The “I Will” of Glorification

John xvii. 24

“Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.”

How precious are family gatherings on earth! When the Christmas log blazes upon the fire; and it may be, three generations meet together; and they are all one, in common blood, from the grandsire who leans upon his staff, down to the infant that lies slumbering in its cradle, how genial is the glow that diffuses itself through the heart; a glow, not from the Christmas log, but from the still hotter fire of human love.

And what efforts are made to accomplish such family gatherings as these? The old man has tottered a long way upon his staff, the young man has worked harder than his wont, to pay for daintier fare; and what efforts are made that this shall be a day of enjoyment; and that it may be so, the old man determines to forget his pains, and the young man his labors, and the anxious mother her cares; alas! that there should be generally so much toil to secure a little joy; we squeeze out in slow and labored drops, what flowed in gushing streams in Paradise.

And then, when with difficulty and labor, we accomplish such large gatherings on earth; how swiftly, to use the poePs simile, does sorrow tread upon the heels of joy.’” Solemn thoughts gather in the minds of thinking men; even whilst the enjoyment is going on, the time of dispersion is drawing near, and, will that company ever meet together on earth again? It may be that before Christmas comes again, that old man will have calmly heard the voice of the messenger, and gone away to the distant land; or perhaps that young man, will be broken up in some of life’s tempests, and the fragments of his shattered home be tossed hither and thither, to be seized and appropriated by the lawless wrecker’s hand; who knows but that the young mother’s soft lullaby may be stilled forever; or but that the little babe, ere it lisped on earth, may be taken to sing in heaven. The sword of Damocles is suspended over every heart, the dead fly is in every pot of ointment, the cloud no bigger than a man’s hand is in every sky. On earth we gather, but to be dispersed; life is a garden in which the bud blossoms but to decay; it is a dissolving view in which the smile melts away into a tear.

But turn we to God’s great family gathering, of which all earthly family gatherings are but broken and imperfect types, and here we shall And that for which the heart so earnestly pants; a scene of joy which shall be unbroken; a meeting of dear friends which shall never be dispersed. Gather my saints together; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice and in 37.;

final fulfillment of that pregnant word, they shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of heaven.

What a noble family gathering will that be, where millions upon millions assemble in one vast home; all relations; all loving, all pure, all fresh in health and strength, all with common interest, all meeting never to part again. I pray God that every reader of this book may be present at the Great Father’s feast; God their Father, and heaven their home!

And for this gathering great efforts are now being made. By efforts, we mean puttings forth of Divine power; for strictly speaking, God need never make any effort; He has but to give His command, and what He wills must be done. But, we might say, efforts are being put forth if we look at the means by which God works, and by which He has providentially ordered that His will shall be carried out. Down in dark cellars city missionaries are diving; up lofty attics are they climbing; away over the seas are foreign missionaries speeding; the iron missionary labors from morning to night throwing off its printed sheets of warning, instruction, and invitation; Bible women, colporteurs, district visitors. Sabbath school teachers, and many such are gathering together the family of God: and with that gathering there are none but glorious thoughts connected; its brightness shall never be dimmed; its unity never broken up.

The unity of the church of Goa is connected with the glory of Christ, — to break up that unity would be to hurt His glory — His people are to behold His glory, and that glory is to be eternal; they must behold it not only in its degree but in its duration — forever and forever. Father I will that they also whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me; for Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.’’

Now first of all, let us direct our attention to the prominent position which this will occupied in the mind of Christ,

We see it in His laboring, Christ’s life was one of labor; and this labor, whilst fulfilling the will of His Father, had an ulterior object, viz., the gathering together of His Church. Jesus knew that He had to teach His people, if they were to be made fit for glory — that He had to leave them an example — that the church would enter into His labors in after years; all true believers striving to fashion themselves upon the model which He set. Jesus underwent a vast amount of labor before He suffered on the cross, but He knew that He was God’s workman, with a surety of the harvest before Him, and with joy unutterable in His future rest from the church present with Him in glory — the Church for which He wrought. I apprehend that Jesus was as God’s servant, a man of the future as well as the present. He was a man of the present inasmuch as He seized all present opportunities, and performed with all His might all present duties, undergoing also all present toil; but He was a man of the future also, because He lived in the consciousness of the great recompense before Him, when He entered into His rest.

And Jesus had this will prominently before Him in suffering also. We are told by the apostle, that for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame Heb. xii. 2. We err if we suppose that all Christ’s suffering was in the garden and on the cross; temptation was suffering to Him; contact with evil, albeit He was undefiled thereby, was suffering; and so was the endurance of the waywardness and heaviness of His disciples; the cross was but the culminating point of accumulated suffering; no doubt the cross has its own grand distinctiveness, and this above all, that in that particular suffering of Jesus we find our life; but the cross stands upon, as it were, a pyramid, composed of the many sufferings of previous years. In all this we believe that Jesus kept steadily before Him the purchase and future possession of His Church. Husbands,” says the tipostle in Eph. v. 25, &c.,... love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Christ had no visions of isolated glory; He had isolated glory without leaving the bosom of the Father at all.

This will was also strongly before His mind in providing them with the Holy Ghost. Well did Jesus know what His people would need before they were fitted for being with Him, where He was. He knew they could not take their sinful natures, any more than their sins themselves, into heaven; and so. He provided that they should be sanctified as well as cleansed. It will be well for us when we think of Christ’s determination to have His people with Himself, not to forget how He means to have them also; His is no arbitrary will, that overrides all moral necessities; it is necessary that they who are to be in glory should be holy, and that which is in Christ’s mind is not the determination to drag them to heaven without any reference to sanctification, but rather to sanctify them, and so fit them for being with Him there.

But this will of Christ had also a prominent place as regards personal feeling. Jesus had such a personal interest in His people that He willed that they should get the best. Now where was the best to be had? Was it not with Himself, in His glory; in the place where He was to enjoy what was pre-eminently His given glory — i. e., the glory connected with the redemption of man? Jesus knew the glory that awaited Himself, but He did not, as selfish man too often does, think only of Himself; He would make His people partakers of the best which it was possible for them to have. Such is the interest that our blessed Lord has in all His people now; these words belong to us as well as to the apostles, and we may fully take them to ourselves. And what a peace-giving thought it should be to the heart, that we may leave all our interests in our Lord’s hands, as being abundantly cared for by Him. He will have us in no less a place than that in which He is Himself. We, with our j)oor human love, know what it is to try and get the best we can for those we love; we toil to be able abundantly to provide for them; if there be anything worth seeing, we try to show it to them; if anything specially fit for them to have, we try to get it for them; we are but poor scholars in the school of love, unless this be our experience. But Jesus is the Great Master in the school of love; it is from His perfect lips that we gather up our poor lisping accents of love; and He carries out the natural impulses of love in getting the very best for His people. And Jesus has not to try and fail as we too often do; we have often felt sorrowful because we could not accomplish what our heart desires. Jesus receives from the Father all the desires of His heart. So that His people shall have throughout eternity everything that he desires for them. And if my Lord desire I should have the best, how entirely may I leave all belonging to eternity with Him. Yes! and all belonging to time also; if I trust Him with the greater surely I may with the lesser also; if He care for me in heaven He will care for me also upon earth. And thus will the world grow less and less; the best that it can give will be viewed side by side with even the least of the joys which Christ will givC; and the light of heaven shall eclipse the light of earth.

And let us further mark how the prominence of this will of Christ in personal feeling shews us that His enjoyment is hound up in His people. He is to have glory from the Father. He wills that that glory should be seen by His people. The closest connection which Jesus shall have through eternity, next after that which subsists between His Father and Him, will be that which shall subsist between Himself and His church. The damned will be His prisoners, and the angels His servants; but the church will be His bride, one with Himself in the closest and tenderest of unions for ever. Now, this is as though our Lord said, I do not wish to keep all this glory to myself; I wish those to whom I have the tenderest feelings to enjoy it; my heart finds its pleasure in benevolence in outflowings in givings away; let my churchy my spouse be with me to behold and to rejoice in my glory.”

And as we believe that Christ as enjoyment will be bound up in His people, so also do we believe that their enjoyment loill he hound up in Him. They will know how He won His mediatorial glory, their own hearts will tell them the history of the jewels in His mediatorial crown; and however varied may be the joys, and however delightful the companionships of heaven. He will continue the main attraction for ever and ever.

And this I will“’ of Christ shews us that His connection with His people shall not be merely temporal but eternal. Death is the great severer of all human relationships; the closest bonds it snaps as though they were but a thread of tow. But none shall take away Jesus from the eyes of the heavenly beholders; none shall take away the beholders from Him; until the relationship be broken, the results flowing from it cannot be cut off, and so this I will” secures to Christ’s people an eternity of bliss.

Shall not this thought comfort us much, under the sore bereavements which we have to endure on earth. As wound after wound is inflicted upon our hearts, and friend after friend drops by our side; until at last a whole row of empty chairs stands in our room, shall not we And solace in this blessed thought, the highest (oh! may we also ever be able to say, the dearest’) of my relationships is unbroken. All these rendings are but for a season; soon I shall be with my Lord; and then, forasmuch as I am to be where He is, and He is all in all, I shall know such pangs as these no more.

Oh! these earthly separations from those we love how terribly do they scald and wear the heart! day by day to see those things laid out, as it were, in such stony dead-like forms, which used to lie about here and there, in the sweet abandonment of daily life. Oh! the misery of that order, where everything is in exactly its ])roper place, because there was no living hand to touch and move it; oh! that some one would come unawares and scatter those chairs about the room, and bid them not stand motionless like funeral mutes against the wall; oh! that some one would take those pens out of the inkstand, and drop them carelessly upon the table as though some living hand had been using them; oh! for a wrinkle in that smooth and close drawn cloth; as smooth almost as the strained covering of the coffin lid; so that we might fancy that some one (the some one) had been leaning upon it, or using it in some of the work of daily life! Yes! all this comes of separation — the great separation — but take courage, Christian; thou shalt have a home in which there shall be the great separation no more.

But is it only the great separation that wings the heart? ah! the lesser ones wring the heart strings too. What a feeling of heart-sinking comes over us, as we go into the room, which a dear friend has inhabited in our house, and from which he is just gone; look at those torn letters, look at that tossed and tumbled bed, from which life seems to have so recently fled; oh! that something had been left behind, that we could lay hold of, to connect the whole scene with the activities of life again; and have not we felt these heart-sinkings; the low murmurings of the voice which saith, ^-Man never continueth in one stay.’’ Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest.”

Well, dear reader, has it been observed, that next to a funeral a wedding is often one of the saddest occasions on earth. Far be it from me to add one drop to the gall and bitterness of life — or to cause to pass even the most fleeting cloud across the wedding day’s bright sky; but are there none to whom that day brings thoughts of sadness. Does the mother shed no tear as she gives up her child; does the father part with that which is bone of his bone, without feeling the wrench; do not tears come into sisters’ eyes as they say good bye; and is there not an awkward silence when the carriage wheels are rolling from the door? And when all is over, and the guests are gone, and the fragments of the feast lie neglected upon the festive board, and you stand and look, and think for a moment, how it all fleeted by like a dream; of what froth can your heart be made, if there steals not into it one solemn thought — there has been a separation — a bud has been cut from the parent tree — ’tis true, the sun shone upon the blade that severed it — and summer breezes, with soft and perfumed breath, sang merrily the marriage chant — but with all the brightness, all the music, the deed is done — the tree is cut — the bud is gone.

We too can rejoice with them that do rejoice, as well as weep with them that weep; we make it almost a point of conscience to open our caskets, and bring out whatever jewels we possess for this festive day; we try to drink into the spirit of Him who turned the water into wine: but we see in this, which is presumed to be the happiest of earth’s days, what we see in the rose which is called the fairest of earth’s flowers the traces of the great separation between man and God — (the separatioiij which has borne as its fruit all other separations) — the one sad cause mars the beauty of the fairest flower and dashes with a drop of bitterness the highest festivity of life.

But there shall be no more of this hereafter. Jqsus shall hereafter be the great object of His people’s love companionship, and delight; and where He is, there they shall be also.” Nor shall there be any separation amongst the redeemed. We believe fully in the activities of heaven; we do not believe in the pictures which represent the redeemed as hanging midway in the air, with harps in their hands surrounding a Being who is hanging there also. This is to us not the beatific vision. The infidel who saw it said, If this be your heaven you may beep it to yourself.” Our beatific vision takes a wider range than this; we believe it probable that the universe itself will be open to the activities of the redeemed, that there will be diverse spheres of service for the Lord — the rulership over ten cities and over five — but there shall be no separations, such as we experience upon earth. The whole body of the redeemed shall be gathered up into Jesus, as the folds of a garment are gathered up into one band; they shall be in union with Him as the myriad rays of the sun are with the one bright orb; they shall each perform their several functions, but they shall all be members of the one body of which He is the head.

And seeing that all this blessing is linked to connection with Jesus, how great is the need of clinging to Him! If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor John xii. 26. Let us link ourselves to that which seems the most enduring upon earth, and we shall find that it will crumble or dissolve; its very nature is, that either its relationship with us, or ours with it can not endure; but let us be linked to Christ, and we shall find that though heaven and earth pass away, His words shall not pass away, we shall be in unbroken relationship with Him for ever; His words shall be fulfilled,

Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory; for Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.’

We now come finally to consider, so far as we are led to do by this verse, a part of the blessing of the redeemed. It is spoken of here as beholding the glory of Christ.” This beholding will not be a mere looking at,” just as we look at some spectacle now — ourselves having no interest in the matter, except the pleasure which we may derive from the sight. The saints have a greater interest in the glory of Christ than this; “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him:” 2 Tim. ii. 12. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne:” Kev. iii. 21. Nor shall this beholding be merely transitory, for the apostle tells us in 1 Thess. iv. 17, that His people shall be ever with Him, And so shall we be ever with the Lord.”

We can easily understand how much more delight the saints will experience in beholding the glory of their Lordj when they themselves have an interest in it than they” would have had if Jesus were one simply to be admired, but wholly out of connection with themselves. It may be that the devils will have some considerable knowledge of the glory of Christ; perhaps as Dives knew something of the happiness of Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom, so the lost ones will have some consciousness at least of the glory of the Lord. But such a consciousness will only increase their misery. He is no Saviour, no friend, no glorifier to them. Will not the personal love of the redeemed to their Lord make them intensely happy in beholding His glory, even apart from any actual reflection of that glory uj)on themselves? We think it will, and that the analogy of earthly relationship holds good here. When the conqueror returns to his own country, victorious over all his foes, and laden with their spoils, and when in triumphant procession he enters the city amid the clang of martial music, the waving of banners, and the loud acclamations of thousands, who feels proudest of him — whose eye dwells with greatest satisfaction upon him — who feels personal honor in his honor, personal triumph in his triumph, personal gain in every shout of the multitude, and boom of the thundering gun? Surely we can think of but one — it is his spouse, she with whom he is one, and who from her very connection with him, feeble and unworthy though she be, must in some measure share his glory; from all such earthly triumphs we ascend to those yet higher; and who in heaven will have the most joy and interest in beholding the glory of the triumphant Saviour? Is it the angels? Nay they are not the spouse of Christ; and moreover, they have never been redeemed through Christ. Who then? The Church; these of whom Christ speaks in the passage before us now. And would, that even now we perceived this our interest in Christ, as readily as we j)erceive His interest in us; then should we be more ready than we are to take a share in the conflict; as He will in the power of relationship share His glory with us; so should we in the power of relationshi]) give our energies to Him. Alas! how one-sided are the best of us; we expect to get, we are unwilling to give. We should remember that as relationship involves giving, it involves receiving too. It is thus that the Church will behold, and in the power of relationship share the glory of her Lord.

But we may proceed yet a little farther into this matter; the redeemed shall behold the glory of their Lord with a great power of comprehension. Of course, they never can either fully scale the heights or sound the depths of the glory of Christ; vast as is the capacity of the saints it is flnite still, nevertheless they shall know much about this. For the saints shall hereafter have great power of comprehension; now they see as through a glass darkly, but then they shall see face to face; know they know in part, but then shall they know even as they are known. The increased power of comprehension, wherewith the saints shall behold the glory of their Lord, shall form no small part of their happiness in heaven. They shall behold Him then, with the understanding, which personal experience gives.

It is true we now, I hope, have some personal expe-THE “I V^ILL” OF GLORIFICATION.

rience of our Lord; but it is an experience clogged with adverse circumstances. Jesus cannot now let the fulness of His glory flow forth to the individual soul; such flowings forth would be stopped by either the deadness or the evil within us, as we know that they have already frequently been. But when Christ’s people are with Him where He is, all these impediments shall be removed; they shall have full power to receive Him; they shall be able to make use of the revelations which He willgive; all prejudice, all blindness, all mental cloggings will be removed, and they shall be able to enjoy the splendor which, in Christ, is outstretched before them. In glory, the capacity of the creature shall be increased, and he who recognised some brightness in Jesus now, shall then behold Him brighter than the sun; there will no doubt be Divine revelations of the wonders of the cross, to suit the expanded comprehension of the redeemed; and then, so far as He can be, by still finite beings, Christ shall be understood. What wonders of Divine wisdom will then meet our eyes, when we find that our Shepherd led us by ways that we knew not; we shall then know that it was Jesus guided us by such and such a path; and we shall see that He led us away from the beetling precipice, away from the shifting quick-sand, away from the treacherous bog with its deceptive phosphorescent lights; it will be a part of the glory of Christ to have led His sheep through all these dangers to the fold, and we shall know it, and shall mingle wonder with our love. What wonders of divine endurance will then open out before our minds, when we ascertain hovmuch the Saviour bare from us; how long He bare with us. Now, we know not the glory of His character, because we know not the instances in which it is exemplified; hut we shall know it then; Jesus will shine forth in heaven not only with the glory of what He is, hut with that of what He has done; and with what eyes shall we hehold Him when we think, Thus He endured forme What wmiders of divine triumph will then meet our eyes when we have unveiled to us many of the mysteries of Christ/s agony in the garden and death upon the cross; when we see how the councils of hell were thwarted and the assaults of hell repelled; and how those words ^Ht is finished,’’’ scattered the powers of darkness, and opened up the great highway to the realms of light I What can we poor dull creatures understand of all this now? We just grasp the truth that Jesus died, in order that by it we may be saved, but we cannot see far into it; we tarry as it were in its outer courts, while there is a holy of holies into wdiich we shall be admitted by and bye. Cannot we imagine how the hearts of the saints will be enraptured as they see and comprehend all these wonders in their Lord, The astronomer as he surveys the vast expanse of heaven through his telescope, has his admiration drawn out as it never could have been if he surveyed it only with the naked eye; and he who examines a flower through a microscope, rises from his steady gaze, and strong light, and high magnifying power, which has let him into nature’s secrets, with an enthusiasm which otherwise he never could have had; but neither telescope nor microscope ever admitted any philosophers into such secrets in the natural world as this I will” of J esus does his glorified people in the spiritual world. On His head are many crowms, (Rev. xix. 12) and they shall see them all — yea, not only the crowns — but also the jewels in the crowns; what precious stones are there, and what their wondrous worth.

It may be that the redeemed will be admitted into many of the deep mysteries of God. This possibly is hinted at in the words, “For Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.’’ Perhaps, their understanding something of this truth will give them the truest insight into the mysteries of the cross. The Father’s love before the foundation of the world, will probably shew them in truest colors the price of the salvation of a soul. Thus, and thus only, can they know the price at which their souls were redeemed; the value which was put upon those souls by God; the love which dictated a sacrifice so great. The Father’s love to the Son before the foundation of the world, will be the greatest manifestation of His love to mankind in the world.

As we think of these exceeding glories of the future, do we not sec how vast is the difference between the j)leasures and pursuits of Christ’s people, and the world’s, both now and hereafter?

The people of the world are toiling for honor, which cannot permanently ennoble them — for wealth, which cannot permanently enrich them — for health, which cannot permanently remain with them; no portion have they in the grand future of the saints; for they have none in Him by whom that future is made. When they lay down the coronets of earth, they have no crowns to take up in heaven; when they are severed from earthly wealth, they have no bags which wax not old; when they are unclothed of this their mortal flesh, they have no prospect of being clothed with a body like their Lord’s. They may die with weeping, because they have to part from their earthly things, as that great actress, who had her jewels spread upon her coverlet, and wept because she must leave all these or, as that unhappy creature whose spirit fleeted from her, while her eye was fixed immovably upon a chest in the corner of the room, where afterwards it was found that her money was stored up; or in decent resignation they may turn their face to the Avail, and leaA’-e not even a wrinkle upon their brows; but for them there is no bright home beyond, for they care not for the presence of Jesus, by whom that home’s chief brightness is made.

But for the saints all is bright, because they are going to be with Him whom their soul loveth. I am going to Him,” said Dr. Owen, ^Svhom my soul has loved, or I’ather who has loved me with an everlasting love, which is the sole ground of all my consolation.” When Mr. Payne said to him, Doctor, I have just been puttingyour bookoii Glory of Christy to the press,” he answered, am glad to hear it; but, oh! brother Payne, the long looked for day is come at last, in which I shall see that glory in another manner, than I have ever done yet; or was capable of doing in this world.” What a death was that which was only a going forth to meet One whom the soul loveth. I desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better,” said the Rev. John Brown, of Haddington, and though I have lived sixty years very comfortably in the world, yet I would turn my back upon you all to be with Christ. Oh! commend Jesus, there is none like Christ, none like Christ. I have been looking at Him these many years, and never yet could find a fault in Him, but aa’rs of my Own making, though He has seen ten thousand faults in me. Many a comely person have I seen, but none so comely as Christ. I am weak but it is delightful to feel one’s self in the everlasting arms. Oh! what must He be in Himself, when it is He that sweetens heaven, sweetens scriptures, sweetens ordinances, sweetens earth, sweetens trials And when Eowland Hill was dying, all his thoughts were centred on beholding the person of his Lord, and being where He was. I do believe,” said the dying man, that for the first ten thousand years after we enter the kingdom of glory, it will be all surprise.” But will this surprise never end .^” Never, while we behold the person of our Lord.” You are going to be with Jesus, and to see Him as He is,” said a friend. Yes!” replied Mr. Hill, with emphasis, and I shall be like Him, that is the crowning point.” Thus upon the dying bed, did these saints enter into the mind of Christ; thus did His I will” pervade their wills, so that they were ready He depart and be with Christ;” Phil. i. 23. For them death had no terrors, the unclothing of the spirit no discomforts, the silence of the grave no loneliness, for they knew that they were in Christ, and that soon they would be with Christ; they heard, they leant upon His words, Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which Thou hast given me; for Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”

And now we draw this volume to a close. In it wo have heard the sweet voice of invitation and Jesus has been presented to us as willing” that all weary ones should come to Him for rest. In it, we have also heard His solemn j)romise. He has been presented to us as irrevocably pledged willingly’’ to receive every man who on his part will receive His grace. Thus inviting; thus receiving. The Holy One has been seen in His mighty work cleansing the poor leprous soul for it is indeed His deepest “will” that it should be clean. Then we have marked how cleansed ones are made confessors for their Lord, and how He will” confess them before His Father in heaven. Yet, before that glorious time can come, we have heard what is appointed to many of us to do — to go forth and win souls to Christ; each one in his sphere, “will” He make a fisher of men, Noi*, thus confessing, thus working, shall any of us be left uncheered; Jesus Himself is with us in our toil, He will” not leave us comfortless He will” come unto us. In these pages also have we read, how that every follower of Christ must be at His disposal for toil or rest, for martyrdom or life; that it is His “I will,” that must determine His people’s lot. And very solemn is the inquiry which has been here suggested to us, as to the sanctification of our loills that highest point of Christian life, as from the deep shade of Gethsemane, we hear the voice of that sweet submissive human will, Nevertheless, not as I will,’ but as Thou wilt.” Thus did Jesus will” to suffer Himself, that He might be able to will” in covenant power, the glory of His people; saying, Father, I will’ that they also whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold Thy glory, which Thou hast given me, for Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”