1883 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



•721 



ur %cimi' 



For the Son of man is come to save that which 

 was lost.— Matt. 18: 11. 



HAVE been thinkina: of late, dear friends, 

 that we oan choose no more proHtable 

 study in this world, than the studying of 

 the wonderful character of our Savior. My 

 text for to-day comes from the ISth of Mat- 

 thew, as yon will observ^e. In order to get a 

 clear understanding of what our Lord meant 

 when he uttered' these words. " The Son ol: 

 man is come to save that which was lost," 

 let lis go back to the l«th chapter of Mat- 

 thew, verse l-S, where Jesus spoke to his dis- 

 ciples, " Whom do men say that I. the Son 

 of men, am ?" He evidently asked this Ques- 

 tion to test the faith of his little band of fol- 

 lowers — to see what sort of an idea tliey had 

 of him, their master, who is really and truly 

 the Son of man ; a man born like the rest of 

 us. and brousrht up from childhood. Several 

 dilTerent replies came, and these replies were 

 somewhat evasive, for they seemed more 

 willing to tell what other people said. Fi- 

 nally he says. " Whom sav ye that T am?" 

 Now, you notice, fripuds, that when the rest 

 were afraid to speak, or were a little back- 

 ward, Peter, with his impulsive natiire, was 

 always ready. He was not afraid, even 

 thousrh great danger lay before him, and his 

 impulsiveness led him many times to push 

 ahead, even at the risk of making a mistake. 

 Who is there who has not felt a special love 

 for Peter? I feel sure, too, that Peter had a 

 bright, clear, and abiding faith in his Savior: 

 at least, he did at this time, for he answered 

 out sharp and clear, "Thou art the Christ, 

 the Son of the living God." What a beauti- 

 ful answer! Who could have told it better? 

 And yet it was off-hand, and given at once. 

 No wonder the Savior was pleased. Peter 

 unhesitatingly nroclairaed what all the world 

 were backward in acknowledging. He ac- 

 cepted Christ as the Son of the living God. 

 T need not tell you of the encouraging words 

 that our Savior used. He almost praised 

 him, if our Lord ever praised any one. and 

 he warmly commended him. at least. Peter 

 shows plainlv his humanity, by getting proud 

 and important, almost imniediatelv; for when 

 Jesus began to tell them sorrowfully about 

 his approaching death. Peter had the assur- 

 ance to declare it should not be ; and at this 

 our Savior gave him a scathing rebuke, and 

 told him that he did not savor of the things 

 that were of God, but of man. How quickly 

 had Peter gotten down from his great faith, 

 and begun to be stirred bv pride and ambi- 

 tion! Then Jesus said unto them. "If any 

 man will come after me. let him deny him- 

 self, and take up his cross, and follow me." 

 Now, notwithstanding Peter's rebuke, the 

 rest of the disciples seemed to remember the 

 praise he had received, but had quickly for- 

 gotten the rebuke. We know that they also 

 forgot what the Savior said about his coming 

 death, for they kept constantly forgetting 

 that ; and after his crucifixion they kept con- 

 stantly forgetting that he was going to be 

 raised again, even though he told it so plain- 

 ly an(J so many times. His followers were 



sons of men, without a doubt, and they were 

 intensely human, just as we to-day are, mv 

 friends, intensely human. The most vivid 

 thing in their minds was, that the Lord had 

 said that Peter should be a "rock," and that 

 Christ's church should be built on that rock ; 

 and therefore, as they reasoned, Peter was 

 likely to be the greatest one among them"; 

 and very likely poor Peter held up his head, 

 and agreed that he would probably stand 

 nearest the Savior when he stood in his glorv. 

 They did not know what that glory was, it is 

 true, but they evidently seemed to think it 

 would be something grand and nice. Poor 

 fellows ! How little they dreamed that this 

 glory and this cup their Master had told 

 them of, was to be by his side when he suf- 

 fered an ignominious death between thieves 

 on the cross ! 



AVell, they got to questioning the matter 

 over, and got into a dispute. I presume 

 they could, each one of them, remember 

 something to encourage him in thinking that 

 he ought to have the best place, and so they 

 came to Jesus and propounded the question 

 as to who is greatest in the kingdom of hea- 

 ven. They did not quite say, " Which of us 

 shall be greatest?" but I presume that ques- 

 tion was uppermost in their minds. Mark 

 says, they were disputing among themselves 

 on the way; and after they got into the 

 house he asked them what they were disput- 

 ing about. Luke says, " There arose a rea- 

 soning among them" as to which should be 

 greatest." and he savs. also, that Jesus per- 

 ceived the thoughts in their hearts. Do you 

 know how he answered their questions ?'He 

 first sat down. I can imagine him looking 

 sorrowful and sad, much as a mother looks 

 and feels when her children are disputing. 

 He sits down and picks up a little child ; 

 and while holding him in his arms he savs, 

 " Whosoever shall humble himself as this lit- 

 tle child, the same is greatest in the kingdom 

 of heaven." Again he savs, " Whosoever 

 shall receive this little child in my name, re- 

 ceiveth me : and whosoever shall receive me. 

 receiveth him that sent me." Then follows 

 that wonderful talk on humility, that exhor- 

 tation to us to be as little children: and he 

 concluded bv saying. "In heaven their angels 

 do always behold the face of my Father 

 which is in heaven." Now conies our text, 

 revealing to them the great truth that he 

 came not to make people great, or to do 

 grand things in this world, but only to save 

 that which is lost. He came and died for 

 the poorest and humblest and wickede.st man 

 or woman that ever lived. He came not to 

 exalt, in any sense: not to make men stare 

 bv his wonderful power, but to save sinners. 

 How plainly and clearly this comes out as 

 we study his life I At one time they came to 

 a town where thevwere treated uncourteous- 

 ly. I presume they were snubbed and in- 

 sulted. Two of the disciples. James and 

 John. said. "Lord, wilt thou that we com- 

 mand fire to come down from heaven, and 

 consume them, even as Elias did ?" What 

 a reproof he gave these disciples ! " Ye 

 know not what spirit ye are of;" as much as 

 to say, "Do von suppose I came down from 

 heaven to call down fire, and burn people up 

 because they are wicked or jn their wicked^ 



