Fourth Sunday After Easter.
Leave-taking.
"I go to Him that sent Me, and none of you asketh Me: Whither goest Thou?" — John xvi. 5.
SYNOPSIS.
Ex. : Occasion of discourse and difficulty of passage.
I. Partings: I. In song and story. 2. Christ's love for Apostles. 3. Three steps to Father.
II. Silence: 1. Joy and sorrow. 2. Bitter and sweet. 3. Bitter often more expedient.
III. Result: 1. Paraclete. 2. Peace. 3. Convicts of sin, justice, judgment.
Per.: 1. Pilgrims. 2. Whither goest thou? 3. From sin to justice and favorable judgment.
SERMON.
Brethren, the words I have read to you are an extract from Our Lord's last discourse to His disciples. Seated with them at table towards the close of the Last Supper, slowly and sorrowfully He began to tell them of His approaching departure. Of all His recorded utterances, this is the most sublime and, consequently, the most difficult to understand — so difficult, indeed, that the disciples hearing Him, said one to another: " What is this He saith to us? A little while and you shall not see Me, and again, a little while and you shall see Me, because I go to the Father. What is this He saith? for we know not what He speaketh." As I read the Gospel, I could well imagine you confronted with the same difficulty, asking the same questions. Let me try to explain.
The parting of relatives, of friends, is one of life's
