But we are said to be reconciled by the death and blood of Christ. How is this? We have seen the source of our alienation: it lay not in God, but in ourselves. God had not gone away from _us_; we went away from him. He had not ceased to love us; but by a terrible reaction from our sinfulness, we had ceased to believe in his love. “God’s hand,” says the prophet (Isa. 59:2), “is not shortened, that he cannot save, nor is _his_ ear grown dull, that he cannot hear; but _your_ iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, that he doth not hear.” By an immutable law of our mind, God’s wrath abides on us, and we cannot believe in his love. Here is the source of our alienation. Now, merely to be told that God is merciful does not wholly help the matter. True, we say, He _is_ merciful, but not to _us_; we have sinned too long and deeply. Something must be done, then, to _convince_ us that God is ready to forgive and receive us freely. The death of Christ is the fact which produces this conviction. The death of Christ, therefore, is not merely an _emblem_ of God’s love, but an _act_ of God’s love. It draws us to him. It changes our hearts. It melts our doubt, our distrust. It reveals to us our Father’s love. The blood of Christ makes those who were afar off nigh. This all experience teaches as a _matter of fact_. It is the cross of Christ, borne by the simple missionary, preached by the devout Moravian, which, amid the ice of Greenland or beneath the burning sun of the tropic, reconciles the sinner to God. And if one asks _how_ the death of Christ does this, we will briefly indicate what we believe to be the way in which it operates. We look at Christ, and see the brightness of God’s glory and express image of his person. We see a holiness pure and perfect, a character infinitely beautiful and lovely. We see how dear and near such a one must have been to God; and we hear God say, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;” and we hear him say of God, “My Father has not left me alone; for I do _always_ the things which please him.”