224 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD Mailer declare, that the kingdom of hea- ven was at hand, their minds were filled with ambitious thoughts. Upon which our bleffed Saviour added, Ye need not be alhamed to follow my example in this particular; for no fervant can think it beneath him, to condefcend to perform thofe a&iorìs his Lord has done before him : and, therefore, if he knows his duty, he will be happy if he pra&ifes it. Our bleffed Saviour added, that though he had called them to the apofilefhip, and well knew the fecret difpofitions of every heart, before he chofe them, they need not be furprifed, that any one among them fhould prove a traitor, as it was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled : He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel againft.me, John xiii. 18. Our dear Lord being now to be but a fhort time with his difciples, he thought proper to take his farewell of them, which he did in the molt affeetionate manner. Thefe melancholy tidings greatly troubled them. They were very unwilling to part with fo kind a friend, fo dear a mailer, fo wife a guide, and fo profitable a teacher; efpecially as they thought they fhould be left in a forlorn condition, a poor and helplefs prey to the rage and hatred of a blind and malicious generation. They feemed willing to die with their Lord, if that might be accepted: Why cannot Ifol- low thee? I will lay down my lifefor thy fake, was the language of one, and even all of them ; but the thoughts of a difcon- folate feparation they could not fupport. Their dear Lord and Mailer feeing them thus dejected, endeavoured to cheer their drooping fpirits: Let not your heart be troubled. Liften attentively to what I am going to deliver for your confolation : I go to prepare aplaceforyou. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myfelf; that where I am, there you may be alfo. A re- viving admonition! They were one day tomeet again their dear, their affeélionate Mailer, in a place where they fhould live 2 together to all eternity. But death makes fo vat} a diflance between friends, and the difciples then knew fo little of a future fiate, that they feemed to doubt whether they should ever after parting, meet their great Redeemer. They neither knew the place where he was going, nor the way that led to his kingdom. Lord, faid they, we know not whither thou goejt ; and how can we know the way? In anfwer to this queflion, he told them, that he was the way, the truth, and the life; as if he had faid, the only way of followingme to the regions of happinefs, is by duly obferving my doélrines and precepts which I have delivered to you from the Almighty. He added, that by his removing to heaven, he would there intercede for them with his heavenly Father, and fend the Holy Ghoft to comfort them from thence. However, .left all thefe argumentsfhould not be fufficient to quiet their minds, he had Rill another, which could not fail of fuccefs ; Ifye loved me, fays he, ye would rejoice, becaufe Ifaid, Igo unto thefather: intimating that he would confider it as a proof of theist love to him, if they ceafed to mourn. They doubtlefs thought, that by grieving for his death, they expreffed their love to their Mailer ; and it should feem ftrange that our Saviour fhould put fo contrary an interpretation on their friendly forrow, . or require fo unnatural a thing of them, as to rejoice at his de- parture. What ! (might they think) (hall we rejoice at fo amiable a. friends removal from us; or can we be glad that he retires and leaves us in this vale of mifery ? No, it is impoffible: the human heart on fo melancholy an occafion has no difpofition to rejoice. Our bleffed Saviour, therefore, adds this rearm to folve the Teeming para- dox, becaufe he was going to the father; that is, he was going to afcend to the right hand of infinite power, from. whence he would fend them all the affìftance they could defire. It mull not however be fup- pofed, that our Saviour meant by thefe words, that his difciples fhould not be concerned
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=