to reveal through the youth and the children of to-day. The history of
Joseph and Daniel is an illustration of what He will do for those who
yield themselves to Him, and with the whole heart seek to accomplish His
purpose.
[Sidenote: _The World’s Greatest Need_]
The greatest want of the world is the want of men,—men who will not be
bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men
who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is
as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the
right though the heavens fall.
[Sidenote: _Self-Discipline_]
But such a character is not the result of accident; it is not due to
special favors or endowments of Providence. A noble character is the
result of self-discipline, of the subjection of the lower to the higher
nature,—the surrender of self for the service of love to God and man.
The youth need to be impressed with the truth that their endowments are
not their own. Strength, time, intellect, are but lent treasures. They
belong to God, and it should be the resolve of every youth to put them
to the highest use. He is a branch, from which God expects fruit; a
steward, whose capital must yield increase; a light, to illuminate the
world’s darkness.
Every youth, every child, has a work to do for the honor of God and the
uplifting of humanity.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _Elisha_]
The early years of the prophet Elisha were passed in the quietude of
country life, under the teaching of God and nature and the discipline of
useful work. In a time of almost universal apostasy, his father’s
household were among the number who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
Theirs was a home where God was honored, and where faithfulness to duty
was the rule of daily life.
The son of a wealthy farmer, Elisha had taken up the work that lay
nearest. While possessing the capabilities of a leader among men, he
received a training in life’s common duties. In order to direct wisely,
he must learn to obey. By faithfulness in little things, he was prepared
for weightier trusts.
[Sidenote: _Faithfulness in Little Things_]
Of a meek and gentle spirit, Elisha possessed also energy and
steadfastness. He cherished the love and fear of God, and in the humble
round of daily toil he gained strength of purpose and nobleness of
character, growing in divine grace and knowledge. While co-operating
with his father in the home duties, he was learning to co-operate with
God.
The prophetic call came to Elisha while with his father’s servants he
was plowing in the field. As Elijah, divinely directed in seeking a
successor, cast his mantle upon the young man’s shoulders, Elisha
recognized and obeyed the summons. He “went after Elijah, and ministered
unto him.”[63] It was no great work that was at first required of
Elisha; commonplace duties still constituted his discipline. He is
spoken of as pouring water on the hands of Elijah, his master. As the
prophet’s personal attendant, he continued to prove faithful in little
things, while with daily strengthening purpose he devoted himself to the
mission appointed him by God.
[Sidenote: _Singleness of Purpose_]
When he was first summoned, his resolution had been tested. As he turned
to follow Elijah, he was bidden by the prophet to return home. He must
count the cost,—decide for himself to accept or reject the call. But
Elisha understood the value of his opportunity. Not for any worldly
advantage would he forego the possibility of becoming God’s messenger,
or sacrifice the privilege of association with His servant.
[Sidenote: _Test of Faith_]
As time passed, and Elijah was prepared for translation, so Elisha was
prepared to become his successor. And again his faith and resolution
were tested. Accompanying Elijah in his round of service, knowing the
change soon to come, he was at each place invited by the prophet to turn
back. “Tarry here, I pray thee,” Elijah said; “for the Lord hath sent me
to Bethel.” But in his early labor of guiding the plow, Elisha had
learned not to fail or to become discouraged; and now that he had set
his hand to the plow in another line of duty, he would not be diverted
from his purpose. As often as the invitation to turn back was given, his
answer was, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not
leave thee.”[64]
[Sidenote: _The Supreme Gift_]
“And they two went on.... And they two stood by Jordan. And Elijah took
his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were
divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto
Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.
And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon
me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou see
me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it
shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked,
that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and
parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
“And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of
Israel, and the horsemen thereof! And he saw him no more; and he took
hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also
the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the
bank of Jordan; and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and
smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he
also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither; and Elisha
went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at
Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.
And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before
him.”[65]
Henceforth Elisha stood in Elijah’s place. And he who had been faithful
in that which was least, proved himself faithful also in much.
[Sidenote: _Fruits of Practical Training_]
Elijah, the man of power, had been God’s instrument for the overthrow of
gigantic evils. Idolatry, which, supported by Ahab and the heathen
Jezebel, had seduced the nation, had been cast down. Baal’s prophets had
been slain. The whole people of Israel had been deeply stirred, and many
were returning to the worship of God. As successor to Elijah was needed
one who by careful, patient instruction could guide Israel in safe
paths. For this work Elisha’s early training under God’s direction had
prepared him.
[Sidenote: _A Lesson for All_]
The lesson is for all. None can know what may be God’s purpose in His
discipline; but all may be certain that faithfulness in little things is
the evidence of fitness for greater responsibilities. Every act of life
is a revelation of character, and he only who in small duties proves
himself “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,”[66] will be honored
by God with weightier trusts.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _Moses_]
Younger than Joseph or Daniel was Moses when removed from the sheltering
care of his childhood’s home; yet already the same agencies that shaped
their lives had moulded his. Only twelve years did he spend with his
Hebrew kindred; but during these years was laid the foundation of his
greatness; it was laid by the hand of one little known to fame.
[Sidenote: _His Mother’s Teaching_]
Jochebed was a woman and a slave. Her lot in life was humble, her burden
heavy. But through no other woman, save Mary of Nazareth, has the world
received greater blessing. Knowing that her child must soon pass beyond
her care, to the guardianship of those who knew not God, she the more
earnestly endeavored to link his soul with heaven. She sought to implant
in his heart love and loyalty to God. And faithfully was the work
accomplished. Those principles of truth that were the burden of his
mother’s teaching and the lesson of her life, no after-influence could
induce Moses to renounce.
[Sidenote: _In the Schools of Egypt_]
From the humble home in Goshen, the son of Jochebed passed to the palace
of the Pharaohs, to the Egyptian princess, by her to be welcomed as a
loved and cherished son. In the schools of Egypt, Moses received the
highest civil and military training. Of great personal attractions,
noble in form and stature, of cultivated mind and princely bearing, and
renowned as a military leader, he became the nation’s pride. The king of
Egypt was also a member of the priesthood: and Moses, though refusing to
participate in the heathen worship, was initiated into all the mysteries
of the Egyptian religion. Egypt at this time being still the most
powerful and most highly civilized of nations, Moses, as its prospective
sovereign, was heir to the highest honors this world could bestow. But
his was a nobler choice. For the honor of God and the deliverance of His
downtrodden people, Moses sacrificed the honors of Egypt. Then, in a
special sense, God undertook his training.
[Sidenote: _The Lesson of Defeat_]
Not yet was Moses prepared for his life-work. He had yet to learn the
lesson of dependence upon divine power. He had mistaken God’s purpose.
It was his hope to deliver Israel by force of arms. For this he risked
all, and failed. In defeat and disappointment he became a fugitive and
exile in a strange land.
[Sidenote: _Training for Leadership_]
In the wilds of Midian, Moses spent forty years as a keeper of sheep.
Apparently cut off forever from his life’s mission, he was receiving the
discipline essential for its fulfilment. Wisdom to govern an ignorant
and undisciplined multitude must be gained through self-mastery. In the
care of the sheep and the tender lambs he must obtain the experience
that would make him a faithful, long-suffering shepherd to Israel. That
he might become a representative of God, he must learn of Him.
The influences that had surrounded him in Egypt, the affection of his
foster-mother, his own position as the grandson of the king, the luxury
and vice that allured in ten thousand forms, the refinement, the
subtlety, and the mysticism of a false religion, had made an impression
on his mind and character. In the stern simplicity of the wilderness,
all this disappeared.
[Sidenote: _Alone with God_]
Amidst the solemn majesty of the mountain solitudes, Moses was alone
with God. Everywhere the Creator’s name was written. Moses seemed to
stand in His presence, and to be overshadowed by His power. Here his
self-sufficiency was swept away. In the presence of the Infinite One he
realized how weak, how inefficient, how short-sighted, is man.
Here Moses gained that which went with him throughout the years of his
toilsome and care-burdened life,—a sense of the personal presence of the
Divine One. Not merely did he look down the ages for Christ to be made
manifest in the flesh; he saw Christ accompanying the host of Israel in
all their travels. When misunderstood and misrepresented, when called to
bear reproach and insult, to face danger and death, he was able to
endure “as seeing Him who is invisible.”[67]
Moses did not merely think of God; he saw Him. God was the constant
vision before him. Never did he lose sight of His face.
[Sidenote: _Power through Faith_]
To Moses faith was no guesswork; it was a reality. He believed that God
ruled his life in particular; and in all its details he acknowledged
Him. For strength to withstand every temptation, he trusted in Him.
The great work assigned him he desired to make in the highest degree
successful, and he placed his whole dependence upon divine power. He
felt his need of help, asked for it, by faith grasped it, and in the
assurance of sustaining strength went forward.
[Sidenote: _Results of His Training_]
Such was the experience that Moses gained by his forty years of training
in the desert. To impart such an experience, Infinite Wisdom counted not
the period too long or the price too great.
The results of that training, of the lessons there taught, are bound up,
not only with the history of Israel, but with all which from that day to
this has told for the world’s progress. The highest testimony to the
greatness of Moses, the judgment passed upon his life by Inspiration,
is, “There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom
Jehovah knew face to face.”[68]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _Paul_]
[Sidenote: “_An Hebrew of the Hebrews_”]
With the faith and experience of the Galilean disciples who had
companied with Jesus were united, in the work of the gospel, the fiery
vigor and intellectual power of a rabbi of Jerusalem. A Roman citizen,
born in a Gentile city; a Jew, not only by descent but by lifelong
training, patriotic devotion, and religious faith; educated in Jerusalem
by the most eminent of the rabbis, and instructed in all the laws and
traditions of the fathers, Saul of Tarsus shared to the fullest extent
the pride and the prejudices of his nation. While still a young man, he
became an honored member of the Sanhedrin. He was looked upon as a man
of promise, a zealous defender of the ancient faith.
In the theological schools of Judea, the word of God had been set aside
for human speculations; it was robbed of its power by the
interpretations and traditions of the rabbis. Self-aggrandizement, love
of domination, jealous exclusiveness, bigotry and contemptuous pride,
were the ruling principles and motives of these teachers.
[Sidenote: _A Leader in Persecution_]
The rabbis gloried in their superiority, not only to the people of other
nations, but to the masses of their own. With their fierce hatred of
their Roman oppressors, they cherished the determination to recover by
force of arms their national supremacy. The followers of Jesus, whose
message of peace was so contrary to their schemes of ambition, they
hated and put to death. In this persecution, Saul was one of the most
bitter and relentless actors.
In the military schools of Egypt, Moses was taught the law of force, and
so strong a hold did this teaching have upon his character that it
required forty years of quiet and communion with God and nature to fit
him for the leadership of Israel by the law of love. The same lesson
Paul had to learn.
[Sidenote: _The Vision of the Crucified_]
At the gate of Damascus the vision of the Crucified One changed the
whole current of his life. The persecutor became a disciple, the teacher
a learner. The days of darkness spent in solitude at Damascus were as
years in his experience. The Old Testament Scriptures stored in his
memory were his study, and Christ his teacher. To him also nature’s
solitudes became a school. To the desert of Arabia he went, there to
study the Scriptures and to learn of God. He emptied his soul of the
prejudices and traditions that had shaped his life, and received
instruction from the Source of truth.
His after-life was inspired by the one principle of self-sacrifice, the
ministry of love. “I am debtor,” he said, “both to the Greeks, and to
the barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.” “The love of
Christ constraineth us.”[69]
[Sidenote: _Craftsman_, _Preacher_, _Missionary_]
The greatest of human teachers, Paul accepted the lowliest as well as
the highest duties. He recognized the necessity of labor for the hand as
well as for the mind, and he wrought at a handicraft for his own
support. His trade of tent-making he pursued while daily preaching the
gospel in the great centers of civilization. “These hands,” he said, at
parting with the elders of Ephesus, “have ministered unto my
necessities, and to them that were with me.”[70]
[Sidenote: _Sympathy and Insight_]
While he possessed high intellectual endowments, the life of Paul
revealed the power of a rarer wisdom. Principles of deepest import,
principles concerning which the greatest minds of his time were
ignorant, are unfolded in his teachings and exemplified in his life. He
had that greatest of all wisdom, which gives quickness of insight and
sympathy of heart, which brings man in touch with men, and enables him
to arouse their better nature and inspire them to a higher life.
Listen to his words before the heathen Lystrians, as he points them to
God revealed in nature, the Source of all good, who “gave us rain from
heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and
gladness.”[71]
[Sidenote: _Mastership_]
See him in the dungeon at Philippi, where, despite his pain-racked body,
his song of praise breaks the silence of midnight. After the earthquake
has opened the prison doors, his voice is again heard, in words of cheer
to the heathen jailer, “Do thyself no harm; for we are all
here,”[72]—every man in his place, restrained by the presence of one
fellow-prisoner. And the jailer, convicted of the reality of that faith
which sustains Paul, inquires the way of salvation, and with his whole
household unites with the persecuted band of Christ’s disciples.
[Sidenote: _In Advance of His Age_]
See Paul at Athens before the council of the Areopagus, as he meets
science with science, logic with logic, and philosophy with philosophy.
Mark how, with the tact born of divine love, he points to Jehovah as the
“Unknown God,” whom his hearers have ignorantly worshiped; and in words
quoted from a poet of their own he pictures Him as a Father whose
children they are. Hear him, in that age of caste, when the rights of
man as man were wholly unrecognized, as he sets forth the great truth of
human brotherhood, declaring that God “hath made of one blood all
nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.” Then he shows
how, through all the dealings of God with man, runs like a thread of
gold His purpose of grace and mercy. He “hath determined the times
before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should
seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though
He be not far from every one of us.”[73]
Hear him in the court of Festus, when King Agrippa, convicted of the
truth of the gospel, exclaims, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a
Christian.” With what gentle courtesy does Paul, pointing to his own
chain, make answer, “I would to God, that not only thou, but also all
that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am,
except these bonds.”[74]
[Sidenote: _A Strenuous Life_]
Thus passed his life, as described in his own words, “in journeyings
often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst,
in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”[75]
[Sidenote: _The Joy of Service_]
“Being reviled,” he said, “we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it;
being defamed, we entreat;” “as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor,
yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all
things.”[76]
In service he found his joy; and at the close of his life of toil,
looking back on its struggles and triumphs, he could say, “I have fought
a good fight.”[77]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _Satisfied with Their Choice_]
These histories are of vital interest. To none are they of deeper
importance than to the youth. Moses renounced a prospective kingdom,
Paul the advantages of wealth and honor among his people, for a life of
burden-bearing in God’s service. To many the life of these men appears
one of renunciation and sacrifice. Was it really so? Moses counted the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. He
counted it so because it was so. Paul declared: “What things were gain
to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all
things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord; for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
refuse that I may gain Christ.”[78] He was satisfied with his choice.
[Sidenote: _The Abiding Greatness_]
Moses was offered the palace of the Pharaohs and the monarch’s throne;
but the sinful pleasures that make men forget God were in those lordly
courts, and he chose instead the “durable riches and righteousness.”[79]
Instead of linking himself with the greatness of Egypt, he chose to bind
up his life with God’s purpose. Instead of giving laws to Egypt, he by
divine direction enacted laws for the world. He became God’s instrument
in giving to men those principles that are the safeguard alike of the
home and of society, that are the corner-stone of the prosperity of
nations,—principles recognized to-day by the world’s greatest men as the
foundation of all that is best in human governments.
The greatness of Egypt is in the dust. Its power and civilization have
passed away. But the work of Moses can never perish. The great
principles of righteousness which he lived to establish are eternal.
[Sidenote: _With Christ_]
Moses’ life of toil and heart-burdening care was irradiated with the
presence of Him who is “the chiefest among ten thousand,” and the One
“altogether lovely.”[80] With Christ in the wilderness wandering, with
Christ on the mount of transfiguration, with Christ in the heavenly
courts,—his was a life on earth blessing and blessed, and in heaven
honored.
Paul also in his manifold labors was upheld by the sustaining power of
His presence. “I can do all things,” he said, “through Christ which
strengtheneth me.” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword?... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created
thing,[81] shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[82]
[Sidenote: _Life’s Recompense_]
Yet there is a future joy to which Paul looked forward as the recompense
of his labors,—the same joy for the sake of which Christ endured the
cross and despised the shame,—the joy of seeing the fruition of his
work. “What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?” he wrote to the
Thessalonian converts. “Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord
Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy.”[83]
Who can measure the results to the world of Paul’s life-work? Of all
those beneficent influences that alleviate suffering, that comfort
sorrow, that restrain evil, that uplift life from the selfish and the
sensual, and glorify it with the hope of immortality, how much is due to
the labors of Paul and his fellow-workers, as with the gospel of the Son
of God they made their unnoticed journey from Asia to the shores of
Europe?
What is it worth to any life to have been God’s instrument in setting in
motion such influences of blessing? What will it be worth in eternity to
witness the results of such a life-work?
_THE MASTER TEACHER_
“_Never man spake like this Man._”
_The Teacher Sent from God_
“CONSIDER HIM”
“His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of peace.”[84]
[Sidenote: _Heaven’s Best and Greatest_]
In the Teacher sent from God, heaven gave to men its best and greatest.
He who had stood in the councils of the Most High, who had dwelt in the
innermost sanctuary of the Eternal, was the One chosen to reveal in
person to humanity the knowledge of God.
[Sidenote: _The Perfect Ideal_]
Through Christ had been communicated every ray of divine light that had
ever reached our fallen world. It was He who had spoken through every
one that throughout the ages had declared God’s word to man. Of Him all
the excellences manifest in the earth’s greatest and noblest souls were
reflections. The purity and beneficence of Joseph, the faith and
meekness and long-suffering of Moses, the steadfastness of Elisha, the
noble integrity and firmness of Daniel, the ardor and self-sacrifice of
Paul, the mental and spiritual power manifest in all these men, and in
all others who had ever dwelt on the earth, were but gleams from the
shining of His glory. In Him was found the perfect ideal.