"He shall glorify Me." John xvi. 14.
WHEN our Lord was leaving His Apostles, and they were sorrowful, He
consoled them by the promise of another Guide and Teacher, on whom they
might rely instead of Him, and who should be more to them even than He
had been. He promised them the Third Person in the Ever-blessed Trinity,
the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Himself and of His Father, who should come
invisibly, and with the greater power and comfort, inasmuch as He was invisible;
so that his presence would be more real and efficacious by how much it
was more secret and inscrutable. At the same time this new and most gracious
Comforter, while bringing a higher blessedness, would not in any degree
obscure or hide what had gone before. Though He did more for the Apostles
than Christ had done, He would not throw into the shade and supersede Him
whom He succeeded. How could that be? who could come greater or holier
than the Son of God? who could obscure the Lord of glory? how could the
Holy Ghost, who was one with the Son, and the Spirit proceeding from the
Son, do otherwise than manifest the Son, while manifesting Himself? how
could He fail to illuminate the mercies and perfections of Him, whose death
upon the Cross opened a way for Himself, the Holy Ghost, to be gracious
to man also? Accordingly, though it was expedient that the Son should go
away, in order that the Comforter might come, we did not lose the sight
of the Son in the presence of the Comforter. On the contrary, Christ expressly
announced to the Apostles concerning him, in the words of the text, "He
shall glorify Me."
Now these words lead us first to consider in what special way the Holy
Ghost gives glory to the Son of God; and next to inquire whether there
is not in this appointment some trace of a general law of Divine Providence,
which is observed, as in Scripture, so in the world's affairs.
The special way in which God the Holy Ghost gave glory to God the Son,
seems to have been His revealing Him as the Only-begotten Son of the Father,
who had appeared as the Son of man. Our Saviour said most plainly, that
He was the Son of God; but it is one thing to declare the whole truth,
another to receive it. Our Saviour said all that need be said, but His
Apostles understood Him not. Nay, when they made confession, and that in
faith, and by the secret grace of God, and therefore acceptably to Christ,
still they understood not fully what they said. St. Peter acknowledged
Him as the Christ, the Son of God. So did the centurion who was present
at His crucifixion. Did that centurion, when he said, "Truly, this was
the Son of God," understand his own words? Surely not. Nor did St. Peter,
though he spoke, not through flesh and blood, but by the revelation of
the Father. Had he understood, could he so soon after, when our Lord spoke
of His passion which lay before Him, have presumed to "take Him, and begin
to rebuke Him?" Certainly he did not understand that our Lord, as being
the Son of God, was not the creature of God, but the Eternal Word, the
Only-begotten Son of the Father, one with Him in substance, distinct in
Person.
And when we look into our Saviour's conduct in the days of His flesh,
we find that He purposely concealed that knowledge, which yet He gave;
as if intending it should be enjoyed, but not at once; as if His words
were to stand, but to wait awhile for their interpretation; as if reserving
them for His coming, who at once was to bring Christ and His words into
the light. Thus when the young ruler came to him, and said, "Good Master,"
He showed Himself more desirous of correcting him than of revealing Himself,
desirous rather to make him weigh his words, than Himself to accept them.
At another time, when He had so far disclosed Himself that the Jews accused
Him of blasphemy, in that He, being a man, made Himself God, far from repeating
and insisting on the sacred Truth which they rejected, He invalidated the
terms in which He had conveyed it, by intimating that even the prophets
of the Old Testament were called gods as well as He. And when He stood
before Pilate, He refused to bear witness to Himself, or say what He was,
or whence he came.
Thus He was among them "as he that serveth." Apparently, it was not
till after His resurrection, and especially after His ascension, when the
Holy Ghost descended, that the Apostles understood who had been with them.
When all was over they knew it, not at the time.
Now here we see, I think, the trace of a general principle, which comes
before us again and again both in Scripture and in the world, that God's
Presence is not discerned at the time when it is upon us, but afterwards,
when we look back upon what is gone and over.
Our Saviour's history itself will supply instances in evidence of the
existence of this remarkable law.
St. Philip, for instance, when he asked to see the Almighty Father,
little understood the privilege he had so long enjoyed; accordingly, our
Lord answered, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not
known Me, Philip?"
Again, on another occasion, He said to St. Peter, "What I do thou knowest
not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." [John xiii. 7.] Again, "These
things understood not His disciples at the first; but when Jesus was glorified,
then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they
had done these things unto Him." [John xii. 16.]
And in like manner while He talked with the two disciples going to Emmaus,
their eyes were holden that they did not know Him. When they recognized
Him, at once He vanished out of their sight. Then "they said one to another,
Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way?"
[Luke xxiv. 32.]
Such too are the following, taken from the Old Testament. Jacob, when
he fled from his brother, "lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there
all night, because the sun was set." In his sleep he saw the vision of
Angels, and the Lord above them. Accordingly when he awaked out of his
sleep, he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And
he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other
but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." [Gen. xxviii. 11-17.]
Again, after wrestling all night with the Angel, not knowing who it
was, and asking after His name, then at length "Jacob called the name of
the place Peniel; for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."
[Gen. xxxii. 30.]
So again, after the Angel had departed from Gideon, who had treated
Him like a man, then, and not till then, he discovered who had been with
him, and he said, "Alas, O Lord God; for because I have seen an Angel of
the Lord face to face." [Judges vi. 22.]
And so in like manner, after the Angel had departed from Manoah and
his wife, then, and not till then, they discovered Him. Then "they fell
on their faces to the ground ... And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall
surely die, because we have seen God." [Judges xiii. 20, 22.]
Such is God's rule in Scripture, to dispense His blessings, silently
and secretly; so that we do not discern them at the time, except by faith,
afterwards only. Of which, as I have said, we have two special instances
in the very outline of the Gospel history; the mission of our Saviour,
who was not understood till afterwards to be the Son of God Most high,
and the mission of the Holy Ghost, which was still more laden with spiritual
benefits, and is still more secret. Flesh and blood could not discern the
Son of God, even when He wrought visible miracles; the natural man still
less discerns the things of the Spirit of God; yet in the next world all
shall be condemned, for not believing here what it was never given them
to see. Thus the presence of God is like His glory as it appeared to Moses;
He said, "Thou canst not see My face ... and live;" but he passed by, and
Moses saw that glory, as it retired, which he might not see in front, or
in passing; he saw it, and he acknowledged it, and "made haste and bowed
his head toward the earth, and worshipped." [Exod. xxxiii. 20; xxxiv. 8.]
Now consider how parallel this is to what takes place in the providences
of daily life. Events happen to us pleasant or painful; we do not know
at the time the meaning of them, we do not see God's hand in them. If indeed
we have faith, we confess what we do not see, and take all that happens
as His; but whether we will accept it in faith or not, certainly there
is no other way of accepting it. We see nothing. We see not why things
come, or whither they tend. Jacob cried out on one occasion, "All these
things are against me;" [Gen. xlii. 36.] certainly so they seemed to be.
One son made away with by the rest, another in prison in a foreign land,
a third demanded;—"Me have ye bereaved of my children; Joseph is not, and
Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against
me." Yet all these things were working for good. Or pursue the fortunes
of the favourite and holy youth who was the first taken from him; sold
by his brethren to strangers, carried into Egypt, tempted by a very perilous
temptation, overcoming it but not rewarded, thrown into prison, the iron
entering into his soul, waiting there till the Lord should be gracious,
and "look down from heaven;" but waiting—why? and how long? It is said
again and again in the sacred narrative, "The Lord was with Joseph;" but
do you think he saw at the time any tokens of God? any tokens, except so
far as by faith he realized them, in faith he saw them? His faith was its
own reward; which to the eye of reason was no reward at all, for faith
forsooth did but judge of things by that standard which it had originally
set up, and pronounce that Joseph was happy because he ought to be so.
Thus though the Lord was with him, apparently all things were against him.
Yet afterwards he saw, what was so mysterious at the time;—"God did send
me before you," he said to his brethren, "to preserve life ... It was not
you that sent me hither, but God; and He hath made me a father to Pharaoh,
and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the hand of Egypt."
Wonderful providence indeed which is so silent, yet so efficacious,
so constant, so unerring! This is what baffles the power of Satan. He cannot
discern the Hand of God in what goes on; and though he would fain meet
it and encounter it, in his mad and blasphemous rebellion against heaven,
he cannot find it. Crafty and penetrating as he is, yet his thousand eyes
and his many instruments avail him nothing against the majestic serene
silence, the holy imperturbable calm which reigns through the providences
of God. Crafty and experienced as he is, he appears like a child or a fool,
like one made sport of, whose daily bread is but failure and mockery, before
the deep and secret wisdom of the Divine Counsels. He makes a guess here,
or does a bold act there, but all in the dark. He knew not of Gabriel's
coming, and the miraculous conception of the Virgin [Note], or what was
meant by that Holy Thing which was to be born, being called the Son of
God. He tried to kill him, and he made martyrs of the innocent children;
he tempted the Lord of all with hunger and with ambitious prospects; he
sifted the Apostles, and got none but one who already bore his own name,
and had been already given over as a devil. He rose against his God in
his full strength, in the hour and power of darkness, and then he seemed
to conquer; but with his utmost effort, and as his greatest achievement,
he did no more than "whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before
to be done." [Acts iv. 28.] He brought into the world the very salvation
which he feared and hated. He accomplished the Atonement of that world,
whose misery he was plotting. Wonderfully silent, yet resistless course
of God's providence! "Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God
of Israel, the Saviour;" and if even devils, sagacious as they are, spirits
by nature and experienced in evil, cannot detect His hand, while He works,
how can we hope to see it except by that way which the devils cannot take,
by loving faith? how can we see it except afterwards as a reward to our
faith, beholding the cloud of glory in the distance, which when present
was too rare and impalpable for mortal sense?
And so, again, in a number of other occurrences, not striking, not grievous,
not pleasant, but ordinary, we are able afterwards to discern that He has
been with us, and, like Moses, to worship Him. Let a person who trusts
he is on the whole serving God acceptably, look back upon his past life,
and he will find how critical were moments and acts, which at the time
seemed the most indifferent: as for instance, the school he was sent to
as a child, the occasion of his falling in with those persons who have
most benefited him, the accidents which determined his calling or prospects
whatever they were. God's hand is ever over his own, and He leads them
forward by a way they know not of. The utmost they can do is to believe,
what they cannot see now, what they shall see hereafter; and as believing,
to act together with God towards it.
And hence perchance it is, that years that are past bear in retrospect
so much of fragrance with them, though at the time perhaps we saw little
in them to take pleasure in; or rather we did not, could not realize that
we were receiving pleasure, though we received it. We received pleasure,
because we were in the presence of God, but we knew it not; we knew not
what we received; we did not bring home to ourselves or reflect upon the
pleasure we were receiving; but afterwards, when enjoyment is past, reflection
comes in. We feel at the time; we recognize and reason afterwards. Such,
I say, is the sweetness and softness with which days long passed away fall
upon the memory, and strike us. The most ordinary years, when we seemed
to be living for nothing, these shine forth to us in their very regularity
and orderly course. What was sameness at the time, is now stability; what
was dulness, is now a soothing calm; what seemed unprofitable, has now
its treasure in itself; what was but monotony, is now harmony; all is pleasing
and comfortable, and we regard it all with affection. Nay, even sorrowful
times (which at first sight is wonderful) are thus softened and illuminated
afterwards: yet why should they not be so, since then, more than at other
times, our Lord is present, when he seems leaving His own to desolateness
and orphanhood? The planting of Christ's Cross in the heart is sharp and
trying; but the stately tree rears itself aloft, and has fair branches
and rich fruit, and is good to look upon. And if all this be true, even
of sad or of ordinary times, much more does it hold good of seasons of
religious obedience and comfort.
Such are the feelings with which men often look back on their childhood,
when any accident brings it vividly before them. Some relic or token of
that early time, some spot, or some book, or a word, or a scent, or a sound,
brings them back in memory to the first years of their discipleship, and
they then see, what they could not know at the time, that God's presence
went up with them and gave them rest. Nay, even now perhaps they are unable
to discern fully what it was which made that time so bright and glorious.
They are full of tender, affectionate thoughts towards those first years,
but they do not know why. They think it is those very years which they
yearn after, whereas it is the presence of God which, as they now see,
was then over them, which attracts them. They think that they regret the
past, when they are but longing after the future. It is not that they would
be children again, but that they would be Angels and would see God; they
would be immortal beings, crowned with amaranth, robed in white, and with
palms in their hands, before His throne.
What happens in the fortunes of individuals, happens also to the Church.
Its pleasant times are pleasant in memory. We cannot know who are great
and who are little, what times are serious and what are their effects,
till afterwards. Then we make much of the abode, and the goings out and
the comings in of those who in their day lived familiarly with us, and
seemed like other men. Then we gather up the recollection of what they
did here, and what they said there. Then their persecutors, however powerful,
are not known or spoken of, except by way of setting off their achievements
and triumphs in the Gospel. "Kings of the earth, and the great men, and
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men," who in their day
so magnified themselves, so ravaged and deformed the Church, that it could
not be seen except by faith, then are found in nowise to have infringed
the continuity of its outlines, which shine out clear and glorious, and
even more delicate and tender for the very attempt to obliterate them.
It needs very little study of history to prove how really this is the case;
how little schism and divisions and disorders and troubles and fears and
persecutions and scatterings and threatenings interfere with the glory
of Christ Mystical, as looked upon afterwards, though at the time they
almost hid it. Great Saints, great events, great privileges, like the everlasting
mountains, grow as we recede from them.
And it is a sort of instinct, felt by the multitude, that they really
are in possession of that which they neither see nor in faith accept, which
(as some have remarked) makes them so unwilling just at the last moment
to give up those privileges which they have so long possessed without valuing
or using. Sometimes at the last moment, when mercies are being withdrawn,
when it is too late, or all but too late, a feeling comes over them that
something precious is going from them. They seem to hear the sound of arms,
and the voices in the Temple saying, "Let us depart hence;" and they attempt
to retain what they cannot see;—penitents, when the day of grace is over.
Once more: every one of us surely must have experienced this general
feeling most strongly, at one time or other, as regards the Sacraments
and Ordinances of the Church. At the time, we cannot realize, we can but
believe that Christ is with us; but after an interval a sweetness breathes
from them, as from His garments, "of myrrh, aloes, and cassia." Such is
the memory of many a Holy Communion in Church, of Holy Communions solemnized
at a sick bed, of Baptisms assisted in, of Confirmation, of Marriage, of
Ordination; nay, Services which at the time we could not enjoy, from sickness,
from agitation, from restlessness,—Services which at the time, in spite
of our belief in their blessedness, yet troubled our wayward hearts,—Services
which we were tempted to think long, feared beforehand, nay, and wished
over when they were performing (alas! that we should be so blind and dead
to our highest good), yet afterwards are full of God. We come, like Jacob,
in the dark, and lie down with a stone for our pillow; but when we rise
again, and call to mind what has passed, we recollect we have seen a vision
of Angels, and the Lord manifested through them, and we are led to cry
out, "How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of
God, and this is the gate of heaven."
To conclude. Let us profit by what every day and hour teaches us, as
it flies. What is dark while it is meeting us, reflects the Sun of Righteousness
when it is past. Let us profit by this in future, so far as this, to have
faith in what we cannot see. The world seems to go on as usual. There is
nothing of heaven in the face of society; in the news of the day there
is nothing of heaven; in the faces of the many, or of the great, or of
the rich, or of the busy, there is nothing of heaven; in the words of the
eloquent, or the deeds of the powerful, or the counsels of the wise, or
the resolves of the lordly, or the pomps of the wealthy, there is nothing
of heaven. And yet the Ever-blessed Spirit of God is here; the Presence
of the Eternal Son, ten times more glorious, more powerful than when He
trod the earth in our flesh, is with us. Let us ever bear in mind this
divine truth,—the more secret God's hand is, the more powerful—the more
silent, the more awful. We are under the awful ministration of the Spirit,
against whom whoso speaks, hazards more than can be reckoned up; whom whoso
grieves, loses more of blessing and glory than can be fathomed. The Lord
was with Joseph, and the Lord was with David, and the Lord, in the days
of His flesh, was with His Apostles; but now, He is with us in the Spirit.
And inasmuch as the Divine Spirit is more than flesh and blood; inasmuch
as the risen and glorified Saviour is more powerful than when He was in
the form of a servant; inasmuch as the Eternal Word, spiritualizing His
own manhood, has more of virtue for us, and grace, and blessing, and life,
than when concealed in it, and subject to temptation and pain; inasmuch
as faith is more blessed than sight; by so much more are we now more highly
privileged, have more title to be called kings and priests unto God, even
than the disciples who saw and touched Him. He who glorified Christ, imparts
Him thus glorified to us. If He could work miracles in the days of His
flesh, how much more can He work miracles now? and if His visible miracles
were full of power, how much more His miracles invisible. Let us beg of
Him grace wherewith to enter into the depth of our privileges,—to enjoy
what we possess,—to believe, to use, to improve, to glory in our present
gifts as "members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom
of heaven."
[Contributed by Paul Zadik, Sheffield, UK.]
Notes: Vid. Ignat. ad Eph. 19.
Copyright © 2000 by Bob Elder. All rights reserved.
Used with permission. See the Newman website:
http://www.newmanreader.org/index.html
