Him no more.

and forcible.

And yet this statement is beautiful

Why should we then laud or mention our works? Christ distinctly says in our text, that we cannot become righteous by virtue of our own exertions, but only because "He went to the Father." Here we find true righteousness. The world knows nothing of it, since the writings of men do not at all allude to it. We are taught by the wisdom of this world that if we keep the ten commandments, observe the laws of the land, and lead an honest, upright life, we are surely good, just and honorable people. In our text, however, we find nothing of all this, nothing of our own works; Christ speaks alone of what He does, of His work, that He goes to the Father and we see Him no more. This deed of Christ, and nothing else, is our righteousness.

If, then, we desire to be truly pious we must not rely on our works. It avails nothing if we become monks, and fast and watch and pray; but this avails everything, that we desire to be freed from our sins, and know and believe that Christ went to the Father in our behalf. How is it then with fasting, with prayers and good works-are they of no value at all? Good works are right and proper; we ought not to neglect them, inasmuch as God ordered them in the law; but they can never justify us or make us pleasing in the sight of God. Christ's going to the Father is the one and only cause of our redemption and justification, and we must look for no other.

This going of Christ to the Father includes His suffering and cruel death upon the cross, His ascension into heaven, and His sitting at the right hand

of God. We do not see this, but we believe it, and this precious fact makes us just. We have no righteousness in ourselves, but Christ becomes our righteousness because He goes to the Father; or in plain language: No one becomes righteous, blessed or free from sin, but through the sufferings and death and resurrection of Christ. Such force has the going of Christ to the Father.

Hence it is plain that the Papists teach falsely when they say that good works are necessary to salvation. It is right enough to demand of a Christian an upright life and good works, but to that thereby we are justified and made righteous is a pernicious falsehood. Our text says distinctly that the going of Christ unto the Father brings true righteousness. The world knows nothing of this; the Holy Ghost alone teaches it.

say

When the Papists quote the expression of Christ: "If thou wouldst enter into eternal life keep the commandments," they misapprehend its meaning, and only prove that they do not understand what it means to keep the commandments of God. It is an indisputable fact that righteousness and eternal life were established by the departure of Christ from this world unto the Father, and they come from no other source. Nor shall the devil rob us of this conviction. He may perchance cause us fear and disquietude of conscience on account of our natural weakness and sinfulness, but he cannot deprive us of our hope and faith in Christ who went the way of perfect obedience to the Father, so that we might have righteousness in IIim. This assurance cannot be overthrown by the devil; he may indeed hold up to us our sins, but all his

accusations will avail nought if we have in true faith Christ as our Saviour. Let this ever be our chief consolation.

But faith is here absolutely necessary. The great work of Christ is perfect, and it devolves upon us to apply it to ourselves by faith. If we believe, we have the benefits of this work; if we are unbelieving, it avails us nothing. Once for all: Our righteousness, if true, comes to us from without, from Christ and His meritorious death. This truth makes the heart firm, otherwise, if we had to depend upon our own merits and works, upon our penitence and penance, as the Papists teach, we would never be secure, and would have to live in constant dread of punishment. How indeed could we know when our repentance, our confessions, and penitential tasks are sufficient? Therefore Christ took from us the burden of this suffering and bore it upon His own shoulders, so that we can now implicitly depend upon it that His sufferings and His death are our righteousness. The Son of God Himself performs the work ordained of the Father unto our redemption from sin and death; He is the Lamb of God, as St. John speaks of Him; He is God Almighty, and therefore there is no room to doubt the efficiency of His work of salvation.

Thus we learn, my beloved, how peremptorily this text cuts off all hope of meriting righteousness by our own achievements, since it consists entirely in the going of Christ unto the Father. When once this righteousness is ours by faith, let us then endeavor, as much as possible, to do good works, and let us strive with all our might to be obedient

to God.

But we will never be enabled to do even one good work if we have no true faith in Christ in our hearts, and if we lack confidence in His merits; for then our hearts are yet wicked and impure, and we have no forgiveness of sins because we have no faith.

The righteousness of the Christian is therefore a peculiar one and not understood of men, unless it is taught and revealed by the Holy Ghost. And even when thus revealed, it cannot be comprehended by our reason, but must be embraced by faith. When Christ says: "I go to my Father, and ye see me no more," He requires faith, else His words would have no meaning. The Christian's righteousness must be taught by the Holy Ghost; the righteousness of the world, however, can be exhibited by philosophers, by the secular government, by lawyers, by father and mother, and by all in authority. The Christian learns that everything without faith is evil, while the true, eternal righteousness is founded upon the departure of Christ to the Father, where we see Him not, but still have Him through faith as our Lord and Saviour.

Finally, our text tells us, that the Holy Ghost "will reprove the world of judgment." Christ explains fully what judgment is meant in this connection when He further states that "the prince of this world is judged." As the Holy Ghost reproves the world of sin because it does not believe in Christ, and of righteousness because it will not accept the comfortable fact that Christ went unto the Father, so He also reproves it "of judgment" because of its ignorance and fear in this regard, which is all its

own fault, since it will neither accept nor faithfully heed the Gospel of Christ. It is indeed a most distressing calamity to have sin and no righteousness, to be without consolation amid sin, death and every kind of misfortune.

To this fearful calamity Christ refers when He declares that it shall be the office of the Holy Spirit to preach concerning judgment, and to make known to all men the fact that "the prince of this world is judged," and has no longer the power to harm them who believe in Christ and depend on His going to the Father. The "prince of the world," for such he still is, may indeed, here and there, attack with his temptations and snares the believers, but he shall not prevail against them; he is judged; his stronghold and his panoply are wrenched from him, and he himself is bound, as St. Peter says, in the chains of darkness. Christ accomplished this overthrow; therefore Christians need no longer tremble before this prince and his power in the world; he is judged and has lost his authority.

The unbelievers are not aware of this. Sometimes they may make a start to become Christians and to believe, but if the world on that account begins to frown on them, they are frightened and fall away, as Christ explains in the parable of the seed upon the rock. With the Christians it is different; they hold fast in faith to the Gospel and heed intently the admonition of the Holy Ghost, not to fear, nor to despair in the agony and woe of sin, because the prince of this world is judged and is deprived of his supremacy. Another and mightier Lord is now in power, even Christ, who vanquished and chained the prince of this world. Be therefore