Our Elder Brother; thoughts for every Sunday in the year, from the life and words of Jesus of Nazareth

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Self-Sacrifice 11

II. Creation 14

II. Ceeatiok

All things were made by Him. — John i. 3.

WE have been allowed to have some knowledge of our Lord's occupations as well as His character before His Bethlehem birth. We hear in various places in Holy Writ of His delight in creation, in the exercise of the Divine power of making something out of nothing, of blending in delightful harmony beauty and order and utility and beneficence.

There is a natural longing to visit the Holy Land, where our Saviour walked in bodily form, and so to draw near to Him in loving adoration and human fellowship.

We need no far foreign journey to have present to us what has met the eyes of our Lord, what has been touched by His hand, fashioned by His wisdom, and adapted to the use of man. The light that gladdens us by day, the stars by night, the air we breathe, the welcome voices that reach our willing ears, the very friends that are dear to us, are manifestations of His love. Not merely the Holy Land has been trodden by His foot, but every atom of the round world is the work of our Best Friend! The whole organization of nature encompasses us about with mementos of His tender care "without whom nothing was made that was made."

If we would really know Christ, we must be reminded of him by all the loveliness and comfort and joy provided for us here below.

There have been loving hearts who in their devotion to their dead have left a room and even a home untouched, as it was last used by the dear departed. The whole earth is to us such a home, ever bearing the impress not of the dead but the living Lord ! We are surrounded by works in whose creation He " had pleasure." When we study the physical laws of any department of natural science, we are coming into the thought of the Divine Being who formed them. Our earthly home is of His planning ; and what a beautiful home it is for us, poor sinful children of men!

Every power we ourselves possess, whether of body or mind, is a direct gift from our Lord ; and His is the gift to find satisfaction in the use of these powers. In trying to develop to the utmost what we have best in us, we are following out His faultless plan for our being; we are coworkers with our Lord. He gives us the innocent enjoyment it is to exercise the strong body and train it to grace and agility. He has made it a delight to the musician to group sweet sounds in pleasing accord, — to the poet to put great thoughts into words of beauty and metrical harmony, to the inventor to plan and execute, to the laborer to do skilfully his appointed task.

Whatsoever our gifts or our work may be, to use the one or do the other to our best ability is a kind of praise, a direct obedience to Him who has made the soul and body of each individual man. How this thought ennobles all labor, and sanctifies the highest as well as the lowest work !

And what has the beauty of the world made for man to say to us ? He who made the bird to build his pretty nest for the bright fleeting summer days, He who has strewn the wild-flowers broadcast by the cottager's door, does iiot surely look disapprovingly upon our efforts to make our temporary dwellings here below tasteful and attractive, if we do not do it in a spirit of extravagance or ostentation. He would certainly have us mindful of the poor in the wayside hovel or in the crowded alleys of the city, in the miner's " cabin" or the factory village, and do something to make their homes neat, comfortable, and refining. He must look with pleasure on the kindness that prompts to adorning the sick-room of the invalid, the convalescent ward of the hospital or insane asylum, or even the nursery for the little ones, so .beloved by the Good Shepherd. We cannot create. Our tools of mind or body, as well as our materials, are the gift of God. We may, however, with the powers of which we are possessed, group the materials to which we have access in some new manner that may minister to beauty or utility in this our lower home. We may help to scatter, where we pass on our earthly way, what may gladden the eye or cheer the heart or ennoble the soul of our fellows. For the possibility of such lowly following of our Lord, without whom nothing was created, we shall be called to account !

III. Steadfastness

The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev. xiii. 8.

SELF-OFFEBED, our blessed Lord was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Men may be capable of great deeds in a season of high enthusiasm, or through the long maturing devotedness that finds its sudden climax in a moment of daring unto death. We cannot conceive the infinite love and compassion and fixedness of purpose which could enable our Lord to look forward through long ages to His great humiliation and supreme self-sacrifice.

It is from our Elder Brother's unswerving resolve to be offered the Great Shepherd for the sheep, that we must learn the patient continuance in well-doing, the ceaseless pursuance of noble aims, the unflinching cutting off all that may lead us from God and holiness.

It is written that the Master, "for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame." Even higher joy than He had known with the Father (and we may gather even higher honor) was pledged to our Lord in that He was willing to humble himself and take upon Him the form of man, and be on the cross the one great offering for the sins of the whole world. We, too, are not without the promise of an exceeding great reward. Not that our poor services are to have wages. Wages are for sin, — even the death that is wrapped up in evil doing ! The gift of God is eternal life ; and this eternal life of joy is promised to all who will accept free forgiveness in Christ, and strive to follow His example of love and purity.

We have also, in our little measure, something to look forward to, from which human nature shrinks. We have the hour of death, the one thing of which we are certain in our otherwise veiled future. Here we have the deep sympathy of our Lord, who Himself passed through the valley of the shadow, and has " tasted death for every man." He knew through rolling centuries upon centuries just what was in store for Him. He knows as well just when and where we shall lie down and die ; and He has in reserve for us the sustaining strength that is to bear us through that trying hour. The nearer we live to Him now, the better it will be for us then.

Days or months or years may lie before us ere we leave this our earthly path. He to whom " a thousand years is as a single day," will be our strong consolation through all the vicissitudes of the way !

"Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not," says the Scripture proverb; and how we cling to those who have known and loved us from childhood, and have loved our parents before us ! Such friends do not turn coldly from us in the hour of trouble or humiliation.

But what shall we say of a Friend who has " loved us from the foundation of the world " ? He has known us in advance as none other can know us, with all our sins and our backslidings ; and yet He has loved us with an everlasting love ! He has chosen us for His own ! He who has so loved us will never forsake us ! In Him we may have " strong confidence ! " The wild waves of earthly commotion may be tossing around us — we are safe with Him who " holds the waters in the hollow of His hand." He will not let us sink in the billows of temptation, if we but cry to him, " Lord, save us ! " He loves us with an old, old love. Before Abraham lived his mortal life, we were dear to our Lord, of His children in the faith, for whom He was willing to be the Crucified Saviour ! n

There are times when a sense of desolation and loneliness creeps over us. We seem walking in darkness, and fumbling in vain for the warm hand of friendship to give us its cheering grasp.

Do we forget the " Friend who sticketh closer than a brother " ? Have we honestly tried to have the bond close between us and our Lord ? Have we sought His friendship and companionship as assiduously as we might that of an earthly associate whose affection was precious to us ? Have we conformed our tastes and habits and wishes to His, as we would to those of a beloved human friend ?

May we so love this unchanging Great Friend, that we may live in the glad remembrance of His presence, and grow in His likeness, and have His illimitable help in every hour of need !

IV. Humility And Obedience

My Father, — John xiv. 7.

AS in botanical studies, so in biography, it is not only the flower and the fruit we examine, — we must know also the parent root.

It is not to David or Euth or Abraham that we turn to find the spring and fount of the perfect character of the man Christ Jesus. He had truly in His nature gathered up all the nobility of the long line of His earthly ancestors, down to that maiden, "blessed among women," who was honored to be the mother of the promised Messiah. But this Saviour of the world was not merely a man ; He was Emmanuel, " God with us. " He whose " compassions are new every morning," who of old had "not despised the afflictions of the afflicted," the pure and perfect Almighty God, sent to the fallen world His Only Begotten Son, the " express image " of the God of Love.

How incomprehensible to us is the humility of the Son of God ! How the pride of the human heart is humbled in His presence !

With what eager interest we read of our own forefathers, and proudly flush at their achievements, as if we, unborn, had had a share in their merit ! Our own family pride we can always tolerate, or excuse, or even indulge and foster. An exhibition in our neighbor of this same family pride, how unacceptable, how repulsive it is to us ! We seem to desire to occupy ourselves a pinnacle upon which few can stand,— a point from which we can look down on less favored mortals. This is not the innocent, honorable, natural satisfaction in the merits of those who are allied to us by blood. This is a seeking of our own honor. Men must hear of our claims, that we may shine before them with a reflected light.

There is a radical cure for this spirit in the faithful following of our Elder Brother. The Son of God, et full of grace and truth, " comes not to us to claim the exclusive right to the honors of sonship and a home in the "Father's house." He wills that we shall be with Him where He is. To them that overcome will He grant "to sit with Him on His throne."

Wandering, sinful, unworthy as we are, He would lead us to the Father's house, freely forgiven for His sake. Believing ourselves orphans, waifs, or erring children who have forfeited their inheritance, and hunger far astray, He comes to us with the assuring words, " Your Father which

OUR ELDER BROTHER.

is in heaven." He gladly tells us that the love of the Father never fails, and that He is ready to receive us, and even to come out to meet us and welcome with great joy His repentant children.

What a lesson this is for us, proud despisers of the lowly, haughty teachers of the fallen, niggard dispensers of help to the needy !

If we would learn at the feet of Jesus, and truly follow His example, we must put aside at once our pride, whatever form it may assume. We must draw near to our Elder Brother simply as sinners to share in His redemption, and to walk lowly in His footsteps. Our Lord is not only full of yearning love towards His sinful brethren, we are told of His obedience to His Father.

The will may be broken or bent to the wishes of another by punishment or fear; but only love subdues it and moulds it to spontaneous obedience. Our submission to our Heavenly Father must not be that of the down-trodden slave to a cruel master, or a servile subject to his earthly monarch. It should rather be the glad yielding of the will to that of the Best Beloved, stronger, wiser, and holier than ourselves. Such obedience makes the fulfilment of the law an exceeding joy- In many of the great natural forces and forms of creation there is much that we cannot fully

BEFORE THE WORLD WAS.

understand, yet they can be adapted to the use of man. So the great mystery of the free obedience of our perfect Lord can come with its wholesome lesson to us poor revolted subjects of our Heavenly King. Dwelling on His loving submission, we may learn to pray sincerely, as we are taught, " Thy will be done," before " Give us this day our daily bread."

It may well be said, "The will dies hard." It springs early to life in the babe, and is still strong in the tottering old man.

It is our earthly lesson, knowing the will of God to do it instantly, constantly, lovingly, whatever it may cost us. The words "So I come to do thy will, God," should be the reverent expression of our inmost wish and aim. We may humbly add, "For this cause came I into the world." "I myself am here in mortal form to be fashioned by cheerful obedience into the likeness of my Lord."

Human beings have but rarely an opportunity for any one great conquest of the will. It is rather by the daily, cheerful submission, in a free and loving spirit, to small trials that beset our commonplace life, that the soul is trained to a childlike obedience. Scarcely an hour passes that we may not accept some little uncongenial duty, some passing pain, or trifling injury or loss, in the yielding, gentle spirit that trains us to be the true servants of God. These little sacrifices can nurture no secret pride, as if we had done some great thing. They are, therefore, less dangerous for us who are so easily puffed up, "as if we were somewhat."

Perhaps we may not dare, with our poor wavering purpose and many inconsistencies, to say the sacred words, " Lo, I come to do thy will, O God ! " The prayer, "Teach me to do thy will," offered from a sincere heart, will surely be abundantly answered.

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I.

The Babe.

II.

The Child Jesus.

[II.

Forms.

IV.

A Name.

VI. Boys

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I.

THE BABE.

The babe lying in a manger. — Luke ii. 16.

^TEVER to our knowledge did the Lord S Jesus more fully show the perfection of His sonship than in His willingness to shroud His divinity in the form of one of the most helpless of new-born creatures, — an unconscious babe.

He who in his manhood was powerful in prayer, and could by a word have summoned legions of angels to His aid, consented to begin His mission on earth unable to utter a single petition. He was to depend upon human beings for daily care. An inexperienced girl was to be His mother. He was to be defenceless in the midst of the world He had created. In the Father of all was His supreme trust. He would be watched over in His weakness, and be enabled to grow in grace and stature until the time of His "showing unto Israel."

"My Father and your Father/' so the Lord spoke of our Almighty King. Why should we fear to cast ourselves wholly, body and soul, earthly cares and heavenly hopes, upon this unchanging Friend? We are no longer helpless infants; we have the power of prayer and the promise of help through prayer. " The Almighty arms are under us." Let us lie peacefully and quietly there, sure to be borne safely through all that is before us. And our dear children, for whom we have so many anxieties, let us trust them to God, as Jesus trusted Himself in infant form, sure of the superintending care of the Father. Let us give our children wholly to God, to be His and His alone, and believe that He will grant us wisdom and strength to tram them for His service.

Even we, poor mortals, have a tenderness for those who are passing through the same experiences by which we have been tried. A well-known millionnaire gathered around him the little newsboys of one of the world's largest cities. When the joy was the highest he said to those struggling children of poverty, "I was once a little newsboy, like you." He could make no long speech; his throat swelled, and hot tears filled his eyes. His heart was warm towards those little waifs, and they knew it. Their hearts beat strong with answering love for him who had once been like them, and knew so well how to feel for them.

We can dimly think how every babe that is born into this world is to our Lord a memento of the Bethlehem Babe, who lay helpless in the manger. No wonder that He loved, when on earth, to take little children in His arms and bless them !

And what has a babe become to us? Even as the cross, a sign, an image, a reminder of the loving humiliation of our Lord. Christians have felt as if they were expressing their devotion to Christ Jesus by wearing a cross on their breasts, or humbly kissing the sign of His crucifixion. We have a living image of our Lord, which we may clasp to our bosoms and caress and care for in memory of Him, — even the babe that comes helpless to the world in which Christ was born a human child.

The son that we love in his infancy may prove to us a cross of pain, through his misdoing, for he is of the seed of Adam ; but we need not despair of his final salvation. He whose grace seeks the prodigal in the far country and brings him home to the Father's house, He who pardoned the repentant Magdalen and the thief on the cross, can bring our wandering children at last to the blessed fold. Let us be instant in prayer, faithful in teaching, pure in example, untiring in patience and love, and trust to God as to how and where and when our sons and daughters shall be brought home to the Good Shepherd.

II.

THE CHILD JESUS.

Thy holy child Jesus. — Acts iv. 30.

LITTLE children begin their lives as preachers and teachers. We have them in their infant years as hints of what our Creator meant us to be. They have truly upon them the taint of Adam ; but we get through them still an inkling of his state in the happy garden. But what an atmosphere is this into which they come ! Even the best of Christian homes is no perfect place. The most saintly of parents give no faultless example. The seeds of evil, that seem to have scarcely life in the tender infant's soul, find congenial surroundings in which to grow with a rapid and rank luxuriance. They are fostered too often by the jarring tones of the very mother's voice and the fretful, angry concert of brothers and sisters in contention. What a responsibility it is to be in daily intercourse with a little child!

The tender little ones in baby years are our living sermons. In them we find the utter unworldliness that bows down to no station, and responds to the smiles of the lowest as to the condescensions of the crowned head. The atmosphere of love is all that the little ones crave, and when they find it, they give freely responsive love in return. They are ready to kiss the hand that chastened them. They bear no malice, they suspect no evil; they give to the uttermost, and gladly. Things have no factitious value to them, — grains of gold and sand of the seashore are equally precious to them. They have no past to regret, they fear no future. They live like the plants in the dew and sunshine, and grow unconsciously in grace and beauty, to gladden the beholder. God be praised for the little children !

This beautiful evidence of what our nature might have been we see even in our little ones, born of sin-stained parents, but what must the Holy Child Jesus have been !

The heart thrills at the thought that human beings were privileged to see and love such a little one. What must it have been to behold linked with such perfection the humility that touches us in ordinary childhood! Let us bow low before Him, our Infant Master, and learn the great lesson. We do so want to be something, or seem like something, or to do some great thing, or to seem to do some great thing. There are men who would rather be called great sinners than to sink into utter insignificance. To be born among humble folk and cradled in a manger would not be at all to their taste. To be saints in high life suits them better. This is a claim they are never willing to yield. Let these wouldbe saints compare themselves with the Great Pattern.

He who, " being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, . . . being found in fashion as a man," could be the little child in the carpenter's home, submitting to being managed and controlled by the humble pair for the time set over him !

There are few persons in the organization of our civilized society who can be said to be wholly independent. The body politic has its parts, which must fit into one another. Each works under some higher power, or must be judged and controlled in a measure by his peers. How men chafe at this subjection and supervision ! What heartaches result from mortified pride, and unsubdued wills ignored or thwarted ! Let us be like our Pattern, the Child Jesus, subject to them that are placed over us in the providence of God. Let us serve our Heavenly Father faithfully, though it may be in an obscure corner He has placed us, and look to Him alone for the approval of our work. It is the humility that accepts its appointed place in life, and labors conscientiously there, that wins the precious commendation, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant ! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"

III.

FORMS.

Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Matt. iii. 13.

IT is sometimes fancied that the spiritual life is most pure when it can dispense with all forms and all ordinances. There are Christians who claim that they can worship best, not in the sanctuary with their fellow -believers, but in the quiet chamber, or on the hillside, or in the woods, alone with God and Nature. They crave no outward sign, they say, of the grace given unto them by the Holy Spirit and dwelling in their hearts.

This is not the lesson taught us by the example of our Elder Brother. The beginning of His earthly life, and the opening of His career as the Messiah, were marked by the acceptance of the ordinances prescribed for Jewish and Christian believers. He who knew no sin was circumcised in His infancy, and baptized in His manhood. The Lord Jesus and His disciples were frequenters both of the temple and the synagogue. The Master assembled around Him His chosen followers to eat of the Paschal feast, and Himself instituted the simple supper to be taken in memory of Him.

Surely it becometh as "to fulfil all righteousness." Through whatever means God has promised to bless us, those means should be to us precious. Souls that are hungering and thirsting after righteousness will not willingly neglect any God-sent manna by the way, any springs provided for their refreshment on their heavenward journey. They rather wait upon the Lord according to His appointment, and leave to Him to send a rich blessing to His obedient children.

Through the whole ordering of nature and grace, means are granted for desired ends, a container for a thing contained, a medium for the transmission of the most subtle influences. This we cannot explain, but so it is. We can send our message to our friend across the wide ocean; but it must travel down in the deep water along its allotted path. The loved voice that speaks to our glad ears from a distant city is not borne on the wings of the fitful breeze. Its way is along the mysterious line that the ingenuity of man has stretched beside the common road, or through fields and woods, by homesteads and villages and towns, to link heart to heart, and head to head, for the courtesies and friendly interchanges and the great business affairs of life.

It is when the container is pnt before or instead of the thing contained, the means before the sacred end, the form before the reality, that the outward ministrations of religion become dangerous. The nature of man is so prone to rest in externals that he must ever be on the watch against this danger. A so-called prayer may be a worthless form, when it is thoughtlessly read from the printed book, or glibly spoken by false and fluent lips. It may, too, whether written by saints of old or spoken from the momentary promptings of a devout heart, be such a real cry of the soul to God as insures a flood of blessing.

The Bible may be read as a tiresome duty, or in a critical, carping mood, or in a state of listless indifference. It may, too, be sought as a comforter, an adviser, a guide, and a pure channel for an influence that lifts the soul heavenward, and fills it with a spiritual joy that makes this life a glad pathway to the better home.

The Sabbath may be a time of cold and rigid observance of religious duties, — a penance to the young, and a bondage to the old. It may be, as well, a day of growing in the spirit of love to God and man, a taking a new strong step heavenward, a refreshment to soul and body, and a foretaste of the rest and gladness in the Heavenly City.

The sacraments may be dangerous, outward, soul-destroying fornis, or they may be to the earthly pilgrim to the Land of Beulah wells of water and the bread of life that nourish him with angels' food.

Let all means prescribed for growth in the religious life be welcomed in the spirit in which they are given, employed in the way appointed, and in the remembered presence of the Great Giver, and they will be found sure channels of that grace which sanctifies the willing soul !

IV.

A NAME.

Thou shalt call His name Jesus. — Matt. i. 21.

IT is delightful to think that in heaven there is not an inseparable mass of rejoicing angels and glorified saints, but a collection of individuals with their own peculiar characteristics and distinctive names. There, Abraham is still Abraham, and Moses Moses. The holy men of old have simply passed from life on earth to life in heaven. Even the angels, when sent on special messages to man, have been allowed to tell their sacred names, and we may so think of them personally and individually.

What name our blessed Lord bore in the glory He had before the world was we are not permitted to know. An angelic messenger from heaven declared the name that was appointed Him as the Saviour of mankind, even Jesus, the name above all others for the believer's ears.

When we name our children we doubt and hesitate. The living great man, after whom we would call our son, may so sin that he will be cast out from society, and his name be a shame to the helpless child. Even the friend whom we have trusted, and whose name we would give our boy, may prove our enemy, or be to us as an indifferent stranger, and the sound of his name in the family circle be a source of poignant pain.

We give our children names, as it were, in the dark. We know not what manner of children they may be. We cannot hope to have their names descriptive or especially appropriate.