again.] Can you explain this by what Christ said in reference to His coming to Jerusalem? [Yes: He said they should see Him come in power to Jerusalem (St. Luke xxi. 27); that is, they saw not Christ in person, but they saw His punishment of that city.]

Ver. 17. What did the disciples say among themselves? What does their question prove as regards Christ's words? [That they were not understood by the disciples.]

Ver. 19. Did Jesus know what the disciples were saying? Had the disciples asked Christ what He meant? or did they only ask questions among themselves? But since Christ knew what they said among themselves, what do you conclude He was? [God as well as man.] What question did He ask the disciples?

Ver. 20. What did Jesus tell them? Why should they weep and lament? But what did He tell them the world would do? What did He mean by the world? [The Jewish nation.] Why would the world rejoice at what should make the disciples weep? ["Notes."] How did Christ rebuke the Jews? [By His teaching.] In what other way? [By His holy life.] Do the wicked like to live with the holy? Why not? [Because they feel condemned by the example of those who are opposed to them in character.] Mention a bad king who felt that he was rebuked by the presence of a holy prophet. [Ahab; 1 Kings xxi. 20.] Who was that prophet? [Elijah.] What did Ahab call Elijah? [His "enemy;" 1 Kings xxi. 20.] Now you understand why the world would rejoice when Christ had left it; what did Christ say the sorrow of the disciples should be turned into? How was it turned into joy? [By the coming of the Holy Ghost.]

Ver. 22. What promise did Jesus give His disciples in relation to Himself? [He would see them again.] But how could He see them when He had ascended? [He would visit them in power by sending to them the Holy Ghost.] What did He say they should do in heart? And what did He say in relation to 'their joy? Where were the apostles when the Holy Ghost came upon them? [At Jerusalem.] What feast were they celebrating? [Acts ii. 1.] What charge did their enemies bring against them. [Acts . 13.] Could those enemies deny the fact that the Holy Ghost had given the apostles power to speak several languages? Did they admit that they spake several languages? [Yes; Acts ii. 7-12.] Then, since they admitted that, why did they suppose the apostles to be "full of new wine"? [No doubt the apostles were full of joy, and seemed

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like men who had been drinking to excess.] Are their enemies to be excused for supposing them to be drunken? [Certainly not; they should have remembered what they well knew, namely, that the apostles were men of blameless lives, not winebibbers.]

Application. When Jesus told the apostles that they would weep and lament, what promise did He give them? [That they should rejoice.] What do you learn with reference to Christians now from the fact that Christ did not let His apostles continue to mourn? [That He will not leave His people comfortless.] Do not persons who now turn to Christ mourn? On what ac count do they mourn? [On account of their past sins.] But does Christ let them continue to mourn? What does He soon give them? [Joy.] Through whom? [The Spirit.] Was it on account of sin that the apostles would mourn? [No.] On what account? [Because Christ was to go away to heaven.] Is Christ now present? [Yes, He is always among His people.] When especially does He visit them? [When they meet in His name to worship Him; St. Matt. xviii. 20.] What did Christ say in relation to the joy which He would give the apostles? [No man could take it from them; St. John xvi. 22.] Is it possible now for the world to deprive the faithful Christian of joy? [No.*] Where does Holy Scripture speak of joy and peace in believing in Christ? [Rom. xv. 13; 1 Peter i. 8.]

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

St. John xvi. 5-15.

5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?

6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away:

for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

* The inscriptions taken from the sepulchres of the early Christians in the catacombs at Rome bear testimony to the joy of those Christians when driven to live in underground vaults. The oft-repeated mottoes, " In Christ the First and the Last," ""In peace and in Christ," tell of faith and hope which nothing could destroy. Even at the time of imprisonment and death, Christians have shown that they were full of such joy as the fiercest torments could not take away.

10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them

now.

13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of

himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said 1, that he shall take of mine, and shew it unto you.

Notes-The Gospel appointed for this day, like the Gospels for the Third and Fifth Sundays after Easter, has reference to Christ's Ascension.

Ver. 5. Now I go my way. Christ is here speaking of His future Ascension to the right hand of God. To Him that sent me. In this, as in other passages of Scripture, Christ states that His Father sent Him into the world. In other passages, Christ is said to have come voluntarily (see especially Ps. xl. 6, 7, 8, Bible version; Ps. xl. 8, 9, 10, Prayer-Book version). As therefore God sent Christ, and as Christ voluntarily came, their wills agreed. Christ's work was to do His Father's will in all things (St. Luke xxii. 42). He has taught us also to do it in the following petition: "Thy will be done in earth, as it is (done) in heaven.' And none of you asketh me, Whither goest Thou? Doubtless Jesus here chides His disciples because they do not take the trouble to inquire whither He is going. His meaning may be summed up in such words as the following: Three years we have shared together cold, heat, journeys, labours, and weariness. Our countrymen have driven us from place to place. They have mocked and persecuted both you and Me. We have shared the same kind of food. Has any evil befallen you, which I also have not willingly endured? Have those holy women who followed us from Galilee and ministered to us of their worldly goods (St. Luke viii. 3; St. Mark xv. 41) given more to Me than to you? Yet now that I am about to leave you, not one of you asks whither I am going.

Ver. 6. Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Perhaps their sorrow had prevented their asking whither He was going. Jesus had chided

them for not asking, because He could then have removed their sorrow by telling them He was going away to send another Comforter, and to make ready a place for them in heaven.

Ver. 7. It is expedient for you that I go away. The Greek word which is here translated "expedient" means to be of benefit to a person. It was for the benefit of the apostles themselves that Jesus was to go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. This was a hard saying to the apostles. They might have said, and doubtless did say, to themselves, "Why cannot the Comforter come while our Master is on earth? Why cannot both be in the world together? Who is the Comforter? Our Master calls Himself the Messiah, and we know that the Messiah is often called by us Jews 'the Comforter;'* if He is therefore the Comforter, what need have we of the Comforter whom He intends to send? Is it true, then, that our Master is not really the Messiah who is to comfort the nation?" It may be well for us also in these days to ask ourselves the question, Why the Comforter could not come until Christ went away? The question may be answered thus: It was necessary that Christ should go away; firstly, because, if He had remained we should have been always looking upon His body, and never have properly believed (for Faith is the evidence of things not seen, Heb. xi. 1), and so never have been justified by that faith which makes us know Him as our God; secondly, because the Holy Ghost follows up the work of Christ's redemption by sanctifying us. But if Jesus had not gone away we should not have seen in so clear a manner the distinct offices of Christ and the Holy Ghost.

But if I depart, I will send Him unto you. Jesus said "I will send the Holy Ghost unto you." We learn from this that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father. This doctrine (of the Double Pro

*Lightfoot remarks that "the Comforter" is the name or title of the Messiah which was common among the Jews. They regarded the Messiah who was to come as their Comforter, and termed the days of the Messiah "the days of Consolation;" there is an allusion to those days in St. Luke ii. 25: Simeon, waiting to see Christ, is represented as waiting for the "Consolation of Israel."

cession, as it is called) is also taught in the Nicene Creed.*

Ver. 8. He will reprove the world, &c. The word here translated 66 reprove means properly to convict or prove guilty. Persons would be convicted, if not always in their own consciences, yet in the eyes of angels, of three things, by the coming of the Spirit—(1) sin, (2) righteousness, (3) judgment.

Ver. 9. Of sin, because they believe not on Me. The Holy Ghost would convict persons of their own sin : firstly, because they believed not in Christ; and, secondly, because it was their sinfulness that brought Christ down from heaven. Thus the Spirit pricked the consciences of the multitude at Jerusalem (Acts ii. 37) and the gaoler at Philippi (Acts xvi. 27-32).

Ver. 10. Of righteousness, because I go to My Father. Jesus meant that the Holy Ghost would convict or prove the world guilty of Christ's own righteousness, not its righteousness. He would prove it guilty of condemning Christ-a righteous person - of not discerning Christ's righteousness. Jesus says, too, that His going to the Father would be the reason why the world would be convicted of not seeing His righteousness. This may be explained by the fact that His Ascension led to the coming of the Holy Ghost, who, when He had come, proved the world guilty of not having discerned the righteousness of Christ.

Ver. 11. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. By this is meant that the Holy Ghost would convict the world of its wickedness by means of the judgment or punishment which Christ visited on Satan the prince of this world. Christ by His death overcame the dominion of Satan, or judged and condemned him. By that judgment He has convicted all those in the world who serve Satan.

The article of the Nicene Creed is worded thus: "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son." The words and the Son were added by the Council of Toledo in Spain in A.D. 447. The doctrine, however, was not generally received by the Western Church until the eighth century. See the third footnote to the Collect for the Sunday after Ascension Day, in Notes, Questions, and Answers on the Collects. (National Society's Depository.)