May 12

Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. — Acts ii. 33.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. — JOHN XVI. 7.

SORROW filled the disciples' hearts as they heard their Lord speak of his imminent departure. What will become of his little flock, what of his work, scarcely begun, if now the Head should depart from them, and on such a route, through the shame of the cross! But whether they grasp it or not, nevertheless he tells them the truth. It is their salvation that he goes away. "If I go not away, the Comforter" — that is, the Paraclete, the Advocate — "will not come unto you." What an awful thought! No Comforter! no testimony of Christ; no reproving of the world; no guiding of the disciples into all truth; no knowledge and confession of Jesus the Lord: no assurance to the heart of the believer that he is the child of God; no assistance and intercession for the saints in their infirmities; no peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; no fruits of the Spirit, — in short, no Pentecost! But thanks be to God, Christ went away through the darkness of Gethsemane and Calvary to the glory of Easter-morning and Pentecost. Of a truth, it is expedient for us that he went away.

Adolph Spath

And his that gentle voice we hear Soft as the breath of even, That checks each fault, calms every fear, And whispers us of heaven.

HARRIET AUBER.