SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11872, 25 January 1902, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. ,■ • [BY 11EV. J. 11. JOWETT, 31.A.] " Christ also suffered for you, leaving you n example, that ye should follow His steps; -ho did no sin, neither was guile found in [is mouth."— Peter ii. 21, 22. 1 Christ also suffered .' . . who did no in." The two phrases must be conjoined f either is to receive an adequate interpreation. The earlier term discloses its siglificanco by the light of the latter term, f wo would know the content and intensity >f the suffering we must know tho eharaccr of the sufferer. " Christ also suffered." rho word is indeterminate until I know ;he quality of His life. " Suffering" is i relative term. The measure of its acutenesi is determined by tho degree of our refine ment. The same burden weighs imequalb m different men. Lower organisation implies dimished sensitiveness. The highei :he organisation tlio finer becomes the nerve md tho finer the nerve the more delicatc and spacious becomes the exposure to pain Hie more exquisite the refinement the mon exquisite is the pang. I do not limit tho principle to the domain of the flesh. It is a matter of familial knowledge that in the body it is regnant. There are bodies in which the nerves seem atrophied or, still-born, and there are bodies in which the nerves abound like masses oi exquisitely sensitive pulp. But the diversity runs up into the higher endowments of the life, into the aesthetic and affectional and spiritual domains of the being. The man ol little aesthetic refinement knows nothing ol the aches and pains created by ugliness anc" discord. The rarer organisation is piercec and wounded by every jar and obliquity, It is even so in the realms of the affections. Where affection burns low, neglect and inattention are unnoticed;' where love burn: fervently, neglect is a martyrdom. If '■ we rise still higher into the coronal dominion; of the life, into tho domain of moral anc spiritual sentiments, we shall find that th< degree of rectitude and holiness determine: the area of exposure to the wounding, cruci fying ministry of vulgarity and sin. "Christ also suffered . . . who did n< sin." We must interpret the rarity and re finement of His spirit if we would evei faintly, realise the intensity of His suffer ings. ' " Who did no sin, neither was guili found in His mouth." "No sin!" Tin fine, sensitive membrane of the soul ha( in no wise been scorched by th< fire of iniquity. "No sin He wa perfectly pure and healthy. No power been blasted by the lightning of passion no nerve had been atrophied by the wasting blight of criminal neglect. The entire sur face of His life was as finely sensitive as tin fair, healthy skin of a little child. "Neithe was any guile found in His mouth." Then was no duplicity. There were no secre folds or convolutions in His life concealinj ulterior motives. There was nothing under hand. His life lay exposed in perfect truth fulness and candour. The real, inner mean ing of His life was presented upon a plan surface of undisturbed simplicity. " N< sintherefore nothing blunted or be numbed. "No guile;" therefore nothin; hardened by the effrontery of deceit. I as! you to try and imagine the immense arc; which such a life laid open to the woundint implements of unfaithfulness and sin. Now, it is a Scriptural principle that al sin is creative of insensitiveness. " Th< wages of sin is death"deadened faculty impaired perception. " His leaf shal wither." Sin is a blasting presence, anc j every fine power shrinks • and withers ii j the destructive heat. Every spiritual. deli cacy succumbs to its malignant touch. j suppose that Scripture has drawn upon ever] sense ftft* analogies in which to express _th< ravages of sin in the region of perception Sin impairs the sight, and works toward; blindness. Sin benumbs ; the hearing, anc tends to make men deaf. Sin perverts tin taste, causing men to confound the swed with the bitter, and tho bitter with the sweet. Sin hardens the touch, and j even tually renders a man " past feeling." Al these are Scriptural analogies; and _ then common significance appears to bo this—sir blocks and chokes the fine senses of the spirit, by sin wo are desensitised, renderec imperceptive, and the range of our corres pondonco is diminished. 1 Sin -creates cal losity; it hoofs tho spirit, and so reduce; tho area of our exposure to pain. "Who did no sin." No part of His being had been rendered insensitive. No perception had been benumbed by any callous overgrowth. Put tho slightest pressure upon the Master's life, and you awoke an exquisite nerve. " And they disputed one with another who. should be greatest." . . • " And Jesus, perceiving their thoughts. How sensitive the perception! The touch of a selfish thought crushed upon the nerve, and stirred it into agony. Such is the sensitiveness of sinlessness; and in this vulgar, selfish, and sinful world it could not bo but that the Sinless One should be "a. man of sorrows," and that Ho should pass through pangs and martyrdoms _ long before He reached the appalling midnight of (lethsemane and Cavalry. "Christ also suffered . . . who did no sin." . Now, let us watch this sensitive Sufferer, so quick and apprehensive in every nerve, and let us contemplate the nature of some of the sufferings Ho endured. , He was reviled." Give the word its requisite intensity. He was vilified, vituperated, slandered! What was tho shape of the reviling? He was denounced as a. bar! ■ lie doccivoth the people." Why, even with , our blunt and benumbed consciousness, there is no charge like falsehood for . tearing us with poignant pain. There is no word winch pierces "to the quick and stabs the vhrv marrow like tho awful word "liar! But to tho Pure One, with His unimpaired perception, and in whoso life the truth lay as fair and white as newly fallen snow the charge of falsehood would create unutterable nain. " Christ also suffered,"' being reviled. What was the shape of the rovilings? "This man blnsphcmeth." This meok and lowly Being, walking ever in the stoop of reverence, seeking ever to be well-pleasing to His Father, now charged, by those He como to save, with irreverent and sacrilegious speech ! His sacred ministry belied as" profanity! '.- "Ho liatb a devil, and is mad." " lie castcth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of tho': devils." This, holy k and sensitive Christ, whose one evangel was'

to tell men of His own sweet companions!} ' . with the Father, and whose one mission wa> ' •>' ;':ij to raise them into tho delights of the same eternal fellowship, now charged with living in leaguo with tho dovil, tho evil despotism. from which he sought to deliver them! It v?ii|| is the proof of our. own benumbment 'if' we '1 do not feel that such ; accusations . resulted» in spiritual crucifixion. "He was reviled;' |||S He suffered." The suffering covers - theJiWfl whole scope of the Passion, from the dull 1 ' vs pangs of tho physical crucifixion to the! sharper, and : more terrible pangs of the'|fs||lg crucifixion of the spirit. Now, I say, take 1 this Man of the sinless, guileless 'fife,''let 1 , him move amid the chaos of selfishness, the- v riot of lustfulness, the cruelty of thoughtlessness, the chilling insults of studied neglect and contempt. Let Him be mado-tho vietim of incivility. ' Let there be withheld from SffeM Him tho common courtesies. Let Him be denied tho hospitable kiss, and the kindly >•* gift of water for His tired feet. Let .rough %|feS men roughly handle Him; let them mock yf' Him and deride Him, and, as the very con- c ",4 summation of coarse vulgarity, let: them ;gosf|gM up to this Man. of exquisite refinement and f t *:V spit in His face, and then let them subject . Ilim to all the howling, laughing brutality _ 5 of tho Crucifixion. I say, watch all this, : gaze steadily uuou it, -look long upon all its > repellent offens'iveness; and while you keep in ■*' mind the oxquisito sensitiveness of tho Sufferer you will enter with a- little mora ; v power of interpretation into that familiar cry, "Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto My Borrow." "His visage, was so marred more than any man." "He: ,v" was a man of sorrows, and acquainted withes: r " grief." 1 § We may not know, wo cannot tell. What pains lie had to bear. AT EVENTIDE.'HE spoke to them in the evening, ■." . J When the toil of the day was pasta When, over Genessaret's waters . . .; ; • The shadows were deepening fast. ' Though wearv Ho was with teaching '<• '< And healing, the dear Lord knew . , jl/ia Tho loving disciples who waited v . . Around Him were weary, too. . So amidst the multitude pressing To touch but His garment's hem. w Amidst the praises of those Ho healed, . . -, f ,> He thought and Ho cared for them. v And He turned to them tenderly, saying, J In the hush of tho eventide,.. . '* Let us pass over together, •: .-, Beloved, to the other side. - • 'ii'ft Oh, speak to us in life's evening. v When the toil of the day is over. • When our feet have reaoned the river v- ® That laves eternity's shore. When the weary body grows qpiiet v' i And the pulses arc moving slow, • And the music dies into silence, . And the lights are burning low. - r >. When the loving faces no longer . • Are'seen through the gathering darts I And we for tho last lone voyage ! Are preparing to embark. ■ v.:.'",.-. % Alone, alone, where none others . May come, with their presence to cheer, , ! Dear Lord— we enter those shadows _ j- ; [ ! With spirits devoid of fear— , Oh. speak to us through tho stillness Of that solemn eventide. Saving, "Let us pass over together. Beloved, to the other side. . MAY JONES.