CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE.
"I PRAY NOT." Said the Saviour, as he petitioned the Father for his humble followers. "I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil." John xvii, 15. The Christian's way-book, the Bible, abounds in descriptions of the character he is to sustain while here, the hardships he is to endure on his earthly pilgrimage, and the treatment he is to receive at the worldling's hand. The world is a world of evil; it is under the influence of a dark prince who hates righteousness and its followers; in it we are to be pilgrims and strangers; we are to covet none of its treasures, seek none of its applause, renounce its honors, turn a deaf ear to its fair promises and syren songs, shut our eyes to its charms and allurements, separate ourselves from those who are wedded to its spirit, provide no certain abiding place in its territory, but lay up our treasures in, place our affections upon, and ever look forward to, a future and a heavenly country, where we are to find our citizenship and our home. What, then, are you ready to ask, is the necessity of our remaining here? Why are we not, as soon as we enlist under the Redeemer's banner and espouse his cause, released from our wearisome exile, and taken to a clime, and admitted to society more congenial to the Redeemer's servants? We answer, Christ did not pray for his people that they might be taken out of the world. Here we are exposed to the buffetings and temptations of the adversary, the scoffs and hatred of the world, the thorns and roughness of the way, the trials of life and the pains of death; but yet the Saviour did not pray for us that we might be taken out of the world. We must be purified, and he would not have us released from the process of purification. In this world we are to pass through the furnace; and from this he prays not that we may be taken. "In the world," he has announced to us, "ye shall have tribulation;" but not from tribulation would he have us released. Here we are to suffer persecution; but not from persecution would he have us free. In the world we are to wage a continual warfare against the powers of darkness; it is not from this warfare that he prays to have us discharged. In the world we are to breast the storms and tempests that sweep our pathway; it is not from these that he prays to have us sheltered. For what then does he pray? What blessing does he implore upon his weak disciples? That they may be kept from the evil. Ah, that is it; "that thou shouldst keep them from the evil." Not that we be freed from tribulation but that by it we be not cast down; not that we have no persecution, but that we let it drive us to the shelter of his wings for protection; not that we meet no foes and wage no warfare, but that we achieve a victory; not that we meet no storms in our pathway, but that we acquire the strength and sinews of full grown men by bravely breasting them; not that we be taken out of the world, but that we be kept from the evil. What a lesson of patience, humility and endurance should this teach us. Think of this, you who are wading through deep waters of affliction, temptation and trial. The compassionate Redeemer does not intercede for you that you have any less of these, but he does pray that you be kept from the evil; that you be not by them cast down, overcome, or destroyed. Remember this. He, our great High Priest, he who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, the glorious Son of God, has prayed, he has prayed to his Father, that we might be kept from the evil. Is it then presumption in us, in every time of need, to approach his throne and likewise pray; yea, and claim the blessing also? Never. Then we may be kept from the evil; there is one who can keep us; and the evil which the enemy designs, may be warded off, and good only result to us from all things. And when we shall have been sufficiently purified; when tribulation shall have purged the chaff from the wheat; when the dross shall have been consumed, and the gold brightened; when we shall have proved ourselves unflinching soldiers in our Master's cause, and shall have triumphed over all those foes that erect their barracks in our own hearts; the time will come when we shall triumph gloriously over our outward foes, death, demons and the Devil, when we shall indeed be taken out of the world, until it shall be refitted for the theater of a righteous government, and the habitation a holy people. When we are tried, (that is, sufficiently tried, purified and made white,) says the Apostle [Jas. i, 12] we shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. That crown we are to receive when the chief Shepherd shall appear. 1 Pet. v, 4. Till then we may not be taken out of the world; but till then we may claim that other blessing for which also the Saviour has prayed for us, that we may be kept from the evil.