s the
broadest of creeds because it takes in everything that touches human
life, here and hereafter. The Christian life is the most comprehensive
life known; it is as deep as the heart; it is as wide as the world; and
it is as high as heaven.

Paul, the great Apostle, tells us that Christ came to "bring life and
immortality to light"--not immortality alone, but life also, and the
word Life comes before the word Immortality.

But we have higher authority even than Paul. Christ, in explaining His
mission, said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly." It is to the _more abundant_ life that Christ
calls us. He was the master of mathematics, yet He used only addition
and multiplication; subtraction has no place in His philosophy.

Let me illustrate, as I see it, the gift that Christ brings to man. Let
us suppose that the people living in an agricultural section had, by
intelligent cultivation, brought from the soil all that it could yield
in material wealth. If a stranger came into the community and announced
that the people, by sinking a shaft one hundred feet deep, could find
a vein of coal, they would, if they believed the statement true,
immediately sink a shaft; and, if they found the coal, they would add
it to the wealth that they derived from the surface of the ground. They
would be grateful to the person who told them of the additional riches
which they possessed but of which they were not aware. They might not
think to thank him immediately--they might be too busy acquiring money
to express their gratitude. But after the man was dead, if not before,
they would pause long enough to erect a monument to testify to their
appreciation of the service he had rendered.

And, to complete the illustration, suppose after the people had adjusted
themselves to the added income, another stranger appeared and assured
them that, if they would sink the shaft one hundred feet deeper, they
would find a vein of precious metals from which to draw money enough to
purchase everything everywhere that the heart could wish. They would,
if they gave credit to his statement, dig down and find gold and silver
and, with still greater joy, add this new possession to those that
they already had. Again they would be grateful. They might not express
themselves during the benefactor's life, but after a while visitors to
the community would see two monuments reared by grateful hands to those
who had brou