Chapter 1
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Transcriber's Note
Minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently corrected.
Title page: "MEMORIES OF OF GENNESARET" changed to "MEMORIES OF GENNESARET" p9: Verse number "2." added to "Mark, viii." for consistency p23: "brethern" changed to "brethren" p106: "vail" changed to "veil" p124: duplicate word "one" removed p126: "the its great fountain" changed to "its great fountain" p128: "frowed" changed to "frowned"
THE MIND OF JESUS.
BY JOHN R. MACDUFF, D.D.
AUTHOR OF "MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES," "THE WORDS OF JESUS," "FAMILY PRAYER," "FOOTSTEPS OF ST. PAUL," "MEMORIES OF GENNESARET," "BOW IN THE CLOUD," "STORY OF BETHLEHEM," ETC.
NEW YORK ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 530 BROADWAY. 1860.
The Mind of Jesus.
THE MIND OF JESUS! What a study is this! To attain a dim reflection of it, is the ambition of angels--higher they can not soar. "To be conformed to the image of His Son!"--it is the end of God in the predestination of His Church from all eternity. "We shall be like Him!"--it is the Bible picture of _heaven_!
In a former little volume, we pondered some of the gracious _Words_ which proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus. In the present, we have a few faint lineaments of that holy _Character_ which constituted the living exposition and embodiment of His precepts.
But how lofty such a standard! How all creature-perfection shrinks abashed and confounded before a Divine portraiture like this! He is the true "Angel standing in the sun," who alone projects no shadow; so bathed in the glories of Deity that likeness to Him becomes like the light in which He is shrouded--"no man can approach unto it." May we not, however, seek at least to approximate, though we can not adequately resemble? It is impossible on earth to associate with a fellow-being without getting, in some degree, assimilated to him. So, the more we study "the Mind of Christ," the more we are in His company--holding converse with Him as our best and dearest friend--catching up his holy looks and holy deeds--the more shall we be "transformed into the same image."
"Consider," says the Great Apostle (literally '_gaze_ on') "Christ Jesus" (Heb. iii. 1). Study feature by feature, lineament by lineament, of that Peerless Exemplar. "_Gaze_" on the Sun of Righteousness, till, like gazing long on the natural sun, you carry away with you, on your spiritual vision, dazzling images of His brightness and glory. Though He be the Archetype of all goodness, remember He is no shadowy model--though the Infinite Jehovah, He was "the _Man_ Christ Jesus."
We must never, indeed, forget that it is not the _mind_, but the _work_ of Immanuel, which lies at the foundation of a sinner's hope. He must be known as a _Saviour_, before He is studied as an _Example_. His doing and dying is the center jewel, of which all the virtues of His holy life are merely the setting. But neither must we overlook the Scripture obligation to walk in His footsteps and imbibe His Spirit, for "if any man have not the _Spirit of Christ_, he is _none of His_!"
Oh, that each individual Christian were more Saviour-like! that, in the manifestation of a holy character and heavenly demeanor, it might be said in some feeble measure of the faint and imperfect reflection--"Such was _Jesus_!"
How far short we are of such a criterion, mournful experience can testify. But it is at least comforting to know that there is a day coming, when, in the full vision and fruition of the Glorious Original, the exhortation of our motto-verse will be needed no more; when we shall be able to say, in the words of an inspired apostle,
"We _have_ the MIND OF CHRIST!"
Contents.
PAGE The Mind of Jesus 3 Compassion 9 Resignation in Trial 13 Devotedness to God 17 Forgiveness of Injuries 21 Meekness 25 Thankfulness 29 Unselfishness 33 Submission to God's Word 37 Prayerfulness 41 Love to the Brethren 45 Sympathy 49 Fidelity in Rebuke 53 Gentleness in Rebuke 57 Endurance of Contradiction 61 Pleasing God 65 Grief at Sin 69 Humility 73 Patience 77 Subjection 81 Not Retaliating 85 Bearing the Cross 89 Holy Zeal 93 Benevolence 97 Firmness in Temptation 101 Receiving Sinners 105 Guilelessness 109 Activity in Duty 113 Committing our Way to God 117 Love of Unity 121 Not of the World 125 Calmness in Death 129
Let
THIS MIND
Be in you,
Which was also in
Christ Jesus.
First Day.
COMPASSION.
"I have compassion on the multitude."--Mark, viii. 2.
What a pattern to His people, the tender _compassion_ of Jesus! He found the world He came to save a moral Bethesda. The wail of suffering humanity was every where borne to His ear. It was His delight to walk its porches, to pity, relieve, comfort, save! The faintest cry of misery arrested His footsteps--stirred a ripple in this fountain of Infinite Love. Was it a _leper_,--that dreaded name which entailed a life-long exile from friendly looks and kindly words? There was _One_, at least, who had tones and deeds of tenderness for the outcast. "_Jesus_, being moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and _touched_ him." Was it some blind beggars on the Jericho highway, groping in darkness, pleading for help? "_Jesus_ stood still, and had compassion on them, and touched their eyes!" Was it the speechless pleadings of a widow's tears at the gate of Nain, when she followed her earthly pride and prop to the grave? "When the _Lord_ saw her, He had compassion on her, and said, Weep not!" Even when He rebukes, the bow of compassion is seen in the cloud, or rather, that cloud, as it passes, dissolves in a rain-shower of mercy. He pronounces Jerusalem "_desolate_," but the doom is uttered amid a flood of anguished sorrow!
Reader! do the compassionate words and deeds of a tender Saviour find any feeble echo and transcript in yours? As you traverse in thought the wastes of human wretchedness, does the spectacle give rise, not to the mere emotional feeling which weeps itself away in sentimental tears, but to an earnest desire to _do something_ to mitigate the sufferings of woe-worn humanity? How vast and world-wide the claims on your compassion!--now near, now at a distance--the unmet and unanswered cry of perishing millions abroad--the heathendom which lies unsuccored at your own door--the public charity languishing--the mission staff dwarfed and crippled from lack of needful funds--a suffering district--a starving family--a poor neighbor--a helpless orphan--it may be, some crowded hovel, where misery and vice run riot--or some lonely sick chamber, where the dim lamp has been wasting for dreary nights--or some desolate home which death has entered, where "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not," and where some sobbing heart, under the tattered garb of poverty, mourns, unsolaced and unpitied, its "loved and lost." Are there none such within your reach, to whom a trifling pittance would be as an angel of mercy? How it would hallow and enhance all you possess, were you to seek to live as almoner of Jehovah's bounties! If He has given you of this world's substance, remember it is bestowed, not to be greedily hoarded or lavishly squandered. Property and wealth are talents to be traded on and laid out for the good of others--sacred trusts, not selfishly to be _enjoyed_, but generously to be _employed_.
"The poor are the representatives of Jesus, their wants He considers as His own," and He will recompense accordingly. The feeblest expression of Christian pity and love, though it be but the widow's mite, or the cup of cold water, or the kindly look and word when there is neither mite nor cup to give, yet, if done in _His_ name, it is entered in the "book of life" as a "loan to the Lord;" and in that day when "the books are opened," the loan will be paid back with usury.
"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."
Second Day.
RESIGNATION IN TRIAL.
"Not my will, but Thine be done!"--Luke, xxii. 42.
Where was there ever resignation like this! The life of Jesus was one long martyrdom. From Bethlehem's manger to Calvary's cross, there was scarce one break in the clouds; these gathered more darkly and ominously around Him till they burst over His devoted head as He uttered His expiring cry. Yet throughout this pilgrimage of sorrow no murmuring accent escaped His lips. The most suffering of all suffering lives was one of uncomplaining submission.
"Not _my_ will, but _Thy_ will," was the motto of this wondrous Being! When He came into the world He thus announced His advent, "Lo, I come, I delight to do _Thy will_, O my God!" When He left it, we listen to the same prayer of blended agony and acquiescence, "O my Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me! _Nevertheless_ not as _I will_, but as _Thou wilt_."
Reader! is this mind also in _you_? Ah, what are your trials compared to His! What the ripples in your tide of woe, compared to the waves and billows which swept over him! If He, the spotless Lamb of God, "murmured not," how can _you_ murmur? _His_ were the sufferings of a bosom never once darkened with the passing shadow of guilt or sin. _Your_ severest sufferings are deserved, yea, infinitely less _than_ deserved! Are you tempted to indulge in hard suspicions, as to God's faithfulness and love, in appointing some peculiar trial? Ask yourself, Would Jesus have done _this_? Should _I_ seek to pry into "the deep things of God," when _He_, in the spirit of a weaned child, was satisfied with the solution, "_Even so, Father, for so it seems good in Thy sight_"?
"Even so, _Father_!" Afflicted one! "tossed with tempest, and not comforted," take that _word_ on which thy Lord pillowed His suffering head, and make it, as He did, the secret of thy resignation.
The sick child will take the bitterest draught from a _father's_ hand. "This cup which Thou, O God, givest me to drink, shall I not drink it?" Be it mine to lie passive in the arms of Thy chastening love, exulting in the assurance that all Thy appointments, though sovereign, are never arbitrary, but that there is a gracious "need be" in them all. "My Father!" my Covenant God! the God who _spared not Jesus_! It may well hush every repining word.
Drinking deep of his sweet spirit of submission, you will be able thus to meet, yea, even to welcome, your sorest cross, saying, "Yes, Lord, all _is_ well, just because it is Thy blessed will. Take me, use me, chasten me, as seemeth good in Thy sight. My will is resolved into Thine. This trial is dark; I can not see the 'why and the wherefore' of it--but 'not my will, but Thy will!' The gourd is withered; I can not see the reason of so speedy a dissolution of the loved earthly shelter; sense and sight ask in vain why these leaves of earthly refreshment have been doomed so soon to droop in sadness and sorrow. But it is enough. 'The Lord prepared the worm;' 'not _my_ will, but _Thy_ will!'"
Oh, how does the stricken soul honor God by thus being _dumb_ in the midst of dark and perplexing dealings, recognizing in these, part of the needed discipline and training for a sorrowless, sinless, deathless world; regarding every trial as a link in the chain which draws it to heaven, where the whitest robes will be found to be those here baptized with suffering, and bathed in tears!
"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."
Third Day.
DEVOTEDNESS TO GOD.
"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"-- Luke, ii. 49.
"My meat and my drink are to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." That _one_ object brought Jesus from heaven--that _one_ object he pursued with unflinching, undeviating constancy, until He could say, "It is finished."
However short man comes of _his_ "chief end," "Glory to God in the highest" was the motive, the rule, and exponent of every act of that wondrous life. With us, the magnet of the soul, even when truest, is ever subject to partial oscillations and depressions, trembling at times away from its great attraction-point. _His_ never knew one tremulous wavering from its all-glorious center. With Him there were no ebbs and flows, no fits and starts. He could say, in the words of that prophetic psalm which speaks so preeminently of Himself, "I have set the Lord _always_ before me!"
Reader! do you feel that in some feeble measure this lofty life-motto of the sinless Son of God is written on your home and heart, regulating your actions, chastening your joys, quickening your hopes, giving energy and direction to your whole being, subordinating all the affections of your nature to their high destiny? With pure and unalloyed motives, with a single eye, and a single aim, can you say, somewhat in the spirit of His brightest follower, "This _one_ thing I do"? Are you ready to regard all you have--rank, name, talents, riches, influence, distinctions--valuable, only so far as they contribute to promote the glory of Him who is "first and last, and all in all"? Seek to feel that your heavenly Father's is not only _a_ business; but _the_ business of life. "Whose I am, and whom I serve,"--let this be the superscription written on your thoughts and deeds, your employments and enjoyments, your sleeping and waking. Be not, as the fixed stars, cold and distant; but be ever bathing in the sunshine of conscious nearness to Him who is the sun and center of all happiness and joy.
Each has some appointed work to perform, some little niche in the spiritual temple to occupy. Yours may be no splendid services, no flaming or brilliant actions to blaze and dazzle in the eye of man. It may be the quiet, unobtrusive inner work, the secret prayer, the mortified sin, the forgiven injury, the trifling act of self-sacrifice for God's glory and the good of others, of which no eye but the Eye which seeth in secret is cognizant. It matters not how _small_. Remember, with Him, motive dignifies action. It is not _what_ we do, but _how_ we do it. He can be glorified in _little_ things as well as _great_ things, and by nothing more than the daily walk, the daily life.
Beware of any thing that would interfere with a surrender of heart and soul to His service--worldly entanglements, indulged sin, an uneven walk, a divided heart, nestling in creature comforts, shrinking from the cross. How many hazard, if they do not make shipwreck, of their eternal hopes by becoming _idlers_ in the vineyard; lingerers, like Lot; world-lovers, like Demas; "do-nothing Christians," like the inhabitants of Meroz! The command is, "Go, work!" _Words_ tell what you _should_ be; _deeds_ tell what you _are_. Let those around you see there is a reality in walking _with_ God, and working _for_ God!
"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."
Fourth Day.
FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."--Luke, xxiii. 34.
Many a death-struggle has been made to save a friend. A dying Saviour gathers up His expiring breath to plead for His foes! At the climax of His own woe, and of human ingratitude--man-forsaken, and God-deserted--His faltering voice mingles with the shout of His murderers,--"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!" Had the faithless Peter been there, could he have wondered at the reply to a former question,--"Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him,--till seven times?" Jesus said unto him, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven." (Matt. xviii. 21.)
Superiority to insult and ignominy, with some, proceeds from a callous and indifferent temperament,--a cold, phlegmatic, stoical insensibility, alike to kindness or unkindness. It was not so with Jesus. The tender sensibilities of His holy nature rendered Him keenly sensible to ingratitude and injury, whether this was manifested in the malice of undisguised enmity, or the treachery of trusted friendship. Perhaps to a noble nature the latter of these is the more deeply wounding. Many are inclined to forgive an open and unmasked antagonist, who are not so willing to forget or forgive heartless faithfulness, or unrequited love. But see, too, in this respect, the conduct of the blessed Redeemer! Mark how He deals with His own disciples who had basely forsaken him and fled, and that, too, in the hour He most needed their sympathy. No sooner does He rise from the dead than He hastens to disarm their fears and to assure them of an unaltered and unalterable affection. "Go tell _my brethren_," is the first message He sends; "_Peace be unto you_," is the salutation at the first meeting; "_Children!_" is the word with which He first greets them on the shores of Tiberias. Even Joseph, (the Old Testament type and pattern of generous forgiveness,) when he makes himself known to his brethren, recalls the bitter thought, "Whom ye sold into Egypt." The true Joseph, when _He_ reveals Himself to His disciples, buries in oblivion the memory of by-gone faithlessness. He _meets_ them with a benediction. He _leaves_ them at His ascension with the same--"He lifted up His hands and blessed them!"
Reader! follow in all this the spirit of your Lord and Master. In rising from the study of His holy example, seek to feel that with you there shall be no such name, no such word, as _enemy_! Harbor no resentful thought, indulge in no bitter recrimination. Surrender yourself to no sullen fretfulness. Let "the law of kindness" be in your heart. Put the best construction on the failings of others Make no injurious comments on their frailties; no uncharitable insinuations. "Consider thyself, lest thou also be tempted." When disposed at any time to cherish an unforgiving spirit towards a brother, think, if thy God had retained His anger for ever, where wouldst thou have been? If _He_, the Infinite One, who might have spurned thee for ever from His presence, hath had patience with thee, and forgiven thee _all_, wilt _thou_, on account of some petty grievance which thy calmer moments would pronounce unworthy of a thought, indulge in the look of cold estrangement, the unrelenting word, or unforgiving deed? "If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."
"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."
Fifth Day.
MEEKNESS.
"I am meek and lowly in heart."--Matt. xi. 29.
There is often a beautiful blending of majesty and humility, magnanimity and lowliness, in great minds. The mightiest and holiest of all Beings that ever trod our world was the meekest of all. The Ancient of Days was as the "infant of days." He who had listened to nothing but angel-melodies from all eternity, found, while on earth, melody in the lispings of an infant's voice, or in an outcast's tears! No wonder an innocent _lamb_ was His emblem, or that the annointing Spirit came down upon Him in the form of the gentle _dove_. He had the wealth of worlds at His feet. The hosts of heaven had only to be summoned as His retinue. But all the pageantry of the world, all its dreams of carnal glory, had, for Him, no fascination. The Tempter, from a mountain-summit, showed Him a wide scene of "splendid misery;" but He spurned alike the thought and the adversary away! John and James would call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village; He rebukes the vengeful suggestion! Peter, on the night of the betrayal, cuts off the ear of an assassin; the intended Victim, again, only challenges His disciple, and heals His enemy!
Arraigned before Pilate's judgment-seat, how meekly He bears nameless wrongs and indignities! Suspended on the cross--the execrations of the multitude are rising around, but He hears as though He heard them not; they extract no angry look, no bitter word--"Behold the _Lamb_ of God!" Need we wonder that "meekness" and "poverty of spirit" should stand foremost in His own cluster of beatitudes; that He should select _this_ among all His other qualities for the peculiar study and imitation of His disciples, "Learn of Me, _for_ I am _meek_;" or that an apostle should exhort "by the _meekness_ and _gentleness_ of Christ!"
How different the world's maxims, and His! The _world's_--"Resent the affront, vindicate honor!" _His_--"Overcome evil with good!" _The world's_--"Only let it be when for your _faults_ ye are buffeted that ye take it patiently." _His_--"When ye do _well_ and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, _this_ is acceptable with God." (1 Pet. ii. 20.)
Reader! strive to obtain, like your adorable Lord, this "ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which, in the sight of God, is of great price." Be "clothed" with gentleness and humility. Follow not the world's fleeting shadows that mock you as you grasp them. If always aspiring--ever soaring on the wing--you are likely to become discontented, proud, selfish, time-serving. In whatever position of life God has placed you, be satisfied. What! ambitious to be on a pinnacle of the temple--a higher place in the Church, or in the world?--Satan might hurl you down! "Be not high-minded, but fear." And with respect to others, honor their gifts, contemplate their excellences only to imitate them. Speak kindly, act gently, "condescend to men of low estate."
Be assured, no happiness is equal to that enjoyed by the "_meek Christian_." He has within him a perpetual inner sunshine, a perennial well-spring of peace. Never ruffled and fretted by real or imagined injuries, he puts the best construction on motives and actions, and by a gentle answer to unmerited reproach often disarms wrath.
"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."
Sixth Day.
THANKFULNESS.
"I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth."--Matt. xi. 25.
A thankful spirit pervaded the entire life of Jesus, and surrounded with a heavenly halo His otherwise darkened path. In moments we least expect to find it, this beauteous ray breaks through the gloom. In instituting the memorial of His _death_, He "_gave thanks_!" Even in crossing the Kedron to Gethsemane, "He sang an hymn!"
We know in seasons of deep sorrow and trial that every thing wears a gloomy aspect. Dumb Nature herself to the burdened spirit seems as if she partook in the hues of sadness. The life of Jesus was one continuous experience of privation and woe--a "Valley of Baca," from first to last; yet, amid accents of plaintive sorrow, there are ever heard subdued undertones of _thankfulness_ and joy!
Ah, if He, the suffering "Man of sorrows," could, during a life of unparalleled woe, lift up His heart in grateful acknowledgment to His Father in heaven, how ought the lives of those to be one perpetual "hymn of thankfulness," who are from day to day and hour to hour (for all they have, both temporally and spiritually) pensioners on God's bounty and love!
Reader! cultivate this thankful spirit; it will be to thee a perpetual feast. There is, or ought to be, with us no such thing as _small_ mercies; all are _great_, because the least are undeserved. Indeed, a really thankful heart will extract motive for gratitude from every thing, making the most even of scanty blessings. St. Paul, when in his dungeon at Rome, a prisoner in chains, is heard to say, "I have _all_, and abound!"