othing of any
inherent virtue, or power, which could proceed from him to save and
help. It was never suggested for a moment that he could act as
mediator between God and men, though he might be an intercessor. And
as for John the Baptist, though he deeply stirred the religious
convictions of his countrymen, he could only point to One who came
after him, and say: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world." But within six months after the commencement of his
ministry, Jesus says; "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee"; "The Son of
Man hath authority on earth to forgive sins"; "Daughter, thy sins,
which are many, are forgiven thee: go in peace"; and presently: "This
is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood, shed for many, for the
remission of sins", and again: "The Son of Man came to give his life a
ransom for many." Tell me of any, either in the story of Elijah or of
John the Baptist, to compare with these words, spoken by the lowest and
humblest being that ever trod time's sands? Does that not indicate
that He stood in a relationship to God and man which has never been
realized by another?

Besides, neither of them introduced a new type of living. Their own
method of life seemed to indicate that there was sin in the body, or
sin in matter; and that the only way of holiness was by an austerity
that lived apart in the deserts, dreading and avoiding the presence of
men. That was a type of holiness which every great religious teacher
has followed; for you remember that Buddha used to say that all the
present is an illusion and a dream, while the realities await us
beyond. On the other hand, Jesus taught that the Redeemer was also the
Creator; that there was nothing common or unclean in man's original
constitution; that sin consisted not in certain actions, functions, or
duties--but in man's heart, and will, and choice; and that if a man
were only right there, all his nature and circumstances would become
illumined and transfigured by the indwelling Spirit. Let it never be
forgotten that Christ taught that God is not going to cancel the nature
which He Himself has bestowed in all its human and innocent out-goings,
but only to eliminate the self-principle which has cursed it--as you
would wish to take small-pox from the body of the little child, or the
taint out of the rotting flesh of the leper.

O Christ, Thou standest pre-eminent in thy unparalleled glory! Let
Elijah and John the Baptist withd