Giovanni 14:26 Commento

This chapter is a continuation of Christ's discourse with his disciples after supper. When he had convicted and discarded Judas, he set himself to comfort the rest, who were full of sorrow upon what he had said of leaving them, and a great many good words and comfortable words he here speaks to them. The discourse in interlocutory; as Peter in the foregoing chapter, so Thomas, and Philip, and Jude, in this interposed their thoughts upon what he said, according to the liberty he was pleased to allow them. Free conferences are as instructive as solemn speeches, and more so. The general scope of this chapter is in the first verse; it is designed to keep trouble from their hearts; now in order to this they must believe: and let them consider, I. Heaven as their everlasting rest (Joh 14:2, Joh 14:3). II. Christ himself as their way (Joh 14:4-11). III. The great power they shall be clothed with by the prevalency of their prayers (Joh 14:12-14). IV. The coming of another comforter (Joh 14:15-17). V. The fellowship and communion that should be between him and them after his departure (Joh 14:18-24). VI. The instructions which the Holy Ghost should give them (Joh 14:25, Joh 14:26). VII. The peace Christ bequeathed to them (Joh 14:27). VII. Christ's own cheerfulness in his departure (Joh 14:28-31). And this which he said to them is designed for the comfort of all his faithful followers.

Let not your heart be troubled,.... In some copies this verse begins thus, and he said to his disciples; and certain it is, that these words are addressed to them in general, Peter being only the person our Lord was discoursing with in the latter part of the preceding chapter; but turning, as it were, from him, he directs his speech to them all. There were many things which must needs lie heavy upon, and greatly depress the minds of the disciples; most of all the loss of Christ's bodily presence, his speedy departure from them, of which he had given them notice in the preceding chapter; also the manner in which he should be removed from them, and the circumstances that should attend the same, as that he should be betrayed by one of them, and denied by another; likewise the poor and uncomfortable situation they were likely to be left in, without any sight or hope of that temporal kingdom being erected, which they had been in expectation of; and also the issue and consequence of all this, that they would be exposed to the hatred and persecutions of men. Now in the multitude of these thoughts within them, Christ comforts them, bids them be of good heart, and exhorts them to all exercise of faith on God, and on himself, as the best way to be rid of heart troubles, and to have peace: ye believe in God, believe also in me; which words may be read and interpreted different ways: either thus, "ye believe in God, and ye believe in me"; and so are both propositions alike, and express God and Christ to be equally the object of their faith; and since therefore they had so good a foundation for their faith and confidence, they had no reason to be uneasy: or thus, "believe in God, and believe in me"; and so both are exhortations to exercise faith alike on them both, as being the best antidote they could make use of against heart troubles: or thus, "believe in God, and ye believe in me"; and so the former is an exhortation, the latter a proposition: and the sense is, put your trust in God, and you will also trust in me, for I am of the same nature and essence with him; I and my Father are one; so that if you believe in one, you must believe in the other: or thus, and so our translators render them, "ye believe in God, believe also in me"; and so the former is a proposition, or an assertion, and the latter is an exhortation grounded upon it: you have believed in God as faithful and true in all his promises, though yon have not seen him; believe in me also, though I am going from you, and shall be absent for a while; this you may be assured of, that whatever I have said shall be accomplished. The words considered either way are a full proof of the true deity of Christ, since he is represented as equally the object of faith with God the Father, and lay a foundation for solid peace and comfort in a view of afflictions and persecutions in the world.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,.... Before spoken of, Joh 14:16, for whom Christ promised to pray the Father that he might be given to them. The word used there, as here, signifies an "advocate", and is so rendered, Jo1 2:1, a patron, one that pleads and defends, the cause of another, before kings and princes; so the Jewish writers (z) use the word the same with here, and give this as the sense of it: and which agrees well enough with the work and office of the Spirit of God, who has promised to the apostles to speak in them and for them, when they should be brought before kings and governors for Christ's sake; and would so thoroughly plead his cause and theirs, as to convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment; and who acts the part of an intercessor, or advocate, for private believers, in prayer to the King of kings: but inasmuch as it also signifies a "comforter", and this being agreeably to the present condition of the apostles, as before observed; it may be most proper to retain that sense of it here, who is explained to be the Holy Ghost; which is a more clear and explicit account of him than before, and very distinctly points out the third person in the Trinity, who is in his nature holy, equally with the Father and Son, and the author of holiness in all the saints: whom the Father will send in my name. The mission of the Spirit is here ascribed to the Father, but not to the exclusion of the Son, who is also said to send him, Joh 15:26, which was not so proper to be mentioned here, because he speaks of his being sent, "in his name"; that is, at his request, through his mediation and intercession, in his room and stead, acting, the same part, and bearing the same flame of an advocate or comforter, and for the glory and honour of his name: which act of sending does not suppose any local motion, which cannot agree with an infinite and immense spirit; nor inferiority in him to the other two persons, since he who is sent by Christ, and in his name, is also the sender of Christ; but it denotes the joint consent and agreement of Father, Son, and Spirit, in this affair: he shall teach you all things: this is the proper work and business of the Spirit, to teach, interpret, and explain all things which Christ had said to them; to make them more plain and easy to their understandings; to instruct them in all things necessary to salvation, and to be known by them, that they might teach them others: and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you; which through inattention, or want of understanding in them, had slipped their minds, and were forgotten by them. This accounts for it, how the evangelists some years after the death of Christ; at different times and places, and without consulting each other, could commit to writing the life, actions, sayings, and sermons of Christ, with all the minute circumstances attending them. (z) Maimon. & Bartenora in Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 11.

Grant, then, that all have erred; that the apostle was mistaken in giving his testimony; that the Holy Ghost had no such respect to any one (church) as to lead it into truth, although sent with this view by Christ, and for this asked of the Father that He might be the teacher of truth; grant, also, that He, the Steward of God, the Vicar of Christ, neglected His office, permitting the churches for a time to understand differently, (and) to believe differently, what He Himself was preaching by the apostles,-is it likely that so many churches, and they so great, should have gone astray into one and the same faith? No casualty distributed among many men issues in one and the same result.

But above, withal, He made a declaration concerning this His work. What, then, is the Paraclete's administrative office but this: the direction of discipline, the revelation of the Scriptures, the reformation of the intellect, the advancement toward the "better things? " Nothing is without stages of growth: all things await their season.

Accordingly, setting out of the question the confirmer of all such things, the Paraclete, the guide of universal truth, inquire whether there be not a worthier reason adduced among its for the observing of the ninth hour; so that this reason (of ours) must be attributed even to Peter if he observed a Station at the time in question.

The Spirit is simple in being. His powers are many. They are entirely present everywhere and in everything. He is distributed but does not change. He is shared yet remains whole. Consider the analogy of the sunbeam: each person on whom its kindly light falls rejoices as if the sun existed for him alone, yet it illumines land and sea and is master of the atmosphere. In the same way, the Spirit is given to each one who receives him as if he were the possession of that person alone, yet he sends forth sufficient grace to fill the entire universe. Everything that partakes of his grace is filled with joy according to its capacity—the capacity of its nature, not of his power.The Spirit does not take up his abode in someone’s life through a physical approach. How could a corporeal being approach the bodiless One? Instead, the Spirit comes to us when we withdraw ourselves from evil passions that have crept into the soul through its friendship with the flesh, alienating us from a close relationship with God. Only when a person has been cleansed from the shame of his evil and has returned to his natural beauty, and [only when] the original form of the royal image has been restored in him, is it possible for him to approach the Paraclete. Then, like the sun, he will show you in himself the image of the invisible, and with purified eyes you will see in this blessed image the unspeakable beauty of its prototype. Through him hearts are lifted up, the infirm are held by the hand, and those who progress are brought to perfection. He shines on those who are cleansed from every spot and makes them spiritual people through fellowship with himself. When a sunbeam falls on a transparent substance, the substance itself becomes brilliant and radiates light from itself. So too Spirit-bearing souls, illumined by him, finally become spiritual themselves, and their grace is sent forth to others. From this comes knowledge of the future, understanding of mysteries, apprehension of hidden things, distribution of wonderful gifts, heavenly citizenship, a place in the choir of angels, endless joy in the presence of God, becoming like God, and the highest of all desires, becoming God.

For he who came in the name of the Son surely also came in the name of the Father, for the name of the Father and of the Son is one. Thus it comes about that the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one.

(Hom. lxxv. 3) To enable them to sustain His bodily departure more cheerfully, He promises that that departure shall be the source of great benefit; for that while He was then in the body, they could never know much, because the Spirit would not have come: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (Hom. lxxv. 3) He often calls Him the Comforter, in allusion to the affliction in which they then were.

(Tract. lxxvii. 2) So then the Son speaks, the Holy Spirit teaches: when the Son speaks we take in the words, when the Holy Spirit teaches, we understand those words. The whole Trinity indeed both speaks and teaches, but unless each person worked separately as well, the whole would be too much for human infirmity to take in. (Tract. xxvii. 2) Suggest, i. e. bring to your remembrance. Every wholesome hint to remember that we receive is of the grace of the Spirit.

"But the Comforter," He adds, "which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." Is it, then, that the Son speaks, and the Holy Spirit teaches, so that we merely get hold of the words that are uttered by the Son, and then understand them by the teaching of the Spirit? as if the Son could speak without the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit teach without the Son: or is it not rather that the Son also teacheth and the Spirit speaketh, and, when it is God that speaketh and teacheth anything, that the Trinity itself is speaking and teaching? And just because it is a Trinity, its persons required to be introduced individually, so that we might hear it in its distinct personality, and understand its inseparable nature. Listen to the Father speaking in the passage where thou readest, "The Lord said unto me, Thou art my Son:" listen to Him also teaching, in that where thou readest, "Every man that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." The Son, on the other hand, thou hast just heard speaking; for He saith of Himself, "Whatsoever I have said unto you:" and if thou wouldst also know Him as a Teacher, bethink thyself of the Master, when He saith, "One is your Master, even Christ." Furthermore, of the Holy Spirit, whom thou hast just been told of as a Teacher in the words, "He shall teach you all things," listen to Him also speaking, where thou readest in the Acts of the Apostles, that the Holy Spirit said to the blessed Peter, "Go with them, for I have sent them." The whole Trinity, therefore, both speaketh and teacheth: but were it not also brought before us in its individual personality, it would certainly altogether surpass the power of human weakness to comprehend it. For as it is altogether inseparable in itself, it could never be known as the Trinity, were it always spoken of inseparably; for when we speak of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we certainly do not pronounce them simultaneously, and yet in themselves they cannot be else than simultaneous. But when He added, "He will bring to your remembrance," we ought also to understand that we are commanded not to forget that these pre-eminently salutary admonitions are part of that grace which the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance.

The Savior affirms that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father, in his, the Savior's, name. This name is the Son. Here an agreement of nature and propriety, so to speak, of persons is shown. The Son can come in the Father's name only, consistent with the proper relationship of the Son to the Father and the Father to the Son. No one else comes in the name of the Father, but in the name of God, of the Lord, of the Almighty, and the like.… As servants who come in the name of their Lord do so as being the servants of that Lord, so the Son who comes in the name of the Father bears that name as being the acknowledged only-begotten Son of the Father. That the Holy Spirit then is sent in the Son's name, by the Father, shows that he is in unity with the Son: from this he is said also to be the Spirit of the Son and to make those sons [children] by adoption who are willing to receive him. The Holy Spirit who then comes in the name of the Son from the Father shall teach those who are established in the faith of Christ all things—all things that are spiritual, that is, both the understanding of truth and the sacrament of wisdom. But he will teach, not like those who have acquired an art or knowledge by study and industry but as being the very art, doctrine, knowledge itself. As being this himself, the Spirit of truth will impart the knowledge of divine things to the mind.

(Didym. de Spir. Sancto, l. ii. inter opera Hieron.) The Saviour affirms that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father, in His, the Saviour's, name; which name is the Son. Here an agreement of nature and propriety, so to speak, of persons is shewn. The Son can come in the Father's name only, consistently with the proper relationship of the Son to the Father, and the Father to the Son. No one else comes in the name of the Father, but in the name of God, of the Lord, of the Almighty, and the like. As servants who come in the name of their Lord, do so as being the servants of that Lord, so the Son who comes in the name of the Father, bears that name as being the acknowledged only-begotten Son of the Father. That the Holy Spirit then is sent in the Son's name, by the Father, shows that He is in unity with the Son: whence He is said too to be the Spirit of the Son, and to make those sons by adoption, who are willing to receive Him. The Holy Spirit then, Who cometh in the name of the Son from the Father, shall teach them, who are established in the faith of Christ, all things; all things which are spiritual, both the understanding of truth, and the sacrament of wisdom. But He will teach not like those who have acquired an art or knowledge by study and industry, but as being the very art, doctrine, knowledge itself. As being this Himself, the Spirit of truth will impart the knowledge of divine things to the mind.

He insists that we must believe that the Holy Spirit also shares in the same oneness [that the Son does], when he foretells that the fullness of his doctrine will be perfected in them by the same Paraclete.… He meant to forewarn the blessed apostles both of his own ascent into heaven after the passion he was to suffer and of the descent of the Holy Spirit on them from heaven. But the Holy Spirit was not only in heaven, nor was he only on the earth. And neither would the Son ascend to heaven in such a way that he left the earth behind, nor did the Father alone possess the throne of heaven where the Son was returning and from where the Holy Spirit is said to come.

Neither must the Holy Spirit be regarded as separated from the Father whose Spirit he is, nor should the Son be believed to be separated from him whose face he is, as well as his right hand, power and wisdom.… For the divinity of the ever adorable Trinity is one and the same everywhere and forever. But so that a clear faith and separate belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit might be given to those who believe, it is accordingly written that the Father sends both the Son and the Holy Spirit, since neither he who sends nor he who is sent can be believed to be God if there is a place where he is and a place where he is not. Let us believe in the Son speaking to us, since he is the Truth: “I am not alone,” he says, “because the Father is with me.” And again, speaking of the Holy Spirit, he says, “But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils.” … Accordingly, since nowhere is the divinity of the Trinity not present, it is part of the divine plan for the redemption of humankind that it is spoken of as both sending and being sent. For otherwise the human mind could not grasp that the Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, unless it should learn their separateness by the naming of one as sent and one as sending.

(Hom. xxx. in Evang.) Paraclete is Advocate, or Comforter. The Advocate then intercedes with the Father for sinners, when by His inward power He moves the sinner to pray for himself. The Comforter relieves the sorrow of penitents, and cheers them with the hope of pardon. (Hom. xxx.) Unless the Spirit be present to the mind of the hearer, the word of the teacher is vain. Let none then attribute to the human teacher, the understanding which follows in consequence of his teaching: for unless there be a teacher within, the tongue of the teacher outside will labour in vain. Nay even the Maker Himself does not speak for the instruction of man, unless the Spirit by His unction speaks at the same time. (Hom. xxx.) But why is it said of the Spirit, He shall suggest all things to you: to suggest being the office of an inferior? The word is used here, as it is used sometimes, in the sense of supplying secretly. The invisible Spirit suggests, not because He takes a lower place in teaching, but because. He teaches secretly.

But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things whatsoever I have said to you. Most of you know, my brothers, that in Greek speech "paraclete" is called in Latin "advocate" or "consoler." He is called advocate because he intercedes with the justice of the Father for the error of sinners. He who is of one substance with the Father and the Son is said to entreat for sinners, because those whom he has filled, he makes into those who entreat. Hence Paul also says: For the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. But he who entreats is less than he who is entreated; how then is the Spirit said to entreat, who is not less? But the Spirit himself entreats because he inflames those whom he has filled to entreat. Moreover, the same Spirit is called Consoler because for those who grieve over the commission of sin, while he prepares the hope of pardon, he lifts the mind from the affliction of sorrow. Of him it is rightly promised: He himself will teach you all things. Because unless the same Spirit is present in the heart of the hearer, the word of the teacher is useless. Therefore let no one attribute to the human teacher what he understands from the mouth of the teacher, because unless there is one within who teaches, the tongue of the teacher labors outwardly in vain. Behold, you all equally hear the one voice of the speaker, yet you do not equally perceive the meaning of the voice heard. Since therefore the voice is not different, why is the understanding of the voice different in your hearts, unless because through that which the voice of the speaker commonly admonishes, there is an interior master who specially teaches certain ones about the understanding of the voice? Concerning this anointing of the Spirit, it is again said through John: As his anointing teaches you concerning all things. Therefore one is not instructed by voice when the mind is not anointed by the Spirit. But why do we speak these things about human teaching, when even the Creator himself does not speak for the instruction of man, if he does not speak to that same man through the anointing of the Spirit? Certainly Cain, before he perpetrated fratricide in deed, heard: You have sinned; be still. But because, his sins demanding it, he was admonished by voice, not by the anointing of the Spirit, he was able to hear the words of God but scorned to keep them. But we must inquire why it is said of the same Spirit: He will bring all things to your remembrance, since to suggest is usually characteristic of an inferior. But because we sometimes say "to suggest" means "to supply," the invisible Spirit is said to suggest, not because he brings knowledge to us from below, but from what is hidden.

The Holy Spirit then was both to teach and to bring to remembrance: to teach what Christ had forborne to tell His disciples, because they were not able to bear it; to bring to remembrance what Christ had told them, but which on account of its difficulty, or their slowness of understanding, they were unable to remember.

He frequently mentions the Comforter because of the grief that grips them, giving them good hope that He will guide them. "The Comforter will come in My name." This means: He will not teach you anything foreign to My teaching, will not seek His own glory, but will come in My name, that is, for the glory of My name, and not His own, as hostile teachers do who draw followers after themselves. Some understand the words "in My name" to mean that the name of Christ is "Comforter." For it is said: "We have an advocate (Comforter), Jesus Christ" (1 John 2:1). And since the Spirit, having come to the disciples, became the Comforter and relieved their sorrow, He came in the name of Christ, for He too is a Comforter, just as Christ is. But the Apostle Paul also calls the Spirit Christ, when he says: "You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Rom. 8:9). Then he added, "But if Christ is in you..." (Rom. 8:10). Do you see how he said above that the Spirit of God dwells in them, and then added "Christ is in you"? It is clear that the apostle called the Spirit Christ. And since the Spirit is called Christ, the words "the Father will send Him in My name" you should understand to mean that He too will be called Christ. The Holy Spirit both taught and reminded: "taught" all those things which Christ did not tell them, as they were unable to bear them; "reminded" all that which the Lord did say, but which the apostles could not retain in memory, either because of the obscurity of what was said, or because of the weakness of their understanding.

He promises them that they will understand his teachings through the Holy Spirit, who will give himself to them; he says, the Paraclete... will teach you all things. He does three things concerning the Holy Spirit: he describes him, mentions his mission and his effect. He describes the Holy Spirit in several ways: as the Paraclete, as Spirit, and as Holy. He is the Paraclete because he consoles us. He consoles us in our sorrows which arise from the troubles of this world: "fighting without and fear within" (2 Cor 7:5); "who comforts us in all our affliction" (2 Cor 1:4). He does this because he is love, and causes us to love God and give him great honor. For this reason we endure insults with joy: "Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name" (Acts 5:41); "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" (Mt 5:12). He also consoles us in our sadness over past sins; Matthew refers to this in "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted" (5:4). He does this because he gives us the hope of forgiveness: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven" (20:22). He is the Spirit because he moves hearts to obey God: "He will come like a rushing stream, which the Spirit of the Lord drives" (Is 59:19); "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God" (Rom 8:14). He is Holy because he consecrates us to God, and all consecrated things are called holy: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you" (1 Cor 6:19); "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God" (Ps 46:4). Then when he says, whom the Father will send in my name, he refers to the mission of the Spirit. We should not think the Spirit comes by a local motion, but rather by being in them in a new way in which he was not before: "When you send forth your Spirit, they are created," that is, with a spiritual existence (Ps 104:30). Notice that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. To show this Christ sometimes says that the Father sends him, as he does here; and he sometimes says that he himself sends him, "I will send him to you" (16:7). Yet Christ never says that the Spirit is sent by the Father without mentioning himself. So he says here, whom the Father will send in my name. Nor does Christ say that the Spirit is sent by himself, the Son, without mentioning the Father: "the Paraclete, whom I shall send to you from the Father" (15:26). Why does he say, in my name? Will the Holy Spirit be called the Son? One could answer that this was said for the reason that the Holy Spirit was given to the faithful when they invoked the name of Christ. But it is better to say that just as the Son comes in the name of the Father - "I have come in my Father's name" - so the Holy Spirit comes in the name of the Son. Now the Son comes in the name of the Father not because he is the Father, but because he is the Son of the Father. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit comes in the name of the Son not because he was to be called the Son, but because he is the Spirit of the Son: "Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him" (Rom 8:9); "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" (Gal 4:6), because he is the Spirit of his Son, and not because he was to be called the Son: "he predestined them to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29). The basis for this is the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father and of the Holy Spirit with the Son. Further, just as the Son, coming in the name of the Father, subjects his faithful to the Father - "and has made them a kingdom and priests to our God" (Rev 5:10) - so the Holy Spirit conforms us to the Son because he adopts us as children of God: "You have received the spirit of adoption, by which we cry out 'Abba!' Father" (Rom 8:15). Next he mentions the effect of the Holy Spirit, saying, he will teach you all things. Just as the effect of the mission of the Son was to lead us to the Father, so the effect of the mission of the Holy Spirit is to lead the faithful to the Son. Now the Son, once he is begotten Wisdom, is Truth itself: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (14:6). And so the effect of this kind of mission is to make us sharers in the divine wisdom and knowers of the truth. The Son, since he is the Word, gives teaching to us; but the Holy Spirit enables us to grasp it. He says, he will teach you all things, because no matter what a person may teach by his exterior actions, he will have no effect unless the Holy Spirit gives an understanding from within. For unless the Spirit is present to the heart of the listener, the words of the teacher will be useless: "The breath of the Almighty makes him understand" (Job 32:8). This is true even to the extent that the Son himself, speaking by means of his human nature, is not successful unless he works from within by the Holy Spirit. We read before that "Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me" (6:45). Here he is expanding on this, because one does not learn without the Holy Spirit teaching. He is saying in effect: one who receives the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son knows the Father and the Son and comes to them. The Spirit makes us know all things by inspiring us from within, by directing us and lifting us up to spiritual things. Just as one whose sense of taste is tainted does not have a true knowledge of flavors, so one who is tainted by love of the world cannot taste divine things: "The sensual man does not perceive those things of the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:14). Since to remind a person of something is the task of an inferior, like an agent in divine affairs, shall we say that the Holy Spirit, who brings things to our mind, is inferior to us? According to Gregory, we should say that the Holy Spirit is said to bring things to our remembrance not as though he brought us knowledge from below, but because in a hidden way he aids our ability to know. Or, one could say the Spirit teaches because he makes us share in the wisdom of the Son; and he brings things to our remembrance because, being love, he incites us. Or, the Spirit will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you, that is, he will recall them to your memory: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord" (Ps 22:27). We should notice that of all the things Christ said to his disciples, some were not understood, and others were not remembered. Thus our Lord says, he will teach you all things, which you cannot now understand, and bring to your remembrance all that you cannot remember. How could John the Evangelist after forty years have remembered all the sayings of Christ he wrote in his Gospel unless the Holy Spirit had brought them to his mind?

Christ comforts his disciples, on the event of his removal from them, by the consideration of his going to prepare a place for them in heaven, Joh 14:1-4. Thomas questions him concerning the way to the Father, and is answered, Joh 14:5-7. Philip proposes a difficulty, and Christ shows that he and the Father are one; that he is Mediator between God and man; and that whatsoever is asked in his name shall be obtained, Joh 14:8-14. He promises them the Holy Spirit as the Comforter and Spirit of truth, Joh 14:15-18. Shows them that he is shortly to leave them, and that those who love him should be loved of the Father, Joh 14:19-21. Jude asks a question, how Christ is to manifest himself to the disciples, and not to the Jews? Joh 14:22. Christ answers, and shows that the manifestation is to be made to those who love God, and to them the Holy Spirit is to be an infallible teacher, Joh 14:23-26. He bequeaths his peace to them, and fortifies them against discouragements, Joh 14:27-29. Foretells his approaching death, Joh 14:30, Joh 14:31.

He shall teach you all things - If in the things which I have already spoken to you, there appear to you any obscurity, the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, Counsellor, and Instructer, will take away all your doubts, free you from all embarrassment, and give you a perfect understanding in all things: and this Spirit ye shall shortly receive. And bring all things to your remembrance - Here Christ promises them that inspiration of the Holy Spirit which enabled them not only to give a true history of his life and death, but also gave them the most perfect recollection of all the words which he had spoken to them, so that they have been able to transmit to posterity the identical words which Jesus uttered in his sermons, and in his different discourses with them, the Jews, and others.

DISCOURSE AT THE TABLE, AFTER SUPPER. (John 14:1-31) Let not your heart be troubled, &c.--What myriads of souls have not these opening words cheered, in deepest gloom, since first they were uttered! ye believe in God--absolutely. believe also in me--that is, Have the same trust in Me. What less, and what else, can these words mean? And if so, what a demand to make by one sitting familiarly with them at the supper table! Compare the saying in Joh 5:17, for which the Jews took up stones to stone Him, as "making himself equal with God" (Joh 14:18). But it is no transfer of our trust from its proper Object; it is but the concentration of our trust in the Unseen and Impalpable One upon His Own Incarnate Son, by which that trust, instead of the distant, unsteady, and too often cold and scarce real thing it otherwise is, acquires a conscious reality, warmth, and power, which makes all things new. This is Christianity in brief.