"Blest they who seek
While in their youth,
With spirit meek,
The way of truth.
To them the sacred scriptures now display
Christ as the only true and living way;
His precious blood on Calvary was given
To make them heirs of endless bliss in Heaven.
And e'en on earth the child of God can trace
The glorious blessings of the Saviour's grace.
For them He bore
His Father's frown;
For them He wore
The thorny Crown;
Nailed to the Cross,
Endured its pain,
That his life's loss
Might be their gain.
Then haste to choose
That better part,
Nor dare refuse
The Lord thy heart,
Lest he declare,--
'I know you not,'
And deep despair
Should be your lot.
Now look to Jesus, who on Calvary died,
And trust on him who there was crucified."
"Leaving it All with Jesus." Annie W ... was a young Christian. In
her fourteenth year she was taken with a severe illness, from which
the doctor said she could not recover. When she became too weak to
leave the sofa, she would send for one and another of the neighbors
to come in to see her, and then she would speak to them of Jesus and
his great salvation. One day a poor old woman who was not a
Christian, came in to see her.
"You are very ill, my dear," she said to Annie.
"Yes," she replied, "but I shall soon be well."
The poor woman shook her head as she looked at Annie's mother,
saying, "Poor dear creature; she cannot possibly get well. No: she
will never get over it." Then turning to Annie, she said:
"Don't you know, my dear, that you are going to die?"
"I know I am going to live," she said with a sweet smile. "I shall
soon be with Jesus in heaven, and live forever with him."
"Oh, how can you know that, my dear? We must not be _too_ sure you
know," said the poor woman.
"Oh," said Annie, pointing to a card hanging on the wall, near her
bed, on which was printed in large letters the hymn headed--"I leave
it all with Jesus." "That's what I do! That's what I do." These are
the words of the hymn which gave that dear child so much comfort on
her dying bed:
"I leave it all with Jesus,
Then wherefore should I fear?
I leave it all with Jesus,
And he is ever near.
"I leave it all with Jesus,
Trust him for what must be;
I leave it all with Jesus,
Who ever thinks of me.
"I bring it all to Jesus,
In calm, believing prayer;
I bring it all to Jesus,
And I love to LEAVE it there!
"Each tear, each sigh, each trouble,
Each disappointment,--all
I love to GIVE to Jesus,
Who loves to TAKE them all."
And here we have a beautiful illustration of one of the things which
Jesus taught us in his parables, namely--_the value of religion_.
_Another thing we are taught in these parables is_--CHRIST'S LOVE FOR
SINNERS.
The parable of the lost sheep teaches us this truth: but as we had
occasion to speak of this in our last chapter, when illustrating the
tenderness of Christ, as the Great Teacher, we may let that pass now.
But the parable of the lost piece of money teaches the same lesson.
We have this parable in St. Luke xv: 8th and 9th verses. Here we are
told of a woman who had ten pieces of silver, and lost one of them.
Then she laid the others aside, and searched diligently for the lost
piece till she found it. This woman represents Jesus. The lost piece
of money represents our souls lost by sin. The efforts of the woman
to find the lost piece represent what Jesus did, when he left heaven,
and took our nature upon him, and came as "the Son of man to _seek
and to save that which was lost_." And it was the love of Jesus for
poor sinners which led him to do all this for us. And everything
connected with the history of Jesus when he was on earth shows the
greatness of his love. Think of Bethlehem and its manger; there we
see the love of Jesus. Think of Gethsemane with its bloody sweat;
there we see the love of Jesus. Think of Calvary with its cross of
shame and agony; for _there_ we see the love of Jesus.
And the parable of the prodigal son teaches us the same lesson. We
read of this in the same chapter, St. Luke xv: 11-32. This son had
been disobedient and ungrateful. He had taken the money his father
gave him and had gone away and spent it in living very wickedly. And
when the money was all spent and he was likely to starve, he went
back to his father, hungry and ragged, and asked to be taken in. And
instead of scolding and punishing him as he deserved, as soon as his
father saw him, he ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him; and took
off his rags, and dressed him in good clothes, and made a great feast
for him. How beautifully this parable illustrates the love of Christ
for sinners!
And when we learn to know and feel the love of Christ for us, it does
two blessed things for us.
One is, _it makes us good_. We hear a great deal about _conversion_.
This word conversion simply means--_turning_. When a person has been
living without trying to serve or please God, and is led to see how
wrong it is to live in that way, and then feels an earnest desire to
turn around, and live differently, and really does so:--that is
conversion. The teaching or preaching of the gospel is the chief
means that God employs to convert men. And the thing about the gospel
in which this converting power lies is--_the love of Christ_. Here
is an illustration of what this means.
"He Loved Me." An English minister of the gospel was traveling in
Switzerland one summer. As he passed from place to place, he preached
by means of an interpreter in various churches. One Sunday night he
preached from the words, "_He loved me, and gave himself for me_."
Gal. ii: 20. Then he went on his way without knowing what effect had
followed from his preaching.
One Saturday evening, several weeks after, the minister of this
church was sitting in his study. There came a faint knock at his
door. He opened it, when, to his great surprise he saw there a young
man, who was known as the wickedest young man in that neighborhood,
and the leader of others in all sorts of wickedness. He invited him
in, gave him a seat, and asked him what he wished. Judge of his
surprise when the young man said he wished to inquire if he might
come to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which was to be
celebrated in his church the next day!
"But are you not aware, my young friend," said the minister, "that
only those who love Christ, and are trying to serve him, have any
right to come to that holy ordinance?"
"I know it, sir," said the young man, "and I am thankful to feel
that I am among that number."
"But," asked the astonished pastor, "are you not known in this
village as the ringleader in all evil doings?"
"Alas! it is too true that it has been so," he replied, "but thank
God all is changed now."
"I am happy indeed to hear it; but pray tell me what led to this
great change."
"I was in your church, sir," said he, "some weeks ago, when that
English minister preached from the words, 'Who loved me and gave
himself for me,' That was the first time I ever understood about the
love of Christ. It led to my repentance and conversion; and now I
wish to show my love to Jesus by trying to serve and please him."
Here we see how the love of Christ makes us good.
But it _makes us happy_, as well as good. Here is a little story that
illustrates this point very well. We may call it:
"Maggie's Secret." "Maggie Blake, how can you study so hard, and be
so provokingly good?" This question was asked by Jennie Lee, who was
one of the largest and wildest girls in the school. Maggie hesitated
a moment, whether to tell her secret or not. But, presently she
lifted up her eyes, looked her companion bravely in the face, and
said--"It's for Jesus' sake, Jennie."
"But do you think he cares?" asked Jennie in a soft, subdued
voice,--"do you think he cares how we act?"
"I _know_ he does," said Maggie. "And it makes it so pleasant you
see, even to study and get hard lessons, when I know he is looking at
me, and is pleased to have me working my best for him. He always
helps me to get my lessons; and then helps me to say them right. You
know I used to be so frightened I could not say them, even when I had
learned them well."
"Yes," said Jennie, remembering very well how Maggie had changed in
that respect.
"That was before I thought of learning them for Jesus. After that he
helped me all along. It makes me like school; and even disagreeable
things are pleasant when I think of doing them for him."
Jennie had often watched Maggie, and wondered what made her have such
a bright, cheerful, happy look. Now she knew the secret of it. It was
doing everything "for Jesus' sake."
She felt she would gladly give everything she had to be as happy as
Maggie. She asked Maggie to pray for her, and she began to pray for
herself. Then Jesus helped her, and she soon had Maggie's secret for
her own. The girls in school wondered at the change which had come
over Jennie. But when they heard that she had been confirmed, and had
joined the church, they understood it all. They knew she "had been
with Jesus;" and that it was learning to know and feel his wonderful
love which had made Jennie so good, and so happy.
And so, we see that Jesus was doing a blessed thing for us when he
taught the parables which show his love for sinners.
_A third thing taught us by some of the parables of Jesus is_--THE
DUTY OF KINDNESS.
One day, while Jesus was on earth, a young man came to him with the
great question, what he should do to obtain eternal life. Jesus
referred him to the Ten Commandments; and reducing them to two, he
told the young man that these commandments required him to love God
with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself; and then said if he
would do this he would be saved.
This is perfectly true. Any one would be saved who would do this.
But no one ever has done this except our blessed Lord Himself. He
"magnified the law and made it honorable" by keeping it perfectly. I
suppose that Jesus intended to give this young man some lessons about
the commandments of God which would lead him to see that he never
could keep them himself; and that he would need some one to keep them
for him, and that _this_ was the only way in which he, or any one
else could be saved. It may have been that the young man did not want
to hear any thing more on that subject, and so he gave the
conversation a different turn by asking--"who is my neighbor?" when
Jesus said he must love his neighbor as himself. And then, in answer
to this question Jesus told the parable of the "Good Samaritan." We
have this parable in St. Luke x: 30-37.
Here we are told of a certain man who was going down from Jerusalem
to Jericho, and fell among thieves. They robbed him; and wounded him;
and left him half dead. While he was lying there helpless and
suffering, a priest and a Levite came, and looked on him, and passed
by on the other side, without giving him any help. Then we are told
that a certain Samaritan came by, and when he saw the poor wounded
man lying there, although he was a Jew, and the Jews and the
Samaritans hated each other very much, yet he pitied him, and went up
to him, and bound up his wounds, and set him on his own beast, and
carried him to an inn, and told them to take care of him, and said
that he would pay all his expenses. Then Jesus asked the question,
"Which now, of these three thinkest thou was neighbor to him that
fell among thieves? And he said, he that showed mercy on him. Then
said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."
Thus Jesus taught the duty of kindness. This kindness we must show,
not to our friends only, but to our enemies. _Kindness to all_ is the
duty that Jesus teaches.
Let us look at one or two illustrations of the way in which we should
do this.
"The Honey Shield." It is said that wasps and bees will not sting a
person whose skin is covered with honey. And so those who are exposed
to the sting of these venomous little creatures smear their hands and
faces over with honey, and this, we are told, proves the best shield
they can have to keep them from getting stung. And the honey here
very well represents the kindness which Jesus teaches us to practise.
If kindness, gentleness, and forbearance are found running through
all our words and actions, we shall have the best shield to protect
us from the spiteful stings of wicked people.
"Androcles and the Lion." Most of those who read these pages may have
heard this story, but it illustrates the point before us so well that
I do not hesitate to use it here.
Androcles was a Roman slave. To escape the cruel treatment of his
master he ran away. A lonely cave in the midst of the forest was his
home for a while. Returning to his cave one day he met a lion near
the mouth of the cave. He was bellowing as if in pain; and on getting
nearer to him, he found that he was suffering from a thorn which had
run into one of his paws. It was greatly swollen and inflamed, and
was causing him much pain. Androcles went up to the suffering beast.
He drew out the rankling thorn and thus relieved him of his pain. His
nature, savage as it was, felt the power of the kindness thus shown
to him. He became attached to the lonely slave, and shared his prey
with him while they remained together.
But, after a while the retreat of Androcles was discovered. He was
taken and carried back to his master. The lion also was made a
prisoner soon after. Androcles was kept in prison for some time; and
finally, according to the custom of the Romans, he was condemned to be
devoured by wild beasts. The lion to be let loose on Androcles had
been kept a long time without food and was very hungry. When the door
of his den was opened he rushed out with a tremendous roar. The
Colosseum was crowded with spectators. They expected to see the poor
slave torn to pieces in a moment. But, to the surprise of everyone,
the great monster, hungry as he was, instead of devouring the
condemed man, crouched at his feet, and began to fondle him, as a pet
dog would do. He recognized in the poor prisoner his friend of the
forest and showed that he had not forgotten his kindness. The
kindness of Androcles had been like the honey shield to him. It saved
his life, first from the savage beast in the forest; and then from
the savage men in the city. Let us all put on this shield, and wear
it wherever we go. The lesson of kindness which Jesus teaches in
this parable, has been very well put by some one in these sweet
lines: