(John 17.)

In this wonderful Gospel of John we have the testimony of the Holy Ghost as to the Person and the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also His own marvelous words-the words of which even His enemies had to say, "Never man spake like this Man." And then, His works, works which were given Him by the Father to do, works which bore witness of Him, and in relation with them His marvelous testimony in grace to the world up to the close of chapter 12, after which we followed Him inside the closed doors of the upper room, and listened to His rich unfolding of truth and grace.

And now let us listen to the Lord as He leads out our hearts into His supplication to the Father. We read throughout the Gospel history, again and again, of our blessed Lord being engaged in prayer. For this purpose He went out a great while before day. What an example! From it we can learn that in the midst of all confusion and activity of service, we should never forget prayer. If we neglect it, if in the activity even of ministering the Word of God, we fail to be in the sanctuary alone with God, we will lose the power to present the precious truth. Luther once said, "To have prayed well is to have said well," and on our knees we will gain instruction and knowledge; it is the place from which we will go forth in power to set forth the truth of God.

So in the midst of all His activities, with multitudes pressing and thronging Him, though going here and there in untiring service, our Lord would rob the night of its sleep in order to be alone with His Father. If He, the Son of God, did that, oh, how much more do we, poor feeble creatures, need to be alone with Him who is the source of all our strength?

We read He continued all night in prayer. What did He pray for? Well, when He came down from that holy vigil with His Father, He selected the twelve apostles. May we not believe that in this administration of His service, He considered with His Father the character of each to be selected-the impulsiveness of Peter, the loyalty of John, the boldness of others, and alas, the awful, awful treachery of one who knew Him not nor cared for Him? Then having reviewed it all with His Father in that night of prayer, He comes down from the mountain and unflinchingly selects each one according to the will of the Father.

Thus He has given us, surely, not only a glimpse into His own holy life, but also the secret of how to be guided in the order and government which God may have put into our hands.

In passing, may I just refer to the necessity of this, in all the discipline and government of the house of God? It is so easy to get into a spirit of strife, so easy to seek our own wills, our own vindication, or even, alas, to vent our own displeasure! Oh, beloved, if we are alone with God in the sanctuary in prayer, He will guide us as to the administration of the government that He has entrusted to us.

Again, we read of Him in prayer on the Mount of Transfiguration, just as at His baptism. How the Father must have delighted in the outflow of the heart of His holy Son to Him, so much so that He opened the heavens, to declare, as it were, "This is He, this One here on His knees, this One praying in dependence on Me, this One who has no thought but My glory; He is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!" May we ask what He was praying about on that mount? Was He asking for the glory? Do you think He was asking to be introduced to it? We know what Moses and Elijah spoke of with Him while there on the holy mount. It was the decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem! I think that prayer of the Lord at the time of His transfiguration, when the glory shone out from Him and shone around about Him, all from God, I think it must have been that He too poured out His soul to His Father as to that decease, for which He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. Only by way of the cross could He enter that glory of which the Transfiguration was the anticipation.

He speaks of other seasons of prayer, but in our chapter we are, as it were, in the Sanctuary itself with our great High Priest. I have been much impressed with the fact that all through this part of John (chs. 13-17) the Lord is bringing His people into communion with Himself, and that in various parts of it He emphasizes the spirit of prayer. Notice, for instance, in chapter 14:13:"And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." In this He shows us the secret of what He says to those whom He is leaving here, "He that believeth in Me… greater works shall he do, because I go unto My Father:" it is prayer. Then, notice too, how in the Lord's references to prayer in these chapters you find, "In My Name," quoted with each one. And what does "In My Name" mean? Is it something like what you write at the close of a letter, "Yours respectfully," or "Yours sincerely," or whatever it may be, as a matter of courtesy? Are not perhaps many of our prayers closed with that courteous expression, if I may so say, "In the Name of Thy dear Son?" I am sure we do not mean it as formality, but sometimes it almost seems like just an appendix to the prayer. No, beloved; to ask, "In His Name," means rather to be taken by the hand and led to prayer by Him; it means, may I say, His kneeling by our side and His desires flowing through our heart. That is what it means.

"In His Name." His Name is what He is, His nature, and therefore to pray in the Name of Christ must mean to pray according to His blessed will. Can I pray for evil in the Name of the Son of God? What I pray for should really be an expression of His nature. Can I do that in prayer? Prayer should breathe the power of the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ, the desires of Christ in us and for us. The Lord teach us more and more to pray in His Name. We would not think of closing a prayer, without the very words:"In the blessed Name of our Lord," but then the whole supplication should be infiltrated by, permeated by the blessed Name of Jesus- all according to that Name.

Then another thing:"That the Father may be glorified in the Son." Is that why we pray, dear brethren? Not for ourselves, but "that the Father may be glorified in His Son?" What a holy and blessed motive under the power of which to guide our intercession and supplication!

In the temples of Egypt they had a very stately avenue of columns and statuary leading up to the sanctuary, and as we review these various references to prayer in these chapters, they are like beautiful columns along the avenue the Lord is leading us to the sanctuary where He pours out His High Priestly prayer for us to God. As He thus leads us He is teaching us the spirit of prayer. First, then, "In My Name;" and then, "That the Father be glorified in the Son." How it searches the heart! Let it test us. Is it this that is our first thought of prayer? Am I asking this for the Father's glory in the Son? This will eliminate a thousand selfish, fleshly, superficial requests! What will it leave? The glory of Christ, the glory of the Father. It will make us join with the Lord in the supplications of His heart.

Again we have in verse 14:"If ye shall ask anything in My Name, I will do it." Anything? Ah, there is no limit here, but notice, beloved, it is because we have asked in His Name, and because the glory of the Father in the Son is in view. God can not deny the glory of His Son; He can not deny His own glory; and after all, if we are praying in the Name of Christ, according to the mind of Christ our Lord, we are praying His own thoughts and His own desires. "If ye shall ask anything in My Name." Have we tried it, beloved? Are we trying it? Are we living in that atmosphere of prayer? I know for myself, beloved brethren, prayer is a conflict, and by that I mean, not that it is difficult, one may say, to have the regular seasons of prayer, but to instinctively, without effort, turn to God in prayer about everything. I crave it increasingly; I crave it at times like this, beloved, just to feel that after all it is not my meeting or yours, but one in which the Father may be glorified in the Son, and instinctively the desire should be to pray, "Father, glorify Thy Name in Thy beloved Son,"

Now in ch. 15:16:"Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you"-fruitfulness of life; a fruitful life is a life of prayer. A soul growing in grace is one that pours itself out in prayer. I know there are dangers; sometimes intemperate expressions are used, for instance, that we should read our Bible less and pray more. There is no need for such a statement, for the more you read your Bible the more you are going to pray. The more you feed on it, and let your soul be filled with it, controlled by it, your very thoughts conformed by it, the more you will pray.

A prayerful life is a fruitful life. Even the ordinary normal affairs of life, our meat and drink, are sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. They go together. And so when Mary sat at His feet and heard His Word, the next chapter, in immediate connection with that lovely incident, shows the Lord praying, and His disciples say, "Lord, teach us to pray." Beloved, the more you have His Word abiding in you, the more you will feel your need of prayer; the more you will be compelled to pray. Through the exercise it leads to we learn our nothingness, our helplessness; our own shortcomings and failures pass before us; and because of this we will be forced to turn and cry to Him in prayer. The Lord grant that the fruitfulness which He desires may be realized, but let us remember that for this prayer is essential. With these thoughts on prayer I want to link that wonderful endowment of truth which God has given us. He has opened up His Word to us in the last century in a way that it never had been opened since the days of the apostles. Any thoughtful student of church history can not fail to see this. Great problems were brought up at the time of the Reformation; great problems even earlier than that; but just a century ago, in the year 1828, God began to open up the character of that Word in a marvelous and most blessed way to a little feeble company of His people who searched it and desired to know its wondrous nature. This flood of light, in the mercy of God (and I say it without hesitation) has given character to the Christian teachings and testimony of the past hundred years. Many who despise, or think they despise, certain Christians, have the very truth in which they delight from the source which they despise. I only speak of it that we may thank God for the truth, but not boast about it.

We find our great blessing in connection with this, but I want to warn of our great danger-that of holding the truth in a prayerless way. This means to hold it without communion with God, and so without corresponding power in our lives. How vain to talk about the coming of the Lord without truly waiting for that coming; to talk about our complete standing in Christ without delighting, with adoring hearts, in that standing; to talk about knowing the Father, about having the Spirit, without having our whole lives bowed with gratitude and adoring worship because of such wondrous blessing. Oh, I pray for myself and for all of us, that we might not lose the mellowness, the holiness, the earnestness and the prayer which belongs with this marvelous endowment of truth! I believe that our failures, our shortcomings and inconsistencies-and alas, they are only too manifest-can be traced individually and collectively to a lack of true prayer amongst the people of God. I believe it to be so much so that I desire more and more to have my life marked by a spirit of prayer, and for that reason I speak of these things in introducing the wondrous, holy prayer of our blessed Lord.

Look again at ch. 16:23."And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you." The Lord had said, "I will give it you;" now He says, "He will give it you. I and My Father are One." How completely is the Lord in the place of supremacy, and how perfectly He draws out our prayers to Himself and to His Father! I find myself-do you?-praying to the Lord Jesus again and again, and I find, thank God, that I pray to the Father. Some have taught that we ought not to pray to the Lord Jesus, but in the light of this Holy Word you can pray and praise directly to Him. Then, on the other hand, it is our holy, happy privilege to pray to the Father as well, and give thanks to the Father, who "hath made us meet."Perhaps you say, "Why not pray to the Holy Spirit?"For a very blessed reason:we pray IN the Holy Spirit."Ye, beloved, building up yourselves in your most holy faith, praying IN the Holy Ghost." It is prayer in His power."We know not what things we should ask for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered." The Holy Ghost leads out our hearts in prayer, and He is with us and therefore we do not pray to Him; He prays in us and through us to the Father and to the Son.

How blessed, thus, the whole Trinity, the divine fulness of God, engaged in prayer, and no wonder He says, then, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father"-and in this chapter He is speaking especially of His entering into glory-"in that day ye shall ask Me nothing;" that is, not asking Him as if He were here. "Ye shall ask the Father anything in My name in that day"-in His name -"and He will do it." "Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Beloved, joy is the power of our lives; love means joy, and joy and love go hand in hand, and they are both the fruit of a life of prayer. Oh, brethren, I have been speaking to the younger believers and to all of us:snatch time for reading the Word early in the day, the first thing in the morning, the spring of the day. Let me add to that, as that which belongs to it-a part of it- praying, with the word of God. The privilege of prayer is a wonderful, amazing privilege of pouring out our hearts to God, individually and unitedly. What are our prayer meetings, beloved? Is there any savor of dullness about them, any bit of formality, in holding back? Does some dear brother say, "I am not gifted with prayer?" Oh, there is nobody "gifted with prayer;" it is the power of the Holy Spirit in us. A man may have a gift of evangelizing, or teaching, or pastoral care, but I read not a line of having a gift of prayer. That is the mark of all the people of God, and we want to use our holy, happy privilege. The apostle says, in writing to Timothy, "I will that THE men (not merely "that men," but "THE men") pray everywhere;" in like manner THE women fulfil their happy, holy duty in their sphere.

We have another precious pillar along this avenue of prayer in ver. 26. "At that day ye shall ask in My name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father Himself loveth you because ye have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God." We do not have to use the Lord as an intermediary; we are brought to the Father, we can speak directly to the Father, and because we can do that we never omit the Son. But then "the Father Himself loveth you." We look at ourselves; how unworthy of love we are, and yet our blessed Lord assures us that "the Father Himself"-the Father of glory, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Possessor of heaven and earth, "the Father Himself loveth you" Therefore we can ask what we will according to the blessed nature and name of our Lord Jesus, and the answers will surely be given.

This, we may say, is the introduction to this marvelous prayer of our Lord. I doubt not, it is a sample of how we should pray, giving the character of the petitions that should be before us; and furthermore, leads us into the Lord's deep longing for His own who are in the world.

First, I want to mark out the great divisions of this wonderful chapter. There are three. In the first five verses our blessed Lord speaks in view of His going to the Father, of having all power committed to Him, and of entering into His glory. In vers. 6-21 we have the main part of the prayer. It is His desire for His own who are in the world. Then from ver. 22 to the close of the chapter we have the glory into which He is entering, and which is our eternal home.

So you begin with, "The hour is come," when He is to be glorified, and at the end of the chapter He has entered His glory and we are to share it with Him. Whatever comes in between is marked by the character that belongs to those two great parts of His prayer. At the beginning it is His entering into glory with all power given to Him, including that of giving eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. Here there is no sense of feebleness! With us prayer is often the expression of our own feebleness in confession. How different with the Lord! "Glorify Thy Son… as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He might give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him." He is the Giver of eternal life, and only He leads us into it. He fills our hearts with that vital principle, never to be lost, which links us with Himself and the glory into which He has gone.

But what a standard for prayer! When we in our feebleness get on our knees, what a blessed thing it is to realize that the Lord is on high, all power being given to Him, not merely to give us the little trifles of food and meat and clothing, but to give us all that the blessed term "eternal life" means; not merely the impartation of that which never can be lost; but more, the enjoyment of it, fellowship with the Father and the Son, companionship with Them, sharing Their thoughts, enjoying the holiness which belongs to Them, partaking of that holiness. This is realized power.

As we listen to Him there, pouring out His heart in supplication, we may be in all the consciousness of what has been given to Him. There is no uncertainty, there is no thought that an answer will not be given, because He already has the power to give it to as many as the Father has given Him.

But I must not pass over the Lord's word:"Father, the hour is come." It had not come at the beginning. To His beloved mother – and He honored her and obeyed her in her place as mother, but she could never intrude between Him and the Father-He said, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." Until that time, He would not act. Again, "No man laid hands on Him, for His hour was not yet come," and then, later, "This is your hour." Now, at the beginning of His prayer He speaks of it as come, that hour of which He had said, "What shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy Name," It meant the Cross for Him, the anguish of suffering unto death for us, the bearing of the wrath of God for us. But He is not thinking merely of the hour of suffering; "Glorify Thy Son"-ah, "for the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross," He passed through Gethsemane, endured Calvary, entered the grave, but rose in life to sit down at the right hand of the throne of God!

Now why did He pray to be glorified? Did He have some selfish motive? Was it in order that He might be displayed? "Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may also glorify Thee." He was here in this world for one purpose-to glorify the Father. Why is He in heaven? To glorify the Father. Blessed be His name! No selfishness in Him there, any more than there was here! It is the glory of the Father which is the one purpose ever engaging Him, His one desire.

Then, from out of that suffering, from out of that Cross, the power is wielded to give eternal life. What is eternal life? I am not going to do more than point out what it is that marks eternal life:the knowledge of the only true God, to whom He is speaking, and "Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." What does it mean to know Him, to know God? Does it mean merely that you believe there is a God? Does it mean merely that you believe there was such a historical person on the earth as Jesus of Nazareth, or even Jesus the Christ, or even Jesus the Son of God? Is it merely to know about Him in that way? Is that eternal life? This is life eternal, to be acquainted with, to have a conscious knowledge, to have a living and vital knowledge in my own soul of Him, the only God, God over all; not man, not the creature, but the living God, and He who has manifested God, Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.

Let us not be afraid to speak freely and fully of these blessed themes; let us not be afraid to discuss eternal life. I deplore the fact that it has been made a matter of controversy, and alas, often thus unspiritually handled. Life eternal brings me into relationship with God; life eternal introduces me into the family of the Father and the Son. Truly our fellowship is with Them. It is a holy theme and a most blessed one. And, blessed be His 'Name, He has given that eternal life to all whom the Father has given to Him!

Just another word:"I have glorified Thee on the earth!" How perfectly He did it! Do you not love to trace His footsteps here? You remember what the apostle says in the Ephesians. Speaking of the new creation, he calls it, "As the truth is in Jesus;" He is the exhibition of it in all of its holy character. It is not merely Christ risen, but it is the truth as it is in Him, in that life which He lived here upon earth. Thus that eternal life which was with the Father was manifested to us, indeed, exhibited in its perfection. And therefore He says, "I have glorified Thee on the earth," and then, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." The Father had committed a stupendous work to the Son, none other than that of bringing back a rebel world to God, vindicating His righteous character. This had been entrusted to Him as having humbled Himself to take the servant's form, even the lowest place. I love to think of that little Babe in its mother's arms, entrusted with the glory of the Father, now grown to manhood and about to go to the Cross and into eternal glory, and looking forward, He can say, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do."

As we contemplate that one great feature of this work, the redemption which He accomplished on the cross, what place has doubt, fear, or unbelief? Shall I not look at Him and say:

"Clean every whit, Thou saidst it, Lord;
Shall one suspicion lurk?
Thine surely is a faithful Word,
And Thine a finished work."

And so He has gone on high, blessed be His Name; angels, principalities and powers are subject to Him. He is Lord and Master of all; our Great High Priest who has entered the holiest of God's presence on high to appear for us, having obtained eternal redemption.

Now let us turn to the close of the chapter, and afterwards we will consider the middle part. At the commencement He prayed, "Glorify Thy Son;" then He says in ver. 22, "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them." That into which He has entered, He gives to us. We are joint-heirs with Christ. He will not be in glory and leave us behind. As surely as He has entered into His glory, so surely will His people enter into it with Him. Here in weakness, poor creatures of a day, we soon will be with Him in glory. Notice what goes with this:"That they may be one, even as We are." What becomes of our petty divisions, parties, and alienations? What becomes of our poor little pittance of personal dignity and such like things? We will be one in the glory there. Surely our place is to show the reality of that in our lives here on the earth! But it must be on the basis of His glory; it is just in proportion as the sense of it fills our hearts that earthly things will fade out of sight.

Let His glory be supreme in our hearts; that will prevent our being apart; that will draw us together according to the attraction of the glory and the power of the blessed nature which is already ours, and in the power of which we are to live. A man-made union of all the Christians in the world would not be the answer to the Lord's prayer. Were all to vote that henceforth and hereafter there would be no more sects and parties, no more divisions amongst Christians, but we would all be members of one vast Body, that would not be the answer to His prayer. Why? The glory would be lacking ; for only as Christ supreme in His glory is our object, and we live for that glory and in order that He may be glorified, can unity be realized. There is a pathway of unity for the people of God. It is to our common shame that we do not manifest that unity, but the reason for it is that glory is not shining in and shining out in our lives, for this alone can produce it.

You cannot legislate Christian behavior. You cannot legislate Christian unity. It is through the power of the Holy Ghost, and a genuine revival of the reality of the truth of what Christ is to us. That will draw us together, and hold us together as we live in the light of our inheritance in the glory. The Lord grant us to know how in the light of that glory we may be blessedly drawn together so that the power of the enemy is set aside.

Yet another thought as to that glory:"Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." Heaven for us is to be with HIM. But for what purpose? First of all, it is to be with Him. Beloved, is that your idea of heaven? If it is, you are ready to go now; you will be glad to go; you can say,

"To Jesus, the crown of my hope,
My soul is in haste to be gone."

Is that our thought of it:"Let me be with Thee where Thou art?" Wherever He is, that is heaven for us.

Complete in itself as this appears to be, yet He adds a marvelous, wondrous thought as to "the glory." Is it, "That they may share My glory?" No, something better than that, for He will see that we share His glory, but, "That they may behold My glory, the glory which I had with Thee before the world was!"-that matchless glory which was His with the Father in all Eternity, now given to Him as Son of Man, victorious, triumphant on high. To behold Him in His glory, that will be our heaven. Oh, beloved, have we seen that glory? Have we beheld it in such a way that our whole souls are satisfied that He is glorified? Is our joy such as Peter speaks of – "unspeakable and filled with the glory?" That will eliminate selfishness from us; in the power of this alone can we realize the blessedness of this prayer.

We have seen the heavenly opening and closing of this prayer, now let us look at what we might call the earthly part of it. First, He is entering into His glory with all power and dominion in His hand; then He is bringing us into that glory to share it with Him and to behold His glory and worship Him. What in the meantime is it? "Keep through Thine own Name, Holy Father, those whom Thou hast given Me. I am no more in the world." He is about to depart, and what is His thought as He is leaving? "I am no longer here, but they are here, My loved ones are here, those for whom I died. Oh, Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me." He had manifested the Father's name to them; they had heard the Word; they had believed it; they had kept it; they were His because they were the Father's, and He was glorified in His own. And the way He is glorified in us is, that we shall be kept. When He was here He kept His own; not one of them who was truly His was lost, only the one that would fulfil the Scripture, the son of perdition, who knew not Christ, nor loved Him; he is the only one outwardly connected with Him who was lost,. But all the others, though feeble in themselves, were kept.

"And now come I to Thee, and these things I speak in the world that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves." His joy! Do you think the Lord Jesus was happy when He was here? Do you think He had joy and communion? Do you think that ever a shadow passed between Him and the Father in all that holy life? No, it was a life of perfect communion, and that is what He desires for us. It is His High Priestly prayer for us, and that is why He washes our feet, that His joy should be fulfilled in us. And this is to be in the world, for His prayer is not that we should be taken out of the world. The heart sometimes may leap over all thought of the present, and say, "Oh, that I could be with Him up there!" Yes, blessed it would be, but He does not ask that we should be taken out. He has left us here, as He says, "I have sent them into the world as Thou hast sent Me into the world." We are sent as His ambassadors, His light-bearers, His witnesses, in the world. What He desires is that the Father should "keep them from the evil that is in the world." "They are not of the world." Mark that. He does not say we ought not to be of the world; He does not say we shall not be of the world, but "They ARE NOT of the world." Every one who is saved has the seal upon him that he is not of the world, no more than Christ was of the world. Beloved, I belong to Him, and therefore my life is as much out of the world as His is, and, dear brethren, how it comes home to our hearts:"If that is what I am, does my life answer to it? Is my life an unworldly life?" How far beyond mere moral integrity that goes! This thing of having a high talk and low walk is dishonoring to the Son of God.

One may have a clean ledger, live a very moral and upright life, outwardly, and yet be intensely worldly and belong to this world. No! "Not of the world" means that our hearts are where He is; our treasure where Christ is; and that if you would peel off all the outer coverings of our life, layer after layer, business life, public life, social life, family life, personal life, getting down, down, down to the center of it, it would be found true, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." That is His desire for us.

But He has not left us merely with that thought of it for He adds, "As I am not" of it. Then He speaks of the work needed for the realization of this-sanctification. Not sanctification by new birth, nor yet sanctification by His own blood-the latter gives us a perfect position and standing before God, the other a perfect life-but here it is sanctification by the truth, by the Word of God filling, controlling, the heart and life.

Therefore how necessary that the Word of God should be our meat and drink. It is the vehicle for our sanctification. He says, as it were, to the Father, "Thy Word, which is truth, is power to sanctify My people."

Then one other word:"I sanctify Myself." Need I say that this does not have to do with anything in the personal character of our Lord? Nothing whatever. He was holy essentially; He needed no sanctification; but ah, He takes His place outside of the world to set Himself apart to God; He has entered into the glory, for what purpose? That we might be linked with Him outside of the world, to have our portion with Him.

Well, I have just given you an outline. May this prayer be repeated by the Holy Spirit in our supplications, our hearts rejoicing that He is in that place of glory and power, rejoicing too to think of our share in that with Him, and that we shall behold His glory; meanwhile left here in the world, kept by the Father from the evil. May we realize our Lord's purpose for us as sent into the world to be His witnesses and messengers, sanctified by His truth, and so growing in likeness to Him who gave when here the perfect expression of what such sanctification means for us. This will link us with Him in heaven, and give a heavenly tone to our lives. This will not make us neglectful of duty, nor forgetful of the trifles and amenities of life; rather will it make us more careful of others and truly self-forgetful. It is said of one of the old monks who was walking along the great mountain rim which surrounds the Gulf of Naples and makes it such a lovely, entrancing scene, that he took no notice of this great natural beauty because he was so engaged with the Lord. That may appear wonderfully heavenly, but I believe, beloved, if we were engaged with the Lord we would see that beauty and glory, and we would see Him in it.

I remember when I was in Naples, passing through deep, deep exercise, and I was talking to some friends from this country, and as we looked out on that same lovely scene, presented by the Gulf of Naples, I quoted those lines:

"All around, in noonday splendor,
Earthly scenes lay fair and bright,
But mine eye no longer sees them
For the glory of that light."

Well, beloved, I thought, at that time that was pretty high up, but I don't think so now. I want to look at the glory there; I want to see "in noonday splendor those scenes so fair and bright," and to see the hand of my blessed Lord who made it, and to see My Father as the Owner of it all, and I the joint-heir with Christ, and look out upon His fair creation and say:"These are Thy works, Thou Parent of all good." And I am sure, dear brethren, that at some time you have stood and looked on some fair earthly scene, and seen its radiant splendor like the very day of heaven begun on earth, and then hasn't an involuntary sigh risen from your heart? What was that sigh? "He is not here!" It is that alone, beloved, which makes us pilgrims:Christ is not here!

So let us pray to be faithful, loyal, diligent in every true path of duty, but in it all to be kept from the evil of the world, to be sanctified by His truth and to have our hearts linked with Him, and we will be waiting to go home to glory with Him.

The foregoing is part of notes of Lectures on the Gospel of John given by Mr. Ridout in Los Angeles, in 1927.

We hope, God willing, to issue them in book form in the near future.