same manner as He had spoken respecting the Holy Ghost: Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more, but ye see Me. The disciples of Christ saw their Lord and Master by the eye of faith, after He had been separated from them. And as they had this spiritual sight of Him, He assured them, Because I live, ye shall live also. What a blessed, what a comforting assurance was this! What strong consolation is it calculated to convey to the believing soul! He who afterwards declared to His beloved disciple, when He appeared to him in the isle of Patmos, I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death3 assures His believing people, that as truly as He lives, they shall live also. His living for ever as their High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, is a security to them that they shall never perish," but shall have everlasting life. This is a declaration on which the fullest confidence may be placed. As surely as we look to Him for life, so surely will He bestow it, inasmuch as He lives for ever. And to them who put their trust in Him for the blessings which He promises to bestow, He says, At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father; or the truth of what He before asserted, I and My Father are one and ye in Me, and I

4

& Revelation i. 18. 4 Hebrews viii. 1. 5 John x. 28, 30.

in you. Those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are united to Him by faith, and He dwells in their hearts. It is union with Christ that secures their everlasting salvation.

Our Saviour enlarges on the manner in which this union is maintained between Him and His people. He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, He it is that loveth Me; and He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. It is by love to Christ, the effect of faith in Him, that His people are united to Him. To them that love Him, He makes known His commandments or His will; and they through His grace are enabled to keep, or to observe and practice what He enjoins upon them in His holy word. And He promises to them, who thus manifest their love to Him by their obedience to what He has commanded, that they shall have the comfort of knowing God as their Father, and of enjoying His love in their souls; and that He, the Saviour, will manifest His love to them, by ordering all things for them in Providence and in grace, as shall be most for His glory and for their good.

When our Lord Jesus Christ had thus spoken of manifesting Himself in a peculiar manner to them that loved and obeyed Him; Judas saith unto Him, (not Iscariot, for he had left the company of the disciples for the purpose of betraying his Master, and was not one of those whose

characters had just been described: the person who spoke at this time, was he who is commonly called the Apostle Jude, and who afterwards wrote the Epistle which goes under his name: he saith,) Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? He desired a further explanation of what our Saviour had declared; and it was immediately given to him.

Jesus answered, and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him. It was a spiritual manifestation then, that was here promised; a sight of the invisible God by faith, and not the beholding of any bodily or earthly object. This spiritual manifestation would be granted to those only who loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and gave evidence of the reality of their love to Him, by obedience to His word and commandments. These are the genuine marks of discipleship to Christ; love to His Person, and obedience to His commandments. That love is not real, which does not produce unreserved obedience. That obedience cannot be unreserved, which does not proceed from love to Him. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings. If a man be indifferent about obedience to the commandments of God, if he is living in disobedience to the word and will of God, it is evident that the love of Christ is not in his heart; he is insensible

to his obligations to the Saviour of sinners, and therefore he lightly esteems what Christ has enjoined upon His disciples. In order to set this matter in a clear light, as to what were His commandments, His words, or His sayings, Jesus added, The word which ye hear is not Mine only, but the Father's which sent Me. It was to the word of God in general, that He required obedience from His disciples.

He then showed them how it was that they would be enabled to live in obedience to His commandments, and thus to manifest their love to Him after He had left them. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. By the gracious influence of the Holy Ghost upon their minds, they would be led to a right knowledge of the word of God; and to remember all that the Lord Jesus had enjoined upon them; so as to be enabled to fulfil His will in all respects.

When our blessed Saviour had thus pointed out to His disciples the source of all good, whence they were to derive every blessing that they needed; He recurred to the subject with which He had set out, to comfort them under the loss they were about to sustain by being deprived of His bodily presence. For their

consolation He declared, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. When our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, the heavenly host sang in joyful chorus, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. He came to bring peace to guilty man, to make peace through the blood of His cross between God and man. And now just before He offered up Himself as a victim to Divine justice, a sacrifice for sin, He reminds His disciples of the object which was to be attained by it; and directs them to seek for the enjoyment of the promised blessing in their own souls; assuring them that He designed it to be their portion; and this not for a time only, but for a continuance; because He did not change like the world, which one moment gives and at another takes away. And He assured them that receiving this blessing from Him, they might dismiss every fear, and look up to the God of heaven as at peace with them through the Son of His love; and therefore might commit themselves and all their concerns to His disposal, believing that He would guide them with His counsel through life, and afterward receive them to glory.

To dispel their fears still more on the present

6 Luke ii. 14.

7 Colossians i. 20.