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j THE PRIVATE 
 
 I 
 
 i DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL 
 
 I LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 i A MODEL FOR YOUTH. 
 
 Rom. XV. 5. 
 
 BY TH^ 
 
 Rev. JOHN M>^REBS, D. D. 
 
 Pastor of Rutgers Street Church, NewYoik. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 WILLIAM S. MARTIEN 
 142 Chestnut Street. 
 
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the 
 year 1849, by Wm. S. Martien, in the office 
 of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eas- 
 tern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 I propose in the following pages 
 to treat of the Private and Domes- 
 tic Life and Character of Jesus, as 
 distinguished from his public, official 
 ministry ; and to hold up this model 
 for the imitation of the Young. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 TO THE BELOVED YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 OF HIS CHARGE, 
 
 THIS MINIATURE VOLUME 
 
 WHICH AI3IS AT NOTHING BEYOND A PLAIN AND 
 FAMILIAR EXPOSITION 
 
 OF A CHARACTER 
 
 OF ALL OTHERS 
 
 THE MOST WORTHY OF THEIR AFFECTION AND 
 IMITATION, 
 
 IS OFFERED AS A TOKEN 
 
 OF THEIR 
 
 PASTOR'S FRIENDSHIP. 
 
LIFE OF CHRIST, &c. 
 
 Biography is always interesting. The 
 mind is pleased in beholding the gra- 
 phic succession of incidents that pass 
 before us as in a moving panorama ; 
 and there is in us a strong natural 
 desire of information concerning those 
 who have distinguished themselves in 
 the world's history. For its gratifica- 
 tion, the Hves of warriors, philosophers, 
 statesmen, and poets, have been ex- 
 plored with most curious research, and 
 paraded in minutest detail. Not even 
 the nursery has escaped ; and the 
 narrative of childish precociousness and 
 
6 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 juvenile exploit becomes distended with 
 " wasteful and ridiculous excess." 
 
 Some specimens of juvenile religious 
 biography are exceedingly liable to this 
 criticism. If not absolutely apocryphal, 
 they are made so, through the biased 
 imagination of the historian, magni- 
 fying very trivial and commonplace 
 affairs until they loom before the as- 
 tonished vision as most extraordinary 
 events. For the edification of this 
 reading age, the prolific press teems 
 with amazing chronicles, wherein in- 
 fantile prodigies figure amid such illus- 
 trious epochs as the process of den- 
 tition, the transfer from the nurse's 
 arms to the first experiments in peripa- 
 tetics, and the initiation into the myste- 
 ries of the pictorial alphabet; and the 
 incipient developments of juvenile piety 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 7 
 
 are gravely recorded, from the first ap- 
 propriate hymn or prayer which child- 
 hood lisps to its sublimer discovery and 
 announcement that the stars are little 
 perforations in the sky to let the glory 
 through. 
 
 Now, while all this sort of absurdity 
 is rich enough to provoke a smile, and 
 the vanity both of parents and of too 
 partial reporters is rebuked by the 
 brief and simple beauty of the evangeli- 
 cal biographies, it is only the too great 
 abuse of a proper curiosity that is to 
 be condemned. 
 
 And there is one character that has 
 appeared on the stage of human exist- 
 ence, in regard to whom, it may be 
 pardoned if we feel some solicitude to 
 learn the particulars of his childhood 
 and youth. 
 
8 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 Who of us that has ever contempla- 
 ted the wonderful history of our gra- 
 cious Redeemer, as it is exhibited by 
 the four Evangehsts? — who, in their 
 vivid and engaging pictures, has seen 
 the Holy Ghost descending like a dove 
 to rest upon him, and standing by the 
 side of Jordan, or on the Mount of the 
 transfiguration, has heard the voice 
 from the excellent glory, proclaiming 
 "This is my beloved Son ;" — who that 
 has witnessed the successful conflict 
 with the temptation in the wilderness, 
 or sat at his feet to listen to the gracious 
 words that proceeded out of his mouth, 
 when he uttered the beautiful truths of 
 the Sermon on the Mount, where he 
 spake as one having authority, and not 
 as the Scribes and the Pharisees ; who 
 that has followed his footsteps on his 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 9 
 
 errands of mercy, and beheld the gene- 
 rous exertions of his miraculous power ; 
 that has heard the dumb speak and 
 seen the dead come forth from the 
 sepulchres at his bidding; that has 
 lived again in that cruel hour when 
 vile men plaited the crown of thorns 
 upon his brow, and drove the nails 
 through those hands ever, and even 
 then, stretched out in mercy ; that has 
 wept at his tomb, and been revived 
 again by the glorious resurrection of 
 the Conqueror of Death and Hell, and 
 has stood in raptured amazement to 
 gaze upon him, as he ascended through 
 the clouds, to his Father and our 
 Father, to his God and to owr God : 
 And who, especially, that has listened 
 to that celestial minstrelsy, when angels 
 sung the song of redemption over the 
 2 
 
10 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 plains of Bethlehem, or has bowed with 
 eastern sages before the manger of the 
 infant Son of Mary, or trembled with 
 dread of the bloody tyrant who sought 
 the young child's life and filled those 
 hapless coasts with unavailing slaugh- 
 ters, and with the lamentations of 
 bereaved mothers for the murder of 
 their innocents ; or who that has been 
 astonished at the understanding and 
 answers of the youthful and modest in- 
 quirer, who appears in the midst of the 
 doctors in the temple, and has pursued 
 his career, as the imagination painted 
 him, returning from Jerusalem to abide 
 amid the secluded employments of 
 domestic life, in his parents' dwelling 
 at Nazareth : who of us that has been 
 absorbed by all these charming records, 
 has not wished to know yet more of 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 11 
 
 the earJy incidents of such a life, thirty 
 years of Avhich were passed in a seclu- 
 sion that is almost entirely hidden from 
 our view? We would still nearer, 
 oftener, and more intimately scan the 
 stages of that progress w^hich was made 
 by the " holy child Jesus,'* that we 
 might see for ourselves how he grew 
 and waxed strong in understanding, 
 the scenes wherein he displayed his 
 fulness of wisdom, and manifested that 
 excellence of grace which was upon 
 him. We would wait upon the foot- 
 steps of such a youths that we might 
 hear his conversation, and become 
 familiar with the beautiful and impres- 
 sive particulars of such a manhood, 
 while, still remaining in subjection to 
 his parents, he increased in wisdom 
 and stature, in all those years of filial 
 
12 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 service, of patient waiting, and of pious 
 preparation, and, in all, beloved both of 
 God and man, up to the very point of 
 his assuming the public functions of 
 his mission and ministry as the Saviour 
 of the world ! 
 
 But it has not pleased the Holy 
 Ghost to indite for us all the particu- 
 lars of the early life of Jesus Christ. 
 Indeed, although we are furnished 
 with numerous and varied details of 
 that portion of his life which comprised 
 his public ministry, even in regard to 
 it, we are told that there are many 
 other things which he did, in the pre- 
 sence of his disciples, that are not 
 written. But enough was written that 
 Ave might believe that Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God, and that be- 
 lieving, we might have life through 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 13 
 
 his name. In this reserve, though our 
 curiosity is disappointed, yet is there 
 no disservice done to us. There is 
 sufficient for our attaining that know- 
 ledge which makes wise unto salva- 
 tion. And the same discreet reserve 
 is properly exhibited with respect to 
 the scenes of his early years before 
 entering on his public ministry. This 
 characteristic of the sacred record, 
 sober, dignified, brief, simple and mo- 
 dest, is in strong and disparaging con- 
 trast with those vain absurdities with 
 which tradition has attempted to mend 
 the word of God, and with the puerile 
 fables which abound in such apocry- 
 phal narratives as the gospels of the 
 "Infancy of Jesus," and other spurious 
 books, wherein patristic and monkish 
 zeal has profanely and fraudulently 
 
14 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 endeavoured to supply the want which 
 our curiosity, if not our piety, has found 
 in the evangelical histories: while this 
 very redundance of worthless miracles, 
 and lying wonders, and all this deceiv- 
 ableness of unrighteousness and corrup- 
 tion of the truth and simplicity of the 
 gospel, serve, at once, to demonstrate 
 the presumption of the inventors, and, 
 as a foil, to set off in its own brilliant 
 and saving lustre, the beauty, the sim- 
 plicity, the truthfulness, and the hea- 
 venly origin of the only record which 
 God hath given of his Son. 
 
 But, although the veil is drawn over 
 the greater part of the Saviour's early 
 and private life — and it is even admis- 
 sible that, beyond the striking inci- 
 dents that are recorded, there were in 
 a life so pure, so modest, and so se- 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 15 
 
 eluded, but few remarkable occur- 
 rences demanding record — yet we are 
 not left altogether without information 
 concerning his childhood and his youth. 
 If we are precluded from an intrusive 
 inspection of his retired hours, and are 
 restrained by the scriptural and only 
 authentic account of his youth from all 
 mere conjecture and foolish invention, 
 we are nevertheless sufficiently inform- 
 ed, if not for the gratification of idle 
 curiosity, at least for the instructiveness 
 of his example, and even for the cor- 
 roboration of his matured claims and 
 public official character, we are suffi- 
 ciently informed of the leading facts 
 and traits of his youthful deportment 
 and singular early life. 
 
 For, besides the circumstances of his 
 birth, his circumcision and presenta- 
 
16 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 tion in the temple, the homage of the 
 wise men who saw his star in the east, 
 and the testimonies of Simeon and 
 Anna, and the flight into Egypt — 
 which it is not within our purpose to 
 review at this time — we are also made 
 acquainted with some important de- 
 tails of the interval between the return 
 from Egypt, which was probably in his 
 second year, and his baptism by John. 
 And these intervening facts, under the 
 light that is reflected upon them from 
 the record of his public ministry, and 
 of his own teachings, and from the 
 apostolical epistles, become radiant and 
 suggestive, so that it is no effort of rash 
 and daring conjecture, if with such 
 materials we undertake to illustrate the 
 private history of Jesus Christ, not only 
 in the period of childhood, up to his 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 17 
 
 appearance in the temple, at twelve 
 years of age, but also in the succeeding 
 eighteen years which elapsed while he 
 dwelt at Nazareth in subjection to his 
 parents, until he entered upon that 
 public ministry, of which we have such 
 ample details. 
 
 While then our knowledge is so 
 limited, as to the specific incidents of 
 his youth and childhood, a fact of 
 which it becomes us to be aware, lest 
 we overstep the modesty which bounds 
 our inquiry and instruction, there is, 
 on the other hand, so much revealed, 
 that we can never be at a loss to know 
 what he would have said or done in 
 any circumstances of his life. And 
 whilst it may be, that in the cautious 
 endeavour to confine myself to what is 
 authentically written in the Sacred 
 
18 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 History, I may produce before you a 
 feeble outline, that seems lifeless and 
 barren, it becomes me still to say, that 
 I have found that my task requires 
 of me far less the effort of imagina- 
 tion and the employment of pictorial 
 words, in painting eventful but unreal 
 scenes, than that I should repress a 
 teeming multitude of facts which start 
 forth, demanding to be used, in that 
 exemplary and instructive illustration 
 which the Bible itself affords, of the 
 life — the early youth of Jesus of Naza- 
 reth. 
 
 So far, therefore, from complaining of 
 the barrenness of the field, we may the 
 rather regret, that, in this exercise, we 
 can do no more than suggest some hints 
 toward such a history. That history 
 embraces such themes as these : — his 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 19 
 
 physical, mental, and moral endow- 
 ments — his increase in years and stat- 
 ure, and in intellectual acquisitio7is — 
 his impressive reverence for divine or- 
 dinances, and his piety and obedience 
 to God — his diligence, industry, and 
 patience — his modesty andjilial love — 
 his perfect purity, and the estimation 
 in which he was held hy both God and 
 man. 
 
 Let us proceed under the guidance 
 of the sacred narrative : "And the child 
 grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled 
 with wisdom : and the grace of God was 
 upon him. Now his parents went to 
 Jerusalem every year at the feast of the 
 passover. And when he was twelve 
 years old, they went up to Jerusalem 
 after the custom of the feast. And when 
 they had fulfilled the days, as they re- 
 
20 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 turned, the child Jesus tarried behind in 
 Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother 
 knew not of it. But they, supposing 
 him to have been in the company, went 
 a day's journey; and they sought him 
 among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 
 And when they found him not, they 
 turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking 
 him. And it came to pass, that after 
 three days they found him in the tem- 
 ple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, 
 both hearing them, and asking them 
 questions. And all that heard him were 
 astonished at his understanding and an- 
 swers. And when they saw him, they 
 were amazed : and his mother said unto 
 him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with 
 us ? behold, thy father and I have sought 
 thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, 
 How is it that ye sought me? wist ye 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 21 
 
 not that I must be about my Father's 
 business ? And they understood not the 
 saying which he spake unto them. And 
 he went down with them, and came to 
 Nazareth, and was subject unto them : 
 but his mother kept all these sayings in 
 her heart. And Jesus increased in wis- 
 dom and stature, and in favour with God 
 and man." — Luke ii. 40-52. 
 
 I. While we fully believe that he 
 who was miraculously conceived of the 
 Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin 
 Mary, was the possessor of a perfectly 
 divine nature, we must not forget that 
 it behooved him "in all things to be 
 made like unto his brethren," and that 
 he was even subject to all natural hu- 
 man infirmities, tempted in all points 
 hke as we are, sin only excepted. 
 
 " There is only this difference between 
 him and us, that the weaknesses which 
 
22 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 press upon us, by a necessity which we 
 cannot avoid, were undertaken by him 
 voluntarily and of his own accord." — 
 Calvin. 
 
 He was therefore as perfectly human, 
 as he was perfectly divine. And this 
 fact will account for all the difficulties 
 which have been suggested, on the 
 ground of those characteristics, actions, 
 and speeches, which have been alleged 
 to be inconsistent with his claim to be 
 equal with God; and especially with 
 his being born an infant of days, and 
 his increase in age and stature and wis- 
 dom. "If it takes nothing from his 
 glory that he was altogether emptied, 
 neither does it degrade him that he 
 chose not only to grow in body, but to 
 make progress in mind." — Calvin. 
 
 How his divine nature subsisted in 
 connection with the human, we do not 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 23 
 
 inquire ; nor even whether, as it has 
 been conjectured, it was gradually com- 
 municated in its effects and influences 
 on his intellectual powers, nor by what 
 process it so operated, nor in what mea- 
 sures. This only we know, that "he 
 received in his human nature according 
 to his age and capacity, an increase of 
 the free gifts of the Spirit, that out of 
 his fulness he may pour them out upon 
 us ; for we draw grace out of his grace." 
 — Calvin. 
 
 Omitting all vain and profitless con- 
 jecture, and every misleading hypothe- 
 sis, we find enough in the fact, that it 
 was because of this union that his mind 
 possessed its vigour, capacity and clear- 
 ness, that his penetration was so acute, 
 and his judgment so discriminating and 
 infallible. Enough too for us to know, 
 
24 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 why it was that he was the pure, wise 
 and amiable character whom the gospel 
 commends to our reverence, faith, and 
 love, while we contemplate him both as 
 our Saviour and as our example, bear- 
 ing and dignifying our nature, clothed 
 in a body like our own, subsisting amid 
 the ordinary walks and relations of hu- 
 man hfe, and exemplifying in their 
 highest possible perfection, every vir- 
 tue, duty, and grace that can exalt and 
 adorn our human nature. 
 
 It is eminent]}'- then his human na- 
 ture, and his progress therein, concern- 
 ing which the Evangelist instructs us. 
 
 It were the height of folly to attempt 
 any description of the person of Jesus 
 Christ, as child, youth, or man. Spu- 
 rious accounts were indeed early fabri- 
 cated ; and poetry, painting, and sculp- 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 25 
 
 ture have all endeavoured to set forth 
 his hnearnents. The latter have de- 
 lighted to represent him, especially in 
 the agonies of the crucifixion. And a 
 false religion, mad upon its idols, has 
 first broken, and then, to conceal the 
 impiety, has mutilated the command- 
 ments of God, in the fanatical adoration 
 of its graven image of Christ on the 
 cross. But instead of the impression 
 which such unbaptized piety would 
 thus make upon our minds, by these 
 creations of unlicensed genius, the eye 
 is pained by the ghastly, cruel exhibi- 
 tion, and the feelings are rather dis- 
 gusted than edified by representations 
 that never can reach, and for the most 
 part only degrade that awful subject. 
 And wherever the wayward and igno- 
 rant fancy has portrayed the person ol 
 3 
 
26 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 Jesus as luminous, and his head encir- 
 cled with a halo, instead of enhancing 
 our ideas of his dignity, it has both 
 transcended the gospel record and the 
 obvious facts, and belittled with man's 
 folly the real majesty and grace with 
 which his person was adorned. The 
 pictures too with which the galleries of 
 art have been filled, of the infant, the 
 youth, and the man Christ Jesus, often 
 presenting lineaments of great beauty, 
 it need hardly be said are no portraits, 
 and are at best the mere imaginations 
 of painters; every failure adding to the 
 reasons which show the folly, if not the 
 impiety, of making any image or like- 
 ness of the Son of God. 
 
 Yet, who can doubt that his very 
 person must have been distinguished 
 for physical excellence. Pure and 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 27 
 
 holy, governed by the laws of highest 
 reason, temperate and self-denying, free 
 from all debasing appetites, and exempt 
 from the deforming influences of all 
 evil passions, we cannot but deem it 
 an embodiment of perfect health. As 
 the Lamb of God and the victim of sa- 
 crifice, we read that he was without 
 spot or blemish; and as he was or- 
 dained of God to the priestly office — 
 of rank and function superior to the 
 priests of Aaron's line — the canonical 
 requirem.ents teach us that, therefore, 
 he must have been free from all physi- 
 cal defects. In person, he must have 
 been symmetrical, and in countenance, 
 he must have exhibited an engaging 
 comeliness. It needs no license of the 
 imagination to conceive of him, that like 
 Moses, he was a " goodly child." The 
 
28 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 passage, "the grace of God was upon 
 him," has been interpreted on good 
 classical authority to signify the beauty 
 of his person.* But it may more pro- 
 perly be understood of " the excellence 
 of every description which shone bright- 
 ly in him." 
 
 It is, however, more to the purpose 
 to consider the effect of that intellectual 
 and moral beauty which pervaded his 
 soul. In these, he was " fairer than 
 the sons of men." Not only do we in- 
 stinctively conceive that the body must 
 have been in its excellence, the fitting 
 lodgment of such a soul ; but we know 
 also what an influence is conveyed 
 from the inward man, and is manifested 
 in the mere external features, and even 
 in moulding the physiognomy. Grace, 
 
 * Wetstein — in Campbell — and Bloomfield. 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 29 
 
 tenderness, dignity and love, high 
 thought, and heavenly affections dwelt 
 ever in his heart, spake through his 
 lips, swam in his eye, and sat upon 
 his face — expressive features mirroring 
 the soul ; these lent a charm to his very 
 person, and engaged the favour of the 
 beholder. And what a countenance 
 must that have been, which afterwards 
 shone as the sun, and whose surpass- 
 ing majesty, long after it had been so 
 marred with many tears and griefs, 
 could still abash and prostrate the band 
 of armed ruffians that came to appre- 
 hend him in the garden. Nor is the 
 force of this impression at all weakened, 
 even if we transfer to his outward per- 
 son, what is said of him — that he bare 
 our infirmities and took our sicknesses, 
 that his visage was so marred more 
 
30 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 than any man, and that, springing up, 
 like a root out of dry ground, he was 
 without form or comeliness that wc 
 should desire him. Even if we sup- 
 pose the man of sorrows to have had a 
 body, weak, diseased, emaciated, the 
 result of his acquaintance with grief; 
 we may, nevertheless, consider the in- 
 fluence upon his person of his exalted 
 moral attributes. His countenance bore 
 even in its sorrowful lineaments, the 
 impression of his dignity patience, 
 tenderness, compassion, purity, meek- 
 ness, and sweetness of soul ; and, but 
 to look upon it, was to discern that 
 loveliness of mental and of moral 
 beauty, which so often engages our 
 regard in the daily experience of life, 
 even for persons, whose plain and 
 homely features we forget, in the su- 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 31 
 
 perior charm of lofty intellect and vir- 
 tuous soul. 
 
 II. As he grew up, increasing in age 
 and stature, he developed that perfection 
 of mental qualities with which he was 
 divinely endowed. The expressions of 
 theEvano^elist refer to the natural viorour 
 of his understanding, and the attain- 
 ments of wisdom and knowledge with 
 which it was furnished. His mind 
 was strong and capacious. Its powers 
 are evinced by all those acts of pru- 
 dence, and by the various sayings, 
 wherewith he confounded the subtlety 
 of his captious foes, and by all the gra- 
 cious and holy instructions in truth and 
 duty, and that prevailing eloquence 
 and authority with which his ministry 
 abounded. But he was, nevertheless, 
 born and grew as a child : he did not 
 
32 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 spring forth from his birth a speaking 
 prodigy, nor burst upon the astonished 
 world in the full perfection of his na- 
 tive s^enius. It was throucrh the ordi- 
 nary process of growth, assisted indeed 
 by the divine inspirations of his god- 
 head, yet still by degrees, and by the 
 needful discipline of instruction, read- 
 ing, and meditation, that he attained and 
 manifested his fulness of wisdom. As 
 to the particular elements of his in- 
 tellectual stores, it would be imperti- 
 nent trifling to attempt detail. During 
 his ministry, he spake of some things 
 which were reserved even from him, 
 though he were the Son. This of itself 
 is no disparagement of His Omnisci- 
 ence, when we remember that he had 
 a human soul, and that as mediator he 
 was, in a very important sense, subordi- 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 33 
 
 nate to the Father. And this very re- 
 serve, I incline to think, is but official, 
 and has reference rather to the func- 
 tion of making known, than to his own 
 proper acquaintance with the things 
 themselves. It was no part of his 
 ministry to instruct men in those par- 
 ticular things. 
 
 But it is evident that his mind was 
 developed early, and its progress in 
 wisdom extraordinary. His acquaint- 
 ance with divine truth was apparent, 
 not only when in the exercise of his 
 ministry, the Jews exclaimed, " Whence 
 hath this man wisdom ?" but in that re- 
 markable interview, when, at twelve 
 years of age, he sat in the midst of the 
 doctors in the temple, both hearing 
 them and asking them questions ; and 
 all that heard him were astonished at 
 
34 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 his understanding and answers. Of 
 this interview, by the way, a most im- 
 proper idea is presented by some pic- 
 tures, and even by some commentators, 
 as if Jesus assumed the place of a 
 teacher on this occasion, and disputed 
 with the doctors. Nothing more took 
 place than was common. It was cus- 
 tomary for these public instructors to 
 sit upon elevated benches, and their 
 disciples sat at their feet, while a very 
 free conversation took place between 
 the teachers and the learners, and 
 knowledge was communicated by the 
 former in the way of question and an- 
 swer, mutually propounded, after our 
 method of catechising, or perhaps more 
 probably, the familiar mode which pre- 
 vails in our intelligent Bible classes. 
 This was the modest attitude of Jesus, 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 35 
 
 as he heard, and asked questions and 
 answered. The scene exhibits him to 
 us as a diligent inquirer after know- 
 ledge — not relying, as inferior but vain 
 minds do, on gaining knowledge with- 
 out study ; but it shows us also how 
 his thoughts had been exercised ; and 
 it is not too much to say that, like 
 David, he already evinced more under- 
 standing than his teachers. Of the 
 themes of inquiry, we may be sure 
 that they related to divine truth ; and 
 though there may have been no for- 
 wardness on his part to contradict these 
 men, who were notorious corrupters of 
 the word of God, there can be no doubt 
 that his modest questions were of such 
 a character as sorely to press upon the 
 dogmatic haughtiness, which afterward 
 he so sharply confronted and humbled. 
 
36 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 giving even then a specimen of what 
 he would be, when he should teach 
 with authority, and the common people 
 would hear him gladly, and it should 
 be acknowledged that a great prophet 
 is risen in Israel. Even in those early 
 days was that prediction accomplished, 
 "that the Spirit of the Lord should rest 
 upon him, as the spirit of counsel and 
 of might, of wisdom and of knowledge, 
 to make him of quick understanding in 
 the fear of the Lord.'* 
 
 I proceed to notice some particulars 
 illustrating his moral characteristics. 
 
 in. His piety and devotion may be 
 illustrated by the circumstances of his 
 attendance at the temple when he was 
 twelve years of age, and there mani- 
 fested his regard for the worship of 
 God, and his reverence for divine ordi- 
 nances. 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 37 
 
 Although neither Joseph nor Mary 
 seems to have clearly understood the 
 distinguished lot which awaited him, 
 yet of this we are sure, that he himself 
 was fully aware of it; and that his pa- 
 rents faithfully trained him in the nur- 
 ture and admonition of the Lord, while 
 he gave himself to patient and diligent 
 preparation for his future work. At 
 Nazareth, his opportunities, beyond the 
 domestic threshold, were probably few ; 
 and, if we may adopt the inferences 
 concerning the character of the place, 
 suggested by the disparaging estimate 
 in which it was held, (John i. 46) the 
 disadvantages of his situation were very 
 great. For parental fidelity might be 
 counteracted by surrounding evil ex- 
 ample, and even diminished by the 
 temptation of their circumstances, to 
 
38 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 relax in their own duty. But we 
 know that there w^as a Synagogue 
 there, for Jesus preached in it after- 
 wards, and how astonished its attend- 
 ants must have been when they saw 
 him with whose childhood and youth 
 they had been so familiar, stand up to 
 declare the fulfilment in his own per- 
 son of the tender and beautiful predic- 
 tion respecting the character and work 
 of the Messiah. He was doubtless an 
 habitual worshipper there; and such 
 parents as Joseph, his reputed father, 
 and iNIary his mother — so favoured 
 with divine communications, and en- 
 trusted with such a charge — so exem- 
 plary and so observant of the law — 
 were not careless to impart religious 
 instruction to this extraordinary child, 
 to make him familiar with the word of 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 39 
 
 God, and to form his youthful habits of 
 prayer and meditation. 
 
 Their fidehty to their high trust, 
 amply discharged at home, is apparent 
 also in their taking him up with them 
 to the temple of Jerusalem. Thither 
 the males of Israel were obliged to 
 resort three times a year. The visit of 
 the females was altogether voluntary. 
 And it was customary also to take the 
 children upon arriving at the age of 
 twelve years, at which time they were 
 supposed to be of sufficient discretion 
 to be introduced into the church, and 
 initiated into the doctrines and ceremo- 
 nies of religion. 
 
 The visit of Joseph and Mary to the 
 great festival upon this occasion, was a 
 labour of love. It is evident, too, that 
 those who came from a distance tra- 
 
40 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 veiled in companies, and thus they 
 solaced the toils of the way with the 
 comforts of social intercourse, and in 
 "singing the songs of Zion during the 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 It was in all probability the first time 
 of Jesus accompanying them — and we 
 find him solicitous to improve the oppor- 
 tunity. Although the services of the fes- 
 tival continued through seven days, he 
 exhibits no weariness — no impatience to 
 be gone. Ah ! how unlike that restless- 
 ness — not of youth only — which is so 
 common, with respect to the exercises of 
 the sanctuary. What a weariness to 
 them is the Sabbath, and what an 
 atrocious ofl^ence is it, that in the exposi- 
 tion of the gospel, the minister is so in- 
 discreet as to tax their patience some- 
 times for a whole hour ! The youthful 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 41 
 
 Jesus loved the Lord's house. Though 
 possessed of the treasures of wisdom and 
 knowledge, he desired like David to 
 dwell in the courts of the sanctuary, to 
 behold the beauty of the Lord, and to 
 inquire in his temple. While then, his 
 parents depart, he remains behind ; — 
 and still, until the third day after, he 
 maintains his post of religious medita- 
 tion and research into those things which 
 had been shadowed forth in the rites and 
 ceremonies of the paschal festival. His 
 parents in the meanwhile do not at first 
 miss him from their company : it was 
 not carelessness on their part, but they 
 supposed him to be with their friends 
 and kinsmen. This supposition sug- 
 gests to us the social, companionable 
 temper of Jesus. Neither ascetic nor 
 recluse, he mingled with men, and by 
 4 
 
42 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 his own example, sanctions, as he ever 
 adorned, the social, friendly intercourse 
 of life. But not finding him where they 
 first sought, his parents retrace their 
 way to Jerusalem with a heavy, anxious 
 heart ; — a second day is consumed in 
 their journey. Their fears arose from 
 no misgiving as to his deportment ; they 
 sorrowed not with any apprehension of 
 wilful truancy or misspent time in evil 
 companionship. They knew him too 
 well for that. Other evils were dreaded. 
 Perhaps they thought of the persecu- 
 tion of his infant years, and feared some 
 renewal of that danger ; or it might he 
 that straying from the caravan, some 
 evil beast had destroyed him. They 
 find him where they naturally sought 
 him ; for it is far less likely that they 
 made much search elsewhere, than that 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 43 
 
 they went at once to the temple. For- 
 getting, for the moment, to consider 
 what import there was in the scene 
 which met her eyes when she saw him 
 in the midst of the doctors ; yet over- 
 joyed for his recovery, Marj'' puts no 
 restraint upon her gushing emotions : 
 the tender anxieties of a mother's heart 
 burst forth : — " Son, why hast thou thus 
 dealt with us ?" If in the reply to this 
 expostulation, there appears to be some- 
 thing of rebuke — "How is it that ye 
 sought me ; wist ye not that I must be 
 about my Father's business ?" — it may 
 be justified at once, not only by remem- 
 bering that with the dutifulness of a 
 son, he hastens to explain, and so to re- 
 lieve her anxiety, but that he appeals to 
 the superior duty which he owed to his 
 heavenly Father. Urgent and impres- 
 
44 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 sive as are the claims of earthly parents, 
 they are still subordinate to the claims 
 of God. If worldly parents would com- 
 mand an obedience incompatible with 
 the duties of piety, children are absolved 
 from compliance. And when the rulers 
 of this world required the Apostles to 
 refrain from preaching the gospel, they 
 replied, " Whether it be right to obey 
 God rather than men, judge ye." 
 
 Such was Christ's reverence for re- 
 ligious duty at that early age. The 
 incident reveals to us, his pious training 
 — his love of devotion and prayer — his 
 delight in religious worship — and his 
 controlling sense of the duty he owed 
 to God. — "He must be about his Fa- 
 ther's business." "He must be at his 
 Father's house." His whole life em- 
 bodied this sentiment. For this he 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 45 
 
 emptied himself of the glory which 
 he had with his Father before the world 
 was ; left his high throne and the 
 abodes of the blessed; became an in- 
 habitant of this low world, assumed the 
 likeness of sinful flesh, and took upon 
 him a servant's form ; for this he sub- 
 mitted to poverty, toil, suffering and 
 reproach ; for this he never turned 
 aside in weariness and disgust ; it wa& 
 his meat and his drink to do his Father's 
 will; his zeal for this absorbed his 
 energies and his time ; in days of ex- 
 hausting labour, in whole nights of 
 prayer — by the sea-shore and in the 
 desert — on the summits of the moun- 
 tains, and in the public thoroughfares 
 — in humble villages, in the city, and in 
 the temple — this was his business. 
 And at last, when the active depart- 
 
46 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 ments of that business were completed, 
 he declared, "I have finished the work 
 which thou gavest me to do;" and 
 shortly afterward, having ended all that 
 he was to endure and suffer, he ex- 
 claimed, "It is finished ;" and gave up 
 the ghost. 
 
 And let it not be forgotten, that this 
 devoted obedience is enhanced by the 
 fact that he had ever before his mind, a 
 full view of all the pains and suflierings 
 which were appointed to him. When, 
 in heaven, he undertook the work of 
 human redemption, he knew that a 
 body was prepared for him for this very 
 purpose, and he declared, "Behold, I 
 come; in the volume of the book it is 
 written of me: I delight to do thy will, 
 O my God." 
 
 Now, were there revealed to us at 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 47 
 
 our birth, a vision of all the scenes 
 through which we are to pass in human 
 life, the new-born infant would shrink 
 from its coming existence, and prefer, 
 to its inheritance of evil and sorrow, the 
 boon of dying as soon as it opened its 
 eyes upon this world. 
 
 Such a vision Jesus had. In all the 
 years of his conscious existence, he saw 
 plainly through what scenes he must 
 pass. He bore about continually in his 
 body, his dying, and all the anticipa- 
 tion of the forms of grief which had 
 been marked out for him to endure. 
 Nothing came upon him, as it were, by 
 surprise, and as it is with us. It was 
 ever present to his thoughts, and laid 
 upon his heart; and he was even strait- 
 ened till his baptism of suffering should 
 be accomplished. Whether it were by 
 
48 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 night or by day, whether it were in 
 converse with his friends or at the fes- 
 tive board, (Mark xiv. 8), or amid the 
 glory of the transfiguration, (Luke ix. 
 31,) he never forgot for a moment, the 
 cup whose ingredients he knew, and 
 the decease which he should accom- 
 plish at Jerusalem. Yet though he 
 foresaw all his coming sorrows, he never 
 shrunk from encountering them. Once, 
 indeed, when the direst of all was near 
 at hand, he prayed, " Father save me 
 from this hour;" but immediately added, 
 "Yet for this cause came I unto this 
 hour. Father, glorify thy name, thy 
 will be done." Here was submission ; 
 not only when the trial came, but when 
 he looked through the long perspective 
 of his predicted sufferings. This was 
 obedience, indeed. Truly, this man 
 was the Son of God. 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 49 
 
 IV. But with this supreme devotion 
 to the will of God, and this exemplary 
 regard for the duties of religion, there 
 was no failure on his part, in the duties 
 he owed to his parents. There is no 
 proper room for collision between these 
 respective obligations. And right obe- 
 dience is rendered to neither, unless it 
 be rendered to both. His business in 
 the temple concluded, Jesus forthwith 
 returned with his parents to Nazareth, 
 and was subject unto them. In this he 
 manifested his reverence for their per- 
 sons, submission to their authority, and 
 zeal in testifying his love for them. 
 
 In these evil days of precocious inde- 
 pendence, how many affect to despise a 
 father's counsels and a mother's anxie- 
 ties, as the effusions of dotard bigotry 
 that has outgrown and forgotten its sym- 
 5 
 
50 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 pathies with the season of youth. Many 
 alas! are like that unhappy prodigal, 
 who said, "Give me the portion of 
 goods that falleth to my share ;" impa- 
 tient to escape from the restraints of 
 home, and to indulge themselves in 
 riotous living. 
 
 Many are impatient to enter upon 
 their inheritance, though they know it 
 can only be by the death of the too long 
 lived progenitor. Many cast off all alle- 
 giance and incur God's curse against 
 rebellious offspring. Many reject the 
 obligations of filial assistance, and self- 
 ishly pander to their own appetites, 
 w^hile they can suffer those who begat 
 them to pine in neglected poverty. 
 Many by evil courses bring down the 
 gray hairs of heart-broken parents with 
 sorrow to the grave. How beautiful the 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 51 
 
 contrast, in the early life of Jesus, who 
 neither renounced nor despised his pa- 
 rents, on account of his superior abili- 
 ties, but did homage to the womb that 
 bare him, and to him whom he knew 
 to be but his reputed father, and who 
 had protected his helpless infancy. It 
 would be delightful to go into detail, 
 and dwell upon the recorded instances 
 of his beautiful fihal piety. It is im- 
 portant to notice one instance which 
 shows us how it was manifested, and 
 how long it continued. It is evident 
 (Mark vi. 3,) not only that he was the 
 son of a carpenter, but that he followed 
 the occupation himself, for he was re- 
 proached with it when he entered upon 
 his ministry. It was indeed the cus- 
 tom of the Jews to give to their sons 
 some mechanical trade, and it was a 
 
52 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 matter of reproach to a young man not 
 to have been so brought up. Solon 
 enacted that children who did not main- 
 tain their parents in old age, when in 
 want, should be branded with infamy, 
 and lose the privilege of citizens ; he, 
 however, excepted from the rule those 
 children whom their parents had taught 
 no trade, nor provided with other means 
 of procuring a livelihood: and it w^as a 
 proverb of the Jews that, he who did 
 not bring up his son to a trade, brought 
 him up as a thief. But in the case of 
 Jesus, it is but reasonable to believe 
 that he pursued this occupation for his 
 own support, and for the help of his 
 parents; and that it was by this means 
 he provided for the support of Mary and 
 her family, after the death of Joseph, 
 before he entered upon his public life. 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 53 
 
 In this fact, we see the diligence and 
 industry of his private life, and with 
 what modest patience he abode in seclu- 
 sion for thirty years, until the appointed 
 time came for engaging in the work of 
 his public ministry, a fact which might 
 be contemplated with advantage by those 
 who, devoting themselves to this office, 
 hasten but half furnished to the service 
 of the altar, as if the Lord had need of 
 their neophyte impatience and zealous 
 incompetence. Our Lord thus dignified 
 an humble station, and commends to us 
 with honour the useful and respectable 
 employments of mechanic industry and 
 honourable toil in the laborious callings 
 of human life; while his example may 
 teach men, both contentment with a less 
 prominent condition, and how they may 
 serve God in their callings. And when, 
 
54 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 as was the case with him, ignorant and 
 foolish men give no honour to a minis- 
 ter because he has risen from the work- 
 bench or the plough, if he be but apt 
 to teach and is faithful to his work, he 
 may rather glory to be associated with 
 Paul the tent-maker, and with him of 
 whom they said, "Is not this the car- 
 penter?" 
 
 In this state of subjection to his 
 parents he continued, honouring and 
 dwelling with them while Joseph lived, 
 and afterwards with Mary, till his 
 entrance on the Mediatorial functions. 
 Nor did he ever outgrow his youthful 
 tenderness. " When he went about 
 doing good," the remembrance of a 
 desolate and widowed mother attended 
 him ; and when he was finishing his 
 course, "Love was stronger than death, 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 55 
 
 and would do its friendly offices amidst 
 the agonies of a crucifixion." How, 
 and what provision was made for her 
 during his triennial ministry, is not 
 written ; but we know what legacy 
 was appointed for her in his last will 
 and testament. In the bitterness of his 
 anguish, he compassionated her condi- 
 tion as well as her grief; and when he 
 could no longer think of her in person, 
 he found out a proxy to supply his 
 room and his affections. For while he 
 hung upon his cross, seeing his mother 
 and the disciple standing by whom he 
 loved, he saith unto his mother, "Wo- 
 man, behold thy. Son ;" and to the dis- 
 ciple, "Behold thy mother." Thus 
 mutually recommending the beloved 
 John to her love as one that would 
 thenceforward perform the duty of a 
 
56 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 son, and her to his care and protection 
 as one that should henceforth be to him 
 as a beloved mother. And from that 
 hour the dwelling of John became the 
 home of Mary the mother of Jesus, and 
 she found an honoured refuge there. 
 
 V. I have spoken of the singular 
 purity and holiness of the character ot 
 Jesus. This indeed belongs to his 
 whole career. And it is worthy of 
 especial notice in this connection, not 
 only in order that we may feel the 
 proper impression which it ought to 
 make, but as it serves to qualify all 
 those characteristics of piety and obe- 
 dience for which his early life was dis- 
 tinguished ; and in this relation, it be- 
 comes as instructive on the points before 
 us, as any recorded particular of his 
 childhood and early life. 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 57 
 
 We are in the habit of speaking of 
 the innocence of childhood, and the 
 guileless sincerity of youth ; but who 
 knows not, feels not, that these are but 
 comparative. Alas ! is not folly (sin) 
 bound up in the heart of a child ; and 
 which of us has not reason to deplore 
 his own waywardness, and to intreat 
 for the pardon of the sins of his youth ? 
 But when we contemplate the life of 
 Jesus, we see a model of purity, born 
 without the taint of corruption, and to 
 his last hour entirely without sin. Naj^ 
 by his intimate contact with divinity, 
 his holiness was superhuman, even 
 though it be compared with the un- 
 fallen Adam. There is none holy as 
 the Lord. Do we always take in the 
 full force of his immaculate sinlessness? 
 There have been good men on the 
 
58 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 earth, but theirs was at best the imper- 
 fect goodness of a fallen nature but 
 partly sanctified. Abraham was the 
 father of the faithful, and the friend of 
 God, and yet he falls into dissimula- 
 tion. Moses was a faithful servant of 
 God, and the meekest of men, and 
 yet he dies within sight of the pro- 
 mised land for not honouring the Lord 
 in the presence of Israel, and for ex- 
 hibiting the intemperate transports of 
 passion. Davnd was the man after 
 God's own heart, yet the brightness 
 of his history is stained with the mel- 
 ancholy marks of his foul and dread- 
 ful fall. Paul was a wonderful example 
 of holy zeal and labour for the cause of 
 God, yet he too was subject to con- 
 flicts with the flesh, and cries out, "O 
 wretched man that I am, who shall de- 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 59 
 
 liver me from the body of this death ?" 
 And John was the beloved disciple, on 
 whose bosom Jesus leaned, yet there 
 was an occasion when he was rebuked 
 for angry and intemperate zeal ; and he 
 tells us himself, that "if we say we 
 have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and 
 the truth is not in us." Alas ! we are 
 by nature the children of Avrath — and 
 our goodness is at the best alloyed, and 
 far from perfect. But there is abso- 
 lutely nothing of this in the man Christ 
 Jesus. He was born " that holy thing." 
 Satan found nothing in him. He was 
 " without sin." He was " holy, harm- 
 less, undefiled, and separate from sin- 
 ners." He was emphatically, " the 
 holy child Jesus." 
 
 And what make we of all this in him, 
 who was made of a woman, and made 
 
60 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 under the law ? It is not human for a 
 being of our race to be thus holy. It 
 surpasses every proper conception of 
 the character of the children of Adam. 
 But Jesus appears with a lustre of holi- 
 ness, that is not human ; that is all di- 
 vine. Was he, could he be a mere man ? 
 No ! He was what he claimed to be, 
 the Son of the Highest, who being in the 
 form of God, thought it no robbery to be 
 equal with God : but he made himself 
 of no reputation ; emptied himself of 
 his glory, and took upon him the form 
 of a servant — a station in which every 
 creature is placed by the bare fact of his 
 creation — but he took upon him the 
 form of a servant ; therefore he is no 
 creature, therefore, he is the Creator, 
 God over all, and blessed for ever; and 
 being found in fashion as a man, he 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 61 
 
 humbled himself and became obedient 
 even unto death ; though he were a son, 
 learning obedience by the things which 
 he suffered. 
 
 What a character must he have been 
 even in his childhood ! In all circum- 
 stances exhibiting entire freedom from 
 every external transgression, and entire 
 and unswerving obedience to every claim 
 of duty. And his outward life was but 
 the expression and the transcript of his 
 pure and holy soul. No unhallowed 
 thought ever found entertainment in his 
 mind; no irregular desire or vengeful 
 passion ever stirred up emotion in his 
 heart ; no motions of sins agitated his 
 members ; no principle or purpose of 
 selfishness ever controlled his conduct. 
 If we might imagine him, amid the 
 usual employments of childhood ; we 
 
02 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 should see no fretful impatience, no pe- 
 tulant caprice. If we contemplate him 
 amid the shades of domestic life, we 
 should see no froward perverseness, no 
 rebellious opposition to parental claims, 
 nor any reluctance toward the duties 
 they commanded ; for him no sigh was 
 ever extorted from his father's heart, 
 and over him that mother never found 
 cause to shed a single tear. If we sur- 
 vey him in his intercourse with his fel- 
 low-men, we should hear no angry word, 
 nor see any departure from the beauti- 
 ful simplicity, modesty, gentleness, good- 
 ness, and grace, which we instinctively 
 ascribe to him. Wherever we behold 
 him, he is the same tender, patient, 
 loving, pious, and amiable being that 
 afterward went about doing good, and 
 at last died the just for the unjust that 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 63 
 
 he mifTht brins^ us to God. Grace was 
 poured upon his hps ; wisdom sat en- 
 throned in his heart ; the strength of his 
 understanding, and the clearness of his 
 conscience were never defiled and never 
 impaired by any corrupt and degrading 
 bias. Oh, what a childhood — what a 
 youth — what a manhood was this. Was 
 it not worthy to attract and fix upon it 
 for ever, the admiration and the delight 
 of both God and man ! 
 
 And this now, is an example for us, 
 O ! when we look upon it, how it 
 humbles us in the dust. Let all 
 parents ponder these things in their 
 hearts as Mary did, and learn from 
 them how they should care for the 
 religious instruction of their children ; 
 
64 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 let them both exemplify, and train them 
 to piety, making them your companions, 
 in the ordinances of the sanctuary. 
 No parents, indeed can hope for such a 
 son as Mary's. Yet let them never- 
 theless consider what their offspring 
 may become, if through turning your 
 hearts unto your children, your child- 
 ren's hearts be turned unto you, as 
 heirs of like precious faith, as heirs 
 together of the grace of life. They 
 shall be blessed, and become a blessing 
 to the world. And, honoured of heaven 
 and earth, their piety shall turn to 
 your joy and praise ; for blessings 
 shall be invoked on the womb that 
 bare them, and upon the breasts that 
 nourished their infancy. 
 
 But especially does this private life 
 of Christ demand the consideration of 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 65 
 
 the young. Behold the youthful Jesus 
 and strive to be like him. 
 
 "Be not children in understanding, 
 nevertheless be children in malice but 
 in understanding be men." Imitate 
 the diligence of Jesus in the improve- 
 ment of time, and in gaining divine 
 wisdom amid the humble domestic and 
 and mechanical employments in which 
 he was brought up. If, turning away 
 from the allurements of frivolous dis- 
 sipation, and redeeming your unem- 
 ployed hours from listless sloth and 
 idle waste, you set yourselves to the 
 improvement of the mind and the cul- 
 tivation of the heart, yours shall be 
 the possession of that wisdom whose 
 ways are pleasantness and all her paths 
 are peace. As 3''0u grow then in 
 years, seek also to grow in grace, and 
 6 
 
66 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 in the knowledge of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ. Thus shall it be 
 yours, to be honoured by all the pious 
 on earth, and at last to be a gem in 
 that celestial galaxy, where they that 
 be wise shall shine as the brightness 
 of the firmament and as the stars for 
 ever and ever. 
 
 Contemplate also his reverence for 
 his parents and for superiors — his con- 
 tentment and usefulness in an humble 
 sphere, until the appointed time came 
 for his advancement to a more public 
 station — his modesty, and gentleness, 
 and moderation, and quietness, " who 
 neither strove, nor cried, neither Avas 
 his voice heard in the streets," and even 
 in the temple, when his superior wis- 
 dom could not be all concealed from 
 the astonished ears of the spectators. 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 67 
 
 Still occupying the learner's place — and 
 thus teaching us to reverence the lesson, 
 that days should speak and multitude 
 of years teach wisdom. Instead of the 
 presumption and the pride, the froward- 
 ness and insubordination to which 
 youth too much incline, and which 
 none can admire and love, follow rather 
 the venerable example of Him, who 
 though he w^as the greatest, the best, 
 and wisest of beings, invites us thus, 
 "Learn of me, for I am meek and 
 lowly of heart." 
 
 And consider farther the forcefulness 
 of such an example of youthful piety. 
 How many of the young deem them- 
 selves too young to be religious, and 
 even contemn the obligations of the 
 Sabbath, and the worship of God's 
 house. They grow in age and sta- 
 
68 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 ture, but not in wisdom, neither in fa- 
 vour with God or man ; while their pre- 
 cocious impieties reveal to us nothing 
 but prognostics of an evil life and a 
 dreadful end. "Come ye children," 
 hearken unto me, I will teach you the 
 fear of the Lord. What man is he 
 that desireth life, and loveth many days, 
 that he may see good ? Keep thy 
 tongue from evil and thy lips from 
 speaking guile. Depart from evil and 
 do good ; seek peace and pursue it. 
 The eyes of the Lord are upon the 
 righteous, and his ears are open unto 
 their cry. The face of the Lord is 
 against them that do evil, to cut off the 
 remembrance of them from the earth." 
 Remember your Creator in the days of 
 your youth. 
 
 If He, who was " the brifrhtness of 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 69 
 
 the Father's glory, and the express 
 image of his person," has condescended 
 to become an example of our duty, and 
 to illustrate it in his own life, what 
 added obligations rest upon us in this 
 fact. 
 
 And say not, " this is too high, we 
 cannot attain unto it, and therefore it is 
 vain to propose to us such a model." 
 This does not exempt us from striving 
 to be follovv-ers, (imitators) of God as 
 dear children, — from aspiring after con- 
 formity to the image of his Son. On 
 the contrary, he has shown us what 
 human nature is capable of becoming, 
 under the influence of divine grace 
 He left us an example. He has done 
 more. He came to lift our feet from the 
 miry clay and from the horrible pit. 
 
70 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 By his Spirit, you can be created anew 
 in Christ Jesus. By repentance and 
 faith, you may feel that his blood 
 cleanseth from all sin, and purges the 
 conscience from dead works, to serve the 
 living and true God. Receive him, 
 then, as he is offered to you in the gos- 
 pel, and you shall receive power also to 
 become the sons of God ; and if sons, 
 then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs 
 with Jesus Christ. And in the sure 
 title to an inheritance of glory, honour, 
 and immortality, it shall be yours to 
 expatiate and exult in the prospect of 
 beholding His face in righteousness, 
 and anticipating the satisfaction of awak- 
 ing in the resurrection in the perfect 
 image of God. "Beloved, now are we 
 the sons of God ; and it doth not yet 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 71 
 
 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." 
 
 i^- 
 
BS2421.K92ci 
 
 The private, domestic and social life of 
 
 Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00056 5889