KNARESBROUGH is a town in Yorkshire, situated 18 miles W. by N. from York, and 197 N.N.W. from London. It is supposed to derive its name from Knares, a rocky hill, in allusion to its position. The church is a spacious structure, dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The original was given (most probably by Henry I.) with all its lands, tithes, and chapels, to the priory of Nostel, about the year 1114. It appears afterwards to have become the property of abp. Walter Grey, who in only three vicars in 116 years, viz., the rev. Thomas Collins, from 1735 to 1788 (53 years); rev. Andrew Cheap, from 1788 to 1804 (16 years); and the rev. Andrew Cheap (nephew of the above, and lately deceased), from 1804 to 1851 (47 years). The chapelries of High Harrogate, Arkendale, and Brearton are in the parish of Knaresbrough. The population of the parish at the census of 1841 was 9947. 1230 had united the same to the prebend of Beech- JESUS CHRIST A PATTERN FOR TEACHERS*. hill in the cathedral of York. The parish of Knaresbrough is in the diocese of Ripon and deanery of Boroughbridge, rated in the king's books at £9 9s. 41d.; yearly tenths, 18s. 111d. The bishop of Ripon is patron to the living, and the present value £300 or upwards. The church comprises a nave, with aisles, chancel, and central tower, and a south porch. There is a handsome decorated east window. The present square pews in the body of the church were erected in 1730; and, to accommodate the increasing population, numerous galleries have been erected, even in the chancel. It will hold 2,000 persons. "He was a man of sorrows while on earth He wander'd, though to earth belonging not; Whom he had seen, from whom he came, and knew RAGG. MANY and many a time are we reminded that Jesus of Nazareth has left a pattern for teachers. Our attention is often directed to his gentle accents, On the south buttress of the west front are these his persuasive arguments, his apt illustrations, his words, carved on a single stone: "Christ, who died upon the rood, Grant us grace our end be good." And on the south wall, over the porch, is a cross similar to that worn on the breasts of the monks of the Trinitarian order; which appearances favour the opinion that the nave and aisles of the church have been rebuilt partly out of the ruins of the priory, which at the dissolution of England's monasteries belonged to "the brethren of the order of the Holy Trinity for the redemption of captives, at Knaresbrough." There have been No. 937. lucid discourses, his patient forbearance, his unwearied perseverance, and his spotless example. The proofs of these are, however, usually drawn from the gospel history alone. Whereas it seems worth our attention that most of these particulars are very beautifully indicated in Old Testament prophecy also. Shall we linger together yet a while, reader, ere we part? and shall we seek to gain some profitable hints from viewing the pre Hints for young Teachers and young Parents." London: From "The Moral Green-house: a Narrative suggesting J. H. Jackson. 1852. Our extract will show that there is much instruction in this little work. -ED. dicted Messiah as the teacher's model? Taking | after higher attainment, and in all the struggles up such prophecies consecutively, we may see, I. That the Messiah was predicted as a sympathizing teacher: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken" (Deut. xviii. 15). The main stress of the prediction lies in this one fact, that the coming Prophet was to be raised up in human form. The context gives us the reason of this. God had once spoken out of the cloud in Sinai; but men could not bear it. They entreated that the word should not be thus spoken to them any more. And their prayer was granted; granted, not in wrath, but in tender condescension. God did not withhold the word: he suffered Moses to communicate it. And, when he had to speak again, he sent his only-begotten Son to deliver the message. That Son, however, was the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person; and therefore he sent him to our earth, clothed in a mortal form, to speak with human voice. He, who thought it no robbery to be equal with God, was found in fashion as a man; "it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren," that, as "the Apostle and High Priest of our profession," he might be "merciful and faithful" (Heb. ii. 17, iii. 1, 2). Let us not forget that the great Prophet of the new covenant has been "of our brethren"; that he has been "a partaker of flesh and blood." Let us not forget, moreover, that he was raised up "in the midst" of the people. It was not enough that he should speak in human form from a throne of state in heaven he assumed his human guise on this our earth. He became a man among men; and one design to "be answered by it was, that human thought might meet human thought, and human heart appeal to human heart." A seraph might have commanded our attention, but would have found it hard to quell our fears, and impossible to sympathize with us in our difficulties. Angelic intellect, doubtless, becomes mightier in force and richer in acquisition from age to age; but we doubt whether it has experienced anything like the dim dawning of our infant reason, and the long twilight of our childhood's education. The great Teacher, however, stooped to pass through these progressive phases. Mysterious as is the fact, it is an undoubted one, that the "holy child Jesus" "increased in wisdom" as well as "stature." He was all-wise, but for our sakes suspended the exercise of his omniscience, and condescended to gain knowledge step by step. He therefore "can have compassion on the ignorant," and leads on his learners from truth to truth, as they are "able to bear it." He knew not, it is true, the barriers that idleness and forgetfulness interpose to our intellectual growth; for he was "without sin." Yet for that very reason we can believe that his human nature would feel the more acutely that intense thirst after information which has its pains as well as its pleasures. We cannot fathom the depths of a wonder so inscrutable; but we do know that the resources of his earthly education were limited. "Whence hath this man this wisdom? is he not the carpenter's son?" were the remarks of those who dwelt in Capernaum and Nazareth. Have we not, then, some ground for concluding that, in all our reasonable yearnings of unsatisfied inquiry, in all our aspirings of our self-culture, it is possible for him to be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities"? The practical lesson is obvious. If Jesus thus laid aside his divine and perfect knowledge. that he might learn as a man, and that he might feel for man, is it fitting that we should be found so bound up in the fond conceit of our own poor and puny wisdom, as to be unable to enter into the difficulties and discern the perplexities of our youthful charge? Is it right that their crude notions should awaken our mirth and provoke our ridicule? Is it proper for us to forget that, when we were children, we understood as children? Is it necessary that, having "put away childish things" ourselves, we should lose all remembrance of them, so as to have no manner of fellow-feeling for those who are still under their influence? Far seemlier would it be to evoke the spirit of the past, to question it as to our by-gone experiences, to remember the days of our greater ignorance, and to go forth tendering to the young ones around us the aid we ourselves once enjoyed or once desired. "The only way of influencing other minds," says a modern writer, "is to put ourselves in sympathy with them. We must use means for this: we must in some degree feel with them, as well as for them. We must fall into the same key, but only to utter emotion and intelligence of a higher order." Like the parent-bird, we must stoop from our airy flights, but only that we may gently rise again, and gradually draw upward those that, with weak and untried pinions, are putting forth their feeble efforts to soar with us to the skies. Henceforth let it be ours to display increased consideration for "them that have need of milk, and not of strong meat." II. The Messiah was predicted as an experimental teacher: "Thou hast heard me," he says; and "I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee" (Ps. xxii. 21, 22): "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart: I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation" (Ps. xl. 8-10). In both these passages the Saviour is represented as the declarer of God's name, the proclaimer of his attributes. And in each prophecy is furnished an appropriate proof that he "spoke that he knew, and testified that he had seen." He did not come as a mere messenger, ignorant as to the truthfulness of his errand, and unconcerned as to its nature. He knew its certainty; for he had tested it. He knew its preciousness; for he esteemed it his delight. Let us advert for a moment or two to each of these thoughts. His own human experience had attested the power and "righteousness," the "faithfulness" and "salvation," the "lovingkindness" and "truth" of his heavenly Father. His cry of gratitude, "Thou hast heard me," impelled him to add the resolution, "I will declare thy name." He could exhort men to pray, and not faint; for he poured out his supplications all night long on the bleak mountain's side. He could testify that God will avenge his own elect THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MAGAZINE. which cry unto him; for him the Father always beard. He could bear witness that none should pluck his sheep out of the Father's hand; for he knew how his own soul had been delivered "from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the unicorns." He could bring life and immortality to light, because God had shown him the path of life. He could make known to a dying world the glorious doctrine of the resurrection, because God left not his soul in hell, nor suffered him to see corruption. Moreover, what he so well knew, he made his joy and rejoicing. If he "preached righteousness," it was because God's law was "within his heart"; and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak frequently and freely. Where the thoughts take pleasure in dwelling on a good thing, the lips will not be "refrained" from setting forth its worth. Christ could say, "I delight to do thy will, O God"; and he proved it by doing that will heartily. When he was called on to suffer, he did it willingly; and, when he was commissioned to teach, he did it faithfully and energetically. His whole soul was in his work. Reader, is it so with you? have you any heartfelt pleasure in the inculcation of religious truth? When God says to you, Go train up this child in the way wherein he should walk, can you "delight" to do the will of God in that respect? do you never refrain your lips? do you "hide" his righteousness and "conceal" his loving-kindness? Perhaps you are conscious that sacred words often freeze as you utter them; that they come forth like wreaths of sleepy mist" instead of living "forms of light." Is there not a cause? Search, and see. Is it not because your own personal appropriation of the truth has relaxed the vigour of its grasp? Is it not because you are found speaking rather of what you ought to believe than of that which you actually do believe? of that concerning which you entertain clear and correct, but clay-cold notions, rather than that on which you repose a living and a lively faith? In fine, is it not because you have been so little at the throne of grace as to have had no opportunity of uttering that joyous and animating exclamation, "Thou hast heard me"-an exclamation which would constrain you to tell what God had done for your own soul? Henceforth may it be yours more and more to "taste and see that the Lord is good." never III. The Messiah was predicted as a tender but persevering teacher: "He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth" (Isa. xlii. 2-4). This passage abounds in rich materials for thought. It points us, first, to the He Saviour's noiseless, unostentatious career. did not, like the Pharisees, sound a trumpet before him; but charged those whom he healed that they should not blaze the matter abroad. What he did was not done for display: it was done for the glory of God and for the good of souls. Accordingly, we find none were too mean or abject to come under his notice. Hence, the second thought presented to us in the above prophecy is the Saviour's tender compassion for the feeble and the fallen. Two classes of character are pointed It is an "A bruised reed out under two different images : shall he not break." The figure is redolent of beauty and of significance. The "reed" is at best but a feeble plant "shaken by the wind." Here, however, mention is made of a "bruised" reed. It is represented as not only feeble, but injured; not only as being fragile, but as having been fractured. Yet is it a plant, a living plant still. What a truthful emblem of those whose weak faith has been rendered even weaker by the fierce assaults of temptation! Pitiable as is their case, and hopeless as man might regard it, the divine Teacher recognizes in them a principle of vitality which he nurtures and cherishes. "Though he has an arm that removeth the mountains,' yet he does not break the bruised reed"*; nay, far from breaking it, he puts forth his hand and binds "The smoking it up; far from slighting a feeble faith, he pours forth his grace to strengthen it. flax shall he not quench." Here is an allusion to the wick of a lamp which is dying out. Once it yielded a steady and shining light: but it burned lower and lower; then it glimmered less and less; and now it is all but extinct. Not only has it become useless, but actually offensive. This is a forcible picture of those in whose hearts the flame of love and piety once shone brightly, but in whom it has gradually decreased till it has reached its lowest point. Such a state is unprofitable; it yields no satisfaction to the conscience, works no good to men, and brings no glory to God. Nay, it is positively a dangerous soil. abomination to the Lord, a grief to the upright in heart, and a cause of triumph to the enemies of religion. Well might the smoking flax be quenched in righteous indignation. Yet, no. Such would He sees the possibibe the manner of man; but not such is the dealing of our heavenly Guide. lity of rekindling the flame; and, as he fans the dying spark, he feeds it with the oil of his grace. We turn now to the third idea involved in this prediction-namely, the Saviour's perseverance in his work: "He shall not fail nor be discouraged." There is much beauty in this which lies hid from the ordinary reader of our common version. The full force of the original furnishes us with a fine contrast to what had just preceded. The precise thought is this: He shall not fail like the smoking flax, he shall not be dejected like the bruised reed. However weak his people, he was to prove himself the mighty God. "Mild and gentle as he would be towards the broken-hearted and desponding, no power should depress his spiThere is a contrast, too, rit, impede his progress, obscure his glory, or thwart his purpose.' with his unostentatiousness. The meek and retiring are generally the soonest dismayed and daunted. Not so with the Messiah. gentleness he was to add firmness: with his quietness he was to unite resolution. Though he would not cause his voice to be heard in the street, yet would he not fail to be discouraged. Much there was to dishearten him: he was uttering truths that were distasteful to the carnal minds of men: rude opposition and open scorn he had to encounter. To his His human nature needed to be "upheld" (Isa. xlii. 1); but this was effectually done. He failed not in the accomplishment of the work; nor did he fail in the result of it. For • Wylie's "Bible Scenes." R 2 the prediction tells us (fourthly) of the Saviour's | patience and perseverance as eventually prevailing. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth." "He shall bring forth judgment unto truth"; or, as Matthew's quotation more clearly expresses it, "He shall send forth judgment unto victory." His gospel shall be victorious, and shall be established as a truth. Would we with our humble efforts "aid the triumphs of our King," we must regulate those efforts according to the pattern he bas set us. It may be that some under our care are weak as "bruised reeds"; or it may be that their religious impressions are dying away, and that the early promise of piety has given place to the "smoking flax" of worldliness and formalism. Then are we in danger of desponding, of hanging our harps on the willows, and folding our arms in listless hopelessness. But this may not be. If we yield to such a spirit, we shall ourselves become crushed like the torn reed; and we shall ourselves cease to shine as lights in the world. Again we say this may not be. We must stir ourselves up to be as our Master was. We must persevere, and persevere with patience. We must go on with our work resolutely and unflinchingly; but we must go to the work with yet increasing tenderness. The bruised reed would be broken by rough handling; and the smoking flax would be quenched by the breath of coldness. Henceforth be it ours to "comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, and be patient toward all men." 66 IV. The Messiah was predicted as an apparently unsuccessful, but not unrewarded teacher: "Then I said I have laboured in vain; I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now, saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength (Isa. xlix. 4, 5). Although finally the Messiah was to bring forth judgment unto victory, yet it was far otherwise as it regarded the first hearers of his message. "He came to his own; and his own received him not." In spite of their rejection, he went on labouring in their behalf. He did indeed spend his strength." His day's were passed in toil, and his nights in prayer. His journeys were long and wearisome. To and fro he went, preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom. Fatigue marred his visage, and weariness bowed down his frame. At little more than thirty years of age he was taken for nearly fifty. And what reward cheered him amid his exertions? Little or comparatively none. We know, indeed, that as many as five hundred of his disciples met together to see their risen Lord (1 Cor. xv. 6); and perhaps there were very many more, who could not reach the distant mountain in Galilee, which bad been selected as the meeting-place. At first sight we might deem this great success for only three years' preaching. But, on the other hand, what were these five hundred or more who be lieved, when compared with the mass of the people who rejected Christ? What were these, to satisfy the longing soul of the Redeemer? We wonder not that he should exclaim, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought." But yet he failed not, nor was discouraged. If by man he was treated with scorn, he enjoyed his heavenly Father's smile. If man rejected him, God was prepared to reward him. Man misjudged him, pronouncing him an impostor and a maniac; but he could say, "My judgment is with the Lord." Man turned a deaf ear to him; but his record was on high: "My work is with my God." Israel, indeed, was "not gathered"; yet was the Messiah confident that he should be "glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and God would be his strength." Nor was his confidence put to shame. His gospel was destined to spread beyond the limits of the favoured land: all nations were to hear the joyful sound; and when, at last, before the throne of God shall be assembled the entire ransomed church-when the multitude, whom no man can number, shall have been fully gathered out of every kingdom and nation and tribe and people, and shall be presented faultless before the presence of the Father's glory-then shall the Saviour" see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." Can we sympathize in these utterances of the "Teacher sent from God"? How are we estimating the success of our work?-by what has been done, or by what has remained undone? Perhaps one soul has been given us for our hire. We do well to rejoice in that. "Ascribe the honour to thy Lord; but be thou jealous of that honour, Nor think it mean and worthless because thou mayst not wear it for thyself"*. 66 To have been made instrumental in saving a soul from death is a blessing of unspeakable magnitude. The depths of perdition must be fathomed, the heights of heavenly joy must be scaled, and the duration of eternity itself must be computed, before we can know the value of a soul immortal." But, if one such soul be saved, we ask "Where are the nine?" If such be the untold worth of one soul converted, shall we lose sight of the incalculable ruin of the many souls lost? If we have known anything of success, have we not been much more conversant with failure? Is there not, then, cause for us to exclaim, "Surely I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain"? Thus, and thus alone, let us seek to judge our labour; but, at the same time, with our Lord." Let our own estimate be formed, let us confidently believe that "our judgment is not so much from the actual amount of good effected, as from its comparison with the actual amount of what yet remains to be done. And vet, on the other hand, let us rest assured that God will judge our work by its sincerity, its fidelity, and its perseverance, rather than by its results. Though souls be "not gathered," yet, if we are found faithful servants, having performed our allotted duties heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men, then of the Lord Christ we shall receive the reward of the inheritance. Only let us be duly cautious in appropriating to ourselves this precious consolation. Let us remember that, for the blame to lie at our door; and in that case, if souls are not gathered to Christ, it is possible we cannot rejoice to know that our "judgment is * Tupper's "Proverbial Philosophy." |