II. Now notice, secondly, these bewildered disciples.

We find, in the early portion of these discourses, that twice they
ventured to interrupt our Lord with more or less relevant questions,
but as the wonderful words flowed on, they seem to have been awed
into silence; and our Lord Himself almost complains of them that
'None of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou?' The inexhaustible truths
that He had spoken seem to have gone clear over their heads, but the
verbal repetition of the 'little whiles,' and the recurring ring of
the sentences, seem to have struck upon their ears. So passing by all
the great words, they fasten upon this minor thing, and whisper among
themselves, perhaps lagging behind on the road, as to what He means
by these 'little whiles.' The Revised Version is probably correct, or
at least it has strong manuscript authority in its favour, in
omitting the clause in our Lord's words, 'Because I go to the
Father.' The disciples seem to have quoted, not from the preceding
verse, but from a verse a little before that in the context, where He
said that 'the Spirit will convince the world of righteousness
because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more.' The contradiction
seems to strike them.

These disciples in their bewilderment seem to me to represent some
very common faults which we all commit in our dealing with the Lord's
words, and to one or two of these I turn for a moment.

Note this to begin with, how they pass by the greater truths in order
to fasten upon a smaller outstanding difficulty. They have no
questions to ask about the gifts of the Spirit, nor about the unity
of Christ and His disciples as represented in the vine and the