IN early spring, when the willows by the brook are putting forth their downy catkins and the first robin's note gladdens the waiting ear, the desire is native with the human heart to have winter let go her icy fetters and speedily take her departure. Somewhat later, when the April showers have clothed the brown earth with an emerald sheen and the fruit-trees are in full flower, one might wish that the beautiful bloom of apple, pear, and peach would linger with us; but the fruit-trees are deaf to this unwise desire, and in a few days the winds, at play among the blossoms, scatter far and wide the pink and white petals. Thus human sense, unrestrained by wisdom, would have mortals retain whatever is agreeable and discard all that is displeasing to their fancy. Contrariwise, the law of God demands that we subordinate the outward and material, which mortal mind esteems, and elevate the unseen Christ-idea, which rebukes and destroys false material sense.
The eternal Truth which is being reflected in some degree by the starry heavens and by the verdant earth, manifested itself in full measure through the great Master during his ministry on earth, but those about him, including his disciples, mistook the visible and outward for the real man. They made the not uncommon mistake which mortals commit in viewing nature; when, yielding to the sway of the senses, they see good in matter, instead of knowing that God and His idea alone are good. So Jesus' disciples relied upon his personality and gave scant heed to the truth he came to reveal, and it was because of this mistaken menial attitude of his followers that he declared, in his farewell words to them as reported in the sixteenth chapter of John, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you."
In times of trial the disciples had always found Christ Jesus to be their Comforter. If tempted, he had strengthened them; if discouraged, he had revived them; if sick, he had healed them. They felt that if he should leave them, they would be without a Comforter: but it is evident that they were looking only to the outward grace and beauty of his visible presence, and overlooking the deeper meaning of his life. He calls them back to the heart of things when he declares it to be expedient that he go away. They thought of the human Jesus as the Comforter, while his supreme revelation is, that it is the spirit of Truth, and not personality, which is the only real Comforter.
