LOVE REVEALED:
MEDITATIONS
ON THE PARTING WORDS OF JESUS WITH HIS DISCIPLES
IN CHAPTERS
XIII., XIV., XV., XVI., XV., XVI., XVII.,
OF THE GOSPEL BY JOHN.
BY THE
REV. GEORGE BOWEN, OF BOMBAY,
AUTHOR OF'1)Ai:LYF MEDITATIONS."
PHILADELPIIA:
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
No. 1334 CHESTNUT STREET,




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
THE TRUSTEES OF THE
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
WESTCOTT & THOMSON,
Stereotypers and Electrotypers, Philada.




", Now before the feast of the passover, when 7yesus knew that his
hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the
end."-JoHN xiii. i.
"And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it.that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in
them." —JOHN xvii. 26.








LOVE REVEALED.
JoiN xiii. 1.-" Now before the feast of the passover, 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."
THE  long-expected hour of departure had arrived.
The alternative was before Christ, either to refresh
and animate his soul by the contemplation of that
world to which he was about to ascend, or to fix his
regard upon the disciples from whom he was about to
separate. There was a bright ascending pathway before him, with principalities, powers and dominions,
rising one above another, ready to rejoice in his ascent
-a pathway terminating at that throne of pre-eminent
glory assigned to the Son of God before the world was.
On the other hand, there were these few indocile, unbelieving disciples, who had pierced his keenest sensibilities a thousand times with their unworthy surmises, and
in whom lived, still too much unvanquished, the spirit
of human selfishness. Is it possible that his heart could
do otherwise than bound with joy at the prospect of
escaping from the dark and deadly atmosphere of this
world to realms of glory and perfect bliss? Say that
he had thus long patiently lingered on the earth under
the infiuenice of a profound sense of man's need and of.1                                       5




6               LOVE REVEALED.
a hallowed determination to open up a pathway of life
to fallen humanity, would he not permit himself, in the
hour which should terminate this long and bitter selfsacrifice, to rejoice with joy unspeakable at the thought
of exchanging the companionship of these dull Galileans for that of the heavenly hierarchies? Shall we
not see him sitting rapt and expectant, scarcely heeding
the observations of his companions, mindful only of the
seraphic sounds soon to burst on his ear?
Nothing of all this. Having loved his own during
the long years of their fellow - pilgrimage, he loved
them unto the end. To them his thoughts were given.
All his solicitude was for them.  Every emotion of
their hearts, every utterance of their lips, had for him
the profoundest importance. They were " his own."
The angels are not his own in any such sense, and
therefore his thoughts were now given, not to the
angels, but to his disciples. If we would but know
it, the preference given by Christ to the impure children of earth, whom he yearned to purify, over the
unfallen sons of God, was repeated hour by hour during the whole of his life; and the triumph of his love
was in the perseverance with which he maintained unto
the last this preference, notwithstanding the new and
sad revelations of their unloveliness.
"He loved his own." This was their testimony.
On reviewing what had passed between him and them
during those years of his ministry, they were enabled
to see that all that he had said and done, without
any exception whatever, was fitly expressive of a marvelous love. Many things in his conduct and in his
language appeared to them at tile timle, peirhaps, du



JOHN XIII. 1.                 7
biously expressive of love; but when they had at length
reached a position from whence they could take an irnpartial and accurate survey of the whole of their intercourse, they saw that in all things he had acted toward
them as toward his own peculiar treasure, and that if
they had been the apple of his eye he could not have
been more concerned for their interests.
The experience of those early disciples in this corresponds with the experience of those who are walking
with him in these days. Sometimes he leaves them for
many a long hour toiling in rowing, but what they
know not then they know afterward. He takes extraordinary liberties with us. Believing in his love and
having our own particular conception of what love is,
we settle it in our minds that a certain contingency can
never, by any possibility, be allowed to come to pass.
Against everything else we prepare-not against that.
We feel that it would be an unpardonable outrage to
his most loving nature to suppose for a moment that
he should suffer that contingency to come to pass. And
yet that is the very thing that he brings to pass. lWe
had boasted of the love of Jesus among our neighbors,
and told them that he would not suffer our brother Lazarus to die, but would assuredly come and restore him
to health, and, lo! Lazarus dies and is buried, and it is
much if our sense of the love of Jesus be not buried
with him. He takes what seem to us frightful liberties
with our sensibilities and with our trust. But there
cometh sooner or later, if we only stubbornly trust on,
an hour when all his ways are vindicated, and those
apparent unkindnesses become sanctified and precious in
our memories.




8               LOVE REVEALED.
Surely, he may do what he will with his own. The
price he hath paid to make them his own is a sufficient
guarantee that he will never make light of anything in
which their welfare is at all concerned. We are precious
to him by virtue of the blood which he has shed for us,
and for him to be found at any time wanting in solicitude for our happiness would be for him to treat that
blood of his as the sinners of this world treat it. The
persuasion of Christ's love must be graven in our hearts
so deeply that no semblance of indifference on his part
will ever make the slightest impression upon us. This
is the victory which overcometh the world.
We are " his own." He hath set us apart for himself. He has absolute dominion over us, and may do
what he will with us. There is no one in the universe
that can call him to account for any height of blessing
and of privilege he may see fit to bestow upon us. He
may fill us with all the fullness of God. He may make
of us a new  sharp tfhreshing-instrument, and thresh
the mountains with us. He may make us sit down
upon his own throne and put into our childish hand
his own sublime sceptre. We are his. Not a tongue
in the universe can dare to wag, for we have been
bought with a price. There is no extravagance of
love equal or at all comparable to that of giving his
life for us.
We are his own, and he is therefore identified with
us. We may boldly see the communication of all that
ennobles his own character. We are his own, and his
eye will dart flames of fire at all that would pluck us
out of his hand.  He will not suffer the world to
write its namne upon our foreheads beside his own.




JOHN XIii. 2.                   9
JOHN xiii. 2.-"And supper being ended* (the devil having now
put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him)."
THIS was not the first thing that Satan had put into
the heart of Judas.  Satan does not begin by putting in such monstrous thoughts as these; the mind
would incontinently reject them. It is by degrees and
by a circuitous path that an individual is led up to some
great act of iniquity.
The adversary begins by saying, " We will never approach so diabolical an act as that," and leads him by a
path that promises to conduct him in a very different
direction; but there is an imperceptible curve to it, and
gradually it doubles on itself, and the thing once so bitterly repudiated is at length greeted gladly. Intemperance is, perhaps, the great means by which he effects the
perpetration of huge iniquities in these days, and he
has seduced the whole world to aid him in educating a
multitudinous band of murderers and suicides. Or it
may be that covetousness is the great means, for intemperance and every other passion enters into alliance with
covetousness.
It was the love of money that was the root of the
gigantic evil which was now witnessed in the heart of
Judas. Before that passion had developed itself, Jesus
saw the seed of it in the heart of Judas; and hence his
exclamation, years before the evening in question, " One
of you is a devil." Doubtless this exclamation met
with no corroborative response in the heart of Judas.
He was perfectly assured that he was not a devil. He
was conscious of human affections; his breast was not
* It should rather be translated "supper being come," or, "there
being a supper."




10              LOVE REVEALED.
unacquainted with gentle and kind emotions; he was
susceptible of love and friendship; he listened with
pleasure to the teachings of the Son of God; the society of this best of beings had attractions for him; none
could accuse him of immorality or allege anything in
his conduct that made it improper for him to be one of
the twelve chosen companions of the Lord. Yes, he
was quite satisfied that he was not the devil of whom
Christ spake. Whoever might be alarmed by the intimation, there was no occasion for alarm on his part.
Alas! it was this very self-deception that showed the
Satanic influence already, though subtly and unobtrusively, working within him. There was the slightest
possible chink through which Satan had liberty to
breathe into his mind without suffering his repulsive
lineaments to be seen, and insensibly the whole atmosphere of his soul became what Satan wished it to be.
Judas had been for some time guilty of appropriating money put into the bag. Having been appointed
to the honorable office of banker for the poor, a mediator to convey the gifts of the few to the suffering
many, he had been guilty of an unspeakably great
crime, treason to the poor. He stood between the
benevolent and the needy, not to communicate, but to intercept. Treason to the poor and treason to the good!
Men may make light of this crime; the poor are but the
dregs of humanity in their opinion, and a little charity
withheld from them is of no importance. But God has
been pleased to identify himself with the poor and
needy, saying, "IHe that giveth to the poor lendeth to
the Lord; and the defrauded poor shall be avenged by
the Lord."  And there was no more fit preparation for




JOHN XIII. 2.               11
the crime of betraying the Son of God than that of
treachery toward the poor. Ah, but if we should go
thoroughly into this matter, should we not probably
find that many of us are guilty in some modified and
yet sufficiently-alarming sense of treachery to the
poor? Are we not, some of us, sent to them with benefactions which never reach them, and are only unconscious of guilt because so long accustomed to look upon
the goods as bestowed on us, whereas the light of
God's word would plainly reveal upon those goods the
names of the poor and needy? Jesus disclosed on fit
occasions his omniscience, but he made no parade of this
any more than of his other divine perfections. Had he
daily and hourly flashed on all around him the evidence
of his perfect knowledge, and made every man habitoally to feel that his secret thoughts and untold acts
were all fully in the gaze of Jesus, his presence would
have been insupportable. Companionship would have
been impossible. He gave them the evidence, and then
he left it for them to remember or forget, according as
faith or unbelief bore sway in them. Ordinarily, he
received men upon the footing which they themselves
selected. He came not to condemn the world, but to
save the world. Judas had such no perception of the
divinity of Christ as hindered him from embezzling
the money entrusted to him for the poor. At times,
perhaps, there came over him a suspicion that he was
known, and would soon be held up to the scorn of his
acquaintances. This, which should have brought him
to Jesus, only precipitated matters.
"Into the heart."  This made the movement entirely his own. Though all the devils in hell had




12               LOVE REVEALED.
wished it and sought it, they could have had no power
at all to accomplish it by his instrumentality, if he had
not himself chosen it, willed it and given himself freely
aud heartily to it. Anything that is in the heart is the
heart's own, and could not at all be there if the
heart had not consented. If Satan had influenced Judas to do the thing in some mysterious way, without the
voluntary decision and preference of Judas himself,
then it could not have been said that Satan had put it
into his heart. The words " in the heart" fasten the responsibility upon Judas. And so it is with all the sinful
volitions of men at the present day. They choose to do
evil; they are not made to do it. God has given stupendous power to the will of man-power to resist God;
how much more power to resist Satan! Yes, the hosts
of hell, all of them, are utterly baffled in the presence
of a will that rightly uses the power bestowed upon it.
R' esist the devil, and he will flee from you."
JOHN xiii. 3.-" Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all
things into his hands, and that he was come from God and went to
God."
THUS is introduced the account of the washing of
the disciples' feet. That action was not performed
in a moment of forgetfulness.  Jesus had the fullest
consciousness of his true dignity-a dignity so great
that it baffled every other conception than his. The
consciousness of his sublime and ineffable superiority
to all created beings was not allowed to check the flow
of his friendliness toward the humble Galileans among
whom he sat, or to hinder him from performing the
most menial of offices in their behalf. Man, clothed




JOHN XIII. 3.                13
in a little brief and dubious authority, is hindered
by an intense consciousness of dignity from descending
but for a moment, even in manner, to the level of
his fellows. The consciousness of dignity is with him
a barrier to free and loving intercourse.  But with
Jesus to remember his own.divine exaltation was
only to immerse himself anew in that ocean of love
which fills the bosom  of the Godhead.  He had
thought of these disciples when he had of old sat
upon his throne of thrones in heaven, and there consequently appears no reason why he should not remember them  now. He had already descended for them
nine hundred and ninety-nine steps leading from that
height of glory to the place of his present humiliation,
and should he not take the thousandth step?  That
men of the world should have a false idea of dignity,
and be deterred by considerations of personal importance from colling near to their brethren, is not to be
wondered at, but, should we meet with any instance of
a Christian hindered by the consciousness of his rank
from manifesting an affectionate interest in his brethren,
what could we do but wonder and grieve? For such a
one this blessed act of self-abnegation on the part of the
Saviour has been in vain. This will become evident
when we reach the fifteenth verse: "For I have given
you an example, that ye should do as I have done to
you."
We never shall have any proper conception of what
true dignity is until we understand that love is upon
the throne of the universe. He that sitteth upon the
throne came into the world and washed the feet of those
Galilean fishermen, that believers might be blissfully
r}




14              LOVE REVEALED.
aware that love is wedded to Omnipotence. If we see
the glory of the infinite God in the face of Him whose
hands are pouring water on the feet of those twelve disciples, it will be impossible for us to shrink from any
because they move in a different circle. God sometimes
bestows gifts just that.love may have something to re
nounce. The things that he puts into our hands are
possibly put there that we may have the opportunity of
showing what is in our heart. Oh that there were in
us a fervor of love that would lead us to examine everything that belongs to us, to ascertain how it might be
made a means of showing our affection to Christ! Oh
that we could one and all bring ourselves to believe that
the largest amount of benefit to be derived from any
thing is when it is made the means of saying for us,
"Lord, thou knowest that I love thee!"
" Knowing that he was come from God and went to
God."  Fixing our attention upon the great truth set
forth in these words, we shall, perhaps, find that the
incident of which we have an account in the verses
that follow illustrates that truth in an interesting
matter. Jesus was erst in heaven. By him all things
were made-by him and for him. He was the Lor(d
of angels, and all heaven was bathed in the brightness of his glory and the beauty of his love.  He
lays aside his royal garments, divests himself of his
native splendor and dignity, makes himself of no
reputation and takes upon him the form of a servant.  This, however, is only for a season, and with
a view to the better unfolding of his glory in the
redemption of sinners. The term  of his humiliation
ended, he once more ascends on high, leading cap



JOHN XIII. 3.                15
tivitvY captive, and sitting down at the right hand of
the Majesty on high, gladdens once again, and shall
henceforth for ever gladden, the hosts of heaven. Now
behold the illustration of this intended to affect the
minds of his earthly disciples and assist them to understand that he was come from God and was going
to God.  He occupies the place of pre-eminence at
the table where his disciples and he have met to eat
the paschal lamb. They call him Master and Lord.
However imperfect their views, they know that never
man spake as this man.  No man was ever clothed
with such authority.  What now?  He rises from
supper and makes himself as a servant. Whatsoever
there was in his apparel that unfitted him to represent
the character of a servant of servants he lays aside.
He takes a basin of water and girds himself with a
towel, and bows down to his disciples that he may
wash their feet. Should now any one enter the room,
his eye would fall upon the twelve; not a glance would
be given to Him who is washing their feet, for what is
he but a menial? But stay. There is an unoccupied
place; and when that servant has accomplished his task,
he puts on other apparel, sits down in the place of distinction, and is recognized as the Lord and Master, the
Messiah, the Prince of the kings of the earth. Was
there not in all this a striking illustration of that other
great truth, that he had come from God and would return to God?  Later in the evening he said to his disciples, " I came forth from the Father and am come into
the world: again, I leave the world and go to the
Father."  And they were enabled to understand him,
for they said, " Lo, now speakest thou plainly."




16                LOVE REVEALED.
Christ's acts of humiliation are to be estimated by
the dignity of the agent, and inasmuch as the dignity
surpasses conception, the condescension of this act also
surpasses conception. In eternity, as we advance in
the knowledge of Christ's glory, so shall we advance
in the estimate of his humility. It is evident that we
do not yet understand the action that is here recorded.
We have not attained, neither are already perfect, with
regard to any one of the incidents of our Saviour's life,
for the reason that we have not attained unto a proper
understanding of that height of glory from  which he
descended in order to perform the acts of his earthly
ministry. It is good for us to remember, as we read
each narrative of the Gospel, that into the hand of
Jesus the Father had given all things, and that lie came
from God and went to God.
JOHN xiii. 4, 5. —" He riseth from supper and laid aside his garments; and took a towel and girded himself. After that lie poureth
water into a basin, and began to wash his disciples' feet, and to wipe
them with the towel wherewith he was girded."
H ERE  are seven acts, in themselves, under ordinary
circumstances, utterly insignificant; and yet, as
here presented to us, of the highest significance; the
seven thunders or the seven vials perhaps not more so.
Acts are common and mean because they are ordinarily
expressive of the common and mean thoughts of men.
Let us not accuse the acts that make up our daily life
of meanness, but our ignoble souls that reveal themselves so unworthily through those acts.  The same act
may successively mount up through every intermediate
stage from the depth of unworthiness to a transcendent




JOHN XII. 4, 5.                17
height of excellence, according to the soul that is manifested by it. One of the glorious ends of our Lord's
incarnation was that he might propitiate us with the details of life, so that we should not disdain these as insigiiificaint, but rather disdain ourselves for our inability to
snake these details interpreters of a noble nature.  Sin
drags down with it not only the soul of man, but all
that encompasses man about and stands in any relation
wvith him. It falsifies the whole environing creation
and stretches its dingy pall over all the glories of the
universe.  It makes not merely the nature of man contemptible, but all the offices of life, so that it becomes
impossible for sin-governed natures to connect the ideas
of honor, virtue and sublimity with anything pertaining
to the path in which man is bidden ordinarily to tread.
There is nothing more desolating to society than the
habit of viewing the ordinary functions of life as ignoble and unimportant.  It was needful that the Son of
God should come into this world and pass through the
various stages of hunian life, religiously and joyously
performing the thousand minute offices that make up the
staple of life, in order that we might be reconciled to
the common, and learn to recognize in the trivial undreamt-of opportunities of heroism.
With his poor wrecked soul man staggers into the
presence of Jesus, expecting to behold a series of acts
in all respects unlike what man performs, and to his
amazement beholds him pouring water into a basin and
washing the feet of certain Galileans.  He says, "Is
this all?  I will do this."  Wilt thou do this?  Thou
must first go up to the throne of God and sit there, and
then come down holy, harmless and ulndefiled.  Thou
2:




18               LOVE REVEALED.
seest no beauty in this act?  The acknowledgment is
thine own severest condemnation. It shows thee unregenerate, a denizen of the defiled and disorganized
world in which sinners dwell. Look well upon this
transaction. Who knows but a ray froIn the Sun of
righteousness may reach thy soul, and through the
very contemplation of this humble act, thy need of infinite grace be made known to thee? The heavens declare the glory of God; yes, and so do these acts of the
Lord Jesus, the latter more than the first. The seraphim in heaven veil their faces in the presence of nothing more divine than what is here witnessed. Seemeth
this language extravagant? Of necessity it must seem
so, until it be taught thee that God is love, that the
acts which best reveal love are the grandest and worthiest, and that these acts were found in that upper
chamber where Jesus laid aside his garments, and
took a towel, basin, water, and washed the feet of his
companions.
Oh let us then look with affectionateness and gratitude upon the daily details of life, seeing the sanctifying
imprint of the hand of Jesus upon them all! He could
have ranged through the world on mighty deeds intent,
but only by adopting the wretched ideas of moral grandeur that obtain among men. The sublimity of Jesus
appears in his rejection of the opportunity of moving
in a path that men deem sublime. The incomparable
excellence of the divine character comes out more
strikingly in this obscure chamber than it could possibly have done in scenes that would have called Plutarch
to seize his pen.
We should never forget that the disciples whose feet




JOHN XIII. 4, 5.              19
Jesus washed were our representatives..  They were
representative men, and Jesus dealt with us in dealing
with them.  "Go," he says, " and those whom you baptize teach to observe what I have commanded you."
The commands given, the words spoken, were not for
them alone. They were vessels to bear his name before
others. Every believer may understand that Jesus has
washed his feet. He may by faith witness the very act
performed in his behalf. But let him well understand
the act, that his stony heart of pride may be broken
within him.
But Jesus hath stooped lower than to wash our feet.
The filth of the human heart is something unspeakably
more offensive than any material defilement. Sinners
cannot easily know this; but ask the inhabitants of
heaven what they think: they will tell you that nothing startles them so much as to see the Godhead approaching the sin-steeped soul of man. There is nothing in the universe that has so odious and repulsive an
aspect for a holy God as unbelief, selfishness, pride,
envy, malice and the like. And there is no more wonderful spectacle anywhere than that of the blessed
Spirit of God in the sinful heart of man, coming into
closest quarters with his pride and malice, bringing
Christ nigh to his rebellious will, and hewing for the
triune God a holy of holies out of a rock of unbelief.
Whenever there is heard within us the still small
voice of the Spirit, dissuading from evil, impelling to
that which is good, there is an act of unutterable condescension and self-humbling on the part of the everblessed God which is altogether impossible to explain
or justify without reference to the cross of Christ.




20                LOVE REVEALED.
JOHN xiii. 6-8.- "Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter
saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and
said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt
know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my
feet."
THE  senses are not always the best interpreters.
They convey their testimony, but it is sometimes
in cipher and needs an interpreter.  "What I do thou
knowest not now."
But can I not see what thou art doing? Thou art
washing my feet, neither more nor less. Could an angel
from heaven inform  me better than my own senses do
concerning this act?
Nevertheless, O Peter, thou knowest not now what thy
Lord is doing.  Thy information is in cipher, and needs
to be expounded to thee. Yes, he washeth thy feet; but
what the thought of his mind which is expressed by this
action is thou hast yet to learn. In fact, what is now said
to thee, Simon Barjona, applies not merely to this transaction, but to all that thou hast seen Jesus do and heard
him say since he first spoke to thee by Jordan until this
closing scene of his life.  Thou knowvest not now, save
very imperfectly, but thou shalt know hereafter, when
he shall have risen from the dead; still better, on the
day of Pentecost; still better, when thou shalt go to
Cornelius with the gospel; still better and better as
thou shalt advance farther in the path of obedience,
suffering and triumph; in higher perfection at thine
exodus from earth; in highest, when the Lord Jesus
shall come, with tell thousands of his saints, in the
glory of the angels and of his Father. When John, in
the Isle of Patmos, saw Jesus, he fell at his feet as one
dead-not but tlhat it was the samle Jesus with whomN




JOHN XIII. 6-8.               21
he had spent years of intimate and hallowed fellowship,
but the glory of the Saviour as it is now made known
to him he little understood in the days when he went
in and out with him.
A new light shed upon the word makes it a new
word, a new light shed upon providences makes them
new dispensations, and a new light suffusing the works
of God gives us a new creation. How much is there
in the Old Testament that could only be glimmeringly
discerned until the true light came, thousands of years
after! The Spirit of God is symbolized by seven lamps.
He comes to a generation in the infancy of time as a
lamp dispelling the darkness, but beware how you entertain the thought that this is the fullest revelation.
In process of time he will come in as a lamp of far
exceeding lustre, and in comparison with the light now
diffused the former will appear darkness. After a long
interval he bursts upon the world with a far surpassing
glory; and so lamp after lamp translates the splendor
of heaven to earth. Yet it is all one Spirit. He that
spake to Enoch spake also to Moses, and he that spake
to Elijah spake to Paul. He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist. Our
gospel is the everlasting gospel. If thou wilt believe,
thou shalt see the glory of God therein.  There are
some to whom the throne of God is there and the seven
lamps of the Spirit burn simultaneously.  Meditate
therein, and what of glory thou knowest not now thou
shalt know hereafter.
"Thou shalt never wash my feet."  This appears to
be the expression of humility. How could Peter suffer that one so infinitely his superior should perform a




22               LOVE REVEALED.
service so menial?  To many, perhaps, it may seem not
only natural, but every way fitting, that Peter should
object to be thus waited upon by his Lord. This only
shows, however, that to entertain a false conception of
humility is something not peculiar to Peter. For the
sake of such, we remark, that whatever hinders us from
receiving a blessing that God is willing to bestow upon
us is not humility but the mockery of it. True humility will never betray the interests of the soul. That
is not a true Christian grace wl-lich opposes the development of other Christian graces. By this test try the
spirits. Humility desires the utmost communication of
God's favor, and anything that teaches you to decline
the spiritual blessings that God is ready to bestow, know
that it is of the earth earthy. So, on a previous occasion, Peter said, " Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a
sinful man."  Now, Satan would have desired above all
things a compliance with this request. What shall we
think, then, of the humility that dictated it?  It is
well to have conviction of sin-we cannot have it too
deeply; we can scarcely take too dark a view of our
own character —but humility, as a Christian grace, must
ever draw the heart to Christ. There is nothing more
worthless than the self-deceit which leads some to say,
I am content to be an inferior Christian, and to be undistinguished by spiritual attainments; if I were a
more devoted servant of the Lord, I might be lifted upm
with pride. That is to say, you are afraid you would
lose your humility if you obtained more faith. Well,
lose your humility; it will be no great loss. If you
really obtain a strong faith, you will have along with
it a very different humility from that which you now




JOHN XIII. 6-8.              23
have. Consider and confess. Your present humility is
something most base, for it gives God the lie direct,
saying it is not good for a man to love God with all
his heart and soul; and further it says that he is not
worthy that you should serve him devotedly. It tears
almost all the pages out of the Bible, for almost every
page of Scripture contains promises, invitations, commands, which it nullifies.
A genuine humility will ever feel the need of the
largest measures of grace, and will be perfected just in
the degree in which that grace is bestowed. Spiritual
pride shows, not that there has been too much, but too
little, of the operation of the Spirit. The only way to
overcome it is to press forward. The truly humble man
will seek to be filled with all the fullness of God, knowing that when so filled there is not the slightest place for
pride or for self.
Peter had doubtless taken part in the dispute of the
disciples as to which of them should be greatest —the
very dispute which prompted our Lord to do what he
was now doing. His conduct in the after part of the
evening showed plainly that he was far from being perfect in humility. It must be very offensive to God
when we fail to give those proofs of humility which the
occasion properly demands, and then insist that some
unrequired thing done by us has the impress of that
heavenly grace.
Some are deterred from communicating freely with
God concerning this and that temporal affair which occupies their minds by the idea that it is beneath the dignity of God to take note of such matters. This too is
sin baptized with the name of humility. They say, with




24               LOVE REVEALED.
Peter, "Thou shalt never wash my feet," and imagine
themselves very religious.  The only acceptable religion is to let God reign in your heart. To partition off a
part of your thought-world, and call it a holy of holies,
and hang a thick curtain before it, and then surrender the outer court to Gentile traffickers,-this is no
religion. You may make God a prisoner and visit him
at times in sacerdotal garments, and then plume yourself on the deep tone of reverence that marks your approaches to him. The disciples imagined that they were
giving proof of an admirable veneration for the person
of Jesus when they refused to allow little children to be
brought to him. They would cut him off from a portion of humanity that had for him a high attraction.
Your minor cares Christ will not disdain.  Without
Christ, you will soon find that they are not minor, but
insupportable; bring them to him and every one of
them will be made to yield you tribute in coin that has
the superscription of heaven upon it.
JOHN xiii. 8-10.-" 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 to him, He that is washed needeth
not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit."
WHAT our Lord here said to Peter concerning his
soul was in reply to something that Peter had
said touching his feet. "Thou shalt never wash my
feet."  Why not?  What have I been doing these successive years that we have been together? Have I not
been purifying thee unto myself?  Am I not still engaged in this?  Are there not multitudinous sins in




JOHN XITI. 8-10.               25
thee that are yet to be blotted out?  There is no defilement like that of sin, and unless I wash thee from thy
sins thou hast no part with me in glory. Why, then,
seemeth it to thee an insufferable thing that I should
wash thy feet?  Peter, without pausing to revolve these
weighty words in his mind, simply seizes the idea that
what is now being done has some relation to the glory
and blessedness in which he hopes to participate with
Christ, and exclaims, "Lord, not my feet only, but also
my hands and my head." How long, O Peter, how long
will it be before we learn to receive with due consideration the words of our Lord'? He spoke as never man
spoke, and yet how prone we are to receive his words as
we do those of any thoughtless companion, and imagine
that we can thoroughly master them without an effort,
in the twinkling of an eye! How soon we are discouraged when our own weighty words are treated thus!
How wonderful that Christ should not have been discouraged! Many of his most precious utterances have
been for eighteen centuries waiting for some one to
penetrate them.
The misconception of Peter elicited from Jesus an explanation of his words. Any doubt as to the spiritual
significance of what he had said is banished by the closing words, "Ye are clean, but not all," glancing at the
unsanctified Judas. This will assist us to understand
other things spoken by the Saviour that same evening.
For instance, when he told his disciples to provide themselves with swords, we can hardly suppose that he
wished to be understood literally, any more than when he
said, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me."
If Peter had given heed to what took place in connec3




26              LOVE REVEALED.
tion with the washing of his feet, and earnestly grasped
the instruction then proffered, he would not have
brought upon himself the reproof, " Put up thy sword;
they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."
With regard to the expression, "This is my body,"
there was no possibility of a misapprehension on the
part of the disciples, as they saw the body of their
Lord before them. It was necessary that men should
get down into a deep dark pit before they could palm off
upon their besotted minds such a phantasy as that the
bread in the hand of Christ was itself his hand.
It is supposed that in the words, " He that is washed
needeth not save to wash his feet," there is an allusion
to the fact that they who had been to the bath needed
only to wash their feet in returning to the house.
Whether or not there was any reference to the temple-service (Ex. xl. 12 and 31) I know not. The
spiritual truth conveyed in the words does not seem
difficult of apprehension.  Jesus had  before said,
"If I wash thee not."  The inference from these
words that Peter had not been in any sense purified
would be erroneous.  "Ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken."  The work in their
hearts had been commenced, but it was by no means
terminated.  Daily  and  hourly  they needed  the
grace of God in new communications. They were regenerate, but they needed the sincere milk of the word,
that they might grow thereby. " Ye are clean through
the word. Sanctify them  through thy truth. Thy
word is truth."
The words, "If I wash thee not thou hast no part
with me," require us to believe that the Lord Jesus is




JOHEN xll. 8-10.               27
not more intent upon the salvation of a soul than he is
upon its sanctification, and assure us that the cry, Lord,
save or I perish, has not more power to touch the sensibilities of heaven than the prayer, Make me perfect to
do thy will. Let it be understood that faith in Christ
is as truly sanctifying as it is saving. The same Jesus
who bore our sins in his own body here presents himself in the capacity of the Purifier. If there be any
union, any commerce, between Christ and ourselves,
it is in the way of sanctification. "Ye are washed,
ye are sanctified," wrote Paul to the Corinthians, and
it was Christ that had washed them. The Spirit of
God comes to us to make the words of Christ influential in us. This is sanctification, to have the word of
Christ dwelling influentially in the heart; then Christ
reigns in the heart. If, then, a man has no part with
Christ, where shall he appear? Scripture leaves us not
in the dark. Men say, Let us hope for the best. But
what does the Bible say? "The fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone." There is nothing less than this unutterably
fearful doom awaiting all who are not sanctified by Christ
so as to have part with him. Ye fearful ones, beware!
Ye tremble and draw back aftrighted from some rugged
path in which Christ bids you come with him, and yet
ye fear not the lake of fire prepared for the fearful.
Deny him not; he will deny you. He will not save
you unless you follow him. You know him not if you
are appalled by the dangers that seem to stand thick
along the path to which he summons you. Has hi,




28               LOVE REVEALED.
not overcome the world?  Does not all danger turn
pale at his presence?  What can harm  you if you
keep your eye on him?  Be thou his partner here,
and thou shalt be his partner in the day of his undisputed pre-eminence.  It is enough for thee to know
that it is Christ that is purifying thee; one so much
thy friend can be trusted to do this; there cannot be
needless severity in the process. He sitteth as a refiner
and purifier of silver. Your faith is more precious than
gold that perisheth.
JOHN xiii. 10, 11.-" Ye are clean, but not all." In explanation
it is added, "For he knew who should betray him: therefore said
he, Ye are not all clean."
E knew also who should deny him thrice and who
should forsake him, yet only to him  in whose
heart was treason was the negative intended to apply.
To the heart-searching eye of the Saviour there was a
very important ground of distinction between Peter
and Judas.  If any -man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be anathema in aranatha. There was
love to Christ in the eleven-most immature, a mere
germ, a love ill prepared to stand the fiery trial to
which it was about to be subjected, yet nevertheless
a genuine beginning of love destined ere long to triumph over all opposition.  But there was not this in
Judas.  He loved not Christ.  Something or other
in the character or in the work of Christ had attracted
him; but as the character of Christ became more unveiled to him, he experienced more and more of repugnancy. He preferred himself, with all his sins, all his
vileness, to the Son of God. The disinterestedness and




JOH-IN XIII. 10, 11.           29
spirit of sacrifice conspicuous in Christ awoke no fellowly response in him, but on the contrary jarred
strongly on his feelings.  The words, the acts, the
looks, that drew the other disciples to their Master,
only served to widen the gulf betwixt him and the
Saviour.
Christians sometimes imagine that nothing more is
necessary to subdue the heart of a sinner than to
show him the character of Christ, but until his heart
has been changed it is impossible that he should love
Christ. It is not possible that he should love light
and darkness at the same time; being what he is, the
exhibition of Christ can only excite his hatred. We
flatter ourselves that by the abundant preaching of
the gospel and diffusion of the Scriptures, and by
the vigorous prosecution of all our evangelistic schemes,
we are gradually and surely filling up the chasm that
separates the world from Christ. Well, it is so if
the Spirit of God go with the word, convincing and
converting. Where his influences are not experienced,
there-let us well understand it-there is no subjugation of the world's hostility, on the contrary, augmentation. We could not wish for the world a better
opportunity of knowing Christ than Judas enjoyed.
In fact, we may consider Judas as the type or representative of that large portion of the world to which
we are now offering the gospel: the nearer it is brought
to Christ, the more it rejects him. " If I had not done
among them the works which none other man did, they
had not had sin; but now they have both seen and
hated both me and my Father."
But knowing the disciples as he did, how could the
3'*




30               LOVE REVEALED.
Saviour bear stuch an honorable testimony to them?
How could he say that they were holy?  In the great
audience-chamber of this world, how many, hearing
Jesus thus speak, begin to exchange whispers and
smiles and looks of astonishment! We know what
they say to one another. They are bringing to each
other's recollection a thousand odious particulars concerning the eleven, citing innumerable instances of
their pride, folly, unbelief, selfishness, ambition, covetousness, timidity, rashness, inconstancy, insensibility,
malice, vindictiveness. Very well; pile up these sins;
rear them up, a pyramid, a mighty tower; and when
you have finished it, we will write on it the names of
the eleven and the names of all who are similarly sinful.
Your names, too, it appears, belong conspicuously there,
though you have reared the monument. In fact, we
must inscribe the names of all men. And now over
against it behold a multitude of angels rearing another
monument, snow white, and upon the face of it inscribing the names of the heirs of salvation. But where
shall these names be sought? Upon the sin-monument,
for all the children of men are there; elsewhere they
cannot be sought. We have only the proud, foolish,
unbelieving, selfish, ambitious and covetous to choose
from.  What hinders now that these eleven should
be chosen?  The only question is, Have they receivedl
anything that constitutes them different in essential
respects from  other men?  They have.  They have
received the elements of a new life; they are born
again; there is the seed of another nature in thema nature that will first struggle with and then overcome and utterly destroy the evil against which you




JOHN XIII. 10, 11.             31
declaim. They are following Christ in the highway
of holiness. As they proceed we see them  ever and
anon casting sins over the parapet, and it is certain
that they shall at length appear, spotless, unblemished,
nnblamable, in the presence of the Father of lights.
In uttering the words, "Ye are clean," the Saviou:
had respect to the measure of advantage enjoyed by
them. Their advantages had undoubtedly been great,
but there were other higher advantages to be enjoyed
in the outpouring of the Spirit; and had these higher
advantages left them morally what they now were, our
Lord would not have addressed them  thus.  If we
that now live should have simply an antepentecostal
faith and love and courage and humility, we could not
flatter ourselves that Christ would say to us, "Ye are
clean." As they traveled the highway of holiness the
apostles threw from it many stones that once deformed
it, and wonderfully facilitated matters for those that
should come after. We have seen the Lamb die; have
seen him rise again and ascend into the heavens; have
seen the Spirit poured out; have seen the apostles and
their churches; have seen the visions of Patmos; and
for eighteen centuries of the history of the Church in
the world have seen the finger of divine Providence
writing, very slowly, sometimes but one letter in centuries, yet beyond a question writing no other than
the inscription first seen by Belshazzar, "Mene, mene,
tekel, upharsin." VWhere?  Upon the Church?  Upon
that which calls itself the Church. Nevertheless, there
is a chosen generation, a holy people, though mostly hidden. But the thing is this, our responsibilities rise as
the ages revolve. Men suppose the contrary to be the




32                LOVE REVEALED.
case.  It is so long since the  apostles lived, they
think, that it would be preposterous to look now for
piety like theirs.  It is hoped that God will, every
century, every year, abate somewhat of his claims and
accept the mere crumbs of piety from  us. What a de-,
lusion! The claim of God is adamantine, and no flow
of time will ever wear it away.
Is there not too much reason to believe that, if Christ
should speak to us, instead of saying, "Ye are clean, but
not all," he would say, "Ye are unclean, but not all "?
JOHN xiii. 12, 13. —"So after he had washed their feet, and had
taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them,
Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master [Teacher]
and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am."
"   0 I am." What delightful words are these to those
k who deeply feel their ignorance, the inability of
their fellow-men to restore them from their ignorance,
the utter privation of all claim to celestial teaching;
who know that there is a way to heaven and who
desire to walk therein, to be educated for heaven, to
learn the laws and usages of the kingdom of heaven!
They have not to be educated in order that they may
come to Christ, but he is their educator, from the
lowest form  upward.  They do not need to get rid
of their gross ignorance before they approach him.
Who but he can dispel the stupidity and the darkness
of their minds?   Could any other do it, that other
would be the true teacher. Christ's glory as a teacher
is that he can take hold of such ruined souls as yours
and mine and pour light into them; first a single




JOHN XIII. 12, 13.          33
ray scarce relieving the darkness, then increasing
radiance and heat, distributed with infinite wisdom
among the valleys and chasms of the soul, until the
whole is bathed in the light of heaven.  We need
not fear that he will upbraid us and frown us away
because we are so ignorant; he giveth to all liberally
and upbraideth not; he upbraids those who remain
away: "Ye will not come unto me that ye might
have life." The most surprising spectacle is when one
of the wise of this world is brought to him. What
an enormous edifice has to be pulled down that Christ,
the true foundation-stone, may be placed in the bottom
of the heart! Alas for those who are rearing up on
high, story above story, a towering monument, intending, when it is done, to put the living stone somewhere
at the top, and so get the whole transported' to heaven!
No, it must all come down, every stone of it; and it
is to be feared that there will not be time for you to
get it down and the new foundation laid before the
great earthquake flies rumbling through the earth, for
the cement that you are using hardens rapidly, and
the stones cling together as though they naturally belonged together; and you are bestowing so much
ornament and there are so many admirers that you
are every day more and more fascinated with your
own work. Day by day you become more and more
intensely your own ideal; and the demolition of a
structure so laboriously reared, so expensively, seems
to your conception like the crash of an expiring
world.
Then the schools of the world, so far from fitting
their pupils for the school of Christ, make it less and




34               LOVE REVEALED.
less possible that those pupils should ever be brought to
Christ. And here we discover a very important cause
of the misunderstanding between the scholars of Christ
and other scholars. The former condemn or disparage
a great deal that the latter have in high estimation, and
do it not because the acquisitions are worthless in themselves, but because they block the way for Christ. They
are not built upon the only true foundation.  There
must be life at the base-a living, life-giving stone;
then will the superincumbent mass be also informed
with life and beauty. There are a thousand forms of
human knowledge that are now slighted by the scholars
of Christ, not because, as is supposed, their minds are
too contracted to form a proper estimate of them, but
because they are aware that "in the present distress"
and crisis one thing is needful. Their souls must first
live, and then all intellectual acquisitions will participate in the life. While the soul is not possessed by
the favor of God which is life, all mental acquisitions are but the tracery on the cornice of a sepulchre.
How wonderful a Teacher we have! Sometimes we
seek him in the house, but he is not there; we go forth
seeking him, and find him perhaps in the wilderness or
on a mountain praying, or leading some poor blind man
by the hand, or eating with publicans or sinners, or
asleep in a storm, or conversing with a Samaritan
woman, or surrounded by wrathful men, or bearing a
cross. It is not merely his words that instruct: his
place, his occupation, his companions, his environment,
his garment, his silence, his submission,-all teem with
instruction.  And they that learn of him are made like
unto him.




JOHN XIII. 14, 15.              35
JoHN xiii. 14, 15. —"If I then, your Lord and 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."
T  HE argument is two-fold.  Because of what Christ
has done for me I should serve my brother, and I
should serve him because of what Christ has done for
him. In each of these considerations there is, to the
believer, an inexhaustible fullness of power. It were
an infinite reproach to me to receive such amazing
benefactions from the- Son of the Blessed and to retain
my own wretched, churlish, selfish nature. In the parables of Christ, truth comes to us as she came to David
in the parable that Nathan spake, and before we are
aware we have pronounced our own condemnation.
When we read the parable of the steward who owed ten
thousand talents, who was saved with all his family
from lifelong captivity by the pure generosity of the
master, and then displayed the base niggardliness and
selfishness of his nature, unvanquished, undiminished,
by the exhibition of so large mercy, our souls are fired
with indignation, and we exclaim, "Away with such a
fellow from the earth! it is not fit that he should live."
Then Truth lets fall her veil, and quietly asks us,
"Art thou not the man?"
" I that man! that odious man!"
Well, perhaps not. Only it may be well to examine
yourself and see what effect the unparalleled exhibition
of love and mercy in the Gospel has had upon you.
You are sitting at a banquet of promises, each of them
worth more than ten thousand talents; you, that should
be lifting up your eyes in torment, are sitting at the
table of the Lord of life: his angels minister unto you.




36               LOVE REVEALED.
Now, what is the effect of it all upon you?  Has this
stupendous mercy made you merciful?  As the Lord
has sought you out, do you seek out the poor and needy?
Do you readily cancel the claims against your brother?
Do you value more highly the opportunity of serving him
than the ability to make him serve you? Are you hindered by no feeling of shame from visiting the
residence of poor and uncultivated Christians?  When
you enter their houses, is it as one enters the house of his
brother?  Are you content that those Christians should
come to your house as one goes to the house of his
brother?
Again, Christ has forgiven your brother ten thousand
talents; can you not forgive him three hundred pence?
There has been joy in the presence of the angels of
heaven because of his liberation from a dread captivity,
and do you insist upon hanging some chains upon
him?  Hearken to the kind utterances of the gospel
breathed in his ear by the Lord of glory. Will you
cause the rude dissonance of your angry voice to be
heard by him? The Lord has descended from the
highest heavens, sweeping past the host of cherubim
and seraphim, to become lower than angel, and has
traversed the realm of death, that he might snatch this
poor sinner from the devouring flame; and will you
find it a costly sacrifice to ignore two or three
contemptible conventional barriers separating you from
him?
What a magnificent phenomenon would be witnessed
if, throughout the Church of Christ, this appeal of the
Lord Jesus should meet its fitting response! "If I
then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye




JOHN XIII. 14,15.             37
also ought to wash one another's feet." This would be,
in some sense, the coming of Christ with ten thousand
of his saints. He would live again in an exceeding great
army. The Father would see Christ in us, and his
love for Christ would come rushing down into our
hearts a mighty torrent. John xvii. 26.
" For I have given you an example, that ye should do
as I have done to you."
Do we understand, my friends? Christ came into
this world not merely to act, but to show us how to act;
not merely to suffer, but to show us how to suffer; not
merely to love, but to show us how to love. If he has
washed our feet, it is not merely that we should ascertain
the depth of his humility, the vastness of his love, but
that we should know also what humility and love to
exercise. Have we read the entire Gospel under the
influence of this great truth, looking at it as the portraiture of that better life which we ourselves are called to
live? By the mere fact that we have taken up the cross
to follow Christ we are pledged to follow Christ wheresoever he goes. Ah, my friends, I am afraid that when
Christ goes into yonder prison to visit a prisoner, some
of us sit at the door talking with the jailer until the
Master comes again; and when he stops to talk with a
beggar, we leisurely stroll on and wait for him at the
corner; and when there is a whisper that the Jews will
take up stones to stone him, we go not up to that feast,
but fulfill some other long-neglected duty. Is there
not sometimes a phantom  of Christ, saying, "I am
Christ; follow me," that leads you in a pleasantly pious
path, while the true Christ is making his way, attended by
a little and despised band, through snow and ice, among
4




38               LOVE REVEALED.
precipices, in deserts and in the face of many foes?
The thought is horrible; but the adversary is subtle and
the heart deceitful. WYe have in the Scriptures an exact
chart of the path pursued by Christ; and if we all
duly give heed to this, we shall not go astray. Let us
prove our Christ by the path and our path by Christ.
JOHN xiii. 16. —"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is
not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he
that sent him."
W HENCE the necessity of so much emphasis in the
statement of a truth so obvious?  Do we not all
know that the servant is not greater than his lord?that the Christian is subordinated to Christ?  Why
introduce an announcement like this with a "Verily,
verily, I say unto you "?
There was need and there is need of this "Verily,
verily." There is too much reason to believe that the
great majority of Christians do not take their Master
at his word in what he says.  Notwithstanding his
solemn reiteration of this truth, there are very few to
whom  it is a truth.  Wherever we turn our eyes
in the church we are met by the surprising spectacle
of servants who put on the greatness which their Lord
laid down. They disdain to be what their Lord was,
to do what he did.
There is written over the door of a house, "Disciple
of Jesus, servant of Christ." There come two men in
ordinary apparel, but each of the twain is more than
man: one is none other than the Son of Mary; the
other is an attendant angel.




JOHN XIII. 16.                  39
"Behold," says the Saviour, " this is the habitation of
one of my servants."
"A goodly mansion," says the angel.
"Ah, yes," responds our Advocate, "but it is not for
his own pleasure; doubtless he has occasion to exercise
hospitality."  Several other remarks suggest themselves
to the heavenly visitor. In fact, he finds it difficult to
believe that a servant of Jesus here abideth.
" To speak sooth," he says, "my heart is filled with
admiration of the life whose memorials are in the gospel.
Whenever I think of a servant of Christ upon the earth,
I seem to see before me one who has been reconciled
by the life of Christ to a life like that of Christ —
who has been caught away by the power of a blessed
example from the vanities of the world; one who protests by all the force of his own exalted life against
the pursuit of mere earthly honors and the pampering of the flesh."
" True," says the Master, with a sigh; "but it is possible for a servant of mine to have the same mind that
was in me, though he be not a wanderer through the
land as I was."
Jesus knocks at the door of his disciple. The servants, however, refuse him admittance, assuring him that
their master is no friend of vagabonds or of hypocrites.
"Of course," says Jesus to the angel, "it is not surprising that these men should not know me. They do
not profess to be my servants. It is a pity, however,
that their master, my servant, should not be aware of
these impediments that choke the current of his own
kindness."
The disciple of Jesus makes his appearance. Ile is




40              LOVE REVEALED.
going forth with his family to an entertainment given
that day by a distinguished personage.
"The wife and daughters of this disciple," says the
angel, "remind me very little of Joanna and Mlary
and Salome. Can it be that they have read what Peter
and Paul have written by inspiration of God concerning female adornment?"
Jesus and his companion find difficulty in attracting
the notice of the disciple.  He does not recognize
the Lord.  Jesus says to him, "In the next street
(I will show you the place) is a poor old man, a disciple of Jesus, whose sight is dim with age and who
greatly desires that some brother should come and
read to him for a half hour."
"Ah!" replies the disciple; "I am not a Scripturereader. There are men especially appointed for this
work."
" There is a youth, the only son of a widow," says
Jesus again, "who has just been thrown into prison for
debt; the sum is not large, and if you will pay it,
there will be support for the widow and her family;
if not, they will all be reduced to beggary."
"Ah!" returns the disciple; "I have acquired my
wealth by industry, carefulness and prudence, and I
know not why I should employ it in offering bounties
for improvidence. The father should have insured his
life. But we must away; I fear we shall be late."
"Stay!" says the unknown Jesus; "I wish your
opinion concerning a passage of Scripture."
"You will find commentaries in yonder bookstore."
With this reply, the disciple drives off with his family.
"Shall I not erase the inscription?" says the angel.




JOHN XIII. 16.                41
"Leave it," answers Jesus; "the day of trial cometh
when the fire shall try every man's work."
The disciples had disputed with each other as to their
relative dignity.  Each was desirous of being the greatest, and each thought he could present some rather
weighty considerations in favor of his own claim to preeminence.  One had been called before the others;
another had belonged to a higher social position; another had sacrificed more property; another had first
borne public testimony to the Messiahship of Christ;
another was more aged than the rest; another had
been a more successful preacher; another had cast out
many devils.  But Jesus says to them, "I am among
you as he that serveth.  I have put myself down
below you.  He among you, therefore, that seeks to
be greater than his fellow-disciples, makes himself
greater than me.  Study continually to keep lower
than me that you may occupy the right position relatively to each other. If you think it scorn to wash
the feet of your associates, you do but show that you
think it scorn to be as your Master.  You make yourself greater than he is."
Let not the poor disciple think that the danger indicated in the words of our Lord is a danger peculiar to
those who have abundantly of this world's goods.
There are a hundred little ways by which the spirit that
is here condemned may reveal itself. He that is impatient, he that is choleric, he that is censorious, he that
is sensitive and suspicious, he that prays little, he that
is dogmatic, he that is unwilling in all societies to be
known as a Christian,-these and many others make
themselves greater than the Master.
4 




12              LOVE REVEALED.
JOHN xiii. 17.-" If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do
them."
W HO will show us any good thing?  Where shall
we find happiness?  What is the secret of a
happy life? These are questions that all men put to
each other without being able to obtain a satisfactory
and conclusive answer. Yet every one has already the
information that he professes to desire. He puts into
his vest-pocket a scrap of paper given him by a person
who is of no account in his eyes, and embarks for remote
continents in a vain, life-long search of what is plainly
enough pointed out in that scrap of paper. Socrates
and Plato and Alcibiades discoursed together of the
likelihood or unlikelihood of the advent of one from the
skies to teach mall what he so much needed to knowwhat, by himself, he never would know. Little, however, did it dawn upon their apprehensions that such a
visitor would, unheeded, declare the secret so long and
vainly sought by all mankind.
Happiness, we learn from our Lord Jesus Christ(but do we learn? Are we not mocking him in the use
of this language, sitting at his feet as though to learn,
yet giving our eyes and ears to some show discovered
through the window?)-happiness consists, not in
knowing, but in doing.
In doing!  Who would  have thought it?  We
should have thought to find happiness in exemption
from work. We look with compassion upon the poor
people who are obliged to work, and deplore the infelicity of our own position in being obliged occasionally to
exert ourselves. Ah! I see how it is. Happiness con



JOHN XIJIU 17.                43
sists in such work as that of carrying bags of pearls,
caskets of diamonds and the like to our own treasury.
No, this is not the work of which Jesus speaks. The
acts which he commends are acts of self-denial for the
good of others.
The good of others! You mistake me quite. I ask
how I may be happy myself; my question does not relate to the happiness of my neighbor. As you canl
give me no information on the point which interests me,
I decline your instructions.
Ah, if the poor man would only suffer Jesus to teach
him! "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do
them." You yourselves shall find your happiness in a
life of self-humiliation and self-abnegation. Be content
to be as your Master, and your Master will not be content without making you as he is. Wash the feet of the
disciples, deny yourself for their advantage, and the
Son of God will take good care that you have a peace
which passeth all understanding and a joy unspeakable.
There is a woe where there is knowledge unaccompanied by obedience. It is fearful to think of the vast
number who, at the present day, hear the sayings of
Jesus and keep them not.
Thou hast a very profound acquaintance with Scripture truth. A false doctrine is immediately betrayed to
thee; no disguise can hide it. How well and piously
canst thou discourse! People feel small in thy presence
in view of thy religious knowledge. Thou couldst
write a discourse on the love of God that would carry
off a prize from men. If heav.en could be won by
knowledge, thou wouldst surely win it. But wouldst
thou wash the feet of a disciple?  Well, I think thou




44              LOVE REVEALED.
wouldst; for there is so much versatility in thee
that it would be strange if thou wert not at some time
found doing this. But are thine own hands clean?
They are not. Even thy kindly offices are mischievous because the truth does not sway thee. Thou knowest the truth and servest falsehood. How canst thou be
happy? The truth of God that is in thee can only
make thee miserable, for thy life is not subordinated
to it.
How many are deceiving themselves with regard to
their true condition simply because of their religious
knowledge! They cannot understand how one should
know so much without being a child of God. The
truth of God is really, however, imprisoned in their
mind. They receive the truth as though it were a
king, and conduct it over a drawvbridge and into handsome apartments, but soon it appears that the guest is
a prisoner of state. When it pleases the host, the
royal prisoner is brought forth and ceremoniously
waited upon, but at other times it remains in seclusion.
It has not the range of their being. Into the courtyard of their desires it is seldom allowed to descend,
and a sentinel sometimes repels it from the terraced
walk of their purposes. When they go abroad, it is
confined at home; and when they are about to examine
the interior of their palace, instructions are given to remove the prisoner from the apartments to be visited.
"If ye know these things."  We have known them
long enough, wondering all the while that we found so
little joy in the knowledge. David and others esteemed
the word of God more than thousands of gold and silver. Why have I no similar appreciation of the Scrip



JO-IN XIII. 18.                4.
tures?  Why is my joy in them so dubious and imperfect?  For this reason-that you sought to find pleasure
in the mere contemplation of the word, losing sight of
the plain declaration of our Lord, "Happy are ye if ye do
them." The knowledge that leads to action is blessed.
"That ye be not barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
JOHN xiii. 18.-" I speak not of you all; I know whom I have
chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth
bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me."
1HRIST had before said, "Ye are clean, but not all,"
knowing who should betray him.  The grace of
Christ is free and full; the most precious promises
and tender invitations. fall naturally from his lips,
but it is quite possible for a man to hear them with
all familiarity, year after year, without having any
part or lot in them.  Judas may be considered as
the representative of the countless host of the ungodly.  They were tried in him.  Peradventure it
will come into their minds to say, We would not
have rejected the Saviour if we had had the opportunity of drawing very nigh to him, of living for
some days in his society, of receiving his rebukes,
hearkening to his promises.  We would in such a
case have undoubtedly discerned the divine excellence
and attractiveness of his character, and would have
believed upon him  unto everlasting life.  But this
conceit is without any warrant. During the years that
Christ suffered Judas to be associated with him  no one
ever blamed him for so doing. Neither the apostles,




46              LOVE REVEALED.
nor believers generally, nor unbelievers, had an unfavorable opinion of him.  If we wish to know how
blind a man is, we bring him out of darkness into
light. If, with the full blaze of day around him, he
is unable to see, then beyond all doubt he is stoneblind. And it is in the presence of the Sun of righteousness that we learn rightly to estimate the deep depravity of man. We do not help the blind by simply
increasing the intensity of light around them, we merely
ascertain their misery. A change must take place in
men. They must cease to love darkness rather than
light.
How deeply should we have this impressed upon our
minds while engaged in evangelistic labors! It is not
enough to offer men the gospel. If there be in us a
tendency to trust in the mere proclamation of the gospel
for the salvation of men, long, long years of stagnation
will teach us that we are offering to the blind what is
profitable only for the seeing. It is the gospel, accompanied by the Spirit of God, that is the power of God
and the wisdom of God unto salvation.
"' I know whom I have chosen." Christ knows; we
know not. And even if we knew that certain persons
were not chosen to eternal life, it would still seem to be
our duty, after the example of our Lord, to offer them
the words of life and spare no pains in the endeavor to
bring the truth to bear upon them. For the Lord has
chosen this concerning all men, that they should have
the gospel offered to them. Judas was elected to be
the companion of Christ, to hear his gracious words,
to behold his wondrous acts; and a similar election is
extended to all by the command to preach the gospel




JOHN XIII. 18.               47
to every creature.  With regard to the election unto
eternal life, we have nothing to do with it, except
as an argument for our confidence. If God had not
determined to save some, it is certain that there would,be hope for none. A man who acts without foresight
is a fool. God is the last being in the universe to act
in this way. Whatever he does, he does by an eternal
foreordination.
Christ had not chosen Judas, and Judas had not
chosen Christ. Judas walked with Christ for years,
and then chose thirty pieces of silver rather than Christ.
Ten thousand reasons were presented to him why he
should not make such a fatal choice as this, but in
vain. He deliberately chose the pieces of silver and
all their consequences, and all that he has since experienced or will experience is simply his own choice.
"That the Scripture may be fulfilled."  By means
of prophecy, our forefathers are spectators of the
present. The Scripture is to them a window through
which they look in upon us. The psalmist, who had
been dead and buried a thousand years, had not died
without looking in upon Christ and the twelve gathered
around that passover-table.
"He that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his
heel against me."  One is reminded by this expression, "Lifted up the heel," of the sentiment of Voltaire concerning Christ, "Ecrasez l'infatme."  In the
fierceness of his hatred Voltaire went far beyond Judas.
In modern infidelity we see rather the spirit of the
Scribes and Pharisees which caused them  to gnash
upon Christ with their teeth. Judas was not of those
who cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him." He was




48               LOVE REVEALED.
appalled, indeed, when it became evident that the Master was to be crucified; but he furnished them with
their strongest argument for so exclaiming. They had
not eaten bread with Jesus of Nazareth, but he had.
"He has lived  in closest intimacy with him, has
enjoyed unrestricted opportunities of knowing all about
him.  To others something of mystery may invest
the character of Christ, but not to this man; yet
this is the man who betrays Christ into our hands
for thirty pieces of silver. Of course after such testimony it is impossible to doubt.  Here is a man
educated by Christ himself, and he informs us that
Christ is an impostor. There could be nothing stronger
than this except the confession of Christ himself.
When he that hath eaten bread with him lifts up
the heel against him, it would be a strange thing if
we should let him go free." These considerations do
not cover the whole ground.  Physical nearness is
one thing, and spiritual intimacy a very different thing.
There was always between Christ and Judas a great
gulf fixed. Judas could not know Christ, though he
were to spend a score of years in his society, for his
eyes were not anointed with eye-salve that he might
see him; the natural man discerneth not the things
of the Spirit of God.  The world, however, knows
nothing of such discriminations: a disciple is a disciple; and it is perfectly satisfied with the testimony
of one that has been in any kind of nearness to Christ,
if that testimony is against him.
There are some who shudder at the ribaldry of infidelity, and fail to consider that they themselves have
opened the door to it. In some way or other the fact




JOHN XIII. 19.                   49
leaks out that they love thirty pieces of silver more
than the poverty of Christ, the reproach of Christ, the
work of Christ. It is understood that they have been
initiated into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
yet it is evident from  the avidity with which they
enter into worldly pleasure and seek worldly honors,
and the facility with which they remain away from
Christ's work and Christ's audience-chamber, that
they have tried Christ and found hini wanting. What
further argument for infidelity does the world need?
Voltaire can be left on the shelf.  The very men that
profess to follow Christ declare with a loud whisper
that Christ is nobody
JOHN xiii. 19. —" Now I tell you before it come, that when it is
come to pass, ye may believe that I am he."
IN the original it is simply, "Ye may believe that 1
am."  "I am n" is a name given in the Old Testament to God, and there would be nothing strange if
Christ assumed it on this occasion. A little after, he
speaks without any ambiguity of the Father dwelling
in him and doing the works.  Or perhaps Jesus meant,
I am what I claim to be; this will not differ essentially
firom the other view.
But did not the disciples believe in Jesus as the
Messiah?  Was there still a doubt in their minds
whether Jesus was really he that should come, and
whether they should still look for another?   The
expression seems to intimate that they sat there unbelievers, and that Jesus was obliged to seek comfort
in the thought that after the fulfillment of some pro5




50               LOVE REVEALED.
phecies they would believe. But no; the companions of
Jesus were believers; they harbored no doubts; they
sat together with him in that chamber, as in a heavenly
place, with an unquestioning joy and confidence.  In
an atmosphere so serene and ambrosial it was not difficult to believe; the difficulty was to entertain a doubt.
Ah! if faith could choose her own moments to be photographed, and to have her likeness entered in God's
book against that great day, she would be glad. But
it is not so. God does not come forth to estimate our
faith in the hours when faith is easy, but in the hours
when there are many and fierce foes of faith.  The
believer often thinks he is strong in faith, and wonders
that the Lord does not make haste to answer his prayers, but the Lord knows that a fiery trial or two would
make all the difference in the world in that faith. Faith
that will hold its own, no matter what the tests to
which it may be subjected, is what the Lord demands
of us. The Saviour knew that in a few hours the faith
of his disciples was to undergo some terrible shocks,
and he knew that the most of it would be dissipated
under the deadly influence of the unexpected events
that were about to transpire; therefore he sought comfort, not in the contemplation of their present faith,
but in the anticipation of that better faith which
would clothe their souls after the fulfillment of the
prophecies concerning him. This was the joy which
was set before him, only he had to look at it through
much gloom-gloom that became so dense in Gethsemane that scarce were it possible to see the star of hope
athwart it.
The question for us is not, I-Have we a faith in Jesus




JOHN XIII. 20.                    51
that answers all ordinary purposes in the day when
Providence is smiling upon us? but, Have we in this,
our hour of prosperity, a genuine faith in Christ, one
that would enable us to march invincibly through any
trials that God migllt appoint? The adversary of souls,
the world and our own heart, all combine to make us
believe that we have an excellent faith in Christ, and
cease not to make such suggestions as the following:
"Why should you trouble yourself to look at the evidences?  Why search the Scripture for further confirmation?  Why keep the words of Christ in your
heart?  If all had such a faith as you. have, it would
be well.  NTo, thank God that you are a sincere believer, and leave it to those whose faiith is faulty to
study the proofs of Christ's power and grace."  These
suggestions are as dangerous as they are subtle.  A
true believer is one who makes preparation against
the assaults to which his faith may possibly be exposed.  When sitting at the table of his Lord, he
is not unmindful of the Gethsemane that may follow.
Nothing whatever will satisfy him  but the consciousness of a faith that will not be dashed to earth, even
though the Lord should make him  a mark for his
arrows and  withdraw  from  him  the  multitudinous
benefactions that now speak to him  so gratefully of a
kind and considerate high priest.
JOHN xiii. 20.-"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth
whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth lim that sent me."
OSES, on a certain occasion, was alarmed by an intirmation from the Lord that an angel would con



52               LOVE REVEALED.
duct the children of Israel through the wilderness and
into the land Canaan. He received it as a token of the
displeasure of the Lord, and deeply felt that nothing
but the manifested presence of the Lord of hosts, the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, would ever inspire
him or his followers with the confidence necessary for
such an enterprise. The disciples of Jesus, hearing from
him onil the eve of his crucifixion that he was about to
be taken from them, were not a little dismayed, but
Jesus sought to reassure them  by making known, so
far as their dull apprehensions would permit, the
character of the dispensation on which they were entering. He would soon appear to them again, and joy in
their risen Lord would take eternal possession of their
hearts, and he would send the Spirit of God to them.
How expedient it was that he should go away they did
not fully understand till the day of Pentecost, on which
day they found that Christ was with them more gloriously than he had ever been before. To thousands in
Jerusalem, Christ was revealed that day for the first
time, though they had often seen and heard him in the
flesh. They saw the apostles clothed with his wisdom,
his power, his Spirit, performing the same miracles,
preaching the same doctrines, leading the same life.
Christ, in the days of his personal humiliation, had
been accustomed to spend a few weeks in Jerusalem
every year; they heard him once or twice in the temple,
and then missed him for a long time. But now, in his
apostles and in other of his brethren, he was constantly
present in the city, daily in the temple, daily in the synagogues, in every street almost. The enemies of Christ
had drawn a deep breath of satisfaction on seeing him




JOi-N xiii. 20.               53
delivered to be crucified; tlley:were fully persuaded that
the stone which would close his sepulchre would bury
out of their sight for ever all traces of the religion he
had sought to establish.  His lips, once sealed in death,
would never more be open to torment them with unwelcome trut]hs.  But now Christ is risen, and mighty
works do show forth themselves, not in him, an individual, but in the conmpany of believers, each of them
clothed with his Spirit and power.  They have crucified
one, but from his cross hundreds and thousands have
started into life.  Whichever way they now turn they
find a Christ exposing their hypocrisy, destroying their
influence, denouncing their oppression, declaring the
wrath of God, declaring also his love, and inviting
them, mith a broken and a contrite heart, to believe on
him and be saved from their sins.
Let us suppose that Christ, seated at the right hand
of God, should send into this world, not men, but angels,
to make known the story of the cross.  These angels
would come with something of supernal radiance, and
would at first create no little sensation in whatsoever
place might be honored with their advent.  But what
would be the  impressions of men  concerning the
ministry of these angels if, after a short season, they
were seen conforming extensively to the fashions of this
world; contracting the love of money, of rank, of power,
of reputation; exlliblting pride, anger, envy, malice,
and liniting the perfbrnmanee of the task assigned theim
to certain stated occasions?  It would be difficult for
men to believe that the  gospel preached by these
worldcly angels was in all respects true; that men were
perishing; tl;at the wrath o'  God wa.s impending; that




54               LOVE REVEALED.
one thing was needful. But now how is it with regard
to those whom Christ actually sends to declare his gospel?  They are first called out of the world into the
presence of Christ; they are made separate from men
-for how can they be sent unless they be first called
out?-they come forth to us as it were from the statechamber of Christ. They are a peculiar class of men
-unlike all others. They are not of the world even as
Christ is not of the world. They are ambassadors of
Christ sent forth into this world to call men to another
world —Christ's world. [Now, just ill the degree in
which they lose themselves in the common herd of men,
conforming to the world at the sacrifice of what is distinctive in them, they will be disowned by Christ.
Their commissions will be revoked; the Lord will not
acknowledge them before the sons of men. When we
bear about us the evidences that we are sent of Christ,
then he who receiveth us, receiveth Christ. "As thou
hast sent me into the world, even so have I sent them
into the world."  For "they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world." This is most explicit. The
sent of Christ are like Christ; they make known
Christ: their words are the words of Christ. Zaccheus
received Christ into his house, and soon he became
aware that the God of Abraham had visited him, and
that salvation had taken up its permanent abode under
his roof. So, in later times, a humble applicant has
sometimes found admission to a house, and the master of
that house, before the departure of his guest, has received
from him the bread of life, the saving knowledge of
Christ. Let us look upon every Christian as one with
whom  Christ is identified, an ambassador in whom




JOHN XII. 21-26.                    55
Christ is in a certain sense present with us, to receive
our daily oblation of love.
JOHN xiii. 21-26. —" When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled
in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that
one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on
another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning
on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon
Peter therefore beckoned to him, that lie should ask who it should be
of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him,
Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a
sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he
gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon."
W HEN  he had thus said-that is, had informed his
disciples that they whom  he should send were to
be in a certain sense clothed with his own dignity; that
they were to be his ambassadors to the nations and his
representatives on the earth.  NTot all of them, however;
one of this very band should prove an emissary of
Satan, and should betray Him.  He was troubled  in
spirit as he made this announcement. It wvas not a new
thought to  him.  From   the  very beginning  he had
been aware that there was in Judas what no amount of
influence-no exhibition of love, of wisdom, of power,
of holiness-would subdue, and the trouble that was
now manifested in speaking of his treachery had hitherto
inhabited his heart. He was a man of' sorrows; he
bore about with him many sorrows that were unknown
to others, and this was one of them. There was ever
before him this repulsive exhibition of humanity, suggesting that the heart of man is invincible in its hatred
of good.  "In vain your loving words and acts are lav



5      L6         LOLVE REEVEALED.
ished; the more you do for the recovery of tiflen man,
the more odious he appears; he loathles your purposes
of redemption; he asks only that you should leave himn
to himself, to his sins, to his fate."  After so many.years
of silence and suppression, this trouble of the Saviour's
heart breaks forth, and reveals itself to his disciples.
"' He testified, and said "-that is, he spake the words
mwith  a peculiar solemnity and emphasis.  This announcement fell like a blow upon the entire apostolic
body.  The treacherous intention was confined to a single breast; nevertheless, the reproach and the disgrace
in some degree radiated through all the twelve.  "The
disciples looked on one another, doubting of whom he
spake."
" Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom  one of his
disciples, whom  Jesus loved."  This is the diseiple
which testifies of these things.  John had a right
to speak of himself as the disciple wbhom  Jesus loved.
So have I, so have you.  Jesus loveth all that value
his love.  Anything beyond the gracious words and acts,
the promises and largeness, the sufferings and death, recorded in the gospel, John could not receive. And
that same heaven-embracing gospel has been sent to mue.
John was emboldened to draw very nigh to Jesus, to
take great liberties with him, to lay his head on hIis
bosomn; as far as his faith suffered him to go, so iar he
found a warrant and a response in the love of Christ.
" We have known and believed the love that God hathl
to us," wrote he afterward.   Having abandoned tlhe
miserable tendency of the humaIn heart to  easlure and
to magnify its own ar-_eetion, and having   given himself
to the one vocation of appirehellding tl.e love of Christ




JOHN XIII. 21-26.            57
to him, he continued so to do to the end of his prolonged
life. Nevertheless, we speak of him as the loving disciple, and justly, for it is only he who occupies himself
much about the love of Christ toward us that can easily
and cordially love.
"Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he
should ask who it should be of whom  he spake."
How is this, Simon Peter?  There are many that call
thee chief of the apostles and look upon thee as having
the keys of the treasury of Christ's grace, and dost
thou get another to approach Christ for thee?
"'He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him,
Lord, who is it?" He saw that Christ was not disposed to declare in the hearing of all who it was that
should betray him, and so he asked him in a whisper,
and in a whisper received the following reply, "He it
is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it."
Jesus then gave the sop to Judas Iscariot. This shows
that they were still at supper, and that the translation
of the second verse, " Supper being ended," is not correct, as was already observed, and that in all probability Judas was not present at the institution of the
Lord's Supper, as that took place after the Passover
supper, and we find that Judas went out immediately
after receiving the sop. The act of dipping a piece of
bread in the dish and giving it to another was an
act of friendliness. Up to the very last the Saviour
continued to show kindness to Judas. There is something sublime about his conduct toward him. If generosity and amity could have overcome the hardness of
man's heart, Judas would have been disarmed.




68                 LOVE R EVEALED.
JOHIN xiii. 27, 28. —"And after the sop Satan entered into him.
Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.  low no 
nan at the table knew for what intent lhe spake this unto him."
1HE  principle of evil in thie breast of Judas hlad
much to encounter in that upper chamber at t}hat
supper-t ble, for the character of Jesus was  arrayed
that evening in extraordinary loveliness.  A  spirit of'
love inundated  his heart and  expressed itself in (!1i
his words and actions.  Conscious that he was filleed
with all the fillness of God, lie was nevertheless all
grace, all condescension.  Painfully aware that an hour
of unparalleled sorrow was coming upon him, he conlcerned himself about thle lighter and less worthy sorrow that his disciples should experience.  About to be
broken and bruised and poured out for man, lie sougllt
to arm  his companions against the trouble that threatened to invade their hearts.  All the attractiveness oihis united  Godhead and  humanity rested upon him
and appealed to the profoundest sensibilities of those
who were permitted to be the companions of those
sacred hours.  Is there in all the world, I hear you
say, a heart whose malevolence would be proof against
the sacred blandishments of such a being in such lan
lour?  Yes; niot one, but many.  The word of {God
fkvors the opinionl that every heart is potentiazll  deceitful and wicked to this degree, that there are germs
of inicquity in every heart that need  only a suitable
train and combination of circumstances to fructify into
just such  marvels of malevolence as this.  The good
man who, seeing a malefactor go by to execution, said,
"'There goes John Bradford,  had it not been f.)r tlhe
grace of God," nlay look at Judas and say thle samie.
9d~C  LW~)                            tl85iyL




JOHN XIII. 27, 28.               59
Looking at Judas on this occasior, and meditating on
the celestial influences that fall around hlim without
extinguishing his wicked intent, we mlight not unprofitably consider the similar victories obtained  by the
wickedness of our own hearts over the hallowed influences of the gospel, of the people of God, of his providence, of his Spirit.
When the door of the heart is left open, Satan will
not be long in entering.  The thief is not mnore vigilant to notice every instance of a door or window left
open than Satan to notice tile open door of the heart.
Men are so circumspect with regard to their earthly
property that the robber wanders through many a street
without seeing a single unguarded entrance.  Men are
so entirely off their guard with respect to the presence
and power of Satan that he stalks through their hearts
as despotically as a king through the chambers of his
palace.  There are so many to open the door.  Pride
is ever ready to do it —is angry, indeed, when any
one for a moment shuts it.  Covetousness will do it;
resentment will do it; vanity will do it; so will selfindulgence; so will w7orldly care; the fear of nman,
too.  All these things profe'ss to be the servants of
him  whose heart they inhabit, and vehemently declare that they are altogether subject to his sway,
but they are the devoted servants of Satan, and will
never be content till they have seen himl come in state
and sway his sceptre visibly over the heart prepared for
him.
There was one there who saw the advent of Satan to
the heart of Judas; and knowing now that the unhappy creature's probation was at an end, he said to




60                LOVE REVEALED.
him, "That thou doest, do quickly."  As this great
crime was to be, Jesus wished that it might be committed quickly, but no man at the table knew for what
intent he spoke this unto him.  Judas had doubtless
felt very uncomfortable during this supper. The kindness, the cordiality, the tenderness of Jesus toward his
idisciples were like daggers in his heart.  He longed for
some opportunity of taking his departure.  He was unwilling to draw attention, and perhaps suspicion, on himself, by abruptly leaving. Jesus knew what was in his
heart, and bade him do quickly what he was determined
to do. He availed himself at once of the opportunity
given, and went forth from the presence of the Prince
of Life, leaving behind him all the promises of the
gospel, and all the invitations that had ever fallen from
the lips of Jesus in his hearing.
JOHN xiii. 29. —"For some of them thought, because Judas had
the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have
need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the
poor."
THESE surmises of the disciples are mentioned to
show how far they were from  suspecting that Judas
was about to betray Christ.  The hour was not yet
come in which they could understand that word of
Christ.  There are many words of Scripture which
only become clear when the providence of God has
brought us to the same table-land on which the fuilfillment is to be found.  Before that, we exhaust ourselves
in speculations as to the meaning of the words; somne
of these approximate to success, but the majority are
very wide of the mark; all are defective in some par



JOHN XIII. 29.                 61
ticulars. The history of the vain surmises of men with
regard to the meaning of the more obscure words of
Scripture would constitute a library in itself — some
would say a monument of folly. Scripture, however,
tells us that there is imore wisdom in endeavoring to
understand its contents than in not giving heed to
them  at all.  There is doubtless unspeakable folly
in offering to interpret the Scriptures without earnest
deprecation and renunciation of man's defective and
carnal judgment. We must not, indeed, utterly stigmatize every conjecture that does not prove correct.
The true meaning of a prophecy is often found at
the end of a chain of opinions, of progressive reasonableness, along which we are necessarily conducted
before we reach the true interpretation.
The inferences of the disciples give us incidentally
some interesting information with regard to several
points.
The twelve apostles and our Lord had a common
purse (case or box, Gr.) out of which to defray the
expenses that were common to them and to relieve
the poor. We read of certain women that ministered
unto them of their substance.  Contributions in money
were thrown into the common fund. Their expenses
must have been inconsiderable, as they traveled on foot,
met with frequent acts of hospitality, were content with
little and sought to give faith its full expression in
their lives. The state of things in the Church after
the day of Pentecost, when no man counted anything
his own and they had all things in common, seems to
have been modeled upon tlfis earlier exhibition of Christian socialism.
6




62               LOVE REVEALED.
These poor disciples cared for the poor and gave
away perhaps the larger proportion of what was
given to them.  They did not, as many do now-adays, make their poverty an excuse for not giving,
but rather made it a reason for giving; they would
have need on the morrow, and therefore it was better
to act in a way that was calculated to secure them the
blessing of God upon the morrow.  Doubtless they
often gave away all that they had, that it might be
manifest to men that they had a treasure in heaven
which God would open for them on the morrow. It
is a fearful mistake when Christians act as though they
had nothing but this perishable gold and silver of
earth, clutching it as though it were their all. "Be
without covetousness, for he hath said, I will never
leave thee." Heb. xiii. 5.
Judas was the steward and the almoner of this community. By whom he was appointed to this office we
cannot say. I incline to think that Jesus asked them
to choose one of their number for the office, and they
chose Judas. He may have had certain qualifications
that seemed to recommend him for such employment.
Some may, perhaps, deem it surprising that Judas was
not called to give an account of his stewardship at any
time, or that Jesus did not expose his dishonesty. But
we must bear in mind that the company of the twelve
were in an important sense a representative body; they
represented the Church, and it was fitting that they
should be trained and tried very much as the Church
would be in after times. Our Lord was not with them
for the purpose of depriving them of their freedom or
of their fallibility, he was not present in his capacity




JOHN XlII. 30-32.                63
of judge and assessor, and it was fitting that they
should learn, as Christians since have learned, by sure
and slow experience, the power of the adversary to
waste and destroy even in the very heart of the Church.
Jo-TN xiii. 30-32.-" He then, having received the sop, went
immediately out: and it was night. Therefore, when he was gone
out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him
in himself, and shall straightway glorify him."
T HE heart of Christ experienced a feeling of relief
when Judas went forth. It is an unspeakable advantage to the Church when they who are not of her
go forth from  her.  The perfect fellowship of Christ
and his people is hindered by the presence of ungodly
men.  He leads his people into the desert that they
who are not of them may make it manifest by refusing
to go. If persecution did nothing more than add to
the strength of the Church, by freeing it from its foreign
elements, it would be a pure gain.
Two glorifications are spoken of in the words that
follow.  One is to be immediately, the other is to
result from  it.  One is the glorification of the Son
of man and of God in him upon this earth; the
other is the glorification of the Son in God in heaven
and from heaven. The latter depends upon the former:
"If God be glorified in him."
But how shall we speak of that as glory which so
greatly resembles infamy?   The glory of God seems
to be utterly trodden under foot in the humiliations
and death of Christ: "I am a worm  and no man, a




64               LOVE REVEALED.
reproach of men and despised of the people."  "-Ie
was reckoned with the transgressors."
The believer, taught by the Spirit of God, sees the
Son of man invested with unspeakable glory even in
his sufferings and deep humiliations. Peter and John
rejoiced because they were counted wvorthy to suffer for
Christ. The spirit of glory and of God rested upon
them.  Apart from  the glory of Christ, earth has
no glory comparable with that of the martyr who
joyfully testifies to Jesus in the midst of cruel torments.  This glory, however, is but a feeble scintillation of the glory of Christ.  Look at Jesus as he
stands before Pilate to receive sentence of death. He
is the elect One of the entire race of man. All populations, all generations, from Adam to the last of the
human race, were sifted, and he alone remained holy,
harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, and meet
to be offered for sinners. All that was most glorious
and admirable in humanity was found to be deeply
soiled and stained when placed beside him. He was
not only the elect One of humanity: He that stands
beforie Pilate is the elect One of the universe. All
the inhabitants of the heavens were weighed and found
wanting; the Lamb of God was alone found worthy
to make an atonement for the sin of the world. Christ
might, therefore, fitly speak of himself as about to be
glorified, and God in him, since he was about to occupy
a position that none besides could occupy.
God was pre-eminently glorified in the suffering
Jesus, inasmuch as God is love, and the fullest exhibition of love is the largest revelation of the Godhead.
By the "glory " of God we mean the manifestation of




JOiN XIII. 30-32.             65
his perfections; and if we are not able to see it at
the cross of Christ, then we call never behold it.  The
god of this world hath blinded the minds of those who
believe not, lest tile light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. Faith, thlen, is just a capacity to see the glory
of God exhibited beyond compare in the death of
Christ.  The Christian is one who, under the guidance of the spirit of truth, exerciseth himself to discern in the humiliations and disgraces of Jesus of
Nazareth all that can enrapture and elevate the soul.
We are growing in grace just as we grow  in the
ability to discover the glory of God in those chapters
of the gospel and of the other Scriptures which speak
of Christ's baptism  of sorrow.  How little knew the
world of God! The highest and brightest manifestation of his glory was made without their surmising
anything but the shameful death of a heretic.  How
little is God yet known even in the Church! How
very faulty still are our conceptions of glory! We
pass from  earth, and cross tremblingly, shrinkingly,
the threshold of heaven, expecting to behold an intolerable blaze of glory, and we behold in the midst
of the throne a Lamb as it had been slain.  Did we
thin]k that amid the glories of heaven we would leave
the glory of the gospel behind us?  How different! It
has rushed up before us and taken its place in the midst
of the throne, and looking at us reproachfully, seems
to say, Will you know me now?  This is a matter of
absolute importance, of inexorable necessity. NWe must
come to God in Gold's way. We must come to him
through the broken body of the Lamb.  We must
6,.




66               LOVE REVEALED.
find him there with all his perfections, and must there
rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and full of glory,
or we shall never, never see his glory. If Christ were
now to come in the glory of the Father and of the
angels and of himself, it would be simply a terrifying
spectacle to us if we had not first beheld his glory on
Calvary. If Christ should speak to us from heaven
with an intent to save us, he could only bid us look to
Calvary. After Jesus had appeared to Paul near Damascus, Paul abode some days in darkness; then Ananias came and communicated, not merely eyesight, but
the Holy Ghost. Nor would Paul ever glory in anything save in the cross of Jesus Christ.
"If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify
him in himself."  God was glorified in Christ; in him
alone of all mankind was he worthily revealed. We
have all come short of the glory of God-very far short;
even the men of most honorable life, how far short!
But in Christ, in every action, every suffering, every
word, in every particular of his life and death, we see
the unmlixed and uncontaminate glory of God. Taught
of the Spirit, we say, This place is heaven, this cross
is the throne of God. Here we enter into allegiance
to the King of saints.  God has glorified him  in
himself by raising him up far above all principality
and power and might and dominion and every name
that is named, and placing him at his own right hand
clothed with all power in heaven and earth. And if
we are Awilling to receive the revelation of the glory of
God made at the cross, we shall not be left uninformed
of the celestial glory of Christ. Indeed, it is at the
cross that we are made to climb up, past the principali



JOHN XIII. 30-32.               67
ties and hierarchies of heaven, upon the footsteps of the
ascending Jesus.
By the cross we are crucified unto the world. By
our readiness to suffer for the Saviour we show our
knowledge of the suffering Saviour. If we suffer with
him, we shall also be glorified in him.  If Christ be
glorified in us, he shall also glorify us in himself.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that
when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is."
God straightway glorified Christ in himself-namely,
on the day of Pentecost.  "Whatsoever ye shall ask
in my name I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son," and the Son in the Father.  Heaven
cannot satisfy Christ.  His affections are set on things
below, even on the souls of man. "He shall see of the
travail of his soul and be satisfied " when his people
come to the knowledge of that loving, longing, waiting
heart of his, and by this knowledge, clothing themselves
with strength at the throne of grace, prevail to call
down the mighty influences of the Spirit.  Where there
is a genuine revival of religion, there the scenes of
Gethsemane and Calvary are presented anew in something of their appropriate sublimity, with this difference, that the heaven that once refused to be cleft by
the cry of the sufferer now bows responsive, and sheds
its own immortalizing influences upon, the perishing
multitudes around.




68                 LOVE REVEALED.
JOHN xiii. 33-35.-" 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. A new commandment I
give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that
ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another."
JESUS addressed the disciples sometimes as brethren,
sometimes as friends, sometimes as children, sometimes as little children, and the different expressions are
significant of various aspects in the relations between
him and them. According to the varying need of the
believer in the voyage of life is the responsive adaptedness of Christ, and possibly there is not a single relationship of life which is not suggestive, to say the least,
of something that occasionally occurs in the commerce
of the soul with its Lord.
By the expression  "little children" he here intimates that he is aware of their weakness, their exposedness, their need of protection and guidance; and the
very expression on his lips implies a promise that he
will not forget them  nor abandon them.  There was
something more in his mind that did not find utterance
till afterward, when he said to them (xiv. 18), "I will
not leave you comfortless" (orphans); " I will come unto
you."  At present he simply makes the announcement
that he is about to depart from  them.  "Yet a little
while I am with you;" that is, only a little while. I
am  shortly about. to leave you.  "Ye shall seek Dme:
and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot
come; so now I say unto you."  I am going away, and
I am  going far-farther even than to the ends of the
earth.  To the ends of the earth ve might follow me,
but I am  going to the realmls of death, that I may ob



JOHN XIII. 33-35.            69
tain the keys of death and Hades. Ye shall seek me
and shall not find me, and great wonder will fall upon
you, that I should make no distinction between you and
the Jews, going where neither you nor they could follow me. Then will a sense of unspeakable desolation
come upon you, for He that was more necessary to you
than parents are to their little children will be withdrawn. Oh, if the invitations now given would only
sink into your heart, how bravely would you meet that
hour, how submissively and how hopefully would you
bow as the dark cloud should pass over! You would
then know that your crucified Lord had gone to disarm  your enemy of enemies, even him that has the
power of death-gone where it is your unspeakable
felicity that you cannot follow, gone to shut for you
the gate of the kingdom of hell, that he may then return and, ascending on high, open for you the gate
of the kingdom of heaven.
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love
one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another." I go away, he says. They look at him in
consternation. The words are like a thunderbolt. Oh,
be not alarmed, he says; I am about to give you something that will take away your feeling of desolation;
something that shall wonderfully compensate you. I
give you-hear!-I give you a new commandment that
ye love another. But why do you look at me with such
a blank and unsatisfied expression of countenance? Is
this a little gift? Know, then, that I myself am love
incarnate; I have clothed myself with flesh that I
might reign in your hearts.  Love one another as
I have loved you, and you will no longer find me ab



70              LOVE REVEALED.
sent. You will behold me as you never did before, and
rejoice in me with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
All my life, labors, and sufferings have had this for
their end-that divine love should tabernacle permanently among men. The throne to which I continually
look forward is the throne of your affections; and if
I ascend up on high, to sit upon the throne of heaven,
it is that I, by the Spirit, may accomplish what is now
begun in the gift of this new commandment, and reign
in you. I give you the commandment, and I will give
you the heart to obey it. Love one another as I have
loved you, that earth, startled to see me ascending up
on high, may turn to you and behold, with glad surprise,
Christ in you. It were a little thing that I should come
into this world for the few brief years that are now
drawing to a close. No, I have come into it for the
purpose of identifying myself with the life of humanity, and descending from generation to generation, from
age to age. I have been manifest in the flesh, I must
be manifest in the Church. Love is about to have the
highest revelation it has ever heard; but when you gaze
on the cross, especially when the Holy Spirit enables
you to look with intelligent eyes upon it, understand
that the love there revealed is your model. You are to
find a new life there, and a new character. That which
dies upon the cross is to live in you. "As I have loved
you that ye also love one another."  "Walk in love as
Christ hath loved us and hath given himself for us."
The spirit that you behold exhibited on the cross is the
spirit of heaven. Let this spirit possess you, and
heaven itself will be in you.
Oh, when I say, "Tlhy kingdom come," come, Lord




JOHN XIII. 33-35.              71
Jesus, let me show that I know the meaning of the
words by seeking to obey the new commandment. All
commandments are comprehended in this command, for
in loving the disciple of Christ I love Christ, in loving
Christ I love God; if I love God, I will love what
God loves, I will seek what God seeks, I will be, as far
as may be, a channel for his love to flow through, gladdening and irradiating all.
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another." There is a call for the
Church, the true church of Christ, to come forth from
among the counterfeits, and give the evidence of her
divine origin. The Greek church presents herself with
innumerable tomes, declaring that she is lineally descended from the church of the apostles, is indeed that
very church, dwelling in the very lands and cities where
she was originally planted. The Romish church comes
forward with her keys, declared to be those of the kingdom of heaven, but suspected to be those of a prisonhouse peculiarly her own — Purgatory.  The Armenian
church puts in her claim; the Lutheran, the Anglican,
the Presbyterian, the Independent, the Baptist. "Which
of the various churches is the true church of Christ?
How shall we identify her?" is the cry of the age.
WVell, it is given unto all men to know which is the true
church of Christ.  Christ has communicated to us a
token by which we may identify her: "By this shall all
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one
to another."  Any church that professes to be the church
of Christ cannot be that church. The true church refuses to be circumscribed or parted by any denominational wall. It knows that Christ is repudiated when




72                 LOVE REVEALED.
his people are repudiated.  Not even a biblical creed
can yield satisfactory evidence that a specified church is
the true church. True Christians are those who love
one another across denominational differences, and exhibit the spirit of Him who gave himself to death upon
the cross that his murderers might live.
" By this shall all men know."  This is that evidence
that none shall be able to resist.  When Christians love
one another with the love of Calvary, then the people
who dwell in the heart of Africa, Australia, China,
Japan, Tartary, Siberia, Arabia, Russia, Austria, America and England will know who are the people of God,
and will hasten to them, ten men laying hold upon the
skirts of one, to learn the way of life.  For He who bore
testimony unto his well-beloved Son from  heaven will
bear testimony to those in whom  Christ, the hope of
glory, is thus formed again.  " That they may be one in
us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
JOIHN xiii. 36-38. —" Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither
goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto
him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life
for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for
my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow,
till thou hast denied me thrice."
"NX W HITHER  goest thou?"  If we suppose this to
have been a question prompted by mere curiosity, Peter did not obtain  much satisfaction.  Our
Lord did not inform him  as to the "whither," but simply renewed the statement that Peter and his companions were to be left behind; only for a season, however.




JOHN XIII. 36-38.           73
Very likely the idea in Peter's mind was, What place
is that to which I cannot follow thee?  I will follow
thee everywhere. Jesus answered him, Thou canst not
now; thou hast an erroneous estimate of thy ability;
at a future period thou shalt have what thou now lackest, and difficulties will not hinder thee then from following me. Ah, says Peter, thou thinkest that I have
not the courage to suffer for thee and with thee; thou
knowest not the strength of my attachment; others
may forsake thee in the trying hour; that hour will
only afford the proof of my invincible fidelity; I am
Peter, and I will follow thee, and, if need be, I will
lay down my life for thy sake.
Well, this was no extravagant profession of attachment. Every one that professes to be a Christian professes as much as this. "tie that will come after me,"
says Christ, " let him take up his cross and follow me."
Over and over again he informs us that to follow him
is to forsake all. A man with a cross is a man on his
way to execution; the place of execution may be near
or far-so far perhaps that the man will die before he
reaches it; nevertheless, he and death are acquainted.
Peter, then, went no farther, when he said, "I will lay
down my life for thy sake," than he had virtually gone
every day since he had begun to follow Christ. We all
of us say the same thing every day, and must say it.
We must, however, do a good deal more than say it.
" Thou canst not follow me now."  What an inestimable blessing it is-if we are willing to know it —that
there is One who has perfect knowledge of our present
state, and who can tell exactly what strength we lack!
We are continually trusting to some supposed ability
7




74               LOVE REVEALED.
within, and rushing into the thick of the fight of life,
there to be jeeringly mowed down by some rude cut of
an adverse sword.  What frightful losses we sustain
from self-ignorance! Oh for one to search and try us,
and give us the exact measure of our abilities! Well,
there is One. Jesus, named the Counselor, the W5onderful, the Physician, the Friend of sinners, comes to
us, and lays before us a faithfill statement of our abilities. Thou canst not, he begins; but the willful patient
exclaims, Why can I not? and rushes forth upon his
fatal enterprise.
Men are ordinarily obliged to learn by experience.
By failures, by disappointments, by egregious mistakes,
by calamities, by immedicable woes, they ascertain their
own frailty, foolishness and dependence. But wherefore should the Christian abide under the pressure of
this yoke?  Why should it be necessary for him  to
make his way through miseries and sins to a just conception of himself? It is not necessary. It is a monstrous anomaly that he should do it. In the very fact
that he has taken Christ to be leader and commander,
it is implied that he has recognized his own incomlpetency to judge himself, his need of hourly enlightenment.
He comes to Christ for instruction, not merely, like
N\icodemus, with regard to the wonders of heaven, but
also with regard to his personal capacities and deficiencies.
He that refuses to receive Christ's testimony to his
present weakness and the unsuspected treachery of his
heart, and prefers rather to listen to his heart, which
rises up blusteringly and says, Do not believe a word
of all this; I am strong, I am valiant, I am true: rely
on me,-such a one must not think it wonderful if




JOHN XIII. 36-38.             75
Christ should let him drop down into the very bottom
of the abyss toward which he hastens. The faith that
does not hearken to Christ, that hearkens rather to one's
own heart, is a mere phantom faith; it is the demon of
unbelief under the angelic mask of faith.
The heart is deceitful above all things.  Anything
else deceives us once or twice, it may be; after that we
will have nothing more to do with it; it may go down
on its knees, we will not listen to it. But the heart,
though it has been detected a thousand times in the
most flagrant and detestable acts of deception, though it
has ensnared us in all manner of calamities and disgraces, is, nevertheless, audacious as a robber and
haughty as a king, whilst it unfolds before us some new
scheme on which it requires us to enter. To think, O
Peter, that that wicked and oft-detected heart of yours
should have the boldness in this solemn hour to give
Christ the lie! To think of the Son of the Blessed receiving up to the very last such shafts of insolence
from that heart of yours, from these hearts of ours!
If we could get the victory over our heart, and drag
it to Jesus, and say to him, Yes, Lord, it is a vile,
craven thing, capable of any treachery, any apostasy.
Yes, Lord, I believe that I am capable of denying thee
times without number and under circumstances the most
aggravated. But I have done with mine own heart.
Believing on thee, I have something infinitely better
than this vile heart to rely upon: I have thine own
heart of love divine and truth inviolable. To this I
look. It is because I am capable of the basest treachery that I have made thee my refuge. Thou art my
strength, my steadfistness, my rock of ages. I am com



7 6               LOVE REVEALED.
plete in thee,-then Satan is baffled, and there shall be
no denial of Christ.
Well, we do get this victory over our heart, and, perhaps-the Lord knoweth-the fall of Peter had something to do with this our victory. The exposure of the
frauds of the human heart, made through such falls as
his, has helped us to know our inward foe, and powerfully stimulated us to hide ourselves in Christ.
" Thou canst not follow me now."  There is hope in
the word "now."  It seems to half open the door to a
better, brighter fiuture. Yes, the door opens, but thou
shalt follow me afterward. An unseen thread, made,
however, of such stuff that no power of earth could
break it, accompanied Peter as he fell into the bottomless abyss of unbelief.  Down, down, he goes, the
light of day is left far behind, the horrors of everlasting
night seem gathering about him, yet still he plunges
down, down. But at length he is arrested. The unseen thread checks him  in his descent and draws him
upward again. " I have prayed for thee that thy faith
fail not." To any other eye but that of Jesus it had
failed. He, however, seeth not as man seeth, for he
seeth with an eye of invincible love.
JOHN xiv. 1, 2.-" Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you."
THERE is here a slight ambiguity in the Greek.
The same word which is translated "ye believe,"
and "believe," may be either in the imperative or in
the indicative. On the whole, we incline to take it




JOH1IN XIV. 1, 2.               77
in both places in the imperative: "Let not your heart
be troubled: believe in God, and believe in me."
They had gathered from the language of Jesus that
some dread hour was approaching.  The very agitation
of mind which expresses itself in earnest protestations
of one's own fearlessness is evidence, to a heart-searching eye, that there will he vacillation and flight in the
trying hour.  The trouble which is here deprecated is
that which is inconsistent with faith.  It implies a vanquishing of faith.  It must be vanquished by faith.
It is not the wish of Christ that his people should be
troubled. Have this point thoroughly settled in your
mlind.  Christ often acts in a way that appears to a
half-considerate spectator designed to trouble and confound his soul. One arrow after another, winged fromn
the throne which he is taught to call a throne of grace,
reaches him and drinks up his very life-blood.  Must I
remain thus a mark for the arrows of the Almighty
and not be troubled?  What'm I that I should not be
troubled by the strokes of divine Providence?  If a
mere earthly friend smite me, I am dismayed and confobunded; and shall I regard it as a matter of little
moment when the Lord of lords pours out his indignation on me?
Have faith, and those strokes shall not harm you.
Lay aside faith, and they will be formidable indeed.
What matters it if you be called to walk through a
shower of thunderbolts if you be at the same time fuirnished with a shlield tempered in the very armory where
those bolts were forged-a shield on which they fall
harmless?  He that sends the terrors sends also the command, "Let not your heart be troublcd." Take the shield
z..




78               LOVE REVEALED.
of faith and walk scatheless. How shall it be known
that you have such a shield if there be no missiles
hurled against you? By this shall it be known that ye
are the disciples of Jesus-by the serenity and freedom
from anxiety with which you can meet the storms of
life. There are troubles innumerable; but you, 0 believer, are entrusted with a secret by virtue of which
those troubles become to you no troubles. What troubles are there for an untroubled mind?  United to
Christ by an invincible faith, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, only afford new
opportunities for faith to manifest itself and glorify its
Lord.
" Believe in God, and believe in me." A strange combination, if Christ were what some think him. The
Scriptures, in a hundred emphatic passages, declare that
faith in any besides God is a renunciation of God. He
will not give his glory to another. That is the great
sin of universal humanity; glorifying as God that which
is not God. But God was in Christ reconciling the
world unto himself. To win men to trust in him was one
of the great ends of God's visit to earth in the person of
his Son. However much the disciples might see of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, it was all but
impossible for them, from  the nature of things, in
thinking of God,, to bring their thoughts down from
heaven and a throne of awe to that Being whom they
saw before them clothed in flesh and blood. The impress of deity was there, but how could they school
their minds to recognize essential deity as dwelling in
the temple of Christ's body? No; it was necessary,
first, that the veil should be withdrawn, that Christ




JOIN- XIV. 1, 2.               79
should ascend up; then it became possible for them to
see these two blessed ideas, of God and Christ, interfused and mutually glorifying.  At present, their minds
made a transition in taking up the two commands, Believe in God, believe in me. Believe in God, whose
power and majesty and wisdom you cannot doubt; believe in me, whose friendliness, kilndness, condescension,
long-suffering, gentleness, faithfulness, you  so well
know. Progress in the spiritual life has a great deal to
do with the approximation and unification of these two
forms of faith. The believer obtains power just in the
degree in which he is able to ascribe to the Father the
perfections and the loveliness of Christ-to Christ the
power, majesty and unlimited authority of God.
"In my Father's house are many mansions; if it
were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you."  Let not your heart be troubled, even
should your life be threatened; for there is plenty of
room in my Father's house besides which this earth
affords.  If vou shrink back at the menace of men,
and lose faith in God and in me, then, alas! you are
not in my Father's house. This is the frightful doom
of unbelief. But if you have an enduring faith, then
men can only expel you from  one chamber of my
Father's house to another more desirable.  Had there
been no room  in his Father's house above, he would
have told us. Had it been necessary for us to spend
some years or centuries in a place of fire called Purgatory, he would have told us. O blessed Saviour! can
it be that men calling themselves thine have so calumlniated thee as to assert that the place prepared by thee
to receive thy disciples after death is a place of tor



80               LOVE REVEALED.
ment?  In thy Father's mansion thou preparest a place
for them whom by faith thou preparest for it.  The
great preparation there effected is thine own presence.
It is fitting that they should be with thee, where thou
art, and behold thy glory.
The place where Jesus was thus communing with his
disciples had been prepared beforehand by two of themn
despatched for that very purpose.  The language of
Jesus, "I go to prepare a place for you," would come
with a familiar sound to their ears.  Perhaps they
would picture to themselves some royal apartment having twelve thrones besides the chief throne. Soon, however, their ideas were to undergo a great change, and a
very few days elapsed before the kingdom  of God and
of Christ, the relations of this world to the next, the
relations of Jews and Gentiles, the proper objects of
Christian aspiration, were understood by them very differently from what they had been before. On the day
of Pentecost they found themselves in a place of dignity, power, and joy far transcending the unworthy conceptions of these things previously entertained; and
viewed from this place, how glorious and attractive now
seemed the heaven of promise! In the fifth, seventh,
twenty-first, and twenty-second chapters of Revelation
we too catch glorious glimpses of that better land. The
more elevated the spot on which we stand, the more gloriously does it break upon our straining eyes.  The
more of heaven we have here below, through the outpouring of the Spirit, the more rapturous become our
anticipations of the glory that is to come.




JOHN XIV. 3-5.                   81
JoHN xiv. 3-5.-" 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. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and
how can we know the way?"
THE disciples had been some years learning to know
Christ in the flesh; it was now needful that they
should learn to know him  apart from the flesh.  He
tarried among them till they had begun to get glimpses
of God manifest in humanity, and just then it was expedient for him  to go away.  The invisible came to
them in the visible, and when it had established a sure
bond of connection between them and itself, then the
visible disappeared. Look upon the person of Christ
as a vase filled with celestial gifts; the breaking of the
vase is the diffusion of the gifts.  "I go," says Jesus.
The thought of it is to them unbearable. He adds, " I
go to prepare a place for you."  Well, there is comfort
in this explanation. It is on our account he goes. But
still he goes, and what are we without him? Did we
ever more need him than now we do?  We shall be
of all men most miserable without him, for he has
stripped us of the semblances of strength and wisdom
that we formerly had in common with other men, and
taught us to find our life, our all, in him.  We have
embraced his cause, and now, when men are beginning
to understand that cause and are filled with an insatiate
rancor against all connected with it, he takes his departure.  For him to go away is for our sun to sink in
perpetual night, leaving us to frightful darkness and
desolation. It is kind in him, doubtless, to go and prepare a place for us, but how can we reach that place
without him? Surely he overlooks our weakness, our




82               LOVE REVEALED.
ignorance, our helplessness: " how can we know the
way?"
Though I go, says Jesus, "I will come again and
receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye
may be also."  If I go, it is in order that we may be
the more perfectly united. It would be strange indeed
if I should go away for the purpose of preparing a
place for you, and then should neglect anything necessary to bring you to that place. We cannot but regard
these words " I am," frequently occurring in these chapters, as possessing a profound and special significance.
WVhile Jesus was on the earth he yet dwelt in a region
far above the earth. He brought all that he could of
himself down to earth, but still there was a fellowship
between him and the Father, him and the lHoly Ghost,
that others could not enter into or understand.  He
found it impossible to translate into the dialect of those
who surrounded him many of the most glorious thougllts
of his mind. There was much of heaven that he could
not lay aside, any more than he could cease to be himself; and into this heaven his disciples could no more,
at that time, enter than they could cease to be theniselves.  But his constant aspiration was to bring his
disciples up to this blessed region of purity and liglht
and strength and perfect love and victory and intelligence with God: "that where I AM there they may b)e
also."  When Jesus rose from the dead and appeared
to the disciples, then he began to receive them  unto
himself. During the forty days succeeding, they found
themselves gradually and mysteriously ascending unto
a higher region, and by the day of Pentecost they had
begun to breathe something of the very air which Jesus




JOHN XIV. 3-5.                83
had been all along breathing. Oh that we might be
stimulated by these words "I am"! Our souls should
iwell in the same region where the soul of Christ abode
when he was on the earth. It is a light matter for the
Spirit of God to lift us into that region. But have we
the aspiration? Are we willing to cut ourselves loose
from the vain clogs that chain us to the earth of common humanity?  Do we consent to hear the voice
which says to us, Come up hither? Faith is like an
ethereal gas that struggles to take itself and us away
from the grosser airs of the lower atmosphere to a
region free from storms and perturbations. It is not
more true that Christ died to save us than that he died
to procure for us the means of living a divine life upon
the earth-a life of wonderful communion with God and
with Christ, in which all Christian experiences should
undergo a transfiguration, and Christian peace, joy, faith,
become a thousand times the things they are in an ordinary Christian life.  This is that translation of the
believer which is attended with blessings to the world
at large, more copious, more precious than those which
stood connected with the translations of Enocll and
Elijah. "The Son of man which is in heaven," said
Christ of himself while yet on the earth. Well, this is
where he would bring the believer.  When our friends
sleep in Jesus, with regard to us it is indeed a sleep.
They may be blessed, but their hands no longer scoop
from the urn of God blessings for us. Now that which
earth intensely needs is that there should be ascension
without sleeping-that the believer should by faith
ascend to a region where he could hold perfect commerce
with the skies without being lost to earth. The Roman



84               LOVE REVEALED.
ist talks of his saint in heaven; we need saints that
shall be at the same time in heaven for us and on earth
for Christ. Then will be fulfilled the word, Arise,
shine; the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
" I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the
world."  "I in them and thou in me, that they may
be made perfect in one; that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast
loved me." " Father, I will that they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am."  "I am glorified in them."  Christians are to emulate one another
in the great work of bringing down to earth the riches
of heaven. It is treason to humanity to propose working out your own salvation in a way that should secure
your salvation and nothing else.  The glory of that
path of salvation which Christ has marked out for you
is that it is a path umbraged withl trees of salvation;
you are to go saving that you may be saved.
"And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither
thou goest; and how can we know the way?"  Ah,
Thomas, this is not a creditable confession for thee to
make. Didst thou never hear the Master say, "I go
unto him that sent me. What, and if ye shall see the
Son of man ascend up where he was before"?  Here
has this gracious Lord been spending years with thee
for the very purpose of teaching thee these things,
and now at the last thou canst find nothing better
for his suffering spirit than the heartless announcement that all has been in vain.  As yet thy mind
is all in the dark with regard to this most important
point of the place whither and the way in which thou




JOHN XIV. 6.                  85
art to follow him.  There is but one way in which
to follow any one: fix thine eye upon him and tread
in his footsteps.  "He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Thus I upbraid Thomas, and thus some one else may
upbraid me, another Thomas; but happily our Lord
giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not. After all,
it is very unbecoming in us to get angry with Thomas,
for we owe to his ignorance and dullness the precious
declaration with which Jesus answered him.
JoHN xiv. 6. —"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
I  AM  the way and the truth and the life; I am the
way, the means and the end; I am the Alpha and
the Omega of thy salvation; he that is in me is in the
way, and he was not in the way before he looked to me.
Just where the sinner is, in that very quagmire,
begins the WAY; Christ meets him  there and helps
him there. Delusive and most dangerous is the ideaalas! too common —that the individual must make his
way to some smooth rock, to some fair piece of ground,
and there meet Christ. Not a single step heavenward
can he take until he depends on Christ. By the law
he may become acquainted with his own sin and obtain
a most poignant sense of his need of Christ, but it is
an error that cannot be too stubbornly opposed that
mere conviction of sin shows a man to be in the way
of life. The devils are not unconvinced of sin. Judas
had deep convictions of sin. A horror of great darkness gathers around many who find themselves about
8




86               LOVE REVEALED.
to fall into the hands of the living God.  In all
this there is nothing in the least degree saving. A
man may open his eyes to the fact that some deadly
disease has fallen upon him, but there is nothing
recuperative in this perception.  Conviction of our
need is necessary that we may turn to Christ, but
the moment in which we so turn is the very earliest
of which it could be said that we are in the path to
heaven. That conviction which leads a man to look
to Christ, though so shadowy as to elude our diagnosis,
is yet to be valued far above the most agonizing convictions which hold the soul in their own embrace and
suffer it not to turn to Christ. Whosoever will, let
him take of the water of life freely; it springs up at
the very feet of every sinner. Men may spend some
time in search before they embrace salvation in Christ,
they may dignify delay by the name of search, but its
true name is unbelief. Alas for the thief upon the
cross, had he spent any time in such search! Look and
be saved.  This is the way, walk ye in it.
"What is truth?" said Pilate.  "I am the truth,"
says Jesus, but men will not hear him; they hear
nothing but the echo of their own question.  There
are men around whose feet the truth is springing
thickly up, like grass, and who cannot take a step
without treading on it, but who would laugh you to
scorn at the suggestion that the truth is aught resembling that familiar and humble drapery of earth;
yet these very men imagine themselves to be ardent
truth-seekers, and never look to heaven without a sigh
at their inability to penetrate the void of space and
make their way to the far-hidden world where Truth




JOHN XIV. 6.                   87
holds her sequestered court.  The truth is with the
believer in Jesus, and it is with him abundantly. He
knows what thou, O  Pilate, O  Plato, knowest not;
he knows his own weakness, ignorance, misery, sin
and need. He knows that Jesus is the Saviour-his
Saviour. The promises of God are glorious realities
to him. At the cross of Christ he beholds the solution of the mysteries that perplex thee.  He washes
in a fountain opened up for sin and for uncleanness.
He overcomes the adversary. He is contented in the
midst of sore privations, and is elate in the presence
of appalling calamities. He meets death with a smile
and goes on high with a shout of joy.  Is not the
truth with him? Learn from him to abandon thy vain
speculations, and to give heed to the despised words of
Jesus. Thou sittest as a high priest upon thy throne
and biddest the words of Jesus stand  before thee
and be judged.  It is impossible that thou shouldst
discern their true character in this way. Let the words
judge thee. It is thou that must stand before them.
They will tell thee all thy sin, all things that ever
thou didst.  This only will they show thee?  Nay,
before thou hast had time to turn pale with alarm
they will lead thee into a mansion of great joy.  Christ
is the truth; and they who reject Christ or neglect
him may sail over all possible seas, study in all
schools, have commerce with all classes, yet the truth
shall never be theirs. They reject Christ because he
seems to be so different from themselves.  His maxims are entirely different from theirs. There is an utter
diversity between his beatitudes and theirs.  His views
of this world and of that to come are quite irreconcil



88              LOVE REVEALED.
able with theirs, and so they conclude that he cannot
be the truth. Every man seems to go upon the presumption that he himself is the incarnation of truth,
his mind the touchstone by which the possessions of all
minds may be tested. But God speaks from heaven,
testifying that Christ is the truth, and by that one word
casts the pretensions of all men to the ground.
Sin falsifies everything; itself, the universe, God and
the individual are plunged by it into the centre of a fictitious world. When the soul is united to Christ by
faith, it is restored to the true centre of the true world,
and begins now to see aright both what God has made
and what God is. In the fictitious world it had a fictitious life; it made many conquests, heaped up many
possessions, clothed itself with dignity, power and wisdom; but all was fictitious, unreal, delusive. In Christ
the believer's horizon may appear at first to be very
circumscribed; his attention is called to matters that
were formerly deemed slight and contemptible. But as
he continues faithfiflly to observe the new world in
which he is placed, he becomes aware that that world
is enlarging. No matter in what direction he sends his
eager gaze, the curtains withdraw, the universe expands,
he joyfully realizes that he is in the true centre; in a
word, that the truth is his-not a portion of truth, but
the truth. The truth is that which establishes a perfect
correspondence between the universe and the percipient
mind, between the knowable and the cognizant spirit.
And the proof is found in the harmonious and unrestricted range of the mind. The heavens declare the
glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork; to whom? to himn alone who in Christ possesses




JOHN XIV. 17-9.                  89
the truth.  HIe that possesses a portion of truth may at
first know a great deal more than lhe who has simply
the truth, but his knowledge will avail him  not; he is
not in the true centre; he is in the fictitious world, and
sooner or later he must dash against existing things, and
encounter the storm  of God's misunderstood thoughts.
But he that has the truth has eternity to grow in, and
the entire universe is his home.  He may range from
the throne of God to the verge of the bottomless pit,
and nothing shall by any means harm him or confound
him.  There is an understanding   between him  and
God.  There is in him that which all finite ministries
are commanded to foster, namely, life.
No man cometh unto the Father save by Christ.  If
you tell me that you have come unto the Father without him, I tell you then that you must be arrested for
having violated the sacred precincts of your sovereign.
It is a dangerous place for a rebel to be surprised in.
Go back quickly, make haste to deny that you have
ventured near God, and look imploringly to Him  by
whom  alone God hath solemnly declared shall any
approach him  with impunity.  Come to him  through
Christ, and you shall find him a God of love; come
otherwise, and he will be found of you a consuming fire.
JOHIN xiv. 7-9. —"If ye had known me, ye should have known
my Fathler also; and fr-om henceforth ye know him, and have seen
him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you,
and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath
seen my Father, and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?"
IN what manner should a revelation be made?  To
many it would seem  that; the answer must be this:
S'i




90               LOVE REVEALED.
Whatever you have to declare, that declare in intelligible language. The answer is correct, but it involves a
great deal more than is supposed. In order to know
what language will be intelligible, we must know the
mind of the individual to whom the communication is
to be made; we must know what he knows, in order
that we may know what he is prepared to understand.
If we find that there is a great gulf of ignorance stretching from his knowledge to that which we wish to communicate, it will not do for us to ignore this immense
blank, and address him as though he had advanced in
knowledge to the immediate neighborhood of the revelation to be made; for if we did so, our words would
be entirely lost upon him. The gap must be filled up
or bridged over.  Preliminary information must be
given. And whatever communications are made, their
particular form  and feature lmust be adapted to the
measure of apprehension in the mind addressed. It is
easy to say that truth is one and should be boldly and
simply outspoken. That which to a superior intelligence would be the simplest and faithfullest expression
of truth would actually convey a false impression to a
mind more immature.  If God, in giving a revelation
to man, had used such methods and such language as
would have conveyed the facts most clearly and impressively to the intelligence of heaven, it is certain
that the whole would have been unintelligible to man.
They that teach an infant to articulate do not address
it in the language of adult men, but in some specially
coined words believed to be more fitted to the condition
of the organs. The child learns a language which it
can afterward throw away; the great victory has been




JOHN XIV. 7-9.                91
obtained: its organs of articulation have been developed
and made meet for the exigencies of life.
Judaism was an all-important preliminary to that
revelation of his grace which the Lord our God was
bent on making fioom the very first. Jesus Christ was
God manifest in the flesh, but it was necessary that the
manifestation should be gradually made. It was fitting
that he should have at the beginning divine attestations,
that men might look on him as one empowered to speak.
It was fitting that those moral characteristics in which
he was to be an example to men should have an abundant exhibition. It was fitting that his disciples should
slowly and surely learn the unblemished purity of his
character and his moral elevation above all the children
of men.  As they became strengthened to bear it, increased vision of his nature was given them. As they
grasped one truth, they reached a stepping-stone by
which they could grasp another. At length they were
informed that in him was all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. "If ye had known me, ye should have
known my Father also."  They had actually been making acquaintance with the Father in making acquaintance with Christ. They were now to recognize that the
kindness, friendliness, long-suffering and patience of
Jesus were the kindness, friendliness, long-suffering and
patience of God. He had been all this time with them
for the very purpose of making known to them the disposition and the perfections of the Father.  "From
henceforth ye know him and have seen him."  The
words, the looks, the acts of Christ, were the words,
looks, acts of the Father. This and all other state



92               LOVE REVEALED.
ments of Christ the Father has ratified by raising him
from the dead.
But no man hath seen God at any time. No man hath
seen his fellow-man, for his fellow-man is an invisible
spirit occupying temporarily a visible body.  Light,
hearing, etc. simply relate to the mediums of communication. God may give such a revelation of his glory
as no creature could sustain. But let it not be supposed that a revelation of his glory and majesty such as
would transfix the universe would be a greater revelation of God than that which meets us in Christ. The
Christian knows that the contrary is true.
"Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father
and it sufficeth us."  Show me not the Father out of
Christ! Let me leave it to a thoughtless world to utter
this request. They ask to see God, to see the dread
sovereign against whom they have rebelled, to meet that
accumulated wrath which they have been all their lifetime heaping tlp. They that refuse to see the Godhead
in Christ cut themselves off firom all hope of seeing
God otherwise than as the God of vengeances.
"Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast
thou not known me, Philip?  I-Ie that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show
us the Father?"  iot that Jesus had been telling him
daily that he was the manifestation of God: far from it;
but God was revealed in his acts and words. The implication is that these acts and utterances had been constantly testify'ing to the divinity of his nature. An intirnation was given to Philip that he had lost the chief
testimony that Christ had been uttering on earth. Acting on the lighlt now given, Philip, dotbtless now, or at




JOHN XIV. 10-12.                    93
a later period, re-examined the photograph of Christ's
life-the gospel in his memory-and joyfully recognized
in a thousand mianute deeds and expressions of tile Sayviour a divine radiance.  Things which  he had  seen
with scarcely any emotion, and  had straightway dismissed fromn memory as of no valule now  suddenly assunme the very highest value, and his whole soul kindles
over the faded reminiscences with an ardlor and joy sunspeakable..And  is it not just possible thatl tlie reader
of this may receive an unction from on ]high, conveyed
to him  througlh the mediumn  of some overlooked text,
that shall suddenly clothe the whole of the ScriDture
testimony concerning Jesus with a glory and a power
hitherto unknown?
JOHN xiv. 10-12. —" Believest thou not that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me? the words that f speak unto you I speak not
of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else
believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and
greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."
CHRIST, with all his works and all his wvords, was
in the Father, and the Father was in Christ, even
in all his words and all his works.  True faith in Christ
embraces these glorious faets, and  the believer lives
under the power of them.  It is impossible that faith
should run away with us into the region of error if we
idenltify Christ with HEim  that sitteth upon the throne
of the universe.  There is no danger of our calrryin g'
Christ too high.  There is sometinles a timidity in the
mind, lest one should go too far and find too much of




94              LOVE REVEALED.
the Godhead in Christ. But was there any timidity
in Christ's expression on this subject?  On the contrary, he luxuriated in the boldest language. Were it
right for any one to be scrupulous in this matter, it
would have been supremely right for Christ to be soand he would have been so. He was the last person in
the universe to use language that could possibly prove
derogatory to God or savor of ambition in himself.
He sought not his own glory, but the glory of Him that
sent him, and he was never more intent upon the glory
of Him that sent him than when he spoke the words
now under comment. He thought it not robbery to use
this language. He that robs takes from another, but
Christ took nothing from the glory of the Father in
saying that the Father was in him, his words, his works.
Neither does he rob us of anything when he asks us to
make room in our minds for this mighty truth. Perhaps we are not willing to part with our erroneous conceptions of the Father because they have been long entertained. It is high time we were rid of them; they
dispossess the mind of great treasures, unsearchable
riches.
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father and
the Father in me?" Oh, certainly I believe it. How
could I be a Christian if I did not believe this? But
ah! take heed; faith is something very different from
subscribing a formula.  Many persons simply pronounce their own condemnation in repeating the words
of a creed. Were you to hear a man say, as he sat
quietly in a large building, "I believe there is to be a
tremendous earthquake in a few minutes," you would
say the man's prolfssioll is a lie, or else he courts de



JOHN XIV. 10-12.              95
struction. There is too much repetition of creeds, and
that is the reason there is so much infidelity in the world.
Instead of hastily saying, "I believe," test yourself,
weigh what you call your faith in the balances of the
sanctuary. Go carefully through the gospel, take up
the words of Christ one after another and see if you
can hear in each the united utterance of the Father
and of the Son. Take, for instance, that word: "Seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and
all these things shall be added unto you." Do you
hear in this the voice of the omnipotent God?  Have
you faith here? Your life must answer. Can you
trust God to supply you with the temporal gifts you
need, while you seek to secure for yourself or for
others his blessing in Christ? Or do you make the
supposed obligation of attending to your temporal concerns the excuse for neglecting those of your soul?
Do you allow a small worldly difficulty to hinder you
from attending the assemblies of God's praying people?
For a man to say, " I believe," is the same as for him
to say, "I follow Paul."  "The Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works."  Consider these works,
consider them carefully, one by one, and see if you
can apprehend them one and all as done by the Father.
You will find this a most profitable employment. You
will become sensible of your want of faith, of the imperfect developments of your faith as to the power of
the truth in vanquishing sin. Day by day your faith
will be strengthened, and you will find that the apostles did not exaggerate when they spoke of the kingdom of God as "righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Ghost."




96              LOVE REVEALED.
In like manner Christ has said, "My words, they
are spirit and they are life."  Let us look at all the
words of Christ with reference to the discovery of
spirit and life in them alone. Let us knock at every
text till it gives forth to us its treasure of spirit and of
life.
"Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake."
Believe me; believe my simple declaration; I am no
visionary, no enthusiast; I have never been known
to speak at random; no falsehood was ever heard
issuing from my mouth; and it is in the nature of
things impossible that I should be deceived in regard
to this matter. If you believe my other words concerning myself, why not this word? If you find it
difficult to believe this on my simple attestation, then
believe it on the testimony of the works. Have not
the power and other perfections of God been worthily
exhibited in the miracles which I have wrought —
wrought by virtue of the power and the perfections
dwelling in me? Surely you would not so disparage
the majesty of heaven as to give the glory of his
works to a creature! I have spoken at this time, but
my works have been speaking all along.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also."  The
works that Christ performed bore testimony to the
fact that he was God manifest in the flesh.  Receiving this testimony, his people are enabled  to
perform  similar miracles, or rather such miracles follow them  that believe.  The miracles performed by
them bear the same testimony that those of Christ




JOHN XIV. 10-12.               97
do.  In fact, they are all of Christ.  Christ alone
is possessed of miraculous powers.  It was he that
struck Elymas the sorcerer blind, though the word
was spoken by Paul.  Faith unites the believer to
Christ, so that he receives of Christ's fullness even
grace for grace. Had the power of Christ over diseases, devils and death not been exhibited through
his disciples, there would not have been an impressive exhibition  of the all-important fact that the
believer is by his faith united to Christ even as the
branch is to the vine. The influences and efficiencies of
the vine all reveal themselves in the branch. As Christ
is, so are we in this world. But the exhibition of his
power may be, we conceive, limited or modified by the
measure of our faith. What we see of Christ in the
Church is no true guide to the measure of his willingness to reveal himself on this globe; it is simply a
guide to the measure of his people's faith. This is
certain, that he never intended by the translation of
his body to heaven to deprive earth of any of his
energy or power or virtue. He ascended up on high
that he might more widely diffuse his grace and his
glory in the earth, that he might, in his disciples, visit
every nation and flash forth upon the vision of all mankind the evidences of his power to bless unto the uttermost.
Oh for the faith that would bring us nearer to Christ,
and bring Christ nearer to a world lying in wickedness!  "All things are possible to him that believeth."
"Help thou our unbelief."
9




98               LOVE REVEALED.
JoHN xiv. 12, 13. —"And greater works than these shall he do;
because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my
name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
ORE and more it becomes evident that it is expedient for Christ to go to the Father, for we, his
disciples, in a certain sense ascend with him and enter
into the very treasury of God's power. The way into
the holiest is thus made manifest. Christ goes unto
the Father that he may receive gifts for men. Seeing
him thus mount up and sit down at the right hand
of the Majesty on high, our faith is emboldened to
scale the heights of heaven and ask the largest testimony from the Father to the worth of the Son. Christ
is the vine and his people are the branches, and it is
only through the branches that the vine brings forth
fruit. He uses language the most general; he says,
not, " You shall do these greater works," but, " He that
believeth " shall do them. What Christ can do faith
can do. There is no fear that faith will misuse this
power, for the same faith that looks to the power of
Christ looks also to his wisdom, and is guided implicitly by him.
Immediately after the promise, " Greater works than
these shall the believer do," comes the information
that it is Christ himself that doeth the works: " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do." They
who know that they can of their own selves do nothing,
and yield themselves to Jesus for the accomplishment
of his purposes, become a medium through which the
fullest and most glorious exhibition of Christ's power
can appropriately be made.  "I have a baptism  to
be baptized with," said our Lord, on one occasion;




JOHN XIV. 12, 13.            99
"and how am I straitened until it be accomplished&-'
During his life on earth he was very much restricted
in the exercise of his power: "For the Holy Ghost
was not yet given, because Christ was not yet glorified." But after the ascension, wherever there was
a believer there was an omnipotent Christ. A thousand cities mighlt simultaneously behold the displays
of his power. On the day of Pentecost a thousand
of the fiercest enemies of Christ laid down their weapons and proclaimed him  Lord to the glory of God
the Father. The hearts of his own immediate disciples, so imperfectly subdued during his ministry, having been brought into complete subjection by the
outpouring of the Spirit from the throne of their risen
Lord, he went forth conquering and to conquer. The
hoary mythologies of Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome
fled at the advent of his gospel. Nations representing
the larger part of the earth's population parted with
their time-honored and art-honored superstitions and
acknowledged Christ as the Saviour. It was sufliciently manifest then that Christ had all power in
heaven and in earth.  He had subjugated what was
most formidable upon earth; he had done it in answer
to the prayers of his people and through the instrumentality of his people; and in that day there might
reasonably have been entertained a hope that the promise in Daniel would now be fulfilled, and the greatness
of the kingdom under the whole heaven be given to the
saints of the Most High. But the great works of Christ
are indissolubly connected with faith; and when Christ
was evidently declaring in providence his readiness to
make all his enemies his footstool, then, alas! his people




100             LOVE REVEALED.
proved recreant; they attempted to join the strength
of the world to that of Christ, to mix up something
else with Scripture, to divide their faith between heaven
and earth, reality and falsehood, and the consequence
was that the Church had to make a long and fearful
and all but irrecoverable plunge into the abyss of the
Dark Ages.
In these later days it is again becoming manifest that
Christ giveth power unto his people. They are learning once again the lesson set forth in the words from
which we are now deducing these thoughts. Yet it is
more difficult now to learn it than it was in the freshened and unchastised hopefulness of the Pentecostal age.
There is an almost insuperable disposition to receive
our idea of the nature of this dispensation from the dispensation itself, overlooking the fact that man has fearfully vitiated what God purely gave. The celestial
theory of this dispensation, gainsay it who will, is set
forth in these indestructible words of Christ: "He that
believeth in me shall do greater works than these, because I go unto my Father, and whatsoever ye shall ask
in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." From this it plainly appears that the
dispensation of the Spirit is the dispensation of the
mighty power of Christ, and that there is no form or
measure of opposition which Christ on his throne in
heaven is not competent, by the omnipotent Spirit acting through his Church, to overcome. Behold what a
Paul achieved! He that so overcame the depravity in
the mind of Paul could do it in the minds of thousands,
and in a day, as it were, multiply by thousands the
achievements of Paul.




JOHN XIV. 12, 13.            101
The only way in which faith can live is to grow, and
it must be willing to grow in the direction in which
Christ would incline it, else its expansion will be for
naught. We must look upon the present processes of
the Head of the Church, both among his people and
among the unreconciled, as designed to develop the budding fhith of his people. Oh, if they could once look
without a veil into the clear glass of the gospel! They
are startled and delighted to find that, in answer to
their united and specific prayers, thousands of individuals in remote parts of the land, or far off over the sea,
are overtaken by the grace of God and converted, long
afterward to be informed whose prayers obtained for
them this grace. "Concerning the work of my hands
command ye me," says God in one place; and it is a
truth that the infinite and blessed God does carry out the
wishes of his people, when their wishes are right wishes,
with a punctuality, a promptness and a fullness of accomplishment such as are not often found in servants.
There are some who are doing their utmost in the attempt to enter into relations with invisible spirits-the
spirits of dead men and women, in heaven or on earth
-by prayer or by mechanical means, hoping thus to
obtain power for themselves in the unseen world, when
there is the mighty God himself, accessible through
Christ and well disposed to do for us exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think.
But the force of all that has been said comes home
to us as individuals. Whatever obligation there is
upon the Church to believe is upon me; and though all
others should be recreant to it, yet woe is unto me if I be
so. It is expedient for me that Christ is on the throne
9-,,



102             LOVE REVEALED.
of heaven, for he there has all power, not only in heaven, but in earth; and if my faith be what it should be,
there shall remain no reason why that power should not
be exerted gloriously, first in my heart and then in the
hearts of those within my reach.
JoHIN xiv. 14. —"If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will
do it."
"THFE Father that dwelleth in me doeth the works,'
had Jesus said.  This was said of the works
wrought on earth. And now he says, concerning the
future works to be wrought from heaven, in answer to
the prayers of his people, that he will do them. The
Saviour is still intent upon the conjoining and identifying, in the minds of his disciples, the boundless perfections of the Godhead with the grace of Him whom
they had known in the flesh. As the Son of man
had power on earth to forgive sins, so would he have
power in heaven to answer prayer. You must conceive
me, he says,. as actually invested with all power in
heaven and earth.
" In my name." What is it to ask in Christ's name?
It is to have a consciousness that in our own name it
would be altogether vain to corne with petitions before
God. In connection with our own name there stands
recorded a fearful catalogue of sins, every one of which
appeals to the truth, justice and holiness of God to
launch against us a sentence of everlasting destruction from the presence of his glory. There are many
who say in this day, " To whom shall we go but unto
our Father in heaven, who is goodness itself and who




JOHN XlV. 14.                 103
is ready to forgive?"  Ah, do you think that God will
show himself a Father to you at the expense of the
deepest interests of millions of his creatures?  The
welfare of the universe demands that God shall take
such measures against sin as will tend to make it
odious in the eyes of the universe and fill his subjects with horror at the thought of the most distant
approach to it. For a man to present himself in his
own name before God is to come before God with
a declaration that the transgression of the commands
of the Most High has nothing in it of special turpitude. It is, in fact, asking God to repent that he gave
such bad behests, imposed such unnecessary requirements.
To ask aright in Christ's name is to stake all our
hopes of success at the throne of grace upon the work
that Christ has wrought out in our stead, to rest with
an undivided mind upon that, to feel that it is infinitely meritorious, and that the merit of it appears
with infinitely more distinctness to the Father than
it can to any creature.  It is to believe that Christ
has made a propitiation ample for all our sins, for all
our depravity.  It is to be strong in his strength,
holy in his holiness; to put on his Sonship, his
royalty, his influence at the court of heaven; to take
to ourselves the name of Jesus, to go in the person
of Jesus, to personate Jesus, so that the Father, as
he reaches forth to us the thing we ask, shall say,
O my Son Jesus, the joy of my heart, can I deny
thee aught? It is to stand in Christ before the throne
and receive in Christ the expressions of the Father's
love to Christ.




104              LOVE REVXEALZED.
What a world of wealth breaks upon the believer's
perception when he supplicates the Father in the nalme
of Christ! for, in order to show the significance of the
narme, he explores the treasuries of Christ's character
and work. Every drop that fell from the brow of
Christ in Gethsemane, in the pretorium and on Calvary, is found to be worth more at the mercy-seat than
all the mines of Golconda. The name of Christ is found
to have an amplitude that stretches in every direction
beyond the power of imagination to follow. But, sad
to say, some Christians seem to have come to the end of
their Christ. Unlike the Thessalonians, whose faith
grew exceedingly, the faith of these Christians growethl
not.  They come with cold, dead prayers, expecting
nothing.  Months, years, go by without any perceptible kindling of expectation in their soul. Yes, they
have expended the merit of Christ; they have exhausted the virtue of his name; his little life with
which he rose from the grave is extinguished. But
what a foul reproach is this!  What have you ever
received from the throne of grace that you should
think you had overdrawn your account and exhausted
the virtue of Christ's name?  There is too much reason to believe that you never went to God with the
true Christ, but rather with some phantom of your
own.
We are to show our appreciation of Christ by what
we shall ask in his name. God gives us little to see if
our Christ is little. Oh let us feel the necessity of
showing the unsurpassable greatness of our Christ by
the greatness of our supplications! Let us ask to
be filled with the Spirit of God; filled with all the




JOHN XIV. 14.                105
fullness of God; filled with the fruits of righteousness; filled with joy unspeakable.  Let us ask for
perfect love and to be one in the Father and in Christ.
"If ye love me, keep my commandments."  This
injunction immediately follows the magnificent promise above noticed, and immediately introduces the
promise of the spirit of truth. There is no fitter place
for a commandment to stand than between two promises. The promise is a promise of help; help to do
what?  To do the will of God, to obey the command
of Christ.  The promises bring us to the commandments and the commandments to the promises. Thus
lovingly harbored among the promises, who will approach the commandments with an unfriendly or murmuring spirit?  " If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it; and when I ask anything of you,
surely you will not deny me. I show you that my love
has no limits, that I stand ready to evoke all within
the range of possibility in proof of my love; in return
I ask love of you. You of course are eager to know
how you may express your love to me. By keeping my
commandments. A new commandment I have given,
that ye love one another, as I have loved you.  I
am about to disappear from your sight, but do not
fear that you will be without a Christ to show love
to; every disciple is my representative, and as many
as there are around you, so many are there to represent me at your gate and receive in my name the expressions of your affection for me.  If ye love me,
keep this commandment, and I will pray the Father,
and he shall give you another Comf-rter, that he may
abide with you for ever."   Thus we see that a most




106                LOVE REVEALED.
important introduction to the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit is the exercise of mutual love by Christians. We
shall pray most fervently and believingly for the Holy
Spirit when we shall pray disinterestedly with a pure
desire for the edification of our brethren and the upbuilding  of the general Church.  And  we must be
careful to remember that genuine love for Christ's
people is love for all Christ's people-a love for thenl
because they are Christ's, not because they are associated
with us in some particular communion; a love that
rises superior to conventional laws and sectarian barriers.
JOHN Xiv. 15-17.-" If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comnforter, that he may abide with you for ever. Even the Spirit of
truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you."
EN  examine with liveliest interest the title-deeds
that are to put them in possession of some valuable piece of property, and it would be strange if
Christians did  not search with  a profound  scrutiny
and with kindling hopes those promises which exhibit
to them  the glorious gifts to be bestowed by a risen
and triumphant Saviour. Tell me what think ye of
Christ, and I will tell you what you ought to think
of the Spirit.  Or tell me what think  you of the
Spirit, and I will tell you what ye think of Christ;
for observe that Christ here promises another Comforter.   "Let not your  heart be troubled  because
I, your Comforter, your Monitor, your Advocate, am




JOHN XIV. 15-17.             107
about to be withdrawn from you; another shall be
given you."  Moses said, with reference to the offer
of an angel to conduct the Israelites to Canaan, "if
thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence."
And the Christian would esteem it but a mockery of'
his need if an angel or any number of angels were
given to compensate him for the presence of Christ.
It was because the Saviour had such a perfect apprehension of the need of Christians that he promised
them the Holy Spirit as another Comforter. Another?
We are required to believe, on the testimony of this
word, that in the guidance of the Holy Ghost we enjoy
that which is fully equal to the guiding, comforting
and strengthening influence of the Lord Jesus as enjoyed by the apostles. The word translated Comforter
means Monitor, Counselor, Advocate. Counselor was
one of the epithets assigned to the Messiah by prophecy. In him are all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge.
But before going a step farther let me add the succeeding verse: "I will not leave you. comfortless: I
will come unto you."
The word here translated comfortless would literally
be rendered "orphans."  Taking this passage in connection with the preceding verses, it is evident that in
the advent of the Comforter there is an advent of
Christ to the soul, and the indwelling of the Spirit is
the indwelling of the Saviour. He could not come
sufficiently near to his people while imprisoned in a
body of clay upon the earth, and the body was broken
like an alabaster box of ointment that he might come
nearer to his own and communicate himself to their




108             IOVE REVEALED.
very souls. Though we have known Christ after the
flesh, yet now know we him no more; his body disappears from our eyes in order that his blessed spirit may
be commingled with our spirit, and that we may be
united to him even as he is united to the Father. We
are never more impressively manifesting our love to
the Saviour than when we are praying for the outpouring of the Spirit.  Christ is the truth and the
Spirit is the spirit of truth, and it is not more true
that no man cometh unto the Father, save by the Son,
than that no man cometh unto the Son but by the
Holy Spirit. Christ is our Advocate with the Father,
and the Holy Spirit is Christ's Advocate with us. As
Christ pleads for us at the throne of grace, so the Spirit
pleads for Christ in our hearts. The Spirit vindicates
him from our unworthy thoughts, shows him to be
chief among myriads and altogether lovely, declares
his immeasurable love and our absolute need of his
grace. If we ever, in any sense, become the advocates
of Christ, confessing him among men, it is only because
the Holy Spirit hath wrought in us to this end.
"Ye know him."  Christians, they that are indeed
such, if they know anything, any one, know the Holy
Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is given to any, you
need not say to the Christian, "This is the Holy Spirit."
Ignorant he may be of ten thousand things known
among men, but he knows the spirit of truth, the
Comforter, the Holy Ghost. He knows the work of
the Holy Spirit in his own heart, and he knows the
operations of the Spirit in other Christians. When he
obtains an insight into the meaning of the Scriptures,
he says, "This is the doing of the Holy Spirit." When




JOHN XIV. 15-17.             109
he is enabled to do that which is well pleasing to his
heavenly Father, to resist temptation, make sacrifices,
walk in love, renounce the world, give himself to
prayer, he knows that he is taught of the Spirit. He
knows how to distinguish between the suggestions of
the Spirit of God and the suggestions of his own heart,
and he advances in this ability just in the measure that
he enjoys the Spirit's influences; and Christians know
each other because they know the Holy Spirit dwelling
in each and all. Christians who come together for the
first time enter at once deep into the sacred prerogatives
of an intimate friendship because they know the Spirit
by whom both are led. They that know the Spirit know
that there is nothing in the world so much to be desired or valued as the teachings of this divine Being;
they disregard the distinction conferred by wealth, fashion, rank, education even, in comparison with the distinction conferred by the presence of the indwelling
spirit of truth. They who have been sealed in their
foreheads as the sons of God know those who are similarly sealed; all the rest of mankind may fail to recognize these heaven-born ones-they cannot fail. They
that know the Spirit are ready to pluck out a right eye,
cut off a right hand, rather than grieve the Spirit of
God; they hunger and thirst after the sanctification
which he alone can effect, and they earnestly desire
that their fellow-men may be convinced of their personal sin and of the all-sufficient righteousness of
Christ. If they hear of meetings for prayer, for the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, they are immediately
interested. Knowing the Spirit, they know that there
is nothing earth so needs as it does his influences.
10




110             LOVE REVEALED.
They that know the Spirit are free from an overweening attachment to any one particular branch of
Christ's Church, for the Spirit of God dwells in all
the saints. He is without partiality, and he teaches the
people of Christ to be without partiality, and they who
find themselves unable to sympathize with Christians
belonging to other than their denomination show that
they know not the Spirit.
JOHN xiv. 18.-" I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to
yOU."
PITERALLY, "I will not leave you orphans: I
will come to you."  The disciples had forsaken all
to follow him, making him their all in all. They had
broken away from all the ordinary helps and confidences
of society, relying solely upon his presence with them,
and his wisdom, strength, grace, to secure to them whatever they might need. But his very presence with them
in the flesh so many days had made it all but impossible for them to take in' the idea that he could be otherwise present with them, that the grace and might of an
unseen Saviour would serve them in the battle of life.
That Jesus was going to the Father, to the glory of heaven, was in itself an elevating thought, but what
would be their position on the earth in the face of a
frowning world? They would be like orphans. Orphans are children peculiarly dependent upon the help
of parents and deprived of this help-left alone in their
incapacity to face trials to which only mature men are
equal. " No," says Jesus, "I will not leave you orphans;
I know that my presence and my grace are absolutely




JOHN XIV. 19, 20.              111
essential to you, and I do not intend that you should be
deprived of them, save for a very brief season; I will
come to you, and though you may not understand how
I can both go to the Father and come to you, nevertheless the thing shall be."
JOHN xiv. 19, 20.-" Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no
more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day
ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."
FlHE " little while " was a period of less than twentyfour hours. After his crucifixion the world saw
him  no more. His disciples saw him  when he had
risen from the dead; he showed himself alive unto
them during forty days. We are not, however, to limit
the announcement, " Ye see me," to the time intervening
between the resurrection and the ascension. They saw
him on the day of Pentecost as they had not seen him
before. The use of the present gives the force of perpetuity to the words.  " Ye see me" means much more
than "Ye shall see me."  The world seeth him not, because, as he had already said, it seeth not and knoweth
not the Spirit.  "For I live and ye shall live," the last
clause might fitly be rendered.  "God hath shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."  This is the
great distinction between the people of God and others,
that the former see Jesus by faith; he is manifest unto
them.
These various expressions set forth a great truth
which, it is much to be feared, the experience of many
Christians does not permit them  properly to grasp.




112              LOVE REVEALED.
The reference throughout is to a most powerful operation of the Spirit of God, annihilating to our spirits all
that would hinder us from apprehending the presence
and power and grace of the Lord Jesus. This familiar
phrase, "Ye shall live," has a profound significance, a
scope that knows no limit, for the life of the believer
is here bound up with the life of Christ. The believer
lives not as other men live, but as Christ lives. The
spirit of truth is the spirit of life, connecting each believer with his risen Lord and with all other believers.
" The world seeth me no more, but ye see me, for I live
and ye shall live; and if ye live indeed, then shall the
world see me through you, and ascertain in this way my
righteousness, my power, my glory, as they could not
ascertain them while I was corporeally present with
them." The resurrection of Christ from the dead is a
great and invincible fact, not merely with reference to
believers, but with reference to the world. Believers
started to life when he did, and their resurrection is a
triumphant proof of his resurrection. On the day of
Pentecost the Jews saw before them a hundred and
twenty proofs of the resurrection of Christ. Each believer was seen to be clothed with a life such as hadc
never before been beheld, and each believer was to the
astonished multitude as a risen Christ.
Let no one imagine for a moment that the truth then
illustrated was then exhausted.  It is the vocation of
every believer, in every generation, to afford in his own
person the evidence that Christ has risen. Art thou a
Christian? Thou art one whom Christ has chosen to
convey to men the proof that he is risen. This is thy
vocation. Wilt thou roll back the stone upon the sep



J-)OHN XIV. 19, 20.           113
ulchIre and make the world believe that Christ is still
there?  This thou art actually doing if thou walk not
in the Spirit.
" At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father,
and ye in me, and I in you."'
They shall begin to know this in the day of his resurrection and shall make progress in the knowledge
of it thence onward. That which they were slow to
learn in the days of his flesh they will learn rapidly in
the days of the Spirit.  When Christ ascends on high,
our conceptions of him ascend also and unite themselves
to our conceptions of the Father; so that we find the
benignity, the love, the long-suffering, the grace, the
tenderness, the gentleness, the sympathy, the cordiality,
the friendliness, the brotherliness of the Son in the
Father, and the  majesty, dominion, omnipotence,
omniscience, omnipresence, holiness, of the Father in
the Son.
But though our adorable Saviour carries up into the
Godhead the conceptions inspired in us by his earthly
life and death, yet be it understood that the bond which
binds us to him is unrelaxed. It is indeed made infinitely stronger. He that speaks of himself as in the
Father says, "Y e in me, and I in you."  We not only
rise with him, but ascend with him. Or if for a season we remain behind, it is that we may bring up a redeemed world with us.  What inspires us with the
hope of doing this is that the Redeemer dwells in us.
It is evident that the believer is not far from the place
where Christ sits in glory. His words bid us take
knowledge of him ascending up to the Father, and
straightway they bid us find him in ourselves. "I in
10 *




114             LOVE REVEALED.
you."  Words no less wonderful than those which light
up another page of Scripture: "God was manifest in
the flesh." Thousands beheld him in the flesh who
knew not his glory until they took knowledge of him
in the disciples that came forth from that upper room
on the day of Pentecost.
How every word seems to burn in upon us the sense
of our need of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit! In
vain we profess to admire Christ, to desire his glory, to
be hasting unto his kingdom, to compassionate the
world, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, to love
the Scriptures, to abhor falsehood and heathenism and
Romanism and rationalism and infidelity, if we are unwilling to give ourselves, heart and soul, to the great
work of supplicating God, in concert with our fellowChristians, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. If
our fellow-Christians are bound up in slumbers of sin,
if the opiates of this world are still holding them in
dumb forgetfulness, we must seek to arouse them to the
necessity of calling upon their God and ours without
delay. If, in the garden of Gethsemane, James had
been faithful to John and John to Peter, perhaps our
Lord would not have returned from his place of agony
three times to find them asleep.
"I in you."  Jesus hath climbed the heavens, and
hath made his way to a throne exalted above all principality and power and might and dominion.  But
there remains one great desire of his heart unsatisfied:
he will not have seen the travail of his soul until in all
his purity, beauty, power and glory he is seen in his
saints. The expression " I in you " has a present and
important truth, but in its plenitude of nleaning it is a




JOHN XIV. 21.                   115
thing of the future.  Oh for that day when Jesus shall
be fully seen in us!-the day of the manifestation of
the sons of God. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.
Come, thou Spirit of all grace, whose office and joy is
to form Christ in us, the hope of glory, come with thy
mightiest influences and effect that blessed metamorphosis.
JoiHN xiv. 21. —"lIe that hath my commandments, and keepeth
them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved
of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto
him."
THERE are some who willingly speak of themselves
as believers in Christ, but who would be displeased
if you were to address to them the question, Do you
love Christ? Love to Christ does not well express their
idea of the feeling that a believer should have. There
is something too warm, too personal, too enthusiastic about
this definition of discipleship to suit them. They
would view Christ at a certain distance, they would
yield him reverence, honor, trust, but to speak of loving
Christ savors to them of extravagance. It is nevertheless certain that this is the very sentiment that Christ
most persistently demands of his people.  He freely
speaks of it without the least hesitation. "Lovest thou.
me?" is his interrogation to every one who professes to
be his disciple. There are some who are very willing to
make use of Christ, as they are of the servants of Christ
in certain exigencies, but who prefer that there should
be, for the most part, no great intimacy, no very decided warmth of affection. They would be united to
him by a cord so long that they may walk on one side




116             LOVE IEVEALED.
of the way anrd he on another. They deceive themselves
fatally as to the nature of a true union with Christ.
Note the affection of the mother for her child, of the
child for its parent. See how the glances of the bridegroomn and bride seek each other! Search in the retrospect of your own heart-life for that which may best be
expressed by the word " love," and you will be assisted
to understand something of the strength of that feeling
which binds the believer to Christ. Do you consent to
recognize the obligation thus to love Christ?  Is it your
heart's desire and aim thus to love him? If not, you may
immediately blot out your name from the book of candidates at the door of Christ. If you will not give up
the idea that there may be faith without love, you must
give up Christ. "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and
ye perish from the way."
Ah, what a great gain it would be to many to give up
their Christ!-to know their utter penury of all that
heaven calls treasure, to take deliberate knowledge that
there is no essential difference between them and the
unconverted! How cruel of any to seek to confirm
them in their delusion! How noble in us if we would
help them to escape from the network of their imagination! How many there are whose hope is an unsatisfying one, and who yet cling to it with greatest tenacity.
Ah, if they would only dare to die! "When the commandment came, sin revived and I died."  The apostle's hope died out, the consciousness of sin and helldesert took possession of him again. It seemed to him
that Satan had come back upon him and was reconquering
him. But the fact was simply this-that Satan, disguised as an angel of light, had been hitherto leading




JOHN XlV. 21.                117
him captive, bound by chains that were ornamented
with passages of Scripture, and that now he had begun
to see the diabolic lineaments of the guide whom he had
deemed celestial. It was well that his hope and trust
in such a mock saviour should be destroyed, and it mattered little how much peace was dashed from him in
the moral revolution. The ruins of his old confidence
are simply the stones over which Christ, the true,
the living, the all-mighty, the all-loving Christ, will
haply be seen bounding on his way to the throne of his
heart.
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, an anathema will be his portion in the last day. It is the portion which he himself has chosen. All are under the
curse, and all are pervaded by the curse (unforgiven sin
is the curse), till the love of Christ comes into the
heart to annihilate that curse.
He that truly loves Christ will be content to learn of
Christ how he shall express his love. Some are willing
to love him, they think, but they must be allowed to express their love in the way their own heart may suggest.
When he says " Go," they reply " Nay, but we will sit
at his blessed feet." This sort of love is simply calumny. They prefer themselves to Christ in the very
act by which they profess to show their attachment.
They prefer their will to his-that vile, corrupt, odious
will; they prefer their wisdom to his-an abominable
caricature of wisdom to the infinite wisdom of Christ.
A parent may love a child and yet do what the child
dislikes; a husband may show his love even in acts that
oppose the will of his wife, for with him is authority,
and with him, perhaps, superior wisdom; but what a




118             LOVE REVEALED.
monstrous position were this for a believer to take up
with respect to Christ!
"He that hath my coihmandments "-hath them in
memory, in meditation; hath them conspicuously in his
mind where he can find them without delay and troubleis filled with the knowledge of his Master's will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding. The lawyer, he
that would know the laws of his state, with how much
diligence does he apply himself to the study of those
laws until he has mastered them, and is so much at
home among them that none can throw him off his
guard! The Christian must be a scribe instructed unto
the kingdom of God. See our Lord in the wilderness when
tempted of Satan; what an admirable hold he had of
the commands of God! He brought forth, in each instance, without giving the adversary the advantage of a
moment's hesitancy, the very command that was needed.
If Christ needed thus to have the commands of God
about him, surely the believer no less requires to have
the commands of his Lord present to him. We must
seek, by the grace of God, to make it a habit, an instinct, a second nature of our souls, to refer constantly
to the will of Christ. The vigilant and faithful helmsman never acts as though he were the commander of the
ship, but hearkens ever for the voice that shall bid him
what to do.
The commandments of Jesus are not grievous-the
very opposite; they are the means of giving expression
to our love. Where there is love there is a necessity for
expressions of that love, and the loving heart rejoices
greatly in the opportunity of uttering itself. The conmandments of Jesus are in fact responses to the question




JOHN xIV. 21.                 119
of the believer, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
In what way may I give utterance to my love?"
"He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father."
Ah, Lord, there are some who deny that thou art God
manifest in the flesh, God over all, blessed for ever, by
whom all things were made, by whom all are upheld.
While they profess to love thee, they declare thee an impostor, guilty of one of the basest and most opprobrious
of all practices, the undue exaltation of one's self, and
guilty of it in a greater degree than any other man ever
was. To love their Christ were a sin indeed. How
blessed the confidence of him who knows unwaveringly
that he who loveth Jesus is loved of the Father! The
Father loveth the Son, and therefore he loves him who
loves the Son, rejects him who rejects the Son.
We love him because he first loved us. Our love is
elicited by his, and there are special revelations of his
love granted to those who give proof of love to him.
As the believer makes progress in conformity with his
will, he is enabled by faith to discover new measures of
Christ's unmeasurable love.
JOHN xiv. 21.-"I will love him, and will manifest myself to
him."
I WILL love him that loveth me, and will manifest
myself unto him. We love him because he first
loved us; we are indebted to his love for the very first
spiritual exercises of our souls, as well as for all that
succeed in time and eternity. But there are special
revelations of his love, and special manifestations of
his glory, made to him who gives special evidence of




120              LOVE REVEALED.
love to Christ. One way in which this special evidence
is given is in seeking very earnestly those special revelations. He that loves Christ counts all but loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. His love
"believeth all things "-believes that there are unsearchable riches in Christ, and that Christ is able and
willing to impart of his blessed wealth to those that
seek it. We disparage Christ beyond expression when
we rest satisfied with what we have seen and known
of him. It is sheer vanity for us to profess to admire him if we do not, above all things, desire and
seek, not in the distant future, but in the immediate
present, those revelations of our Lord which made
the disciples of ancient times to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. They saw him not with
the bodily eye, and let it not be thought surprising
that the highest joys which our souls are capable of
experiencing while they are in the body are awakened
by spiritual contemplations.  Believers are spiritual.
Even in heaven it is not the beholding of a material
glory that constitutes the crowning felicity of the redeemed; even in heaven the redeemed look back to
Calvary. A Lamb as it had been slain in the midst
of the throne is what they gaze upon. The saints in
heaven excel us fully as much in their clear understanding of the sufferings and death of Christ as in
other respects.
Christ hath promised to manifest himself unto those
that love him. How will he do this? By his Spirit.
The office of the Spirit is to take of Christ and show
unto us: "Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things




JOHN XIV. 21.                 121
which God hath prepared for them that love him," said
the ancient prophets; " Which things," saith Paul,
" God hath revealed unto us by his Spirit."  Does the
word of the apostle seem to you to take away the glory
of the prophetic aspiration?  This only shows that
you are shamefully ignorant of the power of the
Spirit. The Spirit of God is omnipotent; he is omnipotent with reference to these souls of others, with
reference to the subjugation of sin and the communication of joy unspeakable.  He is able to meet all the
exigencies of our nature, to heal our corruption, our
depravity, our carnality, to communicate his own hallowed and ecstatic perceptions of Christ, and to fulfill
to us the visions that floated before the inspired eye of
Isaiah. He is with us to make known Christ to us,
and it will never do for us to think so meanly of his
capacity as to doubt that he can make him known to us
so that he shall be to us the chiefest among ten thousand, the one altogether lovely.
If we wish, therefore, to sound the depths of this
promise, "I will manifest myself to him," we must
honor Christ and the Father and the Spirit by believing in the power of the Spirit. To have faith in
Christ and not to have faith in the Spirit seems to
be a great contradiction, yet we submit it for the
judgment of candid inquirers if this very contradiction is not strikingly exhibited in the case of almost
all who profess to be the followers of Christ. To know
the Father we must know the Son; to know Christ we
must know the Spirit. "He shall glorify me," said
Christ.  Believest thou this?  Is this thy conception
of Christ's glory, that it is a glory that the Spirit of
11




122              LOVE REVEALED.
God can enable thee to behold?  When the omnipotent
Spirit has been allowed, by our faith, to go to the full
extent of his resources in the revelation of Christ, it
will be time enough for us to turn away from him to
some more perfect way of bringing Christ near to us.
When Isaiah was in the temple, he saw the Lord (the
Lord Christ, as we learn from John xii.) high and lifted
up, and the seraphim encompassing him with shrouded
faces overpowered with the sense of his unutterable holiness and glory; and the prophet fell to the earth, exclaiming, Woe is me, for I am undone; for I am a
man of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. You admit that this was a wonderful revelation of the glory of the Messiah. Well, it
was after this that Isaiah penned that lofty conception
of the Messianic times which Paul tells us is fulfilled
in the operations of the Spirit in our hearts. And our
Lord himself tells us that he that is least in the kingdom of heaven —the kingdom that he came to establish
-was greater than any of the prophets that had been
in the world before his advent. Greater? Why?  Because he is a habitation of God through the Spirit,
because that magnificent gift of gifts which Christ died
to obtain for us has been bestowed.
Now all these views of the glory of this present
dispensation seem to vanish into night when we subject them to a comparison with the actual experiences
of Christians in general.  But we do them foul injustice in this way. We are rather to submit the experiences of Christians to the test of Scripture.  When we
do so, does it not appear that the Church has fallen
back into an ante-pentecostal state?-that it has slipped




JOHN XIV. 21.                123
out of its own dispensation?  There was a measure,
a feeble measure, of spiritual influence enjoyed. by
the disciples before the death and resurrection of
Christ, else would they not have been able to call
Jesus Lord; but it was nothing in comparison with
what they received on the day of Pentecost. The day
of Pentecost was a pattern day; all the days of this
dispensation should have been like it, or should have
exceeded it. But, alas! the Church has fallen down to
the state in which it was before this blessing had been
bestowed, and it is necessary for us to ask Christ to
begin over again. We, of course, in respect to knowledge —intellectual knowledge of spiritual things-are
far in advance of the point where the disciples were
before Pentecost. But it should be borne in mind that
when truths have once been fully revealed and made
a part of orthodoxy, the holding of them does not
necessarily imply an operation of the Spirit of God.
W.e deceive ourselves doubtless in this way, imagining that because we have the whole Scriptures and
are conversant with all its great truths the Spirit of
God is necessarily working in us. We need a baptism of the Spirit as much as the apostles did at the
time of Christ's resurrection; we need that the unsearchable riches of Christ should be revealed to us
more copiously than they were to Isaiah in the temple.
WVe profess to love him.  ~We profess, thereforethe inference is unavoidable-to desire to enjoy higher
and more satisfying manifestations of him  than have
been yet vouchsafed unto us.  It follows, then, that
we ought to feel very greatly the pressure of the obligation to seek the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.




124               LOVE REVEALED.
Blessed be God, the Holy Spirit is being poured out
in many churches, and many Christians are at this
very hour enjoying such views of Christ as fill them
with a preternatural joy and love and strength. But
we have not yet entered into the fullness of this glorious dispensation. If we love Christ, we will press
deeper into it, believing that omnipotence will find ways
of revealing itself in the spiritual world of which we
have as yet no conception.
JOHN xiv. 22, 23.-" Judas saith unto him (not Iscariot), Lord,
how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the
world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me he will
keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him."
JESUS had spoken of a duty and of its reward. It
was theirs to attend to the duty; God would attend
to the reward.  It was not necessary for them to embarrass themselves with the question how God would fulfill his promise, but solely with the question how they
should fitly perform their part. Unbelief often uses
this language: Lord, how is it that thou wilt do this?
Because it is not clearly seen how God will fulfill his
promise, men refuse to go forward in the path of duty.
They quite forget that the thing which they desire to see
can only be seen from an advanced point in the path of
duty. Outside of that path it is impossible to discern
it.  If the rich young man to whom  Christ promised
treasure in heaven provided he would forsake all and
follow him had only obeyed Christ, he would have soon,
in the path of renunciation, obtained such visions of the




JOHN XIV. 22, 23.              125
treasure in heaven, as would have made him think all terrestrial treasure to be dross in comparison.  But before
crossing the line which separated him from Christ he
could not discern those compensating glories; it was'
necessary to believe Christ regarding them; this he
would not do. To many the palace of Christ upon this
earth appears a very contemptible edifice; they walk
around it, and see much to find fault with; they scorn
the suggestion that there can be anything attractive or
desirable, anything beautiful or costly, anything to gladden, to refresh, to elevate, in its apartments.  But they
are surely in a wrong position to judge.  Let a man
cross the threshold: he receives a wedding-garment;
his eyes are anointed with eye-salve, and it is not long
before he is aware that anything more admirable, more
regal, more suited to satisfy, is nowhere to be found on
earth. There he is invited to sit at a banquet of life:
the guests are kings, the Lord of the feast is the King
of kings.
Jesus replies to the question of Judas by repeating
what he had already said. Ah! how foolish do we
show ourselves, coming to Christ with question after
question, when the answer is already with us! There is
very little encouragement for Christ to continue instructing us, when we throw away his words as fast as they
are given and ask for new ones. Christ will not humor
us in this.  He takes up the very answers we have
thrown away and gives them to us again. A thirsty
man in the desert asks for some refreshing liquor, and
a cocoanut is given him; instead of removing its husk
and shell, he throws it away, saying that he asked for
milk and had received a stone.
1 i



126              LOVE REVEALED.
In the fifteenth verse we find Jesus saying, "If ye
love me, keep my commandments," and this injunction introduces the promise of the Spirit. In verse 21
we have the same injunction, introdiuctory to the promise of the manifestation of Christ.  In verse 23 we
read again: " If a man love me he will keep my words;"
and there is connected with it the promise of the manifestation of the Father, and of the permanent abode of
both the Father and the Sonl with the believer. It
would be difficult to conceive any addition to this promise. It contains within itself all conceivable wealth of
blessing.
The question now comes home to us with irresistible
force, How shall we obtain for our souls the verification
of this magnificent promise? How shall the heart of
the believer be changed into a holy of holies, where the
fullness of the Godhead shall dwell?  Let us fix our
eyes steadily on the means that Christ hath pointed out
to us. Let us love him and keep his commandments.
Let our love to him express itself in the utmost deference to his behests. Let us lovingly obey him. Let us
obediently love him. Let us recognize hinm in his word,
and render to his word the honor due to hilm. Let his
word rule in our hearts. WYe shall no sooner have begun heartily to do this than we shall find the spirit of
truth, the Comforter, with us, and shall be wonderfully
aided to discover Christ in his word; and in Christ the
Father will be revealed to us, and in all this nothing
fictitious, nothing even symbolical. It is not more true
that God sitteth above the cherubim than that he, the
triune God, is present with him that loves Christ and
keeps his words. It is impossible, as we have said, to




JOHN XIV. 22, 23.            127
make this clear to one who loveth not. The natural
man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God; the
semi-spiritual man even does not see how these things
can be. But let us believe Christ that by the Spirit
and the word in the heart of the believer a glorious
manifestation of God in Christ is made to him, such as
elevates him in privilege immeasurably above the
prophets of former days, and above the disciples who
saw our Lord in the flesh.
How many are there in this world whose aspirations
bear a reasonable proportion to these promises? who are
endeavoring, at whatsoever cost, to obtain the largest
possible measure of the grace of God? who are seeking
to sound the utmost depths of the mine of wealth
opened up to view in these words of Christ? Peradventure there be fifty. Peradventure there shall lack
five of the fifty. Peradventure there shall be forty
found. Peradventure there shall thirty be found.
Peradventure twenty. Peradventure ten!
"We will make our abode with him."  He that is
surrounded by the seraphim with veiled faces, who looketh and the earth melteth, before whom the nations are
less than nothing and vanity, he draws near to the believer and takes up his abode with him. It is evident
that there is a length and breadth, a depth and height,
in this promise, as limitless as the character of God
himself. Ask the highest archangel what it means and
he can only tell us in part. "I in them," said Jesus as he prepared to vanish physically from their eyes.
How little do we know of the unsearchable riches of
Christ, notwithstanding the perfect arrangements made
for the commlunicationm of them to us in this.life! Is it




. 28               LOVE REVEALED.
right for us to be talking and thinking so much of a
fixed heaven when we refuse to take knowledge of the
heaven that waits to come down into our souls?  Can it
be said that we have the true heaven in our eye of hope,
when we neglect to give heed to these amazing promises?  "We will come and make our abode with thee,'"
says Jesus.
"Not so," says the  disciple; "tarry  on high  a
while, and we will there rejoin thee and the Father."
Nay, but to-day hear his voice.  Grieve not the heart
of Christ by repelling his advances. Keep lovingly
his words, till, more and more glorious, the day-star
arise in your hearts, the Sun of righteousness fill your
soul with effulgence.
JoiN xiv. 24-26. —" He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's
which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet
present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you."
CHRIST  represented the Father, and as men treated
Christ they revealed their sentiments toward the
Father.  The word of Christ represents Christ, and
our sentiments toward  Christ are  revealed  by our
treatment of his word.  How  many are laboring to
settle the question, whether they love Christ or not?
It would wonderfully help them  in the solution of
this if they would first seek to ascertain whether they
love the word of Christ or not.  The Christian is one
who keepeth the words of Christ.  IHe that keepeth




JOHN XIV. 24-26.              129
not the words of Christ, but suffereth the adversary
to take them away from him as often as they are
given him, is not a Christian, The words of Christ
are the fuel of the soul, If we can imagine a fuel
that is indestructible, that feeds a fire without losing
any of its own virtue, our metaphor will then be a
just one. Coal is not placed near an engine that it
may remain there like so much dead matter, but that
it may feed the fires of the engine and enable the
machine to accomplish the work for which it was
called into existence. There is no other fuel for the
fires of the soul than the words of Christ, the word
of God. Our love to the Saviour is a flame that was
brought into existence by this fuel, and that absolutely
refuses to be fed by any other. W~hen the word is retained in the heart, then the renewed faculties of our
being are found in lively exercise; prayer ascends unceasingly to God; right resolutions rule in the mind;
self is denied; our property is bestowed in the relief of
the suffering; we take a hearty interest in the work of
God; we visit joyfully the assemblies of the saints;
we engage in the praises of the Redeemer; we set our
faces against the evil customs of society; our understanding is enlightened; —in a word, the Spirit of life
penetrates and possesses our whole being.  But he
that has the power of death does his utmost to hinder
us from keeping the words of Christ. He has no
unwillingness that we should keep them in the head
without self-application; then they cannot answer the
purpose of fuel. It matters not to him where they are,
so they are not found in the furnaces.
"These things have I spoken unto you, being yet




130             LOVE REVEAiLED.
present with you. But the Comforter, the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
What Christ had now been saying to the disciples
was calculated to elevate greatly their conceptions of
the importance of the words of Christ, and it was
natural that they should think, with dismay and utter
confusion, of the immense number of words that Christ
had spoken in their hearing, not one in a thousand of
which they now remembered. He therefore repeats the
promise concerning the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the
Counselor, who should teach them all things by bringing to their remembrances the words of Christ. The
Father would send him  in the name of Christ, for
Christ's sake and for the accomplishment of Christ's
work. " He shall teach you." Christ had been for
years their teacher, but what dull scholars had they
been! The blessed instruction that fell daily from the
lips of Him that spake as never man spake had for
the most part fallen upon their ears in vain.  Some
of the servants of Christ that go about preaching in
these days can say nothing that is not eagerly caught
up by many pens and published far and wide. But
even the intimate disciples of Christ, the choice of the
chosen, neglected a great deal more than they retained
of the words of Christ. TWhat then? Do they need
another teacher —one more accomplished?  There is
none such.  In all the universe there is none possessed of such an admirable fitness to instruct the
children of men. There are not merely in him the
treasures of wisdonm and knowledge, but he is moved




JOHN XIV. 24-26.             131
by an incomparable love; he has patience, condescension, long-suffering, pity, so that our corruption and
stupidity may not alienate him from us. Not merely
by words does he teach us, but by acts, by sufferings,
by his whole life and death.  His final lessons are
from  the cross. Yes, he is our teacher; we are in
his school, and in it we shall ever stay. But his teaching on earth was merely introductory; he was there
preparing the materials, the appliances, the conditions.
He is at the right hand of the Majesty on high that he
may effectually teach us. By his Spirit we are taught.
We need the power of Christ brought to bear upon our
very hearts by the Spirit of Christ within us. When
Christ was on the earth, he was yet at an immeasurable
distance from his disciples. By the gift of the Holy
Ghost this distance is annihilated.  He comes nearer
to his people now than when he washed their feet.
He comes into their hearts and takes possession of
their wills, their understandings, their energies.
These words present us with a wonderful spectaclethe Holy Ghost in the memory casting out the useless
and harmful lumber that has so long choked it, and
filling it with the very coin of heaven, the words of
Christ.  It is not the legible word that suffices to
refresh the memory; without the spirit of truth our
memories will remain unacquainted with the words
of Jesus. But before the Spirit thus makes the chambers of memory redolent with the fragrance of the
things of Christ, he subdues the affections and guides
the will. What we remember with pleasure we remember well. That which has the chief attraction for us
will find our memory its powerful ally.




132              LOVE REVEALED.
Ve remember to have read of a man who in his
youth heard a certain word of Christ preached, lived
in impenitence till he was more than fourscore years of
age, and then was converted by that very word which
he had heard in his youth, and which, after a long life
of forgetfulness, he remembered when he was nearing
the borders of the grave.
"He shall teach you all things."  Who, of all the
millions that have inherited these promises, has been
taught by the Holy Ghost all that he is with us to
teach?  WVhat magnificent revelations may we not expect from  such a teacher! What sublime views of
Christ must those be that the Spirit himself entertains! How far doubtless do they transcend our highest conceptions of Him who is fairer than the sons of
men! But the Spirit is with us that he may glorify
Christ.  There is not, there cannot possibly be, any
indisposition on his part to give us the sublime discoveries which constitute his own felicity, and we can
only charge upon our unbelief and our contumacious
neglect of the Spirit's aid that we have such comparatively unworthy apprehensions of the excellency of
Christ.
JOHN xiv. 27.-" Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart
be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
THE  disciples had been alarmed by the intimation
that the Saviour was about to depart out of the
world. The repeated assurances concerning the marvelous compensations of the Spirit of God and the
spiritual presence of Christ and of the Father, related




JOHN'XIV. 27.                133
to something of which they needed to have actual experience before they could understand it and fully rejoice
in it. The words concerning the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, were words that none but the Holy Ghost could
interpret to them. The future looked dark to them,
for they did not see there the bodily Christ whom they
knew, but a shadowy Christ whom they knew not. It
seemed impossible that there should be any peace for
them in that earthly future. Their peace was in Christ;
in him they were strong; in him they were wise; in
him they could encounter the malignity and violence
of men; in him they could meet and overcome the
arguments and sophistries of Pharisees, Sadducees,
Scribes and Herodians.  With him  they could go
fearlessly anywhere, but without him, exposed to the
wrath of a Christ-hating world, under solemn obligation to bear a testimony that would cause men
everywhere to take up stones and stone them, what
remained for them but to take a lasting farewell of
peace?
The Saviour knew perfectly what was in their mind
when he said, "Peace I leave with you."  Strange as it
may appear to you, I leave with you peace; I make it
over to you; it belongs to you. The disciples of Christ
are under obligations to have this peace. Christ gives;
it is for them to receive. Let us not bring a cloud of
suspicion over the words of Christ by living without
peace. We shall not have it without an act of appropriation on our parts. Let every one that names the
name of Christ understand that it is a sacred duty to
have this peace.  If he shut the door of his heart
against the words of Christ, he will not have it. It
12




134             LOVE REVEALED.
will enter with the words of Christ. He that keepeth
his words shall be kept in perfect peace.
This peace casts out fear and anxiety. It does not
spring out of a consciousness of worldly wealth or
honor. It abides where all these things that give men
their momentary peace are taken away. The day of
adversity is its day of triumph.  False peace walks
beside it while the sun of prosperity is shining, and
claims that there is no essential difference between
them, but the peace that Christ gives lives serenely
when the other has fled unmasked.
"My peace I give unto you."  Christ's own peace.
Ah! here is a potent word of promise. The disciples
had never seen anything like fear in the Lord Jesus.
They had ever seen him calm and tranquil in the
presence of proud opposers. There was in him the
consciousness of invincible strength and inexhaustible
wisdom and unimpeachable integrity, and the natural
result of such consciousness was peace that passeth
understanding.  How  could they ever possess his
peace?  Could they have his strength, his wisdom,
his purity? Yes, they could have these. They should
yet learn how intimate is the bond that unites them
to Christ. This is the victory which overcometh the
world, even our Christ made present with all his
glorious power by faith, so that we may boldly say,
The Lord is my helper, whom shall I fear? To fear
is to have more faith in your antagonist than in Christ.
When you have found one greater than Christ, then
may you fear.
"Not as the world giveth, give I unto you." Very
true, good Lord; thou givest thyself. Thus thou giv



JOHN XIV. 27.                 135
est peace. Thou givest thyself, the just for the unjust,
that God may be reconciled unto us and we unto God.
The world can give us nothing by which we can present ourselves before the throne of a holy God in full
assurance of faith. Thou givest us that by which we
can draw nigh to the treasures of heaven and possess
ourselves of worlds of wealth.  The worldling adds
coffer to coffer, with lifelong uneasiness pursuing peace
and finding it not. The Christian has peace amid privations. Contentment is just one aspect of his peace.
Observe, this is Christ's peace.  It is not a mere
imperturbability; it partakes not at all of the nature
of indifference to others; it favors the fullest growth
of sympathy; it weeps and is troubled at the grave
of Lazarus; it sighs at the depravity of man; it spends
whole nights in fervent prayer for the souls of men; it
is not unaffected by the unkind treatment of men; it is
affected by it, but not overcome by it.
But a formidable question presents itself: How can
a child of Adam go down into the chambers of his
own corrupt nature? how can he contemplate by the
torchlight of memory, or the strong light of conscience,
his odious transgressions of the law of a holy God,
and still retain his Christ-given peace?  Can he know
himself and still keep hold of the hand of peace? Are
thorough self-examination and peace compatible?
The Spirit of God sometimes tests the peace of
Christians in this way: A man has been for years
enjoying a good measure of what he regards as Christian peace.  Suddenly he is made to see himself by
the light of a most intense holiness, and his former
conceptions of his sinfulness and of the evil of all




136              LOVE REVEALED.
sin are augmented a thousandfold.  Straightway his
peace is gone. His faith utterly fails. He finds himself sinking in deep waters. The mention of the righteousness of Christ fails to satisfy him.  The Christ
that he has been looking at all along was one that would
save from a moderate amount of sin, such as he then
knew of in himself; he has yet to become acquainted
with a Christ able and willing to save from such a dire
ruin as he is now conscious of. His past peace, his past
faith, are now ascertained to have partaken very largely
of the nature of delusion.  Happy for him that he has
discovered the inadequacy of his faith while it is yet
the day of grace! Sad, unspeakably sad, is the fate
of many whose faith is not thus tested in their liletime.
WVe cannot have true peace without a thorough apprehension of our depravity and  utter ruin.  The
peace that Christ gives his people is one that will bear
any amount of revelation concerning the hatefulness
of sin. It goes down with Jesus into the lazar-house
of the soul, and sustains itself in the presence of so
great corruption by feasting on the infinite excellence
of Christ. Expand a thousand or ten thousand times
the conceptions which that soul formerly entertained
of sin; faster than you can do this its conceptions
of the wondrous virtue of the blood of Christ and of
the debt of love it owes to him expand. This is the
peace which Christ gives. He digs deep in order to
lay the foundation for it.  He shows the sinner the
utter blackness of his sin and the all-sufficiency of his
righteousness. Let no man think it for his interest to
remain ignorant of the evil of his heart. The peace




JOHiN XIV. 28-30.               137
thus purchased is treacherous. The great thing is to
receive from the Holy Spirit at once instruction concerning sin and concerning Christ.
JOHN xiv. 28-30.-" Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go
away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice,
because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than
1. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is
come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with
you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me."
HAVE spoken to you of my departure.  To recon1cile you to this I have told you that my absence
from you would be but temporary; I would come again
and receive you unto myself. As an additional and
most potent ground of comfort, I have promised you that
in connection with my departure the Holy Ghost would
come unto you.  It has further appeared, from  what I
have said, that there would be unspeakable advantage
resulting to you from the fact of my being present for
you in heaven interceding with the Father. If ye
have indeed heard what I have said unto you, you must
now be aware that, so far from losing, you will gain unspeakably in wisdom, in power with God and with man,
and in all perfection, by my departure. Further, let me
now mention that I myself am to obtain great accessions
of glory and felicity by my departure.  My Father is
greater than I; in ascending to him I ascend to a far
higher greatness than you have yet seen investing me.
I am in some sense despoiled of my proper greatness by
my life in the flesh. I have made myself lower than
the angels for the suffering of death. I have been en12 A




138             LOVE REVEALED.
compassed about with the infirmities incidental to
humanity. Even on the mount of transfiguration you
obtained but a shadowy g.limpse of the greatness that
awaits me on high. I go unto the Father that I mnay
be clothed with the glory of the Father.  Dismiss the
thoughts with which you have been accustomed to look
upon a departure from this world. I go not unto darkness, but into light unapproachable, to glory inconceivable. If you love me, rejoice.
Conceive a company of imprisoned men; a person of
rank has voluntarily been their companion for a season;
he is at length about to quit the dungeon where they
dwell; a cloud comes over their countenances at the announcement, but he assures them that, having come to
reveal himself to them and satisfy their angered sovereign, he now goes to the presence of his august Father
that he may obtain gifts for them-the gifts of liberty,
of wealth, of power, of honor; nor will he rest until
he has brought them to the royal mansion in which
he is himself about to appear; he has shared their
bondage, and they shall share his royal state: his
going should therefore be for them an occasion of
exeeding great joy.
Believers in Christ are identified with Christ, so that
they must regard themselves as enriched, honored,
blessed, when riches, honor, blessings are bestowed upon
him. They now in this sense sit with him in heavenly
places. Tell them of the glorious extension of his
kingdom, and you gladden them more than if you told
them of great temporal honor or worldly wealth accruing to them.
It is evident that just in the degree in which our




JOHN XIV. 28-30.             139
views of the greatness of Christ and of the glory which
he has with the Father are exalted shall our joys be of
a more elevated character.  What an incentive we
have, then, to seek to understand the greatness of Christ!
How fitting that we should count all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus!
" And now I have told you before it come to pass,
that when it is come to pass, ye might believe."
Our Lord intended that his people should have continually new arguments for faith. One of the reasons
for which prophecy was given is that the fulfilling providence of God may be made to bear testimony to the
Scriptures of truth.  Thus the written prophecies
answer the same purpose that was accomplished by the
prophets themselves appearing amongst God's ancient
people. Those men of God, speaking as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost, and bringing with them
credentials of their mission, brought heaven near.
They rendered visible the ladder that Jacob saw in his
dream. This do the fulfillments of the prophecies relating to the vicissitudes of Christ's kingdom upon this
earth. The God of the Bible is seen to be the God of
centuries and milleniums.
"Hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the
prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me."
Not only was Christ to depart out of the world, but
even before he should do so he was to be separated from
his disciples. Brief as was the remainder of time to be
spent by him on earth before his death, yet during even
the greater part of that there were to be no communications between him and his little flock. The shepherd
was to be smitten, the sheep were to be scattered. " The




140              LOVE REVEALED.
prince of this world."  This single expression, what a
light it sheds upon the condition of this world! The
prince of darkness, the father of lies, is the ruler of this
world. This world is disposed according to his wish.
Men yield obedience to hinm, and not to God. God says
to man, " Love not the world;" Satan says, " Love the
world;" and all obey Satan, disobey God. God says,
" The love of money is the root of all evil;" Satan says,
" Money is power, knowledge and blessing;" and all believe Satan, disbelieve God. God points to the narrow
path, saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it;" the adversary points to the broad road, saying, "This is the way;"
the multitude hearken to Satan. The nations of the
earth, even the nations of Christendom, how are they
governed? Do the governors and legislators recognize
themselves as the servants of God, take his word for
their counselor and wait upon him in united prayer?
The very question excites derision. The prince of this
world rules in their councils. Even as he said to the
Jewish authorities, "It is expedient for you that one
man should die for the people, and the whole nation
perish not," so he now with equal effect uses his doctrines
of expediency to get the truth of God set at naught.
The prince of this world cometh; I shall be delivered
into the hands of his servants; they will wreak their
malignity upon me; and if there were anything in me
respondent to the nature and the principles of the sovereign of this evil world, any malice or wrath or impatience or pride or fear, then woe would be to me; but
he hath nothing in me, and the result of my approaching sufferings and humiliation will be, first the evidence
of the fact that he has nothing in me, and eventually, as




JOHN XIV. 31.                 141
springing therefrom, the destruction of his own sovereignty. Even on the cross I will braise his head.
Christ alone could say, He hath nothing in me.
Satan has a property in all until they are redeemed by
the blood of Christ-in all, the least and the greatest.
This may be to men a very offensive way of looking at
sin, but it is the true way. The proud man bears in
his very demeanor, the incontinent man in his glance,
the angry man in his tone, the immoderate man in his
thirst, the evidence of Satan's property in him. Look
into your heart, O man! and see what Satan has there.
The believer is a vessel of mercy; he bears about in this
world the mercy of God-the grace that bringeth salvation; but you are a vessel for the convenience of
Satan. He puts into you selfishness, pride, profanity
and a hundred other vile things, and sends you to and
fro with these testimonials of his power. As men
freight a vessel with goods for a particular market, so
Satan hath freighted you; you are full of his goods,
and he is bringing you to his own haven. But Satan
had nothing in Christ; God had everything in him: he
was freighted with infinite blessings for this world.
When he died, three thousand men started to life in a
single hour, and the mighty influence is still traveling
abroad. This is my body which is broken for you. I,
if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.
JOHN xiv. 31. —"But that the world may know that I love the
Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.
Arise, let us go hence."
IMMEDIATELY preceding this verse are the words,
" The prince of the world cometh and hath nothing




142             LOVE REVEALED.
in me."  It is not difficult to trace the connection. I
am to be delivered into the hands of the authorities,
who, incited by the prince of this world, will do their
utmost to shake my steadfastness, but in vain, for there
is nothing in me responsive to the corruption of their
natures, and the fact that I shall pass through such
a fiery trial unscathed shall furnish the world with
evidence that I love the Father and am  absolutely
guided by a reference to his holy will in all that I
do. The prince of this world was therefore signally
unsuccessful.  Christ obtained his greatest victory in
the hour when the rulers imagined that they were
most triumphant.  Even "the world" over which
they ruled discovered in that hour (and more completely afterward) that Jesus was the Son of God,
that he loved the Father, and that his life was the
highest expression of the will of God.  The multitude returned from the cross beating their breasts because of the death of one so great and good.  The
centurion exclaimed, Certainly this was a righteous
man; or, as Mark has it, Truly this man was the
Son of God-that is, This man was a true man, not
an impostor; he was what he professed to be. This
centurion was wiser than many who live in these
days, and who make great pretensions to wisdom.
They admit that Christ was a righteous man, but
insist that much that he said was false.  They deny
that he was the Son of God, God manifest in the
flesh, and that they who saw him saw the Father. It
would appear that they have a strange conception of
what it is to be an honest man. They consider that a
man may be righteous and yet assert the most blas



JOHN XIV. 31.                143
phemous claims to a pre-eminence above creatures;
blasphemous if unsupported.
It was on the day of Pentecost that men were struck
with overpowering convictions as to the character of
Him who had been crucified at Calvary. Three thousand of " the world" then arose and bore testimony to
the fact -that Christ loved the Father and was in sentiment one with the Father, and that the highest exhibition of devotedness to God that the world had ever
witnessed was given on the cross of Christ. And from
that time to the present the world has constantly been
compelled to give up new volunteers for the great army
of Christ's witness-bearers.
What Christ rejoiced to do believers should also
make haste to do.  They should aim  to give full
proof to the world that they love the Father and
keep his commandments.  They should seek by the
grace of God so to live as to give the most unimpeachable evidence of their disinterested devotedness
to God. The prince of this world said of Job, "Doth
Job fear God for naught?" And he teaches his people
to level the same sarcasm against the followers of Christ
in these days. The fact that the reproach has such an
origin is not a reason why Christians should neglect to
furnish the best possible answer to it.  Job obtained
a complete victory over Satan. Amid the wreck and
ruin of all sublunary wealth he proved that he truly
loved God, and was bound to him by something infinitely stronger and purer than the desire of temporal
benefits. And the truly consecrated disciple of Jesus
will continually stand ready to renounce all that he
has, in order that he may show the sincerity of his




144              LOVE REVEALED.
love to Jesus; nay, he will value everything that he
has chiefly as it furnishes him with a means of expressing that love, and thus of showing to the world
that Christ himself is a gift inclusive of all gifts, able
to satisfy fully the heart of man. Oh, is there anything whatever more demanded than this at the present
hour? In all this world is there anything so much
needed as the spectacle of men who are satisfied with
Christ, and who are fully bent upon making it evident
to the world that they are so?  As Christ aimed to
show the world that he loved the Father and walked
in a divine path, so he would have evidences given
to the world that his people do the same —evidences
such as the world can appreciate. It will not do for
us to slight this.  It must be evident to those who
search the gospels that Christ has dwelt very emphatically upon this point, and has given commandments that embody his conviction of the importance
of it. We may deem it sufficient that we draw nigh
to Jesus and use the language of ardent affection, or
that we find pleasure in the society of his people, or
delight in his promises.  There is also this required
of us by Him whose hands were nailed to the cross
-namely, that we should seek to give the world the
utmost possible proof of our love to Christ. What
was it but this that gave such power to the life of
Paul?  Men had to do much violence to their consciences when they spoke of him as actuated by any
other than the purest motives. He commended himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
"Arise, let us go hence."  We may conclude from
these words that what is contained in the three chapters




JOHN XV. 1-3.                  145
following was spoken, not in the chamber where they
had supped, but while they were on their way to the
garden of Gethsemane.  The words, " He went forth,"
in xviii. 1, refer, then, to his going forth from the city.
It also appears from Matthew xxvi. 31 that some of
the words recorded in these chapters were spoken after
they left the chamber.  As we have been permitted to
dwell upon the words and facts of that upper chamber,
so, if the providence of God permit, we will continue
to prosecute our meditations on the gracious words that
proceeded out of the Saviour's mouth on his way to the
garden of agony. In Christ are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge-hid from the world, disclosed to his people; in these chapters we find these
treasures-in a certain sense, only a speimen of these
treasures-and the question is submitted to us whether
we will come and receive wisdom like this, or prefer
our own fictitious and treacherous wisdom.
JOHN xv. 1-3.-" I amn the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away:
and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring
forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have
spoken unto you."
THE relation between the Father and Christ, and the
relation between Christ and his people, are here set
forth under the parable of a husbandman, a vine and its
branches. Inasmuch as the Father and the Son are one,
the same office may be ascribed to both; the Son himself appears as the husbandman in the third verse.
"Now  ye are clean through the word which I have
spoken unto you."
13




146             LOVE REVEALED.
In the fifth chapter of Isaiah the Jewish people are
compared to a vineyard which, after the greatest care
had been lavished upon it, brought forth only wild
grapes. Whether in the expression, "I am the true
vine," there is an implied reference to that unfruitful
vineyard against which the decree had now gone forward that it should be rooted up and destroyed, cannot
be positively affirmed or denied. "My Father giveth
you the true bread from heaven." " That was the true
light." But let us find out what the vine signifies, and
then we shall know what is the force of the accompanying epithet. The vine represents that by which believers are brought near to God, to be the objects of his
care, and to bring forth fruit unto him. By union to
Him who is represented under this symbol they are
united to God. Christ is the true. and the only MIediator by whom this restoration of the lost soul to God is
effected, through whom it abides in union with God.
It will not avail any to be united to a church. There
are not wanting churches professing to be churches of
Jesus Christ, yet shameless enough to declare that the
sinner shall certainly find salvation in union to them, in
obedience rendered to them. It is a question of infinite
mnoment for every soul of the children of men, Is Christ
to me the true vine? Is he the fountain of life? Is he
the author and finisher of my faith?
There are some who are ostensibly in Christ, others
who are really in him. The relation between Christ and
believers is set forth by a parable of a vine and fruitbearing branches; that between Christ and merely nominal professors is set forth by the parable of that same




JOIlN XV. 1-3.                147
vine and other branches destined to be taken away because they yield no fruit.
The Lord Jesus accomplishes his purposes by his
word, his Spirit, his providence.  His people are moral
beings, influenced by moral considerations. This parable is one of the means by which he influences them.
He shows them that their distinguishing characteristic
is this-that they bring forth fruit; and he shows them
this in order that they may bring forth fruit.  He
shows them that increasing fruit is expected of them,
in order that they may diligently address themselves to
this result.  He shows them that his word is a means
of fitting them to bring forth more fruit, in order that
they may give heed to his word as a means of purification.
The great question of the day is, Who are the true
disciples of Christ?  Some say this cannot now  be
known. Christ says, They that bring forth fruit are
my disciples. By this shall all men know that ye are
my disciples, if ye bring forth much fruit.
But the question recurs, WVhat is it to bring forth
fruit to Christ?  The answer is obvious. He that is
called in this connection the true vine is elsewhere
called the branch.  HIe was a model branch, bringing
forth fruit to the glory of God. Believers are to bring
forth such fruit as Christ brought forth.  "He that
saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk
even as he walked." They are to bring forth fruit by
keeping his commandments.  "If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love."  " Ye are my
friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Christ pleased not himself.  They that are true




148             LOVE REVEALED.
branches in the true vine please not themselves, but
study to please Him who gave himself for them, and for
his sake to please and profit their fellow-men. He loved
us and laid down his life for us, and we also should be
willing to lay down our lives for the brethren, and in
the mean time to make those minor and multiplied sacrifices that are called for in the ordinary hours of life.
Christ was meek and lowly of heart, and they that are
abiding branches in this vine bring forth this fruit:
they are meek, long-suffering, unworldly, contented,
forgiving, contrite. Christ sought not the honor which
cometh from man, but that which cometh from God only;
and believers establish the fact of their union to him by
renouncing the honor of the world and aiming undividedly at the approbation of God. Christ was without
guile; his people are distinguished by their truthfulness,
their sincerity, their freedom from disguise. Christ was
harmless; his people are like him in this: they abhor
the idea of wronging in any way their fellow-men; they
prefer to suffer wrong.
But here we become aware of a confused din of intermingled voices, saying, substantially, This record cannot
be true. There are Christians, men who far outstrip'other Christians in their pious conversation, their constant attendance upon the means of grace, their fervent
and beautiful prayers, their affecting confessions of sin,
their acquaintance with the Scriptures, who are yet
notoriously men that cannot be depended upon to make
good their word, who buy freely and pay slowly, who
rashly contract and speedily violate their contracts, who
have done and are doing much harm, who have caused
many to rue the day that they ever knew them —in a




J()-IN XV. 1-3.               149
word, whose standard of duty permits them to do things
that worldly men even shrink back from.  We admit
it; and all we can say is that Christ repudiates these
persons by his word now, and hereafter by his providence. These persons are the greatest enemies of the
cross of Christ, because they so perfectly simulate, in
many respects, the more advanced people of Christ.
There are some whose hearts seem to be tenderly affected by discoveries of the love of God, yet a little observation will sutffice to show you that the goodness of God
which thus affects them is nothing more nor less than
a supposed liberty to sin. They weep over their sins,
and in view  of the pardoning mercy of God admire
their own religious sensibility, and go away to do the
very things of which they had professed to repent.
Some there are that limit their idea of bringing forth
fruit to Christ to the performance of certain religious
duties, satisfy their conscience by the fulfilling of these,
neglect their obligations to their fellow-men, and yet
claim to be regarded as eminent Christians. Christ
will spue them out of his mouth.  In the mean time the
church suffers unutterably from the influence of such.
One of these nullifies the influence of very many
Christians with whom he walks, and hinders many from
coming to the knowledge of the truth. The more he
does for Christ, the more he injures Christ. He never
opens his mouth in prayer without violating this command of Christ: " If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and
there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against
thee, leave then thy gift before the altar, and go thy
way; first be reconciled to thy brother and then come
and offer thy gift." The principle here embodied is far13 -




150               LOVE REVEALED.
reaching.  If thy fellow-man has any just ground of
complaint against thee, if thou hast neglected to fulfill
thy obligation toward him, if thou hast made light of
his interests, preferring tbine own, if thou art not solicitous to do unto others as thou would have others do to
thee, if thou, through thine own fault, hast forfeited thy
good report among them that are without,-attend first
to the rectification of these things; the church can wait
for thee; seek not to get a reputation in the church to
compensate for the loss of that without.  For the third
time we say it, and we say it with tears: The greatest
enemies to the church are those who, under certain
aspects, appear to be the most advanced Christians; the
world sees them to be untrustworthy, fallacious, injurious, and concludes that there is no real power in Christianity, even in its best forms and highest developments.
But in another point of view the matter is still darker.
The presence of an Achan in the camp brought defeat
upon the entire army of the Israelites.
"For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect
and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall
both cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and take
away and cut down the branches. They shall be left
together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the
beasts of the earth." Isaiah xviii.
JoHN xv. 3, 4.-" Now ye are clean through the words which I
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: no more can
ye, except ye abide in me."
NOW ye are clean or purged, referring to the
process indicated in the previous verse by which




JOHN XV. 3, 4.               151
the vine-dresser prepares the vine to yield increasing
fruit. As though the Lord had said, "You are in me
and have brought forth fruit, and I have been preparing you that ye should  bring forth more fruit.
I have given you the word by which your sanctification is to be effected; I am about to offer a prayer
to the Father that you may be sanctified by the truth,
and not many days hence the Spirit shall be poured
upon you in order that that prayer may be fulfilled."
The words given to the disciples by Jesus are also
given unto us, and unto us also is the promise of the
Spirit. Let us, then, abandon the idea that we need
persecution or disappointments or chastisements or special providences, or any new revelation or change of
circumstances, in order that we may attain to a higher
life. The word is nigh us, even in our mouth and in
our heart: unmixed with faith, it will not profit us;
according to our faith it shall be to us the means of
blessings unspeakable. Our Lord sought to lead the
attention of his disciples to his word as that which
should remain with them when, shortly, he would take
his departure, and as that in which they should afterward find his power, his wisdom, his grace-find himself, find him  far more gloriously than they had yet
found him.
"Abide in me."  The branch does not come to the
vine and take life and then go away with this life; it
has life only by abiding in the vine; there must be
a never-ceasing communication-in fact, branch and
vine must be one, with one common life. Faith in
Jesus Christ, when it is occasional rather than habitual,
may be more correctly described as unbelief.  Or if




152             LOVE REVEALED.
we speak of it as faith, it is because in a dispensation
like this, where corrupt souls are struggling into life,
we must deal tenderly with this dawning of life. When
we shall have reached a higher walk of faith, our former
trust in Christ will look to us like unbelief. HIe that
saith unto us, "Come unto me," says also, "Abide in me."
And this abiding in him is no mere passive state. WTe
abide in him exactly as we come to him; we feel our
need; we feel that in him alone is the supply of this
need, and we look to him for that supply. Our need
is not so much of something that he can give as of
himself. We find our strength, our wisdom, our righteousness in him.  We abide in him  when we come
before God, so that the story of the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world —that story
which is so enchanting to the ear of the Fatheris repeated in all our prayers, and is yet new in
every one of them. We abide in him for our happiness.  He is our glorious dwelling-place - a palace
of delights.  He that saith he abideth in him, and
yet is not satisfied with that which Christ imparts
to him, deceives himself.  He is willing, perhaps, to
abide in Christ for a future salvation, and is willing
to adorn his present life with the hope of that salvation, but he is not content to abide in Christ for all
his present happiness.  He expects that Christ will
make him happy through all eternity, but mistrusts
that Christ can give him all that his soul requireth
during the brief term of this mortal life. The command of Jesus is that we should abide in him exclusively; not partly in him and partly in a very different
vine, the vine of this world-a most monstrous propo



JOHN XV. 3, 4.                153
sition, whoever may make it. " Whom have I in heaven
but thee, and there is none upon the earth that I desire
beside thee." Nothing in heaven or in earth should
possess loveliness or excellence in the eyes of the believer until he is able to see it in Christ. That which,
not found in Christ, is excellent in his eyes, approaches
him only to harm him. The more beautiful, the more
harnfill, for it weakens the measure of his abiding in
Christ.
There are those to whom this demand seems exorbitant. They would be willing in some sense to abide
in Christ-but to abide in him exclusively, from this
they shrink. One that delights in poetry covers the
table with volumes of his favorites; he shows us in
every volume the passages encompassed with marks
of his enthusiastic admiration, and asks us if we
would have him  cease to find the noblest life of his
soul in these, cease to surrender himself to these hallowed influences. The lover of nature, the artist, the
merchant, have similar protests to make in behalf of
the respective objects to which they are so largely given.
But our reply to one and all is, "Abide in Christ."
Christ's reply to them is, "Abide in me. In me ye
shall find a hundredfold over what you sacrifice for
me — poetry, music, painting, commercial excitement.
Found in me, it shall prove to you beneficent; found
apart from me, unbestowed by me, it will pour into
your heart a stream  that must be known sooner or
later as a stream  of death."  Jesus Christ is not the
enemy of art or nature-he is not the enemy of anything truly excellent or beautiful; all that is truly
estimable and lovely owes its existence to him. All




154               LOVE REVEALED.
things were made by him  and for him.  Whatever
you lose and cannot find again in Christ is better
lost.  Who would not part with a phantom, especially
a phantom  sent to lure him  to a realm where joy ald
hope are not?
"And I in him."  The promise here follows swift
upon the  command.  If we satisfy ourselves with
Jesus, he will be the satisfaction of our souls.  No
language can express all that is comprehended in these
three words, " I in him." Saints that have been for
thousands of years before the throne do not fully
fathom  it.  There is but One who knoweth Christ,
and but One who can estimate the wealth of that
inheritance here made over to the believer.  In Christ
are all the treasures of wisdom  and knowledge; the
Spirit without measure; all the fullness of the Godhead; life inexhaustible; love unfathomable; glory,
honor, dominion, blessing;  and  thus  marvelously
freighted, Christ offers to dwell in the believer; and
as the believer does not occasionally visit Christ, but
habitually abides in him, so we are warranted to conclude that Christ proposes not to give the believer an
occasional revelation of his grace, not to sadden hiTi
with intermingled periods of desertion, but as the vine
abideth with the branch, so will he abide with, in and
for the believer.
JOHN xv. 5.-" I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth
in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth mluch fruit: for without
me ye can do nothing."
E learned fron the second verse that the believer
would bring forth fruit to Christ, and that he




JO1HN XV. 5.                 155
would bring forth fruit increasingly; here we are told
that lie will bring forth much fruit.  It is a false conqeption of the believer that he is one who brings forth
little fruit. We are not to entertain the idea that it belongs only to the uncommon Christian, to the person of
rare gifts, to bring forth much fruit. It is the essential
characteristic of all, if we allow the Lord himself to
characterize his followers.
Christians are to bring forth much fruit, not because
of peculiar incidental advantages enjoyed by them, not
by the favor of circumstances, not in consequence of
their social position or their wealth or their intellectual
endowments, but because they are united to Christ.  The
virtue is in him, and it freely flows to those who are
united to him. He is the source and origin of fruitfulness; all fruit is from him, and it reveals itself in connection with his people just so far as they abide in him.
The chief impediment to usefulness is the unsubdued
feeling of independence on their part, the insidious idea
that they have a strength and a wisdom  of their own
from which they can in some measure draw.  Every
Christian renounces this nominally, but the habit of
self-reliance has so incorporated itself with his being
during the life of nature that he does not easily discover
how much he is under the influence of it, at the very
time that he is professing to look to Christ as the sole
ground of confidence. How many there are who are
looking to Christ simply to eke out their own inadequate
strength and wisdom, as though it were the function of
a vine to supply what was lacking in the inherent power
of the branch to support itself!  But the branch has no
such power. Its glory is that it stands in a certain in



156                LOVE REVEALED,
timate relation to the vine, the source of its energy and
fruitfulness.
It disclainls every other glory.  It is no reproach
to it that it has no ifountains of sap and of blessing
within itself: its fountains are where they should bein the vine; and its blessedness is that it is united to the
vine. In order to bring forth much fruit to Christ, -we
must cease from our own fruit.  If any man think himself wise, let him  become a fool that he may be wise.
Let him daily become a fool that he may daily become
wise.  Let him  daily realize his own inability to guide
himself in any matter, and look to Christ for guidance.
The fruit spoken of is fruit to Christ.  A great deal
that is called fruit in the Church is not fruit to Christ,
and must therefore meet with reprobation in the day of
Christ..Fruit to Christ is fruit like Christ's-the fruit
of the Spirit.  It is not limited to the mere exhibition
of the life of believers, but it relates also to the extension of that life-the propagation of Christianity from
one to another.  But where we behold clusters of love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, faith, we may be assured that, sooner
or later, there will appear results of this in the conversion of others.  Christians often err in estimating fruit.
Success is often latent, coming slowly to light, and that
which is more rapid and conspicuous may turn out at
last to have been the opposite of success.  lHe that is
sincerely bent on br-inging forth much fruit to Christ
will rest with satisfactionl in this conception alone,
namely, that the f'avor of God is fruit.  Am I doing
that which has the approbation of the almighty Disposer of all?  If I am, then I am  bringing forth the




JOHN XV. 5.                 157
best possible fruit. It will appear in his own good time,
though it should be a thousand years hence. One man
insists on seeing his fruit, and God gives way to him and
lets him have what he seeks; he sees his work prosperilng in his hands, but, unhappily, it does not endure;
there is in the end the bitterness of disappointment.
Another asks but one thing-that he may please to the
uttermost Him who has called him to be his servant.
Ile is willing to wait in apparent sterility until God
shall give the increase; he knows that God is the Author
of all true fruit, and has the absolute control of all resources, and can accomplish by the wave of his hand the
renovation of the world, and accordingly he puts his
seed into the hand of God, sure that, in the best of
times, he will see the best of harvests. Let us abide in
Christ, bury ourselves in him, be found in him. " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit."
" Without me (or apart from me) ye can do nothing "
— nothing in the way of bringing forth fruit to Christ.
What we do without a reference to Christ, without a
conscious dependence on him, without a desire to please
him, we do without his approbation. It is not his will
that we should do anything without him, and, therefore,
whatsoever we do without him, we do against his will.
In such a matter as finding the colt for Christ to sit
upon, even, it was needful that the disciples should
abide in Christ.
It becomes every Christian to recognize fully and distinctly that much fruit is expected of him. It is expected that he will give powers, energies, influence,
14




158              LOVE REVEALED.
wealth, time and talents in such a way to Christ as that
he may bring forth much fruit. He is to place himself
and all that he has in such a relation to Christ as that
the fullness of power and of blessing that is in Christ,
may flow freely forth through his instrumentality into
the world. There is much fruit in Christ germinantly
waiting for the channels through which it must obtain
its embodied existence among men. Every one that
professes to be a disciple of Christ really professes to be
a branch for the production of this much fruit.
How much fruit? In the answer to this we are to look
to the promises: " Whatsoeverye shall ask in my name,
I will do it." "Ask and receive that your joy may be
full."  " I will send the Holy Ghost, the Comforter; he
shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgment."  "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost and with fire." "He that spared not his own
Son, will he not with him freely give us all things?"
" Greater works than these shall ye do because I go to
my Father." "This is the victory which overcometh
the world, even your faith."  "He shall come down like
rain upon the mown grass."  "A nation shall be born
in a day."
JOHN xv. 6.-" If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a
branch and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into
the fire, and they are burned."
DOME there are who abide in Christ ostensibly, not
really. They profess to be connected with him, but
there is no vital union between them and him. Christ
does not immediately disown any that profess to come
to him. It was long before he disowned Judas. These




JOHN XV. 6.                 159
are the days of his long-suffering; the day of irrevocable judgment has not yet dawned. The branch which
does not yield fruit, and which affords no indications
that it is about to yield fruit, is still, perhaps, suffered
for a season to remain, if peradventure it may receive
the vivifying influence of the vine: when it has been
fully tried it is removed.
There are many who are firmly persuaded that they
are abiding in Christ who are yet not in Christ at all;
nor is it likely that they will awake from their delusion
until the hour when he shall say unto them, "Depart
from me, I never knew you." The cause of their remaining so hopelessly bound in their delusion is, that
they are abiding in another Christ whom they choose to
regard as the true Christ. They invent for themselves
a Christ after their own hearts, by obliterating some of
the features of the gospel Christ and adding some from
their own fancy. They ignore a number of his commandments. They reject a portion of his testimony
concerning their sin, their dependence, their blindness,
their danger, and concerning the character of the world,
its pleasures, its riches, its honors. They leave out certain conditions of the promises. The heart is deceitful
above all things, and its triumph as a deceiver is most
surprisingly seen when it binds an individual all his life
long in the unfaltering conviction that the Christ of his
fancy is the true Christ. How many are thus led captive! How  incomparably difficult their deliverance!
They believe in Christ-that is, their own Christ; they
obey him; they honor him; they preach him; they are
zealous for him; they make converts in his name; perhaps they raise up a church for him. And Satan op



160              LOVE REVEALED.
poses them in this their work only just so far as may be
necessary in order to give them thus an additional evidence that they are in the way of truth. Oh how great
will be their astonishment when they shall at length be
ushered into the august presence of the true Christ!
Beholding him as he is, they will look wildly on the
right hand and on the left in search of the Christ whom
they have been serving-the Christ of their fancy-but
in vain. The Christ of the gospel is there before them;
the scales fall from their eyes; they awaken to a sense
of their tremendous guilt in having trifled with the revelation of the Saviour in the gospel.
Think not, O believer, that thou art in no danger of
being found out of Christ. He that thinketh he standeth is welcome to think so, but only let him take heed
lest he fall. Without much prayer, much watchfulness,
much self-denial, you cannot abide in Christ. To abide
in Christ it is necessary to attach the highest importance
to communion with Christ; and you know there are a
thousand currents sweeping through you every day all
hostile to this. A single trivial, scarce-noticed impulse
of your heart is capable of leading you where you will
find it difficult to realize the presence and the grace of
the Saviour. Seek constantly to have in mind how important in the eyes of the Saviour is the perpetuation
of this soul-communion with him. In the verse now
brought before us he gives us an appalling intimation
of what it is to lose sight of him, and be insensibly
drifted into regions where he is not found. Not to
abide in Christ is to abide in death and be fitted for
everlasting destruction in hell. The Saviour in his
faithfillness brings all motives to bear upon the believer.




JOHN XV. 6.                 161
Happy the believer who is held Ifst to Christ by the
attraction of Christ!
Let us beware how we suffer coldness to spring up
between us and our fellow-Christians.  Inasmuch as
ye suffer it between yourself and one of the least of these
my brethren, ye suffer it between yourself and me. Be
reconciled to thy brother or meet my frown.
Let us prefer Jerusalemn before our chiefjoy, and give
all heed to every proposition that invokes our aid in
behalf of the church of Christ, the bride of the Lamb.
If our brethren say to us, Let us go speedily to pray
before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts, let us
beware how we remain indifferent.
It may be that Jesus shall take a forward movement,
and require the church to move at a quicker pace than
that to which she has been accustomed. Let her be
careful lest she be lest she be left behind. "And they were in the
way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them:
and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were
afraid."  There comes a time when the former measures
of faith, hope, love and prayer are inadequate-wherein
what formerly was life is now not life, what was before
accepted is now rejected. The time for walking in the
wilderness is past, the time for entering Canaan is come.
The voice of the Captain of the host of the Lord is
heard, saying, Be strong and of a good courage; be
thou strong and very courageous; be strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might; be strong, quit yourselves like men. There is danger at such an hour lest
the Christian refuse to believe in the hour and its new
duties, and insist that as he has abided in Christ, so he
may abide in Christ. But Christ, in the new hour now




162              LOVE REVEALED.
given to his church, will wait for no man.  They who
are with him are called and chosen and faithful; the
wise virgins, with their lamps trimmed, shall move
swiftly on in the procession with the Bridegroom.
JoiN xv. 7, 8.-" If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is
my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my
disciples."
OMPARIING  this with the expression in verse 4,
"Abide in me and I in you," we learn that Christ
abideth in us as his words abide in us. This is a most
important thought-perhaps the most important of all
truths for the believer.  Our Lord  had previously
given a strong intimation of it.  When Judas asked
him, How  is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us?
he answered, If a man love me, he will keep my words.
We are to seek Christ, not in the third heavens, but in
his words-that is, in the gospel; and we shall find him
when that gospel is taken into our own hearts and kept
there.  The Spirit of God takes of Christ and shows
unto us by taking of his words and bringing them  in
their own appropriate beauty and authority before us.
Let the reader turn to I Cor. ii. and glance along from
the ninth verse to the fourteenth, noticing the following
expressions: The things which God hath prepared for
them  that love him. God hath revealed these things
unto us by his Spirit. The Spirit searcheth the deep
things of God.  The things of God knoweth no man,
but the Spirit.  The things that are freely given us of
God.  Which things we speak.  The things of the
Spirit of God.  And compare with verse 2, "I deter



JOHN XV. 7,8.                163
mined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and him crucified." The glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ is that of which the ancient prophets wrote when they prophesied of things prepared such
as eye had not seen, ear had not heard, heart had not
conceived. "The light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. iv. 6) is no
other than "The light of the glorious gospel of
Christ." 4.
It follows that Christians are committing a most serious error when they neglect to seek in the word of God
for the answers to their prayers. If they believingly
ask to see the glory of Christ, they may expect that
the Spirit of God will cause them to see that glory in
the ordinary words of the gospel. Ask any mature
Christian concerning the blessings that have made his
soul to overflow with joy unspeakable and full of glory,
and he will tell you that they all came to him through
the medium of the word. "Say not, who will bring
Christ down from above; the word is nigh thee, even in
thy heart and in thy mouth." Say, who will bring the
Holy Ghost down from above, so that Christ in all his
beauty and majesty may be discovered by my soul, looking forth unto me from his precious word. Where, in
this wide world, shall I find Elijah the prophet, to obtain for me by his effectual fervent prayer the wonderworking fire from heaven?  Ah! call not for Elijah.
Be to thyself thine own Elijah. The word is nigh thee,
in thy heart and in thy mouth. It has as mighty a
claim upon thy faith as upon that of Elijah. "Ask,
and it shall be given you."  "If ye abide in me, and
my words abide in y:ou, ye shall ask what ye will and it




164             LOVE REVEALED.
shall be done unto you."  Ye shall ask for the Holy
Ghost, and he will show you the deep things of God in
Christ, and Christ in the word.
If my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
If his words abide in Us, they will abide in our will,
enveloping it and permeating it and making it Christ's
will; and then what wonder if we obtain what we ask
when we ask what we thus will  " T  T is the will of God,
even your sanctification."  " Sanctify them through thy
truth." "IKeep them from the evil of the world."
" Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will
be done, as in heaven so in earth." "That their joy
may be full."  "Peace I leave with you."  " Let not
your heart be troubled."  " That they all may be one."
"That they may see my glory." These, and such as
these, are the words of Christ. Let them abide in us
and become our own words, the expressions of our own
will, our heartfelt desire, and we shall ask what we will
without fear of a denial.
We see how it is that we are to bring forth fruit to
Christ, how it is that other branches are to start from
us, and thus the true vine extend itself to regions beyond, even to every nation, tribe and tongue. We are
told, if Christ abide in us and we in him, we shall bring
forth much fruit, and we are told that if we abide in
Christ and his words abide in us, we shall ask what we
will and it shall be done unto us. It is, then, at the
mercy-seat that we are to obtain all our fruit, that Christ
through us is to be loaded with fruit. How easy here to
err! How many, in fact, overlook this all-inmportant truth!
How constant the inmpulse is to take the words of Christ
and rush forth with them as though they would of




JOHmN xv. 7, 8.               165
themselves work out fruit! The first disciples hid them
in their hearts and went to the throne of grace and continued with one accord in supplication until the day of
Pentecost, nor did they afterward in the least intermit their prayerfulness. " Ye have not because ye ask
not."  "If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do
it." Christ is as truly the Author of all the fruit-producing processes now as when he was bodily on the
earth, and the believer loves to have it so. Not that
Christ does anything without his people: through the
branchles the vine beareth fruit.
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much
fruit."
The husbandman is glorified when the vines are loaded
with excellent fruit.  The hope that animated him in
all his labors is then realized.  No one is justified in believing that there is an unwillingness on the part of God
to witness the extension, elevation and glory of the
Church. The end of all creation and all providence
is that God may be glorified.  Everything else must
give way to this necessity. If we really and thoroughly
desire that God may be glorified, there is no reason why
we should not bring forth much fruit to his glory. If
the much fruit is wanting, the glory of God is wanting,
and we are responsible; it must be that his words are
not abiding in us. It may be a protracted process by
which God will fit us for fruitfulness; though we see
not the fruit, we may see the preparation for it. The
fruit we are now speaking of is fruit in others, but until
the day when God shall be glorified by such fruit
through our instrumentality, let there be a constant
prophecy of that future day of glory in our increasing




166               LOVE REVEALED.
patience, humility, prayerfulness, faith, submission, selfdenial, love and gratitude. Oh, let us lay hold of the
gracious declaration that God is glorified in our exceeding fruitfulness, for in this there is the strongest possible affirmation of success accorded to our sincere
prayers.  What is here said does not affect merely the
man of genius, the man of great natural energy and
power of adaptation; it relates to Christians generally.
Upon every one is laid a solemn obligation to bring
forth much fruit.
The command, "Glorify God in your bodies and in
your spirits which are his," is no other than the command to bring forth fruit. To fulfill this command it
is needful, first, for a man to know that the thing is
possible; he must learn it from the promises. Second,
to know that it is obligatory. Third, to cease from
living unto himself, realizing that he is bought with a
price. Fourth, to be willing to be anything in the
hand of God, to let God treat him as something quite
contemptible and worthless. Fifth, to be content to
bring forth fruits in God's order-patience, meekness,
submission — when these are particularly called for.
Sixth, to beware how he dreams of glorifying himself
with any fruit that God may give him, and gladly to
leave his left hand ignorant of what his right hand doeth.
JOHIN xv. 8, 9.-" Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear
much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved
me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love."
mHE  idea of the second verse is here reaffirmed.
Christ had- said, Every branch in me that beareth




JOHN XV. 8, 9.                167
not fruit he taketh away. He here says, If ye bear
much fruit ye shall be my disciples. Not that by dint
of bearing fruit a man becomes a disciple of Christ, but
he thus makes it manifest that he is a disciple. By his
union to Christ he has life, and that life must reveal
itself. There is nothing in the Scripture to sanction the
hope of him who does not bring forth fruit to Christ,
but on the contrary there are countless asseverations of
the most positive kind that such a hope is vain. Faith
without works is dead. Genuine faith reveals itself in
obedience. There are still a few in the world who insist
that the question of their discipleship has no connection
with the question of fruitfulness. They are sure that
they believe on Christ, and they are consequently sure
of everlasting life in him; for what can pluck them out
of his hand? what can separate them from his love?
Shall sin or disobedience or spiritual slumber do it?
What can take them away from the true Vine? Can
fruitlessness do it? They scorn the idea, and look with
contempt upon those twilight Christians who suppose
that anything whatever a man does or leaves undone
can affect the question of salvation. It is true that they
are obliged to ignore a great deal of Scripture; but then
they compensate for this by giving the utmost prominence to a passage here and there separated from its context. They confound two things that are as far as heaven
and earth asunder-God's decrees and man's knowledge
of God's decrees. " Make your calling and election sure."
This is not an exhortation to you to live so that God
may elect you unto eternal life and call you into the
kingdom of his dear Son, but to live so as to make it
evident that you are one of the elect. "; Oh, but," say




168              LOVE REVEALED.
they, " there can be no true peace if we are obliged to seek
the grounds of it in ourselves."  Granted: the only true
peace is that which springs out of your union to Christ;
but the question is, Does my peace spring out of my
union to Christ, or is it the offspring of a mere imagination that I ani united to Christ?  Christ says, " He that
heareth my words and doeth them is like a man who
built his house upon the rock; he who heareth them
and doeth them not is like a man who built his house
upon the sand."
The obligation to obey is like an enemy and like a
tyrant to the heart of the natural man. IHe is a child
of disobedience; his whole frame is cast in the mould
of self-will; all his powers, his affections, his thoughts,
his habits, are in a state of rebellion and have continually been so; the King is driven out and forgotten, and
there is a certain kind of peace in the mind in consequence of the non-realization of the presence of a lawgiver.  When by a superior power the mind is compelled to take knowledge of the long-forgotten law, then
farewell to peace! The elements of a fierce conflict start
into activity. The more the necessity of obedience is
pressed home upon the mind, the more it abhors that
necessity-as the resistance of a spring increases with
the tension. A life spent in sin has utterly unfitted the
mind to obey a holy God; and the obligation to obey is
like the setting up of an inquisition in the mind, with
its consummate enginery of torture. There is no peace
until Christ, the Redeemer, is revealed to the conscience.
The sinner believes, and obtains peace through the discovery of God reconciled to him in Christ. The sense
of obligation was agonizing to his soul; the sense of




JOHN XV. 8, 9.               169
free forgiveness enraptures him, and he is ready to conclude that obedience and faith are diametrically opposite
-to look upon the former as the eternal enemy of his
nature, and upon the latter as the ever-living benefactor
of his soul. But the glorious office of faith is to reconcile him not only to God, but also to obedience. God
in pardoning him does not change; his character remains
the same; his requirements are the same, for they were
never arbitrary. Faith introduces the individual to the
principle of obedience under altogether new circumstances-for obedience and grace are commingled-and
the sense of obligation, so far from coming to desolate a
heart sensible of its weakness and folly, is accompanied
by a revelation of the all-sufficient grace of Christ.
The sinner, pardoned through the merits of Christ, rejoices that the grace of obedience is now given to him,
and that he has the opportunity of testifying his love
to the Saviour. He would count it in the last degree
dishonorable if, in the presence of the cross of Christ
and of such exceeding great and precious promises, he
should retain his former animosity to the sense of obligation. The commandments of God are not grievous
to him, for lie knows where to find the strength which
they demand; and there is a sentiment of gratitude
within him which only waits for these indications of the
way in which he shall honor Christ.
Disciples are those who learn of Christ. They learn
from him what they are, what he is; they learn from
him what to love and what to hate, what to desire, what
opinions to entertain, what words to speak, what places
to frequent, in what to rejoice, for what to weep, what
life to lead, what prayers to offer, what labors to engage
15




170             LOVE REVEALED.
in, what death to die. To show that they have learned
of him is to bring forth fruit to him. A disciple is
necessarily a fruit-bearer. The Lord Jesus will not
continue to teach one upon whom his teachings are
thrown away.
"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you."
These words should fill the soul of the believer with joy
unspeakable. This declaration cannot, of course, tell us
more than the cross of Christ tells us; but we are so
unutterably sluggish in the apprehension of the deep
things of God that it is well we have this comment on
the cross from the lips of the Saviour himself. We
understand without difficulty that the love of the Father
for Christ was and is a boundless love. All the wealth
of love residing in the Godhead pours itself upon the
head of the Beloved. We are taught to retain intact
the conception of this love, even in the garden of Gethsemane, and when Christ was numbered among the
transgressors. We know that Christ is the image of
the invisible God; that he was without spot or blemish,
he alone of men; that there was everything in his character, his work, his humiliation, his sufferings, to carry
to its highest pitch the love of the Father. Do you recognize the love of the Father to the Son? Then let that
be to you the measure of Christ's love to you. Is the
former for ever indubitable? Then let the latter be.
All very true, says one, but the simple fact is, that I
experience cruel pains in my body, accompanied with
gloom of mind. That state of suffering interferes with
the exercise of right feelings toward God; I can scarcely
think of anything but my suffering; even prayer is seldom a relief to me. It is certain that Christ has power




JOHIN XV. 8, 9.              171
to banish at once these pains, this darkness. He has
but to speak, and I shall have something worthy of the
name of life-faculties, and a heart to use them for his
glory. 2Now why does not Christ speak that word?
He has all grace-why does he not reveal it by granting me deliverance? How can I be expected to appreciate his love, when, in the day of my trouble, he suffers
me to remain days, weeks, months, without alleviation?
A little kindness shown in my restoration would affect
me more than a multitude of mere assurances, or even
of acts that do not meet this my urgent need.
Well, if you wish for an inferior expression of Christ's
love, you shall have it: Christ will hear your prayer and
banish your ailment. But if you wish that he should
love you with the higbhest love, even as the Father loved
him, then you will beware how you dictate as to the
expressions of that love. He loves you with an infinite
love; he is preparing you for eternal happiness, for inconceivable glory; and if you now thrust in your own
paltry ideas of blessing, you will fearfully endanger your
prospects of that sublime inheritance. You are to believe in his love; you are to believe that that which torments you emubosoms some great advantage; you are to
say with Jesus, " The cup which my Father hath given
me, shall I not drink it?" you are to let patience have
her perfect work, and glorify God in the fires by submission, unrepining acquiescence in his appointments
and a persevering grasp of his promises. God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that
ye are able; and this ability you are not to look for in
yourself, but in Him who is made unto you strength
and wisdom and sanctification.




172              LOVE REVEALED.
JOHN xv. 9.-" Continue ye in my love."
E  are not satisfied with being insincere-we must
also impute to Jesus the insincerity that belongs
to us. We profess to regard him as a Being of irreproachable truthfulness, and yet the most positive statements from his lips fail to convince us of his willingness
to keep our hearts perpetually irrigated with the living
water of his love. The Christian in some happy hour
finds himself enraptured with a sense of Christ's love;
it is like the advent of a bridegroom-his whole soul is
permeated with a celestial life. He is startled as well
as delighted. He has been seeking the blessing, but
even when be sought it he had no adequate conception
of it. A troop of angels have run down the ladder that
Christ has made to reach from earth to heaven, from
heaven to earth-run down to him and chanted in his
ear the assurance that they have seen his name written
in the Lamb's book of life. Before they return one of
them takes up the Bible that has fallen from his hand
in the glad surprise, and places it open in his hand
again. He looks at it and sees the word of Jesus,
" Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou
not known me?" As he turns over the pages, a beauty
and a power never before noticed are seen investing the
words of Christ.  What unmistakable evidences of
love!  What long-suffering!  What fidelity!  What
reassuring acts and tones! WVhat a precious gospel!
How suited to satisfy the most ardent aspirations of the
soul! How strange that I never saw these things before as now  I see them! It is strange, for they
were always there. No change has passed upon Christ
or upon the words of Christ. The change wrought has




JOHN XV. 9.                  173
been simply in the dissipation of your unbelief. You see
in what an odious enterprise your unbelief has been
persistently engaged. You have been falsifying Christ.
You have, written upon a hundred of the most burning
declarations of the Saviour's love, This means nothing.
Upon others, This means little. Upon others, Poetry.
Upon others, Makle a large allowance for Oriental imagery. Upon others, For the prophets and apostles.
Upon others, Fulfilled and buried. You think what
kind of a gospel you, with your insincerity, would give
to men, and conclude that Christ's gospel is such. A
mirror with inequalities upon its surface presents a distorted and repulsive image of the loveliest face. Your
unbelief made of the gospel such an image.
The Saviour has pardoned the frightful injustice thus
done to him, has dismissed from his thoughts the longprotracted calumny, and has inundated your soul with
a blessing more ample than your frail nature can well
sustain. He sustains you under it. And now the question arises in your mind, How long will this last? A
week? A fortnight? Three days? Five days? You
awake in the morning and wonderingly look into your
heart to see if the blessing is still there. You are sure
it cannot last. The question is, How far will you be
permitted to carry it?  Oh the terrible unyieldingness
of unbelief! Do you not see the word of Christ as
plain as day, " Continue ye in my love"?  So far from
having any desire to withdraw the communications now
made to you, he charges you to see to it that you continue to enjoy them. He puts upon you the distinct
obligation to continue in the enjoyment of his love.
There is something most dishonoring to Christ in the
15'




174              LOVE REVEALED.
idea that he is willing to draw near to you in love in a
certain month, on a certain day, and then during a long
period absent himself from you. The gospel makes no
mention of any fitful love on the part of Christ.  The
only love it reveals is an unchangining love. The words
that embosom it are surely unchanging.  They have as
much meaning on Tuesday as on Monday. If there be
a difference in your perception of that love, impute it to
your unbelief, and abhor yourself for that unbelief, the
sin of sins.
If you expect to have the blessing disappear after
some days, it will disappear. But know  that it is
frightened away by the resurrection of your unbelief.
Unbelief lies very quiet in its grave for a few days;
then gradually, stealthily, it lifts the ponderous stoneit is strong enough-and thrusts its hated face into the
light of your consciousness; soon it is on its old throne,
or at least on one of the steps of it, masked, it may be,
as prudence.
This, however, is not the history of every Christian
heart. We turn to another, and a more shining record
greets us. This poor man, this loved disciple, having
learned by experience the subtlety and wickedness of
his heart-learned that it was capable of taking one
after another the jewels handed down from heaven and
throwing them into the Dead Sea-resolved to be on
his guard when the next blessing should come, and by
prayer, fasting, faith, vigilance, self-denial-by the armor
of righteousness on the right hand and on the left-to
fulfill Christ's command and continue in his love. He
believed that the Saviour was not more willing to grant
him his love than to grant him the continuance of it.




JOHN XV. 9.                   175
He confidently fled to the Saviour to enable him to
continue in his love. He was sure that the same allsufficiency which causes the mountain lake to abide in
undiminished fullness, notwithstanding the evaporation
and the percolation and the streams sent forth from its
bosom, could fill his heart from the heart of Christ and
keep it full.
There is an analogy between a blessing bestowed on
an individual Christian and one bestowed on the church
generally. If the individual suffer the idea to lurk in
his mind that probably after some days his present fervency of love, joy, faith and zeal will subside-if he
neglect to use the utmost circumspection, greatly to
watch, earnestly to pray, eagerly to keep pressing forward-then assuredly he will lose it. Just so with
a revival in the church. A revival is simply the
church's recovery of health. Anything less of fervor,
faith and joy is a condition of unhealthiness; and the
church should never be contented to live below the
blessed elevation she has now, by the grace of the
good Physician, attained. If now she allow the idea to
creep in that this state of revival is a state above health,
and that she is moving in a region where she cannot
long continue-if she give place for a moment to such
an idea-then there will be reason to apprehend a
speedy termination to the blessing. As the individual,
made wise by his past losses and by the consciousness
of unspeakable difficulties arising through the interception of the blessed light once granted, resolves that in
whatsoever good hour it may please his sovereign Lord
to bring him back to that state of heavenly assurance,
he wvill cut away and cast away, on the right hand and




176              LOVE REVEALED.
on the left, everything that may in the least degree
jeopardize tile continuance of the blessing, and will
count all things but loss that he may abide in Christ's
love; so the church, admonished by those dreadful intervals of slumber, resolves that when the refreshing from
the presence of the Lord shall once again be granted,
she will watch with inconceivable vigilance for the
preservation of that saving health which has been
brought to her by the Spirit of God. Has she yet
learned this?
JOHN xv. 10.-" If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in
my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide
in his love."
TIHE love of the Lord Jesus Christ is expressed in his
commandments as well as in his promises and invitations.  To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is to believe that his commandments are expressive of his love.
When he gave to the man with the withered hand the
command to stretch forth his hand, it was his love that
found utterance. So also when he told the lepers to go
and show themselves to the priests. When he told the
disciples, in the latter part of this very evening, Watch
and pray, it was in order that they might not enter into
temptation. They found it more convenient to seek relief from sorrow in sleep, so quickly did they forget his
word, If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in
my love. There is not anything that so disastrously retards the progress of the great body of Christians as
their unwillingness to accept of the commandments of
Christ as expressions of his love. They believe that
in order to maintain their peace of mind they must




JOHN XV. 10.                 177
give their principal attention to the promises.  But
every great blessing is borne to them by two cherubimone a promise and one a command. We would affectionately say to the Christian who has been long feeding
upon the promises, " Christian, do you know that, in answer to your prayers, there is in a certain place a large
accumulation of blessings waiting to be appropriated?"
"No," he says, " I knew nothing of it; where are they,
pray'?"  These accumulated blessings are in the commandments. As often as you shut your eyes in presence
of a command of the Saviour, you shut your eyes to
an exquisite gift sent down to you from the Father of
mercies. The two cherubim of whom I spake are twin
cherubim-inseparable. They came to Abraham once.
The one said, " Get thee out of thy country and from
thy kindred unto a land that I will show thee;" and the
other said, " I will make of thee a great nation, and I
will bless thee." Search and see: from the patriarchs to
the apostles, from the apostles to ourselves, there was
ever one undivided mission to these twain.
Keep yourselves in the love of God, says Jude. How
may we do this? By keeping the commandments of the
Lord Jesus. Let us, then, turn to these commandments with all eagerness of expectation, giving them, instead of the cold looks with which we have too often
greeted them, a friendly welcome, a kiss of love.
The first commandment which meets us as we set out
in this new search for the treasures of Christ's love is
this: "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid." We may have been accustomed to view this as
a promise. It is nevertheless a command. It is the
command of Christ that the heart of the believer be kept




178             LOVE REVEALED.
free from trouble. How, you say, can this commandment be constantly obeyed? I have had some experience as a servant of Christ, and I have not found it possible to keep the heart for ever free from trouble. The
answer is, that you have not given due heed to the conmmands of Christ, and therefore trouble has from time to
time invaded your heart. Had you kept his commands,
you would have had his love diffused in your heart,
and in the presence of that love every trouble as it
crosses the threshold, no matter how proudly, must
quickly be dwarfed and covered with confusion.
We come to another command: "Believe me that I
am in the Father, and the Father in me "-believe that
there is omnipotence along with Christ's love, and that
the love of Christ actuates Him who sitteth upon the
throne of the universe. Let every act and word and
suffering of Him whose life and death are portrayed in
the gospel be to you an expression of the love of the
Father, and let the providential government of God reveal to you the wisdom and the grace of Him who is
Head over all things in the church.
Behold yet another commandment-" That ye love
one another." Keeping this, we shall abide in his love.
Is there not yet a large remainder of obedience to be
rendered to this command?  May we not make vast
progress in this direction? Let us understand that to
be making progress in this is to be advancing in the
knowledge of Christ's love to us. There was one who
counted all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ. You may be sure that he sought
this excellent treasure in the observance of Christ's command, That ye love one another.




JOHN XV. 10.               179
"That ye should do as I have done to you."  Do not
dislike this word " do." You cannot exist without doing something, and it were vastly better that your doings should emanate from the will of Christ than that
they should simply proceed from your own capricious
will. That you may abide in the love of Christ, do according to the example he has left you-wash the feet of
his disciples, prefer their interests, their pleasure, their
comfort, their honor, to your own; be last of all and
servant of all. Oh how much of the love of Christ
you have suffered to be locked up from you! how much
you might have done for his people that you have not
done! The Christian is not more truly constituted a
servant of Christ than he is a servant of Christians.
" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
"Even as I have kept my Father's commandments,
and abide in his love." And on another occasion,
"The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always
those things that please him." As man, Jesus abode in
his Father's love by keeping his commandment.  "He
learned obedience; and being made perfect, he became
the Author of eternal salvation  He took upon him "
the nature of a subordinate-our own nature; a finite
soul and human body, like ours, only without sin; he
was made under law. He kept his Father's commandments and abode in his love, and he gives us the ability
to keep his commandments and abide in his love. It is
a fact that the same blessed Spirit that dwelt in Jesus,
leading him to keep his Father's commandments, dwells
in his people now. You will say, perhaps, that the material that he has to do with is very different from that




180              LOVE REVEALED.
which he operated on in Christ.  This objection might
have weight if the Spirit of God were not God the
Spirit. When once the idea of omnipotence is presented, the depravity of man's moral nature ceases to be
available as a plea for imperfect service. Because we
are utterly depraved we are commanded to abide in
Christ and to find all our life in him.  " Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected "
(because the word of God is the channel by which the
perfect love of God is to flow into his soul; the whole
word is that perfect channel; half of the word availeth
not); "hereby know we that we are in him."
" Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we
confidence toward God: and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments, and
do those things that are pleasing in his sight."
JOHN xv. 11.-" These things have I spoken unto you, that my
joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
AS an aid to the understanding of this, let us look at
a similar passage contained in the prayer recorded
in the seventeenth chapter: "And now come I to thee;
and these things I speak in the world, that they might
have my joy fulfilled in themselves." The two passages
evidently refer to the same solicitude. A retrospective
reference to the words, "Peace I leave with you, my
peace I give unto you," will also be found useful. Jesus
desired that earth should lose nothing by his departure.
He would unload himself, so to speak, of all the treasures
with which he came freighted into this world. He was
pre-eminently a man of sorrows, yet he had experience




JO1HN XV. 11.                181
also ofjoy.  We are not only told that he was " troubled
in spirit," but also that he " rejoiced  in spirit."  tHe
had an abiding consciousness of the Father's love-unbroken communion with the Father; he was without
guile, holy, harmless, undefilecl; le had that perfect
love which casteth out fear; the law of the Lord was
his delight; his filith, beyond that of all others, substantiated to hiim things unseen, and made real the
things hoped for.  The tendency of all these was to
inspire him with joy. This joy lie would have remain
with his disciples, found in them after his departure, and
carried to a height which the peculiar circumstances of
his mission did not allow of in himself during his earthly
pilgrimage.
" These things have I spoken unto you that my joy
might remain in you."  What things?  Things concerning privilege and concerning duty.  "Abide in ume
and I in you."  " If my words abide in you."  "That
ye bear much fruit."  " Ieep my commnandnments."
"' That ye love one anothler."  These things were spoken
that his joy might remain in us. If we desire joy, we
are to seek it here.  Chriist is willing that we should
ha}ve his joy-not any other, for every other is a forgery;
his is the joy that camle down from heaven. There was
no true joy in earth.  Jesus came that we might have
it, and. that we might have it more abundantly.  Jesus
is the true Vine co.me down from heaven, and the fruit
of that Vine is the only true fruit to be found on earth;
his peace is the only true peace; his love is the only true
love; his joy the only true joy; his knowledge of the
Father the only true knowledge; his holiness the only
true holiness: in him  is found the only true union.
li,




182             LOVE REVEALED.
What a sublime mission is this of Jesus! How slow
we are to understand it! how slow to enter into his
plans! How stupidly do we cling to our own conception of joy, though six thousand years have proved it to
be a base fabrication passed off by Satan upon the imbecile credulity of man! The words of Jesus Christ are
the seeds sent down from heaven, that plants of heavenly joy, peace, love, knowledge and power may take
root in humanity, the first-fruits of the New Jerusalem
and of the trees growing upon the banks of the river
of the water of life. These wondrous words are passed
from one to another through this world, rejected and
despised by men. The universal exclamation of all
men is, Who will show us any good?  Who will give
us joy? But they laugh the Saviour to scorn when he
says, Joy is come down from heaven to earth, and is to
be found in my words. Alas that they should seem to
find a warrant for their incredulity in the conduct of
those who are called the people of Christ! If they
who are professedly the people of Christ make so little
account of the joy that he offers them, and leave neglected so many precious words embosoming this joy, is
it a marvel that others should be skeptical?  "Who is
blind but my servant? or deaf as my messenger that I
sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as
the Lord's servant?"  There is no blindness so astonishing as that of the enlightened. Their eyes have been
opened to see a multitude of precious things, and therefore it is amazing that so much should remain unperceived by them. Were they wholly blind it would not
be so surprising. Who is deaf as the Lord's messenger? It is beyond question that many ministers of the




JOHN XV. 11.                183
gospel are strangers to the peace, joy and love which are
contained in the very words they preach.
" That your joy might be full." This was the desire
of Christ, and the means by which this desire may be
fulfilled have been pointed out by him. We are not
merely informed of the desire, but of the way in which
it may meet fruition. His words were spoken, written,
conveyed to us, that by means of them our joy might be
full. We are to have our ideas of joy revolutionized,
throw away what we call joy, take Christ's joy and
make it ours, and then labor to have Christ's desire
fulfilled, our joy made full. Fullness of joy! Are we
to take these words in their obvious meaning?  Are we
really permitted to expect that the loftiest and amplest
and intensest aspirations of our souls shall be realized?
From what we have seen in our hearts, we are fain to
believe that many rivers of happiness might empty
themselves into the ocean of our desires without communicating fullness of joy. But the Saviour knew what
was in man; he knew these hearts, and knowing them,
he is not at all reluctant to undertake the task that seems
so hopeless-that of satisfying them.
Oh that the Spirit of God would show us the preparations for our fullness of joy made by the Saviour in
the gospel! How great is thy goodness which thou
hast laid up for them that fear thee! O my soul, gaze
with reverence upon these words of Christ. Thou art
here in the garden of Eden; thou art here in the presence of a fountain of which whosoever drinketh, it shall
be in him a well of life and of joy. The dreams of thy
youth that faded away into air, the enchanting illusions
which, vanishing, made this earth such a drear and dead




184              LOVE REVEALED.
Sahara, the aspirations awakened by poetry and music
and beauty and eloquence and genius, the presentiments
of a higher and diviner life, afterward discarded as having no antitype,-what wouldst thou say if all these
dreams and longings should present themselves to thee
embodied in glorious reality?  They served the purpose
of exalting thy conceptions of fullness of joyt; but thou
wert angry with them for tormenting thee with such
treacherous anticipations and showing thee no avenue
in the universe by which the ideal elysium of thy soul
could be reached. But gaze here upon the glorious
announcement that there is such an elysiium-nay, something infinitely more satisfying than the realization of
thy old erring dreams would have constituted.  There
is for thee fullness of joy. It is contained in the words
of Jesus. Thou lookest at these words, handiest them,
interrogatest them, and canst not discover in them any
capacity to create for thee an elysium. They are not
given to be looked at; their creative power and beatific
energy are only revealed when they are taken into the
heart.  Let me take them  into my heart-take them
all, promises, instructions, warnings, behests; let the
Spirit guide me into all truth; then, doubtless, shall I
enter upon fullness of joy.  Let Christ abide in my
heart by faith; let his word dwell in me richly in all
wisdom; then shall life, love and fullness of joy be in
me and be effluent from me.
JowIN xv. 12. —"This is my commandment, That ye love one
another, as I have loved you."
A S I contemplate the love of the Lord Jesus Christ
to me, I am lost in wonder, love and praise. He




J,:)IN XV. 12.             185
loved me and gave himself for me, said Paul; and
what Paul said I am also permitted to say. I am permitted to look at the wonderful descent of the Son of
God from heaven to earth, at all the sublime details of
his life in the flesh, at his sufferings in the garden and
in the hands of his enemies, and at his death on the
cross, as an exhibition of the love of Emmanuel to myself. And what do I now hear? He charges all his
people, from the least unto the greatest, to cherish that
same love toward me. Instead of a departure of his love
with him from the earth, my attention is called to the
measures taken by him for the continuance of that love
multiplied by as many disciples as there may be. That
love has descended from heaven to earth, not merely to
tarry here for a season and then ascend to the throne of
God again, but to take its place abidingly in the stream
of humanity, and continue to bless the church till the
next coming of the Saviour. Having been introduced
in the person of Jesus into our common humanity, it refuses to disengage itself, and makes provision for its own
perpetuation. The disciples had seen the love of the
Saviour exhibited in his life: they already knew that it
was incomparable; but they were yet to have their views
of it exalted by what they should witness on the coming
night and morrow, and afterward, by the outpouring of
the Spirit of God, they should discover in it a length
and depth, a breadth and height, surpassing all their
present conception. Whatever discoveries they might
make of the love of Christ were discoveries of the love
which they were required to entertain for one another.
They were each commissioned to carry on the loving
life of Jesus.
16 6




186             LOVE REVEALEDI).
Imagine this command fulfilled, and in the church of
Christ what a glorious scene bursts upon your view I!
The New Jerusalem is seen descending from  heaven,
having the glory of God  her light like unto a stone
most precious-even a jasper stone-clear as crystal;
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Yes, Jesus, it now appears, died not merely that he
might save you, in any ordinary acceptation of that term,
but that he might win for his own love your heart, and
having it, he would fill it with his own divine love for
the brethren, as plainly appears by this commandment.
But one may say, This thing is preposterous; in these
defiled and shattered hearts it is impossible that love
like that of the Son of God should dwell.  And
another may reply, Beware of irreverence. The Son
of God weighs his words before he utters them. He
knows the capacity of your heart, he knows its incapacity, infinitely better than you do. He knows that there
is nothing in humanity in the least resembling, but
much that is intensely opposed to, his love. Nevertheless he says it: " This is my commandment, that ye love
one another, as I have loved you." And do not believe
that these commands of Jesus, like those from Sinai, are
given in order to produce a sense of condemnation.
There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus. These commands are not given to torture the
disciples of Jesus with a sense of their grevious deficiencies. " These things have I spoken," he says, " that my
joy might remain in you and that your joy might be
full."  No; these commands are given as directions:
they indicate the way in which he would have his people to walk. They are to be obeyed. The Saviour has




JO —IN xV. 12.               187
a right confidently to expect that we will yield compliance to his wish in this particular.
But how may this thing be? How can we possibly
fulfill so lofty a vocation?  How can I love the people
of Christ with Christ's own love?
Let Christ abide in your heart by faith. It is by virtue of the most blessedly intimate union of the believer
to Christ that the heart of the former becomes the depository of the Saviour's own love for his people. The
question, Can I love with Christ's love? resolves itself
into the question, May the Saviour's prayer for the
union of his people with himself be fulfilled?  " Not I,
but Christ liveth in me," says Paul. He hath redeemed
us that he may dwell in us. "That the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them."
He is in his people that he may draw down to them the
love of the Father which flowed toward him when he
was separately present in this world, and he is in them
that he may perennially exhibit to his people the love
he bears them. The vocation of every believer is this:
to be a revelator of the love of Christ. The believer
is an epistle of Christ-an epistle of his love. He is
the Vine and his people are the branches; and if they
stand in this relation to him, he has surely a right to
expect that the love which is in him should be in them.
" If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you."
Is it difficult to see why the prayers of Christ's people
are not more promptly fulfilled? They do not suffer
his word to abide in them, they do not practically recognize their obligation to love one another as he has loved
them, They do not, in acquainting themselves with the




188             LOVE REVEALED.
love of Christ, keep distinctly before them the commission to manifest that very love in their own walk and
conversation.  And we may infer that just in the degree
in which we give heed to this responsibility will there
be a glorious fillness of response to our petitions.
Christ is intent on one thing and they on another, so
that it cannot be said that Christ and they come together
before the Father when they pray. There is a union
undoubtedly, but it is grievously imperfect: many
things that have a prominent place in the regard of
Christ are little heeded by them; and can they wonder
that much is denied to them?  Who knows how many
of our prayers that now climb but a little way to heaven
and then fall to the ground would mount up as on
eagles' wings, would fly unweariedly straight to the
throne of God and return with branches from the tree
of life, if we would take home to our hearts this unbefriended word of Jesus, "Love one another, as I have
loved you"? Who knows how many priceless expressions of the Father's love toward us are effectually repressed by the fact that we are inattentive to the sweet
mandate of Jesus, to give each other his love? We profess at times, doubtless, to have longings for the rest, the
joy, the holiness of heaven, but we are deceiving ourselves, it may be; we are assuredly, if we have no solicitude to do justice to this long-neglected precept of the
Saviour. We profess to desire earnestly the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, but we shall do well to note that
one of the first things which the Holy Spirit will aim
to produce in us will be this Christ-like love to the
brethren. How many brethren in Christ are now effectually separated from you by a high wall of social




JOHN Xv. 13, 14.             189
position —a wall of conventionality that has been reared
by human pride?  Were Christ's mysterious and unfathomable love to them to find its way perchance into
your heart, how would it laugh at the huge hindrance
of this wall, and by a breath cause it to dissolve into the
ambient air!  This is no hypothesis.  In lands where
the Spirit of God is poured out, we are told of the sudden and beautiful flowing together of social streams
that have been flowing separately on for generations.
Love like that which Jesus manifested to the Samaritan woman and to the woman that was a sinner has
now found new exhibitions of itself.
Mv Christian brethren see not the Saviour with
their bodily eye, but I have been commissioned by the
Saviour to afford them in some sense a compensation for
this deficiency. I am commanded to let the love which
found its exhibition in his mortal person find now its
exhibition in my life-a command which would be utterly idle and futile were it not that he, the ever-loving
One, is willing to put his own love within me. The
command is really no other than to be a branch in the
true Vine.  I am to cease from my own living and loving, and yield myself to be the expression of Christ's love.
"Love divine, all love excelling,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
And thy faithful mercies crown."
JoNs xv. 13, 14.-" Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do
whatsoever I command you."
"    LL that a man bath will he give for his life,"
I. and the gift of his life includes all possible gifts.




190              LOVE REVEALED.
It is seldom that a man can do more for us by dying
than he could by living. When we need this particular
expression of love and receive it, we then. receive the
highest expression of love that can be given among
men. Between one life and another there is, in respect
to value, a great difference. The death of one man is
an event unnoticed; the death of another gives a shock
to the entire community; millions lament it, and posterity envies the generation that had such a member to
lose. Between the best of all the sons of men and the
Lord Jesus there is an infinite difference. They all
differ in their degrees of unworthiness; he differs from
all in the fact of his perfect worthiness. He was holy,
harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. The
lives of all men on the face of the earth would unitedly
be as nothing in value compared with the life of the
Lamb without blemish and without spot. As an expression of love and devotedness, the surrender of a
mere human life is valid. The surrender of the life
of Jesus is an unimpeachable testimony to his love.
This being granted, the importance of the fact is infinitely enhanced by the consideration of the value of
that life. Rightly to understand the fact, it is necessary to consider the dignity of the person of Emmanuel; the unloveliness of man's character; the reception
encountered by the Saviour; the nature and circumstances of his death.
But it may be said-what will not man, in his
thoughtlessness and unbelief, utter against the gospel?
— that to die could only be for Christ a happy exit
from a world like this. He breathed here an empoisoned atmosphere; he dwelt here under the shadow of




JOHN XV. 13, 14.             191
the throne of Satan; he was perpetually wounded by
the shafts of malignity; he was a man of sorrows;
heaven was his home: could there be to a spotless soul
like his any greater punishment than to be compelled
to reside in this world?  We can answer this by a reference to facts. When he drew near to the cross, his
soul became exceedingly sorrowful even unto death; his
sweat was as it were great drops falling down to the
ground;'he cried out in agony to his heavenly Father
to take away the cup from him. Concerning no other
period of his life have we any characterization at all
approaching this in darkness and terribleness. Ah,
there was something infinitely more than common in
this death. In infinite condescension he speaks of it as
death, as a simple laying down of life-uses language
that would be appropriate to the act of a common man.
" Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends." We inquire what is
meant by this laying down of life, and are conducted
into a region that has no limit. The highest intelligences of heaven, after thousands of years spent in contemplating the "Lamb as it had been slain in the midst
of the throne," are heard exclaiming, "It is high, we
cannot attain unto it."
"Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command
you."
Jesus laid down his life for his friends, who do whatsoever he commandeth them. Not for others? Do not
let us neutralize the words of the Master. If we say
that whether men obey him or not he laid down his
life for them, we virtually cancel what is here written.
Imagine one of the eleven disciples whispering to an



192              LOVE REVEALED.
other, "Believe me, it is all one whether we obey him
or not, so far as the laying down of his life for us goes."
Ah, how many such whispered denials there are! How
many passages of the gospels are canceled by the tacit
understanding of the church that they have no particular significance!  Glory to God in the highest for the
outpouring of his Spirit! —but we need still mightier
influences of the Spirit before there can be a resurrection
of the whole gospel from that state of suspended animation in which so much of it is yet lying.
But are we not expressly told that the Lamb of God
taketh away the sin of the world? that Jesus was a propitiation not for our sins only, but for those of the whole
world? that he was a ransom for all, to be testified in
due time? that he tasted death for every man?  We
are; and we must be careful that we impair in no wise
the integrity of these passages. The only orthodoxy is
that which does honor to the whole of Scripture. Alas,
the orthodoxy that has too long been reputed among
men is that which arms itself with some favorite text
and with it slays a multitude of other texts.
Christ died for the world in one sense, and in another
he died for those who by their obedience show that they
are his friends. He died for the world in such a sense
that it is now meet for God to pardon whomsoever he
will, and meet for all that will, of every nation, tribe
and tongue, to come and take of the water of life freely.
And he died for believers in this sense, that they alone
do actually obtain everlasting life through him. His
death provides for all the means of salvation; it provides for his people salvation. His death taketh away
the sin of the world, so that the holiness and justice and




JOHN XV. 13, 14.               193
truth of God interpose no longer a barrier in the way of
the salvation of any among the sons of men who may
desire to take of the water of life. But God has purposed from the foundation of the world that his word
should not return to him void-that some should be
saved-that the offer of life should not be universally
rejected. For these last, in a most blessed sense, Christ
laid down his life.
In this connection let us say to the unreconciled sinner, In the former of the two senses mentioned, Christ
laid down his life for you, yet you are not saved. For
many days you have heard the word of the gospel, yet
you are where you are. If Christ died not for you ill
the second sense, you will derive no advantage from his
death. It will be as though there had been no Christ,
so far as any hope of salvation is concerned.  What a
tremendous uncertainty hangs over your prospects for
the future! Is there no way by which this uncertainty
may be dispelled? There is: Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ; become his friend; do his commandments; make
your calling and election sure.
Abraham was the friend of God. The Lord Jesus,
in whom is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, goeth about among us, seeking some to be his friends.
Nothing could give such an awful idea of the impenitence and alienation of the natural heart as to see how
many and how amazing acts of friendship, performed by
Christ, fail to win'the friendship of that heart. The
treasure of wrath accumulated against the day of wrath
is simply the treasure of the rejected love of Christ.
But we profess to be the friends of Christ.  Many ask,
What is the true church?  Christ tells us that the true
17                N




194             LOVE REVEALED.
church consists exclusively of those who keep his commandments. We must come back to this test. He commands us to believe on him, to abide in him, to pray
through him, to love him, to love his people with his
own love, to wash the disciples' feet, to let our light
shine, to count all things but loss-a right hand or a
right eye-that we may be found in him, to live unto
him, to pray always and not faint. Have you a friend?
Then you have one whom you can confidently ask to do
what you desire, though it should interfere with some
desire of his own, and you know that he will do it unmurmuringly. Are you a friend of Christ? Then you
have one whom Christ can at all times call upon to
do his will, with surrender of personal predilections and
sacrifice of private ends. His word may be, Sell all
that thou hast and give to the poor: thou wilt comply
unhesitatingly, for in fact there was much more than
such compliance in any original act of consecration to
him. The name of Christ's friend was given to thee
because one day thou didst make over to him all thy
property, thy powers, thy pleasures, thy aims, recognizing his loving will to be the law of thy being. Especially, being Christ's friend, thy heart belongs to him,
that he may fill it with his Spirit, his love, his peace,
his joy. Being his friend, thou art his advocate in the
world; and it is everywhere expected among men that
thou wilt be ready to speak in his praise, and to urge
his claims upon their reverential love.




JOHN XV. 15.                    195
JOHN XV. 15,-" Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends;
for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known
unto you."
W E should have thought that the Lord Jesus had all
along treated his disciples with great frankness
and friendliness and cordiality. His language and demeanor were well fitted to inspire confidence not only
on their part, but on the part of publicans and sinners.
Yet there were doubtless certain barriers to unreserved
communion-not arbitrarily opposed by him, but arising out of the very nature of the case-arising, especially, out of the imperfection of their views, their inability to comprehend the work and mission of the
Saviour, their unbelief, their self-regard. And perhaps
there is reason to believe that a gradation in intimacy,
such as is here set forth, is characteristic of discipleship
in general.
He calls us servants so long as we require to be called
servants —so long as we require to be influenced by a
reference chiefly to his authority.  When we have been
enabled not theoretically to see, but practically to feel,
that his manifested  love for us demands the most
thorough consecration to his will, that all his requirements are the requirements of love, then we have purchased to ourselves a good degree, better infinitely than
any ecclesiastical degrees, any doctrate or episcopate —the
degree of a recognized friend of Christ. The disciples
were friends of Christ before.  He sonmetimes called
them  such. Luke xii. 4.  But in an important sense
they now only entered into that deeper intimacy that
was specially expressed by this designation.  The sin



196              LOVE REVEALED.
ner that yesterday found peace and joy in believing is
most welcome to speak of himself as one whom Christ
calls a friend; yet, while rejoicing in the marvelous
friendship of Himn who is made higher than the heavens,
let him know that he is saved by hope, that there is
more in the future —a heaven above the heaven into
which he has been translated; let him forget the things
that are behind and press toward the prize that is before him. Let him  never be satisfied until the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ has such an ascendency over
him that every requirement of his Master shall seem the
behest of a tried and precious friend.
There are some who welcome ardently every statement that recognizes the believer as the friend rather
than as the servant of Christ.  They see that the Lord
Jesus Christ attaches great importance to that confidence
which clings invincibly to the persuasion of his love.
They are right; but let them take heed that no error
intermingle with the blessed truth of which they have
been put in possession. It is of the highest importance
that they should abide in the assurance of his love, but
it is not a matter of little importance whether they do
or leave undone some of his requirements. It is not
the characteristic of a friend of Christ that he is less
attentive to the doing of Christ's will than a mere servant is, or condemns himself less for any neglect of the
Saviour's will. On the contrary, the true friend of
Christ will give vastly more heed to the will of Christ
than a mere servant would, will discover far more of
Christ's will than the dull eye of a servant possibly
could, and will abhor himself for neglects altogether too
slight to affect the conscience of an under graduate, a




JOHN XV. 15.                 197
mere servant.  But, as the passage before us emphatically teaches, the characteristic of a friend of Christ is
this-that he does everything for friendship, honors
Christ by believing that friendship dictates all his commands, and by trusting in the power and wisdom of the
Saviour to guide and strengthen him in the execution
of his gracious will.  And when his friendly scrupulous
heart condemns him for the imperfection of his service,
he does not for a moment permit this feeling of selfcondemnation to separate him from his Lord.  Hie hastens with his deficiencies into the presence of his august
Friend, and urges these deficiencies as an eloquent reason
why the power of Christ should more triumphantly be
put forth in him. There is no condemnation to those
that are in Christ Jesus and who walk after the Spirit;
but it must not for a moment be supposed that such
make light of their own shortcomings.  They make the
more haste to discover them, an.d are the more zealous
in abhorring them, because their Lord refuses to frown
upon them. This is true friendship.  All that know
anything of this sacred bond, even when it but unites a
mortal to his fellow-mortal, know that it renders each
most careful of the feelings of the other. There is a
process of mutual identification wrought by it, and
whatever is dear to the one becomes equally dear to the
other. Thus Christ is formed in the believer's heart,
the hope of glory; and the believer in Christ's heart, a
hope of glory. The believer is careful of the feelings
of Christ; Christ is careful of the feelings of the believer. Christ is the believer's friend; the believer is
Christ's friend. He writes his law in the hearts of his
people; they write their prayers in his heart.
17 -




198              LOVE REVEALED.
"All things that I have heard of my Father I have
made known unto you."  How shall we reconcile this
with what he says a few verses on?-" I have yet many
things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now."
Ah, if John had been writing this from his own invention, or with as much freedom as Plato or Xenophon
used in reporting the words of Socrates, there would
have been none of these apparent discrepancies. The
spirit of fiction would have carefully eliminated these
apparent inconsistencies; the Spirit of truth shows us
that the inconsistency is apparent only, having relation
merely to the language, and not to the thoughts expressed by it.
Henceforth I call you friends (says the Saviour) because I have laid aside all reserve in speaking to you.
If at any time I have kept back anything from want
of confidence, this is now no longer the case. I have
spoken to you freely of the wonderful union existing
between my Father and myself, and of the equally wonderful union between myself and my disciples. Language cannot embody more of promise, prerogative or
love than is contained in the words now spoken to you.
To the end of time, Christians, even those who are most
filled with the Spirit of God, will come back to these
words as to a repository of incomparably precious and
sanctifying truths.
To lay aside all reserve is one thing, and to communicate all information is another. Who could for
an instant suppose that Christ had communicated all
that he knew to his disciples? They were yet to be
his disciples, though they were his friends; and a day




JOHN XV. 15.                 199
was coming when they should be in a position to receive
what now they could not.
If Christ, having called us his friends, yet withholds
some knowledge from us, let us rest assured that it is
not because of reserve or mistrust, but simply because
we are not in a position to receive the desired cominunications. Let us have communion with hiln accordling to the basis now established by him, and we shall
thus be fitted to ascend to a higher level.
"All things that I have heard of my Father."  He
speaks here of the man Christ Jesus, who in early years
grew in wisdom, and whose faculties, however admirable, were limited, because they were the faculties of a
creature. God was manifest in the flesh; in Christ we
behold the union of the Godhead with humanity-the
divinity not destroying the humanity, the humanity
remaining in its integrity in order that the divinity
might be revealed by it. They that cannot see in Christ
the finite as well as the infinite cannot rightly see the
glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ.
But the special meaning of this passage is, that the
believer is brought into the same confidential relation
to Christ that Christ stands in to the Father.  Christ
the man enjoyed the matchless favor of his God-was
brought wonderfully near to the Fountain of all wisdomn and blessedness; this the Father's own declaration
from heaven and all their observation perfectly attested.
They were now informed that as Christ was near and
dear to the Father, so the believer was near and dear
unto him; that all which the Father had given him he
gave to the believer, and that in him they enjoyed the
same prerogatives that he himself enjoyed. The thought




200               LOVE REVEALED.
expressed here is, beyond all others, the thought that
Jesus labored to express in this parting interview.  If
he spoke of the inconceivable intimacy between him and
the Father, it was that they might rejoice in the fact that
an equal intimacy existed between them and him.  In
all things he was our righteous Advocate and Representative-living, dying, ascending, triumphing, that he
might obtain gifts for us.
To know our riches, we must know the riches of
Christ.  Alas that we should be living upon the m1ere
fragment of a Christ! —that we should be content to know
simply the feeble pulsations of life in the outskirts of
our being!-that the gospel should have such a poor
and beggarly representation in our experience!
JoHN xv. 16.-" Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,
and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that
your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the
Father in my name, he may give it you."
E love him  because he first loved us, says John
in his Epistle. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us. Christ is the choice of the
believer, but would never have been had Christ not previously chosen him. And what is faith in Christ but a
recognition of Christ's love already existing and freely
proffered?   That is a counterfeit of faith which imagines that it creates love in Christ by coming to him.
" We know and have believed the love that God hath
toward us." There is sometimes in the heart a feeling
of intense need, a profound sense of misery, an ardent
desire for the salvation that Christ bestows, but this
state of mind is not in itself saving.  There must be




JOHN XV. 16.                 201
the actual coming to Christ, and in order that there may
be this coming, it is necessary that the soul should
apprehend the encouragement to come held out by
Christ himself. The invitations of Christ afford this
encouragement: "Come," he says, " all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  The sinstricken soul objects, perhaps, that it is not aware of
any special invitation singling it out from other souls
and authorizing it to come. This objection is simply
the language of unbelief. Faith says, "He invites all;
I am not by name excepted: I am evidently included,
for I labor and am heavy laden; I need rest, and I
have not come to Christ. The invitation is to all such,
and therefore to me. I will come."  This is the language of faith. Would that all concerned might cease
from the subterfuges which nullify the proffered grace
of Christ, and no longer ask him to depart from the
principle which he has himself laid down, no longer ask
him to grant a victory to unbelief!  There are myriads
of persons this day seeking the rest which Christ bestows-rather let us say longing for it-who are not making the least approach toward it, because they refuse to
exercise that faith which the gospel demands. They
want Christ to treat the gospel with something of the
same contempt that they show to it, and bestow upon
them a private gospel with their own name alone in it.
He will not do it, though they weep their sight away.
He will not deny himself. He has taken his stand in
the midst of humanity, and his proclamation is, " If any
man thirst, let him come unto me."  He that asks Christ
to give him a white stone with a name written in it
known to the recipient only, promising as a return for




202              LOVE REVEALED.
such a gift to believe upon the Saviour, asks and promises in vain.  This stone cannot possibly be given except to faith.  It is faith alone that can discern either
the stone or the name written therein.  It is not, " Talke
and believe," but, "Believing, take."
The believer comes to Christ because he recognizes
his love to sinners, and knows himself to be one of these
sinners.  Afterward, it may be, he learns that, having
been drawn of the Father, he did not come to Christ,
that Christ, besides having invited the multitude to
which he belonged, had chosen him  individually to
everlasting life, and that in fact the entire history of his
awakening, repenting, believing, is neither more nor less
than the history of the means by which Christ's own
choice was carried into effect.
Your choice of Christ is the evidence of Christ's
choice of you. You have not to ascend into heaven,
and make your way to the place where a glorified
Christ sits enthroned, in order to ascertain what are
Christ's desires; your own desires for Christ are the
revelation of Christ's desires.  Do you wish to know
whether he has chosen you? Choose him.
I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go
and bring forth fruit.  Whom he chooses, them  he appoints his fruit-bearers.  This is that doctrine of election which appears in Scripture.  It is not an election
to eternal life save as it is an election to fruitfulness.
That is not fith which knows Christ in the future only.
That is not eternal life which might exist apart fiom
Christ.  HIe that believeth hatil eternal life because he
hath Christ, and as Christ was when in the world so
are we, because we have Christ; consequently the




JOHN Xv. 16.                 203
divorcing of salvation and of holiness is an absurdity.
If we are the elect of Christ, we are elected to live a
Christ-like life upon the earth-elected to be branches
in the true Vine and to bring forth fruit.
The disciples were to go and bring forth fruit. They
were to fill the face of the earth with fruit.  Where
should they go?  Wherever there was sin, misery,
death-east, west, north and south, as far in this
ruined world as the grace of God would permit them.
The grace of God destroyed all limits in the day when
Christ said unto his disciples, Go into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature.
How many there are who fail to bring forth fruit
because they do not go and bring forth fruit! Their
fruit is to be found elsewhere. Among the tens of
thousands of ministers of the gospel in Great Britain
and America, are there not many who, if ordained of
Christ at all, are ordained to go to unevangelized lands?
An ordained minister of Christ, let us say, is one who
does the work appointed him by Christ, and who would
regard as the greatest of calamities that ignorance of
Christ's will which springs from the deference accorded
to a subtle self-will.
"And that your fruit should remain;" abiding in
Christ, their fruit should abide. Is the reference here
to the churches to be founded by them? Their permanency would of course depend upon the condition
already laid down, " If a man abide not in me he is
cast forth as a branch." The seven churches and all
the apostolic churches existed upon this condition, yet
the apostolic fruit was not altogether swallowed up by
Antichrist.  It found for itself a wilderness life, a




204              LOVE REVEALED.
sackcloth condition. The apostolic fruit is in the Acts
and in the Epistles, in the characters of the apostles
made deathless by the New Testament, and there are, it
may be, millions this day built upon the apostles and
prophets, Christ being the chief cornerstone. Like the
seed found in the mummy-cases of Egypt, sown in our
day after a slumber of three thousand years, and causing our fields to wave with unexpected harvests, the
fruit of the apostles survived the death and darkness of
the Middle Ages, and is now reproducing itself in many
lands.
" I have chosen you, and ordained you, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may
give it you."  It is at a throne of grace that we bring
forth fruit to Christ. We are made fruit-bearers by being made suppliants. The name of Christ believingly
presented at the throne of grace is the victory which
overcomes the world. Thank God that we are receiving new and precious instructions in the truth brought
out in this passage! Blessed election! Hast thou, O
Lover of ihy soul, elected me to bear thy name to the
Father, and receive in thy name the magnificent awards
that belong to such a name?  To earthly banks we take
the sign-manual of Christ and receive simply a gaze of
astonishment; at the treasury of heaven all the wealth
of heaven is poured forth at the mere whisper of this
marvelous name.
Believer, go to the treasury of heaven, and report
that Christ hath chosen thee and ordained thee to go
and bring forth fruit, and ask, with all confidence, that
the means of bringing forth that fruit may be given
thee.




JOHN XV. 17.                 205
JOHN xv. 17.-" These things I command you, that ye love one
another."
OR the third time this evening this command falls
from the lips of the Lord Jesus. Evidently he is
in earnest about this matter. He has it unspeakably at
heart that his disciples should understand and be prepared to do his will thus expressed. He knows the
material that he has to deal with, and that there are
immense difficulties in the way of introducing into their
minds the conception of Christian obligation existing in
his. Hence this repetition. It is doubtless needed. At
the mention of a commandment the thought that rises
most spontaneously to the mind is that of some external and definite service to be rendered to the Master.
"These things I command you," says the Lord, speaking in the plural number. As though he heard them
say, Wilt thou not give us ten commandments, as God
gave to Moses, so that we may distinctly know what we,
the apostles of the Messiah, have to do for thee? In
reply we may suppose him saying, The ten things I
command you are these: first, you are to love one
another. And second? Love one another. And third?
Love one another. I will not let you turn away from
this expression of my will. There is nothing to alternate with this. You are not to do this, and then do
something besides. Do this ever: all things are summed
up in this. I am no more in the world, but my disciples are, and I invest each believer with all my claims
upon the love of each believer. Love your brother,
then, as you love me; love me in loving him; consider
that you obey all my commandments when you love
him.
is




206              LOVE REVEALED.
Ah, it is one thing to love Christ, you say, and another thing to love his imperfect disciple. In him I
see perfection, in the believer repulsive imperfections.
Faith must come to the aid of your staggering love, and
show you how intimately this same defective believer is
united to Jesus-show you also the new nature struggling to emancipate itself in your brother from the burdensome remains of the old, and destined to achieve a
victory through your love. As you love Christ, come
to the help of that new and immature nature. It will
be treason to Christ if you turn away because of the evil
yet unsubdued in the heart of your brother. Christ has
put into your heart love to him that you may come to
his aid. Christ sends his love to him through you, and
sends it the more because he so needs it; and you, instead of conveying the precious gift of your Master, turn
away in disgust. How does it escape your notice that
in thus acting you merely reproduce in yourself the
repulsive trait of your defrauded brother? You defraud both him and Christ: nay, you defraud yourself,
for Christ has nothing better for you than that love
to your brother so repeatedly commanded you.
Let me, then, love the people of God. How love
them? As Christ did and does. Did Christ love them
by shutting his eyes to their imperfections?  No: he
extenuated their faults in no degree. He practiced no
deception upon himself with regard to their characters.
He loved them not because of what their nature was,
but because of his own nature. And their sins, infinitely more formidable and odious in his sight than in
yours, indicated to him their need of his love, and
afforded that love the opportunity of new triumphs.




JOtHN XV. 17.                 207
It is time enough for us to turn in disgust from our
imperfect fellow-Christians when love in us has done
for them all that love can do. Sometimes, indeed, love
to the disciples will require us to withdraw all countenance and communion from one whose conduct is an
occasion of opprobrium to them. He that strengthens
the power of an evil example by his countenance is loving with no hallowed love. We are never, in our love
of one, to lose sight of the interests of others. But
leaving out of view these extreme cases, is it not manifest that Christ's reiterated command meets with very
little from us that is worthy of the name of obedience?
It is the more manifest because we are in these latter
days obtaining a juster view of the obligation to love
one another. Oh let us press forward in this direction!
There will be unthought-of revelations of the glory of
Christ to our souls when we make it our chief study to
promote the welfare of our brethren in Christ. When
we shall have so far remounted to the Pentecostal level
as that none of us shall deem aught that he has his own,
then shall it be made clear to us as it never was before
that all things are ours and that we are Christ's.  All
things are ours; there is a climax beyond this amazing
height: we are Christ's. When we love the brethren
with Christ's own love, then will it be beyond all controversy that we are Christ's. His naMf-e will be seen
upon us, and the name of the city of my God, which
is New Jerusalem. Jehovah Shammah will be written
upon us.
After all, the great difficulty in the way of fulfilling
this command of Christ is our self-preference. Men are
so much taken up with a vain ideal of their own good



208              LOVE REVEALED.
ness, so much absorbed in the sad work of covering the
blotches made continually by sin in this ideal, so carried away by the idea that they can subdue and expel
the leprosy of the soul, viewed by them as a mere superficial blemish, that there remains neither time nor capacity to entertain an unselfish love.  And it is with a
-view to the subjugation of this disease of selfishness
that the Saviour so insists upon brotherly love. Oh
if we would only look upon each fellow-Christian as
an embodied opportunity of inflicting another wound
upon our great enemy, Self-as a medicine-bearer from
Christ! For in giving to him our affection, we save
our affection from diseased action. Kept in our own
hearts, it is like the air at the bottom of empty wells,
mephitic, fatal.
We are being educated for heaven by means of this
law of brotherly love. Have we aspirations for the joy,
the peace, the glory, the power, of the heavenly life?
Let us show these aspirations to be genuine by giving
heed to this law. Christ prepares his people for the
place which he has gone to prepare for them by teaching them to love. Our prayers to be brought triumphantly through the battle of life into the place of victory
before the throne of God, if answered at all, are answered
by the creation and augmentation in us of a disposition
to look less upon ourselves and more upon our brethren,
to live for them rather than for ourselves.
There is nothing we need to be on our guard against
so much as the disguises of selfishness. It too often
manages to pass itself off for love. Whatever errors
enter into our conception of Christ will equally enter
into our love of the brethren.  If we know Christ as




JoHN xv. 17.                 209
the Christ of a sect, selfishness will reign only the more
supreme in us because it permits us to rejoice in those
who are like-minded with ourselves. A true love of
the true Christ will effectually bring the axe to bear
upon the root of our selfishness. How many are proclaiming this day, by the most unequivocal conduct,
that they know not Him who is the Head of the church,
but only a spectral Christ, the deification of their selfishness and prejudice! —not Him who holdeth in his right
hand the seven stars, but one who holds in his hand a
single star! What a glorious body of divinity is given
in the epistles to the seven churches! what hallowed
and potent instruction as to the largeness of the mind
of Christ!  Not merely does the church of Ephesus
receive light concerning its own deficiencies and interests, but it is taught by the other epistles to look with
love and interest upon the sister churches. One Christ
is over all. Philadelphia is not permitted to repudiate
even Laodicea. What right has she to spue out of her
mouth that which Christ hath not yet spued out of his
mouth? Behold, he stands at the door even of Laodicea and knocks. Ah, if this glorious Being who walketh in the midst of the golden candlesticks should write
seven letters unto seven churches now existing!  How
would some of us not be rebuked! We should find the
Master recognizing what some of us coldly ignore. It
is a mere bruised reed, say these-let it break. Nay,
says the Saviour, I will not break it, nor let it be
broken. Our modern Thyatira would be covered with
confusion by the mention of the woman Jezebel so
treacherously allowed to maintain a connection with
the church, and also by the fact that some despised
13s




210              LOVE REVEALED.
Philadelphia receives a more unqualified commendation. Such letters would exalt that which is now
humble and abase that which is now exalted.  Such
missives shall yet be read.  "My word shall judge
them in the last day."  The Spirit of God, now coming
forth in his glory, will not rest until he has emancipated
the word of Christ fiom the bonds in which unbelief
has hitherto held it, and made it quick and sharper
than any two-edged sword.
JOHN XV. 18, 19.-" If the world hate you, ye know that it hated
me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would
love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."
LOVE suggests hate.  God is love, love was incarnate in Christ, Christ was despised and rejected of
men. " These things I command you," he says to his
disciples, "that ye love one another."  And immediately he proceeds to speak of the hatred of the world,
which they might assuredly expect to encounter if the
love that was in him should abide in them.
We have here the statement of a fact: "The world
hateth you."  The reason of that fact: " Because ye are
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world."  And a ground of consolation: "It hated me before it hated you."
Light is come into the world; men love darkness
rather than light; ye are the light of the world. So
long as men love darkness rather than light, and so long
as Christians are the light of the world, so long may
they expect to be, like their Master, despised and
rejected.




JOHN XV. 18, 19.           211
Christians are the sons of peace; they are commanded to follow peace with all men; their vocation is
that of peacemakers. They are meek, long-suffering,
forgiving, they give place to wrath, they are kind, benevolent, self-sacrificing. How comes it to pass, then,
that they are hated of men?  Men do not ordinarily
hate those that love them, bless them, pray for them;
they hate those that injure them, that take from them,
that oppose them.
Consider this: the mission of Christians is to take
from men something that is unutterably dear to them,
to reduce them to a condition that seems to them worse
than slavery, to carry them away. into perpetual exile, to
foil them in every enterprise that they have at heart, in
fact-we may as well say it-to kill them. Do you
start back in horror? Hear me to the end.
There is not anything so dear to the man of this
world as the idea of his own unblamableness. Every
day of his life he has been engaged in rearing, in his inner thought-world, a lofty edifice-a tower of Babelto answer at once the purpose of a monument in his own
praise, and to enable him, when the time shall come, to
step from its pinnacle into heaven. Every day he has
been busy carving to some answerable shape the stones
of his daily experience. He has diligently, all his life
long, done battle with the insolent voices of a miscreant
conscience, establishing by successive victories the difficult fact that he is, take him for all in all, one whom
God must look down upon with benignity, if not with
admiration. You come to him in the name of Christ
for the very purpose of depriving him of this idea of
his own goodness. Your aim is to do what that tor



212              LOVE REVEALED.
menting conscience of his, with all its advantages of
time and place, failed to do. Do you think that he has
fought with the Goliath of his own conscience so many
times, and so succesfully, to be now discomfited by you?
Will he allow you to be victorious over him, and take
from him the idea of his own integrity in the sight of
God, after he has gone through a thousand fights to obtain
that pearl of price? You tell him that he is a mere rebel
against the most high God, that he has never been anything else, that all his righteousnesses are contemptible
in the sight of Heaven, that he deserves the wrath of
God, and you ask him to take this same view of himself. You ask him to adjudge himself to be worthy of
everlasting punishment. How easy were it for him in
comparison to surrender all his worldly substance!
Self-esteem permeates his whole nature like the fibers
of a cancer, and to bid him part with it is like bidding
him surrender life.
Well, but need a Christian come to his fellow-sinner
in just such a way as this? He may come in what way
he will. He may come with a thousand tokens of love in
act and word, but if he is indeed a Christian, a light in
the world, he must in some way testify to the condition
of the impenitent in the sight of God. He must make
known to them  that there is a new  birth, and that
upon all who have not experienced it the wrath of God
abideth. No man is saved by his own goodness: the
blood of Christ alone cleanseth from sin. His mission
is to awaken men to these discoveries, to bring home to
their inmost convictions these tremendous truths. The
light that he communicates is the light which they hate;
consequently they hate him.




JOHN XV. 18, 19.             213
He invites them to come with him, but to their apprehensions the region in which he dwells is a vast
howling wilderness. They cannot conceive of the least
approach to happiness in a life such as is proposed to
them. It were like going into the direst captivity.
Their joys are his sorrows, his joys are their sorrows;
his gains are in their eyes loss, even as their gains are
loss in his estimation. The sun, of whose glorious and
soul-refreshing beams he boasts to them, is in their
regard a sun perpetually eclipsed, and the sun of their
life is darkness to him. How  little way, then, will
suavity, kindness, the most unlimited generosity even,
go in reconciling the world to the presence of a set of
men whose business is to convince them  of sin and
danger, and lead them to forsake all that they may
follow One in whom they see nothing attractive! Kindness and generosity had their highest embodiment in
Christ, yet he was hated of men unto the end. And
just as surely as his disciples are such will they be
hated.
"I have chosen you out of the world."  The world
has discovered that its truest policy is to induce them
to come to a compromise. It has brought all the resources of its wisdom to bear upon this problem, how
to hinder the separation of Christians from the world,
and at the same time allow them to regard themselves
as Christians. It says to Christians:  "We, after all,
think very much as you do; there is a great deal that is
excellent in what you say; you have probably in some
things misapprehended the Master's meaning. WTe
must calmly and deliberately investigate these matters;
let us avoid anything like a rupture. Some of your




214             LOVE REVEALED.
positions we do not yet see our way to adopt; some of
our views are unpalatable to you; but so far as we have
attained, let us walk together. We must bear with one
another; you are surely too enlightened and too philosophic to break away rashly and put a great gulf betwixt yourself and us; you would never be able to do
us any good after any such fanatical procedure. In the
mean time it must be encouraging to you that we adopt
Christian phraseology to so great an extent; take you'hope' for your motto, and we will take'peace' for
ours." Such is the strategy of the world in these days,
and it has been amazingly successful.
One of the great ends for which we need the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is that Christians may be chosen
out of the world-that they may yield to the choice of
Christ and come fairly out of the world. If they are
the elect, then are they elected out of the world. Remaining in the world, they cut themselves off from the
number of the elect. Lot was elected unto life by being elected to quit Sodom; and it would not have been
more absurd in him to remain in Sodom flattering himself that he was nevertheless elected unto life, than for
Christians to remain in the world and yet buoy themselves with the hope of everlasting life. If there is
ground for believing that there are Christians, more or
less, seeking earnestly at this time to come out from the
world and be separate from everything that is defiling,
if we can obtain anywhere a glimpse of a body of believers, few it may be, and yet described as an hundred
forty and four thousand standing with the Lamb upon
3Mount Zion, redeemed froml the earth, then do we
have an occasion of rejoicing beyond what the mere fact




JOHN XV. 18,19.              215
of the conversion of myriads or hundreds of thousands
would furnish us with. If we cannot discern such a
body anywhere, would it not be well to set about raising up one, and, as a first step, to seek ourselves to
reach that blessed summit?
If an individual grows up in a Christian community,
with a law very deeply imprinted oni his moral sense
forbidding him to give any offence to society, then you
may suppose that such an individual, even though a
church-member, will instinctively, as it were, shrink
back from every path in which he will be likely to
meet the frown of men.  He knows nothing of the
hatred of society. Why? Because he makes it his constant study not to transgress the tacit requirements of
society. The dread of giving a shock to the common
sentiment of what is fitting influences him even in his
interpretation of Scripture. He is hindered by the
mighty and perhaps unsuspected power which the world
has over him from even discovering that it is his duty
to enter a path in which he will encounter the hatred
of the world. The fact that there is now so little persecution compared with what there once was is best
explained by the circumstances that the world begins
flarther back, and, instead of waiting till the individual
presents himself with the whole armor of God upon
him, imposes upon him a law not to pay the least attention to requirements which would cause him to give
offence to society.
This is a formidable impeachment to make of the
church of these days. Ah, there is too much ground
for it.  Society is the Protestant Antichrist, calling
itself the vicar of Christ, forbidding men to interpret




216               LOVE REVEALED.
the Scriptures except in consonance with the laws of
society.  When the time of sifting shall come, it will
be found that, even in what we call the true church of
Christ, Christ is the master that receives least reverence, and Christians will acknowledge with unspeakable shame that many lords have had dominion over
them.  "The world cannot hate you," said Jesus to
some of his earthly relatives. Nothing more terribly
suggestive of soul-ruin could be uttered than these
words, and yet it is to be feared that the same utterance would fitly be addressed to the great body of professing Christians in our day. The world cannot hate
them  because it cannot hate itself.  These Christians
have too often put a singular honor upon the world by
receiving it into the church and compelling the acknowledged servants of Christ to pay all respect to the laws,
the usages, the preferences of society.
JOHN xv. 20 —"Remember the word that I said unto you, The
servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me,
they will also persecute you: if they have kept my saying, they will
keep yours also."
IT  is one path that is trodden by Christ and by the people of Christ.  He that sets out to follow Christ is
distinctly informed of the ruggednesses of the path in
which he is to walk.  It should be a source of satisfaction to him, as he pursues his heavenward journey, to see
ever and anon a monumental pillar with the inscription,
"C I, Jesus, passed this way." It would be a strange thing
indeed if he found fault with these indications that he is
in the right way. No language can be more unequivo



JOHN XV. 20.                 217
cal than that in which Christ informs all who would follow him what it is they must expect. The same character and the same principles that were embodied in
Christ will, wherever embodied, and according to the
degree in which they are so, meet with repulsion from
men as long as men are what they are. Does the Christian expect that God, simply with a view to his comfort, will control the feelings and passions of ungodly
men along the pathway of his life, and cause them to
act unnaturally-that is, Christianly-merely that he
may escape persecution?   It was not done for the
Master; why should it be done for the servant?  If
we ask why it should not be done, important reasons
will readily present themselves.
To suffer with Christ is the law of Christian discipleship. Millions are hindered from becoming professedly
disciples of Christ, because in the circumstances in which
they are placed, even the feeblest profession of Christianity will involve a certain measure of obloquy; and
this it is that hinders myriads of professed disciples from
becoming out and out the followers of Christ. But the
profession is a lie before God and man unless it be accompanied with a readiness to suffer for his name's sake.
If Christ himself may be allowed to define the law of
discipleship, the believer is a cross-bearer, hated of
men. It were a much simpler matter to take the Christian to heaven than to secure for him an untroubled path
through this world. The same reasons that exist for
his continuance in this world for a season require that
God should not, in his ordinary providence, change the
character of this world so as to make the path of the
Christian peaceful.
19




218              LOVE REVEALED.
The servant is not greater than his Lord. The Lord
Jesus was accompanied with the credentials of heaven.
He did the works of Him who had sent him: he was
manifestly the Son of God. The winds and the waves
obeyed him, devils trembled at his presence and fled at
his command, angels waited upon him. As though it
were a little thing that he himself should have power to
heal diseases, cast out devils and raise the dead, he invested his disciples with similar authority. Holiness,
in this endeavor to obtain for itself a footing in the
world, did not come in titter weakness and with an entire privation of all that usually has power to awe men,
but it was allied with superhuman perfections and the
evidences of a divine majesty. It is evident, then, that
if, under these circumstance, and in despite of all that
was so fitted to hinder the outbreak of human animosity, the wrath of mail broke forth and the Saviour had
to bear the brunt of fierce opposition, it would be in
vain to expect for his followers a serene path through
life. If they persecuted the Master, unrestrained by the
power and majesty with which he was invested, how
much more will they be likely to persecute the disciples, accompanied with far inferior evidences of superhuman dignity!
The principal trial in connection with the opposition
that the Christian has to endure arises from the silence
of God, and from the apparent assent which the proceedings of the persecutors meet with from him. He
who has all power does not for a long time, it may be,
interfere in behalf of his servant and to the confusion
of his enemies. Relying upon the promises of God,
the believer goes forth, and his conception of those




JOHN XV. 20.                219
promises leads him to expect that, immediately upon the
proof given of his devotedness, God will speak from
heaven, saying, " Touch not my anointed one." He is disappointed, and perhaps he is tempted to doubt the
faithfulness of God. Then let him remember that the
servant is not greater than his Lord. The Lord Jesus
was not exempt from even such trials; he had to drink
this very cup to the dregs; the last hours of his life
were embittered by the presence of this same temptation. Remembering this, the believer will gain a victory over the tempter, and the very pillar on which
he wearily leans, weeping tears of despondency, discloses
to him the inscribed words of Jesus, "I, your Master,
passed this way. He that followeth me shall have the
light of life. I was thus tempted in all points that I
might succor thee."
The servant of Christ is not greater than his Lord,
yet no other servant stands in such relations to his
master as the Christian does to his. Christ is identified with his people, and they are his representatives
upon the earth, and the same thing which exposes
them to the unfriendliness of the many gives them a
passport to the sympathies and fervid affections of those
who have been taught of God. The servant of Christ
is the bearer to them of that which they esteem above
thousands of gold and silver. There is nothing in the
wide world of which they have so keen and joyous an
appreciation as of the words of Christ; and if I am the
servant of Christ, freighted with his message, my coming will be to them like the morning star.
Some people glory in the mere fact that they are
hated. If they fail to enlist the sympathies of Chris



220              LOVE REVEALED.
tians, they still, and perhaps the more persistently, affirm that it is because they are the servants of Him who
was despised and rejected. But it is not impossible
that they may be deceiving themselves. If we are
truly Christ's, we shall not merely be disowned by the
many; we shall be welcomed, embraced, loved, by the
people of Christ. That which secures us opposition
will also secure us affection-the affectionate regard of
those who are called the salt of the earth. Because
the Christian encounters opposition it does not follow
that every one who encounters opposition is a Christian.
The Christian does his utmost to conciliate men; to be
indifferent to those feelings would be to show that he is
not the servant of Christ; his mission is one of love.
They hated me without a cause, said Jesus. Causes of
love there were, tens of thousands, in the life of Christ,
and therefore the hatred which he encountered was odious beyond degree. The Christian aims so to live that
if he should encounter similar hate he may be able similarly to say, They hated me without a cause. The
apostle tells us that ministers of God approve themselves
such " by kindness, by long-suffering, by love unfeigned."
If after all this they are repulsed, they avail themselves
of the consolation that Christ offers them. But there
are some who meet with opposition not so much because
of the truth which they declare as of the austere or
truculent way in which they declare it. He that winneth souls is wise, but these are neither wise nor loving.
Paul became all things to all that he might save some;
these will not unbend in the least, or make the least allowance for the prejudices and ignorance of others. The
opposition they encounter is not a proof that they are




JOHN XV. 21.                   221
Christ's; in the case supposed, it is simply a proof that
they have failed to use those means of engaging the
good-will of their fellow-men which Christ has given
to his people.
JoHN xv. 21-" But all these things will they do unto you for my
name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me."
IHE  martyrology of the Christian church, written
and unwritten, more unwritten than written, is
comprehended under the words, "all these things.'"
With malevolence man combines the wisdom  of the
serpent; and the glorious intellect which, if consecrated
to God, would make him the companion of God, spends
itself on the invention of ways and means for the gratification of his hostility to all that reflects the image of
God.  Rude expressions of malignity may do for a rude
age, but for a refined age like this something very
different is demanded. There is nothing in such general ill-odor at present as the word persecution.  The
enlightened men of this day are astonished at the violent proceedings of their ancestors; they are ready to
join with Christians in doing honor to the martyrs;
and it is universally agreed that the spirit which manifested itself in the persecution of sincere men was an
erring and an odious spirit.  The age is quite sure that
it has outgrown persecution, and will never more return
to those childish ebullitions of passion.
In the days when our Lord was upon the earth, the
Jews had a similar conviction of their own superiority
to the error of their forefathers, and said, "If we had
lived in their days, we would not have done their deeds."
But they knew not their own spirit. Our Lord knew it,
19 *`




222              LOVE REVEALED.
and told them distinctly that they were capable of all
that their fathers had done and much more. fWe concede, however, that this is not a sanguinary age. It has
a standard of morality which condemns everything
like a violent outburst of vindictiveness against unresisting men. Its great aim is to show, to itself and to
others, that it is so good as not to need regeneration; and
were it to sin very much against its own standard, it
would lose the comfortable feeling of its own righteousness. In many respects it is a matter of congratulation
that we have come to such a century as this; in other
respects, the change works adversely. The gloss thrown
over the face of society disarms the gospel of its power,
somewhat; Christians are silent, nine times in ten, when
they should speak.
It is true, however, that the strait gate is still strait,
the narrow road is still narrow. If any man set out to
live godly in Christ Jesus, let him abandon the thought
that he will find all favorable to him. First, he will
find the world against him-not with stones or instruments of torture, but with weapons that are perhaps
more difficult to combat. The world will smile kindly
upon him, and congratulate him upon the generous desire he exhibits to rise above the dead level of an ineffective humanity, and with blandest ratiocinations
will seek to make him understand that the saints are
mere pietists, and that the true type of a manly piety
is to be found in the outer court of the church. If
he succeeds in vanquishing this temptation, identifies
himself with the people of God, and then resolves to
go beyond their standard of godliness, he will meet
with opposition from them. They will misapprehend




JOHN xv. 21.                 223
him, and he will find it perhaps more difficult to resist
these suggestions and insinuations than he formerly did
to force his way into the church; and the very fact
that he is bound to them by so many and such sacred
sympathies will make it a severer task to penetrate the
barriers set up by their limited conceptions of Christian
duty.
" All these things will they do unto you for my name's
sake." It is because of the erroneneous conceptions of
Christ, too greatly prevalent in the church, that the
godly follower of Christ is spoken against in the church,
and it is because the world knows not Christ that it
disfavors Christians. And the fact that men know not
Christ shows that they know not God. The advent of
Christ established the fact so angrily denied by men,
that the world knows not God, and the advent of the
sanctified follower of Christ establishes the same fact in
the particular age and place in which he makes his appearance. Let me come to men in the likeness of Christ;
if they reject me and my words, then what have we but
a verification of the Scripture assertion that men know
not God?  It is because they know not God that they
need the gospel, and the fact that they despise and reject him who bears the gospel message, so far from being a discouragement to the messenger, should only the
more deeply impress him with a sense of their need.
Did they gladly receive him, there might be room to
discredit the statement of the gospel that they know
not God. It is therefore expedient for the messenger to
use the various forms that opposition takes as arguments to awaken his own sensibilities for those whose
sad condition is so plainly revealed, and also as argu



224             LOVE REVEALED.
ments at a throne of grace that He who sent his gospel
should send with it his Holy Spirit.
"They know not Htim that sent me;" this is the reason that I was sent; they were without that knowledge
that is essential to everlasting life, and I am sent that
they may have it. If the inhabitants of India had
from the very beginning of the preaching of the gospel
among them hailed it with acclamation, and made haste
to cast themselves at the feet of Jesus, that would have
exposed the gospel to doubt and suspicion. How could
they hail with joy the divine character made known in
the gospel unless they had previously learnt to love it?
If already acquainted with God, whence the need of
such a plan of salvation for them?  No; they were
utterly ignorant of the true God, and accordingly they
could not but greet with indignation and hate the revelations of the gospel. It is important that there should
be full proof given of this great fact that they know
not God, and hence they are permitted to reject for so
many years the word of Christ. When, at length, by
the power of the Spirit of God, the knowledge of the true
God is made to triumph over those abominable conceptions of deity that occupy their minds, then and thenceforward they will recognize that they have been saved
by grace. The truth found in them nothing responsive.
With all the force of their nature they fought against
it, and omnipotence alone brought them into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The gospel is the
power of God, but, like the Lord Jesus himself, it
seems to come in weakness first; and the heathen for
many a long and cruel year are permitted to mock it,
buffet it, crown it with thorns. They say unto it, "Art




JOHN XV. 22-24.             225
thou come to save, and canst not save thyself?  Thou
canst not conquer the very meanest of our innumerable
gods. They one and all laugh thee to scorn."
The life of the gospel is a living crucifixion. Christ
died upon the cross; it lives upon the cross. But it
will yet prove itself " the power of God." It will save
those that mock it; it will deliver them from the horrible darkness and grinding captivity in which they are.
The knowledge of the true God, of Him whose name is
love, will shine into their wonder-stricken minds, and
the name of Jesus will awaken their rapturous hosannahs.
JOHN xv. 22-24.-If I had not come and spoken unto them, they
had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that
hateth me, hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now
have they both seen, and hated both me and my Father.
"  F I had not come and spoken unto them; if I had
not done among them the works which none other
man did "-in other words; if there had not been such a
bright and glorious revelation of the character of God
in my life-their sin, especially this all-comprehending
sin of hating the Father, would not have been made
manifested as it now is. This sin they had before, but
it was cloaked; it was disguised to themselves and to
others; and it pleased them to think that they were doing God service in thousands of things which really
proved that they were without God in the world.
The presence of Jesus in the community was like
the presence of a great light, revealing undreamt of
chambers of imagery in the very temple.  By the
teachings of Christ, attistel as they were by signs and




226             LOVE REVEALED.
wonders, the common conception of religion received a
great shock. The Pharisees, the elders, the scribes, had
hitherto enjoyed a high degree of religious popularity;
they were looked upon as the oracles of men in all that
related to the worship and service of God. The Scriptures were only known to the mass of men through the
glosses of these interested interpreters.  Men looked
upon them as the impersonation of true piety. lN'o one
thought of imputing sin to them. But a mighty change
was witnessed when Christ made his appearance with
heavenly credentials and poured the light of day upon
the Scriptures, and upon the falsifications of God's word
which had so long passed current. No sooner did he
open his mouth to declare that the poor in spirit, the
meek, the pure in heart, were blessed, than men began
to see with new eyes, the cloak began to be taken away
from the long-denied sin of the Pharisees. Those who
claimed to be the religious guides and models of the
people took up an attitude of hostility toward Christ;
and as it was evident to every unbiassed mind-evident
even to the consciences of the biassed-that the truth of
God was expressed in the words and in the ways of
Christ, it followed that all who denounced and resisted
him were the enemies of God.
The intensity of their opposition to Christ indicated
the depth of their hatred of the true God. They had
formed for themselves an idea of God-cformed for
themselves a God, let us say. To him they had sworn
fealty, and stood ready to transgress every commandment of the true God as an expression of their devotedness. By pride and ambition and avarice and extortion, by devouring widows' houses, and counting all




JOHN' XIV. 22-24.            227
but loss for the honor that cometh from man, they had
gradually prepared themselves to commit the most
heinous of all enormities and put to death the Son of
God. They were determined to give such proof of their
hatred of Christ that it would be impossible for men
ever to doubt it; and in doing this they also placed for
ever beyond the reach of doubt the fact of their hatred
of the Father. "Now they have both seen and hated
both me and my Father."  "He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father"-a truth full of unspeakable
blessing to him that sees believingly, lovingly-a truth
that places him who sees and rejects in the position of
an avowed rebel against the Most High.
The gospel has come upon the most gracious of all
errands; yet we see that it has come to do what men
are unwilling to have done, what men would rather die
than have done; it has come to take away the cloak
from their sins. They have spent many a long year in
contriving this cloak; they have employed the best
artificers to execute it; the greatest geniuses of the day
have spent their strength in giving to mankind books
designed to aid them in the work of cloaking their
sins; every man is aided in the matter by thousands
and tens of thousands; and all the marvelous gifts
which God is bestowing on society through the instrumentality of man's inventive powers, these, and in fact
every success of the age, and the great majority of all
the influences that visit us, are combinedly at work to
provide the sin of man with a cloak. It would seem
as though the nearer the gospel came to them, and the
more industriously it let fly its arrows upon this cloak,
the greater are the efforts by which they seek to main



228             LOVE REVEALED.
tain it in its integrity. But, as we are ever repeating,
it is only by bribing those who are commissioned to
reveal the gospel, only by inducing them to fling their
javelins wide of the mark, that men are able to retain
this cloak of their own righteousness. Christians know
that it is the livery by which the god of this world declares men to be his own; the badge of a frightful captivity; the shroud of perdition; and they are recreant
to the eternal interests of their fellow-men when they
shrink from wounding them and from making war
upon this destructive delusion.
The words of the Lord Jesus Christ, rejected by us,
go to the throne of God and tell the recording angel
how great our sin is. The question is not so much,
Have I lied? Have I stolen? Have I murdered? as,
What have I done with the words of Christ?  What
reception have I given them? How have I been affected by his mighty works and mightier sufferings?
There is but one sin in the world, properly speaking,
and that is, the sin of not loving God; the sins that we
commonly speak of are but different manifestations of
this one sin-different in degree, diverse in various
respects, diverse in enormity; but the enormity is chiefly to be determined by the measure of the revelation
made of the character of God unto us. God becomes
manifest in Christ; and, lo! this unknown God is found
to be a Being of most amazing love, humbling himself
to the meanest of mankind, bearing all things, suffering
long, seeking not his own, answering the insults and
contradictions of sinners with words and acts of incredible blessing. Thus does the glorious Being who
upholdeth all things by the word of his power draw




JOHN XV. 25.                  229
near to you with papers of manumission whereby you
may escape the captivity of sin and Satan, the liability
to death and hell, with hands pierced in the conflict
with him who has the power of death, winning for you
a path to life and glory, and now the universe looks on
to see how you will receive the words of this Redeemer.
It is possible for you to commit a sin of greater magnitude than you conceive of by simply neglecting the
words of Christ. You are on your trial whenever you
are in the presence of the words of Christ,; as you treat
those words you show your feelings for God.  How
fearful the alienation of the heart from God when such
a surpassing embodiment of divine love fails to overcome the indifference of the heart!
JOHN xv. 25.-"But this cometh to pass, that the word might be
fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a
cause."
fTHIS word has never wanted a fulfillment. The people of God of every age have been hated without a
cause.  To declare one's self unequivocally on the
Lord's side has always had the effect of bringing an individual into collision with the world. Men are in a
state of rebellion against the Most High; they keep such
of his commands as they choose to keep, break such as
they are disposed to break. They break all in a sense, seeing that it is not out of regard to the authority of God
that they keep any.  They dislike-all rebels do-the
epithet " rebellious," and spurn it from them. Nevertheless, the fact remains —they are conspirators against the
majesty of Heaven; and, of course, it is a great sin
20




230             LOVE REVEALED.
against them to come out on the Lord's side, and show
one's self zealous for the authority of the Lord of hosts.
Their commandment is," Thou shalt love the world with
all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy
mind, and thou shalt love God only so far as thy duty
to the world may permit." The greatest of crimes is
that of treason against the world. They pursue with
their hatred those who are guilty of it. They never
fail to find justificatory causes of their hatred, for
they are careful to consult only the authority of their
own perverted judgments. David, however, and other
old Testament saints, knew that there was no just ground
for their hatred. Not that these hated ones were sinless.
Far froml it. They found in themselves much cause of
self-loathing. It was not their sins that exposed them
to the wrath of men. On the contrary, these sins
would have gone far to propitiate the world with them
had it not been for their very decided adherence to God,
and for the great prominence given by them to the claims
of God.
But surely there was never any one who could use
this language with more emphasis than Christ. He had
come into the world clothed with extraordinary power;
and whereas he might have used this power to crush his
enemies, and violently to trample down all obstacles, he,
on the contrary, used it to communicate sight to the
blind, hearing to the deaf, health to the sick, motion to
the paralyzed, sanity to the possessed. His words subdued the winds and the waves, and sent legions of evil
spirits howling to their place. These same omnipotent
words might have sent equal confusion into the ranks
of his human adversaries had such been his will. He




JOHN XV. 25.                 231
could have called down lightning from heaven and anticipated Titus in the work of hurling Jerusalem from
her foundations. But how did he employ his power?
He went about doing good. He gave heed to every
tale of woe, and hastened, with heartfelt sympathy, to
communicate the alleviation, the deliverance, that men
demanded. If he indignantly denounced the sins of
those who were systematically working out the destruction of the community, it was not until he had many,
many times knocked friendlily at their door, and sought
to persuade them to receive his words of wisdom and of
life. They not only hated him without a cause, but
they hated him in the presence of ten thousand arguments for love. In every street and in every lane
these arguments were to be found-men and women
and children who had received from Christ such favors
as no other man could have bestowed. The man who
saves another from death is in many communities deemed
worthy of the highest civic honors. Even on this low
ground, what unparalleled claims had Christ on the reverence and gratitude of men!
What has Christ done that men who have grown up
from infancy within sight of the gospel, and who are
not content that the designation of Christians should be
withheld from them,-what has he done that these should
show such an unwillingness to hear of him, to read of
him, to speak of him?  What has he done that there
should be such elaborate arrangements made to keep the
subject of his acts and sufferings, his glory, his words,
his cross, separate from the ordinary channels of thought
and speech?  What has he done that men should studiously restrict the liberty to utter Christ's truth to a par



232              LOVE REVEALED.
ticular body of men, and this body to particular times
and places? Why is it that there should be, as often as
men come together, a wall of reserve with reference to
this one theme, all others being considered allowable?
And why should a violent effort be necessary in order to
break down this wall and permit Christ also to appear
in the midst'? This is aversion, it is not reverence.
What has Christ done that he should be so carefully
excluded from the ordinary society of men professedly
Christian? One would think that he were the harshest,
austerest, bitterest of men, from the studied neglect with
which he meets, instead of being, what his gospel declares him, ineffably kind, condescending, long-suffering,
patient, forgiving, conciliatory, gentle, refined, wise, a
physician, a shepherd, a teacher, a brother, an advocate,
an ally, a light, a sun, a shield, one that washeth the feet
of his disciples and sheddeth his blood as a propitiation
for their sins and ever liveth to make intercession for
them.
To the question, "What think ye of Christ?" the
great majority of even church-going men would reply,
" We never think of him; why should we think of him?
The things that interest us do not interest him; the
things that interest him do not us."  Ah! this a sad
confession to make. Do you expect Christ to change?
Do you expect that the angels of heaven will be brought
over to your view of things? Do you calculate that
heaven will be secularized in order that you may feel at
home there? Evidently there is a great gulf between
Christ and you. Christ will not throw into the depths
of the sea his treasures of wisdom and knowledge, to live
upon your thoughts and be shriveled to your mental




JOHN XV. 26, 27.              233
and moral dimensions.  Christ is in the word of God.
Heaven is in the word of God.  Go to the word and
look upon the only heaven that exists in the universe
of God for redeemed sinners, and see whether you have
a nature that will permit you to find happiness in it.
Take this gospel into your heart and let it revolutionize
your thoughts and your lives, your speech and your
ails, your associations and your imaginations, for without such a revolution you will only be proclaiming, by
the Christ-ignoring tenor of your speech and of your
life, that you hate Christ without a cause, and that you
are dead in trespasses and sins.
JOHN xv. 26, 27.-" But when the Comforter is come, whom I will
send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. And ye also shall
bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning."
THE Saviour, in his previous reference to the Comforter, had expressed himself thus: " I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he
may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth."
He now says, I will send unto you from the Father.
There is a style of language suitable to Jesus as " one
with the Father," and another style that accords with
the relation in which he stands to us as set forth in the
words, " My Father is greater than I."  He that enters
the school of Christ enters upon the study of these two
glorious relations of Christ-his relation to the believer,
his relation to the Father. As first apprehended, these
relations, perhaps, may be expressed by two greatly extended cords connecting Christ with God and Christ
with man. As the believer advances in the knowledge
20




234              LOVE REVEALED.
Of Christ he sees these cords contract, sees Christ come
nearer and nearer to himself, sees Christ come nearer
and nearer to God, and himself brought correspondingly
nearer and nearer to God.
In order to reconcile two truths, seemingly opposed,
we must master those truths. So long as we stand outside of them we cannot discover the law of their harimony. Many persons look upon the doctrine of Christ,
and see, as they suppose, invincible contradictions in it;
they condemn it and pass by on the other side. They
have no right to condemn it. There are thousands of
truths held by them which would seem to them equally
repugnant to each other, were it not that they have mastered them; they have entered into them, and are able
to see that they are the complement of each other.
There is evidence before you that Jesus has the words
of eternal life. Come, then, sit at his feet and learn of
him. Drink in with joy the assurance that he is one
who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
and accept with equal joy the revelation of his divine
power and Godhead.
It imports us to know that through Jesus only can
men entertain the hope of obtaining the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Our prayer is a nullity without his prayer. It
imports us all to know that after the sacrifice offered by
Christ for the sins of men there remains no difficulty
on the part of God to be overcome by him. Therefore
he says, " I will pray," and " I will send."  When Jesus was on the earth, it depended on him whether he
would communicate the blessings that men asked of him.
They asked and he gave-always gave. He ascended
that he might give a greater gift-greater by all that




JOHN XV. 26, 27.               235
height to which he ascended.  He stopped not at any
of the grades set forth by the expression, " Principalities,
powers, might, dominion."  [Not from any such elevation could he give a sufficient gift unto men. Legions
of angels would have helped us little.  He ascended up
far above the highest of heaven's hierarchy.  In fact, it
was to give himself to us that he ascended on high, having previously descended to give himself for us.
Without the Holy Ghost we have no Christ.  Christ,
with all his infinite resources, with all his love, all his
glory, is brought nigh to the individual believer and
made a part of his being by the gift of the indwelling
Christ.
" The Spirit of truth."  The Spirit of God and the
truth of God are not to be divorced.  Without the
Spirit there is no saving truth for us; without the truth
there is no Holy Ghost for us. The truth and our own
natures are in necessary and violent enmity, without the
conciliating Spirit.  The truth lives and  our own
nature lives when the life-giving Spirit comes to us in
the word. Our own spirit is not a divine spirit of
truth until permeated by the divine Spirit.
"He shall testify of me."  The Spirit testifies of Jesus to the believer, and teaches the believer to testify of
Jesus. The Spirit in the believer testifies of Jesus.
His presence in the believer is a powerful testimony to
the world that Jesus has ascended on high, and that he
is the Mediator between God and man-powerful just
according to the degree in which the believer yields himself to his influences and makes way for him in his affection, in his intellect and in his life.
Oh that we might take these perishing sinners who




236              LOVE REVEALED.
compass us about in such countless numoers to the very
sea of glass before the throne where Jesus sits in gl0ory,
and give them just one view of the majesty and grace
of HTim whom all the heavenly hosts adore, that they
might hasten to believe upon him and submit themselves
to him! Well, Jesus has appointed you to somethinll
like this very office you so much desire. Be filled with
the Spirit, and let the mighty spirit in you testify to Jesus and convince the multitude around of the glory and
unspeakable beauty of Him whose promises they have
so long disdained. Oh, is there none who will resolve
to sound the utmost depth of the grace of the Saviour,
in the endeavor to body forth the evidence of the glory
and majesty of Him who was dead and is alive again?
Is there none who will seek to satisfy the aspiration of
Jesus expressed in these words?  Are not heaven and
earth waiting, groaning, travailing, for such a testimony
to the crucified and risen Saviour as has not yet been
given in the church on earth? To reveal Christ the believer is in the world and the Spirit is in the world.
" That the world may know that thou hast sent me,"
said the Saviour, looking forward to a time when he
should not be personally in the world, and anticipating
more glorious results from the operation of the Spirit
in believers than had been accomplished by his personal
ministry on earth.  Am  I thus revealing  Christ?
Does the world learn from my life that Jesus is the
sent of God, the Saviour of the world? The Spirit in
me and my spirit, do these bear witness to the condescension, the purity, the love, the unworldliness, the
long-suffering, the meekness, the power, the all-sufficiency, the unchangeableness, of the Redeemer?  Is




JOHN XVI. 1-3.                   237
every part and parcel of my life made to bear witness to
Christ?  Are my talents, my tastes, my opportunities,
made over to Christ to witness for him? The apostles
had been with Jesus from the beginning; they knew ten
thousand particulars of his life; the materials of thousands of discourses on this ever-blessed subject were
stored up in their understandings; yet we see that they
remained speechless when the hour came for them to testify of him.  Even the very night in which these words
of Christ were spoken saw them take flight with all
their treasury of precious information  concerning the
Saviour-saw one of them  explicitly  deny him, bear
witness against him, one who, even when brought to a
sense of his sin, was still incapable of overcoming it,
and went out to weep, lest his tears should bear witness
against him and for Christ.  Only when the witnessing
Spirit came down were they able to testify to Christ.
On the day of Pentecost they became witnesses indeed.
We in like manner have the materials of thousands of
discourses concerning Christ in our minds, but our lips
are sealed and our lives ineloquent until the Spirit of
Pentecost come upon us, and make Christ's truth to live
in us and shine through our transfigured lives.
JOHN xvi. 1-3.-" These things have I spoken unto you, that ye
should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues:
yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he
doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because
they have not known the Father, nor me."
CHRIST had spoken to his disciples of the persecution which they would  encounter, in order that
when the evil day came they might not be confounded




238              LOVE REVEALED.
and paralyzed as in the presence of some unexpected
event. They had gradually obtained a lofty conception
of the power and of the love of Christ. Knowing that
he took the profoundest interest in their welfare, what
could they expect but that he would so reveal his power
in their behalf as to awe their enemies and make them
shrink from lifting up a finger against them?  Slowly
and with great difficulty Christ had conquered for himself a royal place in their confidence; lhe had convinced
them of his boundless power and his surpassing love.
The hour was coming when this confidence should be
severely tested; when Providence should seem to say
unto them, "Give up your conviction of his power, or
give up your conviction of his love."  Why should
they put us out of the synagogues? Why should they
kill us?  Though we are weak, is not our Shepherd
mighty to save?  Will he not acknowledge us before
his enemies, and teach themn that whosoever toucheth us
toucheth the apple of his eye? If he do it not, what
are we to think of his power to save, his readiness to
befriend.
Think thus, that along with his power and love
there is a third, even wisdom, and that these three are
one. Were he to acknowledge you in such wise that
all men should realize the connection between your
weakness and his omnipotence, and feel instinctively
that in dealing wrathfuilly with you they were rushing
upon the thick bosses of his buckler, there would be no
scope for the development of your faith. You are being trained for great things —for an endless destiny, for
the companionship of angels, the celestial service of
God; and it is needful that your nascent faculties should




JOHIN XVI. 1-3.             2.39
be subjected to a suitable discipline. You must learn
by degrees to go invested with the power of God. While
your powers are yet imnmature, while there is still such
a large unvanquished remainder of pride, wrath, selfishness, ambition, you cannot be trusted with more than a
very little of the power of God. The unestablished
mind is immediately carried away by the vainglorious
idea of flaunting abroad in a garment of heaven. In
the work of educating us for heaven, it is meet that the
guiding Spirit should thoroughly exercise us in meekness, humility, long-suffering, contrition. As we cease
from ourselves, we shall be fitted to have the more public attestations of heaven.
Or let us say that the power of God is communicated
to the believer, not stintedly, but in methods that elude
the gross discernment of men. The power of God is
not put forth in fire from heaven to consume your enemies, but in that spirit of patience, humility and selfdenial by which you are enabled in a Christ-like manner to confront their rage.
Perhaps, after all, the sublimest exhibition ofthepower
of God was that which was made by Jesus when he
was as a lamb led to the slaughter, when he, being
reviled, threatened not, and when he continued, amid
the taunts of his persecutors, to hang upon the cross.
Let us look for power where the world does not dream
of looking for it-in the depths of our own sanctified
experience, in the patience, meekness and long-suffering
by which we endure as seeing Him who is invisible.
This is to put on Christ. Some would be very glad to
put on that power of Christ by which he wrought
mighty signs and wonders-that glory which beamed




240              LOVE REVEALED.
from him on the Mount of Transfiguration; but they
never dream of putting on his humility and long-suffering, his condescension and contentedness, his gentleness and prayerfulness. This is the reason why they
make so little progress. The Holy Spirit is holding
out to them one part of the apparel of Christ, and they
have their eye on a different part.
"These things have I spoken unto you, that ye
should not be offended."  Though I ascend up on high
and clothe myself, on your behalf, with unlimited power,
yet do not suppose that I will bind in chains of awe
the faculties of men along the pathway of your life.
Be not confounded when you see that men are permitted
to molest you and make havoc of you. To you is indeed committed a treasure of treasures, the everlasting
gospel. Think not, however, that this commission will
be equivalent to an immunity from all human violence. Enough to know that the gospel shall live on,
however they who bear it may be mowed down by the
enemy.
"They shall put you out of the synagogues."  The
element of special bitterness in the sufferings here predicted is that they were to be inflicted by religious men.
The disciples were to encounter the open denunciations
of those by whom the religious portion of the community were accustomed to be guided. It were a very
small thing to be persecuted by an infidel and licentious
rabble; the respectable, the devout, the interpreters of
God's ways to man, were to hold them up to public execration as men guilty of teaching heresy and of subverting the institutes of religion.
The persecutors of Christians are often sincere. They




JOHN XVI. 1-3.              241
believe that they are serving God and promoting the
interest of religion. This sincerity is the ground for
their more severe condemnation. They have dethroned
the true God and put another in his place. Allow
men to have a false God, and they will be very faithful
to him. "Thev know not Himn that sent mes" said
Christ, and added, "They have no cloak for their sin."
Men take to themselves a false conception of God, love
it with all their heart and soul and strength, offer to it
sacrifices of the best blood of humanity, and then demand our praise for their sincerity. The conviction
that one is right in doing what is odiously wrong, so
far from meriting an apology, demands a more severe
condemnation than mere wrong-doing, for it is the consecration of wrong-doing. In order that a man may
do evil upon a grand scale, and with comfort to himself,
it is convenient that he should obtain a conviction that
the thing is good and not evil. He asks at Satan's
warehouse for such a conviction, and does not ask in
vain.
"And these things will they do unto you, because
they have not known the Father nor me." Christians
are known by their resemblance to Christ. They that
know them not, and persecute them, show that they know
not Christ, and write their own condemnation in the irrevocable acts by which they utter their hatred of the
true church. There are many Christs in these days,
and every Christ has his church; and every one who
cometh into the church chooseth among these Christs
the one that he likes best. Instead of openly persecuting the people of Christ, he joins himself to a body
whose Christ is different, and indirectly makes war upon
21




242               LOVE REVEALED.
the true Christ by the zeal with which he upholds his
fiction of a Saviour.
As our views of Christ become rectified, so our views
of the church will undergo a change.  We shall find it
where once we would not have thought of looking for
it.  Men that did not know  Christ rightly have attempted to write the history of the church, and they did
not even succeed in identifying the church.  They
have given us the history of something very different.
JoHN xvi. 4-6. —" But these things have I told you, that when the
time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And
these things I said not unto you at the beginning because I was with
you. But now I go my way to Him that sent me, and none of you
asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart."
A BOUT  to be delivered into the hands of sinners,
and to bow for a brief and agonizing season beneath a storm of unexampled sorrow, Jesus occupied
himself rather with the more distant storm of persecution that would burst upon the heads of his disciples.
He was the good Shepherd, about to give his life for
the sheep, yet in this momentous hour he is chiefly solicitous to provide for his disciples a means of resisting
the adversary when he should come against them in a
future day.  The Saviour loved his own unto the end.
Let us sit at his feet that we may learn what love is.
Let us not think anything enough in the way of devotedness to the welfare of his church, so long as there remains ought that we can do. If we have the opportunity of making great sacrifices, let us not be content




JOHN XVI. 4-6.                243
with this, but let us seek to arm weak believers with
Christ's truth against a day of unexpected trial.
The Saviour teaches us things that are intended for
present use, and other things that have reference to a
fiture day of use. We take these up as curiosities,
wonder at them, and when we interrogate them as to their
deeper significance, they bid us wait for the light of a
day to come. So we put them in a chamber of memory,
and walk softly before God, knowing that the future
has something strange for us.
" These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should
not be offended, that, when the time shall come, ye
may remember that I told you of them." In Christ
the believer gets a glimpse of common things. The
Saviour makes him sit with him in the chariot of a
white cloud, whence a view of the pilgrim's far-winding path is enjoyed. There seated, the believer, with
anointed eye, perceives the adversary and his instruments
in a most distant glen; sees the arrangements made to
ensnare him, to surprise, overwhelm and destroy him, the
instant he shall set foot in that glen, sees the towers
built from whence javelins shall be thrown at him, sees
a bottomless chasm  covered with deceitful twigs and
leaves, sees the coverts in which ferocious animals are
taught to wait for their opportunity, sees the tree
thrown across the path of safety that winds aloft along
the mountain side. In due time the instructed disciple,
after many intermediate vicissitudes, finds himself at the
entrance of the glen.  "He is come; he is come," whisper his foes one to another. They are sure of their prey.
But the moment his eye falls upon the scene before him,
he recognizes it in all its details.  "Ah," he says, "this




244             LOVE REVEALED.
is the dangerous spot on which I looked down from the
white cloud." He knows at once how to proceed. To
the astonishment and confusion of his enemies, he pursues the path of safety and looks triumphantly down
upon their vain machinery.
Ah, Lord! let me not refuse to come up and sit with
thee in that chariot of thine. Thou wilt show  me
dreamlike things, as some might deem them, but not
dreamlike; for in a future hour I must stand face to face
with them, and I must conquer these future enemies now,
in a most important sense, for their power is in their unsuspectedness. He is sure to fall before them  who
comes upon them unprepared. They can only be defeated by being foreknown.
0 my soul, beware how thou slightest any invitation of the Saviour. Thou canst not say what mighty
things are at stake when the Spirit is whispering to thee,
"Come, the Master calleth thee."  To be spiritually
minded is to have it inwrought in our nature, as a law
inviolable, to give heed to every suggestion of the
Spirit, every call of Christ.
"' The Master calls thee."  If the blind man of Jericho had not obeyed that summons, he would have died
in his blindness, perhaps in his sins. It was only a little instant, but how much was depending on it! John,
James and Peter were once invited to accompany
Christ, they knew not well whither or wherefore; they
soon found themselves on what they thought a mountain top, a bleak place, with night and comfortlessness
about them. They disposed themselves to sleep; but,
lo! they suddenly found that place lighted up with
more than the glory of seven suns, saw the Son of man




JOHN XVI. 4-6.              245
brought near to the Ancient of Days, to receive dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations
and languages should serve him. They stood in the
presence of a magnificent future toward which we are
hastening.
" These things I said not unto you- at the beginning,
because I was with you." He had intimated them, but
had not insisted much upon them.  The important
thing for them was to know Christ, and be united to
him by an unyielding faith. It is the revelation of
Jesus to the soul that prepares it to encounter earthly
loss and opposition. The pearl of great price must be
seen, and then it becomes an easy matter to part with
all that one has in lieu of it.
"But now I go my way to Him that sent me, and none
of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I
have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your
heart." Having accomplished my embassy, and being
about to return, I am careful to notify you of the days
of trial which you will have to encounter after my departure. The announcement of my departure and the
intimation of sufferings to be undergone by you fill you
with sorrow. But why do you not ask me whither I
am going? Is it not just possible that there may be
something in the reply to such a question that will
dissipate your sorrow and abundantly strengthen you
for the scenes that are before you? Is it not possible
that my departure may be the complement of that love
which began to be expressed in my advent?  Would
you not naturally gather, from all that you have seen of
me, that nothing less would ever induce me to depart
from you than a full conviction that I could serve you
21  s




246              LOVE REVEALED.
better by going to my Father than by remaining longer
on the earth? Consider, therefore, whither I am going.
You need a friend at the throne of God, ever-living, to
intercede for you. Wrill it not be a blessed discovery
when you grasp the wonderful fact that the omnipotent
One in whom you live and move and have your being
is, by the power of my sacrifice, so reconciled to you
and so drawn to you that you may count upon the
same fervent friendliness of feeling in him toward
you as you have been accustomed to recognize in me?
If I depart, it is that I may bear you and all your interests with me to the throne of the Ever-blessed.  Instead of being orphans you shall be heirs-heirs of God,
joint-heirs with me.
JoHN xvi. 7.-" Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
S TRANGE and scarcely credible though the announceiment may appear to you, I nevertheless tell you
but the simple truth when I say that it will be for your
advantage that I ascend unto the Father and send to
you the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, to be your perpetual guide. And when I say that it will be for your
advantage, I do not mean that the Holy Spirit is greater
than I am, or that he will prove a truer friend to you.
In fact, the special office of the Spirit will be to bring
you and myself into a more intimate and a more blessed
union than has yet been revealed to your consciousness.
Though you have journeyed with me during these latter years of my earthly pilgrimage, yet there is no use
in disguising the fact that a moral chasm yawns between




JOHN XVI. 7.                247
us. You yourselves must often have felt the deepest
pain in reflecting upon the very feeble amount of influence exerted upon you by one who is manifestly God in
the likeness of men.  You have mourned that the
words and acts of one who was proclaimed the onlybegotten of the Father, who was transfigured before
you, who was served by angels, who spake unto the
winds and waves and they obeyed him, —you have mourned that the discourse and the acts of such a one should
have wrought so feebly in your hearts. The desire for
sanctification exists in you, but the new and elevated
conception of holiness which has been introduced into
your minds only makes you the more sensible of your
great moral deficiencies. If miracles could have given
you the victory over your sins, you would now be the
holiest of men. Since that hour when one of you fell
at my feet, exclaiming, "Depart from me, for I am a
sinful man," how many glorious displays of my power
have you witnessed! yet are you still sadly aware that
pride, ambition, worldiness, have authority over you.
Surely you must have admitted to yourselves that if
three and a half years of such stupendous exhibitions of
power have left you the unsanctified men you are, ten
years of such displays would not give you the victory
over your evil natures. For three and a half years you
have listened to a greater than Solomon-to one who
spake as never man spake, to the Wisdom of God;
and you have enjoyed such opportunities as never before were enjoyed by mortal man to know the mind of
God concerning the way in which he would be served,
and what is the result? You yourselves are constrained
to admit that the result is very unsatisfactory.




248             LOVE REVEALED.
Ahb if all that man needed were to have a teacher,
were to have lessons of divine wisdom set before him
in the most intelligible and the most impressive forms,
then -would you now be incomparably the holiest of
men, proof against all temptation, superior to all earthly
influLlences, But what is the fact?  Was it not necessary that I should this very evening begin the work of
instruction over again, as it were, by washing your feet?
Have you not this very evening been disputing among
yourselves who shall be greatest? Are you not this
very night to make even the unprofessing world astonished by deserting me in my hour of trial?
Why do I now dwell upon these things?  Simply
that you may be assisted to recognize that my life on
earth, however marvelous and glorious as part of the
divine system by which God is bringing you to himself,
is yet of itself unable to effect your spiritual redemption.
It is one thing that the image of God should have been
placed before you; it is a very different thing that you
should be changed into that image. Man foolishly asserts that he only needs to know the true, the good, the
beautiful, to be himself the embodiment of truth and
goodness and beauty. Heaven has come down to earth;
the very King of heaven has tabernacled among men;
He whom Isaiah saw in the temple, high and lifted up,
adored by seraphim, has come down from his throne,
dismissed the seraphim to heaven and dwelt with the
people of Isaiah year after year, yet it is not seen that
the men so amazingly distinguished have been rendered
seraphic in holiness and love. Something else, then, is
necessary that men may not only be made acquainted
with the image of God, but changed into the same.




JOHN XVI. 7.                 249
Not only have the words which I have uttered in
your hearing during these years been unfruitful in your
minds; you have not even remembered them. Thousands of words of infinite account in the sublime work
of bringing a lost world to God-words destined to convey life to men of innumerable tongues and tribes now
enslaved to heathenism-have been uttered in your hearing, and have been forgotten by you. They have been
given to you that you might give them to mankind, and
that by means of them  lmyriads of souls might be
plucked as brands from  the burning, and yet these
words have passed fromn your memory. What you cannot recover from the depths of your dark minds the
Holy Spirit can. It is expedient for you, therefore, that
I depart and that he come unto you. Then will you hear
again the words already heard, and they will be brought
home to you with a power that you dream not of: He
will show you my acts with such richness of interpretation that you will stand awestruck in presence of
the works which made but a feeble impression on you
when viewed merely through the medium of your
senses and your native powers.
But not only must you be sensible that you have little
remembered, little learned, little obeyed, of all that I
have told you and shown you; you must be keenly cognizant of the fact that your influence as my servants and
the expounders of my gospel is all but nothing. In
presence of a perverse and rebellious race your hearts
sink within you, and you ask yourselves, How shall we
ever be able to bring men over to our views of Christ?
You feel your need of some unknown power by which
the minds of men may be rendered obedient to the




250              LOVE REVEALED.
truth.  You find yourselves utterly at a loss to cominunicate your deepest convictions. You are ready to ask,
Is there not something beyond miracles, even?-something beyond the power of a holy life?  Is there not in
the resources of God some means of reaching the hearts
of men, and subduing that hostility by which they are
hindered from receiving the testimony of a holy life
and of a blessed gospel?  There is. I die that you
may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.  I ascend on high that the Comforter may come
unto you. Then shall you be strengthened with a
strength of which you have hitherto had no consciousness. Rivers of living water-even of the water of
life-shall flow forth from you.  Then the wilderness
shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the
rose.
JOHN xvi. 8.-" And when he is come he will reprove the world
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment."
"- HEN  he."  ".He," in the original, is emlphatic.
It might be rendered " that one."  He it is who,
coming, will convince mankind of sin.  His very adlvent will revolutionize their ideas of sin, being a testimony from heaven more striking than that of the voice
from heaven at the baptism of Jesus to the fact that Jesus the crucified is none other than Christ the glorified.
By the simple fact that the world has placed itself in
opposition to Jesus testimony to Jesus will be testimony
against the world. Observe that tile promise of the
Spirit was unto the disciples, "I will send hirm unto
you;" and the change here intimated as to be wrought
in the sentiments of men generally was to be in conse



JOHN XVI. 8.                251
quence of the descent of the Spirit of God upon the
disciples.
The gospel is preached to convince men of sin, of
righteousness and ofjudgment. The disciples of Christ
are in the world that they may make known the sin of
men, the judgment of God and the way of escaping that
judgment by means of the righteousness of Christ.
But here we are told that the work of introducing the
new convictions on these subjects into the minds of men
is to be accomplished by the Spirit of God. Accordingly, the apostles speak of themselves as having
preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down
from heaven.
What is here promised, then, is such an outpouring
of the Spirit of God as shall not only reveal itself in
the consciousness of the disciples, but substantiate itself as an undeniable and wonderful fact to the apprehensions of the onlooking world. And such was the advent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  " He hath
shed forth this which ye now see and hear," said Peter
to the multitude. That which they saw and heard did
what all the miracles, the incomparable words, the irreproachable life of Jesus, had failed to do. Let us say
that these miracles began now to be seen, those divine
words began now to be heard, for the first time. By the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples
the people of Jerusalem began to look upward and
see Jesus at the right hand of the majesty on high.
They saw their own sin, heinous beyond all conception,
saw the righteousness of Him whom they had put to
death, the prince of life-saw it to be such a righteousness that in comparison the entire race of man stood




252             LOVE REVEALED.
forth appareled in darkest iniquity; and they saw the
judgment of God, inevitable and dire, against all who
should be found in opposition to Christ. It was as
though they had been taken up into heaven, and had
seen the judgment-seat, the books opened and their own
deeds manifested in the unerring light of that tremendous scene. Sublime arrangements of Him whose wisdom is unsearchable! Are the people of God at all
awake to all that is implied in the promise of the Spirit?
Is it enough that they languidly recognize their obligation to make known the gospel to their fellow-men, and
take various steps to have it preached? Is not the
great thing wanted this-that the Spirit of God should
be so poured out upon Christ's people that men should
be made aware of his presence with them, and of the
presence of Christ at the right hand of God, so poured
out that there should be a coming together, in some
sense, of the blessed God and of that world which
has separated itself from him, that the powers of the
world to come should take hold upon men and constrain
them to cry out, " Men and brethren, what must we
do?"
The Greek is wonderfully felicitous in that it does
not represent the Spirit of God as coming once for all,
but as persistently coming. He it is who, coming, shall
convince. He comes as the rain from heaven, that
must still come and come again, as the wind, that
must still blow and blow again. We are not to look
back for our Pentecost. The Pentecost of the Acts
is simply given to make the church of Christ acquainted
with the privileges belonging to this dispensation. It
is only the first step in a ladder of Pentecosts by which




JOHN XVI. 8.               253
the world and the kingdom of Christ are to be brought
together. It is the specimen to accompany the promise,
that we may be stirred up to plead the promise with
the greatest fervency.
The Spirit of God inundates the minds of men with
truths that had previously no entrance to them. Now,
it occurs to us that an observation of no little importance may here be made. Truths which the Holy Ghost
has taught us may be retained in the mind by the mere
natural power of memory. Are we not in danger of
deceiving ourselves in this way as to the measure of
spiritual influence enjoyed by us?  We might have as
scanty a measure of the Spirit's influence as the disciples
had in the days preceding the death of Christ, and yet
be immensely in advance of them in respect to the
amount of our knowledge of the way of life. Is it not
to be feared that, in those portions of the church which
have not yet been visited by a true revival, Christians
are to be compared with the first disciples, not as they
were on the day of Pentecost, but as they were previously —compared, we mean, as regards the actual
amount of divine influence enjoyed by them? Because
they have the truth they imagine they have the Spirit
of truth. Perhaps the word of Christ to them is,
" Tarry ye in Jerusalem until endued with power from
on high."  WVe are baffled, bewildered, confounded, by
our utter unfitness to convince men of sin, of righteousness and of the judgment to come. Is it not that we fail to
realize how absolute is our need of the mighty and manifest advent of the Spirit? It is possible for Christ so
to cause the Holy Spirit to be seen descending upon us
that the world around shall discover, by this fact alone,
22




254              LOVE REVEALED.
the heavens opened and the Son of God standing at the
right hand of God.
Oh, it were unpardonable if, in a day when God is doing so much to inspire us with lofty conceptions of the
power of the Holy Spirit, we should still refuse to apprehend the glorious illimitableness of this promise.
Consider it. We are to look at the work here assigned
to the Holy Spirit, in order that we may entertain
a just view of his power. Look abroad upon the
earth, and see the nations, tribes and tongues refusing to
be convinced by all that God in his providence has
taught them during thousands of years, by all that missionaries are teaching them at this eleventh hour, of sin,
of righteousness and of judgment; form an estimate
of the wickedness which envelops the earth like a dense
and deadly atmosphere, scarce suffering any of the rays
of the Sun of righteousness to penetrate it; then consider that the Spirit of God, for whose effusion we are
taught to pray, is pledged to rain conviction upon the
world, and anticipate for a most sublime and blessed
end the final judgment, by leading men to look to the
righteousness of Christ, the desire of all nations.
JOHN xvi. 9-11.-" Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of
righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."
THE sin of not believing on Christ is to be estimated
by the character of Christ; the glory renounced by
him; his labors for the good of man; the brightness of
the evidence that accompanied him; the things that he
suffered; the reason for which he suffered; his pres



JOHN XVI. 9-11.               255
ent exaltation; the glory of his mediatorial reign;
his long-suffering toward the unbeliever; the disastrous influence of unbelief; the unspeakable blessing
called down upon the world by faith.
Rightly ponder any of these considerations, and the
sin of unbelief will be seen to be infinite.
And yet there is no sin that so lightly burdens the
consciences of men as the sin of not having believed in
Christ. Men condemn themselves bitterly for other
sins-for a lie, for instance, into which they may have
been surprised; and yet there is not in their heart a
whisper of self-reproach for having made Christ a liar.
This is that one sin which gives all other sins a perpetuity of damning power. If you owed ten thousand
talents and had naught to pay, would you stand quarreling about some item of three or thirteen talents, and
refuse to hear the voice of a third party offering to pay
the whole debt? If you were condemned to prison for
myriads of years, would you spend your strength in
contesting some item of six months, when there stood
by you a deliverer offering you eternal life?
And do you not see that the sin of unbelief is altogether a peculiar sin? It is this, and this alone, that
shuts the gate of the kingdom of heaven against you.
This it is that cancels all the gracious words contained
in the Scriptures, leaving the Bible a mere book of
wrath. Unbelief seizes the Lord Jesus as he is about
to ascend from the Mount of Olives, and compels him
to give you back the sins which he bore for you on Calvary. The terrible thing about this sin is that its life is
a life of slumber. It makes no noise in the heart. It
has no visible shape. An angry word that falls from




256             LOVE REVEALED.
your lips has a reverberation in the depth of your heart,
but unbelief is simply a state, and does not ordinarily
reveal itself by any overt symptom. It is the atmosphere in which you move; and as you never moved in
any other, it does not shock you. But it is the sin of
sins, and until you learn to hate it above all sins there
is little hope of your deliverance from sin. The true
way of showing your hatred against all sins, not only
yours, but those of all men, is to hate this sin, and by
the grace of God to have nothing more to do with it.
The way to war with all other sins is to war with unbelief, for the life of every sin is hid in unbelief, and if
you slay this last you slay all.
The office of the Holy Ghost is to teach us this. He
teaches us the sin of not believing in Christ by showing us the infinite righteousness and worthiness of Him
who died upon the cross and ascended on high to the
right hand of the Father, there to exercise all power in
heaven and in earth.   The reason why we see not
Christ is that we have rejected and crucified him, and
the Father has exalted him, giving him a name above
every name. The Spirit of God poured upon the disciples is God's demonstration to the world of the righteousness of His Son.  Every word uttered by Jesus,
every act performed by him, receives thus the attestation of God. The Holy Spirit convinces us of the sin
of unbelief, by teaching us to recognize righteousness
in Christ, not in ourselves.
The great quarrel between the unbeliever and Christ
is on this ground: the unbeliever says that he is righteous and denies that Christ is. Unbelief in Christ is
an affirmation of one's own righteousness. The unbe



JOHN XVI. 9-11.              257
liever claims to be his own Saviour and his own intercessor. The affirmations of Christ and those of the
unbeliever are utterly contrary the one to the other.
"No man comneth unto the Father but by me," says
Christ. "False," says the unbeliever; "will God reject
his own children?"  "I am the true Vine," says Christ;
"if a man abide not in me he is cast forth and is
withered."  " Not at all," says the unbeliever; "God's
mercy is over all his works." " Turn ye, turn ye, why
will ye die?" " We will not turn, and we shall not die."
" If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your
sills."  " Though we believe not, yet we shall not die, for
we have goodnesses that will buoy us up in the sea of
demerit." " I-e that heareth my words and doeth them,
is like a man that built his house upon a rock." " Nay,
without being governed by thy words, I am safe."
The great question is, Shall the sinner's pretensions be
sustained, or shall the assertions of Christ be ratified?
This question is answered by the outpouring of the
Spirit of God. He makes known the righteousness of
Christ, and the fact of his righteousness overwhelms
with the deep confusion of a manifested and gigantic
unrighteousness the miserable sinner who so long rejected
the Saviour.
" The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing
in me," said Jesus, when the time drew near for his arrest and condemnation. He looked upon the rulers of
the Jews and the Gentile governor, with their soldiers
and servants and the populace swayed by them, as simply the agency by which the god of this world expressed
his wrath against the holy One who had invaded his
dominions. But by his resurrection and by the baptism
22 -




258             LOVE REVEALED.
of the Holy Spirit given his disciples, he wrote, as it
were, upon the walls of the palace of the prince of this
world, " Mene, Mene."  Men saw that the prince of this
world, who had ventured to sit in judgment upon the
Son of God, was now himself arraigned in judgment
and condemned. And as the same Spirit who bore testimony to a risen Saviour bore testimony also to the
future advent of that Saviour in glory as the Judge of
all, men became cognizant of the absolute ruin destined
to overtake the earthly kingdom of the prince of the
power of the air.
Oh the infinite grace of the loving Spirit, who comes
to the heart of the sinner, there to set up by anticipation the great white throne and exhibit the doom that
is to go forth against all that belongs to that kingdom
of darkness! IIl these days of skepticism and of an accommodated Bible, what thanks can we render to the
God of all grace that he is pleased to pour out his Spirit
in such a way on Christendom as to give authority to
the awful truths of the final judgment, and thus, by
convincing men of the inevitable day of wrath, of the
triumphant righteousness of Christ, of that all-comprehending sin of unbelief, to dispose them to look unto
the crucified One whose blood cleanseth from all sin?
JOHN xvi. 12, 13.-" I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth."
SEEMINGLY different statement, "All things
that I have heard of my Father I have made
known unto you" (John xv. 15), is explained by its




JOHN XVI. 12, 13.           259
context, "I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth."  He was not hindered by
any reserve from communicating divine truth to them.
There was an entire readiness on his part to unfold to
them the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that were
in him. IHe treated them as friends, and desired nothing more than that they should continue to stand upon
the most confidential footing with him.
From the passage now to be noticed it appears that
there was a hindrance to the larger and freer communication of his treasures of thought to them, and that this
hindrance was in them, not in him. They could not
bear it. They were not in a position to profit by it.
The avenue of their minds was blocked up by many
undisposed-of and unheeded treasures. They had not
mastered the things already revealed. A great many
important, nay, sublime communications, made with utmost impressiveness and earnestness, were still uncomprehended by them. It was absolutely necessary that
they should grapple with these things, and assimilate
them to their moral constitution, and put on the strength
they were commissioned to bestow, before they could
profit by the remaining instructions of their Master.
How many there are to whom this language may be
applied! A mass of precious truth is lying before their
door unused, and they are clamorous with Christ to give
them something better. They wonder that soul-refreshing views of Christ should be withheld from them,
while they have just touched and forgotten many words
laden with a mint of wealth. Many are asking for
increase of faith, and expecting it, if at all, in some surprising and supernatural way, whereas the most faith



260              LOVE REVEALED.
augmenting promises and indications of the power
of which they have had some experience are treated as
exhausted, empty husks.
It may be that Christ has many precious things to say
to us, and cannot say them because we cannot bear them.
W~e are waiting for him, as though the delay were on the
part of the Mlaster, but he is waiting for his supine and
foolish scholars to return to the glorious things he has
revealed to them, and see how slight a taste they have
of the celestial truth showered upon their path from
trees of paradise. How treacherous a part we are acting
toward ourselves if we reject what Christ would
gladly bestow, by neglecting to avail ourselves of the
means of sanctification long since brought to our notice!
Let us understand that in appropriating a blessing we
do something more than enrich our minds with that
blessing: we make way for another and higher to
follow.
The reason why some Christians cannot bear certain
doctrines of Scripture is because they neglect other doctrines that naturally come before them  and open the
door for them. They should go deeper into the things
that Christ has already set before them, and let these
have larger sway over them, and they will then be
strengthened to bear what now seems so onerous.
One that is strictly guided by the Spirit applies himself to just the lessons that the Spirit of God brings before him. We cannot dictate to the Spirit of God what
things he shall teach us and what not. He will perhaps
bring before us something that we supposed we had long
ago completely conned and mastered, but we shall find
it good to sit down to it with all the freshness and zest




JOHN XVI. 12, 13.            261
of a first attack. Some unnoticed diamond, richer than
all we had yet taken out the casket, will be detected by
us, and will flash light along a multitude of consecutive
truths.
"Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he
will guide you into all truth." The Saviour seeks to
give his disciples a most exalted conception of the dispensation of the Spirit to be introduced by his ascension on high. Christ had many things to say to them;
the hour had come when he was about to depart out of
the world; were these precious untold things to depart with
him and be lost to the church for ever? Far from it. The
spirit of truth should come and guide the disciples into
all truth. The spirit of truth would rapidly demolish
in their minds the lumbering and elaborate framework
of old opinions and hereditary misconceptions which,
in the place where they now stood, could not possibly
be overthrown without bringing in a chaos of religious
ideas. Christ was the truth; and none but the spirit of
truth could guide them into anything like a worthy apprehension of his character and work, his sufferings, his
death, his will, his help. He teaches his disciples to
look forward to the advent of the Spirit as to the
moment of deliverance from a humiliating bondage,
and promises them the highest, noblest form of liberty
-the liberty of moving unimpeded through the domain
of truth.
Guidance is essential to this liberty. He that sits
down to read the word of God, unconcerned about the
guidance of the Spirit, and exulting in the delusive
sense of liberty, will be none the less guided by a
spirit, namely, by his own erring, undisciplined and




262              LOVE REVEALED.
biased spirit-a spirit much more at home in falsehood
than in truth. Guided by this spirit, he can never know
true freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty, there alone. We put on freedom just in the
measure that we bring to the study of the word of God
the sense of our absolute dependence upon the Spirit of
God to guide us into the truth. Without his guidance it
will prove a mere labyrinth to us. He that gave the
truth gave the spirit of truth. Christ referred his disciples to the influences of the Spirit as affording the only
means of really availing themselves of the words he had
spoken, the truth he had exhibited. To suppose that
the truth is enough, the guidance of the Spirit unnecessary, is to say that Christ knew not the need of man.
It is a virtual dismissal of Him whom you profess to
call your physician.
" All truth."  " We have an unction from the holy
One, and know all things." There is nothing in this
language that speaks of a limit to religious belief, a gate
over which is written, Thus far mayest thou come, and
no farther. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
the unction of the holy One, we find ourselves in the
presence of mere dead words, and we rush in every direction against the barriers of thought. Christ is the
image of the invisible God, when brought before us by
the spirit of truth; and we are changed into that image.
The Spirit of God is omnipotent with respect to minds
like ours and circumstances like ours. He is able to
make God known unto us. We cannot know all that
God is-we cannot know all that any creature is; we
can, in fact, know God better than we can know any
creature, for there are elements of uncertainty in creature




JOHN XVI. 13.                263
character that are not present with the ever-blessed
Creator of all. We know  in  whom  we have believed, and we show that we know him by earnestly
pressing forward after further and more particular
knowledge, and thus will we do, if God permit, to all
eternity. Those that we know most we delight most to
know; we seek their society, and note their ways and
words with an avidity that nothing else awakens.
JOHN xvi. 13.-" He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever
he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to
come."
W E learn from the Gospel of John that Jesus frequently sought to impress upon his disciples that
he spoke not of himself: " He shall know whether I speak
of myself." " I am not come of myself." " I do nothing of myself."  " I have not spoken of myself."  " The
words that I speak, I speak not of myself."  He was
found in fashion as a man. He came in the likeness of
sinful flesh. He had to work out for himself, by the exhibition of his holy and superior nature, a position far
elevated above that of a mere man. At the same time
he was to be recognized as the legate of God, commissioned and inspired not only with regard to all his works,
but with regard to his every word; so that God should
be manifest in him, and that there should be nothing in
him which did not manifest God.
And as it was of vital importance to the snccess of
Christ's mission that his works and words should be received as works and words revealing the mind of God,
and that the Father should be seen in him, so it was




264             LOVE REVEALED.
necessary that the Holy Spirit should be understood as
uttering the mind of the Father and of the Son, who is
one in him. He shall not speak of himself; he shall not
speak independently. He will be simply a more perfect
medium of communication between you and me. What
I have left unsaid, because ye cannot bear it now, I will
unfold to you by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Language could not be more express as to the great and
blessed truth that, under the dispensation of the Spirit,
Jesus comes nearer to his people, and makes more intimate and enriching communications to them, than was
possible in the days when he dwelt upon the earth.
"He will show you things to come."  This he did
by guiding the disciples into all that truth concerning
future things which had been so copiously given through
the ancient prophets, and concerning which they and all
others had such defective, such erroneous views. Under
this dispensation the people of God are taught to grasp
the true idea concerning the future of Messiah's kingdom. After the outpouring of the Pentecostal Spirit,
the apostles were able to unfold the spiritual sense of
the prophecies which had been so wrongly and mischievously interpreted by the Jews. A multitude of the
promises and predictions of the Old Testament are
brought forward in the New, with inspired interpretations, so that we may possess the true clew to future
things.
Ah, if in all our studies of the prophecies we had
ever kept in mind that it is the province of the Spirit
of God to show us things to come, and that only he
who is under the guidance of the spirit of truth is under the guidance of the Spirit of prophecy and the




JOHN XVI. 13.                265
Spirit of interpretation! He does not begin by showing us things to come, except so far as they bear specially upon our own present duty. He may show us
the coming terrors of the Lord, or the future blessedness of the saints, to strengthen us for the fight of faith.
His teaching will relate pre-eminently to our obligations, and to the claims of Christ upon us, and to the
excellency of the gospel, and according to the earnestness with which we follow him through these instructions will be the freedom and clearness of his communications concerning the things of the future.  The
proper understanding of the present, our present, is the
only stand-point from which we can look out rightly
upon the future. In vain, however, we ask the Spirit
of God to give us an insight into the scenes of days unborn if we give not heed to the indications of his will in
our daily and hourly walk. Other things being equal,
the man who has enjoyed the richest and fullest experience of the operations of the Spirit in his own heart will
be most competent to interpret the prophecies to his fellow-men. These prophecies were originally given by the
medium of holy men of old, the holiest of their generation, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,
and the key to them will be placed by the same Spirit
in the hands of him who yields himself heartily, fearlessly and unflinchingly to the guidance of the Spirit.
"He shall not speak of himself."  Neither will he
that is born of the Spirit speak of himself. As the
Spirit of God honors Christ by seeking to give exhibition to the wishes, aims and feelings of Christ, so the
believer should know himself but as a medium for the
manifestation of the mind of Christ. Can it be said of
23




266               LOVE REVEALED.
us-yet it ought to be-that we speak not of ourselves,
not independently, not aside from Christ, and that for
us to live is to reveal, not ourselves, but him?
JOHN xvi. 14, 15.-" He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of
mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath
are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall
show it unto you."
rTIE  Holy Spirit glorifies Christ by revealing his
glory to his disciples upon the earth. Glory in the
realms of glory Christ hath never wanted. The soul
of every believer is a kingdom where the Redeemer is
seen ascending the steps of the palace so long usurped
and degraded, penetrating in more or less rapid succession to its chambers, and in due time mounting, in undisputed authority, its throne. The soul is the chaos
of a universe, and the work of Christ is to recreate
this shattered and blasted immensity, and compel everything to circulate in harmony around the central sun.
He will create in every believer's heart a heaven, and
to all eternity reign there a sovereign Redeemer. Round
about the throne were many thrones, and all were for
the glory of Christ. "I dwell in the high and holy
place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble
spirit." Much more they which receive abundance of
grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life
by one, Jesus Christ. The Father glorified Christ by
raising him from the dead and from the earth, exalting
him above principalities and powers, and placing him
at his own right hand. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ
by making him known as glorious to the believer.




JOHN X VI. 14, 15.          267
If we profess to have our eye fixed upon the glory of
Christ as upon a luminary which is destined to make
glad the face of universal nature, let us show that we
are under the influence of faith and not of imagination,
by ardently laboring that the great aim of the Spirit of
God in our hearts may be speedily accomplished. Let
us fall in with this blessed project of the Spirit, and
command all the faculties of our nature to yield to his
control, that Christ may be glorified in us.
It is as the spirit of truth that the Holy Spirit
glorifies Christ. That which particularly exhibits the
omnipotence of the Spirit and the sublime nature of his
operations is the fact that in the written word with
which we are familiar he is able to reveal unto us what
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived.
Whether it was in the body or by the Spirit that Paul
was caught up into heaven and heard unutterable things,
I cannot tell, but it is evident that Paul attached no
extraordinary value to this vision, while he constantly
magnifies the work of the Spirit in making Christ
known unto him by the word. It is with reference to
this influence of the Spirit of truth that he says, "We
have our conversation in heaven, where Christ is;" "God
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ;" "He hath made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
The god of this world hath blinded the minds of
them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine
unto them. It is therefore by the removal of unbelief
that the Holy Spirit makes it possible for the glory of
Christ to be poured in upon the mind.




268              LOVE REVEALED.
The Holy Ghost is Christ's advocate in the heart,
pleading his cause, urging his claims, vindicating him
from the unworthy representations made by that which
is earthly in our nature, rebuking the noisy advocate of
the world, bringing to memory the sufferings of Christ
and the resultant glory, and showing the vanity of those
things whose paltry attractions still threaten to shake
the soul from its steadfastness. In order that we may
be taught to see Christ glorious, it is necessary that the
Spirit of God should liberate us from  all those false
ideas of glory which so universally obtain among men.
If we are intent upon our own glory and pine inwardly
for the admiration of men, if we desire to have our
faults ignored and our virtues magnified by men, if we
are cultivating a spirit of self-complacency, it is impossible that we should advance in the knowledge of the
glory of Christ. We must decrease that he may increase.
Just here is the great difficulty with many. It is to
be feared that there are very few who are not cutting
themselves off from  important discoveries of Christ's
glory by the habit of secret self-laudation, and by a
desire for the p]audlitory regards of men. There is not
anything more utterly opposed to the mind of the Spirit.
While these self-complacent thoughts prevail, the Spirit
of God is vanquished. " The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are
contrary the one to the other."  It is intended of God
that no flesh should glory in his presence. If we still
connect the idea of glory with anything that belongs to
our miserable natures, it is clear that our ideas of glory
are flagrantly erroneous. The mission of the Spirit is




JOHN XVI. 14, 15.           269
to correct this error, and cause us to discover all glory
in Christ, and count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Him who gave himself for us.
"All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it
unto you."  The believer is taught to recognize the
Father in Christ and Christ in the Father. The glory
of Christ is the glory of the Father, and the glory of
the Father is that of Christ. But the Father is not
glorified if the Son be not glorified, for where there is
depreciation of Christ there is not the true knowledge
of God, and there the Spirit of God is not. The language here used by the Saviour is that of one who is
conscious that in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. When the believer has been brought a
good way into the paradise of the gospel, everything in
nature will speak to him of Christ, even of Him who
was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. " All
things were made by him and for him." And all things
are ours because they are Christ's and because we are
Christ's.
The things shown to us are not things in which we
are slightly interested, but things in which we are intensely interested. All that tremendous interval by
which the consciousness of sin naturally separates us
from the blessed Godhead is annihilated by the Spirit's
exhibition of the love of God in Christ Jesus. The
Spirit of God alone knows how to introduce us to the
holiness and justice and truth of God. He solves this
perilous problem by taking us to Gethsemane, and disclosing to us there the Son of God, the Man of sorrows,
drinking the cup that we should have drunk through
23 m




270                LOVE REVEALED.
eternity, and purchasing for us a perpetual interest in
the love of Him whose name is Love.
JOHN xvi. 16-19.-" A little while, and ye shall not see me: and
again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that
he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: 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
cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous
to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of
that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, A little while, and ye shall see me?"
(HRIST had previously said, " Yet a little while and
the world  seeth  me no more; but ye see me."
Though he should disappear from the world's view, yet
he would be manifest unto his disciples. Here another
fact is stated, namely, that there was to be an interruption in their perception of his presence. There was to be a
period the like of which had never been seen and should
never be seen-a period when the believer was without
his Christ, when Christ was buried and with him all the
promises by which we have access to the Father. Darkness then brooded over the face of the church. The Son
of God, in taking unto him the sin of the world, had also
taken unto him  all its most sacred interests: all these
went down with him into the night of the grave; and we
may conceive of the guardian angels of humanity standing on the edge of this gulf, trembling, wondering if from
such a profound abyss there should be a resurrection of
those precious interests, a return of the self-sacrificing
One. The disciples are assured that though that dark




JOHIN XVI. 16-19.             271
and critical hour should shortly come, yet it would not
be of long duration: "Again a little while and ye shall
see me."  For the elects' sake that time was shortened.
It might have been three full days and nights, but
every hour told terribly upon the faith and hope of the
apostles and of, the multitude of others-disciples and
inquirers-" who trusted that it had been He which
should have redeemed Israel;" and therefore the Lord
diminished the interval to the narrowest possible limits
consistent with the Jewish definition of the period of
time mentioned, reducing it, in fact, to about thirty-six
hours.
In chapter xiv. 16 we have the words of Christ, "I
go away and come again unto you; if ye loved me ye
would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father." In
this and in the verse under consideration, the idea does
not seem to be that he would go to the Father, and
then, leaving the Father, would come again unto them.
They were to console themselves in the dark interval
of his absence with the reflection that, after a brief interval, he would appear to them again; but at the same
time the language used finds its solution only in the revelation of Christ made on the day of Pentecost and
since. By the power of the Holy Spirit believers are
brought near to the risen and glorified Redeemer. "I
came forth from the Father and am come into the
world; again I leave the world and go to the Father."
The representation is nowhere made that he will again
leave the Father. "Sit thou on my right hand until I
make thine enemies thy footstool."  " He hath sat down
for ever at the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." The




272             LOVE REVEALED.
great, the inexpressible gain of the disciples, shadowed
forth in the words we are considering, is this: Christ
hath ascended onil high without being removed from
them; they have more intimate communion with him
than ever; by the Holy Spirit they are made to sit together in heavenly places. Their actual knowledge of
him and enjoyment of his love are frightfully curtailed,
it is true, by their imperfect faith and consecration, but
we are to contemplate what God has provided rather
than what man appropriates.
There are many who read the words of Christ without ever saying, " What is this that he saith?"  If they
were called upon to give an explanation of this and
that word of the Master, they would be utterly at a loss.
It is truly amazing, the amount of ignorance that exists
even among those who have been familiar with the
Scriptures from their youth. The reason is that they
do not inquire. The meaning of the passage does not
strike them at once, and they are deterred by mental and
spiritual sloth from searching into the Scriptures. [Now,
the blessings of Scripture are particularly connected
with that effort of mind which is implied in the words,
" Search the Scriptures;" and one of the best evidences of
the presence of the spirit of truth is the readiness of
the mind to give itself reverently, patiently, perseveringly, to the searching out of the meaning of the word
of God. Familiarity with the word of truth often hinders men from becoming aware of their lack of comprehension of it. It were well, therefore, that we continually called ourselves to account concerning what
we read, and ascertained whether we have an understanding of it or not.




JOHN XVI. 16-19.            273
They said among themselves, "What is this?"  But
none of them could enlighten the other. Their mutual
interrogatories only made manifest their common ignorance. It was right in them to consult with each other
concerning the meaning of Christ's word. The disciples of Christ should more often employ their seasons
of reunion in this way. "Then they that feared the
Lord spake often one to another." If Christ has given
a blessing to one, it is that he may communicate it to
his brethren. It is ever the Master who must teach us.
He may do it through another. It does not become us
to despise prophesyings, written or spoken. But the
Lord is willing to teach us directly. In fact, we should
receive everything from him, whether it come to us
directly or indirectly.
If we are desirous of asking Christ the meaning of
his words, if such is the character of our desires, we
need not fear to approach him with them. Such desires
are, in fact, the promptings of the Holy Spirit whom he
has sent to draw us unto himself. These are certainly
not the desires that we need to be ashamed to bring to
Christ. The disciples were bold enough to come to
their Lord with a desire that he would give them
places of honor at his right hand and left, when he
should take to himself his royalty.
"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness." Only let them come with their hunger to
the bread of life, who came down from heaven to give
life unto the world. " If any man lack wisdom, let him
ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth
not."  We need not fear that Christ will upbraid us with
our folly if we bring it to him. But we must be content to




274               LOVE REVEALED.
receive the answer that he shall give us. Often, perhaps,
it will seem to us unwisdom, simply because we have
not mastered the previous communications, constituting
the avenue to the present truth. Christ's answer may
be very different from our expectation, and then we are
put upon our trial with reference to this, whether we
surrender our own conception and believe Christ's statement to be the true one, or the contrary.  Thus Nicodemus came to hear some glowing and surprising description of the heavenly world, and was sadly disappointed
at having his attention drawn to the lowest round of
the ladder which reaches to heaven: " Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
JoHN xvi. 20-22. —" Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall
weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and 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 as soon
as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."
t' ~TE  now have sorrow" —through the words which
i  Christ had spoken unto them. He had spoken to
them of treachery, denial, flight, danger, on their part;
of triumph on the part of the Jews; of humiliation,
suffering, death, on his own part. It was difficult for
them to receive this testimony; it seemed to them that
he was speaking in parables; still, they were constrained
to believe that some dread calamity was impending.
"Ye shall weep and lament." Their present sorrow
was to be greatly increased, and that soon.  When they
should see their adorable Master in the hands of his




JOEN XVI. 20-22.            275
enemies, led captive by them, subjected to all manner
of indignities, treated as the filth and offscouring of all
things, struck upon his face by servants and soldiers,
crowned with thorns and crucified between thieves, how
intense would be their anguish! They would weep and
lament, and their enemies would taunt them with having put their trust in One who, so far from being able to
save others, was not able to save himself. How terrible
was the calamity when the ark of God was taken by
the Philistines, and led away into their own territory!
This climax of woes broke the heart of Eli. The death
of his sons, the defeat of his countrymen, these sorrows
were dwarfed by this gigantic and unequaled disaster.
But Christ was infinitely greater than the ark of God.
In him was all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The
tabernacle, the ark, the temple, were mere foreshadowings of this glorious incarnation of deity. The Son of
God was to be treated as a worm and no man-a reproach of men and despised of the people; and they,
his followers, were to stand by and see him subjected to
these indignities, these sufferings, without any other
privilege than that of weeping and lamenting, in the
midst of a rejoicing world.
We may take note that the apostles tell us nothing
of their own feelings during the passion of their Lord.
Had they been mere uninspired writers, how largely
would they have dilated upon their feelings of sorrow,
amazement, despair, at the cross of Christ! Every
painter who has attempted to treat this subject has
placed prominently in the foreground the group of
weeping disciples, but in the Scriptures we have their
sorrow presented to us only in the words of Christ.




276             LOVE REVEALED.
But their sorrow was to be turned into joy. The
bitterness of that hour'was introductory to a day of
jubilee. The pains of childbirth are acute, but there
is alleviation in the thought that they are introductory
to the existence of an immortal creature in whom the
image and glory of God may be revealed throughout
eternity. How unutterably more sublime the considerations-had they been in a position to entertain themconnected with the return from death of the Saviour of
the world, made perfect through sufferings, leading captivity captive and having the keys of death and hell!
The sons of God who shouted for joy when God brought
this world out of its pristine chaos had now an immeasurably more exalted occasion of joy.
How many of our sorrows there are, the means of
triumphing over which have been placed in our hands
by our tender-hearted Redeemer-placed there in vain
because of our unbelief!  Had the apostles only embraced with an adequate faith the assurance now given,
how would they have been armed against the mighty
sorrow that came upon them at the time of the crucifixion! Faith in these words would have enabled them
to say to each other, "Courage, brethren; this day of
darkness is simply the door closing upon a dispensation
of sorrow and great imperfection, and a door will immediately open to introduce us to a dispensation of
glory such as eye hath not seen, nor heart conceived."
The marvelous and blessed things of which the
prophets have spoken are now to receive their fulfillment.
"C It is not death we behold, but the communication of
an indestructible life."  Yes, the Saviour had given




JOHN xvr. 20-22.              277
them hundreds of blessed words to keep them from despair in that hour, and to cause them to behold with
thrilling interest the sublime process of a world's redemption. Yet we have the best reason to believe that
only in the faintest degree possible did they avail themselves of these amulets.
Thus it is constantly happening with many Christians.
They are overwhelmed with sorrow and stupefaction at
the things that happen unto them; they express unbounded astonishment at the dispensations of God, as
though it were a very difficult thing to justify them;
and it never once dawns upon their consciousness that
the Saviour had not only forewarned them of those
hours of danger, but had even given them a shield, so
that not a single fiery dart of the adversary should
reach their persons. How idle, how sinful, to cry out
against ills the means of averting which have long
been with us! Have we not placed at our disposal the
very armor of God, by the favor of which the apostles were enabled to pass through such multiplied difficulties and dangers and privations, always rejoicing,
always triumphing? Will it not be early enough for
us to talk of the severity and mysteriousness of God's
dealings with us when we avail ourselves to the uttermost of God's promises and gracious declarations?
"I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice,
and your joy no man taketh from you."  Christ would
see them again, and they would then, in some sense, see
him for the first time, for they would see in him a
glory and a beauty that they had never been able to discover in him before. They would then rightly begin to
understand the nature of his mission. All his past acts
24




278             LOVE REVEALED.
and words-nay, all the words of the ancient prophetswould then begin to be intelligible to them. They
would see from what a horrible pit he had delivered
them, by what an amazing sacrifice their sins had been
atoned for, and how glorious and beneficent the mission to which they had been appointed by him. The
joy that Christ's presence had hitherto imparted to
them was a joy that might be taken from them-it was
to be taken away from them; but it should be soon succeeded by a joy that no man could take from them.
With the risen Saviour their buried hopes should rise
and mount on high, never more to fade. Jesus, having
all power in heaven and in earth, would be with them
always, even unto the end of the world, and therefore
it could be said of their joy that no man could take it
from them.
If we have a genuine and an adequate faith, we may
laugh to scorn the efforts of men to rob us of this our joy.
They may take from us our earthly possessions, they
may deprive us of health and liberty and the society of
those we love, but they cannot take away our Christ,
and so they cannot take away our joy.
Do Christians understand that they have a joy that no
man hath power to take from them, save as they basely
surrender it? Is this culpable surrender the only adequate explanation of the fact that they are without this
joy unspeakable and full of glory?




JOHN XVI. 23, 24.              279
JOHN xvi. 23, 24.-" And in that day ye shall ask me nothing.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in
my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my
name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."
Tr  HE English word " ask" is here made to do service
for two different Greek words.  "In that day ye
shall ask me nothing."  This looks back to the nineteenth verse: "Jesus knew that they were desirous to
ask him."  They wished an explanation of what he had
previously said. He tells them that under the dispensation about to be introduced they would not be thus embarrassed in apprehending the meaning of his words.
They would be in a position to understand a great deal
that was now obscure to them. This idea is again
dwelt upon in the twenty-fifth verse. Let it suffice now
to call attention to the fact that the two askings mentioned in the present verse are very different. The
meaning is not that the disciples were to ask Christ
nothing because the Father would give them everything.
"Ye shall be so taught of the Spirit of God that the
mystery which now invests much that I say unto you
will be dispelled; my remembered words will be intelligible to you. You see, then, that beyond the sorrow
and the anguish of the hour which is now at hand there
is a compensatory period of light and liberty and
heavenly privilege. It is impossible that you should
form too glowing a conception of the glorious privileges
of that day. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever
ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
What more would you have?  What more could I
give?  What more could God bestow?"
"Whatsoever ye shall ask."  You are permitted to




280             LOVE REVEALED.
draw nigh to Him who has all power, all treasure, and
you are assured that whatever you ask in my name, he
will give it you. Is it possible for the heart of man to
crave any ampler or sublimer privileges than this?
Were I to give you a power by virtue of which you
would be able to discover the exact locality of all gold
mines, were I to anoint your eyes with an eye-salve
that should guide you infallibly to all the deep-hidden
diamonds of earth, were I to clothe you with a mysterious influence that should compel all men to place themselves at your disposal, I would not thereby bestow
upon you gifts worthy for a moment to be put in comparison with that which is comrmunicated in the promise,
"Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name,
he will give it you."  Material treasures, or treasures
of human influence, how inconsiderable a part of God's
property do these constitute! Your range is throughout
the unending and ever-multiplying corridors of God's
treasury.:Nothing could be more independent of limits than
this promise.' Is there no limit? Mav I ask what I will?"
Yes, you may ask what you will, for you are a believer in Christ, and faith in Christ means that Christ
is precious to you-above all things precious; that you
have adopted his views of things, that you are crucified
unto the world and the world unto you. He that is not
a believer in Christ is a believer in this world-in its
treasures, its honors; and to give him such a promise as
this would simply be to dash him with a mightier
impetus down the broad incline that conducts to death.
He in whose heart the fiat of God hath descended, say



JOHN XVI. 23, 24.            281
ing, " Let there be light," and who has thus been made
to discern the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
has such desires that you may, with tile most unquestioning confidence, give him this promise and send him to a
throne of grace. The very faith that makes the promise available is a faith that renders his desires harmonious with those of God. As the plant is sure to ask nothing but a nutritive soil and moisture and light and heat
and day and night and an uncorrupted atmosphere, so
the believer in Christ will ask of God nothing save what
will conduce to his spiritual growth, his usefulness and
the welfare of others.
You still cherish a doubt, perhaps, if anything human
can be trusted with such an unlimited promise. This
promise places all wealth and honor within his reach,
and is it likely that he will exercise such an unfaltering
control over himself as never to stretch out his hand and
take, for instance, a crown?  Can he be trusted?  He
can be trusted just so far as he trusts; it is only as a believer that the promise is given him. Observe, the
asking must be in Christ's name. The suppliant is one
whose interests are closely intertwined with those of
Christ. Anything that will be to the prejudice of
Christ's kingdom, or anything that will tend in any
way to mar the union between the believer and Christ,
God will not grant. There is a story of one who asked
for the power of converting everything that he touched
to gold, and who, having obtained what he desired, died
of famine. God is not our enemy that he should grant
us such malignant benedictions as this. Does this promise seem to you to lose something of its magnificence in
consequence of what I have now said? I counsel you,
24 *




282             LOVE REVEALED.
then, to let go of everything you have in the world, to
take this very promise and go to God with it, asking
him for this one thing-that you may see Christ to be the
chiefest among ten thousand, the sum and symbol of all
preciousness.
"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in may name; ask,
and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." It
was in the name of Christ that all, even from the beginning, had been bestowed, but the recipients of grace
knew not that they were indebted to him for all. Now
that Christ was about to consummate his propitiatory
work, it was suitable that they should be informed of
the virtue that would be found in his name. His name
would be to them, at the throne of his grace, more even
than his visible presence with them so many months and
years had been. At the cross of Christ the believer
learns to transfer to Christ all the confidence that he
ever had in himself. "You have seen," says Christ,'how great the love of the Father to me; you have
heard the voice from heaven, proclaiming me his wellbeloved; you remember the Mount of Transfiguration;
you know that he heareth me always. Would it not
be a blessed thing if I could clothe you with my own
sonship, so that the Father would receive you as me,
love you as me, love me in you?  Well, that is the very
thing I am doing in giving you this promise, Ask in my
name. It will be as though I asked; the Father will
hear you always, because he heareth me always."
"That your joy may be full." In thy presence is
fullness of joy. What is there more than fullness of
joy? This again shows how unlimited is the promise.
Has any one ever measured the length and breadth, the




JOHN XVI. 23, 24.            283
depth and height, of the human heart? That must
be done before you can tell all that is meant by fullness
of joy. My people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
saith the Lord. Fullness of joy, then, is to be obtaincd
by asking in the name of Christ, and receiving fromn
the Father. There must be fullness of prayer, fullness of faith, in order to fullness of joy.
The believer cannot be made completely happy by
any merely private blessing, even though that blessing
be spiritual. The soul of the believer is sometimes
gloriously overflowed by the tide of God's love. But,
after a season, it becomes evident to him that even the
mightiest and fullest and most constant stream of divine
love cannot make him permanently happy, if he be not
permitted to communicate happiness to others. His
soul is oppressed with the love of God when that love
stops there. The love of God transforms him into the
likeness of God, and the likeness of God makes it the
law of his being that he should largely find his happiness in communicating happiness. As surely as we feast
upon the love of God we find it impossible to continue
alone at that feast. We rise up, saying, " We do not well;
this is a day of good tiding, and we hold our peace."
The branch drinks in the fullness of the vine, but can
only continue to do it in the measure that it prepares itself for fruitfulness. The clusters are the glory of the
branch. Conceive of a branch that would say, I will
drink abundantly of the tide of life proceeding from the
vine, and I will treasure it all within myself; wherefore
should I engage in laborious fruit-giving? Pent-up
happiness! it turns to misery.




284               LOVE REVEALED.
JOTIN xvi. 25.-" These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you
in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father."
W HEN  figures are made use of in speech, there is
an outside meaning and an interior meaning. As
the shell conceals and yet protects the kernel, so a truth
conveyed tropically may be unperceived at first; afterward, when additional light is given, it becomes manifest, and the saying ceases to be a riddle. The gospel is
flll of parables that could very little be understood until
Christ had suffered and entered into his glory.  When
the Spirit of God was poured out upon his disciples, the
veil which had been over the words of Jesus disappeared, and the interior truths flashed forth upon them
in all their lustre. Christ himself was such a proverb.
Once his divine glory had flashed forth upon their astonished gaze, but that was by way of anticipation; it
very little dissipated the confusion of their minds. Noth-.
ing about Christ could produce its legitimate and full
effect upon them until they had been brought out of
the restricted and depressed valley of Judaism, and
placed upon the elevated platform of the new dispensation.
Many in these days occupy no worthier position than
that first inferior one of the apostles. The apostles
were not absolutely without the influence of the Spirit
during the time that Jesus tabernacled among them,
but those influences did little more than make the
present darkness visible, and show them in the dim distance the light of the future.  Without knowing it, there
are thousands of Christians who have that feeble and
equivocal measure of spiritual influence which belong;




JOHN XVI. 25.                285
to a different dispensation from this, and shows them to be
two thousand years behind their privileges. We have
said it and without shame we say it again. They have of
course knowledge such as the ante-pentecostal church
had not. It is the consciousness of this superior knowledge that tends to keep them ignorant of their spiritual
destitution. Their condition is appalling, for they are
familiar with the inspiring promises, and have no faculty
to catch a glimpse of the glorious things proffered in
these promises. They actually suppose that these promises have no more exalted interpretation than that
which their own emotionless and inglorious experience
affords. Blessed be God! we are not limited to one
Pentecost under this dispensation. Let us but become
aware of the abnormal state in which we are, and take
knowledge of the lofty experiences to which God is
inviting us. Pentecost'was not so much a mountain
summit as a mountain high path or table-land, along
which the church should have traveled to the New
Jerusalem. Let us look steadfastly up above and see
among the clouds this highway of holiness, and prove
the power of the Saviour to bring us to it.
"'I shall show you plainly of the Father." Christ
is God manifest.  "No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and he to whom  the Son shall reveal him."
The disciples were perhaps disposed to entertain a feeling of disappointment that they had not become more
intimately acquainted with the Father through Christ.
Untaught of the Spirit, we form extraordinary opinions
of what it is to know the Father. A man may take
the gospel and read it carefully through, and wonder
that he should still be so little acquainted with God.




286             LOVE REVEALED.
Some came rushing to Jesus with great enthusiasm
when he was on the earth, and went away sorrowing,
knowing no more of the Father than before. "Show us
the Father," said Philip, after Jesus had been so long
time with them. But there comes a moment when the
scales fall from our eyes, and looking at the least word
of the gospel, we cry Eureka! in somewhat of ecstasy.
"What man knoweth the things of a man save the
spirit of man which is in him; even so the things of
God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." It is
the Spirit of God who reveals unto us these things in
Christ, shows us the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. The veil is taken away. Where the Spirit of
God is, there is liberty.
"I shall show you plainly of the Father."  This
word " plainly " has great significance, and well deserves
that we should ponder its testimony. Is there a good
deal of obscurity in your views of the Father? Is
there a sense of vagueness and uncertainty underlying
your address to him? Does it seem to you as though he
were remote rather than near? This is not as it should
be. Christ is willing to show you plainly of the Father.
It is your privilege to know God and to feel that you
know him. You may know him better than you can
know your fellow-man. For the human heart is wanting in simplicity; it has great depths, even bottomless
abysses; it is deceitful above all things, changeable
exceedingly; yesterday's knowledge of it will not serve
for to-day. But it is otherwise with God. To-day's knowledge of him will serve to all eternity. Not but that
you will know him better to-morrow. You have the
tiny plant of the knowledge of God, perfect in its de



JOHN XVI. 25.                 287
gree, but destined to expand from one degree of volume
and of beauty to another to all eternity. "No man
shall need to say unto his brother, Know the Lord; for
all shall know him." "This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent."
"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." Is it so to you? Is such your Christ? Is your
gospel a marvelous glass in which you behold the steps
of the Omnipotent amid the unconscious crowd of his
rebellious creatures.  Ah! is there not room for one
transfiguration after another, each higher in glory, taking the too-slighted gospel up to the throne of God?
There are millions of gospels in the world; I speak of
the gospel as it lies in the apprehensions of men. According to the faith of men it is unto them. Oh that
we might have, you and I, that blessed and whole-souled
faith which will cause the entire gospel to start into its
proper glory and beauty and power and divinity! A
person desires to know God.  He is told, on the aiuthority of the gospel, that God is much more desirous
of granting him that knowledge. Ah  if God be willing, how can there be any difficulty, why should there
be any delay? It is for you to answer that. God is
in the gospel; the gospel tells you that he gives his
Spirit to them that ask him; the Spirit of God is ready
to show you in the gospel, plainly, the glory of the Father as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, the image
of the invisible God. How idle, how reprehensible, for
you to profess a desire to know God and yet to make so
little account of the gospel! Your ignorance of God is
simply the measure of your unbelief.




288               LOVE REVEALED.
JOHN xvi. 26, 27.-" At 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 out from God."
A   SOVEREIGN, for the sake of the love that he
bears to his son, bestows favors upon persons for
whom his son intercedes. It is not that he takes any
special interest in these persons-he does not even direct
his attention to them; he only knows that his son asked
him to bestow the gifts. Should these favored ones
have need of further bounties, they must obtain them
in the same way: the son must make request in their
behalf. Now, imagine another sovereign who is led, by
the love he bears his son, to love those who love his
son, to regard them as his own friends, to take the same
pleasure in doing good to them that he would in honoring his son. The case between the believer and God
resembles this last case and not the former. The believer is not to feel that the great and awful distance between him and the Father is only temporarily neutralized by the representations of Christ, or that the royal
largess granted once at the Saviour's instance is simply
the expression of a momentary feeling of good-will.
The believer is united to Christ and identified with
Christ; and as one would never think of the vine without including in that thought the branch, so the Father
will never think of the Lamb of God without thinking
of those who belong to him.  This passage is intended
to arm us against that inconstancy of faith which makes
a Christian hesitate to ask anew for blessings after great
blessings received.
" I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for




JOHN XVI. 26, 27.           289
you."  Hie says not that he will; he says not that he
will not. What he means is that he will not need to
pray for them as though they were strangers, as though
they were unreconciled to God.
"For the Father himself loveth you because ye have
loved me." Christ is love divine-love become incarnate for the purpose of revealing itself unto us. Becoming acquainted with this love divine in the crucified
One, we love him, we believe on him; and in doing this
we, as it were, complete the circuit, so that the love of
God may fully, freely and for ever flow into our
bosom.
"The Father himself loveth you because ye have
loved me." How wonderful that the Saviour, who had
such an ineffable intelligence of the true nature of love,
could have found it in him to speak of the crude and
dubious sentiment so ominously flickering in the hearts
of the disciples as love! But the mother is taught by
her very heart of intensest love to recognize with
rapture the least dawnings of love responsive in her
child. It matters little how minute the love may be,
if it only be germinant; unloving man may make light
of it, but supreme love watches it with a profound
interest.'You and I, and tens of millions, owe our
present happiness and our sublimer prospects to the fact
that Christ was pleased to regard as love that immature
and trembling sentiment which bound the eleven to
him.
Alas for those who love not Christ!  The Father
loves them not. Christ, the Christ of the gospel-he
who sat by the well and -talked with the Samaritan
woman, who ate with publicans and sinners, who uttered
25




290             LOVE REVEALED.
such terrible denunciations against hypocrisy, who
was led like a lamb to the slaughter,-do you love
him? Do his words and ways delight you? If not,
then there is no love for you at the mercy-seat. Ten
thousand mighty merits will go for naught if you have
no love of Christ to show. The very mention of such
merits would prove that you have not the love of Christ
in you. To see the excellency of Christ, a man must
renounce the thought of personal excellence and clothe
himself in a garment of conscious unworthiness.
"Ye have loved me, and have believed that I came
out from God."  "We love God too much," say some,
" to believe that Christ came out from God. With all
desire to speak well of Christ, we must confess that we
find it an impossibility to dwarf our ideas of the
omnipotent One by regarding Christ as the embodiment
and revelation of deity." Then you love a God whom
you have invented for yourselves, and whom you glorify
with the omnipotence of the true God. Christ is come
that you may be made aware of your error, your perilous idolatry, and that you may give back to nonentity
the ten thousand and one deities that you have formed
for yourselves. Christ is God manifest in the flesh. It
does not become you to speak of imperfection in this
manifestation until you have mastered the manifestation,
and that you are not likely to do in ages of ages. The
angels of heaven feel that this exhibition of deity soars
immeasurably away beyond their intelligence, above,
beneath, around. Doubtless the disciples found some
difficulty in admitting that Christ had come out from
God, but they found infinitely greater in rejecting it.
They remembered a multitude of glorious acts, each one




JOHN XVI. 26, 27.            291
of which sufficiently attested that he was the Representative of deity; his holy and unimpeachable life attested
it; they knew that he could not speak an untruth, and
his words bore testimony to the fact of his oneness with
God, yet there were a number of things that were different from what they would have expected in the Messiah. Marvel not, O disciples, at that; the marvel
would have been had there been no such difficulties.
Marvel not, but wait; and now the Spirit of God will
make those very difficulties the means of discovering
to you unimagined depths of love and wisdom in the
incarnate One.
"Loved and believed."  That is not love which does
not believe. The love extolled in 1 Cor. xiii. " believeth
all things." Love to God believeth all the things uttered by God. He that loveth Christ believes that he
is the expression of the divine nature.  Love sees;
everything else is blind rather than love; without love
it is impossible to see anything aright, much less Him
who has in all things the pre-eminence. It is love that
will enable us to discover wondrous things in the gospel.
Love alone can understand love. They who with lacklustre eyes and unloving hearts read the words of
Christ find nothing in them to gladden or sanctify.
Love finds a feast in the least crumb that falls from the
table of the Master. We love Christ when we open the
door for him to come in and bless us. He is willing to
receive this as an initiatory proof of our love, that we
allow him to come in and begin to be a Saviour to us.
Lord, I can give thee this proof of love; I can let
thee love me. I can open the door for thee to come in
and sup with me. Opening it, I see a long train of




292               LOVE REVEALED.
angel servants reaching to the heavens, each having
some blessed burden for me. How I wonder, then, that
I should have kept thee waiting!
JoHN xvi. 28-30.-" I came forth from the Father, and am come
into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His
disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest
no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and
needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that
thou canlest forth from God."
"I  CAME forth from the Father, and am come into
the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the
Father."   The fact that comes most prominently to
notice in these expressions is that the world and the
Father are, in some sense, apart from each other.  The
world is without God; it lieth in wickedness; it has
apostatized from truth and righteousness; it has its own
god, its own heaven, its own religion; the standard of
a rebellious independence waves over it; a broad gulf
stretches between it and the place where God's honor
dwelleth.
This language may appear to some to be extravagant
or conventional; yet nothing can be more clearly shown
to an unbiased inquirer than the correspondence of
this description with man's condition. Nor are we
speaking of humanity in some strange development.
The world to which Christ specially had reference was
that which included the most enlightened and religious
portion of mankind. It was in a state of apostasy
from  God, and the same may be said of the most enlightened of modern nations. Look, for instance, at the
picture which the world gives of itself in the greater




JOHN XVI. 28-30.             293
part of the modern English literature, in some points
of view so decorous and so commendable, but put it
alongside of the standard of God's word, and how manifest and irreconcilable the discrepancy! " Whatsoever
ye do, in word or in deed, do all for the glory of God."
"One thing is needful."  "If any man love not the
Lord Jesus Christ, let him  be anathema maranatha."
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."  Apply
these tests to the world as it looks forth upon you from
the greater part of the literature of our day, and how
conclusive will be the evidence of its apostasy! God
has laid down a track, and men are off the track-so
so far from. it that it cannot even be seen; they are busily
throwing up roads to help them forward in their chosen
direction; they point out the excellent features of these
roads, urging them  as justificatory of their presence
there. Nevertheless, God's track remains where it is,
and shall remain, though not a soul pass over it. The
gospel is the everlasting gospel, following men into
their remote places of activity, and offering to bring
them to the track of God, where alone they may find
means of journeying to the pearly gates of the ]New
Jerusalem. A great deal of what is lauded as progress
in these days has its origin in the world's desperate resolves to make wrong appear right, to justify itself in
its alienation from God and to fulfill the first prophecy
of its god, "Ye shall not surely die."
The words now under comment show, we have said,
that the world and the Father are apart. They also
show  that there is a communication between them.
Christ appears, coming and going, between the two.
He makes his appearance in the rebel camp, and re25 *



294             LOVE REVEALED.
turns to the palace of the sovereign. Christ is the
image of the invisible God. In him was all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. God was manifest in the flesh.
The Father came forth in him. How, then, can it be
said that he came forth from the Father?  Christ is
with his people always, even unto the end of the world;
and yet we are told that to be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. There is a place where
the full manifestation of the glory of God and of the
Lamb meets with not even a mote of opposition. God
is of purer eyes than to behold evil; and when a world
withdraws from him, he withdraws from it.
" His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou
plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure
that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any
man should ask thee; by this we believe that thou
camest forth from God*"
"Needest not that any man should ask thee," referring to the fact mentioned in verse 19: "Now Jesus
knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said."
He knew what was in their minds without any express
communication on their part. HIe first stated the difficulty which they hesitated to express, and then answered
it. They seem to have been much impressed with this;
the fact that they were so is, however, somewhat of a
reproach to them, and we are reminded of the words
used by Jesus on a former occasion, when, referring to
his miracles, mighty, yet little heeded, he said, "Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your
heart yet hardened?" Repeatedly they had heard him
giving utterance to the unexpressed sentiment of his
adversaries. It was late in the day for them to learn




JOHN XVI. 28-30.             295
that he knew what was in man. Do not let us, however,
press this too far. Jesus might have so manifested his
acquaintance with the secrets of all hearts as to render
his presence utterly unbearable to unsanctified men of
little faith; and as we know that his great concern was
to inspire men with confidence, it is evident that he
would make no frequent display of his power to read
the hearts of men.
The original is not, Now we are sure, but simply,
_Now we know that thou knowest all things.
"Now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb." One would be ready to infer from that that
they were now fully prepared for the departure of
Christ, and that there was no longer anything mysterious to them in tile fact that he was to be betrayed,
scourged, crucified and buried. "Now we understand,"
they exclaim delightedly; "all is clear to us. Thou art
going, but then thou art going to the Father."
Is it all clear?  Would that it were!  The great
solicitude of your Master has been, this evening, to
forearm you by forewarning you of what is about to be.
Therefore he said, "None of you asketh me, Whither
goest tiou?"  Oh if you would indeed, with all your
heart, lay hold of the great truth that Christ is going
to the Father, and keep an unflinching hold of it
when you see him seized, bound, mocked, scourged and
pierced, then would you escape much anguish and a
frightful pit of unbelief. Christ greatly desires to go
to the Father; but he refuses to go to him in any other
than that way in which he can bring his people with
him. He has made himself one with them, and he
will not ascend to heaven without them. Hence the




296               LOVE REVEALED.
necessity of going to heaven in that marvelous way,
the way of Calvary.  Something must be done with
their sins, else it were easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for even Christ himself to
conduct his people to the place of his Father's glory.
In fact it was only the prospect of Calvary that ever
permitted him to entertain the idea of making them his
people.  The disciples chose to think of the departure
of Christ for heaven as characterized by peace and
blessedness and glory.  So they dismissed the innumerable statements that he had made concerning the treatment he was to receive at the hands of Jews and Gentiles, and exclaimed, "Now speakest thou plainly." They
commended him so warmly for this word as to make it
appear that they had been much dissatisfied with his
references to a violent and humiliating doom. Much
there is of this faith which is simply disguised unbelief.  Men toss aside all those utterances of the word
that do not chime in with their own preconceived theories, and lay ardently hold of something which, they
imagine, well expresses what they wish to believe.
JOHN xvi. 31, 32. —"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: and yet I am not
alone, because the Father is with me."
"D0  ye now  believe?"  Very many of our professions of faith would probably encounter such
an interrogative as this if we had faith to hear Christ
uttering it. True faith in Christ is that which will let
him say what he will, and we will receive it; do what he
will, and rejoice in it; go where he will, and we will fol



JOHN XVI. 31, 32.             297
low him. To receive certain utterances of his, or to receive him in certain aspects that happen to be agreeable
to our sentiments, is not to have faith in him. This is
just making a Christ for ourselves. We sometimes fall
in with a person very sensible on many topics, but a
monomaniac with respect to one class of subjects. When
he converses on ordinary topics we listen with respect
to what he says; but when the current of his discourse
flows among the exceptional subjects, we just listen with
patience and wait for the mood to pass by. Is not this
the kind of faith that some have in Christ?  They
hearken with a measure of deference to many things
that fall from him; but there are certain doctrines of
his that fall upon their ears like the idle wind. "Much
learning hath made thee mad," said Festus to Paul;
"much devotion hath set thee beside thyself, so that
thou overlookest the great essential links by which
society is bound together," say many that would scorn
to class themselves with Festus. And to whom  do
they say it? to him whom they profess to call their
divine Master.
"Do ye now believe?"  Do ye claim to be regarded
as believers?  Can you drink of the cup whereof I am
to drink, and be baptized with the baptism wherewith
I shall be baptized? Have you a faith in my power
that will abide steadfast when everything shall seem to
say that my power is annihilated?  Have you a faith
in my divine mission that will remain unshaken when
the Father shall leave me in the hands of my enemies
without a single token of recognition? Have you a
faith in my power to save that will retain its tenure of
your souls even when I shall appear to men without so




298             LOVE REVEALED.
much as the power to save myself from the cross? Ah,
this were faith indeed. When I speak to you of faith,
this is what I intend, this is what I demand. How
then call I admit that you now have faith? You have
vastly more of unbelief than of faith. The hour is at
hand when you will abandon me, scattered like a flock
of sheep whose shepherd is smitten. You will leave
me in the hands of my enemies and flee to your several
homes, putting your confidence in them, in flight, in
absence from me, no longer in me.
"The hour cometh, yea, is now come." Nlow —immediately following the hours of sweet and serene companionship with Christ, in which he had washed their
feet, and in which he had cleansed their hearts by his
gracious words, and given them so many emphatic and
precious, but disregarded, indications of the hour of trial
on which they were about to enter.
"And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with
me."  They forsook one whom the Father would not
forsake; that Elect One in whom the Father's soul
delighted; with whom the Father was as he never had.
been with man before; with whom was infinite power,
wisdom, honor, holiness and glory; with whom were
life and light and hope and heaven and all angelic
hosts. In forsaking Christ they forsook all this, and
found only their own miserable hearts of fear, their
own poverty-stricken natures, their own imbecility, helplessness and sinfulness.
Thus do all who forsake him. They are free to do
so; but they might as well understand what it is they
do. The fate of Judas shows us what it is to forsake
Christ; the other disciples entered the same path, and




JOHN XVI. 31, 32.           299
if they had been left to themselves they would have accompanied him to the fire that is not quenched, where
the worm dieth not. But Jesus had prayed for them.
Though they left him alone, yet would he not leave
them alone; his love would not forsake them; and the
tremendous trial of that hour was not suffered to overwhelm them. They were bound to Christ by an unseen
cord of love —not theirs to him, but his love to themwhich suffered them to go only so far away and no
farther. It all but broke, and afterwards they were
horrified to think that one step more would probably
have severed it for ever. They were ever thenceforward careful how they tried any bold and perilous experiments with that connecting bond.
"I am not alone."  How are we to reconcile this
with the cry that went up from Calvary, "My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me?"  It certainly agrees
well with the dying exclamation, " Father, into thy hands
I commit my spirit."  But Christ was not left alone in
that hour of darkness, though the sin of the world forbade that there should then be any sensible manifestation of his Father's presence. The believer may learn
from this that the absence of such manifestation does
not necessarily imply the interruption of the divine
favor. The Father did not leave his servant Job alone
when the adversary was permitted to make such havoc
of all that was dear to him on earth. In fact this muchloved man was never more loved than at the time when
there was a total privation of all those manifestations
of the divine good-will which had formerly so gladdened and transported him. The Saviour was tempted
in all points like as we are, yet without sin; and hath




300              LOVE uEVEALED.
left us an example that we should follow in his footsteps, hoping against hope, and believing the word of
God, though ten thousand providences may seem  to
frown upon that word. Who shall separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus? Nothing in the shape
of external dispensations; for it is by the word we are
united to him, and that word is the same yesterday, today and for ever. If God should send and recover his
word piecemeal from us, so that great gaps should appear in all Bibles, and all memories be at a loss, then
indeed we might be alarmed, and believe that Christ
was taken from us. But this cannot be; and it matters
little what the providence of God may take away from
us. The word is nigh thee, even in thy heart and in
thy mouth; made a part of thy very life; made thy
very life; for it is no more I, saith the believer, but
Christ that liveth in me.
JOHN xvi. 33.-" These things I have spoken unto you, that in
me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation;
but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world."
"THESE  things."  That is, all the remarks that
Christ had addressed to his disciples that evening; the words contained in these four chapters; those
precious words that we have been permitted to make
the subject of our meditations; they were all spoken
that his disciples might have peace in him.
When Christ said, I have given you an example,
that ye should do as I have done to you; when he
commanded his servants to love one another as he had
loved them; when he spoke to them about the necessity
of keeping his words, of bringing forth much fruit, of




JOHN XVI. 33.                 301
enduring persecution, his object was still that they
might have peace in him. And they who seek this
peace should understand that unless they receive all the
testimony of Christ, they will come short of this peace.
A peace they will have, perhaps; but it will not be
peace in Christ. Peace in Christ supposes that we are
reconciled to all his words; and that we can follow
them all up with this Amen, "Even so, Lord, for so it
seemeth good in thy sight, and thou art the Prince of
peace. No soul can be so intent upon its own peace, as
thou art upon the peace of all thy disciples. This is to
thee an ever-present object of solicitude, and not a word
falls from thy lips that is not commissioned to bear
peace. Thy words are all intended to bind the believer
unto thyself; to engraft him as it were upon thyself, so
that thy peace may flow like a river of life from thee to
him, unceasingly."
Some wonder, perhaps, that they have so little of
that peace which Christ has promised to give unto his
people; and deep down in their hearts there may be
found some hard thoughts of Christ on this score. It
is so distinctly promised; it is so easy for him to give;
it would be such a blessed and beautiful expression of
his love. Ah! thou wicked unbelieving heart, I will
confound thee. Hast thou given admission to all the
words of Christ?  His peace is in his words; and these
very words are complaining at the throne of God that
thou wilt not harbor them. Thy pursuit of peace is
thus conducted: thou gatherest out a few of the words
of Christ whose looks thou likest best, and separatest
them from the rest, insulting Christ in the great majority of his words, while professing to honor him in
26




302              LOVE REVEALED.
the reception of a few. It is in vain; these few refuse
to bless thee apart from the company to which they belong. One would think that Christ were generally of
an austere and unsympathizing temper, and that only
by chance there could fall from him a pacific word.
One would think so from the way in which you daintily
cull out a sentence here and there for the solace and
restoration of your nature. It is false. He is our peace.
He himself is the embodiment of our peace. Before we
enter upon the realization of it, it looks upon us in him;
it comes to us from him, just so far as we will let it, in
all his looks, in all his words, in all his acts. We show
that we know it and that we know him when we act
habitually upon the conviction that all his words are
peace-breathing.
"In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of
good cheer: I have overcome the world." It is only
faith that can understand these words. What has
Christ's overcoming of the world to do with our struggle? If in the world we are to have tribulation, how
does it mend matters to tell us that Christ has overcome? The tribulation is inevitable; why, then, bid us
be of good cheer? All incomprehensible, except to
faith. As a matter of fact the people of Christ have
experienced tribulation; as a matter of fact they have
been of good cheer, and have even rejoiced with joy
unspeakable and full of glory to lay down their lives
for the name of the Lord Jesus. It was for the salvation of his people that Christ battled with the world;
the prince of this world was determined, with his two
tremendous hosts, to hinder the accomplishment of his
purpose, but lie was effectually baffled. He indeed




JOHN XVI. 33.               303
killed the Prince of life, put him in a sepulchre, sealed
it, placed a guard over it, and amid the acclamations of
his legions sat down upon his throne. At that very
instant Christ rose from the dead, leading captivity
captive. He ascended up on high, giving to the hopes
of his people at once the exaltation and the stability of
the throne of God. They now know that the Christ
to whom they are united has all- power in heaven and
in earth, and this is the victory which overcometh the
world, even their faith. Without tribulation there
could be no trial of their faith and no perfecting of it.
They are of good cheer, because they are dead unto
the world and alive unto Christ; their conversation is
in heaven; their hopes are there, their treasure there;
the frown of the world is the frown of one whom they
respect not and fear not.
Christ overcomes the world in the heart of the believer. The world says, "My wrath is terrible; a God
invisible is scarce a God; I am the God visible; if once
my indignation be kindled, woe unto you; all hope of
happiness will be at an end; your only hope is in my
favor; my favor is life."  But Christ says, "The world
passeth away and the fashion thereof; what is man,
whose breath is in his nostrils? Who is he that will
harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
Fear Him who hath power to cast both soul and body
into hell, and who delighteth in mercy. I am he that
liveth and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death." Thus
Christ overcomes the world in the heart of the believer.
Christ wins the victory, and the believer wins the
victory. He wins it by his word and by his Spirit; we




304              LOVE REVEALED.
win it by our faith. And these three are one. The
word accomplishes nothing without faith. The Spirit
of God does nothing apart from the truth. The whole
is the gift of God. Unbelief is the rejection of this
divine threefold gift. Whoso will, let him take.
It is for me to show, in my measure, that Christ has
overcome the world. If the world overcome me, then,
so far as I am concerned, there is no testimony given to
men of the sublime fact that Christ has overcome the
world and opened up a way out of it for all who believe. Christ must abide in my heart, and victoriously
say to the world, "Get thee behind me." The outpouring of the Spirit of God is the great evidence that
Christ has come off conqueror over the world. On the
day of Pentecost, Satan awoke to the consciousness of
the terrible defeat he had sustained. The presence of
Christ upon the earth did not so alarm him as this evidence of the presence of the omnipotent Spirit. At first,
perhaps, he thought that all was lost, for what could
resist the gospel, the Spirit, Faith, going forth in one,
conquering and to conquer? But when he had fled a
little way, he turned and took heart, for it was evident
that the church of Christ could be shaken from its faith,
and fail to reap those splendid results of the victory
of Christ which might have been anticipated. For
eighteen hundred years the church has remained frightfully insensible to the significance of this announcement,
" I have overcome the world."  The flag of our general
is seen waving on the battlements of the enemy's citadel, yet the army of this victorious commander fails
to give heed to this signal, and instead of taking possesssion of the conquered city remains supine in the




JOHN XVII. 1.               305
plain. Perhaps we are now awaking to the significance
of this declaration. Christ having overcome, we ask
why we should not overcome.
JOHN xvii. I.-" These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes
to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that
thy Son also may glorify thee."
"p HESE words spake Jesus "-the words on which
we have been meditating. What a different world
would this be if those words had never been spoken by
the Son of God! What an incalculable amount of
blessing have they been flinging upon the troubled face
of human society during these eighteen hundred years!
The amount of gold in the hands of men has, they
say, been more than doubled during the last twelve
years. How utterly insignificant this accession to the
world's wealth in comparison with the riches of grace
imparted by the words in these chapters! Into what
unimagined treasuries of peace, joy, confidence, love,
strength, hope, patience and holiness has many a soul
been conducted by these words! How much of heaven
has been brought by them into how many souls! But
how little the measure of blessing appropriated, in comparison with that which still lies neglected and unnoticed! What unsearchable riches are there for thee,
dear reader!  How high mightest thou climb toward
heaven if thou wouldst avail thyself of this ladder let
down from heaven! Thou hast pitched thy tent among
these words and gathered largely of the manna that
fell around, but the immaturity of thy faith has deprived thee of richer and more glorious feasts than
have yet been dreamed of by thee.
26 *




306             LOVE REVEALED.
But it is still our privilege to hear the words that fall
from  the lips of Christ. He does not now address
his brethren, but his Father. And it is not unworthy
of observation that he addresses the Father as freely,
quietly, familiarly, as he had addressed the disciples.
There is the same realization, apparently, of the Father's presence as there is of theirs. No new attitude
is assumed, no new intonations are used; he simply
lifts his eyes to heaven and goes on speaking. He had
been talking with the brethren; he now talks with the
Father.
"Father!"  And we too address God by this appellation. Christ stands at the throne of grace and says,
Father; then you come to the same throne and say,
Father; and some of them who stand by say, "The
First was the elder brother; the other was lost and is
found; the First-begotten found him, ransomed him,
and brought him to the Father."  " Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the Sons of God."  It is an amazing
thing when a rebel is suffered to appear in the audiencechamber of the king, to look upon the face of him whom
he has wronged and live, but who would dream of such
a token of regard as the recognition of the rebel by the
sovereign as his own son?
"The hour is come "-the hour of which God spake
in the garden of Eden; the hour that Abel dimly anticipated; the hour for the sake of which Noah was
preserved when the world was swept away by a deluge;
the hour that Abraham saw when the knife was raised
above his son Isaac; that was shadowed by the serpent
lifted up in the wilderness, by the tabernacle, the tern



JOHN XVII. 1.               307
ple, the daily lamb; the hour that kings and prophets mused about; the hour for the sake of which the
whole creation has for sixty centuries been made subject
to the vanity of sin; the hour of which Moses and Elijah
spake on the Mount of Transfiguration; the hour that
was to behold the sublimest manifestation of the Godhead, upon which hung the everlasting destiny of the
redeemed; an hour infinitely greater than that in which
the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God
shouted for joy. To every child of Adam upon the
face of the earth we may say, The hour of which
Jesus spake in his prayer demands your attention unspeakably more than anything that ever yet commanded
it. It is not merely an hour in the life of Jesus, but
an hour that may and should be added to your life, and
when so added will be found to be an hour of unending
blessedness-an hour that includes all eternity to come,
and all glory and all felicity. Fling away what you
now call your life and take this hour. Time, in its evil
sense, is no more, when the soul enters into this hour.
" Glorify thy Son that thy Son also may glorify thee."
We see here the thorough oneness of the Father and
the Son. The Son is to be glorified that the Father
may be glorified. They that fear to give glory to the
Son cannot give glory to the Father. But what is here
the meaning of the word "glorified"?  On a previous
occasion we were told that the Spirit was not yet given
because that Jesus was not yet glorified. Again, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son." Also, when Judas
went out, " Now is the Son of man glorified and God is
glorified in him."  And there was the Father's voice




308              LOVE REVEALED.
from heaven, saying, " I have glorified my name, and
will glorify it again." Thus it behooved the Son of
man to suffer and to enter into his glory. In the same
chapter of Philippians and in a multitude of other passages we trace the path of the deepening humiliations
of Christ to the grave, and then we see him ascending
by a path of glory to the right hand of the Father.
This is true enough in many important respects, but
the sinner who has fled for refuge to the cross of Christ
will tell you that there is no glory in the universe like
that which breaks upon his soul from the marred countenance of the crucified One. While some of us, it
may be, are straining our eyes to behold the glory of
the ascended Saviour, the inhabitants of heaven are
gazing with rapture and with strong desire on the gospel. From no place does the perfection of Him whose
name is Love shine so resplendently upon them as from
the cross.
What, then, is the meaning of this prayer, " Glorify
thy Son"? It refers doubtless to the exaltation of
Christ, because without his exaltation his humiliation
is a fact that has no special eloquence of meaning. It
is the discovery of Christ ascending that sends us to the
cross to look aright upon the enigmatic scene. " Glorify
thy Son that thy Son also may glorify thee." Exalt
him to thy right hand that he may send the Spirit and
cause the scales to fall from the eyes of men and enable
them to discover the unmatched glory of Calvary.
Give him celestial glory in the eyes of men that he may
give thee terrestrial glory in the eyes of the universe.
Again we say, apart from  Christ there is no path
whereby the glory of God may flow to the hearts of




JOHN XVII. 2.                 309
our apostate race. He is the Way, the Truth and the
Life.
JOHN xvii. 2.-" As thou hast given him power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."
THIS is not a petition, but the mention of a fact,
the recognition of a gift-a gift so great that all
other gifts connected with the salvation of mankind are
comprehended in it; a fact that lays the groundwork
and supplies the material of all true prayer ascending
to God from human lips. He that is about to be delivered into the hands of sinners, and to be gazed upon
as the personification of human weakness, is heard
calmly discoursing with the omnipotent Father concerning the omnipotence with which he has been himself invested, and by virtue of which he purposes to
give eternal life to men of all ages, of all nations, tribes
and tongues. In the presence of an inevitable and ignominious death he is seen poising in his hand the everlasting destiny of millions on millions.
Two gifts of the Father are mentioned —one, by
which the Son is invested with the government of this
world throughout the period in which it is tenanted by
the race of Adam; the other, the gift of that elect multitude that shall be saved by him. Another gift is mentioned-the gift of eternal life from the Son to those
that are given him. It is in order that this last gift
may be communicated that Christ is clothed with universal power. He must be sovereign in this worldsovereign of all seas and lands; sovereign of subjects
and rulers; sovereign of all influences, human and
natural; sovereign of the angels who minister unto




310             LOVE REVEALED.
them that shall be heirs of salvation; sovereign of the
grave; sovereign of time and of eternity-in order that
he may redeem from the earth and crown with everlasting life those whom the Father hath given unto him.
One would be ready to think that, after the Son of God
had received an authority extending over all creatures
and to the utmost limits of the universe, it would be
impossible to bestow upon him the gift (of anything
additional. But the Son of God is the Saviour; salvation is the very element of his being: a sun does not
more imperatively demand liberty to shine than Christ
demands liberty to save. The mere offer of the universe
could never satisfy him. Seated upon the throne of
heaven, there is nothing in the illimitable expanse beneath and around him, glorious as it is, that can at all
satisfy the yearning of his heart. " Give me souls," he
cries. The Father gives the highest possible expression
of love to his Son when he gives him the corrupt, debased, ruined soul of man. For this soul the Saviour
died. You wonder. Know you not that God is love,
and that the cross of Christ is just the door by which
divine love fought its way into this world from which
sin had driven it? Sin stood aghast at the spectacle of
divine love re-entering this world, for it had fully supposed that nothing could enter here without paying the
tribute of sin and putting on the livery of sin. The
soul that thou hast so effectually ruined, 0 adversary,
and in which thou lovest to contemplate thine own detested image, is only rendered the more meet to reveal,
in its marvelous restoration through grace, the infinite
resources of divine love. What the nature of angels
could not furnish, in that it was weak through holiness,




JOHN XVII. 2.              311
that the sin-smitten soul of man furnished-namely,
an opportunity for the mercy of God to manifest itself,
and to enhance immeasurably the entire glory of the
Godhead. In order that it might be seen what the
riches of the goodness and wisdom of God are, it was
expedient that God should begin lower down than nothing. The angels were exalted from nothing to the
thrones which they occupy in the presence of the throne
of God, but sinners are found at a depth infinitely below nothing, and the ladder of light, by which the love
and strength of God descend to them, and by which they
ascend to the regions of celestial purity, illuminates the
entire universe with a radiance not known before.
Dost thou habitually, 0 my soul, regard thyself as a
gift of the Father to the Son? as given to the Son to
be rendered by him a monument of what the love of
God is capable of in the way of triumphing over difficulties? Thou art precious to him because by means
of thee the preciousness of thy Redeemer God may be
revealed unto the universe. Does not this thought give
thee a wonderful boldness in the conflict with sin?
Dost thou not perceive how inevitably One who has all
power in heaven and in earth and in thy heart must
sympathize with thy desire for sanctification?  How
canst thou but offer fervent, effectual and prevailing
prayer in view of the glorious fact that thou hast been
given by the Father to the Son in order that the Son
might give thee eternal life?
The fact that the Saviour has power over all flesh
constitutes the warrant of the church in the great enterprise of the world's evangelization. Without an
adequate faith in this great truth there will be little




312              LOVE REVEALED.
heart to prosecute this enterprise. WVe need to have a
greatly augmented faith in the truth that He who shed
his blood for all has power over all. God, our Saviour,
who gave himself a ransom for all, will have all men to
be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Between this blessed will of God and its consummation
stands the church with the gospel; and if she stands
unbelieving, fearful, inactive, unpitying, worldly, how
terrible the responsibility, how dire the consequences!
How ready has the Saviour been to notice the slightest
germinancy of faith on the part of his people, and to open
wide the brazen gates of heathen nations as soon as Christians evinced a readiness to convey to them the gospel!
The world imagines that it has broken down so many
barriers in this nineteenth century, little dreaming that
Christ has done it in answer to the prayers of his little
flock. Believers see everywhere the displays of his
cosmopolitan power now that they are lifting on high a
cosmopolitan gospel.
Christ gives eternal life to men by the instrumentality
of those who are themselves participators in this life.
He is the Vine and his people are the branches. To
them is committed the gospel which is the word of life.
Paul labored as he did that he might by all means save
some. He did not think that it would be an honoring
of God for him to say, Whatever my faithfulness or
unfaithfulness, the gifts of God will reach those for
whom they are intended. Christ came with gifts to the
Nazarenes, but could not communicate them because of
their unbelief. "Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my
commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, thy
seed also had been as the sand." " Oh that my people




JOHN XVII. 3.               313
had hearkened unto me! I should soon have subdued
their enemies; the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him." God foresaw, from all
eternity, this terrible delinquency of the evangelized
with respect to the unevangelized: his plans were
formed in perfect concurrence with his perfect knowledge; but that foreknowledge of God leaves the sin of
man and its sad consequences exactly what they would
have been if they had not been foreseen.
JOHN xvii. 3.-" And this is life eternal, that they might know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."
IN the day that Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden
fruit they surely died. They lost something that is
called life in heaven, though on earth the name may be
given to something vastly inferior. "In thy favor is
life." The very act of their transgression created a rupture of the bond by which they had been previously
united to God. Their will ceased to be a minister of
the divine will, their life to be the utterance of the
divine thought. Not merely were they in a way that
led to death; death was enthroned in their hearts, for
sin is death. Viewed from the standpoint of celestial
holiness, sin is not only death, it is hell, for they who
are in heaven estimate the misery of alienation from
God by the ineffable happiness which they experience
in communion with him. When Adam sinned, he fell
from heaven to a curse-smitten earth. A moment before
he was in Paradise. There all spoke of God. God
himself walked there. It was a mansion of God. The
leaves of the trees could not rustle without loading the
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314             LOVE REVEALED.
air with divine promises; the streams murmured assurances of the love of God which passeth knowledge;
the winds too had a mission not limited to the refreshing of the body; there was in them a still, small voice
conveying thoughts of beauty and of joy from the Soul
of God himself. But the moment of transgression witnessed a fearful change. Adam and his companion were
no longer in Paradise. The trees, the streams, the
winds, spoke to them no more of the love of God.
Sin had stretched its blighting wand over everything.
Their former condition was life, their present was
death.
"This is life eternal, that they might know thee."
Adam ceased to know God when he sinned. Before,
God was on the throne of the universe, God was his
God; but by the act of transgression he placed another
on the throne; he constituted himself his own sovereign; took away the law of God that he might substitute his own will. Before, he knew the only true God,
whose name is love, whose service is blessedness. Now,
there was no more, to him, such a being in the universe.
Satan whispered another God into his knowledge.
Eternal life is the recovery of the true knowledge of
God. This is an amazing thought. To know if we
have eternal life we are to look into our intellect. Here
let it be observed that the intellect is restored to its
true place by the knowledge of God. It is not to be
looked at apart from the will and the affections. When
the knowledge of God was forfeited by sin, then disorganization took possession of man's nature; his heart
and mind and will were thrown asunder. The restoration of the knowledge of God is the restoration of




JOiN XVII. 3.               315
life to our nature, and the will, affection, emotions, actions, are determined by the glorious truths that are
present to the intellect.
We are saved by faith. But do you suppose that
faith has nothing to do with the intellect? The intellect
of fallen man is an intellect that is self-excluded from
the instructions of God. Faith simply brings it back
into the rays that flow from the throne of the Father
of lights. Faith is just the reception of certain truths;
it simply lets God be true; it is an opening of the door
that light and life may come in. Hear, and your soul
shall live.
" Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ." The
previous verse informed us that Christ had power over
all that he might give eternal life to some. It is he
that giveth eternal life; it is he that giveth the knowledge of the only true God, which is eternal life. Yes,
say some, the knowledge of God; that is life; it is of
little consequence what we think of Christ. But, observe, it is Christ that gives this knowledge. That only
is the true knowledge of God which Christ gives; there
is nothing that tends to life in the knowledge you have
apart from him. This declaration that knowledge is
life is flanked on either side by the statement of our
dependence on Christ for this knowledge. Christ came
to give us this knowledge, and how gave he it? Not
by telling us certain things of God, but simply by living
among us, and then telling us that he who had seen him
had seen the Father. This is eternal life, that we should
see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He
that has the least indisposition to do honor to Christ
knows not the only true God. To break this verse in




316             LOVE REVEALED.
two is to break in two our only hope of everlasting
life.
"This is eternal life."  MIay we not lose this knowledge?  No, for this knowledge is life; it recreates the
soul; it translates us beyond  the reach of death.  It is
because it is invincible that this life is entitled to be
called life. A mere liability to death would be, in
some sense, death. The knowledge which Christ gives
his people is one that animates them with zeal, holy
desire, vigilance, patience, with a spirit of prayer of
perseverance,  of charity and of a sound  mind, with
purity and docility and humility. It clothes them with
the armor of God, and enables them to fight the good
fight of faith.  It is the life of a moral being, and it is
secured to us by moral means.
Let us look at the nature and conlition  of physical
life. The heart beats, the lungs respire, without our
volition. The blood is sent regularly through the veins,
the process of respiration is constantly maintained, digestion goes duly on, without our observation. Our mind
is left free to avail itself of the results of these processes.
Yet every volition tells in some way upon the life.
Our thoughts, feelings and acts are constantly marring
or favoring the processes on which ouar life depends.
Our comfort, health and existence even are dependent, mediately or immediately, on our voluntary nature.
In every individual there is supernatural life and a
natural life. Processes are wrought out, moment by
moment, that could not advance in the least degree
without the impulsion of a mind infinitely greater than
that of the individual, and essentially different from it;
and yet these processes are so subordinated to his own




JOHN XVII. 4                  317
most limited mind as that he may direct, control, mar
and utterly thwart them. Suppose the body actuated
by a thoroughly well-constituted mind, there will be the
harmonious, constant expression of the finite and of the
infinite mind in all the movements and operations of
the organism.
Translate this idea into the moral world.  In the renewed man there is the life that Christ has given, and
the result of that gift is that in all moral acts there are
(sin excluded) the concordant expressions of the divine
mind and of the created mind. There is perfect liberty
on the part of the creature, but there is a tendency to use
that liberty in the ways that please God; there is liberty
in the steam-carriage to move, but the tendency is to
move upon the line of railway. There is liberty to go
off the track, but it is known that there is destruction
in that exercise of liberty, and the tendency is just to
move forward. Ah! if this were the only tendency!
But we are now looking simply at the new man-at
Christ's gift of eternal life.
JOHN xvii. 4.-" I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do."
LET us take another parting look at the previous
verse: " This is eternal life, that they might know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent." Christ here speaks of himself in the third
person. He often spoke of himself as the Son of man,
sometimes as the Son of God; here, and here only, as
Jesus Christ. This name Jesus Christ only occurs twice
in the gospels. But the entire testimony of the gospels
27''




318             LOVE REVEALED.
relates to this, that Jesus is the Christ. 1Ie is the anointed One-anointed to be a Prince and Saviour. God
gave not unto him the Spirit by measure-gave not
merely the Spirit to dwell in him personally, and to be
manifest in his ministry, but to dwell in his body, the
church. All outpourings of the Spirit of God, from
the foundation of the world, belong to the anointing
of Christ; they are all attestations that Jesus is the
Christ.
Having spoken of himself in the third person as the
Son and as Jesus Christ, the Saviour now speaks of
himself in the first person: "I have glorified thee on
the earth."  This comes in like a comment on what
went before. "To know thee and Jesus Christ is life,
because in Christ thou hast been glorified upon the
earth, where before thou wert not glorified. Thou wert
ever glorified in heaven, thou hast now been glorified
on earth." The glory of God was manifested by the
Son, so that now all that was needed was the gift of
the Spirit in connection with the gospel, that the true
and saving knowledge of God might be brought home
to the apprehensions of men.
What a sublime simplicity of confidence betrays itself
in this language! What an amazing contrast between
every prayer of a believer and this prayer of Christ!
He speaks of having done that which no man from
Adam downward had ever done —of having glorified
God in the absolute sense of the word, of having perfectly and irreproachably accomplished the work given
him to do; yet may no one discern the least trace of
undue assumption or of self-laudation in the language.
For the words are not addressed to man, but to God,




JOHN XVII. 4.                 319
and not in a vehement appeal, but in a calm and dignified simplicity of statement. If a man can overhear
the Saviour, with the tomb of Lazarus behind him and
the cross before him, addressing thus his righteous
Father, and not perceive how triumphant in every senltence is the evidence of his divinity, it remains for us
only to pity his obtuseness and to pray that the veil
may be taken from his mind.
"I have glorified thee on the earth "-not myself.
"I can of mine own self do nothing," he once said.
He did nothing apart from God, and we see him aright
only when we see God in all he did, in all he said.
Every man stands in the way of the glory of God, of
that glory which to reveal is the proper end of his being. He lives not to give expression to the will of
God, the thoughts of God; the web of his life is woven
of his own will. The believer, as his faith is increased,
is overwhelmed with confusion at the discovery of the
stupendous wrong which he is constantly doing to his
loved Lord by the interposition of his own will and
his own character.
The unbeliever refuses to come to the knowledge of
this, affirming that man is too insignificant to produce
such a result as the obscuration of the glory of God.
But in the life of Christ we see that glory of God which
we were each and all created to show forth. We have
but to put our life and our character beside his to
know what sin can do. As sinners we are not insignificant; we are not dwarfs, but demigods.
It is calculated that the light of the sun is equal to
more than fifty thousand times that of the moon, yet
in a certain position the moon extinguishes all the light




320              LOVE REVEALED.
of the sun, in a particular field of vision, extinguishing
her own light at the same time. As we were suffered
to put Christ into the grave, so we are suffered to put
the glory of God into a grave-it is what almost every
individual is doing; but there shall be a resurrection,
a terrible one. The believer is one that knows this,
and stands in awe of his own power to sin, rejoices that
there is one greater than that all but omnipotent principle, and flees to Christ to save him from himself. Yet
he is often grieved to find himself thrust forward in the
place of Christ. Oh, to be a living sacrifice-living
only in the abnegation of self and the exhibition of
Christ!
Let us not suppose that the glory of God demands
rare opportunities, great deeds. If we look to the life
of Christ, we see that it comprehended a thousand petty
details that are commonly regarded as essentially and
hopelessly lustreless, if not ignoble. Yet Christ glorified God in all these details. This lesson we need to
learn from his life, and to import into our own life its
benedictions. We shall meet with a delightful cordiality
on the part of the Spirit of God when we seek his
guidance and hallowing influence in the doing of those
innumerable little acts that make up the sum of life.
Does your conception of goodness and of greatness
correspond with that of God?  Were your aspirations,
your dreams of grandeur, suddenly reduced to writing
and submitted for your own tranquil inspection, would
they resemble the life of Christ? This is God's conception of all that is exalted in humanity. You perhaps
indulge some dream of heroism on the battle-field;
God rejects that, and substitutes the temptation of Christ




JOHN XVII. 4.                321
in the wilderness. Blessed is the man whose air-castles
are in the New Jerusalem! We are told of a day when
the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of God. That day is just one in which men will
have parted with all those ideas of glory and of grandeur
which now make such havoc of society, and will have
embraced with all their heart God's ideal of humanity.
The temple of fame is to be emptied of those statues
that now occupy its pedestals; its various inscriptions
are to give way to some of a very different character.
Above every name therein shall be exalted the name
of the Lord Jesus, and no name shall have any honor
save that which he gives it. When, in that day of the
restitution of all things, you and I shall stand within
the threshold of that fane, we will look up to the dome
and be surprised to see it lifting itself above the stars.
Its pillars shall resolve themselves into the everlasting
hills; the sun shall arise within its portal and there
shall be no night there. Ten thousand times ten thousand living and lustrous monuments of the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, bearing his name upon their foreheads, shall walk there in love and beauty, gathering
fruit from the tree of life.
In the mean time how is it with that temple of fame,
your own heart?  Who is exalted there?  Have the
heroes of this world fallen from the pedestals whereon
you placed them? Has that chief of heroes, Self, abandoned its lofty throne?  Has the verse we are now
considering any authoritative place there? Christ glorified God in Judea of old; have you suffered him to
show unto you the glory of God? He finished a work
in Judea, but that was only by way of external pre



322               LOVE REVEALED.
paration for a work in your heart which can only proceed with your consent. Shall a day come when Christ,
presenting you blameless and unreprovable before the
throne of' his Father, shall be able to say, "I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do, in the
heart of this recovered sinner"?
JOHN xvii. 5, 6.-" And now, O Father, glorify thou me with
thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the
world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them
me; and they have kept thy word."
_PON the earth, in humiliation and privation, Christ
had glorified God.  He had finished the work
given him to do, and he now asks that he may be glorified with God's own self. He speaks not here of inheriting a glory that he had never known, but simply
of entering into that glory which he had ever had with
the Father before the world was. Should we not
naturally have expected him to refer to a more modern
date?  Why go back to times before the world for
that pristine glory?  Was it not at his incarnation that
he laid it aside? Does he mean, "before the world was,
in respect to him present in it"?  The words do not
seem naturally to bear that construction. May we, then,
understand that the humiliation of Christ in some sense
dates from the beginning of the world? His advent
was from the beginning the subject of prediction; his
sufferings were shadowed forth by the lamb daily slain;
he bore the responsibility of the sins of all whose sills
were pardoned during those forty centuries; their bur



JOHN XVII. 5, 6.              323
den rested upon him, increasingly from age to age, till
it was done away at the cross. The reproach that
Moses endured is said to have been "the reproach of
Christ." As the promises relating to him were treated,
so was he himself treated. When those promises met
with disregard or scorn or denial, it was Christ himself
that met with these things. When the prophets that
came in his name were evil-entreated and put to shame,
it was he that was insulted and rejected. "The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me;" the
reproaches that fell upon his servants were really aimed
at him. In all their affliction he was afflicted.
But is not this equally true of the present dispensation?  "Inasmuch," he will hereafter say, "as ye have
done it unto these my brethren, ye have done it unto
me." He, in his gospel and in his servants, still encounters the contradiction of sinners.
Yet we have perhaps most reason to conclude that he
refers simply to the time preceding his advent, before
the world was relatively to him present in it. In the
latter part of the previous chapter we found these words:
" I came forth from the Father, and am come into the
world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father."
"With thine own self."  He asks to be raised above
all principalities and powers and might and dominion,
to be invested with a glory above all finite glory-to be
placed, in a word, at the right hand of the Majesty on
high, with all power in heaven and earth, manifestly, as
he ever is inherently, equal with God, one with God.
This glory he had in the Scriptures before he came
into the world. Daniel saw one like to the Son of man
brought before the Ancient of Days, and presented with




324             LOVE REVEALED.
dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people
should serve him. Isaiah spoke of him as the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Prince of peace, the mighty
God, the everlasting Father. David says: " Thy throne,
O God, is for ever and ever."
The views that we obtain of all these words of the
Lord Jesus must bear (we may have remarked it before)
a certain proportion to our own experience. They mean
more or less as we move upon a higher or lower level.
We must reach a particular level before we can even
vaguely discern the next eminence, and only when we
have reached the latter shall we discern a higher. And
many, many of these flights are found in a single passage
of Scripture. The Lord Jesus has let himself down to
our level, as far as may be, in the words used by him;
but those words participate in his own marvelous nature,
and in the tiniest of them Alps on Alps arise to the
Christian who is pressing forward in the divine life.
We need therefore continually to be coming back to the
Scriptures which we have once fed upon; our experiences may, in the interval, have so expanded that we
shall be prepared to see a higher truth than could formerly be apprehended by us.
"I have manifested thy name unto the men which
thou gavest me out of the world." We have here a
specification of the work mentioned in the fourth verse:
" I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do;
I have glorified thee on the earth."  He glorified the
Father by manifesting his perfections, revealing his true
nature. God was manifest in him. God was in him,
and would have been manifest to all had man been what
he professes to be. Man denies that his mind is blinded




JOHN XVII. 5, 6.              325
by the god of this world. But of what value is his
denial'? It is because he is blinded that he denies it;
if he were aware of it, his blindness would be even then
passing away. He that made the world was in the
world, and the world knew him not. This settles the
whole question. When Christ shall appear in his glory,
then the tribes of men will be overwhelmed with confusion; for the simple fact that Christ is glorified shows
that their entire life has been a tissue of rebellion and
iniquity.
" The men whom thou gavest me out of the world."
Here is election, and here we see that had there been
no election there would have been no salvation. Sinners are the last persons that should find any fault with
this doctrine, for it is this alone that opens the door of
hope to them. The doctrine of election never occasioned the perdition of a single soul, unless, indeed,
some may have chosen to wrest it to their own destruction, but even then it was not the Bible doctrine that
destroyed them, but a figment of their own misguided
minds. Election saves men-destroys none; it does
not touch or approach or in any way influence those
that are unelected. Election does not make war upon
Scripture, but leaves in their integrity all those passages that testify concerning the boundless grace of God
and his willingness that all should be saved and come
unto the knowledge of the truth. The doctrine of election inspires me with hope because it tells me that God
is actually embarked in the great work of saving sinners, without reference to any fitness of theirs. Then,
what further encouragement I need I find in the blessed
fact that the invitations of the gospel are addressed unto
28




326              LOVE REVEALED.
men generally, and consequently to me in particular.
" Whosoever will, let him take the water of life frieely"let him lay hold upon the hand of God stretched forth
to save him from this present evil world.
The doctrine of election ought, however, to trouble
those who remain in their sins, and who neglect to come
to Christ. If the doctrine of election can awaken the
careless and worldly-minded-awaken them to anguish
and alarm-we may surely bid it Godspeed. Nothing
can be more dire, more fatal, than the state of spiritual
supineness in which so many are living.
JOHN xvii. 6.-" I have manifested thy name unto the men which
thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest
them me; and they have kept thy word."
THEY were given to Christ that he might give unto
them  eternal life.  The expression "thine they
were " does not, then, mean that they were already regenerate before they knew Christ. Some of them probably
were the children of God before they became followers
of Christ, pious Jews, believing in the coming Saviour
and waiting for him. Independently of this, they were
all God's property; sin does not in the least impair the
claim of God to all the powers of his creatures; they
may abide under the shadow of another master, but it is
only during the divine sufferance; sooner or later they
must fall into the hand of the living God. Nay, even
now there is not a day in which God is not levying tribute upon them and compelling them to declare by acts,
if not by words, that he is the Sovereign. Why this
headache?  Why this heartache?  Why this hunger,




JOHN XVII. 6.               327
this thirst? Why did the fire burn that child-the flood
sweep away that' pile of timber-the worm destroy that
crop-the winds dash in pieces that ship?  Whence
these manifold humiliations, losses, privations, injuries,
that befall the children of this world? There is no unrighteousness with God; he takes not what is not his,
smites not those who are beyond his jurisdiction. So
far from canceling his title to them, sin makes them his
in an additional sense-his to smite, to destroy if he
will. They are also his in this blessed sense, that he
may give them to Christ.
"Thou gavest them me."  The Jews supposed that
the Messiahship of the Saviour would be announced by
some unparalleled gift made by the Father to him and
through him to them. Earthly supremacy appeared to
their carnal minds the greatest of all gifts of God to
man, and they expected that the Messiah would be invested with an unequaled authority over the nations,
and crown his own peculiar people with honors and dignities and wealth yet unwitnessed. In contrast with all
this they saw a few Galileans given to him. Where is
the faith that would not have been staggered by such an
issue? There were teachers in Jerusalem at whose feet
were sitting hundreds of the most intelligent and influential persons of the community; Gamaliels who numbered among their disciples the noble, the wealthy, the
learned. But the Father gave to Jesus the fishermen
John and James, Peter and Simon, the publican Matthew and a few others of like standing, and the Saviour
accepted them as a proof of the Father's love and wisdom. For he was to thresh the mountain with a threshing instrument such as no man would have chosen.




328             LOVE REVEALED.
There was a youth of great promise perhaps even then
in the school of Gamaliel. He would have scorned to
identify himself with such a company as that which followed Christ. The Lord afterward condescended to
make him one of them, but not without having first
taught him to empty himself of all on which he prided
himself-to become a fool in the worldly sense, in order
that he might become wise in the Christian sense.
"They have kept thy word."  It was the word of
God, though received from the lips of Christ. From
the hour when first Christ commanded them to follow
him, how many attempts had been made by the adversary to hinder them from keeping Christ's word! How
many "friends" had taken them aside and in "the
kindest manner" told them that they would only involve themselves in trouble and disaster if they followed
Christ! How many learned Scribes and Pharisees had
assured them that they were rushing upon destruction
in following one whose claims to the Christhood could
not stand the least investigation! How often had the
words of Christ been so obscure and perplexing as to
seem to justify the denunciations of his opposers! How
many that walked with them for a while had gone back
confessing that they had made a great mistake! How
strange the conduct of Christ this very week in Jerusalem! God had disposed all the people to greet him with
hosannas, and had plainly opened a way for him to the
long unoccupied throne of Judah; and yet he entirely
omits to avail himself of this striking providence, and
seems ready to throw himself into the hands of his enemies. But He who had enabled the disciples to see that
Jesus had the words of eternal life had also enabled




JOHN XVII. 6.               329
them to persevere in that conviction, notwithstanding all
the fiery darts of the adversary.
"They have kept thy word." Ah! if it may only be
our privilege to hear this testimony from the lips of
Christ concerning us! That word is the key that will
open to us the pearly gates and all the chambers of happiness in the eternal world. But it often looks mean
and worthless, and all manner of agents come to us from
the evil one, seeking by all manner of devices to get it
from us. One will whisper in our ears, You are now
going into the palace of a distinguished man, and you
will meet there a very distinguished circle; there is no
one more competent than yourself to move in such a
circle, but do throw away that ugly key; you will render yourself ridiculous by it, and in fact it is insulting
to them to be flourishing it before their eyes; it is just
as though you openly declared your contempt for those
blessings of Providence that have been so abundantly
bestowed on them. Another time you are ready to sink
in a sea of cares and perplexities; then a voice comes to
you, saying, Is it possible that you insist on adding to
your multitudinous cares the care of keeping that miserable key? You have no proper use of your hands
while you persevere in carrying this worthless thing.
Another time a very friendly voice says, I rejoice to
see that you have discrimination enough to prefer this
homely key to the golden keys that men esteem; but is
it not too precious to be carried daily about into the
haunts of business? Here is a beautiful casket for it;
leave it here in your bedroom, and gaze upon it in your
hours of solitude and spiritual refreshment. Another
emissary tries to make you swallow an intoxicating or
28'




330             LOVE REVEALED.
stupefying draught, in the hope that you will then let it
fall. That key everybody despises, and yet no one will
suffer you tranquilly to carry it. Wise men will spend
the entire day in trying to show you by irrefragable proofs
of science that there is no door in the universe that may
be opened by that key. They should know far more
about the universe than others; they have weighed the
worlds in scales and have reconstructed extinct creations
that preceded Adam on the earth.
You reply: I have the testimony of yonder cloud of
witnesses looking down upon us from thrones of light.
This key admitted them and will me. The man of
science says, Much meditation hath made thee mad;
there is no cloud of witnesses, there are no thrones of
light. Here, take this magnifier and sweep the heavens,
and convince yourself that there is nothing of the kind.
You hold fast to your key and leave the poor man.
Then you meet with a most religious man, who says,
Oh, I am so delighted that you have the key! But you
must know that without a little filing in one part and a
little soldering in another the key will be of no use.
There has been an alteration in the lock to suit our advanced times, and there must be a corresponding alteration in the key. Give me the key, and I will give it
the required improvements at once. Still another meets
you and says, You have the right key, only it needs to
have the stamp of my church upon it; otherwise the
lock will refuse to know it.
Surely, it is wonderful if we are able to keep the very
key of heaven, the word of God, in the face of all these
impediments. But we are kept only as we keep it. To
keep it is " to keep ourselves in the love of God."




JOHN XVII. 7, 8.             331
JoRN xvii. 7, 8.-" Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee: for I have given unto them
the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me."
THERE was so much that was human about the
Lord Jesus-he was such a veritable man; the
play of human emotions was so visible upon his countenance and in the tones of his voice; there was such a
spontaneousness about his utterances; there was such
an unpretending simplicity in his deportment-that it
was difficult for his companions, the apostles, to apprehend the divine nature through all this, except on certain special occasions when the works and words of
God were too conspicuous to be unrecognized. Now, in
the last hours of his ministry, they were making rapid
progress, and in the days succeeding his resurrection they
would make still more rapid progress in the blessed
art of discerning athwart the human, the divine. They
were now becoming aware that in the chambers of their
memories, there was a vast treasury of acts, words,
looks and tones bearing no more exalted designation
than that which referred them  to their friend Jesus,
which were nevertheless of a value altogether infinitethe human modes, in fact, by which the nature and sentiments of the King of kings, the Lord of Hosts, the
God of Abraham, had been expressed. The most precious of all conceivable utterances had fallen abundantly
from his lips, and had been flung, slightly appreciated
by them, to the lumber-house of memory. Now it
began to dawn upon them that a famished world would
come and ask for those sublime gifts of revelation and
of salvation entrusted to them by the Most High. This




332             LOVE REVEALED.
apprehension would have been overwhelming, had it
not been for the promise of the Holy Spirit to bring to
their remembrance all things whatsoever Christ had
said unto them.
"Now they have known that my words were thy
words; all my words were thine; that I have all along
been uttering the sentiments, not of a mere Nazarene,
but of God himself." Ah! it was a long and wearisome
battle the Saviour had to wage against this form of unbelief. It was like a defeat to him when he saw the
idea developing itself in their minds of a Christ human apart from  God. "I can of mine own self do
nothing. I do always these things that please him.
He hath given me a commandment, what I should say.
I seek not mine own glory."  Had he only been willing
to receive glory for himself as a man, a prophet, a
created Messiah, men would have willingly given it.
But treason was in the thought; he would not listen to
it for a moment. He was in the world that God might
be manifest and God be glorified, nor was he content
till the idea of him in the minds of the disciples, like a
moon, was brought near to the idea of God, the sun,
and he rejoiced greatly as the hour of conjunction drew
near.
"They have received;" "have believed;" "have
known surely." Faith is simply the heart's reception
of the words of Christ. Belief of the truth is knowledge of the truth.
They have received the words. They have consented
to receive the words with which Christ came freighted
from heaven. It was not Gabriel, it was Emmanuel
himself, the Lord of lords, who was the bearer of




JOHN XVII. 7, 8.            333
these heavenly gifts, the words of everlasting life, to
man, but after having entered this world the difficulty
was to find any one that would receive them. This is
still the difficulty. Men are willing that the contents of
every other mind should be poured into their intelligences, but who is willing that the contents of the
mind of the Son of God, the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge that were in him, should be poured into his
mind? No man ever spake such words as Christ spake.
"Be thou clean," he said to. the leper, and immediately
he was healed of his leprosy; "Come forth," and Lazarus came forth; " Come out of him," and unclean spirits,
legionary in number, fled. What mighty and triumphant words were these! 5Would you not have supposed
that the least word from those lips would be esteemed
by men as of incalculable value? Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of his words
shall pass away. A day will come when all human
hearts shall be examined, and every one in whose heart
shall be found words of Christ shall enter into the joy
of the Lord, and never more see death, and every one
in whose heart Christ's words shall not be found shall
have his portion in the lake of fire. And yet men will
not receive his words. That is, they will not take them.into their hearts; they will not feed upon them; they
will not make them a part of their life; they will not
allow them to have the authority of truth over them.
Have you received them, O reader?  For instance, this
word: " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God." Or this: "As many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Or this:
"He that is born of God hath the witness in himself."




334              LOVE REVEALED.
Or this: "I would thou wert cold or hot; because thou
art lukewarm, I will spue thee out of my mouth."  Or
this: "Only believe." Or this: "It is more blessed
to give than to receive." Are you Christ's word-bearer in
the world?  When a question is asked touching your
vocation, does the answer spontaneously rise to the lips
of men, "Oh, he is one of those that bear the words of
Christ "? When a question is asked touching your property, does it occur to men to say, " He has little that
we value, but he has something that he esteems above
all treasure, and that is the word of Christ"?
If the words of Christ would only dwell quietly in
the heart without interfering with the other tenants,
many of whom have been there from time immemorial,
there would be little opposition made to their entrance.
But the various denizens of the heart all understand
perfectly that the word of Christ makes for itself a
scourge of small cords and proceeds at once to attack
these ancient residents. To receive it is like giving to
all these notice to quit. What wonder that these combine to resist unto the death this revolutionary and
uncompromising element! But these tenants are really
the emissaries of Satan and the dire enemies of the
heart. They are triumphant mutineers reveling in the
palace of which they have taken possession. The word
of Christ exposes their true character, and allying itself
to the will, expels them and restores the various chambers to peace, love, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
"The word is nigh thee, even in thy heart and in
thy mouth, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that




JOHN XVII. 9, 10.              335
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved."
To take the word concerning Christ crucified into our
heart is to take that which will crucify our old and evil
nature, and to receive the word concerning a risen
Saviour is to connect ourselves with him rising and
obtain deliverance from spiritual death.
JOHN xvii. 9, 10. —"I pray for them: I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And
all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them."
(HRIST prepares richest blessing for the world by
praying for his people.  His people are the channel through which his grace is diffused in the world;
and consequently the world has no interest that can for
a moment be placed in urgency alongside of this —
namely, that the people of Christ should be abundantly
endued with all heavenly gifts. Christ is most truly
interceding for the world when he intercedes for his
people; we learn from his own words in this very prayer
(verses 21, 23) that when his people are really one in
him, the world will believe on him as the Sent of God,
the Messiah, the Saviour. Everywhere Scripture seeks
to familiarize us with this idea.  " He that believeth on
me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water;"
"he shall be a fountain of life;" " the wilderness and
the solitary place shall be glad for him."  "Ye are the
light of the world."
As Christ prays for his own, so we are to pray for
them and labor for them, knowing that, so far from
robbing the world by giving our sympathies to the
household of faith, we are, on the contrary, consulting




336             LOVE REVEALED.
its highest interests. And let it not fail to be remarked
that the very things which are most to be desired for
the disciples of Christ are those which will best fit
them to be benefactors of their fellow-men.
"I pray for them. whom thou hast given me."  They
were not made perfect and given to Christ, but given
to him in deepest unworthinesss and spiritual ruin that
he might make them perfect. They were given to him
to be prayed for by him.
Can anything be more reassuring to the believer
than the thought that he has been given to Christ and
is now his property, stamped with his signet? He has
been given to him with all his unworthiness, his depravity, his wretchedness, his helplessness-given to
Christ and accepted by Christ. The moment he obtains
this assurance he obtains a solid ground for the conviction that Christ will redeem him from all iniquity and
purify him  unto himself. For Christ will not defile
himself by recognizing as his property that which continues vile. Some generous man may receive into his
house a wretched scape-gallows, but it will be with an
intention to labor for his recovery; he will not so dishonor himself as to place an unreformable thief and
libertine among his children. The moment a thing or
a creature becomes identified with us something of our
life goes over into it, so that we are wounded with its
wounds, and prospered with its prosperity. If we are
given to Christ and recognized by Christ, then may we
be sure that he will speedily remove every spot from us
that we may be unblemished and holy.
Christ prays for them that have been given him. Are
they, then, to neglect praying for themselves?  That




JOHN XVII. 9, 10.             337
would show that they have not been given to him.
Christ prays for them who pray through him. Our
prayers reach the throne of grace through him, and the
blessings of his gospel reach the world through us.
Christ does everything for us. He dies for us, ascends for us, prays for us. He takes our prayers and
makes them his own. The Father heareth him always.
These prayers that are put in Christ's hands are very
different in form and expression. Some men are very
learned in the literature of prayer, but Christ receives
with cordiality the prayer from which they would turn
away in disgust. Some prayers, as they ascend, are shot
at by many an angry arrow of criticism, but they wing
their way upward, and are cheerfully presented by Him
whom the Father heareth always.  Whom Christ prays
for, them he prays with; but there are some Christians
so advanced that they will by no means be found praying with some for whom  Christ prays. But we will
hear Christ saying more on this point as we proceed.
" For they are thine; and all mine are thine and thine
are mine; and I am glorified in them."
Whatsoever is mine is thine, and whatsoever is thine
is mine.
All true worshipers of God, from the foundation of
the world, are Christ's.  Without the premeditated sacrifice of Christ there would have been no communication of the grace of God made to them. "Before Abrahamn was, I am." Christ was as truly, though not at
the time so manifestly, the Mediator between God and
Abraham  as he is between the Father and us. Cornelius was directed to Peter that he might hear words
whereby he should be saved-words concerning Christ.
29




338              LOVE REVEALED.
Woe unto him that is so bold as to make a distinction, and
affirm that what is the Father's is not the Son's,, what is
the Son's is not the Father's! It is a great error to suppose that you can honor one without honoring the other.
Let me too say, " Whatsoever is mine is thine, whatsoever is thine is mine."  I have naught but what is
thine. Thou, O Saviour, art free to take and to dispose
of all. Let me never see the day when I shall look
gloomily at thy hand removing aught or turn a deaf ear
to thy voice requiring the surrender of aught. And
thine is mine. Thy people are mine. Whom thou dost
accept, shall I reject? Shall I not find pleasure in them?
Shall I introduce a new doctrine of election, and out of
thy elect ones select a minority for recognition and communion? Woe worth the day!
" I am glorified in them." There is an almost oppressive fullness of meaning in these words. Our poor
faith staggers under them.  Throughout the whole
course of our Christian experience these words stand
ready to show us great and mighty things which we
know not. "Glorify thy Son," he had said before; now
he subjoins, " I am glorified in them."  It was far from
enough that he should put on glory in the presence of
the hosts of heaven. His people are his representatives
on earth, and he would be glorified in them.
He is glorified in them whom the Spirit of glory
and of God resteth upon when they are his faithful witnesses and testify to all undauntedly and mightily that
Jesus is the Christ. He is glorified in them when they
get the victory over their own evil tendencies, and with
meekness and lowliness of heart take his yoke upon
them; when the Spirit of God has a full exhibition in




JOHN XVII. 11.               339
their lives, demonstrating his presence, and thus demonstrating the presence of Christ glorified in heaven.  He
is glorified in them when they carry on his own manner
of life and go about doing good.  He is glorified in
them when their faith and consecration are such that
they are enabled to do the works that he did, and greater
works than these.
JOHN xvii. 11.-" And now I am no more in the world, but these
are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through
thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be
one, as we are."
JJE had before said of himself, "As long as I am in
the world I am the light of the world."  So great
significance belonged to his presence in1 the world. If
the intelligence were suddenly flashed through the world
that the sun now shining above our heads would set to
rise no more, how dread the consternation that would
seize all minds! With what intensity of desire and
what bitterness of despair would all gaze upon the
western sky, upon the orb of day sinking never more
to reappear! But the Sun of righteousness is, in a sense
immeasurably greater, the Lord of day; the day that disappears with him  embraces infinitely more of our interests; the night that follows his departure is the night
of everlasting despair. How should such an announcement thrill through all human hearts!  But the announcement does not come by itself. The Saviour does
not suffer the words to die away upon our ears before he
utters healing and compensatory words.  You will say,
How can this be?  Where in all the realm of infinite
truth can he find words rich enough to compensate for




340              LOVE REVEALED.
such an announcement?  Ile has found them, nevertheless: " These are in the world " and " I come to thee."
Who, then, are these to whose presence in the world
Jesus refers in such a connection? If Jesus be no
more in the world, what is it to us whether these disciples of his, these reeds shaken with the wind, be in the
world or not? Even the Jews that put Messiah to
death did not give themselves any trouble about his
disciples that remained behind him in the world. When
the Shepherd is smitten, of what account are the scattered sheep? What virtue or wisdom or valor or power
is in them?  When the light of day is extinguished, of
what account is the glow-worm?  Who are these?
Are they not weak and foolish Galileans?- rude, uncultivated fishermen?-frail, erring creatures of dust?
-like waves of the sea driven with the wind and tossed?
When Greeks and barbarians draw nigh, saying, We
would see Jesus, what manner of reply is this to make
to them, " He is no more in the world, but these are in
the world"?  Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled and
separate from sinners, but these are unable to answer
for one in a thousand of their transgressions.
Yes, but join together the two expressions, " These in
the world " and " I come to thee."  There are the disciples on the earth, and there is Jesus in heaven-Jesus
in heaven having not merely all power in heaven, but
all power on earth. These who are in the world are
indeed most insignificant, but they are united to Christ
by faith; they are his instruments, directed by his
Spirit. Whatsoever they ask the Father in his name,
it is done for them; they have the word of Christ;
it is theirs to  lake known the unsearchable riches of




JOHN XVII 11.               341
Christ. When he was with them on the earth, he kept
them  indeed, but had often occasion to deplore the
readiness with which they suffered themselves to be
swayed by evil impulses. Ascending up on high, he
will keep them  in another and more glorious sense.
They shall be endued with power from above-power
to resist temptation, to overcome the evil of their natlures, to testify of him by bold wor(ls and mighty
deeds, to establish his kingdom among Jews and Gentiles. There was far more of the power and glory and
majesty of Christ seen in the streets of Jersualem on
the day of Pentecost than when the Saviour in his own
blessed person walked those streets. Christ was then
known for the first time by multitudes who had often
heard him speak and seen him go in and out among
them.
How little do we yet understand the great thought
expressed in these words which fell from the lips of
the departing Saviour! How little do we understand
that we are to be the representatives of Christ upon
the earth, and to make manifest, in our own person,
the savor of his name! "Lo, I am with you alway "with us, not merely in the sense of made known to us,
but in the more excellent sense of made known by us.
"I am the vine, ye are the branches." How is the
vine made known save by the branches?  If we were
abiding in him with anything like perfection of faith,
it would be possible for us to say, "He that hath seen
us hath seen Jesus."
But consider that we are representing a Jesus. We
are either holding forth to the contemplation of men
the true Christ or another. There is more in this than
29 s




342             LOVE REVEALED.
a mere figure of speech. BWe preach the gospel to mankind, but the Christ of that gospel is seen by nlen
through the medium of the life we lead. "I am with
the Father, and these are in the world to make me
known in my love and power, my wisdom and all-sufficiency."
When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on
the earth?  Faith in anything like perfection?  Faith
to grasp the true idea of a Christian life?  Faith to
fulfill the high vocation bodied forth in this parting
prayer? Faith to reproduce in all communities of
earth the evidences that Christ is ascended upon high,
and is giving good gifts to men? After having experimented upon the belief of his people, in all lands and
under all conditions, will it be necessary for him to say,
"Therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me,
and my fury it upheld me. I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with
me "?
Bring this home to yourself personally. "I am no
more in the world, but this one is in the world, and I
conle to thee."  Christ called you and laid his hand on
you, and then left you in the world to carry on his life,
ascending up on high that you might have power with
God. You have a multitude of exceeding great and
precious promises, so that you might not be wanting in
the means of enjoying perfect and constant communion
with him. He hath given unto us all things pertaining
unto life and godliness.
You upon the earth and he in heaven. This is
Christ's arrangement, with a view to the fullest revelation of himself to the sinful souls of men. Do you




JOHN XVil. 11, 12.               343
understand this?  Do you rightly conceive your position?   Have you risen to the height of this great
dignity, this sublime responsibility?  Are you praying,
aiming, living, so that men may see Jesus in    al?
Seek, as you value the souls of men, seek to apprcci-eil 
your position.  MBake the most of the conditions LI',
longing to this arrangement while you are subject to
it.  Let the prayer, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,"
vindicate its own sincerity by a full-hearted, perseveriIng
and enlightened endeavor to show the world the uftmlost
possible of Christ.
JoNN xvii. 11, 12.-" Holy Father, keep through thine own namne
those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we atre.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy n:l.me:
those that thou gayvest me I have kept: and none of them is lost,
but the son of perdition: that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
TrlHE holiness of God expresses his opposition to all
sin.  They only know  him  in his holiness who
rejoice in the absolute opposition of his nature to all
sin.  No man knoweth the Father save the Son, in
whom is all his holiness, and save those to whom  the
Son reveals him, changing their natures into a confornmity with his.
"I have kept those whom thou hast given me in thy
name, that they may be one as we are."  The goode
Shepherd, being about to lay down his life, brings his
little flock to the Father and consigns them to his care.
He knows full well that when the Shepherd is smitten
the sheep must be scattered, but not irrecoverably.
He involes the divine aid in their behalf, so that in




344             LOVE REVEALED.
the hour of the power of darkness their faith may not
utterly expire, and that they may speedily be united
and abide safely under the shadow of their Father's
wing. As the disciples had looked with all confidence
to him in every time of peril, and had ascertained by
indubitable experiments that there resided in him all
the love, the power and the wisdom that they could possibly need, so let them now look to the Father. For
in fact the love, power, wisdom, manifested by him were
the love, the power and the wisdom  of the Father.
"Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou
not known me, Philip?  He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father."  I have kept them in thy name; in
thy name let them be kept. Let the knowledge of
thee be their preservation.
" Keep them, that they may be one as we are." This,
then, is the prayer which Jesus offers in our behalf. We
need to consider it well, for it is of sovereign importance that we should distinctly understand what we are
to aim at. Christ's aim must surely be our aim. Christians are represented as those who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation. On this
keeping hangs salvation. An error here will send its
blighting influence along the entire pathway of our unending existence..
When Christ was in the world, he kept them —from
what?  He kept them-how?
He kept them from the evil that was in the world.
What efforts were made to destroy their confidence in
Christ! How  subtly, and perhaps unanswerably, did
Scribes and Pharisees often cite the Scripture to show
them that Jesus could not be the Messiah! How many




JOHN XVII. 11, 12.            345
scriptural difficulties were they called upon to solve!
and when they were obliged to confess that they were
unable, of themselves, to solve them, with how much derision were they told that it would better become them
first to master the revealed will of God, and then set
themselves in opposition to the teaching of the masters
in Israel! We may be sure that if many came to Jesuts
with their objections and their questions, many also came
to the disciples when they where absent from him, and
that such faith as they had was exposed to many a:i-,ry
dart of the adversary. Jesus was to them a shield,
and kept them during this bitter and prolonged conflict.
Many others went away. There was a sermon preached
by Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum, and there
were muttered objections of the Jews on the same occasion; the result was, that many fell away from Jesus
and there was great triumph on the part of his a-I;,ersaries. It was a very critical moment; the day seemed
to go against Jesus altogether, insomuch that many
thought the apostles would also fall away. Their faith
trembled in the balance, but they resolved to stand by
Jesus. "To whom shall we go? thou hast the words
of eternal life."
The servant of Christ declaring the gospel to the
heathen may engage in similar discussions and witness
similar results. Men that have not the love of the truth
in them will fail to feel the force of the arguments used
by the defenders of the truth, and they may be cheered
by seeing some ill-grounded professors of Christianity
apostatize from the faith. But Christ keepeth his own,
not by ceasing to declare the truths that give offence, but
by giving his people experience of the power of his




346              LOVE REVEALED.
words in the heart, and deepening their convictions that
those words are words of everlasting life.
He kept them by the revelation of himself to them.
Though there was much about Christ that they could(
not explain, though many of his words were to theml
mysterious, though his course in many things confounded
all their anticipations, -yet they refused to surrender their
confidence in him. If we divide their life of faith into
two parts, one preceding his resurrection, the other succeeding, altogether the severest trial of their faith was
perhaps during the first part.
Just in the degree in which they were kept united to
Christ were they kept united to each other. Just in the
degree in which our faith shall be perfected and a more
tender and intimate intercourse with Christ established
shall we be inspired with mutual love. We should
hardly have expected just here the petition, " That they
may be one."  But it is most interesting to observe that
the two things, the preservation of the disciples and
their union, constitute but one desideratum in the mind
of Christ. These are essentially connected. The scattering of the flock is the destruction of the flock. How
much do they therefore sin against Christ who wish to
be kept apart from the rest of the flock! The best evidence that a man is abiding in Christ is found in the
tenacity of his attachment to the people of Christ.
Where this evidence is not seen, there is reason to fear
that the true Christ is not known. And let us not forget that the best evidence of Christian love is by no
means afforded when we find ourselves powerfully drawn
to those who think just as we do touching the doctrines
of religion and modes of worship. A man begins to




JOHN XVII. 11, 12.             347
give irreproachable evidence of Christian love, and shows
that the petition of Christ, " That they all may be one,"
has an echo in his heart only when he begins to find joy
and refreshing in the society of those whose sentiments
on many minor things run counter to his own, and who
are accordant with him only in the matter of loving
Christ.
This gives us a wonderfil picture of what salvation
is. A man cannot be saved by himself. Salvation is
a common salvation. The very bond that unites to
Christ unites to his people. The new life in the soul
wages an unremitting war against selfishness. Every
man who truly cries, "Save me," learns afterward to
cry, " Save them."  He identifies his interests with those
of Christ, consequently with those of all Christians, with
those of the truth, with those of humanity, seeing that
Christ was a propitiation not for our sins only, but for
those of the whole world.
"And none of them  is lost but the son of perdition,
that the Scripture might be fulfilled." It is not certain
that these words, "That the Scripture might be fuflfilled," refer to what is said of the son of perdition.
They may refer to the words, " I have kept them in my
name." Probably, however, they refer to Judas, as our
Lord a little before (xiii. 18) had quoted the Scripture,
"He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel
against me," applying it to the betrayer.
"The son of perdition." Compare with this similar
expressions: " The children of disobedience, the sons of
peace." It was the character of Judas that made him
a son of perdition. The evil of his nature was germinant within him and manifest to the eye of Christ, long




348              LOVE REVEALED.
before it was suspected by others. A very slight modification of circumstances would have enabled him  to
pass unsuspected through life. The manifest Judases
in the church are very few, compared with the unsuspected.
The successor of Judas is one who hears daily the
vwords of the Lord Jesus, and is mixed up with the best
Christians-not an avowed enemy of Christ, but a greater
lover of something else, it may be gold; and when he is
obliged to choose between Christ and that rival god, the
rival carries the day. But his great study is to avoid
coming to such an open election, and, in fact, to retain externally his connection with the one while he continues
to enjoy the other.
JOHN xvii. 13.-" And now come I to thee, and these things I
speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves."
OUT of the depths of this world the voice of the
Saviour is heard, saying to Him who sitteth upon
the throne, " I come to thee."  He descended into this
fallen world, and identified himself with humanity; and
it is with a blissful consciousness that he has grappled
to himself the race, and that in him humanity will ascend on high to the region where no curse is, that he exclaims, "I come to thee."  For we rise with him. The
pastsge by which he mounts on high is one that remains open behind him; no hand in heaven or on earth
or in the realm of darkness hath power to close it, until
he return in the clouds of heaven to judge the world.
An expression like that which then follows we have
had already: "These things have I spoken unto you




JOHN XVII. 13.                349
that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy
might be full." John xv. 11. Once more we are called
to consider the delightful fact that Jesus, when about to
depart out of this world, was chiefly solicitous to endow
his disciples with all his own wealth of spiritual blessing. He gave them his peace, his position, his privileges, his joy, his power, his holiness, his Father's words,
his Father's care, his Father's love, his union with the
Father, his own glory. This marvelous characteristic
of this parting interview should never be lost sight of.
And this prayer was uttered chiefly that disciples may
understand, if their faith permit, that they are brought
unto him in order that they may step into the position
from which he steps, ascending up on high that they
may there encounter the same glance of love that came
to him from the Father, receive the same words, have
the same communion; that they may encounter the same
contradiction of sinners, be sustained by the same peace,
the same hope.
Christ came not merely that we might have life, but
that we might have his life-not merely that we might
have forgiveness of sins and unending happiness, but
that we might participate in the glorious elements of his
own sublime existence. "Abide in me and I in you."
"Christ liveth in me."  " For me to live is Christ."
How little is this understood! The only life that we
can obtain from Christ is his life. He is made unto us
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. We
are partakers of his nature as well as of his salvation.
The same mind that was in him is to be in us. In this
connection there is a great depth of meaning in the following passage: " Till we all come in the unity of the
3')




350             LOVE REVEALED.
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we henceforth be no more children."
Is it not time that our hearts gave an echo to this word
of Paul, "That we henceforth be no more children"?
"These things I speak in the world."  "In the
world "-while he was yet in the world, before his crucifixion. He was on the point of becoming a prey to
the direst agony. He was about to die a death such as
no man had ever known. Yet he tranquilly and lovingly makes arrangements at the throne of grace in behalf of his disciples, that his joy may be fulfilled in
them. His prayers were generally addressed in private
to the Father. This prayer was uttered audibly, in order that the disciples might be gladdened by hearing
him urge with such serenity of confidence their interests at the throne of God. He knew also that his words
would have a place in the everlasting gospel, and be
published among all nations in all languages.
"That they might have joy."  "That they might
have my joy." "That they might have my joy fuilled."
We have, then, the unimpeachable testimony of the Son
of God to this important fact, that there is in the seventeenth chapter of John provision made for the joy of believers. " Who will show us any good thing?" is the desponding exclamation of many. Even believers often need
to learn anew where and how joy is to be found. But
mark, it is Christ's joy. If you borrow anything from
the world's definition of joy, you will look in vain to
the words of Christ for the satisfaction of your soul's
need. You must let Christ teach you what joy is and
then you shall find his words to be joy inspiring. Do




JOHN XVII. 13.                351
you suppose that Christ would select for himself out of
all the joys of the universe those that are inferior? No;
his joy is the joy of heaven; it is from the throne of
God; its home is the bosom of God. Surely it is a vain
deceit you are practicing upon yourself if, while professing to desire and look forward to the life of heaven, you
neglect to avail yourself of the provision which Christ
has made for you in this chapter.
We are told that the word by which we are to be
saved is nigh us, even in our heart and in our mouth.
The word has various properties. It saves. It also
sanctifies. It gives peace. It inspires joy. It renders
fruitful. We know that it is to us the word that saves,
because it is also the word that sanctifies, the word that
imparts joy. But if it be not in our experience a joyimparting word, why should we cling so confidently to
the persuasion that salvation will come by it unto us?
It is the word of life, and the life which it communicates is something now possessed, not a thing of the
future. Far be it from me to wish to damp the confidence of any whose faith is genuine, though small as a
grain of mustard-seed. But Christ will save us in his
way, not in our way.  "This is eternal life," he says,
" that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent." This knowledge we obtain here. Paul counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Not merely at the
beginning of his course, but during all the length of it,
he had this intense thirst for the knowledge of Christ
maintained in its intensity by the blessed attainments
he was continually permitted to make. See how the
joy of Christ was fulfilled in Paul. Paul was raised




352             LOVE REVEALED.
up to be an example not merely of how much the grace
of God would forgive, but also of how much the grace
of God would bestow after having forgiven. Paul is
just a comment upon the words of Jesus. When Christ
says, " They are not of the world," we may turn to
Paul, and by the life of the apostle obtain an approximate conception of the meaning of the word. When he
says, " Sanctify them through thy truth," Paul will again
help us to understand his meaning. When he says,
"I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world," it will again be profitable to look to the
apostle.
Believer, what is yourjoy? To-day'sjoy? Yesterday's?
Look at it, take the measure of it, and ask yourself if it
be that joy which Christ here speaks of as his own, for
nothing less than that has he made over to you. This
joy of yours, is it bright, blessed, sanctifying, strengthening? Does it arm you against temptation, and lift
you above care, and fill your devotions with thanksgiving, and facilitate the entrance of your words into the
hearts of those to whom you speak concerning Christ?
If not, then let me urge you to take your unsatisfactory
joys to Christ, lay them at his feet and ask him for the
genuine. Learn to look on everything as an enemy
that would tend to keep the joy-chamber of your nature,
set apart by Christ for himself in these words, in the
possession of alien joys that have scarce any acquaintance with the crucified One.




JOHN XVII. 14.                353
JOHN xvii. 14.-"I have given them thy word; and the world
hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am
not of the world."
IHE Saviour gave eyes to the blind, hearing to the
deaf, speech to the dumb, health to the multitudes
that were suffering from incurable ailments, food to the
hungry, deliverance to the tempest-tossed, life to the
dead. He showed that he had power over all material
wealth by directing his servant to find a piece of money
in the mouth of a fish-a miracle that he wrought in
order, perhaps, to show the lovers of money his ability
to surround himself with untold wealth and his abnegation of that power. What, then, did he give his disciples? He gave them the word of God and a heart to
receive that word.  He taught them  to recognize the
words of God in his works. What he valued above all,
he taught them so to value. He made them willing to
count all things worthless in comparison with the word
of God communicated by him.
"' The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself." How? By giving him his word. By writing
his law in his heart. It is thus that the disciples of
Christ are made to be "not of the world."  The world
cannot receive the words of Christ; they are foolishness
unto it. Just so far as a man receives the word of
Christ he receives Christ himself.  When the word of
God dwelleth richly in him, then Christ abideth in his
heart, by faith; if Christ abideth in his heart, then is
his character assimilated to that of Christ, for Christ
dwells in no heart otherwise than as sovereign, with
power to reveal himself in the words, the works, the
ways of man.
30 - 




354              LOVE REVEALED.
Christ speaks of what he has already given me. It is
much, it is magnificent in his eyes. What ought it to
be in mine? Does it become me to seem to myself a
very poor man? Are not the answers to thousands of
my prayers to be found in the given word? Shall I
torment the Saviour for heavenly things when the
heavenly things disguised in earthly words, exhaustless
mines of wealth, are around me? How few Christians
have done more than just taste the words of Christ!
There is probably not a Christian on the face of the
earth who has not despised and neglected far greater
blessings than those which he has appropriated. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and the food
of faith is his word. Some that were prisoners in
Lucknow received one day a single leaf of a Bible;
with what avidity did they devour the words! how
marvelous seemed the promise contained in that scrap
of paper! Would it not be an immense gain to many
who are now sighing and pining among the countless
promises of God's holy volume to be reduced to some
similar scrap of Scripture?  WTere large portions to disappear mysteriously and irrecoverably from their Bibles,
day by day, with what alarm and anxiety would they
seize upon the diminishing treasure! Should it continue to vanish, entire books of it at a time taking
wings and fleeing back to HIim that gave it, until scarce
a little tract of holy words remained, may we not suppose that these readers would begin to snatch at the
words of life with an intensity of desire and of appreciation never before known? Imagine the ancient prophets,
David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, introduced to a company of
modern Christians; with what a holy impetuosity




JOHIN XVII. 14.             355
would they congratulate them  upon their possession
of the complete Scriptures, wondering, withal, how they
could find time to sleep and to eat! Those ancient
prophets felt themselves imprisoned in the incompleteness of the revelation given them, because of the
glimpses that they sometimes obtained of the Messianic
fullness of time. But how small the number of those
who have any very exuberant sense of the blessedness
connected with the possession of Christ's word!
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world." This is not a prayer, not the expression of
a desire, but the statement of a fact. If we are of the
world, we are not Christ's. But many will perhaps
say, It is difficult to determine precisely what is meant
by this expression, " of the world;" different Christians
have different conceptions; you must beware, therefore,
how you denounce this and that person as being out of
Christ because they are in the world.
Is it, then, so difficult to decide this question?  Is it
at all doubtful what kind of life Christ led? We are
not of the world, as he was not of the world.
Christ mingled freely with all classes of men. He
did not clothe himself with a forbidding austerity. HIe
inspired publicans and sinners with confidence and
accepted the invitations of Pharisees. But he would
not do or say anything, in any society, that might in
any way appear to countenance what was wrong in the
customs, maxims, aims or religion of men; nor would
he omit to do or say anything whereby he might express his disapprobation of their erroneous sentiments
and habits. He pleased not himself, but studied the
pleasure and comfort of all, so far as the interests of




356             LOVE REVEALED.
truth would permit him. He was in the world to bear
witness of the truth. He would go into any assembly,
but never would he neglect the opportunity of teaching
men that the great truths concerning God and salvation
are topics most suitable for such occasions, and by no
means to be excluded. He would not go where the
truth of God might not go. He was always himselfthat is, one who looked upon men as spiritual beings
bound to the judgment-seat; sinners, obnoxious to the
wrath of God; needing to be born again; needing the
pearl of great price; needing to work out their salvation with fear and trembling,-these were his views; and
to say that he was always true to himself is to say that
he always aimed at the best enunciation of these views.
In like manner his disciples are in the world to bear
witness of the truth. They are lights in the world
holding forth the word of life. Were they of the world,
they would not be lights in the world. Light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.
They will mingle freely with the world, on condition
that they shall not be called to yield any recognition
to the maxims and sentiments and customs of the
world, on condition that they shall not be obliged to
suppress any of the great truths that they are set apart
to make known.
Is it not a fact that many who are regarded as Christians are freely invited to worldly assemblies?  Would
they be were it not well understood that they will
observe the usages of society, and avoid the introduction
of the subject of religion? And if those who profess
to be the followers of Christ should realize it to be
their duty to bear everywhere witness of the truth, and




JOHN XVII. 15, 16.            357
to discountenance the maxims by which society is constituted, is it not likely that there would be a great revolution in their social taste?  WVe imagine that they
would, debarred from that society in which they have
ordinarily mingled, look around them for the people
of God, and join themselves to them with a heartiness
not before exhibited. Then would the ways of Zion
no longer languish. Perhaps the great obstacle to the
realization of Christ's desire for the union of his people,
expressed in the latter part of this prayer, is in the
very prevalent idea that a man may be of the world
and yet be a Christian. Our Lord has already sat in
judgment upon these worldly Christians; there is no
need to wait for the last day; the word that will then
judge us is now with us. We are told that Christ's
people are not of the world, as he is not of the world,
for he has given them his word, to be borne everywhere
by them, and to be uttered by them in their conduct and
otherwise; and there is no truce between this word and
the fashion of this world.  There is indeed a truce between many who profess to be Christ's word-bearers and
the world, but the mistake is in supposing that they are
his word-bearers. There are many who are willing
enough to confess Christ in nine places if they may be
excused from confessing him in the tenth.
JoHN xvii. 15, 16.-"I pray not that thou shouldest take them
out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."
CHRIST'S people have been brought out of darkness
into God's marvelous light not merely in order to




358               LOVE REVEALED.
their own salvation, but that they may be lights in the
world holding forth the word of life; and just in the
degree in which it is desirable that the lights of life
should be shed abroad among mankind is it desirable
that those who have been calledl, and justified, and
sanctifiedl, should continue here to prosecute that work
for which they have been so carefully fitted, so abundantly qualified.
We sometimes hear the expression that such a one is
ripening for glory, and the opinion seems to be entertained by some that rapid progress in sanctification is a
sure omen of proximate translation to the better land.
There is no place in the universe where holy men are
so much needed as they are in this very world of ours,
and may we not say that every eminently holy man
would, on many accounts, prefer this life and its privileges to the blessedness of heaven?  "To depart and
be with Christ is far better" was the opinion of an
eminently holy man, but this was only the half of
his opinion, for he hastened to add that beyond this
" far better " was another "far better."  To be with
Christ in glory would be unspeakable gain to himself;
but the privilege he now enjoyed of laboring to bring
others to the en1joyment of that unspeakable gain would
be forfeited by his departure.  " To abide in the flesh
is more needful for you. And having this confidence,
I know that I shall abide and continue with you all,
for your furtherance and joy of faith."  As we become
like Christ we rejoice in the opportunity of communicating the knowledge of salvation through his blood
to perishing sinhners.  It is indeed the will of Christ
that his redeeedeeC d ones should be with him where he is,




JOHN XVII. 15,16.             359
and behold his glory, in the mansion prepared for them,
but we are here called to observe that he declines offering a prayer that they should be removed from the
world. It is doubtless his will that they should remain
here so long as the interest of his kingdom may be
subserved by their presence here.
Some may be ready to remark that persons who give
the highest promise of usefillness are often very mysteriously removed. After years of preparation they
become, so far as we can see, peculiarly fitted for labor
in their particular sphere, and are then cut down on the
very threshold of their labors. There are such instances, and doubtless it is necessary that there should
be such. In order that this may be a state of probation
adapted to promote the largest and best results, it is
fitting that every individual, no matter how richly endowed with gifts of the Spirit, should have it impressed
upon him, at every step of his life-journey, that he has
this treasure in an earthen vessel, and that he may be
summoned away from earth at any moment. It would
not be, on the whole, desirable that Christians should
have a guarantee of long life in this world, either for
themselves or others. The least reflection will show
that many evils would be likely to result from any
different ordination of Providence than that which compels every servant of Christ, whatever his usefulness or
his aspiration, to realize that he has here no abiding
city, and may be ushered at any moment into eternity.
Were we in a position to ascertain the facts, it would
probably appear that the instances to which we have
referred are not proportionably so numerous as they
appear, and that there is, on the whole, a greater




360              LOVE REVEALED.
measure of life given to Christ's devoted servants than
to others.
Christ prays not that his servants should be taken
out of the world; what, then, is his prayer? That they
may be kept from the evil; "the whole world lieth in
wickedness;" " deliver us from  evil;" the same word
occurs in these three passages.  WVe may add another
example: " That he might deliver us froml this present
evil world." And still another: "HIe that is begotten
of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth
him not." Possibly, this last translation may be the
fittest, in all the instances. The word is similarly rendered in Matt. xiii. 19: " Then cometh the wicked one,
and catcheth away that which was sown." This wicked
one is represented in Scripture as the prince of this
world; he reigns in the hearts of the children of disobedience; the whole world, with the exception of the
people of Christ, lieth in willing subjection to him.
He is styled the god of this world-has his heavenly
places, his angels, his principalities and powers. The
passages from Matthew show the nature of his antagonism to the word-bearers of Christ; he seeks to catch
away the word out of their heart. This word is like a
signet-ring of their Lord, a pledge of victory. Embraced faithfully, it overcomes the world in the heart
of the believer, and embosoms within itself capacities
of external conquest that justly alarm the prince of the
power of the air. He accordingly rises in his strength
to assail that word wherever he discovers it, and the
heart in which it has found a lodgment becomes the object of his immediate solicitude. In view of this everimpending strife, the prayer of Christ ascends to the




JOHN XVII.  5, 16.            361
Father in behalf of those who have received his words:
"Keep them from the evil one."  If he that is mighty,
even the god of this world, has sat down in battle array
against the soul in which Christ's word is deposited, let
him  that is mightier, even the Lord of hosts, appear
for the defence of this soul.
But how does this harmonize with the passage already quoted from John's Epistle: "He that is begotten
of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth
him not"?  "He keepeth himself;" how is this?  Jude
has something like this: "Keep yourselves in the love
of God."  But Jude quickly followed it up with —
" Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling."
But let us consider how God keeps his people fronm
the wicked one. He shows them the power of their adversary and inspires them with a hatred of his rule.
He shows them his own superior power and the conditions upon which he exerts it. He bids them be
strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ and fight
the good fight of faith. They discover that whereas
without Christ they can do nothing, through Christ
they can do all things. They consider that there are
ten thousand promises of the grace of God in the Scriptures, and that if this grace were to be exerted in
subduing their adversary without action on their part,
there would have been no need of a single promise.
They learn accordingly to work out their own salvation
with fear and trembling, assured that when they do
this God himself is working in them to will and to do,
of his good pleasure. Thus they are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation. The word of
God is kept in them by faith; by their own faith they
31




362             LOVE REVEALED.
overcome the world, for faith opens the door for the
manifestation of the power of God. Be strong in the
Lord.  Strength, energy, determination, perseverance,
wisdom, boldness and many other qualities are manifested by him who, ignoring any strength and wisdom
of his own, is nevertheless strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might.
JosN xvii. 17.-" Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is
truth."
THERE is some warrant for reading " the truth " instead of "'thy truth."  All truth is God's truth.
What truth is especially referred to is shown by the
statement, "Thy word is truth."  If we would know
what is God's word, we are referred to another statement
in the context: "I have given them thy word." Have
we no other word of God than that which fell from the
lips of Jesus? Oh yes: "God, who spake in time past
unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son." "All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God." Christ hath borne the same testimony concerning the Scriptures generally as he has
concerning his own words. The word of God bore testimony to him; he received that testimony; he appealed
to the Scriptures of the Old Testament; belief in Moses
was a preparation for belief in him.
What honor he invariably put upon the world! When
he accompanied the two to Emmaus, he did not flash
upon them the evidence that Christ was risen, but beginning at Moses and descending through all the prophets, he convinced them that nothing had been done to




JOHN XVrI. 17.               363
Christ except what had been distinctly predicted; and
having compelled them to honor the Scriptures by believing them, he made himself known to them in the
breaking of bread. We are reminded of his own wolds:
"If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not,
how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?"
The earthly things are the things already revealed. God
requires us to believe and give expression to the truth
already brought before us, ere he will consent to reveal
unto us things that properly lie beyond them. There
are some who enter the King's highway of prophecy, not
by the narrow gate of experimental truth, but by climbing over the wall. Wanting the appointed preparation,
they soon wander from the path.
We have said that Christ received testimony from the
word. He both received and gave. And so with his
church; it receives testimony from the word and gives
a response of attestation to the Scriptures. There is a
church that says, " It is mine alone to declare what is
the word, and no man cometh unto the word save by
me; faith in me must precede faith in the word."  Ah,
but, says the poor sinner, " how know I that you will
indeed guide me to the word?  I need testimony concerning you before I can blindly follow your testimony.
Let me once know that you are the church of Christ,
and that you are infallible, then I can tranquilly surrender myself to your guidance. But who can really testify to me that you are that save God himself? and
where is God's testimony except in his word? How,
then, can I possibly believe in you unless I have a previous faith in God's word?  That word must guide me
to you, not you ine to the word."




364              LOVE REVEALED.
Our Saviour's prayer in behalf of his people is that
they may be made holy. He refers to the means, the
word of God, but he does not mention the agent, the
Holy Spirit. There is no mention in the whole of this
prayer of the Holy Spirit. But he had previously
taught his disciples that none of the. things mentioned
in these petitions could be accomplished without the
Holy Spirit, and he had positively promised that they
should receive the Comforter. The disciples had the
truth, yet the Saviour prays the Father to sanctify them
by means of it. In itself it could not sanctify them;
they could not sanctify themselves by it; there was to
be an altogether additional forth-putting of the divine
power, in order that it might be the means of their sanctification. We must, therefore, ever take the word of
God back to God and ask him to sanctify us with it.
Oh that in all our reading of the Scriptures we might
remember to cry mightily to God that our eyes may be
opened to behold the wondrous things that are therein!
We would think it a great thing if a message should be
conveyed to us by some angel from above, to the effect
that we might for the mere asking obtain a great addition to the word of God. Yet we may for the mere
asking so obtain the influences of the Spirit of truth
that it will be as though a verse of the Scripture became
a page and a page became a book. Are there not many
among Christians who are reading the Bible with the
minimum of the Spirit? Let us ask ourselves as we
read whether any power greater than that of our own
natural intelligence is employed in writing the words
upon our heart.
All ye that hunger and thirst after righteousness,




JOHN XVII. 17.               365
listen to the blessed words which the great Intercessor
addresses to your Father and his Father: "Sanctify
them."  You know that if you ask anything according
to his will, you have the petitions that you desired of
him. The question recurs, What is his will? This, then,
is the will of God, even your sanctification. Christ's
unchangeable desire in behalf of all his people is that
they may be sanctified. This prayer that they may be
with him and see his glory is introduced by a petition
for their sanctification. And observe, he places no
limit. He does not say, "Sanctify them in part." He
draws no line whereto and no farther he would have
the work of sanctification proceed. No matter how far
the Spirit of God may have carried this work in any one,
it is still the privilege of such a one to avail himself of
this petition.  "He is able (and not unwilling) to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think."
Do you fear lest some good brother is carried away by
an extravagant conception of what the Lord will do for
him? Your fear is vain. Let his thought tower as it
may, God engages that his power and grace shall soar
beyond it, their limits as distant as ever.
But what is holiness?  First let us ask, What is it
that the Spirit of God does with the truth? All that
he does is simply to give it sway over the mind. He
does not aim to do anything more than cause the truth
to dwell in the mind clothed with the authority that
properly belongs to it. The mind is naturally adverse
to God's truth, and insists upon perverting it and degrading it and mutilating it. But the Spirit of truth
causes the truth to stand up on its feet and to sit down
on its throne. The truth without the Spirit is dead; it
31 *




366                LOVE REVEALED.
is a defenceless carcass in the hands of men.  The Spirit
makes it to live and to do valiantly.  Whatever the
truth of God is intended and fitted to accomplish, that
is holiness.  We are holy just so far as we are living
under the power of the truth.  A saint is just a true
man.  He that scorns to be thought a saint declares
that he knows not the companionship of truth.  He is
consecrated to the expression of falsehood.  THe that is
thoroughly under the influence of truth is a thoroughly
holy man.  But let it be understood that God's word is
truth.
JOHN xvii. 18, 19, 20.-" As thou hast sent me into the world,
even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I
sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Neither pray I for these,alone; but for them also whichl shall believe
on me through their word."
"/  S thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I
also sent them  into the world."  As I am  thy
apostle in the world, so these are my apostles in the
world."  An apostle is simply one sent.  They whom
we call apostles are distinguished from others, not by
their designation, but by their gifts.
Christ, being not of the world, was sent into the world;
the apostles were first chosen out of the world, and then
sent into it.  Christ was anointed for his work by Hilm
that sent him; the Spirit of God was upon him; the
apostles were endued with power from on high when the
Holy Ghost came upon them. As the Father that sent
Christ left him  not alone, so Christ promised to be
with his disciples even unto the end of the world. As
Christ came into the world to seek and to save that




JOHN XVII. 18, 19, 20.          367
which was lost, so the apostles were sent forth to seek
the salvation of men. As the Father acted with infinite
wisdom in sending his Son on such a mission, so was
the wisdom of God manifested in sending, not angels, but
redeemed men-men even in process of redemption-to
carry on this mission. As the Father heard the Soai
always, so it was the privilege of his apostles to know
that He who had sent them, and who was clothed with
ail power in heaven and earth, would hear them always.
As the Father manifested himself to Christ, so Christ
would manifest himself to the apostles.  As Christ was
sent with his own full accord, saying cheerfully, " Lo,
I come to do thy will," so the apostles were heartily
content to go forth on the mission assigned them. As
it was in love that the Father committed this work to
the Son, so it was in love that the Saviour commissioned his disciples to go to the world that hated them
and preach the gospel. As Christ was a root out of a
dry ground, springing up where no one would have supposed he would, among the rude and despised people of
Galilee in prophetless Nazareth, so the disciples were
Galileans, and their birth and nurture were much against
them in the estimation of educated Jews.  Christ spent
much of his life as a carpenter, toiling for his daily
bread; the disciples were also of the laboring class.
Christ testified of the world that it was evil, and a similar testimony is committed to his disciples. Through suffering Christ entered into his glory; through much tribulation the apostles entered into the kingdom of heaven.
" And for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also
might be sanctified through the truth."
Believers are sanctified by the Father. v. 17. Christ




368               LOVE REVEALED.
speaks of sanctifying himself; there must, then, be a
difference in the signification of the words. However,
the Saviour once spoke of himself as " him whom the
Fathler hath sanctified and sent into the world."  The
primitive idea in sanctification is separation.  "Thou
hlast set apart him  that is godly for thyself" —separation from the world, with a special view to the revelation
of the glory of God.  Christ was separate from sinners,
and the divine recognition of this fact constituted the
sanctification referred to in the passage just quoted.
"This is my beloved Son in whom I am wvell pleased "these words set him forth as sanctified. His people are
separated from sinners by being separated from sin.
Believers are sanctified through the truth, because the
truth reveals to them  the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world.  Beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, they are changed into the same image.  The light of the glorious gospel of God shines
into their hearts.  Christ made the truth what it is by
living, speaking, acting and suffering as he did; and it
is evident that what he means by his self-sanctification
is just this, the revelation of his holy nature in all appropriate ways, so that the record of his life and death
should be all that the necessity of the case demanded,
with a view to the sanctification of believers.
Let me, then, as I read the gospels, continually remember that Christ uttered this and that parable, wrought
this and that miracle, underwent this and that humiliation, with reference to the sanctification of his people,
with reference to my sanctification.  Would it not be a
profitable employment for us to go carefully and prayerfully through the gospel with this idea constantly before




JOHN XVII. 18, 19, 20.          369
us? Every individual record is presented to me. by the
Saviour, with an expression of his desire that I may be
sanctified by means of it.
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word."
In this, as in other passages, we are unequivocally
taught the absolute necessity of the word of the gospel
in order to faith in Christ.
How shall they believe in Him of whom they have
not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Many excuse themselves for the great crime of not
making known the gospel by boldly dismissing the
word that assures them that faith is dependent upon
hearing.  All faith is the reception of some word. God
might have revealed the gospel by dreams or immediate
inspiration, to all human beings, but neither this nor
anything like it is any part of his plan. He has sometimes made use of visions and of angels to awaken some
perishing sinner, but what was the announcement made
on such occasions?  "'Go to such an apostle, send for
such an evangelist, and he will tell thee winds whereby
thou shalt be saved."  To whom shall we go? thou hast
the words of eternal life; and the words which he gave
to them are none other in fact than what he here speaks
of as "'their word;"'"I pray for them  which shall
believe on me through their word."
Every believer believes that Christ intercedes for
him. How can he be called a believer if he believes
not this?  This prayer here recorded is one that we are
permitted to hear, but we have faith with regard to
those we hear not. In this recorded prayer we have an
epitome of the prayers that Jesus offers in behalf of his




370              LOVE REVEALED.
disciples.  "But I wish to know," says some impetuous
suppliant, "whether my particular petition is presented
by Christ."  Not if it be in conflict with the petitions
here embodied. If you pray for something that would
tend to impede the work of your sanctification, either
Christ must withdraw his prayer for your sanctification
or else your prayer must be given to the winds.  Happy for you if your prayer be given to the winds! Y(ou
are perhaps as much indebted to the intercession of
Christ for the failure of your petitions as for their success. See to it that your prayers correspond to those
which the Saviour here offers for you. After this manner pray ye. Christ is not our Mediator save as he is
our Teacher. If we insist on urging at the throne of'
God some prayer that Christ has not taught us to offerhas indeed directed us not to offer-we set aside the
mediation of Christ; and however profusely we may
mix his name up with our prayers, he knows us not,
knows not these supplications.
What soul-reviving words are these: " I pray for
them  that believe"!  You are one of those, are you
not?  Do you understand these words?  The Son of
God in heaven, on whom the enraptured eyes of all are
fixed, prays for you. You bind him to the earth, and
he feels that he is only half in heaven while you are on
this treacherous earth. He has the keenest sense of all
that affects you or threatens you, and he prays for you.
This prayer is prayer indeed. You need not take your
idea of it from your own prayer. That will give you
no clue.




JOHN XVII. 21.              371
JOHN xvii. 21.-" That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world
may believe that thou ]last sent me."
ONE is almost overwhelmed with the sublime propositions that crowd upon us in this passage. Look
at Christ the man, and consider the intercourse of his
soul with God. How wonderful the correspondence
that went unceasingly on between the Saviour and the
Father! There was no part dark in him-no thought,
feeling or imagination that refused to encounter the
light that beamed in the look of his Father. "The
Father loveth the Son and showeth him all things that
himself doeth."  " What things soever he doeth, those
also doeth the Son likewise." " I know that thou
hearest me always."  "The Son of man WHO Is in
heaven."  "Who is in the bosom  of the Father."
Christ prays that the believer may occupy on the earth
the same blessed position that he occupied relatively to
the Father, that there may be between the two the
same marvelous intercommunion; the same unfaltering
fellowship; the same most intimate union. And in
order that there may be this wondrous harmony between God and the believing soul, he prays that that
soul may abide in Christ as the Way, the Truth and
the Life, may be one in him as the branch is one in
the vine, may make Christ its all in all, and understand
how thoroughly Christ has given himself to it.
He prays thus in behalf not of one believing soul,
but of all. And when believers thus, or approximately
thus, abide in the Father and in the Son, then will
they be found abiding in one another. The union between them will be of such a nature that the world




372              LOVE  REVEALED.
will be arrested by the spectacle and irresistibly compelled to believe on Jesus as the Christ, the only Redeemer of the lost, for they will have before their eyes
the spectacle of redemption accomplished.
Here, then, we find the Sariour praying for the world,
entreating in their behalf the greatest of gifts —faith;
and we see that in all his intercessions for his people
he has still regard to the salvation of the unwakened
multitudes.  If for a little lie concentrates his attention
upon his own, it is that they may be rendered the salt
of the earth, and more competent as lights in the world
to hold forth the word of life to the perishing around.
He offers here substantially the prayer which he taught
his disciples to offer: "Thy kingdom come, thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven."
If men have in common one supreme aim, this suffices to bind them together. There is union among
them when they have an enthusiastic admiration for
some one who is leading them  through dangers to
victory.  Though nothing can exceed man's inhumanity to man, yet we see everywhere the evidence that
men can unite. The name of a man they never saw
becomes a rallying word for millions.  The Christian,
however, knows in whom he has believed. Christ is
precious to the believer, and just in the degree in which
lie is so are believers drawn to each other.  If there be
little that is worthy of the name of union among Christians, it is simply because there is a very equivocal union
betwixt them and Christ.  The twenty-fifth of Matthew
informs us that the great revelation of the judgment
day will be that love to Christ is shown by love to his
people.  They that separate themselves-that build for




JOHN XVII. 21.              373
themselves a little chapel in the grand cathedral of
Christ, with separate entrance, and with walls so thick
that the praises of the people of God in the great sanctuary cannot be heard by them —simply cut themselves
off from beholding the glory of Christ when he shall
appear in the midst of the great congregation. They
anticipate the judgment, and pronounce beforehand on
themselves the sentence, " Depart from  me."  They
shrink from Christ as they shrink from his people.
They will say perhaps, " No, we do not shrink from his
people; we love them all." Ah! but let me ask you for
information touching the characteristics of Christ's
people? Have you not sought the criterion somewhere
else than in the pure and simple? There are certain
religious modes and forms and formularies that are
agreeable to the religious habits of your nature. Have
you not boldly settled it that these embody the very
doctrine of Christ, so that where they are not Christ is
not?  If so, how little you know of the heart of Christ!
The heart that was pierced on Calvary was a larger
heart than yours. The exigencies of his love are not
to be baulked by the trifling differences that appear
so formidable to the cabined, cribbed, confined sentiment to which you monstrously apply the name of
love.
When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on
the earth?  It is the great question of this hour. A
form like unto that of the Son of man is almost discernible athwart the twilight gloom. Shall he find faith
on the earth? To give the matter a practical bearing,
shall he find faith in you?  "Oh, I am a believer!"
A believer according to what sense?-yours or Christ's?
32




374               LOVE REVEALED.
Christ's definition of a believer is, one that believes in
Christ's love to his people and gives proofs of his faith
in works that benefit them.  Have you faith to discern
the Christ that is now manifest?  There is a glorious
manifestation of Christ now in the churches, differing
from the full manifestation of the last day, since that
will leave no room for faith; this, though glorious, is
not overwhelming.  The true believer discerns this and
rejoices greatly in it.  He sees Christ in the years of
grace that now succeed each other; he hears the voice
of Christ saying, with the sound of a trumpet that may
be heard to the ends of the earth, " That they all may
be one, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me."
JOHN xvii. 22, 23.-" And the glory which thou gavest me, I have
given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them,
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou
hast loved me."
CHRIST sought not his own glory, but had ever a
single eye to the glory of God; he sought not the
honor that cometh from man, but that which cometh
from God only.  He could truly say, I have glorified
thee on the earth, his whole life having been devoted to
the exhibition of the glory of God.
Conceive for a moment of such a thing as that men,
in being drawn to Christ, should be drawn away from
God! The Jews affected to have such a fear.  " Give
God the glory," they said to the man whose eyes Jesus
had opened; "as for this Jesus, we know that he is a
sinner." Jesus truly testified, "No man can come unto




JOHN XVII. 22, 23.            375
me except the Father which hath sent me, draw him."
That which drew men to Christ was an influence from
God himself.  No man need be afraid of yielding to
the attraction of Christ, for Christ was God manifest in
the flesh; there is nothing more purely divine than is
the influence that flows from  him.  The Unitarian is
afraid lest, forgetting the claims of the Father, we should
give excessive honor to Christ.  But the very idea of
a division of honor between a creature and the Creator
is blasphemous.  Unless we may give all honor to
Christ, and ascribe unto him all divine perfection and
sovereignty, it is a fearful error to give him the least
scintillation of that glory that belongs to God.  " I can
of mine ownself do nothing."  "Cursed be he," says
the Old Testament, "who putteth his trust in an arm of
flesh," that is, in a created arm; who trusts for salvation to anything less than God himself.  When we look
to Jesus, we see a perfect man —perfect in his limitations
and necessities, as well as in his endowments and capacities; and we see manifested through the medium  of
this humanity all the Godhead. They that look upon
him as a being midway between man and God reveal
only how fatally they are ignorant of God and of
Christ.
But what is the glory which Christ here speaks of as
given him by the Father, and by him to his disciples?
There is an incommunicable and there is a colmmunicable glory of Christ. "By him and for him were all
things made."  "He upholdeth all things by the word
of his power."  ":By himself he purgeth our sins."
"He is head over all things to the Church."  He was
"a lamb without blemish and without spot."  " Every




376             LOVE REVEALED.
knee must bow, and every tongue confess that he is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." But let us look
at his communicable glory. "I in them, and thou in
me, that they may be made perfect in one." It was
Christ's glory to show forth the glory of God, and it
is the glory of his people that they may show forth the
glory of God in Christ.
Christ does not give to his people any other glory
than that which the Father gave to him, and it does
not become his people to seek any other glory. He
sought not for himself the honor which came from man,
he seeks it not for his people. All those honors that
tend to hinder the perfect union of Christ's people by
clothing a portion of them with an exalted worldly position, while other portions are correspondingly depressed, are most pernicious; they take the place of
something infinitely more to be desired. Perfect union
should be the great aim of God's people, as it evidently
is the great aim of their Leader and Commander. Their
salvation, you may say, is his great aim. Yes; but is it
not most evident from the words of Christ that the path
of salvation and of glory lies through the Beulah land
of union? In order that Christ's fervent and reiterated
prayer for the union of his followers may be fulfilled,
it is necessary that the spirit of glory and of God should
so rest upon them that all thought of worldly glory
should be flung to the winds. When once they begin
to understand the glory that Christ has given them, the
glory of this world shall fade away as a phantom at the
rising of the sun. The god of this world hath blinded
the minds of men, so that the light of the glorious gospel of God may not shine unto them. The work of




JOHN XVII. 22, 23.           377
God's Spirit is to destroy this blindness and cause them
to find all glory in Christ.
Christ gives glory unto his people by giving the Holy
Spirit unto them and causing them to embrace the true
idea of glory. "His divine power hath given unto us
all things that pertain unto life and godliness."  If we
look into the early chapters of the Apocalypse, it will
be made evident to us that the glory which Christ gives
to his people is not merely that which invested him
when he was on the earth, but that which he put on
when he ascended up on high. They are to participate
with him in all the glory which is to be exhibited by
him in consummating the work of redemption. You
will find in Rev. ii. 26, 27, that the magnificent promises made by him in the second Psalm are made over by
him to that believer, whoever he be, and wherever, who
shall keep his works unto the end.
" That they may be made perfect in'one."' Or " unto
one." They approach perfection as they approach unity.
Perfection is impossible in a state of separation. My
life is not wholly given unto me, but a part of it is
given to my brother, to be available to me when I abide
in him. mre have only fragments of blessings in our
disunited state, and the complement of these fragments
shall be given to us when we come together. This may
be an arrangement that we do not approve. We find
very good reasons for loving our brother as we do from
a distance and from a slight elevation. Our religion is
all interwoven with a multitude of denominational
usages that effectually interfere with the manifestation
of our love to those brethren who are outside the wickerwork in which we are shrouded; and does it not ap32 *




378              LOVE REVEALED.
pear every way better that the Lord should fall in with
our arrangements and bless us within our own wickerwork? The Lord has long ago decided what is best,
and it is most presumptuous in you to call this matter
up again and fly in the face of Christ's decision. Christ
will govern his church according to his own declared
principles. His purpose is that his people shall be perfected in union.  While the world stands it will remain
impossible for them to obtain anything more, in their
state of disintegration, than fragments of blessings.
"I in them."  Christ is in his people, and there is a
possible manifestation of Christ in his people unto the
world of which we have now no conception-something
most sublime and glorious, as yet, however, in the region of the possible, for this manifestation can only
take place when his people are made perfect in one.
When the petition here embodied is fulfilled, then will
the New Jerusalem have come down from heaven, and
of that New Jerusalem, Christ will be the glory. Christ
in his people is now more mutilated and marred than
he is revealed. When it comes to be understood that
to believe in Christ is to put on the obligation to love
all Christians as Christ hath loved them, then will the
heavens and the earth that are now prepare to flee
away and all things to become new.
JOHN xvii. 23.-" And that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me."
THAT the world may know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour of mankind, the only Mediator
between God and man, the Way, the Truth and the Life,




JOHN XVII. 23.                379
the Prince of peace, the King of saints, the Lord of
glory, and that it may know that there is nothing in
all the universe more precious than the faith by which
Christians are united to Christ, inasmuch as they by
means of it have access to that same marvelous love
which the Father hath for his only-begotten —i  a
word, that the world may feel the force of the saying
of Jesus, " One thing is needful," and learn to regard
all earthly treasures as utterly insignificant in comparison with the pearl of great price-the world, the great,
busy world, the idolatrous world, the fanatic world, the
carnal world, the world of Secularists, Mormons, Spiritualists, Romanists, Greeks and nominal Protestants, the
civilized, literary, scientific world, the world in all its
countless varieties of culture and of barbarism, with all
its social gradations, its honors and dishonors, its pleasures and its miseries, its Pharisees and its Sadduceesthat this great world may know how glorious is that salvation which it has so long despised and rejected,-how
is this magnificent result to be brought about?
What Christian can for a moment be indifferent to this
question? Is not the mere announcement that such a
result is within the limits of possible realization enough
to arouse the dormant energies of all the people of God?
How strange it would be if the revelation of this possibility and of the means by which it is to be realized
should remain unheeded! How strange if the disciple
should assume to be wiser than his Master, and imagine
that he may neglect the means here pointed out, and by
methods of his own bring to pass the world-wide triumphs of the gospel! How surprising the art of the
great adversary manifested in keeping the followers of




380              LOVE REVEALED.
Christ unmindful of the indicated means of obtaining
so great a victory!
"That they may all be one. I in them and thou in
me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me." Generation succeeds generation, century succeeds century, empires rise
and fall, new continents are discovered and peopled. but
the world remains in subjection to the arch-enemy of God
until the disciples of Christ cease to contend among themselves as to who shall be greatest, and learn to love one
another as Christ hath loved them. How long must this
earth wearily revolve upon its axis until the followers of
Christ flow together into one great army, under the sole
leadership of the great Captain of their salvation?
Christ's desire is that the world may know that the
believer is the object of the same infinite love that rested
upon himself. The question is not yet, Has the world
learned this? but, Has the believer himself learned it?
Does his own conception of this love in any degree approach what is here indicated? If he falls immeasurably short in the recognition of it, how is it possible
that the unenlightened mass of men will attain to the
comprehension of it? Christ seems to take it almost as
a matter of course that the believer will know it (perhaps his idea of a believer is one that does this); he is
simply arranging for the revelation of the fact to mankind generally. Surely it is time that you and I made
haste to understand what it is to be a Christian. It will
not do for us to be living in the outskirts of the region
enlightened by the love of God. We belong to the
very centre of that region. The place that was made
for Christ to occupy, full in the beam of God's loving




JOHN XVII. 24.                 381
countenance, was made for us to occupy after him. He
stood there that we might know how to stand there.
Divine love followed him thither; then he drew us to
the spot and disappeared, leaving us suffused with the
same glorious and irrevocable kindliness of the Godhead that constituted the atmosphere of his own being.
JOHN xvii. 24.-" Father, I will that they also whom thou hast
given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory
which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."
THERE is a phraseology or mode of address appropriate to be used by a son of tender age, and another
that is becoming to him when he is at man's estate and
has become the intelligent companion of his father. It
is as a son of mature years that the Lord Jesus addresses
the Father. There is one mind to the Father and Him:
"Father, I will."
"They whom thou hast given me."  This is the seventh time our Lord makes use of this expression in this
prayer. He loves to look upon his people as the gifts
of his Father. The whole universe is to him an expression of the Father's love, but he prefers to see that love
expressed in the gift of repenting souls. It is through
their faith that they are given unto him. 0 my soul,
what a wondrous vocation is this of thine-the exponent of the Father's love to Christ! Jesus, when he
looks upon thee, sees in thee just that, and every act of
faith on thy part is a new utterance of that love. The
manifold affections and exercises of thy new nature constitute a song of love of the Father to the Son. Thou art




382              LOVE REVEALED.
a harp, as yet imperfect and lacking much, from which
the love of the Father to him that loved thee and gave
himself for thee shall be sounded forth to all eternity.
Man has intricately mingled his life with the life of
this world. He has poured himself into a thousand
currents of sin, into a mighty expanse of ungodliness;
he has identified himself with countless objects that belong to this apostate world. How much, then, is implied
in the giving of him to Christ? He is to be gathered up,
as it were, from a thousand places; his affections to be
detached from manifold objects; his tendencies to be recalled from a diversity of paths. On the (unnecessary)
supposition that the particles of a man's body, diffused
through nature at his dissolution, must be reassembled
in order that his body may live again, the task would
not be greater-infinitely less, in fact-than that of recovering the soul of a man, in all its tastes and tendencies
and desires and admirations and faculties, for Christ.
Jesus will not ascend up on high without putting on
record this statement of his desire concerning his people
-that they may be with him where he is. And yet we
may observe that he says, " Where I am," not " Where
I shall be." Doubtless the expression has its echo in
Paul's exclamation, "To depart and be with Christ,
which is far better."  But it does not exclude-it rather
includes-this idea that believers may be enabled to move
in the same spiritual region in which he moved when
upon the earth, to have the same communion with the
Father, the same joy, peace, love, patience, that he had.
HIe that hath in him the hope of that fiuture translation
to the presence of the glorified Redeemer will purify
himself here below even as he is pure, according to the




JOHN XVII. 24.              383
model of purity left him in the Saviour's life. It is
when we seek to be meek and lowly as Christ was meek
and lowly that we show the genuineness of our aspirations after his celestial glory —when we seek to walk in
love as he also did that we give proof of an enlightened
desire to be with him where he is on high.
This will of Jesus relates not merely to the end here
specified, but comprehends all that is intermediate between the present position of the believer and that end.
The terminus is the throne of Christ; multitudinous
steps conduct to that sublime pre-eminence, and the
prayer of Jesus accompanies the believer every step of
the way.
Your path sometimes plunges abruptly, and to all
appearance ruinously, downward, yet perhaps this is
one of the very experiences demanded by this word of
Jesus: "That they may be with me where I am." The
heaven that Christ has procured for us is not the empty
and wretched heaven of this world, nor something made
up partly of that and partly of the Christian's hope. To
fall from that heaven is no fall, for that heaven and
Christ's heaven are contrary the one to the other. That
heaven is merely the region of cloud, and we cannot well
see Christ's heaven from it, and to be banished from it is
often to be banished to a region where Christ's heaven
for the first time bursts upon us in its appropriate glory.
Let us recall the fifth verse: "And now, O Father,
glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was."  And here: "That they may
behold my glory which thou hast given me; for thou
lovedst me before the foundation of the world."  A
comparison of the two passages seems to show that




384              LOVE REVEALED.
glory and the Father's love are in the Saviour's estimation, as nearly as may be, interchangeable terms.  We
are like-minded with him when we regard the love of
the Father as glory.  May we not find a blessing in
this thought?  God is love; therefore it is impossible
that there should be any gift of greater value than his
love. The communication of God's love to the heart
is the communication of heaven. The difference between an angel and a saint yet in the body is that the
former is in an atmosphere of love. The prize which
is held out to men to animate them in their conflict
with the world is divine love. It was for the excellency of the knowledge of this that Paul counted all
things but loss. The believer begins, indeed, with the
love of God. He finds it, even in infinitude surpassing
all knowledge, at the cross of Christ.  Nevertheless,
God does not throw himself away upon the penitent
sinner, so that he has thenceforward nothing more to
bestow. This prayer of our Lord abundantly teaches
us that there are magnificent and undreamt-of prizes
of divine love presented to kindle the aspirations and
stimulate the efforts of the believer all along his heavenward course.  And this it is to be a believer, namely,
to discern those glorious prizes and catch inspiration
and energy from the sight of them.
JOHN xvii. 25.-" 0 righteous Father, the world hath not known
thee-: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast
sent me."
OUR times in this prayer the Saviour addresses the
Father as Father-once as holy Father, once as




JOHN XVII. 25.              385
righteous Father, once as the only true God. In the
great controversy between God and the world the Saviour speaks with the voice of an umpire declaring that
God is righteous, and that the world is consequently unrighteous. "That thou mightest be justified when thou
speakest and be clear when thou judgest." It was not
merely the testimony of the Saviour's lips that God is
righteous, but that of his life; for on all occasions, without exception, the will of the Father was enthroned in
his heart. "I seek not mine own will, but the will of
the Father which hath sent me." Nothing less than
that is a satisfactory assertion of the Father's righteousness. Does it not happen to some of us to use language
of this kind in prayer, while many a will of the Father
whom we thus laud remains unheeded? Christ is made
unto us righteousness, first as our sponsor, then by reconciling us to every will of God. We are clothed with
righteousness in the highest and best sense when we
know God to be righteous in all his ways, and show that
we know him thus righteous by walking no more in our
own ways, but altogether in his. The cross propitiates
God to us and us to God. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.
"The world hath not known thee: but I have known
thee."  If Christ knew the Father, it is certain that the
world knows him not, for there is a mighty gulf between
Christ's views and those of the world. " As the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father." His knowledge of the Father was perfect, and it was embodied in
all his teachings, in all his acts. "Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God." Look at the conception of deity expressed in this statement, and then at
33




386              LOVE REVEALED.
that which found utterance in the ceremonial observances
of the Pharisees. " Blessed are they that hunger and
thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." Put
this conception beside that which reveals itself in the
lukewarmness of the great body even of those called
Christians. " The Father loveth the Son and hath given
all things into his hand." This is surely very different
from the world's conception of God. Men imagine that
they can find a far higher throne of God than the throne
of grace. The work of redemption appears to them  a
comparatively little work, down among the pettinesses of
divine condescension. Man's nature demands for him
an atmosphere infinitely exalted above all mention of
sin and salvation. They look for salvation through the
contempt of God, rather than through his love. God is
too great to stretch down his hand and shut the door of
life in the face of any of his creatures that wish to enter.
Utterly different from all this is the only true God made
known to us in Christ. His greatness is the greatness
of love. The throne on which he receives returning
prodigals is the same which the cherubim and seraphim
encompass. Had he been capable of contemning his
works, he would not have created them. He does not
despise sin, he abhors it. "If thy right eye offend
thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee," said He who
knew the righteous Father. The world knoweth him
not, for it does not believe that man is called to make
any such sacrifices, or that sin is such a deadly enemy.
"I have known thee; and these have known that
thou hast sent me."  No man knoweth the Father save
the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast




JOHN xVII. 25.             387
given him, and this is life eternal, that they might know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. He that recognizes in Jesus the legate of
the Father has already some knowledge of God. There
-are many theologians, men even in the ministry, who for
a score of years have weekly investigated the sacred record, fathoming its depths and exploring its diversified
paths, who know not God so well as the crucified thief
who said unto his crucified Lord, "Remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom." The knowledge that
enters into faith is that which God calls knowledge; the
rest is chaff. All knowledge must be baptized by faith,
else it is reprobate. Without faith it is impossible to
please God, for without faith it is impossible that the
life-giving light of God's countenance should shine into
your heart. Oh that ten thousand students of God's
word would this day consider this and check themselves!
" I have known thee."  Christ did not know about
God, he knew God; his thoughts all looked to him; he
dwelt in the pathway of the beams of divine love. Consider, O eager student of the Scriptures, that the mere
accumulation of scriptural lore is not the accumulation
of treasure in heaven; whereas all that you receive in
faith is treasure both in heaven and in earth. This is
life eternal, to sit at the feet of Jesus by faith and learn
of him. Read with the heart, and in a quarter of an
hour your gain will be greater than in many weeks of
intellectual study. God is love, and love only can
know love; the intellect can make nothing of it. Let
love open the door by which alone love can enter. "I
rose up to open to my beloved, and my hands dropped
with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh,




388              LOVE REVEALED.
upon the handles of the lock." But love can make
everything of the intellect, regenerate it, ennoble it,
endow it.
"And I have declared unto them thy name."  More
literally, " I have made known unto them thy name."
I have known thee; these have known that thou hast
sent me, and have received from me the knowledge of
thee —at least the beginning of that knowledge. In becoming acquainted with me they became acquainted with
thee. Thy character has been poured out into the gospel which records my acts, words and sufferings. This
gospel must be preached in all the world for a witness
to all men. The rejection of it is the rejection of the
knowledge of God. At last cometh the day when the
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
JOHN xvii. 26.-" And I have declared unto them thy name, and
will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may
be in them, and I in them."
IF it becomes us to listen eagerly and reverentially to
every word that falls from the Master's lips, we ought
surely to give special heed to the last words spoken by
him to his disciples before he entered upon his final
sufferings. If we hang breathlessly upon the words of
a believer passing into the presence of Jesus, with what
rapt attention should we drink in the farewell syllables
of Him who is the great object of faith!
Believers expect that on the dissolution of their bodies
their souls shall be translated into the presence of God




JOHN XVII. 26.                389
and the Lamb, and clothed with glory, honor and immortality. They believe that this shall be done for them
because Christ hath died and ever liveth to make intercession for them. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
them from all sin, so that it is not incongruous, but every
way admirable, that the Father should make them heirs
of everlasting blessedness. The love of the Father to
the Son is the guarantee of this magnificent result. As
it is a pure impossibility that the Father should make
light of the sacrifice offered by his well-beloved Son, so
it is impossible that the trust which reposes upon this
sacrifice should be dishonored.
Are believers, however, sufficiently impressed with
the fact that the sacrifice of the Lamb has had reference
not only to the ultimate redemption of their souls, but
to the present enjoyment of the things pertaining to life
and godliness? What are the silver threads that run
most conspicuously through these five chapters? Joy,
peace, love, humility, faith, fruitfulness, holiness and
union. And now his parting blessing is given in the
words, "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me
lnay be in them, and I in them." He lived, loved, suffered, died, not merely that we might ascend with him
to glory, but that the love of God might descend and
rest on us even as it had rested on him. Why should
we, in estimating the value of Christ's mediatorial work,
think exclusively or excessively of the glory that shall
be revealed in us when we shall have done with earth,
losing sight, or almost losing sight, of the mighty revenue of divine love at present accruing? We are to honor
Christ by seeking for ourselves the things prominently
mentioned in his promises and in this prayer. We are
33 *




390              LOVE REVEALED.
to magnify the efficacy of his blood by seeking to have
his peace, his joy, his experience of the Father's love.
There is nothing better in heaven than what Christ here
requests for his people. About to depart out of the
world, he entreats that the love which had so unceasingly and mightily flowed toward him  during all his
pilgrimage here below might not depart with him and
be lost to earth-that the same benignity and complatcency and tenderness and sympathy that had looked
down to him from the throne of heaven might continue
to look down upon the earth, even upon those that believed on his name.
We expect God some day to love us even as he loves
his only-begotten.  Christ does not ask this for us
some day, but now. The atonement of Christ has the
value now that it will have in any future day. The
blood that was shed on Calvary does not begin by purchasing for us a little love, and then, like the merchandise of this world, rising in value, end by purchasing the
whole.
But stay: how can the Father love us as lhe loves his
only-begotten, who was holy, harmless, undefiled and
separate from sinners, the express image of his person
and the brightness of his glory? Do you ask me this?
I ask you in reply, How can God love us at all? There
are just as great difficulties to be overcome, just the same
in obtaining for us the least love from the Father as in
obtaining the utmost. Those difficulties, the believer
needs not to be told, are overcome by the crucified One.
There are multitudes of semi-believers who have faith
to grasp a modicum of love, and think it presumptuous
to lift their regards to any thing like the love which the




JOHN XVII. 26.              391
Father had for Jesus, and it does not dawn upon their
minds that such limitation of their faith is neither more
nor less than an unwarrantable limitation of the value
of Christ's blood. We make approaches to the great
love that Christ here entreats for his people just as we
make advances in the knowledge of the cross of Christ.
The love of the Father to Christ was not a love that
refused to let sorrow make the acquaintance of its objectnot one that spedily overwhelmed his enemies with confusion, or that defended him against the approach of
temptation. And the fact that the believer is compassed
about with infirmities, sustains losses, encounters reverses, seems even to be looked coldly on by the God of
providence, is no proof that he is not loved with the
love of which Christ was the object.
"I in them." This is the argument of arguments,
the yea and amen of all promises. "Behold me in
them, treat me in them, love me in them. Do I need
to ask thee, O righteous Father, to continue loving me,
to entreat thee to extend to me the same loving consideration after the cross as before it? Nothing surely
could be more unseemly than to suppose the possibility
of the opposite. Well, if thy love to me can know no
end, no diminution, hear me, then, while I declare that I
am in my disciples who dwell upon the earth, and that
thy love must seek me there."
Dost thou take knowledge, O believer, of the wondrous vantage-ground given thee by this declaration of
Christ?  He is in thee, and consequently thou must
encounter the full tide of the Father's love to Christ
when thou drawest near to the throne of grace. Only
believe. To slight thee were to slight Him who is in




392             LOVE REVEALED.
thee; to stint thee with an inadequate measure of goodwill were to bring a cloud over the relations of the
Father to the Son. Christ is no more in the world,
but thou art in the world and Christ in thee. Draw
near, therefore, to the throne of grace with as true a heart
and in as full assurance of faith as the holy Son of God
himself did when he tabernacled here.
"I in them."  Lord, teach me to recognize thee in
myself; abide in my heart by faith; let me hasten to
repudiate myself, that the place may be fully prepared
for thee; and teach me to recognize thee in my fellowChristians, to love thee in them, to serve thee in them.
TIlE END.