Alone with Christ

“And they which heard it went out one by one; and Jesus zvas left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.” — John viii. 9.

THIS is the first revelation of the Day of Judgment; a sinful soul meets face to face with Jesus — with Jesus as her Judge. She meets Him alone. I believe this is typical of Christ’s judgment of all souls. I think the moment immediately after death is a moment of solitude in which the spirit stands face to face with Christ. I think it is a moment of simple retrospect in which the past lives as a present — in which I shall see myself in the light of the Son of Man. “I thought it was to be a general assize,” you say; “is it not written that the dead, small and great, shall stand before God? “Yes, my brother, but it does not follow they shall stand before you. You may be moving in a procession whose every man is invisible to you. God sees it all; but you may be conscious only of yourself and Ilim., You may hear no tread behind you; you may see no man before you; you may feel yourself alone with God. I think this moment of solitude is more favourable to judgment than is the scene popularly figured. The presence of a visible crowd does not help self-examination. It is a retarding influence. It makes me look, not in, but out. I keep criticising the chances of the multitude when I ought to be considering my own. Like Peter, instead of asking pardon for my denial of the Lord, I fix my eye on John, and say, ‘’Lord, what shall this man do?” It is well that for one instant a screen should be drawn between my brother and me. It is well that in the great procession John should be hid from Peter’s eye. It is well that for a moment on the Mount I should see no man but Jesus only.

My soul, practise being alone with Christ! It is written that “when they were alone He expounded all things to His disciples.” Do not wonder at the sayinc;-; it is true to thine experience. If thou wouldst understand thy-Q.6i TIMES OF

self, send the multitude away. Let them all go out one by one till thou art left alone with Jesus. To be alone with Jesus is to have thy judgment-day. It was when the Lord put out the Pharisees that the woman began to feel her sinfulness. As long as the Pharisees were there she kept saying to herself, “They are as bad, they are as bad! “But when the Pharisees went out she lost that consolation. She stood alone in the Courts of the Lord zmth the Lord; she could only measure herself by Him. Hast thou ever figured thyself as the last of living men? Hast thou ever fancied that all were dead but thee? Hast thou ever pictured thyself the one remaining creature in the earth, the one remaining creature in all the starry worlds? In such a universe thine every thought would be “God and I! God and I!” And yet He is as near to thee as that — as near as if in the boundless spaces there throbbed no heart but His and thine. Practise that solitude, O my soul! Practise the expulsion of the crowd! Practise the stillness of thine own heart! Practise the solemn refrain” God and I! God and

T!” Let none interpose between thee and thy wrestling- angel! Thou shalt be both condemned and pardoned when thou shalt meet Jesus alone!