October 12

"When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone."—John 11. 15.

It is a true remark, that men who have destroyed in intention every other part of the temple of truth, have paused when they came to the character of Christ, and turning aside, have desisted for a while from the work of demolition to gaze and bow before it, and have not merely left it standing as a column too majestic, or an altar too holy, for human sacrilege to assail, but have even inscribed their names on its base, and have been heard to burst forth in admiring exclamations, approaching to love. We have an incident in his life, here briefly noticed, which may afford us some profitable meditation. Observe

OUR SAVIOUR'S KNOWLEDGE OF MANKIND. "He perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king." As God he possessed a perfect and universal knowledge of the human character in all its depths of deceit and iniquity, John 2:25. "We know," says Henry, "what is done by men; but Christ knows what is in them." Our intercourse with the world is calculated to render us more cautious and less confiding, but he knew all from the beginning.

OUR SAVIOUR'S FREEDOM FROM AMBITION. When he perceived that the people would honor him and make him a king, what was the course he pursued? Such was his estimate of human applause, such was his freedom from worldly ambition, "that he departed again into a mountain himself alone." Those who wished to force this honor upon our Lord were misguided by a blind zeal; they betrayed total ignorance of the cause of his mission into the world, and the nature of the kingdom he came to establish. Their views were secular, and perhaps selfish. He sought not honor from men.

OUR SAVIOUR'S LOVE OF SOLITUDE. "He departed again into a mountain himself alone." How often we read of his being alone, sometimes spending a whole night in prayer to his Father, after a day of labor and toil! Let us refer to some benefits arising from solitude. It enables us to form correct views of things. If you want to see the vanity of the world, the vileness of sin, the preciousness of Christ, the value of religion, and the realities of eternity in their proper light, look at them not in a crowd, but in your closet, through the shaded arch of solitude. It familiarizes the soul with God and divine things, elevates the mind above the world, prepares for fresh trials and sorrows, and by the Divine blessing meetens us for the heavenly inheritance. Let us seek to be useful, respected, and beloved, rather than applauded and extolled. In a certain sense, the good opinion of men is desirable, for where respect ceases usefulness ends; but let us desire goodness rather than greatness.

"We'd sing the characters he hears, And all the forms of love he wears, Exalted on his throne; In loftiest songs of sweetest praise, We would, to everlasting days, Make all his glories known."