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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
OUB SAVIOUR: 
 
 If 
 
 OR 
 
 A BKIEF EXPOSITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BIRTH, TEACHING, MIRACLES, DEATH, RESURRECTION 
 AND GREAT COMMISSION, OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 BY A TEACHER. 
 
 " And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, 
 through faith which is in Christ Jesus." — 2 Tim. iii. 15. 
 
 REVISED BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 1 
 
 Si 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 
 No. 31 North Sixth Street. 
 
 344 
 
.09 
 
 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 
 1844, by 
 
 John B. Trevor, 
 Treasurer of the American Baptist Publication Society, in 
 the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern District 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 ■Hjygf' 
 
 1)1 
 
 PHILADELPHIA! 
 KING AND BAIHD, PRINTERS, 
 
 / No. 9 George Street. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction, 5 
 
 Chapter I. — The Birth of our Saviour, ... 7 
 
 II.— Flight into Egypt, .... 14 
 
 III. — Our Saviour's Baptism, . . .19 
 
 IV.— The Preaching of Jesus Christ, . . 23 
 
 V.— The Preaching of Jesus Christ, . . 28 
 
 VI.— The Lord's Prayer, .... 38 
 
 VII. — The Preaching of Jesus Christ, . . 44 
 
 VIII. — The Preaching of Jesus Christ, . . 48 
 
 IX. — Jesus Teaching in Parables, . . 52 
 
 X. — The Miracles of our Saviour, . .. 57 
 
 XI. — The Miracle of giving sight to the blind, 62 
 
 XII. — The Miracle of healing the withered 
 
 hand, 66 
 
 XIII. — The Miracles of walking on the water, 
 
 and stilling the tempest, . . 70 
 XIV.— The Miracle of feeding the multitude, 76 
 XV. — Our Saviour's rule of forgiveness, . 81 
 XVI. — Our Saviour's love for little children, . 84 
 XVII. — The rich young man, . . . .88 
 XVIII.— The death of John the Baptist, . . 93 
 XIX. — The displeasure of the chief priests, . 99 
 XX. — Our Saviour's lamentation over Jeru- 
 salem, . . v • . . 102 
 XXI. — The second coming of Christ, . , 105 
 XXII. — The Saviour betrayed by Judas, . .111 
 XXIIL— The Lord's Supper, . . . .117 
 XXIV. — Peter's self-confidence; and his denial 
 
 of the Saviour, . . . 122 
 
 XXV. — Our Saviour's voluntary death, . . 127 
 
 XXVI.— Our Saviour's suffering, . . .131 
 
 XXVII. — Our Saviour's Resurrection, ♦ . 136 
 
 XXVIII. — Our Saviour's great commission, . . 141 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 My dear young friends: — 
 
 This little book is intended to assist you in 
 understanding a part of the Bible. I invite you to 
 read carefully with me several passages in the book 
 of Matthew, and see if the comment which you 
 will find after the passages of Scripture will help 
 you to understand them better than you did before : 
 see if you are better acquainted with the character 
 and teachings of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the 
 world. If so, you may prize the knowledge above 
 " the wealth of worlds ;" if not, I may have failed 
 in commenting, or you in reading — but the Word 
 of God is still pure, and all are guilty of great 
 sin who read it with a careless eye, and an un- 
 feeling heart. Have you thought how necessary 
 it is that you should not only read, but understand 
 and feel the truth of the Bible ? Perhaps you 
 study it in the Sabbath school, and it may be you 
 read it with your parents, or listen to hear them 
 read it morning and evening, — but do you think 
 every time you hear or read a passage, " now what 
 
 1* 
 
O INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is the meaning of this ? Does it apply to me? and 
 what should it lead me to do?" I once knew a 
 poor woman who had a large family of little 
 children to take care of, so that she had to work 
 from morning till night, and could not often get 
 time to read a chapter in the Bible; but she told 
 me that she always opened that good book in the 
 morning, and read a few verses, and those precious 
 words she tried to keep in her mind all day. 
 Sometimes, in the midst of her cares and labors, 
 she forgot them, and then she would look for a 
 moment in her opened Bible again; — " and you 
 cannot think," said she, " how sweet the word of 
 God is to me." This poor woman felt that the 
 Bible was her only guide to heaven, and though 
 her hands were employed all the day, and she had 
 many cares and sorrows, she desired to under- 
 stand the word of God, and be prepared to go, 
 when she died, to that happy place where there is 
 no sin or poverty, sickness or death. Equally 
 anxious should you be to remember, understand 
 and feel the word of God. Never forget that the 
 Bible is the book — the only book — which your 
 Heavenly Father has given to direct you how to 
 escape from everlasting punishment, and find the 
 home of the righteous, where all is peace and love. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 Matthew ii. 1 — 12. 
 
 1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the 
 days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from 
 the east to Jerusalem, 
 
 2. Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for 
 we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship 
 him. 
 
 3. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was 
 troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 
 
 4. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and 
 scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where 
 Christ should be born. 
 
 5. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea; for 
 thus it is written by the prophet, 
 
 6. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the 
 least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall 
 come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. 
 
 7. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, 
 inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 
 
 8. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and 
 search diligently for the young child ; and when ye have 
 found him, bring me word again, that I may come and 
 worship him also. 
 
 9. When they had heard the king, they departed ; and, lo, 
 the star, which they had seen in the east, went before them, 
 till it came and stood over where the young child was. 
 
 10. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding 
 great joy. 
 
 11. And when they were come into the house, they saw 
 the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and 
 worshipped him : and when they had opened their treasures, 
 they presented unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and 
 myrrh. 
 
 12. And being warned of God in a dream that they should 
 not return to Herod, they departed into their own country 
 another way. 
 
 In reading the passage of Scripture which you 
 see above, you soon come to the precious name 
 of Jesus. This is the name which you should 
 
8 THE BIRTH OP OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 know and love better than all others. Jesus is 
 the name which should sound sweeter to you than 
 the names of your brothers and sisters, or even 
 those of your father and mother ; and it is to assist 
 you in learning how good and lovely Jesus is, and 
 how much he has done for you, that this Sabbath 
 school book is prepared. 
 
 If you were to read the whole Bible through, 
 you would find a great deal in all the books about 
 the Saviour of the world, that is, Jesus Christ; — 
 but each of the four first books of the New Testa- 
 ment, gives a particular account of him. They 
 are four histories of his life and death, written by 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; four good men 
 who lived at the time our Saviour was on earth, 
 and the most of them went about with him, hear- 
 ing his gracious words, and seeing his wonderful 
 works. These men wrote as the Holy Spirit 
 directed. They all give the same general account 
 of Jesus, yet there are some particulars related by 
 some of them which others do not give. They 
 all loved the Saviour, and took pleasure in writing 
 about him ; but it was God who directed them to 
 write, and he inspired, that is, he taught them 
 exactly what they ought to write, because he in- 
 tended that we should know, and all who have 
 the Bible should know, the true history of Jesus 
 Christ. Therefore, remember, when you read the 
 Testament with me, or when you read any part 
 of the Bible, that the words you read came from 
 God ; they are his words written by the hand of a 
 man ; and remember too, if you neglect to read 
 the Bible, or if you refuse to make it the guide of 
 your life, you despise the God who made yoi 1 
 
THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 9 
 
 and who will one day call you to account to him 
 for all the actions of life. 
 
 In the verses above we have Matthew's account 
 of our Saviour's birth. In the first of them we are 
 told that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This was 
 a small town in the country of Judea, about six 
 miles from Jerusalem, its chief city. Judea was in 
 Asia, on the opposite side of the globe from where 
 you and I live, and it is now one thousand eight 
 hundred and forty-four years since Jesus was born 
 there. Yet, as God was so good as to teach his 
 servants to record it for us, we know just when 
 and where he was born, as well as the people did 
 who lived in Bethlehem. Luke informs us in the 
 second chapter of his gospel, that when Jesus was 
 a little babe he was laid in a manger, because 
 there was no room for him in the inn. A manger 
 in England, where the New Testament was trans- 
 lated, was a kind of box, built up for horses and 
 oxen to eat their hay from. Did you ever learn 
 that beautiful verse of Dr. Watts ? 
 
 lc Soft and easy was my cradle ; 
 
 Coarse and hard my Saviour lay, 
 When his birth-place was a stable, 
 And his softest bed was hay." 
 
 But in Judea they had no such stables as in 
 England, or in our own country. Learned men 
 say it was a caravansary, a kind of inn, where the 
 caravans, or large companies of people, in journey- 
 ing, rested at night. In one part of the building the 
 people lodged, and in the other part the camels, 
 horses and other animals were sheltered. It was 
 probably in such a place our Saviour was born. 
 
 When you were a tender babe, and could not 
 
10 THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 bear to open your eyes to the light of the sun, and 
 a heavy sound would make you spring and catch 
 your breath in fright — you had an easy cradle to 
 be rocked in, and a soft bed to sleep in beside 
 your mother ; the windows were shaded to keep 
 out the bright rays of the sun, and every thing 
 around you was kept still and quiet. But the 
 blessed Saviour, who came from heaven to save 
 sinners, when he was a babe was laid in a manger, 
 the stable was the chamber of his rest, and the 
 rude noises of the beasts fell on his soft ear. 
 
 Although the people of Bethlehem did not know 
 who Jesus was, there were some wise men living 
 in the country east of that who were expecting the 
 Saviour to come into the world, and they came to 
 Jerusalem to inquire for him. 
 
 God uses a variety of means to guide his people 
 in the right way, and inform them about himself. 
 Those men were told that Jesus had come by a 
 peculiar star which God caused them to see in 
 their own country, and which he made to move 
 before them, and direct their course. Have you 
 not heard Jesus called "the Star of Bethlehem V 
 He is called so because this star moved towards 
 Bethlehem, and stopped over the place where he 
 lay. When you read the third verse above perhaps 
 you thought it very strange that Herod and the 
 people of Jerusalem should be troubled, because 
 the wise men told them that they supposed Jesus 
 was born. Good people would not have been 
 troubled, but greatly rejoiced to hear of the arrival 
 of such a stranger; but Herod was a very wicked 
 king. He made all the people obey him, and as 
 he heard Jesus called " the king of the Jews," he 
 
THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 11 
 
 feared that he should lose some of his power, and 
 be obliged to submit to Jesus. The people around 
 Judea would be troubled by the same thing which 
 troubled him, for he was so wicked that he would 
 not allow them to be happy if he was not happy 
 himself. 
 
 In the fourth verse we are told that Herod called 
 together all "the chief priests and scribes of the 
 people," and demanded of them where Christ 
 should be born. These were the wisest men in the 
 Jewish nation. They had the Old Testament to 
 read, and they knew that God had promised to 
 send a Saviour into the world. It appears from 
 their answer that they knew in what place Jesus 
 should be born, because it was thus written by the 
 prophet, " And thou Bethlehem in the land of 
 Juda art not the least among the princes of 
 Juda ; for out of thee shall come a governor that 
 shall rule my people Israel." We find this passage 
 in somewhat different words, in the book of Micah, 
 chapter v. verse 2. You and I have both the Old 
 and New Testament, and we should often compare 
 them together, that we may see how God prepared 
 the way for his Son to come into the world, and 
 taught his people to believe and trust in him long 
 before he came. Herod felt very anxious about 
 the strange star, and after he had inquired particu- 
 larly of the wise men at what time it appeared, he 
 sent them to Bethlehem to search for the child 
 which was born king of the Jews ; and told them 
 when they found him to return and bring him 
 word, that he might "come and worship him." 
 This wicked king did not intend to worship the 
 Saviour; he only said this to deceive the wise men; 
 
12 THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 perhaps he did deceive them, but you know he 
 could not deceive God. The good men listened 
 to the words of the king, and then they departed 
 to find the infant Saviour; but they did not go 
 without a guide, for. the same star which they had 
 seen in their own country, moved along before 
 them until it came over the place where Jesus was, 
 and then it stood still. When they saw the star 
 "they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." They 
 felt that God was watching over and directing them 
 in the right way, although they had found no one 
 in the city of Jerusalem to assist them in search- 
 ing for the Saviour. When the wise men found 
 the young child with Mary his mother, they wor- 
 shiped him, and presented unto him gifts which 
 they had brought with them. In the eastern part 
 of the world, those who called on kings, and other 
 great men, brought presents to them; and these 
 were brought to honor the Saviour. It is said 
 they worshiped him. As we now use the word wor- 
 ship, this would mean that they paid the Saviour 
 reverence, such as is due to God, and that would 
 have been right ; but we are not certain that the 
 wise men did worship him in this manner, because 
 as the word was then used, to worship only meant 
 to pay great respect to a person. Herod, you 
 know, was expecting these men to return to him, 
 when they had found the Saviour; but God was 
 watching over Jesus, and over the wicked king too, 
 for we learn in the twelfth verse that he warned 
 the wise men by a dream to go to their country 
 another way, and not to return to Herod. They 
 chose to obey God rather than man; and so the 
 king did not learn where the infant Saviour was. 
 
THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 13 
 
 After this we hear no more of the wise men ; but 
 as we have reason to think they were good men, 
 we have no doubt they were happy as they jour- 
 neyed to their home. They thought and spoke 
 much of Jesus, and we hope they understood that 
 he had come to be the Saviour of the world. 
 Perhaps they sometimes thought of Herod, and 
 pitied him because he was so wicked; but they 
 need not have felt afraid of him, though he was a 
 mighty king, for God, who was their friend, was 
 far more mighty than he. 
 
 From this account respecting the birth of our 
 Saviour, what instruction can my young reader 
 draw? Perhaps you have been thinking "there 
 can be no lesson for me in these passages of scrip- 
 ture, which just gives us the circumstances of the 
 Saviour's birth;" but I think we can find a lesson 
 here. Learn first, not to look among those who 
 are rich and powerful, and live in splendid man- 
 sions, for the wisest and best people. — Jesus Christ, 
 who was superior to any being that ever dwelt on 
 earth, chose the humble abode of poverty, and 
 very many of those who are the followers of Jesus, 
 are among the poor and despised of the earth. 
 Secondly, learn that the wicked and powerful men 
 are in the hands of God, and he can easily prevent 
 their vile plans from being executed, as he did the 
 plans of Herod. 
 
 2 
 
CHAPTER IL 
 
 FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 
 
 Matt. ii. 13—21. 
 
 13. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the 
 Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take 
 the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be 
 thou there until I bring thee word : for Herod will seek the 
 young child to destroy him. 
 
 14. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother 
 by night, and departed into Egypt : 
 
 15. And was there until the death of Herod : that it might 
 be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, 
 saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. 
 
 16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the 
 wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all 
 the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts 
 thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time 
 which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. 
 
 17. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy 
 the prophet, saying, 
 
 18. In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and 
 weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her chil- 
 dren, and would not be comforted, because they are not. 
 
 I' 19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the 
 Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 
 
 20. Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, 
 and go into the land of Israel : for they are dead which sought 
 the young child's life. 
 
 21. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, 
 and came into the land of Israel. 
 
 After the wise men had departed, an angel of 
 the Lord — that is a being from heaven, one of those 
 pure and happy spirits that dwell in the presence 
 of God, and always rejoice to do his will — came to 
 Joseph as he slept, and told him by a dream to 
 take Jesus and Mary, and flee into Egypt, and 
 remain there, until he came to see them again. 
 Joseph was a good man, who had married Mary, 
 the mother of Jesus, and to these two pious peo- 
 14 
 
FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 15 
 
 pie God intrusted the care of his Son, Jesus Christ, 
 when he was an infant. 
 
 Have you ever seen a picture called " The flight 
 into Egypt/' where a desert country is pictured, 
 with Mary riding on an ass, holding the precious 
 babe close to her bosom; while Joseph is walking 
 beside them, leading the slow beast, and urging 
 him forward. A long road is stretched out before 
 them, and the moon and stars are shining over 
 their heads ; while all around, far and wide, we 
 can see no habitation, and no living creature, but 
 this lonely party hurrying away from the domin- 
 ions of a wicked king. If you have never seen 
 this picture, you can easily draw the scene in your 
 thoughts ; and you can think too how Mary felt 
 when Joseph first told her his dream, and she 
 found that Herod was seeking the life of the child 
 Jesus. She had longed for some better home for 
 the sweet babe, than the inn — some better cradle 
 than a manger ; and when the wise men came to 
 worship him, she knew that it was right to pay him 
 honor and reverence, and it may be she expected 
 others, and even the king and the chief priests and 
 scribes to come and worship him too; — but now 
 she learned that Herod was seeking to kill him. 
 Kill that innocent and lovely babe ! Kill that good 
 being who had come to be the Redeemer of the 
 world! Yet, strange and cruel as it was, they 
 knew it must be true, for it was the angel of the 
 Lord who had told them; therefore they hastened 
 away from Bethlehem, to find another home among 
 strangers. 
 
 They were obliged to make a long journey, and 
 to travel by night, lest Herod's people should see 
 
16 FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 
 
 them fleeing, and take them back to him. You 
 would think it very tedious to be out all night on 
 a journey ; and no doubt they felt weary and needed 
 sleep; but they loved Jesus very much, and thought 
 little of themselves, if they could but preserve him. 
 Besides, they were doing just as God directed them, 
 and when people do right, they never feel very 
 unhappy. 
 
 Under the protection of their Heavenly Father, 
 they arrived safe in Egypt, where they remained 
 until the death of Herod. This was told by the 
 prophet Hosea, many years before this, " Out of 
 Egypt have I called my Son." 
 
 When the cruel Herod found the wise men did 
 not return to tell him where the Saviour was, "he 
 was exceeding wroth." , He thought they had de- 
 ceived him, and disobeyed his orders, and for this 
 he meant to be revenged ; besides, he thirsted for 
 the blood of the infant King of the Jews. He did 
 not care how much distress he caused if he could 
 only destroy him; and he thought if he sent his 
 servants out to murder all the young children in 
 Bethlehem, and in the country around, they could 
 not fail to kill Jesus with the rest. So this hard- 
 hearted king directed his men to take all the 
 children that were two years old, and under, from 
 the cradle, or from their mothers' arms, or totter- 
 ing about the floor, and playing with their brothers 
 and sisters, and murder them all. Here the words 
 of the prophet Jeremy, or Jeremiah, came to pass, 
 "In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation 
 and weeping, and great mourning. Rachel," 
 (which represents the mothers) "weeping for her 
 children, and would not be comforted because they 
 
PLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 17 
 
 are not." Do you wonder that there was bitter 
 weeping? 
 
 Perhaps you have seen a little brother or sister 
 die ; and your heart ached when you saw its pretty 
 eyes grow dim, and its sweet lips close in silence ; 
 and when your mother bent over it, and groaned, 
 and wept, and kissed its cold cheek — you wept 
 aloud, and felt as if you could not be comforted. 
 But your brother or sister was not murdered. 
 Think how you would have felt if a ruffian had 
 come into the house, and seized both your mother's 
 youngest children, if she had a little infant, and 
 another two years old, and killed them before your 
 eyes. Think how your mother would shriek, and 
 wring her hands, and perhaps lose her senses ; and 
 while you were thinking only of your own distress, 
 some one should come to tell you that the mur- 
 derers had been into the next house, and the next, 
 and your little cousins and friends had fallen also 
 by their cruel hands; and every house around was 
 like your own, filled with the voice of woe ! 
 
 Just such distress as this, Herod caused in Beth- 
 lehem, and the country around, because he meant 
 to destroy the Saviour. If you know children who 
 are very fond of power — anxious to make others 
 obey them, you have reason to fear that they will 
 dare to do very wicked things rather than give up 
 their power. If you feel this disposition yourself, 
 you should watch against it, and ask God to take 
 it from you lest it should lead you to commit great 
 sin. No doubt Herod would have hated the 
 Saviour had he lived to hear him preach, and see 
 his mighty works, but it could not be for this that 
 
 2* 
 
18 FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 
 
 he hated him now. It was only because he thought 
 he was born to be a king. 
 
 All this time while Herod tried to destroy 
 Jesus, he was safe and happy, far away in Egypt. 
 God had taken care of him because he knew what 
 was in the heart of the wicked king. From the 
 nineteenth and twentieth verses we learn that it 
 was not long that the good family were obliged to 
 remain in Egypt, for while Jesus was yet a young 
 child, the angel appeared again to Joseph in a 
 dream, and told him to arise, and return, with 
 Jesus and his mother, into the land of Israel, 
 because Herod was dead. O miserable king ! how 
 soon was he called to give an account of the deeds 
 done in the body! He was expecting long to 
 enjoy his kingdom, but he is called away, and can 
 carry nothing with him. He hated his fellow 
 beings, and defied the God who made him, but 
 now he is called before that God in judgment! 
 
 Joseph and Mary were obedient to their Heavenly 
 Father, and they took the young child, and jour- 
 neyed back into the land of Israel. Now we need 
 not suppose they traveled in the night, for they 
 knew that Herod was laid in his grave, and they 
 had nothing more to fear from him. They came 
 trusting, as all good people do, in the protection of 
 God, and rejoicing in the mercy and loving kind- 
 ness which had watched over them. 
 
 The flight into Egypt shows you how carefully 
 God watches over those who love him, to keep 
 them from all harm, and guide them in the right 
 way ; and the death of Herod shows you that the 
 wicked are in the hands of God, and will not long 
 be allowed to persecute the righteous. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 OUR SAVIOUR'S BAPTISM. 
 Matt. iii. 13—17. 
 
 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, 
 to be baptized of him. 
 
 14. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be bap- 
 tized of thee, and comest thou to me ? 
 
 15. And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so 
 now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. 
 Then he suffered him. 
 
 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight- 
 way out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened 
 unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a 
 dove, and lighting upon him : 
 
 17. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my be- 
 loved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 
 
 Neither of the histories of our Saviour gives any 
 account of his childhood, and early youth, except 
 that Luke relates one circumstance respecting his 
 visiting Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary, when he 
 was twelve years old. From that account we 
 learn that he was capable of instructing the learned 
 men in the temple, that he loved the duties of reli- 
 gion at that age, and that he was obedient to 
 Joseph and Mary. The period between our Sa- 
 viour's birth and his baptism, of which we have 
 an account in the verses above, was about thirty 
 years. All that time we have now passed over, 
 and as you read this chapter, you must not think 
 of Jesus as a babe in the arms of Mary, but as of 
 a man about the age of thirty years. In the thir- 
 teenth verse we are told that Jesus came to John 
 to be baptized of him. John was a very pious 
 man, whom God sent to prepare the way for his 
 Son ; that is to tell the people Jesus was coming, 
 
 19 
 
20 our saviour's baptism. 
 
 and exhort them to repent, baptize the penitents, 
 and prepare them to receive him. He was so 
 much devoted to the service of God, that some 
 thought he was the Saviour; but he told them 
 distinctly that he was not, but that Jesus was so 
 much better than he, that he " was not worthy to 
 bear his shoes." By this he meant that he was not 
 worthy to be a waiter or servant for the Saviour. 
 From the fourteenth verse we learn that John was 
 surprised that Jesus should come to be baptized by 
 him, and at first he did not consent, but said, " I 
 have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou 
 to me ?" Jesus answered, " suffer it to be so now, 
 for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." 
 As if he had said to John, " The circumstances 
 are such now that it is proper I should be baptized 
 by you. I have come into the world to obey all 
 my Father's commands, and to set a perfect exam- 
 ple for my followers." These reasons satisfied 
 John, and " he suffered him," that is, he consented 
 to baptize him. 
 
 It may be, my young friends, that you have 
 seen persons baptized in a font, or stream, or at 
 the margin of the sea. Perhaps you have stood 
 on a verdant bank, while a soft breeze was playing 
 over the scene, and all nature was lovely around 
 you; and as you listened, the voice of prayer was 
 heard ascending from beside the still waters; and 
 while the people were all solemn and thoughtful 
 around you, the minister led a person slowly down 
 into the water, and laid him gently beneath the 
 waves, and then raised him up as he pronounced, 
 "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost !" This you know was 
 
OUR SAVIOUR^ BAPTISM., 21 
 
 called a baptism, But did you think it was a 
 ceremony which had no meaning, and one which 
 we might attend to, or omit, just as we pleased? 
 Far from this. Jesus said it became Him "to 
 fulfil all righteousness;" and it is the duty and 
 pleasure of all who love him, to follow his example, 
 and obey all his commands. 
 
 We understand from the Scriptures, that our 
 Saviour appointed this ordinance for all his fol- 
 lowers to observe in all ages unto the end of the 
 world. He was baptized himself to set an example 
 for all christians to follow, and, besides this, bap- 
 tism, that is being buried under water and raised 
 up, was designed to show forth our death to sin, 
 and resurrection to a new life, and to represent 
 the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ on our 
 behalf. In speaking of his own death, Jesus says, 
 "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how 
 am I straitened till it be accomplished." Chris- 
 tians are baptized in obedience to the command 
 of Christ; but he did not command them to do a 
 thing which had no use or meaning. All persons 
 who are baptized show by that act to all who 
 know them that they intend to forsake the world, 
 and join the christian church, and endeavor to live 
 always as the religion of Jesus requires. They 
 show also, by having their " bodies washed in pure 
 water," that their sins are washed away in the 
 blood of Christ; that is, are forgiven, because Jesus 
 has suffered and died for sinners, and now that 
 God has shown them the wickedness of their hearts, 
 and taught them to hate sin, they hope to be saved 
 from the punishment they deserved through his 
 mercy in Christ Jesus. They show also that they 
 
22 our saviour's baptism. 
 
 trust in Jesus to raise up their bodies from the 
 grave, even though they have mouldered back to 
 dust, just as they are now raised up from the liquid 
 grave in which they have been buried by bap- 
 tism. 
 
 I hope my reader realizes that it is a very solemn 
 thing to be baptized. It is promising to the world, 
 to angels, and to the great and holy God, that 
 we will no longer live to ourselves, but " to him 
 who hath loved us and given himself for us." No 
 one should be baptized but such persons as truly 
 believe in Jesus Christ, love him as their Saviour, 
 depend wholly on his grace, and resolve by the 
 help of God they will obey all his commands, join 
 the church, and follow Christ. It is a very solemn 
 thing to witness a baptism. When you stand by the 
 water's side let your mind be sober and attentive. 
 Listen thoughtfully to the prayers and singing, and 
 look on the ordinance not only to see the candidate 
 laid beneath the wave, but to think of the Saviour's 
 love for sinners, and to think of that blessed hope 
 which all enjoy who trust in him — the hope that 
 they will be raised up from the grave, and taken 
 to heaven to live forever with the Lord. 
 
 We learn from the sixteenth verse that when 
 Jesus was baptized, as he was going up out of the 
 water, " the heavens were opened unto him," and 
 he, that is John, " saw the Spirit of God descending 
 like the appearance of a dove and lighting upon 
 Jesus." In the seventeenth we are told that a voice 
 from heaven was heard saying, " This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased." Although our 
 Saviour's baptism was in many circumstances like 
 those which you and I have witnessed — in this it 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 23 
 
 w.as far different. No other baptism has been like 
 this; none can ever be like it, for God will not say 
 of any other person, "This is my beloved Son." 
 In this wonderful manner did God make known 
 to John, and to the people, that his Son, whom he 
 had long since promised to send, had now come into 
 the world to be a Saviour for sinners. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Matt. iv. 17. 
 
 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent : 
 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 
 
 I am now about to study with you, the preach- 
 ing and the works of Jesus Christ, of whose birth 
 and baptism you have been reading. If I do not 
 understand the Bible myself, I cannot explain it to 
 you. If I teach you that which is false, I must give 
 account of it in the day of judgment. I therefore 
 ask in prayer that my heavenly Father will teach 
 me, that I may teach you. I therefore study the 
 Bible with great care ; and besides I read the books 
 which good men have written about the Bible, 
 that I may not give you one idea which I do not 
 think is right, or which your pious friends will not 
 approve. 
 
 Now let us attend to the preaching of our 
 Saviour. To preach, you know, is to speak in 
 public ; therefore we understand from the passage 
 above that the time had now come when Jesus 
 
24 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 began to address the people who followed him. 
 He did not converse, and answer questions only ; 
 but he spake to large assemblies of people. He 
 began to preach, saying, "Repent." This single 
 word means a great deal. Have you studied it, 
 and tried to understand its meaning 1 To repent is 
 to be very sorry for our past sins, to confess them 
 to God, and to forsake them by turning to the 
 Lord. Repentance makes us feel that we would 
 not do wrong again, if it were possible to do it in 
 secret. We know that sin will make us unhappy, 
 and ruin our souls ; but this does not distress us 
 so much as the thought that we have done that 
 which our Heavenly Father cannot approve ; this 
 leads us to hate every thing wicked, and desire to 
 be made pure and holy, that he may love us. 
 
 I remember that one of my little friends, who is 
 not now on earth, used to say, when I spoke or read 
 to him of any thing he did not fully understand, 
 "Will you explain it?" Perhaps some of you 
 will understand the nature of repentance better if 
 I illustrate it — that is, try to make it plain to you 
 by supposing a case. Suppose there are two little 
 brothers, we will call them Thomas and James, 
 who have a very kind father who supports them, 
 and is willing to expend a great deal of money for 
 their education, and do every thing in his power 
 to make them useful and happy when they become 
 men. These boys are sent to school together, and 
 they both waste their time while there, destroy 
 their books, and do a great many things which 
 they know their father does not approve. They 
 both think they love their father, and sometimes 
 they feel guilty, and think they will be more care- 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 25 
 
 ful to improve the privileges he gives them; but 
 still, there is in each of their hearts a very strong 
 disposition to do wrong ; they love idleness and 
 mischief, and finally they begin to play truant. 
 Frequently they go away and spend the whole day 
 with bad company, while their father supposes 
 they are at school. When they come home and 
 see their father's pleasant smile, and hear his 
 affectionate language, each of them feels very 
 uneasy ; his conscience troubles him, and at night 
 he thinks, " I will go to school to-morrow, and be 
 a good boy ;" but in the morning he chooses again 
 the path of wickedness. Thus they both go on ; 
 all the time receiving great care and kindness 
 from their father; and all the time disobeying 
 him, and daily growing worse and worse. So far 
 we have supposed these boys to be just alike; but 
 now suppose they come home one night, and find, 
 in addition to all the former favors of their kind 
 father, that he has purchased for them a beauti- 
 ful and expensive orrery,* so that his little sons 
 may study about the planets, and understand how 
 each one moves around the sun. When Thomas 
 sees this new proof of his father's love, he cannot 
 help feeling that he does not deserve it, and he 
 thinks for an hour or two of his sinful conduct ; 
 sheds a few tears, and says to himself — but not to 
 his father — " I am sorry I have not done right, and 
 I think I shall do better after this." But he does 
 not feel sorry at heart, confess his faults to his 
 father, forsake them, and beg his pardon, and by 
 the morning he has almost forgotten how good his 
 
 * An Orrery is a machine so made as to show the motions 
 of the planets. 
 
 3 
 
26 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 father is, and how wicked he is himself, and so he 
 goes on in the same sinful way as before. When 
 James receives his present he feels as Thomas did, 
 that he does not deserve it, but he feels a great 
 deal more than this. He looks back as far as he 
 can remember, and thinks over all his father's kind- 
 ness and forbearance towards him, and then he 
 thinks of his own conduct towards his father, and 
 his heart really aches. He remembers the reso- 
 lutions he has often made, but he knows he has 
 broken them all, and now he dares not think, " I 
 will do well to-morrow," but he says to himself, "I 
 will confess to-night." He trembles and weeps, 
 but he is resolved to tell his father all, even if he 
 knows he shall be punished severely. He goes to 
 his father, and with true sorrow of heart informs 
 him of all his misconduct, and humbly asks his 
 forgiveness, and promises entire amendment. The 
 kind father extends his arms to embrace him, and 
 as James listens to his forgiving language, and trea- 
 sures his wise counsels in his heart, — he feels that 
 his father's love and approbation are worth far more 
 to him than all the amusements which have so long 
 drawn him from his duty. The next morning, 
 instead of thinking of some favorite play as soon 
 as he wakes, he thinks of his father's kindness and 
 forgiveness, and he feels so much love for him that 
 he cannot bear to think of disobeying him again 
 so long as he lives ; and from that time he becomes 
 a studious and dutiful boy. Now you can easily 
 decide which of these boys repented of his wicked- 
 ness ; and can you not fully understand what Jesus 
 told the people to do when he called on them to 
 repent? 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 27 
 
 All the persons whom Jesus addressed, and all 
 the inhabitants of this vast world, are by nature 
 like these wicked, ungrateful sons. God is like 
 the good father, always watching over us, and 
 bestowing on us so many blessings that we cannot 
 count them. It is the duty of every one to repent, 
 confess his sins to our Heavenly Father, and 
 become obedient to all his commands. Until we 
 do this, it is impossible to please God, or do any 
 thing right; therefore Jesus began his preaching 
 by urging this duty; and all his servants who 
 preach in his name to this day, make it their first, 
 and most important business to exhort their hearers 
 to repent. Jesus says in the verse above, " Repent, 
 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Perhaps 
 some of you have read the Bible through in course ; 
 if not, you may have read a part of the Old Testa- 
 ment; and did you observe that its meaning was 
 not so clear, and so easily understood as the mean- 
 ing of the New Testament? It was written in a 
 darker time. The good people in those ancient 
 days believed that God would send a Saviour to 
 redeem men, but they could not understand exactly 
 how, or when he would come. Now the darkness 
 had passed away ; Jesus had come, and the king- 
 dom of heaven was at hand, because he was about 
 to show his mighty works, make known his gra- 
 cious doctrines, and then die on the cross to save 
 sinners ; send the Holy Spirit, and establish a new 
 order of things. Therefore, that was a time when 
 those people to whom Jesus spoke were highly 
 favored, and if they did not then repent they would 
 be more guilty than those who lived and died 
 before the Saviour came into the world. 
 
28 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 While you have been reading this chapter on 
 repentance, have you said to yourself, " Do I need 
 repentance V O yes ; the Bible says, " There is 
 none that doeth good, no not one." Every little 
 child has a wicked heart, which needs to be 
 changed; and if you feel that you have never been 
 truly sorry that you have sinned against God — this 
 is the time, at the very moment while you are 
 reading — -when you should go to your Heavenly 
 Father, as we have supposed the penitent boy went 
 to his earthly father, and confess all your sins, and 
 ask his forgiveness ; and you may be sure that you 
 will receive pardon. 
 
 Note by the Editor. — Faith in Jesus, or believing in him, 
 is also to be preached. Mark describes the preaching of 
 Jesus in these words. (Mark i. 15.) il Repent ye, and be- 
 lieve the gospel." John records the language of Jesus, 
 (chap. iii. 16,) when he preached to the ruler of the Jews, 
 li For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
 Son; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
 have everlasting life." — " He that believeth on him is not 
 condemned." (verse 18.) To believe in Jesus Christ is to 
 receive him as our Saviour. This includes love to him and 
 trust in him, — or the hearty approval of the soul to the gospel 
 method of salvation. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHSIST. 
 Matt. v. 1—12. 
 
 1. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain : 
 and when he was set, his disciples came unto him : 
 
 2. And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 
 
 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom 
 of heaven. 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 29 
 
 4. Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted. 
 
 5. Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth. 
 
 6. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after right- 
 eousness : for they shall be filled. 
 
 7. Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy. 
 
 8. Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God. 
 
 9. Blessed are the peace-makers : for they shall be called 
 the children of God. 
 
 10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous- 
 ness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 11. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and perse- 
 cute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, 
 for my sake. 
 
 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your 
 reward in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets which 
 were before you. 
 
 Now that Jesus had commenced preaching, and 
 had begun to heal sick people, and cast out evil 
 spirits, there were a good many persons following 
 him; and it is said in the first of the verses above, 
 that seeing the multitudes he went up into a moun- 
 tain — not a high, rocky, vast wilderness, like the 
 mountains of our country, but an elevated ridge or 
 hill, where the multitude could set around and hear 
 him. " And when he had set down, he opened 
 his mouth, and taught them." It was the custom 
 in that country for a preacher to sit down while 
 he spoke. Jesus had not yet chosen the twelve 
 apostles ; but a disciple means a learner, or one who 
 desires to be taught, and there were many such 
 persons that gathered around him, and the multi- 
 tude covered the sides of the hill below. 
 
 Think how the benevolent Saviour looked, sit- 
 ting out in the open air, with the shady trees and 
 broad blue sky over his head, and the wild scenes 
 of nature around him, and a vast multitude, perhaps 
 thousands of people, looking up at him, and trying 
 
 3* 
 
30 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 to catch every word which fell from his lips — but 
 think most of the words he uttered. He began by 
 saying, " Blessed are the poor in spirit; for their's 
 is the kingdom of heaven." "Blessed" means 
 happy, and to be poor in spirit means to be humble, 
 and think but little of ourselves. It is to feel that 
 we are sinners, and have done no good works that 
 can recommend us to God, but must depend 
 entirely on his mercy to save us. Poverty of spi- 
 rit does not signify a mean, cowardly spirit — nor a 
 vulgar, degraded, low, trifling mind — nor a mere 
 want of worldly things. Many persons who are 
 poor, mean and degraded; who envy rich people, 
 and fret, murmur, and complain, are very proud 
 in spirit. Jesus gave the reason why the poor in 
 spirit are blessed : " For theirs is the kingdom of 
 heaven." That is, they are prepared to receive 
 Jesus for their friend, and then all the blessings he 
 can bestow are theirs. The kingdom of heaven 
 reaches forward, too, into another world, so that 
 the poor in spirit are not only happy on earth, but 
 happy in heaven also. Will you examine your 
 own spirit, and see if the kingdom of heaven is 
 yours? Do you feel as if you are a little better 
 than some of your young companions, or certainly 
 quite as good as they? Do you feel so well satis- 
 fied with your own heart, that you think God 
 cannot help loving you; and you are therefore sure 
 of being saved? If so, I cannot think that you 
 are poor in spirit. In the next verse, Jesus says 
 those who mourn are blessed ; for they shall be 
 comforted. He was still calling on men to repent ; 
 and those who are truly sorry for sin still mourn 
 because they have offended their Heavenly Father; 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 31 
 
 ». * 
 
 and such mourners, Jesus says, shall be comforted. 
 He himself will be their comforter, for he says, 
 i'Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest.' 5 * " Blessed are the 
 'meek." Meekness is a calm, serene temper of 
 mind; not easily ruffled, or provoked, and patiently 
 bears injuries from others. Meek persons are not 
 cowardly persons, but are those who stand firmly 
 by the truth, and if they receive ill-treatment for 
 it, they bear it patiently, and discover no wicked 
 passions. Our Saviour gave us an example of 
 meekness when he suffered death by the hands of 
 wicked men. " When he was reviled, he reviled 
 not again." To meekness is the promise, " For 
 they shall inherit the earth." Christ does not 
 here promise that the meek should have great 
 possessions on earth ; but that their gentleness and 
 forbearance should cause them to lead a quiet and 
 peaceable life, and therefore they would enjoy more 
 on earth than others. 
 
 Jesus next speaks of those as blessed who hunger 
 
 * Many sinners are very anxious and much distressed in 
 seasons of religious revival, and desire their friends to pray 
 for them, and yet do not mourn. A mourner, in the Scrip- 
 ture sense, is a penitent, humble sinner, to whom God has 
 promised mercy. The prophet Isaiah (chap. lxi. 1, 2, 3,) is 
 speaking of the ministry of our Saviour, when he says, 
 li The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the 
 meek ; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to 
 proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison 
 to them that are bound ; — to proclaim the acceptable year of 
 the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God ; to comfort 
 all that mourn ; — to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, 
 to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourn- 
 ing, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ; that 
 they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of 
 the Lord, that he might be glorified. 5 ' — Editor. 
 
32 THE PREACHING OP JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 and thirst after righteousness; because they shall 
 be filled, or have that which they desire. To 
 hunger, you know, is to feel a strong desire for 
 food. I suppose few of my readers have ever 
 known what it was to be really hungry. You may 
 have thought yourselves suffering for food when 
 you have been out at play after the usual dinner 
 hour ; — but none of us, in this land of plenty, feel 
 the distress of hunger, such as those suffer who can 
 never obtain food enough, and sometimes pass two 
 or three days without any. If we had ever suffered 
 this we should understand more fully than we now 
 do what our Saviour meant when he spoke of 
 hungering after righteousness. But if you have 
 never felt severe hunger, perhaps you know what 
 extreme thirst is. Children sometimes play out 
 in warm weather, till they feel the need of water 
 more than anything else in the world. By this 
 you can understand why Jesus used such a figure. 
 If you were very thirsty nothing but water would 
 satisfy you. We might try to entertain you by the 
 sweetest music, the fairest flowers, and the most 
 beautiful pictures ; and still you would think more 
 of water than of every thing else. All the world 
 could not turn your thoughts from that, which you 
 so much desired. Jesus meant by hungering and 
 thirsting after righteousness, that a person should 
 feel so anxious to have his sins forgiven, and to 
 become good in the sight of God, that he could 
 take no rest without it. Nothing else would satisfy 
 him, and he could not have his thoughts turned 
 away from the subject any more than you could 
 forget the water when you were very thirsty. Such 
 persons, Jesus says, shall obtain the righteousness 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 33 
 
 they so much desire. They shall be filled. Their 
 sins shall be forgiven, and they shall enjoy the 
 favor of God. Thus you see it is not promised 
 that those shall be christians who only have some 
 faint desire to be such, but those who desire the 
 forgiveness of their sins above all other things will 
 be sure to obtain it. 
 
 Jesus next says, the merciful are blessed; for 
 they shall obtain mercy. These are the persons 
 who pity others in distress, and try to relieve them. 
 I suppose there is no one who reads this, that has 
 not had opportunity to pity, and perhaps to relieve 
 some one in distress. Have you been merciful? 
 If you have just said to some sufferer, " I am sorry 
 for you ;" or if you have given him something which 
 you did not want ; or something which belonged 
 to your parents — you cannot be sure that you are 
 truly merciful. We should be willing to deny 
 ourselves for the sake of others; that is, give up 
 the things we like, for the relief of the needy. 
 Those who do this, Jesus says, shall obtain mercy. 
 We will need the mercy of our Heavenly Father ; 
 not only the daily mercies of his Providence, but 
 that special mercy which saves sinners that are 
 lost. We have sinned against God all our lives, 
 and must have our sins forgiven, or be lost forever. 
 If we should begin to serve him from this moment, 
 and should hereafter keep all his commandments, 
 still we should do no more than our present duty, 
 and could make no amends for the past. We 
 could do nothing towards paying the vast debt 
 which we owed to God before we began to serve 
 
 I 
 
34 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 him. Thus you see we should need the mercy of 
 God if we could become christians of ourselves at 
 this moment ; — but this we cannot do. His mercy 
 must turn us into the right path ; his mercy must 
 keep us from going astray again into the paths of 
 sin; and his mercy must blot out, and forgive all 
 our past transgression. Think of this, and as you 
 wish to obtain the mercy and forgiveness of your 
 Heavenly Father, be merciful and forgiving your- 
 self. 
 
 " Blessed are the pure in heart" You under- 
 stand, no doubt, that the heart is the seat of the 
 affections. Love and hatred come from the heart ; 
 and the emotions of the heart influence the conduct. 
 Just as the heart feels we shall speak and act. 
 Now if our hearts are pure, that is, if they are free 
 from wicked thoughts and feelings, Jesus says we 
 " shall see God." We shall enjoy his favor, and 
 feel that he is very near to us. We shall love to 
 think of him, and shall observe him in all his 
 works around us. The sun, and moon, and stars, 
 the green earth and moving waters, will speak to 
 us of God ; and we shall love to examine the things 
 he has made, and admire his skill, and power, and 
 goodness. We shall see his hand in all the events 
 of our lives. If we enjoy prosperity we shall feel 
 that it comes from God, and be grateful to him. 
 If our friends die, and we suffer other afflictions, 
 we shall see a kind Father behind the cloud that 
 hangs over us, and still rejoice in him. Above all 
 we shall see God in his work of redemption. We 
 shall feel how lost we were when he came to save 
 us, and our gratitude will awake, and we shall 
 long to be like God, and dwell with him for ever. 
 
THE PREACHING OP JESUS CHRIST. 85 
 
 And, finally, if we are pure in heart we shall see 
 God our Saviour in heaven, and rejoice in his love 
 in the ages of eternity. Will you examine your 
 own heart, and see if you are among the number 
 who shall see God? 
 
 In the next verse Jesus says, " Blessed are the 
 'peace-makers; for they shall be called the children 
 of God." Peace-makers are those who strive to 
 make every body happy around them by keeping 
 all in peace. I have known but few peace-makers 
 among children. They are apt to take a great 
 deal of care of their little companions, and inform 
 other children what they say and do, not so often 
 for the sake of making peace, as for the sake of 
 making contention. Think how much good may 
 be done, by striving to keep all your young friends 
 in love with each other, and if you see any diffi- 
 culties between them, do all in your power to 
 restore peace. Your home or your school cannot 
 be like heaven if you have any contentions there ; 
 and you cannot be the children of God if you do 
 not seek to make peace. Peace-makers shall be 
 called the children of God, because they are like 
 him. God is the author of peace. Jesus is called 
 the Prince of Peace ; and wherever his spirit is felt 
 it banishes war and strife, and brings peace. 
 
 Jesus next speaks of those who are persecuted 
 for righteousness 1 sake ; which means such as are 
 sneered at and injured, because they are righteous. 
 At this time in our country, christians are not often 
 persecuted in the way they were in ancient times. 
 Perhaps you have read of the Quakers or Friends 
 who were hung in New England many years ago, 
 because they chose to worship God in the way 
 
36 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 that they thought was right; or of Roger Williams, 
 who was banished from his home, and driven into 
 the wilderness, on account of his peculiar religious 
 views. Baptist ministers were whipped and shut up 
 in jail in Virginia for preaching the gospel. These 
 people were persecuted. Perhaps at this time very 
 young persons, who make a profession of religion, 
 are sometimes persecuted by their former compan- 
 ions. This is because it is not common for such 
 youth to join the church, and perhaps the wicked 
 ones think they cannot be true christians. I once 
 sat down to commemorate the death of our Sa- 
 viour with a church where there were several lads 
 among the communicants, one of whom was not 
 more than eleven years old. My thoughts were soon 
 interrupted by a noise in the gallery of the house, 
 and looking up I saw some very wicked boys who 
 had once been the companions of those who had 
 joined the church, creeping around, and trying to 
 see the little church members ; and when they got 
 where they could see them sitting with the pious 
 men and women ; and with a meek and thoughtful 
 countenance, taking the bread and wine which 
 the deacon handed them, I saw these very wicked 
 boys point at them, and make a sneering laugh. 
 These boys felt the spirit of persecution ; the same 
 spirit which caused the wicked people to stone to 
 death the first christian martyr, Stephen, of which 
 you can read in the seventh chapter of Acts. 
 " For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." They 
 shall enjoy the happiness of the righteous. It 
 would not be right to seek persecution, but if our 
 christian profession and pious life bring upon us 
 the ill-will of those who hate religion, it is an evi- 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 37 
 
 dence that we are the followers of Christ; and we 
 may therefore take for our own the promises he 
 gives his children, and hope to enjoy heaven with 
 him hereafter. 
 
 " Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and 
 persecute you, and say all manner of evil against 
 you, falsely, for my sake." Observe the word 
 "falsely" in this passage. When people speak 
 against us without cause, but for the sake of re- 
 viling us, and injuring the cause of religion, they 
 do it falsely ; and though we should pity them, we 
 need not be distressed on our own account. Nay, 
 so far from being distressed, Jesus says in the 
 next verse we should "rejoice, and be exceeding 
 glad." That is, rejoice that we are considered 
 worthy to be treated thus for his sake, because he 
 will not allow his friends to suffer anything on 
 earth for which he will not reward them in hea- 
 ven. In this manner he says wicked people once 
 persecuted the prophets who lived many years be- 
 fore; — and they, no doubt, are now reaping their 
 reward in heaven. 
 
 Now we have looked carefully through these 
 twelve verses. They are the words of the Saviour 
 who knew the hearts of men. Think again who 
 are the persons that he says are happy. Are they 
 the same that you have looked upon as the happiest 
 ones around you ? Have you thought when you 
 saw people meek, quiet, and benevolent; seeking 
 to make others happy ; and seeming to think very 
 little of themselves— that such persons were the 
 blessed? If you have called the rich and powerful 
 the blessed, remember these words of our Saviour, 
 and call them so no more. Again, will you look 
 
 4 
 
38 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 into your own heart, and see if you find these 
 pious exercises there. Remember, that the same 
 person who is poor in spirit will mourn for sin, and 
 be meek, forgiving, merciful, and peaceful ; and 
 he will long to be pure in heart, and will hunger 
 and thirst after righteousness ; and then he will be 
 very likely to be reviled, and if he bears it patiently 
 his reward will be great in heaven. These twelve 
 verses describe the feelings of a christian. All 
 these excellent dispositions are found in some 
 degree in the heart of every true follower of Jesus, 
 though it is often the case that one of them is seen 
 more plainly than the others. Do you find these 
 dispositions in your own heart? 
 
 CHAPTER VI. . 
 
 THE LORD'S PRAYER. 
 Matt. vi. 9 — 13. 
 
 9. After this manner therefore pray ye : Our Father which 
 art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 
 
 10. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it 
 is in heaven. 
 
 11. Give us this day our daily bread. 
 
 12. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. ' 
 
 13. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
 evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
 for ever. Amen. 
 
 Prayer is speaking to God. In the verses above 
 we have a prayer which our Saviour gave his dis- 
 ciples as an example for them to copy. He says, 
 " After this manner pray ye." Not that we should 
 always use these words; but this is the substance, 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 39 
 
 the spirit, the feeling, which should always be felt 
 and spoken by us when we pray. Have you 
 thought, my young reader, what it is to pray? I 
 have seen many children bow their heads in the 
 Sabbath school, and repeat together the Lord's 
 prayer ; I have seen them kneel with their parents 
 around the family altar ; and in the public assem- 
 bly I have seen them stand quietly listening while 
 the minister offered prayer to God — but it may be 
 very few of all these children really thought what 
 they were doing or how they should feel. \ Prayer is 
 an offering of the heart ; it is telling God the truth. 
 We may call it prayer, but the great and holy God 
 does not, unless our thoughts and feelings are all 
 taken away from earth, and raised up to him in 
 our words. When we bow before God, we may 
 remember our friends only, to ask him to bless 
 them; we may remember ourselves only, to think 
 that we are sinful and unworthy, and must be lost 
 without his pardoning mercy; but our minds should 
 be filled with thoughts of the majesty and purity, 
 the mercy and love of our Creator; and we should 
 at the moment we are bowing before him, give 
 ourselves away to him entirely, and be willing that 
 he should do with us, and with all who are dear to 
 us, just what he chooses to do. If we come before 
 God with this spirit, and with these exercises of 
 mind, and pray to him with such feelings, he will 
 accept our worship, and listen to our requests. 
 
 We may raise our thoughts and feelings to our 
 Heavenly Father even in a low whisper, and he 
 will understand and answer us. When your parent 
 or minister is offering prayer, you should lift your 
 thoughts to God, adopt his words, and express in 
 
40 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 your mind the same feelings that he utters. If 
 you do this you will pray, but if you merely repeat 
 the best of words, even the Lord's prayer, without 
 thinking what you say, or without raising your 
 thoughts to God, it is not an acceptable prayer. 
 
 Now let us attend carefully to the example of 
 prayer which Jesus gave his disciples. " Our 
 Father" Here we have a name given us by which 
 we may address the mighty God ; and what a fond, 
 endearing name it is ! Our Father. Every one of 
 us may claim this relationship, because he has made 
 us all, and we are his children. " In him we live, 
 and move, and have our being," and he is watching 
 over us every moment, and taking care to supply 
 all our wants, as a mother watches over a helpless 
 infant to see that it is always comfortable and 
 happy. " Who art in heaven" Heaven is the 
 place which is filled with the presence of God, 
 because all is happiness and love there, but this 
 expression does not mean that God is only in hea- 
 ven. He is every where. Read the one hundred and 
 thirty-ninth Psalm, and you will feel that it is im- 
 possible to escape the eye of God, or go to any 
 place where he will not be looking at your heart, 
 and understanding all your feelings. God is every 
 where. " Hallowed be thy name." This means 
 that all the inhabitants of the earth should worship 
 God, and that his name should never be spoken 
 of, or thought of, without fear, and praise, and 
 honor. Very many of the beings whom God has 
 placed on the earth, men, women, and children, 
 appear to forget their Maker entirely. They rise 
 in the morning without thanking God for his pre- 
 serving care; attend to their business or their 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 41 
 
 pleasure all the day, without lifting one thought to 
 him ; and at night they lie down forgetful of Him 
 who has been watching over them, and giving 
 them all the blessings they have enjoyed ; and who 
 might easily call away their spirits, and cause them 
 to sleep the sleep of death before the rising of an- 
 other sun. Such persons do not hallow the name 
 of God. There are others who think of God, and 
 often speak of him, but not with reverence. Some 
 openly profane his name, others speak of him in a 
 very light and careless manner. I once heard a 
 little boy in the time of a tempest, while the light- 
 ning was flashing around, and the thunder rolling 
 through the sky, speaK some wicked words about 
 the noise that God was making over our heads. 
 He was repeating something that he had heard 
 some very wicked men say, and he smiled, and 
 seemed to think it was witty ; but I do not think 
 he would have thought so, nor would he have dared 
 or wished to use such language, if he had felt the 
 spirit of the Lord's prayer. This boy did not hal- 
 low the name of God. When we pray, one of the 
 strong desires of our hearts should be that all men 
 should reverence and honor the name of the great 
 and holy God. 
 
 " Thy kingdom come" A kingdom has three 
 parts, a king, subjects, and laws. The king rules, 
 and the people have to obey him. Jesus is king 
 in Zion. This whole world, where you and I live, 
 belongs to God, but the people have turned away 
 from his government, and have chosen to disobey 
 him, and indulge their own wicked dispositions. 
 When we say " thy kingdom come," if we really 
 
 pray, we desire and ask that all who are opposed 
 
 4* 
 
42 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST* 
 
 to God on earth may become his friends. And 
 when we say, " thy ivill be done in earth as it is in 
 heaven" we pray that every thing wicked may be 
 driven from the earth by the gospel and spirit of 
 God, and that every being here should obey God's 
 holy laws, and love, and peace, and happiness be 
 enjoyed, and God be praised and honored here 
 just as he is in heaven. It should be noticed, that 
 before we ask for personal favors, we are taught 
 to pray for the spread of the gospel and the con- 
 version of the world. This should teach us that 
 the kingdom of God should have the first and 
 highest place in our thoughts and prayers. " Give 
 us this day our daily bread" We should ask for 
 such earthly comforts as we daily need, but we may 
 not ask for honors, or riches, for this world is not 
 our home, and we should not seek to lay up trea- 
 sure here. " Forgive us our debts, as we forgive 
 our debtors" Our debts are our sins, or our 
 transgressions of God's holy law ; and we should 
 always feel, especially when we come before our 
 Heavenly Father in prayer, that we are sinners, 
 and must have his pardon or forgiveness, or be lost 
 forever. "Lead us not into temptation; but deli- 
 ver us from evil." These expressions are a petition 
 that God would keep us from every thing that will 
 lead us to forget his commandments, and entice 
 us to do wrong. Let us never forget that we have 
 within us such evil hearts, that we shall be led by 
 every bad example, and continually grow worse 
 and worse, if we are not guarded and guided by 
 the spirit of God. "For thine is the kingdom, the 
 power, and the glory for ever" If we truly feel 
 these words when we speak them in prayer, we 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 43 
 
 acknowledge the right God has to reign in us, and 
 over us, and through all the world. If we truly 
 feel these words, our spirits bow before our Maker, 
 and we worship him as the angels do in heaven. 
 "Amen." This word at the end of the prayer 
 means " May it be so." Jesus therefore said in one 
 word as he closed the prayer, " My heart approves 
 it all." 
 
 I told you, dear reader, that prayer was an offer- 
 ing of the heart to God. This examination of the 
 Lord's prayer shows us what kind of offering it 
 should be. Are you prepared to pray in this 
 manner? If not, still it is your duty to pray, not 
 with the lips only, but with the heart. All prayer 
 to God must be made in the name of our Saviour. 
 God cannot hear and answer the prayers of any 
 sinful being, only through Christ as a mediator and 
 intercessor. All our offerings to God must be 
 presented in His Name. How can you learn to 
 pray aright? None but God can teach you. Study 
 his word, believe in Jesus as your Saviour. Ask 
 him to give you " a clean heart, and a right spirit." 
 Ask him to " search you, and try you, and see if 
 there be any wicked way in you, and lead you in 
 the way everlasting*." You need not fear to come 
 to him in the name of Christ, for the Bible says, 
 " If ye," that is earthly parents, " know how to give 
 good gifts to your children; how much more shall 
 your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
 that ask him." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 Matt. vi. 28, 29. 
 
 8. And why take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the 
 lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, neither do 
 they spin : 
 
 29. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his 
 glory was not arrayed like one of these. 
 
 In the same sermon in which Jesus tells us what 
 are the dispositions of christians, and gives us an 
 example of prayer, he speaks the words which you 
 see above. He had been warning his hearers 
 against laying up treasures on earth — that is, 
 seeking all their happiness in earthly things, and 
 telling them to take no anxious thought about 
 their food, when he says, " And why take ye 
 thought for raiment?" that is clothing. "Con- 
 sider," or think of, " the lilies of the field, how 
 they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin." 
 As if he had said, " Look at those sweet flowers 
 springing out of the hard, rough ground, and rising 
 without noise, labor, or care to open their beauties 
 to the sun. Look at their soft-shaded leaves, and 
 see how gracefully they bend upon the stem. They 
 have taken no pains to be thus beautiful ; and here 
 they are, sprinkled all over the face of the wide field, 
 for any one to look at and admire. Why should 
 you be taking anxious thought about your dress ? 
 When your Heavenly Father takes care to clothe 
 the humble lily with so much beauty, will he not 
 also take care that you have such clothing as you 
 need ?" 
 
 44 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 45 
 
 In the next verse Jesus adds, " And yet Solo- 
 mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of 
 these." Solomon w&s a very rich king, of whom 
 we read in the Old Testament. He lived in great 
 splendor, and probably wore the most elegant and 
 expensive garments that he could purchase with 
 silver or gold. He was so famous for his splendid 
 style of living, that a queen who lived in a distant 
 country traveled a long journey, with a vast train 
 of servants and camels, to see him, and look at 
 the wonders of his house ; and when she had ex- 
 amined them she acknowledged, that though she 
 had heard a great fame of him in her own country, 
 the half had not been told her. Yet Jesus says, 
 that Solomon in all his glory — in the most splen- 
 did period of his life — was not arrayed, or dressed 
 so beautifully as one of these modest little flowers. 
 
 And what lesson do you think our Saviour 
 taught, when he thus spoke of the lily, and com- 
 pared it with the rich king? He knew what feel- 
 ings were in the hearts of his hearers, and he 
 knew too what would be in the hearts of men, 
 women, and children at this time, when we live 
 on the earth ; and he intended to show us how 
 unnecessary it is that we should be very anxious 
 about our clothing ; and to show us also how fool- 
 ish and wicked it is to be proud of dress. 
 
 I suppose few, if any, of my young readers have 
 ever suffered for fear you should not have comfort- 
 able clothing — but I suspect many of you have 
 felt very anxious that your clothes should be fine 
 and beautiful. Do you think I judge without 
 reason? No, not without reason, because I know 
 that children and youth generally take pleasure and 
 
46 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 pride in the same kinds of things ; and as I do not 
 know one little friend of mine who does not often 
 discover much pride in dress, I think it must be 
 the same with all children. Perhaps all persons 
 are more ready to commit some sins than others. 
 These are called their easily besetting sins, because 
 they are so easily led to commit them. I should 
 think pride in dress was an easily besetting sin to 
 children; and if it is so they should watch very 
 carefully against it*. Think for a little while of the 
 sin and folly of being proud of dress. All pride 
 is sinful. We are poor, dependent creatures, and 
 may not call even our breath our own. All we 
 are, and all we enjoy, comes from God, and our 
 employment should be to praise and worship him. 
 But the feeling of pride in our hearts leads us to 
 exalt ourselves, and wish to have others notice us, 
 and think more highly of us than they ought to 
 think. It leads us to forget God whom we should 
 love and worship, and make idols of ourselves. 
 Pride, therefore, this very pride in dress, may be 
 the means of ruining the souls of those who in- 
 dulge it. Think of the folly of such pride. We 
 take something which God has caused to grow 
 very beautiful, or something which he has taught 
 man to make beautiful from those things that he has 
 first caused to grow, such as the silk-worm's thread, 
 the wool from the sheep, or the cotton from the 
 pod, and place it on our bodies, and then feel 
 proud, as if we deserved praise for wearing the 
 beautiful colors and soft silks which the skill and 
 goodness of our Heavenly Father have provided 
 for us. Do you not see the extreme folly as well 
 as wickedness of this pride, and will you not learn 
 
THE PREACHING OP JESUS CHRIST 47 
 
 from this time to despise and hate the feeling when 
 it rises in your breast ? Again, if our dress is ever 
 so beautiful, it is wrong for us to be proud of it ; 
 but it may be that we do not know what is truly 
 beautiful. Perhaps we should have thought Solo- 
 mon's splendid dress much more beautiful than 
 the lily; but Jesus, who judged right in all things, 
 said that the king in all his glory was not arrayed 
 like the lily. Dr. Watts, a good man, who wrote 
 beautiful hymns for children, has taught them to 
 say, 
 
 " The tulip and the butterfly 
 
 Are dressed in gayer clothes than I ; 
 
 Let me be dressed fine as I will, 
 
 Flies, worms and flowers exceed me still. ' 3 
 
 Surely we have no reason to be proud of that in 
 which the insects and flowers may excel us. And 
 then think how soon these bodies, which we take 
 so much pride in dressing, will be laid away in the 
 grave, and need no garment but the plain, white 
 robe, and this will lead you to take no anxious 
 thought about your raiment, but only to desire 
 that it may be neat and comfortable. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Matt. vii. 24 — 27. 
 
 24. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, 
 and doeth them, I will liken him unto a a wise man, which 
 built his house upon a rock : 
 
 25. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
 winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not : for 
 it was founded upon a rock. 
 
 26. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
 doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which 
 built his house upon the sand : 
 
 27. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
 winds blew, and beat upon that house j and it fell : and great 
 was the fall of it. 
 
 That part of our Saviour's preaching which is 
 called " the sermon on the mount" extends through 
 the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew, 
 and contains so much excellent instruction, that if 
 no other words of our Saviour had been preserved 
 for us, these would have been sufficient to guide 
 us to heaven. I hope, my young reader, you 
 have read them with attention many times, and 
 I hope the Spirit of God has taught you to under- 
 stand and feel the truth and wisdom which they 
 contain. 
 
 The verses above are the closing part of this 
 sermon. After Jesus had been teaching the peo- 
 ple how to conduct towards each other, and towards 
 their Heavenly Father; how to live a useful and 
 happy life, and die a peaceful death, he concludes 
 by saying, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of 
 mine," &c. Whosoever means any person. Any 
 48 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 49 
 
 of the people who were gathered around him on 
 the mountain, or any person who reads his words 
 now ; you who read this little book, or I who write 
 it. " These sayings" means the precepts or doc- 
 trine which he had just been delivering to them, 
 and which are written for us to read in these three 
 chapters. "And doeth ihemP Here is the diffi- 
 culty and the danger. It was no doubt very easy 
 for those people who heard Jesus preach to listen 
 to his words. Perhaps they took pleasure in look- 
 ing on his heavenly countenance, and were charm- 
 ed with his mild, persuasive voice; and it may be 
 they were even pleased with his pure, benevolent 
 doctrine while they heard him speak, but when 
 they went away to their homes, I fear many of 
 them did not do as he directed them. It is easy 
 for us to read these sayings of the Saviour, and 
 while we read them our hearts acknowledge that 
 they are good, and we know it would make us 
 happy to obey them, but do we remember to do 
 them at all times, and in all places? If we do 
 these sayings we shall indulge in no anger ; we 
 shall swear not at all; we shall love, not our friends 
 only, but our enemies also ; we shall be kind and 
 obliging to all around us, and do by others just as 
 we would like to have them do by us ; we shall not 
 give half our thoughts to the world, and half to 
 God, but it will be our first desire to please our 
 Heavenly Father. This would be doing the say- 
 ings of our Saviour ; and he says of the person who 
 does them, "I will liken him unto a wise man 
 which built his house upon a rock." To liken, is 
 to compare, or represent one thing by another. 
 The Saviour was so kind and condescending that 
 
 5 
 
50 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 he often taught his hearers about spiritual things, 
 such as they could not easily understand, by com- 
 paring them with natural things, such as they saw 
 around them. At this time, to make his instruc- 
 tions plain to those who heard him, and plain for 
 you and me who now read them, Jesus used the 
 comparison of the two houses, one built oil a rock, 
 and the other on the sand. 
 
 A house, you know, is a dwelling to keep us 
 safe and comfortable. It is not built for one day 
 merely, but we prepare it for night and day, for 
 winter and summer, for the fair and the stormy 
 weather ; and here we take our furniture and our 
 families, and call it our home. Should not such 
 a building be placed on a firm foundation ? The 
 wise man, our Saviour says, built his house on a 
 rock, and when the rain descended, the winds 
 blew, and the floods came, though they beat upon 
 that house it fell not, because it was founded upon 
 a rock. Now, my dear reader, the truths of the 
 Bible, especially the doctrine of Christ, and the 
 instructions of our Saviour, are a rock on which 
 you may build your spiritual house — your house 
 for eternity. You may hereafter encounter many 
 storms ; the floods of adversity may beat upon you; 
 but if you are built on this rock, if your faith and 
 hope be fastened to this foundation you can never 
 fall, because Jesus will love, protect, and keep 
 you safely by his mighty power. 
 
 In the twenty-sixth verse, Jesus compares such 
 persons as hear his sayings and do them not, to a 
 foolish man who built his house upon the sand 
 This man, too, designed his house for a place of 
 safety and comfort. He carried thither his dearest 
 
THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 51 
 
 friends, and his most valuable property. He meant 
 it should long stand for his secure and happy home; 
 but, O how unwise he was to build it on the sand! 
 In the calmest days of sunshine it was no more 
 pleasant than the wise man's house, which he had 
 placed on a rock, and when the first heavy wind 
 came it began to totter, and ere long, when " the 
 rains descended, the floods came, and the winds 
 blew, it fell, and great was the fall of it" 
 
 Let us think what this falling house, with all its 
 beauty and grandeur, with all its vast treasures of 
 life and happiness within, is made to represent. 
 The loss of an immortal soul ! Jesus teaches us 
 by this familiar illustration that those who love 
 and obey the precepts of the gospel, that is, those 
 who believe in Jesus and take him for their Sa- 
 viour, will be safe and happy through all the trials 
 of life, and even in the hour of death ; but those 
 who trust in any other righteousness than that of 
 Jesus Christ will be lost for ever. No wonder that 
 Jesus said of the foolish man's house, " Great was 
 the fall of it." To build our hopes of heaven on 
 a false foundation, and find ourselves deceived at 
 last; to feel that our soul, which can never die, 
 has taken its final portion with the lost, must be a 
 fall so fearful that even the Saviour's illustration 
 does not enable us fully to realize it. 
 
 Dear children, if you live long on earth, you 
 will find many things to entice you to build for 
 eternity on the sliding sand. The vanity of the 
 world, your gay companions, and your own wicked 
 hearts, will lead you to depend on some other 
 foundation than the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 
 Besides this, you are in danger of neglecting all 
 
52 JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 
 
 religion, and thus scarcely thinking on what foun- 
 dation your house is placed until the storm begins 
 to beat, and then it is too late. Now, while you 
 are very young, trust in the Saviour, and ask him 
 to guide you through life, and prepare you for the 
 happiness of heaven. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 c ESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 
 
 The Parable of the Sower. 
 Matt. xiii. 1 — 8. 
 
 1. The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by 
 the sea- side. 
 
 2. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, 
 so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude 
 stood on the shore. 
 
 3. And he spake many things unto them in parables, say- 
 ing, Behold, a sower went forth to sow : 
 
 4. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way- side, 
 and the fowls came, and devoured them up. 
 
 5. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much 
 earth ; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no 
 deepness of earth : 
 
 6. And when the sun was up they were scorched ; and 
 because they had no root, they withered away. 
 
 7. And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprung up 
 and choked them. 
 
 8. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, 
 some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. 
 
 You here perceive, my young friends, that Jesus 
 seated himself by the sea-side, that is, by the shore 
 of the sea of Galilee; and that " great multitudes 
 were gathered together unto him." In the last 
 chapter you may learn that the Pharisees sought to 
 
JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 53 
 
 destroy the Saviour, but great numbers of the peo- 
 ple who lived in that country did not feel like the 
 Pharisees. They believed that Jesus was a great 
 and good Teacher, though I suppose they did not all 
 know that he was the Son of God. They felt that 
 he spoke with wisdom and love, and believed that 
 he was able to work miracles, therefore they fol- 
 lowed him from place to place, and listened to 
 hear when he spoke, and asked him to heal them 
 when they were sick. So many people collected 
 around the Saviour as he sat on the sea-shore, 
 that he went into a ship and sat, while the whole 
 multitude stood on the shore. 
 
 You have thought of Jesus as he sat on the 
 mountain side, preaching the gospel of peace to 
 the multitude ; now think of him, still ready to do 
 good — anxious that all who came might hear his 
 word; leaving the land, and going into a vessel in- 
 stead of a pulpit, so that the people might gather 
 along the shore, and all be able to hear. The 
 sea-breezes gently play around the ship, while his 
 sweet voice echoes across the moving waters, and 
 the waves ripple along the pebbly shore, — while 
 men, women and children stand eagerly gazing 
 on his mild countenance, as they treasure up the 
 gracious words that fall from his lips. 
 
 " He spake many things to them in parables." 
 Perhaps you do not understand what a parable is. 
 It is a kind of story, natural in its parts, and told 
 to show, in a plain and interesting manner, some 
 important truth. In our country it is not common 
 to speak in this manner, but in Asia, where the 
 Saviour lived, it was very common. The parable 
 is that of the sower, and shows, by the seed on 
 
 5* 
 
54 JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 
 
 four kinds of ground, the effect of preaching and 
 teaching on four different classes of hearers. " Be- 
 hold, a sower went forth to sow" &,c. I once read 
 to a little friend of mine, and said to him, do you 
 understand this parable 1 "O yes," said he. He 
 was a very small boy, and I thought he might be 
 mistaken, and so I said, are you sure of it ? He 
 answered, " Yes, I am sure, because I found it 
 explained in the same chapter." I was glad that 
 the dear child had read his Bible with so much 
 attention. Have any of my readers observed the 
 explanation which our Saviour gives of this para- 
 ble? If you have, I am glad that you too read 
 the Bible with attention; if not, I wish you would 
 now take the Bible, and turning to the thirteenth 
 chapter of Matthew, read from the eighteenth 
 verse to the twenty-fourth. 
 
 When the farmer sows the seed which produces 
 grain, he throws it around in different directions, 
 and as he scatters it, some falls in good places, 
 and some in bad. This seed which the sower 
 casts around, our Saviour says, represents " the 
 word of the kingdom," that is, the gospel which 
 he taught, and his disciples taught in his name. 
 The fowls which came and devoured the seed re- 
 present the Wicked One. That evil being who first 
 brought sin into the world, and who now is seek- 
 ing to make us all as wicked as himself; he catches 
 away the truth from the hearts of all those who are 
 not anxious to keep it in their minds, just as a hun- 
 gry bird devours the grain he finds scattered on the 
 ground. We are told that some seeds fell upon stony 
 places, and they soon sprang up, but when the sun 
 was up they were scorched; and because they had 
 
JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 55 
 
 no root they withered away. This represents such 
 persons as are glad to hear the gospel when it is 
 first preached to them : but they do not really love 
 it. They receive it with joy, but are not truly 
 converted, and when a time of trial comes, they 
 fall away, they are offended, forsake the cause, and 
 go back into the world. The seed that fell among 
 thorns, represents such people as have their under- 
 standings and consciences convinced of the truth 
 of the gospel, but suffer the cares of this world, and 
 the deceitfulness of riches, to choke the word, so 
 that it becomes unfruitful. They at first listen to 
 the gospel, and it appears to take some root in their 
 minds, but they love the riches, pleasures, and 
 honors of this world so well that they cannot be 
 willing to become disciples of the meek and lowly 
 Saviour ; and so they give up the hope of heaven 
 for worldly good. 
 
 Jesus tells us that some seed fell on good ground 
 and brought forth fruit, not all the same quantity, 
 but all fruit of the same kind, and such as the 
 sower approved. These represent true christians, 
 such as really love and obey the Saviour. The 
 fruit is those graces of the Spirit and good works 
 which show that they endeavor to follow the ex- 
 ample of Jesus, and make every body happy around 
 them. " Some thirty, some sixty, and some an 
 hundred fold." The christian, whose heart is full 
 of love to God, will so strive to honor and serve 
 him that he will bring forth much fruit; while- 
 others may truly love him, and yet not feel so much 
 love as to lead them to be always active; besides, 
 some have more health, some more talents, and 
 some more influence, and some more money than 
 
56 JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 
 
 others, and these help them to do good. This 
 fruit is much like children's obedience to their 
 parents. A very affectionate child will be watching 
 every opportunity to do that which will please his 
 father, and cause him to look on him with a smile, 
 and if he has an active mind, and enjoys good 
 health, he can do more to serve and honor his 
 father than another child can who does not enjoy 
 these blessings. 
 
 Among those who were standing on the shore 
 to listen to this parable, perhaps there were some 
 of all these four kinds of hearers. Of those who 
 read this parable now, no doubt there are some of 
 each of these classes, Jesus did not speak of it 
 for the instruction of that people only; but for you 
 and me. He knew that we should live at this 
 time, and he knew what kind of hearts we should 
 have, and this was written to warn us against de- 
 spising and neglecting the " Word of the king- 
 dom." To which of these four classes of hearers 
 would you choose to belong? It is of little con- 
 sequence which it is, if it be not those represented 
 by the good ground that brought forth fruit. You 
 are among those that hear the word if you have 
 never read any more of the Bible than you find in 
 this little book. Will you soon forget what you 
 read, or what you hear from the minister and your 
 pious friends; and so belike the ground in which 
 there was no deepness of earth for the seed to take 
 root in? Or will you suffer the amusements of 
 life to fill your mind, so that there will be no room 
 in your heart for Jesus, and no time left to devote 
 to his service ? Will you not rather choose to be 
 among those who love the words of Jesus; those 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 57 
 
 who believe in him, and trust in his righteousness, 
 that you may in early life bring forth fruit to his 
 honor and glory. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 The Leper Cleansed, 
 Matt. viii. 1- — 3. 
 
 1. When he was come down from the mountain, great 
 multitudes followed him. 
 
 2. And, behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, 
 saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 
 
 3. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, 
 I will ; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was 
 cleansed. 
 
 If you have read the New Testament through, 
 or if you have read but a few chapters in the first 
 part of it, you have found some account of the 
 miracles which Jesus performed. Have you thought 
 what a miracle is? I will try to tell you. It is 
 an event contrary to the common course of nature, 
 and one which the power of man cannot cause. 
 Perhaps if you have read the Acts of the Apostles, 
 you will remember that Paul and Peter and other 
 Apostles wrought miracles ; but did you observe 
 that ^hey did it in the name of Jesus of Nazareth? 
 And never since the days of the Apostles have the 
 followers of Christ been taught to perform miracles 
 in his name. I told you a miracle was not like a 
 common event. When our friends are sick, the 
 physician gives them medicine, and we use every 
 
58 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 means in our power to restore them to health. If 
 God blesses these means they recover, but this is 
 not a miracle, because it is the common method 
 which God has taught us to use, and one which 
 he often blesses. But if a person should cure our 
 sick friend in a moment, without using any means, 
 it would be a miracle; and we should know that 
 the person who performed it must be very power- 
 ful; we should think that Jesus had come back to 
 earth, or had sent one of his holy Apostles to work 
 in his name. 
 
 We sometimes have violent winds, but they do 
 not rise in a moment, nor die away in a moment; 
 so when the sailors who are out on the ocean per- 
 ceive the wind to be rising, they take in the sails 
 of the vessel, and prepare every thing for the gale. 
 If she ride safely over the mighty billows, and 
 suffer no injury from the storm, she is not preserved 
 by a miracle; but because God has caused the wind 
 to go down as usual, and has blessed the means 
 which he taught the sailors to use, to save them- 
 selves from sinking in the deep. Now if some 
 person in the midst of this fearful gale had spoken 
 to the wind, and by a word had hushed its fury, 
 so that the waves were quiet, and the winds were 
 still in a moment, it would have been a miracle, 
 and we should have been convinced that the per- 
 son who thus controlled the winds must be the 
 God who made them, or one of his servants to 
 whom he had given special power. 
 
 I was once walking out on a very windy day 
 with a little boy who was about five years old. He 
 had just begun to read the Bible, and his mind 
 seemed much impressed with the miracles of which 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR- 59 
 
 he read in the New Testament. As the wind beat 
 strongly against us so that we could hardly walk, 
 the little boy kept saying very soberly, "Peace, be 
 still, peace, be still," but after a moment he turned 
 to me, saying, " The wind will not obey me, but it 
 obeyed Jesus Christ." This child felt, though he 
 was very young, that the Saviour must be very 
 powerful, because he could make the winds obey 
 his words : so the people felt who saw his mira- 
 cles ; and so we should feel when we read of them. 
 
 The Saviour performed these wonders, in the 
 first place, to convince us that he is the mighty 
 God; and if we can read of them and not feel con- 
 vinced of this, it is because we are hard-hearted 
 and unbelieving. In the second place, he wrought 
 miracles to do good. He loved to make people 
 happy, and when he cured sick people, and opened 
 the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf, by 
 a miracle, he gave them ease for pain, light for 
 darkness, and hearing for deafness, in a moment. 
 If you now understand what a miracle is, and 
 also the most important reasons why our Saviour 
 wrought so many miracles while he was on earth, 
 we are ready to examine the verses above. 
 
 We are told that a great multitude followed 
 Jesus when he came down from the mountain, 
 and among them was a leper; which means a 
 person diseased with the leprosy. We know but 
 little about the leprosy in our country, but in the 
 eastern part of the world it was a most loathsome 
 and distressing disease. In many cases physicians 
 could not cure it, and the persons who were af- 
 flicted with it were obliged by the law to go away 
 from their friends, and live in some desolate place, 
 
60 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 that others might not take it of them. Then, after 
 suffering a great deal, sometimes for many years, 
 they must die alone, with no friend to watch over 
 them and soothe the last hours of life. A person 
 having this fearful disease preying on his body, 
 had heard of Jesus Christ. It may be he had lis- 
 tened to his " Sermon on the Mount," or he had 
 heard of some miracle which he had wrought. He 
 knew that Jesus was both good and great, for we 
 are told in the second verse that he came and wor- 
 shiped him, saying, " Lord, if thou wilt thou canst 
 make me clean." It is very probable that he came 
 trembling along, thinking as he approached the 
 crowd which surrounded Jesus, a O, how happy I 
 should be if this dreadful disease, which will soon 
 bring me to the grave, was cured, but I dare not 
 hope that this benevolent stranger will notice me 
 among this vast multitude, even if I can get near 
 enough to speak to him." But he felt the pain 
 and distress of the leprosy, he thought of his past 
 sufferings, and looked forward to the anguish of 
 future years; he believed that Jesus was able to 
 cure him; and as he pressed his way onward he 
 thought, " I must die if I do not ask Jesus to heal 
 me, and I cannot meet anything worse than death 
 if he refuse;" and thus he came and knelt before 
 the Saviour. And now think of the compassionate 
 Jesus, who never had any home on earth, but who 
 spent his life in going about over mountain, valley, 
 and lake, to do good to the family of man. Think 
 how he turned to the poor leper as he cried, " Lord, 
 if thou wilt thou canst make me clean," and 
 stretching forth his hand to touch him, immedi- 
 ately answer ed, "J will, be thou clean." What 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 61 
 
 could the anxious leper hope for more than this? 
 He might have feared much, but he could hope 
 for nothing more. What joy thrilled through his 
 heart as he heard the ready answer, "I will;" 
 and the next moment he was a well man. "And 
 immediately his leprosy was cleansed." A moment 
 before his eye was heavy, and his cheek pale ; his 
 limbs were feeble and weary ; and it was heavy 
 labor even to draw his breath : now his counte- 
 nance sparkled with joy; his blood flowed with 
 quiet and healthful motion ; and his limbs felt the 
 sprightliness of childhood. A moment before he 
 was expecting to be banished from his friends, and 
 pine away in loneliness ; now he could carry them 
 the joyful intelligence that he was well. Does not 
 this miracle show you very plainly both the power 
 and the mercy of Jesus Christ? 
 
 I knew a young lady who became a teacher in 
 the Sabbath school, while she had thought but 
 little of the character and works of Jesus Christ. 
 As she was teaching her class from the New Tes- 
 tament, she was led to think much of the miracles 
 recorded there. Her mind was impressed with the 
 mercy and benevolence of the Saviour, and while 
 speaking to the class the thought came into her 
 mind, that she had never seen any account that 
 Jesus ever refused to heal any distressed person 
 who came to him ; and then proposed to her class 
 to look through the four first books during the 
 next week, on purpose to see if there were any 
 such account. While examining the evangelists 
 through in this way this lady began to think how 
 lovely and excellent the blessed Jesus is, and she 
 saw that it was very ungrateful and wicked not to 
 
 6 
 
62 THE MIRACLES OP OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 love him with all the heart. She saw that she 
 was a great sinner, and therefore she knelt before 
 the mighty and compassionate Saviour, and asked 
 him to pardon her sins, and give her a new heart 
 and a right spirit. Jesus taught her to love him, 
 and after that she was better prepared to be a 
 Sabbath school teacher. May this study of the 
 miracles of Jesus Christ lead my young readers to 
 love and serve him. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE MIRACLE OF GIVING SIGHT TO THE BLIND. 
 
 Matt. ix. 27—30. 
 
 27. And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men fol- 
 lowed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have 
 mercy on us. 
 
 28. And when he was come into the house, the blind men 
 came to him : and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am 
 able to do this ? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. 
 
 29. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to 
 your faith be it unto you. 
 
 30. And their eyes were opened. 
 
 In the eighth and ninth chapters of Matthew, 
 we have accounts of a great number of miracles 
 which Jesus wrought. He cured diseases, cast out 
 evil spirits, stilled the tempest, and even raised the 
 dead; — but we will now turn our attention to a 
 miracle in which he opened the eyes of the blind. 
 As Jesus was passing through the country, and 
 people were coming to him from all directions, 
 two poor blind men heard of him. 
 
 Have you ever thought what it is to be blind ? 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR, 63 
 
 Just close your eyes for a moment, and suppose 
 that they are sealed up for ever. Never again 
 could you behold the light of the sun, nor look 
 forth on the beautiful gardens and fields that sur- 
 round your home. Never could you read the 
 Bible, or any good book you love. Never, never 
 behold the dear countenances of your parents, or 
 the joyous faces of your brothers and sisters. You 
 could not go and come as you now do in all the 
 careless freedom of childhood, but you must feel 
 your way with slow and cautious steps, or be led 
 by the hand of another. Yet though all this would 
 be very distressing, you would be able to remember 
 much that you have learned, and you ce^ild think 
 how the earth, and the friends you love, once 
 looked; but those who are born blind can think of 
 nothing that they have ever seen. I once knew a 
 family in which there were eight children, and 
 four of them were born blind. Could you have 
 looked into their mother's room, and seen the four 
 blind children sitting sad and solitary, while their 
 brothers and sisters were flitting away to school; 
 or could you have seen them eagerly listening to 
 catch the first sound of their voices on their return, 
 and then have seen them asking those who had 
 been to school, to tell them all they had learned, 
 that they might learn it too; — I am sure you 
 would feel that it is a great affliction to be blind, 
 and a very great blessing to enjoy sight. 
 
 Now think of the blind men that followed Jesus. 
 They could hear as quick as others; and all around 
 them was the sound of many voices. Some were 
 crying out with distress, and pressing their way 
 through the crowd to come before the Saviour 
 
64 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 Others were passing by them who had been to 
 Jesus, and were now shouting with joy that they 
 had been cured. Perhaps the happy leper, as he 
 returned to his friends, spoke in hearing of the 
 blind men, of the wonderful cure that Jesus had 
 wrought for him. All this would cause them to 
 feel still more anxious to come to the Saviour, and 
 yet they could not hasten, for the next moment 
 they might run against some person or thing, and 
 be thrown prostrate on the ground. How distress- 
 ed they must have felt! Never before had they 
 heard of one who could open the eyes of the blind, 
 and now they feared he would pass away before 
 they couH approach him, and they could never 
 come near him again. Yet there was one thing 
 they could do : they could raise their voices, and 
 this they did, crying, "Thou Son of David, have 
 mercy on us." Son of David was one name by 
 which the Saviour was called, because he was de- 
 scended from David, a king, and good man, of 
 whom we read in the Old Testament. 
 
 We learn from the twenty-eighth verse that the 
 blind men did not overtake the Saviour till he 
 came into a house, and then he said to them, 
 " Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said 
 unto him, Yea, Lord." They had not followed 
 him with the cry, "Have mercy on us," without 
 believing that he was able to do that which they 
 desired. "Then touched he their eyes, saying, 
 According to your faith be it unto you." That is, 
 according to your belief in my power and willing- 
 ness to heal shall you receive. " And their eyes 
 were opened." O, how much happiness instantly 
 flowed from this one act of the benevolent Saviour ! 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 65 
 
 How did these men rejoice in his power and com- 
 passion. Now they might return to their homes 
 full of joy; and though they would not know the 
 faces of their dearest friends, they would find them 
 by their voices, and soon learn to look with plea- 
 sure on their countenances. And then, how much 
 happiness they would find in examining the works 
 of God in the new and interesting scenes around 
 them; and how much pleasure in learning to read, 
 and gaining a knowledge of God from his Word. 
 We w T ho have always enjoyed sight, do not realize 
 how much happiness we derive from the use of 
 our eyes, nor am I able to describe to you the 
 blessing which Jesus imparted when he gave sight 
 to the blind; but if any one should read this who 
 was once blind, he will know it well. In these 
 days people who are born blind are sometimes 
 cured without a miracle, because learned men have 
 examined the cause of their blindness, and have 
 very skilfully taken off a film which in some cases 
 grows over the sight. I once saw a little blind 
 boy, whose friends were taking him to the " Eye 
 Infirmary ," hoping his sight might be restored. 
 If he has obtained his sight, and I hope he has, 
 perhaps he will read this, and he can tell his little 
 friends far better than I can, how happy the blind 
 person is who receives his sight : yet there is this 
 difference ; that little boy, or any one whose sight 
 is restored in these days, must suffer a painful and 
 dangerous operation before he can see ; but Jesus 
 cured these men by a touch. 
 
 Jesus, my young friend, pitied the infirmities of 
 our bodies, and loved to give comfort and happi- 
 ness to those who were distressed ; but this was not 
 
 6* 
 
66 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 his great errand on earth. He came from heaven 
 to earth to heal our spiritual diseases, and cure our 
 spiritual blindness, and though I know not that I 
 write to any who have been naturally blind, I know 
 all my readers have been, or now are, spiritually 
 blind. That is, as the Bible says, we are all born 
 in sin. We have no sight to perceive the beauty 
 and excellence of holiness. We do not love the 
 Saviour, who is " the chiefest among ten thousand, 
 and the one altogether lovely." This blindness 
 Jesus came to cure. Will you not come to him as 
 the blind man did? Ask him in prayer to show 
 you how excellent and lovely he is, and make you 
 his meek and humble follower while you live, and 
 prepare you to dwell with him when you die. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE MIRACLE OF HEALING THE WITHERED HAND. 
 Matt. xii. 10 — I6< 
 
 10. And behold, there was a man which had his hand 
 withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal 
 on the Sabbath days ? that they might accuse him. 
 
 11. And he said unto them, Whatman shall there be among 
 you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the 
 Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out 1 
 
 12. How much then is a man better than a sheep ? Where- 
 fore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days. 
 
 13. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. 
 And he stretched it forth ; and it was restored whole, like as 
 the other. 
 
 14. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council 
 against him, how they might destroy him. 
 
 15. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 67 
 
 thence : and great "multitudes followed him, and he healed 
 them all ; 
 
 16. And charged them that they should not make him 
 known. 
 
 It appears that our Saviour sometimes visited 
 the Jews' meeting-houses, which were called 
 Synagogues, and he was in one of these places at 
 the time that he wrought the miracle mentioned 
 in the verses above. "There was a man which 
 had his hand withered." He was affected by some 
 distressing disease which had caused his hand to 
 wither or shrink up, and now it hung useless by 
 his side. Do you think Jesus will pity this man, 
 as he did the leper and blind man ? O yes, Jesus 
 not only healed those who were suffering much, 
 but all who were diseased. We are not told that 
 the man even asked the Saviour to cure him, but 
 it is said in the thirteenth verse that Jesus said to 
 the man, " Stretch forth thine hand. And he 
 stretched it forth, and it was restored whole like 
 as the other." It was the wonderful power of 
 God which gave strength to the hand which a 
 moment before was entirely useless. Here again 
 our Saviour did good, and produced happiness 
 by working a miracle. But I wish you to notice 
 particularly how some of the people were affected 
 by the benevolent deeds of our Saviour. Perhaps 
 you have thought while you have been reading of 
 his kindness and compassion, "If I had seen him 
 I know I should have loved him. I should have 
 asked him to be my friend, and make me well if 
 I was sick, and give me a new heart, and teach me 
 how to pray. I should have delighted to journey 
 with him around the country, and see Mm make 
 
68 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR^ 
 
 the people happy by healing their diseases." I hope, 
 my young reader, that you would have been among 
 the number who did believe in Jesus, and love him, 
 and desire to serve him — but do not feel too sure 
 that you would. There were many who lived in 
 those days that called themselves good people, and 
 yet were offended at the mighty works of Jesus, 
 and did not believe he was the Son of God. 
 
 In the tenth verse, after it is mentioned that 
 there was a man with a withered hand, we are 
 told, " They asked him, saying, Is it lawful to 
 heal on the Sabbath day? that they might accuse 
 him." They, refers to the Pharisees, who are 
 mentioned before in the chapter. These were 
 a sect, or denomination among the Jews, who 
 thought themselves very good people, much better 
 than others, because they were strict to observe 
 certain ceremonies; but Jesus, who knew their 
 hearts, saw that their goodness was all outward 
 show, while their feelings towards him, and towards 
 every thing good, were much more wicked than 
 those of others who did not profess to be good. 
 These Pharisees, it appears, had been watching 
 to get some opportunity to accuse the Saviour, 
 and have him put to death; and now, when they 
 saw him cure a man on the Sabbath, they thought 
 they had found sufficient reason. Poor, wicked 
 men ! How vile their hearts must have been to 
 wish to destroy him who went about doing good, 
 him who came from heaven to earth to save the 
 children of men from being lost for ever. Observe 
 how wisely Jesus answered them. The Pharisees 
 thought it right to take a sheep out of a pit on the 
 Sabbath day, but a man, woman, or child, they 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 69 
 
 said should not be healed on the Sabbath, unless 
 they were in danger of immediate death. This 
 was a part of their religion, but Jesus showed them 
 that a man was of far greater value than a sheep, 
 and that it was lawful, because it was right, to do 
 well on the Sabbath day. Then, without fearing 
 the wicked Pharisees, he healed the withered hand. 
 We should think, if they w T ere not convinced by 
 the words of Jesus that he was the Son of God, 
 they must have been by the miracle which he 
 wrought in their presence ; yet it was not so ; their 
 hearts were too stubborn to believe, and we learn 
 from the fourteenth verse that they " went out and 
 held a council against him how they might destroy 
 him." Ah, little did they think t*hat he whose 
 death they were seeking was not only listening to 
 their words, but looking into their wicked hearts 
 also ! 
 
 Jesus had come into this world to die for sin- 
 ners, and he knew that the Pharisees and many 
 others would hate him, but this did not take away 
 his pity and love. When he had finished his 
 preaching, and performed all his miracles, he 
 would be ready to die on the cross by the hands 
 of wicked men — die for his worst enemies, even 
 for the proud, self-righteous Pharisees — but the 
 time had not yet come; many more sick people 
 must first rejoice in his healing mercy, and many 
 more sinners rejoice in believing, through listen- 
 ing to his gracious words * therefore, as we are 
 told in the fifteenth verse, " He withdrew himself 
 from them;" that is, he went away from that part 
 of the country where the Pharisees were plotting 
 to destroy him ; but he did not hide himself from 
 
70 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 those who were sick and distressed, for we are 
 told in the same verse that great multitudes fol- 
 lowed him, and he healed them all. Not one was 
 sent home rilled with sorrow and disappointment, 
 but all rejoicing in his mercy and power. In the 
 sixteenth verse we learn that he charged those 
 whom he healed that they should not make him 
 known. As he was not yet ready to be offered 
 up, he did not wish the Pharisees, or any other 
 wicked people, to be enraged, by hearing of the 
 wonders he wrought, therefore he charged those 
 whom he cured not to talk much about it, and tell 
 who had healed them, and then his enemies would 
 not know where he was, and could not interrupt 
 his good works. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE MIRACLES OF WALKING ON THE WATER, AND 
 STILLING THE TEMPEST. 
 
 Matt. xiv. 22—33. 
 
 22. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get 
 into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while 
 he sent the multitudes away. 
 
 23. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went 
 up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening 
 was come, he was there alone. 
 
 24. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed 
 with waves ; for the wind was contrary. 
 
 25. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto 
 them, walking on the sea. 
 
 26. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, 
 they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit ; and they cried out 
 for fear. 
 
 27. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of 
 good cheer j it is I ; be not afraid. 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 71 
 
 28. And Peter answered him, and said, Lord, if it be thou, 
 bid me come unto thee on the water. 
 
 29. And he said, Come. And when Peter was comedown 
 out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 
 
 30. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; 
 and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 
 
 31. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and 
 caught him, and said unto him, thou of little faith, where- 
 fore didst thou doubt ? 
 
 32. And when they were come into the ship, the wind 
 ceased. 
 
 33. Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped 
 him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. 
 
 We read in the first of the verses above, that 
 Jesus constrained his disciples, which means that 
 he urged them, to go before to the other side of 
 the Sea of Galilee ; while he should send away the 
 multitudes of people that followed him. His love 
 and compassion were so great, and he found so 
 many distressed beings in our sinful world, that he 
 could scarcely find time for prayer and rest. Al- 
 though our Saviour was the Son of God, he had 
 a body like our own, and felt weariness and hun- 
 ger just as we should. At this time he had been 
 healing the sick, and feeding the multitude during 
 the day, and now he wished to be alone ; therefore, 
 he dismissed the people to go to their homes, and 
 sent his disciples across the lake without him. 
 Jesus had no home on earth where he could go 
 to find comfort and rest, for he says in the ninth 
 chapter of Luke, " The foxes have holes, and the 
 birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man 
 hath not where to lay his head; 55 but he loved to 
 resort to the quiet mountain for rest and prayer, 
 and we learn from the twenty-third verse that when 
 
72 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 the evening was come he was in the mountain 
 alone. 
 
 Perhaps you would think it a great misfortune 
 to be left alone for one hour. Among all my little 
 friends, I do not recollect one who is fond of being 
 alone. I hope some of them pray in secret, but 
 this occupies but a short time, and they soon come 
 forth from their closet, and join again in the con- 
 versation of their friends. Our Saviour loved to 
 be alone, and I think if all of us, even children, love 
 to be alone sometimes, that we may think of God 
 and of our own hearts, we shall become more like 
 him. When we are called away by death, our 
 dearest friends cannot go with us. We must die 
 alone. Is it not well then sometimes to feel as if 
 no other friend was near but Jesus? for in the 
 hour of death no other friend can comfort us. 
 
 We have in the New Testament many accounts 
 of our Saviour's prayers. In one place a long 
 prayer is recorded, which he offered just before 
 his death, and this shows that he did not go away 
 from his disciples nor the multitude, because he 
 wished to forget them ; for he there prays for others 
 more than for himself. Never did he forget the 
 sinful beings whom he came to save. Never did 
 that love grow cool which led him to leave heaven, 
 and share the sorrows of earth. 
 
 At this time, though he sought to be alone for 
 a season, he was still watching over his disciples. 
 In the twenty-fourth verse, we learn that the ship 
 in which they had embarked, was now " in the 
 midst of the sea tossed with the waves." It is 
 probable that they were alarmed, for it is a fearful 
 
THE MIRACLES OP OUR SAVIOUR. 73 
 
 thing to be out in a frail vessel, reeling and tossing 
 over the mighty waves; and to feel that the next 
 moment we may be dashed against the rocks, and 
 find ourselves struggling for life in the midst of 
 the angry waters. Jesus knew the feelings of 
 his disciples, and so he left his retirement on the 
 mountain, and at the fourth watch of the night, 
 which is nearly morning, he came to them " walk- 
 ing on the water." This, you know, was a miracle, 
 for no one but he who made the waters could cause 
 them to bear up a person as he walked over them. 
 It does not appear that the disciples had one 
 thought that their best friend was so near, but 
 when they saw Jesus coming towards them they 
 were still more alarmed, and even cried out with 
 fear, as children do when they see some danger 
 near. They supposed they saw a spirit, that is, a 
 being from another world. Perhaps they thought 
 it was a spirit from the wicked world, and cer- 
 tainly such a being would be a very unwelcome 
 visitor; but they need not have feared, neither 
 should you and I fear such beings if we are good, 
 for God will not suffer them to injure us. 
 
 How mistaken they were to think they had cause 
 for alarm when Jesus was coming so near! It is 
 sometimes so with us when God comes very near 
 to us to take away our friends by death, or when 
 he causes us to endure severe sickness; we are 
 alarmed, and do not at first realize that it is our 
 Heavenly Father. Yet it is our best friend who 
 is approaching so near us, and though we may not 
 feel sure of it at the time, he is doing that which 
 is best for us. 
 
 Notice in the twenty-seventh verse, how tenderly 
 
74 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 Jesus spoke to his disciples. He did not wait to 
 keep them long in fear, wondering who he was, 
 but " straightway," that is immediately, said, " Be 
 of good cheer," which means be cheerful and hap- 
 py. "It is I." It is your Saviour who loves you, 
 and who has power to protect you from all danger. 
 "Be not afraid." Now their fears were all gone 
 in a moment; and Peter was so joyful and coura- 
 geous that he wished to go out on the water to 
 meet the Saviour. Jesus said unto him, "Come," 
 and it appears that he did walk on the water until 
 he saw the wind boisterous, when he was afraid, 
 and as he began to sink, he cried out, " Lord save 
 me." It was well for Peter that Jesus was ready 
 and willing to save immediately. He had come 
 hastily down from the ship, and ventured himself 
 on the mighty deep. The wind was boisterous, 
 the waves rolled fearfully around him, and now he 
 felt himself fast sinking beneath them. If Jesus 
 delayed to help him, but for one moment, it would 
 be too late. But his compassionate Saviour was 
 always ready to save. He needed not that the 
 sinking Peter should call on him a second time, 
 but "immediately stretched forth his hand and 
 caught him," saying, " O thou of little faith, where- 
 fore didst thou doubt?" When Peter first asked 
 to walk on the water, and when he first came down 
 from the ship, I suppose he trusted in Jesus to 
 give him power to perform a miracle. He knew 
 that Jesus could enable him to walk on the water, 
 as well as he could walk on it himself; and he 
 went forward trusting in the power of his almighty 
 Saviour ; but when he saw the wind boisterous, 
 his faith, that is his trust in Jesus, became weak ; 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 75 
 
 his fears were stronger than his faith, and that 
 was the reason he began to sink. None of us 
 should expect Jesus to save us, unless we trust in 
 him, and believe that he is able to do for us all 
 that we need for this world, and for the world to 
 come. 
 
 Jesus called Peter a person of little faith. He 
 had some trust in the Saviour, though it was not 
 so strong as it should have been. He yielded to 
 his fears when he began to sink, and yet he had 
 sufficient trust in Jesus to cry, " Lord, save me." 
 If we feel that we are sinners, and need the pity- 
 ing love of Jesus, though our trust in him may be 
 faint, he will pity our weakness, and stretch forth 
 his powerful hand to save. 
 
 In the two last verses above, we learn that when 
 the Saviour and Peter were come into the ship, 
 the wind ceased, and the people who were in the 
 ship came and worshiped Jesus, saying, "Of a 
 truth thou art the Son of God." They had seen 
 him coming to them in the fourth watch of the 
 night, walking on the moving water as if it had 
 been the solid land. They had seen him enable 
 Peter to walk on the water also, and when he be- 
 gan to sink they saw him stretch forth his hand 
 and save him. Now they saw him calm the tem- 
 pest in a moment, and hush to rest the raging of 
 the mighty billows. Many of those who were in 
 the ship had before seen the Saviour's wonderful 
 works ; but every new miracle was a new proof to 
 them that he was God, and they desired to acknow- 
 ledge him as the greatest and the best of beings. 
 "They worshiped him. 55 That is, they bowed 
 d/6wn before him with reverence and awe, saying, 
 
76 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 "Of a truth," most certainly, "thou art the Son 
 of God." We should worship none but God. Our 
 parents, and other kind friends we should love, 
 honor and obey, but it would be wicked to wor- 
 ship them Our Heavenly Father we should love, 
 honor, and obey — but towards himself he requires 
 more than this, we should worship him. All his 
 creatures to whom he has given reason are wicked 
 if they do not worship him. Does this account of 
 the wonderful works of Jesus Christ lead you to 
 say to him in your heart, as the disciples did, " Of 
 a truth thou art the Son of God?" 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE MIRACLE OF FEEDING THE MULTITUDE. 
 
 Matt. xv. 32--38. 
 
 32. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I 
 have compassion on the multitude, because they continue 
 with me now three days, and have nothing to eat : and I will 
 not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. 
 
 33. And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we 
 have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a 
 multitude ? 
 
 34. And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have 
 ye ? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. 
 
 35. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the 
 ground. 
 
 36. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave 
 thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the 
 disciples to the multitude. 
 
 37. And they did all eat, and were filled : and they took 
 up of the broken meat that was left, seven baskets full. 
 
 38. And they that did eat were four thousand men, besides 
 women and children. 
 
 It appears that our Saviour spent much of his 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 77 
 
 time, delivered many of his sermons, and perform- 
 ed most of his miracles, in the open air ; and often 
 in what is called a desert place, that is a place 
 where there are few inhabitants. For this, there 
 might have been several reasons. The Pharisees, 
 you know, were seeking to destroy him, and as 
 he was not ready yet to give himself up into their 
 hands, he chose to avoid them. Another reason, 
 perhaps, was that the people might all be accom- 
 modated who came to listen to him. No building, 
 or any open field among the houses, would be 
 large enough to contain the thousands of people 
 who followed the Saviour. He was at this time 
 on one of the mountains near the Sea of Galilee, 
 and this was a convenient place for all the people 
 to stand, so that they could listen. 
 
 You learn from the first of the verses above, 
 that Jesus said to his disciples, "I have compas- 
 sion on the multitude, because they continue with 
 me now three days, and have nothing to eat." The 
 people had left their families, and their business 
 to go into the wilderness, and while they were 
 seeing his works, and enjoying his heavenly teach- 
 ing, hour after hour had passed when they scarcely 
 knew it ; and now, three days had gone by since 
 they left their homes. They had probably taken 
 some provisions with them, but these were all used 
 up, and they expected to obtain nothing more till 
 they could return. Some of them had walked 
 many miles from their home ; some we know had 
 brought their sick friends with them, for we have 
 an account in the thirtieth verse of the same chap- 
 ter, that " they brought those who were lame, blind, 
 
 dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them 
 
 7* 
 
78 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them, and 
 some, it may be, had brought their little children 
 in their arms for Jesus to give them his blessing ; 
 all had now been a long time away from the com- 
 forts of their homes, and yet they must take a 
 tedious journey before they could rest and refresh 
 themselves. Jesus pitied these people, as he pitied 
 all who were suffering, and he said to his disciples, 
 "I will not send them away fasting, (that is without 
 taking food,) lest they faint in the way." 
 
 The disciples were astonished that he should 
 think of supplying so great a multitude with food, 
 out in the wilderness, where there were no shops 
 to buy, and no gardens to gather it from. Jesus 
 asked how much food they had there. They an- 
 swered, "seven loaves, and a few little fishes." 
 This was very little, probably not enough for them- 
 selves; but when Jesus had commanded the mul- 
 titude to sit down, he took the loaves and fishes, 
 and gave thanks. 
 
 Here, my young reader, is an example which 
 you should be careful to imitate. Perhaps your 
 father, or the friend with whom you live, offers 
 thanks to God, and asks his blessing on your food 
 whenever you sit down to the table, which his 
 love and care have supplied — if so, do not fail when 
 he is speaking to raise you heart in devout grati- 
 tude to your Heavenly Father. If not, if your 
 friends collect around the table, and partake of the 
 good things which God has given you, without 
 expressing thanks to him, you need not therefore 
 neglect or forget to thank him. Never forget that 
 God looks at the heart, and will accept your silent 
 thanks, though he will not be pleased if you forget 
 
THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 79 
 
 him when you take your food, for he has said by 
 his apostle, "Whether ye eat or drink, or whatso- 
 ever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 
 
 When Jesus had given thanks, he brake the 
 bread and gave it to his disciples, and they passed 
 it all around among the vast congregation of people 
 seated on the side of the mountain. "And they 
 did all eat and were filled." Not one of all the 
 number was neglected; not one desired more. 
 After they had eaten, seven baskets full of the 
 broken food were gathered up. In one account 
 of such a miracle as this, we are informed that 
 Jesus said to his disciples, "Gather up the frag- 
 ments that nothing be lost." If he had not said 
 this, we should know by the example given us 
 here that it is not right to waste food, even though 
 it be but the broken remains of our meals. Surely 
 children will notice this example of the blessed 
 Saviour, and be very careful to imitate one which 
 it is so easy for them to follow. 
 
 Until we come to the thirty-eighth verse, we do 
 not know how numerous the company was which 
 Jesus fed with seven loaves and a few little fishes. 
 "Four thousand men, besides women and chil- 
 dren." Perhaps you do not realize how many 
 people this would be. It is as many as there are 
 in a large village. Enough to make more than 
 four hundred families. All these were supplied 
 with food, without any time or labor for preparing 
 it. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 
 thereof;" and the Saviour could just as easily give 
 the people food prepared to eat, as he could cause 
 the grain to spring from the ground, and make 
 the fire and water for us to cook with ; but it is 
 
80 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 not common for him to do this, therefore it was a 
 miracle. 
 
 Does not this account show you the love, and 
 care, and compassion of God? Does it not lead 
 you to feel grateful for the ten thousand proofs of 
 his loving kindness and tender mercy by which 
 you are surrounded? Besides the common bless- 
 ings, without which you could not be comfortable, 
 think of the many things you have to enjoy which 
 you could do without, and still be happy. But 
 your Heavenly Father not only intends that you 
 shall be happy, but very happy; therefore he made 
 the flowers to perfume your path, and the birds, 
 and the rustling leaves, and the bubbling brook to 
 delight your ears. Therefore he dressed the green 
 earth in beauty, and spread above your head the 
 spangled curtain of the heavens. Therefore he 
 made the music of your mother's voice, and the 
 sweet sjniles of your brothers and sisters, and the 
 hallowed tones which convey your father's coun- 
 sels. 
 
 (( At work, at play, at home, abroad, 
 How often I should think of God ! 
 And all the time I ought to try, 
 To please my Father in the sky." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 QUR SAVIOUR'S RULE OF FORGIVENESS. 
 
 Matt, xviii. 21, 22. 
 
 21. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall 
 my brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? till seven 
 times ? 
 
 22. Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven 
 times : but, until seventy times seven. 
 
 From the first of the verses above, we learn 
 that one of our Saviour's disciples came to him 
 with a request that he would inform him how often 
 he should forgive his brother, if he sinned against 
 him. By his brother, he meant any person with 
 whom he associated; and, by sinning against him, 
 doing that which injured him. At the same 
 time that he asked the question, he seemed to fix 
 on seven as the greatest number of times he ought 
 to grant forgiveness. Peter was a christian, and 
 we cannot suppose he wished to cherish revenge. 
 No doubt he felt disposed to be forbearing and 
 forgiving ; but the love, and pity, and forgiveness 
 of the Saviour exceeds that of the best of men, 
 " as far as the heavens are higher than the earth," 
 See what a rule he gave to his disciple, and to 
 me, and you also. "I say not unto you, until 
 seven times, but, until seventy times seven." If 
 the same person offends you hundreds of times, 
 you should forgive him, and feel towards him just 
 as though he had never injured you. 
 
 I have had very large acquaintance with chil- 
 dren of all ages, and it seems to me there is nothing 
 81 
 
82 our saviour's rule of forgiveness. 
 
 more needed among them than forgiving disposi- 
 tions. To forgive your companion is to excuse 
 him entirely for having injured you, and not wish 
 to have him punished, nor desire even to remember 
 that he has ever done wrong. But children often 
 seem anxious to have their companions corrected, 
 if they suppose they have done them the least in- 
 jury. I have known a boy even choose to be 
 punished himself, that his companion might be 
 punished too, rather than settle the difficulty be- 
 tween them by forgiveness. Little children, three 
 or four years old, will sometimes remain sullen 
 and stubborn for several minutes, before they can 
 be persuaded to kiss each other, forget their little 
 quarrels, and go lovingly to play together. This 
 shows that an unforgiving spirit is deeply rooted 
 in our nature, and that children ought, as soon as 
 they are able to read the Bible, to study the rule 
 which Jesus has given us. 
 
 One of my dear little friends, who has gone 
 before me into eternity, used to remember this 
 rule. He was once standing by me when I was 
 talking with a little boy who had been striking his 
 companion, because, as he said, he had hurt him. 
 I was trying to lead him to understand and feel 
 that he should not injure another because he had 
 injured him, when the child whom I first mention- 
 ed, said to me, " he should forgive him if he hurt 
 him seventy times seven." Where did you get 
 that rule? said I. "In the Testament/' he an- 
 swered. "It is our Saviour's rule." It gave me 
 much pleasure then to know that my little friend 
 remembered so well the words of Jesus Christ, and 
 it gave me still greater pleasure to observe that he 
 
our saviour's rule of forgiveness. S3 
 
 was not one of those children who are unwilling 
 to forgive. 
 
 It is very common for children to say, when 
 called to account for injuring their companions, 
 "Well, he injured me." As if they were entirely 
 innocent, and fully excused for doing wrong to 
 one who has done wrong to them. But this is a 
 rule they have made, and not the Saviour. He 
 says, " Resist not evil." " Do good to them that 
 hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use 
 you." " Forgive," not seven times, but " seventy 
 times seven." Do you think, my dear reader, that 
 you will ever be able to follow these rules? You 
 will find it very hard, if you have a companion who 
 is so wicked as to wish to make you unhappy, to 
 keep forgiving him, and trying to love him as well 
 as if he had never offended you. Yet if you would 
 obey the Saviour, and have him for your friend, 
 you must endeavor to forgive; and if you find your 
 heart hard, and unwilling to obey the rule, you 
 should ask God to give you a forgiving spirit. 
 
 Remember how often you do wrong, and need 
 the forgiveness of others. Your parents, your 
 brothers and sisters, and all with whom you asso- 
 ciate, it may be, find much in you which needs to 
 be forgiven; but especially think how often you 
 offend your Heavenly Father, and need his for- 
 giving love. All sin is exceedingly offensive to 
 God. He cannot approve of any action or thought 
 which is not pure, entirely free from sin ; but our 
 thoughts, and every action of our lives are defiled 
 by sin ; so that if God dealt with us, as children 
 sometimes wish their companions to be dealt with, 
 we should now be suffering punishment, instead 
 
84 our saviour's love for children. 
 
 of enjoying mercy. But God deals with us in great 
 mercy, and never, in this life, punishes us as our 
 transgressions deserve; although he is grieved that 
 we are so in love with sin, and so willing to disobey 
 him. If we are sorry for our sins, and believe in 
 Jesus, and give ourselves away to him, he will not 
 remember that we have offended him, and will love 
 us as freely as if we had never been his enemies. 
 Ask Jesus to give you his spirit; and make you 
 obedient to all his rules, and then you will be kind, 
 affectionate, and forgiving to all around you. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 OUR SAVIOUR'S LOVE FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. 
 Matt. xix. 13 — 15. 
 
 13. Then there were brought unto him little children, that 
 he should put his hands on them, and pray ; and the disciples 
 rebuked them. 
 
 14. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them 
 not, to come unto me : for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 15. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence. 
 
 We have seen that multitudes of men and wo- 
 men were constantly coming to the Saviour, as he 
 went about doing good, and we know that children 
 were among the vast number that he supplied with 
 food on the mountain ; but we have not yet noticed 
 anything that Jesus said to little children. You 
 will learn from the verses above that his love and 
 mercy were not all bestowed on grown people. 
 " There were brought unto him," that is to Jesus, 
 "little children." It is probable the parents, or 
 
our saviour's love for children. 85 
 
 some other kind friends to the children, led or 
 brought them to Jesus. Many of my readers 
 know well that if the Saviour were now on earth 
 their fond, pious parents would wish to lead them 
 to him. Many, I hope, have parents who daily 
 ask the blessed Saviour in prayer to look in pity 
 on you, and make you his obedient children. These 
 parents, though they lived more than eighteen 
 hundred years ago, and lived too many thousands 
 of miles from this country, loved their children as 
 your parents love you; and the little ones were 
 the same kind of playful, thoughtless little crea- 
 tures as we see every day ; sometimes doing wrong, 
 and sometimes right, and each of them needing 
 that Jesus should give them a new heart and 
 right spirit. We know not the age of these chil- 
 dren. In Mark they are called young children, 
 and in Luke infants ; but neither of these expres- 
 sions is used in Scripture to denote particularly 
 either very little children, or those of considerable 
 age. They only mean any age of childhood. 
 Perhaps some of these little ones were of the age 
 of some who are able to read this book. 
 
 It appears that the disciples thought it very im- 
 proper to bring children to Jesus, and they rebuked 
 or reproved those who brought them. I suppose 
 they thought it very intrusive to bring little chil- 
 dren to the mighty Saviour, and request him who 
 was able to work miracles to notice them ; and it 
 may be that the parents were hastening away with 
 their children, afraid that Jesus too would rebuke 
 them. But Jesus was not like man. He loved 
 every human being. The lame, the blind, the 
 sick, the tender little ones all shared in his love 
 
 8 
 
86 our saviour's love for children. 
 
 and compassion. And Jesus said, " Suffer little 
 children to come unto me, and forbid them not." 
 As if he had said, " Do not send little children 
 away from me. Let them gather around me. I 
 love them. I love to take them in my arms, and 
 teach them, and give them my blessing." And then 
 he adds, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
 This means perhaps, that such persons as are 
 christians, and finally enjoy heaven, show while 
 on earth mild, teachable dispositions; and look up 
 to their Heavenly Father to guide them in all 
 things, as little children depend on their parents 
 for direction. 
 
 In the fifteenth verse it is said, " He laid his 
 hands on them, and departed." In the same ac- 
 count given by Mark it is said, "And he took 
 them up in his arms and blessed them." He gave 
 the children the blessing which their parents asked 
 for them. In the thirteenth verse it is said they 
 brought them "that Jesus should put his hands on 
 them and pray. We learn from the Old Testa- 
 ment, and from other ancient books, that the Jews 
 thought very much of having the ceremony of lay- 
 ing the hands on the head with prayer performed 
 by a prophet, or pious teacher. Perhaps it was 
 this kind of blessing that the friends of these chil- 
 dren sought for them ; but it may be that they be- 
 lieved that Jesus was able to give them new hearts, 
 and prepare them for the happiness of heaven; 
 and it may be that the Saviour bestowed on them 
 this blessing, even if their friends asked only that 
 they might enjoy health, and the happiness of this 
 world. 
 
 We are sure that Jesus blessed them, and we 
 
our saviour's love for children. 87 
 
 know that any blessing from the wise and holy 
 Saviour is very precious — but as we look back on 
 this lovely group of little ones, and see them gather- 
 ing around the meek, benevolent Saviour, we can- 
 not bear to think that their friends sought for them 
 any blessing less than the best of blessings — " the 
 pearl of great price." Of all the children who 
 have ever lived on earth they were the most highly 
 honored; and we cannot bear to think that they 
 should be brought to the Saviour's arms without 
 the prayer being offered by their friends, (if they 
 were too young to pray for themselves) that they 
 should receive his spirit, and become his children. 
 And when we think of you, dear children of this 
 christian country, children of the Sabbath school, 
 we cannot bear to think that you should live, where 
 you hear the doctrines of Jesus spoken by his 
 ministers, and have his word to read every day, 
 and are invited to ask his blessing in prayer, 
 without seeking first of all that best of gifts which 
 he alone can bestow. Jesus says, " Seek first the 
 kingdom of God and his righteousness." And 
 the wise Solomon, who was inspired by God, says, 
 " Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy 
 youth." 
 
 Your pious friends, your Sabbath school teacher, 
 and the minister who labors for your good, have 
 all commended you to Jesus. You have been 
 brought to him by the strong desires of your 
 friends, as these little children were, that he may 
 bestow on you his blessing — yet do not depend 
 on this. See what encouragement this account 
 affords you to come to him yourself. The same 
 kind Saviour who took these children up in his 
 
88 THE RICH YOUNG MAN. 
 
 arms, and blessed them, though the disciples 
 frowned upon them, is no less willing to receive 
 you. He is watching over you every day, and 
 giving you all the good things you enjoy. Will 
 you not lay down your book at this moment, and 
 go away where none but God can see you, and 
 ask the Saviour to take you for his child, and 
 make you such an one as he can love. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE RICH YOUNG MAN. 
 
 Matt. xix. 16 — 22. 
 
 16. And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Mas- 
 ter, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life ? 
 
 17. And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good ? 
 there is none good but one, that is, God : but if thou wilt 
 enter into life, keep the commandments. 
 
 18. He saith unto him, Which ? Jesus said, Thou shalt 
 do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt 
 not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 
 
 19. Honour thy father and thy mother : and, Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself. 
 
 20. The young man saith unto him, All these things have 
 I kept from my youth up : what lack I yet ? 
 
 21. Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and 
 sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have 
 treasure in heaven : and come and follow me. 
 
 22. But when the young man heard that saying, he went 
 away sorrowful : for he had great possessions. 
 
 A person came to Jesus calling him " Good 
 Master," and desiring to be informed what good 
 thing he could do to obtain eternal life, or be 
 taken to heaven when he died. From the twen- 
 tieth and twenty-second verses we learn that this 
 
THE RICH YOUNG MAN, 89 
 
 was a young, and a rich man, and from the ac- 
 count of the same circumstances in Luke we learn 
 that he was a ruler, or a person of more than 
 common importance among the Jews. Let us 
 think for a few moments of this interesting young 
 man. He had all that he needed to procure such 
 happiness as this world can afford. He migh 
 spend his time in gathering instruction from books 
 or in traveling to see the wonders of the world 
 He looked forward to many happy years to come, 
 for he was yet young, and had not felt any weari- 
 ness of life, nor begun to suffer from disease and 
 disappointment. Yet in the midst of his worldly 
 enjoyment, no doubt the thought sometimes cross- 
 ed his mind that by and by the day of death would 
 come, and he must leave all his riches, and go 
 away into another world. He heard of a religious 
 teacher who was able to direct the people of this 
 world to the place where all is peace and joy, and 
 no fear of death can enter. This teacher was Jesus 
 Christ. The young man turned aside from the 
 pleasures of life, and followed the multitude which 
 constantly pressed around the Saviour. He made 
 his way through the crowd, and coming near to 
 Jesus, addressed him as you have read above. 
 
 The expression, "Good Master," was one which 
 the Jews commonly used when addressing a reli- 
 gious teacher, and the young man did not use it 
 because he knew and believed that Jesus was 
 truly good. Our Saviour knew this, and he there- 
 fore said to him, "Why callest thou me good!' 1 
 Not that Jesus was unwilling to be called good by 
 those who spoke sincerely ; but this man did not 
 know his real character; he said "good master'* 
 
90 THE RICH YOUNG MAN. 
 
 in a flattering manner, as he was accustomed to 
 speak to the proud Pharisees, who loved flattery. 
 But the benevolent Saviour, though he did not like 
 the manner in which the young man addressed 
 him, still attended to his question, saying, " If 
 thou wilt enter life keep the commandments.'' 
 The Old Testament, you recollect, was at this time 
 written, and the Jews had it in their houses, the 
 young man therefore knew what the law of Moses 
 required, but he wished to know what part of it 
 he must keep. Jesus was so kind as to repeat to 
 him several of the commandments which we have 
 in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. The young 
 man answered, " All these things have I kept from 
 my youth up ; what lack I yet?" Perhaps he really 
 thought he had kept all the commandments, and 
 Jesus did not dispute him, but he proves to us, 
 and I think the young man too must have seen it, 
 that he had deceived himself, and was far from 
 being as good a man as he thought himself. He 
 thought he had done many good works, and was 
 nearly perfect ; but if he lacked anything, Jesus 
 could inform him what it was, and he could per- 
 form it, and soon fit himself for heaven. But this 
 is far from being the way to prepare for heaven. 
 We should be constantly doing good deeds, but 
 we should not expect to purchase heaven by them. 
 Jesus says, " I am the way, the truth, and the life." 
 We must love Jesus, and trust in his righteous- 
 ness, if we Would have eternal life. 
 
 In the twenty-first verse the Saviour says, " If 
 thou wouldst be perfect, go and sell that thou hast 
 and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure 
 in heaven; and come follow me." It is repentance 
 
THE RICH YOUNG MAN, 91 
 
 and faith in Jesus that prepares us for heaven, but 
 our works show whether we have this faith in our 
 hearts. Jesus says, " If ye love me keep my com- 
 mandments," and this young man soon showed 
 that he had not the love of Jesus in his heart, be- 
 cause he was not willing to obey him. " But 
 when the young man heard that saying, he went 
 away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." 
 Now we see that though he thought he loved his 
 neighbor as himself, he was not willing to part 
 with his possessions for the benefit of others. To 
 give up his riches, and follow Jesus with the poor 
 disciples, and have no home on earth, and no em- 
 ployment here but that of doing good, was more 
 than he was willing to do, even though he was 
 assured that he should have treasure in heaven. 
 
 I suppose my readers are all much younger than 
 this man was, and it may be you have not yet begun 
 to love riches, for children think less of great 
 possessions than of pleasure and amusement; but 
 if you live long you will find that the love of money, 
 and of all the fine things which money can pur- 
 chase, is a sin that clings close to the heart, and 
 often causes people who give themselves up to it, 
 to turn away from religion as the rich young man 
 turned away from Jesus. 
 
 "He went away sorrowful," disappointed that 
 he could not obtain eternal life by doing some 
 good deed, and still enjoy his riches. He was not 
 sorry that his heart was not right with God, but 
 sorry that the Saviour's rules were so strict. Poor 
 young man ! Does not your heart pity him as you 
 think how he turned away from Jesus, and went 
 back to seek all his happiness in the fading plea- 
 
92 THE RICH YOUNG MAN. 
 
 sures of this world. He was one whom God had 
 blessed with all the good things of this life, and 
 now he had been favored to see the Redeemer of 
 the world, and even to speak with him, and ask 
 him the way of salvation. Had he been willing 
 to be taught of Christ, as a little child, is taught 
 by its parents, he would soon have found it easy 
 to give up his possessions and follow him. Jesus 
 would have given him a disposition like his own, 
 meek, lowly, and contented; and he would have 
 found the happiness of serving God far greater 
 than all he had enjoyed with his riches. But he 
 made a wretched choice. Is my reader willing to 
 follow such an example? 
 
 You will find- many temptations besides the 
 love of money to draw your heart from God, but 
 do not forget that you must leave all and follow 
 Jesus if you would have treasure in heaven. You 
 cannot follow him as this man might have done, 
 by going around with him to do good, but you 
 can give yourself to him, and ask him in prayer 
 what he would have you do ; and you can follow 
 just where his word, and the good spirit he puts 
 in your heart, may direct. The Bible says, "What 
 shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world 
 and lose his own soul." To lose the soul, my 
 dear children, is to lose every thing. It is to go 
 away into the world where wicked beings are, and 
 be eternally miserable without one hope of ever 
 leaving that dreadful abode. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 Matt. xiv. 1 — 12.; 
 
 1. At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of 
 Jesus, 
 
 2. And said unto his servants. This is John the Baptist ; 
 he is risen from the dead ; and therefore mighty works do 
 show forth themselves in him. 
 
 3. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and 
 put him in prison, for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's 
 wife. 
 
 4. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have 
 her. 
 
 5. And when he would have put him to death, he feared 
 the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 
 
 6. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of 
 Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. 
 
 7. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her what- 
 soever she would ask. 
 
 8. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, 
 Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. 
 
 9. And the king was sorry : nevertheless for the oath's 
 sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded 
 it to be given her. 
 
 10. And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. 
 
 11. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to 
 the damsel ; and she brought it to her mother. 
 
 12. And his disciples came, and took up the body, and 
 buried it, and went and told Jesus. 
 
 While Matthew is writing for us an account 
 of the preaching and miracles of our Saviour, he 
 has occasion to tell us of the death of John the 
 Baptist. This, I hope you recollect is the good 
 man whom God sent to prepare the way for Jesus; 
 and he who baptized the Saviour in the river Jor- 
 dan. Above, we are told that Herod the tetrarch, 
 that is a ruler of the country, heard of the fame 
 93 
 
94 DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 
 of Jesus, and he did not know he was, but thought 
 it must be John the Baptist risen from the dead. 
 
 We have not a particular account of the life of 
 John, but we know he was a good and faithful 
 minister, who suffered a violent death in conse- 
 quence of giving a just reproof to a wicked man. 
 From the third verse we learn that Herod had laid 
 hold on John, and bound him and put him in 
 prison, for Herodias' sake, his brother's wife, whom 
 he had taken for his wife. John had plainly and 
 courageously told him that it was not lawful for 
 him to have another man's wife. Wicked people 
 are not often willing to be told of their sins, and 
 this enraged Herod so that he confined John in 
 prison; though he did not then dare to put him to 
 death, because he feared the people, who thought 
 John a very good man. 
 
 After the pious minister had been taken from 
 his friends, and shut up in the gloomy prison, it 
 appears from the sixth verse that Herod's birthday 
 was kept. Those who are rich and powerful can 
 easily command the celebration of birthdays, or 
 any other outward ceremonies of honor ; but money 
 cannot purchase, nor power command, the love 
 and respect of those who know them — nothing 
 can secure these but a lovely deportment, and kind, 
 benevolent actions. I doubt not many more peo- 
 ple truly rejoiced in the birth of John the Baptist, 
 who was that day pining in his solitary prison, 
 than there were that could rejoice in the birth of 
 Herod the tetrarch: but there were many in the 
 palace of the ruler to feast and dance, and appear 
 to be very happy in celebrating his birthday, and 
 among these was a young lady who was the 
 
DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 95 
 
 daughter of Herodias. This young lady amused 
 Herod so much by her dancing, that at the mo- 
 ment when his feelings were so excited that he 
 hardly knew what he said, he promised with an 
 oath to give her anything she should ask him. 
 
 No doubt she was both surprised and delighted 
 with such a promise, but it seems she was ready, 
 being before instructed by her wicked mother, to 
 ask that she might have the head of John the 
 Baptist brought her in a charger, or kind of dish. 
 It is probable that Herodias had been cherishing a 
 spirit of revenge towards the good man who had 
 reproved her for her sin, and now she rejoiced in 
 an opportunity to gratify it. There was nothing 
 in all the dominions of Herod that she so much 
 desired as the head of John the Baptist. 
 
 Herod had made a very rash and foolish pro- 
 mise, and we learn from the ninth verse that he 
 was sorry; but because he had taken the oath, and 
 the people who sat at meat with him had heard it, 
 he commanded it to be given her. Herod hated 
 John, but because he feared the people, or from 
 some other reason he did not wish to take his life 
 at that time; and when he made the promise, I 
 suppose he had no idea that a young lady would 
 ask such a cruel thing. Yet it appears that he 
 felt bound by his own wicked promise rather than 
 by the law of God. A wicked promise should be 
 repented of and broken, or given up, just like any 
 other sin. It is going still deeper and deeper into 
 sin to oblige ourselves to keep a promise which 
 we see was wrong. Herod had long been adding 
 sin to sin, and now he had promised to be a mur- 
 derer. O miserable man! Think of him, and 
 
96 DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 
 Herodias, and her daughter, as the executioner 
 was sent out to bring them the head of John the 
 Baptist. True they were in a splendid palace, 
 surrounded by every thing costly and elegant, and 
 attended by servants who were ready to obey even 
 the glance of their eye, and followed by pretended 
 friends, always ready to smile and flatter, to obtain 
 their favor ; but do you think these wicked people 
 were happy? Would you be willing to take the 
 place of either of them, even that of the young 
 lady, the most innocent of the three ? Would you 
 not rather be in the place of the pious servant of 
 the Lord who was about to have his head severed 
 from his body? 
 
 Let us think for a moment how it was with him. 
 He was sitting in a dark lonely prison, perhaps 
 without bed or chair to rest on, and with scarcely 
 food enough to eat; bound, perhaps so that he 
 could not walk the length of his cell; but the 
 heart you know is the seat of happiness or misery, 
 and do you think John felt guilty and distressed 
 in mind? O no. The good man, I doubt not, 
 was rejoicing in God, and thinking of the happi- 
 ness of heaven. He could not, like Jesus, know 
 when his work on earth was finished, but he could 
 feel perfectly willing that his Heavenly Father 
 should take all the care of him, and if it was His 
 will he chose to go out and preach again to the 
 people ; and if he had done all his duty on earth, 
 he was ready at any moment, and by any means, 
 to leave his body on earth, and go to live with 
 Jesus. When the executioner sent by Herod ap- 
 peared in his prison, and told him to lay his head 
 on the block, he knew his work on earth was 
 
DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 97 
 
 done, and we cannot suppose that he delayed one 
 moment to obey him. True he was called to en- 
 dure a distressing death, but a few moments at 
 most would close his sufferings, and his happy 
 spirit would be received to heaven, and his pained 
 body would lie senseless and unfeeling, not even 
 knowing whether it was surrounded by the cold, 
 damp walls of a prison, or the magnificence of a 
 palace. 
 
 We learn from the tenth and eleventh verses 
 that the executioner went and beheaded John, and 
 brought his head and gave it to the damsel, and 
 she brought it to her mother. Would you, my 
 young reader, have been in the place of Herodias' 
 daughter at this time? She has danced with so 
 much grace and sprightliness as to please the 
 king, and now she receives the reward he pro- 
 mised her — the head of a good man severed from 
 his body, and placed in a charger for her to carry 
 to her wicked mother. Could she enjoy this re- 
 ward? She was young, and perhaps beautiful 
 and accomplished, but she must have had a hard- 
 ened, cruel heart, if she could bear to take the 
 vessel which contained the bleeding head, and 
 carry it to her mother. O, I should think she 
 could never wish to dance again; and through 
 her whole life it seems to me she must have 
 thought with solemn, awful feelings of that good 
 man. 
 
 The wicked spirit of revenge which Herod and 
 his wife had cherished towards the faithful minis- 
 ter was now gratified. In the midst of a birthday 
 feast they had paused from their mirth and revelry 
 to look at the good man's head, and now they were 
 
 9 
 
98 DEATH OF JOHN THE BAP1IST. ' 
 
 sure that he was dead, and could not speak to 
 reprove them again. But do you think they were 
 happy in their sin, because they knew John was 
 not watching over them? No, indeed. Their 
 hearts told them that God still watched all their 
 thoughts and actions, and they felt guilty and dis- 
 tressed in the midst of their splendid pleasure. 
 This I know is the case with all wicked people, 
 but I am sure that Herod felt guilty, because it is 
 said in the second verse that he said of Jesus, 
 " This is John the Baptist, risen from the dead." 
 He knew nothing about the Saviour, but when he 
 heard of his mighty works, and of his preaching 
 so much like John's whom he had beheaded, he 
 feared that he had risen from the dead. It was 
 his guilty feelings that made his thoughts turn 
 towards John with the fear that he had returned 
 to earth. Poor, wicked ruler ! He knew not that 
 God had sent one far mightier than John, his be- 
 loved Son, who came to reprove all the world of 
 sin, and to die that the vilest sinners might be 
 saved. 
 
 Much instruction may be drawn from this ac- 
 count of the death of John the Baptist. See how 
 one sin leads on to another. Herod was at first 
 guilty of breaking the seventh commandment, and 
 when he was reproved for this, he was at length 
 led on to commit murder, and thus he broke the 
 sixth commandment also. We may, too, learn 
 from this account, that neither our birthdays or 
 any other days should be given up to feasting and 
 amusement. We may notice our birthdays, and 
 celebrate their return by grateful acknowledge- 
 ments to our Heavenly Father for the mercy that 
 
DISPLEASURE OP THE CHIEF PRIESTS. 99 
 
 has sustained us; and by enjoying the cheerful 
 society of our friends, who on these days love to 
 present us tokens of their affection; but we had 
 better never know when our birthday returns, 
 than keep it as the wicked Herod's was kept. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE DISPLEASURE OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS. 
 Matt. xxi. 14, 15. 
 
 14. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, 
 and he healed them. 
 
 15. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the 
 wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the 
 temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David ! they were 
 sore displeased. 
 
 The passage above does not present our Saviour 
 on a desolate mountain, with a multitude gathered 
 around him; nor sitting on a vessel's deck, with 
 his hearers listening on the shore ; but in the tem- 
 ple at Jerusalem, a most splendid building in the 
 midst of a fine city. But still he is the same 
 benevolent Saviour, seeking the happiness of all 
 around him. The blind had felt their way into 
 the temple, and drew near to ask his healing 
 power; the lame had crept slowly over the spa- 
 cious court, and climbed the lofty steps, to present 
 their diseased limbs before him. Neither of them 
 returned with disappointed hopes. Jesus healed 
 them. 
 
 The assembly that now surrounded our Saviour 
 was not all of such people as desired that he should 
 
100 DISPLEASURE OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS. 
 
 bless them, or those who wished to receive in- 
 struction from him. There were some who felt 
 the need of his miraculous power, and these came 
 to seek his favor ; there were some who knew that 
 he was the Son of God, and these came to worship 
 and praise him as they ought. You will learn from 
 the second of the verses above, that among those 
 who offered praise to the Saviour, were children 
 who cried in the temple, " Hosanna to the Son 
 of David." Hosanna is an expression of praise, 
 honor, and worship, here addressed to Jesus, whom 
 they called the Son of David. O, how suitable 
 that the arches of this lofty temple, built for the 
 worship of God, should resound with the sweet 
 voices of these infant worshippers ; praising him 
 who so loved them as to take them in his arms 
 and bless them, who so loved them as to die to 
 save them. Happy children! thus employed in 
 early life. Whether they died in childhood, or 
 lived to mature years, we have reason to hope that 
 they were blessings to the world, and partakers of 
 the joys of heaven. But there was still another 
 class of hearers in the temple. The chief priests 
 and scribes. These were both teachers of the 
 Jews' religion. 
 
 The Jews were once the people whom God 
 highly favored. He gave them his law and taught 
 them by his spirit, so that they were the wisest 
 and best people in the world; but after many years 
 the Jewish nation departed from the law of God, 
 and became a very wicked people — more wicked 
 because they had enjoyed so many privileges, and 
 chose to neglect and misimprove them all. At 
 the time that Jesus came on earth even their 
 
DISPLEASURE OP THE CHIEF PRIESTS. 101 
 
 ministers were vile persons, and yet they professed 
 to be very righteous, and appeared to think none 
 so good as themselves. 
 
 As I was reading the New Testament through 
 with one of my little friends, as we came to the 
 last part of one of the gospels, he exclaimed in 
 astonishment, " The chief priests and scribes do 
 not like anything that Jesus does." This was very 
 true. These Jewish teachers seemed to be con- 
 stantly watching for some occasion to condemn 
 the Saviour. Although they studied the ancient 
 scriptures, which foretell the coming of Christ, and 
 describe him meek and lowly, as he was; coming 
 into the world to do good, and die for lost men ; 
 yet it appears that they did not understand what 
 they read. They expected the Saviour to come 
 to reign on earth with great worldly power, as a 
 mighty king; and therefore, though they even saw 
 the astonishing miracles which Jesus wrought, 
 they would not believe that he was the true Sa- 
 viour, because he was so humble in his appear- 
 ance. But if they did not believe that he was the 
 Saviour of the world, they could not help seeing 
 that great multitudes followed him, and no doubt 
 they felt afraid he would have more influence over 
 them than they could have. This they could not 
 bear, because they loved authority, and they were 
 used to having the common people obey them. 
 When they saw the wonderful things that he did, 
 and the children praising Jesus in the temple, 
 " they were sore displeased." The feeling which 
 was in their hearts was not like that which the 
 disciples felt when they rebuked those who brought 
 little children to Jesus. Neither was it a slight 
 
 9* 
 
102 LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM. 
 
 displeasure which would soon be forgotten. It 
 was a malicious enmity towards the Saviour which 
 led them to be planning how they could destroy 
 the friend of sinners ; the friend of all the sick and 
 needy; the friend of little children. What wicked 
 hearts they must have had! O give me the spirit 
 which would lead me to join the children in crying 
 Hosanna to the Son of David; but let me not par- 
 take of such a spirit as led the haughty scribes 
 and priests to despise, reject, and condemn the 
 Son of God. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 OUR SAVIOUR'S LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM. 
 Matt, xxiii. 37—39. 
 
 27. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, 
 and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would 
 I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gather- 
 eth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. 
 
 38. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 
 
 39. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, 
 till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of 
 the Lord. 
 
 Jesus had been preaching in the country of 
 Judea, and gathering disciples from among the 
 common people. His fame had spread far around, 
 and many, very many, had found him to be a 
 mighty Saviour, who could not only heal the dis- 
 eases of the body, but give joy and peace to the 
 mind. Now he had been working miracles, and 
 proclaiming the gospel of peace in the city of Je- 
 
LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM. 103 
 
 rusalem. This was the capital of Judea, the city 
 where the Jews went three times a year from all 
 parts of the country to worship God after their 
 manner. Here stood the vast and beautiful tem- 
 ple, one of the most noble buildings ever erected 
 in any country. This temple was at first built by 
 Solomon, the Son of David, and dedicated to the 
 worship of God by solemn prayer and peace- 
 offerings, which continued for seven days. Here 
 too were many priests and scribes, who should 
 have been devoted to the service of God, and 
 ready to welcome his Son, Jesus Christ, whom 
 they had taught the people to expect. But Jeru- 
 salem, with its thousands of inhabitants, was now 
 a wicked city. Jesus had found in the house of 
 God merchants who had brought goods there to 
 sell, and were making, as he said, his "Father's 
 house a house of merchandise." The priests, 
 instead of believing in Jesus, and rejoicing that 
 he had come on earth, were " sore displeased" at 
 his miracles, and at the praise and worship offered 
 him by the children. And Jesus says in the first 
 of the verses above, that the people of Jerusalem 
 killed the prophets, and stoned those that were 
 sent unto them. For this great wickedness he 
 lamented over them in the most pathetic language. 
 While the inhabitants of this splendid city were 
 despising the merciful Saviour, and indulging in 
 all their sinful pleasures, he could look forward a 
 few years, and see the fearful destruction that 
 would fall upon them. We learn from history 
 that about forty years after Jesus uttered this la- 
 mentation, the city was destroyed in a most awful 
 manner. To punish them for their sins God suf- 
 
104 LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM^ 
 
 fered a mighty army to come upon them, and lay 
 the city in ruins, and destroy even the beautiful 
 temple: while the poor Jews, who had rejected 
 and crucified the Saviour, and persecuted and put 
 to death many of his disciples, suffered greater 
 distress than any people on earth ever suffered. 
 Jesus could foresee all this when he said, O Jeru- 
 salem, Jerusalem! In Luke it is said he wept 
 over the city as he uttered these words. 
 
 Think of the Saviour weeping over these wicked 
 people to whom he came with a message of pardon 
 and mercy, but they would not listen to him. He 
 knew that there was an hour coming in which he 
 himself had much to suffer, but for himself he did 
 not weep. He wept for the impenitent Jews, who 
 were not only bringing upon themselves dreadful 
 sufferings in this life, but by their " hardness of 
 heart and blindness of mind," were preparing 
 themselves to receive everlasting punishment in 
 the world where wicked spirits dwell. "How 
 often would I have gathered thy children together, 
 as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
 and ye would not." See what a beautiful figure 
 Jesus uses to show us how he would have protected 
 the people of Jerusalem. You have seen the kind 
 and careful hen call her helpless little ones, and 
 spread out her wings to shelter them. If the 
 storm beats heavily upon herself, she does not 
 shrink from it if she can but protect those she 
 loves. So Jesus called the inhabitants of Jerusa- 
 lem, and would have sheltered them from the 
 punishment they deserved, but they would not. 
 
 This shows you the boundless love and compas- 
 sion of the Saviour. The same mercy which caused 
 
THE SECOND COMING OP CHRIST. 105 
 
 him to weep over Jerusalem is now extended to 
 you. Jesus calls you in many ways to seek the 
 shelter of his protecting wings. He has given you 
 pious friends to counsel and guide you ; he has 
 placed you where you can attend meeting and the 
 Sabbath school; he has given you his holy word 
 to read, which is " able to make you wise unto 
 salvation.'' Will you not flee to him for shelter, 
 as the defenceless chickens run to the covering of 
 their mother's wings? He is able to protect you 
 through all the storms of life ; and when you come 
 to its solemn close, the hour of death, Jesus, and 
 none but Jesus, can shelter you from the punish- 
 ment which your sins have deserved, and transport 
 you safely to the abode of everlasting happiness. 
 With what tender sadness did he lament over the 
 children of Jerusalem! O, let him not say of 
 you, " How often would I have gathered you as a 
 hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and 
 ye would not." 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 
 Matt. xxv. 31—34: 41, 46. 
 
 31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all 
 the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne 
 of his glory : 
 
 32. And before him shall be gathered all nations : and he 
 shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth 
 his sheep from the goats : 
 
 33. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the 
 goats on the left. 
 
 34. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand P 
 
106 THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
 for you from the foundation of the world. 
 
 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, 
 Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
 for the devil and his angels. 
 
 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: 
 but the righteous into life eternal. 
 
 You have read of our Saviour's coming into 
 the world in the form of the helpless babe of 
 Bethlehem. You have seen that he was poor and 
 despised, followed by the common people, but re- 
 jected by the rich, learned, and powerful ones of 
 the earth. He came in this holy, quiet manner, 
 because he chose at that time to make such an 
 entrance on earth, and not because he was not 
 able to make the whole earth tremble at his com- 
 ing. In the last chapter you were told that Jesus, 
 after leaving the world would visit it again, and the 
 verses above will inform you in what manner he 
 will come, and for what purpose. 
 
 Jesus says, H When the Son of man," meaning 
 himself, " shall come in his glory," that is, with 
 great power and authority, "and all the holy 
 angels with him," attended by a vast number of 
 those good and happy beings, called angels, who 
 live with the Saviour, and constantly wait on him 
 and do his pleasure : " then shall he sit upon the 
 throne of his glory." A throne is the seat of a 
 king or emperor, on which he sits while the peo- 
 ple who obey him, gather around to receive his 
 commands. By this you see that Jesus represents 
 his second coming to be far different from the 
 first. He will then come with awful majesty, not 
 to be persecuted and crucified, but to be honored 
 and obeyed. Every person on the earth will then 
 
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 107 
 
 know that he is the Son of God. At his first 
 coming, while he traveled over the mountains and 
 valleys of Palestine; and healed the sick, and 
 gave bread to the hungry ; and chose for his most 
 intimate friends some poor, ignorant fishermen ; 
 there were but few of the persons who saw him 
 that really believed he was the Son of God; and 
 thousands who have since read of him in the 
 New Testament will not believe; but when he 
 comes in his glory, we shall all believe, though it 
 may be too late to repent. 
 
 "And before him shall be gathered all nations." 
 The millions of people who have ever lived in 
 this vast world are but one mighty family. God 
 is the father of them all. The dwarfish Green- 
 lander, the giant Hottentot, the swarthy Indian, 
 the sable African, and the lighter race to which 
 we belong, God has made of one blood, and they 
 are all his children. Before him will all these 
 nations be gathered. Every person who is then 
 living on the earth, and all who have ever lived 
 on it, from Adam, the first of men, down to the 
 child whose birth is just before the Saviour's 
 coming. In the fifth chapter of John, we are 
 told that " the hour is coming in which all that 
 are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall 
 come forth." And in the fourteenth of Romans it 
 is said, "We shall all stand before the judgment 
 seat of Christ." 
 
 But for what purpose are the dead called from 
 their graves, and all the nations of the earth col- 
 lected before the Son of man? " And he shall 
 separate them one from another, as a shepherd 
 divideth his sheep from the goats." In the coun- 
 
108 THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 try where Jesus was teaching there were many 
 shepherds, men whose business it was to take care 
 of sheep, and that his disciples might understand 
 him perfectly, he compared himself to a shepherd, 
 and said he should separate the inhabitants of the 
 earth in the same manner as a shepherd divideth 
 the sheep from the goats. Sheep are more gentle 
 and useful animals than goats, and these are made 
 to represent the people who have loved and served 
 God while on earth; and the goats, such as have 
 been disobedient. The right hand is considered 
 a place of honor and approbation, therefore this 
 place was given to the righteous. "Then shall 
 the king," which means the Saviour, "say to 
 those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my 
 Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
 the foundation of the world." Blessed, you know, 
 means highly favored, and to be blessed of God 
 must be the most perfect happiness we can enjoy. 
 " Inherit the kingdom," that is, take possession of 
 the enjoyment which has long been waiting for 
 you ; go with me to heaven, the place of perfect 
 purity and peace, which has long been prepared 
 for such as loved and obeyed me on earth. 
 
 After this thirty-fourth verse to the forty-first, 
 which I wish you to take your Testament and 
 read, because it is too long to put in this little 
 book, Jesus represents himself as saying to the 
 righteous that they had been merciful and kind 
 to the distressed, therefore they are now treated 
 with mercy. You know he said in his sermon 
 on the mount, " Blessed are the merciful, for they 
 shall obtain mercy." In the forty-first verse, which 
 you see above, we are told how the Son of man 
 
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 109 
 
 will address the wretched people on his left hand, 
 " Depart," go away, " ye cursed," If you can think 
 what it is to be blessed, think again what is the 
 exact contrast of blessed, and that is to be cursed. 
 It is to be entirely miserable. If you look around 
 you and think of the most unhappy, wicked being 
 you ever knew, he is not among those upon whom 
 the curse of God rests to the uttermost. He still 
 enjoys many of God's good things, and may yet 
 have opportunity to repent, and ask the forgive- 
 ness of his sins; but those to whom the Saviour 
 shall say, " Depart, ye cursed," will have nothing 
 more to enjoy, nothing more to hope, but every 
 thing to suffer. They are told to go away into 
 " everlasting fire." These words express a state of 
 fearful punishment, such as we have no language 
 to describe to you, nor any thoughts to picture it 
 for ourselves. None know what it is but those 
 who go there. May you and I never know. This 
 place of wretchedness was first "prepared for the 
 devil and his angels." Wicked beings who were 
 once happy and good, but who lost their pure 
 charcter, and became so wicked that God prepared 
 for them the "everlasting fire," and the wicked 
 inhabitants of earth must share it with them. 
 Here, from the forty-first to the forty-sixth verse, 
 which you may also read in your Testament, Jesus 
 represents himself saying to the wicked that they 
 had not obeyed him while they lived on earth, by 
 treating all their fellow beings with mercy and 
 kindness, as he required them. 
 
 Finally, in the last of the verses above, he says, 
 " These," meaning the wicked, "shall go away 
 into everlasting punishment; but the righteous 
 
 10 
 
110 THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 into life eternal." The punishment of the wicked, 
 and the reward of the righteous, are both to last 
 for ever. Good people and bad will never be min- 
 gled together again as in this world, but each will 
 live on, in joy or woe, without dying, or knowing 
 any change of being. 
 
 I hope, my dear reader, you have not read this 
 far in this chapter without reflecting that the sub- 
 ject is very solemn, and one too in which you are 
 deeply interested. Not one of you can say or 
 think, "it does not concern me," for every human 
 being will then stand before the Son of man, and 
 be finally placed on his right hand or his left. Did 
 you observe that the nations were not judged ac- 
 cording to their name or color, but according to 
 their character? You now see around you very 
 many distinctions. There are people of different 
 ages, and different conditions in life. The rich 
 and the poor, the learned and the ignorant. Here 
 are people from different countries, and of various 
 religious denominations, but there only one dis- 
 tinction will be found, good and bad, but two 
 classes, the righteous and the wicked. Jesus, 
 who knows the heart, will need but to see if that 
 be right, and the question will be settled. 
 
 Towards this awful, decisive day we all rapidly 
 hasten. Every sun which rises and sets brings us 
 one day nearer to it. What shall we do to prepare 
 for such a day? Flee to Jesus, the friend of sin- 
 ners. The same holy One who is to come with 
 his mighty angels to judge the world, is he who 
 took little children in his arms and blessed them, 
 he who wept over Jerusalem, he who came from 
 heaven to earth to go about doing good, pitying 
 
THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. Ill 
 
 all who were distressed, and preaching the gospel 
 of peace, and finally dying on the cross for sinners. 
 Though he has now returned to heaven, he still 
 watches over the family of man, and is not willing 
 that any should perish. If you give your heart to 
 him you will be safe in the day of judgment, for 
 he is able to protect you, and take you to dwell 
 with him. He has said to such as love him, " I 
 go to prepare a place for you, that where I am 
 there ye may be also." 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 20- — 25. 
 
 20. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the 
 twelve. 
 
 21. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, 
 that one of you shall betray me. 
 
 22. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every 
 one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I ? 
 
 23. And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand 
 with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. 
 
 24. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him : but wo 
 unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed ! it had 
 been good for that man if he had not been born. 
 
 25. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, 
 Master, is it I ? He said unto him, Thou hast said. 
 
 In the next chapter, after Jesus tells his disci- 
 ples of his second coming, he begins to speak 
 particularly of his death, which was now drawing 
 near. In the first of the verses above, we learn 
 that at the close of the day, Jesus sat down with 
 the twelve, which means that he sat at the table 
 
112 THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 
 
 with them, for we are told in the verses preceding 
 this, that they were about to partake of the feast 
 of the passover. The twelve disciples were those 
 whom Jesus called to follow him. They had been 
 with him in his labors, and had enjoyed the op- 
 portunity of seeing most of his mighty works, and 
 had no doubt received special instruction from his 
 lips. With these Jesus sat at the table, and as 
 they did eat he said to them, "Verily I say unto 
 you, one of you shall betray me." To betray means 
 to give up into the hands of enemies. Jesus, you 
 know, though he was all goodness and mercy, had 
 enemies. The chief priests and others had long 
 been seeking to destroy him, and he had one 
 enemy among those who professed to be his best 
 friends. If you look at the fourteenth, fifteenth, 
 and sixteenth verses of the twenty-sixth of Mat- 
 thew, you will find that Judas, one of the twelve, 
 had before this agreeed with the chief priests to 
 show them where they could find the Saviour, 
 and for this wicked deed they promised to give 
 him thirty pieces of silver. The other disciples 
 could not see the vile heart of Judas, and they 
 knew not who it could be that would betray the 
 blessed Saviour into the hands of sinners. " They 
 were exceeding sorrowful." We cannot wonder 
 that their hearts were touched with sorrow. They 
 had been astonished, and almost unwilling to be- 
 lieve that it even would be so, when Jesus had 
 told them that he was to die by the hands of 
 wicked men, but now when he told them that one 
 of the twelve was to betray him, they were ex- 
 ceeding sorrowful; and not knowing but their 
 own hearts had deceived them, and they were his 
 
THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 113 
 
 enemies, when they hoped they were his friends, 
 they " began every one of them to inquire, Lord, 
 is it I ?" Matthew did not say, " Lord, is it LukeT ' 
 nor Mark, " Lord, is it John?" but each one sus- 
 pected himself, and desired Jesus to search him, 
 because he knew that what the Bible says is very 
 true, — "The heart is deceitful above all things, 
 and desperately wicked." Jesus answered, He 
 that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the 
 same shall betray me. In that ancient time, and 
 in that far distant country, people did not take 
 their food as we do. They used no knives, forks, 
 or spoons, but each one took from the dish with 
 his hand. Judas, it is probable, sat near the Sa- 
 viour, and helped himself from the same dish. 
 
 After this, Jesus said, " The Son of man goeth 
 as it is written of him." That is, the manner in 
 which I am to die is the same as is written of me 
 in the scriptures. The prophets had foretold many 
 years before this, that Jesus would be put to death 
 by sinners, therefore all this was fulfilling scrip- 
 ture, yet it by no means excused Judas, or made 
 his punishment any lighter. Jesus says, " Wo 
 unto that man," a curse will rest on that man, 
 " by whom the Son of man is betrayed. It had 
 been good for that man if he had not been born." 
 O wretched, wretched Judas ! He was once a 
 joyful, innocent child. He had friends to love 
 him, and he loved them in return. He enjoyed 
 the beautiful earth, and rejoiced in the bounties 
 of God's providence. He became a man, and in 
 the course of the changes of life, he met with 
 Jesus of Nazareth. Perhaps he could see in some 
 measure that Jesus was lovely and excellent : it 
 
 10* 
 
114 THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 
 
 may be that for a time he thought he loved him 9 
 but afterwards found that he had deceived himself. 
 Perhaps he only followed him with the hope of 
 worldly gain. We know not how it was, but we 
 know, because Jesus said it, that he had better 
 never have had any life, though he once had many 
 things to enjoy, than to have lived to betray the 
 Son of man. Judas never was a christian, though 
 he had professed to be one of the Saviour's warm- 
 est friends. When he heard that the chief priests 
 were seeking to destroy Jesus, it seems he was 
 all ready to assist them. We cannot tell what 
 motive led Judas to commit this vile act, unless it 
 was the base passion of avarice, or love of money. 
 The chief priests agreed to give him thirty pieces 
 of silver, about fifteen dollars of our money, and 
 for this paltry sum he was induced to betray 
 Jesus, the friend of sinners, into the hands of 
 those who thirsted for his blood. 
 
 Do not suppose that this wicked man ever de- 
 ceived the Saviour. No, he might deceive him- 
 self, and all his fellow-beings who knew him, but 
 Jesus he could never deceive. He knew from the 
 first that one of his professed friends was a hypo- 
 crite, and would become a traitor ; but he suffered 
 it to be so. Perhaps it was allowed to be so to 
 teach the disciples, and us who read of them, what 
 wicked hearts men have, and how easy it is to 
 deceive our fellow-beings. 
 
 Now look again at the verses at the beginning 
 of the chapter. In the twenty-fifth, it is said Judas 
 at length asked the same question that the others 
 had, "Master, is it IV We know not why he 
 should ask this question, when he must have re- 
 
THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 115 
 
 membered what he had already agreed to do. 
 Perhaps he hoped by this means still to deceive 
 the disciples, and it is possible he even hoped to 
 deceive the Saviour, but when Jesus answered, 
 "Thou hast said," which means yes, he must 
 have felt that he was dealing with one who could 
 look into his heart. From the account that John 
 gives of this transaction, we may conclude that 
 Judas went out immediately after this. 
 
 Before the chapter closes, from the forty-sixth 
 to the fifty-first verse, you will find an account of 
 his coming with a multitude of men sent with him 
 by the chief priests, armed with swords and staves. 
 As these men did not know Jesus when they saw 
 him, Judas agreed to give them a sign that they 
 might take him, and that sign was a kiss. This 
 false friend went up to the holy Saviour, and said, 
 Hail Master, and kissed him, and then the armed 
 men laid hold on him. 
 
 After this, Matthew mentions Judas but once. 
 In the next chapter, from the second to the sixth 
 verse, you will find the last account of him. It 
 appears that he could not enjoy, nor even keep, 
 the money for which he had sold his Saviour. He 
 brought it back to the priests, saying, "I have 
 sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." 
 As they did not choose to take the money, or 
 trouble themselves about the Saviour's innocence, 
 he threw down the silver and went out — went out 
 to what, my reader? Could that man find any 
 place of happiness on this fair earth which God 
 has given to his children, after he had betrayed 
 the Son of God? Could he find any peace after 
 he had declared himself the enemy of his Maker ? 
 
116 THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 
 
 No. No plaGe of happiness, no peace, and there- 
 fore he added another to his awful list of sins. 
 " He went out and hanged himself." After the 
 struggles of death were over, could his spirit find 
 any place of happiness or rest? No. The eye 
 of that God whom he had offended was still upon 
 him, and among those who are for ever lost, we 
 must think of Judas as one of the most wretched. 
 Let his history teach us to examine our own hearts, 
 and to ask God to " search us, and try us, and see 
 if there be any wicked way in us, and lead us in 
 the way everlasting." 
 
 Now turn your thoughts away from the unhappy 
 Judas to think of the merciful Saviour. He came 
 to live in our sinful world on purpose to save lost 
 men. He pitied all our infirmities, and spent his 
 life in doing good; but in the midst of his self- 
 denying labors, while the sick and needy still 
 pressed around for his aid, while thousands of 
 children still needed his blessing, the envious 
 priests "sought how they might destroy him;" 
 and there was one among those who well knew 
 how merciful and good he was, one who had pro- 
 fessed to love him, ready to betray him into their 
 hands. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 26—30. 
 
 26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed 
 it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, 
 eat ; this is my body. 
 
 27. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to 
 them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 
 
 28. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is 
 shed for many for the remission of sins. 
 
 29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this 
 fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you 
 in my Father's kingdom. 
 
 30. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into 
 the Mount of Olives. 
 
 The verses above are immediately following 
 those at the head of the last chapter. If Judas 
 left them at that time he was now probably mak- 
 ing arrangements with the chief priests, and pre- 
 paring to carry out his wicked plan ; while Jesus 
 still sat at the table surrounded by a few real 
 friends, who he knew did indeed love him. This 
 was the time, and these the circumstances, in 
 which our blessed Saviour first taught his disci- 
 ples to take bread and wine in memory of him. 
 " He took bread, blessed and brake it, and gave 
 it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat; this is my 
 body." Not that the bread was made into the 
 real body of Christ, but that it was an emblem of 
 his body, that is, a thing which represented it. 
 This emblem of his body he broke and divided 
 among all his disciples. After this he took the 
 cup, or the vessel which contained the wine, 
 117 
 
118 THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 blessed it, and gave it to them, saying, " Drink ye 
 all of it." Wine is the emblem of the Saviour's 
 blood, which freely flowed for sinners. "This 
 is my blood which is shed for many." Not for 
 the disciples only, who were seated around the 
 table, but for many in all ages since that time, and 
 in all ages yet to come ; for many who are now 
 living around us, and I hope for many who shall 
 read this little book, and think with me on the 
 love and pity of the compassionate Saviour. " For 
 the remission," that is, the forgiveness, " of sins." 
 The Bible says, " Without the shedding of blood 
 there is no remission." Sins cannot be forgiven 
 in any other way. After this, Jesus informs his 
 disciples that he should not again partake of this 
 supper with them. It was for them to celebrate 
 after his death, and these emblems were to remind 
 them, when they could see him no more, that he 
 so loved them as to leave the bosom of his Father, 
 and come to earth to die on the cross for them ; 
 and that he would always love them, and watch 
 over them, and at some future day, when they had 
 done their duty on earth, he would receive them 
 to dwell with him in heaven. The meeting was 
 closed by singing a hymn of praise and thanks- 
 giving to God. 
 
 Perhaps the most of my readers have been 
 present at what is called the communion, or cele- 
 bration of the Lord's Supper, but it may be many 
 of you have never inquired or thought what was 
 meant by it. I will attempt to tell you, and if 
 you have ever looked on this ordinance with a gay 
 arid careless mind, I hope you will never allow 
 yourself to do it again. You observe the congre- 
 
THE LORD'S SUPPER. 119 
 
 gation go out or change their seats, so that the 
 members of the church are seated together, and 
 the emblems of the Saviour's body and blood are 
 handed only to them. It is said in Luke that 
 when Jesus gave his disciples the bread and wine 
 he said, " This do in remembrance of me." Now 
 no other persons but such as really love the Saviour 
 can keep this command, for none else can remem- 
 ber him with affection. Such persons unite to- 
 gether in forming a church, that the world may 
 know that they are christians, and wish to obey 
 all the commands of Christ. These are the per- 
 sons who partake of the Lord's supper, and it 
 would be very wicked for one who is not a church 
 member to take the bread and wine with them. 
 In 1 Corinthians it is said, that those who cele- 
 brate this ordinance " show forth the Lord's death 
 till he come." For more than eighteen hundred 
 years the followers of Christ have remembered him 
 in this manner: and in this manner he will have 
 friends to remember him till he comes the second 
 time to earth, to call its inhabitants to judgment. 
 When our Saviour was seated around the table, 
 as you read above, he was about to leave his dis- 
 ciples in the midst of a wicked world. He had 
 been their guide and protector, and they had 
 looked to him for support in all their troubles. 
 Soon they would see him no more, and he well 
 knew that in the midst of the trials which were 
 coming upon them, they would be very liable to 
 forget that they had such an almighty Friend. He 
 knew that we who live in these last ages of the 
 world, and all christians would sometimes find it 
 very difficult to call to mind their absent Saviour, 
 
120 THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 and realize that he had died for them; therefore 
 he gave them these beautiful emblems of himself. 
 When he had ascended to heaven, his love would 
 still be with his friends, and his care would protect 
 them ; this he wished to make them understand 
 and feel when he was absent from them. As your 
 friend who is about to leave you, presents you a 
 book, or some other token of his friendship, that 
 you may remember him by it, and as often as you 
 see the present, think of his kindness and love, so 
 Jesus left this ordinance to remind his friends of 
 his pity and love for the needy and distressed, but 
 especially to remind them of his death, which was 
 not like the death of John, and other good men 
 who have suffered death because they were faith- 
 ful to the truth. Jesus died, " the just for the 
 unjust, that he might bring us unto God." He 
 came to earth on purpose to die for sinners. While 
 here he relieved the distressed by working mira- 
 cles, and went about doing good; but this was not 
 the great errand on which he came. His errand 
 was "to open a new and living way" for lost men 
 to be saved. For this he gave himself a sacrifice ; 
 and all who truly celebrate the Lord's supper, re- 
 member that he has died for them, and take the 
 bread and wine with gratitude and love, giving 
 themselves away anew to Jesus, and praying that 
 he will prepare them to go and dwell with him in 
 heaven. 
 
 My dear reader, in following our Saviour's his- 
 tory thus far, he has been presented before you in 
 many different scenes, and attended by various 
 circumstances, but in all how benevolent and love- 
 ly he appears! Think of him at this time. One 
 
THE LORD S SUPPER. 121 
 
 of his professed friends had gone out to betray 
 him. The band of soldiers were coming soon 
 upon him. The hour of pain and fearful agony 
 of mind was near. All this he knew, and yet he 
 thought not of himself, but of his friends. He 
 looked down through all the course of time, and 
 appointed this simple yet touching memorial of his 
 death, to comfort and console the hearts of those 
 who love him, till time shall be no more, and chris- 
 tians shall be gathered to the Saviour's home, and 
 no longer need an emblem of him, because they 
 shall "see him face to face." Those who love 
 Jesus, sit down to partake of this supper with 
 solemn, grateful feelings. I hope some of you 
 have hearts prepared to join them, and have united 
 with the church; but if you only sit by to witness 
 the communion let your countenance be sober, 
 and your thoughts attentive ; and regard the scene 
 before you as you would one in which an affec- 
 tionate family of children were looking at their 
 departed father's last present, and as they pass it 
 from one to another, were speaking of his last 
 commands, and thinking of all his love and care 
 for them. If you looked on such a family your 
 thoughts could not be vain and trifling. Can they 
 be so when you witness the celebration of the Sa- 
 viour's dying love ? 
 
 11 
 
CHAPTER XXTV. 
 
 PETER'S SELF-CONFIDENCE; AND HIS DENIAL OF 
 THE SAVIOUR. 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 33 — 35. 
 
 33. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men 
 shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. 
 
 34. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this 
 night, before the cock crow, thou shaft deny me thrice. 
 
 35. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, 
 yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. 
 
 Peter, you recollect, was one of the twelve who 
 are called the Apostles — the one who desired to 
 walk on the water, and yet was so fearful and un- 
 believing that he began to sink, and cried out 
 with fear. He had heard the Saviour's preaching, 
 had seen his mighty works, and had sat with him 
 at the supper. Peter felt sure that he loved the 
 Saviour, and thought nothing could tempt him to 
 say he did not love him — not even the fear of 
 being put to death for his sake. Jesus had been 
 telling his disciples, that all of them would be of- 
 fended that night because of him, which means 
 that they would be led to do wrong towards him 
 by forsaking him when he was in distress. To 
 this remark Peter answered as in the first of the 
 verses above. He does not say, " though all men 
 shall forsake thee, i" hope I shall not." But he 
 says positively, without doubt or fear, "Yet will 
 not I." Jesus told him that that very night, 
 before the cock should crow, he would deny him 
 three times. Jesus too speaks positively, but this 
 is far different from Peter's speaking so. He could 
 
 122 
 
peter's denial of the saviour. 123 
 
 see the events of the day, and week, and year, be- 
 fore they arrived, and he knew what temptation 
 his weak disciple was about to fall into, and that 
 he would be too fearful to acknowledge himself 
 his disciple. He told Peter that it would be so, 
 yet he insisted, " Though I should die with thee 
 yet will I not deny thee;" and it is added that the 
 other disciples joined with him. Poor, short-sight- 
 ed, erring man ! He knew not that an hour of 
 fearful trial was just before him, and that he would 
 be left not only to deny repeatedly that he knew 
 the Saviour, but even be so overcome by sin as to 
 use profane language. Perhaps he thought he had 
 been so long the Saviour's friend, and had met 
 with so many things to try his faith and love, that 
 he was now prepared for the worst of trials ; but 
 he knew not his own heart. 
 
 If you read the twenty-sixth chapter to the close 
 you will find that when the armed men, sent by 
 the chief priests, took Jesus and led him away to 
 be crucified, Peter followed afar off, and went into 
 the house where Jesus was taken, and sat with 
 the servants to see the end. He could not but 
 feel deeply interested in the blessed Saviour. He 
 knew that he was altogether lovely ; so innocent 
 and good that none but vile men, such as were 
 willing to speak falsely, would say he had done 
 anything wrong — therefore he could not go away 
 to his home, and try to forget that he had ever 
 known Jesus ; and yet when he saw how he was 
 treated, and knew that he would soon be put to 
 death, he was far from being willing to die with 
 him. No, although he told Jesus that he had rather 
 
124 peter's denial of the saviour. 
 
 die with him than deny him, he now chose to deny 
 him rather than die with him. 
 
 In the last part of the chapter we learn that he 
 said to those who asked him if he was not one that 
 followed Jesus, "I know not the man/ 5 and when 
 he was asked the third time " he began to curse 
 and swear." Immediately after this the cock crew, 
 and then Peter remembered the words of his once 
 beloved Master, "Before the cock crow thoushalt 
 deny me thrice.' , Luke, in giving the same ac- 
 count, adds, that at this moment Jesus turned and 
 looked upon Peter. The Saviour was at this time 
 bound, and in the hands of wicked men, who were 
 insulting and mocking him in the most cruel man- 
 ner, but he did not forget his poor, tempted, sin- 
 ning disciple. Perhaps he was not allowed to 
 speak, but he was not yet fastened to the cross; 
 he could turn and look, and as his eyes fell on 
 Peter, he sent the spirit of repentance into his 
 heart, for we are told that " he went out and wept 
 bitterly." Mark says, Peter called to mind the 
 words of Jesus, " and when he thought thereon he 
 wept." O what an hour of bitter anguish was 
 that when Peter fled away to weep ! Those mild, 
 compassionate eyes which had so often turned 
 towards him with love had fallen on him once 
 more, and that heavenly glance had sent convic- 
 tion to his heart, and brought before him all his 
 own guilt and baseness. As he thought of the pity- 
 ing love of Jesus when he first saw him, and called 
 him to leave his fishing net and follow him; of the 
 mercy which sustained him when sinking amid 
 the waves; and of the love, and power, and good- 
 
Peter's denial of the saviour. 125 
 
 ness which the Saviour had always shown towards 
 him, and all who came to him during his whole 
 ministry, he must have felt that he was the most 
 ungrateful of men. He thought on his sins and 
 wept. He began to repent, and now it would have 
 been a pleasure and relief to him, could he have 
 run to his injured Saviour, and kneeling before 
 him, have bathed his feet with his tears, and en- 
 treated his forgiveness; but his Saviour was bound, 
 and led away to be crucified. He could speak to 
 him no more, could listen to no more of his sooth- 
 ing words, nor even have one more look from his 
 eye. O, what consolation was left for Peter ! 
 There was one, my young reader. Jesus knew 
 his heart, and if he was truly penitent for his sin, 
 he could pray to be forgiven, and Jesus would 
 know that he was sorry, and would still love and 
 pity him. From what is afterwards written of 
 Peter, and from what he wrote himself in his 
 Epistles, we learn that he did truly repent, and 
 become a more humble and pious man than he 
 was before ; and though it is not recorded in 
 the Bible, we learn from history, which we have 
 no doubt is correct, that he was at last crucified 
 on account of his religion. Though his faith and 
 courage once failed, he was afterward so strength- 
 ened by the grace of God as to suffer a distressing 
 death, rather than again deny his Lord. 
 
 I have not dwelt on this distressing scene just 
 for the purpose of leading you to think of the cha- 
 racter of Peter. I wish you to observe that true 
 christians are not perfect. The best of men are 
 liable to fall into sin, though few good people, we 
 hope, have ever sinned as Peter did. The Bible 
 
 11* 
 
126 peter's denial of the saviour. 
 
 says there is "not a just man that liveth and sin- 
 neth not." None but those who saw Jesus Christ 
 have seen a person in human form who was per- 
 fect. He had the form of a man because he took 
 upon him our nature, but within was the spirit of 
 God, for he was the Son of God. 
 
 If all the inhabitants of the earth are sinners, 
 and even christians have some evil left in their 
 hearts, which sometimes shows itself iu actions, 
 you must not expect your pious friends to be en- 
 tirely free from error, though you have reason to 
 expect them to come nearer doing just right than 
 those do who have not professed religion. When 
 I was twelve years of age, several of my young 
 friends, about my own age, and some a little older, 
 professed to become christians; and I remember 
 that I watched them very narrowly, and if I saw 
 the least evidence that one of them felt any wrong 
 disposition, I was ready to conclude that such a 
 one was not a christian. Now this was wrong, 
 and from such an error I would save you. If I 
 had known one of my friends to commit a very 
 wicked act, and not appear to feel sorry for it; or 
 if I had been sure that he continued for a long 
 time to neglect the duties of a christian, such as 
 praying, and attending the worship of God; I 
 should have had reason to fear he was not a chris- 
 tian; but I had no right to conclude my friend 
 could not have a new heart because he sometimes 
 appeared to feel wrong as I felt. 
 
 When the christian arrives at that happy place 
 where Jesus is, he will be free from sin. The 
 disposition to do wrong will be taken away, and 
 he will no longer have to strive, and pray, and 
 
our saviour's voluntary death. 127 
 
 watch against sin. While the christian remains 
 here he does not sin without sorrow and repent- 
 ance; and here is the difference between the true 
 christian and the hypocrite. Judas acknowledged 
 he had betrayed " innocent blood," but he dis- 
 covered no real repentance for his sin. Peter 
 " thought of his sin and wept," and his after life 
 proved that his tears were tears of penitence. 
 
 Now let us think once more of the blessed Sa- 
 viour. How numerous and how aggravated were 
 the sorrows which swept over him ! Not only be- 
 trayed by a false friend, but denied by one who 
 truly loved him, but was unable to stand the hour 
 of temptation ; and abandoned by all, for it is said 
 in the fifty-sixth verse that when the soldiers came 
 to lay hold on Jesus, " all the disciples forsook him 
 and fled." 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 OUR SAVIOUR'S VOLUNTARY DEATH. 
 Matt. xxvi. 51 — 54. 
 
 51. And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus 
 stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a 
 servant of the high priest, and smote off his ear. 
 
 52. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into 
 his place : for all they that take the sword shall perish with 
 the sword. 
 
 53. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, 
 and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of 
 angels ? 
 
 54. But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that 
 thus it must be ? 
 
 In the verses which precede those above, we 
 
128 our saviour's voluntary death. 
 
 have an account of Judas' coming with a great 
 multitude of men armed with swords and staves, 
 sent by the chief priests and elders of the people, 
 to take Jesus and lead him to the governor. 
 
 When Judas had given the Saviour that false, 
 betraying kiss, of which you have read in a former 
 chapter, Jesus said to him, " Friend, wherefore 
 art thou come?" and immediately the men laid 
 hold on Jesus, and took him. At this time you 
 will learn from the first of the verses above, one 
 of Jesus' friends drew a sword, and wounded one 
 of the servants. In John's gospel we learn that it 
 was Peter who thus rashly used the sword. This, 
 you will understand, took place before Peter denied 
 his Lord, for in the last chapter I went forward a 
 little to finish the account of Peter. "Then said 
 Jesus unto him, Put up thy sword." Luke in- 
 forms us that Jesus immediately touched the ser- 
 vant's ear, and cured him. How meek and for- 
 giving, how merciful and kind was Jesus, the 
 Saviour of sinners! Although the armed men 
 had laid violent hands on him, and were even then 
 leading him away to insult, suffering, and death; 
 he would not have his disciples raise one hand 
 against them, and when one of them did it with- 
 out his permission he would not allow his enemy 
 to suffer a short time, from a slight wound, but in 
 the midst of the tumult and alarm, while they were 
 hurrying him away to the high priest, he wrought 
 a miracle by healing the wounded man in a mo- 
 ment. He had said to his hearers, in his sermon 
 on the mount, " Love your enemies, do good to 
 them that persecute you," and how fully did he 
 show them by his example what he meant by his 
 
our saviour's voluntary death. 129 
 
 preaching. All our Saviour's life was a perfect 
 example. He kept every rule of life which he laid 
 down for us, and obeyed all the commandments 
 of the Old Testament, for he said, "I came not 
 to destroy the law, but to fulfil it." 
 
 In the fifty-third verse above, he says to his dis- 
 ciples, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to 
 my Father, and he shall presently give me more 
 than twelve legions of angels?" Perhaps the dis- 
 ciples did not fully understand that Jesus had come 
 on earth for the purpose of dying for sinners; and 
 that now he had performed his works, finished his 
 preaching, and appointed the Lord's Supper to be 
 kept in remembrance of him, he was ready "to 
 be offered." It may be my young reader has never 
 thought on the subject, or really understood that 
 Jesus died a voluntary death, that is, that he gave 
 himself up willingly to die that sinners might be 
 saved. Many christians have died for the cause 
 of the truth, because they had rather die than 
 become wicked. Such persons are called mar- 
 tyrs; but Jesus Christ was more than a martyr. 
 They could not escape death but by telling false- 
 hoods, or doing something wrong; Jesus could 
 have taken himself away from his enemies in an 
 instant, or he could have taken their breath away 
 from them, and have made the whole multitude a 
 vast body of lifeless corpses stretched on the 
 ground, with their swords and staves lying power- 
 less beside them ; or, as he told his disciples, he 
 could have commanded twelve legions of angels. 
 One legion is from three to six thousand, and 
 Jesus no doubt meant by this that if he chose to 
 do it he could at once call to his aid a countless 
 
130 our saviour's voluntary death. 
 
 number of heavenly beings ; for he, whom vile, 
 insignificant man despised and murdered, angels 
 worshiped and obeyed. "But how then," said 
 Jesus, " shall ihe scriptures be fulfilled." 
 
 After sin entered our world by the disobedience 
 of Adam and Eve, God pitied the race of man, and 
 promised at some future time to send a Saviour 
 to redeem them. All the good people of whom 
 we read in the ancient scriptures, believed and 
 trusted in that Saviour, and looked forward to 
 the time of his coming as we now look back to it. 
 The prophets were taught by the spirit of God to 
 foretell his coming, and describe the manner of 
 his death. Isaiah said, "He was led as a lamb 
 to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shear- 
 ers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." If 
 Jesus had called the angels, these scriptures would 
 not have been fulfilled, and that offering would not 
 have been made through which you and I may 
 hope for mercy, and through which every human 
 being is saved, if saved at all. But Jesus, our 
 merciful Saviour, did not shrink back in the hour 
 of danger and suffering. He loved us with an 
 everlasting, an almighty love. Had he been only 
 a man, his pity for us might have been lost in the 
 midst of his own sufferings ; but with the unchange- 
 able purpose of a God he had given himself a 
 sacrifice for sin, and with a love and pity which 
 nothing could quench, he went steadily forward to 
 finish the work of man's redemption. 
 
 Does not your heart warm with gratitude and 
 love towards the Redeemer of lost men. as you 
 read of his giving himself a willing sacrifice for 
 sin, that ruined man might be saved? If not, my 
 
OUR saviour's suffering. 131 
 
 dear reader, are you not fearful that you partake 
 of the spirit of the chief priests and scribes, who 
 could see nothing lovely in the character of the 
 Saviour, and hated him without a cause? 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 OUR SAVIOUR'S SUFFERING. 
 
 Matt, xxvii. 46. 
 
 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 
 saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani ? that is to say, My God, 
 my God, why hast thou forsaken me. 
 
 From the first of our Saviour's public ministry, 
 we find that the chief priests were seeking to put 
 him to death, and now as the time had arrived 
 when he chose to give himself up to them, they 
 were able to accomplish their purpose. I hope 
 my reader will understand that these wicked men 
 did not know that Jesus suffered himself to be 
 taken by them, because he came to die for sinners, 
 and therefore they were none the less guilty. They 
 did not believe that he was the Saviour of the 
 world, but they ought to have believed it; and to 
 have loved him with all their hearts. They heard 
 his gracious words, and saw his wonderful works, 
 and it was only because they would not believe, 
 and give their hearts to him, that they became so 
 hardened in sin. 
 
 After the soldiers took Jesus, by order of the 
 priests, he was led to the high priest, that he might 
 examine him When Caiaphas, the high priest, 
 
132 OUR SAVIOURS SUFFERING. 
 
 asked him if he was Christ, the Son of God, Jesus 
 answered that he was, and he also said to him, 
 "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on 
 the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds 
 of heaven." At this the high priest rent his clothes, 
 saying, "He hath spoken blasphemy/' which means 
 very wicked language against God, and as he asked 
 the people what they thought of it they said, " He 
 is guilty of death;" and here the blessed Saviour 
 was treated in the most abusive and insulting 
 manner. They even spit in his face, and buffeted, 
 or struck him with the fist. After this the chief 
 priests and elders of the people consulted together 
 about putting the Saviour to death, and then he 
 was bound and led away to Pilate, the Roman 
 governor. We are told by other evangelists that 
 he was also carried before Herod, a Jewish ruler. 
 Pilate, it appears, could not find any reason why 
 Jesus should be crucified, and he urged the peo- 
 ple to have him released, but the chief priests and 
 elders persuaded the people to join in the cry, 
 "Crucify him, crucify him." The Saviour was 
 therefore delivered up to the envious, blood-thirsty 
 Jews, and led away to be crucified. He was 
 scourged, or beaten, and then the soldiers put on 
 him a scarlet robe, and platted a crown of thorns 
 and put it on his head, and bowed the knee before 
 him, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews." This was 
 done on purpose to mock and insult the meek and 
 lowly Saviour. After this we are told they again 
 spit on him, and smote him on the head. When 
 they were weary with this derision and cruelty, 
 they fastened his precious body to the cross. A 
 cross is a straight piece of wood, with another 
 
OUR SAVIOUR S SUFFERING. 133 
 
 piece fastened across it near the top. Large nails 
 were driven through the Saviour's feet to confine 
 him to the wood, and his arms were stretched out 
 and confined to the cross piece by nails driven 
 through the palms of his hands. The cross was 
 set up in such a manner as to leave the feet of the 
 Saviour about one yard from the ground. After 
 Jesus was thus extended, his murderers sat down 
 to watch him, and not satisfied with witnessing 
 his sufferings in silence, they reviled him, wagging 
 their heads, and saying, "If thou be the Son of 
 God, come down from the cross. Likewise, also, 
 the chief priests, mocking him, with the scribes 
 and elders, said, He saved others, himself he cannot 
 save." 
 
 Once more, my dear reader, think of the blessed 
 Saviour, and review his life from the time you 
 first read of him as the sweet babe of Bethlehem, 
 to this hour of his death. You remember how he 
 sat on the bleak mountain side, speaking the words 
 of love and wisdom to the ignorant multitude; 
 how he banished disease and suffering, and pro- 
 duced health and happiness by his miraculous 
 power; and how he loved little children, and wept 
 over the sins of those who were too hardened to 
 repent ; and now behold him stretched upon the 
 cross, dying a lingering death, surrounded by an 
 insulting mob, who take a malicious pleasure in 
 beholding his distress. And why is this? Are 
 you not astonished and perplexed to think an in- 
 nocent person should suffer thus? And then 
 when you think of his benevolence, that he not 
 only injured none, but did good to all ; and, added 
 to all this, when you think of his miracles, which 
 
 12 
 
134 our saviour's suffering. 
 
 proved him to be the Son of God, do you not 
 wonder still more and more that he should be left 
 to suffer thus? It is not strange that you should 
 wonder. It is a mystery to all who hear of it; a 
 mystery which can be explained in only one way, 
 and that we know is the right explanation, because 
 we find it in the scriptures. He did not suffer for 
 his own sake, but for the sake of sinners. Isaiah 
 says, " He was wounded for our transgressions, he 
 was bruised for our iniquities; with his stripes we 
 are healed;" and "The Lord hath laid on him the 
 iniquity of us all." Peter says, " He bore our sins 
 in his own body on the tree." 
 
 The whole family of man, you know, are sinners. 
 God is too holy to love sinners, and too just to 
 suffer sin to go unpunished. His'pure law re- 
 quired that guilty man should suffer everlasting 
 punishment, but at the same time he pitied us, 
 and was willing that his Son should die, "the just 
 for the unjust," to bring us back to God. Jesus 
 looked on us in our lost condition, and offered to 
 suffer the punishment which we deserved. His 
 Father accepted the offering, and "laid on him 
 the iniquities of us all." It was this heavy load of 
 sins that caused the Saviour to cry out, "My God, 
 my God, why hast thou forsaken me." 
 
 We have been thinking of the distress of body 
 which our Saviour endured, but we have reason 
 to suppose that was trifling, compared with the 
 agony of his spirit. It was not the torture of the 
 nails, nor the pains of expiring nature, that caused 
 this bitter cry, but the punishment due to our sins, 
 the punishment for the sins of the whole world, 
 which came over him like a flood, and hid his 
 
our saviour's suffering. 135 
 
 Father's face from him, and made him feel that 
 God had forsaken him. Jesus, you know, was 
 pure and holy. Though the effects of sin were 
 laid upon him, it did not make him a sinner, there- 
 fore it was far more distressing to him to suffer 
 the punishment of sin, and be driven away from 
 the presence of his righteous Father. 
 
 O look, dear reader, at that dying Saviour. 
 Look in your mind, and think how willingly he 
 suffered. He might have ascended up from the 
 hands of his murderers, or he might have caused 
 the ground to open and swallow them up; but 
 then the inhabitants of the earth must have been 
 lost; you and I could have had no hope of pardon. 
 
 Think how dreadfully he suffered. Death by 
 crucifixion was exceedingly painful. It was a 
 slow, distressing torture, far more fearful than such 
 a death as John suffered, who was beheaded in 
 the prison; and yet this was but a small part of 
 his suffering. We have no language to describe, 
 nor thoughts to conceive, of the distress of his 
 holy soul, when he groaned under the sins of a 
 whole world. 
 
 Think how meekly he suffered. "When he was 
 reviled, he reviled not again." In giving the 
 account of our Saviour's death, Luke relates some 
 circumstances not mentioned by Matthew. He 
 says when Jesus was about to expire he prayed 
 for his murderers, saying, " Father, forgive them, 
 for they know not what they do." O how did his 
 mercy overcome every other feeling, even the dis- 
 tress he suffered from the punishment of sin, and 
 with his latest breath he prays that his enemies 
 may be forgiven. Say, dear children, should you 
 
136 our saviour's resurrection. 
 
 not love such a Saviour? A Saviour, so kind, so 
 meek and forgiving, so willing to bear the sins 
 of a wicked world, and die the painful death of 
 the cross, to save us from the punishment which 
 our sins have deserved? Yes, you must give 
 yourself to him, and love him with all your heart, 
 or you can never be happy. Do not suppose that 
 his atonement will save you, unless you accept of 
 him as your Saviour, and seek to obey all his 
 commands, and desire to be made pure and holy 
 as he is. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 OUR SAVIOUR'S RESURRECTION. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 6 — 10. 
 
 6. He is not here : for he has risen as he said. Come, see 
 the place where the Lord lay. 
 
 7. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen 
 from the dead ; and, behold, he goeth before you into Gali- 
 lee ; there ye shall see him : lo, I have told you. 
 
 8. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear 
 and great joy ; and did run to bring his disciples word. 
 
 9. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus 
 met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by 
 the feet, and worshipped him. 
 
 10. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid : go tell my 
 brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. 
 
 After Jesus had uttered the last cry, and his 
 spirit departed; his mangled body hung lifeless on 
 the cross, having suffered all its pain. John in- 
 forms us that one of the soldiers plunged a spear 
 into his side, but this gave him no pain, for he 
 
our saviour's resurrection. 137 
 
 was already dead. Perhaps his enemies were 
 willing to go away and allow his friends to draw 
 nigh, now they had gratified their wicked feelings 
 by putting him to death. Though they had taken 
 him, and "by wicked hands had crucified and 
 slain him, 5 ' the blessed Saviour still had friends 
 who loved him, and thought with aching hearts on 
 his cruel death. To these good people the S aviour's 
 body was very dear ; and if they could do nothing 
 to save him from death they hoped to save his body 
 from farther abuse by laying it in a quiet grave. 
 
 We are told that one of his friends, a rich man, 
 named Joseph, went to Pilate, the Roman gover- 
 nor, " and begged the body of Jesus." Pilate gave 
 him permission to take it down from the cross, 
 and he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid 
 it in his own new sepulchre, or tomb, placing a 
 heavy stone at the door of it. There were other 
 friends of Jesus, who brought sweet spices to 
 anoint his body, according to the custom of the 
 country. Two of these are called in the first verse 
 of the twenty-eighth chapter of Matthew — Mary 
 Magdalene, and the other Mary; and it is said 
 that they came "at the end of the Sabbath, when 
 it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, 
 to see the sepulchre." Luke mentions that they 
 brought the spices, to anoint the body of Jesus. 
 
 The end of the Sabbath means the Jewish 
 Sabbath, which was the same as our Saturday. It 
 was therefore early on our Sabbath morning that 
 these pious women came to manifest their love for 
 their departed Saviour by anointing his body with 
 precious ointment. Perhaps you will think it 
 strange that they supposed they could come near 
 
 12* 
 
138 our saviour's resurrection. 
 
 to the body of Jesus after he had been buried, 
 but it is not strange, because in that country tombs 
 are large rooms under ground, and a person can 
 enter them without trouble. As these women 
 came near to the sepulchre, they found the stone 
 rolled away from the door, and an angel sitting 
 on it. Pilate had sent some men to watch the 
 sepulchre, and these men were so frightened by 
 the appearance of an angel that they fainted and 
 fell down ; but the angel was a beautiful and holy 
 being, and no good person need to be afraid of 
 him. He spoke kindly to the women, saying, 
 "Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus who 
 was crucified." He then told them as you see in 
 the first of the verses above, that he was not in 
 the tomb, but was risen ; and invited them to look 
 in and " see the place where the Lord lay." After 
 this the angel tells them to go quickly, and inform 
 the Saviour's disciples that he had risen, and would 
 go before them into Galilee. The women departed 
 quickly, and hastened to bring to the sorrowing 
 disciples the joyful news that their Lord had risen 
 from the dead. They went " with fear and great 
 joy." Perhaps they could not help feeling some 
 fear when they knew that they had been talking 
 with a holy being from heaven, but they felt great 
 joy, for they saw that the Saviour whom they 
 loved was not in the tomb; and they believed that 
 the angel told them the truth when he said, " he is 
 risen." Now they hoped soon to see Jesus again, 
 and hoped too that his enemies, and the enemies 
 of all righteousness would not be allowed to rule 
 over the world, and make the people obey them. 
 They felt so joyful, and so eager that the disci- 
 
our saviour's resurrection. 139 
 
 pies should share their joy, that they ran to bring 
 them word; but on their way, behold, Jesus met 
 them. That very Saviour whom they had seen 
 put to death by the cruel soldiers stood before 
 them, and they heard his mild, compassionate 
 voice saying " All Hail," which was an expression 
 used in that country when friends met together. 
 The women held him by the feet and worshiped 
 him. We cannot wonder that they bowed down 
 before him, and clasped his feet with gratitude and 
 love, when they knew that he had died to save 
 them. In the tenth verse you read that Jesus said 
 to them, "Be not afraid." O he is the same Sa- 
 viour ! How tender and merciful, when he knew 
 that they were weak and fearful, and that such a 
 strange thing as talking with an angel, and with 
 one just risen from the dead, would make them 
 tremble and fear even though their hearts were 
 glad, he said first " Be not afraid." After this he 
 sent them, as the angel had done, to tell his breth- 
 ren, meaning his disciples, that he would meet them 
 in Galilee. 
 
 From all this account we learn that Jesus rose 
 from the grave, and triumphed over death. If my 
 young friends have felt some pleasure in tracing 
 the history, and studying the character of Jesus 
 Christ, as they have been turning the leaves of 
 this little book, perhaps they feel some joy now, 
 when we have passed through the dark scene of 
 his sufferings and death, and have come to the 
 triumphant period of his resurrection ; but have 
 you no further interest in this event? O yes, each 
 one of you has a personal interest in the Saviour's 
 resurrection. He rose from the grave by his own 
 
140 
 
 our saviour's great commission. 
 
 power ; as he told his disciples in the tenth chapter 
 of John, " I have power to lay down my life, and 
 I have power to take it again." He died for us, 
 and rose also for us, promising, as we learn from 
 different parts of the New Testament, to raise up 
 our bodies as he raised his own. Your body, 
 young and healthful as it now is, must one day 
 moulder in the earth, and is it not a pleasant 
 thought to you that the dust of your body will 
 sleep in the care of that Saviour who once had a 
 body like your own, and who raised himself from 
 the grave, and has promised to raise you also? 
 When Jesus shall call the dead from their graves, 
 the bodies of those who loved and served him 
 while on earth will be raised to enjoy a life which 
 will never end. They will be made like Christ's 
 glorious body, and be admitted to the happy place 
 that he has prepared for them. Never again will 
 they feel pain, never become feeble with age, never 
 die again; and for the hope of such a glorious 
 resurrection we should now offer praise and thanks- 
 giving to him " who hath loved us, and given him- 
 self for us." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 OUR SAVIOUR'S GREAT COMMISSION. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 18 — 20. 
 
 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All 
 power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 
 
 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them 
 in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost : 
 
our saviour's great commission. 141 
 
 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
 commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
 the end of the world. Amen. 
 
 In the last chapter Jesus had appointed to meet 
 his disciples in Galilee. To that place they went, 
 and their beloved Saviour " came to them, say- 
 ing, All power is given unto me in heaven and in 
 earth." The disciples must have known that Jesus 
 was very powerful when they saw him control dis- 
 eases, and make the winds obey his word; and 
 now when they saw that he had come forth from 
 the dead they had new evidence of his power ; but 
 it may be that they did not yet know how great 
 his power was ; and now, when he was about to 
 leave them, he assured them that he had all power 
 in heaven and in earth. Though his disciples 
 would soon see him beside them no more, and 
 would sometimes be unable to realize that his 
 spirit was with them, still they need not fear the 
 power of wicked men, or of any other beings, for 
 Jesus was more powerful than they, and if they 
 trusted in him he would guide them through all 
 dangers and difficulties, and bring them at last to 
 the enjoyment of heavenly rest. But they had yet 
 much to do on earth, and in the nineteenth and 
 twentieth verses he gives them their commission, 
 or tells them what their employment must be. 
 
 Our Saviour had now fulfilled his mission on 
 earth. He had shown his perfect example, had 
 wrought his miracles, and preached his pure and 
 holy doctrines. He had died to atone for our 
 sins, and had risen from the grave to show his 
 conquest over death, and now he was about to 
 leave his gospel for his followers to preach in his 
 
142 our saviour's great commission. 
 
 name. Here, in the two last verses above, he gives 
 them a most solemn charge to teach — not the in- 
 habitants of one town or country, not such as spoke 
 their own language only — but "all nations;" bap- 
 tizing them, as you recollect he was baptized by 
 John, only adding, "In the name of the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost;" and teaching them 
 to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded 
 them. All those instructions which he gave in 
 his " sermon on the mount," and all that he taught 
 during his whole life, they were to give to others 
 in his name; and he adds, " lo, I am with you al- 
 ways, even unto the end of the world." Though 
 he should not be with them in body as he had 
 been, his presence would be with them, and with 
 all his people, even with those who should live in 
 the last days of the world. He would know all 
 their trials, and comfort their hearts, and strengthen 
 them to do all that he required of them. 
 
 We do not understand that this command and 
 promise were given only to the disciples whom 
 Jesus then addressed, but to all whom he should 
 call to preach his gospel in all ages of the world. 
 The minister whom you hear on the Sabbath, and 
 ail who now preach the gospel in this or any other 
 country believe this command to be addressed to 
 them, and if they do not devote their lives to the 
 employment of teaching the people from the Word 
 of God, they will disobey him. Think of this, 
 dear reader, when you are in the house of God, 
 and do not let your thoughts wander about, nor 
 let your eyes rest on your Sabbath school book to 
 read it in meeting time, for that pious man who 
 is addressing you is one whom Jesus has sent to 
 
our saviour's great commission. 143 
 
 teach you the way to heaven. He has a message 
 of warning or entreaty for you, sent by the friend 
 of sinners; if you slight that message, you slight 
 him who died that you might live. If your father 
 sent a message to you by your brother, and you 
 treated him with indifference, and would not listen 
 to his words, would you not disobey and dishonor 
 your father? So when you disregard the words 
 of the minister, it is not against him, but against 
 the great and holy God that you sin. Again, you 
 sin against God if you are willing, for trifling ex- 
 cuses, to stay away from his public worship, where 
 his ministers go to instruct us. Do not allow an 
 indolent feeling, or the desire for a nice dress 
 when you already have a decent one, keep you 
 from attending meeting. I have one more anec- 
 dote to tell you of one of my little friends who is 
 gone from earth; and I hope it will lead you to 
 love the house of God while you enjoy health. 
 Since I have been preparing this book for you, 
 but a few weeks since, a little boy of my acquaint- 
 ance who had been long pining away with disease, 
 said to his mother on Saturday, "May I go to 
 meeting to-morrow?" "My dear," said his mo- 
 ther, " you are too sick to go to meeting." " But 
 I have not been in a great while," said the little 
 boy; "I want to go very much;" and when his 
 mother told him that he could not even have his 
 clothes on, nor sit up a moment, he said he could 
 be wrapped in his gown, and ride in his father's 
 arms. Just as that earthly Sabbath closed, on 
 which my little friend was so anxious to join the 
 worshipers of God below, his spirit was taken, 
 as we hope, to the eternal Sabbath of heaven, and 
 
144 our saviour's great commission. 
 
 prepared to join the assembly of the saints on high, 
 where disease or sin can never enter, and the 
 worship of God is never interrupted. 
 
 It is in obedience to this last command of our 
 Saviour, that the missionaries of whom you have 
 heard and read, leave all their dear friends at 
 home, and go to spend their lives with the heathen. 
 These pious ministers and their w r ives remember 
 that Jesus said "Go teach all nations," and though 
 they love their country and their friends as well 
 as we love ours, tney are willing to bid adieu to 
 all, because they pity the heathen, and wish to 
 have them hear the gospel, and be saved through 
 the death of Christ. These self-denying people 
 bear witness that Jesus remembers his promise, 
 "lo, I am with you always," for they write home 
 that they enjoy the presence of Jesus, and are very 
 happy in keeping his commands; and those who 
 have died in heathen lands have said with their 
 latest breath that Jesus was with them, and they 
 never regretted leaving their native land to carry 
 the gospel to the heathen. 
 
 Matthew relates nothing more respecting our 
 Saviour, after this last command and promise, but 
 we learn from the first chapter of Acts that he 
 visited his disciples occasionally for forty days, 
 and then they saw him ascend up into heaven. In 
 the last chapter of Luke it is said, "And he led 
 them out as far as Bethany; and he lifted up his 
 hands and blessed them. And it came to pass 
 while he blessed them, he w r as parted from them, 
 and carried up into heaven." 
 
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