ying:
"Sir, we would see Jesus." Philip consulted with Andrew, and the two
then informed Jesus, who, as we may reasonably infer from the context
though the fact is not explicitly stated, graciously received the
foreign visitors and imparted to them precepts of the utmost worth. It
is evident that the desire of these Greeks to meet the Master was not
grounded on curiosity or other unworthy impulse; they earnestly wished
to see and hear the Teacher whose fame had reached their country, and
whose doctrines had impressed them.

To them Jesus testified that the hour of His death was near at hand, the
hour in which "the Son of man should be glorified." They were surprized
and pained by the Lord's words, and possibly they inquired as to the
necessity of such a sacrifice. Jesus explained by citing a striking
illustration drawn from nature: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if
it die, it bringeth forth much fruit;"[1073] The simile is an apt
one,--and at once impressively simple and beautiful. A farmer who
neglects or refuses to cast his wheat into the earth, because he wants
to keep it, can have no increase; but if he sow the wheat in good rich
soil, each living grain may multiply itself many fold, though of
necessity the seed must be sacrificed in the process. So, said the Lord,
"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eternal." The Master's meaning is
clear; he that loves his life so well that he will not imperil it, or,
if need be, give it up, in the service of God, shall forfeit his
opportunity to win the bounteous increase of eternal life; while he who
esteems the call of God as so greatly superior to life that his love of
life is as hatred in comparison, shall find the life he freely yields or
is willing to yield, though for the time being it disappear like the
grain buried in the soil; and he shall rejoice in the bounty of eternal
development. If such be true of every man's existence, how
transcendently so was it of the life of Him who came to die that men may
live? Therefore was it necessary that He die, as He had said He was
about to do; but His death, far from being life lost, was to be life
glorified.

VOICE FROM HEAVEN.[1074]

The realization of the harrowing experiences upon which He was about to
enter, and particularly the contemplation of the state of sin, which
made His