September 26

Perhaps you have a venerable mother, and are required to rock the cradle of her age who rocked the cradle of your infancy. Perhaps you are a parent, and a rising family is dependent on your care, instructed by your wisdom, edified by your example. We are all placed in circumstances where we may prove a blessing, and this is our only opportunity. We may glorify God in heaven, but not in the same way as now, by submission, patience, and self-denial. This is an advantage we have above the glorified. They cannot exercise candor, and forgive injuries, and relieve distress, and save souls. Life is ours as well as death. Therefore all the days of our appointed time let us wait, till our change comes.

"And he brought him to Jesus." John 1:42.

THESE are few words, but they are very instructive and improving. We may ask three questions.

To whom was he brought? "He brought him to Jesus." To whom should he have been brought but unto him? He had the words of eternal life. In vain would he have been brought to the princes of the world; to the philosophers of antiquity; to the moralists of the age; to the scribes and Pharisees; to Moses; to the law. Moses wrote of him; and the law was a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ, that they might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the deeds of the law. To him, says Isaiah, shall men come. To him, said the dying Jacob, shall the gathering of the people be. There alone they can find the wisdom they need, the pardon they need, the peace they need, the strength they need. In him they are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Neither is there salvation in any other.

Who was brought? It was Simon Peter. "He brought him to Jesus." He is a character frequently and largely noticed in the sacred history. For, in consequence of this introduction, he became not only a disciple of Jesus, but a preacher of the gospel, and an apostle; and from the low occupation of a fisherman, he was made a fisher of men; and by one cast of his net he gained three thousand souls. Let us endeavor to bring men to the Saviour, remembering that we know not what he will do, not only in them, but for them and by them. While he saves them, he may also employ and dignify them. However unlikely at present, they appear, we may by and by observe them, with joyful surprise and adoring gratitude, not only as Christians, but as ministers in his church, and extensively serving their generation according to the will of God. Whatever condition they may fill, or office they may discharge, they will be, must be useful. Like their father Abraham, they will be not only blessed, but blessings. In converting one, we do good to many. Who ever went to heaven alone?

We may also ask, Who brought him? It was Andrew. "He brought him to Jesus." Andrew had been for some little time with Jesus himself, and he immediately evinces the influence of the intercourse on his own mind by his concern to bring others to the same Saviour. And there is nothing peculiar in this. They who have seen his glory will be sure to proclaim his worth. They that have tasted that the Lord is gracious themselves, will be always constrained to invite others. "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." And they always speak of him best who speak from experience.

Andrew was not only acquainted with Jesus, but he was also related to Peter. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, "We have found the Messias. The expression intimates that he also prevailed upon others, but that he began with him. His finding him first might have been accidental; but it is much more probable that it was by design. He thought, and he thought justly, that his own brother had, though not an exclusive, yet a prior claim to his attention. And therefore while many lead their friends and relations, their own flesh and blood, into the haunts of dissipation, the counsel of the ungodly, the way of sinners, the seat of the scornful, and so bring them to the devil, Andrew instantly performed towards Simon, his own brother, a brother's part. And he brought him to Jesus.

Let us not forget this. We are to disregard none of our fellow-creatures, but surely those who are connected with us by the ties of friendship and of nature have the first right to our solicitude. How is it possible for us to think of them and not exclaim, with Esther, in the dread of a more tremendous perdition, "How can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?" In endeavoring to do good to these, we have also greater opportunities and advantages, by reason of our influence and easiness of access. Let then grace sanctify and engage in her service all the force and endearment of natural affection. Let the pious sister pray for, and plead with an irreligious brother. Let the godly wife strive to save her own husband. Let the husband allure to accompany him the desire of his eyes. And Oh, let parents awaken and blend their anxieties and efforts to bring to Jesus their children. When Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, all the wounded were to obtain cure by looking. But children were bitten, as well as men and women. Had we been there, we should have seen many a father leading along his little daughter to a place of vision; and many a mother pressing near with her infant son in her arm, and pointing his eyes to catch the shining remedy. So has the Son of man been lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The young need him, and the sooner they are brought to him the better. The sooner will they be prevented from injuring society; the sooner will they enter on a course of usefulness, during which they will scatter a thousand blessings. If we do good to an old man, it is all-important to himself; but then it goes off with him. Whereas the good communicated to a child is not only valuable personally but relatively. It descends from him, and is spread by him as he rises up and multiplies in life; and the result of the whole cannot be estimated.