1 E. Whyte.
ST. JOHN XIV. 2 8i
a morning without clouds ; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain"; and His name shall be written as the " Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
^ By comparing my experience with that of others, you may perceive how different ways God leads different souls. But though a man should be led in a way different from that of all other men : yet, if his eye be at all times fixed on his Saviour ; if his constant aim be to do His will ; if all his desires tend to Him ; if in all trials he can draw strength from Him ; if he fly to Him in all troubles, and in all temptations find salvation in His blood — in this there can be no delusion. And whosoever is thus minded, however or whenever it began, is surely reconciled to God through His Son.^
Gather us in, Thou Love that fiUest all, Gather our rival faiths within Thy fold, Kend each man's temple's veil and bid it fall, That we may know that Thou hast been of old: Gather us in.
Gather us in : we worship only Thee ; In varied names we stretch a common hand; In diverse forms a common soul we see; In many ships we seek one spirit-land; Gather us in.
Each sees one colour of Thy rainbow-light. Each looks upon one tint and calls it heaven; Thou art the fulness of our partial sight ; We are not perfect till we find the seven ; Gather us in.
Thine is the mystic life great India craves. Thine is the Parsee's sin-destroying beam, Thine is the Buddhist's rest from tossing waves, Thine is the empire of vast China's dream ; Gather us in.
Thine is the Roman's strength without his pride, Thine is the Greek's glad world without its graves, Thine is Judaea's law with love beside, The truth that censures and the grace that saves; Gather us in.
^ John Wesley's Journal (Standard Edition), ii. 47. ST. JOHN (2) — 6
82 THE HOUSE OF MANY MANSIONS
Some seek a Father in the heavens above, Some ask a human image to adore, Some crave a spirit vast as life and love : Within Thy mansions we have all and more; Gather us in.
The Reliability of the Redeemer.
B3
Literature.
Allon (H.), The Indwelling Clirist, 321. Buirell (D. J.), The Golden Passional, 151. Cobern (C. M.), The Stars and the Booh, 123. Dale (R. W.), Christ and the Future Life, 33. Dawson (W. J.), The Church of To-morrow, 105. Fairweather (D.), Bound in the Spirit, 151. Findlay (G. G.), The Things Above, 188. Griffith-Jones (E.), Faith and Verification, 219. Matheson (G.), Bests by the River, 222.
„ „ Searchings in the Silence, 210.
Morrison (G. H.), in Great Texts of the New Testament, 83. Nicoll (W. R.), The Lamp of Sacrifice, 155. Peabody (F. G.), Mornings in the College Chapel, ii. 150. Raleigh (A.), Quiet Resting-Places, 387. Shedd (W. G. T.), Sermons to the Spiritual Man, 167. Sunday Magazine, 1880, p. 307 (Butler).
The Reliability of the Redeemer.
If it were not so, I would have told you.— John xiv. 2.
One of the most striking traits of the teaching of Jesus is its reticence concerning many things which one would like to know. Through all Christian history people have gone to the Gospels for answers to questions which seemed to them of the highest importance, and concerning which churches have quarrelled, and they have been met by silence. It is the same with the first disciples of Jesus. They bring Him their questions about His own fate, and He answers, " Let not your heart be troubled : I go to prepare a place for you." They ask Him whither He is going, and He replies, " In my Father's house are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have told you," as though it were not necessary that He should tell them more.
^ I have wondered most of my life why Christ spoke these words at the time He did. They seem unsatisfactorily explained, whether connected with the first clause of the phrase or with the last clause. Dr. Marcus Dods comments: "Had there been no such place and no possibility of preparing it, He necessarily would have told them, because the very purpose of His leaving was to prepare a place for them." Somehow this does not find me. Neither is Dr. John Ker, also a writer of genuine insight, much more satisfactory. He says: "There might be some mis- givings in their minds, and these words are thrown in to quiet them. Had you been deceiving yourselves with falsehood, I should have felt bound to undeceive you." It is along these tracks that most of the explanations run.
But should we not rather say that Christ spoke these words with a smile ? " If it were not so, I would have told you. You know My way by this time. It has been My wont to check and thwart and dash your hopes. Things you desired, things you believed, things you dreamt of mightily — I have told you over and over again that they were not so. Now you are right at last. You thought that there were many mansions in the Father's