +without going beyond the limits of the truth. For on the one side there +stands Christ, the universal Giver; and grouped before Him, in all +attitudes of weakness and of want, is gathered the whole race of +mankind. And from Him there pours out a stream copious enough to supply +all the necessities of every human soul that lives to-day, of every +human soul that has lived in the past, of every one that shall live in +the future. There is no limit to the universality except only the limit +of the human will: 'Whosoever will, let him take the water of life +freely.' + +Think of that solitary figure of the Christ reared up, as it were, +before the whole race of man, as able to replenish all their emptiness +with His fulness, and to satisfy all their thirst with His sufficiency. +Dear brother! you have a great gaping void in your heart—an aching +emptiness there, which you know better than I can tell you. Look to Him +who can fill it and it shall be filled. He can supply all your wants as +He can supply all the wants of every soul of man. And after generations +have drawn from Him, the water will not have sunk one hairsbreadth in +the great fountain, but there will be enough for all coming eternities +as there has been enough for all past times. He is like His own +miracle—the thousands are gathered on the grass, they do 'all eat and +are filled.' As their necessities required the bread was multiplied, +and at the last there was more left than there had seemed to be at the +beginning. So 'of His fulness have all we received'; and after a +universe has drawn from it, for an Eternity, the fulness is not turned +into scantiness or emptiness. + +III. And so, lastly, notice the continuous flow from the inexhaustible +Source. 'Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.' + +The word 'for' is a little singular. Of course it means _instead of, in +exchange for_; and the Evangelist's idea seems to be that as one supply +of grace is given and used, it is, as it were, given back to the +Bestower, who substitutes for it a fresh and unused vessel, filled with +new grace. He might have said, grace _upon_ grace; one supply being +piled upon the other. But his notion is, rather, one supply given in +substitution for the other, 'new lamps for old ones.' + +Just as a careful gardener will stand over a plant that needs water, +and will pour the water on the surface until the earth has drunk it up, +and then add a little more; so He gives step by step, grace for grace, +an uninterrupted bestowal, yet regulated according to the absorbing +power of the heart that receives it. Underlying that great thought are +two things: the continuous communication of grace, and the progressive +communication of grace. We have here the continuous communication of +grace. God is always pouring Himself out upon us in Christ. There is a +perpetual out flow from Him to us: if there is not a perpetual inflow +into us from Him it is our fault, and not His. He is always giving, and +His intention is that our lives shall be a continual reception. Are +they? How many Christian men there are whose Christian lives at the +best are like some of those Australian or Siberian rivers; in the dry +season, a pond here, a stretch of sand, waterless and barren there, +then another place with a drop of muddy water in some hollow, and then +another stretch of sand, and so on. Why should not the ponds be linked +together by a flashing stream? God is always pouring Himself out; why +do we not always take Him in? + +There is but one answer, and the answer is, that we do not fulfil the +condition, which condition is simple faith. 'As many as received Him, +to them gave He power to become the sons of God; even to them that +believed on His name.' Faith is the condition of receiving, and +wherever there is a continuous trust there will be an unbroken grace; +and wherever there are interrupted gifts it is because there has been +an intermitted trust in Him. Do not let your lives be like some dimly +lighted road, with a lamp here, and a stretch of darkness, and then +another twinkling light; let the light run all along the side of your +path, because at every moment your heart is turning to Christ with +trust. Make your faith continuous, and God will make His grace +incessant, and out of His fulness you will draw continual supplies of +needed strength. + +But not only have we here the notion of continuous, but also, as it +seems to me, of progressive gifts. Each measure of Christ received, if +we use it aright, makes us capable of possessing more of Christ. And +the measure of our capacity is the measure of His gift, and the more we +can hold the more we shall get. The walls of our hearts are elastic, +the vessel expands by being filled out; it throbs itself wider by +desire and faith. The wider we open our mouths the larger will be the +gift that God puts into them. Each measure and stage of grace utilised +and honestly employed will make us capable and desirous, and, +therefore, possessors, of more and more of the grace that He gives. So +the ideal of the Christian life, and God's intention concerning us, is +not only that we should have an uninterrupted, but a growing +possession, of Christ and of His grace. + +Is that the case with you, my friend? Can you hold more of God than you +could twenty years ago? Is there any more capacity in your soul for +more of Christ than there was long, long ago? If there is you have more +of Him; if you have not more of Him it is because you cannot contain +more; and you cannot contain more because you have not desired more, +and because you have been so wretchedly unfaithful in your use of what +you had. The ideal is, 'they go from strength to strength,' and the end +of that is, 'every one of them appeareth before God.' + +So, dear brother, as the dash of the waves will hollow out some little +indentation on the coast, and make it larger and larger until there is +a great bay, with its headlands miles apart, and its deep bosom +stretching far into the interior, and all the expanse full of flashing +waters and leaping waves, so the giving Christ works a place for +Himself in a man's heart, and makes the spirit which receives and +faithfully uses the gifts which He brings, capable of more of Himself, +and fills the widened space with larger gifts and new grace. + +Only remember the condition of having Him is trusting to His name and +longing for His presence. 'If any man open the door I will come in.' We +have Him if we trust Him. That trust is no mere passive reception, 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 it, as may happen. But the +'receive' of our text might be as truly rendered 'take.' Faith is an +active taking, not a passive receiving. We must 'lay hold on eternal +life.' Faith is the hand that grasps the offered gift, the mouth that +feeds upon the bread of God, the voice that says to Christ, 'Come in, +Thou blessed of the Lord; why standest Thou without?' Such a faith +alone brings us into vital connection with Jesus. Without it, you will +be none the richer for all His fulness, and may perish of famine in the +midst of plenty, like a man dying of hunger outside the door of a +granary. They who believe take the Saviour who is given, and they who +take receive, and they who receive obtain day by day growing grace from +the fulness of Christ, and so come ever nearer to the realisation of +the ultimate purpose of the Father, that they should be 'filled with +all the fulness of God.' + + + + +GRACE AND TRUTH + + +'The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus +Christ.'—JOHN 1. 17. + +There are scarcely any traces, in the writings of the Apostle John, 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 Paul. +We have floated into an entirely different region in John's writings. +The old controversies are dead—settled, I suppose, mainly by Paul's own +words, and also to a large extent by the logic of events. This verse is +almost the only one in which John touches upon that extinct +controversy, and here the Law is introduced simply as a foil to set off +the brightness of the Gospel. All artists know the value of contrast in +giving prominence. A dark background flashes up brighter colours into +brilliancy. White is never so white as when it is relieved against +black. 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 Moses.' + +Every word in this verse is significant. 'Law' is set against 'grace +and truth.' It was 'given'; they 'came.' Moses is contrasted with +Christ. So we have a threefold antithesis as between Law and Gospel: in +reference to their respective contents; in reference to the manner of +their communication; and in reference to the person of their Founders. +And I think, if we look at these three points, we shall get some clear +apprehension of the glories of that Gospel which the Apostle would +thereby commend to our affection and to our faith. + +I. First of all, then, we have here the special glory of the contents +of the Gospel heightened by the contrast with Law. + +Law has no tenderness, no pity, no feeling. Tables of stone and a pen +of iron are its fitting vehicles. Flashing lightnings and rolling +thunders symbolise the fierce light which it casts upon men's duty and +the terrors of its retribution. Inflexible, and with no compassion for +human weakness, it tells us what we ought to be, but it does not help +us to be it. It 'binds heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne,' upon +men's consciences, but puts not forth 'the tip of a finger' to enable +men to bear them. And this is true about law in all forms, whether it +be the Mosaic Law, or whether it be the law of our own country, or +whether it be the laws written upon men's consciences. These all +partake of the one characteristic, that they help nothing to the +fulfilment of their own behests, and that they are barbed with +threatenings of retribution. Like some avenging goddess, law comes down +amongst men, terrible in her purity, awful in her beauty, with a hard +light in her clear grey eyes—in the one hand the tables of stone, +bearing the commandments which we have broken, and in the other a sharp +two-edged sword. + +And this is the opposite of all that comes to us in the Gospel. The +contrast divides into two portions. The 'Law' is set against 'grace and +truth.' Let us look at these two in order. + +What we have in Christ is not law, but grace. Law, as I said, has no +heart; the meaning of the Gospel is the unveiling of the heart of God. +Law commands and demands; it says: 'This shalt thou do, or else—'; and +it has nothing more that it can say. What is the use of standing beside +a lame man, and pointing to a shining summit, and saying to him, 'Get +up there, and you will breathe a purer atmosphere'? He is lying lame at +the foot of it. There is no help for any soul in law. Men are not +perishing because they do not know what they ought to do. Men are not +bad because they doubt as to what their duty is. The worst man in the +world knows a great deal more of what he ought to do than the best man +in the world practises. So it is not for want of precepts that so many +of us are going to destruction, but it is for want of power to fulfil +the precepts. + +Grace is love giving. Law demands, grace bestows. Law comes saying 'Do +this,' and our consciences respond to the imperativeness of the +obligation. But grace comes and says, 'I will help thee to do it.' Law +is God requiring; grace is God bestowing. 'Give what Thou commandest, +and then command what Thou wilt.' + +Oh, brethren! we have all of us written upon the fleshly tablets of our +hearts solemn commandments which we know are binding upon us; and which +we sometimes would fain keep, but cannot. Is this not a message of hope +and blessedness that comes to us? Grace has drawn near in Jesus Christ, +and a giving God, who bestows upon us a life that will unfold itself in +accordance with the highest law, holds out the fulness of His gift in +that Incarnate Word. Law has no heart; the Gospel is the unveiling of +the heart of God. Law commands; grace is God bestowing Himself. + +And still further, law condemns. Grace is love that bends down to an +evildoer, and deals not on the footing of strict retribution with the +infirmities and the sins of us poor weaklings. And so, seeing that no +man that lives but hears in his heart an accusing voice, and that every +one of us knows what it is to gaze upon lofty duties that we have +shrunk from, upon plain obligations from the yoke of which we have +selfishly and cowardly withdrawn our necks; seeing that every man, +woman, and child listening to me now has, lurking in some corner of +their hearts, a memory that only needs to be quickened to be a torture, +and deeds that only need to have the veil drawn away from them to +terrify and shame them—oh! surely it ought to be a word of gladness for +every one of us that, in front of any law that condemns us, stands +forth the gentle, gracious form of the Christ that brings pardon, and +'the grace of God that bringeth salvation unto all men.' Thank God! law +needed to be 'given,' but it was only the foundation on which was to be +reared a better thing. 'The law was given By Moses'—'a schoolmaster,' +as conscience is to-day, 'to bring us to Christ' by whom comes the +grace that loves, that stoops, that gives, and that pardons. + +Still further, there is another antithesis here. The Gospel which comes +by Christ is not law, but truth. The object of law is to regulate +conduct, and only subordinately to inform the mind or to enlighten the +understanding. The Mosaic Law had for its foundation, of course, a +revelation of God. But that revelation of God was less prominent, +proportionately, than the prescription for man's conduct. The Gospel is +the opposite of this. It has for its object the regulation of conduct; +but that object is less prominent, proportionately, than the other, the +manifestation and the revelation of God. The Old Testament says 'Thou +shalt'; the New Testament says 'God is.' The Old was Law; the New is +Truth. + +And so we may draw the inference, on which I do not need to dwell, how +miserably inadequate and shallow a conception of Christianity that is +which sets it forth as being mainly a means of regulating conduct, and +how false and foolish that loose talk is that we hear many a +time.—'Never mind about theological subtleties; conduct is the main +thing.' Not so. The Gospel is not law; the Gospel is truth. It is a +revelation of God to the understanding and to the heart, in order that +thereby the will may be subdued, and that then the conduct may be +shaped and moulded. But let us begin where it begins, and let us +remember that the morality of the New Testament has never long been +held up high and pure, where the theology of the New Testament has been +neglected and despised. 'The law came by Moses; truth came by Jesus +Christ.' + +But, still further, let me remind you that, in the revelation of a God +who is gracious, giving to our emptiness and forgiving our sins—that is +to say, in the revelation of grace—we have a far deeper, nobler, more +blessed conception of the divine nature than in law. It is great to +think of a righteous God, it is great and ennobling to think of One +whose pure eyes cannot look upon sin, and who wills that men should +live pure and noble and Godlike lives. But it is far more and more +blessed, transcending all the old teaching, when we sit at the feet of +the Christ who gives, and who pardons, and look up into His deep eyes, +with the tears of compassion shining in them, and say: 'Lo! This is our +God! We have waited for Him and He will save us.' That is a better +truth, a deeper truth than prophets and righteous men of old possessed; +and to us there has come, borne on the wings of the mighty angel of His +grace, the precious revelation of the Father-God whose heart is love. +'The law was given by Moses,' 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 Christ. Grace, and therefore truth, +a deeper truth, came by Him. + +And, still further, let me remind you of how this contrast is borne out +by the fact that all that previous system was an adumbration, a shadow +and a premonition of the perfect revelation that was to come. Temple, +priest, sacrifice, law, the whole body of the Mosaic constitution of +things was, as it were, a shadow thrown along the road in advance by +the swiftly coming King. The shadow fell before Him, but when He came +the shadow disappeared. The former was a system of types, symbols, +pictures. Here is the reality that antiquates and fulfils and +transcends them all. 'The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came +by Jesus Christ.' + +II. Now, secondly, look at the other contrast that is here, between +giving and coming. + +I do not know that I have quite succeeded in making clear to my own +mind the precise force of this antithesis. Certainly there is a +profound meaning if one can fathom it; perhaps one might put it best in +something like the following fashion. + +The word rendered 'came' might be more correctly translated 'became,' +or 'came into being.' The law was _given_; grace and truth _came to +be_. + +Now, what do we mean when we talk about a law being given? We simply +mean, I suppose, that it is promulgated, either in oral or in written +words. It is, after all, no more than so many words. It is given when +it is spoken or published. It is a verbal communication at the best. +'But grace and truth came to be.' They are realities; they are not +words. They are not communicated by sentences, they are actual +existences; and they spring into being as far as man's historical +possession and experience of them are concerned—they spring into being +in Jesus Christ, and through Him they belong to us all. Not that there +was no grace, no manifest lore of God, in the world, nor any true +knowledge of Him before the Incarnation, but the earlier portions of +this chapter remind us that all of grace, however restrained and +partial, that all of truth, however imperfect and shadowy it may have +been, which were in the world before Christ came, were owing to the +operation of that Eternal Word 'Who became flesh and dwelt among us,' +and that these, in comparison with the affluence and the fulness and +the nearness of grace and truth after Christ's coming, were so small +and remote that it is not an exaggeration to say that, as far as man's +possession and experience of them are concerned, the giving love of God +and the clear and true knowledge of His deep heart of tenderness and +grace, sprang into being with the historical manifestation of Jesus +Christ the Lord. + +He comes to reveal by no words. His gift is not like the gift that +Moses brought down from the mountain, merely a writing upon tables; His +gift is not the letter of an outward commandment, nor the letter of an +outward revelation. It is the thing itself which He reveals by being +it. He does not speak about grace, He brings it; He does not show us +God by His words, He shows us God by His acts. He does not preach about +Him, but He lives Him, He manifests Him. His gentleness, His +compassion, His miracles, His wisdom, His patience, His tears, His +promises; all these are the very Deity in action before our eyes; and +instead of a mere verbal revelation, which is so imperfect and so +worthless, grace and truth, the living realities, are flashed upon a +darkened world in the face of Jesus Christ. How cold, how hard, how +superficial, in comparison with that fleshly table of the heart of +Christ on which grace and truth were written, are the stony tables of +law, which bore after all, for all their majesty, only words which are +breath and nothing besides. + +III. And so, lastly, look at the contrast that is drawn here between +the persons of the Founders. + +I do not suppose that we are to take into consideration the difference +between the limitations of the one and the completeness of the other. 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 Son; or between the passion and the pride that sometimes marred +Moses' work, and the continual calmness and patient meekness that +perfected the sacrifice of Jesus. Nor do I suppose that there flashed +before his memory the difference between that strange tomb where God +buried the prophet, unknown of men, in the stern solitude of the +desert, true symbol of the solemn mystery and awful solitude with which +the law which we have broken invests death, to our trembling +consciences, and the grave in the garden with the spring flowers +bursting round it, and visited by white-robed angels, who spoke comfort +to weeping friends, true picture of what His death makes the grave for +all His followers. + +But I suppose he was mainly thinking of the contrast between the +relation of Moses to his law, and of Christ to His Gospel. Moses was +but a medium. His personality had nothing to do with his message. You +may take away Moses, and the law stands all the same. But Christ is so +interwoven with Christ's message that you cannot rend the two apart; +you cannot have the figure of Christ melt away, and the gift that +Christ brought remain. If you extinguish the sun you cannot keep the +sunlight; if you put away Christ in the fulness of His manhood and of +His divinity, in the power of His Incarnation and the omnipotence of +His cross—if you put away Christ from Christianity, it collapses into +dust and nothingness. + +So, dear brethren, do not let any of us try that perilous experiment. +You cannot melt away Jesus and keep grace and truth. You cannot tamper +with His character, with His nature, with the mystery of His passion, +with the atoning power of His cross, and preserve the blessings that He +has brought to the world. If you want the grace which is the unveiling +of the heart of God, the gift of a giving God and the pardon of a +forgiving Judge; or if you want the truth, the reality of the knowledge +of Him, you can only get them by accepting Christ. 'I _am_ the Truth, +and the Way, and the Life.' There _is_ a 'law given which gives life,' +and 'righteousness _is_ by that law.' There is a Person who is the +Truth, and our knowledge of the truth is through that Person, and +through Him alone. By humble faith receive Him into your hearts, and He +will come bringing to you the fulness of grace and truth. + + + + +THE WORLD'S SIN-BEARER + + +'The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the +Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.'—JOHN i. 29. + +Our Lord, on returning from His temptation in the wilderness, came +straight to John the Baptist. He was welcomed with these wonderful and +rapturous words, familiarity with which has deadened our sense of their +greatness. How audacious they would sound to some of their first +hearers! Think of these two, one of them a young Galilean carpenter, to +whom His companion witnesses and declares that He is of worldwide and +infinite significance. It was the first public designation of Jesus +Christ, and it throws into exclusive prominence one aspect of His work. + +John the Baptist summing up the whole of former revelation which +concentrated in Him, pointed a designating finger to Jesus and said, +'That is He!' My text is the sum of all Christian teaching ever since. +My task, and that of all preachers, if we understand it aright, is but +to repeat the same message, and to concentrate attention on the same +fact—'The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.' It is +the one thing needful for you, dear friend, to believe. It is the truth +that we all need most of all. There is no reason for our being gathered +together now, except that I may beseech you to behold for yourselves +the Lamb of God which takes away the world's sin. + +I. Now let me ask you to note, first, that Jesus Christ is the world's +sin-bearer. + +The significance of the first clause of my text, 'the Lamb of God,' is +deplorably weakened if it is taken to mean only, or mainly, that Jesus +Christ, in the sweetness of His human nature, is gentle and meek and +patient and innocent and pure. It _does_ mean all that, thank God! But +it was no mere description of Christ's disposition which John the +Baptist conceived himself to be uttering, as is clear by the words that +follow in the next clause. His reason for selecting (under divine +guidance, as I believe) that image of 'the Lamb of God,' went a great +deal deeper than anything in the temper of the Person of whom he was +speaking. Many streams of ancient prophecy and ritual converge upon +this emblem, and if we want to understand what is meant by the +designation 'the Lamb of God,' we must not content ourselves with the +sentimentalisms which some superficial teachers have supposed to +exhaust the significance of the expression; but we must submit to be +led back by John, who was the summing up of all the ancient Revelation, +to the sources in that Revelation from which he drew this metaphor. + +First and chiefest of these, as I take it, are the words which no Jew +ever doubted referred to the Messiah, until after He had come, and the +Rabbis would not believe in Him, and so were bound to hunt up another +interpretation—I mean the great words in the prophecy which, I suppose, +is familiar to most of us, where there are found two representations, +one, 'He was led as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her +shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth'; and the other, still +more germane to the purpose of my text, 'the Lord hath laid on Him the +iniquity of us all…. By His knowledge shall He justify many, for He +shall bear their iniquities.' John the Baptist, looking back through +the ages to that ancient prophetic utterance, points to the young Man +standing by his side, and says, 'There it is fulfilled.' + +But the prophetic symbol of the Lamb, and the thought that He bore the +iniquity of the many, had their roots in the past, and pointed back to +the sacrificial lamb, the lamb of the daily sacrifice, and especially +to the lamb slain at the Passover, which was an emblem and sacrament of +deliverance from bondage. Thus the conceptions of vicarious suffering, +and of a death which is a deliverance, and of blood which, sprinkled on +the doorposts, guards the house from the destroying angel, are all +gathered into these words. + +Nor do these exhaust the sources of this figure, as it comes from the +venerable and sacred past. For when we read 'the Lamb _of God_,' who is +there that does not recognise, unless his eyes are blinded by obstinate +prejudice, a glance backward to that sweet and pathetic story when the +father went up with his son to the top of Mount Moriah, and to the +boy's question, 'Where is the lamb?' answered, 'My son, God Himself +will provide the lamb!' John says, 'Behold the Lamb that God _has_ +provided, the Sacrifice, on whom is laid a world's sins, and who bears +them away.' + +Note, too, the universality of the power of Christ's sacrificial work. +John does not say 'the _sins_,' as the Litany, following an imperfect +translation, makes him say. But he says, 'the _sin_ of the world,' as +if the whole mass of human transgression was bound together, in one +black and awful bundle, and laid upon the unshrinking shoulders of this +better Atlas who can bear it all, and bear it all away. Your sin, and +mine, and every man's, they were all laid upon Jesus Christ. + +Now remember, dear brethren, that in this wondrous representation there +lie, plain and distinct, two things which to me, and I pray they may be +to you, are the very foundation of the Gospel to which we have to +trust. One is that on Christ Jesus, in His life and in His death, were +laid the guilt and the consequences of a world's sin. I do not profess +to be ready with an explanation of how that is possible. That it is a +fact I believe, on the authority of Christ Himself and of Scripture; +that it is inconsistent with the laws of human nature may be asserted, +but never can be proved. Theories manifold have been invented in order +to make it plain. I do not know that any of them have gone to the +bottom of the bottomless. But Christ in His perfect manhood, wedded, as +I believe it is, to true divinity, is capable of entering into—not +merely by sympathy, though that has much to do with it—such closeness +of relation with human kind, and with every man, as that on Him can be +laid the iniquity of us all. + +Oh, brethren! what was the meaning of 'I have a baptism to be baptized +with,' unless the cold waters of the flood into which He unshrinkingly +stepped, and allowed to flow over Him, were made by the gathered +accumulation of the sins of the whole world? What was the meaning of +the agony in Gethsemane? What was the meaning of that most awful word +ever spoken by human lips, in which the consciousness of union with, +and of separation from, God, were so marvellously blended, 'My God! my +God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?' unless the Guiltless was then loaded +with the sins of the world, which rose between Him and God? + +Dear friends, it seems to me that unless this transcendent element be +fairly recognised as existing in the passion and death of Jesus Christ, +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 Him. I do not venture to bring a +theory, but I press upon you the fact, He bears the sins of the world, +and in that awful load are yours and mine. + +There is the other truth here, as clearly, and perhaps more directly, +meant by the selection of the expression in my text, that the +Sin-bearer not only carries, but carries _away_, the burden that is +laid upon Him. Perhaps there may be a reference—in addition to the +other sources of the figure which I have indicated as existing in +ritual, and prophecy, 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 people, but were the +property of humanity. You remember, no doubt, the singular ceremonial +connected with the scapegoat, and many of you will recall the wonderful +embodiment of it given by the Christian genius of a modern painter. The +sins of the nation were symbolically laid upon its head, and it was +carried out to the edge of the wilderness and driven forth to wander +alone, bearing away upon itself into the darkness and solitude—far from +man and far from God—the whole burden of the nation's sins. Jesus +Christ takes away the sin which He bears, and there is, as I believe, +only one way by which individuals, or society, or the world at large, +can thoroughly get rid of the guilt and penal consequences and of the +dominion of sin, and that is, by beholding the Lamb of God that takes +upon Himself, that He may carry away out of sight, the sin of the +world. So much, then, for the first thought that I wish to suggest to +you. + +II. Now let me ask you to look with me at a second thought, that such a +world's Sin-bearer is the world's deepest need. + +The sacrifices of every land witness to the fact that humanity all over +the world, and through all the ages, and under all varieties of +culture, has been dimly conscious that its deepest need was that the +fact of sin should be dealt with. I know that there are plenty of +modern ingenious ways of explaining the universal prevalence of an +altar and a sacrifice, and the slaying of innocent creatures, on other +grounds, 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 necessities. But +notwithstanding these, I venture to affirm, with all proper submission +to wiser men, that you cannot legitimately explain the universal +prevalence of sacrifice, unless you take into account as one—I should +say the main—element in it, this universally diffused sense that things +are wrong between man and the higher Power, and need to be set right +even by such a method. + +But I do not need to appeal only to this world-wide fact as being a +declaration of what man's deepest need is. I would appeal to every +man's own consciousness—hard though it be to get at it; buried as it +is, with some of us, under mountains of indifference and neglect; and +callous as it is with many of us by reason of indulgence in habits of +evil. I believe that in every one of us, if we will be honest, and give +heed to the inward voice, there does echo a response and an amen to the +Scripture declaration, 'God hath shut up all under sin.' I ask you +about yourselves, is it not so? Do you not know that, however you may +gloss over the thing, or forget it amidst a whirl of engagements and +occupations, or try to divert your thoughts into more or less noble or +ignoble channels of pleasures and pursuits, there does lie, in each of +our hearts, the sense, dormant often, but sometimes like a snake in its +hybernation, waking up enough to move, and sometimes enough to +sting—there does lie, in each of us, the consciousness that we are +wrong with God, and need something to put us right? + +And, brethren, let modern philanthropists of all sorts take this +lesson: The thing that the world wants is to have sin dealt with—dealt +with in the way of conscious forgiveness; dealt with in the way of +drying up its source, and delivering men from the power of it. Unless +you do that, I do not say you do nothing, but you pour a bottle full of +cold water into Vesuvius, and try to put the fire out with that. You +may educate, you may cultivate, you may refine; you may set political +and economical arrangements right in accordance with the newest notions +of the century, and what then? Why! the old thing will just begin over +again, and the old miseries will appear again, because the old +grandmother of them all is there, the sin that has led to them. + +Now do not misunderstand me, 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 Gospel. They will do a great deal. But you may +have high education, beautiful refinement of culture and manners; you +may divide out political power in accordance with the most democratic +notions; you may give everybody 'a living wage,' however extravagant +his notions of a living wage may be. You may carry out all these +panaceas and the world will groan still, because you have not dealt +with the tap-root of all the mischief. You cannot cure an internal +cancer with a plaster upon the little finger, and you will never stanch +the world's wounds until you go to the Physician that has balm and +bandage, even Jesus Christ, that takes away the sins of the world. I +profoundly distrust all these remedies for the world's misery as in +themselves inadequate, even whilst I would help them all, and regard +them all as then blessed and powerful, when they are consequences and +secondary results of the Gospel, the first task of which is to deal by +forgiveness and by cleansing with individual transgression. + +And if I might venture to go a step further, 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 men, +and which makes the Gospel—the record of His work—the kingly power in +the world that it is meant to be. Depend upon it, that in the measure +in which Christian teachers fail to give supreme importance to that +aspect of Christ's work they fail altogether. There are many other +aspects which, as I have just said, follow in my conception from this +first one; but if, as is obviously the tendency in many quarters +to-day, Christianity be thought of as being mainly a means of social +improvement, or if its principles of action be applied to life without +that basis of them all, in the Cross which takes away the world's +iniquity, then it needs no prophet to foretell that such a Christianity +will only have superficial effects, and that, in losing sight of this +central thought, it will have cast away all its power. + +I beseech you, dear brethren, remember that Jesus Christ is something +more than a social reformer, though He is the first of them, and the +only one whose work will last. Jesus Christ is something more than a +lovely pattern of human conduct, though He is that. Jesus Christ is +something more than a great religious genius who set forth the +Fatherhood of God as it had never been set forth before. The Gospel of +Jesus Christ is the record not only of what He said but of what He did, +not only that He lived but that He died; and all His other powers, and +all His other benefits and blessings to society, come as results of His +dealing with the individual soul when He takes away its guilt and +reconciles it to God. + +III. And so, lastly, let me ask you to notice that this Sin-bearer of +the world is our Sin-bearer if we 'behold' Him. + +John was simply summoning ignorant eyes to look, and telling of what +they would see. But his call is susceptible, without violence, of a far +deeper meaning. This is really the one truth that I want to press upon +you, dear friends—'Behold the Lamb of God!' + +What is that beholding? Surely it is nothing else than our recognising +in Him the great and blessed work which I have been trying to describe, +and then resting ourselves upon that great Lord and sufficient +Sacrifice. And such an exercise of simple trust is well named +beholding, because they who believe do see, with a deeper and a truer +vision than sense can give. You and I can see Christ more really than +these men who stood round Him, and to whom His flesh was 'a veil'—as +the Epistle to the Hebrews calls it—hiding His true divinity and work. +They who thus behold by faith lack nothing either of the directness or +of the certitude that belong to vision. 'Seeing is believing,' says the +cynical proverb. The Christian version inverts its terms, 'Believing is +seeing.' 'Whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see Him +not, yet believing ye rejoice.' + +And your simple act of 'beholding,' by the recognition of His work and +the resting of yourself upon it, makes the world's Sin-bearer your +Sin-bearer. You appropriate the general blessing, like a man taking in +a little piece of a boundless prairie for his very own. Your possession +does not make my possession of Him less, for every eye gets its own +beam, and however many eyes wait upon Him, they all receive the light +on to their happy eyeballs. You can make Christ your own, and have all +that He has done for the world as your possession, and can experience +in your own hearts the sense of your own forgiveness and deliverance +from the power and guilt of your own sin, on the simple condition of +looking unto Jesus. The serpent is lifted on the pole, the dying camp +cannot go to it, but the filming eyes of the man in his last gasp may +turn to the gleaming image hanging on high; and as he looks the health +begins to tingle back into his veins, and he is healed. + +And so, dear brethren, behold Him; for unless you do, though He has +borne the world's sin, your sin will not be there, but will remain on +your back to crush you down. 'O Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins +of the world, have mercy upon _me_!' + + + + +THE FIRST DISCIPLES: I. JOHN AND ANDREW + + +'And the two disciples heard Him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38. +Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What +seek ye? They said unto Him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being +interpreted, Master,) where dwellest Thou? 39. He saith unto them, Come +and see. They came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day: +for it was about the tenth hour.'—JOHN i. 37-39. + +In these verses we see the head waters of a great river, for we have +before us nothing less than the beginnings of the Christian Church. So +simply were the first disciples made. The great society of believers +was born like its Master, unostentatiously and in a corner. + +Jesus has come back from His conflict in the wilderness after His +baptism, and has presented Himself before John the Baptist for his +final attestation. It was a great historical moment when the last of +the Prophets stood face to face with the Fulfilment of all prophecy. In +his words, 'Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the +world!' Jewish prophecy sang its swan-song, uttered its last rejoicing, +'Eureka! I have found Him!' and died as it spoke. + +We do not sufficiently estimate the magnificent self-suppression and +unselfishness of the Baptist, in that he, with his own lips, here +repeats his testimony in order to point his disciples away from +himself, and to attach them to Jesus. If he could have been touched by +envy he would not so gladly have recognised it as his lot to decrease +while Jesus increased. Bare magnanimity that in a teacher! The two who +hear John's words are Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, and an anonymous +man. The latter is probably the Evangelist. For it is remarkable that +we never find the names of James and John in this Gospel (though from +the other Gospels we know how closely they were associated with our +Lord), and that we only find them referred to as 'the sons of Zebedee,' +once near the close of the book. That fact points, I think, in the +direction of John's authorship of this Gospel. + +These two, then, follow behind Jesus, fancying themselves unobserved, +not desiring to speak to Him, and probably with some notion of tracking +Him to His home, in order that they may seek an interview at a later +period. But He who notices the first beginnings of return to Him, and +always comes to meet men, and is better to them than their wishes, will +not let them steal behind Him uncheered, nor leave them to struggle +with diffidence and delay. So He turns to them, and the events ensue +which I have read in the verses that follow as my text. + +We have, I think, three things especially to notice here. First, the +Master's question to the whole world, 'What seek ye?' Second, the +Master's invitation to the whole world, 'Come and see!' Lastly, the +personal communion which brings men's hearts to Him, 'They came and saw +where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day.' + +I. So, then, first look at this question of Christ to the whole world, +'What seek ye?' + +As it stands, on its surface, and in its primary application, it is the +most natural of questions. Our Lord hears footsteps behind Him, and, as +any one would do, turns about, with the question which any one would +ask, 'What is it that you want?' That question would derive all its +meaning from the look with which it was accompanied, and the tone in +which it was spoken. It might mean either annoyance and rude repulsion +of a request, even before it was presented, or it might mean a glad +wish to draw out the petition, and more than half a pledge to bestow +it. All depends on the smile with which it was asked and the intonation +of voice which carried it to their ears. And if we had been there we +should have felt, as these two evidently felt, that though in form a +question, it was in reality a promise, and that it drew out their shy +wishes, made them conscious to themselves of what they desired, and +gave them confidence that their desire would be granted. Clearly it had +sunk very deep into the Evangelist's mind; and now, at the end of his +life, when his course is nearly run, the never-to-be-forgotten voice +sounds still in his memory, and he sees again, in sunny clearness, all +the scene that had transpired on that day by the fords of the Jordan. +The first words and the last words of those whom we have learned to +love are cut deep on our hearts. + +It was not an accident that the first words which the Master spoke in +His Messianic office were this profoundly significant question, 'What +seek ye?' He asks it of us all, He asks it of us to-day. Well for them +who can answer, 'Rabbi! where dwellest _Thou_?' 'It is Thou whom we +seek!' So, venturing to take the words in that somewhat wider +application, let me just suggest to you two or three directions in +which they seem to point. + +First, the question suggests to us this: the need of having a clear +consciousness of what is our object in life. The most of men have never +answered that question. They live from hand to mouth, driven by +circumstances, guided by accidents, impelled by unreflecting passions +and desires, knowing what they want for the moment, but never having +tried to shape the course of their lives into a consistent whole, so as +to stand up before God in Christ when He puts the question to them, +'What seek ye?' and to answer the question. + +These incoherent, instinctive, unreflective lives that so many of you +are living are a shame to your manhood, to say nothing more. God has +made us for something else than that we should thus be the sport of +circumstances. It is a disgrace to any of us that our lives should be +like some little fishing-boat, with an unskilful or feeble hand at the +tiller, yawing from one point of the compass to another, and not +keeping a straight and direct course. I pray you, dear brethren, to +front this question: 'After all, and at bottom, what is it I am living +for? Can I formulate the aims and purposes of my life in any +intelligible statement of which I should not be ashamed?' Some of you +are not ashamed to do what you would be very much ashamed to say, and +you practically answer the question, 'What are you seeking?' by +pursuits that you durst not call by their own ugly names. + +There may be many of us who are living for our lusts, for our passions, +for our ambitions, for avarice, who are living in all uncleanness and +godlessness. I do not know. There are plenty of shabby, low aims in all +of us which do not bear being dragged out into the light of day. I +beseech you to try and get hold of the ugly things and bring them up to +the surface, however much they may seek to hide in the congenial +obscurity and twist their slimy coils round something in the dark. If +you dare not put your life's object into words, bethink yourselves +whether it ought to be your life's object at all. + +Ah, brethren! if we would ask ourselves this question, and answer it +with any thoroughness, we should not make so many mistakes as to the +places where we look for the things for which we are seeking. If we +knew what we were really seeking, we should know where to go to look +for it. Let me tell you what you are seeking, whether you know it or +not. You are seeking for rest for your heart, a home for your spirits; +you are seeking for perfect truth for your understandings, perfect +beauty for your affections, perfect goodness for your conscience. You +are seeking for all these three, gathered into one white beam of light, +and you are seeking for it all in a Person. Many of you do not know +this, and so you go hunting in all manner of impossible places for that +which you can only find in one. To the question, 'What seek ye?' the +deepest of all answers, the only real answer, is, 'My soul thirsteth +for God, for the living God.' If you know that, you know where to look +for what you need! 'Do men gather grapes of thorns?' If these are +really the things that you are seeking after, in all your mistaken +search—oh! how mistaken is the search! Do men look for pearls in +cockle-shells, or for gold in coal-pits; and why should you look for +rest of heart, mind, conscience, spirit, anywhere and in anything short +of God? 'What seek ye?'—the only answer is, 'We seek _Thee_!' + +And then, still further, let me remind you how these words are not only +a question, but are really a veiled and implied promise. The question, +'What do you want of Me?' may either strike an intending suppliant like +a blow, and drive him away with his prayer sticking in his throat +unspoken, or it may sound like a merciful invitation, 'What is thy +petition, and what is thy request, and it shall be granted unto thee?' +We know which of the two it was here. Christ asks all such questions as +this (and there are many of them in the New Testament), not for His +information, but for our strengthening. He asks people, not because He +does not know before they answer, but that, on the one hand, their own +minds may be clear as to their wishes, and so they may wish the more +earnestly because of the clearness; and that, on the other hand, their +desires being expressed, they may be the more able to receive the gift +which He is willing to bestow. So He here turns to these men, whose +purpose He knew well enough, and says to them, 'What seek ye?' Herein +He is doing the very same thing on a lower level, and in an outer +sphere, as is done when He appoints that we shall pray for the +blessings which He is yearning to bestow, but which He makes +conditional on our supplications, only because by these supplications +our hearts are opened to a capacity for receiving them. + +We have, then, in the words before us, thus understood, our Lord's +gracious promise to give what is desired on the simple condition that +the suppliant is conscious of his own wants, and turns to Him for the +supply of them. 'What seek ye?' It is a blank cheque that He puts into +their hands to fill up. It is the key of His treasure-house which He +offers to us all, with the assured confidence that if we open it we +shall find all that we need. + +Who is He that thus stands up before a whole world of seeking, restless +spirits, and fronts them with the question which is a pledge, conscious +of His capacity to give to each of them what each of them requires? Who +is this that professes to be able to give all these men and women and +children bread here in the wilderness? There is only one answer—the +Christ of God. + +And He has done what He promises. No man or woman ever went to Him, and +answered this question, and presented their petition for any real good, +and was refused. No man can ask from Christ what Christ cannot bestow. +No man can ask from Christ what Christ will not bestow. In the loftiest +region, the region of inward and spiritual gifts, which are the best +gifts, we can get everything that we want, and our only limit is, not +His boundless omnipotence and willingness, but our own poor, narrow, +and shrivelled desires. 'Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall +find.' + +Christ stands before us, if I may so say, like some of those fountains +erected at some great national festival, out of which pour for all the +multitude every variety of draught which they desire, and each man that +goes with his empty cup gets it filled, and gets it filled with that +which he wishes. 'What seek ye?' Wisdom? You students, you thinkers, +you young men that are fighting with intellectual difficulties and +perplexities, 'What seek ye?' Truth? He gives us that. You others, +'What seek ye?' Love, peace, victory, self-control, hope, anodyne for +sorrow? Whatever you desire, you will find in Jesus Christ. The first +words with which He broke the silence when He spake to men as the +Messias, were at once a searching question, probing their aims and +purposes, and a gracious promise pledging Him to a task not beyond His +power, however far beyond that of all others, even the task of giving +to each man his heart's desire. 'What seek ye?' 'Seek, and ye shall +find.' + +II. Then, still further, notice how, in a similar fashion, we may +regard here the second words which our Lord speaks as being His +merciful invitation to the world. 'Come and see.' + +The disciples' answer was simple and timid. They did not venture to +say, 'May we talk to you?' 'Will you take us to be your disciples?' All +they can muster courage to ask now is, 'Where dwellest Thou?' At +another time, perhaps, we will go to this Rabbi and speak with Him. His +answer is, 'Come, come now; come, and by intercourse with Me learn to +know Me.' His temporary home was probably nothing more than some +selected place on the river's bank, for 'He had not where to lay His +head'; but such as it was, He welcomes them to it. 'Come and see!' + +Take a plain, simple truth out of that. Christ is always glad when +people resort to Him. When He was here in the world, no hour was +inconvenient or inopportune; no moment was too much occupied; no +physical wants of hunger, or thirst, or slumber were ever permitted to +come between Him and seeking hearts. He was never impatient. He was +never wearied of speaking, though He was often wearied in speaking. He +never denied Himself to any one or said, 'I have something else to do +than to attend to you.' And just as in literal fact, whilst He was here +upon earth, nothing was ever permitted to hinder His drawing near to +any man who wanted to draw near to Him, so nothing now hinders it; and +He is glad when any of us resort to Him and ask Him to let us speak to +Him and be with Him. His weariness or occupation never shut men out +from Him then. His glory does not shut them out now. + +Then there is another thought here. This invitation of the Master is +also a very distinct call to a firsthand knowledge of Jesus Christ. +Andrew and John had heard from the Baptist about Him, and now what He +bids them to do is to come and hear Himself. That is what He calls you, +dear brethren, to do. Do not listen to us, let the Master Himself speak +to you. Many who reject Christianity reject it through not having +listened to Jesus Himself teaching them, but only to theologians and +other human representations of the truth. Go and ask Christ to speak to +you with His own lips of truth, and take Him as the Expositor of His +own system. Do not be contented with traditional talk and second-hand +information. Go to Christ, and hear what He Himself has to say to you. + +Then, still further, in this 'Come and see' there is a distinct call to +the personal act of faith. Both of these words, '_come_' and '_see_,' +are used in the New Testament as standing emblems of faith. Coming to +Christ is trusting Him; trusting Him is seeing Him, looking unto Him. +'Come unto Me, and I will give you rest,' 'Look unto Me, and be ye +saved, all ye ends of the earth.' There are two metaphors, both of them +pointing to one thing, and that one thing is the invitation from the +dear lips of the loving Lord to every man, woman, and child in this +congregation. 'Come and see!' 'Put your trust in Me, draw near to Me by +desire and penitence, draw near to Me in the fixed thought of your +mind, in the devotion of your will, in the trust of your whole being. +Come to Me, and see Me by faith; and then—and then—your hearts will +have found what they seek, and your weary quest will be over, and, like +the dove, you will fold your wings and nestle at the foot of the Cross, +and rest for evermore. Come! "Come and see!"' + +III. So, lastly, we have in these words a parable of the blessed +experience which binds men's hearts to Jesus for ever. 'They came and +saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day, for it was about the +tenth hour.' + +'Dwelt' and 'abode' are the same words in the original. It is one of +John's favourite words, and in its deepest meaning expresses the close, +still communion which the soul may have with Jesus Christ, which +communion, on that never-to-be-forgotten day, when he and Andrew sat +with Him in the quiet, confidential fellowship that disclosed Christ's +glory 'full of grace and truth' to their hearts, made them His for +ever. + +If the reckoning of time here is made according to the Hebrew fashion, +the 'tenth hour' will be ten o'clock in the morning. So, one long day +of talk! If it be according to the Roman legal fashion, the hour will +be four o'clock in the afternoon, which would only give time for a +brief conversation before the night fell. But, in any case, sacred +reserve is observed as to what passed in that interview. A lesson for a +great deal of blatant talk, in this present day, about conversion and +the details thereof! + + 'Not easily forgiven + Are those, who setting wide the doors, that bar + The secret bridal chambers of the heart. + Let in the day.' + +John had nothing to say to the world about what the Master said to him +and his brother in that long day of communion. + +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 +disciples. The character of Jesus Christ is, after all, the central and +standing evidence and the mightiest credential of Christianity. It +bears upon its face the proof of its own truthfulness. If such a +character was not lived, how did it ever come to be described, and +described by such people? And if it was lived, how did it come to be +so? The historical veracity of the character of Jesus Christ is +guaranteed by its very uniqueness. And the divine origin of Jesus +Christ is forced upon us as the only adequate explanation of His +historical character. 'Truly this man was the Son of God.' + +I believe that to lift Him up is the work of all Christian preachers +and teachers; as far as they can to hide themselves behind Jesus +Christ, or at the most to let themselves appear, just as the old +painters used to let their own likenesses appear in their great +altar-pieces—a little kneeling figure there, away in a dark corner of +the background. Present Christ, and He will vindicate His own +character; He will vindicate His own nature; He will vindicate His own +gospel. 'They came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him,' and the +end of it was that they abode with Him for evermore. And so it will +always be. + +Once more, personal experience of the grace and sweetness of this +Saviour binds men to Him as nothing else will: + + 'He must be loved ere that to you + He will seem worthy of your love.' + +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 them, +and they can be possessed only on condition of holding fellowship with +Him. I do not say to any man: 'Try trust in order to be sure that Jesus +Christ is worthy to be trusted,' for by its very nature faith cannot be +an experiment or provisional. I do not say that my experience is +evidence to you, but at the same time I do say that it is worth any +man's while to reflect upon this, that none who ever trusted in Him +have been put to shame. No man has looked to Jesus and has said: 'Ah! I +have found Him out! His help is vain, His promises empty.' Many men +have fallen away from Him, I know, but not because they have proved Him +untruthful, but because they have become unfaithful. + +And so, dear brethren, I come to you with the old message, 'Oh! taste,' +and thus you will 'see that the Lord is good.' There must be the faith +first, and then there will be the experience, which will make anything +seem to you more credible than that He whom you have loved and trusted, +and who has answered your love and your trust, should be anything else +than the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind. Come to Him and you will +see. The impregnable argument will be put into your mouth—'Whether this +man be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was +blind, now I see.' Look to Him, listen to Him, and when He asks you, +'What seek ye?' answer, 'Rabbi, where dwellest Thou? It is Thou whom I +seek.' He will welcome you to close blessed intercourse with Him, which +will knit you to Him with cords that cannot be broken, and with His +loving voice making music in memory and heart, you will be able +triumphantly to confess—'Now we believe, not because of any man's +saying, for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed +the Christ, the Saviour of the world.' + + + + +THE FIRST DISCIPLES: II. SIMON PETER + + +'One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, +Simon Peter's brother. 41. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and +saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, +the Christ. 42. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, +He said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, +which is, by interpretation, a stone.'—JOHN i. 40-42. + +There are many ways by which souls are brought to their Saviour. +Sometimes, like the merchantman seeking goodly pearls, men seek Him +earnestly and find Him. Sometimes, by the intervention of another, the +knowledge of Him is kindled in dark hearts. Sometimes He Himself takes +the initiative, and finds those that seek Him not. We have +illustrations of all these various ways in these simple records of the +gathering in of the first disciples. Andrew and his friend, with whom +we were occupied in our last sermon, looked for Christ and found Him. +Peter, with whom we have to do now, was brought to Christ by his +brother; and the third of the group, consisting of Philip, was sought +by Christ while he was not thinking of Him, and found an unsought +treasure; and then Philip again, like Andrew, finds a friend, and +brings him to Christ. + +Each of the incidents has its own lesson, and each of them adds +something to the elucidation of John's two great subjects: the +revelation of Jesus as the Son of God, and the development of that +faith in Him which gives us life. It may be profitable to consider each +group in succession, and mark the various aspects of these two subjects +presented by each. + +In this incident, then, we have two things mainly to consider: first, +the witness of the disciple; second, the self-revelation of the Master. + +I. The witness of the disciple. + +We have seen that the unknown companion of Andrew was probably the +Evangelist himself, who, in accordance with his uniform habit, +suppresses his own name, and that that omission points to John's +authorship of this Gospel. Another morsel of evidence as to the date +and purpose of the Gospel lies in the mention here of Andrew as 'Simon +Peter's brother.' We have not yet heard anything about Simon Peter. The +Evangelist has never mentioned his name, and yet he takes it for +granted that his hearers knew all about Peter, and knew him better than +they did Andrew. That presupposes a considerable familiarity with the +incidents of the Gospel story, and is in harmony with the theory that +this fourth Gospel is the latest of the four, and was written for the +purpose of supplementing, not of repeating, their narrative. Hence a +number of the phenomena of the Gospel, which have troubled critics, are +simply and sufficiently explained. + +But that by the way. Passing that, notice first the illustration that +we get here of how instinctive and natural the impulse is, when a man +has found Jesus Christ, to tell some one else about Him. Nobody said to +Andrew, 'Go and look for your brother,' and yet, as soon as he had +fairly realised the fact that this Man standing before him was the +Messiah, though the evening seems to have come, he hurries away to find +his brother, and share with him the glad conviction. + +Now, that is always the case. If a man has any real depth of +conviction, he cannot rest till he tries to share it with somebody +else. Why, even a dog that has had its leg mended, will bring other +limping dogs to the man that was kind to it. Whoever really believes +anything becomes a propagandist. + +Look round about us to-day! and hearken to the Babel, the wholesale +Babel of noises, where every sort of opinion is trying to make itself +heard. It sounds like a country fair where every huckster is shouting +his loudest. That shows that the men believe the things that they +profess. Thank God that there is so much earnestness in the world! And +now are Christians to be dumb whilst all this vociferous crowd is +calling its wares, and quacks are standing on their platforms shouting +out their specifics, which are mostly delusions? Have you not a +medicine that will cure everything, a real heal-all, a veritable +pain-killer? If you believe that you have, certainly you will never +rest till you share your boon with your brethren. + +If the natural effect of all earnest conviction, viz. a yearning and an +absolute necessity to speak it out, is no part of your Christian +experience, very grave inferences ought to be drawn from that. This +man, before he was four-and-twenty hours a disciple, had made another. +Some of you have been disciples for as many years, and have never even +tried to make one. Whence comes that silence which is, alas, so common +among us? + +It is very plain that, making all allowance for changed manners, for +social difficulties, for timidity, for the embarrassment that besets +people when they talk to other people about religion, which is 'such an +awkward subject to introduce into mixed company,' and the like,—making +all allowance for these, there is a deplorable number of Christian +people who ought to be, in their own circles, evangelists and +missionaries, who are, if I may venture to quote very rude words which +the Bible uses, 'Dumb dogs lying down, and loving to slumber.' 'He +first findeth his own brother, Simon!' + +Now, take another lesson out of this witness of the disciple, as to the +channel in which such effort naturally runs. 'He _first_ findeth _his +own brother_'; does not that imply a second finding by the other of the +two? The language of the text suggests that the Evangelist's tendency +to the suppression of himself, of which I have spoken, hides away, if I +may so say, in this singular expression, the fact that he too went to +look for a brother, but that Andrew found his brother before John found +his. If so, each of the original pair of disciples went to look for one +who was knit to him by close ties of kindred and affection, and found +him and brought him to Christ; and before the day was over the +Christian Church was doubled, because each member of it, by God's +grace, had added another. Home, then, and those who are nearest to us, +present the natural channels for Christian work. Many a very earnest +and busy preacher, or Sunday-school teacher, or missionary, has +brothers and sisters, husband or wife, children or parents at home to +whom he has never said a word about Christ. There is an old proverb, +'The shoemaker's wife is always the worst shod.' The families of many +very busy Christian teachers suffer wofully for want of remembering 'he +first findeth his own brother.' It is a poor affair if all your +philanthropy and Christian energy go off noisily in Sunday-schools and +mission-stations, and if your own vineyard is neglected, and the people +at your own fireside never hear anything from you about the Master whom +you say you love. Some of you want that hint; will you take it? + +But then, the principle is one that might be fairly expanded beyond the +home circle. The natural relationships into which we are brought by +neighbourhood and by ordinary associations prescribe the direction of +our efforts. What, for instance, are we set down in this swarming +population of Lancashire for? For business and personal ends? Yes, +partly. But is that all? Surely, if we believe that 'there is a +divinity that shapes our ends' and determines the bounds of our +habitation, we must believe that other purposes affecting other people +are also meant by God to be accomplished through us, and that where a +man who knows and loves Christ Jesus is brought into neighbourly +contact with thousands who do not, he is thereby constituted his +brethren's keeper, and is as plainly called to tell them of Christ as +if a voice from Heaven had bid him do it. 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 gate? What will be the fate of such a church? Why, if you live +in luxury in your own well drained and ventilated house, and take no +heed to the typhoid fever or cholera in the slums at its back, the +chances are that seeds of the disease will find their way to you, and +kill your wife, or child, or yourself. And if you Christian people, +living in the midst of godless people, do not try to heal them, they +will infect you. If you do not seek to impress your conviction that +Christ is the Messiah upon an unbelieving generation, the unbelieving +generation will impress upon you its doubts whether He is; and your +lips will falter, and a pallor will come over the complexion of your +love, and your faith will become congealed and turn into ice. + +Notice again the simple word which is the most powerful means of +influencing most men. + +Andrew did not begin to argue with his brother. Some of us can do that +and some of us cannot. Some of us are influenced by argument and some +of us are not. You may pound a man's mistaken creed to atoms with +sledge-hammers of reasoning, and he is not much the nearer being a +Christian than he was before; just as you may pound ice to pieces and +it is pounded ice after all. The mightiest argument that we can use, +and the argument that we can all use, if we have got any religion in us +at all, is that of Andrew, 'We have found the Messias.' + +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 infidelity, for the special benefit of a man that attended his place +of worship. Soon after, the man came and declared himself a Christian. +The minister said to him, 'Which of my discourses was it that removed +your doubts?' The reply was, 'Oh! it was not any of your sermons that +influenced me. The thing that set me thinking was that a poor woman +came out of the chapel beside me, and stumbled on the steps, and I +stretched out my hand to help her, and she said "Thank you!" Then she +looked at me and said, "Do you love Jesus Christ, my blessed Saviour?" +And I did not, and I went home and thought about it; and now I can say +_I_ love Jesus.' The poor woman's word, and her frank confession of her +experience, were all the transforming power. + +If you have found Christ, you can say that you have. Never mind about +the how! Any how! Only say it! A boy that is sent on an errand by his +father has only one duty to perform, and that is to repeat what he was +told. Whether we have any eloquence or not, whether we have any logic +or not, whether we can speak persuasively and gracefully or not, if we +have laid hold of Christ at all we can say that we have; and it is at +our peril that we do not. We can say it to somebody. There is surely +some one who will listen to you more readily than to any one else. +Surely you have not lived all your life and bound nobody to you by +kindness and love, so that they will gladly attend to what you say. +Well, then, _use_ the power that is given to you. + +Remember the beginnings of the Christian Church—two men, each of whom +found his brother. Two and two make four; and if every one of us would +go, according to the old law of warfare, and each of us slay our man, +or rather each of us give life by God's grace to some one, or try to do +it, our congregations and our churches would grow as fast as, according +to the old problem, the money grew that was paid down for the nails in +the horse's shoes. Two snowflakes on the top of a mountain gather an +avalanche by the time they reach the valley. 'He first findeth his +brother, Simon.' + +II. And now I turn to the second part of this text, the self-revelation +of the Master. + +The bond which knit these men to Christ at first was by no means the +perfect Christian faith which they afterwards attained. They recognised +Him as the Messiah, they were personally attached to Him, they were +ready to accept His teaching and to obey His commandments. That was +about as far as they had gone. But they were scholars. They had entered +the school. The rest would come. It would be absurd to expect that +Christ would begin by preaching to them faith in His divinity and +atoning work. He binds them to _Himself_. That is lesson enough for a +beginner for one day. + +It was the impression which Christ Himself made on Simon which +completed the work begun by his brother. What, then, was the +impression? He comes all full of wonder and awe, and he is met by a +look and a sentence. The look, which is described by an unusual word, +was a penetrating gaze which regarded Peter with fixed attention. It +must have been remarkable, to have lived in John's memory for all these +years. Evidently, as I think, a more than natural insight is implied. +So, also, the saying with which our Lord received Peter seems to me to +be meant to show more than natural knowledge: 'Thou art Simon, the son +of Jonas.' Christ may, no doubt, have learned the Apostle's name and +lineage from his brother, or in some other ordinary way. But if you +observe the similar incident which follows in the conversation with +Nicodemus, and the emphatic declaration of the next chapter that Jesus +knew both 'all men,' and 'what was in man'—both human nature as a +whole, and each individual—it is more natural to see here superhuman +knowledge. + +So then, the first point in our Lord's self-revelation here is that He +shows Himself possessed of supernatural and thorough knowledge. One +remembers the many instances where our Lord read men's hearts, and the +prayer addressed to Him probably, by Peter, 'Thou, Lord, which knowest +the hearts of all men,' and the vision which John saw of 'eyes like a +flame of fire,' and the sevenfold 'I know thy works.' + +It may be a very awful thought, 'Thou, God, seest me.' It is a very +unwelcome thought to a great many men, 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 Christ, and feel sure that the eyes which are +blazing with divine omniscience are dewy with divine and human love. + +Do you believe it? Do you feel that Christ is looking at you, and +searching you altogether? Do you rejoice in it? Do you carry it about +with you as a consolation and a strength in moments of weakness and in +times of temptation? Is it as blessed to you to feel 'Thou Christ +beholdest me now,' as it is for a child to feel that, when it is +playing in the garden, its mother is sitting up at the window watching +it, and that no harm can come? There have been men driven mad in +prisons because they knew that somewhere in the wall there was a little +pinhole, through which a gaoler's eye was always, or might be always, +glaring down at them. And the thought of an absolute Omniscience up +there, searching me to the depths of my nature, may become one from +which I recoil shudderingly, and will not be altogether a blessed one +unless it comes to me in this shape:—'My Christ knows me altogether and +loves me better than He knows. And so I will spread myself out before +Him, and though I feel that there is much in me which I dare not tell +to men, I will rejoice that there is nothing which I need to tell to +Him. He knows me through and through. He knew me when He died for me. +He knew me when He forgave me. He knew me when He undertook to cleanse +me. Like this very Peter I will say, "Lord, Thou knowest all things," +and, like him, I will cling the closer to His feet, because I know, and +He knows, my weakness and my sin.' + +Another revelation of our Lord's relation to His disciples is given in +the fact that He changes Simon's name. Jehovah, in the Old Testament, +changes the names of Abraham and of Jacob. Babylonian kings in the Old +Testament change the names of their vassal princes. Masters impose +names on their slaves; 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 authority. That idea is conveyed in the fact that +our Lord changes Peter's name, and so takes absolute possession of him, +and asserts His mastery over him. We belong to Him altogether, because +He has given Himself altogether for us. His absolute authority is the +correlative of His utter self-surrender. He who can come to me and say, +'I have spared not my life for thee,' and He only, has the right to +come to me and say, 'yield yourself wholly to Me.' So, Christian +friends, your Master wants all your service; do you give yourselves up +to Him out and out, not by half and half. + +Lastly, that change of name implies Christ's power and promise to +bestow a new character and new functions and honours. Peter was by no +means a 'Peter' then. The name no doubt mainly implies official +function, but that official function was prepared for by personal +character; and in so far as the name refers to character, it means +firmness. At that epoch Peter was rash, impulsive, headstrong, +self-confident, vain, and therefore, necessarily changeable. Like the +granite, all fluid and hot, and fluid because it was hot, he needed to +cool in order to solidify into rock. And not until his self-confidence +had been knocked out of him, and he had learned humility by falling; +not until he had been beaten from all his presumption, and tamed down, +and sobered and steadied by years of difficulty and responsibilities, +did he become the rock that Christ meant him to be. All _that_ lay +concealed in the future, but in the change of his name, while he stood +on the very threshold of his Christian career, there was preached to +him, and there is preached to us, this great truth, that if you will go +to Jesus Christ He will make a new man of you. No man's character is so +obstinately rooted in evil but that Christ can change its set and +direction. No man's natural dispositions are so faulty and low but that +Christ can develop counterbalancing virtues, and out of the evil and +weakness make strength. He will not make a Peter into a John, or a John +into a Paul, but He will deliver Peter from the 'defects of his +qualities,' and lead them up into a higher and a nobler region. There +are no outcasts in the view of the transforming Christ. He dismisses no +people out of His hospital as incurable, because anybody, everybody, +the blackest, the most rooted in evil, those who have longest indulged +in any given form of transgression, may all come to Him; with the +certainty that if they will cleave to Him, He will read all their +character and all its weaknesses, and then with a glad smile of welcome +and assured confidence on His face, will ensure to them a new nature +and new dignities. 'Thou art Simon—thou shalt be Peter.' + +The process will be long. It will be painful. There will be a great +deal pared off. The sculptor makes the marble image by chipping away +the superfluous marble. Ah! and when you have to chip away superfluous +flesh and blood it is bitter work, and the chisel is often deeply dyed +in gore, and the mallet seems to be very cruel. Simon did not know all +that had to be done to make a Peter of him. 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 be. But we may be sure of +this, that if only we keep near our Master, and let Him have His way +with us, and work His will upon us, and if only we will not wince from +the blows of the Great Artist's chisel, then out of the roughest block +He will carve the fairest statue; and He will fulfil for us at last His +great promise: 'I will give unto him a white stone, and in the stone a +new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it.' + + + + +THE FIRST DISCIPLES: III. PHILIP + + +'The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth +Philip, and saith unto him, Follow Me.'—JOHN i. 43. + +'The day following'—we have a diary in this chapter and the next, +extending from the day when John the Baptist gives his official +testimony to Jesus, up till our Lord's first journey to Jerusalem. The +order of events is this. The deputation from the Sanhedrim to John +occupied the first day. On the second Jesus comes back to John after +His temptation, and receives his solemn attestation. On the third day, +John repeats his testimony, and three disciples, probably four, make +the nucleus of the Church. These are the two pairs of brothers, James +and John, Andrew and Peter, who stand first in every catalogue of the +Apostles, and were evidently nearest to Christ. + +'The day following' of our text is the fourth day. On it our Lord +determines to return to Galilee. His objects in His visit to John were +accomplished—to receive his public attestation, and to gather the first +little knot of His followers. Thus launched upon His course, He desired +to return to His native district. + +These events had occurred where John was baptising, in a place called +in the English version Bethabara, which means 'The house of crossing,' +or as we might say, Ferry-house. The traditional site for John's +baptism is near Jericho, but the next chapter (verse i.) shows that it +was only a day's journey from Cana of Galilee, and must therefore have +been much further north than Jericho. A ford, still bearing the name +Abarah, a few miles south of the lake of Gennesaret, has lately been +discovered. Our Lord, then, and His disciples had a day's walking to +take them back to Galilee. But apparently before they set out on that +morning, Philip and Nathanael were added to the little band. So these +two days saw six disciples gathered round Jesus. + +Andrew and John sought Christ and found Him. To them He revealed +Himself as very willing to be approached, and glad to welcome any to +His side. Peter, who comes next, was brought to Christ by his brother, +and to him Christ revealed Himself as reading his heart, and promising +and giving him higher functions and a more noble character. + +Now we come to the third case, 'Jesus findeth Philip,' who was not +seeking Jesus, and who was brought by no one. To him Christ reveals +Himself as drawing near to many a heart that has not thought of Him, +and laying a masterful hand of gracious authority on the springs of +life and character in that autocratic word 'Follow Me.' So we have a +gradually heightening revelation of the Master's graciousness to all +souls, to them that seek and to them that seek Him not. It is only to +the working out of these simple thoughts that I ask your attention now. + +I. First, then, let us deal with the revelation that is given us here +of the seeking Christ. + +Every one who reads this chapter with even the slightest attention must +observe how 'seeking' and 'finding' are repeated over and over again. +Christ turns to Andrew and John with the question, 'What _seek_ ye?' +Andrew, as the narrative says, '_findeth_ his own brother, Simon, and +saith unto him, "We have _found_ the Messias!"' Then again, Jesus +_finds_ Philip; and again, Philip, as soon as he has been won to Jesus, +goes off to _find_ Nathanael; and his glad word to him is, once more, +'We have _found_ the Messias.' It is a reciprocal play of finding and +seeking all through these verses. + +There are two kinds of finding. There is a casual stumbling upon a +thing that you were not looking for, and there is a finding as the +result of seeking. It is the latter which is here. Christ did not +casually stumble upon Philip, upon that morning, before they departed +from the fords of the Jordan on their short journey to Cana of Galilee. +He went to look for this other Galilean, one who was connected with +Andrew and Peter, a native of the same little village. He went and +found him; and whilst Philip was all unexpectant and undesirous, the +Master came to him and laid His hand upon him, and drew him to Himself. + +Now that is what Christ often does. There are men like the merchantman +who went all over the world seeking goodly pearls, who with some eager +longing to possess light, or truth, or goodness, or rest, search up and +down and find it nowhere, because they are looking for it in a hundred +different places. They are expecting to find a little here and a little +there, and to piece all together to make of the fragments one +all-sufficing restfulness. Then when they are most eager in their +search, or when, perhaps, it has all died down into despair and apathy, +the veil seems to be withdrawn, and they see Him whom they have been +seeking all the time and knew not that He was there beside them. All, +and more than all, that they sought for in the many pearls is stored +for them in the one Pearl of great price. The ancient covenant stands +firm to-day as for ever. 'Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be +opened unto you.' + +But then there are others, like Paul on the road to Damascus or like +Matthew the publican, sitting at the receipt of custom, on whom there +is laid a sudden hand, to whom there comes a sudden conviction, on +whose eyes, not looking to the East, there dawns the light of Christ's +presence. Such cases occur all through the ages, for He is not to be +confined, bless His name! within the narrow limits of answering seeking +souls, or of showing Himself to people that are brought to Him by human +instrumentality; but far beyond these bounds He goes, and many a time +discloses His beauty and His sweetness to hearts that wist not of Him, +and who can only say, 'Lo! God was in this place, and I knew it not.' +'Thou wast found of them that sought Thee not.' + +As it was in His miracles upon earth, so it has been in the sweet and +gracious works of His grace ever since. Sometimes He healed in response +to the yearning desire that looked out of sick eyes, or that spoke from +parched lips, and no man that ever came to Him and said 'Heal me!' was +sent away beggared of His blessing. Sometimes He healed in response to +the beseeching of those who, with loving hearts, carried their dear +ones and laid them at His feet. But sometimes, to magnify the +spontaneity and the completeness of His own love, and to show us that +He is bound and limited by no human co-operation, and that He is His +own motive, He reached out the blessing to a hand that was not extended +to grasp it; and by His question, 'Wilt thou be made whole?' kindled +desires that else had lain dormant for ever. + +And so in this story before us; He will welcome and over-answer Andrew +and John when they come seeking; He will turn round to them with a +smile on His face, that converts the question, 'What seek ye?' into an +invitation, 'Come and see.' And when Andrew brings his brother to Him, +He will go more than halfway to meet him. But when these are won, there +still remains another way by which He will have disciples brought into +His Kingdom, 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 love. But +further, and in a deeper sense, He really seeks us all, and, unasked, +bestows His love upon us. + +Whether we seek Him or no, there is no heart upon earth which Christ +does not desire; 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 +Himself. His own word is a wonderful one: 'The Father _seeketh_ such to +worship Him'; as if God went all up and down the world looking for +hearts to love Him and to turn to Him with reverent thankfulness. And +as the Father, so the Son—who is for us the revelation of the Father: +'The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.' No +one on earth wanted Him, or dreamed of His coming. When He bowed the +heavens and gathered Himself into the narrow space of the manger in +Bethlehem, and took upon Him the limitations and the burdens and the +weaknesses of manhood, it was not in response to any petition, it was +in reply to no seeking; but He came spontaneously, unmoved, obeying but +the impulse of His own heart, and because He would have mercy. He who +is the Beginning, and will be First in all things, was first in this, +that before they called He answered, and came upon earth unbesought and +unexpected, because His own infinite love brought Him hither. Christ's +mercy to a world does not come like water in a well that has to be +pumped up, by our petitions, by our search, but like water in some +fountain, rising sparkling into the sunlight by its own inward impulse. +He is His own motive; and came to a forgetful and careless world, like +a shepherd who goes after his flock in the wilderness, not because they +bleat for him, while they crop the herbage which tempts them ever +further from the fold and remember him and it no more, but because he +cannot have them lost. Men are not conscious of needing Christ till He +comes. The supply creates the demand. He is like the 'dew which +tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.' + +But not only does Christ seek us all, inasmuch as the whole conception +and execution of His great work are independent of man's desires, but +He seeks us each in a thousand ways. He longs to have each of us for +His disciples. He seeks each of us for His disciples, by the motion of +His Spirit on our spirits, by stirring conviction in our consciences, +by pricking us often with a sense of our own evil, by all our +restlessness and dissatisfaction, by the disappointments and the +losses, as by the brightnesses and the goodness of earthly providences, +and often through such agencies as my lips and the lips of other men. +The Master Himself, who seeks all mankind, has sought and is seeking +you at this moment. Oh! yield to His search. The shepherd goes out on +the mountain side, for all the storm and the snow, and wades knee-deep +through the drifts until he finds the sheep. And your Shepherd, who is +also your Brother, has come looking for you, and at this moment is +putting out His hand and laying hold of some of you through my poor +words, and saying to you, as He said to Philip, 'Follow Me!' + +II. And now let us next consider that word of authority which, spoken +to the one man in our text, is really spoken to us all. + +'Jesus findeth Philip, and saith unto him, "Follow Me!"' No doubt a +great deal more passed, but no doubt what more passed was less +significant and less important for the development of faith in this man +than what is recorded. The word of authority, the invitation which was +a demand, the demand which was an invitation, and the personal +impression which He produced upon Philip's heart, were the things that +bound him to Jesus Christ for ever. 'Follow Me,' spoken at the +beginning of the journey of Christ and His disciples back to Galilee, +might have meant merely, on the surface, 'Come back with us.' But the +words have, of course, a much deeper meaning. They mean—be My disciple. +Think what is implied in them, and ask yourself whether the demand that +Christ makes in these words is an unreasonable one, and then ask +yourselves whether you have yielded to it or not. + +We lose the force of the image by much repetition. Sheep follow a +shepherd. Travellers follow a guide. Here is a man upon some dangerous +cornice of the Alps, with a ledge of limestone as broad as the palm of +your hand, and perhaps a couple of feet of snow above that, for him to +walk upon, a precipice on either side; and his guide says, as he ropes +himself to him, 'Now, tread where I tread!' Travellers follow their +guides. Soldiers follow their commanders. There is the hell of the +battlefield; here a line of wavering, timid, raw recruits. Their +commander rushes to the front and throws himself upon the advancing +enemy with the one word, 'Follow' and the coward becomes a hero. +Soldiers follow their captains. Your Shepherd comes to you and calls, +'Follow Me.' Your Captain and Commander comes to you and calls, 'Follow +Me.' In all the dreary wilderness, in all the difficult contingencies +and conjunctions, in all the conflicts of life, this Man strides in +front of us and proposes Himself to us as Guide, Example, Consoler, +Friend, Companion, everything; and gathers up all duty, all +blessedness, in the majestic and simple words, 'Follow Me.' + +It is a call at the least to accept Him as a Teacher, 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 did, as being +simply a teacher, but recognised Him as the Messias, the Son of God, +the King of Israel. So that they were called upon by this command to +accept His teaching in a very special way, not merely as Hillel or +Gamaliel asked their disciples to accept theirs. Do you do that? Do you +take Him as your illumination about all matters of theoretical truth, +and of practical wisdom? Is His declaration of God your theology? Is +His declaration of His own Person your creed? 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 blood, which were the symbols of His +reconciling death? Is His teaching, that the Son of Man comes to 'give +His life a ransom for many,' the ground of your hope? Do you follow Him +in your belief, and following Him in your belief, do you accept Him as, +by His death and passion, the Saviour of your soul? That is the first +step—to follow Him, to trust Him wholly for what He is, the Incarnate +Son of God, the Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and +therefore for your sins and mine. This is a call to faith. + +It is also a call to obedience. 'Follow Me' certainly means 'Do as I +bid you,' but softens all the harshness of that command. Sedulously +plant your tremulous feet in His firm footsteps. Where you see His +track going across the bog be not afraid to walk after Him, though it +may seem to lead you into the deepest and the blackest of it. 'Follow +Him' and you will be right. 'Follow Him' and you will be blessed. Do as +Christ did, or as according to the best of your judgment it seems to +you that Christ would have done if He had been in your circumstances; +and you will not go far wrong. 'The Imitation of Christ,' which Thomas +a Kempis wrote his book about, is the sum of all practical +Christianity. 'Follow Me!' makes discipleship to be something more than +intellectual acceptance of His teaching, something more than even +reliance for my salvation upon His work. It makes +discipleship—springing out of these two—the acceptance of His teaching +and the consequent reliance, by faith, upon His word—to be a practical +reproduction of His character and conduct in mine. + +It is a call to communion. If a man follows Christ he will walk close +behind Him, and near enough to Him to hear Him speak, and to be 'guided +by His eye.' He will be separated from other people, and from other +paths. In these four things, then—Faith, Obedience, Imitation, +Communion—lies the essence of discipleship. No man is a Christian who +has not in some measure all four. Have you got them? + +What right has Jesus Christ to ask me to follow Him? Why should I? Who +is He that He should set Himself up as being the perfect Example and +the Guide for all the world? What has He done to bind me to Him, that I +should take Him for my Master, and yield myself to Him in a subjection +that I refuse to the mightiest names in literature, and thought, and +practical benevolence? Who is this that assumes thus to dominate over +us all? Ah! brethren, there is only one answer. 'This is none other +than the Son of God who has given Himself a ransom for me, and +therefore has the right, and only therefore has the right, to say to +me, "Follow Me."' + +III. And now one last word. Think for a moment about this silently and +swiftly obedient disciple. + +Philip says nothing. Of course the narrative is mere sketchy outline. +He is silent, but he yields. Ah, brethren, how quickly a soul may be +won or lost! That moment, when Philip's decision was trembling in the +balance, was but a moment. It might have gone the other way, for Christ +has no pressed men in His army; they are all volunteers. It might have +gone the other way. A moment may settle for you whether you will be His +disciple or not. People tell us that the belief in instantaneous +conversions is unphilosophical. It seems to me that the objections to +them are unphilosophical. All decisions are matters of an instant. +Hesitation may be long, weighing and balancing may be a protracted +process, but the decision is always a moment's work, a knife-edge. And +there is no reason whatever why any one listening to me may not now, if +he or she will, do as this man Philip did on the spot, and when Christ +says 'Follow Me,' turn to Him and answer, 'I will follow Thee +whithersoever Thou goest.' + +There is an old church tradition which says that the disciple who at a +subsequent period answered Christ, 'Lord! suffer me first to go and +bury my father,' was this same Apostle. I do not think that at all +likely, but the tradition suggests to us one last thought about the +reasons why people are kept back from yielding this obedience to +Christ's invitation. Many of you are kept back, as that procrastinating +follower was, because there are some other duties which you feel, or +make to be, more important. 'I will think about Christianity and +turning religious when this, that, or the other thing has been got +over. I have my position in life to make. I have a great many things to +do that must be done at once, and really, I have not time to think +about it.' + +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 all. Then there +are some of you that are kept back because you like very much better to +go your own way, and to follow your own inclination, and dislike the +idea of following the will of another. There are a host of other +reasons that I do not need to deal with now; but oh! brethren, none of +them is worth pleading. They are excuses, they are not reasons. 'They +all with one consent began to make excuse'—excuses, not reasons; and +manufactured excuses, in order to cover a decision which has been taken +before, and on other grounds altogether, which it is not convenient to +bring up to the surface. I am not going to deal with these in detail, +but I beseech you, do not let what I venture to call Christ's seeking +of you once more, even by my poor words now, be in vain. + +Follow Him. Trust, obey, imitate, hold fellowship with Him. You will +always have a Companion, you will always have a Protector. 'He that +followeth Me,' saith He, 'shall not walk in darkness, but shall have +the light of life.' And if you will listen to the Shepherd's voice and +follow Him, that sweet old promise will be true, in its divinest and +sweetest sense, about your life, in time; and about your life in the +moment of death, the isthmus between two worlds, and about your life in +eternity—'They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the sun nor +heat smite them; for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even +by the springs of water shall He guide them.' 'Follow thou Me.' + + + + +THE FIRST DISCIPLES: IV. NATHANAEL + + +'Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found Him, of +whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, +the son of Joseph. 46. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good +thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 47. +Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and saith of him, Behold an +Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48. Nathanael saith unto Him, +Whence knowest Thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that +Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49. +Nathanael answered and saith unto Him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; +Thou art the King of Israel.'—JOHN i. 45-49. + +The words are often the least part of a conversation. The Evangelist +can tell us what Nathanael said to Jesus, and what Jesus said to +Nathanael, but no Evangelist can reproduce the look, the tone, the +magnetic influence which streamed out from Christ, and, we may believe, +more than anything He said, riveted these men to Him. + +It looks as if Nathanael and his companions were very easily convinced, +as if their adhesion to such tremendous claims as those of Jesus Christ +was much too facile a thing to be a very deep one. 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 Himself. + +The incident which is before us now runs substantially on the same +lines as the previous bringing of Peter to Jesus Christ. In both cases +the man is brought by a friend, in both cases the friend's weapon is +simply the expression of his own personal experience, 'We have found +the Messias,' although Philip has a little more to say about Christ's +correspondence with the prophetic word. In both cases the work is +finished by our Lord Himself manifesting His own supernatural knowledge +to the inquiring spirit, though in the case of Nathanael that process +is a little more lengthened out than in the case of Peter, because +there was a little ice of hesitation and of doubt to be melted away. +And Nathanael, starting from a lower point than Peter, having questions +and hesitations which the other had not, rises to a higher point of +faith and certitude, and from his lips first of all comes the full +articulate confession, beyond which the Apostles never went as long as +our Lord was upon earth: 'Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the +King of Israel.' So that both in regard to the revelation that is given +of the character of our Lord, and in regard to the teaching that is +given of the development and process of faith in a soul, this last +narrative fitly crowns the whole series. In looking at it with you now, +I think I shall best bring out its force by asking you to take it as +falling into these three portions: first, the preparation—a soul +brought to Christ by a brother; then the conversation—a soul fastened +to Christ by Himself; and then the rapturous confession—'Rabbi, Thou +art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.' + +I. Look, then, first of all, at the preparation—a soul brought to +Christ by a brother. + +'Philip findeth Nathanael.' Nathanael, in all probability, as +commentators will tell you, is the Apostle Bartholomew; and in the +catalogues of the Apostles in the Gospels, Philip and he are always +associated together. So that the two men, friends before, had their +friendship riveted and made more close by this sacredest of all bonds, +that the one had been to the other the means of bringing him to Jesus +Christ. There is nothing that ties men to each other like that. If you +want to know the full sweetness of association with friends, and of +human love, get some heart knit to yours by this sacred and eternal +bond that it owes to you its first knowledge of the Saviour. So all +human ties will be sweetened, ennobled, elevated, and made perpetual. + +'We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did +write: Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph.' Philip knows nothing +about Christ's supernatural birth, nor about its having been in +Bethlehem; to him He is the son of a Nazarene peasant. But, +notwithstanding that, He is the great, significant, mysterious Person +for whom the whole sacred literature of Israel had been one long +yearning for centuries; 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 centred. + +I need not dwell upon these words, because to do so would be to repeat +substantially what I said in a former sermon on these first disciples, +about the value of personal conviction as a means of producing +conviction in the minds of others, and about the necessity and the +possibility of all who have found Christ for themselves saying so to +others, and thereby becoming His missionaries and evangelists. + +I do not need to repeat what I said on that occasion; therefore I pass +on to the very natural hesitation and question of Nathanael: 'Can there +any good thing come out of Nazareth?' A prejudice, no doubt, but a very +harmless one; a very thin ice which melted as soon as Christ's smile +beamed upon him. And a most natural prejudice. Nathanael came from Cana +of Galilee, a little hill village, three or four miles from Nazareth. +We all know the bitter feuds and jealousies of neighbouring villages, +and how nothing is so pleasant to the inhabitants of one as a gibe +about the inhabitants of another. And in Nathanael's words there simply +speaks the rustic jealousy of Cana against Nazareth. + +It is easy to blame him, but do you think that you or I, if we had been +in his place, would have been likely to have said anything very +different? Suppose you were told that a peasant out of Ross-shire was a +man on whom the whole history of this nation hung. Do you think you +would be likely to believe it without first saying, 'That is a strange +place for such a person to be born in'? Galilee was the despised part +of Palestine, and Nazareth obviously was a proverbially despised +village of Galilee; and this Jesus was a carpenter's son that nobody +had ever heard of. It seemed to be a strange head on which the divine +dove should flutter down, passing by all the Pharisees and the Scribes, +all the great people and wise people. Nathanael's prejudice was but the +giving voice to a fault that is as wide as humanity, and which we have +every day of our lives to fight with; not only in regard to religious +matters but in regard to all others—namely, the habit of estimating +people, and their work, and their wisdom, and their power to teach us, +by the class to which they are supposed to belong, or even by the place +from which they come. + +'Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?' 'Can a German teach an +Englishman anything that he does not know?' 'Is a Protestant to owe +anything of spiritual illumination to a Roman Catholic?' 'Are we +Dissenters to receive any wisdom or example from Churchmen?' 'Will a +Conservative be able to give any lessons in politics to a Liberal?' 'Is +there any other bit of England that can teach Lancashire?' Take care +that whilst you are holding up your hands in horror against the +prejudices of our Lord's contemporaries, who stumbled at His origin, +you are not doing the same thing in regard to all manner of subjects +twenty times a day. + +That is one very plain lesson, and not at all too secular for a sermon. +Take another. 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 was. We +have got over it, and it is no difficulty to us; but it was so then. +When Jesus Christ came into this world Judaea was ruled by the most +heartless of aristocracies, an aristocracy of cultured pedants. +Wherever you get such a class you get people who think that there can +be nobody worth looking at, or worth attending to, outside the little +limits of their own supercilious superiority. Why did Jesus Christ come +from 'the men of the earth,' as the Rabbis called all who had not +learned to cover every plain precept with spiders' webs of casuistry? +Why, for one thing, in accordance with the general law that the great +reformers and innovators always come from outside these classes, that +the Spirit of the Lord shall come on a herdsman like Amos, and +fishermen and peasants spread the Gospel through the world; and that in +politics, in literature, in science, as well as in religion, it is +always true that 'not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, +not many noble are called.' To the cultivated classes you have to look +for a great deal that is precious and good, but for fresh impulse, in +unbroken fields, you have to look outside them. And so the highest of +all lives is conformed to the general law. + +More than that, 'Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph,' came thus +because He was the poor man's Christ, because He was the ignorant man's +Christ, because His word was not for any class, but as broad as the +world. He came poor, obscure, unlettered, that all who, like Him, were +poor and untouched by the finger of earthly culture, might in Him find +their Brother, their Helper, and their Friend. + +'Philip saith unto him, Come and see.' He is not going to argue the +question. He gives the only possible answer to it—'You ask Me, can any +good thing come out of Nazareth?' 'Come and see whether it is a good +thing or no; and if it is, and if it came out of Nazareth, well then, +the question has answered itself.' The quality of a thing cannot be +settled by the origin of the thing. + +As it so happened, this Man did not come out of Nazareth at all, though +neither Philip nor Nathanael knew it; but if He had, it would have been +all the same. The right answer was 'Come and see.' + +Now although, of course, there is no kind of correspondence between the +mere prejudice of this man Nathanael and the rooted intellectual doubts +of other generations, yet 'Come and see' carries in it the essence of +all Christian apologetics. By far the wisest thing that any man who has +to plead the cause of Christianity can do is to put Christ well +forward, and let people look at Him, and trust Him to produce His own +impression. We may argue round, and round, and round about Him for +evermore, and we shall never convince as surely as by simply holding +Him forth. 'I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.' Yet we +are so busy proving Christianity that we sometimes have no time to +preach it; so busy demonstrating that Jesus Christ is this, that, and +the other thing, or contradicting the notion that He is not this, that, +and the other thing, that we forget simply to present Him for men to +look at. Depend upon it, whilst argument has its function, and there +are men that must be approached thereby; on the whole, and for the +general, the best way of propagating Christianity is to proclaim it, +and the second best way is to prove it. Our arguments do fare very +often very much as did that elaborate discourse that a bishop once +preached to prove the existence of a God, at the end of which a simple +old woman who had not followed his reasoning very intelligently, +exclaimed, 'Well, for all he says, I can't help thinking there is a God +after all.' The errors that are quoted to be confuted often remain more +clear in the hearers' minds than the attempted confutations. Hold forth +Christ—cry aloud to men, 'Come and see!' and some eyes will turn and +some hearts cleave to Him. + +And on the other side, dear brethren, you have not done fairly by +Christianity until you have complied with this invitation, and +submitted your mind and heart honestly to the influence and the +impression that Christ Himself would make upon it. + +II. We come now to the second stage—the conversation between Christ and +Nathanael, where we see a soul fastened to Christ by Himself. + +In general terms, as I remarked, the method by which our Lord manifests +His Messiahship to this single soul is a revelation of His supernatural +knowledge of him. But a word or two may be said about the details. Mark +the emphasis with which the Evangelist shows us that our Lord speaks +this discriminating characterisation of Nathanael before Nathanael had +come to Him: 'He saw him coming.' So it was not with a swift, +penetrating glance of intuition that He read his character in his face. +It was not that He generalised rapidly from one action which He had +seen him do. It was not from any previous personal knowledge of him, +for, obviously, from the words of Philip to Nathanael, the latter had +never seen Jesus Christ. As Nathanael was drawing near Him, before he +had done anything to show himself, our Lord speaks the words which show +that He had read his very heart: 'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom +is no guile.' + +That is to say, here is a man who truly represents that which was the +ideal of the whole nation. The reference is, no doubt, to the old story +of the occasion on which Jacob's name was changed to Israel. And we +shall see a further reference to the same story in the subsequent +verses. Jacob had wrestled with God in that mysterious scene by the +brook Jabbok, and had overcome, and had received instead of the name +Jacob, 'a supplanter,' the name of Israel, 'for as a Prince hast thou +power with God and hast prevailed.' And, says Christ: 'This man also is +a son of Israel, one of God's warriors, who has prevailed with Him by +prayer.' 'In whom is no guile'—Jacob in his early life had been marked +and marred by selfish craft. Subtlety and guile had been the very +keynote of his character. To drive that out of him, years of discipline +and pain and sorrow had been needed. And not until it had been driven +out of him could his name be altered, and he become Israel. This man +has had the guile driven out of him. By what process? The words are a +verbal quotation from Psalm xxxii.: 'Blessed is he whose transgression +is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the +Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.' +Clear, candid openness of spirit, and the freedom of soul from all that +corruption which the Psalmist calls 'guile,' is the property of him +only who has received it, by confession, by pardon, and by cleansing, +from God. Thus Nathanael, in his wrestling, had won the great gift. His +transgression had been forgiven; his iniquity had been covered; to him +God had not imputed his sin; and in his spirit, therefore, there was no +guile. Ah, brother! if that black drop is to be cleansed out of your +heart, it must be by the same means—confession to God and pardon from +God. And then you too will be a prince with Him, and your spirit will +be frank and free, and open and candid. + +Nathanael, with astonishment, says, 'Lord, whence knowest Thou me?' Not +that he appropriates the description to himself, or recognises the +truthfulness of it, but he is surprised that Christ should have means +of forming any judgment with reference to him, and so he asks Him, half +expecting an answer which will show the natural origin of our Lord's +knowledge: 'Whence knowest Thou me?' Then comes the answer, which, to +supernatural insight into Nathanael's character, adds supernatural +knowledge of Nathanael's secret actions: 'Before that Philip called +thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. And it is because +I saw thee under the fig-tree that I knew thee to be "an Israelite +indeed, in whom there is no guile."' So then, under the fig-tree, +Nathanael must have been wrestling in prayer; under the fig-tree must +have been confessing his sins; under the fig-tree must have been +longing and looking for the Deliverer who was to 'turn away ungodliness +from Jacob.' So solitary had been that vigil, and so little would any +human eye that had looked upon it have known what had been passing in +his mind, that Christ's knowledge of it and of its significance at once +lights up in Nathanael's heart the fire of the glad conviction, 'Thou +art the Son of God.' If we had seen Nathanael, we should only have seen +a man sitting, sunk in thought, under a fig-tree; but Jesus had seen +the spiritual struggle which had no outward marks, and to have known +which He must have exercised the divine prerogative of reading the +heart. + +I ask you to consider whether Nathanael's conclusion was not right, and +whether that woman of Samaria was not right when she hurried back to +the city, leaving her water-pot, and said, 'Come and see a man that +told me _all_ that ever I did.' That 'all' was a little stretch of +facts, but still it was true in spirit. And her inference was +absolutely true: 'Is not this the Christ, the Son of God?' This is the +first miracle that Jesus Christ wrought. His supernatural knowledge, +which cannot be struck out from the New Testament representations of +His character, is as much a mark of divinity as any of the other of His +earthly manifestations. It is not the highest; it does not appeal to +our sympathies as some of the others do, but it is irrefragable. 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 works. How does He +come to have this perfect and absolute knowledge? + +That omniscience, as manifested here, shows us how glad Christ is when +He sees anything good, anything that He can praise in any of us. +'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.' Not a word +about Nathanael's prejudice, not a word about any of his faults (though +no doubt he had plenty of them), but the cordial praise that he was an +honest, a sincere man, following after God and after truth. There is +nothing which so gladdens Christ as to see in us any faint traces of +longing for, and love towards, and likeness to, His own self. 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 grace. + +And then again, notice how we have here our Lord's omniscience set +forth as cognisant of all our inward crises and struggles, 'When thou +wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.' I suppose all of us could look +back to some place or other, under some hawthorn hedge, or some boulder +by the seashore, or some mountain-top, or perhaps in some back-parlour, +or in some crowded street, where some never-to-be-forgotten epoch in +our soul's history passed, unseen by all eyes, and which would have +shown no trace to any onlooker, except perhaps a tightly compressed +lip. Let us rejoice to feel that Christ sees all these moments which no +other eye can see. In our hours of crisis, and in our monotonous, +uneventful moments, in the rush of the furious waters, when the stream +of our lives is caught among rocks, and in the long, languid reaches of +its smoothest flow, when we are fighting with our fears or yearning for +His light, or even when sitting dumb and stolid, like snow men, +apathetic and frozen in our indifference, He sees us, and pities, and +will help the need which He beholds. + + 'Think not thou canst sigh a sigh, + And thy Saviour is not by; + Think not thou canst weep a tear, + And thy Saviour is not near.' + +'When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.' + +III. One word more about this rapturous confession, which crowns the +whole: 'Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.' + +Where had Nathanael learned these great names? He was a disciple of +John the Baptist, and he had no doubt heard John's testimony as +recorded in this same chapter, when he told us how the voice from +Heaven had bid him recognise the Messiah by the token of the descending +Dove, and how he 'saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.' +John's testimony was echoed in Nathanael's confession. Undoubtedly he +attached but vague ideas to the name, far less articulate and doctrinal +than we have the privilege of doing. To him 'Son of God' could not have +meant all that it ought to mean to us, but it meant something that he +saw clearly, and a great deal beyond that he saw but dimly. It meant +that God had sent, and was in some special sense the Father of, this +Jesus of Nazareth. + +'Thou art the King of Israel,' John had been preaching, 'The Kingdom of +Heaven is at hand.' The Messiah was to be the theocratic King, the +King, not of 'Judah' nor of 'the Jews,' but of 'Israel,' the nation +that had entered into covenant with God. So the substance of the +confession was the Messiahship of Jesus, as resting upon His special +divine relationship and leading to His Kingly sway. + +Notice also the enthusiasm of the confession; one's ear hears clearly a +tone of rapture in it. The joy-bells of the man's heart are all +a-ringing. It is no mere intellectual acknowledgment of Christ as +Messiah. The difference between mere head-belief and heart-faith lies +precisely in the presence of these elements of confidence, of +enthusiastic loyalty, and absolute submission. + +So the great question for each of us is, not, Do I believe as a piece +of my intellectual creed that Christ is 'the Messiah, the Son of God, +the King of Israel'? I suppose almost all my hearers here now do that. +That will not make you a Christian, my friend. That will neither save +your soul nor quiet your heart, nor bring you peace and strength in +life, nor open the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven to you. A man may be +miserable, wholly sunk in all manner of wickedness and evil, die the +death of a dog, and go to punishment hereafter, though he believe that +Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the King of Israel. You want +something more than that. You want just this element of rapturous +acknowledgment, of loyal submission, absolute obedience, of unfaltering +trust. + +Look at these first disciples, six brave men that had all that loyalty +and love to Him; though there was not a soul in the world but +themselves to share their convictions. Do they not shame you? When He +comes to you, as He does come, with this question, 'Whom do ye say that +I am?' may God give you grace to answer, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son +of the living God,' and not only to answer it with your lips, but to +trust Him wholly with your hearts, and with enthusiastic devotion to +bow your whole being in adoring wonder and glad submission at His feet. +If we are 'Israelites indeed,' our hearts will crown Him as the 'King +of Israel.' + + + + +THE FIRST DISCIPLES: V. BELIEVING AND SEEING + + +'Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee +under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than +these. 51. And He saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, +Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and +descending upon the Son of Man.'—JOHN i. 50, 51. + +Here we have the end of the narrative of the gathering together of the +first disciples, which has occupied several sermons. We have had +occasion to point out how each incident in the series has thrown some +fresh light upon two main subjects, namely, upon some phase or other of +the character and work of Jesus Christ, or upon the various ways by +which faith, which is the condition of discipleship, is kindled in +men's souls. These closing words may be taken as the crowning thoughts +on both these matters. + +Our Lord recognises and accepts the faith of Nathanael and his fellows, +but, like a wise Teacher, lets His pupils at the very beginning get a +glimpse of how much lies ahead for them to learn; 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 them; 'Because I said +unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt +see greater things than these.' He accepts Nathanael's confession and +the confession of his fellows. Human lips have given Him many great and +wonderful titles in this chapter. John called Him 'the Lamb of God'; +the first disciples hailed Him as the 'Messias, which is the Christ'; +Nathanael fell before Him with the rapturous exclamation, 'Thou art the +Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel!' All these crowns had been put +on His head by human hands, but here He crowns Himself. He makes a +mightier claim than any that they had dreamed of, and proclaims Himself +to be the medium of all communication and intercourse between heaven +and earth: 'Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God +ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.' + +So, then, there are two great principles that lie in these verses, and +are contained in, first, our Lord's mighty promise to His new +disciples, and second, in our Lord's witness to Himself. Let me say a +word or two about each of these. + +I. Our Lord's promise to His new disciples. + +Christ's words here may be translated either as a question or as an +affirmation. It makes comparatively little difference to the +substantial meaning whether we read 'believest thou?' or 'thou +believest.' In the former case there will be a little more vivid +expression of surprise and admiration at the swiftness of Nathanael's +faith, but in neither case are we to find anything of the nature of +blame or of doubt as to the reality of his belief. The question, if it +be a question, is no question as to whether Nathanael's faith was a +genuine thing or not. There is no hint that he has been too quick with +his confession, and has climbed too rapidly to the point that he has +attained. But in either case, whether the word be a question or an +affirmation, we are to see in it the solemn and glad recognition of the +reality of Nathanael's confession and belief. + +Here is the first time that that word 'belief' came from Christ's lips; +and when we remember all the importance that has been attached to it in +the subsequent history of the Church, and the revolution in human +thought which followed upon our Lord's demand of our faith, there is an +interest in noticing the first appearance of the word. It was an epoch +in the history of the world when Christ first claimed and accepted a +man's faith. + +Of course the second part of this verse, 'Thou shalt see greater things +than these,' has its proper fulfilment in the gradual manifestation of +His person and character, which followed through the events recorded in +the Gospels. His life of service, His words of wisdom, His deeds of +power and of pity, His death of shame and of glory, His Resurrection +and His Ascension, these are the 'greater things' which Nathanael is +promised. They all lay unrevealed yet, and what our Lord means is +simply this: 'If you will continue to trust in Me, as you have trusted +Me, and stand beside Me, you will see unrolled before your eyes and +comprehended by your faith the great facts which will make the +manifestation of God to the world.' But though that be the original +application of the words, yet I think we may fairly draw from them some +lessons that are of importance to ourselves; and I ask you to look at +the hint that they give us about three things,—faith and discipleship, +faith and sight, faith and progress. 'Believest thou? thou shalt see +greater things than these.' + +First, here is light thrown upon the relation between faith and +discipleship. It is clear that our Lord here uses the word for the +first time in the full Christian sense, that He regards the exercise of +faith as being practically synonymous with being a disciple, that from +the very first, believers were disciples, and disciples were believers. + +Then, notice still further that our Lord here employs the word 'belief' +without any definition of what or whom it is that they were to believe. +He Himself, and not certain thoughts about Him, is the true object of a +man's faith. We may believe a proposition, but faith must grasp a +person. Even when the person is made known to us by a proposition which +we have to believe before we can trust the person, still the essence of +faith is not the intellectual process of laying hold upon a certain +thought, and acquiescing in it, but the moral process of casting myself +in full confidence upon the Being that is revealed to me by the +thought,—of laying my hand, and leaning my weight, on the Man about +whom it tells me. And so faith, which is discipleship, has in it for +its very essence the personal element of trust in Jesus Christ. + +Then, further, notice how widely different from our creed was +Nathanael's creed, and yet how identical with our faith, if we are +Christians, was Nathanael's faith. He knew nothing about the very heart +of Christ's work, His atoning death. He knew nothing about the highest +glory of Christ's person, His divine Sonship, in its unique and lofty +sense. These lay unrevealed, and were amongst the greater things which +he was yet to see; but though thus his knowledge was imperfect, and his +creed incomplete as compared with ours, his faith was the very same. He +laid hold upon Christ, he clave to Him with all his heart, he was ready +to accept His teaching, he was willing to do His will, and as for the +rest—'Thou shalt see greater things than these.' So, dear brethren, +from these words of my text here, from the unhesitating attribution of +the lofty notion of faith to this man, from the way in which our Lord +uses the word, are gathered these three points that I beseech you to +ponder: there is no discipleship without faith; faith is the personal +grasp of Christ Himself; the contents of creeds may differ whilst the +element of faith remains the same. I beseech you let Christ come to you +with the question of my text, and as He looks you in the eyes, hear Him +say to you, 'Believest _thou_?' + +Secondly, notice how in this great promise to the new disciples there +is light thrown upon another subject, viz. the connection between faith +and sight. There is a great deal about seeing in this context. Christ +said to the first two that followed Him, 'Come and see.' Philip met +Nathanael's thin film of prejudice with the same words, 'Come and see.' +Christ greeted the approaching Nathanael with 'When thou wast under the +fig tree I saw thee.' And now His promise is cast into the same +metaphor: 'Thou shalt see greater things than these.' + +There is a double antithesis here. 'I saw thee,' 'Thou shalt see Me.' +'Thou wast convinced because thou didst feel that thou wert the passive +object of My vision. Thou shalt be still more convinced when +illuminated by Me. Thou shalt see even as thou art seen. I saw thee, +and that bound thee to Me; thou shalt see Me, and that will confirm the +bond.' + +There is another antithesis, namely—between believing and seeing. 'Thou +believest—that is thy present; thou shalt see, that is thy hope for the +future.' Now I have already explained that, in the proper primary +meaning and application of the words, 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 learned. But still we may +gather a truth from this antithesis which will be of use to us. 'Thou +believest—thou shalt see'; that is to say, in the loftiest region of +spiritual experience you must believe first, in order that you may see. + +I do not mean, as is sometimes meant, by that statement that a man has +to try to force his understanding into the attitude of accepting +religious truth, in order that he may have an experience which will +convince him that it is true. I mean a very much simpler thing than +that, and a very much truer one, viz. this, that unless we trust to +Christ and take our illumination from Him, we shall never behold a +whole set of truths which, when once we trust Him, are all plain and +clear to us. It is no mysticism to say that. What do you _know_ about +God?—I put emphasis upon the word 'know'—What do you know about Him, +however much you may argue and speculate and think probable, and fear, +and hope, and question, about Him? What do you know about Him apart +from Jesus Christ? What do you know about human duty, apart from Him? +What do you know of all that dim region that lies beyond the grave, +apart from Him? If you trust Him, if you fall at His feet and say +'Rabbi! Thou art my Teacher and mine illumination,' then you will see. +You will see God, man, yourselves, duty; you will see light upon a +thousand complications and perplexities; and you will have a brightness +above that of the noonday sun, streaming into the thickest darkness of +death and the grave and the awful hereafter. Christ is the Light. In +that 'Light shall we see light.' And just as it needs the sun to rise +in order that my eye may behold the outer world, so it needs that I +shall have Christ shining in my heaven to illuminate the whole +universe, in order that I may see clearly. 'Believe and thou shalt +see.' For only when we trust Him do the mightiest truths that affect +humanity stand plain and clear before us. + +And besides that, if we trust Christ, we get a living experience of a +multitude of facts and principles which are all mist and darkness to +men except through their faith; an experience which is so vivid and +brings such certitude as that it may well be called vision. The world +says, 'Seeing is believing.' So it is about the coarse things that you +can handle, but about everything that is higher than these invert the +proverb, and you get the truth. 'Seeing is believing.' Yes, in regard +to outward things. Believing is seeing in regard to God and spiritual +truth. 'Believest thou? thou shalt see.' + +Then, thirdly, there is light here about another matter, the connection +between faith and progress. 'Thou shalt see greater things than these.' +A wise teacher stimulates his scholars from the beginning, by giving +them glimpses of how much there is ahead to be learnt. That does not +drive them to despair; it braces all their powers. And so Christ, as +His first lesson to these men, substantially says, 'You have learnt +nothing yet, you are only beginning.' That is true about us all. Faith +at first, both in regard to its contents and its quality, is very +rudimentary and infantile. A man when he is first converted—perhaps +suddenly—knows after a fashion that he himself is a very sinful, +wretched, poor creature, and he knows that Jesus Christ has died for +him, and is his Saviour, and his heart goes out to Him, in confidence +and love and obedience. But he is only standing at the door and peeping +in as yet. He has only mastered the alphabet. He is but on the frontier +of the promised land. His faith has brought him into contact with +infinite power, and what will be the end of that? He will indefinitely +grow. His faith has started him on a course to which there is no +natural end. As long as it keeps alive he will be growing and growing, +and getting nearer and nearer to the great centre of all. + +So here is a grand possibility opened out in these simple words, a +possibility which alone meets what you need, and what you are craving +for, whether you know it or not, namely, something that will give you +ever new powers and acquirements; something which will ensure your +closer and ever closer approach to an absolute object of joy and truth; +something that will ensure you against stagnation and guarantee +unceasing progress. Everything else gets worn out, sooner or later; if +not in this world, then in another. There is one course on which a man +can enter with the certainty that there is no end to it, that it will +open out, and out, and out as he advances—with the certainty that, come +life, come death, it is all the same. + +When the plant grows too tall for the greenhouse they lift the roof, +and it grows higher still. Whether you have your growth in this lower +world, or whether you have your top up in the brightness and the blue +of heaven, the growth is in one direction. There is a way that secures +endless progress, and here lies the secret of it: 'Thou believest! thou +shalt see greater things than these.' + +Now, brethren, that is a grand possibility, and it is a solemn lesson +for some of you. You professing Christian people, are you any taller +than you were when you were born? Have you grown at all? Are you +growing now? 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 said, +'Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel'? His promise to +you then was, 'Thou believest, thou shalt see greater things.' If you +have not seen greater things it is because your faith has broken down, +if it has not expired. + +II. Now let me turn to the second thought which lies in these great +words. + +We have here, as I said, our Lord crowning Himself by His own witness +to His own dignity. 'Hereafter ye shall see the heavens opened.' Mark +how, with superbly autocratic lips, He bases this great utterance upon +nothing else but His own word. Prophets ever said, 'Thus saith the +Lord.' Christ ever said: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you.' 'Because He +could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself.' He puts His own +assurance instead of all argument and of all support to His words. + +'Hereafter.' A word which is possibly not genuine, and is omitted, as +you will observe, in the Revised Version. If it is to be retained it +must be translated, not 'hereafter,' as if it were pointing to some +indefinite period in the future, but 'from henceforth,' as if asserting +that the opening heavens and the descending angels began to be +manifested from that first hour of His official work. 'Ye shall see +heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending.' That is +an allusion from the story of Jacob at Bethel. We have found reference +to Jacob's history already in the conversation with Nathanael, 'An +Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.' And here is an unmistakable +reference to that story, when the fugitive, with his head on the stony +pillow, and the violet Syrian sky, with all its stars, rounding itself +above him, beheld the ladder on which the angels of God ascended and +descended. 'So,' says Christ, 'you shall see, in no vision of the +night, in no transitory appearance, but in a practical waking reality, +that ladder come down again, and the angels of God moving upon it in +their errands of mercy.' + +And who, or what, is this ladder? Christ. Do not read these words as +meaning that the angels of God were to come down on Him to help, and to +honour, and to succour Him as they did once or twice in His life, but +as meaning that they are to ascend and descend by Him for the help and +blessing of the whole world. + +That is to say, to put it into plain words, Christ is the sole medium +of communication between heaven and earth, the ladder with its foot +upon the earth in His humanity, and its top in the heavens. 'No man +hath ascended up into heaven save He which came down from heaven, even +the Son of Man which is in heaven.' + +My time will not allow me to expand these thoughts as I would have +done; let me put them in the briefest outline. Christ is the medium of +all communication between heaven and earth, inasmuch as He is the +medium of all revelation. I have spoken incidentally about that in the +former part of this sermon, so I do not dwell on it now. Christ is the +ladder between heaven and earth, inasmuch as in Him the sense of +separation, and the reality of separation, are swept away. Sin has shut +heaven; there comes down from it many a blessing upon unthankful heads, +but between it in its purity and the earth in its muddy foulness 'there +is a great gulf fixed.' It is not because God is great and I am small, +or because He is Infinite and I am a mere pin-point as against a great +continent, it is not because He lives for ever, and my life is but a +hand-breadth, it is not because of the difference between His +Omniscience and my ignorance, His strength and my weakness, that I am +parted from Him. 'Your sins have separated between you and your God,' +and no man, build he Babels ever so high, can reach thither. There is +one means by which the separation is at an end, and by which all +objective hindrances to union, and all subjective hindrances, are alike +swept away. Christ has come, and in Him the heavens have bended down to +touch, and touching to bless, this low earth, and man and God are at +one once more. + +He is the ladder, or sole medium of communication, inasmuch as by Him +all divine blessings, grace, helps, and favours, come down angel-like, +into our weak and needy hearts. Every strength, every mercy, every +spiritual power, consolation in every sorrow, fitness for duty, +illumination in darkness, all gifts that any of us can need, come to us +down on that one shining way, the mediation and the work of the +Divine-Human Christ, the Lord. + +He is the ladder, the sole medium of communication between heaven and +earth, inasmuch as by Him my poor desires and prayers and +intercessions, my wishes, my sighs, my confessions rise to God. 'No man +cometh to the Father but by Me.' He is the ladder, the means of all +communication between heaven and earth, inasmuch as at the last, if +ever we enter there at all, we shall enter through Him and through Him +alone, who is 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life.' + +Ah, dear brethren! men are telling us now that there is no connection +between earth and heaven except such as telescopes and spectroscopes +can make out. We are told that there is no ladder, that there are no +angels, that possibly there is no God, or if that there be, we have +nothing to do with Him nor He with us; that our prayers cannot get to +His ears, if He have ears, nor His hand be stretched out to help us, if +He have a hand. 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 victims, but by +giving heed to the word which Christ spoke to the whole race while He +addressed Nathanael, 'Ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God +ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.' If He be the Son of God, +then all these heavenly messengers reach the earth by Him. If He be the +Son of Man, then every man may share in the gifts which through Him are +brought into the world, and His Manhood, which evermore dwelt in +heaven, even while on earth, and was ever girt about by angel +presences, is at once the measure of what each of us may become, and +the power by which we may become it. + +One thing is needful for this wonderful consummation, even our faith. +And oh! how blessed it will be if in waste solitudes we can see the +open heaven, and in the blackest night the blaze of the glory of a +present Christ, and hear the soft rustle of angels' wings filling the +air, and find in every place 'a house of God and a gate of heaven,' +because He is there. All that may be yours on one condition: 'Believest +thou? Thou shalt see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and +descending upon the Son of Man.' + + + + +JESUS THE JOY-BRINGER + + +'And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the +mother of Jesus was there: 2. And both Jesus was called, and His +disciples, to the marriage. 3. And when they wanted wine, the mother of +Jesus saith unto Him, They have no wine. 4. Jesus saith unto her, +Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. 5. His +mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it. 6. +And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of +the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. 7. +Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled +them up to the brim. 8. And He saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear +unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 9. When the ruler of +the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence +it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of +the feast called the bridegroom, 10. And saith unto him, Every man at +the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, +then that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine until now. +11. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and +manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.'—JOHN +ii. 1-11. + +The exact dating of this first miracle indicates an eye-witness. As +Nazareth was some thirty miles distant from the place where John was +baptizing, and Cana about four miles from Nazareth, the 'third day' is +probably reckoned from the day of the calling of Philip. Jesus and His +disciples seem to have been invited to the marriage feast later than +the other guests, as Mary was already there. She appears to have been +closely connected with the family celebrating the feast, as appears +from her knowledge of the deficiency in the wine, and her direction to +the servants. + +The first point, which John makes all but as emphatic as the miracle +itself, is the new relation between Mary and Jesus, the lesson she had +to learn, and her sweet triumphant trust. Now that she sees her Son +surrounded by His disciples, the secret hope which she had nourished +silently for so long bursts into flame, and she turns to Him with +beautiful faith in His power to help, even in the small present need. +What an example her first word to Him sets us all! Like the two sad +sisters at Bethany, she is sure that to tell Him of trouble is enough, +for that His own heart will impel Him to share, and perchance to +relieve it. Let us tell Jesus our wants and leave Him to deal with them +as He knows how. + +Of course, His addressing her as 'Woman' has not the meaning which it +would have with us, for the term is one of respect and courtesy, but +there is a plain intimation of a new distance in it, which is +strengthened by the question, 'What is there in common between us?' +What in common between a mother and her son! Yes, but she has to learn +that the assumption of the position of Messiah in which her mother's +pride so rejoiced, carried necessarily a consequence, the first of the +swords which were to pierce that mother's heart of hers. That her Son +should no more call her 'mother,' but 'woman,' told her that the old +days of being subject to her were past for ever, and that the old +relation was merged in the new one of Messiah and disciple—a bitter +thought, which many a parent has to taste the bitterness of still, when +wider outlooks and new sense of a vocation come to their children. Few +mothers are able to accept the inevitable as Mary did, Jesus' 'hour' is +not to be prescribed to Him, but His own consciousness of the fit time +must determine His action. What gave Him the signal that the hour was +struck is not told us, nor how soon after that moment it came. But the +saying gently but decisively declares His freedom, His infallible +accuracy, and certain intervention at the right time. We may think that +He delays, but He always helps, 'and that right early.' + +Mary's sweet humility and strong trust come out wonderfully in her +direction to the servants, which is the exact opposite of what might +have been expected after the cold douche administered to her eagerness +to prompt Jesus. Her faith had laid hold of the little spark of promise +in that 'not yet,' and had fanned it into a flame. 'Then He will +intervene, and I can leave Him to settle when.' How firm, though +ignorant, must have been the faith which did not falter even at the +bitter lesson and the apparent repulse, and how it puts to shame our +feebler confidence in our better known Lord, if ever He delays our +requests! Mary left all to Jesus; His commands were to be implicitly +obeyed. Do we submit to Him in that absolute fashion both as to the +time and the manner of His responses to our petitions? + +The next point is the actual miracle. It is told with remarkable +vividness and equally remarkable reserve. We do not even learn in what +precisely it consisted. Was all the water in the vessels turned into +wine? Did the change affect only what was drawn out? No answer is +possible to these questions. Jesus spoke no word of power, nor put +forth His hand. His will silently effected the change on matter. So He +manifested forth His glory as Creator and Sustainer, as wielding the +divine prerogative of affecting material things by His bare volition. + +The reality of the miracle is certified by the jovial remark of the +'ruler of the feast.' As Bengel says: 'The ignorance of the ruler +proves the goodness of the wine; the knowledge of the servants, the +reality of the miracle.' His palate, at any rate, was not so dulled as +to be unable to tell a good 'brand' when he tasted it, nor is there any +reason to suppose that Jesus was supplying more wine to a company that +had already had more than enough. + +The ruler's words are not meant to apply to the guests at that feast, +but are quite general. But this Evangelist is fond of quoting words +which have deeper meanings than the speakers dreamed, and with his +mystically contemplative eye he sees hints and symbols of the spiritual +in very common things. So we are not forcing higher meanings into the +ruler's jest, but catching one intention of John's quotation of it, +when we see in it an unconscious utterance of the great truth that +Jesus keeps His best wine till the last. How many poor deluded souls +are ever finding that the world does the very opposite, luring men on +to be its slaves and victims by brilliant promises and shortlived +delights, which sooner or later lose their deceitful lustre and become +stale, and often positively bitter! 'The end of that mirth is +heaviness.' The dreariest thing in all the world is a godless old age, +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 Jesus, and of sorrows patiently borne as being sent by Him. + + 'Full often clad in radiant vest + Deceitfully goes forth the morn,' + +but Christ more than keeps His morning's promises, and Christian +experience is steadily progressive, if Christians cling close to Him, +and Heaven will supply the transcendent confirmation of the blessed +truth that was spoken unawares by the 'ruler' at that humble feast. + +What effect the miracle produced on others is not told; probably the +guests shared the ruler's ignorance, but its effect on the disciples is +that they 'believed on Him.' They had 'believed' already, or they would +not have been disciples (John i. 50), but their faith was deepened as +well as called forth afresh. Our faith ought to be continuously and +increasingly responsive to His continuous manifestations of Himself +which we can all find in our own experience. + +Jesus 'manifested His glory' in this first sign. What were the rays of +that mild radiance? Surely the chief of them, in addition to the +revelation of His sovereignty over matter, to which we have already +referred, is that therein He hallowed the sweet sacred joys of marriage +and family life, that therein He revealed Himself as looking with +sympathetic eye on the ties that bind us together, and on the gladness +of our common humanity, that therein He reveals Himself as able and +glad to sanctify and elevate our joys and infuse into them a strange +new fragrance and power. The 'water' of our ordinary lives is changed +into 'wine.' Jesus became 'acquainted with grief' in order that He +might impart to every believing and willing soul His own joy, and that +by its remaining in us, our joy might be full. + + + + +THE FIRST MIRACLE IN CANA—THE WATER MADE WINE + + +'This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and +manifested forth His glory.'—JOHN ii. 11. + +The keynote of this Gospel was struck in the earlier verses of the +first chapter in the great words, 'The Word was made flesh and dwelt +among us, and we beheld His glory, full of grace and truth.' To these +words there is an evident reference in this language. The Evangelist +regards Christ's first miracle as the first ray of that forth-flashing +glory of the Incarnate Word. To this Evangelist all miracles are +especially important as being _signs_, which is the word he generally +employs to designate them. They are not mere portents, but significant +revelations as well as wonders. It is not, I think, accidental that +there are just seven miracles of our Lord's, before His crucifixion, +recorded by John, and one of the Risen Lord. + +These signs are all set forth by the Evangelist as manifestations of +various aspects of that one white light, of uncreated glory which rays +from Christ. They are, if I may so say, the sevenfold colours into +which the one beam is analysed. Each of them might be looked at in turn +as presenting some fresh thought of what the 'glory…full of grace and +truth' is. + +I begin with the first of the series. What, then, is the 'glory of the +only Begotten Son' which flashes forth upon us from the miracle? My +object is simply to try to answer that question for you. + +I. First, then, we see here the revelation of His creative power. + +It is very noteworthy that the miraculous fact is veiled entirely in +the narrative. Not a word is said of the method of operation, it is not +even said that the miracle was wrought; we are only told what preceded +it, and what followed it. Itself is shrouded in deep silence. The +servants fill the water-pots.—'Draw out now,' and they draw, 'and bear +it to the governor of the feast.' Where the miraculous act comes in we +do not know; what was its nature we cannot tell. How far it extended is +left obscure. Was all the large quantity of water in these six great +vessels of stone transformed into wine, or was the change effected in +the moment when the portion that was wanted was drawn from them and on +that portion only? We cannot answer the question. Probably, I think, +the latter; but at all events a veil is dropped over the fact. + +Only this, we see that in this miracle, even more conspicuously than in +any other of our Lord's, there are no means at all employed. Sometimes +He used material vehicles, anointing a man's eyes with clay, or +moistening the ear with the spittle; sometimes sending a man to bathe +in the Pool of Siloam; sometimes laying His hand on the sick; sometimes +healing from a distance by the mere utterance of His word. But here +there is not even a word; no means of any kind employed, but the silent +forth-putting of His will, which, without token, without visible +audible indication of any sort, passes with sovereign power into the +midst of material things and there works according to His own purpose. +Is not this the signature of divinity, that without means the mere +forth-putting of the will is all that is wanted to mould matter as +plastic to His command? It is not even, 'He spake and it was done,' but +silently He willed, and 'the conscious water knew its Lord, and +blushed.' This is the glory of the Incarnate Word. + +Now that was no interruption of the order of things established in the +Creation. There was no suspension of natural laws here. What happened +was only this, that the power which generally works through mediating +links came into immediate connection with the effect. What does it +matter whether your engine transmits its powers through half a dozen +cranks, or two or three less? What does it matter whether the chain be +longer or shorter? Some parenthetical links are dropped here, that is +all that is unusual. For in all ordinary natural operations, as we call +them, the profound prologue of this Gospel teaches us to believe that +Christ, the Eternal Word, works according to His will. He was the Agent +of creation. He is the Agent of that preservation which is only a +continual creation. In Him is life, and all living things live because +of the continual presence and operation upon them of His divine power. +And again I say, 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 existences, and its effect. So let us +learn that whether through a long chain of so-called causes, or whether +close up against the effect, without the intervention of these +parenthetical and transmitting media, the divine power works. The power +is one, and the reason for the effect is one, that Christ ever works in +the world, and is that Eternal Word, 'without whom was not anything +made that was made.' 'This beginning of miracles did Christ… and +manifested His glory.' + +II. Then, again, we see here, I think, the revelation of one great +purpose of our Lord's coming, to hallow all common, and especially all +family, life. + +What a strange contrast there is between the simple gladness of the +rustic village wedding and the tremendous scene of the Temptation in +the wilderness, which preceded it only by a few days! What a strange +contrast there is between the sublime heights of the first chapter and +the homely incident which opens the ministry! What a contrast between +the rigid asceticism of the Forerunner, 'who came neither eating nor +drinking,' and the Son of Man, who enters thus freely and cheerfully +into the common joys and relationships of human nature! How unlike the +scene at the marriage-feast must have been to the anticipations of the +half-dozen disciples that had gathered round Him, all a-tingling with +expectation as to what would be the first manifestation of His +Messianic power! The last thing they would have dreamed of would have +been to find Him in the humble home in Cana of Galilee. Some people say +'this miracle is unworthy of Him, for it was wrought upon such a +trivial occasion.' And was it a trivial occasion that prompted Him thus +to commence His career, not by some high and strained and remote +exhibition of more than human saintliness or power, but by entering +like a Brother into the midst of common, homespun, earthly joys, and +showing how His presence ennobled and sanctified these? Surely the +world has gained from Him, among the many gifts that He has given to +it, 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 tie. + +And is it not in accordance with the whole meaning and spirit of His +works that 'forasmuch as the brethren were partakers of' anything, 'He +Himself likewise should take part of the same,' and sanctify every +incident of life by His sharing of it? So He protests against that +faithless and wicked division of life into sacred and secular, which +has wrought such harm both in the sacred and in the secular regions. So +He protests against the notion that religion has to do with another +world rather than with this. So He protests against the narrowing +conception of His work which would remove from its influence anything +that interests humanity. So He says, as it were, at the very beginning +of His career, 'I am a Man, and nothing that is human do I reckon +foreign to Myself.' + +Brethren! let us learn the lesson that all life is the region of His +Kingdom; that the sphere of His rule is everything which a man can do +or feel or think. Let us learn that where His footsteps have trod is +hallowed ground. If a prince shares for a few moments in the +festivities of his gathered people on some great occasion, how ennobled +the feast seems! If he joins in their sports or in their occupations +for a while as an act of condescension, how they return to them with +renewed vigour! And so we. We have had our King in the midst of all our +family life, in the midst of all our common duties; therefore are they +consecrated. Let us learn that all things done with the consciousness +of His presence are sacred. He has hallowed every corner of human life +by His presence; and the consecration, like some pungent and perennial +perfume, lingers for us yet in the else scentless air of daily life, if +we follow His footsteps. + +Sanctity is not singularity. There is no need to withdraw from any +region of human activity and human interest in order to develop the +whitest saintliness, the most Christlike purity. The saint is to be in +the world, but not of it; like the Master, who went straight from the +wilderness and its temptations to the homely gladness of the rustic +marriage. + +III. Still further, we have here a symbol of Christ's glory as the +ennobler and heightener of all earthly joys. + +That may be taken with perhaps a permissible play of fancy as one +meaning, at any rate, of the transformation of water into wine; the +less savoury and fragrant and powerful liquid into the more so. Wine, +in the Old Testament especially, is the symbol of gladness, and though +it received a deeper and a sacreder meaning in the New Testament as +being the emblem of His blood shed for us, it is the Old Testament +point of view that prevails here. And therefore, I say, we may read in +the incident the symbol of His transforming power. He comes, the Man of +Sorrows, with the gift of joy in His hand. It is not an unworthy +object—not unworthy, I mean, of a divine sacrifice—to make men glad. It +is worth His while to come from Heaven to agonise and to die, in order +that He may sprinkle some drops of incorruptible and everlasting joy +over the weary and sorrowful hearts of earth. We do not always give its +true importance to gladness in the economy of our lives, 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 lofty. But Christ +came to bring gladness, and to transform its earthly sources into +heavenly fountains; and so to change all the less sweet, satisfying, +and potent draughts which we take from earth's cisterns into the wine +of the Kingdom; the new wine, strong and invigorating, 'making glad the +heart of man.' + +Our commonest blessings, our commonest joys, if only they be not foul +and filthy, are capable of this transformation. Link them with Christ; +be glad in Him. Bring Him into your mirth, and it will change its +character. Like a taper plunged into a jar of oxygen, it will blaze up +more brightly. Earth, at its best and highest, without Him is like some +fair landscape lying in the shadow; and when He comes to it, it is like +the same scene when the sun blazes out upon it, flashes from every bend +of the rippling river, brings beauty into many a shady corner, opens +all the flowering petals and sets all the birds singing in the sky. The +whole scene changes when a beam of light from Him falls upon earthly +joys. He will transform them and ennoble them and make them perpetual. +Do not meddle with mirth over which you cannot make the sign of the +Cross and ask Him to bless it; and do not keep Him out of your +gladness, or it will leave bitterness on your lips, howsoever sweet it +tastes at first. + +Ay! and not only can this Master transform the water at the marriage +feast into the wine of gladness, but the cups that we all carry, into +which our tears have dropped—upon these too He can lay His hand and +change them into cups of blessing and of salvation. + +'Blessed are they… who, passing through the valley of weeping, gather +their tears into a well; the rain also covereth it with blessings.' So +the old Psalm put the thought that sorrow may be turned into a solemn +joy, and may lie at the foundation of our most flowery fruitfulness. +And the same lesson we may learn from this symbol. The Christ who +transforms the water of earthly gladness into the wine of heavenly +blessedness, can do the same thing for the bitter waters of sorrow, and +can make them the occasions of solemn joy. When the leaves drop we see +through the bare branches. Shivering and cold they may look, but we see +the stars beyond, and that is better. 'This beginning of miracles' will +Jesus repeat in every sad heart that trusts itself to Him. + +IV. And last of all, we have here a token of His glory as supplying the +deficiencies of earthly sources. + +'His mother saith unto Him, "They have no wine."' The world's banquet +runs out, Christ supplies an infinite gift. These great water-pots that +stood there, if the whole contents of them were changed, as is +possible, contained far more than sufficient for the modest wants of +the little company. The water that flowed from each of them, in +obedience to the touch of the servant's hand, if the change were +effected then, as is possible, would flow on so long as any thirsted or +any asked. And Christ gives to each of us, if we choose, a fountain +that will spring unto life eternal. And when the world's platters are +empty, and the world's cups are all drained dry, He will feed and +satisfy the immortal hunger and the blessed thirst of every spirit that +longs for Him. + +The rude speech of the governor of the feast may lend itself to another +aspect of this same thought. He said, in jesting surprise, 'Thou hast +kept the good wine until now,' whereas the world gives its best first, +and when the palate is dulled and the appetite diminished, then 'that +which is worse.' How true that is; how tragically true in some of our +lives! In the individual the early days of hope and vigour, when all +things were fresh and wondrous, when everything was apparelled in the +glory of a dream, contrast miserably with the bitter experiences of +life that most of us have made. Habit comes, and takes the edge off +everything. We drag remembrance, like a lengthening chain, through all +our life; and with remembrance come remorse and regret. 'The vision +splendid' no more attends men, as they plod on their way through the +weariness of middle life, or pass down into the deepening shadows of +advancing and solitary old age. The best comes first, for the men who +have no good but this world's. And some of you have got nothing in your +cups but dregs that you scarcely care to drink. + +But Jesus Christ keeps the best till the last. His gifts become sweeter +every day. No time can cloy them. Advancing years make them more +precious and more necessary. The end is better in this course than the +beginning. And when life is over, and we pass into the heavens, the +word will come to our lips, with surprise and with thankfulness, as we +find how much better it all is than we had ever dreamed it should be: +'Thou hast kept the good wine until now.' + +Oh, my brother! do not touch that cup that is offered to you by the +harlot world, spiced and fragrant and foaming; 'at the last it biteth +like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.' But take the pure joys +which the Christ, loved, trusted, obeyed, summoned to your feast and +welcomed in your heart, will bring to you; and these shall grow and +greaten until the perfection of the Heavens. + + + + +CHRIST CLEANSING THE TEMPLE + + +'Take these things hence; make not My Father's house an house of +merchandise.'—JOHN ii. 16. + +The other Evangelists do not record this cleansing of the Temple at the +beginning of Christ's ministry, but, as we all know, tell of a similar +act at its very close. John, on the other hand, has no notice of the +latter incident. The question, then, naturally arises, are these +diverse narratives accounts of the same event? The answer seems to me +to be in the negative, because John's Gospel is evidently intended to +supplement the other three, and to record incidents either unknown to, +or unnoticed by, them, and, as a matter of fact, the whole of this +initial visit of our Lord to Jerusalem is omitted by the three +Evangelists. Then the two incidents are distinctly different in tone, +in setting, and in the words with which our Lord accompanies them. They +are both appropriate in the place in which they stand, the one as the +initial and the other as all but the final act of His Messiahship. So +we may learn from the repetition of this cleansing the solemn lesson: +that outward reformation of religious corruptions is of small and +transient worth. For in three years—perhaps in as many weeks—the abuse +that He corrected returned in full force. + +Now, this narrative has many points of interest, but I think I shall +best bring out its meaning if I remind you, by way of introduction, +that the Temple of Jerusalem was succeeded by the Temple of the +Christian Church, and that each individual Christian man is a temple. +So there are three things that I want to set before you: what Christ +did in the Temple; what He does in the Church; what He will do to each +of us if we will let Him. + +I. First, then, what Christ did in the Temple. + +Now, 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 day, where there are long rows of +stalls, fitted up with rosaries, and images of the saint, and candles, +and other apparatus for worship. + +The abuse had many practical grounds on which it could be defended. It +was very convenient to buy sacrifices on the spot, instead of having to +drag them from a distance. It was no less convenient to be able to +exchange foreign money, possibly bearing upon it the head of an +emperor, for the statutory half-shekel. It was profitable to the +sellers, and no doubt to the priests, who were probably sleeping +partners in the concern, or drew rent for the ground on which the +stalls stood. And so, being convenient for all and profitable to many, +the thing became a recognised institution. + +Being familiar it became legitimate, 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 Him. Catching up some of +the reeds which served as bedding for the cattle, He twisted them into +the semblance of a scourge, which could hurt neither man nor beast. He +did not use it. It was a symbol, not an instrument. According to the +reading adopted in the Revised Version, it was the sheep and cattle, +not their owners, whom He 'drove out.' And then, dropping the scourge, +He turned to the money-changers, and, with the same hand, overthrew +their tables. And then came the turn of the sellers of doves. He would +not hurt the birds, nor rob their owners. And so He neither overthrew +nor opened the cages, but bade them 'Take these things hence'; and then +came the illuminating words, 'Make not My Father's house a house of +merchandise.' + +Now this incident is very unlike our Lord's usual method, even if we do +not exaggerate the violence which He employed. It is unlike in two +respects: in the use of compulsion, and in aiming at mere outward +reformation. And both of these points are intimately connected with its +place in His career. + +It was the first public appearance of Jesus before His nation as +Messiah. He inaugurates His work by a claim—by an act of authority—to +be the King of Israel and the Lord of the Temple. If we remember the +words from the last prophet, in which Malachi says that 'the Messenger +of the Covenant…shall suddenly come to His Temple, and purify the sons +of Levi,' we get the significance of this incident. We have to mark in +it our Lord's deliberate assumption of the role of Messiah; His shaping +His conduct so as to recall to all susceptible hearts that last +utterance of prophecy, and to recognise the fact that at the beginning +of His career He was fully conscious of His Son-ship, and inaugurated +His work by the solemn appeal to the nation to recognise Him as their +Lord. + +And this is the reason, as I take it, why the anomalous incident is in +its place at the beginning of His career no less than the repetition of +it was at the close. And this is the explanation of the anomaly of the +incident. It is His solemn, authoritative claiming to be God's +Messenger, the Messiah long foretold. + +Then, further, this incident is a singular manifestation of Christ's +unique power. How did it come that all these sordid hucksters had not a +word to say, and did not lift a finger in opposition, or that the +Temple Guard offered no resistance, and did not try to quell the +unseemly disturbance, or that the very officials, when they came to +reckon with Him, had nothing harsher to say than, 'What sign showest +Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things'? No miracle is +needed to explain that singular acquiescence. We see in lower forms +many instances of a similar thing. A man ablaze with holy indignation, +and having a secret ally in the hearts of those whom He rebukes, will +awe a crowd even if he does not infect them. But that is not the full +explanation. I see here an incident analogous to that strange event at +the close of Christ's ministry, when, coming out from beneath the +shadows of the olives in the garden, He said to the soldiers 'Whom seek +ye?' and they fell backwards and wallowed on the ground. An +overwhelming impression of His personal majesty, and perhaps some +forth-putting of that hidden glory which did swim up to the surface on +the mountain of Transfiguration, bowed all these men before Him, like +reeds before the wind. And though there was no recognition of His +claim, there was something in the Claimant that forbade resistance and +silenced remonstrance. + +Further, this incident is a revelation of Christ's capacity for +righteous indignation. No two scenes can be more different than the two +recorded in this chapter: the one that took place in the rural +seclusion of Cana, nestling among the Galilean hills, the other that +was done in the courts of the Temple swarming with excited +festival-keepers; the one hallowing the common joys of daily life, the +other rebuking the profanation of what assumed to be a great deal more +sacred than a wedding festival; the one manifesting the love and +sympathy of Jesus, His power to ennoble all human relationships, and +His delight in ministering to need and bringing gladness, and the other +setting forth the sterner aspect of His character as consumed with holy +zeal for the sanctity of God's name and house. Taken together, one may +say that they cover the whole ground of His character, and in some very +real sense are a summary of all His work. The programme contains the +whole of what is to follow hereafter. + +We may well take the lesson, which no generation ever needed more than +the present, both by reason of its excellences and of its defects, that +there were no love worthy of a perfect spirit in which there did not +lie dormant a dark capacity of wrath, and that Christ Himself would not +have been the Joy-bringer, the sympathising Gladdener which He +manifested Himself as being in the 'beginning of miracles in Cana of +Galilee' unless, side by side, there had lain in Him the power of holy +indignation and, if need be, of stern rebuke. Brethren, we must retain +our conception of His anger if we are not to maim our conception of His +love. There is no wrath like the wrath of the Lamb. The Temple court, +with the strange figure of the Christ with a scourge in His hand, is a +revelation which this generation, with its exaggerated sentimentalism, +with its shrinking, by reason of its good and of its evil, from the +very notion of a divine retribution based upon the eternal antagonism +between good and evil, most sorely needs. + +II. Now, secondly, notice what Christ does in His Church. + +I need not remind you how God's method of restoration is always to +restore with a difference and a progress. The ruined Temple on Zion was +not to be followed by another house of stone and lime, but by 'a +spiritual house,' builded together for 'a habitation of God in the +Spirit.' The Christian Church takes the place of that material +sanctuary, and is the dwelling-place of God. + +That being so, let us take the lesson that that house, too, may be +desecrated. There may be, as there were in the original Temple, the +externals of worship, and yet, eating out the reality of these, there +may be an inward mercenary spirit. + +Note how insensibly such corruption creeps in to a community. You +cannot embody an idea in a form or in an external association without +immediately dragging it down, and running the risk of degradation. 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 surface. A church as an outward institution is exposed to all the +dangers to which other institutions are exposed. And these creep on +insensibly, as this abuse had crept on. So it is not enough that we +should be at ease in our consciences in regard to our practices as +Christian communities. We become familiar with any abuse, and as we +become familiar we lose the power of rightly judging of it. Therefore +conscience needs to be guided and enlightened quite as much as to be +obeyed. + +How long has it taken the Christian Church to learn the wickedness of +slavery? Has the Christian Church yet learned the unchristianity of +War? Are there no abuses amongst us, which subsequent generations will +see to be so glaring that they will talk about us as we talk about our +ancestors, and wonder whether we were Christians at all when we could +tolerate such things? They creep on gradually, and they need continual +watchfulness if they are not to assume the mastery. + +The special type of corruption which we find in this incident is one +that besets the Church always. Of course, if I were preaching to +ministers, I should have a great deal to say about that. For men that +are necessarily paid for preaching have a sore temptation to preach for +pay. But it is not only we professionals who have need to lay to heart +this incident. It is all Christian communities, established and +non-established churches, Roman Catholic and Protestant. The same +danger besets them all. There must be money to work the outward +business of the house of God. But what about people that 'run' churches +as they run mills? What about people whose test of the prosperity of a +Christian community is its balance-sheet? What about the people that +hang on to religious communities and services for the sake of what they +can make out of them? We have heard a great deal lately about what +would happen 'if Christ came to Chicago.' If Christ came to any +community of professing Christians in this land, do you not think He +would need to have the scourge in His hand, and to say 'Make not My +Father's house a house of merchandise'? He will come; He does come; He +is always coming if we would listen to Him. And at long intervals He +comes in some tremendous and manifest fashion, and overthrows the +money-changers' tables. + +Ah, brethren! if Jesus Christ had not thus come, over and over again, +to His Church, Christian men would have killed Christianity long ago. +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 humours? 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 itself, and becoming fit to +drink. We and our brethren, all through the ages, have been corrupting +the Water of Life. And how does it come to be sweet and powerful still? +This tree has substance in it when it casts its leaves. That unique +characteristic of Christianity, its power of reformation, is not +self-reformation, but it is a coming of the Lord to His temple to +'purify the sons of Levi, that their offering may be pleasant as in +days of yore.' + +So one looks upon the spectacle of churches labouring under all manner +of corruptions; and one need not lose heart. The shortest day is the +day before the year turns; and when the need is sorest the help is +nearest. And so I, for my part, believe that very much of the +organisations of all existing churches will have to be swept away. But +I believe too, with all my heart—and I hope that you do—that, though +the precious wheat is riddled in the sieve, and the chaff falls to the +ground, not one grain will go through the meshes. Whatever becomes of +churches, the Church of Christ shall never have its strength so sapped +by abuses that it must perish, or its lustre so dimmed that the Lord of +the Temple must depart from His sanctuary. + +III. Lastly, note what Christ will do for each of us if we will let +Him. + +It is not a community only which is the temple of God. For the Apostles +in many places suggest, and in some distinctly say, 'ye are the +temples' individually, as well as the Temple collectively, of the Most +High. And so every Christian soul—by virtue of that which is the +deepest truth of Christianity, the indwelling of Christ in men's hearts +by faith—is a temple of God; and every human soul is meant to be and +may become such. That temple can be profaned. There are many ways in +which professing Christians make it a house of merchandise. There are +forms of religion which are little better than chaffering with God, to +give Him so much service if He will repay us with so much Heaven. There +are too many temptations, to which we yield, to bring secular thoughts +into our holiest things. Some of us, by reason not of wishing wealth +but of dreading penury, find it hard to shut worldly cares out of our +hearts. 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 +devotion, and the noise of the market within earshot of the Holy of +Holies shall disturb the chant of the worshippers. It is Manchester's +temptation, and it is one that most of us need to be guarded against. + +So engrossed, and, as we should say, necessarily engrossed—or, at all +events, legitimately engrossed—are we in the pursuits of our daily +commerce, that we have scarcely time enough or leisure of heart and +mind enough to come into 'the secret place of the Most High.' The +worshippers stop outside trading for beasts and doves, and they have no +time to go into the Temple and present their offerings. + +It is our besetting danger. Forewarned is forearmed, to some extent. +Would that we could all hear, as we go about our ordinary avocations, +that solemn voice, 'Make not My Father's house a house of merchandise,' +and could keep the inner sanctuary still from the noises, and remote +from the pollutions, of the market hard by! + +We cannot cast out these or any other desecrating thoughts and desires +by ourselves, except to a very small degree. And if we do, then there +happens what our Lord warned us against in profound words. The house +may be emptied of the evil tenant in some measure by our own resolution +and self-reformation. But if it is not occupied by Him, it remains +'empty,' though it is 'swept and garnished.' Nature abhors a vacuum, +and into the empty house there come the old tenant and seven brethren +blacker than himself. The only way to keep the world out of my heart is +to have Christ filling it. If we will ask Him He will come to us. And +if He has the scourge in His hand, let Him be none the less welcome a +guest for that. He will come, and when He enters, it will be like the +rising of the sun, when all the beasts of the forest slink away and lay +them down in their dens. It will be like the carrying of the Ark of the +Covenant of the Lord of the whole earth into the temple of Dagon, when +the fish-like image fell prone and mutilated on the threshold. If we +say to Him, 'Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest, Thou and the Ark of Thy +strength,' He will enter in, and by His entrance will 'make the place +of His feet glorious' and pure. + + + + +THE DESTROYERS AND THE RESTORER + + +'Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this Temple, and in three +days I will raise it up.'—JOHN ii. 19. + +This is our Lord's answer to the Jewish request for a sign which should +warrant His action in cleansing the Temple. There are two such +cleansings recorded in the Gospels; this one His first public act, and +another, omitted by John, but recorded in the other Gospels, which was +almost His last public act. + +It has been suggested that these are but two versions of one incident; +and although there is no objection in principle to admitting the +possibility of that explanation, yet in fact it appears to me +insufficient and unnecessary. For each event is appropriate in its own +place. In each there is a distinct difference in tone. The incident +recorded in the present chapter has our Lord's commentary, 'Make not My +Father's house a house of merchandise'; in that recorded in the +Synoptic Gospels the profanation is declared as greater, and the rebuke +is more severe. The 'house of merchandise' has become, by their refusal +to render to Him what was His, 'a den of thieves.' 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 Kingdom. There is no +such reference here. In the other Gospels there is no record of this +question which the Jews asked, nor of our Lord's significant answer, +whilst yet a caricatured and mistaken version of that answer was known +to the other Evangelists, and is put by them into the mouths of the +false witnesses at our Lord's trial. They thus attest the accuracy of +our narrative even while they seem not to have known of the incident. + +All these things being taken into account, I think that we have to do +with a double, of which there are several instances in the Gospels, the +same event recurring under somewhat varied circumstances, and +reflecting varied aspects of truth. 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 +now: 'Destroy this Temple,' said our Lord, as His sufficient and only +answer to the demand for a sign, 'and in three days I will raise it +up.' + +Now these words, enigmatical as they are, seem to me to be very +profound and significant; and I wish, on this Easter Sunday, to look at +them as throwing a light upon the gladness of this day. They suggest to +me three things: I find in them, first, an enigmatical forecast of our +Lord's own history; second, a prophetic warning of Israel's; and last, +a symbolical foreshadowing of His world-wide work as the Restorer of +man's destructions. 'Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will +raise it up.' + +I. First then, I think, we see here an enigmatical forecast of our +Lord's own history. + +Notice, first, that marvellous and unique consciousness of our Lord's +as to His own dignity and nature. 'He spake of the temple of His body.' +Think that here is a man, apparently one of ourselves, walking amongst +us, living the common life of humanity, who declares that in Him, in an +altogether solitary and peculiar fashion, there abides the fulness of +Deity. Think that there has been a Man who said, 'In this place is One +greater than the Temple.' And people have believed Him, and do believe +Him, and have found that the tremendous audacity of the words is simple +verity, and that Christ is, in inmost reality, all which the Temple was +but in the poorest symbol. In it there had dwelt, though there dwelt no +longer at the time when He was speaking, a material and symbolical +brightness, the expression of something which, for want of a better +name, we call the 'presence of God.' But what was that flashing fire +between the cherubim that brooded over the Mercy-seat, with a light +that was lambent and lustrous as the light of love and of life—what was +that to the glory, moulded in meekness and garbed in gentleness, the +glory that shone, merciful and hospitable and inviting—a tempered flame +on which the poorest, diseased, blind eyes could look, and not +wince—from the face and from the character of Jesus Christ the Lord? He +is greater than the Temple, for in Him, in no symbol but in reality, +abode and abides the fulness of that unnameable Being whom we name +Father and God. And not only does the fulness abide, but in Him that +awful Remoteness becomes for us a merciful Presence; the infinite abyss +and closed sea of the divine nature hath an outlet, and becomes a +'river of water of life.' And as the ancient name of that Temple was +the 'Tent of Meeting,' the place where Israel and God, in symbolical +and ceremonial form, met together, so, in inmost reality in Christ's +nature, Manhood and Divinity cohere and unite, and in Him all of us, +the weak, the sinful, the alien, the rebellious, may meet our Father. +'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' 'In this place is One +greater than the Temple.' + +And so this Jewish Peasant, at the very beginning of His earthly +career, stands up there, in the presence of the ancestral sanctities +and immemorial ceremonials which had been consecrated by all these ages +and commanded by God Himself, and with autocratic hand sweeps them all +on one side, as one that should draw a curtain that the statue might be +seen, and remains poised Himself in the vacant place, that all eyes may +look upon Him, and on Him alone. 'Destroy this Temple…. He spake of the +temple of His body.' + +Still further, notice how here we have, at the very beginning of our +Lord's career, His distinct prevision of how it was all going to end. +People that are willing to honour Jesus Christ, and are not willing to +recognise His death as the great purpose for which He came, tell us +that, like as with other reformers and heroes and martyrs, His death +was the result of the failure of His purpose. And some of them talk to +us very glibly, 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 received. I do not enter upon all the reasons why such +a construction of Christ's work cannot hold water, but here is one—for +any one who believes this story before us—that at the very beginning, +before He had gone half a dozen steps in His public career, when the +issues of the experiment, if it was a man that was making the +experiment, were all untried; when, if it were merely a +martyr-enthusiast that was beginning his struggle, some flickering +light of hope that He would be received of His brethren must have +shone, or He would never have ventured upon the path—that then, with no +mistake, with no illusion, with no expectation of a welcome and a +Hosanna, but with the clearest certitude of what lay before Him, our +Lord _beheld_ and accepted His Cross. Its shadow fell upon His path +from the beginning, because the Cross was the purpose for which He +came. 'To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the +world,' said He—when the reality of it was almost within arm's length +of Him—'to bear witness to the Truth,' and His bearing witness to the +truth was perfected and accomplished on the Cross. Here, at the very +commencement of His career, we have it distinctly set forth, 'the Son +of Man came to give His life a ransom for many.' + +And, brethren, that fact is important, not only because it helps us to +understand that His death is the centre of His work, but also because +it helps us to a loving and tender thought of Him, how all His life +long, with that issue distinctly before Him, He journeyed towards it of +His own loving will; how every step that He took on earth's flinty +roads, taken with bleeding and pure feet, He took knowing whither He +was going. This Isaac climbs the mountain to the place of sacrifice, +with no illusions as to what He is going up the mountain for. He knows +that He goes up to be the lamb of the offering, and knowing it, He +goes. Therefore let us love Him with love as persistent as was His own, +who discerning the end from the beginning, willed to be born and to +live because He had resolved to die, for you and me and every man. + +And then, further, we have here our Lord's claim to be Himself the +Agent of His own resurrection. '_I_ will raise it up in three days.' Of +course, in Scripture, we more frequently find the Resurrection treated +as being the result of the power of God the Father. We more ordinarily +read that Christ was raised; but sometimes we read, as here, that +Christ rises, and we have solemn words of His own, 'I have power to lay +it down, and I have power to take it again.' Think of a man saying, 'I +am going to bring My own body from the dust of death,' and think of the +man who said that _doing_ it. If that is true, if this prediction was +uttered, and being uttered was fulfilled—what then? I do not need to +answer the question. My brother, this day declares that Jesus Christ is +the Son of God. 'Destroy this Temple'—there is a challenge—'and in +three days I will raise it up'; and He did it. And He is the Lord of +the Temple as well as the Temple. Down on your knees before Him, with +all your hearts and with all your confidence, and worship, and trust, +and love for evermore 'the Second Man,' who 'is the Lord from Heaven!' + +II. Now let us turn to the other aspects of these words. I think we see +here, in the next place, a prophetic warning of the history of the men +to whom He was speaking. + +There must be a connection between the interpretation of the words +which our Evangelist assures us is the correct one, and the +interpretation which would naturally have occurred to a listener, that +by 'this Temple' our Lord really meant simply the literal building in +which He spoke. There is such a connection, and though our Lord did not +only mean the Temple, He _did_ mean the Temple. To say so is not +forcing double meanings in any fast and loose fashion upon Scripture, +nor playing with ambiguities, nor indulging in any of the vices to +which spiritualising interpretation of Scripture leads, but it is +simply grasping the central idea of the words of my text. Rightly +understood they lead us to this: 'The death of Christ was the +destruction of the Jewish Temple and polity, 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 fashion.' Let us +then look for a moment, and it shall only be for a moment, at these two +thoughts. + +If any one had said to any of that howling mob that stood round Christ +at the judgment-seat of the High Priest, and fancied themselves +condemning Him to death, because He had blasphemed the Temple: 'You, at +this moment, are pulling down the holy and beautiful house in which +your fathers praised; and what you are doing now is the destruction of +your national worship and of yourselves,' the words would have been +received with incredulity; and yet they were simple truth. Christ's +death destroyed that outward Temple. The veil was 'rent in twain from +the top to the bottom' at the moment He died; which was the declaration +indeed that henceforward the Holiest of All was patent to the foot of +every man, but was also the declaration that there was no more sanctity +now within those courts, and that Temple, and priesthood, and +sacrifice, and altar, and ceremonial and all, were antiquated. That +'which was perfect having come,' Christ's death having realised all +which Temple-worship symbolised, that which was the shadow was put away +when the substance appeared. + +And in another fashion, it is also true that the death of our Lord +Jesus Christ, inflicted by Jewish hands, was the destruction of the +Jewish worship, in the way of natural sequence and of divine +chastisement. When the husbandmen rejected the Son who was sent 'last +of all,' there was nothing more for it but that they should be 'cast +out of the vineyard,' and the firebrand which the Roman soldier, forty +years afterwards, tossed into the Holiest of All, and which burned the +holy and beautiful house with fire, was lit on the day when Israel +cried 'Crucify Him! Crucify Him!' + +Oh, brethren! What a lesson it is to us all of how blind even so-called +religious zeal may be; how often it is true that men in their madness +and their ignorance destroy the very institutions which they are trying +to conserve! How it warns us to beware lest we, unknowing what we are +about, and thinking that we are fighting for the honour of God, may +really all the while be but serving ourselves and rejecting His message +and His Messenger! + +And then let me remind you that another thing is also true, that just +as the Jewish rejection of Christ was their own rejection as the people +of God, and their attempted destruction of Christ the destruction of +the Jewish Temple, so the other side of the truth is also here, viz. +that His rising again is the restoration of the destroyed Temple in +nobler and fairer form. Of course the one real Temple is the body of +Jesus Christ, as we have said, where sacrifice is offered, where God +dwells, where men meet with God. But in a secondary and derivative +sense, in the place of the Jewish Temple has come the Christian Church, +which is, in a far deeper and more inward fashion, what that ancient +system aspired to be. + +Christ has builded up the Church on His Resurrection. On His +Resurrection, I say, for there is nothing else on which it could rest. +If men ask me what is the great evidence of Christ's Resurrection, my +answer is—the existence in the world of a Church. Where did it come +from? 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 grave? It would have gone to pieces, as all +similar associations would have gone. What had happened after that +moment of depression which scattered them every man to his own, and led +some of them to say, with pathetic use of the past tense to describe +their vanished expectations, 'We _trusted_ that it had been He which +should have redeemed Israel'? What was the force that instead of +driving them asunder drew them together? What was the power that, +instead of quenching their almost dead hopes, caused them to flame up +with renewed vigour heaven-high? How came it that that band of +cowardly, dispirited Jewish peasants, who scattered in selfish fear and +heart-sick disappointment, were in a few days found bearding all +antagonism, and convinced that their hopes had only erred by being too +faint and dim? The only answer is in their own message, which explained +it all: 'Him hath God raised from the dead, whereof we are all +witnesses.' + +The destroyed Temple disappears, and out of the dust and smoke of the +vanishing ruins there rises, beautiful and serene, though incomplete +and fragmentary and defaced with many a stain, the fairer reality, the +Church of the living Christ. 'Destroy this Temple, and in three days I +will raise it up.' + +III. Lastly, we have here a foreshadowing of our Lord's world-wide work +as the Restorer of man's destructions. + +Man's folly, godlessness, worldliness, lust, sin, are ever working to +the destruction of all that is sacred in humanity and in life, and to +the desecrating of every shrine. We ourselves, in regard to our own +hearts, which are made to be the temples of the 'living God,' are ever, +by our sins, shortcomings, and selfishness, bringing pollution into the +holiest of all; 'breaking down the carved work thereof with axes and +hammers,' and setting up the abomination of desolation in the holy +places of our hearts. We pollute them all—conscience, imagination, +memory, will, intellect. How many a man listening to me now has his +nature like the facade of some of our cathedrals, with the empty niches +and broken statues proclaiming that wanton desecration and destruction +have been busy there? + +My brother! what have you done with your heart? 'Destroy this temple.' +Christ spoke to men who did not know what they were doing; and He +speaks to you. It is the inmost meaning of the life of many of you. +Hour by hour, day by day, action by action, you are devastating and +profaning the sanctities of your nature, and the sacred places there +where God ought to live. + +Listen to His confident promise. He knows that in me He is able to +restore to more than pristine beauty all which I, by my sin, have +destroyed; to reconsecrate all which I, by my profanity, have polluted; +to cast out the evil deities that desecrate and deform the shrine; and +to make my poor heart, if only I will let Him come in to the ruined +chamber, a fairer temple and dwelling-place of God. + +'In three days,' does He do it? In one sense—Yes! Thank God! the power +that hallows and restores the desecrated and cast-down temple in a +man's heart, was lodged in the world in those three days of death and +resurrection. The fact that He 'died for our sins,' the fact that He +was 'raised again for our justification,' are the plastic and +architectonic powers which will build up any character into a temple of +God. + +And yet more than 'forty and six years' will that temple have to be 'in +building.' It is a lifelong task till the top-stone be brought forth. +Only let us remember this: Christ, who is Architect and Builder, +Foundation and Top-stone; ay! and Deity indwelling in the temple, and +building it by His indwelling—this Christ is not one of those who +'begin to build and are not able to finish.' He realises all His plans. +There are no ruined edifices in 'the City'; nor any half-finished fanes +of worship within the walls of that great Jerusalem whose builder and +maker is Christ. + +If you will put yourselves in His hands, and trust yourselves to Him, +He will take away all your incompleteness, and will make you body, +soul, and spirit, temples of the Lord God; as far above the loftiest +beauty and whitest sanctity of any Christian character here on earth as +is the building of God, 'the house not made with hands, eternal in the +heavens,' above 'the earthly house of this tabernacle.' + +He will perfect this restoring work at the last, when His Word to His +servant Death, as He points him to us, shall be 'Destroy this temple, +and I will raise it up.' + + + + +TEACHER OR SAVIOUR? + + +'The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know +that Thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles +that Thou doest, except God be with him.'—JOHN iii. 2. + +The connection in which the Evangelist introduces the story of +Nicodemus throws great light on the aspect under which we are to regard +it. He has just been saying that upon our Lord's first visit to +Jerusalem at the Passover there was a considerable amount of interest +excited, and a kind of imperfect faith in Him drawn out, based solely +on His miracles. He adds that this faith was regarded by Christ as +unreliable; and he goes on to explain that our Lord exercised great +reserve in His dealings with the persons who professed it, for the +reason that 'He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of +man, for He knew what was in man.' + +Now, if you note that reiteration of the word 'man,' you will +understand the description which is given of the person who is next +introduced. 'He knew what was in man. There was a _man_ of the +Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.' It would have been +enough to have said, 'There was a Pharisee.' When John says 'a _man_ of +the Pharisees,' he is not merely carried away by the echo in his ears +of his own last words, but it is as if he had said, 'Now, here is one +illustration of the sort of thing that I have been speaking about; one +specimen of an imperfect faith built upon miracles; and one +illustration of the way in which Jesus Christ dealt with it.' + +Nicodemus was 'a Pharisee.' That tells us the school to which he +belonged, and the general drift of his thought. He was 'a ruler of the +Jews.' That tells us that he held an official position in the supreme +court of the nation, to which the Romans had left some considerable +shadow of power in ecclesiastical matters. And this man comes to Christ +and acknowledges Him. Christ deals with him in a very suggestive +fashion. His confession, and the way in which our Lord received it, are +what I desire to consider briefly in this sermon. + +I. Note then, first, this imperfect confession. + +Everything about it, pretty nearly, is wrong. 'He came to Jesus by +night,' half-ashamed and wholly afraid of speaking out the conviction +that was working in him. He was a man in position. He could not +compromise himself in the eyes of his co-Sanhedrists. 'It would be a +grave thing for a man like me to be found in converse with this new +Rabbi and apparent Prophet. I must go cautiously, and have regard to my +reputation and my standing in the world; and shall steal to Him by +night.' There is something wrong with any convictions about Jesus +Christ which let themselves be huddled up in secret. The true +apprehension of Him is like a fire in a man's bones, that makes him +'weary of forbearing' when he locks his lips, and forces him to speak. +If Christians can be dumb, there is something dreadfully wrong with +their Christianity. If they do not regard Jesus Christ in such an +aspect as to oblige them to stand out in the world and say, 'Whatever +anybody says or thinks about it, I am Christ's man,' then be sure that +they do not yet know Him as they ought to do. + +Nicodemus 'came to Jesus by night,' and therein condemned himself. He +said, 'Rabbi, we know.' There is more than a _soupcon_ of patronage in +that. He is giving Jesus Christ a certificate, duly signed and sealed +by Rabbinical authority. 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 Teacher. And so he comes, if not patronising the +young man, at all events extremely conscious of his own condescension +in recognising Him with his 'We know.' + +Had he the right to speak for any of his colleagues? If so, 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 proceedings. It was a good long while +after, when Jesus Christ's attitude towards them had been a little more +clearly made out than it was at the beginning, that they said +officially, 'As for this fellow, we know not whence He is.' They 'knew' +when He did not seem to be trenching on their prerogatives, or driving +His Ithuriel-spear through their traditional professions of orthodoxy +and punctilious casuistries. But when He trod on their toes, when He +ripped up their pretensions, when He began to show His antagonism to +their formalism and traditionalism, _then_ they did not know where He +came from. And there are many of us who are very polite to Jesus Christ +as long as He does not interfere with us, and who begin to doubt His +authority when He begins to rebuke our sins. + +The man that said 'We know,' and then proceeded to tell Christ the +grounds upon which He was accepted by him, was not in the position +which becomes sinful men drawing near to their Saviour. 'We know that +Thou art a Teacher'—contrast that, with its ring of complacency, and, +if not superior, at least co-ordinate, authority, with 'Jesus! Master! +have mercy on me,' or with 'Lord! save or I perish,' and you get the +difference between the way in which a formalist, conceited of his +knowledge, and a poor, perishing sinner, conscious of his ignorance and +need, go to the Saviour. + +Further, this imperfect confession was of secondary value, because it +was built altogether upon miraculous evidence. Now, there has been a +great deal of exaggeration about the value of the evidence of miracle. +The undue elevation to which it was lifted in the apologetic literature +of the eighteenth century, when it was almost made out as if there was +no other proof that Jesus came from God than that He wrought miracles, +has naturally led, in this generation and in the last one, to an +equally exaggerated undervaluing of its worth. Jesus Christ did appeal +to signs; He did also most distinctly place faith that rested merely +upon miracle as second best; when He said, for instance, 'If ye believe +not Me, yet believe the works.' Nicodemus says, 'We know that Thou art +a Teacher sent from God, because no man can do these miracles except +God be with him.' Ah! Nicodemus! did not the substance of the teaching +reveal the source of the teaching even more completely than the +miracles that accompanied it? Surely, if I may use an old illustration, +the bell that rings in to the sermon (which is the miracles) is less +conclusive as to the divine source of the teaching than is the sermon +itself. Christ Himself is His own best evidence, and His words shine in +their own light, and need no signs in order to authenticate their +source. The signs are there, and are precious in my eyes less as +credentials of His authority than as revelations of His character and +His work. They are wonders; that is much. They are proofs; as I +believe. But, high above both of these characteristics, they are signs +of the spiritual work that He does, and manifestations of His redeeming +power. And so a faith that had no ears for the ring of the divine voice +in the words, and no eyes for the beauty and perfection of the +character, was vulgar and low and unreliable, inasmuch as it could give +no better reason for itself than that Jesus had wrought miracles, + +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 'many,' and to have been a +very powerful factor in bringing about this real, though imperfect, +faith. John has only told us of one miracle prior to this; and the +other Evangelists do not touch upon these early days of our Lord's +ministry at all. 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 +narratives. How much more Jesus Christ was, and did, and said, than any +book can ever tell! These are but parts of His ways; a whisper of His +power. The fulness of it remains unrevealed after all revelation. + +But the central deficiency of this confession lies in the altogether +inadequate conception of Jesus Christ and His work which it embodies. +'We know that Thou art a Teacher, a miracle-worker, a man sent from +God, and in communion with Him.' These are large recognitions, far too +large to be spoken of any but a select few of the sons of men. But they +fall miserably beneath the grandeur, and do not even approach within +sight of the central characteristic, of Christ and of His work. +Nicodemus is the type of large numbers of men nowadays. All the people +that have a kind of loose, superficial connection with Christianity +re-echo substantially his words. They compliment Jesus Christ out of +His divinity and out of His redeeming work, and seem to think that they +are rather conferring an honour upon Christianity when they condescend +to say, 'We, the learned pundits of literature; we, the arbiters of +taste; we, the guides of opinion; we, the writers in newspapers and +magazines and periodicals; we, the leaders in social and philanthropic +movements—we recognise that Thou art a Teacher.' Yes, brethren, and the +recognition is utterly inadequate to the facts of the case, and is +insult, and not recognition. + +II. Let me ask you to look now, in the next place, at the way in which +Jesus Christ deals with this imperfect confession. + +It was a great thing for a young Rabbi from Nazareth, who had no +certificate from the authorities, to find an opening thus into the very +centre of the Sanhedrim. There is nothing in life, to an ardent young +soul, 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 influence, that +he too is a messenger from God. In later years praise and +acknowledgment cloy. And one might have expected some passing word from +the Master that would have expressed such a feeling as that, if He had +been only a young Teacher seeking for recognition. I remember that in +that strange medley of beauty and absurdity, the Koran, somewhere or +other, there is an outpouring of Mahomet's heart about the blessedness +of his first finding a soul that would believe in him. And it is +strange that Jesus Christ had no more welcome for this man than the +story tells that He had. For He meets him without a word of +encouragement; without a word that seemed to recognise even a growing +and a groping confidence, and yet He would not 'quench the smoking +flax.' Yes! sometimes the kindest way to deal with an imperfect +conception is to show unsparingly why it is imperfect; and sometimes +the apparent repelling of a partial faith is truly the drawing to +Himself by the Christ of the man, though his faith be not approved. + +So, notice how our Lord meets the imperfections of this acknowledgment. +He begins by pointing out what is the deepest and universal need of +men. Nicodemus had said, 'Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come +from God.' And Christ says, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must be +born again.' What has that to do with Nicodemus's acknowledgment? +Apparently nothing; really everything. For, if you will think for a +moment, you will see how it meets it precisely, and forces the Rabbi to +deepen his conception of the Lord. The first thing that you and I want, +for our participation in the Kingdom of God, is a radical out-and-out +change in our whole character and nature. 'Ye must be born again'; now, +whatever more that means, it means, at all events, this—a +thorough-going renovation and metamorphosis of a man's nature, as the +sorest need that the world and all the individuals that make up the +world have. + +The deepest ground of that necessity lies in the fact of sin. Brother, +we can only verify our Lord's assertion by honestly searching the +depths of our own hearts, and looking at ourselves in the light of God. +Think what is meant when we say, 'He is Light, and in Him is no +darkness at all.' Think of that absolute purity, that, to us, awful +aversion from all that is evil, from all that is sinful. Think of what +sort of men they must be who can see the Lord. And then look at +yourself. Are we fit to pass that threshold? Are we fit to gaze into +that Face? Is it possible that we should have fellowship with Him? Oh, +brethren, if we rightly meditate upon two facts, the holiness of God +and our own characters, I think we shall feel that Jesus Christ has +truly stated the case when He says, 'Ye must be born again.' Unless you +and I can get ourselves radically changed, there is no Heaven for us; +there is no fellowship with God for us. We must stand before Him, and +feel that a great gulf is fixed between us and Him. + +And so when a man comes with his poor little 'Thou art a Teacher,' no +words are wanted in order to set in glaring light the utter inadequacy +of such a conception as that. What the world wants is not a Teacher, it +is a Life-giver. What men want is not to be told the truth; they know +it already. What they want is not to be told their duty; they know that +too. What they want is some power that shall turn them clean round. And +what each of us wants before we can see the Lord is that, if it may be, +something shall lay hold of us, and utterly change our natures, and +express from our hearts the black drop that lies there tainting +everything. + +Now, this necessity is met in Jesus Christ. For there were two 'musts' +in His talk with Nicodemus, and both of them bore directly on the one +purpose of deepening Nicodemus's inadequate conception of what He was +and what He did. He said, 'Ye must be born again,' in order that his +hearer, and we, might lay to heart this, that we need something more +than a Teacher, even a Life-giver; and He said, 'The Son of Man must be +lifted up,' in order that we might all know that in Him the necessity +is met, and that the Son of Man, who came down from Heaven, and is in +Heaven, even whilst He is on earth, is the sole ladder by which men can +ascend into Heaven and gaze upon God. + +Thus it is Christ's work as Redeemer, Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, +Christ's power as bringing to the world a new and holy life, and +breathing it into all that trust in Him, which make the very centre of +His work. Set by the side of that this other, 'Thou art a Teacher sent +from God.' Ah, brethren, that will not do; it will not do for you and +me! We want something a great deal deeper than that. The secret of +Jesus is not disclosed until we have passed into the inner shrine, +where we learn that He is the Sacrifice for the world, and the Source +and Fountain of a new life. I beseech you, take Christ's way of dealing +with this certificate of His character given by the Rabbi who did not +know his own necessities, and ponder it. + +Mark the underlying principle which is here—viz. if you want to +understand Christ you must understand sin; and whoever thinks lightly +of it will think meanly of Him. An underestimate of the reality, the +universality, the gravity of the fact of sin lands men in the +superficial and wholly impotent conception, 'Rabbi! Thou art a Teacher +sent from God.' A true knowledge of myself as a sinful man, of my need +of pardon, of my need of cleansing, of my need of a new nature, which +must be given from above, and cannot be evolved from within, leads me, +and I pray it may lead you, to cast yourself down before Him, with no +complaisant words of intellectual recognition upon your lips, but with +the old cry, 'Lord! be merciful to me a sinner.' + +III. And now, dear friends, one last word. Notice when and where this +imperfect disciple was transformed into a courageous confessor. + +We do not know what came immediately of this conversation. We only know +that some considerable time after, Nicodemus had not screwed himself up +to the point of acknowledging out and out, like a brave man, that he +was Christ's follower; but that he timidly ventured in the Sanhedrim to +slip in a remonstrance ingeniously devised to conceal his own opinions, +and yet to do some benefit to Christ, when he said, 'Does our law judge +any man before it hear him?' And, of course, the timid remonstrance was +swept aside, as it deserved to be, by the ferocious antagonism of his +co-Sanhedrists. + +But when the Cross came, and it had become more dangerous to avow +discipleship, he plucked up courage, or rather courage flowed into him +from that Cross, and he went boldly and 'craved the body of Jesus,' and +got it, and buried it. No doubt when he looked at Jesus hanging on the +Cross, he remembered that night in Jerusalem when the Lord had said, +'The Son of Man must be lifted up,' and he remembered how He had spoken +about the serpent lifted in the wilderness, and a great light blazed in +upon him, which for ever ended all hesitation and timidity for him. And +so he was ready to be a martyr, or anything else, for the sake of Him +whom he now found to be far more than a 'Teacher,' even the Sacrifice +by whose stripes he was healed. + +Dear brethren, I bring that Cross to you now, and pray you to see there +Christ's real work for us, and for the world. He has taught us, but He +has done more. He has not only spoken, He has died. He has not only +shown us the path on which to walk, He has made it possible for us to +walk in it. He is not merely one amongst the noble band that have +guided and inspired and instructed humanity, but He stands alone—not +_a_ Teacher, but _the_ Redeemer, 'the Lamb of God, which taketh away +the sins of the world.' + +If He is a Teacher, take His teachings, and what are they? These, that +He is the Son of God; that 'He came from God'; that He 'went to God'; +that He 'gives His life a ransom for many'; that He is to be the Judge +of mankind; that if we trust in Him, our sins are forgiven and our +nature is renewed. Do not go picking and choosing amongst His +teachings, for these which I have named are as surely His as +'Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,' +or any other of the moral teachings which the world professes to +admire. Take the whole teachings of the whole Christ, and you will +confess Him to be the Redeemer of your souls, and the Life-giver by +whom, and by whom alone, we enter the Kingdom of God. + + + + +WIND AND SPIRIT + + +'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and them hearest the sound thereof, +but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every +one that is born of the Spirit.'—JOHN iii. 8. + +Perhaps a gust of night wind swept round the chamber where Nicodemus +sat listening to Jesus, and gave occasion for this condensed parable. +But there is occasion sufficient for it in the word 'Spirit,' which, +both in the language in which our Lord addressed the ruler of the +Sanhedrim, and in that which John employed in recording the +conversation, as in our own English, means both 'spirit' and 'breath.' +This double signification of the word gives rise to the analogies in +our text, and it also raises the question as to the precise meaning of +the text. There are two alternatives, one adopted by our Authorised and +Revised Version, and one which you will find relegated to the margin of +the latter. We may either read 'the wind bloweth' or 'the Spirit +breathes.' 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 +preferred. Suffice it to say that I adhere to the rendering which lies +before us, and find here a comparison between the salient +characteristics of the physical fact and the operations of the Divine +Spirit upon men's spirits. + +But then, there is another step to be taken. Our Lord has just been +laying down the principle that like begets like, that flesh produces +flesh, and spirit, spirit. And so, applying that principle, He says +here, not as might be expected, 'So is the work of the Divine Spirit in +begetting new life in men,' but 'So is he that is born of the Spirit.' +There are three things brought into relation with one another: the +physical fact; the operations of the Spirit of God, of which that +physical fact in its various characteristics may be taken as a symbol; +and the result of its operations in the new man who is made 'after the +image of Him that created him.' + +It is to the last of these that I wish to turn. Here you have the ideal +of the Christian life, considered as the product of the free Spirit of +God, the picture of what all Christian people have the capacity of +being, the obligation to be, and are, just in the measure in which that +new life, which the Spirit of God bestows, is dominant in them and +moulding their character. So I take these characteristics just as they +arise. + +I. Here you have the freedom of the new life. + +'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' Of course, in these days of +weather forecasts and hoisting cones, we know that the wind is subject +to as rigid physical laws as any other phenomena. But Jesus Christ +speaks here, as the Bible always speaks about Nature, from two points +of view—one the popular, regarding the thing as it looks on the +surface, and the other what I may call the poetico-devout—finding +'sermons in stones, books in the running brooks,' and hints of the +spiritual world in all the phenomena of the natural. So, just as in +spite of meteorological science, there has passed into common speech +the proverbial simile 'as free as the wind,' so Jesus Christ says here, +'The wind bloweth where it listeth, … so is every one that is born of +the Spirit.' He passes by the intermediate link, the Spirit that is the +parent of the life, and deals with the resulting life and declares that +it is self-impelled and self-directed. Is that a characteristic to be +desired or admired? Is doing as we list precisely the description of +the noblest life? It is the description of the purely animal one. It is +the description of an entirely ignoble and base one. It may become the +description of an atrociously criminal one. But we do not generally +think that a man that says 'Thus I will; thus I command; let the fact +that I will it stand in the place of all reason,' is speaking from a +lofty point of view. + +But there are two sorts of 'listing.' There is the listing which is the +yielding to the mob of ignoble passions and clamant desires of the +animal nature within us, and there is the 'listing' which is obeying +the impulses of a higher will, that has been blended with ours. And +there you come to the secret of true freedom, which does not consist in +doing as I like, but in liking to do as God wishes me to do. When our +Lord says 'where it listeth,' He implies that a change has passed over +a man, when that new life is born within him, whereby the law, the +known will of God, is written upon his heart, and, inscribed on these +fleshly tables, becomes no longer an iron force external to him, but a +vital impulse within him. That is freedom, to have my better will +absolutely conterminous and coincident with the will of God, so far as +I know it. Just as a man is not imprisoned by limits beyond which he +has no desire to go, so freedom, and elevation, and nobility come by +obeying, not the commands of an external authority, but the impulse of +an inward life. + +'Ye have not received the spirit of bondage,' because God hath given us +the Spirit of power, and of love, and of self-control, which keeps down +that base and inferior 'listing,' and elevates the higher and the +nobler one, 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,' +because duty has become delight, and there is no desire in the new and +higher nature for anything except that which God enjoins. The true +freedom is when, by the direction of our will, we change 'must' into 'I +delight to do Thy will.' So we are set free from the bondage and burden +of a law that is external, and is not loved, and are brought into the +liberty of, for dear love's sake, doing the will of the beloved. + + 'Myself shall to my darling be + Both law and impulse,' + +says one of the poets about a far inferior matter. It is true in +reference to the Christian life, and the 'liberty wherewith Christ hath +made us free,' + +But, then, in order freely to understand the sweep and the greatness of +this perfect law of liberty, we must remember that the new life is +implanted in us precisely in order that we may suppress, and, if need +be, cast out and exorcise, that lower 'listing,' of which I have said +that it is always ignoble and sometimes animal. For this freedom will +bring with it the necessity for continual warfare against all that +would limit and restrain it—namely, the passions and desires and +inclinations of our baser or nobler, but godless, self. These are, as +it were, deposed by the entrance of the new life. But it is a dangerous +thing to keep dethroned and discrowned tyrants alive, and the best +thing is to behead them, as well as to cast them from their throne. 'If +ye, through the Spirit, do put to death the deeds' and inclinations and +wills 'of the flesh, ye shall live'; and if you do not, they will live +and will kill you. So the freedom of the new life is a militant +freedom, and we have to fight to maintain it. As Burke said about the +political realm, 'the price of liberty is eternal vigilance,' 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 tyrants, who are ever plotting +and struggling to have dominion once again. + +Still further, whilst this new life makes us free from the harshness of +a law that can only proclaim duty, and also makes us free from our own +baser selves, it makes us free from all human authority. The true +foundation of the Christian democracy is that each individual soul has +direct and immediate access to, and direct and real possession of, God, +in his spirit and life. Therefore, in the measure in which we draw into +ourselves the new life and the Spirit of God shall we be independent of +men round us, and be able to say, 'With me it is a very small matter to +be judged of you or of man's judgment.' That new life ought to make men +_original_, in the deep and true sense of the word, as drawing their +conceptions of duty and their methods of life, not at second hand from +other men, but straight from God Himself. If the Christian Church was +fuller of that divine life than it is, it would be fuller of all +varieties of Christian beauty and excellence, and all these would be +the work of 'that one and the selfsame Spirit dividing to every man +severally as He will.' If this congregation were indeed filled with the +new life, there would be an exuberance of power, and a harmonious +diversity of characteristics about it, and a burning up of the +conventionalities of Christian profession such as we do not dream of +to-day. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' + +II. Here we have this new life in its manifestation. + +'Thou hearest the sound,' or, as the Word might literally be rendered, +the 'voice thereof,' from the little whisper among the young soft +leaves of the opening beeches in our woods to-day, up to the typhoon +that spreads devastation over leagues of tropical ocean. That voice, +now a murmur, now a roar, is the only manifestation of the unseen force +that sweeps around us. And if you are a Christian man or woman your new +life should be thus perceptible to others, in a variety of ways, no +doubt, and in many degrees of force. You cannot show its roots; you are +bound to show its fruits. You cannot lay bare your spirits, and say to +the world, 'Look! there is the presence of a divine germ in me,' but +you can go about amongst men, and witness to the possession of it by +the life that you live. There are a great many Christian people from +whom, if you were to listen ever so intently, you would not hear a +sough or a ripple. There is a dead calm; the 'rushing mighty wind' has +died down; and there is nothing but a greasy swell upon the windless +ocean. 'The wind bloweth,' and the 'sound' is heard. The wind ceases, +and there is a hideous silence. And that is the condition of many a man +and woman that has a name to live and is dead. Does anybody hear the +whisper of that breath in your life, Christian man? It is not for me to +answer the question; it is for you to ask it and answer it for +yourselves. + +And Christians should be in the world, as the very breath of life +amidst stagnation. When the Christian Church first sprung into being it +did come into that corrupt, pestilential march of ancient heathenism +with healing on its wings, and like fresh air from the pure hills into +some fever-stricken district. Wherever there has been a new outburst, +in the experience of individuals and of churches, of that divine life, +there has come, and the world has felt that there has come, a new force +that breathes over the dry bones, and they live. Alas, alas! that so +frequently the professing Christian Church has ceased to discharge its +plain function, to breathe on the slain that they may live. + +They are curing, or say they are curing, consumption nowadays, by +taking the patient and keeping him in the open air, and letting the +wind of heaven blow freely about him. That, and not shutting people in +warm chambers, and coddling them with the prescriptions of social and +political reformation, that is the cure for the world's diseases. +Wherever the new life is vigorous in men, men will hear the sound +thereof, and recognise that it comes from heaven. + +III. Lastly, here we have the new life in its double secret. + +I have been saying that it has a means of manifestation which all +Christian people are bound to exemplify. But our Lord draws a broad +distinction between that which can be manifested and that which cannot. +As I said, you can show the leaves and the fruits; the roots are +covered. 'Thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it +cometh, nor whither it goeth.' + +The origin of that new life is 'hid with Christ in God.' And so, since +we are not dependent upon external things for the communication of the +life, we should not be dependent upon them for its continuation and its +nourishment, and we should realise that, if we are Christians, we are +living in two regions, and, though as regards the surface life we +belong to the things of time, as regards the deepest life, we belong to +eternity. All the surface springs may run dry. What then? As long as +there is a deep-seated fountain that comes welling up, the fields will +be green, and we may laugh at famine and drought. If it be true that +'our lives are hid with Christ in God,' then it ought to be true that +the nourishments, as well as the direction and impulse of them, are +drawn from Him, 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 inward, the true life, the life of Christ in the soul. + +The world does not know where that Christian life comes from. If you +are a Christian, 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 +theirs. You may be naturalised, and you may speak fairly well the +language of the country in which you are a sojourner, but there ought +to be something in your accent which tells where you come from, and +betrays the foreigner. We ought to move amongst men, having about us +that which cannot be explained by what is enough to explain their +lives. A Christian life should be the manifestation to the world of the +supernatural. + +They 'know not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth.' No; that new +life in its feeblest infancy, and before it speaks, if I may so say, +is, by its very existence, a prophet, and declares that there must be, +beyond this 'bank and shoal of time,' a region to which it is native, +and in which it may grow to maturity. You will find in your greenhouses +exotics that stand there, after all your pains and coals, stunted, and +seeming to sigh for the tropical heat which is their home. The earnest +of our inheritance, the first-fruits of the Spirit, the Christian life +which originated in, and is sustained by, the flowing of the divine +life into us, demands that, somehow or other, the stunted plant should +be lifted and removed into that 'higher house where these are +planted'—and what shall be the spread of its branches, and the lustre +of its leaves, and what the gorgeousness of its blossoms, and what the +perennial sweetness of its fruits then and there, 'it doth not yet +appear.' + +They 'know not whither it goeth.' And even those who themselves possess +it know not, nor shall know, through the ages of a progressive +approximation to the ever-approached and never-attained perfection. +'This spake He of the Holy Ghost, which they that believe on Him should +receive.' Trust Christ, and 'the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ +Jesus shall make you free from the law of sin and death.' + + + + +THE BRAZEN SERPENT + + +'Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.'—JOHN iii. 14. + +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 Testament, as +shadowing forth some aspect of His work. In the first of these +instances, under the image of the ladder that Jacob saw, our Lord +presented Himself as the sole medium of communication between heaven +and earth; here He goes a step further into the heart of His work, and +under the image, very eloquent to the Pharisee to whom He was speaking, +of the brazen serpent lifted up on the pole in the desert, proclaims +Himself as the medium of healing and of life to a poisoned world. + +Now, Nicodemus has a great many followers to-day. He took up a position +which many take up. He recognised Christ as a Teacher, and was willing +to accord to the almost unknown young man from Galilee the coveted +title of 'Rabbi.' He came to Him with a little touch of condescension, +and evidently thought that for him, a ruler of the Jews, a member of +the upper and educated classes, to be willing to speak of Jesus as a +Teacher, was an endorsement that the young aspirant might be gratified +to receive. 'Rabbi, _we_ know that Thou art a Teacher sent from +God'—but he stopped there. He is not the only one who compliments Jesus +Christ, while he degrades Him from His unique position. Now, to this +inadequate conception of our Lord's Person and work, Christ opposed the +solemn insistence on the incapacity of human nature as it is, to enter +into communion with, and submission to, God. 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 Heaven, and therefore is able to reveal +heavenly things. In my text He further unveils in symbol the mystery +and dignity of His Person and of His work, whilst He speaks of a +mysterious lifting up of this Son of Man who came down from heaven. +These are the truths that the conception of Christ as a great Teacher +needs for its completion; the contrariety of human nature with the +divine will, the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Crucifixion of the +Incarnate Son. And so we have here three points, to which I desire to +turn, as setting forth the conception of His own work which Jesus +Christ presented as completing the conception of it, to which Nicodemus +had attained. + +I. There is, first, the lifting up of the Son of Man. + +Now, of course, the sole purpose of setting that brazen serpent on the +pole was to render it conspicuous, and all that Nicodemus could _then_ +understand by the symbol was that, in some unknown way, this +heaven-descended Son of Man should be set forth before Israel and the +world as being the Healer of all their diseases. But we are wiser, +after the event, than the ruler of the Jews could be at the threshold +of Christ's ministry. We have also to remember that this is not the +only occasion, though it is the first, on which our Lord used this very +significant expression. For twice over in this Gospel we find it upon +His lips—once when, addressing the unbelieving multitude, He says 'When +ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He'; and +once when in soliloquy, close on Calvary, He says, as the vision of a +world flocking to Him rises before Him on occasion of the wish of a few +Greek proselytes to see Him, 'I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men +unto Me.' We do not need, though we have, the Evangelist's commentary, +'this He spake signifying what death He should die.' + +So, if we accept the historical veracity of this Gospel, we here +perceive Jesus Christ, at the very beginning of His career, and before +the dispositions of the nation towards Him had developed themselves in +action, discerning its end, and seeing, gaunt and grim before Him, the +Cross that was lifted up on Calvary. Enthusiasts and philanthropists +and apostles of all sorts, in the regions of science and beneficence +and morals and religion, begin their career with trusting that their +'brethren should have understood' that God was speaking through them. +But no illusion of that sort, according to these Evangelists, drew +Jesus Christ out of His seclusion at Nazareth and impelled Him on His +career. From the beginning He knew that the Cross was to be the end. +That Cross was not to Him a necessity, accepted as the price of +faithfulness in doing His work, so that His attitude was, 'I will speak +what is in Me, though I die for it,' but it was to Him the very heart +of the work which He came to do. Therefore, after He had said to the +ruler of the Jews that the Son of Man, as descended from Heaven, was +able to _speak_ of heavenly things, He added the deeper necessity, He +'must be lifted up.' Where lay the 'must'? In the requirement of the +work which He had set Himself to do. Beneath this great saying there +lies a pathetic, stern, true conception of the condition of human +nature. That desert encampment, with the poisoned men dying on every +hand, is the emblem under which Jesus Christ, the gentlest and the +sweetest soul that ever lived, looked out upon humanity. 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 up.' For what they +needed, and what He had set Himself to bring, could only be brought by +One who yielded Himself up for the sins of the whole world. + +But that 'must,' which thus arose from the requirements of the task +that He had set before Him, had its source in His own heart; it was no +necessity imposed upon Him from without. True, it was a necessity laid +on Him by filial obedience, but also true, it was the necessity +accepted by Him in pursuance of the impulse of His own heart. He must +die because He must save, and He must save because He loved. So He was +not nailed to the Cross by the nails and hammers of the Roman soldiers, +and the taunt that was flung at Him as He hung there had a deeper +meaning, as scoffs thrown at Him and His cause ordinarily have, than +the scoffers understood: 'He saved others,' and therefore 'Himself He +cannot save.' + +So here we have Christ accepting, as well as discerning, the Cross. And +we have more than that. We have Christ looking at the Cross as being, +not humiliation, but exaltation. 'The Son of Man must be lifted up.' +And what does that mean? It means the same thing that He said when, +near the end, He declared, 'The hour is come that the Son of Man should +be glorified.' 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 humanity. He condescended to be born; He +stooped yet more to die. But whilst that is true, the other side is +also true—that in the Cross Christ is lifted up, and that it is His +Throne. For what see we there? The highest exhibition, the tenderest +revelation, of His perfect love. And what see we there besides? The +supreme manifestation of the highest power. + + ''Twas great to speak a world from nought, + 'Tis greater to redeem.' + +To save humanity, to make it possible that men should receive that +second birth, and should enter into the Kingdom of God—that was a +greater work, because a work not only of creation, but of restoration, +than it was to send forth the stars on their courses and to 'preserve' +the ancient heavens 'from wrong.' There is a revelation of divine might +when we 'lift up our eyes on high,' and see how, 'because He is great +in power, not one faileth.' But there is a mightier revelation of +divine power when we see how, from amidst the ruins of humanity, He can +restore the divine image, and piece together, as it were, without sign +of flaw or crack or one fragment wanting, the fair image that was +shattered into fragments by the blow of Sin's heavy mace. Power in its +highest operation, power in its tenderest efficacy, power in its widest +sweep, are set forth on the Cross of Christ, and that weak Man hanging +there, dying in the dark, is 'the power of God' as well as 'the wisdom +of God.' The Cross is Christ's Throne, but it is His sovereign +manifestation of love and power only if it is what, as I believe He +told us it was, and what His servants from His lips caught the +interpretation of it as being, the death for the sins of the +sin-stricken world. Unless we can believe that, when He died, He died +for us, I know not why Christ's death should appeal to our love. 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 ever,' then the magnetism of the Cross +begins to tell, and we understand what He meant when He said, 'I, if I +be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.' Brethren, the Cross is His +Throne, from which He rules the world, and if you strike His sacrifice +for sins out of your conception of His work, you have robbed Him of +sovereignty, and taken out of His hand the sceptre by which He governs +the hearts and wills of rebellious and restored men. + +II. Notice, again, how we have here the look at the uplifted Son of +Man. + +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 midst. That look is the symbol of +what we need, in order that the life-giving power of Christ should +enter into our death. 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 life. That trust which Jesus +emphasises here in 'whosoever _believeth_ on Him,' He opposes very +emphatically to Nicodemus's confession, 'We know that Thou art a +Teacher.' We know—you have to go a step further, Nicodemus! 'We know'; +well and good, but are you included in 'whosoever believeth'? Faith is +an advance on credence. There is an intellectual side to it, but its +essence is what is the essence of trust always, the act of the will +throwing itself on that which is discerned to be trustworthy. You know +that a given man is reliable—that is not relying on him. You have to go +a step further. And so, dear brethren, you may believe thirty-nine or +thirty-nine thousand Articles with an unfaltering credence, and you may +be as far away from faith as if you did not believe one of them. There +may be a perfect belief and an absolute want of faith. And on the other +hand, blessed be God! there may be a real and an operative trust with a +very imperfect or mistaken creed. The wild flowers on the rock bloom +fair and bright, though they have scarcely any soil in which to strike +their roots, and the plants in the most fertile garden may fail to +produce flowers and seed. So trust and credence are not always of the +same magnitude. + +This trust is no arbitrary condition. The Israelite was bid to turn to +the brazen serpent. There was no connection between his look and his +healing, except in so far as the symbol was a help to, and looking at +it was a test of, his faith in the healing power of God. But it is no +arbitrary appointment, as many people often think it is, which connects +inseparably together the look of faith and the eternal life that Christ +gives. For seeing that salvation is no mere external gift of shutting +up some outward Hell and opening the door to some outward Heaven, but +is a state of heart and mind, of relation to God, the only way by which +that salvation can come into a man's heart is that he, knowing his need +of it, shall trust Christ, and through Him the new life will flow into +his heart. Faith is trust, and trust is the stretching out of the hand +to take the precious gift, the opening of the heart for the influx of +the grace, the eating of the bread, the drinking of the water, of life. + +It is the only possible condition. God forbid that I should even seem +to depreciate other forms of healing men's evils and redressing men's +wrongs, and diminishing the sorrows of humanity! We welcome them all; +but education, art, culture, refinement, improved environment, bettered +social and political conditions, whilst they do a great deal, do not go +down to the bottom of the necessity. And after you have built your +colleges and art museums and stately pleasure-houses, and set every man +in an environment that is suited to develop him, you will find out what +surely the world might have found out already, that, as in some stately +palace built in the Campagna, the malaria is in the air, and steals in +at the windows, and infects all the inhabitants. Thank God for all +these other things! but you cannot heal a man who has poison in his +veins by administering cosmetics, and you cannot put out Vesuvius with +a jugful of water. If the camp is to be healed, the Christ must be +lifted up. + +III. And now, lastly, here we have the life that comes with a look at +the lifted-up Son of Man. + +Those of you who are using the Revised Version will see that there is a +little change made here, partly by the exclusion of a clause and partly +by changing the order of the words. The alteration is not only nearer +the original text, but brings out a striking thought. It reads that +'whosoever believeth may in Him have eternal life.' Now, it is far too +late a period of my discourse to enlarge upon all that these great +words would suggest to us, but let me just, in a sentence or two, mark +the salient points. + +'Eternal life'; do not bring that down to the narrow and inadequate +conception of unending existence. It involves that, but it means a +great deal more. It means a life of such a sort as is worth calling +life, which is a life in union with God, and therefore full of +blessedness, full of purity, full of satisfaction, full of desire and +aspiration, and all these with the stamp of unendingness deeply +impressed upon them. And that is what comes to us through the look. Not +only is the process of dying arrested, but there is substituted for it +a new process of growing possession of a new life. You 'must be born +again,' Christ had been saying to Nicodemus. The change that passes +upon a man when once he has anchored his trust on Jesus Christ, the +uplifted Son of Man, is so profound that it is nothing else than a new +birth, and a new life comes into his veins untainted by the poison, and +with no proclivity to death. + +'May have eternal life'—now, here, on the instant. That eternal life is +no future gift to be bestowed upon mortal men when they have passed +through the agony of death, but it is a gift which comes to us here, +and may come to any man on the instant of his looking to Jesus Christ. + +'May in Him have eternal life'—union with Christ by faith, that +profound incorporation—if I may use the word—into Him, which the New +Testament sets forth in all sorts of aspects as the very foundation of +the blessings of Christianity; that union is the condition of eternal +life. So, dear brethren, we all need that the poison shall be cast out +of our veins. We all need that the tendency downwards to a condition +which can only be described as death may be arrested, and the motion +reversed. We all need that our knowledge shall be vitalised into faith. +We all need that the past shall be forgiven, and the power of sin upon +us in the present shall be cancelled. 'The blood of Jesus Christ +cleanseth from all sin,' because it was shed for the remission of the +sins of the many, and is transfused, an untainted principle of life, +into our veins. What Jesus said to Nicodemus by night in that quiet +chamber in Jerusalem, what He said in effect and act upon the Cross, +when uplifted there, is what He says to each of us from the Throne +where He is now lifted up: 'Whosoever believeth shall in Me have +eternal life.' Take Him at His word, and you will find that it is true. + + + + +CHRIST'S MUSTS + + +'… Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.'—JOHN iii. 14. + +I have chosen this text for the sake of one word in it, that solemn +'must' which was so often on our Lord's lips. I have no purpose of +dealing with the remainder of this clause, nor indeed with it at all, +except as one instance of His use of the expression. But I have felt it +might be interesting, and might set old truths in a brighter light, if +we gather together the instances in which Christ speaks of the great +necessity which dominated His life, and shaped even small acts. + +The expression is most frequently used in reference to the Passion and +Resurrection. There are many instances in the Gospels, in which He +speaks of that _must_. The first of these is that of my text. Then +there is another class, of which His word to His mother when a +twelve-year-old child may be taken as a type: 'Wist ye not that I +_must_ be about My Father's business?' 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 work. Other similar instances are +those in which He responded to the multitude when they wanted to keep +Him to themselves: 'I _must_ preach in other cities also'; or as when +He said, 'I _must_ work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day.' + +Yet another aspect of the same necessity is presented when, looking far +beyond the earthly work and suffering, He discerned the future triumph +which was to be the issue of these, and said, 'Other sheep I have… them +also I _must_ bring.' + +And yet another is in reference to a very small matter: His selection +of a place for a few hours' rest on His last fateful journey to +Jerusalem, when He said, 'Zaccheus,… to-day I _must_ abide at thy +house.' + +Now, if we put these instances together, we shall get some precious +glimpses into our Lord's heart, and His view of life. + +I. Here we see Christ recognising and accepting the necessity for His +death. + +My text, if we accept John's Gospel, contributes an altogether new +element to our conception of our Lord as announcing His death. For the +other three Gospels lay emphasis on it as being part of His teaching, +especially during the later stage of His ministry. But it does not +follow that He began to think about it or to see it, when He began to +speak about it. There are reasons for the earlier comparative +reticence, 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 prosper, and that martyrdom was necessary. That +is a notion that has been frequently upheld of late years, but to me it +seems altogether incongruous with the facts of the case. And, if John's +Gospel is a true record, that theory is shivered against this text, +which represents Him at the very beginning of His career—the time when, +according to that other theory, He was full of the usual buoyant and +baseless anticipations of a reformer commencing His course—as telling +Nicodemus, 'Even so _must_ the Son of Man be lifted up.' In like +manner, in the previous chapter of this same Gospel, we have the +significant though enigmatical utterance: 'Destroy this Temple, and in +three days I will raise it up'; with the Evangelist's authoritative +comment: 'He spake of the Temple of His body.' So, from the beginning +of His career, the end was clear before Him. + +And why _must_ He go to the Cross? Not merely, as the other Evangelists +put it, in order that 'it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the +prophets.' It was not that Jesus must die because the prophets had said +that Messiah should, but that the prophets had said that Messiah should +because Jesus must. There was a far deeper necessity than the +fulfilment of any prophetic utterance, even the necessity which shaped +that utterance. The work of Jesus Christ could not be done unless He +died. He could not be the Saviour of the world unless He was the +sacrifice for the sins of the world. + +We cannot see all the grounds of that solemn imperative, but this we +can see, that it was because of the requirements of the divine +righteousness, and because of the necessities of sinful men. And so +Christ's was no martyr's death, who had to die as the penalty of the +faithful discharge of His duty. It was not the penalty that He paid for +doing His work, but it was the work itself. Not that gracious life, nor +'the loveliness of perfect deeds,' nor His words of sweet wisdom, nor +His acts of transcendent power, equalled only by the pity that moved +the power, completed His task, but He 'came to give His life a ransom +for many.' + +'Must' is a hard word. It may express an unwelcome necessity. Was this +necessity unwelcome? When He said, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up,' +was He shrinking, or reluctantly submitting? Ah, no! He _must_ die +because He _would_ save, and He _would_ save because He _did_ love. His +filial obedience to God coincided with His pity for men: and not merely +in obedience to the requirements of the divine righteousness, but in +compassion for the necessities of sinners, necessity was laid upon Him. + +Oh, brethren! nothing held Christ to the Cross but His own desire to +save us. Neither priests nor Romans carried Him thither. What fastened +Him to it was not the nails driven by rude hands. And the reason why He +did not, as the taunters bade Him do, come down from it, was neither a +physical nor a moral necessity unwelcome to Himself, but the yielding +of His own will to do all which was needed for man's salvation. + +This sacrifice was bound to the altar by the cords of love. We have +heard of martyrs who have refused to be tied to the stake, and have +kept themselves motionless in the centre of the fierce flames by the +force of their wills. Jesus Christ fastened Himself to the Cross and +died because He would. + +And, oh! if we think of that sweet, serene life as having clear before +it from the very first steps that grim end, how infinitely it gains in +pathetic beauty and in heart-touchingness! What wonderful +self-abnegation! How he was at leisure from Himself, with a heart of +pity for every sorrow, and loins girt for all service, though during +all His life the Cross closed the vista! Think that human shrinking was +felt by Him, think that it was so held back that His purpose never +faltered, think that each of us may say, 'He _must_ die because He +_would_ save me'; and then ask, 'What shall I render to the Lord for +all His benefits toward me?' + +II. In a second class of these utterances, we see Christ impelled by +filial obedience and the consciousness of His mission. + +'Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?' That was a +strange utterance for a boy of twelve. 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 +Spirit. But however that may be, it and the similar passages to which I +have already referred, bearing upon His discharge of His work prior to +His death, teach that the necessity was an inward necessity springing +from His consciousness of Sonship, and His recognition of the work that +He had to do. And so He is our great Example of spontaneous obedience, +which does violence to itself if it does not obey. It was instinct that +sent the boy into the Temple. Where should a Son be but in His Father's +house? How could He not be doing His Father's business? + +Thus He stands before us, the pattern for the only obedience that is +worth calling so, the obedience which would be pained and ill at ease +unless it were doing the work of God. Religion is meant to make it a +second nature, or, as I have ventured to call it, an instinct—a +spontaneous, uncalculating, irrepressible desire—to be in fellowship +with God, and to be doing His will. That is the meaning of our +Christianity. There is no obedience in reluctant obedience; forced +service is slavery, not service. 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 us; and that we too may be able to +say, with a kind of wonder that people should have expected to find us +in any other place, or doing anything else, 'Wist ye not that because I +am a Son, _I_ must be about my Father's business?' As certainly as the +sunflower follows the sun, so certainly will a man animated by the mind +that was in Jesus Christ, like Him find his very life's breath in doing +the Father's will. + +So then, brethren, what about our grudging service? What about our +reluctant obedience? What about the widespread mistake that religion +prohibits wished-for things and enforces unwelcome duties? If my +Christianity does not make me recoil from what it forbids, and spring +eagerly to what it commends, my Christianity is of very little use. If +when in the Temple we are like idle boys in school, always casting +glances at the clock and the door, and wishing ourselves outside, we +may just as well be out as in. Glad obedience is true obedience. Only +he who can say, 'Thy law is within my heart, and I do Thy will because +I love Thee, and cannot but do as Thou desirest,' has found the joy +possible to a Christian life. It is not 'harsh and crabbed,' as those +that look upon it from the outside may 'suppose,' but musical and full +of sweetness. There is nothing more blessed than when 'I choose' covers +exactly the same ground as 'I ought.' And when duty is delight, delight +will never become disgust, nor joy pass away. + +III. We see, in yet another use of this great 'must,' Christ +anticipating His future triumph. + +'Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, +and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd.' Striking as these words +are in themselves, they are still more striking when we notice their +connection; for they follow immediately upon His utterance about laying +down His life for the sheep. So, then, this was a work beyond the +Cross, and whatever it was, it was to be done after He had died. + +I need not point out to you how far afield Christ's vision goes out +into the dim, waste places, where on the dark mountains the straying +sheep are torn and frightened and starving. I need not dwell upon how +far ahead in the future His glance travels, or how magnificent and how +rebuking to our petty narrowness this great word is. 'There shall be +one _flock_' (not fold); and they shall be one, not because they are +within the bounds of any visible 'fold,' but because they are gathered +round the one Shepherd, and in their common relation to Him are knit +together in unity. + +But what sort of a Man is this who considers that His widest work is to +be done by Him after He is dead? 'Them also I _must_ bring.' Thou? how? +when? Surely such words as these, side by side with a clear prevision +of the death that was so soon to come, are either meaningless or the +utterance of an arrogance bordering on insanity, 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 God,' whilst His servants +'went everywhere preaching the Word, the Lord also working with them +and confirming the Word' with the signs He wrought. + +'Them also I must bring.' That is not merely a necessity rooted in the +nature of God and the wants of men. It is not merely a necessity +springing from Christ's filial obedience and sense of a mission; but it +is a 'must' of destiny, a 'must' which recognises the sure results of +His passion; a 'must' which implies the power of the Cross to be the +reconciliation of the world. And so for all pessimistic thoughts +to-day, or at any time, and when Christian men's hearts may be +trembling for the Ark of God—although, perhaps, there may be little +reason for the tremor—and in the face of all blatant antagonisms and of +proud Goliaths despising the 'foolishness of preaching,' we fall back +upon Christ's great 'must.' It is written in the councils of Heaven +more unchangeably than the heavens; it is guaranteed by the power of +the Cross; it is certain, by the eternal life of the crucified Saviour, +that He will one day be the King of humanity, and _must_ bring His +wandering sheep to couch in peace, one flock round one Shepherd. + +IV. Lastly, we have Christ applying the greatest principle to the +smallest duty. + +'Zaccheus! make haste and come down; to-day I _must_ abide in thy +house.' Why must He? Because Zaccheus was to be saved, and was worth +saving. What was the 'must'? To stop for an hour or two on His road to +the Cross. So He teaches us that in a life penetrated by the thought of +the divine will, which we gladly obey, there are no things too great, +and none too trivial, to be brought under the dominion of that law, and +to be regulated by that divine necessity. Obedience is obedience, +whether in large things or in small. There is no scale of magnitude +applicable to the distinction between God's will and that which is not +God's will. Gravitation rules the motes that dance in the sunshine as +well as the mass of Jupiter. A triangle with its apex in the sun, and +its base beyond the solar system, has the same properties and comes +under the same laws as one that a schoolboy scrawls upon his slate. +God's truth is not too great to rule the smallest duties. The star in +the East was a guide to the humble house at Bethlehem, and there are +starry truths high in the heavens that avail for our guidance in the +smallest acts of life. + +So, brethren, bring your doings under that all-embracing law of +duty—duty, which is the heathen expression for the will of God. There +are great regions of life in which lower necessities have play. +Circumstances, our past, bias and temper, relationship, friendship, +civic duty, and the like—all these bring their necessities; but let us +think of them all as being, what indeed they are, manifestations to us +of the will of our Father. There are great tracts of life in which +either of two courses may be right, and we are left to the decision of +choice rather than of duty; but high above all these, let us see +towering that divine necessity. It is a daily struggle to bring 'I +will' to coincide with 'I ought'; and there is only one adequate and +always powerful way of securing that coincidence, and that is to keep +close to Jesus Christ and to drink in His spirit. Then, when duty and +delight are conterminous, 'the rough places will be plain, and the +crooked things straight, and every mountain shall be brought low, and +every valley shall be exalted,' and life will be blessed, and service +will be freedom. Joy and liberty and power and peace will fill our +hearts when this is the law of our being; 'All that the Lord hath +spoken, that _must_ I do.' + + + + +THE LAKE AND THE RIVER + + +'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that +whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting +life.'—JOHN iii. 16. + +I venture to say that my text shows us a lake, a river, a pitcher, and +a draught. 'God so loved the world'—that is the lake. A lake makes a +river for itself—'God so loved the world that He _gave_ His… Son.' But +the river does not quench any one's thirst unless he has something to +lift the water with: 'God so loved the world that He gave His… Son, +that whosoever _believeth_ on Him.' Last comes the draught: 'shall not +perish, but have _everlasting life._' + +I. The great lake, God's love. + +Before Jesus Christ came into this world no one ever dreamt of saying +'God _loves_.' Some of the Old Testament psalmists had glimpses of that +truth and came pretty near expressing it. But among all the 'gods many +and lords many,' there were lustful gods and beautiful gods, and idle +gods, and fighting gods and peaceful gods: but not one of whom +worshippers said, 'He loves.' Once it was a new and almost incredible +message, but we have grown accustomed to it, and it is not strange any +more to us. But if we would try to think of what it means, the whole +truth would flash up into fresh newness, and all the miseries and +sorrows and perplexities of our lives would drift away down the wind, +and we should be no more troubled with them. 'God loves' is the +greatest thing that can be said by lips. + +'God … loved the world.' Now when we speak of loving a number of +individuals—the broader the stream, the shallower it is, is it not? The +most intense patriot in England does not love her one ten-thousandth +part as well as he loves his own little girl. When we think or feel +anything about a great multitude of people, it is like looking at a +forest. We do not see the trees, we see the whole wood. But that is not +how God loves the world. Suppose I said that I loved the people in +India, I should not mean by that that I had any feeling about any +individual soul of all those dusky millions, but only that I massed +them all together; or made what people call a generalisation of them. +But that is not the way in which God loves. He loves all because He +loves each. And when we say, 'God so loved the world,' we have to break +up the mass into its atoms, and to think of each atom as being an +object of His love. We all stand out in God's love just as we should do +to one another's eyes, if we were on the top of a mountain-ridge with a +clear sunset sky behind us. Each little black dot of the long +procession would be separately visible. And we all stand out like that, +every man of us isolated, and getting as much of the love of God as if +there was not another creature in the whole universe but God and +ourselves. Have you ever realised that when we say, 'He loved the +world,' that really means, as far as each of us is concerned, He loves +_me_? And just as the whole beams of the sun come pouring down into +every eye of the crowd that is looking up to it, so the whole love of +God pours down, not upon a multitude, an abstraction, a community, but +upon every single soul that makes up that community. He loves us all +because He loves us each. We shall never get all the good of that +thought until we translate it, and lay it upon our hearts. It is all +very well to say, 'Ah yes! God is love,' and it is all very well to say +He loves 'the world.' But I will tell you what is a great deal +better—to say—what Paul said—'Who loved _me_ and gave Himself for +_me_.' + +Now, there is one other suggestion that I would make to you before I go +on, and that is that all through the New Testament, but especially in +John's Gospel, 'the world' does not only mean men, but _sinful_ men, +men separated from God. And the great and blessed truth taught here is +that, however I may drag myself away from God, I cannot drive Him away +from me, and that however little I may care for Him, or love Him, or +think about Him, it does not make one hairs-breadth of difference as to +the fact that He loves me. I know, of course, that if a man does not +love Him back again, God's love has to take shapes that it would not +otherwise take, which may be extremely inconvenient for the man. But +though the shape may alter, _must_ alter, the fact remains; and every +sinful soul on the earth, including Judas Iscariot—who is said to head +the list of crimes—has God's love resting upon him. + +II. The river. + +Now, to go back to my metaphor, the lake makes a river. 'God so loved +the world that He gave His only begotten Son.' + +So then, it was not Christ's death that turned God from hating and +being angry, but it was God's love that appointed Christ's death. If +you will only remember that, a great many of the shallow and popular +objections to the great doctrine of the Atonement disappear at once. +'God so loved … that He gave.' But some people say that when we preach +that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that God's wrath might not fall +upon men, our teaching is immoral, because it means 'Christ came, and +so God loved.' It is the other way about, friend. 'God so loved … that +He gave.' + +But now let me carry you back to the Old Testament. Do you remember the +story of the father taking his boy who carried the bundle of wood and +the fire, and tramping over the mountains till they reached the place +where the sacrifice was to be offered? Do you remember the boy's +question that brings tears quickly to the reader's eyes: 'Here is the +wood, and here is the fire, where is the lamb'? Do you not think it +would be hard for the father to steady his voice and say, 'My son, God +will provide the lamb'? And do you remember the end of that story? 'The +Angel of the Lord said unto Abraham, Because thou hast done this thing, +and hast not _withheld_ thy son, _thine only son_, from Me, therefore +blessing I will bless thee,' etc. Remember that one of the Apostles +said, using the very same word that is used in Genesis as to Abraham's +giving up his son to God, 'He _spared not_ His own Son, but delivered +Him up to the death for us all.' Does not that point to a mysterious +parallel? Somehow or other—we have no right to attempt to say +how—somehow or other, God not only _sent_ His Son, as it is said in the +next verse to my text, but far more tenderly, wonderfully, +pathetically, God _gave_—gave up His Son, and the sacrifice was +enhanced, because it was His only begotten Son. + +Ah! dear brethren, do not let us be afraid of following out all that is +included in that great word, 'God … _loved_ the world.' For there is no +love which does not delight in giving, and there is no love that does +not delight in depriving itself, in some fashion, of what it gives. And +I, for my part, believe that Paul's words are to be taken in all their +blessed depth and wonderfulness of meaning when he says, 'He gave +up'—as well as gave—'Him to the death for us all.' + +And now, do you not think that we are able in some measure to estimate +the greatness of that little word 'so'? 'God _so_ loved'—_so_ deeply, +so holily, _so_ perfectly—that He 'gave His only begotten Son'; and the +gift of that Son is, as it were, the river by which the love of God +comes to every soul in the world. + +Now there are a great many people who would like to put the middle part +of this great text of ours into a parenthesis. They say that we should +bring the first words and the last words of this text together, and +never mind all that lies between. People who do not like the doctrine +of the Cross would say, 'God so loved the world that He gave… +everlasting life'; and there an end. 'If there is a God, and if He +loves the world, why cannot He save the world without more ado? There +is no need for these interposed clauses. God so loved the world that +everybody will go to heaven'—that is the gospel of a great many of you; +and it is the gospel of a great many wise and learned people. But it is +not John's Gospel, and it is not Christ's Gospel. The beginning and the +end of the text cannot be buckled up together in that rough-and-ready +fashion. They have to be linked by a chain; and there are two links in +the chain: God forges the one, and we have to forge the other. 'God so +loved the world that He gave'—then He has done His work. 'That +whosoever believeth'—that is your work. And it is in vain that God +forges _His_ link, unless you will forge _yours_ and link it up to His. +'God so loved the world,' that is step number one in the process; 'that +He gave,' that is step number two; and then there comes another +'that'—'that whosoever believeth,' that is step number three; and they +are all needed before you come to number four, which is the +landing-place and not a step—'should not perish, but have everlasting +life.' + +III. The pitcher. + +I come to what I called the pitcher, with which we draw the water for +our own use—'that whosoever believeth.' You perhaps say, 'Yes, I +believe. I accept every word of the Gospel, I quite believe that Jesus +Christ died, as a matter of history; and I quite believe that He died +for men's sins.' And what then? Is that what Jesus Christ meant by +believing? To believe _about_ Him is not to believe _on_ Him; and +unless you believe on Him you will get no good out of Him. There is the +lake, and the river must flow past the shanties in the clearing in the +forest, if the men there are to drink. But it may flow past their +doors, as broad as the Mississippi, and as deep as the ocean; but they +will perish with thirst, unless they dip in their hands, like Gideon's +men, and carry the water to their own lips. Dear friend, what you have +to do—and your soul's salvation, 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 sins. + +I sometimes wish we had never heard that word 'faith.' For as soon as +we begin to talk about 'faith,' people begin to think that we are away +up in some theological region far above everyday life. Suppose we try +to bring it down a little nearer to our businesses and bosoms, and +instead of using a word that is kept sacred for employment in religious +matters, and saying 'faith,' we say 'trust.' That is what you give to +your wives and husbands, is it not? And that is exactly what you have +to give to Jesus Christ, simply to lay hold of Him as a man lays hold +of the heart that loves him, and leans his whole weight upon it. Lean +hard on Him, hang on Him, or, to take the other metaphor that is one of +the Old Testament words for trust, 'flee for refuge' to Him. Fancy a +man with the avenger of blood at his back, 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 speed? That is what you have to do. He +that believeth, and by trust lays hold of the Hand that holds him up, +will never fall; and he that does not lay hold of that Hand will never +stand, to say nothing of rising. And so by these two links God's love +of the world is connected with the salvation of the world. + +IV. The draught. + +Finally, we have here the draught of living water. Did you ever think +why our text puts 'should not perish' first? Is it not because, unless +we put our trust in Him, we shall certainly perish, and because, +therefore, that certainty of perishing must be averted before we can +have 'everlasting life'? + +Now I am not going to enlarge on these two solemn expressions, +'perishing' and 'everlasting life.' I only say this: men do not need to +wait until they die before they 'perish.' There are men and women here +now who are dead—dead while they live, and when they come to die, the +perishing, which is condemnation and ruin, will only be the making +visible, in another condition of life, of what is the fact to-day. Dear +brethren, you do not need to die in order to perish in your sins, and, +blessed be God, you can have everlasting life before you die. You can +have it now, and there is only one way to have it, and that is to lay +hold of Him who is the Life. And when you have Jesus Christ in your +heart, whom you will be sure to have if you trust Him, then you will +have life—life eternal, here and now, and death will only make manifest +the eternal life which you had while you were alive here, and will +perfect it in fashions that we do not yet know anything about. + +Only remember, as I have been trying to show you, the order that runs +through this text. Remember the order of these last words, and that we +must first of all be delivered from eternal and utter death, before we +can be invested with the eternal and absolute life. + +Now, dear brethren, I dare say I have never spoken to the great +majority of you before; it is quite possible I may never speak to any +of you again. I have asked God to help me to speak so as that souls +should be drawn to the Saviour. And I beseech you now, as my last word, +that you would listen, not to me, but to Him. For it is He that says to +us, 'God so loved the world, that He gave His Son, that +whosoever'—'whosoever,' a blank cheque, like the M. or N. of the +Prayer-book, or the A. B. of a schedule; you can put your own name in +it—'that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have'—here, +now—'everlasting life.' + + + + +THE WEARIED CHRIST + + +'Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the +well…. He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.'—JOHN +iv. 6,32. + +Two pictures result from these two verses, each striking in itself, and +gaining additional emphasis by the contrast. It was during a long hot +day's march that the tired band of pedestrians turned into the fertile +valley. There, whilst the disciples went into the little hill-village +to purchase, if they could, some food from the despised inhabitants, +Jesus, apparently too exhausted to accompany them, 'sat _thus_ on the +well.' That little word _thus_ seems to have a force difficult to +reproduce in English. It is apparently intended to enhance the idea of +utter weariness, either because the word 'wearied' is in thought to be +supplied, 'sat, being thus wearied, on the well'; or because it conveys +the notion which might be expressed by our 'just as He was'; as a tired +man flings Himself down anywhere and anyhow, without any kind of +preparation beforehand, and not much caring where it is that he rests. + +Thus, utterly worn out, Jesus Christ sits on the well, whilst the +western sun lengthens out the shadows on the plain. The disciples come +back, and what a change they find. Hunger gone, exhaustion ended, fresh +vigour in their wearied Master. What had made the difference? The +woman's repentance and joy. And He unveils the secret of His +reinvigoration when He says, 'I have meat to eat that ye know not +of'—the hidden manna. 'My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, +and to finish His work.' + +Now, I think if we take just three points of view, we shall gain the +lessons of this remarkable contrast. Note, then, the wearied Christ; +the devoted Christ; the reinvigorated Christ. + +I. The wearied Christ. + +How precious it is to us that this Gospel, which has the loftiest +things to say about the manifest divinity of our Lord, and the glory +that dwelt in Him, is always careful to emphasise also the manifest +limitations and weaknesses of the Manhood. John never forgets either +term of his great sentence in which all the gospel is condensed, 'the +Word became flesh.' Ever he shows us 'the Word'; ever 'the flesh.' Thus +it is he only who records the saying on the Cross, 'I thirst.' It is he +who tells us how Jesus Christ, not merely for the sake of getting a +convenient opening of a conversation, or to conciliate prejudices, but +because He needed what He asked, said to the woman of Samaria, 'Give Me +to drink.' 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 stooped, but a real participation in our +limitations and weaknesses, so that work to Him was fatigue, even +though in Him dwelt the manifest glory of that divine nature which +'fainteth not, neither is weary.' + +Not only does this pathetic incident teach us for our firmer faith, and +more sympathetic and closer apprehension, the reality of the Manhood of +Jesus Christ, but it supplies likewise some imperfect measure of His +love, and reveals to us one condition of His power. Ah! if He had not +Himself known weariness He never could have said, 'Come unto Me, all ye +that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' It was +because Himself 'took our infirmities,' and amongst these the weakness +of tired muscles and exhausted frame, that 'He giveth power to the +faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.' The +Creator must have no share in the infirmities of the creature. It must +be His unwearied power that calls them all by their names; and because +He is great in might 'not one' of the creatures of His hand can 'fail.' +But the Redeemer must participate in that from which He redeems; 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 +strength. The measure of His love is seen in that, long before Calvary, +He entered into the humiliation and sufferings and sorrows of humanity; +a condition of His power is seen in that, forasmuch as the 'children +were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part +of the same,' not only that 'through death He might deliver' from +death, but that in life He might redeem from the ills and sorrows of +life. + +Nor does that exhausted Figure, reclining on Jacob's Well, preach to us +only what _He_ was. It proclaims to us likewise what _we_ should be. +For if His work was carried on to the edge of His capacity, and if He +shrank not from service because it involved toil, what about the +professing followers of Jesus Christ, who think that they are exempted +from any form of service because they can plead that it will weary +them? What about those who say that they tread in His footsteps, and +have never known what it was to yield up one comfort, one moment of +leisure, one thrill of enjoyment, or to encounter one sacrifice, one +act of self-denial, one aching of weariness for the sake of the Lord +who bore all for them? The wearied Christ proclaims His manhood, +proclaims His divinity and His love, and rebukes us who consent to +'walk in the way of His commandments' only on condition that it can be +done without dust or heat; and who are ready to run the race that is +set before us, only if we can come to the goal without perspiration or +turning a hair. 'Jesus, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the +well.' + +II. Still further, notice here the devoted Christ. + +It is not often that He lets us have a glimpse into the innermost +chambers of His heart, in so far as the impelling motives of His course +are concerned. But here He lays them bare. 'My meat is to do the will +of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.' + +Now, 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 will; and that it is the aim rather than the actual +performance and realisation of the aim which is pointed at by our Lord. +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 say, the very +nourishment and refreshment of Christ was found in making the +accomplishment of the Father's commandment His ever-impelling motive, +His ever-pursued goal. The expression carries us into the inmost heart +of Jesus, dealing, as it does, with the one all-pervading motive rather +than with the resulting actions, fair and holy as these were. + +Brethren, the secret of our lives, if they are at all to be worthy and +noble, must be the same—the recognition, not only as they say now, that +we have a mission, but that there _is_ a Sender; which is a wholly +different view of our position, and that He who sends is the loving +Father, who has spoken to us in that dear Son, who Himself made it His +aim thus to obey, in order that it might be possible for us to re-echo +His voice, and to repeat His aim. The recognition of the Sender, the +absolute submission of our wills to His, must run through all the life. +You may do your daily work, whatever it be, with this for its motto, +'the will of the Lord be done'; and they who thus can look at their +trade, or profession, and see the trivialities and monotonies of their +daily occupations, in the transfiguring light of that great thought, +will never need to complain that life is small, ignoble, wearisome, +insignificant. As with pebbles in some clear brook with the sunshine on +it, the water in which they are sunk glorifies and magnifies them. If +you lift them out, they are but bits of dull stone; lying beneath the +sunlit ripples they are jewels. Plunge the prose of your life, and all +its trivialities, into that great stream, and it will magnify and +glorify the smallest and the homeliest. Absolute submission to the +divine will, and the ever-present thrilling consciousness of doing it, +were the secret of Christ's life, and ought to be the secret of ours. + +Note the distinction between doing the will and perfecting the work. +That implies that Jesus Christ, like us, reached forward, in each +successive act of obedience to the successive manifestations of the +Father's will, to something still undone. The work will never be +perfected or finished except on condition of continual fulfilment, +moment by moment, of the separate behests of that divine will. For the +Lord, as for His servants, this was the manner of obedience, that He +'pressed towards the mark,' 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 Cross, 'It is +finished.' If we have any right to call ourselves His, we too have thus +to live. + +III. Lastly, notice the reinvigorated Christ. + +I have already pointed out the lovely contrast between the two +pictures, the beginning and the end of this incident; so I need not +dwell upon that. The disciples wondered when they found that Christ +desired and needed none of the homely sustenance that they had brought +to Him. And when He answered their sympathy rather than their +curiosity—for they did not ask Him any questions, but they said to Him, +'Master, eat'—with 'I have meat to eat that ye know not of,' they, in +their blind, blundering fashion, could only imagine that some one had +brought Him something. So they gave occasion for the great words upon +which we have been touching. + +Notice, however, 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 soul. It is the true food for us all. The spirit +which feeds upon such food will grow and be nourished. And the soul +which feeds upon its own will and fancies, and not upon the plain brown +bread of obedience, which is wholesome, though it be often bitter, will +feed upon ashes, which will grate upon the teeth and hurt the palate. +Such a soul will be like those wretched infants that are discovered +sometimes at 'baby-farms,' starved and stunted, and not grown to half +their right size. If you would have your spirits strong, robust, well +nourished, live by obedience, and let the will of God be the food of +your souls, and all will be well. + +Souls thus fed can do without a good deal that others need. Why, +enthusiasm for anything lifts a man above physical necessities and +lower desires, even in its poorest forms. A regiment of soldiers making +a forced march, or an athlete trying to break the record, will tramp, +tramp on, not needing food, or rest, or sleep, until they have achieved +their purpose, poor and ignoble though it may be. In all regions of +life, enthusiasm and lofty aims make the soul lord of the body and of +the world. + +And in the Christian life we shall be thus lords, exactly in proportion +to the depth and earnestness of our desires to do the will of God. They +who thus are fed can afford 'to scorn delights and live laborious +days.' They who thus are fed can afford to do with plain living, if +there be high impulses as well as high thinking. 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 Christians. + +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 +court. 'Set a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite,' +and let us remember that the less we use, and the less we feel that we +need, of outward goods, the nearer do we approach to the condition in +which holy desires and lofty aims will visit our spirits. + +I commend to you, brethren, the story of our text, in its most literal +application, as well as in the loftier spiritual lessons that may be +drawn from it. To be near Christ, and to desire to live for Him, +delivers us from dependence upon earthly things; and in those who thus +do live the old word shall be fulfilled, 'Better is a little that a +righteous man hath, than the abundance of many wicked.' + + + + +'GIVE ME TO DRINK' + + +'… Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink…. Jesus saith unto her, +I that speak unto thee am He.'—JOHN iv. 7, 26. + +This Evangelist very significantly sets side by side our Lord's +conversations with Nicodemus and with the woman of Samaria. The persons +are very different: the one a learned Rabbi of reputation, influence, +and large theological knowledge of the then fashionable kind; the other +an alien woman, poor—for she had to do this menial task of +water-drawing in the heat of the day—and of questionable character. + +The diversity of persons necessitates great differences in the form of +our Lord's address to each; but the resemblances are as striking as the +divergencies. In both we have His method of gradually unveiling the +truth to a susceptible soul, beginning with symbol and a hint, +gradually enlarging the hint and translating the symbol; and finally +unveiling Himself as the Giver and the Gift. There is another +resemblance; in both the characteristic gift is that of the Spirit of +Life, and, perhaps, in both the symbol is the same. For we read in one +of 'water and the Spirit'; and in the other of the fountain within, +springing into everlasting life. However that may be, the process of +teaching is all but identical in substance in both cases, though in +form so various. + +The words of our Lord which I have taken for our text now are His first +and last utterance in this conversation. What a gulf lies between! They +are linked together by the intervening sayings, and constitute with +these a great ladder, of which the foot is fast on earth, and the top +fixed in heaven. On the one hand, He owns the lowest necessities; on +the other, He makes the highest claims. Let us ponder on this +remarkable juxtaposition, and try to gather the lessons that are plain +in it. + +I. First, then, I think we see here the mystery of the dependent +Christ. + +'Give Me to drink': 'I am He.' Try to see the thing for a moment with +the woman's eyes. She comes down from her little village, up amongst +the cliffs on the hillside, across the narrow, hot valley, beneath the +sweltering sunshine reflected from the bounding mountains, and she +finds, in the midst of the lush vegetation round the ancient well, a +solitary, weary Jew, travel-worn, evidently exhausted—for His disciples +had gone away to buy food, and He was too wearied to go with +them—looking into the well, but having no dipper or vessel by which to +get any of its cool treasure. 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 woman, a 'breaking of the ice.' It was a great +deal more than that. It was the utterance of a felt and painful +necessity, which He Himself could not supply without a breach of what +He conceived to be His filial dependence. He could have brought water +out of the well. He did not need to depend upon the pitcher that the +disciples had perhaps unthinkingly carried away with them when they +went to buy bread. He did not need to ask the woman to give, but He +chose to do so. We lose much if we do not see in this incident far more +than the woman saw, but we lose still more if we do not see what she +did see. And the words which the Master spoke to her are no mere way of +introducing a conversation on religious themes; but He asked for a +draught which He needed, and which He had no other way of getting. + +So, then, here stands, pathetically set forth before us, our Lord's +true participation in two of the distinguishing characteristics of our +weak humanity—subjection to physical necessities and dependence on +kindly help. We find Him weary, hungry, thirsty, sometimes slumbering. +And all these instances are documents and proofs for us that He was a +true man like ourselves, and that, like ourselves, He depended on 'the +woman that ministered to Him' for the supply of His necessities, and so +knew the limitations of our social and else helpless humanity. + +But then a wearied and thirsty man is nothing of much importance. But +here is a Man who _humbled Himself_ to be weary and to thirst. The +keynote of this Gospel, the one thought which unlocks all its +treasures, and to the elucidation of which, in all its aspects, the +whole book is devoted, is, 'The Word was made flesh.' Only when you let +in the light of the last utterance of our text, 'I that speak unto thee +am He,' do we understand the pathos, the sublimity, the depth and +blessedness of meaning which lie in the first one, 'Give Me to drink.' +When we see that He bowed Himself, and willingly stretched out His +hands for the fetters, we come to understand the significance of these +traces of His manhood. The woman says, with wonder, 'How is it that +Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me?' and that was wonderful. But, as +He hints to her, if she had known more clearly who this Person was, +that seemed to be a Jew, a deeper wonder would have crept over her +spirit. The wonder is that the Eternal Word should need the water of +the well, and should ask it of a poor human creature. + +And why this humiliation? He could, as I have said, have wrought a +miracle. He that fed five thousand, He that had turned water into wine +at the rustic marriage-feast, would have had no difficulty in quenching +His thirst if he had chosen to use His miraculous power therefore. But +He here shows us that the true filial spirit will rather die than cast +off its dependence on the Father, and the same motive which led Him to +reject the temptation in the wilderness, and to answer with sublime +confidence, 'Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word from +the mouth of God,' forbids Him here to use other means of securing the +draught that He so needed than the appeal to the sympathy of an alien, +and the swift compassion of a woman's heart. + +And then, let us remember that the motive of this willing acceptance of +the limitations and weaknesses of humanity is, in the deepest analysis, +simply His love to us; as the mediaeval hymn has it, 'Seeking me, Thou +satest weary.' + +In that lonely Traveller, worn, exhausted, thirsty, craving for a +draught of water from a stranger's hand, is set forth 'the glory of the +Father, full of grace and truth.' A strange manifestation of divine +glory this! But if we understand that the glory of God is the lustrous +light of His self-revealing love, perhaps we shall understand how, from +that faint, craving voice, 'Give Me to drink,' that glory sounds forth +more than in the thunders that rolled about the rocky peak of Sinai. +Strange to think, brethren, that the voice from those lips dry with +thirst, which was low and weak, was the voice that spoke to the sea, +'Peace! be still,' and there was a calm; that said to demons, 'Come out +of him!' and they evacuated their fortress; that cast its command into +the grave of Lazarus, and he came forth; and which one day all that are +in the grave shall hear, and hearing shall obey. 'Give Me to drink.' 'I +that speak unto thee am He.' + +II. Secondly, we may note here the self-revealing Christ. + +The process by which Jesus gradually unveils His full character to this +woman, so unspiritual and unsusceptible as she appeared at first sight +to be, is interesting and instructive. It would occupy too much of your +time for me to do more than set it before you in the barest outline. +Noting the singular divergence between the two sayings which I have +taken as our text, it is interesting to notice how the one gradually +merges into the other. First of all, Jesus Christ, as it were, opens a +finger of His hand to let the woman have a glimpse of the gift lying +there, that that may kindle desire, and hints at some occult depth in +His person and nature all undreamed of by her yet, and which would be +the occasion of greater wonder, and of a reversal of their parts, if +she knew it. Then, in answer to her, half understanding that He meant +more than met the ear, and yet opposing the plain physical difficulties +that were in the way, in that He had 'nothing to draw with, and the +well is deep,' and asking whether He were greater than our father +Jacob, who also had given, and given not only a draught, but the well, +our Lord enlarges her vision of the blessedness of the gift, though He +says but little more of its nature, 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 satisfaction, forbidding the pangs of unquenched +desire ever again to be felt as pangs; and from the other fact that it +will be an inward possession, leaping up with a fountain's energy, and +a life within itself, towards, and into everlasting life. Next, he +strongly assails conscience and demands repentance, and reveals Himself +as the reader of the secrets of the heart. Then He discloses the great +truths of spiritual worship. And, finally, as a prince in disguise +might do, He flings aside the mantle of which He had let a fold or two +be blown back in the previous conversation, and stands confessed. 'I +that speak unto thee am He.' That is to say, the kindling of desire, +the proffer of the all-satisfying gift, the quickening of conscience, +the revelation of a Father to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, 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-revelation. + +Then note, not only the process, but the substance of the revelation of +Himself. The woman had a far more spiritual and lofty conception of the +office of Messiah than the Jews had. It is not the first time that +heretics have reached a loftier ideal of some parts of the truth than +the orthodox attain. To the Jew the Messiah was a conquering king, who +would help them to ride on the necks of their enemies, and pay back +their persecutions and oppressions. To this Samaritan woman—speaking, I +suppose, the conceptions of her race—the Messiah was One who was to +'_tell_ us all things.' + +Jesus Christ accepts the position, endorses her anticipations, and in +effect presents Himself before her and before us as the Fountain of all +certitude and knowledge in regard to spiritual matters. For all that we +can know, or need to know, with regard to God and man and their mutual +relations; for all that we can or need know in regard to manhood, its +ideal, its obligations, its possibilities, its destinies; for all that +we need to know of men in their relation to one another, we have to +turn to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who 'will tell us all things.' He is +the Fountain of light; He is the Foundation of certitude; and they who +seek, not hypotheses and possibilities and conjectures and dreams, but +the solid substance of a reliable knowledge, must grasp Him, and esteem +the words of His mouth and the deeds of His life more than their +necessary food. + +He meets this woman's conceptions as He had met those of Nicodemus. To +him He had unveiled Himself as the Son of God, and the Son of Man who +came down from heaven, and is in heaven, and ascends to heaven. To the +woman He reveals Himself as the Messiah, who will tell us all truth, +and to both as the Giver of the gift which shall communicate and +sustain and refresh the better life. But I cannot help dwelling for a +moment upon the remarkable, beautiful, and significant designation +which our Lord employs here. 'I that speak unto thee.' The word in the +original, translated by our version 'speak,' is even more sweet, +because more familiar, and conveys the idea of unrestrained frank +intercourse. Perhaps we might render 'I who am talking with Thee!' and +that our Lord desired to emphasise to the woman's heart the notion of +His familiar intercourse with her, Messiah though He were, seems to me +confirmed by the fact that He uses the same expression, with additional +grace and tenderness about it, when He says, with such depth of +meaning, to the blind man whom He had healed, 'Thou hast both seen +Him,' with the eyes to which He gave sight and object of sight, 'and it +is He that _talketh_ with thee.' The familiar Christ who will come and +speak to us face to face and heart to heart, 'as a man speaketh with +his friend,' is the Christ who will tell us all things, and whom we may +wholly trust. + +Note too how this revelation has for its condition the docile +acceptance of the earlier and imperfect teachings. If the woman had not +yielded herself to our Lord's earlier words, and, though with very dim +insight, yet with a heart that sought to be taught, followed Him as He +stepped from round to round of the ascending ladder, she had never +stood on the top and seen this great vision. If you see nothing more in +Jesus Christ than a man like yourself, compassed with our infirmities, +and yet sweet and gracious and good and pure, be true to what you know, +and put it into practice, and be ready to accept all the light that +dawns. They that begin down at the bottom with hearing 'Give me to +drink,' may stand at the top, and hear Him speak to them His unveiled +truth and His full glory. 'To him that hath shall be given.' 'If any +man wills to do His will he shall know of the teaching.' + +III. Lastly, we have here the universal Christ. + +The woman wondered that, being a Jew, He spoke to her. As I have said, +our Lord's first utterance is simply the expression of a real physical +necessity. But it is none the less what the woman felt it to be, a +strange overleaping of barriers that towered very high. A Samaritan, a +woman, a sinner, is the recipient of the first clear confession from +Jesus Christ of His Messiahship and dignity. She was right in her +instinct that something lay behind His sweeping aside of the barriers +and coming so close to her with His request. These two, the prejudices +of race and the contempt for woman, two of the crying evils of the old +world, were overpassed by our Lord as if He never saw them. They were +too high for men's puny limbs; they made no obstacle to the march of +His divine compassion. And therein lies a symbol, if you like, but none +the less a prophecy that will be fulfilled, of the universal adaptation +and destination of the Gospel, and its independence of all distinctions +of race and sex, condition, moral character. In Jesus Christ 'there is +neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, neither bond nor free'; ye 'are +all one in Christ.' If He had been but a Jew, it was wonderful that He +should talk to a Samaritan. But there is nothing in the character and +life of Christ, as recorded in Scripture, more remarkable and more +plain than the entire absence of any racial peculiarities, or of +characteristics owing to His position in space or time. So unlike His +nation was He that the very _elite_ of His nation snarled at Him and +said, 'Thou art a Samaritan!' So unlike them was He that one feels that +a character so palpitatingly human to its core, and so impossible to +explain from its surroundings, is inexplicable, but on the New +Testament theory that He is not a Jew, or man only, but the Son of Man, +the divine embodiment of the ideal of humanity, whose dwelling was on +earth, but His origin and home in the bosom of God. Therefore Jesus +Christ is the world's Christ, your Christ, my Christ, every man's +Christ, the Tree of Life that stands in the midst of the garden, that +all men may draw near to it and gather of its fruit. + +Brother, answer His proffer of the gift as this woman did: 'Sir, give +me this water, that I thirst not; neither go all the way to the world's +broken cisterns to draw'; and He will put into your hearts that +indwelling fountain of life, so that you may say like this woman's +townspeople: 'Now I have heard Him myself, and know that this is indeed +the Christ, the Saviour of the world.' + + + + +THE GIFT AND THE GIVER + + +'Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and +who it is that saith unto thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have +asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.'—JOHN iv. 10. + +This Gospel has two characteristics seldom found together: deep thought +and vivid character-drawing. Nothing can be more clear-cut and dramatic +than the scene in the chapter before us. There is not a word of +description of this Samaritan woman. She paints herself, and it is not +a beautiful picture. She is apparently of the peasant class, from a +little village nestling on the hill above the plain, come down in the +broiling sunshine to Jacob's well. She is of mature age, and has had a +not altogether reputable past. She is frivolous, ready to talk with +strangers, with a tongue quick to turn grave things into jests; and yet +she possesses, hidden beneath masses of unclean vanities, a conscience +and a yearning for something better than she has, which Christ's words +awoke, and which was finally so enkindled as to make her fit to receive +the full declaration of His Messiahship, which Pharisees and priests +could not be trusted with. + +I need scarcely do more than remind you of the way in which the +conversation between this strangely assorted pair began. The solitary +Jew, sitting spent with travel on the well, asks for a draught of +water; not in order to get an opening for preaching, but because He +needs it. She replies with an exclamation of light wonder, half a jest +and half a sarcasm, and challenging a response in the same tone. + +But Christ lifts her to a higher level by the words of my text, which +awed levity, and prepared for a fuller revelation. 'Thou dost wonder +that I, being a Jew, ask drink of thee, a Samaritan. If thou knewest +who I am, thy wonder at My asking would be more. If thou knewest what I +have to give, we should change places, and thou wouldest ask, and I +should bestow.' + +So then, we have here gift, Giver, way of getting, and ignorance that +hinders asking. Let us look at these. + +I. First, the gift of God. Now it is quite clear that our Lord means +the same thing, whatever it may be, by the two expressions, the 'gift +of God' and the 'living water.' For, unless He does, the whole sequence +of my text falls to pieces. 'Living water' was suggested, no doubt, by +the circumstances of the moment. There, in the well, was an +ever-springing source, and, says He, a like supply, ever welling up for +thirsty lips and foul hands, ever sweet and ever sufficient, God is +ready to give. + +We may remember how, all through Scripture, we hear the tinkle of these +waters as they run. The force of the expression is to be gathered +largely from the Old Testament and the uses of the metaphor there. It +has been supposed that by the 'living water' which God gives is here +meant some one specific gift, such as that of the Holy Spirit, which +sometimes is expressed by the metaphor. Rather I should be disposed to +say the 'living water' is eternal life. 'With Thee is the fountain of +life.' And so, in the last resort, the gift of God is God Himself. +Nothing else will suffice for us, brethren. We need Him, and we need +none but Him. + +Our Lord, in the subsequent part of this conversation, again touches +upon this great metaphor, and suggests one or two characteristics, +blessings, and excellences of it. 'It shall be _in_ him,' it is +something that we may carry about with us in our hearts, inseparable +from our being, free from all possibility of being filched away by +violence, being rent from us by sorrows, or even being parted from us +by death. What a man has outside of him he only seems to have. Our only +real possessions are those which have passed into the substance of our +souls. All else we shall leave behind. The only good is inward good; +and this water of life slakes our thirst because it flows into the +deepest place of our being, and abides there for ever. + +Oh! you that are seeking your satisfaction from fountains that remain +outside of you after all your efforts, learn that all of them, by +reason of their externality, will sooner or later be 'broken cisterns +that can hold no water.' And I beseech you, if you want rest for your +souls and stilling for their yearnings, look for it there, where only +it can be found, in Him, who not only dwells in the heavens to rule and +to shower down blessings, but enters into the waiting heart and abides +there, the inward, and therefore the only real, possession and riches. +'It shall be in him a fountain of water.' + +It is 'springing up'—with an immortal energy, with ever fresh fulness, +by its own inherent power, needing no pumps nor machinery, but ever +welling forth its refreshment, an emblem of the joyous energy and +continual freshness of vitality, which is granted to those who carry +God in their hearts, and therefore can never be depressed beyond +measure, nor ever feel that the burden of life is too heavy to bear, or +its sorrows too sharp to endure. + +It springs up 'into eternal life,' for water must seek its source, and +rise to the level of its origin, and this fountain within a man, that +reaches up ever towards the eternal life from which it came, and which +it gives to its possessor, will bear him up, as some strong spring will +lift the clods that choked its mouth, will bear him up towards the +eternal life which is native to it, and therefore native to him. + +Brethren, no man is so poor, so low, so narrow in capacity, so limited +in heart and head, but that he needs a whole God to make him restful. +Nothing else will. To seek for satisfaction elsewhere is like sailors +who in their desperation, when the water-tanks are empty, slake their +thirst with the treacherous blue that washes cruelly along the battered +sides of their ship. A moment's alleviation is followed by the +recurrence, in tenfold intensity, of the pangs of thirst, and by +madness, and death. 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 God. + +'Oh!' you say, 'commonplace, threadbare pulpit rhetoric.' Yes! Do you +live as if it were true? It will never be too threadbare to be dinned +into your head until it has passed into your lives and regulated them. + +II. Now, in the next place, notice the Giver. + +Jesus Christ blends in one sentence, startling in its boldness, the +gift of God, and Himself as the Bestower. This Man, exhausted for want +of a draught of water, speaks with parched lips a claim most singularly +in contrast with the request which He had just made: 'I will give thee +the living water.' No wonder that the woman was bewildered, and could +only say, 'The well is deep, and Thou hast nothing to draw with.' She +might have said, 'Why then dost Thou ask me?' The words were meant to +create astonishment, in order that the astonishment might awaken +interest, which would lead to the capacity for further illumination. +Suppose you had been there, had seen the Man whom she saw, had heard +the two things that she heard, and knew no more about Him than she +knew, what would _you_ have thought of Him and His words? Perhaps you +would have been more contemptuous than she was. See to it that, since +you know so much that explains and warrants them, you do not treat them +worse than she did. + +Jesus Christ claims to give God's gifts. He is able to give to that +poor, frivolous, impure-hearted and impure-lifed woman, at her request, +the eternal life which shall still all the thirst of her soul, that had +often in the past been satiated and disgusted, but had never been +satisfied by any of its draughts. + +And He claims that in this giving He is something more than a channel, +because, says He, 'If thou hadst asked of Me I would give thee.' We +sometimes think of the relation between God and Christ as being +typified by that of some land-locked sea amidst remote mountains, and +the affluent that brings its sparkling treasures to the thirsting +valley. But Jesus Christ is no mere vehicle for the conveyance of a +divine gift, but His own heart, His own power, His own love are in it; +and it is His gift just as much as it is God's. + +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 this. If we +know anything about Jesus Christ at all, we know that He spoke in this +tone, not occasionally, but habitually. 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 Himself. And I have only +this one word to say, if Jesus Christ ever said anything the least like +the words of my text, and if they were not true, what was He but a +fanatic who had lost His head in the fancy of His inspiration? And if +He said these words and they _were_ true, what is He then? What but +that which this Gospel insists from its beginning to its end that He +was—the Eternal Word of God, by whom all divine revelation from the +beginning has been made, and who at last 'became flesh' that we might +'receive of His fulness,' and therein 'be filled with all the fulness +of God.' Other alternative I, for my part, see none. + +But I would have you notice, too, the connection between these human +needs of the Saviour and His power to give the divine gift. Why did He +not simply say to this woman, 'If thou knewest who I am?' Why did He +use this periphrasis of my text, 'Who it is that saith unto thee, "Give +Me to drink"'? 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 prerogative, on the other forcing into +prominence human weakness and necessity, because these two things, the +human weakness and the divine prerogative, are inseparably braided +together and intertwined. Some of you will remember the great scene in +Shakespeare where the weakness of Caesar is urged as a reason for +rejecting his imperial authority:— + + 'Ay! and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans + Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, + Alas! it cried, "Give me some drink, … + Like a sick girl."' + +And the inference that is drawn is, how can he be fit to be a ruler of +men? But we listen to our Caesar and Emperor, when He asks this woman +for water, and when He says on the Cross, 'I thirst,' and we feel that +these are not the least of His titles to be crowned with many crowns. +They bring Him nearer to us, and they are the means by which His love +reaches its end, of bestowing upon us all, if we will have it, the cup +of salvation. Unless He had said the one of these two things, He never +could have said the other. Unless the dry lips had petitioned, 'Give Me +to drink,' the gracious lips could never have said, 'I will give thee +living water.' Unless, like Jacob of old, this Shepherd could say, 'In +the day the drought consumed Me,' it would have been impossible that +the flock 'shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more, … +for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall lead them to +living fountains of water.' + +III. Again, notice how to get the gift. + +Christ puts together, as if they were all but contemporaneous, 'thou +wouldst have asked of Me,' and 'I would have given thee.' The hand on +the telegraph transmits the message, and back, swift as the lightning, +flashes the response. The condition, the only condition, and the +indispensable condition, of possessing that water of life—the summary +expression for all the gifts of God in Jesus Christ, which at the last +are essentially God Himself—is the desire to possess it turned to Jesus +Christ. Is it not strange that men should not desire; is it not strange +and sad that such foolish creatures are we that we do not want what we +need; that our wishes and needs are often diametrically opposite? All +men desire happiness, but some of us have so vitiated our tastes and +our palates by fiery intoxicants that the water of life seems +dreadfully tasteless and unstimulating, and so we will rather go back +again to the delusive, poisoned drinks than glue our lips to the river +of God's pleasures. + +But it is not enough that there should be the desire. It must be turned +to Him. In fact the asking of my text, so far as you and I are +concerned, is but another way of speaking the great keyword of personal +religion, faith in Jesus Christ. For they who ask, know their +necessity, are convinced of the power of Him to whom they appeal to +grant their requests, and rely upon His love to do so. And these three +things, the sense of need, the conviction of Christ's ability to save +and to satisfy, and of His infinite love that desires to make us +blessed—these three things fused together make the faith which receives +the gift of God. + +Remember, brethren, that another of the scriptural expressions for the +act of trusting in Him, is _taking_, not asking. You do not need to +ask, as if for something that is not provided. What we all need to do +is to open our eyes to see what is there. If we like to put out our +hands and take it. Why should we be saying, 'Give me to drink,' when a +pierced hand reaches out to us the cup of salvation, and says, 'Drink +ye all of it'? 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come … and drink … +without money and without price.' + +There is no other condition but desire turned to Christ, and that is +the necessary condition. God cannot give men salvation, as veterinary +surgeons drench unwilling horses—forcing the medicine down their +throats through clenched teeth. There must be the opened mouth, and +wherever there is, there will be the full supply. 'Ask, and ye shall +receive'; take, and ye shall possess. + +IV. Lastly, mark the ignorance that prevents asking. + +Jesus Christ looked at this poor woman and discerned in her, though, as +I said, it was hidden beneath mountains of folly and sin, a thirsty +soul that was dimly longing for something better. And He believed that, +if once the mystery of His being and the mercy of God's gifts were +displayed before her, she would melt into a yearning of desire that is +certain to be fulfilled. In some measure the same thing is true of us +all. For surely, surely, if only you saw realities, and things as they +are, some of you would not be content to continue as you are—without +this water of life. Blind, blind, blind, are the men who grope at +noon-day as in the dark and turn away from Jesus. If you knew, not with +the head only, but with the whole nature, if you knew the thirst of +your soul, the sweetness of the water, the readiness of the Giver, and +the dry and parched land to which you condemn yourselves by your +refusal, surely you would bethink yourself and fall at His feet and +ask, and get, the water of life. + +But, brethren, there is a worse case than ignorance; there is the case +of people that know and refuse, not by reason of imperfect knowledge, +but by reason of averted will. And I beseech you to ponder whether that +may not be your condition. 'Whosoever _will_, let him come.' 'Ye _will_ +not come unto Me that ye might have life.' I do not think I venture +much when I say that I am sure there are people hearing me now, not +Christians, who are as certain, deep down in their hearts, that the +only rest of the soul is in God, and the only way to get it is through +Christ, as any saint of God's ever was. But the knowledge does not +touch their will because they like the poison and they do not want the +life. + +Oh! dear friends, the instantaneousness of Christ's answer, and the +certainty of it, are as true for each of us as they were for this +woman. The offer is made to us all, just as it was to her. We can +gather round that Rock like the Israelites in the wilderness, and slake +every thirst of our souls from its outgushing streams. Jesus Christ +says to each of us, as He did to her, tenderly, warningly, invitingly, +and yet rebukingly, 'If thou knewest … thou wouldst ask, … and I would +give.' + +Take care lest, by continual neglect, you force Him at last to change +His words, and to lament over you, as He did over the city that He +loved so well, and yet destroyed. 'If thou _hadst_ known in thy day the +things that belong to thy peace. But now they are hid from thine eyes.' + + + + +THE SPRINGING FOUNTAIN + + +'The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, +springing up into everlasting life.'—JOHN iv. 14. + +There are two kinds of wells, one a simple reservoir, another +containing the waters of a spring. It is the latter kind which is +spoken about here, as is clear not only from the meaning of the word in +the Greek, but also from the description of it as 'springing up.' That +suggests at once the activity of a fountain. A fountain is the emblem +of motion, not of rest. Its motion is derived from itself, not imparted +to it from without. Its 'silvery column' rises ever heavenward, though +gravitation is too strong for it, and drags it back again. + +So Christ promises to this ignorant, sinful Samaritan woman that if she +chose He would plant in her soul a gift which would thus well up, by +its own inherent energy, and fill her spirit with music, and +refreshment, and satisfaction. + +What is that gift? The answer may be put in various ways which really +all come to one. It is Himself, the unspeakable Gift, His own greatest +gift; or it is the Spirit 'which they that believe on Him should +receive,' and whereby He comes and dwells in men's hearts; or it is the +resulting life, kindred with the life bestowed, a consequence of the +indwelling Christ and the present Spirit. + +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 fountain, 'springing up into everlasting +life.' + +I think we shall best get the whole depth and magnitude of this great +promise if, throwing aside all mere artificial order, we simply take +the words as they stand here in the text, and think, first, of Christ's +gift as a fountain within; then as a fountain springing, leaping up, by +its own power; and then as a fountain 'springing into everlasting +life.' + +I. First, Christ's gift is represented here as a fountain within. + +Most men draw their supplies from without; they are rich, happy, +strong, only when externals minister to them strength, happiness, +riches. For the most of us, what we have is that which determines our +felicity. + +Take the lowest type of life, for instance, the men of whom the +majority, alas! I suppose, in every time is composed, who live +altogether on the low plane of the world, and for the world alone, +whether their worldliness take the form of sensuous appetite, or of +desire to acquire wealth and outward possessions. The thirst of the +body is the type of the experience of all such people. It is satisfied +and slaked for a moment, and then back comes the tyrannous appetite +again. And, alas! the things that you drink to satisfy the thirst of +your souls are too often like a publican's adulterated beer, which has +got salt in it, and chemicals, and all sorts of things to stir up, +instead of slaking and quenching, the thirst. So 'he that loveth silver +shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with +increase.' The appetite grows by what it feeds on, and a little lust +yielded to to-day is a bigger one to-morrow, and half a glass to-day +grows to a bottle in a twelvemonth. As the old classical saying has it, +he 'who begins by carrying a calf, before long is able to carry an ox'; +so the thirst in the soul needs and drinks down a constantly increasing +draught. + +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 possesseth,' nor +in the abundance of the gratification that his animal nature gets, but +that there must be an inward spring of satisfaction, if there is to be +any satisfaction at all; if we take men who live for thought, and +truth, and mental culture, and yield themselves up to the enthusiasm +for some great cause, and are proud of saying, 'My mind to me a kingdom +is,' though they present a far higher style of life than the former, +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 changes, and he, +too, has deep in his heart a thirst that nothing, no truth, no wisdom, +no culture, nothing that addresses itself to one part of his nature, +though it be the noblest and the loftiest, can ever satisfy and slake. + +I am sure I have some such people in my audience, and to them this +message comes. You may have, if you will, in your own hearts, a +springing fountain of delight and of blessedness which will secure that +no unsatisfied desires shall ever torment you. Christ in His fulness, +His Spirit, the life that flows from both and is planted within our +hearts, these are offered to us all; and if we have them we carry +inclosed within ourselves all that is essential to our felicity; and we +can say, 'I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be +self-satisfying,' not with the proud, stoical independence of a man who +does not want either God or man to make him blessed, but with the +humble independence of a man who can say 'my sufficiency is of God.' + +No independence of externals is possible, nor wholesome if it were +possible, except that which comes from absolute dependence on Jesus +Christ. + +If you have Christ in your heart then life is possible, peace is +possible, joy is possible, under all circumstances and in all places. +Everything which the soul can desire, it possesses. You will be like +the garrison of a beleaguered castle, in the courtyard of which is a +sparkling spring, fed from some source high up in the mountains, and +finding its way in there by underground channels which no besiegers can +ever touch. Sorrows will come, and make you sad, but though there may +be much darkness round about you, there will be light in the darkness. +The trees may be bare and leafless, but the sap has gone down to the +roots. The world may be all wintry and white with snow, but there will +be a bright little fire burning on your own hearthstone. You will carry +within yourselves all the essentials to blessedness. If you have +'Christ in the vessel' you can smile at the storm. They that drink from +earth's fountains 'shall thirst again'; but they who have Christ in +their hearts will have a fountain within which will not freeze in the +bitterest cold, nor fail in the fiercest heat. 'The water that I shall +give him shall be in him a fountain.' + +II. Christ's gift is a springing fountain. + +The emblem, of course, suggests motion by its own inherent impulse. +Water may be stagnant, or it may yield to the force of gravity and +slide down a descending river-bed, or it may be pumped up and lifted by +external force applied to it, or it may roll as it does in the sea, +drawn by the moon, driven by the winds, borne along by currents that +owe their origin to outward heat or cold. But a fountain rises by an +energy implanted within itself, and is the very emblem of joyous, free, +self-dependent and self-regulated activity. + +And so, says Christ, 'The water that I shall give him shall be in him a +springing fountain'; it shall not lie there stagnant, but leap like a +living thing, up into the sunshine, and flash there, turned into +diamonds, when the bright rays smile upon it. + +So here is the promise of two things: the promise of activity, and of +an activity which is its own law. + +The promise of activity. There seems small blessing, in this overworked +world, in a promise of more active exertion; but what an immense part +of our nature lies dormant and torpid if we are not Christians! How +much of the work that is done is dreary, wearisome, collar-work, +against the grain. Do not the wheels of life often go slowly? Are you +not often weary of the inexpressible monotony and fatigue? And do you +not go to your work sometimes, though with a fierce feeling of +'need-to-do-it,' yet also with inward repugnance? And are there not +great parts of your nature that have never woke into activity at all, +and are ill at ease, because there is no field of action provided for +them? The mind is like millstones; if you do not put the wheat into +them to grind, they will grind each other's faces. So some of us are +fretting ourselves to pieces, or are sick of a vague disease, and are +morbid and miserable because the highest and noblest parts of our +nature have never been brought into exercise. Surely this promise of +Christ's should come as a true Gospel to such, offering, as it does, if +we will trust ourselves to Him, a springing fountain of activity in our +hearts that shall fill our whole being with joyous energy, and make it +a delight to live and to work. It will bring to us new powers, new +motives; it will set all the wheels of life going at double speed. We +shall be quickened by the presence of that mighty power, even as a dim +taper is brightened and flames up when plunged into a jar of oxygen. +And life will be delightsome in its hardest toil, when it is toil for +the sake of, and by the indwelling strength of, that great Lord and +Master of our work. + +And there is not only a promise of activity here, but of activity which +is its own law and impulse. That is a blessed promise in two ways. In +the first place, law will be changed into delight. We shall not be +driven by a commandment standing over us with whip and lash, or coming +behind us with spur and goad, but that which we ought to do we shall +rejoice to do; and inclination and duty will coincide in all our lives +when our life is Christ's life in us. + +That should be a blessing to some of you who have been fighting against +evil and trying to do right with more or less success, more or less +interruptedly and at intervals, and have felt the effort to be a burden +and a wearisomeness. 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 shoulders. When we carry within us the gift of a life +drawn from Jesus Christ, and are able to say like Him, 'Lo, I come to +do Thy will, and Thy law is within my heart,' only then shall we have +peace and joy in our lives. 'The law of the Spirit of life in Christ +Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death.' + +And then, in the second place, that same thought of an activity which +is its own impulse and its own law, suggests another aspect of this +blessedness, namely, that it sets us free from the tyranny of external +circumstances which absolutely shape the lives of so many of us. The +lives of all must be to a large extent moulded by these, but they need +not, and should not be completely determined by them. It is a miserable +thing to see men and women driven before the wind like thistledown. +Circumstances must influence us, but they may either influence us to +base compliance and passive reception of their stamp, or to brave +resistance and sturdy nonconformity to their solicitations. So used, +they will influence us to a firmer possession of the good which is most +opposite to them, and we shall be the more unlike our surroundings, the +more they abound in evil. You can make your choice whether, if I may so +say, 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 along, or like steamers that have an inward power that enables +them to keep their course from whatever point the wind blows, or like +some sharply built sailing-ship that, with a strong hand at the helm, +and canvas rightly set, 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 water. + +I beseech you all, and especially you young people, not to let the +world take and shape you, like a bit of soft clay put into a +brick-mould, but to lay a masterful hand upon it, and compel it to help +you, by God's grace, to be nobler, and truer, and purer. + +It is a shame for men to live the lives that so many amongst us live, +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 +current. It is of no use to preach high and brave maxims, telling men +to assert their lordship over externals, unless we can tell them how to +find the inward power that will enable them to do so. But we can preach +such noble exhortations to some purpose when we can point to the great +gift which Christ is ready to give, 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 God.' 'The water that I shall give him shall be +in him a leaping fountain.' + +III. The last point here is that Christ's gift is a fountain 'springing +up into everlasting life.' + +The water of a fountain rises by its own impulse, but howsoever its +silver column may climb it always falls back into its marble basin. But +this fountain rises higher, and at each successive jet higher, tending +towards, and finally touching, its goal, which is at the same time its +course. The water seeks its own level, and the fountain climbs until it +reaches Him from whom it comes, and the eternal life in which He lives. +We might put that thought in two ways. First, the gift is eternal in +its duration. The water with which the world quenches its thirst +perishes. All supplies and resources dry up like winter torrents in +summer heat. All created good is but for a time. As for some, it +perishes in the use; as for other, it evaporates and passes away, or is +'as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up'; as for +all, we have to leave it behind when we go hence. But this gift springs +into everlasting life, and when we go it goes with us. The Christian +character is identical in both worlds, and however the forms and +details of pursuits may vary, the essential principle remains one. So +that the life of a Christian man on earth and his life in heaven are +but one stream, as it were, which may, indeed, like some of those +American rivers, run for a time through a deep, dark canyon, or in an +underground passage, but comes out at the further end into broader, +brighter plains and summer lands; where it flows with a quieter current +and with the sunshine reflected on its untroubled surface, into the +calm ocean. He has one gift and one life for earth and heaven—Christ +and His Spirit, and the life that is consequent upon both. + +And then the other side of this great thought is that the gift tends +to, is directed towards, or aims at and reaches, everlasting life. The +whole of the Christian experience on earth is a prophecy and an +anticipation of heaven. The whole of the Christian experience of earth +evidently aims towards that as its goal, and is interpreted by that as +its end. What a contrast that is to the low and transient aims which so +many of us have! The lives of many men go creeping along the surface +when they might spring heavenwards. My friend! which is it to be with +you? Is your life to be like one of those Northern Asiatic rivers that +loses itself in the sands, or that flows into, or is sluggishly lost +in, a bog; or is it going to tumble over a great precipice, and fall +sounding away down into the blackness; or is it going to leap up 'into +everlasting life'? Which of the two aims is the wiser, is the nobler, +is the better? + +And a life that thus springs will reach what it springs towards. A +fountain rises and falls, for the law of gravity takes it down; this +fountain rises and reaches, for the law of pressure takes it up, and +the water rises to the level of its source. Christ's gift mocks no man, +it sets in motion no hopes that it does not fulfil; it stimulates to no +work that it does not crown with success. If you desire a life that +reaches its goal, a life in which all your desires are satisfied, a +life that is full of joyous energy, that of a free man emancipated from +circumstances and from the tyranny of unwelcome law, and victorious +over externals, open your hearts to the gift that Christ offers you; +the gift of Himself, of His death and passion, of His sacrifice and +atonement, of His indwelling and sanctifying Spirit. + +He offered all the fulness of that grace to this Samaritan woman, in +her ignorance, in her profligacy, in her flippancy. He offers it to +you. His offer awoke an echo in her heart, will it kindle any response +in yours? Oh! when He says to you, 'The water that I shall give will be +in you a fountain springing into everlasting life,' I pray you to +answer as she did—'Sir!—Lord—give me this water, that I thirst not; +neither come to earth's broken cisterns to draw.' + + + + +THE SECOND MIRACLE + + +'This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when He was come out +of Judaea into Galilee.'—JOHN iv. 54. + +The Evangelist evidently intends us to connect together the two +miracles in Cana. His object may, possibly, be mainly chronological, +and to mark the epochs in our Lord's ministry. But we cannot fail to +see how remarkably these two miracles are contrasted. The one takes +place at a wedding, a homely scene of rural festivity and gladness. But +life has deeper things in it than gladness, and a Saviour who preferred +the house of feasting to the house of mourning would be no Saviour for +us. The second miracle, then, turns to the darker side of human +experience. The happiest home has its saddened hours; the truest +marriage joy has associated with it many a care and many an anxiety. +Therefore, He who began by breathing blessing over wedded joy goes on +to answer the piteous pleading of parental anxiety. It was fitting that +the first miracle should deal with gladness, for that is God's purpose +for His creatures, and that the second should deal with sicknesses and +sorrows, which are additions to that purpose made needful by sin. + +Again, the first miracle was wrought without intercession, as the +outcome of Christ's own determination that His hour for working it was +come. The second miracle was drawn from Him by the imperfect faith and +the agonising pleading of the father. + +But the great peculiarity of this second miracle in Cana is that it is +moulded throughout so as to develop and perfect a weak faith. Notice +how there are three words in the narrative, each of which indicates a +stage in the history. 'Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not +_believe_.' … 'The man _believed_ the word that Jesus had spoken unto +him, and he went his way.' … 'Himself _believed_ and his whole house.' + +We have here, then, Christ manifested as the Discerner, the Rebuker, +the Answerer, and therefore the Strengthener, of a very insufficient +and ignorant faith. It is a lovely example of the truth of that ancient +prophecy, 'He will not quench the smoking flax.' So these three stages, +as it seems to me, are the three points to observe. We have, first of +all, Christ lamenting over an imperfect faith. Then we have Him +testing, and so strengthening, a growing faith. And then we have the +absent Christ rewarding and crowning a tested faith. I think if we look +at these three stages in the story we shall get the main points which +the Evangelist intends us to observe. + +I. First, then, we have here our Lord lamenting over an ignorant and +sensuous faith. + +At first sight His words, in response to the hurried, eager appeal of +the father, seem to be strangely unfeeling, far away from the matter in +hand. Think of how breathlessly, feeling that not an instant is to be +lost, the poor man casts himself at the Master's feet, and pleads that +his boy is 'at the point of death.' And just think how, like a dash of +cold water upon this hot impatience, must have come these strange words +that seem to overleap his case altogether, and to be gazing beyond +him—'Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe.' 'What has +that to do with me and my dying boy, and my impatient agony of +petition?' 'It has everything to do with you.' + +It is the revelation, first of all, of Christ's singular calmness and +majestic leisure, which befitted Him who needed not to hurry, because +He was conscious of absolute power. As when the pleading message was +sent to Him: 'He whom Thou lovest is sick, He abode still two days in +the same place where He was'; because He loved Lazarus and Martha and +Mary; and just as when Jairus is hurrying Him to the bed where his +child lies dead, He pauses on the way to attend to the petition of +another sufferer; so, in like calmness of majestic leisure, He here +puts aside the apparently pressing and urgent necessity in order to +deal with a far deeper, more pressing one. + +For in the words there is not only a revelation of our Lord's majestic +leisure, but there is also an indication of what He thought of most +importance in His dealing with men. It was worthy of His care to heal +the boy; it was far more needful that He should train and lead the +father to faith. The one can wait much better than the other. + +And there is in the words, too, something like a sigh of profound +sorrow. Christ is not so much rebuking as lamenting. It is His own +pained heart that speaks; He sees in the man before Him more than the +man's words indicated; reading his heart with that divine omniscience +which pierces beyond the surface, and beholding in him the very same +evil which affected all his countrymen. So He speaks to him as one of a +class, and thus somewhat softens the rebuke even while the answer to +the nobleman's petition seems thereby to become still less direct, 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 feet. + +Christ had just come from Samaria, the scorn of the Jews, and there He +had found people who needed no miracles, whose conception of the +Messiah was not that of a mere wonder-worker, but of one who will 'tell +us all things,' and who believed on Him not because of the portents +which He wrought, but because they heard Him themselves, and His words +touched their consciences and stirred strange longings in their hearts. +On the other hand, 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 miracles, and had +been therefore regarded by Christ Himself as quite unreliable (chap. +ii. 23-25), while even Nicodemus, the Pharisee, had seen no better +reason for regarding Him as a divinely sent Teacher than 'these +miracles that Thou doest.' And now here He is no sooner across the +border again than the same spirit meets Him. He hears it even in the +pleading, tearful tones of the father's voice, and that so clearly that +it is for a moment more prominent even to His pity than the agony and +the prayer. And over that Christ sorrows. Why? Because, to their own +impoverishing, the nobleman and his fellows were blind to all the +beauty of His character. The graciousness of His nature was nothing to +them. They had no eyes for His tenderness and no ears for His wisdom; +but if some vulgar sign had been wrought before them, then they would +have run after Him with their worthless faith. And that struck a +painful chord in Christ's heart when He thought of how all the +lavishing of His love, all the grace and truth which shone radiant and +lambent in His life, fell upon blind eyes, incapable of beholding His +beauty; and of how the manifest revelation of a Godlike character had +no power to do what could be done by a mere outward wonder. + +This is not to disparage the 'miraculous evidence.' It is only to put +in its proper place the spirit, which was blind to the self-attesting +glory of His character, which beheld it and did not recognise it as +'the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father.' + +That very same blindness to the divine which is in Jesus Christ, +because material things alone occupy the heart and appeal to the mind, +is still the disease of humanity. It still drives a knife into the +loving heart of the pitying and helpful Christ. The special form which +it takes in such a story as this before us is long since gone. The +sense-bound people of this generation do not ask for signs. Miracles +are rather a hindrance than a help to the reception of Christianity in +many quarters. People are more willing to admire, after a fashion, the +beauty of Christ's character, and the exalted purity of His teaching +(meaning thereby, generally, the parts of it which are not exclusively +His), than to accept His miracles. So far round has the turn in the +wheel gone in these days. + +But although the form is entirely different the spirit still remains. +Are there not plenty of us to whom sense is the only certitude? We +think that the only knowledge is the knowledge that comes to us from +that which we can see and touch and handle, and the inferences that we +may draw from these; and to many all that world of thought and beauty, +all those divine manifestations of tenderness and grace, are but mist +and cloudland. Intellectually, though in a somewhat modified sense, +this generation has to take the rebuke: 'Except ye see, ye will not +believe.' + +And practically do not the great mass of men regard the material world +as all-important, and work done or progress achieved there as alone +deserving the name of 'work' or 'progress,' while all the glories of a +loving Christ are dim and unreal to their sense-bound eyes? Is it not +true to-day, as it was in the old time, that if a man would come among +you, and bring you material good, that would be the prophet for you? +True wisdom, beauty, elevating thoughts, divine revelations; all these +go over your heads. But when a man comes and multiplies loaves, then +you say, 'This is of a truth the prophet that should come into the +world.' 'Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.' + +And on the other side, is it not sadly true about those of us who have +the purest and the loftiest faith, that we feel often as if it was very +hard, almost impossible, to keep firm our grasp of One who never is +manifested to our sense? Do we not often feel, 'O that I could for +once, for once only, hear a voice that would speak to my outward ear, +or see some movement of a divine hand'? The loftiest faith still leans +towards, and has an hankering after, some external and visible +manifestation, and we need to subject ourselves to the illuminating +rebuke of the Master who says, 'Except ye see signs and wonders, ye +will not believe,' and, therefore, your faith that craves the support +of some outward thing, and often painfully feels that it is feeble +without it, is as yet but very imperfect and rudimentary. + +II. And so we have here, as the next stage of the narrative, our Lord +testing, and thus strengthening, a growing faith. + +The nobleman's answer to our Lord's strange words sounds, at first +sight, as if these had passed over him, producing no effect at all. +'Sir, come down ere my child die'; it is almost as if he had said, 'Do +not talk to me about these things at present. Come and heal my boy. +That is what I want; and we will speak of other matters some other +time.' But it is not exactly that. Clearly enough, at all events, he +did not read in Christ's words a reluctance to yield to his request, +still less a refusal of it. Clearly he did not misunderstand the sad +rebuke which they conveyed, else he would not have ventured to +reiterate his petition. He does not pretend to anything more than he +has, he does not seek to disclaim the condemnation that Christ brings +against him, nor to assume that he has a loftier degree or a purer kind +of faith than he possesses. He holds fast by so much of Christ's +character as he can apprehend; and that is the beginning of all +progress. What he knows he knows. He has sore need; that is something. +He has come to the Helper; that is more. He is only groping after Him, +but he will not say a word beyond what he knows and feels; and, +therefore, there is something in him to work upon; and faith is already +beginning to bud and blossom. And so his prayer is his best answer to +Christ's word: 'Sir, come down ere my child die.' + +Ah! dear brethren, any true man who has ever truly gone to Christ with +a sense even of some outward and temporal need, and has ever really +prayed at all, has often to pass through this experience, that the +first result of his agonising cry shall be only the revelation to him +of the unworthiness and imperfection of his own faith, and that there +shall seem to be strange delay in the coming of the blessing so longed +for. And the true attitude for a man to take when there is unveiled +before him, in his consciousness, in answer to his cry for help, the +startling revelation of his own unworthiness and imperfection—the true +answer to such dealing is simply to reiterate the cry. And then the +Master bends to the petition, and because He sees that the second +prayer has in it less of sensuousness than the first, and that some +little germ of a higher faith is beginning to open, He yields, and yet +He does not yield. 'Sir, come down ere my child die.' Jesus saith unto +him, 'Go thy way, thy son liveth.' + +Why did He not go with the suppliant? Why, in the act of granting, does +He refuse? For the suppliant's sake. The whole force and beauty of the +story come out yet more vividly if we take the contrast between it and +the other narrative, which presents some points of similarity with +it—that of the healing of the centurion's servant at Capernaum. There +the centurion prays that Christ would but speak, and Christ says, 'I +will come.' There the centurion does not feel that His presence is +necessary, but that His word is enough. Here the nobleman says 'Come,' +because it has never entered his mind that Christ can do anything +unless He stands like a doctor by the boy's bed. And he says, too, +'Come, _ere my child die_,' because it has never entered his mind that +Christ can do anything if his boy has once passed the dark threshold. + +And because his faith is thus feeble, Christ refuses its request, +because He knows that so to refuse is to strengthen. Asked but to +'speak' by a strong faith, He rewards it by more than it prays, and +offers to 'come.' Asked to 'come' by a weak faith, He rewards it by +less, which yet is more, than it had requested; and refuses to come, +that He may heal at a distance; and thus manifests still more +wondrously His power and His grace. + +His gentle and wise treatment is telling; and he who was so sense-bound +that 'unless he saw signs and wonders he would not believe,' turns and +goes away, bearing the blessing, as he trusts, in his hands, while yet +there is no sign whatever that he has received it. + +Think of what a change had passed upon that man in the few moments of +his contact with Christ. When he ran to His feet, all hot and +breathless and impatient, with his eager plea, he sought only for the +deliverance of his boy, and sought it at the moment, and cared for +nothing else. When he goes away from Him, a little while afterwards, he +has risen to this height, that he believes the bare word, and turns his +back upon the Healer, and sets his face to Capernaum in the confidence +that he possesses the unseen gift. So has his faith grown. + +And that is what you and I have to do. We have Christ's bare word, and +no more, to trust to for everything. We must be content to go out of +the presence-chamber of the King with only His promise, and to cleave +to that. A feeble faith requires the support of something sensuous and +visible, as some poor trailing plant needs a prop round which it may +twist its tendrils. A stronger faith strides away from the Master, +happy and peaceful in its assured possession of a blessing for which it +has nothing to rely upon but a simple bare word. That is the faith that +we have to exercise. Christ has spoken. That was enough for this man, +who from the babyhood of Christian experience sprang at once to its +maturity. Is it enough for you? Are you content to say, 'Thy word, Thy +naked word, is all that I need, for Thou hast spoken, and Thou wilt do +it'? + +'Go thy way; thy son liveth.' What a test! Suppose the father had not +gone his way, would his son have lived? No! The son's life and the +father's reception from Christ of what he asked were suspended upon +that one moment. Will he trust Him, or will he not? Will he linger, or +will he depart? He departs, and in the act of trusting he gets the +blessing, and his boy is saved. + +And look how the narrative hints to us of the perfect confidence of the +father now. Cana was only a few miles from Capernaum. 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 +hours; but it was the next day, and well on into the next day, before +he met the servants that came to him with the news of his boy's +recovery. So sure was he that his petition was answered that he did not +hurry to return home, but leisurely and quietly went onwards the next +day to his child. Think of the difference between the breathless rush +up to Cana, and the quiet return from it. 'He that believeth shall not +make haste.' + +III. And so, lastly, we have here the absent Christ crowning and +rewarding the faith which has been tested. + +We have the picture of the father's return. The servants meet him. +Their message, which they deliver before he has time to speak, is +singularly a verbal repetition of the promise of the Master, 'Thy son +liveth.' His faith, though it be strong, has not yet reached to the +whole height of the blessing, for he inquires 'at what hour he began to +_amend_,' expecting some slow and gradual recovery; and he is told +'that at the seventh hour,' the hour when the Master spoke, 'the fever +left him,' and all at once and completely was he cured. So, more than +his faith had expected is given to him; and Christ, when he lays His +hand upon a man, does His work thoroughly, though not always at once. + +Why was the miracle wrought in that strange fashion? Why did our Lord +fling out His power as from a distance rather than go and stand at the +boy's bedside? We have already seen the reason in the peculiar +condition of the father's mind; but now notice what it was that he had +learned by such a method of healing, not only the fact of Christ's +healing power, but also the fact that the bare utterance of His will, +whether He were present or absent, had power. And so a loftier +conception of Christ would begin to dawn on him. + +And for us that working of Christ at a distance is prophetic. It +represents to us His action to-day. Still He answers our cries that He +would come down to our help by sending forth from the city on the +hills, the city of the wedding feast, His healing power to descend upon +the sick-beds and the sorrows and the sins that afflict the villages +beneath. 'He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth, His word runneth +very swiftly.' + +This new experience enlarged and confirmed the man's faith. The second +stage to which he had been led by Christ's treatment was simply belief +in our Lord's specific promise, an immense advance on his first +position of belief which needed sight as its basis. + +But he had not yet come to the full belief of, and reliance upon, that +Healer recognised as Messiah. But the experience which he now has had, +though it be an experience based upon miracle, is the parent of a faith +which is not merely the child of wonder, nor the result of beholding an +outward sign. And so we read:—'So the father knew that it was at the +same hour in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth. And himself +believed and his whole house.' + +A partial faith brings experience which confirms and enlarges faith; +and they who dimly apprehend Him, and yet humbly love Him, and +imperfectly trust Him, will receive into their bosoms such large gifts +of His love and gracious Spirit that their faith will be strengthened, +and they will grow into the full stature of peaceful confidence. + +The way to increase faith is to exercise faith. And the true parent of +perfect faith is the experience of the blessings that come from the +crudest, rudest, narrowest, blindest, feeblest faith that a man can +exercise. Trust Him as you can, do not be afraid of inadequate +conceptions, or of a feeble grasp. Trust Him as you can, and He will +give you so much more than you expected that you will trust Him more, +and be able to say: 'Now I believe, because I have heard Him myself, +and know that this is the Christ, the Saviour of the world.' + + + + +THE THIRD MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL + + +'Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.'—JOHN v.8 + +This third of the miracles recorded in John's Gospel finds a place +there, as it would appear, for two reasons: first, because it marks the +beginning of the angry unbelief on the part of the Jewish rulers, the +development of which it is one part of the purpose of this Gospel to +trace; second, because it is the occasion for that great utterance of +our Lord about His Sonship and His divine working as the Father also +works, which occupies the whole of the rest of the chapter, and is the +foundation of much which follows in the Gospel. It is for these +reasons, and not for the mere sake of adding another story of a +miraculous cure to the many which the other Evangelists have given us, +that John narrates for us this history. + +If, then, we consider the reason for the introduction of the miracle +into the Gospel, we may be saved from the necessity of dwelling, except +very lightly, upon some of the preliminary details which preceded the +actual cure. It does not matter much to us for our present purpose +which Feast it was on which Jesus went up to Jerusalem, nor whether the +pool was by the sheep-market or by the sheep-gate, nor whereabouts in +Jerusalem Bethesda might happen to be. 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 narrative. The true text only tells us of +an intermittent pool which possessed, or was supposed to possess, +curative energy; and round which the kindness of some forgotten +benefactor had built five rude porches. There lay a crowd of wasted +forms, and pale, sorrowful faces, with all varieties of pain and +emaciation and impotence marked upon them, who yet were gathered in +Bethesda, which being interpreted means 'a house of mercy.' It is the +type of a world full of men suffering various sicknesses, but all sick; +the type of a world that gathers with an eagerness, not far removed +from despair, round anything that seems to promise, however vaguely, to +help and to heal; the type of a world, blessed be God, which, amidst +all its sad variety of woe and weariness, yet sits in the porches of 'a +house of mercy,' and has in the midst a 'fountain opened for sin and +for uncleanness,' whose energy is as mighty for the last comer of all +the generations as for the first that stepped into its cleansing flood. + +This poor man, sick and impotent for eight and thirty years—many of +which he had spent, as it would appear, day by day, wearily dragging +his paralysed limbs to the fountain with daily diminishing hope—this +poor man attracts the regard of Christ when He enters, and He puts to +him the strange question, 'Wilt thou be made whole?' Surely there was +no need to ask that; but no doubt the many disappointments and the long +years of waiting and of suffering had stamped apathy upon the +sufferer's face, and Christ saw that the first thing that was needed, +in order that His healing power might have a point of contact in the +man's nature, was to kindle some little flicker of hope in him once +more. + +And so, no doubt, with a smile on His face, which converted the +question into an offer, He says: 'Wilt thou be made whole?' meaning +thereby to say, 'I will heal thee if thou wilt.' And there comes the +weary answer, as if the man had said: 'Will I be made whole? What have +I been lying here all these years for? I have nobody to put me into the +pool.' + +Yes, it is a hopeful prospect to hold out to a man whose disease is +inability to walk, that if he will walk to the water he will get cured, +and be able to walk afterwards. Why, he could not even roll himself +into the pond, and so there he had lain, a type of the hopeless efforts +at self-healing which we sick men put forth, a type of the tantalising +gospels which the world preaches to its subjects when it says to a +paralysed man: 'Walk that you may be healed; keep the commandments that +you may enter into life.' + +And so we have come at last to the main point of the narrative before +us, and I fix upon these words, the actual words in which the cure was +conveyed, as communicating to us some very important lessons and +thoughts about Christ and our relation to Him. + +I. First, I see in them Christ manifesting Himself as the Giver of +power to the powerless who trust Him. + +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 impracticable. He, too, says, 'Walk that you may be cured'; +and He says it to a paralysed and impotent man. But the two things are +very different, for before this cripple could attempt to drag his +impotent limbs into an upright position, and take up the little light +couch and sling it over his shoulders, he must have had some kind of +trust in the person that told him to do so. A very ignorant trust, no +doubt, it was; but all that was set before him about Jesus Christ he +grasped and rested upon. He only knew Him as a Healer, and he trusted +Him as such. The contents of a man's faith have nothing to do with the +reality of his faith; and he that, having only had the healing power of +Christ revealed to him, lays hold of that Healer, 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 him, and who cleaves to these. The hand that grasps is one, +whatsoever be the thing that it grasps. + +So it is no spiritualising of this story, or reading into it a deeper +and more religious meaning than belongs to it, to say that what passed +in that man's heart and mind before he caught up his little bed and +walked away with it, was essentially the same action of mind and heart +by which a sinful man, who knows that Christ is his Redeemer, grasps +His Cross and trusts his soul to Him. In the one case, as in the other, +there is confidence in the person; only in the one case the person was +only known as a Healer, and in the other the person is known as a +Saviour. But the faith is the same whatever it apprehends. + +Christ comes and says to him, 'Rise, take up thy bed and walk.' There +is a movement of confidence in the man's heart; he tries to obey, and +in the act of obedience the power comes to him. + +Ah, brother! it is always so. All Christ's commandments are gifts. When +He says to you, 'Do this!' He pledges Himself to give you power to do +it. Whatsoever He enjoins He strengthens for. He binds Himself, by His +commandments, and every word of His lips which says to us 'Thou shalt!' +contains as its kernel a word of His which says 'I will.' So when He +commands, He bestows; and we get the power to keep His commandments +when in humble faith we make the effort to do His will. It is only when +we try to obey for the love's sake of Him that has healed us that we +are able to obey. And be sure of this, whensoever we attempt to do what +we know to be the Master's will, because He has given Himself for us, +our power will be equal to our desire, and enough for our duty. As St. +Augustine says: 'Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou +wilt.' + +'Rise, take up thy bed and walk,' or as in another case, 'Stretch forth +thy hand.' 'And he stretched it forth, and his hand was restored whole +as the other.' Christ gives power to keep His commandments to the +impotent who try to obey, because they have been healed by Him. + +II. In the next place, we have in this miracle our Lord set forth as +the absolute Master, because He is the Healer. + +The Pharisees and their friends had no eyes for the miracle; but if +they found a man carrying his light couch on the Sabbath day, that was +a thing that excited their interest, and must be seen to immediately. + +And so, paying no attention to the fact that it was a paralysed man who +was doing this, with the true narrow instinct of the formalist, they +lay hold only of the fact of the broken Rabbinical restrictions, and +try to stop him with these. 'It is the Sabbath day! It is not lawful +for thee to carry thy bed.' + +And they get an answer which goes a great deal deeper than the speaker +knew, and puts the whole subject of Christian obedience on its right +footing. 'He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto +me, Take up thy bed and walk.' As if he had said: 'He gave me the +power, had He not a right to tell me what to do with it? It was His +gift that I could lift my bed; was I not bound to walk when and where +He that had made me able to walk at all chose to bid me?' + +And if you generalise that it just comes to this: the only person that +has a right to command you is the Christ who saves you. He has the +absolute authority to do as He will with your restored spiritual +powers, because He has bestowed them all upon you. His dominion is +built upon His benefits. He is the King because He is the Saviour. He +rules because He has redeemed. He begins with giving, and it is only +afterwards that He commands; and He turns to each of us with that smile +upon His lips, and with tenderness in His voice which will bind any +man, who is not an ingrate, to Him for ever. 'If ye love Me, keep My +commandments.' + +There is always something hard and distasteful to the individual will +in the tone of authority assumed by any man whatsoever. We always more +or less rebel and shrink from that; and there is only one thing that +makes commandment sweet, and that is when it drops like honey from the +honeycomb, from lips that we love. So does it in the case of Christ's +commands to us. It is joy to know and to do the will of One to whom the +whole heart turns with gratitude and affection. And Christ blesses and +privileges us by the communication to us of His pleasure concerning us, +that we may have the gladness of yielding to His desires, and so +meeting the love which commands with the happy love which obeys. 'He +that made me whole, the same said unto me…' and what He says it must be +joy to do. + +So, 'My yoke is easy and My burden is light,' not because Christ +diminishes the requirements of law; not because the standard of +Christian obedience is lowered beneath any other standard of conduct +and character. It is far higher. The things which make Christian duty +are often very painful in themselves. There is always self-sacrifice in +Christian virtue, and self-sacrifice has always a sting in it; but the +'yoke is easy and the burden is light,' because, if I may so say, the +yoke is padded with the softest velvet of love, and lies upon our necks +lightly because He has laid it there. All the rigid harshness of +precept is done away when the precept comes from Christ's lips, and His +commandment 'makes the crooked things straight and the rough places +plain'; and turns duty, distasteful duty, into joyful service. The +blessed basis of Christian obedience, and of Christ's authority, is +Christ's redemption. + +III. And then, still further, we have here our Lord setting Himself +forth as the divine Son, whose working needs and knows no rest. + +We find, in the subsequent part of the chapter, that 'the Jews,' as +they are called, by which is meant the antagonistic portion of the +nation, sought to slay Christ 'because He had done these things on the +Sabbath day.' But Jesus answered them, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and +I work.' 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 of. He meant to draw attention to His sweeping aside +of the Rabbinical casuistries of the law of the Sabbath. And He meant +to do it in order that He might have the occasion of making this mighty +claim, which is lodged in these solemn and profound words, to possess a +Sonship, which, like the divine working, wrought, needing and knowing +no repose. + +'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' The rest, which the old story +in Genesis attributed to the Creator after the Creation, was not to be +construed as if it meant the rest of inactivity; but it was the rest of +continuous action. God's rest and God's work are one. Throughout all +the ages preservation is a continuous creation. The divine energy is +streaming out for evermore, as the bush that burns unconsumed, as the +sun that flames undiminished for ever, pouring out from the depth of +that divine nature, and for ever sustaining a universe. So that there +is no Sabbath, in the sense of a cessation from action, proper to the +divine nature; because all His action is repose, and 'e'en in His very +motion there is rest.' And this divine coincidence of activity and of +repose belongs to the divine Son in His divine-human nature. With that +arrogance which is the very audacity of blasphemy, if it be not the +simplicity of a divine consciousness, He puts His own work side by side +with the Father's work, as the same in principle, the same in method, +the same in purpose, the same in its majestic coincidence of repose and +of energy. + +'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore for Me, as for Him, +there is no need of a Sabbath of repose.' Human activity is dissipated +by toil, human energy is exhausted by expenditure. Man works and is +weary; man works and is distracted. For the recovery of the serenity of +his spirit, and for the renewal of his physical strength, repose of +body and gathering in of mind, such as the Sabbath brought, were +needed; but neither is needed for Him who toils unwearied in the +heavens; and neither is needed for the divine nature of Him who labours +in labours parallel with the Father's here upon the earth. + +Now remember that this is no abolition of the Sabbatic rest for +Christ's followers. Rather the ground on which He here asserts His +superiority over, and His non-dependence upon, such a repose shows, or +at all events implies, that all mere human workers need such rest, and +should thankfully accept it. But it is a claim on His part to a divine +equality. It is a claim on His part to do works which are other than +human works. It is a claim on His part to be the Lord of a divine +institution, living above the need of it, and able to mould it at His +will. + +And so it opens up depths, into which we cannot go now, of the +relations of that divine Father and that divine Son; and makes us feel +that the little incident in which He turned to a paralysed man and +said: 'Rise, take up thy bed and walk,' on the Sabbath day, like some +small floating leaf of sea-weed upon the surface, has great deep +tendrils that go down and down into the very abyss of things, and lays +hold upon that central truth of Christianity, the divinity of the Son +of God, who is One with the ever-working Father. + +IV. Lastly, we have in this incident yet another lesson. We have the +Healer who is also the Judge, warning the healed of the possibilities +of a relapse. + +'Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art +made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.' The man's +eight-and-thirty years of illness had apparently been brought on by +dissipation. It was a sin of flesh, avenged in the flesh, that had +given him that miserable life. One would have thought he had got +warning enough, but we all know the old proverb about what happened +when the devil was ill, and what befell his resolutions when he got +better. And so Christ comes to him again with this solemn warning: +'There is a worse thing than eight-and-thirty years of paralysis. You +fell once, and sore was your punishment. If you fall twice, your +punishment will be sorer.' Why? Because the first one had done him no +good. So here are lessons for us. There is always danger that we shall +fall back into old sins, even if we think we have overcome them. The +mystic influence of habit, enfeebled will, the familiar temptation, the +imagination rebelling, the memory tempting, sometimes even, as in the +case of a man that has been a drunkard, 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 again. + +And such a fall is not only more criminal than the former, it is more +deadly than the former. 'It were better for them not to have known the +way of righteousness, than after they have known it to turn aside.' +'The last state of that man is worse than the first.' + +My brother, there is no blacker condemnation; and if I may use a strong +word, there is no hotter hell, than that which belongs to an apostate +Christian. 'It has happened unto them according to the true proverb. +The dog is turned to his vomit again.' Very unpolite, a very coarse +metaphor? Yes; to express a far worse reality. + +Christian men and women! you have been made whole. 'Sin no more, lest a +worse thing come unto you.' And turn to that Lord and say, 'Hold Thou +me up and I shall be saved.' Then the enemies will not be able to +recapture you, and the chains which have dropped from your wrists will +never enclose them any more. + + + + +THE LIFE-GIVER AND JUDGE + + +'But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18. +Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had +broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making +Himself equal with God. 19. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, +Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but +what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these +also doeth the Son likewise. 20. For the Father loveth the Son, and +sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth: and He will shew Him greater +works than these, that ye may marvel. 21. For as the Father raiseth up +the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. +22. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto +the Son: 23. That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour +the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father +which hath sent Him. 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that +heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting +life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death +unto life. 25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and +now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they +that hear shall live. 26. For as the Father hath life in Himself; so +hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; 27. And hath given +Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of +Man.'—JOHN v. 17-27. + +'The Jews' were up in arms because Jesus had delivered a man from +thirty-eight years of misery. They had no human sympathies for the +sufferer, whom hope deferred had made sick and hopeless, but they +shuddered at the breach of the Sabbath. 'Sacrifice' was more important +in their view than 'mercy.' They did not acknowledge that the miracle +proved Christ's Messiahship, but they were quite sure that doing it on +the Sabbath proved His wickedness. How formalism twists men's judgments +of the relative magnitude of form and spirit! + +Jesus' vindication of His action roused them still farther, for He put +it on a ground which seemed to them nothing short of blasphemy: 'My +Father worketh even until now, and I work.' They fastened on one point +in that great saying, namely, that it claimed Sonship in a special +sense, and vindicated His right to disregard the Sabbath law on that +ground. God's rest is not inaction. 'Preservation is a continual +creation.' All being subsists because God is ever working. The Son +co-operates with the Father, and for Him, as for the Father, the +Sabbath law does not apply. The charge of breaking the Sabbath fades +into insignificance before the sin, in the objectors' eyes, of making +such claims. Therefore our Lord proceeds to expand and justify them. + +He makes, first, a general statement in verses 19 and 20, in which He +sets forth the relation involved in the very idea of Fatherhood and +Sonship. He, as perfect Son of God, is perfectly one with the Father in +will and act, and so knit to Him in sympathy that a self-originated +action is impossible, not by reason of defect of power, but by reason +of unity of being. That perfect unity is expressed negatively ('can do +nothing') and then positively ('doeth likewise'). But it is not +manifest in actions alone, but has its deep roots in the perfect love +which flows ever from each to each, and in the Father's perfect +communication to the Son, and the Son's perfect reception from the +Father. Jesus claimed to stand in such a relation to the Father that He +was able to do whatsoever the Father did, and 'in like manner' as the +Father did it; that He was the unique object of the Father's love, and +capable of receiving complete communications as to 'all things that +Himself doeth'; that He lived in such complete unity with the Father +that His every act was the result of it, and that no trace of self-will +had ever tinged His perfect spirit. What man has ever made such claims +and not been treated as insane? He makes them, and likewise says that +He is 'lowly of heart'; and the world listens, if not believing, at any +rate reverent, as in the presence of the best man that ever lived. +Strange goodness, to claim such divine prerogatives, unless the claim +is valid! + +It is expanded in verses 21-23 into two great classes of works, which +Jesus says that He does. Both are distinctively divine works. To give +life and to judge the world are equally beyond human power; they are +equally His actions. These are the 'greater works' which He foretells +in verse 20, and they are greater than the miracle of healing which had +originated the whole conversation. To give life at first, and to give +it again to the dead, and not only to revivify, but to raise them, are +plainly competent to no power short of the divine; and here Jesus +calmly claims them. + +That tremendous claim is here made in the widest sense, including both +the corporeally and the spiritually dead, who are afterwards treated of +separately. The Son is the fountain of life in all the aspects of that +wide-reaching word; and He 'quickeneth whom He will,' as He had +spontaneously healed the impotent man. Does that assertion contradict +the other, just before it, that He does nothing of Himself? No; for His +will, while His, is ever harmonious with the Father's, just as His +love, which is ever coincident with the Father's. Does that assertion +imply His arbitrary pleasure, or make man's will a cipher? No; for His +will is guided by righteous love, and wills to quicken those who comply +with His conditions. But the assertion does declare that His will to +quicken is omnipotent, and that His voice can pierce 'the dull, cold +ear of death,' and bring back the soul to the empty house of this +tabernacle, or rouse the spirit 'dead in trespasses.' + +The other divine prerogative of judging is inseparable from that of +revivifying, and in regard to it Christ's claim is still higher, for He +says that it is wholly vested in Him as Son. The idea of judgment here, +like that of quickening, with which it is associated, is to be taken in +its more general sense ('_all_ judgment'), and therefore as including +both the present judgment, for which Jesus said that He was come into +the world, and which men pass on themselves by the very fact of their +attitude to Him and His Gospel, and also the future final judgment, +which manifests character and determines destiny. Both these has the +Father given into the hands of the Son. + +The purpose, so far as men are concerned, of the Son's investiture, +with these solemn prerogatives, is that He may receive universal divine +honour. A narrower purpose was stated in verse 20, where the persons +seeing His works are only His then audience, and the effect sought to +be produced is merely 'marvel.' But wonder is meant to lead on to +recognition of the meaning of His power, and of the mystery of His +person, and that, again, to rendering to Him precisely the same honour +as is due to the Father. No more unmistakable demand for worship, no +more emphatic assertion of divinity, can be made than lie in these +words. To worship Christ does not intercept the honour due to God; to +worship the Son is to worship the Father; and no man honours the Father +who sent Him who does not honour the Son whom He has sent. + +In verses 24-27 the two related prerogatives are presented in their +spiritual aspect, while in the later verses of the chapter the +resurrection and quickening of the literally dead are dealt with. Mark +the significant new term introduced in verse 24, 'He that believeth.' +That spiritual resurrection from the death of sin and self is wrought +on 'whom He will,' but He wills that it shall be wrought on them who +believe. Similarly, in verse 25, it is 'they that hear' who 'shall +live.' It must be so, for there is no other way by which life from Him, +who is the Life, can pass into and quicken us than by our opening our +hearts by faith for its inflow. The mysteries of the Son's divinity and +of His imparted life are deep, but the condition of receiving that life +is plain. If we will trust Jesus, we shall live; if not, we are dead. +Trusting Him is trusting the Father that sent Him, and that Father +becomes accessible to our trust when we 'hear' Christ's 'word.' + +The effects of faith are immediate, and the poor present may be +enriched and clothed in celestial light for each of us, if we will. For +Jesus does not point first to the mysteries of the resurrection of the +dead, and the tremendous solemnities of the final judgment, but to what +we may each enter upon at any moment. The believing man '_hath_ eternal +life,' and 'cometh not into judgment.' That life is not reserved to be +entered on in the blessed future, but is a present possession. True, it +will blossom into unexampled nobleness when it is transported into its +native country, like some exotic in our colder climates if it were +carried back to the tropics. But it is a present possession, and heaven +is not different in kind from the Christian life on earth, but differs +mainly in degree and in circumstances. And he that has the life here +and now is, by its moulding of his outward life, preserved from the +sins which would bring him into judgment, and the merciful judgment to +which he is still subject is that for which his truest self longs. And +that blessed condition carries in it the pledge that, at the last great +day, which is to others a 'day of wrath, a dreadful day,' he whom +Christ has quickened by His own indwelling life shall have 'boldness +before Him.' + +Obviously, in these verses the present effects of faith are in view, +since Jesus emphatically declares that the 'hour now is' when they can +be realised. Once more He states in the strongest terms, and as the +reason for the assurance that faith secures to us life, His possession +of the two divine prerogatives of quickening and judging. What a +paradox it is to say that it is '_given_' to Him to have 'life in +_Himself_'! And when was that gift given? In the depths of eternity. + +He 'sits on no precarious throne, nor borrows leave to be,' and hence +He can impart life and lose none. Inseparably connected with that +given, and yet self-inherent, life, is the capacity for executing +judgment which belongs to Him as 'a Son of man.' It has been as 'the +Son' of the Father that it has been considered, in the previous verses, +as belonging to Him; but now it is as a true man that He is fitted to +bear, and actually is clothed with, that judicial power. No doubt He is +Judge of all, because by His incarnation and earthly life He presents +to all the offer of eternal life, by their attitude to which offer men +are judged. But the connection of thought seems rather to be that +Christ's Manhood, inextricably intertwined with His divinity, is +equally needed with the latter to constitute Him our Judge. He 'knoweth +our frame,' from the inside, as it were, 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 mankind. + + + + +THE FOURTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL + + +'And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given thanks, He +distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set +down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.'—JOHN vi. 11. + +This narrative of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand is +introduced into John's Gospel with singular abruptness. We read in the +first verse of the chapter: 'After these things Jesus went over the Sea +of Galilee,' _i.e._ from the western to the eastern side. But the +Evangelist does not tell us how or when He got to the western side. +'These things,' which are recorded in the previous chapter, are the +healing of the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda, the consequent +outburst of Jewish hostility, and the profound and solemn discourse of +our Lord, in which He claims filial relationship to the Father. So that +we must insert between the chapters a journey from Jerusalem to +Galilee, and a lapse at all events of some months—or, if the feast +referred to in the previous chapter be, as it may be, the Passover, an +interval of nearly a year. So little care for the mere framework of +events has this fourth Gospel; 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 Life. + +Similarly, he has no care to tell us anything about the reasons for our +Lord's retirement with His disciples from Galilee to the eastern bank. +These we have to learn from the other Evangelists. They give us several +concurrent motives—the news of the death of John the Baptist; and of +the desire of the bloody tyrant to see Jesus, which foreboded evil; +also the return of the twelve Apostles from their trial journey, which +involved the necessity of rest for them; and, perhaps, the approach of +the Passover, which our Lord did not purpose to observe in Jerusalem +because of the Jewish hostility, and which, therefore, suggested the +withdrawal to temporary retirement. + +All these reasons concurring, He and His disciples would seek for a +brief space of seclusion and repose. But the hope of securing such was +vain. The people followed in crowds so eagerly, so hastily, in such +enormous numbers, that no natural or ordinary provision for their wants +could be thought of. Hence the occasion for the miracle before us. + +Now I think that this narrative, with which I wish to deal, falls +mainly into two portions, both of which suggest for us some important +lessons. There is, first, the preparations for the sign; and then there +is the sign itself. Let us look at these two points in succession. + +I. First, then, the preparations for the sign. + +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 +Evangelists; therefore the variations between the narratives are of +especial interest, and these variations are very considerable. We find, +for instance, that in John's account the question as to how the bread +was to be provided came from Christ; in the other Evangelists' accounts +that question is discussed first amongst the Apostles privately. We +find from John's narrative that the question was suggested even before +the multitudes had come to Jesus. We find in the Synoptic Gospels that +it arose at the close of a long day of teaching and of healing. + +Now it is possible that this diversity of time may be the solution of +the diversity of the person proposing. That is to say, it is quite +legitimate to conclude that John's account takes up the incident at an +earlier period than the other Evangelists do, and that the full order +of events was this; that, privately, at the beginning of the day, +whilst the people were yet flocking to our Lord, He, to one of the +disciples alone, suggests the question, 'Whence shall we buy bread that +these may eat?' and that the answer, 'Two hundred pennyworth of bread +is not sufficient that every one of them may take a little,' explains +for us the suggestion of the same amount at a subsequent part of the +day, by the Apostles when they asked our Lord the question, 'Shall we +go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread that these may eat?' + +Be that as it may, we may pause for a moment upon this question of our +Lord's, 'Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?' + +Now notice what a lovely glimpse we get there into the quick-rising +sympathy of the Saviour with all forms of human necessity. He had gone +away to snatch a brief moment of rest. The rest is denied Him; the +hurrying crowds come pressing with their vulgar curiosity—for it was +nothing better—after Him. No movement of impatience passes across His +mind; no reluctance as He turns away from the vanishing prospect of a +quiet afternoon with His friends. He looks upon them, and the first +thought is a quick, instinctive movement of a divine and yet most human +sympathy. The question rises in His mind of how He was to provide for +them; they were not hungry yet; they had not thought where their bread +was to come from. But He cared for the careless, and His heart was +prophetic of their necessities, and quick to determine 'what He should +do' to supply them. So is it ever. Before we call, He answers. Thy +mercy, O loving Christ! needs no more than the sight of human +necessities, or even the anticipation of them, swiftly to bestir itself +for their satisfaction and their supply. + +But, farther, He selects for the question Philip, a man who seems to +have been what is called—as if it were the highest praise—an 'intensely +practical person'; who seems to have had little faith in anything that +he could not get hold of by his senses, and who lived upon the low +level of 'common sense.' He always lays stress upon 'seeing.' His +answer to Nathanael when he said, 'Can any good thing come out of +Nazareth?' was, 'Come and see.' A very good answer, and yet one that +relies only on the external manifestation of Christ to the senses. +Then, on another occasion, he breaks in upon the lofty spiritualities +of our Lord's final discourse to His disciples, with the _malapropos_ +request, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.' And so here, +to the man who believed in his eyesight, and did not easily apprehend +much else, Jesus puts this question, 'Where is the bread to come from +for all these people? This He said to prove him.' He hoped that the +question might have shaped itself in the hearer's mind into a promise, +and that he might have been able to say in answer, 'Thou canst supply; +we need not buy.' + +So Christ does still. He puts problems before us, too, to settle; takes +us, as it were, into His confidence with interrogations that try us, +whether we can rise above the level of the material and visible, or +whether all our conceptions of possibilities are bounded by these. And +sometimes, even though the question at first sight seems to evoke only +such a response as it did here, it works more deeply down below +afterwards, and we are helped by the very difficulty to rise to a clear +faith. + +Philip's answer is very significant. 'Two hundred pennyworth of bread +are not sufficient.' He casts his eye over the multitude, he makes a +rough, rapid calculation, one does not exactly see the data on which it +was based; and he comes to the conclusion, 'Two hundred pennyworth' (in +our English money some L. 7 or L. 8 worth) would give them each a +morsel. And no doubt he thought himself very practical. He was a man of +figures; he believed in what could be put into tables and statistics. +Yes; and like a great many other people of his sort, he left out one +small element in his calculation, and that was Jesus Christ, and so his +answer went creeping along the low levels, dragging itself like a +half-wounded snake, when it might have risen on the wings of faith into +the empyrean, and soared and sung. + +So learn that when we have to deal with Christ's working—and when have +we not to deal with Christ's working?—perhaps probabilities that can be +tabulated are not altogether the best bases upon which to rest our +calculations. Learn that the audacity of a faith that expects great +things, though there be nothing visible upon which to build, is wiser +and more prudent than the creeping common-sense that adheres to facts +which are shadows, and forgets that the chief fact is that we have an +Almighty Helper and Friend at our sides. + +Still further, among these preliminaries, let us point to the +exhibition of the inadequate resources which Christ, according to the +fuller narrative in the other Evangelists, desired to know. 'There is a +little lad here with five barley loaves'—one per thousand—'and two +small fishes'—insufficient in quantity and very, very common in +quality, for barley bread was the food of the poorest. 'But what are +they among so many?' And Christ says, 'Bring them to Me.' + +Christ's preparation for making our poor resources adequate for +anything is to drive home into our hearts the consciousness of their +insufficiency. We need, first of all, to be brought to this, 'All that +I have is this wretched little stock; and what is that measured against +the work that I have to do, and the claims upon me?' Only when we are +brought to that can His great power pour itself into us and fill us +with rejoicing and overcoming strength. The old mystics used to say, +and they said truly: 'You must be emptied of yourself before you can be +filled by God.' And the first thing for any man to learn, in +preparation for receiving a mightier power than his own into his +opening heart, is to know that all his own strength is utter and +absolute weakness. 'What are they among so many?' When we have once +gone right down into the depths of felt impotence, and when our work +has risen before us, as if it were far too great for our poor strengths +which are weaknesses, then we are brought, and only then, into the +position in which we may begin to hope that power equal to our desire +will be poured into our souls. + +And so the last of the preparations that I will touch upon is that +majestic preparation for blessing by obedience. 'And Jesus said, Make +the men sit down.' And there they sat themselves, as Mark puts it in +his picturesque way, like so many garden plots—the rectangular oblongs +in a garden in which pot-herbs are grown—on the green grass, below the +blue sky, by the side of the quiet lake. Cannot you fancy how some of +them seated themselves with a scoff, and some with a quiet smile of +incredulity; and some half sheepishly and reluctantly; and some in mute +expectancy; and some in foolish wonder; and yet all of them with a +partial obedience? And says John in the true translation: 'So the men +sat down, therefore Jesus took the loaves.' Sit you down where He bids +you, and your mouths will not be long empty. Do the things He tells +you, and you will get the food that you need. Our business is to obey +and to wait, and His business is, when we are seated, to open His hand +and let the mercy drop. So much for the preparations for this great +miracle. + +II. Now, in the next place, a word as to the sign itself. + +I take two lessons, and two only, out of it. I see in it, first, a +revelation of Christ, as continually through all the ages sustaining +men's physical life. And I see in it, second, a symbol of Christ as +Himself the Bread of Life. + +As to the first, there is here, I believe, a revelation of the law of +the universe, of Christ as being through all the ages the Sustainer of +the physical life of men. What was done then once, with the suppression +of certain links in the chain, is done always, with the introduction of +those links. The miraculous moment in the narrative is not described to +us. 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 Master. But be that as it may, it was Christ's will that made the +provision which fed all these five thousand. And I believe that the +teaching of Scripture is in accordance with the deepest philosophy, +that the one cause of all physical phenomena is the will of a present +God; howsoever that may usually conform to the ordinary method of +working which people generalise and call laws. The reason why anything +is, and the reason why all things change, is the energy there and then +of the indwelling God who is in all His works, and who is the only Will +and Power in the physical world. + +And I believe, further, that Scripture teaches us that that continuous +will, which is the cause of all phenomena and the underlying +subsistence on which all things repose, is all managed and mediated by +Him who from of old was named the Word; 'in whom was life, and without +whom was not anything made that was made.' Our Christ is Creator, our +Christ is Sustainer, our Christ moves the stars and feeds the sparrows. +He was 'before all things, and in Him all things consist.' He opens His +hand—and there is the print of a nail in it—and 'satisfies the desire +of every living thing.' + +So learn how to think of second causes, and see in this story a +transient manifestation, in unusual form, of an eternal and permanent +fact. Jesus took the loaves and distributed to them that were set down. + +And so, secondly, the miracle is a _sign_—a symbol of Him as the true +Bread and Food of the world. That is the explanation and commentary +which He Himself appends to it in the subsequent part of the chapter, +in the great discourse which is founded upon this miracle. + +'I am the Bread of Life.' There is a triple statement by our Lord upon +this subject in the remaining portion of the chapter. He says, 'I am +the Bread of Life.' My personality is that which not only sustains life +when it is given, but gives life to them that feed upon it. But more +than that, 'the bread which I will give,' pointing to some future +'giving' beyond the present moment, and therefore something more than +His life and example, 'is My flesh, which'—in some as yet unexplained +way—'I give for the life of the world.' And that there may be no +misunderstanding, there is a third, deeper, more mysterious statement +still: 'My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.' +Repulsive and paradoxical, but in its very offensiveness and paradox, +proclaiming that it covers a mighty truth, and the truth, brother, is +this, the one Food that gives life to will, affections, conscience, +understanding, to the whole spirit of a man, is that great Sacrifice of +the Incarnate Lord who gave upon the Cross His flesh, and on the Cross +shed His blood, for the life of the world that was 'dead in trespasses +and sins.' Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us, and we feed on +the sacrifice. Let your conscience, your heart, your desires, your +anticipations, your understanding, your will, your whole being feed on +Him. He will be cleansing, He will be love, He will be fruition, He +will be hope, He will be truth, He will be righteousness, He will be +all. Feed upon Him by that faith which is the true eating of the true +Bread, and your souls shall live. + +And notice finally here, the result of this miracle as transferred to +the region of symbol. 'They did all eat and were filled'; men, women, +children, both sexes, all ages, all classes, found the food that they +needed in the bread that came from Christ's hands. If any man wants +dainties that will tickle the palates of Epicureans, let him go +somewhere else. But if he wants bread, to keep the life in and to stay +his hunger, let him go to this Christ who is 'human nature's daily +food.' + +The world has scoffed for nineteen centuries at the barley bread that +the Gospel provides; coarse by the side of its confectionery, but it is +enough to give life to all who eat it. It goes straight to the primal +necessities of human nature. It does not coddle a class, or pander to +unwholesome, diseased, or fastidious appetites. It is the food of the +world, and not of a section. All men can relish it, all men need it. It +is offered to them all. + +And more than that; notice the inexhaustible abundance. 'They did all +eat, and were filled.' And then they took up—not 'of the fragments,' as +our Bible gives it, conveying the idea of the crumbs that littered the +grass after the repast was over, but of the 'broken pieces'—the +portions that came from Christ's hands—twelve baskets full, an +immensely greater quantity than they had to start with. 'The gift doth +stretch itself as 'tis received.' Other goods and other possessions +perish with the using, but this increases with use. The more one eats, +the more there is for him to eat. And all the world may live upon it +for ever, and there will be more at the end than there was at the +beginning. + +Brethren, why do ye 'spend your money for that which is not bread'? +There is no answer worthy of a rational soul, no answer that will stand +either the light of conscience or the clearer light of the Day of +Judgment. I come to you now, 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 hands, and I say to you, 'Eat, and +your souls shall live.' He will spread a table for you in the +wilderness, and take you to sit at last at His table in His Kingdom. + + + + +'FRAGMENTS' OR 'BROKEN PIECES' + + +'When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, Gather up the +fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.'—JOHN vi. 12. + +The Revised Version correctly makes a very slight, but a very +significant change in the words of this verse. Instead of 'fragments' +it reads 'broken pieces.' The change seems very small, but the effect +of it is considerable. 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 up. The general notion, I suppose, is that the +'fragments' are the crumbs that fell from each man's hands, as he ate, +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 dropped. 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 bread, and the true picture is that +of the Apostles carefully putting away in store for future use the +abundant provision which their Lord had made, beyond the needs of the +hungry thousands. And that conception of the command teaches far more +beautiful and deeper lessons than the other. + +For if the common translation and notion be correct, all that is taught +us, or at least what is principally taught us, is the duty of thrift +and careful economy; 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 +moment, that He prepares for His poor and hungry dependants in royal +fashion, leaving ever a wide margin of difference between what would be +just enough to keep the life in them, and His liberal housekeeping. +Further, we are taught a lesson of wise husbandry and economy in the +use of that overplus of grace which Christ ministers, and are +instructed that the laws of prudent thrift have as honoured a place in +the management of spiritual as of temporal wealth. 'Gather up,' says +our Lord, 'the pieces which I broke, the large provision which I made +for possible wants. My gifts are in excess of the requirements of the +moment. Take care of them till you need them.' 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 eaters. + +Looking at this command, then, with this slight alteration of +rendering, and consequent widening of scope, we may briefly try to +gather up the lessons which it obviously suggests. + +I. We have that thought, to which I have already referred, as more +strikingly brought out by the slight alteration of translation, which, +by the use of '_broken_ pieces,' suggests the connection with Christ's +_breaking_ the loaves and fishes. We are taught to think of the large +surplus in Christ's gifts over and above our need. Our Lord has Himself +given us a commentary upon this miracle. All Christ's miracles are +parables, for all teach us, on the level of natural and outward things, +lessons that are true in regard to the spiritual world; but this one is +especially symbolical, as indeed are all these recorded in John's +Gospel. And here we have Christ, on the day after the miracle, +commenting upon it in His long and profound discourse upon the Bread of +Life, which plainly intimates that He meant His office of feeding the +hungry crowds, with bread supernaturally increased by the touch of His +hand, 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 heaven,' feeding and 'giving life to the world' by His +broken body and shed blood. + +So that we are not inventing a fanciful interpretation of an incident +not meant to have any meaning deeper than shows on the surface, 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 +Jesus. Whom He feeds He feasts. His gifts answer our need, and +over-answer it, for He is 'able to do exceeding abundantly above that +which we ask or think,' and neither our conceptions, nor our petitions, +nor our present powers of receiving, are the real limits of the +illimitable grace that is laid up for us in Christ, and which, +potentially, we have each of us in our hands whenever we lay our hands +on Him. + +Oh, dear friends! what you and I have ever had and felt of Christ's +power, sweetness, preciousness, and love is as nothing compared with +the infinite depths of all those which lie in Him. The sea fills the +little creeks along its shore, but it rolls in unfathomed depths, +boundless to the horizon away out there in the mid-Atlantic. And all +the present experience of all Christian people, of what Christ is, is +like the experience of the first settlers in some great undiscovered +continent; who timidly plant a little fringe of population round its +edge and grow their scanty crops there, whilst the great prairies of +miles and miles, with all their wealth and fertility, are lying +untrodden and unknown in the heart of the untraversed continent. The +most powerful telescope leaves nebulae unresolved, which, though they +seem but a dim dust of light, are all ablaze with mighty suns. The +'goodness' which He has 'wrought before the sons of men for them that +fear' Him is, as the Psalmist adoringly exclaims, wondrously 'great,' +but still greater is that which the same verse of the Psalm +celebrates—the goodness which He has 'laid up for them that fear Him.' +The gold which is actually coined and passing from hand to hand, is but +a fraction, a mere scale, as it were, off the surface of the great +uncoined mass of bullion that lies stored in the vaults there. Christ +is a great deal more than any man, or than all men, have yet found Him +to be. 'Gather up the broken pieces'; and see that nothing of that +infinite preciousness of His be lost by us. + +II. Then there is another very simple lesson which I draw. This command +suggests for us Christ's thrift (if I may use the word) in the +employment of His miraculous power. + +Surely they might have said: 'If thou canst multiply five loaves into +all this abundance, why should we be trudging about, each with a basket +on his back full of bread, when we have with us He whose word can make +it for us at any moment?' Yes, but a law which characterises all the +miraculous, in both the Old and the New Testament, and which broadly +distinguishes Christ's miracles from all the false miracles of false +religions is this, that the miraculous is pared down to the smallest +possible amount, that not one hairsbreadth beyond the necessity shall +be done by miracle; that whatever men can do they shall do; that their +work shall stop as late, and begin again as soon as possible. Thus, +though Christ was going to raise Lazarus, men's hands had to roll away +the stone; and when Christ had raised Lazarus, men's hands had to loose +the napkins from his face. And though Christ was able to say to the +daughter of Jairus, '_Talitha cumi!_' (damsel, arise!) His next word +was: 'Give her something to eat.' Where the miraculous was needed it +was used, and not a hairsbreadth beyond absolute necessity did it +extend. + +And so here Christ multiplies the bread, and yet each of the Apostles +has to take a basket, probably some kind of woven wicker-work article +which they would carry for holding their little necessaries in their +peregrinations; each Apostle has to take his basket, and perhaps +emptying it of some of his humble apparel, to fill it with these bits +of bread; for Christ was not going to work miracles where men's thrift +and prudence could be employed. + +Nor does He do so now. We live by faith, and our dependence on Him can +never be too absolute. Only laziness sometimes dresses itself in the +garb and speaks with the tongue of faith, and pretends to be truthful +when it is only slothful. 'Why criest thou unto Me?' said God to Moses, +'speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.' True faith +sets us to work. It is not to be perverted into idle and false +depending upon Him to work for us, when by the use of our own ten +fingers and our own brains, guided and strengthened by His working in +us, we can do the work that is set before us. + +III. Still further, there is another lesson here. Not only does the +injunction show us Christ's thrift in the employment of the +supernatural, but it teaches us our duty of thrift and care in the use +of the spiritual grace bestowed upon us. + +These men had given to them this miraculously made bread; but they had +to exercise ordinary thrift in the preservation of the supernatural +gift. Christ has been given to you by the most stupendous miracle that +ever was or can be wrought, and if you are Christian people, you have +the Spirit of Christ given to you, to dwell in your hearts, to make you +wise and fair, gentle and strong, and altogether Christlike. But you +have to take care of these gifts. 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 life. You have to use wisely and +not waste the Bread of God that came down from heaven, or that Bread of +God will not feed you. You have to provide the basket in which to carry +the unexhausted residue of the divine gift, or you may stand hungry in +the very midst of plenty, and whilst within arm's length of you there +is bread enough and to spare to feed the whole world. + +The lesson of my text, which is most eminently brought out if we adopt +the translation which I have referred to at the beginning of these +remarks, is, then, just this: Christian men, be watchful stewards of +that great gift of a living Christ, the food of your souls, that has +been by miracle bestowed upon you. Such gathering together for future +need of the unused residue of grace may be accomplished by three ways. +First, there must be a diligent use of the grace given. See that you +use to the very full, in the measure of your present power of absorbing +and your present need, the gift bestowed upon you. 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 overplus. If we are not careful to take what we +can, and to use what we need, of Christ, there is little chance of our +being faithful stewards of the surplus. The water in a mill-stream runs +over the trough in great abundance when the wheel is not working, 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 gift. + +A second essential to such stewardship is the careful guarding of the +grace given from whatever would injure it. Let not worldliness, +business, cares of the world, the sorrows of life, its joys, duties, +anxieties or pleasures—let not these so come into your hearts that they +will elbow Christ out of your hearts, and dull your appetite for the +true Bread that came down from heaven. + +And lastly, not only by use and by careful guarding, but also by +earnest desire for larger gifts of the Christ who is large beyond all +measure, shall we receive more and more of His sweetness and His +preciousness into our hearts, and of His beauty and glory into our +transfigured characters. The basket that we carry, this recipient heart +of ours, is elastic. It can stretch to hold any amount that you like to +put into it. The desire for more of Christ's grace will stretch its +capacity, and as its capacity increases the inflowing gift greatens, +and a larger Christ fills the larger room of my poor heart. + +So the lesson is taught us of our prudence in the care and use of the +grace bestowed on us, and we are bidden to cherish a happy confidence +in the inexhaustible resources of Christ, and the continual gift in the +future of even larger measures of grace, which are all ours already, +given to us at the first reception of Him into our hearts, and only +needing our faithfulness to be growingly ours in experience as they are +ours from the first in germ. + +IV. Finally, a solemn warning is implied in this command, and its +reason 'that nothing be lost.' + +Then there is a possibility of losing the gift that is freely given to +us. We may waste the bread, and so, sometime or other when we are +hungry, awake to the consciousness that it has dropped out of our slack +hands. The abundance of Christ's grace may, so far as you are profited +or enriched by it, be like the unclaimed millions of money which nobody +asks for and that is of use to no living soul. You may be paupers while +all God's riches in glory are at your disposal, and starving while +baskets full of bread broken for us by Christ lie unused at our sides. +Some of us have never tasted the sweetness or been fed by the +nutritiousness of that Bread of God which came down from heaven. And +more marvellous still, there may be some of us, who having come to +Christ hungry and been fed by Him, have ceased to care for the pure +nourishment and taste for the manna, and are turning again with gross +appetite to the husks in the swine's trough. Negligent Christians! +worldly Christians! you who care more for money and other dainties and +delights which perish with the using—backsliding Christians, who once +hungered and thirsted for more of Christ, and now have no longing for +Him—awake to the danger in which you stand of letting all your +spiritual wealth slip through your fingers; behold the treasures, yet +unreached, within your grasp, and seek to garner and realise them. +Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, lest everything be lost. + + + + +THE FIFTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL + + +'So when they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs, they +see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they +were afraid. 20. But He said unto them, It is I; be not afraid.'—JOHN +vi. 19,20. + +There are none of our Lord's parables recorded in this Gospel, but all +the miracles which it narrates are parables. Moral and religious truth +is communicated by the outward event, as in the parable it is +communicated by the story. The mere visible fact becomes more than +semi-transparent. The analogy between the spiritual and the natural +world which men instinctively apprehend, of which the poet and the +orator and the religious teacher have always made abundant use, and +which it has sometimes been attempted, unsuccessfully as I think, to +elevate to the rank of a scientific truth, underlies the whole series +of these miracles. It is the principal if not the only key to the +meaning of this one before us. + +The symbolism which regards life under the guise of a voyage, and its +troubles and difficulties under the metaphor of storm and tempest, is +especially natural to nations that take kindly to the water, like us +Englishmen. I do not know that there is any instance, either in the Old +or in the New Testament, of the use of that to us very familiar +metaphor; but the emblem of the sea as the symbol of trouble, unrest, +rebellious power, is very familiar to the writers of the Old Testament. +And the picture of the divine path as in the waters, and of the divine +prerogative as being to 'tread upon the heights of the sea,' as Job has +it, is by no means unknown. So the natural symbolism, and the Old +Testament use of the expressions, blend together, as I think, in +suggesting the one point of view from which this miracle is to be +regarded. + +It is found in two of the other Evangelists, and the condensed account +of it which we have in this Gospel, by its omission of Peter's walking +on the water, and of some other smaller but graphic details that the +other Evangelists give us, serves to sharpen the symbolical meaning of +the whole story, and to bring that as its great purpose and +signification into prominence. + +We shall, I think, then, best gain the lessons intended to be drawn if +we simply follow the points of the narrative in their order as they +stand here. + +I. We have here, first of all, then, the struggling toilers. + +The other Evangelists tell us that after the feeding of the five +thousand our Lord 'constrained' His disciples to get into the ship, and +to pass over to the other side. The language implies unwillingness, to +some extent, on their part, and the exercise of authority upon His. Our +Evangelist, who does not mention the constraint, supplies us with the +reason for it. The preceding miracle had worked up the excitement of +the mob to a very dangerous point. Crowds are always the same, and this +crowd thought, as any other crowd anywhere and in any age would have +done, that the prophet that could make bread at will was the kind of +prophet whom they wanted. So they determined to take Him by force, and +make Him a king; and Christ, seeing the danger, and not desiring that +His Kingdom should be furthered by such unclean hands and gross +motives, determined to withdraw Himself into the loneliness of the +bordering hills. It was wise to divide the little group; it would +distract attention; it might lead some of the people, as we know it did +lead them, to follow the boat when they found it was gone. It would +save the Apostles from being affected by the coarse, smoky enthusiasm +of the crowd. It would save them from revealing the place of His +retirement. It might enable Him to steal away more securely unobserved; +so they are sent across to the other side of the lake, some five or six +miles. An hour or two might have done it, but for some unknown reason +they seem to have lingered. Perhaps they had no special call for haste. +The Paschal moon, nearly full, would be shining down upon the waters; +their hearts and minds would be busy with the miracle which they had +just seen. And so they may have drifted along, not caring much when +they reached their destination. But suddenly one of the gusts of wind +which are frequently found upon mountain lakes, especially towards +nightfall, rose and soon became a gale with which they could not +battle. Our Evangelist does not tell us how long it lasted, but we get +a note of time from St. Mark, who says it was 'about the fourth watch +of the night'; that is between the hours of three and six in the +morning of the subsequent day. So that for some seven or eight hours at +least they had been tugging at the useless oars, or sitting shivering, +wet and weary, in the boat. + +Is it not the history of the Church in a nutshell? Is it not the symbol +of life for us all? The solemn law under which we live demands +persistent effort, and imposes continual antagonism upon us; there is +no reason why we should regard that as evil, or think ourselves hardly +used, because we are not fair-weather sailors. The end of life is to +make men; the meaning of all events is to mould character. Anything +that makes me stronger is a blessing, anything that develops my +_morale_ is the highest good that can come to me. If therefore +antagonism mould in me + + 'The wrestling thews that throw the world,' + +and give me good, strong muscles, and put tan and colour into my cheek, +I need not mind the cold and the wet, nor care for the whistling of the +wind in my face, nor the dash of the spray over the bows. Summer +sailing in fair weather, amidst land-locked bays, in blue seas, and +under calm skies, may be all very well for triflers, but + + 'Blown seas and storming showers' + +are better if the purpose of the voyage be to brace us and call out our +powers. + +And so be thankful if, when the boat is crossing the mouth of some glen +that opens upon the lake, a sudden gust smites the sheets and sends you +to the helm, and takes all your effort to keep you from sinking. Do not +murmur, or think that God's Providence is strange, because many and +many a time when 'it is dark, and Jesus is not yet come to us,' the +storm of wind comes down upon the lake and threatens to drive us from +our course. Let us rather recognise Him as the Lord who, in love and +kindness, sends all the different kinds of weather which, according to +the old proverb, make up the full-summed year. + +And then notice how, in this first picture of our text, the symbolism +so naturally lends itself to spiritual meanings, not only in regard to +the tempest that caught the unthinking voyagers, but also in regard to +other points; such as the darkness amidst which they had to fight the +tempest, and the absence of the Master. Once before, they had been +caught in a similar storm on the lake, but it was daylight then, and +Jesus was with them, and that made all the difference. This time it was +night, and they looked up in vain to the green Eastern hills, and +wondered where in their folds He was lurking, so far from their help. +Mark gives us one sweet touch when he tells us that Christ on the +hillside there _saw_ them toiling in rowing, but they did not see Him. +No doubt they felt themselves deserted, and sent many a wistful glance +of longing towards the shore where He was. Hard thoughts of Him may +have been in some of their minds. 'Master, carest Thou not?' would be +springing to some of their lips with more apparent reason than in the +other storm on the lake. But His calm and loving gaze looked down +pitying on all their fear and toil. The darkness did not hide from Him, +nor His own security on the steadfast land make Him forget, nor his +communion with the Father so absorb Him as to exclude thoughts of them. + +It is a parable and a prophecy of the perpetual relation between the +absent Lord and the toiling Church. He is on the mountain while we are +on the sea. The stable eternity of the Heavens holds Him; we are tossed +on the restless mutability of time, over which we toil at His command. +He is there interceding for us. Whilst He prays He beholds, and He +beholds that He may help us by His prayer. The solitary crew were not +so solitary as they thought. That little dancing speck on the waters, +which held so much blind love and so much fear and trouble, was in His +sight, as on the calm mountain-top He communed with God. No wonder that +weary hearts and lonely ones, groping amidst the darkness, and fighting +with the tempests and the sorrows of lift, have ever found in our story +a symbol that comes to them with a prophecy of hope and an assurance of +help, and have rejoiced to know that they on the sea are beheld of the +Christ in the sky, and that 'the darkness hideth not from' His loving +eye. + +II. And now turn to the next stage of the story before us. We have the +approaching Christ. + +'When they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs,' and so +were just about the middle of the lake, 'they see Jesus walking on the +sea and drawing nigh unto the ship.' They were about half-way across +the lake. We do not know at what hour in the fourth watch the Master +came. But probably it was towards daybreak. Toiling had endured for a +night. It would be in accordance with the symbolism that joy and help +should come with the morning. + +If we look for a moment at the miraculous fact, apart from the +symbolism, we have a revelation here of Christ as the Lord of the +material universe, a kingdom wider in its range and profounder in its +authority than that which that shouting crowd had sought to force upon +Him. His will consolidated the yielding wave, or sustained His material +body on the tossing surges. Whether we suppose the miracle as wrought +on the one or the other, makes no difference to its value as a +manifestation of the glory of Christ, and of His power over the +physical order of things. In the latter case there would, perhaps, be a +hint of a power residing in His material frame, of which we possibly +have other phases, as in the Transfiguration, which may be a prophecy +of what lordship over nature is possible to a sinless manhood. However +that may be, we have here a wonderful picture which is true for all +ages of the mighty Christ, to whose gentle footfall the unquiet surges +are as a marble pavement; and who draws near in the purposes of His +love, unhindered by antagonism, and using even opposing forces as the +path for His triumphant progress. Two lessons may be drawn from this. +One is that in His marvellous providence Christ uses all the tumults +and unrest, the opposition and tempests which surround the ship that +bears His followers, as the means of achieving His purposes. We stand +before a mystery to which we have no key when we think of these two +certain facts; first, the Omnipotent redeeming will of God in Christ; +and, second, the human antagonism which is able to rear itself against +that. And we stand in the presence of another mystery, most blessed, +and yet which we cannot unthread, when we think, as we most assuredly +may, that in some mysterious fashion He works His purposes by the very +antagonism to His purposes, making even head-winds fill the sails, and +planting His foot on the white crests of the angry and changeful +billows. How often in the world's history has this scene repeated +itself, and by a divine irony the enemies have become the helpers of +Christ's cause, and what they plotted for destruction has turned out +rather to the furtherance of the Gospel! 'He maketh the wrath of man to +praise Him, and with the residue thereof He girdeth Himself.' + +Another lesson for our individual lives is this, that Christ, in His +sweetness and His gentle sustaining help, comes near to us all across +the sea of sorrow and trouble. A more tender, 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 joy. It is +always the stormy sea that Christ comes across, to draw near to us; and +they who have never experienced the tempest have yet to learn the +inmost sweetness of His presence. When it is night, and it is dark, at +the hour which is the keystone of night's black arch, Christ comes to +us, striding across the stormy waters. Sorrow brings _Him_ near to +_us_. Do you see that sorrow does not drive _you_ away from Him! + +III. Then, still further, we note in the story before us the terror and +the recognition. + +St. John does not tell us why they were afraid. There is no need to +tell us. They see, possibly in the chill uncertain light of the grey +dawn breaking over the Eastern hills, a Thing coming to them across the +water there. They had fought gallantly with the storm, but this +questionable shape freezes their heart's blood, and a cry, that is +audible above even the howling of the wind and the dash of the waves, +gives sign of the superstitious terror that crept round the hearts of +those commonplace, rude men. + +I do not dwell upon the fact that the average man, if he fancies that +anything from out of the Unseen is near him, shrinks in fear. I do not +ask you whether that is not a sign and indication of the deep +conviction that lies in men's souls, of a discord between themselves +and the unseen world; but I ask you if we do not often mistake the +coming Master, and tremble before Him when we ought to be glad? + +We are often so absorbed with our work, so busy tugging at the oar, so +anxiously watching the set of current, so engaged in keeping the helm +right, 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-burly. Our +tears fill our eyes, and weave a veil between us and the Master. And +when we do see that there is Something there, we are often afraid of +it, and shrink from it. And sometimes when a gentle whisper of +consolation, or some light air, as it were, of consciousness of His +presence, breathes through our souls, we think that it is only a +phantasm of our own making, and that the coming Christ is nothing more +than the play of our thoughts and imaginations. + +Oh, brethren, let no absorption in cares and duties, let no unchildlike +murmurings, let no selfish abandonment to sorrow, blind you to the Lord +who always comes near troubled hearts, if they will only look and see! +Let no reluctance to entertain religious ideas, no fear of contact with +the Unseen, no shrinking from the thought of Christ as a _Kill-joy_ +keep you from seeing Him as He draws near to you in your troubles. And +let no sly, mocking Mephistopheles of doubt, nor any poisonous air, +blowing off the foul and stagnant marshes of present materialism, make +you fancy that the living Reality, treading on the flood there, is a +dream or a fancy or the projection of your own imagination on to the +void of space. He is real, whatever may be phenomenal and surface. The +storm is not so real as the Christ, the waves not so substantial as He +who stands upon them. They will pass and quieten, He will abide for +ever. Lift up your hearts and be glad, because the Lord comes to you +across the waters, and hearken to His voice: 'It is I! Be not afraid.' + +The encouragement not to fear follows the proclamation, 'It is I!' What +a thrill of glad confidence must have poured itself into their hearts, +when once they rose to the height of that wondrous fact! + + 'Well roars the storm to those who hear + A deeper voice across the storm.' + +There is no fear in the consciousness of His presence. It is His old +word: 'Be not afraid!' And He breathes it whithersoever He comes; for +His coming is the banishment of danger and the exorcism of dread. So +that if only you and I, in the midst of all storm and terror, can say +'It is the Lord,' then we may catch up the grand triumphant chorus of +the old psalm, and say: 'Though the waters thereof roar and be +troubled, and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, yet I +will not fear.' The Lord is with us; the everlasting Christ is our +Helper, our Refuge, and our Strength. + +IV. So, lastly, we have here in this story the end of the tempest and +of the voyage. + +Our Evangelist does not record, as the others do, that the storm ceased +upon Christ's being welcomed into the little boat. The other +Evangelists do not record, as he does, the completion of the voyage. +'Immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.' The two +things are cause and effect. I do not suppose, as many do, that a +subordinate miracle is to be seen in that last clause of our text, or +that the 'immediately' is to be taken as if it meant that without one +moment's delay, or interval, the voyage was completed; but only, which +I think is all that is needful, 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 +swift. + +It is not always true, it is very seldom true, that when Christ comes +on board opposition ends, and the haven is reached. But it is always +true that when Christ comes on board a new spirit enters into the men +who have Him for their companion, and are conscious that they have. It +makes their work easy, and makes them 'more than conquerors' over what +yet remains. With what a different spirit the weary men would bend +their backs to the oars once more when they had the Master on board, +and with what a different spirit you and I will set ourselves to our +work if we are sure of His presence. The worst of trouble is gone when +Christ shares it with us. There is a wonderful charm to stay His rough +wind in the assurance that in all our affliction He is afflicted. If we +feel that we are following in His footsteps, we feel that He stands +between us and the blast, a refuge from the storm and a covert from the +tempest. And if still, as no doubt will be the case, we have our share +of trouble and storm and sorrow and difficulty, yet the worst of the +gale will be passed, and though a long swell may still heave, the +terror and the danger will have gone with the night, and hope and +courage and gladness revive as the morning's sun breaks over the still +unquiet waves, and shows us our Master with us and the white walls of +the port glinting in the level beams. + +Friends, life is a voyage, anyhow, with plenty of storm and danger and +difficulty and weariness and exposure and anxiety and dread and sorrow, +for every soul of man. But if you will take Christ on board, it will be +a very different thing from what it will be if you cross the wan waters +alone. Without Him you will make shipwreck of yourselves; with Him your +voyage may seem perilous and be tempestuous, but He will 'make the +storm a calm,' and will bring you to the haven of your desire. + + + + +HOW TO WORK THE WORK OF GOD + + +'Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the +works of God? 29. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work +of God, that ye, believe on Him whom He hath sent.'—JOHN vi. 28, 29. + +The feeding of the five thousand was the most 'popular' of Christ's +miracles. The Evangelist tells us, with something between a smile and a +sigh, that 'when the people saw it, they said, This is of a truth that +Prophet that should come into the world,' and they were so delighted +with Him and with it, that they wanted to get up an insurrection on the +spot, and make a King of Him. I wonder if there are any of that sort of +people left. If two men were to come into Manchester to-morrow morning, +and one of them were to offer material good, and the other wisdom and +peace of heart, which of them, do you think, would have the larger +following? We need not cast a stone at the unblushing, frank admiration +that these men had for a Prophet who could feed them, for that is +exactly the sort of prophet that a great number of us would like best +if they spoke out. + +So Jesus Christ had to escape from the inconvenient enthusiasm of these +mistaken admirers of His; and they followed Him in their eagerness, but +were met with words which lift them into another region and damp their +zeal. He tries to turn away their thoughts from the miracle to a far +loftier gift. He contrasts the trouble which they willingly took in +order to get a meal with their indifference as to obtaining the true +bread from heaven, and He bids them work for it just as they had shown +themselves ready to work for the other. + +They put to Him this question of my text, so strangely blending as it +does right and wrong, 'You have bid us work; tell us how to work? What +must we do that we may work the works of God?' Christ answers, in words +that illuminate their confusions and clear the whole matter, 'This is +the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.' + +I. Faith, then, is a work. + +You know that the commonplace of evangelical teaching opposes faith to +works; and the opposition is perfectly correct, if it be rightly +understood. But I have a strong impression that a great deal of our +preaching goes clean over the heads of our hearers, because we take for +granted, and they fancy that they understand, the meaning of terms +because the terms themselves are so familiar. And I believe that many +people go to churches and chapels all their lives long, and hear this +doctrine dinned into them, that they are to be saved by faith, and not +by works, and never approach a definite understanding of what it means. + +So let me just for a moment try to clear up the terms of this +apparently paradoxical statement that faith is a work. What do we mean +by faith? What do you mean by saying that you have faith in your +friend, in your wife, in your husband, in your guide? You simply mean, +and we mean, that you trust the person, grasping him by the act of +trust. On trust the whole fabric of human society depends, as well as +in another aspect of the same expression does the whole fabric of +Manchester commerce. Faith, confidence, the leaning of myself on one +discerned to be true, trusty, strong, sufficient for the purpose in +hand, whatever it may be—that, and nothing more mysterious, nothing +further away from daily life and the common emotions which knit us to +one another, is, as I take it, what the New Testament means when it +insists upon faith. + +Ah, we all exercise it. You put it forth in certain low levels and +directions. 'The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her,' is the +short summary of the happy lives of many, I have no doubt, of my +present hearers. Have you none of that confidence to spare for God? Is +it all meant to be poured out upon weak, fallible, changeful creatures +like ourselves, and none of it to rise to the One in whom absolute +confidence may eternally be fixed? + +But then, of course, as we may see by the exercise of the same emotion +in regard to one Another, the under side (as I have been accustomed to +say to you) of this confidence in God or Christ is diffidence of +myself. There is no real exercise of confidence which does not involve, +as an essential part of itself, 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 trust. And so Christian faith is compounded of these +two elements, or rather, it has these two sides which correspond to one +another. The same figure is convex or concave according as you look at +it from one side or another. If you look at faith from one side, it +rises towards God; if from the other, it hollows itself out into a +great emptiness. And so the under side of faith is distrust; and he +that puts his confidence in God thereby goes out of himself, and +declares that in himself there is nothing to rest upon. + +Now that two-sided confidence and diffidence, trust and distrust, which +are one, is truly a work. It is not an easy one either; it is the +exercise of our own inmost nature. It is an effort of will. It has to +be done by coercing ourselves. It has to be maintained in the face of +many temptations and difficulties. The contrast between faith and work +is between an inward act and a crowd of outward performances. But the +faith which knits me to God is my act, and I am responsible for it. + +But yet it is not a work, just because it is a ceasing from my own +works, and going out from myself that He may enter in. Only remember, +when we say, 'Not by works of righteousness, but by the faith of +Christ,' we are but proclaiming that the inward man must exercise that +act of self-abnegation and confession of its own impotence, and ceasing +from all reliance on anything which it does, whereby, and whereby +alone, it can be knit to God. 'Labour not for the meat that perisheth, +but for that meat which endureth unto eternal life…. This is the work +of God, that ye believe.' You are responsible for doing that, or for +not doing it. + +II. Secondly, faith, and not a multitude of separate acts, is what +pleases God. + +Mark the difference between the form of the question and that of the +answer. The people say, 'What are we to do that we may work the _works_ +of God?' Christ answers in the singular: 'This is the _work_.' They +thought of a great variety of observances and deeds. He gathers them +all up into one. They thought of a pile, and that the higher it rose +the more likely they were to be accepted. He unified the requirement, +and He brought it all down to this one act, in which all other acts are +included, and on which alone the whole weight of a man's salvation is +to rest. 'What shall we do that we might work the works of God?' is a +question asked in all sorts of ways, by the hearts of men all round +about us; and what a babble of answers comes! The priest says, 'Rites +and ceremonies.' The thinker says, 'Culture, education.' The moralist +says, 'Do this, that, and the other thing,' and enumerates a whole +series of separate acts. Jesus Christ says, 'One thing is needful…. +This is the work of God.' He brushes away the sacerdotal answer and the +answer of the mere moralist, and He says, 'No! Not _do_; but _trust_.' +In so far as that is act, it is the only act that you need. + +That is evidently reasonable. The man is more than his work; motive is +more important than action; character is deeper than conduct. God is +pleased, not by what men do, but by what men are. We must _be_ first, +and then we shall _do_. And it is obviously reasonable, because we can +find analogies to the requirement in all other relations of life. What +would you care for a child that scrupulously obeyed, and did not love +or trust? What would a prince think of a subject who was ostentatious +in acts of loyalty, and all the while was plotting and nurturing +treason in his heart? + +If doing separate acts of righteousness be the way to work the works of +God, then no man has ever done them. For it is a plain fact that every +man falls below his own conscience—which conscience is less scrupulous +than the divine law. The worst of us knows a great deal more than the +best of us does; and our lives, universally, are, at the best, lives of +partial effort after unreached attainments of obedience and of virtue. + +But, even supposing that we could perform, far more completely than we +do, the requirements of our own consciences, and conform to the evident +duties of our position and relations, do you think that without faith +we should be therein working the works of God? Suppose a man were able +fully to realise his own ideal of goodness, without any confidence in +God underlying all his acts; do you think that these would be acts that +would please God? It seems to me that, however lovely and worthy of +admiration, looked at with human eyes only, many lives are, which have +nobly and resolutely fought against evil, and struggled after good, if +they have lacked the crowning grace of doing this for God's sake, they +lack, I was going to say, almost everything; I will not say that, but I +will say that they lack that which makes them acceptable, well-pleasing +to Him. The poorest, 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 could, is a nobler thing, I venture to +say, in the eyes of Heaven—which are the truth-seeing eyes—than the +noblest achievements of an untrusting soul. It does not seem to me that +to say so is bigotry or narrowness or anything else but the plain +deduction from this, that a man's relation to God is the deepest thing +about him, and that if that be right, other things will come right, and +if that be wrong nothing is as right as it might be. + +Here we have Jesus Christ laying the foundation for the doctrine which +is often said to be Pauline, as if that meant something else than +coming from Jesus Christ. We often hear people say, 'Oh, your +evangelical teaching of justification by faith, and all that, comes out +of Paul's Epistles, not out of Christ's teaching, nor out of John's +Gospel.' Well, there is a difference, which it is blindness not to +recognise, between the seeds of teaching in our Lord's words, and the +flowers and fruit of these seeds, which we get in the more systematised +and developed teaching of the Epistles. I frankly admit that, and I +should expect it, with my belief as to who Christ is, and who Paul is. +But in that saying, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him +whom He hath sent,' is the germ of everything that Paul has taught us +about the works of the law being of no avail, and faith being alone and +unfailing in its power of uniting men to God, and bringing them into +the possession of eternal life. The saying stands in John's Gospel, and +so Paul and John alike received, though in different fashions, and +wrought out on different lines of subsequent teaching, the germinal +impulse from these words of the Master. Let us hear no more about +salvation by faith being a Pauline addition to Christ's Gospel, for the +lips of Christ Himself have declared 'this is the work of God, that ye +believe on Him whom He hath sent.' + +III. Thirdly, this faith is the productive parent of all separate works +of God. + +The teaching that I have been trying to enforce has, I know, been so +presented as to make a pillow for indolence, and to be closely allied +to immorality. It has been so presented, but it has not been so +presented half as often as its enemies would have us believe. For I +know of but very few, and those by no means the most prominent and +powerful of the preachers of the great doctrine of salvation by faith, +who have not added, as its greatest teacher did: 'Let ours also be +careful to maintain good works for necessary uses.' But the true +teaching is not that trust is a substitute for work, but that it is the +foundation of work. The Gospel is, first of all, Trust; then, set +yourselves to do the works of faith. It works by love, it is the +opening of the heart to the entrance of the life of Christ, and, of +course, when that life comes in, it will act in the man in a manner +appropriate to its origin and source, and he that by faith has been +joined to Jesus Christ, and has opened his heart to receive into that +heart the life of Christ, will, as a matter of course, bring forth, in +the measure of his faith, the fruits of righteousness. + +We are surely not despising fruits and flowers when we insist upon the +root from which they shall come. A man may take separate acts of +partial goodness, as you see children in the springtime sticking +daisies on the spikes of a thorn-twig picked from the hedges. But these +will die. The basis of all righteousness is faith, and the +manifestation of faith is practical righteousness. 'Show Me thy faith +by thy works' is Christ's teaching quite as much as it is the teaching +of His sturdy servant James. And so, dear friends, we are going the +shortest way to enrich lives with all the beauties of possible human +perfection when we say, 'Begin at the beginning. The longest way round +is the shortest way home; trust Him with all your hearts first, and +that will effloresce into "whatsoever things are lovely and whatever +things are of good report."' In the beautiful metaphor of the Apostle +Peter, in his second Epistle, Faith is the damsel who leads in the +chorus of consequent graces; and we are exhorted to 'add to our faith +virtue,' and all the others that unfold themselves in harmonious +sequence from that one central source. + +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-day. I should like to insist that, +before you talk much about applied Christianity, you should be very +sure that in men there _is_ a Christianity to apply. I venture to +profess my own humble belief that in ninety-nine cases out of a +hundred, Christian ministers and churches will do no more for the +social, political, 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 God, that ye believe on Him whom He +hath sent.' + +IV. Lastly, this faith secures the bread of life. + +The bread of life is the starting-point of the whole conversation. In +the widest possible sense it is whatsoever truly stills the hunger of +the immortal soul. In a deeper sense it is the person of Jesus Christ +Himself, for He not only says that He will _give_, but that He _is_ the +Bread of Life. And, in the deepest sense of all, it is His flesh broken +for us in His sacrifice on the Cross. That bread is a gift. So the +paradox results which stands in our text—_work_ for the bread which God +will _give_. If it be a gift, that fact determines what sort of work +must be done in order to possess it. If it be a gift, then the only +work is to accept it. If it be a gift, then we are out of the region of +_quid pro quo_; and have not to bring, as Chinese do, great strings of +copper cash that, all added up together, do not amount to a shilling, +in order to buy what God will bestow upon us. If it be a gift, then to +trust the Giver and to accept the gift is the only condition that is +possible. + +It is not a condition that God has invented and arbitrarily imposed. +The necessity of it is lodged deep in the very nature of the case. Air +cannot get to the lungs of a mouse in an air-pump. Light cannot come +into a room where all the shutters are up and the keyhole stopped. If a +man chooses to perch himself on some little stool of his own, with +glass legs to it, and to take away his hand from the conductor, no +electricity will come to him. If I choose to lock my lips, Jesus Christ +does not prise open my clenched teeth to put the bread of life into my +unwilling mouth. If we ask, we get; if we take, we get. + +And so the paradox comes, that we work for a gift, with a work which is +not work because it is a departure from myself. It is the same blessed +paradox which the prophet spoke when he said, 'Buy … without money and +without price.' Oh! what a burden of hopeless effort and weary +toil—like that of the man that had to roll the stone up the hill, 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 now! 'Thou art +careful and troubled about many things,' poor soul! trying to be good; +trying to fight yourself, and the world, and the devil. Try the other +plan, and listen to Him saying, 'Give up self-imposed effort in thine +own strength. Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken for you.' + + + + +THE MANNA + + +'I am that bread of life. 49. Your fathers did eat manna in the +wilderness, and are dead. 50. This is the bread which cometh down from +heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.'—JOHN vi. 48-50. + +'This is of a truth that Prophet,' said the Jews, when Christ had fed +the five thousand on the five barley loaves and the two small fishes. +That was the kind of Teacher for them; they were quite unaffected by +the wisdom of His words and the beauty of His deeds, but a miracle that +found food precisely met their wants, and so there was excited an +impure enthusiasm, very unwelcome to Jesus. Therefore He withdrew +Himself from it, and when the people followed Him, all full of +expectation, to get some more loaves and see some more miracles, He met +them with a douche of cold water that cooled their enthusiasm and flung +them back into a critical, questioning mood. They pointed to the +miracle of the manna, and hinted that, if He expected them to accept +Him, He must do as Moses had done, or something like it. Probably there +was a Jewish tradition in existence then to the effect that the Messiah +was to repeat the miracle of the manna. But, at all events, Christ lays +hold of the reference that they put into His hands, and He said in +effect, 'Manna? Yes; I give, and am, the true Manna.' + +So this is the third of the instances in this Gospel in which our Lord +pointed to Old Testament incidents and institutions as symbolising +Himself. In the first of them, when He likened Himself to the ladder +that Jacob saw, He claimed to be the Medium of communication between +heaven and earth. In the second of them, when He likened Himself to the +brazen serpent lifted in the camp, He claimed to be the Healer of a +sin-stricken and poisoned world. And now, with an allusion both to the +miracle and to the Jewish demand for the repetition of the manna sign, +He claims to be the true Food for a starving world. So there are three +things in my text: Christ's claim, His requirements, and His promise; +the bread, the eating, the issues. + +I. Here is a claim of Christ's. + +As I have already said, in the whole wonderful conversation of which I +have selected a portion for my text, there is a double reference to the +miracle of the loaves and of the manna. What our Lord means to assert +for Himself is that which is common to both of these—viz. that He +supplies the great primal wants of humanity, the hunger of the heart. +There may be another reference also, which I just notice without +dwelling upon it. Barley loaves were the coarsest and least valuable +form of bread. They were not only of little worth, but altogether +inadequate to feeding the five thousand. The palates, unaccustomed to +the stinging savours of the garlic and the leeks of Egypt, loathed the +light bread. And so Jesus Christ comes into the world in lowly form, +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 insipid. And yet He in His lowliness, He in His +savourlessness, is that which meets the deepest wants of humanity, and +is every man's fare because He will be any man's satisfaction. + +But I wish to bring before your notice the wonderful way in which our +Lord, in this great dissertation concerning Himself as the Bread of +Life, gradually unfolds the depths of His meaning and of His offer. He +began with saying that He, the Son of Man, will give to men the bread +that 'endures to everlasting life.' And then when that saying is but +dimly understood, and yet awakes some strange new desires and appetites +in the hearers, and they come to Him and ask, 'Lord, evermore give us +this bread,' He answers them with opening another finger of His hand, +as it were, and showing them a little more of the treasure that lies in +His palm. For He says, 'I _am_ that Bread of Life.' That is an advance +on the previous saying. He gives bread, and any man that was conscious +of possessing some great truth or some great blessing which, believed +and accepted, would refresh and nourish humanity, might have said the +same thing. But now we pass into the _penumbra_ of a greater mystery: +'I am that Bread of Life.' You cannot separate what Christ gives from +what Christ is. You can take the truths that another man proclaims, +altogether irrespective of him and his personality. That only disturbs, +and the sooner it is got rid of, the firmer and the purer our +possession of the message for which he is only the medium. You can take +Plato's teaching and do as you like with Plato. But you cannot take +Christ's teaching and do as you like with Christ. His personality is +the centre of His gift to the world. 'I am that Bread of Life.' That He +should give it is much; that He should _be_ it is far more. + +And notice how, when He has thus drawn us a little further into the +magic circle of the light, He not only asserts the inseparableness of +His gift from His Person, but also asserts, with a reference, no doubt, +to the manna, 'I am the Bread that came down from heaven.' The +listeners immediately laid hold of that one point, and neglected for +the moment all the rest, and they fixed with a true instinct—although +it was for the purpose of contradicting it—on this central point, 'that +came down from heaven.' They said one to the other, 'How can this man +say that He came down from heaven? Is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph, +whose father and mother we know?' So, brethren, as the manna that +descended from above in the dew of the night was to the bread that was +baked in a baker's oven, so is the Christ to the manhood that has its +origin in the natural processes of birth. The Incarnation of the Son of +God, becoming Son of Man for us and for our salvation, is involved in +this great claim. You do not get to the heart of Christ's message +unless you have accepted this as the truth concerning Him, that 'in the +beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was +God,' and that at a definite point in the long process of the ages, +'the Word became flesh, and dwelt amongst us.' He will never be 'the +Bread of Life' unless He is 'the Bread that came down from heaven.' For +humanity needs that the blue heavens that bend remote above should come +down; 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 +degradation, and lift us from our lowness. Heaven must come to earth, +if earth is to rise to heaven. The ladder must be let down from above, +if ever from the lower levels men are to ascend thither where at the +summit the face of God can be seen. + +But that is not all. Our Lord, if I may recur to a former figure, went +on to open another finger of His hand, and to show still more of the +gift. For He not only said, 'the Son of Man gives the bread,' and 'I am +the Bread that came down from heaven,' but He went on to say, in a +subsequent stage of the conversation, 'the Bread that I will give is My +flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' Now, notice that +'_will_ give.' Then, though the Word was made flesh, and the manna came +down from heaven, the especial gift of His flesh for the life of the +world was, at the time of His speaking, a future thing. And what He +meant is still more clearly brought out, when we read other words which +are the very climax of this conversation, 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 Man.' The figure is made repulsive on +purpose, in order that it may provoke us to penetrate to its meaning. +It was even more repulsive to the Jew, with his religious horror of +touching or tasting anything in which the blood was. And yet our Lord +not only speaks of Himself as the Bread, but of His flesh and blood as +being the Food of the world. The separation of the two clearly +indicates a violent death, and I, for my part, have no manner of doubt +that, in these great words in which our Lord lays bare the deepest +foundations of His claim to be the Food of humanity, there is couched, +in the veiled language which was necessary at the then stage of His +mission, a distinct reference to His death, as being the Sacrifice on +which a hunger-stricken world may feed and be satisfied. + +So here we have, in three steps, the great central truth of the Gospel +set forth in symbolical aspect: the Son that gives, the Son that is, +the Bread of the world, and the death whereby His flesh and blood are +separated and become the nourishment of all sin-stricken souls. I do +not say one word to enforce these claims, but I beseech you deal fairly +with these Gospel narratives, and do not go on picking out of them bits +of Christ's actions or words, which commend themselves to you, and +ignoring all the rest. There is no more reason to believe that Jesus +Christ ever said, 'As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so +to them likewise,' or any other part of that Sermon on the Mount which +some people take as their Christianity, than there is to believe that +He said, 'The bread which I give is My flesh, which I will give for the +life of the world.' Believe it or not, it is not dealing with the +Scripture records as you deal with other historical records if, for +subjective reasons, you brush aside all that department of our Lord's +teaching. And if you do accept it, what becomes of His 'sweet +reasonableness'? What becomes of His meekness and lowliness of heart? I +was going to say what becomes of His sanity, that He should stand up, a +youngish man from Nazareth, in the synagogue of Capernaum, and should +say, 'I, heaven-descended, and slain by men, am the Bread of Life to +the whole world'? + +I was going to make another observation, which I must just pass with +the slightest notice, and that is that, taking this point of view and +giving full weight to these three stages of our Lord's progressive +revelation of Himself, we have the answer to the question, What is the +connection between these discourses and the ordinance of the Lord's +Supper? Our modern sacramentarian friends will have it that Jesus +Christ is speaking of the Communion in this chapter. I take it, and I +venture to think it the reasonable explanation, that He is not speaking +about the Communion, but that this discourse and that rite are dealing +with the same truths—the one in articulate words, the other in +equivalent symbols. And so we have not to read into the text any +allusion to the rite, but to see in the text and in the rite the +proclamation of the same thing—viz. that the flesh and the blood of the +Sacrifice for sins is the food on which a sinful and cleansed world may +feed. + +II. So, secondly, let me ask you to note our Lord's requirement here. + +He carries on the metaphor. 'This is the Bread which cometh down from +heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die.' The eating necessarily +follows from the symbol of the bread, as the designation of the way by +which we all, with our hungry hearts, may feed upon this Bread of God. +I need not remind you that in many a place, and in this whole context, +we find the explanation of the symbol very plainly. In another part of +this conversation we read, under another metaphor which comes to the +same thing, 'He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger, and he that +believeth on Me shall never thirst. So the eating and the coming are +diverse symbols for the one thing, the believing. When a man eats he +appropriates to himself, and incorporates into his very being, the food +of which he partakes. And when a man trusts Christ he appropriates to +himself, and incorporates into his inmost being, the very life of Jesus +Christ. You say, 'That is mysticism'; but it is the New Testament +teaching, that when I trust Christ I get more than His gifts—I get +Himself; that when my faith goes out to Him it not only rests me on +Him, but it brings Him into me, and that food of the spirit becomes the +life, as we shall see, of _my_ spirit. + +That condition is indispensable. It is useless to have food on your +table or your plate or in your hand, it does not nourish you there: you +must eat it, and then you gain sustenance from it. Many a hungry man +has died at the door of a granary. Some of us are starving, though +beside us there is 'the Bread of God that came down from heaven.' +Brethren, you must eat, and I venture to put the question to you—_not_ +Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the world's Saviour? _not_ Do you +believe in an Incarnation? _not_ Do you believe in an Atonement? but +Have you claimed your portion in the Bread? Have you taken it into your +own lips? _Crede et manducasti_, said Augustine, 'believe'—or, rather, +_trust_—'and thou hast eaten.' Have _you_? + +Further, let me remind you that under this eating is included not only +some initial act of faith, but a continuous course of partaking. The +dinner you ate this day last year is of no use for to-day's hunger. The +act of faith done long ago will not bring the Bread to nourish you now. +You must repeat the meal. And very strikingly and beautifully in the +last part of this conversation our Lord varies the word for eating, and +substitutes—as if He were speaking to those who had fulfilled the +previous condition—another one which implies the ruminant action of +certain animals. And that is what Christian men have to do, to feed +over and over and over again on the 'Bread of God which came down from +heaven.' Christ, and especially in and through His death for us, can +nourish and sustain our wills, giving them the pattern of what they +should desire, and the motive for which they should desire it. Christ, +and especially through His death, can feed our consciences, and take +away from them all the painful sense of guilt, while He sharpens them +to a far keener sensitiveness to evil. Christ, and especially through +His death, can feed our understandings, and unveil therein the deepest +truths concerning God and man, concerning man's destiny and God's +mercy. Christ, and especially in His death, can feed our affections, +and minister to love and desire and submission and hope their celestial +nourishment. He is 'the Bread of God,' and we have but to eat of that +which is laid before us. + +III. So, lastly, we have here the issues. + +'Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.' This +Bread secures that if 'a man eat thereof he shall not die.' The bread +that perishes feeds a life that perishes; but this Bread not only +sustains but creates a life that cannot perish, and, taken into the +spirits of men that are 'dead in trespasses and sins,' imparts to them +a life that has no affinity to evil, and therefore no dread of +extinction. + +If 'a man eats thereof he shall not die,' Christ annihilates for us the +mere accident of physical death. That is only a momentary jolt on the +course. That may all be crammed into a parenthesis. 'He shall not die,' +but live the true life which comes from the possession of union with +Him who is the Life. The bread which we eat sustains life; the Bread +which He gives originates it. The bread which we eat is assimilated to +our bodily frame, the Bread which He gives assimilates our spiritual +nature to His. And so it comes to be the only food that stills a hungry +heart, the only food that satisfies and yet never cloys, which, eating, +we are filled, and being filled are made capable of more, and, being +capable of more, receive more. In blessed and eternal alternation, +fruition and desire, satisfaction and appetite, go on. + +'Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread?' You cannot answer +the question with any reasonable answer. Oh, dear friends! I beseech +you, listen to that Lord who is saying to each of us, 'Take, eat, this +is My body, which is broken for you.' + + + + +ONE SAYING WITH TWO MEANINGS + + +'Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then +I go unto Him that sent Me. 34. Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find +Me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.'—JOHN vii. 33, 34. + +'Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me; +and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say +to you.'—JOHN xiii. 33. + +No greater contrast can be conceived than that between these two groups +to whom such singularly similar words were addressed. The one consists +of the officers, tools of the Pharisees and of the priests, who had +been sent to seize Christ, and would fain have carried out their +masters' commission, but were restrained by a strange awe, inexplicable +even to themselves. The other consists of the little company of His +faithful, though slow, scholars, who made a great many mistakes, and +sometimes all but tired out even His patience, and yet were forgiven +much because they loved much. Hatred animated one group, loving sorrow +the other. + +Christ speaks to them both in nearly the same words, but with what a +different tone, meaning, and application! To the officers the saying is +an exhibition of His triumphant confidence that their malice is +impotent and their arms paralysed; that when He wills He will _go_, not +be dragged by them or any man, but go to a safe asylum, where foes can +neither find nor follow. The officers do not understand what He means. +They think that, bad Jew as they have always believed Him to be, He may +very possibly consummate His apostasy by going over to the Gentiles +altogether; but, at any rate, they feel that He is to escape their +hands. + +The disciples understand little more as to whither He goes, as they +themselves confess a moment after; but they gather from His words His +loving pity, and though the upper side of the saying seems to be +menacing and full of separation, there is an under side that suggests +the possibility of a reunion for them. + +The words are nearly the same in both cases, but they are not +absolutely identical. There are significant omissions and additions in +the second form of them. 'Little children' is the tenderest of all the +names that ever came from Christ's lips to His disciples, and never was +heard on His lips except on this one occasion, for parting words ought +to be very loving words. 'A little while I am with you,' but He does +not say, 'And then I go to Him that sent Me.' 'Ye shall seek Me,' but +He does not say, 'And shall not find Me.' 'As I said unto the Jews, +whither I go ye cannot come, so now I say to you,' that little word +'now' makes the announcement a truth for the present only. His +disciples shall not seek Him in vain, but when they seek they shall +find. And though for a moment they be parted from Him, it is with the +prospect and the confidence of reunion. Let us, then, look at the two +main thoughts here. First, the two 'seekings,' the seeking which is +vain, and the seeking which is never vain; and the two 'cannots,' the +inability of His enemies for evermore to come where He is, and the +inability of His friends, for a little season, to come where He is. + +I. The two seekings. + +As I have observed, there is a very significant omission in one of the +forms of the words. The enemies are told that they will never find Him, +but no such dark words are spoken to the friends. So, then, hostile +seeking of the Christ is in vain, and loving seeking of Him by His +friends, though they understand Him but very poorly, and therefore seek +Him that they may know Him better, is always answered and +over-answered. + +Let me deal just for a moment or two with each of these. In their +simplest use the words of my first text merely mean this: 'You cannot +touch Me, I am passing into a safe asylum where your hands can never +reach Me.' + +We may generalise that for a moment, though it does not lie directly in +our path, and preach the old blessed truth that no man with hostile +intent seeking for Christ in His person, in His Gospel, or in His +followers and friends, can ever find Him. All the antagonism that has +stormed against Him and His cause and words, and His followers and +lovers, has been impotent and vain. The pursuers are like dogs chasing +a bird, sniffing along the ground after their prey, which all the while +sits out of their reach on a bough, and carols to the sky. As in the +days of His flesh, His foes could not touch His person till He chose, +and vainly sought Him when it pleased Him to hide from them, so ever +since, in regard to His cause, and in regard to all hearts that love +Him, no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper. They shall be +wrapped, when need be, in a cloud of protecting darkness, and stand +safe within its shelter. Take good cheer, all you that are trying to do +anything, however little, however secular it may appear to be, for the +good and well-being of your fellows! All such service is a prolongation +of Christ's work, and an effluence from His, if there be any good in it +at all; and it is immortal and safe, as is His. 'Ye shall seek Me and +shall not find Me.' + +But then, besides that, there is another thought. It is not merely +hostile seeking of Him that is hopeless vain. When the dark days came +over Israel, under the growing pressure of the Roman yoke, and amidst +the agonies of that last siege, and the unutterable sufferings which +all but annihilated the nation, do you not think that there were many +of these people who said to themselves: 'Ah! if we had only that Jesus +of Nazareth back with us for a day or two; if we had only listened to +Him!' Do you not think that before Israel dissolved in blood there were +many of those who had stood hostile or alienated, who desired to see +'one of the days of the Son of Man,' and did not see it? They sought +Him, not in anger any more; they sought Him, not in penitence, or else +they would have found Him; but they sought Him simply in distress, and +wishing that they could have back again what they had cared so little +for when they had it. + +And are there no people listening to me now, to whom these words +apply?— + + 'He that will not, when he may, + When he will it shall be—Nay!' + +Although it is (blessed be His name) always true that a seeking heart +finds Him, and whensoever there is the faintest trace of penitent +desire to get hold of Christ's hand it does grasp ours, it is also true +that things neglected once cannot be brought back; that the sowing time +allowed to pass can never return; and that they who have turned, as +some of you have turned, dear friends, all your lives, a deaf ear to +the Christ that asks you to love Him and trust Him, may one day wish +that it had been otherwise, and go to look for Him and not find Him. + +There is another kind of seeking that is vain, an intellectual seeking +without the preparation of the heart. There are, no doubt, some people +here to-day that would say, 'We have been seeking the truth about +religion all our lives, and we have not got to it yet.' Well, I do not +want to judge either your motives or your methods, but I know this, +that there is many a man who goes on the quest for religious certainty, +and looks _at_, if not _for_ Jesus Christ, and is not really capable of +discerning Him when he sees Him, because his eye is not single, or +because his heart is full of worldliness or indifference, or because he +begins with a foregone conclusion, and looks for facts to establish +that; or because he will not cast down and put away evil things that +rise up between him and his Master. + +My brother! if you go to look for Jesus Christ with a heart full of the +world, if you go to look for Him while you wish to hold on by all the +habitudes and earthlinesses of your past, you will never find Him. The +sensualist seeks for Him, the covetous man seeks for Him, the +passionate, ill-tempered man seeks for Him; the woman plunged in +frivolities, or steeped to the eyebrows in domestic cares,—these may in +some feeble fashion go to look for Him and they will not find Him, +because they have sought for Him with hearts overcharged with other +things and filled with the affairs of this life, its trifles and its +sins. + +I turn for a moment to the seeking that is not vain. 'Ye shall seek Me' +is not on Christ's lips to any heart that loves Him, however +imperfectly, a sentence of separation or an appointment of a sorrowful +lot, but it is a blessed law, the law of the Christian life. + +That life is all one great seeking after Christ. Love seeks the absent +when removed from our sight. If we care anything about Him at all, our +hearts will turn to Him as naturally as, when the winter begins to +pinch, the migrating birds seek the sunny south, impelled by an +instinct that they do not themselves understand. + +The same law which sends loving thoughts out across the globe to seek +for husband, child, or friend when absent, sets the really Christian +heart seeking for the Christ, whom, having not seen, it loves, as +surely as the ivy tendril feels out for a support. 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 soil; as surely as the stork +follows the warmth to the sunny Mediterranean, so surely, if your heart +loves Christ, will the very heart and motive of your action be the +search for Him. + +And if you do _not_ seek Him, brother, as surely as He is parted from +our sense you will lose Him, and He will be parted from you wholly, 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 Him; thought meditating, love +going out towards Him, will submitting. Unless there be this effort, +you will lose your Master as surely as a little child in a crowd will +lose his nurse and his guide, if his hand slips from out the protecting +hand. The dark shadow of the earth on which you stand will slowly steal +over His silvery brightness, as when the moon is eclipsed, and you will +not know how you have lost Him, but only be sadly aware that your +heaven is darkened. 'Ye shall seek Me,' is the condition of all happy +communion between Christ and us. + +And that seeking, dear brother, in the threefold form in which I have +spoken of it—effort to keep Him in our thoughts, in our love, and over +our will—is neither a seeking which starts from a sense that we do not +possess Him, nor one which ends in disappointment. But we seek for Him +because we already have Him in a measure, and we seek Him that we may +possess Him more abundantly, and anything is possible rather than that +such a search shall be vain. Men may go to created wells, and find no +water, and return ashamed, and with their vessels empty, but every one +who seeks for that Fountain of salvation shall draw from it with joy. +It is as impossible that a heart which desires Jesus Christ shall not +have Him, as it is that lungs dilated shall not fill with air, or as it +is that an empty vessel put out in a rainfall shall not be replenished. +He does not hide Himself, but He desires to be found. May I say that as +a mother will sometimes pretend to her child to hide, that the child's +delight may be the greater in searching and in finding, so Christ has +gone away from our sight in order, for one reason, that He may +stimulate our desires to feel after Him! If we seek Him hid in God, we +shall find Him for the joy of our hearts. + +A great thinker once said that he would rather have the search after +truth than the possession of truth. It was a rash word, but it pointed +to the fact that there is a search which is only one shade less blessed +than the possession. And if that be so in regard to any pure and high +truth, it is still more so about Christ Himself. To seek for Him is +joy; to find Him is joy. What can be a happier life than the life of +constant pursuit after an infinitely precious object, which is ever +being sought and ever being found; sought with a profound consciousness +of its preciousness, found with a widening appreciation and capacity +for its enjoyment? 'Ye shall seek Me' is a word not of evil but of good +cheer; for buried in the depth of the commandment to search is the +promise that we shall find. + +II, Secondly, let us look briefly at these two 'cannots.' + +'Whither I go, ye cannot come,' says He to His enemies, with no +limitation, with no condition. The 'cannot' is absolute and permanent, +so long as they retain their enmity. To His friends, on the other hand, +He says, 'So now I say to you,' the law for to-day, the law for this +side the flood, but not the law for the beyond, as He explains more +fully in the subsequent words: 'Thou canst not follow Me now, but thou +shalt follow Me afterwards.' + +So, then, Christ is somewhere. When He passed from life it was not into +a state only, but into a place; and He took with Him a material body, +howsoever changed. He is somewhere, and there friend and enemy alike +cannot enter, so long as they are compassed with 'the earthly house of +this tabernacle.' But the incapacity is deeper than that. No sinful man +can pass thither. Where has He gone? The preceding words give us the +answer. 'God shall glorify Him in Himself.' 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 Him. While for Himself He triumphs in the prospect, +He cannot but turn a thought to their lonesomeness, and hence come the +words of our text. He has passed into the bosom and blaze of divinity. +Can I walk there, can I pass into that tremendous fiery furnace? 'Who +shall dwell with the everlasting burnings?' 'Ye cannot follow Me now.' +No man can go thither except Christ goes thither. + +There are deep mysteries lying in that word of our Lords,—'I go to +prepare a place for you.' We know not what manner of activity on His +part that definitely means. 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 +feet, and that our poor, feeble manhood should live and not be +shrivelled up in the blaze of that central brightness. + +We know not how He prepares the place, but heaven, whatever it be, is +no place for a man unless the Man, Christ Jesus, be there. He is the +Revealer of God, not only for earth, but for heaven; not only for time, +but for eternity. 'No man cometh unto the Father but by Me,' is true +everywhere and always, there as here. So I suppose that, but for His +presence, heaven itself would be dark, and its King invisible, and if a +man could enter there he would either be blasted with unbearable +flashes of brightness or grope at its noonday as the blind, because his +eye was not adapted to such beams. Be that as it may, 'the Forerunner +is for us entered.' He has gone before, because He knows the great +City, 'His own calm home, His habitation from eternity.' He has gone +before to make ready a lodging for us, in whose land He has dwelt so +long, and He will meet us, who would else be bewildered like some +dweller in a desert if brought to the capital, when we reach the gates, +and guide our unaccustomed steps to the mansion prepared for us. + +But the power to enter there, even when He is there, depends on our +union with Christ by faith. When we are joined to Him, the absolute +'cannot,' based upon flesh, and still more upon sin, which is a radical +and permanent impossibility, is changed into a relative and temporary +incapacity. If we have faith in Christ, and are thereby drawing a +kindred life from Him, our nature will be in process of being changed +into that which is capable of bearing the brilliance of the felicities +of heaven. But just as these friends of Christ, though they loved Him +very truly, and understood Him a little, were a long way from being +ready to follow Him, and needed the schooling of the Cross, and Olivet, +and Pentecost, as well as the discipline of life and toil, before they +were fully ripe for the harvest, so we, for the most part, have to pass +through analogous training before we are prepared for the place which +Christ has prepared for us. Certainly, so soon as a heart has trusted +Christ, it is capable of entering where He is, 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 +sins, and, however much they believed in Him as Messiah, had not yet, +nor could have, the knowledge on which they could found their trust in +Him as their Saviour. + +But, while that is true, 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 land, and to see more of +the King in His beauty. So, as long as His friends were wrapped in such +dark clouds of misconception and error, as long as their Christian +characters were so imperfect and incomplete as they were at the time of +my text being spoken, they could not go thither and follow Him. But it +was a diminishing impossibility, and day by day they approximated more +and more to His likeness, because they understood Him more, and trusted +Him more, and loved Him more, and grew towards Him, and, therefore, day +by day became more and more able to enter into that Kingdom. + +Are you growing in power so to do? Is the only thing which unfits you +for heaven the fact that you have a mortal body? In other respects are +you fit to go into that heaven, and walk in its brightness and not be +consumed? The answer to the question is found in another one—Are you +joined to Jesus Christ by simple faith? The incapacity is absolute and +eternal if the enmity is eternal. + +State and place are determined yonder by character, and character is +determined by faith. Take a bottle of some solution in which +heterogeneous substances have all been melted up together, and let it +stand on a shelf and gradually settle down, and its contents will +settle in regular layers, the heaviest at the bottom and the lightest +at the top, and stratify themselves according to gravity. And that is +how the other world is arranged—stratified. When all the confusions of +this present are at an end, and all the moisture is driven off, men and +women will be left in layers, like drawing to like. As Peter said about +Judas with equal wisdom and reticence, 'He went to his own place.' That +is where we shall all go, to the place we are fit for. + +God does not slam the door of heaven in anybody's face; it stands wide +open. But there is a mystic barrier, unseen, but most real, more +repellent than cherub and flaming sword, which makes it impossible for +any foot to cross that threshold except the foot of the man whose heart +and nature have been made Christlike, and fitted for heaven by simple +faith in Him. + +Love Him and trust Him, and then your life on earth will be a blessed +seeking and a blessed finding of Him whom to seek is joyous effort, +whom to find is an Elysium of rest. You will walk here not parted from +Him, but with your thoughts and your love, which are your truest self, +going up where He is, until you drop 'the muddy vesture of decay' which +unfits you whilst you wear it for the presence-chamber of the King, and +so you will enter in and be 'for ever with the Lord.' + + + + +THE ROCK AND THE WATER + + +'In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, +saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. 38. He that +believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall +flow rivers of living water.'—JOHN vii. 37,38. + +The occasion and date of this great saying are carefully given by the +Evangelist, because they throw much light on its significance and +importance. It was 'on the last day, that great day of the Feast,' that +'Jesus stood and cried.' The Feast was that of Tabernacles, which was +instituted in order to keep in mind the incidents of the desert +wandering. On the anniversary of this day the Jews still do as they +used to, and in many a foul ghetto and frowsy back street of European +cities, you will find them sitting beneath the booths of green +branches, commemorating the Exodus and its wonders. Part of that +ceremonial was that on each morning of the seven, and possibly on the +eighth, 'the last day of the Feast,' a procession of white-robed +priests wound down the rocky footpath from the Temple to Siloam, and +there in a golden vase drew water from the spring, chanting, as they +ascended and re-entered the Temple gates where they poured out the +water as a libation, the words of the prophet, 'with joy shall ye draw +water out of the wells of salvation.' + +Picture the scene to yourselves—the white-robed priests toiling up the +pathway, the crowd in the court, the sparkling water poured out with +choral song. And then, as the priests stood with their empty vases, +there was a little stir in the crowd, and a Man who had been standing +watching, lifted up a loud voice and cried, 'If any man thirst, let him +come unto _Me_, and drink.' Strange words to say, anywhere and anywhen, +daring words to say there in the Temple court! For there and then they +could mean nothing less than Christ's laying His hand on that old +miracle, which was pointed to by the rite, when the rock yielded the +water, and asserting that all which it did and typified was repeated, +fulfilled, and transcended in Himself, and that not for a handful of +nomads in the wilderness, but for all the world, in all its +generations. + +So here is one more instance to add to those to which I have directed +your attention on former occasions, in which, in this Gospel, we find +Christ claiming to be the fulfilment of incidents and events in that +ancient covenant, Jacob's ladder, the brazen serpent, the manna, and +now the rock that yielded the water. He says of them all that they are +the shadow, and the substance is in Him. + +I. So then, we have to look, first, at Christ's view of humanity as set +forth here. + +You remember the story of how the people in the wilderness, distressed +by that most imperative of all physical cravings, thirst, turned upon +Moses and Aaron and said, 'Why have ye brought us here to die in the +wilderness, where there are neither vines nor pomegranates,' but a land +of thirst and death? Just as Christ, in the former instances to which +we have already referred, selected and pointed to the poisoned and +serpent-stricken camp as an emblem of humanity, and just as He pointed +to the hunger of the men that were starving there, as an emblem, go +here He says: 'That is the world—a congregation of thirsty men raging +in their pangs, and not knowing where to find solace or slaking for +their thirst.' I do not need to go over all the dominant desires that +surge up in men's souls, the mind craving for knowledge, the heart +calling out for love, the whole nature feeling blindly and often +desperately after something external to itself, which it can grasp, and +in which it can feel satisfied. You know them; we all know them. Like +some plant growing in a cellar, and with feeble and blanched tendrils +feeling towards the light which is so far away, every man carries about +within himself a whole host of longing desires, which need to find +something round which they may twine, and in which they can be at rest. + +'The misery of man is great upon him,' because, having these desires, +he misreads so many of them, and stifles, ignores, atrophies to so +large an extent the noblest of them. 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 hearts, and misunderstand what +it is that we are groping after, when we put out empty, and, alas! too +often unclean, hands, to lay hold on our true good. + +Brethren, you do not know what you want, many of you, and there is +something pathetic in the endless effort to fill up the heart by a +multitude of diverse and small things, when all the while the deepest +meaning of aspirations, yearnings, longings, unrest, discontent is, 'My +soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.' Nothing less than +infinitude will satisfy the smallest heart of the humblest and least +developed man. Nothing less than to have all our treasures in one +accessible, changeless Infinity will ever give rest to a human soul. +You have tried a multiplicity of trifles. It takes a great many bags of +coppers to make up L. 1000, and they are cumbrous to carry. Would it +not be better to part with a multitude of goodly pearls, if need be, in +order to have all your wealth, and the satisfaction of all your +desires, in the 'One Pearl of great price'? It is God for whom men are +thirsting, and, alas! so many of us know it not. As the old prophet +says, in words that never lose their pathetic power, 'they have hewn +out for themselves cisterns'—one is not enough—they need many. They are +only cisterns, which hold what is put into them, and they are 'broken +cisterns,' which cannot hold it. Yet we turn to these with a strange +infatuation, which even the experience that teaches fools does not +teach us to be folly. We turn _to_ these; and we turn _from_ the +Fountain; the one, the springing, the sufficient, the unfailing, the +exuberant Fountain of living waters. Some of you have cisterns on the +tops of your houses, with a coating of green scum and soot on them, and +do you like that foul draught better than the bright blessing that +comes out of the heart of the rock, flashing and pure? + +But not only are these desires misread, but the noblest of them are +stifled. I have said that the condition of humanity is that of thirst. +Christ speaks in my text as if that thirst was by no means universal, +and, alas! it is not, '_If_ any man thirst'; there are some of us that +do not, for we are all so constituted that, unless by continual +self-discipline, and self-suppression, and self-evolution, the lower +desires will overgrow the loftier ones, and kill them, as weeds will +some precious crop. And some of you are so much taken up with +gratifying the lowest necessities and longings of your nature, that you +leave the highest all uncared for, and the effect of that is that the +unsatisfied longing avenges itself, for your neglect of it, by infusing +unrest and dissatisfaction into what else would satisfy the lowest. 'He +that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that +loveth abundance with increase,' but he that loves God will be +satisfied with less than silver, and will continue satisfied when +decrease comes. If you would suck the last drop of sweetness out of the +luscious purple grapes that grow on earth, you must have the appetite +after the best things, recognised, and ministered to, and satisfied. +And when we are satisfied with God, we shall 'have learnt in whatsoever +state we are, therewith to be self-sufficing.' But, as I say, the +highest desires are neglected, and the lowest are cockered and +pampered, and so the taste is depraved. Many of you have no wish for +God, and no desire after high and noble things, and are perfectly +contented to browse on the low levels, or to feed on 'the husks that +the swine do eat,' whilst all the while the loftiest of your powers is +starving within. Brethren, before we can come to the Rock that yields +the water, there must be the sense of need. Do you know what it is that +you want? Have you any desire after righteousness and purity and +nobleness, and the vision of God flaming in upon the pettinesses and +commonplaces of this life which is 'sound and fury, signifying +nothing,' and is trivial in all its pretended greatness, unless you +have learned that you need God most of all, and will never be at rest +till you have Him? + +II. Secondly, note here Christ's consciousness of Himself. + +Is there anything in human utterances more majestic and wonderful than +this saying of my text, 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me'? There +He claims to be separate altogether from those whose thirst He would +satisfy. There He claims to be able to meet every aspiration, every +spiritual want, every true desire in this complex nature of ours. There +He claims to be able to do this for one, and therefore for all. There +He claims to be able to do it for all the generations of mankind, right +away down to the end. Who is He who thus plants Himself in the front of +the race, knows their deep thirsts, takes account of the impotence of +anything created to satisfy them, assumes the divine prerogative, and +says, 'I come to satisfy every desire in every soul, to the end of +time'? Yes, and from that day when He stood in the Temple and cried +these words, down to this day, there have been, and there are, millions +who can say, 'We have drawn water from this fountain of salvation, and +it has never failed us.' Christ's audacious presentation of Himself to +the world as adequate to fill all its needs, and slake all its thirst, +has been verified by nineteen centuries of experience, 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 true, and that He, indeed, is +all-sufficient for the soul. + +Brethren, I do not wish to dwell upon this aspect of our Lord's +character in more than a sentence, but I beseech you to ask yourselves +what is the impression that is left of the character of a man who says +such things, unless He was something more than one of our race? Jesus +Christ, it is as clear as day, in these words makes a claim which only +divinity can warrant Him in making, or can fulfil when it is made. And +I would urge you to consider what the alternative is, if you do not +believe that Jesus Christ here sets Himself forth as the Incarnate Word +of God, sufficient for all humanity. 'I am meek and lowly in heart'—and +His lowliness of heart is proved in a strange fashion, if He stands up +before the race and says, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and +drink.' + +III. Note, further, Christ's invitation. + +'Let him come … and drink'—two expressions for one thing. That +invitation sounds all through Scripture, and, perhaps, there was +lingering in our Lord's mind, besides the reference to the rock that +yielded the water, some echo of the words of the second Isaiah: 'Ho! +every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' 'Nay!' said Christ, +'not to the waters, but to Me.' And then we hear from His own lips the +same invitation addressed to the woman of Samaria, with the difference +that to her, an alien, He pointed only to the natural water in the well +that had been Jacob's, whereas, to these people, the descendants of the +chosen race, He pointed to the miracle in the desert, and claimed to +fulfil that. And on the very last page of Scripture, as it is now +arranged, there stands the echo again of this saying of my text, 'Let +him that is athirst come'—there must be the sense of need, as I was +saying, before there is the coming—'and whosoever will, let him take of +the water of life freely.' + +Now, dear friends, beneath these two metaphorical expressions there +lies one simple condition. I put it into three words, which, for the +sake of being easily remembered, I cast into an alliterative form: +approach Christ, appropriate Christ, adhere to Christ. + +Approach Christ. You come by faith, you come by love, you come by +communion. And you can come if you will, though He is now on the +throne. + +Appropriate Christ. It is vain that the water should be gushing from +the rock there, unless you make it your own by drinking. It must pass +your lips. It must become your personal possession. You must enclose a +piece of the common, and make it your very own. 'He loved _us_, and +gave Himself for _us_'; well and good, but strike out the 'us' and put +in 'me.' 'He loved _me_ and gave Himself for _me_.' The river may be +flowing right past your door, yet your lips may be cracked with thirst, +even whilst you hear the tinkle of its music amongst the sedges and the +pebbles. Appropriate Christ. 'Come … and drink.' + +Adhere to Christ. You were thirsty yesterday: you drank. That will not +slake to-day's thirst, nor prevent its recurrence. And you must keep on +drinking if you are to keep from perishing of thirst. Day by day, drop +by drop, draught by draught, you must drink. According to the ancient +Jewish legend, which Paul in one of his letters refers to, about this +very miracle, you must have the Rock following you all through your +desert pilgrimage, and you must drink daily and hourly, by continual +faith, love, and communion. + +IV. We have here not only these points, but a fourth. Christ's promise. + +'He that believeth on Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living +water.' That is one case of the universal law that a man who trusts +Christ becomes like the Christ whom he trusts. Derivatively and by +impartation, no doubt, but still the man who has gone to that Rock, to +the springing fountain as it pushes forth, receives into himself an +inward life by the communication of Christ's divine Spirit, so that he +has in him a fountain 'springing up into life everlasting.' The Book of +Proverbs says, 'The good man shall be satisfied from himself,' but the +good man is only satisfied from himself when he can say, 'I live, yet +not I, but Christ liveth in me,' and from that better self he will be +satisfied. + +So we may have a well in the courtyard, and may be able to bear in +ourselves the fountain of water, and where the divine life of Christ by +His Spirit has through faith been implanted within us, it will come out +from us. There is a question for you Christian people—do any rivers of +living water flow out of you? If they do not, it is to be doubted +whether you have drunk of the fountain. There are many professing +Christians who are like the foul little rivers that pass under the +pavements in Manchester, all impure, and covered over so that nobody +sees them. '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 it. Christian +men and women, if your faith has brought the life into you, see to it +that approaching Christ, and appropriating Christ, and adhering to +Christ, you are becoming assimilated to Christ, and in your daily life, +God's grace fructifying through you to all, are 'become as rivers of +water in a dry place, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.' + + + + +THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD + + +'… I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in +darkness, but shall have the light of life.'—JOHN viii. 12. + +Jesus Christ was His own great theme. Whatever be the explanation of +the fact, there stands the fact that, if we know anything at all about +His habitual tone of teaching, we know that it was full of Himself. We +know, too, that what He said about Himself was very unlike the language +becoming a wise and humble religious teacher. Both the prominence given +to His own personality, and the tremendous claims He advances for +Himself, are hard to reconcile with any conception of His nature and +work except one,—that there we see God manifest in the flesh. Are such +words as these fit to be spoken by any man conscious of his own +limitations and imperfections of life and knowledge? Would they not be +fatal to any one's pretensions to be a teacher of religion or morality? +They assert that the Speaker is the Source of illumination for the +world; the only Source; the Source for all. They assert that +'following' Him, whether in belief or in deed, is the sure deliverance +from all darkness, either of error or of sin; and implants in every +follower a light which is life. And the world, instead of turning away +from such monstrous assumptions, and drowning them in scornful +laughter, or rebelling against them, has listened, and largely +believed, and has not felt them to mar the beauty of meekness, which, +by a strange anomaly, this Man says that He has. + +Words parallel to these are frequent on our Lord's lips. In each +instance they have some special appropriateness of application, as is +probably the case here. The suggestion has been reasonably made, that +there is an allusion in them to part of the ceremonial connected with +the Feast of Tabernacles, at which we find our Lord present in the +previous chapter. Commentators tell us that on the first evening of the +Feast, two huge golden lamps, which stood one on each side of the altar +of burnt offering in the Temple court, were lighted as the night began +to fall, and poured out a brilliant flood over Temple and city and deep +gorge; while far into the midnight, troops of rejoicing worshippers +clustered about them with dance and song. The possibility of this +reference is strengthened by the note of place which our Evangelist +gives. 'These things spake Jesus in the treasury, as He taught in the +Temple,' for the 'treasury' stood in the same court, and doubtless the +golden lamps were full in sight of the listening groups. It is also +strengthened by the unmistakable allusion in the previous chapter to +another portion of the ceremonial of the Feast, where our Lord puts +forth another of His great self-revelations and demands, in singular +parallelism with that of our text, in the words, 'If any man thirst, +let him come unto Me and drink.' That refers to the custom during the +Feast of drawing water from the fountain of Siloam, which was poured +out on the altar, while the gathered multitude chanted the old strain +of Isaiah's prophecy: 'With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of +salvation.' It is to be remembered, too, in estimating the probability +of our text belonging to these Temple-sayings at the Feast, that the +section which separates it from them, and contains the story about the +woman taken in adultery, is judged by the best critics to be out of +place here, and is not found in the most valuable manuscripts. If, +then, we suppose this allusion to be fairly probable, I think it gives +a special direction and meaning to these grand words, which it may be +worth while to think of briefly. + +The first thing to notice is—the intention of the ceremonial to which +our Lord here points as a symbol of Himself. What was the meaning of +these great lights that went flashing through the warm autumn nights of +the festival? All the parts of that Feast were intended to recall some +feature of the forty years' wanderings in the wilderness; the lights by +the altar were memorials of the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by +night. When, then, Jesus says, 'I am the Light of the world,' He would +declare Himself as being in reality, and to every soul of man to the +end of time, what that cloud with its heart of fire was in outward +seeming to one generation of desert wanderers. + +Now, the main thing which _it_ was to these, was the visible vehicle of +the divine presence. 'The Lord went before them in a pillar of a +cloud.' 'The Lord looked through the pillar.' 'The Lord came down in +the cloud and spake with him.' The 'cloud covered the Tabernacle, and +the glory of the Lord appeared.' Such is the way in which it is ever +spoken of, as being the manifestation to Israel in sensible form of the +presence among them of God their King. 'The glory of the Lord' has a +very specific meaning in the Old Testament. It usually signifies that +brightness, the flaming heart of the cloudy pillar, which for the most +part, as it would appear, veiled by the cloud, gathered radiance as the +world grew darker at set of sun, and sometimes, at great crises in the +history, as at the Red Sea, or on Sinai, or in loving communion with +the law-giver, or in swift judgment against the rebels, rent the veil +and flamed on men's eyes. I need not remind you how this same pillar of +cloud and fire, which at once manifested and hid God, was thereby no +unworthy symbol of Him who remains, after all revelation, unrevealed. +Whatsoever sets forth, must also shroud, the infinite glory. Concerning +all by which He makes Himself known to eye, or mind, or heart, it must +be said, 'And there was the hiding of His power.' The fire is ever +folded in the cloud. Nay, at bottom, the light which is full of glory +is therefore inaccessible, and the thick darkness in which He dwells is +but the 'glorious privacy' of perfect light. + +That guiding pillar, which moved before the moving people—a cloud to +shelter from the scorching heat, a fire to cheer in the blackness of +night—spread itself above the sanctuary of the wilderness; and 'the +glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.' When the moving Tabernacle +gave place to the fixed Temple, again '_the_ cloud filled the house of +the Lord'; and there—dwelling between the cherubim, the types of the +whole order of creatural life, and above the mercy-seat, that spoke of +pardon, and the ark that held the law, and behind the veil, in the +thick darkness of the holy of holies, where no feet trod, save once a +year one white-robed priest, in the garb of a penitent, and bearing the +blood that made atonement—shone the light of the glory of God, the +visible majesty of the present Deity. + +But long centuries had passed since that light had departed. 'The +glory' had ceased from the house that now stood on Zion, and the light +from between the cherubim. Shall we not, then, see a deep meaning and +reference to that awful blank, when Jesus standing there in the courts +of that Temple, whose inmost shrine was, in a most sad sense, empty, +pointed to the quenched lamps that commemorated a departed Shechinah, +and said, 'I am the Light of the world'? + +He is the Light of the world, because in Him is the glory of God. His +words are madness, and something very like blasphemy, unless they are +vindicated by the visible indwelling in Him of the present God. The +cloud of the humanity, 'the veil, that is to say, His flesh,' enfolds +and tempers; and through its transparent folds reveals, even while it +swathes, the Godhead. Like some fleecy vapour flitting across the sun, +and irradiated by its light, it enables our weak eyes to see light, and +not darkness, in the else intolerable blaze. Yes! Thou art the Light of +the world, because in Thee dwelleth 'the fulness of the Godhead +bodily.' Thy servant hath taught us the meaning of Thy words, when he +said: 'The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His +glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace +and truth.' + +Then, subordinate to this principal thought, is the other on which I +may touch for a moment—that Christ, like that pillar of cloud and fire, +_guides_ us in our pilgrimage. You may remember how emphatically the +Book of Numbers (chap. ix.) dwells upon the absolute control of all the +marches and halts by the movements of the cloud. When it was taken up, +they journeyed; when it settled down, they encamped. As long as it lay +spread above the Tabernacle, there they stayed. Impatient eyes might +look, and impatient spirits chafe—no matter. The camp might be pitched +in a desolate place, away from wells and palm-trees, away from shade, +among fiery serpents, and open to fierce foes—no matter. As long as the +pillar was motionless, no man stirred. Weary slow days might pass in +this compulsory inactivity; but 'whether it were two days, or a month, +or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the Tabernacle, the children of +Israel journeyed not.' And whenever It lifted itself up,—no matter how +short had been the halt, how weary and footsore the people, how +pleasant the resting-place—up with the tent-pegs immediately, and away. +If the signal were given at midnight, when all but the watchers slept, +or at midday, it was all the same. There was the true Commander of +their march. It was not Moses, nor Jethro, with his quick Arab eye and +knowledge of the ground, that guided them; but that stately, solemn +pillar, that floated before them. How they must have watched for the +gathering up of its folds as they lay softly stretched along the +Tabernacle roof; and for its sinking down, and spreading itself out, +like a misty hand of blessing, as it sailed in the van! + +'I am the Light of the world.' We have in Him a better guide through +worse perplexities than theirs. By His Spirit within us, by that +all-sufficient and perfect example of His life, by the word of His +Gospel, and by the manifold indications of His providence, Jesus Christ +is our Guide. If ever we go astray, it is not His fault, but ours. How +gentle and loving that guidance is, none who have not yielded to it can +tell. How wise and sure, none but those who have followed it know. He +does not say 'Go,' but 'Come.' When He puts forth His sheep, He goes +before them. In all rough places His quick hand is put out to save us. +In danger He lashes us to Himself, as Alpine guides do when there is +perilous ice to get across. As one of the psalms puts it, with +wonderful beauty: 'I will guide thee with Mine eye'—a glance, not a +blow—a look of directing love, that at once heartens to duty and tells +duty. We must be very near Him to catch that look, and very much in +sympathy with Him to understand it; and when we do, we must be swift to +obey. Our eyes must be ever toward the Lord, or we shall often be +marching on, unwitting that the pillar has spread itself for rest, or +idly dawdling in our tents long after the cloud has gathered itself up +for the march. Do not let impatience lead you to hasty interpretation +of His plans before they are fairly evolved. Many men by self-will, by +rashness, by precipitate hurry in drawing conclusions about what they +ought to do, have ruined their lives. Take care, in the old-fashioned +phrase, of 'running before you are sent.' There should always be a good +clear space between the guiding ark and you, 'about two thousand cubits +by measure,' that there may be no mistakes about the road. 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 go. + +Do not let the warmth by the camp-fire, or the pleasantness of the +shady place where your tent is pitched, keep you there when the cloud +lifts. Be ready for change, be ready for continuance, because you are +in fellowship with your Leader and Commander; and let Him say, Go, and +you go; Do this, and you gladly do it, until the hour when He will +whisper, Come; and, as you come, the river will part, and the journey +will be over, and 'the fiery, cloudy pillar,' that 'guided you all your +journey through,' will spread itself out an abiding glory, in that +higher home where 'the Lamb is the light thereof.' + +All true following of Christ begins with faith, or we might almost say +that following _is_ faith, for we find our Lord substituting the former +expression for the latter in another passage of this Gospel parallel +with the present. 'I am come a Light into the world, that whosoever +believeth on Me should not walk in darkness.' The two ideas are not +equivalent, but faith is the condition of following; and following is +the outcome and test, because it is the operation, of faith. None but +they who trust Him will follow Him. He who does not follow, does not +trust. To follow Christ, means to long and strive after His +companionship; as the Psalmist says, 'My soul followeth hard after +Thee.' It means the submission of the will, the effort of the whole +nature, the daily conflict to reproduce His example, the resolute +adoption of His command as my law, His providence as my will, His +fellowship as my joy. And the root and beginning of all such following +is in coming to Him, conscious of mine own darkness, and trustful in +His great light. We must rely on a Guide before we accept His +directions; and it is absurd to pretend that we trust Him, if we do not +go as He bids us. So 'Follow thou Me' is, in a very real sense, the sum +of all Christian duty. + +That thought opens out very wide fields, into which we must not even +glance now; but I cannot help pausing here to repeat the remark already +made, as to the gigantic and incomprehensible self-confidence that +speaks here. 'Followeth _Me_'; then Jesus Christ calmly proposes +Himself as the aim and goal for every soul of man; sets up His own +doings as an all-sufficient rule for us all, with all our varieties of +temper, character, culture, and work, and quietly assumes to have a +right of precedence before, and of absolute command over, the whole +world. They are all to keep _behind_ Him, He thinks, be they saints or +sages, kings or beggars; and the liker they are to Himself, He thinks, +the nearer they will be to perfectness and life. He puts Himself at the +head of the mystic march of the generations, and, like the mysterious +Angel that Joshua saw in the plain by Jericho, makes the lofty claim: +'Nay, but as _Captain_ of the Lord's host am I come up.' Do we admit +His claim because we know His Name? Do we yield Him full trust because +we have learned that He is the Light of men since He is the Word of +God? Do we follow Him with loyal obedience, longing love, and lowly +imitation, since He has been and is to us the Saviour of our souls? + +In the measure in which we do, the great promises of this wonderful +saying will be verified and understood by us—'He that followeth Me +shall not walk in darkness.' That saying has, as one may say, a lower +and a higher fulfilment. In the lower, it refers to practical life and +its perplexities. 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 Christ. No doubt there will still remain obscurities +enough as to what we ought to do, to call for the best exercise of +patient wisdom; but an enormous proportion of them vanish like mist +when the sun breaks through, when once we honestly set ourselves to +find out whither the pillared Light is guiding. It is a reluctant will, +and intrusive likings and dislikings, that obscure the way for us, much +oftener than real obscurity in the way itself. It is seldom impossible +to discern the divine will, when we only wish to know it that we may do +it. And if ever it is impossible for us, surely that impossibility is +like the cloud resting on the Tabernacle—a sign that for the present +His will is that we should be still, and wait, and watch. + +But there is a higher meaning in the words than even this promise of +practical direction. In the profound symbolism of Scripture, especially +of this Gospel, 'darkness' is the name for the whole condition of the +soul averted from God. So our Lord here is declaring that to follow Him +is the true deliverance from that midnight of the soul. There are a +darkness of ignorance, a darkness of impurity, a darkness of sorrow; +and in that threefold gloom, thickening to a darkness of death, are +they enwrapt who follow not the Light. That is the grim, tragical side +of this saying, too sad, too awful for our lips to speak much of, and +best left in the solemn impressiveness of that one word. But the +hopeful, blessed side of it is, that the feeblest beginnings of trust +in Jesus Christ, and the first tottering steps that try to tread in +His, bring us into the light. It does not need that we have reached our +goal, it is enough that our faces are turned to it, and our hearts +desire to attain it, then we may be sure that the dominion of the +darkness over us is broken. To follow, though it be afar off, and with +unequal steps, fills our path with increasing brightness, and even +though evil and ignorance and sorrow may thrust their blackness in upon +our day, they are melting in the growing glory, and already we may give +thanks 'unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the +inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the +power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear +Son.' + +But we have not merely the promise that we shall be led by the light +and brought into the light. A yet deeper and grander gift is offered +here: 'He shall have the light of life.' I suppose that means, not, as +it is often carelessly taken to mean, a light which illuminates the +life, but, like the similar phrases of this Gospel, 'bread of life,' +'water of life,'—light which is life. 'In Him was life, and the life +was the light of men.' These two are one in their source, which is +Jesus, the Word of God. Of Him we have to say, 'With Thee is the +fountain of life, in Thy light shall we see light.' They are one in +their deepest nature; the life is the light, and the light the life. +And this one gift is bestowed upon every soul that follows Christ. Not +only will our outward lives be illumined or guided from without, but +our inward being will be filled with the brightness. 'Ye were sometimes +darkness, now are ye light in the Lord.' + +That pillar of fire remained apart and without. But this true and +better Guide of our souls enters in and dwells in us, in all the +fulness of His triple gift of life, and light, and love. Within us He +will chiefly prove Himself the Guide of our spirits, and will not +merely cast His beams on the path of our feet, but will fill and flood +us with His own brightness. All light of knowledge, of goodness, of +gladness will be ours, if Christ be ours; and ours He surely will be if +we follow Him. Let us take heed, lest turning away from Him we follow +the will-o'-the-wisps of our own fancies, or the dancing lights, born +of putrescence, that flicker above the swamps, for they will lead us +into doleful lands where evil things haunt, and into outer darkness. +Let us take heed how we use that light of God; for Christ, like His +symbol of old, has a double aspect according to the eye which looks. +'It came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and +it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to +these.' He is either a Stone of stumbling or a sure Foundation, a +savour of life or of death, and which He is depends on ourselves. +Trusted, loved, followed, He is light. Neglected, turned from, He is +darkness. Though He be the Light of the world, it is only the man who +follows Him to whom He can give the light of life. Therefore, man's +awful prerogative of perverting the best into the worst forced Him, who +came to be the light of men, to that sad and solemn utterance: 'For +judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, +and that they which see might be made blind.' + + + + +THREE ASPECTS OF FAITH + + +'Many believed on Him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on +Him….'—JOHN viii. 30,31. + +The Revised Version accurately represents the original by varying the +expression in these two clauses, retaining 'believed on Him' in the +former, and substituting the simple 'believed Him' in the latter. The +variation in two contiguous clauses can scarcely be accidental in so +careful a writer as the Apostle John. And the reason and meaning of it +are obvious enough on the face of the narrative. His purpose is to +distinguish between more and less perfect acceptance of Jesus Christ. +The more perfect is the former, 'they believed on Him'; the less +perfect is the latter, the simple acceptance of His word on His claim +of Messiahship, which is stigmatised as shallow, and proved to be +transient by the context. + +They were 'Jews' which believed, and they continued to be so whilst +they were believing. Now, the word 'Jew' in this Gospel always connotes +antagonism to Jesus Christ; and as for these persons, how slight and +unreliable their adhesion to the Lord is, comes out in the course of +the next few verses; and by the end of the chapter they are taking up +stones to stone Him. So John would show us that there is a kind of +acceptance which may be real, and may be the basis of something much +better hereafter, but which, if it does not grow, rots and disappears; +and he would draw a broad line of distinction between that and the +other mental act, far deeper, more wholesome, more lasting and vital, +which he designates as 'believing _on_ Him.' I take these words, then, +for consideration, not so much to deal with other thoughts suggested by +them, as because they afford me a starting-point for the consideration +of the various phases of the act of believing, its blessings and its +nature, and its relation to its objects, which are expressed in the New +Testament by the various grammatical connections and constructions of +this word. + +Now, the facts with which I wish to deal may be very briefly stated. +There are three ways in which the New Testament represents the act of +believing, and its relation to its Object, Christ. These three are, +first, the simple one which appears in the text as 'believed Him.' Then +there is a second, which appears in two forms, slightly different, but +which, for our purpose, may be treated as substantially the +same—'believing on Him.' And then there is a third, which, literally +and accurately translated is, 'believing unto' or 'into Him.' That +phrase is John's favourite one, and rather unfortunately, though +perhaps necessarily, it has been generally rendered by our translators +by the less forcible 'believing in,' which gives the idea of repose in, +but does not give the idea of motion towards. These three, then, I +think, do set forth, if we will ponder them, very large lessons as to +the essence of this act of believing, as to the Object upon which it +fastens, and as to the blessings which flow from it, which it will be +worth our while to consider now. I may cast the whole into the shape of +three exhortations: believe Him, believe on Him, believe unto Him. + +I. First, then, believe Christ. + +We accept a man's words when we trust the man. Even if belief, or +faith, is represented in the New Testament, as it very rarely is, as +having for its object the words of revelation, behind that acceptance +of the words lies confidence in the person speaking. And the beginning +of all true Christian faith has in it, not merely the intellectual +acceptance of certain propositions as true, but a confidence in the +veracity of Him by whom they are made known to us—even Jesus Christ our +Lord. + +I do not need to insist upon that at any length here—it would take me +away from my present purpose; but what I do wish to emphasise is, that +from the very starting-point, the smallest germ of the most rudimentary +and imperfect faith which knits a soul to Jesus Christ has Him for its +Object, and is thus distinguished from the mere acceptance of truths +which, on other grounds than the authority of the speaker, may +legitimately commend themselves to a man. + +Then believe Him. Now, that breaks up into two thoughts, which are all +that I intend to deduce from it now, although many more might be +suggested. The one is this, that the least and the lowest that Jesus +Christ asks from us is the entire and unhesitating acceptance of His +utterances as final, conclusive, and absolutely true. Whatever more +Jesus Christ may be, He is, by His life and words, the Communicator of +divine and certain truth. He is a Teacher, though He is a great deal +more. And whatever more Christian faith may be—and it is a great deal +more—it requires, at least, the frank and full recognition of the +authority of every word that comes from His lips. A Christianity +without a creed is a dream. Bones without flesh are very dry, no doubt; +but what about flesh without bones? An inert, shapeless mass. You will +never have a vigorous and true Christian life if it is to be moulded +according to the fantastic dream of these latter days, which tells us +that we may take Jesus as the Guide of our conduct and need not mind +about what He says to us. 'Believe Me' is His requirement. The words of +His mouth, and the revelations which He has made in the sweetness of +His life, and in all the graciousness of His dealings, are the very +unveiling to man of absolute and final and certain truth. + +But then, on the other hand, let us remember that, while all this is +most clear and distinct in the teaching of Scripture, it carries us but +a very short way. We find, in the instance from which we take our +starting-point in this sermon, the broad distinction drawn, and +practically illustrated in the conduct of the persons concerned, +between the simple acceptance of what Christ says, and a true faith +that clings to Him for evermore. 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 phrases. We find, for instance, the two +which are connected in our texts used in a previous conversation +between our Lord and His antagonists. When He says to them, 'This is +the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent,' they reply, +dragging down His claim to a lower level, 'What sign showest Thou, that +we may see, and believe Thee?' He demanded belief _on_ Himself; they +answer, 'We are ready to _believe you_, on condition that we see +something that may make the rendering of our belief a logical necessity +for us.' + +Let us lay to heart the rudimentary and incomplete character of a faith +which simply accepts the teaching of Jesus Christ, and does no more. +The notion that orthodoxy is Christianity, that a man who does not +contradict the teaching of the New Testament is thereby a Christian, is +a very old and very perilous and very widespread one. There are many of +us who have no better claim to be called Christians than this, that we +never denied anything that Jesus Christ said, though we are not +sufficiently interested in it, I was going to say, even to deny it. +This rudimentary faith, which contents itself with the acceptance of +the truth revealed, hardens into mere formalism, or liquefies into mere +careless indifference as to the very truth that it professes to +believe. There is nothing more impotent than creeds which lie dormant +in our brains, and have no influence upon our lives. I wonder how many +readers of this sermon, who fancy themselves good Christians, do with +their creed as the Japanese used to do with their Emperor—keep him in a +palace behind bamboo screens, and never let him do anything, whilst all +the reality of power was possessed by another man, who did not profess +to be a king at all. Do you think you are Christians because you would +sign thirty-nine or three hundred and ninety articles of Christianity, +if they were offered to you, while there is not one of them that +influences either your thinking or your conduct? Do not let us have +these 'sluggish kings,' with a mayor of the place to do the real +government, but set on the throne of your hearts the principles of your +religion, and see to it that all your convictions be translated into +practice, and all your practice be informed by your convictions. + +This belief in a set of dogmas, on the authority of Jesus Christ, about +which dogmas we do not care a rush, and which make no difference upon +our lives, is the faith about which James has so many hard things to +say; and he ventures upon a parallel that I should not like to venture +on unless I were made bold by his example: 'Thou believest, O vain man! +thou doest well: the devils also believe, and'—better than you, in that +their belief does something for them, they 'believe—and _tremble_!' But +what shall we say about a man who professes himself a disciple, and +neither trembles, nor thrills, nor hopes, nor dreads, nor desires, nor +does any single thing because of his creed? Believe Jesus, but do not +stop there. + +II. Believe on Christ. + +Now, as I have remarked already, and as many of you know, there is a +slightly different, twofold form of this phrase in Scripture. I need +not trouble you with the minute distinction between the one and the +other. Both forms coincide in the important point on which I wish to +touch. 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 voluntary, moral, and personal act of reliance +upon Him. The metaphor is expanded in various ways in Scripture, and +instead of offering any thoughts of my own about it, I would simply ask +attention to three of the forms in which it is set forth in the Old and +in the New Testaments. + +The first of them, and the one which we may regard as governing the +others, is that found in the words of Isaiah, 'Behold, I lay in Zion a +stone, a sure Foundation'; and, as the Apostle Peter comments, 'He that +believeth on Him shall not be confounded.' There the thoughts presented +are the superposition of the building upon its Foundation, the rest of +the soul, and the rearing of the life on the basis of Jesus Christ. + +How much that metaphor says to us about Him as the Foundation, in all +the aspects in which we can apply that term! He is the Basis of our +hope, the Guarantee of our security, the Foundation-stone of our +beliefs, the very Ground on which our whole life reposes, the Source of +our tranquillity, the Pledge of our peace. All that I think, feel, +desire, wish, and do, ought to be rested upon that dear Lord, and +builded on Him by simple faith. By patient persistence of effort +rearing up the fabric of my life firmly upon Him, and grafting every +stone of it—if I might so use the metaphor—into the bedding-stone, +which is Christ, I shall be strong, peaceful, and pure. + +The storm comes, the waters rise, the winds howl, the hail and the rain +'sweep away the refuge of lies,' and the dwellers in these frail and +foundationless houses are hurrying in wild confusion from one peak to +another, before the steadily rising tide. But he that builds on that +Foundation 'shall not make haste,' as Isaiah has it; shall not need to +hurry to shift his quarters before the flood overtake him; shall look +out serene upon all the hurtling fury of the wild storm, and the rise +of the sullen waters. So, reliance on Christ, and the honest making of +Him the Basis, not of our hopes only, but of our thinkings and of our +doings, and of our whole being, is the secret of security, and the +pledge of peace. + +Then there is another form of the same phrase, 'believing on,' in which +is suggested not so much the figure of building upon a foundation, as +of some feeble man resting upon a strong stay, or clinging to an +outstretched and mighty arm. The same metaphor is implied in the word +'reliance.' We lean upon Christ when, forsaking all other props, and +realising His sufficiency and sweetness, we rest the whole weight of +our weariness and all the impotence of our weakness upon His strong and +unwearied arm, and so are saved. All other stays are like that one to +which the prophet compares the King of Egypt—the papyrus reed in the +Nile stream, on which, if a man leans, it will break into splinters +which will go into his flesh, and make a poisoned wound. But if we lean +on Christ, we lean on a brazen wall and an iron pillar, and anything is +possible sooner than that that stay shall give. + +There is still another form of the metaphor, in which neither building +upon a foundation, nor leaning upon a support which is thought of as +below what rests upon it, are suggested, but rather the hanging upon +something firm and secure which is above what hangs from it. The same +picture is suggested by our word 'dependence.' 'As a nail fastened in a +sure place,' said one of the prophets, 'on Him shall hang all the glory +of His Father's house.' + + 'Hangs my helpless soul on Thee.' + +The rope lowered over the cliffs supports the adventurous bird-nester +in safety above the murmuring sea. They who clasp Christ's hand +outstretched from above, may swing over the deepest, most vacuous +abyss, and fear no fall. + +So, brother, build on Christ, rely on Him, depend on Him, and it shall +not be in vain. But if you will not build on the sure Foundation, do +not wonder if the rotten one gives way. If you will not lean on the +strong Stay, complain not when the weak one crumbles to dust beneath +your weight. And if you choose to swing over the profound depth at the +end of a piece of pack-thread, instead of holding on by an adamantine +chain wrapped round God's throne, you must be prepared for its breaking +and your being smashed to pieces below. + +III. The last exhortation that comes out of this comparative study of +these phrases is—Believe into Christ. + +That is a very pregnant and remarkable expression, and it can scarcely, +as you see, be rendered into our language without a certain harshness; +but still it is worth while to face the harshness for the sake of +getting the double signification that is involved in it. For when we +speak of believing unto or into Him, we suggest two things, both of +which, apparently, were in the minds of the writers of the New +Testament. One is motion towards, and the other is repose in, that dear +Lord. + +So, then, true Christian faith is the flight of the soul towards +Christ. Therein is one of the special blessednesses of the Christian +life, that it has for its object and aim absolutely infinite and +unattainable completeness and glory, so that unwearied freshness, +inexhaustible buoyancy, endless progress, are the dower of every spirit +that truly trusts in Christ. All other aims and objects are limited, +transient, and will be left behind. Every other landmark will sink +beneath the horizon, where so many of our landmarks have sunk already, +and where they will all disappear when the last moment comes. But we +may have, and if we are Christian people we shall have, bright before +us, sufficiently certain of being reached to make our efforts hopeful +and confident, sufficiently certain of never being reached to make our +efforts blessed with endless aspirations, the great light and love of +that dear Lord, to yearn after whom is better than to possess all +besides, and following hard after whom, even in the very motion there +is rest, and in the search there is finding. Religion is the flight of +the soul, the aspiration of the whole man after the unattainable +Attainable—'that I may know Him, and be found in Him.' + +Oh, how such thoughts ought to shame us who call ourselves Christians! +Growth, progress, getting nearer to Christ, yearning ever with a great +desire after Him!—do not the words seem irony when applied to most of +us? Think of the average type of sluggish contentment with present +attainments that marks Christian people—tortoises in their crawling +rather than eagles in their flight. And let us take our portion of +shame, and remember that the faith which believes Him, and that which +believes on Him, both need to be crowned and perfected by that which +believes towards Him, of which the motto is, 'Forgetting the things +that are behind, I reach forward to the things that are before.' + +But there is another side to this last phase of faith. That true +believing towards or unto Christ is the rest of the soul in Him. 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 Him. The believer is as if incorporated into Him in whom +he believes. Indeed, the Apostle ventures to use a more startling +expression than _incorporation_ when he says that 'he that is joined to +the Lord is one Spirit.' If by faith we press towards, by faith we +shall be in, Christ. Faith is at once motion and rest, search and +finding, desire and fruition. The felicity of this last form of the +phrase is its expression of both these ideas, which are united in fact +as in word. A rare construction of the verb _to believe_, with the +simple preposition _in_, coincides with this part of the meaning of +_believing unto_ or _into_, and need not be separately considered. + +With this understanding of its meaning, we see how natural is John's +preference for this construction. For surely, if he has anything to +tell us, it is that the true Christian life is a life enclosed, as it +were, in Jesus Christ. Nor need I remind you how Paul, though he starts +from a different point of view, yet coincides with John in this +teaching. For, to him, to be 'in Christ' is the sum of all blessedness, +righteousness, peace, and power. As in an atmosphere, we may dwell in +Him. He may be the strong Habitation to which we may continually +resort. One of the Old Testament words for trusting means taking +refuge, and such a thought is naturally suggested by this New Testament +form of expression. 'I flee unto Thee to hide me.' In that Fortress we +dwell secure. + +To be in Jesus, wedded to Him by the conjunction of will and desire, +wedded to Him in the oneness of a believing spirit and in the obedience +of a life, to be thus in Christ is the crown and climax of faith, and +the condition of all perfection. To be in Christ is life; to be out of +Him is death. In Him we have redemption; in Him we have wisdom, truth, +peace, righteousness, hope, confidence. To be in Him is to be in +heaven. We enter by faith. Faith is not the acceptance merely of His +Word, but is the reliance of the soul on Him, the flight of the soul +towards Him, the dwelling of the soul in Him. 'Come, My people, into +thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee … until the indignation be +overpast.' + + + + +'NEVER IN BONDAGE' + + +'We… were never in bondage to any man: how gayest Thou, Ye shall be +made free!'—JOHN viii. 33. + +'Never in bondage to any man'? Then what about Egypt, Babylon, Persia, +Syria? Was there not a Roman garrison looking down from the castle into +the very Temple courts where this boastful falsehood was uttered? It +required some hardihood to say, 'Never in bondage to any man,' in the +face of such a history, and such a present. But was it not just an +instance of the strange power which we all have and exercise, of +ignoring disagreeable facts, and by ingenious manipulation taking the +wrinkles out of the photograph? The Jews were perhaps not +misunderstanding Jesus Christ quite so much as these words may suggest. +If He had been promising, as they chose to assume, political and +external liberty, I fancy they would have risen to the bait a little +more eagerly than they did to His words. + +But be that as it may, this strange answer of theirs suggests that +power of ignoring what we do not want to see, not only in the way in +which I have suggested, but also in another. For if they had any +inkling of what Jesus meant by slavery and freedom, they, by such words +as these, put away from themselves the thought that they were, in any +deep and inward sense, bondsmen, and that a message of liberty had any +application to them. Ah, dear friends! there was a great deal of human +nature in these men, who thus put up a screen between them and the +penetrating words of our Lord. Were they not doing just what many of +us—all of us to some extent—do: ignoring the facts of their own +necessities, of their own spiritual condition, denying the plain +lessons of experience? Like them, are not we too often refusing to look +in the face the fact that we all, apart from Him, are really in +bondage? Because we do not realise the slavery, are we not indifferent +to the offer of freedom? 'We were never in bondage'; consequently we +add, 'How sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?' So then, my text brings +us to think of three things: our bondage, our ignorance of our bondage, +our consequent indifference to Christ's offer of liberty. Let me say a +word or two about each of these. + +First as to— + +I. Our bondage. + +Christ follows the vain boast in the text, with the calm, grave, +profound explanation of what He meant: 'Whoso committeth sin is the +slave of sin.' That is true in two ways. By the act of sinning a man +shows that he is the slave of an alien power that has captured him; and +in the act of sinning, he rivets the chains and increases the tyranny. +He is a slave, or he would not obey sin. He is more a slave because he +has again obeyed it. Now, do not let us run away with the idea that +when Jesus speaks of sin and its bondage, He is thinking only, or +mainly, of gross outrages and contradictions of the plain law of +morality and decency, that He is thinking only of external acts which +all men brand as being wrong, or of those which law qualifies as +crimes. We have to go far deeper than that, and into a far more inward +region of life than that, before we come to apprehend the inwardness +and the depth of the Christian conception of what sin is. We have to +bring our whole life close up against God, and then to judge its deeds +thereby. Therefore, though I know I am speaking to a mass of +respectable, law-abiding people, very few of you having any knowledge +of the grosser and uglier forms of transgression, and I dare say none +of you having any experience of what it is to sin against human law, +though I do not charge you—God forbid!—with _vices_, and still less +with _crimes_, I bring to each man's conscience a far more searching +word than either of these two, when I say, 'We all have _sinned_ and +come short of the glory of God.' 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 experience, though it may be of a very +much less universal consciousness. We may not be aware of the fact, +because, as I have to show you, we do not direct our attention to it. +But there it is; and the truth is that every man, however noble his +aspirations sometimes, however pure and high his convictions, and +however honest in the main may be his attempts to do what is right, +when he deals honestly with himself, becomes more or less conscious of +just that experience which a great expert in soul analysis and +self-examination made: 'I find a law'—an influence working upon my +heart with the inevitableness and certainty of law—'that when I would +do good, evil is present with me.' + +We all know that, whether we regard it as we ought or no. We all say +Amen to that, when it is forced upon our attention. There _is_ +something in us that thwarts aspiration towards good, and inclines to +evil. + + 'What will but felt the fleshly screen?' + +And it is not only a screen. It not only prevents us from rising as +high as we would, but it sinks us so low as to do deeds that something +within us recoils from and brands as evil. Jesus teaches us that he who +commits sin is the slave of sin; that is to say, that an alien power +has captured and is coercing the wrongdoer. That teaching does not +destroy responsibility, but it kindles hope. A foreign foe, who has +invaded the land, may be driven out of the land, and all his prisoners +set free, if a stronger than he comes against him. Christianity is +called gloomy and stern, because it preaches the corruption of man's +heart. Is it not a gospel to draw a distinction between the evil that a +man does, and the self that a man may be? Is it not better, more +hopeful, more of a true evangel, to say to a man, 'Sin dwelleth in +you,' than to say, 'What is called sin is only the necessary action of +human nature'? To believe that their present condition is not slavery +makes men hopeless of ever gaining freedom, and the true gospel of the +emancipation of humanity rests on the Christian doctrine of the bondage +of sin. + +Let me remind you that freedom consists not in the absence of external +constraints, but in the animal in us being governed by the will, for +when the flesh is free the man is a slave. And it means that the will +should be governed by the conscience; and it means that the conscience +should be governed by God. These are the stages. Men are built in three +stories, so to speak. Down at the bottom, and to be kept there, are +inclinations, passions, lust, desires, all which are but blind aimings +after their appropriate satisfaction, without any question as to +whether the satisfaction is right or wrong; and above that a dominant +will which is meant to control, and above that a conscience. That is +the pyramid; and as by the sunshine on the gilded top of some spire, +the shining apex, the conscience, is illnmined when the light of God +falls upon it. And when a man is built in that fashion, and keeps to +that fashion, then, and only then, is he free. + +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 thing, once thought or done by a man, to +reproduce itself, onwards and ever onwards. It is a far commoner thing +for a man never to have done some given evil, never to have got drunk, +never to have stolen, or the like, than to have done it only once. I +have heard of a mysterious illness, in which at first medical analysis +detected with difficulty one single bacterion in a great quantity of +blood. But in a few days, so had they multiplied that no drop could be +taken anywhere from the veins which was not full of them. That is how +men get under the slavery of any evil thing; and habit becomes stronger +than anything except that "strong Son of God, immortal Love," whose +Spirit can conquer even it." Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the +leopard his spots? Then may ye that are wont to do evil learn to do +well." The bondage is real and hard. + +My text suggests to us that strange, sad fact + +II. OUR IGNORANCE OF OUR SLAVERY. + +"We were never in bondage to any man," said the Jews. We are but too +apt to repeat the empty boast, and as they forgot Pharaoh and +Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus,and Cesar, we forget our failures, our +faults, our sins. We ignore them. Is not that, too, a plain fact of +experience? A sadly large percentage of men never have really opened +their eyes to the undeniable truth that sin has dominion over them. +They go along on the surface of things, keeping to the shallows of +human life, occupying themselves with their various duties and +enjoyments, and they never know, just because they shut their eyes to +facts, or rather turn their eyes away from facts-what is their real +condition in God's sight. Some of my present hearers are, in regard to +this matter, what the old Puritans used to call "Gospel-hardened." They +have their hearts and minds, I was going to say water-proofed, by +repeated application to them, as I am trying to apply them now, of +truths which but add one more film to the layers between their hearts +and the Gospel. Because they are so familiar with the words of our +message, they all but lose the faculty of bringing its power into +contact with themselves. Oh! if I could overcome that tendency which +there is in all regular church and chapel-goers to make themselves +comfortable in their corners, and suppose that the man in the pulpit is +saying what he ought to say, 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 sin, +through the manifold layers with which your heart is encrusted, you +would find out the weight of a good many things that some of you think +very phantasmal and of little consequence. + +There is nothing about us that is more remarkable and more awful, when +you come to think of it, than the power that we have, by not attending +to something, of making that something practically non-existent. The +great search-lights, that they now have on battleships, will fling a +beam of terrible revealing power on one sma11 segment of the vast +circle of the sea; and all the rest, though it may be filled with the +enemy's fleet, will be lying in darkness. So just because we cannot get +you to think of the facts of your slavery to sin, the facts are +non-existent as far as you are concerned. Let me plead with you. +Surely! sure1y, 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 there! Ezekiel was once led to a +place where, through a hole broken in the wall, there was showed him an +inner chamber, on the walls of which were painted the hideous idols of +the heathen. And there, in the presence of the foul shapes, stood +venerable priests and official dignitaries of Israel, with their +censers in their hands, and their backs to the oracle of God. There is +a chamber like that in all our hearts; and it would be a great deal +better that we should go down, through the hole in the wall, and see +it, than that we should live, as so many of us do, in this fool's +paradise of ignorance of our own sin. It is because we will not attend +to the facts that we ignore the facts. The evils that we do, and that +we cherish undone in our hearts, are like the wreckers on some stormy +coast, that begin operations by taking the tongue out of the bell that +hangs on the buoy, and putting out the light that beams from the +beacon. Sin chokes conscience; and so the worse a man is, the less he +feels himself to be bad; and while a saint will be tortured with +agonies of remorse for some slight peccadillo, a brigand will add a +murder or two to his list, and wipe his mouth and say, "I have done no +harm." We are ignorant of our sin because we bribe our consciences, +because we drug our consciences, because we will not attend to the +facts of our own spiritual being. + +That ignorance of our bondage is characteristic of the tone of mind of +this generation. Things have changed in that respect, as in a great +many others, since I was a boy. I do not hear now, from people who +desire to unite themselves to Jesus Christ, the deep poignant penitence +and confession of sin that one used to hear. I do not hear the facts of +sin, its gravity and universality, preached from pulpits in the way it +used to be. I notice in the ordinary, average man a tendency to think +more about environment and heredity, than about individidual +responsibility, and on the whole a very much lowered sense of the depth +and the power and the universality of transgression. And that is why, +to a large extent, the Christianity of this generation is so shallow a +thing as it is. + +That brings me, lastly, to say a word about + +III. THE CONSEQUENT INDIFFERENCE TO CHRIST'S OFFER OF FREEDOM. + +"How sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?" Of course, if they had no +consciousness of bondage, there was no attraction for them in a promise +of freedom. + +That remark opens out two thoughts, on which I do not dwell. First, the +ignoring of the fact of sin which is so common amongst us all to-day, +makes it impossible to understand Christ and Christianity. Brethren, +that great Gospel, and that great Lord who is the subject of the +Gospel, have many other aspects than this. But this is the central +thought as to it and Him, that it is the emancipation from sin, because +He is the Emancipator. "The spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He +hath anointed Me to preach deliverance to the captives." And wherever +we find, as we do find, in many quarters to-day, that the central fact +of Christianity, the Death for the sin of the world, is deposed from +its place, there the life-blood is ebbing out of the Gospel. +Historically, the beginning of almost all heresies has been the +under-estimate of the fact of sin. As long as you dwell in the shallows +of human experience, a shallow Christianity and a shallow Christ will +be enough for you. But when once you get to understand the depths of +your own need, and the depths of your brother's need, then nothing less +than the Christ that died to solve the problem, insoluble else, of how +to emancipate the soul and the world from the tyranny of sin, will be +enough for you. Once "the waters of the great deep are broken up," and +the floods are out, there is nothing for it but the Ark. It is not +enough then to speak of a human Christ; it is not enough, when a man's +conscience has been roused, not to exaggeration, but to clear sight, of +what he isit is not enough then to speak of an example Christ, or of a +teaching Christ. Ah! we want more than that. We want "that which first +of all I delivered unto you, how that Jesus Christ died for our sins, +according to the Scriptures." + +And, brethren, just as the ignoring of the fact of sin makes the +understanding of Christ and His word impossible, so it makes real +reception of Him for ourselves impossible. Many men are brought near to +Jesus by other roads; thank God for it! There are a thousand ways to +the Cross, but it is the Cross that we must clasp if in any true sense +we are to clasp Christ. And there is all the difference between the +superficial, partial, and easy-going profession of Christianity which +is so common amongst us to-day, and the life and death clutching and +clinging to Him which comes when, and only when, a man feels that the +tyrant whom he served as a slave, is close behind him, and that his +only chance of freedom is to hold fast by the horns of the altar of the +Sanctuary, and to cleave to the Christ in Whom, and in Whom alone, we +are free indeed. + + + + +ONE METAPHOR AND TWO MEANINGS + + +'I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night +cometh when no man can work.'—JOHN ix. 4. + +'The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off +the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.'—ROMANS +xiii. 12. + +The contrast between these two sayings will strike you at once. Using +the same metaphors, they apply them in exactly opposite directions. In +the one, life is the day, and the state beyond death the night; in the +other, life is the night, and the state beyond death the day. +Remarkable as the contrast is, it comes to be still more so if we +remember the respective speakers. For each of them says what we should +rather have expected the other to say. 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 brief; and it would have been +as natural for Jesus, who, as we believe, came from God, from the place +of the eternal supernal glory, to have said that life here was night as +compared with the illumination that He had known. But it is the divine +Master who gives utterance to the common human consciousness of a brief +life ending in inactivity, and it is the servant who takes the higher +point of view. + +So strange did the words of my first text seem as coming from our +Lord's lips, 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 Me.' But that thought seems to me to be perfectly irrelevant to +our Lord's purpose in this context, where He is vindicating His own +action, and not laying down the duty of His servants. He is giving here +one of these glimpses, that we so rarely get, into His own inmost +heart. And so we have to take the sharp contrast between the Master's +thought and the servant's thought, and to combine them, if we would +think rightly about the present and the future, and do rightly in the +present. + +I. Let me ask you to look at the Master's thought about the present and +the future. + +As I have already said, our Lord gives utterance here to the very +common, in fact, universal human consciousness. The contrast between +the intense little spot of light and the great ring of darkness round +about it; 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 beginning; has +given pathos to poetry, solemnity to our days; and has been the ally of +base as well as of noble things. For to say to a man, 'there are twelve +hours in the day of life, and then comes darkness, the blackness that +swallows up all activity,' may either be made into a support of all +lofty and noble thoughts, or, by the baser sort, may be, and has been, +made into a philosophy of the 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we +die' kind; 'Gather ye roses while ye may'; 'A short life and a merry +one.' The thought stimulates to diligence, but it does nothing to +direct the diligence. It makes men work furiously, but it never will +prevent them from working basely. 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, +do it with thy might,' is a conclusion from the consideration that +'there is neither wisdom nor knowledge nor device in the grave whither +we go,' but what the hand should find to do must be settled from +altogether different considerations. + +Our Lord here takes the common human point of view, and says, 'Life is +the time for activity, and it must be the more diligent because it is +ringed by the darkness of the night.' What precisely does our Lord +intend by His use of that metaphor of the night? No figures, we know, +run upon all-fours. The point of comparison may be simply in some one +feature common to the two things compared, and so all sorts of mischief +may be done by trying to extend the analogy to other features. Now, +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 death. +There is a 'night of weeping'; there is a 'night of ignorance.' But our +Lord Himself tells us what is the one point of comparison which alone +is in His mind, when He says, 'The night cometh, when no man can work.' +It is simply the night as a season of compulsory inactivity that +suggests the comparison in our text. And so we have here the +presentation of that dear Lord as influenced by the common human +motive, and feeling that there was work to be done which must be +crowded into a definite space, because when that space was past, there +would be no more opportunity for the work to be done. + +Look at how, in the words of my first text, we have, as I said, a +glimpse into His inmost heart. He lets us see that all His life was +under the solemn compulsion of that great _must_ which was so often +upon His lips, that He felt that He was here to do the Father's will, +and that that obligation lay upon Him with a pressure which He neither +could, nor would if He could, have got rid of. + +There are two kinds of 'musts' in our lives. There is the unwelcome +necessity which grips us with iron and sharpened fangs; the needs-be +which crushes down hopes and dreams and inclinations, and forces the +slave to his reluctant task. And there is the 'must' which has passed +into the will, into the heart, and has moulded the inmost desire to +conformity with the obligation which no more stands over against us as +a taskmaster with whip and chain, but has passed within us and is there +an inspiration and a joy. He that can say, as Jesus Christ in His +humanity could, and did say: 'My meat'—the refreshment of my nature, +the necessary sustenance of my being—'is to do the will of my Father'; +that man, and that man alone, feels no pressure that is pain from the +incumbency of the necessity that blessedly rules His life. When 'I +will' and 'I choose' coincide, like two of Euclid's triangles atop of +one another, line for line and angle for angle, then comes liberty into +the life. He that can say, not with a knitted brow and an unwilling +ducking of his head to the yoke, 'I must do it,' but can say, 'Thy law +is within my heart,' that is the Christlike, the free, the happy man. + +Further, our Lord here, in His thoughts of the present and the future, +lets us see what He thought that the work of God in the world was. The +disciples looked at the blind man sitting by the wayside, and what he +suggested to them was a curious, half theological, half metaphysical +question, in which Rabbinical subtlety delighted. 'Who did sin, this +man or his parents?' They only thought of talking over the theological +problem involved in the fact that, before he had done anything in this +world to account for the calamity, he was _born_ blind. Jesus Christ +looked at the man, and He did not think about theological cobwebs. What +was suggested to Him was to fight against the evil and abolish it. It +is sometimes necessary to discuss the origin of an evil thing, of a +sorrow or a sin, in order to understand how to deal with and get rid of +it. But unless that is the case, our first business is not to say, 'How +comes this about?' but our business is to take steps to make it cease +to come about. Cure the man first and then argue to your heart's +content about what made him blind, but cure him first. 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 devil, and that the work of +God was that we should fight against sin and sorrow, and in so far as +it was in our power, abolish these, in all the variety of their forms, +in all the vigour of their abundant growth. 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 creation; and 'the day' is the opportunity for +doing that. + +Our Lord here, as I have already suggested, shows us very touchingly +and beautifully, how entirely He bore our human nature, and had entered +into our conditions, in that He, too, felt that common human emotion, +and was spurred to unhasting and yet unresting diligence by the thought +of the coming of the night. I suppose that although we have few +chronological data in this Gospel of John, the hour of our Lord's death +was really very near at that time. He had just escaped from a +formidable attempt upon His life. 'They took up stones to stone Him, +but He, passing through the midst of them, went His way,' is the +statement which immediately precedes the account of His meeting with +this blind man. And so under the pressure, perhaps, of that immediate +experience which revealed the depths of hatred that was ready for +anything against Him, He gives utterance to this expression: 'If it be +the case that the time is at hand, then the more need that, Sabbath day +as it is, I should pause here.' Though the multitude were armed with +stones to stone Him, He stopped in His flight because there was a poor +blind man there whom He felt that He needed to cure. Beautiful it is, +and drawing Him very near to us,—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 work, by the ring of blackness that +encircled the little spot of illuminated light. + +But some will say, 'How is it possible that such a consciousness as +this should really have been in the mind of Jesus Christ?' 'Did He not +know that His death was not to be the end of His work? Did He not know, +and say over and over again, in varying forms, that when He passed from +earth, it was not into inactivity? 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 world, in that His death stands in the +very middle of His work, and that on the one side of it there is +activity, and on the other side of it there is still, and in some sense +loftier and greater, activity?' Yes; all that is perfectly true, 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 biography, and of the +records of His deeds, and that He contemplated them, as He contemplated +always, the life beyond, as working in and on and over and through His +servants, even unto the end of the world. + +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 here. The one is the basis of the other; the one is the +seedtime, the other is the harvest. The one has only the limited years +of the earthly life, in which it can be done; the other has the endless +years of Eternity, through which it is to be continued. And if any part +of that earthly life of the Lord had been void of its duty, and of its +discharge of the Father's will, not even He, amidst the blaze of the +heavenly glory, could have thereafter filled up the tiny gap. All the +earthly years were needed to be filled with service, up to the great +service and sacrifice of the Cross, in order that upon them might be +reared the second stage and phase of His heavenly life. With regard to +the one, He said on the Cross, 'It is finished.' But when He died He +passed not into the night of inactivity, but into the day of greater +service. And that higher and heavenly form of His work continues, and +not until 'the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our +God and of His Christ,' and the whole benefit and effect of His earthly +life are imparted to the whole race of man, will it be said, 'It is +done,' and the angels of heaven proclaim the completion of His work for +man. But seeing that that work has its twofold forms, Jesus, like us, +had to be conscious of the limitations of life, and of the night that +followed the day. + +II. And now turn, in the second place, to the servant's thought. + +As I have already pointed out, it is the precise reversal of the other. +What to Christ is 'day' to Paul is 'night.' What to Christ is 'night' +to Paul is 'day.' Now the first point that I would make is this, that +the future would never have been 'day' to Paul if Jesus had not gone +down into the darkness of the 'night.' I have said that there was only +one point of comparison in our Lord's mind between night and death. But +we may venture to extend the figure a little, and to say that the Light +went into the 'valley of the shadow of Death,' and lit it up from end +to end. The Life went into the palace of Death, and breathed life into +all there. There is a great picture by one of the old monkish masters, +on the walls of a Florentine convent, which represents the descent of +Jesus to that dim region of the dead. Around Him there is a halo of +light that shines into the gloomy corridor, up which the thronging +patriarchs and saints of the Old Dispensation are coming, with +outstretched hands of eager welcome and acceptance, to receive the +blessing. Ah! it is true, 'the people that walked in darkness have seen +a great Light; and to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of +death, unto them hath the Light shined.' Christ the Light has gone down +into the darkness, and what to Him was night He has made for us day. +Just as Scripture all but confines the name of _death_ to Christ's +experience upon the Cross, and by virtue of that experience softens it +down for the rest of us into the blessed image of _sleep_, so the +Master has turned the night of death into the dawning of the day. + +Further, to the servant the brightness of that future day dimmed all +earth's garish glories into darkness. It was because Paul saw the +Beyond flaming with such lustre that the nearer distance to him seemed +to have sunk into gloom. Just as a man or other object between you and +the western sky when the sun is there will be all dark, so earth with +heaven behind it becomes a mere shadowy outline. The day that is beyond +outshines all the lustres and radiances of earth, and turns them into +darkness. You go into a room out of blazing tropical sunshine, and it +is all gloom and obscurity. He whose eyes are fixed on the day that is +to come will find that here he walks as one in the night. + +And the brightness of that day, as well as the darkness of the present +night, directed the servant as to what he should be diligent in. Since +it is true that 'the day is at hand,' let us put on the armour of +light, and dress ourselves in garb fitting for it. Since it is true +that 'the night is far spent' let us put off the works of darkness. + +III. And so that brings me to the last point, and that is the +combination of the Master's and the servant's thought, and the effect +that it should produce upon us. + +It is not enough either for our hearts or our minds that we should say +'the night cometh when no man can work.' Life is day, but it is night +also. Death is night but it is dawning as well. We cannot understand +either the present or the future unless we link them together. That +death which is the cessation of activity in one aspect, is, for +Christ's servants, as truly as for Christ, the beginning of an activity +in a higher and nobler form. I do not believe in a heaven of rest, +meaning by that, inaction; I still less believe in a death which puts +an end to the activity of the human spirit. I believe that this world +is our school, our apprenticeship, the place where we learn our trade +and exercise our faculties, where we paint the picture, as it were, +which we offer when we desire to be admitted to the great guild of +artists, and according to the result of which, in the eye of the Judge, +is our place hereafter. What the Germans call 'proof pieces'—that is +the meaning of life. And though 'the night cometh when no man can +work,' the day cometh when the characters we have made ourselves here, +the habits we have cultivated and indulged in, the capacities we have +exercised, and the set and drift of all our activity upon earth, will +determine the work that we get to do there. + +So then, stereoscoping these two thoughts, we get the solid image that +results from them both. And it teaches us not only diligence, and thus +supplies stimulus, but it determines the direction of our diligence, +and thus supplies guidance. We ought to be misers of our time and +opportunities. Jesus Christ said, 'I must work the work of Him that +sent Me while it is day; the night cometh.' How much more ought you and +I to say so? And some of us ought very specially to say it, and to feel +it, because the hour when we shall have to lay down our tools is +getting very near, and the shadows are lengthening. If you had been in +the fields in these summer evenings during the last few days, you would +have seen the haymakers at work with more and more diligence as the +evening drew on darker and darker. Dear friends, some of us are at the +eleventh hour. Let us fill it with diligent work. The night cometh. + +But my texts not only stimulate to diligence, but they direct the +diligence. If it be that there is a day beyond, and that Christ's folk +are 'the children of the day,' then 'let us not sleep as do others, but +let us watch and be sober.' We have to cast ourselves on Him as our +Saviour, to love Him as our Lord and Friend, to take Him as our Pattern +and our Guide, our Help, our Light, and our Life. And then we shall +neither be deceived by life's garish splendours nor oppressed by its +gloom and its sorrow; we shall neither shrink from that last moment, as +a night of inaction, nor be too eager to cast off the burden of our +present work, but we shall cheerfully toil at what will prepare us for +'the day,' and the bell at night that rings us out of mill and factory +will not be unwelcome, for it will ring us in to higher work and nobler +service. The transition will be like one of those summer nights in the +Arctic circle, when the sun does not dip. Through a little thin film of +less light we shall pass into the perfect day, where 'the Lord God +Almighty and the Lamb are the light thereof,' and 'there shall be no +more night.' + + + + +THE SIXTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL—THE BLIND MADE TO SEE, AND THE +SEEING MADE BLIND + + +'When Jesus had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of +the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, +7. And said unto him, Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam, (which is by +interpretation, Sent). He went his way, therefore, and washed, and came +seeing.'—JOHN ix. 6, 7. + +The proportionate length at which this miracle and its accompanying +effects are recorded, indicates very clearly the Evangelist's idea of +their relative importance. Two verses are given to the story of the +miracle; all the rest of the chapter to its preface and its issues. It +was a great thing to heal a man that was blind from his birth, 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 God, was far more +to the Evangelist, and ought to be far more to us than giving the +outward eye power to discern the outward light. + +The narrative has a prologue and an epilogue, and the true point of +view from which to look at it is found in the solemn words with which +our Lord closes the incident. 'For judgment am I come into this world, +that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be +made blind.' + +So then the mere sign, important as it is, is the least thing that we +have to look at in our contemplations now. + +I. We have here our Lord unveiling His deepest motives for bestowing an +unsought blessing. + +It is remarkable, I think, that out of the eight miracles recorded in +this Gospel, there is only one in which our Lord responds to a request +to manifest His miraculous power; the others are all spontaneous. + +In the other Gospels He heals sometimes because of the pleading of the +sufferer; sometimes because of the request of compassionate friends or +bystanders; sometimes unasked, because His own heart went out to those +that were in pain and sickness. But in John's Gospel, predominantly we +have the Son of God, who acts throughout as moved by His own deep +heart. That view of Christ reaches its climax in His own profound words +about His own laying down of His life: 'I came forth from the Father, +and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go unto the +Father.' So, not so much influenced by others as deriving motive and +impulse and law from Himself, He moves upon earth a fountain and not a +reservoir, the Originator and the Beginner of the blessings that He +bears. + +And that is the point of view from which most strikingly the prologue +of our narrative sets forth His action in the miracle here. 'As Jesus +passed by,' says the story, 'He saw a man which was blind from his +birth.' He fixes His eye upon him. No cry from the blind man's lips +draws Him. He sits there unconscious of the kind eyes that were +fastened upon him. The disciples stand at Christ's side, and have no +share in His feelings. They ask Him to do nothing. To them the blind +man is—what? A theological problem. No trace of pity touches their +hearts. They do not even seem to have reckoned upon or expected +Christ's miraculous intervention. And that is a very remarkable feature +in the Gospels. At all events, they evidently do not expect it here; +but all that the sight of this lifelong sufferer does in them is to +raise a question, 'Who did sin; he or his parents?' Perhaps they do not +quite see to the bottom of the alternative that they are suggesting; +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 question. Perhaps they remembered the impotent man to whom our +Lord said, 'Go and sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee.' 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 sin. + +That is all that the sight of sorrow does for some people. It leads to +censorious judgments, or to mere idle and curious speculations. Christ +lets us see what it did for Him, and what it is meant to do for us. +'Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but he is born blind +that the works of God may be made manifest in him.' That is to say, +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 away. Do not stand coldly +curious or uncharitably censorious. Do not make miserable men +theological problems, but see in them a call for service. See in them +an opportunity for letting the light of God, so much of it as is in +you, shine from you, and your hands move in works of mercy. + +And then the Master goes on to state still more distinctly the law +which dominated His life, and which ought to dominate ours: 'I must +work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh +when no man can work.' Then poor men's misery is an occasion for the +love of God manifesting itself. Yes. But the love of God manifests +itself through human media, through persons; and if we adopt the +reading of these words which you will find in the Revised Version, and +instead of saying '_I_ must work,' read '_We_ must work,' then we have +Christ extending the law which ruled over His own life to all His +followers, and making it supremely obligatory and binding upon each of +us. He for His part, as I have said, moves through this Gospel as the +Son of God, whose mercy, and all whose doings are self-originated. But +the other side of that is that He moves through this Gospel in the +humble attitude of filial obedience, ever recognising that the Father's +will is supreme in His life; and that He is bound, with an obligation +in which He rejoices, to do the will of Him that sent Him. The +consciousness of a mission, the sense of filial obedience, the joyful +surrender and harmonising of the will of the Son with the will of the +Father; these things were the secret of the Master's life. + +And coupled with them, even in Him there was the consciousness that +time was short; and although beyond the Cross and the grave there +stretched for Him an eternity in which He would work for the blessing +of the world, yet the special work which He had to do, while wearing +the veil and weakness of flesh, had but few days and hours in which it +could be done. Therefore, as we ought to do, He worked under the +limitations of mortality, and recognised in the brevity of life another +call to eager and continuous service. + +These were His motives which, in common with Him, we may share. But He +adds another in which we have no share; and declares the unique +consciousness which ever stirred Him to His self-manifesting and +God-manifesting acts: 'As long as I am in the world I am the Light of +the world.' + +Thus, moved by sorrow, recognising in man's misery the dumb cry for +help, seeing in it the opportunity for the manifestation of the higher +mercy of God; taking all evil to be the occasion for a brighter display +of the love and the good which are divine; feeling that His one purpose +upon earth was to crowd the moments with obedience to the will, and +with the doing of the works of Him that sent Him; 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 man, and looking upon the poor, useless eyeballs, +unaware how near light and sight stood, obeys the impulse that shapes +His whole life, 'and when He had spoken _thus_,' proceeds to the +strange cure. + +II. So we come, in the next place, to consider Christ as veiling His +power under material means. + +There is only one other instance in the Gospels where a miracle is +wrought in the singular fashion which is here employed, namely, the +healing of the deaf-mute recorded in Mark's Gospel, where, in like +manner, our Lord makes clay of the spittle, and anoints the ears of the +deaf man with the clay. The variety of method in our Lord's miracles +serves important purposes, as teaching us that the methods are nothing, +and that He moved freely amongst them all, the real cause in every case +being one and the same, the bare forth-putting of His will; 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 employed, which we of course have no +means of discovering. There is here, first then, healing by material +means. The clay had no power of healing; the water of Siloam had no +power of healing. The thing that healed was Christ's will, but He uses +these externals to help the poor blind man to believe that he is going +to be healed. He condescends to drape and veil His power in order that +the dim eye, unaccustomed to the light, may look upon that shadowed +representation of it when it could not gaze upon the pure brightness; +as an eye may look upon a shaded lamp which could not bear its +brilliance unsoftened and naked. + +This healing by material means in order to accommodate Himself to the +weak faith which He seeks to evoke, and to strengthen thereby, is +parallel, in principle, to His own Incarnation, and to His appointment +of external rites and ordinances. Baptism, the Lord's Supper, a visible +Church, outward means of worship, and so on, all these come under that +same category. There is no life nor power in them except His will works +through them, but they are crutches and helps for a weak and +sense-bound faith to climb to the apprehension of the spiritual +reality. It is not the clay, it is not the water, it is not the Church, +the ordinances, the outward worship, the form of prayer, the +sacrament—it is none of these things that have the healing and the +grace in them. They are only ladders by which we may ascend to Him. 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 +fill. He heals through material means; the true source of healing is +His own loving will. + +Further, He heals at a distance. We have here a parallel with the story +of the nobleman's son at Capernaum, which we have already considered. +There, too, we have the same phenomenon, the healing power sent forth +from the Master, and operating far away from His corporeal personal +presence. This was a test of faith, as the use of the clay had been a +help to faith. Still He works His healing from afar, because to Him +there is neither near nor far. In His divine ubiquity, that Son of Man, +who in His glorified manhood is at the right hand of God the Father +Almighty, is here and everywhere where there are weakness and suffering +that turn to Him; ready to help, ready to bless and heal. 'Lo, I am +with you always, even unto the end of the world.' + +Our Evangelist sees in the very name of that fountain in which the man +washed, a symbol which is not to be passed by. 'Go, wash in the Pool of +Siloam,' which, says John, 'is by interpretation, _Sent._' We have +heard already about the Pool of Siloam in this section of the Gospel. +In Chapter vii. we read, 'In the last day, that great day of the Feast, +Jesus stood and said, "If any man thirst let him come to Me and +drink."' These words were probably spoken on the last day of the Feast +of Tabernacles, on which one part of the ceremonial was the drawing, +with exuberant rejoicing, of water from the Pool of Siloam, and bearing +it up to the Temple. In these words Christ pointed to that fountain +which rises 'fast by the oracles of God,' and wells up from beneath the +hill, that on which the Temple is built, as being a symbol of Himself. + +And here the Evangelist would have us suppose that, in like manner, the +very name which the fountain bore (whether as being an outgush from +beneath the Temple rock, or whether as being the gift of God) as +applicable to Himself. The lesson to be learned is that the fountain in +which we have to be cleansed 'from sin and from uncleanness,' whose +waters are the lotion that will give eyesight to the blind, the true +'fountain of perpetual youth,' which men have sought for in every land, +is Christ Himself. In Him we have the welling forth of the heart of +God, the water of life, the water of gladness, the immortal stream of +which 'whoso drinketh shall never thirst,' and which, touching the +blind eyeballs, washes away obscuration and gives new power of vision. + +III. Then, still further, we have here our Lord suspending healing on +obedience. + +'Go and wash.' As He said to the impotent man: 'Stretch forth thine +hand'; as He said to the paralytic in this Gospel: 'Take up thy bed and +walk'; so here He says, 'Go and wash.' And some friendly hand being +stretched out to the blind man, or he himself feeling his way over the +familiar path, he comes to the pool and washes, and returns seeing. + +There is a double lesson there, on which I have no need to dwell. There +is, first, the general truth that healing is suspended by Christ on +compliance with His conditions. He does not simply say to any man, Be +whole. He could and did say so sometimes in regard to bodily healing. +But He cannot do so as regards the cure of our blind souls. To the +sin-sick and sin-blinded man He says, 'Thou shalt be whole, if'—or 'I +will make thee whole, provided that'—what?—provided that thou goest to +the fountain where He has lodged the healing power. The condition on +which sight comes to the blind is compliance with Christ's invitation, +'Come to Me; trust in Me; and thou shalt be whole.' + +Then there is a special lesson here, and that is, Obedience brings +sight. 'If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine.' Are +there any of you groping in darkness, compassed about with theological +perplexities and religious doubts? Obey what you know. Do what you see +clearly you ought to do. Bow your wills to the recognised truth. He who +has turned all his knowledge into action will get more knowledge as +soon as he needs it. 'Go and wash; and he went, and came seeing.' + +IV. And now, lastly, we have here our Lord shadowing His highest work +as the Healer of blind souls. + +It is impossible for me to enter upon that wonderfully dramatic and +instructive narrative which follows the account of the miracle, and +describe the controversies between the sturdy, quick-witted, candid, +blind man, and the narrow, bitter Pharisees. But just notice one or two +points. + +The two parties are evidently represented as types of two contrasted +classes. The blind man stands for an example of honest ignorance, +knowing itself ignorant, and not to be coaxed or frightened or in any +way provoked to pretending to knowledge which it does not possess; +firmly holding by what it does know, and because conscious of its +little knowledge, therefore waiting for light and willing to be led. +Hence he is at once humble and sturdy, docile and independent, ready to +listen to any voice which can really teach, and formidably quick to +prick with wholesome sarcasm the inflated claims of mere official +pretenders. The Pharisees, on the other hand, are sure that they know +everything that can be known about anything in the region of religion +and morality, and in their absolute confidence of their absolute +possession of the truth, in their blank unconsciousness that it was +more than their official property and stock-in-trade, in their complete +incapacity to discern the glory of a miracle which contravened +ecclesiastical proprieties and conventionalities, in their contempt for +the ignorance which they were responsible for and never thought of +enlightening, in their cruel taunt directed against the man's calamity, +and in their swift resort to the weapon of excommunication of one whom +it was much easier to cast out than to answer, are but too plain a type +of a character which is as ready to corrupt the teachers of the Church +as of the synagogue. + +One cannot but notice how constantly the phrase 'We know' occurs. The +parents of the man use it thrice. The Pharisees have it on their lips +in their first interview with him: 'We know that this man is a sinner.' +He answers, declining to affirm anything about the character of the Man +Jesus, because he, for his part, 'knows not,' but standing firmly by +the solid reality which he 'knows,' in a very solid fashion, that his +eyes have been opened. So we have the first encounter between knowledge +which is ignorant, and ignorance which knows, to the manifest victory +of the latter. Again, in the second round, they try to overbear the +man's cool sarcasm with their vehement assertion of knowledge that God +spake to Moses, but by the admission that even their knowledge did not +reach to the determination of the question of the origin of Jesus' +mission, lay themselves open to the sudden thrust of keen-eyed, honest +humility's sharp rapier-like retort. 'Herein is a marvellous thing,' +that you _Know-alls_, whose business it is to know where a professed +miracle-worker comes from, 'know not from whence He is, and yet He hath +opened mine eyes.' 'Now we know' (to use your own words) 'that God +heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth +His will, him He heareth.' + +Then observe how, on both sides, a process is going on. The man is +getting more and more light at each step. He begins with 'a Man which +is called Jesus.' Then he gets to a 'prophet,' then he comes to 'a +worshipper of God, and one that does His will.' Then he comes to, 'If +this man were not of God,' in some very special sense, 'He could do +nothing.' These are his own reflections, the working out of the +impression made by the fact on an honest mind; and because he had so +used the light which he had, therefore Jesus gives him more, and finds +him with the question, 'Dost thou believe on the Son of God?' Then the +man who had shown himself so strong in his own convictions, so +independent, and hard to cajole or coerce, shows himself now all docile +and submissive, and ready to accept whatever Jesus says: 'Lord, who is +He, that I might believe on Him?' That was not credulity. He already +knew enough of Christ to know that he ought to trust Him. And to his +docility there is given the full revelation; and he hears the words +which Pharisees and unrighteous men were not worthy to hear: 'Thou hast +both _seen_ it is He that talketh with thee.' Then intellectual +conviction, moral reliance, and the utter prostration and devotion of +the whole man bow him at Christ's feet. 'Lord, I believe; and He +worshipped Him.' + +There is the story of the progress of an honest, ignorant soul that +knew itself blind, into the illumination of perfect vision. + +And as he went upwards, so steadily and tragically, downwards went the +others. For they had light and they would not look at it; and it +blasted and blinded them. They had the manifestation of Christ, and +they scoffed and jeered at it, and turned their backs upon it, and it +became a curse to them; falling not like dew but like vitriol on their +spirits, blistering, not refreshing. + +Therefore Christ pronounces their fate, and sums up the story in the +solemn two-edged sentence: 'For judgment am I come into the world, that +they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made +blind.' + +The purpose of His coming is not to judge, but to save. But if men will +not let Him save, the effect of His coming will be to harm. Therefore, +His coming will separate men into two parts, as a magnet will draw all +the iron filings out of a heap and leave the brass. He comes not to +judge, but His coming does judge. He is set for the rise or for the +fall of men, and is 'a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the +heart.' + +Light has a twofold effect. It is torture to the diseased eye; it is +gladdening to the sound one. Christ is the light, as He is also both +the power of seeing and the thing seen. Therefore, it cannot but be +that His shining upon men's hearts shall judge them, and shall either +enlighten or darken. + +We all have eyes—the organs by which we may see 'the light of the +knowledge of the glory of God.' We have all blinded ourselves by our +sin. Christ is come to show us God, to be the light by which we see +God, and to strengthen and restore our faculty of seeing Him. If you +welcome Him, and take Him into your hearts, He will be at once light +and eyesight to you. But if you turn away from Him He will be blindness +and darkness to you. He comes to pour eyesight on the blind, but He +comes therefore also, most assuredly, to make still blinder those who +do not know themselves to be blind, and conceit themselves to be +clear-sighted. 'I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast hid these things +from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.' + +They who see themselves to be blind, who know themselves to be +ignorant, the lowly who recognise their sinfulness and misery and +helplessness, and turn in their sore need to Christ, 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 darkness. They who say 'I see,' and know not that they are +miserable and blind, nor hearken to His counsel to 'anoint their eyes +with eye salve that they may see,' will have yet another film drawn +over their eyes by the shining of the light which they reject, and will +pass into darkness where only enough of light and of eyesight remain to +make guilt. Jesus Christ is for us light and vision. Trust to Him, and +your eyes will be blessed because they see God. Turn from Him and +Egyptian darkness will settle on your soul. 'To him that hath shall be +given, and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be +taken away.' + + + + +THE GIFTS TO THE FLOCK + + +'… By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and +out, and find pasture.'—JOHN x. 9. + +One does not know whether the width or the depth of this marvellous +promise is the more noteworthy. Jesus Christ presents Himself before +the whole race of man, and declares Himself able to deal with the needs +of every individual in the tremendous whole. 'If _any man_'—no matter +who, where, when. + +For all noble and happy life there are at least three things needed: +security, sustenance, and a field for the exercise of activity. To +provide these is the end of all human society and government. Jesus +Christ here says that He can give all these to every one. + +The imagery of the sheep and the fold is still, of course, in His mind, +and colours the form of the representation. But the substance is the +declaration that, to any and every soul, no matter how ringed about +with danger, no matter how hampered and hindered in work, no matter how +barren of all supply earth may be, He will give these, the primal +requisites of life. 'He shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and +find pasture.' + +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 all: security, the unhindered exercise of activity, and sustenance +or provision. + +I. First, then, in and through Christ any man may be saved. + +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 salvation, and that its meaning in its present +connection might perhaps better be set forth by the rendering 'safe' +than 'saved.' At the same time, the two ideas pass into one another; +and the declaration of my text is that because, step by step, conflict +by conflict, in passing danger after danger, external and internal, +Jesus Christ, through our union with Him, will keep us safe, at the +last we shall reach eternal and everlasting salvation. 'He will save +us' by the continual exercise of His protecting power, 'into His +everlasting kingdom.' There is none other shelter for men's defenceless +heads and naked, soft, unarmed bodies except only the shelter that is +found in Him. There are creatures of low grade in the animal world +which have the instinct, because their own bodies are so undefended and +impotent to resist contact with sharp and penetrating substances, that +they take refuge in the abandoned shells of other creatures. 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 harm. + +For consider that, even in regard to outward dangers, union with Jesus +Christ defends and delivers us. Suppose two men, two Manchester +merchants, made bankrupt by the same commercial crisis; or two +shipwrecked sailors lashed upon a raft; or two men sitting side by side +in a railway carriage and smashed by the same collision. One is a +Christian and the other is not. The same blow is altogether different +in aspect and actual effect upon the two men. They endure the same +thing externally, in body or in fortune. The outward man is similarly +affected, but the man is differently affected. The one is crushed, or +embittered, or driven to despair, or to drink, or to something or other +to soothe the bitterness; the other bows himself with 'It is the Lord! +Let Him do what seemeth Him good.' + +So the two disasters are utterly different, though in form they may be +the same, and he that has entered into the fold by Jesus Christ is +safe, not _from_ outward disaster—that would be but a poor thing—but +_in_ it. For to the true heart that lives in fellowship with Jesus +Christ, Sorrow, though it be dark-robed, is bright-faced, soft-handed, +gentle-hearted, an angel of God. 'By Me if any man enter in, he shall +be safe.' + +And further, in our union with Jesus Christ, by simple faith in Him and +loyal submission and obedience, we do receive an impenetrable defence +against the true evils, and the only things worth calling dangers. For +the only real evil is the peril that we shall lose our confidence and +be untrue to our best selves, and depart from the living God. Nothing +is evil except that which tempts, and succeeds in tempting, us away +from Him. And in regard to all such danger, to cleave to Christ, to +realise His presence, to think of Him, to wear His name as an amulet on +our hearts, to put the thought of Him between us and temptation as a +filter through which the poisonous air shall pass, and be deprived of +its virus, is the one secret of safety and victory. + +Real gift of power from Jesus Christ, the influx of His strength into +our weakness, of some portion of the Spirit of life that was in Him +into our deadness, is promised, and the promise is abundantly fulfilled +to all men who trust Him when their hour of temptation comes. As the +dying martyr, when he looked up into heaven, saw Jesus Christ 'standing +at the right hand of God' ready to help, and, as it were, having +started from His eternal seat on the Throne in the eagerness of His +desire to succour His servant, so we may all see, if we will, that dear +Lord ready to succour us, and close by our sides to deliver us from the +evil in the evil, its power to tempt. If we could carry that vision +into our daily life, and walk in its light, when temptation rings us +round, how poor all the inducements to go away from Him would look! + +There is a power in the remembrance of Jesus to slay every wicked +thought; and the things that tempt us most, that most directly appeal +to our worst sides, to our sense, our ambition, our pride, our +distrust, our self-will, all these lose their power upon us, and are +discovered in their emptiness and insignificance, when once this +thought flashes across the mind—Jesus Christ is my Defence, and Jesus +Christ is my Pattern and my Companion. + +Oh, brother! do not trust yourself out amongst the pitfalls and snares +of life without Him. If you do, the real evil of all evils will seize +you for its own; but keep close to that dear Lord, and then 'there +shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy +dwelling.' The hidden temptation thou wilt pass by without being +harmed; the manifest temptation thou wilt trample under foot. 'Thou +shalt not be afraid for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor +for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.' Hidden known temptations +will be equally powerless; and in the fold into which all pass by faith +in Christ thou shalt be safe. And so, kept safe from each danger and in +each moment of temptation, the aggregate and sum of the several +deliverances will amount to the everlasting salvation which shall be +perfected in the heavens. + +Only remember the condition, 'By Me if any man enter in.' That is not a +thing to be done once for all, but needs perpetual repetition. When we +clasp anything in our hands, however tight the initial grasp, unless +there is a continual effort of renewed tightening, the muscles become +lax, and we have to renew the tension, if we are to keep the grasp. 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 from, and immunity in, the dangers that beset +us. + +Keep Christ between you and the storm. Keep on the lee side of the Rock +of Ages. Keep behind the breakwater, for there is a wild sea running +outside; and your little boat, undecked and with a feeble hand at the +helm, will soon be swamped. Keep within the fold, for wolves and lions +lie in every bush. Or, in plain English, live moment by moment in the +realising of Christ's presence, power, and grace. So, and only so, +shall you be safe. + +II. Now, secondly, note, in Jesus Christ any man may find a field for +the unrestricted exercise of his activity. + +That metaphor of 'going in and out' is partly explained to us by the +image of the flock, which passes into the fold for peaceful repose, and +out again, without danger, for exercise and food; and is partly +explained by the frequent use, in the Old Testament and in common +conversation, of the expression 'going out and in' as the designation +of the two-sided activity of human life. The one side is the +contemplative life of interior union with God by faith and love; the +other, the active life of practical obedience in the field of work +which God provides for us. These two are both capable of being raised +to their highest power, and of being discharged with the most +unrestricted and joyous activity, on condition of our keeping close to +Christ, and living by the faith of Him. + +Note, then, 'He shall go in.' That comes first, though it interferes +with the propriety of the metaphor, since the previous words already +contemplate an initial 'entering in by Me, the Door.' That is to say, +that, given the union with Jesus Christ by faith, there must then, as +the basis of all activity, follow very frequent and deep inward acts of +contemplation, of faith, and aspiration, and desire. You must go into +the depths of God through Christ. You must go into the depths of your +own souls through Him. You must become accustomed to withdraw +yourselves from spreading yourselves out over the distractions of any +external activity, howsoever imperative, charitable, or necessary, and +live alone with Jesus, 'in the secret place of the Most High.' It is +through Him that we have access to the mysteries and innermost shrine +of the Temple. It is through Him that we draw near to the depths of +Deity. 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 spirit. It is through Him that we become familiar with the +inmost secrets of our own selves. 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 work. Christians of this generation are +far too much accustomed to live only in the front rooms of the house, +that look out upon the street; and they know very little—far too little +for their soul's health, and far too little for the freshness of their +work and its prosperity—of that inward life of silent contemplation and +expectant adoration, by which all strength is fed. Do not keep all your +goods in the shop windows, and have nothing on your shelves but +dummies, as is the case with far too many of us to-day. Remember that +the Lord said first, 'He shall go in,' and unless you do you will not +be 'saved.' + +But then, further, if there have been, and continue to be, this +unrestricted exercise through Christ of that sweet and silent life of +solitary communion with Him, then there will follow upon that an +enlargement of opportunity, and power for outward service such as +nothing but emancipation by faith in Him can ever bring. Howsoever, by +external circumstances, you and I may be hampered and hindered, however +often we may feel that if something outside of us were different, the +development of our active powers would be far more satisfactory, and we +could do a great deal more in Christ's cause, the true hindrance lies +never without, but within; and it is only to be overcome by that +plunging into the depths of fellowship with Him. And then, if we carry +with us into the field of work, whether it be the commonplace, dusty, +tedious, and often repulsive duties of our monotonous business; 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 labour, the +sweet thought of His presence, of His example, of His love, and of the +smile that may come on His face as the reward of faithful service, then +we shall find that external labour, drawing its pattern, its motive, +its law, and the power for its discharge, from communion with Him, is +no more task-work nor slavery; and even 'the rough places will be made +smooth, and the crooked things will be made straight,' and distasteful +work will be made at least tolerable, and hard burdens will be +lightened, and the things that are 'seen and temporal' will shimmer +into transparency, through which will shine out the things that are +'unseen and eternal.' + +Some of us are constitutionally made to prefer the one of these forms +of Christian activity; some of us to prefer the other. The tendencies +of this generation are far too much to the latter, to the exclusion of +the former. It is hard to reconcile the conflicting claims, and I know +of no better way to hit the just medium than by trying to keep +ourselves always in touch with Jesus Christ, and then outward labour of +any sort, whether for the bread that perishes or for His kingdom and +righteousness, will never become so absorbing but that in it we may +have our hearts in heaven, and the silent hour of communion with Him +will never be so prolonged as to neglect outward duties. There was a +demoniac boy in the plain, and therefore it was impossible to build +tabernacles on the Mount of Transfiguration. But the disciples that had +not climbed the Mount were all impotent to cast out the demoniac boy. +We, if we keep near to Jesus Christ, will find that through Him we can +'go in and out,' and in both be pursuing the one uniform purpose of +serving and pleasing Him. So shall be fulfilled in our cases the +Psalmist's prayer, that 'I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the +days of ray life, to behold His beauty, and to inquire in His Temple.' + +III. Lastly, in Jesus Christ any man may receive sustenance. 'They +shall find pasture.' + +The imagery of the sheep and the fold is still, of course, present to +the Master's mind, and shapes the form in which this great promise is +set forth. + +I need only remind you, in illustration of it, of two facts, one, that +in Jesus Christ Himself all the true needs of humanity are met and +satisfied. He is 'the Bread of God that came down from heaven to give +life to the world.' Do I want an outward object for my intellect? I +have it in Him. Does my heart feel with its tendrils, which have no +eyes at the ends of them, after something round which it may twine, and +not fear that the prop shall ever rot or be cut down or pulled up? +Jesus Christ is the home of love in which the dove may fold its wings +and be at rest. Do I want (and I do if I am not a fool) an absolute and +authoritative command to be laid upon my will; some one 'whose looks +enjoin, whose lightest words are spells'? I find absolute authority, +with no taint of tyranny, and no degradation to the subject, in that +Infinite Will of His. Does my conscience need some strong detergent to +be laid upon it which shall take out the stains that are most +indurated, inveterate, and ingrained? I find it only in the 'blood that +cleanseth from all sin.' Do my aspirations and desires seek for some +solid and substantial and unquestionable and imperishable good to +which, reaching out, they may be sure that they are not anchoring on +cloudland? Christ is our hope. For all this complicated and craving +commonwealth that I carry within my soul, there is but one +satisfaction, even Jesus Christ Himself. Nothing else nourishes the +whole man at once, but in Him are all the constituents that the human +system requires for its nutriment and its growth in every part. So in +and through Christ we find 'pasture.' + +But beyond that, if we are knit to Him by simple and continual faith, +love, and obedience, then what is else barrenness becomes full of +nourishment, and the unsatisfying gifts of the world become rich and +precious. They are nought when they are put first, they are much when +they are put second. + +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 it. That is the world without Jesus Christ. And I saw the same +pasture six weeks after, when the rains had come, and the grass was +high, rich, juicy, satisfying. That is what the world may be to you, if +you will put it second, and seek first that your souls shall be fed on +Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, will what is else water be turned by +His touch and blessing into wine that shall fill the great jars to the +brim, and be pronounced by skilled palates to be the good wine. 'I will +feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel +shall their fold be. There shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat +pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.' + + + + +THE GOOD SHEPHERD + + +'I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. 15. +As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My +life for the sheep.'—JOHN x. 14,15. + +'I am the Good Shepherd.' Perhaps even Christ never spoke more fruitful +words than these. Just think how many solitary, wearied hearts they +have cheered, and what a wealth of encouragement and comfort there has +been in them for all generations. The little child as it lays itself +down to sleep, cries— + + 'Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me, + Bless Thy little lamb to-night,' + +and the old man lays himself down to die murmuring to himself, 'Though +I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, +for Thou art with me.' 'I am the Good Shepherd.' No preaching can do +anything but weaken and dilute the force of such words, and yet, though +in all their sweet, homely simplicity they appeal to every heart, there +are great depths in them that are worth pondering, and profound +thoughts that need some elucidation. + +There are three points to be noticed—First, the general force of the +metaphor, and then the two specific applications of it which our Lord +Himself makes. + +I. First of all, then, let me say a few words as to the general +application of the metaphor. The usual notion of these words confines +itself to the natural meaning, and runs out into very true, but perhaps +a little sentimental, considerations, laying hold of what is so plain +on the very surface that I need not spend any time in speaking about +it. Christ's pattern is my law; Christ's providence is my guidance and +defence—which in the present case means Christ's companionship—is my +safety, my sustenance—which in the present case means that Christ +Himself is the bread of my soul. The Good Shepherd exercises care, +which absolves the sheep from care, and in the present case means that +my only duty is meek following and quiet trust. 'I am the Good +Shepherd'—here is guidance, guardianship, companionship, sustenance—all +responsibility laid upon His broad shoulders, and all tenderness in His +deep heart, and so for us simple obedience and quiet trust. + +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 it. +Christ does not say 'I am a Shepherd,' but He says, 'I am _the good_ +Shepherd.' At first sight that word 'good' is interpreted, as I have +said, in a kind of sentimental, poetic way, as expressing our Lord's +tenderness and love and care; but I do not think that is the full +meaning here. You find up and down this Gospel of St. John phrases such +as, 'I am the true bread,' 'I am the true vine,' and the meaning of the +word that is here translated 'good' is very nearly parallel with that +idea. The true bread, the true vine, the true Shepherd—which comes to +this, to use modern phraseology, that Jesus Christ, in His relation to +you and me, fulfils all that in figure and shadow is represented to the +meditative eye by that lower relationship between the material shepherd +and his sheep. That is the picture, this the reality. There is another +point to be made clear, and that is, that whilst the word 'good' is +perhaps a fair enough representation of that which is employed by our +Lord, there is a special force and significance attached to the +original, which is lost in our Bible. I do not know that it could have +been preserved; but still it is necessary to state it. The expression +here is the one that is generally rendered 'fair,' or 'lovely,' or +'beautiful,' and it belongs to the genius of that wonderful tongue in +which the New Testament is written that it has a name for moral purity, +considered as being lovely, the highest goodness, and the serenest +beauty, which was what the old Greeks taught, howsoever little they may +have practised it in their lives. And so here the thought is that _the_ +Shepherd stands before us, the realisation of all which that name +means, set forth in such a fashion as to be infinitely lovely and +perfectly fair, and to draw the admiration of any man who can +appreciate that which is beautiful, and can admire that which is of +good report. + +There is another point still in reference to this first view of the +text. Our Lord not only declares that He is the reality of which the +earthly shepherd is the shadow, and that He as such is the flawless, +perfect One, but that He alone is the reality. 'I am the Good Shepherd; +in Me and in Me alone is that which men need.' And that leads me to +another point which must just be mentioned, that we shall not reach the +full meaning of these great words without taking into account the +history of the metaphor in the Old Testament. Christ gives a second +edition of the figure, and we are to remember all that went before. +'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want'; 'Thou leddest Thy people +like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.' These are but specimens +of a continuous series of utterances in the old Revelation in which +Jehovah Himself is the Shepherd of mankind; and there is also another +class of passages of which I will quote one or two. 'He shall feed His +flock like a shepherd, and carry them in His arms.' 'Awake, O sword, +against the Man who is my fellow; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep +shall be scattered.' There were, we should remember, two streams of +representation, according to the one of which God Himself was the +Shepherd of Israel, and according to the other of which the Messiah was +the Shepherd; and here, as I believe, Jesus lays His hand on both the +one and the other, and says: 'They are Mine, and they testify of Me.' +So sweet, so gracious are the words, that we lose the sense of the +grandeur of them, and need to think before we are able to understand +how great and immense the claim that is made here upon our faith, and +that this Man stands before us and arrogates to Himself the divine +prerogative witnessed from of old by psalmist and prophet, and says +that for Him were meant the prophecies of ancient times that spake of a +human shepherd, and asserts that all the sustenance, care, authority, +command, which the emblem suggests meet in Him in perfect measure. + +II. Now let us turn to the two special points which our Lord emphasises +here, as being those in which His relation as the Good Shepherd is most +conspicuously given. The language of my text runs: 'I am the Good +Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father +knoweth Me, even so know I the Father.' Our Western ways fail to bring +out the full meaning of the emblem; but all Eastern travellers tell us +what a strange bond of sympathy and loving regard, and docile +recognition, springs up between the shepherd and his sheep away there +in the Eastern pastures and deserts; and how he knows every one, though +to a stranger's eye they are so like each other; and how even the dumb +instincts and the narrow intelligence of the silly sheep recognise the +shepherd, and will not be deceived by shepherd's garments worn to +deceive, and will not follow the voice of a stranger. + +But we must further note that Christ lays hold of the dumb instincts of +the animal, as illustrating, at the one end of the scale, the relation +between Him and His followers, and lays hold of the communion between +the Father and the Son at the other end of the scale, as illustrating +the same thing. 'I know My sheep.' That is a knowledge like the +knowledge of the shepherd, a bond of close intimacy. But He does not +know them by reason of looking at them and thinking about them. It is +something far more blessed than that. He knows me because He loves me; +He knows me because He has sympathy with me, and I know Him, if I know +Him at all, by my love, and I know Him by my sympathy, and I know Him +by my communion. A loveless heart does not know the Shepherd, and +unless the Shepherd's heart was all love He would not know His sheep. +The Shepherd's love is an individualised love. He knows His flock as a +flock because He knows the units of it, and we can rest ourselves upon +the personal knowledge, which is personal love and sympathy, of Jesus +Christ. 'And My sheep know Me'—not by force of intellect, not by +understanding certain truths, all-important as that may be, but by +having our hearts harmonised in Him, and our spirits put into sympathy +and communion with Him. 'They know Me,' and rest comes with the +knowledge; 'they know Me,' and in that knowing is the best answer to +all doubt and fear. They are exposed to danger, but in the fold they +can go quietly to rest, for they know that He is at the door watching +through all dangers. + +III. Turn for a moment to the last point, 'I lay down My life for the +sheep.' 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 sheep; and our Western life also fails to bring +out this other element also. Shepherds in England never have need to +lay down their life for the sheep. Shepherds in Palestine often did, +and sometimes do. You remember David with the lion and the bear, which +is but an illustration of the reality which underlies this metaphor. +So, then, in some profound way, the shepherd's death is the sheep's +safety. First of all, look at that most unmistakable, emphatic—I was +going to say vehement, at any rate, intense—expression of the absolute +voluntariness of Christ's death, 'I lay down My life,' as a man might +strip off a vesture. And this application of the metaphor is made all +the stronger by the words which follow: 'Therefore doth My Father love +Me, because I lay down My life that I might take it again. No man +taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it +down, and I have power to take it again.' We read, 'Smite the shepherd, +and the sheep shall be scattered,' but here, somehow or other, the +smiting of the Shepherd is not the scattering but the gathering of the +flock. Here, somehow or other, the dead Shepherd has power to guard, to +guide, to defend them. Here, somehow or other, the death of the +Shepherd is the security of the sheep; and I say to you, the flock, +that for every soul the entrance into the flock of God is through the +door of the dying Christ, who laid down His life for the sheep, and +makes them His sheep who trust in Him. + + + + +'OTHER SHEEP' + + +[Footnote: Preached before the Baptist Missionary Society.] + +'Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must +bring, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock +and one Shepherd.'—JOHN x. 16 (R.V.). + +There were many strange and bitter lessons in this discourse for the +false shepherds, the Pharisees, to whom it was first spoken. But there +was not one which would jar more upon their minds, and as they fancied, +on their sacredest convictions, than this, that God's flock was wider +than God's fold. Our Lord distinctly recognises Judaism with its middle +wall of partition as a divine institution, and then as distinctly +carries His gaze beyond it. To His hearers 'this fold,' their own +national polity, held all the flock. Without were dogs, a doleful land, +where 'the wild beasts of the desert met with the wild beasts of the +islands.' And now this new Teacher, not content with declaring them +hirelings, and Himself the only true Shepherd of Israel, breaks down +the hedges and speaks of Himself as the Shepherd of men. No wonder that +they said, 'He hath a devil and is mad.' + +During His earthly life our Lord, as we know, confined His own personal +ministry for the most part to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. +Not exclusively so, for He made at least one journey into the coasts of +Tyre and Sidon, teaching and healing; a Syro-Phcenician woman held His +feet, and received her request; and one of His miracles, of feeding the +multitude, was wrought for hungry Gentiles. But while His work was in +Israel, it was for mankind; and while 'this fold,' generally speaking, +circumscribed His toils, it did not confine His love nor His thoughts. +More than once world-wide declarations and promises broke from His +lips, even before the final universal commission, 'Preach the Gospel to +every creature.' 'I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.' 'I +am the Light of the world.' These and other similar sayings give us His +lofty consciousness that He has received 'the heathen for His +inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.' +Parallel with them in substance are the words before us, which, for our +present purpose, we may regard as containing lessons from our Lord +Himself of how He looked and would have us look on the heathen world, +on His work and ours, and on the certain issues of both. + +I. We have here Christ teaching us how to think of the heathen world. + +Observe that His words are not a declaration that all mankind are His +sheep. The previous verses have distinctly defined a class of men as +possessing the name, and the succeeding ones reiterate the definition, +and with equal distinctness exclude another class. 'Ye believe not, +because ye are not My sheep as I said unto you.' His sheep are they who +know Him and are known of Him. Between Him and them there is a +communion of love, a union of life, and a consequent reciprocal +knowledge, which transcends the closest intimacies of earthly life, and +finds its only analogue in that deep and mysterious oneness which +subsists between the Father, who alone knoweth the Son, and the only +begotten Son, who being ever in the bosom of the Father, alone knoweth +Him and revealeth Him to us. 'I know My sheep and am known of Mine; as +the Father knoweth Me and I know the Father. They hear My voice and +follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life.' Such are the +characteristics of that relation between Christ and men by which they +become His sheep. It is such souls as these whom our Lord beholds in +the wasteful wilderness. He is speaking not of a relation which all men +bear to Him by virtue of their creation, but of one which _they_ bear +to Him who believe in His name. + +Now this interpretation of the words does by no means contradict, but +rather presupposes and rests upon the truth that all mankind come +within the love of the divine heart, that He died for all, that all may +be the subjects of His mediatorial kingdom, recipients of the offered +mercy of God in Christ, and committed to the stewardship of the +missionary Church. Resting upon these truths, the words of our text +advance a step further and contemplate those who 'shall hereafter +believe on Me.' Whether they be few or many is not the matter in hand. +Whether at any future time they shall include all the dwellers upon +earth is not the matter in hand. That every soul of man is included in +the adaptation and intention and offer of the Gospel is not the matter +in hand. But this is the matter in hand, that Jesus Christ in that +moment of lofty elevation when He looked onwards to giving His life for +the sheep, looked outwards also, far afield, and saw in every nation +and people souls that He knew were His, and would one day know Him, and +be led by Him 'in green pastures and beside still waters.' + +But where or what were they when He spoke? He does not mean that +already they had heard His voice and were following His steps, and knew +His love, and had received eternal life at His hand. This He cannot +mean, for the plain reason that He goes on to speak of His 'bringing' +them and of their 'hearing,' a work yet to be done. It can only be, +then, that He speaks of them thus in the fullness of that divine +knowledge which 'calls things that are not as though they were.' It is +then a prophetic word which He speaks here. + +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 +application. While the work of salvation was being prepared for the +world in the life and death of our Lord, the world was being prepared +for the tidings of salvation. Everywhere men were losing their faith in +their idols, and longing for some deliverer. Some had become weary of +the hollowness of philosophical speculation, and, like Pilate, were +asking 'What is truth?' whilst, unlike Him, they waited for an answer, +and will believe it when it comes from the lips of the Incarnate +wisdom. Such were the Magi who were led by their starry science to His +cradle, and went back to the depths of the Eastern lands with a better +light than had guided them thither. Such were not a few of the early +Christian converts, who had long been seeking hopelessly for goodly +pearls, and had so been learning to know the worth of the One when it +was offered to them. There were men who had been long sickening with +despair amidst the rottenness of decaying mythologies and corrupting +morals, and longing for some breath from heaven to blow health to +themselves and to the world, and had so been learning to welcome 'the +rushing mighty wind' when it came in power. There were simple souls, +without as well as within the chosen people, waiting for the +Consolation, though they knew not whence it was to come. There were +many who had already learned to believe that 'salvation is of the +Jews,' though they had still to learn that salvation is in Jesus. Such +were that Aethiopian statesman who was poring over Isaiah when Philip +joined him, the Roman centurion at Caesarea whose prayers and alms came +up with acceptance before God, these Greeks of the West who came to His +cross as the Eastern sages to His cradle, 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 Cross, 'like doves to their +windows.' The whole world showed that the fullness of time had come; +and the history of the early years of the Church reveals in how many +souls the process of preparation had been silently going on. It was +like the flush of early spring, when all the buds that had been +maturing and swelling in the cold, burst, and the tender flowers that +had been reaching upwards to the surface in all the hard winter laugh +out in beauty, and a green veil covers all the hedges at the first +flash of the April sun. + +Not only these were in our Lord's thoughts when He saw His sheep in +heathen lands. There were many who had no such previous preparation, +but were plunged in all the darkness, nor knew that it was dark. Not +only those wearied of idolatry, and dissatisfied with creeds outworn, +but the barbarous people of Illyricum, the profligates of Corinth, hard +rude men like the jailer at Philippi, and many more were before His +penetrating eye. He who sees beneath the surface, and beyond the +present, beholds His sheep where men can only see wolves. He sees an +Apostle in the blaspheming Saul, a teacher for all generations in the +African Augustine while yet a sensualist and a Manichee, a reformer in +the eager monk Luther, a poet-evangelist in the tinker Bunyan. He sees +the future saint in the present sinner, the angel's wings budding on +many a shoulder where the world's burdens lie heavy, and the new name +written on many a forehead that as yet bears but the mark of the beast, +and the number of His name. + +And the sheep whom He sees while He speaks are not only the men of that +generation. These mighty words are world-wide and world-lasting. The +whole of the ages are in His mind. All nations are gathered before His +prophetic vision, even as they shall one day be gathered before His +judgment throne, 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 faith, shall follow His steps with glad obedience. + +Thus does Christ look out upon the world that lay beyond the fold. I +cannot stay to do more than refer in passing to the spirit which the +words of our text breathe. There is the lofty consciousness that He is +the Leader and Guide, the Friend and Helper of all, that He stands +solitary in His power to bless. There is the full confidence that the +earth is His to its uttermost border. There is the clear vision of the +sorrowful condition of these heathen people, without a shepherd and +without a fold, wandering on every high mountain and dying in every +thirsty land where there is no water. There are the tenderest pity and +yearning love for them in their extremity. There is the clear assurance +that they will come and be blessed in Him. I pass by all the other +thoughts, which naturally found themselves on these words, in order to +urge the one which is most appropriate to our present engagement. Let +us, dear brethren, take Christ as our pattern in our contemplations of +the heathen world. + +He has set us the example of an outgoing look directed far beyond the +limits of the existing churches, far beyond the point of present +achievement. We are but too apt to circumscribe our operative thoughts +and our warm sympathies within the circle of our sight, or of our own +personal associations. Our selfishness and our indolence affect the +objects of our contemplations quite as much as they do the character of +our work. They vitiate both, by making ourselves the great object of +both, and by weakening the force of both in a ratio that increases +rapidly with the increasing distance from that favourite centre. It is +but a subtle form of the same disease which keeps our thoughts penned +within the bounds of any fold, or limited by the progress already +achieved. For us the whole world is the possession of our Lord, who has +died to redeem us. By us the whole ought to be contemplated with that +same spirit of prophetic confidence which filled Him when He said, +'Other sheep I have which are not of this fold.' To press onwards, +'forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth to those +which are before,' is the only fitting attitude for Christian men, +either in regard to the gradual purifying of their own characters, or +in regard to the gradual winning of the world for Christ. We ought to +make all past successes stepping-stones to nobler things. The true use +of the present is to reach up from it to a loftier future. The distance +beckons; well for us if it do not beckon us in vain. We have yet to +learn the first lesson of our Master's spirit, as expressed in these +words, if we have not become familiar with the pitying contemplation of +the wastes beyond the fold, 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 world. The cry echoes to us from of old, 'Lengthen +thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on the +right hand and on the left.' We take the first step to respond to the +summons when we make the 'regions beyond' one of the standing subjects +of our devout thoughts, and take heed of supposing that the Church as +we know it, has the same measurement which the man with the golden rod +has measured for the eternal courts of Jerusalem, that shall be the joy +of the whole earth. The very genius of the Gospel is aspiring. It is +content with nothing short of universality for the sweep, and eternity +for the duration, and absolute completeness for the measure, of its +bestowments on man. We should be like men on a voyage of discovery, +whose task is felt to be incomplete until headland after headland that +fades in the dim distance has been rounded and surveyed, and the flag +of our country planted upon it. After each has been passed another +arises from the water, onwards we must go. There is no pause for our +thoughts, none for our sympathy, none for our work, till our keels have +visited, and the 'shout of a King' has been heard on every shore that +fills 'the breadth of Thy land, O Emmanuel!' The limits of the visible +community of Christ's Church to-day are far within the borders to which +it must one day stretch. It is for us, taught by His words, to +understand that we are yet as it were but encamped by Jericho, and at +the beginning of the campaign. Ai and Bethhoron, and many a fight more +are before us yet. The camp of the invaders, when they lay around the +city of palm-trees, with the mountains in front and the Jordan behind, +was not more unlike the settled order of the nation when it filled the +land, than the ranks of Christ's army to-day are to the mighty +multitudes that shall one day name His name, and follow His banner. Let +us live in the future, and lay strongly hold on the distant; for both +are our Lord's, and by so doing we shall the better do our Master's +work in the present, and at hand. + +He has set us the example of a _penetrating_ gaze into heathenism, +which reveals beneath its monotonous miseries, the souls that are His. +We ought to look on every field of Christian effort with the assurance +that in it there are some who will hear His voice. As it was when He +came, so it is ever and everywhere. The world is being prepared for the +Gospel. In some broad regions, faith in idolatry is dying out, and the +moral condition of the people is undergoing a slow elevation. +Individuals are being weaned from their gods, they know not how, and +they will not know why till they hear of Christ. He sees in every land +where the Gospel is being taken 'a people prepared for the Lord.' He +sees the gold gleaming in the crevices of the caves, the gems, rough +and unpolished, lying in the matrix. He looks not merely on the great +mass of idolaters, but He sees the single souls who shall hear. It is +for us to look on the same mass with confidence caught from His. +Neither apathetic indifference nor faint-hearted doubt should be +permitted to weaken our hands. The prospect may seem very dark, the +power of the enemy very great, our resources very inadequate; but let +us look with Christ's eye, we shall know that everywhere we may hope to +find a response to our message. Who they may be, we know not. How many +they may be, we know not. How they may be guided by Him, they know not. +But He knows all. We may know that they are there. And as we cannot +tell who they are but only that they are, we are bound to cherish hopes +for all—the most degraded and outcast of our race. We have no right to +give up any field or any man as hopeless. Christ's sheep will be found +coming out of the midst of wolves and goats. Darkness may cover the +earth, and gross darkness the people; but if we look upon it as Christ +did, and as He would have us to look, we shall see lights flickering +here and there in the obscurity, which shall burst out into a blaze. +The prophetic eye, the boundlessly hopeful heart, 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 says, 'Other sheep I have, +which are not of this fold.' + +There is one other thought connected with these words which may be +briefly referred to. It is that even now, in all lands where the Gospel +has been preached, there are those whom Christ has received, although +they have no connection with His visible Church. + +There are many goats within the fold. There are many sheep without it. +Even in lands where the Gospel has long been preached, we do not +venture to identify profession by Church fellowship with living union +with Christ. Much more is this true of our missionary efforts, and the +apparent converts whom they make. The results that appear are no +measure of the results that have actually been accomplished. We often +hear of men who had caught up some stray word in a Bengali +market-place, or received a tract by the roadside from some passing +missionary, and who, having carried away the seed in their hearts, had +long been living as Christians remote from all churches and unknown by +any. We can easily conceive that timidity in some cases, and distance +in others, swell the ranks of these secret disciples. Though they +follow not the footsteps of the flock, the Shepherd will lead them in +their solitude. There will be many more names in the Lamb's book of +life, depend upon it, than ever are written on the roll-calls of our +churches, or in missionary statistics. The shooting-stars that yearly +fill our sky are visible to us for a moment, when their orbit passes +into the lighted heavens, and then they disappear in the shadow of the +earth. But astronomers tell us that they are always there though to us +they seem to blaze but for a moment. We cannot see them, but they move +on their darkling path and have a sun round which they circle. So be +sure that in many heathen lands there are believing souls, seen by us +but for an instant and then lost, who yet fill their unseen place, and +move obedient round the Sun of Righteousness. Their names on earth are +dark, but when the manifestation of the sons of God shall come, they +shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for +ever and ever. Our work has results beyond our knowledge now. When the +Church, the Lamb's wife, shall lift up her eyes at the end of the days, +prophecy tells us that she shall wonder to see her thronging children, +whom she had never known till then, and will say, 'Who hath begotten me +these? Behold I was left alone. These, where had they been?' These were +God's hidden ones, nourished and brought up beyond the pale of the +outward Church, but brought at last to share her triumph, and to abide +at her side. 'Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.' + +What confidence then, what tender pity, what hope should fill our minds +when we look on the heathen world! We must never be contented with +present achievements. 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 countenance. When the great Roman Catholic missionary, the +Apostle of the East, was lying on his dying bed among the barbarous +people whom he loved, his passing spirit was busy about his work, and, +even in the article of death, while the glazing eye saw no more clearly +and the ashen lips had begun to stiffen into eternal silence, visions +of further conquests flashed before him, and his last word was +'Amplius'—_Onward_! It ought to be the motto of the missionary work of +us, who boast a purer faith, to carry to the heathen and to fire our +own souls. If ever we are tempted to repose, to despondency, to rest +and be thankful when we number up our work and our converts, let us +listen to His voice as it speaks in that supreme hour when He beheld +the vision of the Cross, and beyond it that of a gathered world: 'Other +sheep I have, which are not of this fold.' + +We have here— + +II. Christ teaching us how to think of His work and ours. + +'Them also I must bring.' A necessity is laid upon Him, which springs +at once from that divine work which is the law of His life, and from +His own love and pity. The means for accomplishing this necessary work +are implied in the context, as in other parallel Scriptural sayings, to +be His propitiatory death. The instrumentality employed is not only His +own personal agency on earth, nor only His throned rule on the right +hand of God with power over the Spirit of holiness, but also the work +of His Church, and His work through them. Of that He is mainly speaking +when He says, 'Them also I must bring.' Here, then, are some truths +which ought to underlie and shape as well as animate our efforts for +heathenism. + +And first, remember that the same sovereign necessity which was laid on +Him presses on us. + +The 'Spirit of life' which was in Christ had its 'law,' which was the +will of God. That shaped all His being, and He set us the example of +perfectly clear recognition of, and perfect obedience to it, from the +first moment when He said, 'I must be about My Father's business,' to +the last, when He sighed forth, 'Father, into Thy hands I commit My +spirit.' Hence the frequent sayings setting forth His work as +determined by an imperative 'must,' which, whether it be alleged in +reference to some apparently small or to some manifestly great thing in +His life, is always equally imperative, and whether it seem to be based +on the need for the fulfilment of some prophetic word, or on the +proprieties and congruities of sonship, reposes at last on the will of +God. His final words on the Passover night, before he went out to +Gethsemane in the moonlight, contain the influence which moulded His +whole earthly life, 'As the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do.' + +And this divine will constitutes for Him the deepest ground of the +necessity in the case before us. The eternal counsels of God had willed +that 'all the ends of the earth should see the salvation of the Lord'; +therefore, whatever the toils and the pains, the loss and the death, +He, whose meat and drink was to do the will of Him that sent Him, must +give Himself to the task, nor rest till, one by one, the weary +wanderers are brought back on His shoulders and folded in His love. + +In all which, let us remember, Jesus Christ is our pattern, not in His +work for the salvation of men, but in the spirit in which He did His +work. The solemn law of duty before which He bowed His head is a law +for us also. The authoritative imperative which He obeyed has power +over us. If we would have our lives holy and strong, wise and good, we +must have 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, making us +free from the law of sin and death,' for the obedience to the higher +law enfranchises from slavery to the lower, and all other authority +ceases over us when we are Christ's men. We are bound to service +directed to the same end as His—even the salvation of the world. The +same voice which says to Him, 'I will give Thee for a light to the +Gentiles,' says to us, 'Ye are My witnesses, and My servant whom I have +chosen.' The same Will which hath constituted Him the anointed Prophet, +says of us, 'Touch not Mine anointed and do My prophets no harm.' We +are redeemed that we may show forth God's praises. Not for ourselves +alone, nor for purposes terminating in our own personal acceptance with +God, or the perfecting of our own characters, priceless as these are, +but for ends which affect the world has God had mercy on us. We are +bought with a price that we may be the servants of God. We have +received that we may give forth, + + 'God doth with us, as we with torches do, + Not light them for themselves.' + +'Arise, shine, for thy light is come.' + +This missionary work of ours, then, is not one that can be taken up and +laid down at our own pleasure. It is no excrescence, or accidental +outgrowth of the Church's life. We are all too apt to think of it as an +extra, a kind of work of supererogation, which those may engage in who +have a liking that way, and which those who do not care about it may +leave alone, and no harm done. When shall we come to feel deeply, +constantly, practically, that it must be done, and that we are sinning +when we neglect it? Dear brethren, have we laid on our hearts and +consciences the solemn weight of that necessity which moulded His life? +Have we felt the awful power of God's plainly spoken will, driving us +to this task? Do we know anything of that spirit which hears +ever-pealing in our ears that awful commandment, 'Go, go to all the +world, preach, preach the Gospel to every creature?' God commands us to +take the trumpet, and if we would not soil our souls with gross and +palpable sin, we must set it to our lips and sound an alarm, that by +His grace shall wake the sleepers, and make the hoary walls of the +robber-city that has afflicted the earth for so many weary millenniums, +rock to their fall, that the redeemed of the Lord may pass over and set +the captives free. + +If we felt this as we ought, surely our consecration would be more +complete, and our service more worthy. A clear conviction of God's will +pointing the path for us, is, in all things, a wondrous help to +vigorous action, to calmness of heart, and thus to success. In this +mighty work, it would brace us for larger efforts, and fit us for +larger results. It would simplify and deepen our motives, and thus +evolve from them nobler deeds and purer sacrifices. To all objections +from so-called prudence, to all calculations from sparse results, to +all cavils of onlookers who may carp and seek to hinder, we should have +one all-sufficient answer. It is not for us to bandy arguments on such +points as these. We care nothing for difficulties, for discouragements, +for cost. We may think about these till we lose all the manly chivalry +of Christian character, like the Apostle who gazed on the white crests +of the angry breakers flashing in the pale moonlight, till he forgot +who stood on the storm, and began to sink in his great fear. A nobler +spirit ought to be ours. The toil is sore, the sacrifices many, and the +yield seems small. Be it so! To all such thoughts we have one +answer—Oh! that we felt more its solemn power!—such is the will of God. +We are doing as we are bid, and we mean to go on. 'Them also must I +bring,' says the Master. 'Necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is me if +I preach not the Gospel,' echoes the Apostle. Let us, in the +consecration of resolved hearts, and in trembling obedience to the +divine will, add our choral Amen, and in the face of all the paralysing +suggestions of our own selfishness, and all the tempting voices of +worldly wisdom and unbelieving scornfulness that would stay our +enterprise, let us fling back the grand old answer, 'Whether it be +right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge +ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.' + +We must not forget, however, that it was no abhorrent toil to which +Christ reluctantly consented. But in this case, as always with Him, the +words of prophecy were true, 'I delight to do Thy will.' The schism +between law and choice had no existence for Him; and when He says that +He must bring the wandering sheep into the fold, He means not more +because of God's will than because of His own yearning desire to pour +out the treasures of His mercy. + +So it ought to be with us. Our missionary work should not be degraded +beneath the level of duty indeed, but neither should it be left on that +level. We ought not only to be led to it by a power without, but +impelled by an energy within. If we would be like our Master, we must +know the necessity arising from our own heart's promptings, which leads +us to work for Him. He has very imperfectly caught the spirit of the +Gospel who has never felt the word as a fire in his bones, making him +weary of forbearing. If we only take to this work because we are bid, +and without sympathy for men, and longing desire to bring them all to +Him who has blessed us, we may almost as well leave it alone. We shall +do very little good to anybody, to ourselves little, to the world less. +That our own hearts may teach us this necessity, we must live near our +Master, and know His grace for ourselves. In proportion as we do, we +shall be eager to proclaim it, and not stand idling in a corner of the +market-place, till some unmistakable order sends us into the vineyard, +but go for the relief of our own feelings. 'This is a day of good +tidings, and we cannot hold our peace,' said the poor lepers in the +camp to one another. The same feeling that we must tell the good news +just because we know it, and it will make our brethren glad, is part of +the Christian character. A blessed necessity, then, is laid upon us. A +blessed work is given us, which brings with it at once the joy of +obedience to our Father's will, and the joy of gratifying a deep +instinct of our nature. 'Them also must I bring,' said the Saviour, +because He loved men. 'To me who am less than the least of all saints, +is this _grace_ given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the +unsearchable riches,' echoes the Apostle. Let us live in the light of +our Lord's eye, and drink deep of His spirit, till the talk becomes a +grace and privilege, not a burden, and till silence and idleness in His +cause shall be felt to be impossible, because it would be violence to +our own feelings, and the loss of a great joy as well as sin against +our Father's will. + +Consider again, by what means the sheep are to be brought to Christ? +The context distinctly answers the question. There His propitiatory +death is emphatically set forth as the power by which it is to be +accomplished. The verse before our text says, 'I lay down My life for +the sheep'; that after our text says, 'Therefore doth My Father love +Me, because I lay down My life.' 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 feast, and heard the great truth, for want of which +their philosophy and art came to nothing. 'Except a corn of wheat fall +into the ground and die it abideth alone'—'I, if I be lifted up from +the earth will draw all men unto Me.' + +Yes, brethren! the Cross of Christ, and it alone, gathers men into a +unity; for it alone draws men to Christ. His death, as our +propitiation, effects such a change in the aspects of the divine +government, and in the incidence of the divine justice, that 'we who +were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.' His death, as the +constraining motive of life in the hearts which receive it, draws them +away from their own ways by the cords of love, and binds them to Him. +His death is His purchase of the gifts of that divine Spirit for the +rebellious, who now convinces the world and endows the Church, 'till we +all come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.' +The First Begotten from the dead is therefore the prince of all the +kings of the earth, and He so rides among the nations as to bring the +world to Himself. The philosophy of history lies in the words, 'Other +sheep I have, them also I must bring.' + +Christian missions abundantly prove that the Cross and the proclamation +of the Cross have this power, and that nothing else has. It is not the +ethics of Christianity, nor the abstract truths which may be deduced +from its story, but it is the story of the suffering Redeemer that +gives it its power over human hearts, in all conditions, and climates, +and stages of culture. The magnetism of the Cross alone is mighty +enough to overcome the gravitation of the soul to sin and the world. We +hear much nowadays about a new reformation which is to be effected on +Christianity, by purifying it of its historical facts and of its +repulsive sacrificial aspect. When this is done, and the pure spiritual +ideas are disengaged from their fleshly garb, then, we are told, will +be the apotheosis and glorification of Christ. This will be the real +lifting up from the earth; this will draw all men. Aye, and when this +is done what will be left? Christianity will be purified back again +into a vague Deism, which one would have thought had proved itself +toothless and impotent, centuries ago. Spiritualising will turn out to +be very like evaporating, the residuum will be a miserably +unsatisfactory something, near akin to nothing, and certainly incapable +either of firing its disciples with a desire to spread their faith, if +we may call it so by courtesy, or of drawing men to itself. A +Christianity without a Sacrifice on the altar will be a Christianity +without worshippers in the Temple. The King of Kings who rides forth +conquering is clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. The Christian +Emperor saw in the heavens the Cross, with the legend: 'In this sign +thou shalt conquer!' It is an emblem true for all time. The Cross is +the power unto salvation. The races scattered on the earth have often +sought to make for themselves a rallying-point, and their attempts at +union have become Babels, centres of repulsion and confusion. God has +given us the Centre, the Tree of life in the midst. The crucified +Saviour is the Root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign for the +people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and resting beneath the shadow +of the Cross be at peace. 'I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will +draw all men unto Me.' + +Once more our Lord teaches us here to identify the work of the Church +with His own. What His servants do for Him He does, for from Him they +derive the power to do it, and from Him comes the blessing which makes +it effectual. He works in us, He works with us, He works for us. He +works in us. We have the grace of His Spirit to touch our hearts and +sanctify us for service. He puts it into the wills and desires of His +Church to consecrate themselves to the task. He teaches them sympathy +and self-devotion. He breathes world-wide aspirations into them. He +raises up men to go forth. He works _with_ us, helping our weakness, +enlightening our ignorance, directing our steps, giving power to the +student at his dry task of grammar and dictionary, being mouth and +wisdom to them that speak in His name, touching the hearts of them that +hear. In our basket He puts the seed-corn; the furrows of the field He +makes soft with showers, and when it is sown He blesses the springing +thereof. He works for us, opening doors among the nations, ordering the +courses of providence, and holding His hand around His servants, so +that they are immortal till their work is done; and can ever lift up +thankful voices to Him who leads them joyful captives at His own +triumphal car, as it rolls on its stately march, scattering the sweet +odours of His name wherever the long procession sweeps through the +world. We neither go a warfare at our own charges, nor in our own +might. He will fight with us, and He will pay us liberally at the last. +When we count up our own resources, do not we often leave Christ out of +the reckoning? Do we not measure our strength against the enemies', and +forget that one weak man, plus Christ, is always in the majority? 'It +is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of My Father which speaketh in +you.' 'I laboured, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.' +So helped, so inspired, we are wrong to despond; we are wrong not to +expect great things and attempt great things; we are wrong not to dare, +we are wrong to do the work of the Lord negligently. Let us feel that +Christ's work is ours, and we shall be bowed beneath the solemnity of +the thought, shall accept joyfully the necessity. Let us feel that our +work is Christ's, and we shall rejoice in infirmity that His power may +rest upon us, shall bid adieu to faint-hearted fears, and be sure that +then it must prosper. 'Arise, O Lord! plead Thine own cause.' Not unto +us, O Lord! not unto us, but to Thy name give glory. + +'The Lord ascended into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God, and +they went everywhere preaching the word.' It seems a strange contrast +between the rest of the Lord, sitting in sublime expectancy of +conscious power til His enemies become His footstool, and the toils of +His scattered disciples. It is like that moment which the genius of the +great painter has caught in an immortal work, when Jesus in rapt +communion with the mighty dead, and crowned with the accepting word +from Heaven, floated transfigured above the Holy Mount, while below His +disciples wrestled impotently with the demon that would not be cast +out. But it is not really contrast. He has not so parted the toils as +that His are over ere ours begin. 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 +mountain. The Evangelist goes on to tell us that the Lord also was +working with them and sharing their toils, lightening their burdens, +preparing for them successes on earth, and a rest like His when He +shall gird Himself and serve them. Thus, the first time that the +heavens opened again to mortal eyes after they closed on His ascending +form, was to show Him to the martyr in the council chamber, not sitting +careless or restful, but _standing_ at the right hand of God, to +intercede for, to strengthen, to receive and glorify His dying servant. +He goes with us where we go, and through our works and gifts and +prayers, through our proclamation of the Cross, He worketh His will, +and shall finally accomplish that great necessity laid upon Him by the +Father's counsels, and upon us by His commandment, and to be effected +by His death, that He should die, not for that nation only, but also +that He should gather together in one the children of God who are +scattered abroad. + +We have here— + +III. Our Lord teaching us how to think of the certain issues of His +work and ours. + +'They shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one +Shepherd.' We may regard these words as embracing two things; a nearer +issue, namely, the response that will always attend His call; and a +more remote, namely, the completion of His work. There is, of course, a +very blessed sense in which the latter words are true now, and have +been ever since Paul could say to those who had been aliens from the +commonwealth of Israel, 'He hath made both one. Now, therefore, ye are +no more foreigners but fellow-citizens with the saints.' But the fold +which now exists, limited in numbers, with its members but partially +conscious of their unity, and surrounded by those who follow hireling +shepherds, does not exhaust these great words. They shall not be +accomplished till that far-off future have come. + +But for the present we have the predictions of the former clause, 'They +shall hear My voice.' What manner of expectations does it teach us to +cherish? It seems to speak not of universal reception of Christ's +message, but of some as hearing and some as forbearing. It teaches us +to look for divers results attending our missionary work. There will +always be a Dionysius the Areopagite, the woman Lydia, the kindly +barbarians, the conscience-stricken jailer. There will always be the +scoffers, who mock when they hear of 'Jesus and the resurrection'; the +hesitating who compound with conscience by promising to hear again of +this matter, the fierce opponents who invoke constituted authorities or +mob violence to crush the message. + +Again, the words seem to contemplate a long task. There is nothing +about the rate at which His Kingdom shall spread, not a syllable to +answer inquiries as to when the end shall come. The whole tone of the +language suggests the idea that bringing back the sheep is to take a +long time, and to cost many a tedious journey into the wilderness. Not +a sudden outburst, but a slow kindling of the flame, is what our Lord +teaches us here to expect. + +But while thus calm in tone and moderate in expectation, the words +breathe a hope as confident as it is calm, as clear as it is moderate. +There will always be a response. His voice shall never be lifted up in +the snow-storm or lonely hillsides only to be blown back into His own +ears, unheard and unheeded. Be they few or many, they shall hear. Be +the toil longer or shorter, more or less severe, it shall not be in +vain. + +And to these expectations we shall do wisely if we attune ours. Omit +from your hopes what your Lord has omitted from His promises; do not +ask what He has not told. Do not wonder if you encounter what He met, +for the disciple is not greater than his Master, and only if they have +kept My saying will they keep yours also. But, on the other hand, +expect as much as He has prophesied; accept it when it comes as the +fruit of His work, not of yours, and build a firm faith that your +labour shall not be in vain on these calm and prescient words. + +So much for the course of the kingdom. And what of the end? One by one +the sheep have been brought, at last they are all gathered in, not a +hoof left behind. The stars steal singly into their places in the +heavens as the darkness deepens, and He 'bringeth them forth by +number,' until at the noon of night the sky is crowded with their +lights, and 'for that He is great in power, not one faileth.' What +expectations are we here taught to cherish then of the final issue? + +Mark, to begin with, that there is implied the ultimate universality of +His dominion and sole supremacy of His throne. There is to be but one +Shepherd, and over all the earth a great unity of obedience to Him. +Here is the knell of all authority that does not own Him, and the +subordination of all that does. The hirelings, the blind guides, that +have misled and afflicted humanity for so many weary ages, shall be all +sunk in oblivion. The false gods shall be discrowned, and lie shattered +on their temple-sill, and there shall be no worshippers to care for or +to try to repair their discomfiture. Bow your heads before Him, +thinkers who have led men on devious paths and spoken but a partial +truth and a wisdom all confused with foolishness! Lower your swords +before Him, warriors who have builded your cities on blood and led men +like sheep to the slaughter! He is more glorious and excellent than the +mountains of prey. Cast your crowns before Him, princes and all judges +of the earth, for He is King by right of the crown of thorns! This is +the Lord of all—Teacher, Leader, Ruler of all men. All other names +shall be forgotten but His shall abide. If they have been shepherds who +would not come in by the door, a ransomed world shall rejoice over +their fall with the ancient hymn, 'Other gods beside Thee have had +dominion over us; they are dead, they shall not live, Thou hast +destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.' If they have been +subject to the chief Shepherd and ensamples to the flock, they will +rejoice to decrease before His increase, and having helped to bring the +Bride to the Bridegroom, will gladly stand aside and be forgotten in +the perfect love that enters into full fruition at the last. Then when +none contest nor intercept the reverential obedience that the whole +world brings to Him, shall be fulfilled the firm promise which declared +long ago: 'I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He will feed them +and be their Shepherd.' + +Mark again the blessed nature of the relation between Christ and all +men which is here foretold. From of old, the shepherd has been in all +nations the emblem of kingly power, of leadership of every sort. How +often the fact has contradicted the symbol let history tell. But with +Jesus the reality does not only contradict, but even transcends, the +tender old comparison. He rules with a gentle sway. His sceptre is no +rod of iron, but the shepherd's crook, and the inmost meaning of its +use is that it may 'comfort' us, as David learned to feel. There gather +round the metaphor all thoughts of merciful guidance, of tender care, +of a helping arm when we are weak, of a loving bosom where we are +carried when we are weary. It speaks of a seeking love that roams over +every high hill till it finds, and of a strong shoulder that bears us +back when He has found. It tells of sweet hours of rest in the hot +noontide by still waters, of ample provision for all the soul's +longings in green pastures. It speaks of footsteps that go before, in +which men may follow and find them ways of pleasantness. It speaks of +gentle callings by name which draw the heart. It speaks of defence when +lion and bear come ravening down, and of safe couching by night when +the silent stars behold the sleeping sheep and the wakeful shepherd. He +Himself gives its highest significance to the emblem, in the words of +this great discourse, when He fixes on His knowledge, His calling of +His sheep, His going before them, His giving His life for them. Such +are the gracious blessings which here He teaches us to think of as +possessed in the happy days that shall be, by all the world. + +And, on the other hand, the symbol speaks of confiding love in the +hearts of men, of a great peacefulness of meek obedience stilling and +gladdening their wills, of the consciousness of His perfect love, and +the knowledge of all His gracious character, of sweet answering +communion with Him, of safety from all enemies, of freedom, of familiar +passage in and out to God. Thus knit together shall be the one fold and +the one Shepherd. 'They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures +shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither +shall the heat nor sun smite them, for He that hath mercy on them shall +feed them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them.' + +Mark again what a vision is here given of the relations of men with one +another. + +They are to be all gathered into a peaceful unity. They are to be one +because they all hearken to one voice. It is to be observed that our +Lord does not say, as our English Bible makes Him say, that there is to +be one fold. He drops that word of set purpose in the latter clause of +our text, and substitutes for it another, which may perhaps be best +rendered flock. Why this change in the expression? Because, as it would +seem, he would have us learn that the unity of that blessed future time +is not to be like the unity of the Jewish Church, a formal and external +one. That ancient polity was a fold. It held its members together by +outward bonds of uniformity. But the universal Church of the future is +to be a flock. It is to be really and visibly one. But it is to be so, +not because it is hemmed in by one enclosure, but because it is to be +gathered round one Shepherd. The more closely they are drawn to Him, +the more near will they be to each other. The centre in which all the +radii meet keeps them all in their places. 'We being many are one +bread, for we are all partakers of that one bread.' In the ritual of +the Old Covenant, the great golden candlestick with its seven branches +stood in the court of the Temple, emblem of the formal oneness of the +people, which was meant to be the light of the Lord to a dark world. In +the vision of the New Covenant, the seer in Patmos beheld not the one +lamp with its branches, but the seven golden candlesticks, 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 peoples, who were +sometimes darkness, but shall one day be light in the Lord. There may +continue to be national distinctions. There may or there may not be any +external unity. But at all events our Lord turns away our thoughts from +the outward to the inward, and bids us be sure that though the folds be +many the flock shall be one, because they shall all hear and follow +Him. + +The words, however, suggest for us the blessed thought of the peaceful +relations that shall then subsist among men. The tribes of the earth +shall couch beside each other like the quiet sheep in the fold, and +having learned of His great meekness, they shall no more bite nor +devour one another. Alas! alas! the words seem too good to be true. +They seem long, long of coming to pass. Ever since they were spoken the +old bloody work has been going on, and the old lusts of the human heart +have been busy sowing the dragon's teeth that shall spring up in wars +and fightings. In savage lands warfare rages on, ceaseless, ignoble, +unrecorded, and seemingly purposeless as that of animalcules in a drop +of water. On civilised soil, men, who love the same Christ and worship +Him in the same tongue, are fronting each other at this hour. The war +of actual swords, and the war of conflicting creeds, and the jostling +of human selfishness in the rough road of life, are all around us, and +their seeds are within ourselves. The race of men do not live like +folded sheep, rather like a flock of wolves, who first run over and +then devour their weaker fellows. + +But here is a fairer hope, and it will be fulfilled when all evil +thoughts, and all selfish desires, and all jealous grudgings shall +vanish from men's hearts, as unclean spirits at cockcrow, and shall +leave them, self-forgetful, yielding of their own prerogatives, +desirous of no other man's, abhorrent of inflicting, and patient of +receiving wrong. There will be no fuel then to blow into sulphurous +flame, though all the blasts from hell were to fan the embers. But +peace and concord shall be in all men, for Christ shall be in all. +National distinctions may abide, but national enmities—the oldest and +deepest, shall disappear. There shall still be Assyria, and Egypt, and +Israel, but their former relation will be replaced by a bond of amity +in their common possession of Him who is our peace. 'In that day shall +Israel be the third with Egypt, and with Assyria, even a blessing in +the midst of the land, whom the Lord shall bless, saying, Blessed be +Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine +inheritance.' God be thanked! that though we see, and our fathers have +seen, so much that seems to contradict our hopes of a peaceful world, +and though to-day the hell-hounds of war are baying over the earth, and +though nowhere can we see signs even of the approach of the halcyon +time, yet we can wait for the vision, knowing that it will come at the +appointed time, when + + 'No war or battle's sound + Is heard the world around, + The idle spear and shield are high uphung; + The trumpet speaks not to the armed throng, + And Kings sit still, with awful eye, + As if they surely knew their Sovereign Lord was by.' + +Such are the thoughts which our Lord would teach us as to the present +and as to the future of our missionary work. For the one, moderate +expectations of success, not unchequered by disappointment, and a brave +patience in long toil. For the other, hopes which cannot be too +glowing, and a faith which cannot be too obstinate. The one is being +fulfilled in our own and our brethren's experience even now; we may be +therefore all the more sure that the other will be so in due time. If +we look with Christ's eyes, we shall not be depressed by the apparent +unbroken surface of heathenism but see, as He did, everywhere souls +that belong to Him, who may and must be won; we shall joyfully embrace +the work which He has given us to do; we shall arm ourselves against +the discouragements of the present, by living much in the past at the +foot of the Cross, till we catch the true image of the Saviour's love, +and much in the future in the midst of the ransomed flock, till we too +behold the roses blossoming in the wilderness, the bright waters +covering all the dry places in the desert, and the families of men +sitting, clothed and in their right mind, at the feet of Jesus. + +Our missionary work is the pure and inevitable result of a belief in +these words of my text. Can a man believe that Christ has other sheep +for whom He died because He must bring them in, whom He will bring in +because He died, and _not_ work according to his power in the line of +the divine purposes? The missionary spirit is but the Christian spirit +working in one particular direction. Missionary societies are but one +of the authentic outcomes of Christian principles, as natural as +holiness of life, or the act of prayer. + +To secure, then, a more vigorous energy in such work, we need chiefly +what we need for all Christian growth—namely, more and deeper communion +with Christ, a more vivid realisation of His grace and love for +ourselves. And then we need that, 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 missions. Most of us +know too little about the matter to feel very much. And then we need +that we should more seriously reflect upon the facts in relation to our +own personal responsibility and duty. You complain of the triteness of +such appeals as this sermon. Brethren, have you ever tried that recipe +for freshening up well-worn truths, namely, thinking about them in +connection with the simplest, most important of all questions—what, +then, ought I to do in view of these truths? Am I exaggerating when I +say, that not one-half of the professing Christians of our day give an +hour in the year to pondering that question, with reference to +missionary work? Oh! dear friends, see to it that you live in Christ +for yourselves, and then see to it that you think His thoughts about +the heathen world, 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 wanderers. + +We have had as large results as Christ has led us to expect, and far +larger than we deserved. Christian missions are yet in their +infancy—alas! that it should be so. But in these seventy years since +they may be said to have begun, what wonderful successes have been +achieved. We are often told that we have done nothing. Is it so? The +plant has been got together, methods of working have been systematised, +mistakes in some measure corrected. We have spent much of our time in +learning how to work, and that process is by no means over yet. But +with all these deductions, which ought fairly to be made, how much has +been accomplished? The Bible has been put into the languages of seven +hundred millions of men. The beginnings of a Christian literature have +been supplied for five-sixths of the world. Half a million of professed +converts have been gathered in, or as many as there were at the end of +the first century, after about the same number of years of labour, and +with apostles for missionaries and miracles for proof. And if these +still bear on their ankles the marks of the fetters, and limp as they +walk, or cannot see very clearly at first, it is no more than might be +expected from their long darkness in the prison-house, and it is no +more than Paul had to contend with at Ephesus and Corinth. + +Every church that has engaged in the toil has shared in the blessing, +and has its own instances of special prosperity. We have had Jamaica; +the London Missionary Society, Madagascar, and the South Seas; the +Wesleyans, Fiji; the Episcopal Societies, Tinnevelly; the American +brethren, Burmah, and the Karens. 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 +Museum. While over those more compact and scientific systems which lie +like an incubus on mighty peoples, there has crept a sickening +consciousness of a coming doom, and they already half own their +conqueror in the Stronger One than they. + + 'They feel from Judah's land + The dreaded Infant's hand.' + +'Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, the idols are upon the beasts.' Surely +God has granted us success enough for our thankful confidence, more +than enough for our deserts. I repeat it, it is as much as He promised, +as much as we had any right to expect, and it is a vast deal more than +any other system of belief or of no belief, any of your spiritualised +Christianities, or still more intangible creeds has ever managed, or +ever thought of trying. To those who taunt us with no success, and who +perhaps would not dislike Christian missions so much if they disliked +Christian truth a little less, we may very fairly and calmly +answer—This rod has budded at all events; do you the same with your +enchantments. + +But the past is no measure of the future. From the very nature of the +undertaking the ratio of progress increases at a rapid rate. The first +ten years of labour in India showed twenty-seven converts, the seventh +ten showed more than twenty-seven thousand. The preparation may be as +slow as the solemn gathering of the thunder-clouds, as they noiselessly +steal into their places, and slowly upheave their grey billowing +crests; the final success may be as swift as the lightning which +flashes in an instant from one side of the heavens to the other. It +takes long years to hew the tunnel, to 'make the crooked straight, and +the rough places plain,' and then smooth and fleet the great power +rushes along the rails. To us the cry comes, 'Prepare ye in the desert +an highway for our God.' The toil is sore and long, but 'the glory of +the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.' The +Alpine summits lie white and ghastly in the spring sunshine, and it +seems to pour ineffectual beams on their piled cold; but by slow +degrees it is silently loosening the bands of the snow, and after a +while a goat's step, as it passes along a rocky ledge, or a breath of +wind will move a tiny particle, and in an instant its motion spreads +over a mile of mountain side, and the avalanche is rushing swifter and +mightier at every foot down to the valley below, where it will all turn +into sweet water, and ripple glancing in the sunshine. Such is our +work. It may seem very hopeless, and be mostly unobservable in surface +results, but it is very real for all that. The conquering impulse, for +which our task may have been to prepare the way, will be given, and +then we shall wonder to see how surely the kingdom was coming, even +when we observed it not. + +Ye have need of patience, and to feed your patience, ye have need of +fellowship with Christ, of faith in His promises, of sympathy with His +mind. God has given us, dear brethren, 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 Society. +But let us not dwell upon what has been done. These successes are +brooks by the way at which we may drink—nothing more. We ought to be +like shepherds in the lonely mountain glens, who see in the +fast-falling snow and the bitter blast a summons to the hillside, and +there all the night long wherever the drift lies deepest and the wind +bites the most sharply, search the most eagerly for the poor half-dead +creatures, and as they find each, bear it back to the safe shelter, nor +stay behind to count the rescued, nor to rest their weariness, for all +the bright light in the cottage and the blackness without, but forth +again on the same quest, till all the Master's sheep have been rescued +from the white death that lay treacherous around, and are sleeping at +peace in His folds. A mighty Voice ought ever to be sounding in our +ears, 'Other sheep I have,' and the answer of our hearts and of our +lives should be, 'Them also, O Lord! will I try to bring.' Not till the +far-off issue is accomplished shall we have a right to rest, and then +we, with all those He has helped us to gather to His side, shall be +among that flock, whom He who is at once Lamb and Shepherd, our Brother +and our Lord, our Sacrifice and King, 'shall feed and lead by living +fountains of waters,' in the sweet pastures of the upper world, where +there are no ravening wolves, nor false guides to terrify and bewilder +His flock any more at all for ever. + + + + +THE DELAYS OF LOVE + + +'Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When He had heard +therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place +where He was.'—JOHN xi. 5, 6. + +We learn from a later verse of this chapter that Lazarus had been dead +four days when Christ reached Bethany. The distance from that village +to the probable place of Christ's abode, when He received the message, +was about a day's journey. If, therefore, to the two days on which He +abode still after the receipt of the news, we add the day which the +messengers took to reach Him and the day which He occupied in +travelling, we get the four days since which Lazarus had been laid in +his grave. Consequently the probability is that, when our Lord had the +message, the man was dead. Christ did not remain still, therefore, in +order to work a greater miracle by raising Lazarus from the dead than +He would have done by healing, but He stayed—strange as it would +appear—for reasons closely connected with the highest well-being of all +the beloved three, and _because_ He loved them. + +John is always very particular in his use of that word 'therefore,' and +he points out many a subtle and beautiful connection of cause and +effect by his employment of it. 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 us. How these two sisters +must have looked down the rocky road that led up from Jericho during +those four weary days, to see if there were any signs of His coming. +How strange it must have appeared to the disciples themselves that He +made no sign of movement, notwithstanding the message. 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 inaction. The Evangelist will have us learn a lesson, +which reaches far beyond the instance in hand, and casts light on many +dark places. + +I. Christ's delays are the delays of love. + +We have all of us, I suppose, had experience of desires for the removal +of bitterness or sorrows, or for the fulfilment of expectations and +wishes, which we believed, on the best evidence that we could find, to +be in accordance with His will, and which we have been able to make +prayers out of, in true faith and submission, which prayers have had to +be offered over and over and over again, and no answer has come, 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 deferred. And instead of +stumbling at the mystery, or feeling as if it made a great demand upon +our faith, would it not be wiser for us to lay hold of that little word +of the Apostle's here, and to see in it a small window that opens out +on to a boundless prospect, and a glimpse into the very heart of the +divine motives in His dealings with us? + +If we could once get that conviction into our hearts, how quietly we +should go about our work! What a beautiful and brave patience there +would be in us, 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 good! Nothing but +the purest and simplest love, transparent and without a fold in it, +sways Him in all that He does. Why should it be so difficult for us to +believe this? If we were more in the way of looking at life, with all +its often unwelcome duty, and its arrows of pain and sorrow, and all +the disappointments and other ills that it is heir to, as a discipline, +and were to think less about the unpleasantness, and more about the +purpose, of what befalls us, we should find far less difficulty in +understanding that His delay is born of love, and is a token of His +tender care. + +Sorrow is prolonged for the same reason as it was sent. It is of little +use to send it for a little while. In the majority of cases, time is an +element in its working its right effect upon us. If the weight is +lifted, the elastic substance beneath springs up again. As soon as the +wind passes over the cornfield, the bowing ears raise themselves. You +have to steep foul things in water for a good while before the pure +liquid washes out the stains. And so time is an element in all the good +that we get out of the discipline of life. Therefore, the same love +which sends must necessarily protract, beyond our desires, the +discipline under which we are put. If we thought of it, as I have said, +more frequently as discipline and schooling, and less frequently as +pain and a burden, we should understand the meaning of things a great +deal better than we do, and should be able to face them with braver +hearts, and with a patient, almost joyous, endurance. + +If we think of some of the purposes of our sorrows and burdens, we +shall discern still more clearly that time is needed for accomplishing +them, and that, therefore, love must delay its coming to take them +away. For example, the object of them all, and the highest blessing +that any of us can obtain, is that our wills should be bent until they +coincide with God's, and that takes time. The shipwright, when he gets +a bit of timber that he wants to make a 'knee' out of, knows that to +mould it into the right form is not the work of a day. A will may be +_broken_ at a blow, but it will take a while to _bend_ it. And just +because swiftly passing disasters have little permanent effect in +moulding our wills, it is a blessing, and not an evil, to have some +standing fact in our lives, which will make a continual demand upon us +for continually repeated acts of bowing ourselves beneath His sweet, +though it may seem severe, will. God's love in Jesus Christ can give us +nothing better than the opportunity of bowing our wills to His, and +saying, 'Not mine, but Thine be done.' If that is why He stops on the +other side of Jordan, and does not come even to the loving messages of +beloved hearts, then He shows His love in the sweetest and the loftiest +form. So, dear friends, if you carry a lifelong sorrow, 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 heavens. If it has the +effect of bending you to His purpose, it is the truest token of His +loving care that He can send. In like manner, is it not worth carrying +a weight of unfulfilled wishes, and a weariness of unalleviated +sorrows, if these do teach us three things, which are one thing—faith, +endurance, prayerfulness, and so knit us by a threefold cord that +cannot be broken, to the very heart of God Himself? + +II. This delayed help always comes at the right time. + +Do not let us forget that Heaven's clock is different from ours. In our +day there are twelve hours, and in God's a thousand years. What seems +long to us is to Him 'a little while.' Let us not imitate the +shortsighted impatience of His disciples, who said, 'What is this that +He saith, A little while? We cannot tell what He saith.' The time of +separation looked so long in anticipation to them, and to Him it had +dwindled to a moment. For two days, eight-and-forty hours, He delayed +His answer to Mary and Martha, and they thought it an eternity, while +the heavy hours crept by, and they only said, 'It's very weary, He +cometh not, they said.' How long did it look to them when they had got +Lazarus back? + +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 it, the scale of Eternity. The ephemeral insect, born in the +morning and dead when the day fades, has a still minuter scale than +ours, but we should not think of regulating our estimate of long and +short by it. Do not let us commit the equal absurdity of regulating the +march of His providence by the swift beating of our timepieces. God +works leisurely because God has eternity to work in. + +The answer always comes at the right time, and is punctual though +delayed. For instance, Peter is in prison. The Church keeps praying for +him; prays on, day after day. No answer. The week of the feast comes. +Prayer is made intensely and fervently and continuously. No answer. The +slow hours pass away. The last day of his life, as it would appear, +comes and goes. No answer. The night gathers; prayer rises to heaven. +The last hour of the last watch of the last night that he had to live +has come, and as the veil of darkness is thinning, and the day is +beginning to break, 'the angel of the Lord shone round about him.' But +there is no haste in his deliverance. All is done leisurely, as in the +confidence of ample time to spare, and perfect security. He is bidden +to arise quickly, but there is no hurry in the stages of his +liberation. 'Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals.' He is to take time +to lace them. There is no fear of the quaternion of soldiers waking, or +of there not being time to do all. We can fancy the half-sleeping and +wholly-bewildered Apostle fumbling at the sandal-strings, in dread of +some movement rousing his guards, and the calm angel face looking on. +The sandals fastened, he is bidden to put on his garments and follow. +With equal leisure and orderliness he is conducted through the first +and the second guard of sleeping soldiers, and then through the prison +gate. He might have been lifted at once clean out of his dungeon, and +set down in the house many were gathered praying for him. But more +signal was the demonstration of power which a deliverance so gradual +gave, when it led him slowly past all obstacles and paralysed their +power. God is never in haste. He never comes too soon nor too late. +'The Lord shall help them, and that right early.' Sennacherib's army is +round the city, famine is within the walls. To-morrow will be too late. +But to-night the angel strikes, and the enemies are all dead men. So +God's delay makes the deliverance the more signal and joyous when it is +granted. And though hope deferred may sometimes make the heart sick, +the desire, when it comes, is a tree of life. + +III. The best help is not delayed. + +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 +answers. For in regard to spiritual blessings, and our petitions for +fuller, purer, and diviner life, there is no delay. In that region the +law is not 'He abode still two days in the same place,' but 'Before +they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear.' +If you have been praying for deeper knowledge of God, for lives liker +His, for hearts more filled with the Spirit, and have not had the +answer, do not fall back upon the misapplication of such a principle as +this of my text, which has nothing to do with that region; 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 themselves, +and not at all in God. 'Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask and +have not, because'—not because He delays, but because—'ye ask amiss,' +or because, having asked, you get up from your knees and go away, not +looking to see whether the blessing is coming down or not. + +Ah! there is a sad amount of lying and hypocrisy in prayers for +spiritual blessings. Many petitioners do not want to have them. They +would not know what to do with them if they got them. They make the +requests because their fathers did so before them, and because these +are the right kind of things to say in a prayer. Such prayers get no +answers. If a man prays for some spiritual enlargement, and then goes +out into the world and lives clean contrary to his prayers, what right +has he to say that God delays His answers? No, He does not delay His +answers, but we push back His answers, and the gift that _is_ given we +will not take. Let us remember that the two halves of the divine +dealings are not regulated by the same principle, though they be +regulated by the same motive; and that the love which often delays for +our good, in regard to the desires that have reference to outward +things, is swift as the lightning to answer every petition which moves +within the circle of our spiritual life. + +'Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye stand praying, believe that' then +and there 'ye receive them'; and the undelaying God will take care that +'you shall have them.' + + + + +CHRIST'S QUESTION TO EACH + + +_For the Young_ + +'… Believest then this? She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord.'—JOHN xi. 26, +27. + +As each of these annual sermons which I have preached for so long comes +round, I feel more solemnly the growing probability that it may be the +last. Like a man nearing the end of his day's work, I want to make the +most of the remaining moments. Whether this is the last sermon of the +sort that I shall preach or not, it is certainly the last of the kind +that some of you will hear from me, or possibly from any one. + +So, dear friends, I have felt that neither you nor I can afford to +waste this hour in considering subjects of secondary interest, +appropriate as some of them might be. I wish to come to the main point +at once, and to press upon you all, and especially on the younger +portion of this audience, the question of your own personal religion. + +The words of my text, as you will probably remember, were addressed by +our Lord to Martha, as she was writhing in agony over her dead brother. +Christ proclaims, with singular calmness and majesty, His character and +work as the Resurrection and the Life, and then seeks to draw her from +her absorbing sorrow to an effort of faith which shall grasp the truths +He proclaims. He flashes out this sudden question, like the swift +thrust of a gleaming dagger. It is a demand for credence to His +assertion—on His bare word—tremendous as that assertion is. And nobly +was the demand met by the as swift, unfaltering answer, 'Yea, Lord,' I +believe in Thee, and so I believe in Thy word. + +Now, friends, Jesus Christ is putting the same question to each of us. +And I pray that our answers may be Martha's. + +I. Note, first, the significance of the question. + +'This.' What is _this_? The answer will tell us what are the central +essential facts, faith in which makes a Christian. Of course the form +in which our Lord's previous utterance was cast was coloured by the +circumstances under which He spoke, and was so shaped as to meet the +momentary exigency. But whilst thus the form is determined by the fact +that He was speaking to a heart wrung by separation, and as a +preliminary to a mighty act of resurrection, the essential truths which +are so expressed are those which, as I believe, constitute the +fundamental truths of Christianity—the very core and heart of the +Gospel. + +Turn, then, but for a moment, to what immediately precedes my text. Our +Lord says three things. First, He asserts His supernatural character +and divine relation to life: 'I am the Resurrection and the Life.' +Next, He declares that it is possible for Him to communicate to dying +and to dead men a life which triumphs over death, and laughs at change, +and persists through the superficial experience which we christen by +the name of Death, unaffected, undiminished, as some sweet spring might +gush up in the heart of a salt, solitary sea. And then He declares that +the condition on which He, the Life-giver, gives of His immortal life +to dying men, is their trust in Him. These three—His character and +work, the gifts of which His hands are full, and the way by which the +gifts may be appropriated by us men—these three are, as I take it, the +central facts of Christianity. 'Believest thou this?' + +The question comes to us all; and in these days of unsettlement it is +well to have some clear understanding of what is the 'irreducible +minimum' of Christian teaching. I take it that it lies here. There are +two opposite errors which, like all opposite errors, are bolted +together, and revolve round a common centre. 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 ark. And +the other is the tendency which christens itself 'liberal and +progressive,' and which is always ready to exchange old lamps, though +they have burnt brightly in the past, for new ones that are as yet only +glittering metal and untried. In these days, when it is a presumption +against any opinion, that our fathers believed it (an error into which +young people are most prone to fall), and when, by the energy of +contradiction, that error has evoked, and is evoking, the opposite +exaggeration that adheres to all that is traditional, to all that has +been regarded as belonging to the essentials of the Christian faith, +and so is fearful, trembling for the Ark of God when there is no need, +let us fall back upon these great words of the Master, 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 three: the supernatural +Christ, the life which He imparts, and the condition on which He +bestows it. 'Believest thou this?' If you do, you need take very little +heed of the fluctuations of contemporary opinion as to other matters, +valuable and important as these may be in their place; and may let men +say what they will about disputed questions—about the method by which +the vehicle of revelation has been created and preserved, about the +regulation of the external forms of the Church, about a hundred other +things that men often lose their tempers and spoil their Christianity +by fighting for, and fall back upon the great central verity, a Christ +from above, the Giver of Life to all that put their trust in Him. + +Let me expand this question for you. 'We all have sinned and come short +of the glory of God'—'believest thou this?' 'We must all appear before +the judgment-seat of Christ'—'believest thou this?' 'God so loved the +world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on +Him should not perish'—'believest thou this?' 'The Son of Man came… to +give His life a ransom for many'—'believest thou this?' 'Being +justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus +Christ'—'believest thou this?' 'Now is Christ risen from the dead, and +become the first fruits of them that slept'—'believest thou this?' 'I +go to prepare a place for you'—'believest thou this?' 'Where I am there +shall also My servant be'—'believest thou this?' 'So shall we ever be +with the Lord'—'believest thou this?' That is Christianity; and not +theories about inspiration, and priesthood, and sacramental efficacy, +or any of the other thorny questions which have, in the course of ages, +started up. Here is the living centre; hold fast, I beseech you, by it. + +Then, again, the significance of this question is in the direction of +making clear for us the way by which men lay hold of these great +truths. The truths are of such a sort as that merely to say, 'Oh yes, I +believe it; it is quite true!' is by no means sufficient. If a man +tells me that two parallel lines produced ever so far will never meet, +I say, 'Yes, I believe it'; and there is nothing more to be done or +said. If a man says to me, 'Two and two make four,' I say, 'Yes'; and +there my assent ends. If a man says, 'It is right to do right,' it is +quite clear that the attitude of intellectual assent, which was quite +enough for the other order of statements, is not enough for this one; +and to merely say, 'Oh yes, it is right to do right,' is by no means +the only attitude which we ought to take in regard to such a truth. And +if God comes to me and says, 'Thou art a sinful man, and Jesus Christ +has died for thee; and if thou takest Him for thy Saviour thou shalt be +saved in this life, and saved for ever,' it is just as clear that no +mere acceptance of the saying as a verity exhausts my proper attitude +in reference to it. Or to come to plainer words, no man will really, +and out and out, and adequately, believe this gospel unless he does a +great deal more than assent to it or refrain from contradicting it. + +So I desire to urge this form of the question on you now. Dear +brethren, do you _trust_ in 'this,' which you say you believe? There is +no greater enemy of the Christian faith than the ordinary lazy—what the +philosophers call _otiose_, which is only a grand word for lazy—assent +of the understanding, because men will not take the trouble to +contradict it or think about it. + +That is the sort of Christianity which is the Christianity of a good +many church and chapel-goers. They do not care enough about the subject +to contradict the ordinary run of belief. Of all impotent things there +is nothing more impotent than a creed which lies idly in a man's head, +and never has touched his heart or his will. Why, 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 +you, who have been drenched with it all your days, till it goes over +you and runs off like water off a duck's back. The shells that were +hurled against the earthworks of Sebastopol broke away the front +surface of the mounds, and then the rubbish protected the +fortifications; and that is what happens with many of my hearers. You +have heard the gospel so often that the _debris_ of your old hearings +is raised between you and me, and my words cannot get at you. +'Believest thou this?'—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 lives, and attach not the ghost of an idea to a single +clause of it; 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 all. That is the +belief to which alone the life that is promised here will come. Oh! +brethren, I have no business to ask you the question, and you have no +need to answer it to me! Sometimes good, well-meaning people do a mint +of harm by pushing such questions into the faces of people unprepared. +But take the question into your own hearts, and remember what belief +is, and what it is that you have to believe, and answer according to +its true significance, and in the light of conscience, the solemn +question that I press upon you. + +II. Now, secondly, let me ask you to think of what depends upon the +answer. + +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 it. Martha had to +believe that Christ was the Resurrection and the Life as a condition +precedent to her seeing that He was so. For, as He said Himself before +He spoke the mighty word which raised Lazarus, 'Said I not unto thee +that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?' +and so her faith was the condition of her being able to verify the +facts which her faith grasped. Well, let me put that into plainer +words. It is just this—a man gets from Christ what he trusts Christ to +give him, and there is no other way of proving the truth of His +promises than by accepting His promises, and then they fulfil +themselves. You cannot know that a medicine will cure you till you +swallow it. You must first 'taste' before you 'see that God is good.' +Faith verifies itself by the experience it brings. + +And what does it bring? I said, all for which a man trusts Christ. All +is summed up in that one favourite word of our Lord as revealed in this +fourth Gospel, which includes in itself everything of blessedness and +of righteousness—life, life eternal. Dear brethren, you and I, apart +from Jesus Christ, are dead in trespasses and sins. The life that we +live in the flesh is an apparent life, which covers over the true death +of separation from God. And you young people, fix this in your minds at +the beginning, it will save you many a heartache, and many an +error—there is nothing worth calling life, except that which comes to a +quiet heart submissive and enfranchised through faith in Jesus Christ. +And if you will trust yourselves to Him, and answer this question with +your ringing 'Yea, Lord!' then you will get a life which will quicken +you out of your deadness; a life which will mould you day by day into +more entire beauty of character and conformity with Himself; a life +which will shed sweetness and charm over dusty commonplaces, and make +sudden verdure spring in dreary, herbless deserts; a life which will +bring a solemn joy into sorrow, a strength for every duty; which will +bring manna in the wilderness, honey from the rock, light in darkness, +and a present God for your sufficient portion; a life which will run on +into the dim glories of eternity, and know no change but advancement, +through the millenniums of ages. + +But, dear brethren, whilst thus, on condition of their faith, the door +into all divine and endless blessedness and progress is flung wide open +for men, do not forget the other side of the issues which depend on +this question. For if it is true that Jesus Christ is Life, and the +Source of it, and that faith in Him is the way by which you and I get +it, then there is no escape from the solemn conclusion that to be out +of Christ, and not to be exercising faith in Him, is to be infected +with death, and to be shut up in a charnel-house. I dare not suppress +the plain teaching of Jesus Christ Himself: 'He that hath the Son hath +life; he that hath not the Son hath not life.' The issues that depend +upon the answer to this question of my text may be summed up, if I may +venture to say so, by taking the words of our Lord Himself and +converting them into their opposite. He said, 'He that believeth … +though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and +believeth on Me shall never die.' That implies, He that believeth _not_ +in Christ, though he were living, yet shall he die, and whosoever +liveth and believeth _not_ shall never live. _These_ are the issues—the +alternative issues—that depend on your answer to this question. + +III. And now, lastly, let me ask you to think of the direct personal +appeal to every soul that lies in this question. + +I have dwelt upon two out of the three words of which the question is +composed—'_believest_ thou _this_?' Let me dwell for a moment on the +third of them—'believest _thou_?' + +Now that suggests the thought on which I do not need to dwell, but +which I seek briefly to lay upon your hearts and consciences—viz., the +intensely personal act of your own faith, by which alone Jesus Christ +can be of any use to you. Do not be led away by any vague notions which +people have about the benefits of a Church or its ordinances. 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 Christ. Can any person or thing be the condition +or channel of spiritual blessing to you, except in so far as your own +individual act of trust comes into play? You must take the bread with +your own hands, you must masticate it with your own teeth, you must +digest it with your own organs, before it can minister nourishment to +your blood and force to your life. And there is only one way by which +any man can come into any vital and life-giving connection with Jesus +Christ, and that is, by the exercise of his own personal faith. + +And remember, too, that as the exercise of uniting trust in Jesus +Christ is exclusively your own affair, so exclusively your own affair +is the responsibility of answering this question. To you alone is it +addressed. You, and only you, have to answer it. + +There was once a poor woman who went after Jesus Christ, and put out a +pale, wasted, tremulous finger to touch the hem of His garment. His +fine sensitiveness detected the light pressure of that petitioning +finger, and allowed virtue to go out, though the crowd surged about Him +and thronged Him. No crowds come between you and Jesus Christ. You and +He, the two of you, have, so to speak, the world to yourselves, and +straight to _you_ comes this question, 'Believest _thou_?' + +Ah! brethren, that habit of skulking into the middle of the multitude, +and letting the most earnest appeal from the pulpit go diffused over +the audience is the reason why you sit there quiet, complacent, perhaps +wholly unaffected by what I am trying to make a pointed, individual +address. Suppose all the other people in this place of worship were +away but you and I, would not the word that I am trying to speak come +with more force to your hearts than it does now? Well, think away the +world and all its millions, and realise the fact that you stand in +Christ's presence, with all His regard concentrated upon you, and that +to thee individually this question comes from a gracious, loving heart, +which longs that you answer, 'Yea, Lord, I believe!' + +Why should you not? Suppose you said to Him, 'No, Lord, I do not'; and +suppose He said, 'Why do you not?' what do you think you would say +then? You will have to answer it one day, in very solemn circumstances, +when all the crowds will fall away, as they do from a soldier called +out of the ranks to go up and answer for mutiny to his commanding +officer. 'Every one of us shall give an account of himself,' and the +lips that said so lovingly at the grave of Lazarus, 'Believest thou +this?' and are saying it again, dear friend, to you, even through my +poor words, will ask it once more. For this is the question the answer +to which settles whether we shall stand at His right hand or at His +left. Say now, with humble faith, 'Yea, Lord!' and you will have the +blessing of them who have not seen, and yet have believed. + + + + +THE OPEN GRAVE AT BETHANY + + +'Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where +Martha met Him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and +comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went +out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then +when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His +feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had +not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also +weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was +troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They say unto Him, Lord, +come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him! +And some of them said. Could not this Man, which opened the eyes of the +blind, have caused that even this man should not have died! Jesus +therefore again groaning in Himself, cometh to the grave. It was a +cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. +Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this +time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto +her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou +shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the +place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, +Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I know that Thou +hearest Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, +that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And when He thus had +spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that +was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his +face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, +and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen +the things which Jesus did, believed on Him.'—JOHN xi. 30-45. + +Why did Jesus stay outside Bethany and summon Martha and Mary to come +to Him? Apparently that He might keep Himself apart from the noisy +crowd of conventional mourners whose presence affronted the majesty and +sanctity of sorrow, and that He might speak to the hearts of the two +real mourners. A divine decorum forbade Him to go to the house. The +Life-bringer keeps apart. His comforts are spoken in solitude. He +reverenced grief. 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 sorrow! If they had had any real sympathy or perception, they +would have stayed where they were, and let the poor burdened heart find +ease in lonely weeping. But, like all vulgar souls, they had one +idea—never to leave mourners alone or let them weep. + +Three stages seem discernible in the self-revelation of Jesus in this +crowning miracle: His agitation and tears, His majestic confidence in +His life-giving power now to be manifested, and His actual exercise of +that power. + +I. The repetition by Mary of Martha's words, as her first salutation, +tells a pathetic story of the one thought that had filled both sisters' +hearts in these four dreary days. Why had He not come? How easily He +could have come! How surely He could have prevented all this misery! +Confidence in His power blends strangely with doubt as to His care. A +hint of reproach is in the words, but more than a hint of faith in His +might. He does not rebuke the rash judgment implied, for He knew the +true love underlying it; but He does not directly answer Mary, as He +had done Martha, for the two sisters needed different treatment. + +We note that Mary has no such hope as Martha had expressed. Her more +passive, meditative disposition had bowed itself, and let the grief +overwhelm her. 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 happened, and which is too +deeply dark to let a gleam of hope shine in. Words will do little to +comfort such grief. Silent sharing of its weeping and helpful deeds +will do most. + +So a great wave of emotion swept across the usually calm soul of Jesus, +which John bids us trace to its cause by 'therefore' (ver. 33). The +sight of Mary's real, and the mourners' half-real, tears, and the sound +of their loud 'keening,' shook His spirit, and He yielded to, and even +encouraged, the rush of feeling ('troubled Himself'). But not only +sympathy and sorrow ruffled the clear mirror of His spirit; another +disturbing element was present. He 'was moved with indignation' (Rev. +Ver. marg.). Anger at Providence often mingles with our grief, but that +was not Christ's indignation. The only worthy explanation of that +strange ingredient in Christ's agitation is that it was directed +against the source of death,—namely, sin. He saw the cause manifested +in the effects. He wept for the one, He was wroth at the other. The +tears witnessed to the perfect love of the man, and of the God revealed +in the man; the indignation witnessed to the recoil and aversion from +sin of the perfectly righteous Man, and of the holy God manifested in +Him. We get one glimpse into His heart, as on to some ocean heaving and +mist-covered. The momentary sight proclaims the union in Him, as the +Incarnate Word, of pity for our woes and of aversion from our sins. + +His question as to the place of the tomb is not what we should have +expected; but its very abruptness indicates effort to suppress emotion, +and resolve to lose no time in redressing the grief. Most sweetly human +are the tears that start afresh after the moment's repression, as the +little company begin to move towards the grave. And most sadly human +are the unsympathetic criticisms of His sacred sorrow. Even the best +affected of the bystanders are cool enough to note them as tokens of +His love, at which perhaps there is a trace of wonder; while others +snarl out a sarcasm which is double-barrelled, as casting doubt on the +reality either of the love or of the power. 'It is easy to weep, but if +He had cared for him, and could work miracles, He might surely have +kept him alive.' How blind men are! 'Jesus wept,' and all that the +lookers-on felt was astonishment that He should have cared so much for +a dead man of no importance, or carping doubt as to the genuineness of +His grief and the reality of His power. He shows us His pity and sorrow +still—to no more effect with many. + +II. The passage to the tomb was marked by his continued agitation. But +his arrival there brought calm and majesty. Now the time has come which +He had in view when He left his refuge beyond Jordan; and, as is often +the case with ourselves, suddenly tremor and tumult leave the spirit +when face to face with a moment of crisis. There is nothing more +remarkable in this narrative than the contrast between Jesus weeping +and indignant, and Jesus serene and authoritative as He stands fronting +the cave-sepulchre. The sudden transformation must have awed the +gazers. + +He points to the stone, which, probably like that of many a grave +discovered in Palestine, rolled in a groove cut in the rocky floor in +front of the tomb. The command accords with His continual habit of +confining the miraculous within the narrowest limits. He will do +nothing by miracle which can be done without it. Lazarus could have +heard and emerged, though the stone had remained. If the story had been +a myth, he very likely would have done so. Like 'loose him, and let him +go,' this is a little touch that cannot have been invented, and helps +to confirm the simple, historical character of the account. + +Not less natural, though certainly as unlikely to have been told unless +it had happened, is Martha's interruption. She must have heard what was +going on, and, with her usual activity, have joined the procession, +though we left her in the house. She thinks that Jesus is going into +the grave; and a certain reverence for the poor remains, as well as for +Him, makes her shrink from the thought of even His loving eyes seeing +them now. Clearly she has forgotten the dim hopes which had begun in +her when she talked with Jesus. Therefore He gently reminds her of +these; for His words (ver. 40) can scarcely refer to anything but that +interview, though the precise form of expression now used is not found +in the report of it (vers. 25-27). + +We mark Christ's calm confidence in His own power. His identification +of its effect with the outflashing of the glory of God, and His +encouragement to her to exercise faith by suspending her sight of that +glory upon her faith. Does that mean that He would not raise her +brother unless she believed? No; for He had determined to 'awake him +out of sleep' before He left Peraea. But Martha's faith was the +condition of her seeing the glory of God in the miracle. We may see a +thousand emanations of that glory, and see none of it. We shall see it +if we exercise faith. In the natural world, 'seeing is believing'; in +the spiritual, believing is seeing. + +Equally remarkable, as breathing serenest confidence, is the wonderful +filial prayer. Our Lord speaks as if the miracle were already +accomplished, so sure is He: 'Thou heardest Me.' Does this thanksgiving +bring Him down to the level of other servants of God who have wrought +miracles by divine power granted them? Certainly not; for it is in full +accord with the teaching of all this Gospel, according to which 'the +Son can do nothing of Himself,' but yet, whatsoever things the Father +doeth, 'these also doeth the Son likewise.' Both sides of the truth +must be kept in view. The Son is not independent of the Father, but the +Son is so constantly and perfectly one with the Father that He is +conscious of unbroken communion, of continual wielding of the whole +divine power. + +But the practical purpose of the thanksgiving is to be specially noted. +It suspends His whole claims on the single issue about to be decided. +It summons the people to mark the event. Never before had He thus +heralded a miracle. Never had He deigned to say thus solemnly, 'If God +does not work through Me now, reject Me as an impostor; if He does, +yield to Me as Messiah.' The moment stands alone in His life. What a +scene! There is the open tomb, with its dead occupant; there are the +eager, sceptical crowd, the sisters pausing in their weeping to gaze, +with some strange hopes beginning to creep into their hearts, the +silent disciples, and, in front of them all, Jesus, with the radiance +of power in the eyes that had just been swimming in tears, and a new +elevation in His tones. How all would be hushed in expectance of the +next moment's act! + +III. The miracle itself is told in the fewest words. What more was +there to tell? The two ends, as it were, of a buried chain, appear +above ground. Cause and effect were brought together. Rather, here was +no chain of many links, as in physical phenomena, but here was the +life-giving word, and there was the dead man living again. The 'loud +voice' was as needless as the rolling away of the stone. It was but the +sign of Christ's will acting. And the acting of His will, without any +other cause, produces physical effects. + +Lazarus was far away from that rock cave. But, wherever he was, he +could hear, and he must obey. So, with graveclothes entangling his +feet, and a napkin about his livid face, he came stumbling out into the +light that dazed his eyes, closed for four dark days, and stood silent +and motionless in that awestruck crowd. One Person there was not +awestruck. Christ's calm voice, that had just reverberated through the +regions of the dead, spoke the simple command, 'Loose him, and let him +go.' To Him it was no wonder that He should give back a life. For the +Christ who wept is the Christ whose voice all that are in the graves +shall hear, and shall come forth. + + + + +THE SEVENTH MIRACLE IN JOHN'S GOSPEL—THE RAISING OF LAZARUS + + +'And when Jesus thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, +Come forth. 44. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot +with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin.'—JOHN +xi. 43, 44. + +The series of our Lord's miracles before the Passion, as recorded in +this Gospel, is fitly closed with the raising of Lazarus. It crowns the +whole, whether we regard the greatness of the fact, the manner of our +Lord's working, the minuteness and richness of the accompanying +details, the revelation of our Lord's heart, the consolations which it +suggests to sorrowing spirits, or the immortal hopes which it kindles. + +And besides all this, the miracle is of importance for the development +of the Evangelist's purpose, in that it makes the immediate occasion of +the embittered hostility which finally precipitates the catastrophe of +the Cross. Therefore the great length to which the narrative extends. + +Of course it is impossible for us to attempt, even in the most cursory +manner, to go over the whole. We must content ourselves with dealing +with one or two of the salient points. And there are three things in +this narrative which I think well worthy of our notice. There is the +revelation of Christ as our Brother, by emotion and sorrow. There is +the revelation of Christ as our Lord by His consciousness of divine +power. There is the revelation of Christ as our Life by His mighty +life-giving word. And to these three points I ask you to turn briefly. + +I. First, then, we have here a revelation of Christ as our Brother, by +emotion and sorrow. + +This miracle stands alone in the whole majestic series of His mighty +works by the fact that it is preceded by a storm of emotion, which +shakes the frame of the Master, which He is represented by the +Evangelist not so much as suppressing as fostering, and which diverges +and parts itself into the two feelings expressed by His groans and by +His tears. The word which is rendered in our version 'He groaned in the +spirit,' and which is twice repeated in the narrative, is, according to +the investigations of the most careful philological commentators, +expressive not only of the outward sign of an emotion, but of the +nature of it. And the nature of the emotion is not merely the grief and +the sympathy which distilled in tears, but it is something deeper and +other than that. The word contains in it at least a tinge of the +passion of 'indignation' (as it is expressed in the margin of the +Revised Version). What caused the indignation? Cannot we fancy how +there rose up, as in pale, spectral procession before His vision, the +whole long series of human sorrows and losses, of which one was visible +there before Him? He saw, in the one individual case, the whole +_genus_. He saw the whole mass represented there, the ocean in the +drop, and He looked beyond the fact and linked it with its cause. And +as there rose before Him the reality of man's desolation through sin, +and the thought that all this misery, loss, pain, parting, death, was a +contradiction of the divine purpose, and an interruption of God's +order, and that it had all been pulled down upon men's desperate heads +by their own evil and their own folly, 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 sin. + +But the lightning of the wrath dissolved soon into the rain of pity and +of sorrow, and, as we read, 'Jesus wept.' Looking upon the weeping Mary +and the lamenting crowd, and Himself feeling the pain of the parting +from the friend whom He loved, the tears, which are the confession of +human nature that it is passing through an emotion too deep for words, +came to His all-seeing eyes. + +Oh! brethren, surely—surely in this manifestation, or call it better, +this revelation of Christ the Lord, expressed in these two +emotions—surely there are large and blessed lessons for us! On them I +can only touch in the lightest manner. Here, for one thing, is the +blessed sign and proof of His true brotherhood with us. This +Evangelist, 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 person, had also given to him in charge the corresponding +and complementary message—to insist upon the reality and the verity of +His manhood. His proclamation was 'the Word was made flesh,' and he had +to dwell on both parts of that message, showing Him as the Word and +showing Him as flesh. So he insists upon all the points which emerge in +the course of his narrative that show the reality of Christ's corporeal +manhood. + +He joins with the others, who had no such lofty proclamation entrusted +to them, in telling us how He was 'bone of our bone, and flesh of our +flesh,' in that He hungered and thirsted and slept, and was wearied; +how He was man, reasonable soul and human spirit, in that He grieved +and rejoiced, and wondered and desired, and mourned and wept. And so we +can look upon Him, and feel that this in very deed is One of ourselves, +with a spirit participant of all human experiences, and a heart +tremulously vibrating with every emotion that belongs to man. + +Here we are also taught the sanction and the limits of sorrow. +Christianity has nothing to do with the false Stoicism and the false +religion which is partly pride and partly insincerity, that proclaims +it wrong to weep when God smites. But just as clearly and distinctly as +the story before us says to us, 'Weep for yourselves and for the loved +ones that are gone,' so distinctly does it draw the limits within which +sorrow is sacred and hallowing, and beyond which it is harmful and +weakening. Set side by side the grief of these two poor weeping +sisters, and the grief of the weeping Christ, and we get a large +lesson. They could only repine that something else had not happened +differently which would have made all different. 'If Thou hadst been +here, my brother had not died.' One of the two sits with folded arms in +the house, letting her sorrow flow over her pained head. Martha is +unable, by reason of her grief, to grasp the consolation that is held +out to her; her sorrow has made the hopes of the future seem to her +very dim and of small account, and she puts away 'Thy brother shall +rise again' with almost an impatient sweep of her hand. 'I know that he +will rise in the resurrection at the last day. But oh! that is so far +away, and what I want is present comfort.' Thus oblivious of duty, +murmuring with regard to the accidents which might have been different, +and unfitted to grasp the hopes that fill the future, these two have +been hurt by their grief, and have let it overflow its banks and lay +waste the land. But this Christ in His sorrow checks His sorrow that He +may do His work; in His sorrow is confident that the Father hears; in +His sorrow thinks of the bystanders, and would bring comfort and cheer +to them. A sorrow which makes us more conscious of communion with the +Father who is always listening, which makes us more conscious of power +to do that which He has put it into our hand to do, which makes us more +tender in our sympathies with all that mourn, and swifter and readier +for our work—such a sorrow is doing what God meant for us; and is a +blessing in so thin a disguise that we can scarcely call it veiled at +all. + +And then, still further, there are here other lessons on which I cannot +touch. Such, for instance, is the revelation in this emotion of the +Master's, of a personal love that takes individuals to His heart, and +feels all the sweetness and the power of friendship. That personal love +is open to every one of us, and into the grace and the tenderness of it +we may all penetrate. 'The disciple whom Jesus loved' is the Evangelist +who, without jealousy, is glad to tell us that the same loving Lord +took into the same sanctuary of His pure heart, Mary and Martha, and +her brother. That which was given to them was not taken from him, and +they each possessed the whole of the Master's love. So for every one of +us that heart is wide open, and you and I, brethren, may contract such +personal relations to the Master that we shall live with Christ as a +man with his friend, and may feel that His heart is all ours. + +So much for the lessons of the emotions whereby Christ is manifested to +us as our Brother. + +II. And now turn, in the next place, and that very briefly, to what +lies side by side with this in the story, and at first sight may seem +strangely contradictory of it, but in fact only completes the idea, +viz. the majesties, calm consciousness of divine power by which He is +revealed as our Lord. + +At one step from the agitation and the storm of feeling there comes, +'Take ye away the stone.' And in answer to the lamentations of the +sister are spoken the great and wonderful words, 'Said I not unto thee +that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God?' And +He looks back there to the message that had been sent to the sisters in +response to their unspoken hope that He would come, 'This sickness is +not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be +glorified thereby.' And He shows us that from the first moment, with +the spontaneousness which, as I have already remarked in previous +sermons on these 'signs,' characterises all the miracles of John's +Gospel, 'He Himself knew what He would do,' and in the consciousness of +His divine power had resolved that the dead Lazarus should be the +occasion for the manifestation, the flashing out to the world, of the +glory of God in the life-giving Son. + +And then, in the same tone of majestic consciousness, there follows +that thanksgiving _prior_ to the miracle as for the accomplished +miracle. 'I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me, and I knew that Thou +hearest Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, +that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me.' The best commentary upon +these words, the deepest and the fullest exposition of the large truths +that lie in them concerning the co-operation of the Father and the Son, +is to be found in the passage from the fifth chapter of this Gospel, +wherein there is set forth, drawn with the firmest hand, the clearest +lines of truth upon this great and profound subject. 'The Son does +nothing of Himself,' but 'whatsoever the Father doeth, that doeth the +Son likewise.' A consciousness of continual co-operation with the +Almighty Father, a consciousness that His will continually coincides +with the Father's will, that unto Him there comes the power ever to do +all that Omnipotence can do, and that though we may speak of a gift +given and a power derived, the relation between the giving Father and +the recipient Son is altogether different from, and other than the +relation between, the man that asks and the God that bestows. Poor +Martha said, 'I know that even now, whatsoever Thou askest of God He +will give Thee.' She thought of Him as a good Man whose prayers had +power with Heaven. 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 work, and of whom the two things that +sound contradictory can both be said. His omnipotence is His own; His +omnipotence is the Father's: 'As the Father hath life' and therefore +power in Himself, 'so hath He _given_'—there is the one half of the +paradox—'so hath He given to the Son to have life _in Himself_'; there +is the other. And unless you put them both together you do not think of +Christ as Christ has taught us to think. + +III. Lastly, we have here the revelation of Christ as our Life in His +mighty, life-giving word. + +The miracle, as I have said, stands high in the scale, not only by +reason of what to us seems the greatness of the fact, though of course, +properly speaking, in miracles there is no distinction as to the +greatness of the fact, but also by reason of the manner of the working. +The voice thrown into the cave reaches the ears of the sheeted dead: +'Lazarus, come forth!' And then, in words which convey the profound +impression of awfulness and solemnity which had been made upon the +Evangelist, we have the picture of the man with the graveclothes +wrapped about his limbs, stumbling forth; and loving hands are bidden +to take away the napkin which covered his face. Perhaps the hand +trembled as it was put forth, not knowing what awful sight the veil +might cover. + +With tenderest reticence, no word is spoken as to what followed. No +hint escapes of the joy, no gleam of the experiences which the +traveller brought back with him from that 'bourne' whence he had come. +Surely some draught of Lethe must have been given him, that his spirit +might be lulled into a wholesome forgetfulness, else life must have +been a torment to him. + +But be that as it may, what we have to notice is the fact here, and +what it teaches us as a fact. Is it not a revelation of Jesus Christ as +the absolute Lord of Life and Death, giving the one, putting back the +other? Death has caught hold of his prey. 'Shall the prey be taken from +the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered? Yea, the prey shall be +taken from the mighty.' His bare word is divinely operative. He says to +that grisly shadow 'Come!' and he cometh; He says to him 'Go!' and he +goeth. And as a shepherd will drive away the bear that has a lamb +between his bloody fangs, and the brute retreats, snarling and +growling, but dropping his prey, so at the Lord's voice Lazarus comes +back to life, and disappointed Death skulks away to the darkness. + +The miracle shows Him as Lord of Death and Giver of Life. And it +teaches another lesson, namely, the continuous persistency of the bond +between Christ and His friend, unbroken and untouched by the +superficial accident of life or death. Wheresoever Lazarus was he heard +the voice, and wheresoever Lazarus was he knew the voice, and +wheresoever Lazarus was he obeyed the voice. And so we are taught that +the relationship between Christ our life, and all them that love and +trust Him, is one on which the tooth of death that gnaws all other +bonds in twain hath no power at all. Christ is the Life, and, +therefore, Christ is the Resurrection, and the thing that we call death +is but a film which spreads on the surface, but has no power to +penetrate into the depths of the relationship between us and Him. + +Such, in briefest words, are the lessons of the miracle as a fact, but +before I close I must remind you that it is to be looked at not only as +a fact, but as a prophecy and as a parable. + +It is a prophecy in a modified sense, telling us at all events that He +has the power to bid men back from the dust and darkness, and giving us +the assurance which His own words convey to us yet more distinctly: +'The hour is coming when all that are in the graves shall hear His +voice and shall come forth.' My brother! there be two resurrections in +that one promise: the resurrection of Christ's friends and the +resurrection of Christ's foes. And though to both His voice will be the +awakening, some shall rise to joy and immortality and 'some to shame +and everlasting contempt.' You will hear the voice; settle it for +yourselves whether when He calls and thou answerest thou wilt say, 'Lo! +here am I,' joyful to look upon Him; or whether thou wilt rise +reluctant, and 'call upon the rocks and the hills to cover thee, and to +hide thee from the face of Him that sitteth upon the Throne.' + +And this raising is a parable as well as a prophecy; for even as Christ +was the life of this Lazarus, so, in a deeper and more real sense, and +not in any shadowy, metaphorical, mystical sense, is Jesus Christ the +life of every spirit that truly lives at all. We are 'dead in +trespasses and sins.' For separation from God is death in all regions, +death for the body in its kind, death for the mind, for the soul, for +the spirit in their kinds; and only they who receive Christ into their +hearts do live. Every Christian man is a miracle. There has been a true +coming into the human of the divine, a true supernatural work, the +infusion into a dead soul of the God-life which is the Christ-life. + +And you and I may have that life. What is the condition? 'They that +hear shall live.' Do you hear? Do you welcome? Do you take that Christ +into your hearts? Is He your Life, my brother? + +It is possible to resist that voice, to stuff your ears so full of +clay, and worldliness, and sin, and self-reliance as that it shall not +echo in your hearts. 'The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead +shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and they that hear shall live,' +and obtain to-day 'a better resurrection' than the resurrection of the +body. If you do not hear that voice, then you will 'remain in the +congregation of the dead.' + + + + +CAIAPHAS + + +'And one of them, named Caiaphas being the high priest that same year, +said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is +expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the +whole nation perish not.'—JOHN xi. 49,50. + +The resurrection of Lazarus had raised a wave of popular excitement. +Any stir amongst the people was dangerous, especially at the Passover +time, which was nigh at hand, when Jerusalem would be filled with +crowds of men, ready to take fire from any spark that might fall +amongst them. So a hasty meeting of the principal ecclesiastical +council of the Jews was summoned, in order to dismiss the situation, +and concert measures for repressing the nascent enthusiasm. 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 dead. But nothing of the sort appears in their +ignoble calculations. Like all weak men, they feel that 'something must +be done' and are perfectly unable to say what. They admit Christ's +miracles: 'This man doeth many miracles,' but they are not a bit the +nearer to recognising His mission, being therein disobedient to their +law and untrue to their office. They fear that any disturbance will +bring Rome's heavy hand down on them, and lead to the loss of what +national life they still possess. But even that fear is not patriotism +nor religion. It is pure self-interest. 'They will take away _our_ +place'—the Temple, probably—'and our nation.' The holy things were, in +their eyes, their special property. And so, at this supreme moment, big +with the fate of themselves and of their nation, their whole anxiety is +about personal interests. They hesitate, and are at a loss what to do. + +But however they may hesitate, there is one man who knows his own +mind—Caiaphas, the high priest. He has no doubt as to what is the right +thing to do. He has the advantage of a perfectly clear and single +purpose, and no sort of restraint of conscience or delicacy keeps him +from speaking it out. He is impatient at their vacillation, and he +brushes it all aside with the brusque and contemptuous speech: 'Ye know +nothing at all!' 'The one point of view for us to take is that of our +own interests. Let us have that clearly understood; when we once ask +what is "expedient for us," there will be no doubt about the answer. +This man must die. Never mind about His miracles, or His teaching, or +the beauty of His character. His life is a perpetual danger to our +prerogatives. I vote for death!' And so he clashes his advice down into +the middle of their waverings, like a piece of iron into yielding +water; and the strong man, restrained by no conscience, and speaking +out cynically the thought that is floating in all their minds, but +which they dare not utter, is master of the situation, and the resolve +is taken. 'From that day forth' they determined to put Him to death. + +But John regards this selfish, cruel advice as a prophecy. Caiaphas +spoke wiser things than he knew. The Divine Spirit breathed in strange +fashion through even such lips as his, 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 death. He +did indeed die for that people—thinks the Evangelist—even though they +have rejected Him, and the dreaded Romans _have_ come and taken away +our place and nation—but His death had a wider purpose, and was not for +that nation only, but that also 'He should gather together in one the +children of God that are scattered abroad.' + +Let us, then, take these two aspects of the man and his counsel: the +unscrupulous priest and his savage advice; the unconscious prophet and +his great prediction. + +I. First, then, let us take the former point of view, and think of this +unscrupulous priest and his savage advice. 'It is expedient for us that +one man die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.' + +Remember who he was, the high priest of the nation, with Aaron's mitre +on his brow, and centuries of illustrious traditions embodied in his +person; set by his very office to tend the sacred flame of their +Messianic hopes, and with pure hands and heart to offer sacrifice for +the sins of the people; the head and crown of the national religion, in +whose heart justice and mercy should have found a sanctuary if they had +fled from all others; whose ears ought to have been opened to the +faintest whisper of the voice of God; whose lips should ever have been +ready to witness for the truth. + +And see what he is! A crafty schemer, as blind as a mole to the beauty +of Christ's character and the greatness of His words; utterly +unspiritual; undisguisedly selfish; rude as a boor; cruel as a +cut-throat; and having reached that supreme height of wickedness in +which he can dress his ugliest thought in the plainest words, and send +them into the world unabashed. What a lesson this speech of Caiaphas, +and the character disclosed by it, read to all persons who have a +professional connection with religion! + +He can take one point of view only, in regard to the mightiest +spiritual revelation that the world ever saw; and that is, its bearing +upon his own miserable personal interests, and the interests of the +order to which he belongs. And so, whatever may be the wisdom, or +miracles, or goodness of Jesus, because He threatens the prerogatives +of the priesthood, He must die and be got out of the way. + +This is only an extreme case of a temper and a tendency which is +perennial. Popes and inquisitors and priests of all Churches have done +the same, in their degree, in all ages. They have always been tempted +to look upon religion and religious truth and religious organisations +as existing somehow for their personal advantage. And so 'the Church is +in danger!' generally means 'my position is threatened,' and heretics +are got rid of, because their teaching is inconvenient for the +prerogatives of a priesthood, and new truth is fought against, because +officials do not see how it harmonises with their pre-eminence. + +It is not popes and priests and inquisitors only that are examples of +the tendency. The warning is needed by every man who stands in such a +position as mine, whose business it is professionally to handle sacred +things, and to administer Christian institutions and Christian ritual. +All such men are tempted to look upon the truth as their +stock-in-trade, and to fight against innovations, and to array +themselves instinctively against progress, and frown down new aspects +and new teachers of truth, simply because they threaten, or appear to +threaten, the position and prerogatives of the teachers that be. +Caiaphas's sin is possible, and Caiaphas's temptation is actual, for +every man whose profession it is to handle the oracles of God. + +But the lessons of this speech and character are for us all. Caiaphas's +sentence is an undisguised, unblushing avowal of a purely selfish +standpoint. It is not a common depth of degradation to stand up, and +without a blush to say: 'I look at all claims of revelation, at all +professedly spiritual truth, and at everything else, from one +delightfully simple point of view—I ask myself, how does it bear upon +what I think to be to my advantage?' What a deal of perplexity a man is +saved if he takes up that position! Yes! and how he has damned himself +in the very act of doing it! For, look what this absorbing and +exclusive self-regard does in the illustration before us, and let us +learn what it will do to ourselves. + +This selfish consideration of our own interests will make us as blind +as bats to the most radiant beauty of truth; aye, and to Christ +Himself, if the recognition of Him and of His message seems to threaten +any of these. They tell us that fishes which live in the water of +caverns come to lose their eyesight; and men that are always living in +the dark holes of their own selfishly absorbed natures, they, too, lose +their spiritual sight; and the fairest, loftiest, truest, and most +radiant visions (which are realities) pass before their eyes, and they +see them not. When you put on regard for yourselves as they do blinkers +upon horses, you have no longer the power of wide, comprehensive +vision, but only see straight forward upon the narrow line which you +fancy to be marked out by your own interests. If ever there comes into +the selfish man's mind a truth, or an aspect of Christ's mission, which +may seem to cut against some of his practices or interests, how blind +he is to it! When Lord Nelson was at Copenhagen, and they hoisted the +signal of recall, he put his telescope up to his blind eye and said, 'I +do not see it!' 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 it. It blinds them to the plain will of the +Commander-in-chief flying there at the masthead. 'There are none so +blind as those who will not see'; 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 tack. So I say, look at the instance +before us, and learn the lesson of the blindness to truth and beauty +which are Christ Himself, which comes of a regard to one's own +interests. + +Then again, this same self-regard may bring a man down to any kind and +degree of wrongdoing. Caiaphas was brought down by it, being the +supreme judge of his nation, to be an assassin and an accomplice of +murderers. 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 tendency. We have all of us to fight +against the developed selfishness which takes the form of this, that, +and the other sin; and we have all of us, if we are wise, to fight +against the undeveloped sin which lies in all selfishness. Remember +that if you begin with laying down as the canon of your conduct, 'It is +expedient for me,' you have got upon an inclined plane that tilts at a +very sharp angle, and is very sufficiently greased, and ends away down +yonder in the depths of darkness and of death, and it is only a +question of time how far and how fast, how deep and irrevocable, will +be your descent. + +And lastly, this same way of looking at things which takes 'It is +expedient' as the determining consideration, 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 it. 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 priesthood. The crime of the +actual crucifixion was diminished because the doers were so unconscious +that it was a crime; but the crime of the process by which they had +come to be unconscious—Oh how that was increased and deepened! So, if +we fix our eyes sharply and exclusively on what makes for our own +advantage, and take that as the point of view from which we determine +our conduct, we may, and we shall, bring ourselves into such a +condition as that our consciences will cease to be sensitive to right +and wrong; and we shall do all manner of bad things, and never know it. +We shall 'wipe our mouths and say: "I have done no harm."' So, I +beseech you, remember this, that to live for self is hell, and that the +only antagonist of such selfishness, which leads to blindness, crime, +and a seared conscience, is to yield ourselves to the love of God in +Jesus Christ and to say: 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' + +II. And now turn briefly to the second aspect of this saying, into +which the former, if I may so say, melts away. We have the unconscious +prophet and his great prediction. + +The Evangelist conceives that the man who filled the office of high +priest, being the head of the theocratic community, was naturally the +medium of a divine oracle. When he says, 'being the high priest _that +year_, Caiaphas prophesied,' he does not imply that the high priestly +office was annual, but simply desires to mark the fateful importance of +that year for the history of the world and the priesthood. '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 ever, deprived +priesthood and sacrifice henceforward of all their validity. So that +Caiaphas was in reality the last of the high priests, and those that +succeeded him for something less than half a century were but like +ghosts that walked after cock-crow. And what the Evangelist would mark +is the importance of 'that year,' as making Caiaphas ever memorable to +us. 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 nation, 'in that year' should such a person fill +such an office! + +'Being high priest he prophesied.' And was there anything strange in a +bad man's prophesying? Did not the Spirit of God breathe through Balaam +of old? Is there anything incredible in a man's prophesying +unconsciously? Did not Pilate do so, when he nailed over the Cross, +'This is the King of the Jews,' and wrote it in Hebrew, and in Greek, +and in Latin, conceiving himself to be perpetrating a rude jest, while +he was proclaiming an everlasting truth? When the Pharisees stood at +the foot of the Cross and taunted Him, 'He saved others, Himself He +cannot save,' did they not, too, speak deeper things than they knew? +And were not the lips of this unworthy, selfish, unspiritual, +unscrupulous, cruel priest so used as that, all unconsciously, his +words lent themselves to the proclamation of the glorious central truth +of Christianity, that Christ died for the nation that slew Him and +rejected Him, nor for them alone, but for all the world? Look, though +but for a moment, at the thoughts that come from this new view of the +words which we have been considering. + +They suggest to us, first of all, the twofold aspect of Christ's death. +From the human point of view it was a savage murder by forms of law for +political ends: Caiaphas and the priests slaying Him to avoid a popular +tumult that might threaten their prerogatives, Pilate consenting to His +death to avoid the unpopularity that might follow a refusal. From the +divine point of view it is God's great sacrifice for the sin of the +world. It is the most signal instance of that solemn law of Providence +which runs all through the history of the world, whereby bad men's bad +deeds, strained through the fine network, as it were, of the divine +providence, lose their poison and become nutritious and fertilising. +'Thou makest the wrath of men to praise Thee; with the residue thereof +Thou girdest Thyself.' The greatest crime ever done in the world is the +greatest blessing ever given to the world. Man's sin works out the +loftiest divine purpose, even as the coral insects blindly build up the +reef that keeps back the waters, or as the sea in its wild, impotent +rage, seeking to overwhelm the land, only throws upon the beach a +barrier that confines its waves and curbs their fury. + +Then, again, this second aspect of the counsel of Caiaphas suggests for +us the twofold consequences of that death on the nation itself. This +Gospel of John was probably written after the destruction of Jerusalem. +By the time that our Evangelist penned these words, the Romans _had_ +come and taken away their place and their nation. The catastrophe that +Caiaphas and his party had, by their short-sighted policy, tried to +prevent, had been brought about by the very deed itself. For Christ's +death was practically the reason for the destruction of the Jewish +commonwealth. When 'the husbandmen said, Come! let us kill Him, and +seize on the inheritance,' which is simply putting Caiaphas's counsel +into other language, they thereby deprived themselves of the +inheritance. And so Christ's death was the destruction and not the +salvation of the nation. + +And yet, it was true that He died for that people, for every man of +them, for Caiaphas as truly as for John, for Judas as truly as for +Peter, for all the Scribes and the Pharisees that mocked round His +Cross, as truly as for the women that stood silently weeping there. He +died for them all, and John, looking back upon the destruction of his +nation, can yet say, 'He died for that people.' Yes! and just because +He did, and because they rejected Him, His death, which they would not +let be their salvation, became their destruction and their ruin. Oh! +brethren, it is always so! He is either 'a savour of life unto life, or +a savour of death unto death!' 'Behold! I lay in Zion for a foundation, +a tried Stone.' Build upon it and you are safe. If you do not build +upon it, that Stone becomes 'a stone of stumbling and a rock of +offence.' You must either build upon Christ or fall over Him; you must +either build _upon_ Christ, or be crushed to powder _under_ Him. Make +your choice! The twofold effect is wrought ever, but we can choose +which of the two shall be wrought upon us. + +Lastly, we have here the twofold sphere in which our Lord's mighty +death works its effects. + +I have already said that this Gospel was written after the fall of +Jerusalem. The whole tone of it shows that the conception of the Church +as quite separate from Judaism was firmly established. The narrower +national system had been shivered, 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 world. The Temple on Zion—which was but a small building +after all—had been burned with fire. It was _their_ place, as Caiaphas +called it. But the clearing away of the narrower edifice had revealed +the rising walls of the great temple, the Christian Church, whose roof +overarches every land, and in whose courts all men may stand and praise +the Lord. So John, in his home in Ephesus, surrounded by flourishing +churches in which Jews formed a small and ever-decreasing element, +recognised how far the dove with the olive-branch In its mouth flew, +and how certainly that nation was only a little fragment of the many +for whom Christ died. + +'The children of God that were scattered abroad' were all to be united +round that Cross. Yes! the only thing that unites men together is their +common relation to a Divine Redeemer. That bond is deeper than all +national bonds, than all blood-bonds, than community of race, than +family, than friendship, than social ties, than community of opinion, +than community of purpose and action. It is destined to absorb them +all. All these are transitory and they are imperfect; men wander +isolated notwithstanding them all. But if we are knit to Christ, we are +knit to all who are also knit to Him. One life animates all the limbs, +and one life's blood circulates through all the veins. 'So also is +Christ.' We are one in Him, in whom all the body fitly joined together +maketh increase, and in whom all the building fitly framed together +groweth. If we have yielded to the power of that Cross which draws us +to itself, we shall have been more utterly alone, in our penitence and +in our conscious surrender to Christ, than ever we were before. But He +sets the solitary in families, 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 solitary, but 'fellow-citizens with the +saints and of the household of God.' + +That death brings men into the _family_ of God. He will 'gather into +one the scattered children of God.' They are called children by +anticipation. 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 humanity, except in the inferior sense of being made by Him, and +in His image as creatures with spirit and will, but _become_ children +of God through faith in the Son of God, which brings about that new +birth, whereby we become partakers of the Divine nature. 'To as many as +received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to +them that believe on His name.' + +So I beseech you, turn yourselves to that dear Christ who has died for +us all, for us each, for me and for thee, and put your confidence in +His great sacrifice. You will find that you pass from isolation into +society, from death into life, from the death of selfishness into the +life of God. Listen to Him, who says: 'Other sheep I have which are not +of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice: and +there shall be one flock' because there is 'one Shepherd.' + + + + +LOVE'S PRODIGALITY CENSURED AND VINDICATED + + +'Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where +Lazarus was which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead. There +they made Him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them +that sat at the table with Him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of +spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His +feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the +ointment. Then saith one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, +which should betray Him, Why was not this ointment sold for three +hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared +for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare +what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day +of My burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; +but Me ye have not always. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that +He was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they +might see Lazarus also, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief +priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because +that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on +Jesus.'—JOHN xii. 1-11. + +Jesus came from Jericho, where He had left Zacchaeus rejoicing in the +salvation that had come to his house, and whence Bartimaeus, rejoicing +in His new power of vision, seems to have followed Him. A few hours +brought Him to Bethany, and we know from other Evangelists what a +tension of purpose marked Him, and awed the disciples, as He pressed on +before them up the rocky way. His mind was full of the struggle and +death which were so near. The modest village feast in the house of +Simon the leper comes in strangely amid the gathering gloom; but, no +doubt, Jesus accepted it, as He did everything, and entered into the +spirit of the hour. He would not pain His hosts by self-absorbed +aloofness at the table. The reason for the feast is obviously the +raising of Lazarus, as is suggested by his being twice mentioned in +verses 1 and 2. + +Our Lord had withdrawn to Ephraim so immediately after the miracle that +the opportunity of honouring Him had not occurred. It was a brave +tribute to pay Him in the face of the Sanhedrim's commandment (ch. xi. +57). This incident sets in sharpest contrast the two figures of Mary, +the type of love which delights to give its best, and Judas, the type +of selfishness which is only eager to get; and it shows us Jesus +casting His shield over the uncalculating giver, and putting meaning +into her deed. + +I. In Eastern fashion, the guests seem to have all been males, no doubt +the magnates of the village, and Jesus with His disciples. The former +would have become accustomed to seeing Lazarus, but Christ's immediate +followers would gaze curiously on him. And how he would gaze on Jesus, +whom he had probably not seen since the napkin had been taken from his +face. The two sisters were true to their respective characters. The +bustling, practical Martha had perhaps not very fine or quickly moved +emotions. She could not say graceful things to their benefactor, and +probably she did not care to sit at His feet and drink in His teaching; +but she loved Him with all her heart all the same, and showed it by +serving. No doubt, she took care that the best dishes were carried to +Jesus first, and, no doubt, as is the custom in those lands, she plied +Him with invitations to partake. We do Martha less than justice if we +do not honour her, and recognise that her kind of service is true +service. She has many successors among Christ's true followers, who +cannot 'gush' nor rise to the heights of His loftiest teaching, but who +have taken Him for their Lord, and can, at any rate, do humble, +practical service in kitchen or workshop. Their more 'intellectual' or +poetically emotional brethren are tempted to look down on them, but +Jesus is as ready to defend Martha against Mary, if she depreciates +her, as He is to vindicate Mary's right to her kind of expression of +love, if Martha should seek to force her own kind on her sister. 'There +are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.' + +Mary was one of the unpractical sort, whom Martha is very apt to +consider supremely useless, and often to lose patience with. Could she +not find something useful to do in all the bustle of the feast? Had she +no hands that could carry a dish, and no common sense that could help +things on? Apparently not. Every one else was occupied, and how should +she show the love that welled up in her heart as she looked at Lazarus +sitting there beside Jesus? She had one costly possession, the pound of +perfume. Clearly it was her own, for she would not have taken it if +Lazarus and Mary had been joint owners. So, without thinking of +anything but the great burden of love which she blessedly bore, she +'poured it on His head' (Mark) and on His feet, which the fashion of +reclining at meals made accessible to her, standing behind Him, True +love is profuse, not to say prodigal. It knows no better use for its +best than to lavish it on the beloved, and can have no higher joy than +that. It does not stay to calculate utility as seen by colder eyes. It +has even a subtle delight in the very absence of practical results, for +the expression of itself is the purer thereby. A basin of water and a +towel would have done as well or better for washing Christ's feet, but +not for relieving Mary's full heart. Do we know anything of that +omnipotent impulse? Can we complacently set our givings beside Mary's? + +II. Judas is the foil to Mary. His sullen, black selfishness, +stretching out hands like talons in eagerness to get, makes more +radiant, and is itself made darker by, her shining deed of love. +Goodness always rouses evil to self-assertion, and the other +Evangelists connect Mary's action with Judas's final treachery as part +of its impelling cause. They also show that his specious objection, by +its apparent common sense and charitableness, found assent in the +disciples. Three hundred pence worth of good ointment wasted which +might have helped so many poor! Yes, and how much poorer the world +would have been if it had not had this story! Mary was more utilitarian +than her censors. She served the highest good of all generations by her +uncalculating profusion, by which the poor have gained more than some +few of them might have lost. + +Judas's criticism is still repeated. The world does not understand +Christian self-sacrifice, for ends which seem to it shadowy as compared +with the solid realities of helping material progress or satisfying +material wants. A hundred critics, who do not do much for the poor +themselves, will descant on the waste of money in religious +enterprises, and smile condescendingly at the enthusiasts who are so +unpractical. But love knows its own meaning, and need not be abashed by +the censure of the unloving. + +John flashes out into a moment's indignation at the greed of Judas, +which was masquerading as benevolence. His scathing laying bare of +Judas's mean and thievish motive is no mere suspicion, but he must have +known instances of dishonesty. When a man has gone so far in selfish +greed that he has left common honesty behind him, no wonder if the +sight of utterly self-surrendering love looks to him folly. The world +has no instruments by which it can measure the elevation of the godly +life. Mary would not be Mary if Judas approved of her or understood +her. + +III. Jesus vindicates the act of His censured servant. His words fall +into two parts, of which the former puts a meaning into Mary's act, of +which she probably had not been aware, while the latter meets the +carping criticism of Judas. That Jesus should see in the anointing a +reference to His burying, pathetically indicates how that near end +filled His thoughts, even while sharing in the simple feast. 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 +festivity. However weighed upon, His heart was always sufficiently at +leisure from itself to care for His friends and to defend them. He +accepts every offering that love brings, and, in accepting, gives it a +significance beyond the offerer's thought. We know not what use He may +make of our poor service; but we may be sure that, if that which we can +see to is right—namely, its motive,—He will take care of what we cannot +see to—namely, its effect,—and will find noble use for the sacrifices +which unloving critics pronounce useless waste. + +'The poor always ye have with you.' Opportunities for the exercise of +brotherly liberality are ever present, and therefore the obligation to +it is constant. But these permanent duties do not preclude the +opportunities for such special forms of expressing special love to +Jesus as Mary had shown, and as must soon end. The same sense of +approaching separation as in the former clause gives pathos to that +restrained 'not always.' The fact of His being just about to leave them +warranted extraordinary tokens of love, as all loving hearts know but +too well. But, over and above the immediate reference of the words, +they carry the wider lesson that, besides the customary duties of +generous giving laid on us by the presence of ordinary poverty and +distresses, there is room in Christian experience for extraordinary +outflows from the fountain of a heart filled with love to Christ. The +world may mock at it as useless prodigality, but Jesus sees that it is +done for Him, and therefore He accepts it, and breathes meaning into +it. + +'Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there +shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of +her.' The Evangelist who records that promise does not mention Mary's +name; John, who does mention the name, does not record the promise. It +matters little whether our names are remembered, so long as Jesus beam +them graven on His heart. + + + + +A NEW KIND OF KING + + +'On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they +heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, +and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of +Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when He had +found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of +Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. These things +understood not His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was +glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of Him, +and that they had done these things unto Him. The people therefore that +was with Him when He called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him +from the dead, bare record. For this cause the people also met Him, for +that they heard that He had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore +said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing! behold, the +world is gone after Him. And there were certain Greeks among them that +came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, +which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we +would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and +Philip tell Jesus, and Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, +that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto +you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth +alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his +life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall +keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and +where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him +will My Father honour.'—JOHN xii. 12-26. + +The difference between John's account of the entry into Jerusalem and +those of the Synoptic Gospels is very characteristic. His is much +briefer, but it brings the essentials out clearly, and is particular in +showing its place as a link in the chain that drew on the final +catastrophe, and in noting its effect on various classes. + +'The next day' in verse 12 was probably the Sunday before the +crucifixion. To understand the events of that day we must try to +realise how rapidly, and, as the rulers thought, dangerously, +excitement was rising among the crowds who had come up for the +Passover, and who had heard of the raising of Lazarus. The Passover was +always a time when national feeling was ready to blaze up, and any +spark might light the fire. It looked as if Lazarus were going to be +the match this time, and so, on the Saturday, the rulers had made up +their minds to have him put out of the way in order to stop the current +that was setting in, of acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. + +They had already made up their minds to dispose of Jesus, and now, with +cynical contempt for justice, they determined to 'put Lazarus also to +death.' So there were to be two men who were to 'die for the people.' +Keeping all this wave of popular feeling in view, it might have been +expected that Jesus would, as hitherto, have escaped into privacy, or +discouraged the offered homage of a crowd whose Messianic ideal was so +different from His. + +John is mainly concerned in bringing out two points in his version of +the incident. First, he tells us what we should not have gathered from +the other Evangelists, that the triumphal procession began in +Jerusalem, not in Bethany. It was the direct result of the ebullition +of enthusiasm occasioned by the raising of Lazarus. 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 him, 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 day, and +that then the procession to meet Him was organised. + +The meaning of the popular demonstration was plain, both from the palm +branches, signs of victory and rejoicing, and from the chant, which is +in part taken from Psalm cxviii. The Messianic application of that +quotation is made unmistakable by the addition, 'even the King of +Israel.' In the Psalm, 'he that cometh in the name of Jehovah,' means +the worshipper drawing near to the Temple, but the added words divert +the expression to Jesus, hail Him as the King, and invoke Him as +'Saviour.' Little did that shouting crowd understand what sort of a +Saviour He was. Deliverance from Rome was what they were thinking of. + +We must remember what gross, unspiritual notions of the Messiah they +had, and then we are prepared to feel how strangely unlike His whole +past conduct Jesus' action now was. He had shrunk from crowds and their +impure enthusiasm; He had slipped away into solitude when they wished +to come by force to make Him a King, and had in every possible way +sought to avoid publicity and the rousing of popular excitement. Now He +deliberately sets Himself to intensify it. His choice of an ass on +which to ride into Jerusalem was, and would be seen by many to be, a +plain appropriation to Himself of a very distinct Messianic prophecy, +and must have raised the heat of the crowd by many degrees. One can +fancy the roar of acclaim which hailed Him when He met the multitude, +and the wild emotion with which they strewed His path with garments +hastily drawn off and cast before Him. + +Why did He thus contradict all His past, and court the smoky enthusiasm +which He had hitherto damped? Because He knew that 'His hour' had come, +and that the Cross was at hand, and He desired to bring it as speedily +as might be, and thus to shorten the suffering that He would not avoid, +and to finish the work which He was eager to complete. The impatience, +as we might almost call it, which had marked Him on all that last +journey, reached its height now, 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 us. + +But even while Jesus accepted the acclamations and deliberately set +Himself to stir up enthusiasm, He sought to purify the gross ideas of +the crowd. 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 ideal, than that choosing of the +meek, slow-pacing ass to bear Him? A conquering king would have made +his triumphal entry in a chariot or on a battle-horse. This strange +type of monarch is throned on an ass. It was not only for a verbal +fulfilment of the prophecy, but for a demonstration of the essential +nature of His kingdom, that He thus entered the city. + +John characteristically takes note of the effects of the entry on two +classes, the disciples and the rulers. The former remembered with a +sudden flash of enlightenment the meaning of the entry when the Cross +and the Resurrection had taught them it. The rulers marked the popular +feeling running high with bewilderment, and were, as Jesus meant them +to be, made more determined to take vigorous measures to stop this +madness of the mob. + +The second incident in this passage contrasts remarkably with the +first, and yet is, in one aspect, a continuation of it. In the former, +Jesus brought into prominence the true nature of His rule by His +choosing the ass to carry Him, so declaring that His dominion rested, +not on conquest, but on meekness. In the latter, He reveals a yet +deeper aspect of His work, and teaches that His influence over men is +won by utter self-sacrifice, and that His subjects must tread the same +path of losing their lives by which He passes to His glory. The details +of the incident are of small importance as compared with that great and +solemn lesson; but we may note them in a few words. The desire of a few +Greeks to see Him was probably only a reflection of the popular +enthusiasm, and was prompted mainly by curiosity and the characteristic +Greek eagerness to see any 'new thing.' The addressing of the request +to Philip is perhaps explained by the fact that he 'was of Bethsaida of +Galilee,' and had probably come into contact with these Greeks in the +neighbouring Decapolis, on the other side of the lake. Philip's +consultation of his fellow-townsman, Andrew, who is associated with him +in other places, probably implies hesitation in granting so +unprecedented a request. They did not know what Jesus might say to it. +And what He did say was very unlike anything that they could have +anticipated. + +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 Gentiles, the 'much fruit' of which He immediately +speaks, the 'other sheep' whom He 'must bring.' The thought must have +been ever present to Him, or it would never have leaped to utterance on +such an occasion. The little window shows us, too, what was habitually +in His mind and heart. He, as it were, hears the striking of the hour +of His glorification; in which expression the ideas of His being +glorified by drawing men to the knowledge of His love, and of the Cross +being not the lowest depth of His humiliation, but the highest apex of +His glory—as it is always represented in this Gospel—seemed to be fused +together. + +The seed must die if a harvest is to spring from it. That is the law +for all moral and spiritual reformations. Every cause must have its +martyrs. No man can be fruit-bearing unless he sacrifices himself. We +shall not 'quicken' our fellows unless we 'die,' either literally or by +the not less real martyrdom of rigid self-crucifixion and suppression. + +But that necessity is not only for Apostles or missionaries of great +causes; it is the condition of all true, noble life, and prescribes the +path not only for those who would live for others, but for all who +would truly live their own lives. Self-renunciation guards the way to +the 'tree of life.' That lesson was specially needed by 'Greeks,' for +ignorance of it was the worm that gnawed the blossoms of their trees, +whether of art or of literature. It is no less needed by our sensuously +luxurious and eagerly acquisitive generation. The world's war-cries +to-day are two—'Get!' 'Enjoy!' Christ's command is, 'Renounce!' And in +renouncing we shall realise both of these other aims, which they who +pursue them only, never attain. + +Christ's servant must be Christ's follower: indeed service is +following. The Cross has aspects in which it stands alone, and is +incapable of being reproduced and makes all repetition needless. But it +has also an aspect in which it not only _may_, but _must_, be +reproduced in every disciple. And he who takes it for the ground of his +trust only, and not as the pattern of his life, has need to ask himself +whether his trust in it is genuine or worth anything. Of course they +who follow a leader will arrive where the leader has gone, and though +our feet are feeble and our progress devious and slow, we have here His +promise that we shall not be lost in the desert, but, sustained by Him, +will reach His side, and at last be where He is. + + + + +AFTER CHRIST: WITH CHRIST + + +'If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall +also My servant be.'—John xii. 26. + +Our Lord was strangely moved by the apparently trivial incident of +certain Greeks desiring to see Him. He recognised and hailed in them +the first-fruits of the Gentiles. The Eastern sages at His cradle, and +these representatives of Western culture within a few hours of the +Cross, were alike prophets. So, in His answer to their request, our +Lord passes beyond the immediate bearing of the request, and +contemplates it in its relation to the future developments of His work. +And the thought that the Son of Man is now about to begin to be +glorified, at once brings Him face to face with the fact which must +precede the glory, viz., His death. + +That great law that a higher life can only be reached by the decay of +the lower, of which the Cross is the great instance, He illustrates, +first, by an example from Nature, the corn of wheat which must die ere +it brings forth fruit. Then He declares that this is a universal law, +'He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in +this world shall keep it unto life eternal.' And then He declares that +this universal law, which has its adumbration in Nature, and applies to +all mankind, and is manifested in its highest form on the Cross, is the +law of the Christian discipleship. 'If any man serve Me, let him follow +Me,' and, as a consequence, 'where I am, there shall also My servant +be.' + +In two clauses He covers the whole ground of the present and the +future. 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 application. 'Follow Nature,' said ancient sages, +attaching a nobler meaning to the condensed commandment than its modern +repeaters often do; 'Follow duty,' say others; 'Follow _Me_' says +Christ. That is enough for life. And for all the dim regions beyond, +this prospect is sufficient, 'Where I am, there shall also My servant +be.' One Form towers above the present and the future, and they both +derive their colouring and their worth from Him and our relation to +Him. 'To follow'—that is the condensed summary of life's duty. 'To be +with'—that is the crystallising of all our hopes. + +I. The all-sufficient law for life. + +'If any man serve Me, let him follow Me.' Everything is smelted down +into that; and there you have a sufficient directory for every man's +every action. + +Now although it has nothing to do with my present purpose, I can +scarcely avoid pausing, just for a moment, to ask you to consider the +perfect uniqueness of such an utterance as that. Think of one Man +standing up before all mankind, and coolly and deliberately saying to +them, 'I am the realised Ideal of human conduct; I am Incarnate +Perfection; and all of you, in all the infinite variety of condition, +culture, and character, are to take Me for your pattern and your +guide.' The world has listened, and the world has not laughed nor been +angry. Neither indignation nor mockery, which one might have expected +would have extinguished such absurdity, has waited upon Christ's +utterance. I have no time to dwell on this; it is apart from my +purpose, but I would ask you fairly to consider how strange it is, and +to ask how it is to be accounted for, that a Man said that, and that +the wisest part of the world has consented to take Him at His own +valuation; and after such an utterance as that, yet calls Him 'meek and +lowly of heart.' + +But I pass away from that. What does He mean by this commandment, +'Follow Me'? Of course I need not remind you that it brings all duty +down to the imitation of Jesus Christ. That is a commonplace that I do +not need to dwell upon, nor to follow out into the many regions into +which it would lead us, and where we might find fruitful subjects of +contemplation; because I desire, in a sentence or two, to insist upon +the special form of following which is here enjoined. It is a very +grand thing to talk about the imitation of Christ, and even in its most +superficial acceptation it is a good guide for all men. 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 Pattern, and that is in regard to the very +thing in which we think that He is most unique and inimitable. It is +His Cross, and not His life; it is His death, and not His virtues, +which He is here thinking about, and laying it upon all of us as the +encyclopaedia and sum of all morality that we should be conformed to +it. I have already pointed out to you in my introductory remarks the +force of the present context. And so I need not further enlarge upon +that, nor vindicate my declaration that Christ's death is the pattern +which is here set before us. Of course we cannot imitate that in its +effects, except in a very secondary and figurative fashion. But the +spirit that underlay it, as the supreme Example of self-sacrifice, is +commended to us all as the royal law for our lives, and unless we are +conformed thereto we have no right to call ourselves Christ's +disciples. To die for the sake of higher life, to give up our own will +utterly in obedience to God, and in the unselfish desire to help and +bless others, that is the _Alpha_ and the _Omega_ of discipleship. It +always has been so and always will be so. And so, dear brethren, let us +lay it to our own hearts, and make very stringent inquiry into our own +conduct, whether we have ever come within sight of what makes a true +disciple—viz., that we should be 'conformable unto His death.' + +Now our modern theology has far too much obscured this plain teaching +of the New Testament, because it has been concerned—I do not say too +much, but too exclusively, concerned—in setting forth the other aspect +of Christ's death, by which it is what none of ours can ever even begin +to be, the sacrifice for a world's sin. But, mind, there are two ways +of looking at Christ's Cross. You must begin with recognising it as the +basis of all your hope, the power by which you are delivered from sin +as guilt, habit, and condemnation. And then you must take it, if it is +to be the sacrifice and atonement for your sins, for the example of +your lives, and mould yourselves after it. 'If any man serve Me, let +him follow Me,' and here is the special region in which the following +is to be realised: 'He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that +hateth his life shall keep it unto life eternal.' + +Now, further, let me remind you that this brief, crystallised +commandment, the essence of all practical godliness and Christianity, +makes the blessed peculiarity of Christian morality. People ask what it +is that distinguishes the teaching of the New Testament in regard to +duty, from the teaching of lofty moralists and sages of old. Not the +specific precepts, though these are, in many cases, deeper. Not the +individual commandments, though the perspective of human excellences +and virtues has been changed in Christianity, and the gentler and +sweeter graces have been enthroned in the place where the world's +morality has generally set the more ostentatious ones; the hero is, +roughly speaking, the world's type, the saint is the New Testament's. +But the true characteristic of Christian teaching as to conduct lies in +this, that the law is in a Person, and that the power to obey the law +comes from the love of the Person. All things are different; unwelcome +duties are made less repulsive, and hard tasks are lightened, and +sorrows are made tolerable, if only we are following Him. You remember +the old story in Scottish history of the knight to whom was entrusted +the king's heart; how, beset by the bands of the infidels, he tossed +the golden casket into the thickest of their ranks and said, 'Go on, I +follow thee'; and death itself was light when that thought spurred his +steed forward. + +And so, brethren, it is far too hard a task to tread the road of duty +which our consciences command us, unless we are drawn by Him Who is +before us there on the road, and see the shining of His garments as He +sets His face forward, and draws us after Him. It is easy to climb a +glacier when the guide has cut with his ice-axe the steps in which he +sets his feet, and we may set ours. The sternness of duty, and the +rigidity of law, and the coldness of 'I ought,' are all changed when +duty consists in following Christ, and He is before us on the rocky and +narrow road. + +This precept is all-sufficient. Of course it will be a task of wisdom, +of common sense, of daily culture in prudence and other graces; to +apply the generalised precept to the specific cases that emerge in our +lives. But whilst the application may require a great many subordinate +by-laws, the royal statute is one, and simple, and enough. 'Follow Me.' +Is it not a strange thing—it seems to me to be a perfectly unique +thing, inexplicable except upon one hypothesis—that a life so brief, of +which the records are so fragmentary, in which some of the +relationships in which we stand had no place, and which was lived out +in a world so utterly different from our own, should yet avail to be a +guide to men, not in regard to specific points, so much as in regard to +the imperial supremacy in it of these motives—Even Christ pleased not +Himself; 'My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me.' + +And so, brethren, take this sharp test and apply it honestly to your +own lives, day by day, in all their _minutiae_ as well as in their +great things. 'If any man _serve_ Me,' how miserably that Christian +'service' has been evacuated of its deepest meaning, and +superficialised and narrowed! 'Service'—that means people getting into +a building and singing and praying. Service—that means acts of +beneficence, teaching and preaching and giving material or spiritual +helps of various kinds. These things have almost monopolised the word. +But Christ enlarges its shrivelled contents once more, and teaches us +that, far above all specifically so-called acts of religious worship, +and more indispensable than so-called acts of Christian activity and +service, lies the self-sacrificing conformity of character to Him. 'If +any man serve Me,' let him sing and praise and pray? Yes; 'If any man +serve Me,' let him try to help other people, and in the service of man +do service to Me? Yes; but deeper than all, and fundamental to the +others, 'If any man serve Me, let him _follow_ Me'—Is that _my_ +discipleship? Let each one of us professing Christians ask himself. + +II. We have here the all-sufficient hope for the future. + +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 +figures. If two men are walking on the same road to a place, the one +that is in front will get there first, and his friend that is coming up +after him will get there second, if he keeps on; and they will be +united at the end, because, one after the other, they travel the road. +And so says Christ: 'Of course, if you follow Me, you will join Me; and +where I am, there shall also My servant be.' The implications of a +Christian life, which is true following of Christ here, necessarily led +to the confidence that in that future there will be union with Him. +That is a deep thought, which might afford material for much to be +said, but on which I cannot dwell now. + +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 +excellence. Is it not even more singular that He should venture to +present His own companionship as the sufficient recompense for every +sorrow, for every effort, for all pain, for all pilgrimage? To be with +Him, He thinks, is enough for any man and enough for all men. Who did +He think Himself to be? What did _He_ suppose His relation to the rest +of us to be, who could thus calmly suggest to the world that the only +thing that a heart needed for blessedness was to be beside Him? And we +believe it, too little as it influences our lives. 'To be with Christ' +is 'very much better'; better than all beneath the stars; better than +all on this side eternity. + +What does our Lord mean by this all-sufficient hope? We know very +little of that dim region beyond, but we know that until He comes again +His departed servants are absent from the body. And, in our sense of +the word, there can be no _place_ for spirits thus free from corporeal +environment. And so place, to-day at all events for the departed +saints, and in a subordinate degree all through eternity, even when +they are clothed with a glorified body, must be but a symbol of state, +of condition, of spiritual character. 'Where I am there shall My +servant be,' means specially '_What I_ am, _that_ shall My servant be.' +This perfect conformity to that dear Lord, whose footsteps we have +followed; assimilation there, which is the issue of imitation here, +though broken and imperfect, this is the hope that may gladden and +animate every Christian heart. + +To be with Him is to be like Him, and therefore to be conscious of His +presence in some fashion so intimate, so certain, as that all our +earthly notions of presence, derived from the juxtaposition of +corporeal frames, are infinite distance as compared with it. That is +what my text dimly shadows for us. We know not how that union, which is +to be as close as is possible while the distinction of personality is +retained, may be accomplished. But this we know, that the coalescence +of two drops of mercury, the running together of two drops of water, +the blending of heart with heart here in love, are distance in +comparison with the complete union of Christ and of the happy soul that +rests in Him, as in an atmosphere and an ocean. Oh, brethren! it is not +a thing to talk about; it is a thing to take to our hearts, and in +silence to be thankful for; 'absent from the body; present with the +Lord.' + +And is that not enough? The ground of it is enough. 'If we believe that +Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will +God bring with Him.' That future companionship is guaranteed to the +Christian man by the words of Incarnate Truth, and by the resurrection +of his Lord. The ground of it is enough, and the contents are +enough—enough for faith; enough for hope; enough for peace; enough for +work; and eminently enough for comfort. + +Ah! there are many other questions that we would fain ask, but to which +there is no reply; but as the good old rough music of one of the +eighteenth-century worthies has it, we have sufficient. + + 'My knowledge of that life is small, + The eye of faith is dim; + But 'tis enough that Christ knows all, + And I shall be with Him.' + +'It is enough for the disciple that he be as' (that is, with) 'his +Master.' So let us take that thought to our hearts and animate +ourselves with it, for it is legitimate for us to do so. That one hope +is sufficient for us all. + +Only let us remember that, according to the teaching of my text, the +companionship that blesses the future is the issue of following Him +now. I know of no magic in death that is able to change the direction +in which a man's face is turned. As he is travelling and has travelled, +so he will travel when he comes through the tunnel, and out into the +brighter light yonder. The line of a railway marked upon a map may stop +at the boundaries of the country with which the map is concerned, but +it is clearly going somewhere, and in the same direction. You want the +other sheet of the map in order to see whither it is going. That is +like your life. The map stops very abruptly, but the line does not +stop. Take an unfinished row of tenements. On the last house there +stick out bricks preparatory to the continuation of the row. And so our +lives are, as it were, studded over with protuberances and preparations +for the attachment thereto of a 'house not made with hands,' and yet +conformed in its architecture to the row that we have built. The man +that follows will attain. For life, the all-sufficient law is, _after +Christ_; for hope, the all-sufficient assurance is, _with Christ_. + + + + +THE UNIVERSAL MAGNET + + +'I, if I be lifted up … will draw all men unto Me.'—JOHN xii. 32. + +'Never man spake like this Man,' said the wondering Temple officials +who were sent to apprehend Jesus. There are many aspects of our Lord's +teaching in which it strikes one as unique; but perhaps none is more +singular than the boundless boldness of His assertions of His +importance to the world. Just think of such sayings as these: 'I am the +Light of the world'; 'I am the Bread of Life'; 'I am the Door'; 'A +greater than Solomon is here'; 'In this place is One greater than the +Temple.' We do not usually attach much importance to men's estimate of +themselves; and gigantic claims such as these are generally met by +incredulity or scorn. But the strange thing about Christ's loftiest +assertions of His world-wide worth and personal sinlessness is that +they provoke no contradiction, and that the world takes Him at His own +valuation. So profound is the impression that He has made, that men +assent when He says, 'I am meek and lowly in heart,' and do not answer +as they would to anybody else, 'If you were, you would never have said +so.' + +Now there is no more startling utterance of this extraordinary +self-consciousness of Jesus Christ than the words that I have used for +my text. They go deep down into the secret of His power. They open a +glimpse into His inmost thoughts about Himself which He very seldom +shows us. And they come to each of us with a very touching and strong +personal appeal as to what we are doing with, and how we individually +are responding to, that universal appeal on which He says that He is +exercising. + +I. So I wish to dwell on these words now, and ask you first to notice +here our Lord's forecasting of the Cross. + +A handful of Greeks had come up to Jerusalem to the Passover, and they +desired to see Jesus, perhaps only because they had heard about Him, +and to gratify some fleeting curiosity; perhaps for some deeper and +more sacred reason. But in that tiny incident our Lord sees the first +green blade coming up above the ground which was the prophet of an +abundant harvest; the first drop of a great abundance of rain. He +recognises that He is beginning to pass out from Israel into the world. +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 established. And he discerns +that, like the corn of wheat that falls into the ground, the condition +of fruitfulness for Him is death. + +Now we are to remember that our Lord here is within a few hours of +Gethsemane, and a few days of the Cross, 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 Israel. So that I build nothing upon +the anticipation of the Cross, which comes out at this stage in our +Lord's history, for any man in His position might have seen, as clearly +as He did, that His path was blocked, and that very near at hand, by +the grim instrument of death. But then remember that this same +expression of my text occurs at a very much earlier period of our +Lord's career, and that if we accept this Gospel of John, at the very +beginning of it He said, 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the +wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up'; and that that +was no mere passing thought is obvious from the fact that midway in His +career, if we accept the testimony of the same Gospel, He used the same +expression to cavilling opponents when He said: 'When ye have lifted up +the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He.' And so at the +beginning, in the middle, and at the end of His career the same idea is +cast into the same words, a witness of the hold that it had upon Him, +and the continual presence of it to His consciousness. + +I do not need to refer here to other illustrations and proofs of the +same thing, only I desire to say, as plainly and strongly as I can, +that modern ideas that Jesus Christ only recognised the necessity of +His death at a late stage of His work, and that like other reformers, +He began with buoyant hope, and thought that He had but to speak and +the world would hear, and, like other reformers, was disenchanted by +degrees, are, in my poor judgment, utterly baseless, and bluntly +contradicted by the Gospel narratives. And so, dear brethren, this is +the image that rises before us, and that ought to appeal to us all very +plainly; a Christ who, 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 it. 'He +came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,' and likewise for +_this_ end, 'to give His life a ransom for the many.' That gracious, +gentle life, full of all charities, and long-suffering, and sweet +goodness, and patience, was not the life of a Man whose heart was at +leisure from all anxiety about Himself, but the life of a Man before +whom there stood, ever grim and distinct away on the horizon, the Cross +and _Himself_ upon it. You all remember a well-known picture that +suggests the 'Shadow of Death,' the shadow of the Cross falling, unseen +by Him, but seen with open eyes of horror by His mother. But the +reality is a far more pathetic one than that; it is this, that He came +on purpose to die. + +But now there is another point suggested by these remarkable words, and +that is that our Lord regarded the Cross of shame as exaltation or +'lifting up.' 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 +raised. That is there, of course, but there is something far deeper and +more wonderful than that in the background, and it is this in part, +that that Cross, to Christ's eyes, bore a double aspect. So far as the +inflicters or the externals of it were concerned, it was ignominy, +shame, agony, the very lowest point of humiliation. But there was +another side to it. What in one aspect is the _nadir_, the lowest point +beneath men's feet, is in another aspect the _zenith_, the very highest +point in the bending heaven above us. So throughout this Gospel, and +very emphatically in the text, we find that we have the complement of +the Pauline view of the Cross, which is, that it was shame and agony. +For our Lord says, 'Now the hour is come when the Son of Man shall be +glorified.' Whether it is glory or shame depends on what it was that +bound Him there. The reason for His enduring it makes it the very +climax and flaming summit of His flaming love. And, therefore, He is +lifted up not merely because the Cross is elevated above the ground on +the little elevation of Calvary, but that Cross is His throne, because +there, in highest and sovereign fashion, are set forth His glories, the +glories of His love, and of the 'grace and truth' of which He was +'full.' + +So let us not forget this double aspect, and whilst we bow before Him +who 'endured the Cross, despising the shame,' let us also try to +understand and to feel what He means when, in the vision of it, He +said, 'the hour is come that the Son of Man shall be glorified.' It was +meant for mockery, but mockery veiled unsuspected truth when they +twined round His pale brows the crown of thorns, thereby setting forth +unconsciously the everlasting truth that sovereignty is won by +suffering; and placed in His unresisting hand the sceptre of reed, +thereby setting forth the deep truth of His kingdom, that dominion is +exercised in gentleness. Mightier than all rods of iron, or sharp +swords which conquerors wield, and more lustrous and splendid than +tiaras of gold glistening with diamonds, are the sceptre of reed in the +hands, and the crown of thorns on the head, of the exalted, because +crucified, Man of Sorrows. + +But there is still another aspect of Christ's vision of His Cross, for +the 'lifting up' on it necessarily draws after it the lifting up to the +dominion of the heavens. And so the Apostle, using a word kindred with +that of my text, but intensifying it by addition, says, 'He became +obedient even unto the death of the Cross, wherefore God also hath +highly lifted Him up.' + +So here we have Christ's own conception of His death, that it was +inevitable, that it was exaltation even in the act of dying, and that +it drew after it, of inevitable necessity, dominion exercised from the +heavens over all the earth. He was lifted up on Calvary, and because He +was lifted up He has carried our manhood into the place of glory, and +sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So much for the first +point to which I would desire to turn your attention. + +II. Now we have here our Lord disclosing the secret of His attractive +power. + +'I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.' That +'if' expresses no doubt, it only sets forth the condition. The Christ +lifted up on the Cross is the Christ that draws men. Now I would have +you notice the fact that our Lord thus unveils, as it were, where His +power to influence individuals and humanity chiefly resides. He speaks +about His death in altogether a different fashion from that of other +men, for He does not merely say, 'If I be lifted up from the earth, +this story of the Cross will draw men,' but He says, 'I will' do it; +and thus contemplates, as I shall have to say in a moment, continuous +personal influence all through the ages. + +Now that is not how other people have to speak about their deaths, for +all other men who have influenced the world for good or for evil, +thinkers and benefactors, and reformers, social and religious, all of +them come under the one law that their death is no part of their +activity, but terminates their work, and that thereafter, with few +exceptions, and for brief periods, their influence is a diminishing +quantity. So one Apostle had to say, 'To abide in the flesh is more +needful for you,' and another had to say, 'I will endeavour that after +my decease ye may keep in mind the things that I have told you'; and +all thinkers and teachers and helpers glide away further and further, +and are wrapped about with thicker and thicker mists of oblivion, and +their influence becomes less and less. + +The best that history can say about any of them is, 'This man, having +served his generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.' But that +other Man who was lifted on the Cross saw no corruption, and the death +which puts a period to all other men's work was planted right in the +centre of His, and was itself part of that work, and was followed by a +new form of it which is to endure for ever. + +The Cross is the magnet of Christianity. Jesus Christ draws men, but it +is by His Cross mainly, and that He felt this profoundly is plain +enough, not only from such utterances as this of my text, but, to go no +further, from the fact that He has asked us to remember only one thing +about Him, and has established that ordinance of the Communion or the +Lord's Supper, which is to remind us always, and to bear witness to the +world, of where is the centre of His work, and the fact which He most +desires that men should keep in mind, not the graciousness of His +words, not their wisdom, not the good deeds that He did, but 'This is +My body broken for you … this cup is the New Testament in My blood.' A +religion which has for its chief rite the symbol of a death, must +enshrine that death in the very heart of the forces to which it trusts +to renew the world, and to bless individual souls. + +If, then, that is true, if Jesus Christ was not all wrong when He spoke +as He did in my text, then the question arises, what is it about His +death that makes it the magnet that will draw all men? Men are drawn by +cords of love. They may be driven by other means, but they are drawn +only by love. 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 seen, or ever can see? No doubt you will think me +very narrow and old-fashioned when I answer the question, with the +profoundest conviction of my own mind, and, I hope, the trust of my own +heart. 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 sins. + +If you do not believe that, will you tell me what claim on your heart +Christ has because He died? Has Socrates any claim on your heart? 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 has, unless, when He died, He died as the Sacrifice for +the sins of the whole world, and for yours and mine? I know all the +pathetic beauty of the story. I know how many men's hearts are moved in +some degree by the life and death of our Lord, who yet would hesitate +to adopt the full-toned utterance which I have now been giving. But I +would beseech you, dear friends, to lay this question seriously to +heart, whether there is any legitimate reason for the reverence, the +love, the worship, which the world is giving to this Galilean young +man, 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 sin. It +may be, it is, a most pathetic and lovely story, but it has not power +to draw all men, unless it deals with that which all men need, and +unless it is the self-surrender of the Son of God for the whole world. + +III. And now, lastly, we have here our Lord anticipating continuous and +universal influence. + +I have already drawn attention to the peculiar fullness of the form of +expression in my text, which, fairly interpreted, does certainly imply +that our Lord at that supreme moment looked forward, as I have already +said, to His death, not as putting a period to His work, but as being +the transition from one form of influence operating upon a very narrow +circle, to another form of influence which would one day flood the +world. I do not need to dwell upon that thought, beyond seeking to +emphasise this truth, that one ought to feel that Jesus Christ has a +living connection now with each of us. It is not merely that the story +of the Cross is left to work its results, but, as I for my part +believe, that the dear Lord, who, before He became Man, was the Light +of the World, and enlightened every man that came into it, after His +death is yet more the Light of the World, and is exercising influence +all over the earth, not only by conscience and the light that is within +us, nor only through the effects of the record of His past, but by the +continuous operations of His Spirit. I do not dwell upon that thought +further than to say that I beseech you to think of Jesus Christ, not as +One who died for our sins only, but as one who lives to-day, and +to-day, in no rhetorical exaggeration but in simple and profound truth, +is ready to help and to bless and to be with every one of us. 'It is +Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the +right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.' + +But, beyond that, mark His confidence of universal influence: 'I _will_ +draw all men.' I need not dwell upon the distinct adaptation of +Christian truth, and of that sacrifice on the Cross, to the needs of +all men. It is the universal remedy, for it goes direct to the +universal epidemic. The thing that men and women want most, the thing +that _you_ want most, is that your relation with God shall be set +right, and that you shall be delivered from the guilt of past sin, from +the exposure to its power in the present and in the future. Whatever +diversities of climate, civilisation, culture, character the world +holds, every man is like every other man in this, that he has 'sinned +and come short of the glory of God.' And it is because Christ's Cross +goes direct to deal with that condition of things that the preaching of +it is a gospel, not for this phase of society or that type of men or +the other stage of culture, but that it is meant for, and is able to +deliver and to bless, every man. + +So, brethren, a universal attraction is raying out from Christ's Cross, +and from Himself to each of us. But that universal attraction can be +resisted. If a man plants his feet firmly and wide apart, and holds on +with both hands to some staple or holdfast, then the drawing cannot +draw. There is the attraction, but he is not attracted. You demagnetise +Christianity, as all history shows, if you strike out the death on the +Cross for a world's sin. What is left is not a magnet, but a bit of +scrap iron. And you can take yourself away from the influence of the +attraction if you will, some of us by active resistance, some of us by +mere negligence, as a cord cast over some slippery body with the +purpose of drawing it, may slip off, and the thing lie there unmoved. + +And so I come to you now, dear friends, with the plain question, What +are you doing in response to Christ's drawing of you? He has died for +you on the Cross; does that not draw? He lives to bless you; does that +not draw? He loves you with love changeless as a God, with love warm +and emotional as a man; does that not draw? He speaks to you, I venture +to say, through my poor words, and says, 'Come unto Me, and I will give +you rest'; does that not draw? We are all in the bog. He stands on firm +ground, and puts out a hand. If you like to clutch it, by the pledge of +the nail-prints on the palm, He will lift you from 'the horrible pit +and the miry clay, and set your feet upon a rock.' God grant that all +of us may say, 'Draw us, and we will run after Thee'! + + + + +THE SON OF MAN + + +'… Who is this Son of Man?'—JOHN xii. 34. + +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 +Man.' And I have selected this instance of its occurrence, rather than +any other, because it brings out a point which is too frequently +overlooked, viz. that the name was an entirely strange and enigmatical +one to the people who heard it. This question of utter bewilderment +distinctly shows us that, and negatives, as it seems to me, the +supposition which is often made, that the name 'Son of Man,' upon the +lips of Jesus Christ, was equivalent to Messiah. Obviously there is no +such significance attached to it by those who put this question. As +obviously, for another reason, the two names do not cover the same +ground; for our Lord sedulously avoided calling Himself the Christ, and +habitually called Himself the Son of Man. + +Now one thing to observe about this name is that it is never found upon +the lips of any but Jesus Christ. No man ever called him the Son of Man +whilst He was upon earth, and only once do we find it applied to Him in +the rest of Scripture, and that is on the occasion on which the first +martyr, Stephen, dying at the foot of the old wall, saw 'the heavens +opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.' Two +other apparent instances of the use of the expression occur, both of +them in the Book of Revelation, both of them quotations from the Old +Testament, and in both the more probable reading gives 'a Son of Man,' +not '_the_ Son of Man.' + +One more preliminary remark and I will pass to the title itself. The +name has been often supposed to be taken from the remarkable prophecy +in the Book of Daniel, of one 'like a son of man,' who receives from +the Ancient of Days an everlasting kingdom which triumphs over those +kingdoms of brute force which the prophet had seen. No doubt there is a +connection between the prophecy and our Lord's use of the name, but it +is to be observed that what the prophet speaks of is not 'the Son,' but +'one _like_ a son of man'; or in other words, 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 Bear, +whose kingdoms go down before him. Of course Christ fulfils that +prediction, and is the 'One like a son of man,' but we cannot say that +the title is derived from the prophecy, in which, strictly speaking, it +does not occur. + +What, then, is the force of this name, as applied to Himself by our +Lord? + +First, we have in it Christ putting out His hand, if I may say so, to +draw us to Himself—identifying Himself with us. Then we have, just as +distinctly, Christ, by the use of this name, in a very real sense +distinguishing Himself from us, and claiming to hold a unique and +solitary relation to mankind. And then we have Christ, by the use of +this name in its connection with the ancient prophecy, pointing us +onward to a wonderful future. + +I. First then, Christ thereby identifies Himself with us. + +The name Son of Man, whatever more it means, declares the historical +fact of His Incarnation, and the reality and genuineness, the +completeness and fullness, of His assumption of humanity. 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 placed, for some +reason or other, upon our Lord's manhood, as, for instance, when He +would bring into view the depth of His humiliation. It is this name +that He uses when He says: 'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air +have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.' The use +of the term there is very significant and profound; He contrasts His +homelessness, not with the homes of men that dwell in palaces, but with +the homes of the inferior creatures. As if He would say, 'Not merely am +I individually homeless and shelterless, but I am so because I am truly +a man, the only creature that builds houses, and the only creature that +has not a home. Foxes have holes, anywhere they can rest, the birds of +the air have,' not as our Bible gives it, 'nests,' but +'roosting-places, any bough will do for them. All living creatures are +at home in this material universe; I, as a Representative of humanity, +wander a pilgrim and a sojourner.' We are all restless and homeless; +the creatures correspond to their environment. We have desires and +longings, wild yearnings, and deep-seated needs, that 'wander through +eternity'; the Son of Man, the representative of manhood, 'hath not +where to lay His head.' + +Then the same expression is employed on occasions when our Lord desires +to emphasise the completeness of His participation in all our +conditions. As, for instance, 'the Son of Man came eating and +drinking,' knowing the ordinary limitations and necessities of +corporeal humanity; having the ordinary dependence upon external +things; nor unwilling to taste, with pure and thankful lip, whatever +gladness may be found in man's path through the supply of natural +appetites. + +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 sin, and the whole burden of man's guilt, +and the whole tragicalness of the penalties thereof, as in the familiar +passages, so numerous that I need only refer to them and need not +attempt to quote them, in which we read of the Son of Man being +'betrayed into the hands of sinners'; or in those words, for instance, +which so marvellously blend the lowliness of the Man and the lofty +consciousness of the mysterious relation which He bears to the whole +world; 'The Son of Man came, not to be ministered unto, but to +minister, and to give His life a ransom for the many.' + +Now if we gather all these instances together (and they are only +specimens culled almost at random), and meditate for a moment on the +Name as illuminated by such words as these, they suggest to us, first, +how truly and how blessedly He is 'bone of our bone, and flesh of our +flesh.' All our human joys were His. He knew all human sorrow. The +ordinary wants of human nature belonged to Him; He hungered, He +thirsted, and was weary; He ate and drank and slept. The ordinary wants +of the human heart He knew; He was hurt by hatred, stung by +ingratitude, yearned for love; His spirit expanded amongst friends, and +was pained when they fell away. He fought and toiled, and sorrowed and +enjoyed. He had to pray, to trust, and to weep. He was a Son of Man, a +true man among men. His life was brief; we have but fragmentary records +of it for three short years. In outward form it covers but a narrow +area of human experience, and large tracts of human life seem to be +unrepresented in it. Yet all ages and classes of men, in all +circumstances, however unlike those of the peasant Rabbi who died when +he was just entering mature manhood, may feel that this man comes +closer to them than all beside. Whether for stimulus for duty, or for +grace and patience in sorrow, or for restraint in enjoyment, or for the +hallowing of all circumstances and all tasks, the presence and example +of the Son of Man are sufficient. Wherever we go, we may track His +footsteps by the drops of His blood upon the sharp flints that we have +to tread. In all narrow passes, where the briars tear the wool of the +flock, we may see, left there on the thorns, what they rent from the +pure fleece of the Lamb of God that went before. The Son of Man is our +Brother and our Example. + +And is it not beautiful, 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 Him, that this name, which emphasises humiliation and +weakness and the likeness to ourselves, should be the name that is +always upon His lips? Just as, if I may compare great things with +small, some teacher or philanthropist, that went away from civilised +into savage life, might leave behind him the name by which he was known +in Europe, and adopt some barbarous designation that was significant in +the language of the savage tribe to whom he was sent, and say to them: +'That is my name now, call me by that,' so this great Leader of our +souls, who has landed upon our coasts with His hands full of blessings, +His heart full of love, has taken a name that makes Him one of +ourselves, and is never wearied of speaking to our hearts, and telling +us that it is that by which He chooses to be known. It is a touch of +the same infinite condescension which prompted His coming, that makes +Him choose as His favourite and habitual designation the name of +weakness and identification, the name 'Son of Man.' + +II. But now turn to what is equally distinct and clear in this title. +Here we have our Lord distinguishing Himself from us, and plainly +claiming a unique relationship to the whole world. + +Just fancy how absurd it would be for one of us to be perpetually +insisting on the fact that he was a man, to be taking that as his +continual description of himself, and pressing it upon people's +attention as if there was something strange about it. The idea is +preposterous; and the very frequency and emphasis with which the name +comes from our Lord's lips, lead one to suspect that there is something +lying behind it more than appears on the surface. That impression is +confirmed and made a conviction, if you mark the article which is +prefixed, _the_ Son of Man. A Son of man is a very different idea. When +He says '_the_ Son of Man' He seems to declare that in Himself there +are gathered up all the qualities that constitute humanity; that He is, +to use modern language, the realised Ideal of manhood, the typical Man, +in whom is everything that belongs to manhood, and who stands forth as +complete and perfect. Appropriately, then, the name is continually used +with suggestions of authority and dignity contrasting with those of +humiliation. 'The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath,' 'The Son of Man +hath power on earth to forgive sins' and the like. So that you cannot +get away from this, that this Man whom the whole world has conspired to +profess to admire for His gentleness, and His meekness, and His +lowliness, and His religious sanity, stood forward and said: 'I am +complete and perfect, and everything that belongs to manhood you will +find in Me.' + +And it is very significant in this connection that the designation +occurs more frequently in the first three Gospels than in the fourth; +which is alleged to present higher notions of the nature and +personality of Jesus Christ than are found in the other three. There +are more instances in Matthew's Gospel in which our Lord calls Himself +the Son of Man, with all the implication of uniqueness and completeness +which that name carries; there are more even in the Gospel of the +Servant, the Gospel according to Mark, than in the Gospel of the Word +of God, the Gospel according to John. And so I think we are entitled to +say that by this name, which the testimony of all our four Gospels +makes it certain, even to the most suspicious reader, that Christ +applied to Himself, He declared His humanity, His absolutely perfect +and complete humanity. + +In substance He is claiming the same thing for Himself that Paul +claimed for Him when he called Him 'the second Adam.' There have been +two men in the world, says Paul, the fallen Adam, with his infantile +and undeveloped perfections, and the Christ, with His full and complete +humanity. All other men are fragments, He is the 'entire and perfect +chrysolite.' As one of our epigrammatic seventeenth-century divines has +it, 'Aristotle is but the rubbish of an Adam,' and Adam is but the dim +outline sketch of a Jesus. Between these two there has been none. The +one Man as God meant him, the type of man, the perfect humanity, the +realised ideal, the home of all the powers of manhood, is He who +Himself claimed that place for Himself, and stepped into it with the +strange words upon His lips, 'I am meek and lowly of heart.' + +'Who is this Son of Man?' Ah, brethren! 'who can bring a clean thing +out of an unclean? Not one.' A perfect Son of Man, born of a woman, +'bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,' must be more than a Son of +Man. 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'; which made Pilate wash his hands 'of the +blood of this just person'; which stopped the mouths of the adversaries +when He challenged them to convince Him of sin, and which all the world +ever since has recognised and honoured, ought surely to lead us to ask +the question, 'Who is this Son of Man?' and to answer it, as I pray we +all may answer it, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!' + +This fact of His absolute completeness invests His work with an +altogether unique relationship to the rest of mankind. 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—as, for instance, 'The Son of Man came to +give His life a ransom for the many'; 'Ye shall see the heavens opened, +and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.' He +is what the ladder was in the vision to the patriarch, with his head +upon the stone and the Syrian sky over him—the Medium of all +communication between earth and heaven. And that ladder which joins +heaven to earth, and brings all angels down on the solitary watchers, +comes straight down, as the sunbeams do, to every man wherever he is. +Each of us sees the shortest line from his own standing-place to the +central light, and its beams come straight to the apple of each man's +eye. So because Christ is more than a man, because He is _the_ Man, His +blessings come to each of us direct and straight, as if they had been +launched from the throne with a purpose and a message to us alone. Thus +He who is in Himself perfect manhood touches all men, and all men touch +Him, and the Son of Man, whom God hath sealed, will give to every one +of us the bread from heaven. The unique relationship which brings Him +into connection with every soul of man upon earth, and makes Him the +Saviour, Helper, and Friend of us all, is expressed when He calls +Himself the Son of Man. + +III. And now one last word in regard to the predictive character of +this designation. + +Even if we cannot regard it as being actually a quotation of the +prophecy in the Book of Daniel, there is an evident allusion to that +prophecy, and to the whole circle of ideas presented by it, of an +everlasting dominion, which shall destroy all antagonistic power, and +of a solemn coming for judgment of One like a Son of Man. + +We find, then, the name occurring on our Lord's lips very frequently in +that class of passages with which we are so familiar, and which are so +numerous that I need not quote them to you; in which He speaks of the +second coming of the Son of Man; as, for instance, that one which +connects itself most distinctly with the Book of Daniel, the words of +high solemn import before the tribunal of the High Priest. 'Hereafter +shall ye see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and +coming in the glories of heaven'; or as when He says, 'He hath given +Him authority to execute judgment also because He is the Son of Man'; +or as when the proto-martyr, with his last words, declared in sudden +burst of surprise and thrill of gladness, 'I see the heavens opened, +and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.' + +Two thoughts are all that I can touch on here. The name carries with it +a blessed message of the present activity and perpetual manhood of the +risen Lord. Stephen does not see Him as all the rest of Scripture +paints Him, _sitting_ at the right hand of God, but _standing_ there. +The emblem of His sitting at the right hand of God represents +triumphant calmness in the undisturbed confidence of victory. It +declares the completeness of the work that He has done upon earth, 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 died. But the dying martyr sees him _standing_, +as if He had sprung to His feet in response to the cry of faith from +the first of the long train of sufferers. It is as if the Emperor upon +His seat, looking down upon the arena where the gladiators are +contending to the death, could not sit quiet amongst the flashing axes +of the lictors and the purple curtains of His throne, and see their +death-struggles, but must spring to His feet to help them, or at least +bend down with the look and with the reality of sympathy. So Christ, +the Son of Man, bearing His manhood with Him, + + 'Still bends on earth a Brother's eye,' + +and is the ever-present Helper of all struggling souls that put their +trust in Him. + +Then as to the other and main thought here in view—the second coming of +that perfect Manhood to be our Judge. It is too solemn a subject for +human lips to say much about. It has been vulgarised, and the power +taken out of it by many well-meant attempts to impress it upon men's +hearts. But that coming is _certain_. That manhood could not end its +relationship to us with the Cross, nor yet with the slow, solemn, +upward progress which bore Him, pouring down blessings, up into the +same bright cloud that had dwelt between the cherubim and had received +Him into its mysterious recesses at the Transfiguration. That He should +come again is the only possible completion of His work. + +That Judge is our Brother. So in the deepest sense we are tried by our +Peer. Man's knowledge at its highest cannot tell the moral desert of +anything that any man does. You may judge action, you may sentence for +breaches of law, you may declare a man clear of any blame for such, but +for any one to read the secrets of another heart is beyond human power; +and if He that is the Judge were only a man there would be wild work, +and many a blunder in the sentences that were given. But when we think +that it is the Son of Man that is our Judge, then we know that the +Omniscience of divinity, that ponders the hearts and reads the motives, +will be all blended with the tenderness and sympathy of humanity; that +we shall be judged by One who knows all our frame, not only with the +knowledge of a Maker, if I may so say, as from outside, but with the +knowledge of a possessor, as from within; that we shall be judged by +One who has fought and conquered in all temptations; and most blessed +of all, 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 throne. + +So, brethren, in that one mighty Name all the past, present, and future +are gathered and blended together. In the past His Cross fills the +retrospect: for the future there rises up, white and solemn, His +judgment throne. 'The Son of Man _is_ come to give His life a ransom +for the many'; that is the centre point of all history. The Son of Man +_shall_ come to judge the world; that is the one thought that fills the +future. Let us lay hold by true faith on the mighty work which He has +done on the Cross, then we shall rejoice to see our Brother on the +throne, when the 'judgment is set and the books are opened.' Oh, +friends, cleave to Him ever in trust and love, in communion and +imitation, in obedience and confession, that ye may be accounted worthy +'to stand before the Son of Man' in that day! + + + + +A PARTING WARNING + + +'Jesus therefore said unto them, Yet a little while is the light among +you. Walk while ye have the light, that darkness overtake you not: and +he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye +have the light, believe on the light, that ye may become sons of +light.'—JOHN xii. 35,36 (R.V.). + +These are the last words of our Lord's public ministry. He afterwards +spoke only to His followers in the sweet seclusion of the sympathetic +home at Bethany, and amid the sanctities of the upper chamber. 'Yet a +little while am I with you';—the sun had all but set. Two days more, +and the Cross was reared on Calvary, but there was yet time to turn to +the light. And so His divine charity 'hoped all things,' and continued +to plead with those who had so long rejected Him. As befits a last +appeal, the words unveil the heart of Christ. They are solemn with +warning, radiant with promise, almost beseeching in their earnestness. +He loves too well not to warn, but He will not leave the bitterness of +threatening as a last savour on the palate, and so the lips, into which +grace is poured, bade farewell to His enemies with the promise and the +hope that even they may become 'the sons of light.' + +The solemnity of the occasion, then, gives great force to the words; +and the remembrance of it sets us on the right track for estimating +their significance. Let us see what lessons for us there may be in +Christ's last words to the world. + +I. There is, first, a self-revelation. + +It is no mere grammatical pedantry that draws attention to the fact +that four times in this text does our Lord employ the definite article, +and speak of 'the light.' And that that is no mere accident is obvious +from the fact that, in the last clause of our text, where the general +idea of light is all that is meant to be emphatic, the article is +omitted. 'Yet a little while is _the_ light with you; walk while ye +have _the_ light…. While ye have _the_ light, believe in _the_ light, +that ye may be the children of light.' + +So then, most distinctly here, in His final appeal to the world, He +draws back the curtain, as it were, takes away the shade that had +covered the lamp, and lets one full beam stream out for the last +impression that He leaves. Is it not profoundly significant and +impressive that then, of all times, over and over again, in the compass +of these short verses, this Galilean peasant makes the tremendous +assertion that He is what none other can be, in a solitary and +transcendent sense, _the_ Light of Mankind? Undismayed by universal +rejection, unfaltering in spite of the curling lips of incredulity and +scorn, unbroken by the near approach of certain martyrdom, He presents +Himself before the world as its Light. Nothing in the history of mad, +fanatical claims to inspiration and divine authority is to be compared +with these assertions of our Lord. He is the fontal Source, He says, of +all illumination; He stands before the whole race, and claims to be +'the Master-Light of all our seeing.' Whatsoever ideas of clearness of +knowledge, of rapture of joy, of whiteness of purity, are symbolised by +that great emblem, He declares that He manifests them all to men. +Others may shine; but they are, as He said, 'lights kindled,' and +therefore 'burning.' Others may shine, but they have caught their +radiance from Him. All teachers, all helpers, all thinkers draw their +inspiration, if they have any, from Him, in whom was life, and the Life +was the Light of men. + +There has been blazing in the heavens of late a new star, that burst +upon astonished astronomers in a void spot; but its brilliancy, though +far transcending that of our sun, soon began to wane, and before long, +apparently, there will be blackness again where there was blackness +before. So all lights but His are temporary as well as derived, and men +'willing for a season to rejoice' in the fleeting splendours, and to +listen to the teacher of a day, lose the illumination of his presence +and guidance of his thoughts as the ages roll on. But _the_ Light is +'not for an age, but for all time.' + +Now, brethren, this is Christ's estimate of Himself. I dwell not on it +for the purpose of seeking to exhaust its depth of significance. In it +there lies the assertion that He, and He only, is the source of all +valid knowledge of the deepest sort concerning God and men, and their +mutual relations. In it lie the assertion that He, and He only, is the +source of all true gladness that may blend with our else darkened +lives, and the further assertion that from Him, and from Him alone, can +flow to us the purity that shall make us pure. We have to turn to that +Man close by His Cross, on whom while He spoke the penumbra of the +eclipse of death was beginning to show itself, and to say to Him what +the Psalmist said of old to the Jehovah whom he knew, and whom we +recognise as indwelling in Jesus: 'With Thee is the fountain of life. +Thou makest us to drink of the river of Thy pleasures. In Thy light +shall we see light.' + +So Christ thought of Himself; so Christ would have as to think of Him. +And it becomes a question for us how, if we refuse to accept that claim +of a solitary, underived, eternal, and universal power of illuminating +mankind, we can save His character for the veneration of the world. We +cannot go picking and choosing amongst the Master's words, and say +'This is historical, and that mythical.' We cannot select some of them, +and leave others on one side. You must take the whole Christ if you +take any Christ. And the whole Christ is He who, within sight of +Calvary, and in the face of all but universal rejection, lifted up His +voice, and, as His valediction to the world, declared, 'I am the Light +of the world.' So He says to us. Oh that we all might cast ourselves +before Him, with the cry, 'Lighten our darkness, O Lord, we beseech +Thee!' + +II. Secondly, we have here a double exhortation. + +'Walk in the light; believe in the light.' These two sum up all our +duties; or rather, unveil for us the whole fullness of the possible +privileges and blessings of which our relation to that light is +capable. It is obvious that the latter of them is the deeper in idea, +and the prior in order of sequence. There must be the 'belief' in the +light before there is the 'walk' in the light. Walking includes the +ideas of external activity and of progress. And so, putting these two +exhortations together, we get the whole of Christianity considered as +subjective. 'Believe in the light; trust in the light,' and then 'walk' +in it. A word, then, about each of these branches of this double +exhortation. + +'Trust in the light.' The figure seems to be dropped at first sight; +for it wants little faith to believe in the sunshine at midday; and +when the light is pouring out, how can a man but see it? But the +apparent incongruity of the metaphor points to something very deep in +regard to the spiritual side. We cannot but believe in the light that +meets the eye when it meets it, but it is possible for a man to blind +himself to the shining of this light. Therefore the exhortation is +needed—'Believe in the light,' for only by believing it can you see it. +Just as the eye is the organ of sight, just as its nerves are sensitive +to the mysterious finger of the beam, 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 sun, and yet falls without hurting, so +faith, the 'inward eye which makes the bliss' of the solitary soul, is +the one organ by which you and I can see the light. 'Seeing is +believing,' says the old proverb. That is true in regard to the +physical. Believing is seeing, is much rather the way to put it in +regard to the spiritual and divine. + +Only as we trust the light do we see the light. Unless you and I put +our confidence in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man, we have +no adequate knowledge of Him and no clear vision of Him. We must know +that we may love; but we must love that we may know. We must believe +that we may see. True, we must see that we may believe, 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 grasped. You +will never know the glory of the light, nor the sweetness with which it +falls upon the gazing eye, until you turn your face to that Master, and +so receive on your susceptible and waiting heart the warmth and the +radiance which He only can bestow. 'Believe in the light.' Trust it; or +rather, trust Him who is it. He cannot deceive. This light from heaven +can never lead astray. Absolutely we may rely upon it; unconditionally +we must follow it. Lean upon Him—to take another metaphor—with all your +weight. His arm is strong to bear the burden of our weaknesses, +sorrows, and, above all, our sins. 'While ye have light, trust the +light.' + +But then that is not enough. Man, with his double relations, must have +an active and external as well as an inward and contemplative life. And +so our Lord, side by side with the exhortation on which I have been +touching, puts the other one, 'Walk in the light.' Our inward emotions, +however deep and precious, however real the affiance, however +whole-hearted the love, are maimed and stunted, and not what the light +requires, unless there follows upon them the activity of the walk. What +do we get the daylight for? To sit and gaze at it? By no means; but +that it may guide us upon our path and help us in all our work. 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 activity. To walk is, of course, the familiar metaphor for +the external life of man, and all our deeds are to be in conformity +with the Light, and in communion with Him. This is the deepest +designation, perhaps, of the true character of a Christian life in its +external aspect—that it walks in Christ, doing nothing but as His light +shines, and ever bearing along with it conscious fellowship with Him +who is thus the guiding and irradiating and gladdening and sanctifying +life of our lives, '_Walk_ in the light as He _is_ in the light.' Our +days fleet and change; His are stable and the same. For, although these +words which I have quoted, in their original application refer to God +the Father, they are no less true about Him who rests at the right hand +of God, and is one light with Him. He _is_ in the light. We may +approximate to that stable and calm radiance, even though our lives are +passed through changing scenes, and effort and struggle are their +characteristics. And oh! how blessed, brother, such a life will be, all +gladdened by the unsetting and unclouded sunshine that even in the +shadiest places shines, and turns the darkness of the valley of the +shadow of death into solemn light; teaching gloom to glow with a hidden +sun! + +But there is not only the idea of activity here, there is the further +notion of progress. Unless Christian people to their faith add work, +and have both their faith and their consequent work in a continual +condition of progress and growth, there is little reason to believe +that they apprehend the light at all. If you trust the light you will +walk in it; and if your days are not in conformity nor in communion +with Him, and are not advancing nearer and nearer to the central blaze, +then it becomes you to ask yourselves whether you have verily seen at +all, or trusted at all, 'the Light of life.' + +III. Thirdly, there is here a warning. + +'Walk whilst ye have the light, lest the darkness come upon you.' That +is the summing up of the whole history of that stiff-necked and +marvellous people. For what has all the history of Israel been since +that day but groping in the wilderness without any pillar of fire? But +there is more than that in it. Christ gives us this one solemn warning +of what falls on us if we turn away from Him. Rejected light is the +parent of the densest darkness, and the man who, having the light, does +not trust it, piles around himself thick clouds of obscurity and gloom, +far more doleful and impenetrable than the twilight that glimmers round +the men who have never known the daylight of revelation. The history of +un-Christian and anti-Christian Christendom is a terrible commentary +upon these words of the Master, and the cries that we hear all round us +to-day from men who will not follow the light of Christ, and moan or +boast that they dwell in agnostic darkness, tell us that, of all the +eclipses that can fall upon heart and mind, there is none so dismal or +thunderously dark as that of the men who, having seen the light of +Christ in the sky, have turned from it and said, 'It is no light, it is +only a mock sun.' Brethren, tempt not that fate. + +And if Christian men and women do not advance in their knowledge and +their conformity, like clouds of darkness will fall upon them. None is +so hopeless as the unprogressive Christian, none so far away as those +who have been brought nigh and have never come any nigher. If you +believe the light, see that you growingly trust and walk in it, else +darkness will come upon you, and you will not know whither you go. + +IV. And lastly, there is here a hope and a promise. + +'That ye may be the sons of light.' + +Faith and obedience turn a man into the likeness of that in which he +trusts. If we trust Jesus we open our hearts to Him; and if we open our +hearts to Him He will come in. If you are in a darkened room, what have +you to do in order to have it filled with glad sunshine? Open the +shutters and pull up the blinds, and the light will do all the rest. If +you trust the light, it will rush in and fill every crevice and cranny +of your hearts. Faith and obedience will mould us, by their natural +effect, into the resemblance of that on which we lean. As one of the +old German mystics said, 'What thou lovest, that thou dost become.' And +it is blessedly true. The same principle makes Christians like Christ, +and makes idolaters like their gods. 'They that make them are like unto +them; so is every one that trusteth in them,' says one of the Psalms. +'They followed after vanity and are become vain,' says the chronicler +of Israel's defections. 'We with unveiled faces beholding'—or +mirroring—'the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.' +Trust the light and you become 'sons of the light.' + +And so, dear friends, all of us may hope that by degrees, as the reward +of faith and of walking, we still may bear the image of the heavenly, +even here on earth. While as yet we only believe in the light, we may +participate in its transforming power, like some far-off planet on the +utmost bounds of some solar system, that receives faint and small +supplies of light and warmth, through a thick atmosphere of vapour, and +across immeasurable spaces. But we have the assurance that we shall be +carried nearer our centre, and then, like the planets that are closer +to the sun than our earth is, we shall feel the fuller power of the +heat, and be saturated with the glory of the light. 'We shall see Him +as He is'; and then we too 'shall blaze forth like the sun in the +kingdom of our Father.' + + + + +THE LOVE OF THE DEPARTING CHRIST + + +'… When Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of +this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the +world, He loved them unto the end.'—JOHN xiii. 1. + +The latter half of St. John's Gospel, which begins with these words, is +the Holy of Holies of the New Testament. Nowhere else do the blended +lights of our Lord's superhuman dignity and human tenderness shine with +such lambent brightness. Nowhere else is His speech at once so simple +and so deep. Nowhere else have we the heart of God so unveiled to us. +On no other page, even of the Bible, have so many eyes, glistening with +tears, looked and had the tears dried. The immortal words which Christ +spoke in that upper chamber are His highest self-revelation in speech, +even as the Cross to which they led up is His most perfect +self-revelation in act. + +To this most sacred part of the New Testament my text is the +introduction. It unveils to us gleams of Christ's heart, and does what +the Evangelists very seldom venture to do, viz. gives us some sort of +analysis of the influences which then determined the flow and the shape +of our Lord's love. + +Many good commentators prefer to read the last words of my text, '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 love. And that seems to me to be by far the +worthier and the nobler meaning, as well as the one which is borne out +by the usual signification of the expression in other Greek authors. It +is much to know that the emotions of these last moments did not +interrupt Christ's love. It is even more to know that in some sense +they perfected it, giving even a greater vitality to its tenderness, +and a more precious sweetness to its manifestations. So understood, the +words explain for us why it was that in the sanctity of the upper +chamber there ensued the marvellous act of the foot-washing, the +marvellous discourses which follow, and the climax of all, that +High-priestly prayer. They give utterance to a love which Christ's +consciousness at that solemn hour tended to shapen and to deepen. + +So, under the Evangelist's guidance, we may venture to gaze at least a +little way into these depths, and with all reverence to try and see +something at all events of the fringe and surface of the love 'which +passeth knowledge.' 'Jesus, knowing that His hour was come, that He +should depart out of the world unto the Father, having loved His own +which were in the world, loved them then unto the uttermost.' + +My object will be best accomplished by simply following the guidance of +the words before us, and asking you to look first at that love as a +love which was not interrupted, but perfected by the prospect of +separation. + +I. It would take us much too far away, however interesting the +contemplation might be, to dwell with any particularity upon our Lord's +consciousness as it is here set forth in that 'He knew that His hour +was come, that He should depart out of the world unto the Father.' But +I can scarcely avoid noticing, though only in a few sentences, the +salient points of that Christ-consciousness as it is set forth here. + +'He knew that His hour was come.' All His life was passed under the +consciousness of a divine necessity laid upon Him, to which He lovingly +and cheerfully yielded Himself. On His lips there are no words more +significant, and few more frequent, than that divine 'I must!' 'It +behoves the Son of Man' to do this, that, and the other—yielding to the +necessity imposed by the Father's will, and sealed by His own loving +resolve to be the Saviour of the world. And in like manner, all through +His life He declares Himself conscious of the hours which mark the +several crises and stages of His mission. They come to Him and He +discerns them. No external power can coerce Him to any act till the +hour come. No external power can hinder Him from the act when it comes. +When the hour strikes He hears the phantom sound of the bell; and, +hearing, He obeys. And thus, at the last and supreme moment, to Him it +dawned unquestionable and irrevocable. How did He meet it? Whilst on +the one hand there was the shrinking of which we have such pathetic +testimony in the broken prayer that He Himself amended—'Father! save Me +from this hour…. Yet for this cause came I unto this hour,'—there is a +strange, triumphant joy, blending with the shrinking, that the decisive +hour is at last come. + +Mark, too, 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 Him, as we know; but +that now He was soon to leave all the world beneath Him and to return +to the Father. + +The terror, the agony, the shame, the mysterious burden of a world's +sins were now to be laid upon Him—all these elements are submerged, as +it were, and become less conspicuous than the one thought of leaving +behind all the limitations, and the humiliations, and the compelled +association with evil which, like a burning brand laid upon a tender +skin, was an hourly and momentary agony to Him, and soaring above them +all, unto His own calm home, His habitation from eternity with the +Father, as He had been before the world was. How strange this blending +of shrinking and of eagerness, of sorrow and of joy, of human trembling +consciousness of impending death, and of triumphant consciousness of +the approach of the hour when the Son of Man, even in His bitterest +agony and deepest humiliation, should, paradoxically, be glorified, and +should 'leave the world to go unto the Father'! + +We cannot enter with any particularity or depth into this marvellous +and unique consciousness, 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 voice, and taking +possession of His heart, as He thought of the impending separation. + +And is that not beautiful? And does it not help us to realise how truly +'bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,' and bearing a heart +thrilling with all innocent human emotions that divine Saviour was? We, +too, have known what it is to feel, because of approaching separation +from dear ones, the need for a tenderer tenderness. At such moments the +masks of use and wont drop away, and we are eager to find some word, to +put our whole souls into some look, our whole strength into one +clinging embrace that may express all our love, and may be a joy to two +hearts for ever after to remember. The Master knew that longing, and +felt the pain of separation; and He, too, yielded to the human impulse +which makes the thought of parting the key to unlock the hidden +chambers of the most jealously guarded heart, and let the shyest of its +emotions come out for once into the daylight. So, 'knowing that His +hour was come, He loved them unto the uttermost.' + +But there is not only in this a wonderful expression of the true +humanity of the Christ, but along with that a suggestion of something +more sacred and deeper still. For surely amidst all the parting scenes +that the world's literature has enshrined, amidst all the examples of +self-oblivion at the last moment, when a martyr has been the comforter +of his weeping friends, there are none that without degradation to this +can be set by the side of this supreme and unique instance of +self-oblivion. Did not Christ, for the sake of that handful of poor +people, first and directly, and for the rest of us afterwards, of +course, secondarily and indirectly, so suppress all the natural +emotions of these last moments as that their absolute absence is unique +and singular, and points onwards to something more, viz. that this Man +who was susceptible of all human affections, and loved us with a love +which is not merely high above our grasp, absolute, perfect, changeless +and divine, but with a love like our own human affection, had also more +than a man's heart to give us, and gave us more, when, that He might +comfort and sustain, He crushed down Himself and went to the Cross with +words of tenderness and consolation and encouragement for others upon +His lips? Knowing all that was lying before Him, He was neither +absorbed nor confounded, but carried a heart at leisure to love even +then 'unto the uttermost.' + +And if the prospect only sharpened and perfected, nor interrupted for +one instant the flow of His love, the reality has no power to do aught +else. In the glory, when He reached it, He poured out the same loving +heart; and to-day He looks down upon us with the same Face that bent +over the table in the upper room, and the same tenderness flows to us. +When John saw his Master next, after His Ascension, amidst the glories +of the vision in his rocky Patmos, though His face was as the sun +shineth in his strength, it was the old face. Though His hand bore the +stars in a cluster, it was the hand that had been pierced with the +nails. Though the breast was girded with the golden girdle of +sovereignty and of priesthood, it was the breast on which John's happy +head had lain; and though the 'Voice was as the sound of many waters,' +it soothed itself to a murmur, gentle as that with which the tideless +sea about him rippled upon the silvery sand when He said, 'Fear not … I +am the First and the Last.' Knowing that He goes to the Father, He +loves to the uttermost, and being with the Father, He still so loves. + +II. And now I must, with somewhat less of detail, dwell upon the other +points which this text brings out for us. 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 past. + +Having loved, He loves. Because He had been a certain thing, therefore +He is and He shall be that same. That is an argument that implies +divinity. About nothing human can we say that because it has been +therefore it shall be. Alas! about much that is human we have to say +the converse, that because it has been, therefore it will cease to be. +And though, blessed be God! 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 ever, yet we cannot with the same +absolute confidence say about one another, even about the dearest, +'Having loved, he loves.' But we can say so about Christ. There is no +exhaustion in that great stream that pours out from His heart; no +diminution in its flow. + +They tell us that the central light of our system, that great sun +itself, pouring out its rays exhausts its warmth, and were it not +continually replenished, must gradually, and even though continually +replenished, will ultimately cease to blaze, and be a dead, cold mass +of ashes. But this central Light, this heart of Christ, which is the +Sun of the World, will endure like the sun, and after the sun is cold, +His love will last for ever. He pours it out and has none the less to +give. There is no bankruptcy in His expenditure, no exhaustion in His +effort, no diminution in His stores. 'Thy mercy endureth for ever'; +'Thou hast loved, therefore Thou wilt love' is an inference for time +and for eternity, on which we may build and rest secure. + +III. Then, still further, we have here this love suggested as being a +love which has special tenderness towards its own. 'Having loved His +own, He loved them to the uttermost.' + +These poor men who, with all their errors, did cleave to Him; who, in +some dim way, understood somewhat of His greatness and His +sweetness—and do you and I do more?—who, with all their sins, yet were +true to Him in the main; who had surrendered very much to follow Him, +and had identified themselves with Him, were they to have no special +place in His heart because in that heart the whole world lay? Is there +any reason why we should be afraid of saying that the universal love of +Jesus Christ, which gathers into His bosom all mankind, does fall with +special tenderness and sweetness upon those who have made Him theirs +and have surrendered themselves to be His? Surely it must be that He +has special nearness to those who love Him; surely it is reasonable +that He should have special delight in those who try to resemble Him; +surely it is only what one might expect of Him that He should in a +special manner honour the drafts, so to speak, of those who have +confidence in Him, and are building their whole lives upon Him. Surely, +because the sun shines down upon dunghills and all impurities, that is +no reason why it should not lie with special brightness on the polished +mirror that reflects its lustre. Surely, because Jesus Christ +loves—Blessed be His name!—the publicans and the harlots and the +outcasts and the sinners, that is no reason why He should not bend with +special tenderness over those who, loving Him, try to serve Him, and +have set their whole hopes upon Him. The rainbow strides across the +sky, but there is a rainbow in every little dewdrop that hangs +glistening on the blades of grass. There is nothing limited, nothing +sectional, nothing narrow in the proclamation of a special tenderness +of Christ towards His own, when you accompany with that truth this +other, that all men are besought by Him to come into that circle of +'His own,' and that only they themselves shut any out therefrom. +Blessed be His name! the whole world dwells in His love, but there is +an inner chamber in which He discovers all His heart to those who find +in that heart their Heaven and their all. 'He came to His own,' in the +wider sense of the word, and 'His own received Him not'; but also, +'having loved His own He loved them unto the end.' There are textures +and lives which can only absorb some of the rays of light in the +spectrum; some that are only capable of taking, so to speak, the violet +rays of judgment and of wrath, and some who open their hearts for the +ruddy brightness at the other end of the line. Do you see to it, +brethren, that you are of that inner circle who receive the whole +Christ into their hearts, and to whom He can unfold the fullness of His +love. + +IV. And, lastly, my text suggests that love of Christ as being made +specially tender by the necessities and the dangers of His friends. 'He +loved His own which were in the world,' and so loving them, 'loved them +to the uttermost.' + +We have, running through these precious discourses which follow my +text, many allusions to the separation which was to ensue, and to His +leaving His followers in circumstances of peculiar peril, defenceless +and solitary. 'I come unto Thee, and am no more in the world,' says He +in the final High-priestly prayer, 'but these are in the world. Holy +Father, keep them through Thine own name.' 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 text, and suggests a +sweet and blessed reason for the special tenderness with which He +looked upon them. As a dying father on his deathbed may yearn over +orphans that he is leaving defenceless, so Christ is here represented +as conscious of an accession even to the tender longings of His heart, +when He thought of the loneliness and the dangers to which His +followers were to be exposed. + +Ah! It seems a harsh contrast between the Emperor, sitting throned +there between the purple curtains, and the poor athletes wrestling in +the arena below. It seems strange to think that a loving Master has +gone up into the mountain, and has left His disciples to toil in rowing +on the stormy sea of life; but the contrast is only apparent. For you +and I, if we love and trust Him, are with Him 'in the heavenly places' +even whilst we toil here, and He is with us, working with us, even +whilst He 'sitteth at the right hand of God.' + +We may be sure of this, brethren, that that love ever increases its +manifestations according to our deepening necessities. The darker the +night the more lustrous the stars. The deeper, the narrower, the +savager, the Alpine gorge, usually the fuller and the swifter the +stream that runs through it. And the more that enemies and fears gather +round about us, the sweeter will be the accents of our Comforter's +voice, and the fuller will be the gifts of tenderness and grace with +which He draws near to us. Our sorrows, dangers, necessities, are doors +through which His love can come nigh. + +So, dear friends, we have had experience of sweet and transient human +love; we have had experience of changeful and ineffectual love; turn +away from them all to this immortal, deep heart of Christ's, welling +over with a love which no change can affect, which no separation can +diminish, which no sin can provoke, which becomes greater and tenderer +as our necessities increase, and ask Him to fill your hearts with that, +that you may 'know the length and breadth and depth and height of that +love which passeth knowledge,' and so 'be filled with all the fullness +of God.' + + + + +THE SERVANT-MASTER + + +'Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and +that He was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and +laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After +that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' +feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.'—JOHN +xiii. 3-5. + +It has been suggested that the dispute as to 'which was the greatest,' +which broke the sanctities of the upper chamber, was connected with the +unwillingness of each of the Apostles to perform the menial office of +washing the feet of his companions. They had come in from Bethany, and +needed the service. But apparently it was omitted, and although we can +scarcely suppose that the transcendent act which is recorded in my text +was performed at the beginning of the meal, yet I think we shall not be +wrong if we see in it a reference to the neglected service. + +The Evangelist who tells us of the dispute, and does not tell us of the +foot-washing, preserves a sentence which finds its true meaning only in +this incident, 'I am among you as He that serveth.' And although John +is the only recorder of this pathetic incident, there are allusions in +other parts of Scripture which seem to hint at it. As, for instance, +when Paul speaks of 'taking upon Him the form of a servant'; and still +more strikingly when Peter employs the remarkable word, which he does +employ in his exhortation, 'Be ye clothed with humility.' For the word +rendered there 'clothed' occurs only in that one place in Scripture, +and means literally the putting on of a slave's costume. One can +scarcely help, then, seeing in these three passages to which I have +referred echoes of this incident which John alone preserves to us. And +so we get at once a hint of the harmony and of the incompleteness of +the Gospel records. + +I. Consider the motives of this act. + +Now that is ground upon which the Evangelists very seldom enter. They +tell us what Christ did, but very rarely do they give us any glimpses +into why He did it. 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 life. How did John find out why Christ did +this deed? Perhaps he who had 'leaned upon His bosom at supper,' and +was evidently very closely associated with Him, may, in some unrecorded +hour of intimate communion during the forty days between the +Resurrection and the Ascension, have heard from the Master the +exposition of His motives. But more probably, I think, the long years +of growing likeness to his Lord, and of meditation upon the depth of +meaning in the smallest events that his faithful memory recalled, +taught him to understand Christ's purpose and motives. 'The secret of +the Lord is with them that fear Him,' and the liker we get to our +Master and the more we are filled with His Spirit, the more easy will +it be for us to divine the purpose and the motives of His actions, +whether as they are recorded in the Scripture or as they come to us in +the experience of daily life. + +But, passing that point, I desire for a moment to fix your attention on +the twofold key to our Lord's action which is given in this context. +There is, first of all, in the first verse of the chapter, a general +exposition of what was uppermost in His mind and heart during the whole +of the period in the upper room. The act in our text, and the wonderful +words which follow in the subsequent chapters, crowned by that great +intercessory prayer, seem to me to be all explained for us by this +first unveiling of His motives. 'When Jesus knew that His hour was come +that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved +His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.' + +And then the words of my text, which apply more specifically to the +single incident with which they are brought into connection, tell us in +addition why this one manifestation of Christ's love was given. +'Knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that +He was come from God, and went to God.' There, then, are two +explanations of motive, the one covering a wider area than the other, +but both converging on the incident before us. + +The first of these is just this—the consciousness of impending +separation moved Christ to a more than ordinarily tender manifestation +of His love. For the rendering which you will find in the margin of the +Revised Version, 'He loved them _to the uttermost_,' seems to me to be +truer to the Evangelist's meaning than the other, 'He loved them unto +the end.' 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 heart, than simply to tell us that +that shadow did not stop its flow. It is much to know that all through +His sorrow He continued to love; it is far more to know that the sorrow +sharpened its poignancy, and deepened its depth, and made more tender +its tenderness. + +How near to the man Christ that thought brings us! Do we not all know +the impulse to make parting moments tender moments? The masks of use +and wont drop off; the reticence which we, perhaps wisely, ordinarily +cultivate in regard to our deepest feelings melts away. We yearn to +condense all our unspoken love into some one word, act, look, or +embrace, which it may afterwards be life to two hearts to remember. And +Jesus Christ felt this. Because He was going away He could not but pour +out Himself yet more completely than in the ordinary tenor of His life. +The earthquake lays bare hidden veins of gold, and the heart opens +itself out when separation impends. We shall never understand the works +of Jesus Christ if we do as we are all apt to do, think of them as +having only a didactic and doctrinal purpose. We must remember that +there is in Him the true play of a human heart, and that it was to +relieve His own love, as well as to teach these men their duty, that he +rose from the supper, and prepared Himself to wash the disciples' feet. + +Then, on the other hand, the other motive which is brought by the +Evangelists more immediately into connection with this incident is, +'knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that +He was come from God, and went to God.' + +The consciousness of the highest dignity impels to the lowliest +submission. 'All things given into His hands,' means universal and +absolute dominion. 'That He was come from God,' means pre-existence, +voluntary incarnation, an eternal divine nature, and unbroken communion +with the Father. 'That He went to God,' means a voluntary departure +from this low world, and a return to 'His own calm home, His habitation +from eternity.' + +And, gathered all together, the phrases imply His absolute +consciousness of His divine nature. 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 Bethany, and through all the +abominations of an Eastern city, into the upper chamber. + +This was He who from the beginning 'was with God, and was God.' This +was He who was the Lord of Death, Victor over the grave. This was He +who by His own power ascended up on high, and reigns on the throne of +the universe to-day. This was He whose breast the same Evangelist had +seen before he wrote his Gospel, 'girded with the golden girdle' of +priesthood and of sovereignty; and holding, in the hands that had laid +the towel on the disciples' feet, the seven stars. + +Oh, brethren! if we believed our creeds, how our hearts would melt with +wonder and awe that He who was so high stooped so low! 'Knowing that He +came from God, and went to God,' and that even when He was kneeling +there before these men, 'the Father had given all things into His +hands,' what did He do? Triumph? Show His majesty? Flash His power? +Demand service? 'Girded Himself with a towel and washed His disciples' +feet'! + +The consciousness of loftiness does not alone avail to explain the +transcendent lowliness. You need the former motive to be joined with +it, because it is only love which bends loftiness to service, and turns +the consciousness of superiority into yearning to divest oneself of the +superiorities that separate, and to emphasise the emotions which unite. + +II. The detailed completeness of the act. + +The remarkable particularity of the account of the stages of the +humiliation suggests the eye-witness. John carried them all in his mind +ineffaceably, and long, long years after that memorable hour we hear +him recalling each detail of the scene. We can see the little group +startled by the disturbance of the order of the meal as He rose from +the table, and the hushed wonder and the open-lipped expectation with +which they watched to see what the next step would be. He rises from +the table and divests Himself of the upper garments which impeded +movement. 'What will He do next?' He takes the basin, standing there to +be ready for washing the apostles' feet, but unused, and not even +filled with water. He fills it Himself, asking none to help Him. He +girds the towel round Him; and then, perhaps, begins with the betrayer; +at any rate, not with Peter. + +Cannot you see them, as they look? Do not you feel the solemnity of the +detailed particular account of each step? + +And may we not also say that all is a parable, or illustration, on a +lower level, 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'? He 'rose from the table,' as He rose from His place +in 'the bosom of the Father.' He disturbed the meal as He broke the +festivities of the heavens. He divested Himself of His garments, as 'He +thought not equality with God a thing to be worn eagerly'; and 'He +girded Himself with the towel,' as He put on the weakness of flesh. +Himself He filled the basin, by His own work providing the means of +cleansing; and Himself applied the cleansing to the feet of those who +were with Him. It is all a working out of the same double motive which +drew Him downwards to our earth. The reason why He stooped, with His +hands to wash the disciples' feet, is the same as the reason why He had +hands to wash with—viz., that knowing Himself to be high over all, and +loving all, He chose to become one with us, that we might become like +unto Him. So the details of the act are a parable of His incarnation +and death. + +III. And then, still further, note the purpose of the deed. + +Now although I have said that we never rightly understand our Lord's +actions if we are always looking for dogmatic or doctrinal purposes, +and thinking of them rather as being lectures, and sometimes rebukes in +act, than as being the outgush of His emotions and His human-divine +nature, yet we have also to take into account their moral and spiritual +lessons. His acts are words and His words are acts. And although the +main and primary purpose of this incident, in so far as it had any +other purpose than to relieve Christ's own love by manifesting itself, +and to comfort the disciples' hearts by the tender manifestation, was +to teach them their duty, as we shall presently see, yet the special +aspect of cleansing, which comes out so emphatically and prominently in +the episode of Peter's refusal, is to be carried all along through the +interpretation of the incident. This was the reason why Jesus Christ +came from heaven and assumed flesh, and this was the reason why Jesus +Christ, assuming flesh, bowed Himself to this menial office—to make men +clean. + +I venture to say that we never understand Jesus Christ and His work +until we recognise this as its prominent purpose, to cleanse us from +sin. An inadequate conception of what we need, shallow, superficial +views of the gravity and universality and obstinacy of the fact of sin, +are an impenetrable veil between us and all real understanding of Jesus +Christ. There is no adequate motive for such an astounding fact as the +incarnation and sacrifice of the Son of God, except the purpose of +redeeming the world. If you do not believe that you—you individually, +and all of us your brethren—need to be cleansed, you will find it hard +to believe in the divinity and atonement of Jesus Christ. If you have +been down into the depths of your own heart, and found out what +tremendous, diabolic power your own evil nature and sin have upon you, +then you will not be content with anything less than the incarnate God +who stoops from heaven to bear the burden of your sin, and to take it +all away. If you want to understand why He laid aside His garments and +took the servile form of our manhood, the appeal of man's sin to His +love and the answer of His Divine condescension are the only +explanation. + +Again, let me remind you that there is no cleansing without Christ. Can +you do it for yourselves, do you think? There is an old proverb, 'One +hand washes the other.' That is true about stains on the flesh. It is +not true about stains on our spirits. Nobody can do it for us but Jesus +Christ alone. He kneels before us, having the right and the power to +wash us because He has died for us. Kings of England used to touch for +'the king's evil,' and lay their pure fingers upon feculent masses of +corruption. Our King's touch is sovereign for the corruption and +incipient putrefaction of our sin; and there is no power in heaven or +earth that will make a man clean except the power of Jesus Christ. It +is either Jesus Christ or filthiness. + +If I might pass from my text for one moment, I would remind you of the +episode which immediately follows, and suggest that if Jesus Christ is +not cleansing us He is nothing to us. 'If I wash thee not, thou hast no +part in Me.' I know, of course, that it is possible to have partial, +rudimentary, and sometimes reverent conceptions of that Lord without +recognising in Him the great 'Fountain opened for sin and for +uncleanness.' But I am sure of this, that there is no real, living +possession of Jesus Christ such as men's souls need, and such as will +outlast the disintegrating influences of death, unless it be such a +possession of Him as appropriates for its own, primarily, His cleansing +power. First of all He must cleanse, and then all other aspects of His +glory, and gifts of His grace, will pour into our hearts. + +No understanding of Christ, then, without the recognition that +cleansing is the purpose and the vindication of His incarnation and +sacrifice; no cleansing without Christ; no Christ worth calling by the +name without cleansing. + +IV. And so, lastly, note the pattern in this act. + +You will remember that it is followed by solemn words spoken after He +had taken His garments and resumed His place at the table, in which +there blended, in the most wonderful fashion, the consciousness of +authority, both as Teacher of truth and as Guide of life, and the +sweetest and most loving lowliness. In them Jesus prescribed the +wonderful act of His condescending love and cleansing power as the law +of the Christian life. 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 +lives; and I would have you note, as an extremely remarkable point, +that all the New Testament references to our Lord as being our Example +are given in immediate connection with His passion. 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 example. + +Do you ask if any man can copy the sufferings of Jesus Christ? In +regard to their virtue and efficacy, No. In regard to their motive—in +one aspect, No; in another aspect, Yes. In regard to the spirit that +impelled Him we may copy Him. The smallest trickle of water down a city +gutter will carve out of the mud at its side little banks and cliffs, +and exhibit all the phenomena of erosion on the largest scale, as the +Mississippi does over half a continent, and the tiniest little wave in +a basin will fall into the same curves as the billows of mid-ocean. You +and I, in our little lives, may even aspire to 'do as I have done to +you.' + +The true use of superiority is service. _Noblesse oblige_! Bank, +wealth, capacity, talents, all things are given to us that we may use +them to the last particle for our fellows. Only when the world and +society have awakened to that great truth which the towel-girded, +kneeling Christ has taught us, will society be organised on the +principles that God meant. + +But, further, the highest form of service is to cleanse. Cleansing is +always dirty work for the cleaners, as every housemaid knows. You +cannot make people clean by scolding them, by lecturing them, by +patronising them. You have to go down into the filth if you mean to +lift them out of it; and leave your smelling-bottles behind; and think +nothing repulsive if your stooping to it may save a brother. + +The only way by which we can imitate that example is by, first of all, +participating in it for ourselves. We must, first of all, have the +Cross as our trust, before it can become our pattern and our law. We +must first say, 'Lord! not my feet only, but also my hands and my +head,' and then, in the measure in which we ourselves have received the +cleansing benediction, we shall be impelled and able to lay our gentle +hands on foulness and leprosy; and to say to all the impure, 'Jesus +Christ, who hath cleansed _me_, makes _thee_ clean.' + + + + +THE DISMISSAL OF JUDAS + + +'… Then said Jesus unto Judas, That thou doest, do quickly.'—JOHN xiii. +27. + +When our Lord gave the morsel, dipped in the dish, to Judas, only John +knew the significance of the act. But if we supplement the narrative +here with that given by Matthew, we shall find that, accompanying the +gift of the sop, was a brief dialogue in which the betrayer, with +unabashed front, hypocritically said, 'Lord! Is it I?' and heard the +solemn, sad answer, 'Thou sayest!' Two things, then, appealed to him at +the moment: one, the conviction that he was discovered; the other, the +wonderful assurance that he was still loved, for the gift of the morsel +was a token of friendliness. He shut his heart against them both; and +as he shut his heart against Christ he opened it to the devil. So +'after the sop Satan entered into him.' At that moment a soul committed +suicide; and none of those that sat by, with the exception of Christ +and the 'disciple whom He loved,' so much as dreamed of the tragedy +going on before their eyes. + +I know not that there are anywhere words more weighty and wonderful +than those of our text. And I desire to try if I can at all make you +feel as I feel, their solemn signification and force. 'That thou doest, +do quickly.' + +I. I hear in them, first, the voice of despairing love abandoning the +conflict. + +If I have rightly construed the meaning of the incident, this is the +plain meaning of it. And you will observe that the Revised Version, +more accurately and closely rendering the words of our text, begins +with a '_Therefore_.' 'Therefore said Jesus unto him,' because the die +was cast; because the will of Judas had conclusively welcomed Satan, +and conclusively rejected Christ; therefore, knowing that remonstrance +was vain, knowing that the deed was, in effect, done, Jesus Christ, +that Incarnate Charity which 'believeth all things, and hopeth all +things,' abandoned the man to himself, and said, 'There, then, if thou +wilt thou must. I have done all I can; my last arrow is shot, and it +has missed the target. That then doest, do quickly.' + +There is a world of solemn meaning in that one little word 'doest.' It +teaches us the old lesson, which sense is so apt to forget, that the +true actor in man's deeds is 'the hidden man of the heart,' and that +when it has acted, it matters comparatively little whether the mere +tool and instrument of the hands or of the other organs have carried +out the behest. The thing is done before it is done when the man has +resolved, with a fixed will, to do it. The betrayal was as good as in +process, though no step beyond the introductory ones, which could +easily have been cancelled, had yet been accomplished. Because there +was a fixed purpose which could not be altered by anything now, +therefore Jesus Christ regards the act as completed. It is what we +think in our hearts that we are; and our fixed determinations, our +inclinations of will, are far more truly our doings than the mere +consequences of these, embodied in actuality. It is but a poor estimate +of a man that judges him by the test of what he has done. What he has +wanted to do is the true man; what he has attempted to do. 'It was well +that it was in thine heart!' saith God to the king who thought of +building the Temple which he was never allowed to rear. 'It is ill that +is in thine heart,' says He by whom actions are weighed, to the sinner +in purpose, though his clean hands lie idly in his lap. These hidden +movements of desire and will that never come to the surface are our +true selves. Look after them, and the deeds will take care of +themselves. Serpent's eggs have serpents in them. And he that has +determined upon a sin has done the sin, whether his hands have been put +to it or no. + +But, then, turn for a moment to the other thought that is suggested +here—that solemn picture of a soul left to do as it will, because +divine love has no other restraints which it can impose, and is +bankrupt of motives that it can adduce to prevent it from its madness. +Now I do not believe, for my part, that any man in this world is so +all-round 'sold unto sin' as that the seeking love of God gives him up +as irreclaimable. 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 +them. There are no hopeless cases as long as men are here. But, then, +though there may not be so, in regard to the whole sweep of the man's +nature, yet every one of us, over and over again, has known what it is +to come exactly into that position in regard to some single evil or +other, 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 us, as He did with Balaam when He opposed his covetous +inclinations to all the remonstrances of Heaven. God said at last to +him 'Go!' because it was the best way to teach him what a fool he had +been in wanting to go. Thus, when we determine to set ourselves against +the pleadings and the beseechings of divine love, the truest kindness +is to fling the reins upon our necks, and let us gallop ourselves into +a sweat and weariness, and then we shall be more amenable to the touch +of the rein thereafter. + +Are there any people whom God is teaching obedience to His light touch, +by letting them run their course after some one specific sin? Perhaps +there are. At all events, let us remember that that position of being +allowed to do as we like is one to which we all tend, in the measure in +which we indulge our inclinations, and shut our hearts against God's +pleadings. There is such a thing as a conscience seared as with a hot +iron. They used to say that there were witches' marks on the body, +places where, if you stuck a pin in, there was no feeling. Men cover +themselves all over with marks of that sort, which are not sensitive +even to the prick of a divine remonstrance, rebuke, or retribution. +They 'wipe their mouths and say I have done no harm.' You can tie up +the clapper of the bell that swings on the black rock, on which, if you +drift, you go to pieces. You can silence the Voice by the simple +process of neglecting it. Judas set his teeth against two things, the +solemn conviction that Jesus Christ knew his sin, and the saving +assurance that Jesus Christ loved him still. And whosoever resists +either of these two is getting perilously near to the point where, not +in petulance but in pity, God will say, 'Very well, I have called and +ye have refused. Now go, and do what you want to do, and see how you +like it when it is done. What thou doest, do quickly.' Do you remember +the other word, 'If '_twere_ done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it +were done quickly'? But since consequences last when deeds are past, +perhaps you had better halt before you determine to do them. + +II. Now, secondly, I hear in these words the voice of strangely blended +majesty and humiliation. + +'What thou doest, do!' Judas thought he had got possession of Christ's +person, and was His master in a very real sense. When lo! all at once +the victim assumes the position of the Lord and commands, showing the +traitor that instead of thwarting and counterworking, he was but +carrying out the designs of his fancied victim; and that he was an +instrument in Christ's hands for the execution of His will. And these +two thoughts, how, in effect, all antagonism, all malicious hatred, all +violent opposition of every sort but work in with Christ's purpose, and +carry out His intention; and how, at the moments of deepest apparent +degradation, He towers, in manifest Majesty and Masterhood, seem to me +to be plainly taught in the word before us. + +He uses his foes for the furtherance of His purpose. That has been the +history of the world ever since. 'The floods, O Lord, have lifted up +their voice.' And what have they done? Smashing against the breakwater, +they but consolidate its mighty blocks, and prove that 'the Lord on +high is mightier than the noise of many waters.' It has been so in the +past, it is so to-day; it will be so till the end. Every Judas is +unconsciously the servant of Him whom he seeks to betray; 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 turned. + +Again, the combination here, in such remarkable juxtaposition, of the +two things, a willing submission to the utmost extremity of shame, +which the treasonous heart can froth out in its malice and, at the same +time, a rising up in conscious majesty and lordship, are suggested to +us by the words before us. That combination of utter lowliness and +transcendent loftiness runs through the whole life and history of our +Lord. Did you ever think how strong an argument that strange +combination, brought out so inartificially throughout the whole of the +Gospels, is for their historical veracity? 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 it, neither of +them impinging upon the domain of the other—viz., utter humility and +humiliation in circumstance, and majestic sovereignty and elevation +above all circumstances—do you think that any of them could have solved +the problem, though—Aeschylus and Shakespeare had been amongst them, as +these four men that wrote these four little tracts that we call Gospels +have done? How comes it that this most difficult of literary problems +has been so triumphantly solved by these men? I think there is only one +answer, 'Because they were reporters, and imagined nothing, but +observed everything, and repeated what had happened.' He reconciled +these opposites who was the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, +and yet the Eternal Son of the Father; and the Gospels have solved the +problem only because they are simple records of its solution by Him. + +Wherever in His history there is some trait of lowliness there is by +the side of it a flash of majesty. Wherever in His history there is +some gleaming out from the veil of flesh of the hidden glory of +divinity, there is immediately some drawing of the veil across the +glory. And the two things do not contradict nor confuse, but we stand +before that double picture of a Christ betrayed and of a Christ +commanding His betrayer, and using his treason, and we say, 'The Word +was made flesh, and dwelt among us.' + +III. Again, I hear the voice of instinctive human weakness. + +'That thou doest, do quickly.' It may be doubtful, and some of you +perhaps may not be disposed to follow me in my remark, 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 hair, which +we all know so well. Better to suffer than to wait for suffering. 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 clouds. +Many a martyr has prayed for a swift ending of his troubles. Many a +sorrowing heart, that has been sitting cowering under the anticipation +of coming evils, has wished that the string could be pulled, as it +were, and they could all come down in one cold flood, and be done with, +rather than trickle drop by drop. They tell us that the bravest +soldiers dislike the five minutes when they stand in rank before the +first shot is fired. And with all reverence I venture to think that He +who knew all our weaknesses in so far as weakness was not sin, is here +letting us see how He, too, desired that the evil which was coming +might come quickly, and that the painful tension of expectation might +be as brief as possible. That may be doubtful; I do not dwell upon it, +but I suggest it for your consideration. + +IV. 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 +world. + +'That thou doest, do quickly.' There is nothing more obvious throughout +the whole of the latter portion of the Gospel narrative than the way in +which, increasingly towards its close, Jesus seemed to hasten to the +Cross. You remember His own sayings: 'I have a baptism to be baptized +with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished. I am come to +cast fire on the earth; would it were already kindled!' You remember +with what a strange air—I was going to use an inappropriate word, and +say, of alacrity; but, at all events, of fixed resolve—He journeyed +from Galilee, in that last solemn march to Jerusalem, and how the +disciples followed, astonished at the unwonted look of decision and +absorption that was printed upon His countenance. If we consider His +doings in that last week in Jerusalem, how he courted publicity, how He +avoided no encounter with His official enemies, how He sharpened His +tones, not exactly so as to provoke, but certainly so as by no means to +conciliate, we shall see, I think, in it all, His consciousness that +the hour had come, and His absolute readiness and willingness to be +offered for the world's sin. He stretches out His hands, as it were, to +draw the Cross nearer to Himself, not with any share in the weakness of +a fanatical aspiration after martyrdom, but under a far deeper and more +wonderful impulse. + +Why was Christ so willing, so eager, if I may use the word, that His +death should be accomplished? Two reasons, which at the bottom are one, +answer the question. He thus hastened to His Cross because He would +obey the Father's will, and because He loved the whole world—you and me +and all our fellows. We were each in His heart. It was because He +wanted to save thee that He said to Judas, 'Do it quickly, that the +world's salvation and that man's salvation may be accomplished.' These +were the cords that bound Him to the altar. Let us never forget that +Judas with his treachery, and rulers with their hostility, and Pilate +with his authority, and the soldiers with their nails, and centurions +with their lances, and the grim figure of Death itself with its shaft, +would have been all equally powerless against Christ if it had not been +his loving will to die on the Cross for each of us. + +Therefore, brethren, as we hear this voice, let us discern in it the +tones which warn us of the danger of yielding to inclination and +stifling His rebukes, till He abandons us for the moment in despair; +let us hear in it the pathetic voice of a Brother, who knows all our +weaknesses and has felt our emotions; let us hear the voice of +Sovereign Authority which uses its enemies for its purposes, and is +never loftier than when it is most lowly, whose Cross is His throne of +glory, whose exaltation is His deepest humiliation, and let us hear a +love which, discerning each of us through all the ages and the crowds, +went willingly to the Cross because He willed that He should be our +Saviour. + +And seeing that time is short, and the future precarious, and delay may +darken into loss and rejection, let us take these words as spoken to us +in another sense, and hear in them the warning that 'to-day, if we will +hear His voice, we harden not our hearts,' and when He says to us, in +regard to repentance and faith, and Christian consecration and service, +'That thou doest, do quickly,' let us answer, 'I made haste and delayed +not, but made haste to keep Thy commandments.' + + + + +THE GLORY OF THE CROSS + + +'Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man +glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God +shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify +Him.'—JOHN xiii. 31, 32. + +There is something very weird and awful in the brief note of time with +which the Evangelist sends Judas on his dark errand. 'He … went +immediately out, and it was night.' Into the darkness that dark soul +went. That hour was 'the power of darkness,' the very keystone of the +black arch of man's sin, and some shadow of it fell upon the soul of +Christ Himself. + +In immediate connection with the departure of the traitor comes this +singular burst of triumph in our text. The Evangelist emphasises the +connection by that: '_Therefore_, when he was gone out, Jesus said.' +There is a wonderful touch of truth and naturalness in that connection. +The traitor was gone. His presence had been a restraint; and now that +that 'spot in their feast of charity' had disappeared, the Master felt +at ease; and like some stream, out of the bed of which a black rock has +been taken, His words flow more freely. How intensely real and human +the narrative becomes when we see that Christ, too, felt the oppression +of an uncongenial presence, and was relieved and glad at its removal! +The departure of the traitor evoked these words of triumph in another +way, too. At his going away, we may say, the match was lit that was to +be applied to the train. He had gone out on his dark errand, and that +brought the Cross within measurable distance of our Lord. Out of a new +sense of its nearness He speaks here. So the note of time not only +explains to us why our Lord spoke, but puts us on the right track for +understanding His words, and makes any other interpretation of them +than one impossible. What Judas went to do was the beginning of +Christ's glorifying. We have here, then, a triple glorification—the Son +of Man glorified in His Cross; God glorified in the Son of Man; and the +Son of Man glorified in God. Let us look at these three thoughts for a +few moments now. + +I. First, we have here the Son of Man glorified in His Cross. + +The words are a paradox. Strange, that at such a moment, when there +rose up before Christ all the vision of the shame and the suffering, +the pain and the death, and the mysterious sense of abandonment, which +was worse than them all, He should seem to stretch out His hands to +bring the Cross nearer to Himself, and that His soul should fill with +triumph! + +There is a double aspect under which our Lord regarded His sufferings. +On the one hand we mark in Him an unmistakable shrinking from the +Cross, the innocent shrinking of His manhood expressed in such words as +'I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it +be accomplished'; and in such incidents as the agony in Gethsemane. And +yet, side by side with that, not overcome by it, but not overcoming it, +there is the opposite feeling, the reaching out almost with eagerness +to bring the Cross nearer to Himself. These two lie close by each other +in His heart. Like the pellucid waters of the Rhine and the turbid +stream of the Moselle, that flow side by side over a long space, +neither of them blending discernibly with the other, so the shrinking +and the desire were contemporaneous in Christ's mind. Here we have the +triumphant anticipation rising to the surface, and conquering for a +time the shrinking. + +Why did Christ think of His Cross as a glorifying? The New Testament +generally represents it as the very lowest point of His degradation; +John's Gospel always represents it as the very highest point of His +glory. And the two things are both true; just as the zenith of our sky +is the nadir of the sky for those on the other side of the world. The +same fact which in one aspect sounds the very lowest depth of Christ's +humiliation, in another aspect is the very highest culminating point of +His glory. + +How did the Cross glorify Christ? In two ways. It was the revelation of +His heart; it was the throne of His sovereign power. + +It was the revelation of His heart. All his life long He had been +trying to tell the world how much He loved it. His love had been, as it +were, filtered by drops through His words, through His deeds, through +His whole demeanour and bearing; but in His death it comes in a flood, +and pours itself upon the world. All His life long he had been +revealing His heart, through the narrow rifts of His deeds, like some +slender lancet windows; but in His death all the barriers are thrown +down, and the brightness blazes out upon men. All through His life He +had been trying to communicate His love to the world, and the fragrance +came from the box of ointment exceeding precious, but when the box was +broken the house was filled with the odour. + +For Him to be known was to be glorified. So pure and perfect was He, +that revelation of His character and glorification of Himself were one +and the same thing. Because His Cross reveals to the world for all +time, and for eternity, too, a love which shrinks from no sacrifice, a +love which is capable of the most entire abandonment, a love which is +diffused over the whole surface of humanity and through all the ages, a +love which comes laden with the richest and the highest gifts, even the +turning of selfish and sinful hearts into its own pure and perfect +likeness, therefore does He say, in contemplation of that Cross which +was to reveal Him for what He was to the world, and to bring His love +to every one of us, 'Now is the Son of Man glorified.' + +We can fancy a mother, for instance, in the anticipation of shame, and +ignominy, and suffering, and sorrow, and death which she encounters for +the sake of some prodigal child, forgetting all the ignominy, and the +shame, and the suffering, and the sorrow, and the death, because all +these are absorbed in the one thought: 'If I bear them, my poor, +wandering, rebellious child will know at last how much I loved him.' So +Christ yearns to impart the knowledge of Himself to us, because by that +knowledge we may be won to His love and service; and hence when He +looks forward to the agony, and contumely, and sorrow of the close, +every other thought is swallowed up in this one: 'They will be the +means by which the whole world will find out how deep my heart of love +to it was.' Therefore does He triumph and say, 'Now is the Son of Man +glorified.' + +Still further, He regards His Cross as the means of His glorifying, +because it is His throne of saving power. 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 life. They are the same in effect and in tone as the great +words: 'I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.' Now I want +you to ask yourselves one question: In what sense is Christ's Cross +Christ's glorifying, unless His Cross bears an altogether different +relation to His life from what the death of a great teacher or +benefactor ordinarily bears to his? 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 his, as +being the close of his activity for the welfare of his fellows. Unless +Christ's death has in it some substantive value, unless it is something +more than the mere termination of His work for the world, I see not how +the words before us can be interpreted. If His death is His glorifying, +it must be because in that death something is done which was not +completed by the life, however fair; by the words, however wise and +tender; by the works of power, however restorative and healing. Here is +something more than these present. What more? This more, that His Cross +is the 'propitiation for the sins of the whole world.' He is glorified +therein, not as a Socrates might be glorified by his calm and noble +death; not because nothing in His life became Him better than the +leaving of it; 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 +records; but because in that death He wrestled with and overcame our +foes, and because, like the Jewish hero of old, dying, He pulled down +the house which our tyrants had built, and overwhelmed them in its +ruins. 'Now is the Son of Man glorified.' + +And so, brethren, there blend, in that last act of our Lord's—for His +death was His act—in strange fashion, the two contradictory ideas of +glory and shame; like some sky, all full of dark thunderclouds, and yet +between them the brightest blue and the blazing sunshine. In the Cross, +Death crowns Him the Prince of Life, and His Cross is His throne. All +His life long He was the Light of the World, but the very noontide hour +of His glory was that hour when the shadow of eclipse lay over all the +land, and He hung on the Cross dying in the dark. At His 'eventide it +was light.' 'He endured the Cross, despising the shame'; and lo! the +shame flashed up into the very brightness of glory, and the ignominy +and the suffering became the jewels of His crown. 'Now is the Son of +Man glorified.' + +II. Now let us turn for a moment to the second of the threefold +glorifications that are set forth here: God glorified in the Son of +Man. + +The mystery deepens as we advance. That God should be glorified in a +man is not strange, but that He should be so glorified in the eminent +and special fashion which Jesus contemplates here, is strange; and +stranger still when we think that the act in which He was to be +glorified was the death of an innocent Man. If God, in any special and +eminent manner, is glorified in the Cross of Jesus Christ, that +implies, as it seems to me, two things at all events—many more which I +have not time to touch upon, but two things very plainly. One is that +'God was in Christ,' in some singular and eminent manner. If all His +life was a continual manifestation of the divine character, if Christ's +words were the divine wisdom, if Christ's compassion was the divine +pity, if Christ's lowliness was the divine gentleness, if His whole +human life and nature were the brightest and clearest manifestation to +the world of what God is, we can understand that the Cross was the +highest point of the revelation of the divine nature to the world, and +so was the glorifying of God in Him. But if we take any lower view of +the relation between God and Christ, 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 case. + +The words involve, as it seems to me, not only that idea of a close, +unique union and indwelling of God in Christ, but they involve also +this other: that these sufferings bore no relation to the deserts of +the person who endured them. If Christ, with His pure and perfect +character—the innocency and nobleness of which all that read the +Gospels admit—if Christ suffered so; if the highest virtue that was +ever seen in this world brought no better wages than shame and spitting +and the Cross; if Christ's life and Christ's death are simply a typical +example of the world's treatment of its greatest benefactors; then, if +they have any bearing at all on the character of God, they cast a +shadow rather than a light upon the divine government, 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 well. +But if we can say, 'He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows'; +if we can say, 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself'; if +we can say, that His death was the death of Him whom God had appointed +to live and die for us, and 'to bear our sins in His own body on the +tree,' then, though deep mysteries come with the thought, still we can +see that, in a very unique manner, God is glorified and exalted in His +death. + +For if the dying Christ be the Son of God dying for us, then the Cross +glorifies God, because it teaches us that the glory of the divine +character is the divine love. Of wisdom, or of power, or of any of the +more 'majestic' attributes of the divine nature, that weak Man, hanging +dying on the Cross, was a strange embodiment; but if the very heart of +the divine brightness be the pure white fire of love; if there be +nothing diviner in God than His giving of Himself to His creatures; if +the highest glory of the divine nature be to pity and to bestow, then +the Cross upon which Christ died towers above all other revelations as +the most awful, the most sacred, the most tender, the most complete, +the most heart-touching, the most soul-subduing manifestation of the +divine nature; and stars and worlds, and angels and mighty creatures, +and things in the heights and things in the depths, to each of which +have been entrusted some broken syllables of the divine character to +make known to the world, dwindle and fade before the brightness, the +lambent, gentle brightness that beams out from the Cross of Christ, +which proclaims—God is love, is pity, is pardon. + +And is it not so—is it not so? Is not the thought that has flowed from +Christ's Cross through Christendom of what our Father in Heaven is, the +highest and the most blessed that the world has ever had? Has it not +scattered doubts that lay like mountains of ice upon man's heart? Has +it not swept the heavens clear of clouds that wrapped it in darkness? +Has it not delivered men from the dreams of gods angry, gods +capricious, gods vengeful, gods indifferent, gods simply mighty and +vast and awful and unspeakable? Has it not taught us that love is God, +and God is love; and so brought to the whole world the true Gospel, the +Gospel of the grace of God? In that Cross the Father is glorified. + +III. Now, lastly, we have here the Son of Man glorified in the Father. + +The mysteries and the paradoxes seem to deepen as we advance. 'If God +be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall +straightway glorify Him.' Do these words sound to you as if they +expressed no more than the confidence of a good man, who, when he was +dying, believed that he would be accepted of a loving Father, and would +be at rest from his sufferings? To me they seem to say infinitely more +than that. 'He shall also glorify Him in Himself.' Mark that 'in +Himself.' That is the obvious antithesis to what has been spoken about +in the previous clause, a glorifying which consisted in a manifestation +to the external universe, whereas this is a glorifying within the +depths of the divine nature. And the best commentary upon it is our +Lord's own words: 'Father! glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had +with Thee before the world was.' We get a glimpse, as it were, into the +very centre of the brightness of God; and there, walking in that +beneficent furnace, we see 'One like unto the Son of Man.' Christ +anticipates that, in some profound and unspeakable sense, He shall, as +it were, be caught up into the divinity, and shall dwell, as indeed He +did dwell from the beginning, 'in the bosom of the Father.' 'He shall +glorify Him in Himself.' + +But then mark, still further, that this reception into the bosom of the +Father is given to the Son of Man. That is to say, the Man Christ +Jesus, the Son of Mary, the Brother of us all, 'bone of our bone and +flesh of our flesh,' the very Person that walked upon earth and dwelt +amongst us is taken up into the heart of God, and in His manhood enters +into that same glory, which, from the beginning, the Eternal Word had +with God. + +And still further, not only have we here set forth, in most wondrous +language, the reception and incorporation, if we may use such words, +into the very centre of divinity, as granted to the Son of Man, but we +have that glorifying set forth as commencing immediately upon the +completion of God's glorifying by Christ upon the Cross. 'He shall +straightway glorify Him.' At the instant then, that He said, 'It is +finished,' and all that the Cross could do to glorify God was done, at +that instant there began, with not a pin-point of interval between +them, God's glorifying of the Son in Himself. It began in that Paradise +into which we know that upon that day He entered. It was manifested to +the world when He 'raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory.' It +reached a still higher point when 'they brought Him near unto the +Ancient of Days,' and ascending up on high, a dominion and a throne and +a glory were given to Him which last now, whilst the Son of Man sits in +the heavens on the throne of His glory, wielding the attributes of +divinity, and administering the laws of the universe and the mysteries +of providence. It shall rise to its highest manifestation before an +assembled world, when He 'shall come in His glory, and before Him shall +be gathered all nations.' + +This, then, was the vision that lay before the Christ in that upper +room, the vision of Himself glorified in His extreme shame, because His +Cross manifested His love and His saving power; of God glorified in Him +above all other of His acts of manifestation when He died on the Cross, +and revealed the very heart of God; and of Himself glorified in the +Father when, exalted high above all creatures, He sitteth upon the +Father's throne and rules the Father's realm. + +And yet from that high, and, to us, inaccessible and all but +inconceivable summit of His elevation, He looks down ready to bless +each poor creature here, toiling and moiling amidst sufferings, and +meannesses, and commonplaces, and monotony, if we will only put our +trust in Him, and love Him, and see the brightness of the Father's face +in Him. He cares for us all; and if we will but take Him as our +Saviour, His all-prevalent prayer, presented within the veil for us, +will certainly be fulfilled at last: 'Father, I will that they also +whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold +My glory.' + + + + +CANNOT AND CAN + + +'Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me: +and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot come; so now I say +to you.'—JOHN xiii. 33. + +The preceding context shows how large and black the Cross loomed before +Jesus now, and how radiant the glory beyond shone out to Him. But it +was only for a moment that either of these two absorbed His thoughts; +and with wonderful self-forgetfulness and self-command, He turned away +at once from the consideration of how the near future was to affect +Him, to the thought of how it was to affect the handful of helpless +disciples who had to be left alone. Impending separation breaks up the +fountains of the heart, and we all know the instinct that desires to +crowd all the often hidden love into some one last token. So here our +Lord addresses His disciples by a name that is never used except this +once, 'little children,' a fond diminutive that not only reveals an +unusual depth of tender emotion, but also breathes a pitying sense of +their defencelessness when they are to be left alone. So might a dying +mother look at her little ones. + +But the words that follow, at first sight, are dark with the sense of a +final and complete separation. 'Ye shall seek Me'—and not only so, 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 Jews, whither I go ye +cannot come; so now I say to you.' There was something that prevented +both classes alike from keeping Him company; and He had to walk His +path both into the darkness and into the glory, alone. + +The words apply in their fullness only to the parenthesis of time +whilst He lay in the grave, and the disciples despairingly thought that +all was ended. It was a brief period: it was a revolutionary moment; +and though it was soon to end, they needed to be guarded against it. +But though the words do not apply to the permanent relation between the +glorified Christ and us, His disciples, yet partly by similarity, and +still more by contrast, they do suggest great Christian blessedness and +imperative Christian duties. These gather themselves mainly round two +contrasts, a transitory 'cannot' soon to be changed into a permanent +'can'; and a momentary seeking, soon to be converted into a blessed +seeking which finds. I now deal only with the former. + +We have here a transitory 'cannot' soon to be changed into a permanent +'can.' + +'Whither I go ye cannot come.' Does not one hear a tone of personal +sorrow in that saying? Jesus had always hungered for understanding and +sympathetic companions, and one of His lifelong sorrows had been His +utter loneliness; but He had never, in all the time that He had been +with them, so put out His hand, feeling for some warm clasp of a human +hand to help Him in His struggle, as He did during the hours +terminating with Gethsemane. 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 way, and to pass into the brightness +beyond, all alone. He yearned for the impossible human companionship, +as well as sorrowed for the imperfections which made it impossible. + +Why was it that they could not 'follow Him now'? The answer to that +question is found in the consideration of whither it was that He went. +When that bright Shekinah-cloud at the Ascension received Him into its +radiant folds, it showed why they could not follow Him, because it +revealed that He went unto the Father, when He left the world. So we +are brought face to face with the old, solemn thought that character +makes capacity for heaven. 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, +or who shall stand in His holy place?' asked the Psalmist; and a +prophet put the question in a still sharper form, and by the very form +of the question suggested a negative answer—'Who among us shall dwell +with the devouring fire; who among us shall dwell with everlasting +burnings?' Who can pass into that Presence, and stand near God, without +being, like the maiden in the old legend, shrivelled into ashes by the +contact of the celestial fire? 'Holiness' is that 'without which no man +shall see the Lord.' And we, all of us, in the depths of our own +hearts, if we rightly understand the voices that ever echo there, must +feel that the condition which is, obviously and without any need for +arguing it, required for abiding with God, and so going into the glory +where Christ is, is a condition which none of us can fulfil. In that +respect the imperfect and immature friends, the little children, the +babes who loved and yet knew not Him whom they loved, and the scowling +enemies, were at one. For they had all of them the one human heart, and +in that heart the deep-lying alienation and contrariety to God. +Therefore Christ trod the winepress alone, and alone 'ascended up where +He was before.' + +But let us remember that this 'cannot' was only a transitory cannot. +For we must underscore very deeply that word in my text 'so _now_ I say +to you,' and a moment afterwards, when one of the Apostles puts the +question: 'Why cannot I follow Thee now?' the answer is: 'Thou canst +not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards.' The text, too, +is succeeded immediately by the wonderful parting consolations and +counsels spoken to the disciples, through all of which there gleams the +promise that they will be with Him where He is, and behold His glory. +Set side by side with these sad words of our Lord in the text, by which +He unloosed their clasping hands from Him, and turned His face to His +solitary path, the triumphant language in which habitually the rest of +the New Testament speaks of the Christian man's relation to Christ. +Think of that great passage: 'Ye are come unto the city of the living +God, the heavenly Jerusalem, … and to God the Judge of all, … and to +Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant.' What has become of the +impossibility? Vanished. Where is the 'cannot'? Turned into a blessed +'can.' And so Apostles have no scruple in saying, 'Our citizenship is +in Heaven,' nor in saying, 'We sit together with Him in heavenly places +in Christ Jesus.' The path that was blocked is open. The impossibility +that towered up like a great black wall has melted away; and the path +into the Holiest of all is made patent by the blood of Christ. For in +that death there lies the power that sweeps away all the impediments of +man's sin, and in that life of the risen, glorified, indwelling Christ +there lies the power which cleanses the inmost heart from 'all +filthiness of flesh and spirit,' and makes it possible for our mortal +feet to walk on the immortal path, and for us, with all our +unworthiness, with all our shrinking, to stand in His presence and not +be ashamed or consumed. 'Ye cannot come' was true for a few days. 'Ye +can come' is true for ever; and for all Christian men. + +But let us not forget that the one attitude of heart and mind, by which +a poor, sinful man, who dare not draw near to God, receives into +himself the merit and power of the death, and the indwelling power of +the life, of Jesus Christ, is personal faith in Jesus Christ. To trust +Him is to come to Him, and it is represented in Scripture as conferring +an instantaneous fitness for access to God. People pray sometimes that +they may be made 'meet for the inheritance of the saints in light,' and +the prayer is, in a sense, wise and true. But they too often forget +that the Apostle says, in the original connection of the words which +they so quote: 'He _hath_ translated us from the tyranny of the +darkness, and _hath_ made us meet for the inheritance of the saints in +light.' That is to say, whenever a poor soul, compassed and laden with +its infirmity and sin, turns itself to that Lord whose Cross conquers +sin, and whose blood infused into our veins—the Spirit of whose life +granted to us—gives us to partake of His own righteousness, that moment +that soul can tread the path that brings into the presence of God, and +'has access with confidence by the faith of Him.' So, brethren, seeing +that thus the incapacity may all be swept away, and that instead of a +'cannot,' which relegates us to darkness, we may receive a 'can' which +leads us into the light, let us see to it that this communion, which is +possible for all Christian men, is real in our cases, and that we use +the access which is given to us, and dwell for ever in, and with, the +Lord. + +I have said that the act of faith, by associating a man with Jesus +Christ in the power of His death and of His life, makes any who +exercise it capable of passing into the presence of God. But I would +remind you, too, that to make us more fit for more full and habitual +communion is the very purpose for which all the discipline of our +earthly life, its sorrows and its joys, its tasks and its repose, is +exercised upon us—'He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His +holiness.' Surely if we habitually took that point of view in reference +to our work, in reference to our joys, in reference to our trials, +everything would be different. We are being prepared with sedulous +love, with patient reiteration of 'line upon line, precept upon +precept,' with singularly varied methods but a uniform purpose, by all +that meets us in life, to be more capable of treading the eternal path +into the eternal light. Is that how we daily think of our own +circumstances? Do we bring that great thought to bear upon all that we, +sometimes faithlessly, call mysterious or murmuringly think of—if we +dare not speak our thought—as being cruel and hard? What does it matter +if some precious things be lifted off our shoulders, and out of our +hearts, if their being taken away makes it more possible for us to +tread with a lighter step the path of peace? What matters it though +many things that we would fain keep are withdrawn from us, if by the +withdrawal we are sent a little further forward on the road that leads +to God? As George Herbert says, sorrows and joys are like battledores +that drive a shuttlecock, and they may all 'toss us to His breast.' In +faith, however infantile it may be, there is an undeveloped capacity, a +germ of fitness, for dwelling with God. But that capacity is meant to +be increased, and the little children are meant to be helped to grow up +into full-grown men, 'the measure of the stature of the fullness of +Christ,' by all that comes here to them on earth. Do you not think we +should understand life better, do you not think it would all be flashed +up into new radiance, do you not think we should more seldom stand +bewildered at what we choose to call the inscrutable dispensations of +Providence, 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 +God? + +Nor let us forget that there was a transient 'cannot' of another sort. +For 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.' So, as life is +changed when we think of it as helping us toward Him, death is changed +when we think of it as being, if I may so say, the usher in attendance +on the Presence-chamber, who draws back the thin curtain that separates +us from the throne, and takes us by the hands and leads us into the +Presence. Surely if we habitually thought thus of that otherwise grim +chamberlain, we should be willing to put our hands into His, as a +little child will, when straying, into the hands of a stranger who +says, 'Come with me and I will take you home to your father.' 'As I +said unto the Jews … so now I say to you, whither I go, ye cannot +come.' + +Let us press on you and on myself the one thought that comes out of all +that I have been saying, the blessed possibility, which, because it is +a possibility, is an obligation, to use far more than most of us do, +the right of access to the King who is our Father. There are nobles and +corporate bodies, who regard it as one of their chief distinctions that +they have always the right of _entree_ to the court of the sovereign. +Every Christian man has that. And in old days, when a baron did not +show himself at court, suspicion naturally arose, and he was in danger +of being thought disaffected, if not traitorous. Ah! if you and I were +judged according to that law, what would become of us? We can go when +we like. How seldom we do go! We can live in the heavens whilst our +work lies down here. We prefer the low earth to the lofty sky. 'We are +come'—ideally, and in the depths of our nature, our affinities are +there—'unto God, the Judge of all, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new +Covenant.' Are we come? Are we day by day, in all the pettiness of our +ordinary lives, when compassed by hard duties, weighed upon by sore +distress—still keeping our hearts in heaven, and our feet familiar with +the path that leads us to God? 'Set your affection on things above, +where Jesus is, sitting at the right hand of God.' For there is no +'cannot' for His servants in regard to their access to any place where +He is. + + + + +SEEKING JESUS + + +'… Ye shall seek Me.'—JOHN xiii. 33. + +In the former sermon on this verse I pointed out that it, in its +fullness, applies only to the brief period between the crucifixion and +the resurrection, but that, partly by contrast and partly by analogy, +it suggests permanent relations between Christ and His disciples. These +relations were mainly—as I pointed out then—two: there was that one +expressed by the subsequent words of the verse, 'Whither I go, ye +cannot come'—a brief 'cannot,' soon to be changed into a permanent +'can'; and there was a second, a brief, sad, and vain seeking, soon to +be changed into a seeking which finds. It is to the latter that I wish +to turn now. + +'Ye shall seek Me' fell, like the clods on a coffin-lid, with a hollow +sound on the hearts of the Apostles. It comes to us as a permission and +a command and a promise. I do not dwell on that sad seeking, which was +so brief but so bitter. We all know what it is to put out an empty hand +into the darkness and the void, and to grope for a touch which we know, +whilst we grope, that we shall not find. And these poor, helpless +disciples, by their forlorn sense of separation, by their yearning that +brought no satisfaction, by their very listless despair, were saying, +during these hours of agony into which an eternity of pain was +condensed, 'Oh! that He were beside us again!' + +That sad seeking ended when He came to them, and 'then were the +disciples glad when they saw the Lord.' But another kind of seeking +began, when 'the cloud received Him out of their sight'; as joyful as +the other was laden with sorrow, as sure to find the object of its +quest as the other was certain to be disappointed. What He said in the +darkness to them, He says in the light to us: What 'I say unto you I +say unto all,' _Seek!_ So now we have to deal with that joyful search +which is sure of finding its object, and is only a little, if at all, +less blessed than the finding itself. + +I. Every Christian is, by his very name, a seeker after Christ. + +There are two kinds of seeking, one like that of a bird whose young +have been stolen away, which flutters here and there, because it knows +not where that is which it seeks; another, like the flight of the same +bird, when the migrating instinct rises in its little breast, and +straight as an arrow it goes, not because it knows not its goal, but +because it knows it, yonder where the sun is warm and the sky is blue, +and winter is left behind in the cold north. 'Ye shall seek Me' is the +word of promise, which changes the vain search that is ignorant of +where the object of its quest is, into a blessed going out of the heart +towards that which it knows to be the home of its homelessness. Thus +the text brings out the very central blessedness and peculiarity of the +Christian life, that it has no uncertainty in its aims, and that, +instead of seeking for things which may or may not be found, or if +found may or may not prove to be what we dreamt them to be. It seeks +for a Person whom it knows where to find, and of whom it knows that all +its desires will be met in Him. We have, then, on the one side the +multifarious, divergent searchings of man; and on the other side the +one quest in which all these others are gathered up, and translated +into blessedness—the seeking after Jesus Christ. + +Men know that they need, if I may so put it, four things: truth for the +understanding, love round which the heart may coil, authority for the +will which may direct and restrain, and energy for the practical life. +But, apart from the quest after Christ, men for the most part seek +these necessary goods in divers objects, and fragmentarily look for the +completion of their desires. But fragments will never satisfy a man's +soul, and they who have to go to one place for truth, and to another +for love, and to another for authority, and to another for energy, are +wofully likely never to find what they search for. They are seeking in +the manifold what can be found only in the One. It is as if some +vessel, full of precious stones, were thrown down before men, and +whilst they are racing after the diamonds, they lose the emeralds and +the sapphires. But the wise concentrate their seekings on the 'one +Pearl of great price,' in whom is truth for the brain, love for the +heart, authority for the will, power for the life, and all summed in +that which is more blessed than all, the Person of the Brother who died +for us, the Christ who lives to fill our hearts for ever. One sun dims +all the stars; and the 'one entire and perfect Chrysolite' beggars and +reduces to fragments 'all the precious things that thou canst desire.' + +To seek Him is the very hall-mark of a Christian, and that seeking +comes to be an earnest desire and effort after more conscious communion +with Him, and a more entire possession of His imparted life which is +righteousness and peace and joy and power. According to the Rabbis, the +manna tasted to each man what each man most desired. The manifoldness +of the one Christ is far more manifold than the manifoldness of the +multiplicity of fragmentary and partial aims which foolish men +perceive. + +The ways of seeking are very plain. First of all, we seek if, and in +proportion as, we make the effort to occupy our thoughts and minds, not +with theological dogmas, but with the living Christ Himself. Ah! +brethren, it is hard to do, and I daresay a great many of you are +thinking that it is far harder for you, in the distractions and rush +and conflict of business and daily life, than it is for people like me, +whom you imagine as sitting in a study, with nothing to distract us. I +do not know about that; I fancy it is about equally hard for us all; +but it is possible. I have been in Alpine villages where, at the end of +every squalid alley, there towered up a great, pure, silent, white +peak. That is what our lives may be; however noisome, crowded, petty +the little lane in which we live, the Alp is at the end of it there, if +we only choose to lift our eyes and look. It is possible that not only +'into the sessions of sweet silent thought,' but into the rush and +bustle of the workshop or the exchange, there may come, like 'some +sweet, beguiling melody, so sweet we know not we are listening to it,' +the thought that changes pettiness into greatness, that makes all +things go smoothly and easily, that is a test and a charm to discover +and to destroy temptation, the thought of a present Christ, the Lover +of my soul, and the Helper of my life. + +Again, we seek Him when, by aspiration and desire, we bring Him—as He +is always brought thereby—into our hearts and into our lives. The +measure of our desire is the measure of our possession. Wishing is the +opening of our hearts, but, alas, often we wish and desire, and the +heart opens and nothing enters. Wishes are like the tentacles of some +marine organism waving about in a waste ocean, feeling for the food +that they do not find. But if we open our hearts for Him, that is +simultaneous with the coming of Him to us. 'Ye have not, because ye ask +not.' Do not forget, dear friends, that desire, if it is genuine, will +take a very concrete form and will be prayer. And it is prayer—by which +I do not mean the utterance of words without desire, any more than I +mean desire without the direct casting of it into the form of +supplication—it is prayer that brings Christ into any, and it is prayer +that will bring Him into every, life. + +Nor let us forget that there is another way of seeking besides these +two, of looking up to Him through, and in the midst of, all the shows +and trifles of this low life, and the reaching out of our desires +towards Him, as the roots of a tree beneath the soil go straight for +the river. That other way is imitation and obedience. It is vain to +think of Him, and it is unreal to pretend to desire Him, if we are not +seeking Him by treading in the path that He has trod, and which leads +to Him. Imitation and obedience—these are the steps by which we go +straight through all the trivialities of life into the presence of the +Lord Himself. The smallest deflection from the path that leads to Him +will carry us away into doleful wastes. The least invisible cloud that +steals across the sky will blot out half a hemisphere of stars; and we +seek not Christ unless, thinking of Him, and desiring Him, we also walk +in the path in which He has walked, and so come where He is. He Himself +has said that if His servant follows Him, where He is there shall also +His servant be. These things make up the seeking which ought to mark us +all. + +I note that— + +II. The Christian seeker always finds. + +I pointed out in my last sermon the strange identity of our Lord's +words to His humble friends, with those which on another occasion He +used to His bitter enemies. He reminds the disciples of that identity +in the verse from which my text comes: 'As I said to the Jews … so now +I say to you.' But there was one thing that He said to the Jews that He +did not say to them. To the former He said, 'Ye shall seek Me, and +shall not find Me'; and He did not say that—even for the sad hours it +was not quite true—He did not say that to His followers, and He does +not say it to us. + +If we seek we shall find. There is no disappointment in the Christian +life. Anything is possible rather than that a man should desire Christ +and not have Him. That has never been the experience of any seeking +soul. And so I urge upon you what has already been suggested, that +inasmuch as, by reason of His infinite longing to give truth and love +and guidance and energy and His whole Self, to all of us, the amount of +our possession of the power and life of Jesus Christ depends on +ourselves. If you take to the fountain a tiny cup, you will only bring +away a tiny cupful. If you take a great vessel you will bring _it_ away +full. As long as the woman in the old story held out her vessels to the +miraculous flow of the oil, the flow continued. When she had no more +vessels to take, the flow stopped. If a man holds a flagon beneath a +spigot with an unsteady hand, half of the precious liquor will be spilt +on the ground. Those who fulfil the conditions, of which I have already +been speaking, may make quite sure that according to their faith will +it be unto them. And if you, dear friend, have not in your experience +the conscious presence of a Christ who is all that you need, there is +no one in heaven or earth or hell to blame for it but only your own +self. 'I have never said to any of the seed of Jacob, Seek ye My face +in vain'; and when the Lord said, 'Ye shall seek Me,' He was implicitly +binding Himself to meet the seeking soul, and give Himself to the +desiring heart. + +Remember, too, that this seeking, which is always crowned with finding, +is the only search in which failure is impossible. There is only one +course of life that has no disappointments. We all know how frequently +we are foiled in our quests; we all know how often a prize won is a +bitterer disappointment than a prize unattained. Like a jelly-fish in +the water, as long as it is there its tenuous substance is lovely, +expanded, tinged with delicate violets and blues, and its long +filaments float in lines of beauty. Lay it on the beach, and it is a +shapeless lump, and it poisons and stings. You fish your prize out of +the great ocean, and when you have it, does it disappoint, or does it +fulfil, the raised expectations of the quest? There is One who does not +disappoint. There is one gold mine that comes up to the prospectus. +There is one spring that never runs dry. The more deep our Christian +experience is, the more we shall take the rapturous exclamation of the +Arabian queen to ourselves: 'The half was not told us!' + +And so, lastly, I suggest that— + +III. The finding impels to fresh seeking. + +The object of the Christian man's quest is Jesus Christ. He is +Incarnate Infinitude; and that cannot be exhausted. The seeker after +Jesus Christ is the Christian soul. That soul is the incarnate +possibility of indefinite expansion and approximation and assimilation; +and that cannot be exhausted. And so, with a Christ who is infinite, +and a seeker whose capacities may be indefinitely expanded, there can +be no satiety, there can be no limit, there can be no end to the +process. This wine-skin will not burst when the new wine is put into +it. Rather like some elastic vessel, as you pour it will fill out and +expand. Possession enlarges, and the more of Christ's fullness is +poured into a human heart, the more is that heart widened out to +receive a greater blessing. + +Dear brethren, there is one course of life, and I believe but one, on +which we may all enter with the sure confidence that in the nature of +things, in the nature of Christ, and in the nature of ourselves, there +is no end to growth and progress. Think of the freshness and +blessedness and energy that puts into a life. To have an unattained and +unattainable object, a goal to which we can never come, but to which we +may ever be approximating, seems to me to be the secret of perpetual +joy and of perpetual youthfulness. To say, 'forgetting the things that +are behind, I reach forward unto the things that are before,' is a +charm and an amulet that repels monotony and weariness, and goes with a +man to the very end, and when all other aims and objects have died down +into grey ashes, that flame, like the fabled lamp in Virgil's tomb, +burns clear in the grave, and lights us to the eternity beyond. + +For certainly, if there be neither satiety nor limit to Christian +progress here, there can be no better and stronger evidence that +Christian progress here is but the first 'lap' of the race, the first +_stadium_ of the course, and that beyond that narrow, dark line which +lies across the path, it runs on, rising higher, and will run on for +ever. + + 'On earth the broken arc; in heaven the perfect round.' + +Seek for what you are sure to find; seek for what will never disappoint +you; seek for what will abide with you for ever. The very first word of +Christ's recorded in Scripture is a question which He puts to us all: +'_What_ seek ye?' Well for us, if like the two to whom it was +originally addressed, we answer, 'We are not seeking a What; we are +seeking a Whom.—Master, where dwellest Thou?' And if we have that +answer in our hearts, we shall receive the invitation which they +received, 'Come and see,'—come and seek. 'Ye shall seek Me' is a +gracious invitation, an imperative command, and a faithful promise that +if we seek we shall find. 'Whoso findeth _Him_ findeth life; whoso +misseth _Him_'—whatever else he has sought and found—'wrongeth his own +soul.' + + + + +'AS I HAVE LOVED' + + +'A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another: as I have +loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know +that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.'—JOHN xiii. +34, 35. + +Wishes from dying lips are sacred. They sink deep into memories and +mould faithful lives. The sense of impending separation had added an +unwonted tenderness to our Lord's address, and He had designated His +disciples by the fond name of 'little children.' The same sense here +gives authority to His words, and moulds them into the shape of a +command. The disciples had held together because He was in their midst. +Will the arch stand when the keystone is struck out? Will not the +spokes fall asunder when the nave of the wheel is taken away? He would +guard them from the disintegrating tendencies that were sure to set in +when He was gone; and He would point them to a solace for His absence, +and to a kind of substitute for His presence. For to love the brethren +whom they see would be, in some sense, a continuing to love the Christ +whom they had ceased to see. And so, immediately after He said: +'Whither I go ye cannot come,' He goes on to say: 'Love one another as +I have loved you.' + +He called this a 'new commandment,' though to love one's neighbour as +one's self was a familiar commonplace amongst the Jews, and had a +recognised position in Rabbinical teaching. But His commandment +proposed a new object of love, it set forth a new measure of love, so +greatly different from all that had preceded it as to become almost a +new kind of love, and it suggested and supplied a new motive power for +love. This commandment 'could give life' and fulfil itself. Therefore +it comes to us as a 'new commandment'—even to us—and, unlike the words +which preceded it, which we were considering in former sermons, it is +wholly and freshly applicable to-day as in the ages that are passed. I +ask you, first, to consider— + +I. The new scope of the new commandment. + +'Love one another.' The newness of the precept is realised, if we think +for a moment of the new phenomenon which obedience to it produced. When +the words were spoken, the then-known civilised Western world was cleft +by great, deep gulfs of separation, like the crevasses in a glacier, by +the side of which our racial animosities and class differences are +merely superficial cracks on the surface. Language, religion, national +animosities, differences of condition, and saddest of all, difference +of sex, split the world up into alien fragments. A 'stranger' and an +'enemy' were expressed in one language, by the same word. The learned +and the unlearned, the slave and his master, the barbarian and the +Greek, the man and the woman, stood on opposite sides of the gulfs, +flinging hostility across. A Jewish peasant wandered up and down for +three years in His own little country, which was the very focus of +narrowness and separation and hostility, as the Roman historian felt +when he called the Jews the 'haters of the human race'; He gathered a +few disciples, and He was crucified by a contemptuous Roman governor, +who thought that the life of one fanatical Jew was a small price to pay +for popularity with his troublesome subjects, and in a generation +after, the clefts were being bridged and all over the Empire a strange +new sense of unity was being breathed, and 'Barbarian, Scythian, bond +and free,' male and female, Jew and Greek, learned and ignorant, +clasped hands and sat down at one table, and felt themselves 'all one +in Christ Jesus.' They were ready to break all other bonds, and to +yield to the uniting forces that streamed out from His Cross. There +never had been anything like it. No wonder that the world began to +babble about sorcery, and conspiracies, and complicity in unnameable +vices. It was only that the disciples were obeying the 'new +commandment,' and a new thing had come into the world—a community held +together by love and not by geographical accidents or linguistic +affinities, or the iron fetters of the conqueror. You sow the seed in +furrows separated by ridges, and the ground is seamed, but when the +seed springs the ridges are hidden, no division appears, and as far as +the eye can reach, the cornfield stretches, rippling in unbroken waves +of gold. The new commandment made a new thing, and the world wondered. + +Now then, brethren, do not let us forget that, although to obey this +commandment is in some respects a great deal harder to-day than it was +then, the diverse circumstances in which Christian individuals and +Christian communities are this day placed may modify the form of our +obedience, but do not in the smallest degree weaken the obligation, for +the individual Christian and for societies of Christians, to follow +this commandment. The multiplication of numbers, the cessation of the +armed hostility of the world, the great varieties in intellectual +position in regard to the truths of Christianity, divergencies of +culture, and many other things, are separating forces, But our +Christianity is worth very little, if it cannot master these separating +tendencies, even as in the early days of freshness, the Christianity +that sprang in these new converts' minds mastered the far more powerful +separating tendencies with which they had to contend. + +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 being, which are far deeper, and ought to be far more +operative in drawing together, than the superficial differences of +culture or opinion or the like, which may part us. The bond that holds +Christian men together is their common relation to the one Lord, and +that ought to influence their attitude to one another. You say I am +talking commonplaces. Yes; and the condition of Christianity this day +is the sad and tragical sign that the commonplaces need to be talked +about, till they are rubbed into the conscience of the Church as they +never have been before. + +Do not let us suppose that Christian love is mere sentiment. I shall +have to speak a word or two about that presently, but I would fain lift +the whole subject, if I can, out of the region of mere unctuous words +and gush of half-feigned emotion, which mean nothing, and would make +you feel that it is a very practical commandment, gripping us hard, +when our Lord says to us, 'Love one another.' + +I have spoken about the accidental conditions which make obedience to +this commandment difficult. The real reason which makes the obedience +to it difficult is the slackness of our own hold on the Centre. In the +measure in which we are filled with Jesus Christ, in that measure will +that expression of His spirit and His life become natural to us. Every +Christian has affinities with every other Christian, in the depths of +his being, so as that he is a great deal more like his brother, who is +possessor of 'like precious faith,' however unlike the two may be in +outlook, in idiosyncrasy, and culture and in creed, 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 question, but from whom he is +parted by this, that the one trusts and loves and obeys Jesus Christ, +and the other does not. So, for individuals and for churches, 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 you, than you are to the non-Christian who seems nearest +to you. Therefore, let your love follow your kinship, and your heart +recognise the oneness that knits you together. That is a revolutionary +commandment; what would become of our present organisations of +Christianity if it were obeyed? That is a revolutionary commandment; +what would become of our individual relations to the whole family who, +in every place, and in many tongues, and with many creeds, call on +Jesus as on their Lord, their Lord and ours, if it were obeyed? I leave +you to answer the question. Only I say the commandment has for its +first scope all who, in every place, love the Lord Jesus Christ. + +But there is more than that involved in it. The very same principle +which makes this love to one another imperative upon all disciples, +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 them. +If I am to love a Christian man because he and I love Christ, I am to +love everybody, because Christ loves me and everybody, and because He +died on the Cross for me and for all men. And so one of the other +Apostles, or, at least, the letter which goes by his name, laid hold on +the true connection when, instead of concentrating Christian affection +on the Church, and letting the world go to the devil as an alien thing, +he said: 'Add to your faith,' this, that, and the other, and 'brotherly +kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity.' The particular does not +exclude the general, it leads to the general. The fire kindled upon the +hearth gives warmth to all the chamber. The circles are concentric, and +the widest sweep is struck from the same middle point as the narrow. So +the new commandment does not cut humanity into two halves, but gathers +all diversity into one, and spreads the great reconciling of Christian +love over all the antagonisms and oppositions of earth. Let me ask you +to notice— + +II. The example of the new commandment, 'As I have loved you.' + +That solemn 'as' lifts itself up before us, shines far ahead of us, +ought to draw us to itself in hope, and not to repel us from itself in +despair. 'As I have loved'—what a tremendous thing for a man to stand +up before his fellows, and say, 'Take Me as the perfect example of +perfect love; and let My example—un-dimmed by the mists of gathering +centuries, and un-weakened by the change of condition, and +circumstance, fresh as ever after ages have passed, and closely-fitting +as ever all varieties of human character and condition—stand before +you; the ideal that I have realised, and you will be blessed in the +proportion in which you seek, though you fail, to realise it!' There +is, I venture to believe, only one aspect of Jesus Christ in which such +a setting forth of Himself as the perfect Incarnation of perfect love +is warrantable; and that is found in the old belief that His very birth +was the result of His love, and that His death was the climax of that +love. And if so, we have to turn to Bethlehem, and the whole life, and +the Cross at its end, as being the Christ-given example and model for +our love to our brethren. + +What do we see there? I have said that there is too much of mere sickly +sentimentality about the ordinary treatment of this great commandment, +and that I desired to lift it out of that region into a far nobler, +more strenuous, and difficult one. This is what we see in that life and +in that death:—First of all—the activity of love—'Let _us_ not love in +words, but in deed and in truth'; then we see the self-forgetfulness of +love—'Even Christ pleased not Himself'; then we see the self-sacrifice +of love—'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his +life for his friends.' And in these three points, on which I would fain +enlarge if I might, active love, self-oblivious love, self-sacrificing +love, you have the pattern set for us all. Christian love is no mere +sickly maiden, full of sentimental emotions and honeyed words. She is a +strenuous virgin, girt for service, a heroine ready for dangers, and +prepared to be a martyr if it be needful. Love's language is sacrifice. +'I give thee myself,' is its motto. And that is the pattern that is set +before us all—'as I have loved you.' + +I have tried to show you how the commandment was new in many +particulars, and it is for ever new in this particular, that it is for +ever before us, unattained, and drawing faithful hearts to itself, and +ever opening out into new heroisms and, therefore, blessedness, of +self-sacrifice, and ever leading us to confess the differences, deep, +tragic, sinful, between us and Him who—we sometimes think too +presumptuously—we venture to say is our Lord and Master. + +Did you ever see in some great picture gallery a copyist sitting in +front of a Raffaelle, and comparing his poor feeble daub, all out of +drawing, and with little of the divine beauty that the master had +breathed over his canvas, even if it preserved the mere mechanical +outline? That is what you and I should do with our lives: take them and +put them down side by side with the original. We shall have to do it +some day. Had we better not do it now, and try to bring the copy a +little nearer to the masterpiece; and let that 'as I have loved you' +shine before us and draw us on to unattainable heights? + +And now, lastly, we have here— + +III. The motive power for obedience to the commandment. + +That is as new as all the rest. That 'as' expresses the manner of the +love, but it also expresses the motive and the power. It might be +translated into the equivalent 'in the fashion in which,' or it might +be translated into the equivalent 'since—' 'I have loved you.' The +original might bear the rendering, 'that ye also may love one another.' +That is to say, what keeps men from obeying this commandment is the +instinctive self-regard which is natural to us all. There are muscles +in the body which are so constructed that they close tightly; and the +heart is something like one of these sphincter muscles—it shuts by +nature, especially if there has been anything put inside it over which +it can shut and keep it all to itself. But there is one thing that +dethrones Self, and enthrones the angel Love in a heart, and that is, +that into that heart there shall come surging the sense of the great +love 'wherewith I have loved you.' That melts the iceberg; nothing else +will. + +That love of Christ to us, received into our hearts, and there +producing an answering love to Him, will make us, in the measure in +which we live in it and let it rule us, love everything and every +person that He loves. That love of Jesus Christ, stealing into our +hearts and there sweetening the ever-springing 'issues of life,' will +make them flow out in glad obedience to any commandment of His. That +love of Jesus Christ, received into our hearts, and responded to by our +answering love, will work, as love always does, a magical +transformation. A great monastic teacher wrote his precious book about +_The Imitation of Christ_. 'Imitation' is a great word, +'Transformation' is a greater. 'We all,' receiving on the mirror of our +loving hearts the love of Jesus Christ, 'are changed into the same +likeness.' Thus, then, the love, which is our pattern, is also our +motive and our power for obedience, and the more we bring ourselves +under its influences, the more we shall love all those who are beloved +by, and lovers of, Jesus. + +That is the one foundation for a world knit together in the bonds of +amity and concord. There have been attempts at brotherhood, and the +guillotine has ended what was begun in the name of 'fraternity.' Men +build towers, but there is no cement between the bricks, unless the +love of Christ holds them together, and therefore Babel after Babel +comes down about the ears of its builders. But notwithstanding all that +is dark to-day, and though the war-clouds are lowering, and the hearts +of men are inflamed with fierce passions, Christ's commandment is +Christ's promise; and though the vision tarry, it will surely come. So +even to-day Christian men ought to stand for Christ's peace, and for +Christ's love. The old commandment which we have had from the +beginning, is the new commandment that fits to-day as it fits all the +ages. It is a dream, say some. Yes, a dream; but a morning dream which +comes true. Let us do the little we can to make it true, and to bring +about the day when the flock of men will gather round the one Shepherd, +who loved them to the death, and who has bid them and helped them to +'love one another as'—and since—'He has loved them.' + + + + +QUO VADIS? + + +'Peter said unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now! I will lay +down my life for Thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy +life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not +crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice.'—JOHN xiii. 37, 38. + +Peter's main characteristics are all in operation here; his eagerness +to be in the front, his habit of blurting out his thoughts and +feelings, his passionate love for his Master, and withal his inability +to understand Him, and his self-confident arrogance. He has broken in +upon Christ's solemn words, entirely deaf to their deep meaning, but +blindly and blunderingly laying hold of one thought only, that Jesus is +departing, and that he is to be left alone. So he asks the question, +'Lord! thither goest Thou?'—not so much caring about that, as meaning +by his question—'tell me where, and then I will come too'; pledging +himself to follow faithfully, as a dog behind his master, wherever He +went. + +Our Lord answered the underlying meaning of the words, repeating with a +personal application what He had just before said as a general +principle—'Whither I go thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shall +follow Me afterwards.' Then followed this noteworthy dialogue. + +The whole significance of the incident is preserved for us in the +beautiful legend which tells us how, near the city of Rome, on the +Appian Way, as Peter was flying for his life, he met the Lord, and +again said to Him: 'Lord, whither goest Thou?' The words of the +question, as given in the Vulgate, are the name of the site of the +supposed interview, and of the little church which stands on it. The +Master answered: 'I go to Rome, to be crucified again.' The answer +smote the heart of the Apostle, and turned the cowardly fugitive into a +hero; and he followed his Lord, and went gladly to his death. For it +was that death which had to be accomplished before Peter was able to +follow his Lord. + +Now, as to the words before us, I think we shall best gather their +significance, and lay it upon our own hearts, if we simply follow the +windings of the dialogue. There are three points: the audacious +question, the rash vow, and the sad forecast. + +I. The audacious question. + +As Peter's first question, 'Lord, whither goest Thou?' meant not so +much what it said, as 'I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest; +tell me, that I may'; so the second question, in like manner, is really +not so much a question, 'Why cannot I follow Thee now?' as the nearest +possible approach to a flat contradiction of our Lord. Peter puts his +words into the shape of an interrogation; what he means is, 'Yes, I can +follow Thee; and in proof thereof, I will lay down my life for Thy +sake.' The man's persistence, the man's love leading him to lack of +reverence, came out in this (as I have ventured to call it) audacious +question. Its underlying meaning was a refusal to believe the Master's +word. But yet there was in it a nobility of resolution—broken +afterwards, but never mind about that—to endure anything rather than to +be separate from the Lord. Yet, though it was noble in its motive, but +lacking in reverence in its form, there was a deeper error than that in +it. Peter did not know what 'following' meant, and he had to be taught +that first. One of the main reasons why he could not follow was because +he did not understand what was involved. It was something more than +marching behind his Master, even to a Cross. There was a deeper +discipline and a more strenuous effort needed than would have availed +for such a kind of following. + +Let us look a little onwards into his life. Recall that scene on the +morning of the day by the banks of the lake, when he waded through the +shallow water, and cast himself, dripping, at his Master's feet, and, +having by his threefold confession obliterated his threefold denial, +was taken back to his Lord's love, and received the permission for +which he had hungered, and which he had been told, in the upper room, +could not 'now' be given: 'Jesus said to him, Follow thou Me.' What a +flood of remembrances must then have rushed over the penitent Peter! +how he must have thought to himself, 'So soon, so soon is the "canst +not" changed into a _canst_! So soon has the "afterwards" come to be +the present!' + +And long years after that, when he was an old man, and experience had +taught him what _following_ meant, he shared his privilege with all the +dispersed strangers to whom he wrote, and said to them, with a definite +reference to this incident, and to the other after the Resurrection, +'leaving us an example, that we (not only, as I used to think, in my +exuberant days of ignorance) should follow in His steps.' + +So, brethren, this blundering, loving, audacious question suggests to +us that to follow Jesus Christ is the supreme direction for all +conduct. Men of all creeds, men of no creed, admit that. The + + 'Loveliness of perfect deeds, + More strong than all poetic thought,' + +which is set forth in that life constitutes the living law to which all +conduct is to be conformed, and will be noble in proportion as it is +conformed. + +_There_ is the great blessing, and solemn obligation, and lofty +prerogative of Christian morality, that for obedience to a precept it +substitutes following a Person, and instead of saying to men 'Be good' +it says to them 'Be Christlike.' It brings the conception of duty out +of the region of abstractions into the region of living realities. For +the cold statuesque ideal of perfection it substitutes a living Man, +with a heart to love, and a hand to help us. Thereby the whole aspect +of striving after the right is changed; for the work is made easier, +and companionship comes in to aid morality, when Jesus Christ says to +us, 'Be like Me; and then you will be good and blessed.' Effort will be +all but as blessed as attainment, and the sense of pressing hard after +Him will be only less restful than the consciousness of having +attained. To follow Him is bliss, to reach Him is heaven. + +But in order that this following should be possible, there must be +something done that had not been done when Peter asked, 'Why cannot I +follow Thee now?' One reason why he could not was, as I said, because +he did not know yet what 'following' meant, and because he was yet +unfit for this assimilation of his character and of his conduct to the +likeness of his Lord. And another reason was because the Cross still +lay before the Lord, and until that death of infinite love and utter +self-sacrifice for others had been accomplished, the pattern was not +yet complete, nor the highest ideal of human life realised in life. +Therefore the 'following' was impossible. Christ must die before He has +completed the example that we are to follow, and Christ must die before +the impulse shall be given to us, which shall make us able to tread, +however falteringly and far behind, in His footsteps. + +The essence of His life and of His death lies in the two things, entire +suppression of personal will in obedience to the will of the Father, +and entire self-sacrifice for the sake of humanity. And however there +is—and God forbid that I should ever forget in my preaching that there +is—a uniqueness in that sacrifice, in that life, and in that death, +which beggars all imitation, and needs and tolerates no repetition +whilst the world lasts, still along with this, there is that which is +imitable in the life and imitable in the death of the Master. To follow +Jesus is to live denying self for God, and to live sacrificing self for +men. Nothing less than these are included in the solemn words, 'leaving +us'—even in the act and article of death when He 'suffered for us'—'an +example that we should follow His steps.' + +The word rendered 'example' refers to the headline which the +writing-master gives his pupils to copy, line by line. We all know how +clumsy the pothooks and hangers are, how blurred the page with many a +blot. And yet there, at the top of it, stands the Master's fair +writing, and though even the last line on the page will be blotted and +blurred, when we turn it over and begin on the new leaf, the copy will +be like the original, 'and we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him +as He is.' 'Thou shalt follow Me afterwards' is a commandment; blessed +be God, it is also a promise. For let us not forget that the +'following' ends in an attaining; even as the Lord Himself has said in +another connection, when He spake: 'If any man serve Me, let him follow +Me, and where I am, there shall also My servant be.' Of course, if we +follow, we shall come to the same place one day. And so the great +promise will be fulfilled; 'they shall follow the Lamb,' in that higher +life, 'whithersoever He goeth'; and not as here imperfectly, and far +behind, but close beside Him, and keeping step for step, being with Him +first, and following Him afterwards. + +But let us remember that with regard to that future following and its +completeness, the same present incapacity applies, as clogs and mars +the 'following,' which is conforming our lives to His. For, as He +Himself has said to us, 'I go to prepare a place for you,' and until He +had passed through death and into His glory, there was no +standing-ground for human feet on the golden pavements, and heaven was +inaccessible to man until Christ had died. Thus, as all life is changed +when it is looked upon as being a following of Jesus, so death becomes +altogether other when it is so regarded. The first martyr outside the +city wall, bruised and battered by the cruel stones, remembered his +Master's death, and shaped his own to be like it. As Jesus, when He +died, had said: 'Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit,' Stephen, +dying, said: 'Lord Jesus, receive My spirit.' As the Master had given +His last breath to the prayer, 'Father, forgive them; they know not +what they do,' so Stephen shaped his last utterance to a conformity +with his Lord's, in which the difference is as significant as the +likeness, and said, 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' And then, +as the record beautifully says, amidst all that wild hubbub and cruel +assault, 'he fell on sleep,' as a child on its mother's breast. Death +is changed when it becomes the following of Christ. + +II. We have here a rash vow. + +'I will lay down my life for Thy sake.' What a strange inversion of +parts is here! 'Lay down thy life for My sake'—with Calvary less than +four-and-twenty hours off, when Christ laid down His life for Peter's +sake. Peter was guilty of an anachronism in the words, for the time did +not come for the disciple to die for his Lord till after the Lord had +died for His disciple. But he was right in feeling, though he felt it +only in regard to an external and physical act, that to follow Jesus, +it was necessary to be ready to die for Him. And that is the great +truth which underlies and half redeems the rashness of this vow, and +needs to be laid upon our hearts, if we are ever to be the true +followers of the Master. Death for Christ is necessary if we are to +follow Him. There is nothing that a man can do deeply and truly, in a +manner worthy of a Christian, which has not underlying it, either the +death of self-will and all the godless nature, or if need be the actual +physical death, which is a much smaller matter. You cannot follow +Christ except you die daily. No man has ever yet trodden in His +footsteps except on condition of, moment by moment, slaying self, +suppressing self, abjuring self, breaking the connection of self with +the material world, and yielding up himself as a living sacrifice, in a +living death, to the Lord of life and death. Do not think that +'following Christ' is a mere sentimental expression for so much +morality as we can conveniently get into our daily life. But remember +that here, with all his rashness, with all his ignorance, with all his +superficiality, the Apostle has laid hold upon the great permanent, but +alas! much-forgotten principle, that to die is essential to following +Jesus. + +This daily dying, which is a far harder thing to do than to go to a +cross once, and have done with it—was impossible for Peter then, though +he did not know it. His vow was a rash one, because the laying down of +Christ's life, for Peter's sake and for ours, had not yet been +accomplished. _There_ is the motive-power by which, and by which alone, +drawn in gratitude, and melted down from all our selfishness, we, too, +in our measure and our turn, are able to yield ourselves, in daily +crucifixion of our evil, and daily abnegation of self-trust, and +self-pleasing, and self-will, to the Lord that has died for us. He must +lay down His life for our sakes, and we must know He has done it, and +rest upon Him as our great Sacrifice and our atoning Priest, or else we +shall never be so loosed from the tyranny of self as to be ready to +live by dying, and to die that we may live for His sake. 'I go to Rome +to be crucified again' were the words in which the old legend braced +the fugitive and made a hero of him, and sent him back to be crucified +like his Lord and to offer up his physical life, as he had long since +offered up his self-will and his arrogance to the Lord that had died +for him. + +O Lord our Father! help us, we beseech Thee, that we may be of the +sheep that hear the Shepherd's voice and follow Him. Strengthen our +faith in that dear Lord who has laid down His life for us, that we may +daily, by self-denial and self-sacrifice, lay down our lives for Him, +and follow Him here in all the footsteps of His love. + + + + +A RASH VOW + + +'Jesus answered him, Wilt them lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, +verily I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied +Me thrice.'—JOHN xiii. 38. + +In the last sermon I partly considered the dialogue of which this is +the concluding portion, and found that it consisted of an audacious +question: 'Why cannot I follow Thee now?' which really meant a +contradiction of our Lord; of a rash vow; 'I will lay down my life for +Thy sake'—and of a sad forecast: 'The cock shall not crow till thou +hast denied Me thrice.' I paused in the middle of considering the +second of these three stages, the rash vow. I then pointed out that, +however ignorant the Apostle was of what 'following Christ' meant, he +had hit the mark, and stumbled unknowingly upon the very essence of the +Christian life, and an eternal truth, when he recognised that, somehow +or other, to 'follow Christ' meant to die for Him. That is so, and is +so always, for there is no following Christ which is not a 'dying +daily,' by self-immolation and detachment from the world, and from the +life of sense and self. But this rash vow has to be looked at from a +somewhat different point of view, and we have to consider not only the +strangely blended right and wrong, error and deep truth, that lie in +its substance, but the strangely blended right and wrong in the state +of feeling and thought, on the part of the Apostle, which it +represents. And taking up the dropped thread, I first deal with that, +and then with the sad forecast which follows. + +So then, looking at these words as being like all our words, even the +best of them, strangely mingled of right and wrong, good and evil, I +find in them— + +I. A noble, sincere, but transient emotion and impulse. + +'I will lay down my life for Thy sake.' Peter meant it, every word of +it; and he would have done it too, if only a gibbet or cross could have +been set up then and there in the upper room. But unfortunately the +moments of elevation and high-wrought enthusiasm, and the calls to +martyrdom, do not always coincide. In the upper room, with its sacred +atmosphere, it was easy to feel, and would have been easy to do, nobly. +But it was not so easy, lying drowsily in Gethsemane, in the cold +spring night, waiting for the Master's coming out from beneath the +trembling shadows of the olive trees, or huddled up by the fire at the +lower end of the hall in the grey morning, when vitality is at its +lowest. + +So the sincere, noble utterance was but the expression of impulse and +emotion which lifted Peter for a moment, and did him good, but which +likewise, running through him, left him dry, and all the weaker because +of the gush of feeling which had foamed itself away in empty words. For +let us never forget that however high, noble, or divinely inspired +emotion may be, in its nature it is transient and is sure to be +followed by reaction. Like the winter torrents in some parched land, +the more they foam, the more speedily does the bed of them dry up +again, and the more they carry down the very soil in which growth and +fertility would be possible. A rush of feeling is apt to leave behind +hard, insensitive rock. There is a close connection between a +predominantly emotional Christianity and a very imperfect life. Feeling +is apt to be a substitute for action. Is it not a very remarkable thing +that the word 'benevolence,' which means 'kindly feeling,' has come to +take on the meaning rightly belonging to 'beneficence,' which means +'kindly doing'? The emotional man blinds and hoodwinks himself, by +thinking that his quick sensibility and lofty enthusiasm and warmth of +emotion are action or as good as action. 'Be thou warmed and filled,' +he says to his brother, and, in a lazy expansion of heart, forgets that +he has never lifted a finger to help. + +God forbid that I should seem to deprecate emotional religion or +religious emotion! that is the last thing that needs to be done in this +generation. If the Churches want one thing more than another, it is +that their Christianity should become far more emotional than it is, +and their impulses stronger, swifter, more spontaneous, more +overmastering, and that they should be urged by these, 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 off. Their service will +be glad service, only when it is impulsive service and emotional +service. Dear brethren, a Christian man whose life is not influenced by +the deepest and most fervid emotion of love to the great Love that died +for him, is a monster. 'The Lord's fire is in Jerusalem, and His +furnace in Zion'—is that a description of the fervour of this Church, +or of any Church in Christendom? A furnace? An ice-house! Think of some +deserted cottage, with the roof fallen in, and in the cold +chimney-place a rusty grate with some dead embers in it, 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 furnace.' + +But the lesson to be taken from this incident before us is not the +danger of emotion; it is rather the necessity of emotion, but with two +provisoes, that it shall be emotion based upon a clear recognition of +the great truth that He has laid down His life for me; and that it +shall be emotion harnessed to work, and not wasted in words. The +mightier the plunge of the fall, the more electrical energy you can get +out of it, and set that to work to drive the wheels of life. Do not be +afraid of emotion; you will make little of your Christianity unless you +have it. But be sure that it is under the guidance of a clear +perception of the truth that evokes it, and that it is all used to turn +the wheels of life. 'Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than +that thou shouldest vow and not pay.' Better is it that emotion should +be reticent and active than that it should be voluble and idle. It is a +good servant, but a bad master. A man that trusts to impulse and +emotion to further his Christian course, is like a ship in that belt of +variable winds that lies near the Equator, where there will be a fine +ten-knot breeze for an hour or two, and then a sickly, stagnating calm. +Push further south, and get into the steady 'trades,' where the wind +blows with equable and persistent force all the year round in the same +direction. Convert impulses and emotions into steadfast principle, +warmed by emotion and borne on by impulse. + +II. Again, this rash vow is an illustration of a confidence, also +strangely blended of good and evil. + +'I will lay down my life for Thy sake.' As I have said, Peter meant it. +His words are paralleled by other words, in which two of the Lord's +disciples answered His solemn question: 'Are ye able to drink of the +cup that I drink of?' with the unhesitating answer, 'We are able.' A +great teacher has regarded that saying as one of 'the ventures of +faith.' Perhaps it was. Perhaps there was as much self-confidence as +faith in it. Certainly there was more self-confidence than faith in +Peter's answer, and his self-confidence collapsed when the trial came. + +The world and the Church hold entirely antagonistic notions about the +value of self-reliance. The world says that it is a condition of power. +The Church says that it is the root of weakness. Self-confidence shuts +a man out from the help of God, and so shuts him out from the source of +power. For if you will think for a moment, you will see that the faith +which the New Testament, in conformity with all wise knowledge of one's +self, preaches as the one secret of power, has for its obverse—its +other side—diffidence and self-distrust. No man trusts God as God ought +to be trusted, who does not distrust himself as himself ought to be +distrusted. To level a mountain is the only way to carry the water +across where it stood. You can, by mechanism and locks, take a canal up +to the top of a hill, but you cannot take a river up to the top, and +the river of God's help flows through the valley and seeks the lowest +levels. Faith and self-despair are the upper and the under sides of the +same thing, like some cunningly-woven cloth, the one side bearing a +different pattern from the other, and yet made of the same yarn, and +the same threads passing from the upper to the under sides. So faith +and self-distrust are but two names for one composite whole. + +I was once shown an old Jewish coin which had on the one side the words +'sackcloth and ashes,' and on the other side the words 'a crown of +gold.' The coin meant to contrast what Israel had been with what Israel +then was. The crown had come first; the sackcloth and ashes last. But +we may use it for illustrating this point, on which I am now dwelling. +Wherever, and only where, there are the sackcloth and ashes of +self-despair there will be the crown of gold of an answering faith. +When thus, as Wesley has it, in his great hymn: 'Confident in +self-despair,' we cling to God, then we can say: 'When I am weak then +am I strong,' 'Behold! we have no might, but our eyes are upon Thee.' +If Peter had only said, 'By Thy help I will lay down my life for Thy +sake,' his confidence would have been reasonable and blessed +self-confidence, because it would have been confidence in a self +inspired by divine power. + +And so, brethren, whilst utter diffidence is right for us, and is the +condition of all our reception of energy according to our need, the +most absolute confidence—a confidence which, to the eye of the man that +measures only visible things, will seem sheer insanity—is sobriety for +a Christian. The world is perfectly right when it says: 'If you believe +you can do a thing, you have gone a long way towards doing it.' The +expectation of success has often the knack of fulfilling itself. But +the world does not know our secret, and our secret is that our humble +faith brings into the field the reserves with the Captain of our +salvation at their head. Therefore a self-distrusting Christian can +say, and say without exaggeration or presumption, 'I can do all things +in Christ, strengthening me from within.' + +The Church's ideals are possibilities, when you bring God into the +account, and they look like insanity when you do not. Take, for +instance, missions. 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 earth, and finding +everywhere a response to it. Yes; it is absurd; but, wise Mr. +Calculator, counter of heads, you have forgotten God in your estimate +of whether it is reasonable or unreasonable. Again, take the Christian +ideal of absolute perfection of character. 'What nonsense to talk as if +any man could ever come to that.' Yes!—as if any _man_ could come to +that, I grant you. But if God is with him, the nonsense is to suppose +that he will not come to it. Here is a row of cyphers as long as your +arm. They mean nothing. Put a 1 at the left-hand end of the row; and +what does it mean then? So the faith that brings Christ into the life, +and into the Church, makes 'nobodies' into mighty men—'laughs at +impossibilities, and cries, It shall be done!' + +Still further, here, in this rash vow, we have an underestimate of +difficulties. There was another incident in the life of the Apostle, a +strange replica of this one, into which he pushed himself, just as he +did into the high priest's hall, partly out of curiosity and a wish to +be prominent; partly out of love to his Master. Without a moment's +consideration of the peril into which he was thrusting himself, he sat +in the boat, and said, 'Bid me come to Thee on the water.' He forgot +that He was heavy, and that water was not solid, and that the wind was +high and the lake rough, and when he put his foot over the side and +felt the cold waves creeping up his knees, his courage ebbed out with +his faith, and he began to sink. Then he cried, 'Lord! help me!' If he +had thought for a moment of the reality of the case, he would have sat +still in the boat. If he had thought of what would be in his way in +following Jesus to death, he would have hesitated to vow. But it is so +much easier to resolve heroisms in a quiet corner than to do them when +the strain comes, and it is so much easier to do some one great thing +that has in it enthusiasm and nobility, and conspicuousness of +sacrifice, especially if it can be got over in a moment, like having +one's head cut off with an axe, than it is to 'die daily.' Ah! +brethren, it is the little difficulties that make _the_ difficulty. You +read in the newspapers in the autumn, every now and then, of trains, in +that wonderful country across the water, being stopped by caterpillars. +The Christian train is stopped by an army of caterpillars, far oftener +than it is by some solid and towering barrier. Our Christian lives are +a great deal likelier to come to failure, because we do not take into +account the multiplied small antagonisms than because we are not ready +to face the greater ones. What would you think of a bridge builder, who +built a bridge across some mountain torrent and made no allowance for +freshets and floods when the ice melted? His bridge and his piers would +be gone the first winter. You remember who it was that said that he +went into the Franco-German War 'with a light heart,' and in seven +weeks came Sedan and the dethronement of an Emperor, and the surrender +of an army. 'Blessed is he that feareth always.' There is no more fatal +error than an underestimate of our difficulties. + +III. Let me say a word about the sad forecast here. + +'Thou shalt deny me thrice.' + +We cannot say that poor Peter's fall was at all an anomalous or +uncommon thing. He did exactly what a great many of us are doing. He +could—and I have no doubt he would—have gone to the death for Jesus +Christ; but he could not stand being laughed at for Him. He would have +been ready to meet the executioner's sharp sword, but the +servant-girl's sharp tongue was more than he could bear. And so he +denied Jesus, 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 of. + +Now, dear brethren, 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 people. You young men in your warehouses, you +students at the University, where it is a sign of being 'fossils' and +'behind the times' and 'not up to date' to say 'I am a Christian,' and +all of us in our several places have sometimes to gather our courage +together, and not be afraid to declare whose we are. No doubt life is a +better witness than words, but no doubt also life is not so good a +witness as it might be, unless it sometimes has the commentary of words +as well. Thus, to confess Christ means two things; to say sometimes—in +the face of a smile of scorn, which is often harder to bear than +something much more dangerous—'I am His,' and to live Christ, and to +say by conduct 'I am His,' 'Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him +will I also confess before My Father, and whosoever shall deny Me, him +will I also deny.' Do not button your coats over your uniform. Do not +take the cockade out of your hats when you go amongst 'the other side.' +Live Jesus, and, when advisable, preach Jesus. + +But Peter's fall, which is typical of what we are all tempted to do, +has in it a gracious message; for it proclaims the possibility of +recovery from any depth of descent, and of coming back again from any +distance of wandering. Did you ever notice how Peter's fall was burnt +in upon his memory, so as that when he began to preach after Pentecost, +the shape that his indictment of his hearers takes is, 'Ye denied the +Holy One and the Just,' and how, long after—if the second Epistle which +goes by his name is his—in summing up the crimes of the heretics whom +he is branding, he speaks of their 'denying the Lord that bought them.' +He never forgot his denial, and it remained with him as the expression +for all that was wrong in a man's relation to Jesus Christ. And I +suppose not only was it burnt in upon his memory, but it burnt out all +his self-confidence. + +It is beautiful to see how, in his letter, he speaks over and over +again of 'fear' as being a wise temper of mind for a Christian. As +George Herbert has it, 'A sad, wise valour is the true complexion.' +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 you, with meekness and fear.' + +And do you not think that his fall drew him closer to Jesus Christ than +ever he had been before, as he learned more of His pardoning love and +mercy? Was he not nearer the Lord on that morning when the two +together, alone, talked after the Resurrection? Was he not nearer Him +when he struggled to his feet from the boat on the lake, on that +morning when he was received back into his office as Christ's Apostle? +Did he ever forget how he had sinned? Did he ever forget how Christ had +pardoned? Did he ever forget how Christ loved and would keep him? Ah, +no! The rope that is broken is strongest where it is spliced, not +because it was broken, but because a cunning hand has strengthened it. +We may be the stronger for our sins, not because sin strengthens, for +it weakens, but because God restores. It is possible that we may build +a fairer structure on the ruins of our old selves. It is possible that +we may turn every field of defeat into a field of victory. It is +possible that we may + + 'Fall to rise; be beaten, to fight better.' + +If only we cling to the Lord our Strength, the promise shall be +ours—whatever our failures, denials, backslidings, +inconsistencies—'though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down, for +the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.' + + + + +FAITH IN GOD AND CHRIST + + +'Let not your heart be troubled … believe in God, believe also in +Me.'—JOHN xiv. 1. + +The twelve were sitting in the upper chamber, stupefied with the +dreary, half-understood prospect of Christ's departure. He, forgetting +His own burden, turns to comfort and encourage them. These sweet and +great words most singularly blend gentleness and dignity. Who can +reproduce the cadence of soothing tenderness, soft as a mother's hand, +in that 'Let not your heart be troubled'? And who can fail to feel the +tone of majesty in that 'Believe in God, believe also in Me'? + +The Greek presents an ambiguity in the latter half of the verse, for +the verb may be either indicative or imperative, and so we may read +four different ways, according as we render each of the two 'believes' +in either of these two fashions. Our Authorised and Revised Versions +concur in adopting the indicative 'Ye believe' in the former clause and +the imperative in the latter. But I venture to think that we get a more +true and appropriate meaning if we keep both clauses in the same mood, +and read them both as imperatives: 'Believe in God, believe also in +Me.' It would be harsh, I think, to take one as an affirmation and the +other as a command. It would be irrelevant, I think, to remind the +disciples of their belief in God. It would break the unity of the verse +and destroy the relation of the latter half to the former, the former +being a negative precept: 'Let not your heart be troubled'; and the +latter being a positive one: 'Instead of being troubled, believe in +God, and believe in Me.' So, for all these reasons, I venture to adopt +the reading I have indicated. + +I. 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 God. + +It is only our familiarity with these words that blinds us to their +wonderfulness and their greatness. Try to hear them for the first time, +and to bring into remembrance the circumstances in which they were +spoken. Here is a man sitting among a handful of His friends, who is +within four-and-twenty hours of a shameful death, which to all +appearance was the utter annihilation of all His claims and hopes, and +He says, 'Trust in God, and trust in Me'! I think that if we had heard +that for the first time, we should have understood a little better than +some of us do the depth of its meaning. + +What is it that Christ asks for here? Or rather let me say, What is it +that Christ offers to us here? For we must not look at the words as a +demand or as a command, but rather as a merciful invitation to do what +it is life and blessing to do. It is a very low and inadequate +interpretation of these words which takes them as meaning little more +than 'Believe in God, believe that He is; believe in Me, believe that I +am.' 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 here. By +no means; what He invites us to goes a great deal deeper than that. The +essence of it is an act of the will and of the heart, not of the +understanding at all. A man may believe in Him as a historical person, +may accept all that is said about Him here, and yet not be within sight +of the trust in Him of which He here speaks. For the essence of the +whole is not the intellectual process of assent to a proposition, but +the intensely personal act of yielding up will and heart to a living +person. Faith does not grasp a doctrine, but a heart. The trust which +Christ requires is the bond that unites souls with Him; and the very +life of it is entire committal of myself to Him in all my relations and +for all my needs, and absolute utter confidence in Him as +all-sufficient for everything that I can require. Let us get away from +the cold intellectualism of 'belief' into the warm atmosphere of +'trust,' 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 requires. + +Further, note that, whatever may be this believing in Him which He asks +from us or invites us to render, it is precisely the same thing which +He bids us render to God. The two clauses in the original bring out +that idea even more vividly than in our version, because the order of +the words in the latter clause is inverted; and they read literally +thus: 'Believe in God, in Me also believe.' The purpose of the +inversion is to put these two, God and Christ, as close together as +possible; and to put the two identical emotions at the beginning and at +the end, at the two extremes and outsides of the whole sentence. Could +language be more deliberately adopted and moulded, even in its +consecution and arrangement, to enforce this thought, that whatever it +is that we give to Christ, it is the very same thing that we give to +God? And so He here proposes Himself as the worthy and adequate +recipient of all these emotions of confidence, submission, resignation, +which make up religion in its deepest sense. + +That tone is by no means singular in this place. It is the uniform tone +and characteristic of our Lord's teaching. Let me remind you just in a +sentence of one or two instances. What did He think of Himself who +stood up before the world and, with arms outstretched, like that great +white Christ in Thorwaldsen's lovely statue, said to all the troop of +languid and burdened and fatigued ones crowding at His feet: 'Come unto +Me all ye that are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you +rest'? That surely is a divine prerogative. What did He think of +Himself who said, 'All men should honour the Son even as they honour +the Father'? What did He think of Himself who, in that very Sermon on +the Mount (to which the advocates of a maimed and mutilated +Christianity tell us they pin their faith, instead of to mystical +doctrines) declared that He Himself was the Judge of humanity, and that +all men should stand at His bar and receive from Him 'according to the +deeds done in their body'? Upon any honest principle of interpreting +these Gospels, and unless you avowedly go picking and choosing amongst +His words, accepting this and rejecting that, 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 satisfy. + +I do not dwell upon that point, but I say, in one sentence, we have to +take that into account if we would estimate the character of Jesus +Christ as a Teacher and as a Man. I would not turn away from Him any +imperfect conceptions, as they seem to me, of His nature and His +work—rather would I foster them, and lead them on to a fuller +recognition of the full Christ—but this I am bound to say, that for my +part I believe that nothing but the wildest caprice, dealing with the +Gospels according to one's own subjective fancies, irrespective +altogether of the evidence, can strike out from the teaching of Christ +this its characteristic difference. What signalises Him, and separates +Him from all other religious teachers, is not the clearness or the +tenderness with which He reiterated the truths about the divine +Father's love, or about morality, and justice, and truth, and goodness; +but _the_ peculiarity of His call to the world is, 'Believe in Me.' And +if He said that, or anything like it, and if the representations of His +teaching in these four Gospels, which are the only source from which we +get any notion of Him at all, are to be accepted, why, then, one of two +things follows. Either He was wrong, and then He was a crazy +enthusiast, only acquitted of blasphemy because convicted of insanity; +or else—or else—He was 'God, manifest in the flesh.' It is vain to bow +down before a fancy portrait of a bit of Christ, and to exalt the +humble sage of Nazareth, and to leave out the very thing that makes the +difference between Him and all others, namely, these either audacious +or most true claims to be the Son of God, the worthy Recipient and the +adequate Object of man's religious emotions. 'Believe in God, in Me +also believe.' + +II. Now, secondly, notice that faith in Christ and faith in God are not +two, but one. + +These two clauses on the surface present juxtaposition. Looked at more +closely they present interpenetration and identity. Jesus Christ does +not merely set Himself up by the side of God, nor are we worshippers of +two Gods when we bow before Jesus and bow before the Father; but faith +in Christ is faith in God, and faith in God which is not faith in +Christ is imperfect, incomplete, and will not long last. To trust in +Him is to trust in the Father; to trust in the Father is to trust in +Him. + +What is the underlying truth that is here? How comes it that these two +objects blend into one, like two figures in a stereoscope; and that the +faith which flows to Jesus Christ rests upon God? This is the +underlying truth, that Jesus Christ, Himself divine, is the divine +Revealer of God. I need not dwell upon the latter of these two +thoughts: how there is no real knowledge of the real God in the depth +of His love, the tenderness of His nature or the lustrousness of His +holiness; how there is no certitude; how the God that we see outside of +Jesus Christ is sometimes doubt, sometimes hope, sometimes fear, always +far-off and vague, an abstraction rather than a person, 'a stream of +tendency' without us, that which is unnameable, and the like. I need +not dwell upon the thought that Jesus Christ has showed us a Father, +has brought a God to our hearts whom we can love, whom we can know +really though not fully, of whom we can be sure with a certitude which +is as deep as the certitude of our own personal being; that He has +brought to us a God before whom we do not need to crouch far off, that +He has brought to us a God whom we can trust. Very significant is it +that Christianity alone puts the very heart of religion in the act of +trust. Other religions put it in dread, worship, service, and the like. +Jesus Christ alone says, the bond between men and God is that blessed +one of trust. And He says so because He alone brings us a God whom it +is not ridiculous to tell men to trust. + +And, on the other hand, the truth that underlies this is not only that +Jesus Christ is the Revealer of God, but that He Himself is divine. +Light shines through a window, but the light and the glass that makes +it visible have nothing in common with one another. The Godhead shines +through Christ, but _He_ is not a mere transparent medium. It is +Himself that He is showing us when He is showing us God. 'He that hath +seen Me hath seen'—not the light that streams through Me—but 'hath +seen,' in Me, 'the Father.' And because He is Himself divine and the +divine Revealer, therefore the faith that grasps Him is inseparably one +with the faith that grasps God. Men could look upon a Moses, an Isaiah, +or a Paul, and in them recognise the eradiation of the divinity that +imparted itself through them, but the medium was forgotten in +proportion as that which it revealed was beheld. You cannot forget +Christ in order to see God more clearly, but to behold Him is to behold +God. + +And if that be true, these two things follow. One is that all imperfect +revelation of God is prophetic of, and leads up towards, the perfect +revelation in Jesus Christ. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews +gives that truth in a very striking fashion. He compares all other +means of knowing God to fragmentary syllables of a great word, of which +one was given to one man and another to another. God 'spoke at sundry +times and in manifold portions to the fathers by the prophets'; but the +whole word is articulately uttered by the Son, in whom He has 'spoken +unto us in these last times.' The imperfect revelation, by means of +those who were merely mediums for the revelation leads up to Him who is +Himself the Revelation, the Revealer, and the Revealed. + +And in like manner, all the imperfect faith that, laying hold of other +fragmentary means of knowing God, has tremulously tried to trust Him, +finds its climax and consummate flower in the full-blossomed faith that +lays hold upon Jesus Christ. The unconscious prophecies of heathendom; +the trust that select souls up and down the world have put in One whom +they dimly apprehended; the faith of the Old Testament saints; the +rudimentary beginnings of a knowledge of God and of a trust in Him +which are found in men to-day, and amongst us, outside of the circle of +Christianity—all these things are as manifestly incomplete as a +building reared half its height, and waiting for the corner-stone to be +brought forth, the full revelation of God in Jesus Christ, and the +intelligent and full acceptance of Him and faith in Him. + +And another thing is true, that without faith in Christ such faith in +God as is possible is feeble, incomplete, and will not long last. +Historically a pure theism is all but impotent. There is only one +example of it on a large scale in the world, and that is a kind of +bastard Christianity—Mohammedanism; and we all know what good that is +as a religion. There are plenty of people amongst us nowadays who claim +to be very advanced thinkers, and who call themselves Theists, and not +Christians. Well, I venture to say that that is a phase that will not +last. There is little substance in it. The God whom men know outside of +Jesus Christ is a poor, nebulous thing; an idea, not a reality. He, or +rather It, is a film of cloud shaped into a vague form, through which +you can see the stars. It has little power to restrain. It has less to +inspire and impel. It has still less to comfort; it has least of all to +satisfy the heart. 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 hearts. + +And so, dear brethren, I come to this—perhaps the word may be fitting +for some that listen to me—'Believe in God,' and that you may, 'believe +also in Christ.' For sure I am that when the stress comes, and you +_want_ a god, unless your god is the God revealed in Jesus Christ, he +will be a powerless deity. If you have not faith in Christ, you will +not long have faith in God that is vital and worth anything. + +III. Lastly, this trust in Christ is the secret of a quiet heart. + +It is of no use to say to men, 'Let not your hearts be troubled,' +unless you finish the verse and say, 'Believe in God, believe also in +Christ.' For unless we trust we shall certainly be troubled. The state +of man in this world is like that of some of those sunny islands in +southern seas, around which there often rave the wildest cyclones, and +which carry in their bosoms, beneath all their riotous luxuriance of +verdant beauty, hidden fires, which ever and anon shake the solid earth +and spread destruction. Storms without and earthquakes within—that is +the condition of humanity. And where is the 'rest' to come from? All +other defences are weak and poor. We have heard about 'pills against +earthquakes.' That is what the comforts and tranquillising which the +world supplies may fairly be likened to. Unless we trust we are, and we +shall be, and should be, 'troubled.' + +If we trust we may be quiet. Trust is always tranquillity. To cast a +burden off myself on others' shoulders is always a rest. But trust in +Jesus Christ brings infinitude on my side. Submission is repose. When +we cease to kick against the pricks they cease to prick and wound us. +Trust opens the heart, like the windows of the Ark tossing upon the +black and fatal flood, for the entrance of the peaceful dove with the +olive branch in its mouth. Trust brings Christ to my side in all His +tenderness and greatness and sweetness. If I trust, 'all is right that +seems most wrong.' If I trust, conscience is quiet. If I trust, life +becomes 'a solemn scorn of ills.' If I trust, inward unrest is changed +into tranquillity, and mad passions are cast out from him that sits +'clothed and in his right mind' at the feet of Jesus. + +'The wicked is like the troubled sea which cannot rest.' But if I +trust, my soul will become like the glassy ocean when all the storms +sleep, and 'birds of peace sit brooding on the charmed wave.' 'Peace I +leave with you.' 'Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust +also in Me.' + +Help us, O Lord! to yield our hearts to Thy dear Son, and in Him to +find Thyself and eternal rest. + + + + +'MANY MANSIONS' + + +'In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would +have told you.'—JOHN xiv. 2. + +Sorrow needs simple words for its consolation; and simple words are the +best clothing for the largest truths. These eleven poor men were +crushed and desolate at the thought of Christ's going; they fancied +that if He left them they lost Him. And so, in simple, childlike words, +which the weakest could grasp, and in which the most troubled could +find peace, He said to them, after having encouraged their trust in +Him, 'There is plenty of room for you as well as for Me where I am +going; 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 +it. Did I ever hide from you anything that was painful? Did I ever +allure you to follow Me by false promises? Should I have kept silence +about it if our separation was to be eternal?' So, simply, as a mother +might hush her babe upon her breast, He soothes their sorrow. And yet, +in the quiet words, so level to the lowest apprehension, there lie +great truths, far deeper than we yet have appreciated, and which will +enfold themselves in their majesty and their greatness through +eternity. 'In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I +would have told you.' + +I. Now note in these words, first, the 'Father's house,' and its ample +room. + +There is only one other occasion recorded in which our Lord used this +expression, and it occurs in this same Gospel near the beginning; where +in the narrative of the first cleansing of the Temple we read that He +said, 'Make not My Father's house a house of merchandise.' The earlier +use of the words may help to throw light upon one aspect of this latter +employment of it, for there blend in the image the two ideas of what I +may call domestic familiarity, and of that great future as being the +reality of which the earthly Temple was intended to be the dim prophecy +and shadow. Its courts, its many chambers, its ample porches with room +for thronging worshippers, represented in some poor way the wide sweep +and space of that higher house; and the sense of Sonship, which drew +the Boy to His Father's house in the earliest hours of conscious +childhood, speaks here. + +Think for a moment of how sweet and familiar the conception of heaven +as the Father's house makes it to us. There is something awful, even to +the best and holiest souls, in the thought of even the glories beyond. +The circumstances of death, which is its portal, our utter +unacquaintance with all that lies behind the veil, the terrible silence +and distance which falls upon our dearest ones as they are sucked into +the cloud, all tend to make us feel that there is much that is solemn +and awful even in the thought of eternal future blessedness. But how it +is all softened when we say, 'My Father's house.' Most of us have long +since left behind us the sweet security, the sense of the absence of +all responsibility, the assurance of defence and provision, which used +to be ours when we lived as children in a father's house here. But we +may all look forward to the renewal, in far nobler form, of these early +days, when the father's house meant the inexpugnable fortress where no +evil could befall us, the abundant home where all wants were supplied, +and where the shyest and timidest child could feel at ease and secure. +It is all coming again, brother, and amidst the august and unimaginable +glories of that future the old feeling of being little children, +nestling safe in the Father's house, will fill our quiet hearts once +more. + +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 another. Are they to dwell isolated +in their several mansions? Is that the way in which children in a home +dwell with each other? Surely if He be the Father, and heaven be His +house, 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 earth. A solitary heaven would be but half +a heaven, and would ill correspond with the hopes that inevitably +spring from the representation of it as 'my Father's house.' + +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 Father, the perfect consciousness of sonship, the happy union of all +the children in one great family, and the derivation of all their +blessedness from their Elder Brother. + +The earthly Temple, to which there is some allusion in this great +metaphor, was the place in which the divine glory was manifested to +seeking souls, though in symbol, yet also in reality, and the +representation of our text blends the two ideas of the free, frank +intercourse of the home and of the magnificent revelations of the Holy +of holies. Under either aspect of the phrase, whether we think of 'my +Father's house' as temple or as home, it sets before us, as the main +blessedness and glory of heaven, the vision of the Father, the +consciousness of sonship, and the complete union with Him. There are +many subsidiary and more outward blessednesses and glories which shine +dimly through the haze of metaphors and negations, by which alone a +state of which we have no experience can be revealed to us; but these +are secondary. The heaven of heaven is the possession of God the Father +through the Son in the expanding spirits of His sons. The sovereign and +filial position which Jesus Christ in His manhood occupies in that +higher house, and which He shares with all those who by Him have +received the adoption of sons, is the very heart and nerve of this +great metaphor. + +But I think we must go a step further than that, and recognise that in +the image there is inherent the teaching that that glorious future is +not merely a state, but also a place. Local associations are not to be +divorced from the words; and although we can say but little about such +a matter, yet everything in the teaching of Scripture points to the +thought that howsoever true it may be that the essence of heaven is +condition, yet that also heaven has a local habitation, and is a place +in the great universe of God. Jesus Christ has at this moment a human +body, glorified. That body, as Scripture teaches us, is somewhere, and +where He is there shall also His servant be. In the context He goes on +to tell us that 'He goes to prepare a place for us,' and though I would +not insist upon the literal interpretation of such words, yet +distinctly the drift of the representation is in the direction of +localising, though not of materialising, the abode of the blessed. So I +think we can say, not merely that _what_ He is that shall also His +servants be, but that _where_ He is there shall also His servants be. +And from the representation of my text, though we cannot fathom all its +depths, we can at least grasp this, which gives solidity and reality to +our contemplations of the future, that heaven is a place, full of all +sweet security and homelike repose, where God is made known in every +heart and to every consciousness as a loving Father, and of which all +the inhabitants are knit together in the frankest fraternal +intercourse, conscious of the Father's love, and rejoicing in the +abundant provisions of His royal House. + +And then there is a second thought to be suggested from these words, +and that is of the ample room in this great house. The original purpose +of the words of my text, as I have already reminded you, was simply to +soothe the fears of a handful of disciples. + +There was room where Christ went for eleven poor men. Yes, room enough +for them! but Christ's prescient eye looked down the ages, and saw all +the unborn millions that would yet be drawn to Him uplifted on the +Cross, and some glow of satisfaction flitted across His sorrow, 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 filled. 'Many +mansions!' the thought widens out far beyond our grasp. Perhaps that +upper room, like most of the roof-chambers in Jewish houses, was open +to the skies, and whilst He spoke, the innumerable lights that blaze in +that clear heaven shone down upon them, and He may have pointed to +these. The better Abraham perhaps looked forth, like His prototype, on +the starry heavens, 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 Lord, 'so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, +and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.' + +Ah! brethren, if we could only widen our measurement of the walls of +the New Jerusalem to the measurement of that 'golden rod which the man, +that is the angel,' as John says, applied to it, we should understand +how much bigger it is than any of these poor sects and communities of +ours here on earth. If we would lay to heart, as we ought to do, the +deep meaning of that indefinite 'many' in my text, it would rebuke our +narrowness. 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 there, and thousands will find their +entrance there that never found their entrance into any communities of +so-called Christians here on earth. + +That one word 'many' should deepen our confidence in the triumphs of +Christ's Cross, and it may be used to heighten our own confidence as to +our own poor selves. A chamber in the great Temple waits for each of +us, and the question is, Shall we occupy it, or shall we not? The old +Rabbis had a tradition which, like a great many of their apparently +foolish sayings, covers in picturesque guise a very deep truth. They +said that, however many the throngs of worshippers who came up to +Jerusalem at the passover, the streets of the city and the courts of +the sanctuary were never crowded. And so it is with that great city. +There is room for all. There are throngs, but no crowds. Each finds a +place in the ample sweep of the Father's house, like some of the great +palaces that barbaric Eastern kings used to build, in whose courts +armies might encamp, and the chambers of which were counted by the +thousand. And surely in all that ample accommodation, you and I may +find some corner where we, if we will, may lodge for evermore. + +I do not dwell upon subsidiary ideas that may be drawn from the +expressions. 'Mansions' means places of permanent abode, and suggests +the two thoughts, so sweet to travellers and toilers in this fleeting, +labouring life, of unchangeableness and of repose. Some have supposed +that the variety in the attainments of the redeemed, which is +reasonable and scriptural, might be deduced from our text, but that +does not seem to be relevant to our Lord's purpose. + +One other suggestion may be made without enlarging upon it. There is +only one other occasion in this Gospel in which the word here +translated 'mansions' is employed, and it is this: 'We will come and +make our abode with him.' Our mansion is in God; God's dwelling-place +is in us. So ask yourselves, Have you a place in that heavenly home? +When prodigal children go away from the father's house, sometimes a +broken-hearted parent will keep the boy's room just as it used to be +when he was young and pure, and will hope and weary through long days +for him to come back and occupy it again. God is keeping a room for you +in His house; do you see that you fill it. + +II. In the next place, note here the sufficiency of Christ's revelation +for our needs. + +'If it were not so I would have told you.' He sets Himself forward in +very august fashion as being the Revealer and Opener of that house for +us. There is a singular tone about all our Lord's few references to the +future—a tone of decisiveness; not as if He were speaking, as a man +might do, that which he had thought out, or which had come to him, but +as if He was speaking of what he had Himself beheld, 'We speak that we +do know, and testify that we have seen.' He stands like one on a +mountain top, looking down into the valleys beyond, and telling His +comrades in the plain behind Him what He sees. He speaks of that unseen +world always as One who had been in it, and who was reporting +experiences, and not giving forth opinions. His knowledge was the +knowledge of One who dwelt with the Father, and left the house in order +to find and bring back His wandering brethren. It was 'His own calm +home, His habitation from eternity,' and therefore He could tell us +with decisiveness, with simplicity, with assurance, all which we need +to know about the geography of that unknown land—the plan of that, by +us unvisited, house. Very remarkable, therefore, is it, that with this +tone there should be such reticence in Christ's references to the +future. The text implies the _rationale_ of such reticence. 'If it were +not so I would have told you.' I tell you all that you need, though I +tell you a great deal less than you sometimes wish. + +The gaps in our knowledge of the future, seeing that we have such a +Revealer as we have in Christ, are remarkable. But my text suggests +this to us—we have as much as we need. _I_ know, and many of _you_ +know, by bitter experience, how many questions, the answers to which +would seem to us to be such a lightening of our burdens, our desolated +and troubled hearts suggest about that future, and how vainly we ply +heaven with questions and interrogate the unreplying Oracle. But we +know as much as we need. We know that God is there. We know that it is +the Father's house. We know that Christ is in it. We know that the +dwellers there are a family. We know that sweet security and ample +provision are there; and, for the rest, if we I needed to have heard +more, He would have told us. + + 'My knowledge of that life is small, + The eye of faith is dim; + But 'tis enough that Christ knows all; + And I shall be with Him.' + +Let the gaps remain. The gaps are part of the revelation, and we know +enough for faith and hope. + +May we not widen the application of that thought to other matters than +to our bounded and fragmentary conceptions of a future life? In times +like the present, of doubt and unrest, it is a great piece of Christian +wisdom to recognise the limitations of our knowledge and the +sufficiency of the fragments that we have. What do we get a revelation +for? To solve theological puzzles and dogmatic difficulties? to inflate +us with the pride of _quasi_-omniscience? or to present to us God in +Christ for faith, for love, for obedience, for imitation? Surely the +latter, and for such purposes we have enough. + +So let us recognise that our knowledge is very partial. A great stretch +of wall is blank, and there is not a window in it. If there had been +need for one, it would have been struck out. He has been pleased to +leave many things obscure, not arbitrarily, 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 frankness, and that all which +we need and He can tell us He does tell—but for high reasons, and +because of the very conditions of our present environment, which forbid +the more complete and all-round knowledge. + +So let us recognise our limitations. We know in part, and we are wise +if we affirm in part. Hold by the Central Light, which is Jesus Christ. +'Many things did Jesus which are not written in this book,' and many +gaps and deficiencies from a human point of view exist in the +contexture of revelation. 'But these are written that ye may believe +that Jesus is the Christ,' for which enough has been told us, 'and +that, believing, ye may have life in His name.' If that purpose be +accomplished in us, God will not have spoken, nor we have heard, in +vain. Let us hold by the Central Light, and then the circumference of +darkness will gradually retreat, and a wider sphere of illumination be +ours, until the day when we enter our mansion in the Father's house, +and then 'in Thy Light shall we see light'; and we shall 'know even as +we are known.' + +Let your Elder Brother lead you back, dear friend, to the Father's +bosom, and be sure that if you trust Him and listen to Him, you will +know enough on earth to turn earth into a foretaste of Heaven, and will +find at last your place in the Father's house beside the Brother who +has prepared it for you. + + + + +THE FORERUNNER + + +'… I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for +you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, +there ye may be also.'—JOHN xiv. 2, 3. + +What divine simplicity and depth are in these words! They carry us up +into the unseen world, and beyond time; and yet a little child can lay +hold on them, and mourning hearts and dying men find peace and +sweetness in them. A very familiar image underlies them. It was +customary for travellers in those old days to send some of their party +on in advance, to find lodging and make arrangements for them in some +great city. Many a time one or other of the disciples had been 'sent +before His face into every place where He Himself should come.' On that +very morning two of them had gone in, at His bidding, from Bethany to +make ready the table at which they were sitting. Christ here takes that +office upon Himself. The emblem is homely, the thing meant is +transcendent. + +Not less wonderful is the blending of majesty and lowliness. The office +which He takes upon Himself is that of an inferior and a servant. And +yet the discharge of it, in the present case, implies His authority +over every corner of the universe, His immortal life, and the +sufficiency of His presence to make a heaven. Nor can we fail to notice +the blending of another pair of opposites: His certainty of His +impending death, and His certainty, notwithstanding and thereby, of His +continual work and His final return, are inseparably interlaced here. +How comes it that, in all His premonitions of His death, Jesus Christ +never spoke about it as failure or as the interruption or end of His +activity, but always as the transition to, and the condition of, His +wider work? 'I go, and if I go I return, and take you to Myself.' + +So, then, there are three things here, the departure with its purpose, +the return, and the perfected union. + +I. The Departure. + +Our Lord's going away from that little group was a journey in two +stages. Calvary was the first; Olivet was the second. He means by the +phrase the whole continuous process which begins with His death and +ends in His ascension. Both are embraced in His words, and each +co-operates to the attainment of the great purpose. + +He prepares a place for us by His death. The High Priest, in the +ancient ritual, once a year was privileged to lift the heavy veil and +pass into the darkened chamber, where only the light between the +cherubim was visible, because he bore in his hand the blood of the +sacrifice. But in our New Testament system the path into 'the holiest +of all,' the realisation of the most intimate fellowship with heavenly +things and communion with God Himself, are made possible, and the way +patent for every foot, because Jesus has died. And as the communion +upon earth, so the perfecting of the communion in the heavens. Who of +us could step within those awful sanctities, or stand serene amidst the +region of eternal light and stainless purity, unless, in His death, He +had borne the sins of the world, and, having 'overcome' its 'sharpness' +by enduring its blow, had 'opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all +believers'? + +Old legends tell us of magic gates that resisted all attempts to force +them, but upon which, if one drop of a certain blood fell, they flew +open. And so, by His death, Christ has opened the gates and made the +heaven of perfect purity a dwelling-place for sinful men. + +But the second stage of His departure is that which more eminently is +in Christ's mind here. He prepares a place for us by His entrance into +and His dwelling in the heavenly places. The words are obscure because +we have but few others with which to compare them, and no experience by +which to interpret them. We know so little about the matter that it is +not wise to say much; but though there be vast tracts of darkness round +the little spot of light, this should only make the spot of light more +vivid and more precious. We know little, but we know enough for mind +and heart to rest upon. 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 does. + +If Christ had not ascended, would there have been 'a place' at all? He +has gone with a human body, which, glorified as it is, still has +relations to space, and must be somewhere. And we may even say that His +ascending up on high has made a place where His servants are. But apart +from that suggestion, which, perhaps, is going beyond our limits, we +may see that Christ's presence in heaven is needful to make it a heaven +for poor human souls. There, as here (Scripture assures us), and +throughout eternity as to-day, Jesus Christ is the Mediator of all +human knowledge and possession of God. It is from Him and through Him +that there come to men, whether they be men on earth or men in the +heavens, all that they know, all that they hope, all that they enjoy, +of the wisdom, love, beauty, peace, power, which flow from God. Take +away from the heaven of the Christian expectation that which comes to +the spirit through Jesus Christ, and you have nothing left. He and His +mediation and ministration alone make the brightness and the +blessedness of that high state. The very glories of all that lies +beyond the veil would have an aspect appalling and bewildering to us, +unless our Brother were there. Like some poor savages brought into a +great city, or rustics into the presence of a king and his court, we +should be ill at ease amidst the glories and solemnities of that future +life unless we saw standing there our Kinsman, to whom we can turn, and +who makes it possible for us to feel that it is home. Christ's presence +makes heaven the home of our hearts. + +Not only did He go to prepare a place, but He is continuously preparing +it for us all through the ages. We have to think of a double form of +the work of Christ, His past work in His earthly life, and His present +in His exaltation. We have to think of a double form of His present +activity—His work with and in us here on earth, and His work for us +there in the heavens. We have to think of a double form of His work in +the heavens—that which the Scripture represents in a metaphor, the full +comprehension of which surpasses our present powers and experiences, as +being His priestly intercession; and that which my text represents in a +metaphor, perhaps a little more level to our apprehension, as being His +preparing a place for us. Behind the veil there is a working Christ, +who, in the heavens, is preparing a place for all that love Him. + +II. In the next place, note the Return. + +The purpose of our Lord's departure, as set forth by Himself here, +guarantees for us His coming back again. That is the force of the +simple argumentation of my text, and of the pathetic and soothing +repetition of the sweet words, 'I go to prepare a place for you; and if +I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto +Myself.' Because the departure had for its purpose the preparing of the +place, therefore it is necessarily followed by a return. He who went +away as the Forerunner has not done His work until He comes back, and, +as Guide, leads those for whom He had prepared the place to the place +which He had prepared for them. + +Now that return of our Lord, like His departure, may be considered as +having two stages. Unquestionably the main meaning and application of +the words is to that final and personal coming which stands at the end +of history, and to which the hopes of every Christian soul ought to be +steadfastly directed. He will 'so come in like manner as' He has gone. +We are not to water down such words as these into anything short of a +return precisely corresponding in its method to the departure; and as +the departure was visible, corporeal, literal, personal, and local, so +the return is to be visible, corporeal, literal, personal, local too. +He is to come as He went, a visible Manhood, only throned amongst the +clouds of heaven with power and great glory. This is the aim that He +sets before Him in His departure. He leaves in order that He may come +back again. + +And, oh, dear friends! remember—and let us live in the strength of the +remembrance—that this return ought to be the prominent subject of +Christian aspiration and desire. There is much about the conception of +that solemn return, with all the convulsions that attend it, and the +judgment of which it is preliminary, that may well make men's hearts +chill within them. But for you and me, if we have any love in our +hearts and loyalty in our spirits to that King, 'His coming' should be +'prepared as the _morning_,' and we should join in the great burst of +rapture of many a psalm, which calls upon rocks and hills to break +forth into singing, and trees of the field to clap their hands, because +He cometh as the King to judge the earth. His own parable tells us how +we ought to regard His coming. When the fig-tree's branch begins to +supple, and the little leaves to push their way through the polished +stem, then we know that summer is at hand. His coming should be as the +approach of that glorious, fervid time, in which the sunshine has +tenfold brilliancy and power, the time of ripened harvests and matured +fruits, the time of joy for all creatures that love the sun. It should +be the glad hope of all His servants. + +We have a double witness to bear in the midst of this as of every +generation. One half of the witness stretches backwards to the Cross, +and proclaims 'Christ has come'; the other reaches onwards to the +Throne, and proclaims 'Christ will come.' Between these two high +uplifted piers swings the chain of the world's history, which closes +with the return, to judge and to save, of the Lord who came to die and +has gone to prepare a place for us. + +But do not let us forget that we may well take another point of view +than this. Scripture knows of many comings of the Lord preliminary to, +and in principle one with, His last coming. For nations all great +crises of their history are 'comings of the Lord,' the Judge, and we +are strictly in the line of Scripture analogy when, in reference to +individuals, we see in each single death a true coming of the Lord. + +That is the point of view in which we ought to look upon a Christian's +death-bed. 'The Master _is come_, and calleth for thee.' Beyond all +secondary causes, deeper than disease or accident, lies the loving will +of Him who is the Lord of life and of death. Death is Christ's +minister, 'mighty and beauteous, though his face be dark,' and he, too, +stands amidst the ranks of the 'ministering spirits sent forth to +minister to them that shall be heirs of salvation.' It is Christ that +says of one, 'I will that this man tarry,' and to another, 'Go!' and he +goeth. But whensoever a Christian man lies down to die, Christ says, +'Come!' and he comes. How that thought should hallow the death-chamber +as with the print of the Master's feet! How it should quiet our hearts +and dry our tears! How it should change the whole aspect of that +'shadow feared of man'! With Him for our companion, the lonely road +will not be dreary; and though in its anticipation, our timid hearts +may often be ready to say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me,' if we +have Him by our sides, 'even the night shall be light about us.' The +dying martyr beneath the city wall lifted up his face to the heavens, +and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' It was the echo of the +Master's promise, 'I will come again, and receive you to Myself.' + +III. Lastly, notice the Perfected Union. + +The departure for such a purpose necessarily involved the return again. +Both are stages in the process, which is perfected by complete +union—'That where I am there ye may be also.' + +Christ, as I have been saying, is Heaven. His presence is all that we +need for peace, for joy, for purity, for rest, for love, for growth. To +be 'with Him,' as He tells us in another part of these wonderful last +words in the upper chamber, is to 'behold His glory.' And to behold His +glory, as John tells us in his Epistle, is to be like Him. So Christ's +presence means the communication to us of all the lustre of His +radiance, of all the whiteness of His purity, of all the depth of His +blessedness, and of a share in His wondrous dominion. His glorified +manhood will pass into ours, and they that are with Him where He is +will rest as in the centre and home of their spirits, and find Him +all-sufficient. His presence is my Heaven. + +That is almost all we know. Oh! it is more than all we need to know. +The curtain is the picture. 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 night,' 'no sorrow,' 'no tears,' +'former things passed away'; and by symbols of glory and lustre +gathered from all that is loftiest and noblest in human buildings and +society. But all these are but secondary and poor. The living heart of +the hope, and the lambent centre of the brightness, is, 'So shall we +ever be with the Lord.' + +And it is enough. It is enough to make the bond of union between us in +the outer court and them in the holy place. Parted friends will fix to +look at the same star at the same moment of the night and feel some +union; and if we from amidst the clouds of earth, and they from amidst +the pure radiance of their heaven, turn our eyes to the same Christ, we +are not far apart. If He be the companion of each of us, He reaches a +hand to each, and, clasping it, the parted ones are united; and +'whether we wake or sleep we live _together_,' because we both live +with Him. + +Brother! Is Jesus Christ so much to you that a heaven which consists in +nearness and likeness to Him has any attraction for you? Let Him be +your Saviour, your Sacrifice, your Helper, your Companion. Obey Him as +your King, love Him as your Friend, trust Him as your All. And be sure +that then the darkness will be but the shadow of His hand, and instead +of dreading death as that which separates you from life and love and +action and joy, you will be able to meet it peacefully, as that which +rends the thin veil, and unites you with Him who is the Heaven of +heavens. + +He has gone to prepare a place for us. And if we will let Him, He will +prepare us for the place, and then come and lead us thither. 'Thou wilt +show me the path of life' which leads through death. 'In Thy presence +is fullness of joy, and at Thy right hand there are pleasures for +evermore.' + + + + +THE WAY + + +'And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him, +Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way? +Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man +cometh unto the Father, but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye should have +known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen +Him.'—JOHN xiv. 4-7. + +Our Lord has been speaking of His departure, of its purpose, of His +return as guaranteed by that purpose, and of His servants' eternal and +perfect reunion with Him. But even these cheering and calming thoughts +do not exhaust His consolations, as they did not satisfy all the +disciples' needs. They might still have said, 'Yes; we believe that You +will come back again, and we believe that we shall be together; but +what about the parenthesis of absence?' And here is the answer, or at +least part of it: 'Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know'; or, if +we adopt the shortened form which the Revised Version gives us, +'Whither I go ye know the way.' + +When you say to a man, 'You know the way,' you mean 'Come.' And in +these words there lie, as it seems to me, a veiled invitation to the +disciples to come to Him before He came back for them, and the +assurance that they, though separated, might still find and tread the +road to the Father's house, and so be with Him still. They are not left +desolate. The Christ who is absent is present as the path to Himself. +And so the parenthesis is bridged across. Now in these verses we have +several large and important lessons which I think may best be drawn by +simply seeking to follow their course. + +I. Observe the disciples' unconscious knowledge. + +Jesus Christ says: 'Ye know the way and ye know the goal.' One of them +ventures flatly to contradict Him, and to traverse both assertions with +a brusque and thorough-going negative. 'We do _not_ know whither Thou +goest,' says Thomas; 'how can we know the way?' He is the same man in +this conversation that we find him in the interview before our Lord's +journey to raise Lazarus, and in the interview after our Lord's +resurrection. In all three cases he appears as mainly under the +dominion of sense, as slow to apprehend anything beyond its limits, 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 blame. +He could not understand all the Lord's deep words just spoken. His mind +was befogged and dimmed, and he blurts out his ignorance, knowing that +the best place to carry it to is to the Illuminator who can make it +light. + +'We know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way?' Was +Jesus right? was Thomas right? or were they both right? The fact is +that Thomas and all his fellows knew, after a fashion, but they did not +know that they knew. They had heard much in the past as to where Christ +was going. Plainly enough it had been rung in their ears over and over +again. It had made some kind of lodgment in their heads, and, in that +sense, they did know. It is this unused and unconscious knowledge of +theirs to which Christ appeals, and which He tries to draw out into +consciousness and power when He says, 'You know whither I am going, and +you know the road.' Is not that exactly what a patient teacher will do +with some flustered child when he says to it: 'Take time! You know it +well enough if you will only think'? So the Master says here: 'Do not +be agitated and troubled in heart. Reflect, remember, overhaul your +stores, and think what I have told you over and over again, and you +will find that you _do_ know whither I am going, and that you _do_ know +the way.' + +The patient gentleness of the Master with the slowness of the scholars +is beautifully exemplified here, as is also the method, which He +lovingly and patiently adopts, of sending men back to consult their own +consciousness as illuminated by His teaching, and to see whether there +is not lying somewhere, unrecked of and unemployed in some dusty corner +of their mind, a truth that only needs to be dragged out and cleaned in +order to show itself for what it is, the all-sufficient light and +strength for the moment's need. + +The dialogue is an instance of what is true about us all, that we have +in our possession truths given to us by Jesus Christ, the whole sweep +and bearing of which, the whole majesty and power and illuminating +capacity of which, we do not dream of yet. How much in our creeds lies +dim and undeveloped! Time and circumstances and some sore agony of +spirit are needed in order to make us realise the riches that we +possess, and the certitudes to which our troubled spirits may cling; +and the practice of far more patient, honest, profound meditation and +reflection than finds favour with the average Christian man is needed, +too, in order that the truths possessed may be possessed, and that we +may know what we know, and understand 'the things that are given to us +of God.' + +In all your creeds, there are large tracts that you, in some kind of a +fashion, do believe; and yet they have no vitality in your +consciousness nor power in your lives. And the Master here does with +these disciples exactly what He is trying to do day by day with us, +namely, fling us back on ourselves, or rather upon His revelation in +us, and get us to fathom its depths and to walk round about its +magnitudes, and so to understand the things that we say we believe. + +All our knowledge is ignorance. Ignorance that confesses itself to Him +is in the way of becoming knowledge. His light will touch the smoke and +change it into red spires of flame. If you do not know, go to Him and +say, 'Lord! I do not.' An accurate understanding of where the darkness +lies is the first step to the light. We are meant to carry all our +inadequate and superficial realisations of His truth into His presence, +that, from Him, we may gain deeper knowledge, a firmer faith, and a +more joyous certitude in His inexhaustible lessons. In every article +and item of the Christian faith there is a transcendent element which +surpasses our present comprehension. Let us be confident that the light +will break; and let us welcome the new illumination when it comes, sure +that it comes from God. Be not puffed up with the conceit that you know +all. Be sure of this, that, according to the good old metaphor, we are +but as children on the shore of the great ocean, gathering a few of the +shells that it has washed to our feet, itself stretching boundless, +and, thank God, sunlit, before us. 'Ye know the way.' 'Master, we know +not the way.' + +II. Observe here, in the second place, our Lord's great self-revelation +which meets this unconscious knowledge. + +'Jesus saith unto him: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man +cometh unto the Father but by Me.' Now it is quite plain, I think, 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 Way.' And that is made more +certain because of the last words of the verse, which, summing up the +force of the three preceding assertions, dwell only upon the metaphor +of the Way; 'No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.' So that of these +three great words, the Way, the Truth, the Life, we are to regard the +second and the third as explanatory of the first. They are not +co-ordinate, but the first is the more general, and the other two show +how the first comes to be true. 'I am the Way' because 'I am the Truth +and the Life.' + +There are no words of the Master, perhaps, to which my previous remarks +are more necessary to be applied than these. We know; and yet oh! what +an overplus of glory and of depth is here that we do not know and never +can know. The most fragmentary and inadequate grasp of them with heart +and mind will bring light to the mind and quietness and peace to the +heart; but the whole meaning of them goes beyond men and angels. We can +only skim the surface and seek to shift back the boundaries of our +knowledge a little further, and to embrace within its limits a little +more of the broad land into which the words bring us. So just take a +thought or two which may tend in that direction. + +Note, then, as belonging to all three of these clauses that remarkable +'_I am_.' We show a way, Christ _is_ it. We speak truth, Christ _is_ +it. Parents impart life, which they have received, Christ _is_ Life. He +separates Himself from all men by that representation that He is not +merely the communicator or the teacher or the guide, but that He +Himself is, in His own personal Being, Way, Truth, Life. He said that, +when Calvary was within arm's-length. What did He think about Himself, +and what should we think of Him? + +And then note, further, that He sets forth His unique relation to the +truth as being one ground on which He is the Way to God. He _is_ the +Truth in reference to the divine nature. That Truth, then, is not a +mere matter of words. It is not only His speech that teaches us, but +Himself that shows us God. His whole life and character, His +personality, are the true representation within human conditions of the +Invisible God; and when He says, 'I am the Way and the Truth,' 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 men, and as +Paul says when he names Him 'the Image of the Invisible God.' There is +all the difference between talking about God and showing Him. Men +reveal God by their words; Christ reveals Him by Himself and the facts +of His life. The truest and highest representation of the divine nature +that men can ever have is in the face of Jesus Christ. + +I need only remind you in a sentence about other and lower applications +of this great saying, which do not, as I think, enter into the purpose +of the context. He is the Truth, inasmuch as, in the life and +historical manifestation of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Scriptures, +men find foundation truths of a moral and spiritual sort. 'Whatsoever +things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are +lovely and of good report,' He is these, and all true ethics is but the +formulating into principles of all the facts of the life and character +of Jesus Christ. + +Further, my text says He is the Way because He is the Life. On the one +side God is brought to all hearts, and in some real sense to our +comprehension, by the life of Jesus Christ, and so He is the Way. But +that is not enough. There must be an action upon us as well as an +action having reference to the divine nature. God is brought to men by +the manifestation in Christ; and we, the dead, are quickened by the +communication of the Life. The one phrase points to all His work as a +Revealer, the other points to all His work upon us as life-giving +Spirit, a Quickener and an Inspirer. Dead men cannot walk a road. It is +of no use to make a path if it starts from a cemetery. Christ taught +that men apart from Him are dead, and that the only life that they can +have by which they can be knit to God is the divine life which was in +Himself, and of which He is the source and the principle for the whole +world. He does not tell us here what yet is true, and what He +abundantly tells in other parts of this great conversation, that the +only way by which the life which He brings can be diffused and +communicated is by His death. 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the +ground and die, it abideth alone.' He is the Life, 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 us. He must die that He may be the life-spring for +the world. The alabaster box must be broken if the ointment and its +fragrance are to be poured out; and 'death is the gate of life' in a +deeper than the ordinary sense of the saying, inasmuch as the death of +the Life which is Christ is the life of the death which we are. + +And so, because, on the one hand, He brings a God to our hearts that we +can love and trust, and because, on the other, He communicates to our +spirits, dead in the only true death which is the separation from God +by sin, the life by which we are knit to God, He is the Way to the +Father. + +And what about people that never heard of Him, to whom that Way has +been closed, to whom that Truth has never been manifested, to whom that +Life has never been brought? Ah! Christ has other ways of working than +through His historical manifestation, for there is no truth more +plainly taught in this great fourth Gospel than this, that that Light +'lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' The eternal Word works +through all the earth, in ways beyond our ken, and wherever any man +has, however imperfectly, felt after and grasped the thought of a +Father in the heavens, there the Word, which is the Light of men, has +wrought. + +But for us to whom this Book has come, for what people call in bitter +irony 'Christendom,' the law of my text rigidly applies, and it is +being worked out all round us to-day. 'No man cometh unto the Father +but by Me.' And here we are, in this England of ours, and in our sister +nations on the continent of Europe and in America, face to face as I +believe with this alternative—either Jesus Christ the Revealer of God +and the Life of men, or an empty Heaven. And for you, individually, it +is either—take Christ for the Way, or wander in the wilderness and +forget your Father. It is either—take Christ for the Truth, or be given +over to the insufficiencies of mere natural, political, and +intellectual truths, and the shows and illusions of time and sense. It +is either—take Christ for your Life, or remain in your deadness, +separate from God. + +III. Lastly, we have here the disciples' ignorance and the new vision +which dispels it. + +'If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also, and from +henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.' Our Lord accepts for the +moment Thomas's standpoint. He supplements His former allegation of the +disciples' knowledge with the admission of the ignorance which went +with it as its shadow, and was only too sadly and plainly shown by +their failure to discern in Him the manifestation of the Father. He has +just told them that they did know what they thought they knew not; He +now tells them that they did not know what they thought they knew so +well, after so many years of companionship—even Himself. The proof that +they did not is that they did not know the Father as revealed in Him, +nor Him as revealing the Father. If they missed that, they missed +everything; and for all they had known of His graciousness, were +strangers to His truest Self. Their ignorance would turn out knowledge, +if they would think, and their supposed knowledge would turn out +ignorance. + +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 +Father, brought near to us by Him. This saying puts a finger on the +radical deficiency of all merely humanitarian views of Christ's person, +however clearly they may see and admiringly extol the beauty of His +character and the 'sweet reasonableness' of His wisdom. They all break +down here, and are arraigned as so shallow and incomplete that they do +not deserve to be called knowledge of Him at all. If you know anything +about Jesus Christ rightly, this is what you know about Him, that in +Him you see God. If you have not seen God in Him, you have not got to +the heart of the mystery. The knowledge of Christ which stops with the +Man and the Martyr, and the Teacher and the beautiful, gentle Brother, +is knowledge so partial that even He cannot venture to call it other +than ignorance. Oh! brethren, do our conceptions of Him meet this test +which He Himself has laid down, and can we say that, seeing Him, we see +in Him God? + +And then our Lord passes on to another thought, the new vision which at +the moment was being granted to this unconscious ignorance that was +passing into conscious knowledge. 'From henceforth ye know Him and have +seen Him.' We must give that 'from henceforth,' as a note of time, a +somewhat liberal interpretation, and apply it to the whole series of +utterances and deeds of which the words of our text are but a portion. +And, if so, we come to this—it was in the wisdom, and the gentleness, +and the deep truths of that upper chamber; it was in the agony and +submission of Gethsemane; it was in the meek patience before the +judges, and the silent acceptance of ignominy and shame; it was in the +willing, loving endurance of the long hours upon the Cross, that Christ +inaugurated the new stage in His revelation of God and in His +life-giving to the world. And it is from thenceforth and thereby that +in the man Jesus, men know and see 'the Father' as they never did +before. The Cross and the Passion of Christ are the unveiling to the +world of the heart of God; 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 insignificance. It +is the dying Christ that reveals the living God. + +So, dear friends, He is your way to God. See that ye seek the Father by +Him alone. He is your Truth; grapple Him to your hearts, and by patient +meditation and continual faithfulness enrich yourselves with all the +communicated treasures that you have already received in Him. He is +your Life; cleave to Him, that the quick Spirit that was in Him may +pass into you and make you victors over all deaths, temporal and +eternal. Know Him as a Friend, not as a mere historical person, or with +mere head-knowledge, for to know a friend is something far deeper than +to know a truth. 'Acquaint thyself with Him and be at peace.' 'This is +life eternal, to know,' with the knowledge which is life and +possession, 'Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast +sent.' + + + + +THE TRUE VISION OF GOD + + +'Philip saith unto Jesus, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth +us. 9. Jesus saith unto Him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet +hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the +Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou +not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I +speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father, that dwelleth in +Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the +Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake.'—JOHN xiv. +8-11. + +The vehement burst with which Philip interrupts the calm flow of our +Lord's discourse is not the product of mere frivolity or curiosity. One +hears the ring of earnestness in it, and the yearnings of many years +find voice. Philip had felt out of his depth, no doubt, in the profound +teachings which our Lord had been giving, but His last words about +seeing God set a familiar chord vibrating. 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 Israel,' and that to many others had been +granted sensible manifestations of the divine presence. As a disciple +he longed for some similar sign to confirm his faith. As a man he was +conscious of the deep need which all of us have, whether we are +conscious of it or not, for something more real and tangible than an +unseeable and unknowable God. The peculiarities of Philip's temperament +strengthened the desire. The first appearance that he makes in the +Gospels is characteristically like this his last. To all Nathanael's +objections he had only the reply, 'Come and see.' And here he says: +'Oh! if we could _see_ the Father it would be enough.' He was one of +the men to whom seeing is believing, and so he speaks. + +His petition is childlike in its simplicity, beautiful in its trust, +noble and true in its estimate of what men need. He longs to see God. +He believes that Christ can show God; he is sure that the sight of God +will satisfy the heart. These are errors, or truths, according to what +is meant by 'seeing.' Philip meant a palpable manifestation, and so far +he was wrong. Give the word its highest and its truest meaning, and +Philip's error becomes grand truth. Our Lord gently, lovingly, and with +only a hint of rebuke, answers the request, and seeks to disengage the +error from the truth. His answer lies in the verses that we have read. +Let us try to follow them, and, as we may, to skim their surface, for +their depths are beyond us. + +First of all, then, we have the sight of God in Christ as enough to +answer men's longings. There is a world of sadness and tenderness, of +suppressed pain and of grieved affection, in the first words of our +Lord's reply. 'Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not +known Me, Philip?' He seldom names His disciples. When He does, there +is a deep cadence of affection in the designation. This man was one of +the first disciples, the little original band called by Christ Himself, +and thus had been with Him all the time of His ministry, and the Master +wonders with a gentle wonder that, before eyes that loved Him as much +as Philip's did, His continual self-revelation had been made to so +little purpose. In the answer, in its first portion, there lies the +reiteration of the thoughts that I was trying to dwell upon in the last +sermon, which, therefore, I may lightly touch now—viz., 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 Me, Philip.' Further, there is the +thought that the sight of God in Christ is sufficient, 'How sayest +thou, Shew us the Father?' From all this we may gather some thoughts on +which I lightly touch. + +I. The first is, that we all do need to have God made visible to us. + +The history of heathendom shows us that, in every land men have said, +'The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.' 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 has, 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 Christ. A God who is only the product of +inferences from creation, or providence, or the mysteries of history, +or the wonders of my own inner life, the creature of logic or of +reflection, is very powerless to sway and influence men. The +limitations of our faculties and the boundlessness of our hearts both +cry out for a God who is nearer to us than that, and whom we can see +and love and be sure of. The whole world wants the making visible of +divinity as its deepest want. And _your_ heart and mind require it. +Nothing else will ever stay our hunger, will ever answer our +questioning minds. + +Christ meets this need. How can you make wisdom visible? How can a man +see love or purity? How do I see your spirit? By the deeds of your +body. 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 Man, who amongst them is His image and +revelation. Christ's whole life is the making visible of the invisible +God. He is the manifestation to the world of the unseen Father. + +That vision is enough—enough for mind, enough for heart, enough for +will. There is none else that is sufficient, but this is. 'How sayest +thou, Shew us the Father?' If we can see God it suffices us. Then the +mind settles down upon the thought of Him as the basis of all being, +and of all change, and the heart can twine itself round Him, and the +seeking soul folds its wings and is at rest, and the troubled spirit is +quiet, and the accusing conscience is silent, and the rebellious will +is subdued, and the stormy passions are quieted, and in the inner +kingdom is a great peace. The sight of God in Christ brings rest to +every heart, and, Oh! the absence of the vision is the true secret of +all disquiet. We are troubled and careful, and tossed from one stormy +billow to another, and swept over by all the winds that blow, because +we see not God, our Father, in the face of Jesus. 'Show us the Father, +and it sufficeth us,' is either a puerile petition, or the deepest and +noblest prayer of the human heart. Blessed are they who have learned +what it is to see, and know where that great sight is to be seen! + +Our present knowledge and vision are far higher than that mere external +symbol of God which this man wanted. The elders of Israel saw the God +of Israel, but what they saw was but some symbolical manifestation of +that which in itself is unseen and unattainable. But we who see God in +Christ see no symbol but the Reality, and there is nothing more +possible or to be hoped for here. Our present manifestation and sight +of God in Christ does fall, in some ways unknown to us, beneath the +bright hopes that we are entitled to cherish. But howsoever imperfect +it may be, as measured against the perfection of the vision when we +shall see face to face, and know even as we are known, it is enough, +and more than enough, for all the questionings and desires of our +hungering spirits. + +II. Our Lord goes on to a further answer, and points to the divine and +mutual indwelling by which this sight is made possible. + +'Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The +words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself, but the Father that +dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.' There are here, mainly, two +things, Christ's claim to the oneness of unbroken communion, and +Christ's claim, consequently, to the oneness of complete co-operation. +'I am in the Father' indicates the suppression of all independent and +therefore rebellious will, consciousness, thought and action; 'And the +Father in Me' indicates the influx into that perfectly filial Manhood +of the whole fullness of God in unbroken, continuous, gentle, deep +flow. These are the two sides of this great mystery on which neither +wisdom nor reverence lead us to dilate; and they combine to express the +closest and most uninterrupted blending, interpenetration, and +communion. + +And then follows the other claim, that because of this continuous +mutual indwelling there is perfect cooperation. This is also stated in +terms corresponding to the preceding double representation. 'The words +that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself,' corresponds to, 'I am in +the Father.' 'The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works,' +corresponds to 'The Father in Me.' The two put together teach us this, +that by reason of that mysterious and ineffable union of communion, +Jesus Christ in all His words and in all His works is the perfect +instrument of the divine will, so that His words are God's words, and +His works are God's works; so that, when He speaks, His gentle wisdom, +His loving sympathy, His melting tenderness, His authoritative +commands, His prophetic threatenings, are the speech of God, and that +when He acts, whether it be by miracle or in the ordinary deeds of His +life, what we see is God working before our eyes as we never see Him in +any human being. + +And from all this follow just two or three considerations which I name. +Note the absolute absence of any consciousness on Christ's part of the +smallest deflection or disharmony between Himself and the Father. Two +triangles laid on each other are in every line, point, and angle +absolutely coincident. That humanity is capable of receiving the whole +inflow of God, and that indwelling God is perfectly expressed in the +humanity. There is no trace of a consciousness of sin. Everything that +Jesus Christ said He knew to be God's speaking; everything that He did +He knew to be God's acting. There were no barriers between the two. +Jesus Christ was conscious of no separation—not the thinnest film of +air between these Two who adhered and inhered so closely and so +continuously. It is an awful assertion. + +Now I pray you to ask yourselves the question: If this was what Christ +said, what did He think of Himself? And is this a Man, like the rest of +us, with blotches and sins, with failures to embody His own ideas, and +still more to carry out in life the will that He knows to be God's +will? Is this a man like other men who thus speaks to us? If Jesus had +this consciousness, either He was ludicrously, tragically, +blasphemously, utterly mistaken and untrustworthy, or He is what the +Church in all ages has confessed Him to be, 'the Everlasting Son of the +Father.' + +III. Lastly, our Lord further sets before us the faith to which He +invites us on the ground of His union with, and revelation of, God. + +'Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, or else +believe Me for the very works' sake.' Observe that the verb at the +beginning of this last verse of our text passes into a plural form. Our +Lord has done with Philip especially, and speaks now to all who hear +Him, and to us amongst the rest of His auditors. He bids us _believe_ +Him, and believe something about Him on the strength of His own +testimony, or, in default of that, and as second best, believe Him on +the testimony of His works. I gather together what I have to say about +this point into three remarks. + +The true bond of union between men and Jesus Christ is faith. We have +to trust, and that is better than sight. We have to trust _Him_. He is +the personal Object of our faith. In all faith there is what I may call +a moral and a voluntary element. A man believes a proposition because +it is forced upon him, and his intelligence is obliged to accept it. A +man trusts Christ because he _will_ trust Him, and the moral and +voluntary element carries us far beyond the mere intellectual +conception of faith as the assent to a set of theological propositions. +Faith really is the outgoing of the whole man—heart, will, intellect, +and all—to a person whom it grasps. But the Christ that you and I have +to trust is the Christ as He Himself has declared Himself to us. +'Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.' There is a +bastard, mutilated kind of thing that calls itself Christian faith, +that goes about the world in this generation, which believes in Jesus +Christ in all sorts of beautiful ways, but it will not believe in Him +as the Personal Revelation and making visible of the unseen God. Jesus +Christ Himself tells us here that that is not the kind of faith which +He invites us to put forth. If we put forth that only, we have not yet +come to understand Him. Oh, dear friends! Christ as here declared to us +by Himself is the only Christ to whom it is right to give our trust. If +He be not God manifest in the flesh, I ought not to trust Him. I may +admire Him as a historical personage; I may reverence Him for His +wisdom and beauty; I may even in some vague way have a kind of love to +Him. But what in the name of common sense shall I trust Him for? 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—namely, the manifest +God? + +And then, further, note that believing in the sense of trusting is +seeing and knowing. Philip said, 'Shew us the Father.' Christ answers, +'Believe, and thou dost see.' If you look back upon the previous verses +of this chapter, you will find that in the earlier portion of them the +key-word is 'know'; that in the second portion of them the key-word is +'see'; that in this portion of them the key-word is 'believe.' The +world says, 'Ah! seeing is believing.' The Gospel says, 'Believing is +seeing.' The true way to knowledge, and to a better vision than the +uncertain vision of the eye, is faith. In certitude and in directness, +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 sight; and so the key to all divine +knowledge, and the sure road to the truest vision of God, is faith. + +Further, faith, even if based upon lower than the highest grounds, is +still faith, and acceptable to Him: 'Or else believe Me for the very +works' sake.' The 'works' are mainly, I suppose, though not +exclusively, His miracles. And if so, we are here taught that, 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 Him, there are yet the miracles to look at; and the +faith that grasps them, and by help of that ladder climbs to Him, +though it be second best, is yet real. The evidence of miracles is +subordinate, and yet it is valid and true. So our Lord contradicts both +the exaggerations of past generations and the exaggerations of this, +and neither asserts that the great reason for faith is miracles, nor +that miracles are of no use at all. Former centuries in the Christian +Church reiterated the former exaggeration, and thus partly provoked the +exaggeration of this day. Let us keep the middle course: there is a +better way of coming to Christ than through the gate of miracles, and +that is that He should stamp His own divine sweetness and elevation +upon our minds and hearts. But if we have not reached that point, do +not let us kick away the ladder that may help us to it. 'Believe Him +for the very works' sake.' Imperfect faith may be the highway to +perfection. Let us follow the light, if it be but a far-off glimmer, +sure that it will bring us into noontide day if we are faithful to its +leading. + +On the other hand, dear friends, let us remember that no faith avails +itself of all the treasures laid up for it, which does not lay hold +upon Christ in the character in which He presents Himself. The only +adequate, worthy trust in Him is the trust which grasps Him as the +Incarnate God and Saviour. Only such a faith does justice to His own +claim. Only such a faith is the sure path to vision and to knowledge. +Only such a faith draws down the blessing of a questioning intellect +answered, a hungry heart satisfied, a conscience, accusing and +prophetic of a judgment to come, cleansed and purified. + +To each of us Christ addresses His merciful invitation, 'Believe Me +that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.' May we all answer, 'We +believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!' + + + + +CHRIST'S WORKS AND OURS + + +'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works +that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; +because I go unto My Father. 13. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My +name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14. +If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it.'—JOHN xiv. 12-14. + +I have already pointed out in a previous sermon that the key-word of +this context is 'Believe!' In three successive verses we find it, each +time widening in its application. We have first the question to the +single disciple: 'Philip! believest thou not?' We have then the +invitation addressed to the whole group: 'Believe Me!' And here we have +a wholly general expression referring to all who, in every generation +and corner of the world, put their trust in Christ, and extending the +sunshine of this great promise to whosoever believeth in Him. Our Lord +has pointed to _believing_ as the great antidote to a troubled heart, +as the sure way of knowing the Father, as the better substitute for +sight; and now here He opens before us still more wonderful +prerogatives and effects of faith. His words carry us up into lofty and +misty regions, where we can neither breathe freely nor see clearly, +except as we hold to His words. Therefore He prefaces them with His +'Verily, verily!' bidding us listen to them with sharpened attention as +the disclosure of something wonderful, and receive them with +unfaltering confidence, on His authority, however marvellous and +otherwise undiscoverable they may be. + +What is it, then, that He thus commends to our acceptance? If I may +venture a paraphrase which may at least have the advantage of being +cast into less familiar words, it is just this, that because of, and +after, Christ's departure from earth, He will, in response to prayer, +work upon faithful souls in such a fashion as that they will do what He +did, and in some sense will do even more. + +I. We have here the continuous work of the exalted Lord for and through +His servants. + +These disciples, of course, were trembling and oppressed with the +thought that the departure of Jesus would be the end of His ceaseless +activity for them, on which they had depended implicitly for so long. +Henceforward, whatever distress or need might come, that Voice would be +silent, and that Hand motionless, and they would be left to face every +storm, uncompanioned and uncounselled. Some of us know how dreary such +experience makes life, and we can understand how these men shrank from +the prospect. Christ's words give strength to meet that trial, and not +only tell them that after He is gone they will be able to do what they +cannot do now, and what He used to do for them, but that in them He +will work as well as for them, and be the power of their action, after +He has departed. + +For, notice the remarkable connection of the words with which we are +dealing. 'He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall _he_ do,' +and the ground of that is 'because I go to My Father,' and whatsoever +the believer 'shall ask, _I_ will do.' + +So, then, there are here two very distinct paths on which Christ +represents to us that His future activity will travel; the one, that of +doing for us, in response to our prayers; the other that of working on +us and in us, so that our acts are His and His acts are ours. We may +look at these two for a moment separately. + +Here, then, there is clearly stated this great thought, that Christ's +removal from the world is not the end of His activity in the world and +on material things, but that, absent, He still is a present power, and +having passed through death, and been removed from sense, He can still +operate upon the things round us, and move these according to His will. +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 ages. + +That is true, gloriously and uniquely true, but that is not the truth +which He speaks here. Over and above that perpetual influence of past +recorded work, there is the present influence of His present work, and +to-day He is working as truly as He wrought when on earth. One form of +His work was finished on Calvary, as His dying breath proclaimed; but +there is another work of Christ in the midst of the ages, moving the +pawns on the chessboard of the world, and presiding over the fortunes +of the solemn conflict, which will not be ended until that day when the +angel voices shall chant, 'It is done! The kingdoms of the world are +the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.' The living Christ works by +a true forth-putting of His own present power upon material things, and +amidst the providences of life. And therefore these disciples were not +to be cast down as if His work for them were ended. + +Now it is clear, of course, that such words as these do demand for +their vindication something perfectly unique and solitary in the nature +and person of Jesus Christ. All other men's work is cut in twain by +death. 'This man, having served his generation by the will of God, fell +on sleep and was gathered to his fathers, and saw corruption,' that is +the epitaph over the greatest thinkers, statesmen, heroes, poets, the +epitaph for the tenderest and most hopeful. Father, mother, husband, +wife, child, friend, all cease to act when they die, and though +thunders should break, they are silent and can help no more. But Christ +is living to-day, and working all around us. + +Now, brethren, it is of the last importance for the joyousness of our +Christian lives, and for the courage of our conflict with sorrow and +sin, that we should give a very prominent place in our creeds, and our +hearts, to this great truth of a living Christ. What a joyful sense of +companionship it brings to the solitary, what calmness of vision in +contemplating the complications and calamities of the world's history, +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-day! + +But that is not all. There is another path on which our Lord shows us +here a glimpse of His working, not only for us, but on and in and +therefore through us, so that the deeds that we do in faith that rests +upon Him are in one aspect His, and in another ours. + +'The works that I do shall He do also'; because 'whatsoever ye shall +ask I will do it.' + +We have not to think only of a Lord whose activity for us, beneficent +and marvellous as it is, was finished in the misty past upon the Cross, +nor have we only to think of a Lord whose activity for us, mighty and +comforting as it is to all the solitary and struggling, is wrought as +from the heights of the heavens, but we have to think of One who is +beside us and in us and knows the hidden paths that no eye sees, and no +foot but His can tread, into the inmost recesses of our souls, and +there can enter as King and righteousness, as life and strength. This +is the deepest of the lessons that He would teach us here. 'I live, yet +not I, but Christ liveth in me,' and through me, if I keep close to +Him, will work mightily in forms that my poor manhood could never have +reached. The emblem of the vine and the branches, and the other emblem +of the house and its inhabitants, and the other of the head and the +members, all point to this one same thing which shallow and unspiritual +men call 'mystical,' but which is the very heart of the Christian +prerogative and the anchor of the Christian hope. Christ in us is our +present righteousness and our hope of a future glory. + +And now mark that a still more solemn and mysterious aspect of this +union of Jesus Christ and the believer is given, since it is set forth +as resulting in our doing Christ's works, and Christ doing ours; and +therein is paralleled with the yet more wonderful and ineffable union +between the Father and the Son. It is no accident that in one clause He +says, 'I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. The words that I speak +unto you I speak not of Myself, but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He +doeth the works'; and that in the next He says, 'The works that I do +shall he do also'; and so bids us see in that union between the Father +and the Son, and in that consequent union of co-operation between Him +and His Father, a pattern after which our union with Him is to be +moulded, both as regards the closeness of its intimacy and as regards +the resulting manifestations in life. Christ is in us and we in Christ +in some measure as the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son. +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 earth. + +All the doings of a Christian man, if done in faith, and holding by +Christ, are Christ's doings, inasmuch as He is the life and the power +which does them all. And Christ's deeds are reproduced and perpetuated +in His humble follower, inasmuch as the life which is imparted will +unfold itself according to its own kind; and he that loves Christ will +be changed into His likeness, and become a partaker of His Spirit. So +let us curb all self-dependence and self-will, that that mighty tide +may flow into us; and let us cast from us all timidity, distrust, and +gloom, and be strong in the assurance that we have a Christ living in +the heavens to work for us, and living within us to work through us. + +There is no record of the Ascension in John's Gospel, but these words +of my text unveil to us the inmost meaning of that Ascension, and are +in full accord with the great picture which one of the Evangelists has +drawn—a picture in two halves, which yet are knit together into one. +'So then, after He had spoken unto them, He was received up into +heaven, and sat at the right hand of God; and they went forth and +preached everywhere.' What a contrast between the two—the repose above, +the toil below! Yes! But the next words knit them together—'The Lord +also working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.' + +II. Note, in the next place, the greater work of the servants on and +for whom the Lord works. 'Greater works than these shall he do.' Is, +then, the servant greater than his Lord, and he that is sent greater +than He that sent him? Not so, for whatsoever the servant does is done +because the Lord is with and in him, 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 is, properly and at bottom, the contrast +between Christ's manifestations in the time of His earthly limitation +and humiliation, and His manifestations in the time of His Ascension +and celestial glory. + +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 aspects, which are one—of Revelation and +Redemption. These are finished, and need no copy, no repetition, no +perpetuation, until the end of time. But the work of objective +Revelation, which was completed when He ascended, and the work of +Redemption which was finished when He rose—these require to be applied +through the ages. And it is in regard to the application of the +finished work of Christ to the actual accomplishment of its +contemplated consequences, that the comparison is drawn between the +limited sphere and the small results of Christ's work upon earth, and +the worldwide sweep and majestic magnitude of the results of the +application of that work by His servants' witnessing work. 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 here. And I need only remind you that the poorest Christian +who can go to a brother soul, and by word or life can draw that soul to +a Christ whom it apprehends as dying for its sins and raised for its +glorifying, does a mightier thing than it was possible for the Master +to do by life or lip whilst He was here upon earth. For the Redemption +had to be completed in act before it could be proclaimed in word; and +Christ had no such weapon in His hands with which to draw men's souls, +and cast down the high places of evil, as we have when we can say, 'We +testify unto you that the Son of God hath died for our sins, and is +raised again according to the Scriptures.' Nor need I do more than +remind you of the comparison, so exalting for His humility and so +humbling for our self-exaltation, between the narrow sphere in which +His earthly ministrations had to operate and the worldwide scope which +is given to His servants. 'He laid His hands on a few sick folk, and +healed them'; and at the end of His life there were one hundred and +twenty disciples in Jerusalem and five hundred in Galilee, and you +might have put them all into this chapel and had ample room to spare. +That was all that Jesus Christ had done; while to-day and now the world +is being leavened and the kingdoms of the earth are beginning to +recognise His name. 'Greater works than these shall he do' who lets +Christ in him do all His works. + +III. Lastly, notice the conditions on which the exalted Lord works for +and on His servants. + +These are two, faith and prayer. + +'He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also.' Faith, +the simple act of loving trust in Jesus Christ, opens the door of our +hearts and natures for the entrance of all His solemn Omnipotence, and +makes us possessors of it. It is the condition, and the only condition, +and plainly the indispensable condition, of possessing this divine +Christ's power, that we should trust ourselves to Him that gives it. +And if we do, then we shall not trust in vain, but to us there will +come power that will surpass our desire, and fill us with its own +rejoicing and pure energy. Faith will make us like Christ. Faith is +intensely practical. 'He that believeth shall _do_.' It is no mere cold +assent to a creed which is utterly impotent to operate upon men's acts, +no mere hysterical emotion which is utterly impotent to energise into +nobilities of service and miracles of consecration, but it is the +affiance of the whole nature which spreads itself before Him and prays, +'Fill my emptiness and vitalise me with Thine own Spirit.' That is the +faith which is ever answered by the inrush of the divine power, and the +measure of our capacity of receiving is the measure of His gift to us. + +So if Christian individuals and Christian communities are impotent, or +all but impotent, there is no difficulty in understanding why. They +have cut the connection, they have shut the tap. They lack faith; and +so their power is weakness. 'Why could we not cast him out?' said they, +perplexed when they had no need to be. 'Why could you not cast him out? +Because you do not believe that I, working in you, can cast him out. +That is why; and the only why.' Let us learn that the secret of +Christians' weakness is the weakness of their Christian faith. + +And the other condition is prayer. 'Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name +I will do it,' and He repeats it, for confirmation and for greater +emphasis. 'If ye shall ask anything in My name,' or, as perhaps that +clause ought to be read with some versions, 'If ye shall ask Me +anything in My name I will do it.' + +Three points may be named here. Our power depends upon our prayer. +God's and Christ's fullness and willingness to communicate do not +depend upon our prayer. But our capacity to receive of that fullness, +and so the possibility of its communication to us, do depend upon our +prayer. 'We have not because we ask not.' + +The power of our prayer depends upon our conscious oneness with the +revealed Christ. 'If ye shall ask in My name,' says He. And people +think they have fulfilled the condition when, in a mechanical and +external manner, they say, as a formula at the end of petitions that +have been all stuffed full of self-will and selfishness, 'for Christ's +sake. Amen!' and then they wonder they do not get them answered! Is +that asking in Christ's name? + +Christ's name is the revelation of Christ's character, and to do a +thing in the name of another person is to do it as His representative, +and as realising that in some deep and real sense—for the present +purpose at all events—we are one with Him. And it is when we know +ourselves to be united to Christ and one with Him, and representative +in a true fashion of Himself, as well as when, in humble reliance on +His work for us and His loving heart, we draw near, that our prayer has +power, as the old divines used to say, 'to move the Hand that moves the +world,' and to bring down a rush of blessing upon our heads. Prayer in +the name of Christ is hard to offer. It needs much discipline and +watchfulness; it excludes all self-will and selfishness. And if, as my +text tells us, the end of the Son's working is the glory of the Father, +that same end, and not our own ease or comfort, must be the end and +object of all prayer which is offered in His name. When we so pray we +get an answer. And the reason why such multitudes of prayers never +travel higher than the roof, and bring no blessings to him who prays, +is because they are not prayers in Christ's name. + +Prayer in His name will pass into prayer to Him. As He not obscurely +teaches us here (if we adopt the reading to which I have already +referred), He has an ear to hear such requests, and He wields divine +power to answer. Surely it was not blasphemy nor any diversion of the +worship due to God alone, when the dying martyr outside the city wall +cried and said, 'Lord Jesus! receive my spirit.' Nor is it any +departure from the solemnest obligations laid upon us by the unity of +the divine nature, nor are we bringing idolatrous petitions to another +than the Father, when we draw near to Christ and ask Him to give us +that which He gives as the Father's gift, and to work on us that which +the Father that dwelleth in Him works through Him for us. + +Trust yourselves to Christ, and let your desires be stilled, to listen +to His voice in you, and let that voice speak. And then, dear brethren, +we shall be lifted above ourselves, and strength will flow into us, and +we shall be able to say, 'I can do all things, through the Christ that +dwells in me and makes me strong.' And just as the glad, sunny waters +of the incoming tide fill the empty places of some oozy harbour, where +all the ships are lying as if dead, and the mud is festering in the +sunshine, so into the slimy emptiness of our corrupt hearts there will +pour the flashing sunlit wave, the ever fresh rush of His power; and +'everything will live whithersoever it cometh,' and we shall be able to +say in all humility, and yet in glad recognition of Christ's +faithfulness to this, His transcendent promise, 'I live, yet not I, but +Christ liveth in me,' 'because the life which I live in the flesh I +live by faith of the Son of God.' + + + + +LOVE AND OBEDIENCE + + +'If ye love Me, keep My commandments.'—JOHN xiv, 15. + +As we have seen in former sermons, the keyword of the preceding context +is 'Believe!' and that word passes now into 'Love.' The order here is +the order of experience. There is first the believing gaze upon the +Christ as He is revealed—the image of the invisible God. That kindles +love, and prompts to obedience. + +There is another very beautiful and subtle link of connection between +these words and the preceding. Our Lord has just been saying, +'Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do.' 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 commands? On both sides +there is love delighting to be set in motion by a message from the +other side. On the one part there is love supreme which commands and +delights to be asked, on the other part there is love dependent, which +asks and delights to be commanded; and though the gulf between the two +is great, and the difference between Christ's law and our petitions is +infinite, yet there is an analogy. + +I pause on these words, though they are introduced here only as the +basis of the great promise which follows, because they open out into +such wide fields. They contain the all-sufficient law of Christian +conduct. They contain the one motive adequate to bring that law into +realisation. They disclose the very roots of Christian morality, and +part of the secret of Christ's unique power and influence amongst men. +They come with a message of encouragement to all souls despairing of +being able to do that which they would, and of freedom to all men +burdened with a crowd of minute and external regulations. 'If ye love +Me, keep My commandments'—there are three points to be dwelt upon +here—namely, the all-sufficient ideal or guide of life, the +all-powerful motive which Christ brings to bear, and the all-subduing +gaze of faith by which that motive is brought into action. + +I. We have here the all-sufficient ideal or guide for life. + +Jesus Christ is not speaking merely to that little handful of men in +the upper chamber, but to all generations and to all lands, to the end +of time and round the world. The authoritative tone which He assumes +here is very noteworthy. He speaks as Jehovah spoke from Sinai, and +quotes the very words of the old law when He speaks of 'keeping My +commandments.' 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 being, and the other His +assumption that His will contains the all-sufficient directory for +human conduct. + +What, then, are His commandments? Those which He spoke are plain and +simple; 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 philosophers, and they crow very loud +if, scratching amongst Rabbinical dust-heaps, they find something that +looks like anything that He once said. Be it so! What does that matter? +Christ's 'commandments' are Christ Himself. This is the originality and +uniqueness of Christ as a moral Teacher, that He says, not 'Do this, +that, and the other thing,' but 'Copy Me.' 'Take My yoke upon you and +learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.' His commandments are +Himself; and the sum of them all is this—a character perfectly +self-oblivious, and wholly penetrated and saturated with joyful, filial +submission to the Father, and uttermost and entire giving Himself away +to His brethren. That is Christ's commandment which He bids us keep, +and His law is to be found in His life. + +And then, if that be so, what a change passes on the aspect of law, +when we take Christ as being our living embodiment of it! Everything +that was hard, repellent, far-off, cold, vanishes. We have no longer +'tables of stone,' but 'fleshy tables of the heart'; and the Law stands +before us, a Being to be loved, to be clung to, to be trusted, and whom +it is blessedness to know and perfection to resemble. The rails upon +which the train travels may be rigid, but they mean safety, and they +carry men smoothly into otherwise inaccessible lands. So the life of +Jesus Christ brought to us is the firm and plain track along which we +are to travel; and all that was difficult and hard in the cold thought +of _duty_ becomes changed into the attraction of a living Pattern and +Example. This living and breathing and loving commandment is +all-sufficient for every detail and complexity of human life. It is so +by the confession of believers and of unbelievers, by the joyful +confession of the one, and by the frank acknowledgment of many of the +others. Listen to one of them. 'Whatever else may be taken away from us +by rational criticism, Christ is still left, a unique Figure, not more +unlike all His predecessors than all His followers…. Religion cannot be +said to have made a bad choice in selecting this Man as the ideal +Representative and Guide of humanity; nor even now would it be easy, +even for an unbeliever, 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 life.' + +It is enough for conduct, it is enough for character, it is enough in +all perplexities of conflicting duties, that we listen to and obey the +voice that says, 'Keep My commandments.' + +II. Now note, secondly, the all-powerful motive. + +Probably my text is best understood as the Revised Version understands +it, which reads, 'If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments,' making +it an assurance and not an injunction. Christ speaks with the calm +confidence that love to Him will have power enough to sway the life. +His utterance here is not the addition of another commandment to the +list, but rather the pointing out of how they may all be kept. + +The principle that underlies these words, then, is this, that love is +the foundation of obedience, and obedience is the sure outcome and +result of love. That is true in regard to those lower forms of love, +which may teach us something of the operation of the higher. We all +know that love which is real, and not simply passion and selfishness +with a mask on, delights most chiefly in knowing and conforming to the +will of the beloved, and that there is nothing sweeter than to be +commanded by the dear voice and to obey for dear love's sake. And you +have only to take that which is the experience of every true heart, in +a thousand sweet ways in daily life, and to lift it into the higher +region, and to transfer it to the bond that unites us with Jesus +Christ, to see that He has invoked no illusory, but an omnipotent power +when He has rested the whole force of His transforming and sanctifying +energy upon this one principle, 'If ye love Me, the Lawgiver, ye will +keep the commandments of My Law.' + +That is exactly what distinguishes and lifts the morality of the Gospel +above all other systems. The worst man in the world knows a great deal +more of his duty than the best man does. It is not for want of +knowledge that men go to the devil, but it is for want of power or will +to live their knowledge. And what morality fails to do, with its +clearest utterances of human duty, Christ comes and does. The one law +is like the useless proclamations posted up in some rebellious +district, where there is no army to back them, and the king's authority +from whom they come is flouted. The other law gets itself obeyed. Such +is the difference between the powerless morality of the world and the +commandment of Jesus Christ. Here is the road plain and straight. What +matters that, if there is no force to draw the cart along it? There +might as well be no road at all. Here stand all your looms, polished +and in perfect order, but there is no steam in the boilers; and so +there is no motion, and nothing is woven. What we want is not law, but +power, and what the Gospel gives us, and stands alone in giving us, is +not merely the knowledge of the will of God, and the clear revelation +of what we ought to be, but the power to become it. + +Love does that, and love alone. That strong force brought into action +in our hearts will drive out from thence all rivals, all false and low +things. The true way to cleanse the Augean stables, as the old myth has +it, was to turn the river into them. It would have been endless work to +wheel out the filth in wheelbarrows loaded by spades: turn the stream +in, and it will sweep away all the foulness. When the Ark comes into +the Temple, Dagon lies, a mutilated stump, upon the threshold. When +Christ comes into my heart, then all the obscene and twilight-loving +shapes that lurked there, and defiled it, will vanish like ghosts at +cock-crowing before His calm and pure Presence. He, and He alone, +entering my heart by the portals of my love, will coerce my evil and +stimulate my good. And if I love Him, I shall keep His commandments. + +Now, brethren, here is a plain test and a double-barrelled one, which +tries both our love and our obedience with a sharp touchstone. 'If ye +love Me, ye will keep My commandments.' That implies, first, that there +is no love worth calling so which does not keep the commandment. All +the emotional and the mystic, and the so-called higher parts of +Christian experience, have to be content to submit to this plain +test—do they help us to live as Christ would have us, and that because +He would have us? Love to Him that does not keep His commandments is +either spurious or dangerously feeble. 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 emotion, nor even in the sacred joys +of solitary communion, but in its making us, while in the rough +struggle of daily life, and surrounded by trivial tasks, live near Him, +and by Him, and for Him, and like Him. If I live so, I love Him; if +not, not. 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 love, 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 foundation. The +colouring matter put in at the fountain will dye every drop of the +stream; and they whose inmost hearts are tinged and tinctured with the +sweet love of Jesus Christ, from their hearts will go forth issues of +life all coloured and moulded thereby. Test your Christian love by your +practical obedience. + +And, on the other hand, there is no obedience worth calling so which is +not the child of love; and all the multitude of right things which +Christians do without that motive are made short work of by that +consideration. Obedience which is formal, mechanical, matter-of-course, +without the presence in it of a loving submission of the will; +obedience which is reluctant, calculated, forced upon us by dread, +imitated from others—all that is nothing; and Jesus Christ does not +count it as obedience at all. This is a sieve with very small meshes, +and there will be a great deal of rubbish left in it after the shaking. +'If ye love Me, keep My commandments.' The 'keeping of My commandments' +which has not 'love to Me' underlying it is no keeping at all. + +III. And so, lastly, notice the all-subduing gaze. + +That is not included in my text, 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 nature; and we are led to +refer to it by what I have already pointed out; the connection between +the 'love' of my text and the 'believe' of the preceding verses. I can +fancy a man saying, 'Keep His commandments? Woe is me! How am I to +keep?' The answer is 'Love.' And I can fancy him saying 'Love?' Yes! +'And how am I to love? I cannot get up love at the word of command, or +by any voluntary effort.' And the answer comes again, 'Believe!' Trust +Christ, and you will love Him. Love Him and you will do His will. And +then the question comes again, 'Believe what?' And the answer comes, +'Believe that He is the Son of God who died for you.' + +Nothing else will kindle a man's love than the faithful contemplation +and grasp of Christ in that character and aspect. Only the redeeming +Christ affords a reasonable ground for our love to Him. Here is a dead +man, dead for nineteen centuries, expecting you and me to have towards +Him a vivid personal affection which will influence our conduct and our +character. What right has He to expect that? There is only one +reasonable ground upon which I may be called to love Jesus Christ, and +that is that He died for me, and such a love towards such a Christ is +the only thing which will wield power sufficient to guide, to coerce, +to restrain, to constrain, and to sustain my weak, wayward, rebellious, +and sluggish will. All other emotions of so-called admiration and +worship and reverence and affection for Jesus Christ are apt to be +tepid; but this one has power and warmth in it. + +Here is a unique fact in the history of the world, that not only did He +make this astounding claim upon all subsequent generations; but that +all subsequent generations have responded to it, and that to-day there +are millions of men who love Jesus Christ with a love warm, personal, +deep, powerful—the spring of all their goodness and the Lord of their +lives. Why do they? For one reason only. Because they believe that He +died for them individually, and that He lives an ascended yet +ever-present Helper and Lover of their souls. + +My brethren, that conviction, and that conviction only, as I venture to +affirm, has power to send a glow of love into the heart which will move +all the limbs in swift and happy obedience. That conviction, and that +conviction alone, will melt the thick-ribbed ice of our spirits and +will make it flow down in sweet waters. The love that has looked upon +the Cross will be the fulfilling of the law of Him that speaks from the +Throne. When our faith has grasped Him, as enduring that cross for us, +then our love will be awakened to hear and to do His commandments. + +'We love Him because He first loved us,' and such love will flower and +fruit in obedience. I shall keep His commandments when I love Him. I +shall love Him with a love that makes my will plastic and my life a +glad service, when by faith I grasp Him as the Incarnate Lord, 'who +loved me and gave Himself for me.' + + + + +THE COMFORTER GIVEN + + +'And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, +that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the +world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: +but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.'—JOHN +xiv. 16,17. + +The 'and' at the beginning of these words shows us that they are +continuous with and the consequence of what precedes. 'If ye love Me, +_ye_ will _keep_ My commandments, and _I_ will _pray_ … and _He_ will +_send_.' Such is the series; but we must also remember that, as we have +seen in previous sermons, the obedience spoken of in the clause before +my text is itself treated as a consequence of some preceding steps. The +ladder that is fixed upon earth and has its summit in heaven has for +its rungs, first and lowest, 'believe'; second, 'love'; third, 'obey.' +And thus the context carries us from the very basis of the Christian +life up into its highest reward, even the larger gift to an obedient +spirit of that Great Spirit, who is the Comforter and the Teacher. + +And there is another very striking link of connection between these +words and the preceding. There are, if I may so say, two telephones +across the abyss that separates the ascended Christ and us. One of them +is contained in His words, 'If ye ask anything in My name I will do +it'; the other is contained in these words, 'If ye keep My commandments +I will ask.' Love on this side of the great cleft sets love on the +other side of it in motion in a twofold fashion. If we ask, He does; if +we do, He asks. His action is the answer to our prayers, and His +prayers are the answer to our obedient action. So we have here these +points—the praying Christ and the giving Father; the abiding Gift; the +blind world and the recipient disciples. + +I. Note, then, first, the praying Christ and the giving Father. + +'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 +chapter. 'Believe in God, believe also in Me'; 'He that hath seen Me +hath seen the Father'; 'If ye shall ask anything in My name I will do +it'; 'Keep My commandments.' All these distinctly express, or +necessarily imply, divine nature, prerogatives, and authority. But here +the voice that spake the perfect revelation of God, and gave utterance +authoritatively to the perfect law of life, softens and lowers its +tones in petition; and Jesus Christ joins the rank of the suppliants. +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 contradictory; 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 lofty, 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 flesh,' who prays in His Manhood and hears +prayer in His Divinity. The bare humanistic view which emphasises such +utterances as these of my text does not, for the life of it, know what +to do with the other ones, and cannot manage to unite these two images +into a stereoscopic solid. That is reserved for the faith which +believes in the Manhood and in the Deity of our Lord and Saviour. + +His intercession is the great hope of the Christian heart. His +intercession is the great activity of His present exalted and glorious +state. His intercession is no mere verbal utterance, nor the +representation to the Father of an alien or a diverse will, but His +intercession, mysterious as it is, and unfathomable to our poor, short +lines and light plummets, must mean this at all events—His continual +activity in presenting before the divine Father, as the motive and +condition of His petition being granted, His own great work upon the +Cross. The High Priest passes within the veil, bearing in His hand the +offering which He has made, and by reason of that offering, and of His +powerful presence before the mercy-seat, all the spiritual gifts which +redeem and regenerate and sanctify humanity are for ever coming forth. +'I will pray, and He will give,' is but one way of saying, 'Seeing +then, that we have a great High Priest over the House of God who is +entered within the veil, let us draw near.' + +But I would have you notice how, as is always the case in all +utterances of Jesus Christ which express the lowest humiliation and +completest identification of Himself with humanity, there is ever +present some touch of obscured glory, some all but suppressed flash of +brightness which will not be wholly concealed. Note two things in this +great utterance; one, Christ's quiet assumption that all through the +ages, and today, nineteen centuries after He died, He knows, at the +moment of their being done, His servants' deeds. 'Keep my commandments, +and, knowing that you keep them, I will then and there pray for you.' +He claims in the lowly words an altogether supernatural, abnormal, +divine cognisance of all the acts of men down the ages and across the +gulf between earth and heaven. + +And the other signature of divinity stamped on the prayer of Christ is +His certitude of the answer. 'I will ask and He will give': He puts, as +it were, the Father's act in pledge to us, and assures us, in a tone of +certainty, which is not merely the assurance of faith, but the +certitude of One who is 'one with the Father,' that His prayer brings +ever its answer. 'Father! I will that they whom Thou hast given Me be +with Me.' How strange! How far beyond the warrantable language of man! +And how impossible for a fisherman of Bethsaida to imagine, if he had +not heard, that strange blending of submission and of authority which +speaks in such words! + +Then, remember what I have already said, that, according to the +teaching of this verse, taken in connection with its context, that +which put in motion Christ's Intercessory activity, as represented in +my text, is the obedience of a Christian man. If you obey He will pray, +and the Father will send. So the reward of imperfect obedience is the +larger measure given to us of that divine Spirit by whose indwelling +obedience becomes possible, and self-surrender a joy and a power. And +that is not merely because of the natural operation by which any kind +of conduct tends to repeat itself in more complete measure, nor is it +merely a case of 'to him that hath shall be given'; as a man's arm is +strengthened by exercise, and any faculty becomes more assured, and +swift, and at the command of its owner, by use. But there is a distinct +supernatural impartation to every obedient heart of divine gifts which +come straight through Jesus Christ to it. He Himself, in this immediate +context, says, 'If I depart I will send Him unto you,' and the true +conception is that in that Spirit's gift, which is a reality waiting as +its crown and reward upon our poor stained obedience, the whole Godhead +is present; the Father the Source, the Son the Channel, the Spirit the +Gift. + +II. And so, secondly, note what our text tells us of that abiding gift. + +'He will send another Comforter,' 'that He may abide with you for ever, +even the Spirit of Truth.' 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 'Comforter.' In our present modern English it has a very much +narrower range of meaning than its etymology would give it, and than +probably it had when it was first used in an English translation. +'Comforter' means a great deal more than 'consoler,' though we have +narrowed it to that signification almost exclusively. It means not only +one who administers sweet whispers of consolation in sorrow, but one +who, in any circumstances, by his presence makes strong. And the +original Greek word, of which it is the translation here, has a +precisely analogous meaning; its original signification being that of +'one who is called to the aid of another,' primarily as an advocate in +a court of law, but more widely as a helper in any form whatsoever. And +that is the idea which is to be attached to the word here:—a Comforter +who makes strong by His presence; the Paraclete, who is our Advocate, +Helper, Guide, and Instructor. Need I dwell upon the great thoughts +that spring from that metaphor; how we have to look for a Person, and +not merely a vague influence; a divine Person who will be by our sides +on condition of our faith, love, and obedience, to be our Strength in +all weakness, our Peace in all trouble, our Wisdom in all darkness, our +Guide in every perplexity, our Comforter and Cherisher, our +Righteousness when sin is strong, the Victor over our temptations, and +the Companion and Sweetener of our solitude? The metaphors with which +Scripture represents this great personal Influence are full of +instruction and beauty. He comes as 'the Fire,' which melts, which +warms, which cleanses, which quickens. He comes as the 'rushing, mighty +Wind,' which bears health upon its wings, and sometimes breathes softly +as an infant's breath, and sometimes sweeps with irresistible power. He +comes as the 'Oil,' gently flowing, lubricating, making every joint +supple, nourishing. He comes as the 'Water of Life,' refreshing, +vitalising, quickening all growth. He comes fluttering down as the Dove +of God, the bird of peace that will brood upon our hearts. The +predicates which Scripture attaches to that great Name are equally +various, and are full of teaching as to the manner in which He is the +Comforter and the Advocate. He is the Spirit of Holiness, the Spirit of +Truth, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Power, the Spirit of Love, +the Spirit of a sound Mind, the Spirit of Sonship, the Spirit of +Supplication, and of many great things besides. And this sweet, strong, +all-sufficient Person is offered to each of us, and waits to enter our +hearts. + +And, says Christ, this Strengthener and Advocate is to replace Me and +to carry on My work. 'He will send _another_ Comforter.' Who was the +other but the Master who was speaking? So all that that handful of men +had found of sweetness and shelter and assured guidance, and stay for +their weakness, and enlightenment for their darkness, and companionship +for their solitude, and a breast on which to rest their heads, and love +in which to bathe their hearts, all _these_ this divine Spirit will +bring to each of us if we will. + +And further, our Lord tells us that this strong continuer of His +presence will be a permanent Companion. 'He will abide with you for +ever.' He was comforting the disciples who were trembling at the +thought of His departure, and knowing that all the sweetness of these +three short years had come to an end; and He says to them, and through +them to all the ages to the end of time: 'Here is the abiding Guest, +that nothing but your own sin will ever cast out from your hearts.' + +And Christ tells us how this great Spirit will do His work. He is the +'Spirit of Truth,' not as if He brought new truth. To suppose that He +does so, opens the door to all manner of fanaticism, but the truth, the +revelation of which is all summed and finished in the person and work +of Jesus Christ, is the weapon by which the divine Spirit works all His +conquests, the staff on which He makes us lean and be strong. He is the +Spirit by whom the truth passes into our personal possession, by no +mere imperfect form of outward teaching which is always confused and +insufficient, but by the inward teaching that deals with our hearts and +our spirits. + +But Christ speaks, too, of the blind world. There is a tone of deep +sadness in His words. 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 +promise. 'The world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither +knoweth Him.' The 'world' is the mass of man, considered as godless and +separate from Him, and there is a bit of the world in us all; but there +are men who are wholly under its influence and dominion. And these men, +says Christ, are perfectly incapable of receiving the teaching of this +divine Comforter. Of course there are other operations of that Great +Spirit of which we shall have to hear as we go on further in this +context, in which His work 'convicts the world of sin and of +righteousness and of judgment.' 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 obedience, and who, coming, brings with Him +strength and purity and peace and wisdom; and that aspect of His +operations a heart that is all full and seething with the world is +unfit to receive. It cannot see Him. Embruted natures are altogether +incapacitated for high thoughts, for the perception of natural beauty, +for the appreciation of art; and worldly men, by the very same law, are +incapable of receiving this divine Spirit. A savage stares at the +sunshine and sees nothing but a glare. And worldly men—that is to say, +men whose tastes, inclinations, desires, hopes, purposes, strivings, +are all bound by this visible diurnal round—lack the organ that enables +them to see that divine Spirit moving round about them. Whether you +have put your eyes out by fleshly lusts, or, as many men in this +generation have done, by intellectual self-sufficiency and conceit, if +the world, in its grosser or in its most refined forms, is your master, +you are stone blind to all the best realities of the universe, and you +cannot see the things that are. If you look out upon the history of the +Church, or upon the present condition of Christendom, and say, 'I see +no divine Spirit working there'; well, then, the only thing that is to +be said to you is, 'Go to an oculist; your sight is bad. Perhaps there +is solid land, as some of us see it, where you see only mist.' This +generation needs the preaching of a supernatural power at work beside +us, and among us, and until we come to believe _that_, we do not +understand the fullness of Christ's gift. + +III. Then, lastly, note the recipient disciples. + +Observe that the order of clauses is reversed in the last part of the +text. The world cannot receive, because it does not know. The disciple +knows, because he receives. Possession and knowledge reciprocally +interchange places, and may be regarded as cause and effect of one +another. That is to say, at bottom they are one and the same thing. +Knowledge is possession, and possession is the only knowledge. These +disciples knew Christ in a fashion. He had just been telling them that +they did not know Him; but so far as they did dimly grasp Him, they saw +the Spirit—in another form, indeed, than they would hereafter see—but +still truly, though imperfectly. Beholding the Spirit, though 'through +a glass darkly,' and cherishing their partial possession of Him, they +will come to more, and steadfastly increase from the morning's twilight +to the midday glory. So He says: 'He dwelleth with you' now, and 'He +shall be _in_ you' hereafter. There is a better form of possession +opening before them, which came at Pentecost, and has lasted ever +since. From thenceforward we have a Spirit that not only stands by our +sides and holds fellowship with us (for the two 'withs' of our text are +two different words, expressing respectively proximity and communion), +but who actually dwells in the central depths of our natures, and whom +we thus possess more perfectly and blessedly than is possible to even +the closest outward proximity, and the sweetest outward fellowship. + +That possession of an abiding and indwelling Spirit is the gift of +Christ to every Christian soul, and is to be found by us all upon the +path so plainly marked out in our text and its connections—'believe,' +'love,' 'obey.' Then the Dove of God will flutter down upon our heads +and nestle in our hearts, and brooding over the solemn and solitary sea +of our chaotic spirits, will bring up from it a new world glistening in +fresh order and beauty, and 'very good' in its Maker's eyes. + + + + +THE ABSENT PRESENT CHRIST + + +'I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little +while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, +ye shall live also.'—JOHN xiv. 18,19. + +The sweet and gracious comfortings with which Christ had been soothing +the disciples' fears went very deep, but hitherto they had not gone +deep enough. It was much that they should know the purpose of His +going, whither He went, and that they had an interest in His departure. +It was much that they should have before them the prospect of reunion; +much that they should know that all through His absence He would be +working in them, and that they should be assured that, absent, He would +send them a great gift. But reunion, influence from afar, and gifts +from the other side of the gulf were not all that their hearts needed. +And so here our Lord gives yet more, in the paradoxes that, absent He +will be present, unseen visible, and dying will be for them for ever, +living and life-giving. These great thoughts go to the centre of their +needs and of ours; and on them I now touch briefly. + +There are then in the words I have read, though they be but a fragment +of a closely-linked-together context, these three great thoughts: the +absent Christ the present Christ; the unseen Christ the seen Christ; +the Christ who dies the living and life-giving Christ. Let us look at +these as they stand. + +I. First, then, the absent Christ is the present Christ. + +'I will not leave you comfortless,' or, as the Revised Version has it, +'desolate—I come to you.' Now, most of us know, I suppose, that the +literal meaning of the word rendered 'comfortless,' or 'desolate,' is +'_orphans_.' But that is rather an unusual form in which to represent +the relation between our Lord and His disciples, and so, possibly, our +versions are accurate in giving the general idea of desolation rather +than the specific idea conveyed directly by the word. But still it is +to be remembered that this whole conversation begins with 'Little +children'; and there seems to be no strong reason for suppressing the +literal meaning of the word, 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 Him. They would be like fatherless and motherless children +in a cold world. And what is to hinder that? One thing only. 'I come to +you.' 'Then, and only then, will you cease to be desolate and orphans. +My presence will change everything and turn winter into glorious +summer.' + +Now, what is this 'coming'? It is to be observed that our Lord says, +not 'I will,' as a future, but 'I come,' or 'I am coming,' as an +immediately impending, and, we may almost say, present, thing. There +can be no reference in the word to that final coming to judgment which +lies so far ahead; because, if there were, then there would follow from +the text, that, until that period, all that love Him here upon earth +are to wander about as orphans, desolate and forsaken; and that +certainly can never be. So that we have to recognise here the promise +of a coming which is contemporaneous with His absence, and which is, in +fact, but the reverse side of His bodily absence. + +It is true about Him that He 'departs from' His people in bodily form +'for a season, that they may receive Him' in a better form 'for ever.' +This, then, is the heart and centre of the consolation here, that +howsoever the external presence may be withdrawn, and the 'foolish +senses' may have to speak of an absent Christ, we may rejoice in the +certainty that He is with all those that love Him, and all the more +with them because of the very withdrawal of the earthly manifestation +which has served its purpose, and now is laid aside as an impediment +rather than as a help to the full communion. We confound _bodily_ with +_real_. The bodily presence is at an end; the real presence lasts for +ever. + +I do not need to insist, I suppose, upon the manifest implication of +absolute divinity which lies in such words as these. 'I come.' 'Being +absent, I am present in all generations. I am present with every single +heart.' That is equivalent to the Omnipresence of deity; that is +equivalent to or implies the undying existence of the divine nature, +and He that says, when He is leaving earth and withdrawing the +sweetness of His visible form from the eyes of men, 'I come,' in the +very act of going, 'and I am with you always, with all of you to the +end of the ages,' can be no less than God, manifest in the flesh for a +time, and present in the Spirit with His children for ever. + +I cannot but think that the average Christian life of this day wofully +fails in the simple, conscious realisation of this great truth, and +that we are all far too little living in the calm, happy, strengthening +assurance that we are never alone, but have Jesus Christ with each of +us more closely, more truly, in a more available fashion, and with more +omnipotence of influence, than they had who were nearest Him during the +days that He lived upon earth. + +Oh, brethren! if we really believed, not as an article of our creed +which has become so familiar to us that it produces little impression +upon us, but as a vital and ever-present conviction of our souls, that +with us there was ever the real presence of the real Christ, how all +burdens and cares would be lightened, how all perplexities would begin +to smooth themselves out and be straightened, how all the force would +be sucked out of temptations, and how sorrows and joys and all things +would be changed in their aspect by that one conviction intensely +realised and constantly with us! A present Christ is the Strength, the +Righteousness, the Peace, the Joy, and as we shall see, in the most +literal sense, the Life of every Christian soul. + +Then, note, further, that this coming of our Lord is identified with +that of His divine Spirit. He has been speaking of sending that 'other +Comforter,' but though He be Another, He is yet so indissolubly united +with Him who sends as that the coming of the Spirit is the coming of +Jesus. He is no gift wafted to us as from the other side of a gulf, but +by reason of the unity of the Godhead and the divinity of the sent +Spirit, Jesus Christ and the Spirit whom He sends are inseparable +though separate, and so indissolubly united that where the Spirit is, +there is Christ, and where Christ is, there is the Spirit. These are +amongst the deep things which the disciples were 'not able to carry' at +that stage of their development, and which waited for a further +explanation. Enough for them and enough for us, to know that we have +Christ in the Spirit and the Spirit in Christ; and to remember 'that if +any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.' + +We stand here on the margin of a shoreless and fathomless sea; 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 faculty, 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 nature. So, for my part, +abjuring omniscience and the comprehension of Deity, I accept the +statement that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit come together +and dwell in the heart. + +Then, note, further, that this present Christ is the only Remedy for +the orphanhood of the world. The words had a tender and pathetic +reference to that little, bewildered group of followers, deprived of +their Guide, their Teacher, and their Companion. He who had been as +eyes to their weak vision, and Counsellor and Inspirer and everything +for three blessed years, was going away to leave them unsheltered to +the storm, and we can understand how forlorn and terrified they were, +when they looked forward to fronting the things that must come to them, +without His presence. Therefore He cheers them with the assurance that +they will not be left without Him, but that, present still, just +because He is absent, He will be all that He ever had been to them. + +And the promise was fulfilled. How did that dis-spirited group of +cowardly men ever pluck up courage to hold together at all after the +Crucifixion? Why was it that they did not follow the example of John's +disciples, and dissolve and disappear; and say, 'The game is up. It is +no use holding together any longer'? The process of separation began on +the very day of the Crucifixion. Only one thing could have stopped it, +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 gifts. If it +had not been that He came to them, they would have disappeared, and +Christianity would have been one more of the abortive sects forgotten +in Judaism. But, as it is, the whole of the New Testament after +Pentecost is aflame with the consciousness of a present Christ, working +amongst His people. And although it be true that, in one aspect, we are +absent from the Lord when we are present with the body, in another +aspect, and an infinitely higher one, it is true that the strength of +the Christian life of Apostles and martyrs was this, the assurance that +Christ Himself—no mere rhetorical metaphor for His influence or His +example, or His memory lingering in their imaginations, but the +veritable Christ Himself—was present with them, to strengthen and to +bless. + +That same conviction you and I must have, if the world is not to be a +desert and a dreary place for us. In a very profound sense it is true +that if you take away Jesus Christ, the elder Brother, who alone +reveals to men the Father, we are all orphans, fatherless children, who +look up into an empty heaven and see nothing there. It is only Christ +who reveals to us the Father and makes our happy hearts feel that we +are of His children. And in the wider sense of the word 'orphans,' is +not life a desolation without Him? Hollow joys, fleeting blessednesses, +roses whose thorns last long after the petals have dropped, real +sorrows, shows and shams, bitternesses and disappointments—are not +these our life, in so far as Christ has been driven out of it? Oh! +there is only one thing that saves us from being as desolate, +fatherless children, groping in the dark for the lost Father's hand, +and dying for want of it, and that is that the Christ Himself shall +come to us and be with us. + +II. The unseen Christ is a seen Christ. + +It is clear that the period referred to in the second clause of our +text is the same as that referred to in the first, that 'yet a little +while' covers the whole space up to His Ascension; and that if there be +any reference at all to the forty days of His earthly life, during +which literally, the work 'saw Him no more,' but the Apostles 'saw +Him,' that reference is only secondary. These transitory appearances +are not of sufficient moment or duration to bear the weight of so great +a promise as this. The vision, which is the consequence of the coming, +has the same extension in time as the coming—that is to say, it is +continuous and permanent. We must read here the great promise of a +perpetual vision of the present Christ. + +It is clear, too, that the word 'see' is employed in these two clauses +in two different senses. In the former it refers only to bodily sight, +in the latter to spiritual perception. For a few short hours still, the +ungodly mass of men were to have that outward vision which might have +been so much to them, but which they had used so badly that 'they +seeing saw not.' It was to cease, and they who loved Him would not miss +it when it did; but the withdrawal which hid Him from sense and +sense-bound souls would reveal Him more clearly to His friends. They, +too, had but dimly seen Him while He stood by them; they would gaze on +Him with truer insight when He was present though absent. + +So this is what every Christian life may and should be—the continual +sight of a continually-present Christ. It is His part to come. It is +ours to see, to be conscious of Him who does come. + +Faith is the sight of the soul, and it is far better than the sight of +the senses. It is more direct. My eye does not touch what I look at. +Gulfs of millions of miles may lie between me and it. But my faith is +not only eye, but hand, and not only beholds, but grasps, and comes +into contact with that to which it is directed. It is far more clear. +Sense may deceive; faith, built upon His Word, cannot deceive. Its +information is far more certain, far more valid. I have better reason +for believing in Jesus Christ than I have for believing in the things +that I touch and handle. So that there is no need for men to say, 'Oh, +if we had only seen Him with our eyes!' You would very likely not have +known Him if you had. There is no reason for thinking that the Church +has retrograded in its privileges, because it has to love instead of +beholding, and to believe instead of touching. That is advance, and we +are better than they, inasmuch as the blessing of those 'who have not +seen, and yet have believed,' comes down upon our heads. The vision of +Christ which is granted to the faithful soul is better and not worse, +more and not less, other in kind indeed, but loftier in degree too, +than that which was granted to the men who saw Him upon earth. Sense +disturbs, faith alone beholds. + +'The world seeth Me no more.' Why? Because it is a world. 'Ye see Me.' +Why? Because, and in the measure in which you have turned away your +eyes from seeing vanity. If you want the eye of the soul to be opened, +you must shut the eye of sense. And the more we turn away from looking +at the dazzling lies with which time and the material universe befool +and bewilder us, the more shall we see Him whom to see is to live for +ever. + +Oh, brethren! does that strong word 'see' in any measure express the +vividness, the directness, the certainty of our realisation of our +Master's presence? Is Jesus Christ as clear, as perceptible, as sure to +us as the men round us are? Which are the shadows and which are the +realities to us? The things which are seen, which the senses crown as +'real,' or the things which cannot be seen because they are so great, +and tower above us, invisible in their eternity? Which world are our +eyes most open to, the world where Christ is, or the world here? Our +happy eyes may behold and our blessed hands may handle the Word of Life +which was manifested to us. Let us beware that we turn not away from +the one thing worthy to be looked at, to gaze upon a desolate and +dreary world. + +III. Lastly, the present and seen Christ is living and life-giving. + +The last words of my text may be connected with the preceding, as the +marginal rendering of the Revised Version shows. But it is probably +better to take them as standing independently, and presenting another +and co-ordinate element of the blessedness arising from the coming of +the Christ. Because He comes, His life passes into the hearts of the +men to whom He comes, and who gaze upon Him. + +Time forbids me to dwell upon that majestic proclamation of His own +absolute and divine life, from lips that were so soon to be paled with +death. Mark the grand 'I live'—the timeless present tense, which +expresses unbroken, underived, undying, and, as I believe, divine life. +It is all but a quotation of the great Old Testament name 'Jehovah.' +The depth and sweep of its meaning are given to us in this Apostle's +Apocalypse, where Christ is called 'the living One,' who lived whilst +He died, and having died 'is alive for evermore.' + +And this Christ, coming to all His friends, possessor of the fullness +of life in Himself, and proclaiming His absolute possession of that +life, even whilst He stands within arm's-length of Calvary, is +Life-giver to all that love Him and trust Him. + +We live _because_ He lives. In all senses of the word 'life,' as I +believe, the life of men is derived from the Christ who is the Agent of +creation, the channel from whom life passes from the Godhead into the +creatures, 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 one, and consists +in fellowship with God and union to Him. + +We shall live _as long as_ He lives, and His being is the pledge and +the guarantee of the immortal being of all who love Him. Anything is +possible, rather than that it should be credible that a soul, which has +drawn spiritual life from Jesus Christ here upon earth, should ever be +rent apart from Him by such a miserable and external trifle as the mere +dissolution of the bodily frame. As long as Christ lives our life is +secure. If the Head has life, the members 'cannot see corruption,' +'Take _me_ not away in the midst of my days: _Thy_ years are throughout +all generations' was the prayer of a saint of old, deeply feeling the +contrast of the worshipper's transiency and God's eternity, and dimly +hoping that the contrast might be changed into likeness. The great +promise of our text answers the prayer, and assures us that the +worshipper is to live as long as does He whom He adores. + +We shall live as He lives, nor ever cease the appropriation of His +being until all His life we know, and all its fullness has expanded our +natures—and that will be never. Therefore we shall not die. + +Men's lives have been prolonged by the transfusion of blood from +vigorous frames. Jesus Christ passes His own blood into our veins and +makes us immortal. The Church chose for one of its ancient emblems of +the Saviour the pelican, which fed its young, according to the fable, +with blood from its own breast. So Christ vitalises us. He in us is our +Life. + +Brethren, without Jesus Christ we are orphans in a fatherless world. +Without Him, our wearied and yet unsatisfied eyes have only trifles and +trials and trash to look at. Without Him, we are 'dead whilst we live.' +He and He only can give us back a Father, and renew in us the spirit of +sons. He and only He can satisfy our eyes with the sight which is +purity and restfulness and joy. He and He only can breathe life into +our death. Oh! let Him do it for you. He comes to us with all these +gifts in His hands, for He comes to give us Himself, and in Himself, as +'in a box where sweets compacted lie,' are all that lonely hearts and +wearied eyes and dead souls can ever need. All are yours if you are +Christ's. All are yours if He is yours. And He is yours if by faith and +love you make yourself His and Him your own. + + + + +THE GIFTS OF THE PRESENT CHRIST + + +'At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I +in you. He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that +loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I +will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.'—JOHN xiv. 20, 21. + +We have heard our Lord in the previous verse unveiling His deepest and +strongest encouragements to His downcast followers. These were: His +presence with them, their true sight of Him, and their participation in +His life. The first part of our present text is closely connected with +these, for it gives us their upshot and consequence. Because Christ's +true disciple is conscious of Christ's presence, sees Him with the eyes +of his spirit, and draws life from Him, therefore he will know by +experience the deep truths of Christ's indwelling at once in the Father +and in His servant, and of His servant's indwelling in Him. Our Lord +had just previously been exhorting His disciples to _believe_ that He +was in the Father and the Father in Him; and had been gently wondering +at the slowness of their faith. Now He tells them that, when He is +gone, their spiritual stature will be so increased as that they shall +_know_ the thing which, with Him by their side, they found it so hard +to believe. + +The second part of our present text is the close of this whole section +of our Lord's discourse, and in it He urges the requirement of +practical obedience, as the sign and test of love, and as the condition +of receiving these high and wonderful things of which He has been +speaking. He has been unveiling spiritual blessings, which may seem +recondite and up in the clouds, and which, as a matter of fact, have +often been perverted into dreamy mysticisms of a most immoral and +unpractical kind. And so He brings us sharp back again here to very +plain truths, 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 +commandments. In these last words of my text, He administers the +antidote and the check to the possible abuses of the great things which +He has been saying. + +I. Note, then, first, the knowledge that comes with the Christ who +comes. + +'At that day' covers the whole period of which He has been speaking, +between His withdrawal from the disciples and His final corporeal +coming to judgment—that great day of which generations are but the +moments. In it the men who love Him are to have His presence, His +vision, His life, and because they have, 'Ye shall know that I am in My +Father, and ye in Me, and I in you,' The principle that underlies these +wonderful words is that Christian experience is the best teacher of +fundamental Christian truth. Observe with what decision, and with what +strange boldness, our Lord carries that principle into regions where we +might suppose at first sight that it was altogether inapplicable. 'Ye +shall know that I am in My Father.' How can such a thing as the +relation between Christ and God ever be a matter of consciousness to us +here upon earth? Must it not always be a truth that we must take on +trust and believe because we have been told it, without having any +verification in ourselves? Not so; remember what has gone before. If a +man has the consciousness of Christ's presence with Him, sees Him with +the true inward eye, which is the only real organ of real vision, and +is drawing from Him, moment by moment, His own high and immortal life, +then is it not true that this man's experiences are of such a sort as +to be utterly inexplicable, except on the ground that they come from a +divine source? If I have these experiences I know that it is Jesus +Christ who gives them, and I know that He could not give them, if He +did not dwell in God and were not divine. These new influences, this +revolution in my being, this healing, constraining, cleansing touch, +these calming, gladdening, elevating powers, these new hopes, these +reversed desires, loving all to which I was formerly indifferent, and +growing dead to all that formerly appealed most strongly to me; all +these things bear upon their very front the signature that they are +wrought by a divine hand, and as sure as I am of my own Christian +consciousness, so sure am I that all its experiences proclaim their +Author, and that Christ who gives me them is in God. 'Ye shall know +that I am in My Father.' + +The New Testament, as I read it, is full at every point of the divinity +of Jesus Christ; and many profound and learned arguments on that +subject have been urged by theologians, and these are all well and +needful in their places, but the true way to be sure of it is to have +Him dwelling with us and working in us; and then what was an article of +belief becomes an article of knowledge, and we know Him to be our +Saviour and the Son of God. + +In like manner, and yet more obviously, the other elements of this +knowledge which Christ promises here may be shown to flow naturally and +necessarily from Christian experiences. 'That ye are in Me, and I in +you,'—if a Christian man carries the consciousness of Christ's +presence, and has Him as a Sun in his darkness, and as a Life-source +feeding his deadness with life, then he knows with a consciousness +which is irrefragable that Jesus Christ is in him, for he feels His +touch; and he knows that he is in Christ, for he is aware of the power +that girdles him, and in which he has peace and righteousness and all. + +So, dear brethren, let us learn what the Christian man's experience +ought to be and to do for him. It should change the articles of our +creed into elements of our consciousness. It should make all the +fundamentals of the Gospel vitally and vividly true; and certified by +what has passed within our own spirits We should be able to say: 'We +have the witness in ourselves.' And though there will remain much that +is uncertain, much in Christian doctrine which is not capable of that +clear and all-sufficing verification; much about which we must still +depend on the mere teaching of others, or on our own study, the central +facts which make the Gospel may all become, by this plain and short +path, elements of our very consciousness which stand undeniable to us, +whosoever denies them. + +Such a direct way to knowledge is reasonable, is in full analogy with +the manner by which we attain to the knowledge of everything except the +mere external facts, the knowledge of which has arrogated to itself the +exclusive name of 'science,' How do you know anything about love? You +may read poems and tragedies to the end of time, and you will not +understand it until you come under its spell for yourself; and then all +the things that men said about it cease to be mere words, because you +yourself have experienced the emotion. + + 'He must be loved, ere that to you + He will seem worthy of your love,' + +and the only way to be sure, with a vital certitude, of Christ, is to +take Christ for your very own, and then He comes into your very being, +and dwells there quickening, the Sun and the Life. + +So, dear brethren, though such certitude arising from experience, which +in its nature is the very highest, is not available for other people, +the fact that so many millions of men allege that in varying degrees +they possess this certitude is available for other people, and there is +nothing to be said by the unbeliever to this, the attestation of the +Christian consciousness to the truth of the truths which it has tried. +'Whether this man be a sinner or no, I know not.' You may jangle as +much as you like about the questionable and controversial points that +surround the Christian revelation, I do not care in the present +connection what answer you give to them. 'Whether this man be a sinner +or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I +see.' And we may push the war into the enemy's quarters, and say: 'Why! +herein is a marvellous thing, that you that know everything do not know +whence this man is, and yet He has opened mine eyes. You want facts; +there are some. You want verification; we have verified by experience, +and we set to our seals that God is true.' + +'Oh but,' you say, 'this is not a fair account of the way in which +Christian men and women generally feel about this matter.' Well, all +that I can say about that is, so much the worse for the so-called +Christian men and women. And if they are Christians, and do not know by +this inward experience that Christ is divine and their Saviour, then +there is only one of two reasons to be given for it; either their +experience is so wretchedly superficial and fragmentary, so rudimentary +as to be scarcely worth calling by the name or, having the facts, they +have failed to appreciate their significance, and to make their own by +reflection the certitudes which are their own. + +Brethren, it becomes every Christian man and woman to be able to say, +'Because I have Christ with me, and see Him, and derive my life from +Him, I know that He is in the Father, and I in Him, and He in me.' And +if you cannot say that, it is your own grasp of Him, or your meditation +upon what you have got by your grasp, that is painfully and sinfully +defective. + +II. My text speaks of the obedience which is the sign and test of love. + +The words here are substantially equivalent to former words in the +chapter which we have already considered, where our Lord says: 'If ye +love Me, ye will keep My commandments.' + +There is, however, a slight difference in the point of view in the two +sayings; the former begins with the root and traces it upwards and +outwards to its fruits, love blossoming into obedience. Our text +reverses the process, and takes the thing by the other end; begins with +the fruits and traces them downwards and inwards to the root. 'He that +hath and keepeth My commandments, he it is that loveth Me.' The two +sayings substantially mean the same thing; but in the one love is put +first as the cause of obedience, and in the other obedience is put +first, as the certain fruit and sure sign of love. The connection +between these and the preceding words is, as I have already pointed +out, that our Lord here brings all His lofty promises down to the +sharp, practical requirement of obedience, as the only condition on +which they can be fulfilled. + +So note, and very briefly about this matter, how remarkably our Lord +here declares the _possession_ of His commandments to be a sign of love +to Him. 'He that _hath_,' a word which is generally passed over in our +reading—'He that hath My commandments, He it is that loveth Me.' Of +course there are two ways of having His commandments; there is having +them in the Bible, and there is having them in the heart;—present +before my eye, as a law that I ought to obey, or present within my +will, as a power that shapes it. And the latter is the only kind of +'having' that Christ regards as real and valid. The rest is only +preparatory and superficial. Love possesses the knowledge of the loved +one's will. Is not that true? Do we not all know how strange is the +power of divining desires that goes along with true affection, and how +the power, not only of divining, but of treasuring, these desires is +the test and the thermometer of our true love? Some of us, perhaps, +keep laid away in sacred, secret places tattered, yellow, old bits of +paper with the words of a dear one on them, that we would not part +with. 'He that hath My commandments' laid up in lavender in the deepest +recesses of his faithful heart, he it is 'that loveth Me.' + +In like manner, our Lord says, the practical obedience to His +commandments is the sure sign and test of love. I need not dwell upon +that. There are two motives for keeping commandments—one because they +are commanded, and one because we love Him that commands. The one is +slavery, the other is liberty. The one is like the Arctic regions, cold +and barren, the other is like tropical lands, full of warmth and +sunshine, glorious and glad fertility. + +The form of the sentence suggests how easy it is for people to delude +themselves about their love to Jesus Christ. That emphatic 'he,' and +the putting first of the character before its root is pointed out, are +directed against false pretensions to love. The love that Christ stamps +with His hall-mark, and passes as genuine, is no mere emotion, however +passionate, however sweet; no mere sentiment, however pure, however +deep. The tiniest little rivulet that drives a mill is better than a +Niagara that rushes and foams and tumbles idly. And there is much +so-called love to Jesus Christ that goes masquerading up and down the +world, from which the paint is stripped by the sharp application of the +words of my text. Character and conduct are the true demonstrations of +Christian love, and it is only love so attested that He accepts. + +III. Lastly, notice the further and sweeter gifts of divine love and +manifestation which reward our love and obedience. + +'He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, +and will manifest Myself to him.' Two things, then, He tells us, 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 Christ, separate +and yet united, and the further manifestation of Christ's sweetness to +the waiting heart. + +Note, as to the first, the extraordinary boldness of that majestic +saying: 'If a man loves _Me_, My Father will love _him_.' God regards +our love to Jesus Christ as the fulfilling of the law, as equivalent to +our supreme love to Himself, as containing in it the germ of all that +is pleasing in His sight. And so, upon our hearts, if we love Christ, +there falls the benediction of the Father's love. Of course I need not +remind you that our Lord here is not beginning at the very beginning of +everything; for prior to all men's love to Christ is Christ's love to +men, and ours to Him is but the reflection and the echo called forth by +His to us. 'We love Him because He first loved us' digs a story deeper +down in the building than the words of my text, which is speaking, not +of the process by which a man comes to receive the love of God for the +first time, but of the process by which a Christian man grows in his +possession of it. That being understood, here is a great lesson. It is +not all the same to God whether a man is a scoundrel or a saint. The +divine love is over all its works, and embraces every variety of +humanity, the most degraded, alien, hostile. But in this generation, as +it seems to me, there is great need for preaching that whilst that is +gloriously and blessedly true, the other thing is just as true, that to +know the deepest depth and to taste the sweetest sweetness of the love +of our Father God, there must be in our hearts love to Him whom He has +sent, which manifests itself by our obedience. God's love is a moral +love; and whilst the sunbeams play upon the ice and melt it sometimes, +they flash back from, and rest most graciously and fully on, the +rippling stream into which the ice has turned. God loves them that love +Him not, but the depths of His heart and the secret, sacred favours of +His grace can only be bestowed upon those who in some measure are +conformed, and are growingly being conformed, to His likeness in Jesus +Christ, and who love Him and obey Him. + +And, in like manner, my text tells us that if we wish to know all that +it is possible for us here, amidst the clouds, and shadows, and +darknesses, to know of that dear Lord, the path to such knowledge is +plain. Walk in the way of obedience, and Christ will meet you with the +unveiling of more and more of His love. To live what we believe is the +sure way to increase its amount. To be faithful to the little is the +certain way to inherit the much. And Christ manifests Himself, in all +deep and recondite sweetness, gentleness, constraining power, to the +men who treasure the partial knowledge as yet possessed, in their +loving hearts and obedient wills, and who make a conscience of +translating all their knowledge into conduct, and of basing all their +conduct on knowledge of Him. He gives us His whole self at the first, +but we traverse the breadth of the gift by degrees. He puts Himself +into our hands and into our hearts when we humbly trust Him and +imperfectly try to love Him. But the flower is but a bud when we get +it, and, as we hold it, it opens its petals to the light. + +So, if 'any man wills to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine'; +and if, touched by His divine love and infinite sacrifice for me, I +cast my poor self upon Him, and try to love Him back again, and to keep +His commandments because I love, then day by day I shall realise more +and more of His strong, immortal, all-satisfying love, and see more and +more deeply into that Saviour, whose infinite beauties remain +unrevealed after all revelation, and to know more and more of whom +shall be the Heaven of Heavens yonder, as it is the joy and life of the +soul here. + + + + +WHO BRING CHRIST + + +'Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt +manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and +said unto him, If a man love Me he will keep My words: and My Father +will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. +He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye +hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me.'—JOHN xiv. 22-24. + +This Judas held but a low place amongst the Apostles. In all the lists +he is one of the last of the groups of fours, into which they are +divided, and which were evidently arranged according to their spiritual +nearness to the Master. His question is exactly that which a listener, +with some dim, confused glimmer of Christ's meaning, might be expected +to ask. He grasps at His last words about manifesting Himself to +certain persons; he rightly feels that he and his brethren possess the +qualification of love. He rightly understands that our Lord +contemplates no public showing of Himself, and that disappoints him. 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 do, manifest Himself to the world. +And now, as he thinks, something unknown to them must have happened in +order to make Him change His course, and go back to the old plan of a +secret communication. And so he says, 'Lord! what has come to pass to +induce you to abandon and falter upon the course on which we entered, +when you rode into Jerusalem with the shouting crowd?' + +His question is no better in intelligence, though it is a great deal +better in spirit, than the taunt of Christ's brethren, 'If Thou do +these things, show Thyself to the world.' Judas, too, thought of the +simple flashing of His Messianic glory, in some visible, vulgar form, +before else blind eyes. + +How sad and chilling such a question must have been to Jesus! Slow +scholars we all are; and with what wonderful patience, without a word +of pain, or of rebuke, He reiterates His lesson, here a little and +there a little, and once more unfolds the conditions of His +self-revelation, and the fullness of the blessings that He brings. He +moulds His words so as to meet both the clauses of Judas's foolish +question—'To us, not to the world'; and quietly tells them the positive +conditions and the negative disqualifications for His self-revelation. +So my text deals with two things, the crown of loving obedience in the +possession of a fuller Christ, and the impassable barrier to His +manifestation which unloving disobedience makes. Or to put it into +briefer words, we have in one of the verses—first, what brings Christ +and what Christ brings; and, in the other, second, what keeps away +Christ and all His gifts. Now let us look at these two things. + +I. We have what brings Christ and what Christ brings. + +'If a man love Me, He will keep My word' (not 'words,' as our +Authorised Version has it), 'and My Father will love him, and We will +come unto him, and make Our abode with him.' Now notice how here, in +the first part of this verse, our Lord subtly and significantly alters +the form of the statement which He has already made. He had formerly +said, 'If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments,' but now He casts +it into a purely impersonal form, and says, 'If a man,' anybody, not +'you' only, but anybody—'If a man love Me, he,' anybody, 'will keep My +word.' And why the change? Why, I suppose, 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 place. Our Lord, by +the studiously impersonal form into which He casts the promise, +proclaims its universality, and says this to His ignorant questioner, +'Do not suppose that you Apostles have the monopoly. You may not even +have a share in My self-manifestation. Anybody may have it. And there +is no "world," as you suppose, to which I do not show Myself. Anybody +may have the vision if he observes the conditions.' + +Now I need not dwell at any length upon the earlier words of this text, +because we have had to consider them in previous sermons on the former +verses of this chapter. I need only remark that here, as there, our +Lord brings out the thought that the very life-blood of love is the +treasuring of the word of the beloved One; and that there is no joy +comparable to the joy of the loving heart that yields itself to the +Beloved's will. That is true about earth, and it makes the sweetest and +selectest blessedness of our ordinary existence. And it is true about +heaven, and it makes the liberty and the gladness of the bond that +knits us to Him. + +But I would like just to notice, before I come to the more immediate +subject of my discourse, that remarkable expression, 'He will keep My +_word_.' That is more than a 'commandment' is it not? Christ's 'word' +is wider than _precept_. It includes all His sayings, and it includes +them all as in one vital unity and organic whole. We are not to go +picking and choosing among them; they are one. And it includes this +other thought, that every word of Christ, be it revelation of the deep +things of God, or be it a promise of the great shower of blessings +which, out of His full hand, He will drop upon our heads, enshrines +within itself a commandment. He utters no revelations, simply that we +may know. He utters no comforting words, simply that our sore hearts +may be healed, but in all His utterances there is a practical bearing; +and every word of His teaching, every word of His sweet, whispered +assurances of love and favour to the waiting heart, has in it the +imperativeness of His manifested will, and has a direct bearing upon +duty. All His _words_ are gathered into one word, and all the variety +of His sayings is, in their unity, the law of our lives. So much by way +of observation on the mere language of my text. And now let us look at +what, as He says to us here, are the rewards and crown of loving +obedience. + +Christ will show Himself to the loving heart. That is true on the very +lowest level. Every act of obedience to any moral truth is rewarded by +additional insight. Every act of submission to His will cleanses the +lenses of the telescope from some film that has gathered upon them, and +so the stars look brighter and larger and nearer. All duty done opens +out into a loftier conception of duty, and a clearer vision of Him. 'To +him that hath shall be given.' As we climb the hill we get a wider +view. Obedience is in all things the parent of insight. + +But in reference to our relation to Him, we have to do not with truths +only, but with a Person. How do we learn to know people? There is only +one way—that is, by loving them. Sympathy is the parent of all true +knowledge of one another. They tell us in the foolish old proverb that +'love is blind.' No! There is not such a pair of clear eyes anywhere as +the eyes of love; and if we want to see into a man, the first condition +is that we feel kindly towards him. Sympathy is the parent of insight +into persons, as Obedience is the parent of insight into duty. + +But both of these illustrations are only imperfect preparations for the +great truth here, which is that our loving obedience to the discerned +will of Jesus Christ has not only an operation inwards upon us, but has +an effect outwards upon Him. I am afraid that Christian people in this +generation have but a very imperfect belief in the actual, +supernatural, and, if you like to call it so, miraculous manifestation +of Jesus Christ, His very Self, to men that love Him and cleave to Him. +Do you believe as a simple revealed truth, plain as a sunbeam in such +words as these, that Jesus Christ Himself will do something on you, and +in you, and for you, if you love Him and trust Him; that His hand will +be laid on your eyes as it was laid of old; that He will indeed, in no +metaphor, but in reality, show Himself to you? I may be mistaken, but I +think that too commonly it is the case, 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 themselves. They +think the one a plain truth, and the other something like a metaphor, +whereas the New Testament teaches us, as plainly as it can teach us +anything, that, far above all the natural operations of truth upon our +understandings, hearts, and wills, there is an actual, supernatural, +continuous communication of Christ to hearts that love Him, which leads +day by day, if they be faithful, to a fuller knowledge, a sweeter love, +a larger possession, of a fuller Christ. And it is this that He tells +us of, to fire our ambition to attain, in such words as these. + +Brethren, one piece of honest, loving obedience is worth all the study +and speculation of an unloving heart when the question is, 'How are we +to see Christ?' + +Again, Jesus shows Himself to the obedient heart in indissoluble union +with the Father. Look at the majesty, and, except upon one hypothesis, +the insane presumption, of such words as these: 'If a man love Me, My +Father will love _him_'; as if identifying love to Christ with love to +Himself. And look at that wondrous union, the consciousness of which +speaks in '_We_ will come.' Think of a _man_ saying that. It is +blasphemous insanity; or else the speech of Him who is conscious of +union with the Father, close and indissoluble and transcending all +analogies. '_We_ will come,' together, hand-in-hand, if I may so say; +or rather, His coming is the Father's coming. Just as in heaven so +closely are they represented as united, that there is but one throne +'for God and the Lamb,' so on earth so closely are they represented as +united, that there is but one coming of the Father in the Son. + +And this is the only belief, as it seems to me, that will keep this +generation from despair and moral suicide. The question for this +generation is, Is it possible for men to know God? Science, both of +material things and of inward experiences, is more and more unanimous +in its proclamation; 'Behold! we know not anything'; and the only +attitude to take before that great black vault above us is to say, 'We +know nothing.' The world has learned half of a great verse of the +Gospel: 'No man hath seen God at any time, nor can see Him.' If the +world is not to go mad, if hearts are not to be tortured into despair, +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 earth, the world must learn the next half of the verse, +and say, 'The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He +hath declared Him.' Christ shows Himself in indissoluble union with the +Father. + +Lastly about this matter, Christ shows Himself to obedient love by a +true coming. 'We will come and make our mansion with him.' And that +coming is a fact of a higher order, and not to be confounded either +with the mere divine Omnipresence, by which God is everywhere, nor to +be reduced to a figment of our own imaginations, or a strong way of +promising increased perception on our part of Christ's fullness. That +great central Sun, if I might use so violent a figure, draws nearer and +nearer and nearer to the planets that move about it, and having once +been far off on an almost infinitely distant horizon, approaches until +planet and Sun unite. + +Dear brethren, if we could only get to the attitude of simple +acceptance of this as a literal truth, and believe that, in prose +reality, Christ comes to every heart that loves Him, would not all the +world be different to us? + +That coming is a permanent residence: 'We will make our abode with +him.' Very beautiful is it to notice that our Lord here employs that +same sweet and significant word, with which He began this wonderful +series of encouragements, when He said, 'In My Father's house are many +mansions.' Yonder they dwell for ever with God; here God in Christ for +ever dwells with the loving heart. It is a permanent abode so long as +the conditions are fulfilled, but only so long. If self-will, rising in +the Christian heart from its torpor and apparent death, reasserts +itself and shakes off Christ's yoke, Christ's presence vanishes. In the +last hours of the Holy City there was heard by the trembling priests +amidst the midnight darkness the motion of departing Deity, and a great +voice said: 'Let us depart hence'; and to-morrow the shrine was empty, +and the day after it was in flames. Brethren, if you would keep the +Christ in whom is God, remember that He cannot be kept but by the act +of loving obedience. + +II. Now, in the next place, my text gives us the negative side, and +shows us what keeps away Christ and all His blessings. + +An unloving disobedience closes the eyes to the vision, and the heart +against the entrance, of that dear Lord. Our Master lays down for us +two principles, and leaves us to draw the conclusion for ourselves. + +The first is, 'He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings.' No love, +no obedience. That is plainly true, because the heart of all the +commandments is love, and where that is not, disobedience to their very +spirit is. It is plainly true, because there is no power that will lead +men to true obedience to Christ's yoke except the power of love. His +commandments are too alien from our nature ever to be kept, unless by +the might of love. It was only the rising sunbeam that could draw music +from the stony lips of Memnon, as he gazed out across the desert, and +it is only when Christ's love shines on our faces that we open our lips +in praise, and move our hands in service. Those great rocking-stones +down in Cornwall stand unmoved by any tempest, but a child's finger, +laid on the right place, will set them vibrating. And so the heavy, +hard, stony bulk of our hearts lies torpid and immovable, until He lays +His loving finger upon them, and then they rock at His will. There is +no keeping of Christ's commandments without love. That makes short work +of a great deal that calls itself Christianity, does it not? Reluctant +obedience is no obedience; self-interested obedience is no obedience; +constrained obedience is no obedience; outward acts of service, if the +heart be wanting, are rubbish and dung. Morality without religion is +nought. The one thing that makes a good man is love to Jesus Christ; +and where that is, there, and only there, is obedience. + + 'Talk they of morals? O Thou Bleeding Lamb! + The grand morality is love of Thee.' + +'If a man love Me not, he will not keep My words.' + +Then the second principle is, disobedience to Christ is disobedience to +God. 'The Word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's.' Christ's +consciousness of union so speaks out here as that He is quite sure that +all His words are God's words, and that all God's words are spoken by +Him. Paul has to say, 'So speak I, not the Lord.' And you would not +think a man a very sound or safe religious teacher who said to you, to +begin with, 'Now, mind, everything that I say, God says.' There are no +errors then, no deterioration of the treasure by the vessel in which it +lies. The water does not taste of the vase in which it is carried. The +personality of Jesus Christ is never, through all His utterances, so +separated from God but that God speaks in Him; and, listening to His +voice, we hear the absolute utterance of the uncreated and eternal +Wisdom. + +Therefore follows the conclusion, which our Lord does not state, but +leaves us to supply. If it be true that the absence of love of Him is +disobedience to Him, and if it be true that disobedience to Him is +disobedience to God, then it plainly follows that what keeps away +Christ and all His gifts, and God in Him, is unloving obedience. What +brings Him is the obedience of love; what repels Him is alienation and +rebellion. If the heart be full of confusion, of the world, of self, of +unbridled inclinations, of careless indifference to His bleeding love, +He 'can but listen at the gate and hear the household jar within.' + +And so, dear friends, from all this there follow one or two points, +which I touch very briefly. One is, that it is possible for men not to +see Christ, though He stands there close before them. It is possible to +grope at noonday as at midnight, to see only 'bracken green and cold +grey stone' on the hillside, where another man sees the chariots of +fire and the horses of fire. It is possible for you—and, alas! it is +the condition of some of my hearers—to look upon Christ and to turn +away and say, 'I see no beauty in Him that I should desire Him,' whilst +the man beside yon, looking at the same facts and the same face, can +see in Him the 'Chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.' + +Another thought is, that Christ's showing of Himself to men is in no +sense arbitrary. It is you that determine what you shall see. You can +hermetically seal your heart against Him, you can blind yourself to all +His beauty. The door of your hearts is hinged to open from within, and +if you do not open it, it remains shut, and Christ remains outside. + +Another thought is, that you do not need to do anything to blind +yourselves. Simple negation is fatal. 'If a man love not'; that is all. +The absence of love is your ruin. + +And the last thought is this, that my text does not begin at the +beginning. Jesus Christ has been speaking about manifestations of +Himself to the loving and obedient; but there are manifestations of +Himself made that we may _become_ loving and obedient. You can build a +barrier over which these sweeter revelations, of which loyal love and +docile submission are the conditions, cannot rise. But you cannot build +a barrier over which the prior revelations to the unthankful and +disobedient cannot rise. No mountains of sin and neglect and alienation +can be piled so high but that the flood of pardoning grace will rise +above their crests, and pour itself into your hearts. You ask, How can +I get the love and obedience of which you have been singing the praises +now? There is only one answer, brethren. We know that we love Him when +we know that He loves us; and we know that He loves us when we see Him +dying on His Cross. So here is the ladder, that is planted in the miry +clay of the horrible pit, and fastens its golden hooks on His throne. +The first round is, Behold the dying Christ and His love to me. The +second is, Let that love melt my heart into sweet responsive love. The +third is, Let my love mould my life into obedience. And then Christ, +and God in Him, will come to me and show Himself to me; and give me a +fuller knowledge and a deeper love, and make His dwelling with me. And +then there is only one round still to roach, and that will land us by +the Throne of God, in the many mansions of the Father's house, where we +shall make our abode with Him for evermore. + + + + +THE TEACHER SPIRIT + + +'These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But +the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My +name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your +remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.'—JOHN xiv. 25, 26. + +This wonderful outpouring of consolation and instruction with which our +Lord sought to soothe the pain of parting is nearing its end. We have +to conceive of a slight pause here, whilst He looks back upon what He +has been saying and contrasts His teaching with that of the Comforter, +whom He has once already, though in a different connection, promised to +His followers. He speaks of His earthly residence with them as being +'an abiding,' distinctly therein referring to what He has just said, +that the Father and He will, in the future, 'make their abode' with His +disciples. He contrasts the outward and transitory presence which was +now nearing its end, with the inward and continuous presence, which its +end was to inaugurate. + +And, in like manner, with, at first sight, startling humility, He +contrasts 'these things,' the partial and to a large extent +unintelligible utterances which He had given with His human lips, with +the complete, universal teaching of that divine Spirit, who was to +instruct in 'all things' pertaining to man's salvation. We have then, +here, sketched in broad outline, the great truths concerning the +ever-present, inward Teacher of God's Church who is to come, now that +the earthly manifestation of Christ, whom the twelve called their +'Teacher,' had reached a close. I think we may best gain the deep +instruction which lies in the words before us, if we look at three +points of view which they bring into prominence: the Teacher, His +lesson, and His scholars. + +I. Now, as to the first, the promised Teacher. + +I need not repeat what I have said in former sermons as to the wide +sweep of that word 'the Comforter,' beyond just reminding you that it +means literally one who is called to the side of another, primarily for +the purpose of being his representative in some legal process; and, +more widely, for any purpose of help, encouragement, and strength. That +being so, 'Comforter,' in its modern sense of _Consoler_, is far too +narrow for the full force of the word, which means much rather +'Comforter,' in its ancient and etymological sense of one who, in +company with another, makes Him strong and brave. + +But the point to which I desire to turn attention now is this, that +this comforting and strengthening office of the divine Spirit is +brought into immediate connection here with the conception of Him as a +Teacher. That is to say, the best strength that God, by His Spirit, can +give us is by our firm grasp and growing clearness of understanding of +the truths which are wrapped up in Jesus Christ. All power for +endurance, for service, is there, and when the Spirit of God teaches a +man what God reveals in Christ, He therein and thereby most fully +discharges His office of Strengthener. + +Then note still further the other designation of this divine Teacher +which is here given: 'The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.' We might +have expected, as indeed we find in another context in this great final +discourse, the 'Spirit of _Truth_' as appropriate in connection with +the office of teaching. But is there not a profound lesson for us here +in this, that, side by side with the thought of illumination, there +lies the thought of purity built upon consecration, which is the +Scripture definition of holiness? That suggests that there is an +indissoluble connection between the real knowledge of God's truth and +practical holiness of life. That connection is of a double sort. There +is no holiness without such knowledge, and there is no such knowledge +without holiness. + +There is no real knowledge of Christ and His truth without purity of +heart. 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 +sound. 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 canvas. And the man who has +no longings after purity, nor has attained to any degree of moral +conformity with the divine image, is not in possession of the sense +which is needed in order that he should understand the 'deep things of +God.' + +The scholars in this school have to wash their hands before they go to +school, and come there with clean hands and clean hearts. Foulness and +the love of it are bars to all understanding of God's truth. And, on +the other hand, the truest inducements, motives, and powers for purity +are found in that great word which is all 'according to godliness,' and +is meant much rather to make us good than to make us wise. + +So, in this designation of the teaching Spirit as holy, there lie +lessons for two classes of people. All fanatical professions of +possessing divine illumination, which are not warranted and sealed by +purity of life, are lies or self-delusion. And, on the other hand, +coldblooded intellectualism will never force the locks of the palace of +divine truth, but they that come there must have clean hands and a pure +heart; and only those who have the love and the longing for goodness +will be wise scholars in Christ's school. Your theology is nothing +unless its distinct outcome is morality, and you must be prepared to +accept the painful, the punitive, 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 Jesus.' 'If +any man wills to do His will, he,' and only he, 'shall know of the +doctrine.' Knowledge and holiness are as inseparable in divine things +as light and heat. + +And still further note that this great Teacher is 'sent by God' in +Christ's name. That pregnant phrase, 'In My name,' cannot be +represented by any one form of expression into which we may translate +it, but covers a larger space. God in Christ's name sends the Spirit. +That is to say, in some deep sense God acts as Christ's representative; +just as Christ comes in the Father's name and acts as His +representative. And, again, God sends in Christ's name; that is, the +historical manifestation of Christ is the basis on which the sending of +the Spirit is possible and rests. The revelation had to be complete +before He who came to unfold the meaning of the revelation had material +to work upon. The Spirit, which is sent in Christ's name, has, for the +basis of His mission, and the means by which He acts, the recorded +facts of Christ's life and death, these and none other. + +And then note finally about this matter, the strong and unmistakable +declaration here, that that divine Spirit is a person: 'He shall teach +you all things.' They tell us that the doctrine of the Trinity is not +in the New Testament. The word is not, but the thing is. In this verse +we have the Father, the Son, 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 each. Just as the Apostolic +benediction, 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God +the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit' necessarily involves +the divinity of all who are thus invoked, so we stand here in the +presence of a truth which pierces into the deeps of Deity. That divine +Spirit is more than an influence. 'He shall teach,' and He can be +grieved by evil and sin. I do not enlarge upon these thoughts. My +purpose is mainly to bring them out clearly before you. + +II. I pass in the second place to the consideration of the Lesson which +this promised Teacher gives. + +Mark the words, 'He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to +your remembrance, whatsoever _I_ have said unto you.' Now as we have +seen in the exposition of the words 'in My name,' the whole +subject-matter of the divine Spirit's teaching is the life and work and +death and person of Jesus Christ. 'He shall teach you all things' is +wider than 'He shall bring all things which I have said to you to your +remembrance.' But whilst that is so, the clear implication of the words +before us is that Christ is the lesson book, of which the divine Spirit +is the Teacher. His weapon, to take another metaphor, with which He +plies men's hearts and minds and wills, convincing the world of sin and +of righteousness and of judgment, and leading those who are convinced +into deeper knowledge and larger wisdom, is the recorded facts +concerning the life and manifestation of Jesus Christ. The significance +of this lesson book, the history of our Lord, cannot be unfolded all at +once. There is something altogether unique in the incorruption and +germinant power of all His deeds and of all His words. This Carpenter +of Nazareth has reached the heights which the greatest thinkers and +poets of the past have never reached, or only in little snatches and +fragments of their words. _His_ words open out, generation after +generation, into undreamed-of wisdom, and there are found to be hived +in them stores of sweetness that were never suspected until the +occasion came that drew them forth. The world and the Church received +Christ, as it were, in the dark; and, as with some man receiving a +precious gift as the morning was dawning, each fresh moment revealed, +as the light grew, new beauties and new preciousness in the thing +possessed. So Christ, in His infinite significance, fresh and new for +all generations, was given at first, and ever since the Church and the +world have been learning the meaning of the gift which they received. +Christ's words are inexhaustible, and the Spirit's teaching is to +unveil more and more of the infinite significance that lies in the +apparently least significant of them. + +Now, then, note that if this be our Lord's meaning here, Jesus Christ +plainly anticipated that, after His departure from earth, there should +be a development of Christian doctrine. We are often taunted with the +fact, which is exaggerated for the purpose of controversy, that a clear +and full statement of the central truths which orthodox Christianity +holds, is found rather in the Apostolic epistles than in the Master's +words, and the shallow axiom is often quoted with great approbation: +'Jesus Christ is our Master, and not Paul.' I do not grant that the +germs and the central truths of the Gospel are not to be found in +Christ's words, but I admit that the full, articulate statement of them +is to be found rather in the servant's letters, and I say that that is +exactly what Jesus Christ told us to expect, that after He was gone, +words that had been all obscure, and thoughts that had been only +fragmentarily intelligible, would come to be seen clearly, and would be +discerned for what they were. The earlier disciples had only a very +partial grasp of Christ's nature. They knew next to nothing of the +great doctrine of sacrifice; they knew nothing about His resurrection; +they did not in the least understand that He was going back to heaven; +they had but glimmering conceptions of the spirituality or universality +of His Kingdom. Whilst they were listening to Him at that table they +did not believe in the atonement; but they dimly believed in the +divinity of Jesus Christ; they did not believe in His resurrection; +they did not believe in His ascension; they did not believe that He was +founding a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom was to rule over all the world +till the end of time. None of these truths were in their mind. They had +all been in germ in His words. And after He was gone, there came over +them a breath of the teaching Spirit, and the unintelligible flashed up +into significance. The history of the Church is the proof of the truth +of this promise, and if anybody says to me, 'Where is the fulfilment of +the promise of a Spirit that will bring all things to your +remembrance?' I say—here in this Book! These four Gospels, these +Apostolic Epistles, show that the word which our Lord here speaks has +been gloriously fulfilled. Christ anticipated a development of +doctrine, and it casts no slur or suspicion on the truthfulness of the +apostolic representation of the Christian truths, that they are only +sparsely and fragmentarily to be found in the records of Christ's life, + +Then there is another practical conclusion from the words before us, on +which I touch for a moment, and that is, that if Jesus Christ and the +deep understanding of Him be the true lesson of the divine, teaching +Spirit, then real progress consists, not in getting beyond Christ, but +in getting more fully into Him. We hear a great deal in these days +about advanced thought and progressive Christianity. I hope I believe +in the continuous advance of Christian thought as joyfully as any man, +but my notion of it—and I humbly venture to say Christ's notion of +it—is to get more and more into His heart, and to find within Him, and +not away from Him, 'all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' We +leave all other great men behind. All other teachers' words become +feeble by age, as their persons become ghostly, wrapped in thickening +folds of oblivion; but the progress of the Church consists in absorbing +more and more of Christ, in understanding Him better, and becoming more +and more moulded by His influence. The Spirit's teaching brings out the +ever fresh significance of the ancient and perpetual revelation of God +in Jesus Christ. + +III. And now, lastly, note the Scholars. + +Primarily, of course, these are the Apostolic group but the Apostles, +in all these discourses, stand as the representatives of the Church, +and not as separated from it. And whilst the teaching Spirit could +'bring to the remembrance' of those only who first heard them 'the +words that He said unto them,' that Spirit's teaching function is not +limited to those who listened to the Lord Jesus. The fire that was +kindled on Pentecost has not died down into grey ashes, nor the river +that then broke forth been sucked up by thirsty sands of successive +generations, but the fire is still with us, and the river still flows +near our lips, and we, too, may be taught by that divine Spirit. For +this very Evangelist, in writing his Epistle, has at least two distinct +references to, and almost verbal quotations of, this promise, when he +says, addressing all his Asiatic brethren, 'Ye have an unction from the +Holy One, and know all things.' And again, 'The unction which ye have +of Him abideth with you, and ye need not that any man should teach +you.' + +So, then, Christian men and women, every believing soul has this divine +Spirit for His Teacher, and the humblest of us may, if we will, learn +of Him and be led by Him into profounder knowledge of that great Lord. + +Oh! dear brethren, the belief in the actual presence with the Church of +a Spirit that teaches all faithful members thereof, is far too much +hesitatingly held by the common Christianity of this day. We ought to +be the standing witnesses in the world of the reality of a supernatural +influence, and how can we be, if we do not believe it ourselves, and +never feel that we are under it? + +But whilst a continuous inspiration from that self-same Spirit is the +prerogative of all believing souls, let us not forget that the early +teaching is the standard by which all such must be tried. 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 words, 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 Him. The authority of the New Testament over our faith is +based upon these words, and Paul's warning applies especially to this +generation, with its thoughts about a continuous inspiration and +outgrowing of the New Testament teaching: 'If a man think himself to be +spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you +are the commandments of the Lord.' + +Now from all this take three counsels. Let this great promise fill us +with shame. Look at Christendom. Does it not contradict such words as +these? Disputatious sects, Christians scarcely agreed upon any one of +the great central doctrines, seem a strange fulfilment. The present +condition of Christendom does not prove that Jesus Christ did not send +the Spirit, but it does prove that Christ's followers have been wofully +remiss and negligent in their acceptance and use of the Spirit. What +slow scholars we are! How little we have learnt! How we have let +passion, prejudice, human voices, the babble of men's tongues, anybody +and everybody, take the office of teaching us God's truth, instead of +waiting before Him and letting His Spirit teach us! It is the shame of +us Christians that, with such a Teacher, we, 'when for the time we +ought to be teachers, have need that one teach us again which be the +first principles of the oracles of Christ!' + +Let it fill us with desire and with diligence. Let it fill us with calm +hope. They tell us that Christianity is effete. Have we got all out of +Jesus Christ that is in Him? Is the process that has been going on for +all these centuries to stop now? No! Depend upon it that the new +problems of this generation will find their solution where the old +problems of past generations have found theirs, and the old commandment +of the old Christ will be the new commandment of the new Christ. + +Foolish men, both on the Christian and on the anti-Christian side, +stand and point to the western sky and say, 'The Sun is setting.' But +there is a flush in the opposite horizon in an hour, as at midsummer; +and that which sank in the west rises fresh and bright in the east for +a new day. Jesus Christ is the Christ for all the ages and for every +soul, and the world will only learn more and more of His inexhaustible +fullness. So let us be ever quiet, patient, hopeful amidst the babble +of tongues and the surges of controversy, assured that all change will +but make more plain the inexhaustible significance of the infinite +Christ, and that humble and obedient hearts will ever possess the +promised Teacher, nor ever cry in vain, 'Teach me to do Thy will, for +Thou art my God. Thy Spirit is good, lead me into the land of +uprightness.' + + + + +CHRIST'S PEACE + + +'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world +giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it +be afraid.'—JOHN xiv. 27. + +'Peace be unto you!' was, and is, the common Eastern salutation, both +in meeting and in parting. It carries us back to a state of society in +which every stranger might be an enemy. It is a confession of the deep +unrest of the human heart. Christ was about closing His discourse, and +the common word of leave-taking came naturally to His lips; just as +when He first met His followers after the Resurrection, He soothed +their fears by the calm and familiar greeting, 'Peace be unto you!' But +common words deepen their force and meaning when He uses them. In Him +'all things become new,' and on His lips the conventional threadbare +salutation changes into a tender and mysterious communication of a real +gift. His words are deeds, and His wishes for His disciples fulfil +themselves. + +I. So we have here, first, the greeting, which is a gift. + +'Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.' We have seen, in +former discourses on this chapter, how prominently and repeatedly our +Lord insists on the great truth of His dwelling with and in His +disciples. He gives His peace because He gives Himself; and in the +bestowal of His life He bestows, in so far as we possess the gift, the +qualities and attributes of that life. His peace is inseparable from +His presence. It comes with Him, like an atmosphere; it is never where +He is not. It was His peace inasmuch as, in His own experience, He +possessed it. His manhood was untroubled by perturbation or tumult, by +passions or contending desires, and no outward things could break His +calm. If we open our hearts by lowly faith, love, and aspiration for +His entrance, we too may be at rest; for His peace, like all which He +is and has, is His that it may be ours. + +The first requisite for peace is consciousness of harmonious and loving +relations between me and God. The deepest secret of Christ's peace was +His unbroken consciousness of unbroken communion with the Father, in +which His will submitted and the whole being of the man hung in filial +dependence upon God. And the centre and foundation of all the +peace-giving power of Jesus Christ is this, that in His death, by His +one offering for sin for ever, He has swept away the occasion of +antagonism, and so made peace between the twain, the Father in the +heavens and the child, rebellious and prodigal, here below. Little as +these disciples dreamed of it, the death impending, which was already +beginning to cast its shadow over their souls, was the condition of +securing to them and to us the true beginning of all real peace, the +rectifying of our antagonistic relation to God, and the bringing Him +and us into perfect concord. + +My brother, no man can be at rest down to the very roots of His being, +in the absence of the consciousness that he is at peace with God. There +may be tumults of gladness, there may be much of stormy brightness in +the life, but there cannot be the calm, still, impregnable, +all-pervading, and central tranquillity that our souls hunger for, +unless we know and feel that we are right with God, and that there is +nothing between us and Him. And it is because Jesus Christ, dying on +the Cross, has made it possible for you and me to feel this, that He Is +our peace, and that He can say, 'Peace I leave with you.' + +Another requisite is that we must be at peace with ourselves. There +must be no stinging conscience, there must be no unsatisfied desires, +there must be no inner schism between inclination and duty, reason and +will, passion and judgment. There must be the quiet of a harmonised +nature which has one object, one aim, one love; which—to use a very +vulgar phrase—has 'all its eggs in one basket,' and has no +contradictions running through its inmost self. There is only one way +to get that peace—cleaving to Jesus Christ and making Him our Lord, our +righteousness, our aim, our all. Your consciences will sting, and that +destroys peace; or if they do not sting, they will be torpid, and that +destroys peace, for death is not peace. Unless we take Christ for our +love, for the light of our minds, for the Sovereign Arbiter and Lord of +our will, for the home of our desires, for the aim of our efforts, we +shall never know what it is to be at rest. Unsatisfied and hungry we +shall go through life, seeking what nothing short of an Infinite +Humanity can ever give us, and that is a heart to lean our heads upon, +an adequate object for all our faculties, and so a quiet satisfaction +of all our desires. 'Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is +not bread?' A question that no man can answer without convicting +himself of folly! There is One, and only One, who is enough for me, +poor and weak and lowly and fleeting as I am, and as my earthly life +is. Take that One for your Treasure, and you are rich indeed. The world +without Christ is nought. Christ without the world is enough. + +Nor is there any other way of healing the inner discord, schism, and +contradiction of our anarchic nature, except in bringing it all into +submission to His merciful rule. Look at that troubled kingdom that +each of us carries about within himself, passion dragging this way, +conscience that, a hundred desires all arrayed against one another, +inclination here, duty there, till we are torn in pieces like a man +drawn asunder by wild horses. And what is to be done with all that +rebellious self, over which the poor soul rules as it may, and rules so +poorly? Oh! there is an inner unrest, the necessary fate of every man +who does not take Christ for his King. But when He enters the heart +with His silken leash, the old fable comes true, and He binds the lions +and the ravenous beasts there with its slender tie and leads them +along, tamed, by the cord of love, and all harnessed to pull together +in the chariot that He guides. There is only one way for a man to be at +peace with himself through and through, and that is that he should put +the guidance of his life into the hands of Jesus Christ, and let Him do +with it as He will. There is one power, and only one, that can draw +after it all the multitudinous heaped waters of the weltering ocean, +and that is the quiet, silver moon in the heavens that pulls the tidal +wave, into which melt and merge all currents and small breakers, and +rolls it round the whole earth. And so Christ, shining down lambent, +and gentle, but changeless, from the darkest of our skies, will draw, +in one great surge of harmonised motion, all the else contradictory +currents of our stormy souls. 'My peace I give unto you.' + +Another element in true tranquillity, which again is supplied only by +Jesus Christ, is peace with men. 'Whence come wars and fightings +amongst you? From your lusts.' Or to translate the old-fashioned +phraseology into modern English, the reason why men are in antagonism +with one another is the central selfishness of each, and there is only +one way by which men's relations can be thoroughly sweetened, and that +is, by the divine love of Jesus Christ pouring into their hearts, and +casting out the devil of selfishness, and so blending them all into one +harmonious whole. + +The one basis of true, happy relations between man and man, without +which there is not the all-round tranquillity that we require, lies in +the common relation of all, if it may be, but certainly in the +individual relation of myself, to Him who is the Lover and the Friend +of all. And in the measure in which the law of the Spirit of life which +was in Jesus Christ is in me, in that measure do I find it possible to +reproduce His gentleness, sympathy, compassion, insight into men's +sorrows, patience with men's offences, and all which makes, in our +relations to one another, the harmony and the happiness of humanity. + +Another of the elements or aspects of peace is peace with the outer +world. 'It is hard to kick against the pricks,' but if you do not kick +against them, they will not prick you. We beat ourselves all bruised +and bleeding against the bars of the prison-house in trying to escape +from it, but if we do not beat ourselves against them, they will not +hurt us. If we do not want to get out of prison, it does not matter +though we are locked in. And so it is not external calamities, but the +resistance of the will to these, that makes the disturbances of life. +Submission is peace, and when a man with Christ in his heart can say +what Christ said, 'Not My will, but Thine be done,' Oh! then, some +faint beginnings, at least, of tranquillity come to the most agitated +and buffeted; and even in the depths of our sorrow we may have a deeper +depth of calm. If we have yielded ourselves to the Father's will, +through that dear Son who has set the example and communicates the +power of filial obedience, then all winds blow us to our haven, and all +'things work together for good,' and nothing 'that is at enmity with +joy' can shake our settled peace. Storms may break upon the rocky shore +of our islanded lives, but deep in the centre there will be a secluded, +inland dell 'which heareth not the loud winds when they call,' and +where no tempest can ever reach. Peace may be ours in the midst of +warfare and of storms, for Christ with us reconciles us to God, +harmonises us with ourselves, brings us into amity with men, and makes +the world all good. + +II. So, secondly, note here the world's gift, which is an illusion. + +'Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.' Our Lord contrasts, as it +seems to me, primarily the manner of the world's bestowment, and then +passes insensibly into a contrast between the character of the world's +gifts and His own. That phrase 'the world' may have a double sense. It +may mean either mankind in general or the whole external and material +frame of things. I think we may use both significations in elucidating +the words before us. + +Regarding it in the former of them, the thought is suggested—Christ +_gives_; men can only _wish_. 'Peace be unto you' comes from many a +lip, and is addressed to many an ear, unfulfilled. Christ says 'peace,' +and His word is a conveyance. How little we can do for one another's +tranquillity, how soon we come to the limits of human love and human +help! How awful and impassable is the isolation in which each human +soul lives! After all love and fellowship we dwell alone on our little +island in the deep, separated by 'the salt, unplumbed, estranging sea,' +and we can do little more than hoist signals of goodwill, and now and +then for a moment stretch our hands across the 'echoing straits +between.' But it is little after all that husband or wife can do for +one another's central peace, little that the dearest friend can give. +We have to depend upon ourselves and upon Christ for peace. That which +the world wishes Christ gives. + +And then, if we take the other signification of the 'world,' and the +other application of the whole promise, we may say—Outward things can +give a man no real peace. The world is for excitement; Christ alone has +the secret of tranquillity. It is as if to a man in a fever a physician +should come and say: 'I cannot give you anything to soothe you; here is +a glass of brandy for you.' That would not help the fever, would it? +The world comes to us and says: 'I cannot give you rest: here is a +sharp excitement for you, more highly spiced and titillating for your +tongue than the last one, which has turned flat and stale.' That is +about the best that it can do. + +Oh! what a confession of unrest are the rush and recklessness, the +fever and the fret of our modern life with its ever renewed and ever +disappointed quest after good! You go about our streets and look men in +the face, and you see how all manner of hungry desires and eager wishes +have imprinted themselves there. And now and then—how seldom!—you come +across a face out of which beams a deep and settled peace. How many of +you are there who dare not be quiet because then you are most troubled? +How many of you are there who dare not reflect because then you are +wretched? How many of you are uncomfortable when alone, either because +you are utterly vacuous, or because then you are surrounded by the +ghosts of ugly thoughts that murder sleep and stuff every pillow with +thorns? The world will bring you excitement; Christ, and Christ alone +will bring you rest. + +The peace that earth gives is a poor affair at best. It is shallow; a +very thin plating over a depth of restlessness, like some skin of turf +on a volcano, where a foot below the surface sulphurous fumes roll, and +hellish turbulence seethes. That is the kind of rest that the world +brings. + +Oh! dear friends, there is nothing in this world that will fill and +satisfy your hearts except only Jesus Christ. The world is for +excitement; and Christ is the only real Giver of real peace. + +III. Lastly, note the duty of the recipients of that peace of Christ's: +'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' + +The words that introduced this great discourse return again at its +close, somewhat enlarged and with a deepened soothing and tenderness. +There are two things referred to as the source of restlessness, +troubled agitation or disturbance of heart; and that mainly, I suppose, +because of terror in the outlook towards a dim and unknown future. The +disciples are warned to fight against these if they would keep the gift +of peace. + +That is to say, casting the exhortation into a more general expression, +Christ's gift of peace does not dispense with the necessity for our own +effort after tranquillity. There is much in the outer world that will +disturb us to the very end, and there is much within ourselves that +will surge up and seek to shake our repose and break our peace; and we +have to coerce and keep down the temptations to anxiety, the +temptations to undue agitation of desire, the temptations to tumults of +sorrow, the temptations to cowardly fears of the unknown future. All +these will continue, even though we have Christ's peace in our hearts, +and it is for us to see to it that we treasure the peace, 'and in +everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let our +requests be made known unto God,' that nothing may break the calm which +we possess. + +So, then, another thought arises from this final exhortation, and that +is, that it is useless to tell a man, 'Do not be troubled, and do not +be afraid,' unless he first has Christ's peace as his. Is that peace +yours, my brother, because Jesus Christ is yours? If so, then there is +no reason for your being troubled or dreading any future. If it is not, +you are mad not to be troubled, and you are insane if you are not +afraid. The word for you is, 'Be troubled, ye careless ones,' for there +is reason for it, and be afraid of that which is certainly coming. The +one thing that gives security and makes it possible to possess a calm +heart is the possession of Jesus Christ by faith. Without Him it is a +waste of breath to say to people, 'Do not be frightened,' and it is +wicked counsel to say to men, 'Be at ease.' They ought to be terrified, +and they ought to be troubled, and they will be some day, whether they +think so or not. + +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 fault. Why, there are hundreds of professing Christian people who +have some kind of faint, rudimentary faith, and there are many of them, +I dare say, listening to me now, who have no assured possession of any +of those elements, of which I have been speaking, as the constituent +parts of Christ's peace. You are _not_ sure that you are right with +God. You do _not_ know what it is to possess satisfied desires. You +_do_ know what it is to have conflicting inclinations and impulses; you +have envy and malice and hostility against men; and the world's storms +and disasters do strike and disturb you. Why? Because you have not a +firm grasp of Jesus Christ. 'I have set the Lord always at my right +hand, therefore I shall not be moved'; there is the secret. Keep near +Him, my brother; and then all things are fair, and your heart is at +peace. + +I remember once standing by the side of a little Highland loch on a +calm autumn day, when all the winds were still, and every birch-tree +stood unmoved, and every twig was reflected on the steadfast mirror, +into the depths of which Heaven's own blue seemed to have found its +way. That is what our hearts may be, if we let Christ put His guarding +hand round them to keep the storms off, and have Him within us for our +rest. But the man who does not trust Jesus 'is like the troubled sea +which cannot rest,' but goes moaning round half the world, homeless and +hungry, rolling and heaving, monotonous and yet changeful, salt and +barren—the true emblem of every soul that has not listened to the +merciful call, 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, +and I will give you rest.' + + + + +JOY AND FAITH, THE FRUITS OF CHRIST'S DEPARTURE + + +'Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. +If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: +for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come +to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.'—JOHN xiv. +28, 29. + +Our Lord here casts a glance backward on the course of His previous +words, and gathers together the substance and purpose of these. He +brings out the intention of His warnings and the true effect of the +departure, concerning which He had given them notice, as being twofold. +In the first verse of my text His words about that going away, and the +going away itself, are represented as the source of joy, which is an +advance on the peace that He had just previously been promising. In the +second of our verses these two things—His words, and the facts which +they revealed—are represented as being the very ground and nourishment +of faith. + +So, then, we have these two thoughts to look at now, the departed Lord, +the fountain of joy to all who love Him; the departed Lord, the ground +and food of faith. + +I. The departure of the Lord is a fountain of joy to those who love +Him. + +In the first part of our text the going away of Jesus is contemplated +in two aspects. + +The first is that with which we have already become familiar in +previous sermons on this chapter—viz., its bearing upon the disciples; +and in that respect it is declared that Christ's going is Christ's +coming. + +But then we have a new aspect, one on which, in His sublime +self-repression, He very seldom touches—viz., its bearing upon Himself; +and in that aspect we are taught here to regard our Lord's going as +ministering to His exaltation and joy, and therefore as being a source +of joy to all His lovers. + +So, then, we have these thoughts, Christ's going is Christ's coming, +and Christ's going is Christ's exaltation, and for both reasons that +departure ought to minister to His friends' gladness. Let us look at +these three things for a little while. + +First of all, there comes a renewed utterance of that great thought +which runs through the whole chapter, that the departure of Jesus +Christ is in reality the coming of Christ. The word 'again' is a +supplement, and somewhat restricts and destroys the true flow of +thought and meaning of the words. For if we read, as our Authorised +Version does, 'I go away and come again unto you,' we are inevitably +led to think of a coming, separated by a considerable distance of time +from the departure, and for most of us that which is suggested is the +final coming and return, in bodily form, of the Lord Jesus. + +Now great and glorious as that hope is, it is too far away to be in +itself a sufficient comfort to the mourning disciples, and too remote +to be for us, if taken alone, a sufficient ground of joy and of rest. +But if you strike out the intrusive word '_again_,' and read the +sentence as being what it is, a description of one continuous process, +of which the parts are so closely connected as to be all but +contemporaneous, you get the true idea. 'I go away, and I come to you.' +There is no gap, the thing runs on without a break. There is no moment +of absolute absence; there are not two motions, one from us and the +other back again towards us, but all is one. The 'going' is the +'coming'; the solemn series of events which began on Calvary, and ended +on Olivet, to the eye of sense were successive stages in the departure +of Jesus Christ. But looked at with a deeper understanding of their +true meaning, they are successive stages in His approach towards us. +His death, His resurrection, His ascension, were not steps in the +cessation of His presence, but they were simply steps in the transition +from a lower to a higher kind of that presence. He changed the +limitations and externalities of a mere bodily, local nearness for the +realities of a spiritual presence. To the eye of sense, the 'going +away' was the reality, and the 'coming' a metaphor. To the eye +enlightened to see things as they are, the dropping away of the visible +corporeal was but the inauguration of the higher and the more real. And +we need to reverse our notions of what is real and what is figurative +in Christ's presence, 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 sight,' before we can +penetrate to the depth of His words, or grasp the whole fullness of +blessing and of consolation which lie in them here. In a very deep and +real sense, 'He therefore departed from us for a season that we might +receive Him for ever.' + +The real presence of Jesus Christ to-day, and through the long ages +with every waiting heart, is the very keynote to the solemn music of +these chapters. And again I press upon you, and upon myself, the +question, Do we believe it? Do we live in the faith of it? Does it fill +the same place in the perspective of our Christian creed as it does in +the revelation of the Scripture, or have we refined it and watered it +down, until it comes to be little more than merely the continuous +influence of the record of His past, just as any great and sovereign +spirit that has influenced mankind may still 'rule the nations from his +urn'? Or do we take Him at His word, and believe that He meant what He +said, in something far other than a violent figure for the continuance +of His influence and of the inspiration drawn from Him, 'Lo! I am with +you alway, even unto the end of the world'? 'Say not in thine heart, +Who shall ascend up into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down from +above, the Word,' the Incarnate Word, 'is nigh thee, in thy heart,' if +thou lovest and trustest Him. + +Then, again, the other aspect of our Lord's coming, which is emphasised +here, is that in which it is regarded as affecting Himself. Christ's +going is Christ's exaltation. + +Now observe that, in the first clause of our verse, there is simply +specified the fact of departure, without any reference to the +'whither'; because all that was wanted was to contrast the going and +the coming. But, in the second clause, in which the emphasis rests not +so much upon the fact of departure as upon the goal to which He went, +we read: 'I go _to the Father_.' Hitherto we have been contemplating +Christ's departure simply in its bearing upon us, but here, with +exquisite tenderness, He unveils another aspect of it, and that in +order that He may change His disciples' sadness into joy; and says to +them, 'If ye were not so absorbed in yourselves, you would have a +thought to spare about Me, and you would feel that you should be glad +because I am about to be exalted.' + +Very, very seldom does He open such a glimpse into His heart, and it is +all the more tender and impressive when He does. What a hint of the +continual self-sacrifice of the human life of Jesus Christ lies in this +thought, that He bids His disciples rejoice with Him, because the time +is getting nearer its end, and He goes back to the Father! And what +shall we say of the nature of Him to whom it was martyrdom to live, and +a supreme instance of self-sacrificing humiliation to be 'found in +fashion as a man'? + +He tells His followers here that a reason for their joy in His +departure is to be found in this fact, that He goes to the Father, who +is greater than Himself. + +Now mark, with regard to that remarkable utterance, that the whole +course of thought in the context requires, as it seems to me, that we +should suppose that for Christ to 'go to the Father' was to share in +the Father's greatness. Why else should the disciples be bidden to +rejoice in it? or why should He say anything at all about the greatness +of the Father? If so, then this follows, that the greatness to which He +here alludes is such as He enters by His ascension. Or, in other words, +that the inferiority, of whatever nature it may be, to which He here +alludes, falls away when He passes hence. + +Now these words are often quoted triumphantly, as if they were dead +against what I venture to call the orthodox and Scriptural doctrine of +the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it may be worth while to +remark that that doctrine accepts this saying as fully as it does +Christ's other word, 'I and My Father are one,' I venture to think that +it is the only construction of Scripture phraseology which does full +justice to all the elements. But be that as it may, 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 it; for this verse is part of that creed, which as fully declares +that the Father is greater than the Son, as it declares that the Son is +One with the Father. You may be satisfied with it or no, 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 +representations. + +Now we can only speak in this matter as Scripture guides us. The depths +of Deity are far too deep to be sounded by our plummets, and he is a +bold man who ventures to say that he knows what is impossible in +reference to the divine nature. He needs to have gone all round God, +and down to the depths, and up to the heights of a bottomless and +summitless infinitude, before he has a right to say that. But let me +remind you that we can dimly see that the very names 'Father' and 'Son' +do imply some sort of subordination, but that that subordination, +inasmuch as it is in the timeless and inward relations of divinity, +must be supposed to exist after the ascension, as it existed before the +incarnation; and, therefore, any such mysterious difference is not that +which is referred to here. What _is_ referred to is what dropped away +from the Man Jesus Christ, when He ascended up on high. As Luther has +it, in his strong, simple way, in one of his sermons, 'Here He was a +poor, sad, suffering Christ'; and that garb of lowliness falls from +Him, like the mantle that fell from the prophet as he went up in the +chariot of fire, when He passes behind the brightness of the Shekinah +cloud that hides Him from our sight. That in which the Father was +greater than He, in so far as our present purpose is concerned, was +that which He left behind when He ascended, even the pain, the +suffering, the sorrow, the restrictions, the humiliation, that made so +much of the burden of His life. Therefore we, as His followers, have to +rejoice in an ascended Christ, beneath whose feet are foes, and far +away from whose human personality are all the ills that flesh is heir +to. 'If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the +Father; for My Father is greater than I.' + +So then the third thought, in this first part of our subject, is that +on both these grounds Christ's ascension and departure are a source of +joy. The two aspects of His departure, as affecting Him and as +affecting us, are inseparably welded together. There can be no presence +with us, man by man, through all the ages, and in every land, unless +He, whose presence it is, participates in the absolute glory of +divinity. For to be with you and me and all our suffering brethren, +through the centuries and over the world, involves something more than +belongs to mere humanity. Therefore, the two sources of gladness are +confluent—Christ's ascension as affecting us is inseparably woven in +with Christ's ascension as affecting Himself. + +Love will delight to dwell upon that thought of its exalted Lover. We +may fairly apply the simplicity of human relationships and affections +to the elucidation of what ought to be our affection to Him, our Lord. +And surely if our dearest one were far away from us, in some lofty +position, our hearts and our thoughts would ever be going thither, and +we should live more there than here, where we are 'cribbed, cabined, +and confined.' And if we love Jesus Christ with any depth of +earnestness and fervour of affection, there will be no thought more +sweet to us, and none which will more naturally flow into our hearts, +whenever they are for a moment at leisure, than this, the thought of +Him, our Brother and Forerunner, who has ascended up on high; and in +the midst of the glory of the throne bears us in His heart, and uses +His glory for our blessing. Love will spring to where the beloved is; +and if we be Christians in any deep and real sense, our hearts will +have risen with Christ, and we shall be sitting with Him at the right +hand of God. My brother, measure your Christianity, and the reality of +your love to Jesus Christ, by this—is it to you natural, and a joy, to +turn to Him, and ever to make present to your mind the glories in which +He loves and lives, and intercedes, and reigns, for you? 'If ye love +Me, ye will rejoice, because I go unto the Father.' + +II. And now I can deal with the second verse of our text very briefly. +For our purpose it is less important than the former one. In it we find +our Lord setting forth, secondly, His departure and His announcement of +His departure as the ground and food of faith. + +He knew what a crash was coming, and with exquisite tenderness, +gentleness, knowledge of their necessities, and suppression of all His +own feelings and emotions, He gave Himself to prepare the disciples for +the storm, that, forewarned, they might be forearmed, and that when it +did burst upon them, it might not take them by surprise. + +So He does still, about a great many other things, and tells us +beforehand of what is sure to come to us, that when we are caught in +the midst of the tempest we may not bate one jot of heart or hope. + + Why should I complain + Of want or distress, + Temptation or pain? + He told me no less.' + +And when my sorrows come to me, I may say about them what He says about +His departure—He has told us before, that when it comes we may believe. + +But note how, in these final words of my text, Christ avows that the +great aim of His utterances and of His departure is to evoke our faith. +And what does He mean by faith? He means, first of all, a grasp of the +historic facts—His death, His resurrection, His ascension. He means, +next, the understanding of these as He Himself has explained them—a +death of sacrifice, a resurrection of victory over death and the grave, +and an ascension to rule and guide His Church and the world, and to +send His divine Spirit into men's hearts if they will receive it. And +He means, therefore, as the essence of the faith that He would produce +in all our hearts—a reliance upon Himself as thus revealed, Sacrifice +by His death, Victor by His resurrection, King and interceding Priest +by His ascension—a reliance upon Himself as absolute as the facts are +sure, as unfaltering as is His eternal sameness. The faith that grasps +the Christ, dead, risen, ascended, as its all in all, for time and for +eternity, is the faith which by all His work, and by all His words +about His work, He desires to kindle in our hearts. Has He kindled it +in yours? + +Then there is a second thought—viz., that these facts, as interpreted +by Himself, are the ground and the nourishment of our faith. How +differently they looked when seen from the further side and when seen +from the hither side! Anticipated and dimly anticipated, they were all +doleful and full of dismay; remembered and looked back upon, they were +radiant and bright. The disciples felt, with shrinking hearts and +fainting spirits, that their whole reliance upon Jesus Christ was on +the point of being shattered, and that everything was going when He +died. 'We _trusted_,' said two of them, with such a sad use of the past +tense, 'we _trusted_ that this _had been_ He which should have redeemed +Israel. But we do not trust it any more, nor do we expect Him to be +Israel's Redeemer now.' But after the facts were all unveiled, there +came back the memory of His words, and they said to one another, 'Did +He not tell us that it was all to be so? How blind we were not to +understand Him!' + +And so 'the Cross, the grave, the skies,' are the foundations of our +faith; and they who see Him dying, rising, ascended, henceforth will +find it impossible to doubt. Feed your faith upon these great facts, +and take Christ's own explanation of them, and your faith will be +strong. + +Again, we learn here that faith is the condition of the true presence +of our absent Lord. Faith is that on our side which corresponds to His +spiritual coming to us. Whosoever trusts Him possesses Him, and He is +with and in every soul that, loving Him, relies upon Him, 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 +another, though it takes away the bodily film that sometimes seems to +part their lives. + +We, too, may and should be glad when we lift our eyes to that Throne +where our Brother reigns. We too, may be glad that He is there, because +His being there is the reason why He can be here; and we, too, may feed +our faith upon Him, and so bring Him in very deed to dwell in our +hearts. If we would have Christ within us, let us trust Him dying, +rising, living in the heavens; and then we shall learn how, by all +three apparent departures, He is drawing the closer to the souls that +love and trust. + + + + +CHRIST FORESEEING HIS PASSION + + +'Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the Prince of this world +cometh, and hath nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love +the Father; and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, +Let us go hence.'—JOHN xiv. 30,31. + +The summons to departure which closes these verses shows that we have +now reached the end of that sacred hour in the upper room. In obedience +to the summons, we have to fancy the little group leaving its safe +shelter, as sailors might put out from behind a breakwater into a +stormy sea. They pass from its seclusion and peace into the joyous stir +of the crowded streets, filled with feast-keeping multitudes, on whom +the full paschal moon looked down, pure and calming. Somewhere between +the upper chamber and the crossing of the brook Kedron, the divine +words of the following chapters were spoken, but this discourse, +closely connected as it is with them, reaches its fitting close in +these penetrating, solemn words of outlook into the near future, so +calm, so weighty, so resolute, so almost triumphant, with which Christ +seeks finally to impart to His timorous friends some of His own peace +and assurance of victory. + +They lead us into a region seldom opened to our view, and never to be +looked upon but with reverent awe. For they tell us what Christ thought +about His sufferings, and how He felt as He went down to that cold, +black river, in which He was to be baptized. 'Put off thy shoes from +off thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground.' So, +reverently listening to the words, sacred because of the Speaker, the +theme, and the circumstances, we note in them these things: His calm +anticipation of the assailant, His unveiling of the secret and motive +of His apparent defeat, and His resolute advance to the conflict. Let +us look at these three points. + +I. First, we have here our Lord's calm anticipation of the assailant. + +'Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the Prince of this world +cometh, and hath nothing in Me.' One of the other Gospels tells us, in +finishing its account of our Lord's temptation in the wilderness, that +when Satan had ended all these temptations 'he departed from Him for a +season.' And now we have the second and the intenser form of that +assault. The first was addressed to desires, and sought to stimulate +ambition and ostentation and the animal appetites, and so, through the +cravings of human nature, to shake the Master's fixed faith. The second +used sharper and more fatal weapons, and appealed, not to desire of +enjoyment, or ease, or good, but to the natural human shrinking from +pain and suffering and shame and death. He that was impervious on the +side of natural necessities and more subtle spiritual desires might yet +be reached through terror. And so the second form of the assault, +instead of tempting the traveller by the sunshine to cast aside his +cloak, tempted him by storm and tempest to fling it aside; and the one, +as the other, was doomed to failure. + +Note how the Master, with that clear eye which saw to the depths as +well as the heights, and before which men and things were but, as it +were, transparent media through which unseen spiritual powers wrought, +just as He discerns the Father's will as supreme and sovereign, sees +here—beneath Judas's treachery, and Pharisees' and priests' envy, and +the people's stolid indifference, and the Roman soldiers' impartial +scorn—the workings of a personal source and centre of all. The 'Prince +of this world,' who rules men and things when they are severed from +God, 'cometh.' Christ's sensitive nature apprehends the approach of the +evil thing, as some organisations can tell when a thunderstorm is about +to burst. His divine Omniscience, working as it did, even within the +limits of humanity, knows not only when the storm is about to burst +upon Him, but knows who it is that has raised the tempest. And so He +says, 'The Prince of this world cometh.' + +But note, as yet more important, that tremendous and unique +consciousness of absolute invulnerability against the assaults. 'He +hath nothing in Me.' He is 'the Prince of the world,' but His dominion +stops outside My breast. He has no rule or authority there. His writs +do not run, nor is His dominion recognised, within that sacred realm. + +Was there ever a man who could say that? Are there any of us, the +purest and the noblest, who, standing single-handed in front of the +antagonistic power of evil, and believing it to be consolidated and +consecrated in a person, dare to profess that there is not a thing in +us on which he can lay his black claw and say—'That is mine?' Is there +nothing inflammable within us which the 'fiery darts of the wicked' can +kindle? 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 therein, and that +nothing there will respond to them? Christ sets Himself here against +the whole embattled and embodied power of evil, and puts Himself in +contrast to the universal human experience, when He calmly declares 'He +hath nothing in Me.' It is an assertion of His absolute freedom from +sinfulness, and it involves, as I take it, the other assertion—that as +He is free from sin, so He is not subject to that consequence of sin, +which is death, as we know it. Another part of Scripture speaks to us +in strange language, which yet has in it a deep truth, of 'him that had +the power of death, that is, the devil.' Men fall under the rightful +dominion of the king of evil when they sin, and part of the proof of +his dominion is the fact of physical death, with its present +accompaniments. Thus, in His calm anticipation, Jesus stands waiting +for the enemy's charge, knowing that all its forces will be broken +against the serried ranks of His immaculate purity, and that He will +come from the dreadful close unwounded all, and triumphant for +evermore. + +But do not let us suppose that because Christ, in His anticipation of +suffering and death, knew Himself invulnerable, with not even a spot on +His heel into which the arrow could go, therefore the conflict was an +unreal or shadowy one. It was a true fight, and it was a real struggle +that He was anticipating, thus calmly in these solemn words, as knowing +Himself the Victor ere He entered on the dreadful field. + +II. So note, secondly, in these words, our Lord's unveiling of the +motive and aim of His apparent defeat. + +'But that the world might know that I love the Father, and, as the +Father gave Me commandment, even so I do.' There may be some +uncertainty about the exact grammatical relation of these clauses to +one another, with which I need not trouble you, because it does not +affect their substantial meaning. However we solve the mere grammatical +questions, the fundamental significance of the whole remains +unaffected, and it is this: that Christ's sufferings and death were, in +one aspect, for the purpose that the world might know His love to the +Father, and, in another aspect, were obedience to the Father's +commandment. And if we consider these two aspects, I think we shall get +some thoughts worth considering as to the way in which the Master +Himself looks upon these sufferings and that death. + +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 act. Note +that remarkable phrase, 'thus I _do_.' A strange word to be used in +such a connection, but full of profound meaning. We speak, and rightly, +of the solemn events of these coming days as the passion of our Lord, +but they were His action quite as much as His passion. He was no mere +passive sufferer. In them all He acted, or, as He says here, we may +look upon them all, not as things inflicted upon Him from without by +any power, however it might seem to have the absolute control of His +fate, but as things which He did Himself. + +There is one Man who died, not of physical necessity, but because of +free choice. There is one Man who chose to be born, and who chose to +die; who, in His choosing to be born, chose humiliation, and who, in +choosing to die, chose yet deeper humiliation. This sacrifice was a +voluntary sacrifice, or, to speak more accurately, He was both Priest +and Sacrifice, when 'through the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself +without spot unto God.' The living Christ is the Lord of Life, and +lives because He will; the dying Christ is the Lord of Death, and dies +because He chose. He would have us learn that all His bitter +sufferings, inflicted from without as they were, and traceable to a +deeper source than merely human antagonism, were also self-inflicted +and self-chosen, and further traceable to the Father's will in harmony +with His own. 'Thus I do,' and thus He did when He died. + +Then, further, our Lord would have us regard these sufferings and that +death as being His crowning act of obedience to His Father's will. That +is in accordance with the whole tone of His self-consciousness, +especially as set before us in this precious Gospel of John, which +traces up everything to the submission of the divine Son to the divine +Father, a submission which is no mere external act, but results from, +and is the expression of, the absolute unity of will and the perfect +oneness of mutual love. And so, because He loved the Father, therefore +He came to do the Father's will, and the crowning act of His obedience +was this, that He was 'obedient unto death, even the death of the +Cross.' It was a voluntary sacrifice, but that voluntariness was not +self-will. It was a sacrifice in obedience to the Father's will, but +that obedience was not reluctant. Christ was the embodiment of the +divine purpose, formed before the ages and realised in time, when He +bowed His head and yielded up the ghost. The highest proof of His +filial obedience was the Cross. And to it He points us, if we would +know what it is to love and obey the Father. + +Now it is to be noticed that this motive of our Lord's death is not the +usual one given in Scripture. And I can suppose the question being put, +'Why did not Jesus Christ say, in that supreme moment, that He went to +the Cross because of His love to us rather than because of His love to +the Father?' But I think the answer is not far to seek. There are +several satisfactory ones which may be given. One is that this making +prominent of His love to God rather than to us, as the motive for His +death, is in accordance with that comparative reticence on the part of +Jesus as to the atoning aspect of His death, which I have had frequent +occasion to point out, and which does not carry in it the implication +that that doctrine was a new thing in the Christian preaching after +Pentecost. Another reason may be drawn from the whole strain and tone +of this chapter, which, as I have already said, traces up everything to +the loving relations of obedience between the Father and Son. And yet +another reason may be given in that the very statement of Christ's love +to God, and loving obedience to the Father's commandment as the motive +of His death, includes in it necessarily the other thing—love to us. +For what was the Father's commandment which Christ with all His heart +accepted, and with His glad will obeyed unto death? It was that the Son +should come as the Ransom for the world. The Son of man was sent, 'not +to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a Ransom +for many.' Or, as He Himself said, in one of His earliest discourses, +'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that +whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.' 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 wilderness, even so must the Son of +Man be lifted up.' + +To speak of Christ's acceptance of the Father's commandment, then, is +but another way of saying that Christ, in all the fullness of His +self-surrender, entered into and took as His own the great, eternal +divine purpose, that the world should be redeemed by His death upon the +Cross. The heavenward side of His love to man is His love to the +Father, God. + +Now there is another aspect still in which our Lord would here have us +regard His sufferings and death, and that is that they are of worldwide +significance. + +Think for a moment of the obscurity of the speaker, a Jewish peasant in +an upper room, with a handful of poor men around Him, all of them ready +to forsake Him, within a few hours of His ignominious death; and yet He +says, 'I am about to die, that the echo of it may reverberate through +the whole world.' He puts Himself forth as of worldwide significance, +and His death as adapted to move mankind, and as one day to be known +all over the world. There is nothing in history to approach to the +gigantic arrogance of Jesus Christ, and it is only explicable on the +ground of His divinity. + +'This I do that _the world_ may know.' And what did it matter to the +world? Why should it be of any importance that the world should know? +For one plain reason, because true knowledge of the true nature and +motive of that death breaks the dominion of the Prince of this world, +and sets men free from his tyranny. Emancipation, hope, victory, +purity, 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 Father, which will and love He made His own, and therefore +died, the sacrifice for the world's sin. + +The enemy was approaching. He was to be hoist with his own petard. 'He +digged a pit; he digged it deep,' and into the pit which he had digged +he himself fell. 'Oh, death! I will be thy plague' by entering into thy +realm. 'Oh, grave! I will be thy destruction' by dwelling for a moment +within thy dark portals and rending them irreparably as I pass from +them. The Prince of this world was defeated when he seemed to triumph, +and Christ's mighty words came true: 'Now shall the Prince of this +world be cast out.' He would have the world know—with the knowledge +which is of the heart as well as the head, which is life as well as +understanding, which is possession and appropriation—the mystery, the +meaning, the motive of His death, because the world thereby ceases to +be a world, and becomes the kingdom of Jesus Christ. + +III. Lastly, notice here the resolute advance to the conflict. + +'Arise, let us go hence'—a word of swift alacrity. Evidently He rose to +His feet whilst they lay round the table. He bids them rise with Him +and follow Him on the path. + +But there is more in the words than the mere close of a conversation, +and a summons to change of place. They indicate a kind of divine +impatience to be in the fight, and to have it over. The same emotion is +plainly revealed in the whole of the latter days of our Lord's life. +You remember how His disciples followed amazed, as He strode up the +road from Jericho, hastening to His Cross. You remember His deliberate +purpose to draw upon Himself public notice during that dangerous and +explosive week before the Passover, as shown in the publicity of His +entry into Jerusalem, His sharp rebukes of the rulers in the Temple, +and in every other incident of those days. You remember His words to +the betrayer: 'That thou doest, do quickly.' These latter hours of the +Lord were strongly marked by the emotion to which He gave utterance in +His earlier words: 'I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I +straitened till it be accomplished!' Perhaps that feeling indicated His +human shrinking; for we all know how we sometimes are glad to +precipitate an unwelcome thing, and how the more we dread it, the more +we are anxious to get it over. But there is far more than that in it. +There is the resolved determination to carry out the Father's purpose +for the world's salvation, which was His own purpose, and was none the +less His though He knew all the suffering which it involved. + +Let us adore the steadfast will, which never faltered, though the +natural human weakness was there too, and which, as impelled by some +strong spring, kept persistently pressing towards the Cross that on it +He might die, the world's Redeemer. + +And do not let us forget that He summoned His lovers and disciples to +follow Him on the road. 'Let us go hence.' It is ours to take up our +cross daily and follow the Master, to do with persistent resolve our +duty, whether it be welcome or unwelcome, and to see to it that we +plant no faltering and reluctant foot in our Master's footsteps. For +us, too, if we have learned to flee to the Cross for our redemption and +salvation, the resolve of our Redeemer and the very passion of the +Saviour itself become the pattern and law of our lives. We, too, have +to cast ourselves into the fight, and to take up our cross, 'that the +world may know that we love the Father, and as the Father hath given us +commandment.' And if we so live, then our death, too, in some humble +measure, may be like His—the crowning act of obedience to the Father's +will; in which we are neither passively nor resistingly dragged under +by a force that we cannot effectually resist, but in which we go down +willingly into the dark valley where death 'makes our sacrifice +complete.' + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scriptures, by Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 8070-0.txt or 8070-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/0/7/8070/ + +Produced by Charles Franks, David King and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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