tilings which appear to me not warranted by the words of the evangelist.
13. — [/ liaioe yet many tilings. ..you^ This clause seems to refer to the higher, fuller, deeper views of Christian truth which our Lord doubtless revealed to His disciples during the forty days between His resurrection and ascension, when He was continually " speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."
The absurdity and unreasonableness of concluding from this text that there are many other truths which Christ after His resurrection revealed to the Apostles, but which are not record- ed in Scripture, is well exposed by Ecolampadius and other Protestant commentators.
[ Ye cannot hear them now.] This word " bear " means liter- ally " carry." It does not therefore signify things that the disciples could not " apprehend," but things that their minds were not yet strong enough to endure and digest.
Do we not see here that there are steps and degrees in Chris- tian attainment ? A man may be a good man, and yet not able to endure the whole truth. We must teach people as they are able to bear, and be patient.
13. — \IIoiDheit...He...gnide...nll truth.'] Here our Lord gives anoth- er promise concerning the Holy Ghost. He shall guide disci- ples into all truth. He will lead and direct them into the full knowledge of all the doctrines of the Gospel, and all the truth they need to know.
It is needless to say that " all truth " here does not mean all scientific truth. It applies specially to spiritual truth.
This great promise does not appear to me to signify " inspi- ration," or the imparting of that power to write and teach in- fallibly which the Apostles possessed. I much prefer the view, that it is a wide promise belonging to the whole Church in every age. It means that special office of "teaching" by which the Spirit illuminates, guides, and informs the under- standings of all believers. That the minds of true Christians are taught and enlightened in a manner wonderful to them- selves as well as others, is a simple matter of Christian expe- rience. That enlightenment is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the first step in saving religion. At the same time we must never forgot that the disciples received an immense increase of spiritual knowledge after the day of Pentecost, and saw everything in religion far more clearly than they did before.
Alford observes, " No promise of universal knowledge, nor of infallibility, is liereby conveyed ; but it is a promise to them and us, that the Holy Spirit shall teach and lead us, not as chil- dren under the tutors and governors of legal and imperfect