what every human being might become; what, through the indwelling of
humanity by divinity, all who received Him would become,—for this,
Christ came to the world. He came to show how men are to be trained as
befits the sons of God; how on earth they are to practise the principles
and to live the life of heaven.
[Sidenote: _Results of False Teaching_]
God’s greatest gift was bestowed to meet man’s greatest need. The Light
appeared when the world’s darkness was deepest. Through false teaching,
the minds of men had long been turned away from God. In the prevailing
systems of education, human philosophy had taken the place of divine
revelation. Instead of the heaven-given standard of truth, men had
accepted a standard of their own devising. From the Light of life they
had turned aside to walk in the sparks of the fire which they had
kindled.
[Sidenote: _Pretense for Reality_]
Having separated from God, their only dependence being the power of
humanity, their strength was but weakness. Even the standard set up by
themselves they were incapable of reaching. The want of true excellence
was supplied by appearance and profession. Semblance took the place of
reality.
From time to time, teachers arose who pointed men to the Source of
truth. Right principles were enunciated, and human lives witnessed to
their power. But these efforts made no lasting impression. There was a
brief check in the current of evil, but its downward course was not
stayed. The reformers were as lights that shone in the darkness; but
they could not dispel it. The world “loved darkness rather than
light.”[85]
[Sidenote: _Formalism; Materialism_]
When Christ came to the earth, humanity seemed to be fast reaching its
lowest point. The very foundations of society were undermined. Life had
become false and artificial. The Jews, destitute of the power of God’s
word, gave to the world mind-benumbing, soul-deadening traditions and
speculations. The worship of God “in Spirit and in truth,” had been
supplanted by the glorification of men in an endless round of man-made
ceremonies. Throughout the world, all systems of religion were losing
their hold on mind and soul. Disgusted with fable and falsehood, seeking
to drown thought, men turned to infidelity and materialism. Leaving
eternity out of their reckoning, they lived for the present.
[Sidenote: _Human Rights Disregarded_]
As they ceased to recognize the Divine, they ceased to regard the human.
Truth, honor, integrity, confidence, compassion, were departing from the
earth. Relentless greed and absorbing ambition gave birth to universal
distrust. The idea of duty, of the obligation of strength to weakness,
of human dignity and human rights, was cast aside as a dream or a fable.
The common people were regarded as beasts of burden or as the tools and
the stepping-stones for ambition. Wealth and power, ease and
self-indulgence, were sought as the highest good. Physical degeneracy,
mental stupor, spiritual death, characterized the age.
[Sidenote: _Misconception of God_]
[Sidenote: _Evil Unrestrained_]
As the evil passions and purposes of men banished God from their
thoughts, so forgetfulness of Him inclined them more strongly to evil.
The heart in love with sin clothed Him with its own attributes, and this
conception strengthened the power of sin. Bent on self-pleasing, men
came to regard God as such a one as themselves,—a Being whose aim was
self-glory, whose requirements were suited to His own pleasure; a Being
by whom men were lifted up or cast down according as they helped or
hindered His selfish purpose. The lower classes regarded the Supreme
Being as one scarcely differing from their oppressors, save by exceeding
them in power. By these ideas every form of religion was moulded. Each
was a system of exaction. By gifts and ceremonies, the worshipers sought
to propitiate the Deity, in order to secure His favor for their own
ends. Such religion, having no power upon the heart or the conscience,
could be but a round of forms, of which men wearied, and from which,
except for such gain as it might offer, they longed to be free. So evil,
unrestrained, grew stronger, while the appreciation and desire for good
diminished. Men lost the image of God, and received the impress of the
demoniacal power by which they were controlled. The whole world was
becoming a sink of corruption.
[Sidenote: _The Power of a New Life_]
There was but one hope for the human race,—that into this mass of
discordant and corrupting elements might be cast a new leaven; that
there might be brought to mankind the power of a new life; that the
knowledge of God might be restored to the world.
Christ came to restore this knowledge. He came to set aside the false
teaching by which those who claimed to know God had misrepresented Him.
He came to manifest the nature of His law, to reveal in His own
character the beauty of holiness.
[Sidenote: _With the Love of Eternity_]
Christ came to the world with the accumulated love of eternity. Sweeping
away the exactions which had encumbered the law of God, He showed that
the law is a law of love, an expression of the Divine Goodness. He
showed that in obedience to its principles is involved the happiness of
mankind, and with it the stability, the very foundation and framework,
of human society.
So far from making arbitrary requirements, God’s law is given to men as
a hedge, a shield. Whoever accepts its principles is preserved from
evil. Fidelity to God involves fidelity to man. Thus the law guards the
rights, the individuality, of every human being. It restrains the
superior from oppression, and the subordinate from disobedience. It
insures man’s well-being, both for this world and for the world to come.
To the obedient it is the pledge of eternal life; for it expresses the
principles that endure forever.
[Sidenote: _Demonstration of True Principles_]
Christ came to demonstrate the value of the divine principles by
revealing their power for the regeneration of humanity. He came to teach
how these principles are to be developed and applied.
[Sidenote: _Simplicity_]
With the people of that age, the value of all things was determined by
outward show. As religion had declined in power, it had increased in
pomp. The educators of the time sought to command respect by display and
ostentation. To all this the life of Jesus presented a marked contrast.
His life demonstrated the worthlessness of those things that men
regarded as life’s great essentials. Born amidst surroundings the
rudest, sharing a peasant’s home, a peasant’s fare, a craftsman’s
occupation, living a life of obscurity, identifying Himself with the
world’s unknown toilers,—amidst these conditions and surroundings,—Jesus
followed the divine plan of education. The schools of His time, with
their magnifying of things small and their belittling of things great,
He did not seek. His education was gained directly from the
Heaven-appointed sources; from useful work, from the study of the
Scriptures and of nature, and from the experiences of life,—God’s
lesson-books, full of instruction to all who bring to them the willing
hand, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart.
“The Child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the
grace of God was upon Him.”[86]
Thus prepared, He went forth to His mission, in every moment of His
contact with men exerting upon them an influence to bless, a power to
transform, such as the world had never witnessed.
[Sidenote: _Sympathy_]
He who seeks to transform humanity must himself understand humanity.
Only through sympathy, faith, and love can men be reached and uplifted.
Here Christ stands revealed as the master teacher; of all that ever
dwelt on the earth, He alone has perfect understanding of the human
soul.
“We have not a high priest”—master teacher, for the priests were
teachers—“we have not a high priest that can not be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted
like as we are.”[87]
[Sidenote: “_He Suffered Being Tempted_”]
“In that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor
them that are tempted.”[88]
Christ alone had experience in all the sorrows and temptations that
befall human beings. Never another of woman born was so fiercely beset
by temptation; never another bore so heavy a burden of the world’s sin
and pain. Never was there another whose sympathies were so broad or so
tender. A sharer in all the experiences of humanity, He could feel not
only for, but with, every burdened and tempted and struggling one.
[Sidenote: _What He Taught, He Was_]
What He taught, He lived. “I have given you an example,” He said to His
disciples; “that ye should do as I have done.” “I have kept My Father’s
commandments.”[89] Thus in His life, Christ’s words had perfect
illustration and support. And more than this; what He taught, He was.
His words were the expression, not only of His own life-experience, but
of His own character. Not only did He teach the truth, but He was the
truth. It was this that gave His teaching power.
[Sidenote: _Power to Win Hearts_]
Christ was a faithful reprover. Never lived there another who so hated
evil; never another whose denunciation of it was so fearless. To all
things untrue and base His very presence was a rebuke. In the light of
His purity, men saw themselves unclean, their life’s aims mean and
false. Yet He drew them. He who had created man, understood the value of
humanity. Evil He denounced as the foe of those whom He was seeking to
bless and to save. In every human being, however fallen, He beheld a son
of God, one who might be restored to the privilege of his divine
relationship.
“God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the
world through Him might be saved.”[90] Looking upon men in their
suffering and degradation, Christ perceived ground for hope where
appeared only despair and ruin. Wherever there existed a sense of need,
there He saw opportunity for uplifting. Souls tempted, defeated, feeling
themselves lost, ready to perish, He met, not with denunciation, but
with blessing.
[Sidenote: _Salutation of Blessing_]
The beatitudes were His greeting to the whole human family. Looking upon
the vast throng gathered to listen to the sermon on the mount, He seemed
for the moment to have forgotten that He was not in heaven, and He used
the familiar salutation of the world of light. From His lips flowed
blessings as the gushing forth of a long-sealed fountain.
Turning from the ambitious, self-satisfied favorites of this world, He
declared that those were blessed who, however great their need, would
receive His light and love. To the poor in spirit, the sorrowing, the
persecuted, He stretched out His arms, saying, “Come unto Me.... I will
give you rest.”[91]
[Sidenote: _Perception of Man’s Possibilities_]
In every human being He discerned infinite possibilities. He saw men as
they might be, transfigured by His grace,—in “the beauty of the Lord our
God.”[92] Looking upon them with hope, He inspired hope. Meeting them
with confidence, He inspired trust. Revealing in Himself man’s true
ideal, He awakened, for its attainment, both desire and faith. In His
presence souls despised and fallen realized that they still were men,
and they longed to prove themselves worthy of His regard. In many a
heart that seemed dead to all things holy were awakened new impulses. To
many a despairing one there opened the possibility of a new life.
Christ bound men to His heart by the ties of love and devotion; and by
the same ties He bound them to their fellow-men. With Him love was life,
and life was service. “Freely ye have received,” He said, “freely
give.”[93]
[Sidenote: _In the Secret Place of Power_]
It was not on the cross only that Christ sacrificed Himself for
humanity. As “He went about doing good,”[94] every-day’s experience was
an outpouring of His life. In one way only could such a life be
sustained. Jesus lived in dependence upon God and communion with Him. To
the secret place of the Most High, under the shadow of the Almighty, men
now and then repair; they abide for a season, and the result is manifest
in noble deeds; then their faith fails, the communion is interrupted,
and the life-work marred. But the life of Jesus was a life of constant
trust, sustained by continual communion; and His service for heaven and
earth was without failure or faltering.
As a man He supplicated the throne of God, till His humanity was charged
with a heavenly current that connected humanity with divinity. Receiving
life from God, He imparted life to men.
[Sidenote: _The Scope of His Teaching_]
“Never man spake like this Man.”[95] This would have been true of Christ
had He taught only in the realm of the physical and the intellectual, or
in matters of theory and speculation solely. He might have unlocked
mysteries that have required centuries of toil and study to penetrate.
He might have made suggestions in scientific lines that, till the close
of time, would have afforded food for thought and stimulus for
invention. But He did not do this. He said nothing to gratify curiosity
or to stimulate selfish ambition. He did not deal in abstract theories,
but in that which is essential to the development of character; that
which will enlarge man’s capacity for knowing God, and increase his
power to do good. He spoke of those truths that relate to the conduct of
life, and that unite man with eternity.
Instead of directing the people to study men’s theories about God, His
word, or His works, He taught them to behold Him, as manifested in His
works, in His word, and by His providences. He brought their minds in
contact with the mind of the Infinite.
The people “were astonished at His teaching;[96] for His word was with
power.”[97] Never before spoke one who had such power to awaken thought,
to kindle aspiration, to arouse every capability of body, mind, and
soul.
[Sidenote: _For All Men and All Ages_]
Christ’s teaching, like His sympathies, embraced the world. Never can
there be a circumstance of life, a crisis in human experience, which has
not been anticipated in His teaching, and for which its principles have
not a lesson. The Prince of teachers, His words will be found a guide to
His co-workers till the end of time.
To Him the present and the future, the near and the far, were one. He
had in view the needs of all mankind. Before His mind’s eye was
outspread every scene of human effort and achievement, of temptation and
conflict, of perplexity and peril. All hearts, all homes, all pleasures
and joys and aspirations, were known to Him.
He spoke not only for, but to, all mankind. To the little child, in the
gladness of life’s morning; to the eager, restless heart of youth; to
men in the strength of their years, bearing the burden of responsibility
and care; to the aged in their weakness and weariness,—to all, His
message was spoken,—to every child of humanity, in every land and in
every age.
[Sidenote: _Life’s True Valuation_]
In His teaching were embraced the things of time and the things of
eternity,—things seen, in their relation to things unseen, the passing
incidents of common life and the solemn issues of the life to come.
The things of this life He placed in their true relation, as subordinate
to those of eternal interest; but He did not ignore their importance. He
taught that heaven and earth are linked together, and that a knowledge
of divine truth prepares man better to perform the duties of daily life.
To Him nothing was without purpose. The sports of the child, the toils
of the man, life’s pleasures and cares and pains, all were means to the
one end,—the revelation of God for the uplifting of humanity.
[Sidenote: “_God with Us_”]
From His lips the word of God came home to men’s hearts with new power
and new meaning. His teaching caused the things of creation to stand out
in new light. Upon the face of nature once more rested gleamings of that
brightness which sin had banished. In all the facts and experiences of
life were revealed a divine lesson and the possibility of divine
companionship. Again God dwelt on earth; human hearts became conscious
of His presence; the world was encompassed with His love. Heaven came
down to men. In Christ their hearts acknowledged Him who had opened to
them the science of eternity,—
“Immanuel, God with us.”
* * * * *
In the Teacher sent from God, all true educational work finds its
center. Of this work to-day as verily as of the work He established
eighteen hundred years ago, the Saviour speaks in the words,—
[Sidenote: “_The First and the Last_”]
“I am the first and the last, and the Living One.”
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”[98]
In the presence of such a Teacher, of such opportunity for divine
education, what worse than folly is it to seek an education apart from
Him,—to seek to be wise apart from Wisdom; to be true while rejecting
Truth; to seek illumination apart from the Light, and existence without
the Life; to turn from the Fountain of living waters, and hew out broken
cisterns, that can hold no water.
Behold, He is still inviting: “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me,
and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said,” out of
him “shall flow rivers of living water.” “The water that I shall give
him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal
life.”[99]
_An Illustration of His Methods_
“UNTO THE MEN WHOM THOU
GAVEST ME, I HAVE MANIFESTED
THY NAME”
[Sidenote: _Training of the Twelve_]
The most complete illustration of Christ’s methods as a teacher is found
in His training of the twelve first disciples. Upon these men were to
rest weighty responsibilities. He had chosen them as men whom He could
imbue with His Spirit, and who could be fitted to carry forward His work
on earth when He should leave it. To them, above all others, He gave the
advantage of His own companionship. Through personal association He
impressed Himself upon these chosen co-laborers. “The Life was
manifested,” says John the beloved, “and we have seen it, and bear
witness.”[100]
Only by such communion,—the communion of mind with mind and heart with
heart, of the human with the divine,—can be communicated that vitalizing
energy which it is the work of true education to impart. It is only life
that begets life.
[Sidenote: _The Family School_]
In the training of His disciples the Saviour followed the system of
education established at the beginning. The twelve first chosen, with a
few others who through ministry to their needs were from time to time
connected with them, formed the family of Jesus. They were with Him in
the house, at the table, in the closet, in the field. They accompanied
Him on His journeys, shared His trials and hardships, and, as much as in
them was, entered into His work.
Sometimes He taught them as they sat together on the mountainside,
sometimes beside the sea, or from the fisherman’s boat, sometimes as
they walked by the way. Whenever He spoke to the multitude, the
disciples formed the inner circle. They pressed close beside Him, that
they might lose nothing of His instruction. They were attentive
listeners, eager to understand the truths they were to teach in all
lands and to all ages.
[Sidenote: _From the Common People_]
The first pupils of Jesus were chosen from the ranks of the common
people. They were humble, unlettered men, these fishers of Galilee; men
unschooled in the learning and customs of the rabbis, but trained by the
stern discipline of toil and hardship. They were men of native ability
and of teachable spirit; men who could be instructed and moulded for the
Saviour’s work. In the common walks of life there is many a toiler
patiently treading the round of his daily tasks, unconscious of latent
powers that, roused to action, would place him among the world’s great
leaders. Such were the men who were called by the Saviour to be His
co-laborers. And they had the advantage of three years’ training by the
greatest educator this world has ever known.
[Sidenote: _Types of Character_]
In these first disciples was presented a marked diversity. They were to
be the world’s teachers, and they represented widely varied types of
character. There were Levi Matthew the publican, called from a life of
business activity, and subservience to Rome; the zealot Simon, the
uncompromising foe of the imperial authority; the impulsive,
self-sufficient, warm-hearted Peter, with Andrew his brother; Judas the
Judean, polished, capable, and mean-spirited; Philip and Thomas,
faithful and earnest, yet slow of heart to believe; James the less and
Jude, of less prominence among the brethren, but men of force, positive
both in their faults and in their virtues; Nathanael, a child in
sincerity and trust; and the ambitious, loving-hearted sons of Zebedee.
[Sidenote: _To Come into Unity_]
In order successfully to carry forward the work to which they had been
called, these disciples, differing so widely in natural characteristics,
in training, and in habits of life, needed to come into unity of
feeling, thought, and action. This unity it was Christ’s object to
secure. To this end He sought to bring them into unity with Himself. The
burden of His labor for them is expressed in His prayer to the Father,
“that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee,
that they also may be one in Us; ... that the world may know that Thou
hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.”[101]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _His Closest Companions_]
Of the twelve disciples, four were to act a leading part, each in a
distinct line. In preparation for this, Christ taught them, foreseeing
all. James, destined to swift-coming death by the sword; John, longest
of the brethren to follow his Master in labor and persecution; Peter,
the pioneer in breaking through the barriers of ages, and teaching the
heathen world; and Judas, in service capable of pre-eminence above his
brethren, yet brooding in his soul purposes of whose ripening he little
dreamed,—these were the objects of Christ’s greatest solicitude, and the
recipients of His most frequent and careful instruction.
[Sidenote: _John_]
Peter, James, and John sought every opportunity of coming into close
contact with their Master, and their desire was granted. Of all the
twelve their relationship to Him was closest. John could be satisfied
only with a still nearer intimacy, and this he obtained. At that first
conference beside the Jordan, when Andrew, having heard Jesus, hurried
away to call his brother, John sat silent, rapt in the contemplation of
wondrous themes. He followed the Saviour, ever an eager, absorbed
listener. Yet John’s was no faultless character. He was no gentle,
dreamy enthusiast. He and his brother were called “the sons of
thunder.”[102] John was proud, ambitious, combative; but beneath all
this the divine Teacher discerned the ardent, sincere, loving heart.
Jesus rebuked his self-seeking, disappointed his ambitions, tested his
faith. But He revealed to him that for which his soul longed,—the beauty
of holiness, His own transforming love. “Unto the men which Thou gavest
Me out of the world,” He said to the Father, “I have manifested Thy
name.”[103]
[Sidenote: _Fellowship_; _Transformation_]
John’s was a nature that longed for love, for sympathy and
companionship. He pressed close to Jesus, sat by His side, leaned upon
His breast. As a flower the sun and dew, so did he drink in the divine
light and life. In adoration and love he beheld the Saviour, until
likeness to Christ and fellowship with Him became his one desire, and in
his character was reflected the character of his Master.
“Behold,” he said, “what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when
He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.
And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He
is pure.”[104]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _Peter_]