in Jewish prophecy reaching its full fruition in Christian sanctification. All that we can say about this condition of prophecy can only be illustrations of our Lord's beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." It was Samuel's sweet piety and purity of heart from his youth as a consecrated child which prepared him to be a seer.

The other and the practical part of the prophetic function suggested by our text follows from this. His message to men is the result of his vision. "I am the seer, and I will tell thee all that is in thine heart." His work is moral and spiritual, speaking to the heart of man concerning the truth by which alone man lives. The seer is the man who sees God, and so can tell what is in our hearts. The vision does not make a man what we call a visionary. The vision gives him insight. His predictions have all this moral and religious basis, drawing out into practice the laws of God and the will of God which he learns from his intimate spiritual intercourse. The outlook on God gives insight into man. The prophet sees his own heart in the light of God, not by careful introspection and acute analysis; and seeing his own heart in the light of God he can read other hearts. This reading of the heart is his business, not fortunetelling. His predictions are moral, traced back to

the laws of God which he sees by spiritual intuition. From the knowledge of his own heart and other men's hearts, he sees something of what is in man and what man can be; for he recognises him as of essential nature with God, recognises the spark of the divine in the human. He sees not only what is base in men but also what is high, the vast possibilities in human nature when it is submitted to God's will.

Thus two things may be said of prophetic preaching. You cannot put the prophet's message into prim logical formulæ, divide it and subdivide it and catalogue the contents of the message; but two things are broadly recognised in their work. First of all, he is a seer and can tell what is in the heart; and so he sees something of the meaning of sin and its inevitable door. Thus the prophets were preachers of righteousness. This is a universal note of all prophecy. They never wavered in their moral warfare. Their predictions could not fail in essence; for they were moral judgments with the fixity and certitude of law.

Then again the prophet saw something of the boundless love in God's heart and the response it must have from men. He saw God's eternal purpose to redeem. Thus the prophets were preachers of

hope as well as preachers of righteousness. They never despaired of man, because they never despaired of God. "I never despaired of the conversion of any man," said John Newton, "since the Lord converted me, a wild bull, on the coast of Africa." That was good argument, but the prophet had even better argument. The prophet's conviction was grounded deeper than even his experience, deeper than his reading either of his own or of any other man's heart. It was based on what he saw in God's heart. In the darkest day, with never a sign of light, while he preached the doom of sin, he also proclaimed salvation. How could he despair of man so long as he had knowledge of the tireless love of God?

This is not the discussion of an old-world theme, of some intellectual interest to us and no more. For the ideal of the Bible is that this prophecy, with its spiritual insight and its practical guidance, should be universal, not the unique gift of a few but the possession of all, as in Moses' prayer, "Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His spirit upon them." And in the measure of our consecration is the prayer fulfilled. In so far as we are seers, with spiritual vision, pure in heart, seeing God, in so far we can tell what is in

the heart and are in accord with the laws of life. We sometimes long for a Samuel who can give us external guidance, a seer who can tell all that is in our heart, read its unformed desires, express its unspoken prayers, light the flame of high thought, draw out all purposes of good, and repress all signs of evil. But at the best that would only be a temporary expedient, as Samuel even was to Saul. We need to have the light in ourselves. We need to have God in our own hearts.

He

This is Christ's claim and offer. He would bring us all into the presence of God His Father. would give us all His Spirit, and make us all see God. When we come to Him, He tells us all that is in our heart, its sin and sorrow, its hopes and fears, its abiding need of God, need of forgiveness and of reconciliation. We cannot see Him once without feeling in our heart of hearts that we were born for the love of God, and can only truly live in that love, and are dying for want of it. Whatever else is there, whatever evil and self-deception and crooked ways are there, He the Seer tells us all that is in our heart, and that our hearts are restless till they find rest in Him.

XI

DID JESUS HAVE FAVOURITE DISCIPLES?

He suffered no man to follow Him save Peter and James and John the brother of James.-ST. MARK v. 37.

I HAVE been asked the question which makes the subject of this sermon. The most casual glance

at the record shows that Jesus did have favourite disciples. As a mere question of fact it is therefore easily answered. For whatever reason, He did single out certain of His disciples for special intercourse. There are the occasions when He took the three disciples Peter and James and John, who may therefore be called favourite disciples, since they were chosen to be admitted into His confidence in a peculiar degree. The chief occasions are:

(1) When He went to cure Jairus' daughter, we read, "He suffered no man to follow Him save Peter and James and John the brother of James" (Mark v. 37). We may of course give plausible reasons for the restriction of the number of His disciples, such as the natural desire not to crowd the house