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November 24, 1909. THE PRESBYTERL
JESUS' BOYHOOD.
Attempts have not been wanting to thrust on the
world spurious lives of Christ, and especially gospels
of his boyhood. These have had about them every
mark of human invention, and have been in utter contrast
with the true gospels, in dignity, naturalness, unaffected
narrative, and many other internal proofs of
the authentic books. Neither have there been external
proofs of their genuineness.
The glimpses of the earlier years of Christ in the
genuine gospels are very few. The narrators were
satisfied with telling: of his birth, the visit of thp
shepherds and wise men, the presentation in the temple,
the flight into Egypt, the return to Nazareth, and
the temple visit at twelve years of age. Each of these
incidents, however, was momentous in its character
and went far to confirm the claim of his messiahship.
The prophets foretold his advent and in just the
manner in which it occurred, a descendant of D^vid,
born of a virgin mother, in Bethlehem, adored, scorned,
his life sought, coming out of Egypt, and of Nazareth.
The seeming contradictions of the prophetic
story made the confirmation more complete when all
the various requirements were accurately and completely
fulfilled.
The successive recognition of his supernatural character
and mission, in the marvels that occurred in the
shepherds' field, in the star that guided the wise men
from the East, in the prophetic utterances and rejoicing
of Simeon and Anna in the temple, and even in
Herod's cruel quest and brutal murders, were only added
proof that be was the Hope of Israel, long looked
for and needed.
From his early years, perhaps from some time in
the second year of his life, to his twelfth, there is a
blank. Then comes the one tr1imr?c#> intrv Vitc
?*?vvr llio UUJT 11WU)
the occasion of his visit to the Passover. The story
is too familiar to need recounting. He was evidently
trusted by his parents, else they would have concerned
themselves sooner about him when he was not seen.
He was also evidently well acquainted with the temple
precincts and the opportunities there. He was a
good listener and knew the next best thing for a child,
how to ask questions wisely. He evidently also realized
already his mission. His reply to Joseph and
Mary, when they told him how anxiously they had
sought him, was "Wist ye not that I must be about
my Father's business?" These are his first recorded
words, and they bear a striking likeness to those of
the night in which he was betrayed, when in praying
to the Father, Jie said, "I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do."
The lesson is very clear that it is possible to h^ve
in very early years a proper conception of our duty
towards God. And may it not be that the conception
which Jesus then had was the secret of the next statement
concerning him, that he went on down to Nazareth
with his parents, "and was subject unto them,"
ana still turther that "Jesus increased in wisdom and
stature, and in favor with God and man?"
This one glimpse of Jesus in his boyhood suggests
that there was much else like it, had it beeft told. Some
one has beautifully 3aid that the Saviour's early life
. ' * 1
AN OF THE SOUTH. 3
was like an enclosed garden, full of fragrance and
beauty, and this one incident was the rambling over
the wall of one vine to let us know of the richness
that was within.
TEACHING BY PARODOX.
The fondness of the Bible writers for the paradox
is noteworthy. "When I am weak then am I strong."
"I live, yet not I." "If we suffer, we shall also
reign." "Take my yoke upon you, and ye shall find
rest." "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased."
"Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your
minister." "He that findeth his life shall lose it, and
he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." "Work
out your own salvation, for it is God that worketh in
you." "Come unto me. . . . No man cometh unto me
except the Father draw him."
This method of teaching by the frequent use of apparently
contradictory words or phrases seems to have
been a part of the peculiarity of the oriental literary
and didactic style. Its use in the Scriptures is not
out of accord with the methods prevailing in the days
and lands of the Bible writers. It is pot designed to
puzzle us, nor yet to startle, but by the sharpness of
the contrast of ideas to enforce truth in the most vivid
and impressive manner.
At the same time, there underlies most of these Bible
paradoxes a profound and far-reaching philosophical
fact. Weakness is strength, obedience is mastery,
service is greatness, humility is exaltation, suffering
is glory, death is life. Self-abnegation stands at the
very threshold of all true greatness and finally of all
the best success. "If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
me." The first step in spiritual progress is that a man
awake to a consciousness of his own inability. It is
only then that he is ready and willing to turn to the
source of true strength and to leave all to his Saviour.
The first step in mastery over others is in getting self
under subjection and learning how to serve faithfully.
When one has learned what obedience is by obeying,
and when one shows his sense of obligation to the relations
of life which birfd him, he is fitted to exercise
mastery. It is only when one has died to self that it
is evident that the new life is kindled in his soul by
him who quickeneth whom he will. One grace is born,
through God, of another grace, and it is of the lower
graces, such as humility, obedience, patience under
trial, and the like, that the higher come. God knows
the heart of man too well, and loves his neonle too
tenderly, to allow them to be without these "mother
graces."
Those who are observant and thoughtful will endorse
every word of these sentences from Fairbairn's
"The Old Testament in Religion": "Dogmatism is not
peculiar to men who believe; it is often more characteristic
of men who disbelieve. You may any day find
the most arrogant, because the most ignorant, dogmatism
disguised as skepticism. Indeed, I will venture
to say you will find more in a week's issue of the socalled
free-thought press than in all the decrees of the
Council of Trent." /