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THE CENTRAL TEACHING 
 
 JESUS CHRIST 
 
 A STUDY AND EXPOSITION 
 
 OF THE FIVE CHAPTERS OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 
 TO ST. JOHN, XIII. TO XVII. INCLUSI\^ 
 
 BY y^ 
 
 THOMAS DEHANY BERNAED, M.A. 
 
 Canon and Chancellor of Wells 
 Author of "The Progress op Doctrine in the New Testament 
 Bampton Lectures, 186-1 
 
 Ncto godt 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 AND LONDON 
 
 1892 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
CoPTniGHT, 1892, 
 
 By MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 TVPOGRAPHV BY J. S. CuSHING & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A. 
 
 Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston, U.S.A. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This book had its origin in some lectures deliv- 
 ered under a Diocesan scheme of " Hignher Religf- 
 ious Education." Having afterwards undertaken 
 to put in a readable shape the lines for the study 
 of this part of Holy Scripture which had been then 
 suggested, I soon found myself enlarging upon 
 those notes, and exceeding the brief treatment 
 proposed. In the holy atmosphere of that record, 
 in presence of the solemn crisis to which it belongs, 
 of the touching incidents, the wide range of dis- 
 course, and the deep significance of its words, a 
 more anxious study and a more deliberate exposition 
 were naturally created. Thus a fuller treatment 
 became inevitable, as attention was more closely 
 given to the divisions and connections of discourse, 
 to the distinctions and relations of topics, to the 
 twofold character of words addressed to hearers at 
 the moment, and consigned to the Church forever, 
 and especially to the central place of this teaching 
 in the whole doctrine of Christ, and consequently 
 to the transitional office which it fulfils in the 
 
PREFACE 
 
 development of the scheme of the Gospel. Thus 
 it was that the notes of lectures became a book. 
 
 I was the more inclined to prosecute this work 
 for two reasons, one literary and the other per- 
 sonal. 
 
 In ranging through the literature of the subject, 
 I did not find that there is any book which does 
 precisely what is here intended. Certainly a 
 student has abundant aids, both exegetical and 
 homiletical. In the multitude of Commentaries on 
 the Fourth Gospel this section has its place ; and 
 its texts and topics have been treated in countless 
 sermons, lectures, and meditations. But I doubt 
 whether there is any one book which at once covers 
 the ground and is conterminous with it ; one that 
 treats it as a whole in itself, in the way both of 
 interpretation and reflection. If there be no such 
 book, it is fit that thei-e should be one, and of a 
 kind suited for reading rather than for reference. 
 Under this impression I applied m3^self more 
 willingly to a task which did not appear to be 
 superfluous. 
 
 At the same time it was in my own mind the 
 return to an idea which had occurred a quarter of 
 a century before. In preparing the Bampton Lect- 
 ures for 1864, on " The Progress of Doctrine in 
 the New Testament," my thoughts were occupied 
 with the advancing revelation of Christ, as it lies 
 before us developed in the canonical books; and 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 no part of that scheme impressed me so deeply as 
 did the office of those five cliapters of St. John, 
 which close the teaching of Christ in the flesh and 
 introduce the teaching of Christ in the Spirit. 
 After completing such review of the whole sub- 
 ject (alas ! under very disabling conditions, and 
 with sadly imperfect effect !) my thoughts reverted 
 to that central stage of advance more frequently 
 than to any other. But the further treatment of 
 such a subject required leisure which was not to 
 be had. One who, in a great pastoral charge, is 
 engaged without cessation as preacher and teacher, 
 in the practical ministry of the Word, must be 
 deeply thankful for that kind of study of it which 
 daily occasions demand ; yet he may often glance 
 wistfully at paths of inquiry which he would have 
 followed, had the duty of the hour permitted, or 
 pass on by fields of thought, in which he feels he 
 could have expatiated with pleasure, or imagines 
 that he could have reaped with advantage. If such 
 liberty comes at last, it is often under bodily or 
 mental conditions which ask only for repose. But 
 if it be not so, a less exacting public ministry may 
 give opportunity, not only for a more tranquil study 
 of the Word, but for some contribution to the 
 Church of the kind which is here attempted. Per- 
 haps it would not be attempted, but for the meas- 
 ure of encouragement derived from readers of the 
 former work, to which reference has been made. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 It is a satisfaction to me to express my gratitude 
 for intimations of interest and fellowship of thought 
 on the part of readers whom I have never seen, 
 both at home, and still more frequently on the 
 other side of the Atlantic. Therefore I commend 
 these words to my brothers and sisters in Christ, 
 in England and America, with the hope that they 
 may, in some cases, assist a tlioughtful entrance 
 into this inner sanctuary of the Written Word, 
 which has been justly called " The Holiest of All." 
 There, not only the writer but the readers, must 
 study the words of the Lord Jesus, as feeling them- 
 selves in his very presence, and depending on the 
 Spirit of truth, who, it is here promised, shall 
 " teach 5'ou all things " and " guide you into all 
 the truth." 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION ^^^^ 
 
 I Central Teaching •••••■ 
 
 II. A Study and Exposition . 
 
 Part I 
 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 XIII 
 
 I. The Preamble .■••'' 
 
 II. At Supper 
 
 III. The Washing of the Eeet 
 
 IV. The Detachment of Judas 
 V. The Preliminary Sayings . • • • 
 
 VI. The Premonition to Peter 
 
 Part II 
 THE DISCOURSES 
 FIRST DISCOURSE 
 
 XIV 
 
 I. Method and Character . • • • 
 II. The Foundation Word . • • ■ 
 III. The Final Prospect . • • • • 
 
 31 
 
 42 
 59 
 74 
 88 
 100 
 
 113 
 123 
 129 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV. Self-Revelation 
 
 V. The Promise of Power . 
 
 VI. The Promise of the Paraclete 
 
 VII. The Promise of Teaching 
 
 VIII. The Benediction of Peace 
 
 IX. The Accepted End . 
 
 X. A Dividing Line 
 
 PAGE 
 
 139 
 152 
 157 
 174 
 184 
 190 
 198 
 
 SECOND DISCOURSE 
 
 XV, XVI 
 
 XI. 
 
 Life and Fruitfulness . 
 
 . 209 
 
 XII. 
 
 Love and Friendship 
 
 . 228 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Enmity of the World 
 
 . 240 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Witness to the World . 
 
 . 252 
 
 XV. 
 
 Treatment by the World 
 
 . 258 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Conviction of the World 
 
 . 209 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Illumination of the Church . 
 
 . 283 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 The Sorrow and the Joy 
 
 . 294 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The Intercourse of the Future . 
 
 . 303 
 
 XX. 
 
 The Last Words .... 
 
 Part III 
 THE PRAYER 
 
 XVII 
 
 . 319 
 
 I. 
 
 Scope and Order .... 
 
 . 331 
 
 II. 
 
 For His Work and Glory 
 
 . 340 
 
 III. 
 
 For the Disciples .... 
 
 . 359 
 
 IV. 
 
 For All Believers .... 
 
 . 385 
 
 V. 
 
 The Sequki 
 
 . 407 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 farewell. The story of those days, told in the other 
 Gospels, is not repeated here. Only the public 
 entrance into the city is mentioned, with two 
 characteristic touches of reflection ; one on the ful- 
 filment of j)rophecy, not perceived till " Jesus was 
 glorified," the other on the connection of the brief 
 outburst of popular feeling with the recent miracle 
 at Bethany, related in the previous chapter. There 
 the writer passes at once to an incident which he 
 represents as final. Before the Lord quits the 
 Temple forever, a voice comes from beyond the 
 confines of Israel, a voice of Greeks — " We would 
 see Jesus." " The hour is come," He answers, 
 "that the Son of Man should be glorified." The 
 multitudes of mankind rise before his mind, and 
 at the same time the anguish and the death which 
 must be the conditions of their salvation. There 
 is a conflict, anticipating Gethsemane. There is a 
 voice from heaven. There is a revealing word 
 which interprets the crisis. "Now is the judg- 
 ment of this world : now shall the prince of this 
 world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up out of 
 the earth, will draw all men unto myself." Some 
 questions of cavil or perplexity are answered by a 
 solemn warning to use such opportunity as may 
 yet be given. " Walk while ye have the light, 
 that darkness overtake you not. . . . While ye 
 have the light believe in the light, that ye may 
 become sons of light." So ends the ministry to 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Israel. " He departed and hid Himself from 
 them"; to be seen no more in public, save as led 
 out to die. The Evangelist now reviews that mis- 
 sion as finished, and sums up the result. " Though 
 He had done so many signs before them, yet they 
 believed not on Him." But so it had been pre- 
 dicted. Two passages are cited from Isaiah, who 
 "saw his glory and spake of Him." In one of 
 those passages the Prophet had asked, " Lord, how 
 long?" and been told that the unbelief would last 
 till desolation came. The desolation had come when 
 the Evangelist wrote. Yet it had not been all un- 
 belief, even where it seemed to be so. " Among 
 the chief rulers many believed ; but did not con- 
 fess it, lest they should be put out of the syna- 
 gogue, because they loved the glory of men more 
 than the glory of God." So it was, despite the 
 solemn witness of Jesus, that belief or unbelief in 
 Him and in his words, was belief or unbelief in 
 God and in words of God. This assertion by the 
 Lord Himself is the seal which the Evangelist 
 affixes to his account of the mission and its results. 
 That story is finished : and the narrative at the 
 beginning of the thirteenth chapter takes a new 
 departure, retiring within the little company of 
 the twelve. There are spoken the words con- 
 tained in these five chapters ; and the close of this 
 division is as clearly marked as its beginning. 
 " When Jesus had spoken these words He went 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, 
 where was a garden into which He entered," and 
 there the Passion is begun. 
 
 It is therefore a separate portion of our Lord's 
 ministry on whic' we enter here ; and its impor- 
 tance is evident from the space which it occupies, 
 being little less than a fourth of the entire Gospel. 
 The twelve previous chapters cover a period of 
 nearly three years ; these five are records of a 
 single evening. In those we range through Judea, 
 Samaria, Galilee ; we are in the wilderness, on the 
 sea-board, in streets and synagogues, and most 
 often in the Temple itself. In these we remain in 
 a single chamber of a private house. In those we 
 are in the presence of " the Jews," the multitudes, 
 all classes of disciples, hearers, observei-s, oppo- 
 nents. In these we are in the inner circle which 
 may be called the Lord's own family. It is plain 
 that what passes here must have an importance all 
 its own. 
 
 It has this value from these very restrictions, 
 which constitute its special character, as a min- 
 istry to believers. The Gospel is written on a 
 distinct plan, that of giving, at the same time, an 
 account of the manifestation of Christ, and an 
 account of the reception of it by those to whom 
 it was presented. St. John traces with evident 
 intention the advancing faith of the few and the 
 hardening of the many in unbelief. He traces 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 these processes not only by relating the facts, but 
 by his own observations upon them, such as never 
 occur in the synoptic gospels. The discussions 
 and objections of the people and the growing 
 antagonism of the representati i classes are exhib- 
 ited in their progress towards the national rejec- 
 tion, in the story, which has been summed up with 
 melancholy comments at the end of the twelfth 
 chapter. Side by side with this history of un- 
 belief runs the history of faith, in those who 
 "received Him," telling how they acted on the 
 testimony of the Baptist ; how they felt at once 
 that "they had found the Messias"; how, at the 
 first miracle, "His disciples believed on Him"; 
 how, when others "went back," their adhesion 
 was confirmed (ch. vi. 66-68); how they shared 
 in the impressions of the public ministry and re- 
 ceived deeper impressions themselves in more inti- 
 mate converse; how their faith was tried by a 
 course which contradicted their expectations, and 
 by a seeming impotence against the powers of the 
 world; but how it was also sustained by works 
 which they saw to be the testimony of God ; how 
 their faith felt the strain of claims which tran- 
 scended their capacity of apprehension, and of words 
 which they knew not how to interpret; but how 
 this was more than balanced by the experimental 
 conviction, "Thou hast words of eternal life." 
 Thus through those years of association, with all 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 their recorded ignorances, weaknesses, and mis- 
 takes, they yet beheld his glory, the glory as of 
 an " only begotten from the Father," with a con- 
 sciousness only afterwards to be fully understood. 
 And now this hearing and beholding, this educa- 
 tion and companionship, must end. The next 
 three daj^s will bring, in the Crucifixion the 
 final shock to their faith, and, in the Resurrec- 
 tion the final seal ; to be followed by the transition, 
 gradual at first and soon complete, to the life of 
 walking by faith and not by sight. Thus a great 
 work remains for the last evenino". A teachino- 
 must be given which shall recognise the present 
 faith and raise it to a higher level, which shall be 
 a consummation of the relations in tlie past and a 
 preparation for those in the future. It cannot but 
 be given under the genuine emotion of tlie hour, 
 inspired by the full consciousness of the situation, 
 the sympathy which naturally grows more com- 
 passionate, and the love which allows itself more 
 tender expression in the moments of a great fare- 
 w^ell. 
 
 Such is the teaching Avhich we prepare to attend, 
 when wc approach this division of the Written 
 Word, five chajjters, which have been called "a 
 Gospel within the Gospel," a sacred enclosure, an in- 
 terior sanctuary, where the Lord is alone with his 
 friends; the manifestation to the world finished; 
 the redemption of the world to follow. We enter 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 under a cloud of divine sadness ; we find ourselves 
 under the brightest illuminations of truth and 
 love. Instructions, consolations, promises, revela- 
 tions, form the legacy which the departing Saviour 
 leaves to his Church. 
 
 The section of the Gospel thus marked off by 
 its historical setting and by the nature of its con- 
 tents, holds not only a distinct but a central place 
 in the teaching' of Christ. It has this central 
 character, first, as intervening between the narra- 
 tive of the manifestation of Christ to the world, 
 and that of his passion and resurrection ; secondly, 
 as closing the teaching of Christ in the flesh and 
 foreshowing his teaching in the Spirit. 
 
 Historically the central chapter of the Gospel of 
 Christ is the narrative of his death and resurrec- 
 tion. These events consummate his manifestation 
 on earth, and condition his mediation in heaven. 
 " The death which He died, He died unto sin once ; 
 the life which He liveth, He liveth unto God." 
 In the one act He departed out of this world, hav- 
 ing finished the work which was given Him to do ; 
 in the other He went to the Father to open the 
 kingdom of heaven to all believers. Therefore, in 
 the region of fact these events have the central 
 place, as closing one part of the dispensation and 
 opening the other ; and to these events the teach- 
 ing of the last hours is united in the most signifi- 
 cant manner. It is prefaced as being given " when 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Jesus knew that his hour was come, that He should 
 depart out of this world unto the Father " ; and 
 " when He had spoken these words He went forth " 
 to Gethsemane, the cross and g]-ave. We listen 
 under the consciousness of what is to follow, a 
 consciousness all tlie deeper because the situation 
 is not explained but understood. 
 
 The instructions, which are thus made prelimi- 
 nary to the central facts of the Gospel, have also 
 a central place in the course of education of the 
 disciples, in respect both of the method of the 
 Teacher and the attainments of the taught. 
 
 It is the close of teaching given in the flesh l)y 
 word of mouth, on the old terms of fellowship; 
 and it gives large promise of another kind of teach- 
 ing to be carried on by the Spirit, leading into all the 
 truth, and communicating "many things" Avhich 
 the Teacher had to say, but which the disciples 
 " could not bear " then. The character of the in- 
 structions corresponds with this stage of transition, 
 as preparing the faith and experience of a spiritual 
 life different from that of the past, but on the verge 
 of which the hearers stood. 
 
 In regard to the attainments of the disciples we 
 receive a like impression of transition. We see 
 the reality of their faith, but we also see its limits. 
 One after another they betray those limits by their 
 questions. They ought to have advanced farther, 
 but they have reached a level of faith Avhicli is 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 treated as a sufficient basis for more decisive ad- 
 vance ; and " in that day " which is to follow, this 
 faith will open out into fuller knowledge. Their 
 personal position, however, will be better con- 
 sidered when we come to enter on the discourses. 
 Here we only note the place which this part of 
 the word of Christ holds relatively to the rest of it. 
 
 If any one were to place on the one side the 
 Sermon on the Mount and the general synoptic 
 teaching, and on the other the Apostolic Epistles, 
 expressing the Christian consciousness there at- 
 tained, he would very doubtfully trace the conti- 
 nuity of ideas by which the great change has been 
 effected. The Fourth Gospel supplies that line of 
 tlie teaching of Christ which conducts from the one 
 l)oint to the other; and it is the present section of 
 that Gospel which does this in the most direct 
 manner. It makes the whole teaching continuous, 
 by telling how Jesus Himself, at the end of his 
 manifestation, assumed the results of past instruc- 
 tions, in order to interweave with them the doctrine 
 of the future. Without these chapters the apostolic 
 conceptions and convictions would lose much of 
 the precious securities given by words which fell 
 from the ]\Iaster's lips. With these chapters, we 
 hear in those later writings the echoes of his own 
 words, and find tlie doctrine of " that day " to be 
 only what He said it should be. 
 
 One great exception may, however, be taken to 
 
10 INTRODUCTION 
 
 this statement, and that in respect of a doctrine 
 which lies at the heart of Christianity as taught in 
 the canonical Epistles and held in the Catholic 
 Church ; I mean that of the atoning merit and 
 redeeming virtue of the death of Christ. That 
 doctrine is not here. The ideas of sacrifice and 
 propitiation, ransom and redemption do not appear 
 in this teaching, and even the facts of death and 
 resurrection are only implied under veiled expres- 
 sions. Elsewhere there are plain predictions of 
 " the Son of Man delivered to be crucified," and 
 " the Son of Man risen again from the dead," and 
 also distinct intimations of his " giving his life a 
 ransom for many," and of his " blood shed for the 
 remission of sins." No such words are found in 
 these discourses, spoken on the very threshold of 
 the events. The view of the speaker is projected 
 beyond them into a life for Himself and a dispen- 
 sation for his people, of which his death and 
 resurrection are necessary conditions, but condi- 
 tions which are not here affirmed. The events 
 immediately at hand would speak for themselves ; 
 the interpretation of them would follow by the 
 teaching of the Spirit. Had these impending 
 events and the deep meaning of them been pre- 
 sented in these discourses, they would have been 
 presented to minds incapable as yet of appre- 
 hending them, and certainly incapable of passing 
 beyond them into the serener atmosphere of the 
 
INTRODUCTION 11 
 
 life in the Spirit, and the region of hope and faith 
 into which they were to be led. In fact, the 
 teaching of this night could not have been given 
 as it was.^ 
 
 As actually given it deposited in the minds of 
 the disciples, and so in the mind of the Church, 
 ideas most precious and most fruitful, constituting 
 both a large proportion and a distinguishing char- 
 acter of the Christian habit of thought, as we 
 know it in the apostolic letters. 
 
 The first principle, " Ye believe in God, believe 
 also in Me," there expands itself into the pervad- 
 ing undivided faith " in God the Father and Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." The relations of the Holy 
 
 1 I may be allowed, in passing, to observe that we have in 
 the absence of these doctrines one evidence of the accuracy of 
 the report, for it is given by one whose mind was strongly and 
 habitually possessed with the very ideas which are absent here. 
 Not to speak of the testimonies in his Gospel, from the first 
 word which drew him to Christ, "Behold the Lamb of God 
 which taketh away the sin of the world," to the last deep im- 
 pression from the sight of the blood and water from the pierced 
 side, we see how he places in the forefront of his Epistle ' ' the 
 blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses from all sin," and the " pro- 
 pitiation for the sins of the whole world," and in the forefront 
 of his apocalypse, glory to Him ' ' who loosed (or washed) us 
 from our sins in his blood," with many a subsequent cele- 
 bration of " Him who was slain and purchased us to God by 
 his blood," and of victory obtained "by the blood of the 
 Lamb." The absence of truths which held such a place in the 
 mind of the writer is adverse to speculations with which we ai'C 
 now familiar on modification of the discourses by " unconscious 
 introduction of his own ideas," or "filtering of the products of 
 his inilividuality " into the reports of the Lord's words. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Ghost with the Father and the Son, and liis liv- 
 ing presence (which is their presence also) in the 
 Church and in the soul appears in those pages as we 
 first find them here. Whatsoever we there read of 
 God in Christ and Christ in God, whatsoever of union 
 with Christ and membership in Him, and access to 
 tlie Father through Him, of worship in his name, of 
 gifts and powers bestowed by Him, of participation 
 in his peace and association in his victory over the 
 world, whatsoever doctrine, whatsoever experience 
 on these subjects we derive from those Epistles, has 
 its origin and its certificate in the discourses of the 
 last evening. To exhibit this correspondence be- 
 tween the condensed sayings here, and their ex- 
 panded consequences there, would be a treatise in 
 itself; but any one who pursues the comparison will 
 see with increasing clearness that this Christian' 
 consciousness in all its parts had its origin in the 
 sayings of Jesus, and most distinctly in these. 
 
 It is true that this consciousness is best known 
 to us from the writings of one who was not pres- 
 ent in the vipper room ; but in this respect the 
 utterances of St. Paul are at one with those of St. 
 Peter and St. John. St. Paul liad, as he tells us, 
 his own separate revelations, but the fundamental 
 Christian consciousness, of which I speak, however 
 characterized in the individual, Awas the common 
 heritage of believers. It might find an eminently 
 sympathetic interpreter in St. Paul ; but he was 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 neither the originator nor the peculiar possessor 
 of it. He found it in the community which he 
 entered, breathing in the atmospliere of the Church. 
 We are not to identify a thing with the extant 
 records of it, as if it existed only in them. For 
 instance, these sayings of Jesus, as we have them, 
 were written down by one Apostle long after they 
 were uttered. He, no doubt, was always the best 
 reporter of them, and was therefore chosen as their 
 reporter forever. But were they heard only by 
 him ? Ten other men were listening, men chosen 
 for the purpose, commissioned witnesses, an apos- 
 tolic college. And why a college ? That the 
 members might assist and check each other's mem- 
 ory, and sustain each other's testimony ; and that 
 thus there might be a solidarity of witness and 
 authority on the foundations of the Gospel while 
 that should be needed. If any words of Jesus 
 sank into their hearts, and by them passed into 
 the hearts of others, surely it must have been so 
 with these words, delivered as a last legacy, con- 
 fided to them as chosen Apostles, and gradually 
 verified by experience in the day of the dispensa- 
 tion of the Spirit. I mean to point out that there 
 was a world of Christian consciousness correspond- 
 ing to these predictive instructions, before St. Paul, 
 twenty years later, assumed its existence in those to 
 whom he wrote, and before St. John, fifty years later, 
 bequeathed to the Church in writing his own habit- 
 
14 INTRODUCTION chap. 
 
 ual testimony. That later development of faith 
 and experience was as really the teaching of Christ 
 by the Spirit as were the instructions spoken with 
 his lips on the hills of Galilee or in the synagogue 
 of Capernaum ; and between the two stand the tran- 
 sitional words of the last evening, which on that 
 account are here designated as " the central teach- 
 ing of Jesus Christ." 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 A STUDY AND EXPOSITION 
 
 In describing this work as a study and exposi- 
 tion, I intend to distinguish its character from that 
 of an inquiry and discussion. The two descrip- 
 tions involve different attitudes of mind in rehition 
 to the text which is treated. In the former we 
 are considering it as it is; in the latter, how it 
 came to be what it is. In this case we have before 
 us questions of preliminary importance, on the 
 authorship of the Gospel, and, if that be granted, 
 on its accuracy as a report. These and the like 
 inquiries concerning the canonical Scriptures may 
 be said to be the questions of the time, having 
 been raised with eager importunity and treated 
 on both sides with elaboration, erudition, and 
 ingenuity in the last and the present generation. 
 There is the more reason to bear in mind that 
 those questions are preliminary, and to be kept 
 in their own place, not following us with disturb- 
 ing influence into the inner sanctuary of instruc- 
 tion. It would fare ill with the school of Christ, 
 
16 INTRODUCTION 
 
 if attention to the teaching were embarrassed by 
 uncertainties as to who was really the teacher; 
 and if the disciples could no longer listen with 
 the old trustful security that they were " liear- 
 ing Him and being taught by Him as is truth in 
 Jesus." In the present case, one who has gone 
 into these questions, with the result of an entire 
 satisfaction, can the more thankfully set them 
 aside, and follow the divine teaching with the per- 
 fect confidence with which it has been ever studied 
 and expounded in the Catholic Church. A settled 
 assurance as to the writer of the Gospel carries 
 with it an equal assurance of his distinct com- 
 mission and peculiar competence to write, and oi 
 the special grace enabling him for the work which 
 he fulfils in the testimony of Jesus to the Church 
 and to the world forever. Such confidence is not 
 in the least incompatible with the consciousness of 
 the conditions under which the divine purpose was 
 fulfilled. These conditions, in some most impor- 
 tant respects, cannot be better expressed than in 
 the following words : — • 
 
 " The key to the Fourth Gospel lies in translation. . . . 
 I mean translation in language from Aramaic into Greek : 
 translation in time extending over more than half a century, 
 the writer passing from young manhood to mature old 
 age : translation in place from Palestine to Ephesus : transla- 
 tion in outward moulds of thought from the simplicity of 
 Jewish fishermen and peasants to the technicalities of a 
 people, who had formed for a century the meeting-ground, 
 
INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 and, ill part, tlie union of the philosophers of East and 
 West. 
 
 " If we earnestly attempt to realise the life of the Apostle, 
 and the circumstances under which the Gospel was com- 
 posed, it will lead us to undei'stand how this process of 
 development must have taken place in the inspired writer, 
 and how absolutely essential it was to the pui-pose of his 
 writing." ^ 
 
 Certainly these several kinds of translation give 
 ample scope for suppositions of such changes by 
 the way as would create variations between the 
 facts and the records of them, between the dis- 
 courses and the reports of them. Hence the 
 luminous pages might be darkened by flitting 
 shadows of uncertainty, study might be distracted 
 by questions, and exposition arrested by discus- 
 sion. So it is in that stage of enquiry, in which 
 Holy Scripture is being examined " like any other 
 book." But if that very enquiry lead to the con- 
 clusion that it is not like any other book in char- 
 acter, origin, and relation to mankind, that there 
 pervades its component parts another mind than 
 the minds of its many authors, and that the 
 Church has been right in recognising it as the 
 Written Word of God, then those shadows pass 
 from its pages and those distractions cease. Nor 
 is there any part of Holy Scripture in which 
 this assurance is more instinctively and justly 
 
 1 Archdeacon Watkins, Bampton Lectures, 1890, "Modern 
 Criticism and the Fourth Gospel," p. 42G-427. 
 
 C 
 
18 INTRODUCTION 
 
 felt than it is in these chapters, where the be- 
 loved disciple tells how, in his own hearing, Jesus 
 spake. 
 
 In the last sentence of the passage quoted there 
 occur two expressions which, if worthily under- 
 stood, contain the secret of confidence for the 
 student and expositor. These are " the inspired 
 writer" and "the purpose of his writing." If 
 his inspiration was a reality, and the purpose of 
 his writing was the purpose of his Lord, then 
 speculations about changes and developments are 
 greatly restricted. If He who was the Incarnate 
 Word and Saviour of the world would be known 
 to his Church for ever, He would know how to 
 secure the truth of that information, and to make 
 it the very expression of Himself; and here He has 
 employed for this purpose the agent nearest to 
 Him, whose spirit was, beyond that of other men, 
 receptive and retentive and open to that guidance 
 of the Spirit, the promise of which he has recorded. 
 Suppositions about psychological processes and 
 influences of circumstances cannot in this case 
 be equally admissible as they might be in ordinary 
 literature and the common history of mind. If 
 translation is one key to this Gospel, inspiration is 
 another, as the presiding power which ordered the 
 translation, and shaped its effects to the divine 
 purpose of a perfect testimony. If the Spirit acted 
 in directing the movements of the Gospel, how 
 
INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 much more needful would that direction be in the 
 perpetuation of it. We read in Acts xvi. how 
 this guidance led the Gospel into Greece. The 
 preachers, "forbidden by the Holy Ghost to 
 preach the Word in Asia," turned to Bithynia, 
 "but the Spirit suffered them not" ; then a vision 
 directed them across the sea. It would be scarce 
 reasonable to believe that no like guidance was 
 given in the formation of documents on which the 
 faith of Christians would depend to the end of 
 time. Surely it was the same superintendence 
 which led the preaching into Greece as the best 
 post of advantage, and which fixed the writing in 
 Greek as the most perfect vehicle of expression. 
 
 In respect, then, of translation in language we 
 are scarcely a step removed from the Lord. What 
 is language but the vehicle of mind ? and we hear 
 Him speaking in the upper room in that language 
 in which He has provided that we should read 
 most perfectly His mind and meaning. For ex- 
 ample, if we note in the discourses shades and 
 discriminations of meaning, whicli the Greek lan- 
 guage supplies, we shall not have to enquire as to 
 Aramaic equivalents in the original communica- 
 tions, having before us a version which is, by the 
 Lord's will and provision, the version for the 
 world, given as the word of Cluist for ever.^ 
 
 1 E.g. such enquii-y might be suggested by the frequent ob- 
 servations we shall have to make on words carrying important 
 
20 IXTRODUCTION 
 
 The same principle of divine guidance applies 
 to other instances of translation, as from early to 
 later life, from Jerusalem to Ephesus, from one 
 mental atmosphere to another. There are pas- 
 sages in the Gospel in which the effect of such 
 translations may be observed, and felt to assist 
 interpretation ; but scarcely in passages which are 
 simple testimony, least of all such testimony as is 
 given here, and which must have been felt as a 
 specially sacred deposit to be guarded and trans- 
 mitted with the most reverential care. Specula- 
 tions on the effects of psychological changes in the 
 writer, on free handling of his materials, and on 
 alterations, even unconsciously made, in the words 
 which he reports, should here be under restraint. 
 This is not a case of ordinary literature ; not that 
 of an old man recovering distant recollections ; or 
 of an author who has the right to exhibit his sub- 
 ject according to his later lights. It is the case of 
 the chosen Apostle reporting tlie words of the Son 
 
 discriminations of idea in the Greek, which have no adequate 
 eijuivalents in our own language, which has but one word in 
 common use to represent two which the more perfect language 
 would employ. E.i/. know for oioa, ytviIxrKw; go for virdyto, 
 TTopeuw ; see for dpdu, deupiu ; love for dyawdu}, (piX^u ; trite for 
 ctXf/^Tjs, d\7jdii'6s ; now for puv, Apn ; from for wapd, dirb, etc., etc. 
 But the enquiry which our own experience of translation miglvt 
 suggest as to equivalents in Oreek and Aramaic becomes of no 
 practical consequence, if by the will of the Divine Speaker his 
 communications are given us by the finer instrument which 
 conveys to our minds all their meaning and force. 
 
INTRODUCTION 21 
 
 of God, writing as a witness of things committed 
 to his trust, and which through life he had been 
 used to testify. " This is the disciple which 
 beareth witness of these things (o fiaprupcov Trepl 
 TovToiv), expressing a recognised habit, and wrote 
 these things (/cat ypdylrwi ravra'), and we know 
 that his testimony is true " (xxi. 24). In pres- 
 ence of these conditions and also of the promise of 
 Christ, " He shall bring all tilings to your remem- 
 brance, whatsoever I have said unto you," it 
 surely requires overwhelming reasons to justify 
 those suppositions of changes, developments, modi- 
 fications by subjective tendencies, mixing together 
 portions of other discourses, and the like, in which 
 even reverential writers have been prone to in- 
 dulge, after breathing a literary atmosphere 
 infected with critical distrust.^ 
 
 1 An instance may be fitly taken from a thoughtful book 
 which has done good service, "The Authorship and Historical 
 Character of the Fourth Gospel," by Dr. Sanday. The able 
 writer, after mentioning an argument which he says "has not 
 any great weight," continues thus : " Yet we should be led in 
 some degree to infer from this that the Evangelist had enlarged 
 upon his original. And the whole character of the discourse 
 goes to strengthen this conclusion. They have been freely 
 reproduced ; probably portions of other discourses, though all 
 belonging to these last days worked up in them." Then after 
 describing a possible process of mind, he continues, "Some 
 such process seems to have been at work in the mind of the 
 Apostle. And not only has he mixed together portions of dif- 
 ferent discourses, but he has also shaped, moulded, developed, 
 their substance in such a way that we are no more able to draw 
 the Hue at the point where the old ends and where the 
 
22 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The discussion of these questions, important in 
 the highest degree, is yet outside the intention of 
 this book. Here we would study St. John, not as 
 critics, but as disciples. His words will be taken 
 for what they profess to be ; and if he " repeats 
 discourses under an impression that they represent 
 what was actually spoken," we shall read them 
 here under the same impression. Such stud}^, 
 however, in keeping to its own lines, has also a 
 necessary bearing on the questions which it avoids, 
 and makes a material contribution to the argu- 
 ment. For if deliberate consideration shews more 
 plainly that the story suits the persons as they 
 were at the time, and fits in with the facts and 
 feelings of the occasion ; if the lifelike touches in 
 the scene appear to be natural tokens of unclouded 
 personal recollection ; if revealing words, laid sep- 
 arately before us (in the manner technically called 
 
 new begins." It is conceded that this was done "uncon- 
 sciously," and that " the discourses are repeated under an 
 impression that they represent what was actually spoken. But 
 it is impossible for an active mind to retain the exact recollec- 
 tion of words over a space of perhaps fifty years. Little by 
 little the products of its own individuality will filter in and dis- 
 turb the clear element of objective fact" (p. 222). Then follows 
 a psychological speculation on the effect of time on the memory 
 in case of a man of strong mind and character. But such 
 resources of suspicious criticism, however allowable in respect' 
 of ordinary literary reproduction, are scarcely tolerable here, 
 where the effects on confidence are so serious, and wliere the 
 very slender suggestions of suspicion are met by an immense 
 preponderance of reasons for trust. 
 
INTRODUCTION 23 
 
 asyndeton) without particles of connexion or 
 incorporation, are suggestive of the form in which 
 they lay undisturbed in the memory of the writer ; 
 if in the discourses a certain " involved manner " 
 gives the impression of converse as it was, not of 
 later reflection reducing it into shape ; and if these 
 communications are characterised by a simplicity 
 of language which is not after any school of 
 thought, and by a depth of meaning and a con- 
 scious authority whicli are not after the manner of 
 men, — then these features of the record constitute 
 an internal evidence of truth and accuracy, which, 
 so to speak, converts the reader of the Evangelist 
 into a hearer of the Lord. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to relieve this study 
 from the pressure of questions which are not 
 within its scope, I would indicate by anticipation 
 certain leading ideas which will be observed in the 
 course of it, but will be more present to the mind 
 if mentioned beforehand. 
 
 The first is that of the internal unity of this 
 whole section of the Gospel. It presents one course 
 of things in three parts ; the Incidents preparing for 
 the Discourses, the Discourses consummated by the 
 Prayer. The Apostolic College having been first 
 cleansed by a symbolic washing, and then purged 
 of an alien element, receives its great legacy of 
 teaching and promise, and is finally committed to 
 the care and blessing of the Father, in respect of 
 
24 TXTRODUCTION 
 
 the men themselves, of their common work, and 
 of the effects of it in all generations. It is all 
 one course of fact and thought, complete within 
 itself, — a comprehensive and consummate fare- 
 well. 
 
 Another leading idea to be kept in mind is that 
 of combination. There is a twofold character 
 throughout, combining all the naturalness of the 
 historical situation with all the greatness of its 
 spiritual significance. In the one point of view, 
 we see the holy Teacher before his death having 
 the last meal with his disciples, speaking the last 
 words in tones of genuine human affection, and 
 leaving with them consolations and instructions to 
 be pondered when He is gone. In the other point 
 of view we behold tlie Son who came forth from 
 the Father about to return to the Father, deliver- 
 ing to the chosen founders and representatives of 
 his Church revelations of truth, wliich are to pro- 
 long their power tlu'ough all generations of be- 
 lievers. Thus is there a twofold character, first 
 of the speaker, then of the hearers, then also of 
 the words, botli aspects being preserved in the 
 narrative in perfect combinations ; and both must, 
 in like manner, be kept in view in the study and 
 exposition of it. 
 
 A third leading idea is that of the relation 
 in which this part of the divine teaching stands 
 to the whole, as occupying the central position. It 
 
INTRODUCTION 25 
 
 intervenes between two stages in the building up 
 of the Gospel, and spans what would else be a 
 vacant space in the doctrinal structure ; being not 
 merely beautiful as the capital of a column, but 
 necessary as the solid keystone of an arch. But 
 this idea, having given the title to the book, has 
 been sufficiently set forth in the chapter which 
 explained the title. On the method and spirit 
 of the treatment attempted a few words may be 
 added. 
 
 1. The method is to follow the course of Scrip- 
 ture as it is, without seeking a more formal order 
 by analysis, or by rearrangement according to topics, 
 as, for instance, by throwing together the words on 
 the gift of the Spirit, or those on love or on wor- 
 ship. It is a simple method, but it is that of a 
 true and trustful exposition, as shewing that if the 
 same topics recur, they recur in different connex- 
 ions and with different applications, and that we 
 are not passing through a confusion, but following 
 an evolution of thought. 
 
 2. On this plan a chief help to exposition must 
 be sought in the naturalness and fitness of divis- 
 ions, as far as this can be attained ; since this 
 arrests deliberate attention on the successive steps 
 of instruction, making each a study by itself, yet 
 in its connexion, often unexpressed, with what 
 precedes and follows. 
 
 3. Within these divisions the force of the ex- 
 
26 IXTRODUCTION 
 
 pressions and the precision of the wording claim 
 the careful observation which they have received 
 from all commentators; and they claim it, not 
 only on the grounds of conscientious exegesis in 
 general, but specially from the obligations felt by 
 those who regard the human words as uttering 
 divine thoughts. 
 
 The spirit proper to such a study must be one 
 of sympathetic observation and also of reverential 
 faith. 
 
 For the just apprehension of all that passes there 
 is need of something more than exact observation 
 of particulars ; there is need of a certain sympathy 
 with the feeling of the occasion, with the mind of 
 the disciples, and (shall we venture to say it?) 
 w^ith the mind of the Lord. We may say it, for 
 plainly He desired the poor sympathy of the men 
 who " continued with Him in his temptations," 
 and whom He asked to "watch with Him one 
 hour " ; and the tones of human experiences and 
 human affections, audible in these farewell words, 
 assist our apprehensions by touching our hearts. 
 
 But bej'ond this power of realising the circum- 
 stances and feelings of the scene, another condition 
 of mind is heeded for the true interpretation of its 
 teaching; namely, a reverential sense that we are- 
 present at an important part of the manifestation 
 of the Son of God, and of tlie self-revelation of the 
 Lord to his Church. This involves a deeper in- 
 
INTRODUCTION 27 
 
 sight into the significance of acts, and a hxrger 
 apprehension of the import of words. It creates also 
 a right and duty of inferences and applications 
 extending through all time, and proper to our day 
 and ourselves. Fresh and living do these words 
 come down to us, as spoken with prospective in- 
 tention, and transmitted by inspiration and provi- 
 dence. In connecting them with later experiences 
 and with present uses, we are only treating them 
 according to their proper nature and purpose. 
 The voice that speaks so far away in an upper 
 room in Jerusalem is heard, as by an electric cur- 
 rent, speaking close beside us; and we feel that by 
 his Word as well as in his Spirit, He fulfils the 
 promise, " Lo ! I am with you all the days even to 
 the consummation of the age." 
 
Part I 
 
 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 XIII. 1-38 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. The Preamble . . 
 
 II. The Supper . . . 
 
 III. Washing of the Feet 
 
 IV. Detachment of Jcdas 
 V. Preliminary Sayings 
 
 VI. Premonition to Peter 
 
 V. 1 
 
 2 
 
 2-17 
 18-30 
 31-35 
 36-38 
 
 29 
 
Part I 
 
 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE PREAIMBLE 
 
 " Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing 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." 
 
 " This verse," says Bengel, " is a general exor- 
 dium extending to all that is related in this and 
 the following chapters." So most commentators 
 take it, and such it obviously is. Such preambles 
 are in the manner of St. John. There are several 
 minor instances. The greatest is the prologue to 
 the Gospel itself. In the present case three par- 
 ticulars are premised. (1) The date, (2) the 
 consciousness of Jesus, and (3) the motive and 
 character of his action. 
 
 1. The date (" before the feast of the Pass- 
 over ") gives to what follows its place in history. 
 It does not positively determine the question of 
 the day, but places these liours at the commence- 
 
 31 
 
32 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 ment of the feast, — the word then in use, not 
 only for the paschal supper, but for the whole 
 festival week which it inaugurated. At this feast, 
 commemorative of a typical redemption, the real 
 redemption was wrought. This was apparently 
 the third Passover in the public life of Jesus. At 
 the first (ii. 13, 23) He claimed his rights as the 
 Son in his Father's house, and "wrought many 
 signs," with the result that " many believed." 
 If the un-named feast (v. 1) were a Passover, that 
 would add another to the list, and another year to 
 the ministry ; but the reasons on the opposite side 
 are almost conclusive. The second, therefore, 
 would be that which He did not attend (vi. 4), 
 when it is mentioned as exceptional that " He 
 walked in Galilee, and did not walk in Judea, 
 because the Jews sought to kill Him" (vii. 1). 
 Now, on this third occasion, the time for deferring 
 that termination is over, and He is in Jerusalem, 
 at the feast, to be Himself the fulfilment of its 
 types, in its first portion as " our Passover sacri- 
 ficed for us," in its second (the feast of First- 
 fruits) as " risen from the dead, the firstfruits of 
 them that slept." 
 
 2. The consciousness of this possesses his soul. 
 He acts and speaks, "knowing that his hour is 
 come." That history is measured by predestined 
 hours. So it was said at Cana, "Mine hour is not 
 yet come," — the hour for public action and mani- 
 
THE TREAMBLE 33 
 
 festation to the world. Now, at this Passover, it 
 is the hour for the end. Twice it had been said, 
 " No man laid hands on Him, because his hour was 
 not yet come " (vii. 30 ; viii. 20), but that can be 
 said no more. Here that hour, so overwhelming 
 in its experiences, so vast in its effects, is thought 
 of in a single point of view. This is expressed 
 with a curious precision, but in a form common 
 with St. John (<W, in order that), " to the end that 
 He should depart (fiera^rj, pass over) out of this 
 world unto the Father." It is a looking beyond 
 the hour to the result, beyond the immediate 
 events, which are the steps of departure, to the 
 state which will ensue. And why? Because of 
 the bearing of that great change on those who will 
 be left. The departure and separation from them 
 is the ground-thought of all the acts and words 
 which follow. 
 
 3. They are acts and words of love. " Having 
 loved his own which were in the world. He loved 
 them unto the end." Well may it be noted that, 
 under the present consciousness that the great 
 crisis is come, He is occupied, not with self, but 
 with them. 
 
 " His own," they are called ; in another sense 
 than that in which it had been said, " He came 
 unto his own (ra iSia), and his own (ot iBtoi') 
 received Him not " (i. 11). Those were his own by 
 natural right and connexion ; these by the bond 
 
 D 
 
34 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 of faith and by the gift of the Father. Dear they 
 are to Hiin personally and by name, dear also as 
 chosen representatives of the little flock of dis- 
 ciples then existing, and of all the larger flock 
 which they will gather, and to whom these com- 
 munications of love will be transmitted. That 
 is a reason of affection. There is also the reason 
 of an anxious concern. They are "his own, which 
 are in the Avorld," the uncongenial hostile world, 
 out of which He departs and in which He leaves 
 them. In later words we shall see how that 
 thought touched his heart. He had loved them 
 all through, and shown that love ; but now, with 
 a special emotion and with a special expression of 
 it, " He loved them unto the end." Does the word 
 (ei<f TeXo9) intend to the last (in time), or to the 
 uttermost (in degree) ? The first meaning is most 
 natural ; but both are included. Last expressions 
 of affection are apt to be most tender or intense. 
 
 It will be seen, I think, that this verse, read as a 
 preamble to the five chapters, gives, with remark- 
 able precision, the leading ideas which pervade 
 them : the historical setting, the consciousness of 
 the Speaker, the relation of the hearers to Him 
 and to the world, and the consequent character 
 of the intercourse described. 
 
 But do not these introductory words ask for 
 reflection as well as explanation? The love 
 wherewith Jesus loved his own, which is to 
 
THE PREAMBLE 35 
 
 be so amply illustrated in these chapters, is a 
 subject to arrest our thoughts. It is one from 
 which the mind cannot hastily pass away. How 
 many kinds, measures, and tones of meaning are 
 comprehended in this word " Love " ! So it is 
 in common language, and even when one spe- 
 cific use of it has been excluded. So it is in 
 Scripture. There is a difference in the love of 
 God as God, of Jesus Christ as Saviour, of our 
 friends and relations, of our neighbours, of our 
 enemies, of our people, of our kind. It is all love, 
 but with what various combinations of idea and 
 casts and measures of feeling! So on the divine 
 side. The Father loved the Son; God loved the 
 world; Jesus loved his own (in that common 
 character); He loved them as individuals; He 
 " loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus," and there 
 was one disciple " whom Jesus loved." We are 
 all sensible of the differences of impression con- 
 veyed in these connexions, though it would be 
 vain to attempt to describe them. Furthermore, 
 we remember at what a disadvantage we are, com- 
 pared with those who wrote in Greek or Latin, 
 having but one word in our English use to express 
 the two that they had in theirs, and which they 
 employed with an intentional and often an exact 
 discrimination. Trench ('' Synonyms of the N. T.," 
 p. 43) distinguishes the force of the words a^a-rrdoi 
 and (^iXico ; and, iu reference to their interchange 
 
36 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 ill the exemplary passage (John xxi. 15-17^), he 
 observes: "All this subtle and delicate play of 
 feeling disappears, perforce, in a translation which 
 either does not care, or is not able, to reproduce 
 the variation of the words as they exist in the 
 original." Whether it cared or not, certainly it 
 was not able, as the Revised Version has itself 
 practically confessed. Here, however, we are con- 
 cerned only with one of these words (^dyaTrdo)^ 
 which became the great Christian verb, and 
 brought into use the cognate noun which hea- 
 thenism did not employ.^ The verb and substan- 
 tive occurring thirty times in these chapters 
 stamps their contents as a ministry of love. 
 Yet, as the force of words is best felt by com- 
 parison, it may be observed that, while the other 
 word (0t\ea)) has more of the instinctive and 
 emotional (it may be even unreasoning) char- 
 acter of personal friendship or affection, this 
 word (^dyairuo)') expresses more of motive and of 
 purpose ; it is a larger, deeper love, from con- 
 scious reasons and settled dispositions, out of 
 reach of caprices of feeling. These characters 
 of love, thus distinguished, are plainly not op- 
 posed. Nay, they are closely related, the one 
 disposing to the other. In perfect human love 
 
 1 Au,i?ustin, imperfect in linguistic skill, from the same pas- 
 sage (Irduccs the conclusion that the equivalent words in Latin 
 indiiferably represent the same idea. 
 
 2 " dydirri, vox solum biblica et eccleslastica." — Gkimm, 
 
THE PREAMBLE 37 
 
 they are one. In fact, they are one here. But 
 enough has been said; for love does not yield 
 itself to analysis and definition. In such attempts 
 its life seems to evaporate and the sense of it to 
 pass from us. 
 
 In regard to tliis love of Christ, the one distinc- 
 tion to be recognised here is that between his love 
 to the world, and to his own which are in the 
 world. The love of Christ to the world is love to 
 men as such ; He being the head of the creation, 
 which through Him came into being, and of the 
 race of whose reason and conscience. He, as the 
 Eternal Word, is the author, and with which, 
 in taking flesh. He has assumed a natural and uni- 
 versal kindred. It is a love of compassion and 
 benevolence and divine desire, in which He gives 
 Himself for all, and dies for all, and provides recon- 
 ciliation, and preaches peace, and seeks the lost, 
 and waits to be gracious, and would " draw all men 
 to Himself." But the love for his own which are 
 in the world is no longer mere desire and en- 
 deavour. It is being realised in results intended. 
 It has found response, and is generating a recipro- 
 cal life, and has the joy of exercising an attraction 
 which is felt and owned, and of carrying on a work 
 which imparts blessing and tends to perfection, 
 restoring men to God through relations with Him 
 Avho has loved them, relations which are spiritual, 
 intimate, and eternal. Such love enters into the 
 
38 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 inner life of the beloved, and linds occasion for its 
 exercise in their needs and dangers, their infirm- 
 ities and failings. It delights to comfort and pro- 
 tect, to cleanse, to heal, to strengthen, to exalt. 
 It is an inexhaustible fountain of gifts ; it is the 
 "love of Christ which passeth knoAvledge." Yet, 
 being true love, it is not content to give. It desires 
 also to receive. It would be understood and trusted 
 and confided in. It invites sympathy and fellow- 
 ship. It claims reciprocity of affection. It would 
 not only love, but be loved. Even in these last 
 respects this is the character of the love which 
 these chapters disclose. For our sake they dis- 
 close it, teaching us how He once loved, and l^y 
 consequence how He ever loves, how He now loves, 
 his own which are in the world. 
 
 Reflection on the nature of the love here ex- 
 pressed, puts us on observing the form and man- 
 ner of its expression, giving a certain aspect to the 
 scenes which follow. Love is far-reaching and con- 
 veys its blessings down into the centre and heart 
 of life ; but it has also SAveet influences on its out- 
 ward aspect, and gentle lights which play upon its 
 surface. Where these are wanting, the kindest 
 intentions and most generous sacrifices often lose 
 something of their effect; at least, they leave 
 something to desire. No such want is here. In 
 this, the longest record of more intimate liours, we 
 see with greater distinctness the character of the 
 
THE PREAMBLE 
 
 intercourse which love had created, in the terms on 
 which the Lord lived with the disciples, and the 
 disciples with the Lord. In a measure this is 
 understood from the notices of private converse 
 scattered through all the Gospels. On exceptional 
 occasions there is an overmastering sense of awe. 
 " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 
 " What manner of man is this that even the winds 
 and the sea obey Him ? " " They feared to ask 
 Him of that saying." " They followed Him trem- 
 bling." But, notwithstanding this, the general habit 
 is easy and unconstrained. They are not only his 
 school, but his family ; He lives wdth them, and 
 his presence gives grace and sweetness to the com- 
 mon life. Even to the public, the great Teacher 
 was not austere. In contrast to the Baptist, " the 
 Son of Man came eating and drinking," and en- 
 tered where He was invited, and sat down to meat. 
 And the nearer men were to Him, the more the 
 kindliness, as well as the holiness, was felt. Take 
 for example the little incident in Matt. xvii. 24-27. 
 Peter comes in with a doubtful question on his 
 mind. "But Jesus prevented him. What thinkest 
 thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth 
 take custom or tribute ? from their sons or from 
 strangers ? When he said from strangers, Jesus 
 said to him. Then the sons are free. But lest 
 we should offend them go thou to the sea, and 
 cast an hook, and take up the lish that first 
 
40 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 Cometh up ; and when tlioii hast opened liis mouth 
 thou shalt find a shekel ; that take and give unto 
 them /or me and thee.'''' Other incidents might be 
 cited in which this sweetness of association ap- 
 pears, adding the terms and tokens of human affec- 
 tion to the deeper love of the Eternal Friend, 
 interweaving, so to speak, the (juXelv with the 
 d'yatrav. 
 
 In these chapters this characteristic impresses 
 us strongly — most distinctly in the words of love 
 that are spoken ; but there is an indefinable pres- 
 ence of it in all that transpires. We observe it 
 in the sop handed to Judas, as later more pain- 
 fully in the traitorous kiss, traces of terms which 
 had subsisted before. We observe it in all reclin- 
 ing together, in John leaning back on the Master's 
 breast and looking up to ask for the word of secret 
 confidence. We observe it in the straightforward 
 questions and eager utterances of Peter, and in 
 the expostulatory interruptions of Thomas, of 
 Philip, and of Jude. In all that passes there is 
 an absence of constraint, a natural and trustful 
 freedom, which gives a lively sense of the relations 
 in which they were used to live. Among our- 
 selves we are all sensitive to the different effect 
 in this respect which the presence of one person, 
 or another will create. It is not exactly the dif- 
 ference in degrees of reverence or of love. These 
 feelings may exist alike in either case. But in 
 
THE PREAMBLE 41 
 
 one presence there is a feeling of constraint: Ave 
 are careful what we say, and doubtful how it may 
 be taken. In another we feel at ease ; behave 
 naturally, and say what comes into our minds. 
 It is remarkable indeed that these latter terms 
 should have so far subsisted in association with 
 One who looked men through and through, and 
 whose words and acts made ever-fresh and ever- 
 increasing impressions of mj'sterious majesty and 
 power. In the coexistence of these profound 
 impressions with what I venture to call a happy 
 companionship we are sensible of a singular, or 
 rather a unique, effect. Evidently there was an 
 attractive power in the presence of Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, which inspired those nearest to Him with as 
 much of trustfulness as of reverence. And now 
 when some gi-eat crisis is felt to be at hand, when 
 the dark cloud of sorrow is descending on the 
 little company, it is all the more touching to note 
 the continuance of these mutual relations, so sweet 
 and confiding, notwithstanding the clear conscious- 
 ness, on the one side, of all that is coming, and the 
 bewildered ignorance of it on the other. Down to 
 the very close of his life in the flesh, on the verge 
 of the departure to the Father, "having loved his 
 own which were in the world, He loved them to 
 the end." 
 
42 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 AT SUPPER 
 
 "And during supper ... he risetli from the supper." — v. 2-4. 
 
 As the first verse is an introduction to the 
 whole record, so are the next three verses an in- 
 troduction to this chapter. It just mentions the 
 occasion of the incidents to be rehited, and then 
 states more fully tlie consciousness under which 
 the Lord acted with reference to them both. 
 
 The occasion is a supper. " Supper being 
 ended " is the Authorised ; "• During supper," the 
 Revised translation. There are two readings, 
 giving different tenses to the verbs. Beiirvou, 
 ryevojjLevov, when supper took place, or was come ; 
 heiiTvov lyLvo/xevou., when supper was taking place, 
 or in course of it. Neither of them Avould mean 
 that it was ended; and either of them Avould 
 naturally suggest the early part of the meal rather 
 than the close of it. 
 
 But what supper is this? When? and where ? 
 There is no information. That is after the man-' 
 ner of St. John. No writer can show a more 
 vivid recollection of details. " Some memories," 
 says Professor Sanday, writing on the feeding of 
 
AT SUPPER 43 
 
 the five thousand, " are essentially pictorial ; and 
 this Apostle's appears to have been one of these. 
 It is wonderful with what precision every stroke 
 is thrown in " (p. 123). Yet no writer introduces 
 his incidents more suddenly, or tells so little of 
 the connexions and surroundings of his scenes. 
 They appear as islands of memory, emerging into 
 clear light from circumambient mists. What was 
 the cause of this fragmentary use of a power 
 which existed in so remarkable a degree, and 
 which is illustrated in this very chapter? There 
 was a twofold cause, — a definite purpose in writ- 
 ing, and a sense of previous information in his 
 readers. 
 
 The definite purpose is on the face of the book. 
 It is written not as a " Life of Christ," nor even 
 as an account of his manifestation, but only of a 
 certain line of it ; namely, that which exhibits the 
 fullest expression of his own revelation of Him- 
 self. This plan of limitation to a purpose and of 
 selection from far larger resources for a practical 
 end is avowed at the close of the book. " Many 
 other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disci- 
 l)les, which are not written in this book : but these 
 are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye may 
 have life in his name" (xx. 30, 31). 
 
 Also, according to trustworthy tradition the 
 linal composition was late in life, therefore in the 
 
44 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 midst of an established Christianity. In the facts 
 of the evangelical history, as Ave learn from St. 
 Luke, converts like Theophilus "were " orally 
 instructed." Moreover, " many had taken in hand 
 to write " them, and there is ample reason to 
 believe that not only was the information which 
 is perpetuated in the synoptic gospels previously 
 diffused in the churches, but that those writings 
 themselves were already in men's hands. In such 
 circumstances St. John could well confine him- 
 self to his own special contribution. He wrote, 
 we are told, by one authorit}^ " impelled by his 
 friends and divinely moved by the Spirit " ; by 
 another, "his fellow-disciples and bishops, ur- 
 gently exhorting him "; by another, "constrained 
 by his brothers to write." ^ The peculiar brevity of 
 his two letters, and certain woixls in them, incline 
 me to think that work with " paper and ink," with 
 "ink and pen," was not congenial to liis halut; but, 
 also, no doubt he felt all the gravity of an act 
 which would present to all the world, and fix in final 
 shape for ever the highest testimony which he had 
 been used to bear. To that he could confine him- 
 self, as writing for those who had other sources of 
 information. 
 
 Thus he pursues the line of teaching which 
 he intends, with the slightest possible notice, or 
 without any notice, of connected facts or of cir- 
 
 1 See Bishop Westcott's " Introduction," p. 35. 
 
AT SUPPER 45 
 
 cu instances implied. Thus in the Gospel, on the 
 whole, he can give the chief features of the Judean 
 ministry, as occurring at intervals in a Galilean life 
 which he intimates, but does not relate. So in 
 the last week in Jerusalem the days crowded with 
 incident are nearly all passed by, in order to reach 
 at once that particular report which it belongs to 
 him to give. This also he begins at once, with no 
 explanation as to place or time or occasion save 
 that it was at supper. " The Discourse in the 
 Upper Room " it is called, but St. John does not 
 say so. How that room was chosen by the Lord, 
 how it was found by the disciples furnished and 
 prepared, how " they made ready the Passover," 
 how, " when the hour was come He sat down with 
 his disciples," how at that supper He instituted 
 the sacrament, — these things are not told. They 
 need not be told; for certainly that supper was a 
 living memory in all the churches, repeated in 
 their feasts of love, and perpetuated in the final 
 Eucharist and Communion of the Body and Blood. 
 What St. John has to record is the teaching given 
 on that night, and he writes for those Avho know 
 when and where it was given. For them the 
 mere mention of supper is enough. "During a 
 supper," Bishop Westcott would translate, but that 
 suggests any supper, or some supper unknown. 
 " During supper " of the Revised Version is bet- 
 ter, as being a natural expression where the situ- 
 ation is understood. 
 
46 THE IXCIDENTS 
 
 St. John's narrative alone is the subject for the 
 present study, yet his mention of the supper raises 
 collateral questions which, as they cannot be for- 
 gotten, ought to receive notice. We naturally 
 ask: 1. TFAere was this supper? 2. When was it 
 held? 3. What was its character? On the first 
 of these questions we have circumstantial informa- 
 tion. The second raises a question of great 
 difficulty. On the third we have a measure of 
 certainty. But in consequence of St. John's 
 method of limitation to his own topics, the answers 
 to these questions, whatever they might be, or the 
 absence of answers to them, would scarcely in 
 any degree affect the interpretation of the words 
 which we have to consider. 
 
 1. The place of the supper was, as we learn 
 from the synoptics, a matter both of special selec- 
 tion and of cautious intimation. Nothing is said 
 till the last moment, when there is just time to 
 act, and the disciples enquire what they are to do. 
 No place is named ; but the two confidential per- 
 sons, Peter and John, are sent (so to speak) with 
 sealed instructions. They will, at the entrance of 
 tlie city, meet a man bearing a pitcher of water, 
 and are to follow him into the house which he 
 enters. They are to give a message to the owner: 
 The Master saith, My time is at hand. Where is 
 the guest chamber where I sliall eat the Pass- 
 over with my disciples ? Tliat message would be 
 
AT SUPrER 47 
 
 enough. It would prove to be the house of a 
 friend. He would welcome the party denounced 
 by the authorities, whom most other houses would 
 have feared to receive. He would shew them a 
 large upper room furnished and ready. In the 
 crowded state of the city it was not to be expected 
 that such an apartment should remain to the last 
 unoccupied and unengaged. We recognise in it 
 all both a divine knowledge and also a secret 
 providence. But why this caution ? It is part of 
 the prudence which the critical circumstances re- 
 quired. Bystanders shall know nothing, Judas 
 shall know nothing of the place till the moment it 
 is entered. There shall be no intelligence which 
 can precipitate the events of the night. The 
 chosen place shall be secure, so long as it is needed 
 for the solemn institution, the holy teachings, tlie 
 last converse, of which it is to be the scene. These 
 shall not be interrupted. There shall be no inva- 
 sion or seizure here. Thus the large upper room 
 became the first Christian Church, to which all 
 churches in Christendom are extensions or succes- 
 sions, the place of the passage from the old cove- 
 nant to the new ; of the first celebration of the 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, of the highest 
 teaching from the Lord's own lips, and probably 
 of the prayer which opens the intercessions above. 
 2. From the place of the supper we turn to the 
 time. As to the da}' of the week, there is un- 
 
48 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 doubted certainty ; as to the day of the month, an 
 enduring debate. 
 
 The Lord's "Last Supper " was, according to all 
 the Gospels, on " the same night on which He was 
 betrayed," and that is shown by the sequence of 
 events to have been Thursday. The supper with 
 all its incidents, the agony in the garden, the arrest, 
 trials, condemnation, crucifixion, and hurried burial 
 were all comprised in one day of twenty-four hours, 
 reckoned, according to Jewish method, from sun- 
 set on Thursday to sunset on Friday, " when the 
 Sabbath drew on." After that silent Sabbath, 
 very early in the morning, the Lord rose from the 
 dead ; and, in order to secure the celebration of 
 the Resurrection on the first day of the week, the 
 instinct of the Church has (universall}^ since the 
 termination of the quarto-deciman controversy) 
 adhered to the weekly, without regard to the 
 monthly date. 
 
 Whether in that year the Thursday fell on 
 the loth Nisan, as we should gather from St. 
 John, or on the 14th, as it appears in the syn- 
 optic gospels, has been debated of old, and is 
 debated still. " These seeming differences," says 
 Waterland,^ " have occasioned very long and intri- 
 cate disputes between Greeks and Latins, and 
 among learned men, both ancient and modern, 
 which remain even to this day." Li our time 
 
 1 " Doctrine of the Eucharist," ch. ii. 
 
AT SUPPER 49 
 
 they have been renewed with fuller investigation 
 and greater critical skill. After reading a multi- 
 tude of these discussions, I am the more disposed 
 to adopt the words in which this author continues : 
 " I shall not presume to take the place of a mod- 
 erator in so nice a debate, but shall be content to 
 report as much as may serve to give the reader 
 some notion of it for my present purpose." His 
 statement of the three schemes or opinions on the 
 matter is still sufficient. "1. The most ancient 
 and most prevailing is that our Lord kept the 
 legal Passover on the same day with the Jews " 
 
 (that is scarcely the most prevailing now). " The 
 
 second opinion is tliat He anticipated, for weighty 
 reasons, the time of the Jewish Passover; and so 
 kept his before theirs. 3. The third opinion is 
 that He kept no Passover, properly so called, but 
 had a supper, and afterwards instituted the Eucha- 
 rist, the mystical or Christian Passover." 
 
 The first opinion supposes Thursday to be the 
 14th Nisan, and for it the synoptic gospels, on 
 the face of them, seem decisive. The second 
 and third opinions suppose Thursday to be the 
 13th, making the 14th to be the day of the 
 crucifixion; and that is the inference naturally 
 drawn from the language of St. John. It is not 
 within the present purpose to argue the case, 
 and so add another to the discussions in which 
 everything possible seems to have been said ; espe- 
 
50 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 cially as tlie view which I take has been reached 
 with hesitation, and is not tliat of the commenta- 
 tors, whom in general I should he most inclined 
 to follow. Confining myself to the Gospels, it 
 seems to me that the synoptic witness for the 14th 
 Nisan is explicit, and cannot without the greatest 
 force be made compatible with the other opinion ; 
 and that St. John's apparent witness for the 13th 
 is an inference, and can be far more easily ex- 
 plained in conformity with the other supposition. 
 
 " The Feast of the Passover," as commonly 
 spoken of, consisted of two parts, which in the 
 law of institution are discriminated ; e.g. in Num. 
 xxviii. 16, 17, " In the fourteenth day of the first 
 month is the Passover of the Lord ; and in the 
 fifteenth day is the Feast : seven days shall un- 
 leavened bread be eaten," the first and last of these 
 seven being days of " holy convocation." But by 
 custom, though not by law, the 14th Nisan was 
 reckoned as " the first day of unleavened bread," 
 all leaven being put away at an early hour, accord- 
 ing to the Jewish system of creating margins so 
 as to make " a fence around the Law." 
 
 On this " the first day of unleavened bread " 
 (saj^s St. Matthew), "the first day of unleavened 
 bread when they sacrificed the Passover " (says St. 
 Mark), " the day of unleavened bread when the 
 Passover must be sacrificed " (says St. Luke), "the 
 disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where wilt thou 
 
AT SUPPER 51 
 
 that we make ready for Thee to eat the Passover?" 
 They were sent with the message : " Where is the 
 guest-chamber where I eat the Passover with my 
 disciples?" (Luke). " They made ready the Pass- 
 over" (Matt.). "When the hour was come" (evi- 
 dently the regular hour), " they sit down, and Jesus 
 says : With desire I have desired to eat this Pass- 
 over with you before I suffer" (Luke). All this 
 seems as plain as anything can be for the paschal 
 meal, hekl at the appointed hour on the appointed 
 day, the evening of the 14th Nisan. 
 
 Li St. John the expressions which look the other 
 way are, first, the opening words of this section: 
 '' Before the Feast of the Passover when Jesus 
 knew," etc. -, secondly, the supposition when Judas 
 left the room that he might be sent "to buy some- 
 thing for the feast " ; and thirdly, the care of the 
 priests not to enter the prcetorium, "that they 
 should not be defiled, but that they might eat the 
 Passover." These expressions naturally imply that 
 the Passover would be kept on the evening of Fri- 
 day ; but they are incidental expressions, not like 
 the positive statements of the synoptics, and do not 
 necessitate the inference which they suggest. " Be- 
 fore the Feast of the Passover " regards not merely 
 the paschal supper, but the whole feast which it 
 inaugurated, as being the predestined time for de- 
 parting out of this world unto the Father. The 
 purchase of things for the feast would refer, quite 
 
52 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 naturally, to things wanted for the Chagigah, the 
 great festival day which followed the paschal sup- 
 per. In regard to the avoiding defilement on the 
 Friday morning in order to "eat the Passover," 
 the expression may probably have been in use for 
 participation in the sacrifices and sanctified food of 
 that day. In fact, the defilement in the early morn- 
 ing would only have lasted to the evening, and so 
 would not have disqualified for eating the paschal 
 supper.i These explanations of the words in St. 
 John are at least far more admissible than those 
 which have been offered on the other side in regard 
 to the language of the synoptics. 
 
 We have further to take into account that 
 throughout the Gospel St. John writes freel}^ as 
 for persons well informed of facts which he omits. 
 If any occasion was well known in the Church, 
 certainly this was, through the universal celebra- 
 tion of the Supper; and as the Institution of the 
 Sacrament is given only by the synoptics, their 
 statement of that institution and their account of 
 the circumstances of the supper, must stand or fall 
 together. As to their account itself, the remark- 
 ably lively details are evidence of an authentic 
 report, and forbid all thoughts of a later and 
 erroneous tradition. I must say, with Luthardt, 
 " It cannot be made conceivable how the error 
 could have come into the synoptic account. Let 
 1 Edersheim, vol. ii. p. 2GG. Luthardt, vol. iii. p. 251. 
 
AT SUPPER 53 
 
 the lirst three Gospels be written by whom they 
 may, they are not to be looked upon as literary 
 products of individual writers, but as fixing the 
 primal Church, Christian tradition, as it was com- 
 monly familiar in the home of tliat tradition, and 
 went back to the reports made by the Apostles 
 themselves " (vol. iii. p. 245). From this point of 
 view I read the Fourth Gospel as written for those 
 who held this common tradition, and to whom its 
 incidental expressions would suggest no other idea. 
 Anyhow, the language has no character of emphatic 
 statement and correction of a mistake. The writer 
 seems unconscious of any difference of opinion on 
 the subject, and if he really does mean that the 
 evening was the 13th Nisan, he supposes that to 
 be generally known and accepted, and we are then 
 brouglit to the liarder task of explaining the sy- 
 noptic account by such methods as we may.^ 
 
 1 This is attempted on various lines ; e.g. an anticipatory 
 Passover on tlie previous day, "Before I suffer" (Godet) ; a 
 true Passover on tlie riglit day, tlie Jews keeping tlieirs on a 
 wrong one (Stier), etc. The conclusion for the 13th Nisan 
 is maintained by most recent English commentators. See Man- 
 sel on Matt. xxvi. (Speaker) ; Farmr on Luke xxii. (Cambridge 
 Bible) ; Sunday,'' Historical Cliaracter of Fourth Gospel," p. 210 ; 
 Westrntt, " Introduction to Study of Gospel," p. 339. I do not 
 argue the case, and have taken note of nothing beyond the lan- 
 guage of the Gospels ; but there are many other elements in the 
 intricate discussion. I will only note one point which, in the 
 arguments that I have seen, does not appear to receive due 
 attention. It is assumrd that the coincidence of the moment of 
 the death of Christ with that appouited for the offering of the 
 
54 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 The third question which was proposed, that on 
 the character of tlie supper, is, of course, fully 
 answered, if it be taken as held on the 14th 
 Nisan. It was then in all respects the regular 
 paschal meal. But if it be taken as held on the 
 13th, this character is not, on that account, obliter- 
 ated, since the advocates of this opinion generally 
 represent it as a partial or anticipatory Passover. 
 Certainly the " Last Supper " was not an ordinary 
 meal, but in some sense or other a Passover, hav- 
 ing its large suggestions, its significant stages and 
 ritual customs, and the present narrative is so far 
 in harmony with such an occasion, as it gives the 
 impression of a meal protracted by customary acts 
 (marked in one place by the giving of the sop) 
 and allowing space for holy converse. The open- 
 paschal lamb is essential to the analogy. But the historical 
 event was composite, consisting of safety in destruction and the 
 exodus which followed. The "Feast of the Passover" cele- 
 brated the event as a whole, including the preliminary sacrifice 
 and meal on the 14th Nisan, and tlie exodus whicli commenced 
 on the 15th. The "Memorial Day" (Ex. xii. 14) began with 
 the first night and extended to the second, "the night to be 
 much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the 
 land of E(jiipt. This is that night of the Lord, to be observed 
 of aU the children of Israel in their generations" (v. 42). — In 
 the antitype, also, this memorial day included the entire event, 
 from the evening when the Lord yielded himself to die, to' the 
 evening when He entered upon "his exodus" in death (Luke 
 ix. ol). In the supreme moment the whole composite event 
 was comprised. Tliu sacrifice was consuuunated, and the ex- 
 odus commenced. 
 
AT SUPPER 65 
 
 ing words, "before the Feast of the Passover," 
 certainly connect all that passes with that thought, 
 and make it a paschal supper for the Lord ; and 
 all is in harmony with such a closing of the past and 
 opening up of the future, as is represented in the 
 synoptic gospels, when they shew the last celebra- 
 tion of the Passover passing into the institution of 
 the Eucharist. There in the form of sacrament 
 the old is seen passing into the new ; here in the 
 form of discourse a corresponding transition is ex- 
 pected. The words of farewell to the past become 
 expository of an immediate and expanding future. 
 They are voices of departure, but departure into a 
 new spiritual scene. The supper in St. John is 
 held on the eve of a great exodus. 
 
 Some notice of the questions on the place, the 
 time, and the character of the supper seemed im- 
 [)erative, but, in respect of the narrative which 
 we follow, it is parenthetic. That has only 
 the words " during supper " or " supper being 
 come,"' and goes straight to incidents and dis- 
 courses which will not be aftected in their inter- 
 pretation by the solution which those questions 
 may receive. 
 
 And first, to give a due sense of the situation, 
 one particular must be mentioned ; for it was one 
 which not only cast a dark shadow on the com- 
 mencement of the supper, but linked it at its end 
 to the scenes which followed. 
 
56 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 Jesus then was alone Avith the twelve. That is 
 not stated here, but is understood throughout. 
 They were at supper, reclining, as the manner was, 
 at a low table, leaning each on his left side against 
 a cushion, half turned from the companion on his 
 right, the unsandaled feet stretched out behind. 
 The friendly house was a haven for the present. 
 These hours were an interval of rest. They were 
 all brethren, with their Lord and Master in the 
 midst. 
 
 But in family union and at a common meal there 
 may be one with an unsuspected secret which 
 isolates him inwardly from all his fellows. Such 
 an one was here. He sat, revolving a great crime 
 to Avhich he had pledged himself the day before, 
 and which is to be accomplished that night. 
 '' The Devil," it is said, " having already cast into 
 the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray 
 him." It seems spoken of as a sudden impulse ; 
 but such impulses from the power of evil fall only 
 on hearts prepared for them. A later notice of 
 his conduct as manager for the company tells some- 
 thing of falseness and meanness in the past ; and 
 of late his heart has turned against his Lord. The 
 repulsion which his whole nature would feel from 
 that searching insight of holiness is explanation 
 enough. But two days before the Passover, the 
 dark history had come to a crisis. When Jesus 
 had finished all his words to the people (Matt. 
 
AT SUrPEU 57 
 
 xxvi. 1), and when He depaited and did hide Him- 
 self from them (John xii.), the end of the conflict 
 was close and clear. It was announced in the 
 circle of the Apostles. " Ye know that after two 
 days the Passover takes place, and the Son of Man 
 is delivered up to be crucified." If others could 
 not accept it, he did. It sounded to him as a 
 voice of despair. The enemies would triumph ; 
 Jesus would succumb: there was an end of all 
 thought of a victory and a kingdom ; all that is lost : 
 but something of another sort may be got — per- 
 haps thirty pieces of silver ! At the same time the 
 council of death is being held. Through some 
 kindred channel of information he knows it ; and 
 learns the difficulty which he is just the man to 
 meet. He who knows so well the private hours 
 and quiet places of resort, can manage an arrest 
 Avhen there will be no protection from multitude 
 or public excitement. The offer is made, and the 
 bargain struck. He retuius to his place in the 
 company with the secret in his heart ; and more 
 than the secret. He has sold himself to the power 
 of darkness, whose hour is come. He sits at supper, 
 a hired agent of the Devil. The dark shadow of 
 this alien element must pass from the room, before 
 it becomes the scene of the farewell words, loving, 
 holy, and serene. That removal is prepared, but 
 it will be approached by degrees; and another 
 incident precedes it. 
 
58 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 Both incidents are purifications preparatory to 
 the communications which follow. The first is 
 a symbolic cleansing of the whole society ; the 
 second is the elimination of the evil thing that " 
 lurks within it. 
 
THE WASHING OF THE FEET 59 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE WASHING OF THE FEET 
 
 "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his 
 hands, and that he came forth from God, and goeth unto 
 God, riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments ; and 
 he took a towel and girded himself. Then he poureth water 
 ' into the bason and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to 
 wipe them with the towel wherewith lie was girded." — 3-5. 
 
 Again we read of the consciousness of Jesus. 
 By thoughtful observation, by sympathetic appre- 
 hension, and by special illumination, the disciple 
 nearest to his heart knows and interprets his 
 mind. He acted, we are told, under a present 
 sense of the truth of his nature and the majesty 
 of his power, which the conditions of the flesh 
 did not suspend or obscure. In the view of the 
 disciples at that time it was their Lord and Master 
 who took the place of their servant. They knew 
 afterwards, — they were learning even then, — that 
 it was " the Lord of all," " come forth from God and 
 going to God." But why was He here ? " Not to 
 be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 
 his life a ransom for many." The second word 
 will be fulfilled on the morrow; the first is ex- 
 
60 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 pressed afresh on the last evening by an act never 
 to be forgotten. 
 
 The scene is depicted with the vivid memory of 
 the writer, in all its movements and details, from 
 the moment when Jesus riseth from the supper 
 to that in which He has taken his garments and is 
 set down again. In the present tenses all passes 
 before the eye, and we seem to share the surprise 
 of the moment. He rises from the supper, He is 
 laying aside his upper garments. Now He has 
 taken a towel and girded Himself, as a servant for 
 household work. Now He casts water into the 
 bason. In the room " furnished and prepared " 
 all is ready. The vittti'/p^ the vessel for the usual 
 hand or foot washing, the towels for wiping are at 
 hand, as likely to be used, but they have not been 
 used. Had there been some neglect ? The act was 
 proper to any special meal. For a host to neglect 
 it was deemed a want of attention, worthy of re- 
 proof. "Thou gavest Me no water for my feet" 
 (Luke vii. 44). But there was no servant here to 
 do it ; and it did not occur to the disciples to wash 
 one another's feet. Indeed, they lay down in a 
 very different frame of mind. " There arose," St. 
 Luke tells us, "a contention among them, which 
 of them is accounted to be greater" (xxii. 24). 
 This could not have been after the touching scene 
 of instruction, and it belongs naturally to the 
 claims of precedence in taking the places at the 
 
Ill THE WASHING OF THE FEET 61 
 
 table. Dr. Edersheim tliinks that the first place 
 was claimed and taken by Judas, as the managing 
 member of the company. He seems from later 
 words to have been next to his Master, on one side. 
 A little time may have been given for this dispute, 
 and then it was answered in the way we read here. 
 
 " So he Cometh to Simon Peter. He saith to him, Lord 
 dost thou wash my feet ? Jesus answered and said unto 
 him, What I do thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt un- 
 derstand hereafter. Peter saith unto him. Thou shalt never 
 wash my feet. Jesus answered him. If I wash thee not, thou 
 hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord 
 not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus 
 saith unto him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash 
 his feet, but is clean every whit : and ye are clean, but not 
 all. For he knew who should betray him: therefore said 
 he. Ye are not all clean " (G-11). 
 
 Peter was not the first taken. Certainly he 
 was the one to speak. Can anything be more true 
 to nature than this dialogue? Here is the same 
 Peter whom we know from the other evangelists, 
 warm-hearted, impulsive, uttering all his thoughts, 
 and when corrected liable to a sudden rebound. 
 
 His behaviour here is a study of character, and, as 
 such, is instruction and admonition. " Lord, dost 
 thou wash my feet? " (cru ixov virrTei':; rov^ iroha^ : ) 
 Reverence is shocked, humility shrinks back. 
 But is it reverence to question the Lord's proceed- 
 ings ? Is it liumility to reject his methods ? to re- 
 ject them absolutely, even when corrected? " Thou 
 
62 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 shalt never wash my feet," never (et? top aloiva). — 
 And yet again, when overcome by a word that 
 alarms his soul, it is less submission than presump- 
 tion which would improve on the Lord's methods 
 and dictate what shall be done. Easily may good 
 feelings pass into faulty conditions of mind, and 
 sincere intentions into serious dangers. So it often 
 happens from the unsuspected absence of the true 
 humility, and from looking at things from our own 
 point of view, instead of taking that at which the 
 Lord would set us. 
 
 If we are admonished by the mistakes of the 
 disciple, much more are we instructed by the 
 answers which correct them. They have the fre- 
 quent character of the sayings of Jesus, — that of 
 meeting the occasion and at the same time going 
 far beyond it. 
 
 " What I do thou knowest not now ; but thou 
 shalt understand hereafter." These are precise 
 expressions to be noted. As in the words of 
 Peter, so in those of Christ, the pronouns are 
 made prominent, marking the contrast betAveen the 
 "I " and " Thou " (o iryoi ttoico, av ovk olSa?). Also 
 the difference between two kinds of knowing (one 
 that of intuitive perception, the otlier that of 
 acquired understanding) is noted in this passage, 
 as it is in others, by use of the two verbs el'Sco and 
 <yiV('ii(TK(o. Any one may, if he likes, limit these 
 words to the occasion, the "now" {apn} to Peter's 
 
Ill THE WASHING OF THE FEET 63 
 
 ignorance at the moment; the "liereafter" (^fxera 
 ravra) to the subsequent explanation ; which is 
 certainly their first intention. But, in the mind 
 of Christ, how true it was of all that He was doing 
 then ! incomprehensible as it was at the time, and 
 only to be understood when the day of illumina- 
 tion should come. Then those who beheld the sub- 
 mission to death would understand that it was the 
 redemption of the world. That was the greatest 
 of all instances ; but the principle is ever to be 
 borne in mind. Christ is manifest in remembrance ; 
 the dealings of God are explained by their issues ; 
 and the course of the Kingdom interpreted in the 
 end. It is a sound argument to silence objections, 
 to arrest hasty conclusions, and to maintain the faith 
 and patience of the saints. " What I do thou know- 
 est not now, but thou shalt understand hereafter." 
 
 The two other words are on one subject, — the 
 washing itself. It has been a question whether 
 any meaning is to be ascribed to this act beyond 
 that which will shortly be given to it as a lesson 
 on the service of love. In that case, the service is 
 the only point ; the form of it, as a washing, has 
 no special significance, and the washing, as applied 
 to the disciples, would mean only their submission 
 to be thus ministered to, and their own participa- 
 tion in the spirit of the ministration.^ But to the 
 
 1 Godet, ii. 435: " Faut il voir, avec Hengstenberg, dans le 
 lavement des pieds un symbole du pardon du peclie par le sang 
 
64 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 act of washing, as such, a distinct significance is 
 given by the stern warning and tlie pregnant say- 
 ing wliich follow ; and if that significance be not 
 fully admitted, it seems to me that the act loses 
 much of its symbolic fitness, and very much of its 
 sweet intention. 
 
 Both the act and the words used concerning it 
 suggest other passages in which water, washing, 
 purification, cleansing, cleanness, are representa- 
 tive of spiritual acts and experiences. These pre- 
 sent a certain aspect of our necessities and of the 
 provision made for them in Christ, which is dis- 
 tinguishable (though not separable) from moral 
 
 de Christ ? Rien dans la circonstance qui avait donne lieu a cet 
 acte, non plus que dans I'explication qu'en donne Jesus (v. 12 
 et suiv.) ne conduit a y donner ce sens. . . . N'est il pas tout 
 simple de penser que Jesus envisage le refus de Pierre d'accepter 
 le service qu'il veut lui rendre comme un refus de sa part 
 d'entrer en plein dans 1' esprit de son oeuvre et comme un 
 acte de perseverance opiniatre dans I'amour de la grandeur 
 oharnelle, dort J6sus voulait precisement purifier ses disciples 
 en leur donnant en sa personne cet exemple d'luiuiilite." 
 
 So Edersheim, ii. 500. The act was symbolic as meaning 
 that it was "required to wash the feet in spiritual consecration 
 to the service of love. ... So his words referred not, as is 
 often supposed, to the forgiveness of daily sins, the introduction 
 of which would have been wholly abrupt and unconnected with 
 the context ; but, in contrast to all self-seeking, to the daily 
 consecration of our lives to the service of love. ' ' 
 
 On the contrary, it seems to me that the idea of cleansing is 
 closely connected with the situation, as the close of the walk 
 with Christ; and to resolve "I wash thee," and the fuller 
 words which follow, into the self-consecration of humility ap- 
 peal's to be an evasion of their obviously independent meaning. 
 
Ill THE WASHING OF THE FEET 65 
 
 renovation, and also from judicial forgiveness. It 
 is an aspect wliicli has its distinct importance in 
 our spiritual consciousness and in our view of the 
 work of Christ. The ideas of guilt and of un- 
 cleanness are certainly different, and create dif- 
 ferent feelings in the mind, while both attach to 
 sin. Both ideas were exhibited, both feelings were 
 developed, in the typical scheme of tlie Old Testa- 
 ment ; and both ideas were interpreted and both 
 feelings were satisfied in the work of Him avIio 
 "came by water and blood." But the removing 
 of the uncleanness has behind it the atoning for 
 guilt, and therefore the shedding of blood is the 
 ultimate condition of purification, and the blood is 
 said to cleanse. But this truth is here in the back- 
 ground, and is not directly represented in this act 
 or these words. The divers washings of the Old 
 Testament were for the removal of uncleanness, 
 both in the distressing sense of it, and still more in 
 its disqualifying effect in regard to acts of min- 
 istry, worship, or communion. To relieve from 
 these effects of sin is one consequence (or one may 
 say one side) of the forgiveness of sin, and to be- 
 stow this relief is the prerogative of the Son of 
 Man ; and He was expressing it now by tlic act 
 which it pleased Him to perform. He was ex- 
 pressing and conveying it, for his expressions are 
 conveyances ; and the refusal of the symbol would 
 be the rejection of the gift. What then ? " If I 
 
THE INCIDENTS 
 
 wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me." It is 
 a word of absolute severance, which shews how 
 real must be the washing, which is a necessary 
 condition of association and participation. It was 
 an akirming word to Peter. Objections vanished 
 at the sound. He passed to an enthusiasm of sub- 
 mission. "Lord, not my feet only, but also my 
 hands and my head." We thank him for words 
 which drew forth a fuller explanation of the act. 
 " He that is bathed (6 XeXoufievo'i^ needeth not 
 save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit ; and 
 ye are clean, but not all." It was a happy explana- 
 tion for them, and all the more clear in meaning 
 from the exception made. In the sight of their 
 Lord they were washed and clean. That was their 
 normal state. Was there an intended reference, 
 to their baptism? We do not know that they had 
 ever been baptised, save with the baptism of John. 
 But the symbolism of that was understood, as ap- 
 pears from the " question about purifying," which 
 in the beginning of this Gospel is said to have cre- 
 ated agitation (iii. 25). It implied an unfitness 
 and disqualification for entrance into the coming 
 Kingdom, requiring even in children of Abraham 
 a cleansing by definite act of divine grace and by 
 moral renovation attending it. Of that prelimi- 
 nary cleansing these disciples had been true recii^i- 
 ents, and in their adhesion to the Lord it had 
 reached its true completion. That state of grace 
 
THE WASHING OF THE FEET G7 
 
 and change is recognised in this parabolic lan- 
 guage. They were as persons who had bathed, and 
 who, after a walk through the dust, needed only to 
 wash the feet. But they did need that. They had 
 walked with Christ, but not without sin, and the 
 uncleanness which any sin must leave needed the 
 renewal of cleansing. This grace at the close of 
 the companionship was ministered by their Lord in 
 the act of loving affection, by which He would 
 leave them (all but one) "clean every whit." 
 
 The teaching of the act and of the words have 
 become part of the last legacy to the Church. 
 Their pregnant instruction and reassuring comfort 
 are felt by every Christian man in his habitual 
 experience. As a believer, he is clean and walks 
 in the light, but, since he cannot " say that he has 
 no sin," he has ever need for renewal of cleansing 
 as well as quickening grace. Some connnentators 
 appear to shun, or at least to minimise, this teach- 
 ing, as if imported into the text, from their desire 
 to adhere simply to the Lord's subsequent explana- 
 tion of his act. But those appended words do 
 not supersede those which precede, and which con- 
 vey a substantive teaching of their own. The act 
 itself, first as washing, and then as humble service, 
 has a twofold character which needs the twofold 
 exposition which both sets of sayings give. In 
 that respect it is only of a piece with the general 
 action of Jesus. In his works of compassion and 
 
THE INCIDENTS 
 
 goodness we read the clearest moral lessons ; but 
 we read also between tlie lines the intimations of 
 deeper truths. In the present , case the teaching 
 that needs reflection is left to reflection ; and the 
 practical lesson is impressed by the plainest words. 
 
 " So when he had washed their feet, and had taken his 
 garments and sat down again, he said unto them, Know ye 
 what I have done to you ? Ye call me Master and Lord : 
 and ye say well, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the 
 Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one 
 another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye 
 should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you, A servant is not greater than his lord ; neitlier one that 
 is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these 
 things, blessed are ye if ye do them " (12-17). 
 
 Words so plain need no explaining. Teaching 
 so touching and solemn would only lose impression 
 by an attempt to impress it. 
 
 We observe the titles which are used. The 
 " Master " (Teacher, 8LSdaKa\o<;^ and the " Lord " 
 (as a term of honour) are the Rabbi and the Mar 
 in common Jewish use by disciples to their teachers. 
 These disciples have been learning to use this re- 
 spectful address in a higher meaning than belonged 
 to the relation in general. But the full sense of 
 that meaning will come in time. For the present 
 it is sufficient to appeal to the recognised relations 
 of disciples to their master, servants to their lord, 
 and commissioned messengers (aTroo-ToXoi) to him 
 
Ill THE WASHING OF THE FEET 69 
 
 who sends them. Yet is there a higher tone of 
 right in " Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say 
 well, for so I am" Qelf^l 'yap). The relations as- 
 serted will soon shine out in glory, investing the 
 charge and its example with sublime authority. 
 
 The charge insists on the sacred obligation of 
 duty (Ye ought, o^e/Xere), and it bases the duty 
 on the common level of nature and its claims, of 
 life and its necessities, on which all stand side by 
 side with " one another." 
 
 The example given in this particular instance 
 (^uTroSetyfxa), being thus proposed and enforced, 
 becomes a definite instruction on that whole sub- 
 ject which is summed up by St. Peter in the words 
 " leaving us an example that we should follow his 
 steps." So one light in which the Gospel story is 
 to be read shines out upon us here, supplying this 
 effectual motive and this perfect standard to the 
 Christian life. If some parts of the life of Christ 
 may be but doubtfully or partially transferable in 
 the way of example to our own, that is not the 
 case here. This is an incident which cannot be 
 taken by itself. The eloquent act and the plain 
 words constitute a final illustration of the mind of 
 Christ, and interpret the entire example of his 
 humiliation in the service of mankind. They 
 have impressed upon the Church the principles of 
 thought and the spirit of action, which are most 
 distinctively Christian, those of which the Gentile 
 
70 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 never dreamed, and to which the Jew coiikl not 
 reach. Here is the original source of all that 
 Apostles taught of lowliness of mind which con- 
 siders others more than self ; of love by which we " 
 are to serve one another ; of not being high-minded, 
 but condescending to things that are lowly ; of 
 bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfilling the 
 law of Christ ; of submitting ourselves one to an- 
 other in the fear of God ; of putting on as the elect 
 of God a heart of compassion, kindness, humble- 
 ness of mind, meekness, long-suffering ; or (in lan- 
 guage surely suggested by this very scene) of our 
 all ^'■girding ourselves with humility" to serve 
 one another (jwavre^ aWi'}Xoi<i ti]v raireLvoc^poa-vvTjv 
 iyKo/x^doaaa-de, 1 Pet. V. 5). Here, too, is the 
 source of all actual fulfilments of these charges,^ 
 and living exemplifications of this spirit. Here 
 is the fountain head of that stream of self-forget- 
 ting love, self-denying devotion, self-abasing ser- 
 vice, which flows forever, and has carried its line 
 of pure and heavenly light even through the most 
 soiled and darkened annals of the Christian Church. 
 It flows among us at this day, sometimes as seen 
 in a course of professed dedication, far more largely 
 diffusing its blessings along the natural channels 
 of ordinary life. 
 
 Yet this spirit does not prevail without hin- 
 drance : so much there is in natural character and 
 in accustomed habit contrary to this mind of Christ. 
 
THE WASHING OF THE FEET 
 
 He knew these tendencies as not only in the world, 
 but in the Church, and added to the charsfe and 
 the example words of reasonableness and warning. 
 " A servant is not greater than his lord, nor the 
 sent than the sender. If ye know these things, 
 blessed are ye if ye do them." Neither pride 
 which disdains the humbler service, nor fastidi- 
 ousness which shrinks from it, nor indolence which 
 evades it, have any answer to give. The last 
 sentence may seem a truism in statement; in prac- 
 tice none is more needed. So apt we are to rest 
 in approval or admiration of an act or habit, as 
 if it thus became our own. We want these simple 
 words forever in our ears. They condense the 
 ever-recurring admonitions of the word of God, 
 wliich assign blessing, not to the knowing, but to 
 tlie doing. The " happy " of the Authorised Ver- 
 sion is a good word, but the " blessed " of the Re- 
 vised Version is better. It has a tone of divine 
 favour and exaltation ; and divine favour and ex- 
 altation are here. It connects the saying with the 
 Beatitudes, where the same word opens the Gospel 
 teaching, and sheds a rising splendour over the 
 characters which it will create and the destinies 
 which it will secure. 
 
 Some customary imitation or commemorative repetition 
 of the washing of the feet was not unnatural, and in some 
 quarters there was a disposition to regard it as an institution, 
 
72 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 and even use it as an ordinance, in connexion with the sacra- 
 ment of baptism : but this was not admitted by the instinct 
 of the Church, even in times most favourable to such adop- 
 tions. Bingham (B. xii. ch. 10) gives an account of this 
 movement in the fourth century, and quotes Augustin to 
 the effect that many churches would never admit of this 
 custom at all, lest it should seem to belong to the sacrament 
 of baptism, when our Saviour only intended it as a lesson of 
 humility. And other churches for the same reason abrogated 
 the custom where it had been received. He also gives from 
 a book which passed under the name of St. Ambrose, an 
 instance of this debate, as carried on between the Church of 
 Milan, "where the bishop used to wash the feet of the bap- 
 tised, and the Roman Church, which had no such custom, 
 alleging that it should only be done in the way of humility, 
 as the custom of washing the feet of strangers ; while on the 
 contrary, the Church of Milan argued that this was not 
 merely a business of humility, but of mystery and sanctifica- 
 tion, because Christ said to Peter, If I wash thee not, thou, 
 hast no part with me." One luay argue with the Church of 
 iNIilan, as to the character of the act of Christ, as shewn by 
 his own words, but not as to any imitation by the Church as 
 ' invested with a like virtue. As a commemoration of the great 
 example of humility, it was used in various quarters, as by 
 ascetic saints like St. I^ouis, and as adopted by the Moravian 
 Brethren, and as connected with the celebration of Thursday 
 in Holy Week, lingering long as an old custom in the English 
 Church. " In 1530, Wolsey washed, wiped, and kissed the 
 feet of fifty-nine poor men at Peterborough. The practice 
 was continued by English sovereigns till the reign of .James 
 II. ; and as late as 1731, the Lord High Almoner washed 
 the feet of recipients of the royal bounty on Maundy Thurs- 
 day. The present custom of the feet-washing at St. Peter's 
 is well known" (Westcott's Note). Beugel's remark on 
 
THE WASHING OF THE FEET 73 
 
 that custom is also well known, very applicable during a long 
 period of history, « that the Pope would shew a more serious 
 humility by washing the feet of one king, than those of 
 twelve poor men." Such customs belonged to a habit of 
 literalism and externalism, not helpful in the long run to a 
 true interpretation or application of the words " Ye ought 
 to wash one another's feet. I have given you an example 
 that ye should do as I have done to you." 
 
74 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE DETACHMENT OF JUDAS 
 
 This evening the Apostles are to receive higher 
 communications than before, initiating them into 
 the deeper mysteries of that life that is to follow, 
 and into new spiritual relations with their Lord. 
 Special preparation for this in one Avay was meet, 
 and in another way needful. Purifications for 
 nearer communion with God were, under the old 
 discipline, of two kinds. The}^ consisted in wash- 
 ings and lustrations for superficial or occasional' 
 uncleanness, and in the elimination of that which 
 was in itself corrupt. Such was the removal of 
 objects connected with idolatry (e.g. Gen. xxxv. 2), 
 or, in a typical sense, that of leaven in the Paschal 
 time. The first of these purifications the Apostles 
 have received by symbol and by teaching ; but the 
 second is yet to come. They are pronounced to 
 be " clean, but not all." There is among them one 
 case of essentially evil condition, which the wash- 
 ing of Jesus could not cleanse, and the teaching of 
 Jesus could not touch. It has reached a stage of 
 corruption which appears no longer susceptible 
 
IV THE DETACHMENT OF JUDAS 75 
 
 of change. It must be taken away. One of the 
 Twelve must go. Till the brotherhood is relieved 
 of this foreign element and false fellowship the 
 spirit of the Lord is restrained, and the communi- 
 cations of love are stayed. 
 
 We have now to observe the process of removal, 
 accomplished without exposure or compulsion, in a 
 manner gentle to the end, though significantly and 
 severely sad. 
 
 The note of warning just given is now repeated : — 
 
 " I speak not of you all : I know whom I have chosen : 
 but that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth my 
 bread lifted up his heel against me. From henceforth I 
 tell you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to 
 pass, ye may believe that I am. Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me : and 
 he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me" (18-20). 
 
 The language is abrupt and elliptical. Critics 
 remark on a want of connexion. Commentators 
 supply connexions of thought, sometimes rather 
 forced. One cannot doubt that through these scenes 
 more was said than is recorded, and that the mem- 
 ory of the evangelist fastens on the salient points. 
 But we also know that this character of expression 
 is itself natural when the mind is occupied with 
 two opposed ideas. The predominant thought 
 proper to the company of disciples is that of the 
 relations of the servants to their lord, and of 
 those sent to him who sends them ; and this is 
 
76 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 the subject at first and at last in verses 17 and 
 20 marked by the emphatic " Amen, Amen, I 
 say to you." But, alas ! this thought is crossed 
 and disturbed by the consciousness that one of this 
 chosen body is now a treacherous and injurious 
 enemy. 
 
 The fact is expressed in words from the forty- 
 first Psalm. How naturally at all times do the 
 words of Scripture rise to the lips of Jesus ! There 
 was a kind of consolation in the familiar sounds 
 which were records of what others had felt, and 
 forecasts of what He was feeling. " The Scrip- 
 ture is fulfilled " in his person, not only in the sense 
 of definite prediction, but also in that of analogous 
 experience. Thus Jesus connects his own historj'- 
 with that of Psalmists and Prophets. What was 
 fulfilled in them and in others like them was with- 
 deeper significance fulfilled in Him. ... So it 
 was with many other experiences, and so it was 
 ■with this, namely, the experience of ingratitude, 
 falsehood, and treachery, in a favoured companion 
 taking a wicked advantage in the day of trouble 
 and aggravating other sorroAvs. " Also," said the 
 Psalmist, " the man of my peace, eater of my 
 bread, lifted the heel against me," in despite or 
 violence, to spurn or to trample. Every one must 
 notice that in the citation the words " whom I 
 trusted " are omitted. It could not be said in this 
 case by one who " Jieeded not that any should tes- 
 
IV THE DETACHMENT OF JUDAS 77 
 
 tify of man, for lie knew what was in man." Tie 
 was not deceived in Jndas; and He preclndes the 
 thought. " I know w'liom I chose," — chose (that is) 
 into the inner circle of companionship and educa- 
 tion for apostolic office ; as it is written, " He 
 called unto Him his disciples, and from them He 
 chose twelve, whom also He named Apostles " 
 (Luke vi. 13), and again, " Did not I choose you 
 the Twelve " (John vi. 70), and again. He gave 
 commandments to the Apostles whom He chose 
 (Acts i. 2). Tlie deeper meaning of election to 
 life cannot be brought into those sayings, and 
 scarcely comports Avith this. Doubtless Judas Avas 
 chosen under a divine impulse, and also with rea- 
 sons which would have made tlie choice natural as 
 that of a disciple most forward in his adhesion. 
 It is CAadent that he had seemed to justify the 
 appointment as being a useful member of the soci- 
 ety, keeping the bag and managing the affairs. 
 But under a h3^pocrisy imposed by that holy fel- 
 lowship, Avorldliness and falseness Avere all the 
 time growing on the man's soul ; and this is the 
 upshot. All that has gone on has been tending to 
 this end (as it is tersely said) : " that the Scripture 
 should be fulfilled, 'He that did eat my bread 
 has lifted up his heel against me.' " ^ 
 
 1 Bishop Perowne, in commenting on Psalm xli., points it out 
 as an illustration of the construction often to be put on iva i] 
 
 ypacpr) Tr\7]pii}drj. 
 
78 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 Not till the last moment, when it becomes neces- 
 sary to do so, does Jesus reveal his knowledge of 
 the one exception in the hearts which were open 
 to his view. Once only, a year before, at a critical 
 turning-point and under painful experience of de- 
 sertions. He had answered an assurance of faith, 
 proffered in the name of his disciples, with the 
 startling words, " Did not I choose you, the Twelve, 
 and of you one is a devil?" It may be that some 
 manifestation of the evil mind, at that testing mo- 
 ment, open to his eye, then evoked the expression. 
 But it was a solitary disclosure of knowledge and 
 of pain, and no difference of terms or of treatment 
 attracted the observation of the rest, so that even 
 in this last scene there was no suggestion of his 
 being the man intended. 
 
 But the time is come when silence must be 
 broken. "Now," says the Lord Qair apri, from 
 this moment) " I tell before it comes to pass, that, 
 when it is come to pass, ye may believe." He 
 speaks in that considerate care for the disciples 
 which is part of his "love unto the end." The 
 discovery, which will be a shock to their feelings, 
 may also be a shock to their faith, if it should 
 seem that what w\as to them unknown and unfore- 
 seen was also unknown and unforeseen to Him. 
 I speak. He means, to anticipate such thoughts, 
 and to confirm youi;' hearts in "believing that I 
 am " (oTt cyo) ei/xi'). \ There is no predicate. The 
 
THE DETACHMENT OF JUDAS 
 
 silence means more than any single word could 
 tell. To those who heard it, the expression was not 
 unknown (viii. 24, 28, 58). It is not for us to add 
 limiting explanations ; but here, as bearing on the 
 faith of Apostles, it includes all that I am towards 
 you whom I send, and towards those to whom I 
 send you. Whoever falls, I remain the same, and 
 so does my commission. The ruin of an Apostle 
 does not affect the apostleship. " Verily, verily, I 
 say unto you. He that receiveth whomsoever I send, 
 receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me receiveth 
 him that sent me." Those addressed were the 
 chosen intermediaries, and so the future of the 
 Church, of the Gospel, and of the salvation of men 
 Avas involved in those words. 
 
 Two more steps are to be taken before the pain- 
 ful incident is closed by the elimination of the 
 traitor. A second announcement follows, declar- 
 ing the nature of the act, and then a third, desig- 
 nating the very man ; after Avhich he is gone. 
 
 In the scene of the feet washing, we observed 
 the living touches of vivid memory. Even more 
 do we observe them here. The details of the inci- 
 dent are before us as spectators of it, or rather as 
 sharers in it. We receive the impressions of the 
 moment from gestures and movements, and chang- 
 ing looks, and little tokens of the terms on which 
 the persons are with each other. We are sensible 
 of the painful emotion of the Speaker, of the sur- 
 
80 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 prise and bewilderment of the hearers, of their 
 various tlioughts and suppositions. How weak is 
 the effect of many a hiboured description compared 
 with that produced by these brief touches : — 
 
 " AYlien Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in the spirit, 
 and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that 
 one of you shall betray me. The disciples looked one on 
 another, doubting of whom he spake. There was at the 
 table, reclining in Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples, whom 
 Jesus loved. Simon Peter, therefore, beckoneth to him, and 
 saith unto him. Tell who it is of whom he speaketh. He, 
 leaning back, as he was, on Jesus' breast, saith unto him, 
 Lord, who is it ? .Jesus, therefore, answereth. He it is for 
 whom I shall dip the sop and give it him. So when he had 
 dipped the sop, he taketh and giveth it to Judas, the son of 
 Simon Iscariot. And after the sop, then entered Satan into 
 him. Jesus therefore saith unto him. That thou doest, do 
 quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent 
 he spake this unto him. For some thought, because Judas 
 had the bag, that Jesus said unto him. Buy what things we 
 have need of for the feast, or that he should give something 
 to the poor. He then, having received the sop, went out 
 straightway: and it was night" ('21-30). 
 
 " He was troubled in the spirit " QTapdy^Orj tm 
 Trveu/jiaTt, Kal lixapruprjcre)^ says the disciple who 
 was close by his side. The look and tone shewed 
 how strongly the deeper nature was stirred ; and 
 the words sounded as a solemn testimony. The 
 Amen, Amen, proper to great principles or reveal- 
 ing utterances, is really wanted here : so incon- 
 ceivable does the statement seem. Can it be meant 
 
IV THE DETACHMENT OE JUDAS 81 
 
 thiit one of you, my daily companions, who have 
 watched my works and learned at my lips ; you, 
 who have adhered when others forsook, who are 
 now clinging to me in face of a hostile world — 
 that one of you shall betray me? There was no 
 doubt what this word intended; for all knew that 
 the authorities were watching for an opportunity 
 to seize and destroy, and that their action was only 
 arrested l)y the feeling that prevailed among the 
 people and the fear of consequences. 
 
 The Avord here employed (irapahihovat), to pass 
 into other hands, is translated sometimes " betray," 
 sometimes " deliver " or " deliver up," according 
 (it appears) as the idea of treachery is or is not 
 in the mind of the translators. It is a prominent 
 word throughout these transactions, occurring fif- 
 teen times in this Gospel and often also in the 
 others. This emphatic repetition offers two sug- 
 gestions. The lirst is that the delivering up is not 
 casual, but necessary, or falls, at least, under the 
 providential fitness of things. The Gentiles have 
 no power against Jesus till the eJews deliver Him 
 up. The Jews have no possession of Him till He 
 is delivered up by a disciple. Is it not part of a 
 great system of government, under which the power 
 of evil cannot act effectually till it has found some 
 starting-[)oint within the inner circle or within the 
 soul? The other suggestion is that of the self- 
 abandonment of Him who suffers Himself to be 
 
 G 
 
82 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 thus betrayed and delivered. There is no resist- 
 ance, defence, or flight. Men do unto Him "what- 
 ever they list," as He said they would (Matt. xvii. 
 12). He leaves Himself in their hands when the" 
 hour is come to do so. They take their responsi- 
 bility in what they do ; He fulfils his in what He 
 suffers. 
 
 The announcement, now made, sent a shock 
 and a thrill through the company. We can well 
 imagine it. The most expressive picture in the 
 world, though blurred by time, still inspires the 
 beholder with a sympathetic apprehension of that 
 exj^erience. The single expression here, which 
 tells how in doubt and amazement they looked 
 one on another, is supplemented in the other Gos- 
 pels, where we see them " exceeding sorrowful,"^ 
 saying unto Him one by one. Is it I ? and another 
 saying, Is it I? and pursuing excited questioning 
 among themselves. In the midst of the agitation, 
 and while attention is thus distracted, Peter signs 
 to John, who will know if any one does, and in an 
 undertone asks (for this is the adopted reading), 
 " Say who it is of whom he speaks." John, " hav- 
 ing leaned back on to Jesus' breast " (^ava7reau>v eirl 
 TO aTtjOosi), looks up and asks. Lord, who is it? 
 and is answered, He it is for whom I shall dip the 
 sop and give it to him. There is point here in the 
 definite article, as in so many other places, where 
 the Authorised Version has missed it. To dip a sop 
 
IV THE DETACHMENT OF JUDAS 83 
 
 is a casual act ; to dip the sop is a customary act, 
 which has its place in the order of the supper. 
 Tlie morsel (ro ■\jrcopilov') prepared by the head of 
 the company Avas delivered at the proper moment 
 to one whom he might choose. " We have direct 
 testimony," says Edersheim (ii. 506), " that about 
 the time of Christ, the sop which was handed 
 round consisted of these things wrapped together : 
 flesh of the Paschal Lamb, a piece of unleavened 
 bread, and bitter herbs. This, we believe, was the 
 sop which Jesus, having dipped it for him in the 
 dish, handed first to Judas, as occupying the first 
 and chief place at table." By this act, or by a 
 single word before it, his own question, Rabbi, is it 
 I? was answered. Now that the supper proceeds 
 and silence is restored, after Judas has received 
 the sop, the charge is given him, " What thou doest, 
 do quickly " ; and immediately he has risen and is 
 gone, leaving his comrades in innocent speculations 
 on his errand. 
 
 Such is the outward story. Our reflections turn 
 to the action of the two chief persons in the scene, 
 the Master and the traitor. 
 
 Of the first we can speak only with reverent 
 reserve. But it is instructive to observe the course 
 pursued. The treason must be detected and the 
 man removed ; but there is neither denunciation 
 nor expulsion. What is necessary is said ; only 
 what is necessary ; and that only when it is be- 
 
84 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 come necessary; yet it serves the purpose. The 
 Master shews that He is not deceived. Tlie 
 traitor feels himself discovered, but does not find 
 himself exposed ; he is warned, but yet left free ; 
 finally he is detached, though not expelled. He 
 goes out himself, like those of whom St. John 
 wrote long afterwards, " They went out from us, 
 but they were not of us. If they had been of us, 
 they would have continued with us ; but they 
 went out that they may be manifest that they all 
 were not of us " (1 John ii. 19). Thus Judas 
 dropped away, as a consequence of his own con- 
 dition, and by a kind of natural process, like a 
 diseased branch in a healthy organism Avhich a 
 touch is sufticient to sever. At the same time 
 the disciples are preserved from feelings which 
 would have ill prepared their minds for those pre- 
 cious hours. As it is, they are humbled for them- 
 selves instead of being roused against another. If 
 criticising mere human action, we should admire 
 the self-restraint and forbearance, the pity and the 
 patience, the judgment and tlie tact, by which 
 these results were secured. Surely these qual- 
 ities, as they here appear, are as much a part of 
 the great example, as is that to which St. Peter 
 directs attention amid the revilings and sufferings 
 which follow. Had this part of the example been 
 felt aright, how mucli denunciation, recrimination, 
 and invective, how much harsh and hasty treat- 
 
IV THE DETACHMENT OF JUDAS 85 
 
 ment, how many expulsions and excommunications, 
 would have been prevented? Yes! and if it were 
 duly felt among ourselves, how much that is said 
 and done in a like spirit would be prevented now? 
 
 The last word has its lesson also, o 7roiet<?, ttoiV/- 
 aov Tax^iov (What thou doest, do quickly). It is 
 a word of dignity and command — command, not 
 to do the thing, but to do it quickly. In the 
 Greek a distinction between the deed, as a whole, 
 and the execution of it, lurks in the two tenses, 
 in a way that cannot be given in the English. 
 The deed is all the man's own : that is contained 
 in "-What thou doest": but it is to be done 
 "quickly," Tdx(-ou (literally, more quickly), the 
 comparative form suggesting possible delays which 
 the speaker will not interpose. He is all the time 
 master of the situation. And so He is in all 
 treasons, rebellions, sins ; yet, as here, the initiative, 
 the choice, the will, all that creates moral respon- 
 sibility, belongs to the agents. They incur and 
 they must bear it. 
 
 From Jesus our thoughts turn to Judas. He 
 is here in silence, but for the single question, 
 which was answered by an act, or by a word in 
 his ear. Secret are the histories of men's hearts. 
 One may be sitting among his comrades in total 
 isolation from them, and in a condition utterly 
 at variance with seeming and circumstance. So 
 was it with this man " being: one of the Twelve." 
 
THE INCIDENTS 
 
 We can but imperfectly estimate a character so 
 suddenly revealed at last. But peculations from 
 the common purse and the bargain struck for 
 money are evidences of worldliness and falseness 
 in their meanest form, and proofs that his adhesion ' 
 as a disciple had been based upon entirely earthly 
 expectations. He knew not the bond which others 
 felt : " Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast words 
 of eternal life." Yet had he ability to suit him- 
 self to his company, to assume its spiritual tone, 
 and shew like devotion to the Master. That must 
 have been a habitual and corrupting hypocrisy, by 
 which, being what he was, he was taken for what 
 he seemed. Perhaps there was one better pre- 
 pared than the rest for the last discovery. St. 
 John is charged by M. Renan with a bitter per- 
 sonal enmity to Judas. He was indeed likely to, 
 have some sense of the man's real character. He 
 had (we see it in his writings) a habit of observing 
 purposes and motives, and also an instinct in per- 
 ceiving them; and his spiritual turn and pure, 
 elevated mind might well be sensible of a certain 
 repugnance to so uncongenial a companion. But 
 be that as it may, the rest had in general no per- 
 ception of what manner of man Judas was, seeing 
 in him only such minor faults as they saw in one 
 another. It is at least remarkable that through 
 this trying scene, no doubtful attention was spe- 
 cially fixed on him, and that he left the room 
 
IV THE DETACHIMENT OF JUDAS 87 
 
 followed not by dark suspicions, but by supposi- 
 tions of service or mercy. But what was passing 
 in his own mind during that searching hour, as 
 the successive steps of warning and detection 
 came ever closer to himself? Were there mo- 
 ments of alarm, of hesitation, of relenting, as the 
 plain words fell on the moral confusion of his 
 soul ? It is probable ; but, if there were, they 
 were set aside ; and then after the last act of 
 customary kindness there ensued a fuller posses- 
 sion by the power to whose suggestions he had 
 yielded before. " After the sop Satan entered into 
 him." That is no figure of sijcech ; it is simple, 
 awful truth. It is a revelation of the terrible fact 
 which lies behind the darkest, strangest parts 
 of human history. Such a revelation is proper 
 to this supreme moment, and to the commence- 
 ment of the story of the greatest crime of the 
 world. Thus possessed, the man could no longer 
 continue in that holy presence. It was a relief to 
 hear the word, and to escape into the dark. " He 
 went immediately out, — and it was night " — 
 night indeed, — on the earth and in his soul; and 
 there will be another going out into a darker 
 night on the morrow. 
 
 " From all evil and mischief, from sin, from the crafts 
 and assaults of the devil, from thy wrath, and from ever- 
 lasting damnation, 
 
 " Good Lord deliver us." 
 
88 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PRELIMINARY SAYINGS 
 
 Judas is gone ; and the situation is changed. 
 Within the upper room the atinosphere is cleared ; 
 without, the work of death is in hand. 
 
 By his departure the company of tlie disciples is 
 cleansed. With the bad man a bad principle and 
 a bad influence went out. He concentrated and 
 represented, in his own person, the earthly dreams 
 and false ideas of the Kingdom, which in the others 
 mingled with higher thoughts, and he must have 
 been a power to promote the worldly spirit among 
 them, and with it those dispositions which the Lord 
 Avas ever seeking to eradicate. He now becomes 
 himself an example of what that spirit may pro- 
 duce. In his person this old leaven is purged out, 
 that the residue may be clean for the Master's use. 
 In them, notwithstanding their infirmities and mis- 
 takes. He now sees only " the unleavened things of 
 sincerity and truth." 
 
 In consequence, a weight is lifted from the heart 
 of Jesus. The repression of feelings and restraint 
 of words which that false presence caused are over 
 
V THE PRELIMINARY SAYINGS 89 
 
 now. He can speak without those reservations 
 which truth has hitherto demanded. All his affec- 
 tion can flow forth without reserve, and all his 
 proposed communications can he freely made to 
 his own, whom He loves to the end. 
 
 But Judas is gone to his work. While tliat holy 
 con verse proceeds in the room which he has left, 
 he is hastening to his malignant employers, telling 
 them that now, this night, he can fulfil his engage- 
 ment, asking for a sufficient body of men for the pur- 
 pose ; seeing them assemble with lanterns, torches, 
 and weapons ; and giving them the directions to 
 which they are to attend. His departure is the 
 beginning of the end ; and it is under the con- 
 sciousness that the die is cast, and the passion 
 virtually begun, that the Lord devotes the time 
 remaining to that confidential converse with the 
 disciples, which is to become his last will and 
 testament to the Church. 
 
 The Apostle whom Jesus loved is specially en- 
 trusted with that will and testament ; and delivers 
 it, in this record, to all generations. Thus he be- 
 gins : — 
 
 " When, therefore, he was gone out, Jesus saith, Now is 
 the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him ; and 
 God .shall glorify him in himself, and straightway shall he 
 glorify him. 
 
 " Little children, yet a little while T am with you. Ye shall 
 seek me: and, as T said unto the .Tews, whither I go, ye can- 
 not come : so now I saj' to you. 
 
90 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 " A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one 
 another; even as I liave loved you, that ye also love one 
 another. By this shall all men know that ye are my dis- 
 ciples, if ye have love one to another " (31-35). 
 
 We cannot tell whether tliese three sayings 
 were uttered in immediate succession. They may 
 have been spoken while the supper was proceed- 
 ing, and other incidents have occurred between 
 them, even the Institution of the Sacrament itself. 
 But we have to study them as they here appear. 
 They are divided from the discourse which they 
 introduce, by Peter's personal question and pro- 
 testation ; and it is well to take them apart, as 
 they supply a general preface to all that will fol- 
 low. They reveal the true character of what is 
 passing, as the glorification of the Son of Man. 
 They announce the consequent separation from the 
 disciples, who are left behind in the world. They 
 deliver the new commandment, which is the law of 
 their future life. 
 
 I. 
 
 " When therefore he was gone out," says the 
 writer (as meaning that an obstacle was now re- 
 .moved and an occasion come), then the concen- 
 trated thoughts found vent. The first saying is 
 mysterious and sublime, being a revelation of the 
 true character of the history of the Son of Man. 
 
V THE PRELIMINAin' SAYINGS 91 
 
 It has been justly observed that " this title is the 
 key to the interpretation of the passage. The 
 words are spoken of the relation of the Son of Man 
 to God, and not of the relation of 'the Son' to 'the 
 Father'" (Westcott). What is the character of 
 this history? It is given in a single word. Four 
 times is the verb "glorify" repeated — twice as in- 
 terpreting the past, twice as anticipating the future ; 
 the two periods being distinguished by the tenses 
 employed (eSo^ao-^T^-So^aVet)- Of the first period 
 it is said : " Now was the Son of Man glorified and 
 God was glorified in Him." He reviews the past, 
 which is, however, still the present, though " now " 
 at its very end. It was a history of humiliation, 
 but of glorification shining through it. So it ap- 
 peared in review : " We beheld his glory, glory as 
 of the only begotten from the father." The glory 
 was manifested in miracle, as He spake concerning 
 the crowning miracle : " This sickness is not unto 
 death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of 
 God may be glorified thereby." That was one 
 side of the glorification, but this is another : The 
 Son of God was glorified in power, the Son of Man 
 in suffering. How was that? It scarcely needs 
 explaining. If we account man to be glorified not 
 by robes, aird titles, and applauses, and splendid 
 surroundings, but by great principles vindicated, 
 great services rendered, and great benefits pro- 
 cured, and by the qualities exhibited in achieving 
 
92 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 these results, and by the labours and sacrifices 
 endured in achieving them ; if we account the 
 martyr glorified in his death rather than in his 
 canonisation, and the conqueror in the battle and 
 the victory rather than in his triumph — if this is 
 our way of thinking, we shall know in what sense 
 the Son of Man was glorified, and how trul}^ the 
 glorification was being accomplished when the 
 words broke from his lips. 
 
 At the same time, in man this glorification only 
 attains its true character when it is recognised 
 in relation to God, and when the words can be 
 added, "and God is glorified in him." Here this 
 is spoken in the fullest, highest sense. God, in 
 respect of wisdom and power, is manifested in 
 nature : " The heavens declare the glory of God." 
 In respect of truth and righteousness, holiness 
 and love. He is manifested in the moral being, 
 and now at last really and adequately in the Son 
 of Man. This is " the glory of God in the face of 
 Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. iv. 6). God is manifested 
 in the person and the life : " He that hath seen 
 Me hath seen the Father." He is manifested also 
 in the work : " God was in Christ, reconciling the 
 world unto Himself " (2 Cor. v. 19). Seeing as we 
 do now what the power of that personality has 
 proved, what that life originated, and what that 
 death procured, we read the true history of Jesus 
 on earth in the words : " The Son of Man was 
 glorified, and God was glorified in Him." 
 
V THE PRELIMINARY SAYINGS 93 
 
 But this history on earth is a part of a larger 
 history which has its next scene in lieavenly 
 phices. It must be so ; and the necessity of this 
 consequence found expression in the reading fol- 
 lowed in the Authorised Version, which has the 
 words, "if God be glorified in Him." But this 
 brief argument, which indeed need not to be 
 stated, is disallowed by the better reading, and, 
 as Westcott points out, it mars tlie symmetry of 
 the saying, which he prints thus : — 
 
 " Noio was glorified the Son of Man, 
 A nd God tvas tfiorified in Him ; 
 And God shall glorify Him in Himself 
 And straightioay shall He glorify Him." 
 
 In regard to the first statement, exposition was 
 free, because that is an account of what took place 
 on earth ; but before the second statement expo- 
 sition is silent, since the glorification intended 
 transcends human observation, and is part of the 
 mystery of "taking the manhood into God." The 
 word "in Himself" refers not to the Son of Man, 
 but to God, even as it is said in the prayer, "And 
 now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own 
 self." It is well expressed in Plummer's note, 
 " As God is glorified in the Messianic work of 
 the Son, so tlie Son shall be glorified in the eter- 
 nal blessedness of the Father " ; though the prepo- 
 sition may be taken to imply the unity in nature 
 
94 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 as well as in blessedness. Furthermore, it is said 
 that this great change is close at hand, "and 
 straightway shall He glorify Ilim." So it proved 
 after three days, when very early in the morning 
 was " Jesus raised up from the dead by the glory 
 of the Father " ; and then the day came when He 
 was received up and " made to sit at the right 
 hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule 
 and authority, and power and dominion, and every 
 name that is named not only in this world, but 
 also in that which is to come " (Eph. i. 20, 21). 
 
 Fitly do these words precede the communica- 
 tions of love. Though far above the intelligence 
 of the hearers at the moment, and uttered in the 
 way of soliloquy rather than as addressed to them, 
 the words reveal for future apprehension the true 
 history of the Son of Man; they throw the shadow 
 of their majesty over the discourses which folloAv, 
 and form the whole groundwork of the concluding 
 prayer. 
 
 II 
 
 Clear as is the Lord's consciousness concerning 
 Himself, it does not absorb his thoughts, so as to 
 divert them from his present interest in his own 
 who are before Him. These short hours are dedi- 
 cated to them. The glorification, on the verge of 
 which He stands, involves the close of the human 
 companionship. That must now be understood. 
 
V THE PRELIMINARY SAYINGS 95 
 
 The truth of the separation must be wrought into 
 their minds by words which cannot be mistaken. 
 The majesty and mystery of the former saying 
 make more impressive the tenderness and plain- 
 ness of this : — 
 
 " 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 unto you " (33). 
 
 He had said the last woixls to the Jews, while He 
 taught in the Temple, and they were hovering 
 round with malicious intention when " his hour 
 was not yet come." To them He had said, "• I go 
 away ; and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your 
 sin. Whither I go ye cannot come" (viii. 21). 
 The same fact is announced, but in what different 
 connexion, and with what different feeling ! In 
 the one case it is announced to enemies, whose 
 seeking will be perplexed unbelief ; in the other, 
 to children whose seeking' will be a lonmng of the 
 heart. " Ye shall not find Me " is not repeated 
 here , for there will be a finding, not conceivable 
 as yet, the promise of which will be given in the 
 consolations and revelations to follow. But these 
 themselves rest upon the fact, " Whither I go 3'e 
 cannot come." 
 
 The spirit of those communications breathes 
 already in the tender word of address, and in the 
 tone that almost sounds like res^ret: "Little chil- 
 
96 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 (Iren, yet a little while I am with you." A word 
 never used before betrays the special feeling of- 
 the moment. Twice had pitying kindness been 
 expressed by the word reKvov : " Child, thy sins be 
 forgiven thee " (Mark ii. 5) ; " Children, how hard 
 it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the 
 kingdom of God" (Mark x. 25). But here, for 
 once, the word is used in the diminutive form, ex- 
 pressive of affectionate compassion, parental solic- 
 itude, and the intimacies of domestic life. Our 
 English has no graceful equivalent, and can only 
 resort to the more cumbrous form of "little chil- 
 dren." The address, as all must observe, dwelt on 
 the mind of St. John like the rest of the language 
 of these sacred hours. It occurs seven times in 
 his epistle, and is connected by tradition with his 
 latest ministry as a voice of parental affection and 
 apostolic anxiety for the churches over which he 
 presided. 
 
 Thus has the impending departure and the con- 
 sequent separation been tenderly as well as plainly 
 told, giving to all that follows the character of 
 parting words and a loving farewell. 
 
 Ill 
 
 The departure must create a new situation, to 
 which new provisions belong, and that which occurs 
 first arises naturally from the absence of the Head 
 
V THE PRELIMINARY SAYINGS 97 
 
 and Centre of the family. Its members, hitherto 
 united by their common nearness to his person, must 
 henceforth be united by love to each other. How 
 easily amongst those eleven men might jealousies 
 engender alienation, and differences end in divis- 
 ion! and where then would be the work for which 
 they were gathered into one body? All know how 
 these natural tendencies have been illustrated, not 
 only in the world but in the Church. Therefore 
 shall the duty of mutual love be bound upon them 
 with the authority of a new commandment, the 
 Lord's own love to them supplying both its motive 
 and its measure. This shall be the essential 
 character of true disci[)leship, and the sign which 
 shall attest it to the world. 
 
 "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one 
 another : even as I have loved you, that ye also love one 
 another. By this shall all men know that ye are my dis- 
 ciples, if ye have love one to another " (34, 35). 
 
 The commandment is addressed to the men there 
 present, with an appeal to memories of love which 
 had become part of themselves. But it is also ad- 
 dressed to them as representative disciples, re- 
 ceivers and transmitters of teaching given for all, 
 and Christians recognise the new connnandment 
 as the supreme and universal law of the Gospel of 
 Christ. Certainly it was not wholly new, as never 
 heard before ; and the word employed implies rather 
 freshness than novelty. But as certainly it was 
 
 H 
 
THE INCIDENTS 
 
 not the characteristic of the Law. It had no prom- 
 inent place among the old commandments. Once, 
 at the close of various prohibitions of harsh and 
 unjust actions, it occurs as bearing on the heart 
 and takes us almost by surprise by its warm and 
 comprehensive words : " Thou shalt not hate thy 
 brother in thine heart . . . Thou shalt not take 
 vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the chil- 
 dren of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neigh- 
 bour as thyself. I am the Lord " (Lev. xix. 17, 18), 
 Thoughtful minds discerned its importance and 
 ranged it with the first and great commandment 
 — the great Sh'ma, as it was called (Luke x. 27). 
 The newness of the commandment as given by 
 the Lord is justly ascribed by commentators to the 
 new motive (as I have loved you), and the new 
 standard and character of love which this motive 
 involves. It is an admirable expression in Plum- 
 mer's note, which compares the Christian principle 
 described (1 Cor. xiii.) with " the measured benev- 
 olence of the Pentateuch." But beyond this new- 
 ness of motive and measure, there is also a newness 
 of predominance. The principle which lurked in 
 the old dispensation takes the leading place in the 
 new. Comprehending all the commandments of 
 prohibition (for love worketh no ill to his neigh- 
 bour) it rises to another level in generous largeness 
 and moral splendour. It is not in the letter, but in 
 the spirit, the reigning principle in a new life. 
 
V THE PRELIMINARY SAYINGS 99 
 
 For that new life, all that is passing now is the 
 introduction : all that is taught is the preparation. 
 At this very Passover the type is fulfilled ; and in 
 the accomplishment of redemption, the old things 
 pass away and all things become new. Close on 
 the delivery of the new commandment was in- 
 augurated the new coveiiant by the institution of 
 its seal and sacrament and by the words : " This is 
 my blood of the covenant " (Matt. xxvi. 28) ; 
 " This cup is the new covenant in my blood, that 
 which is poured out for you" (Luke xxii. 20). 
 So Moses had spoken when he sprinkled the peo})le 
 with the blood of sacrifice, " Behold the blood of 
 the covenant which the Lord hath made with you " 
 (Ex. xxiv. 8), and the tacit reference to those 
 words declared the substitution of the new cove- 
 nant for the old. As, therefore, " a law of com- 
 mandments contained in ordinances " was attached 
 to the one, so the law of love written in the heart 
 is the congenial attendant on the other. This law 
 will be again impressed in the discourse which 
 follows ; and it involves, also, the need of the 
 gift which will then be promised. The mind of 
 Christ must be formed by the spirit of Christ, and 
 so the new commandment becomes the law of the 
 new life. 
 
100 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE PREMONITION TO PETER 
 
 Of the sayings thus cast into the hearts of the 
 disciples, one woukl at the time naturally absorb 
 their thoughts. A revelation to faith and a com- 
 mandment of duty may await reflection ; but an 
 impending departure and an indefinite separation 
 give no room for other thoughts. As it is said 
 afterwards, " Because I have spoken these things 
 to you, sorrow hath filled your hearts." As usual, 
 there was one to speak for the others, and, as was 
 his wont, with a sort of questioning resistance, 
 and the impetuosity of ptersonal feeling. 
 
 . " Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, whitlier goest thou ? 
 Jesus answered, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me 
 now ; but thou shalt follow afterwards. Peter saith unto 
 him. Lord, why cannot I follow thee, even now? I will 
 lay down my life for thee. Jesus answereth. Wilt thou lay 
 down thy life for me ? Verily, verily, I say unto thee. The 
 cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice " 
 (36-38). 
 
 The passage is a part of the dramatic picture 
 of St. Peter to which this Gospel contributes so 
 
VI THE PREMONITION TO PETER 101 
 
 much, and of which such living touches were given 
 but a few lines before. The identity in all the 
 Gospels of this highly individual personality is 
 one of the links between the four records, an evi- 
 dence of the common memory which pervades 
 them. The study of that character and the lessons 
 to be derived from it lie outside the present pur- 
 pose ; and they are so often and so amply treated 
 in sermons and expositions that there is no tempta- 
 tion to step aside to consider them. Either now 
 or at an earlier moment, it appears that more was 
 said than is written here, of Satan claiming to sift 
 the disciples, of prayer for Peter's endangered 
 faith, of a change that would come over him, and 
 of his becoming a strengthener to his brethren. 
 Thus comfort was given before the sad prediction 
 which vain self-confidence drew forth. And yet 
 another word of hope is not forgotten in the 
 present report. "Whither I go, thou canst not 
 follow me now," — thou art not called to do it ; 
 and thou canst not ; thy faith and purpose are too 
 weak, — " hut tJwu shalt follow afterwards^ In a 
 few hours was fulfilled the prediction, "Thou 
 shalt deny me thrice." More than thirty years 
 later, the other words must have been present with 
 power in the days of martyrdom. And later still, 
 did St. John record them here, as also others of 
 like import, in his closing chapter, remembering 
 how they had been fulfilled in that death upon a 
 
102 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 cross in whicli his dearly loved friend had followed 
 his Master, and "glorified God" (xxi. 18, 19). 
 
 Such personal feeling may naturally have 
 prompted the repetition of this incident recorded 
 by the other Evangelists, and here with the addi- 
 tion of words which they had omitted. But there 
 was also a reason proper to St. John's purpose for 
 mentioning the predictive notice of the denial by 
 Peter, as well as that of the betrayal by Judas. 
 It lies in his care to show at every step the Lord's 
 foresight of all that should come to pass, especially 
 all that would more immediately affect his own 
 little company. It was the foresight of love, 
 which, knowing all that was in them, provided 
 against the effect of future shocks to their faith. 
 
 But besides such reasons for the interposition of 
 this brief dialogue, there is reason enough in its 
 effect at the time and its bearing on what was to 
 follow. What a humbling word was this ! What 
 a .blow to self-confidence ! What a check to the 
 eager impulses of profession ! No wonder that 
 the disciple, often spokesman for the rest, now 
 speaks no more. We feel it a touch of truth in 
 the narrative that the silence so unnatural to him 
 is thus accounted for. And the word which struck 
 home to him must have told upon them all, making 
 them more grave and reverent listeners to the 
 communications which followed. Thus does tliis 
 last incident complete the prefatory facts, so 
 
VI THE PREMONITKIN TO PETER 103 
 
 making the first part of the present exposition 
 conterminous with the 13th chapter of the GospeL 
 
 The phice of the warning to Peter in this narra- 
 tive suggests some observations on the harmony 
 with the record of the same incident in the other 
 (xospels. Here it is given in the room, followed 
 by longer discourse, and some time before tlie call, 
 "Arise, let us go hence." The remark that has 
 been made on the effect of it confirms the truth of 
 that position. St. Luke's witness is on this point 
 the same. But St. Matthew and St. Mark men- 
 tion it after the departure, as if on the way to 
 Gethsemane. They do not, however, assert that 
 it took place then ; and it is frequent with them 
 to mention facts in the order of idea, rather than 
 of succession in time. The supposition of some 
 commentators that there was recurrence to the 
 subject on the road is not at all unreasonaljle. It 
 was certainly a subject to which a man would be 
 likely enough to recur as soon as he recovered 
 heart to do so ; and some further words may have 
 passed then which connected the memory of the 
 warning with the later moment. 
 
 The general question of the harmony of the 
 record, on which we comment with the story of 
 the same hours in the synoptic gospels, is not 
 within the present purpose. We may, however, 
 be sure that many words were uttered that even- 
 ingf besides those which were in line with St. 
 
104 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 John's intention of didactic report; and in many 
 of the words recorded elsewhere, we recognise 
 points of contact with his narrative, and in all of 
 them a perfect harmony with the spirit of it. 
 
 On the chief feature in the three records, the 
 Institution of the Eucharist, St. John is silent; 
 and the reader can scarcely pass on without some 
 notice of that silence, some question as to the place 
 in his narrative to which the act should be as- 
 signed, some consideration of the relation between 
 the Institution, which has no place in these pages, 
 and the teaching which it is their part to give. 
 
 The silence of the Gospel on this point has 
 some evidential and some evangelical value. It is 
 inconceivable that any later writer, aiming to get 
 his version of things accepted as the work of the 
 beloved Apostle, should have omitted from his 
 account of the last evening the act which origi- 
 nated the central ordinance of the Church, and 
 which consecrated that evening in the thouglits 
 of all his readers. St. John being recognised as 
 the author, this total silence on a subject, on 
 which it is impossible to suppose want of informa- 
 tion, or of recollection, or of appreciation, must 
 affect our judgment on other instances of omission 
 in regard to which such causes might possibly be 
 imagined, and consequently our interpretation of 
 the entire Gospel, in respect of its selection of 
 topics and its treatment of them with a purpose. 
 
VI THE PREM0NITI(3N TO PETER 105 
 
 On the question of the place in tins narrative 
 to which the Institution should be assigned, little 
 can be said because assistance is so small. That 
 place certainly lies within the range of the thir- 
 teenth chapter, before continuous discourse begins. 
 The Institution occurred in the supper while they 
 were eating (eadiovTcov avTMv, Mark xiv. 22), and 
 must have been at the close of it, both as forming 
 a succession to the paschal meal, and from its own 
 solemn character; moreover, it is mentioned that 
 it was " a cup after supper," as distinguished from 
 the previous cup, in regard to which the conse- 
 crating words were spoken. It was therefore 
 probably after the giving of the sop and the de- 
 parture, and would then fall somewhere near to 
 the last verses of the chapter ; I should say at the 
 very end of it, were it not that the warning to 
 Peter is placed in all three synoptic gospels after 
 the Institution. This consideration may incline 
 us to place it as probably occurring after the first 
 of the preliminary sayings (v. 32), or after the last 
 of them (v. 35). The remembrance of the an- 
 nouncement of impending separation might well 
 have dwelt on the mind of St. Peter, as the sub- 
 ject to which he would recur as soon as there was 
 occasion to speak. Anyhow, there must have been 
 a close proximity between these two features of 
 the last evening, the Institution recorded in the 
 other Gospels, and the Discourses reported by 
 
106 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 St. John. But the rehition between them consists 
 not in nearness of time, but in community of ideas 
 and feelings. The condensed significance of the 
 Institution finds in many respects an expanded 
 expression in the Discourses. 
 
 This correspondence may appear less obvious 
 because the primary significance of the Sacrament 
 is not reproduced in the teaching. Whoever asks 
 the question, "Why was the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper ordained?" must receive the direct 
 reply, " For the continual remembrance of the sac- 
 rifice of the death of Christ." But in the Dis- 
 courses there is no teaching of sacrifice and no 
 insistence upon death. The consciousness of death 
 is present, and the character and effects of it are 
 intimated, though not explained. It is a glorifica- 
 tion of the Son of Man, and a glorification of God 
 in Him (xiii. 31). It is an act of beneficent love, 
 a "laying down of life for his friends" (xv. 13). 
 But how it glorifies God, and how it benefits men, 
 remains in the Lord's consciousness and is latent 
 in these communications. In the Institution the 
 truth is secured for ever in the words, " My body 
 which is given, my blood which is shed for you 
 and for many for the remission of sins." But it 
 does not reappear in the Discourses preserved by 
 this Evangelist. Yet is he the same writer who 
 loves to dwell on that death as the propitiation for 
 the sins of the whole Avorld, and on that blood as 
 
VI THE PREMONITION TO PETER 107 
 
 redeeming us to God and cleansing us from all sin. 
 But the fidelity of the reporter is not affected by 
 subsequent knowledge. Those who were then 
 addressed must witness the redeeming act as a 
 fact before they can understand it as a power. 
 That is part of the teaching, not given, but prom- 
 ised: " I have many things to say unto you, but 
 ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he the 
 Spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you into all 
 the truth." Meantime the anguish of the morrow 
 is not suffered to confuse and darken the sweet 
 confidences of the evening. Here death is thought 
 of, not as constituting sacrifice, but only as entail- 
 ing separation. The fellowship that has been has 
 reached its end, and the words are addressed to 
 the natural feelings of the moment, yet revealing 
 the true relations which will endure when the 
 transitory relations are over. 
 
 Hence it is that, in one chief respect, the Dis- 
 courses do not correspond to the Institution, 
 inasmuch as they say nothing of sacrifice, obla- 
 tion, and satisfaction for sin, scarcely even of 
 deatli. They pass beyond it into the succeeding 
 relations between Christ and his people. Of these 
 relations the Sacrament was to be a means and 
 a pledge, and it is in respect of them that we 
 observe the living connection between the Insti- 
 tution and the Discourses. 
 
 Is the Sacrament intensely personal in its refer- 
 
108 THE INCIDENTS 
 
 ence as concentrating the mind on Jesns Christ 
 Himself (" my body, ray blood, my memorial ") ? 
 So are the Discourses occupied Avith the same 
 thoughts of immediate relations with Him. Is 
 the Sacrament felt as a perpetual token of love 
 appealing for reciprocal affections in the words 
 " Given for you ; shed for you ; do this in remem- 
 brance of me " ? So are the Discourses a contin- 
 uous utterance of the same feelings, and a claim for 
 the like returns. Does the Sacrament express an 
 intimate union with Christ by participation in 
 his body and blood, — a union not passing in the 
 momentary act, but abiding in the condition 
 which it seals, one in which we dwell in Him, 
 and He in us, we are one with Him, and He with 
 us ? These last expressions are themselves derived 
 from the Discourses which teach an incorporation 
 into Christ, an inherence in Him, a derivation of 
 life from Him as of Ijranclies aljiding in the vine, 
 yet an abiding which needs a concurrence of the 
 will, and calls for tlie charge which would secure 
 it, " Abide in me, and I in jow " ? Is the Sacra- 
 ment the testimony and seal of a new covenant 
 (" this cup is the new covenant in my blood "), 
 and, therefore, the perpetual celebration of a new 
 dispensation? So do the Discourses present the 
 characteristics of that new covenant in the "new 
 commandment," the new ground laid for prayer 
 and communion with God, and above all in the 
 
VI THE PREMONITION TO PETEIl 109 
 
 new gift of the Holy Ghost the Comforter. Fi- 
 nally, is the Sacrament an ordinance of fellowship 
 and an act of coninumion by the participants one 
 with another, and so with the whole Church? So 
 are the Discourses addressed to men not only as 
 individuals, but as members of a company bound 
 together by the common relation to their Lord, 
 and by the commandment to love one another as 
 He had loved them. 
 
 These are living correspondences between the 
 Institution and the Discourses. In all these re- 
 spects the Sacrament incorporates the teaching, 
 and the teaching explains the Sacrament ; and in 
 this, as in so many other ways, St. John completes 
 the synoptic record. 
 
Part II 
 
 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 FIRST DISCOURSE 
 
 XIV. 1-31 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Method and Character 
 
 II. The Foundation Word «'. 1 
 
 III. The Final Prospect 2,3 
 
 IV. Self-Revelation 4-11 
 
 V. Promise of Power 12-14 
 
 VI. Promise of the Paraclete . . . 15-24 
 
 VII. Promise of Teaching 25,26 
 
 VIII. Benediction of Peace 27 
 
 IX. The Accepted End 28-31 
 
 X. A Dividing Line 31 
 
 111 
 
Part II 
 
 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 METHOD AND CHARACTER 
 
 Before entering on the Discourses, it may be 
 of use if we make some prefatory observations on 
 the division of them, on their method or manner 
 of delivery, and on tlieir aim in rehxtion to the 
 hearers. 
 
 1. It is common to treat the three sayings (xiii. 
 31-35) as tlie commencement of the Discourses. 
 Certainly they indicate that after the departure of 
 Judas there is a new situation, one that will admit 
 of more free and confidential communication, and 
 they go far to define the situation both for Jesus 
 and for his disciples. They shew three leading 
 thoughts occupying the mind of the Speaker, 
 which will make themselves felt throughout the 
 Discourses, and be more distinctly resumed in the 
 final Prayer. Yet are they rather preludes than 
 commencements, utterances which give vent to the 
 
 I 113 
 
114 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 feelings, sudden jets from the fountain before the 
 stream begins to flow ; and that outflow is stayed 
 for a moment by the interruption of Peter. His 
 question, unlike those of the others Avhich assist 
 the course of teaching, diverges from it by taking 
 a turn personal to himself, and this draws a line of 
 division, creating a new commencement for the 
 teaching which continues through the three fol- 
 lowing chapters. 
 
 We speak of this teaching as given in discourses 
 rather than in a discourse, though the report has a 
 continuous aspect as if no division had occurred. 
 The division, indeed, is narrow, consisting but of 
 three words, " Arise, let-us-go hence " (xiv. 31) ; 
 but that is sufficient. Moreover, the discourse 
 given in chapter xiv. has a kind of formal comple- 
 tion by a benediction of peace, and a repetition of 
 the consoling words with which it began, " Let 
 not your heart be troubled." Again, there is a 
 difference of tone in the two stages of teaching, 
 both indeed being revelation on the relations of 
 Christ with his own, but the first marked by a 
 predominant purpose of consolation, the second 
 by one of instruction. Accordingly, the first dis- 
 course takes more account of the feeling's of the 
 disciples and of the questions then in their minds, 
 while the second occupies an anticipatory stand- 
 point after the promised reunion, in the life and 
 history of the dispensation Avhich would follow. 
 
I METHOD AND CHARACTER 115 
 
 It suits with these differences, that the discourse 
 in chapter xiv. is a prolongation of the converse at 
 the table customary at the paschal meal, and nat- 
 urally begins with a certain amount of dialogue ; 
 while that in the two following chapters supposes 
 the hearers in some other position, and in an atti- 
 tude of silent attention, save for some whispered 
 words among themselves at a pause in the dis- 
 course or at its close, and one common voice of 
 confession responsive to the last revealing word. 
 This return to a partial form of dialogue forms a 
 sequel to the whole, and has the effect of riveting 
 the words of consummation more immediately on 
 the minds of the hearers. M. Godet concludes 
 his arrangement of the chapters in respect of the 
 order of sequence corresponding to the actual situ- 
 ation by an illustration which occurs very natu- 
 rally, and which some of the Lord's own words 
 suggest. 
 
 " So a dying father, after gathering his children round 
 him, begins by speaking to them of his end, and of the time 
 whicli will immediately follow. Then the perspective of 
 their future career opens out before his thoughts, and he 
 tells them what the w^orld will be to them, and what they 
 will have to do in it; after which his mind falls back upon 
 the actual situation, and draws from its depth a supreme 
 word and a last farewell " (vol. ii. p. 453). 
 
 2. Within these divisions are the smaller sec- 
 tions, created by succession of topics, which will 
 
116 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 be more usefully treated by taking them singly as 
 they occur, without any preparatory attempt to 
 analyse the method pursued. The attempt indeed 
 would be in the face of difficulties ; for the char- 
 acter of discourse is not obviously methodical. 
 
 Method, it may be said, there is none. That 
 is the confessed embarrassment of commentators 
 and analysers. " This current of discourse," says 
 Spier, " poured forth by the departing Saviour for 
 future remembrance and glorification by the spirit, 
 remains still inexhaustible for our poor under- 
 standings, and far transcends the common laws of 
 our so-called logical order of thought" (vi. 175). 
 It presents, says Vinet, " a divine confusion." Dr. 
 Sanday gives a more precise account of this ex- 
 pression in his '' Authorship of the Fourth Gospel." 
 
 " We cannot but recognise a change from the compact 
 lucid addresses and exposition of the synoptists. This 
 appears not so much in single verses as when we look at the 
 discourse as a whole. In all the synoptic gospels, imper- 
 fectly as they are put together, there is not a single dis- 
 course which could be called involved in its structure ; and 
 yet I do not see how it is possible to refuse this epithet to 
 this discourse as given by St. John. The different subjects 
 are not kept apart, but are continually crossing and entan- 
 gling one another. The later subjects are anticipated in the 
 course of the earlier ; the earlier return in the later. For 
 instance, the description of the functions of the Paraclete 
 is broken up into five fragments. The relation of the 
 Church and the world is intersected just in the same way, 
 besides scattered references in single verses" (pp. 231, 232). 
 
I METHOD AND CHARACTER 117 
 
 This characteristic is acutely noted and worthy 
 to be pointed out ; and when we are thinking of 
 the synoptics and St. John, may lead to certain 
 inferences from their different styles as reporters. 
 But when we feel ourselves listening to the words 
 of the Lord Jesus, such observations are sugges- 
 tive in another way. This " divine confusion " 
 makes us feel that we are not hearing a discourse 
 on " the functions of the Paraclete," or on " the 
 relations to the world," or on any definite subject ; 
 but listening to a living voice speaking, as it is 
 natural to speak, under the impulse of intense 
 sympathy at an agitating crisis, and to hearts that 
 are filled with sorrow. Either St. John is an in- 
 imitable artist in his power of realising the feeling 
 of the situation, or he is the true reporter of act- 
 ual words which fastened on his memory because 
 they lived in his heart. My contention is that 
 under the circumstances the defect of method is 
 the perfectness of truth ; that these adaptations 
 of thought to feeling, these transitions from one 
 topic to another, these recurrences to the same 
 truths in different applications of them to the 
 needs of the heart, are simply natural to tlie sit- 
 uation, and proper to the character of intercourse 
 which it would jjroduce. An orderly exposition 
 of the truths delivered, a clear arrangement of the 
 communications made (however convenient to the 
 commentator or lecturer), could not have had 
 
118 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 the same effect on the hearers at the time, and 
 would have impaired the living impression which 
 these communications make upon us now. We 
 should have been placed in a different mental 
 attitude, in which something might jDcrhaps have 
 been gained for the mind, but something would 
 certainly have been lost for the heart. 
 
 Such a manner of communication as this neces- 
 sarily obscures the method of it ; but the method 
 is there, and under the varjdng movements of 
 feeling we shall trace a continuous connexion of 
 thought. The sense of this has grown upon the 
 mind of the writer in the consecutive study of 
 these discourses ; and he entertains the hope that 
 in the mind of the reader a like effect may follow. 
 
 3. For a true apprehension of this teaching, one 
 principle must be ever kept in view; namely, its. 
 adaptation to the mental condition of the hearers 
 at that crisis of their spiritual history. For them 
 •one great period is ending, and a different dispen- 
 sation will ensue. Under the past manifestation 
 of Christ they have reached a level of faith, from 
 which they must now rise to a greater elevation ; 
 and the results of the past are either assumed, or 
 claimed, as qualifying for the discoveries of the 
 future. On the one side, we have such words as 
 these, " Whither I go ye know, and the way "ye 
 know." — " Have I been so long time with you, 
 and yet hast thou not known me ? " — " Believe 
 
I METHOD AND CHARACTER 119 
 
 me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in 
 me ; or else believe me for the very work's sake." 
 — " The world knoweth not the spirit of truth ; 
 but ye know him." — "I am the vine ; ye are the 
 branches." — " Now ye are clean through the word 
 which I have spoken to you." — " Ye have loved 
 me and believed that I came forth from God." 
 Throughout, their faith, love, and knowledge are 
 counted as real ; and their union with their Lord 
 and severance from the world are recogfuised as 
 facts. 
 
 Yet the imperfection of their attainments is also 
 plain, evinced by their own poor questions and 
 noted by sad reproofs. But, with these deduc- 
 tions, it is a real level of faith, no doubt attained 
 more fully by some than by others. 
 
 On the other hand, it is the aim of the Teacher 
 to lift them above it, and prepare them for far 
 liigher gifts and experiences, proper to the day 
 which is about to dawn. " In that day ye shall 
 know," " In that day ye sliall ask," in another 
 way and with other effects than now. Then 
 the departing will be found to be only a nearer 
 coming, and the separation a closer union, and 
 the seeing no more a true and constant beholding. 
 Then another Paraclete will have come, with 
 greater power and clearer discoveries and teach- 
 ings of all the truth, such as, at the time then 
 present, they were not able to bear. Thus the 
 
120 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 passage is prepared from faith begun in the flesh 
 to faith made perfect in the Spirit, from the 
 external to the internal manifestation of Christ, 
 and from confused materials of thought and dim 
 apprehensions of truth, to the full apostolic 
 illumination. 
 
 But the audience is larger than appears. In 
 the foreground are the Eleven, behind them the 
 universal Church. The words are addressed im- 
 mediately to the men then present, and meet the 
 feelings of the moment as simply and naturally as 
 if there were no thought beyond. Yet do they 
 lay broad foundations of faith for all, and provide 
 for manifold experiences in all generations. And 
 this is not in the way of accidental consequence 
 or ingenious application. It results necessarily 
 from the personality of the Speaker and the char- 
 acter of the hearers. 
 
 The Speaker is the Son of Man, acting in 
 ■ contingent circumstances, and conversing with 
 individual persons, but embracing in the vastness 
 of divine intention the whole race of mankind. 
 Hence it is that a wonderful combination of the 
 personal and immediate with the universal and 
 perpetual distinguishes all the Avords of Jesus, 
 and pre-eminently those which are here. It is a 
 feature to be reckoned among the tokens of the 
 true humanity and true divinity of Him who thus 
 speaks : " Vox hominem sonat." It is a voice 
 
I METHOD AND CHARACTER 121 
 
 intensely human in its tones of sympathy and 
 affection ; yet in revelation and authority no less 
 distinctly divine. 
 
 The hearers are men like ourselves, but they are 
 representative men ; dear to their Lord in their 
 own persons, as his tender language shows ; pre- 
 cious also in his sight, as representing all " who 
 shall believe on Him through their word." Those 
 whom Jesus teaches have thereby an intermediary 
 office. They are receivers, but also conductors, of 
 the electric currents of truth. Testimonies and 
 instructions, warnings and reproofs, consolations 
 and promises, take hold of those who are addressed, 
 but they pass on with unspent force, for they are 
 spoken, not merely to Jews and Galileans, but to 
 the world ; not merely to the Twelve, but to the 
 Church. If this characteristic belongs to other 
 communications, how much more to these, which 
 are the last, which close the teaching in the flesh, 
 which directly contemplate the day that is to fol- 
 low — that da}^ which began when Jesus was glori- 
 fied, and which endures till He comes again. We 
 know how, at its commencement, the words of 
 promise were fulfilled to the commissioned teachers 
 of the Church, for we have the development of 
 Christian doctrine in their Epistles. We know 
 that the main lines of faith and worship in the 
 Church have their starting-point in these pregnant 
 sa3ings, from the opening word, "• Ye believe in 
 
122 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 God, believe also in Me," to the last appointment 
 of the name in which we are to pray. We know 
 how naturally, in all ages, believing hearts have 
 turned to these words in experiences wliich needed 
 assurances most felt to be divine, in the saddest, 
 the loftiest, the last hours of life. We know how 
 instinctively the reader opens at these pages when 
 there is special need of consolation and support, of 
 detachment from the world, of the sense of the 
 presence and love of Christ, and of the clearer 
 sight of the Father's house beyond. And why is 
 this? Certainly on account of the words them- 
 selves ; but also from the feelings awakened by 
 the voice which utters them. It is the voice of 
 Jesus prolonged through all ages, as fresh to-day 
 in the congregation or the sick-chamber as it was 
 then in the upper room in Jerusalem. These chap-' 
 ters are like the late-invented instrument which 
 can silently preserve and vocally give forth the 
 veiy tones and accents of one who speaks on earth 
 no more. 
 
THE FOUNDATION WORD 123 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE FOUNDATION WORD 
 
 XIV. 1 
 
 We enter the 14tli chapter and listen to the 
 first discourse. It is a voice of consohxtion. It is 
 a voice of revelation. The Lord reveals in order 
 to console. There is no ground of consolation in 
 the present. That can onl}^ be found in revelation 
 of the future. But He consoles in order to reveal ; 
 for the light which these parting words throw upon 
 things to come, not only meets the needs of the 
 occasion, but is meant to illuminate all ages of the 
 Church. 
 
 There is no change in the scene. All are still 
 reclining at the table, prolonging the companion- 
 ship of the supper. The most forward speaker 
 among the disciples is now silent, humbled and 
 stricken to the heart. Others, while the Lord pro- 
 ceeds, can interpose as they will the questions 
 which arise in their minds. These interpositions 
 do not turn aside the drift of the discourse. They 
 assist it, by expressing the feelings which the dis- 
 course intends to meet. All eyes are fixed on the 
 
124 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 Speaker, watching for words which may relieve tlie 
 sad perplexity. It is all so mysterious. Such 
 strange, sad things have been spoken. Some ter- 
 rible event is at hand. One Avill betray ; another 
 deny. A dark cold shadow is falling upon them. 
 Is it the shadow of death? Anyhow, He is mak- 
 ing a farewell. He will go ; they know not 
 whither; but are told they cannot follow. Is the 
 revelation of the Father closed? Is the world to 
 be left unconvinced, and, as it would seem, vic- 
 torious? There is a confused sense of an aban- 
 doned work, an undertaking that fails, a histoiy 
 ending when it seemed about to begin. There is a 
 dull feeling of inexplicable, inconceivable disap- 
 pointment. In fact, a few hours will render it 
 overwhelming. It is not only a sad, but a danger- 
 ous time. Love is unchanged ; but faith begins to 
 tremble. With full knowledge of all that is in 
 their hearts, tlie Lord looks round on the perturbed 
 and anxious countenances directed towards Him, 
 waiting for explanation and relief. " Let not," He 
 says, "your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, 
 believe also in me." The first sentence expresses 
 desire to console ; the second intimates intention 
 to reveal. So is given the keynote to all that will 
 follow. 
 
 " Let not your heart be troubled " is the first 
 word of the discourse. It will recur at the end. 
 The reasons are supplied by the intervening 
 
11 TKE FOUNDATION WORD 125 
 
 words. " Troubled " is the best English equiva- 
 lent we can give for the Greek ; but as generally 
 employed, its force is fainter. The verb rapdaaco,^ 
 used often of the agitation of waters, the heaving 
 and surging of the sea, aptly represents the deeper 
 agitations of the soul, painful to strong natures, 
 dangerous to the weak. Thrice it is used of our 
 Lord Himself in some access of vehement emotion. 
 So He shared the experiences which in us He 
 would comfort and control. Such a condition 
 needs control, tending as it does to confusion of 
 judgment and suspension of faith. " Let not your 
 heart be troubled " was then not only a word of 
 sympathetic kindness, but a needful counsel ; and 
 it is so still, falling with composing power on 
 many an agitated mind. " Troubled " we must 
 be in the trying times of this changeful, sinful 
 mortal life, but not as helpless victims of circum- 
 stances or feelings ; not as losing the higher con- 
 sciousness which should restore composure and 
 minister support. 
 
 This consciousness Jesus revives in his disciples 
 by the claim He makes on their faith. He does 
 more than revive it ; He augments it by a reveal- 
 ing word, — 
 
 " Ye believe iu God, believe also in me." 
 
 Shall we read it thus, with the Authorized Ver- 
 
 1 Tapda-ffu, conimoveo, turbo, partibus rei hue illuc jactaudis, 
 pr. v5u}p, Tr6vTov, TT^Xayos, etc. (Grinini). 
 
12G THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 sion and the Revised Version? or, with the mar- 
 gin and Avith most commentators, " Believe in 
 God, believe also in me " ? The form of the verb 
 is both indicative and imperative. No one will 
 adopt the Vulgate translation, which makes both 
 clauses indicative. The second is beyond doubt 
 a charge or exhortation. That is plain from the 
 whole drift of the discourse, and is intimated by 
 change in arrangement, " And in me believe." 
 But what of the first clause? If the word "be- 
 lieve " be taken in a general sense, as in the case 
 of a creed, the indicative will suit well, recognis- 
 ing that belief in God which is now to receive a 
 definite completion. But if the word "believe," 
 addressed to troubled minds, carries distinctly the 
 sense of trust and confidence, it seems better to 
 read both clauses as exhortation, " Believe in 
 God and in me believe." 
 
 Then faith in God and faith in Christ, though 
 distinct, are one. In each case the same expres- 
 sion is employed, and the same character of faith 
 intended. The word (jria-reveiv el^ ^) is used by 
 St. John of believing in the full sense of trust and 
 
 1 The phrase nKTreveiv els is characteristic of St. Jolin. It 
 occurs about thirty- five times in the Gospel and three times in 
 the Epistle. Elsewhere in the New Testament about ten times. 
 It expresses the very strongest belief ; motion to, and repose 
 in, the object of belief (Plummer on John i. 13). The idea of 
 this movniwnt of mind conveyed in els, into, is imperfectly 
 contaiut'd in our prcpo.sitioii in. 
 
II THE FOUNDATION WORD 127 
 
 affiance. To believe a person is one thing, to 
 believe in or on him is another. "Believe me" 
 (v. 11) is not the same as "believeth on me" 
 (v. 12). Faith in one case accepts the word 
 spoken ; in the other it cleaves to the person 
 speaking. The former state of mind is a part of 
 the latter, but only a part of it. Thus the same 
 faith which is due to God is claimed by Jesus for 
 Himself ; a great claim involving a great- revela- 
 lation, resting on the Unity in the Godhead of the 
 Father and the Son. 
 
 This saying, which is the foundation word of 
 the Discourses, is also the foundation word of 
 Christianity. Faith in God, formed under the 
 Old Testament, or from whatever source begotten, 
 linds its justification and completion in faith in 
 Jesus, and never truly finds it till then. Those 
 who would now believe in God without believing in 
 Jesus, as the Christ, the Son of God, have no part 
 in the promises which are here attached to that 
 faith, as they have no experience of the life which 
 is described as consequent upon it. All that fol- 
 lows is the outcome of " Believe also in me." 
 
 But why should this be said to disciples who 
 are already believers ? More than two years back 
 in the history, it is said, " He manifested forth his 
 glory, and his disciples believed on Him " (ii. 11) ; 
 and in the intervening time, this faith has been 
 augmented. But it may still need words of en- 
 
128 THE DISCOURSES ciiap. 
 
 couragement and confirmation. It often does, as 
 the writer of this Gospel knew. " These things," 
 he says in his Epistle, " have I written unto you 
 that believe on the name of the Son of God ; that 
 ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that 
 ye may believe on the name of the Son of God " 
 (1 Ep. V. 13). There is a strain upon faith Avhen 
 it is called to rise to new ideas, or to stand some 
 searching test. Many have had to meet such ex- 
 periences, but none perhaps comparabl}^ to these 
 disciples at the moment at which they were then 
 arriving. Their Master's words again and again 
 bear witness that He felt the crisis of liis own his- 
 tory to be the crisis of their faith. Now the new 
 ideas must open out before them ; in a few hours 
 the searching test will come. 
 
THE FINAL PROSPECT 129 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE FINAL PROSPECT 
 
 V. 2, 3 
 
 It is the hour of parting. Events are close at 
 hand which must speak for themselves. They 
 have been intimated ; but the intimations have not 
 been understood ; to repeat them would divert from 
 the present purpose. That bears on the fact of 
 separation, which is now becoming clear. Their 
 Master goes — but whither? They will be left — 
 but how ? What henceforth will He be to them ? or 
 they to Him ? To these unspoken questions of the 
 heart the words of consolation are addressed. The 
 relations which will subsist are ensured by promises, 
 and the life which they will create is set forth by 
 instruction. The promises are the foundation for 
 the instructions. 
 
 The last promise comes first. One which passes 
 over the intermediate life, rises above things on 
 earth, and with the departing Friend enters the 
 world unseen. There is his own home, and there 
 shall be theirs also. There tliey shall be lovingly 
 expected, and in due time received. 
 
 J 
 
130 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 " In my Father's house are many mansions ; 
 If it were not so, I would have told you. 
 I go to pi'epare 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." 
 
 Scarcely can one cite these words without passing 
 at once beyond the limits of the historic situation. 
 So conscious are we that they have been breathing 
 on with unchanging freshness through the long cen- 
 turies of faith, that now, at any given moment, they 
 are bringing a real sense of a lasting home to souls 
 that have not found it upon earth ; and are being 
 read by loving voices as last accents of comfort in 
 the ears of the dying. Yes ! of all words that have 
 been spoken upon earth, these have done the most 
 to dispel the darkness beyond the grave, and to 
 give secure expectations to men as they approach it. 
 But what was the effect of tliese words at the 
 time on the anxious listeners who heard them first ? 
 We cannot measure the degree, — rather should I 
 say the various degrees, in which, in any company, 
 new thoughts are apprehended and advancing reve- 
 lations embraced. But the words must have fallen 
 with sensible comfort on their souls, and there 
 must have been at least a vague perception of 
 their power, in all those points, in which, in our 
 more deliberate reflection, they move or enlighten 
 us to-day. 
 
Ill THE FIXAL PROSPECT 131 
 
 What are these points ? 
 
 First, there is the unity and distinctness of the 
 Divine Persons, the pervading truth, which in this 
 and every stage of the discourse carries out the 
 foundation word " Believe in God, believe also in 
 Me." Here it appears in the ownership of the 
 heavenly habitation. It is " my Father's house," 
 and therefore mine, where I am at home, and in 
 possession, and where I have the right to prepare 
 appointed places and receive the inmates to My- 
 self. 
 
 Then there is the tender tone of kindness, in 
 which the information is given and the promise 
 expressed. Set aside the vastness of the meaning, 
 and you hear, as it were, the familiar language 
 of natural affection and domestic hospitality. The 
 speaker departs ; he must leave his friends ; but 
 not to forget them ; he is going home, and knows 
 the place ; there are rooms which he intends for 
 them ; he will get everything ready ; he will look 
 forward to their coming ; nay, will come himself 
 to receive them; there they too shall be at home, 
 in a fellowship to be broken no more. So does 
 Jesus speak in the simplest, kindest language which 
 an earthly friend could use ; to bring home to our 
 weak apprehensions the truth and purposes of his 
 love. It does bring them home, as more lofty lan- 
 guage could not have done. Under this homely 
 wording we read the revelations of the unseen. 
 
132 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 " In my Father's house " — at once we are car- 
 ried far above tlie present scene. Once the words 
 had intended the neighbouring Temple, the relig- 
 ious home of Israel (" make not my Father's house a 
 house of merchandise," ii. 16). Now we are al- 
 together in another world of thought : Is his 
 Father's house the universe of God, which cer- 
 tainly contains many and various abodes ? So 
 some interpret ; but such meaning has no fitness 
 here. He would have his people think of a home 
 with God whither He goes and whither they may 
 follow. The Father's dominions are one idea, the 
 Father's house is another. When we speak of 
 heaven, we transport our local conceptions into the 
 unseen world, with a sense of how little they may 
 apply ; but we have no other conceptions than 
 these to use ; and Jesus teaches us to use them. 
 
 The first fact is that in that house are many 
 "mansions." The English word, derived from 
 " maneo " (to abide), represents a like term in 
 Greek {fxoval'), a term not elsewhere employed in 
 Scripture, but in this same chapter (v. 23), where 
 it is said, " We will come and make our abode 
 (^fiovt]v) with Him." The impression given is 
 restful, one of settled continuance and secure 
 possession. So St. Paul compares the "house of 
 this tabernacle," soon to be " dissolved," with 
 the " building of God, the house not made witli 
 hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. v. 1). 
 
Ill THE FINAL PROSPECT 133 
 
 These mansions are " many." One can scarcely 
 take this to mean merely that there would be 
 room for those disciples, or for any number of 
 inmates. Not the inmates, but the mansions, are 
 many. Variety of appropriation is suggested, 
 though not asserted. If the disciples had thought 
 of the heavenly regions as an abode for angelic 
 natures, it would be to them a revealing word that 
 there are many mansions in the Father's house, 
 where fit place might be found for them. But 
 indeed such ideas might have been well conceived 
 before. Much had passed that might inspire 
 them ; and considerate thoughtfulness would not 
 have left them to fallacious imaginations. " If it 
 were not so, I would have told you." 
 
 To this world and home Jesus will now depart ; 
 but He goes with special purposes for them. Two 
 such purposes are mentioned, — preparing a place 
 for them, and receiving them to Himself. 
 
 There is the Father's house, and there are the 
 many abodes ; but do they contain a place for 
 them? one that shall be theirs by right, appro- 
 priated for them, as they may be qualified for it? 
 There is no chance or uncertainty in these things. 
 Whether in regions of darkness or of light, a man 
 " goes to his own place " (Acts i. 25). Have poor 
 children of men, members of a fallen race, on 
 whom the stain of sin has passed, any proper 
 place in the mansions here intended? It appears 
 
134 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 that they have none, unless one shall have been 
 prepared. We understand how men are prejDared 
 for the place ; but not how the place is pre- 
 pared for men. The one process is within our 
 knowledge ; the other is above it. But the pro- 
 curing cause is certain. It is the entrance of 
 Jesus there. We have no reason to think that 
 those who died under the old covenant, and were 
 carried by the angels into " Abraham's bosom," 
 found their rest in the very regions, or spiritual 
 conditions, of which the Lord is speaking here. 
 Everything points to the conclusion that those 
 abodes did not open to sons of men till the Son of 
 Man was glorified; and that, "in bringing many 
 sons into glory, the Captain of their salvation " 
 must pass into it before them. The presence of 
 that risen and glorified humanity was certainly a 
 preparation itself. Thus much we are taught con- 
 cerning things "within the veil, whither as fore- 
 runner Jesus entered for us " (Heb. vi. 20) ; and 
 this distinct meaning, at least, we can attach to 
 the words, " I go to prepare a place for you." 
 
 That action might have been enough for our 
 needs ; but it is not enough for his love, which 
 counts one grace to be only a reason for another. 
 " If I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, 
 and will receive you unto Myself." Does this 
 intend a continuous or only a final coming? a 
 successive or only a collective receiving? Surely 
 
m THE FINAL PROSPECT 135 
 
 both. There is said to be a perspective in prophecy: 
 there is in all divine words which contemplate a 
 larger history than our thoughts take in, and treat 
 the several stages as expressions of the whole and 
 as component parts of the end. Thus these words 
 bring not merely a further hope, but an immedi- 
 ate comfort to the departing soul. They must 
 have taken hold of the hearts of believers from the 
 first and returned upon them in the hour of need. 
 Through all ages there have been no words so 
 natural to the lips of the dying as those of the first 
 martyr, " Lord Jesus receive my spirit." For him 
 there was not only a receiving, but a " coming to 
 receive " : and so there is in some true sense for 
 others. A Presence comes through the darkness, 
 and experience will explain. But faith precedes 
 experience, and the promise is addressed to faith. 
 Meantime we know that, whatever in the way of 
 earnest attends the first and immediate change, 
 the great coming again, the great receiving is not 
 far off, when the promise will have completion. 
 
 " He which testifieth these things saith 
 Yea, I coine quickly, 
 Amen : come, Lord Jesus." 
 
 Great and manifold are the thoughts which 
 attach to the Coming ; but they have no place in 
 this parting hour. For the present the personal 
 feeling is all ; and the sorrow of separation can 
 
136 THE DLSCOUKSES chap. 
 
 be consoled only by the prospect of reunion. " I 
 will receive you unto myself^ that ivhere lam there 
 ye may he ahoT That is here the one thought of 
 happiness in the coming, the receiving, and tlie 
 prepared place. It was so for the disciples ; may 
 we not say also for Jesus Himself? for we listen 
 unmistakeably to a genuine voice of human affec- 
 tion, as well as to the deeper tones of divine love. 
 Great is the mystery of that love, wliich makes the 
 joy of final fellowship to be his as well as theirs ; 
 a chief feature in " the joy that was set before Plim." 
 How present was this thought to his mind, how 
 indissolubly united with that of his own passage 
 into glory ! So He spake in the last soliloquy in 
 the Temple, " If any man serve me, let him follow 
 me : and where I am, there shall also my servant 
 be " (xii. 26) ; so in the final prayer, " Father, I 
 will that they also whom Thou hast given me be 
 with me where I am " (xvii. 24). For us it becomes 
 the one thought which, in view of the momentous 
 change, at once comprehends and supersedes all 
 others. These words of Christ have dwelt in the 
 heart of the Church. To be "absent from the 
 body and at home with the Lord" (2 Cor. v. 8), to 
 " depart and to be with Christ " (Phil. i. 23), have 
 been to believers a sufficient account of death. 
 That one truth has set the mind at rest, adjourn- 
 ing all further questions, or securing all needful 
 answers. 
 
in THE FINAL PROSPECT 137 
 
 " Let nie be with Thee, where Thou art, 
 
 My Saviour, mine eternal rest; 
 Then only will this longing heart 
 
 Be fully and for ever blest. 
 Let me be with Thee, where Thou art, 
 
 Where none can die, where none remove ; 
 There neither death nor life will part 
 
 Me from thy presence and thy love." 
 
 Thus the opening words of consolation are those 
 which tell of the end. As has been observed, the 
 last promise comes first. Is that an instance of 
 the "divine confusion"? Say, rather, of divine 
 order. It came naturally, to relieve the first pain 
 of parting ; but it would have been adopted by the 
 most deliberate scheme of discourse. Now every- 
 thing else will fall into its place. Intermediate 
 promises and instructions will be felt to be inter- 
 mediate, and will derive accessions of fitness and 
 force from the consciousness of the conclusion to 
 wliich they lead. The passage through the valley 
 is changed, when once we have caught sight of 
 the hills beyond. We know, in all lines of life, 
 how differently things are understood, when felt 
 to be by the way and seen in relation to the end ; 
 and that can only be when the end has been 
 unveiled. We see, then, the reason for placing 
 this subject in the forefront, and so emitting a 
 light of hope which will shine on all that is to 
 follow. A discourse which opens in its first sen- 
 
138 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 tence with a fundamental principle of doctrine 
 on which everything is to rest, and then with a 
 supreme promise which gives command of the 
 whole situation, intimates an intention of order 
 and connexion in succeeding topics ; and this we 
 may hope to trace, though it seem to elude obser- 
 vation, in the current of communication so unre- 
 strained in manner and so profound in meaning. 
 
SELF-REVELATION 139 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 SELF-REVELATION 
 V. 4-11 
 
 Few words have served to ensure the end and 
 describe the final prospect. The teaching wanted 
 is for those who are yet upon the way. To know 
 the way which will lead to tlie end, to understand 
 its nature, its exigencies, and its provisions, these 
 are the necessities which the rest of the Discourse 
 supplies. Two considerations will assist its inter- 
 pretation. One is that the persons addressed are 
 individaal men at a certain moment of their own 
 experience, yet tliat they are a college formed for 
 the instruction of mankind, and put in trust with 
 the truths communicated to them in the interests 
 of the Church for ever. The other consideration 
 is, that what they are to learn now can only be 
 founded on what they have learned already ; since 
 that is a first principle in all effective education. 
 Therefore the Master's words are directed, first, to 
 assume a certain measure of knowledge ; then to 
 draw out a confession of its defect ; then to raise 
 it to the higher level. 
 
140 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 The subject of tlie ieaclnng and these purposes 
 in regard to it are condensed in the word of 
 introduction, — 
 
 " And whither I go, ye know the way." 
 
 This, the true reading, given in the Revised 
 Version, if less grammatical than that to which 
 we were accustomed, is more direct to the point. 
 To this assumption one voice, at least, demurs, 
 that of a disciple, whom we know from other in- 
 stances, is forward to express perplexed or down- 
 cast feelings. Yet doubtless he speaks for the 
 rest. Thomas saith, — 
 
 "Lord, we know not whither Thou goest: how do we 
 know the way?" 
 
 They knew it, as Jesus said ; yet, as Thomas 
 implied, they knew it not ! They knew it, for 
 they were in it by virtue of their relations with 
 their Lord ; but they knew it not in its character 
 of the way. So one may be walking in a road, 
 pleased with the actual scene, without much 
 knowledge of the destination to which it is in- 
 tended to lead. But that is the truth now to be 
 impressed. It is a grand, ample, and pregnant 
 answer, which these words call forth, a prime 
 principle of the future Christian Faith : — 
 
 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and 
 tlie life : no one cometh to the Fatlier but by me." 
 
 We know this : " I am " {eyco cIixl)., as distinctive 
 
IV SELF-KEVELATION 141 
 
 of the teaching of Christ. It is not, I make tlie 
 way ; I shew the truth ; I give the life : but all 
 this I am. The first predicate not heard before 
 gives the lesson now specially intended. The 
 two others, already well-known words, preserve 
 the fulness of the revelation. A way, taken by 
 itself, as means to an end, might have no wortli 
 beyond that office, great as its worth in that sense 
 might be ; but this case is not such. Jesus Christ 
 is not a mere expedient for salvation. His inter- 
 vention is not that oidy of a revealer of truth and 
 a conductor into life. He becomes the way, be- 
 cause He is absolutely the truth and the life in his 
 own nature, and relatively to man by communica- 
 tions of Himself. Tluis in the nature of things, 
 and not only by economic arrangement or positive 
 ordinance, He is for us " the way " to the Father, 
 to the spiritual world, and to the heavenly hoiue. 
 This is the lesson here, as contained in the leading 
 word and afterwards in the decisive exposition, 
 " No man cometli unto the Father, but by Me." 
 Two points may be noted. The coming is the act 
 of man, a voluntary coming ; and it is a coming 
 to God as the Father. We observe an advance 
 in the teaching, from place to Person, from the 
 Father's house to the Father Himself. The arri- 
 val at the house is now seen as the consequence 
 and consummation of a previous coming to tlie 
 Father. It is well said by Godet, — 
 
142 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 " Ce n'est pas dans le ciel qu'on trouve Dieu ; 
 C'est en Dieu qu'on trouve le ciel." (p. 467). 
 
 The Christianity of Christ is intensely personal, 
 in the sense of having directly to do with Persons. 
 Heaven is not the end proposed, nor is a creed or 
 method the way prescribed. The Father Himself 
 is the end ; Jesus Himself is the way. He is the 
 only way, — " No man cometh unto the Father, but 
 by Me." But had not men come to God in the 
 older time ? In reference to one in the earliest age 
 of the Avorld, it is argued, "He that cometh to 
 God must believe that He is ; and that He is a re- 
 warder of them that seek Him out " (Heb. xi. 6). 
 Thus in faintest light of revelation, with most ele- 
 mentary instructions to faith, men came to God. 
 Yes ! but this does not exclude mediating commu- 
 nications from the Eternal Word, nor does it affirm, 
 acceptance secured by other means than the pre- 
 destined work of " the Lamb slain from the foun- 
 dation of the world." Yet it is certain, that for 
 him " that is least in the kingdom of heaven," 
 there is a coming to the Father, different in char- 
 acter and effect from that which was attained 
 before. Since the manifestation of Jesus Christ 
 in the flesh, the sentence " No man cometh to the 
 Father, but by Me " has received an explicit mean- 
 ing, to be met by a corresponding faith. 
 
 What then is this coming (Scd) by or through 
 Him ? Like other sayings of this pregnant teach- 
 
IV SELF-REVELATION 143 
 
 ing, it will unfold into fuller revelation. Hence 
 interpretation may adopt separate truths and dif- 
 ferent lines of thought. One religious system will 
 interpret " by fulfilling his precepts " ; another, 
 " by likeness to his spirit " ; another, by reliance 
 on his merits ; another, by faith in his blood. But 
 every limited exposition falls short of the truth, 
 which the Lord has comprehended in the single 
 word "by ]\Ie." By the incarnation which creates 
 the meeting point for man with God, by the human 
 righteousness in which God is " well pleased," by 
 the cross and passion which remove the barrier of 
 sin, by the resurrection which raises man to a new 
 position, by the gift of the spirit which is life 
 towards God, by the perpetual efficacy and aid of 
 the mediation in heaven, — by all these means and 
 powers we have in Christ that " access " (jrpoa- 
 aycoyt]') to the Father of which the Apostolic writ- 
 ings so largely speak. There it is the constant 
 description of the Christian state, that " through 
 Tlim we have had our access by faith into this 
 grace wherein we stand " (Rom. v. 2) ; that 
 "through Him we have our access in one Spirit 
 unto the Father" (Eph. ii. 18) ; that "in Him we 
 have boldness and access in confidence through 
 our faith in Him" (iii. 15); that we "are made 
 nigh in the blood of Christ " (ii. 13) ; that we 
 have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood 
 of Jesus, by the way which He dedicated for us, a 
 
144 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 new and living way, through the veil — that is to 
 say, his llesh, and having (in Him) a great priest 
 over the house of God (Heb. x. 19-21), and finally 
 that, as ever living and interceding, " He is ahle 
 to save to the uttermost those that come unto God 
 through Him" (vii. 25). In these and many 
 like expressions, or rather in the entire Apostolic 
 Gospel, we recognise the expansion of the words 
 " I am the way. No man cometh unto the Father, 
 but by Me." 
 
 Thougli these truths will all unfold when " Jesus 
 is glorified," yet the first communication and con- 
 ception of them belongs to the time of his mani- 
 festation in the flesh. Knowledge received then 
 must be the foundation of knowledge which will 
 ensue. It had been received ; but how imper- 
 fectly ! how unintelligently ! The defect must be " 
 exposed and reproved. The knowledge must be 
 made conscious. It must be put into words ; and 
 a divine certainty given to it at this crisis of the 
 teaching. Therefore the Lord proceeds : — 
 
 " If ye had known nie, ye would have known my Father 
 also : from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 
 Philip s.aith unto him, Lord, shew ns the Father, and it 
 Rufficetli us. Jesus saith unto liim, Have I been so long time 
 with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he tliat hath 
 seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou. Shew us 
 the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, 
 and the Fatlicr in me? The words that T say unto you I 
 speak not from myself; but the Father abiding in me doeth 
 
IV SELF-REVELATION , 145 
 
 his works. Believe nie that I am in the Father, and the 
 Father in nie ; or else believe me for the very works' sake " 
 (7-11). 
 
 Not now for the first time are sucli words spoken. 
 Others lil^e tliem had been heard by the disciples 
 in tlie public pronouncements of their Lord. Does 
 He now say to them, "If ye had known Me, ye 
 would have known my Father also " ? So had He 
 said to the Jews, " Ye know neither Me nor my 
 Father ; if ye knew Me, ye would know my Father 
 also" (viii. 19). Does He now say, "He that 
 has seen Me hath seen the Father " ? So had He 
 said before, " He that believeth on Me believeth 
 on Him that sent Me ; and he that beholdetli Me 
 beholdeth Him that sent Me " (xii. 44, 45). Does 
 He say, " The Avords that I say unto you I speak 
 not from Myself: but the Father abiding in Me 
 doeth his works " ? So had He said, " I spake not 
 from Myself. . . . The things which I speak, even 
 as the Father said unto Me, so I speak " (xii. 49, 
 50). Does He say, " Believe Me that I am in the 
 Father, and the Father in Me ; or else believe Me 
 for the very works' sake " ? The same grounds 
 for the same belief had been urged before. "If I 
 do not the works of my Father, believe Me not. 
 But if I do them, though ye believe not Me, be- 
 lieve the works ; that ye may know and understand 
 that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father" 
 (x. 37, 38). No! there is nothing new in these 
 
 K 
 
146 „. THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 profound announcements and fundamental truths. 
 On these, what is now spoken to disciples had been 
 first addressed to the world. It is always so. 
 Men become believers and disciples not in response 
 to an esoteric teaching privately imparted, but by 
 reception of the common doctrine published to all. 
 To them, the difference is in the confiding tone of 
 the communications which ensue, and in the fur- 
 ther development of the truths they have received. 
 So in regard to these sayings : to the Jews the 
 message is closed; to the disciples it is opened 
 out. 
 
 In the words " If ye had known Me, ye woidd 
 have known my Father also," according to the cor- 
 rected reading (et iyvcoKetre /ie, koI tov watepa fiov 
 av ijSetre^ there is a discrimination in the character 
 of the knowledge by use of two different verbs ; the 
 first representing a knowledge acquired and pro- 
 gressive ; the second, a knowledge perceptive and 
 immediate. If the disciples had learned to know 
 Jesus, as they should have known Ilim, that would 
 have involved a perception of the Divine, a sense 
 of God in Him. The failure is worthy of sad 
 reproof, but it is not of such a kind as should close 
 the message. On the contrary, their measure of 
 attainment is assumed, and what it misses is now 
 to be given. 
 
 "From now (avr' dpri 'yivdio-KeTe) ye know (are 
 knowing or coming to know) Him and have seen 
 
IV SELF-REVELATION 147 
 
 Him." That last word, "have seen," evokes an 
 appeal which otherwise had scarcely been uttered, 
 — " Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." 
 Some discovery of the Invisible, otherwise than by 
 spoken word, has been intimated. Indeed, it seems 
 wanted. Like Moses, when he urged a like request, 
 " I beseech Thee shew me thy glory," they felt that 
 their faith needed some supernatural confirmation ; 
 one which would preclude doubt and satisfy long- 
 ing ; one of which they could sa}^, "It sufficeth us." 
 Like thoughts have wrought in many a heart, with 
 a secret feeling, that, for the faith demanded, what 
 is given does not suffice. That was the meaning 
 of the Jews when they required a sign from heaven. 
 It is the same plea, but not in the same spirit. 
 There it was in the scorn of unbelief, here it is in 
 the anxiety of unenlightened faith. It must be 
 shewn that what has been given seems not suffi- 
 cient, only because it has not been understood. 
 
 Philip, the first disciple in the second rank, is 
 here the spokesman for the rest. The answer is a 
 grave and tender remonstrance, passing into a dis- 
 tinct and sublime assertion. Through the whole 
 time that their Lord has been with them, the dis- 
 covery asked for had been going on. " He that 
 hath seen Me hath seen the Father." The Person 
 with whom they had companied, his life, his words, 
 his works, whicli they had witnessed, had been the 
 true answers to their request, indeed, the only pos- 
 
148 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 sible answers. " The lieavens declare the glory of 
 God " ; but the higher glory of his nature, in what 
 (for want of a better word) we call his moral attri- 
 butes, cannot be manifested in material works. 
 Holiness, grace, and truth can only appear in a 
 person, a character, a life. These came by Jesus 
 Christ. " No man hath seen God at any time ; the 
 only begotten Son, Avhich is in the bosom of the 
 Father, He hath declared Ilim " (John i. 17, 18). 
 The discovery has been made, the indwelling 
 Deity had shone before their eyes, the Father had 
 been manifested in the Son ; but as yet only dimly 
 descried by eyes which had been holden. The 
 truth must be made plain. " How sayest thou, 
 Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I 
 am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The 
 words that I say unto you I speak not from^ 
 Myself; but the Father abiding in Me, He doeth 
 his works. Believe Me, that I am in the Father, 
 and the Father in Me." 
 
 Here we reach the central truth, on which all else 
 depends ; twice affirmed here, and soon repeated 
 in the final Prayer : " Thou, Father, art in Me, 
 and I in Thee " (xvii. 23). All that is passing is 
 to be read as a history, not of God and Christ, but 
 of God in Christ. That is the character claimed 
 for all the words and works. That is the charac- 
 ter recognised afterwards in the one great work, 
 in which all the rest is compreliended ; God was 
 
IV SELF-REVELATION 149 
 
 in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself" 
 (2 Cor. V. 19). The secret of all is in the mys- 
 tery of the mutual indwelling, in the harmony of 
 action, mind, and will, resting on the essential 
 unity of nature. This involves the truth of, " I 
 am the way ; no man cometh unto the Father, but 
 by Me." This explains the charge, " Ye believe 
 in God ; believe also in Me." The foundation 
 doctrine of the discourse, and of Cliristianity itself, 
 is now complete. 
 
 But there is in this self-revelation a mystery, as 
 well as a majesty, which may claim a stronger 
 assurance than usual. That Jesus could sym- 
 pathise with the hesitations of faith is evinced by 
 the form of his present testimony, which adds to 
 an appeal for confidence the suggestion of an 
 argument in reserve. In so speaking. He has 
 thrown light on a question of no little moment. 
 
 A great demand is made on faith. What are 
 the grounds on which the claim is rested? Two 
 are indicated, " Believe Me (that I am in the 
 Father, and the Father in Me), or else believe Me 
 for the very works' sake." The same distinction 
 of reasons for faith, and for faith in the same 
 doctrine, had been made in discussion with the 
 Jews. " If ye believe not Me, believe the works " 
 (x. 38). The first ground for believing the asser- 
 tion made is in the person who makes it ; the 
 second, in the works which support it. The first 
 
150 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 appears as the primary claim ; the second as sup- 
 plementary or alternative : supplementary in the 
 case of disciples under the power of the personal 
 impression; alternative in the case of the Jews 
 who fail to feel it. 
 
 These sayings of the Lord seem to give his 
 own estimate of the "evidences of Christianity," a 
 question which has been much debated, and on 
 which different views are taken by minds of dif- 
 ferent habits. According to the first view, Jesus 
 Christ is his own evidence, by the force of his 
 unique personality, and by the impression which it 
 makes on the soul. According to the second, He 
 gives the evidence by works above natural power, 
 and by the conclusions which reason must draw. 
 The effect of the one evidence is heard in the cry 
 of the first disciples, who as yet had seen no 
 miracle : " We have found the Messias " ; " Thou 
 art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel " 
 (i. 41-48). The effect of the other is heard in 
 the acknowledgment of the candid Pharisee : " We 
 know that thou art a teacher come from God; for 
 no man can do these signs that thou doest excej)t 
 God be with him " (iii. 2). The conclusion in 
 the one case is from intuitive perception and 
 spiritual sympathy ; in the other, from deliberate 
 observation and logical reasoning. The one is a 
 more intimate conviction, and generates a higher 
 faith ; the otlier is more capable of verbal exposi- 
 
IV SELF-KEVELATION 151 
 
 tion and defence. These two kinds of evidence 
 have had with us an alternate influence. To a 
 generation suspicious of feeling and enthusiasm, 
 and trustful in the understanding alone, miracles 
 became the ideal evidence. Now, a generation, 
 impressed with the fixity of physical laws, and 
 appreciative of psychological considerations, is 
 disposed to slight the supernatural, and insist only 
 upon the moral evidence. But can the two be 
 severed? or the one dispense with the other? Is 
 there not a natural correspondence between the 
 Person and the works, the impression and the 
 signs which confirm it ? In these sayings of Jesus, 
 both kinds of evidence are combined and placed in 
 their relative positions. Thus man is appealed to 
 on the whole ; and the recognition by one part of 
 his nature is sustained by the conclusions of the 
 other. The witness within is of such a character 
 as to expect the witness from without; and the 
 witness without answers its end only by generating 
 the witness within. Thus, to believe the testi- 
 mony of Jesus concerning Himself for his own 
 sake, or to believe it for the works' sake, are 
 processes which in some sort include each other, 
 and in their combined effect create the full con- 
 fidence of faith. Yet, with a true disciple, the 
 evidence of works is only a subsidiary aid ; it is 
 knowledge of Jesus in Himself which inspires an 
 assured faith in his highest self-revelations. 
 
152 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PROMISE OF TOWER 
 
 V. 12-14 
 
 The works have been alleged as evidence for 
 the faith which has been claimed. It is now de- 
 clared that this evidence is not closed, and that 
 there is another course of it to come. In saying 
 this the discourse enters on tlie next stage of the 
 history, and opens the dispensation of the future. 
 This transition is an instance, not of any confu- 
 sion of topics, but of consecutive order. When the- 
 object of faith has been clearly presented, the life 
 of faith is to be unfolded ; and the brief decisive 
 ■exposition of what is to be believed concerning 
 Jesus leads to the information of what is to be 
 expected from Him. The transition is marked by 
 the Amen, Amen, which usually intimates such an 
 advance in divine disclosures as may need ratifica- 
 tion, on account either of its greatness or of its 
 strangeness to previous thought. So it stands 
 here, not only in connexion with the words imme- 
 diately following, but as bearing on all the rest of 
 the discourse. 
 
V THE PEOMISE OF POWER 153 
 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believetli on ine, 
 the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than 
 these shall he do ; because I go unto the Father. And what- 
 soever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the 
 Father may be glorified in the Son. Jf ye shall ask (me) 
 anything in my name, that will I do " (12-14). 
 
 We are now carried beyond the dividing line 
 of the dejjarture into tlie experiences wliich will 
 ensue for the disciples, and so into the history of 
 the Church, The action of Jesus in person is ex- 
 changed for that of the believer in Him, yet the 
 continuity of the histor}^ is preserved : " The works 
 which I do, shall he do also " ; but it is a continuity 
 of advance, " greater works than these shall he 
 do." The Author of them is also the same, for 
 the intermediate agent becomes such only as a 
 believer in Him and by prayer in his name ; and 
 " he will do " {irou'iaei), and, " I will do " (7rot);o-&)), 
 are expressed by the same verb. Also the works 
 are greater, as a consequence of the exaltation 
 of their Author, "because I go to the Father." 
 Thereby the fountain of power for the Church is 
 opened at the throne of God, and the resources of 
 heaven are pledged to the applications of faith and 
 prayer. Finally all is directed to one end, " That 
 the Father may be glorified in the Son." 
 
 Thus in pregnant words and brief outline the 
 dispensation of the future is described : its conti- 
 nuity with the preceding histor}-, its greater ele- 
 
154 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 vation and expansion, its author and governor, its 
 ministers and agents, its means and methods, the 
 secret of its power, its intent and end. 
 
 Soon will the disciples prove the truth of this 
 account which now they can but very faintly ap- 
 prehend. As believers in the risen and ascended 
 Lord, they will do such works as He did on earth, 
 so far and so long as there is just occasion for 
 them, but they will find that occasion superseded 
 by the greater works to which these ^vill conduce. 
 The few scores of adherents whom the ministry of 
 Jesus had attracted will become the many thou- 
 sands of believers whom the Apostles will gather. 
 The fabric of the Church will rise under their 
 hands, and spiritual life will follow on their word. 
 In all this they will know no power but that of 
 their ascended Lord, and no means of success but 
 prayer in his name. They will count that it is He 
 who works all things by them, and will seek no 
 end lower than this, " that God in all things may 
 be glorified through Jesus Christ " (1 Pet. iv. 11). 
 Having their acts and their writings under the 
 dispensation which is here announced, we can see 
 how the facts fulfilled the promises. As yet they 
 understood not these things, but in hearing the 
 words they must have felt that there were rising 
 before them new sources of comfort and new pros- 
 pects of hope. 
 
 Among the elements of the future, which this 
 
V THE TROMISE OF POWER 155 
 
 passage contains, is the special feature and distinc- 
 tive characteristic of Christian prayer ; namely, 
 the asking in the name of Jesus. Not possible 
 during the companionship in the flesh, it is now 
 heard for the first time, being implied in the 
 higher faith which has just been tauglit, and 
 proper to the dispensation which is at hand. 
 Twice is it repeated here, once in respect of 
 "whatsoever ye shall ask the Father," once on 
 the supposition, " if ye shall ask Me " ; the last 
 word being an uncertain but probable reading. If 
 adopted, it conveys an admitted truth, illustrated 
 by the earliest examples of Christian prayer (Acts 
 i. 124 ; vii. 59, Q6')^ by the language of the Apos- 
 tolic writings, and frequent in the devotions of 
 the Church. But direct address to the glorified 
 Son of Man is (as in our Liturgy) occasional. 
 Prayer in his name is a perpetual act, an abiding 
 consciousness and intention. " Through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord " sounds through all worship, in 
 all churches, and all ages. It is no mystery. Re- 
 quests made in the name of another are under- 
 stood to imply the appropriation to one's self of 
 his claims, his merits, his rights to be heard. 
 Such appropriation and the admission of it can 
 only rest on close relationship and definite author- 
 isation. Both these exist in the present case : 
 relationship, in that we appear before God as mem- 
 bers of Christ; authorisation, in his own ordi- 
 
156 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 nance expressed in other places, and first in this. 
 Tlie phrase, " ask in m}' name," occurs five times 
 afterwards in these discourses, and at the close as a 
 final charge reiterated and emphatic (xvi. 24, 26). 
 Thus was given to the Church not a mere devo- 
 tional form, but a new ground on which the wor- 
 shipper stands ; a new plea for the success of his 
 petitions ; and, in fact, a wholly new character to 
 prayer, since it must be brought into unison with 
 the mind of Him in whose name it is presented. 
 
 How welcome is this charge ! how suited to all 
 our need ! Certainly it is a positive ordinance, 
 but is felt as a moral necessity ; in view, on the 
 one side, of the disabilities of sin, and on the other, 
 of the relations of the believer with his Saviour. 
 The most elementar}^ prayer, if true at all, finds 
 in this ordinance comfort and relief ; and in pro- 
 portion as knowledge of sin grows deeper, and 
 approaches to God are more close, and as emer- 
 gencies of spiritual life multiply, and its capacities 
 and desires enlarge, in that proportion is there an 
 increasing power and sweetness in this use of the 
 prevailing name. So all liturgies and public de- 
 votions, all private prayers and supplications, all 
 secret communion with God, and unuttered breath- 
 ings of the soul, have derived their tone and life 
 from this ordinance of the central chapter of the 
 Gospel. 
 
THE PKOMISE OF THE PARACLETE 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE PROMISE OF THE PARACLETE 
 V. 15-24 
 
 The words of promise thus given, important as 
 they were, yet did not meet tlie case. They did 
 not afford the consolation needed b}^ those troubled 
 souls. A prospect of works to be done, and gifts 
 to be supplied for doing them, did not take ac- 
 count of the real distress, or answer the desolate 
 feelings of the moment. The departure, which is 
 at liand, means indehnite separation with the loss 
 of the dear presence in which they have lived, and 
 of the companionship which has been their guid- 
 ance and support. It means also the disappoint- 
 ment of their just expectation that their Lord 
 was about to be manifested to the world. These 
 are the thoughts which amaze and depress their 
 hearts ; and to meet these thoughts, the rest of the 
 discourse is directed. Addressed, as it is, to the 
 feelings of the men at the moment, it remains a 
 revelation of enduring truth, and is still for us 
 a divine interpretation of the dispensation under 
 which we live. 
 
158 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 It is best, I think, to read as one section the 
 promises which respond to these desolations of the 
 heart, and which substitute for the experiences 
 of separation and loneliness .the hope of another 
 Comforter, another advent, a more intimate asso- 
 ciation, and a more elevating manifestation. 
 
 " If ye love me, ye will keep my commandment.s. And I 
 will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Com- 
 forter, that he may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of 
 truth, whom the world cannot receive ; because it seeth him 
 not, neither knoweth him ; ye know him, for he abideth 
 with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you deso- 
 late ; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world 
 beholdeth me no more, but ye behold me ; because I live, ye 
 shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in my 
 Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my com- 
 mandments, 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. 
 
 "Judas (not Iscariot) saith unto him, Lord, what is 
 come to pass that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not 
 luito the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a 
 man love me, he will keep my word : 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 words; 
 and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's 
 which sent me " (15-24). 
 
 Before the promises there is a jjroviso. It is 
 premised that there is a state of lieart and a cluir- 
 acter of life to whicli thev belong. As the works 
 
THE PROMISE OF THE TAKACLETE 
 
 ._ _,_ 159 
 
 and the gifts of power were made dependent on 
 faith and prayer, so the experiences now foretold 
 presuppose the life of love and dnty. This appro- 
 priation is laid down to begin with, and is insisted 
 on more largely as the promises unfold. The pref- 
 erable reading, "If ye love Me, ye will keep my 
 commandments," gives the future instead of the 
 imperative of the Authorized Version, rather de- 
 scribing a process than imposing a condition ; but 
 the meaning is the same; namely, that these are 
 promises which belong only to him who loves and 
 obeys In -If ye love ^le " we hear a confiding 
 rather than a doubtful tone. The love is supposed, 
 as elsewhere it is expressly recognised (xvi. 10- 
 But it proves trne love only in one way, "If ye 
 love Me, ye will keep my commandments"; and 
 again "He that hath my commandments and 
 keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." There 
 is a voice of divine authority in the phrase, " my 
 commandments" (tA? evro\'a<, rk<, Ifxh^. the com- 
 mandments which are mine). They claim obedi- 
 ence, but the obedience of love; and love will 
 render it. Love is the spring of action, and is 
 in its nature free; but it is not left to its own 
 impulses; it acknowledges authority; it is placed 
 under rule, and includes the element of obliga- 
 tion This connexion of love and commandment 
 dwelt on the mind of the Evangelist, and reap- 
 pears more than once in his Epistle. It is not 
 
160 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 according to the tendencies of human nature, as 
 we all know; and as St. Paul lias set forth in 
 the seventh chapter to the Romans in recording his 
 experience of the law and its effects. It is, in fact, 
 distinctive of CJirisfiaji duty and of the morality 
 of the Crospel. In Christ the claims of authority 
 and the affections of the heart agree in one. Here, 
 as ever, the teaching of Jesus fixes our minds 
 on the practical side of religion ; on the doing 
 what we know, on the living and walking by his 
 words. In this present teaching, which is, in its 
 intention, a ministr}" of promise, opening out the 
 higher blessings of the state of grace. He still 
 provides that it shall not even seem to be dissoci- 
 ated from the ministry of commandment. How 
 can we better respond to it than in the words of 
 the collect, fitted for habitual use ? asking of Him 
 " who alone can order the unruly wills and affec- 
 tions of sinful men," that He will "grant to his 
 people to love the thing which He commandeth, 
 and to desire that which He doth j)romise, that so, 
 among the sundry and manifold changes of the 
 world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where 
 true joys are to be found." 
 
 Now we enter on the i)romises, the special prom- 
 ises whit'li are in (Christ, addressed, as we have 
 seen, to the faith which believes in Him, the love 
 
VI THE rROMISEOF THE PARACLETE U'.l 
 
 which adheres to Him, the obedience which keeps 
 his words ; and now first we hear the promise, 
 inclusive of the rest, and distinctive of the New 
 Covenant — that of the Holy Ghost, the Com- 
 forter. 
 
 Had it not been heard before? Never as it is 
 now. Yet was it the first announcement, when 
 Jesus entered on the scene of action, "" On whom 
 thou slialt see tlie Spirit, descending and remain- 
 ing on Him, the same is He which baptiseth with 
 the Holy Ghost" (i. 33). On Him the Spirit 
 remained ; but that He baptised with the Holy 
 Ghost does not appear, at least by any phenomena 
 which made it evident, or by any consciousness 
 of it, which is expressed by disciples. If we ex- 
 cept the promise that, when needful for their testi- 
 mony, the Spirit of their P'ather will speak by them ; 
 and the statement to Nicodemus that the new birth 
 is " of the Spirit " ; and the phrase, " your Father, 
 Avhich is in lieaven, shall give the Holy Spirit to 
 them that ask Him," the equivalent in St. Luke 
 (xi. 13); for "shall give good things" (Matt, 
 vii. 1), it is observable that, in the teaching of 
 Jesus in the flesh, the doctrine of the Holy Ghost 
 is conspicuous by its absence, or, if present, is 
 veiled in parable and prediction. For this marked 
 reserve concerning it, St. John has given the rea- 
 son, when afterwards, writing in the dispensation 
 of the Spirit, he interprets the words concerning 
 
162 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 the "living water." "This spake He of the Spirit, 
 wliich they that believed on Him were to receive ; 
 for the Spirit was not yet; because Jesus was not 
 yet glorified." The reason given for the reserve 
 supplied the reason for terminating it, in the teach- 
 ing which now expounds the situation which is to 
 follow after that great change shall have occurred. 
 Then, it is said, " I will pray the Father, and He 
 shall give you another Comforter, that He may be 
 with you for ever — the Spirit of truth." When 
 the work on earth is finished, by request made in 
 the glory that follows, the gift is to be obtained 
 and bestowed. Three expressions are used here, 
 " I will ask — and He will give " ; again, " Whom 
 the Father will send in my name " (vi. 26) ; and yet 
 again, " Whom I will send to you from the Father " 
 (xv. 26, xvi. 7). Thus the gift is ascribed to God 
 in Christ, to Christ in God, while the personality 
 attributed to Him who is sent involves a revela- 
 tion of the Trinity. 
 
 But the word " Paraclete " is also a revelation in 
 respect of his relations with the spirit and life of 
 man. In form it describes one called to the side 
 of another ; in intention it expresses the purpose 
 for which he is come, the friendly office which he' 
 there fulfils. Many are the emergencies of human 
 life, and many are the forms of help which they 
 require, and all are included in this great compre- 
 hensive name. If we wish to distinguish, we may 
 
VI THE PROMISE OF THE PARACLETE 1(53 
 
 range them in two divisions, the advocacy of our 
 cause before others, the support of companionship 
 to ourselves. When we think of the one office, 
 we speak of an advocate ; when of the other, of a 
 comforter. But the same person will fulfil either 
 office as need requires ; and both are included in 
 the word " Paraclete." f Therefore the choice of the 
 English equivalent in any particular case may be 
 dictated by the nature of the occasion and the 
 general feeling of the situation. If so, the Revis- 
 ers have done well in retaining the old rendering 
 " the Comforter " in the four passages in which 
 " Paraclete " here occurs, as they were plainly 
 right in retaining that of "Advocate " in the only 
 other passage where it is found (1 John ii. 1). 
 The situation presented in the Gospel more natu- 
 rally suggests the first rendering, while that con- 
 templated in the Epistle certainly prescribes the 
 second. Here " another Paraclete " is promised 
 in tenderest sympathy with the actual feelings of 
 the men now about to lose that companionship 
 of their Master which had been their life, their 
 strength, and their stay. ) When He says " another 
 Paraclete " He takes the title as descriptive of 
 what they knew He had been to them, while He 
 had gone out and come in among them. That 
 experience interprets the meaning of the promise. 
 We must read the word " Comforter " in its true 
 and old English sense, not in the lower and feebler 
 
164 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 meaning which it mostly carries now.*^ It speaks 
 of strength, support, encouragement, given to the 
 life of thought and action, still more than of con- 
 solation in trial or sorrow. Yes ! it was a word to 
 cheer and strengthen men about to be launched on 
 the experiences of a new life, of an arduous work, and 
 of conflict with a hostile world. In their conscious 
 weakness and dimness of mind they will need a 
 fellowship with strength and light ; and they shall 
 have it; they shall not be left alone. The old 
 association ends, but a new association is to suc- 
 ceed, one habitual and permanent, with no limit 
 to its continuance, in that respect contrasted with 
 that which has lasted so few years and has reached 
 the parting hour. The promise is for all genera- 
 tions of believers and to the end of time He " shall 
 be with you (ei? rov alSiva) for ever." 
 
 Who, then, is this companion of the future, tliis 
 eternal Paraclete ? " Even the Spirit of trutli.'' 
 The attribute of truth, thus chosen to characterise 
 the Spirit and the Spirit's work, at once connects 
 the gift with the deepest needs of man and the 
 
 1 Comfort : Fr. couforter ; ecclesiastical Latin, conforto 
 (from fortis ' strong '), properly ' to strengthen.' — Aldis Wright's 
 "Bible Word Book," pp. 146, 147. Examples are given from the 
 Old Testament, from legal documents and treaties, from Shake- 
 speare and Bacon, and two curious instances, one from Wiclif, 
 who renders (Is. xli. 7), "he comfortcth hym with nailes, that 
 it sh'i not be moved" — and another from the earlier version 
 which gives for I'hil. iv. 13, " I may alle things in him that com- 
 furtelh mc." 
 
VI THE PROMISE OF THE PARACLETE 165 
 
 highest purposes of God. It phices the history to 
 come ill line with that which is past, the work of 
 the Spirit with that of Jesus in the flesh. " For 
 this end (He said), was I born, and for this cause 
 came I unto the Avorld, that I might bear witness 
 to the truth" (xviii. 37). It corresponds with the 
 Apostolic calling of those who are to be deposita- 
 ries, witnesses, and preachers of the truth amid the 
 ignorance, errors, and falsehoods of the world. 
 Their testimony now will not be the mere outcome 
 of their personal apprehensions ; it will l)e " tlie 
 Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is 
 the truth " (1 John v. 7) ; and He is so in a fuller 
 sense than the truest word can be.^ Thus a neces- 
 sary adaptation as well as a vast resource is con- 
 tained in the name "the vSpirit of truth." 
 
 But to the world the Spirit is unreal, only a 
 metaphysical expression, or a poetic fiction. It 
 "cannot receive Ilim, because it beholdeth Ilim 
 not " in the visible sense, " neither knoweth Him " 
 by intellectual process. In it the preparatory ap- 
 prehensions and sympathetic affinities are wanting. 
 But they are not wanting in the little company 
 
 1 " L'enseignementdes clioses divines par le moyen de la parole 
 ne peut jamais nous en donner qu'une idee confuse : quelque 
 habilement que soit employe ce moyen de communication, il ne 
 peut produire dans Tame de I'auditeur qu'une image de la 
 verite. L'enseignement de T Esprit, an contraire, fait penetret 
 la verity dans Tame : il lui donne ainsi pleine realit6 au dedans 
 de nous, et eu fait pour nous la verite " (Godct, ii. 177). 
 
166 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 which surrounds the person of Jesus. Besides the 
 impression made by his words nnd works, there 
 was an indefinable sense of the Spirit Avhich abode 
 upon Ilim. Therein was a mystery beyond their 
 knowledge. The human nature in Christ, not 
 only derived from conjunction with Deity all such 
 perfections as it was itself apt to receive, but from 
 his baptism it was also anointed with such a 
 superadded gift of the Spirit as was proper for the 
 purposes of his manifestation.^ Hence the disci- 
 ples had felt in the jjresence of their Lord the 
 character and action of the Spirit that was in Ilim, 
 so that it could be said to them, " Ye know Him, 
 for He dwelleth with j^ou," or, more literally, "is 
 abiding (Trapa) beside you." 
 
 Now it is added, " and shall be in you." That is 
 a great advance. The same Spirit which was in 
 Christ, which in his Deity was one with Him, and 
 in his humanity rested upon Him, was in the 
 coming time to be in them, no longer only telling 
 on them as an influence from without, l>ut, as 
 Paraclete, dwelling and working within, in asso- 
 ciation with their own spirit. The faith in this 
 promise and the experience of its fulfilment 
 breathe, as we know, through all the apostolic 
 writings, making them a continual expression of 
 "the communion of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Great was the promise ; but could it be accepted 
 1 Hooker, B. v. ch. 54. 
 
VI THI<: PKOMISE OF THE PARACLETE 107 
 
 as a substitute for the preseuce and fellowship of 
 the Lord Himself? Never, by any heart that 
 loved Him. That would mean bereavement and 
 desolation. Nor is it an exchange which his own 
 love could propose. The promise is not of a sub- 
 stitution which excludes, but of a means which 
 secures, his presence. " I Avill not leave you deso- 
 late " (^6p(f)avov<;, orphans, now one of the most 
 touching of English words). "/ cojne to you.'''' 
 Does the Spirit of Christ enter the soul ? Then it 
 is Christ who enters. That is a true coming, and 
 a real communion. 
 
 But it must be so on both sides. On his part it 
 is pledged ; but how will it be on theirs ? What 
 will be their consciousness, their perceptions, their 
 understanding of this fact? The question is an- 
 ticipated. Yes ! they shall see, they shall know, 
 they shall have the experience of manifestation 
 and the sense of fellowship. 
 
 It is true He must disappear. " Yet a little 
 while, and the world beholdeth Me no more." 
 (He has walked in the sight of men, and has been 
 observed with superficial wonder. But that mani- 
 festation has reached its end. That kind of be- 
 holding, the only kind of which the world was 
 capable, can be no more.) " But ye behold Me " 
 (^ufiei<; Se Oecopelre fie^. They have already another 
 faculty of sight which will grow clearer yet. Still 
 will their Master remain before their minds as 
 
168 THE DISCOITKSES chap. 
 
 the great object of faith, and fill the field of vision. 
 To the world lie will be a name in history ; to 
 them, a living presence, and one from which their 
 own life will be derived. " Because I live, ye 
 shall live also." What a security is this ! Wliat 
 a charter to hold by ! What a life in which to 
 partake ! Fully were these brief sentences un- 
 folded in the after-experience of the Church. 
 They may even be said to be an epitome of the 
 Epistles. There the believer has ever in full view 
 the living Lord, and finds in his life the source 
 and supplies of his own, a Christ who lives in him, 
 in whom he lives, and with whom he shall live 
 for ever. 
 
 It is of tlie experience of that time that Jesus is 
 speaking here. In that day (the day when He 
 is gone, and the Spirit given), "in that day ye 
 shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in INIe, 
 and I in you." lie had said before to Philip, 
 " Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and 
 the Father in Me ? " for that truth might have 
 been, and ought to have been, already believed. 
 But the knowledge now s[)()ken of belonged only 
 to " that day," future then, but present soon and 
 now. Then was consummated the scheme for 
 union of man with God, through Christ in heaven 
 abiding in his Fatlicr, and on earth abiding in his 
 people, as they also in II im. Of that mutual in- 
 dwelling He will soon speak again (xvi. 4-7); but 
 
VI THE PEOMISE OF THE PAEACLETE 169 
 
 here He says it shall be known. And so it is ; as 
 we oft record in the act which renews and seals 
 this union, humbly adopting these words of his, 
 and saying, " Then we dwell in Christ, and Christ 
 in us ; we are one with Christ, and Christ with 
 us." 
 
 Having thus revealed the powers of spiritual 
 life, the Lord reverts to the qualifications for it. 
 He had begun Avith, " If ye love Me, ye will keep 
 my commandments " ; He ends with, " He that 
 hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it 
 is that loveth Me." The great promise is enclosed 
 between these two sayings, the first presenting 
 love as the spring of obedience; the second, obe- 
 dience as the proof of love. So carefully has He 
 marked the appropriation of the gift to those only 
 who are capable of receiving it. 
 
 Love, true practical love, constitutes the qualifi- 
 cation ; but it is more than a qualification. We 
 must regard it in its atmosphere of happiness 
 created by divine reciprocit}", " He that loveth Me 
 shatl be loved of m}^ Father, and I will love him, 
 and will manifest M3^self to him." The assertion 
 is that, where such love to Christ exists, there a 
 greater love is in action on the other side, the love 
 of the Father to one who loves the Son, and the 
 love of the Son as Friend and Saviour, making 
 the confidences and discoveries which are proper 
 to the nature of love («al efi^aviaoy auroi kfiav- 
 
170 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 top'). "I will manifest Myself to him," disclose 
 to him what I am myself and ^vhat I am to him.^ 
 
 Here the subject has been brought to a close, 
 
 and the consoling promise is completed. But 
 
 there is an anxiety in the minds of the disciples 
 
 which the words have not met, nay, which tliey 
 
 seem to set aside. One Avho, we may suppose, felt 
 
 it most, Judas (not the Iscariot who had gone out 
 
 into the night) Thaddeus, takes occasion from the 
 
 last word to utter the thought of his heart. 
 
 "Lord," he says, "what is come to pass that to 
 
 us Thou art about to manifest Thyself and not 
 
 unto the world?" All that has been said has been 
 
 of an interior revelation to themselves ; but what 
 
 then of public discovery and manifestation to the 
 
 Avorld ? Shall not the unbelieving world be made 
 
 to own the truth of the Lord's mission, and to 
 
 acknowledge his rights and glory? The words 
 
 have even seemed to disallow that hope. The 
 
 Paraclete will come to them, but the world will 
 
 not know Him ; their Lord will be seen by them, 
 
 but the world will not behold Ilim ; He will mani-. 
 
 fest Himself, but only to those who love Him. 
 
 ^ The verb ifi^avl^bj is not the ordinary and frequent woi'd 
 wliich is rendered by "manifest." It is used five times in the 
 Acts (xxii. 15 ; xxiii. 22 ; xxiv. 1 ; xxv. 2 and 15) of disclos- 
 ures made or information i^iven ; also in the passive voice, of 
 special "appearings" (Matt, xxvii. 53; Heb. xxiv.). 
 
THE PROMISE OF THE PARACLETE 171 
 
 What lias happened (ji y^yovev;) to change the 
 expected course of things? It was a natural ques- 
 tion. False and true Messianic hopes were min- 
 gled in the hearts of the disciples, and the end 
 to which they had thought they were approaching 
 seemed now to be vanishing from their sight. 
 There was a tone of the false idea and of the 
 very spirit of the world in the anxious question of 
 Judas. The same spirit had spoken more plainly 
 in the brethren of the Lord (vii. 3, 4), " If Thou 
 do these things, shew Thyself to the world." We 
 understand these feelings; they are common to 
 man ; never more so than now. " Shetv Thysdf to 
 the ivorliV may stand as the motto of our time. 
 The world, the multitude, numbers, a "great 
 work," a theatre of action, popular applause, 
 acknowledged success, publicity, advertisement of 
 self and proclamation on the housetops, — these 
 are reigning ideas; they infect religion and the 
 Church; they alloy the motives, and deteriorate 
 the character of Christian service; and they im- 
 pair the interest in that interior life to which the 
 preceding promises belong. The prevalent Mes- 
 sianic idea was instinct with this worldly spirit, 
 and it had not yet been wholly banished from the 
 hearts of the disciples. There was indeed to be 
 a manifestation and conquest and success, but not 
 of the kind they dreamed of. It was not now the 
 time to explain, and the present teaching was in 
 
172 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 another region of thought. "Jesus answered and 
 said unto liim, If a man love Me, he will keep my 
 word, 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 words." 
 Was this an answer ? Yes, in the truest sense : 
 an implied answer to the question ; a direct answer 
 to the feeling which it betrayed ; calling back the 
 mind from a side issue and a misleading line of 
 thought, and giving to the truth, which seemed 
 to have been slighted, a fresh confirmation and 
 more touching form. It is a truth not for the 
 world, but for the man ; for him who " keeps the 
 word of Christ " (not the words, but the ivord as a 
 whole), and it contemplates not a public discovery 
 of power, but a sort of domestic visitation of love. 
 The language combines a homely tone with its 
 grand and gracious meaning. "We will come 
 unto him." Who is this that, uniting Himself 
 with the Eternal, speaks of what " We will " do ? 
 And who are these Ouests who come to a poor 
 man's door (and all are poor before Them), and 
 come to enter in, and that not to visit, but to 
 stay? "We will make our abode with him" 
 (^fjiovrjv nvap avru) iroLrjaofiev). The same word is 
 employed which had been used before of the abid- 
 ing-places, or "mansions," in tlie Father's house. 
 It describes a settled habit and habitation, and 
 breathes of the atmosphere of home. By him 
 
VI THE rilOMlSE UF THE PARACLETE 173 
 
 wlio " kept the word," the promise was felt as ful- 
 filled. Lonsf afterwards St. John wrote to "the 
 elect lady," " lie that abideth in the doctrine, he 
 hath both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9). 
 
 A concluding word glances at the opposite case, 
 " lie that loveth Me not keepeth not my words." 
 So the world is excluded, and the hearer warned. 
 To all is added the seal of the oft-repeated affirma- 
 tion, " And the word which ye hear is not mine, 
 but the Father's which sent Me." 
 
174 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PROMISE OF TEACHING 
 
 V. 25, 26 
 
 " The word which ye hear is not mine, but the 
 Father's which sent Me." Has that word reached 
 its end, and is his teaching now to cease ? It 
 woukl seem so, since tliese are the last hours of 
 intercourse, and He is going where his disciples 
 cannot come. Had He then said all that He had 
 to say? was his teaching then complete? Was 
 the word delivered in the days of his flesh the 
 whole word that was really his ? That would be 
 a great question for the Church afterwards ; it 
 was a great question for the disciples then. To 
 them He had been the Teacher (o StSao-AraXo?); 
 that was the relation in which they had known 
 Him. And they had been his disciples indeed; 
 his words had entered into their souls. " To 
 whom," they said, "sliall we go? Thou hast 
 words of eternal life." Yet had they apprehended 
 those words imperfectly ; and their education was 
 still in an early stage. Much that they had heard 
 was in their minds undefined and incoherent. 
 
VII PROMISE OF TEACHING 175 
 
 rather the materials than the forms of thought, 
 and much woukl even pass from remembrance, if 
 not fixed by a more clear intelligence. The defect 
 of that intelligence had been shown by their ques- 
 tions at this very time ; and the great words of 
 revelation to which they had been listening must 
 have made them feel more deeply than ever the 
 need of further teaching. The assurance that 
 they were to have it is an essential point in this 
 discourse of consolation. 
 
 " These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding 
 with you. But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, w^honi 
 the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all 
 things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said 
 unto you" (25, 26). 
 
 This declaration is explicit. The teaching which 
 Jesus came to give was not yet completed, and 
 was not to end with his sojourn upon earth. By 
 " these things I have spoken to you," He intends 
 all the lessons of the past ; and by " while abiding 
 with you " {'Trap' u/xlv fiivojv') He implies that this 
 abiding will be no more. But the teaching is not 
 over ; it will be continued by the Paraclete, who is to 
 be sent in " his name," as his representative, to carry 
 on his lessons, and to recall and interpret his 
 words. Also, as has been said, the SjDirit is the 
 same, who in the person, words, and works of Jesus 
 has been already present in the earlier stage of 
 teaching. Now He is described b}^ the name which 
 
176 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 the Church adopts and celebrates for ever, "the 
 Holy Spirit," or (shall we say ?) the Holy Ghost. 
 Why break the living threads of language which 
 connect our faith with that of our own forefathers ? 
 If scholars read, " the Holy Spirit, the Advocate," 
 let the people still say, "the Holy Ghost, the 
 Comforter." It is no mere power or influence 
 which is expressed in that name ; and in this place 
 the personality of the Spirit is emphasised when 
 the neutral form of the word Trvev/na changes, in 
 the pronoun " He " (e/ceti^o?), into masculine form 
 and personal sense. But that is only noticeable as 
 being the expression of a truth implied through- 
 out. So Stier has said. " Is not the personal, 
 official name, in equality with the person of Jesus, 
 in itself decisive ? He who can regard all the there- 
 with connected personal expressions (of teaching, 
 reminding, testifying, coming, convincing, guiding, 
 speaking, hearing, prophesying, taking) in these 
 three chapters as being no other than a long-drawn- 
 out figure, deserves not to be recognised even as 
 an interpreter of intelligible words, much less an 
 expounder of Holy Scripture." This clear enun- 
 ciation of the doctrine of the Holy Ghost in respect 
 of nature and office is one chief feature which 
 marks the central character of all this teaching; 
 for the revelation itself is central, both in the his- 
 tory of the Gospel and as an article of the Creed, 
 standintjc in the latter as well as in the former 
 
VII PROMISE OF TEACHING 177 
 
 between the manifestation of Christ on the one 
 .side, and the life of the Church on the other. 
 
 The office of teacher, here (and afterwards) 
 assigned to the Spirit, is part of his office of Com- 
 forter. To the awakened mind, to tlie anxious 
 soul, comfort, in its true sense, can only come 
 through teaching. It is the truth alone which 
 will satisfy ; it is the word which must strengthen, 
 gladden, and support. The promise here describes 
 this teaching (1) in its general character, (2) in 
 its special method (^Si8d^€L koX viro/xv/jaei}. 
 
 It is a general promise, and a large one. " He 
 shall teach you all things " ; all that is, for which 
 divine teaching is needed, " all that is to be known 
 for salvation and life eternal " (Stier),or, as is after- 
 wards more distinctly expressed, all the truth (xvi. 
 13). It was a needful promise to those who were 
 themselves to be teachers of the world. The sub- 
 jects of this teaching will appear more particularly 
 in the next discourse. In this, for the purpose of 
 consolation and assurance, the general promise is 
 sufficient. 
 
 But this future teaching is not to be severed 
 from that which preceded it. It is the continua- 
 tion of the personal teaching of Jesus ; and its 
 first office is to recall, perpetuate, and interpret 
 the words of his lips : " He shall teach you all 
 things and bring to your rememlmmcc all that I 
 have said unto you."' The things that Jesus said 
 
 M 
 
178 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 are for ever the firm grounds of our faith, and the 
 germinant principles of Christian thought, and 
 there is nothing developed in the second stage of 
 divine teaching which has not its root and sub- 
 stance in the first. Every doctrine expanded in 
 the Epistles roots itself in some pregnant saying 
 in the Gospels ; and the original intimation of every 
 truth opened by the Spirit to the Apostles came to 
 them first from the lips of the Son of Man. The 
 later revelation may enlarge the earlier, may dis- 
 cover its fulness, or define its applications ; but the 
 earlier revelation stands behind it still, and we owe 
 our first knowledge of every part of the Gospel to 
 those communications in which the salvation " be- 
 gan to be spoken by the Lord" (Heb. ii. 3). We 
 can observe this fact for ourselves by comj)arative 
 study of these sacred writings. It rests on the 
 fulfilment of the promise, " He shall bring to your 
 remembrance all things that I said to you." 
 
 Since, then, it was through these men that Jesus 
 would teach the world for ever, if any graces were 
 bestowed upon them at all, this grace of special 
 remembrance would be the most important for them 
 to receive, seeing it was needed for the preserva- 
 tion of the foundations of the faith. No wonder 
 it is thus definitely promised in the first account of 
 the work of the Spirit. Such a grace of remem- 
 brance would have two consequences, — one the 
 adequate report and perpetuation of the words of 
 
vir PROMISE OF TEACHING 179 
 
 Christ, the other the growing apprehension of 
 their significcince through continued presence in 
 the mind under this heavenly guidance. 
 
 As to the first, we may adopt the words of Afford 
 in his note on the passage : " It is on the fulfilment 
 of this promise to the Apostles that their sufficiency 
 as witnesses of all that the Lord did and taught, 
 and consequently the authenticity of the Gospel 
 narrative is grounded." This adequacy or suffi- 
 ciency of report does not, I think, exclude such 
 variations of remembrance as belong to the nature 
 of human memory, variations which might well 
 be used, under this spiritual guidance, for the more 
 complete rendering of the whole report. But it 
 does exclude such variations as would be divergent 
 from the intention of the Speaker, and would fail 
 to render the real meaning of his words ; since 
 his own Spirit, presiding over the remembrance, 
 would secure the true expression of his mind. 
 There is no small importance in this considera- 
 tion, in its bearing on differences of verbal report, 
 which no doubt existed in the oral teaching, as 
 they do in the written records. It must certainly 
 have the effect of making the questions that may 
 thus arise of minor consequence, since it adds the 
 security of divine superintendence to that of 
 responsible recollection. 
 
 It need scarcely be said that a natural effect of 
 the vivid remembrance of things is a clearer Intel- 
 
180 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 ligence in regard to them, and a more certain esti- 
 mate of their character and importance. In our 
 common experience nothing is better known to us 
 than this. Indeed, how many — how very many — 
 things are only understood in remembrance ! We 
 see them after they are over, free from the confus- 
 ing circumstances and disordered feelings of the 
 moment ; we consider them with more thoughtful 
 reflection and more impartial judgment; we con- 
 template them from a distance which enables us to 
 see them as a whole, and in their relations to other 
 things which go far to explain them ; and this is 
 more true and more observable in proportion to 
 the greater gravity or deeper significance of the 
 things remembered. 
 
 Never certainly did any acts or words so evi- 
 dently await this subsequent illumination as those 
 which were seen and heard by the followers of 
 Jesus during the brief period in which He was 
 with them. Often did He rebuke their dulness of 
 apprehension and mistakes about his sayings at the 
 time. Sometimes He told them, as repeated in 
 these very discourses, that they would find the 
 profit of his words in the future, — "I have told 
 you before it come to pass that when it is come to 
 pass ye may believe " (v. 29, and xiii. 19, and xvi. 
 4). Always we feel that the hearers are but begin- 
 ning to understand, and they often record their own 
 failure of intelligence. " They understood not 
 
VII PROMISE OF TEACHING 181 
 
 that saying — they knew not the things which 
 were spoken " ; and sometimes with definite refer- 
 ence to their later knowledge, " When He was risen 
 from the dead, his disciples remembered that He 
 spake this, and they believed the Scripture and 
 the word which Jesus said " (ii. 22) ; or, again, 
 " These things understood not his disciples at the 
 first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remem- 
 bered they that these things were written of Him, 
 and that they had done these things unto Him " 
 (xii. 16). 
 
 There were many causes which adjourned to a 
 time of remembrance the full apprehension of his 
 words. Such were their frequent predictive and 
 parabolic character, their largeness and elasticity 
 of meaning, their far-reaching intention, their rela- 
 tion to a course of things which was still in prog- 
 ress, to events which had not yet taken place, to a 
 dispensation which was only being prepared. He 
 is ever addressing men accustomed to another 
 habit of thought than that into which He is lead- 
 ing them, and in a preparatory stage of their edu- 
 cation. Hence there is often a mingled tone of 
 revelation and reserve in utterances which are 
 addressed to the moment, while they teach the 
 Church for ever. It has been well said : — 
 
 " When we look into our Saviour's conduct in the days of 
 his flesh, we find that lie purposely concealed that knowledge, 
 which yet He gave ; as if intending it should be enjoyed, but 
 
182 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 not at once ; as if his words were to stand, but to wait awhile 
 for their interpretation ; as if reserving them for his coming, 
 who at once was to bring Christ and his works into the 
 light. . . . Apparently it was not till after his resurrection, 
 and especially after his ascension, when the Holy Ghost 
 descended, that the Apostles understood who had been with 
 them. Now here we see, I think, the trace of a general prin- 
 ciple, which comes before us again and again, both in Scrip- 
 ture and in the world, that God's presence is not discerned at 
 the time when it is xxpon us, but afterwards, when we look 
 back upon what is gone and over. Our Saviour's history 
 will supply instances in evidence of this remarkable law." ^ 
 
 Yes, it supplies the most perfect instances we 
 can imagine ; and if so great a part in the com- 
 prehension of the Gospel history necessarily be- 
 longed to the stage of remembrance, it would seem 
 that such a promise as we read here, even if it had 
 not been spoken, must be included in the scheme 
 of divine teaching. For if the words of the Lord 
 Jesus are words of eternal life, and are to the 
 Church both primary foundations of faith and 
 germinant principles of thought, and if, in the 
 nature of the case, they could only be under- 
 stood in remembrance, then the first work of the 
 Spirit would necessarily be to secure that remem- 
 brance and assist that understanding. If there 
 was any grace or superadded aid at all given to the 
 
 1 J. II. Newman's " I'arochial Sermons," — "Christ mani- 
 fested in remembrance." The sermon is a line example of the 
 writer's cast of thought and of expression. 
 
VII PROMISE OF TEACHING 183 
 
 Apostles, as witnesses to Clirist, this would be 
 the first that they would need and, therefore, 
 might expect to receive ; and now we hear it 
 assured to them by as plain a promise as could 
 be given. In virtue of this promise we read, with 
 secure confidence, in the Gospels the words of our 
 Lord, and in the Acts and Epistles the expansions 
 of them and deductions from them. They receive 
 a seal and certificate beyond those of human mem- 
 ory and human reflection in the presence of the 
 Spirit of truth, manifested, indeed, in many ways, 
 but here first pledged by the lips of Him who 
 gives both the Word and the Spirit. " lie shall 
 teach you all things and bring all things to your 
 remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you." 
 
184 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE BENEDICTION OF PEACE 
 
 V. 27 
 
 The discourse of consolation draws to its end. 
 It has been a revelation first to faitli, then to hope. 
 Its first part, " Believe also in ]\Ie," has led on to 
 a fuller knowledge of Jesus Christ Himself. Its 
 second, "He shall give you another Comforter," 
 has opened out into a new prosjject of life in the 
 Spirit. These discoveries are sources of consola- 
 tion, no doubt vaguely felt at the moment, but to 
 be consciously experienced afterwards. Such a 
 discourse is fitly closed by a benediction of peace. 
 
 " Peace I leave with you : my peace I give unto you. 
 Not as tlie world giveth give I unto you. 
 Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful." 
 
 Peace is tlic equivalent for the old Hebrew word- 
 DlT^^i which was used so constantly, and meant 
 so much. It summed up the ideas of inward and 
 outward good, and might in any particular case 
 have a more loose or more definite meaning, 
 according to the mind of him who used it. " Peace 
 
VIII THE BENEDICTION OF PEACE 185 
 
 be with you " was a familiar salutation ; " Go in 
 peace," a gracious dismissal. So Jesus spake as 
 others spake. " He came and stood in the midst, 
 and said to them, Peace be unto you" (xx. 19). 
 He said to those on whom He had shewed com- 
 passion (^vTraye — iropetov eU elp/jvrjv, Mark v. 34, 
 Luke vii. 50), — " Go into peace," as not only the 
 feeling of the moment, but the state ensuing. 
 Thus it was both a word of greeting and one of 
 farewell. Here it is the latter, spoken as in act of 
 departure. " Peace," He says, " I leave to you " 
 {d(f)Lr]fii, the same word as used before, "• I will not 
 leave you desolate "). Tluis He speaks of this con- 
 dition as an inheritance for those who are left. 
 But the expression, by itself, is too indefinite for 
 the present intention. What peace, and how be- 
 stowed? Both points shall be made clear; for in 
 Christ things are specific and ascertained, and not 
 left as they appear in the hazy atmosphere of 
 general good wishes. 
 
 " Peace I leave with you : my peace I give unto 
 you" (elprjviiv ri]v efiijv — peace that is mine), that 
 which I possess, which is realised in Me, and 
 which is proper to the life that is in Me. We see 
 at once that the peace intended is peace within ; 
 for outward peace was not the portion of Him 
 who was " a man of sorrows," and bore " the con- 
 tradiction of sinners against Himself," and for 
 Whom at that moment the terrible crisis was at 
 
186 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 hand. Yet all the more, as lie moves through 
 trial and conflict, do we feel the serene majesty of 
 a deep-seated peace. The enemy cannot trouble 
 it ; the world cannot disturb it ; for it consists in 
 the composure of holy affections, the calmness of 
 a settled purpose, and the sunshine of unclouded 
 union with God. The peace which lie imparts 
 He calls " my peace," because it is to be an efflu- 
 ence from his own, and therefore will sliare its 
 nature and bear its likeness. 
 
 Again, as the peace is thus distinguished, so 
 also is the giving. " My peace I give unto you ; 
 not as the world giveth, give I unto you." The 
 world is free with its conventional wishes, and 
 those not always sincere. Certainly its own sj)irit 
 is not the spirit of true peace ; and it cannot give 
 what it does not possess. At its best, its well- 
 meant Avords are ineffectual, either to confer a 
 right to peace, or to communicate the peace itself. 
 But Jesus does both. The right to peace, which 
 did not belong to men as sinners, He purchases 
 for them by his atoning blood, and now by this 
 deed of gift leaves it to them as a bequest for ever. 
 The peace itself, as profession and experience. He 
 imparts to his people by continuous gift^ carried 
 on to the end of time. Thus definitely are dis- 
 tinguished these two sentences, " Peace I leave 
 with you," — "My peace I give unto you," crowned 
 with the assurance to which our hearts respond, 
 " Not as the world giveth, give I unto you." 
 
viii THE BENEDICTION OF PEACE 187 
 
 Great has been the effect of this word of 
 promise, as teaching, as well as in fulfilraent. It 
 has established the word " Peace " in the heart 
 of the Church as expressing the ideal character of 
 Christian happiness and the rightful condition 
 of believers. " Grace and peace " become keynotes 
 of the Apostolic teaching, and are for ever united 
 in all prayer and benediction. Peace represents 
 a restful, satisfying state, an essential condition 
 for more exalted experiences, being itself of more 
 solid value than them all. If it be asked in what 
 it consists, we may perhaps rightly distinguish its 
 constituent parts, as the peace of conscience, the 
 peace of character, and the peace of trust. There 
 is peace in a conscience, relieved from guilt, 
 reconciled to God, and restored to its rightful 
 supremacy. There is peace in a character brought 
 into order and harmony, in which the disquieting 
 power of worldly and carnal lusts, of pride, of 
 selfishness, of evil tempers and unworthy feelings, 
 has given place to the reign of nobler principles 
 and purer affections. Finally, there is peace in 
 that trust and confidence in God, which casts all 
 care upon llim, simply relies upon his promises, 
 leaves all things in his hand, and is sure that He 
 does all things well. If these be elements of 
 peace, each one of them is the gift of Christ ; for 
 from Ilim they all proceed, and in Ilim are 
 found . 
 
188 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 They can best analyse this peace, who find it in 
 themselves, and know from experience wherein it 
 consists ; and these are not few : for no promise 
 has been more extensively or distinctly fulfilled. 
 This peace is the proper heritage of those who are 
 in Christ, and is a natural effect of the faith which 
 unites them, to Him. The presence of it is often 
 felt and recognised by others at their side, who 
 will express their own desire for a blessing which 
 they see to be real, though strangers to it them- 
 selves. It is enjoyed in different measures by 
 different minds, and by the same mind in varying 
 degrees ; often in the highest degree in circum- 
 stances which naturally would impair or destroy 
 it. In biographies which disclose something of 
 the inward history, we read from time to time tlie 
 thankful record of an unusual sense of peace, at 
 some time when it was likely that the mind 
 would be harassed with anxieties, or the spirit 
 overwhelmed by some dreaded trial. The voice 
 which spake in the upper room still speaks 
 within: "My peace I give unto you ; let not your 
 heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 
 
 The last word (^BeiXiaTO)) is an admonition of 
 no small importance, both to those who heard it 
 then, and to us who read it now. It expresses 
 the worst effect of the troubling of the heart, not 
 the natural emotion of fear, but the cowardly 
 yielding to it. It is the craven spirit whicli 
 
VIII THE BENEDICTION OF PEACE 189 
 
 shrinks froiii duty, loses hope, abandons what it 
 should hold fast, surrenders to the eneni}^, or 
 deserts to his side. " Fear," says the Book of 
 Wisdom, "is nothing else but a betraying- of the 
 succours whicli reason offereth " (xii. 17) ; and 
 the fear here spoken of is notliing else but a be- 
 traying of the succours which are offered by grace. 
 Only in this place in the New Testament does the 
 verb occur ; but the substantive (SetXm) is used by 
 St. Paul in his farewell charge to Timothy : " God 
 hath not given us the spirit of fearfulness, but of 
 power" (2 Tim. i. 7); and in the Apocalypse the 
 adjective (SeiXot) designates those who head the 
 sad procession of the lost (xxi. 8). The adjective 
 describes a character, but the verb only a condition, 
 which, as in St. Peter's case, may be passing, but 
 is sin at the time, and danger for the future. 
 
 Observing that the opening sentence of the dis- 
 course (" Let not your heart be troubled ") is here 
 repeated and fortified, we understand that all en- 
 closed within these limits is to be taken as a whole 
 in itself, and that the intervening words compose a 
 divine antidote to tliat troubling and desolation of 
 heart which the Lord's departure would suggest. 
 To the disciples the discourse was revelation and 
 consolation, and so it is to us at this da}^ ; while 
 all benedictions, pronounced in the Church, and 
 mutual words of peace, are continuations to the 
 end of time of this Benediction of Peace. 
 
190 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE ACCEPTED END 
 V. 28-31 
 
 It is probably after a momentary pause that the 
 Speaker reverts to the communications He has 
 made, with regard, first, to their present impres- 
 sion ; secondly, to their future use ; and thirdly, to 
 their near cessation. 
 
 He looked on the hearers and saw that they 
 were sad. The account given of the departure had 
 scarcely reached their minds ; to them it was de- 
 parture and nothing more. 
 
 " Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and T come unto 
 you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go 
 unto the Father ; for the Father is greater than I " (28). 
 
 "If ye loved Me," He says. They did love 
 Him, but with unenlightened love. The word is 
 spoken after the manner of men who seem to re- 
 prove in order to console those whom they are 
 leaving. He has nov\^ told tliem whither He is 
 going — "to the Father" — surely an elevating 
 thought! a i)roper cause of joy for his sake, and 
 
THE ACCEPTED END 191 
 
 also for their own. The life which He has begun 
 with them and for them will be raised to^a higher 
 level ; " for the Father is greater than I." 
 
 This is not a pronouncement on the mystery of 
 the Godhead in respect to the relations of the 
 Divine Persons in the ever-blessed Trinity. In all 
 that is now said Jesus speaks from the standpomt 
 of the present. He is the Messenger who is sent 
 from the Father, the Way that leads to the Father, 
 the Presence which shews the Father, the Son who 
 does the commandment of the Father. The going 
 to the Father is itself a part of the great economy 
 for which He became incarnate; and in that econ- 
 omy the Father is greater, as being the Author 
 and the End of all that has been done, is being 
 done, and is yet to be done in it; and thus the 
 word " for the Father is greater than I " sums up 
 this whole situation and gives a supreme reason 
 for rejoicing in the exaltation of the Son of Man 
 to the right hand of God.i 
 
 1 In further illustration of the view here taken I append 
 the two following extracts : — , , • i 
 
 1 " This was the great stronghold of the Arians, by which 
 they sought to prove that the Son was not God, but the highes 
 creature of God. But SS. Athanasius, Augustin, Basil, and 
 the rest of the Fathers answer them, that Christ is here speak- 
 in- of Himself, not as God, but as man. Aud, that it isso, is 
 pUin from this, that He gives the reason why He is going to 
 Ihe Father: " because," He says, " the Father is greater than 
 I" Now Christ goeth to the l^ather, in that, as man, lie 
 ascendeth into He;ven. For as God He i. alway in heaven 
 
192 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 This exaltation the disciples would some day 
 understand, and then their love Avould rejoice. 
 And so it was at once. We read that when they 
 saw Him go, they worshipped Him, and returned to 
 Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in 
 the temple, praising and blessing God (Luke xxiv. 
 53). But the time of understanding was not yet ; 
 why, then, speak now of a rejoicing which they 
 
 with the Father ; wherefore S. Augustin saith, ' ' He loent, in 
 that He was in one place. He remained, in that He was every- 
 where." — A Lapide, in loc. 
 
 2. "Tlie Son, although of divine essence, and 6/iooi5o-ios with 
 the Father, nevertheless was, and is, and remains, subordinated 
 to the Father ; since the Son, as Organ, as Commissioner of the 
 Father, as Intercessor with the Father, has received his whole 
 power, even in the kingly oihce from the Father (xvii. 5), and 
 after the complete accomplishment of the work committed to 
 Him will restore it to the Father (1 Cor. xv. 28)." — Mevek, 
 Handbook on Gospel of St. John., in loc. 
 
 The patristic literature on the passage is abundant. Bishop 
 Westcott, in his " Additional Note," gives judiciously chosen 
 extracts from twenty early writers, and sums up as follows : — 
 
 3. "If we turn from these comments to the text of St. John, 
 it will be seen that (1) The Lord speaks throughout the Gospel 
 with an unchanged and unchangeable Personality ; the I (e7w) 
 is the same in viii. 58, x. 30, xiv. 28. (2) We must believe 
 that there was a certain fitness in the Incarnation of the Son. 
 
 (3) This fitness could not have been an accident, but must have 
 belonged, if we may so si^eak, to his true Personal Nature. 
 
 (4) So far then as it was fit that the Son should be incarnate 
 and suffer, and not the Father, it is possible for us to under- 
 stand that the Father is greater than the Son, as Son, in Per- 
 son, but not in Essence. Among English writers, it is suffi- 
 cient to refer to Bull ; and to Pearson 'On the Creed' (Art. 
 1), whose notes, as always, contain a treasure of patristic 
 learning." 
 
IX THE ACCEPTED END 193 
 
 could not feel? Such words could not be quite 
 without effect at the moment ; but they will serve 
 to assist the faith of the future. 
 
 " Now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it 
 is come to pass, ye may believe " (29). 
 
 When the departure shall have taken place, and 
 the new order of things supervened, then these 
 and other like words will rise to remembrance, as 
 informations and reinforcements to faith. They 
 will assist the disciples to " believe," in the sense 
 of apprehending things unseen, and beholding 
 their Master, no longer seen on earth, as received 
 into the glory of the Father. Faith will follow 
 the course of the history through fulfilment of 
 predictions here to fulfilment of predictions there ; 
 and the words will have their effect in the time to 
 which they apply. The principle of teaching in 
 the interests of the future, and with a view to later 
 stages of intelligent use, is illustrated throughout 
 these discourses, and is again and again affirmed. 
 It is a principle in all education, though exception- 
 ally prominent in this great example of it. 
 
 Preparatory words are precious, more so when 
 they are being spoken for the last time ; and these 
 communications are close upon their end. 
 
 " No longer shall I speak many things with you (as I 
 have done in the past), for the Prince of the world 
 Cometh." 
 
 N 
 
194 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 There is an end to converse and companionship 
 in the events of this very night. The attack is to 
 be delivered. The world in its powers, popular, 
 ecclesiastical, and civil, is rising up to overthrow 
 Him who stands alone to bear the shock. But 
 there is a darker power behind, which his eye 
 beholds and his words reveal. " The Ruler of 
 this world cometh." Already has the Evil One 
 been thus described (xii. 31), and the name is a 
 revelation of fear. " This world," in revolt from 
 its true Sovereign, has fallen under another Ruler, 
 who has become so by its own concession and 
 invitation, and who uses and impels it for his own 
 malignant ends. The former saying had taken in 
 the conflict on the whole, and declared its issue. 
 " Now is the judgment of this world : now shall 
 the Prince of this world be cast out." But the 
 issue is not yet. It is the conflict which is at 
 hand. Now he " comes." Doubtless he is always 
 active and on the watch ; but he watches for op- 
 portunities, and they arrive. They occur through 
 the j)assions of his servants, or by critical con- 
 junctures of circumstances, or by special permis- 
 sion from above. In the manifestation of the Son. 
 of God there were two great onsets, — one at its 
 opening, the other at its close. In the solitude of 
 the desert, " the Tempter came to him," if so 
 be he might destroy the virtue of the heavenly 
 mission before it Avas begun. He came to test the 
 
IX THE ACCEPTED END 195 
 
 human righteousness of Jesus by subtle insinua- 
 tion and direct approaches to his spirit. It was 
 vain; and it only remains that another kind of 
 attack should be tried. All the subservient powers 
 of the world shall be called into action ; and the 
 undertaking, which could not be arrested by in- 
 ward temptation, shall be crushed by violence, 
 and extinguished in anguish, shame, and death. 
 
 For this purpose it is said, " the Prince of the 
 world Cometh " ; but it is added, " and in me he 
 hath nothing " (eV i/xol ovk ey^ei oySeV), nothing at 
 all of what he finds in the world, nothing that has 
 any moral kindred with his nature, and by which 
 he might have claim or right upon Me. Satan 
 has claims on men, as he has access to them, — 
 rightful claims, in so far as created by their own 
 sin ; for men are victims because they are ac- 
 complices. But here is sinless humanity. The 
 Tempter ranging round the holy soul, to seek the 
 smallest inlet, had found none. There is, then, 
 nothing here belonging to his dominion, which 
 can give him right or power to assail. 
 
 Why, then, should this attack be suffered? or 
 why submitted to? If so, it can only be by free 
 consent and voluntary act; and for that there 
 must be some sufficient reason. So there is, in 
 the one supreme motive of action recognised by 
 the will of Christ. The world in this case is 
 powerless, and its Prince is powerless. 
 
196 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 " In me he hath nothing ; but that the world may know 
 that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me command- 
 ment, so I do " (31). 
 
 The course of things is hy commandment of the 
 Father ; but the charge was voluntarily accepted, 
 and is freely obeyed. So it will appear more 
 forcibly, an hour later, in Gethsemane. It is not 
 only obedience of will, it is obedience of love ; 
 and, what is more touching, the world itself is to 
 be brought to recognise this love to the Father. 
 The world rising up against Him, under the horrid 
 inspiration of its Ruler, is still the object of pity- 
 ing thoughts. What can conquer the inspirations 
 of evil but the sweet force of holy love ? And that 
 is to be learned from the great lesson of the love 
 of the Father, which Jesus exhibits in his own 
 person and communicates by his own death. As 
 far as that lesson shall be learned, the world will 
 cease to be the world, and own the power of the 
 love of Christ to its own salvation.^ 
 
 What a history is revealed in these brief sen- 
 tences breaking suddenly from the heart ! What 
 an interpretation do they supply of the scenes 
 that are to follow ! What an exposure of the mysr 
 tery of wickedness ! What a disclosui'e of the 
 mystery of love ! Wliat a testimony of the will 
 of the Father and of the Son concurrent in the 
 
 1 " Ut nuuidus dcsinat mundu.s esse ; ct Tatris in nie bene- 
 placitiun agnoscat salutariter. ■" — Bkxokl, 
 
IX THE ACCEPTED END 197 
 
 work of our salvation ! " Even as the Father 
 p-ave me commandment — so I do." 
 
 It is but for a moment that the Lord thus ad- 
 verts to tlie ordeal on which He is entering. The 
 consciousness of it is present, while the mention 
 of it is suppressed, in order that He may devote 
 the last words to the consolation and instruction 
 of "his own whom He loved to the end." 
 
198 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A DIVIDING LINE 
 
 The last words have intimated the coming con- 
 flict and the resolution to proceed ; and it is a 
 natural sequel. "Arise, let us go hence." This 
 word draws a dividing line between what has 
 passed already and all that may follow. The 
 Supper is over, including the session, which cus- 
 tom allowed and commonly prolonged for con- 
 versation and discourse ; a conversation, on this 
 occasion, of deepest interest, and a discourse of 
 the last importance. Now they break up from the 
 table, and, we should expect, witli some custom- 
 ary concluding form. The two first Evangelists 
 mention such an act, apparently as in the order of 
 things: "When they had hymned (u/xi/z^'o-ai/Te?), 
 they went out into the Mount of Olives " (Matt. 
 xxvi. 30; Mark xiv. 26). Alford, in his note on. 
 the passage, observes : — 
 
 "Here, accurately speaking, perhaps between the vfiv^ 
 o-avTcs and ^^XOov, came in the discourses and prayers of the 
 Lord, in John xiv.-xvii., spoken (see note on John xiv. 31) 
 without change of place, in the upper chamber. The v/avos 
 
A DIVIDING LINE 199 
 
 was in all probability the last part of the Ilallel or great 
 Hallel, which consisted of Ps. cxv.-cxviii., the former part 
 (cxiii., cxiv.) having been sung during the meal. It is 
 unlikely that this took place after the solemn prayer in 
 John xvii." 
 
 I would only alter this suggestion by placing 
 the recitation of the Psalms, or some of them, 
 after chapter xiv. instead of before it; for there 
 has been no definite break in the communication 
 till now, when the session at supper ends, and the 
 liturgical act is probably to be taken as an under- 
 stood form in rising to depart, and is by the 
 Evangelists immediately connected with the move- 
 ment of the company. 
 
 But then the local question arises, as to the 
 place in which we should suppose the second dis- 
 course delivered, followed immediately by the 
 final prayer. Commentators take different views. 
 Some consider that all takes place on the same 
 spot, Jesus delaying the departure till the moment 
 in which it is said (xviii. 1), " When Jesus had 
 spoken these words, he went forth with his dis- 
 ciples over the brook Kedron." Others think that 
 " Let us go hence " forbids this idea, and that the 
 succeeding words were spoken at some halting- 
 place before crossing that boundary of the city, or 
 (as some maintain) in the Temple, which, it is 
 said, was opened by the priests at midnight. As 
 one leading authority is clear and strong on the 
 
200 TFIE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 question, it is right to give Bishop Westcott's own 
 statement of his opinion : — 
 
 " We must suppose that after these words, the Lord, with 
 the eleven, at once left the house, and went on the way 
 which finally led to Gethsemane; consequently, that the dis- 
 courses which follow xv.-xvii. were spoken after He had 
 gone from the upper room, and before He crossed the Ke- 
 dron. The other supposition, that, after rising, He lingered 
 in the room as full of the thoughts of the coming events, 
 appears to be wholly against the obvious interpretation of 
 the narrative, and to disregard the clearer distinction in 
 character between the earlier and later discourses." 
 
 Further on in the introduction to chapter xvii., 
 he says, " It is certain tliat the upper chamber was 
 left after xiv. 31," and then proceeds : — 
 
 " It is scarcely possible that chapters xv., xvi., could have 
 been spoken in the streets of the city. It is inconceivable 
 that chapter xvii. should have been spoken anywhere but in 
 circumstances suited to its unapproachable solemnity. One 
 spot alone combines all that is required to satisfy these con- 
 ditions, — the Temple courts. The central object there was 
 the great golden vine, from which He derived the figure of 
 his own vital relation to his people ; and nowhere, it is clear, 
 could our High Priest more fitly offer Himself, his work, 
 and believers to the Father, than in the one place which 
 God had chosen to set his name there " (p. 237). 
 
 These are telling words ; but it may be an- 
 swered: 1. That to most readers there appears 
 nothing inconsistent with tlie narrative in the sup- 
 position of a departure commenced and arrested ; 
 
X A DIVIDING LINE 201 
 
 and that, in resuming the discourse without break, 
 it rather suggests that as yet there was no great 
 chanofe of scene. 2. That the different tone of 
 the later discourse is proper to an altered attitude 
 and fresh stage of action, but not necessarily to 
 another place. 3. That such a change is itself un- 
 likely. The house had been chosen by the Lord 
 in a marked manner, as the place for the Paschal 
 Supper, for the institution of the Sacrament, and 
 for the last converse with his disciples. Why 
 leave it before his intended communications were 
 finished, and an integral and important part of 
 them had yet to be delivered? 4. It must be felt 
 that, against the hypothesis of adjournment to the 
 Temple, the silence of the narrative has special 
 force. Such a choice, and for such reasons of 
 fitness as are given, conld scarcely have been 
 passed over without a word of notice. 5. Further- 
 more, instead of being proper to the situation, it 
 appears on some accounts quite out of keeping 
 with it. The Temple, if open to the public, Avould 
 not be the fit place for words to be heard onl}^ by 
 the chosen few ; and it had never been the scene 
 of confidences with them, but of public action as 
 in the centre of the nation ; and now that action 
 was over. Two days before, it had been the scene 
 of the last rejection, the stern farewell and the 
 predictive sentence of its fall. The Lord lias done 
 witli the people and the Temple, and has finally 
 
202 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 separated his little Church, to inaugurate the New 
 Covenant among them. The chosen sanctuary of 
 peace, not tlie forsaken Temple, is the fit place for 
 the consummation of the work. 
 
 If we set aside the idea of a visit to the Temple, 
 and still more, of a halt on the way through the 
 city, we can only read the discourse as resumed 
 in the same locality. Should we desire a more 
 particular description of the place, there seems to 
 me a great probability in a suggestion contained 
 in a footnote to Bengel's Commentary on Matt. 
 xxvi. 30.1 i^ supposes that the company not only 
 rose from their places and prepared to go, but 
 that they quitted the supper room, and were 
 arrested by the Lord's words in the court of the 
 house. Nothing could be more natural. We 
 know the arrangement of Jewish houses ; and this 
 was evidently one of no mean character (Luke 
 xxii. 10-12). Those who left "the great cham- 
 ber " would find themselves in an open court, 
 before reaching the door which led into the street. 
 Here a short delay might well be made. Here 
 there might be " a fruitful vine upon the sides 
 of the house" (or, as Cheyne, "in the recesses of 
 the house "), Ps. cxxviii. 3, if a visible symbol be 
 
 1 " Haud immerito existimaneris, hymiuim in coenaculo adliuc 
 pronunciatum esse, at serraones Jesu, John xv.-xvi., necnon 
 preces cxvii. sub dio (v. 1) in area hospitii (si placet), intra 
 urbem resonasse. ' ' — Harm. , p. 522. 
 
A DIVIDING LINE 203 
 
 sought as occasion for the first words there spoken. 
 Here, also, it woukl be under the moonlit sky that 
 "Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said. 
 Father, the hour is come." Such a locality would 
 agree with the double impression which we receive 
 from the narrative, of a movement to depart, and 
 yet a continuance on the same spot. 
 
 But whatever took place at this moment, it 
 does not affect the teaching which it is the pur- 
 pose of the Evangelist to record. He carries on 
 the line with a note of division, but no space of 
 interruption. This is more striking if read with- 
 out the modern artificial separation by chapter 
 and verse. "As the Father gave me command- 
 ment, so I do. Arise, let us go hence. I am the 
 true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." 
 H the mention of action had been interposed, it 
 would have diminished the sense of continuity 
 between the two discourses, which, as it is, the 
 writer seems intentionally to maintain. 
 
 The relation of the second discourse to that 
 which preceded is, in the first place, one of con- 
 tinuity, consisting in the consecutive character of 
 the ideas. All its teaching rests on the revela- 
 tions and promises before delivered. The doctrine 
 which began with "Ye believe in God, believe 
 also in me," had made the person of Christ to be 
 the medium of union with God ; and that which 
 beo-an with " I will pray the Father, and he shall 
 
204 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 give you another Comforter," had made the action 
 of the Spirit to be the living union with Christ. 
 These two doctrines underlie all the deliverances 
 which follow. 
 
 In the second place, the relation of the latter to 
 the former discourse is one of development, in the 
 more distinctly practical direction ; and in con- 
 sequence, the language assumes a characteristic 
 tone of exhortation. In the former, the keynote 
 is consolation in view of departure ; in the latter, 
 it is instruction for the state which will ensue. 
 There, as well as here, the Speaker instructs ; 
 here, as well as there. He consoles. But there 
 He is opening the view of the future to meet the 
 sorrows of tlie crisis ; here He has passed into 
 that future, makes it his standpoint, and gives the 
 needful principles for its faith and experience. 
 He has before Him a state of things which the 
 hearers do not yet understand, so that He seems 
 to be speaking parables ; but events will soon 
 change the scene, and then all will be plain, and 
 the words, remembered and understood, will be- 
 come support to the work of the Apostles, and 
 principles of life to them and to the Church for 
 ever. These sayings, then, with all their abrupt 
 forms and sympathetic tones, are to be read, not 
 as separate expressions, but as forecasting inter- 
 pretations of the ensuing history, and fiuidamental 
 revelations of the truths by which it is to be 
 
X A DIVIDING LINE 205 
 
 guided and blessed. They are also to be read in 
 the light of another principle, already noted as 
 characteristic of the words of Jesus ; namely, the 
 combination of an immediate and a remote inten- 
 tion, hei-e exhibited in the adaptation to the special 
 exigencies of the Apostles, and at the same time 
 to the general needs of believers. 
 
 It remains that, l)efore entering on the second 
 discourse, we endeavour to distinguish and desig- 
 nate the principal topics of this divine instruction ; 
 which is at once the more needful and the more 
 difficult to do, on account of (what may be de- 
 scribed as) the intertwinings of thought by the 
 applications of the same truths in different con- 
 nexions. 
 
 The fundamental subject is that of the relations 
 of believers to Jesus Christ in respect of practical 
 life under the coming dispensation ; and these 
 relations may be distinguished as follows : — 
 
 1. The relation of members who share in his 
 life. 
 
 2. That of friends who share in his love. 
 
 3. That of followers who share in his work. 
 
 4. That of adherents who share in his spirit. 
 These topics are not separated formall}', but 
 
 interpenetrate one another; yet are they distin- 
 guished by observable succession in the discourse. 
 1. Thus the relation to Jesus Christ of mem- 
 bers who share in his life, and thereby bring forth 
 
206 THE DISCOURSES chap, x 
 
 fruit unto God, is set forth in the similitude of 
 the vine and its branches (vs. 1-8). 
 
 2. The reLation of friends who share in his 
 love and maintain its continuance and manifest 
 its effect by love to each other is presented in 
 vs. 9-17. 
 
 3. The relation of followers who share in his 
 work towards the Avorld, and therefore share with 
 Him in its enmity and in the trials of conflict, is 
 given in vs. 18-xvi. 3. 
 
 4. The relation of adherents on whom He be- 
 stows a share in his own spirit through the active 
 association of the Holy Ghost, as Comforter, Ad- 
 vocate, and Teacher, is expressed in xvi. 4-15. 
 
 Then follow answers to thoughts which have 
 been raised in the minds of the hearers, final 
 words of interpretation of the crisis, renewed 
 warnings, promises, assurances, closing with grave 
 warning and sad intimation of desertion, which 
 passes again into a concluding note of peace and 
 confidence and victory. 
 
SECOND DISCOURSE 
 
 XV 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XI. Life and Fruitfulness . 
 
 XII. Love and Friendship . 
 
 XIII. Enmity of the World 
 
 XIV. Witness to the World . 
 
 V. 1-8 
 9-16 
 17-25 
 26-27 
 
 XVI 
 
 XV. Treatment by the World . 
 
 XVI. Conviction of the World . 
 
 XVII. Illumination of the Church 
 
 XVIII. Sorrow and Joy .... 
 
 XIX. Intercourse of the Future 
 
 XX. The Last Words .... 
 
 1-4 
 5-11 
 12-15 
 16-22 
 22-27 
 28-33 
 
 207 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 LIFE AND FRUITFULNESS 
 
 XV. 1-8 
 
 Such interruption as occurred was Inief. The 
 Lord resumed his discourse, and the Evangelist 
 continues his report. For, not accidentally, nor 
 even in loose connexion, do the following instruc- 
 tions ensue, but in necessary sequence to the pre- 
 vious words of promise, as giving the principles 
 and outlines of the state which is to be. The 
 first principle is that of life., generated by mem- 
 bership in Christ, maintained by a responsive will, 
 proved and perfected by moral fruitfulness. It is 
 taught, as it could best be taught, in a figurative 
 form, akin to the former teaching by parable. 
 
 " I am tlie true vine, and my Fatlier is the husbandman. 
 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it 
 away : and every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, 
 that it may bear more fruit. Ah-eady ye are clean because 
 of the word which 1 have spoken unto you. Abide in me 
 and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 
 except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye 
 abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that 
 O 209 
 
210 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit : 
 for apart from me ye can do notliing. If a man abide not 
 in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and 
 they gather tliem, and cast tlrem into the fire and they are 
 burned. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ask 
 whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein 
 is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit ; and so shall 
 ye be my disciples." 
 
 Was there anything in the actual scene which 
 gave occasion for this figurative teaching? That 
 question is suggested by the suddenness of its 
 introduction and the vividness of its detail, and 
 by the Lord's frequent habit of deriving the lan- 
 guage which He employed from objects before 
 the eye. Those who suppose the discourse in tlie 
 Temple find the suggestion in the great golden 
 vine over the gate (though that is wanting in 
 the life, which is the very point of comparison). 
 Those who place it on the way suppose a passage 
 through a vineyard, possibly with flickering lights 
 from little heaps of branches burning, — a scene by 
 no means likely on the city side of the Kedron. 
 Those who keep to the first locality have thought 
 of vines on the wall of the house (scarcely natural, 
 in the room, though it might be so in the court- 
 yard). Yet these excursions of imagination are 
 hardly necessary in respect of an emblem so 
 familiar to the minds of the hearers, as represent- 
 ing ideas akin to those which were now to be im- 
 
LIFE AND FKUITFULXESS 211 
 
 [)ressed. The vine was of old a recognised symbol 
 of the life of Israel, ever recurring as such in the 
 Old Testament Scriptures,^ appearing on Macca- 
 bean coinage, and established in permanent and 
 conspicuoas form in the Temple itself. 
 
 The vine offered itself as a national symbol, 
 from its being a special product of the coun- 
 try, from the value set upon it, and from familiarity 
 with the methods of its cultivation. As, of all 
 trees, its growth was most conspicuously for the 
 sake of its branches, and its branches for the sake 
 of its fruit ; so it best served to represent a chosen 
 stock, a planting of the Lord, the ramifications of 
 a common life, and the purpose of moral fruitful- 
 ness for which the planting was intended. In 
 regard to such an emblem, external suggestion at 
 the moment seems needless, and indeed would be 
 less suitable to this deliberate and predetermined 
 instruction than to such as might be more casually 
 given in converse by the wayside. 
 
 It is to express ideas closely related to those 
 which it had always symbolised, that the Lord 
 employs this imagery, in the way not of mere 
 application, but of perfect and predestined fulfil- 
 ment. " I am the vine, the true one " (»; a/x7reXo<? 
 r] aX'qOivi)') is equivalent to, I am He in whom is 
 concentrated the substance and the life which 
 were but shadowed in the chosen people. From 
 1 E.<j. Ps. Ixxx., Is. v., Jer. xi., Hos. x., etc. 
 
212 THE DISCOUKSES chap. 
 
 the central l)ut decayed stock of that people the 
 Christ was to arise, as a shoot from the stump of 
 a felled tree, which should spring and spread in 
 fulness of life, and develop the fruits of righteous- 
 ness and peace. " There cometh forth a twig out 
 of the stump of Jesse, and a shoot from its roots 
 bringeth forth fruit; and the Spirit of Jehovah 
 descendeth upon him," etc. (Is. xi. 1, 2, Delitzsch). 
 Prophecy hangs in clusters on this " vine of 
 David " ; ^ and the passage before us presents the 
 Person who is thus represented, and in whom all 
 will be fulfilled. 
 
 It is not for ornament, but for more profound 
 and effective teaching, that this metaphoric lan- 
 guage is employed. Spiritual subjects often re- 
 quire figurative expression ; and plain words, as 
 they are called, are often less plain from being 
 prosaic. The emblem still carries more meaning 
 to the mind than the explanation of it does. One 
 cannot but wonder at the amount of truth which 
 is conveyed in this brief imagery ; truth con- 
 cerning Christ and his members, concerning the 
 common life that is in Him and them, concerning 
 
 1 In the scanty notes of Eucharlstic service in the " Dida- 
 ache," the following expression occurs : "We thank thee, O our 
 Father, for the holy Vine of David thy child, which thou hast 
 made known to us by thy child Jesus" (ch. ix.). It is inter- 
 esting, as suggesting Judieo-Christian associations of thought 
 and language transmitted probably from Paschal forms and 
 customs. 
 
XI LIFE AND FRUITFULNESS 213 
 
 its separate realisation in individual souls, concern- 
 ing the union wliicli is its essence and the fruits 
 which are its end, and concerning all these things, 
 as they are affected by the active government of 
 God, and by the freedom of the will of man. 
 These are subjects prolific of questions and dis- 
 cussions ; and this allegory gives the principles of 
 the teaching of Christ upon them. Naturally, 
 then, its expressions have been often invoked and 
 put to various uses in Arian and Pelagian con- 
 troversies, in those of Reformation times, and 
 indeed of all periods of the Church. But if con- 
 troversy has fastened on these pregnant sayings, 
 that is only incidental, and lies outside the present 
 study of them, which regards only the purpose for 
 which they are spoken, a purpose of edification by 
 instruction and exhortation, by admonition and 
 warning. 
 
 As in other connexions of thought (" I am the 
 light of the world — I am the bread of life," and 
 the like), Jesus here fixes the eye of faith on his 
 own person ; but in the present saying He regards 
 Himself as inclusive of his members, who partici- 
 pate in his own life, and, as it were, complete it. 
 He says not, "I am the root — I am the stem," 
 but " I am the vine — and ye are the branches," 
 presenting Himself and the Church as one organic 
 whole. Thus we see in Jesus the Incarnate Son, 
 a new stock of humanity, planted of God in the 
 
214 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 earth, able to expand his own life over others, and 
 so to include their lives in his own and (if we may 
 use the language here suggested) to ramify Him- 
 self in them. 
 
 This capacity is the consequence of the con- 
 junction in his person of the human and the 
 divine nature ; for by the one He enters into 
 union with us in the flesh, and by the others, 
 communicates Himself to us as "a quickening 
 Spirit." This is well expressed in the words of 
 the old Belgian commentator, rehearsing also the 
 opinions of earlier writers. 
 
 "Christ has compared Himself to a vine, not as He is 
 God, but as man. For so men are grafted into Him as 
 branches : for these are of the same nature and kind as the 
 Vine. Wherefore S. Hilary says {Lib. 9, de Trin.), Christ 
 to this end assumed flesh, that we fleshly men might as 
 branches be grafted into Him as the Vine. But yet the 
 flesh of Christ would not have had the power of producing 
 vine-branches, i.e. faithful and holy people, unless the God- 
 head had been united to it. Wherefore Cyril says that 
 Christ was the Vine by reason of his Godhead ; and S. 
 Augustin says that, although Christ would not have been 
 the Vine, except He had been man, yet He would not have 
 imparted grace to the branches, unless he had been God " 
 (Corn, a Lapide iti loc). 
 
 In passing from the vine to the branches, we 
 miss the precision of language which in Greek 
 and Latin distinguish vine-branches by a word 
 proper to themselves ; ^ for where vine-culture is 
 
 1 K\rifiaTa, palmites. 
 
LIFE AND FRUITFULNESS 215 
 
 a common and important industry, it naturally 
 creates a vocabulary of its own. Our word 
 (branches) belongs to trees in general, not spe- 
 cially to the vine. It also may represent the 
 larger limbs, not so distinctly the smaller and 
 more numerous shoots, such as may be broken off 
 or grafted in, and on which, in fact, the fruit 
 appears. Bearing the more exact language in 
 mind, we shall see more clearly the application to 
 individual life and membership. Whatever use 
 we may make of this imagery in regard to 
 churches, or collective Christian life, regarded as 
 larger limbs or main rods of the vine, it is to the 
 cases of personal life that this teaching is pri- 
 marily addressed. 
 
 Cominsr next to the relation of the branches to 
 the vine, we observe that in the view of Christ 
 there is a membership which is real, and so ac- 
 knowledged by Him, though comprehending dif- 
 ferent conditions and results. Some would not 
 recognise any real relation to Christ apart from 
 that of vital and saving faith. Jesus does. The 
 branch which beareth not fruit, and the branch 
 which does. He describes alike as " branches in 
 me." Membership in the Church is in some real 
 sense a membership in Christ, and the sacramental 
 relation is a great fact, even where the spiritual 
 relation fails. It is a different position from that 
 of nature as to rights, capacities, and responsi- 
 
216 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 bilities, all which are now in Christ; and it in- 
 volves a treatment proper to itself. Yet is it a 
 preliminary relation ; and if it attains to nothing 
 more, ends in a " taking away." 
 
 The issue is here made to turn upon the bear- 
 ing or not bearing of fruit ; and tliat, of course, 
 allows for time and opportunity, and includes the 
 process as well as the result; for the branch is 
 "bearing fruit," even before the fruit is formed, 
 or is " not bearing," in its provisional stage of life. 
 In regard to this history two lines of thought are 
 opened, — one, that on the dealings of God, repre- 
 sented by the methods of the husbandman ; the 
 other, that on the duty of man, concentrated in 
 the charge, " Abide in me." 
 
 " My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me 
 that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away ; and every branch 
 that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bring forth 
 more fruit." 
 
 It is a compendious account of discrimination 
 both in judgment and treatment; in judgment, for 
 it divides the branches in the vine according to the 
 presence or absence of fruit-bearing life ; of treat- 
 ment, for the barren he takes away, the fruitful he 
 cleanses. The taking away is that out of a real 
 connexion previously existing, the capabilities of 
 which had been enjoyed in vain ; and, after a time 
 of opportunity and sufferance, the connexion is 
 over. The cleansing is a tieatment of considerate 
 
XI LIFE AND FKUITFULNESS 217 
 
 care, which those acquainted, with the methods of 
 vine-culture would readily interpret.^ It includes 
 not only the use of the pruning-knife and the 
 plucking away of too luxuriant foliage, suggesting 
 the discipline of painful trials ; but also the gentler 
 abrasions and ablutions for removal of mildew or 
 parasites, suggesting purifications by milder cor- 
 rections, and the searching influence of the Word, 
 and the gradual cleansing of grace. 
 
 This continued cleansing belongs to those who 
 are essentially clean ,2 who have not now to seek 
 the source of purity and life, but to abide in it. 
 So it is with these disciples. As Stier has ex- 
 pressed it, " Their connexion with Christ through 
 their first faith has made them vine-branches ; 
 and that is their first fundamental purity." Such 
 is the import of the address. 
 
 " Already ye are clean, because of the word 
 which I have spoken to you." 
 
 They were clean, not by nature, but liecause of 
 the Word, received and assimilated, whicli had 
 
 1 In illustration of the use of terms of vine- culture to express 
 action in public life, Meyer quotes (^TJschin. adv. Ctesiph. 100), 
 a/j-TceXovpyovai Tives rrjv irSXiv, avaTerfj/riKaai to. KXrifiara to, tov 
 drj/jLOV. 
 
 -In the English, "takes away," "purges," "clean," we 
 miss the etymological connexion of thought given in the Greek 
 (atpei, Kadalpei, Kadapo's ; airei, cath-airei, catharos). The first 
 two verbs express a likeness, which becomes a contrast ; in 
 both cases a taking away; but in the former, of the thing itself, 
 in the latter, of that which adheres to it. 
 
218 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 become to them, not a mere means of purification, 
 but the cause or source of it, a truth which seems 
 implied, in the construction (^Sca rov \6yov'). It 
 is a real but not a final cleansing ; ^ rather, it 
 qualifies for that after treatment which is effectual 
 for " more fruit " ; and we see, from the discovery 
 of their then condition, how truly this was needed. 
 
 For them further cleansing and fruit-bearing 
 will ensue, but the first duty, the fundamental 
 necessity, is contained in the charge, " Abide in 
 me." 
 
 It is a charge repeated, insisted on, and urgently 
 impressed, by reasoning, exhortation, and warning. 
 This necessarily supposes the free will of those 
 who receive it, able to be exercised in obeying or 
 disregarding it ; which indeed is a condition sup- 
 posed in the entire teaching of Scripture. Zeal 
 for the truths of the grace and faithfulness of God 
 have led some to set aside the very nature of the 
 being who is to be the subject of them ; but 
 doctrines of irresistible and indefectible grace are 
 obviously and absolutely irreconcilable with these 
 words of Jesus, which call for conscious choice, 
 and deliberate intention, and active will and volun- 
 tary perseverance, and contemplate possible perils 
 in regard to the relations which his people are to 
 maintain with Himself. 
 
 ' "Jam vos inumli estis, mundi scilicet, atque mundandi"' 
 (Aug.). 
 
XI LIFE AND FRUITFULNESS 219 
 
 These relations are mutual. " Abide in me and 
 I in you." The command here precedes the 
 promise ; but the promise is so incorporated with 
 the command as to make both one in fulfilment. 
 A command contemplates action, and addresses 
 itself to the reason and the will. " Ye are in me 
 and I in you " (xiv. 20) describes a state. " Abide 
 in me and I in you " intends action, the continuous 
 action by which the state is realised. This saying 
 took a strong hold on the mind of the Evangelist, 
 as we see from its frequent recurrence in his 
 Epistle ; and it is there evident that the anxiety 
 about " abiding in Christ " has been made more 
 intense by many disappointing experiences in the 
 first age of Christianity. 
 
 If it be asked, How is this charge to be fulfilled? 
 in what does this abiding consist ? the answer 
 may be given, that it is an internal act, involving 
 external aids and expressions. It is done by the 
 energies of the soul, and the habitual activities of 
 faith, by returning, coming, cleaving to Christ, by 
 standinor fast in his word as " heard from the be- 
 ginning," by direct intercourse with Him and with 
 the Father in the Spirit, by participation in works 
 which associate us with Him, by loyal continuance 
 in the unity of his Church, and by use of the 
 means which He has appointed, especially of the 
 holy sacrament, in which this union is renewed 
 and sealed. These are ways and means of " abiding 
 in Christ." 
 
220 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 The necessity of it is here impressed in respect 
 of fruitfulness, which is the result and test of 
 vitality. For he who abides in Christ is declared 
 to be one in whom Christ abides ; and it is the 
 life of Christ which brings forth fruit. This les- 
 son is enforced by pregnant argument and strong 
 assertion. 
 
 " As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide 
 in the vine; so neither can ye except ye abide in nie. I am 
 the vine, ye are the branches : he that abidetli in nie, and I 
 in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit : for apart from 
 me ye can do nothing " (4-G). 
 
 "Excellently," says Bengel, "does this place set 
 forth the distinction of nature and of grace." 
 Consequently it has been largely handled and 
 variously employed in the questions and contro- 
 versies arising out of that distinction. Serious as 
 these are in themselves, and necessary in their 
 times, we need not advert to them here. They 
 have probably done as much to mystify as to edif}- 
 those who have been occupied in them, and have 
 tended, in the attempt at logical development, on 
 the one side, to a depreciation of the personal and 
 responsible will in man, to which this whole dis- 
 course is addi'essed ; or on the other, to an opinion 
 of natural sufficiency and a virtual detachment 
 from Christ, which it is the aim of the exhortation 
 to preclude. ^Excellently, indeed, is the subject 
 here presented, in words wliich at once recognise 
 
XI LIFE AND FKUITFULNESS 221 
 
 the essential prerogative of nature, and assert the 
 indispensable necessity of grace. 
 
 The subject here is very definite. It is not the 
 relation of tlie human being to the Eternal Word 
 in respect of all moral action, but that of the 
 Christian to Christ in respect of the fruits of 
 spiritual life. The " ye " who are addressed are 
 members of the Church, regarded as branches in 
 the vine ; and all that is said is within the revealed 
 economy under which they are. The branch must 
 abide in the vine, and that by a true and vital 
 inherence, in order to its bearing fruit which in 
 nature and quality is really fruit of the vine ; i.e.^ 
 that evangelical righteousness (supernatural, as 
 old writers used to call it) which cannot be orig- 
 
 1 Christ in tliis place makes his simile to consist only in this, 
 that as the vine-branch derives all its vigour and sap for pro- 
 ducing grapes from the vine, so likewise must a believer draw 
 from the gi-ace of Christ all the nutriment and power needful 
 for producing supernatural works. But there is this distinc- 
 tion to be drawn, that a man, in that he is a rational being, 
 co-operates with grace, and that freely. This the branch in the 
 vine does not do, because it is but a piece of w'ood devoid of 
 reason. Now it is the result of man's free co-operation that 
 a good work is a free and human work, even as it is because of 
 the influx of grace that such a work becomes supernatural, 
 worthy of God, and pleasing to Him. 
 
 I confess, however, that the co-operation itself of free will, 
 is also of grace, in this sense, that unless free will were pre- 
 vented, strengthened, and stirred up to co-operation by gi*ace, 
 and unless it had auxiliary or co-oi^erating grace, it could not 
 co-operate or do anything. This is the same reason by which 
 Christ stimulates his disciples to abide in Him. — C. a Lapide. 
 
222 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 inated from fallen human nature. This a man 
 cannot bring forth "from himself" (J^' eavrov), 
 from his own capabilities and resources. " For," 
 it is added (x^/ot?), "apart from me ye can do 
 nothing " ; i.e. in a state of severance from Me, or 
 in action that is separate from Me, ye can accom- 
 plish nothing, nothing of the kind intended. But 
 this sentence goes beyond the applications of it. 
 To use Godet's words, " The theme which Jesus 
 here develops is not that of the impotence of the 
 natural man, but that of the fruitlessness of the 
 believer left to his own powers. Yet it is evident 
 that the second of these truths rests upon the 
 first." That is true ; for the fruitlessness of the 
 believer in the case supposed is but the result of 
 the incompetence of nature. Thus, " Without 
 me ye can do nothing " remains as a first prin- 
 ciple of Christianity, and a fundamental con- 
 sciousness of the believer, a consciousness exem- 
 plified in Apostolic experience, and endorsed in 
 many a suggestive saying. " We are not sufificient 
 of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves " ; 
 " I laboured . . . yet not I, but the grace of God 
 which was with me " ; "I live, yet not I, but 
 Christ, liveth in me." 
 
 The lesson of spiritual inherence in Christ is 
 further impressed by the contrasted history which 
 was implied in the words, " Apart from me ye 
 can do nothino." " If a man abide not in me," 
 
LIFE AND FRUITFULNESS 223 
 
 whether by open apostasy, or by silent unbelief, 
 or by an inward deaclness of soul, — if it be so 
 with him, — what then? Of the issue of this 
 Christless, fruitless, lifeless state, the symbolism 
 supplied a vivid picture in the common dealing 
 with worthless branches and in the familiar scenes 
 in vineyards. Such a man " was cast forth as a 
 branch, and it was withered; and they collect 
 them and cast them into the fire, and they burn." 
 Two stages of the sad story are indicated by two 
 pairs of expressions, given in different tenses,^ — 
 the first regarded as having occurred ; the second, 
 as ensuing. The two first words speak for them- 
 selves : " cast outside, and withered." They were 
 at that very time exemplified in the lost member 
 of that holy company, now cast forth outside it, 
 and his soul withered by disappointed worldliness 
 and the rancour of discontent. By other charac- 
 ters and in other ways the like result is reached ; 
 and round the true Vine tlie ground has been 
 often strewed with branches cast out and withered. 
 Sad is the first word representing severance — 
 severance in fact, sometimes, also, in form — from 
 the communion of the faithful and from the 
 means of holy influence, and from the position 
 where there is still hope. More sadly sounds the 
 
 1 The aorists (neivrh i^X^e^, l^wdvd-n) express the point of 
 view taken by the foreseeing mind of the Speaker, in which all 
 is seen as having already happened. 
 
224 THE DISCOURSES char 
 
 second word in the ears of any one who has 
 watched deterioration of spiritual cliaracter, and 
 the process of a soul growing sere and shrivelled, 
 under the power of the world, or alienation from 
 the truth. These things are witliin tlie sphere 
 of observation ; those which follow in the next 
 process are beyond it. They belong to a final 
 period, and are the work of other agents, known 
 from former teachings as tlie angels of judgment, 
 who sever and gather and cast into the fire that 
 which, in final issue and in the sight of the all- 
 seeing Judge, is found to be false and worthless. 
 
 Short is tlie parenthesis of needful warning; 
 and then the Lord reverts to the happier case 
 with which He had begun, " He that abideth in 
 me, the same bringeth forth much fruit." Now 
 He applies it to the hearers, and by a few addi- 
 tiojial touches makes the abiding more ex23licit 
 and the fruitfulness more sweet. 
 
 "If ye abide in nie, and my words abide in you, ask 
 ■whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is 
 my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and so shall ye 
 be my disciples " (7, 8). 
 
 He, then, who abides in Christ is one in whom 
 the words of Christ abide. His words (^pi'uxara) 
 taken as principles of life, guides of thought, and 
 motives of action, are bi-eathing in tliat man's 
 heart. To such a state is assigned the great privi- 
 
XI LIFE AND FKUITFULNESS 225 
 
 lege of prevailing pi-ayer, with all its manifold 
 effects. "Ask " (the reading alr/jaaade instead of 
 alr/jaeaOe, ye shall ask, is the more approved), 
 " Ask Avhatsoever ye will, and it shall be done 
 unto you." It is a charge and a promise of gen- 
 erosity truly divine. But we hear it as addressed 
 to a will that is prompted by the indwelling 
 words, and to desires pertaining to the life in 
 Christ. Thus the faith by which a man abides 
 in Him is neither blank nor silent. It is thoupfht- 
 ful, as informed by his words ; it is prayerful, as 
 expectant of his promise. As bearing on Christian 
 fruitfulness, how comprehensive is the promise! 
 how unrestricted is the command ! Can we hear 
 it without sadness ? Why, in so many of us, has 
 so large a conception been answered by such poor 
 results? We are humbled in the presence of 
 these words ; for they reprove the asking and the 
 will to ask, which should be so much greater than 
 they are. We seem to hear St. Paul's remon- 
 strance, as if from the lips of the Lord, " Ye are 
 not straitened in me, but ye are straitened in your 
 own hearts. Now for a recompense in the same 
 (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged" 
 (2 Cor. vi. 12). 
 
 To this enlargement in will and prayer the 
 " much fruit " is attached. This is a productive- 
 ness wdiich appears in the formation of character 
 as well as in the activity of work. It appears in 
 
 r 
 
226 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 the development and manifestation of faith and 
 love, of righteousness and truth, of meekness and 
 patience, of generosity and devotion, of all Christ- 
 like dispositions and habits, as well as in acts of 
 service to God and man, in labours and conflicts, 
 in conversion of sinners and influence on the 
 world, in promotion of the Gospel and extension 
 of the Kingdom. Both character and work go 
 together to compose those "fruits of righteous- 
 ness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory 
 and praise of God" (Phil. i. 11). 
 
 Those Apostolic words return an articulate 
 echo to this personal teaching of the Lord con- 
 cerning fruits of righteousness — which are only 
 by Him — and which are to the glory of God. 
 That last thought is here impressed as the supreme 
 motive of believers. It had been so impressed in 
 the first teaching : " Let your light so shine before 
 men that they may see your good works and 
 glorify your Father which is in heaven." It is so 
 in this last teaching : " Herein is my Father glo- 
 rified that ye bear much fruit." ^ This was the 
 motive of the life of Jesus, and so of the much 
 fruit which it produced; and his disciples must 
 
 1 The sentence is somewhat involved, but the meaning is 
 plain: "In this (asking — obtaining) is my Father glorified, 
 seeing it is to the end that ye may bear much fruit" ; and the 
 arrangement has the effect of connecting the glorification of the 
 Father more immediately with the divine action in originating 
 the result. 
 
XI LIFE AND FllUITFULNESS 227 
 
 learn of Him the same motive and the same pro- 
 ductive life. "So,"' He says, "shall ye be my 
 disciples " ; or more literally, " And ye shall be- 
 come my disciples." Such they were already ; 
 but there are degrees of discipleship, in proportion 
 as the lessons of the Master are fully learned and 
 more worthily exemplified. So it was with these 
 first adherents. True disciples they were, and 
 more advanced disciples they soon became, real- 
 ising the ideal in themselves and also before the 
 world. The title is in a special sense their own, 
 as the original and normal Disciples, and it remains 
 their own to all generations. There is a gracious 
 forecast of their future character and work, and a 
 tone of affectionate recognition of it, in the closing 
 words, " And ye shall become my disciples." 
 
228 THE DISCOUKSES 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP 
 XV. 9-16 
 
 There was in the last words a tone of gracious 
 appropriation ; and so the discourse passes natu- 
 rally from the life of Christ in his members to 
 the love of Christ to his friends. 
 
 Indeed, the last is part of the first ; for healthful 
 vitality and productive energy are not the whole 
 of life. A main part of our nature lies blank 
 and barren without the genial warmth and mutual 
 play of the affections. It would be so in spiritual, 
 as it sometimes is in natural, experiences. But 
 our Lord will not have it so, and He adds to the 
 charge of abiding in his life the attendant lesson 
 of abiding in his love. 
 
 "Even as the Father hath loved me, T also have loved 
 you; abide ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, 
 ye shall abide in my love ; even as I have kept my Fatlier's 
 coinmandinents, and abide in his love. These things have I 
 spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and tliat your 
 joy may be fulfilled. This is my commandment, that ye 
 love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love 
 
LOVE AND FKIENDSHir 229 
 
 hath no man than this, that a man hiy down his life for his 
 friends. Ye are my fiiends, if ye do the things which I 
 command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the 
 servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth : but I have called 
 you friends ; for all things that I heard from my Father 1 
 have made known unto you " (9-10). 
 
 Pleasant are the words, " my love," " my joy," 
 " my friends " ; and they come home to our hearts 
 all the more, because spoken to individual men, 
 on whom at the moment the eye of affection rests, 
 the men of whom it has been said that, "havino- 
 loved his own which were in the world, he loved 
 them unto the end." Here is condensed a whole 
 history of love in the love of the Father to the 
 Son, the love of Jesus to his people, the love of 
 his people to one another ; each stage being both 
 the source and the standard for the next. Thus 
 Jesus stands as the Mediator of love,^ receiving, 
 bestowing, transmitting it. The love of the Father 
 here is specially the love to the Son incarnate, to 
 Jesus as man. It is with this He parallels his 
 own love to his people, exalting thereby to the 
 highest point the conception of its nature and its 
 fulness. In the charge, " Abide in my love," that 
 
 1 " Quod ait, ' Sicut dilexit me Pater et ego dilexi vos'; non 
 equalitatem naturae ostendit nostrse et sute, sicut est Patris et 
 ipsius, set gratiam qua ISrediator Dei et hominum est homo 
 Christus Jesus. Mediator quippe monstratur cum dixit, ' Me 
 Pater, et ego vos.' Nam Pater diligit et nos ; sed in ipso" 
 (Aug., in loc). 
 
230 THE DISC0UK8P:S chap. 
 
 meaning is plain ; for as the Father's love means 
 not mine to Him, but his to Me, so does my love 
 mean not yours to Me, but mine to you ; though 
 in each case the responsive love is involved. We 
 are to abide or continue in that love (as it is said 
 elsewhere, " Keep yourselves in the love of God " 
 (Jude 21), as one would abide in the sunshine by 
 keeping in the place where the sunshine falls. 
 The love of Christ rests on the way of obedience, 
 and shines along the paths of his commandments. 
 The keeping his commandments does not create 
 the love, any more than walking in sunny places 
 creates the sunshine ; and accordingly, the ex- 
 hortation is not to seek or merit or obtain the 
 love, but to remain in it by continuing in the state 
 and life to which alone it belongs. Doubtless 
 there is great need of the admonition thus ear- 
 nestly given. A man might wander, if he would, 
 from the place where sunshine falls, to follow 
 some divergent path, leading into shadow, then 
 into gloom, then into darkness ; and so has it been 
 with some, who in heedlessness or self-will, yield- 
 ing to seductions of error or deceitfulness of sin, 
 have "turned from the holy commandment de- 
 livered to them." It has been shown in previous 
 words how, in the Gospel, commandment is inter- 
 woven with love ; and in this place the same 
 truth reappears, but glorified by the most sublime 
 example. "If ye keep my commandments, ye 
 
xn LOVE AND FRIENDSHU' 231 
 
 shall abide in my love ; even as I have kept my 
 Father's commandments, and abide in his love." 
 
 It is a touching and persuasive addition which 
 the Lord makes to this exhortation, when He con- 
 tinues, " I have spoken this that my joy may be 
 in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled." There 
 is a question as to what the first clause intends ; 
 whether it be that the joy that I have in you may 
 continue (by your continuance in tlie truth), or 
 that the joy which is my own may be imparted, so 
 as to be in you also. It is interpreted in the latter 
 meaning by the form in which the same thought 
 recurs in the Prayer : " These things I speak in 
 the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in 
 themselves " (xvii. 13). What is this joy which 
 is his and shall be theirs? Few are the notes of 
 joy while He is in the flesh, as compared with the 
 tones of sorrow. It is an exception when we 
 read (as in Luke x. 21), " In that hour Jesus re- 
 joiced in spirit" (or in the Holy Spirit). That 
 was in view of the names of his disciples " written 
 in heaven," and of the effect of his own work in 
 the revelation of saving truth. Its nature, again, 
 is intimated in the joy of the good shepherd in 
 the recovery of that which was lost, which be- 
 comes also the joy of his friends and neighbours. 
 Doubtless there was a deep and mighty joy in 
 the glory to the Father, the overthrow of evil, 
 and the salvation of men, that stirred his soul 
 
232 TPIE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 amid the sorrows of the present; but then the 
 scene of it lay rather in the future ; even as it is 
 written, " For the joy tliat was set before him, he 
 endured the cross, despising the shame " (Heb. 
 xii. 2). When the issue was reached, and the 
 results were manifested, this joy was shared b}- 
 " friends and neighbours," not only in heaven, but 
 in earth. How it wrought in the hearts of the 
 Apostles appears in those fervent rejoicings for 
 salvation ministered and diffused, which abound 
 throughout the Epistles. We see there how true 
 it was that his joy was in them, and that their 
 own joy was fulfilled. This interpretation may 
 therefore stand, as given in the following para- 
 phrase after other interpretations have been con- 
 sidered : — 
 
 "Lastly, the words 'in you' may be taken simply just 
 as' they stand; tlius, 'These things have I spoken unto you,' 
 that my joy, with which I rejoice concerning the glory 
 of God and the salvation of the whole world to be accom- 
 plislied by me, I may transfuse into you, as my Apostles 
 and fellow-workers; and that this joy may increase as your 
 labours and your fruit increase ; until it be fulfilled in this 
 life, but yet more completely in the life to come." ^ 
 
 Tliis state of love and joy is protected and" 
 maintained by its own laws and commandments. 
 This condition has been premised already, and is 
 now sealed by the repetition of the commandment, 
 
 1 a Lapidc, p. 155. 
 
LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP 23S 
 
 most comprehensive of others, and most distinct- 
 ive of the Gospel, which is itself an injunction of 
 love and joy : " It is my commandment, specially 
 mine (as before ?/ tvroXi) t) t/^')), tliat ye love 
 one another, as I have loved yon." So the motive 
 and the rule, the grace and the duty, the love be- 
 stowed and the love enjoined, are bound together. 
 This is the legislation of the Gospel, and in this 
 fashion we are " under law to Christ." ^ 
 
 Of the words, "As I have loved you," the 
 crowning evidence and exemplification is at hand. 
 " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
 lay down his life for his friends." No greater 
 proof of love can be given ; no higher standard set. 
 In both senses the Evangelist felt the power of 
 the saying, and echoed it in after days. " Hereby 
 know we the love, because he laid down his life 
 for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for 
 the bretliren " (1 John iii. 16). In a few hours 
 the act spoken of would be accomplished, and that 
 consciousness was in the heart of the Speaker. 
 Yet, in these discourses, this is the sole direct 
 allusion to the fact. That is a circumstance which 
 deserves attention, for it is an illustration of the 
 mind of Christ. See Him in the upper room, 
 and then in Gethsemane, and you feel the self- 
 suppression, or (may I say?) the self-adjournment, 
 which love to his own imposed. To them He 
 
 1 /ijj uiv dvofjLOS GeoO, dXX' ivvofxoi Xpiarov (1 Cor. ix. 21). 
 
234 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 dedicates these hours. Their consolation and in- 
 struction is the business now ; and the teachings, 
 which are to tell on all their after life, shall not 
 be broken by agitating enquiries, or confused by 
 overwhelming thoughts. The coming event will 
 speak for itself. It is not kept secret, but is with- 
 drawn from immediate notice ; and is presented 
 now in a single aspect, as the great act of love, 
 and of love to friends. It had a larger purpose 
 and effect. " Christ died for all," — " gave liim- 
 self a lansom for all," — " died for the ungodly," — 
 "not for our sins only, but also for the whole 
 world." Bat with special intention, and in the 
 issue with full effect. He laid down his life for his 
 friends ; and this is the thought of the moment, 
 while He looks on the men before Him, first 
 members and fit representatives of that dear com- 
 pany, and says to them, " Ye are my friends, if ye 
 do the things that I command you." 
 
 Only once have we heard this address before, 
 in an exhortation which naturally prompted a 
 tone of special sympathy : " I say unto you, my 
 friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body " 
 (Luke xii. 4). But the relation had ever subsisted 
 in a measure, both with these men, and with others, 
 like the family of Bethany, in the kindly inter- 
 course of the past ; and the title is now conferred 
 because the reason given for it exists as never 
 l)efore, in the communications and confidences of 
 these closing hours. 
 
:ai LOVE AND FKlENUSllir 235 
 
 " No longer do I call you servants; for the servant know- 
 eth not wliat his lord doetli : but I have called you friends; 
 for all things that I heard from my Father I have made 
 known unto you." 
 
 Servants (^SovXoi, bond-servants) they were, and 
 servants they continued ; and the title was dear 
 to them, as descriptive of their place in the great 
 household, and of the employment which was 
 honour and joy. And so they loved to use it, and 
 place it in the first line of their writings, " Simon 
 Peter, a servant of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. i. 1) ; 
 " Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ " (v. 1) ; " Paul, 
 a servant of Jesus Christ" (Rom. i. 1). If they 
 had ceased to be servants, they had ceased to be 
 friends. The familiar attitude, which some have 
 thought to be Christian, disqualilies for the Mas- 
 ter's friendship. But true servants of the Lord 
 of all become, by his own grace, his friends. He 
 calls them so because He makes them such, by 
 the confidential terms to which He admits them. 
 The servant (SoOXo?), as such, knows not what 
 his lord is doing ; for he knows only the task set 
 him, and just does as he is told. He is not 
 informed of the purposes, nor associated with the 
 interests, to which his allotted task contributes. 
 But if he be so by the master's will, a great 
 change has come. The work may be still the 
 same ; but now it is done with intelligence and 
 sympathy, with a sense of fellowship in the under- 
 
.236 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 taking, and of participation in the master's scheme 
 and aim. Such is the association with Himself 
 which Jesus gives to his servants. "All things," 
 He says, "whicli I heard from my Father, I have 
 made known unto 3'ou." I have admitted you to 
 my confidence in respect of the charge which I 
 have from my Father, and made you partners 
 with Me in tlie great scheme of God. This is 
 indeed to treat us as friends ; and this gives the 
 true character to Christian service. An intelli- 
 gent apprehension of the revelation made to us, a 
 spontaneous participation in the mind of Christ, 
 a practical adoption of his interests as our own, a 
 conscious association with Him in life and work, — 
 these are the privileges and the duties of those to 
 whom Pie says, " I have called you friends." A 
 practical basis is given for tliis experience in its 
 connexion with " what the Lord doeth." It is the 
 work of Christ in the world which engages that 
 service which becomes friendship ; and we shall 
 find it such, not as mere observers and approvers, 
 but as active participants according to our several 
 vocations and ministries. 
 
 The privilege of being servants is great ; that of 
 being friends is greater. Some good men limit 
 themselves to the first experience, without ad- 
 vancing to the second. Lo3'al in duties, they do 
 their jtart, and tlicy have their reward ; but they 
 rest in contracted ideas, and live on distant terms 
 
XII LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP 237 
 
 with their Master. Content witli an elementary 
 faith, they have little interest in the more ample 
 commnnications of truth, of which it is said, " All 
 things that I have heard of my Father, I have 
 made known unto you." Scarcely looking be- 
 yond what they are bound to do themselves, they 
 miss the sense of association with what " the Lord 
 doeth." 
 
 The secret of a true friendship is revealed in this 
 explanation. That does not consist in outward re- 
 lations or circumstances, though these may become 
 occasions of it. It consists in common ideas and 
 common interests, in fellowship of mind and fel- 
 lowship of action. And what a power there is in 
 it! How often, among ourselves, does the friend- 
 ship of a superior mind exalt the lower character, 
 enlarge the horizon of thought, and make life 
 more worthy, more active, more interesting ! In 
 the highest sense and fullest measure must these 
 effects attend a friendship with our Lord and 
 Master. What ideas can be so elevating as those 
 which He has heard of his Father, and made 
 known unto us? What interests can be so en- 
 nobling as those which we share with Him in 
 conscious contribution to his work in the world? 
 And these ideas and interests are not confined to 
 the cultured and the few. In every rank there 
 are friends of Christ, who receive his confidences 
 and share in his designs. 
 
238 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 To this service and fellowship Jesus had called 
 the disciples. The initiative was his, not theirs; 
 so He reminds them. " Ye did not choose me, 
 but I chose you." Some have read these words, 
 as intending election to eternal life ; but that is 
 out of keeping with our Lord's whole habit of 
 speech,^ and also with the drift of the present 
 words, in respect to tlie actual position of service 
 and fellowship, and again with the use of the 
 same verb concerning the same persons in other 
 places.^ The choice was followed by appointment 
 for work and its results. " I set (or placed) you, 
 that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your 
 fruit should abide, that whatsoever ye shall ask 
 the Father in my name, he may give it you." 
 That which had been said before is here recalled, 
 in order to connect it with the special objects for 
 which the Apostles were set or constituted in their 
 assigned position. At the same time, the fruitful- 
 ness expressed in the previous allegory receives 
 
 1 St. Augustin, both in this passage and elsewhere (lib. i. 
 ch. 17, de Prcedest. Sanct.), understands by this choosing the 
 predestination of God : I have predestinated you, and cliosen 
 you, witliout any merits of your own, to glory. But this does 
 not agree rightly with the words, " Ye have not chosen me.''- 
 For neither could the Apostles choose Christ to heavenly glory ; 
 nor does Christ here seem to have wished to reveal his pre- 
 destination to the Apostles. For this He Himself is wont to 
 attribute to the Father. — C. a Lapidk. 
 
 2 eT\iyo/j.ai, to choose out for one's self. Luke vi. I'-i, John 
 vi. 70, Acts i. 2, all of choosing to aijostlesliip. 
 
LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP 239 
 
 here a significant addition, suggesting more dis- 
 tinctly the character of apostolic fruitfuhiess. 
 " Tliat ye should go " implies their 77ussion as in 
 the mind of the Speaker, and "that your fruit 
 should remain " is a forecast of its enduring effect. 
 The fulfilment of that forecast is before us still, 
 in the continuance of the faith which they 
 preached and of the Church which they founded. 
 But not to Apostles only does this word belong. 
 How much fruit remains from godly lives in every 
 age, in lasting institutions, enduring books, hymns 
 that are sung from age to age, in names by which 
 the world is made better, in propagated influences 
 of truth or goodness, in ministries, perhaps humble 
 and obscure, but which issue in the eternal life of 
 the saved ! 
 
 It is a noble and a Christian ambition which 
 aspires to prolong the useful effects of life on 
 earth beyond its appointed span ; and surely this 
 enduring character belongs more or less to all 
 good service. It is a word both of exhortation 
 and assurance for all members, servants, and 
 friends of Christ. " I have set you, that ye should 
 go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should 
 remain." 
 
240 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ENMITY OF THE WORLD 
 XV. 17-25 
 
 The discourse is now to enter upon another 
 region of tliouolit; following the future course of 
 the disciples it must pass into the world. The 
 dividing line is (hawn in the words, — 
 
 " Tliese things I enjoin you, to the end that ye may love 
 one another." 
 
 Most commentators (as Luthardt and Godet) 
 make- the sa)'ing the conclusion of the preceding 
 section. Others (as Westcott) read it as an intro- 
 duction to that which follows. Surely it is both. 
 It is a dividing line and a connecting link. Such 
 is the effect of a like phrase in other places.^ 
 Here the expression intends, not a summary of 
 what has been taught, but one i)ractical concliT- 
 sion from it; namely, the precept of nuitual love 
 as })roper to UKiii who are in conunon relations of 
 union and friendship with their Ivord, such as 
 
 1 xiv. 2[>, XV. 11, xvi. 1, 25, ;]3. 
 
ENMITY OF THE WORLD 241 
 
 liave been iiiifolded in tlie preceding words. But 
 the saying is at the same time an introduction 
 to the instructions which ensue ; for tliis precept, 
 delivered but a moment before, is repeated here, 
 not simply for the sake of imj)ression, but specially 
 for its bearing on the experiences now to be de- 
 scribed. It Ijcars upon them as contrasted with 
 them, and as providing against them. The love 
 to be maintained within the company of Christ is 
 sharply contrasted with the hatred to be encoun- 
 tered outside it; and tlic uniting bond among 
 believers is shown to be a practical necessity, in 
 view of the coming conflict with the unbelieving 
 world. So the Evangelist in his Epistle, enlarging 
 on the charge which he liere records, contrasts and 
 connects this love and tins hatred, in order to 
 impress on a later generation this lesson of his 
 Lord. " This is the message which ye heard from 
 the beginning, that we should love one another. 
 . . . Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hateth 
 you. We know that we have passed out of death 
 into life, because we love the brethren. He that 
 loveth not, abideth in death" (1 John iii. 11, 13, 
 14). The urgent language of the then aged 
 Apostle evinces the pain with which he saw divis- 
 ions and antagonisms rising among Christians 
 themselves, and threatening to bring, as they have 
 since brought, the evil spirit of the world into the 
 heart of the Church. 
 
 Q 
 
242 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 But on the evening of the farewell, these dangers 
 lay in the distance, though in the reiterated in- 
 junction the foresight of them appears. The need 
 then Avas to prepare the minds of the chosen band 
 for the experiences of the mission and conflict 
 which were before them. This is done in the rest 
 of the discourse by combining premonitions of 
 trial with promises of support. The world rising 
 against them and the Spirit coming to their help 
 form the picture of their future work, as followers 
 and agents of Jesus after He is gone. Following 
 the mingled flow of these warning and animating 
 words, we shall observe two stages in the devel- 
 opment of the situation, — the first given in xv. 
 18-27, the second in xvi. 1-15. Each presents a 
 view of the antagonism of the world, called forth 
 by the testimony to Jesus, and of the power of the 
 Spirit by which the testimony will be sustained ; 
 but the first stage gives the principles of the con- 
 flict, the second enters into its details. 
 
 It has been remarked by Luthardt that the dif- 
 ference of subject in Chapter XV. is characterised 
 by difference of expression. In the first half of the 
 chapter there is an entire absence of connecting 
 particles (a feature technically expressed by the 
 word "asyndeton"); in the second, the particles 
 of connexion (and, but, etc.) reappear.^ " The 
 
 1 In his "Introduction," vol. i. p. 41, Luthardt observes 
 on the construction and form of sentences. "Asyndeton 
 
XIII EXMITY OF THE WORLD 243 
 
 emotion of the heart," says Luthardt, " expresses 
 itself in asyndeton." So it does ; but emotion is 
 not all the reason for this manner of expression. 
 The former section announced spiritual truths 
 which dwell as separate oracles on the memory; 
 the latter, predicting historical facts, takes the 
 tone in which one tells what happens in the Avorld. 
 The difference is worth noting, as a mark of dis- 
 tinction between the two sections of the discourse. 
 The members of Christ who share his life, the 
 friends of Christ who share his love, are also 
 followers of Chi'ist who share his work : and they 
 must find, as He has found, what jpainful experi- 
 ences attend it. Thus the discourse must pass 
 from the secret sanctuary to the outlying scene, 
 and from the personal relations with Jesus to the 
 consequent relations with the world. The atmos- 
 phere is changed in a moment. Within is the 
 breath of love ; without are the blasts of hatred. 
 
 "If the world hateth you — (it is expressed not as a con- 
 tingency, but as a fact) — If the world hateth you, ye know 
 that it has hated me before (it hated) you. 
 
 " If ye were of the world, the world would love its own ; 
 but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of 
 the world, therefore the world hateth you. 
 
 lays thoughts and sentences utterly bai'e, side by side, without 
 special note of their mutual relation. It is partly a sign of the 
 plain statement of what is to be reported, partly the product of 
 a deep perception of the mutual relation of the matters in 
 question. It desires that others obtain the same jierception 
 in its native purity." 
 
244 THE DISCOURSES chai-. 
 
 "Remember tlie woi'd that I said unto you. A servant is 
 not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will 
 also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep 
 yours also. 
 
 " But all these things will they do unto you for my name's 
 sake, because they know not him that sent me " (18--21). 
 
 The world ! It is a comprehensive and com- 
 plex term, vaguely extending over all regions and 
 races and ages. It presents mankind as a whole, 
 but especially as self-developed in congregated 
 numbers and social communities, and consequently 
 discovering the predominant spirit, and exhibiting 
 in high relief the character of human nature as it 
 is. The world thus fashioned, thus inspired, thus 
 characterised, is everywhere, but most in its cen- 
 tres and citadels. It is diffused over the hills of 
 Galilee and concentrated in the schools of Jerusa- 
 lem ; it shouts in a theatre at Ephesus and rules 
 in the palace of the Csesars ; it is in aristocracies 
 and democracies, in the classes and the masses, in 
 secular companies and ecclesiastical corporations, 
 in marts of business and resorts of pleasure. 
 Under various conditions of society and in dif- 
 ferent degrees of intensity, the world realises 
 itself in all races and orders and places and times'. 
 But in the midst of this immense variety, what is 
 it which constitutes tiie unity, and, as it were, 
 personality, in which the world is regarded, and 
 which a frequent use of its name in Scripture 
 
ENMITY OF THE WORLD 245 
 
 represents? It may be answered that the world 
 is one, in virtue of the mind and spirit which per- 
 vades it ; in virtue of (what in a larger sense we 
 may call) its tvorldliness, being a God to itself, 
 deriving its principles, aims, and instincts from 
 the things that are in the world. It becomes one 
 in virtue of the moral condition thus created, 
 which is at its root alienation from God. 
 
 That spirit had now been tested and exposed by 
 the great embassy of love ; and the test had been 
 applied under, what might seem, the most hopeful 
 conditions. The Jewish world, in which Jesus 
 appeared, was in a higher moral state than were 
 the nations ; it was prepared by previous revela- 
 tion ; it had the form of knowledge and of the 
 truth in the law; it had godly traditions and 
 associations, and was familiar with a religious 
 language, which made the embassy intelligible at 
 once. All tlie more on these accounts did that 
 people show what is the inbred, inveterate char- 
 acter of the spirit of the world by its attitude 
 towards Him who was sent from God. " He was 
 in the world, and the world knew him not; he 
 came unto his own, and his own received him 
 not." But there was worse than incapacity to 
 know, and refusal to receive ; these rose in resent- 
 ment, and settled into hatred. It was painfully 
 felt. " The world," He had said to his brethren, 
 "cannot hate you, but me it hateth, because I 
 
246 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 testify of it that the works thereof are evil " 
 (vii. 7). The hatred grew more active as the 
 testimony grew more clear, and it was now reach- 
 ing consummation in the final crime. 
 
 Jesus speaks now of this hatred, because his 
 followers must inherit it; in order not only to 
 warn them of what they will meet, but also to give 
 them the support, which will be felt in a knowledge 
 of the nature of the case and a sense of communion 
 with Himself. 
 
 Why should these men, with their simple char- 
 acters and good intentions, be objects of hatred to 
 the world ? But why should He have been so, 
 who came with larger love and more ample bene- 
 fits ? If it hates you (the indicative affirms it as 
 fact), if it hates you, ye know (or rather, know 
 ye) that it hated me first of you (e'/^te irpcoTov vfxoiv 
 fjbe/xio-rjKe'), an expression by which He ranks more 
 clearly Himself and them together.^ In their case, 
 as in his, this hatred has its root in an instinctive 
 sense of inward severance and of a different origin. 
 " If ye were of the world (born of and belonging 
 to it), the world would love its own," recognising 
 its own family likeness, with such love as is natu- 
 ral to it.2 " But because ye are not of the world;" 
 
 1 So sometimes in English. E.g. Milton, — 
 
 " Adam, the godlicst man of men since born; 
 The fairest of her daughters, Eve." 
 
 2 The love {i(t)i.\ei) is that of nature, and not of moral choice 
 (dydwaTe). — Westcott. 
 
xiii ENMITY OF THE WORLD 247 
 
 but on the contraiy, I chose you out of the world, 
 into my own likeness and fellowship, on that 
 account the world hates you. All commentators 
 observe how strongly the substantive reality and 
 antagonistic character of the world are empha- 
 sised by the word five times repeated in this single 
 verse. 
 
 Such is the hidden root of the hatred. Its 
 manifestations follow naturally ; and here also the 
 saying on the relation of master and servant will 
 apply. "Remember the word, the word that I 
 said unto you. A servant is not greater than his 
 lord." It is indeed a word to be remembered by 
 servants of Jesus Christ ; for it turns many ways 
 and teaches many lessons. Lately (xiii. 16) it 
 taught the duty of a like humility of service ; 
 now it impresses the fitness of a like treatment 
 and endurance. Shall the servants claim to be 
 exempted from that which the Master bare ? In 
 so far as they do the same work and speak the 
 same word, they must reckon on the same response. 
 "If they persecuted me" (He says), "they will 
 also persecute you; if they kept my word, they 
 will keep yours also." The world is no longer 
 spoken of in its unity. The plural admits variety 
 of action ; and perhaps the second clause may sug- 
 gest a greater opening for the effect of the word 
 as compared with the treatment of the speaker. 
 But the disciples are to judge from past observa- 
 
248 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 tion what they have to look for, both in treatment 
 of themselves and in reception of their word. 
 Only they have received, in the relation between 
 their Lord's histoiy and their own, a strong sup- 
 port and consolation. The worst that may come 
 to them will be the consequence and the evidence 
 of their communion with Him in spirit and in 
 work, and will bear the blessed impress of his 
 name. What power lay in the word, "All these 
 things will they do unto you for my name's 
 sake " ! That thought was more than support and 
 consolation ; it became exultation and joy. Very 
 soon will these men encounter the rising persecu- 
 tion, in imprisonment, scourgings, and counsels to 
 slay them ; and they will " return from the pres- 
 ence of the Council rejoicing that they are counted 
 worthy to suffer shame for the name " (inrep tov 
 6v6fxaro<i, Acts v. 41). 
 
 It will be for his name ; but what does that 
 imply? Jesus will not leave the question unan- 
 swered ; He will go below the surface, and show 
 the truth of the situation, as it is sadly present to 
 his mind. He continues : — 
 
 " For my name's sake, because they know not him that 
 sent me. 
 
 "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not 
 had sin ; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 
 
 " He that hateth me, liateth my Father also. 
 
 " If I had not done among them the works which none 
 
XIII ENMITY OF THE WOKLD 249 
 
 ot.lier did, they had not had sin ; but now have they both 
 seen and hated both me and my Father. 
 
 " But (this Cometh to pass), that the word may be fulfilled 
 which is written in their law. They hated me without a 
 cause" (21-25). 
 
 " They know not him that sent me," — that is 
 at the root of all. Having no real acquaintance 
 with the Sender, they could not recognise Him 
 that was sent. Rejection of the Son was the con- 
 sequence of alienation from the Father; and this 
 has been made clear by the searching character of 
 the mission, and l)y its appeal in word and deed. 
 Bishop Westcott brings out the parallel of the two 
 appeals by simple ari-angement of the clauses. 
 
 " If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had 
 sin, 
 But now they have no excuse for their sin : 
 
 He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. 
 " If I had not done among them the works which none other 
 did, they had not had sin : 
 But now tliey have both seen, and hated both me and 
 my Father." 
 
 To have sent the Word would have been a great 
 favour; but to eome ami speak was more. The 
 personal presence fulfilled the part of " Him that 
 should come " ; the speaking in common language 
 and natural tones brought the message home. It 
 was spoken heart to heart and face to face. And 
 if visible evidence was needed, visible evidence 
 
250 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 was given by Avorks, sucli works as none other did. 
 In kind, in nnmber, in power, in deep significance, 
 they stand, and will ever stand, absolutely alone, — 
 one entire testimony of the Father to the Son. 
 
 But for these appeals and evidences, " they had 
 not had sin," — sin, that is, in this matter, sin in 
 unbelief. The absence of evidence would have 
 been real excuse. Is there not a sound of divine 
 equity in the saying, and of mercy which will 
 make allowance where allowance can be made ? 
 But now, as things are, they have no pretext to 
 cover the guilt of unbelief. It is not ignorance, or 
 misinformation, or mistake. It is sin. It springs 
 from aversion, and ripens into hatred : and hatred 
 of whom ? " He that hateth me hateth my Father 
 also " ; for the mind and spirit in Me, which repels 
 them, is the mind and spirit of my Father; and 
 the claims which they resent from Me ai-e the 
 claims which I make for my Father. All has 
 been clearly set before them, with the result that 
 " they have both seen and hated both Me and my 
 Father." 
 
 A sad result, indeed, of the great experiment. 
 Yet one that might be expected ; for it also is 
 fulfilment: fulfilment of anticipations which past 
 examples might create ; fulfilment of reflections 
 stamped on the sacred page, uj^on the conduct of 
 men noted in history or foreseen in prophecy ; 
 fulfilment especially of sad voices breathing in the 
 
xiii ENMITY OF THE WORLD 251 
 
 Psalms, and making their own Scriptures — " their 
 law, which they use and boast " (Bengel) — a 
 testimony against themselves. Yes, it is written 
 more than once, and is now fulfilled more dis- 
 tinctly than ever before, " They hated me without 
 a cause " (hoypedv), gratuitously, with no cause 
 given by Him Who is hated, but all the reason in 
 the heart of the haters. Whether the words are 
 an echo of Ps. xxxv. 19, or (more probably) of 
 Ps. Ixix. 4, they are not to be taken alone. Here, 
 as in many of our Lord's citations, a single line 
 intimates the presence to his mind of the whole 
 Scripture in which it occurs; and these Psalms 
 serve beyond others to describe the situation 
 created for Him by human enmity, and to supply 
 fit expressions for the facts and feelings of the 
 moment. It is one of the many evidences that 
 the Scriptures are living in his heart, as receiving 
 in his own history their highest and intended 
 fulfilment. 
 
252 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 WITNESS TO THE WORLD 
 
 XV. 26, 27 
 
 Thus have the disciples been warned and in- 
 formed in respect of their relations with the world. 
 The true state of the case up to the present 
 moment is before them, — a sad summary of their 
 Master's history, and a dark forecast of their own 
 prospect. 
 
 But light rises on the darkness. After all, the 
 last word has not been spoken, nor are the resources 
 of God exhausted. There is a power, still in 
 reserve, destined to bring new witness to Jesus 
 and the truth. The Paraclete, already promised 
 as Comforter to the disciples, shall prove his char- 
 acter of Advocate in the great cause which is yet 
 to be pleaded before the world. 
 
 " But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto 
 you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which pro- 
 ceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me : 
 
 " And ye also bear witness, because from the begiuniug 
 ye are with me " (26, 27). 
 
XIV AVITNESS TO THE WOELD 253 
 
 Veiy fully and precisely does the Lord designate 
 the agent who is destined to come upon the scene. 
 He is the Paraclete, now to develop a distinct 
 element in the larsfe significance of that name. I 
 will send Him to you from the Father. He is the 
 Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father. 
 He (eVeti^o?, personal and emphatic), He shall bear 
 witness concerning Me. 
 
 There is large revelation and guidance for 
 thought in these words, eacli particular having 
 force in the direction of theological statement, but 
 here bearing intentionally on the historical mission 
 of the Spirit. This definite mission is expressed 
 by the future, " I will send," the action of the 
 Sender being emphasised by the use of the pro- 
 noun (^e<yoi Treyui/rco) ; while in the later clause the 
 present tense, " who proceedeth," marks this send- 
 ing as a special stage in a going forth that is con- 
 tinuous and of old. The use also of the preposition 
 irapd in both clauses makes the passage a state- 
 ment on the active mission, not an abstract doc- 
 trine on the eternal procession, of the Holy Ghost. 
 The twofold phrase, "the Spirit of truth which 
 proceedeth from the Father," raises the truth in- 
 tended above all partial or secondary senses to the 
 highest conceivable ideal. 
 
 The object of this mission is briefly expressed, 
 to be enlarged afterwards, in its proper i)lace, 
 " He shall bear witness concernincj me." Christ 
 
254 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 is the power for life and healing in the world; 
 but for this He must be known. He has not 
 been known in his personal manifestation ; He is 
 to be known by testimony, — a method which 
 has the advantage of extending to all mankind 
 through all ages. The first witness being given 
 once for all, is propagated to the end of time. 
 From the beginning to the end it is a witness 
 concerning Christ. 
 
 The witness is twofold — that of the Paraclete, 
 and that of the Apostles — but the two form one 
 testimony. There is a reason for each : for that 
 of the Paraclete, because He is " the Spirit of 
 truth which proceedeth from the Father " ; for that 
 of the Apostles, " because ye are with me from 
 the beginning," — the beginning, that is, of the 
 manifestation and ministry. They are witnesses 
 of- facts, of words and deeds, of im^Dressions which 
 they have received in personal observation and 
 liabitual intercourse. This nearness to the person 
 of Jesus, and companionship through all his tfme, 
 is recognised as a qualification for his commissioned 
 witnesses, as St. Peter states at the appointment 
 of Matthias, " Of these men which have companied 
 with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in 
 and out among us, beginning from the baptism of 
 John unto the day that he was received up from 
 us, must one become a witness with us of his resur- 
 rection " (Acts i. 21, 22). And this qualification 
 
WITNESS TO THE WORLD 255 
 
 is constantly insisted on in their teaching. " We 
 cannot but speak the things which we have seen 
 and heard," — "We are witnesses of all things 
 which he did " ; and so they speak continually. 
 On this testimony the Church is founded, holding 
 the historic facts, as St. Luke says, " even as they 
 delivered them unto us, which from the beginning 
 were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word" 
 (i. 2). 
 
 St. John in his old age, solemnly concluding the 
 apostolic testimony, uses words which involve the 
 twofold witness of the senses and of the Spirit. 
 
 " That which was from the beginning, which we have 
 heard, which we have seen with our eyes, that which we 
 beheld, and our hands have handled, concerning the AVord 
 of life (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and 
 bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, 
 which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us) ; 
 that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, 
 that ye may have fellowship with us" (1 John i. 1-3). 
 
 The witness of the senses and natural impres- 
 sions is supplied by that which is seen and heard 
 and looked upon and handled. The witness of the 
 Spirit gives assurance that all this is "concerning 
 the Word of life," and is a manifestation of the 
 life, " the eternal life which was with the Father." 
 " It is the Spirit which beareth witness because the 
 Spirit is truth." The historic facts of word and 
 deed, of passion, resurrection, ascension, are mys- 
 
256 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 teries as well as facts, revelations of the unseen. 
 Their true character and effect may be — from the 
 nature of the case they must be — felt by instinct- 
 ive apprehension, and deduced by necessary infer- 
 ence ; but more than this was needed for the clear 
 view and certain testimony of these transcendental 
 truths. The heavenly things needed a heavenly 
 witness to interpret and certify them. The disci- 
 ples would feel the need. The more exalted were 
 their own apprehensions of all that had passed 
 before them the more would they feel that these 
 thoughts were too great for them, passing into 
 " the deep things of God," and calling for a higher 
 teaching than that of a human understanding and 
 reason. At the time that Jesus is speaking, they 
 scarcely know what their mission will involve, in 
 the fulness and grandeur of the witness to be 
 given ; but they will know it soon, and at the 
 same time will feel the presence of anotlier mind 
 than their own, which, in them, and witli them, 
 will testify of Christ. When this witness came 
 it consisted in a distinct conscious experience, in 
 the recognised unity of a common inspiration, 
 in concurrent influence on other souls, in sudden 
 communications of light and power, and in mani- 
 fold preternatural gifts, all converging in support 
 of the one Gospel, and the testimony to Jesus as 
 the Christ, the Son of God, and to the life that is 
 thi'out>h liis name. In the streno-th of tliis twofold 
 
XIV WITNESS TO THE AVUIILD 257 
 
 witness the Apostles stood forth before the world : 
 " We are witnesses of these things, and so is also 
 the Holy Ghost which God has given to them that 
 obey him" (Acts v. 32). 
 
258 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 TREATMENT BY THE WORLD 
 XVI. 1-7 
 
 If the Speaker had been only giving information, 
 or treating of a subject, He would have continued 
 the account of the witness of the Spirit to the 
 world by telling what He was about to tell of its 
 character and effects. If we omit the first seven 
 verses of this chapter, then the prediction proceeds 
 in order : ^ He shall bear witness of me, and ye 
 also shall bear witness ; and when he is come he 
 shall reprove the world," etc. But these are words 
 of love ; and the emotions and anxieties of love 
 break in on the course of consecutive thouofht. 
 The situation created by "ye also shall bear wit- 
 ness " is before the mind of Jesus ; that in which 
 He will leave these men who are to be with Him 
 no more, but to witness for Him to the world. 
 Why has He spoken thus concerning the world and' 
 its hatred ? There was need for such words then •, 
 there would be greater need soon. 
 
 " These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not 
 be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: 
 
TREATMENT BY THE WORLD 259 
 
 yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever Idlleth you shall thiuk 
 that he offereth service to God. And these things will they 
 do, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But 
 these things have I spoken unto you, that when their hour 
 is come, ye may remember them, how that I told you. And 
 these things I said not unto you from the beginning, because 
 I was with you. But now I go unto him that sent me ; and 
 none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because 
 I have spoken these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your 
 heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth ; It is expedient 
 for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Com- 
 forter will not come unto you ; but if I go, I will send him 
 unto you " (1-7). 
 
 These are words of considerate forethought, and 
 of sympathy with trials that are coming and with 
 sorrow that is come ; but are spoken on account 
 of danger, and rather for safety than for comfort, 
 as it is said, " that ye shoukl not be offended." ^ 
 The word denotes, not the displeasure or pain of 
 
 1 The words (ffKdvdaXov, <TKav8a\l^u, offence and offend) be- 
 long to the region of Christian thought (Vox solum biblica et 
 ecclesiasticse. — Geimm). The idea is that of an obstacle in 
 the path, against which the foot strikes, with the shock to the 
 frame and feelings which all know, and with the effect of causing 
 the man to stumble or fall, or perhaps to cease following, and 
 turn out of the way. This is what the English ' ' offend ' ' properly 
 means. Our common use of the word has rather limited its 
 impression to the shock of personal displeasm-e ; and the Revised 
 Version, to avoid that impression, has generally dropped the 
 word, and substituted " cause to stumble," often with so clumsy 
 an effect as to make it one of the blots of the version. It is 
 better to keep "offend" as a biblical word used in its proper 
 sense. 
 
260 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 these experiences, but the shock which they woukl 
 give to faith by contrariety to what seemed just 
 expectations, and to old religious associations. 
 Instead of a manifestation to the world which the 
 disciples thought to behold, there was to be only 
 a testimony which they themselves must give ; 
 instead of a restoring the kingdom to Israel, the 
 scorn and hatred of Israel itself, with the strange 
 distress of persecution by religious authorities, with 
 consent of religious people, acting from religious 
 motives. These things were of a kind to perplex 
 the mind, stagger faith, and imperil their witness 
 for their Master, or even their adherence to Him. 
 The main points of these experiences are touched 
 in few words, and with explanations which ought 
 to satisfy. They shall put you out of the syna- 
 gogues (^d7roa-vva<ycojov<i TroDJaovatv vfxd<i^, an ex- 
 communication from fellowship with their people, 
 not only bringing painful consequences, but in 
 itself most distressing to religious minds. Yea, 
 more than that, — every one who kills you will 
 think that (Xarpetav irpoa^epei} he offers an act 
 of devotion to God. Strange condition of mind ! 
 Yet one well within the capacities of misinformed 
 conscience and the curious resources of self-deceit. - 
 Not only on the part of Jews, but within the 
 Church itself, sad illustrations have abounded of 
 this kind of " service to God," often in extremest 
 forms, commonly in minor persecutions. To those 
 
XV TREATMENT BY THE WORLD 261 
 
 who had to suffer from this perverted zeal it 
 would be a support to know that it proceeded 
 from ignorance. They, will do these things be- 
 cause they have not known {ovk eyvtoaav}, did not 
 recognise what was before them in the revelation 
 of the Father and the Son. As it was with Jews 
 who persecuted Christians, so with Christians who 
 have persecuted Jews, and with Christians who have 
 persecuted Christians. Things have been done 
 "to the glory of God" and "in the name of 
 Christ," of which He who looks down from heaven 
 could only say, " They have not known the Father 
 nor me." 
 
 However (so we may understand the words), 
 enough has been said for the purpose, which is in 
 the future rather than the present. When the 
 hour is come, you will remember these warnings, 
 and that it was I (eyo)') who told you; and all 
 that happens will recall this evening and my fore- 
 seeing love. 
 
 But these warnings were not new; hence the 
 next words present no little difficulty both to 
 readers and expositors : " These things I said not 
 unto you from the beginning, because I was with 
 you." Passing intimations of trial are not incon- 
 sistent with this statement, as not being distinct ; 
 neither would the prediction in Matt, xxiii. 9 be so, 
 clear as is its announcement of tribulation, hatred, 
 and death ; for those words are themselves part of 
 
202 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 the final prophecy, and spoken but two days be- 
 fore these. But it is otherwise with the words in 
 Matt. X. 16-25, for they are both early and distinct. 
 Some commentators have satisfied themselves by 
 saying that the former teaching on persecution 
 was comparatively dim ; but it is not so with this 
 passage, which stands in the first Gospel at the 
 beginning of the apostolic commission. Critics 
 who arrange things as they please consider this to 
 be an instance of the habit of that Gospel to con- 
 solidate scattered teachings, in this case recording as 
 at first what was really spoken at last. This is a 
 violent supposition; and, moreover, the passage 
 has its appropriate fitness in the place assigned it. 
 The Twelve are chosen, and receive a charge, 
 and are sent forth on a short experimental mission 
 prelusive to their future work. The Lord foresees 
 what that future work will be, and his words (as is 
 common with Him), beginning with that which 
 is at hand, pass on to that which follows. He 
 sees them delivered up to councils, and scourged 
 in synagogues, and brought before governors and 
 kings for his sake, and for a testimony to Jews 
 and Gentiles ; and here only, in all the previous 
 teaching occurs the promise of the Spirit as sus- 
 taining their words and speaking in them. Thus 
 He did say these things " at the beginning," when 
 the Twelve first became Apostles, as indeed was 
 proper to the occasion. But the Authorised Ver- 
 
XV TREATMENT BY THE WORLD 263 
 
 sion augments tlie difficulty by giving a defective 
 translation. The word (f^ ^PXV^^ ^^ ^^^^ '^^■> ^^^' ^^ 
 in the Revised Version, front the beginning, and 
 is distinct even from the usual form so rendered 
 (aTT apx'}?)- It is used only in one other place 
 (vi. 64), where also it refers to the beginning of 
 apostleship, and means literally out of, or forth 
 from, the beginning, expressing, in conjunction 
 with the tense which follows (el-jrov), consequence 
 and continuity. Thus we hear the Lord as saying 
 that after the first He has not been used to tell 
 them of these things because He was with them, 
 and these experiences lay then in the future, and 
 there were other subjects for his intercourse with 
 them from which these darker thoughts might 
 divert their minds. The children of the wedding 
 do not fast while the Bridegroom is with them. 
 It is otherwise Avhen He must be taken away from 
 them ; and that time is now. 
 
 " Now," He resumes, " I go unto him that 
 sent me." So recurs the ever-present thought 
 which ought to awaken enquiry leading into faith 
 and hope. To this the disciples could not rise. 
 " None of you asketh me, Whither goest thou ? " 
 Some time before Peter had asked, and Thomas 
 had implied it ; but these had been voices of deso- 
 late perplexity, and there was no real spirit of 
 enquiry, because sorrow had filled their hearts. 
 So sorrow works when it fills the heart, keeping 
 
264 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 out everything but itself, like a heavy cloud over 
 the mind, excluding lights that should be breaking 
 in, and sometimes in the darkness shewing as 
 simply evil things which are really good. Jesus 
 knew their sorrow as that of nature and affection ; 
 and He felt for it in all tenderness, as still He 
 does in other cases where sorrow fills the heart. 
 
 " Nevertheless," He says, " I tell you the truth. 
 It is expedient for you that I go away." Strange 
 as it sounds to you, it is the truth, and it is I who 
 tell it to you (the arrangement and the use of the 
 personal pronoun are emphatic). It is for your 
 interest and advantage that I go away. There is 
 loss and gain ; but the loss itself is gain, as Au- 
 gustin frequently insists, and as all more spiritual 
 thinkers expound. It has been often shewn how 
 the withdrawal of the visible presence of Jesus 
 was for the disciples salutary progress and advance. 
 In these arguments two leading ideas may be dis- 
 tinguished. It was the end of tutelage which 
 would have kept them children, and the removal 
 of a veil which would have kept them carnal. 
 The first reason is incidental to the natural con- 
 stitution of man ; the second is inherent in the 
 supernatural scheme of things. 
 
 It belongs to human nature in childhood, or in 
 stages analogous to childhood, to be formed by 
 external supervision, and in maturity to be set 
 free from it ; and there is a time when prolonged 
 
XV TREATMENT BY THE WORLD 265 
 
 supervision would not promote, but arrest, ma- 
 turity. The greater independence of judgment 
 and action has its risks ; but the virtue of the 
 child who is kept right is of a less perfect charac- 
 ter than that of the man who keeps right himself. 
 The time had come when it was better for these 
 disciples to pass out of the first stage of discipline 
 into one which would test the principles and 
 powers they had gained, and to exchange the eye 
 ever upon them, the \vord ever in their ears, the 
 visible presence which had made their life and 
 safety, for a state in which service, loyalty, and 
 love Avould be strengthened by more independent 
 exercise, and an obedience of sight would become 
 obedience of faith. It was good for tliem to be 
 with Jesus ; it was better to prove that they had 
 been with Him. Even in this sense it was expe- 
 dient for them that He should go awa3^ 
 
 But this was the more superficial gain. Still 
 more necessarj^, in the order of grace, was the 
 removal of the veil which would have kept them 
 carnal. The presence of Christ in the flesh, so 
 great a help to the life which they had lived, 
 would be a hindrance to the life which they were 
 to live ; for it must have kept their minds in 
 relation to Him in the region of the visible, the 
 corporeal, the external. While He sat there be- 
 fore them in the body, it was hard to enter into 
 the mj^stery of a spiritual union, or duly to appre- 
 
20(5 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 hencl the divine in the human.^ Man is by nature 
 slow to pass beyond sight and sense and the affec- 
 tions which these can generate. Indeed, there 
 has been too much evidence in historical Chris- 
 tianity of the disposition to "know Christ after 
 the flesh," and to fashion his religion to a corre- 
 sponding character.^ His warning on that subject 
 
 1 Aiigustin is frequent on this point. In his Sermon on the 
 passage CXLIII., " Merito dictum est, Expedit vobis nt ego 
 
 Vddam. Semper quidem divinitate vobiscum est ; sed, nisi cor- 
 poraliter abiret a nobis, semper ejus corpus carnaliter-videremus, 
 et nunquam spiritualiter crederemus." Again in CCLXX., 
 "Videtur mihi quod discipuli circa formam humanam Domini 
 Cliristi fuerunt occupati, et tanquam homines in liomine liu- 
 mano tenebantur affectu. Volebat autem eos affectum habere 
 divinum, et de carnalibus facere spirituales. . . . Carnales vero 
 esse desistetis, si forma carnis a vestris oculis auferatur, ut 
 forma Dei vestris cordibus inseratur." 
 
 2 "True it is that, wliile it is the glory of the Cluirch of Rome 
 to have preserved the Confession of Clirist, tlie Son of the living 
 God, through so many ages, notwithstanding the open assaults 
 and insidious snares of numberless forms of heresy, that Church 
 has ever been especially apt to lose sight of the spiritual and 
 divine truth in the outward human form. She has been unable 
 to recognise how it was expedient that Christ should go away. 
 She has never been content, unless she could get something 
 present, — a vicar, images, outward works, actual sacrifices with 
 priests to offer them, real flesh and real blood. She chose, 
 rather, to defy the evidence of the senses than not to have an 
 object of sense. Yes, assuredly it is a great sin of the Church 
 of Rome, that, in the words of Augustin, ' amabat Dominum 
 Jesum Christum, sicut homo hominem, slcut carnalis carnalem, 
 non sicut spiritualis majestatem.' This, however, has been 
 a great difficulty in all ages and under all forms of the 
 Church." — Hake's 3Iission of the Comforter, Note C. 
 
TREATMENT BY THE WORLD 267 
 
 was connected with the lesson of his departure. 
 " What, then, if ye shoukl behold the Son of Man 
 ascending up where he was before? It is the 
 spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing ; 
 the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and 
 are life" (vi. 62, 63). For this reason, and in 
 the same sense. He may well say, " It is expedient 
 for you that I go away." 
 
 But the removal of hindrances is here not the 
 cause of the advantage asserted, but only the con- 
 dition of it. The cause of advantage is not in 
 greater maturity or spirituality of mind, but in the 
 coming of the Taraclete. " If I go not away, the 
 Comforter will not come unto you, but if I go I 
 will send him unto you." There is precision in 
 the language which the English can barely indi- 
 cate. Two words for " go " are used, — the one 
 (ctTreXOco} denotes departure from the place left 
 — in this case, from earth and men; the other 
 (TTopeu^ftj), passage to the place and the end 
 sought — in this case, to heaven and God. The 
 first is an inevitable incident; the second is the 
 effectual act. Before this Jesus had said He 
 would send the Spirit if He went to the Father ; 
 here He says He cannot send Him till He does. 
 It is an impossibility noted elsewhere (vii. 39). 
 "The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not 
 yet glorified." One stage of the dispensation 
 must be finished before the next ensues ; and 
 
2G8 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 rights of gift must be purchased before they are 
 used. There must be departure fiom one scene 
 of action to another ; and the departing steps must 
 be death, resurrection, ascension. Then, when 
 men are redeemed and the Son of Man is glorified, 
 the conditions will be fulfilled, and the Spirit will 
 be his to give, and theirs to receive. These quali- 
 fying conditions are not now to be expressed. 
 When they have occurred they will be understood 
 under the Spirit's teaching. Now it is enough, 
 " If I go, I will send him unto you." 
 
CONVICTION OF THE WORLD 260 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 CONVICTION OF THE WORLD 
 XVI. 8-11 
 
 The discourse returns to the point which it had 
 reached before (xv. 26, 27), and resumes the sub- 
 ject of the witness to the world. It was to be a 
 twofold witness, b}^ the Paraclete and by the dis- 
 ciples ; and the mention of their part in it had 
 diverted the course of thought to the trials which 
 it would involve for them. Love had delayed for 
 a moment in order to recognise and provide for 
 these experiences. Now the Lord continues the 
 prediction of the mission of the Paraclete, still 
 associated with that of the disciples, as shewn by 
 the last words, " I will send him {7Tpo<; u/ia?) to 
 you.'"' There is no mission to the world but 
 through them. So the account of this mission 
 divides itself into two parts, — one of conviction 
 to the world ("• When he is come he shall convict 
 the world ") ; one of teaching to the disciples 
 (" When he is come he shall guide you into all 
 the truth "). 
 
 The first account is given in a few words, which 
 
270 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 yet describe the nature of the witness, discriminate 
 its subjects, and intimate its effect. 
 
 " He, when he is come, will convict the world in respect 
 of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment ; of sin, because 
 they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to 
 the Father, and ye behold me no more ; of judgment, because 
 the prince of this world is judged " (8-11). 
 
 Here are large subjects and pregnant principles 
 of thought described in brief expression. That 
 makes exposition difficult, — a difficulty (so I have 
 found) rather augmented than i-elieved by study 
 of numerous commentaries and disquisitions. 
 
 [It may be of preliminary use to notice the inadequacy 
 of our language to supply a precise rendering of the original. 
 We have no exact equivalent for (eAeyfet), the word ren- 
 dered in Authorised Version ' reprove,' and in Revised Version 
 ' convict.' The English Hexapla shews these other renderings, 
 ' lie shall reprove the worlde of synne, righteousnesse, and 
 doom ' (Wycliffe) ; ' lie will rebuke the worlde of synne,' etc. 
 (Tyndal and Cranmer) ; ' He shall argue the world of sin,' 
 6tc. (Rheims). The Revised Version translates the word, 
 which is frequent in New Testament, differently in different 
 passages : in one (Matt, xviii. 15), ' shew him his fault ' ; in 
 many, ' reprove ' ; in more, ' convict.' ' Reprove ' would 
 answer well enough, if taken in its old sense of confuting 
 and proving the contrary,^ for the Greek word expresses an 
 
 1 Reprove : from Fr. reprouver, Lat. reprobare, to prove the 
 contrary of a statement, refute, disprove. 
 What doth your arguing reprove. — Job vi. 25. 
 If it shall require to teach any truth, or reprove false doctrine, 
 or rebuke any vice. — Homilies, p. 8, 1. 24. 
 
 Reprove my allegation if you can, 
 Or else conclude my words effectual. 
 
 — Shakespeare, Henry VI., III. 1. 40. 
 Aldis Wright, Bible Word Book, p. 50(3. 
 
XVI CONVICTION OF THE WORLD 271 
 
 argument to show that a way of thinking is wrong in order 
 to set it right ; but as ' reprove ' now conveys a diiferent 
 impression, the word ' convict ' may serve best. 
 
 " But it will require explanatory construction ; for though 
 to ' convict a man of sin ' is an English idiom, to ' convict 
 him of righteousness' is not. So we must preserve the force 
 of the preposition {irtpi), 'about, concerning, in respect of.' 
 The statement will then be clear that the Spirit will convict 
 the world of false ideas and grave mistakes concerning sin, 
 righteousness, and judgment. 
 
 " To these verbal explanations may be added another on 
 the word 'because,' which in English has various intentions. 
 The conjunction (ort) here (as often) expresses a fact, 
 alleged as a reason for something else {e.g. John ii. 18, ' Wliat 
 sign shewest thou, seeing that thou doest these things?' 
 ix. 17, ' What sayest thou of him, in that he opened thine 
 eyes?'). Thus the facts are given as reasons by which the 
 world ought to be convinced 'about sin, seeing that they 
 believe not on me, about righteousness, seeing that I go to 
 the Father, and about judgment, seeing that the prince of 
 this world is judged.' The facts, as exhibited by the Spirit, 
 will be sound reasons for these convictions.] 
 
 It is (we observe) to the world that this argu- 
 ment is to be addressed, — the world which has 
 been described as not knowing God or Christ, as 
 prone to hate and ready to persecute. But it is 
 not to be let alone because of this hostile attitude, 
 or abandoned to this evil condition. Divine love 
 does not retire at the first rude repulse. On the 
 contrary, it will return to the charge with fuller 
 testimonies, more urgent appeals, and on a wider 
 field, in the power of the Holy Ghost. By Plim 
 
272 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 the clear lio^lit of revelation shall be thrown on all 
 that is past, and the true state of the case between 
 God and the world shall be definitively stated. 
 
 The subjects of this controversy are the three 
 great topics which form the domain of conscience, 
 and involve the present and eternal interests of 
 mankind, — Sin, Righteousness, Judgment. The 
 words at first stand alone, and are not to be read 
 as absorbed into the clauses which follow. They 
 are correlative terms, representing the ideas of a 
 gi-and trilogy and the facts of an awful drama. 
 These are the subjects of the old controversy which 
 dates from the fall of man, which the , prophets 
 carried on, and which they invoked creation to 
 attend, " Hear, O ye mountains, the Lord's contro- 
 versy, and ye strong foundations of the earth." 
 But now a change has come over it. In the mani- 
 festation of the Son of God, the controversy has 
 reached its climax and been brought to the point 
 of decision, and must henceforth be conducted 
 under altered conditions and with other argfu- 
 ments than before. Not only is the natural ten- 
 dency and prevailing sentiment of the world all 
 wrong on these great subjects, but by a new test 
 this has been more than ever proved to be the case. 
 Therefore the Spirit of the Lord, coming with 
 fresh power on the scene, must lift up a standard 
 against it. 
 
 The standard is the testimony of Jesus, the 
 
XVI CONVICTION OF THE WORLD 273 
 
 witness to be borne concerning Him ; for that goes 
 straight to the centre of these questions, as being 
 the questions that He came to solve. In Him the 
 crucial test has been applied to unbelief, the root of 
 sin. In Him righteousness has been first realised 
 in man, and then enthroned with God. In Him 
 the power of evil has been overthrown in conflict 
 and left under sentence of judgment. At the time 
 of speaking, none of these things were understood ; 
 and the decisive error of the world was concen- 
 trated in its error on the person of Christ. It had 
 not believed in Him, and felt neither the guilt of 
 the unbelief nor the state of sin which it discov- 
 ered. It had not recognised the one perfect ex- 
 ample of righteousness; on the contrary, it had 
 counted his righteous claims to be crimes, and 
 reckoned Him among the transgressors. It saw 
 judgment executed, not by Him, but against Him, 
 and was at that moment delivering Him to death. 
 The Spirit is to shew the truth of the case in all 
 these respects ; and the words which describe his 
 witness are adapted to the situation in each par- 
 ticular, and correspond to thoughts immediately 
 present at the time. That of the unbelief of the 
 nation weighs heavily on the mind, as expressed 
 in the sad conclusion (xii. 37-50) and accentuated 
 in words just spoken (xv. 22-25). That of depar- 
 ture to God and witlidrawal from human eyes is 
 the p-round-thouofht of this whole discourse. That 
 
274 THE DISCOUESES chap. 
 
 of the judgment of Satan has come strongly into 
 view, as shewn by the last words in the Temple, 
 " Now is the judgment of this world ; now shall 
 the prince of this world be cast out" (xii. 31). 
 These three facts in earth, in heaven, in hell, the 
 Spirit will use, in order to convict the world by 
 the revelation which they make on sin, righteous- 
 ness, and judgment. 
 
 How this was done in the first stage of his ac- 
 tion we read in the earlier part of the Book of 
 Acts, in which the sin of that unbelieving genera- 
 tion is arraigned, the righteousness of "that just 
 One " who is exalted to the right hand of God is 
 proclaimed, and the certainty of coming judgment 
 is pressed home on men's souls, all testified with 
 inspired voice by the AjDostles, and felt with thrill- 
 ing effect among the people. 
 
 In that first stage the account here given of the 
 mission of the Paraclete is historically interpreted 
 by a decisive fulfilment, which is as yet limited 
 and local. But the interpretation is expanded 
 when the mission enters on the larger world, and 
 in contact with mankind in general, develops its 
 deeper spiritual intention. The controversy of 
 the Spirit with the world is permanent and uni- 
 versal ; still it turns on sin, righteousness, and 
 judgment, and still it is carried on, not by abstract 
 arguments about them, but by the witness to Jesus 
 Christ and to the great facts of his history. This 
 
XVI CONVICTION OF THE WORLD 275 
 
 is the Gospel which the Holy Ghost gave and 
 which He ever uses for his woi'k of conviction by 
 the mouth of the preacher and in the heart of 
 the hearer. 
 
 This is the power which awakens in men's 
 minds, as nothing else has done, the sense of sin. 
 The sense of sin results from nearness to God, and 
 the Gospel brings God very near to us by a full 
 manifestation and a direct appeal made in the 
 person of his Son, and made to us as sinners. His 
 name is called Jesus, for He saves his people from 
 their sins. Reprobation of sin, bearing of sin, 
 redemption from sin, forgiveness of sin, deliver- 
 ance from sin, are the first ideas represented by 
 that name. He to whom this appeal of grace is 
 made, and by whom it is disbelieved and refused, 
 remains under sin. " He that believeth not is 
 judged already because he hath not believed on the 
 name of the only-begotten Son of God" (iii. 18). 
 That unbelief is a proof of the sinful state and a 
 final sin itself; for sin, being followed to its last 
 defences by the Spirit's revelation of the Healer 
 and Redeemer, is left without excuses, so far as 
 that revelation is rejected. And thus " He shall," 
 the Lord says, " convict the world in respect of 
 sin, in that they " (not " it," but " they," not the 
 world collectively, but men personally) " believe 
 not on me." 
 
 This, again, is the power which, as a necessarily 
 
276 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 correlative act, gives to the world a new sense of 
 righteousness. While the world knew not where 
 to look for righteousness, as realised in man and 
 sealed of God, its dubious and confused ideas 
 respecting it had some excuse, though its false 
 and perverted ideas had none. Things were 
 changed when the Spirit presented to the world 
 the great Object of faith, in One who had " ful- 
 filled all righteousness," realising it perfectly in 
 human life, and then receiving the seal of it, in 
 that He went to the Father. That fact was con- 
 clusive of the truth of his mission, of the justice of 
 his claims, and of recognition in heaven as " Jesus 
 Christ the righteous." Having been " manifested 
 in the flesh," He was "justified in the spirit, and 
 received up in glory." This is briefly contained 
 in the words " Because I go to the Father." 
 
 . But what is the significance of the added words, 
 " And ye behold me no longer " ? Many commen- 
 tators treat it as a mere amplification of the depar- 
 ture, but as such it would hardly have a place in 
 these brief utterances. Some observe, " the fact 
 that He gives his invisibility this personal turn 
 and reference to the disciples is an expression of 
 his sympathetic love." ^ But that personal inten- 
 tion would have required the pronoun (Li/Met?), and 
 it would be scarcely in place in an account of con- 
 viction to the world. Rather it appears to imply 
 1 Lulhardt. 
 
XVI CONVICTION OF THE WOULD 277 
 
 that the cessation of visibility on earth and the 
 close of human observation is the condition of a 
 true recognition. In some degree that is true in 
 general. Character, especially righteous charac- 
 ter, is best recognised when life is completed and 
 observation terminated. Therefore it is when ye 
 no longer behold me (Oeoipeire) as spectators of 
 what is passing, you will have the whole history 
 before you as completed in its last stage and 
 ended by death and departure, and you will then 
 receive its full impression. So it has been. It 
 was seen that both in action and in suffering the 
 work had been done and the victory won, not by 
 power, but by righteousness. The world had 
 before it a perfect example and a new ideal. 
 Jesus had stamped his image on the inmost con- 
 sciousness of man and at the centre of human 
 history. In that character it stands without a 
 rival, in the opinion even of those who refuse to 
 believe on his name. Those who do believe see 
 that " God has made the Holy and the Just both 
 Lord and Christ," the " King of righteousness " 
 and the author of it, the type of righteousness by 
 what He was in the flesh, the source of it by what 
 He is in the Spirit. 
 
 Hoio He is the source of it to us is a further 
 question. A distinct doctrine concerning his 
 communication of this righteousness and our jus- 
 tification in it, has been drawn from this passage 
 
278 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 by Augustin and Luther, and by many others. 
 But it is rather attached to the words than de- 
 duced from them.i In fact, it belongs to a later 
 stage of the divine teaching, and is part of the 
 instruction to the Church rather than of the wit- 
 ness to the world. 
 
 Once more, it was the same revelation by the 
 Spirit which established before the world the truth 
 of judgment. Were there no judgment, there 
 would be neither sin nor righteousness ; for it 
 would be no moral world which had no moral 
 government, and law would be futile if it were 
 not to be vindicated, and conscience would be 
 silenced if it had no support. Hence those who 
 looked on the course of this world were often 
 shaken in mind by the disordered scene, which 
 gave too much occasion for the doubting and 
 sometimes taunting question, " Where is the God 
 of judgment?" (Mai. ii. 17). We know the 
 anxious debates and the agitated appeals on this 
 subject, which are heard from Prophets, from 
 Psalmists, and in the Book of Job. And the 
 apparently wavering conflict between right and 
 wrong was in reality even more serious than it 
 seemed ; for what took place on the surface had 
 springs and supplies unseen, and there was a 
 prince of this world behind the world itself. 
 
 1 The justness of these inferences is maintained by Stier 
 ■with some pains, but, I think, without success. 
 
XVI CONVICTION OF THE WORLD 279 
 
 Great was the need for One who shonld "bring 
 forth jndgment unto victory." " For this purpose 
 the Son of God was manifested, that he might 
 destroy the works of the Devil " (1 John iii. 8). 
 He came to decide the conflict, and o]i the cross 
 it was decided. In tliat desperate attack on the 
 righteous One in whom he "had nothing," the 
 enemy suffered irremediable defeat, and fell under 
 irrevocable judgment. As yet it is not the world 
 which is judged, but its Prince. Christ came 
 " not to judge the world, but to save the world." 
 For the purposes of that salvation, the Spirit 
 witnesses that the issue is decided by what has 
 taken place ; that in one and the same act sin is 
 atoned for, righteousness victorious, and the Prince 
 of this world cast out ; and that the consequence 
 follows in the certainty of judgment to come. 
 " God hath appointed a day in which he will judge 
 the world in righteousness by him whom he hatli 
 ordained" (Acts xvii. 31). This was one of the 
 voices by which the Apostles awoke the world, 
 for ever a mighty power for missionary success, 
 perhaps in these days scarcely as much used as it 
 ought to be, and as it was by them. But for all 
 men the testimonies concerning sin and righteous- 
 ness derived, and still derive, force, from the testi- 
 mony of a fixed and final judgment, making it 
 felt that " the kingdom of God is not in word, but 
 in power." 
 
280 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 These, then, are the subjects of the controversy 
 with the world, and the lines on which it is now 
 to be conducted ; but what is to be its success ? 
 The word employed does not promise success. 
 The result of the conviction may be persuasion in 
 some cases, or hardening in others. Yet the better 
 result is suggested, if not announced; and it 
 cannot be thought that so great an Advocate in so 
 great a cause will testify, argue, and plead in vain. 
 In respect of a controversy with the world, we 
 may distinguish the general and superficial effect 
 in the multitude and mass of men from the deep 
 and true effect in individual souls. The general 
 is indeed the consequence of the individual effect ; 
 for personal conviction diffuses itself in pi'oportion 
 to its intensity, as a current in a narrow channel, 
 increasing in force and volume, rises over its 
 boundaries and occupies with wider and shallower 
 waters the sui-rounding scene. And besides this 
 power of influence, the witness of the Spirit has 
 its own natural effect, inasmuch as in one part it 
 consists of evidences and inferences level to the 
 common reason, and in another part it appeals to 
 the deepest needs and best affections of our nature, 
 and so has a proper fitness to overcome the resist- 
 ance which it meets with from other causes, and to 
 win its way to a large and general acceptance. And 
 this is what happened ; the Gospel gradually ex- 
 tending its moral victory all along the line. The 
 
XVI CONVICTION OF THE WORLD 281 
 
 world, as such, after a time of struggle and vio- 
 lence, succumbed at last ; admitted faith in Christ 
 to be duty, and unbelief to be sin ; recognised his 
 claims to be righteous, and Himself to be the 
 standard and source of righteousness, and bowed 
 in .distant fear before One who would " judge the 
 quick and the dead at his appearing and his 
 kingdom." This submission to Christ, and the 
 consequent Christianity of the leading nations of 
 the world, was the work of the Spirit, as being 
 wrought by the Gospel which his inspiration gave, 
 by preachers filled with his power, and (we may 
 add) by those wider influences by which at times 
 He moves multitudes in the way of preliminary 
 preparation. So far the world has been not only 
 convicted of error, but convinced of truth, and, 
 having identified itself with the Church of Christ 
 in respect of the confession of his name, exhibits 
 in large and lasting characters the success of the 
 witness of the Spirit. 
 
 Yet the controversy is not over because the 
 world and the Church thus interpenetrate each 
 other. A battle is not over, when the lines are no 
 longer seen, in opposite array, but are lost to view 
 in the confusion of close quarters or scattered fight. 
 Only those who can look from higher ground see 
 distinctly how things are going. Christendom has 
 ever shewn, and still shews too plainly, that the 
 conflict concerning sin, righteousness, and judg- 
 
282 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 ment is going on ; and within the area of superficial 
 conquest the true successes of the Spirit have to 
 be won in individual souls from age to age. In 
 the experience of human hearts the work goes on, 
 often as a keen and painful conflict, confuting 
 false reasonings and casting down vain defenges, 
 overcoming error and wrong by truth and right, 
 and substituting for the principles of the world 
 the living word of Christ. Thus is the promised 
 Spirit at work among us, translating men from 
 the death of sin to the life of righteousness, and 
 from the fear of judgment to the joy of salvation. 
 
 "To llim, therefore, the gracious Comforter, who con- 
 vinces us of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, and 
 to Jesus Christ, the Lord of our faith and our righteous- 
 ness, by whom the Prince of this world was judged, and to 
 the blessed Father, who vouchsafed to send his Son and his 
 Spirit for the redemption and sanctification of mankind, be 
 all praise and thanksgiving and glory and adoration from 
 angels and saints world without end." ^ 
 
 1 Last words of Hake's " Mission of the Comforter." 
 
ILLUMINATION OF THE CHURCH 283 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ILLUMINATION OF THE CHURCH 
 V. 12-15 
 
 The outlines of a great history have been 
 drawn, creating an anxious outlook for the disci- 
 ples ; for the work of the Spirit in the controversy 
 with the world involves the necessity of his work 
 in those who are to conduct it, and concerning this 
 they need information and assurance. Then there 
 is yet much to be said, as, indeed, there always is 
 in a last interview. And how much is often left 
 unsaid for want of time or for other reasons ! 
 There is another reason here : — 
 
 "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot 
 bear them now." 
 
 If the Lord has them to say, they will be said, 
 but not now Qdpri) at the present moment. At 
 the point which has been reached in preparation 
 and capacity, the minds of the hearers would be 
 unequal to sustain them : they would be like too 
 heavy a weight laid on one whose strength was 
 immature. Thankfully do we observe the consid- 
 
284 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 Grateness of our Master's teaching, its proportion 
 to what minds can bear, its partial discoveries and 
 gradual developments, and its reticence till it is 
 time to speak. We trace this characteristic in 
 Jesus as an educator. He says things here which 
 He would not have said a year before ; and lias 
 things yet to say which He will not say now under 
 present conditions of thought. The conditions 
 will be altered Avhen the events have taken place. 
 After the death, the resurrection, the ascension, 
 and the coming of the Holy Ghost, these truths 
 will find their place in prepared hearts. 
 
 Who that knows his own mental history does 
 not feel grateful for these words ! They tell us 
 of tender consideration for immature stages of 
 thought and wise methods of gradual advance in 
 spiritual apprehension. Did not the prophet say 
 of the good Shepherd, " He shall gently lead those 
 that are with young " ? It was spoken not of 
 sheep, but of minds. He Avill not deal precipi- 
 tately with the processes of travailing thought or 
 impatiently with yet imperfect conceptions. We 
 yield ourselves more trustfully to the Teacher 
 who knows what is in man, and leads his disciples 
 on as they are able to bear it.^ 
 
 1 " Tlie principle on which Christ conducts his teaching is 
 that the full greatness of a truth is not unveiled until the eye has 
 been strengthened, and a hope is not shattered until its compen- 
 sation has been provided. It is because He is the Educator, 
 ■who in nature lets the blossoms fall only when the fruit forms, 
 
ILLUMINATION OF THE CHURCH 285 
 
 But these words of Jesus, besides their consid- 
 erate tone, have also a distinctly important place 
 in the course of revelation. They decide a ques- 
 tion of the greatest moment. It may be stated 
 thus : Are we to limit the teaching of Christ Him- 
 self to the words recorded in the Gospels as spoken 
 by his lips? Does his authority extend to what 
 may seem to go further than this, in the testimo- 
 nies of the Acts or the doctrine of the Epistles ? 
 The question is, indeed, fully answered in other 
 ways ; but these words are a turning-point. Even 
 in his last recorded words, Jesus has not delivered 
 all that lie has to communicate. He has yet 
 things to say, — many things, — and those of great- 
 est weight and moment for the perfecting of his 
 doctrine. How these communications will be 
 made, and what will be their nature, the following 
 words explain : — 
 
 " Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall 
 guide you into all the truth ; for he shall not speak from 
 himself ; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he 
 speak : and he shall declare unto you the things that are to 
 come. He shall glorify me : for he shall take of mine, and 
 
 and suffers the leaves of last autumn to remain on trees whose 
 young buds need such shelter. . . . There are in the teaching of 
 Christ, both in the Bible and in Providence, — reticences and 
 pauses which temper the truth to feeble minds as clouds chasten 
 light." — Sermons bi/ J. Ker, D.D., 2d Series. Sermon on 
 "Christ's Keticence in teaching Truth," beautiful in thought 
 and expression. 
 
28G THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 shall declare it unto you. . . . All things whatsoever the 
 Father hath are mine : therefore said T, that he taketh of 
 mine, and shall declare it unto you" (13-15). 
 
 It is a great promise, expressed with careful 
 precision. We note the distinct, emphatic words 
 — He (eK6ivo<i) the personal Agent, not an ema- 
 nation or influence — the Spirit of truth (to Trvevfia 
 rrj<i oK'TjOeia'i) assuring by his own nature the truth 
 that he teaches — ivhen He is come (otuv eXOrf)^ not 
 merely given, but coming, and that at a definite 
 time, when his fresh instructions will be opened — 
 He will lead you (^oBriyrja-ei I'yu.a?) as a guide leads 
 in the way, by steady advance, rather than by 
 sudden revelation. It will be a leading the mind 
 forward according to its proper working, in appre- 
 hensions that are cleared as they proceed. He 
 will lead you info all the truth (et? rrjv a\i]6eiav 
 7raaav~), the truth, that is, of the Gospel, the word 
 of life and salvation, into all of it, completing the 
 communications already made.^ 
 
 Those communications have indeed compre- 
 hended all the truth, but, in respect of its higher 
 mysteries, implicitly and by anticipation. It could 
 not be otherwise. The teaching of Christ in the 
 flesh is a progressive course, impljang events 
 which are near, but have not yet happened, and 
 
 1 "Cette verite, d'apres XIV. 6, c'est J6sus lui-nienie, sa 
 personne, sa parole, son oeuvre. Voila le diviii domaiue dans 
 lequel I'Esprit leiir servira di' guide." — Goukt. 
 
ILLUMINATION OF THE CHURCH 287 
 
 preparing a revelation which is yet to come. His 
 sayings, in their form parabolic, and in their method 
 occasional, provide in a remarkable manner the 
 materials and certificates of that revelation. But 
 they await their explanation from the events, and 
 their full interpretation by " the Spirit of promise." 
 That is here assured to the men then present, and 
 to such as shall be joined with them in their great 
 commission to mankind. Therefore, to them be- 
 longed the promise in an exceptional sense, as first 
 recipients of the teaching which should lead them 
 into all the truth, in order that their words might 
 serve to lead others into it. Thus the apostolic 
 teaching is for all generations the teaching of the 
 Spirit, and we receive it as such, being sealed to us 
 by this promise. To use the words of Godet, "The 
 word xiv. 26, He shall bring all things to your 
 remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you, 
 formulates the inspiration of our Gospels ; that in 
 the present verse formulates the inspiration of the 
 Epistles and Apocalypse." 
 
 Yet does the promise extend beyond this im- 
 mediate and fundamental application. It is the 
 property of believing enquirers in all ages and 
 generations, to their unspeakable encouragement 
 and comfort; and it is ever being fulfilled in 
 individual cases, though in various measures, 
 according as the work of the Spirit is conditioned 
 by tlie mental atmosphere through which He 
 
288 THE DISCOUESES chap. 
 
 breathes. Only the truth, into which separate 
 souls or Christian societies are led by the Spirit 
 of truth, can never be any other than the truth, 
 " which was once for all delivered to the saints," 
 by those who first " preached the Gospel (to the 
 world) with the Holy Ghost sent down from 
 heaven " (Jude iii. 2; 1 Pet. i. 12). 
 
 Lest it should be thought that this later stage 
 of teaching is not to be ranked with the first in 
 respect of divine authority, the Lord proceeds to 
 say that, as those former communications came 
 straight from the source of eternal truth, so shall 
 it be also with these. That which Jesus had 
 asserted of his own teaching in the past, the same 
 does He assert of that of the Paraclete in the 
 future. " He will not speak from Himself," as a 
 separate or secondary originator of revelation ; 
 rather. He shall be as one who hears on the one 
 side all that He speaks on the otlier.^ 
 
 1 Augustin expresses the difficulty which he felt in regard to 
 this language as used concerning the Spirit. In the case of 
 Jesus it seems to him more easy to understand as applicable to 
 his position in human nature and to his words spoken in the 
 flesh. In the case of the Spirit, he finds the exposition in his 
 essential nature as derived and proceeding from the Father and 
 the Son, and concludes a careful argument by saying, " He will 
 not speak from Himself, because He is not from Himself ; but 
 what He shall hear. He will speak. From Him He will hear from 
 Whom He proceeds. For Him to hear is to know, and to know 
 is to be ; and from Him from Whom He proceeds is his being, 
 his knowing, and his hearing." He then deals witli the question 
 of the future tense as superficially at variance with the eternal 
 
XVII ILLUMINATION OF THE CHURCH 289 
 
 These things He shall shew or declare (^avajye- 
 \et). It is a high-toned word, proper to the an- 
 nouncement of things otherwise unknown. It is 
 used elsewhere of the announcements made by the 
 Apostles to the world (Acts xx. 20; 1 Pet. i. 12; 
 1 John i. 5, etc.), here of the like announcements 
 made by the Spirit to the Apostles, and is im- 
 pressed by a threefold repetition at the close of 
 successive sentences. 
 
 The subjects of the information, thus to be 
 heard and given, are descril^ed in few, but grand 
 and comprehensive words ; and first it is said, 
 " He shall shew you (^ra epxo/^eva^ the coming 
 things." It is not only the gift of predictive 
 prophecy, partial and occasional as that was, 
 which is here intended. That would scarcely 
 have been placed in the forefront of this account 
 of the teaching of the Holy Ghost. Rather we 
 should read the words as closing the assertion of 
 the absolute trutli of the teaching by a compre- 
 hensive statement of its nature. " Whatsoever 
 he shall hear he will speak, and he will declare 
 to you the coming things." At such a prospect 
 expectation rises, imagination kindles, and infor- 
 mation is sought. For its proper purposes it will 
 be given; including, as I think, the whole dispen- 
 
 knowing and hearing. The whole argument exhibits the deeper 
 line of theological thought, for which every sviggestion in tliis 
 discourse was taken. — In Joh. Evnnfj. Tract. XCIX. 
 
 T 
 
290 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 sation of tlie future. There, in the realm of ex- 
 pectation, the coming things (ra epxofieva) will 
 take the place of the coming One (o ep^^ofxevo^;^ 
 on wliose actual advent they ensue. The new 
 Covenant supplanting that which will vanish 
 away, the development of its truths and mysteries, 
 the powers of the world to come which it will dis- 
 close, the life and experiences which it will create, 
 the forms in which it Avill express itself, the shape 
 and order of the Church, its extension over the 
 world, the course and consummation of its history 
 with the ultimate issues afterwards, such as they 
 appear in the Apocalypse or in St. Paul's doctrine 
 of the expectation and destiny of the creation 
 (Rom. viii.) and of the resurrection of the dead 
 and the eternal and glorious kingdom (1 Cor. xv. 
 and elsewhere), — these, I say, are the coming 
 things which the Spirit will bring out of darkness 
 into lipfht. 
 
 This illumination of the future world of thouglit 
 and faith is to be concentrated in one focus, 
 namely, in the revelation of the glory of Jesus 
 Christ. lie is the great subject of the witness 
 of the Spirit before tiie world and within the 
 Church. For conviction of the world it was 
 before said, " He shall testify of me." For teach- 
 ing of the Church it is now said, " He shall glorify 
 me." Has this been done? How amply, how 
 fully, we see for oui selves as we turn to the apos- 
 
XVII ILLUMINATION OF THE CHURCH 291 
 
 tolic writings. Jesus Christ shines forth in every 
 page in lofty testimonies, adoring ascriptions, doc- 
 trinal expositions, and practical pleadings. And 
 as He was glorified at first in '•' the faith once for 
 all delivered to the saints," so has He been ever 
 since in the creeds and confessions, the liturgies 
 and doxologies, the hj^nns and celebrations, of the 
 whole Catholic Church ; and at the same time by 
 the trust and the love, the confidence and devo- 
 tion, the labours and martyrdoms of believers in 
 all ages, " a gi^eat multitude which no man can 
 number of all nations and kindreds and peoples 
 and tongues." Thus in fact has the Spirit glori- 
 fied the Lord Jesus in the Scriptures, in the 
 Church, and in the souls of men. 
 
 But, in the announcement made, there is more 
 than the fact, — there is the intimation of the lines 
 on which it should be done. " He shall glorify 
 me, for [oti, because] he shall take of mine and 
 shall declare it unto you." Only thus, indeed, 
 can any glorifying be true. It must consist in 
 the showing forth, not of accidents and acces- 
 sories, but of that which truly belongs to the 
 person glorified, that which he is in himself and 
 has of his own. So it is in this great saying, " He 
 shall take of that which is mine " (e'/c tou ifiov). 
 One dares not distribute this collective word, or 
 break it up into particulars which would be short 
 of its meaning. But we observe that it contains 
 
292 THE DLSCOURSES chap. 
 
 a division in itself, for it is said, not that the 
 Spirit will declare to you that which is. mine, but 
 that He will take out of that which is mine and 
 declare it to you. Not all that is Christ's, not all 
 that is known of Him in worlds above, or that 
 will be known by us hereafter, is matter of pres- 
 ent revelation, but what constitutes his relations 
 with ourselves, and what for the present it con- 
 cerns us to know. 
 
 For this saying the Lord gives a reason which 
 carries it into the depths of the mystery of the 
 Godhead. " All whatsoever the Father hath are 
 mine : therefore said I that he taketh of mine, and 
 shall declare it unto you." The assertions are 
 clear ; but what means the word " therefore " ? 
 Perhaps we may understand it thus : All things 
 that will be communicated are indeed the Father's: 
 I .have therefore called them mine, because not 
 these only, but all things whatsoever the Father 
 hath are mine : and it is out of those vast and 
 boundless treasures that the Spirit, " who search- 
 eth all things, yea, the deep things of God," takes 
 what it is seen fit that He should impart to men. 
 
 The saying completes the expression of the 
 consciousness which has pervaded the whole dis- 
 course. From the first word, " Believe in God, 
 believe also in me," the sense of the ineffable 
 union has mingled with every successive topic ; 
 and all the relations of Christ to his people, and 
 
xvii ILLUMINATION OF THE CHUKCII 293 
 
 of his people to Him, in the economy of grace 
 have been shewn to rest on the essential relations 
 of the Son to the Father and of the Father to the 
 Son in the co-eternal Godhead. These profound im- 
 plications reach tlieir close in the last words, to be 
 repeated a few moments after in the Prayer, with 
 even greater fulness. " All things that are mine 
 are thine, and thine are mine." In that Prayer 
 the consciousness which has pervaded the inter- 
 course with men finds in communion with the 
 Father its explicit, unreserved, and serene expres- 
 sion. 
 
 This trutli of the unity of nature and conse- 
 quent community of possession in the Godhead 
 underlies and sustains all other truths, out of the 
 fulness of which the Spirit still takes the things 
 of Christ to shew unto us. 
 
 " Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, 
 And lighten with celestial fire ; 
 Thou the anointing Spirit art 
 Who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart. 
 
 " Teach us to know the Father, Son, 
 
 And Thee of both to be but one ; 
 
 That through the ages all along, 
 
 This may be our endless song, 
 
 Praise to thine eternal merit, 
 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." 
 
294 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE SORROW AND THE JOY 
 V. 16-22 
 
 The discourse draws to an end. Its consoling 
 and revealing words have been sufficient. Its 
 instructions have fixed the faith resulting from 
 the past, and its promises have prepared the higher 
 faith of the future. The manifestation in the flesh 
 has been shewn as passing into the manifestation 
 by the Spirit. Through the whole has run the 
 line of implied revelation of the eternal Godhead, 
 in the relations of the Son to the Father and of 
 the Spirit to the Father and the Son. The inter- 
 est of early writers was ever most strongly at- 
 tracted to these theological implications : that of 
 later commentators has been more restricted to the 
 primary application of the words to the mind of 
 the disciplco at the time and to the subsequent 
 Christian life ; but these instructions are given as 
 resting on the higher mysteries behind them. 
 
 From the great subjects which liave been opened 
 Jesus turns to his hearers, to prepare their minds 
 
XVIII THE SORROW AND THE J()V 205 
 
 for the changes so close at hand ; for things are 
 now to be transacted at brief intervals and in 
 quick succession. 
 
 "A little while [He says], and ye behold me no more; 
 and again a little while, and ye shall see me." (The addi- 
 tion in this place of " because I go to the Father " is excluded 
 by the best authorities.) 
 
 In this short sudden word there was something 
 startling in its notice of quickly coming changes, 
 and something perplexing in the language which 
 described them. It was left to take effect. The 
 Speaker must have paused ; for the hearers, who 
 till now had listened in silence, began to question 
 among themselves. They had heard much that was 
 be3'ond them. Each successive saying might have 
 awakened wonder and prompted enquiry. It was 
 so at first. Then they felt, as usual, free to say 
 what occurred. Peter, Thomas, Philip, Jude, had 
 each taken up a word which had struck him, and 
 uttered at the moment what he felt. But soon 
 they spoke no more. How natural was tliis effect 
 of the discourse as it proceeded ! While they lis- 
 tened, they saw that greater depths of truth were 
 opening out before them ; they felt themselves on 
 the threshold of some unknown spiritual change, 
 while their Master's person as He spake of Himself 
 seemed ever assuming a more divine mystery and 
 majesty. Such impressions would secure a rapt, if 
 perplexed, attention. A sense of awe would steal 
 
296 tup: discourses chap. 
 
 over their minds, while at the same time "sorrow 
 filled their hearts " at the plain intimations of 
 departure and the tone of a great farewell. It is 
 likely that there were pauses between some of the 
 announcements previously made which would have 
 given opportunity to speak. Certainly there was 
 one such, when it was said, "Arise, let us go 
 hence." But they remained silent ; and now, 
 though "desirous to ask Him," they could not 
 venture to do so. Not all, but some of the disci- 
 ples (e/c TMv fjbaOrjTwv) began talking in low tones 
 to one another. 
 
 " What is this that he saith unto us : A little while and 
 ye behold me not ; and again a little while and ye shall see 
 me: and Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, 
 What is this that he saith, A little while? We know not 
 what he saith." 
 
 We cannot wonder at their questions. The two 
 little intervals of time, — the being not seen and 
 seen again, — and this in view of what had been 
 said before, " because I go to the Father," — these 
 are such words as events only can explain. Even 
 commentators who have the events to guide them 
 have differed in their interpretations ; and the 
 most painstaking of them all has said, " The longer 
 we pause before the Word, the more cause do we 
 find to ask^ even as expositors. What is it that he 
 saith?" (Stier). But the discrimination in the 
 verbs employed affords sufficient guidance, and 
 
xviu THE SORROW AND THE JOY 297 
 
 leads us to interpret as follows. A little while (it 
 was but a few hours), and then "ye behold me no 
 longer" (oi)«eTt Oecopelre fie^ : I shall have passed 
 from the visible scene and from the observation of 
 spectators (that is the kind of seeing which the 
 verb intends). " Again a little while " (of but little 
 longer duration),^ and "ye shall see me" (o-^^eaOe. 
 fie~), with another kind of seeing, one in which the 
 natural sight becomes spiritual vision ; and my 
 presence will be no part of the visible scene, yet 
 assured by occasional discoveries to the end that it 
 may be recognised for ever. The risen and living 
 Lord shewed Himself to the eye of sense that He 
 might remain before the eye of faith, not as a 
 memory, but as a presence, once impressed in a 
 few hours of partial disclosure, then perpetuated 
 through all ages by the revelation of the Spirit. 
 
 This answer will come to the questioning disci- 
 ples in the swift course of time. What they need 
 now is, not information how these things will be, 
 but some preparation for their own experiences 
 under them ; and this they receive. 
 
 "Jesus perceived that they were desirous to ask him, and 
 he said uuto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves concern- 
 ing this, that I said, A little while, and ye behold me not, 
 
 1 " That fiiKpov points in both cases to an interval needs no 
 proof on account of the Trd\ii>. The translation is false, there- 
 fore, which gives And then shall je for a lohile, a little time, see 
 me (as if Kara fiiKpbv), for I go (presently again) my way to the 
 Father." — Stier. 
 
298 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 and again a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, 
 I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world 
 shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall 
 be turned into joy. 
 
 "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because 
 her hour is come : but when she is delivered of the child, 
 she reniembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a 
 man is born into the world. 
 
 " And ye therefore now have sorrow : but I will see you 
 again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one 
 taketh away from you " (19-22). 
 
 Jesus notices what is passing among them, ap- 
 prehends their difficulty, and Himself takes up 
 the question which they have feared to ask, as at 
 other times He had been used to note their words 
 and interpret their thoughts. Here, as ofttimes, 
 his answer meets the enquiry rather in its spirit 
 than its words. He tells them what these oppo- 
 site conditions, so near at hand, so quickly suc- 
 ceeding each other, Avill be to them, what will be 
 their effects in sorrow and in joy. 
 
 The time when they behold Him not will be 
 one of sorrow indeed, of l)itter and, as it will seem, 
 hopeless grief. " Ye," He says, " shall weep and 
 lament." There is no doubt what manner of 
 mourning this intends. It is mourning for the 
 dead, to which the words employed properly aj> 
 })ly (/cXaucrere koI 6pi]vi)aere u/xetsO- It Avill be 
 mourning for a dead Christ, and therefore, for a 
 dead cause, over whicli tlie world will rejoice, as 
 
XVIII THE SORROW AND THE JOY 200 
 
 over a power which it has conquered and crushed. 
 Yes ! He says again, Ye shall be sorrowful, sor- 
 row stricken (\v7n]9)]area6e). Well did He under- 
 stand that sorrow of theirs which would be an 
 attendant shadow of his own. He saw them in 
 the desolation of bereavement, confounded hj the 
 horror and mystery of an inexplicable event, and 
 feeling as if all faith and hope were gone from 
 their souls, because He who had inspired them was 
 dead. Yet shall it be but "a little while," before 
 their sorrow " shall be turned into joy " (et? %a/Jai/ 
 j6v)')a6Tai^, shall pass into it in the Avay of natural 
 consequence, the very cause of the sorrow proving 
 to be the cause of the joy. 
 
 So it is, as in the often-cited example of " the 
 woman when she is bringing forth " {orav tikty)). 
 It has its full meaning here. The inevitable 
 "hour come," its fearfulness and its pains, — pains 
 which are the conditions of the result, — the short- 
 ness of the time, the greatness of the change, the 
 joy of new experiences and expectations on account 
 of a life begun and a " man born into the world " — 
 all concur to describe the critical hour in the sfreat 
 history of redemption. I cannot agree with those 
 who would reduce the resemblance only to the 
 succession and contrast of sorrow and joy, exclu- 
 sive of the fundamental fact of l)irth, which is in 
 each case the cause of all. In Christ the human 
 nature, which He had made his own, received a 
 
300 THE discoursp:.s 
 
 new birth through death and resurrection. He 
 came forth, as it is written, " the firstborn from 
 the dead " (Col. i. 18) ; and, through a crisis in 
 which the analogy holds, as the Apostles expressed 
 it, " God having loosed {ra<i o)B2va<i') the birth- 
 pains of death, because it was not possible that he 
 should be holden of it" (Acts ii. 24). 
 
 To the disciples at the time, this character of 
 the crisis was, of course, unknown ; yet were they 
 participants in its experiences through their real 
 union with their Lord, a reason which is implied 
 in the word " therefore.''^ " And ye therefore now 
 have sorrow." The association of their hearts 
 with Him made them, in their own way, sharers in 
 the anguish of the time, as it afterwards made 
 them sharers in the joy which followed. The 
 sorrow is spoken of in the present tense (^vvv fiev 
 €-)(eTe)^ " Ye have it now " ; for its first sad amaze- 
 ment was already upon them. The joy is expressed 
 in the future as lying beyond it. " I will see you 
 — your hearts shall rejoice." There can be no 
 reasonable doubt as to the moment of the change. 
 As the sorrow was felt under the shadow of death, 
 so the joy was found in the light of resurrection. 
 It broke upon them, when " Jesus stood in the 
 midst, and said unto them. Peace be unto you ; 
 and when he had so said, he shewed them his 
 hands and his side. Then were the discii)les glad 
 when they saw the Lord" (xx. 19, 20). 
 
XVIII THE SOREOW AND THE JOY 301 
 
 Some recent commentators, guarding, as it ap- 
 pears, against the limitation of this promise to 
 " the external seeing of the Risen One," have 
 shewn a disposition to slight the application to the 
 experiences of the Resurrection, in favour of " the 
 beholding Christ in the Spirit."' They might as 
 well slight the day of Pentecost in regard to the 
 promise of the coming of the Holy Ghost on 
 account of subsequent presence. All turns on the 
 Resurrection ; and without the experiences of that 
 time there Avould have been no beholding Christ 
 in the Spiiit. Then was the morning hour. The 
 morning is part of the day, and, if with a less 
 perfect light, has a freshness that is all its own ; 
 but its joy consists in being the commencement of 
 the day. So was it with the first fulfilment of the 
 promises. " Ye shall see me — I will see you 
 ag'ain." Its eladness was its own in freshness and 
 surprise, but really as the earnest of permanent 
 jo3^ It was a seeing that could never be lost or 
 dimmed, but on the contrary grew clearer as it 
 became more spiritual. Therefore is it not only 
 said, " Your hearts shall rejoice," but also, " Your 
 joy no one taketh away from you." How could it 
 be taken away ? " Christ, being raised from the 
 dead, dieth no more : death hath no more domain 
 over him. For the death that he died, he died 
 unto sin once; but the life that he liveth, he 
 livetli unto God" (Rom. vi. 9, 10). The living 
 
302 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 Lord is the joy of liis people ; and, because his life 
 is eternal, their joy is permanent and secure. Let 
 there be in our hearts the faith which unites our 
 lives with his, and there comes a crowning sense 
 of secure possession of all which that life includes. 
 Then " we are persuaded, that neither death nor 
 life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things pres- 
 ent, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, 
 nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to 
 separate us from the love of God which is Christ 
 Jesus our Lord." 
 
 These are the confidences of faith, belonging 
 to the day Avliich now is. Beyond it there is 
 another day to break, with another kind of seeing, 
 and another kind of joy ; but that final prospect is 
 only implicitly included in the language of the 
 present promises. 
 
THE INTEUCUURSE OF THE FUTURE 803 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE INTERCOURSE OF THE FUTURE 
 
 The question on the mystery of disappearance 
 and reappearance has obtained a larger explana- 
 tion, not as to the manner of it, but as to tlie 
 character of this " little while," as tlie inevitable 
 hour of transition, and as to its effects in brief 
 anguish and lasting joy. But another question 
 has been raised by the enquiry itself, by the fear 
 to utter it, so unlike the usual habit, and by the 
 spontaneous answer which it obtained. These 
 mutual communications which have hitherto sub- 
 sisted — are they reaching their end? This inter- 
 course between the Master and the disciples — 
 how can it be resumed after the great changes 
 which are at hand? The verses which follow 
 deal with the subject of enquiries and applications 
 on the one side, and answers and instructions on 
 the other, — in fact, the intercourse of the future 
 as compared with that of the past. They there- 
 fore form one section, notwithstanding apparent 
 
304 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 breaks, and a section that comes naturally at the 
 close of the discourse, which is itself the close of 
 these communications in the flesh. 
 
 How unspeakably precious has this intercourse 
 been ! how quickening and elevating and inform- 
 ing ! how inexhaustible in its interest I how open 
 and easy in its confidence ! Freely have the disci- 
 ples uttered the thoughts that were in their minds, 
 and asked the questions that rose to their lips, 
 save only in some exceptional moments when it 
 is noticed that a special sense of awe arrested the 
 usual habit. 
 
 " What might this parable mean ? — Declare unto us this 
 parable ? — Why speakest thou to them in parables ? — Who 
 then can be saved? — Knowest thou that the Pharisees were 
 offended ? — How say the Scribes that Klias must first come ? 
 — Why could not we cast him out ? — We have left all and 
 followed thee; what shall we have therefore? — Lord, add 
 to us faith. — Lord, teach us to pray." 
 
 Thus naturally and truthfully had they been 
 used to ask ; and ready and kindly were the 
 answers given to their words, and still more to 
 their thoughts. There never was, there never 
 could be, any converse so stimulating to the mind, 
 so purifying to the heart, one which so enlightened 
 ignorance and corrected error, which entered so 
 deeply into the secrets of the soul, or threw such 
 clear liglit on the mysteries of life, or gave such 
 large materials for reflection, or such sudden 
 
THE INTEUCOURSE OF THE FUTURE 305 
 
 flashes of discovery of the heights and the depths 
 of truth. Bare and desolate in comparison seemed 
 every other quarter to which an enquiring mind 
 coukl turn : " Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou 
 hast words of eternal life." What is now to become 
 of this intercourse, which has been the happiness 
 of the past, and this freedom of enquiry, which has 
 been a main feature of it? How shall it be in this 
 respect with the future day when the change an- 
 nounced has come ? 
 
 " In that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I 
 say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will 
 give it you in my name. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in 
 my name : ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be 
 
 fulfilled. 
 
 " These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs : the 
 hour Cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in prov- 
 erbs, but shall tell you plainly of the Father. In that day 
 ye shall ask in my name : and I say not unto you that I will 
 pray the Father for you ; for the Father himself loveth you, 
 because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came 
 forth from the Father " (23-28). 
 
 The time, then, of familiar converse will be over: 
 yet it will prove to be not so much terminated as 
 transmuted. " In that day " another kind of inter- 
 course will exist. 
 
 That day broke at the Resurrection and attained 
 its settled light at Pentecost. Then "the hour 
 came " from which things would be as they are 
 here described. In the occasional intercourse of 
 
306 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 the forty days the disciples did ask something and 
 hear something as of old, yet the former day of 
 living and conversing together was over, and the 
 new day had begun. Only there was granted an 
 intervening period of twilight in which the Pres- 
 ence shewn at unexpected moments and vanishing 
 from sight, and sometimes rather felt than seen, 
 prepared them for that other kind of seeing and 
 for that other kind of intercourse which were to 
 ensue and to endure. 
 
 But how will that intercourse be new? Where- 
 in will it differ from that which it succeeds ? This 
 is what the Lord tells them ; assuring its future 
 privileges by the " Amen, amen, I say unto you," 
 which indicates the strength of the affirmation 
 and the importance of the revelation. There will 
 be differences, He says, both in the human appli- 
 cations and in the divine response. 
 
 The applications of the disciples will be ad- 
 dressed more immediately to God, and will accord- 
 ingly take another tone. The line of separation 
 is drawn by the Avords, " In that day ye shall ask 
 me nothing," or more literally and more emphati- 
 cally (f ywe ovK €pa)T7]a€Te ovSev'), " (Of) me ye shall 
 not ask anything. Verily, verily, I say unto you. 
 If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will 
 give it you in my name." Tlie difference in the 
 Person to be inunediately addressed is marked by 
 the arrangement of the words. Jesus present in 
 
XIX THE INTERCOURSE OF THE FUTURE 307 
 
 the flesh has been the recipient of questions and 
 appeals, which are now to be addressed to the 
 Father to whom He goes ; for He came not to 
 arrest our minds on Himself, but "- to bring us to 
 God." Yet does He not cease to have his part in 
 this intercourse which He opens to his people. 
 The passage combines, or so to speak interfuses, 
 with wonderful completeness, the seemingly diverse 
 truths of an immediate access to God and the me- 
 diation which creates it. It is an access open and 
 direct, and Jesus seems, in a sense, to retire, in 
 order to make it so. " Me ye shall ask nothing. 
 What ye shall ask the Father He shall give. I 
 say not that I will pray the Father for you, for the 
 Father himself loveth you." Yet does He with- 
 draw from one position only to occupy another; 
 He ceases to interpose in order to introduce. 
 "That which is given of the F'ather is given in his 
 name ; that which is asked by the applicant is to 
 be asked in his name. Of that which is asked in 
 his name He says, " I will do it " ; and of the 
 Father's personal love and ready welcome, that 
 it is "• because ye have loved Me and believed that 
 I came forth from Him." Thus, as the Apostles 
 taught, He gives us " access with confidence," but 
 it is by the faith of Him, and it is " through Him 
 that we have access by one Spirit unto the Father" 
 (Eph. ii. 18; iii. 12). So the lines are drawn in 
 these last words for the doctrine of the Church 
 
308 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 and for the consciousness of Christians on the 
 great subject of intercourse with God. Thus by 
 tliese words of Jesus does the future doctrine of 
 the Church receive its direction as to the terms 
 and character of communion with God in Christ. 
 
 There have been deflections from the line thus 
 laid down. On the one side, there has been an 
 inclination to slight the necessity of the divine 
 economy of mediation, and to treat the access 
 described as a natural and independent right in 
 our relation to the Father of the Spirits of all flesh. 
 On the other side, there has been a tendency to 
 give to this mediation a character too separate, 
 and, as it were, substantial, almost arresting the 
 mind upon itself. I cannot but think that a cer- 
 tain cast of evangelical religion among us has 
 addressed its hymns and devotions directly and 
 singly to the name of " Jesus " in a disproportion- 
 ate degree, and in a tone not quite accordant with 
 his own teaching on access to the Father. It is a 
 failure, not in truth, but in the proportions and 
 relations of the truth. 
 
 On the great ordinance of the use in prayer of 
 the prevailing name, there has been a previous 
 occasion to speak. Its significance and impoi'- 
 tance were impressed in the early part of the dis- 
 course, as tliey are reaffirmed at its close. There 
 it was in connexion with the works for wliich 
 special gifts would be needed ; here it is in respect 
 
XIX THE INTERCOURSE OF THE FUTURE 309 
 
 of general intercourse Avith God. But, as is fit, 
 it is in this place expressed more distinctly, as 
 differentiating the communications of the future 
 from those of the past, when, from the nature of 
 the case, it would have been premature. " Hith- 
 erto have ye asked nothing in my name." The 
 reasons for doing so were not yet disclosed. It is 
 also expressed more largely as the means for attain- 
 ing a perfected joy. "Ask and ye shall receive, 
 that your joy may be fulfilled " (TreTrXT/pw/ieV?;). 
 The joy which in its essence none can take away 
 from us, in its measure may be more scanty or 
 more full, in proportion to our practical and 
 habitual use of the vast resources opened in this 
 access to the Father. 
 
 The tone of the communion of the future is yet 
 further distinguished from that of the past by a 
 change in the word which describes it. Two 
 words are employed for asking, for which the 
 English supplies no discriminating equivalents: 
 the one (kpwrdai) means asking, primarily in the 
 way of enquiry, secondarily in that of request; 
 the other (^alrioi) asking, in the way of petition. 
 The first word belongs to terms of a nearer rela- 
 tionship than the second does. The first is used 
 (v. 19) of the enquiries addressed to Jesus by the 
 disciples (which, it is said, are soon to cease), and 
 also (v. 26) of the applications of the Soji to the 
 Father. The second is substituted (v. 23-24) to 
 
310 THE DISCOURSES " chap. 
 
 express the applications of the disciples to God.^ 
 This verbal distinction implies the difference in 
 the intercourse of the future dispensation, as com- 
 pared with that of the past, on its human side ; 
 that is, in the applications of men to God. 
 
 On the other side, a change is announced in the 
 character of the divine communications. " These 
 things have I spoken to you in proverbs : the hour 
 Cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in 
 proverbs, but shall tell you plainly of the Father," 
 The Teacher will be still the same, but (so to 
 speak) his style will change. It is obvious that 
 the words, " These things have I spoken to you," 
 apply not to this discourse only, though in it the 
 proverbial character is conspicuous. It applies to 
 the general teaching in the time which is ending, 
 from which that of the coming time will differ. 
 The difference will be that of speaking j^lainly 
 X^Trapprjo-ia) instead of speaking in proverbs (eV 
 TrapoLfiiais^. 
 
 We have no better word than "proverbs," but, 
 as commonly used, it bears too narrow a meaning. 
 We must take it as describing a prevailing char- 
 acter of our Lord's personal teaching. This we 
 
 1 The word ipurdu) is also, in the prayer which follows, the 
 address of Jesus to the Father (xvii. 9, 15, 20). I nowhere find 
 it employed of the intercourse of men with God, save in one 
 case of an enquiry rather than an intercession for others (1 John 
 V. 10), wliere there is a significant cliange from the words diriio 
 and alTTj/xa, which express the actual petitions. 
 
XIX THE INTERCOURSE OF THE FUTURE 311 
 
 observe, not only in the large amount of professed 
 parables, but in a habit of proverbial sayings, — 
 sayings, that is, which glance by us as condensed 
 and momentary parables ; sidelong intimations of 
 what can scarcely be said directly ; suggestions of 
 much which it would take long to tell ; lessons 
 drawn from the visible scene, and interpreting the 
 eloquence of nature. Often do these sayings take 
 the shape of proverbs, and have, in fact, become 
 proverbs of his kingdom, being complete in them- 
 selves, terse and pointed, fashioned for common 
 memory and common use ; sometimes, by strong 
 antithesis or seeming parodox, fitted to arouse 
 reflection, and to fix on the mind some pregnant 
 truth or principle of thought or conduct. This 
 character of our Lord's teaching is peculiar and 
 distinctive and proper to a ministry which was to 
 comprise the substance of an entire revelation, yet 
 only to initiate the exposition of it. That initia- 
 tory purpose is asserted in this discourse ; and 
 the form or method of instruction is here repre- 
 sented as an evidence that the time for shewing 
 plainly had not then come, but also as a pledge 
 that it is about to follow. 
 
 This plainness (jrapprja-la) which is to distin- 
 guish the communications of the future has on its 
 side a larger sense than that of mere plainness of 
 expression. It intends that freedom of speech 
 which follows when reserve is laid aside. Used 
 
312 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 adverbially, as here, it is rendered in different 
 places by the words "openly," "boldly," " plainly " ; 
 and as a substantive by " boldness," " freedom of 
 speech," "confidence." The promise is that the 
 reserve imposed by a yet unfinished history, by a 
 manifestation in the flesh, by the incapacity of the 
 hearers, and by their graduated education, will 
 then be succeeded by clear, full, unrestricted in- 
 formation, fitted to create in those who receive it 
 that "full assurance of understanding" which 
 contributes so largely to the " full assurance of 
 faith." Thus our Lord undertook to teach, and 
 thus He did teach in the dispensation of the 
 Spirit, informing first "the Apostles whom He 
 had chosen," and through them, and with them, 
 the Church which they founded. 
 
 The subject of this teaching is said to be " con- 
 cerning the Father " (^rrepl rov irarpos:^ ; and the 
 verb here translated " tell " connects the teachiner 
 with the Father as its source (^airayyeXo), accord-- 
 ing to the best reading). The mention of the 
 highest subject includes all that is derived from 
 or subordinate to it ; in other words, all relations 
 of God with men. So is Jesus Christ in heaven 
 the mediator in the communications of God to 
 man ; and so also is He mediator in the communi- 
 cations of man to God, for in these " Ye will ask 
 in my name." Yet, as already observed, this 
 action is guarded from an error which might 
 
XIX THE INTERCOURSE OF THE FUTURE 313 
 
 lessen the fulness of the access which He gives. 
 " I will tell you concerning the Father — but I 
 say not that I (fc'7<w) will ask the Father concern- 
 ing you " ; or (less literally), "that I will pray the 
 Father for you," in such a sense as to supersede 
 your own rights of welcome. 
 
 As some minds have felt a difficulty in this 
 saying, and as its subject is one of prime impor- 
 tance, the following observations may be made : — 
 
 1. It is 07ie statement^ in which the first part 
 makes the second more emphatic, and guards 
 against the feeling that there is any unwillingness 
 in the Hearer of prayer, which the pleading of the 
 Son must overcome. 
 
 2. The ivording is guarded. " I do not say that 
 I will pray the Father for you." ^ He does not 
 say that He will, neither does He say that He will 
 not. Immediately after He is heard saying, " I 
 pray for them (jrepl auTwv epcorco, the same words 
 as here), for them wliom thou hast given me " 
 (xvii. 9), an earnest of that enduring office of 
 which it is written, " Who is at the right hand of 
 God, who also maketh intercession for us." The 
 
 1 I cannot but think that in the rendering, " I will pray the 
 Father /or you," the Revisers have failed to give the antithesis 
 which is presented in irepl rod warpos dirayy eXd vfuv and ipioTTjcrc^ 
 Tov iraripa wepl vfiiov. I will tell you concerning the Father — 
 I will ask the Father concerning you. The translation — I will 
 pray for you — requires that the words "pray" and "for" be 
 taken in their larger sense. 
 
314 THE DISCOURSES 
 
 present words avoid any denial of such general 
 intercession, while obviating a probable miscon- 
 struction. 
 
 3. The personal interest at the throne of grace 
 is ascribed to a definite reason. " Because ye have 
 loved me and have believed that I came forth 
 from God." In proportion as the petitioner may 
 have fallen short of this condition, and have need 
 of restoration to it, there will be felt a need for 
 a more special intercession. So this Evangelist 
 writes in his Epistle, " These things write I unto 
 you, that ye sin not ; but if any man sin, we have 
 an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
 righteous ; and he is tlie propitiation for our sins " 
 (1 John ii. 1). It is the position of a Christian 
 as having sinned (evidently by definite act) which 
 is provided for in the exercise of the Advocate's 
 office, and by his righteousness which covers the 
 sin of the offender. In penitence and the pressing 
 sense of sin there is refuge in this specific office 
 of Christ, to which we turn with an authorised 
 and consoling trust. 
 
 " When I have erred and gone astray 
 Afar from thine, and wisdom's, way, 
 And see no glimmering, guiding ray, 
 
 Then, Saviour, plead for me. 
 When Satan, by my sins made bold, 
 Strives, from thy cross, to loose my hold. 
 Then with thy pitying arms enfold. 
 And plead, O plead for me." 
 
XIX THE INTERCOURSE OF THE FUTURE 315 
 
 The communications Avith God intended in the 
 text are of another kind. They are those of the 
 normal state of confidence, proper to active love 
 to Jesus and settled faith in Him. 
 
 That love and faith are here recognised in the 
 disciples, and they are assured of the acceptance 
 and communion which will ensue. The love is 
 expressed as that of personal affection (Tre^tX,?/- 
 Kare}^ which makes them friends of Christ. But 
 this would have been an incomplete condition 
 without the definite faith. "Ye have believed 
 tliat I came forth from the Father." Both must 
 go together to create the true relations with 
 Christ. There is need at all times to assert it ; 
 there is a special need now. There is a cast of 
 religion among us which feels the wonderful at- 
 traction of the person of Christ, and is eloquent 
 in sincere expressions of admiration and affection 
 for Him as known in history, but which remains 
 silent before his higher claims, and does not 
 advance into the faith wliich " believes that He 
 came forth from the Father" in the sense in 
 which He Himself asserts it. But this faith is 
 the turning-point, including, in the way of neces- 
 sary consequence, all his teaching, his work, and 
 his nature. Jesus sees that his disciples have 
 really, in measure, attained it. He recognises 
 that attainment here, and again affirms it in a still 
 more solemn m(.)ment. "• Now they know that ail 
 
316 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 things whatsoever thou hast given me are from 
 thee : for the words which thou gavest me I have 
 given them : and they have received them, and 
 knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, 
 and they believed that thou didst send me " 
 (xvii. 7, 8). 
 
 The faith thus described is the key of the situa- 
 tion. It will unlock and open all the treasures 
 that are in Christ. Therefore is it taken as a 
 sufficient conclusion to what has been taught and 
 learned, and becomes the crowning word in a final 
 affirmation, which sets the seal upon this faith and 
 summarises in brief and precise words the mission 
 of Christ in relation to the Father and to the 
 world, as interpreted by its origin and its end. 
 
 " I came out from the Father and am come into the world. 
 Again I leave the world and go to the Father." 
 
 According to the preferable reading the significant 
 change of the preposition (e/c in place of Trapa) 
 makes the truth as enunciated by the Lord deeper 
 than the truth as apprehended by the disciples.^ 
 
 1 On this point it is sufficient to cite the note of our most 
 careful commentator : 
 
 " No phrase could express more completely unity of essence 
 than the true original of tliese words {i^ijXdov ck). Thus the' 
 Lord, wliile he recognises the faith of the disciples, lays before 
 them a revelation of deeper mysteries. The verse is, indeed, 
 a brief summary of the wliole historic work of Christ ; clause 
 answers to clause : the Mission, the Nativity ; the Passion, the 
 Ascension." — Westcott. 
 
XIX THE INTERCOURSE OF THE FUTURE 317 
 
 But however it may be read, and however it was 
 then apprehended, one thing was certain. This 
 Last utterance of Jesus was decisive on the char- 
 acter of his appearing in the world. He was not, 
 then, as He had seemed to be, a member of the 
 human family and a part of the visible scene in 
 the same sense that other men are. " I am come 
 into the world and again I leave the world," are 
 acts of personal M'ill, making life on earth a volun- 
 tary visit. "I came out from the Father, and I 
 go to the Father " are revelations of an eternal 
 home in God. Tlius the life of Jesus upon earth 
 stands out in a new light, cast upon its brief pas- 
 sage by its origin and its end, and thrown into 
 high relief on the background of an eternity before 
 it and after it. What must be the purpose of such 
 a visit to the world ! What must be the efficacy 
 of its work, and the authority of its words ! Does 
 not this explain much that had been past compre- 
 hension? Does it not make miracle natural, and 
 deep sayings inevitable ? Certainly there is a 
 proportion in things, above all in things divine : 
 and He who " came forth from the Father and was 
 come into the world, and again was leaving the 
 world to p'O to the Father" must have come for 
 a predestined purpose to which word and deed 
 would correspond. The special acts are, then, no 
 longer matter for wonder; tlie wonder would be 
 if they had not been special. Such a mission 
 
318 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 must have its own laws of necessity (^to Seov') and 
 of fitness (^to irpeTrov). This announcement, not 
 new, but now more plainly made, might well be 
 felt to harmonise all that has been spoken and 
 interpret all that has been done. 
 
THE LAST WORDS 319 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE LAST WORDS 
 V. 29-33 
 
 Now no longer questioning with one another, 
 but speaking out with common voice. 
 
 " His disciples say, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and 
 speakest no proverb. Now know we that thou knowest all 
 things, and needest not that any man should ask thee : By 
 this we believe that thou earnest forth from God " (29, 30). 
 
 They speak as men who find their thoughts under- 
 stood, and feel their minds relieved. We almost 
 wonder at this decisive effect of a saying, which 
 seems but little in advance of what had been 
 spoken before. But the effect is evident. The 
 word had been, to them, a concise interpretation 
 of their Lord's mission and person, making clear 
 and certain what had been dimly or doubtfully 
 apprehended. Jesus had said that a time was 
 coming when He would speak plainly ; and He 
 is speaking plainly now : a time when they would 
 not ask Him anything ; and now they have not 
 needed to ask. The spontaneous word has an- 
 
320 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 swered and dispelled the last hesitations of faith. 
 "By this," they ciy, or (moie literally) "7w this," 
 — this sense of a direct communion and inter- 
 penetration of spirit, — " in this we believe that 
 thou camest forth from God." ^ 
 
 The rejoinder comes quickly, falling strangely 
 on their ears : 
 
 " Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe ? Behold, the 
 hour Cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, 
 every man to his own, and shall leave me alone" (31, 32). 
 
 Well might the question be asked; if the faith 
 which should bring confidence, elevation, and 
 strength will break down in an instant, even in 
 the course of the next hour. Yet is the faith 
 real. It has just been recognised : " Ye have be- 
 lieved that I came forth from the Father" (27). 
 A moment later it will be still more solemnly 
 affirmed. " They have known, of a truth, that I 
 came forth from thee ; and they believed that thou 
 didst send me" (xvii. 8). Hence many commen- 
 tators,^ thinking that the faith cannot be ques- 
 tioned, read the words as indicative, not as inter- 
 
 1 It is observable that the three prepositions used in tlie sev- 
 eral statements, and all rendered "from," give precisely three- 
 different measures of apprehension of the truth : airb (here) 
 gives the least defined relation, expressed by the disciples them- 
 selves ; irap6. (v. 27), the more close and personal, virtually 
 recognised by them ; ex (v. 28), the most intimate and pro- 
 found, present to the mind of the Lord. 
 
 - E.g. Bengel, Luthardt, Godet, Slier. 
 
XX THE LAST WORDS 321 
 
 rogative : "Now ye do believe." But it is better 
 as we read it, connecting more naturally with what 
 follows. The question is not a denial, nor even a 
 doubt on the part of the speaker: rather it is 
 an exclamation prompted by the scene which rises 
 to his view. In all its striking contrast between 
 word and deed, it would, of itself, and to one 
 who did not know the heart, suggest a question 
 of dissent. The " now " which the disciples had 
 alleged as of a state attained, is altered to another 
 " now," expressive of the actual juncture,^ the 
 very moment. "Behold," He says, "the hour 
 cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be scattered, 
 every man to his own, and shall leave me alone." 
 What kind of faith is this Avhich will be tested 
 with such a result? If it be true, yet how doubt- 
 ful at the time ! how unlike what was supposed ! 
 how precarious and infirm ! To many believers 
 have such moments of failure come, with like 
 experimental discoveries. Rather, we must say, 
 who has not known them ? The question, " Do 
 you now believe ? " has often struck on our hearts 
 with the awakening power of a just reproach. 
 
 The words which tell of the weakness of the 
 disciples, at the same time reveal the feelings of 
 the Lord. He sees these lovers and believers, 
 such as they were, all the friends He had on 
 earth, in sudden panic fugitive and gone, scat- 
 
 1 vOv oiSafiev — dpn iricTTtiifTe ; 
 V 
 
322 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 tered each to his own, the very brotherhood broken 
 as having lost its unifying centre, and Himself 
 left alone with his enemies. It must be so. 
 "Smite the shepherd," it was written, "and the 
 sheep shall be scattered." Alone He must be ; 
 for none could share his work, as was said in 
 prophecy, " I have trodden the wine press alone, 
 and of the people there was none with me." But 
 neither the fulfilment of prophecy, nor the neces- 
 sary course of events, preclude the natural feelings. 
 Even when there can be no partnership or help, 
 there is comfort in faithful companionship. Jesus 
 owned that comfort when He said, " Ye are they 
 who have continued with me in my temptations." 
 He asked it when He said, " Tarry ye here and 
 watch with me." If all loving hearts know it, 
 it could not but be known to the most loving 
 heart of all. But it is to be lost at the crisis of 
 need ; and there is not merely a statement of fact, 
 but a genuine tone of sadness in the words "And 
 shall leave me alone." Desertion and loneliness 
 in the day of danger and distress are always 
 deeply felt. So it was with St. Paul, "At my 
 first answer no man stood with me, but all for- 
 sook me : may it not bo laid to their charge " (2 
 Tim. iv. 16). Not with soreness, but with tender- 
 ness, is this trial mentioned here. It was right 
 that the hearers should know that it was felt: 
 yet not in the way of reproach, for a consoling 
 thought goes with it. 
 
XX THE LAST WORDS 323 
 
 " Ye shall leave me alone, 
 
 " And I am not alone ; because the Father is with me." 
 
 Then there is no real lonelmess. The forsaking 
 of men and the loss of human companionship are 
 sad, but the unseen fellowship remains as an un- 
 changing consciousness. Only as the climax of 
 anguish will there be the final mystery of its 
 suspension. The bitter cry, "My God, my God, 
 why hast thou forsaken me?" tells of the opposite 
 and habitual experience over which that dark 
 cloud was passing. 
 
 " I am not alone, because the Father is with 
 me." Very thankful have believers ever been for 
 these words, which find, as they were meant to 
 find, an echo in their hearts. Loneliness is one 
 of the trials incidental to the Christian state, and 
 in some circumstances a necessary consequence 
 of its principles. A bereaved person left alone 
 in the world, a solitary missionary among the 
 heathen, a child of God in tents of Kedar, a godly 
 member of an irreligious family, a pastor labour- 
 ing without help or sympathy, — these and others 
 in like conditions have known the truth and com- 
 fort of the words, being well assured that, if they 
 belonged to Christ, they belong of right to all tliat 
 are in Him. For them, indeed, this presence of 
 the Father is made more close as coming through 
 the presence of the Son. "Truly our fellowship 
 is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ " 
 
324 THE DISCOURSES chap. 
 
 (1 John i. 3). Thus through all ages and in vari- 
 ous trials and emergencies have the disciples of 
 Jesus found his words fulfilled in themselves, 
 '* Not alone, because the Father is with me." 
 
 The time is now past, and the discourse must 
 end. The needful teaching has been left to the 
 Church for ever, but in words addressed to tlie 
 men there present, in loving care for their actual 
 necessities and for the experiences on which they 
 must enter. 
 
 " These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye may 
 have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation ; but be 
 of good cheer : I have overcome the world " (33). 
 
 Peace, Tribulation, Victory, — these are the 
 watchwords of the future, and each is assigned to 
 its own source and sphere. Peace, the compre- 
 hensive blessing, the sense that all is well, the 
 state of a mind at rest, is to be had in Christ, 
 the grounds of it being in his person, and the 
 enjoyment of it in union with Him. To lead into 
 that union and peace all these words have been 
 spoken. Tribulation, the pressure of outward 
 suffering and inward trials of feelmg, is to be 
 endured in the world, because of its opposing 
 forces, its ante gonistic spirit, and its generally 
 disordered state. This experience already exists : 
 (" ye have " is the true reading, not " ye shall 
 have ") it is consequent on contact with the world. 
 
XX THE LAST WORDS 325 
 
 Thus " the Church and the Christian lead a two- 
 fokl life, in Christ and in the world at the same 
 time, the former as exact and real as the latter," ^ 
 and, it may be added, the former often more con- 
 sciously realised when the latter is most dark and 
 troubled. 
 
 Yet this co-existence of peace with tribulation 
 could not satisfy, and indeed could not be main- 
 tained, if peace were all. It is not all ; there is 
 victory, and it is gained already. " Be of good 
 cheer : 1 have overcome the world." The word 
 Oapaelre — " be of good cheer, of good courage, 
 take heart, be confident " — supposes here, as else- 
 where, that there is cause for depression.^ Indeed, 
 there was abundant cause in all that Avas to be 
 encountered and all that was to be borne. But 
 there was even greater cause for courage and con- 
 fidence. Victory is secured. " I have conquered 
 (670) veviKT]Ka) ; I have overcome the world." The 
 victory had been continuous all along the line of 
 conflict. The work of Jesus had been aggressive 
 against the spirit and habits of the world, and 
 defensive against its adverse influences and malig- 
 nant efforts. These had been defeated, and He 
 had maintained his position with unchanging 
 
 1 Luthardt. 
 
 " dapaei t^kvov, Be of good cheer, child: thy sins are for- 
 given thee (Matt. ix. 2). ddpffei Oiyarep, Re of good cheer, 
 daughter: thy faith hath made thee whole (ix. 22). dapa-elre, 
 Be of good cheer ; it is I, be not afraid (xiv. 27). 
 
326 THE DISCOURSES riiAr. 
 
 superiority and achieved his object of establishing 
 in the heart of the world the principles of truth 
 and the powers of salvation. The victory, then, 
 was already decided, to be on the morrow per- 
 fected on the cross, whereby not only the world 
 Avas conquered in its last desperate effort, but its 
 Prince was judged and crushed. Therefore He 
 says, " I have conquered," — marking by the per- 
 sonal pronoun the victory as wholly his. " It is," 
 says Luther, in his own fervent way, "as if He 
 wished to say: Write the I with a very large 
 letter, so as to grasp it in your eyes and heart. 
 The victory is already there, and all is overcome ; 
 only be undespairing and hold fast to it. All has 
 been done ; world, devil, and death are beaten and 
 lying on the ground ; heaven, righteousness, and 
 life have the victory." ^ 
 
 Thus we witness the victory ; but we are to 
 share it, else would the call to courage be vain, 
 or at least would have only the power of example. 
 The example and the call of a victorious leader, 
 "the Captain of our salvation," would naturally 
 rouse the spirit of his followers ; but in the pres- 
 ent case there is more than that. " Be of good 
 cheer ; I have overcome the world," is not only 
 a call, but a promise, — a promise of an associated 
 presence and communicated power. His servants 
 believed it, and found it true. " Not I," they 
 1 Luther, as quoted by Lutliardt, iii. 187. 
 
THE LAST WORDS 327 
 
 said, " but Christ livetli in me." " I can do all, 
 through the in-strengthening Christ." "I glory 
 in my infirmities that the power of Christ may 
 rest upon me." " In all these things we are more 
 than conquerors through him that loved us." The 
 last words were spoken in view of the greater trib- 
 ulations which belong to the days of keenest con- 
 flict. But the world is overcome not only on 
 critical occasions or on some conspicuous arena. 
 It is the common history of the children of God, 
 the effect of the life which is generated in them. 
 " For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh 
 the world : and this is the victory that hath over- 
 come the world, even our faith. And who is he 
 that overcometh the world but he that believeth 
 that Jesus is the Son of God ? " i In obscure lives 
 and secret exercises this victory is evermore re- 
 peated, through the same power which the same 
 faith secures, sometimes in hard-won battles, some- 
 times in serener conquests. It is St. John who 
 thus interprets his Master's word, and we sec what 
 hold it laid upon his mind. Only four times in 
 the rest of the New Testament do we meet this 
 word viKav, "to conquer or overcome," and 
 twenty-four times in the writings of St. John. 
 It pervades the Apocalypse, which is the revela- 
 tion of conflict and victory ; and in the Epistles 
 
 1 Gal. ii. 20 ; Phil. iv. 12 ; 2 Cor. xii. 9 ; Rom. vui. 37 ; 1 John 
 V. 4, 5. 
 
328 THE DISCOURSES chap, xx 
 
 to the seven Churches " he that overcometh " is 
 heir of the successive promises. In the last of 
 the series these are linked to the word which 
 here announces the victory of Jesus : " He that 
 overcometh to him will I give to sit down with 
 me on my throne, even as I also overcame and 
 sat with my Father on his throne " (Rev. iii. 11). 
 The word has been reserved to the last moment. 
 Jesus spake nothing prematurely. Only when 
 the end is come does He use the language of one 
 who overcomes. Then does He conclude his 
 teaching in the flesh with a final saying, which 
 might breathe courage and confidence into the 
 disciples whom He leaves, and into those who in 
 all generations should believe on Him through 
 their testimony. So it is provided that the last 
 word of the last discourse shall sound the note 
 of victory for ever. 
 
 "BE OF GOOD CHEER; 
 I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD." 
 
Paet III 
 THE PRAYER 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Its Scope and Order 331 
 
 II. For his Work and Glory ..... 340 
 
 2 Sections. 
 
 HI. 1h)U the Disciples 359 
 
 4 Sections. 
 IV. For All Believers 385 
 
 3 Sections. 
 
 Y. The Sequel 407 
 
 329 
 
Part III 
 THE PRAYER 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SCOPE AND ORDER 
 
 "These things spake Jesus, and liftinc; up his eyes to heaven, 
 he said, Father, the hour is come." 
 
 So discourse to men lias passed into converse 
 with God. 
 
 Tlie disciples stand by in silent and absorbed 
 attention while the words of this high communion 
 fall distinctly on their ears. Their minds, exalted 
 by the great thoughts through which they have been 
 led, have just found vent in the confession, " Now 
 we believe that thou camest forth from God." All 
 the more intense must have been the feelings with 
 which they found themselves present at an act of 
 divine intercourse, such as, it appears, they had 
 not been privy to before. We read that " Jesus 
 was alone, praying," that He " went into a moun- 
 tain to pray," that He "continued all night in 
 prayer to God " ; but his followers were not ad- 
 
 331 
 
332 THE PRAYER 
 
 mitted to those retirements. Only at some critical 
 moment, as when the results of the ministry be- 
 came apparent,^ or at the grave of Lazarus,^ or in 
 the strain of feeling on occasion of the ap})eal of 
 the Greeks,^ ejaculations of deep significance had 
 been heard from his lips. But this is no momen- 
 tary utterance. It is a collected sustained address 
 to the Father, at the close of the mission upon 
 earth, presenting the work which has been done, 
 demanding the glory that should follow, and plead- 
 ing for those who must be left, and for the course 
 and consummation of their service. The sense of 
 so great a confidence was a new experience to the 
 disciples, thus attending their Master into the 
 secret jDlace of the Most High. 
 
 We in a measure share their feelings, and de- 
 sire, likewise, to share them in silence. Students, 
 expositors, commentators find themselves in a dif- 
 ferent relation to words when they are spoken, not 
 to men, but to God. Yet, as spoken aloud, they 
 have a secondary purpose, and assume a char- 
 acter that brings them more within our reach. 
 "Orat Patrem,"says Bengel, "simulque discipulos 
 docet." He prays the Father and at the same 
 time teaches the disciples. If so, reflection be- 
 comes a duty, and the expression of it is made' 
 a right. Yet the treatment of words belonging 
 to another level of intercourse than that on which 
 1 Matt, xi, 25, 2G. 2 john xi. 41, 42. s xii. 27, 28. 
 
I SCOPE AND ORDER. 333 
 
 we stand, must be restricted by a special rever- 
 ence and a greater sense of incompetence. A 
 commentator seems to hear the warning, " Be not 
 rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be 
 hasty to utter anything before God: for God is 
 in heaven, and thou upon earth ; therefore let 
 thy words be few" (Ecc. v. 2). It is also the 
 more proper that they should be few, inasmuch 
 as the Prayer gives final utterance to preceding 
 thoughts, and its topics therefore are, to a cer- 
 tain extent, the same as those which, in their di- 
 dactic application to men, have been here treated of 
 already. On these accounts I attend the ascend- 
 ing Prayer with less certainty of verbal interpreta- 
 tion, and with more restricted observations, and 
 as following at a greater distance, tlian was the 
 case in listening to the Discourses. 
 
 In passing from the one kind of utterance to 
 the other, we must make the transition, in the 
 first place, with a due sense of the relation be- 
 tween the two. We must think of the Prayer, 
 not as separate from the Discourses, nor as an 
 appendix to them, but as their proper consum- 
 mation, winchng up all that has been spoken and 
 linking it to the throne of God. The revelations, 
 instructions, and promises, made to the disciples, 
 receive the highest possible interpretation and 
 confirmation when resumed in the converse of 
 the Son with the Father. They hear then, how 
 
334 THE PRAYER 
 
 their own state is regarded, how their own inter- 
 ests are pleaded, and their own prospects are dis- 
 closed in an act of divine communion, which to 
 that end is made audibly in their presence. In 
 this sense it is a part of the teaching which they 
 receive, and an essential part of it, shewing it as 
 sealed and registered in heaven. The Prayer is to 
 the Discourses an act and deed of ratification, a 
 sealing and signing of their teaching before God. 
 So Calvin has said, " This prayer of Christ was a 
 sealing of the precious teaching, as well that it 
 should be ratified in itself, as that it should create 
 sure faith in his disciples." So also Bengel. " In 
 this prayer He embraces all that from chapter xiii. 
 31 He has said, and sets his seal to all things 
 already done, looking to things past, present, and 
 future. It is a tacit intimation of the new Pente- 
 cost at hand. Who would not rejoice that these 
 things which Jesus spake with the Father are 
 written and remain ? In all the Scripture this 
 chapter is in words most easy, in their meanings 
 most profound." This " obsignation " of the Dis- 
 courses is justly noted by these authorities as the 
 effect and purpose of the audible Prayer. 
 
 It is indeed from a lofty and serene standpoint 
 that Jesus here surveys tlie past and the future, 
 binding together the ministry, now ended on earth, 
 with the history which is to follow, and disclosing 
 in clearer light both the human and the divine in 
 
I SCOPE AND ORDER 335 
 
 his own person, and the offices which He fulfils 
 for us. 
 
 First, then, regarding the Prayer as a whole in 
 this last point of view, we feel how it completes 
 the impression previously made in regard to the 
 person of Christ. If there is any light in us, it is 
 when we are speaking to God that we recognise 
 our real state and stand in our true position. On 
 what terms then, and in what tones, does Jesus 
 on earth converse with the Father in heaven ? 
 This prayer is solitary among all the prayers of 
 mankind, separated from all others by a perfect 
 illumination, which is at the same time a perfect 
 repose. It has no voice of confession, deprecation, 
 supplication ; no echo, however distant, of recog- 
 nition of sin, no tone that is touched with a feel- 
 ing of demerit or defect; only the certain con- 
 sciousness, " I have glorified thee on the earth ; I 
 have finished the work which thou gavest me to 
 do." There is no intimation of infirmity or en- 
 treaty for help ; for self only one request, " Glorify 
 thy Son that thy Son also may glorify thee." So 
 much may be said on tliB side of the human history. 
 But there are deeper tones than those of human 
 sinlessness. How significant, how eloquent, is the 
 simplicity of the address ! a single word marking 
 the true relation, " Father, Hol}^ Father, Right- 
 eous Father ! " ^ Then the ineffable union, which 
 
 1 It is an important observation of St. Cyril, quoted by C. a 
 Lapide. " It is in God a greater thing to be the Father than to be 
 
336 THE PRAYER 
 
 this relation implies, is expressed in the assertion 
 of its eternal pre-existence, before the world was 
 in the mystery of mutual indwelling, " As thou. 
 Father, art in me and I in thee," and then in the 
 We and Us — "That they maybe one as we are; 
 that they may be one in us " — language in which 
 no mere human being could speak to God ; and 
 again in the final "/ M'i7/," where man could only 
 say, " I pray." Briefly and reverently we note 
 these intimations concerning the person of Christ. 
 The Prayer gives light, also, on his offices. 
 " Consider," it is said, " the Apostle and High 
 Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus " (Heb. 
 iii. 1). We see Him here in both offices. As 
 Apostle He gives in the account of his mission. 
 In human embassies, one who has been sent on 
 a commission reports himself (as the saying is) 
 when it has been fulfilled. Such is one aspect 
 of this Prayer. " I have finished the work which 
 thou gavest me to do " — "I have manifested thy 
 name unto the men whom thou gavest me " — "I 
 have given them the words which thou gavest 
 me " — "I liave kept tliem in thy word." The 
 apostolic work on earth is done, and that commis- 
 sion has been fulfilled. While the Apostle closes 
 his embassy, the High Priest begins his office'. 
 
 Lord : because, as the Father, lie beyat his con substantial Son, 
 but as Lord He made the creatures which are infinitely inferior 
 to Him." 
 
1 SCOPE AND ORDER 337 
 
 He who has spoken for God to men now speaks 
 for men to God. He makes intercession as Head 
 of his Church ; standing, too, in his own con- 
 sciousness on the last step of the altar on which 
 He is about to offer the sacrifice of Himself ; after- 
 wards to pass through the true tabernacle into the 
 holiest of all ; there to continue the intercession 
 which He here begins in what has from old time 
 been designated as the " High-priestly Prayer." 
 Thus the two sides of the mediating office — the 
 apostolate from God to men and the priesthood 
 for men to God — are revealed in their connexion 
 with each other, and represented in the hearing of 
 the little company who will develop into the 
 future Church. 
 
 In passing from these general features of the 
 Prayer as a whole to the consideration of it in 
 separate divisions, we find those divisions on the 
 face of it. " He prays," says Bengel, "1. Concern- 
 ing Himself (v. 1-6) ; 2. Concerning his Apostles 
 (6-20) ; 3. Concerning future believers (20 to the 
 end)." The division is of practical service, but 
 not to be taken as distinguishing different sub- 
 jects. There is one subject throughout ; namely, 
 the mission of Jesus Christ, in the one definite line 
 of intention and result which bears on the history 
 of his own. Other purposes outside that line are 
 not denied, other consequences are not precluded, 
 but they have no place here. The course of 
 
 w 
 
338 THE PRAYER 
 
 thought is consecutive. The mission is seen in 
 three stages of advance, — in his work in person, 
 in that by the agents whom He leaves, in the 
 wider effects to follow, — his own history involving 
 that of the Apostles, the history of the Apostles, 
 that of the Church. 
 
 There is an evident correspondence, though it 
 has been scarcely noticed, between these three 
 successive thoughts in the Prayer and the three 
 preliminary sayings which prefaced the Discourses 
 after Judas was gone. The thoughts then thrown 
 out in abrupt suggestive utterance are now de- 
 liberately expressed in the act of communion with 
 the Father. 
 
 1. "Now," it was said, "is the Son of Man 
 glorified, and God is glorified in him ; and God 
 shall glorify him in himself, and straightway shall 
 glorify him " (xiii. 31, 32). 
 
 These words, with a certain measure of expan- 
 sion, here pass into prayer. 
 
 2. " 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" (33). 
 
 The thoughts attendant on this departure and 
 separation are here developed into the requests 
 for those whom He has hitherto kept and now 
 must leave, which form the second division of the 
 Prayer. 
 
I SCOPE AND ORDER 339 
 
 3. " A new commandment I give unto you, 
 that ye love one another; even 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" (34, 35). 
 
 This, again, is the fundamental desire which 
 here rises into the final aspirations for the oneness 
 of his people in love, and their oneness in Himself 
 and in the Father. 
 
 Such a correspondence of the end with the be- 
 ginning exhibits a fixity of idea and continuity of 
 feeling, and constitutes the whole course of com- 
 munication an orderly development of the mind 
 of Christ in the hour of the great Farewell. 
 
340 THE PRAYER 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 FOR HIS WORK AND GLORY 
 
 Section 1 
 
 V. 1-3 
 
 " Father, the hour is come : glorify thy Son, that the Son may 
 glorify tliee : even as thou gavest him authority over all 
 flesh, that whatsoever thou hast given him, to them he 
 should give eternal life. And this is life eternal, that they 
 should know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou 
 didst send, Jesus Christ." 
 
 "Father, the hour is come"; the hour, pre- 
 destined and decisive, on which all depends, con- 
 summation of the past and condition of the future. 
 Yet is it unexplained. This silence is eloquent. 
 So it is with us, when one speaks to another in 
 the confidence of a common interest and a perfect 
 mutual understanding. 
 
 All that need be spoken is the prayer which 
 belongs to the hour : " Glorify thy Son, that the 
 Son may glorify thee." It is a request funda- 
 mental and comprehensive. As the first word of 
 the Discourse, " Ye believe in (xod, believe also in 
 me," was the ground-thought of all that was to 
 
II FOR HIS WORK AND GLORY 341 
 
 be taught, so is this first word of the Prayer the 
 ground'-thought of all that is to be asked. All 
 rests on the relation, " Father — thy Son " , and 
 this is expressed more pointedly than the English 
 can give it (not, as usually rov vlov aov, but aov 
 Tov vioi''). Then, the use of the third person in 
 the opening words has also its intention. One 
 who speaks in this abstract form, describing him- 
 self, as it were, ab extra, is basing his requests, not 
 on personal desire, but on the relation itself, and 
 on the right or fitness of the case. 
 
 " Glorify thy Son." In what does this glorify- 
 ing consist? Many explanations have been offered, 
 many of them very partial and inadequate, yet 
 all of them comprehended in this vast and limit- 
 less word. But it is a glorif3dng for which the 
 hour is come, and in that respect has been con- 
 sidered already in connexion with the first "pre- 
 liminary saying." There it was spoken as virtually 
 effected (^vvv iSo^dcrdi], see p. 91) because its con- 
 ditions were then accepted and commenced. Here 
 it is asked for as a thing to be, the results of those 
 conditions being concentrated in a single word. 
 Those results include the acceptance of the sacri- 
 fice, the atonement made and redemption achieved, 
 the reversal of death and overthrow of Satan, and 
 all the history to follow, — resurrection, ascension, 
 session at the right hand, the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost, the mediatorial reign, the coming in the 
 
342 THE PRAYER 
 
 kingdom. All are the gifts of the Father, by 
 which He glorifies the Son. They are desired 
 for the further end, " that the Son may glorify 
 thee." For it is the will, the work, the wisdom, 
 righteousness, and love of the Father, which, 
 through this divine economy, are to be manifested 
 in heaven and in earth. 
 
 It is an economy for human salvation, and to 
 the main line of that salvation the thousrhts at 
 present are confined. " According as thou gavest 
 him authority over all flesh, that whatsoever thou 
 hast given him, to them he should give eternal 
 life." In these condensed expressions one work 
 appears as the central object and final purpose of 
 the larger powers ; as if a vast province Avere 
 assigned in order that the City of God might be 
 formed in the midst of it. We see entire humanity ^ 
 made subject to the sovereign administration of 
 . the incarnate Son as head of the race whose nature 
 He has taken ; and the bestowal of this authority 
 is elsewhere spoken of as the reversal of a great 
 usurpation, that of "the Ruler of this world." To 
 men as such, great results must follow from this 
 universal relation to the incarnate Son ; but these 
 are not the subject here. 
 
 1 The phrase is the rendering of the Hebrew phrase, "it^S h^, 
 which describes mankind in their weakness and transitoriness 
 as contrasted with the majesty of God ; and from that side of 
 their nature in which they are akin to and represent the lower 
 workl (numerous references appended). — Westcotx's note 
 in loc. 
 
II FOR HIS WORK AND GLORY 343 
 
 Within this giving of authorit}^, and as the 
 highest consequence of it, there is a further giving 
 by the Father ; one, not merely into right and 
 rule, but into appropriation and possession. That 
 wliich is thus given is expressed (not as may 
 appear in the English in the personal and the 
 plural, but) in the neuter and the singular, " all 
 that which thou hast given him " (irav o hehwKa<i 
 avTcp). This peculiar wording had been used at 
 another time,^ for expression of the same divine 
 act ; and in both places it has the effect of repre- 
 senting this giving by the Father to the Son, as 
 not distributive but collective (to use the logical 
 terms) ; one in which men are regarded, not in 
 their separate individuality, but in some common 
 aspect, corresponding to that collective character 
 in which they are seen at last, and to which (again 
 using the neuter and the singular) the Prayer 
 returns (v. 23, 24, (W coaiv ev o SeSw/ca? /ao<). 
 
 So is it spoken concerning the giving of men by 
 the Father to the Son ; but in the third act of 
 giving, namely, that of eternal life by the Son to 
 men, this collective language disappears, being 
 resolved into the plural and the personal, " That 
 to them (^auTol<;') he should give eternal life." It 
 is impossible to overlook this discriminating pre- 
 cision of language, corrective of some tendencies 
 
 ^ See vi. 27 : irdv o d^doocn fxoi 6 llari^p irpos i/xi rj^ei, All that 
 which the Father hath ffiveu uie shall come to uie. 
 
344 THE PRAYER 
 
 of thought, suggestive, also, of others ; but touch- 
 ing on mysteries in regard to whicli exposition, 
 once prompt and eager, is now more diffident and 
 reserved. 
 
 Whatever indefiniteness is cast over tlie previous 
 act of God, none rests upon the ultimate act of 
 Christ. It is shewn (1) as the crowning preroga- 
 tive of his larger sovereignty, (2) as made to 
 individual men, and (3) as consisting in eternal 
 life. This liad ever been the great announcement. 
 " I am come that they might liave life." " I give 
 unto them eternal life " (x. 27) ; and so again and 
 again throughout the ministry. This is the gift 
 celebrated afterwards in frequent repetitions of 
 joy and praise. " The gift of God is eternal life 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. vi. 23). 
 " This is the record, that God has given us eternal 
 life, and this life is in his Son" (1 John v. 11). 
 Life it is, as distinguished from mere existence ; 
 life in its fullest sense of consciousness and affec- 
 tions, capacities, and activities ; eternal (^alroviof^, 
 as belonging not to this age and world, but to the 
 age of ages, and another Avorld than this. 
 
 Yet in this world it is given ; and in the pres- 
 ent state it must begin ; for that is involved in the 
 words which follow, "And this is the eternal life, 
 that they may know thee, the only true God, and 
 him whom thou didst send — Jesus Christ." 
 
 This is a fundamental word indeed ; a summary 
 
II FOR Ills WORK AND GLORY 345 
 
 and certificate of Chriytianity. But the expression 
 is peculiar and beyond expectation ; and is felt to 
 be so great a difficulty as to oblige us to advert to 
 the question as to its real source. Are these the 
 words of Him who prays, or of him who reports the 
 prayer ? 
 
 It has not been within the present purpose to 
 notice the conclusions of critics who consider them- 
 selves at liberty to refer all expressions in these 
 records to the one source or the other, as suits tlieir 
 own views. Such critics naturally think, not only 
 that these words are those of the writer, whoever 
 he was, but also that in this instance he has failed 
 in the usual artistic snccess of his representation. 
 "He has been guilty (jf an inadvertence." "He 
 has made a slip," and " has offended against his- 
 torical propriety." But the difficulty seems also 
 very serious to some of our own commentators, 
 who deal with these Scriptures in a very different 
 spirit. It is strange to them that the Lord should 
 thus speak of Himself, and especially that He 
 should use the comi)Ound name of Jesus Christ, 
 "which afterwards came into use." It is plain, 
 however, that this name cannot be excepted from 
 the whole verse, on account of the balance and cor- 
 respondence of the two clauses. 
 
 Says Bishop Westcott, 
 
 "We have to consider whether the definitions are to be 
 treated as literally parts of the prayer, or as words used by 
 
346 THE PRAYER 
 
 the Evangelist in his record of the praj'er, as best fitted, in 
 this connexion, to convey the full meaning of the original 
 language." 
 
 He thinks that 
 
 "the use of the name at this time by the Lord Himself, is in 
 the highest degree unlikely, while the compound title, express- 
 ing, as it does, the two ideas of true humanity and divine 
 office, may reasonably be supposed to give the exact sense of 
 the Lord's thought. . . . The clauses, while perfectly nat- 
 ural as explanations, are most strange if they are taken as 
 substantial parts of the prayer. It is no derogation from the 
 truthfulness of the record that St. John has thus given, par- 
 enthetically and in conventional language (so to speak), the 
 substance of what the Lord said, probably at greater length " 
 (Note on v. 3). 
 
 In like manner, Dr. Plummer, regarding in the 
 same light the use of the name " which afterwards 
 came into use," concludes that " the wording here 
 is the Evangelist's, perhaps abbreviated from the 
 actual words." Other commentators have written 
 in the same sense. 
 
 1. On the other hand, it is obvious to remark 
 that the words, being as directly addressed to God, 
 as all the other words are, do not at all lend them- 
 selves to a supposition of being an explanation in 
 parenthetical and conventional language. 
 
 2. The argument, from a thing being unlikely 
 and strange, consists in a comparison with what we 
 should expect, and must be weighed against an ar- 
 o-ument of like kind on the other side. "• It is in the 
 
II FOR HIS WORK AND GLORY 347 
 
 liighest degree unlikely " that St. John, purporting 
 to give tlie Lord's words, at a final and solemn mo- 
 ment addressed to his Father in presence of his 
 disciples, should diverge from that method by alter- 
 ing expressions fundamental to Christian faith, and 
 presenting them in a form of his own, accordant 
 with his later habit of thought. To most minds 
 the latter unlikelihood will surely seem much 
 greater than the former. 
 
 3. In regard to the strangeness of the expres- 
 sion in relation to our Lord's usual language, it is 
 certain that, if it seem strange to us, it must have 
 been still more so to St. John, from whom we de- 
 rive our knowledge of the Lord's manner of speech, 
 and who knew, in his own experience, when the 
 compound title came into use. 
 
 4. But the argument from unlikeliness and 
 strangeness loses most of its value, when the oc- 
 casion is seen to be altogether exceptional : for 
 then an act or word, not found elsewhere, may be 
 seen as simpl}^ natural to the situation. I adopt 
 the Avords of Stier (vi. 441) : — 
 
 " This is indeed the only time that the Lord Himself 
 unites thus simply and immediately the two names, that of 
 his person and that of his office — but the occasion stands 
 alone. He presents Himself in the presence of his listening 
 disciples, before the Father in the most sublime self-testi- 
 mony; uttering that designation of Himself, which was 
 thereby sanctified, instituted, and ordained for all future tes- 
 timony to liis person. We may say that the apostolical cus- 
 
348 THE PRAYER 
 
 torn of using Jesus Christ as one double appellative, making 
 XpKTTo'i also a proper name, liad its origin in this word of 
 our Lord. Speak of Him as He spoke of Himself before 
 God — this was the Spirit's suggestion to their minds." 
 
 5. It accords with this hist idea that " the hxter 
 custom," here anticipated, does, in fact, date from 
 the first moment that the Gospel was preached ; and 
 that the Apostles, as soon as they opened their lips, 
 used the compound name as the sum of their tes- 
 timony and their watchword to the world. " Be 
 baptized," they said, " everyone of you, in the 
 name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your 
 sins" (Act ii. 48). "In the name of Jesus Christ 
 of Nazareth, rise up and walk " (iii. 6 and iii. 20, 
 iv. 10, etc.).' We have no question to ask about 
 this immediate and commanding use of the adopted 
 name, if they had heard it from the Lord's own lips 
 as that under which it was his will to be testified 
 and known. 
 
 I now turn from this question (and with an en- 
 tirely satisfied mind concerning it) to contemplate 
 for a moment this strong foundation word of our 
 faith. It is as if one came suddenly in front of 
 some great monument, bearing, in letters carved 
 by him whom it commemorates, tlie original in- 
 scription to which all after history must refer. 
 
 It contains a creed distinct and comprehensive ; 
 but it is much more than a creed. It speaks of a 
 knowledge, and a knowledge which is life eternal. 
 
II FOR HIS WORK AND GLORY 349 
 
 The word for " know '' represents a knowledge 
 learned or acquired, and the tense implies that it 
 is both present and progressive. Plainly this 
 knowledge, which is life, is not merely one of in- 
 formation or assent, nor one of man's intellect 
 only, bat of " all tliat is within him." It is a 
 knowledge of persons, not merely of truths con- 
 cerning them; and even in common speech, to 
 know a person, as distinguished from knowing 
 things about him, implies some intercourse and 
 contact of minds. Above all, must this be so in 
 knowing God, which indeed cannot be without an 
 inwaid union and assimilation ; as Irenceus puts it, 
 " The possession of life arises from the sharing in 
 God ; and sharing in God is knowing God, and 
 partaking in his goodness." ^ 
 
 The knowing here is twofold, and corresponds 
 with the twofold believing enjoined in the first 
 word of discourse, " Believe in God ; believe also 
 in me." 
 
 God is to be known as the true God (dXT/^ti/o?) ; 
 true "in the absolutely real meaning of that in- 
 comprehensible name " (Stier), and as the onli/ 
 true God, else not God at all, intimating a con- 
 sciousness of the polytheistic dreams, the sem- 
 blances, and imaginings (ei'StoXa) of men. It is 
 the creed of the old covenant, continued and 
 exalted. " Hear, O Israel ; the Lord our God is 
 
 1 Cited by Luthardt, v. iii. p. 194. 
 
350 THE PRAYER 
 
 one Lord." All Israel held the creed, but all Israel 
 did not know God. " Ye say that he is your God, 
 yet ye have not known him " (viii. 55): and it is 
 the knowing which is life eternal. 
 
 For the creed and life of the new testament 
 there is the distinctive addition, " And him whom 
 thou has sent — Jesus Christ." It is more than 
 an addition, — being the appointed means to the 
 knowledge of God, and a vast enlargement of it. 
 That lies in the words " whom thou hast sent." 
 He was sent " to bring us to God," that those who 
 would not have known God might come to know 
 Him, and that those who would have known Him 
 faintly might know Him fully. It is the mission 
 of the Son from the Father which makes the know- 
 ledge of Him who is sent one with the knowledge 
 of Him that sent Him. The divine formula, thus 
 given to the Church, has been ever answered by an 
 unchanging confession — as we answer still in 
 the two first sentences of the Apostles' Creed. 
 "Though there be," says St. Paul, "that are called 
 gods, whether in heaven or on earth ; as there are 
 gods many, and lords many ; yet to us there is one 
 God, the Father, of whom are all things ; and we 
 unto him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through 
 whom are all things and Ave through him " (1 Cor-, 
 viii. 5, 6). In every connexion of thought and in 
 every variety of expression, the ai)ostolic writers 
 weave into one fabric, like warp and woof, " the 
 
FOR HIS WORK AND GLORY 351 
 
 knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." And 
 in words, which are probably the last written in 
 the New Testament, our Evangelist winds up their 
 common witness and experience : " We know that 
 the Son of God is come, and hath given us an un- 
 derstanding, that we know him that is true, and 
 we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus 
 Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" 
 (1 John V. 29). 
 
 Men who do not accept the Gospel of Christ, 
 or who go about to construct a gospel of their 
 own, are ever seeking to put asunder what God 
 has joined together; but they cannot know the 
 Father without knowing the Son, or the true God 
 apart from Him whom He has sent to reveal Him, 
 or have the eternal life while separate from Him 
 who is anointed of God to be to us its author and 
 giver. 
 
 '«0 Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting 
 life, grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ, to be 
 the way, the truth, and the life ; that, following the steps of 
 thy holy Apostles, we may steadfastly walk in the way wliich 
 leadeth to eternal life; through the same thy Son Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
352 THE PRAYER 
 
 Section 2 
 V. 4, 5 
 
 The words "whom thou didst send" lead on 
 to those which follow. That mission reaches its 
 end; its last moments are come. The account of 
 it is to be given in, and its reward to be attained. 
 A single sentence serves for each. 
 
 " I glorified thee on the earth, having finished the work 
 which thou gavest ine to do. 
 
 "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own 
 self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world 
 was " (4). 
 
 Here the form of expression changes. Before, 
 it was " thy Son " ; now, it is " I." The third 
 person liad been suitable in the review of a great 
 scheme of things ; one comprising a universal 
 authority conferred, a definite purpose within it, 
 and a transcendent gift bestowed. The transition 
 from agency in this scheme of things to personal 
 action and desire is marked by the direct use of 
 the first pei-son, which continues through the rest 
 of the Prayer. 
 
 Brief is the account of the fulfilment of the- 
 mission. The adoption of the participial reading 
 (re\eiU)aa<i instead of ereXt/wcra) has shaped two 
 sentences into one. But it is not more brief than 
 
II FOR HIS WORK AND GLORY 353 
 
 full. How could it be more full than it is with 
 gioiy given and work completed? 
 
 " I glorified thee on the earth," — on the earth, 
 as for me a place of sojourning and an adopted 
 field of action, — on the earth, as a scene where 
 that glory was withheld, a province in the universe 
 of God, where a revolted race had done dishonour 
 to his name. " Glory to God in the highest " 
 sounded from heaven when Jesus was born into 
 the world; and now that He will leave it, glory 
 has been rendered upon earth. It has been ren- 
 dered by the perfect devotion of a holy human life, 
 by word and deed, by character and by service. It 
 has been rendered by accomplishment of the work 
 which was given to be done. Many works are 
 finished, by coming to an end, though partial and 
 imperfect. Not so this. The word employed 
 means, not merely ended, but achieved and per- 
 fected. This accomplishment is spoken of in the 
 historic tense ; for it now lies in the past, and the 
 act of consummation is reached. But perhaps we 
 may observe that from the work on the earth (eVt 
 Tt]<i Y)}?) the final act is distinguished, as a being 
 "lifted up out of the earth" (e'/c t?'}9 yv?), and so 
 part of the process of departure. 
 
 The account of life on earth, here given at the 
 end of it, is the same which, in the course of it, 
 was often testified in words, as well as always 
 illustrated by facts. " My meat is to do the will 
 
354 THE PKAYER 
 
 of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work " 
 (iv. 34). " He that speaketh from himself seeketh 
 his own glory ; but he that seeketh the glory of 
 him that sent him, the same is true " (vii. 18). 
 Such words were frequent, and they set forth the 
 aim and business of human life. It is true that 
 the instance is solitary and unapproached. The 
 glory given to God was such in measure as He 
 only could render ; the work assigned Him to do 
 was his alone. To Him it belonged to offer a per- 
 fect life, to declare his Father's name, to save the 
 lost, and found the Church. But He so speaks 
 as to make this life and work of his the great 
 example of the common duty; and his servants, 
 desiring to "walk in this world as he walked," 
 have recognised the standard set them, and have 
 seen that the true ambition for man is to glorify 
 God on the earth, and accomplish the work which 
 He gives them to do. In proportion as this is 
 done, even in the most narrow scene of action and 
 the most obscure employment, there is the true 
 success in life, and the career that has no failure. 
 Great is the satisfaction and rest of mind attend- 
 ant on the thought of " the work which thou hast 
 given me to do." It gives a principle of easy 
 application, and corrects vain wanderings of imag-' 
 ination, and ennobles the work we do. We fancy 
 we should be happier if left to choose and offer 
 what we pleased. But if we take our work as 
 
II FOR HIS WORK AND GLORY 355 
 
 given us to do, and if we do it to the Lord, then 
 it takes rank with the service of Christ Himself. 
 Many a follower of Jesus in undesired position 
 and unwelcome duty has glorified God upon the 
 earth after that great example, by contented 
 acceptance of the Father's will, and a loyal and 
 loving fulfilment of it. So we take up for our 
 own use the words in which the Lord has compre- 
 hended the history of his own earthly life. 
 
 Of these words we can speak without misgiving, 
 for they are within the sphere of our own experi- 
 ence, that of human life on earth. But who can 
 treat of those which follow, in which the conse- 
 quences of the mission to men are claimed in the 
 world of glory, and the human consciousness 
 breaks into the divine ? 
 
 " And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own 
 self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world 
 was " (5). 
 
 Thus, in serene tones of a perfect knowledge, 
 does Jesus, while in the flesh and on the earth, 
 reveal the divine consciousness which He bears 
 within Him. We stand by with the amazed dis- 
 ciples, and note the three stages of ascent which 
 in succession carry on the mind into regions of 
 thought in which thought itself is lost. In " Glo- 
 rify thou me," we hear of the bestowal of some 
 exalted honours, and investiture with unexplained 
 
356 THE PRAYER 
 
 majesty. The next word, " With thine own self," 
 raises these conceptions to an incalculable eleva- 
 tion above all lower levels in heavenly places into 
 fellowship with the Father and the bosom of God. 
 The last word, " With the glory which I had with 
 thee before the world was," throws back the pos- 
 session of this glory and fellowship not only into 
 a pre-existent state, but into an absolutely limitless 
 eternity. In presence of such words, addressed by 
 the Son to the Father, there is a call, not so much 
 to study and exposition as to adoration and faith. 
 
 Yet even here we might diverge into contro- 
 versy, did we feel any just reason to do so ; for 
 however firmly the lines of truth are drawn, the 
 ingenuity of heresy will seek some outlet of 
 escape. 1 But Arian endeavours to make these 
 and other like sayings comport with the bounded 
 existence of a created being, and, still more, 
 Socinian attempts to interpret them of a purely 
 ideal existence in the predetermination of God, 
 are so desperate on the face of them, that they 
 demand no notice here. They are amply dealt 
 with in the many works which argue the question 
 of the divinity of our Lord and Saviour. 
 
 We hear Him speaking in full consciousness of 
 being the same before the world was and now, and 
 
 1 " Claras ct disertus textus dc iliviiiitatc Christi contra 
 AriauDs, quaiKiuam et hie foramen seu rimam invenerint qua 
 elabcrcntur." — Luther, in loc. 
 
n FOR HIS WORK AND GLORY 857 
 
 of a glory which He had as his own in the eternal 
 fellowship with God. It is asked for now from 
 the hninan standpoint, with its voluntary emptying 
 and humbling of self, the time for which now 
 comes to its end, and which is to be succeeded by 
 that glory of essential Godhead refulgent in his 
 person as Mediator., and investing with its com- 
 municated perfections the manhood wliich He has 
 taken into God.^ 
 
 Who can tell what were the impressions on the 
 minds of the disciples, while they listened to this 
 voice of sublime self -revelation ! But we know 
 that the truths, received throughout this evening 
 with poor intelligence, sunk and settled and 
 wrought in their hearts, under the teaching of the 
 Holy Ghost, who took these things of Christ, and 
 shewed them to them; and how, through their 
 testimony, these truths became the common faith 
 of the Christian society, as is shewn by the manner 
 in which they are not only distinctly taught, but 
 presupposed and appealed to, in the canonical 
 Epistles. So the consciousness of Jesus concern- 
 
 1 Luthardt's comments arc brief and to the point. "He 
 desires again the glory which He had ; only He desires it now 
 as incarnate man. He says, ' I had,' not, ' I received ' " (Ben- 
 gel) . ' Before the world was ' : it is thus unconditioned by 
 anything except God, and so stands outside of time. By this 
 phrase, the age of time is shariily separated from the eternity 
 that lies at its foundation. ' With thee,' He says, because He 
 was the Son personally distinguished frona the Father, as 0f6s 
 irpos Toy ee6v, God with God" (VIII. p. 199). 
 
858 THE PRAYER 
 
 ing Himself became the consciousness of the 
 Church concerning Him ; ^ and its voice sounds 
 on from age to age in unchanging confession and 
 exalted praise. 
 
 1 On these two subjects, see Liddon's Bampton Lectures, 
 Lecture IV., "Our Lord's Divinity as witnessed by his Con- 
 sciousness," and VL, "Our Lord's Divinity as taught by St. 
 James, St. Peter, and St. Paul." 
 
FOR THE DISCirLES 359 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 FOR THE DISCIPLES 
 
 Section 1 
 V. 0-10 
 
 In few words has Jesus spoken of Himself, in 
 respect of the divine economy which He admin- 
 isters, of his action in it, and his translation into 
 glory. To this history that of the disciples is 
 attached. They have their own special part under 
 that economy, as being the first believers, and the 
 chosen agents through whom the knowledge and 
 the power of it are to be conveyed to mankind. 
 Therefore, in the words already spoken, has been 
 laid the ground of intercession for them. That 
 intercession is the main purpose of the prayer, and 
 the main reason why they should hear it. It is 
 made for them personally, with the most tender 
 concern for the needs of their situation, but, at the 
 same time, for them officially and representatively 
 in view of their future work and its final conse- 
 quences. The brief sentences of prayer for Self 
 now pass into more effusive language in prayer for 
 
360 THE PRAYER 
 
 them. If in awestruck wonder they had listened 
 to those former words, it woukl be with another 
 kind of interest that they woukl hear their own 
 position recognised and their own cause pleaded 
 with God. It is in the recognition of their actual 
 relations to his Word, to Himself, and to his Father, 
 that the Lord gives the reasons for the fitness of 
 his requests in their behalf. 
 
 " I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest 
 me out of the world : thine they were, and thou gavest them 
 to me ; and they have kept thy word. 
 
 "Now they know that all things whatsoever thou hast 
 given nie are from thee : for the words which thou gavest me 
 I have given unto them ; and they received them, and knew 
 of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that 
 thou didst send nie. I pray for them : I pray not for the 
 world, but for those whom thou hast given me ; for they are 
 thine : and all things that are nana are thine, and thine are 
 mine: and I am glorified in them " (0-10). 
 
 Is tlie little company there present and thus ap- 
 proved all the actual fruit which has been gath- 
 ered in that work upon the earth which has now 
 reached its end ? No ! not all ; yet the best and 
 representative part of it. It seems a dispropor- 
 tionate result ; yet will it serve its purpose in the 
 future, as the gathering converts and the rising 
 Church and the Christian centuries will shew. 
 These few men arc to ])c left ; and now they may 
 be left, for their minds are possessed with ideas 
 
FOR THE DISCIPLES 361 
 
 rooted and livino- within them. How great is 
 the capacity of ideas for expansion, propagation, 
 IDerpetuation ! Above all, when those ideas are 
 thoughts of God, communicated by the Word in- 
 carnate, in fulfilment of his mission from the 
 Father, to men elected to receive them. 
 
 They are. He says, " the men whom thou gavest 
 me out of the world," the alienated, unreceptive 
 world : " Thine they were, and to me thou gavest 
 them." " Thine," we understand, not as all men 
 are thine, nor as all Israel are thine, but by a per- 
 sonal and distinguishing relation, one not only con- 
 sidered as foreknown, but asserted as actual. It is 
 the relation of which it is written, " The Lord hath 
 set apart him that is godly for himself." It is the 
 relation of "Israelites indeed," as (in regard to 
 one of them) the Lord expressed it. Of these He 
 now says, " To me thou gavest them," as being not 
 merely assigned to Him in the divine intention, 
 but delivered into his teaching and care by that in- 
 ward operation of God, concerning which He said, 
 " No man can come to me except the Father, which 
 sent me, draw him " (vi. 44). It does not appear 
 that the Lord Jesus, in the flesh, wrought on men's 
 hearts by that secret operation which we call effec- 
 tual grace. Such action is ascribed by Him not to 
 Himself, but to the Father. We may say that from 
 Him in those days, there passed into the souls of 
 men the power not of the Spirit, but of the Word. 
 
3G2 THE PRAYER 
 
 What He did for them He explains, "I mani- 
 fested thy name to tlie men which thou gavest 
 me " — "I have given to them the words which 
 thou gavest me." The " name " intends whatso- 
 ever may be expressed or known of God. So the 
 phrase is used throughout the course of revelation ; 
 from tlie day when Israel, receiving the first mes- 
 sage from God, asked, in conscious ignorance, 
 " What is his name ? " The answer, advancing 
 through the intervening ages, came with a new 
 fulness and clearness in the Word of Christ. " No 
 man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten 
 Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath 
 declared him " (i. 18). This revelation of God in 
 his fatherhood and love, his mind and will, had 
 constituted the "word " which the disciples are said 
 to have "kept." But there had been more than 
 this. The Word, as a whole, in its general scope 
 (Xo'yo?), has been made definite by "words" 
 {p)]/jLara), various and distinct communications. 
 Often in the Greek are these terms distinguished 
 from each other, but seldom can they be so in the 
 English. The Revised Version in some places 
 renders the second by " sayings," but cannot fitly 
 do so in an announcement so weighty as this, 
 " The words which thou gavest me I have given- 
 them." It u a statement fundamental to the 
 faith. We see Jesus standing between God and 
 man, as Mediator of the truth, in the spirit re- 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCIPLES S6^ 
 
 ceiving the words from God, which in the flesh 
 He delivers to men. As afterwards, in apocalyptic 
 vision, it was " the revelation of Jesus Christ, 
 which God gave unto him, to shew unto his ser- 
 vants," so it was with the human words on earth, 
 only they are given in another tone and for a 
 different end. It Avas a course of divine instruc- 
 tion, spoken and acted, under which, during the 
 past years, these disciples had lived. 
 
 For them it has not been vain. The result is 
 recognised and affirmed. Of the manifestation of 
 the name it is said, " They have kept thy word." 
 If others let it pass, they understood and retained 
 it. " They on the good ground are they which in 
 an honest and good heart, having heard the word, 
 keep it." Of " the words which thou gavest me, 
 and which I have given them," it is said that 
 " they received them " ; and the consequences of 
 that reception are defined, " Now they know that 
 all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from 
 thee " ; and what they knew of the things, they 
 knew of the Person ; " they knew of a truth that 
 I came forth from thee ; and they believed that 
 thou didst send me." The close of the Discourse 
 had given the same result, in the last testimony 
 of Jesus and in the responsive confession of the 
 disciples, — " Now we believe that thou camest 
 forth from God." There had been cause to ques- 
 tion the practical power of that faith, but not tlie 
 
364 THE PRAYER 
 
 reality of it. That had been recognised, and is 
 now affirmed, by Him who knew their hearts. 
 He shews the truth of the case, and the limit of it ; 
 so far they have gone, if no further. And this at- 
 tainment is decisive. Once possessed Avith a settled 
 conviction of their Lord's mission from the Father, 
 and of an immediate derivation from God in all his 
 words and works, they have reached a level of faith, 
 which is raised above the perplexities, vacillations, 
 and perils of an earlier stage, and which gives firm 
 vantage-ground for the advance which lias yet to be 
 made. Henceforth by the natural process of reflec- 
 tion, aided by the promised illumination of the 
 Spirit, they Avill come to apprehend the true nature 
 and work of Christ and all the consequences in 
 human salvation. But that will only be the un- 
 folding of what is now implicitly possessed. The 
 premises are fixed in their minds ; the conclusions 
 will follow. Often, indeed, does a like turning- 
 point occur in men's mental histories, when they 
 have reached a certain fixed assurance, to be 
 developed afterwards by logical deductions, and 
 under spiritual experience, into a larger and fuller 
 faith. 
 
 The disciples, then, have risen to a level on 
 which they may be left ; j^et not as if their future" 
 was secured without need of divine succour or 
 defence. Such need is created by the life of faith 
 on which they have entered. Therefore, says the 
 
Foil THE DISCIPLES 3(35 
 
 Lord, I pray for them (^iyon irepl avroiv epoiTM). I 
 — the pronoun is emphatic — make request con- 
 cerning them. " T pray not for the world, but for 
 them whom thou hast given me.'" The words are 
 solemn, and separate two spiritual regions. How 
 sad to be on the excluded side of this dividing 
 line ! Yet they should not be taken as meaning 
 more than they say ; not as a hard denial of all 
 concern for the world, or as negativing any kind 
 of application for it. The requests now made are 
 inapplical)le to its state ; they belong only to 
 believers. Yet these are messengers to the world ; 
 and prayer for them is also obliquely prayer for 
 it, as is in fact expressed afterwards in the words, 
 " that the world may believe that thou hast sent 
 me " (21). But those for whom intercession is 
 now made have not only their own needs, but their 
 own claims as objects of peculiar interest to Christ 
 and to God. They are " those whom thou hast 
 given me ; for they are thine." It was said before, 
 "they were thine, and thou gavest them me"; now 
 it is said, " they ai'e thine " ; and all the more so, 
 as having been given to me, for " all things that 
 are mine are thine, and thine are mine ; and I am 
 glorified in them." Already, in the Discourse, 
 like words have been spoken. This repetition 
 shews that this ineffable consciousness is habitual 
 to the mind of Him who speaks. It would have 
 been plea sufficient for the present purpose to 
 
36G THE PRAYER 
 
 have urged that the souls which have become mine 
 claim divine affection because whatever is mine is 
 thine ; but it is a really incalculable advance to 
 reverse the thought, and say, "And all things 
 that are thine are mine." Luther observes, "Any 
 one might justly say to God, ' All that is mine is 
 thine ' ; but no created being could go on to say, 
 ' And all that is thine is mine.' This is a word 
 for Christ alone." It is a universal transcendental 
 saying, yet connected here with a special applica- 
 tion. There is a discrimination between "thy 
 things" and "my things," though they are also 
 united in the common lordship and ownership. 
 If. therefore, we read the words " my tilings " as 
 intending, in the way of distinction, whatever is 
 historically given and appropriated to Christ, then 
 we may understand by " thy things " that which 
 is in true relation to God, but has not been so 
 brought within the Christian economy ; such, for 
 example, as things before Christ, or outside the 
 Church. If this be so, we have, in the words " All 
 thine are mine," a large extension of the relation 
 to Christ personally, by adoption into his media- 
 torial kingdom, of much on which his name has 
 not been named, and lying beyond the boundary 
 line of historical Christianity. The thought is 
 Avelcome, as enlarging the sense of kindred in 
 Christ, but on sneh words any comment must be 
 offered in godly fear. As for the words which 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCirLES 3G7 
 
 follow, "And I am glorified in them," these are 
 usually, and perhaps rightly, taken as reverting 
 to the case of tlie disciples, in whom some of 
 the glory of his manifestation has been reflected. 
 The intervening words then become parenthetic. 
 But the passage may be read continuously, " All 
 thy things are mine, and I am glorified in them." 
 There is nothing that is God's which does not 
 contribute glory to Him, in whom, as true Head 
 of mankind, all right desire is accepted, and all 
 initial goodness perfected. Tlie passage, I think, 
 may be read in either way. If in the first, it adds 
 a further plea for the disciples in that their Lord 
 is glorified in them : if in the second, it extends 
 that glorification over a wider circle of human 
 life and various conditions of knowledge. 
 
 Section 2 
 V. 11-19 
 
 The disciples have been commended to God, 
 and the grounds of commendation have been 
 given. The need for it and the aim of it follow. 
 
 " And I am no more in the world, and these are in the 
 world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy 
 name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even 
 as we are. While I was with them, T kept them in thy name 
 which thou hast given me: and T guarded them, and not one 
 of them perished, but the son of perdition • that the Scrip- 
 
3G8 THE PRAYER 
 
 ture might be fulfilled. But now T come to thee : and these 
 things I speak in tlie world, that they may have my joy ful- 
 filled in themselve.i. I have given them thy word ; and the 
 world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as 
 I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take 
 them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them 
 from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am 
 not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth : thy word is 
 truth. As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I 
 them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, 
 that they also might be sanctified through the truth " (11- 
 19). 
 
 This intercession for the disciples (1) discloses 
 the sense of the situation, (2) urges the requests 
 which it inspires. 
 
 1. The situation for the disciples is seen as a 
 subject for grave solicitude. They are in the 
 world ; indeed, are sent into it. They will be left 
 in it witliout the guardian care which they have 
 had ; and they are still weak and dependent. 
 ■Doubtless, as they heard the words, they deeply 
 felt their truth. Soon they will feel it more, and 
 derive continual comfort from this prevailing in- 
 tei'cession, and from the experience which will be 
 the answer to it. 
 
 Significant, and touching in their significance, 
 are the words, "I am no more in the world, and 
 these are in the world, and I come to thee." Jesus 
 (after the crisis is over) will liave done with tlie 
 world, passing from the painful experiences of its 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCIPLES 369 
 
 evil state and active enmity into the presence 
 where these can be felt no longer. All the more 
 does He speak as one would do, who, delivered 
 from trying circumstances himself, must leave 
 those whom he loves to bear them. It is a short 
 saying, " These are in the world," but it has a 
 tone of compassionate meaning. It is not for 
 them a place where they can be at home, for " they 
 are not of the world " ; nor where they can be at 
 peace, for " the world hated them," and will make 
 its liatred felt ; bnt, what is worse, it is a place of 
 damage and danger in respect of their life towards 
 God. Its adverse powers, its subtle influences of 
 evil, its infected atmosphere, have been felt by 
 Him who speaks with the keen sensibility which 
 belongs to perfect holiness. These weak souls, 
 with the natural pi-edispositions of sin, have needed 
 succours and safeguards. These they have had 
 in the companionship of their Lord through the 
 time of which He says, " While I was with them " ; 
 but that time is over, and its defences will be no 
 more. 
 
 " While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which 
 thou hast given me: and I guarded them, and not one of 
 them perislied, but the son of perdition ; that the Scripture 
 might be fulfilled. But now I come to thee." 
 
 There is light lierc on the dispensation which 
 has hitherto subsisted for these disciples, and light 
 on the Lord's action under it. The particular 
 
 Y 
 
370 THE PKAYER 
 
 assistances which cease with his departure are 
 plainly those not of supernatural grace, but of 
 natural intercourse. These powers, not those, 
 were exercised by Jesus in his life on earth. That 
 was the dispensation then. Of his action under 
 it, He speaks here in words which reflect a grave 
 and tender light upon the past. " I kept them in 
 the name which thou gavest me — I guarded them 
 — not one of them is lost " (with the foreseen 
 exception). In the Gospel narratives the educa- 
 tion of the Apostles is interwoven with the mani- 
 festation to the world, and it is a substantive 
 part of the story. It was education by a Teacher 
 ever in touch with their feelings and alive to their 
 dangers. We see it in some warm encouragement 
 or sharp rebuke to Peter ; in some admonition to 
 James and John, when they "knew not what they 
 asked," or "knew not what manner of spirit they 
 were of " ; in reproofs of unbelief, or confirmations 
 of faith ; in correction of false expectations, of 
 worldly estimates, or of selfish emulations ; and 
 also in the providence which ordered their pro- 
 gress, and kept them from premature exposures. 
 Of the last considerate care, an instance occurs in 
 the next chapter, which is taken as an illustration 
 of these very words (xviii. 8, 9). Yet are these 
 but occasional expressions of the daily watchful- 
 ness which is here disclosed. " I kept them (e^w 
 ertjpovv avToixi^ in the name which thou gavest 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCIPLES 871 
 
 me " — in tlie faith and life wliicli it creates. " I 
 guarded them (i<^v\a^a) as against crafts and 
 assaults of the enemy in their moments of weak- 
 ness and liabilities to error. And it has not been 
 vain ; up to this hour tliey are preserved in a true 
 faith in the holy name. One only is lost, and by 
 his own will and deed. He too was taught, cor- 
 rected, warned, as others were ; but it was vain 
 for him, who was " the son of perdition." " Not 
 one perished (aTrcoXero), but the son of perishing" 
 («7r&)Xefa9) ; the well-known Hebrew expression 
 intimating that which is the result of a man's 
 personal nature and moral state, rather than that 
 to which he is destined or sentenced. It was 
 strange tliat such a man should be " one of the 
 twelve," but it liad been foreshewn, as Jesus had 
 already intimated (xiii. 18), applying to Himself 
 the words of the Psalmist (Ps. xli. 9) ; and that 
 Scripture had to be fulfilled, first in its character 
 of prediction concerning the pre-ordained circum- 
 stances of the Passion ; and also in its character 
 of warning, as to alien elements to be found in 
 sacred companies, and unhappy histories in the 
 very homes of salvation. 
 
 These, then, are the reasons for intercession, — 
 the disciples left in the world, and sent into it ; 
 their former safeguard gone, and their INIaster 
 taken from their head. We see not only wliy the 
 intercession is made, but why they are permitted 
 
872 THE PRAYER 
 
 to hear it. Nothing else coiikl have so assured 
 them that their Lord, in resigning his external 
 guardianship, secured for them unseen protection, 
 and that the care over them is not withdrawn 
 because its method is changed. They learn that 
 it is now to be given from above, and to be sought 
 by prayer ; and the prayer which they hear is an 
 instructive example to them, as well as a prevailing 
 intercession for them. 
 
 TJie prayer begins with an unusual address. 
 For Himself it is always " Father " ; for the disci- 
 ples it is " Holy Father," as opening a request 
 that they may be made and kept holy. For such 
 desires it lays again the old foundation, " Be ye 
 holy, for I am holy." The petition is threefold: 
 1. Keep them in thy name which thou hast given 
 me. 2. Keep them from the evil. 3. Sanctify 
 them in thy truth. We learn the true order of 
 things : first, there is the position of believers ; 
 then, preservation from attacks upon it ; then, 
 development in holiness. 
 
 It is " keeping " grace which is asked for ; and 
 that applies to those who are already in the true 
 position. This position is twice described as being 
 " in the name which thou hast given me." It is a 
 closely condensed expression, and one that has no 
 exact parallel to assist explanation, so that great 
 difficulty has been felt concerning it. Yet one 
 may venture to say that if " thy name " expresses 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCIPLES 373 
 
 the knowledge of God as discovered in his relations 
 with man, then was it "given" to Christ in the 
 same sense in which the Word and the works are 
 ever said to be given; that is, communicated to 
 Him in his human mediatorship, in order that He 
 should communicate it to men. But perhaps we 
 may go farther in interpreting this gift of the 
 " name," and say that the relations of God to man 
 which it expresses were delivered to Christ not 
 only to reveal, but to realise and effectuate. For 
 instance, the original " proclaiming of the name of 
 the Lord " (Ex. xxxiii. 19, and xxxiv. 6, 7) was 
 "• The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, 
 long suffering, and abundant in goodness and 
 truth ; keeping mercy for thousands , forgiving 
 iniquity, transgression, and sin." To Christ it was 
 given not only to declare this name, but to justify 
 it, by the atonement which made way for the 
 operation of these attributes of grace and mercy 
 and forgiveness. If " God is love," that name was 
 manifested in his Son, and is known for ever as 
 "the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord." In that and in other respects, the name 
 was given Him to be both realised and revealed in 
 his person. 1 
 
 1 It will be observed that in the sentence commented on 
 there is an important difference from the wording with which 
 we are familiar. The reading followed in the Authorised Ver- 
 sion is ovs, " whom thou hast given nie" ; that in the Kevised 
 Version is <jJ, '• which thou hast given me" ; the one referring 
 
374 THE PRAYER 
 
 The Prayer is that the disciples may be kept 
 in this name, by preservation in the faith which 
 holds to it and the life which responds to it ; and 
 this will be, for them, a progressive faith and life, 
 as is said afterwards, " I have declared unto them 
 thy name and will declare it " (26). Furthei'more, 
 this name, being the same in all, will become not 
 only an individual but a "common salvation." It 
 will constitute an essential unity in the same con- 
 scious relations with God, found in the same Lord 
 and vitalised by the same Spirit, so as to reflect the 
 very mystery of the Godhead. This is a far deeper 
 unity than that of mere likemindedness (^o/jLovota), 
 as Grotius and others of his school have interpreted, 
 an interpretation which falls short of the meaning 
 of the august comparison, " That they may be one 
 as we are." If the comparison is lofty, the lan- 
 guage in which it is couched is more so. " As we 
 are," KaOax; 7]fi€i<i — What man, angel, or archangel 
 could thus speak of the Eternal ? 
 
 to men, the other to the name. The evidence for the latter is 
 decisive. Tlie peculiarity of the expression probably suggested 
 the change of reading as the true one. Some commentators, 
 who could accept the former reading, have felt so much the 
 singularity of the expression, " thy name lohich thou hast given,'''' 
 and tlie difficulty of interpreting it, that they have resorted to 
 the supposition that (^J is a change from 5, referring not to the 
 name, but to the disciples, as in the phrase, vdp o deduKds — 
 being in explanatory apposition with avrovs. (So Bengel, Stier, 
 Godet.) They produce an awkward construction, witliout real 
 authority for it. I cannot feel the difficulty as seriously as they 
 do. To me the phrase seems not unnatural. 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCIPLES 375 
 
 The Prayer proceeds from that in which the dis- 
 ciples are to be kept, to that from which they are 
 to be kept ; but it proceeds freely, as thought suc- 
 ceeds thought, not formally, as we might arrange 
 it. The petition, " Keep them in thy name," has 
 recalled the way in which they have hitherto been 
 kept ; and that has involved the inevitable mention 
 of the one exception ; after which the line of thought 
 is resumed, but diversified with tones of love and 
 sympathy. 
 
 " But now I come to thee ; and these things I 
 speak in the world, that they may have my joy ful- 
 filled in themselves." The last words occurred in 
 the discourse (xv. 11), and their recurrence here 
 shews how near the desire was to the Lord's heart. 
 It is joy which He intends for them, — his own joy 
 fulfilled in themselves. But there is so much that 
 goes against it, in his departure and in the enmity 
 of the world. Therefore does He speak these 
 words in their hearing, before dej^arture and in the 
 world, that they may know that He has secured for 
 them the succours and resources of God : " That 
 they may hear," says Luther, "how I ask it for 
 them, that they may surely be for the future under 
 thy protection and guardian care, on which relying 
 they may feel most constant confidence that they 
 will not be forsaken, though the whole world with 
 all devils fiercely rage against them." Experience 
 adds force to his words, as in all his animated ex- 
 
376 THE PRAYER 
 
 position of this chapter ; and doubtless for the 
 Apostles, as for him, such experience assisted in- 
 stead of hindering the fulfilment of the joy. 
 
 To this experience in the world the Lord now 
 adverts, using language which we have already 
 heard in the Discourse, and founds upon it the re- 
 quest, " I pray not that thou shouldest take them 
 out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep 
 them out of the evil one." It would not be good 
 that they should be taken out of the world ; for 
 their work is in it, and in it they are to be exer- 
 cised and matured, and to win their crown. Be- 
 sides, all the work of God in the world would be 
 over, without the presence and action of those who 
 are not of it, since it is his will to work on men 
 only by the agency of men. They must not, there- 
 fore, be taken too soon out of the world, either by 
 death or by such separation as would deprive it of 
 their influence and example. But their continu- 
 ance in it could not be without danger to them- 
 selves ; therefore for those who are not of the 
 world there is need to pray, " Keep them from the 
 evil." 
 
 Such is the general meaning of the petition, but 
 literally it is more explicit ; not " from," but " out 
 of," and (probably) not the evil, but the evil one'. 
 It is not a name, but an epithet, and the case does 
 not shew whether it is derived from the impersonal 
 neuter, rb irovrjpov, or from the personal masculine 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCIPLES 377 
 
 6 7rov7]p6<;. Naturally, different conclusions are 
 held, and much has been alleged for each of them. 
 It seems to me that St. John's own understanding 
 of the word is reflected from his Epistle, v. 18, 19, 
 where these thoughts reappear. Thei'e it is said of 
 Him that is begotten of God, and therefore is not 
 of this world, that " he keepeth himself, and the 
 evil one toucheth him not : and we know that we 
 are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil 
 (one)." The meaning in the first sentence, being 
 clear, would seem also to rule that of the second, 
 though Stier holds that it does not. Certainly the 
 prepositions, (e'/c) out of and (eV) iti, apply more 
 naturally to a state than to a person ; a state out 
 of which the believer is kept, and in which the 
 world is lying : but in the spiritual world person- 
 ality expands, and its character becomes a state in 
 those whom it possesses or assimilates. The evil, 
 thus diffused, comes within our cognisance, but in 
 the Lord's survey of the moral scene the central 
 power and personal source of evil is before his eye. 
 Tlirough his whole ministry this living power has 
 been recognised. Even in the early teaching this 
 epithet was used in the personal sense in "Then 
 Cometh the evil one and taketh away the word out 
 of their hearts." The Apostles derived this truth 
 from their Master, and, in passages too numerous 
 to cite, have intimated their painful sense of the 
 power against which they had to contend, to watch. 
 
378 THE PRAYER 
 
 and to warn. The prayer that God will keep his 
 servants, who must encounter the subtle efforts of 
 the enemy, teaches believers for ever to rely on this 
 keeping or guarding grace. The echoes of this 
 word of prayer are heard all along the line of apos- 
 tolic teaching, as from St. Paul in an assurance, 
 " The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you and 
 guard you from the evil one " (2 Thess. iii. 3), or 
 from St. Peter, in congratulation of those who are 
 " guarded by the power of God through faith unto 
 salvation " (1 Pet. i. 5), or by St. Jude in com- 
 mendation " to him who is able to guard you from 
 falling, and to present you faultless before the 
 presence of his glory with exceeding joy "(v. 25). 
 For those who are not of the world and who 
 are kept in the Name, and kept out of the evil, 
 there is yet a further petition to be made, one in 
 which the Lord will link his servants still more 
 closely with Himself. 
 
 " They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 
 Sanctify them in the truth ; thy word is truth. As thou 
 didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the 
 world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they 
 themselves also may be sanctified in truth" (16-19). 
 
 I take the repetition of the first sentence as 
 giving ground for this petition, as it gave ground 
 for the last. Only those who are not of the world 
 can be sanctified in the truth; for sanctification is 
 a process founded upon a certain spiritual position. 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCIPLES 379 
 
 proving its character and developing its capacities ; 
 and thongh there are ceremonial and sacramental 
 and relative sanctifications, these are rather in the 
 adumbrations or confines of the truth than in 
 the truth itself. Sanctification is not synonymous 
 with purification, though inclusive of it. Its dis- 
 tinctive idea is not in its separation from un clean- 
 ness in the world, but in its relation to the holy 
 God. In the typical scheme, the sanctifications 
 according to the flesh were to qualify for acts of 
 approach to God, or communion with God, or ser- 
 vice to God ; and so it is in the region of spirit 
 and truth, in which these relations with God are 
 realised. This admits of a distinction between 
 sanctification in general, necessary for all life 
 towards God, and sanctification for special rela- 
 tions or services ; but if the latter is thought of, it 
 presupposes the former ; otherwise it could not be 
 in truth. On this account, we take the prayer, 
 " Sanctify them in the truth," as proper to the 
 disciples as such, and therefore to all other disci- 
 ples ; while, from the context as well as from the 
 nature of the occasion, we recognise its special 
 intention for them as Apostles, and therefore for 
 all who share their mission and ministry. 
 
 First, there is a great incitement and strong 
 assurance in these words of Jesus for all believers, 
 who know that their sanctification is " the will of 
 God," and the privilege of their state, and the 
 
380 THE TRAYER 
 
 proper fruit of their faith, and the special work of 
 the Spirit, and that which they are to follow after, 
 and " without which no man shall see the Lord." 
 To hear it asked for them at the fountain-head 
 of prayer is guidance to their own prayers, and 
 encouragement to their expectations, through all 
 generations. At the same time, the next sentence 
 directs their minds to the Word of God as the 
 power which for this end the Spirit of truth will 
 use. The Word reveals the truths from which 
 Christian motives spring, and is the communica- 
 tion of the mind of God to the mind of man, and 
 tells upon the inner sanctuaries of our being, as 
 well as on the resulting actions, and thus creates 
 a sanctification in the truth, which can never be 
 attained by observances and performances on 
 which, for this purpose, human nature has been 
 prone to rely. 
 
 But this personal sanctification which the Apos- 
 tles shared with all believers is not all that is in- 
 tended here. Their sanctification is for their mis- 
 sion from their Lord, analogous to his mission from 
 the Father, and in a certain sense a continuation of 
 it, and his sanctification for his work is the cause 
 or condition of their sanctification for theirs. In 
 such a connexion of thought, sanctification includes 
 consecration to God in a special office and service. 
 The great commission is solemnly recited before 
 God. " As thou sentest me into the world, even 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCIPLES 381 
 
 SO sent I them into the world " — to be in it my 
 messengers to men, ministers of my word, and 
 founders of my Church. "As thou sentest me" 
 stands first, as being the origin of what follows ; 
 and "I sent" is in the historic tense, the apostolic 
 mission having been the object of their first 
 calling, and having been already in some tenta- 
 tive way commenced. Consecration to such a 
 mission must be by divine appointment and divine 
 endowment, manifested in self-dedication in will 
 and deed. So Jesus was sanctified by God and 
 by Himself; first by God, as He spake of Him- 
 self elsewhere (x. 36), as " Him whom the Father 
 hath sanctified and sent into the world," i.e. 
 consecrated by eternal decree, by holy incarna- 
 tion, and by anointing of the Holy Ghost; and 
 secondly, by his own will and deed, as it is here 
 said, " I sanctify myself." I do so, that is, in the 
 constant spirit and successive acts of self-dedica- 
 tion, and now, in acceptance of the cross and 
 passion, by which, as was once said, "I shall be 
 perfected" (Luke xiii. 32). The tacit implication 
 is another instance of that reticence on the subject 
 which has been maintained through these hours. 
 But the word "I sanctify myself" will not wait 
 long for explanation. That came in Gethsemane, 
 in the final self-surrender, and on Calvary, when, 
 "through the eternal Spirit, he offered himself, 
 without spot, to God." 
 
382 THE PRAYER 
 
 This consecration of self is said to be " for them, 
 to the end that they also themselves may be sanc- 
 tified in truth." The great example is persuasive ; 
 but it would be a meagre interpretation to read 
 (uTre/a avTwv) " for them " as limited to example. 
 The sanctification of Christ is not only the pattern, 
 it is the fountain of the sanctification of the Church. 
 All holiness in believers is consciously derived from 
 the holiness of Christ, as its meritorious cause and 
 its communicative source : and this is expressed 
 when we make our own great act of self-consecra- 
 tion and say, " Here we offer and present unto thee, 
 O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a rea- 
 sonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee " ; for 
 this is then and there based on the union with 
 Christ, which has been renewed, and, more par- 
 ticularly, on our participation in the power of his 
 meritorious cross and passion. So, in respect of 
 the special consecration here in question, the Apos- 
 tles would ever feel that by the voluntary and 
 meritorious consecration of Himself, their Lord has 
 obtained the right and power to communicate a 
 like spirit to them. For them personally and for 
 them first, and then for their successors, and for all 
 who in various measures share in their mission, this 
 prayer of Jesus asks, through all generations, foT 
 the sanctification of the man and the consecration 
 of the minister. 
 
 Christ, then, is the author of this sanctifying 
 
Ill FOR THE DISCIPLES 383 
 
 grace by his merits and intercession, and the agent 
 in it is the Holy Spirit, sent by Him from the 
 Father. He it is "who sanctities all the elect 
 people of God," for the common course and vari- 
 ous service of Christian life ; and it is He who, in 
 addition, and within this region of action, sanctifies 
 in a special sense for that high commission which 
 was first conferred on these Apostles, to be per- 
 petuated while the Church endures. This prayer 
 of Christ has joined together the sending and the 
 sanctifying; and evermore, mission and consecra- 
 tion go together for those who are "separated to 
 the Gospel of God." The Holy Ghost is the con- 
 secrator ; and so St. Paul speaks to the elders at 
 Miletus of "the flock in the which the Holy Ghost 
 has made you bishops to feed the Church of God " ; 
 and so the ordaining act is still accompanied by 
 the words, " Receive the Holy Ghost for the office 
 and work of a priest in the Church of God, now 
 committed unto thee by the imposition of our 
 hands." This receiving must be active as well as 
 passive : passive perhaps for the office, for that is 
 simply given ; but active for the work, for that is to 
 be done. With the solemn consent and the answer- 
 ing faith, which are proper to a great intention, is 
 this gift to be " received," and then put to proof 
 throuofh all the work in which that intention is to 
 be fulfilled. Otherwise, the sanctifying power, 
 which is pledged to faith and prayer and labour. 
 
384 THE PRAYEK 
 
 may lie dormant, and the manifestation of the 
 Spirit be withdrawn from an unfaithful mission 
 and a lifeless service. Alas ! alas ! it often is so ; 
 and we have to deplore a consecration, valid indeed 
 for the office, but which has not become a sanctifi- 
 cation for the work. 
 
FOR ALL BELIEVERS 385 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 FOR ALL BELIEVERS 
 V. 20-24 
 
 The intercession has been immediately for the 
 disciples as commissioned Apostles "sent into the 
 world." In view of the consequences of that mis- 
 sion the Prayer now expands and ascends. It 
 expands to include those who will believe through 
 their word, and in its larger intention passes even 
 beyond these to the effect upon the world. It 
 ascends into the highest region of result, where 
 the consequences of the mission are seen in (what 
 we may call) their mystic realisation, in spiritual 
 unity, imparted glory, and final presence with the 
 Lord. 
 
 " Neither for these only do I pray ; but for them also that 
 believe on me through their word ; that they may all be 
 one ; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that 
 they also may be in us ; that the world may believe that 
 thou didst send me. And the glory which thou hast given 
 unto me I have given unto them, that they may be one, 
 even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they 
 may be perfected into one ; tliat the world may know that 
 
 z 
 
386 THE PRAYER 
 
 thou didst send me, and lovedst them even as thou lovedst 
 me : Father, that which thou hast given me ; I will that 
 whei'e I am they also may be with me; that they may 
 behold my glory which thou hast given me : for thou 
 lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (20-24). 
 
 Section 1 
 20-23 
 
 First in this section of the Prayer we observe 
 the persons for whom it is made: "Not for these 
 only, but for those believing on me through their 
 word." The reading followed in the Authorized 
 Version from the Vulgate {Trio-reva-ovrcov^^ " that 
 shall believe," was a natural change from the true 
 reading (jnarevovTwv) " that believe," seeing that 
 these believers were as yet only in the future. 
 But the present participle contemplates them as 
 before the eye of the speaker; or rather it takes 
 no account of time, but is a simple description of 
 their state — " all those believing in me." These 
 are the persons for whom this Prayer is made. It 
 is not for the world or for "them that are with- 
 out." Jesus does not anywhere ask that faith 
 may be given and that men may believe, but for 
 those who believe in Him already, without defin- 
 ing the measure and power of their faith. They 
 are so far attached to Him, and are therefore the 
 fit objects of his care, and are in the spiritual state 
 
IV FOR ALL BELIEVERS 387 
 
 to which these petitions apply. It is a vast and 
 ever-increasing multitude which rises before the 
 mind of the speaker, such as only divine foresight 
 could survey and divine love embrace. 
 
 Yet it is connected by spiritual propagation and 
 descent with the little company which that room 
 contains. Therefore they stand in the foreground, 
 as both the present and first believers, and, through 
 the word which is in them, transmitters of the 
 faith to others. So it is added "believing on me 
 through their word." Bishop Westcott observes, 
 " In the arrangement of the original, hy their word 
 is closely connected with believe, so as to form a 
 compound idea, which is followed by in me.'" 
 This believing is to be through their agency, and 
 distinctly through their word (hia tov Xoyov 
 avrSiv), expressive of their doctrine as a whole ; 
 " not only," says Godet, " the witness and narra- 
 tion of the facts, but the teaching which attaches 
 to them, the explanation of the facts in their relig- 
 ious and moral sense ; it includes the matter of 
 the Epistles, as well as that of the Gospels." It 
 is the one enduring word ; but however long it 
 endures, it is always their word. The men there 
 present, "the Apostles whom he had chosen," 
 were receivers and transmitters of the word in a 
 sense in which no other men could ever be so. 
 The future city must rest at its base upon " twelve 
 foundations, and in them the names of the twelve 
 
388 THE PRAYER 
 
 Apostles of the Lamb." The future history of 
 the faith depended on tlie first stage, and the first 
 stage was theirs. They, genuine and simple char- 
 acters, honest witnesses of what they had seen 
 and heard, enlightened by the Spirit of promise, 
 made Jesus Christ known to men as He was 
 known to them. Other foundation can no man 
 lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ; and 
 that was so laid at first that no change has passed 
 over it. Ten years of apostolic teaching within 
 the bounds of the holy land consolidated the funda- 
 mental knowledge of Chinst before the time came 
 for its expansion in the world ; and so the Twelve 
 retain a place which is all their own in relation to 
 the Gospel, to the Church, and to all believers. 
 "No man," says Stier, "should ever believe in 
 Christ without the mediation of these first wit- 
 nesses. Even Paul, to whom the Lord Himself 
 appeared, was first in secret prepared for obe- 
 dience to the heavenly vision, and then was 
 strengthened in his faith, by the apostolic Church 
 which was in Christ before him." Indeed, there 
 is no exception ; no other line of spiritual descent 
 exists ; and when we hear the prayer " for them 
 also which believe on me through their word," 
 we recognise the description of our own case and 
 know tliat it is a prayer for us. 
 
 For the persons thus described, what is it that 
 is asked? The brief expression plainly intends 
 
FOR ALL BELIEVERS 389 
 
 that what has been asked for those present is 
 now asked for those who will believe through 
 their word ; namely, that they, too, may be kept 
 in the name^ that they, too, may be kept from 
 the evil, and that they, too, may be sanctified in 
 the truth. These are the immediate subjects of 
 request, and what follows expresses the result 
 of their fulfilment — "-I ask it (JVa) to the end 
 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, 
 art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in 
 us — that the world may believe that thou hast 
 sent me." Thus the effects of the fulfilment of 
 the prayer are indicated in a thrice-repeated /W, 
 ''that," expressive of purpose or consequence; 
 the first, desiring that they may be 07ie ; the 
 second, that they may be " m us " ; the third, that 
 the u'ot'ld may believe. These ideas are again pre- 
 sented more fully in the following words : — 
 
 " The glory which tliou liast given me I have given unto 
 them ; that they may be one, even as we are one ; I in them, 
 and thoix in me, that they may be perfected into one, that 
 the w^orld may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst 
 them, even as thou lovedst me." 
 
 The words become more simple as their mean- 
 ing becomes more deep ; and exposition fails in 
 dealing with language which goes further than 
 human thought can follow, and which is uttered 
 from a spiritual standpoint beyond our power to 
 reach. Yet we can distinguish the ideas pre- 
 
890 THE PRAYER 
 
 sented to our reflection, and also their progressive 
 ascent through the preparation towards the final 
 stage which is reached in the verse following. 
 
 The first idea is that of one-ness — " that they 
 all may be one, expressed in the most significant 
 manner by the juxtaposition of the words " all one " 
 (7rdvre<i ev) ; the plural masculine and the neuter 
 singular, intimating, not the absorption of indi- 
 vidual life or effacement of individual character, 
 but their comprehension in a higher unity, as 
 St. Paul aigues at large about the many members 
 which have not the same character, office, or dig- 
 nity, yet are one body in Christ. As scattering, 
 severing, and dissolution are processes of failure 
 and death, so gathering, concentration, and unity 
 are the proper tendencies of life. This tendency 
 of life is twofold. It not only develops the whole 
 through the union of the parts, but it develops 
 .the several parts by their union with the whole. 
 Only as parts of a greater whole do i\\Qy attain 
 their own perfection. This is true socially as 
 well as physically ; indeed, it is conspicuously true 
 in human society. The man, as Aristotle taught, 
 is perfected in (the TroXt?) the society, the city, 
 the state, in which his higher capacities are brought 
 into action and his whole being matured. That 
 which is true of the natural society is true also 
 of the spiritual society of which Jesus Christ is 
 the author and the head. But true as it is of the 
 
IV FOR ALL BELIEVERS 391 
 
 visible Church, the thought of Christ in this 
 supreme hour passes through the external system 
 into the union of spirits which is to be created 
 within it, through living relations with Himself ; 
 a union to be completed only in that one-ness of 
 state and life which will constitute the Church of 
 the elect, figuratively described as the Bride and 
 the City of God. " Come hither (it is said), and 
 I will shew thee the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. 
 And he shewed me the holy city Jerusalem, com- 
 ing down out of heaven from God" (Rev. xxi. 9, 
 10). In that community at last Christ's people, 
 so much divided and shrouded from each other on 
 earth, will be " perfected into one." 
 
 The one-ness, then, here expressed, lies not 
 merely in agreement of doctrine, or even the bond 
 of love, though these are incidents of it, but in 
 something deeper. The one-ness is that of the 
 members of Christ with each other, as a conse- 
 quence of their union with Him, according to that 
 mutual inherence, whicli in the Discourse had 
 been represented under the emblem of the Vine, 
 and had been there impressed, in the charge and 
 promise, "Abide in me, and I in you." This 
 union is here exalted by a correspondence with 
 the mutual indwelling of the Father in the Son 
 and the Son in the Father. " That they all ma}^ 
 be one, even as thou. Father, art in me and I in 
 thee, that they also may be in us " ; and again. 
 
392 THE PRAYER 
 
 " That tliey may be one, even as we are one ; I in 
 them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected 
 into one." The divine union here expressed is not, 
 as the ancient expositors mostly took it, that of 
 the essential unity in the eternal Godhead (though 
 this lies behind as the basis of the mediatorial 
 economy), but that of the indwelling of the 
 Father in Christ incarnate and in his person as 
 Mediator. Thus only will the comparison hold.^ 
 " As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that 
 they also may be in us " ; and the word " thou in 
 me, and I in them " then bears a like character of 
 indwelling in both cases. Throughout the Apos- 
 tolic Epistles this indwelling of Christ in the 
 believer lies as a deep foundation truth beneath 
 all the experiences and phenomena of Christian 
 life. " Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, 
 except ye be rejected ? " — " Christ liveth in me " 
 — "Christ in you the hope of glory" — "Your life 
 is hid with Christ in God " — these and many like 
 sayings shew that the indwelling which this Prayer 
 affirms was realised in the highest faith and con- 
 sciousness of the Church. And this union with 
 
 1 " Tenendum est, quoties unum se cum Patre esse in hoc 
 capite pronuntiat Christus, sermonem non haberi simpliciter do 
 divina ejus essentia, sed unum vocari in persona Mediatoris,.et 
 quatenus caput nostrum est. 
 
 " Unde etiam colligiraus, nos unum cum Christo esse, non 
 quia suam in nos substantiam transfundat, sed quia Spiritus 
 sui virtute nobiscum vitam suam ct (luiwiuid accepit a Patre 
 bonoruin communicut." — Calvin, in loc. 
 
IV FOR ALL BELIEVERS 393 
 
 the Mediator in whom the Father dwells is conse- 
 quently an indwelling- in (lod. "We know," says 
 St. John in his last words (1 John v. 20), "that 
 the Son of God is come, and lias given us an 
 understanding that we know him that is true, and 
 ive are in Jdni that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.''^ 
 The mutual inherence between Christ and his 
 members which in the Discourse had been im- 
 pressed on the disciples from the side of human 
 will and duty is thus in the Prayer reaffirmed 
 from the side of divine gift and grace. 
 
 For the consummation of the state which Jesus 
 asks for his people, He also mentions a condition 
 which He has Himself bestowed. " The glory 
 wdiich thou gavest me I have given unto them, 
 that they may be one even as we are one, I in 
 them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected 
 into one." What, then, is this "glory" which 
 tends to perfection of unity and perfection of 
 state? Various are the leading ideas which com- 
 mentators have adopted as answers to that ques- 
 tion.^ It seems to me that Calvin has struck into 
 
 1 I cite only those ■which I have at hand. 
 
 Chrysostum (thinking mainly of the Apostles). — " The glory 
 of the signs and of the doctrine and of unity of spirit, opLo^vxia, 
 greater than signs." 
 
 Attgustin. — "The glory of immortality -which human na- 
 ture was to receive in Ilim " — not yet attained — but the past 
 tenses used, "propter immobilitatem praedestinationis. " 
 
 Lnther. — "The glory which Christ has and gives is the 
 same of which He had said, ' That they all may be one as thou, 
 
394 THE PRAYER 
 
 the right track in speaking of the glory as that 
 of the restoration of human nature into the image 
 and likeness of God ; only that sliould be under- 
 stood, not merely as restoration from the fallen 
 state, but as a consummation of union with God 
 and likeness to God attained in Christ, beyond 
 what the original capacities of our nature, if it 
 had not fallen, would have been equal to attain. 
 Was not this the glory given to Christ incar- 
 
 Fatlier, art in me, and I in thee,' " identifying the glory with 
 the unity. 
 
 Calvin. — "This blessedness, that in us is repaired and 
 formed afresh the image of God, destroyed by sin. Christ is 
 not only as Eternal Word the image of God ; but in the human 
 nature which He has in common with us has inwrought the 
 effigy of the Father's glory, that He might transfigure his 
 members into it." 
 
 A Lapide. — " Understand the glory of the Divine Sonship ; 
 for Christ has this, as God by nature, and as man by the 
 hypostatical union, and this He gives to the holy faithful to 
 have, not by nature, but by adoption." 
 
 Bengeh — Sonship. "The glory of the Only-hegotten shining 
 out through the So7is of God." 
 
 Stier. — "The being one is itself and alone the glory, already 
 given in its principle, — one and the same with that glory which 
 was to be beheld in the future, and then fully enjoyed." 
 
 Godet. — " The love which the Father has to Him, and which 
 He communicates to his own — a glorious unity in the Divine 
 love." 
 
 Meyers. — "The heavenly glory, 'given,' i.e. assigned and 
 assured." 
 
 Luthardt now adopts the same, having formerly interpreted 
 it, " Of the ethical glory of grace and truth." 
 
 Westcntt. — "The perfect apprehension of the Father as 
 fiiliilling his wori< of love — in another point of sight, the reve- 
 lation of the divine in man, realised in and throuuh Christ." 
 
IV FOR ALL BELIEVERS 395 
 
 nate ; that He should restore and raise the liiinian 
 nature which He had taken, removing its disquali- 
 fications by redemption, and realising in his own 
 person the perfection of divine union and like- 
 ness? It had been given Him to do so on earth, 
 as discovered when "he dwelt among us (and 
 men beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begot- 
 ten from the Father) full of grace and truth " 
 (1-14). It is now given Him to convey this 
 glorified humanity into the world above, where, 
 all conditions fulfilled, and all veils removed, it 
 will shine forth in its eternal splendour. 
 
 This glory given to Him is the same which He 
 also gives to his own, raising them through their 
 union with Himself into union with God, and 
 through likeness to Himself into the likeness of 
 God, according to their measure of attainment. 
 This is what St. Paul describes as a new creation 
 in Christ Jesus, a creation "after the image of 
 God in righteousness and holiness of truth " ; and 
 a being "renewed in knowledge after tlie image 
 of him that created " us ; and it is what St. Peter 
 calls a "partaking in the divine nature." This 
 restoration and exaltation of nature is founded on 
 justification, " Whom he called, them lie also justi- 
 fied: and whom he justified, them he also glorified" 
 (Rom. viii. 30). It is a glory susceptible of de- 
 grees and advances, as it is said, " reflecting as in 
 a mirror the glor}- of the Lord, we are transformed 
 
396 THE PKAYEU 
 
 into the same image from glory to glory even as 
 from the Lord, the Spirit " (Cor. iii. 18). Fur- 
 thermore, as in the person of Jesus, so also in his 
 people, the same glory received under the partial 
 concealments of earth and flesh, will be revealed 
 at his coming : " Then shall the righteous shine 
 forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." 
 Finally this explanation of "the glory" given to 
 Christ and given hy Ilim suits well with the result 
 of "being perfected into one"; for what unity 
 can be so consummate as one which consists in a 
 common participation of the manifested likeness 
 of God? 
 
 Section 2 
 
 V. 23 
 
 But the thought of Christ does not terminate 
 in this result. It passes on into a wider sphere. 
 "That the world may believe that thou didst 
 send me," and again, " That the world may know 
 that thou didst send me, and lovedst them even 
 as thou lovedst me." So He speaks who had 
 just said, " I pray not for the world " ; nor does 
 He pray for it directly now, but for the Church, 
 that it may be such as shall produce this effect 
 upon the world. When will that be ? Certainly 
 there is a discovery in store which will terminate 
 all ignorance and unbelief. " Behold he cometh 
 with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and 
 
IV FOR ALL BELIEVERS 397 
 
 they which pierced him ; and all the tribes of the 
 earth shall mourn over him. Even so, Amen " 
 (Rev. i. 7). Some expositors read the words of 
 the Prayer in the light of that day, as Calvin, who 
 thinks that the Evangelist uses " believe " in an 
 improper sense of a reprobate world confounded 
 by the coming of the Lord; or as Godet, who 
 speaks of the forced submission of rebels. They 
 alleg-e a revealed truth ; but we do not read it 
 here. Not in this sense is Jesus accustomed to 
 use the words "believe" and "know." Nor could 
 this result be spoken of as the effect of the action 
 of the Church. Neither does this prospect suit the 
 tone of holy love and strong desire which we hear 
 throughout the Prayer. Truly this is the voice 
 of Him whom "the Father sent to be tlie /Savioto' 
 of the tvorld.^'' The woiid is here regarded, as 
 often elsewhere, in the general aspect of human 
 life, antecedently to any final decision of its state, 
 full of the possibilities of change that may be 
 wrought, and the potentialities of faith that may 
 be realised, the world that is said to be loved and 
 redeemed, the world into which the disciples are 
 sent to testify and the Spirit to convict or per- 
 suade. So Jesus thought of the world, and so his 
 servants must think of it. The spiritual Church 
 must ever regard the world, whether within Chris- 
 tendom or beyond it, with the attraction and desire 
 which belong to kindred according to the flesh. 
 
398 THE PKAYER 
 
 to the sense of common needs and capacities, and 
 to the faith in a common redemption. Therefore 
 we read this word of Jesus as asking for his 
 Church a perpetual missionary spirit, which shall 
 tell upon the world in love and labour, as a region 
 from which its ranks must be recruited, its enlarge- 
 ment obtained, and over which, in whatever de- 
 gree it may be possible, Cliiistian influence must 
 spread. 
 
 Thanks be unto Thee, O Saviour of the world, 
 that in thy final prayer for thine own, Thou didst 
 not leave them contracted and self-centred, but 
 enlarged in heart by generous impulses and benefi- 
 cent aims and the healthful sense of a never-ceasing 
 duty ! 
 
 As the second form of petition (v. 22) has in 
 comparison with the first a fuller expression both 
 of the endowment of the Church and of the effect 
 on the world, the Lord would seem to have in view 
 two stages, or at least two measures, of attain- 
 ment and success. Perhajps there are j^eriods of 
 Christian history yet to come which will supply 
 the explanation. But we understand clearly that 
 only the true life of Christ in the Church will 
 ensure its true success in the world, and that this 
 will be largely in proportion to the impression o'f 
 its unity. Tlie conviction said to be produced 
 is not only of the divine mission of Christ, l)ut 
 of the divine love resting on believers. Of this 
 
IV FOR ALL BELIEVERS 399 
 
 effect maii}^ illustrations might be offered, for 
 great is the power for conviction which breathes 
 forth from an atmosphere of love. The expression 
 here is recalled (Rev. iii. 9), where it is promised 
 to the Church of Philadelphia, " Behold, I will 
 make (some) of the synagogue of Satan to come 
 and worship before thy feet, and to hnoiv that I 
 have loved thee.'''' These are humbled and con- 
 vinced penitents from among the bitter opponents 
 of the truth ; and from time to time many like 
 submissions have occurred. For the still rebel- 
 lious world another kind of conviction is in store 
 in the day of " destruction from the presence of 
 the Lord, when he shall come to be glorified in 
 his saints, and to be marvelled at in them that 
 believe" (2 Thess. i. 20). 
 
 Not in the way of exposition, but in recognition 
 of inevitable thoughts, some additional observations 
 are required. The prayer, it may be said, has 
 not been fulfilled. Who can hear " that they all 
 may be one," without remembering "our unhappy 
 divisions " ; or, " that the world may believe," 
 without thinking of unconverted millions? These 
 are facts to be recognised and considered in rela- 
 tion to these desires of the Lord. 
 
 It must be observed (1) that the prayer is not 
 a prophecy ; (2) that it supposes the free action 
 of the human will ; (3) that its urgent language 
 implies the knowledge of subjective tendencies 
 
400 THE PRAYER 
 
 working against its fulfilment. It is true, also, 
 that the unity explicitly asked is not that of the 
 Church as a society, but the. spiritual unity of 
 believers within it, " that they may be one in us " ; 
 and that is a reality in the sight of the Lord, who 
 "knoweth them that are his," and will become a 
 fact in the final stage of their history. But mean- 
 time this undiscovered, unexpressed, and adjourned 
 unity cannot fulfil the prayer. The unity of the 
 visible Church is involved, as being the institution 
 of Christ Himself, in which the life of his people 
 is to be generated, matured, and expressed, an in- 
 stitution now originated in the commission of the 
 very men who are listening to the Prayer. 
 
 In Scripture this unity is prominent as repre- 
 sented by one Temple and House of the living 
 God, the pillar and ground of the truth ; one bod}', 
 compact and knit together ; one body as well as 
 one Spirit, in which there are to be "no divisions," 
 in which men are not only "with one mind," 
 but " with one mouth to glorify God," in which 
 those who "have been bajjtised into Christ have 
 put on Christ " ; so that " there is neither Greek 
 nor Jew, there is neither bond nor free, there is 
 neither male nor female, for all are one in Christ 
 Jesus." 
 
 Certainly this visible unity of the Church was 
 one great element in its conquering power. There 
 was somethinof unaccountable and attractive in a 
 
FOR ALL BELIEVERS 401 
 
 society which silently appeared here, there, and 
 everywhere, throughout the empire and beyond it; 
 which, without central authority or administrative 
 system, or written code, or obvious bonds of union, 
 was yet one and the same. Alike in Rome and 
 provincial towns, in Africa and Britain, in Spain 
 and Pontus, in the most distant and diverse 
 localities, it was still not many churches, but one, 
 " increasing with the increase of God." This unity 
 told upon the world, as is presupposed in the 
 language of the Prayer. We turn from that 
 spectacle to the Church as it is. How do we see 
 it now? Large masses of Christendom detached 
 from one another, the effect of a usurpation which 
 enforced as terms of communion unjustifiable 
 claims weighted with grave corruptions of the 
 truth ; and then, as a further consequence, a self- 
 willed spirit of separatism, working on to an ever- 
 increasing disintegration ; conflicting interests and 
 rivalries within the Christian nations, and com- 
 plicated embarrassments to the missionary work 
 among the heathen. The relation of the two 
 desires, "that they may be one," and "that the 
 world may believe," is illustrated in our sight by 
 the very opposite experience. 
 
 For the present, practical duty seems to lie 
 
 (1) in adhering to the principle of unity on its 
 
 primitive lines as against both the tendencies 
 
 which have wrought to destroy it ; (2) in cultiva- 
 
 2 B 
 
402 THE PRAYER 
 
 tion of the temper of forbearance, sympathy, and 
 love, and a living sense of the higher unity in 
 Christ ; (3) in seeking and welcoming communion 
 where it can be had, with those in any part of the 
 great Christian family in whom we recognise the 
 confession of the common faith and the spirit of 
 the common Lord ; and lastly, in watchful prayer 
 for visible and manifest reunion which, it may 
 be through trials and sifting processes, we have 
 reason to expect at last. 
 
 " O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only 
 Saviour, the Prince of Peace; Give us grace seriously to lay 
 to heart the great danger we are in by our unhappy divisions. 
 Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may 
 hinder us from godly union and concord : that as there is 
 but one Body, and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, 
 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us 
 all, so we may henceforth be all of one heart, and of one soul, 
 united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and 
 charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify*thee, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord." Amen. — (Accession Ser- 
 vice.) 
 
 Section .3 
 V. 24 
 
 The Prayer for the Church has been moving 
 onwards through continuance in the Name, pres- 
 ervation from the evil, sanctification in the truth, 
 unity in the Spirit, conquests in the world ; and 
 
FOR ALL BELIEVERS 403 
 
 now, by a sudden ascent, it passes from the present 
 to the future, from earth to heaven, 
 
 "Father (as for), that which thou hast given me, T will 
 that where I am, they also may be with me : tiiat they may 
 behold my glory which thou hast given me ; for thou lovedst 
 me before the foundation of the world" (v. 24). 
 
 The Speaker's voice has changed. It takes a 
 tone of greater certainty and majesty, as if He had 
 entered the heaven to which He lifts his eyes. 
 His thoughts have passed from the region of the 
 contingent and the stage of conditions and prepa- 
 rations. He sees that which has been given Him 
 as entirely and finally his own, his people end- 
 ing their course on earth, and ready for their 
 destiny in heaven. The language changes with 
 the changed position, and " Father, I will," takes 
 the place of "I pray for them." Here, as before 
 (in V. 2), the people of his possession are first 
 spoken of in their totality, " tiiat which thou hast 
 given me," then in their personality as beholders 
 of his glory. In the twofold character of collec- 
 tive and individual life, the perfect state is found. 
 Its foundation lies in the gift of God. Those who 
 come to Him are given of the Father, and in his 
 sight they are still the same when He takes them 
 into glory. In the blessedness now claimed for 
 them there are two elements, both consisting in 
 their relation to their Lord, and forming the con- 
 summation of connexion with Him : 1. " That 
 
404 THE PRAYER 
 
 where I am they also may be with me." 2. " That 
 they may behold my glory." 
 
 Companionship and life together in a common 
 home are spoken of as the desire of his soul. It 
 is a "joy that is .-et before Him," as well as hap- 
 piness for those who are received. Already we 
 have seen how that thought dwelt on the mind of 
 Jesus, for it was the first to occur in the opening of 
 the Discourse. "I come again," He had said, "and 
 receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye 
 may be also." It is the first promise and the last ; 
 then addressed to men, now sealed before God. 
 How sure was it then made to the disciples ! How 
 sure is it still for ourselves ! 
 
 Nor should it escape observation that this recur- 
 rence of the same promise and in like words, 
 creating a correspondence of the end with the 
 beginning, imparts unity and completeness to all 
 that has intervened. It is one note of the latent 
 method which has ruled the course of these com- 
 munications. 
 
 But the promise is enlarged. At first it was 
 only of reception and companionship in the 
 Father's house. It is now augmented and illu- 
 minated by a vision of glory : " That they may 
 behold my glory which thou hast given me y for 
 thou lovedst me before the foundation of the 
 world." This is the glory with which the human 
 nature of Christ is invested by manifested con- 
 
IV FOR ALL BELIEVERS 405 
 
 junction with his Divinity. In the days of his 
 flesh that conjunction with the Godhead was 
 veiled from view, but was felt in the glory of grace 
 and truth and also in significant works. It is 
 manifested in heaven by a glorv for which words 
 and ideas fail us. As communicated to the human 
 nature, it is bestowed (" the glory that thou hast 
 given me "), but in itself it belongs to the essence 
 of Godhead, and is called " my glory," and is 
 described before (v. 5) as that "which I had with 
 thee before the world was," and here again is 
 thrown back into eternity by the added clause, 
 " For thou lovedst me before the foundation of 
 the world." The clause does not merely amplify 
 — it explains ; for without it the previous words 
 might have left the single thought of bestowal 
 and origination in time. As it is, the world, its 
 foundation, and all that has happened in it, and 
 all that follows and will follow from what has 
 happened, are seen on the background of the 
 Divine infinity and eternity. Thus the last words 
 of prayer fitly crown the holy communications of 
 these momentous hours. 
 
 In taking to ourselves the joy of this promise, 
 a question arises as to when and where we are to 
 expect the fulfilment of the blessed hope. Is it 
 at the time of departure and in the disembodied 
 state? St. Paul taught, and the first Christians 
 thought, that to depart was to be with Christ, and 
 
406 THE PRAVER 
 
 to be absent from the body was to be present with 
 the Lord. That is enough for us to know of that 
 unexphiined stage of existence, and we too may 
 say with full assurance, " It is far better." Yet is 
 it only an interval, and a life not yet made perfect, 
 on the margin of the world which is and the world 
 which is to be. Saints at rest as well as saints on 
 earth are " looking for that blessed hope and the 
 glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ." Then will they be ever with the Lord in 
 quite another sense than that in which they have 
 been conscious of his presence befoie. Having 
 " the perfect consummation and bliss both in body 
 and soul in his eternal and everlasting glory." 
 Then will be fulfilled the promise that " where I 
 am, they also shall be Avith me, and behold my 
 glory which thou hast given me." And that be- 
 holding will be a partaking, and will complete the 
 change which the beholding by faith had begun. 
 So in words of serene certainty the Evangelist in 
 his Epistle interprets and appropriates the promise 
 which he has here recorded, " Beloved, now are 
 we children of God, and it is not 3'et made mani- 
 fest what we shall be, but we know that if he 
 shall be made manifest, we shall be like him ; for 
 we shall see him as he is " (1 John iii. 2). Wlio 
 will not answer Amen ? 
 
 " As for me, I will behold thy presence in righteousness: 
 I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." 
 
 Ps. xvii. 15. 
 
THE SEQUEL 407 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE SEQUEL 
 V. 25, 26 
 
 The last request has been made, and the Prayer 
 is done. Yet something remains to be said ; for 
 the thoughts of the Speaker must now revert to 
 the actual situation, and the men beside llim, 
 whom He leaves as his agents in it. In words 
 compressed, pregnant, and precise, He lays the 
 case before his Father. 
 
 "O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I 
 knew thee ; and these knew that thou didst send me : and 
 I made known to them thy name, and will make it known, 
 that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, 
 and I in them." 
 
 In the address "Righteous Father," we recog- 
 nise the introductory word of a new departure of 
 thought. As in v. 11, ''Holy Father" oi^ened the 
 appeal for the holiness of the disciples and the 
 Church; so here "Righteous Father" is an invoca- 
 tion of the character in which the world ought to 
 have known God, in which it had not known Him, 
 
408 THE PRAYER 
 
 yea, had refused to know Him. Righteousness, 
 justice, the moral attributes, which by the endow- 
 ment of natural conscience man is qualified to 
 recognise, these should have been to the world the 
 fundamental idea of God, one that would have 
 placed mankind in the relation of duty, and would 
 have prepared for further knowledge. It had 
 been in respect of this very attribute, and indeed 
 on account of it, that the world " did not like to 
 retain God in its knowledge," as St. Paul sets 
 forth in the first chapter of liis Epistle to the 
 Romans. In abrupt words, evincing strong emo- 
 tion, the Lord sums up this condition of mankind.^ 
 Personal observation and painful experience of 
 the fact accentuate his words. 
 
 But for what purpose does He thus appeal to 
 the righteous Father? Some expositors, as Angus- 
 tin and Calvin and Luther, find in the epithet 
 "righteous" an intimation of the justice which 
 consigns to wrath those that know not God, illus- 
 trating by contrast the happiness assigned to be- 
 lievers, in agreement with the account of " the 
 
 1 Literally, " righteous Father — and the world knew thee 
 not," etc. The Revisers omit this first "and," taking no 
 notice of its presence. Certainly it is hard to render. By 
 some expositors (as Meyer) it is taken as meaning "and yet " 
 — as if it intended " righteous thou art, and yet the world ku6w 
 thee not " ; by others (as Westcott) it is ranged with the fol- 
 lowing ' ' and " as so co-ordinating the opposite states of the 
 world and the disciples ; but this gives too parenthetic a char- 
 acter to the fundamental words, " Eut I have known thee." 
 
THE SEQUEL 409 
 
 righteous judgment of God" given by St. Paul 
 in 2 Tliess. i. 5-9. But these ideas are not ex- 
 pressed in tliis brief statement, and we liave no 
 right to read them into it ; indeed, they woukl be 
 out of phxce. This sequel to the Prayer does not 
 diverge to anticipate judgment or deal with men's 
 deserts. It must be taken as in line with previous 
 thoughts. Those have been occupied with the 
 mission of Christ to the world, the knowledge of 
 God which is life eternal, and the spiritual history 
 of those who receive it ; and the occasion is that 
 of leaving the men there present to be witnesses 
 and messengers of this knowledge to the world. 
 This is the case now trustingly laid before the 
 righteous Father. 
 
 The world has not known Him. It presents 
 a scene of spiritual alienation and gloom. But 
 there was in the world One who had known Him, 
 who could say in the midst of those who most 
 counted that they knew God, " Ye say that he is 
 your God ; and ye have not known him, but I 
 know him" (viii. 55). He had come to give this 
 knowledge to those who had it not; and this He 
 will do first by his own ministry, and after that, 
 b}' the ministry of those who first receive Him. 
 The chosen men are there present, listening to his 
 words as men listen to that which is spoken of 
 themselves. " These," He sa3^s, " have believed 
 that thou didst send me." That belief was the 
 
410 THE PRAYER 
 
 turning-point, and qualified them for the fuller 
 revelations. Therefore lie continues, "I have 
 made known to them thy name." But what has 
 been done hitherto is not all; "And I will make 
 it known." There is then more to be told ; as 
 had been already said in tlie Discourse (xvi. 12, 
 13) ; and between these two stages of instruction 
 the teaching of this evening holds the central 
 place. In the second stage, as well as in the first, 
 the Teacher is the Lord Himself. In his j^ast 
 manifestation He has declared the Father's name, 
 and now in tliese closing words with a more ex- 
 plicit revelation. But the Resurrection comes, 
 and the day of Pentecost. Then will the disci- 
 ples be raised to a higher level of intelligence, and 
 the full disclosures will be made. By the com- 
 munications of the foity days and by an illumina- 
 tion of the Spirit, sudden and yet progressive, the 
 Lord will lead his own into the perfect knowledge 
 of the Name. What has been spoken this evening 
 has been accompanied hy the promise, "In that 
 day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and 
 ye in me, and I in you." Then will come "the 
 full assurance of understanding to know the mj^s- 
 tery of God, even Christ in whom are hid all the 
 treasures of wisdom and knowledge " (Col. ii. 2). 
 And it will be more than knowledge. It will 
 have the result here described, " That the love 
 wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them." Very 
 
THE SEQUEL 411 
 
 specially and definitely for the disciples whom He 
 sends into the world does Jesus desire and antici- 
 pate this experience of love. They will need this 
 inward support, and they shall have it. The love 
 which dwelt in Him for his mission shall dwell in 
 them for theirs. 
 
 Yet is there a further word, the last to be 
 spoken now. So short it is, that it sounds almost 
 abrupt, certainly unlike to human perorations. 
 Yet this word, " Aticl I in them,^^ is the most apt 
 and eloquent of conclusions. It leaves on the 
 mind, as the last thought of all, that of the living 
 personal relation of Christ "with his servants, most 
 inward, not only with them (Matt, xxviii. 20), but 
 in them ; still enduring after his departure from 
 sight, as the power of the apostolic work, and as the 
 secret of the Christian life. It is the fullest of all 
 promises, and we ask no more. For the disciples 
 whom He leaves, and for all who believe through 
 their word, not only do his name and memor}^ his 
 word and sacraments, his grace and gifts remain, 
 but He Himself lives on, present and acting still. 
 
 AMEN AND AMEN. 
 
 Discourse and Prayer are ended, and we ask. 
 With what effect? We need not ask that ques- 
 tion with regard to their effects as written records, 
 as part, a most sacred part, of Holy Scripture, for 
 
412 THE PRAYER 
 
 we, as readers, have felt their effects, and so have 
 all the Christian generations. But perhaps some 
 fifty years elapsed before they were written in 
 the form in which we read them, as part of the 
 Gospel which, towards the close of life, St. John 
 bequeathed to the Church. Was it only then that 
 the effect of these words commenced ? What 
 office did they fulfil in that half century which, 
 on this supposition, elapsed between this speaking 
 and that writing? Could these sfreat and fruitful 
 
 o to 
 
 ideas, or rather, I will say, this majestic scheme 
 of truth, lie dormant and inoperative in the 
 minds of the hearers ? Could these outpourings 
 of divine affection pass from them, 
 
 " Like the lost ventures of the heart 
 Which send no answer back again " ? 
 
 We are sure the answer came, and that there 
 \yas response to these teachings, first, in the minds 
 of the hearers, and then in the mind of the 
 churches which they formed. Eleven chosen wit- 
 nesses thus solemnly instructed, to the end that 
 they might become instructors, did not let these 
 precious deposits of truth evaporate from their 
 minds, nor leave them to only one of their number, 
 to be drawn forth from the stores of memory in 
 his latest age. It is true that we have no informa- 
 tion. These men were not writers. The treatise 
 which follows the Gospel is a history of the acts 
 
THE SEQUEL 413 
 
 of Apostles. It belongs to the outward life and 
 the progress of the Word in the world, and the 
 discourses given are generally to those who are 
 not yet Christians. For us, during more than 
 twenty years, the voices within the house of God 
 are nearly silent. We hear the testimonies that 
 issue from it, so clear and strong in all the essen- 
 tials of the faith ; but we do not learn how these 
 doctrines were appropriated in experience and 
 developed in reflection ; we do not dwell in the 
 interior atmosphere of thought. But the time 
 comes when we enter the house with the apostolic 
 letters, and learn the language which is under- 
 stood within. St. Paul's special illumination and 
 dialectic power bring fresh precision and expansion 
 to the truths which he treats, but essentiall}^ they 
 are truths which he shares with those whom he 
 instructs, and are the same which constitute the 
 teaching of the later Epistles of St. Peter and St. 
 John. It is impossible to disconnect the Chris- 
 tian consciousness, as we thus know it, from the 
 divine communications which have so distinctly 
 prepared it. Advancing through the course of 
 thought along which they have led us, we have 
 noted, from time to time, the responsive voices 
 which return to us from the apostolic writings. 
 It would be an eas}" task, but a long one, to shew 
 this correspondence fully. I speak not of the 
 broad facts of the Faith, but of those apprehen- 
 
414 THE PRAYER 
 
 sions and applications of them which constitute 
 the cast and habit of Christian thought. There, 
 as here, the faith in God the Father and in Jesus 
 Christ our Lord appears in the same distinction, 
 the same unity, and the same perfect harmony. 
 The self-revelations of Christ made here are fully 
 reflected there. The relations of believers with 
 Christ, and in Christ with God, are there as here 
 presented as the sources and supplies of Christian 
 life. The work of the Spirit as Teacher and Para- 
 clete promised in these discourses is everywhere 
 in those writings asserted or assumed as a present 
 and experienced fact. Besides these deeper mys- 
 teries, — the principles of life and fruitfulness, of 
 love and obedience, of peace and victory in Christ, 
 are all there what they are here ; and so it is, 
 also, with the last things, — the hope of his 
 coming, and of being where He is, and of the 
 beatific vision of his glory. 
 
 But with all this similarity there is a conspic- 
 uous difference. We see that in the apostolic 
 teaching- and the coexistent mind of the Church 
 another line of doctrine has entered into com- 
 bination with these truths. It was a needful and 
 natural combination ; for the doctrine of the cross, 
 with all that it implies and achieves, is a pre- 
 requisite for the due apprehension and assimila- 
 tion of all that lias been taught. That doctrine 
 lies as close to those which have been here de- 
 
V THE SEQUEL 415 
 
 livered as the Passion itself follows on their 
 delivery. Rather, they are historically incorpo- 
 rated into the Passion, and nnited with the events 
 which must become fact before they can become 
 doctrine. After the traitor has been sent forth 
 with, " What thou art doing, do quickly," and in 
 the suppressed consciousness of all that is i>re- 
 paring and of all that will ensue, the teaching of 
 this evening has been given. ^ 
 
 Then, without hesitation or delay, " when 
 Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with 
 his disciples over the brook Kedron, where was 
 a garden, into the which he entered with his 
 disciples." 
 
 The Agony, the Betrayal, Trial, Condemnation, 
 Crucifixion, Death, Resurrection, follow. The 
 crisis of human history is reached, and the re- 
 demption of the world is wrought. 
 
 Comparing the commendatory Prayer which we 
 have here attended with the Prayer in Gethsemane, 
 and the tranquil converse to which we have 
 listened with the terrible scenes which follow, we 
 
 1 It was with a true feeling of relation between the several 
 parts of the Gospel records that in the Revised Lectionary 
 these five chapters were appointed to be read as the Second 
 Lessons on the days in Holy Week between Pahn Sunday and 
 Good Friday. The Chnroh thus passes directly from the Upper 
 Room to Gethsemane and Calvary: the discourses are incor- 
 porated with the rassi(m ; and the Central Teaching of Jesus 
 Christ witli the central fact of his history. 
 
416 THE TRAYER 
 
 feel the marvel and the majesty of that self- 
 suppression which has secured these liours of 
 sacred calm for the words of foreseeing love, and 
 again we own the truth of the opening words : — 
 
 " 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." 
 
NEJF THEOLOGICAL WOBKS. 
 
 THE SOTERIOLOGY OF 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM PORCHER DuBOSE, M.A., S.T.D., 
 
 Professor of Exegesis in (he University of the South. 
 12nio. $1.50. 
 
 This work is a re-examination of the Christian doctrine of 
 Salvation in the light of the facts of human nature and of the 
 teaching of the New Testament. 
 
 In its general scope it deals with (i) the nature and mean- 
 ing of " Salvation," (2) the work of Salvation as actually 
 accomplished for humanity by the Son of Man, and (3) the 
 means of Salvation in the positive institutions of the Gospel. 
 
 . . . The Church owes a deep debt of gratitude to Dr. DuBose 
 for bringing out into clear light the New Testament meaning of the 
 word [salvation]. — Its devout spiritual tone and earnestness will 
 lead many readers to more honest and real thoughts of the meaning 
 of salvation, whilst its original and fresh treatment of certain aspects 
 of great theological mysteries will stimulate thought. . . . The 
 spirit in which Dr. DuBose has undertaken his task cannot be im- 
 proved upon. . . . The style and expression also are alike admi- 
 rable. — Churchman. 
 
 It is a great satisfaction to take up a thoroughly-made book like 
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 Independent. 
 
 The work is scholarly, clear, and able. — Boston Traveller, 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., 
 
 112 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. 
 
Just Published. i2mo. $1.75. 
 
 Rev. Professor H. E. Ryle. 
 
 The Canon of the Old Testament. An P:ssay on the 
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 ture. By H. E. Rylp:, M.A., Hulsean Professor of Divin- 
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 English scholars. 
 
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 ally put together and made to form the Hebrew Canon of Scripture. . . . 
 
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