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The Approachableness of JesusA Sermon Delivered on Sunday Evening, May 3rd, 1868, by C. H. Spurgeon, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him."—Luke 15:1.
PROVE THE APPROACHABLENESS OF CHRIST,1. You may see it conspicuously in his office. Those offices are
too many for us to take them all tonight. We will just cull a handful;
say three. Our Lord Jesus is said to be the Mediator between God and man.
Now, observe, that the office of mediator implies at once that he should
be approachable. A daysman, as Job says, is one who can put his hand upon
both; but if Jesus will not familiarly put his hand on man, certainly he
is no daysman between God and man. A mediator is not a mediator of one—
he must be akin to both the parties between whom he mediates. If Jesus
Christ shall be a perfect mediator between God and man, he must be able
to come to God so near that God shall call him his fellow, and then he
must approach to man so closely that he shall not be ashamed to call him
brother. This is precisely the case with our Lord. Do think of this, you
who are afraid of Jesus. He is a mediator, and as a mediator you may come
to him. Jacob's ladder reached from earth to heaven, but if he had cut
away half-a-dozen of the bottom rounds, what would have been the good of
it? Who could ascend by it into the hill of the Lord? Jesus Christ is the
great conjunction between earth and heaven, but if he will not touch the
poor mortal man who comes to him, why then, of what service is he to the
sons of men? You do need a mediator between your soul and God; you must
not think of coming to God without a mediator; but you do not want any
mediator between yourselves and Christ. There is a preparation for coming
to God—you must not come to God without a perfect righteousness; but you
may come to Jesus without any preparation, and without any righteousness,
because as mediator he has in himself all the righteousness and fitness
that you require, and is ready to bestow them upon you. You may come
boldly to him even now; he waits to reconcile you unto God by his blood.Another of his offices is that of priest. That word "priest" has
come to smell very badly nowadays; but, for all that, it is a very sweet
word as we find it in Holy Scripture. The word "priest" does not mean a
gaudily-dressed pretender, who stands apart from other worshippers within
the gate, two steps higher than the rest of the people, who professes to
have power to dispense pardon for human sin, and I know not what beside.
The true priest was truly the brother of all the people. There was no man
in the whole camp so brotherly as Aaron. So much were Aaron and the
priests who succeeded him the first points of contact with men, on God's
behalf, that when a leper had become too unclean for anybody else to draw
near to him, the last man who touched him was the priest. The house might
be leprous, but he talked with him, and examined him, the last of
Israel's tribes who might be familiar with the wretched outcast; and if
afterwards that diseased man was cured, the first person who touched him
must be a priest. "Go, show thyself to the priest," was the command, to
every recovering leper; and until the priest had entered into fellowship
with him, and had given him a certificate of health, he could not be
received into the Jewish camp. The priest was the true brother of the
people, chosen from among themselves, at all times to be approached;
living in their midst, in the very centre of the camp, ready to make
intercession for the sinful and the sorrowful. So is it with our Lord. I
read just now, in your hearing, that he can be touched with a feeling of
our infirmities, and that he was tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sin. Surely, you will never doubt that if Jesus perfectly
sustains the office of priest, as he certainly does, he must be the most
approachable of beings, approachable by the poor sinner, who has given
himself up to despair, whom only a sacrifice can save; approachable by
the foul harlot who is put outside the camp, whom only the blood can
cleanse; approachable by the miserable thief who has to suffer the
punishment of his crimes, whom only the great High Priest can absolve. No
other man may care to touch you, O trembling outcast, but Jesus will. You
may be separated from all of human kind, justly and righteously, by your
iniquities, but you are not separated from that great friend of sinners
who at this very time is willing that publicans and sinners should draw
near unto him.As a third office let me mention that the Lord Jesus is our Saviour;
but I see not how he can be a Saviour unless he can be approached by
those who need to be saved. The priest and the Levite passed by on the
other side when the bleeding man lay in the road to Jericho; they were
not saviours, therefore, and could not be, but he was the saviour who
came to know where the man was, stooped over him, and took wine and oil
and poured them into the gaping fissures of his wounds, and lifted him up
with tender love and set him on his own beast, and led him to the inn. He
was the true saviour; and, O sinner, Jesus Christ will come just where
you are, and your wounds of sin, even though they are putrid, shall not
drive him away from you. His love shall overcome the nauseating
offensiveness of your iniquity, for he is able and willing to save such
as you are. I might mention many other of the offices of Christ, but
these three will suffice. Certainly if the Spirit blesses them, you will
be led to see that Jesus is not hard to reach.2. Consider a few of his names and titles. Frequently Jesus is
called the "Lamb." Blessed name! I do not suppose there is any one here
who was ever afraid of a lamb; that little girl yonder, if she saw a
lamb, would not be frightened. Every child seems almost instinctively to
long to put its hand on the head of a lamb. O that you might come and put
your hand on the head of Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world.Unto our childish love, As though by his free ways with us Our earnestness to prove! His sacred name a common word On earth he loves to hear; There is no majesty in him Which love may not come near." Again, you find him called a Shepherd: no one is afraid of a
shepherd. If you were travelling in the East, and you saw Bedouins or
Turkish soldiery in the distance, you might be alarmed; but if some one
said, "Oh, it is only a few shepherds," you would not be afraid of them.
The sheep are not at all timid when near the shepherd. O poor wandering
sheep, you, perhaps, have come to be afraid of Christ, but there is no
reason why you should be, for this heavenly Shepherd says, "I will seek
out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have
been scattered in the cloudy and dark day."Timid, foolish, and wandering though you may be, there is nothing in the
good Shepherd to drive you away from him, but everything to entice you to
come to him. Then, again, he is called our Brother, and one always feels
that he may approach his brother. I have no thought of trouble or
distress which I would hesitate to communicate to my brother here, for he
is so good and kind. I do not think I could be in any trouble which I
should not expect him to do his best to help me out of. I never feel that
there is any distance between him and me, nor do you, I hope, feel so
with regard to your brothers. Even so, is it with this Brother born for
adversity. Believer, how is it that you are sometimes so backward and so
cold towards Jesus? Christ is approachable.His paths are never dim; And he comes nigh to us when we Dare not come nigh to him." You need not think that your troubles are too trifling to bring to him;
he has an open ear for the little daily vexations of life. Brethren, you
can come to the good elder Brother at all hours; and when he blames you
for coming, let me know. He is called, too, a Friend; but he would be a
very unfriendly friend who could not be approached by those he professed
to love. If my friend puts a hedge around himself, and holds himself so
very dignified that I may not speak with him, I would rather be without
his friendship; but if he be a genuine friend, and I stand at his door
knocking, he will say, "Come in, and welcome; what can I do for you?"
Such a friend is Jesus Christ. He is to be met with by all needy, seeking
hearts.3. There is room enough for enlargement here, but I have no time
to say more, therefore I will give you another plea. Recollect his
person. The person of our Lord Jesus Christ proclaims this truth with a
trumpet voice. I say his person, because he is man, born of woman, bone
of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ is God, but if
he were God only, you might well stand at a distance, and shudder at the
splendour of his majesty. But he is man as well as God, and so it comes
to pass, as Dr. Watts puts it—My thoughts no comfort find; The holy, just, and sacred Three Are terrors to my mind. But if Immanuel's face appear, My hope, my joy begins; His name forbids my slavish fear, His grace removes my sins." When I see Christ in the manger where the horned ox fed, or hanging
on a woman's breast, or obedient to his parents, or "a Man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief," a poor man without a place whereon to lay his
head, then I feel that I can freely come to him. Think of him as being
precisely such as you are, in all and everything except sin, and then you
will never have a thought that he will chide you for drawing near, or
drive you away when you venture to supplicate him. But I want especially
to say to you that if you could but see my Master's person as he was when
here on earth, you would have henceforth and for ever the thought that
you might not come to him expelled from your mind. I know not what may
have been his beauties, or what may have been the appearance of his
lovely countenance, but of this I am persuaded, that if he could but come
here tonight, and I could vacate this platform for him whose shoe-latchet
I am not worthy to unloose, you who groan under a sense of unworthiness
would not run away. If Moses stood here with his flaming countenance, you
would shade your eyes, and ask that if you must look upon him he might
wear a veil; but if Christ were here, oh! how you longing seeking ones
would gaze upon him! There would be no drooping of the eyelids, no
covering of the face, no alarm, no anguish—his face is too sweet for
that. And if the Master should walk down the aisles, the most timid of
you would long to touch the hem of his garment and to kiss the floor
whereon he had set his feet. I know you would not fear to look into that
face. And then that voice, how would you be charmed, you poor trembling
seekers, if you heard him say, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;"
you would discover such meekness and lowliness in him, that you would not
think of starting back. Oh! if your eyes could but see him, I feel
persuaded that, graciously drawn by his charms, your hearts would hasten
to him. Well, believer, come to him, come to him; come close to him. Come
with your troubles and tell him all about them. Come with your sins and
ask to have them washed away anew.Not backward, stiff, or cold, As though our Bethlehem could be What Sinai was of old." And you, poor trembling sinner, come to him; come to him now, for he has
said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Oh! if your
eyes were opened to behold him, you would perceive that the glory of his
person lies not in the splendour which repels, but in the majesty which
divinely attracts.4. If this suffice not, let me here remind you of the language
of Christ, He proclaims his approachability in such words as these, "Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest." Ye horny-handed sons of toil, ye smiths and carpenters, ye
ploughers and diggers, come unto me, yea, come all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And again, "If any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink." He invites men to come; he pleads with them
to come; and when they will not come he gently upbraids them with such
words as these, "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." And,
again, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not." It is not "I would not," but "ye would not."
Why, the whole of Scripture in its invitations, may be said to be the
language of Christ, and therein you find loving, pleading words of this
kind, "Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he
will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
All our blessed Lord's sermons were so many loving calls to poor aching
hearts to come and find what they needed in him. I pray that the Holy
Spirit may give an effectual call to many of you tonight. It would glad
the heart of the Redeemer in the skies if you would come to him for
salvation, for you may come, since there is no barrier between you and
the Saviour of men. What is it keeps you back? I repeat it with tears,
what is it keeps you back?The old proverb truly saith that "actions speak louder than words,"
and therefore let us review the general ways and manners of the Redeemer.
You may gather that he is the most approachable of persons from the
actions of his life. He was always very busy, and busy about the most
important of matters, and yet he never shut the door in the face of any
applicant. Her Majesty's cabinet have to discuss most important political
matters just now, but compared with the work which filled the Saviour's
hands and heart, their discussions are mere trifles. Our Master might
well have claimed seclusion, but he did not. He sought it but he found
none, save only at midnight, when he watched and prayed. No sort of
appeal for audience did Jesus frown upon. There were certain mothers in
the land, poor simple-minded women, and they took it into their heads one
day that they would like to have the Master's hands put upon the heads of
their little ones. So they came, bringing their boys and girls, but some
of the disciples said, "The Master must not be disturbed by children; go
ye your ways, and take your children back." But what said he? How
different from his followers! he rebuked their harshness, and said,
"Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom
of heaven." You see he is a child's friend. Dear young people, think of
that. Jesus does not drive you away, but though he is so great and
glorious that all the angels of God worship him, yet he stoops to hear
the prayers and praises of little children. Seek him now, for those who
seek him early shall find him. Let me tell you another story. There was a
woman in the city who was a sinner. You know the meaning, the dark sad
meaning of that title in her case; I need not explain that. Poor soul!
Her sin had caused her to be despised and shunned by everyone, but she
had been forgiven, and in gratitude she poured the precious ointment on
her beloved Saviour's feet, and then wiped them with the hairs of her
head; and when the Pharisee Simon would have had her rebuked, the loving
Master said, "She loves much because she has had much forgiven." He is
approachable by all, then, even by the worst; even the harlot need not
fear to draw near to him—his touch can make her pure. I have noted one
thing in Christ's life, and noted it with delight. Our Lord was always
preaching, and he often grew weary, as we do, and therefore he wanted a
little retirement, but the multitude came breaking in upon his solitude,
following him on foot when he had sailed away to escape them; this was
troublesome, and to us it would have been irritating, yet he never
uttered an angry, fretful syllable. There was no rest for him, because of
the eager crowd; but did he ever say, "How these people tease me; how
they worry me"? No, never; his big heart made him forget himself. He was
approachable to all at all hours; even his meals were disturbed, but he
was gentle towards those thoughtless intruders. Not once was he harsh and
repulsive. His whole life proves the truth of the prophecy, "The bruised
reed he will not break, and the smoking flax he will not quench." He
graciously receives the weak and the feeble ones who come to him, and
sends none empty away.6. But, if you want the crowning argument, look yonder. The man
who has lived a life of service, at last dies a felon's death! Look upon
his head girt with the crown of thorns! Mark well his cheeks whence they
have plucked off the hair! See the spittle from those scornful mouths,
staining his marred countenance! Mark the crimson rivers which are
flowing from his back where they have scourged him! See his hands and his
feet which are pierced with the nails, and from which ensanguined rills
are flowing! Look to that face so full of anguish, listen to his cry, "I
thirst, I thirst;" and as you see him there expiring, can you think that
he will spurn the seeker? As you see him turn his head and say to the
dying thief by his side, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," you
dare not belie him so much as to deem that you may not come to him. You
will outrage your reason if you start back from Jesus crucified. The
cross of Christ should be the hope, the anchorage of faith. You may come,
sinner, black, vile, hellish sinner, you may come and have life even as
the dying thief had it when he said, "Lord, remember me."Surely, you need not be afraid to come to him who went to Calvary for sinners. Why linger? Why hesitate? Why those blushes, sobs, and tears? And tell him all thy case? He will not pronounce thy doom, Nor frown thee from thy face. Wilt thou fear Immanuel? Or dread the Lamb of God, Who, to save thy soul from hell, Has shed his precious blood?" Did I hear a whisper, did anybody say that Christ is now in heaven,
and that he may have changed? Ah, groundless insinuation! Do you know
what he is doing in heaven at this moment? He is exalted on high to give
repentance and remission of sins. What a help that is to those who are
coming to him! This repentance is the greatest want of coming sinners,
and he from the skies supplies it. Moreover, "he ever liveth to make
intercession for us." His occupation in the skies is to plead for those
sinners whom he redeemed with his blood, and hence he is able to save
them unto the uttermost. Since he is the intercessor for souls, there is
no reason why you should start back, but every reason why you should
boldly come to the throne of the heavenly grace, because you have a High
Priest who is passed into the heavens.Ye wandering sheep draw near; Christ calls you from above— His charming accents hear! Let whosoever will now come, In mercy's breast there still is room." Here I leave this part of the subject. Some of you little know how
heavily this sermon is hanging on my mind. I preach my very soul to you
this day. I wish I knew how to preach so as to win some of you for my
Lord, this evening; I should be glad to go even to the school of
affliction if I might learn to preach more successfully. But I can do no
more. May the Eternal Spirit, in answer to the prayers of his people,
which I hope are going up now, be pleased to make you feel the sweet
attractions of the cross of Christ, and may you come to him, so that it
may be said again tonight, "Then drew near unto him publicans and
sinners."II. I now shall proceed, with as great brevity as I can command, TO ILLUSTRATE THIS GREAT TRUTH.I illustrate it, in the first place, by the way which Christ opens
up for sinners to himself. What is the way for a sinner to come to
Christ? It is simply this—the sinner, feeling his need of a Saviour,
trusts himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the perplexity of my
boyhood, but it is so simple now. When I was told to go to Christ, I
thought "Yes, if I knew where he was, I would go to him—no matter how I
wearied myself, I would trudge on till I found him." I never could
understand how I could get to Christ till I understood that it is a
mental coming, a spiritual coming, a coming with the mind. The coming to
Jesus which saves the soul is a simple reliance upon him, and if,
tonight, being sensible of your guilt, you will rely upon the atoning
blood of Jesus, you have come to him, and you are saved. Is he not, then,
approachable indeed, if there is so simple a way of coming? No good
works, ceremonies, or experiences are demanded, a childlike faith is the
royal road to Jesus.This truth is further illustrated by the help which he gives to
coming sinners, in order to bring them near to himself. He it is who
first makes them coming sinners. It is his Eternal Spirit who draws them
unto himself. They would not come to him of themselves, they are without
desires towards him, but it is his work to cast secret silken cords
around their hearts, which he draws with his strong hand, and brings them
near to himself. Depend upon it, he will never refuse those whom he
himself draws by his Spirit. Rest assured he will never shut the door in
the face of any soul that comes to feed at the gospel banquet, moved to
approach by the power of his love. He said once, "Compel them to come
in," but he never said, "Shut the door in their faces and bolt them out."I might further illustrate this to the children of God, by reminding
you of the way in which you now commune with your Lord. How easy it is
for you to reach his ear and his heart! A prayer, a sigh, a tear, a
groan, will admit you into the King's chambers. You may be in a very sad
frame of mind, but when you come to him, how soon he makes your soul like
the chariots of Ammi-nadib. Dark may be your midnight, but as soon as you
draw nigh to him your night is over. "He giveth liberally, and upbraideth
not." While he acts thus with you, the sinner may very well believe that
he will receive him too.The approachableness of Christ may also be seen in the fact of his
receiving the poor offerings of his people. The very holiest deeds which
you and I can do for Christ are poor and faulty at the best. As I sat
studying at my table last night, there was before me a little withered
flower—a sprig of wall-flower—which has been lying for some weeks on my
table. It comes from a very, very poor child of God, many miles away, who
gets a blessing from reading my sermons, and she has nothing in the world
besides to give me, but she sends me this flower, and I value it because
it is a token of Christian affection and gratitude. So is it with our
Master. The very best sermons that we preach, and the largest
contributions we give to his treasury, are only just like that poor
little withered wall-flower; but the Master puts our service in his
bosom, and keeps it there, and thinks much of it because he loves us.
Does not that prove how generous, how condescending, how tender he must
be? Believe him to be so, ye fearful souls, and come to him.The ordinances wear upon their forefront the impress of an ever
approachable Saviour. Baptism in outward type sets forth our fellowship
with him in his death, burial, and resurrection—what can be nearer than
this? The Lord's Supper in visible symbol invites us to eat his flesh and
drink his blood: this reveals to us most clearly how welcome we are to
the most intimate intercourse with Jesus. The heaven of heavens shall
afford us yet another illustration. There are tens of thousands now in
the skies who came to Jesus just as they were, in all the filth and
deshabille of the lost estate, and he received every one of them into his
heart of love and arms of power. There are many thousands on earth, there
are some thousands now in this Tabernacle, who can testify that they have
found Jesus to be a very tender and generous friend. Now, if he has
received us, why should he not receive you? Be encouraged to believe that
inasmuch as he has received others he has open arms for you also.Let me joyfully remind you that Jesus never has rejected a seeking
sinner. There is not to be found in all the kingdoms of the universe a
single instance of a sincere seeker after Christ being cast away, and
there never shall be, for he hath not said to the seed of Jacob, "Seek ye
my face in vain," but he has said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out." Beloved, if there had been a single soul cast away we
should have known of it by now. It is eighteen hundred and sixty-eight
years now, and if a solitary penitent had been rejected, we should have
heard of it before now, for I will tell you of one who would have spread
it abroad, and that is the devil. If he could get a single instance of a
soul who had repented and trusted Christ, but found that Christ would
have nothing to do with him, it would be a standing scandal against the
cross which Satan would delight to publish. I know, poor sinners, what
the devil will tell you when you are coming to Christ—he will describe
Jesus as a hard master, but do you tell him he is a liar from the
beginning, and a murderer, and that he is trying to murder your soul by
making you swallow his poisonous lies.III. In the third place, we come TO ENFORCE THIS TRUTH;The first enforcement I give is this: let those of us who are
working for the Master in soul-winning, try to be like Christ in this
matter, and not be, as some are apt to be, proud, stuck-up, distant, or formal. Oh, dear, dear! the lofty ministerial airs that one has seen
assumed by men who ought to have been meek and lowly. What a grand set of
men some of the preachers of the past age thought themselves to be! I
trust those who played the archbishop have nearly all gone to heaven, but
a few linger among us who use little grace and much starch. The grand
divines never shook hands with anybody, except, indeed, with the deacons,
and a little knot of evidently superior persons. Amongst Dissenters it
was almost as bad as it is in most church congregations, where you feel
that the good man, by his manner, is always saying, "I hope you know who
I am, Sir; I am the rector of the parish." Now, all that kind of stuck-
upishness is altogether wrong. No man can do good in that way; and no
good at all comes of assuming superiority and distance. The best teacher
for boys is the man who can make himself a boy; and the best teacher for
girls is the woman who can make herself a girl among girls. I often
regret that I have so large a congregation; you will say, "Why?" Why,
when I had a smaller congregation at Park Street, there were too many
even then, but I did get a shake of the hand sometimes; but now there are
so many of you that I scarcely know you, good memory as I have, and I
seldom have the pleasure of shaking hands with you—I wish I did. If
there is anybody in the wide world whose good I wish to promote, it is
yours; therefore I wish to be at home with you: and if ever I should
affect the airs of a great man, and set myself above you all, and
separate myself by proud manners from your sympathy, I hope the Lord will
take me down and make me right again. We may expect souls to be saved
when we do as Christ did, namely, get publicans and sinners to draw near
to us. Now, that is a practical point which, though you have smiled about
it, will not I hope be forgotten by you.There is this to be said to you who are unconverted—if Jesus Christ
be so approachable, oh! how I wish, how I wish that you would approach
him. There are no bolts upon his doors, no barred iron gates to pass, no
big dogs to keep you back. If Christ be so approachable by all needy
ones, then needy one, come, and welcome. Come just now! What is it keeps
you back? You think that you do not feel your need enough, or that you
are not fit to come—both of which suspicions are self-righteousness in
different shapes. O that you did know but your need of Jesus, in order to
be able even to do so much as feel your need. You are a poor, miserable
bankrupt before God, and Christ alone can enrich you. Do not talk of
fitness; there is no such thing:—Is to feel your need of him: This he gives you; 'Tis the Spirit's rising beam." Come, then. There is such mercy to be had; there is such a hell to be
escaped from; there is such a heaven to be opened for you; delay not, but
believe at once. Come, come, come!Come, and welcome, sinner, come!" I stand at mercy's door tonight, and say to every passerby, in the name
of the Master, "My oxen and fatlings are killed; come, come, come to the
supper!" O that you would come this very night!Some of us are coming to the Lord's Table to celebrate his love
because we have first come to himself. I do not ask you who are not saved
to come to that table—you ought not to come; you must first come to
Jesus, and then you may come to this ordinance. Meanwhile, the best thing
you can do is to come to Christ, and let me ask you to remember this,
that in proportion as Christ is accessible, so your guilt will be
increased if you do not come to him. If it be easy to come to him, what
excuse can there be for you if you refuse to accept him? I have tried to
tell you what the way of salvation is. If I knew how to use better
language, or even coarser language, if that would suit you, it should be
alike to me if I might but touch your consciences, break your hearts, and
bring you to Christ. But I protest before you that if you will not come
to my Master, I can do no more. I shall be clear of your blood at the
last, and in the day of judgment your ruin must be upon your own heads.
But let it not be so. Jesus bids you come. O you needy ones, let your
need impel you to come at once, that you may find eternal life in him.The last word is—if Jesus be such a Saviour as we have described
him, let saints and sinners join to praise him. How marvellous that our
dear Lord should be so condescending to us unworthy ones as to come all
the way from heaven to earth for us! Oh, matchless love that made him
stoop to grief and death! Oh, unspeakable condescension, to come thus to
poor sinners' hearts, bearing mercies in both his hands, and freely
giving them to undeserving rebels! For this unspeakable grace let us
praise him! You who are coming to his table, draw near with praises in
your mouths. Come praising the condescending love in which you have
participated, and which has saved you from eternal death. Even you who
sit as spectators, I do trust will have you your mind filled with
grateful thoughts.He receives poor sinners still. Blessed be his name, world without end!
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HE MOST depraved and despised classes of society formed an inner ring of
hearers around our Lord. I gather from this that he was a most
approachable person, that he was not of repulsive manners, but that he
courted human confidence and was willing that men should commune with
him.
