Christ does not save men by His life,
Though that was holy, sinless, pure;
Nor even by His tender love,
Though that forever shall endure.
He does not save them by His throne,
Though it shall never pass away;
Nor by His vast creative power
That holds the elements in sway.
He does not save them by His works,
Though He was ever doing good;---
The awful need was greater still,
It took His death, His cross, His blood.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Men preach today a crossless Christ,
A strengthless Saviour, vague and dim;
They will not see their sinful state,
They will not own their need of Him.
They will accept the man-made God,
Since for themselves this right they claim,
But not the God sent forth as man
To suffer agony and shame.
They will not know the Lamb of God,
Despised, rejected, crucified,---
That were to humble into dust
Their boasted intellect, their pride.
Yet no man cometh unto God
Save by the Son alone, He saith;
The deathless life for which we long
Can only -- ever -- come through death.
Not Bethlehem or Nazareth
Stern Justice's lifted hand could stay;
To Calvary the soul must go
And follow Jesus all the way.
--Annie Johnson Flint
