Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
Then another lesson that I draw from this glad confession is--the bold
avowal that always accompanies certitude. These men's stammering
tongues are loosed. They have a fact to base themselves upon. They have
a piece of assured knowledge inferred from the fact. They have a faith
built upon the certitude of what they know. Having this, out it all
comes in a gush. No man that believes with all his heart can help
speaking. You silent Christians are so, because you do not more than
half grasp the truth that you say you hold. 'Thy word, when shut up in
my bones, was like a fire'; and it ate its way through all the dead
matter that enclosed it, until at last it flamed out heaven high. Can
you say, 'We know and we believe,' with unfaltering confidence? Not 'we
argue'; not 'we humbly venture to think that on the whole'; not 'we are
inclined rather to believe'; but 'we _know_--that Thou knowest all
things, and that Thou hast come from God.' Seek for that blessed
certitude of knowledge, based upon the facts of individual experience,
which 'makes the tongue of the dumb sing,' and changes all the deadness
of an outward profession of Christianity into a living, rejoicing power.
Then, further, I draw this lesson. Take care of indolently supposing
that you understand the depths of God's truth. These Apostles fancied
that they had grasped the whole meaning of the Master's words, and were
glad in them. They fed on them, and got something out of them; but how
far they were from the true perception of their meaning! This
generation abhors mystery, and demands that the deepest truths of the
highest subject, which is religion, shall be so broken down into
mincemeat that the 'man in the street' can understand them in the
intervals of reading the newspaper. There are only too many of us who
are disposed to grasp at the most superficial interpretation of
Christian truth, and lazily to rest ourselves in that. A creed which
has no depth in it is like a picture which has no distance. It is flat
and unnatural, and self-condemned by the very fact. It is better that
we should feel that the smallest word that comes from God is like some
little leaf of a water plant on the surface of a pond; if you lift that
you draw a whole trail after it, and nobody knows how far off and how
deep down are the roots. It is better that we should feel how Infinity
and Eternity press in upon us on all sides, and should take as ours the
temper that recognises that till the end we are but learners, seeing
'in a glass, in a riddle,' and therefore patiently waiting for light
and strenuously striving to stretch our souls to the width of the
infinite truth of God.
II. So, then, look, in the second place, at the sad questions and
forebodings of the Master.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account