by David Magie, Published by the American Tract Society
in 1855.
There is one safe model character. No allowance need be
made for him, whose early life I deem it my high privilege now to portray.
Of the blessed Jesus, who was born of a woman, and had his dwelling among
men, it may with truth be affirmed, that he never betrayed a bad temper,
never spoke an idle word, and never did a wrong act. From the first, his
character was a perfect character, and his life was a perfect life. In the
tenderness of infancy, in the bloom of youth, in the maturity of riper
years, "he did no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth."
How beautiful is such a picture! We love to be assured
that the life of the Son of God on earth was no less complete as a pattern,
than his death on the cross was complete as a sacrifice. All in detail is
not given that we perhaps could have wished; but enough is revealed to show
that his conduct as a youth is worthy of universal imitation. So much was he
like all men in the trials he was called to bear, and in the duties he was
appointed to perform, that you may well be invited to walk in his steps. Be
what the Savior was, and you will be all that fond parents and kind friends
could desire. No higher object can awaken your aspirations.
1. Reflect upon the perfect FITNESS of Christ to be an
example for the young. This is a point, which I am persuaded, none of us
ponder as we should. We are too much in the habit of thinking of the Son of
God, as a being so entirely of a different order and another world, that he
can scarcely enter experimentally into our feelings, or have any effective
sympathy with us in our sorrows. It is hard to get a full impression of his
oneness with the children of men, and the interest which he thus takes in
our welfare. But this is a mistake no less prejudicial to ourselves, than it
is derogatory to the glory of his name, as Mediator. Let me set you right
here.
That spotless character which I now present to you, is
the character of one in your very nature. The real humanity of him
whom all the angels of God worship, you scarcely need be told, is as
fundamental an article of the Christian's creed, as is his proper divinity.
Whatever apparent contrariety there is between them, you must put the two
characters together; Maker, and Elder Brother; existing from eternity, yet
born in the days of Herod the king; the Word made flesh and dwelling among
us. It would no less effectually undermine the religion of the gospel, and
take away the foundation of the sinner's hope, to show that Jesus was not
truly and in fact a man, than it would to show that he was not truly and in
fact God. There may be a difficulty in conceiving of him in both lights at
one and the same moment. How He, who was to be called the Son of the
Highest, and to whom the Lord God was to give the throne of David, and who
was to reign over the house of Jacob forever, could also be the babe of
Bethlehem, the boy in the temple, and the young man of Nazareth, we cannot
tell. Suffice it to say that "thus it is written." The Bible reveals it as a
fact.
Call the statement mysterious, if you please, that the
infant in the manger should be the Creator of the world, and that the child
that asked questions of the doctors should be "the Wisdom of God," and that
the man Christ Jesus should be "the Lord our righteousness"—it is no more
mysterious than the union of your own soul and body, and no more difficult
of comprehension.
I make no attempt, in holding up to you this bright
example, to explain the doctrine of a two-fold nature in the one person of
Christ. Sufficient is it for all useful purposes, that it is revealed as a
truth, which we are to receive, and wherein we are to stand; and that we can
see the connection of this precious truth with everything that is vital in
experience, and everything that is correct in deportment. As God, Jesus made
the world, searches the heart, is present where two or three meet in his
name, governs the universe, will raise the dead, and conduct the final
judgment; while as man he rested by the well of Samaria, wept at the grave
of Lazarus, washed the disciples' feet, and ate of the broiled fish and
honey-comb. You must hold fast here, as to life itself. Never forget that
Jesus is your kinsman, as well as your Judge. As really was he a child in
his mother's arms, and as really did he grow up in the home of his parents,
and as really did he buffet the temptations of life, as any other of the
sons of men. In this way alone could he have become a perfect example for
your imitation.
I present to you also, the character of one, who
subjected himself to your condition. Not in appearance merely, but in
deed and in truth, did Christ take upon him the infirmities, and bear the
sorrows of a son of Adam. So far as respects susceptibilities, mental and
physical, he was "made like unto his brethren;" subsisting as they do, and
feeling both joy and grief as they feel them. In all these respects he was
as you are. His body, like yours, needed food, clothing and sleep; his
hands, like yours, could be hardened with toil; his flesh, like yours, might
be lacerated with stripes, and his mind, like yours, could be harassed and
perplexed. If you have struggles, so had he. If you need encouragement, so
did he. Satan could tempt him. His enemies could give him trouble. The
soldiers could crucify him. His Father's countenance could fill him with
joy. He could be animated by hope.
So far as the discharge of duty, and endurance of
sufferings, and exposure to hardships, and conflict with temptations were
involved, the condition to which Christ stooped, differed in no essential
particular from that of mere men. Though he could bear his burden better,
for he could bear it without impatience, without unbelief, without repining,
this by no means proves that he felt it the less, or shed any fewer tears on
its account.
Take away sin, and its accompanying dread of the future,
and the Savior's condition was as is yours. With this exception, you have
not a difficulty which did not press with equal weight upon him, nor a
sorrow to which his heart was not equally exposed. His feelings could be
hurt by ill-treatment as easily as yours, and he could weep over the neglect
of professed friends as sincerely as you. Is your path rough? Christ's was
still more so. Are you sometimes distressed? So was he. The fears which
agitate your bosom, his was not a stranger to, and the hopes which may gild
your closing hour, are hopes which shed their influence on his death. How
fitted to be an example!
Again, Jesus was once of the very age which you
have now reached. The thirty years which he spent on earth before entering
on the work of his public ministry, included the period of childhood and
youth. There was a reason for this. If it was a season of comparative
obscurity, it was not a lost season. It gave him a fuller experience of
human life in its early gladness and grief, and it enabled him to furnish a
pattern for those who most urgently need it. What he felt of pain and
weakness as a child, and what he knew of care and labor as a youth, serve to
render his example the more useful.
It was not as an aged man, bending under the infirmities
of years, that Jesus was seen crossing the hills and traversing the valleys
of Judea. He was seen in Nazareth, not as one whose head is covered with the
frosts of many winters, but as a child by his mother's side, as a boy in his
father's shop, and as a youth at his allotted work. His time of life was
just that which we contemplate with the deepest interest.
Can you think with indifference of the fact, that Jesus
once stood, in age, exactly where you now stand? The precise number of
weeks, and months, and years which have gone over your heads, went over his
also. Your circumstances at this critical period, he cannot overlook; he
remembers his own at the same period of life.
2. Let me name some of those VIRTUES, which the example
of Christ inculcates for the young. A wide field opens here, inviting our
entrance, and promising richly to reward our examination. The character of
Jesus was one grand constellation of excellencies, embracing everything
pure, and true, and lovely, and of good report. It is adapted to all men,
and all countries, and all climates. I can dwell only on a few items.
Christ was distinguished for the improvement he made in
the morning of life. His youth was not wasted in indolence, or lost in
self-indulgence, or frittered away in things of no profit. None of the hours
of the holy child Jesus were misspent, none were misappropriated. It is the
explicit testimony of the inspired oracles, that he increased "in wisdom,
and stature, and in favor with God and man." As he grew in years, he grew in
knowledge. Having a true body and a reasonable soul, these could be expanded
and developed as are the bodies and souls of other children and youth. The
word of God no doubt was his study, and we may well conclude that he
meditated therein day and night. He loved the appointed services of God's
house. Its prayers and its praises were his delight.
However destitute Christ may have been of such literary
advantages as are now justly prized, of one thing we are assured, he was
blessed with the assiduous attentions of a wise and good mother—a mother who
had received her child as a special gift of God, and who regarded him with
mingled tenderness and veneration. Never did woman, before or since, perform
so delightful a task. Can you conceive of anything more touching? Mary is
sitting with the holy child Jesus by her side, and they read together out of
the book of the law. Her heart overflows with tenderness, and his heart
overflows with gratitude. Every day she witnesses his improvement, and every
day he repays her care by his tender attentions.
I am well aware that this is treading upon ground where
the imagination must not be allowed to run wild. We must not lose sight of
the fact, that Jesus was "the mighty God," as well as the babe of Bethlehem;
that he was not only the boy twelve years of age hearing and asking
questions, but was possessed of all the attributes of Deity. This point has,
I trust, been sufficiently guarded. The Godhead must not be forgotten, while
we are contemplating his manhood. Still, to get the full benefit of his
example, we should consider it in all the aspects presented in the holy
Scriptures.
Jesus too was dutiful to his parents.
This is one of the loveliest features in the picture
before us. The sacred writers are careful to say, that he was subject to
Joseph and Mary, consulting their wishes, submitting to their authority, and
obeying their commands. Never did he give them one moment's pain by
impatience or forgetfulness, or lack of respect. Never did he fail to
satisfy all their just expectations. It is the concurrent testimony of all
early Church history, that Jesus learned the trade which his reputed father
practiced, and thus cheerfully contributed to the comfort and maintenance of
the family of which he was a member. He did not allow his parents to toil
while he trifled, or to wear themselves out, while he ate the bread of
idleness. Such a sight is always sad, and we may be assured, it was not
witnessed in the household of which the holy child Jesus was an inhabitant.
I love to think of Christ as an obedient, dutiful son,
the son of poor parents, taught early to labor with his hands, and by the
cheerfulness of his spirit, and the correctness of his deportment, filling
the lowly dwelling in which they lived, with light and joy and peace. How
different this from the conduct of many an idle, restless, wayward child,
disturbing the serenity of his father's fireside, and piercing his mother's
heart with bitter sorrows! Such a one, whatever his talents or advantages,
has not the mind that was in Christ.
Reflect, my young friends, upon the conduct of the Son of
God, if ever tempted to swerve from the commands of him who begat you, and
to disregard the entreaties of her that bore you. In turning a deaf ear to
their requisitions, you will most assuredly wrong your own souls. Jesus
delighted to honor his parents, and so must you, if "your days are to be
long upon the land that the Lord your God gives you." Alas, how little is
that son like Christ, who is careless whether he makes home happy or
miserable! Whatever beauty of countenance, loveliness of person, or
brightness of talent he possesses, he bears no resemblance to the holy child
Jesus.
Again, besides being diligent and dutiful, Christ was
truly and eminently pious. Love to God ruled his heart, not only controlling
every inward emotion, but finding expression in all suitable outward acts.
How cordially did he join the public worship of God's house, and go up with
the multitude that kept holy day. With what pleasure did he unite in the
daily devotions of the holy family at Nazareth! Such was his delight in
prayer that we find him engaged in this sacred employment late in the
evening, a great while before day, and even during the entire night. With
him there was no forgetfulness, no indifference, no declension. Wherever he
was—at the well of Samaria, in the house of Martha, or dining with the
Pharisee—he evinced the same devout state of mind. His zeal knew no
abatement, his faith no inconstancy, and his peace no interruption.
Yet there was nothing ascetic, nothing unsocial—in the
piety of the Savior. We have good reason to conclude that he was as far
removed from austerity and seclusion on the one hand, as he was from worldly
conformity on the other. An air of mingled cheerfulness and sobriety seems
usually to have sat on his brow. As he could weep with those who weep, so he
could rejoice with those who rejoice. Never did he live a day without
spiritual and heartfelt communion with God, and never without some act of
tender and considerate benevolence.
Take the conduct of the blessed Savior for thirty-three
years together, and what an example does it furnish of sincere and elevated
piety! How serious is his frame of spirit, and yet how pleasant! How
devotional, and yet how cheerful! How steadfast, and yet how mild! How
courageous, and yet how condescending! At all times and under all
circumstances, he was just what every child, every youth, and every man
should be.
Now, what can I do better than to urge you, my young
friends, to take the holy child Jesus as a pattern, and walk in his steps?
Do this, and you will never grieve a father's or a mother's heart. Do this,
and you will never make a brother or a sister blush. Do this, and you will
never disappoint the hopes of the church of God. Do this, and you will not
fail to be a blessing to the world. You will be all that the wisest
benevolence could desire, if in temper and deportment, you are like the
youthful Savior.
Bear with me while I press this suggestion. Other names
are worthy of respect and love, but here is a name which stands out single
and alone. What is Joseph, or Josiah, or John, compared with the holy child
Jesus. They were dutiful, but they sometimes gave way to ill feelings and
temper. They were pious, butt their hearts sometimes wandered from God. They
were examples of goodness, yet it would not always be safe to follow them.
But with Jesus there is no defect, no drawback, no alloy. I wish the
youngest of you to remember that there was a person in the world of your
very age who never had an ill feeling, never uttered a wicked word, and
never did a wrong act. Think what a life the blessed Savior lived, at the
same season through which you are now passing. Learn to contemplate him as
he lies in the manger, or rests on his mother's bosom, or enters the
carpenter's shop, or puts questions in the temple, with adoration and love.
If he be your Redeemer, he is at the same time your example, and you are to
walk in his steps.
This is a topic which none can exhaust. Gladly would I
fix the minds of every one who reads these pages upon such a pattern of
successful diligence, unwavering dutifulness, and Scriptural piety, as is
here brought before us.
In Jesus there was no inattention to duty, no impatience
of restraint, no forgetfulness of God. Think how he felt and acted, if ever
you are tempted to dislike study, neglect your parents, or give up the
duties of devotion. It is not thus that the holy child Jesus grew strong in
spirit, and was filled with wisdom.
Especially look to him in every hour of sadness. Do you
feel yourselves poor, and in danger of being neglected? Go, make your
trouble known to one who had the cup of sorrow put to his lips from the
birth. Are you sometimes terrified at a life of toil and labor? Go, and
refresh your spirits by a sight of what is doing in the carpenter's shop at
Nazareth. Does a life of serious piety now and then seem impracticable? Go,
gather strength and courage from Him who delighted in nothing like communion
with his Heavenly Father. There is no reason why you should faint or be
disheartened.