No sooner did the Saviour hear their announcement, and perhaps behold these enquirers from the West, than He instantly broke forth into words of mysterious joy: _The Hour_, He declared, as if in a transport of holy rapture, _The Hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there will also My servant be; if any man serve Me, him will My Father honour_ (Jn. xii. 24–26). But with the thought of the seed-corn cast into the ground and dying, and the spectacle of these pledges[476] of the vast multitude He should draw unto Him if He was lifted up, came the thought of all that He must first undergo. There fell upon Him the shadow of the dreadful hour so close at hand, and He exclaimed, _Now is My soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour_; and then, as though a cloud had rolled away, the perfectly willing spirit spoke again, _For this cause came I unto this hour[477]: Father, glorify Thy Name_ (Jn. xii. 27, 28). But these words, expressive of such deep, such infinite resignation, were not to pass unheeded; they called forth the last of the Three[478] Heavenly Voices, which, during His life on earth, attested the Divinity of His mission. The Voice, which had been heard on the banks of Jordan and on the Mount of Transfiguration, was now heard in the courts of the Temple itself, saying in response to the Redeemer’s significant utterance, _Father, glorify Thy Name_; _I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again_. Various[479] were the interpretations of this mysterious Voice by the surrounding crowd. Some thought that _it thundered_, others that _an angel had spoken to Him_ (Jn. xii. 29). But the Redeemer set all doubts at rest, saying, _This Voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes_; and then He exclaimed in the same strain of triumph, which the announcement of two Apostles respecting the enquiring Greeks had called forth, _Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the Prince of this world be cast out; and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me_, signifying, adds the Evangelist, _by what death He should die_[480]. This striking incident was the appropriate close of this great day in the Temple. The public work of the Holy One was now over. He had given His last counsels and His final warnings to the ruling powers; He now departed and _hid Himself from them_ (Jn. xii. 36). In spite of the mighty works He had wrought (Jn. xii. 37), the Jewish nation did not believe on Him. Many, indeed, of the rulers could not resist the evidence of His life and works, but they dared not openly avow their faith for fear of the Pharisees and the terrible ban of excommunication (Jn. xii. 42).