OUR BROTHERHOOD WITH CHRIST.
By United Presbyterian
THERE is more of comfort and grace in the thought of the brotherhood of Jesus than is ordinarily received from it. It was a part of the joy of the good tidings that the Saviour was "born," for thus he came into our life. That joy is still ours. Not simply that, bearing our nature, he is able to make the atonement, but his life is parallel with ours, except as to sin, and becomes a real example and a sustaining power. Knowing him only by faith, his divinity sometimes becomes to us more real than his humanity. We look up to and depend upon his divine power, but do not walk with him as we should. He is our Elder Brother, but enthroned rather than living with us, and sharing our life in everything except sin. We therefore need to dwell upon the completeness of his humanity, that we may derive the full measure of help and comfort that belong to the thought of our brotherhood with him. "Unto you is born;" Jesus did not descend in human form; he was born; he is the son of Mary. He is in the fullest sense a member of our race; he has all that belongs to human nature in its purity. Christ's body did not differ from ours; he is "bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh." "Handle and see," he said even after his resurrection. He was sustained as we are, growing into maturity and exposed to suffering, subject to weakness, and finally to death, as we are. He passed through all the stages of mental development, from the feebleness of childhood to the fullness of his power. There was in him the normal development of the affections and the maturing in righteousness with advancing years. There was to him all that comes from the experience of life; from knowing men, from kindness, from the wickedness of men, and from the sufferings of life. "He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin." He is thus brother to everyone. . . . In one sense, his life was on the level of ours. It rose above it as the heavens are above the earth, but he was not separated from us. He hungered, and thirsted, and was weary; he sat at the table of friends, enjoying their hospitality, and he sat on the well-curb, in the heat of the day, waiting for a drink of the cool waters. He rejoiced in the love and kindness of friends, and his soul was cast down by the indifference of men to his teaching and their hostility to his work. There was to Christ, in all things, the utmost freedom of choice. There was, indeed, always present the divine nature, but his human nature was in no wise hampered or restrained by it. Nor was he relieved from the necessity of care, thoughtfulness, foresight, prudence, and wisdom. He saw with human eyes. His heart was the heart of a man, and his conscience was a man's conscience. His life was our life in the issues presented to it; in the processes by which he reached conclusions, and in the emotions which he experienced; in its relations, its joys, and its sorrows, but without sin or imperfection. And therefore he lived by faith, continually seeking guidance and help by prayer, and was sustained by hope in the sure word of his Father. Such a life is full of comfort and grace to us, and should be closely studied and followed. It comes to us with the charm of its pureness and its blessedness, and with the mysterious, sustaining power of the divine presence that entered into it, and made Jesus both the Son of man and the Son of God. It is presented to us by the apostle as the crowning example of that faith by which we should live, and in which there is the victory of life. Being an example, it is an inspiration also. The perfect balance of his mind, the patience and purity of his life, and the marvelous love that dispensed blessings in every word and touch, make his the ideal character, and therefore our hope. Great, yet humble; followed by multitudes, himself seeking the individual sufferer that he might give help; with power to command service, yet washing the feet of others; offered the crown, but choosing the cross, that he may save, Jesus is the one life that can draw us to its purity, and by his grace lift us up into the divine image. Keeping it constantly before us, we are the victors over the world, whatever of ill it may have, and in our brotherhood with him we will enter into his glory.