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THE TENDERNESS OF CHRISTBY REV. ANTHONY W. THOROLD D.D.PREFACEAN obvious snare, as much for those whoattempt to write devotional books as forthose who profess to use them, is unreaHty.There are two sorts of unreahty. There isthat which fashions ideals and imposes sacri-fices, with no sort of purpose either of reachingafter the one or consenting to the other. Thissort, it may be observed, has at least this meritabout it : that it is seen through in a moment.The other, commoner of course, since readersare always more plentiful than writers, is thehabit of indulging in a facile emotion aboutGod and heavenly things, which, if not promptlyturned into a motive for some devout activityor for the deepening and maturing of personalreligion, may soon become the most speciousand perilous of all kinds of self-deceit.It has been said of Bishop Wilson that '' henever penned a sentence that savoured of viii PREFACEunrcalit}'." W'lio will tell us his seci'ct, orshow us how to earn that pi'aisc ?The truth of truths is that God is love, andthat God in Christ is the expression of it,"/// youth I looked to these very skiesAnd, probing their immensifics, / found God there, His visible power.Yet felt in my heart amid all its senseOf the power an equal evidenceThat His Love there, too, was the nobler dower"Sure!}' Robert Browning would say to us,if we could get an answer from him, that adevotional book, if it is to live and move foran hour, must in a very real sense, though in afigure, be written on the knees. Of course hewould bargain that there should be a certainliterary quality about it (if it is to be had) —thought, even if brawny and abruptly expressed,some knowledge of human and earthly thingsincidentally and judiciously interposed, alwaysconduct at the end, and action out of conduct.Prebendary Unctuousness sliould bea\oided: and ''nothingF.yton.
 
can ever make it safe for us to set ourselves onpinnacles." The one secret to hold fast is man-liness. There should be experience, which neednot be egoistic because it is fresh and warm withlife; for all souls are cast in much the same mould,PREFACE ixand, though the lessons of an individual life mustnot be pressed as evidence, who shall forbid ouraccepting it as such, if we choose ? Beside this,further, there may well be a Divine preparednessfor so hallowed a task in that varied, incessant,complete, even awful, life-discipline, whicheducates as only suffering and the Divine Lovecan educate, for passing on the lighted torchof the Gospel to the many dark places of humanpain. There should also be a profound desire,rooted in the conviction of a very solemn duty,to share with trembling and suffering spirits,who must not lightly be left to tremble andsuffer, the fruition of that ineffable and inex-haustible love, which so infinitely transcends inits exquisite and holy tenderness all that lipscan utter or thought conceive, which is everwaiting, hoping, offering itself to every humansoul that needs it — not easily baffled or wearied,or sent disappointed awa}-," A book, like a person, has its fortunes withone ; is lucky or unlucky in the precise momentof its falling in our way ; and often by somehappy incident counts with us for somethingmore than its independent value."Mr. Pater's agreeable aphorism, translatedX PREFACEinto a higher plane ui tliought and Hfc, en-courages the writer to hope tliat by some suchhappy accident (and accident is but the result of an unrecognised law) God's good Providence,which is the loftiest region of so-called acci-dent, may occasionally be pleased to bring thishumble volume under the notice of any whoare honestly seeking after Him, but have notyet found Him as their Father in Christ. Of all happy services, which never can be acknow-ledged, much less requited, on this side of thegrave, but which will assuredly be recognisedand requited in the land of old friendshipsrenewed and new friendships born, and where
 
nothing will be forgotten that has broughtChrist nearer, or made the Divine will to seemmore beautiful and good, among the happiest,often also the most surprising, may be foundto be help unconsciously given through an in-significant but sincere book to a troubled soulwandering through twilight hours in somevalley of Baca, there to find a well filled withliving water, and, perhaps for the first time^to know and believe the love of God.A. WINTOM.Farnham Castle,Easter, 1894.CONTENTSi. ITS HISTORY .II. ITS PURPOSE .III. ITS METHODS .IV. ITS CLAIMSV. ITS BLESSEDNESSVI. ITS RESULTS .VII. IN DEATHVIII. IN JUDGMENTIX. IN THE LIFE TO COMEI'AGEI275381105129155183205 /oni^ to enjoy 7 hcc in my inmost soul, butI cannot lay hold of Thee."
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