John.' The word that is translated 'boldness' no doubt conveys that
idea, but it also conveys another. Literally it means 'the act of
saying everything.' It means openness of unembarrassed speech, and so
comes to have the secondary signification, which the text gives, of
'boldness.'

Then, to be with Christ gives a living knowledge of Him and of truth,
far in advance of the head knowledge of wise and learned people. It
was a fact that these two knew nothing about what Rabbi _This_, or
Rabbi _That_, or Rabbi _The Other_ had said, and yet could speak, as
they had been speaking, large religious ideas that astonished these
hide-bound Pharisees, who thought that there was no way to get to the
knowledge of the revelation of God made to Israel, except by the road
of their own musty and profitless learning. Ay! and it always is so.
An ounce of experience is worth a ton of theology. The men that have
summered and wintered with Jesus Christ may not know a great many
things that are supposed to be very important parts of religion, but
they have got hold of the central truth of it, with a power, and in a
fashion, that men of books, and ideas, and systems, and creeds, and
theological learning, may know nothing about. 'Not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, are called.' Let a poor man at his
plough-tail, or a poor woman in her garret, or a collier in the pit,
have Jesus Christ for their Companion, and they have got the kernel;
and the gentlemen that like such diet may live on the shell if they
will, and can. Religious ideas are of little use unless there be
heart-experiences; and heart-experiences are wonderful teachers of
religious truth.

Again, to be with Christ frees from the fear of man. It was a new
thing for such persons as Peter and John to stand cool and unawed