Preface
In the hearts of all mankind, of whatever race or station in life,
there are inexpressible longings for something they do not now possess.
This longing is implanted in the very constitution of man by a merciful
God, that man may not be satisfied with his present conditions or
attainments, whether bad, or good, or better. God desires that the
human shall seek the best, and find it to the eternal blessing of his soul
.
Satan, by wily scheme and craft, has perverted these longings
of the human heart. He makes men believe that this desire may be
satisfied by pleasure, by wealth, by ease, by fame, by power; but those
who have been thus deceived by him (and they number myriads) find
all these things pall upon the sense, leaving the soul as barren and
unsatisfied as before
.
It is God’s design that this longing of the human heart should lead
to the one who alone is able to satisfy it. The desire is of Him that
it may lead to Him, the fullness and fulfillment of that desire. That
fullness is found in Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Eternal God. “For it
was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fullness
dwell;” “For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
And it is also true that “In Him ye are made full” with respect to every
desire divinely implanted and normally followed
.
Haggai calls him “The Desire of all nations,” and we may well call
him “The Desire of all ages,” even as He is “The King of ages.”
It is the purpose of this book to set forth Jesus Christ as the one in
whom every longing may be satisfied. There is many a “Life of Christ”
written, excellent books, large funds of information, elaborate essays
on chronology and contemporaneous history, customs, and events,
with much of the teaching and many glimpses of the many-sided life
of Jesus of Nazareth. Yet it may be truly said, “the half has never been
told.”
It is not, however, the purpose of this work to set forth a harmony of
the gospels, or even to give in strictly chronological order the important
events and wonderful lessons of the life of Christ; its purpose is to
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