Imitators and the Example.
There is no thought more distressing or repressing to the devout disciple, than that of his being a stumbling-block to the impenitent and wicked. He is sorrowful on account of his sins, not only because they are an offense in the sight of God, but because they are an obstruction in the path of man. Alas! alas! he cries in great pain. Alas! that I should be so wretched an example, and, instead of helping, should continually hurt the hallowed cause by the manner of my life and the fashion of my behavior! And this Christian, going out and coming in, tormented with the reproaches of conscience, will have a deep longing for the sight of a human example. He will make a great account of any he may find among his acquaintances who are radiant with the graces of a Christian experience, and well reported of for consistency in Christian conduct. He loves them with tenderness, and points to them with pride, and would have their shadow fall upon him. And yet, like the ungodly, he may be hindered rather than assisted by the example of the exemplary. For, says he sadly, these are the exceptions, the others are the rule. The few attain, the many fall by the way. And then, he will see that this admirable deportment may be the result of natural disposition, rather than that of supernatural influence. The amiable and decorous by nature are not to be classed with those who are made so by grace. Those who shine with noble qualities which are the trophies gained in the battle with self, are more worthy of our applause than those who obtain these qualities with their father's blood or their mother's milk. The lives of some are all battle and few victories; while others, having obtained the victory by inheritance, do not have to fight for it. So far as a person behaves circumspectly, he is a proper example for our imitation; but it does not follow that he is therefore a strictly Christian example; since it were better for us to take knowledge of him who is inwardly in commotion with the war among the members, than of him whose composition is such as to render such a war unnoticeable, if not impossible. See, then, how utterly without a touchstone we are in the matter of a Christian example among men. We have no rules to go by, no date to judge by, no lines to hew by, no poles to plough by. We are reckoning without figures, writing without ink, putting to sea without rudder, chart, or compass. Look you, then; it is quite unfair and unreasonable to judge the Christian religion by the deportment of those who do or do not profess it; since the person whom you crown with your admiring commendation may be far less a Christian in every introspective and incisive sense, than he whom you brand with your stern condemnation. The best behavers are not always the best Christians. And so, while on this account they are without excuse who refuse allegiance to our Lord, for the same reason there is no warrant for disheartenment with those who, having put on Christ, have a rough time of it in trying to keep him on. As well hold the sun in the heavens responsible for the clouds that obstruct its rays, as to hold the Sun of Righteousness responsible for the obstructions he meets with in his illumination of mankind. The water that bubbles up so crystalline in the spring among the mountains, is not to be confounded with the same water after it has washed the feet of the cattle in the meadow, and turned the wheels of a hundred distilleries. It will relieve us of much vexation and be the saving of the souls of some of us, to settle it once, and for all, that Christians are imitators, not examples. They have no right to set themselves up as examples, neither have any the right to make them their examples. Let us distinguish, then, between the business of making ourselves ensamples, and being ensamples as the result of our imitation of the only Ensample set before us in the gospels. I may not make the forsaking of my impenitence turn upon my being furnished, from among my companions, a specimen of ideal penitence. There is no such by-law of Christ's law. Even human legislation scouts the plea. And I may not sicken with self-depreciation, because there is a Christian before me who is outwardly my superior, nor because there are so few who adorn the holy doctrine by a holy behavior. The outward life is as deceptive as the inward heart. For the rebuke of the ungodly and of the disheartened, there stands one among them whom they know not as they should. He is the only example which the New-Testament policy of human reconstruction has agreed to furnish. Ecce Homo! He is the only sample specimen of his own religion, the only pattern believer of his own faith, the only ideal obeyer of his own law, the only perfect servant of the only perfect Master, the only immaculate subject of the only immaculate King. Why do any, and especially, why do Christians, look to, or look for, any other than the only Example—Jesus Christ!—Sel.