Quiet Talks on Following the Christ | Page 2

other in the crowds that came to listen, and
stayed to listen longer, and then went away to come back again for
more.
This was why He came--to draw men to Himself. Our Lord Jesus was
the face of God looking longingly into men's faces. And they couldn't
withstand the appeal of that gentle strong face. He was the voice of
God talking into men's ears; and the music of that low, quiet voice
thrilled and thralled their hearts. He was the hand of God, strong and
warm, reaching down to take men by the hand and give them a strong
lift up and back to the old Eden life. And, in time, as men put their
hand in His, they came to feel the little knotted place in the palm of that
outstretched hand, and the feel of it went strangely into their inmost
being. He was the heart of God, tender and true, beating rhythmically in
time and tune with the human heart. And the music had, and has,
strange power of appeal to human hearts, and power to sway human
lives like a great wind in the trees.
Our Lord Jesus was the person of God in human shape and human garb,
come down close, to draw us men back again to the old trysting place
under the Tree of Life. And in every generation, and every corner of the
earth, then, and ever since then, men of every colour and sort have
come back, and found how His presence eases the tug of life on many a

steep roadway, and more, much more.[1]
And our Lord Jesus drew men into personal friendship with Himself.
He didn't like the long range way of doing things. Keeping men at
arm's length never suited Him. He gave the inner heart touch, and He
longed for the touch of the innermost heart. He was our friend. He
asked that we be His friends, real friends of the rare sort, of which one's
life has only a few.
And He asked, too, that all else that we brought to Him should be that
which grew out of this personal friendship. He gave and did all that He
did and gave, because He was our friend. He asked only for what grew
out of a real heart friendship with Himself. He longed to have us give
all, yet only what our hearts couldn't hold back. His friendship has one
thing peculiar to itself. He has no favourites, in our common thought of
that word, among the countless numbers who have come to be included
in His inner circle of friends. Yet He gives to each such a distinctive
personal touch of His own heart that you feel yourself to be on closest
terms. He is nearer and closer than any other, and your longing is to be
as near and close to Him in life as He is to you in His heart.[2]
Now, because we are His friends and He is our friend, He calls us to
follow Him. It is a privilege of friendship. He would share with you
and with me the things of His own heart and life. He wants to have us
come close up to Himself, and live close up. And the only way we can
do it is by giving a glad "Yes" to His invitation, and following so close
that we shall be up to Himself. Nothing less than this contents His
longing.
But there is more than friendship here. He has a plan of action in His
heart. It is a wide-reaching plan, clear beyond our idea of what
wide-reaching means. It is nothing less than a plan for the whole world,
the entire race, for winning it up to the old Eden life of purity and of
close walking with God. That plan is the passion of His great heart. He
has held nothing back--spared nothing--that it might be done. He is
thinking of that plan as He comes eagerly to you and me, now, all
afresh, and with His heart in His voice says "Follow Me." This is a bit
of His plan for me and for you--that we shall be partners with Him in

His plan for the world.
And yet--and yet--this helping Him, this partnership, this working with
Him in His plan, is to be because of our friendship, His and mine, His
and yours. It is a more than friendship He is thinking of. But that more
is through the friendship. It grows out of the friendship. Only so does it
work out His real plan.

Climbing the Hilltops.
Now this "Follow Me" of His, if taken into one's life, and followed up,
will come to mean two things. There are two great things that stand
sharply out in