all ages both before and after
Christ it has been the clear conviction of devout souls that God sought
them much more ardently and persistently than they sought God. The truth
which shines most conspicuously in the experience of all the saved is
that they were saved by God and not by themselves. If human experience
is to be trusted at all, if it in any case reflects the substantial
verities of the spiritual world, then we may hold it as proved in the
uniform experience of men that God somehow communicated to them a living
energy, and not only taught them what to do, but gave them strength to
do it. If under the Christian dispensation we are left to make the best
we can for ourselves of the truth taught by Christ and of the example He
set us in His life and death, then the Christian dispensation, so far
from being an advance on all that went before, fails to supply us with
that very thing which is sought through all religions--actual access to
a living source of spiritual strength. I believe that the resurrection
of Christ is established by stronger evidence than exists for any other
historical fact; but apart altogether from the historical evidence, the
entire experience of God's people goes to show that Christ, as the
mediator between God and man, as the representative of God and the
channel of His influence upon us, must be now alive, and must be in a
position to exert a personal care and a personal influence, and to yield
a present and inward assistance. Were it otherwise, we should be left
without a Saviour to struggle against the enemies of the soul in our own
strength, and this would be a complete reversal of the experience of all
those who in past ages have been engaged in the same strife and have
been victorious.

XI.

_THE BEQUEST OF PEACE._

"Judas (not Iscariot) saith unto Him, Lord, what is come to pass
that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My
word: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and
make our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My words:
and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent
Me. These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you.
But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all that I said unto