o longer needed and used as
such, the Romans would withhold this regard and convert it--as was
actually done years afterward--into a barrack for soldiers. Where
would then be the salaried scribe, the domineering and overbearing
elder, the rich but hypocritical Pharisee, and the pompous high
priest? Their place and their nation would be gone. These
considerations, in connection with their inbred conceits that they
were the peculiar, chosen and exclusive people of God, caused them to
reject the Lord. "He came unto his own and his own received him not."
But some did receive him, and "as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on his
name." It was to such as believed on him that the words of my text
were addressed. The text gave them, and it gives the same to us, three
promises by the mouth of him whose word is yea and amen.

First promise: "If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples."

Second promise: "And ye shall know the truth."

Third promise: "And the truth shall make you free."

These promises are all so full of love and truth that a long and
instructive discourse might be based upon each one separately, and
then much of their subject matter remain untouched. We are told how we
may be true disciples of the Lord. A disciple is a learner, one who is
receiving instruction because of a sincere desire in him to know the
truth. We are truly his disciples when we abide in his Word. What is
the meaning of the clause, "If ye abide in my word"? Let James, the
apostle of charity, answer: "If a man be not a forgetful hearer of the
word, but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his
doing." For myself, I must say that learning the lessons of Christ is
very much like learning the lessons given in almost any other branch
of knowledge. We send our children to school. Some take delight in
their books, and make satisfactory progress. Others, that have the
same opportunities to learn, seem to take very little interest in
their lessons or in the instructions of their teachers, and move on
very slowly. Why is this? It is mainly a lack of love for study. One
hungers and thirsts for knowledge, another does not. But the one that
loves to acquire knowledge is the one that abides in the instructions
of his teacher and his books, and he is a true disciple or learner. It
is very much the same way in the school of Christ. Some hear, obey and
profit greatly by w