ust acquire the independent
and inherent love of righteousness which can freely grow only when
relieved from the over-mastering pressure of a visible presence,
encouraging us by sensible expressions of favour, guaranteeing us
against defeat and danger. Thus only can the human spirit freely grow,
showing its native bent, its true tastes and convictions; thus only can
its capacities for self-development and for choosing and fulfilling its
own destiny be matured.

And if these words of Jesus seemed at first chilling and repellent, they
were followed by words of unmistakable affection: "Go to my brothers,
and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My
God and your God." This is the message of the risen Lord to men. He has
become the link between us and all that is highest and best. We know
that He has overcome all evil and left it behind; we know that He is
worthy of the highest place, that by His righteousness and love He
merits the highest place. We know that if such an one as He cannot go
boldly to the highest heaven and claim God as His God and Father, there
is no such thing as moral worth, and all effort, conscience, hope,
responsibility, are vain and futile. We know that Christ must ascend to
the highest, and yet we know also that He will not enter where we cannot
follow. We know that His love binds Him to us as strongly as His rights
carry Him to God. We can as little believe that He will abandon us and
leave us out of His eternal enjoyment, as we can believe that God would
refuse to own Him as Son. And it is this which Christ puts in the
forefront of His message as risen and ascending: "I ascend unto My
Father and your Father." The joy that awaits Me with God awaits you
also; the power I go to exercise is the power of your Father. This
affinity for heaven which you see in Me is coupled with affinity for
you. The holiness, the power, the victory, I have achieved and now enjoy
are yours; I am your Brother: what I claim, I claim for you.

FOOTNOTES:

[29] See Pusey's sermon on this subject.

[30] "Rabboni" had more of reverence in it than would be conveyed by "my
Teacher," and it is legitimate here to use "Master" in its wider sense.

XXIII.

_THOMAS' TEST._

"When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the
week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for
fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto
them, P