Breezes of spring, all earth to life awaking, — Birds swiftly soaring through the sunny sky, —
The butterfly its lonely prison breaking, —
The seed upspringing, which had seemed to die, —
Types such as these a word of hope have spoken, Have shed a gleam of light around the tomb;
But weary hearts longed for a surer token, A clearer ray, to dissipate its gloom.
And this was granted ! See the Lord ascending. On crimson clouds of evening calmly borne,
With hands outstretched, and looks of love still bending On His bereaved ones, who no longer mourn.
"I am the Resurrection," hear Him saying;
" I am the Life ; he who believes in Me Shall never die, — the souls My call obeying,
Soon, where I am, for evermore shall be."
Sing Hallelujah ! light from Heaven appearing.
The mystery of life and death is plain; Now to the grave we can descend unfearing.
In sure and certain hope to rise again ! ^
(2) We have an inward Teacher. — We have a Divine Spirit who will come to us if we will, and teach us, blessing the exercise of our own faculties, and guiding us, not, indeed, into the uniform perception of the intellectual aspects of Christian truth, but into the apprehension and the loving possession, as a power in our lives, of all the truth that we need to mould our characters and to raise us to the likeness of Himself. Only, let
' Jauo Bortlnvick.
ST. JOHN XVI. 23 251
us remember what such a method of teaching demands from us. It requires that we honestly use the revelation that is given us ; it requires that we loyally, lovingly, trustfully, submit ourselves to the teaching of that Spirit who will dwell in us ; it requires that we bring our lives up to the height of our present knowledge, and make everything that we know a factor in shaping what we do and what we are.
^ If we would know truth, we must not expect to advance by intellectual certainty, but by spiritual power. The truth must be a life. As we live true to His ascended Being, we find the power of that life. The Spirit of Truth is the Spirit of Life, so that, as we live by His inspirations, we are taught the fulness of His mysteries.^
Up, and away!
Thy Saviour's gone before, Why dost thou stay,
Dull soul ? Behold, the door Is open, and His precepts bid thee rise. Whose power hath vanquished all thine enemies.
In vain thou say'st
Thou art buried with thy Saviour, If thou delay'st
To show by thy behaviour, That thou art risen with Him. Till thou shine Like Him, how canst thou say His light is thine ?
Open thine eyes.
Sin-seized soul, and see What cobweb ties
They are that trammel thee; Not profit, pleasure, honours, as thou thinkest. But loss, pain, shame, at which thou vainly winkest.
All that is good
Thy Saviour dearly bought With His heart's blood.
And it must then be sought. Where He keeps residence, who rose this day; Linger no longer then ; up, and away ! ^
^ R. M. Benson, The Final Passover, ii. (pt. ii.) 280. » G. Herbert.
252 DAY OF KNOWLEDGE AND POWER
IL
Fulness of Power.
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name."
The second feature of the apostolic illumination mentioned by Jesus in the text is unlimited influence with God through prayer. The Apostles were to have at command the whole power of God ; the power of miracles, to heal diseases ; of prophecy, to foretell things to come bearing on the Church's interest, which it was desirable that believers should know ; of providence, to make all events subservient to their well-being, and that of the cause in which they laboured. Except the miraculous elements, which most Protestants agree in regarding as peculiar to the apostolic age, this magnificent promise of Jesus is made to all who aspire to Christian manhood, and is fulfilled to all who reach it.
1. The security of the promise. — It has been remarked, and with much truth, that whenever our Lord would declare some very important fact or doctrine, such as might be considered a funda- mental truth of Christianity, or a law of His spiritual kingdom, He invariably prefaced His declaration with the emphatic words, " Verily, verily." If, when we read the New Testament, we note the passages in which these reiterated words occur, we see that they are always in connexion with some important Christian truth. In point of fact, it is no exaggeration to say that we might condense the distinctive teaching of Christianity in the few verses which are prefaced with these particles of speech, and draw up from them a succinct summary of those essential verities of the Christian creed which we hold to be necessary to our salvation.^
Shortly before His ascension to glory, when He would comfort His disciples in their sorrow at the prospect of His near departure, when He would encourage them to brave all the tribulation through which they must pass for His sake, Christ, in revealing to them the truth of His mighty intercession for them at the Throne of Grace, and for all prayerful Christians in all ages, emphasizes His declaration concerning prayer, and thus seems to