(2) But if He is only a lawgiver, or a teacher of Divine truth, or a finger-board to direct us in the way of righteousness, He is insufficient for our needs. The man who teaches me the truth is not himself the truth. And if Jesus is only a teacher of the way of salvation, He is not Himself salvation. It is true that man is sadly and fearfully ignorant both of himself and of the infinite God to whom he must give account for the deeds done in the body; and it is also true that by coming to Christ he can be relieved of this ignorance. But if Jesus is only a pedagogue or
1 C. Kingsloy.
ST. MATTHEW i. 21 9
schoolmaster, He does not touch the deepest necessities of man's condition. Such a view of Him may improve a man's morals, and elevate him somewhat in other respects, but it can never save him from the power and consequences of sin. Jesus is Himself the salvation which He taught, and which He commissioned His disciples to preach. He is the wisdom, the grace, the mercy, and the power that save men from their sins.
Tf As Laurence Oliphant lay dying, the dear and sacred name of Jesus was ever on his tongue. There had been times in his life when he had spoken it with an accent of perhaps less rever- ence than was congenial to listeners probably less devout than he, but holding a more absolute view of our Lord's position and work — as there had been times when he had called himself not a Christian, in the ordinary meaning of the word. But no one could doubt now of his entire and loving reception of that name as his own highest hope as well as that of all the world. A day or two before his death he called his faithful nurse early in the morning, probably in that rising of the energies which comes with the brightness of the day, and told her that he was " un- speakably happy." "Christ has touched me. He has held me in His arms. I am changed — He has changed me. Never again can I be the same, for His power has cleansed me ; I am a new man." " Then he looked at me yearningly," she adds, " and said, 1 Do you understand ? ' " l
Tf Many years ago there was a great famine of water in a town in the south of France. It was a hot summer, no rain fell for months, and as the people always suffered from the want of water, this dry, hot season greatly increased their sufferings, and many of them died. A few miles away from the town was a range of hills ; in the hills were some beautiful springs of water, but the labour and expense of bringing the water from the springs to the town was so great that very little of it could be brought. In this town there lived a young man whom we shall call Jean. He was industrious and good, and was shortly to be married to a beautiful young woman, whom he dearly loved. But all at once the marriage was put off, the young man began to go about in old clothes, took very little to eat, gave up his pleasant home and went to live in a garret, and, in short, became a thorough miser. He went to bed in the dark to save candle, begged other people's cast-off clothing, and very soon became changed from a blithe and happy young man into a wretched-looking old one. Nobody loved him now. His charming bride forgot him, and married
1 M. 0. W. Oliphant, Memoir of the Life of Laurence Oliphant, 403.
io THE NAME OF JESUS
another man ; the children called him names in the streets, and everybody shunned his house. After many years of wretched- ness he died. When his relatives went to search his room they found him almost wasted to a skeleton, and all his furniture sold, while the old man's body was lying upon a heap of straw. Under his head they found a will, and what do you think was in it ? This : that in that dreadful summer, forty years ago, Jean had been so saddened by the dreadful suffering of the people — especially of the children — for want of water, that he had given up his young bride, his pleasant home, his happy prospects, and had devoted himself day and night all through the weary years to working and saving, so that the people might have the beautiful water brought to them from the distant springs in the hillside. I )h, how everybody blessed that old man ! A reservoir was made in the hills, pipes were laid under the ground, and the water was brought into the town so freely that its inhabitants never thirsted any more. The old man did not create the water, neither did he make the people thirst, he simply brought the living water and the dying people together — and he sacrificed himself in doing it. Now that is just how Jesus saves men. He did not make God love them — God always loved them. He did not create God's love or mercy — those great springs of blessing were and always are in the great heart of God. He did not make men sinful and sad so that they needed these things ; but He brought these springs of love and blessing down to the men that were dying for the need of them. He is the channel through which God's love comes to us. From God, but through Christ, we receive all the blessings of salvation. Jesus brought all these good things to us, and sacrificed Himself in doing so.1