(1) Grace and truth are spoken of in the concrete. The Apostle says that the only begotten is " full of grace and truth." He did not come to tell us about grace, but actually to bring us grace. He is not full of the news of grace and truth, but of grace and truth themselves. Others had been messengers of gracious tidings, but He came to bring grace. Others teach us truth, but Jesus is the truth. He is that grace and truth whereof others spake.
(2) The grace and truth are blended. The " and " between the two words is more than a common conjunction. The two rivers unite in one fulness — "Full of grace and truth": that is to say, the grace is truthful grace, grace not in fiction or in fancy, grace not to be hoped for and to be dreamed of, but grace every atom of which is fact; redemption which does redeem, pardon which does blot out sin, renewal which actually regenerates, salvation which completely saves. We have not here blessings which charm the ear and cheat the soul ; but real, substantial favours from God that cannot lie. Then blend these things the other way. " Grace and truth " : the Lord has come to bring us truth, but it is not the kind of truth which censures, condemns, and punishes; it is gracious truth, truth steeped in love, truth saturated with mercy. The truth which Jesus brings to His people comes not from the judgment-seat, but from the mercy- seat ; it has a gracious drift and aim about it, and ever tends to salvation. His light is the life of men. The grace is all true, and the truth is all gracious.
11 There are souls which easily bestow grace, which find it not hard to forgive, but they have often a dim perception of the majesty of that truth which has been violated. There are souls which have a clear perception of the majesty of truth and a deep sense of the sin that swerves from it, but they are often inexorable in their justice and unable to pardon ; they have more truth than grace. Here there is a perfect blending of extremes — fulness of grace united to fulness of truth. There is a forgiveness which is valueless because there is no sense of wrong ; there is a sense of wrong which is forbidding because there is no power of forgive- ness. Here perfect forgiveness is joined with perfect perception. The glory of Christ's love is that it comes not from darkness
56 THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD
but from light; He forgave the sinner because He bore the sin.^
^ I was eight years old, I believe, when another boy, a little older than myself, told me that we owed the Christmas gifts to our parents, that they did not come from heaven. This gave me such a shock that I fell with both my fists upon the boy, pommel- ling him with all my might ; but I got the worst of the battle, almost the only one I fought in my life, and came home crying to ask for confirmation of the dreadful tale. My dear mother had to give it, but did it in such a delicate way that, although I felt the mysterious poetry of that night was gone, my love for my parents was increased.^
i. Grace. Men who had been accustomed to hear of religion solely as stereotyped tradition or condemning law, " wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth," so full was He of the revealed mercy of God to sinners. That was the general impression made by His life and ministry. And it is the im- pression made to-day by the record of it. We see Him still awoss the distance of ages, as that Divine head rises above the corn-fields through which He walked ; we see Him under the trees at eventide, or sitting on Jacob's well at noon, or in the boat at the edge of Tiberias, or standing in the meadows above Bethsaida. Everywhere the impression made concerning Him is the same. It is Divine Love in earnest, seeking and saving that which was lost. We here look, not upon a speculative teacher, or a great analyst of the mystery of human life, or a disputatious theologue pouring forth doctrines and articles of belief, or a mighty intellect addressing the human understanding so as to found a school, but on a living practical love, descending into the midst of men's sufferings and sins, and earnestly labouring to relieve them.
^ Grace is power. That power whereby God works in nature is called power. That power whereby He works in the wills of His reasonable creatures is called grace.^
^ Grace is a force in the spiritual order, not simply God's unmerited kindness in the abstract, but such kindness in action
1 G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, 221.
2 Life and Letters of Sir Charles HalU, 20. ^ J. B. Mozley, On Predestination, 302.
ST. JOHN I. 14 57
as a movement of His Spirit within the soul, resulting from the Incarnation, and imparting to the will and the aflections a new capacity of obedience and love.^
Tf Grace is not simply kindly feeling on the part of God, but a positive boon conferred on man. Grace is a real and active force : it is " the power that worketh in us," illuminating the intellect, warming the heart, strengthening the will of redeemed humanity. It is the might of the Everlasting Spirit, renovating man by uniting him, whether immediately or tlirough the Sacraments, to the Sacred Manhood of the Word Incarnate.^