A Bit Ahead

  I. The Purpose of Jesus.
     1.  The Purpose in Jesus’ Coming
     2.  The Plan for Jesus’ Coming
     3.  The Tragic Break in the Plan
     4.  Some Surprising Results of the Tragic Break

 II.  The Person of Jesus.
     1.  The Human Jesus
     2.  The Divine Jesus
     3.  The Winsome Jesus

III.  The Great Experiences or Jesus’ Life.
     1.  The Jordan:  The Decisive Start
     2.  The Wilderness:  Temptation
     3.  The Transfiguration:  An Emergency Measure
     4.  Gethsemane:  The Strange, Lone Struggle
     5.  Calvary:  Victory
     6.  The Resurrection:  Gravity Upward
     7.  The Ascension:  Back Home Again Until——­

 IV.  Study Notes

“Show me, I pray thee, Thy glory.”—­Moses.

“When I could not see for the glory of that light.”—­Paul.

“But we all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”—­Paul.

“The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”—­Paul.

    “Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus,
      I’ve lost sight of all beside,
    So enchained my spirit’s vision,
      Looking at the Crucified.” 
          —­From Winnowed Hymns.

A Bit Ahead

So far as I can find out, I have no theory about Jesus to make these talks fit into.  I have tried to find out for myself what the old Book of God tells about Him.  And here I am trying to tell to others, as simply as I can, what I found.  It was by the tedious, twisting path of doubt that I climbed the hill of truth up to some of its summits of certainty.  I am free to confess that I am ignorant of the subject treated here save for the statements of that Book, and for the assent within my own spirit to these statements, which has greatly deepened the impression they made, and make.  There is no question raised here about that Book itself, but simply a taking and grouping up together of what it says.

Most persons simply read a book.  A few study it, also.  It is good to read.  It is yet better to go back over it and study, and meditate.  Since learning that the two books on power and prayer have been used in Bible classes I have regretted not including study notes in them.  For those who may want to study about Jesus there has been added at the close a simple analysis with references.  The reading pages have been kept free of foot-notes to make the reading smooth and easier.  The analysis is so arranged that one can quickly turn in reading to the corresponding paragraph or page in the study notes.

A great musician strikes the key-note of a great piece of music, and can skilfully keep it ever sounding its melody through all the changes clear to the end.  It has been in my heart to wish that I could do something like that here.  If what has come to me has gotten out of me into these pages, there will be found a dominant note of sweetest music—­the winsomeness of God in Jesus.