This expression, '_If ye continue or abide in my word_,' denotes very clearly, I think, that they had not merely listened to a _saying_ which went forth from His lips, and been affected by it; that they had confessed the force of a _word_, which entered into them as light enters into the eye, as heat makes itself felt through the body. And if they traced this word to its source; if they acknowledged the living Word from whom it flowed; if they turned to Him as to one who was near them and with them,--not for a moment, but always; if they trusted in Him, and not in themselves; then they should be--what? saints? divines? doctors? No; but what is much better than any of the three,--what all the three should wish to be raised into,--_disciples_. They will then be learners, learners sitting continually at the feet of the true Teacher. And this shall be the result of that daily, hourly learning, of that change from the condition of men who know everything to the condition of men who know nothing. '_They shall know the_ TRUTH.' The Word shall guide them, counsel them, encourage them, scourge them. He shall prepare them to see that which is. He shall lead them away from fleeting shadows to the eternal Substance, to Him who changes not. Here is a promise, the highest that the highest Being can make to man; for it is the promise of sharing His own nature, of dwelling with Him and in Him. And there is another appended to it, which, though not greater in itself, comes nearer to human experience; commends itself more directly to our sense of oppression and misery. '_The truth shall make you free._' Truth and liberty are inseparable companions; neither can live long apart from the other. The bondage to appearances, the bondage to death, the bondage to the unseen horrors which haunt the conscience,--how shall this be broken? Our Lord says, '_The truth shall make you free_.' 'If you abide in my word,--if you adhere to me as the Lord of your spirit, you shall come to know Him who is truth, and He shall break every chain from your neck; He shall give you the freedom of the sons of God.'