The New York herald., 1877-10-15
blaze Of sunlight los. .ss urst hery ray should iniuro

blaze OF might lest nrst fiery ray should iniure
the delicate tissure oil his eyes.
This care shows only their com passion, but their
sarscity also. And does not our Lords reason aye
bear them now" set orlh hssk' as the Great
Teacher nay, mis- gigantic wisdom IN treating his dis
cples IN the guarded way? II you are Xindling
a lire in the eifugence OF the meridian sun, there are
n thousand chances that its dazzling radiance WIN
scorch and quench The spark IN the unmitgaed nooi
OF light But shade II a little, and Ian " py cool
breath, then the smoking flax will become a lame 80
gently Christ treat his disciples in their weakness
and sowness to iearn "fe are not able 10 Dear tne
now" Wherein were they unable TO bear themf MS
words imply that lie had great facts 10 reveal great
doctrines 10 bring forth or new application 10 make
both OF fact and doctrine, Tor which they were not
prepared. Either their prejudices we're so nrmiy
crys,alized aud impregnabo to obsruct the irce
reception these truths their profound and sub.
lime character would prove TOO great strain upon
their mental powers, theriwo ondcriuiness would be
trying a test OF their laith ana ihorai iorti-
tuie. So that the attempt ut the time TO inform them
fully would be like the attempt 10 push child
at one bound of the alphabet into the DEPTHS OF
metaphysics or out OF words Of one syllable into tho
dryness OF abstract dogma. Al tho same time he rec
opnized that they wero capable OF growth; blat AS
they popdered more and more they would grow,
would reach after things higher and deeper, tiii by
OF childhood INTO manhood and out OF manhood into
gaDthood aye cannot bear these things now.V There
were noble things IN store for them. Tho grain had
only been sown but Il should mature TO an Immensely
rich harvest The skin but launched the mar
gn day the proud bark should plough its way
into unexplorod seas lay bare worlds OF dis
covery. Az present their minds were nearly blank,
but soon they should become storenouses, living ar
mature they could not even bear 10 receive
soieued from the gentle lips OF the Son, but
whom the Spirit OF Truth should come, he should lead
them, u philosopher would take a rustic by the
hand and attract him from step to step TIL he leads
them into all truth
RErIc sNcR or TIE REpEgMER
How rctcent the Kadeemer was in disclosing truth,
and yet willing 10 unoosom all his secrets as the
scholar was able to bear them. But what were the
many things which Jesus had yo to say TO themY IL
may be impossible Tor us TO full: answer this ques-
ton while some of the many things may be tolerabIy
ciaa 4 has hear
things full disclosure oI the TACT that when He
should finally part with them their eyes would never
rest upon Him again TIL they behcd Him as the King
In His beauty and the land afar oil That pr aspect
would have been intolerable, and they might have
SUNK under such forcbodngs OF long absence, which
would seem TO involve their entire abandonment to
perpetual earthly orphana9e; or perhaps, lie wished
to make known to them the unreserved evidences OF
His Deity so that they could not feel one lingering
doubt concerning His Divine person. II Is pretty ey-
dent that despite all the evidence which He had SUBJ
mitted in that directon, they yet comprehehded HIS
DIVINITY but Imperiectiy. They needed the SUPER
natural aid OF His Holy Spirit TO testify oil Him. 10 gory
Him 10 lead them al tho truiun that subject.
But why could they not bear ali that truth nowg For
the same that young plant could not bear an
instantaneous change from the pitch darkness OF mid
nipht 10 the blazing noontide OF q midsummer day.
God never treats the tender productions OF nature In
that way. He gives the day by gradual dawnins out
OF the bosom OF night till from the urd horizon the
sun shines moro and more to the brlancy of md
day Then as softly the sun reccdes again into tho
gray wisnt that night may anew hold her silen ana
hat they were in the presence OF the God
that they seated at His side that they looked
into his eyes: that they leaned on the bosom OF tho
living jehovah; that without reserve He inspected all
their raty and listened 10 all their petty complaints
ana contentious with the eyes ears oil man. and
that while they had been walking at the side oi the
younS carpenter OF NaZareth-all the time
Trey had been In converse with tho embodied
God--it might have been impossible for them
to have borne up against the overpowering
thought Tho entire realization OF that great truth
thlps sf,er another which He had said and done to
their remembrance, iii, by looking back upon things
which the time had appeared trivial or been passed
by upnotced altogether they should come TO SEQ, as
OF the profoundest interest, universal instead OF
local in their bearings and eternal instead OF transient
IN their results. This master truth they came TO un-
dsrstand afterward IN It's lnanite scope.
THE DISCIPLES WERE NOT TOLD ALL
The same remark may DO applied TO the wonderful
and original doctrine Of Christ, concerning the gut
and reign OF tho Holy Spirit To have known fully
that the Spirit was TO endow them with miraculous
without studying the grammar the Discerning OF
spirits by the men TO whom he had said, "Ye know
not what spirit ye o and the ability TO look into
the bosom of tho future as prophets" while at pres
they could not one npgers length before them
would have startled, and, perhaps alarmed them INTO
tho cowardce and weakness OF babes. But It s moro
likely that the cbief things (which He had to say
them, I" related more to themselves tnan TO Him and
the SPIRIT whom He should send. He know OF
haus,less test OF sunerngs which awaited them the
future, by every conceivable form Of human and dia-
bocal cruelty ending IN the most excruciating and
obnox ious forms OF deaah, the knowledge Of which
they were then sable TO bear" Aud to have told
them the OF all this, would have thrown thom
told them they abandon all the distinctive
features OF the Jewish religion, that zeal therefor
would cease be putrotsm that the foundations of
their iaith the efficacy OF animal SACRIFICES must be
nounced, that the gorgeous worship Of the temple
Jerusalem 10 bc suppartcd and It's atars crum
BILE to dust-nav, that even their holy iatherland,
given by promise to Abraham, was to be abandoned
for home among gentle Dogs would have been al
once to convuse and stupey them Much less. then,
could they have borLe to have been told that these
"iogs" 10 rank as their equals in brotherhood,
nay, that the time would come when they would be
glad not only TO account themselves less than the
least Of these In siinIshp. but would count II an
they could De permitted to shed their own
blood and lay down their lives Tor the privilege
OF winning such outcasts and olscourings TO tho call
Ing OF saints with themselves. judging from what
Peter suffered his preudices ana his reluctance TO
20 TO the Geniles all after Pcntecost, such a
revelation would have crushed every one of them If
gwen prematurey. And now, my brethren, may not
ask II this Is not exactly the way in which Christ
tnuay makes the most momentous disclosures to
should be better anle to endure them than the
apostles were II he made them suddenly? Oiten in
long Of providentia instruction for us, Ee is
compelled by our prejudices aud our ignorance and
our Incapacity to begin his lessons In parallels