"You would think I was making game of you if I were to say that the Queen's eldest son was going to leave his home, to put aside his clothing and every sign of his rank, and to come here to Millborough, without a single servant or a place to dwell in that he could call his own. But if an earthly prince really did this, and went in and out among the working folk, feeling for them, doing them good, spending nothing on himself, but knowing hunger and weariness, temptation and sorrow—not because he had any need to do it, but out of deep love and pity to the miserable and the sinful, and because he had power given him to do for them what no one else could—what should we think of one like this?"
There was a sort of stir amongst the people in the Mission Room, and a murmur, but no distinct words.
"I fancy you say to yourselves, 'A likely story that! No fear of it coming true!' Well, perhaps not. But surely what I have just read to you was far more unlikely. And yet it is true that the Son of God, who was equal with God, put aside all His glory, and came as man among men. Not as a king, but as a servant, a person, as you would say, 'of no account' in the world. He made Himself of no reputation.
"He humbled Himself to be man. Further still, to be as a servant, a man of low estate, and no great name. He humbled Himself even to die, and further still, to die as the meanest slave might be put to death—on the cross. And for what?
"Because He saw a world lying in wickedness, with none to save. He saw that all had sinned and come short of the glory of God. He knew that no mere man could save himself, much less his fellow man. And so the Son of God came in man's form, took man's nature, and He who knew no sin became sin for us, and suffered in our stead.
"'God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.'
"Perhaps some of you are saying to yourselves, 'I can't believe this tale of yours; it is not easy to take it in.'
"I agree with you, dear friends. It is not easy to believe such love possible, and many of you have not taken it in. If this blessed message had reached every heart, I should not need to keep repeating it. Instead of that our keynote to-night would be one of praise, and every heart and voice would be in tune. There would be no keeping you quiet.
"But I know that as you look round in the world, you see so much that makes it hard to believe the message; and beside this, there are many who take Christ's name, but reflect little of their Master's image. All around people are pushing and jostling for the best places and the largest share of what the world calls its good things, with no thought of God or of their own souls.
"Do we see the strong stand back to give the weak a better chance, or the swift give way for those who move slowly in the race of life? Do we find the rich cry out, 'Enough!' And stay the flow of gold from going into their money-bags? Is the earthly brother or friend willing to bear the shame or punishment in order to let the guilty go free?