Why the Cross?

This book aims at furnishing a theory of life which makes life worth living. It starts with a fact. The fact is Christ’s historical message to mankind. Dr. Leen analyses the implications of that message, tracing in a few fine strokes the features of Our Lord’s philosophy of life. That this philosophy is connected with holiness is sufficiently realised, but not all men actively desire happiness. And the essential connection between His philosophy and happiness is scarcely as much as suspected. Yet it contains a promise of true happiness and the conditions on which that happiness can be gained.

The author explores the reason why human happiness should be dependent on these conditions, in appearance so  harsh. Discovering the cause in the complication that man, by his disobedience, brought into God’s plan for his happiness, it goes to show how the Son of God, taking flesh undertook to rectify the disorder. The life of God on earth is analyzed as tracing a pattern which man must follow if he is to achieve happiness in the actual order of things. This book closes with the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus. That sacrifice won for men incorporation with the Redeemer and furnished them with the means to lead the life that vies happiness here and hereafter. Jesus, by theory and example, showed them how to apply these means practically to the ordering of their individual lives. Those who follow the Saviour’s philosophy of existence learn by experience that it satisfies not merely adequately but abundantly the fundamental aspirations of the human heart.