^ In the truth, and not simply through the truth. The Truth is, as it were, the atmosphere, the element, in which believers are immersed and by which they are sustained : and we must think of the Truth in the widest sense in which we can conceive of it. Such Truth, which Christ is, and which Christ reveals, is every- where about us : it corresponds with the whole range of present experience : it is realized in a personal communion with its Source. Its function is not simply to support but to transfigure. Its issue is not knowledge but holiness.^
2. " Thy word is truth," — This leads us directly to the Bible and the Bible tends to make men saints, because it describes the lives and experiences of many who have lived near to God, and who have cared intensely for men. And we take fire by the things we read ; as it has been said, " If you read Shakespeare, after a while you think Shakespeare and you talk Shakespeare."
^ " Thy word is truth." Thy word, written and unwritten. Thy word in the Bible, in nature, in history, in experience. We dare not limit either the time or the manner of His utterance. Forms of thought, the organization of the State, the relations
^ B. F. "Westcott, The Incarnation wnd Common Life, 176. ST. JOHN (2) — 20
3o6 THE MASTER'S CONSECRATION
of the sciences vary, and He meets our changing position with appropriate teaching. His message comes to each age and to each people as it came at Pentecost, in their own language. It comes to us through the struggles of the nations and the movements of society, through every fact that marks one least step in the method of creation or in the history of man. It is this message, given to us in our language, that we have to welcome and to interpret now. Only so will our personal consecration be per- fected : only so will our social office be fulfilled.^
(1) The Word has a discovenng and enlightening power. It is a mirror in which we see reflected our failures and sins ; it is a searchlight discerning the very thoughts and intents of the heart.
^ A late postmaster in London gave a poor Eoman Catholic woman a Testament. The priest visiting her on her dying bed found it beneath her pillow as she passed away, and took it with him, intending to destroy it. But it was found beneath his pillow likewise when he died, not long after.^
(2) It has a cleansing and purifying power. We are very much influenced by what we read.
^ We are informed that the wretched man who took the life of President Carnot lived an apparently harmless, decent life for a good many years, until he came into contact with anarchist publications, which so saturated his mind with evil thoughts, schemes, and ideas that at length he was capable of the awful crime he committed. He was defiled, ruined, and destroyed by the word of falsehood which he read. It has again and again been shown in courts of justice that thieves and robbers have had the thoughts of such a life put into their heads by the tales of highwaymen and the like which are sown broadcast in print. The same principle holds true conversely, and it holds good with regard to the Word of God. The Bible has a sanctifying influ- ence: it is a holy book — it sets before us holy examples, it exhorts . us to a holy course of life, it furnishes us with holy doctrines, it points us to a holy Saviour.^
(3) The Word has a nourishing and strengthening power. We are told that as new-born babes we are to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby. And the Apostle says, " I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is
^ B. F. Westcott, The Incarnation and Common Life, 187.
* Homiletic Review, xxi. 158.
* E. Moore, Christ in Possession, 74.
ST. JOHN XVII. 19 307
able to build yon np " (Acts xx. 32). There is a vital link between the written word and the Living Word, and when the word of God dwells in us, Christ comes and dwells in us too. The secret of sanctification is an indwelling Saviour.
No distant Lord have 1
Loving afar to be ;
Made flesh for me, He cannot rest
Until He rests in me.
Brother in joy and pain, Bone of my bone was He, Now, — intimacy closer still, He dwells Himself in me.
I need not journey far This dearest friend to see. Companionship is always mine, He makes His home with me.^
* Maltbie D. Babcock.
The Kingdom of Truth.
309
Literature.
Abbey (C. J.), The Divine Love, 296. Bain (J. A.), Questions Answered by Christ, 229. Burrell (D. J.), The Spirit of the Age, 61. Campbell (L.), Tie Christian Ideal, 236. Chadwick (G. A.), Aids to Belief, 1.
„ (W. E.), Christ and Everyday Life, 191. Clark (H. "\V.), Laics of the Inner Kingdom, 32, 8i. Greenhough (J. G.), The Cross in Modern Life, 14. Greer (D. H.), From Things to God, 26. Johnston (J. B.), The Ministry of Reconciliation, 54. Lightfoot (J. B.), Sermons in St. Paul's Cathedral, 91 . Little (W. J. K.), Sunlight and Shadow, 218.