o Him. To
put it as men generally do, suggests the inference that Christ lies far
in the wake of human progress, and behind the haze of eighteen
centuries; that He was, but is no longer, a potent factor in the
world's life; whereas He is here, now, with us, in us, leading us as of
old through rugged passes, and to mountains of transfiguration.

If the endeavor to get back to Christ means the Synoptic Gospels to the
exclusion of the fourth, or the Epistles; or the Sermon on the Mount to
the exclusion of the Epistle to the Romans; or Jesus to the exclusion
of His Apostles, we feel it is but half the truth. Our Lord Himself
protested that His teachings were incomplete, that there was much left
unsaid which would be said by the Comforter, as even He could not,
because the Spirit of God speaks in the inner shrine of the soul,
uttering to the inner ear, truths which no voice could speak or ear
receive. Let us always remember therefore that the Gospels must be
completed by the Epistles, and that the Spirit who spake in the Son,
spake also in those whom the Son had prepared to be His mouthpieces to
men.

II. THE PARTIAL MEASURE OF HUMAN ABILITY TO KNOW.--"Ye cannot bear them
now." Our Lord's reticence did not arise from ignorance, He could have
said so much had He not been able to say more. All things were naked
and open to His eye, but He had a tender regard for these men whom He
loved.

_Their bodies_ could not bear more. When the mind is strongly wrought
upon, the delicate organism of the body is deeply affected. On the
banks of the river Hiddekel, words of such wondrous importance were
uttered to the lonely exile, that Daniel fainted, and was sick many
days. "When I saw Him," says John, "I fell at His feet as dead."
Flavel, on more than one occasion, asked that the excessive revelation
might be stayed. Our Lord, therefore, feared that in their weakened
state, torn by anxiety and sorrow, His followers would collapse if
further strain were imposed upon their powers of spiritual apprehension.

_Their minds_ could not bear more. The mind cannot receive more than a
certain amount. After a while its eye gets weary, it ceases to
receive, and even to remember. There are multitudes of cases in which,
when too great a weight has been crowded on the delicate organism
through which thoughts move, its balance has been upset, and it has
drivelled into idiocy. Against this danger, also, our Lord guarded,
for His discip