EXPECTATION OF THE FIRST COMING OF CHRIST. 



85 



Livingstone, General Gordon, Dr. Barnardo, Agnes Weston 

 were Christ's subjects, and we know they are only some out- 

 standing names in an immense list of people who have become 

 the acknowledged benefactors of the human race, chiefly because 

 they were trying to please Christ. 



I was four years in Perth before the war, and noticed that 

 every class of poor and afflicted people were being very unosten- 

 tatiously looked after by Christ's subjects for Christ's sake ; 

 and what was true there, is more or less true of every town 

 where our language is spoken, and of many towns besides. Thus, 

 in a very practical sense, Christ is King, and the very sort of 

 King whose coming was foretold. King of mercy, truth and 

 justice. Prince of Peace. Protector of the poor. A Shepherd, 

 defending and feeding His flock with the food most wholesome 

 for them. 



Permit me a quotation, not because the following are the 

 the words of the King-maker Napoleon, or at least attributed to 

 him, but because the point has never been put better. 



" Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very 

 day millions would die for Him. Christ alone has succeeded 

 in so raising the mind of man towards the unseen that it becomes 

 insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm 

 of 1800 years Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all 

 others difficult to satisfy. . . . He asks for the human 

 heart, He will have it entirely to Himself, He demands it un- 

 conditionally, and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonder- 

 ful. In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its 

 powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the Empire of 

 Christ." 



The Jews argue that Jesus of Nazareth was not a king in 

 any sense resembling the common acceptation of the term. 

 Before Christ's day there had been great kings and leaders like 

 Solomon, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander and Judas 

 Maccabees. None had permanently benefited the human 

 race, or left any enduring empire behind. It is hard to see why 

 Christ should be reckoned less of a king then these, seeing that 

 He has permanently benefited the race, and created an ever 

 widening kingdom. 



It was foretold that Messiah would be a perfect Example. 

 Jer. xxiii, 5 and 6 : " I will raise unto David a righteous Branch 

 . . . and this is His name whereby He shall be called, The 

 Lord our Righteousness." Isaiah has five passages describing 



