re dwarfed to insignificance by this incomparable courage of Christ.

More obvious still is the boundless and tender sympathy of this ideal Man.
He declared in his first address that he had come "to preach good tidings
to the poor: ... to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised"; and as we
follow in his footsteps we see how his tender heart yearned over all who
suffered and were distressed; he dried the tears of sorrow; he showed his
pity for the outcast and the impure; he received sinners and was
entertained by publicans; he praised Samaritans and comforted the dying
thief. This world has no other picture of such perfect compassion,
tenderness, and love; and these are essential to true manhood.

More mysterious, but none the less real, was his constant faith. His life
was lived in continual fellowship with God. In his first recorded saying
he declared, "I must be in my Father's house," and at the last he breathed
out his spirit on the cross with the words, "Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit." All the intervening days of his life and ministry were
filled with ceaseless prayer. On at least seven other occasions it is
stated that he was praying: at his baptism, ch. 3:21; after healing the
leper, ch. 5:16; before choosing his disciples, ch. 6:12; before Peter's
great confession, ch. 9:18; at his transfiguration, ch. 9:29; before
teaching his disciples to pray, ch. 11:1; in the first agonies of
crucifixion, ch. 23:34. So, too, he taught his disciples to pray with
importunity, ch. 11:5-10, with perseverance, ch. 18:1-7, and with
penitence, ch. 18:9-14. Such trust in God, such sympathy, such bravery,
are surely prominent among the many elements which are blended in this
impressive portrayal of the ideal Man.

However, Luke has written a version of the gospel and therefore has
produced much more than a picture of human perfection or the story of an
ideal life. The gospel is the "good news" of salvation secured for us by
our Lord; and in the narrative of Luke we behold One who was not only
supreme in his manhood but was also the Saviour of the world. It was in
accomplishing this redeeming work that he revealed such courage and so
steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. The salvation he secured is
inseparable from the cross.

It was a salvation provided for all, even as his sympathy knew no bounds
but was extended to the last and the lowest o