DAYS OF THE SON OF BY REV. DANIEL MARCH, D.D., AUTHOR OF "NIGHT SCENES IN THE BIBLE," "OUR father's house," "FROM DARK TO DAWN," THIS PREFACE. HIS book of Days in the life of the Son of Man begins with the divine Birth in Bethlehem, and it ends with the divine Ascension from Olivet. But it only takes here and there one of the more human and home-like scenes in the great biography, and tries to make it clear for modern eyes to see. No attempt has been made to write a connected life of Jesus, or to weave into consecutive order the chief events of the Gospel story. Very little exposition has been given of the meaning of the gracious words of Jesus, or of the mystery of his mighty works. We have only tried to put ourselves in the place of thoughtful men, who were looking for the Messiah in his day, and who wondered and wished to know whether Jesus of Nazareth were he that should come. With no theory to defend, no prejudices to gratify, further than the one desire to hear what truth will say from sacred lips, and what love will do with human hands, we have tried to fix a calm and steady gaze upon that wonderful Galilean teacher, as he was seen by the men of his time. Then again taking with us the wider knowledge and the deeper experience which has grown into the life of men in our day, we have joined the great multitude that followed Jesus, and we have looked upon him and upon them, and listened to the words of both. And then we have compared our impression with the impressions of those who lived in the light of that day. So we have striven to bring the reality of the person and work of Jesus into the practical, every-day life of the world as it now is. We have only sat by the wayside and seen Jesus pass with the great multitude in his train, and we have tried to find out the mystery of the attraction with which he drew the world after him. We have gone down to the shore of the lake and listened while he spoke to the people on the land, and we have sought for the secret of his strange power over rude fishermen and extortionate publicans and reckless profligates of the town. We have climbed the hills of the morning, and found Jesus seated upon the ground, teaching the lessons of faith from the lilies of the field and the fowls of the air, and we have asked what charm there could be in his manner of speech to draw thousands into desert places at so early an hour, just to listen to his words and to look upon his face. We have sat by the wayside and looked on with wonder and awe, while Jesus passed, putting forth his power to heal the multitudes that thronged his path. Our hearts have been thrilled by the wild cry of joy with which the maimed leper looked upon fingerless hands and found them whole-the paralytic stretched out his restored arm and smote right and left with the vigor of youth-the blind lifted up his sightless eye-balls to the sun, and found the lost day. One purpose runs through the whole composition of the book, and that is to set forth the perfectly human reality of the life led by the Son of God when he appeared on earth as the Son of Man, to show how completely he conformed to the daily habits and domestic conditions of the people with whom he lived, and thus also to show by inference how very near, in his divine work and teaching, Jesus still comes to the life of the world-how his whole mission tells the meaning of his prophetic name, Immanuel, God with us. So we have seen him making his home with families whose house was a mud cabin, whose clothing was the same, night and day, whose seat at table was the earth floor, whose furniture was the bare walls, whose bed was such as any one could easily take upon the arm and walk. We have seen him so closely confined in the crowded room night and day, so followed and intercepted and stared at in the narrow street, so beset with questioning and curiosity in the synagogue, that he must needs steal away to the desolate mountains by night to get a little rest and to calm and strengthen his spirit by communion with his great Father. In all the circumstances of this crowded and wearied life, we see Jesus moving about among men with a saddened and yet a serene and gracious majesty such as the princes and philosophers of the world could never assume. We see in this carpenter of Nazareth, this companion of fishermen, this fellow-lodger with the poor, the source of the best culture, the highest refinement and the happiest life which has been wrought out in the most advanced nations of our day. We see in him the source of the power which has kindled thought, quickened mind, enlarged knowledge, exalted reason, uplifted and glorified man. wherever it has found him all over the earth. Surely the last word has not yet been said concerning that mysterious life, which is still the best life of men and of the world. Many as are the books which have been written on this one theme, there is room in the ever-enlarging mind of the world for many more. Every earnest inquirer finds a deeper meaning in the words of Jesus; every age finds him leading the advance of all progress towards a better life; every enterprise of sound instruction and true humanity finds in him new resources for the redemption of men. Among the many philosophies of our day, there is one which makes a comparison of religions, and assumes the high prerogative of selecting what is true and good in all, to make one which shall be the best for the most advanced and cultivated man of the future. It is kind enough to admit that man must needs have a religion of some sort. It is conceited enough to claim the right and ability to select from the beliefs of all time, all lands, the elements of the one creed which shall inspire worship and control conduct, in the great age when the fittest only shall survive, and philosophy shall be one with faith. The religion of the Bible need only have free investigation and a fair judgment, and it will be found to contain whatever is best in all other religions, and also, in great part, to have suggested or supplied whatever measure of truth may be found in them. The most cultivated man of the future has only to give up what he has drawn from other sources, and come back to God's own book to learn what to believe and how to live, and he will find a religion perfectly adapted to all ages of the world's advance, to all the capacities and necessities of the human race. |