of God with man, a union in which he himself is
the first to rejoice, but which all may share along with him; and
hence his person counts for more in his religion than that of any
other religious founder in his, and necessarily becomes an object of
faith to all who enter the communion. The doctrine does not produce
its specific effect apart from the person of Jesus. Because in him
alone they know the truth which brings them peace, his followers
regard him, in a way which has no parallel in any other religion, as
their Saviour.

But this name is given to him by his followers, as it is claimed by
himself, for another reason also. Jesus was more than a teacher. He
felt a power to be present in him which was able to supply all needs
and to comfort all sorrows; he did not shrink from summoning all who
were weary and heavy laden to come to him, nor from undertaking to
give them rest. Keenly alive to the sufferings of others, and able to
perceive even those sufferings of which they were not themselves
conscious, he felt it to be his mission to deal with the sadder side
of human life; he was a physician sent to the sick, a shepherd
seeking the lost sheep. It was among the poor and the sick, and even
among the outcasts of society, in whom the sense of need was
strongest, that he felt himself most at home and most able to fulfil
his calling. Thus the motive of compassion enters strongly into all
he said and did: but the compassion is not hopeless in this case as
in the similar case of Gautama (see chapter xx.), nor is the cure
recommended for the ills of humanity that of withdrawal from mankind
or of forgetfulness. Here there is a belief in God. The compassion
from which the religion flows is not as in the case of Gautama, that
of a preacher who has ceased to trust in any heavenly power; it is
announced as existing first of all in the heart of God Himself. God
can do all things, and in his yearning pity for his children has sent
his representative to assure them of his sympathy and to comfort them
in their sorrows. With Jesus therefore no evil is so great as not to
admit of a positive cure; he feels the remedy of all human ills to be
present in his own heart, and so he appears as the Messiah, not such
a Messiah as his countrymen looked for, but as the true Messiah, in
whom all human wants are met, and all human hopes fulfilled. The cure
which he announces for all ills consists in devotion to the will of
the Father in heaven. To