Luke 2

Luke 2:14

HEAVEN’S PEACE Luke 2:14ONE who has read Lew Wallace’s much-loved work “Ben Hur” can never forget the pen picture which he makes from the subject of this text—the clear, starry night in which a watchman, just ready to exchange his post for the pillow of the shepherd who comes to relieve him, looks heavenward and sees the star of Bethlehem, and in his excitement shouts to his fellow shepherds, “Awake! Awake! The sky is on fire!” At his call they start, but seeing this wondrous splendor, fall senseless to the earth, till the angel drawing near roused and reassured them by saying, “Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord”. Wallace says, “The Herald spake not again; his Good Tidings were told; yet he stayed the while. Suddenly a light of which he seemed the center, turned roseate and began to tremble, and then up as far as men could see there was a flashing of white wings and voices shouting as in unison, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will”, not once, or twice, but many times. Then the Herald raised his eyes as if seeking the approval of one far away. His wings spread magnificently—the upper side white as snow; in the shadow, tinted like mother of pearl. When they were expanded many cubits beyond his stature and without effort, he floated out of view, taking the light up with him. Long after he was gone, they heard the refrain, in measures mellowed by the distance—“Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace among men of good will”. Shortly ago we celebrated the 1925th anniversary of that heavenly event. That fact of history, which in importance transcends all others, makes a special study of this text most appropriate. I am pleased this evening to discourse it under three great heads: “The Glory Song”, “The Good Tidings”, and “Men of Good Will”. THE GLORY SONG God is the subject of it. One of the most popular hymns of recent times is that written by Charles H. Gabriel: “When all my labors and trials are o’er, And I shall stand on that beautiful shore: Just to be near the dear Lord’ I adore, Will through the ages be glory for me. Oh, that will be glory for me, Glory for me, glory for me. When by His grace I shall look on His face, That will be glory, be glory for me”. It will necessarily be short-lived, not alone because the music to which the words are set lacks dignity, but because the glory has an insufficient subject. Neither glory for man, nor the glory of man is made-much of in the Sacred Word of God. The theme is too insignificant and too short-lived. To neither man, idols, nor angels do glory and praise belong. When Paul preached at Ephesus and excited a sacred sensation, to offset the wondrous effects of his words, Demetrius got together the worshippers of Diana, and we are told that “they all with one accord, by the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” We have often wondered how they could keep up the music for so long a time with so small a theme; and we doubt not that when the town clerk began his address the worshippers of Diana were glad to be released of further attempt to sing her praises. But since the Morning Stars sang together in the acknowledgement of God as their Creator, practically all the good music of the spheres and of saints and angels has paid tribute to one theme, namely, “the glory of God”. Do you not recall that in the year of King Uzziah the great prophet, Isaiah, saw one upon the throne “and His praise filled the whole temple and by Him sat the seraphim and one cried unto another and said, “Glory, Glory to the Lord of Hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory”. And you certainly recall how in the Book of the Revelation, when John enjoyed a vision of the heaven, and heard the music of the same, the subject of it was changed in no whit, the flying angel was saying with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give glory to Him”. And, in a certain place in this same Book of the Revelation John speaks of “a hush in heaven for the space of half an hour” as though that were a thing unusual; and the more we know of the God of their worship the less we wonder at the continuity of it; and the more we know of the great gift of His Son, the less amazed are we that the hour of its consummation should become the one in which the music of the angels, breaking beyond the confines of heaven, was heard even by the ears of earth. Dr. Cummings has said, “There are various sounds in nature, all plaintive and sad—the voice of the winds, the chime of the waves, the song of the birds are in the minor key, as if all creation groaned and travailed in pain, waiting for deliverance, that great deliverance when the great Composer of nature shall transpose her strains from the minor into the major”. We believe that transposition was begun on the night when Christ was born, and though Nature’s voice remains in the minor key, wherever Grace hath touched hearts of men it has also attuned their throats to sing His praise. So we conclude with Paul “To God, only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ”. Christ is the occasion of it. It was upon His coming that earth heard the anthems of Heaven. Speaking by the Prophet Isaiah’s lips, “The Lord God, the Holy One of Israel” anticipating the1 coming of Christ, declared, “I have created Him for My glory, I have formed Him, yea I have made Him” (Isaiah 43:7) And with reference to His second appearance also it is prophetically affirmed, “The Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father, with His holy angels” (Matthew 16:27). Unto Him is promised “thrones of glory” (Matthew 19:28). “Thinking it not robbery to be equal with God”, the Father, He has both elicited and accepted the praise of men. I use the word “elicited” with clear intent. To the regenerated, Christ is “all in all”. Henry Van Dyke, in his volume, “The Gospel for an Age of Doubt” says of the Apostles of Jesus, “It was the manifestation of Christ that converted them; the love of Christ that impelled them. He was their certainty and their strength. He was their peace and their hope. For Christ they labored and suffered; in Christ they gloried; for Christ’s sake they lived and died.

They were confident that they could do all things through Christ which strengthened them. The offices of the Church—apostles, bishop, deacon, evangelist—call them by what names you will, were simply forms of service to Him as Master; the doctrines of the Church were simple unfoldings of what she had received from Him as Teacher; the worship of the Church, as distinguished from that of the Jewish Synagogue and the Heathen Temple, was the adoration of Christ as Lord”. Alfred Tennyson was expressing no unusual thought when, walking with a friend one day in the garden, he stopped by some beautiful flower and said, “What the sun is to the flower, Christ is to my soul. He is the Sun of my soul!” Only because Tennyson was a remarkable man have these words received especial attention. He voiced what the common man in sentiment has equally felt, though in speech less ornate, he tries to express the same. How often we have joined with John Keble in singing: “Son of my soul, thou Saviour dear, It is not night when Thou art near, Oh, may no earth-born cloud arise, To hide Thee from thy servant’s eyes.” And perhaps not in all the years that are dead, in which the whole Christian crowd turned poets, but felt what Anson Randolph wrote: “Christ the Theme of Song in all Ages” Oh, endless theme of never-ceasing song, And music, wakened by supremest love! How hath it broke from feeble lips and strong, The power divine, and matchless grace to prove: Christ Son of God, and Christ the Son of Man, Christ on the Cross, and Christ in kingly reign So through the ages, since the song began, With swelling hosts, the saints repeat the strain. On hills and plains the Israelite only knew On classic soil, on drifting desert sand. Where’er the Roman eagles swiftly flew, Or roamed abroad the fierce, ungoverned band. ‘Mong Jew and Gentile, as in wandering horde, Barbarian, Scythian, all, the bond or free— There were who watched and waited for the Lord, And some who did His mighty wonders see. How from the warm and ever-ruddy East, Far to the rugged North and golden West, The knowledge of this wondrous Christ increased, With life and hope the dying nations blessed: Thence saints, exultant, onward bore His sign From land to land, and compassed every shore; One Lord, one faith, one aim, one end divine, Their theme and song, their life forever more! Since holy women bowed their heads and wept, Where from the grave the angel rolled the stone, That grave where He, the Son of God, had slept As Son of Man, in darkness and alone,— What countless names the world’s applause have won! What notes of praise have men to these inscribed! How soon to be forgotten, one by one, And earth’s poor honors to the dead denied! Not mightiest kings the earth has ever seen, Nor time, nor powers men honored or abhorred, Could crust the memory of the Nazarene, Or shut the saints from presence of their Lord: In kingly courts, in prisons foul and damp, In scenes tumultuous, as in homes of peace, There, with His own, God’s Angel would encamp, There rise the songs that nevermore shall cease! Thus through the years of ages long ago, Thus in the changes of these latter days: Only one Lord, our Lord, above, below, And He the object of our endless praise: This the same key-note of unnumbered lyres, This, too, the unending song of sweet accord. O world, ye have no theme that thus inspires; Ye still reject and crucify the Lord. In furnace fires, on mountains drear and cold, In peasant hut as in the palace hall, The story of His life forever told, And His dear love the burning theme of all: From lips too weak aught human to express, From noble hearts that held the world at bay, What songs have risen, and what strains confess The blessed One whom I would praise today! Christ Son of God, and Christ the Son of Man; Christ of the cross, and Christ in kingly reign So sang the saints when first the song began; So shall it rise, a never-ending strain. Come Thou, and touch my lips, that I may sing; Come fill my heart with love to overflow; My Lord, my Life, I would some tribute bring, And tell the world how much to Thee I owe! Angels only could chant it. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will”. And yet Christian men and women can do better than copy the angels’ song, for the new spirit put within them enables the singing of the new song, and that which angels chanted they have turned into an oratorio. They sing it when they are happy. It is said that Billie Bray, the Cornish miner, was forever singing. One day some of the good people of the church told him that if he did not quit singing they would shut him up in a barrel; to which Billie good naturedly replied, “If you do, then I will praise God through the bung hole”! They sing when sickness and sorrow are on; when the death angel hath passed and his destructive work is still before the eyes, the song is not hushed. Then our hopes are set to music, and the rising tune rouses our courage. A singing church, therefore, ought to be a conquering church. When Napoleon’s army came to a pass in the Alps where the rocks seemed insurmountable, and the ammunition wagons were stalled, the great General went to the leader of the band and asked for the portfolio. Upon receiving it, he turned the leaves until he came to an inspiring march, and pointing to the same, he said, “Play that”, and the whole band struck up the march with their best breath, and over the rocks the ammunition wagons went. The man that sings is bound to be the man of soul; and the church that sends its music trembling toward Heaven is apt to be a church which shall take its course upward and in the name of Christ conquer. THE GOOD TIDINGS But this text does not end with “Glory to God in the highest”! There is added “on earth peace”. The very word “Peace” would seem to embody in itself the world’s most blessed proclamation. We sometimes speak of “the mission of the Son of Man” and imagine that we find it in Luke 19:10—“For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” but it can be phrased in other language also, and just as adequately compassed. Listen to the Lord as He talks to His disciples with reference to His departure from them, saying, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”. What does He mean? Three things at least—that peace is the plan of heaven: that peace is the portion of the saints, and that peace is the promise to the earth. Peace is the plan of Heaven. Men hold a multitude of conferences in the interests of the common good, and they work out many theories which are heralded as the consummation of wisdom. For seven successive years the theme of the world has been “Peace”. Our former President’s part in its proclamation sufficed to save his name from foreboding obscurity. Conferences at the Hague long since attracted the attention of all the world. Writers are now arising who declare they behold, dimly outlined on the horizon of the future, “a federation of world powers” which is more than a spectre; and some of us are inclined to think they are right, for this federation of the world powers is in prophecy, with the anti-christ as its coming president. But this peace which will arise out of the earth and will be earthly, like all else from the same source, will be short-lived; and in bloodshed and sorrow men will learn to put their trust in no plan save that which God hath formed, the pattern of which is shown alone to those who by prayer and study climb into the mount of God. But when it is understood these things will definitely appear. Peace is the portion of God’s saints. When Christ said “Peace I give unto you”, He spoke first of all of a personal experience to be known by His apostles and disciples, “Great peace have they who love God’s law”. “We have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ”. When Paul came to write his Epistle to the Philippians and wanted to speak of it, language failed him; but he uttered this, “Be not anxious about anything; but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”. Truly, as Dr. Mattheson said, “There is a peace which results from looking for nothing, longing for nothing, praying for nothing—a peace which is painless. But it is the peace of death—we would not want that gift! It is the peace of the grave, into which men have gone to forget all—we pray not for it. But there is a peace as of the ocean; it holds depths beneath it, and the over-arching sky of God is beyond—the peace of possession, the calm of courage, the endurance that springs from energy, and that we crave. The silence that comes from serenity, that has sprung from a quiet faith—this we believe to be the peace of God in joy or in sorrow”. “There is a peace that cometh after sorrow, Of hope surrendered, not of hope fulfilled. A peace that looketh not upon, to-morrow, But calmly on a tempest that is stilled. A peace which lives not now in joy’s excesses, Nor in the happy life of love secure But in the unerring strength the heart possesses, Of conflicts won, while learning to endure. A peace there is, in sacrifice secluded, A life subdued, from will and passion free, ’Tis not the peace that over Eden brooded; But that which triumphed in Gethsemane”. How shall the Son come into possession of it? Let Henry Van Dyke teach us: “With eager heart and will on fire I fought to win my great desire; “Peace shall be mine”, I said, but life Grew bitter in the endless strife. My soul was weary, and my pride Was wounded deep; to heaven I cried, ‘God grant me peace or I must die’; The dumb stars glittered no reply. Broken at last I bowed my head, Forgetting all myself, and said, ‘Whatever come, His will be done’, And in that moment peace was won”. Peace-—God’s promise to the earth. Let no man be disturbed because the Bible prophesies “wars and rumors of wars”; by the same sure Word is the day appointed when “sword shall be beaten into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks, and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Micah 4:3). The hour of peace of which Dr. Reginald Campbell in my presence once spoke in his vague, misty, and unbiblical way, apparently resting his hopes in the triumph of natural good will come; it is the very plan of God—positive, prophetic, and potent. But it will not come from below! The Prince of Peace, when He descends, will bring it with Him; and when His sceptre knows universal sway, then the nations of the earth will come into its blessed experience. This phrase, “Peace on earth”, then has a prophetic outlook. We dare not then, with others, rest our hopes for a universal peace upon “the spirit that now permeates human society”. It is said that on the night before Christmas, 1870, the French and German armies were facing each other. A French soldier received permission to leave the lines. He walked toward the Germans. His comrades watched with bated breath, listening lest there should be the crack of a rifle, and their fellow should fall and bite the dust. When he had gotten well toward their lines he suddenly stopped and began to sing the Christmas song, the refrain of which was, “Noel! Noel!

Christ is King in Israel”. The German soldiers did not stir, their hearts beat more quickly and their thoughts were carried back to happy groups gathered about brilliantly-lighted Christmas trees in the homes beyond the Rhine. When the Frenchman had finished his song and returned to the ranks, a man came out from behind the German breast-works, and coming to the same spot, he sang a beautiful German version of the same song. At the close of each stanza both armies united in the chorus: “Noel! Noel! Christ is King in Israel”.

The selfishness of Napoleon III had arrayed these men against one another in bloody battle, but the Spirit of Jesus Christ, conquering for one short hour, obliterated hatred and started in their every heart the sense of brotherhood. When Christ sits upon the throne and the sceptre of power is in His hand, man will fight and rage no more. Then, Oh, then, the peace of the earth will come. But my final question is this: To whom? “MEN OF GOOD WILL”. The last phrase of our text, “Men of good will” answers it. To me this translation of the text is unquestionably correct. God has never declared a truce with sinners; nor hath he published peace for men whose hearts are hard and hot with rebellion. Think then with me, who are the subjects of the glad tidings. “Men of good will” are regenerate men. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them”. “They are foolishness unto him”. “Ye must be born again” was the declaration of Jesus to Nicodemus. It is not the law of church-membership only, but the necessity of that kingdom of grace and peace which is one day to obtain in all the earth, and which is to be the universal experience of all who enter heaven. I am not going to enter this evening upon a definition of “regeneration”. I think I might consent with Henry Clay Trumbell that “there is much of mystery about this phrase, and that misguided theologians have sometimes perverted Christ’s teaching upon the subject”. So I stop with the holy necessity, “Ye must be born again”. Somehow it has come to pass that the soul that is to know the peace of God which passeth understanding, must surrender to the Son of God and crown Him Lord of Life. Dr. Edward W. Moore speaking of that reign of peace which is to crown the coming of Christ, says, “That kingdom comes down out of heaven from God. His government does not ascend from the earth (vox populi is not vox Dei; vox populi crucified Jesus); it descends from God. Even now men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth (Luke 20:26). But those who look for those things that are coming down out of heaven, even though they cry, “How long, oh Lord, how long,” shall yet see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27).

For the Word is sure, “I will overturn, overturn, overturn, until He come, whose right it is, and I will give it Him” (Ezekiel 21:27). The true kingdom descends! Education, morality, culture—these things may do much, but there is one thing they can never do, viz. regenerate a soul. That was a touching story of the Elder William, German Emperor. Entering a national school one day, he pointed to a plant on the table, and asked a child, “What kingdom does that belong to?” “The vegetable, your majesty”. “And this stone?” “The mineral, your majesty”. “And to what kingdom do I belong?” The little maiden paused a moment and replied, “The kingdom of God, your majesty”. The Emperor was deeply moved, and, putting his hand on the child’s head, said, “May it indeed prove to be so”.

If it is to be so of you or me, it must come down from above; heaven must enter us, or we shall never enter heaven. Men of good will are glorious men. You can say what you like, but in the last analysis it will be discovered that every moral and social uplift that the world knows comes from God’s men, men of good will, glorious men! To be sure the unbelieving borrow from us, and once in a while they make a great ado about social improvement, humane endeavor, kindly sentiment, care for the sick, the sorrowing and the dying, and all that; but their interest shortly wanes. The open sore of the world falls again to the consideration and treatment of the Christian crowd. Oh, brethren! We who have been born from above, and who are begotten by His precious Blood, it is ours not alone to sing the glorious song, but to bear the Glad Tidings to the ends of the earth. Sometime since when our Sunday School lessons were in the Old Testament we came one day upon that portion of history where the four lepers had discovered the flight of the enemy, and brought to besieged Samaria the news that their tents were full of food, and one said to another, “Go and tell the King’s household” and one lesson help commented: “Where is the king’s household? Wherever there are lonely families, stricken souls to be helped; wherever there are men and women to be saved for King Immanuel. John Wesley was seeking them when he carried the real message of the Gospel into the students rooms and into humble homes of England. George Whitfield was getting at them when he lifted the Gospel proclamation with such rare power under the open skies of old and new England and surrounded himself with throngs of colliers and villagers. The missionary of the Cross is going to tell the king’s household when he hastens to the benighted abroad or to the hopeless and neglected of our great cities. Wherever we go let us look for the King’s household.

Say with the great French general Champlain on his tour of discovery and conquest, ‘These kingdoms are for God’ and proclaim Peace! Peace!”

Luke 2:41-52

THE CHILD AND THE CHURCH THE theme, “The Child and the Church”, is too important to be passed over with brief consideration. I have selected for our text this evening Luke 2:41-52. Psychologically, the place to begin a revival is in the home; and the first converts of the same should be the children. The wisest of evangelists recognize that fact and the most far-seeing pastors will carefully regard it. We do not care to conceal our purpose in presenting this sermon. It is to arouse parents, Sunday School teachers and all others to a proper conception of the importance of the child’s conversion. In that connection what more appropriate Scripture could I select than this which relates itself to the greatest religious event in the life of the child—Jesus. The Biblical story clearly suggests three things: The Child’s Attendance, The Child’s Interest, and The Child’s Development. THE CHILD’S He had parents whose custom was church attendance. That was a boon bigger than seems to this superficial century. At a prayer-meeting one woman referred to her upbringing by Scotch parents and said that “the Sabbath never went by without seeing them in the sanctuary”. It is on that very account that many of us are thankful for the strain of Scotch blood running in our veins. When we re-member the number of fathers and mothers in America who seldom set foot in God’s house, we have a partial explanation of prodigal sons and daughters. Dr.

A. J. Gordon once addressed a student volunteer company in which over sixty names were pledged to work on foreign fields, almost the entire delegation from Princeton University enrolling. Writing home regarding the matter, he declared it his conviction that “these young men and women were willing to go into the ministry and give themselves to missions because their godly and self-denying parents had set ‘before them a religious example”. Once in a long while the child of the infidel is converted and makes a good church-member; once in an age, the child of the man who seldom attends church gives himself assiduously to the same. These are the marked exceptions that prove the rule.

Christ seldom receives recruits to His army from houses other than those in which parents are church attendants. Christ’s parents believed in taking the child to church. When they went to the temple he was with them. No finer sight ever greets the eyes of priest or pastor than the vision of an entire family entering God’s house together and occupying one seat. No excuse made by father or mother for failure in this respect is sufficient. It’s a poor plea to say, “We can’t get ready in time”. The excuse is only another name for indolence!

For time immemorial, mothers who have had no help, singlehanded and alone, have corralled the last child, equipping for decent church attendance. Verily I say unto you, “Such mothers have their reward”. Better to rise early to make the little one ready for church than sit up late and listen for the footsteps of the large one whose coming is always an occasion of anxiety. Better to take them to God’s House even if their dress is not immaculate, if the last possible touch of beauty has not been given, than to have to face them in later years in ragged conduct and confessedly stained character. A widely-known minister once taught that the man who couldn’t win his child to Christ and hold him to the church was unworthy a place in the church itself. When I read that in one of his volumes, I looked immediately to see in what year it was published and discovered that at the time he couldn’t have had a child that was past his infancy. It is easier for young men to talk in terms of theory than it is for men advanced in years to face the fruits of their own endeavor. The argument, however, by which that minister led up to that conclusion is an argument that ought to be in the ears of father and mother alike. He had referred to one of his parishioners who had two beautiful children concerning whom he had said, “Pastor, I haven’t seen my bairns awake for several months”. When asked what he meant, he replied, “Well, don’t you see, I have been so fearfully busy, and business is going at such a rate, that I am up and off in the morning before they are awake.

I do not get home at night until they are in bed, and on Sunday I am down at the church all day, and so I hardly see them at all”. To this the preacher justly replied, “My dear brother, for God’s sake, and for your children’s sake drop something in your business, and if you cannot do that, drop something at the church; look after your bairns. It is an infinitely better investment to give your time to them, and to keep your hand on them, than anything else you can do”. Joseph and Mary were illustrations of that contention. Christ was their sufficient reward. The parents of Christ put trust in their child. When they went to church, He was with them. When they left the sanctuary, they looked not to see if He was along, a revelation of their confidence. Doubtless His conduct had always been such as to justify that confidence; doubtless this piece of conduct was a sore disappointment to them both. It seemed out of all keeping with what they had hitherto seen and confidently expected. It is well for parents to remember the complexity of child-life, and not to demand that it forever fit itself into rules mechanically made.

Handel was a great disappointment to his father-physician. He did his best to discourage the boy’s fondness for music, and when he found that he had secured an old spinet and practiced on it secretly in the hayloft, his confidence in the lad was greatly shaken. If he were alive now, he would rejoice in being the father of the famous composer. Michael Angelo was forever covering the walls of the house with sketches. His parents were so tried with him that they declared that he was no son of theirs. He put in whole nights copying-drawings that he dared not bring home, and yet the lad understood better than even the parents did, the immortal power which God had imparted to him.

We are told that Benjamin West’s parents, thinking their boy was wasting his time in painting, hid the brushes, whereupon the lad caught the old family cat, and pulled the hair out of her, and made a brush for himself. The disgust of father and mother alike went on while he was exercising his divinely-given talent. The Reynolds paintings face you in old world galleries almost oftener than any other. His father once rebuked him for doing such business “out of pure idleness”, saying that he was seeking to escape the more serious tasks of life. Increasingly am I convinced that we ought to live in such touch with our lads and lassies as to discover their thoughts, the reason for their conduct. That being done, our confidence will increase and control will become correspondingly easy. I seriously doubt if Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst could have said a wiser thing than when he declared: “The office of school commissioner and school committee is to help the teacher to carry out the intentions of nature rather than to compel him to embarrass and controvert those intentions”. If that be true, why is not that also an obligation of parents?

To have suspected the child Christ would have been an infidelity equal to that of suspecting the crucified Christ. To have forced Him against His will and against His conviction of what the Father’s will was, would have been a crucifixion for childhood equal to that which He suffered on Calvary. THE CHILD’S Turning again to our text, we discover two or three things: This child’s interest exceeded parental expectation. For three full days they sought for him, but they looked elsewhere than in the Temple. They doubtless visited the homes of parents and friends. It was a fruitless search. No child’s pastime could have so engaged His interest as to so beget neglect of father and mother. He was but twelve years of age, but the great absorbing passion of His soul was to know the truth.

He believed that truth ought to be discovered in the Temple, where God’s name was called, where God’s Book was read, where God’s teachers stood forth to speak. Not a few of the children of this generation have been led to think that the truth cannot be discovered in the Temple; but they must go to a secular school to understand what is true and what is false; must ask an unprejudiced and possibly even an irreligious teacher “whether there be a God?” “Whether the Bible is inspired?” “Whether Adam was created by the divine will and work, or whether He came as Darwin explains?” The result is, that a child, before he has reached years of discretion is steeped in skepticism. One who knows not God has declared that He does not exist; the apostles of Darwin deride Genesis, scoff at Jonah, call Daniel “a vain dreamer”, and name Christ the bastard son of Joseph. Oftentimes all this is done before parents realize that the children are old enough to understand the so-called deep things of religion. How is it that we do not learn from history? The whole course and testimony of the Church of Christ looks in another direction. From the day when Christ lifted children to His knee, put His hands upon them and blessed them, until now, children have not only been the type of the true subjects of the Kingdom, but have themselves become the same. Thousands and tens of thousands of them, properly instructed, have been received into the churches, have grown into beautiful womanhood and glorious manhood, and have made up the great strength of the army of God. If church history could be written in full, it would be found that children have acquired not only the largest but the most glorious faith. Not one virtue that ever characterized manhood or womanhood is found wanting in their conduct.

The interest of the child is often so deep as to make him a willing martyr for the Master in whom he believes. You have heard of the cruel treatment of William Maldon who insisted upon attending church and mingling with the little knot of listeners, being utterly fascinated with the story of the Gospel. His father’s wrath increased when he learned that the boy, clubbing his scanty funds with those of another youth, equally interested, had bought a New Testament, and that the Book was hid under a bed of straw. Dragging him from his secret reading place by the hair of the head, he beat him unmercifully. The little lad, however, endured it all, believing that he was suffering for Christ’s sake and shed not a tear. His father put a rope about his neck and threatened to hang him if he did not cease from Scripture study, but he was loyal to his Lord, declaring he would give up his life rather than yield. Whenever martyrdom has been the price of privileges in Christ Jesus, children have been almost as ready to pay the same as full-grown men and women. Christ’s interest took on intelligent expression. “They found Him in the Temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions”. “All that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers”. If one undertakes to explain this interest from the human side, he has not undertaken an impossibility! The child whose parents are church-attendants and who, from infancy, is taken by them to where the Word of God is preached, would commonly be intelligent. In recent years we have had a great revelation of Biblical ignorance. College and University students have been put to the test of a few simple questions on the Scriptures and their answers have been grotesque and in the last degree ridiculous. In some instances they have been even unthinkable.

We marvel that full-grown men and women in later years of university life show such lamentable ignorance of the most important Book the world has ever seen. And yet the reason is not far to seek. In many instances they have not been accustomed to church attendance at all, and training in the Scriptures has been utterly neglected. In other instances, where they have attended church, the preacher has had no system of Biblical instruction! These are the young men and women who are brought easily to the view of “Moderns”, to whom Darwin’s word is far more significant than that of Daniel, or any of the prophets of God. In the years of student life, and to those might be added the years of ministerial observation, I have not known one single person who was well equipped in a knowledge of the Word of God to come to skeptical conclusions. Upon recalling the fact that youth is the time when we acquire information most easily, we realize the importance of Biblical instruction for children. Would that our Sunday School teachers understood the seriousness of this, and that our parents took note of the same. Again and again, I find boys and girls in Christian homes who cannot answer the simplest questions concerning Christ; who do not know His mother’s name; who do not know that He was not begotten by Joseph; who do not remember who baptized Him; at times, they cannot even tell the manner of His death; seldom do they know the significance of His resurrection. These are the simplest and surface things in the life of Christ.

They are, nevertheless, either overlooked or so poorly impressed on the minds of the students that they straightway forget what was said regarding them. The Board of Deacons, when it comes to its examination is not surprised merely but astounded at the lack of understanding, and the inadequate answers. It is time that we ceased from our sermonizing and discharged our duty to impress the actual text of Scripture upon the minds of the boys and girls who make up our student classes. Christ’s answer revealed His conscious relation to God. When His mother said unto Him, “Son, why hast Thou dealt thus with us? Behold Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing”; He said unto them, “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?” The word “Father” is here introduced as a new note in religion. The employing of it by Jesus Christ at the age of twelve indicates that He then understood His Sonship, and possibly all that it involved of equality with God Himself and of eternal existence. I read with ever-increasing interest, and ever-increasing surprise also, the output of critical professors. One who is not among ultra-critics recently published a volume entitled, “The Man of Nazareth” in which he makes this remark: “When Jesus was ten or twelve years of age, and a remarkably bright boy for his age”, etc. There is the modern conception—“a remarkably bright boy for his age”. The language sounds like an endeavor to extricate Him from the indictment of Deity. This, however, fails to account for the answer: “I must be about My Father’s business”. Some time ago, a woman in the West was telling about a certain chap who lived in Minneapolis. His parents used to leave him and his little brothers, on special occasions, in the charge of some one or another. One day they noticed the parents leave and there seemed to be nobody in charge. This little three-year-old lad was playing in the back yard, and a neighbor called out to him and asked him, “Who is taking care of you?”, to which he eagerly replied, “The Heavenly Father is taking care of me”. Mark you, he said, “The Heavenly Father”, not My Father. When, in all history, did another child claim God as his father after this manner? If Jesus didn’t know that He was divine even when He was yet a boy, what is the explanation of this speech? John Watson, in “The Mind of the Master”, tells us that the Jewish prophets assigned to Jehovah the noblest emotions known to men. That was to carve the white marble, indeed. But Christ went farther and brought Him nigh by saying, “My Father!” From that moment until now, one thing that has made God real and imminent is the employment of that possessive pronoun. And yet, that conception was in the Old Testament. David says, “The Lord is my Shepherd”. Christ is bringing God nigh by the expression “My Father”.

While it is a declaration of His own Deity, it is also a definition of the proper relation for every soul. The fact that this Child, at twelve years of age, could think of God as His father, makes possible the employment of that possessive for every Christian child on the face of the earth. We cannot but believe that this period of time was selected on purpose by the prophetic writer. The twelfth year is a critical year. It comes more nearly being the time of passing from boyhood toward manhood, from girlhood toward womanhood than any other. Great thoughts possess one, great desires fill the soul; great resolves come into the will.

It is the ideal time to win to Christ. THE CHILD’S “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 wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man”. Obedience belongs in any proper development of a boy. The disobedient boy is not developing! His very growth is a degradation! One of the things prophesied for the last days is “disobedience to parents”. God knows it is prevalent enough! The immorality of the age is easily accounted for when one notes how far filial reverence is failing.

The children whose fathers and mothers die while they are yet in their infancy are the only ones who appreciate to the full, the meaning of the words, “mother”, “father”. Schwarzerd was born to a great mother and a godly father. After ten years neither of them were left to him. However, so long as he lived, he used to say to his students to whom he was lecturing in the great university, “That I learned from my mother”, or, “my father taught me” so and so. When he lay dying, half a century later, he repeated to his children the very words with which he had been blessed by his own dying father. We know, of course, that Edward Judson was not privileged to see much of his parents.

They were on a foreign field, and he must needs be sent home for an education. When a convention was on in the city of Boston speaking of his great father, he said: “The picture of my father is in my study. He has always been an inspiration to me. We folks need human guides to lead us in the steps of the great Pathfinder. Separation begets affection. Love has two elements, disposition to enjoy and possess, and the passion to serve.

I believe my father’s influence was stronger than if I had been brought up under his care”. Doubtless, separation begets affection. It need not be so with the child who wishes to be obedient to father, subservient to the wishes of mother. There are some things that we learn by experience. The meaning and significance of obedience to parents is among them. The Bible tells us very little about Jesus as a boy, but in this solitary glimpse there is one great word outstanding that will be forever a word of counsel to every lad in the land, viz., “obedience” to father and mother. He grew in wisdom and stature. We know not what schools He attended, if any; but we do know that wisdom was with Him. He attained such fullness in it as that men always stood amazed when His mouth opened and He spake in the words of the same. This was in His boyhood. If one comes to His manhood without it, the schools of the earth would hardly correct the deficiency. I have seen children who did not grow in stature.

The sight is pathetic in the last degree! At sight of them we cannot escape a deep sorrow. But it were better to be stunted in body, than to be crippled in intellect; better to fail in stature than in wisdom. Some of the world’s little men have been its largest; its largest men, its smallest. It is a good thing to be an athlete; but it is even a better thing to be a scholar, and the best to be a saint. Now we come to the last point of this contention in the interest of the children, namely, Favor with God was most marked. After all, the greatest of all attainments is to know God. Campbell Morgan, speaking a while since, said, “We are living in an age, when even in the Christian church, the ideals that we have for our children are very low. Too often the aim for our boys is that they may be educated, get honor in the world; too often for our girls we have the idea that they should be refined and accomplished, and to use a phrase, which if I could I would cancel absolutely from the thinking of Christian parents, ‘get settled’. These, as ideals, are anti-Christian and pagan. I am not undervaluing education.

It is the duty of every man to give his children the best education possible. I am not undervaluing position. Let every lad be ambitious to be the best carpenter, doctor, or lawyer in the whole district. Let our girls in very truth, be educated, cultured and refined. But if these constitute the ultimate, then in what are we removed from the pagan? What then, should be our ideal? We should realize Jesus’ estimate of greatness. Man is great if his character is what it ought to be. In the manifesto of the King, not a single blessing is pronounced upon having or upon doing; all the blessings are upon “being”. The true ideal toward which we are to move in the training of our children must be the realization of the character upon which Jesus Christ has set the seven-fold chapter of His benediction. That the boy may be a godly man, and the girl may be one of the King’s daughters is the supreme matter. To neglect that as the ultimate, to lose sight of that as the goal, is to ruin our children by a false life. I know of no better way, therefore, to conclude this discourse, than to say to the boys this morning, and to the young women present, what was said awhile ago by the late Admiral Sampson telling of the day the Spanish fleet was sunk. “It was Sunday morning, and we always have prayers on the Admiral’s ship Sunday morning. The little reading desk, with the cross carved on the top of it, was still standing on deck. We had gone into battle so hastily that no one had had time to put the desk away. It was a little thing, easily moved about. So we sailed along and there was death and destruction on the face of the waters. And the battle was won. But among the dead things and the burning things that floated on the water, we saw a man swimming. He was a Spanish sailor, one of our enemies. He was making a struggle for his life but there was nothing near enough for him to cling to, and the shore was a long way off. According to the rules of war, we had no time to save his life; besides, he was our enemy. Some of us on that side of the ship watched the man curiously, wondering how long he would hold out. Then all of a sudden one of our sailors picked up that little reading desk and pitched it over the side of the ship into the sea. ‘Here, friend’, he cried, ‘cling to that! Cling to the cross and it will take you safe to shore!’ Of course the Spaniard could not understand the English words, but the action was unmistakable, and the last we saw of the poor fellow he was clinging to the cross and making toward the shore”.