plains before we can measure the relative height of the clustered
mountains, and discern which is manifestly the loftiest. And all
_this_ is true in reference to Jesus Christ and His relation to us.
But that does not go half-way towards the understanding of such words
as these of my text, which tell us that so singular and solitary is
His relation to us that the thing which ends the work of all other
men, and begins the decay of their influence, begins for Him a higher
form of work and a wider sweep of sway. He is nearer us when He
leaves us, and works with us and in us more mightily from the throne
than He did upon the earth. Who is He of whom this is true? And what
kind of work is it of which it is true that death continues and
perfects it?

So let me note, before I pass on, that there is a great truth here
for us. We are accustomed to look back to our Lord's earthly
ministry, and to fancy that those who gathered round Him, and heard
Him speak, and saw His deeds, were in a better position for loving
Him and trusting Him than you and I are. It is all a mistake. We have
lost nothing that they had which was worth the keeping; and we have
gained a great deal which they had not. We have not to compare our
relation to Christ with theirs, as we might do our relation to some
great thinker or poet, with that of his contemporaries, but we have
Christ in a better form, if I may so speak; and we, on whom the ends
of the world are come, may have a deeper and a fuller and a closer
intimacy with Him than was possible for men whose perceptions were
disturbed by sense, and who had to pierce through 'the veil, that is
to say, His flesh,' before they reached the Holy of Holies of His
spirit.

II. Note, secondly, the coming for which Christ's going was needful,