What then is a true Christianity but the accurate reproduction of this spirit of love, the creation of loving and lovable men and women, who attract and uplift all around them by the subtle fascination of the love that animates them? What is a Christian Church but a confraternity of such men and women? What is a Christian society, but a society permeated by this spirit, and bringing all the affairs of life to its test? And what place have social superiorities and inferiorities; pride, scorn, or coldness; harsh theologies, breeding harsh tempers and infinite disputes; the egoism that wounds the humble, the strength that disregards the weak, the vanity that hurts the simple, in any company of men and women who dare to wear the name of such a Founder? It was as a Bridegroom Christ came, anointed with all the perfumes of a dedicated love, and until the last bitter hour of His rejection, He moved with such lyric joyousness across the earth, that life became festive in His presence. It is as a Bride the church exists on earth, and if no festive smiles are awakened by its presence, and no gracious unsealing of the founts of love in human hearts, then is it not Christ's Church, for He has passed elsewhere with another company to the marriage-feast, and His Church stands without, before a barred and darkened door. THE JUSTICE OF JESUS _HOW HE CAME_ _When the golden evening gathered on the shore of Galilee, When the fishing boats lay quiet by the sea, Long ago the people wondered, tho' no sign was in the sky, For the glory of the Lord was passing by._ _Not in robes of purple splendour, not in silken softness shod, But in raiment worn with travel came their God, And the people knew His presence by the heart that ceased to sigh When the glory of the Lord was passing by._ _For He healed their sick at even, and He cured the leper's sore, And sinful men and women sinned no more, And the world grew mirthful hearted, and forgot its misery When the glory of the Lord was passing by._ _Not in robes of purple splendour, but in lives that do His will, In patient acts of kindness He comes still; And the people cry with wonder, tho' no sign is in the sky, That the glory of the Lord is passing by._ III THE JUSTICE OF JESUS