>«

THE NEW MAN.

LONDON : PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODB AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PABIilAMENT STREET

<2/

THE NEW MAN
AND
THE ETERNAL LIFE:
NOTES
ON THE REITEEATED AMENS OP THE SON OP GOD.

ANDREW JUKES.

" Behold, the tabernacle o£ God is with mm.."— Rev. xxi. 3.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND GO.
1882.

All rights reserved.

PEEFACE.

More than two thousand years ago a captive in Baby
lon, after the city of his fathers had been destroyed
for the sins of those who dwelt in it, was carried in
spirit into his own land, to see the vision of a temple,
from which living waters flowed to all the world. There
a Voice was heard, saying, " Son of man, behold with
thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine
heart on all that I shall show thee ; for thou art brought
hither to the intent that I might show this unto thee ;
and declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel."
And then the same Voice said again, " Thou, son of
man, show the house unto the house of Israel, and let
them measure the pattern, that they may be ashamed
of their iniquities. And if they be ashamed of all that
they have done, show them the form and fashion of
the house, and all the ordinances, and all the laws
thereof; and write it in their sight, that they may keep
the whole form, and do all the ordinances thereof."
A vision not unlike this has been seen by some in
every age, of a temple destroyed in Adam, but raised up

vi PREFACE.
again in Jesus Christ our Lord. In Christ the House is
shown as God alone can show it. But though for eighteen
hundred years the Church has had the vision before her,
for the most part it is yet sealed. Even to saints very
little has been opened of it. Yet this is the vision God
would have us see, for Christ is the pattern to which
we are predestined to be conformed ; and we shall be
like Him when we see Him as He is. Now as of old,
therefore, a Voice is saying, " Show the House to fallen
men," that they may know what God can do in man's
ruin. In proportion as we see it we are changed from
the wretched ruin, which we have all become, to be a
building of God, a house not made with hands, in
which He shall be served, and praised, and seen for
ever. Even if as yet we cannot see the House itself,
it is something at least to look over its plans. They
may stir us up to long for, and seek, and perhaps at
last to find, the true building.
The following pages are an attempt to call attention
to this House, and to some of the ordinances, and ways,
and laws, thereof. The Gospels show it in all its
breadth, and length, and depth, and height. These
Notes only touch so much of it as is brought before us
in Twelve Sayings of our Lord. It seems as if He
foresaw that without some words His life would not be
understood. At all events, by words as well as by life.
He calls us to behold and mark the heavenly pattern.
It does not appear to have been noticed how these
Twelve Sajdngs, specially marked by reiterated Amens,

PEEFACE. vu
form in themselves a distinct and perfect series. God
can wait for eyes to mark His works. His light for
ages was serving men, before one was found to see the
wonders of that light which all received so freely. So
is it with His words. Heaven sees their beauty, if
earth as yet is blind to it.
Of course in dealing with such a subject as man re
newed by God, there must be, not only some repetition,
but things also, which, spite of the repetition,. will at
first be dark, and hidden even from disciples. For
"the house is for the Lord, and exceeding magnifi-
cal," and the difierent courts, body, soul, and spirit, are
so connected, that one cannot be drawn without bring
ing into view something which belongs to other portions
of the same temple. All the parts too, are according
to one pattern, marked by one ruling thought through
out, each detail more or less repeating the one idea
which stamps the whole building. But this repetition
only brings out God's delight in this His house, which
He has made in every part to bear some traces of His
image. Certainly God does not shrink from repetition,
either in His word or in His works. In His Word the
varied aspects of His Christ cannot be shown without
Four Gospels, which repeat the same story. So again
in nature, the heavens and earth, in the same seasons,
flowers, and fruits, produced age after age in endless
repetition, again and again rehearse the same one
wondrous tale, of life out of death, and beauty from
corruption. So in these Twelve Sayings there is re-

viii PREFACE.
petition. There is much, too, which can only be under
stood as we live the Hfe here drawn for us. True
disciples will not be offended to learn how little they
yet know. Only let them live Christ's hfe, and all
will open to them.
May the Lord grant us all to see more of the fashion
of the house, which He has built in Christ, and yet is
building, in the place of the earthly house of this taber
nacle, in which we groan here, being burdened ; that
in measuring its courts, its laver and altars, its candle
stick and bread, and thus seeing how unspeakably more
glorious all these things are than the moving tent in
which we now sojourn, we may sigh and cry for the
house from heaven, even to be built up in His likeness,
who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like unto His glorious body, according to the working
whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto
Himself. " Domine Deus, a Te petatur, in Te quseratur,
ad Te pulsetur. Sic, sic accipietur, sic invenietur, sic
aperietur. Amen."
November 1, 1881.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.
PAGB
" The Amen," and " The Disciple which testifieth " . 1

FIRST "VERILY, VERILY."
The Home of the New Man .... . . 17
SECOND "VERILY, VERILY."
The Bibth of the New Man  ,1
THIRD "VERILY, VERILY."
The Law of the New Man  61
FOURTH "VERILY, VERILY."
The Meat of the New Man  87

CONTENTS.

FIFTH "VERILY, VERILY." PASE
The Liberty of the New Man ... . Ill

SIXTH "VERILY, VERILY."
The Divine Nature op the New Man .... 131
SEVENTH "VERILY, VERILY.'
The Service op the New Man ... . . 155
EIGHTH "VERILY, VERILY."
The Sacripice op the New Man . . . .177
NINTH "VERILY, VERILY."
The Humiliation op the New Man  199
TENTH "VERILY, VERILY."
The Glory and Power op the New Man . . .217
ELEVENTH "VERILY, VERILY."
The Sorrow and Joy of the New Mak . . . . 239

CONTENTS.

TWELFTH "VERILY, VERILY." FAGB
The Perfecting of the New Man  257

CONCLUSION.
The New Man and the Eternal Life . . . 279
INDEX  297

" Itane his viribus meis tantiUis et pene nuUis audebo disputare
quid sit quod ait Dominus Christus ? Audebo ipsum Dominum
interrogare. Audite me interrogantem potius quam disputantem,
magis quasrentem quam prssumentem, potius discentem quam
docentem, et 'certe in me vel per me etiam vos interrogate. Presto
est etiam ipse Dominus, qui ubique est. Audiat interrogandi affec
tum, et intelligendi prsestet affectum."
Augustine, Tractat. in Johan. xxxviii. § 9.

INTEODUCTION.
" THE AMEN," AND " TSE DISCIPLE WHICH
TESTIFIETH."
(Eev. iii. 14 ; AND S. John xxi. 24.)
Nothing is more characteristic of the present day
than the tone of questioning and doubt, which so
widely pervades all realms of thought, and every section
of society. Never probably in any former period of the
world's history was there such mental activity, division,
and anarchy of opinion, as we now see around us every
where. Science has opened so many fields, in all of
which much is yet unsolved, — ^philosophy has searched
so deeply into the nature and origin of man, unsettling
much that was once believed, but supplying little
certain to take its place, — while the growing compli
cations of society force upon us questions still more
practical as to the rights and wrongs of men, to every
one of which all sorts of jarring answers are returned
from every side, — above all the Church, which should
have been a guide and light to men, is so divided and
unable to guide herself, much less the world, — that
thousands are asking whether there is, or can be, any
certainty for man ; whether all that has been counted
truth is anything more than probability ; whether
therefore it is not better to confess that we can never

2 THE AMEN,
get beyond guesses, even upon those points respecting
which our inmost souls are constantly and importu
nately asking for more light.
Now there was another age, which in much of
this resembled ours ; the. age which saw the break
up of the old-world civilisations ; when not Greece and
Eome only seemed bankrupt, so far at least as truth
was concerned, but when even Israel, which had been
set to be a light among the nations, was turned like
the sun into darkness, and like the moon into blood.
But then, as ever, when the night was darkest, the
morning was at hand. Into that dark age He came
who could meet the doubt with certain truth. He had
always been in the world, although it knew Him not ;
always giving to as many as received Him light and
power to become the sons of God. Now He was made
flesh, and came with a faith which overcame the world,
and with a truth which made the datkness light. He
did not argue. He was the Truth, and bore witness to
the truth ; and those who received His witness could
set to thefr seal that God is true, and has not left His
creatures. The Truth yet lives. What He then said He is
saying now. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
His words shall not pass away. His creatures need
Him, for He formed them for Himself, and He alone
can satisfy their need. Their ruin was the lie, which
brought them death. Their salvation is the truth,
which brings eternal Life. In every age therefore He
has come, as Prophet, Priest, and King ; to teach, to
comfort, and to rule ; suiting His revelation to our
need ; warning where warning is required ; comforting
•and helping those who need comfort. Has He no

AND THE DISCIPLE. 8
message for a doubting age? Can He give no cer
tainty to those who are like the wave of the sea,
driven with the wind and tossed ? He came to Israel
perplexed with sects of Pharisees and Scribes ; and for
those who received Him there was certainty and rest.
Is He absent from us now ? To the last Apocalyptic
Church, which, as many believe, figures the state in
which the professing Church is to be fovmd just prior
to our Lord's return, and which, if free from certain
sins which had so grievously disfigured some earlier
churches, was yet more than any other possessed by
the spirit of untruth and self-delusion ; which said of
herself, " I am rich," and " knew not " her true state,
that with all gifts she was " wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked," the same Lord appears,
and speaks as "The Amen, the Faithful and True
Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God."'
Does not this title teU us that in Him we may have
certainty for doubt, and help for our need, if we will
listen to His voice ?
For this Amen has Himself uttered some memor
able Amens. And of all His words none are perhaps
more weighty than those which are thus prefaced by
reiterated Amens, by which, as with a trumpet, He
calls attention to the truths so introduced, as though
He foresaw how slowly we should apprehend them. Of
sayings thus distinguished, twelve have been recorded
for us, all peculiar to the last Gospel. And if under
the law the Amen could seal the judgment of the
unfaithful wife, making the very water of the sanctuary
to become a curse, if she had played the harlot ; ^ — if
1 Rev. iii. 14-17. '' Nmnb. v. 22.
B 2

4 THE AMEN,
the Amen of God's people Israel could confirm thefr
curse, should they depart from God and work abomi
nation;* — if when in the Church men bless with the
spirit,* the Amen closes the blessing ; — if in the Book
of Psalms, which belongs to both covenants, the first
three volumes of its prayers are sealed and concluded
by the same redoubled Amen ;^ — what shall we think
of those sayings of the Lord Himself, which He has
thus specially marked with His reiterated affirmation ?
Can I serve my brethren better than by calling their
attention to these Amens of the Amen, the faithful
sayings of the faithful and true Witness.
But first a remark or two suggested by this form of
words itself, and by the fact that in one only of the
four Gospels is it recorded for us.
As to the words, " Amen, Amen," or, as our Autho
rised Version translates, "Verily, Verily," — for Amen
means simply " True " or " Truth," ^ — does not the form
of expression itself reveal something both as to our
state, and the grace of Him, who, if we cannot hear the
whispers of His love, will yet choose other and more
unusual forms of address, if only He may arouse and
bring us to communion with Him ? " True, True, I
say unto you," says the Truth. Does not the language
imply that we need light, and are but dull hearers,
' Deut. xxvii. 15-26. 13; Ixxii. 19; Ixxxix. 52. The
* 1 Cor. xiv. 16. fourth book ends with Amen,
" In the Hebrew the Psalms Hallelujah. See Psalm cvi. 48,
are divided into five books. Of where the Septuagint still keep
these the first three end with the the double yivon-o. The fifth
double Amen, which the Septua- ends with Hallelujah alone. See
gint translate, yevoiro, yivono, Psalm ol. 6.
and the Vulgate, Fiat, Fiat. "See Isa. Ixv. 16, "God of
Our version keeps the Hebrew truth;" in the Hebrew, "God
Amen, Amen. See Psalms xii. Amen."

AND THE DISCIPLE. 5
who require something startling to awaken our atten
tion? Is it not like saying, I must speak as to one
who will not believe me but upon oath, or as a witness
in a court of justice ? For this is not the language of
friend to friend. What friend need say to another,
Amen, Amen, Verily, Verily? It rather tells of dis
tance, — that we know so little of Christ's mind, and
can learn so little from His example, that we need
unusual and even repeated and solemn asseverations to
make us listen to Him. It is as if His oath and bond
were required by us, before we could believe Him.^
But it tells us also of Him, that He will stoop even to
this, — that no false pride or shame will keep Him from
exposing the true state of things, if there is any breach
or distance between us, — ^that He will still meet us
where we are, — and if indeed the whispers of His
Spirit are drowned by the clamour and cravings of our
flesh. He wiU not therefore leave us to ourselves, but
will condescend to words, which, if not such as He
would, or such as best become Him, are yet requfred
by our necessity. Therefore He says " Amen, Amen,"
that being roused by such a witness, and receiving His
words at first simply on His authority, and without any
due sense of their eternal truth and blessedness, we
may in due time come to know their power, that
" they are spirit, and they are life,"* and prove in our
experience that " he that believeth on the Son hath the
witness in himself,"^ and that " he that hath received
His testimony can set to his seal that God is true.'""
This " Amen, Amen," is only recorded in the Gospel
' So Augustine, Traetat. in 'IS. John v. 10.
JolwM. xU. § 3. '" S. John iii. 33.
» S. John vi. 63.

6 THE AMEN,
of that Apostle, who describes himself as " the disciple
which testifieth." " And this fact may in some degree
modify our thought as to the implied rebuke which
the use of this peculiar form of speech appears at first
to carry with it. It may be that the truth thus intro
duced, because it so much transcends our fleshly appre
hensions, must ever be first received on testimony,
before it can be seen or felt or lived in by us. Certain
it is that St John presents Christ to us in a relation
far higher than that which is set forth by any of the
other Evangelists. St John tells us of the Word, who
was with God and was God, the Only-begotten Son,
who brings again God's own eternal life into our fleshly
nature ; in His own person first reveahng and declaring
it to men, that of His fulness we might receive and
manifest the same. Of such an One there must be
much which will transcend man's natural thoughts;
which, therefore, if spoken here, must at first appear
both dark and mystic ; which can therefore only be
declared to carnal men as a truth, the reason of which
may be understood some day, but which will always
have to be first received by faith upon authority. Such
words as, " Ye must be born of water and of the Spirit,"
and " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and
drink His blood, ye have no life in you," though by
long use we have become more or less accustomed to
them, must have seemed Hke riddles to those who first
heard them. We know how even a true enquirer was
pressed by them to ask, " How can these things be ? " '^
They may explain why St John calls himself "the
disciple which testifieth." Others may argue like St
" S. John xxi. 24. >2 S. John iii. 9

AND THE DISCIPLE. 7
Paid. St John, with the truth he has to teach, can
only testify. For the things he tells us are of the
Word made flesh ; God's life in human nature ; things
above man's understanding ; to be seen indeed, if we
have an opened eye, but till so seen to be received on
testimony. The reiterated Amens all speak of this,
each of them taking up some distinctive peculiarity
of this heavenly Hfe, whether as seen in Christ, the
eternal Son of God, or in those who by grace are
called to be His members.
Such being the burden of these Amens, it may at
first seem strange that the Church, as such, is never
named in any one of them. But the reason doubtless
is that they speak rather of the peculiar virtues of
the eternal Hfe, than of the outward form or body in
which this life is manifested ; vfrtues which may shine
brightest when the outward vessel in which this life
has dwelt is marred and broken ; which therefore may
most appear in the very break-up of the Church, whose
full glory, even as her Lord's, only comes through that
cross, and suffering here, which lifts her up from earth
and opens heaven. Christ's own fleshly body is the
witness of this truth. Not in His greatest works on
earth was the eternal Hfe ever so manifested in Him as
by His cross and triumph over death by resurrection.
The change of the dispensation, from flesh to spfrit,
from the Jewish nation to the Christian Church, was a
shadow of this same mystery. For the Church came
into being or manifestation by nothing less than the
ruin and condemnation of the fleshly dispensation,
though the same spfritual life which is in the Church
existed aU along, though not at so advanced a stage, in
the saints under the old economy. And so does that

8 THE AMEN,
eternal Hfe, which these Amens speak of, come into yet
fuller manifestation by the very fall or passing away
of the Church or Christian dispensation. Just as with
Christ's own body, there is a first and fleshly form,
before that form through death is raised and glorified ;
so in His mystic body the Church, Christ in the flesh,
precedes Christ in the spirit, for "that is not first
which is spiritual." '* Therefore the peculiar witness
of these Amens says nothing of the outward Church as
such, but only of the New Man and his eternal life
which grows and works within it, which will not only
outUve the Church's apparent failure and shame, but is
never so fully seen as in that failure. For, as Paul
says, " We which Hve are always delivered unto death
for Jesus' sake, that the Hfe also of Jesus might be
made manifest in our mortal flesh." " Thus the omis
sion of any reference to the Church in these Amens is
itself a lesson, fuU of comfort and instruction for those,
who, like the disciples of old, are perplexed and troubled
at the cross and shame, which must ever attend Christ's
true body. Such may learn here the appointed way,
in and by which alone the eternal life is fully mani
fested. Now this teaching as to the eternal life, and its
varied works and manifestations, though implied in all
the writings of the New Testament, is yet in some
sense distinctive of St John : for he dwells upon it
with a persistence which makes it the one idea of his
Gospel, his Epistles, and his Apocalypse. In each he
shows in different forms the workings of this one Hfe,
first in Christ's flesh, then in believers, then in the
's 1 Cor. XV. 46. " 2 Cor. iv. 10, 11.

AND THE DISCIPLE. 9
course of this world. First in his Gospel the eternal
Hfe is seen in the beloved Son, rather than in those
whom He makes sons and heirs with Him ; but surely
seen in Him, as Firstborn and Firstfruits, that it may
be received by others through Him. Therefore he tes
tifies of Him, " in whom is life," '^ and that " God so
loved the world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life."''' Then in his Epistle,
written when the other Apostles had already been
gathered home, and when St John remained the sole
survivor of the favoured twelve who had walked with
Christ on earth, the one thing he presses upon his
brethren is, that the eternal life, which he had seen on
earth in Christ, was a life which was to be continued
and manifested in all beHevers. Did any fear that,
when John was gone, the last undoubted Hnk with
Christ would be taken from the Church, and that it
would be left to a second-hand tradition, which is un
certain, or to a letter or writing, which, as it would
requfre interpretation, might be misunderstood or even
falsified. The Apostle's answer is that he has told them
of an " eternal life," which he has " seen," and even
" shown " before them ; that they are called to share it,
because God gives us this Hfe, and invites us, not to
fellowship with an Apostle only, but with Himself, even
" fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus
Christ ; " '^ no longer therefore to live our natural sel
fish life, but to " walk even as Christ walked ; " '* for
" now are we the sons of God," '® and therefore, " as He
's S. John i. 4. " 1 S. John ii. 6'.
'« S. John iii. 16. "> 1 S. John iii. 1.
" 1 S. John i. 1-3.

10 THE AMEN,
is, so are we in this world ; " ^° that therefore as " He
laid down His life for us, we ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren ; " ^' for " if God so loved us, we ought
also to love one another." ^^ The whole of the Epistle
is but a reiterated declaration that " God hath given
to us eternal Hfe," and that the elect are called to live
in and manifest it.^ And what is his Eevelation but
the opening of the mystery of the manifestation and
development of this same Hfe in the wider sphere of a
fallen but redeemed creation, out of which evil is to be
at last for ever put away by the coming in and revela
tion of the Hfe and glory and kingdom of the Son of
God.^* In each and all John's witness is of the same
eternal Hfe, which is to conquer and inherit all.
And this, as it seems to me, is the teaching which
more than any other is requfred both by the church and
world at this day. For many things show us that " it
is the last time " ; and the " last time," as it is marked
above all others by " many antichrists,"^' — powers
which would take the place in us which of right
belongs to Christ and the eternal life which He has
brought us, — needs very speciaUy that testimony
respecting this life, of which St John is the pecuHar
witness. The other Apostles have each their special
truth, suited to some stage of the church or individual.
Of these Paul's truth comes first, and stands to the
church and to each soul, as it stands in Scripture, as the
first teaching which we need to set us at peace with
God through faith in Christ Jesus. He meets us as we
start ; and at this stage his words, as to our ruin and
¦ 2 1 s. John iv. 17. =« 1 S. John v. 11, 12.
" 1 S. John iii. 16. ^4 jjg^^ ^ ^g . ^j_ j_
^ 1 S. John iv. 11. 2» 1 S. John ii. 18.

AND THE DISCIPLE. 11
the righteousness which is by faith, are those which are
most suited to, and therefore naturaUy most prized and
dwelt on by us. At such a stage John's teaching,
though we may read it, does not really meet us. Paul
is our guide, and with him we are occupied with our
own acceptance before God, and with churches and
church questions ; in a word with those truths, or rather
with truth under those forms, which Paul ever ministers
to us. If we advance we soon come to the truth which
the Apostle James teaches, touching the moralities
which belong to and must accompany Christian doc
trine. We go on again, and come to Peter's truth,
addressed not to churches or church-teachers, as with
Paul, but to the " strangers scattered " ^^ on earth, who
yet are " elect to an inheritance reserved in heaven for
them." His words, so full of the sufferings of Christ
and the glory which should follow, and of our sufferings
and glory, if we remain faithful, are now the teaching
which seems most needful for us. Once more we
advance, and so come to John, and to his witness as to
the eternal Hfe, which has dwelt in man, and which the
sons of God are caUed to mamfest. This is the teach
ing which seems peculiarly fitted for a time when the
outward Church is fallen, and when, as in the " last
time " which St John speaks of, carnal church rule
prevails, so that, though John writes unto the church,
Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence,
receiveth him not, and forbiddeth them that would,
and casteth the brethren out of the church.^^ John
soars up heavenward, like the eagle,^' when all that
2« 1 S. Peter i. 1-4. eagle, (see Rev. iv. 7,) has been
"' 2 S. John 9-11. assigned to S. John and Ms
^' By universal consent the Gospel by the church in all ages,
fourth cherubic form, that of the

12 THE AMEN,
can only walk on earth appears to fail. At such a
stage something beyond mere church-teaching is needed
by us ; for the trouble is that men are in high places
in the church who seem unable to recognise Christ's
life and works, when these are manifested as a present
reality in His despised yet living members. Therefore
the disciple whom Jesus loved becomes the witness of
the eternal Ufe, which shines only the brighter even
though the church be betrayed and her outward form
be broken by man's wickedness ; that Hfe which is
God's own, to be most fully seen, not in escaping the
cross, but in triumphing over it. This teaching will
last us to the end ; and like John will tarry till Christ
comes ; as He said, " If I wiU that he tarry till I come,
what is that to thee ? Follow thou me."^*
It is this teaching which the reiterated Amens sum
up, showing us the course and stages of that eternal
Hfe which is given us in Christ Jesus. I have akeady
said, that there are twelve sayings of our Lord's, which
are thus introduced. In some of' these sayings, the
reiterated Amen occurs but once ; in others, twice ; in
others, thrice ; in two instances, no less than four times ;
the number of reiterations in each instance depending,
if I mistake not, on the special importance or apparent
strangeness of the testimony to which they are appended.
But there are only twelve sayings which are thus dis
tinguished from the rest of our Lord's words. The first
tells us of the Sphere or Home of the New Man : heaven,
long shut to man, is now re-opened to himj'" The
second shows how alone we enter this home, by a Ke/w
Birth, involving a passing through the waters, that is a
2' S. John xxi. 22. s» Chap. ii. 51

AND THE DISCIPLE. 13
death to present nature, in the power of God's spfrit.''
The third tells out the Law of the Hfe of this new man;
that he does nothing from self, but only what the
Father doeth ; that therefore, instead of losing a Hfe
and being judged, like the corrupt old man, who does
all from self and ruins all, the new man quiekeneth
whom he will, and hath authority to execute judgment
also, because he is the Son of Man.'^ The fourth tells
us of his Meat, the living Word, that bread which comes
down from heaven, that a man may eat and not die.^'
The fifth shows us the Liberty which he has and gives ;
even to be free from sin ; for whosoever committeth sin
is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the
house for ever, but the son abideth ever.'* The sixth
declares his Divinity, that, as he " proceeded forth
and came from God," he is partaker of God's nature,
and can truly say " I am." '^ The seventh describes
his Service, as a shepherd with his sheep, first walking
with them where they walk, and then laying down his
life for them that they may live.'^ The eighth more
fully opens his Sacrifice, and its results, showing that
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit;
that therefore he that loveth his life shall lose it, and
he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto
life eternal .'' The ninth shows us his Lowliness, and
that disciples are cleansed, and God is glorified by his
humiliation.'* In the tenth we are shown his Glory,
that he reveals God, so that he that hath seen the Son

" Chap. iii. 3, 5. "^ Chap. viii. 48-58.
s« Chap. V. 19-22. == Chap. x. 1-18.
=» Chap. vi. 26 58. " Chap. xii. 24-26.
SI Chap. viii. 31-35. «' Chap. xiii. 1-32.

14 THE AMEN,
hath seen the Father also.'* In the eleventh we have
his Sorrow a/ad Joy.*° The twelfth and last shows us
his Perfecting; the end, even as the beginning, of this
wondrous Hfe, being still marked by the same entfre
surrender of self to God in everything.*'
Such is the series, each stage of which unveils some
further truth or new aspect of the distinctive life of " the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true hoHness."*'' The first six are mainly doctrinal,
the latter six are all practical. Throughout it is, as I
have afready said, not so much the outward form, in
which Christ first comes, which here is drawn ; that
form which is our likeness rather than His own ; the veil
under which the real man is hidden, for He was made
« in the likeness of sinful flesh," « " made flesh," **
nay even " made sin for us "; *^ but rather the " new
creature "*^ which lies hid under and breaks forth from
that outward form, when, as it must be, it is marred
and broken to put on its true glory. And what a sight
it is ! The whole universe contains no wonder equal to
this of man reformed by God into His own image.
Such a man belongs to heaven and earth ; nay more,
heaven and earth belong to him, for he is " hefr of
all."*' He is indeed the image of aU worlds, for the
essences of all things, matter and spirit, seen and
unseen, temporal and eternal, all are hidden in him.
He is even the " image and glory of God"; ** for there
is nothing in him which does not show something ot
^ Chap. xiv. 8-14. « 2 Cor. v. 21.
" Chap. xvi. 16-25. "= 2 Cor. v. 17.
" Chap. xxi. 15-23. " Heb. i. 2 ; Rom. viii. 17 ;
« Eph. iv. 24. and 1 Cor. iii. 21-23.
« Rom. viii. 3. *^ 1 Cor. xi. 7 ; Col. i. 15.
« S. John i. 14.

AND THE DISCIPLE. 15
God, nor anything in God which may not be seen in
him, even while he is in this world. Thus linked with
all ; in spirit with God and all good spirits ; for his
will is in union with the will and purpose of God, the
Father of spirits, who is a spirit ; and in body with the
world and all its creatures and powers, which shall in
due time be re-headed and reconciled in him ; for this
new man shall draw and bring all things to himself, as
a loadstone draws fron ; he is able to act with and have
power upon all, not on creatures only, but on God
Himself also. The shadowy body of sense, our raiment
of humiliation, for a season hides this new man from
us ; yet there are times, as we see in Christ's transfigu
ration, when an earnest of his glory is seen even here
by some of those who are his fellow-heirs. And though
the appointed way for this new man, now as of old,
must He along the highway of the holy cross ; though
shame and sorrow are his portion here, for he is ever a
*' stone which the builders disallow";** though he finds
scant welcome, few knowing what he really is, or, if
they know it, confessing him in bis humiliation ; though
he seems shut up and shut out from much which others
enjoy, having it may be less of this world than some of
the poorest here ; yet all things serve him ; all things
are his ; nor can anything in the end resist his rightful
authority. Of course, according to the law referred to by St
Paul, we cannot expect to understand all that is written
of this life, unless we have it quickened and growing
and working in us ; for who can know the things of a
man, unless he have first received a man's spfrit ? '° Even
" S. Matt. xxi. 42. =» 1 Cor. ii. 11

16 THE AMEN.
possessing this Hfe, if we are only babes, if heaven is
not yet open to us, we shaU find many things said of
the new man which must be hard to be understood,
though these same things may be the daily experience
of others of our brethren. Only let us follow on to
know the Lord ; and then the things which we cannot
now receive will one day be plain, and where we cannot
now follow we shall follow hereafter. God has provided
for every stage, even as He has provided for all. Not
without a purpose has He given four Gospels, three of
which show us the Christ, that is the new man, either
as Son of Abraham, or Son of Adam, or as Servant of
God, that is in His earthly, rather than His heavenly,
relationships, that we, as sons of Abraham, and of
Adam, or as God's servants, may see what we can of
Him in these lower aspects and relations, till we are
able to see Him as Son of the Father also, and, so
seeing, learn to walk as sons of God with Him. The
Hfe in each case is the Hght of men. Just in propor
tion as we do the works we understand the doctrine.
This, then, is our subject, the eternal life, which
was with the Father, and has been manifested unto us.
Most men are now content with the bare tradition of
this Hfe, and look upon it as a thing well nigh imattain-
able, or to be attained only in the world to come. But
the Hfe has been, and may be, and shall be, manifested
here. Seeing is not being ; but seeing may help us,
not only to understand what man's true Hfe really is,
but also to draw nearer to Him who is our Hfe and
ever near us, that so, with open face beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, we may be changed into
the same image. Amen.

THE NEW MAN 17

FIEST "YERILT, YERILY."
THE HOME OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John i. 50, 51.)
The first great question of the Old Testament is,
" Where art thou ? " ' This is God's question, addressed
to faHen man, calHng him to consider where he now is,
whether his present state is right, and why he is not
still with Him who made him. The first question of
the New Testament is, " Where is He ? "^ asked by
men who have just been awakened by heavenly light
to feel they need a God and Saviour, and who desire to
know where He may be found ; the answer to which is
immediately given by the Evangelist, — " Behold, a
Vfrgin shaU conceive and bear a Son, and they shall
call His name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is,
God with us." God's question reveals man's state,
that he is not where God placed him. Man's question
draws forth the purpose of God's heart, that " God is
with us," fallen as we are, and that our nature, spite of
ovu: fall, is His tabernacle.
The first of the reiterated Amens touches both
these truths. Our Lord thus opens the series :
" Verily, Verily, I say unto you. Henceforward ye shall
see heaven opened, and angels of God ascending and
• Gen. iii. 9. « S. Matt. ii. 2.

18 THE HOME OF
descending upon the Son of Man " ; words which imply
that heaven, man's proper home, long shut, shall now
be opened, and that all that man has lost shall be
restored in and through his heir, that is, the " Son of
Man." Thus the first "Verily, Verily," declares the
proper Home of the New Man. Heaven is his home :
heaven again is opened to him. The old man by dis
obedience lost this home, the Paradise in which as
God's son he could converse with and see God ; and is
shut out and shut up in bondage in outward nature,
because, having lost God's life, he is unfit for heaven.
The new man, formed by the indweUing of the Word
of God, and " renewed in knowledge after the image of
Him that created him,"' by a necessary law of his life,
which is of God and heaven, through putting off and
dying to the old and fleshly life, comes back again to
opened heavens and to thefr angel hosts, as to his true
home and proper dwelling-place. This is the witness
borne by the first reiterated Amen : " Verily, Verily,
Henceforward* ye shall see heaven opened, and angels
of God ascending and descending upon the Son of
Man." These words were spoken by One who had just had
heaven opened to Him, who being found in fashion as
a man humbled Himself and became obedient, not
only to death, even the death of the cross, but also to
that mystic death in baptism, which showed to men
the one only way by which as fallen creatures they
» Col. iii. 10. pray in the Greneral Confession,
* The words here, air' Spn, "that we may hereafter live a
are rendered " hereafter " in our godly, righteous, and sober
Authorised Version, and when life ; " that is, not at some future
our Version was made this was time, but " from this time for-
a correct ;translation. So we ward."

THE NEW MAN. 19
could come back to God's kingdom. Therefore, when
in submission to the Baptist's witness, all the people
were baptized, — thus, though they understood it not,
confessing man's state, as by nature dead to God, and
that only by death to this nature can any be delivered,
— " it came to pass, that Jesus also was baptized, and
as He came up out of the water heaven was opened to
Him, and a voice from heaven said unto Him, Thou
• art my beloved Son : in thee I am well pleased." ^
Thus was heaven opened again to man. Then He, to
whom it was thus opened, comes forth to tell men of
thefr true home, and how it may again be reached and
entered : not by hiding from ourselves our present
state, that we are dead to God and faUen from Him ;
but by confessing all this, first by a mystic death in
the baptismal waters, when we are sacramentally buried
with our Head, and then by dying and being buried
with Him in that other greater baptism, which He
spoke of when He said, " I have a baptism to be bap
tized with, and how am I straitened until it be accom-
pHshed";^ in the assurance that when we thus take
our true place, as dead to God, and subject to His judg
ment. He will take His place as Saviour, and say to us,
as He said to Christ, when He took our place, " Thou
art my beloved son." AU this indeed, of the way of
man's return to his true home, from which he feU by
disobedience, though set forth in type in Christ's bap
tism, does not eome out in word until the second
" Verily, Verily," which tells us that the way into the
kingdom is only through those deep waters which
Jordan typified. But the blessed fact that heaven is
= S. Luke iii. 21, 22. ' S. Luke xii. 50.
c2

20 THE HOME OF
henceforth opened to man, — that he shall again see
that world of Hght and love, for which he was formed,
and from which he has so long been banished, — that
he shall be made a new creature, fit to deal with spirit
ual things, not only man, but " Son of Man," begotten
again to a Hvely hope by Jesus Christ, — and that in his
way back to his true home he shall be conscious of
heavenly companions, angels of God, ascending and
descending on him, — all this is witnessed in this first
"Amen, Amen," thus showing the true home of the
new man, that is, of man renewed through Christ
Jesus. The old man is of the earth, and, akin and
bound to earth, he neither cares for, nor sees, the
things of heaven. But the new man is of heaven ;
and, heavenly in his birth, even while on earth can
walk in and show the Hfe and Hght of heaven. This
is the burden of the first reiterated Amen : " Ye
shall see heaven opened, and angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man."
I have said that this comes out in the witness borne
by Christ, immediately after His baptism, to the dis
ciples first gathered to Him. These were men all
sprung from the stock of Israel, fallen, as the Church is
now, under an alien rule, and tom within by endless
separations. But, though fallen, they were not for
saken. A witness, sent from God, had come preaching
repentance. And not a few had felt his words were
true, who, having for a season been his disciples,
through his teaching come ere long to be disciples of a
higher Master. Some, like Andrew, by their earthly
teacher are directed to the Lord Himself.' Others,
' S. John i. 35-37.

THE NEW MAN. 21
Hke Peter, are " brought to Jesus " by some brother in
the flesh, who, having first followed one sent of God,
is now following the Lord.^ Some again, Hke Philip,
are " found and called " directly by the Lord Himself,
as it is written, " Jesus findeth Philip " :* while others,
like Nathaniel, are called by those whom Christ has
called,'" who are perhaps the commonest type of true
disciples. It is to one of these last, and not to John
or Peter, that our Lord specially addresses this " Amen,
Amen," saying, " Henceforward ye shall see " ; for the
promise of " opened heavens " is to all, even to the
weakest and least distinguished of His true disciples.
But something must be learnt ere this is reached. The
disciple has to learn that he is seen, before he hears
what he shall see. So our Lord, before He says, " Ye
shall see heaven opened," first says, " Before that
Philip called thee, I saw thee."" For we must be
made to feel that our Lord sees us through and through
before we can be taught what we ourselves shall see in
due season. Then follows the confession, the result of
feeHng ourselves known, — " Eabbi, thou art the Son of
God ; thou art the King of Israel." And then come
the words, " Because I said, I saw thee, thou believest.
Thou shalt see greater things than these. Verily,
Verily, I say unto you. Henceforward ye shall see
heaven opened, and angels of God ascending and
descending on the Son of Man."
Now this promise of Christ refers to that which
had in vision been revealed of old, when at Bethel
Jacob saw a ladder linking heaven with earth, with
angels of God ascending and descending on it, and the
« S. John i. 40-42. '» S. John i. 46.
• S. John i. 43. " S. John i. 48.

22 THE HOME OF
Lord Himself above, saying to weary man, " Behold,
I am with you " ; forcing Jacob to say, " The Lord is
in this place, and I knew it not : this is none other
than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.'^ '^
All this is here revealed, not in vision, but as a present
fact, to which, even if we see it not, this first reiterated
Amen of the True Witness bears sure testimony, de
claring that communion with the unseen world is
again restored to man in Christ, that heaven so long
shut is henceforth open to him, because our nature is
none other than the house of God, and even this flesh
has become through grace the gate of heaven ; yea,
that the Lord Himself is in this place, even though we
knew it not, but have lain down to sleep, Hke Jacob,
with stones for piUows, as if there was no present God.
Christ's flesh is the ladder joining heaven and earth.
And in making this revelation, this first " Verily,
Verily," further declares man's proper name, lost in
Adam, but restored again in Christ Jesus, that he is
not " seed of the woman " only, great as are the glories
which gather round this name, but " Son of Man,"
hefr of undivided man, before separation of any kind
had entered in. But upon the full import of this title^
" Son of Man," I will not enter here, as it comes before
us more fuUy in the testimony " as to the Divine Nature
of the new man in Christ Jesus. I tum rather to the
promise, that " henceforward we shaU see heaven opened,
and angels ascending and descending upon the Son
of Man." The promise is, first, that man shall henceforth see
his long-lost heavenly home. Is it then possible for
" Gen. xxxiii. 12-17. " In the Sixth " Verily, Verily."

THE NEW MAN. 23
us here to come to opened heavens ? Is not heaven
further than the sun ; and is it not therefore simply
incredible that we should see or hold communion with
it ? No — Christ's words are true. We may through
Him here enter heaven and enjoy God's presence as
reaUy and fully as His saints of old, from Adam in
Paradise to John in Patmos. Heaven is not far off.
Heaven is our home. Nothing but our flesh, with its
fallen self-hood and unbelief, hinder our seeing the
kingdom which is at hand.'* For what is heaven but
the spirit-world of light, which is lost or shut to the
natural man, only because by the fall the life of God is
crushed, and spiritual sight and sense are gone, so that
man though a spirit is content to live in earthly things,
not indeed without cravings for a spfrit-home, as every
false religion and superstition testify, nor without cease
less protests, in his yearnings, hopes, and fears, nay
even in his very dreams, that the outward world is not
the only one. For indeed man is a spirit, in a house
of clay, and therefore, though he knows it not, is an
inhabitant of an inward, as weU as of an outward,
world. Outwardly indeed, as in the present body and its
life, we are in a world lighted only by the sun of nature ;
but inwardly our spirits even now are in a spfrit-world,
which only is not opened to the natural man, because
to open it to such would be to open the dark world, into
which by sin we all have fallen. But if by grace man
is right with God, — if through Christ he is brought
back in spirit from self-will and self-love to trust God,
— the opening of the unseen only opens again the
world of light and love, which is man's proper home
" S. Matt. iii. 2

24 THE HOME OF
and true dweUing-place. What therefore will be mani
fested to each man at his death may be anticipated
here, and entered into more or less, just as we live
in Christ, and Christ in us. Opening heaven is but
opening the inward spiritual world, which mercifully
is shut to us till we are restored to peace with God
through Christ Jesus.
Let us take some examples of this " opened heaven "
from the experience, first of Christ, and then of His
disciples. First comes the opening of heaven which took
place at Christ's baptism. Here no details are given
as to what He saw. The fact only is recorded that
" when aU the people were baptized, it came to pass
that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven
was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily
shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from
heaven, which said. Thou art my beloved Son, in thee
I am well pleased " ; " and that, as an almost immediate
result, he was specially tempted of the devil, a voice
from hell at once questioning the truth witnessed by
the voice from heaven, and saying again and again,
"If thou be the Son."'« All this is surely still ful-
fiUed in Christ's members. What they see may not at
first be clear. They may see no more of that spfritual
world which is opened to them than a new-born babe
sees of the outward world which it has come into.
They may even mis-see the things around them, as we
do for years on earth : they may for awhile " see men
as trees walking."" They may as yet have no words
to speak of what they see : the very meaning of it may
'» S. Luke iii. 21, 22. " S. Luke iv. 3, 9.
" S. Mark viii. 24.

THE NEW MAN. 25
be altogether hidden from them. Yet heaven is opened
to them : other eyes can see this, for the spirit like a
dove now abides on them; — no longer "the mark of
the beast,'"* whether of the serpent, dog, or fox, but
" the spirit like a dove," of steadfast love and gentle
ness ; — and (what they cannot forget) a voice has
sounded in their ears, " Thou art my beloved child."
Till now, though of God's elect, " to whom," while even
in the flesh, " pertaineth the adoption, and the glory,
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the
service of God, and the promises,'"* because as yet but
children in the faith, we may have differed nothing
from servants,^* though we are called in Christ to
inherit all. But now we have heard the heavenly
witness, " Thou art my beloved son," sealing the truth
of our baptism, that our Father loves and is well
pleased with us. Now we know that we are sons : a
voice from hell may challenge this truth, tempting us
to prove we are sons by what we can do, rather than
by the fact that as children we can in all things trust
our Father. But the voice from hell cannot prevail.
Heaven is opened to us ; and, if it be but for a glimpse,
that glimpse can never be forgotten.
As a second example of " opened heavens," let us
take the scene commonly called the Transfiguration,
which also shows what Christ's members may attain to
while in this present Hfe. For Christ's transfiguration
is as surely a stage of Christian experience as His
baptism, fasting, or temptation ; not perhaps so early
a stage, for the transfiguration only very shortly pre
cedes His death ; yet one which may most certainly be
" Rev. xiii. 17. " Rom. ix. 4. " Gal.iv 1-3.

26 THE HOME OF
known, if we follow on to be partakers of His sufferings.
For it is not in the Gospel which shows Christ as the
eternal Word^ but in those which reveal Him as
Abraham's seed and Son of Man, that this scene is
recorded, to teach all Abraham's sons, yea, even all
the sons of Adam, that they may reach, not to opened
heavens only, or to the voice saying, " Thou art my
beloved son," but to a communion with saints, such
as is recorded here, to speak and walk with those, who,
though they passed hence ages ago, are yet, like Moses
and Elias, very near, even caring for, and talking with,
us. And indeed may we not ask whether this trans
figuration was a change in the Beloved Son, so that
He appeared as He was not before ; or was it not rather
in His disciples, so that they now saw Him as He had
always been ; living in two worlds, both in the seen and
unseen ; walking on the earth, and yet " the Son of
Man who is in heaven";^' talking with men, yet com
muning with the departed, in the very Hght of God ?
Whichever view we take, the lesson is the same. We
may come, and indeed " have come, to the spirits of
just men made perfect." ^^
I almost fear to speak of what is opened here* Yet
the Gospels declare these things; and, as a stage of
Christ's life, they must, sooner or later, be a stage of
our experience, if to us to live is Christ. For He is
the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. If therefore
He Hves in us, we must, like Him, be begotten of the
Holy Ghost ; and then, like Him, be men of sorrows,
and acquainted with grief. If He Hves in us, men wiU
esteem us stricken and smitten of God : we must, if
2' S. John iii. 13. 22 Heb. xii. 22, 23.

THE NEW MAN. 27
hke Him, be numbered among the transgressors.^' But
there are other things which come with this experience,
and among them is this foretaste of the glory, which
is to be revealed in us ; that as we pray,^* with some of
those who love us most, the appearance of our coun
tenance shall change, and heavenly companions be seen
communing with us, speaking of the Exodus ^^ which
we must accomplish, from that city which spiritually is
called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was cruci
fied.,^^ when through the strait and narrow gate of death
we shall go out for ever from the house of bondage.
Surely it is a wondrous scene, that man, while yet on
earth, and stiU clothed with the body of humiliation,
should in spirit hold dfrect and conscious communion
with the saints of ages past who are within the veil.
Yet this too is part of the promise : " Ye shall see
heaven opened, and angels of God, ascending and
descending on the Son of Man."
But this blessing, Hke aU things spfritual, is not
without its peril to imperfect disciples. We see this
in Peter and the two brethren who were with him.
That opening of heaven and communion with the
departed, which is safe and blessed for the Perfect
Man, awakens thoughts in imperfect disciples, which,
if followed out by them, would give to creatures a place
and honour which belongs to God alone. For while
the Perfect One calmly communes with the departed,
touching His departure out of this world unto the
Father, the imperfect disciples are saying, " Let us
make here three tabernacles," not only " one for thee,"

" Isa. liii. 3, 4, 12. =< S. Luke ix. 28-30.
" S. Luke says, %\^ov tV %^oSov aiirov, v. 31. ^' Rev. xi. 8.

38 THE HOME OF
but " one for Moses, and one for Elias." ^' They would
give a place to the departed, which is not rightly theirs.
And that this is a peril ever attending the first opening
of communication with the spirit-world, is seen not
here only, but in the other cases recorded in Scripture,
where even the beloved John, once and again, when
heaven opened to him, fell down to worship before the
feet of the angel who spake with him ; and was cor
rected by the words, " See thou do it not, for I am thy
fellow-servant, and of thy brethren which have the tes
timony of Jesus: worship God."^' The Church's his
tory is full of examples of this. That Church, above
the rest, which claims peculiarly to be St Peter's, has
practically repeated Peter's words as to making taber
nacles for the departed. But the Church of Eome could
not have erred here as she has, had she never had visions
akin to that set before us in the Transfiguration. Men
do not worship the host of heaven unless they see them.
Such an error shows how near the saints have been to
some ; how truly their presence has been felt as a reahty.
But spite of their presence we are called back to " Jesus
only," 2* by the voice which says, " This is my beloved
Son : hear ye Him."
How wise and loving then was the Hand which at
the fall at once shut Paradise to man, severing him from
a communion with the spirit-world, for which, as fallen,
he was unfit, — ^for there like can only reach to Hke, —
and gave him instead at the gate of Eden cherubic
forms,'* "figures of the true,"" instead of purely spiritual
communications; forbidding him, as fallen, that is in
2' S. Luke ix. 33. =» Gen. iii. 24.
¦' Rev. xix. 10, and xxii. 8, 9. »' Heb. ix. 24.
^» S. Matt. xvii. 8.

THE NEW MAN. 2»
self-hood, to seek communion with the unseen, either
by wizards, necromancers, or consulters with familiar
spfrits ; '^ because, as fallen, by laws which the old man
Httle understands, in the spirit-world he could only reach
spfrits like himself, by whom he would be worse de
ceived ; but which yet opens heaven again as soon as
man is fitted in and by Christ to return to such com
munications. But even disciples have to learn how to
use this communion, for Hke all good things it may be
awfully abused. The peril may be judged from this,
that, even when with the Master His dearest disciples
first come to opened heavens, the sight awakens thoughts
and words which need correction. We need to be edu
cated to behave ourselves in the new and glorious home
to which our Father's grace brings us.
Such are some of the openings of heaven vouchsafed
to the Son of Man, in all which, as members of His
body, we are caUed to share with Him. That at His
baptism is, I trust, generally known : that at the Trans
figuration is much less understood, only because few
follow on by a daily death " to apprehend that for which
they are apprehended. Lest, however, any should sup
pose that such visions are peculiar to the Head, Holy
Scripture has recorded other like openings of heaven,
granted not to the Lord only, but to His disciples. To
take all the instances recorded would fill a volume.
Two vouchsafed to Peter and John, types, as the Church
has long seen,'* of the active and contemplative life,
may suffice as examples of the way God's saints are led
to this experience.

" Dent, xviii. 9-12. '* See below, on the Twelfth
" 1 Cor. XV. 31. " Verily, Verily," page 262.

80 THE HOME OF
Let us look then at the vision granted to Peter,''
when "he saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel
descending unto him, as it were a great sheet, knit at
the four corners, and let down to earth, wherein were
all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild
beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the afr " ; all
which were seen, not only " let down " out of heaven,
but " received up again together " ; which taught him,
what he had not learnt, though he had followed Christ
for years, and had received the promised Spfrit and the
tongue of fire, — the lesson we are all so slow to learn, —
that we " should caU no man common or unclean." ^
If few as yet have learnt this, it is only because few as
yet have seen this vision, which only comes when such
as have known Christ after the flesh are brought through
the outpouring of the Spirit to know Him in the spirit.
This is an experience pecuHar to the Book in which
it is recorded, the purpose of which, (for each book of
Scripture has its special aim,) is to show how those
who have known Christ after the flesh may be led to
know Him in the spirit, and so be brought from the
Old into the New Covenant, from the letter to the
spirit, from bondage to true liberty. We do not find
this experience in the Gospels. In them we have types
of the experience of disciples while as yet they know
Christ only after the flesh ; when, having left their nets
or earthly calHngs at His word, they emerge from being
mere Jews or John's disciples to walk with and be fol
lowers of the Lord ; while yet they still are " carnal,
babes in Christ " ; '^ following Him indeed, but most
unlike Him; still full of self; disputing who shall be
'= Acts X. 9- 16. =« Acts X. 28. " 1 Cor. iii. 1.

THE NEW MAN. 31
greatest : striving while He is submitting; soon stumbled
at His cross ; yet truly loving Him, and gifted and sent
out by Him to preach His gospel, and to do some of His
works ; bT;it all the while regarding Christ as separate
from them, as One to be followed indeed, but not yet
one with them and in them. This latter experience
comes out in the book which we call The Acts of the
Apostles, where we are shown how carnal disciples be
come spiritual, and learn and prove that Christ lives in
them, by His indwelHng Spfrit. Alas ! how few here
reach this : how many are offended if they are even
told that till they reach it' they are carnal. And yet as
long as we only know Christ as outside of, rather than
as formed and growing in us, though we may have
given up much to follow Him, and like Peter have con
fessed Him Lord and Christ, and by Him and with Him
been used to feed thousands, we may still only know
Him after the flesh, and be still strangers to the power
of His resurrection.'* We shall deny this till the
brighter light begins to dawn. We shall surely confess
it when we reach to that which Peter saw when heaven
opened to him. Then we may see, what we have long
confessed, that " there is nothing unclean of itself" ; '¦'
that " to the pure all is pure " ; ** that a disciple of Christ
may, nay is commanded to, " eat," *' that is, receive and
conjoin to himself, all sorts of creatures ; that as all had
descended, so all should ascend ; that, though they had
been unclean, " God had cleansed them " ; *^ because
something had been done for them by the wondrous
incarnation and resurrection of the Eternal Son, by
's Phil. iii. 10. " Acts x. 13.
M Rom. xiv. 14. « Acts x. 15.
<» Titus i. 15.

32 THE HOME OF
which all creaturely defilement, be it what it may, had
been and could be put away. Who really understands
this truth, that by becoming man, — who is himself an
epitome of creation, containing the essences and Hves
and faculties of all creatures, — He by whom all things
were made, in whom all things consist,*' has Hnked
Himself to ail, and by His blood has cleansed all ?
" For it pleased the Father that in Him should all ful
ness dwell, that having made peace through the blood
of His cross, by Him He might reconcile aU things to
Himself, whether they be things in earth, or things in
heaven."** Heaven opened now teaches Peter this.
Many a day had he been in bondage as to clean and
unclean, not through any carelessness about God's will,
but rather through the desfre to please Him, or at least
to keep His word. Now the meaning and end of Christ's
Incarnation, and of His offering, begin to open to him, —
the meaning of His coming down, as the sheet was let
down out of heaven, — the meaning of His stooping, as
He says, to be " a worm and no man," *' — of His be
coming a Lamb,*^ yea and a Lion also ; *^ for it is as
" the Lion of the tribe of Judah " that " He opens
the book," ** — the meaning of His going back into
heaven in our nature, (even as the sheet was taken up
again with all the living creatures,) and appearing there
as the Lamb and the Lion also,** — all this is gradually
learnt. And when a soul, like Peter here, reaUy sees
what is involved in the creature's return in Christ to
God, — when we see how in Christ all the faculties in
¦" Col. i. 16, 17. " Isa. xxxviii. 13 ; Lam. iii.
" Col. i. 19, 20. 10 ; Hos. xiii. 7.
« Psalm xxii. 6. « Rev. v. 5.
« S. John i. 29. « Rev. v. 5, 6.

THE NEW MAN. SS
man, the lowest as well as the highest, have been sanc
tified and raised from earth to heaven, — how not the
ox or lamb only, that is service and meekness, but even
the Hon and eagle,'* that is force and keenest insight,
may one and all be consecrated, and stand around the
throne, — ^then is learnt the lesson which Peter slowly
apprehended, — that we " should call no man common
or unclean"; a wondrous lesson surely, now as of old only
to be learnt, as Peter learnt it here, through " opened
heavens." But there are visions still more wondrous than this,
for Peter's example shows us only such openings of
heaven as may be reached by those who live the active
Hfe of faith and conflict. John shows us those visions
which may and must be seen by the passive suffering
life of contemplation. The man in Patmos, separated
from his brethren, for the word of God and for the
testimony of Jesus Christ, sees things which he must
indeed write in a book and send (for so he is com
manded") to the seven churches, but which the
churches, Hving as they do, will little understand,
though the things seen may be fulfiUing in heaven,
that is the world of spirits, aU around them. I do
not attempt to open these visions. They are like the
heavenly city they speak of, open to aU, but opened
here to few ; with gates that never shut by day, and
there is no night there, but into which there can in no
wise enter anything that defileth, or worketh abomina
tion, or maketh a lie, but only those who are written in
the book of the life of the Lamb, that is the patient life
of self-sacrifice.'^ For as it is the Lamb who alone
=" Eev. iv. 7. »> Rev. i. 9, 11. =^ Rev. xxi. 25, 27.
D

84 THE HOME OF
opens the seven-sealed book, so is it the life of the Lamb
which alone can enter these glories. Glimpses how
ever of these visions must be known to some, for there
will ever be Johns as well as Peters among Christ's
followers ; and such cannot but see what John once
saw ; " how One Hke unto the Son of Man walks in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks ; in priestly
robes ; for is He not the Priest, whose office it is to
keep alive the fire, and trim the Hghts in God's sanc
tuary; but showing the woman's breast,'* for in the
Lord the man is not without the woman, nor the woman
without the man," made again, like Adam unfallen,'^
where there is neither Jew nor Greek, nor male nor
female,'^ but a new creature and a new man in Christ
Jesus.'* This is not the form in which the Son of
Man is seen at first, for to redeem us He took our Hke
ness, " the Hkeness of sinful flesh," '* and was circum
cised upon the eighth day,®* that so, sharing the shame
of our divided nature. He might bear its curse, and
heal the breach, and through death bring us back in
and for Himself, again to bear the undivided image of
Him who formed man in His Hkeness.
AU this is seen at the very beginning of that Eevela
tion, which, from " a door opened in heaven," ®' leads on
to " heaven opened," ®^ when the Priest is seen as King
of kings and Lord of lords, out of whose mouth goeth
>' Rev. i. 13-16. « 1 Cor. xi. 11.
5« " Girt about the paps," v. *« Gen. i. 27, and compare ii.
13. St John here uses the word. 21, 22, and Col. iii. 10.
lituTrhs, which is the woman's ^' Gal. iii. 28.
breast, while ii.6.(os is the breast " 2 Cor. v. 17.
of a man. Compare what is =' Rom. viii. 3, and Phil. ii. 7.
said of the ajigels, iu chap. xv. ™ S. Luke ii. 21, 27.
6 — irepie^&jffjuevoi Trepl ri trr-fiBTj, ^^ Rev. iv. 1.
K.T.\. ^ Rev. xix. 11.

THE NEW MAN. 35
the sharp sword, which must smite all flesh, both of free
and bond, and great and small ; ®' after which is seen
the new heaven and new earth, where there shall be no
more death, and the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband,** with the river of the water
of life, and the tree of Hfe, which bears twelve manner
of fruits, whose leaves are for the healing of the
nations.*' This too surely has been shown to some, but
only shown, now as of old, by the coming to us of one
of the angels which have the seven vials full of the
seven last plagues.** Angels with earthly mercies too
often through our weakness only hide from us the hea
venly city. It is the angel with the plagues, who comes
with judgments on the creature, who yet says, as he
did to John, " Come hither, I will show thee the bride,
the Lamb's wife." Not until these last plagues are
fulfiUed can any enter the temple,*' or see fully the
things within the veil ; for the way into the holiest is
not made manifest while the first tabernacle, in which
we groan, being burdened, is yet standing.** But the
veU, though not yet taken away, is rent ** for aU
through Christ's sufferings. Thus even here may we
get some glimpses of our home.
But does heaven thus open to beHevers now ? Is
it granted to Christians at this day to have the secrets
of the spirit-world revealed in vision to them ? Again
I answer, what is heaven ? Is it not the world of light,
unseen by sense, that spiritual sphere into which man
«s Rev. xix. 15-18. " Eev. xv. 8.
" Rev. xxi. 1, 2. «» Heb. ix. 8, and 2 Cor. v. 1,2.
» Rev. xxii. 1, 2. ® 2 Cor. iii. 16, and S. Matt.
«« Eev. xxi. 9. xxvii. 51, and Heb. x. 20.
D 2

ge THE HOME OF
is brought in Christ, as partaker of His resurrection ;
where things are perceived which flesh and blood can
never see, and joys are tasted which are not of this
world ? So long indeed as we are dead in sins, the
things which occupy us most are the objects which the
outward senses see, or hear, or taste, or handle. In
these man lives, often for years, not wholly without wit
ness of another world, which dimly rises before him in
his fears or aspfrations. But with Christ another world
appears. Spiritual things, of which perhaps we may
have heard, — for in every age God has His witUesses, —
become now matters of experience. Truths, which
have been hid under a veil, begin to open to us. We
now see what we never saw before, the things of Christ,
who is the truth, and the things of God, who is a spirit.
We may as yet little understand what God is opening
to us. But whenever the things of God, once uncon
sidered, occupy our hearts, — when sin, righteousness,
and judgment, are daily before our eyes, — ^when we see
Jesus interceding for us, — stUl more when Holy Scrip
ture is unveUed, so that in the law, the prophets, and
the gospels, we see wonders touching Christ and His
kingdom, which never dawned on us before, — then
heaven is truly opening to us, even if at the time we
know it not.
And the proof is this, that all those truths, which
opened to Christ, or to Peter or John, in the visions
which we have considered, when heaven opened to
them, — whether it be the witness that we are sons, or
the assurance that God is now well pleased, or the con
sciousness that departed saints are very near us, or the
truth that no man henceforth is common or unclean, or
that the risen Lord is walking in our midst, as the

THE NEW MAN. 37
Priest amid the seven golden candlesticks,- -all these
truths will now be matters respecting which we too can
say, not only that we beHeve, but see them ourselves,
though they are not of this world, but of heaven.
Where these are seen, heaven is opened. There may
yet be clouds, — there wUl be clouds, — and we may fear
as we and others enter through them,'* but, spite of
our fears, the cloud itself is but the gate of heaven, and
angel hosts are all around.
For whenever man's true home is opened, the ser
vants of that home also are ^een, even the " angels who
ascend and descend upon the Son of Man"; ever near,
though imseen by sense, ministering to man's wants,"
or directing his steps,'^ or barring his way, if he turns
aside from God;" never waiting to be thanked, con
tent, either in ascending or descending, to honour God
or succour man ; and therefore excelUng in strength,
because they do His will.'* So when heaven opened
to Isaiah, and he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne,
and when at the sight he cried, " I am a man of un
clean lips," a seraph also was seen flying to him with a
Hve coal from off the altar of the Lord, saying, " Lo,
this hath touched thy Hps, and thy sin is purged away.""
So again, when Daniel saw his great vision, and was
fallen to the earth, one whose face was as the light
appeared, and set him upon his knees, and said, " 0
man greatly beloved, unto thee am I now sent. Fear
not ; peace be unto thee; be strong; yea, be strong."'*
Still more does the gospel reveal this intimate sym
pathy between the spirit-world and man. Angels are
™ S. Luke ix. 34. " Psalm ciii. 20.
" 1 Kings xix. 5, 6. " Isa. vi. 1-7.
" Gen. xvi. 9. '« Dan. x. 5-19.
'» Numb. xxii. 24, 26.

88 THE HOME OF
present in the assemblies of believers." The angels
of children behold the face of thefr Father who is in
heaven.'* Yea, there is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.'* The
special promise of this first reiterated Amen is, that
henceforward man shall be conscious of this heavenly
host, and " shaU see angels, ascending and descending
on the Son of Man."
The old man sees nothing of this. To the eye of
sense heaven is closed ; the ministers of heaven are
unperceived, though they are on every hand. But with
the new man and his new life comes, first the faith, and
then the knowledge, of ministering spirits ever present
to keep us in our way. It was so with Christ : it is so
when He is formed in us. Angels were heard singing
at His birth;** angels guide His early steps ; *' angels
minister to Him in His temptation in the wilderness : *^
angels appear strengthening Him in the garden ; *' angels
at His grave roll away the stone, and declare that He
is not here but risen.** He is seen of angels*' first
and last. And as He is, so are we in this world. For
we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His
bones. And therefore we also, even as He, need and
receive this heavenly help, while for a season with Him
we are lower than the angels. For the new man's Hfe
under opened heavens calls for heavenly help. Worldly
aids are not enough for this calHng. Opened heavens
do not deHver man from present want. He to whom
heaven was opened immediately hungered,** and was
" 1 Cor. xi. 10. "2 S. Matt. iv. 11.
" S. Matt, xviii. 10. ss g. Luke xxii. 43.
" S. Luke XV. 10. " S. Matt, xxviii. 2, 6.
«> S. Luke ii. 9, 13. ss j ji^ jjj jg
»' S. Matt. ii. 13. '= S. Matt.iv. 2.

THE NEW MAN. 39
with the wild beasts.*' Nay, opened heavens open
hell. The voice from heaven, witnessing that we are
sons of God, is at once followed by a voice from hell,
calling us to question and doubt our right to this title.**
Often in such temptations nature seems in peril of dis
solution ; but the hosts of heaven are close at hand.
And Hke the prophet's servant, when our eyes are
opened, (and it is the inward eye alone which sees these
things,) we perceive that chariots and horses of fire are
all around, and that they that are wjth us are more than
they that are against us.** Thus does " heaven opened"
show " angels ascending and descending on the Son of
Man," and that the servants of our Father's house are
near. Surely, as one said of old, " he must be the
king's own son, on whom the servants of the king
ascend and descend ; " *° he must be the hefr of heaven
to whom the heavens open.
This, then, is the witness of this first "Amen,
Amen." Heaven is the home of the new man, and holy
angels are his servaUts and companions. TUI man finds
this home he cannot rest. He may be a wanderer in a
desert land, or a captive in prison, though he knows
it not, or a madman, dreaming of wealth, while he
is in beggar's rags ; but whilst he is of the world, he
has no home, for the world has still no heart,*' and
" without hearts there is no home." But the home
is not far off. Heaven is near, for God is near;
and the kingdom of heaven is henceforth open to
all who can believe God. Oh, that He who went
before us may lead us in His way, to see that wondrous
" S. Mark i. 14. ™ Chrysostom, in Joharmem,
«« S. Matt. iii. 17, and iv. 3. Horn. xxi. § 1.
™ 2 Kings vi. 17. " Hoseavii. 11.

40 THE HOME OF
sight, so often partially, so soon fully to be, known,
when opened heavens shall be seen by aU, and the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and aU flesh shall
see it together.*^ As Christ's members we are called to
share this even now with Him. One work of His pro
mised Holy Spfrit is to take of the things of Christ,
(and He says, " AU things that the Father hath are
mine,") and to show them unto us. But only as we
are partakers of His experience can we come where He
is gone before. He came to opened heavens by bap
tism, fasting, and temptation ; by a transfiguration, by
the cross, by resurrection. There is yet no other way.
Flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom. There is
but one way by which our nature can be brought to
God, and that is shown in Christ Jesus. This is the
special burden of the next reiterated Amen, " Verily,
Verily, I say unto thee. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God."
•2 Isa. xl. 5.

THE NEW MAN. 41

SECOND "YEEILY, YERILY."
THE BIRTH OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John iii. 3-13.)
No higher question can be proposed to man than that
of the way by which he may regain his long-lost home.
Let man be what he may, two facts are before him
here : first, that sin and evil are on every hand, seen
not only in the outward troubles which abound every
where, but even more in the inward weakness and
unrest which burden man's spirit ; and secondly, that
all men have some hope or dream of rest and dehver
ance out of all that now confines and disquiets them.
Man, even in his fall, and while he clings to earth, feels
that such a scene of change is not his home ; that there
must be a place of rest somewhere. The first " Verily,
VerUy," tells us that heaven is this home, and that,
though shut through sin, it shall again be, nay even
now is, opened to us. The second " Verily, Verily,"
tells us how to see and enter it. The only way into
heaven is by a new or second birth. " Verily, Verily, I
say unto thee. Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. Verily, Verily, Except a man
be bom of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. Verily, Verily, I say unto you. We
speak that we do know, and testify that which we have

42 THE BIRTH OF
seen. No man hath ascended up to heaven save he
that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man
which is in heaven." '
Now these words at first may seem mysterious, and
even somewhat arbitrary; but if through grace the
light of heaven reach us, we shall see that they simply
announce a fact, and that there is, and can be, no other
way into the kingdom. And our Lord's saying upon
this subject, " No man hath ascended into heaven, but
he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man
which is in heaven," shows both why this second birth
must be, and also how it is effected. Let us mark how
both the questions are answered by these words.
1. First, Why must this be ? Why is a new birth the
only way to enter heaven ? Simply because to live in
heaven we must have the Ufe of heaven. Man can
Uve in no world without its Hfe : he can enter no
world but by a birth : he can therefore only enter
heaven by being bom into it. And so far from there
being anything arbitrary in this, the reason for it lies in
the very nature of things. Each creature can but Hve
in its own proper world ; earthly things in earth, and
heavenly things in heaven. If man then be fallen and
has lost the heavenly Hfe, the one thing he needs is the
restoration of that which he has lost. Till he gets this,
he can no more live in the Paradise for which God
made him, than a man can live on earth without the
life of this world. To return to heaven, therefore, he
must have heaven'i? Hfe requickened in him. To re
enter that world of Hght he must again be bom into it.
To make this clearer, I must here speak of the
' hap. iii. 3-13.

THE NEW MAN. 43
three different worlds in which as men we are, or
have been, or may be. For man stands in relation to
more worlds than one, and, until we see what these
worlds are, we can have no clear conception of the truth
our Lord is here teaching. There is, first, God's world
of light and love, generally called heaven. There is,
secondly, the dark fallen world of self-love, and pride,
and wrath, that is the hellish world, called in Holy
Scripture "the power of darkness";^ and these two
worlds, which are unseen by sense, are, the one un
mixed good, the other unmixed evil ; and there is, thirdly,
this outward seen and temporal world, which is neither
good like heaven, nor evil Hke hell, but which is every
where fuU of figures of the two other worlds, all earthly
good being some reflection of the world of light, all
earthly evil some shadow of the dark world. Each of
these three worlds has its own Hfe, in almost infi
nite variety, depending on the sun and light and air
of each respectively; and to live in any of these
worlds a creature must possess its Hfe ; that of earth to
live on earth ; that of hell or heaven to live in hell or
heaven. Now Scripture plainly tells us of the natural man,
that as to the light-world he is dead ; without God's life,
and " dead in trespasses and sins " ; ' and yet that
while so dead to God he has two other lives, and is
therefore living in two other worlds ; " walking " not
only " according to the course or life of this outward
world," * but also " according to the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit which now worketh in the children
of disobedience " ; ' that thus in his body he lives the life
2 Col. i. 13. ' Eph. ii. 1.
¦* Eph. ii. 2, Ka-rh rhv alava tov Kiff/iov rovrov. ' Eph. ii. 2, 12.

44 THE BIRTH OF
of the seen and outward world, and in his soul the life of
the dark world, with all the restlessness which comes
from pride and self-love;* while his spfrit is dead
to the Hfe of heaven, which must be rekindled in
him, if he is ever again to return to and enter God's
kingdom. But this is not man's proper state, nor that in which
or for which he was created. God created man in His
own image : ' in spirit a creaturely likeness of Himself,
a trinity in unity, with will, reason, and affection ; and
with heaven open to him, in the paradise of God, where
he might converse, not with God alone, but with those
spfritual intelligences which are with God in heaven, —
all of which is now hidden from our eyes,— whUe in his
body, though of the earth, he was so penetrated by the
inward life, as a piece of red-hot fron looks all fire and
not iron till the fire is gone out of it, that no rai
ment was needed, nor was there any shame, for the
light of heaven beaming through aU was His glorious
dress, and he could feel no nakedness, for there was
neither sin nor self-wiU. But the glory soon went ;
the Ufe was quenched. How it was lost is one of the
very first lessons which Holy Scripture teaches.* Man,
trusting to creatures more than God, and thinking in
independence to be as God, fell under the power of
those very creatures over which he had been set as
lord, and out of the world of light which was his true
kingdom. For the He of the serpent, that God was
grudging and untrue, and that man in self-wiU could
be as God, which is the substance of the first and
indeed of every temptation, poisoned and slew man's
" See Ambrose, De bono mortis, o. 12.
' Gen. 1. 26, 27. sGeu. iii. 1-7.

THE NEW MAN. 45
heavenly Hfe, as a serpent's bite kills the outward
life ; and by the poison of this lie he died at once, not
indeed to the outward world, but to the Hfe of heaven,
and fell out of the world of light into that spfritual
darkness and unrest which is his present portion ; by
this inward death as much cut off from God's light-
world as a man who has here lost the earthly Hfe
is cut off from and dead to the things of this present
seen world. Then the glory and the inward joy and
peace all went ; and, a poor fallen creature, he sought
to hide his shame with fig-leaves, and to find his sup
port and joy in the creatures by which he was sur
rounded ; his soul, instead of being a flame of light
and love, turned into a consuming inward fire ; prone
to envy, pride, and wrath ; his love turned to self-love ;
Hke sweetest wine to sourest vinegar ; whUe his body
became subject to aU the powers of this world ; touched,
even as the beasts, by cold and heat, and pain and
want; so weak that every creature can vex it, every
element destroy, and even a look or word trouble it ;
yet, spite of all this, with an inward feeling that he was
made for better things, and is destined one day to rule
aU. Thus feU our father Adam ; and in this state, fallen
from God, he begat sons and daughters in his own
image ; and from him have grown the family of sinners,
who, strangers to their true life, tiU renewed by grace,
can find no joy in peace, and love, and heaven ; and
have no eye for spfritual things, but seek their home
on earth, in the cares and pleasures and labours of this
present Hfe. And we, the fallen children of this fallen
head, like the chUdren of some king who has been
dethroned and carried into captivity, where his children

46 THE BIRTH OF
and children's children have been born slaves, and by
generations of hard bondage have not only weU-nigh
forgotten the tradition of thefr father's glory, but have
become utterly unfit to occupy his kingly place, thefr
unnatural state of bondage being now more natural
to them than a throne and kingdom, — we, the fallen
children of men, have so long been faUen, that we can
scarcely beHeve what man once was, or what is yet his
true kingdom ; that, made in God's image, he once
walked in Paradise with God, and that for this end we
are and were created. So fallen are we that we settle
down here, as if this were our home ; scarcely beUeving
the witness which the gospel brings, that the Hfe
Christ lived is our true life, that He was what man is
called to be, and one day shall be ; no longer slave to
sin and death, but victor over both, and lord of aU
creatures ; and that He comes to give us our true Hfe,
because until it is requickened we are lost, dead to aU
that God has prepared, and yet is keeping for us.
But all this seems gross exaggeration to some.
They allow that they are weak, that they need teaching
and guidance, and even that they may need mercy.
They feel that something is amiss ; that men are not
at rest. But to say that they are dead, without God's
Hght and Hfe, and that they may be conformed to
Christ, who is the image of God, this seems incredible.
Yet Christ and His Apostles say this : indeed this is
the burden of their teaching. This is thefr witness,
that " God hath given to us eternal Hfe," * because
nothing less than this Hfe could really meet our neces
sity ; that " he that believeth on the Son hath ever-
» 1 S.John V. 11.

THE NEW MAN. 47
lasting life, but he that beUeveth not the Son. shall not
see Hfe, but the wrath of God abideth on him ; " '*
and again, that " he that hath the Son hath Hfe, and he
that hath not the Son of God hath not Hfe." " The
mystery of the gospel is that man is dead, and yet
aUve again in Christ, — that there is judgment for, and
yet remission of, sins. This is the threefold witness
of the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood.'^ The
Spirit says, " You hath He quickened, who were dead
in trespasses and sins."" And the Water, that is
baptism, witnesses the same, burying us with Christ,'*
(and we do not bury Hve things but dead things,) out
of the very grave of nature to raise us up new creatures,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost. And the Blood declares the same ; for
Christ said, " This is my blood : drink ye all of it.
For except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the
Son of Man ye have no Hfe in you." " I do not say all
feel this death. This outward life hides it for awhile,
with its present pleasures, or cares, or occupations.
This indeed is the reason why men so love the world,
because it keeps them from coming to themselves;
while the loss of it shows us what poor, empty, restless
souls we are tiU grace finds us. And this too is the
reason why God so often takes these things from His
elect, that in the discovery of their inward want they
may long for their true Hfe, and seeking may find it to
thefr eternal joy. Till that new Hfe is quickened in us
we can no more taste or see the things of God, than
without this earthly Hfe we could know the pains or
>« S. John iii. 36. " Rom. vi. 4 ; Col. ii. 12.
" 1 S. John V. 12. '= S. Matt. xxvi. 29, and S.
12 1 S. John V. 8. John vi. 53, 54.
'3 Eph. ii. 1.

48 THE BIRTH OF
joys of this world. For just as it is only by a partici
pation in the nature of the old man that we can share
his lot, so only by a participation in the nature of God's
Son can we know His life and our true portion in Him.
Conscience tells us that we lack something. We can
not see the things of God — His kingdom may be near,
but till we have His life it is not opened to us. But
instead of being willing to come to ourselves,'* aM to
know our need, and so to come to our Father, to receive
again our true inheritance, how many inventions have
we to hide the aching void within, how many diver
sions to get away from self, and still the soul's hunger.
Better surely, far better, to come here to ourselves, by
sorrows, even by sins, which so wound us that we can
not rest until we find a Saviour, than to Hve here
strangers to our true state, unsaved, unquickened, and
unchanged, till we go hence in darkness we know not
where. Such then is the needs-be for regeneration. We
" must be born again," because only by a new birth
can we re-enter heaven. The question yet remains, —
2. How we must be bom again ; — how can the Hfe
of God be quickened in us ; — and how, when it is
quickened, can we return to heaven ? Here again the
answer Hes in the declaration, " VerUy, Verily, Except
a man be born of water and of the Spfrit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God ; " for " no man hath
ascended into heaven but he that came down from
heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven " ; in
other words, no Hfe can enter heaven but that which
first came from, and which even here belongs to,
" S. Luke XV. 17.

THE NEW MAN. 49
heaven. Eegeneration, therefore, or the requickening
of God's Hfe in man, can only be effected by Him who
has that Hfe, that is the Son of God; first, by His
coming down from heaven to dweU in man, thus to
raise up the eternal life in our nature here ; and then
by His dying to this nature, to bring us out of it
to heaven, in the power of that Hfe which He has
quickened in us. Thus there are two distinct stages
in this work. For we need, not only to have the
heavenly Hfe revived in us, but no less to be deUvered
out of the helHsh and earthly Ufe, in which as fallen
we are held captive. The first is accompHshed by the
Word, the seed of God, coming into our place, joining
Himself to us, and sharing for a season our straitness.
The second is effected by His bringing us out of our
place into His, through the strait and narrow gate of
death, which is the one and only way fully to know
and enter heaven. Every natural birth is the figure of
the spfritual; "for the invisible things of God are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made."" Could men but see how this present earthly
body grows, from so small a beginning to so wonderful
a house ; and how both the fire and water work in it ;
they might see the shadow of the more glorious house,'*
which is buUt up by the seed of God, and stand
astonished at the wonders of the building and the
glory of the BuUder. For the new man is the true
tabernacle, which the Lord pitches,'* with its holy place
and most holy,^* which, Hke the male and female,
though divided for a time, are predestined to become
one, when the veil is rent and done away. But we are
" Rom. i. 20. " Heb. viii. 2.
'8 2 Cor. V. 1, 2. ^° Bxod, xxvi. 33.

60 THE BIRTH OF
so faUen that very Httle can be said here of the way in
which God is ever giving life. Something however
must be said of these two stages of man's regeneration,
first as wrought by the Holy Ghost in Christ our Head
for us, and then as wrought by the same Spfrit in us
who are His members.
First, then, regeneration was wrought for us in
Christ. In Him, that is in His person, man has been
regenerated. In Him man again received God's Ufe,
by the coming of the Eternal Word to dweU in flesh,
by whose indwelHng our nature was requickened, and
so regained in Christ that which had been lost in old
Adam ; so that man here, in Christ, was son of God,
with all the vfrtues, powers, and glories, which belong
to such a Hneage, though for awhUe these glories were
shrouded by the veil, that is to say this flesh,^' in and
under which the Eternal Son was manifested. So
began the work of man's regeneration. But it was not,
and could not be, perfected, save by the putting off
and dying to that flesh into which the Son had come,
to manifest that new creature, which is neither male
nor female, Jew nor Greek, but the one united Ufe in
Christ Jesus.^^ For while here, in present nature, the
eternal Hfe was confijied : therefore it had yet a bap
tism to be baptized with, and was straitened until it
was accomplished.^' Only by death did man in Christ
re-enter heaven. The Hfe of heaven was in Him here.
But only through death could that life be perfected
and manifested ; even as the natural Hfe, which is in a
babe unborn, is only brought to Hght when it is delivered
out of that womb in which it has been quickened.
2' Heb. X. 20. " 1 Cor. xi. 11 ; Gal. iii. 28 Col. iii. 11.
^ S. Luke xii. 60.

THE NEW MAN. 51
And this death to nature, before it was actuaUy reached,
was yet in measure anticipated, and very reaUy, though
spfritually, entered into, in that mystic and sacramenta,
death, which Christ submitted to at His baptism, when,
as He went down into Jordan, heaven opened to Him.
But it was actual death, " even the death of the cross," ^
that fully opened heaven. Then the veil, which hid
the inner from the outer court, was "rent in twain
from the top to the bottom " ; ^' not from the bottom
to the top, but " from the top to the bottom," — -for the
work is done by God for us, — to show, as the Apostle
says, that through the rending of the veU, that i.g this
flesh, the way into the hoUest is opened by the blood
of Jesus.^* For indeed the veil is present nature,
which here hides both heaven and hell, till through
grace that life is rekindled which belongs to and can
re-enter heaven. And the way into the hoUest is not
made manifest while the first tabernacle, that namely
which is of this creation,^' is yet standing. No man
can enter into the tabernacle of God tUl the angels
with the last plagues have poured out thefr last vials.^*
Christ died to enter heaven. He entered " by His
blood " ; having so " obtained eternal redemption for
us." 29
Such was the way back into heaven for man in
' Christ. And, to come where He is, the self-same thing
must be wrought in us by the same Spfrit. For there
is, and can be, no other way. No mere uniting of the
divided parts or properties of the faUen old man can
give us that Hfe of God, which we must possess to
^* 1 Ml. ii, 8. ^' Heb. ix. 8, 11 : raiiTrjs t^s /cTiVear.
25 S. Matt, xxvii. 51. '^ Rev. xv. 8.
^' Heb. X. 19, 20. '^ Heb. ix. 12, and Lev. xvii. 11.

62 THE BIRTH OF
enter heaven. God's own nature must be first re
quickened by our receiving the Word, the " seed of
God," in whom is Ufe;'* and then there must be a
deUvery from, and putting off of, the fallen old man,
through the cross, that is through death to present
nature. Only so do we regain the " image and Hke
ness "" of our Maker and our Father ; only so are we
" deUvered from the bondage of corruption into the
Hberty of the glory of the chUdren of God."'^ If we
receive the word and keep it in our heart, — for it is
the heart, the feminine part of our present faUen and
divided nature, which, like Mary, yet receives the word,
— if, Uke her, on hearing God's promise, " The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee," our heart repUes,
" Behold the handmaid of the Lord : be it unto me
according to thy word,"" — then that word, being the
seed of the kingdom, will quicken God's life, and so
create a new man in us, " which is Christ in us, the
hope of glory";'* in whom the breach is healed; in
whom our nature is no more divided ; in whom " of
twain one new man is made, so making peace."" And
as when the Lord was bom, the world stiU went on its
old way, Httle conscious that One had come, and was
among them, who should one day change and rule all
things; so when the new man is formed within, the
outer Hfe for awhile goes on much as before ; the daily
calUng and its earthly cares, and too often old lusts
and habits also, still engross us; a worldly eye sees
Httle new ; while yet the Ufe which shall live for ever
»» 3 S. Pet. i. 4 ; S. John i. 4. ^ S. Luke i. 85, 38.
" Gen. i. 26 ; 1 Cor. xi. 11. " Col. i. 27.
" Rom. viii. 21. ss jjph. ii. 15.

THE NEW MAN. 63
has been quickened within, and a new man been
formed who shall inherit all. From the first this
" new man "'* is God's hefr. But whUst here in these
bodies of our humiUation, the Hfe is often sorely
crossed and straitened. Only by a redemption of the
body, for which we sigh and cry, saying with the
Apostle, " Who shall deUver me from the body of this
death,"" and by death and resurrection with Christ,
are we delivered.
And this dehverance we obtain, like Christ, first
sacramentally, when receiving the word, in a mystic
and sacramental death, we are buried with Him in
baptism, into the Hfe-giving name or nature of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; and
then manifestly, when in due time through crosses
and sorrows, and at last through death, we pass from
seen things to unseen, from earth to heaven. " The
Church, like Paradise of old," as a martyr said, "is
watered by four rivers, namely the Gospels, and by
these, as by a spfritual inundation, she bestows the
grace of saving baptism."'* Baptism is our confession
that only through death with Christ, by receiving His
word and dying with Him, can any be deUvered
Death, which is but another baptism, of which we aU
may say with Christ, " I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I straitened untU it be accompHshed,"
when " aU God's waves and billows go over us,"'* when
we " come into deep waters, where the floods overflow
us,"** is but the substance and fulfilment of that first
great sacrament, for only through these deep waters
^ Eph. iv. 24. " Rom. vii. 24.
'* Cyprian, Epistol. Ixxii., ad Jubianum.
»» Psalm xiii. 7. ¦"> Psalm Ixix. 2.

64 THE BIRTH OF
can we enter heaven. Therefore we say, " I beUeve
one baptism for the remission of sins." For only " he
that is dead is freed from sin."*' Quickened we may
be, and are, whUe yet not severed from the first crea
tion ; sons of God we are even while not yet " delivered
from the bondage of corruption";*' for here, as in
nature, there is conception before quickening, and
quickening before birth, and, long after the life of
Christ is conceived in us, it lacks for a season the image
of the man, though this surely will come in its season ;
but the seed is not brought to perfection in a moment,
or without separation from its first temporary home,
through the travail pains of nature, and the bursting
of one shell of life after another, till all is perfected.
Nor can we safely hurry the process, though tiU it is
accompUshed we are imperfect. For just as in nature
a babe may be bom too soon, so is it in grace : our
days of bondage and darkness in the womb of nature
are all appointed, and good for us. Therefore the
elect is " made in secret, and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth,"*' whUe lost and fallen
spfrits " corrupt themselves by reason of their bright
ness."** But the time comes when we must be bom
out of all that which now holds us. And only when
so freed from present nature are we freed from sin :
only when dead do we really enter heaven. This
is the burden of this second Verily, Verily, — "Ex
cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God: except a man be born of water and of the
Spfrit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
Of this " new man " formed in us, there are many
" Rom. vi. 7. " Psalm cxxxix. 16.
« Rom. viii. 21. " Ezek. xxviii. 17.

THE NEW MAN. 55
things to say, which are hard to be uttered, only
because when, for the time we should be teachers, we
are stUl chUdren.*' But this may be said, that as old
Adam is the type of our natural Hfe, so is Christ the
type or figure of the eternal life as it is by grace
renewed in us. In Him we see each stage of this
eternal Ufe, as it grows out of human nature; first
coming into our Hkeness, to bring us into His in due
season. At every stage, whether in the womb, or as a
babe, or twelve years old, or with heaven opened, or in
transfiguration, or in resurrection, it is the same one
Ufe ; but very different does it appear, and very varied
are its works or sufferings, as it advances through these
stages. It does too at one stage what it cannot at
another. For Christ, though from the first " that holy
thing,"** — for "He was conceived of the Holy Ghost,"
— could not and did not, as an infant, in Jewish
swaddUng-clothes, do the works of love and power
which followed His baptism by the same Spirit ; and
even then, though He was Himself baptized with the
Holy Ghost, He did not pour out that same Spfrit as
it came forth from Him when through the cross and
resurrection He had passed again from earth to heaven.
So with Christ in us ; for the story is but one : Christ
for us being but the prelude and figure of our expe
rience of Christ as formed in us. When first conceived
the new man is unseen : it may, and at present must,
be so hidden, that no outward eye as yet can see it.
Then, when first seen, it is but as a babe, which,
though as truly heir of God as it shaU be when it rules
aU, for awhile needs the service and help of others to
« Heb. V. 12. « S. Luke i. 35.

66 THE BIRTH OF
preserve it from its enemies. Even when heaven opens
to it, and the Father's voice is heard, saying, « Thou
art my beloved child," and power is given through the
Spfrit to open blind eyes,*' and raise the dead, and
cleanse lepers, even then this life in us must often say
with Christ, " How am I straitened untU the baptism
be accompUshed." So grows the heavenly life in us,
untU it comes at length through death to the place
where Christ has gone before us; when in and with
Him, freed from the things which bind it here, it shaU
do His priestly works within the veU. 0 wonder of
wonders, that being called with such a calUng, — that
even when quickened with this eternal Hfe, — we should
yet cleave to and crave after the dying things of time,
from which we are redeemed in Christ Jesus.
Such is the new man, and such the entrance to the
kingdom. Only by receiving the word can the creature
regain God's Ufe ; only by dying to its fallen life and
to its first form can it be brought to God's kingdom.
What then, it may be said, are we to think of the
heathen, who have never had the gospel preached to
them ? Shall they all be excluded from the kingdom ?
I answer. They too, though not as we, have had the
Word. God has " not left Himself without, a witness
to them, in that He did and does them good, and gives
them showers from heaven, filling men's hearts with
food and gladness."** God was not, and is "not, far
from them."** He was in the world, and the world
was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.'* So
is He in man, and man is made by Him, and yet man
knows Him not. But His Word, "which lighteth
" Acts xxvi. 18. ¦" Acts xvii. 27.
" Acts xiv. 17. *» S. John i. 10.

THE NEW MAN. 57
every man that cometh into the world,"" is ever crying
to aU who will receive Him.'^ His works too are a
ceaseless word to men, " because that which may be
known of God is manifest in them."" Thus "as
many as received Him became the sons of God," even
before " the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us."'* They might not know, as we do, that they
were sons : " they had not the Hght as it now shines
on us in the face of Jesus Christ ; for in His bfrth and
death and resurrection God has opened to us the whole
process and way of our redemption. But in every age
His Word has been with men, seeking by every occa
sion of joy or sorrow to speak to them as they could
bear it, " rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth,
for His delights were with the sons of men.'"* " Many
therefore shaU come from the east and from the west,
and shaU sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
in the kingdom of God ; while the children of the
kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness ; for there
are last which shall be first, and first which shall be
last."" The true children of the kingdom are not
those who merely have the word, but rather those in
whom a Hfe is formed according to it. Such, though
not of Israel, will obtain witness that they are righteous,
Uke him of whom it was said, " I have not found so
great faith, no, not in Israel."'* There may even be
some who, in this earthly life, have never consciously
received the Word, either through the Scriptures or
through preaching, or even through the " many voices
'¦ S. John i. 9. »« Prov. viii. 31.
« Prov. i. 20-23, and viii. 3, 4. " S. Matt. viii. 11, 12, and
" Rom. i. 19, 20. S. Luke xiii. 29, 30.
" S. Johni. 12 and 14. =» S. Luke vii. 9.
" Gal. iv. 1-3.

68 THE BIRTH OF
which are in the world,'"*— who have Hved here in
nature, simply as parts of nature, moved only by its
life, knowing nothing of that Hfe and image which the
Word renews in us, — who may first hear the gospel,
like those to whom Christ " went and preached," when,
as " spirits in prison,"** they there wake up to see thefr
ruin. Such may yet be " saved " at last, " so as by
fire,"*' by the ministry of those who, having won the
prize of the firstborn,*^ are kings and priests with Christ.
But, first or last, none are saved but by the Word. No
Ufe but that of heaven can re-enter or live in heaven.
With what love then should we welcome and keep
that Woird, in whatever measure it may come to us,
whether in letter or in spfrit, as gospel or as law.
Unless we receive it, we cannot be saved. For the
true life of the soul, which was extinguished in the
fall, can no more rekindle itself as a flame of Hght and
love in us, than the flre which is shut up in a flint can
come forth of itself, or the life which is hid in some
dark root can burst out into blossoms without the sun
and air of heaven. A power above us must effect the
change. But if God, in whom is no darkness at aU,
through the beams of His eternal Son, who is the Sun
of Eighteousness, enter Uke light and warmth into the
very nature of the fallen creature. He makes us alive
by His indwelHng. Then beauty after beauty may be
brought forth, the creaturely image of that Sun which
has effected aU the change. But the Word or Hght
must be received. We are helpless without it; but
God too, if one may say so, needs the creature's wiU
and co-operation. If we wiU not receive Him, no
" 1 Cor. xiv. 10. <" 1 Cor. iii. 15.
«» 1 S. Pet. iii. 18-20. " Rev. xiv. 1-4.

THE NEW MAN. 69
change is wrought. God cannot convert us unless by
grace or judgment we are wilHng also. Keep then the
Word, whether it judges or quickens ; whether it jus
tifies or seems only to condemn. We need both to
be quickened and to be slain. Therefore " the Lord
kiUeth and maketh alive."*' The ministrations of death
and of life** are both for us. One Hfe, the Hfe of
heaven, needs quickening in us, and the Word of God
as gospel quickens it; and one life, the Hfe of hell,
needs slaying in us, and the Word of God as law slays
it. For just as by the He, or word of the serpent, the
life of hell was quickened, and the Ufe of heaven
poisoned in man, when he was even yet in Paradise ;
so by the truth, that is God's Word, the Hfe of heaven
is requickened, and the life of heU destroyed and slain
in us, whUe yet we are in darkness. Keep then the
Word. He that receives and keeps it, by it is made a
son of God.
And let us cherish too and gratefully accept the
cross. By it we are not quickened. The Word alone
quickens. But by the cross, that is through death, we
are deUvered ; just as in natural birth that which has
been quickened is only deUvered by a going forth out
of the womb in which it has been conceived, and for a
season held captive. Only by the cross, that is by
death, are we deUvered from the bondage of corruption
which surrounds us here. And all our sorrows, which
are but portions of the cross of Christ, — for His cross
was only the penalty of our being where and what we
are, — if like Him we meekly accept them as coming
from the hand of God, are but the travail-pains of our
6" 1 Sam. ii. 6. " 2 Cor. iii. 6-9.

60 THE BIRTH OF
deUvery. Let us bear them patiently, and they will
bear us out of the darkness into the light. Therefore
even for our flesh let us be thankful ; for this present
body of sin,*' of humiUation,** and of death,*' in what
ever Hght we view it, whether as a prison, a workhouse,
or a hospital, is also serving us, and has a glory,
though, like the glory of death and condemnation,** it
is as nothing in comparison with the glory that excel-
leth. In it we have a time and place to die and to be
born ; to die to sin, and be bom to God ; to put off the
filthy garments of the old man, to put on the raiment
of the new. Thus aU is for our good, flesh and spfrit,
death and Hfe. All things are ours, if we are Christ's.
Most thankfully also let us accept the sacraments
of the cross, baptism and the supper, " the water and
the blood."** Eightly to understand these is to under
stand the whole gospel ; for they are " extensions of
the incarnation," the creature form in and by which the
Hving Word yet comes down so as to reach and be
received even by carnal men. And may we also, as
Christ's members, become ourselves in due time sacra
mental, Uke His wounded hands and side giving forth
both water and blood. Christ's members wUl yet give
these when they are pierced;'* when like Paul, who
" bore in his body the marks of the Lord,"" they can
truly say, " I die daily." '^ Such ministrations may be
yet beyond us. They will come with Christ's cross.
There is " a time to be born," as well as " a time to
die."

73

" Rom. vi. 6. ™ S. John xix. 34.
« Phil. iii. 21. " Gal. vi. 17.
" Rom. vii. 24. « 1 Cor. xv. 31.
=s 2 Cor. iii. 9, 10. " Eccl. iii. 2.'
«' 1 S. John V. 6.

THE NEW MAN. 61

TRIED "YEEILY, YEEILY."
THE LAW OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John v. 17-30.)
Thus far we have only seen the Home of the New Man,
and the one only Door of entrance to it. We are now
to see the Law by which he Hves. And this is no mere
external commandment, saying to him, " Thou shalt,"
or " Thou shalt not," but the very law of his being, Uke
the laws of nature, bringing about certain results, by an
inward force which moulds and forms the whole life.
In a word, the law here set before us is what the Apostle
calls " the law of the spfrit of Hfe, which makes us free
from the law of sin and death." ' The one is the innate
tendency of the new man, as being partaker of God's
life, to do God's works : the other, the natural tendency
of the faUen old man, as corrupted by the serpent, to
Hve in sin and self-will rather than in God.
The law by which this new man Hves is here opened
to us, and the results of such a life, in aU which he is a
perfect contrast to the fallen old man. For what spe
cially characterises the old man is, that in all he acts
from self, and so brings death and judgment upon him
self and his posterity ; while that which marks the new
' Rom. viii. 2.

62 THE LAW OF
man is that " he does nothing from self, but only that
which he sees the Father do " ; the result of which is
that to him it is given both to " quicken and to judge,"
that is, to be the Father's vicegerent in the ministra
tion both of life and death to faUen men. Thus is aU
that died in Adam quickened in Christ, and aU that
rose up in Adam cast down in Christ, and judged by
Him for ever. This is the subject of the thfrd re
iterated Amen. " Verily, Verily, I say unto you, the
Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the
Father do ; for what things soever He doeth, these also
doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the
Son, and showeth Him all things that He Himself
doeth ; and He will show Him greater works than these
that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the
dead and quiekeneth them, even so the Son quiekeneth
whom He will. For the Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment to the Son." ^
Ffrst notice the occasion of these words ; for it shows
how the children of the kingdom, if themselves lacking
the Ufe of God, may pervert the very ordinances, which
were given to lead them to the heavenly Ufe, into so
many reasons for rejecting that life when it appears and
works among them. Here Christ, in the Hfe of God,
Himself the true fulfilment of the sabbath, had just
given power to an impotent man to pass from a Ufe of
infirmity to a Hfe of health and rest. But because this
was done upon the sabbath day, the Jews condemned,
not the healed one only, but the Healer also. Hardened
by the letter of truth, they judge the acts of love. His
simple answer is, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I
2 Chap. v. 19-22.

THE NEW MAN. 63
work," — in other words, " I am not acting in self-wiU, —
if I did, I could neither give nor possess rest. I am
only doing what my Father does. God does works of
mercy every sabbath day. I therefore work, because it
has been proved, — this man's misery proves it, — that
this sabbath, this rest of the first creation, is indeed no
sabbath." God did indeed rest in an unfaUen world ;
and since the fall, before finaUy giving up the first
creation to condemnation. He tried it once and again,
first without, then under, law. But spite of law sin
works in it, for self-will reigns in man; therefore
neither God nor man can rest. Therefore instead of
" God did rest the seventh day," the truth now is, " My
Father worketh stiU ; and I, as Son of God, do what my
Father does, — ^I also work." And then, as showing the
secret of His own life, which, because it is a life of rest,
can communicate the same rest to as many as will
receive Him, He utters the words descriptive of the
law of the New Man. His Hfe is rest, and can give
rest, because it never acts from seU, but only does the
Father's wUl.
Thus are introduced the words which open the law
or way of the New Man : " Verily, Verily, the Son can
do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father
do. For what things soever He doeth, these also doeth
the Son in Hke manner." '
1. Ffrst, "He does nothing," nay more, "He can
do nothing, from self." Now this exactly reverses the
way of old Adam. The old man always acts from self,
wanting to be something in himself, which is the sure
way really to remain nothing. Self, too, is the end of
^ Gr. duoitos.

64 THE LAW OF
aU his doings; self-seeking, or self-exalting, self-wiU
and self-love in some form or other ever mark him.
Thus the old man does " according to his will." * Hence
even his good works may be sin, for indeed in aU its
shapes sin in the creature is nothing else but self-wiU ;
and this even in things which seem to be holy, as
in prayer, almsgiving, or fasting, which should all be
sacrifices to God, but which, as our Lord shows, may
all be done for self, merely to "have glory and to
be seen of men."' And indeed it is in his reHgion
that the self-wiU of the old man is most offensive in
the eyes of God, because reHgion should be reunion,
the merging of our own wiU in the Lord's, that His wUl
and not our own may be accompHshed in us. But,
instead of this, self-wiU is often busy, as an angel of
light, in forms of godUness without the power, which
only add greater strength to the workings of that faUen
life, which must die if we would see God. For fallen
man would fain be something, instead of wholly yield
ing up himself, that all that is done in him may be of
God. But the Son does nothing, and can do nothing, from
self. His life is to do what the Father doeth. Instead,
therefore, of Hving to appropriate or claim or retain for
self what is not his own, which in one form or another
is the law or ruling principle of the old man, while he
remains without reHgion, — instead of being busy in
religious forms, which leave self-wiU untouched, which
is the way of the same old man, when he turns to oc
cupy himself with what he calls the things of God, —
the new man " does nothing from self." Wherefore
* Dan. viii. 4. » S, Matt. vi. 1, 2, 5, 16.

THE NEW MAN. 66
when He cometh into the world He saith, " Lo, I come
to do thy wUl, 0 God." * Even when He would do good.
His word is, " Not my wUl, but thine be done." ' As
to His words too He says, " I do nothing of myself, but
as my Father hath taught me I speak these things : " * —
*' I have not spoken of myself : " * — " My doctrine is not
mine, but His that sent me." '* For he is filled with
the Holy Ghost, who " speaks not of himself." " Not
one act or word therefore is self-derived or independ
ent. It seems as if he had no will of his own. And
yet because he is man, he must possess a will ; for God
has a wiU, and man is made in God's Hkeness. Only
in this does the will of the new man differ from that of
the old, that in everything it is subject to God, even
to " do the wiU of Him that sent him, and to finish
His work." '^ So " morning by morning wakening his
ear to hear " " the Father's voice, he " does always
those things that please Him." '* The very times of
his service are not his own. WhUe others hurry, ha
waits, saying, " My time is not full come." " For
" he is not able " '* to act in independence. Therefore
^' he cannot sin ; " " and this, Hke the corresponding
language respecting God, that " He cannot he," '* so
far from Umiting his power, is rather the secret of it.
For as he commands nature who obeys her, so he whose
wUl is one with God must in wiUing His will command
His almightiness. The angels which excel in power
« Heb. X. 7. '' Isa. 1. 4.
' S. Luke xxii. 42. " S. John viii. 29.
' S. John viii. 28. " S. John vii. 8.
' S. John xii. 49. "^ Gr. oh Siyarat.
'" S. John vii. 16. " 1 S. John iii. 9.
" S. John xvi. 13. " Titus i. 2.
'2 S. John iv. 34.

66 THE LAW OF
are those which do His commandments, hearkening to
the voice of His word.'* And the Son who "does
nothing from self," though for a season lower than the
angels, and subject through our fall to all the changes
and burdens, of pain, sorrow, and death, which make up
the course or life of this world,^* by yielding up Himself
in all to God, brings in another power, by which He can
bear and do all things.
What such a Ufe costs man, though set forth in
Christ, can be seen only by those, who, living the same
Ufe, in some measure know what it is to be conformed
to Him. Not without sore trial is this done. For as
gold is tried by fire, so are acceptable men in the fur
nace of adversity.^' The will has to be proved whether
it will choose its own, or wait the Father's pleasure.
The well-beloved Son is the perfect pattern. I say
nothing of all the years of obscure toil at Nazareth, where,
as a saint "^ observed of old, " His doing nothing won
derful was in itself a kind of wonder." But even after
the spirit of God comes upon Him, and He is anointed
for His work, and the voice from heaven declares His
true relation to it. He yet does nothing from Himself,
but in man's state and lot, still has His will tried to
the uttermost, whether in all He wUl be faithful and
obedient. He must have no will but the Father's, and
this He must fulfil or suffer, whatever the consequences
of such obedience, and whatever the temptation to save
Himself rather than to bear what is appointed for Him.
In such a path He must give up even His rights, except
as God may please to give them, assured that He is in
the Father's hands, and that, whatever the trial, all is
'» Psalm ciii. 20. ™ Eph. ii. 2. 21 Ecclus. ii. 5.
'2 Bonaventura, lAfe of Christ, chap. xv. § 13.

THE NEW MAN. 67
perfect love. But what this costs poor flesh and blood,
those know who have endeavoured even in their little
measure to follow the Pattern. For the trial is not the
giving up of friends, money, station, nor even those
dear to us as the apple of the eye. These are sacri
fices ; yet are they Httle in comparison with giving up
one's own will, that is one's self, in everything, to do
or suffer what God may please from day to day ; not
using what is in our hands, like Peter, to resist, even
when we unjustly suffer wrong ; nor pleading with the
Father to escape the cross, even when we might, if we
chose, so pray, as the Blessed Master said, " Thinkest
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He
shall give me twelve legions of angels ; " ^' but in the
faith of Christ Himself, which is far more than faith in
Him,^ yielding up ourselves to God in everything, even
as He did. For faith in Christ ever comes and claims
the promised help, and receives for answer present
blessing, with such words as, " Be it unto thee according
to thy wiU ; " ^' while the faith of Christ, in the face of
darkness, says only, " If it be possible let this cup pass
from me ; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
Blessed be God, One in our nature has done and borne
all this ; and in our nature He still gives His members
power to do and bear the same. But all this costs a
man himself, though in thus losing self we find God.
If such a Hfe is now rarely to be seen, the simple
reason is that the cross or dying of the Lord, though
boasted in, is not yet known, and therefore the life of
2S S. Matt. xxvi. 53. both of which occur in Gal. ii.
2< Compare the words, "the 16, and elsewhere in the New
faith cf Jesus Christ," with Testament.
" believing in Jesus Christ," ^s §_ jiatt. xv. 28.
F 2

68 THE LAW OF
Jesus is not made manifest in us.** Yet the new life
by grace may be and is in souls, in whom it is not
manifested. The veil, that is to say this flesh, conceals
the Hght. But where the new man lives, the law of his
life is this :— -he " can do nothing from himself." And
many a Christian knows, that, though as yet he finds
not how to perform that which is good,^' the spirit is
wUling, though the flesh is weak. It is in his heart to
obey in all things, and "it is weU that it is in his
heart." 2* Yet this is our calling, that the outward
should be as the inward, and that through a daily death
the life of Jesus should be manifested even in our
mortal flesh.
Here, then, is what the new man cannot do : " he
cannot act from self." What he can do is " what he
eeeth the Father do ; for what things soever He doeth,
those also doeth the Son in Uke manner." Yet the
measure in which he does this, (for he does at one stage
what he cannot at another,) is according to the measure
in which he seeth what the Father doeth. " For the
Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all things that
Himself doeth, and He wiU show Him greater things
than these." ^* Here is hid and yet revealed a law of
the divine working, as to the way in which the Father
shows, and the Son sees, all things which the Father
doeth. For, as Augustine says, "it is not, that the
Father first does a thing without the Son, that the Son
thus may see what the Father doeth ; but the Father
shows what He doeth by doing it by the Son, for the
Father does nothing that He does not by the Son." '*

2 Cor. iv. 10, 11. " jfom .y^j ^g zs 2 Chron. vi. 8.
2» Chap. V. 19, 20. «» Traot in Johan. xxi. § 2.

THE NEW MAN. 69
This is the way in which old Adam also shows us what
he does ; by doing it in us ; for we do not reaUy see his
works without us till they are done within. Do what
you will before a babe, it does not see it. And thus
too does our Father show us what He doeth. It is only
as His works are wrought in us that we see or under
stand them. And the Eternal Son when He took our
place revealed this law to us, so that He "grew in
wisdom " " as He did the Father's works. Therefore,
though from everlasting He was the Son, " by whom all
things were made," only when the Spirit Hke a dove
came upon Him here as man, did heaven open, and
mighty works begin to show forth themselves in Him.'^
Thus, as the Father showeth Him all that Himself
doeth, does the Son see and do the same. What are
these works ? For what the Father doeth, that also
doeth the Son in like manner.
Briefly then, for God is love, the works of God are
works of love, which manifests itself in meeting every
form of need and evil ; which bears all, beUeves all,
hopes all, endures all ; and which shall never fail till
all are overcome and ruled by love. If, therefore, when
all was darkness, God said, " Let there be light ; " " if
when the creature was void and formless He wrought
till aU was very good ; '* if when sin again came in He
stiU worked on, with caU, and promise, and gift, meet
ing the creature's need ; " if, in spite of all that men
have been, He is stUl a refuge for us ; '* if He looseth
the prisoners, and openeth the eyes of the blind, and

"' S. Luke ii. 52. " Gen. i. 31.
=2 S. Matt. xiv. 2, and Acts x. 38. == Gen. iii. 9, 15, 21.
»' Gen, i. 3. '= Psalm Lxii. 8.

70 THE LAW OF
raiseth up those that are bowed down ; " if, to crown all
other mercies. He gives the brightness of His glory to
come into the form and place of sinful men, to bear
their curse and burden for them ; '* if these are the
Father's works, these also doeth the Son ; He too comes
saying, " Let there be light ; " He too works to bring
forth a new creation ; He too looseth the prisoners ; He
too openeth the eyes of the bUnd ; He too raiseth up
those that are bowed down. And so too must His mem
bers, each according to their measure, because it is not
they that live, but Christ who Uveth in them. They
too, therefore, can say, What things soever their Father
doeth, these His children must do likewise, and be per
fect even as thefr Father in heaven is perfect.'* Nay,
more, because the righteousness of God is in them, — a
righteousness without the law,** for God is not righteous
because any law is laid upon Him, saying, " Thou
shalt," or " Thou shalt not," but simply because He is
unchanging, perfect love, — as sharers of His Hfe and love,
they do His works, because, according to His promise. He
dwells and works in them.*' Great, therefore, as are the
Father's works, so great indeed that " there is no end of
His greatness," for after aU that we have seen we must
cry like Job, " Lo, these are but parts of His ways, but
how little a portion is heard of Him," *^ because " what
things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the
Son," of His works too it may be said, that, " if they
should be written everyone, even the world itself could
not contain the books that should be written." *' For

" Psalm cxlvi. 7, 8.

" 2 Cor. vi. 16, and Phil.

=» Heb. i. 3.

ii. 13.

»' Eph. p. 1 ; S. Matt. v. 48.

« Job xxi. 14.

" Rom. iii. 21.

" S. John xxi. 25.

THE NEW MAN. 71
the old creation is wondrous, but much more so is
the new ; and the sons of God are fellow-workers with
their Father ; His heirs, in and by whom, according to
His will, all the kindreds of the earth, yea, all creatures,
shaU be blessed.
2. It remains to mark here what our Lord adds, as
to the results of such a Hfe, and the wondrous privileges
which follow and accompany it.
These are the right and power both to " quicken "
and to " judge," and thus to be God's vicegerent in the
administration of His kingdom. The New Man is
ordained to be the judge of quick and dead. " For as
the Father raiseth up the dead and quiekeneth them,
even so the Son quiekeneth whom He wiU; for the
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg
ment to the Son, that all men should honour the Son,
even as they honour the Father;"** and again, "As
the Father hath Ufe in Himself, so hath He given to
the Son to have Hfe in Himself, and hath given Him
authority to execute judgment also, because He is the
Son of Man."*'
Here again every word describes a state the very
opposite to that of the fallen old man. For old Adam,
through his self-wUl, not only dies, but is also judged ;
the new man, doing nothing from self, both " quickens "
and "judges" others. These works are nothing less
than a participation with God Himself in those ope
rations which are peculiarly His own. For when He
would set forth His own glory above all gods, these
two powers, to "quicken" and to "judge," are what
He claims for Himself as His distinctive prerogative.
« Chap. V. 21-23. « Chap. v. 26, 27.

72 THE LAW OF
" See now," He says, " that I, even I, am He ; I kiU,
and I make aUve ; I wound, and I heal."** Yet these
are the very powers committed to His sons, who do
nothing from self. 0 wondrous grace, that the creature
formed of clay, and curiously wrought in the lowest
parts of the earth,*' being renewed after the image of
Him that created him,** should be, not only quickened
with God's life, but the means to quicken it again in
others, and should also be God's agent in judging and
subduing, whether in heaven, or in earth, or under the
earth, every wiU which has rebelled against His
authority !
But why should these special gifts of " quickening "
and "judging " be committed to the Son of Man ? Be
cause both Ufe and death are needed to redeem man
from his fall and bring him back to heaven ; and the
Son, and those who by grace are sons in Him, being
God's hefrs,** in and by whom He will restore all,
need to this end both the power to " quicken " and to
"judge," even as they themselves have first been judged
and quickened. For by the fall, as we have seen, we
are without God's Hfe, not lost only, but dead in tres
passes and sins. Therefore this life of God needs
quickening in us ; and the Son, and those in whom He
Hves, are the appointed means and channels for this
quickening. And again since by the serpent's He we
are not only dead to God, but have had another life
produced in us, which can never rest, this fallen Ufe
must somehow be destroyed ; for the only way out
of any Hfe in which we may be living is to die to it.
And inasmuch as faUen souls, living in self-wiU, either
*' Deut. xxxii. 39. <9 Col. iii. 10.
" Psalm cxxxix. 15. « Rom. viii. 17.

THE NEW MAN. 73
cannot or will not judge themselves, God's elect are
appointed by the word not only to quicken, but also to
judge, those who yet requfre such a ministry ; by the
word, as gospel, to quicken those who still are dead iu
sins, by sowing in their hearts that seed which shall
grow up and blossom into the kingdom ; by the same
word, as law, to judge that evil life which keeps men
far from God, that by a death to it they may be deli
vered out of it, as it is written, " He that is dead is
freed from sin;"'* this judgment or "ministration of
condemnation " being only for a season, and " to be
abolished," as St Paul declares, that the " more glori
ous " " ministration of life," " which remaineth," may
abide for ever." God's sons, therefore, " quicken " and
"judge," because God Himself in love does both, and
they are called to do what He doeth. He judges,
because thus only can the evU life, in which His crea
tures are captive, be brought to a conclusion. He
quickens, because without His Hfe we cannot enter or
Hve in His kingdom. And so His sons do the self
same works ; kUUng to make alive ; bringing down to
the grave that they may bring up.'^ This is the end
of all ; through death and judgment to bring forth that
promised new creation, where there shall be neither
death nor crying any more."
But to look more closely at these works.
Ffrst, the elect "quicken" others. "For as the
Father raiseth up the dead and quiekeneth them, even
so the Son quiekeneth whom He will."'* Here God's
purpose shines out, that " as by man came death, by
man should come," not only the resurrection from, but
» Rom.vi. 7. " 2 Cor. iii. 9-11. " i gam_ jj, g.
=' Rev. xxi. 4, 5. " Chap. v. 21.

74 THE LAW OF
also "the resurrection of, the dead,"" in due season.
For the " resurrection from the dead " is the special
portion of the Son, and of His members, who are elect
with Him, that, being first-fruits, they may be also
fellow- workers with God in the " resurrection of the
dead," that is the final restitution.'* Nor does it rob
Him of His glory to say that this is wrought " by man."
Eather is it to the praise of the glory of His grace that
the whole remedy for sin shall come " by man," even as
the sin did ; according to the words, " For since by man
came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead." A niggard God might grudge to give such glory
to those who once were rebels, and who are by nature
children of wrath even as others yet are. But our God
is love, and love delights to give itself to the beloved,
that others may be sharers of its blessedness. God
therefore even in nature, that wondrous veil which
hides His glory, while also it reveals Him, shows Him
self as the Almighty Worker who always works His
works, not apart from, but in and by, His creatures.
Even in giving earthly life, it is quickened and conceived,
not without, but by the operation of. His creatures. To
them is given to be fathers and mothers, that is to give
life to that which is as yet without it. Everywhere,
even to the lowest forms of life, in herb, or tree, or beast,
whose seed is in itself," is this power given, to repro
duce the life proper to each respectively. So is it with
the Hfe which shall abolish death. It too is " by man."
And so " the Son," in and by His members, " quieken
eth whom He will." Thus do they work out, not only
thefr own, but others' salvation also, for it is God that
'5 1 Cor. XV. 20, 21. Compare verses 20 and 21.
" Acts iii. 21. " Gen. i. 11.

THE NEW MAN. 75
worketh in them, both to wiU and to do of His good
pleasure. Whom then does the Son thus qiUcken? He
"quickens whom He will."'* And His will, as we
have seen, is to do nothing from self : to do that only
which is well-pleasing to the Father. What then is
the Father's wiU ? He " will have all men to be saved,
and to come to the knowledge of the truth ;. for there
is one God, and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for
all, to be testified in due time." '* Therefore the Son
says plainly, " The Father loveth the Son, and hath
given all things into His hands."** And again, " Thou
hast given Him power over all flesh, that as to the all
which Thou hast given Him, He should give to them
eternal life."*' And again, "All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
unto me I will in nowise cast out ; for I came down
from heaven, not to do my own will, but the wUl of
Him that sent me. And this is the Father's wiU which
hath sent me, that as to the all, which He hath given
me, I should lose nothing of it, but should raise it up
again at the last day."*^ Therefore the Apostle tells
us, that " as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive. But every man in his own order :
Christ the first-fruits ; afterward they that are Christ's
at His coming. After which *' cometh the end, when
He shall have deUvered up the kingdom to God, even
the Father, that God may be all in all." ** The Son is
^^ Chap. V. 21. ^ S. John vi. 37-40.
™ 1 Tim. ii. 4-6. ^ Gr. cTto. Compare the use
™ S. John iii. 35. of this word in S. Mark iv. 17,
" S. John xvii. 2. See the 28.
Greek. "* 1 Cor. xv. 22-24.

76 THE LAW OF
the means by whom all men shall be saved.*' But m
this salvation some are called before others, the first-
bom and first-fruits, who here die with Christ, being
joint-hefrs with Him, in bringing and subduing all to
God, till " at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth : and every tongue shall confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." **
This qidckening is effected by the Word, or seed of
God. But there are two distinct times when with
somewhat differing results this quickening takes effect,
connected with the two different relations of the Son,
as " Son of God," and " Son of Man : "—the first m
this present age, for " Verily, Verily, The hour cometh
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the
Son of God, and they that hear shall Uve ; " of whom
it is said, " Verily, Verily, He that heareth my word
and believeth on Him that sent me, hath (it is a
present possession) eternal Ufe, and does not come into
judgment,*' but has passed out of death into Hfe : " **
this being the present quickening of the "dead in
trespasses and sins : " — ^the second, when our Lord
returns, when " all that are in the graves shall hear
the voice of the Son of Man," when He wUl come to
"do judgment, because he is the Son of Man."** As
to the first of these quickenings, our Lord's words here
only more fully repeat His teaching as to the way into
the kingdom by the new or second birth. Life is only
by the Son. Nothing can ascend to heaven, but that
which came down from, and even here belongs to,
"' S. John iii. 17 ; iv. 42 ; vi. 33 ; 1 Tim. iv. 10; 1 S. John iv. 14.
™ Phil. ii. 10, 11. " Gr. eis Kpi<ru> ovk epxerat, k.t.K.
" Chap. V. 24, 25, inera^ifiriKev 4k tov eavdrov. » Chap. v. 27, 28.

THE NEW MAN. 77
heaven. Therefore the Word, in whom is life, has
come from heaven, and as many as receive Him have
eternal life. These are they over whom there is joy in
the presence of the angels of God, who were dead, and
are alive again.'* These are the true Hebrews, the
" passers-over," " who keep the true " pass-over," and
thus " have passed from death unto life." And these
like Christ thefr Head, because partakers of His Hfe,
become sowers of the same seed, taking heed to them
selves and to the doctrine, that in so doing they may
save themselves and those that hear them.'^ And as
ministers, not of His word only, but of His quickening
spirit also, in them is fulfilled the word, " He that
beUeveth in me, out of his belly shall flow the Hving
waters." These are the " firs<>fruits." " But "if the
first-fruits be holy, the lump is also holy." '* There is
therefore another quickening; "when all that are in
the graves shaU hear, and shall come forth ; they that
have done good to the resurrection of life, and they
that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment ; "
" the judgment," even as the quickening, being " com
mitted to the Son," " that all men should honour the
Son even as they honour the Father." "
This brings us to the "judging;" forthe Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed aU judgment to
the Son ; and hath committed it to Him as Son of
Man, for "the Father hath given Him authority to
execute judgment also, because He is the Son of
Man." I wUl not here attempt to open all the
" S. Luke XT. 10, 32. « 1 Tim. iv. 16.
" In Gen. xiv. 13, Abram '» S. James i. 18 ; Rev. xiv. 4.
is called "the Hebrew," nDyn, " Eom. xi. 16.
which is rendered by the LXS, " Chap. v. 22, 23.
i Trepirris, or the passer-over.

78 THE LAW OF
wonderful fulness which is contained in this title, " Son
of Man," as contrasted with another kindred title of
our Lord, namely, " Seed of the Woman," which speaks
of other human relationships and opens other glories,
because this subject comes even more directly before
us again in the sixth reiterated Amen, which speaks
of the Divine Nature of the New Man, who is there
also very distinctively " the Son of Man." But I may
say here that woman was not in the beginning separate
or taken out of man.'* The title therefore, " Seed
of the Woman," assumes division, and ever shows our
Lord in His varied relation to the " multiplied concep
tions " of the woman, either separate from some, or
related to others, in virtue of certain tastes or qualities
in them. The other title, " Son of Man," shows Him
simply as begotten in the image in which Adam
was originally made, in which case His link with
men is not in virtue of certain quaUties in them, but
of a common blood-relationship with aU. Two con
secutive chapters in the book of Genesis set forth
this contrast, the one throughout giving the Woman's
Seed, the other only the Son of Man." In the one we
'« The separation was not till ha/re Enoch." (v. 17.) " And unto
after Adam's sleep. See Gen. ii. Enoch mas bom Irad." (v. 18.)
21.22. "And Lamech took two wives,
" The 4th and 5th Chapters Adah and ZiUah. And Adah
of Genesis give us two different la/re Jabai : he was the father
lines. In the former, under Je- of such as dwell in tents," (v. 20,)
hovah, we have the Woman's " and Zillah, sAe aZso Jare Tubal-
Seed. Throughout we read of Cain, an instructor of every arti-
the woman's conceiving, and ficer in brass and iron : and the
then of her seed. Thus " Adam sister of Tubal-Cain was Naa-
knew Eve his wife, and she con- mah." (v. 22.) " And Adam knew
cewed and bare Cain." (v. 1.) his wife again, and she ba/re a
" And she again ba/re his brother son, and called his name Seth ;
Abel." (v. 2.) " And Cain knew for God, she said, hath appointed
his wife, and she conceived and me another seed instead of Abel,

THE NEW MAN. 79'
have " man that is bom of a woman ; " in the other,
" the Son of Man whom God has made strong for
Himself." '* But on aU this I wiU not enter here. '*
Enough to note, that "judgment is committed to the
Son, because He is the Son of Man." And the Father
does this, first, that thus He may for ever silence the
old serpent's lie; for who can say that God grudges
when He makes His fallen creatures the heirs and
vessels of aU His highest glories ; but no less that, by
making man who has been judged the judge of men,.
He would teach those who are judged that the judg
ment is not the end, but only lie means for the fulfil
ment, of God's purpose. For man is judged by one
who not only can say, " I also am formed of clay ;
therefore my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither
shall my hand be heavy upon thee ; " ** but by one, who,
though now the Judge, has Himself been judged with
our judgment, to lift us in Himself out of it, and to be
whom Cain slew." (v. 25.) Here of Man." The one seed is under
itis all the woman's seed through- Jehovah, except where, at the
out, with varied qualities and end. Eve says, " God hath ap-
tastes. Compare vsdth all this pointed me another seed instead
the generation of the Sou of of Abel." The other generation
Man under Elohim, in chap. v. : is under Blohim. And the words
" God created man ; in the like- of Eve, as to Elohim, not Jeho-
ness of God made He him ; male vah, appointing her " am,other
and female created He them, seed" when Seth is born, show
and blessed them, and called how the " Seed of the Woman"
theAr namie Adam, in the day and the " Son of Man " are one.
when they were created." (vv. Every word here is significant.
1, 2.) " And Adam begat a son though, as in the wonders of
in his own likeness, after his nature, few eyes are opened to
image, and called his name perceive the " open secret."
Seth." (v. 3.) " And Seth begat " Job xiv. 1 ; Psalm Ixxx. 17.
Enos ; and Ems begat Cainan, " This contrast has been
and Cainam begat Mahalaleel," well shown in Mrs. Brewster
and so on. (w. 9, 12.) No Macpherson's Pa/rable.'s of Judg'
woman's conception is referred ment, pp. 77-79.
to. It is throughout the " Son *> Job. xxxiii. 6, 7.

«0 THE LAW OP
a witness to the judged ones that they also may and
shaU be deUvered in Uke manner. Thus does the
judgment of the Son of Man witness that judgment
must issue in blessing, because He who judges has
Himself been judged that He may save all.
As to the judgment, its nature is first shown us.
This "judgment committed to the Son " is not, as so
many think, merely the proper and inevitable conse
quence of sin: it is rather the appointed means by
which the sin shall in every case be overcome. For
there are two very different classes of judgments : first
those which are the natural consequences of sin, such
as Adam's fear of God, his hiding from Him, and the
loss of the divine, eternal Ufe ; *' and secondly, those
which are not the consequences of sin, but rather run
counter to them, being the result of the word or sentence
passed by God upon the evU-doer to correct the evil,
such as the multiplication of the woman's sorrow, and
man's bread in the sweat of his brow, and his return to
the earth whence he was taken, to bring to an end
the life of disobedience.*^ The first are the proper or
natural results of sin : the second, the result of the sen
tence of the living Word of God, judging the sin, to
make the sinner hate it, and to bring him out of it.
And it is in this last that the elect are fellow-workers
with God, judging to heal, even as they have them
selves been healed by judgment ; this judging being
Christ's own judgment, wrought through His members,
even as the hand only fulfils the will and impulse of the
head, for He is Head, and we by grace are members.
In its nature, therefore, this judging is like that of the
Judges whom God raised up of old, whose work was,
»' Gen. iii. 3, 8, 10. »= Gen. iii. 16-19.

THE NEW MAN. 81
not to destroy, but save His captive people.*' It is
indeed " a fearful thing to faU into the hands of the
living God ; " ** but it would be a far more fearful thing
if we could fall out of them. The saints all know
this. They too, through sin, have aU once been " in a
great strait," but in it, like David, have preferred God's
judgment, saying, " Let me now fall into the hands of
the Lord, for very great are His mercies." *' Shall they
when called to judge with Christ ever forget their
former straits? WUl not thefr joy be that through
the judgment the last captive shall at length be freed ?
This judgment is begun afready, for it js " eternal
judgment," ** and therefore is not future only. Even
now, where there is Hght, there must be judgment, for
light cannot but judge : and the Son is Hght ; and
those who live His Hfe are Hght also. Therefore like
Him even while judged, — and the world always con
demns them, — the sons of God, in every age, in much
patience, in labours, in stripes, in watchings, by kind
ness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the
word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of
righteousness, on the right hand and on the left, by
honour and dishonour, as deceivers and yet true, though
the world think not of it, are surely judging aU things.
Whatsoever they bind on earth is bound in heaven,
and whatsoever they loose on earth is loosed in heaven.*'
For the Hfe is the Hght.** And as at creation the
light, as soon as it was created, was at once divided
from the darkness, and thenceforward, becoming a
8' Judges ii. 18. See also the « 1 Chron. xxi. 13.
sense of the word " judge," in " Heb. vi. 2.
Ezek. XX. 4 ; xxii. 2, and xxiii. "' S. Matt, xviii. 18.
36; margin. " S. John i. 4, and viii. 12.
«« Heb. X. 31. G

83 THE LAW OF
feUow-worker with God, simply by being what it was,
expelled and judged the darkness ; so with those who
Uve Christ's Hfe, thefr Hght, whether they wiU or not,
because it is Hght, iastantly judges aU around that is
unlike it. Hence men's hatred to the Hght, so long
as they are darkness, because the Hght smites them.
But though it judges, it also renews. For the Hght
which is of God, Uke God Himself, having made some
who were darkness to be Hght, even whil6 judging
communicates that self-same Hght, that souls yet bound
by darkness may be Hght also. Thus are " aU things
that are reproved made manifest by the Hght, and
whatsoever is made manifest is Hght." **
But the judgment which is thus proceeding is
hidden. Living in sense, while it yet lasts, men will
not credit that " he that beUeveth not is condemned
afready ; " or that, when the elect are now judged, " they
are chastened of the Lord, that they should not be con
demned with the world." ** Therefore the days come
when the judgment now hidden shall be revealed, when
Christ's members, now judged with Him, shaU come with
Him to judge the world.*' And as in that day the world
shaU look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn ;
so shall they look on His brethren, who with Him and
Hke Him have been chastened by the Lord, and pierced
by sharp arrows, even bitter words; and they shaU
mourn to see the sufferers set as princes over the earth,
judges of those by whom they have been judged and
cast out. Nor is this aU, for "we shaU also judge
angels," *^ those mighty spirits, which kept not thefr
first estate, and since then have been accusing God
" Eph. V. 8 : irS</ rb ij>avfpiiiieyoi' ^as itrri.
«» 1 Cor. xi. 32. " 1 Cor. vi. 2. ^ 1 Cor. vi. 3.

THE NEW MAN. 83
and man. This is the glory which awaits God's sons,
who by grace "do nothing from self." Having first
been judged and rejected they shaU judge the world,
in that great coming Pentecost when with tenfold light
and power they come forth with tongues of fire to
quicken, and with the mighty rushing wind to shake
all that must be shaken. Then shall the elect run to
and fro as sparks among the stubble, to consume and
purify aU with the fire of God ; yea, " they shall shine
as the sun in the glory of thefr Father," "for the Lord
God giveth them Hght, and they shaU reign for ever
and ever."*'
But can these words, which our Lord adds, " that
aU men should honour the Son, even as they honour
the Father,"** be applied to man? We know that
some, jealous for God, who " wUl not give His glory to
another," *' have scrupled to give, even to the Only-be
gotten Son, the honour which they think is due to God
alone ; stumbUng at the grace of the holy Incarnation ;
not seeing that the Son is the image of the invisible
God,** the brightness of His glory, and the express
image of His person ; *' and that therefore " he that
honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which
sent Him." ** Such shaU one day see, that " at the
name of Jesus every knee shaU bow, of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth, and
every tongue shaU confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father."** But of those who
give aU honour to the Son, even as to the Father, there
are not a few who stumble at the thought of any Uke
»= S. Matt. xiii. 43 ; Rev. =" Col. i. 15.
xxii. 6. " Heb. i. 3.
" Chap. V. 23. "« Verse 23.
« Isa. xiii. 8. '= Phil. ii. 10, 11.
Q 2

84 THE LAW OF
honour being given to His members. And the true
hefrs, Hke the beloved Son, seek not thefr honour here,
saying with Him, " I receive not honour of men; " '**
nor of men seek they glory, when they might be bur
densome as the apostles of Christ.'*' And yet ought
they none the less to be " counted worthy of double
honour," '*^ and to be " esteemed very highly in love
for thefr works' sake." '*' For in the honouring of
those in whom the Lord reveals Himself, the honour is
not to the vessel, but to Him who puts His glory in it.
For just as when He said, "He that receiveth you
receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth Him
that sent me," '** and "Inasmuch as ye did it to one of
the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me," '*'
He shows that to receive them is to receive Him, and
that service done to them is done to Him ; so in the
honour given to them is the honour given to Him,
because the glory is not thefrs, but His, even as the
works they do are not thefrs, but His who worketh in
them. No man taketh this honour unto himself.'**
Ffrst the Head of the body " received from God the
Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice
to Him from the exceUent glory, saying. This is my
beloved Son in whom I am weU pleased ; " '*' and so in
His members, when they share His glory, shaU the glory
be the Lord's, for " He shall come to be glorified in His
saints, and to be admired in aU them that beHeve in
that day." '** Then shall it be seen how He honours
those who honour Him. For He has said, " Behold I
wUl make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say
"» S. John V. 41. '»' 1 Thess. v. 13. '»« Heb. v. 4.
'•' 1 Thess. ii. 6. •"* S. Matt. x. 40. '»' 2 S. Pet. i. 17.
i»2 1 Tim. V. 17. "= S. Matt. xxv. 40. '"s 2 Thess. i. 10.

THE NEW MAN. 85
they are Jews, and are not, but do He ; behold, I will
make them to come and worship before thy feet, and
to know that I have loved thee." '** This honour have aU
His saints. For " he that overcometh and keepeth
my works unto the end, to him will I give power over
the nations ; and he shall rule them with a rod of fron,
as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to
pieces ; even as I received of my Father." "* For
" the city," which is " the Bride," " has the glory of
God," "and the kings of the earth do bring their
glory and honour to it." '" Well might Paul say then,
" I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory that shaU be
revealed in us ; " "^ for " our Hght afiBiction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory." '"
Such is the law or way of the New Man, and such
its glorious end. From first to last it is not of this
world, even as Christ is not of this world. It is indeed
the very law or way of God, the out-working in the
creature of His own life, which, in virtue of its very
nature, and because it is love, must quicken and give Ufe,
while it no less inevitably corrects and judges all that is
opposed to it. Just in proportion therefore as we Hve this
life, only doing what the Father doeth, because it is He
who works in us. His power and Hght must shine out
through us. And strange as it may seem to faUen
men, that the power to quicken and to judge should be
the fruit of yielding up our creature-wiU to God in
everything, Christ's Hfe is the witness that such self-
surrender receives aU power in heaven and earth, while
»» Rev. iii. 9. "» Rev. ii. 26, 17. "' Eev. xxi. 11, 24, 26.
"2 Rom. viii. 18. "' 2 Cor. iv. 17.

86 THE LAW OF
the self-wUl of the old man only leads to death and
darkness. Blessed are they who through aU tempta
tions to self-pleasing are steadfast in this law, to do
nothing from self, but only what the Father doeth. No
evil shaU hurt, though all may gather round them, for
they are blessed, and shall be blessings to others, for
evermore.

THE NEW MAN. 87

EOUETH "YEEILY, YEEILY."
THE MEAT OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John vi. 26-68.)
Having thus been shown the Home of the New Man,
then the door of entrance into it by a New Birth, and
then his distinctive Law or way, with the results which
always accompany it, we are now led on to the support
or Meat of this New Man. The fourth "VerUy,
Verily," teUs us that he Hves upon the " bread of God."
This is that which the hidden manna ' and the shew-
bread of old prefigured, and Hke them can be fuUy seen
only by those who walk in the Hght of the golden
candlestick ^ in the sanctuary of God. We need there
fore the Spirit's sevenfold light to look at these things.
Without it we shall not rightly handle this bread. For
this reason perhaps it is that our Lord speaks as He
does here respecting this mystery.
For the witness of our Lord upon this point is
marked by unusual reiteration. Four times does He
here repeat " Amen, Amen," showing the mysterious
nature of the subject, which requfres for its elucidatictn
no less than four distinct though closely connected
statements. The £u:st' declares that the New Man's
' Exod. xvi. 33; Eev. ii. 17. « Exod. xxvi. 35, and xl. 22, 25.
s Chap. vi. 26, 27.

88 THE MEAT OF
meat " endureth unto everlasting life." The second *
teUs us that " the Father giveth us this trae bread,''
which is " the bread of God," and " bread from heaven."
The thfrd' says, " I am the bread of Hfe : my flesh is
meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." The
fourth * declares that, if we would live by it, this bread
must be fed on or received ; for " Except ye eat the
flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have
no life in you : whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath etemal Ufe, and dweUeth in me and I
in him." Each of these different parts of the one great
truth, as to the Meat of the New Man, are prefaced by
the reiterated Amen, which is not added here without
reason. It is interesting to observe how this truth comes in.
It comes, like the preceding " Amen, Amen," as the
explanation of an act done by the Lord, showing Him
to be the true fulfilment of all that the Jewish dispen
sation typified. For the words as to the Law of the
New Man ' were spoken on the sabbath, in justifica^
tion of healing upon that day. That sabbath or rest
of the first creation through the sin of man had become
no sabbath, for there was sickness and misery on this
day, and neither God nor man can rest iu this. There
fore our Lord, as the New Man, not doing His own
works, (" for the Son does nothing from self,") nor find
ing His own pleasure, nor speaking His own words,* only
by doing what the Father did, being Himself at rest
with God, showed out indeed what was the true sab
bath. The words we are now to consider, as to the Meat
of the New Man, were spoken at the feast of the Pass-
* Chap, vi, 32, 33. « Chap. vi. 47, 48. " Chap. vi. 53-67.
' Chap. v. 17-30. « Isa. Iviii. 13, 14.

THE NEW MAN. 89
over, when, as God's elect redeemed from bondage,
Israel ought everywhere to have been feasting on the
lamb whose blood was sprinkled on thefr doorposts. But
at this holy season, when they should have been full, a
great company even of God's people, spite of the typical
Passover, were wanting bread.* Then the Son of Man,
having first met thefr outward wants, by multiplyiug
the five barley loaves and two small fishes in His dis
ciples' hands, makes this an occasion of bearing witness
to stiU better bread, even the true Paschal feast, which
is now prepared for aU, as the pledge of man's redemp
tion, and the means to sustain him to everlasting Hfe.
1. Ffrst He declares that this bread is not obtained
by our own work, or meat which, like the bread of this
world, corrupts or perishes ; but it is bread which is
given freely by the Son of Man, and endureth to ever
lasting Ufe. So He says, " Labour not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto ever
lasting Hfe, which the Son of Man shall give you, for
Him hath God the Father sealed." '* Even the priests
of old in the holy shewbread had only perishable bread,
which requfred to be changed and I'emoved from week
to week ; " and when in the three great feasts of the
Lord, at the feast of Unleavened Bread, at the feast of
Weeks, and the feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering,
God's elect were gathered to wait on Him, thefr meat
was the bread which He brought forth out of the earth,
which was only the shadow of that which was to come.'*
But that better bread had now appeared. Therefore
" the bread which perisheth," good as it is, and needed
in its place, shrinks into insignificance as compared
» Chap. vi. i, 5. '° Chap. vi. 27.
" Lev. xxiv. 5-9 ; and 1 Sam. xxi. 6. " Deut. xvi. 16.

90 THE MEAT OF
with that which Christ here speaks of. The meat the
new man needs is " that which the Son of Man shaU
give, for Him hath God the Father sealed." He does
not yet distinctly say here that this meat must be " His
flesh," — ^that comes later on, — ^but even in this first
word on the subject He impHes it, in saying, " Him
hath God the Father sealed." The allusion is to the
well-known practice in the Jewish sacrifices, which
could not be offered even in the old carnal service
unless they were according to thefr proper nature with
out blemish; in which therefore every dove or lamb or
ox brought to be offered had first to be examined by
the priest, and if without blemish to be sealed with the
temple seal, which witnessed that the creature was per
fect, and therefore fit for G-od's altar." So Jesus was
sealed by God Himself, when coining to Jordan the Holy
Ghost Hke a dove came down and rested on Him. The
bread which the new man needs is this unblemished
meat, which the Son of Man shall give, for Him hath
God the Father sealed ; thus bearing witness that He
is spotless in the eye of God, and therefore fit, even
upon His altar, to be the bread of God.
2. But all this is brought out more fully in the next
statement respecting the meat of the new man, namely,
that it is the bread of God, which cometh down from
heaven: — "Verily, Verily, Moses gave you not that
bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true
bread from heaven ; for the bread of God is He which
cometh down from heaven, and giveth Hfe unto the
" The Rev. Herman Douglas, iSSotZs. refer to this custom. See
a converted Israelite, tells me too I. Disraeli's Genvus of Juda-
that the Mishna, Shehalim, 1. 5, ism, p. 154, as to the sealing of
and Rabbi JohananBen-Pinchas, meat, which is thereby declared
Al Saehothmoth, i.e.. On the to be legally clean.

THE NEW MAN. 91
world." '* Every word here is pregnant. The meat of
the new man is the " bread of God." In giving it to
us He gives us that which satisfies Himself, and which
He has ever before Him on His table. For the altar
was His table," where His fire consumed that which
was a sweet-savour to Him ; '* and this unblemished
offering, fit even to meet His searching eye. He shares
with us, that we may eat " His bread " " with Him.
And surely if when the Queen of Sheba saw the meat of
Solomon's table, and the sitting of his servants, and
thefr apparel, no spirit was left in her, and she said, "It
was a true report that I heard in mine own land, but,
behold, the half was not told me," '* much more may
we, for whom God not only prepares a table in the pre
sence of our enemies,'* but whom He calls to enter into
His sanctuary, and come near to His most holy feast,^*
rejoice and bless Him for such rich provision, who
giveth to His people of His own unblemished bread,
that they may eat and drink with Him.
I need not dwell here on the fact that this is God's
free gift, for the words, " My Father giveth you the
true bread," requfre Httle comment. And yet with our
poor pride, which often makes it so hard to accept all,
it is weU, if only in passing, to remember that this meat
is children's meat, not bought, or earned, or paid for,
but freely given by a Father. It may be more needful
to mark that it is not of earth, but " cometh down from
heaven, and giveth Ufe unto the world." It " cometh
down from heaven." Seven times in this discourse does
our Lord repeat these words.^' Then whatever is not
" Chap. vi. 32. " 1 Kings x. 5, 7.
" Mal.i. 7, 12. •' Psalm xxiii. 5.
i« Lev. i. 9, 13, 17 ; ii. 2, 9, etc. '^ Lev. xxiii. 2.
" Lev. xxi. 6, 8, 17, 21. « Verses 32, 33, 38, 41, 50, 61, 68.

92 THE MEAT OF
from heaven is not this bread. Whatever is earthly and
of this present world is not the true bread. The real
meat of the new man " cometh from heaven " and is " of
heaven." It is spfritual, answering to the spiritual nature
which it is given to sustain. Just as to Hve on earth we
must eat the things which come out of the earth, so to
support the heavenly Ufe we must have heavenly food.
And the heavenly Hfe longs and hungers for the things of
its own world, and by an innate instinct knows them,
even as the earthly Ufe in us hungers for and instinc
tively recognises the bread of this world. The spirit is
only fed by that which is spirit. So our Lord adds,
" It is the spfrit which quiekeneth : the flesh profiteth
nothing : the words which I speak imto you, they are
spirit, and they are Hfe." *^ This is the bread which
" giveth life unto the world." For even for the world
is this bread prepared, that they too may eat and Hve.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn
the world ; but that the world through Him might be
saved.^ Therefore He immediately adds, " AU that the
Father giveth me shaU come to me, and him that com
eth to me I wUl in no wise cast out ; for I came down
from heaven not to do my own will, butthe wUl of Him
that sent me ; and this is the Father's will which hath
sent me, that, as to the all which He hath given me, I
should lose nothing of it, but should raise it up again
at the last day ; and this is the wiU of Him that sent
me, that every one that seeth the Son, and beUeveth on
Him, may have everlasting life, and I wiU raise him up
at the last day." ^ Blessed for ever be God, for " the
bread of God, which cometh down from heaven, and
giveth Ufe unto the world."
^ Verse 63. » S. John iii. 16, 17. « Verses 38, 40.

THE NEW MAN. 93
3. Having thus declared that the new man's meat
is " heavenly bread," the Lord goes on to teU us more
exactly what it is, that it is no other than Himself, even
His flesh and blood. This is our Lord's thfrd statement
on this subject: "Verily, Verily, I say imto you. He
that beUeveth on me hath everlasting life. I am that
bread of Ufe. Your fathers did eat manna in the
wilderness, and died. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not
die. I am the Hving bread which came down from
heaven : if any man eat of this bread, he shaU live for
ever ; and the bread that I wUl give is my flesh, which
I wiU give for the life of the world." ^'
Such are Christ's words. How were they received
by those to whom they were addressed ? Not only did
" the Jews strive among themselves, saying, How can
this man give us His flesh to eat ? " ^* but " many also
of His disciples, when they heard this, said. This is a
hard saying : who can hear it ? " ^' So it is yet. Christ
stiU walks with men, who are only the carnal seed of
the man of faith, who therefore, Hke Paul in his young
days, are yet only " in the Jews' reHgion," ^* worshipping
the one true God, and grafted in to partake of the root
and fatness of the oUve-tree,^* to whom therefore per
taineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the law, and the service of God, and the promises ; '*
who nevertheless, like the Jews of old, do not know a
present Saviour ; who therefore through fear of death
are all thefr Hfetime subject to bondage ; " though sons
walking as servants ; '^ still in holy places made with
hands, more than in that worship of the Father which
« Verses 47-51. ^ Verse 62. *' Verse 60. ^' Gal. i. 13, 14.
» Rom. xi. 17. »° Rom. ix. .3, 4. ^' Heb. ii. 15. '^ Gal. iv. 1 3,

94 THE MEAT OF
is in spirit and in truth." God knows how many in His
church are yet in this " Jews' reUgion ; " and such now,
as the Jews of old, because they lack Christ's mind, will
always " strive " and " stumble " at His words. There
are others, even nearer to the Lord, " disciples," having
heard His caU, and taken some steps at least to learn
of Him, but who, instead of waiting to understand what
He here says, are offended that He says what they do
not understand, to whom therefore this word as to " His
flesh " is stUl " a hard saying." Why should we not be
Ueve that He knows better what He is saying than we
can know it, and that, if He uses words which at first
seem dark to us, it is never without a reason ? But
the self-confidence, which judges aU things by our pre
sent Hght, and which, if there is anything we cannot
understand, proceeds at once to pare it down to some
narrow meaning, which is on a level with our present
apprehension, is so innate within us all, that few escape
the snare. Of course in our understanding of His
words, our first apprehensions are, and must be, always
more or less imperfect. A partial view may be aU that
we can take at first of Christ's meaning. Only let us
not insist on making Christ's thoughts no greater than
our own. Fuller Ught invariably shows that no words
coiUd so exactly have expressed His mind as those He
actuaUy used, and that, though for a season they may
be above us, they are all instinct with Hfe and Ught.
Let us then again tum to His words, for " never
man spake Uke this Man," and ask, what did He mean
here, when He said, " The bread that I will give is my
flesh ; " and again, " My flesh is meat indeed, and my
blood is drink indeed." " S. John iv. 23, and Heb. ix.24.

THE NEW MAN. 95
Two answers are generaUy current. Ffrst it is said,
Christ's " flesh " and " blood " here only mean the sacra
mental bread. Others contend that the words are only
figurative, (whatever this may mean,) and are fulfiUed
in our beUeving in Christ and in His sacrifice as that
which meets our need. Both of these interpretations
seem to me defective. Christ's flesh and blood must
be His flesh and blood. We only need to see what this
really is, that we may understand how literally and
exactly our Lord has here spoken. We are by nature
so fallen that anything spiritual seems to us unreal and
unsubstantial. A "spiritual body"'* takes us into a
region of which we know nothing. What the senses see
and feel, that is substantial enough. What they can
not perceive seems mere imagination. And yet Holy
Scripture speaks of what is seen as but a " shadow," "
and of the spiritual and unseen as the real and the
true. This is the one and only difficulty in the words
before us. Our Lord is speaking of the life and sub
stance of the spiritual world, and as long as we know
nothing of such a substance, we cannot but feel His
words to be mysterious. And yet, even whilst shut up
in this present body of corruption, we are ourselves
witnesses, that what is unseen or spiritual in us is the
true substance, which stands under'* and supports
the rest, this outward body being but a tabernacle in
which we sojourn for awhile, and the inner man the
true and real person. What Holy Scripture declares is
that this inward man by disobedience lost the Hfe of
God ; that that Hfe, once lost, has been re-formed and
restored in Christ Jesus ; and that to support this new
" 1 Cor. XV. 44. »= Col. ii. 17.
™ " Substance " simply means " that which stamds under."

96 THE MEAT OF
and heavenly Ufe we need the self-same substance as that
which formed and sustained the Lord, when in Himself
for us He formed the " new creature." " Thank God,
as the babe in nature takes in its mother's flesh and
blood, and grows thereby, without in the least knowing
or understanding either what it takes in, or how this
nourishment is communicated, so is it with us who are
quickened with Christ's Ufe and born of Him. We Hve
by Him, whUe yet we understand Httle or nothing of
that on which we live, or how we are sustained by
it. But it is Christ's flesh that feeds or supports
us : it is something of His very nature that we take
in, through a real receiving and appropriating of His
substance. This flesh or substance is distinctively the " flesh of
the Son of Man." '* I have afready had occasion to caU
attention to the import of this name. It speaks of man
according to God's mind as he came forth from God,
before that division entered, which is met and overcome
by the glories pledged both to the Woman's and to
Abraham's Seed. But, great as are these glories, both.
these titles speak of division and a faU. The flesh we
need to eat is not the divided flesh, either of the
Woman's or of Abraham's Seed, — these could not give
etemal Hfe, though in this flesh- we may receive Christ,
and in this flesh He died to make atonement, — ^but
rather the flesh of the Son of Man, that is of man as he
came forth from God, before any separation had marred
the work of God. This and nothing less is the flesh
He gives, that so eating this flesh we may be buUt up
again in the undivided image of the Son of Man. We
s' 2 Cor. V. 17. 38 Verse 63.

THE NEW MAN. 97
shall see more fully what is here taught when we come
to the Divine Nature of the Son of Man.'* Seen or
unseen, the flesh we are to eat is that of the " Son of
Man, who is in heaven," who here says plainly, though
it stumbles some, " What and if ye shall see the Son of
Man ascend up where He was before."
Do any say, " This is a hard saying " ? It may seem
hard, and therefore have required our Lord's reiterated
" Amen ; " but the fact remains that a new man is
quickened in us, who is no mere figure of speech, but a
reaUty, more true and enduring than the seen and out
ward old man ; and that this new man needs and has
his proper food, and can no more live without it than
we can live here without the meat and drink of this
world ; his meat being the flesh and blood of the Son
of Man, which must as actually be taken in as outward
food is actually received and fed on by the outward
body. This holy flesh or substance of our Lord is as
necessary to form a spfritual, immortal, and incorrupt
ible body, or temple, for God abidingly to dweU in, as
the blood of the woman who bears us, or the flesh we
daily eat, is necessary to form and sustain this present
outward body. To say that we cannot describe or
define what this substance is, does not alter the fact that
it is a reality, given to us of God, and that if we receive
it we may daily grow thereby. We do not know what
matter is ; yet, if we take it in, it feeds our outward
man. So we may not understand the exact nature of the
flesh and blood of Christ, which we receive. But we
are sure that it cannot be less, but far more, real than
any seen thing, because the seen is but the shadow, and
He the substance of aU things. " In Him all things
"= In the Sixth « Verily, Verily."
H

98 THE MEAT OF
consist." ** And He, the Hving Word, says, " I am the
bread which came down from heaven." Him therefore
we receive, and in so receiving become " bone of His
bone and flesh of His flesh," *' being so made part of
that " greater and more perfect tabernacle, which," the
Apostle tells us, " is not of this creation." *^ And His
blood is « the blood of God," *' that is His life, for " the
blood is the life," ** which we must partake of, if we are
to live and dwell in Him. Therefore while He yet sat
with His disciples at the table our Lord could truly
say, " This is my blood which is being poured out for
you ; " *' for He was even then giving for them His
heavenly Ufe, though not a drop of His outward blood
had as yet been shed upon the cross. It is this
" blood of God " which we are called to drink ; for only
by receiving Him and His nature do we acquire the
substance out of which a body of the same nature as
His can be buUt up. Well therefore did a martyr say,
that " the blood of Christ is love," ** for love is the very
life of God, and we must drink in that very life if we
would Hve with Him. This blood is flrst communicated .
^ Col. i. 17. bread is the flesh of Jesus Christ,
" Eph. V. 30. the Son of God, mho became
" Heb. ix. 11 : Gr. hv tbutiji aftermwrds of the seed of Da/cid
T^j (tTiVeois. and Abraham." The whole pas-
¦" Acts XX. 28. sage is as follows : " I hare no
" Deut. xii. 23. delight in corruptible food, nor
" 4Kxvv6ij.fvov. S. Matt. xxvi. in the pleasures of this life. I
26. desire the bread of God, the
*' Ignatius, of Antioch, in his heavenly bread, the bread of
Epistle to the Romans, chap. vii. life, which is the flesh of Jesus
The passage is interesting, not Christ, the Son of God, who be-
only as giving this martyr's view came afterwards of the seed of
as to the " blood," but as show- David and Abraham ; and I de-
ing that he took the " flesh of sire the drink of God, namely
the Son of Man " to mean the His blood, which is incorruptible
substance of the Sou of God : love and eternal life."
.for he says that " the heavenly

THE NEW MAN. 99
through the " incorruptible seed," *' which is the word
of God ; for seed, whether corruptible or incorruptible,
is the very essence of the blood. Then when we are
babes, it comes as " milk ; " ** until as we grow up
in Christ it becomes " strong meat," and " flesh and
blood," ** daily increasing our strength and growth, as
we can bear it.'*
But there is still more in this " outpoured blood,"
which I almost hesitate to touch, lest in attempting to
bring out more of its fulness I should perplex or lay a
burden on any of my brethren. And yet whenever
Christ multipHes the bread in His disciples' hands,
whether for the first or second time, more is ministered
than can be taken in ; though at the second multiply
ing of the bread, when more is given and fewer par
take, less remains which has not been received. But
be it much or little that remains, twelve baskets full, or
only seven, disciples, if obedient, wUl take up and keep
what they cannot take in." I say, therefore, that, in
the outpouring and receiving of Christ's blood, there is
what, for want of better words for spiritual workings,
may be called a double action. For in the drinking of
the outpoured blood there is a reception both of life and
" 1 S. Pet. i. 23. us who have believed on Him.
" 1 Cor iii. 2, and 1 S. Pet. — Padagog.Wn.i. cap. vi.
ii. 2. s' At the first multiplying of
" Heb. V. 13, 14. bread there were but " five
" So Clement of Alexandria loaves and two fishes," and " five
says : " The very same Word is thousand men " to feed, and
fluid and mild as milk, or solid " twelve baskets full" remained.
and compact as meat. . . . Thus At the second multiplying there
in many ways the Word is figu- were " seven loaves and a few
ratively described, as meat, and small fishes," and but " four
flesh, and food, and bread, and thousand men," and only " seven
blood, and milk. The Lord is baskets full " were left. Cf. S.
all these, to give enjoyment to Matt. xiv. 17-21, and xv. 34-38.
H 2

100 THE MEAT OF
death. Just as the reception of the false word of the
serpent not only quickened the deviUsh life, but at the
same time poisoned and slew in man the life of God and
heaven ; so the reception of the flesh and blood or life-
giving substance of the true Word, not only restores
God's life, but brings to an end and swallows up the
fallen Ufe also : so that in and by the one ministry of
Christ's blood, even as in the one ministry of the false
word by the old serpent, a double work is performed,
the work of the one being exactly opposite to that
accompHshed by the other. The serpent's He swaUowed
up one life and bred another. So Christ's flesh and
blood destroys the old life while it sustains the new.
For by being clothed upon with the heavenly flesh
" mortality is swallowed up of Hfe." '^ And therefore
the drinking of Christ's blood, whUe it speaks first of
the reception of the heavenly Ufe, speaks also of the
bringing to an end of that divided Hfe, which His com
ing into our nature consumes and swallows up. With
our present blindness it is hard to speak aright of this,
though it is being enacted in us every day, if we re
ceive the Word."
4. This brings us to the fourth statement touching
this meat of the new man, namely, that this bread must
^'^ 2 Cor. V. 4. Clement here calls the " spiritual
*' Clement of Alexandria thus blood." The " redeening " ftora.
speaks of this double action of bondage comes, as a result of
the blood of Christ : " And the the reception of the life of Grod,
blood of the Lord is twofold ; through the pouring out of that
for there is the blood of His divided life, which, as long as
flesh, by which we are redeemed we continue in it, holds us in
from corruption, and the spiritual bondage. Even our Lord there-
blood, even that by which we fore could say, "How am I
are anointed." {Pcedagog. lib. straitened," until this baptism
ii. cap. 2.) The "anointing" ox was accomplished, Compare
"Christing " comes from what Rom. v. 10.

THE NEW MAN. 101
be taken in, because the spfritual, even as the natural,
Hfe, is only sustained by food received and assimilated.
So our Lord adds here, " Verily, Verily, I say unto you.
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
blood, ye have no life in you.'* Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. He that eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
As the Hving Father hath sent me, and I Hve by the
Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by
me." " Thus here as elsewhere nature shows us how
the new life is sustained. Every creature, vegetable,
animal, or spiritual, can only Uve by eating, that is
taking in, something of the substance out of which it
has been formed ; for no creature is or can be self-sub-
sistent. The earthly body lives on earth by taking in
that which is of the earth ; and if it lacks this natural
support, its life will first be faint, and then go out,
simply for want of the substance which it requfres to
sustain and nourish it. So with the inward man.
While it is dead to God, — though it Uves to sin and
to the world, and therefore craves for the things of sin
and of the world, — it has no desire for the bread of God,
because the life that needs that bread has not as yet
begun to Hve and move within it. But as soon as life
is quickened, hunger comes with it ; the soul opens its
desire, which is the one mouth for heavenly gifts ; and
that hunger is only appeased by the things of its own
proper world, received first as " milk," and then as
" strong meat."
'¦' More exactly, *'Te have this the words in chap. v. 26.
not life in yourselves: "ouKE;;t€Te " Verses 53-57,
(a^v iv iavTols. Compare with

102 THE MEAT OF
Then if we would grow, that which is taken in
must be assimilated. Only so, by the food becoming
actuaUy part of us, does it nourish or buUd us up.
TiU it is so received, we do not really take it in. It
only feeds us, as it becomes our flesh and blood. But
as by the fiire of this outward life, in these present
bodies of corruption, the food we eat is changed by the
wonderful chemistry of what we call nature, first into-
our blood, and thence into our flesh and bone and
sinews ; so by the divine fire working through our in
ward man does that new man assimilate, and thus make
part of itself, the heavenly bread or substance of the
Word, which it receives by faith. It is not enough
that it is in our memory, which, like the stomach, first
receives what we take in. It must become part of our
life, that is our very blood, for " the blood is the life."
Until it does so become part of us, it does not strengthen,
but, like undigested food, may even hurt us. " Where
fore whosoever shaU eat this bread, or drink this cup
of the Lord, unworthily, shaU be guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord ; " that is, shall be subject to the
penalty which ever follows, where food is eaten, but is
not -digested ; " for he that eateth and drinketh un
worthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not
discerning," that is, not absorbing or assimilating, " the
Lord's body." '* Nature should teach us here. If a
man eats or drinks what he cannot assimilate, it not only
does him no good, but he receives positive harm, and is
actually punished by the food when he does not digest it.
And this is equally true of the results which follow from
receiving the Lord's words unworthily, or from crude ap
prehensions of the book of nature ; for all is sacramental..
" 1 Cor. xi. 27, 29.

THE NEW MAN. 103
But when the Word or living bread is so received as to
become part of our blood or life, it not only nourishes
but cleanses our whole body. For pure blood formed
from pure food, flowing through every artery and vein,
carries away diseased and effete matter, and renews the
whole body. Thus " Christ has washed us in His
blood ; " " for " the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from
all sin ; " '* not by any mere outward application, but by
circulating freely through every part of our renewed
being. Therefore our Lord says here, " Except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have
no life in you." That blood, or life, which was in Christ,
must actually be appropriated, and assimilated, and circu
late all through us, if we are to be conformed to Him.
And indeed our LoM's own words here, as t6 the
way in which He lives Himself, put this matter in the
clearest Hght, and show how our Hfe, even as His, is
to be supported. He says, "As the living Father hath
sent me, and I Uve by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shaU live by me."'* He is the vine, and we
the branches,** and both in the self-same way grow
upon the same one root. For the head or root ot
every man is Christ, and the head or root of Christ
is God.*' And as the vine feeds upon the root,
and grows out of and lives by it, so does the Son
feed upon the nature of the Father, which is love,
and Hves by Him ; and as the branch Hves by the vine,
so does the Christian live by Christ. As the tree lives,
so does every part of it. Therefore our Lord in effect
says here, "The branch which eats my substance,
and drinks in my sap, dwelleth in me, and I in it, be-
" Eev. i. 5. =« 1 S. John i. 7. =» Verse 57.
«> S. John XV. 5. " 1 Cor. xi. 3.

104 THE MEAT OF
cause it is joined to me by a common nature, and there
fore my sap, which is my life-blood, dwells in it. As
the Hving Eoot hath sent me forth, and I live by the
Eoot, so the branch that feeds on me shall live by me."
This is only another way of saying, " As the living
Father hath sent me, and I Hve by the Father, even so
he that eateth me shall live by me ; " or, as He says in
another place, " In that day ye shall know that I am in
my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." *^ It is all the
self-same truth ; for the type of all that is in Scripture
is in God's older book of nature, that book having been
created for no other purpose than to be itself a word of
God. But how can we receive this living " flesh " and
"blood"? Is there any possible point of conscious
contact between us and the Lord so long as He continues
only what He is in Himself, a spiritual being, and we
remain as we are by nature, carnal ? Can we at first
receive Him as He is ; or must He, to reach us, come
to us in such a form as fallen creatures can apprehend ?
The Word of God, the Etemal Son, by whom and in
whom all things consist, is and must be much nearer to
all men than any outward man or creature. Yet such
is our fall out of the spirit-world, into the things of
sense, that to reach us that living word has now to
approach us in the flesh, that is from without and
through the senses. Spfritual creatures may receive
directly spfritual communications. To reach the carnal
some outward voice or sign must come. And He stoops
to this, to " come in the flesh," *' and knock at the door
°^ S. John xiv. 20. connection between the two : by
^ Not without a deep and the one as by the other the
wondrous reason does the Hebrew captive creature is reached and
word -|{»;3 mean not only Gospel quickened.
but Flesh ; for there is the closest

THE NEW MAN. 105
of the senses of our outward man, either by the " voice
of words," ** appealing to the sense of hearing, or by
some rite or " outward sign," *' appeaUng to the sense
of sight ; in either case stooping to reach us from with
out, because we are so deaf and dead within. " For,"
as Augustine says, " if the Beginning had remained with
the Father in His original nature, and not taken the
form of a servant, how could men have beUeved in Him ?
Would their weakly minds have taken in the spiritual
Word, without the medium of some sound or sight ad
dressed to sense ? " ** But He loves us. And there
fore as we address our infants, not with words only,
but with smUes and nods, and communicate with the
deaf and dumb with signs, because the word merely
.spoken would not be understood, so, more than any of
His most loving servants, has God come, making Him
self all things to all men, that by all means He might
save some. If He did not come in some creature form,
we should never receive Him. Therefore He comes to
us in the flesh, that we, receiving the outward form in
which He comes, may truly receive and live by Him.
This was the reason for the forms of old, such as lambs
and shewbread and the like, every one of which said
something to men, respecting themselves or God. This
is the reason for the Scriptures and for the Incarnation
of the Word. This is the reason for the sacramental
water and the bread and wine, and for all outward preach
ing and testimony. In all these the Word has come,
first appealing to men's senses from without, that even
thus He might enter in, and quicken, and possess, and
in due time transform our whole being.
« Heb. xii. 19. «5 ^eb. ix. 10.
'' Tractat. in Johan. xxxviii. § 11.

106 THE MEAT OF
And He yet comes in the self-same way, for He is
" Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,"
ealUng to men not only by His voice within, for though
the Word is very nigh them, yet, being what they
are, " How shall they hear without a preacher ? " *' but
speaking also, as He spoke of old, both to men's ears
and to their eyes, so as to be " made known to them in
breaking of bread ; " ** in both ways telUng us something
of our need, and of the provision which we have in
Christ Jesus. For either by preaching or by signs we
may receive Christ's flesh and blood; by the spoken
word or by the bread and wine. Therefore in every
celebration of the Lord's supper there is not the bread
and wine alone, but the Holy Scripture also, in and by
both of which the self-same flesh and blood of Christ
are ministered to us.** To some the outward act and
"' Rom. X. 8, 14. good, and retain it with like
™ S. Luke xxiv. 35. gratitude, as if Jesus Himself
"> Dean Comber, whose name was sacramentally and visibly
has been dear to the English present. For thus the Greek
Church for the last two hundred Liturgy orders ; and the ancients
years, in his well-known book, used to say before the Gospel,
A Compamionto the Temple, (yo\. 'Glory be to thee, 0 Lord,' and
iii. pp. 57, 58,) says : "The gos- afterwards, 'Thanks be to God
pel hath such aflSnity to Christ for His holy gospel,' tanquam
that it is properly the Word of Christo praesenti, as if Christ was
God, and bears the name of our then before their eyes." To the
Lord. (Heb. iv. 13 ; 1 Cor. i. 24.) same effect Archdeacon Freeman,
To receive Christ and to enter- in his Principles of Divine Ser-
tain His word with faith, is all vice, (vol. i. p. 348,) says : "I
one. Finally, to believe the have only to point out, lastly,
gospel is called ' eating His flesh that the hearing of the Lessons
and drinking His blood,' (S. is from the Eucharistic point of
John vi.,) and is a kind of view a most true and real reoep-
spiritual communion ; wherefore tion of Christ, closely akin to
it is fitly read before the sacra- that which takes place in the
ment, and at the altar, even if Holy Communion. . . . Euchar-
there is no celebration ; because istic celebration accordingly has
we must hearken to it with like ever had its Lessons of Holy
reverence, receive it with like Scripture, in early times very

THE NEW MAN.

107

sacramental sign come as a Hving word from God : to
others the spoken word seems clearer than the sacra
mental sign. All nature speaks to some. It is all
dumh to others, or rather they are deaf to the " many
voices in the world," '* by which in all creatures God is
speaking, whether we understand or not. To those to
whom the heavens say nothing, and to whom day unto
day utters no speech, bread and wine and water may
say very little, even though consecrated by the Lord
Himself. Such may need the spoken word to interpret
what the Lord is saying by His creatures. And in His
mercy He gives both. For He wiU stoop to the lowest
to reach and rescue all. In either case the outward form,
whether of words or signs, may be only outwardly
received, and so fail to touch and help the inward man.

full and large, as we have seen.
And the daily Lessons are but
the prolongation of these. The
Eastern recognition of .Christ
as the ' Wisdom ' of the Father,
and enshrined in a manner in the
Scripture, the Gospels especially,
will be remembered. As 'Wis
dom ' He waits continually to
enter into the soul in the public
hearing of Scripture, illuminat
ing, conforming, assimilating it
to His own divine manhood."
So too Augustine says, " Believe,
and thou hast eaten," (Tract, in
Joh. xxv. § 12,) and again, "To
believe on Him, this is to eat
the living bread: he that be
lieveth eateth." (Tract, in Joh.
xxvi. § 1.) The well-known
Rubric in the Prayer Book, (in
the Communion of the Sieh,) is
to the same effect: "But if a
man, either by reason of extrem
ity of sickness, or by any other
just impediment, do not receive

the sacrament of Christ's Body
and Blood, the Curate shall in
struct him, that if he do truly
repent him for his sins, and
steadfastly believe that Jesus
Christ hath suffered death upon
the cross for him, and shed His
blood for his redemption, earn
estly remembering the benefits
he hath thereby, and giving Him
hearty thanks therefor, he doth
eat and drink the Body and
Blood of our Saviour Christ
profitably to his soul's health,
although he do not receive the
sacrament with his mouth." The
fact that this Rubric is taken
substantially from the Sarum
Manual, (^De Extrem. Unctione,)-
shows that it is no novelty, but
the old Catholic doctrine upon
this subject. A whole Catena of
Catholic authority could, if
necessary, be produced to prove
this. ™ 1 Cor. xiv. 10.

108 THE MEAT OF
Even Christ Himself in the days of His flesh was often
thus received. But wherever and whenever we meekly
and lovingly receive the form in which He comes, we
receive Him to our soul's profit, even when, if we try
to explain what we have received or what He is, our
explanation may show how little we understand, nay,
even how much we misunderstand, what God has given
us. For in receiving Christ we receive all that He is,
though at the time we may only see something which
is the least part of His glory.
How many, for instance, have obtained peace
through the reception of the words, "The blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin," who, if questioned,
would give explanations, not imperfect only, but even
erroneous, of the words which nevertheless have been
the means of real blessing to them. Ask them, what
blood has cleansed them ? Is it blood which the eye
can see ? How has such blood ever touched them ? Or
how can such blood be taken into heaven, as the
Apostle says, to cleanse the heavenly place ? " W^hat
answers will even cleansed souls return to such ques
tions ? And yet not only have the words as to " the
blood of Jesus Christ " given them peace, but the very
blood itself, though thefr explanation of it is all wrong,
has truly entered into, and cleansed, and given them
spiritual Hfe. And so with the outward sign, the bap
tismal water and the eucharistic bread. Ask those, who
rightly tell you that through these they have received
Christ, to explain what the blessing is, what water washes
the soul, and what the flesh and blood is which feeds
thefr inward man, and the answer even of those who are
truly blessed will often reveal how far the blessing
" Heb. ix. 23, 24.

THE NEW MAN. 109
transcends their understanding. The fact is that both
the preached gospel and the outward sign, and the one
as much as the other, like Christ Himself, are sacra
mental ; and they who receive either, though both
may be received in vain, receive through them far more
than they are aware. If we do but touch the hem of
His garment, virtue goes forth from Him.'^ If we do
but faithfully and lovingly receive what He has ordained,
we receive Him, for He has said, " This is my body."
Blessed be His name, who has thus stooped to reach us
in our fall, and to give us Himself, even when we little
know what He is giving.
The result of this receiving is that we " abide in
Christ." So He says here, " He that eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him ; " "
or, as He says elsewhere, " 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." '*
Thus only, " eating His flesh " or " keeping His words,"
can we abide in Him and He in us." For as Augustine
says, " This is to eat that meat, and drink that drink :
even for a man to dwell in Christ, and to have Christ
dwelling in him. And therefore whoso dwelleth not in
Christ, and in whom Christ dwelleth not, without doubt
doth neither eat His flesh, nor drink His blood."'*
'- S. Matt. ix. 20. especially used of the feeding of
'^ Verse 56. herbivorous and ruminating ani-
" S. John xiv. 23. mals. (See Liddle & Scott, Lexi-
" It is worth noticing that con, in verb.) It points to that
four times in this passage (vv. chewing the cud or meditation
64, 56, 57, 58,) the word rpiiyoi which is necessary if we would
occurs in our Lord's words, in- feed aright on Christ.
stead of ^0710, which we find in '^ In Johan. Tractat. xxvi. §
the w6rds uttered by the Jews, 18, p. 412, Oxford Translation.
in verse 52. Tpdya is the word

110 THE MEAT OF
" The sign which shows that one hath eaten and drunk
is this, that he inhabiteth and is inhabited ; that he
cleaveth to the Head, so that he is not abandoned." "
If therefore any axe cast forth as fruitless branches,
and are withered, such things show that these do not
abide in Christ, and have not truly fed upon His flesh
or drunk His blood. They who receive of His fulness
cannot but bring forth fruit, because they abide in
the Vine.
This is the Meat of the New Man ; and if at times,
through the weakness of our flesh, this "unleavened
bread " be to us a " bread of affliction," or a " bread
of tears," '* — if, like the roll given to the prophets to eat,
the word, though sweet in our mouth at first, is after
wards for a season bitter in our belly,'* — let us not
reject, but with joy receive it ; for though it slay our
outward man, by it the inward man is renewed day by
day. Blessed are they, who, instead of "feeding on
ashes," or " on wind," *° or even in their soul-hunger
feeding on themselves," can say with saints, "How
sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea sweeter than
honey to my mouth." «2 «Thy words were found, and
I did eat them ; and thy word was unto me the joy
and rejoicing of my heart." *' Such know what it is
to have found the Bread of Life, who says, " He that
cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that beUeveth
on me shall never thfrst."
" Id. Tract, xxvii. § 1. p. 416, «« Isa. xliv. 20, and Hos. xii. 1
Oxford Translation. ei Isa. ix. 20.
" Deut. xvi. 3, Psalm Ixxx. 5. >^ Psahn cxix. 103.
" Ezek. iii. 3, and Rev. x. 9. ss jgr. xv. 16.

THE NEW MAN. Ill

FIFTH "YEEILY, YEEILY."
THE LIBERTY OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John viii. 31-36.)
Our Lord next calls attention to the Liberty which
follows our reception of the Hfe of God. Life is a
blessing, but without freedom it is hardly Ufe. Will
ingly therefore in every age have men laid down their
lives in efforts to obtain freedom. Our Lord here tells
us what is true freedom. And we need His words, for,
without the freedom of which He speaks, all other
Hberty, whether of body or mind, may only lead to
worse bondage. And yet the innate craving in aU for
freedom is a true witness of man's end, and that he is
created to be free indeed. Here in His fifth " Verily,
Verily," our Lord shows us what is the Hberty of the
New Man ; that it is the fruit or result of light, and
only perfected in the spirit of sonship by Him who is
the Son.
The place which this truth occupies in the series is
instructive. This Gospel speaks of two great blessings,
life and light, which come to man through the eternal
Word. The first seven chapters deal with life ; and
the first four reiterated Amens are all occupied with
particulars respecting this etemal Hfe; first, its true
home ; then the secret of its quickening ; then its

112 THE LIBERTY OF
characteristic way ; and then its food. At the eighth
chapter our Lord goes on to speak of light, saying, " I
am the light of the world : he that foUoweth me shaU
not walk in darkness, but shall have the Hght of life." '
And then in immediate connection with this " light
of life," He speaks of the Hberty which this Hght gives,
and then of the service which as freed men we can
give to God and man. This is more than Ufe. For
light not only shows things as they are, and works un
numbered wonders both in heaven and earth, changing
everything with which it comes in contact, but it also
frees us from the bonds which darkness ever imposes
on us. Therefore, as the wise man says, " Truly the
light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is to see the
sun;"^ for "when the sun ariseth the beasts of the
forest, which creep forth in darkness, lay themselves
down, and man goeth forth to his work and to his
labour." ' The light frees him to work. This is the
teaching here : " Verily, Verily, I say unto you, who
soever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the
servant abideth not in the house for ever ; but the Son
abideth ever. If the Son therefore shaU make you
free, then are ye free indeed." *
This truth is introduced by a declaration as to
certain stages in the heavenly life, from faith to know
ledge, and thence to Hberty indeed. To this an ob
jection is at once urged by some, that such teaching is
derogatory to thefr calUng as Abraham's sons, which
necessarily includes, as they suppose, the full blessing.
And then comes our Lord's answer to this objection,
1 Chap. viii. 12. ' Psalm civ. 20-23.
2 Eccl. xi. 7. * Chap. viii. 34-30.

THE NEW MAN. US
showing what the liberty of the New Man is, and what
it is to be " free indeed."
1. Mark first the teaching of our Lord as to the
stages of the heavenly Hfe : " Then spake Jesus to those
Jews who had believed on Him, If ye continue in my
word, then are ye my disciples indeed ; and ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."'
Here are several stages : first " faith ; " then by " con
tinuing in the word " becoming " disciples indeed ; "
then " knowing the truth," and by it being " made free."
For it is with the heavenly and spiritual as with the
earthly Hfe. When first quickened it is in darkness.
Even when at first it comes forth into light, for days or
months it needs the swaddling-clothes which confine
and yet strengthen it. And then for years it must
know the discipHne of childhood and of youth, while
it is still bound by rules according to a Father's will.
Then, as it continues in the word, it becomes a " learner,"
and so step by step knowing the truth, just in pro
portion as it knows it, is made free. But it does not
know, nor is it free, at first. It is only as we " con
tinue in the word " that we come, first to light, and
then to liberty indeed.
Let us look more closely at these stages.
The path begins with " faith," that is with receiving
the word which comes from God. Faith in the Son
gives life. This faith is not beUeving this or that truth
touching the Lord, but is rather beUeving and obeying
Him, when He calls us. Therefore in the Gospel we
are told rather whom than what to beHeve. The promise
is to " him that beUeveth on the Son." " He that be
lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life." * " He that
» Verses 31, 32. ' S. John iii. 36.
I

114 THE LIBERTY OF
believeth in me shaU never die." ' " He that beUeveth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also."* " He
that believeth on me, out of his belly shaU fiow rivers of
Hving water." * For He yet calls and speaks to men ;
to some by an inward voice ; to others by some out
ward event, or prophet, or word of Holy Scripture : by
one or aU of these compelUng us to feel, that " the
Master is come, and calleth for us." '* All have heard
these voices. And it signifies Httle how apparently
trivial or purely personal the matter may be, respecting
which He speaks to us and we beHeve Him. If in the
smallest matter we can trust His word, life and blessuig
come with the word. For, in so believing Him, the
breach is healed which severs us from God.
Then " if we continue in the word " more Ught will
come : we shall be " disciples indeed." This title marks
a certain progress. In the Acts of the Apostles,
Christians havefournames, — "beUevers,"" "brethren,""'
" disciples," " " saints ; " '* each name indicating some
stage or aspect of the same one life. First we are " be
Hevers," no longer independent of God. This makes
us " brethren," in our true relation to our fellow-men.
Then we are " disciples," or " learners," in the school of
God. Then we are " saints," or holy, that is, set apart
for God's service. Here speaking to " believers," our
Lord says, " If ye continue in my word, ye are learners
indeed ; " for a word may quicken faith, but learning only
comes by waiting on the Master. Saints in every age,
' S.Johnxi.26. " Acts xv. 1, 3, 22, 23, 33 ;
" S. John xiv. 12. and see S. Matt, xxiii. 8.
» S.John vii. 38. " Acts ix. 1 ; xi. 26 ; xix. 1,
>• S. John xi. 28. 3 ; xx. 7.
" Acts ii. 44 ; iv. 32 ; v. 14 ; » Acts ix. 13, 32, 41 ; Col.
1 Tim. iv. 12 ; and compare 1 i. 2.
Cor. vi. 6 ; xiv. 23 ; 2 Cor. vi. 14.

THE NEW MAN. 116
therefore, have said, " I wait for the Lord, my soul doth
wait ; and in His word do I hope." " " Oh, how I love
thy law ; it is my meditation all the day. Thou through
thy commandment hast made me wiser than mine ene
mies, because it is ever with me. I have more under
standing than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are
my meditation. I imderstand more than the ancients,
because I keep thy precepts." '* And so, writing to his
beloved Timothy, Paul says, "Continue thou in the
things which thou hast learned and been assured of,
knowing of whom thou hast learned them ; and that
from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through
faith which is in Christ Jesus." " Thus " continuing in
the word " we daily " learn." But how many by their
haste to teach before they know, lose the divine art of
learning any more. How can such " know the truth,"
which is only learnt by abiding in the word, and by giving
ourselves to it, that it may possess us more and more.
The fact is, that truth grows in us exactly like a
tree. The seed is the word ; '* and this produces in
our hearts first faith, then knowledge, then Hberty. At
first, still bound in sense, we can only receive the sym-
boHc form of truth, as yet incapable of understanding
its true meaning. Yet even thus " faith cometh by
hearing." '* And this faith, feeble as it seems, Uke a
root without beauty, contains all that will in due time
come forth from it. For this faith is the spring of life.
And it is the Ufe which gives us light. Only as we live
any Hfe do we really and truly understand it. Therefore
as we live this life, by keeping this word, faith be
" Psalm cxxx. 5. '« Psalm cxix. 97-100. " 2 Tim. iii. 14, 15.
'8 S. Luke viii. 11. i' Rom. x. 17.
I 2

116 THE LIBERTY OF
comes experience with us. We prove what we have
beUeved, and so proving it henceforth not only beHeve
but surely know it. Whatever we have heard of Christ's
Ufe, or death, or resurrection, by obedience, which is com
munion with His life, becomes a part of our experience.
Yet the seed and root of this understanding or illumina
tion Hes in the word received, which grows and develops
itself in us exactly in proportion as we abide and live in it.
Faith takes indeed beforehand the future as a present
possession;^* but we only know as we Hve the hfe.
Thus only do we " add to faith knowledge, and to know
ledge love." ^' Thus this knowledge is no result of intel
lectual power, or of any self-wUled searching into the
things of God, which, so far from helping us to the
truth, may make the possession of it almost an impossi-
biUty. Truth comes only to the meek and true.^^ All
experience shows that the really enlightened man is, not
he who desfres to know God's secrets, but rather he who
simply seeks to Hve and walk with God, and to do His
wUl so far as it has been revealed to him. If we will do
His wiU, we shall know the doctrine.^' Therefore, as St
Paul says, "If any one wUl be wise, let him become a fool,
that he may be wise." ^* Without obedience souls are
" ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth." ^' Scripture, which to unbeUef is always
barren, brings forth and buds to him who pleases God.^*
Thus do we come to " know the truth," which is
*• Clement of Alexandria has Ub. vii. cap. 10.
a remarkable passage upon this ^' 2 S. Pet. i. 5.
connection of faith and know- ^^ Psalm xxv. 9.
ledge, (^Strom. lib. ii. cap. 2,) ^ S. John vii. 17.
where, referring to the Apostle's '* 1 Cor. iii. 18.
words in Heb. xi. 1, he calls " 2 Tim. iii. 7.
faith irp6\i\<^is, or a taking be- ^s ciem. Alexandr. (Strom..
forehand of the things which lib. vii. cap. 16,) toTs yvwaTuco'ii
are yef. unseen. See also Strom. K^Kvi)Ka.ffiv al ypaipai.

THE NEW MAN. 117
more than knowledge about the truth. For there are
more ways than one of knowing anything. For we may
know a thing on the testimony of others, or by seeing
it ourselves, or by reasoning it out, or by intuition, all
of which are different ways by which we gain know
ledge. But we do not know anything perfectly until
we have it. Fully to know pain, we must have pain.
Fully to know gladness, we must have gladness. So
we do not really know the truth, till we have it in our
very life, tUl in this divine conjunction the Ufe under
standing and the Ught understood become one. Then we
know indeed, for then we have Him who is the truth
and wisdom of God, He in us, and we in Him. Even
in this knowing there are stages. Like the Bride we
may first say, " My beloved is mine ; " our first thought
being that the truth is ours, and that we have it, rather
than that it now has hold of and possesses us. But
the perfection of this possessing is not reached, until,
Hke the same Bride at a later stage, we say, " I am
my beloved's," in the greater joy that neither we nor
anything we have are now our own, but that all is
wholly His.^' For, indeed, even as respects truth, so
*' The three sayings of the and He is mine." Christ's owner-
Bride in the Canticles are, first, ship and possession of us now
" My beloved is mine, and I am takes the first place in our
His ; " (chap. ii. 16 ;) then, " I am thoughts, and our possession of
my beloved's, and my beloved is Him, truly blessed as it is, be-
mine ; " (chap. vi. 3 ;) and then comes subordinate. At last we
lastly, " I am my beloved's, and come to, " I am His, and His
His desire is t owards me.' ' (chap. desire is towards me ; " where the
vii. 10.) At first the ruling word " mine " is altogether
thought is, "Christ is mine." dropped, in the perfect assurance
That " I am His " is yet second- of love, that to be His indeed
ary. For at this stage we think involves all. See on this Am-
chiefly of Christ as ours, and so brose, De Isaac, c. 8, quoted by
in some way for our pleasure. Littledale in his Commentary on
Then we come to, " I am His, the Soiig of Songs, p. 332.

118 THE LIBERTY OF
long as our thought is to have something of our own,
the blessing is never perfectly known ; for in all such
desfre to have something of our own, something of
bondage also remains with it. It is only when we feel,
that, even as to the truth, we have nothing of our own,
and that aU we have and are is of the Lord, that the
fulness of the blessing takes possession of the soul.
And then "the truth frees us." By it the false
word is cast out, which separated us from God, and
brought us into bondage. By it God is revealed. And
this revelation frees us from our bonds, as the earth is
freed from its wintry chain by the growing Ught and
warmth of spring and summer. By it the creature is
renewed. For as the sun makes the seed to shoot, and
to come forth out of its graVe, into a liberty which it
could not know in darkness, and even transmutes,
through a gradual dissolution, all that seems to shut in
the germ of Ufe, into suited nourishment for its growth
and further development ; so does the truth, working
within, use our very bonds for good, turning them into
means of greater grace and larger increase. We are
made new creatures by the truth. Let us only keep
the word, and " the truth shaU make us free."
2. To all this an objection is at once urged by some
to whom Christ speaks these words. " They answered
Him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage
to any man. How sayest thou, ye shaU be made free ? " ^*
Self in them is offended at the suggestion that they
are not yet free. Some truth therefore as to their
calHng is set against their state. They contend that
as Abraham's seed they must be free, and that there is
=' Chap. viii. 33.

THE NEW MAN. 119
little, if any, further liberty to be gained by obedient
discipleship. So instead of " learning " they " answer ; "
and thefr answer is half-true, half-false. First, " We
be Abraham's seed," which was quite true. Then, " We
were never in bondage to any man,'' which was as false.
They were Abraham's seed : our Lord allows it : ^* they
were still the favoured of the Lord, chosen by His grace
to be His sons and first-born ; '* but, not to speak of
thefr bondage to sin, and to the letter of the law, they
and their fathers had again and again been carried cap
tive, and, even while they spoke, they were under the
iron yoke of Eome. Yet they say, " We were never
in bondage." Absurd as thefr answer is, it is still too
often the reply of some to exhortations to look for more
freedom. Not young converts only, but even old Chris
tians, assume, that, because they are believers, they are
free. So they "answer Him." Oh, that, instead of
answering, we could be still and treasure up His words,
and ask for grace more perfectly to understand Him.
Think of the miserable self-justifying answers, which
we are aU so ready to make, when Christ speaks of
intelUgent discipleship, and of a growth from faith to
knowledge, and from knowledge to Hberty indeed. Only
a few years ago these very words, " We were never in
bondage to any man," were taken, at a gathering of
professing Christians, as descriptive, in the preacher's
judgment at least, of the state of those he was ad
dressing." And every day one sees beUevers, bound
by opinions, habits, or forms, which, however useful in
^ Verse 37. Jesus, vol. v. p. 358,) mentions,
^ Exod. iv. 22, and Deut. that the German Catholic, Do-
xiv. 1. wiat, took these words for his text
" Stier, in his note upon at the meeting at Offenbach,
this passage, ( Words of the Lord Oct. 3, 1845.

120 THE LIBERTY OF
thefr place, are far enough from the liberty wherewith
Christ makes us free, ready to assert that they are not
and cannot be in bondage, because those who beUeve
in Christ must needs be free. Such is not the language
of God's saints. Scripture is full of the cries of those,
who, though they walked with God, yet openly con
fessed, that, spite of the calUng wherewith they had
been called, through their own or others' sins they often
were in bondage ; and all this while they never doubted
of God's purpose toward them, or that they were chosen
and beloved, though in thefr experience they yet came
short of that for which they had been apprehended. It
is left for those who do not know themselves to boast
that they are free.
3. But this boast as to thefr freedom, because they
are elect, only draws from the living Word more of the
truth as to the liberty wherewith He makes us free.
" Jesus answered them. Verily, Verily, whosoever com
mitteth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant
abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son abideth
ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, then
are ye free indeed."'^ Here our Lord declares, first,
what bondage is ; then, that the spfrit of bondage must
be cast out ; and lastly, who it is that gives, and what
constitutes indeed, the true freedom.
(i) Ffrst, what is not freedom, but bondage : — " Who
soever committeth sin is the servant of sin." Privileges
are no proof that we are free. Be our gifts or eaUing
what they may, sin makes us slaves to that which we
seem to indulge in, but which rather holds us captive.
And our very gifts may serve to blind us to our state,
'2 Verses 34 -36.

THE NEW MAN. 121
for, in this sense also, " a gift bUndeth the eyes of the
wise."" Let none think therefore that gifts involve
freedom. If we sin, we are not free. " Know ye not,"
says Paul, " that to whom ye yield yourselves servants
to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of
sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." '*
And though false teachers may " aUure through the
lusts of the flesh those who are just escaping from them
that live in error, by promising them Hberty, whUe they
are servants of corruption,'' such words are vanity, " for
of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought
into bondage."" Sin and freedom cannot coexist.
" Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin."
What then is sin ? Scripture gives us two answers :
" Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," '* and " Sin is law
lessness " or self-wiU." On the one hand, foUowing
our own will, instead of acting up to Hght, is sin : on the
other hand, going beyond our Hght, through the same
self-will, is sin also. Both in not acting up to, and
in going beyond, our Hght, we act in independence of
God, and this independence is separation from Him.
The fall was simply this, that some creature, that is
something which is not God, took His place with mafl ;
and man, trusting the creature more than God, walked
in its light or darkness rather than in fellowship with
God. Eighteousness comes back when man by faith
is brought to walk with God again, and to give Him
His true place by acting or being acted upon in all things
according to His will. Anything therefore not of faith
is sin. And all such sin is bondage. Self-will is bond
age, for to the soul of man, which is formed for God,
=3 Deut. xvi. 19. »* Rom. vi. 16. == 2 S. Pet. ii. 18, 19.
^ Rom. xiv. 23. " 1 S. John iii. 4.

122 THE LIBERTY OF
and cannot stand alone, self-wiU or independence of
God means dependence on a creature ; and we cannot
be dependent upon a creature, be it what it may, with
out more or less becoming subject to it. What has not
been given up for money, or for some creature's love.
But who has ever thus served the creature more than the
Creator without awaking at last to feel he is a bond
man ? I say nothing of the worse bondage which comes
from our self-wiU,in the indulgence of our own thoughts,
or passions, or affections. Even the very energies of
faith, while, as yet unchastened, it acts from self, Uke
Abraham with Hagar, may only bring forth more bond
age. Who knows not something of the bondage into
which men come, as to days, and times, and meats, and
drinks, only because that which in itself is pure to them
through lack of faith is impure ? Who but God can set
them free ? And He sets them free as they walk with
Him. All independence of Him is only darkness.
But there is another bondage which also indirectly
comes through sin. Sin not only itself enslaves, but
for its temporary restraint, and to make us conscious of
its presence, it requires law ; '* and this law, holy as it
is, acting upon a fallen nature, itself produces fresh
bondage.'* The old covenant and the history of Israel
are proofs of this. But any of us who have sought to
be free from sin by law well know, that, until the spfrit
of sonship comes, mere law and our best attempts to
keep it still leave the soul in bondage. It is indeed
true that the extremest bondage of law is as perfect
freedom compared with the worse slavery, to which self-
will and self-indulgence ever lead us. And I doubt
'» Gal. iii. 19, and Rom. iii. 20. " Rom. vii. 9, and Gal. iv. 24.

THE NEW MAN. 123
not that the rules and discipline of varied kinds, under
which some have been bound or have bound themselves,
with the desfre thereby to please God, have really
helped, for a time at least, those who have been under
such discipHne, just as bandages are useful for a broken
limb, and that therefore such rules have had thefr place
in leading on to true freedom. Of course the hefr, whilst
he is a child, needs all these things ; but while he needs
them, as the Apostle says, he differs nothing from a
servant, though he be lord of all.** Even so, while we
are chUdren, we are in bondage under the elements of
the world. Yet such bonds, good in their place, are
not freedom ; and to put them in the place of, or to
exalt them above, the liberty wherewith Christ makes
us free, is to mistake a permitted means for the ap
pointed end, and to stay in childhood when we are
called to full age. God has sent His Son, to redeem
them that are under law, that they may receive the
adoption of sons. And because they are sons. He sends
forth the spirit of His Son into their hearts. There
fore they are no more servants but sons ; and if sons,
then hefrs of God through Christ.
(ii) This leads us to the next point noticed by our
Lord, namely that this spirit of bondage shall be cast
out. " The servant abideth not in the house for ever,
but the Son abideth ever." *' Bondage and the bond
man have their day ; but they shaU not abide for ever.
Bondage is not eternal, for sin is not eternal. Abra
ham's history foreshadowed this to Abraham's sons, in
telUng how the bondman came into the house, and how,
when the true heir had come, both the bondmaid and
« Gal. iv. 1-3. •" Verse 35.

124 THE LIBERTY OF
her son were cast out. Our Lord only refers here to
the story, as though its lesson ought to have been
understood by Abraham's sons. St Paul does more.
Once and again he goes into the typical meaning of the
fact to which our Lord alludes in this saying. " My
Httle children," he says to the Galatians, " of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I
desfre to be present with you, and to change my voice,
for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desfre to
be under the law, do ye not hear the law ? For it is
written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond
maid, the other by a freewoman ; and he who was of
the bondwoman was bom after the flesh, but he of the
freewoman was by promise ; which things are an aUe-
gory, for these are the two covenants ; the one from
the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, is Agar,
and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in
bondage with her children ; but Jerusalem which is
above is free, which is the mother of us aU. Neverthe
less what saith the Scripture ? Cast out the bondwoman
and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be
hefr with the son of the freewoman." *^ And to the
Eomans he thus again refers to the same event:
" Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are
they all children, but, (it is written,) In Isaac shall thy
seed be called ; that is, they which are the children of
the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the
children of the promise are counted for the seed." *'
All showing how there may be bondage in Abraham's
house, and even in his sons, and that this bondman
must be cast out.
Now this truth has two fulfilments : an inward one,
« Gal. iv. 19-30. « Rom. ix. 7, 8.

THE NEW MAN. 125
fulfilled in all, for our bodies are a house,** wherein
God works by law and gospel; and an outward one,
which is accompUshed both in the " great house " *' of
the professing Church, and also in that still greater
house of this outward world,** in the ages or dispensa
tions of which we see the outworking of the same pur
pose. The dispensational fulfilment is familiar to all.
We know how, when the true Son came, the Jew, the
son of the bondmaid, was cast out ; not that he should
be for ever lost, but as a sign that the spfrit of bondage,
and those whose Hfe is in this spfrit, must depart from
God's people. The visible Church witnesses the same.
There are stUl some in the elect house, whose life is the
fruit of law rather than of promise, who, though like Ish-
mael and the Jew of old, caUed to be sons, yet show that
they are the bondmaid's seed, in that they do not abide
unto the end, but are cast out, like the unfruitful branch,
and men gather them, and they are burnt. These, how
ever, are but the temporary and therefore partial and
shadowy fulfilments of our Lord's words, that "the
servant abideth not in the house for ever ; " and, like
shadows, they may distort, and even seem to contradict,
the blessed truth of which they are the figure. For
the etemal truth and will of God here revealed is, that
the Ufe of bondage shall not always remain, but that
both that which brings it forth, and that which is so
brought forth, shall be for ever done away. A life shall
be begotten, not of law, but grace ; which is not the
fruit of man's energy, but of God's power ; begotten in
man when the creature-wiU, like Abraham, has become
as good as dead ; and which, because it is so begotten,
<< 1 Cor. vi. 19, and 2 Cor. v. 1-4. « 2 Tim. ii. 30.
" Heb. iii. 4.

126 THE LIBERTY OF
is free ; the son, not of the bondwoman, but of the
free ; and which therefore, as a son and heir, without a
doubt can say, " I wUl dwell in the house of the Lord
forever."*' And yet the first and outward fulfilment of this
truth, as seen in the rejection of Ishmael and the Jew,
seems to speak of judgment rather than of freedom.
And so it must appear to us whilst we are in the self
hood of our fall. At such a stage the fullest gospel
will only be another law. Let the spfrit of sonship
come, and then the very law becomes the promise, with
its assurance of eternal liberty and joy. I speak that
which I know. And I know how even the law, which
says, "Thou shalt have none other gods but me.
Thou shalt rest the seventh day. Thou shalt not
covet," — which always at first speaks to man as a de
mand upon him, requiring what in his weakness he
finds it hard, if not impossible, to give, and which in
this aspect therefore only condemns him, — to sons of
God becomes His promise, declaring that some day,
because God says it, we shall have none other gods but
one, that after the days of labom we shall surely rest,
yea, that we shaU neither steal, nor murder, nor
covet, nor do any other of the wretched things, which
only bring us into bondage. Yet all this for years is
only read as law, and not as promise, and will always
so be read, until the bondman by grace is cast out. So
even our Lord's word here may seem to some a threat
of judgment. Blessed be God, even if they come as
judgment, that judgment is for good. Blessed be His
name, that, though His children misunderstand Him,
" Psalm xxiii. 6.

THE NEW MAN. 127
His purpose cannot fail, and He has said, " The servant
abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son abideth
ever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, then
are ye free indeed."
(iii) Thus are we shown who it is that gives, and
what is, true freedom. " The Son shall make you free." **
The liberty here promised is the Son's free gift, who
being hefr of all things can make us free indeed. He
is specially anointed to this end. " Thus saith the
Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and I
wiU give thee for a covenant of the people, that thou
mayest say to the prisoners. Go forth, and to them that
are in darkness. Show yourselves."** And He says
Himself, " The Spfrit of the Lord is upon me, to preach
glad tidings to the poor : He hath sent me to heal the
broken-hearted : to preach deliverance to the captives,
and to set at Hberty them that are bound." '* There
fore, " When He ascended up on high. He led captivity
captive." " And He shall not fail nor be discouraged
until He hath set judgment in the earth, and sent
forth His prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.'^
The elect are but "the first-fruits to God."" "The
creature itself shaU be delivered from the bondage of
corruption." '*
But how does He make free ? Does He give us
something separate from Himself, in which we may
boast, as some have done, of being above all forms, and
law, and conscience ; or does He free us by the com
munication of Himself? Not by anything separate
from Himself, but by giving us Himself, who is the
Hefr, and thus casting out our selfhood, which is
« Verse 36. " Isa. xlix. 8, 9. =» S. Luke iv. 18. =' Eph. iv. 8.
" Zech, ix. 11. " S. James i. 18 ; Eev. xiv. 4. " Rom. vui. 21.

128 TEE LIBERTY OF
indeed the bondman ; so that henceforth we may say
with Paul, " It is not I that Uve, but Christ Uveth in
me." The free Ufe is Christ's own Hfe in us, and the
dehverance in us, even as for us, is wrought by Christ
Himself. He wrought it for us by coming into our
nature, and taking that nature upon Himself ; and thus
by the etemal Word man was united to God, and
made a new creature. He works it in us in the self
same way, by the coming into us of the self-same
Word, that as many as receive Him may become sons,
and freemen, and hefrs of God with Him. 'Where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is Hberty. The whole
mystery is shown in type in Abraham's house. When
Isaac comes and is weaned, the bondman is cast out ;
not without trial to the man of faith; for the dis
missal of Ishmael, Uke the casting out of selfhood in
us, is a parting with that which is nothing less than a
portion of the elect's self, and therefore for a season
" very grievous." " But it must be done. And difficult
as it is to speak of aU this change from self to Christ, —
for we have not words to utter, and very few have eyes
to see, the stages of this wondrous transmutation, — it is
being accomplished every day. Wherever any have
attained to be " free indeed," it is because the bondman
is cast out, and the Son has made them free. AU is
His work. He first brings forth, and then manifests in
man, the virtues of His own eternal Ufe. Thus is man
delivered. And henceforth freed from the sense of
guilt, which weighs upon the heart, and from all the
errors and illusions of sense, which darken and deceive
the mind ; from the fear of death ; from the bondage
'= Gen. xxi. 11.

THE NEW MAN. 129
of the letter ; from words and names of men ; free in
thought and action and desire ; free from mutability
and corruption ; free as the Lord was free ; he can
become a servant to all, as a later " Verily, Verily,"
teaches,'* by his service to free others as he has him
self been made free.
Here then is the conclusion of this matter. We
are brought to liberty by truth, and to know the truth
by continuing in the word, which we first receive
on testimony. Knowledge of the truth is the fruit
of faith ; not faith the fruit of knowing. For at
first we are, and must be, babes ; and babes, whether
in the flesh or in the spfrit, must believe before they
know ; for it is not possible for them at first in their
own experience to understand a thousand things, which
yet will open to them as they grow up through youth
to manhood. So, first believing, they will know the
truth. And then the truth will make them free. Let
none forget this order : first faith, then truth ; first
truth, and then in due time freedom. In every age
there have been souls, who have thought to be first
free, and do as they please, and then in self-will to
choose and find the truth. I do not say that truth is
never to be so found at last, for men may learn it
through judgments. But the way of the New Man is
by faith to come to truth, and then by truth to reach
to liberty indeed. Self-will can never rest. To Uve
in self-love is to live in bonds : to be free indeed we
must Uve in love, and God is love. The Son is the
image of the invisible God. In giving Himself to us
He gives us God, and makes us partakers of the
divine nature, which is not self-love, but love. The
"" See the Seventh " Verily, Verily."
K

130 THE LIBERTY OF
perfect law of hberty is love. He that looketh into
this law and continueth therein is blessed ; for so
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord he is
changed into the same image. Well then might
Augustine say, " Love, and do as you will." " Love,
and love only, is the perfect freedom.
Such is the liberty which the Son bestows, the
liberty of the sons of God, yea the very Hberty of God,
for the Son who makes us free, and who is our Hfe, is
very God. Every such freeman is a partaker of the
divine nature,'* because a partaker of Christ.'* This is
a great deep. Yet a glimpse into it is given in the
next "Verily, Verily," which opens, not the Hberty
only, but even the divinity, of the New Man, who is
the Son of God.
" " Dilige, et quod vis fac." =* 2 S. Peter i. 4.
In Epistol. Johannis, cap. iv. '' Heb. iii. 14.
Tractat. vii, 8,

THE NEW MAN. 131

SIXTH "YEEILY. YEEILY."
THE DIVINE NATURE OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John viii. 42-58.)
I HAVE already noticed of these reiterated Amens, that,
like the Four Gospels, the truths they open of the
New Man are all so intimately connected with and
overlap each other, that it is impossible to speak of
them without some repetition, for all are but varied
aspects of the nature or workings of the same one
heavenly life. Every truth therefore respecting this
life involves some other, and each one really involves
all. The first, for instance, that the New Man's home
is heaven, necessarily implies the next, of the new
birth, and that only by a birth into heaven can man
re-enter heaven. This involves the next, that, as a
son in the Father's nature, he does nothing from self,
but only what the Father doeth. This again supplies
the reason for the following witness, as to the New
Man's heavenly bread ; for as the tree lives upon its
root, so can this new life only be sustained by that
from which it has come forth. This again lies at the
foundation of the teaching as to his freedom, for that
freedom is through participation with the Son, who is
not a bondman, but the true Heir. These are all in
•substance one truth, and all involve, if they do not
K 2

132 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
assert, that the New Man possesses a divine nature.
Here in the sixth " Verily, Verily," this divine nature of
the New Man is distinctly taught. He has " proceeded
forth and come from God." ' Yea He can say, " Verily,
Verily, before Abraham was, I am."' Hence He can
be the means of communicating to others the seed of
the same eternal life : " Verily, Verily, I say unto you,
if a man keep my saying he shall never see death."'
Nothing higher can be said. All that follows
touching the New Man speaks, not so much of His
nature as of His work, and of the way in which, through
toil and sacrifice and death, He is perfected and made
the means of others' perfecting. Here our Lord testi
fies of this Divine Nature, which He has given to us in
giving us Himself.
1. Ffrst He says, "I proceeded forth and came
from God : " " Verily, Verily, before Abraham was, I
am ; "* while almost in the same breath He eaUs Him
self " a man," and the " Son of Man ; " "a man that
hath told you the truth,"' and "the Son of Man who
shall be lifted up."* The preceding Amens, in what
they had said of " angels ascending and descending on
the Son of Man," who " shall execute judgment also
because He is the Son of Man," who " came down from
heaven to give to men the flesh and blood of the Son
of Man," who even on earth is " the Son of Man which
is in heaven," and who says plainly, though it stumbles
some, " What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend
up where He was before," had aU impUed, that He of
whom these things were true, though Son of Man, was
indeed essentially divine. In the words before us this
' Chap. viii. 42. = Chap. viii. 58. ' Chap. viii. 61.
' Verses 42, 68. » Verse 40. « Verse 28.

THE NEW MAN. 183
¦claim is only made in plainer words. The Son of Man is
both " of God " and also " very God." He is " of God,"
for He " proceeded forth and came from God." He is
" very God," because " Verily, Verily, before Abraham
existed, I am."' St Paul only sums up this teaching
when he says, " The Second Man is the Lord from
heaven."* St John states it more fully in the well-
known words, " In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God ; and
the Word was made flesh."* Christ shows it us in
fact. In Him we see man according to God's purpose.
And in Him man is Son of God, and the Son of Man
is very God. Let us, like Moses at the bush, which
burned and yet was not consumed, draw near to see
this great sight, of God in man, and man in God, and
the Word made flesh, that our vile body might be
fashioned Hke unto His glorious body.
The mystery then here opened is that the Son of
Man is God. Such a subject must be difficult to ap
prehend, and even more to speak of, not only because
God's being and nature transcend our thoughts, but
also because few ever attempt even to look into the
heights and depths here opened to us. We say indeed
that God is spirit, and the Son of Man is God. But
we little think what spfrit is, or what it is to be
eternal. All our thoughts are naturally Hmited by ideas
of time and space. And yet, if the Son of Man is indeed
God, He must have been, or rather is, eternal. And
eternity, properly speaking, is not time. Time, space,
and matter, which seem so real, are but appearances of
' The marked difference of yevitrSm, iyti el/it, is lost in our
the words used in the original, Authorised Version.
which is important, irph 'A$paaiJ. " 1 Cor. xv. 47.
" S. John i. 1-14.

134 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
something which the eye of man cannot yet see, —
appearances depending on our present rudimental state
of consciousness. That cannot be eternal which be
gan in time. There is but one substantial, and there
fore eternal, though invisible, reality, underlying all
visible appearances, and that reality is God, who is a
spirit. There is but one Eternal Being ; " One God
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all,
and in all." '* And, " of Him, and through Hiin, and
to Him, are all things." "
What then is man? What does our Lord here
teach of the Son of Man ? For He reveals man accord
ing to the mind of God. Is he also merely an appear
ance ? I may answer. Yes, and No. What is temporal
in him, that is, all that is not divine, may begin, and
end, and change. AU that is divine in man never had
a beginning and can never end. It is quality that
constitutes manhood. Love, wisdom, and all divine
quaUties, never had a beginning, and can never end.
Take any of these from man, and he is no longer
human ; for it is what is divine in him that makes him
man. Cut off his limbs, or even take away his outward
body, as at death, and he is yet man. There are
indeed some in whom no divine quality is yet apparent ;
but is it not latent stiU as heat in ice ? To put it
boldly, therefore, man is man because God is in him
'" Eph. iv. 6. because it introduces a second
" Rom. xi. 36. It may per- and a bad principle into the
haps be objected that thus evil universe, as Augustine re-
is endued with eternal pre- peatedly points out. For in-
existence in the Mind of God. stance, De Moribus Ma/nieh. § 11 ;
But it should be remembered Contra Epist. Manich. § 29 f
that evil is not substantial, but Opus Imperf. c. Jvliamum, lib.
the negation of substance — ri iii. § 189: — " Vitium non sub-
li't] iv. To ascribe substantial stantise accidens, sed sub-
existence to evil is Manioheism, stantiam, putant esse."

THE NEW MAN. 135
in his inmost being ; and he becomes manifestly divine
when the divine nature has arisen and conquered and
brought into unity with itself everything pertaining
to our present outward nature.
This is what is revealed in the Son of Man who is
the manifestation of perfect humanity. In Him all
the outward Hfe is one with the inmost divine life.
Most truly could He say, " I proceeded forth from God."
" Verily, Verily, before Abraham existed, I am." Jesus
is God in the fullest sense. He and the Father are
One.'^ And this oneness is higher than equality, for
God can have no equals. In the Son of Man dwells all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily." But in revealing
this to us, He shows us what is God's purpose towards
us, that we should return out of our fallen and divided
life to that which is revealed as ours in Christ Jesus.
The perfect state to which we are hasting is, "that
God may be all in all." '* The right state now is, that
God should be all, for our true being is in Him.
AU present restlessness is but the fruit of separation
frortt Him, and hell only the non-apprehension of our
true being. Not that we are not " in God " even in our
present state ; for " in Him we Hve and move and have
our being." " For as the thought of the poet, architect,
or artist, is in the thinker both before and after its
manifested expression in book, form, or picture, so in
the etemal and unchanging One are all : we have been
in the mind of God, and therefore in God, from ever
lasting. But it is one thing to know this as a doctrine
or intellectually : another thing to know it in the very
life. We may know it as a doctrine, and be lost. The
'" S. John X. 30. '» Col. ii. 9. » 1 Cor. xv. 28.
'= Acts xvii. 28, and Col. i. 17.

1.36 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
Son of Man knew it in every part of His being, as a
living reality. He felt, " I am in the Father, and the
Father in me." '* And He came to reveal this to and
in as many as receive Him, that they through Hip
might know thefr high calling. We seem far enough
from all this now. How Httle of it do we even see ;
even as a child knows not, and cannot enter into pos
session of its inheritance, while it is yet a babe. Yet
all these things are ours in Christ. We are partakers of
the divine nature, joint hefrs with Christ, and shall at
last be made like Him. All things are ours, though as
yet we have not so much as to set our foot on. When
we too have overcome, we shall inherit all.
This then and nothing less is the nature of the
New Man. In Him the Creator and the creature are
indissolubly one; for by the coming of the Etemal
Son into man's nature the fulness of the Godhead has
dwelt in man, and the manhood been taken into God.
Oh, what depths of love are here ! The heaven and
earth were made ; and thrones, and dominions, and
principalities, and powers, were made also. But the
Hving God is here before us, made, very man for us,
that man might be made divine, God's son and hefr
in Christ Jesus. Nor was this an after-thought of God
or brought about as the result of anything which had
been unforeseen by His etemal wisdom. Man was in
God's mind from everlasting." In due time that
which from everlasting was in His mind by His Word
and Wisdom was brought forth, when man in God's
image was set upon the earth to have dominion over
every Hving thing, in that creation which arose out of
the dark and formless void of Satan's fallen kingdom.'*
'« S. John xiv. 11. " Eph. i. 3-11. '» Gen. i. 2, 28.

THE NEW MAN. 137
As thus first formed, man fell under the power of
death, surely not without a purpose, which is fulfilled
and manifested in Christ, who came into man's place,
and took upon Him this death, that through death He
might destroy him that had the power of death,'* and
bring man back in Himself where he should die no
more, but should even judge the angels who had
brought about his fall.'* For the gifts and calling of
God are without repentance." All therefore that fell
in Adam rose in Christ ; in whom we were chosen before
the foundation of the world, to the praise and glory
of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. In Him we were in the beginning, far more
truly than Levi was in the loins of his father Abraham
when Melchisedek met him ; for of Him, and through
Him, and to Him, are all things. And therefore to one
•of the prophets He says, " Before I formed thee in the
belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of
the womb I sanctified thee." '' For He is our life. And
by His coming in the flesh He manifested that Son of
Man, who, as He proceeded forth from God, could do
the works of God. In Him God's very life and image
were manifested in man, free from all fear of further fall
and failure. God in Him for ever had become man,
that man might be divine."
'» Heb. ii. 14. § 22. We find similar state-
^° 1 Cor. vi. 3. ments in his Four Discourses
^' Eom. xi. 29. against the Anans, i. chap. xi. §
^^ Jer. i. 5. See too Wisdom 39, and ii. chap. xix. § 47, and
viii. 19, 20, and Eom. ix. 11-13. in his Defence of tlie Nicene De-
-' The language of the finition, chap. iii. § 14. The
Fathers upon this point is such words of Hippolytus, in his Re-
as we rarely hear at the present futation of All Heresies, book x.
day. Athanasius says, AiTii chap. 30, are quite as strong : o4
iTnjvdpt^Tjffev tva. Tifieis OeoiroiriBu- yap Trrajx^i^t 6 6ehs Kal (re 6ehv
iiiv. Orat. de Incarn. Verbi, iv. voiria-a^ eij S6^av airov. So too

138 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
But this truth of man's divine nature, though it is
nowhere stated as by the Lord Himself, or shown as it
is in Him, who said, " I proceeded forth and came from
God," and " Verily, Verily, before Abraham existed, I
am," was yet in part at least foreshadowed in the Law
and Prophets and the Psalms, which speak of man and
the Son of Man in terms which seem properly to belong
to God alone. For why did the Law command, " Thou
mayest not set a stranger over thee, who is not thy
brother," ^* but because the Anointed who is set over us,.
(and " God is the king over all the earth," ^') is not
a stranger but indeed a brother ? Why again in the
Psalms is one of David's line addressed in words like
these, " Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever," ^*'
but because it is God's will that man should be for ever
one with Him ? And in the wonderful vision of Ezekiel,
when " the heavens opened " and he " saw visions of
God," when " out of the whirlwind and cloud he beheld
a fire, and then a brightness," what was the sight he saw
" in the midst of the brightness" but " the likeness of a
man." For " above the fibrmament that was over the
heads of the four living creatures was the likeness of a
throne, and upon the Hkeness of the throne was the
Hkeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of
the Lord." ^' The cherubim or living creatures, who
are round about the throne, figure all creaturely intel
ligence, and all the forms which can be apprehended by
Basil, De Spvritu Sancto, § ix. In Psalm, xhx. So again In
speaks of ^ iv 0e^ Siavofiii, ^ Johan., Horn, xlviii. § 9.
Tvphs Sehv S/xolains, Th oicpdroToy ^ Deut. xvii. 15.
tSv opeKTuv, Sehv yeviadai. So ^' Psalm xlvii. 7.
too Augustine : " Homines dix- ™ Psalm xiv. 6.
it deos, ex gratis suS deificatos." ^i Ezek. i. 26, 28.

THE NEW MAN. 1.30
such intelligence. But man is more than these, sum
ming up all creatures in himself, the patience of the
ox, the lion's force, the eagle's eye, and all the rest,
which for awhile through sin may be at strife, though
to be all united in the kingdom of the Son, but
superadding to all these a mind and will, to know, and
love, and hold, communion with Him, from whom he
came, and whose image he is formed to be. " We are
greater than we know." ^ The Man upon the throne is
above all in " the vision of the likeness of the glory of
the Lord." This is what our Lord here teaches, not
by any vision, but by His reiterated " Amen, Amen."
" Before Abraham existed, I am." The divine in Him
is human, and the human is divine ; yea, the more
human, the more divine ; because the true Hfe and
spirit of humanity are indeed of God, and the Son of
Man is very God.
And notice here that the New Man is called dis
tinctively the " Son of Man." 2* It might perhaps
have been supposed, considering the promises made to
Abraham and his seed, that the divine nature, which is
here declared to be the portion of the New Man, would
be his as Son of Abraham rather than as Son of Man.
Yet it is always spoken of as belonging to him as Son
of Man ; for this title goes higher even than that of
Abraham's seed, glorious as are the privileges which
cluster round this later relationship. Abraham's seed
is elect man. But man is more and greater than elect
man. For elect man is but a part of man, while the
Son of Man is undivided man. The elect is indeed the
^' So Tertullian ¦writes, " Tu cap. xMii.
homo, tantum nomen, si Intel- ^' Verse 28. See also ch. i.
ligas te." Apolog. adv. Gent. 61 ; iii. 13 ; v. 27 ; vi. 53, etc.

140 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
means, by which, after a fall and division have come in,
the blessing lost, first received by some, shall in due
time through them come upon others, who are stiU
remaining in the fall. But the election, with aU its
glories, tells of division. " Son of Man " tells of
undivided and united man, as he came forth from God,
before separation of any kind has changed the work of
Ood. " Son of Man " is the heir of man in God's
image, before the woman was taken out of the man.
Christ too, as " made of a woman, and made under the
law,"'* is the " Seed of the Woman " rather than the
^' Son of Man ; " for from her He took our present
form in the divided flesh, where the man is severed
from the woman, and the woman from the man. And
being thus "in the likeness of sinful flesh"" for us,
He needed to be " made perfect through sufferings,""
by which He put off the divided form, where He was
Son, of David according to the flesh, to be declared to
be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, where
there is neither Jew nor Greek, nor bond nor free,
nor male nor female, but man again is one in Christ
Jesus." In Him, as Son of Man, the breach is healed ;
and therefore, in the vision granted to St John, when
he saw " One Uke unto the Son of Man, walking in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks," he distinctly
marks, as I have afready noticed, the woman's breasts,'*
testifying that the division of our nature is healed in
Hun, who, " being made perfect, has become the author
of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him, called
of God a high priest after the order of Melchisedek.""
=» Gal. iv. 4. " Rom. viii. 3. »' Heb. ii. 10.
3' Rom. i. 3, 4 ; Gal. iii. 28, and cf. 1 Cor. xi. 11.
" See above, p. 34. == Heb. v. 9, 10.

THE NEW MAN. 141
And yet even in the body made of a woman, and which
was "prepared for Him,"'* He was always the Holy
One of God, showing, even in the likeness of sinful
flesh, the amazing powers of the Holy Seed, and that
even here He was the Son of Man who is indeed divine.
Of this Son of Man, who took our place and like
ness for us, and who, " being made perfect," is the
" priest after the order of Melchisedek," there are
many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing that
so many yet " have need of milk, and not of strong
meat ; " but I may perhaps say here, that the priest
hood of Melchisedek is the priesthood of the " Son of
Man," that is of man as man, as contrasted with the
priesthood of Aaron, the son of Abraham, which is the
priesthood of the separation, that is of the elect.
Typically we see the one in the calUng of Israel and
Ijevi ; the other in the calling of the Gentiles. Our
Lord in spfrit fulfils both." He fulfils Aaron's priest
hood, which is connected with a temple and a veil,
where the high priest enters into the holy place with
blood ; for " by His own blood He entered into the holy
place, having obtained etemal redemption for us."'*
But He is no less the " priest after the order of Mel
chisedek," where there is neither blood nor temple,
but only " bread and wine; '"* which latter priesthood
is as much greater than the priesthood of the elect, as
Melchisedek was greater than Aaron, who, as the
Apostle teaches, in Abraham paid tithes to him.** And
this priesthood belongs rather to the " Son of Man "
than to " Abraham's Seed," and rests upon God's
=« Heb. X. 5. X. 19, 20.
" Rom. XV. 8, 9. "» Gen. xiv, 18, 19.
»' Heb. ix. 11, 12, 24 ; and " Heb. vii. 4, 9.

142 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
etemal purpose respecting man, and upon his being,
according to that purpose, a partaker of the divine
natm-e.*' It needs but little insight to perceive that a
pecuHar peril surrounds this truth ; for it may cause us
to think of God as altogether such a one as we now
are, or to look upon our present fallen nature as divine,
and so to consider the voice of our passions as the
voice of God. And it is a peril which belongs very
peculiarly to this time ; for every age has its own
special truth and testimony ; and the peculiar and
growing testimony of this present time is to the uni
versal fatherhood of God ; surely a most blessed truth,
if rightly understood ; yet one liable to the grossest
abuse, if men living in the divided life of self-love
claim in that life that which only belongs to man in
the united Hfe of the Son of Man, which shines out in
the cross or death to self in Christ Jesus. This, if I
err not, will be the sin of the great coming apostasy,
when the last Antichrist, whose claim and boast will be
a divine humanity, will assume as man, in the divided
life, and in independence of God, that which is only
truly ours as partakers of the perfect life which is in
union with Him. There is therefore peril as weU as
blessing in the mystery of the " Son of Man," which,
as we have seen, is so closely connected with the
"priesthood of Melchisedek," who is priest, not of
Elohim, or of Jehovah, but of El Elyon, that is " the
Most High God," *^ a name which impHes a series of
like natures, who may be called gods, as it is written, "I
said. Ye are gods, and all of you children of the Most
High,"*' the God of Melchisedek being the " God of
*' 2 S. Pet. i. 4. « Jl^lpj; ^k, Gen. xiv. 18, 19.
*' Psalm Ixxxii. 6.

THE NEW MAN.

143

gods, and Lord of lords."** And yet, until we know
this calling, we shall not understand God's purpose
towards us, which is to make us partakers of His own
nature, joint heirs with the Son of Man, who is " Son
of the Most High," and who, as He proceeded forth
from God, could say, " Before Abraham existed, I am ; "
and " When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, ye shall
know that I am."*'
And when as here He says, " I am," thus claiming
the name, that is the nature, of Him who is " I am
that I am,"''* by this very name He shows what fallen
man has lost, and what is restored to him, in being

¦•* Psalm cxxxvi. 2 ; and see
Psalm Ixxxii. 1.
« Verses 28 and 58. The
mystery of the divine nature of
the Son is full of wonders. Atha
nasius more than once refers
to the distinction, and even
apparent contradiction, between
the titles " Only-begotten " and
" First-born," which is closely
akin to that which is set forth
in the names " Son of Man "
and "Woman's Seed." The "Only-
begotten " is the Son prior to
all division. The " First-bom "
is " the male that first openeth
the womb," (Exod. xiii. 12,) that
is the woman's, not the man's,
first-bom, who mightalso.though
not necessarily, be the Father's
first-begotten ; the woman being
the figure of nature, in its present
state of separation from its
proper head. Athanasius' words
are as follows : " He is ' Only-
begotten.' ... If He is also
called ' First-born of the crea
tion,' it is because of the Word's
condescension to the creatures,
according to which He hath be

come the ' Brotlier ' of ' many.
For the term ' Only-begotten ' is
used where there are no brethren,
but ' First-born ' because of
brethren. Accordingly it is no
where written in the Scriptures,
' the first-born of God,' but it is
'Only-begotten' and 'Son' and
' Word,' that relate to the Father.
But ' First-born ' implies the de
scent to the creation, for of it
He has been called ' first-born.'
If then He is ' Only-begotten,' as
indeed He is, the title ' First
born, ' needs some explanation :
as ' First-born ' He is not 'Only-
begotten.' For the same cannot
be both ' Only-begotten ' and
' Fi/rst-bwn! except in different
relations ; that is, ' Only-begot
ten,' because of His generation
from the Father, as has been
said ; and ' First-born' because
of His condescension to the crea
tion, and the brotherhood, which
He has made with many." Dis-
cowses against the Arians, ii. c.
21, § 9. So also Theodoret on
Col. i. 15.
« Exod. iii. 14.

144 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
made partaker of Christ, and through Him of the
divine nature. For that which above all things marks
the faUen creature is its unceasing change. Never for
a moment does it continue in one stay. It fleeth as
it were a shadow. What it was yesterday, it is not
to-day. Even the very mountains and the rocks
witness that they are not what they were, and that
they will be one day other than they now are. And
by this change they prove that their existence is not
true being. As Augustine says, " Anything whatever
has not true being, if it change. If that is not which
was, a kind of death hath taken place. Something
is made away with there, that was, and now is not.
Something is changed and is, that formerly was not.
0 Truth, Thou only art. For in all the movings of the
creature I find two times, past and future. I seek the
present. Nothing stayeth. What I have said, now is
not. What I am going to say, as yet is not. What I
have done, now is not. What I am going to do, as yet
is not. Past and future I find in aU the motion of
things. In the Truth which abideth I find not past
and future, but only present, and this without fear or
possibility of change. Take point by point the muta
tions of things. Thou wilt find Hath been and Will be.
Take God, and thou wilt find / avi, where Hath been
and WUl be cannot be. Then that thou also mayest
Be, mount beyond time. But who shall do this in his
own strength ? Thither let Him lift us, who said to
the Father, ' I will that where T am, they also whom
Thou hast given me may be with me.' "*' Blessed be
God, this is His will ; and He is " Jesus Christ, the
" Tractat. in Jolian. xxxviii. § 10.

THE NEW MAN. 145
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," and " as He is,
so are we in this world."**
But He not only says here, " I am." He further
adds, "I know." Thus in reply to the question,
"Whom makest Thou thyself ?" His answer is, "If I
honour myself, my honour is nothing. It is my Father
that honoureth me, of whom ye say that He is your
God. Yet ye have not known Him ; but I know Him :
— I know Him, and I keep His word."** Here we
have feUowship with God, as well as participation in
the divine nature. The Son of Man not only is God,
but also is with God. To know fully is to have. He
therefore that knows God possesses Him, and in due
time shall be possessed by Him. To this even are we
called, yea to " know that we know Hun."'° For God
is love, and love is not content unless it gives itself,
with all it has, to the beloved. The Incarnation shows
how absolute is the union and communion with Him
self to which He calls, and wUl bring, the sons of men.
Higher far therefore than the serpent's lie, " Ye shaU
be as gods," is our Father's purpose; for to "be as
gods " would mean at most equaUty with God, and in
effect implies separation from Him. God's purpose,
as our Lord teaches, is to make us one with Him, in
" fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus
Christ." This indeed is the end and purpose of the .truth
here opened by the Lord, that we should apprehend
that divine nature which He has for us, and in and by
it " know," that is, have fellowship with, God. That
which was wrought in Christ, when man in Him was
« Heb. xiii. 8, and 1 S. John iv. 17.
« Verses 53-55. =» 1 S. John ii. 3,
L

146 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
made divine, was wrought in Him that through Him it
might be wrought in us also. As many therefore as
receive the Word, receive the seed of God, and by it a
life which has proceeded forth and come from God,
which restores God's image in the creature, in and by
which it may rise again to re-possess its lost inherit
ance of feUowship with Him. If we are Christians in
deed we must Hve the Hfe of Christ and God, because
Christ Himself is formed in us, and we are caUed to
manifest Him. We are to be one with Him. This is
His wiU, for which He prays, " that they aU may be
one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they
also may be one in us, — yea, 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 ; that the world may know
that Thou hast loved them, as Thou hast loved me." "
Thus are we brought out of the " Hath been" and
" ShaU be," to the " I am what I am," and from " not
knowing," to " know and to be known; "'^ so that we
can say with Paul, " By the grace of God I am what I
am," " because " it is not I that live, but Christ liveth
in me."'* The Ufe is aU of God ; but of this Ufe He
makes us partakers, even with Him who said, " I Uve
by the Father," and " do nothing from myself." " Oh,
mystery of eternal love ! 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 shaU see Him as He is.
2. The divine nature of the New Man being thus
declared, we have next the marks by which it may be
known. For men are easily deceived, accepting gilt
" S. John xvii. 21, 23. " Gal. iv. 8, 9. ss j Q^^y. ^y_ iq
" Gal. ii. 20. « S. John vi. 63, and v. 19, 30.

THE NEW MAN. 147
for gold, and that which is of Satan for that which is of
God. Thus Barabbas was preferred to Christ.'* Thus
the brutal Caesars were worshipped as divine." Thus
when Herod made an oration, the people gave a shout,
saying, " It is the voice of a god, and not of a man." '*
And thus when the last Antichrist shall come, and the
beast which has been wounded unto death by the sword
is made to Hve, that is, when the death and condemna
tion of the beast-like old nature seems healed by the
magic of hell, — tokens and preludings of which, if I
mistake not, are even now abroad, in the manifested
materialisations of departed spfrits, who are brought
again as from the dead into contact with the living
here, — when this culminates, as it will do, in the asser
tion that man without God is divine, all the world shall
worship the beast, which had the wound by the sword
and yet lived.'* Not without reason therefore does our
Lord again refer here to the marks of the divine nature
of the New Man, by which he may be distinguished
from all counterfeits.
Two are given : first truth ; then love ; the very
marks of God, who is Himself both Truth and Love.
(i) First, the New Man hears and tells the truth.
He hears it, for he is " of God," ** and " he that is of
God heareth God's words."*' And then He tells it;
as He says, " I tell you the truth, though ye believe
me not ; " *^ and again, " Ye seek to kill me, a man that
hath told you the truth." *' And He often dweUs upon
this mark, that He both hears and tells the truth : —
=« S. John xviii. 40. «» Verse 42.
" Gibbon's Rom. Emp. vol. i. " Verse 47.
chap. iii. p. 111. "^ yerse 46.
58 Acts xii. 21, 22. ss ygrse 40.
» Eev. xiii. 3, 4, 14, 15. L 2

148 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
" I do nothing of myself, but as my Father bath taught
me I speak these things." ** And again, " The words I
speak unto you, I speak not of myself." *' And again,
" I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which
sent me. He gave me commandment what I should
say, and what I should speak ; and I know that His
commandment is Ufe everlasting: whatsoever I speak
therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I
speak." ** Thus He teUs also what He hears : — " All
things that I have heard of my Father, I have made
known unto you : " *' — " I have given them the words
which Thou gavest me : " ** — " To this end was I bom,
and for this cause came I into the world, that I should
bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the
truth heareth my voice."** This is the first mark
of the divine nature of : the Son of Man. He " hears
God's words," which are " the truth ; " and then
" teUs " to others what He has so heard and learnt
from God.
Now this capacity to " hear God's words " is dis
tinctive of the New Man. The old man is so sunk in
sense that he cannot hear God speak, but is only
reached by some outward voice or sign, either through
angels or through men, that is some appeal from with
out and coming through the senses; while yet the Word
is very nigh, even in his heart, '* and is ever speaking,
though fallen man perceives it not. But " he that is
of God heareth God's words." This has ever marked
the saints. If faithful, the word of the Lord has come
expressly to them. So " the word of the Lord came "
" Verse 28. « S. John xiv. 10. . «= S. John xii. 49, 60.
® S. John XV. 15. ™ S. John xvii. 8. «' S. John xviii. 38
™ Deut. XXX. 14, and Eom. x. 8.

THE NEW MAN. 149
to Ezekiel," and to EUjah,'^ and to John." But let
men Uve after the flesh and be unfaithful, then even
saints need a message from without, because if we live
after the flesh we cannot hear God. Thus when David
is obedient, the word of the Lord comes to him, so
that he could say, " The Spfrit of the Lord spake by me,
and His word was in my tongue ; " '* and " the pattern
of all that he had by the Spirit, the Lord made him to
understand, by His hand upon him, even all the works
of the pattern of the house." " But when he falls, the
word of God can only reach him through another.
" Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet
Gad," '6 or " to the prophet Nathan," " for David, to
teU him what he would have heard himself, had he
been in fellowship with God. Only the man of God
hears God's words, of which our Lord here adds, " Ye
hear them not, because ye are not of God." The words
of the world men hear, because they are of the world ;
or the lie of the serpent, because that He has generated
a nature in them which is more akin to falsehood and
evil than to truth and God. They do not hear God's
word, because in thefr life they are not His. Hence
man's inabUity to understand Christ's speech. " Why
do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye
cannot hear my word." '* The Church is full of proofs of
this : men everywhere professing to understand Christ's
speech; commenting on it, preaching about it, even
fighting for their interpretations of it ; who too often
only misinterpret and misunderstand it, because they
" Ezek. i. 3. " 1 Chron. xxviii. 11, 19.
" 1 Kings xvii. 2. '« 2 Sam. xxiv. 11.
" S. Luke iii. 2. " 2 Sam. xii. 1, and 1 Chron.
'* 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. See also xvii. 3.
1 Sam. xxiii. 2, 4, 11, 12 ; and 2 '» Verse 43.
Chron. xxii 8

160 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
cannot hear His word. And yet they think that they
understand His speech. They only understand who
hear His word.
And as this New Man hears God's word, he speaks
it : — " As I hear, I judge," and " teU you the truth."
His hearing God's word is the very reason of his
speaking it ; even as the falsehood of the old man, who
" deUghts in Hes," '* is the inevitable result of his
Hstening to the serpent, who " is a Har." ** As we
hear, we speak. If we hear English, we shall speak
EngUsh. If we hear some other tongue, that tongue
naturaUy becomes our own. The New Man speaks
God's word, because he hears it. The dumb are so
only because they cannot hear ; even as the dumbness
of £dl the " dumb dogs " in the Church comes from thefr
not hearing : because they are " sleeping, lying down,
loving to slumber." *' He that hears God's word must
speak. " The word is as a fire in his bones." *^ He is
Uke one full of new wine.*' He must declare the truth.
Others may utter clever or pleasing things. The mark
of the divine nature is that it must speak the truth.
And the New Man speaks it, even though for speaking
he is denounced as a deceiver. Let the current doctrine
of the Church be, that God either cannot or will not
help the lost, — that He leaves His prisoners in thefr
bonds for ever unvisited, — and that His wrath wUl
never cease to punish men for sins committed in a span
of life, which He Himself teUs us is " but for a mo
ment," — the New Man cannot but be witness both
for God and man, because His own ear is opened to hear
God. " Psahn Ixii. 4. ™ ygrge a. >\ Isa. Ivi. 10.
»2 Jer. XX. 9. »' Job xxxii. 19.

THE NEW MAN. 151
And in thus telling the truth, the New Man com
municates to others the same divine nature. Therefore
He adds here, " Verily, Verily, If a man keep my say
ing, he shaU never see death." ** We have afready
touched this truth,*' in considering the gift of quick
ening others, which is one result of the New Man's
" doing nothing from himself." Here we are brought
back to the same teaching. The New Man speaks
what he hears of God. Therefore " he that keeps his
saying shall never see death."
(ii) The other mark of the divine nature is its
unselfish love. The New Man says here, " I seek not
my own glory." ** He makes himself of no reputation,
that by his thus emptying himself, others may be
made partakers of his glory. Therefore he becomes a
Jew to gain the Jews, and under the law to gain those
under the law, taking even the form and place and
curse of others for them ; that in so doing, and even
at the cost of drinking thefr bitter cup, lost ones may
be found, and reconciled to God. All this comes out
more fully in the following reiterated Amens, which
open the Service, Sacrifice, and Humiliation, of the Son
of Man, which are but manifestations of God Himself
in man's nature. For what is it that makes man give
his strength for those who love him not, — nay, even
lay down his Ufe for those who do not understand
him, — which in the midst of neglect or misrepresenta-

'* Verse 51. I observe that as (to use another's words) " he
the Jews slightly misquote these who walks toward the sun sees
words, as if our Lord had said, not the shadow behind him."
" If a man keep my saying, he '= In the Third " Verily,
shall never taste of death." (Verse Verily."
66.) A man perhaps may taste '* Verse 50.
of death, vrithout seeing it, even

152 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
tion fills him with peace, — strong to bear and to for
give aU, — gladly spending and being spent, as the
Apostle says, though the more abundantly he loves
men, the less they love him in return,*' — what are aU
these but unfaiUng marks of God's own Hfe in flesh
and blood, and witnesses that even here man is indeed
divine. This then is the nature of the New Man. He must
speak truth : He must show love. And by these' He
deUvers man from him who holds the world captive.
For the devU, as our Lord adds here, — thus marking
the contrast, — was " a Har, and abode not in the truth,"
and further, " was a murderer from the beginning." **
The New Man's truth overcomes the He : his love over
comes the hate ; for greater is He that is in us than ie
that is in the world. The whole world yet Heth in the
wicked one. But its deliverance is assured. For this
purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might
destroy the works of the devU.
(ui) And yet this divine nature is rejected here. Even
God's people understand it not, but reply, " Say we not
weU that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil."**
" Then took they up stones to cast at Him," saying,
" Why hear ye Him ? " ** For a beast is as good a
judge of what befits a man, as a fallen man is of what
befits a Son of God. The Son of Man therefore is cast
out. This is the calUng of the elect : — " If ye were of
the world, the world would love its own ; but because
ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world, therefore the world hateth you." *' A divine
Ufe still meets poor welcome in this world, for a usurper
" 2 Cor. xii. 15. «« Verse 44. es yerse 62.
=° Verse 69. " S. John xv. 19.

THE NEW MAN. 153
reigns. But the true heirs will not stumble at this
stumbUng stone.
Such is the New Man's nature ; such are its marks ;
such his reception here. And as the smallest spark
contains the whole principle of fire ; as the least frag
ment of the loadstone has its two complementing poles ;
so is each son of God a partaker of God's nature, with
its innate truth and love, and of all the powers, though
as yet unmanifested, which belong to that nature. If
then He called them gods, to whom the word of God
came,*^ what shaU they be, who by the word are made
partakers of His nature, in whom God's Hfe even now
is hid, and in whom that Ufe shaU grow, untU they
are conformed to the image of His beloved Son. When
one thinks of such a caUing ; that this is man's true
place ; that heaven is his home, and the blood of God
his life, and the spirit of God the power that worketh
in him ; and that he is caUed to be free indeed, and to
be God's heir, and to inherit all ; and then think of
what he is tempted to desfre and to become ; how the
devil ofttimes holds him ; so that he is content to be a
beast, a slave, a very devil ; and even glories in aU this,
and can see no glory in the divine Ufe, and is ready,
again and again, Uke Esau, to sell his bfrthright for
some momentary joy ; one can only wonder at the riches
of the grace, which can bear with him and bring him
out of his fall, to be made again Uke unto the Son of
God. Well may those around the throne cry, " Holy,
Holy, Holy." Well may they cast themselves in
adoring worship at His feet, saying, " Thou art worthy,
0 Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for
"2 S. John X. 36.

154 THE DIVINE NATURE OF
Thou hast created aU things, and for thy pleasure they
are and were created." *' WeU may they " sing the
new song, saying. Thou art worthy to take the book ;
for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation ; and hast made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth."**
For this is the work to which the sons of God are
caUed; a service which our Lord opens in the next
"Verily, Verily."
'^ Rev. iv. 10, 11. " Rev. v. 9-11.

TEE NEW MAN. 155

SEYENTH "YEEILY, YERILT."
THE SERVICE OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John x. 1-18.)
The fifth " VerUy, Verily," bore witness to the Liberty
of the New Man. The sixth opened the mystery of
his Divine Nature. The seventh shows his Service,
which flows from his freedom as a Son of God, and
from participation in the very Hfe of God. For it is
not by service that we come to freedom, or to be sons
of God, but by sonship and freedom to partake in
God's service. He serves, for He is love; and those
who share His life serve as His sons with Him, to seek
and save His feeble sheep. Thus the service before us
is Christ's own service, in which we cannot but take
part, just in proportion as He lives in us, and we are
anointed with His Spirit.
Our Lord's words upon this subject follow an ex
ample of Pharisaic service. A man blind from his bfrth
had just had his eyes opened by the Son of God. This
heaUng was done upon the sabbath, and the Pharisees
said, " This man is not of God, because he keepeth not
the sabbath day." They cannot see how the need of
man is a call on God to work, and a proof that the true
day of rest has not yet come. They say therefore to

166 THE SERVICE OF
the man that had been blind, " What sayest thou of
him who opened thine eyes ? " He answered, " He is
a prophet." Then they said, " Give God the praise :
we know that this man is a sinner." He that had
been blind answered and said, " Whether he be a
sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that,
whereas I was bUnd, now I see." Then they reviled
him, and said, " Thou art his disciple, but we are
Moses' disciples. We know that God spake to Moses :
as for this fellow, we know not whence he is." The
man answered and said unto them, " Why, herein is a
marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is,
and yet he hath opened mine eyes. If this man were
not of God, he could do nothing." They answered and
said unto him, " Thou wast altogether bom in sin, and
dost thou teach us ? " And they east him out.' Thus
do Pharisees serve souls. FuU of zeal for the written
word ; saying again and again, " We know ; " ^ boasting
to be disciples of one, through whom God's word in
past days came to men ; yet deaf to that word when it
comes to them, and bUnd to see God working in thefr
midst ; all that they can do for one whom they think
wrong, because he has received from the Hving and
present Word some Ught they coiUd not give, and be
cause through this Ught he is deUvered from thefr
power, is to " cast him out." This is the last resource
of Pharisaic service : it can only cast the erring out ;
without a thought of winning them back, or restoring
the lost, or of bearing thefr burdens, Uke a true shep
herd. For the one idea of a Pharisee is to be right
himself, whoever else is wrong. The lame and bUnd
are on every hand. The Pharisee can yet thank God
> Chap. ix. 16-34. = Chap. ix. 24, 29

THE NEW MAN. 167
that he is not as other men.' So he " rests in the law,
and makes his boast in God, and knows His will, and
is confident that he himself is a guide to the bUnd, and
a Ught to them which are in darkness, an instructor
of the foolish, a teacher of babes, with the form of know
ledge and of the truth according to the law ; " * but the
erring are yet erring, and the lame and blind stiU lame
and bUnd, so far at least as Pharisaic service is con
cerned. Pharisees cannot conceive of a service which
sacrifices itself, to save and win the erring and the lost.
In strongest contrast to aU this we have the Service
of the New Man. Four distinct points in it are brought
before us here : first, its marks ; secondly, its aim ;
thfrdly, its cost; lastly, its results. In all these it
differs from Pharisaic service as much as heaven from
earth. 1. Its marks are these: — "VerUy, Verily, I say
unto you. He that entereth not in by the door into the
sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same
is a tUief and a robber. But he that entereth in by
the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the
porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he
calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth
before them, and the sheep foUow him, for they know
his voice." '
The first great mark is, that a true servant, Hke a
shepherd, goes with the sheep, sheepish and animal
and prone to wander as they are ; goes through the
same door as the sheep, and by the way which they
can go ; even through the door, which is provided for
them, because, being such as they are, they need a
s S. Luke xviii. 11. ¦" Rom. ii. 17-20. = Chap. x. 1-4.

158 THE SERVICE OF
sheepfold for defence, and cannot enter by any other
way. If any one " cUmbs up," showing by so doing
that he is superior to the sheep, — ^if he goes by
another nearer or higher way, in which the sheep,
being only sheep, cannot foUow him, — he may prove
that he can do what they cannot, but he proves
also that he has not a shepherd's heart. Such an act
shows that he is a thief. For in meddling with sheep
a man wUl either be a shepherd or a thief. Men do
not meddle with them without intending either to
serve themselves or serve the sheep. The true shep
herd serves the sheep. Therefore he goes by the way
that they can go. If they are in the field, he with
them is in the field, consumed by day with drought,
by night with cold.* If they need a door, he stoops to
enter by the door ; a ceaseless toUer for lower natures,
who know not what he gives up and bears in such
service. In a word, this is Christ's service ; such service
as the Incarnation shows ; that wondrous coming down
by which the Son of God stooped to the place of brutal
erring men ; not helping us far off, but coming to us
where we were ; sharing our sleeping and waking, our
weakness and our wants ; that by His humiUation He
might meet our folly and our need, and in due time
bring us safely home.
Now one would perhaps have thought that such
service would have been approved by all, and that
religious men especially would instinctively have recog
nised its beauty and adaptation to our need. But it is
not so. In reUgion perhaps more than anywhere we
see the power of the adversary of man. Pharisaic
service therefore is approved, while service after Christ's
' Gen. xxxi. 40.

THE NEW MAN. 169
pattern is yet, like Him, condemned as unspiritual and
countenancing sin. For is it not counted a mark of
spirituaUty with some, who think themselves reUgious,
that instead of the stronger and wiser sacrificing them
selves, orthatpecuUarity which is thefr special boast, —
generally some form or truth which they suppose they
hold more fully and correctly than their brethren, — each
Christian and each so-called Church should take the
highest possible ground, giving up nothing of what
they call the truth for the sake of those, who through
spiritual infancy or ignorance cannot yet receive it, and
to whom therefore such truth or such a standing is, not
only at present unattainable, but may even be most un
suitable ; therefore never coming down in their Church
forms for weaker souls, or, like Paul, becoming a Jew to
gain the Jews ; but on the contrary aU getting up as near
to heaven as they can, for their own spiritual profit, and,
as they say, for God's glory ; with Httle thought for those
who still are carnal, and who therefore cannot accept or
use the so-caUed spfritual thing, which is presented as
the only way which is acceptable to God ?
But is this Christ's service? Is this stooping to
" enter by the door ; " or is it not rather simply Phari
saism stiU, living and working among those who in
word are loudest in thefr condemnation of the Pharisees
of old, while they are themselves repeating the same
mistake ? For what is Pharisaism ? It is surprising to
find what mistakes are current upon this point.
Pharisaism is supposed by most to be mainly a zealous
adherence to legalism and Jewish forms. It is not
thought that a converted Evangelical, who rails at
forms, can be a Pharisee. Yet the real Pharisee of this
dispensation must needs be Evangelical. The word

160 THE SERVICE OF
Pharisee simply means Separatist ; ' one who, when
the Church of his age is full of evil, separates himself,
with the idea of Hving more correctly according to the
truth, which he beUeves was given by God at the
commencement of the dispensation. Of course in the
Jewish dispensation the Pharisee or Separatist, who
tried to Uve more closely according to the truth of his
dispensation, was necessarUy legal, because the dispen
sation then was one of law. But the Pharisee of this
dispensation is the man who in the Church's faU thinks
to be right by his own and others' separation, according
to the exact rule or letter of the dispensation, which
is not law but gospel ; and his aim, often most true
according to his light, is to live as far as he can
according to the pattern set up at the beginning of the
dispensation. This he can only do by separation ; and
therefore he is a Separatist, in other words a Pharisee.
And in all this he may honestly beHeve that he is
serving God, just as Paul did when he Hved a Pharisee.*
I know how plausible the error is ; for I too have
thought that it was really according to God's mind to
take what is called the " right ground," even though
the mass of the Church is left behind in bondage and
ignorance. I now see that, however good the intention,
this is not Christ's path. It has two mistakes : it is
untrue, and unloving. Untrue, because unconsciously
it stands on a pretence, and assumes that, though the
Church as a whole is wrong, some of its members can
by outward separation, and by taking the original
ground of the dispensation, as they say, stand clear of
the common shame and failure, thus practically denying
' From the Hebrew E»1E), to separate.
' Acts xxiii. 1, and xxvi. 4, 6.

THE NEW MAN. 161
the Church's real unity ; and it is unloving, because it
forsakes sick and erring brethren, teaching men under
the guise of zeal for God to consider first thefr own
interests, — in the next world, I allow, still thefr own
interest, — thinking only or mainly to be right them
selves, and, if others are wrong, thank God they are
not Uke other men. Not such is the service which our
Lord approves. Its first mark is, that, instead of
cUmbing up to go by a way sheep cannot go, or in
which only a few of the stronger, the goats perhaps,
alone can follow, it comes down to share the weakness
of the weakest of' the flock, and enters with them into
the sheepfold, by the lowly door appointed for thefr
need. There are other minor marks of this service, but
they are all only details of the one great mark, of going
like a shepherd with the sheep. Thus our Lord adds,
as to the true shepherd, that " the sheep hear his
voice," * that is, they understand him, for he is not too
far above them. Then " he calleth them by name." '*
Here is personal acquaintance with the character of
each. He " teaches," as the Apostle says, not only
" publicly," but " from house to house." " Then again
" he leads them out," that is, beyond the external con
stitution of the Church, which is appointed for protec
tion, to the freer pastures of promise, lying beyond, far
sweeter and fresher than the useful but often dry pro
vision of the fold. Further, when he so puts them
forth, " he goeth before them " ; for he says not, " Go,"
but " Come " : not, Hke Lot, saying to his children,
" Get you out," '^ but " Follow me." " And " the
' Verse 3. " Verse 3. " Acts xx. 20.
'2 Gen. xix. 14. " 1 Cor xi. 1 .
M

162 THE SERVICE OF
sheep foUow him^ for they know his voice." '* They
know when they are fed. AU tme ministry sooner or
later is recognised by those who profit by it. To such
service " the porter openeth," " even the Holy Ghost,
the guardian of the Church,'* and the unfailing fel
low-worker with the sons of God, who stUl is with us,
in our midst, to open doors and hearts for aU who feed
the flock of God.
And yet when this was spoken to the disciples,
" they understood not what these things were." " The
cross and humiliation of the Son of God are still be
yond thefr understanding. Like the Jews of old, they
look for a Messiah who is only to be exalted, rather
than for One who takes His people's place. In vain are
the prophet's words, that God woidd feed His flock, and
carry the lambs in His bosom, and seek and find the
lost.'* It is all beyond them, until God's Ufe is stir
ring in thefr hearts. We too are slow to se^ in humUiar
tion for others the tokens of a present God. Even when
such service is before us, we understand it not, until
the Spirit comes, to make us sharers of the heart and
mind of God.
2. From the marks of true service our Lord next
passes to its aim, which is to be a " door for sheep;" —
" Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, Verily, I
say unto you, I am the door of the sheep," '* that is,
I am the medium or means to bring them into rest.
There is a change of figure here. For the marks of
service, the " shepherd's " conduct is our guide, who
'« Verse 4. " Verse 6.
'= Verse 3. » Isa. xl. 11 ; Ezek.
'« So Theophylact, and Au- 12-16.
gustine, quoted in Catena Awrea, " Verse 7.
in loco.

THE NEW MAN. 163
enters by the path in which the sheep can follow. But
to teach the aim or object of true service, our Lord
here points us to the " door," as showing that service
is a means only, not the end, though without such
means the end could not be reached. For a door is
not only a witness of an inner fold or chamber, but it
is still more the appointed means, by which those who
are without may enter in. True ministry, whether in
Christ or His servants, is all this. They both are
" doors," to enable others to enter where without such
means they could not come. The eternal Word by
taking our nature has become the " door " to " bring
us to God." ^* God is the end ; but we come " through
Christ," who is the medium or mediator,^' and the
" new and living way." ^^ When the end is reached,
He gives up His office, " that God may be all in all." 2'
And His servants too are " doors " or " gates." For
" on the gates of the city of God are written the
names " of the fathers of the elect ; ^* on the east three
gates, on the north three gates, on the south three
gates, on the west three gates ; facing east and west
and north and south, with differences of administration,
yet in one Hfe, to bring in from every quarter the nations
who still are far from God. For there is no entrance
into the city, even as there is no entrance into this
^^ 1 S. Pet. iii. 18. So Igna- corruptions of the word Bipa,
tins, in his Epistle to the Phila- which is here used. See Rich-
delphians, (cap. 9,) calls our Lord ardson's Dictionary, on the word
Tl 6ipa TOV TraTpds. See too the " through," and Tooke's Dvoer-
Shepherd of Hermas, Simil. iii. sions ^ Pwrley, on the same
9, and ix. 12. word, p. 180.
2' 1 Tim. ii. 5. ¦"' 1 Cor. xv. 24.
22 Heb. X. 20, xiii. 20. The ^4 Rev. xxi. 12, and Ezek.
words " through " and " door " xlviii. 31-35.
are both simply later forms or M 2

164 THE SERVICE OF
world, save through fathers who have gone before us,
who are as gates by which we enter in. And yet these
firstborn are but means, not ends. Like John the
Baptist, they are but " voices," which witness to the
" Word," and then are no more heard.^ Their object
is, not to bring or keep souls to themselves, but to lead
them in to God, in His presence to be re-made by Him,
according to His will. This is indeed the test of ser
vice. Does it lead to God, or take His place ? All false
ministry practically takes God's place, and therefore has
a disposition to enslave, leaving souls imperfect to the
end, because afar from God. True ministry, on the
contrary, is but a " door," leading souls and con
sciences to God ; feeling that nothing is done unless
they are really brought to Him.
Further, true ministry is a " door for sheep," that
is for those poor animal souls, who because of thefr
weakness need a keeper and a guide. For the Church,
Uke Noah's ark, contains, not men only, but beasts ; ^*
and in it, according to the law of love, the higher and
purer must serve the baser natures. The spiritual are
elect, not for themselves, but to be " doors '' or mediums
of blessing to those outside, who without them could
not return to God. This indeed is their joy ; for they
also aU have once been lost; and having been sought
) and found and brought to enter in, and been made par-
i', takers of the Ufe and love of Him who sought and found
them, and who became a " door " to bring them in to
God, they too rejoice to become the means by which
others yet wandering may be brought in ; though to be
such they must, Uke " doors," be formed, and placed,
2= S. John i. 23, and iii. 30. =» Gen. vi. 19-21.

THE NEW MAN. 165
and used, altogether according to another's will. The
Lord has stooped to this : they gladly stoop. with Him,
" if by any means they may save some." ^'
In contrast with all this the Lord then speaks of
service of another kind. If, instead of being " doors,"
men " come before the door," they will rather enslave
and hurt, than serve, the flock. For " all that came
before me are thieves." '^* In what sense is this true ?
Some have said that our Lord's words here declare
that the whole Jewish dispensation proceeded from an
evil spirit.^* This cannot be our Lord's meaning, for
He elsewhere teaches, that both the Old Covenant and
the New, the ministry of death and condemnation even
as of righteousness and life, proceed from the same one
God, because both are equally requfred for the work
of our salvation. Others therefore have attempted to
explain the words by distinguishing between " coming "
and " being sent." '* All who " come," that is, they say,
who come of thefr own will, instead of being sent of
God. But neither can this, I think, be the true sense.
" All who came before me," if I err not, means, all who
obstruct the way ; who, instead of coming as " doors,"
that is as means, practically make themselves the end,
and thus lead souls no further than to themselves.
.Many, even since Christ's day, have thus come " before
Him," that is in His place, blocking the way ; " neither
entering themselves, nor allowing others to enter in." "
^' 1 Cor. ix. 22. Douay Version — a notable in-
¦2s Verse 8. stance of tampering with the
^° This was the Gnostic view true reading for doctrinal rea-
of the text. See Hippolytus, sons.
Refutation of Heresies, book vi. '° As Jerome, Dial. adv.
chap. 30. To obviate this error Pelag. lib. ii. ; and Augustine,
the words " before me " were vn Johan., Horn. xiv. § 8.
omitted in the Vulgate and the ^' S. Luke.xi. 52.

166 THE SERVICE OF
All who thus come, claiming to be something in them
selves, standing on their supposed power and gift, and
occupying others with themselves rather than the Lord,
wiU only bring souls into bondage. Such are and must
be " thieves and robbers." Those who come, as nothing
in themselves, save as they lead to God, are fulfilling
the work, which our Lord Himself is stiU working
through His members.
But how is it true that " the sheep did not hear "
these deceivers ? '^ Have not false teachers mightily
prevailed? Have true sheep never been led astray?
Have we not all Hstened to deceivers ? Surely we have.
But even when we did, was there not always- something
in us, which hated the He ? Even when most erring,
was there no longing for the true Shepnerd ? Let
those who have been deceived bear witness, whether
there has not been in them a voice condemning what
is not of the truth, as soon as it is brought to Hght.
The " sheep " does not love to be deceived. If souls
are caught, it is because some lie pretends to be the
truth. False apostles, deceitful workers, only prevaU
by transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ,
and putting on something of His Hkeness." Errors
therefore are continually changing thefr form ; for the
sheep, fooUsh as they are, would not for a moment
Hsten to them, unless the lie bore the appearance at
least of truth and love.
3. What then is the cost of such service, and from
what motive does it proceed ? Our Lord's words here
cannot be misunderstood.
First, such service costs a life. " The good shepherd
'2 Verse 8. " 2 Cor. xi. 13.

THE NEW MAN. 167
giveth his life, because he careth for the sheep " ; '*
while hfreling service ever cares for self more than for
the sheep : — " the hireUng fleeth, because he is a hfre
Ung."" Service after Christ's pattern springs from
God's own life, and therefore gives a life. Only a
" good shepherd," who has the Hfe of Him who is good,
can offer such a sacrifice. He that is a hfreUng may
do much, but he will never give his life. Mere con
tract work is always contracted work. He that only
works for wages, works for self-interest, not because he
loves the work ; and with such a motive, wages here
or wages hereafter, to enrich himself, how can he for
others give his Hfe ? Will he not in the time of trial
always ask. Is the return worth all this cost ? and stiU
more. Am I after all quite sure of getting the reward ?
Of such hfrelings God has said, " Woe to the shepherds
of Israel that feed themselves. Should not the shep
herds feed the flock ? "'* Such service always faUs. Not
with such a motive does the " good shepherd " serve.
Nor is his service to be fulfilled, as a thing by the way,
in addition to the pursuit of other aims. Even an
earthly trade will not so succeed." We may indeed
play at servants without cost. We cannot serve after
Christ's example without giving up a Hfe. Service like
His will claim our all. Who can love God with all
his heart, and his neighbour as himself, without being
indeed a burnt offering ? Who can help a fallen soul,
or bring him back to God, without bearing his burden,
and confessing his sin or folly with him ? Who can
keep even a company of true brethren together in peace,
without being a constant sacrifice for them ? Christ's
service demands all this. He therefore who truly feeds
»< Verse 11. == Verse 12. =« Ezek. xxxiv. 2. " 2 Tim. ii. 4.

168 THE SERVICE OF
the flock is often, as the Apostle says, " in labours, in
watchings, in fastings," for them,'* and will find, espe
cially in times of lukewarmness, or persecution, or
disease, that his work cannot be done unless his Ufe
is given for the sheep. And the spfrit of Christ accepts
all this, for the spirit of Christ is love, and love must
give itself for the beloved.'*
But this service costs yet more. Our Lord adds,' " I
know my sheep, and am known of mine."** Some per
haps have yet to learn the cost of " knowing the sheep,
and being known of them." Let them only " know the
sheep," and they will soon understand what is involved
in such knowledge. In this world we suffer exactly in
proportion to our love. For can I love others, and
know their pain, and not be pained for them, especially
if those who suffer in any sense are mine ? Can I even
know of the pain of strangers without a pang ? Can a
beggar in want stand at my door, and his want not
touch me, if I love my neighbour as myself ? If there
were no goodness in me, I might suffer nothing; but he
that dwells in love cannot know another's want, and not
feel it as more or less his own. To make known one's
wants therefore to loving souls is to cast the burden on
them. So Martha and Mary in trouble only say, " Lord,
behold, he whom thou lovest is sick ; " *' for they had
learnt that He could not know their need, and stand
unmoved. And indeed even the world now acknow
ledges that if one who is in need can say, " You know
me," — ^if even he bring a letter of introduction from
^ 2 Cor. vi. 6. do-wn in his endeavour to stay
'" A late archbishop of Paris the strife before oneof the bar-
died with these very words upon ricades, in 1848.
his lips : " Bonus pastor animam ¦"> Verse 14.
Buam dat pro ovibus suis ; " shot " S. John xi. 3.

THE NEW MAN. 169
one who knows the case, — still more, if he has been an
old acquaintance, — such knowledge constitutes a claim
for help which cannot be denied. The most selfish now
feel bound to succour trouble which they know. What
then must " knowing the sheep " cost those who have
the Master's heart ? Must they not often cry, " Who
is weak, and I am not weak ? Who is offended, and I
bumnot?"*2 And if " knowing the sheep " cost something, what
is the cost of being " known of them " ? Can any lov
ing soul be "known," without attracting to himself
every case of pain and need around ? WiU not sufferers
of every class tum to such a man ? He is " known of
them," and as a result they pour out every trouble into
his sympathizing ear. They know that he cannot re
fuse his help, for he is " a debtor to the Jew and
Greek," because " the love of Christ constrains him."
Surely the loving know what is involved in being
*' known." They seek not their own. Therefore, as
with the Master, " all men seek them " — " AU the city
is gathered at the door." *'
Thus the good shepherd "knows and is known."
And the measure or pattern of this knowledge is the
mutual knowledge of the Father and the Son. So He
says, " I know my sheep, and am known of mine, as
the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father,"**
that is in vfrtue of a common nature, the partakers of
which cannot but feel with and understand each other.
Christ knows the Father, for " He is in the Father, and
the Father is in Him;"*' and for the same reason the
Father knows the Son. Just so the sheep know Christ,
« 2 Cor. xi. 29. " Verses 14, 16.
« S. Mark i. 33, 37. « S. John xiv. 10.

170 THE SERVICE OF
because they are "in Him,"** and therefore have His
mind ; *' and He knows them, because He is " in
them," ** and therefore shares thefr thoughts ; both be
ing the result of a participation in the same nature.
It is only the fallen Hfe of selfhood which makes us
slow to understand each other. The key to aU know
ledge is the Hfe of God, who is in all and feels for all.
In it the shepherd knows his sheep, and they know
him, even as the Father knows the Son, and He the
Father. These words show too that in His sympathy
with us the Son is not doing something different from
His Father; for His Father's union with Him is the
very ground and pledge of His eternal union and sym
pathy with us. Nor does He call us to anything but
what He Himself has done ; for, like Him, we are to
know and to be known, only as the Father knows Him,
and He knows the Father. In a word, Christ's know
ledge and sympathy with us rest on the Father's know
ledge and sympathy with Him, and our knowledge of
Him rests on His knowledge of the Father ; all being
but outflowings of the same eternal Hfe, which God
has given and revealed to men, that in it we may over
come that selfish life which is the root and fruit of
ignorance of God, and may henceforth dwell in Him
and He in us.
4. It remains to notice the results of such service :
first, the results on others ; then, on the servant himself.
As respects others, the results of service are that by
it some are now saved, but that, besides this, it will
ultimately bring home many others who as yet are lost
sheep. So our Lord says first, as to present results,
« 1 S. John V. 20. " 1 Cor. ii. 16. « S. John xvii. 23.

THE NEW MAN. 171
" By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and
shaU go in and out, and find pasture." ** But this is
not all. There are wider issues : — " Other sheep I
have, which are not of this fold : them also I must
bring, and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd.'"*
True service first saves those who here accept it, who
by it now enter into rest, and are deUvered from the
countless snares and wants, which the sheep are sub
ject to in the field, that is this present state of labour
and temptation. The prophet's word tells us the great
ness of this salvation ; that it " will bring again that
which is lost, and bind up that which is broken, and
strengthen that which is sick ; " so that " they shall no
more be for a prey, neither shall the beasts of the field
devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none
shall make them afraid. And the Lord Himself shall
give them a plant of renown, and they shall no more
be consumed with hunger in the land ; for the tree of
the field snail yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield
her increase."" All this for some is present blessing,
who now enter by the door, and know what it is, while
even here, to be led in and out and find pasture. But
the Good Shepherd looks beyond the present, for He
has " other sheep, which are not of this fold," who are
yet His own, though wandering still, and precious to
Him. " Them also He must bring, so that there may
be one flock only, and one shepherd." In the primary
sense the Gentile world is here referred to, and most
blessed is it to see that Christ regards the nations or
heathen as His sheep, though as yet lost, and wandering
from Him. For indeed the Christ is Son of Man, full
« Verse 9. " Verse 16. " Ezek. xxxiv. 16, 27, 28, 29.

172 THE SERVICE OF
of the heart and mind of Him who gave His Son " to
save the world ; " '^ Son of that Father who says, " Ask
of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine in
heritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy
possession ; " " who has said, " It is a light thing that
thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will
also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou
mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth ; " '*
according to the oath and promise to the elect, " In
thee and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth
be blessed."" By nature our selfish hearts may think
little of these lost ones. But the Son of Man, who is
the Good Shepherd, does not forget them. Even now
they are His own, for God has given them to Him, and
He has given His life for them.
This is true of Christ's members also, in whom He
does His works, who with Him are " ministers by whom
others beUeve," and who " receive their own reward
according to thefr labour." '* These are " labourers
together with God," and, " giving heed to themselves
and to the doctrine," they here " both save themselves
and those who hear them." " By them a present work
is wrought. But thefr service does not end here. They
too are " hefrs of the world ; " '* and therefore even of
those who are yet lost, they may say with Christ,
" Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold." A
saint may say, I am part of Christ's body, and the world
is mine.'* People I shall never see in the flesh are
" S. John iii. 17, xii. 47, " 1 Cor. iii. 5, 8.
and 1 S. John iv. 14. s? ^ ^i^j^ jy_ ]^g_
=s Psalm ii. 8. =» Rom. iv. 13, and Gal. iii.
=* Isa. xlix. 6. 8, 9.
" Gen. xii. 2, xxii. 18, and »i 1 Cor. iii. 22.
xxviii. 14.

THE NEW MAN. 173
mine, for they are given io me in Christ, according to
the covenant which cannot be disannulled. He did
not fully enter upon His priestly work till He had
passed through death and judgment ; and so my death
shall only introduce me to fuller service to those, who,
though not of the present fold, are His, and mine in
Him. The " other sheep " shall be brought home.
" Them also I must bring." It is laid on me, and I
shall do it. For in the coming age those who are
Christ's, and win the prize of the high calling, shall be
priests and kings,** to bring in those who wiU never
enter the present fold, but who, as made partakers,
though not among the first-born, of the common life
of God, shall be parts of the " one flock," and under
" one shepherd." For not for ever shall there be two
flocks, of saved and lost. The lost shall be sought by
the Good Shepherd " until He find it." *' Division
shall not be for ever ; for " God is one." *^ AU shall
hear His voice at last, and there shall be " one flock,
and one shepherd."
This service has blessed results also on the servant.
The Father loves him for it. " Therefore doth my
Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I
might take it again." *' Surely the Son was ever be
loved. The Lord possessed Him in the beginning of
His way. He was God's delight from everlasting.**
But He took upon Him the form of a servant ; and for
His service also He is beloved : *' as God's servant, He
is His delight.** We too are loved as sons, even when
bUnd, erring, and lame. But we also may please God,
™ Rev. i. 6 63 Verse 17.
"' S. Luke XV. 4. «« Prov. viii. 30.
« Rom. iii. 30 ; Gal. iii. 20 ; «' Phil. ii. 7-9.
1 Tim. ii. 5. "s Isa. xiii. 1

174 THE SERVICE OF
and be loved for our obedience ; as our Lord declares,
" If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my
Father wiU love him, and we wiU come unto him, and
make our abode with him." *' Oh, could we only think
more of the joy our service gives to Him ; how precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints,**
and how the service of His elect is to Him " as grapes
in the wilderness, and as the first ripe fruit in the fig-
tree at her first time,"** — could we but remember, that,
if wise, we make our Father's heart glad,'* even as by
our unbeUef we grieve Him every day, — ^we should
oftener be constrained to present our bodies a Hving
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him, which is our
reasonable service.
And what makes this service acceptable is, that it is
both voluntary, and yet the fulfilHng of a command. It
is voluntary and free : — " I lay down my life : no man
taketh it from me ; but I lay it down of myseU." " It
springs from a heart in communion with Him, who,
being love, freely gave His Only-begotten Son. But
it is also according to commandment, and satisfies the
Father's will : — " This commandment have I received
of my Father." '^ Thus is the same service both a free-
wiU offering, yet obedience also, according to a law,
even the law of love, which seeketh not its own. The
Son wills what the Father wUls. And in Him the
Father is well pleased, because the Son freely gives
Himself for men. Therefore He concludes, — "I and
my Father are one." " But they are not more one than
Christ and His members. He is the Head and they

" S. John xiv. 21. "' Psalm cxvi. 15. «» Hosea ix. 10.
™ Prov. xxvii. 11. " Verse 18. " Verse 18. " Verse 30.

THE NEW MAN. 175
the body ; and they are loved by Him even as He is
by the Father.'* ' Therefore in the same life they give
themselves, while yet they are fulfilling a command
ment. No man forces them to stoop for others. They
give thefr lives because they love ; though in this lay
ing down of life they are Uving out the law of God.
Their wiU desires what He commands. The Law of
the Offerings iUustrates aU this. But the next " Verily,
Verily," still more reveals it, in what it tells us of the
Sacrifice of the New Man, that others may Hve through
Him. This is the service God approves ; and for some
thing of the spfrit of this service He ever looks, not
only from His under-shepherds," but even from His
sheep ; for His contention with His flock, when He
"judges between the lambs, and kids, and he-goats,"
is that the strong have " thrust with side and shoulder,
and pushed the diseased and feeble with thefr horns,"
" eating up the good pasture, and drinking the deep
waters," and only leaving for the weak " that which they
have trodden and polluted with their feet."'* And so
when Christ comes to judgment, and all are gathered
before Him, and He shall separate them one from an
other, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats,
what is the charge against those who are condemned
but this: — "I was an hungred and ye gave me no
meat ; I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink" ? "
Thefr crime is simply lack of love, that is, lack of
Hkeness to thefr Lord ; lack of His life, which He has
come to give to all, if we will but receive Him ; a Ufe

'* S. John XV. 9. '» Ezek. xxxiv. 17-22.
" Ezek. xxxiv. 2-10. " Matt. -kzm. 41-45.

176 THE SERVICE OF
which must Hve for others, not for self, because it is
God's very Ufe, which seeketh not its own, for God is
love. All true service is but the outflowing of this one
etemal Ufe, which has patience, and labours, and faints
not to the end, and whose last works shaU be more even
than the first. Christ is the pattern of this service.
Henceforth may it not be we who Hve, but Christ only
who Hves and serves in us.

THE NEW MAN. 177

EIGHTH "YERILY, YERILY."
THE SACRIFICE OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John xii. 23-33.)
The gospel is summed up by the apostle as the
" preaching of the cross,"' among other reasons because
it is God's revelation of Himself, and God is love, and
love must be a sacrifice. In the eighth "Verily, Verily,"
the Sacrifice of the New Man is opened to us. The
priest unconsciously foretells it, in saying that " one
man must die for the people, that the whole natioti
perish not."^ The loving woman feels it, and comes
beforehand to the Son of Man, putting oil and frankin
cense upon Him, as upon a Meat-offering,' to anoint
His body for the burying.* Above all the Son of Man
Himself declares it, in words which show that sacrifice
is the fundamental law of all increase. All witness in
different ways that there must be sacrifice, even unto
death, if the world is to be saved, and fed, and made
fruitful.' Our Lord's words call attention, first, to the uni
versal law, that all increase is through death, and then
to the results or fruit of this sacrifice.
1. The general law is this, written in God's book of
' 1 Cor. i. 18. 2 ciig_p_ ji_ 50. 3 Ley. ii. 16.
* Chap. xii. 7. ' Verses 24, 25.
N

178 THE SACRIFICE OF
nature from the beginning, though our blindness re
qufres that our attention should be caUed to it by
another reiterated Amen : " Verily, Verily, I say unto
you, Except a com of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. He therefore that loveth his Hfe shall lose
it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep
it unto life eternal." Such is the law, that without
sacrifice there can be no increase, while through it there
is abundant fruit.
These words were called forth by the wish expressed
by certain Greeks, who, having come up to worship at
Jerusalem, say to one of the disciples, " We would see
Jesus."* Thefr desire is to the Lord the witness of the
world's need, and of its unconscious craving for a
Saviour. And His answer at once is, that by His sacri
fice thefr longings shall be met, and that He will draw,
not the elect only, but all men, to Him, by His uplift
ing. It is as if He said. They wish to see me. They
have come at the right time. The hour is come that
the Son of Man, who is linked, not with Israel only,
but with aU men, should be glorified. And His glory
is, not to be in life and light alone, but to give Himself
as seed sown in the earth, out of the dark earth to bring
forth much fruit. He is the corn of wheat, the seed of
life, which until it is sown abides alone, but which, if
cast into the earth, multiplies itself through countless
generations. If these Greeks had ever understood the
mystic teaching of their own rites, they would at once
have recognised in these words the confirmation of aU
the hopes which the greatest of their mysteries had
' Verse 21.

THE NEW MAN. 179
¦dimly foreshadowed to them ; for the mystery com
memorated at Eleusis was that of Ceres and her
daughter, whom the lower world had seized, that is of
the harvest and the seed, which for awhile is held in
boUdage, under the earth, but which nevertheless re
turns to the light of heaven in due season,' — a truth or
fact of nature again referred to by St Paul, when writ
ing to these same Greeks, who ought, by what their
¦own religion, and still more by what nature, taught
them, to have believed, that what we call death is in
deed the gate of life,* and sacrifice and apparent loss
the way to more increase. Even in its very nature and
formation the seed teaches this same lesson. For seed,
.as naturalists have lately shown us, is simply an arrested
and metamorphosed stalk or branch. The stalk or
branch in producing seed sacrifices itself, and yields up
its own Hfe for another Ufe that is to spring from it.
The leaf ministers to the plant itself ; the fruit mini
sters to others ; and thus in its very formation is the
perfect illustration of the law of self-sacrifice.* In the
words before us our Lord points us to the still more ob
vious truth, that the seed itself must die, if it would
increase, saying, "Verily, Verily, Except a corn of
¦wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone,
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
Now the first and greatest fulfilment of this law is
in God Himself, both in what He is, and in what He
has done. But who shall rightly speak of what He is ?
' See Muller's lAteratwre of = 1 Cor. xv. 35-37.
Jincient Greece, chap. xvi. § 2, ' See the Rev. Hugh Mac-
and Bacon's Wisdom of the An- millan's interesting volume,
dents, chap, xxix., as to the entitled " The True Vine," pp.
mystic sense of the myth of 95-97.
Ceres and Proserpine.

180 THE SACRIFICE OF
Only the pure in heart see God.'* How then shall sin
ners see or speak of that which His very being says of
this eternal law of self-sacrifice. And yet something of
Him we may see as in a glass darkly. For, if He is love,
the law of sacrifice, that is of giving and going out of
self, must be inherent in His very being ; and the very
going forth of His Word, in the mystery of the eternal
generation of the ever-blessed Trinity, be the first illus
tration of the truth, that without sacrifice or giving out
from self one must abide alone. What is sacrifice in
its highest form but an offering of love to the object of
affection ? Must there not therefore have been sacrifice
in God Himself from everlasting, and He Himself be
the great Sacrificer and the great Sacrifice ? But eyes
to see and words to utter what God's being says are
lacking to us here. What He has done shows Him more
clearly both as Offerer and Offering for His creatures,
and that, if what He had in Himself had not been given.
He might have remained alone, but that by the giving
and going forth of His Only-begotten Son He has mul
tiplied 'His seed, until it is as the stars of heaven, and
as the sand upon the seashore. We in our weakness
are prone to associate the thought of pain with sacrifice.
And there may be pain, if the beloved object for whom
the sacrifice is made is suffering, and can alone be
helped by fellow-suffering. But in all truest sacrifice
there is always more of joy than pain. Is it any pain
to a lover to give himself and all he has to the beloved ?
Is not such giving up of self to another the greatest de
light? All true sacrifice is simply this giving up of self,
for love is not content until it can give itself away. And
" S. Matt. v. 8.

THE NEW MAN. 181
sacrifice in God is just this outflowing of His love ; and
the sacrifice of Christ, who is the image of God, is but
the revelation of this love in all its fulness. To regard
it as the mere payment of a debt, though this is also
true, is to look on one side only of the subject, and this
the side consequent upon the creature's failure and ne
cessity. Sin surely has brought into sacrifice the idea of
debt : this indeed is what is presented to us in the Sin
and Trespass-offering, where the offerer by his sacrifice
¦comes to meet a debt or wrong. And yet here as much
as in the Sweet-savour offerings, where the idea is sim
ply that of free and voluntary gift, it is love and love
alone which pays the debt and makes the sacrifice. In
the one case, in the Sweet-savour offerings, love freely,
of its own will, and simply from the delight of giving,
gives up its best to thfe beloved. In the other, that is
the Sin and Trespass-offerings, love cannot see wrong
without becoming itself a debtor to meet the need and
wrong by self-sacrifice. For need, however brought
about, makes love a debtor to remove the need. But
in either case, and whatever view we take of sacrifice,
- — and the marriage tie is perhaps of all the highest
figure of this truth, in which love's service may be
viewed either as delight or debt and duty," — this at
least is true, that without giving forth from self we
must abide alone. Only in so giving forth can we in-
¦crease and bear fruit.
The most perfect manifestation of this law, as I have
already said, is in the life and death of Him who is the
image of God, in whose willing sacrifice of Himself, ac
cording to the Father's will, both as a Sweet>-savour and
" See Canticles ii. 3 ; iv. 9, 10 ; vii. 6 ; and Exod. xxi. 10, and
1 Cor. ¦vii. 3, 5.

182 THE SACRIFICE OF
a Sin-offering, we see the substance shadowed by the
" corn of wheat," in its coming into the earth, and its
death and increase through dissolution. The seed has
in it all the virtues of the root from which it comes.
So the Seed of God possesses all the fulness of the Hfe
and glory of the invisible God. By His holy incarna
tion He is sown into the earth, that so bringing His Hfe
and virtues into it. He may through His death take
another body from it, which shall bear His image, and
which shall again by the same process of self-sacrifice
multiply itself from generation to generation. For by
its falHng into the earth the seed produces other seeds,
each of which, formed in the image of that from which
it springs, shall again by its sacrifice and dissolution
still more increase until it fill the face of the earth with
fruit. But this multiplication absolutely depends on
falling into the ground and dying there. Without this
death there is and can be no fruit. Had Christ not
come in the flesh, the world would still have lacked His
life. Had He not then died, there could have been no
raising up of others with Him as partakers of His re
surrection. It is by His coining into the earth that He
brings His life into the earth. It is by His resurrection
from the dead that He brings that which He has laid
hold of in the earth, as partaker of His Hfe, into His
own light and glory with Him. Blessed be His name
who took our earthly place and form for us, that so
He might make us partakers of Himself and of His
qiuckening spfrit. Henceforth as He is, so are we.'*
And as partakers of His Hfe, who manifested the love
of God by laying down His life for us, we cannot but
lay down our lives also for the brethren, content, yea
'= 1 S. John iv. 17.

THE NEW MAN. 183
debtors even," with Him to come in the flesh, and to
stoop to things which are of the earth, to give to others
the life which God has given to us. Thus is continued
the life-giving sacrifice of the " corn of wheat." The
Church fills up that which remains behind of the
afflictions of Christ.'* The world may not know it, but
the daily self-surrender of many a meek, life, in the
common cares and crosses of a very ordinary lot, is
winning for God those with whom it comes in contact,
who shaU be its harvest of joy at the appearing of the
Lord. I need not speak of the fruit won by those who
have more manifestly laid down their lives for Christ,
or of the victory over the kingdoms of the world by the
ready sacrifice of saints, who in time of plague, perU, or
want, willingly died even for those who had hated them
and hunted for thefr lives. All this is now a proverb.
" The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
The seed has increased, because the seed has died.
But let us look more closely at the stages, which
our Lord tells us must intervene, between " abiding
alone," and " bringeth forth much fruit." These are,
first, " falling into the ground ; " then, " dying "
there ; " both reveaUng something of the cost which
sacrifice entails, in a world where sinners are to be
reached, and where sinners too by grace are called to
be partakers in the sacrifice.
First, as to the " coming " or " falling into the
earth." Few think what this was to the Son of God.
Think of the seed cast into the earth ; exposed to win
try winds ; trodden under the feet of those who drive
>» 1 S. John iu. 10 : " We » Col. i. 24.
ought," that is roe owe it, (o(f>e(\o- '^ Verse 24.
/nev,) " to lay down our lives," &c.

184 THE SACRIFICE OF
the rake and harrow over it ; buried out of sight, and
left alone, as if cast out by God and man, to endure the
slow process of a daily dissolution; then melted by
rains and heats, until its form is marred, and it seems
useless either to God or man. All this, and more, was
but the shadow of what the Seed of God endured, in
those days of little-estimated humiliation, when, though
He had brought God's Hfe into the world, that life as
yet was not manifested. Who shall say what it cost
Him to be " sown a natural body ; " '* to come from the
form of God into the likeness of man ; to be made of
a woman, under the law ; to share the weakness and
limitations of a dying, earthly, transitory, life ; to come
into the lot of sinners, and to live with sinners ; to live
among such all unknown ; so Httle understood even by
His dearest, that when, as He increased in wisdom, He
said, " Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's
business ? " even His mother " understood not the saying
which He spake unto them."" And in such humiUa
tion to wear out nearly all this earthly life : all indeed
but the last three years, which were still more a daily
death. When one thinks that this was only the be
ginning of the sacrifice, we may perhaps dimly perceive
what His coming into the earth must have been to
God's dear Son. Some of us for His sake have left
bright homes to enter dwellings, reeking with disease,
where the stifiing afr is hard to breathe, and the sights
of pain have so oppressed our hearts, that, even when
again absent from such scenes, they have still weighed
upon our bodies or our minds. But what can any such
contrast, which we have known, be to that accepted by
" 1 Cor. XV. 44. " S. Luke ii. 50

THE NEW MAN. 185
our Lord, between what He was and what He became
for us, when He came into the earth as the Seed of
God, that " truth should spring out of the earth, and
our land should yield her increase."'"
All this however was but a stage to dying in our
place. For the corn of wheat, not only " falls into the
ground," but must also " die," if it is to bring forth
fruit. So not only was " the Word made fiesh," '* but
" being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Him
self, and became obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross." ^* And in this death He died, not only to
this world,*' but also to sin,** which had seized and held
His creatures captive ; because thus only, by taking
our death, could mortality be swallowed up of life,*'
and our bodies, as well as our souls, be brought back to
bear His likeness with Him. How He felt all this, or
what He suffered, when " the sorrows of death com
passed Him about, and the pains of hell gat hold upon
Him ; " ** when he was " laid in the lowest pit, in dark
ness and in the deep, like the slain that He in the grave,
and are remembered no more ; "*' what it was for Hfe
to die, no mortal tongue can tell. But we know He
bore it all. For only so could the Ufe shut up in the
corn of wheat be brought forth out of the earth ; only
so could it spring up, not alone, but multiplied exceed
ingly. For ever blessed be His Name, who has thus
made us partakers of His Hkeness ; emptying Himself
to fill us ; dying to give us Ufe.
Such is the pattern. The Son of God ffrst came
where He would have to die. Then He died here.
'« Psalm Ixxxv. 11, 12. ~ Rom. vi. 10.
'» S. John i. 14. '' 2 Cor. v. 4.
«> Phil. ii. 8. " Psalm cxvi. 3.
=' Col. ii. 20. " Psabn Ixxxviii. 5, 6.

186 THE SACRIFICE OF
And so must we. To be fruitful, we shall be brought
into the place where, before we die, and in order to
die, we must often be mortified and suffer a daily dis
solution. Like the old invaders, who burnt their ships,
if we follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, and
give up, ffrst our money, caUing, and ease, and then,
what is far dearer to self, our reputation, being counted
fools, and even mad, to give to others what we have
received, we shall ere long find ourselves in a place
from which we cannot then draw back, and in which
it only remains for us to die. Folly indeed would it
then be to draw back. For just as the seed, cast into
the earth, is spoilt for food by being sown, and spoilt
for growing, if it be taken thence and not allowed to
die, so is he who in following Christ has come into the
place of death, but is not yet dead ; for by his sacrifice,
so far as it has advanced, he is afready spoilt for this
world, while, if he then draw back, he is spoilt and
worthless also for the kingdom. If any so draw back,
the Lord will have no pleasure in them.** Have any
suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain ? *'
Alas for those who have followed Christ enough to be
spoilt for this world, and yet not so far as to die with
Him, to win the crown of sacrifice, and to bring forth
much fruit : —
Too good for great things, and too great for good,
VPTiile still " I dare not " waits upon " I would."
It cannot be so with the true elect, though with them
too it is hard to die, harder far than to do a thousand
religious things, which yet are short of death to self;
2= Heb. X. 38. " Gal. iii. 4.

THE NEW MAN. 187
for, as one said of old, " All that a man hath will he
give for his life." ** They too must die ; and, thank
God, they are in the faithful hands of One who will
carry out the sacrifice to its appointed end.
To bring about this end God uses many instruments,
even as the seed comes to dissolution through the
varied agencies of frosts, and dews, and sun, and air.
But it is ever He himself who brings His children into
this death, that He may raise them up again with
great power. We are tempted to forget this, when
men and devils seem to have thefr way, and we feel
ourselves perishing, and no fruit appears of such sorrow.
But the end of self is the one condition of the pro
mised blessing. He that will not die cannot Hve. It
is God himself therefore who brings us down to bring
us up. Faith sees this, and thus can pierce the darkest
cloud, and say in all, " It is the Lord." ** It is not
man's hand, but thine, my God, that brings me. down.
" Thou turnest man to destruction." '* " Thou hast
put away mine acquaintance, and hast made me to be^
abhorred of them." " What they do, even when " the
heathen rage, and the rulers stand up against thy
Christ," is only " whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined to be done." '* The trial may even come
through God's elect, and when this is so, the pain is
greater, for nothing wounds us more than the opposi
tion and condemnation of tme brethren. Yet this i&
the royal way. Christ was judged and left by all.
And His one answer to perplexed disciples is, " Ought
not Christ to suffer these things ? " Is there any other
way to glory ? "
^ Job ii. 4. ^ 1 Sam. iii; 18. '° Psalm xc. 3.
" Psalm Ixxxviii. 8. "^ Acts iv. 26-28. ^= S. Luke xxiv. 26.

188 THE SACRIFICE OF
The pain and bliss of thus dying none know but
those who have endured its pains and felt its bhss.
For there is joy unspeakable and full of glory in the
sacrifice of self, — in being hidden as God is hidden
from the world. Till we can be thus unseen like God,
there is Httle growth in the divine life, which only
manifests itself as we pass through this secret death
and dissolution. Yet this experimental learning what
we are has its own sorrows also, which force even from
the true elect the cry, " Now is my soul troubled ; yet
what shall I say ? Father, save me from this hour ?
But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father,
glorify thy name." '* The trial is indeed sifting. Yet
the true deliverance is not in saying, " Save me from
this or that " ; but in accepting everything, however
grievous it may appear, as from the Lord, saying only,
" Father, glorify thy name." These apparent forsak-
ings of God are a great deep. It is easier to speak of
those separations from om- brethren which this sacrifice
involves, between those who remain unchanged, and
those who through a daily death are being led on to
resurrection. The dying and the dead are never plea
sant to the living. Only a few loving ones will con
tinue clinging to a corpse. And even they must soon
bury it out of sight. To those who walk after the
flesh there is a kind of horror in seeing one dying to
the joys of earth, and to the things which make up the
business of this present outward Hfe. Let none there
fore be surprised if at such a stage they are deserted.
Was not the dead Christ buried ? Are we not to be
buried with Him ? Surely, if we are to be conformed
" Verses 27, 28.

THE NEW MAN. 189
to Him, we must die, and be forsaken, as He was.
Many things most lawful must be left. But meanwhile
another world opens to our view, with its tree of life
and paradise of God." And yet even Christian brethren,
instead of rejoicing in being partakers of such pains,
or in seeing a crossed and wounded Christ in one
another, often are in doubt as to themselves, or forsake
a brother, when, to make him perfect through suffer
ings, he too is caUed to pass the straight and narrow
gate. Perhaps it must be so. We must die alone.
But though the inhabitants of mortality and time yet
misunderstand such pains, and spite of Christ's agony
and cross may forsake or shrink from such sufferers ;
though dear brethren are perplexed, and question how
such a cross should be allowed, if the soul so suf
fering really is the Lord's; though, as with Christ,
there comes a cloud of darkness and desertion ; though
censure and judgments pass from one to another, and
even true disciples say, " We trusted that such a one
would indeed have helped the Church ; " '* though all
this has to be suffered and debated, and all seems lost,
and the soul cannot move or rise or justify itself; such
sufferers need not fear. Those who die with Christ are
safe with Him. For His own lifeguard of angels is
about them, to watch and roll away the stone, that the
dead may in due time rise again.
2. Such is the way. The com must fall into the
ground. But the result of the sacrifice is, " If it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit." " For as the grain of
corn, through dissolution, is made the root of many
seeds, so the Lamb by His once dying, as the First-
" Rev. ii. 7- "¦ S. Luke xxiv. 21. "' Verse 24.

190 THE SACRIFICE OF
bom and the Ffrst-fruits, that in aU things He might
have the pre-eminence,'* is multipUed into His dis
ciples, who are made partakers of the same Ufe, and
who in their turn, through death, will be multipUed
again into a still greater number, till the field of the
world is full of the seed of God. This is the end of ah
the trial. The word as to Abraham's sacrifice is still
trae. " By myself have I swom, saith the Lord, be
cause thou hast done this, and hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and
in multiplying I will multiply thy seed, as the stars of
heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore ;
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice."'* In
crease must follow self-surrender. So the prophet, who
most clearly foresees the great sacrifice, declares, "When
Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin. He shaU
see His seed. He shaU prolong His days, and the plea
sure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand." *° Fruit
shall be borne, enriching not the offerer only, but also
God and man, and shaking to its foundation the power
¦of him who holds the world captive.
(i) Ffrst, this self-surrender has results upon the
¦offerer himself. " The Son of Man is glorified," *' in
and by that very sacrifice which to sense appears to be
destruction. Just as with the seed, its dissolution is
but a loosing of its bonds, that it may arise out of it
self in a new form, and put on glorious apparel, and in
its flower hold up to heaven its creaturely image of that
:sun, whose light and warmth have touched it even in
the grave, and so have brought out of the dark root
«8 Col. i. 18. ^ Gen. xxii. 17, 18. « Isa. liii. 10.
*' Verse 23, and chap. xiii. 31.

THE NEW MAN. 191
a beauty and glory, of which the seed while it remained
intact afforded no indication ; so in the elect does the
sacrifice even unto death work for us " a far more ex
ceeding and eternal weight of glory." ** The Son of
Man is glorified thereby. For what is our shame ? Is
it not this " body of humiliation,"*' in which we
are " straitened," ** and " groan being burdened " ? *'
Is it not the selfish will of the flesh, which lusteth
against the spirit, and presseth down the soul, so that
we cannot do the things that we would ? ** Then the
oross or sacrifice of this selfhood must be glory, even
though to carnal minds, who " glory in their shame,"*'
and to carnal eyes, which see only the judgment of the
flesh, it appears to be destruction. Therefore Paul
*' gloried in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience, and experience hope ;
and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
vrhich is given unto us."** The cross is the true
sceptre. Things which trouble faith are overcome by
death. " He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased
from sin." **
(ii) But the sacrifice also glorifies God. The soul
-which will not say, " Father, save me from this hour,"
but only, " Father, glorify thy name," is met at once
by a voice from heaven, saying, " I have both glorified
it, and wiU glorify it again." '*. Therefore " now is the
Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him." "
For as surely as self-will and self-pleasing, as we see
« 2 Cor. iv. 17. " Phil. iii. 19.
« PhiL iii. 21 . « Rom. v. 3-5.
" S. Luke xii. 50. ¦!' 1 Pet. iv. 1.
« 2 Cor. V. 2. 50 yerse 28.
¦"^ Wisdom ix. 15, and Gal. " S. John xiii. 31.
v. 17.

192 THE SACRIFICE OF
in Adam, always rob and dishonour God, so does self-
surrender, even unto death, as we see in Christ, bring
glory to Him. For self-surrender is the most perfect
expression of our love. Can I give myself away ? Can
I wholly trust myself, in a path where I see nothing, to
another ? Can I so yield myself to Him in all, that He
may do with me what He will ? In no other way can
I so express my estimate of Him, in whom I place such
perfect confidence. Thus it is that self-surrender
glorifies God. He looks upon a world, where the ser
pent's lie, that God cannot be trusted, rankles deep
in every heart. He sees some weak one who can so
trust Him, that, let the darkness be what it may, he
will not even say, " Save me from this or that," but
only, " Father, glorify thy name." And He is glorified
thereby. For as unbelief makes Him a liar,'* so does
faith, which yields itself to Him, above all else do
honour to Him. Well then may the partakers of
Christ's sufferings rejoice, for the spirit of glory and of
God resteth upon them. By the world He may be
blasphemed; but in those who suffer with Him He is
glorified." (iii) Nor is this all. Sacrifice not only has results
on him who makes it, and upon God, but it also acts
directly on the world, freeing it, as nothing else does,
from the power of him who holds it captive. So our
Lord adds here, " Now is the judgment of this world :
now shall the prince of this world be cast out : and I,
if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." '* For
the world is captive in its self-will. The judgment
therefore is its salvation, when " the sword of the Lord
« 1 S. John V. 10. " 1 S. Pet. iv. 13, 14. " Verses 31, 32.

THE NEW MAN. 193
shall be drawn out, against all flesh, that every heart
may melt, and all hands be feeble, and every spirit
faint, and all knees weak," " that they may thus come
into the place of blessing, and be among the " faint "
and " feeble," to whom the promise is for ever
pledged,** and learn, even as the elect, that Christ's
strength is only perfect in man's weakness." This is
the purpose of the judgment ; and the judgment itself
is such as He himself enjoins, who says, " Seek judg
ment, reUeve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead
for the widow ; " '* accomplished when orphan souls
again cry, Abba, Father, and those who have lost their
strength and stay are united to their true husband.
Thus with righteousness does He judge the poor, and
smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with
the breath of His mouth destroy the wicked.'* And
there are many stages in this judgment. He who by
His own submission overcame the tempter, little by
little, as we can bear it, draws sinners to His cross,
first by this or that involuntary sacrifice of thefr own
will, and then by the willing acceptance of whatever
He may lay upon them. And in the fires they find
that the flames have only burnt thefr bonds; that,
though cast in bound, they thus are made free.**
This is the "judgment of this world," by which "its
prince is east out," and " all men drawn to Him " who
died for them. WeU therefore may the Psalmist call
upon all creatures to "rejoice before the Lord, because
He cometh to judge the earth."*'
(iv) For the sacrifice at last must touch and draw
" Ezek. xxi. 4, 7. == Isa. xl. 29. " 2 Cor. xii. 9. ¦'" Isa. i. 17.
5» Isa. xi. 4. " Dan. iii. 24, 25. " Psalm xc^i. 11-13.
0

194 THE SACRIFICE OF
back all to God : " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all
men unto me." ** EvU is not etemal : it is only dis
order ; the creature's wUl out of its true place. Sacri
fice restores the true order. It was the fall into self
hood which divided man from God and man. It is by
sacrifice, and by sacrifice alone, that they can again be
reunited. For sacrifice is simply the law of the di
vine life, that going and giving out of self, which is
love's inmost law and instinct. It was thus, by His
own sacrifice of Himself, that God united Himself to
us. It is thus, by our sacrifice through Christ,
that we are united to Him and to one another. The
blood of the cross reconciles all. It can unite the
most opposed, and heal every breach, whether in
heaven or earth.*' The reconcUiation and union is
already wrought in Jesus Christ. It shaU be wrought
in the world through Him, till the last rebel is subdued,
and the last wanderer found. " I, if I be Ufbed up,
wiU draw aU men to me." This is the end, shadowed
of old in type, partially fulfilled in the caUing of the
GentUes, to be consummated when at the name of
Jesus every knee shaU bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth; when
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.** And as in Himself, by
His one oblation of Himself once offered, the breach
between God and man, and man and man, has been for
ever healed, — as in Him God and man are one, — so by
the continued sacrifice of His body, through the suffer
ings of His members, which are His sufferings in them,
is He conveying the grace of His own life and love to
"2 Verse 32. »» Col. i. 20. ¦• Phil. ii. 10, 11.

THE NEW MAN. 195
those who yet are strangers to it. Whether therefore
we are comforted or afflicted, it is for others' consola
tion and salvation, which is made effectual in them
through the enduring of the same sufferings.*'
Thus do the elect fill up what remains of the joys
and sufferings of Christ.** Little do we think how
each unknown sufferer's daily cross is serving in God's
hand to bring about the promised restitution. We
quote as a doctrine, " As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one
are many made righteous."*' But it is a daily fact
also. Every act of disobedience and refusal to submit
to the law of love, which is the law of self-sacrifice,
still makes, and must make, many sinners, even as every
act of obedience makes many others righteous. The
fact which is daily becoming clearer to scientific men,
that the universe is one, and that the least things in
our little world are related to and influenced by the sun
and distant stars, and probably are influencing them
also in return, is no less true of the spfrit-world, of
which as men made in God's image we form a part,
and in which Christ as man has afready effected such
wonders. His incarnation and entrance into heaven as
man necessarily affect all, in heaven, and earth, and hell.
For there is in His humanity an eternal Hnk with all,
which knits together those who as yet are far apart as
death from Hfe and heaven from hell. He has tasted
both for all ; ** and, because He died and rose and re
vived. He is Lord both of the dead and of the living.**
Wherefore He is able also to save to the uttermost all

2 Cor. i. 6. '» Phil. ii. 17, and Col. i. 23. " Rom. v. 19.
" Heb. ii. 9. «' Rom. xiv. 9.
o 2

196 THE SACRIFICE OF
who come unto God by Him.'* Because He Uves, we
shall live also."
Such is the Sacrifice of the New Man. Shall we
not ask, how much we know of that death to self,
which our Lord here announces so unequirocaUy,
Those especially who count themselves to be disciples
should see to it, that in this giving up of self thefr
life is conformed to Him who is the pattern. For
never perhaps was there more light than now as to
what becomes a son of God : never greater temptation
to indulge ourselves, even while we admfre and confess
the truth, that self-sacrifice is most godUke. And our
very nearness to Christ may help to deceive us. Simon
the Cyrenian is the witness, that it is not some favotured
disciple, but a poor stranger, who really bears Christ's
cross,'* whUe better instructed disciples, for a time at
least, only see and shrink from such suffering. God
knows who now are bearers of that burden which was
first laid upon the Lord. Who now are cross-bearers?
Are they still gathered from among strangers to Him,
who are " compelled to bear " the daily cross of poverty
and pain, and the other varied ills which are sin's just
penalty; or are they to be found among those, who,
with greater knowledge of the Lord, shrink from and
stumble at the cross, when, in its full bitterness and
shame, it comes to overthrow their preconceived and
mistaken notions of the way into the kingdom ? Are
there not still many, whose so-called faith, instead of
leading to the cross, has been the dfrectest way to gain
the things of this world ? Such is not the Sacrifice of
'the New Man. Now as of old the corn of wheat must
die, if it is indeed to bring forth much frait.
" Heb. vii. 26. " S. John xiv. 19 " S. Mark xv. 21.

THE NEW MAN. 197
It may be asked. How can such a life of daily
death go hand in hand with a due attention to the
claims and wants of our earthly callings and relation
ships, where there must be worldly care and interest
in these outward things, not only for the supply of our
own but even of others' wants. This is a question
which has often exercised the saints of God. And
God alone can answer it so as to meet the varying
growth and need of each believer. For we have each
our special caUing, depending on our growth in Christ,
and the sacrifice which is proper to one stage may be
unworthy of another. Our Lord's Hfe is the real
answer. From the first it was a life of love, and there
fore could not but be a life of sacrifice in everything,
whether as carpenter, or preacher, or sufferer on the
cross. But the form of the sacrifice varied as time went
on. Its ifrst form was coming in the flesh : its last was
dying in and to the flesh : the one quite as much as
the other being indeed a sacrifice. And so the saints
have ever felt that thefr coming or abiding in the flesh,
stooping to carnal forms for carnal souls, continuing
with them in the earthly life, because it is more
needful for them," is quite as much a sacrifice as the
dying to this outward Hfe, whatever may be the form
or pains of so dying. In either case, whether we leave
the outward world for God, or seek to live for Him in
the common toU and relationships of ordinary Hfe, —
"whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God, or
whether we be sober, it is for your cause ; for the love
of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that,
if One died for all, all died in Him, and that He died,
'" Phil. i. 24, 25.

198 THE SACRIFICE OF
that they which live should not henceforth Hve unto
themselves, but unto Him who died for them and
rose again." '* If we only live out Christ's Ufe, we shall
be conformed to Him in all, both in His coming in the
flesh and in His dying to it; and shall prove that
dying is more than doing, for " if we die we bring
forth more fruit." But whether we Hve or die we are
the Lord's." " 2 Cor. V. 14, 16. " Rom xiv 8

THE NEW MAN. \^

NINTH "YEEILY, YEEILY."
THE HUMILIATION OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John xiii. 1-38.)
We come now to the ninth saying of our Lord, marked
by the reiterated Amen, in which by act and word He
sets before us the Lowliness, and still more the Humilia
tion, of the New Man. Four times here does He re
peat "Amen, Amen." Only on one other subject,
namely the Support or Meat of the New Man, do we
find this very remarkable reiteration. In either case
the reason is the same. On both these points there is
much to learn, and very slowly do we understand and
receive this testimony. EspeciaUy to the old world was
the very idea of lowHness contemptible. Even now that
the cross has altered men's estimate of so many things,
and the Spirit of Christ has shown, that, if we would
" walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called,"
it must be first of all, " in all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love,"'
even now humiUation is with many harder far than
death, and some, who could for others freely lay down
thefr lives, find it difficult to take a lower place. For
indeed even after the mystery of the cross is opened to
us, and we have learnt, in word at least, that " the com
I Eph. iv. 1-2.

200 THE HUMILIATION OF
of wheat must fall into the ground and die, if it is to
bring forth much fruit," pride may still remain, the
very strength of hell, to bring us, if it remains, spite of
every gift, into the condemnation of the devil.* Not in
vain therefore does our Lord so often here repeat,
" Amen, Amen," and gird Himself to wash His disciples'
feet, that we through Him may learn to stoop with
Him. For pride is the crowning sin of the old man.
Fallen from God, self makes itself a God, and at all
cost, whether of wrong to God or man, openly or in
secret seeks its own exaltation. Slowly do we learn,
even when through grace we have left much for Christ,
and have, like the disciples, followed Him in the flesh
for years, not without some shame and loss embraced
for His dear sake, how even in following Him this de
sfre to be the greatest still cleaves to us, and may come
out, as in the scene before us, at that very feast of love,
which tells of His humiliation. It was this pride and
self-seeking, even at His table, which first called forth
the act and words, to which this ninth "Amen, Amen "
dfrects attention. At this very feast " there was a strife
among them, which should be accounted greatest."'
And then it was that the Son of the Father, who had
come from God and went to God, and of whom the
greatest of the prophets had said, " I am not worthy to
loose His shoe's latchet,"* Himself stoops lower than
this, even to wash the feet of those, who, as He weU
knew, within a very few hours would forsake, deny, and
betray Him, saying to them, " If I then, your Lord and
Master, have washed your feet, ye ought to wash one
^ 1 Tim. iii. 6. " S. Lute xxii. 19, 24. •• Chap. i. 27.

THE NEW MAN. 201
another's feet ; for, I have given you an example that
ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, Verily, I
say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord,
neither is he that is sent greater than He that sent
him."' Oh blessed contrast between God and man.
For with men, the servant washes his lord. With God,
the Lord bows down to wash the servant.*
Now it may seem remarkable that St. John, who
records all this as occurring at the last feast of the Pass
over, says nothing of the institution of the Lord's supper,
but instead gives us this washing of the disciples' feet,
and the varied words and acts which grew out of it.
But the two are one, and in what is here recorded we
have the essence of the Lord's supper. For what is that
supper but sacrifice and communion, showing Christ's
fellowship with us, in taking* our flesh and blood and
burdens on Him ; that we should have fellowship with
Him, by taking His flesh and blood, and thereby doing
His works of lowly love towards others with Him. And
what is this washing of the feet but sacrifice and com
munion. First the Perfect One strips Himself, and
stoops to take away our defilements ; and this is His
communion with us, which is humiliation and empty
ing to Him ; and then He calls us, as partakers of His
life, to communion with Him, to serve others in the
same spfrit of divine self-sacrifice. He takes and takes
away our infirmities, stooping to wash our feet, that as
His members and in His Ufe we may do the like for
others. The one thing is " to be as the Master : " to
represent Him and His works on earth, even as in His
humiliation He represented and did the works of the
Father who had sent Him.
s Verses 14 -17. = Ezek. xvi. 9.

202 THE HUMILIATION OF
1. Let us look at this humiliation.
(i) Ffrst, He stoops to the place of a servant, by
Himself washing His disciples' feet. Every step in the
process is significant. " He lays aside His garment : "
then " He gfrds Himself," to serve : then " after that
He pours out the water " for His disciples' cleansing.'
The outward act is humbUng enough ; yet the outward
act is but the sign of the far deeper and more wonderful
humiliation, which the Son of God has accepted for us
in coming in the flesh, and in stooping to all those
sacramental forms, which are extensions of His incar
nation, by which, as in this supper, He may reach and
remove the defllement which we contract in our neces
sary contact with the world. This costs Him a coming
down, which, if we could but see it as it is, would ap
pear to us, as it did at first to Peter, too much even for
the Son of God. For to do this He must lay aside His
garments, that is, must strip Himself and put off His
glory, and empty Himself, and then gfrd Himself with
a napkin, that is, must take our flesh, which like the
gfrded napkin is the badge of service.* Only thus does
He pour out the water by which He takes away our de
filements, and makes us, like Himself, " clean every
whit." Only by laying aside His glory, and putting on
our likeness, could He do this for us. And He accepts
this humiliation, to make us partakers of Himself, and
like Him cleansers of others. For He does> this that
we may do as He has done. But the water is not
poured out, either by Christ, or by His members, until
they strip themselves, that by thefr humiUation others
may be made whole. Not till we suffer for them and
' Verses 4, 6.
' So Augustine, Tract, in Johan. Iv. 7.

THE NEW MAN. 205
humble ourselves for others can we really cleanse
any. What is this water and this cleansing ? The cleans
ing is the washing of the feet, those lower members,
which are soiled by contact with the world, even though
the body has been cleansed by the one washing of re
generation. The water is the Spfrit, as He said, " He
that believeth in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water." * Even after the washing of regeneration
cleansed souls contract defilement, though " he that is
washed needeth not save to wash his feet " ; '* and this
second washing is effected by the humiUation of Christ's
members, who, unasked and unthanked, still stoop to
wash thefr brethren. Is it no stooping to be occupied
with the defilement others contract ? Let those answer
who have thus tried to wash others. Such know what
this service costs, and how few will thank him who
points out their defilements, or be wiUing to receive the
" washing of water through the word."" Nevertheless
Christ and His members thus humble themselves, and
so minister the Spfrit, as the grape its juice and the
olive its oU, by the very pressure which the sin and
need of others put upon them, which brings out the
grace which is in the saints, even as the evil of the
world brings out of the old man that pride and wrath,
which until the trial comes is all unseen. And by this
spfrit of Christ are others cleansed, though they seek
not the cleansing, and even reject it for awhile, as un
worthy of Him who at such a cost thus brings it to
them. (U) For the humiliation of the New Man comes
s S. John. vii. 38. "> Verse 10. " Eph. v. 26.

204 THE HUMILIATION OF
even to this, not only to take a servant's place, but to
have His service rejected, because He stoops so low, by
some for whom He thus humbles Himself. Thus when
He comes here to Peter, that disciple answers, " Thou
shalt never wash my feet.'"* Through a self-wiUed
humility, the loving act is for a time shrunk from. So
much harder is it to receive than to give all. Men
therefore will " suffer if a man smite them on the face,
if he take of them, if he bring them into bondage." "
All this men will submit to, for it does not shame then
pride. But real loving service, which becomes nothing
to serve its loved ones, men will reject, because they
feel that it involves a humiliation, which they are not
prepared to foUow. Carnal and selfish ministers there
fore are on all hands praised and welcomed. The man
who humbles himself for others is rejected, even by
those for whom he humbles himself ; for his humiliation
is a tacit rebuke of all self-seeking and self-exaltation.
Men do not want such service, because they feel that
it demands a Uke huimliation.
And in the same spirit some yet shrink from those
outward and sacramental acts, which our Lord uses to
reach the carnal and defiled, with the honest but mis
taken notion that such forms are unworthy of the Lord,
and a degradation to Him, if not also to those to whom
He offers them. True souls yet err thus. Some things
they think too low for Christ— too carnal for a spfritual
Lord, and for disciples who are called by Him to be
spiritual. So do even some of Christ's truest disciples
stumble at the humiUation of the Etemal Word, when
He yet comes in sacramental forms, which are perhaps
>2 Verse 8. " 2 Cor. xi. 20.

THE NEW MAN. 206
His greatest humiliation. But the Lord's grace is not
turned aside by His servants' mistake. He yet stoops
to the rejected form, saying, " What I do, thou knowest
not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." '* Let but
His spirit so fill us that we do His works, — for it is only
like that understands like, — and then we too shall see
how such stoopings to carnal men are not carnal, but
most godlike, and therefore spfritual.
But can we thus cleanse others ? I know some
stumble here, and say, " Christ of course could cleanse
His disciples, but we who are sinners can never do the
Uke." Yet the words of Christ are very plain : " Ye
ought to wash one another's feet; for I have given you an
example, that ye should do as I have done to you." "
If Christ Uves in men. He yet must do His works by
them. If they are His members, they cannot but fulfil
His will. And as a matter of experience we know that
the love of brethren does act upon us ; that they do
really cleanse us by their self-denying service. They
serve us in the strength of Him who dwells in them,
who by them communicates His own vfrtues and His
very Hfe, so that they can, not only quicken and judge,'*
but also cleanse others. Thank God, there yet are
some whose Hfe is a " ministration of the Spfrit,"" who
therefore as angels thus serve us, though we thank
them not.
Thus does the New Man humble himself; and then
again comes the " Amen, Amen," which so uncompro
misingly calls us to the same humUiation : " Verily,
Verily, I say unto you. The servant is not greater than
his lord, neither is he that is sent greater than He that
" Verse 7. '« Chap. v. 21, 22. See above, pp. 71-80.
" Verses 14, 15. " Gal. iii. 6 ; 2 Cor. iii. 8.

206 THE HUMILIATION OF
sent him." '* Can we misunderstand such words ? But
do not too many still think it a shame to do as He did,
and to endure what He endured ? Do we not rather
aU seek by fleshly place and power to do the work which
our Lord only did by humUiation ? If we try to help
others, is it not too often by some earthly superiority,
either of gift or station in the world, rather than by
the self-abasement and gentleness of Christ ? Who
thinks that self-humUiation is the way to cleanse
others ? Yet this is the royal road, witnessed to by
every act and word of Him whom we profess to foUow,
" who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, yet made Himself of no reputa
tion, and took on Him the form of a servant, and was
made in the Hkeness of men ; and, being found in
fashion as a man, humbled Himself yet more, and was
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross ; " '*
and who, lest we shoidd not see what all this meant,
even at the supper which spoke of His shed blood,
bowed Himself down to wash His disciples' feet, saying,
" If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet,
ye also ought to wash one another's feet. VerUy, Verily,
The servant is not greater than his lord. If ye know
these things, happy are ye, if ye do them."
2. What then is the ground or motive of this hu
miUation ? Love, ffrst ; then knowledge of the truth.
Love is the first motive. So we read, — " Having loved
His own that were in the world. He loved them unto
the end," ** and therefore stooped to serve them. But
the knowledge of the truth, that He is Son of God, no
less moves Him to this self-abasement. Therefore it is
'= Verse 16. " Phil. ii. 6-S. =» Verse 1.

THE NEW MAN. 207
added, — "Knowing that the Father had given all
things into His hands, and that He was come from God
and went to God, He riseth from supper, and laid aside
His garment, and took a towel, and girded Himself." *'
No motives can compare with these to make us willing
to come down. Love is strong as death.*^ What is it
but a mother's love which makes her stoop to wash her
babe, and to delight in every menial toU, if only by it
she can serve her helpless loved ones ? And what is it
but the knowledge of thefr high birth, and that they
can claim and prove it when they will, that makes the
noble of this world ready to stoop to men and things in
a way which others of lower rank so often stumble at?
They can come down because they are high. They are
so assured of thefr true place, that they need not every
where and always be asserting it. This is the secret of
self-abasement. Christ can stoop because He loves,
and because He knows He is the Son of God.
And the motive power to stoop Hke Him to the
defilements of the weak, in us, as in the Lord, lies in
the possession of the Ufe of God, with all its knowledge
that all things are ours, for we have sprung from God
and go to God, so that he that receiveth us receiveth
Him. These words declare that even in our humilia
tion we are the dwelling place of God : " Verily, Verily,
I say unto you. He that receiveth whomsoever I send
receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth Him
that sent me." *' It is this assurance which will enable
us to follow His steps, according to the words, " I have
given you an example, that ye should do as I have done
to you." ** The power to do so flows from the fact that
^' Verses 3, 4. 2s yerse 20.
^2 Cant. viii. 6. 24 yerse 1 5.

208 THE HUMILIATION OF
He is one with us, while yet also He is our Lord. It
is because He is our Lord, that we must be humble as
He is humble. It is because He is in us, and " he
that receiveth us receiveth Him," that we can do His
works and wash each other's feet.
But will not the assurance that we are hefrs of God
lead us to high thoughts of oursfelves ? Will not this
belief of union with the Lord minister to pride rather
than to meekness and humiUty ? Are not the dreadful
things which have been done by some, who have claimed
to be vicars and ambassadors of Christ, proofs of the
peril and evil which results from men believing that
they are sent from God ? That there has been an awful
perversion of this truth is, alas, too plain. But the
pride of some " who say they are apostles," *' and then
act unUke men sent of God, or who even " say that
they are Christ," ** and then do before our eyes the works,
not of Christ, but rather of devils and antichrists, while
it forces us to try all such pretensions, cannot annul the
truth, that it is in the full knowledge of their divine
sonship and mission that men are most lowly. It is
not the belief that Christ is in them which causes pride,
but rather the thought that they are to take His place,
and act for Him as though He were not present. Who
so humble as the Lord ? And who so emptied of self
as those who feel that the word they speak is not thefr
own, and that for the works they have to perform, they
have no goodness, power, or light, save that which comes
from Him, who stooped to show in flesh and blood the
grace of God. Not in vain therefore, when our Lord
here says, " Verily, Verily, the servant is not above his
" Rev. ii. 2. =« S. Matt. xxiv. 6.

THE NEW MAN. 209
lord," does He add at once, " Verily, Verily, He that
receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that
receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me." For so long
as he thinks himself separate from his master, the dis
ciple may be tempted to set himself above his Lord.
When he feels that it is Christ who lives in him, Christ
must be all in aU. It is the sense and assurance of His
indwelling that can make us wilUng to be nothing here,
that He and not we may be seen in all our ways.
3. And what is the return which the Son of God
receives here for this humiUation ? He is betrayed by
one, and then denied by another, of His disciples. We
read here, " When Jesus had said this He was troubled
in spirit and testified and said, Verily, Verily, I say unto
you, that one of you shaU betray me."*' And then to
His foremost disciple He says, " Wilt thou lay down
thy life for my sake ? Verily, VerUy, I say unto thee.
The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me
thrice." ** These all are drops in the cup of the hu
miUation of the obedient Son, which He unmurmuringly
drinks of and empties to the end.
(i) Ffrst He is betrayed, and by a disciple. To be
betrayed is pain enough,— to be given up into the
hands of those who hate, and are thfrsting to destroy
us. But to be betrayed by a disciple, to have one's
confidence abused, — this more than doubles the humiUa
tion. Therefore He says here, " Verily, Verily, one of
you," whom I have called to be partakers with me in
my temptations and my kingdom, — one of you, to whom
I have opened the mysteries of the kingdom of God, —
one of you, whose feet I have washed, and with whom,
in the confidence of love, I sit here, to make you, if
" Verse 21. =» Verse 38.

210 THE HUMILIATION OF
you wiU indeed receive me, partakers of my very life, —
" Verily, Verily, I say, that one of you shaU betray me."
" For it is not an enemy, that hath done me this dis
honour ; then I could have borne it : neither was it
mine adversary that did magnify himself against me ;
for then I would have hid myself: but it was even
thou my companion, and my familiar friend." ** The
very disciple whom He singles out for honour, by
giving him the portion of a distinguished guest,'* is
the one who repays the kindness with betrayal. Yet
the elect must come even to this, — to be forsaken in
His distress, — to be betrayed, and then to be denied,
by those whom He has trusted.
(ii) For He is not betrayed only, but denied, and by
one who had been most forward to confess Him, — one
who had just said, "Why cannot I foUow thee now? I
wiU lay down my life for thy sake." Even this disciple
denies Him. " Verily, Verily, I say unto thee. The cock
shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice." It is
even so. Thou, Peter, who hast confessed me to be Son
of God, and who now sayest, " I wiU lay down my hfe
for thy sake," — thou, my chosen disciple, wUt not only
deny me, but wilt forsake me. "For behold the hour
cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shaU be scattered,
every man to his own, and shall leave me alone ; and
yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." "
Words surely are not needed to show the humiUation
of such a denial. We more slowly understand that the
same lot may be ours, as His joint-hefrs, if we " appre-
" Psalm Iv. 12-15. the guest whom he desires to
*> It is yet a custom iu the honour. Compare Gen. xliii. 34,
East for the host to hand or Ruth ii. 14, and 2 Sam. xi. 8.
send some portion of a dish to " Chap. xvi. 32.

THE NEW MAN. 211
hend that for which we have been apprehended." '*
Paul at least had reached this. Just before his death,
he says, " This thou knowest, that aU they of Asia have
forsaken me : " " — " At my first answer no man stood
with me." '* Where then were the Ephesian elders,
who once " fell on his neck and kissed him, sorrowing
most of all for the words which he had spoken, that
they should see his face no more " ? " Paul the aged
now writes, " AU they of Asia have forsaken me."
Surely they did not wish to tum from Christ ; but they
had forsaken him to whom to live was Christ," because
his self-sacrifice was too high for them, and he too,
even as his Master, was " now ready to be offered." "
Brethren therefore who had really loved him leave him
to his fate. They are as yet unprepared to share his
cross. He must pass alone through His humiliation.
And yet the disciple who thus denied his Lord
meant what he said, even that he would lay down his
life for Christ. But he knew only what he would : he
knew not what he could. And our Lord, by, His exact
repetition of Peter's words, " Wilt thou lay down thy
Ufe for my sake ? " seems to look onward to the end,
when Peter's words should be fulfilled, and he should
indeed lay down his life for Christ's sake. Therefore
whUe He says, " Verily, Verily, The cock shall not crow
till thou has denied me thrice," He immediately adds,
" Let not your heart be troubled : believe in God :
believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions." '* The answers of Peter and Thomas, which
are here recorded, in reply to our Lord's words as to
« PhU. iii. 12. M Phil. i. 21.
»» 2 Tim. i. 15. =' 2 Tim. iv. 6.
" 2 'Tim. iv. 16. =» Chap. xiv. 1, 2.
" Acts XX. 37, 38. p 2

212 THE HUMILIATION OF
His going away, show the two mistakes of disciples as
to the one appointed way. Confident Peter thinks that,
because he has walked with the Lord in one stage of
the way, he can at once follow in aU. When therefore
our Lord says, " Whither I go, thou canst not foUow
me now," he repHes at once, " Why cannot I foUow thee
now ? I wUl lay down my life for thy sake." He does
not see that there are many courts or mansions in the
Father's house, and that a disciple may be fit for one,
and yet unfit at once to pass to what is higher. Doubt
ing Thomas, on the other hand, who in answer to the
words, " Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know,"
answers, " Lord, we know not whither Thou goest, and
how can we know the way ? " '* does not understand
that the beginning of the way leads surely to the end,
even though as yet we may be unfit to tread its higher
stages. To him therefore the word is, " I am the
way, the truth, and the Ufe. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me." ** As much a.s to say, I am
the Way, and I am the WTiither also, for I am God
as well as man. Knowing me therefore you know the
Way and Whither also, though as yet you know not
that you know it.*'
So journeys the New Man. Those for whom He has
stooped and toiled, and who, till He comes to His last
trial, spite of many failings still follow, Him, stumble at
the cross by which He passes into a higher sphere,
where in thefr present state they cannot follow. His
humiUation is the signal for their all deserting Him.
Let a man of God, who has gathered souls, by walking
with them where they are, only pass on in the appointed
»» Chap. xiv. 4, 6. " So Augustine, Traetat. ¦»
" Chap. xiv. 6. Johan. Ixix. 1-3.

THE NEW MAN. 213
path to that suffering in the flesh, which is the neces
sary result of daily self-sacrifice, and he will find how
those who love him are offended, for awhile at least:
some will betray, and some deny, and all will shrink
from him. For in all suffering there is ever something
of abasement. All martyrdoms are said to have looked
mean when they were suffered. And the pride of the
natural heart, which is always ready to claim connexion
with what is high, and to shrink from or disown rela
tionship with what is low or humble, cannot bear to
seem even to be linked with that which is rejected and
despised, lest it should share the shame of such rejec
tion. So the New Man is forsaken. He must be tried
as silver is tried ; more deeply wounded by being thus
forsaken by his own, than by all the scourging and
reviling of the outer world, who never knew him. But
he accepts the trial, by his shame to shame men's
paltry pride, and by his humiliation to show them what
is true nobiUty. For there is glory in this shame. The
cry, " De profundis," is a " Psalm of Degrees," ** that is
a Psalm of Ascension or Going up. God is bringing
up His children when He brings them down. Thefr
humiUation is the one way to exaltation.
Therefore our Lord adds here, even of this humUia
tion, " Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is
glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God
shaU also glorify Him in Himself, and shaU straightway
glorify Him."*' Pride and disobedience dishonour God
by putting self in the place of God. Lowliness, which
gives Him His true place, brings Him back to man,
•"^ Psalm cxxx. 1. See Title. I cannot but connect ni^l? ifith
The " Psalms of Degrees," Heb. n?V> that is the Burnt OfEering.
TnTSt are all of this character. " Verses 31, 32.

214 THE HUMILIATION OF
and with Him brings back the lost glory. He " dwells
with hiTn that is of a humble heart " ; ** and where He
dwells, there must be glory. And indeed it is glory to
share His lot, while He is rejected, — to be partakers of
His reproach, — to be " as the Master," while He is
dishonoured here. In all this trial and humiliation
Christ was simply sharing God's experience, which is
the one appointed way to share in God's glory. He
was treating others, as God treats men, with perfect
grace ; and was treated by others, as men treat God,
that is with thorough ingratitude. Well might He
say, " Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is
glorified in Him."
Every one that is perfect shall be as his Master.*'
Christ's members therefore, when they can bear it, must
expect, Hke Him, not rejection only from the world,
but betrayal and denial also at the hands even of those
for whom they humble themselves. And hard as other
portions of Christ's lot may be,- — difficult as His service
is, as set before us in the seventh of these reiterated
Amens, or His sacrifice, as set before us in the eighth, —
this humbling of oneself is perhaps the most difficult
for us of all, for old Adam hates nothing so much as
humiliation. Self can find its own in service, and even
in suffering. Self can find very Httle to boast of in
that which is before us here, the humiUation of being
betrayed and denied by loved brethren. Little remains
to be done or suffered on earth by the elect, when this
is, not a matter of faith only, but of experience. Then
of such a servant it is true, as of our Lord, when He
said these words, — " Yet a Httle whUe I am with
you." **
" Isa. Ivii. 15. « S. Luke vi. 40. " Verse 33.

THE NEW MAN. 215
And if such a path is too high for some, let them,
whilst humbled that they " cannot follow now," take
comfort from the Master's words, " Thou shalt follow me
hereafter." With us, as with Peter, there may be much
which we have yet to learn of our own hearts, before
we are prepared to come where our Lord has gone
before, or able to foUow where He has promised that
we shaU come in due season. In some way or other
we must be deUvered from our innate confidence in self.
Better to learn ourselves, even by the humiUating ex
perience of denying and forsaking Christ, than remain
in self-delusion, unhumbled and unbroken, and there
fore strangers to aU the grace which the Lord can give
to those who trust Him. For indeed, painful as it is, it
is in this discovery of self that we are brought from
self to Christ, to find, that, whatever may be our
wretchedness. His grace is yet sufficient for us. His
wiU is in due time to conform us to Himself; to make
us partakers of His own experience ; even to come,
from being deniers of Him who loves us, to be, Uke Him,
ourselves denied by those we love, when in His Ufe and
footsteps we are caUed to bear our witness to some
truth,*' which the Church and world as yet are unpre
pared for. Blessed be His name : He has promised,
" Thou shalt foUow me hereafter." And He is faithfiil
that has promised. And just in proportion as we trust
Him we shaU find that we can walk where He has
walked. To sense the way may seem too high. Only
let us foUow on, and we too shall be made partakers of
His experience. Then we too shaU know what it is to
wash weak brethren's feet, and to be rejected by them,
" S. John xviii. 37

216 THE HUMILIATION OF
and then forsaken for a season. Such things must
come if we ever reach in very deed to " the power of
Christ's resurrection and the feUowship of His suffer
ings." MeanwhUe, " whereunto we have attained, let
us walk by that same rule," that is according to the
Ught afready given us. And if in anything some are
otherwise minded, — if they think that the humiliation
which Christ passed through is too great for us, — let
them be faithful to thefr measure, and then even this
perhaps, when they can bear it, shaU be revealed unto
them.** " Phil. iii. 16, 16.

THE NEW MAN. 217

TENTH "YEEILY, YEEILY."
THE GLORY AND POWER OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John xiv. 8-14.)
The ninth reiterated Amen brought before us the
humiUation of the Son of Man, and showed that even
in His humiUation He is glorified, and God is glorified
in Him. For God dwells in the humble heart. Lowli
ness and humiUation therefore are glory, because they
give God room to show Himself in man. The tenth
" VerUy, Verily," tells us what this glory is. The
Glory of the Son or New Man is to reveal the Father.
And He does this in virtue of the Father's indwelling,
even as those in whom He dwells, in virtue of His
indwelHng, glorify Him, and so themselves are glorified.
This is our Lord's testimony here : — " He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou
then, Show us the Father ? 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 shaU he do
because I go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye shall
ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father maybe
glorified in the Son." ' This is the New Man's glory, —
' Verses 9-13.

218 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
to manifest God to man, and to do His works in the
power of union and communion with Him. The perfect
example is the weU-beloved Son. Our calUng, as His
members, is to manifest Him as He has manifested the
Father. Now here, as in aU that marks the New Man, He
stands in contrast to the old. Old Adam ever dehghts,
not only to Hve according to his own wUl, but to show
himself, by displaying any gift he may have received,
as if it were his own. His final manifestation, we are
told, will be, that " as God he sitteth in the temple of
God, showing himself that he is God." * This is what
he strives to do in all. Even in God's temple, and
service, he can " show himself," and take the credit of
any good that may be wrought through him, forgetting
that all things are of God, and that of His own we give
Him.' The New Man's glory is that he reveals God ;
that the Father who dwelleth in him. He doeth the
works ; that therefore those who see him see the
Father, because he is in the Father, and the Father
is in him. In a word, he lives here to manifest the
Father. For " no man hath seen God at any time ;"
therefore " the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom
of the Father, He hath declared Him." * And Christ's
members Hve for this same end ; for in this, " as He
is, so are we" ; ' set to shine as lights in the world ;* to
" show forth His vfrtues ; " ' that through His sons the
world may know God. The Holy Scriptures are indeed
His witness to the Church.* But the Church is His

2 Thess. ii. 4. « PhU. ii. 16.
1 Chron. xxix. 14, 16 'IS. Pet. ii. 9. See margin.
S. John i. 18. Gr. rets kpfTas.
1 S. John iv. 17. » S. John v. 39.

THE NEW MAN. 219
" epistle known and read of aU." * This is her calHng,
to reveal the Father to a world which knows Him not,
and to do His works, though men regard them not.
All this is brought out here. Our Lord first speaks
of Himself, then of beUevers. And what He says o%
beUevers, that " they shaU do His works," is His proof
that they are in Him, and He in them, even as He is
in the Father, and the Father is in Him.
1. First our Lord speaks of Himself. He declares
that He is the manifestation of the Father : this is His
glory ; and that His works are not His own, but the
Father's : this is the secret of His power.
The thought is repeated several times : — " He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father. How sayest thou
then. Show us the Father ? Believest thou not that I
am in the Father and the Father in me ? The words
that I speak, I speak not of myself, but the Father,
that dweUeth in me. He doeth the works. BeUeve me
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or
else beUeve me for the very works' sake." '*
Such is the truth touching the Son, confessed by
aU the Church. She knows that God is Ught," and
love,'* and spirit ; " and that without measure aU these
may be revealed, for they have been so revealed, in
One at least who walked here in flesh in our likeness; —
yea, that wonderful as is the revelation in outward
nature, where God shows something of Himself in the
broad earth, for " His righteousness is as the great
mountains;" something of Himself in the wide sea,
for " His judgments are a great deep ; " '* something
» 2 Cor. iii. 3. 'z 1 S. John iv. 8, 16.
'° Verses 9-11. '= S. John iv. 24.
" 1 S. John i. 5. " Psalm xxxvi. 6.

220 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
of Himself in the quiet heavens, with thefr innumerable
Hghts ; something of Himself in the creature forms, in
the eagle's eye, in the lion's force, in the lamb's gentle
ness, and in the ox's strength and patient toil for others ;
and not less in the vine and oil, which make man's face
to shine, and in the bread-corn, which strengtheneth
man's heart ; so that Cherubim and Seraphim continu
ally do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth,
heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Thy glory;
yet that the revelation of Himself in the flesh of Christ
is infinitely greater than in all these, for He is the
brightness of God's glory, and the express image of His
person." Man is the true Shekinah,'* the very dwelUng
place of God ; and God has been and shaU be seen in
him, as He cannot be in any other. Even the mystery
of the Trinity shines out in man, as we see it nowhere
else, manifesting will, reason, and love, in one spirit;
seen above all in Him who said here, " He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father," in whose ways man
has seen the Uving God. It may be well to pause here
for a moment, and to consider this great sight, for there
is none other Hke it in the universe.
(i) First then "God is Hght." " All who have eyes
know something of Ught, and what it discovers and
works on every hand. Light swallows up darkness;
light shows things as they are ; Hght frees us from mis
takes, and fills our hearts with gladness. From its source
in heaven it comes to earth to change all things. It
comes on all alike, not spoilt by the foulest thing it
falls on ; and sooner or later, more or less, it changes all
on which it comes. It comes on the young plant, and
gives it new colour. It comes on the sour fruit, and
'• Heb. 1. 3. " 1 Cor. xi. 7. " 1 S. John 1. 5.

THE NEW MAN. 221
both hue and taste at once begin to change graduaUy.
It is not a thing we can call our own. We may shut it
out perhaps ; we cannot shut it up, as something which
is our own property. It shines from east to west, free
as the afr we breathe, the inheritance of all the sons of
men. And " God is Hght," and His Son reveals Him
as Hght, that is as truth, which comes from heaven to
show us all things as they are ; thus to free us from the
misconceptions, both of God and of ourselves, which
the darkness of the serpent's lie has thrown around us.
When we think what Christ has done, in banishing
idols and exposing Hes, — how He has transformed dark
earthly souls, so that, like the pastures under the sun,
*'they shout for joy and also sing,"'* — we may see that
He is light, " as of a morning without clouds, or as the
clear shining after rain." '* He that hath seen Him, hath
seen the Father. " Truly the Hght is sweet, and a
pleasant thing it is to see the sun." **
(U) But " God is love," *' as well as light. And
as love too He is revealed in the face of our Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the revelation we most needed. For
man had ceased to think of God as one who was loving,
and therefore ever to be loved. The He was in our
hearts, that He was grudging. He might be power :
He might be light. But in man's eyes He was no
longer love. He might destroy and judge : He really
cared not for us. This was the lie which ruined man.
And therefore creatures were turned to. Man needed
help, and the powers around or within him, the powers
of natm-e, or of mind, or gold, seemed to promise help,
and were therefore worshipped everywhere. Let souls
" Psalm Ixv. 13. -' Eccl. xi. 7.
" 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. ^i 1 S. John iv. 8, 16.

222 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
forget that God is love, and they will ever bow to some
of the forces, in heaven or earth, which threaten evil
or which promise good. The worship of powers is man's
resource when he has lost the faith that God is love.
But " God is love," and the Son came forth to show
Him as He is. By His holy incarnation, by His meek
ness, by His words and deeds of love ; by His stooping
to share our weakness, and our pains, and death, with
us ; in cleansing lepers, heaUng the sick, feeding the
hungry, raising the dead ; in overcoming every form of
Satan's power ; in meeting lost ones with perfect grace ;
in sitting with pubHcans and sinners, whom the world
cast out as lost ; in taking Httle children into His arms ;
in His compassion for mourners ; and not less in His
rebukes of sin, with words Uke a two-edged sword,**
smiting the Hes which hold His people captive ; — for
" love is strong as death : the coals thereof are coals
of fire, which hath a most vehement heat ; " *' — in every
act He manifested God, showing that " many waters
cannot quench love," ** and that, even when He is " a
consuming fire,"*' "God is love." For indeed love is
a consuming fire. Blessed be His name who has thus
unveiled Him, and shown that love is the king and
lord of all ; able as fire to melt and unite what is un
changed by Hght, to form bright crystals out of our
clay, and again to transform these into what is stUl
brighter and more enduring. Those who have seen
how crystals of alum are by ffre brought out of Whit
by shale, and how these crystals again by fire are
transmuted into aluminium, have had before them one
of nature's witnesses of the changes which in a higher
" Rev. ii. 12, and xix. 15. ^4 cant. -viii. 7.
" Cant. viii. 6. " Heb. xii. 29.

THE NEW MAN. 223
sphere God is working as a consuming fire. The Son
has thus revealed Him, by whose all-transforming love
dark souls in every age have been made new, to bear
His image evermore.
(Ui) Further, " God is spirit," ** that is a power
unseen but felt, like the wind which moves the forest
and the sea ; *' which fiUs all vessels and all spaces, if
only they are void; pressing with greatest force into
those which are most empty and exhausted ; coming
sometimes Hke the tempestuous gale, which rends the
rocks ; ** and at others as the balmy breath which makes
the waters flow ; ** now blowing upon the gardens, that
thefr spices may flow out ; ** and again breathing upon
the sick, as the breath of life," that they may live.'*
Such is the wind, whose sound we hear, though we
know not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth ; " in
aU its operations the appointed witness of Him who
works unseen, because He is a spirit. As such the
Son reveals Him ; now breaking hearts, which are like
rocks ; now moving them as the trees of the wood are
moved by the wind ; casting the mighty from thefr seats,
yet filUng the empty with good things, and breathing
on the sick and dead that they may live ; at last sending
His spfrit as a mighty rushing wind, to make His carnal
disciples henceforth Hke Him, ministers not of a word
only, but also of a spfrit. In all He showed that God
is spfrit, as well as Ught and love, and therefore that
what He approves can be no mere empty form or out-
2» S. John iv. 24. ^= Psalm cxlvii. 18.
" Isa. -rii. 2 ; Psalm cvii. 25. "' Cant. iv. 16.
"Spirit" and "-wind" are the " Gen. vi. 17.
same word, both in Greek and ^^ -^^.ek. xxxirii. 9.
Hebrew. ^ S. John iii. 8.
2« 1 Kings xix. 11.

224 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
ward letter, but a spfrit which Uke Himself can fiU all
forms, while in itself it is not form but spfrit. Before
Christ came to show us God, man's thought of cleanness
or uncleanness was that it was something from with
out, by the observance or neglect of which we nught be
approved or unaccepted. The Son revealed that " God
is spirit," — that to the pure all things are pure,'* — that
nothing from without can really defile a man ; " that
the unclean thing is the selfish spirit ; the clean thing,
the spirit of love, that is God's own spirit come again
to dweU in man ; and that in this spirit His elect must
be as salt and Ught ; '* as salt sinking into that which
it preserves, yet not corrupted by it ; as Ught coming
even upon a dunghUl, without contracting defilement
from it ; that therefore any outward form or place or
cfrcumstance is secondary, and even unimportant ; the
vital question being. Is the spfrit in me loving and
true, or is it false and self-loving ? If loving and true,
it is of God, and therefore pure : if self-loving and
untrue, it is of hell, and therefore must be unclean.
This is the revelation which the Son has made ; and
he that hath seen Him hath seen the Father. God is
spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him
in spfrit and in truth.
Such is the glory of the Son. He is " the image
of the invisible God." " Love, Ught, and power, or as
we say. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, — the Trinity in
Unity, — shine out in Him, for He is love ; and, as was
weU said of old, " Ubi Amor, ibi Trinitas."'*
2. Our Lord goes on then immediately to speak of
" Titus i. 15. 38 Readers of Augustme will
'* S. Mark vii. 15. remember the ixth, xth, and
'« S. Matt. V. 13, 14. xith books of his De THnitate.
3' Col. i. 16.

THE NEW MAN. 225
those " who beUeve on Him," who share with Him this
glory, of doing His works, and thus revealing God.
The words are so wondrous that they seem almost too
high for us : " Verily, Verily, I say unto you. He that
beUeveth 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 ; and whatsoever ye shall ask in my
name, that wiU I do, that the Father may be glorified
in the Son." '* Two things are brought out here :
first, the glory of believers ; and then, the spring or
secret of it.
(i) The glory is to do Christ's works : " Verily,
Verily, 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." Believers, Uke
Him, and by Him, are to be prophets, priests, and
kings : as prophets, to give light ; as priests, to mani
fest love ; as kings, to rule and show power. For He
was prophet, priest, and king; and "He hath made
us kings and priests," ** to " open men's eyes and tum
them from darkness to light; " *' in a word, to do the
works He did, and to manifest Him, as He has mani
fested God. And as in nature the sun and afr, the one
with its heat and light, the other with its breath of
life, which is drunk in by all creatures, are both rulers
and servants of all, influencing all, whether high or
low, and also giving to all something of thefr universal
bounty, so do beHevers, with their love and Hght and
spirit, which are not thefr own, but Christ's, both rule
and serve all, after His pattern. Gentle but mighty
as the Ught and air, which rest upon the fields and
'» Verses 12, 13. " Rev. i. 6. *' Acts xxvi. 18,
Q

226 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
make them bud, is the work of God's elect, though men
esteem it not.
But is it not the grossest presumption to think that
men can do Christ's works ? Does not at least the
thought that we can be priests, and offer sacrifices for
others, as Christ did, interfere directly with His priest
hood? Some think so. Since the Church's fall and
division for her sins, — not least for the dreadful abuse
of the precious gifts committed to her, by which her
bread became as poison to so many of her children, —
there have been two schools of doctrine among pro
fessing Christians, as to the offices and relations of the
Lord. The first speaks thus : Any work or office, held
by Christ, cannot be held by us. It usurps His rights
if we pretend to share them. The other, which is the
old doctrine, answers thus : If the Incarnation means
anything, if Christ and His Church are really one body,
all Christ's offices, first held and exercised by Him, on
behalf of men, must likewise be held and shared by
His members, because He lives in them, just as they
apprehend that for which they are apprehended. The
former view, which I feel assured is a mistake, arises
from a misconception of the first great truth of "Christ
for us," to the denial of the still greater truth of " Christ
in us," and " We His members." The latter opens the
" riches of the glory of the mystery, which is now
revealed, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory." **
This latter is the Church's faith, which, however abused
or caricatured, cannot be denied without sore loss to
' the deniers. For this faith confesses the Incarnation,
that the Lord still dwells in flesh and blood, and that
because He dwells in us, though in ourselves we can
« Col. i. 26, 27.

THE NEW MAN. 227
do nothing, we can yet do all things through Christ,
who is the power in us ; *' for it is not we that live, but
¦Christ in us ; ** and because He is " the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever," *' if He Hve in us, He will yet do
His proper works, in and through those who grow up
out of self to live in Him. Is it presumption to believe
this ? Is not this faith rather the cure for all presump
tion ? Is not this faith too the defence from all Anti
christs ? If Christ fill us, we want no more. If Christ
does not dwell in and support us, we must have some
thing else instead of Him, that is some Antichrist.**
Therefore we believe in Him and His indwelling, that
by Him we may yield ourselves to God, so that, as He
said, " the works which He did, we may do also."
What were His works ? First, He was prophet. All
felt, as they heard His words, that " a great prophet
was risen up among them."*' The Gospels witness
how He fulfilled this office. " He opened His mouth
and taught them." ** " He spake the word as they were
able to bear it." ** He witnessed for the truth ; but, as
with the prophets who had gone before, Him whom God
had sent Israel believed not. For to be a prophet is to
see and know the mind of God ; to speak the truth,
which the Church is trampling under foot ; to witness
for God against those who in His name are corrupting
" 1 Cor. i. 24, and Phil. Aeiis, (Dionys. Halicarn.,) a vioe-
iv. 13. roy ; avTiSovXas, (Strabo,) one in
** Gal. ii. 20. the place of a slave ; avTiSidxovos,
" Heb. xiii. 8. (Strabo,) one in the place of a
" Elliot, in his Horai Apoca- servant ; avrnTtlaKimos, (Gregor.
lyptico!,^. 839, has sufficiently N'az.,)avice-bishop,oroneacting
shown that Antichrist means for him.
pTimaTi\j"intJieplace of Christ," " S. Luke vii. 16; S. Matt.
rather than " against Christ " ; xxi. 46 ; S. John iv. 19, and ix. 17.
e.g. avBivaTos, (Acts xiii. 7,) the " S. Matt. v. 2.
deputy or pro-consul ; avTi^atri- ¦" S. Mark iv. 33.
Q 2

228 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
the treasure committed to them ; to tell the elect that
for thefr sins they shall be judged even as the world ;
that privileges give no immunity from judgment, but
rather add to the condemnation of those who abuse-
God's house and name to work evil ; yet to comfort the-
mourners, and preach glad tidings to the meek, and'
heal the sick and brokenhearted. Is such work easy ?
A martyr answers, " Which of the prophets have not
your fathers slain ? " '* A prophet is, and always will
be, a victim. Yet to this are beUevers called, just as
they grow up into Christ ; indeed this is one of the
first works of those, who having the same spirit of
faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore
have I spoken," cannot but speak what they hear of
God, and who therefore are always rejected by the bhnd
guides, who cry. Peace, Peace, when there is no peace.'*'
Christ witnessed for the truth, as a prophet sent from
God. He that beUeveth on Him must do the Uke,.
according to his measure.
Axe all then called to speak ? Is not prophecy a
gift ? Does not an apostle ask, " Are aU prophets ? " "•
The Lord's words here answer the question. He says,.
" He that beUeveth on me, the works that I do shall
he do also." It is according to a man's faith that he-
can do Christ's works. He is our Hfe ; and all His-
members by grace are called to Uve His Ufe. But the
measure in which we are dead to self and Uve in Him,
is the measure in which He works in each. Thus to
one is given more, to another less, though all may
say, " All things are ours, for we are Christ's, and Christ
5» Acts vii. 52. 52 jer. -rf. U.
" 2 Cor. iv. 13 ; Acts iv. 20. "^ 1 Cor. xii. 29.

THE NEW MAN. 229
is God's."'* For to one is given through the Spfrit
the word of wisdom; to another, the word of know
ledge through the same Spirit ; to another, prophecy ; to
another, divers kinds of tongues ; but aU these worketh
that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every
one severaUy as He wiU. For as the body is one, and
hath many members, and aU the members of that one
body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." To
every one is given grace, according to the measure of
the gift of Christ.'* WhUe therefore some have special
gifts, aU are called to fulfil the will and work of Him
who is their life. All have not tongues. But by that
which every joint supplieth, the body maketh increase ; "
and those who may not speak in the Church,'* may,
and must, if they beHeve, each in their own sphere, by
•deed and word, speak to teach and comfort those around ;
and thus, though not prophets to the Church, be pro
phets in their own house ; for he or she prophesieth
who speaketh to edification, and comfort, and consola
tion.'* But Christ is also priest ; and as such His work is
to intercede, and ever to keep alive that fire, by which
alone men's sacrifices can lose their ffrst and carnal
form, and so ascend to God from His altar.** And though,
strictly speaking, this office commenced in resurrec
tion, — " for if He were on earth. He should not be a
priest,"*' — ^yet inasmuch as by His coming through
baptism to opened heavens, which was a mystic death
and resurrection, and even more by His raising up the
=' 1 Cor. iii. 23. ii. 11, 12.
" 1 Cor. xii. 8-12. =9 1 Cor. xiv. 3.
" Eph. iv. 7. «» Lev. vi. 12, 13, and S. Luke
" Eph. iv. 16. xii. 49.
^« 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35 ; 1 Tim. " Heb. viii. 4.

2.i0 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
Ufe of God in man, through His emptying of Himself
and being made in the Hkeness of men. He manifested
the eternal life, and proved by conquests over death
that He was indeed the Son of God, in this relation He
was ever priest, for " He testifieth. Thou art a priest
for ever, after the order of Melchisedec ; " ** and again,
" Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten Thee." **
For He is made priest, not after the law of a carnal
commandment, but after the power of an endless life.**
Thus in this eternal life, even whilst in the flesh, we
see His priestly acts ; kindling in men's hearts the fire
of God's spirit ; *' forgiving sins ; discerning between
the clean and unclean ; having compassion on the
ignorant, and on them that are out of the way ; ** and
at last offering Himself as a sacrifice for all. Thus He
touched the leper ; thus He cleansed the temple ; thus
He spoke for man to God; making intercession for
transgressors ; first for His elect, that they might be
with Him and see His glory ; *' and then for all, sajring,
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do." ** And to this work also He calls beHevers, that
having been consecrated with Him they may by Him
also become priests to serve and help others. Every
fresh grace received is but an added lamp in the taber
nacle of God, to burn and shine around us, though
men regard it not.
Oh, blessed and holy service to which we are all
called. But who fulfils it? Who now by the same
ministry of the Holy Ghost and fire is standing beside
the altar of the Lord ? Who cleanses the temple ?
«2 Heb. vii. 17. «" Heb. iv. 25 ; v. 1, 2.
« Acts xiii. 33. " S. John xvii. 24.
«' Heb. vii. 16. «' S. Luke xxiii. 34.
" S. Matt. iii. 11.

THE NEW MAN. 231
Who sacrifices for others? Who offers and eats the
offerings made by fire unto the Lord?** Who touches
lepers ? Who carries others' sins, and bears their sor
rows ? Who makes intercession for the transgressors ?
As to our calling we are priests ; for all in Christ are
priests. In Him, whether babes, young men, or fathers,
we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, dead and
risen, and sitting in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.'*
And yet all the while in our experience we may be
carnal," and know little or nothing of the heavenly
fire, which makes us partakers of the sufferings of the
Lord. For Christ may be and is in us, when we yet
know nothing of a daily death, and heaven is not opened,
and the priestly Ufe, though it is ours by right, is not
yet apprehended ; just as, if we are Christ's, the pro
phetic Ufe also is in us from the first, though it may
be unperceived and unexercised. Still in thefr measure
all beUevers must be priests in Christ ; all must offer
praise to God, that is the calves of their lips, giving
thanks to His name ; to do good also, and to communi
cate, they cannot forget,'* even though " the daily
sacrifice be taken away '' ; " for the Truth Himself has
said, " He that believeth on me, the works that I do
shall he do also."
There is yet more glory. Christ is also king, to
show God's power, until He hath put all enemies under
His feet ; and here too, as He is, so are we in this world.
If we suffer with Him, we shaU reign; '* and even now
we are, not only priests, but rulers with Him. The elect
must be both light and love, but no less power also ;
"» Lev. xxi. 21, 22. '2 Heb. xiii. 15 ; Hosea xiv. 2.
™ Eph. ii. 4-6. " Daniel viii. 11.
" 1 Cor. iii. 1, 3. " 2 Tim. ii. 12.

232 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
ruling themselves, ruUng their lusts, thus overcoming
the world, and prepared in due time with Christ to
rule all things ; one over five cities, another over ten ; "
not by violence and wrath, but in the might of that love
which beareth all things, and so conquers all. For
strength is proved in what a man can bear without
complaining. And love has royal wisdom too, like
Solomon of old, to discern at once between the true
mother and her who falsely claims to be so ; to know
that she who consents to division, though she caU
herself true mother, is but a liar ; that she is true
mother who will give up all rather than divide her son.'*
And the New Man receives this power to judge even
in his humiUation, loosing and binding like a king,"
though his kingdom is not of this world, and speaking
words to govern hearts, which cannot be disobeyed
without peril. The world, the flesh, and the devil may
fight against him ; but he must conquer aU ; for his
work is to " subdue and have dominion," as God's vice
gerent in the world, and the promise is, that " all
things shall be put in subjection under him." '* Like
the Master, he may be mocked and slain on earth : his
royalty will be seen when the saints shall judge the
world. Now in all these ways, as prophet, priest, and king,
as truth, and love, and power, he that believeth must
do Christ's works, and show Him as He has shown the
Father ; nay. He even says, " Greater works than these
shaU he do, because I go unto my Father ; " '* for the
spfritual works since Christ's resurrection are greater,
as the heaven is higher than the earth, than the works
" S. Luke xix. 17, 19. '« 1 Kings iii. 16-28.
" S. Matt. xvi. 19. " Heb. ii. 7, 8. " Verse 12.

THE NEW MAN. 233
wrought upon the flesh by prophets of old, and even by
the Lord in the days of His flesh among His fleshly
people. For which is greater, to give cleanne.''s to
leprous flesh, or to a sin-stained soul, — to heal palsy
of the outward man, or to cure that inward helplessness
which makes man cry, " The good I would, that do I
not ; but the evil which I would not, that I do," *° — to
restore the Hfe of this world to a dead body, or undying
life to a ruined soul ? So long as we are in the flesh,
the fleshly work may seem the greater. The spirit-
world wUl teach us better to measure what is small and
great with God.
(ii) It remains to notice the secret of this power.
Three points are dwelt on by the Lord, — first the spring,
then the means, then the reason of it. The spring is
Christ Himself : He does the works in us. Twice does
He repeat here, " That will I do," and again immedi
ately, " I wUl do ft." *' For He is our Ufe. It is He
who works. Without Him we can do nothing. If we
are prophets, priests, or kings, it is only because the
one great Prophet, Priest, and King, is working in us
by His might to do His will. We are simply vessels.
But faith and prayer draw all from Him. " He that
beUeveth on Him shall do His works ; " ** " Whatso
ever ye shaU ask in my name, that will I do." *' Faith
gives spiritual title-deeds, which make us sharers in all
the possessions of our Father, and which pour into our
lap a wealth of all things, which it is our joy again to
give to all. All therefore that Christ did and reached,
we may do and reach, if only, and just in proportion
as, we can beHeve in Him. He is the pattern of the
»" Rom. vii. 19. ^ Verse 12.
" Verses 13, H. «3 yerse 13.

234 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
capacities and capabilities of man as God would have
him. And God would have man one with Him ; and
faith is the link and means of this union. To beHeve
is to live by.^* Then all things may be done by man ;
for " all things are possible with God," *' and therefore
" all things are possible to him that beUeveth." **
Therefore the Lord bids us, " Have God's faith ; " *' for
faith, like love, must be of God, an element of His
very nature, which comes with the seed which quickens
His life and nature in us, which therefore enables us,
after the pattern of Abraham, to be " like unto Him
whom we beUeve, even God, who calleth the things
which are not as though they were." ** " Faith is the
substance of things hoped for." Therefore " we under
stand that by faith the worlds were formed by the word
of God, so that things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear." ** God spake, and doubted
not, but believed that those things which He had said
should come to pass ; therefore He had whatsoever He
said.** And we are called to the same faith, by it to
do like works, because it is God which worketh in us
to wiU and to do, of His good pleasure.
Therefore our Lord says here, " Whatsoever ye shall
ask in my name, that wiU I do " — " Whatsoever ye shaU
ask in my name," that is in my nature ; for things with
God are called according to their nature. We ask in
" This is the etymology of »» Heb. xi. 1, 3. I believe that
the word " beheve," as given by the translation given above is
Richardson in his Dictionary. the correct- one. I find that Dr.
" S. Mark x. 27. Upham,inhis Treatise on Divine
«» S. Mark ix. 21. Union, (Part II. chap. i. § 6,)
" See margin, S. Mark xi. 22 adopts it as the true sense of
eX^Ts TrioTiv Bfov. this passage.
" See margin, Rom. iv. 17 »» S. Mark xi. 23.
KUTivavTi o5 i'iri<TTev(Te, k.t.A.

THE NEW MAN. 23&
Christ's name, not when at the end of some carnal and
selfish request we say, "This I ask in the name of
Jesus Christ;" but when we pray according to His
nature, which is love, which seeketh not its own, but
only the will of God and the good of all creatures.
Such asking is the cry of His own spirit in our hearts,
hungering for God and for the things of God, that we
may be transformed into His likeness. Christ's own
prayers reveal it all. His cry was, " Glorify thy name :
glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was."*' In a
word His askings were for God. Thus asking in His
name or nature, we must receive, and so receiving we
must bless all ; for nothing comes upon a man from God,
without opening the way for the like blessing sooner
or later to descend on all. Such prayer is almighty,.
because it is according to God's will. It is Christ's own
prayer in us ; and Him the Father heareth always.**
Our Lord yet adds the reason for the " greater
works," which should be done by those who believe.
The reason is, " Because I go unto the Father." *' It
is this going to the Father which gives all power in
heaven and earth, over spfrits as well as over flesh and
blood. For by going to the Father man returns to his
true source. There had afready been preliminary steps
leading to this blessed end. The opening of heaven
at baptism had witnessed that man in Christ was ac
ceptable to God. But His going to the Father did far
more. It was man's perfect return to God, by which
he came back to reunion with Him from whom He
came forth. Even whUe in the womb of fallen nature
man is quickened with his Father's life ; but, to see his
»' S. John xii. 28, and xvii. 5. '^ S. John xi. 42. == Verse 12.

236 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
Father and to do His works, he must go forth from the
•dark and narrow bounds of the " lowest parts of the
¦earth," ** in which he has been quickened and begotten.
And Christ's so going to the Father is man's return to
his long-lost glory ; for humanity is one ; and His going
to the Father is our return to the source and spring of
all. Man in Him now has all power in heaven and
earth.*' We are sharers with Him in all that He re
ceives as victor over death. From this point therefore
our Lord goes on to speak of the Spirit, which He would
send as the witness of His glory, enabling us in deed
.and word to testify of Him.** Well might He say then,
" Greater works than these shall ye do, because I go
unto the Father."
Such is the glory of believers. They reveal the
Lord, as He revealed the Father. They reveal Him,
hecause He Uves in them, and thefr works are His,
who is greater than he that is in the world.*' There
fore they do His works. But where now is He thus
revealed ? Priests without fire, prophets without a
vision, kings without power, are on every hand. The
¦Church and world are full of them. But where is a
Uving Christ revealed ? Is that a revelation of Him,
which is ceaselessly saying, " Here is Christ," — " We
.are the body of Christ," — while yet it shows none of
His works, but only imitations, all in the flesh, of that
which is not of the flesh, but of the spirit; which
-quenches any light beyond its own, and calls the dark
ness Ught ; which stifles love, and casts out brethren,
and still says, " The Lord be glorified ; " ** and which
«' Psalm cxxxix. 15. =' 1 S. John iv. 4.
" S. Matt, xxviii. 18. 's jg^. ixvi. 5.
'" See S. John xiv., xv., xvi.

THE NEW MAN. 237
by earthly might would do the works of God's spirit,
and judge all who still sigh and cry for better things ?
These are not His works. They are not even such a
broken reflection of Him, as some unquiet river gives
of the sun, when it bears his confused and distorted
image upon its moving bosom Alas ! Too much that
is in the Church is not even a reflection of the things
of Christ, but rather the direct working of that evil
spirit, which would tum God's house into a den of
thieves, and make the very city of God the strong
hold of his adversary. What are all the strifes, and
falsehoods, and uncleannesses, which are rife among
the bearers of Christ's name, but witnesses that Satan
has entered into and defiled the Lord's inheritance.
But if he, in his usurped dominion, can do such works,
and set his mark on those led captive by him,** what
may not be accomplished in us by our rightful Lord,
who has all power in heaven and earth, if only we
yield in all things to Him. When we think what He
has wrought in some, who once were weak as we are
now, — how He has made His light to shine out of
their broken earthly vessels, even in days of gross
darkness, — when we remember He is ever the same,
and that His joy is to save and bless, and that He
has promised, " Verily, Verily, He that beUeveth on
me, the works that I do shall he do also," — ^what may
we not expect, if only we so abide in Him, that it is
no more we that live, but Christ who Uveth in us ? He
still dwells in man, though He is ever the stone which
the builders disallow. He cannot fail. He yet has
Hving members, proved and tried even as silver is
" Rev. xiii. 16.

238 THE GLORY AND POWER OF
tried. In them even to the end He can and will be
glorified. And the trial of their faith, much more
precious than of gold that perisheth, though carnal
men esteem it not, shall be found unto praise, and
honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

THE NEW MAN. 239

ELEYENTH "YEEILY, YEEILY."
THE SORROW AND JOY OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John xvi. 16-24.)
We come now to the Sorrow, which all the elect must
know, as they pass from the first and carnal, to the
higher and more spiritual, knowledge of their Lord.
In the preceding "Verily, Verily," our Lord had
referred to His departure from His disciples, and to one
result of this, namely, that it would add to their power, —
that " greater works should they now do, because He
went unto the Father." ' Now He goes on to tell them
how this going to the Father would affect their inter
course with Him. Hitherto this intercourse had been
in the flesh ; but henceforward, after and through a
brief interval of deep sorrow and desolation, they should
know Him in a new way, even in spfritual communion,
which should fill them with greater light and gladness.
This is the burden of this eleventh reiterated Amen.
A little while, and they should not see Him ; and again
a Httle while, and they should see Him ; because He
now was going to the Father. And the result would be,
first sorrow, because for a little while they should lose
Him in the flesh; and then fulness of joy, — the joy
actually resulting from the sorrow, — because through
' S. John xiv 12.

240 THE SORROW AND JOY OF
the sorrow they should reach that which He too reached
through sorrow, even perfected communion, not in the
flesh, but in the spirit, with the Father.
The subject then before us is the experience of dis
ciples, in passing on to a higher knowledge of Christ,.
and through Him to a fuller knowledge of the Father.
Hitherto they had only known Him after the flesh.
Even so knowing Him, everything was thefrs ; a
heavenly home, heavenly sonship, and heavenly bread ;
liberty, service, sacrifice, glory, and humiUation with
the Lord ; all these were thefrs, as the preceding
reiterated Amens have shown us, just as everything
was His also, even while He was yet here in the flesh.
But by His going to the Father through death, He
who had been the Son of David, according to the flesh,
was declared to be the Son of God with power, according
to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead ; * and so entered, beyond all sin and straitness,
for He was straitened here,' upon His true inheritance
as Lord of all.* And so His disciples, through the same
cross, by which He was severed from them in the flesh,
and which cost them, as it cost Him also, sorrow and
anguish for awhile, came to know Him in a far more
glorious manner, when He could be in and with them
always, as thefr very life, where their sorrow should be
turned into joy. The various stages of this experience
are here all opened to us, that we may know, not our
calling only, but the way to enter into all its fulness.
For this experience of the disciples of old was for
all time a pattern of that which those must know who
pass from knowing Christ after the flesh to knowing
2 Rom. i. 3, 4. * Acts ii. 36, and x. 36 ; Heb.
' S. Luke xii. 50. i. 4.

THE NEW MAN. 241
Him in spirit. There is only one path for the elect,
the same now as of old, for God and man are yet the
same ; and this path the Gospels open to us in the par
ticulars which they record of our Lord's intercourse and
varied relationships with His disciples. He yet deals
with us exactly as He did with them. We, Uke them,
all first know Him after the flesh,' that is, in some
aspect or form exterior to us, which while it brings
Him near us, so that we may receive and trust and love
Him, yet veils His glory, and presents Him, for us
indeed, but not as yet in us. Even this is an immense
step beyond our natural state, even if, like the Jews of
old, whose place Gentile Christendom has taken, we, as
grafted into that same olive-tree,* have from childhood
received the oracles of God, and the covenants, and the
service of God, and the promises ; ' for all these things
may be and have been ours, while yet, like those to
whom Christ came, we may know nothing of a present
Lord, and walking with Him. Then either through the
ministry of some bright and shining light, who, like John
the Baptist, points us to the Lamb of God,* or by some
providence which gives us a glimpse of Him and of our
need,* or by some special call from Him,'* we become,
not only what we have been, parts of His outward Church,
but henceforward His disciples. So we try to walk with
Him. But though we may have given up much for Him,
and have become fools for His sake, and like Peter have
confessed Him to be Son of God, — though by Him we
may have been called to preach, and to cast out devils
in His name, — yea, though we may have seen Him
= 2 Cor. V. 16. 8 S. John i. 29.
' Rom. xi. 24. ' S. Luke v. 8-10.
' Rom. iii. 2, and ix. 4. '« S. Matt. ix. 9

242 THE SORROW AND JOY OF
transfigured on the Mount, — all this may be, with us,
as with the disciples, while we only know Him in the
flesh, for us surely, yet not abiding im, us.
But the day comes when He who has thus come to
us in the flesh, in sacraments, or doctrines, or the letter
of His word, seems to fail us in this form. We are left
awhile alone, without the comfort which we had in
earlier days. Then comes the trial here described,
which still perplexes those who in following Christ have
reached this stage ; for many who are true disciples
have not yet reached it. And then comes the answer
to the puzzle : " 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, because I go
to the Father. 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 deU
vered of the child, she remembereth no more the
anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
And ye now have sorrow ; but I will see you again, and
your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh
from you." "
Here we have, first the sorrow, and then the joy, of
true disciples, which are indeed the sorrow and joy of
Christ ; and always come in this order ; ffrst, the dark
ness, then the light, like the " evening and morning "
of the six days ; '* first the " weeping for a night," and
the "joy coming in the morning";" first the "chas
tening for the present," and then the " peaceable fruit
" Verses 19-22. " Gen. i. 5, 8, 13, etc. " Psalm xxx. 5.

THE NEW MAN. 243
¦of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." '*
It is so here : — " Verily, Verily, ye shaU be sorrowful ;
but your sorrow shall be turned into joy."
1. As to the sorrow, its cause is "not seeing
Christ " after the flesh ; the period of it is " a little
while." (i) The cause is this. "A little whUe, and ye
shall not see me," that is, not see me as you now do, by
observing step by step my outward manifestations ; for
the word " here is not the same as that which is used
where He says, " A Httle while and ye shall see me," '*
when their present seeing should be changed into a
new kind of sight, by which they should see more
fully what He really is. For a little while the disciples
were to lose sight of thefr guide. He is now no longer
to be known by them as they had known Him hitherto.
It seemed as if He failed them. It was indeed a
sorrow. But it was in substance the very sorrow of
their Lord. God was to Christ here in the flesh what
Christ is to His disciples. " The head of every man is
Christ, and the head of Christ is God."" Christ's joy
in our nature was to walk with God. He says, " I have
set the Lord always before me : because He is at my
right hand I shall not be moved." '* We little see
how unbroken the communion was, or how, when rejected
by men. He could rejoice in spfrit, and say, " Even so.
Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." '* Yet
He was in the flesh, in which for our sakes He was
straitened ; and " to go to the Father " He Himself had
to pass through the " little while," in which He should
" Heb. xii. 11. '» Psalm xvi. 8, and Acts ii. 25.
'= ov fleapeiTe /ie. » S. Matt. xi. 26 ; S. Luke
'" SjfieffBi fie. X. 21.
" 1 Cor. xi. 3. R 2

244 THE SORROW AND JOY OF
be " sorrowful even unto death." ** If we see how He
came to us, we may see also how He goes to the
Father. By coming in the flesh. He came from God ;
and, as in the flesh, His thoughts of God were as of
One above and separate from Him; though aU the
while He was the " brightness of His glory, and the
express image of His person," *' and could say, " I and
the Father are one," ** and " I am in the Father, and
the Father in me." *' By dying in the flesh, yet in our
nature. He went to God, thus through death destroying
him who had the power of death, that is the devU.^*
As Augustine says : " By taking flesh He came within
the reach of eyes of flesh and hands of men, stUl re
maining where He was in heaven : by it He went, not
leaving that whereto He had come. His flesh being the
way, not only for us to come to Him, but for Him, who
did never let go Himself, to come and to go back unto
Himself." *' Therefore He too was troubled, and cried
out in anguish, " My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me."** For a " little while " He saw not the
Father's face.*' But through this sorrow in our nature
He returned to God, and to all power in heaven and
earth. Thus was His sorrow turned into joy.
There is no other way for His disciples. Their
sorrow is the same, and this even while they know that
they are His. For a Httle while they lose sight of
Him who is their head. We know this was experi
enced by the first disciples. The Old Testament is
2» S. Matt. xxvi. 37, 38. 2= Augustine, Trad, in Johan.
" Heb. i. 3. Ixix. § 3.
^^ S. John X. 30. M s. Matt, xxvii. 46.
2' S. John xiv. 11. 2' Psalm Ixxxviii. 6, 7, 14.
'' Heb. ii. 14.

THE NEW MAN. 245
full of illustrations of it.** It is the truth here taught
us by the Lord Himself : " A little while and ye shall
not see me, and again a Httle while and ye shall see
me, because I go unto the Father." And yet some
think that they can come into the promised joy without
personal experience of the intervening sorrow, suppos
ing that, because the first disciples came to thefr
Pentecost eighteen hundred years ago, therefore every
beUever now has reached the same. As yet knowing
Christ only after the flesh, feeling His presence with
them, and seeing Him as He reveals Himself in words
and works of truth and love, they are, not perplexed
only, but offended, when told that He will go away,
that they may know Him in a higher way, no longer
without or separate from, but thenceforward ever in
and with, them. Like the disciples of old they say,
" What is this that He saith, A little while ? We cannot
'tell what He saith." **
It is hard to speak of this so as to make it intelli
gible to those who have not passed through this
experience. The difficulty of the disciples shows how
little even words from the Lord's own lips can teach us,
so long as we are carnal.'* Our Lord Himself here
must say, " Verily, Verily." For words hardly convey
ideas which transcend our present knowledge ; and the
great majority of beHevers are still at the stage figured
by the walk of the disciples in the Gospels, espoused
to Christ, but not yet married to Him," or come, as we
2* Job xxiii. 8-10; Psahn Ixix. they were to those who first
1-3, and Lam. iii. 1-19. heard them.
29 The words, "A little -while," » i cor. iii. 1.
are seven times repeated here, =' Compare 2 Cor. xi. 2, and
either by our Lord or the dis- Rev. xix. 7.
¦ciples, showing what a riddle

246 THE SORROW AND JOY OF
eee them in the Acts, to know Christ in and with them
by His Spirit, so that in the power of that presence they
can do His very works. They may be walking with
the Lord, and sent forth Hke those of old with power to
preach and cast out devils;'* they may have been
taught by Him in word the doctrine of His cross ; "
they may have believed His promise that He wUl send
the Spfrit to them ; '* and yet all the while they may
be unprepared for and stumble at the cross, when it
really comes," and have no personal experience of the
Spirit's power, or of a Pentecost with tongues of fire
and a mighty rushing wind. Nevertheless these days
of first enUghtening are delightful days ; sweet as the
days of our first love, when the Bridegroom is with us,
and we fast not.'* They are indeed the days of con
ception, when we receive the seed of God. We may
expect them always to continue ; but they bring pain
to flesh and blood. The word is sweet in the mouth,
but bitter in the belly." For the soul, after it has
received the seed of God, requires the separation
of the new life from the old; and by this we are
brought, as through travail pains, often we know not
how, through that, and to that, of which our Lord
speaks here, when He says, " A Httle while and ye shall
not see me, and again a Httle while and ye shaU see
me." We may before this have known seasons of
communion with Him, when we have asked Him ques
tions, and heard Him speak, and felt that He was with
us ; aU which may be in the flesh, a thing of the senses,
more than of the spfrit, though at first we do not know
=¦2 S. Mark iii. 14, 15. '^ g, jjatt. xxvi. 66.
3» S. Matt. xvi. 21 ; S. Luke »« S. Matt. ix. 16.
xviii. 31-34. " Ezek. iii. 3, 14 ; Rev. x. 9,
3' S. John xiv. 16, 17, 26. 10.

THE NEW MAN. 247
this, because as yet we know not the " dividing asun
der of soul and spirit," which is wrought in us by the
same eternal Word.'* We shall some day come to
another stage ; when we do not see the Lord ; when we
speak but seem to get no answer from Him ; when He
appears to fail and even forsake us ; while we are the
reproach of men, and are mocked by evil spirits as
deluded creatures, who have followed and trusted One
who could not save. And through this " little while "
of sorrow we shall be led to the joy here promised, of
knowing the Lord in and with us for evermore. All
this was the experience of the first disciples. All this,
when they can bear it, is the experience of disciples
now. Nothing good is here brought forth, either for
time or eternity, without pain. The Benjamins must
all be first Benonis.'*
(ii) But this sorrow is only " for a season : " ** " a
little while," like a woman's pangs, which " she no
more remembereth, for joy that a man is born into the
world."*' For a new life comes out of the sorrow.
The pain^ are travail pains, which bring forth the man
from the womb of nature into the light of God. Now
" a man is born into the world : " a man and not a
beast : something better than the imperfect beastlike
life, which ever precedes the man in God's image.**
And the result is a new life, with greater power, and
with fresh blessings for the world, when the " sorrow is
turned into joy."
2. This brings us to the joy, which is beyond all
words, for as St. Peter says, it is a "joy unspeakable
and full of glory." *' The joy is that Christ appears
'" Heb. iv. 12. *> Gen.xxxv. 18. See margin. « 1 S. Pet. i. 6.
" Verse 22. « gge Qen. i. 25, 26. " 1 S. Pet. i. 8.

248 THE SORROW AND JOY OF
again.** The disciples' sorrow had been not seeing
Him. Thefr joy is in His return and presence with
them. Unlike the world, which rejoices to be quit of
Christ,*' because the truth ever appears at first only as
a check upon its ways, — which therefore seeks by out
ward things to satisfy the heart, which, as it was made
for God, is never really satisfied until He Himself fills
it, — those who have known Christ, even after the flesh,
must wait for Him, mourners it may be, yet seeking no
joy or rest apart from Him. So they wait, and not in
vain, for He has said, " I will see you again, and your
heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from
you." Those who have known what it is to love, and
to have one with them, whose presence halves every
sorrow and doubles every joy, may understand some
thing of the gladness of disciples, when He appears who
is their Lord, their life, their salvation, thefr righteous
ness, thefr all. Words cannot tell it. For as the
heart knoweth its own bitterness, so can no stranger
intermeddle with its joy.** It is the joy of regaining
Him, who, in giving us Himself, completes our nature
with that which we lost in the faU by separation from
Him. Without Him we are imperfect — only half our
proper selves. With Him we are complete, even if in
the world, like Him, we are poor, and mourners, and
acquainted with grief. With Him we can be sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing ; having nothing, yet possessing
all.*' ¦ He, when all things seemed against Him, " re
joiced in spfrit."** So the disciples, even in the midst
of persecution, were " filled with joy and with the Holy
Ghost." ** So Paul and SUas, in the inner prison, and
" Verse 22. ¦¦= Verse 20. « Prov. xiv. 10.
" 2 Cor. vi. 10. ¦" S. Luke x. 21. « Acts xiii. 62.

THE NEW MAN. 240
with many stripes laid on them, could " sing praises to
God." '* So the Hebrews " took joyfully the spoiling
of their goods, knowing in themselves that they had
in heaven a better and more enduring substance." "
And we are called to the same joy, to find in a risen
Christ all and more than all that heart can wish, or
tongue can tell.
Some glimpses of the fulness of this joy come out
in our Lord's words here, conffrmed again with His re
iterated Amen : " And in that day ye shall ask me no
questions.'* Verily, Verily, I say unto you, whatsoever
ye shall ask " the Father in my name. He will give
it you. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name.
Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."'*
Three distinct blessings are here, each of which
adds to the joy; first, perfected knowledge: "Ye
shall ask me no questions " ; then, perfect fulfilment of
their desires : — " Verily, Verily, whatsoever ye shall
ask the Father, He will give it you in my name " ; "
and lastly, perfected joy: "Hitherto ye have asked
nothing in my name. Ask and ye shall receive that
your joy may be continually full." '*
(i) Perfected knowledge comes first : " In that day
ye shall ask me no questions ; " that is, aU that now
perplexes you will then be clear. Hitherto, though
'° Acts xvi. 22-25. En v^ritS, en v&it6, je vous dis
^^ Heb. X. 34. que tout ce que vous demanderez
'^ Gr. ip.i OVK epojT^ireTe. Com- au Pfere en mon nom, il vous le
pare verse 9 : fid^Kov aiiThv epa- donnera."
Tav. 54 Verses 23, 24.
=' Gr. gtroAvaiT^o-JiTe. Oster- == So the Vatican and Sin-
vald's French translation pre- aitic MSS.
serves the distinction between '* Gr. 'Iva t) X"?^ viiZv ^
the two words here used in the ireirXTjpai/ieV,;. 'This, I think, is
original : " En ce jour-1^ vous something more than the 'Iva
ne m'interrogerez plus de rien. irKripadij of chap. xv. 11.

250 THE SORROW AND JOY OF
walking with Him, they had little understood Him.
Again and again had thefr questions proved how much
of darkness still remained with them. Such words as,
" Wilt thou that we call down fire from heaven, and
consume them, even as Elias did ? " " " How oft shaU
my brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? " '»
"Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"'*
" Lord, whither goest thou ? " and " Why cannot I
follow thee now ? " ** " Why could not we cast him
out?"*' "Lord, and what shaU this man do?"**
" Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shaU be
the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"''
these and countless other like questions, though quite
proper in thefr place, are evidence sufficient of the dis
ciples' partial Hght, and of thefr very imperfect commu
nion with thefr Lord. All this is to be changed. Even
such a question as that which the disciples asked after
they knew the resurrection of the Lord, but before the
Spfrit came, " Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the
kingdom to Israel ? " ** is as night to day when com
pared to the light which Paul pours forth, when he
opens to the Eomans the mystery of Israel's fall, and
the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, of
whom, and through whom, and to whom, are all things.*'
How different too is Paul himself, when, though Pente
cost had come to others, he as yet only knew Christ
after the flesh, and asked, " Lord, what wilt thou have
me to do ? " ** compared with the same Paul when he
" S. Luke ix. 54. « S. John xxi. 21.
" S. Matt, xviii. 21. ' ^^ S. Matt. xxiv. 3.
«' S. Matt, xviii. 1. " ^^gts j. g.
"» S. John xiv. 36, 37. « Rom. xi. 25-36
« S. Matt. xvii. 19. «« Acts is. 6.

THE NEW MAN. 251
knew no man, not even Christ, after the flesh, *' and
therefore could say, " I have judged afready to deliver
such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh," **
and again, " If I forgave, for your sakes I forgave it in
the person of Christ." ** What a contrast between
such early questions and the later knowledge of the
Lord. At the one stage perhaps we say, " Lord, shall
we smite with the sword?" and then, like Peter,'*
without waiting the Lord's answer, we act according to
our own impulse. At the other, we come, Hke the Lord
Himself, to know the Father's will, and by His Spfrit
to find our heart's desire fulfilled in asking according
to that will.
(U) For this is the second blessing which gives ad
dition to the promised joy. Disciples are to have per
fect fulfilment of their desires in asking of the Father :
" VerUy, Verily, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father,
He wUl give it you in my name ; " " that is. He will
give it me in you, and give it you in me. For " in
that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye
in me, and I in you." '* Instead therefore of asking
Christ questions, which discover how fuU of self they
are, they shall henceforth offer petitions to the Father,
and whatsoever they shall ask, as chUdren 5rielding up
thefr wUl to His, He will give it them in the name or
nature of His Son. For through the sorrow they will
be brought out of the self-willed Ufe, to live in Christ,
and Christ in them. And then thefr asking will be His-
asking, not the will of the flesh, but the will of God,
and so " whatsoever they ask they shall receive." Liv
ing as we so much do in the fallen Ufe, which is ever
" 2 Cor. V. 16. =' 1 Cor. v. 4, 6. ™ 2 Cor. ii. 10.
™ S. Luke xxii. 49. " Verse 23. « S. John xiv. 20.

262 THE SORROW AND JOY OF
wanting this or that, and which, whatever it may re
ceive, is never satisfied, because self-will can never rest,
and which, even when we begin to desire good things,
needs often to be crossed, that from the independent
and divided will we may be brought to the one will
wherein is perfect rest, we can hardly imagine what it
is to reach the joy here promised, when " whatsoever
we shall ask " we shall receive, and every desfre be per
fectly satisfied in the name or nature of the Son of
God. And what a lesson it is for disciples, that even here
our Lord can say, "Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my
name." Asking in His name is asking in His nature ;"
and of those who had foUowed Him thus far our Lord
declares, that, whatever thefr petitions had been, — and
some of them had asked much of Him, even that He
woiUd " show them the Father," '* and " grant them to
be near Him in His coming kingdom," " — hitherto their
asking, even for good things, had been in thefr own
nature, not in His ; for self ends rather than in the un
selfish love, which is the very life and nature of the
Lord. I suppose it must be so, for we are by nature fallen
out from God, and our first prayers, if they are true,
will be a cry to be deUvered from the present evil in
us, rather than for the better things which are our true
portion. It seems to me that the words, " The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
feUowship of the Holy Ghost,"'* shadow forth this grow
ing experience of a converted soul. For first we feel
that we need grace, and that without it we are lost.
'» See above, page 234. « S. Mark x. 35.
" S. John xiv. 8. '« 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

THE NEW MAN. 25»
TUl we come to Christ, God is practically a stranger to
us. As poor lost creatures we come to Christ, that is
to God in human form, as He is revealed in His Scrip
tures, in His Church, and in His Sacraments, which
are extensions of His incarnation. We do what the
poor creatures in the Gospel did — the lepers, the
palsied, and the blind. We seek or are brought to
Him ; and the " grace of the Lord Jesus Christ " meets
all our present need. But how much there is beyond
this first reception of His grace. Jesus is the way to
God. He makes known to us the Father, and His love ;
that if He smites, it is to bless ; that our very sorrows
are to bring us nearer to Him. So we learn the " love
of God." And then comes the " feUowship of the Holy
Ghost," when we are made partakers of His fulness, and
channels by which His gffts and vfrtues may fiow forth
to all the world. Thenceforth we ask the Father in the
name and nature of the Son. We are one with Him,
and He with us. Words fail to utter this joy, in re
ceiving from the Father, in one will and heart with
Christ, all that He gives to His beloved Son.
(iii) For, lastly, the joy is " fulness of joy " : "joy
completed and continually full." " Ask and receive
that your joy may be made full." " It was joy indeed
to see Him again. But the " fulness of joy " is more.
It is the joy of ever knowing His abiding union with
us, closer than the bond which links the husband to the
wife, even to have Him in us, filUng us with His ful
ness, as He is filled with God. For joy is an import
and exchange. It calls for two to make it full, when
the two indeed are made one. So our joy is in
" Chap. xvi. 24. We have the same words in chap. xvii. 13,
and 1 S. John i. 4.

254 THE SORROW AND JOY OF
continuaUy receiving Him. He says, " Ask and receive."
Eeceive, and receive again, and receive yet more and
more. It is the old truth, "Take, eat; this is my
body;"'* receive of my fulness; yea, receive me ; for
" if any man open the door, I will come in to him, and
sup with him, and he with me." '* Some of us have
learnt that to receive aU is harder than to give all ;
though we must also give all to receive all; for we
must be emptied to receive His fulness. When we are
so emptied, we can receive Him through whom our
joy is fuU. He Himself is the joy. He gives Him
self to us. Henceforth we are no more twain, but
one.** This then is the crovming joy of the elect, which
swaUows up all sorrow, and dwarfs all other joys. Surely
the elect have other joys. There are joys which spring
from the many gifts which the Lord puts into our
hands, to use as talents for Him. There are joys too
which flow, not only from our service, but even from
the sacrifices which we willingly make, whether for God
or man, for ends within our view. But the deepest joy
is in that union which comes through yielding our
selves wholly to Him, when, aft^r we have been stripped
and humbled, without any apparent profit either to
ourselves or others, through our self-despafr and
humiliation we are brought to know the Lord, and to
be one with Him, as we never were before. This is
the foretaste of the marriage-supper of the Lamb, where
He and His shall be no more twain, but one for ever.
Therefore let us trust Him through the darkness. It
is but " a Httle while," and then " in His presence
" 1 Cor. xi. 24. » g. Mark x. 8, and 1 Cor.
'• Rev. iii. 20. vi. 17.

THE NEW MAN. 255
is fulness of joy ; at His right hand are pleasures
for evermore." *'
Few, however, reach the fulness of this joy on earth,
for few will accept the sorrow which is the appointed
passage to it. We rather strive to free ourselves from
the appointed grief, seeking to dispel it by a carnal
application to ourselves of that which only belongs to
those who through faith and patience have gone
through the needed trial. But the sorrow must be
known, if we are to know the joy. Only " if we suffer
with Christ shall we reign with Him." ** The elect are
those who mourn and suffer with Him. Blessed are
such mourners, for they shall indeed be comforted. And
the joy of the elect, and their trumpets of praise, which
they shall blow in the day of thefr gladness, over their
burnt-offerings and the sacrifice of their peace-offer
ings,*' will be but preludes of the heavenly music of the
voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, calling
upon all creatures to rejoice, because the darkness is
past, and the kingdom of God is come.
For the joy of the elect is for others, as well as for
themselves. They are but "a kind of first-fruits of
God's creatures." ** Aud " if the first-fruit be holy, the
lump is also holy." *' In " Christ, the first-fruits," **
man has afready come out of the sorrow into the joy.
By Christ all men shall come in due season ; first the
" sealed " elect, the firstborn, who are " first-fruits to
God and to the Lamb ; " *' then the " great multitude of
all nations, which no man can number, with palms in
" Psalm xvi. 11. == Rom. xi. 16.
"^ 2 Tim. ii. 12. «i= 1 Cor. xv. 23.
8* Numb. X. 10. " Rev. vii. 4, and xiv. 1-4.
" S. James i. 18.

256 THE SORROW AND JOY OF
thefr hands," ** witnessing that the last great " feast of
the Lord," the feast of Tabernacles, is come, (for every
stage of man's salvation is indeed a feast to Him,**)
when, not only the Paschaland Pentecostal first-fruits,
but all the harvest, shall be gathered in, and the
"branehesof palm and ofgoodlytrees," and the "booths"
or " bowers," shall show that paradise lost is now re
gained ; ** and regained, by the last as by the first, by
grace alone ; through the same one narrow gate of
death, either with Christ, or as inflicted through His
judgment. For this " great multitude " also, who are
not the " sealed," " came out of great tribulation, and
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb." They too out of, and through, the sor
row have reached the joy. For there is no other way.
" Therefore they also are before the throne of God, and
serve Him day and night in His temple ; and He that
sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They
shall hunger no more ; neither shall they thfrst any
more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the
throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them to living
fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." *'
=' Rev. vii. 9. in Nwmeros, Horn, xxiii. § 2,
*> The seven great feasts or »» The first fruits were
holy seasons of the Jewish dis- gathered at Passover and Pente-
pensation are all called " feasts cost. (Lev. xxiii. 10, 17.) May
of the Lord": "These are the I refer those who have not
feasts of the Lord." (Lev. xxiii. studied this subject to my little
2, 4.) On this a saint has said, volume on Tlie Restitution of AU
" Habet ergo Deus dies f estos Things, pp. 34-50 ?
suos? Habet, Est enim ei magna »' Rev. vii. 15-17.
festivitashumanasalus." Origen,

THE NEW MAN. 257

TWELFTH "YEEILY, YEEILY."
THE PERFECTING OF THE NEW MAN.
(S. John xxi. 15-23.)
The last reiterated Amen comes from the lips of the
risen Christ, and belongs to the Forty Days, during
which our Lord was with His disciples after His resur
rection, while as yet His Spirit had not come upon
them, to fill them with power according to His promise.
These Forty Days are the appointed figure of that stage
or period of our Christian Hfe, when, having foUowed
Christ to His cross, we have, not faith only, but per
sonal experience, of His resurrection, — when the Lord
appears and breathes upon us, as He never did before,
still commanding us to " wait for the promise of the
Father," which now ere long shall come upon us.' At this
stage we hear our Lord's last reiterated Amen, testify
ing, that while we are in the flesh we must stiU be
crossed, and, Uke Himself, can be made perfect only
through sufferings. It is a blessed stage, though it yet
falls short of that coming of the Holy Ghost, which
thenceforth conforms carnal disciples to the image of
thefr Lord.
This is not understood by all. On the contrary, it
' Acts i. 4.
S

258 THE PERFECTING OF
is assumed by some, that, because those who walked
with Christ of old received the baptism of the Holy
Ghost and fire at Pentecost more than eighteen hundred
years ago, therefore all believers now have reached the
same. As well might the apostles, when ffrst called,
have concluded, that, because at His baptism the Spirit
Hke a dove rested upon Christ, therefore they all had
equaUy received the same blessing. It is this assump
tion of being spiritual, while they are yet carnal, — that
they are rich and increased with goods, whUe they are
miserable and poor, — which keeps so many beHevers
bUnd and wretched as they are ; * just as the same as
sumption in the world keeps the unrenewed from seek
ing for the grace, which the Lord so freely gives to all
who ask Him. Surely the Spfrit has been given, and
the work, been wrought in Christ for aU ; but to enter
into possession of the blessing; whether as disciples
walking with Christ, or as further " enUghtened and
made partakers of the Holy Ghost," ' there must be a
personal application to the Lord for the grace He has
to give, which He still gives as of old, " here a little,
and there a Httle," as we can bear it.* At ffrst we can
only receive the Word made flesh. Therefore He gives
us the Word made flesh. Then by that Word we are
led to wait for and receive the Spirit. True souls are
conscious that the descent of the Holy Ghost on
others is a very different thing from the coming of the
same Spfrit on themselves, — that others may be spfritual
whUe we are yet carnal, — that the promised rivers of
living water do not yet flow forth from us,' though our
caUing is to expect and wait for them. Let such yet
2 Rev. iii. 17. * Isa. xxviii. 10 ; S. John xvi.l2,
s Heb. vi. 4. ^ g. jqJj^ .^^j 3g_

THE NEW MAN. 259
wait on God. If they wait for the promise of the
Father, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire will
come in due season. But of how many is it yet true,
that " the Holy Ghost is not yet come, because that
Jesus is not yet glorified " * in them.
It was to souls at such a stage that the last " Verily,
Verily," was Ifrst spoken. To souls at a Hke stage it
stiU comes as the needed word in due season. In it
the risen Lord opens the process of the perfecting of
His elect, that only through the crossing of their own
will, though this may come in different ways, can even
His dearest disciples attain that perfect union with His
wiU, which is thefr true calling. Blessed are they to
whom the Lord thus speaks. When this truth is learnt
in deed, the glorious end is not far off.
This then is the subject of this last reiterated
Amen. It sets before us the way of our perfection.
For even the New Man, when first formed in our nature,
is not perfect. The first form of Christ here in the
flesh was not His perfection. He is first made in our
likeness, that, bearing it and dying to it. He may bring
us back through death to God's likeness. Thus He was
" made perfect through sufferings." ' In Himself He
was indeed perfect. As the Son of Man, who is in
heaven,* the division which is in us was not in Him ;
and this undivided nature He comes to give to those
who eat His flesh and drink His blood. But He came
into our divided nature, to be man, " made of a woman,
under the law," * and in and to this nature He had to
die, to bring us back in Himself through death, from
our present divided state, to that where the " two are
« S. John vii. 39. ' S. John iii. 13, and vi. 63, 58.
' Heb. ii. 10 ; v. 8, 9. » Gal. iv. 4.
s 2

260 THE PERFECTING OF
one," "the man not without the woman, nor the woman
without the man, in the Lord " ; '* " where there is
neither male or female, but Christ is all and in all." "
And so when Christ is formed in us, the new man first
grows in our Hkeness, and then must suffer and die,
Uke Christ for us, to reach perfection. "Every one
that is perfect shaU be as his Master." '* And to be
like Him we must give up our will, and even our life,
into the hands of God, in the faith that when He
" turns us to destruction," it is that He may say, " Ee-
turn as sons of Man." " The last " Verily, Verily,"
testifies to the process by which this end is reached.
I have afready noticed the time when this was
spoken by the Lord. But the details given are no
less instructive, as showing exactly the state of the
disciples. Our Lord, for the thfrd time after His
resurrection,'* had just shown Himself to them. There
were together seven ; Simon Peter, and Thomas called
Didymus, and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and the
sons of Zebedee, and two other of His disciples. The
number and the names are mystic, figuring the com
pleteness of the Church, and the varied forms of Hfe
which work in union in it. " Simon Peter saith, I go
a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee."
This is rightly enough disciples' work. But the words
fall upon the ear as if they were uttered with more or
less of self-will. They are the words of those who
propose to do what they Hke, rather than of men who
look and wait for guidance. For at this stage, in
passing from the carnal to the spfritual knowledge of
'« 1 Cor. vi. 17, and xi. 11. Strom, book iii. chap. 10, and 13,
" Gal. iii. 28, and compare " S. Luke vi. 40.
with this the remarkable pas- " D1X-''33 131C}', Psalm xc. S.
sages in Clement of Alexandria, '^ Verse 14.

THE NEW MAN. 261
the Lord, the tendency of our old nature often comes
out, still prone to fulfil even our appointed work more
according to the will of the flesh than of the spirit.
Then follows a night of fruitless toil, during which the
Lord's presence is not seen or felt. But when the
morning comes, Jesus, standing on the shore, begins
to direct the labours of the disciples. At ffrst they do
not know Him ; but when a draught too large to be
received into the ship follows obedience to His word,
they learn who it is that has been speaking to them.
John first recognises the Lord ; Peter first hastens to
Him ; after which the other disciples slowly follow ; all
showing the dimness of our first vision of a risen Christ,
and by what imperfect glimpses of this risen life we
are gradually led to the higher knowledge of the Lord.
Then comes the feast with Christ, — communion with
Him in what He has prepared, the fish and the bread,
both well-known figures of Him." After which He
utters this last reiterated Amen, testifjdng how to the
very end disciples must be crossed, for only through
this crossing of thefr will can they be perfected.
The process of this perfecting comes out in our
Lord's words to Peter and John. Here are two men,
most unlike each other, though both are near and dear
to Christ. Each represents a distinct form of Christian
life, whose perfecting therefore, though according to
the same one law, to outward eyes may seem very
dissimilar. Christ Himself is the one pattern of the
whole Hfe of God in man. In Him that life is in all
its fulness, union, and proportion, as all the coloured
|=_See Augustine, Traetat. ixSis. See Smith's Christian An-
cxxiii. § 2. All axe familiar tiquities, s.v. " fish." I need not
with the early Christian use of speak here of the "bread."

262 THE PERFECTING OF
rays are one in white light. In the apostles His fdness
is divided. In each we mark some special grace. The
three chief, Peter, James, and John, respectively reveal
faith, hope, and charity. Peter is the active life of
faith, which longs fully to follow Christ ; which there
fore comes into very pecuHar trials and distresses;
which steps out to walk on the troubled waters, where
it sees Christ walk, and fails, and then, rescued by His
hand, comes back into the ship, to continue the voyage
with brethren, who, if not less trustful, are more
cautious ;'* which follows the Lord into scenes which
others never see, and yet denies Him in the time of
trial more than all the rest." In John we see another
Hfe ; that of passive love and contemplation ; content
to be loved, more even than to love ; and who in this
passiveness is able to receive far more of the Lord's
mind, and to see in Him from the fitrst what others
little understand. The one says, " Lord, Thou knowest
that I love thee:"'* the other deUghts to be called
" the disciple whom Jesus loved."'* " These two
lives," as Augustine says, " the Church yet knows ;
the one in faith, the other in sight or revelation ; the
one in the work of action, the other in the gain of
contemplation ; the one fighting, the other reigning ;
the one curbing fleshly lusts, the other wholly given
to spfritual deUghts ; the one scourged by evUs that
it be not unduly exalted by its good things, the other
with such fulness of grace that without pride it cleaves
to the chief good. Therefore the one is good, and yet
distressed; the other better, and blessed. The first
is flgured by the Apostle Peter; the last by John.
'» S. Matt. xiv. 28-32. " S. John xxi. 16, 16.
" S. Matt. xxvi. 68, 72. " S. John xix. 26 ; xx. 2 ; xxi. 7,20.

THE NEW MAN. 263
The first here finds an end ; the last yet waits, and in
the world to come has no end. Therefore to the one
it is said, ' Follow me ; ' but of the other, ' If I will
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ; ' "20
words which show how each must suffer for a season,
that they may be made perfect even as thefr Lord.
Speaking generaUy, the perfecting of both proceeds
according to one law. Each with Christ must learn to
say, " Not my will, but thine be done."*'' In each the
will has to be crossed. But the words here respecting
each show in what very different forms this cross may
come ; for the forms of self-wUl vary greatly, and the
discipline which crosses the will of an active soul will
be very unlike that which is required by the man who
delights in passive contemplation. But be the form
of our nature what it may, self-will must be crossed
in all, if they are ever to be made perfect as the Lord.
To the active soul therefore the word yet is, " Lovest
thou me ?" then "feed** my lambs." "Lovest thou
me ? " then " tend *' and feed my sheep. VerUy, Verily,
I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou gfrdedst
thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest ; but when
thou art old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and
another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou
wouldest not. And when He had spoken this, He
saith unto him. Follow me." Of the other it is said,
" If I wUl that he tarry till I come, what is that to
thee ? " — words which were first supposed to mean
" that this disciple should not die," but which found
thefr fulfilment in his remaining to see the old dispen
sation pass away, after all his fellow apostles had been
20 Augustine, Tractat. cxxiv. § 5. ^ Gr. ^6(tk€, v 15.
a S. Luke xxii. 42. '^ Gr. iroi/j.aive, v. 16.

264 THE PERFECTING OF
taken to thefr rest. Thus the one, in the active life,
is called from blessed work to sudden death : the other,
in the passive, from his wish at once to follow Christ
to long waiting and the martyrdom of life. The one
receives the outward cross ; the other, the inward
sufferings of Christ, and the revelation of the coming
of the Lord : the one, who when he was young gfrded
himself and walked whither he would, is crossed by
being gfrded by others and carried whither he would
not ; called to give up self-strength in an early partici
pation with Christ's death, and to leave his work for
Christ's sheep to other under-shepherds ; while the
other, who without a word follows the Lord,** and leans
upon His breast, who would rather depart and be with
Christ, — for it is ever the desire of loved ones to be
with the beloved, — to whom the struggle and battle of
Hfe is a daily cross, who fain would follow now to the
heaven which so often opens to him, must tarry here,
amid the cares and toils of earth, long after others
have finished their course with joy. So John, who
instinctively " follows," must " tarry," whUe to him who
" gfrds himself " to labour here, the word yet is, " Thou
shalt be carried whither thou wouldest not." Each is
crossed in his own wiU, whether to work for, or to be
with, Christ ; the one by being taken from his work by
death, the other by being kept from his rest by long
and weary life ; and this, not to mar, but rather to
perfect, God's work in each, that the will of both may
only be the will of God.
But the words deserve a closer consideration. Both
the active and contemplative soul may here learn much
as to the way in which each is to glorify God.
^' Verse 20.

THE NEW MAN. 265
1. First, the word to Peter. It begins with direc
tions as to his proper work, — to " tend Christ's sheep "
and " feed His lambs," — ^thrice prefaced with the
question, " Lovest thou me ? " which marks the one
requisite for those who " watch for souls ; " *' and then
going on, as we have seen, to foretell the cross, by
which, being "carried whither he would not," the
active worker should be brought to his appointed end.
Thus this word to Peter calls him first to doing, then
to dying ; for by both are we led on, though it is only
by the last that the active life is truly perfected.
Surely in doing Christ's will there must be some giving
up of self. Who can tend Christ's sheep and feed His
lambs, without some self-denial ? Yet in all doing an
active nature may find some room for its own self-will.
For such therefore dying is the appointed way to reach
perfection. And yet the doing also is most blessed, not
only in its fruits toward God and man, but even as
supplying the very discipline which such a soul can
bear in its earUer days, to check its natural proneness
to self-will and self-sufficiency. Each stage is good,
doing and dying. Both are appointed for us. In both
we may offer ourselves a sweet sacrifice unto the Lord.
We shaU see this better, if we look at the work
here laid on Peter. It is a shepherd's work — " Tend
my sheep," and " feed my lambs." Who can do this
without ha,ving his seU-will crossed again and again ?
Sheep are silly creatures, prone to wander, often need
ing to be brought back ; tender creatures, subject to
many forms of sickness, which requfre unceasing care ;
weak creatures, wholly unable to resist the wolf
2= Heb. xiii. 17.

266 THE PERFECTING OF
which seeks thefr Ufe ; ready to follow each other into
unknown perils, where, but for the shepherd, they
would be often lost. With such the shepherd goes,
like Jacob, watching while they sleep,** or, like David,
fighting the Hon and the bear for them, that they may
dwell safely.*' Who has ever watched for soiUs, going
in and out among them for thefr good, ceasing not to
warn them night and day with tears, yet seeing them
leave him and forsake the Lord, without having his
own heart pained and his self-wUl broken, as he cries,
" Surely I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength
for nought " ** ? Yet the toil is not for nought. The
worker at least profits by it all. And spite of all
faUures the sheep are gainers too. There is indeed a
work with sheep, which is, not for the flock, but for
the fleece. The Labans and Nabals and Absaloms,
now as of old, are famous for " sheep-shearing."**
Like the kings of Moab, they are " sheep-masters,"'*
without a pastor's heart. But good shepherds cai'e for
the sheep, because they love Him whose they are.
And in thefr service they themselves are served; for
by it, little by little, they are being freed from self,
while their thought may be only to serve the Lord and
feed His sheep.
For this work is the fruit of love, the practical
answer to the question, " Lovest thou me ? " and love
and self-love are dfrectly antagonistic. Love seeketh
not her own : " love counts all self-sacrifice as nothing
for the beloved. An independent life for lovers is
impossible. They who love give up themselves. There
's Gen. xxxi. 40. 2, 4 ; 2 Sam. xiii. 23, 24.
" 1 Sam. xvii. 34. »» 2 Kings iii. 4.
=» Isa. xlix. 4. »i \ Cor. xiii. 6.
» Gen. xxxi. 19 ; 1 Sam. xv.

THE NEW MAN. 267
fore our Lord here asks for love, that in the exercise of
it we may be freed from the self-will which by nature
holds us. For love Uke self-love grows by yielding to
it. The self-indulgent man becomes daily more self-
loving : the loving, self-sacrificing soul, by its toil for
others becomes more wholly loving. And this love is
shown in deeds. The lover's acts show that he loves.
He may be absent from, but he gives his strength for,
the beloved. UnUke the " lovers of their own selves,"
of whom the apostle speaks, who, because lovers of
themselves, are also " covetous, boasters, proud, blas
phemers,'"* those who love the Lord will suffer long
and endure all to serve His flock ; they cannot but
serve, because they love; and in this love, feeding
Christ's sheep, not as their own, but His ; seeking His
glory in them, not their own ; thinking of Him, whose
they reaUy are ; they too also are being changed, even
if they know it not, and show, to other eyes at least,
that they are putting off the old man, and putting on
the new.
Such is the work and its results. But it is by
dying that the worker is perfected after the pattern of
his Lord. Now, therefore, comes the last reiterated
Amen : — " Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, when thou
wast young, thou gfrdedst thyself, and walkedst whither
thou wouldest ; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt
stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gfrd thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake
He, signifying by what death he should glorify God.
And when He had spoken this. He saith unto him,
Follow me." " Here we have all the later stages of
'2 2 Tim. iii. 1-4. ^ Verses 18, 19.

268 THE PERFECTING OF
the path set before us : first, in the pronoise as to the
worker's end ; and then in the final command which
he receives, which contains in itself aU counsels of
perfection. As ever there is a promise and a com
mand.'* The promise is, that the worker shall be
freed by being " carried whither he would not ; " the
command, in obedience to which the promise is ful
fiUed, is " FoUow me."
The promise here then is the cross. This shall con
form Peter to Christ. The active soul, who once had
said, " Lord, why cannot I follow thee now : I wUl lay
down my life for thy sake," and had then with oaths
denied his Lord, now shaU reach by grace to that
which he had thought himself able to accompUsh in his
own self-will. But this end shaU be reached, not in self-
will, but in being "carried whither he would not."
The promise is the death of self, and this is not attained
through any self-willed penance, or self-inflicted cross,
which too often increases men's high thoughts of
themselves, but rather by meekly accepting the real
humiUation, which obedience sooner or later always
brings with it. Our Lord declares this in the words in
which He marks the contrast between the past and future
of this active worker: — "Verily, Verily, when thou
wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither
thou wouldest; but when thou art old, thou shalt
stretch forth thy hands, and another shaU gfrd thee, and
carry thee whither thou wouldest not." For we act at
first as if our wish to work for God were a sufficient
guide ; we speak and pray as if we could direct Him,
instead of yielding in all to be directed by Him. And
»' Compare Gen. xii. 1,2; S. Matt. iv. 19 ; xi. 28 ; 2 Cor. vi.
17, 18.

THE NEW MAN. 269
this self-will may work even in our wish to Uve and die
for Christ; even in saying, " I wUl lay down my Ufe for
thy sake." Slowly we learn that self-love may be
strengthened by our active service, and that we yet need
suffering to free us from ourselves. Therefore we have
to be humbled by the discovery of what we really are,
till by failure we have no confidence in self.
At first, indeed, while we are in the fiesh," all is
done from self for self : self is the spring and end of all
our works. Even after grace comes in, what is done at
first is still from self, though it is for Christ ; for we are
yet but babes in Christ, and therefore carnal.'* At
last we reach the stage when what is done is all from
Christ for Christ. None reach this, while, even in
good things, they " walk whither they would." None
reach it without often being crossed and "carried
whither they would not." In outward appearance the
appointed cross may vary It may come as some out
ward loss, either of health or earthly means, which
deprives us of the power of doing the good we would ;
or it may be the inward sense of darkness and distress,
which for a season keeps our spirits bound, mocked
by devils, even as the Lord in the presence of
His accusers. It is always something which really
crosses self, and thus frees us from ourselves and from
our own self-wiU. And in this path, in resigning our
selves to God, in leaving Him to do in us and with us
as He wills, in submitting all the more to things which
displease us, as seeing in them our appointed cross, in
utter submission and dependence on Him, be the trial
what it may, God can accomplish His own far better
»= Rom. vii. 5. »" 1 Cor. iii. 1.

270 THE PERFECTING OF
wiU in us, and by our very helplessness and death lead
us safely and surely to a better resurrection. There is
no other way to be made perfect. In one form or
another all must be crossed who are to be conformed to
Christ. And strange as it may seem to flesh and blood, in
this crossing there is a rest such as the soul has never
known before. In doing our own wUl there is never
rest. Even when the aim is good, our very eagerness
keeps us in constant unquietness. In yielding to the
will of another there is rest. Therefore the time comes
when by some cross our own works cease, and we pass
from the days of labour to the day of rest. In being
carried whither we would not, an inward rest is found
which passes all former understanding. Our Lord's words
here seem to mark this ; for in foUowing his own wiU
the worker " walks " : and he who " walks " can never
fully rest : when at last he is gfrded by another, he is
" carried " to an outward cross indeed, but no less " car
ried away in the spirit" by it, as John was," to see that
heavenly city, whose name is " vision or possession of
peace," '* where there is rest and joy for evermore.
Certainly there is a heart-rest in being utterly imable
to do as we will, which is never reached in any other
way. Some sufferers know it : the peace beyond aU
thought : the rest of being freed henceforth from any
care. And the pain by which it has been bought is felt
to be unworthy to be compared to the present joy, un
speakable, and full of glory.
But in this last word to Peter there is more than
promise : there is also a command, — " FoUow me," and
^' Rev. xxi. 10. the " vision or possession <f
3' Jerusalem means simply peace."

THE NEW MAN. 271
again, " Follow thou me." '* Strange that these last
words should be but a repetition of the words of his
first call, the very words which years before had come
to him from a voice then strange and new, which
said, " Follow me, and I wUl make you fishers of men." **
But these same words, " FoUow me," now heard from
One who has passed through death, convey to him who
again hears them volumes more than when they ffrst
fell upon his ear. So it ever is. Words open to us.
The self-same words which at one stage seem to say so
little, or are so dimly understood, at another shine out
like fire, piercing our hearts. The lesson is indeed
repeated in the old form ; but it now comes to us with
a deeper meaning. So to Paul in the storm a message
comes, which is but the repetition of a former word ; *'
but how much more does it now say, both as to present
deliverance and future work and suffering for the Lord.
And so these old words to Peter, " FoUow me," as now
spoken by the risen Lord, convey to the disciple who
has foUowed thus far, and seen the cross, lessons which
at an earlier stage he could not have understood.
For at first we think that aU following must be
active work. By Christ's cross we slowly learn that the
highest following may be in passive suffering. These
simple words contain every Counsel of Perfection, Chas
tity, Poverty, and Obedience. All are contained in
" Follow me." For can we fully follow and not be
chaste ? Can we fully follow and not be poor ? Can
we fully foUow and not be obedient, even to being
" baptized with His baptism " and " drinking His cup."
A time comes when our Lord's teaching, of which He
" Verses 19, 22. ¦" Compare Acts xxvii. 24,
" S. Matt. iv. 18. and xxiii. 11.

272 THE PERFECTING OF
says, " AU men cannot receive this saying : he that is
able to receive it, let him receive it," whether as to
marriage, or to selUng all, or to entfre submission and
obedience, in being baptized with His baptism and in
drinking His cup, speaks to us as it never did before.**
We need not antedate the day. There is a time for
every purpose under heaven.*' Not only is there no
use in seeking to do some things before the time, but
the very attempt to do so may itself hurt us. Children
may come iato Ught too soon, or, when brought forth,
may try to act as men, while they are yet children,
with consequences of lasting pain and weakness for
them. God never hurries. When we are prepared,
all opens to us. Counsels of Perfection, which were
once too high, seem now the very food our souls long
for. Then when, Uke Peter here, we have learnt our
selves, — what poor untrusty creatures we are, who
deny Him whom we really love, and forsake Him whom
we desfre to follow, — when we have known His cross and
resurrection, and He has come and breathed on us, and
said, " As my Father hath sent me, even so send I
you," ** — old words, which once meant Httle, come to us
again, with a far deeper sense, and things, which once
seemed impossible, by grace become easy. Then we
too, like Peter, can rejoice so to follow Christ as to be
" In the Gospel according not receive this saying : he that
to S. Matthew, after the section, is able to receive it, let him re-
(chap. xvi. 13, to xviii. 35,) ceive it." Of the second, "If
which declares the mystery of thou -wilt be perfect, sell that
the Church, we come to a section thou hast." Of the third, " Are
which opens the Evangelical ye able to drink the cup that I
Counsels of Perfection, Chastity, shall drink of, and to be baptized
(chap. xix. 1- 16,) Poverty, (chap. -with the baptism that I am
xix. 16, to XX. 16,) and Obedi- baptized with 1 "
ence, (chap. xx. 17-28.) Of the « Eccl. iii. 1.
first, Christ says, " All men can- ** S. John xx. 21.

THE NEW MAN. 27 S
" carried whither we would not," and in being so car
ried find our perfect rest.
Such is the way for Peter, that is for active souls ;
but the mere knowledge of the way, — the appointed
toU by which self-will is first broken, and then the pro
mised cross and the " following " of Christ, by which
the active soul may in due time be made perfect, — may
be held as doctrine by souls who know nothing really
of the promised cross, or of that humble following of
our Lord, to which again He here calls us. Some with
all thefr knowledge in the letter are only more and
more self-willed, doing all they can to gfrd others and
lead them whither they would, instead of yielding
themselves to be carried, if the Lord so will it, whither
they would not. And even when we have heard these
words, and understand our calling, and wish to follow
Christ, the old nature may show itself in us, and we
may still be busy with questions about others, rather
than with our own appointed cross, saying, like Peter
here, " Lord, and what shall this man do ? " *' Self-
willed curiosity may still be active, after sad experience
of ourselves. And instead of pondering in silence the
solemn words just heard as to our appointed path, our
minds, like Peter's, may be far more busy about our
brother's way, than in walking humbly in that which is
set before us as our own. Hasty acts may cease, yet
hasty words may still remain, and curious questions
which concern us not. Blessed be the Lord, He too
remains, our Saviour to the end ; and to our questions
His unchanging word comes once again, now in tones
almost Hke a reproof, but as ever bringing further light,
*' Verse 21.-
T

274 THE PERFECTING OF
" If I wUl that he tarry tUl I come, what is that to
thee ? Follow thou me."
2. It only remains here to notice these words
respecting John. They are much briefer than the
words to Peter ; for contemplative natures need less
outward teaching than active souls, whose energy
requires constant crossing and direction. These words
too respecting John are not said to him, but of him to
another ; for the passive soul, even when no outward
voice directly addresses it, ever hears the inward word,
and does unbidden, as men would say, the very thing
which more active workers only do through some ex
press command. For John here was already " follow
ing," ** that is doing, without another word, all that
Peter more slowly does through a reiterated command.
There yet are souls, Uke John, between whom and
Christ many words are not needed, because aU is
understood as it were without a word ; while there are
others, like Peter, to whom everything must be ex
pressed, and who always seem to think that others
need as many words as they do themselves, to the very
end full of questions for thefr brethren. Yet both are
loved, and both are crossed. And the words here
spoken as to John sufficiently indicate the nature of
the cross ordained for passive souls, whose deUght, like
Mary's,*' is, not so much to work for Him they love, as
to be near Him, in quiet meditation upon His words,
and contemplation of Himself and all His coming glory.
For such the cross is to "tarry" here, if Christ so
will : — " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that
to thee ? "
This then is John's cross, that, while his joy is in
" Verse 20. " S. Luke x. 39.

THE NEW MAN. 275
things within the veil, in meditation on the Word of
Life made flesh for us,** which he has seen, and looked
upon, and handled with his hands,** or in entrancing
revelations of the present service and coming glory
of the same Lord, either as priest walking amid the
golden candlesticks,'* or as Lamb of God openiag the
seals," or as the Word of God, with the two-edged sword,
going forth to rule and conquer all,'* his appointed
lot is to " tarry " here, amid the strifes of time, seeing
the shaking and passing away of all that can be shaken,
his early companions, one after another, taken before
him to their rest, while he, to whom that rest is per
haps dearer even than to them, is left to struggle on
through weary years, a pUgrim stUl, not yet at home.
But this too is love ; for if self-pleasing can enter into
active work, no less can it steal, stUl less perceived,
into the joy one has in visions and revelations of the
Lord. Souls, therefore, to whom such visions are
vouchsafed, require a sorer cross, some Egyptian prison,
as with Joseph," or some longer waiting, as with John,
¦or some thorn in the flesh, some messenger of Satan, as
with Paul,'* to keep them low, till they too are deli
vered from the even subtler self, which may be built
up in us by gifts superior to our brethren. Waiting is
harder than working, and the Johns must wait. Wait
ing is service also, for " they also serve who only stand
and wait." So the Johns serve to advanced old age.
The self-pleasing, self-wUled, life is the curse from
¦which we must be freed, if we are ever to be perfect.
In one way or another it must be cast out. Hence all
« S. John i. 14. ^ Rev. xix. 11-16.
" 1 S. John i. 1. 53 (Jen. zxxvii. 6-10, and
" Rev. i. 12-16. xxxix. 20.
" Rev. V. 6-7. " 2 Cor. xii. 1, 7.
T 2

276 THE PERFECTING OF
the toUs and judgments laid upon all, on the most
gifted not less, generally far more, than on thefr weaker
brethren, that by aU means they may be deUvered from
themselves, and from that self-wiU which so inveterately
clings to aU. For nothing reaUy perfects but that which
lays us in the dust." All, therefore, must be brought
down, till God's will, and not our own, is done in aU.
Meanwhile the blessing is that all is according to
Christ's wiU. It is only " if He will " that any " tarry "
here. " If I will." Here we may rest. Our times are
in His hands. His will is perfect love, and must be
far better than our own. Not bUnd chance, but wis
dom, determines the times before appointed, and the
bounds of our habitation, for us all.'* If He will that
we tarry, even until He come, there must be blessing
for His elect in such tarrying.
And in a certain and very real sense the contem
plative soul does tarry till Christ comes. John tarried,
not only till he saw the revelation of Jesus Christ,.
which opened all, but till the whole carnal dispensa
tion, with all its bondage, passed away, and he saw new
heavens and a new earth, and the New Jerusalem,.
coming down from God, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband." And so like souls still tarry till they
see new heavens and a new earth, which, real and pre
sent as they are, are yet unseen by aU. They are,
therefore, not troubled at the shaking of the things
which can be shaken, knowing that there are things
which cannot be shaken, but must remain.'* And
°' It is surely instructive to tion.
notice that the two words DOJl *° Acts xvii. 26.
and rhz, used in Hebrew to ^' Kev. xxi. 1, 2.
express destruction, signify also, *° Heb. iii. 27.
and are used to express, pcrfec-

THE NEW MAN. 277
though what is revelation to the Johns may yet be
darkness to the Church, though their visions may be
but dreams to many of their brethren, " though Diotre
phes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence, may not re
ceive them," '* their long waiting is not fruitless, either
to others or to themselves. They at least are gainers
by being " sharers in the tribulation and patience of
Jesus Christ."**
Such then is the perfecting of God's elect. Nature
must die and pass away, in whatever form, whether
active or passive, it may show itself in a disciple. Till
we so die with Christ, our very reUgion may but add
to our delusions. As WilUam Law said long ago : —
'^' Would you know whence it is that so many false
spirits have appeared in the world, who have deceived
themselves and others with false fire and false light,
laying claim to inspfrations, illuminations, and open
ings of the divine Hfe, pretending to do wonders, and
to extraordinary calls from God ? It is this. They
have turned to God without turning from themselves.
They would Uve in God without dying to thefr own
fallen self-will." *' Therefore " we which live are
always deUvered to death for Jesus' sake, that the Hfe
also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal
fiesh." ** The life of God must be brought forth and
made manifest in us ; *' while that which is " first and
natural " ** must be swallowed up of life. This is only
accomplished by the cross. And this cross is our
priestly consecration,*' the true perfecting or " filling
'» 3 S. John 9. « Col. iii. 3, 4.
™ Rev. i. 9 : crvyKowav'bs iv '* 1 Cor. xv. 46.
Tp fl\ii/(ei, K.T.\. «5 jijig same word is used iu
"' Law's Spirit of Prayer. Holy Scripture to express " per-
Part. II,, p. 19. fection " and " consecration."
«2 2 Cor. iv. 11. See Heb. vii. 28, margin.

278 THE PERFECTING OF
of our hands " ** for God's service ; that, being ifrst
emptied of ourselves, we may be filled with God, and
so minister His Spfrit unto men. Thus was Christ
made perfect ; *' thus were His apostles consecrated to
Him ; and thus, and thus alone, can we be made like
them. Not tiU we are stripped and cleansed can our
enUghtening come : not tiU we are enUghtened can we
fully know the union to which the Lord calls us. So
long as self-wiU remains, there can be no perfect union..
The more of self-will there is in any, the more of hell.
By the appointed cross therefore, and by it alone, do
we come to the blessed end, where all are one, and One
is all. «« The word x^a, used in the hands." See Exod. xxviii. 41 ;
Old Testament to express conse- xxix. 9, 33 ; Lev. xxi. 10 ; Numb
cration, is literally to "fill;' iii. 3, etc.
translated in the margin of our " Heb. ii. 10 ; v. 9.
Authorized Version to '¦'fill the

THE NEW MAN. 279

CONCLUSION.
THE NEW MAN AND THE ETERNAL LIFE.
(CoL. iii. 10)
We have thus gone through the series of our Lord's
reiterated Amens, each of which has opened some fur
ther truth distinctive of the New Man and his eternal
life. I would in conclusion sum up the teaching thus
brought before us. For God, in giving us His Son, has
given us this Ufe. And just in proportion as we receive
the Son is His Hfe revealed in us. And though at this
day, more perhaps than ever, when earthly advantage
is so keenly sought, he who chooses this life of Christ,
does it at the risk of being cast into the fiery furnace
of the world's scorn, as a poor feeble fool and mystic
dreamer, there is yet a seed to whom God's kingdom is
a present joy, and the life of Christ the one unfaiUng
reality. For such I gather up the distinctive features
of this life, that we may more fully see our calHng in
Jesus Christ our Lord.
But first a word as to the connection of these Amens
with Christ's own life. Christ Himself is the fulfil
ment of them all. In them we have as doctrines the
self-same truths which come before us as facts in the
life of Jesus Christ. These reiterated Amens describe
the working of the life of God in flesh and blood, an(?

280 THE NEW MAN AND
Christ is the life of God in flesh and blood. But our
Lord calls attention to these truths by words, lest our
blindness should not see the facts as they are set before
us in Himself under the veil of His flesh. For indeed
Christianity is Christ, and Christ is Christianity. He
is the Word made flesh. Therefore He is the fulfilment
of every true word which ever was or shall be spoken.
He is the fulfilment of the law. He is the fulfilment
of the prophets. He is the fulfilment of all those hopes
and traditions of the ancient heathen world, which were
dim unconscious prophecies of Him that was to come.
He is the substance and fulfilment also of every good
thing which outward nature sets before our eyes, for
nature also is a sacramental word. He is the bread,
the vine, the water, and the rock, and the way, and the
husband, and the tree of Ufe, and the first-fruits, and
the morning star, and the sun, and the kinsman-re
deemer, and the prophet, and the priest, and the phy
sician. For He is the fulfilment of His own words.
Fallen man may say one thing and do another. The
New Man is and must be what He speaks. So in reply
to the question, " Who art thou ? " He answers, " I am
that which I speak from the beginning ; " ' for what He
said was what He was : His Ufe was the perfect expres
sion and fulfilment of His own teaching. And so, if
only He lives in us, His words, even though we know
it not, will be fulfilled in us, because His life is the
fulfilment of His doctrine.
For what is the Gospel but the manifestation of the
New Life which is formed in man by the reception of
the Word and Spfrit of the Lord. What does it teU us
but that a New Man has been brought forth out of our
> S. John viii. 26.

THE ETERNAL LIFE. 281
divided nature, in whom the breach is healed, because
God has come to dwell in man, that man through death
may dwell in God. Is this the mere tradition of some
thing which only once happened, in a far off country,
eighteen hundred years ago, or is it the glad tidings of
a fact which is through grace for ever true, that by the
coming of the Word of God an etemal life is formed in
man, even a " new man," " Christ in us, the hope of
glory," * who bears the cross, that man may die to his
old life, and rises again, that man may Hve in God for
ever. All this was first accompHshed for us in Jesus
Christ our Lord. He is the Ffrst-bom Son, first out
of Ufe,' first out of death ;* and in and by Him, by His
life and death, the work was wrought for us, for in Him
God is one with man, and man is one with God. But
the work wrought for us in Jesus Christ is the sign and
pledge of the self-same work, which God has ever been
working, and still works in man by His Spirit. In His
thirty years we have all the stages of the one eternal
Ufe, as it may be and has been brought forth in human
nature. His infancy shows us the etemal life as it was
known in Patriarchal days ; His youth, the same life as
it grew throughout the Jewish dispensation ; His bap
tism opens our Christian position, how through a mystic
death heaven opens, and man passes into a spiritual
world, and the Spirit descends, and the Father's voice is
heard, acknowledging man on earth to be His son.
Lastly, Christ's death and resurrection show how man
is made for ever one with God, not merely filled with
His fulness here, but brought out of the Umitations of
the fall to be king of kings and lord of lords. Christ's
¦' Col. i. 27 ; iii. 10 ; Gal. iv. = Col. i. 16, 16, 17.
19. * Col. i. 18.

282 THE NEW MAN AND
life reveals it all. In Him God's purpose is declared
for ever. But to share with Him in all this. He must
be formed and grow in us. Then we too shall know
something of all these same stages : a time, in infancy,
without law : a time, in youth, when, though hefrs,
Uke Israel of old, we are under tutors and governors :
then the time when heaven opens, and we come to
death and resurrection. " The thing that hath been is
that which shall be, and there is no new thing under
the sun." ' At each stage the New Man is son of God.
These reiterated Amens, even as Christ's life for us,
only call attention to some of the marks or stages of
the appointed way.
Let us then briefly recapitulate this teaching.
First, the New Man's home is heaven. Heaven,
shut to the fallen old man, is reopened to the New. So
we are first assured that man shall see again his long-
lost home, and angels ascending and descending upon
the Son of Man.* But how can these things be ? Only
by a heavenly birth ; for the only way into any world
is by a bfrth into it. To enter heaven therefore man
must be re-born. A new life must be received, even
the life of heaven ; for so only can we live in heaven.
And this new life comes through Him who gives Him
self to be our Hfe, even the Son of Man who is in
heaven, who comes to earth that as many as receive Him
may become the sons of God, and by the same way
which He has gone for us, " born of water and of the
Spirit," that is through death to present nature, and
through the quickening of the Holy Ghost, may return
with Him from earth to heaven, from death to Ufe
for evermore.' But what kind of Ufe is this etemal life ?
« Eccl. i. 9. « Chap. 1. 61. ' Chap. iii. 3-15.

THE ETERNAL LIFE. 28a
It is a life of rest, the sabbath of the Lord, because the-
New Man does nothing, and can do nothing, from him
self, but only what the Father doeth. Therefore, in
stead of bringing death into the world, he rather
quickens and gives Hfe ; instead of being judged, Hke
the old man, he is ordained to judge others. And both
by quickening and by judging he fulfils the Father's
will, which is to overcome the curse, and to give tO'
others the rest which they have lost through their
own self-will.* Is then this Hfe self-supported ? No.
It Uves by heavenly bread, even by eating the fiesh
and drinking the blood of the Son of Man who is in
heaven ; Uving by Him, as the branch upon the vine,.
and as the vine upon its root, by the continual com
munication and reception of the life which through th&
Son flows ever from the Father.*
Then this life is also light ; and its light frees man
from the bonds which darkness ever lays upon him. It
comes indeed into our darkness, but it breaks its chains.
If we keep the word, we shall soon know. And then,,
if we know the truth, the truth will make us free.
The Son, because He makes us sons, shaU make us
free indeed.'* This leads to the opening of the divine
nature which through grace is ours. For the New
Man is a son of God. In Him the Creator and the
creature are indissolubly one ; for by the coming of the
eternal Son into owx nature the fulness of the Godhead
has dwelt in man, and the manhood has been taken
into God. God has become man, that man may say,
" I am." The Son of Man is very God." Then, be
cause God is love, this Ufe must go forth to serve
' Chap. V. 19-29. i» Chap. viii. 31-36.
» Chap. vi. 26-58. '• Chap. viii. 51-58.

284 THE NEW MAN AND
others, in a service which brings it unto the place of
erring needy souls, for whom the New Man gives him
self, first Uke a shepherd walking with his sheep, and
then laying down his life that they may Uve.'* For the
New Man serves, not only by spending his strength for
those who Httle understand him : he even becomes a
sacrifice for them, content, like a corn of wheat, to fall
into the ground and die, that by his self-sacrifice he
may unite that which through man's self-will is dis
united, and so may bring forth much fruit."
What aU this costs then opens to us. The eternal
life is tried by a humiUation such as mere fiesh and
blood could never bear. But the New Man knows that
he comes from God and goes to God. Therefore he
can stoop, not only to wash the feet of those who know
not what they receive, but to be rejected for such
humiliation, even to be betrayed by one, and denied by
another, of those for whom these things are done, and
who as yet are unprepared for such self-abasement.'*
Yet in this very humiliation there is glory, for God is
glorified thereby, and therefore glorifies even with
Himself the soul which can thus humble itself, making
it a vessel for His own manifestation. The New Man
therefore can say, " He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father, for the Father that dwelleth in me, He
doeth the works." Light, love, and power, shine out
through him. It is not he that lives, but the Lord
Himself who liveth in him. Henceforth he must be
prophet, priest, and king, for the very works of Christ
are the New Man's works, and even greater works are
done, when man in Christ goes to the Father." But
" Chap. X. 1-15. " Chap. xiii. 1-38.
" Chap. xii. 23-32. ¦= Chap. xiv. 9-14.

THE ETERNAL LIFE. 285
to this crowning joy the way is through sorrow.
Through not seeing after the flesh, — for He says, " A
Httle while ye shall not see me," — man comes to that
seeing where the sorrow shaU be turned into joy, even
fulness of joy, wliich no man taketh from us.'* Then
the perfecting is reached, that perfect union with the
Lord, where the wUl of the creature is swallowed up
and lost in God's will ; where therefore there is perfect
rest, for only one will rules ; the two are one, and One
is all." Such is this life, and such its vend. We see at a
glance how widely it differs in every distinctive charac
teristic from the way of the fallen old man.
In the ffrst place, this Hfe throughout depends on
God, Hving by Him, and with Him, and for Him, in aU
things. UnUke the old man, who in his fall would live
without God, if he could, — not really without Him, for
no creature can be thus independent, but looking to
self or creatures more than God, and choosing a path
in self-will rather than obedience, — the New Man's
strength and joy are all in God, and his highest glory
is to know and do His will. When he comes into the
world, he says, " Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 God ; " '*
and as he departs, his words stiU are, " Into thy hands
I commit my spirit." '* Throughout it is a Ufe of faith,
guided not by self, but by God, in all ; and at every
stage receiving from Him, depending upon Him, and
giving of Him. Thus its Home is not self-made ; its
Birth is not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man ; its Law is not to do its own will, but what it sees
the Father do. So again its Meat is the Father's gift; its
'« Chap. xvi. 16-24 '» Heb. x. 9.
>' Chap. xxi. 15. " S. Luke xxiii. 46.

286 THE NEW MAN AND
Preedom, to be as a son in a Father's house ; its Ser
vice, in the life of God to spend and be spent for others
to the uttermost. This entire dependence and self-
surrender mark it throughout. Therefore in all things
it can rest. God is its strength, and God can never
faU. Another characteristic of this life is its attendant
cross. Joy also it surely has, and rest of heart, and
peace with God, and a hope ever full of immortality.
But with all this there is present pain. The life of
love must suffer here, and be nigh to sorrows, and
acquainted with grief. It seems strange that he who
cares for all should himself be uncared for. But in
this world it must be so. Love suffers here ; and the
etemal life is the life of love, and not of self-love. In
aU it sacrifices itself, bearing other's burdens, even
dying for them, while yet, like God, it is rejected for
a season. And these reiterated Amens, even as Christ's
life, though at first disciples cannot understand it, make
no secret of the fact, that the cross must be our portion,
if we will live the life of God. What is the very first
stage but a passage through the waters ; and what is
the last but a participation in Christ's cup, to make
us perfect as our Lord. And all the teaching as to the
New Man's service, and his dying, like the com of
wheat, and his humiliation, and his sorrow, and his
ntter self-surrender, only repeat the same one truth,
that the elect must suffer, for only thus is nature over-
•come, and transmuted into that which can rise to and
abide in God for ever. Man as he is must be con
sumed, that he may be re-made in God's image. This
¦can only be accomplished through the waters and the
frres. Not only therefore must the old man die, but

THE ETERNAL LIFE. 287
the new man, who is brought forth out of the old, as
he first grows in the Hkeness of sinful flesh, and in the
place and nature of the old man,** must bear that old
man's curse, till by the fire of God that curse is turned
into a blessing. The altar of the Lord reveals it all,
where the creatfure dies and is consumed, to ascend in
a new form, as "an offering made by fire unto the
Lord." One other point I notice in this life, that while it
is from first to last the same, the very Hfe of God in
human nature, yet as here revealed it passes through
stages, in which it goes from strength to strength,*'
changing its form as its varied vfrtues come out into
manifestation through the veil of the flesh which for
a season hides them. Saints of bygone days were wont
to speak of the three great stages of this new Hfe, as,
first the Purgative Way, then the Illuminative Way,
and lastly the Unitive Way, which are but the varied
^ In a note on the statement includes. His taking flesh of the
¦of Athanasius, that " the Saviour, substance of the Virgin, that is
in taking our body of humilia- of a fallen nature. If indeed
tion, took a servant's form and sin were of the substance of our
put on that flesh which was fallen nature, as some heretics
¦enslaved to sin," Dr. Newman, have said, then He could not
in the Oxford Translation of have taken our nature without
the Fathers, edited by IDr. partaking our sinfulness ; but if
Pusey, says, " It was usual to sin be, as it is, a fault of the
say against the Apollinarians, will, then the divine power of
that, unless our Lord took on the Word could sanctify the
Him our nature, as it is. He had human will, and keep it from
not purified and changed it, as swerving in the direction of
it is, but another nature. . . . evil." Athanasius' Fov/r Dis-
It may be asked whether this cmi/rses against the Arians, i. ch.
¦doctrine does not interfere with xi. § 8, p. 241, note 6. The
that of the immaculate concep- whole note, which is quite a
tion ; but that miracle was Catena of authorities upon this
¦wrought in order that our Lord question, is well worth turning
might not be bom in original to.
sin, and does not affect, or rather ^ Psalm Ixxxiv. 7.

288 THE NEW MAN AND
phases through which the spirit passes from conception
to manifestation, each having its distinctive form, but
all equally workings of the same one Hfe, the differing
forms being the result of the varying growth of the
new man at different stages. Not that at any one of
these stages there was not always something of aU these
marks of the one life, but rather that at each stage one
or other mark preponderates ; the first being specially
distinguished by separation or purgation, the second
by illumination, the third by unbroken union and com
munion with the Lord. This series of reiterated
Amens has the same advance. Though all are aspects
of one life, one can hardly overlook the growth or
progress in them. In the first four, in the Home, and
Birth, and Law, and Meat, of the New Man, the pre
ponderating idea is Separation or Purgation. Need I
point out how in the first there is separation from the
world, in the second, separation from the flesh, in the
third, separation from the devil, for there is nothing
in man more devilish than self-will ; to come instead,
first to that which is of heaven, then to that which is-
of the Spirit, and then to that which is of the Father,
both in rest and action. But is there not like purgation
also in the New Man's Meat, which by giving new blood
makes a new creature, free from the diseases and
defilements of the fallen old man. The next four say
ings trace the Illuminative Way. All that is said as
to the Liberty, and the Divine Nature, and the Service,
and Sacrifice, of the New Man, speaks not of life only,
but of the growing "light of Hfe," which "shineth
more and more unto the perfect day."** And then in
the last four sayings we have what is Unitive, in the
« S. John viii. 12 ; Prov. iv. 18.

THE ETERNAL LIFE. 289
HumiUation, and the Glory, and the Joy, and finally
in the Perfected Union, which is the end of all. And
yet the varied stages are but one Ufe, as it grows from
earth to heaven, and from divided nature to know and
rest in God.
Now Christ, as we have seen, is the perfect pattern
of the way. In His own life He Hved through all the
stages by which man comes from earth to heaven.
His life is the witness of God's purpose towards the
world, and a type of man as God will one day make
him. Believers are indeed the first-fruits, pioneers in
the path of man's return to God, and pledges of that
which through Christ is coming to their brethren.
But man as man, that is the world, is the creature which
is redeemed in Christ,*' and destined to come by Him
where He, the Head, has gone afready for us. Where
then is man at the present day in the path figured for
us in Christ ? What remains for him to learn, and do,
and suffer, here ? What is the next great step which
he has to take ? It is to this point I would caU atten
tion. For the days we live in have tokens that some
great change is close at hand, and that our race, which
step by step has reached its present state, is about to
pass, not surely without a crisis, for every advance is
through some crisis, into some new and we may believe
some higher experience. Does Christ's Hfe give us no
light here ? Does it not rather show us the appointed
way to the consummation, which has indeed been ru-
dividually experienced by the elect, who, as God's first-
fruits, ever lead the way, and of which they are the
witness and example, but which, unless I misunderstand
Christ's life, is to be reached at last by the race whose
™ 1 Tim. ii. 6; Heb. ii. 6-9 ; IS. John iv. 14
IT

290 THE NEW MAN AND
nature He has redeemed, and afready brought in Him
self through death from earth to heaven. If I mistake
not, this great change even now is coming on the
world. The veU, afready rent in Christ, shaU pass
away. Not the elect only, but man as man, shall see
the heavens open, and the revelation of the kingdom
and power of our God and of His Christ.**
For Christ is man according to God's mind. In
Him we see what man can be as requickened and re
made by God's Spirit. AU through His Ufe there was
growing revelation, that is unveUing, of God's Ufe and
truth, which through man's fafU were hidden from us.
From the beginning He was God's hefr : but He grew
in wisdom and stature here. His cfrcumcision, bap
tism, and transfiguration, were stages in the path of
man's return to God. Was not His death also an ad
vance ? Does it not show us the one way by which the
world is to be brought to God and heaven ? Assuming,
as I have said, that Christ's infancy figured the Patri
archal age, which was without law, and His youth and
cfrcumcision the Jewish dispensation, and His baptism
man's coming to the present Christian ground, even to
the knowledge of God's fatherhood, through a mystic
death and resurrection ; what do Christ's actual death
and resurrection and ascension witness, but that there
is something for the world beyond man's present state,
even a passing through judgment and dissolution, to
the things which flesh and blood can never see.*' Saints
2' Rev. xii. 10. end of which is hidden, whether
25 The Hebrew word for age in relation to the past or to the
is olam, D^J?. which is thus ex- future. Hence also eternity, _ the
plained' by Fvirst : " That which extremities of which are veiled.
is wrapped up, covered over, or From this word comes the Latin
concealed. Specifically «ime, the veltim, and thence again rece-

THE ETERNAL LIFE. 291
in bygone days foresaw that the Chm-ch would come to
a tribulation, which should make her cry, like Christ,
" My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ; " **
out of which, through the " consumption which is de
creed," *' she shall be raised to another state, and like
her Head, even through judgment, be yet more blessed
and made a blessing. Individually each believer has
thus advanced with Christ. But there will be a world-
fulfilment of the story, when man as man through judg
ment shall attain to that which Christ as man through
death has entered for us.
To me aU things seem to witness that this change
is at the doors, that Christendom is even now on the very
eve of judgment, and yet that the break up of the Church,
Hke that of Israel of old, wUl raise the world another
step, and lead, not only to the departure of the fleshly
forms of Christ, but to an outpouring of the Spirit, such
as hitherto has not been known, and to an attainment
by the race of an opening of heaven and the things of
God, which as yet has been the lot of very few. Christ
shall be revealed. It will not be what so many are
expecting, the continuation of that which now is seen,
but the bringing in, or rather bringing out, of that
which stiU is hidden, which, while it will surely shake
latio." (Heb. Lex. ira loco.) Park- of the time of Antichrist, he
hurst gives the same explanation says, " Tanta erit tribulatio,
of the word. quod videbitur aliquibus de ec-
2« Speaking of the Church, clesiS, quod fides Catholica de-
Nicholas de Lyra says, (Coromemi. beat totaliter deficere. There
on Psalm xxi.,) " Videbitur a Deo fore it is added, in the person
dereliuqui ; " and he adds, that of the Church, ' 0 my God, call
" it is the Church, as Christ's me not away in the midst of my
body, which will then say with days,' by taking me away out of
Him, ' My God, my God, why this present life, before the end
hast thou forsaken me ? ' " So of the world."
again, (on Psalm ci.,) speaking =' Isa x. 22.
u 2

292 THE NEW MAN AND
all that can be shaken, will reveal also something
which shall not be moved.** But the thought that
another and better dispensation will succeed the pre
sent is as offensive to many in the Church as the idea
that the gospel should succeed the law was to God's
ancient people Israel. Those who counted themselves
the elect could not beUeve the passing away of that
which had stood so long, and been confirmed by such
divine sanctions. Yet man grew out of the Jewish to
the Christian stage. And now, if I err not, by the
Church's judgment, and through a process very similar
to that which happened to the Jew, man is not only to
extend what he now has, — much less to retrograde, as
some believe, to Jewish ceremonies, — but rather to
advance by the development of the Ufe of God within
to something still higher and broader and more spfritual.
Man progresses, not merely in extension, but in de
velopment ; for the progress of Hfe is the progress of
development ; and Christ's life and death are the pat
tern of the way from flesh to spirit, and from the
lowest parts of the earth to highest heaven.
Meanwhile and ever the life which can pass unhurt
through all is the etemal life which is afready ours
through Christ Jesus. It burns as Ught in the king
dom of darkness, unpolluted by it, and even trans
forming all that it illumines by its meek yet mighty
power. It is the hope of the world, which uncon
sciously waits for the manifestation of the sons of God ;
for the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God.** It is called to judge and save the
world, though the cross yet presses on it, and the veil
^ Heb. xii. 27. '^ Rom. viii. 19. 20.

THE ETERNAL LIFE. 293
yet hides its true glory. The elect can bide their time,
though the cross is still an offence. Our real shame is
not the cross, but that we so Httle know it ; — not our
temptation and humiliation, but that where Christ was
rejected and despised we are rich and reign as kings
without Him. We are so Easily contented to be saved,
and not be saviours;'* to be converted to Christ, as
people say, and not also converted into Christ, as God
would have us. For He has caUed us through the cross
to be conformed to Him, that it may not be we, but
Christ, who Uveth in us ; " to see only with His eyes,
and to hear only with His ears ; to be like Him, quick
ening spfrits,'* by whom He works His will ; to know
that the Son of God has come, and has given us an
understanding, that we may know Him that is true,
and that we are in Him that is true, even in His Son
Jesus Christ." This is the New Man, and this is the
true God, and this is the etemal Ufe.
Such is our calHng. Man is God's heir iu Christ
Jesus. And although the heir, as long as he is a chUd,
differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of
aU ; though we too, when we were children, were in
bondage under the elements of the world ; it is no less
true, that, when the fulness of the time was come, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we
might receive the adoption of sons. And because we
are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son
into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore we
are no more servants, but sons ; and if sons, then heirs
of God through Christ.'* If then nobility of ancestry
» Obadiah 21 ; 1 Tim. iv. 16. ^ 1 S. John v. 20.
3" Gal. ii. 20. " Gal. iv. 1-7.
'2 1 Cor. XV. 45.

294 THE NEW MAN AND
in this world lays an obligation upon the hefrs, not to
disgrace the name they bear by any act unworthy of
thefr high Hneage, — if a king's son cannot be mean, —
what should they be who know thefr calling, and their
Father's purpose towards them ; that they are caUed
with Christ to judge the world, and that, when He
shall appear, they shall be like Him, for they shall see
Him as He is. Unbelief may still keep thousands
strangers to thefr true Ufe, and to God's purpose to
wards them. Every one that hath this hope in Him,
purifieth himself even as He is pure."
This then is the sum of the whole matter. The
powers of the heavenly Hfe, lost in Adam's fall, have
been raised up again in Christ Jesus, and may be
brought forth, in Hke manner, even out of the body of
this death, by the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the
overshadowing power of the Most High, by whom that
" holy thing " is formed in sinful man, which is, and
therefore is truly called, the Son of God.'* This is the
mystery of the Gospel, that the incorruptible seed is
still brought forth from our weak and fallen human
nature. And the children of this mfraculous genera
tion must be like their Head, lambs and sacrifices to
God, having the seven horns and seven eyes," that is
the sevenfold powers of His meek life, which, through
the death of self, come forth as rays out of the life and
light which He bestows and brings forth in us. These
are the seven spfrits of God, which, though once
quenched and lost in Adam, when he sunk under the
dominion of the serpent's lie, to be as a beast where
he was set to have dominion, have been restored in
=^ 1 S. John iii. 3. Col. i. 27.
=» S. Luke i. 35 ; Gal. iv. 19 ; " Rev. v. 6.

THE ETERNAL LIFE. 295
Christ, in the tabernacle which He raises up, where the
" seven lights " again are burning, and the " bread of
faces," that is the bread which manifests God, is again
upon the table.'* Without this sevenfold spirit, which
is the witness that the New Man has come, who con
cludes the days of labour, and ushers in the day of rest,
none can be complete with the double completeness
which God has purposed for us ; not only to be buUt up
a holy house, in which He may dweU, but to show His
virtues and His glories, when, through the rendiag of
the veil, the hoUest of all is opened, where Ught is
swallowed up of light, in the glory of the cloud which
dweUs upon the mercy-seat of God.'* Such a temple
God has afready raised up in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Such will He make those who by grace in all things
whoUy yield themselves to Him, that in them, as in
the Head, His image and likeness may be seen, with
all the " lights and perfections " *° which belong to the
kingdom and priesthood of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Unless this seed be quickened in us, we cannot
enter the kingdom. Nothing but the Spfrit of Hfe,
through Jesus Christ, with all the powers of His
heavenly Hfe, can make us like Him, or bring us where
He is gone before. He must be in us, or we cannot
Hve His life. He must clothe us, as the woman was
clothed with the sun,*' or we shall be naked. He must
enrich us with His seven-fold gifts, or we shall be help
less to serve in His service. He waits at the tent-door
of our mortal flesh to fiU us with His fulness, — to bring
forth in us the precious things of which the carnal ser-
" Exod. xxv. 30, 31. Thummim mean simply " lights "
^ Lev. xvi. 2. and " perfections."
¦"> Exod. xxviii. 30. Urim and ¦" Rev. xii. 1.

296 THE NEW MAN.
vice of the temple, with its vessels of silver and gold,
and its outward water, fiLre, and blood, and its lamps,
and incense, and fine raiment, were but a passing sha
dow ; even to give us His own flesh, to make us clean
Hke Him, and to kindle in us the true fire, which shall
transmute and make us Ught in the Lord.** But the
gate is strait which leads to the mamfestation of the
glory of the Lord. Self must die that Christ may be
revealed. The cross alone opens the kingdom. By it
the serpent's head is bruised : by it the image of the
beast is judged and broken : by it we pass from our
poor house of clay to the fulness of the glory of the
New Man, even to the house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. Christ's life and death stiU
open all. May we be found in that New Man, and in
His etemal Hfe for evermore. '2 Eph. v. 8.

INDEX.

Aan'on, priesthood of, 141.
Aetiive Ufe, seen in St Peter, 29,
262.
Acts of the Apostles, show Christ
as known after the Spirit, 30.
Amen, a. title of our Lord, 3 ;
means True or Truth, 4 ; reite
rated, peculiar to St John's
Gospel, 6.
Angels, ascend and descend on the
Son of Man, 37 ; their varied
ministry, 38 ; to be judged by
the elect, 82 ; the angel -with
the plagues shows the heavenly
city, 36.
Antich/rist, in the place of Christ,
227, note 46 _; the last, 142 ; will
claim divinity, 142 ; signs of,
147 ; will devastate the church,
291.
Apostasy, the last, 142, 147.
Ashi/ng, in Christ's name, 234,
252 ; questions, 249 ; the Father,
251.
Baptism, Christ's, 24 ; is our con
fession of death with Christ,
63 ; the sacrament of regenera
tion, 53.
Beast, the, 147.
Believers, glory of, 236.
BeUevim^, on the Son, 113; re
sults of, 114.

Birth, the only -way into any
world, 42 ; natural, a figure of
spiritual, 49 ; the new, see Re
generation.
Blood, of the Son of Man, must be
received, 97 ; is the blood of
God, 98 ; cleanses from sin, 103,
108 ; communicated first through
the incorruptible seed, 98 ; re
ceived sacramentally, 104, 105 ;
varied forms of, 98 ; double
action of, 99.
Body, of sin, 60 ; spiritual, 96,
296.
Bondage, what is, 120, 121, 122,
128 ; may serve us for awhile,
123 ; is not eternal, 123, 126.
Bread, of God, 90; comes down
from heaven, 91 ; gives life to
the world, 92 ; is Christ's flesh,
93, 261.
Bride, the, three sayings of, 117.
CalWng, our, 231.
Carnal forms, necessary for carnal
souls, 197.
Clumge, implies imperfection, 144.
Chastity, 271.
Cherubim, 28, 138.
Children, may be bom too soon,
272.
Christ, first form of, in the flesh,
8, 30 ; comes in the flesh, 104,

298

INDEX.

197, 287 ; comes into our divi
sion, 140, 259 ; is first known
in the flesh, 34, 240, 258; is
often only outwardly received,
107 ; his flesh, like Jacob's
ladder, joins heaven and earth,
22; is meat indeed, 96, 97; is
the lion, and the lamb, 32 ;
varied stages of his life, 56, 281 ;
reconciles all, 32; reveals God,
219; is our life, 233; is the
fulfilment of heathen hopes,
880 ; is the fulfihnent of his O'svn
words, 280 ; is prophet, 227 ;
priest, 228 ; and king, 231 ;
seen by St John with woman's
breast, 34; is made perfect
through sufierings, 140, 259 ;
for us, a prelude of Christ iu us,
66 ; witness of God's purpose
toward us, 236, 236, 282 ; where
revealed, 236, 237.
Christ's going, to the Father, 235,
244.
Christ's name, asking in, 234.
Christendom, grafted into the
Jewish olive-tree, 241.
Clvrigtia/nity, is Christ, 280.
Ch/ristians, various titles of, 114
should manifest Christ, 218
and do Christ's works, 226, 226
as prophets, 227 ; as priests, 230
and as kings, 231.
Chwrch, the, not named in the re
iterated Amens, 7 ; contains not
men only, but beasts, 164 ; its
failure, 12 ; should reveal
Christ, 218 ; about to be judged,
291 ; of Rome, 28.
Cleansed, all things are, by Christ,
31, 32.
Cleamsing, required, even after re
generation, 203 ; how minis
tered, 202, 203, 205 ; by blood,
103.
Common, no man, 30.
Commwnion, 201.
Consecration, 277.
(hntemplati/ce life, seen in St

John, 262 ; needs less teaching
than the active life, 274 ; its
cross, 276.
Cowtinvmg, in the word, 114.
Corwersion, to Christ, and into
Christ, 293.
Cofu/nsels of perfection, 271, 272.
Crisis, the coming, 289, 291.
Cross, the, our deliverance, 69;
the true sceptre, 191 ; reconciles
all, 194; varied forms of, 269,
274 ; perfects us, 268, 269, 278,
296 ; is our priestly consecra
tion, 277.
Oross-bewrers, who are, 196.
Death, the only way out of any
world, 60, 69 ; the -way to
heaven, 64; is a baptism, 53;
is the way of increase, 182 ;
Christ's, 186; pain and bliss of,
188 ; daily, how consistent -with
an earthly calling, 197.
Delusions, one cause of, 277.
Depa/rted, intercourse with, 27.
Des/vTe,'Csie one mouth for heavenly
food, 101.
Demi, the, a liar, 44, 152.
Disciples, varieties of, 21, 260,
261 ; at flrst are carnal, 30 ;
mistakes of, 212 ; how made
spiritual, 31, 241, 242.
Disobedience, makes others sinners,
195.
Dvoi/ne nature, of man, 138, 140;
perU of this truth, 142.
Dwinity, of the New Man, 141 ;
will be claimed by Antichrist,
142.
Division, the result of sin, 194 ;
not for ever, 173 ; was not in
the Son of Man, 269.
Door, Christ the, 168 ; ministry is
a, 163.
Dvmibness, cause of, 160.
Eating, unworthily, 103.
Elect, the, not free at first, 123 ;

INDEX.

299

the means to meet the fall, 139 ;
and to gather all, 140.
Election, speaks of division, 140.
Eleusis, mysteries of, 178, 179.
End, the, 194.
EnUghtening, through the word,
114, 116 ; joy of first, 246.
Epistles, of St John, 9.
Eueharistio celebration,hs,s always
had lessons from Holy Scrip
ture, 106.
Evil, not etemal, 134, note 11, and
194.
Exodus, 27.
Experience, far short of our call
ing, 231 ; of disciples, a pattern
of ours, 240, 241.
Faith, comes through the word,
116 ; the germ of knowledge
and liberty, 116 ; gives spiritual
title-deeds, 233 ; can accomplish
all, 234; in Christ and of Christ,
67; the faith of God, 234.
FaU, the, how brought about, 44,
46, 121 ; how remedied, 49, 140;
not permitted without a pur
pose, 137.
Feasts, of the Lord, 256.
First-born, contrast of this title,
¦with Only-begotten, 143, note
45 ; the, are doors or gates, 163.
First-frmts, the, 76, 77 ; believers
are, 255.
Fi^h, 261, nete 15.
Flesh, Christ's, the bread of life,
93 ; is true substance, 95 ;
absolutely needed to support
the new man, 97 ; destroys the
old life and sustains the new,
100 ; must be assimilated, 101,
102 ; comes to us sacramentally,
104, 105 ; may be received
through preaching or Holy
Scripture, 106 ; often received
to profit ¦without right under
standing, 96, 108.
Folloming Christ, involves all
counsels of perfection, 271.

Fraitfulness, the result of sacri
fice, 178, 179, 181, 189.
Gates, of the holy city, 163.
Gifts, do not involve freedom,
121 ; of God are without re
pentance, 137 ; diversities of,
229.
Glory, the result of sacrifice, 190,
191 ; of believers, 236.
God, is love, 221 ; is light, 220 ;
is spirit, 223 ; makes himself all
things to all men, 105 ; gives
himself to us, 145 ; is the great
illustration of self-sacrifice, 179,
180 ; how glorified, 192 ; faith
of, 234.
Going, to the Father, 235, 236.
Gospel, the, is the manifestation of
the new life, 280 ; not a mere tra
dition, but a present fact, 281.
Gospel according to St John, re
veals the etemal life in the
Only-begotten Son, 9.
Gospels, the, show Christ as known
after the flesh, 30 ; four, the
reason for, 16.
Grace, of our Lord Jesus Christ,
252.
Hearing God, a mark of the new
man, 148.
Heathen, not -without the word,
56, 57.
Heaven, the spirit-world, 23, 35 ;
shut at the fall, 18, 20, 23 ; is
near, 23 ; re-opened at Christ's
baptism, 19 ; illustrations of its
re-opening — to Christ, 24, 25 ;
to Peter, 30 ; to John, 33 ; such
openings of, perilous to im
perfect souls, 27, 29.
Hebrews, the true, 77.
Hell, the non-apprehension of our
true being, 135.
Higher natwres, serve the lower,
164.
Hi/reWngs, 167.
Holy Ghost, coming of, 268.

300

INDEX.

Home, man's true, 18.
Horwwr, of the saints, 84.
Humiliation, slowly learnt, 199 ;
Christ's, 202 ; an offence to
carnal souls, 204 ; the way to
cleanse others, 202, 206 ; the
fruit of love, 207 ; and of
knowledge, 208 ; difficult to
flesh and blood, 214.
Hunger, comes -with life, 101.
Iam, import of the title, 144.
Illuminative way, 287, 288.
Image of God, man made in, 44.
Incamiation, the meaning of, 32,
158 ; affects aU, 195.
Jacob's ladder, 21.
James, St, type of life of hope,
262 ; the place his teaching
occupies, 11.
Jews' religion, 93.
John, St, type of life of ¦vision, 29,
262; his special testimony, 8,
9 ; the place his teaching
occupies, 11 ; wiU tarry till
Christ comes, 12, 276 ; his
¦visions, 33 ; his perfecting, 274,
276.
Joy, of believers, 247, 248 ; ful
ness of, 253, 254.
Judgment, why needed, 72, 192 ;
committed to God's sons, 71,
73 ; two classes of, 80 ; end of,
193 ; begun already, 81 ; to be
revealed, 82 ; of the world,
192.
Xing, Christ is, 231.
Mngdom, the, true children of, 67.
Knowing, different ways of, 117 ;
knowing is having, 117, 146.
Knoroledge, the fruit of faith, 115,
116, 129 ; of Christ in the flesh,
before knowledge of Him in the
spirit, 30, 31, 240, 246 ; in the
letter may make us more self-
willed, 273 ; perfected, 249.

Laro, produces bondage, 122 ; may
become the promise, 126 ; of
the New Man, 61, 85.
Lessons from Holy Scripture, at
Holy Communion, 106, nete 69.
Liberty, the result of light. 111,
112; the fruit of faith, 1)8;
given in and by Christ, 123,
127 ; the perfect law of, 130.
Lie, the serpent's, quickens the
hellish life, 45, 69.
lAfe, eternal, the gift of (Jod, 46 ;
was in Old Testament saints,
7 ; quickened by the word of
God, 52, 100 ; received first
sacramentally, 53 ; through
faith, 113 ; only sustained by
the bread of God, 101, 103;
depends on God for all, 285;
suffers here, 286 ; stages of,
64, 113, 212, 218 ; a step to hght,
111, 115.
lAght, shows things as they are,
112 ; the works of, 220.
Living creatures, the four, 28, 138,
139.
Lord!s supper, is sacrifice and
communion, 201.
Love, the fulfiUing of the law,
130; never had a beginning,
134 ; mark of the di-rine nature,
151, 222 ; is a trinity, 224 ; has
royal -wisdom, 232 ; is the first
requisite for service, 265 ; grows
by yielding to it, 267 ; lack of,
brings judgment, 175 ; God is,
221.
Man, greater than he knows, 139 ;
greater than elect man, 139 ; is
a spirit in a house of clay, 23 ;
an epitome of creation, 32 ;
originally in God's image, 44;
destined to come where Christ
is, 289.
Man, tlie old, of the earth, 20 ; is
by nature faUen, and dead to
God's world, 43, 46 ; always acts
from self, 63 ; loves to show him-

INDEX.

301

self, 218 ; needs some outward
voice, 148.
Ma/n, the nem, an image of aU
worlds, 14 ; an image of God,
14 ; the true tabernacle, 49 ;
heavenly, 20 ; undivided, 260 ;
linked with aU, 15, 31 ; how
formed in us, 52 ; passes through
varied stages, 55, 281 ; grows in
the likeness of sinful flesh, 287 ;
at first hidden, 55 ; destined to
rule and restore all, 76, 79, 84,
137, 138 ; and to be deified,
137, note 23 ; quickens others,
76, 151 ; judges, 71, 80 ; re
veals God, 218 ; is betrayed,
209 ; and denied, 210 ; must
suffer, 168 ; must be what he
speaks, 280 ; is the true Shekinah,
220.
Mom, Son of, import of this title,
22, 139.
Marriage, figure of self-sacrifice,
181 ; the marriage supper of the
Lamb, 264.
Martyrdoms, look mean when
suffered, 213.
Melchisedeh, priesthood of, 141.
Most High, the name of God
known to Melchisedek, 142.
Multiph/vngs, two, of bread, 99.
Name, asking in Christ's, 234.
Natwre, present, divided, 52 ; a
book of God, 104 ; sacramental,
102, 107, 280.
Necromancy, why forbidden, 29.
New man, see Man.
Obedience, the secret of power,
65; the reward of, 173, 174;
makes God glad, 174 ; makes
many righteous, 195 ; a part of
perfection, 271.
Only-begcftten, import of this title,
143, note 46.
Order, restored through sacrifice,
194.

Paradise, once man's home, 44,
46; lost through sin, 45; re
opened through Christ, 23, 51.
Paml, St, the place his teaching
occupies, 10, 11.
Pentecost, not kno-wn by all, 31,
258 ; the coming, 83.
Perfection, the way of, 259 ;
according to one law, though
varying in form, 263, 264 ;
only reached through the cross,
269 ; counsels of, 271.
Peter, St, type of life of faiih, 29,
262 ; the place his teaching
occupies, 11 ; his vision, 30 ;
his work, 265 ; his perfecting,
268.
Pha/risaism, 159 ; its mistake,
160.
Poverty, a counsel of perfection,
271.
Prayer, may be in self-will, 64 ;
our first prayers, 252 ; accept
able, 251.
Preaching, is sacramental, 108.
Pride, the crowning sin of the
old man, 200 ; dishonours God,
213.
Priest, Christ is, 34, 229 ; his
works as, 230; after the order
of Melchisedek, 141 ; believers
called to share this office, 230,
231.
Priestly consecration, 277.
Prophet, Christ is, 227 ; believers
called to share this office, 228.
Psalms, five books of, in Hebrew,
4, note 5 ; of degrees, 213.
Purgative nay, 287, 288.
Questions, first of Old and New
Testament, 17 ; of disciples, 250.
Quichening, before birth, 54 ;
effected by the word, 76 ; vary
ing times of, 76 ; committed to
God's sons, 71, 74.
ReeonciUation, already wrought
in Christ, 194.

302

INDEX.

Regeneratwn, why necessary, 42 ;
two stages of, 50 ; how accom
pUshed for us, 49 ; how wrought
in us, 52 ; received first sacra-
mentaUy, 53.
ReUgion, should be re-union, 64 ;
may be offensive to God, 64 ;
Satan's power seen in, 158, 159 ;
the Jews', 93.
Rest, self-wiU cannot, 252 ; found
in the cross, 270.
Restitution, the, brought about by
sacrifice, 195.
Revelation, of St John, 10.
Righteousness, of God, not accord
ing to law, 70 ; how it comes
back to man, 121.
Sabbath, the, broken through sin,
63 ; the true, 88.
Sacramental, words are, 106, 108 ;
all nature is, 102, 107, 280;
saints may become, 60.
Sacraments, extensions of the In
carnation, 60, 353 ; the creature
form of the word, 60 ; channel
by which the word reaches
faUen men, 55, 104, 105 ; rightly
to understand, is to understand
the whole gospel, 60 ; an offence
to some disciples, 204.
Sacrifice, the law of the divine
Ufe, 194 ; the law of increase,
178, 179, 182 ; the fruit of love,
180, 192 ; various -views of,
181 ; as seen in God, 180 ;
Christ's, 182 ; of believers, 231 ;
stages of, 183, 184, 197 ; glory
of, 190,191; restores true order,
194.
Sealing, the sacrifices, 90.
Seed, the essence of the blood or
Ufe, 99, 182 ; is self-sacrifice,
179 ; not brought to perfection
at once, 54 ; how spoilt, 186 ;
multipUed through sacrifice,
190; of God, 146, 182.
Seed of the woman, implies division,
78, 140.

Seeing, what the Father doeth,
68.
Self, at first the spring and end of
all our works, 269.
Self-mill, the special mark of the
old man, 63 ; often at work in
religious acts, 64 ; is bondage,
121 ; can never rest, 129 ; must
die, 187
Service, true, springs from love,
156 ; is a means to an end, 163 ;
test of, 164; cost of, 166, 168,
169 ; results of, 171 ; is volun
tary, yet according to law, 174 ;
Pharisaic, 156, 159 ; its marks,
157, 161.
Shehi/nah, man the true, 220.
Shew-bread, 87, 295.
Sin, what is, 121 ; is bondage,
120 ; requires law 122 ; is not
eternal, 123, 134, nMe 11.
Son of Man, import of this title,
22, 78, 96, 139, 141 ; is un
divided man, 140 ; contrast
between Son of Man and Seed
of the Woman, 78, 140; first
form, in our likeness, 34, 140;
made perfect through sufferings,
140; is God, 133, 135, 136; is
judge of quick and dead, 76,
77, 79 ; flesh of, must be eaten,
96, 97.
Sonship, spirit of, given by Christ,
127 ; turns, law into gospel,
126.
Sorrow, the cause of disciples',
243 ; Christ's, 243 ; only for a
season, 247; the way to joy,
240, 242, 255.
Spirit, God is, 223 ; can fiU all
forms, 224 ; sevenfold forms
of, 294.
Spiritual, what is counted, 159 ;
what really is, 206 ; aU beUevers
are not, 258.
Spiritual body, 95.
Stages, of Christian life, 55, 212,
252, 259.
Substance, 95.

INDEX.

303

Suffering, the way to glory, 255.
Tabernacle, divided by a veil for a
season, 49.
Tabernacles, feast of, 266.
Thieves, 166.
Time, the last, 10, 291.
Transjigwration, 25.
Trinity, seen in Christ, 224.
Truth, first received on testimony,
7 ; grows in us Uke a seed, 115 ;
revealed to the true, 116 ; leads
to Uberty, 129; mark of the
di-vine nature, 147.
Turning, to God, without turning
from self, 277.
Unclean, nothing is, of itself, 31 ;
what is, 224.
Union, with God, 146.
Unitive way, 287.
Universe, the, is one, 196.
Urim and Thummim, 295.
Vision, of great sheet, 30 ; of
priest amid the candlesticks, 34.

Washing, the feet, 203
Way, Christ the, 212 ; purgative,
illuminative, unitive, 287, 288.
WiU, the creature's, perverted
through the fall, 44, 64 ; must
co-operate -with God, 58.
Witness, threefold, of spirit, water,
and blood, 47.
Womcm, not separate from man
in the beginning, 78; seed of,
implies division, 78, 140.
Word, of God, the only saviour,
68; the seed of the new life,
146 ; near to all creatures, 56,
104; comes in the flesh, 105,
287 ; comes to the faithful, 148,
149 ; of the serpent, quickens
the hellish life, 69, 100.
Worh, often done in self-wUl, 260 ;
a step to perfection, 265.
Works, the greater, promised to
beUevers, 232, 235 ; -wrought by
Christ in us, 233.
World, the, does not hear God,
149 ; judgment of, 192, 193.
Worlds, three, in which man may
be, 43

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