Quotes from Love Revealed by George Bowen of Bombay
Missionary . Scholar . Mystic . Saint
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JOHN 13: 1 "Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end."
The long-expected hour of departure had arrived. The alternative was before Christ, either to refresh and animate His soul by the contemplation of that world to
which He was about to ascend, or to fix His regard upon the disciples from whom He was about to separate. There was a bright, ascending pathway before Him,
with principalities, powers and dominions, rising one above another, ready to rejoice in His ascent?a pathway terminating at that throne of pre-eminent glory assigned
to the Son of God before the world was.
On the other hand, there were these few indocile, unbelieving disciples, who had pierced His keenest sensibilities a thousand times with their unworthy surmises,
and in whom lived, still too much unvanquished, the spirit of human selfishness. Is it possible that His heart could do otherwise than bound with joy at the prospect
of escaping from the dark and deadly atmosphere of this world to realms of glory and perfect bliss? Say that He had thus long patiently lingered on the earth under
the influence of a profound sense of man's need and of a hallowed determination to open up a pathway of life to fallen humanity, would He not permit Himself, in the
hour which should terminate this long and bitter self- sacrifice, to rejoice with joy unspeakable at the thought of exchanging the companionship of these dull Galileans
for that of the heavenly hierarchies? Shall we not see Him sitting rapt and expectant, scarcely heeding the observations of His companions, mindful only of the
seraphic sounds soon to burst on His ear?
Nothing of all this. Having loved His own during the long years of their fellow-pilgrimage, He loved them unto the end. To them His thoughts were given.
All His solicitude was for them. Every emotion of their hearts, every utterance of their lips, had for Him the profoundest importance. They were "His own".
The angels are not His own in any such sense, and therefore His thoughts were now given, not to the angels but to His disciples. If we would but know it, the
preference given by Christ to the impure children of earth, whom He yearned to purify, over the unfallen sons of God, was repeated hour by hour during the
whole of His life; and the triumph of His love was in the perseverance with which He maintained unto the last this preference, notwithstanding the new and sad
revelations of their unloveliness....
JOHN 14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
....It is not more true that Christ died to save us than that He died to procure for us the means of living a divine life upon the earth---a life of wonderful communion with God and with Christ, in which all Christian experiences should undergo a transfiguration, and Christian peace, joy and faith become a thousand times the things they are in an ordinary Christian life. This is that translation of the believer which is attended with blessings to the world at large, more copious, more precious than those which stood connected with the translations of Enoch an Elijah. "The Son of man which is in Heaven," said Christ of Himself while yet on the earth. Well, this is where He would bring the believer. When our friends sleep in Jesus, with regard to us it is indeed a sleep. They may be blessed, but their hands no longer scoop from the urn of God, blessings for us. Now that which earth intensely needs is that there should be ascension without sleeping?that the believer should by faith ascend to a region where he could hold perfect concourse with the skies without being lost to earth. The Romanist talks of his saints in Heaven; we need saints that shall be at the same time in Heaven for us and on earth for Christ. Then will be fulfilled the word "Arise, shine; the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." "I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world." "I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am." "I am glorified in them.” Christians are to emulate one another in the great work of bringing down to earth the riches of Heaven. It is treason to humanity to propose working out your own salvation in a way that should secure your salvation and nothing else. The glory of that path of salvation which Christ has marked out for you is that it is a path umbraged with trees of salvation; you are to go saving that you may be saved.