Thine ear their open door.
^ J. LI. Davies, TJu Manifestation of the Son of Ood, 46
ST. JOHN XX. 30, 31 407
Ah ! who can tell the joy in Palestine — What smiles and tears of rescued throngs !
Their lees of life were turned to wine, Their prayers to shouts and songs !
The story dear our wise men fable call,
Give paltry facts the mighty range; To me it seems just what should fall, •
And nothing very strange.
But were I deaf and lame and blind and sore,
I scarce would care for cure to ask ; Another prayer should haunt Thy door —
Set Thee a harder task.
If Thou art Christ, see here this heart of mine,
Torn, empty, moaning, and unblest! Had ever heart more need of Thine,
If Thine indeed hath rest?
Thy word, Thy hand right soon did scare the bane
That in their bodies death did breed; If Thou can'st cure my deeper pain,
Then art Thou Lord indeed.
2. Now, how do the signs which St. John has selected enable us to believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God ?
(1) What is belief? There are two words in this Gospel which are very frequently used. The first is the word " believe," and the second the word " witness." Men are asked to believe in Jesus. "To those that believe" is the promise of the Gospel given. The writer does not say that the mystery of Jesus Christ is made manifest to the clever and the wise ; he does not say that the secret of Jesus Christ is declared even to those who simply seek it ; but he does say that it is made manifest to him who believes. That is the challenge which the Person of Jesus Christ still throws out. It is " whosoever believeth." That with us has become almost a cant phrase. It is an easy kind of thing to say in a sermon or at a revival meeting, but there is a meaning behind it, and we need to get back to the original and true meaning. To believe in Jesus Christ is to do something more than think about Him and to have an opinion concerning Him. It means to bow
4o8 CHIEF PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL
before Him in reverence ; to take Him at His word ; to do His will ; to begin walking in His way ; to make the great surrender ; to accept His teaching as though it were true, and prove it true by practising it. The man who so deals with Christ is the man who in the end finds out His secret and is able to say, " My Lord and my God." He then becomes a witness to His name. What he has found in Jesus Christ for himself, he is constrained to make known to others. " He believes and therefore also he speaks."
^ It is sometimes asked, Why can I not be saved without faith ? I answer. Look to this text and see the reason. Is a man saved who knows nothing of Christ and of God in Him, who indeed refuses this knowledge ? It is an impossibility. Salvation lies in the very thing that you seek to get without it. Knowledge of Christ, likeness to Christ, sympathy with Christ : this is salvation ; and how can it exist without knowing Him and believing in Him ? Go and get health without wholeness, sanity without being sane; and fulness without being filled, and you may have salvation with- out faith, i.e. salvation without salvation. Faith makes all the difference between Heaven and Hell, not by a mere act of God's will, but by the very nature of the case. You must enter at this strait gate, if you are ever to enter at all ; for there is only one Heaven, that where Christ is believed in, loved, and glorified ; and you cannot think of any life for sinners there, which is not through His name.^
^ Faith is no common word as the embodiment and expression of a Divine principle, and I do not think we have reached by far its lofty heights, or barely touched even the fringes of its sacred mantle, or caught the breath of its pure life, or felt the charm of its healing touch. I should like to be able to explain the full, deep meaning of this word, but I cannot. I look at it subjectively and objectively. Subjectively, it is God's gift to man and in man; yes, but it is more. It becomes a part of our best life, and a ruling, purifying part, for it controls and permeates the whole man. Do I err in suggesting that faith is the human counter- part, or that which answers in man, to omniscience in God ? As omniscience is the eye of Deity, so faith is the eye of the soul ; hence knowledge and life come by a look. God has no faith because He knows all things and needs it not ; we do not know all, but the point or power in us which reaches nearest to the all- knowing is faith. Sight has limitations in the objective as well as
* Johu Cairns, Clirist the Morning Star, 304.