calmly said, "To this end was I born, and
for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth." He knew that it was this witnessing to the truth that had
enraged the Jews against Him, and even in prospect of death He could not
refrain from proclaiming what He felt it was vital for men to know. In
this very true sense, therefore, He died for our sakes--died because He
sought to put us in possession of truths without which our souls cannot
be lifted into life eternal. He has given us life by giving us the
knowledge of the Father. His love for us, His ceaseless and strong
desire to bring us near to God, was the real cause of His death. And,
recognising this, we cannot but feel that He has a claim upon us of the
most commanding kind. Not for His contemporaries alone, not for one
section of men only, did Christ die, but for all men, because the truths
which He sealed by His death are of universal import. No man can live
eternal life without them.

But again, Jesus Himself explained to His disciples in what sense His
death would benefit them. "It is expedient for you that I go away, for
if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you." The spiritual
kingdom He proclaimed could not be established while He was visibly
present. His death and ascension put an end to all hopes that diverted
their minds from that which constituted their real union to God and
satisfaction in Him. When He disappeared from earth and sent the Holy
Spirit to them, what remained to them was God's kingdom within them, His
true rule over their spirits, their assimilation to Him in all things.
What they now clearly saw to be still open to them was to live in
Christ's spirit, to revive in their memories the truths His life had
proclaimed, to submit themselves entirely to His influence, and to make
known far and near the ideas He had communicated to them, and
especially the God He had revealed. It was His death which set their
minds free from all other expectations and fixed them exclusively on
what was spiritual. And this salvation they at once proclaimed to
others. What were they to say about Jesus and His death? How were they
to win men to Him? They did so in the first days by proclaiming Him as
raised by God to be a Prince and a Saviour, to rule from the unseen
world, to bless men with a spiritual salvation, by turning them from
their iniquities. And the instrumentality, the actual spiritual
experience through which this