(a) Specifically, as might be expected before Pentecost, the Gospels give more prominence to the action of the human will as a condition of disciple- ship than to its subsequent concentration as the condition of progress and perfecting. But the example of Christ Himself is, in this matter, a sufficient safeguard and sanction, and is enforced by teachin" of at len-st two types. ' If any man willeth to do his will ' (Jn 7"), supplies the key not
only to the knowledge of the things of the King- dom, but also to the fulfilment in personal charac- ter of God's purpose of sanctification, Bengel's suavis harmonia teing both a cause and the efi'ect of insatiable yearning. Again, glad consent, with persistency of will, is an important element in our Lord's frequent exhortations to His disciples to 'abide' in Him or in His word (Jn 15^ 8^' et al.). One of the characteristics of the Johannine setting of the Gospel, as of the prophecies of Jeremiah in the OT, is the empha-sis laid on the sustained determination of the will towards God.
(h) The exaltation of spirit, accompanying and enriched by this firmness of purpose, receives more adequate expression in later times, but is far from being left entirely without illustration. Such passages as Jn 12"' ''^ speak of a magnetic influence on the part of Christ, to which the response was at the beginning more than that of admiration, and soon deepened into supreme and rapturous attachment. The Mcynifaat (Lk l^-^') and the 2^'iinc Dimittis (Lk 2="-^-) anticipate the exultation of men, partly at the accomplished work of Clurist, partly at the abundance and the ett'ect of His grace to the individual ; and the self-forgetfulness of grateful and passionate devotion is illustrated in Lk 7^'-^^ Mary's 'Kabboni' (Jn 20'") and Thomas' ' My Lord ' (Jn 20^) express absorbed attachment as well as conviction. In the paruiiles the joy is occasionally festal and ueiieial, bnt sometimes becomes that of personal aii'l as-nied possession (Mt 13"-*^), or is even lifted up into likeness to the Saviour's own joj', incapable of dimness or of eclipse (Jn 15", Mt 25='). The dis- ciple in his Lord's bosom (Jn 13^- ^) is a type and guarantee.
(c) The loving acts and exercises in which the devout spirit beneficially expresses itself are of almost infinite variety in their character, and, though their most ingenious exhibition is met with subsequently, they are not left without trace or starting-point in the Gospels. Beyond the ex- ample of the Saviour, an encouragement to quiet meditation may be found in Mk 6^', a commenda- tion of private prayer in Mt 6". Self-discipline, as removing the occasions of sin and as aiding the communion of the human spirit with God, is en- joined in such pas.sages as Mt 5^- **, though in others the object becomes the avoidance of conduct that might offend or imperil the souls of the weak.
Tlnf c..)f-<ii=<-i^*iinp i> in it-^flf and apart from its motives m. r i> ii"M^. i~ II i" r i :ii_l,i hv Christ, and such a notion is t|iii' 'II _ - I ( hiistiaiiity. Christ's treatment
(if I _ I Mr evidently looked forward to
it~|r, i'l ■- 1'- : I 'inlv in their association and in
tiiiK- . I _ I : : .;ui,;i.. .,i.,l moiiming(Mt9'-i-16, Mk 21»-20, 'le prompt" in for jiersonal blessing.
fir 11 I i„'ht thereby l)e secured is a legritiniatc in-
ftrrr n HI ^i■ 7-1 and Mk O"-^*, though textual evidence is
at'.iiii3L ai.> -) ' ' Ml' I. f'TPpre tn fasting in these verses, the
tion of a devd ciples will fa> purity of irit<
• to till- im-orpora-
, I iMiil.w.l in the
^:i:|.;i.itinjunc.
(d) Before Pentecost the action of the Holy Spirit in human devotion is, for the most part, anticipatory and a matter of promise, but as such is none the less important. His presence is that which will prevent the disciples from becoming 'desolate' and without resource (Jn 14'*) on the departure of their Master ; and, being present, He
DIDEACHM
DISCIPLE
457
will act in tliein as tliu Father's I'arac-lete (Jii 14" ct al.), advocating the cauM' of (iod ami jiniiiinlinL; all Gochvard impulse ami ■Ir-iir. Siirriiir.illy. Hi- will guide 'into all tlir liutli (Jii l(i''), luiii-iii;; the disciples into right nl.itinn, Ijoth inlullcTtiial and practical, with saving truth, and maintaining within them a condition of composure and serenity (Lk 1'*). The power to do 'greater works' is associated with the return of Christ to His Father (Jn 14'^), and therefore, by implication, with the mission of the Spirit ; and if the complaint is sometimes just that those greater works are not being done, the cause is to be found not in the inadequacy of opportunity or resource, but in the defectiveness of personal devotion. Its degree is commensurate with that of right volition on the part of the disoiple, and with that of jiossessiou on the part of t Ik- Spirit ; and these two, again, are mutually dciirjiilint. ' In the Spirit' by hxed and abiding 'pur|i.jsi\ i> the law on tlie one side; the Spirit in the lUsuiple is the correlated privilege, with the absolute harmony between Christ and the Spirit as the only limit ot possible human experi- ence, and as its inspiration and pledge.
LiTERATDRE.— Dykes, Manifesto of the Kiiig, 333-437 ; Stalker, Iiruxiia Christi, ch. vii. K. W. Moss.