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 AND 
 
 
 
 
 3t0 Snflucnce. 
 
 
 IRA 
 
 «iUl.l8V 
 
 BY ->*5^/ry tf Tfi^ 
 
 SIR OLIVER MOW AT. 
 
 .^^ 
 
 D4 •■ 
 
 
 %■ 
 
 Vft V' 
 
 liifr 
 
 i4n Address delivered before the Young Mens Christian Asso- 
 ciations of the Medical Faculty oj the Univetsity of 
 Toronto and of TH^ity Medical College y 
 Sunday^ Febr^et^ rjih, z8^, and 
 now published by request. 
 
 
 THE HUNTER* ROSE CO., %i»tiTKD. 
 1898. 
 
 
 'iM'l'A, 
 
 _ c;%ritm 
 
Cbristianit^, 
 
 AND 
 
 3t6 3nfluence. 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR OLIVER MOWAT. 
 
 An Address delivered before the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciations of the Medical Faculty of the University of 
 Toronto and of Trinity Medical College^ 
 Sunday^ February rjth, z8g8, and 
 now published by request. 
 
 
 THE HUNTER, ROSE CO., Limited. 
 X898. 
 
f M 
 
CHRISTIANITY 
 AND ITS INFLUENCE. 
 
 <<ik 
 
 TUDENTS of medicine have chosen 
 for their life-work a profession than 
 which no other, having to do primar- 
 ily with things earthly, is more 
 honorable, or more useful, or brings to 
 those who follow it a larger amount of 
 esteem, respect and gratitude. How 
 could it be otherwise ? The purpose and efforts 
 of the profession are to save life, and to remove 
 or allay pain and misery. That is their business. 
 All of us well know that a medical practitioner, 
 in the exercise of his profession, often knowing- 
 ly runs great risks, risks to his health, and risks 
 to his life, in visiting and treating patients suffer- 
 ing from contagious and infectious diseases, as 
 well as in other ways ; but he no more thinks of 
 preferring his personal safety to the duty which 
 his profession demands of him, than the sol- 
 dier shrinks from his dangerous duty when 
 called on to face human foes armed for his des- 
 truction. 
 
 By the relief which a medical man gives to his 
 
<S;Hvi«tianit||f 
 
 patients, and the attention which they receive 
 from him in the discharge of his duty, he be- 
 comes an object of gratitude and affection both 
 to his patients and to others to whom his patients 
 are dear ; and in this way he acquires with both 
 classes influence in matters outside his profes- 
 sion. The fact of his being a man of education 
 above the average of those with whom he has to 
 do is a further occasion of influence with them. 
 His influence from all these causes is both an 
 unsought influence, arising in part from what 
 is known of his character, opinions and oppor- 
 tunities, and also an influence which he may 
 exert by express effort. Whatever the in- 
 fluence is, it is a " talent " to be used for 
 good. Whatever power of this kind you may 
 have, most of you (I hope all of you) would like 
 to employ worthily. That I think I may as- 
 sume to be the present sentiment of each of you. 
 You would not like to use your influence for 
 harm, nor to throw it away unused for good. 
 You would like that, in some way or other, and 
 in every way practicable, the world may be the 
 better for your having lived in it ; that your coun- 
 try may be the better for your having been its 
 citizen ; and that your family, your mother and 
 your father, your sisters and your brothers, and 
 all others whom you love or like, may be the 
 better for your relation to them. I should be 
 
 ih 
 
atth ft* ^nfiustxce. 
 
 
 ^'ii 
 
 glad to be able to say something that may help 
 any of you to use in the most beneficial way 
 practicable the influence which you may possess 
 or acquire. 
 
 With this object, then, my first remark is, 
 that if in the course of my long and active life I 
 have learned one lesson more distinctly than an- 
 other, it is that the influence of a man or woman 
 for good, as regards even this world, is immense- 
 ly promoted by having faith in Christianity. 
 Many of you know that to be so ; and many of 
 you are, I hope, acting on that knowledge, and 
 mean with God's help to act on it to the end. It 
 would be delightful if this were the case with all 
 of you. The average medical students and aver- 
 age medical practitioners in our Province are 
 said to compare favorably with the average of 
 such students and practitioners anywhere ; and 
 as regards both the learning of the profession 
 and skill in its application. This is gratifying 
 to all Canadians. It would be still more grati- 
 fying to all the best of them if it could also be 
 truly said that our medical men, young and old, 
 were distinguished above their fellows through- 
 out the world for hearty acceptance of the Chris- 
 tian faith, and for Christian conduct and char- 
 acter. 
 
 There may be some present who, while ac- 
 cepting or professing the Christian faith, do not 
 
<IDhri«t{anit)|, 
 
 act upon it ; and there may be others who do not 
 give to the religion of the loving Christ even 
 their outward assent. It is to these classes of 
 medical students specially that I purpose speak- 
 ing, though I shall not have in mind them only. 
 
 Some young men, and some who are not 
 young, think it smart to laugh at religion in 
 general, or at some of its doctrines ; and this 
 without having studied the subject in (if at all) 
 more than a very partial and superficial manner. 
 I trust that there are no such mockers among 
 you. Such mockery, permit me to say, is rude 
 and foolish conceit on the part of any young 
 people who indulge in it, considering that the 
 subject is of transcendent importance, that the 
 religion of Jesus is and always has been very 
 dear to multitudes of the best people everywhere, 
 and that a great host of men of high intellect 
 and great learning have in all ages believed 
 in it. 
 
 People of the present day are encouraged to 
 disbelieve by the authority and example of 
 eminent men (comparatively few in number) 
 who, during the last half-century, have been de- 
 clared or known unbelievers. The influence, 
 also, of many of the most read novels of the 
 present day is on the same side. These novels 
 are generally read, not for their agnosticism, but 
 for their attractions in other respects, and, while 
 
r- 
 
 anb it« ^nfiutnce* 
 
 their infidelity may not hurt readers whose faith 
 is established, it is apt to harm others, especially 
 perhaps young men So it is with many 
 magazines and newspapers conducted with abil- 
 ity, and valuable in other resnects, but edited in 
 an anti-Christian spirit, and in which from time 
 to time there appear anti-Christian articles or 
 observations. In some of these publications, as 
 well as in other publication- avowedly anti- 
 Christian, it is affirmed, and many of their con- 
 stant readers are led to believe, that Christianity 
 is a '^ fable," and that beliek in it is '* dying out," 
 if it is not ** dead." Some go so far as to assert 
 as true the absurdity that Christianity is a hin- 
 drance to civilization and to the good of the 
 world, instead of being (as it is) their great pro- 
 moter. No errors could be greater than these. 
 While it is true that some eminent men have 
 in this century announced themselves as anti- 
 Christians, some eminent men have done the like 
 in perhaps every age of the Christian era ; but 
 there never was a time when a larger number of 
 the educated men of the world were Christians 
 than is the case to-day. In speaking of eminent 
 men who have been or are believers, need I remind 
 you of such eminent believers as Bacon, and New- 
 ton and Brewster, and Faraday, and Agassiz, and 
 Dana, ai I Morse, amongst physicists who have 
 passed away ; or as Lord Kelvin, Mr. Mivart, 
 
8 
 
 Chvi^tianiitf, 
 
 and Sir William Dawson, amongst physicists 
 who are still living ; besides a very host of other 
 learned and able men of the highest distinction 
 in all countries and ages, scientists, philosophers, 
 historians, judges, statesmen, legislators, doctors, 
 lawyers, literary men, and theologians, who have 
 believed in Christianity as a revelation from 
 heaven. 
 
 This belief in Christianity by great and good 
 and learned men does not prove Christianity to 
 be true ; but, to intelligent inquirers, the belief 
 in it by such men neutralizes and destroys any 
 argument against Christianity derived from the 
 agnosticism of other eminent men, and shows to 
 the intelligent that men must have other reasons 
 for unbelief than the opinions of unbelievers, 
 however eminent. 
 
 As for Christianity being dead or dying, this 
 is most certainly not true, and can be shown by 
 most satisfactory evidence not to be truc. It is 
 the reverse of the truth. A like assertion as to 
 Christianity being in a dying condition was in 
 past ages often made ; but the facts always 
 turned out otherwise. The men who some i860 
 years ago got the Founder of Christianity put to 
 death, thought that by that act they had extin- 
 guished the religion which he taught. But, 
 instead of his religion being extinguished, 
 its adherents increased immensely fk'om that 
 
 <h 
 
 ^! ' 
 
anh tt« Htnfluence* 
 
 day, both in numbers and in devotion ; and so 
 *^ increased far more rapidly than they had done 
 
 before. So, the early assailants of this religion, 
 after its Founder's death, thought repeatedly 
 that they had destroyed it by their arguments 
 and otherwise. Kings and Emperors thought 
 they could destroy it, if not by arguments, yet 
 by martyrdoms and by persecutions of the fiercest 
 kinds. But all failed. Voltaire, in the eight- 
 eenth century, believed and prophesied that 
 ** before the beginning of the nineteenth century 
 Christianity will have disappeared from the 
 earth." The beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury came, and Christianity had not disappeared. 
 We are now near the end of that century, and 
 Christianity not only still exists, but never be- 
 fore showed greater evidences of both life and 
 permanency. Never before had so large a num- 
 ber of the world's population faith in some form 
 of Christianity as is the case now. A century ago 
 
 ithe Christian population of the world (using here 
 the word *' Christian " in its broadest sense) was 
 estimated at less than 200 millions ; it is now up- 
 wards of "GO millions. There never was a time, 
 either, (as I said on another occasion) in which, 
 among Christians, there were so many true, 
 earnest and self-denying believers as now ; never 
 a time when the churches, old and new, were 
 more active and aggressive ; never a time when 
 
to 
 
 i&hvinHaniiUt 
 
 f! 
 
 so many Christian organizations of great power 
 were at work for the evangelization of the world ; 
 never a time in which so much money was con- 
 tributed to Christian objects of all kinds. 
 
 While in all these respects there has been a 
 great increase in the religious activity, and re- 
 ligious attainments generally, of the old churches, 
 the number of new and powerful organizations 
 which have sprung up with like objects is most re- 
 markable. Some of these are independent of par- 
 ticular churches, and others are in close connec- 
 tion with existing churches. It is only about 
 1 50 years since the Methodists came into existence 
 as a separate organization, and they have now be- 
 come one of the greatest Protestant denomina- 
 tions in Christendom. Sunday-schools for relig- 
 ious training are of still more modern origin; and 
 it is estimated that the number of scholars now 
 receiving instruction in them is nearly twenty- 
 three millions ; a most significant fact, seeing 
 that Sunday-schools are amongst the most pow- 
 erful agencies of the Christian faith. The Re- 
 ligious Tract Society was formed in London less 
 than a century ago, and its issues since are 
 counted in millions, and comprise translations 
 into almost all the languages spoken in the 
 world. The British and Foreign Bible Society 
 has been said to be the greatest agency ever de- 
 vised for the diffusion of the Holy Scriptures, 
 
 /a 
 
and it had no existence until the present century. 
 /^ The Young Men's Christian Associations are of 
 
 still more recent origin than these societies, and 
 are now in active operation in almost every part 
 of the world. The same may be said of the 
 Women's Christian Associations of various 
 kinds, the Societies of Christian Endeavor, the 
 Epworth Leagues, the Salvation Army, and 
 other new Christian enterprises. These are 
 Protestant institutions. I think I see, also, 
 amongst Roman Catholics, increased interest 
 during the same period in those great truth? 
 which, happily, Roman Catholics and Protest- 
 ants hold in common. The progress of Chris- 
 tianity includes both Roman Catholics and Pro- 
 testants. 
 
 So, modern missions have been in operation 
 for but a century, and now the great missionary 
 societies at work are reckoned by the hundred, 
 and their operations extend to all parts of heath- 
 endom, and have been attended with much suc- 
 cess amongst heathen peoples. Protestant mis- 
 sions have at work an estimated force of nearly 
 ten thousand foreign missionaries, and more 
 than fifty thousand native missionaries. This 
 great army of Christian workers minister to 
 1,250,000 communicants in mission churches, 
 and have three or four millions (some es- 
 timate five millions) of adherents who were 
 
 i\ 
 
12 
 
 <S;htri#t{aniti|, 
 
 previously heathen. Through the agency of 
 missions, some lands which a century ago and 
 less were heathen lands are now distinctly Chris- 
 tian. These missions have also accomplished 
 much incidentally that is valuable to the human 
 race with reference to this life, as well as accom- 
 plishing much in regard to the infinitely more im- 
 portant matter of the life to come. They have 
 accomplished great things in all the departments 
 of knowledge, learning and science ; great 
 things in advancing civilization and all that civ- 
 ilization implies ; and great things in promoting 
 morality, a matter more important than all others 
 relating to this life. On this subject I find the 
 following cited from the testimony of Lord Law- 
 rence, who was Viceroy and Governor-General 
 of India from 1864 to 1869, and had thirty years' 
 previous experience there : ''I believe, notwith- 
 standing all that the English people have done 
 to benefit India, the missionaries have done 
 more than all other agencies combined." Also 
 the following from Sir Bartle Frere, formerly 
 Governor of Bombay, and afterwards of the Cape 
 of Good Hope: '^ I assure you that, whatever 
 you have been told to the contrary, the teachings 
 of Christianity amongst the one hundred and 
 sixty millions of civilized, industrious Hindus 
 and Mohammedans in India, have effected 
 changes, moral, social and political, which for 
 
 n 
 
 i 
 I 
 
 fi . 
 
anh it« ^nfiuence^ 
 
 »3 
 
 J 
 
 
 extent and rapidity of effect are far more extra- 
 ordinary than anything else you or your fathers 
 have witnessed in modern Europe." The same 
 thing may be said, and in at least some cases with 
 equal force, as to all other countries in which 
 Christian missionaries have been at work. In a 
 word, the facts place it beyond well-founded 
 doubt that *' Christian missionaries are the most 
 effective means ever brought to bear upon the 
 social, civil, commercial, moral and spiritual in- 
 terests of mankind." The truth of Christianity 
 and faith in it have produced these results. 
 
 Some suppose that Christianity has fallen back 
 in the United States, and thence infer that it has 
 fallen back everywhere. But it has not fallen 
 back in the United States, any more than else- 
 where. In saying this I put out of account the un- 
 christian hate towards the Motherland manifested 
 by many among our neighbors ; and I put out of 
 account the efforts which have been made to keep 
 up or intensify that hate. I know of no sufficient 
 reason for believing that the hate is shared by the 
 religious people of the nation ; and it is impos- 
 sible to believe that the better part of the popu- 
 lation, whether religious or not, desire to shed 
 the blood and wreck the property of their kins- 
 men of another nationality, with whom for sev- 
 enty years and more there have been peace and 
 friendly relations. As to faith in Christianity in 
 
»4 
 
 ^hvi»Hanii^i 
 
 in 
 
 %i 
 
 i 
 
 that country^ official census returns and other 
 well-authenticated data show that, notwith- 
 standing all the irreligion which prevails there 
 as it does elsewhere, Christianity is more full of 
 life in the United States now than it ever was 
 before ; that its vitality has increased in every 
 decade of the century ; and has so increased not 
 only absolutely, but also relatively to the popu- 
 lation. This appears from, for example, what 
 has been ascertained of the comparative num- 
 ber of churches at different periods, the compar- 
 ative accommodation afforded, the comparative 
 number of church members, evangelical minis- 
 ters, Sunday-school teachers and Sunday-school 
 pupils, the comparative value of church proper- 
 ty, and the comparative amounts contributed an- 
 nually for missions and other religious objects. 
 
 Thus, so far from there having been a dying 
 out of Christianity in the United States or else- 
 where, ascertained facts show greatly increased 
 life and vigor there and throughout the world, 
 and make plain that, rampant as agnosticism or 
 unbelief may seem in some respects to be, if any 
 of you have been inclined on that account, or 
 any other, to regard Christianity as a dying be- 
 lief or a dying institution, you are deceiving 
 yourselves. The truth is the very reverse. 
 
 Undoubtedly, though Christianity has been 
 steadily advancing, yet there is at the same 
 
 te 
 
 :l 
 
-7~- 
 
 - 
 
 ! 
 
 itnbr it* ^nfiu9nte* 15 
 
 time, unhappily, much irreligion in all nomin- 
 ally Christian lands ; but this is not a new 
 thing ; there has always been irreligion ; and so, 
 as Christians generally believe, there will con- 
 tinue to be until Christ comes in person to reign 
 on the earth. This irreligion is, in part, in the 
 form of intellectual unbelief; but it is much 
 more in the form of crime, vice, injustice, cruel- 
 ty, falsehood and selfishness of every kind — all 
 of which Christianity condemns, and has declar- 
 ed war against. A religion which is so exacting 
 in its demands as Christianity is, and was so un- 
 promising at its beginning, and yet has spread 
 as Christianity has done, and has so strong a 
 hold on mankind at this day, is certainly not 
 dead, is not dying, is not a failure. 
 
 It is undoubtedly an exacting religion, as well 
 as a true and the only true religion ; but its ex- 
 actions are such as promote the present as well 
 as future well-being of the race ; for, what is it 
 that Christianity requires of us? It requires 
 personal purity and godliness. As regards con- 
 duct towards others, it requires that in every 
 act of life each of us enquire : What does 
 honesty require? What do justice and fair- 
 dealing require of us ? What does humanity re- 
 quire of us ? What does the influence of our 
 example require of us? As regards example, 
 you young men may by your example help to 
 
 ^Kr-x 
 
i6 
 
 Ohritftianittf, 
 
 make or keep your companions and others 
 sober men, well-behaved in all the relations of 
 life, and for all their lives ; or, on the other 
 hand, you may help to make them drunkards, 
 and in other respects worse than useless to 
 themselves and to their families and to society. 
 My brothers, which will you do ? Will you 
 help them to be good and useful ? or will you 
 help them to be bad, and worse than useless ? 
 Will you be on Christ's side ? or will you be on 
 His enemy's? 
 
 What is revealed or believed of rewards and 
 punishments in another world has a powerful 
 effect on multitudes who do not appreciate 
 other Christian truths, and exerts some in- 
 fluence on those also who do appreciate those 
 other truths. As to the rewards. Professor 
 Huxley, agnostic as (unhappily) he is, writ- 
 ing on the subject of " Decline in Religious 
 Belief," has this just observation : *' The 
 lover of moral beauty, struggling through a 
 world of sorrow and sin, is surely as much the 
 stronger for believing that sooner or later a 
 vision of perfect peace and goodness will burst 
 upon him, as a toiler up a mountain is the 
 stronger for the belief that beyond the crag and 
 snow lie rest and home." So, belief in future 
 punishment frightens many, and restrains 
 them from wrong-doing more than anything 
 
else does. Everlasting punishment certainly is 
 a fate which no present advantages or pleasures 
 can compensate for, even though these should last 
 a lifetime; and no earthly advantage or pleasure 
 lasts a lifetime. So, immortality in happiness is 
 infinitely more than an adequate reward for any 
 amount of work and sacrifice and suffering in 
 our earthly lives, however long these may last. 
 No consideration outside of religion can present 
 such powerful reasons for right living as are af- 
 forded by the credited declarations of Scripture 
 regarding rewards and punishments. 
 
 ButChristianity presents far more powerful mo- 
 tives than rewards and punishments. It does so 
 in teaching that God is love, and is to those who 
 love Him the most loveable of all objects of love. 
 According to Christian doctrine, God is nearer to 
 us than father or mother, than wife or child, than 
 brother or sister ; we owe to Him all things ; He 
 is our Creator, our Redeemer, our Preserver, our 
 Bountiful Benefactor ; He so loved the world — so 
 loved us — as to send into the world His only be- 
 gotten and eternal Son to be a propitiation for 
 our sins. It was from love to us that Christ came 
 into the world, and suffered, and died ; and, as 
 a result, whoever now believes in him, and 
 earnestly and truly accepts him, shall have an 
 everlasting life of unspeakable joy and happiness 
 and purity. This loving God is to be loved 
 
i8 
 
 i&hvimiian\f^t 
 
 with all the heart and soul and mind and strength; 
 this, our Saviour declared, is the first and great- 
 est commandment ; and the second, he said, is 
 like unto it — thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
 thyself. On these two commandments, he de- 
 clared, hang all the law and the prophets ; and 
 this (we are told) is the love of God, namely, 
 that we keep His commandments. This com- 
 mandment have we from Him, that he who loveth 
 God do love his neighbor also ; we are to love 
 our neighbor as Christ loved all men, and gave 
 himself a sacrifice for them. In discharging this 
 duty we are to bear one another's burdens, and 
 therein fulfil the law of Christ. We are to render 
 glad and loving service in a special sense to the 
 friendless, the sick, the suffering, and the needy, 
 whatever their country or their creed. The 
 Samaritan is to help and do good to the Jew, 
 and the Jew is to help and do good to the Sama- 
 ritan ; Britons to Americans ; Americans to 
 Britons. In a word, Christianity enjoins on all 
 to cultivate supreme love to the God and Father 
 of all, and to live towards all men lives of truth, 
 justice, kindness, and active benevolence. That 
 is what God loves, and requires of us. 
 
 Without this love on our part, and this good- 
 ness of character and conduct towards our fellow- 
 men, it is the doctrine of Christianity that the 
 soundness of our faith is nothing — is but as 
 
anh it* ifnfiutnce* 19 
 
 sounding bri^ss and a tinkling cymbal ; and is so 
 even though that faith were strong enough as (in 
 the language of the great apostle of the Gentiles) 
 to *' remove mountains." 
 
 It is thus to love, that supreme importance is 
 attached by Christianity. The Christian religion 
 is a religion of love ; and of all that love involves. 
 Love is the sweetest of all words in human lan- 
 guage. Love is the most powerful motive power 
 with mankind of every class. All history and 
 all experience show this. Love makes practic- 
 able, and even easy and pleasant, what would 
 otherwise be difficult, or impossible, or intolerably 
 disagreeable. So it has been amongst all peo- 
 ples and in all ages. 
 
 How can it be otherwise than promotive of 
 good to really and from the heart believe that 
 our Creator, the Creator of all things, the all- 
 seeing God of the universe, is a God of Love ? 
 and is on the side of everything good ? desires 
 us to be loving to one another, and to he 
 good, honest, truthful, pure? knows and no- 
 tices when we are so, and when we are 
 not so? loves in a special way those who are 
 good and kind and true ? and will endow these 
 with great blessings in the eternal life to come ? 
 How can belief in such truths as these be other- 
 wise than good in its influence on a man who 
 believes ? How can it be otherwise than good 
 for mankind as a whole ? 
 
30 
 
 CHri#t{att{1||, 
 
 The influence of Christianity on the character 
 of men is under God owing, not to its moral teach- 
 ings merely, but, in connection with these moral 
 teachings, is owing to the facts and doctrines of 
 Christianity. These give incalculable force to 
 the moral teachings. As the result of Christian 
 teachings, the actual historical fact is, that loving 
 faith in our Heavenly Father and His Eternal 
 Son has, in the case of millions of Christian men 
 and Christian women in the last nineteen cen- 
 turies, been a great and mighty power for good ; 
 and it is a great and mighty power for good still ; 
 and so, doubtless, will be for ever. 
 
 The faith of all believers in Christianity is 
 not equally strong, nor is the obedience of 
 all equally full. It is a doctrine of the Church 
 to which I belong that, '*no mere man since 
 the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep 
 the commandments of God, but doth daily 
 break them in thought, word and deed." I be- 
 lieve that no important Christian denomination 
 teaches the absolute and uninterrupted sinlessness 
 of Christians, not of even the best of them. On 
 the contrary, all Christian churches concur in 
 holding that any Christian may be ** overtaken 
 in a fault," as St. Peter was when he denied his 
 Master, and on other occasions. The like was 
 the case with some Old Testament saints and 
 worthies. But wLen a Christian has sinned ht, 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
anh it* J|(nfluettc«* 
 
 fli 
 
 f 
 
 
 remembers his sin with shame and humiliation ; 
 and his comfort is, that before God sin repented 
 of is sin forgiven ; that if we confess our sins, 
 we are assured our Heavenly Father is '* faithful 
 and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us 
 from all unrighteousness ; " that " if any man 
 sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
 Christ, the Righteous ; " and that he is the pro- 
 pitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but 
 also for the sins of the whole world. In dealing 
 with such cases, St. Paul gave this direction : 
 *' Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye 
 who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit 
 of meekness ; considering thyself, lest thou also 
 be tempted." 
 
 While absolute perfection of conduct or char- 
 acter may not be attained or attainable by any 
 person in this life, experience has shown that 
 none can really believe the doctrines which 
 Christ taught, and in any degree really love 
 Him, the God-man, the Divine Messenger of 
 Love, without being in some measure influenced 
 by their faith in Him, and manifesting in their 
 lives and character something of the Christian 
 spirit. Love to God and to Christ the Son, 
 begets likeness to the character which God ap- 
 proves and Christ exemplified ; and, though a 
 Christian may not be perfect, his efforts are in 
 the direction of perfection. It is a matter of 
 
I 
 
 22 
 
 1S,kfvi*tianHti, 
 
 certain fact that millions have loved, and mil- 
 lions are loving, the Father and Son sufficiently 
 to strive with all their hearts to conform them- 
 selves (by God's grace) to all Christ's teachings ; 
 and that multitudes in all ages have demonstrated 
 the power of Christianity over the heart and con- 
 duct by enduring for its sake the greatest pos- 
 sible hardships, sacrifices and sufferings. It is 
 interesting to note that every form of Christianity 
 has had its martyrs for the sake of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 As to Christianity being a hindrance to the 
 well-being of the race, as some allow themselves 
 to think or say, the proposition sounds supremely 
 absurd to most men of fair minds, whether they 
 are Christians or not. Thomas Carlyle did not 
 believe in Christianity as a revealed and super- 
 natural religion; but he said of it: *'The 
 Christian religion must ever be regarded as the 
 crowning glory, or, rather, the life and soul, of 
 our whole modern culture." So Matthew Ar- 
 nold, though very far from being an orthodox 
 Christian, had such words as these to say of the 
 Christian religion and its influence : " Men are 
 not mistaken in thinking that Christianity has 
 done them good, [are not mistaken] in loving it, 
 in wishing to listen to those who will talk to 
 them about what they love, and (they) will talk 
 of it with admiration and gratitude. . . . Chris- 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
' 
 
 anh it* ||(nfltt«nc9* 23 
 
 tianity is truly . . . the greatest and happiest 
 stroke ever yet made for human perfection. Men 
 do not err, they are on firm ground of experience, 
 when they say that they have practically found 
 Christianity to be something incomparably bene- 
 ficent." 
 
 Then again, Mr. Lecky, the rationalist his- 
 torian, recently elected to the British House of 
 Commons as member for the University of Dub- 
 lin, has these observations: ** Christianity, the 
 life of morality, the basis of civilization, has re- 
 generated the world." **It (the Christian reli- 
 gion) softens the character, purifies and directs 
 the imagination, blends insensibly with habitual 
 modes of thought, and, without revolutionizing, 
 gives a tone and bias to all forms of action." 
 *'As a matter of fact, Christianity has done 
 more to quicken the affections of mankind, to 
 create a pure and merciful idea, than any other 
 influence that has ever acted upon the world." 
 *• The great chari*neristic of Christianity is that 
 it has been the main source of the moral develop- 
 ment of Europe, and that it has discharged this 
 office, not so much by the inculcation of a sys- 
 tem of ethics, however pure, as by the assimila- 
 ting and attractive influence of a perfect ideal. 
 The moral progress of mankind can never cease 
 to be distinctively and intensely Christian as 
 long as it consists of a gradual approximation 
 
a4 
 
 <ID^H«t{att{tt|, 
 
 to the character of the Christian Founder. There 
 is, indeed, nothing more wonderfu! in the his- 
 tory of the human race than the way in which 
 that ideal has traversed the lapse of ages, ac- 
 quiring new^ strength and beauty with each ad- 
 vance of civilization, and infusing its beneficent 
 influence into every sphere of thought and ac- 
 tion." 
 
 No ; the Christianity of the Bible is no hin- 
 drance to humanity or human progress ; it is the 
 intensely opposite of a hindrance ; it is a mighty 
 power, the mightiest of all powers, for purifying 
 and humanizing and civilizing, as well as for 
 preparing for the blessedness of an immortal life 
 in heaven. 
 
 In view of these considerations, if Christianity 
 were not true, a lover of his race might well regret 
 with all his heart that it is not true ; but a can- 
 did, intelligent examination of its evidences satis- 
 fies most enquirers that Christianity is true. If 
 any of you think at present that these evidences 
 do not demonstrate its truth, let it be remembered 
 that many learned men and good men have 
 thought, and still think, the demonstration 
 ample. But what if the evidences amount to a 
 greater or less degree of probability only ? Do 
 not throw away your faith on that account. 
 There is no young man or woman, no man or 
 woman young or old, who does not believe, and 
 
 I 
 
 
T 
 
 atth tt» Dtnfluntte* 
 
 H 
 
 t 
 
 * 
 
 rightly believe, a hundred things on grounds of 
 probability, which, to say the least, are in^rior 
 to those probabilities that favor Christianity. 
 Why is any young man unwilling to believe in 
 Christianity on like probable evidence? Why 
 does he allow himself to treat as nothing the 
 testimony which there is in its favor, wheth- 
 er in his opinion such evidence amounts to 
 demonstration or not? Why should he stum- 
 ble at some supposed difficulty, in the evi- 
 dence or otherwise, for which he cannot find 
 what may seem to him a satisfactory solution ? 
 There are difficulties in everything. There are 
 difficulties and mysteries in every branch of 
 science ; in every department of nature ; in the 
 functions of our bodies ; in the workings of our 
 minds. Even in mathematics, the science of de- 
 monstration, there are things which are true and 
 yet incomprehensible. What though there are 
 difficulties and mysteries in Christianity also? 
 If it presents difficulties and mysteries, consider 
 also what the evidences are in its favor. Let 
 these be studied and weighed. Its proofs are 
 many and various. Among Christians who 
 have examined them, some are more impressed 
 with one line of evidence and some with another. 
 In an address which I delivered elsewhere some 
 time ago, and which was afterwards published, 
 I gave a summary of the proofs which were 
 
26 
 
 iS,}jvi»tiattiiitt 
 
 then most satisfactory to my own mind. Others 
 may prefer some of the other proofs which pub- 
 lished treatises supply. It is only necessary 
 that every man should be fully persuaded in his 
 own mind. 
 
 As the conclusion of the whole matter, my 
 sisters and brothers, I exhort you, being as a 
 layman one of yourselves, that you hold fast the 
 Christian faith as being a faith necessary and 
 good for both worlds ; for this world, as we 
 know ; and for the next world, as for strong rea- 
 sons, and in common with a multitude of the 
 world's greatest thinkers and best men and wo- 
 men, we heartily believe. Hold fast to the 
 Christian faith, as good for yourselves, good for 
 those whom you love, and good for those whom 
 from time to time you may influence. Above all, 
 hold fast to your Christian faith from gratitude 
 and love to the loving Father and God of all, 
 and to His loving Son, who from love laid 
 down his life for us. 
 
 My sisters and brothers, think on these things ; 
 and may the Spirit of the Eternal Father have 
 His abode in your minds and hearts forever. 
 
 i 
 
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