June 16

The Fourth Sunday after Easter

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. S. John 16:12, 13.

WHY was our Lord's teaching thus incomplete, incomplete according to His own will and announcement? The answer is, that the same motives which led Him to teach men at all, led Him also to impose these limits and restraints upon His process of teaching. He taught men to emerge from their ignorance, because He loved them too much to leave them in it. He taught men gradually and as they were able to bear the strong light of truth, because He loved men too well to shock or to blind them by the sudden blaze of that truth. This gradual unfolding of the mind of God throughout all the ages, to the last great revelation that He made, is based throughout at every step of it upon His tender and loving consideration for human weakness.

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom Lead Thou me on;

The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on.

Keep Thou my feet, I do not ask to see

The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou Shouldst lead me;

I loved to choose and see my path; but now Lead Thou me on.

I loved the garish day, and spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will; remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still Will lead me on

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till The night is gone,

And with the morn those angel faces smile

Which I have loved long since and lost awhile.