the penitent and sincere soul all the benefits of His Incarnation and Passion, by the use of Sacraments and Blessings. Completely withdrawn from us, He is yet fully alive in us and formed in us; we are held to Him by a living bond which is "the power of God unto salvation," and are hid with Christ in the folds of God's vesture. The immortal and eternal is even now upon us. Our eyes are holden, as were those of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, else should we see the walls of the Heavenly City encircling us; else should we "see the King in His beauty," and find ourselves treasured in "His Everlasting Arms."

We feel the warmth of His love, and taste the sweetness of His mercy, through Sacramental means and mysteries divine, even in this our "little while" of sorrow and toil; but when the other "little while" of heavenly visions shall come, we shall know that love in its infinite fulness, and taste that mercy in its infinite depth; because that which is now showed forth and received in Sacraments, shall then be realized in full fruition.

I

THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

CHRIST'S BODILY PRESENCE A HINDRANCE TO SPIRITUAL

TEXT:
XVI. 7.

VISION.

It is expedient for you that I go away.-St. John

By the REV. WM. J. CLEVELAND,

Rector of Grace Church, Madison, S. D.

HE words of to-day's Gospel are full of helpful sug

TH

gestion. Like all revelations from God to man, they both directly impart what is true, and open wide avenues to thought along which the Holy Spirit guides the sincere believer in his efforts to find "all the truth." Being Himself the only competent Advocate of Christ, this "other Comforter" fulfils the pledge of Jesus to His disciples; "He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it"-set it forth; open it out fully"unto you."

Thus, too, is sorrow often turned into joy. From the Apostles' point of view, sorrow filled their hearts. Jesus had declared His intention of leaving them; and clouds were gathering about their hope in Him as the promised Messiah. But when the Holy Ghost came, He showed them the expediency of Christ's going away; guiding them to a mount of vision from which, at the unspeakably glorious majesty of their Leader and His Kingdom then for the first time clearly seen, they were filled with

rapture, and with boldness to face the world, in their Master's name.

That it is expedient for the believers in the Son of Man that He be not visibly present among them; that He does not so leave them orphans; and that the gift of the Holy Spirit to be their Guide is contingent upon, nay is the consequence of, His ascension to the Father, this much the Gospel directly teaches. And the truth of what is so imparted has been testified to by all generations: to it twenty centuries of Christian progress bear witness.

But in what way has the wisdom of Christ's action in thus leaving His Church been made plain? How has the sorrow which filled men at the mere anticipation of it been turned into so great and lasting a joy, that, for now so many centuries, millions in every land have given the commemoration of that act first rank among the high festivals of their Christian faith? It came with the truer vision which the Holy Ghost imparted: with His showing them the work and Kingdom of Christ on the spiritual side.

Christ's bodily presence was a hindrance to that spiritual vision. It obscured the larger part of His work; and led men to estimate it by what they could see of it under the limitations of time and place. But He, who, in the days of His humiliation, wore that mortal body, was then, as from all eternity He had been, the Son of God; co-equal with the Father in His eternal power and Godhead. If men could only know Him as He appeared to the eye, and see what He did while thus in the form of a servant, they could never realize the true glory of their Deliverer; nor the vast scope of what He does on their behalf. He would be thought of as only a great

and good man: and His work, as confined to His words and acts during the brief space of His earthly life. Even yet some refuse to accept the greater facts. But that is not simply to underestimate Christ's work: it is almost wholly to remain in ignorance of it; and can lead to nothing but vain regret, on the supposition that it has not been perpetuated.

Far more cheering is the splendor of the truth. Christ's taking upon Himself our nature, and His work while undergoing in it all the conditions of human life in the world, are, indeed, important features in the great panorama of man's redemption: but they are a fraction only; and, in themselves, an unavailing fraction of the vast undertaking which Christ so began, but which He still continues to perfect. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," was not only true when He said it; it is true of Him forever. His work was not merely for those who should seek His guidance here below; it was, and is, for all who have passed the portals of the grave. Those portals He, too, must pass; destroying him who had the power of death, opening the gate of everlasting life to all who follow Him, and preparing a place for them in the many mansions of His Father's House. It is expedient for all that He go away; and that the Spirit come to make the vision of the larger truth more real.

In brief, Christ's work extends beyond the cross; beyond the tomb; beyond the clouds which received Him after His resurrection; up to His intercession for His people in the courts above. Its saving efficacy, in fact, does not begin, until it passes into the realm which human faculties cannot penetrate. That is to say what He did while on earth was preparatory; the basis on which He now, in the very presence of God, makes effectual

for the salvation of men the innumerable benefits of His self-emptying Incarnation, His precious Death and Burial, His glorious Resurrection and Ascension.

How do such considerations sweep away all notions of Jesus as a mere passing phenomenon in the world's history; and of His work, even admitting Him to have been the Son of God, as a brief experience which He was willing to undergo for pity's sake; but which He was glad to have over, that He might return again unto His rest!

Again, Christ's bodily presence hid from view the real nature of His Church. Men, thinking only of what Jesus did while He walked in Galilee, can never see in it the kingdom of God. It is expedient for His Church that He go away, lest she think of Herself as merely a human society; as designed only to fill man's earthly course with good influences; or to mould the generations as they pass, gaining a little upon each until evil is eliminated; and the earth becomes a safe dwelling place for souls. This idea of the Christian Church leaves man to pass out into an unknown future without a welcoming friend in view, or a hope to cheer. It deserts him at his hour of greatest need, and plays into the hands of Theosophy, Spiritualism, Christian Science, falsely so-called, and all that strange brood of mysticisms coming in like a flood to fill the gap which it leaves open. It calls for reincarnations, and final Nirvanas of oblivion. It does not see the kingdom of Heaven and the glad host of the redeemed before the great Creator's throne.

With this as His purpose, Christ's temptation and suffering are emptied of all meaning; there was no call for His death and sacrifice; and inexpedient beyond expression were His Resurrection and Ascension. If it