^ Let not thy heart be troubled ; in the vast spaces there is a home for thee. The Son of Man has gone before ; there is a region prepared for humanity. There is a spot in this stupendous uni- verse where human nature dwells. That spot is thy one comfort, thy one glory. No other glory would make up for it. There may be golden streets and pearly gates and sapphire thrones. There may be rivers clear as crystal, and trees rich in foliage, and flowers full of bloom. There may be suns that never set, and hands that never weary, and lives that never die. But about these many things thy heart is not troubled. One thing is needful, without which all were vain — the sympathy of a brother's soul. Content mayest thou be to have no revealing of the many lights in the upper chamber, since thou hast been allowed to gaze on one glimmering light of love — " I go to prepare a place for you." ^
^ Dr. Story, speaking of his last interview with Mrs. Oliphant, then on her death-bed, says : Her voice was still strong with its old, familiar tone ; her wonderful eyes were as lambent as ever ; and her mind was as calm and clear as a summer's sea. " I am dying," she said, " I do not think I can last through the night."
* John G. Paton, i. 121. » Quintin IToaa, 309.
■ G. Matheson, Searchings in tlie Silence^ 212.
ST. JOHN XIV. 2, 3 103
Thinking of the " Little Pilgrim " and the " Seen and the Unseen," and the many touching efforts her eager imagination had made to lift the impenetrable veil, I said, " The world to which you are going is a familiar world to you." "I have no thoughts," she replied, " not even of my boys ; but only of my Saviour waiting to receive me, and of my Father." ^
The city's shining towers we may not see
With our dim earthly vision; For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key
That opes the gates Elysian.
But sometimes, when adown the western sky
A fiery sunset lingers, Its golden gates swing inward noiselessly,
Unlocked by unseen fingers.
And while they stand a moment half ajar,
Gleams from the inner glory Stream brightly through the azure vault afar,
And half reveal the story.
0 land unknown ! 0 land of love Divine !
Father, all-wise, eternal! 0 guide these wandering, way-worn feet of mine
Into those pastures vernal 1^
* Memoir of Robert Herlert Story ^ 288.
* Nancy Priest Wakefield,
The Way, the Truth, the Life.
«05
Literature.
Bernard (J. H,), From Faith to Faith, 63.
Bigg (C), The Spirit of Chritt in Common Life, 11.
Brown (A. Q.), Li the Valley oj Decision, 115.
„ (J. B.), Idolatries, 136.
„ „ The Divine Mystery of Peace, 21.
Burrell (D. J.), The Religion of the Future, 97. Chad wick (W. E.), Christ and Everyday Life, 154. Dale (R. W.), Christ and the Future Life, 111. Dods (M.), Footsteps in the Path of Life, 4, Forsyth (P. T.), Missions in State and Church, 197. Fiirst (A.), Christ the Way, 1. Gibson (J. M.), The Glory of Life on Earth, 69. Illingworth (J. R.), Sermons in a College Chapel, 60.
„ „ University and Cathedral Serrawns, 21,
Liddon (H. P.), Advent in St. Paul's, 587. Little (W. J. Knox), Sunlight and Shadow, 1. Lorimer (G. C), The Modern Crisis in Religion, 204. Macdonnell (D. J.), Life and Work, 45. Maclaren (A.), Creed and Conduct, 283. Macnicol (D. C), Some Memoirs and Memorials, 84. Mayor (J. E. B.), Twelve Cambridge Sermon.s, 3. Paget (E. C), Silence, 96.
„ (F.), CJirist the Way, 1. Pearson (J. B.), Disciples in Doubt, 30. Purves (G. T.), The Sinless Christ, 121. Ragg (L.), Christ and our Ideals, 51. Ridgeway (C. J.), The King and His Kingdom, 112. Ross (J. M. E.), The Self-Portraiture of Jesus, 181. Sinclair (W.), Christ and our Times, 137. Smellie (A.), In the Secret Place, 174. Speer (R. E.), The Master of the Heart, 206. Telford (J.), The Story of the Upper Room, 98. Thomas (J.), Sermons: Myrtle Street Pulpit, i. 151.
The Way, the Truth, the Life.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
John xiv. 6.
1. The words of Christ immediately preceding the text seem to have been obscure and puzzling to the Apostles. Apparently they were not yet persuaded that their Master was shortly to die ; and, accordingly, when He spoke of going to His Father's house, it did not occur to them that He meant passing into the spiritual world. His assuring words, " that where I am, there ye may be also," therefore fell short. And when He sees their bewilderment written on their faces, He tentatively, half interrogatively, adds, " And whither I go, ye know the way." Unless they knew where He was going, there was even less consolation in the promise that He would come for them after He had gone and prepared a place for them. And when He thus challenges them candidly to say whether they understood where He was going, and where He would one day take them also, Thomas at once replies, " Lord, we know not whither thou goest ; how know we the way ? " This interruption by Thomas gives occasion for the great declaration, " I am the way, and the truth, and the life."