* H. Batchelor, The Incarnation of God, 60.
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impossible to every one besides than the might that called worlds into being, was the last evidence that could be given that God is God — the source of all good, the strength of all His creatures, in whom there ever remains capacity to repair all moral disaster, love enough to overcome all hatred in His creatures, an all-enduring, untemptable gentleness which will not be provoked, will not retaliate, will not give up hoping and loving.
^ He who hath seen Christ, hath seen the Father — the Father, in whose Name He worked, whose word He spake. That last and uttermost pledge of unfaltering love, the death on the Cross, was no plan, no thought of His own. It was the Father that prompted it, the Father, without whom He could do nothing : it was the Father who moved Him to the task : this commandment He had received of the Father, to lay down His life for the sheep. That tender, gracious, devoted, patient, forgiving gentleness, that warm, overflowing sympathy, that invincible passion of sacrificial love, that sweet human-hearted compassion, that lovely persuasiveness, which flows down to us from the Cross of Jesus — all this, then, is not only a revelation of the motives, and spirit, and affection of God the Son, but more than this, all of it is an outcome, an ex- pression, of the character (if we may be allowed the word) of God the Father. His heart it is which the Passion of Christ makes manifest. His heart which it is given us to understand in the infinite piety, and beauty, and grace, and comfort, and goodness, and meekness of Jesus. These are all the signs, the sacraments, the interpretation, the outflow, of His Father's presence ; for He and the Father are one. The winning tenderness, the wonderful humility, which look at us out of the eyes of the dear Lord, are the clearest and closest knowledge we ever here shall attain of what we mean when we name the Father, of what we shall behold when we see God.^
The Man who was lord of fate,
Born in an ox's stall. Was great because He was much too great
To care about greatness at all.
Ever and only He sought
The will of His Father good; Never of what was high He thought But of what His Father would. ' Canon H. Scott Holland. JOB-PS. XXX. — 20
;o6 GOD'S GENTLENESS
You long to be great; you try;
You feel yourself smaller still: In the name of God let ambition die ;
Let Him make you what He will.
Who does the truth, is one With the living Truth above :
Be God's obedient little son, Let ambition die in love.^
11.
Man's Greatness.
1. What is true greatness ? Scarcely two individuals have the same idea of greatness. All, indeed, will agree that it denotes pre-eminence, but each will have his ow^n preference as to the department in which that is to be manifested. Some associate it with the deeds of the warrior on the battlefield, and others with the triumphs of the orator in the senate ; some identify it with the achievements of the artist, and others with the creations of the poet. Some restrict it to the department of science or philosophy ; while, in the view of others, it is connected mainly with the acquisition of wealth, or the attainment of rank and power. But the greatness which God's gentleness produces is a different thing from any of these. It may co-exist, indeed, with many of them, but it is distinct from them all. It is excellence in that for which especially man was originally created. Now, as we learn from Scripture that man was made in the image of God, it follows that men are great in the proportion in which they are like Him. But wherein consists the greatness of God ? Ask those who are nearest Him and know Him best, and they will reply, while they continue their song, " Holy ! Holy ! Holy ! Lord, God Almighty." The greatness of manhood, therefore, is greatness in holiness. It is a moral thing ; for the truest manliness and the highest godlikeness are convertible terms.
^ True greatness consists in being the best and doing the best that our nature is capable of. It is making the most of ourselves.
* George MacDonald, Poetical Works, ii. 178.
PSALM XVIII. 35 307
This definition will bring- many within the ranks of the great whom the world knows not as such ; and it will cut off many who think themselves great, or are so esteemed among men. One characteristic of true greatness is tliat there is nothing partial or one-sided about it ; it is the full, complete development of all our powers; whereas we, in our false estimate of life, often think- that striking and powerful things are truly great.^
^ Go out into the streets of London to-day, and ask your fellow-men what is their best work. One will tell you he can make the canvas speak witli the likeness of the human form ; another, that he can lend to the dead marble grace and beauty almost lifelike ; auotlier, that he has conquered England's enemies, or enchanted men with sweet music, or amassed a colossal fortune ; but amidst them all comes one voice, the voice of Him at whose feet blindness and palsy, weakness and leprosy, the tossing wave and the blustering wind crouched submissive, and His claim to greatness is, as He has told us Himself, that He " came to seek and save the lost." Will your life and mine be deemed great in God's sight, judged by this standard ? I think many a humble ragged-school teacher in Loudon will tower above poet and statesman when the day comes for the Master to reckon up His jewels.^