The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 76

how it hRs deercned men's thoughts l\nd widened their holizon. But wherever lt baa tnken root, individual souls have consciously owned its power and yielded them- selves up to its guidance. No census cl\n count up their numbers, No test that mnn can Rpply will infallibly distinguish them from all others. It is only Christ himself who can say, "I know them." But there is one great outstanding fact concerning t.hem which he here gives prominence to: "They hear his voice, and follow him." Among the many voice.s, some truer, some falser, which reach their ears in this world, there i5 one voice that is all-powerful. Among the various influences, better or worse, which press upon them on evt'ry side, there is one influence paramount and irresistible, And this is a matter of consciousness on their part. It may be more or less vividly so nl different times or in certain circumstances, but it is essentially a fact of experience which they would uot part with if they could, Rnd which all the world cannot rob them of. They hear his voice, now quickening their consciences and bidding them awnke from s)ecp; or again saying to them, " Peace be unto you; n "Fear not;" or yet agnin, "Contmue ye in my love." But there is always l{race as well as power in his voice, and this makes it welcome to his true disciples. When he warns them, they take good heed. When he encourages them, they are of good cheer. Even when he rebukes them, t.Ley know that faithful are ihe wounds of such a Friend, and can only reply, "Speak, Lord; thy servants hear." And the result is that they follow him; for there is a pa.th which he is ever tracing for them by his precepts and his example, illumined as these are by his Spirit-a path which may be trodden in solitude and in society, in health and in sickness, in the busy world and in the family circle, in the secret chamber, by young and old, by learned and unlearned. Of every disciple it may be said that the deepest desire of his heart is to be found in that good way, and, should he wander, to be brought back. to it. Someti.me.s, indeed, it leads hlm through green pastures and by the still wat.ers, at other times through some :dark valley of the shadow of death ; but he knows well that to forsake it wilfully is to draw back un~ ~dition, and the very dread of this in his hours of temptation is a salutary thing, :Since the day, more than eighteen centuries ego, when the disciples were called Ohristia,r;,; in the city of Antioch, that name, first perhaps given contemptuously, has been claimed by multitudes without number, In our own day and our own country it must needs be generally accorded to all who do not care to renounce it. But oh I listen to Christ's own description of those whom he owns as members of his flock: "They hear his voice, and they follow him." The root and realily of the matter is there. Try yourselves fairly by this test. Many bear the Christian name, they scarcely know why. But none can listen to Christ and obey him, in any tme sense of the word, without earnestness and purpose of heart. II. C.HD.IST's GB.EAT GIFr TO BIB FLOCB:-ETEBNAL LIFE. If life be a great word, eternal life is one of the greatest words that can be spoken by human lips. Who can utt.er it aright without awe, seeing that its full meaning rises so high above us and stretches so far beyond us ? You know that in Scripture it sometimes denotes that state of blessedness which is reserved for God's children in the future; as our Lord says, " In the world to come life everlasting." But sometimes also it points to a blessing realized in some measure here and DQW, " '.!.'his is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God," etc. (eh. xvii. 3). Both applications of the word are needed to fill up its meaning. Eternal life embrace& both the present and the future. It has its beginning, and it has its consummation. The same Sun of Righteousness enlightens both worlds. The river that gladdens the city of God here below, reappears in the pa,raclise above. And both aspects of the wondroUB blessing are brought together in these words of Christ, for he speaks in the same breath of its present reality and of its glorioUB perpetuity. "I give unto them eternal life [not merely,' I shall give it'], and they shall never perish," etc. 1. What, then, a.re the preaent aspects of this life which Christ best,ows upon his true disciples? Wha.t does he do for them? What does he give them? As they hear his voice and follow him, imperfectly, no doubt, but unfeignedly, lo I th.e mists of earthly things dissolve a.nd disappear, the veil is lifted from the holy of holies, and he admits them to communion and fellowship with the eternal God. Ah, this is a blessing which no man k:noweth, saving he that recei veth it. Thtre is mercy in it, there is peace in it, there is joy in it, but, above all, there is life in it; lor "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." 'l'hink how this Divine  'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S'I'. JOHN. 79