Milford chronicle., 1907-01-11

II have been 10 be nelgQDOr OF JeSuSt
To have the sympathy of Jesus in their
troubles and his ready help in times
of accident and sorrow! As Jesus was
always helping his neighbOrs as a
young man. are not you and to profit
by his divine example? Shall we be
like Christ, the young man in the home
standing by the bier of his foster ia
Their Joseph, and like Christ helping his
friends living in the neighborhood who
needed his help? Is our unwrtten life
TO be like Christ's unwritten life?
But we must not stop here in the dis
cussion of this remarkable theme. We
would try to fill up some Of the blank
pages of that divine life after his full
mission had been revealed to him at
the Jordanic baptism. We would
speak about the parallels which Christ
uttered, but which were not written
| down. and Of the miracles he did of
which there is no record given, and of
the gentle words of love and sympathy
! which he uttered to those about him
/ of which there is no mention. Oh,
what volumes of spiritual truths there
/ would be if we could only have them
| at hand! | wonder if some time in the
| dim future the records of some of these
unrevealed wOndrOus deeds of Jesus
will not yet he exhumed from some of
the eastern tombs for man to ponder
over and to study and to translate in
his human life.
Mr.. Beecher thus bewails the loss Of
the unrevealed words and deeds of
Christ's life: when l see how much
has been written of those who have
lived. how the Greeks preserved every
saying of Platos, how Boswell fol-
lowed Johnson, gathering up every leaf
that fell from that rugged old OAK and
pasted it away, l almost regret that
one of the disciples had not been re-
cording angel, to preserve the OdOr and
richness of every word Of Christ.
When John says, And there are also
many other things which Jesus did, the
which, if they should be written every
one. 1 suppose that even the world it.
self could not contain the books that
should be written it affects me more
profoundly than when | think Of the
destruction Of the AleXandrian library
or the perishing of the Grecian art in
Athens or Byzantium. The creations
of Phidias were cold stones oyerlaid by
warm thought, but Christ described his
own creation when he said, The words
that | speak unto you. they are life
The leaving ont of these things from
the New Testament, though divinely
wise, seems to my yearning not so
much the unaccOmplishmeHt of noble
things as the destruction Of great treas
ures which had already had oral life,
hut failed Of incarnation in literature"
But though these unrevealed deeds and
sayings Of Jesus Christ did not have
their incarnation in literature were
their lives purely evanescent? Like
the dewdrops tumbling upon the finger
of leaf were they soon to pass away?
Nay. The unwritten words and deeds
Of Jesus found their incarnation in the
lives of the men and the women and
the children by whom he was sur
rounded. These people to whom lie
spoke not only heard, but they also be
Iieved, and they lived his teachings.
Not spoken In vain.
Take that night which Jesus spent in
Jericho, in the house of Zacchaeus, the
publican. There is not word written
about his evening conversation. From
the gospel Of Luke we know that Jesus
called Zacchaeus down from the syca
more tree and went to the home Of the
publican. But not one word is written
about what happened when he was at
that house. After the multitudes had
gone to their homes and Jesus sat ,
down to meat with Zacchaeus and his
wife and his children, what do you sup
pose he did2 Do you suppose Christ !
quickly in silence ate his supper and
then turned and said, "Zacchaeus, !
am tired and want to go to bed" Then
do you suppose he took his lamp and |
went off and shut his bedroom door
and went to sleep, or do you suppose
that Jesus acted in that home like a
true, warm hearted friend? At first, !
think. the family were a little shy. |
Then the ice of bashful reserve gradu- !
ally wore away. Then as soon as the |
s1pper was ended think Jesus took n |
couple Of the youngest children upon |
his knee and stroked their hair and |
told them some sweet stories. Yes, l /
think I can hear Jesus telling these |
children some simple parallels like that /
Of the sheep that was lost up in the I
mountains or a story like the prodigal
son. You see the children's eyes grow /
bigger and biggerl They are so inter- /
ested that the youngest little girl, who /
had been sucking her thumb for an
hour, has not once wanted to squirm .
out of his lap. The two boys, leaning
on his knee. have not once attempted .
to pull each others hair. ", the
Christ talks on. think he ~ has
spiritual lessons so near the {
tears are rolling down thf cords
mothers cheeks. Them
lily knelt for the good nj,
the family altar was uIpIoes -.
all those words of Jeshai ~ :!