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CHRISTIANITY AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES, POPULARLY STATED. ail a56rc33 HV SIR OLIVKK MO WAT. iuilisljti) tj a^ufst HfElF EDITION, RE VISED WITir AN EM.ARCEII AI'PKNDIX ..VTA,N,N„ EXTRACTS ,.«n„ A .U,»E.,UFNT I.KCTUKK, A»„ K,at,.TR:a>, ANU UIHKK NHTKs, TORONTO WILLIAM BR IGGS 1901 11 D- '.^i CHRISTIANITY AND SOME OF ITS KVIDENCKS. If Christianity is true, the importance of our accepting it as true is unutterably great. It claims to be a Revelation to us from the Crea- tor and Governor of the Universe, the Supreme God ; through Jesus Christ, described as the Son of God, God's only begotten Son, by whom He made the worlds and all they contain. It tells us that God is our Father, and an infinitely lov- ing Father; that He desires .,ur love and oi'ir happiness; that another life is to follow the tifi which we are living now; that the conditioni'flf each of us after death depends on the chafadWC of his life on earth, and that from love tOi,ijis„|H^' has made to us the Revelation. If what'ii!"tHhS claimed by Christianity is true, our .^qij^^^^ CHRISTIANITY of tlie Revelation is plainly for each of us a matter of the highest possible duty ant! greatest possible interest; ant! not to acce|)t it would be the saddest of all possible mistakes which a man could make against himself, and against loved ones whom his mistake may inducnce. OlCASION Ol- THE I.ECTURK. In early life I siiulji-d ihc Evulcnccs of Christianity very carnt-slly, and with all the caru uf which I was capable, and came to the conclusion that Christianity was no cunningly de- vised fahle, but was very truth. Since then much has been thought and written on !> ah sides of the i|uestion ; many anti- Christian publications for the learned and many for the un- learned have issued from the press, and been extensively circulated ; many seculaf newspapers and magazines, on l»th sides of the Atlantic, contain from lime to time articles or para- graphs referring to Christian iloctrines in an anti-Christian spirit, or treating Christianity itself as an exploded fable. I therefore became anxious, for my own satisfaction as well as for other reasons, to consider the whole subject anew, before my intel- lectual faculties should l>egin to show diminished vigor, id with whatever advantage half a century of mental training in («* discharge of judicial, professional, legislative and public d,>t|ies might have given to me. On so momentous a subject it is most important to know, as far as one can know, the exact truth, AlMat. be in a position to give a reason for his faith. Having ip^j.^me progress in this new .restigalion before leaving hoine in 1890 with my family for a few weeks of rest and fttilp(!t«tion among the mountains of New Hampshire, I took WlKf^'i^JP""'!"-'"" of uiy books, in order that in i|uiet there I might continue the study. My plan in reading was, to make ailH*«KWPnotes of statements and |»iius, pro and con, which 6 AND SOAfK OF ITS F.VIDENCES. 1 lli.iUKhl deserved cjr denianihd .special reiiienilirunce iir further tliimjjht. Il was cusluinary at the hc.tel to have an afterm«in Sunday service for tlie quests and eui|iloyees. This service liad usually been eunducled In a ilistinf;uisheil clergyman from U'ashingtcm, the principal of Howard University. ( )n the last Sahbalh of my .sojourn the learned iloctor had lieen unexpect- edly called away to preach elsewhere, and the inanajjer of the hotel rec|ue.sted one or -clay ; never a time in which there were s,. many Christian churches, or in which the churches had ,so iar,^e a membership ; never a t.mc in which there was m,.re activitv in Chnsfan work ; never a time in which the 'con- tnbutions to Christian objects at horre and abroad were so hberal; never a time in which there were so many true and earnest behevcrs • an- the Chris- tian system or by Christian doctrine. Chris- tianity, however, adds other considerations infinitely more powerful. Of these others one I'KCULIAR TO CHKISTIANITV is its Founder— is Jesus himself, His I'erson, His Life, and His Spirit, as all these art depicted in the Gospels. In Christian doctrine. He is the great central ,ruth, the great central fact, the fact of fact.s. Faith in His teachings ; faith in His own relation to those teachings; faith in Him as the truest, and best, and dearest of friends ; faith that He knew all He claimed to 14 WA/> SUA/E or ITS EVIDENCES. W. and . ii,, all , he Gos,.ls say He .lu,, ..,,,, "'■'t lie was ar,yo and love; who is One with the Kather, and w.tl. whom, and with the Ivuher. those who be- l.cve. and trust, and love, and serve, mav here- after .l.ell everlastinfjly-this faith workelh i„ tl.o world by love; is fruitful in rif,ht.livin,. and ">a .ood works; ,ives •• victory over the "oHd ; and (according, to ev.,,.elicaldoc,rineJ justifies, sanctifies and saves. It /s matter alike of Christian doj^na and of actual e,p,,wc„ce that to love Jesus, the Son „f God. ,s to love God the Father, and to love ,nc„' -crywherc, and to be ea,er to do ,ood. The -I.B.o„ of Jesus is shown by ex-.K-rience to be adapted to every race, civilised and uncivil- .-d, and to every class and condition of men -crywhere. J-us has had, and still has, those "1- love and obey Him amongst men i„ every stajje both of civilisation and barbarism, and in -cry part of the world ; amongst men of the ^ 13 CHRISTIANITY mightiest intellect and of the lowest ; amongst men of the highest culture, and of the lowest culture ; and amongst men who had previously been flagrant sinners, as well as amongst those who had always lived decent lives. Even unbe- lievers in Him as a superhuman person bow down to Him as a man of surpassing spiritual and moral excellences, and of surpassing genius also. Whatever unbelievers may stjmetimes say against the churches or their creeds, their minis- ters or their members, few of such non-Christians have anything to say against the great and good Founder of Christianity. On the contrary, of Him they feel constrained to declare with Pilate, " I find no fault in this man." Many of them admit that He was the one perfect man of the human race. Christians believe that, being so Great, and Good, and being in all respects Per- fect, He was more than man ; that He was the Lord from Heaven. On these points I shall say more hereafter. The beneficial effect of His religion on those who receive it is beyond question. It is within the personal knowledge of every observer that the best characters are made still better b}- it, 16 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. and that many who were sunk in vice and degradation liave been reformed and regene- rated by its influence Examples of this abound .n the history of all Christian churches, and of all s<.cietics established for the propagation of the Christian faith. Many such cases have occurred under the influence of the religious organizations of recent origin, as well as those of older date; of, for example. Young Men's Christian Associations, Societies of Christian Endeavor, the Salvation Army, and the like. As to the Salvation Army, many of its officers and leaders are inferior in culture to the clergy of the various denominations, and yet they have had wonderful success ; they make up for in- feriority of culture by their strong faith in the Christian doctrines and their deep love for the Father and the Son and for all the Father loves. This faith and this love have in all ages and amongst all peoples been the most effective vyeapons-the Armstrong guns and Lee-Metford rifles— in the warfare again.st unrighteousness. Can it be that this mighty power for good which has been active for more than nineteen centuries, rests on mere fable, and must be 17 CHRISTIANITY given up? In that question all of us arc mightily concerned. NATUKK OK TIIK CIIKrSTIAN EVIDENCES. The cviflenc -, of Christianity are of many kinds, such as— (i) antecedent prophecies claimed to have been fulfilled in Christ and sub- sequent history ; (2) miracles claimed to have been wrought by Christ and His Apostles ; (3) the character of the teachings of Christ in con- nection with the life He lived, the death He died, and His resurrection from the dead, as together showing Him to be Divine; (4) the general suitability of His religion to the circum- stances and needs of human nature everywhere; (5) the active and successful propagation of His religion after His death under circumstances which could not have been overcome as the>' were if the religion had not been true ; (6) the witness of the Spirit in the heart of the indi- vidual Chri.stian, according to the saying of Jesus as given by the Apostle John : " If any man will do his will, he .shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from my.sclf " ; and (7) some other con- 18 AND SOA/E OF ITS EVIDENCES. sideration.s which may not come uiulcr aii)' of these heads. I can refer to some only of these evidences, and to any but very briefly ; the Hteratiire on the subject would fill a large library; and anythin<7 like an adequate pre- sentation at the present day of all the known evidences would require many volumes. I shall select for my present statement some of those arguments which just now impress most strongly my own mind, and shall notice two or three of the principal difficulties which some- times give uneasiness to inquirers. It is a matter of common observation that, where there is not son.o familiarity with the grounds of an intelligent faith, the faith of edu- cation is apt to be disturbed, and doubts are created by objections which would otherwise have no force. It is with honest doubters, and honest unbelievers, among ordinary intelligent people, that my lecture has to do. In my recent readings on the subject, I found that, on the one hand. Christian apologists admit error in .some of the positions of former apologists ; and, on the other hand, some posi- tions formerly taken by anti-Christian writers 19 CHRISTIANITY are to all intents and purposes abandoned now, except by the most unsrrupuloiis or most pre- judiced ; and some material things in the Chris- tian argument formerly controverted are now admitted by candid non-Christian or unortho- dox critics. I shall state first what some of the things are which opponents of Christianity now admit, and which an ordinary inquirer may reasonablj- begin his own investigations by assuming to be correct. We need not imagine that such men, with all their great learning and ability, and not- with.standing their antagonism to Christianity, have deliberately admitted in its favor more than our own candid study would show to be correct. Secondly: I shall mention other facts, or alleged facts, which are not admitted by non- Christian critics ; and I shall give you some of the evidences on which these unadmitted facts may be maintained. In regard to unadmitted facts, the principal difference between Christian critics and non-Christian critics is as to the mir- acles, and especially as to the great miracle of the Resurrection of Christ. Some anti-Christian 20 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. critics sa>- that miracles cannot be true, and are not provable by the amount or kind of evidence which mijfht be sufficient in the case of facts or alleged facts not miraculous ; and it is averred that the evidence offered for the Christian view- does not amount to demonstration. I shall state hereafter some of the grounds on which Christian writers support their view of these anti-Christian propositions. It will be convenient to give you, first, the testimony of modern sceptics (or Agnostics, or unbelievers) of eminence as regards the facts of Christianity in the early centuries, and as regards the genius of its Founder, as these matters have appeared to candid inquirers who yet do not believe in anything supernatural. Later on I sliall give you the testimony of heathens and Jews of the first and second centuries. After knowing all these testimonies you will see what remains really in dispute. \VH.\T orrONENTS ADMIT. On the first point, I shall give you at the start, as a fair summary of facts, two or three 21 CHRliiTIANlTY sentences from the article "Jesus Christ ■' i„ the ast edition of that fjreat work, the Knc^xlopx-dia "ntannica: '• Fro.n the scanty notices of heathens even, ue can de.ive a confirmation of the main external facts in the life of Ch.ist Hi. trades, His parables, His crucifixion, and His cla,m to Divine honor; the devotion, the inno- cence, the heroic constancy and mutual affection of H,s followers, an SOME >/•• /7-.S- FA'WFNCES. and aftc ards shall .sa>. .s,.,nethi„s "f the testi- mnny „f heathens and Jews. 'i-he ureat A'.,pokou was a sceptic, if not worse, as was nearly all France in his time. ,„ "■-.s place of banishment from Europe, speakin-. about Christ to one of his attendants, he is re- ported to have made these observations • " He tucen Him and ,vhoever else in the world there ■s no possible term of comparison. I know men, and Jesus Christ is not a man There is between Christ and all other religions whatsoever the di.stance of infinity ; from the first day to the la.st He is the same, always the same, majestic and simple, infinitclj- firm and infinitely gentle." Rousseau, an infidel of the French revolution ■n the eighteenth century, said, through a ficti- tious character believed to have been expressing the author's own sentiments: "If the life and death of Socrates are those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus are those of a God ; " words not, of course, implying that Rousseau believed Jesus to be God in the Christian .sense. M. Renau. a distinguished French infidel writer, recently deceased, whose books have 23 CHRISTIAMTY boon translated into Kn^lish and other lan- guages, and have been largely circulated in Kurope and America, said these things of our Lord : "Jesus is unique in everything. Nothing can be compared to him. . . . He is the incomparable man to whom the universal con- science has decreed the title of the Son of God. . . The evangelical Christ is the most beautiful incarnation of God in the most beautiful of forms — which is moral man — God in man. . . . His beauty is eternal ; His reign will have no end." Jesus is " the indi- vidual who has made the jccies take the greatest step toward the Divine." Strauss, the great German sceptic (also now deceased), spoke of Jesus as the highest object wc can possibly imagine with respect to rcl'gion, the being without whose presence in the mind perfect piety is impossible. Again, he said : " In all those natures which were onl)- purified b)- struggles and violent disruptions (think only of a Paul, an Augu.stine, a Luther), the shadowy color of this remains forever, and something hard atid gloomy clings to them all their lives ; but of this in Jesus no trace is found." 24 AX/> SOAf/C or ITS EVH)RNCr.S. Professor Huxley, the great scientist and a^;- nostic (lately deceased J, in a description of what he called the " brij;ht sde of Christianity," spolce of Jesus as "that ideal of manhood— with its strength and iiatience, its justice, and its pit)- for human frailty ; its helpfulness, to the extreme of self-sacrifice; its ethical purity and nobility— which Apostles have pictured, in ...ich armies of martjTS have placed their unshakable faith, and whence obscure men and women have derived the courage to rebuke Topes and Kings."* Mr. Leckji, the well-known rational historian, rejects the superhuman part of Christianity, and gives, notwithstanding, this nccount of our Lord : " It was reserved for Christianit)- to |)resent to the world an ideal character which, through all the changes of eighteen centuries, has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love ; has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments and conditions ; has been not only the highest pattern of virtue, but the •ScL- arlick- in Aiiiele,iilli Cnil-.iry, reprinli.'d in I'ofiihir Santa- MmlJily, \o\. 34, p. 772, No cm her, iSSS, to May, 1889. CHRISTIANITY stronKCSt incentive to its practice ; and has ex- ercised so deep an influence tiiat it may be truly said, the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to re(,'encrate and to soften mankind than all the dis(|ulsitions of phil- osophers and all the exhortations of moralists." Ayain, the late John Stuart Mill, the author of most learned and able works on lojjic, politi- cal economy and other subjects, was one of the most astute of modern unbelievers in super- natural Christianity ; yet, in his " Essays on Religion," published after his death, he speaks of "the beauty, and benignity, and moral great- ness which so eminently distinguished the say- ings and character of Christ." Again, he speaks of " the most valuable part of tho effect on char- acter which Christianity has produced " as being its " holding up in a divine person a standard of excellence and a model for imitation"; that this " can never more be lost to humanity " ; that " it is the God incarnate " who " has taken .so great and salutary a hold on modern minds." Again, " Whatever else may be taken away from us by rational criticism, Christ is still left, a unique figure, not more unlike his precursors AND SOME OF ITS EVIHENCRS. th.-iii all his fi)ll()\vcrs, cvi'ii those who liad the (h'rect benefit of his [x;rson.-il teaching'. . . , About the life and sayinj^'s of Jesus there is a stamp of personal originality, combined with profundit)' of insif^ht, which . . . must place the Prophet of Nazareth— even in the Ixrlief of those who have no belief in his inspiration — in the very first rank of men of sublime (genius of whom our species can boast." The learnetl writer ^'oes on to say that in Christ " |>re-eminent genius is combined with the (lualities of probably the greatest moral reformer and martyr to that mission who ever existed upon earth"; and he adds, that it " would not be easy for an unbe- liever to find a better translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract into the concrete than to endeavor so to live tha' Christ would approve our life." One more quotation to the same effect will be my last iiere. This is from another author, who.se work, entitled " Supernatural Religion," is one of the fullest, most elaborate and learned works of English authorship which have yet appeared against Christianity as a revealed and supernatural religion : 27 CHKISTIAMt y "'I'lic tuuchiiiK (.f Jesus carried iticrality tn the .-ubiiinest |«,iiit attaint I, cr even attainable, by humanity. The innuent- of his spiritual religion has been rendered doubly ^-reat by the unparalleled purity and elevation of his .,wn character. Surpassinj; in his sublime simplicit) arul earnestness the moral grandeur of Sak)a Mouni (Huddha), and putting to the blush the somewhat sullied, thouuh Ki--'K'rall>' admirable, teachin- of Socrates and I'lato, and the whole round of Greek philosophers, he presented the rare spectacle of a life, so far as we can estimate it, uniformly noble and consistent .■ ith \\\'- h.fty principles ; so that the • imitation of Christ ' has become almost the final word in the preaching of his religion, and must continue to be one of the most powerful elements of its performance. His system mis,'ht not be new, but it was in a high sen.se the perfect development of natural morality ; and it was final in this resj-ect among others, that, superseding codes of law and elabo- rate rules of life, it confined itself to two funda- mental principles: love to God and love to man. Whilst all previous systems had merely sought to purify the stream, it demanded the as AND SOME »/■■ /IS i:v/i)/:mci:s. IHiiification of tlic fcmiit.iiii. It pliux-d tin- evil llii)ii^;lit (PI) a par with the evil attiiui, Siicli morality, based iipon the iiitelli^;ent and earnest acceptance of divine law and |)erfect retomiition of the brotherhood of man, is the hi^diest con- ceivable by lunnanit)-; and, althou^di its [xiwer and influence must au(,'ment with the increase of enlightenment, it is itself beyond develop- ment, consisting as it does of principles unlimited ill their ranj^e, and inexhaustible in their appli- cation." It is of our Jesus, and of the KehY;iou ,ihich He founded, that all these thiii^js ;ire said by men who, on crit'':,ii i;iounds or because they disbelieve all miracles, do not .-iccept Chris- tianity as a revealed supernatural reh'tjion. It would not 1)0 easy for Christian writers, speak- in^j from the human standpoint, to find stronj^'er thinjjs to say for the Saviour they love than have been said by the eminent men whose lan^'uage I have (luoted. WHAT (JTIir.K I.KADINC lACTS ADMITTKI i. Call to mind here some of the leadii,^ facts which, in view of what distinguished unbelievers •20 CHRISTIAMJY have thus said or admitted, as nell as o„ other ,.ou„d,s, may „o. be assumed as bc>..: reasonable controversy, and whether Jesus J asupeumanpersonornot. These idmit^ fac. have an .mportant bearing on the question of H,s havms had a Divine mission Jesus u-as certainly an historical person of tl, p<;aneged. Hewasaje.. „,;::: : Joseph, h,s reputed father, were Jews. Jos 1 Jesus „as born ma stable, and a manger was '-eradle. His education was such as - 7"^- "'^ "•"'■'^ed at the trade of a car Penter until about thirty years of age. when I" entere^ on his public ministo-. Fro^ ..a:; ' he had no home of his own; as he himself sa,d ^ej.^hdb„,,,„,^„^^^^^^^^^_^^^^^a^ "-ts, but he had not where to lay his head H.n,m,stry lasted for three years, during wh,^h ^-e he went about preaching and teach ngw! Gospel, and healing, somehow, all manner o people. Our Scr.pture record declares that AAD SOME OF ITS EVIDEXCES. 'ro:n tinu t' time "they broujjht unto him all :'.;k people ihat were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them." LEADINt; ClIAKACTEKISTICS Ol CIIKIST. Further, this young Jew was confessedly an extraordinary and wonderful man, so far as he was a man ; he was wonderful for his intel- lectual gifts ; he was a man of ' profound in- sight,' of ' pre-eminent' and 'sublime genius.' He was wonderful also, according to the same admissions, for the lofty moral and religious standard which he inculcated, and which he c.\empliiied in his own life— a .standard far in advance of the orthodox and popular teachings of his day. He was, as one or other of the same men has said, the highest possible 'ideal of manhood ' ; always ' majestic and simjjle ; in- finitely firm and infinitely gentle ' ; unsurpa.s.sed in ' his sublime simplicity and earnestness ' ; a man of 'unparalleled purity and elevation of character'; who.se 'life was uniformly noble and consistent with his lofty principles ' ; the 3 31 CHRISTIANITY grandest of all known men of the human race in all time; 'the greatest moral reformer who ever existed on earth ' ; ' the individual who has made the species take the greatest step towards the divine'; a man 'between whom and any one else in the world there is no possible term of comparisoiT'; 'that he was unique in every- thing ■ ; that ' nothing can be compared to him.' In brief, that he was 'the most beautiful incar- nation of God, in the most beautiful of forms' : that his 'life and death were those of a God.' Such are some of the very expressions of some of the most distinguished adversaries of Chris- tianity as a Supernatural Religion. It is further admitted by adversaries of Chris- tianity to be reasonably certain, that during the three years of his public life Jesus was a doer of wonders of some kind ; if not miracles, seeming miracles ; and that these wonders or miracles had considerable prominence in his life. Even such an unbeliever in the superhuman as Renan allowed this, and spoke of Jesus as a thauma- turgist or wonderworker. The man of whom such were the leading characteristics, as practically admitted by reprc- .12 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. sentative unbelievers and as depicted in the Gospels, may be described further as beyond doubt one who loved all good supremely and intensely ; loved God the I-'ather supremely and intensely ; and was intensely anxious that all should love God as he himself did ; and should love all men ; that all should love all good as he did ; and that all should in their several places consecrate themselves tcj the loving service of God and the well-being of one another. While Jesus loved all men, the poor amongst them were objects of his special sym- pathy ; as were the lame, the blind, the paralytic, and all sufferers, of whatever kind their sufferings. THE lord's I'EKSONAL TEACHINGS. Again, it is not disputed that the leiding pur- pose in Christ's earthly life, or in that portion of it of which we have a record, was to instruct men as to the will of God and the way to Heaven ; to make men to be in this life good and just and merciful ; beneficent and loving to one another in all the relations of life ; and reverent, loving and obedient toward the .33 CHRISTIANITY Almighty God, whom he represented t.. be a^holyGod of infinite mercy and loving kind- It is recorded also in the Gospels that in all h.s teachmgs he spoke as having authority and not as the Scribes-'; that he taught as f better than Scribes or any others, he knew .hat' the W.I1 of God was, knew the mysteries of the K.ngdorn of Heaven, and kne,v the truth on every subject to be what he taught. He rcco.- n.zed the sacred writings of his nation as having just authority; and, according to the Christian records, he announced that he had not come to destroy the teachings of the Law and the Irophets^ but to fulfil them as he interpreted them^ But he insisted that the Ia^. for a,en as mtended by the sacred writings had in :,.„or ta.n respects been made void by traditions to wh,ch ecclesiastical authority and popular belief wrongly ascribed an authority equal or superior to that of Scripture. The lowly young carpenter den,ed to the traditions any authority whatever He h,mself taught a. still higher n^orality than Moses had taught, or was interpreted in that day as having taught ; and he insisted with 34 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. emphasis that this higher morah'ty was needed ill order to obuin the favor of the loving God and the blessings of the life to come. He emphasized the Old Testament teaching which declared that God was a God to be loved by those who knew Him, and to be so loved with all the heart and soul and mind and strength. He .spok-e of Him lovitigly as Father, as liis Father, and as the Father of those he addressed: "your Father." He .spoke of Him as a God who loves men, all men, and not good men only. He pointed out that God causes tnc rain to fall on the evil and the good, on the just and the unjust. So on the very day of Christ's trial Peter denied his Master with curs- ing, and yet, repenting, he was loved and hon- ored to the end o( life. Paul in his early life had persecuted Christians, and yet, becoming a Chri.,tian, he was loved and honored to the end by the Father and the Son. The heart of the thief on the cross had not turned to Christ until perhr^s the last day of his life, but, according to St. Lukes Gospel, he then received the assur- ance that that night he would be with Christ in Paradise. 35 CHRISTIANITY CHRISTIAN DUTIES. Further, Jesus taught mer to live for the life to come, which is eternal, instead of livinjr ex- clusively or chiefly for the life which is now, and which, with all its attractions, is short and fleeting. " Lay not up for yourselves," he said, " treasures upon earth, where moth and rust rlo corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal ; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rusi , loth cor- rupt, and where thieves do not break through or steal." Hut it clearly enough appears he did not mean that we should neglect earthly things ; quite the contrary. Every doctrine in relation to the future life he used to promote virtue and goodness in the life which is now. He taught the duty of, in all respects, doing God's will. He taught that it was the doer of God's will who would enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and that every doer of the Father's will was (touching assurance) Christ's own brother and sister and mother. The n .es he gave as being the will of God for human conduct were such as these : All things whatsoever ye would 36 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. that men should do to you, even so do ye also unto them. Love n(Jt only those who love ^ ou, but love also your enemies, do jjootl e\ n to them that hate you, bless them that curse you. Me taught that wc are to fulfil all our duties as unto God, and that all {rood done to men is accepted by God, and rewarded by Him, as if done to God himself He taught further that the principle of duty lies in the heart, and that dut>' does not consist in merel)- outward con- duct ; that the heart is to be for God and good- ness ; and that where the heart is far from Him, worship is in vain. Evil thoughts and desires are to be put away ; evil thoughts beget evil deeds. He further taught that without this goodness soundness of faith was not sufficient, nor were even the possession and exercise of supernatural gifts. "By their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that .saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will saj' to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Thy name " [as the revised version has it], " and by Thy name CHKISTIANITV cast out .Icvils, and hy Th>- n.unc <1„ ma>ij- >niKht>- works ? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you : depart from me, ye that Work ini(iuit>-," In an account which He gave of the Day of Jud-ment, the characteristics which distip-nish the two classes of mankind He declared to be, that i)crsons of the one class were kind '■ to' these my brethren," and the other had shown no such kindness. Givin- •' t<, one of these my brethren" meat when he was hungry, drink ^vhen he was thirsty, hospitality when he was a stranger, clothing when he was naked, or visit- ing him when he was in prison— every such kindness nas the same, he said, as if rendered to the Judge, even to Christ himself; "Inas- much as you did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it to me." Or, " Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." To the former class would be given eternal life, and for the latter there was to be condign punishment. Such, as you know, were some of His teach- ings as set forth in the Gospels. The effect of these teachings on Christians was wonderful to 38 AND SOMK or ITS KVinKNCES. non-C'liristians, aiul called forth from them at an early pcri.id the testimony, "How these Christians love one another!" If evil has sometimes been done, or is some- times (lone still, in the name of Christianity, this has plainl>' been in spite of the teachings and example and spirit of the Master. The devil sows his tares among the wheat ; but the fields would be all tares if Christ had sown no wheat, Some infidel writers dwell on the evil which was tlone in ages past, and is done at the present day by professed believers, in spite of the Master's teachings, example and spirit, as if the evil were the proper fruit of the holy teach- ings and example— an argument which is ab ,ird and ought to deceive no one. COMMON TO ALL CHURCHES. These teachings of our Lord, and other im- portant facts and doctrines of Christianity, arc recognized by all Protestants, and by all others professing in any manner the Christian name, including the churches between which and our own the differences in other respects are very great, as in the rase ,..orto„,u.;c.vc.r>.,.„..sp.tl<- '"V '/"'''■ ""'"''"''''^ ''-''- hurt. No >'"f-thfulnoss i„ p„b,i, t,,,,, „^ ,, ^^^,^._^^^_ tri-sts. Rich ,ncn rich in ^r„,„, „,„k,. ^o Unmhn,. of th. poor; ,., jealousv of .,,0 -ealthy, K,nploy..s just and considerate to the employed; the e,.,.oye.l faithful to their -n|>l..ycrs; a fair days work receiving, every- -here a fair day's .a,e. Xo strikes, and no occas,on for the.n. No false Heights and no fa.se measures. Xo bad wa.es, and no bad :":'• '^'•"-"""ht-.rs, and no dishonest ^i'^btor.s. No crime; no vice. No over-reach- ■ng ; no cheating, in a horse tra.le or any other trade. No one .seeking an unjust advantage of any kmd over another, any more than he would over h,s father or his mother, or his brotlier or h's s.stcr, or his child. All husbands lovin-. their -'ves; all wives loving their husbands; all ch - is far from being reached yet; the world stiU abounds in selfishness, and cruelt)-, and all manner of wickedness; but Christian churches Christian Societies, and Christian .nen and' women, are workins,^ in all lands for the Dume cause, heartily and hopefully, never more so, and continued progress is being made towards the glorious goal. Greater pro- gress has not been made in any century i„ the world's history than in the nineteenth. 43 CHRISTIANITY THE END OF CHRIST'S LIKE AND WHAT FOLLOWED. Let me state now a few more of the historical facts which are not matters of controversy : The teachings of Jesus, His exposure of the falseness and hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees, the works He did, and especially His claim to Divine authority, excited enmity and persecution on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities of His nation and others. During the greater part of His ministry He was attended from place to place by twelve of His early con- verts ; and these during His ministry saw what He did, heard what He taught, received from Him special instructions, and assisted Him in His work of love. All of them belonged to His own apparent class. After a ministry of three years He was betrayed by one of these twelve, at the instance of the ecclesiastical authorities' whom His teaching had offended ; and, through their influence with the Roman Governor of Judea, He was arrested, and was on the same day condemned and put to death, and to one of the most agonizing of slow deaths— death by crucifixion. It is certain, further, that His 44 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. apostles and other disciples believed that, after being dead, He came to life again ; and it -s clear that their faith in this was intense. Of this I am to say more hereafter. All that I have so far related respecting the life and teachings and death of Christ we may safely take as strictly historical facts, and as so clear and certain that they are in substance and effect admitted by candid critics who, notwith- standing, do not admit the supernatural element in Christianity. THE SECOND PART OF THE LECTUKE-JESUS A DIVINE I'ER.SON. I come now to the second part of my subject and shall mention some of the proofs of material facts not so admitted, and some of the other reasons there are for believing that this excep- tional man Christ Jesus was not a mere man however great and good, but was more, was J Divme Person, a Messenger to us from the other world, and from the Supreme God there. CI^,as pict>- was then understood among Jews of the strictest sort. He was a contcmporarj- of Jesus, though he had not .seen the Lord before the Lord's resurrection and ascension. I'aul had access to all that could be said against Chris- tianit)-, or against the fact of the resurrection of Jesus, if anything in those days could be said. He had also been deeply prejudiced against the new religion, and in favor of the Jewish, in which he had been educated, as it was taught and held by the priests and Pharisees. In con- sequence of his Jewish belief he was at first an active persecutor of Christians. Afterwards he became a' convert to Christianity, a believer in Jesus, in his teachings, his Divine authority, his as CllKISriANlTV resurrection and his holy and loving character ; and he became such a believer in the deeix-st sense. His writings, as well as all our other information, show that after his conversion, and for the remainder of his life, he was an enthusi- astic lover of the crucified One, an enthusiastic promulgator of his doctrines, an untiring teacher ,,f the Gospel of love-love to God, love to Christ, and love to men. To this work he devoted him.self with joy and boundless zeal for the remaining thirty years of his life, and therein K'adly endured the loss of all earthly good, bore unspeakable suffering, and finally died a martyr's death. It is impo.ssible under the.se circumstances to doubt Paul's honesty ; and it is difficult to see how such a man could be deceived as to the essential facts on which was based the religion to which he had been con- verted, and to which with so perfect a faith he devoted himself, sacrificing for its .sake all carthl>- advantages and comforts. He was so sure of uie fact of Christ's resurrection, and so sure of Christ's teachings, that he regarded noth- ing else to be worth a thought. He thus sum- marized some of his labors up to the time of his 54 AND SOME OF /rs EVIPENCES. writing, in answering those wh.. had ch-sputcd «..mc of his teachings : ■• Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more ; in labors more abundantly, in stripes above' measure, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I fortj- stri,«s save one ; thrice was I beaten «ith rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck ; a day and a night have I been m the deep ; in j.3urncyings often ; in perils of rivers ; in perils of robbers ; in perils from my countrymen ; in perils from th.- Gen- tiles ; in perils in the city ; in perils in the wilderness ; in perils in the sea ; in perils among false brethren ; in labor and travail ; in watch- mgs often ; in hunger and thirst ; in fastings often ; in cold and nakedness." (2 Cor 1 1 • 23-2-.) In like manner the apostles of the Lord who had personal knowledge of the resurrection and of other marks of Divine authority which Jesus displayed, abandoned every earthly object endured many .severe sufferings, and most of them a martyr's death. Other early Christians, who were not them- sei.es personal acquaintances of Jesus, believed S5 CHRISTIAMTY with equal faith, and showed the strength of their faith by the same demonstrative evi.lence. Among these also were some men of fjreat in- telhgence, ability and culture. It is thus a ()erfectly certain historical truth that the (Jreat Miracle of the Resurrection of Christ was believed by many contemporaries of our Lord who had the best means of knowing or ascertaining; the truth ; that they believed, and avowed their belief, ajjainst cverj- earthl>- motive for not believintjor avowing their belief; and that the Great Miracle was believed also by increasing numbers in the ^fenerations which followed. If Jesus really rose from the dead, as was thus believed, nothing more can be needed to demand the acceptance of what He taught ; and the only remaining question for us all must be, What did He teach ? THE OTHER NEW TESTAMENT MIRACLES Hut the resurrection of Christ, though the greatest, was not the only Christian miracle. Many miracles are claimed to have been per- formed by Jesus and his disciples in his life- S6 AND M.UK OF yrs ht/OE Ac j-.S. time, .u,d by l,is apostles afterwaru . i |,c,e mirarlc. are of ^reat variety, and most of them according, to our records, were performe.l pub- ''cl>' and i„ the presence of foes as well as fr.cnds ; and most of them were not manifcsta- t.ons of power merel)., but were mamTestatinns of bc-„evolcnce and of sympathy with hu.nan suff-ennt' as well. Their chief evidential value now ,.s the support which they j;ive to the crowning .niracle of the resurrection of our Lord. Rational belief in these other miracles prevents any rational difficulty in believing also our Lord's resurrection from the dead, assumirur that there is sufficient proof of such other miracles. The fact that, both during our Lord's life and afterwards, he was *.//«W both by friends and foes to have performed miracles or wonders of some hke kind, is not doubtful, the fact bein- not only so recorded in the Gos,x:ls, but stated also ,n all other narratives of his life which appeared in the first and second centuries, and of which we have any information. The Gospels give the fullest account of these miracles, and, besides recording miracles by our CHRISTIANITY Lord himself, they represent him as having g.ven power to his apostles to work miracles. lh.s ,s the gospel record as to what he said to h.s disciples when he sent them forth in his l.fetime to preach what they had heard from h.m: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils." In connection with the preaching of the apostles after Christ's death, there is the f.llow- ing mformation in our Scriptures: "God also bearing them witness both with signs and won- ders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost." "Many signs and wonders were done by the apostles"; " JJy the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people." ♦ What I say here in regard to these statements of supernatural incidents is, that it is not sup- posable that such statements would have been thus made if when made it was not generally , beheved amongst Christians that miracles were then bemg performed, and had before been 58 ^A^/J SOAf/- OF ITS liVlDENCES. performed, agreeably to these statements. The , ."^^^ '■' "'^^ ™ '■« further show,, by Paul's admmedEpfstles,,Twecanrelyo„ourtran^ t.ons either the authorized or the revised; the fact, I mean, that miracles, or what seemed mira- cles and were believed to be miracles, were then well-known incidents of Christian life. Thus we have m the first epistle to the Corinthian.s, chap •3, these references to them : " To another (are i..ven) the gifts of healing by the .ame Spirit • to another ^he working of miracles God hath set forth in the Church-first, apostles '■ secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers ; after that m.racles, then the gifts of healing," etc. Again ^^Peakmg of himself, there are these statements ."the admitted epistles of the same apo.stle • tor I will not dare to speak of any things save t^ose which Christ wrought through me, for the obed,ence of the Gentiles, by word and deed ■n the power of signs and wonder., in the power' oftheHolyGho.st."(R.V.) " Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you, in all weak- _ness,,ns.gns and wonders and mighty deeds." He therefore that ministereth to you the spirit CHRIST1AN1T\ and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law," etc.* The unbelieving but learned author of "Super- natural Religion," while he disputes the mean- ing of the word " miracle " in regard to these verses, says, " It must not be supposed that we in the slightest degree question the fact that the Apostle Paul believed in the reality of super- natural intervention in mundane affairs, or question that he asserted the actual occurrence of certain miracles." " Nobody impeaches Paul's good sense or honesty." With re«r,ect to the miracles, both of Christ himself ..... his apostles and disciples, there was this only known difference between Chris- tians and non-Christians in the early centuries : Christians ascribed the wonders or miracles to the power of God ; opponents ascribed them to magic, enchantment, satanic influence and the like. This consideration adds strength to the argument that the miracles alleged were actually performed. * 1 Cor. 12:9, 10, II, 12, 28; Kom. 15: iS, 19; Gal. 3:5. 60 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. HEATHEN TESTIMONV. Suetonius, a heathen historian of the first century, described Christians as a " sort of men add.cted to a new and ;««^,W superstition." Critias, a subsequent heathen author of eariy date, styled the Christians " ,„„^ic„l or conjur- •ng men." Origcn reports of Phlegon, an opponent of Christianity who wrote in the early part of the second century, that "in the thir- teenth or fourteenth book of his chronicles he ascribed to Christ the foreknowledge of some future events . . . and testified that the things spoken of happened according to what he had declared." Celsus was an opponent of Christianity in the second century, and one of the ablest opponents Christianity has had He spoke of Christians as a " society of fna^dans," ^poke of Christ as having acquired His power from the Egyptian.,, and as having on account of them proclaimed himself a God. The sum mary which Celsus gave of Christ's miracles shows that they were those which the Gospel describes; for according to him they were of cures, resurrections of the dead, or a few loaves feeding a multitude of people, many CHRISTIANITY fragments being left." These wonders Celsus, like other anti-Christians of the early centuries, ascribed to magic and to conjurings; and he classed the Christian miracles with the works of magicians who, he said, professed things more wonderful than those of Christ. Heathen writers of subsequent date spoke of the Christian miracles in the same wav-. THE JEWISH ADMISSIONS are to the same effect. Here are some of them : In one of the tracts of the Jewish Tal- mud, a tract called Sanhedrim, Jesus is .said to have " wrought magic, seduced, and caused Israel to err." And again, it is alleged that Jesus was executed " because He dealt in sor- ceries and seduced and instigated Israel." In the tract called Schabbath there is this passage referring to Jesus : " Did not the son of Stada bring enchantments out of Egypt in an incision which was in his flesh, . . . for he could not have brought them out written in a book, because the magicians examined all who de- parted, lest they should carry out enchantments to teach them to other nations." So in other AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. anti-Christian Jewish writings of the early centuries. On the other hand, I do not find that any Jewish or heathen authors in the early centuries after Christ took a view as to His miracles differ- ing from the views expressed in these extracts. The world having outgrown these early theories of unbelievers, we are left with no other explanation of the miracles from those centuries than the Christian explanation— the superhuman power of the miracle workers. No man could have done the things which they did unless God had been with him. CREDIBILITY OK THE MIK.\CT,ES. Some nowadays endeavor to account for the miracles by suggesting the theory that, Cli' t having been ,ti extraordinary man, and havii.^r done some extraordinary things not miracu- lous, miraculous acts came to be a.scribed to Him after His death, and He came to be adored as Divine. It is suggested in support of this theory, that Christ and the workers of miracles in Mis name possessed a special 5 0.3 CHRISTIANITY magnetic power, and that their laying hands on the sick and healing them was the same sort of thing as is now done by mesmerists, hypnotists, and the like. But there is no historical founda- tion for this theory ; and many of the miracles would not l)e accounted for by it— such as the feeding of the multitudes, quieting the storm, raising the dead ; and cures effected without the sufferer's presence, as in the case of the cen- turion's absent servant, and of the Syrophceni- cian woman's absent daughter. If in his seem- ing miracles Christ merely availed himself of natural laws which were unknown to others, how had he learned them ? The incredibility of all miracles, however established, was asserted by David Hume, and is still asserted by some learned unbelievers, but not by all. Hume's argument was not concurred in by, for example. Mills or Huxley ; and satisfac- tory answers have been made to it by Christian critics. The mass of mankind, and of learned and cultured men, as well as others, have never felt the incredibility. Certainly, if we had been eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses of what is re- corded in the Gospels ; if we had ourselves seen 64 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. Christ and his disciples performing from Jme to time the miracles which they are said to have frequently wrought ; and, above all, if we had personal knowledge that Christ rose from the dead, and was seen by His apostles and disciples from time to time for forty days after His resur- rection ; that during this period He ate in their presence, conversed with them, gave tbe.n in- structions as to their conduct in the future ; and that in the end He was seen ascending into the heavens ; if we had ourselves been eye and ear- witnesses to all this, our mental constitution would not permit any of us to doubt the super- human character of Christ. We were not such eye-witnesses or ear-witnesses ; nor were we so of a multitude of other facts, both of past his- tory and of contemporary occurrence, which facts, nevertheless, Christians and non-Christians alike believe, and justly and necessarily believe. Further: It is to be remembered that the occasion for the Christian miracles (including the resurrection of Christ) affords an adequate reason for them. Miracles are necessarily un- usual and e.xceptional ; but if vve believe in a God of Providence and Power, miracles with an 66 CHRISTIANITY adequate purpose do not stand on the same footing as any others, but arc as natural and fitting as other facts, and are to be accepted on lil' the witnes.ses named, but repeatedly ate with His di.sciples ; that when His appearance frightened them, and they thought it was, or might be, not Christ whom they saw, but a spirit, He told them (in the voice they knew and loved so well) to handle Him, as (He .said) a spirit had not flesh or bones as He had ; and that on repeated occasions He shoued them His hands and His feet and His side ; the hands and feet which had been pierced with the nails that cruelly bound Him to the cross, and the side which 70 AM) SOME Oh- ITS EVIDENCES. had been pierced with a soldier's spear in order to make sure that lie was dead. So, it is from the New Testament writings we learn that Jesus ,|)..ke to the disciples from time to time dunn; (orty days after His resur- rection ; that H( s;j. ke to th>i i concernin}; the Kingdom of ' ;-«l ; ii,,»v icprovin;; them for the weakness ol tiiu r f.iiili , now .jfung them en- couragement, anil r. v.- mstru.-tion ; showing them from Scri|iuiie.> which tliey received as divine that the Chri-l liouki suffer as He (Jesus) had suffered, and directing repentance and remission of sins to be preached in His name unto all the nations, beginning at Jerusaletr. and that He further prepared them, by 'i,.- promise of miraculous gifts ^nd otherwise, lor the work of preaching the Gospel to all Ui • world, and making disciples of all nations. These and other details could be no illusion, even if mere appearances of Christ, without words spoken or bodily acts done, might be illusions. Why are not these details to be believed? If the other parts of the Gospel narratives are found or admitted to be at least substantially accurate^ w' y are not the super- CHRISTIANITY natural parts also to be taken to be corrects Let us consider this point a little further It .s admitted that the Gospels in their pres- ent form, including what they narrate as to the Resurrccfon and other m.racles, „ere in use as early, at all events, as the latter half of the second century, say, by the year ,80, and that these Gospels had then a sacred authority among Christians and Christian societies gen- erally ; but the writers referred to believe that the Gospels were not in the same form as now and d,d not contain the miracles. Christian cr.fcs hold the Gospels to have been originally m the same form as now, an.l to have contained the same account of the mi.aues; and they hold he three eariiest Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, to have been written and in use several years before the destruction of Jerusalem by T.tus m 69 or 70. Opponents admit that they were in existence about that time in some form but do not admit that they were the same' then as now. I have already pointed out that the fact of the Resurrection was asserted and beheved from the very first; and I have men- tioned some of the reasons wh> all the miracles 72 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. recorded in the New Testament are to be believed. In connection with what non-Christian critics acknowledge and admit in regard to the New Testament narratives, note (i) That the narratives which the Gospels and Acts contain of the Resurrection and other miracles fit in naturally with the context, and that the miracles are frequently the occasion of some of the Saviour's most striking and characteristic say- ings ; and (2) that it is quite certain that the miracle of the Resurrection was believed from the earliest time, and that, while non-Christian critics are satisfied and admit that the miracles with their details were in these narratives as early as the second century, there is on the other hand no evidence that the narratives had ever existed without the miracles; no evidence of the details of the miracles having ever been given differently ; no evidence that these details as we have them now were not believed from tlie first ; and no evidence of any counter- tradition in regard to the details by anti-Chris- tians, whether Jewish or Pagan. In connection with this last point it is to be remembered that 73 CHRISTIANITY the unbeheving Jews were always n,ore „un,er. ous than the Christfan Jew, and that there wa always the strongest antagonism between them ■" ■■'^^"^ '° ^-^^- The absence of any -unter-tradition regarding either the fact of he m.racles or the details of the miracles is thus of great weight. ' In brief there is so much evidence in favor of ;,^°r'^ ^"'^ ^='^ - -vhole, miracles and all that no man can reasonably, safely or justi- fiably, m a matter so momentous, refuse to accept these writings as giving throughout a true statement, or a substantially true state -nt, of the events recorded, viz.. of the h^ and teachings, the miracles and Resu ecton, of the great Founder of Christianity. au'h tr '°'■'""'"^°'"^•'^^-W- aught, there may to some minds be difficult.e, 'n rejectmg Christianity and its records we would be rejecting what we cann. disp;Je and what therefore ,.,ay be true, and wh^t 1 ^-e.t,s of the greatest po.iblem,^e„t that we should accept. 74 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. A further weighty argument for Christianity is founded on the wonderful progress whicli the reh-gion made in the first and second centuries, and has continued to make. It has for many centuries been the rdigion of the civih-zed world. Nor has it been accepted as a matter of mere form. It has been and is really and truly be- lieved in by the great majority of the people of Christian countries and of the most gifted men and women as regards intellectual endowment, as well as of tho.se least gifted. Many millions in the la.st nineteen centuries have earnestly striven to make Christianity as they imderstuod it the guide of their lives ; and many other millions have believed it nnd made no such eff'/rt, but have been more or less restrained and '/therwisc influenced by their belief in ; . Thou.san- to expedite the death he desired. Far worse things than even these characterized Roman belief and Roman man- ners, and characterized the beliefs and manners of other peoples, as well in and before our Sav- iour's time, as thenceforward until Christianity acquired sway among the nations. AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. It is to be remembered that ChriiJanity from the earliest days of its appearance in the world began to introduce its beneficence, its morality, and its spirit. The first recorded organization of Christians was for the better distribution of charity ; and amon- the first results of the political triumph of Christianity in the Roman Empire, was the promulgation of laws for the protection of children and laves, md laws regulating lu a more Christian spiri; t!,L ,^;,i- tion "f the sexes. The gladiators' shows were abolished whull>- through the influence of Chris- tianity, as non-Christian critics admit ; the prac- tice of exposing infants that they might die— a practice in which all classes participated— was abolished ; and a host of other evil customs which papanism and public .sentiment sanc- tioned came to an end. Christianity from the earliest times promoted a purer literature, and a better public spirit, as well as a hi-her moral life, than had previously existerl. Its influence for good was further manifested in the establish- ment at a very early period of buildinLjs for the reception of strangers, almshouses for the [xjoi-, hospitals for the sick, orphan houses for the CHRISTIANITY forsaken, and houses of refuge for helpless old women and men. These were new institutions which paganism and pagans in general, however cultured, had known little or nothing of and cared little or nothing for. Benevolent institu- tions and beneficent acts of every description are the natural and necessary and immediate outcor ^ of the teachings of Jesus. In a word, it has been said, and, 1 apprehend' justly said, that of the efforts which in the his- tory of the past have been made for the im- provement of mankind and the self-sacrifice which these efforts have evoked, nine-tenths and perhaps, ninety-nine per cent., hfivc been called forth by Christianity ; by the teachings of Jesus, and by regard for Him, His person and His work. Christianity is a religion of self-denial— a religion which forbids many things to which human nature is inclined, and requires many things to which human nature is disinclined. To most men in every age it is for this reason not an agreeable religion to accept, and unless believed to be true is not likely under ordinary circumstances to be accepted. Besides this, in 78 AND SO.UJ- OF ITS FyjDKAXES. Christ's own time, and for nearl.v three cen- turies afterwards, a confession of faith in lliin involved earthly sacrifices of every kind, and sufferings, even at times lo the death, and the most excruciating and terrible of deaths. It was in spite of all these .jbstacies and difficulties that the religion of the young Jewish carpenter ■ spread immediately after His death, and with an ever-increasing activity, through every part of the known world ; became in less than three centuries after His death the national religion of the Roman Empire, then comprising almost the whole civilized world; and this religion went on spreading, and is now, and for many centuries has been, in some form, the religion of the most civilized and most cultured nations of the world. Who was the founder of the wonderful religion which accomplished such mighty results against such enormous obstacles and difficulties ? Humanly speaking, he was a young Jewish village carpenter, born and brought uj) in ob.sciire villages of Judea, a conquered province of the Roman Empire, xvho, at an earlj- age, had been put to death by the Roman Governor under the 6 79 CHRISTIANITY pretence of his being a malefactor, llow could such a man create a religion like Christianity, in such a state of the world as then existed ? How could such a religion as His, if there was no supernatural element in it, have become, after the founder's death and by the year 313, the religi.M. of the great Roman Empire, then at the hei. 'u of its civilization and greatness and power? and the religion for all the centuries since of the most civilized and cultured parts of the civilized world ? How could such a relig- ious system, thought out by an obscure young Jewish carpenter, taught by his mouth for but three years, and distasteful to the masses and to their governors and priests, become, if there was nothing superhuman about it, the greatest power ever since in influencing the institutions, and laws, and government, and practical life of the nations of the world ? If this religion was from God, and attested from the first by due proofs, its progress contains no wonder. Hut otherwise nothing surely to human reason could be more hopeless than the chance of such a future, no- thing more out of the question, when the y^-^ng carpenter was put to death bj- order of the IM) AND SOAfE OF ITS EVIDENCES. Roman Governor. If in his lifetime he wrought no miracle, if he did not rise from the dead, if he was a mere man, without superhuman in- telligence, power or mission, the progress which his religion made after his death is a greater wonder than the wonders which Christians believe that he wrought by sui)erhuman power. Did the new religion owe its wonderful pro- pagation, not to Jesus himself, but to its having been taken up after the death of the Teacher by the eleven disciples who remained after the treason and suicide of Judas ? Nowadays it is not pretended that they were impostors, or in any sen.se bad men, or had any earthly object to gain by what they did ; quite the contrary. What power had they to spread the religion of . the crucified Jesus if there was nothing super- human about it? As Jews they '.v.-re de.spi.scd by all others ; and they were Jews of humble position and attainments. As we have reason to believe, not one of the eleven was a man of learning, education or culture. No one supposes that any of them had the intellect or the moral force of Jesus himself Not one had remarkable ability of any kind, not to 81 -'r» -aBTi- CHRISTIANITY speak of ability for so mitjlity aii.l exceptional an undertaking. They had in the three years of the pubhc life of Jesus been a good deal with Him, had formed considerable attachment to Him, and had faith in His teachings ; but thc>' understood many of His teachings wrongly, and they had not expected Him to be put to death or to rise again. One of the eleven so little expected His resurrection, and was .so incredu- lous in regard to it, that wUcn others told him that the body of Jesus was no longer in the tomb, and that they had .seen Him alive, he said he would not believe unless he should him.self see in the hands of the supposed Jesus the print of the nails which had bound Him to the cross, and .should put his own finger into the print of the nails, and put his own hand into the pierced side of the Lord. The faith of all the di.sciples up to the time of Christ's death is recorded to have been imperfect and weak. Not one had had faith and courage enough to remain with Him in His extremity. When the soldiers came to airest the Lord, the first impulse of the impulsive Peter was to fig'lit. That Jesus did not permit, and when immediately afterwards 82 AND SOME OF /TS Fl'/PKNCES. Jesus was seized an-l b..u.ul by the s(.l- be verj- far from being demonstrable ? Almost every question of politics, or legislation, 86 yi^Vn SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. or business, and every step i„ lifc needing con- secration, we have to decide, and do decide o.. probability only, or on what on the ^^■l,oIe may seem to us the probabih'ty. Further: we l- of escaping it exists or is provided, as Christianity teaches\-ill men shouid not have been made acquainted with that way, and all men made by the power of God or otherwise to avail themselves of it. Most of those who seem influenced by either of these objections are not atheists. Atheists constitute a very small proportion of those who luing in Christendom, are not believers in some' form of religion. Most unbelievers consider as Christians do, that the universe was not self- created, and was not the result of blind chance. 87 CHRISTIANITY They believe that there is, certainly nr prob- ably, a (jreat First Cause, a Personal God, self- existent and eternal, the Creator and Governor of all worlds, and that He is a being of great Goodness, and of transcendent Power, and Knowledge, and Wisdom. To an)- who so be- lieve the objections to Christianity ought to make no difficulty as against the evidences in its favor, for, as John Stuart Mill has testified, " the Christian religion is open to no objections, either moral or intellectual, which do not apply to the common theory of deism." As to both grounds of doubt or disbelief which I have mentioned, it is ever to be borne in mind that, apart from Revelation, nothing whatever is known of the next world ; that the earth is but a speck of creation ; and that God's government may have reference to millions of worlds, and to time without end. As against Revelation, or an asserted Revelation, how can we suppose ourselves competent to say, from our little standpoint, and with our limitless ignorance, what are or are not the necessities and needs of the Eternal Universe, as these are known to its Creator and omniscient AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. Govcrtifir ? How can any one of us justify rejecting Revelation on t^e grounil that its teachings as to a future life do not accord with the speculations and guesses which hj may choose o- -nay have chosen to indulge in ? In this instance the Christian doctrine is sup- ported by the analogy of the earthly things which we know something about ; for we know from our own personal experience and observa- tion that there is much suffering in this world, whatever there may be in the next ; that there is suffering here in many forms affecting man, affecting even infants of the tendcrest age, and affecting the lower creation also ; that the sufferings of the human race are of all kinds, mental and physical, and sometimes are terribly severe, and sometimes endure for life. We know also that there is in this world no end of vice and crime and cruelty. We k • iw further that, while there are practical modes of avoiding much of the suffering, these modes are not known to all sufferers, and many suffer on from want of knowledge which others possess. VV^e know also that there have always been great diversities in the conditions of men in this S9 CHRISriAXITY world as rcsijocts such sufTeriii;^', and as rc- sp< cts comfort and happiness {jcnurally. What docs this state of things show? It shows to a demonstration that, wliatevcr tlic reason may be, the constitution of the universe is certainly such, that sufferintj and the sufferers' ignorance of remedies are not inconsistent with the Power and other Attributes which belong to the Supreme Governor of all things, and are not inconsistent with the perfect wisdom and benev- olence which are ascribed to Him both by Chris- tians and by most nf>n-Christians who live in Christian lands. The full explanations which would enable us tf) clearl>- sec the reason and to clearly perceive the consistencj-.have not hitherto been revealed, and may require (and I dare say do require) other faculties than we now have to understand or fully appreciate them. But if there is certainly much suffering in this life, the fact is material in considering what is revealed as to there being suffering in the next life also. There is no authority whatever for anj' man to assume and insist, as against Christianity, that in the matter of suffering the case is wholly dif- ferent in the next life from what we see and 90 A.\/) S().u£ OF /rs j-:i7i>/:\cEs. know as to this lifu. Kuvulatioii, if wc bclicvu it, gives us some iiisiyht intcj the spiritual world, but beyond what we may thus learn there is utter darkness. In reference to suffering' in the next world, as revealed in the Scriptures, Hishop Butler in his great work has these observations : " All shadow of injustice, and indeed all harsh appearances in the economy of Providence, would be lost if we would keep in mind that every merciful allowance shall be made, and that no more will be required of any one than what might equi- tably be expected of him from the circumstances in which he was placed, and ikjI what might have been expected had he been placed under other circumstances; that ;.,, in Scripture language, that every man shall be accepted according to what he had, not according to what he had not." The rules of this moral government are not rules of ignorant, weak and sinful man's devising, but are rules of which the all-knowing, all-ju.st, all- holy, and all-wise God is the author. Let none of us deceive himself with a false hope of safety, or trust his eternal life to what a sin-loving heart may suggest, instead of earnestly and 91 CIIRISTlAMr\ gratefully accepting; the teachings of the God man, the Li>rd from I ( uen. KUKTIIKK TIIOLKMITS 1 OK AND OTHERS. iiiiuiiT":ks One consideration more on the general ques- tion : it is a certain fact that from a period ante- cedent to Christianity's beccjming the national religion of the Roman Kmpire up to the present time, the immense majority of the world's think- ers have deemed the evidences of Chi istianity as a supernatural religion to be sufficient to estab- lish its character ii that respect, notwithstanding all the difficulties and objections which have from time to time been urged with more or less force ; and these men have felt themselves able to accept the religion as true, and with all their hearts to receive and hold it as divine. Amongst these great thinkers have been such gratid men in intellectual attainment as Paul of Tarsus in Apostolic times ; as Justin, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius and Augustine, in the early centur- ies ; as Leibnitz, Haller, Copernicus, Kepler, Bacon, Newton, Cuvier, Ray, Brewster, Faraday, Agassiz, Morse and Mivart, amon^Jt scientists 92 AM) tiOMli or ns EVIDENCES. will) lijivc |).-issc'(l a\v,i>' ; as Lord Kulvin an- improbabilities in the evidences or the iloctrines, his position implies the at Kust possible truth i Christianity. Indeed, the name which unbe- lievers now prefer to all others is " a{;nostics," or persons who disclaim actual kr... ..ledtje or certainty. Hut if Christianity is true, it is of unsi)eakable importance, with reference both to the eternal life after death and to the yood of the race in this world, that Christianity should be accepted ; while if not true, there is on the one hand at least no harm in acceptiiij^ it, and in accepting it heartily and unreservedly, and on the other hand there is, bej'ond all doubt as regards this life, much good in so accepting it. If, therefore, Christianity is even possibly true, common sense and prudence and humanity alike require its acceptance, notwithstanding arguments against it which, however strong they may seern to any, leave its truth to be a possi- bility. In all other affairs, prudent and sensible 94 A.vn so.]//-: a/, //y i;r/i>iu\ci:s. men V, act, aixl in dhcr .iffairs tli,' .take t> infinitely loss than his matter ..f Ke!i-i„n, If, n..t»itlistan(lin- these o.nsi.jcratinns and others which bear in the same - learned thinkers f.,r m.-.ny ,;..,;s fail t.. satisfy his un. rstandin- and if he I' s been led tn l„„k up-m s.,me .,) the ar-umcnts against Christianity as ..veruhelm- inyly stn.n-er than the ar^r,„,„.,,t, f,,^ j,, „.|,^. should he endeavor to impress that opini.m nn others? Why should he want to lessen the wonderful Teacher's influence in this world for good ? If he is a lover of his race, why, doubt as he may the lo^jical or critical sufficiency of the evidences, should he not, in spite of' his doubts, take the side .,f the wise and . vinjj Jesus, in the work of j^ood for which He laid down His life? Why, at all eve.its, shoukl he join a hostile camp? Why, on the contrar>-, and notwithstanding critical and other difficul- ties if he has these, should he not leave to those who believe, the undisturbed use of Christianity for the beneficent work of advancing,' right living and consequent happiness in the world ? " 95 CHRISTIANITY Very few can persuade [hemselves that the race would not suffer, and suffer unspeakably, by the blotting out of the religion of Christ. A distinguished unbeliever among ourselves, who has written much against Christianity, has in one of these writings sent forth eloquent words of anxiety and warning to those who think with him that a " collapse of faith " is at hand, that as the result of science and criticism combined, " belief in Christianity as a revealed and super- natural religion has given way," has received a " mortal blow." I snail give you an extract from his words of warning : " What then is likely to be the effect of this revolution on morality ? . . . What will become of the brotherhood of men and of the very idea of humanity ? Historically these beliefs are evidently Christian. Will they sur- vive the doctrines, with which in the Christian creed they are inseparably connected, of the universal fatherhood of God, and of the fraternal relation of all men to Christ ? ' God,' says the New Testament, ' hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." Blot out the name of the Creator, 96 AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. and on what does this assertion of the unity and virtual equality of mankind rest? What principle forbids the stronger races or those that have superior firearms to prey upon the weaker? What guards the sanctity of human life, if there is nothing more divine in man than in any other animal ? " May we not add : What in the absence of Christianity would guard anything which is distasteful to the natural heart, or stands in the way of a man's desires ? But Christians do not believe that a "collapse of faith " is impending ; they do not believe that Christianity has re- ceived its "mortal blow"; they do not believe that faith in it has "given way." A prophecy of the near destruction of Christianity has been often written and often spoken, with more or less seeming reason, since the founder of Chris- tianity was crucified on Mount Calvary; but the prophecy has never come true, and Chris- tians do not believe that it ever will. Science may have shown errors in some former inter- pretations of portions of the Old Testament. Criticism may have corrected other popular errors in the case of both Testaments. It is 97 CHRISTIANITY right and desirable that errors should be cor- rected ; all intelligent Christians so hold. Hut, as regards the essential facts and essential doctrines of Christianity, Christians perceive nothing to fear from either science or criti- cism. The great majority of the ablest and most learned scientists and critics have been Christians ; and in the full light of science and criticism, Christianity, of all beliefs pcjsitivc or negative, continues to be, in the general judg- ment of the civilized world, the best belief to live in, and the safest belief to die in. CONCLUDING REM.\RKS. In view of the whole subject, I trust I may say with all sincerity for myself (I know I may say for many of my hearers or readers, I wish I might say for all), that in the great battle of Religion and Morality we and all ours take the side of the Man of Nazareth. The history of the world has presented no leader like Him. We gladly take Him for our Leader, and for our King, our Master, our Example, our Guide. We gladly recognize Him as God-man, a Messenger from heaven, the Redeemer of the world. Believing AND SOME OF ITS EVIDENCES. what the New Testament tells of His life and teachings, we love Ilim clearly. In the light of His teachings, we mourn over the imperfections and shortcomings and sins of our lives. Our earnest desire is that, God helping us, we and all ours should be like this Jesus, should po.s.sess His spirit, should be doers of the Father's will, and should live and die in the blessed hope that after our earthly lives are over we shall be for- ever with the Lord who bought us, and with those who on earth are dear to us, as we know or believe they are dear to Him. As patriots and philanthropists, then, as deeply concerned for the earthly well-being of our families and our friends, of our country and our race, now and in the future ; and above all, as creatures and ser\ants of the Most High God ; as having, ourselves and our fellows, immortal lives to think of, and (if we can) to provide for ; and as having had communicated to us a relig- ion of love and hope and holiness, an Atoning Saviour, a Pardoning God, a Sanctifying Holy Spirit, let us all hold fast unto the end our Christian faith, without wavering ; and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to all good works. 99 APPENDIX. Tlir. following is ihc subslance of [xirt of a subsciiuunl Adilress, delivered l-'ehruary 131I1, 1S98, before the N'ounc Men's Chrislian Association of the Medical Faculties of the University of Toronto and of Trinity Medical College, at the request of the Association, and afterwards published with the consent of the lecturer for distribution amongst the students. These extracts are addeJ here as containing further observations on some of the topics of the first lecture : . . . With the object of assisting you I should lie glad to be able to say something that may help any of you to use in the most beneficial way practicable the influence which in your future lives you may possess or ac(|uire. For that purpose, then, my first remark is, that if in the course of my own long and active life I have learned one lesson more distinctly than another, it is that the influence of a man or woman for good, as regards even this world, is immensely promoted by having faith in Christianity. . . . .Some young men, and some who are not young, think it smart to laugh at religion in general, or at .some of its doc- trines; and this without having studied the subject in (if at all) more than a very partial and superficial manner. .Such mockery, permit me to say, is rude and foolish conceit on the pan of any who indulg ' it, considering that the subject is of transcendent importancv \t the religion of Jesus is, and always has been, very dear to ..lultitudes of the best people everywhere : that a great host of men of high intellect and great learning have in all ages believed in it ; and that .so many of the most eminent un- believers in the supernatural testify to the great blessings which the world owes and will never cease to owe to Christianity. 101 AI>PEND1.\. A^ for Chri»liiiiiily i)ciii(; (kail i>r (lyin;;, ;i.. suiiii.- of ils advcr- siirifs iiftirin, Uiis can Ik: sliown Ity most satisfactory evidence not to he true. A like assertion as to Chrisliaiiity heinjj in a dying condition was in [lust a^'es often inaut, insi ul of His religion being so extinguished, its adherents increased iunnensely from that litical, which for extent and rapidity of effect arc far more extraordinary than anything else you or your fathers have wit- nessed 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 beyond well-founded doubt that "Christian mis- sionaries are the most effective means ever brought to bear upon the social, civil, commercial, moral and spiritual interests of mankind." The truth of ChrLslianity and faith in it have pro- duced these results. Some suppose that Christianity h.as fallen back in the United States, and thence infer that it has fallen back everywhere. But it has not fallen back in the United Stales, any more than else- where. Official census returns and other well-authenticated data show that, notwithstanding 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 i that its vitality has increased in every decade of the century of which we have materials for judging; and has so increased not only absolutely, but also relatively to the population. This appears from, for example, what has been ascertained of the comparative number of churches at different periods, the comparative accommodation afforded, 104 LECTURE TO THE STUDENTS. Ihc comparative numUT c.f church mcmlK^^rs, minislcrs, Sunday schi«.l teachers and Sunda) -.cIkh.I pupils, the cmiinralive ^alue of church pr..pe.rly, and the comparative amount, contrihuted annually fur missions and other religious objects. Thus, so far from there having Uen a dyin,; out of Christianity in the United States or elsewhere, ascertained facts sh.iw greatly increxsed life and vig,,, there and throughout the world, and make plain that, rampant as agnosticism i>r unlR,'lief mav seem in Muue respe'Cls to \k, if any of you have U-en inclined on that account, or any other, to regard Christianity as a dving helief or a dying institution, you arc deceiving yourselves. The truth is the very reverse. Undoubtedly, though Christianity has been steadily advancing, yet there is at the same lime, unhappily, much irreligion in all nominally Christian lands ; but this is not a new thing ; there has always been irreligion : and s.,, as Christians generally be- lieve, there will continue to be until Christ comes in [x-rson to rcign on the earth. This irreligion is, in pa.t, in the form of intellectual unbelief; but it is much more in the form of crime, vice, injustice, cruelty, falsehood and selfishness of every kind- all of which Christianity condemns, and has declared war rigainsl . • . . The influence of Christianity on the character of men is, under God, owing, not to its moral teachings merely, but, in connection with these moral teachings, is owing to th facts and doctrines of Christianity. These give incalculable force to the moral teachings. As the result of Christian teachings, the actual historical fr.t is, that loving faith in our Heavenly Father and Ills Eternal Son ha.s, in the case of millions of Christian men and Christian women in the last nineteen centuries, been a great and mighty p,lian churches cim cur in hiildinn ihal any Christian may W " uvcrlakcn in a faull " ; as Si. IVlcr was when he denied his M[isler, and cm Dther ciccasiiins. The like was Ihe ease wilh sunie Old Tesla- inenl siiinls and wwrdiies. liul when a Chrislian has sinned he reuieinljers his sin with slianie and humiliation ; and his comrurt is, that ln'fiire (JikI sin re|x'nled nf is sin fur(;iven ; that if we cnnfess our sins, weareassureil our Efeavenly Father is " faithful and just to forijive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrit;ht- eousness"; that "if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Kit;hleoiis" j and that He is the pro- pitiation for (mr sins ; and not for ours only, hut also for the sins of the whole world. In ilealinu »"•' *uch cases, St. I'aul (;ave (his direction : " Itrethren, if a man Ik- overtaken in a fault, ye who are spiritual resl.ire sUch a one in the spirit of meekness; cimsiderini; thyself, lest ihou also \k tempteil." While absolute [lerfection of ciirifies and directs the imagina- tion, olends insensibly with habitual mcHles of thought, and, without revolutionizing, gives a tone and bias to all forms . f action." "Asa matter of fact, Christianity has done mon tpiicken the aftections of mankind, to create a pure and merci idea, than any other influence that has ever acted u[X)n iht- world." " The great characteristic of Ch-'stianity is that it has been the main source of the UKiral develo, iient of l-'.unipe, anil that it has discharged this office, not so much by the inculcaiion of a system of ethics, however pure, as by the assimilating and attractive influence of a |ierfecl ideal. The moral progress of mankind can never ie.ase to be distinctively and intensely Chris- tian as long as it consists of a gradual approximation to the character of the Christian Kounder. There is, indeed, nothing more wonderful in the history of the human race than the way in which that ideal has traversed the lapse of ages, acquiring new strength and beauty with each advance of civilization, and 107 Ar/'ENO/.\. inru»in|; its licncriccni influcnci' inio tviry sphiro uf ihoughl and action." N"! Ihi' C'hri»liiinily ,,f ihc Hil,lf i, inl.tiMly i.|i|»)^ilc „f a hirnirancc l.i huiniuiily nr human i>nii;ri« ; ii i a iiii,;hi) |Him,, the miuhlit*! i.f all |«iwir4, f.ir purifyint; ami liuruani/iiii; '>"anil linnhrrs, I v\h',li,vr. Hold fast lo ihc Christian faith, as ^ikkI for youtsclvLs, j;ihkI for those whom yoii love, and ^;lH)ll for those whom from time to time you may iiilluence. Alxive all, hold fast to your Christian faith from jjratitiidc and love to the lovinK Father .and (;.m1 of all, and to lli!i luvini; .Son, who fiom love laid down His life for us. My sisters and liroihers, think on these thin|,'s ; and may the Spirit of the Kternal lather have His abode in your minds and hearts forever. N'dTK as to I'RcniKKSS IN IQIII C'KNIt'KV. In further illustration of what is said in the two lectures as lo the present condition of reli(;ious belief, the followinj; extracts from an article by the Kev, Dr. I'arkhurst in the North .-tnieriian A'cvicw for July, 1SS5, uilh respect to the United States, are interestin^j : "'In the lime of Aaron Hurr,' says I'arlon, 'it was confi- dently pndicled that Chris' ianity could not survive two more generations. ' l)f the same |Kriod another writer slates that, 'wild and va(,'ue ex|>cclalions were everywhere enlertaineil, es|X.cially amonu the young, of a new order of things about to commence, in which Christianity would be laid aside as an obsolete system.' Considerably more than a century ago \'oltaire .said : ' Before the beginning of the nineteenth century Christianity will h.ive disapix'ared from the earth.' It is an instructive coin- cidence that the rooMi in which \oltaire uttered these words ha.s since been used as Hihle re|)ository. , . "In the year lljo there were in the United States 3,030 evangelical clmrches ; in 1S50, 43,072; in 1870, 70,148; and m APPENDIX. . "'°' '';,T ;, " T f ''•°°° '" '™ ^--- -'"-« m ,880. • • • As (iluaniid from ihi; ' yrar-hnoks ' .,„,1 . i l -«5o 3,5.9.«»= in ,8;o, 6,6,3,000 ; .„,; "n'^r^L.t^ ! he whole country ,hr„ugh, ,her. w., in ,L on. an™ i:,l c.™m„„,can, ,0 every ,4^ ,„h.hi,a„,.s : in ,8,0, on "' .^^ ' 6^= .n ,870, one .0 every 5^ ; and in ,880 ,nc o " * «ra,n,wh„e the increase in population has been Up, cent students. Wrtttng in ,8,0, Bishop M.ade, of Virgil ' ,1 inn..e..' vvhenn:r-:,r:p:r;:i;::'\.:-'r ■n .795, only five of the students were chur jlVr^ ' h': eaHy part of Ur. Appl.ton's presidency of Bowdoin n.y o student was a professing Christian, [n ,8jo, accor.lint: to returns ob.a.ned fron, .. ..erican colleges, .6 p^^r cen If',,: students were profe.ssing Christians ; in ,850, 3^ pe int ^ he loung %fens C hrrsi.an A.ssociation, out of 12 065 s.„d,.„, m 65 colleges, 6,08,, or a little more than hal w^r^pr fe r,^ uf religion. ... ^"- P"Jitsbori, "So far from Christianity betraying the first .sy.nptoms of haustton, there has been no ti.ne since the Jordan ba'p.i ^ ' .>n.l put forth efforts so vigorous and herculean as during these ears of our own century, when the di.sciples of W... "l,"'", .he nnuators „f l^ain, have been most active. " i"] 110 ■ ■ SC/ENT/STS IN UNITED STATES. fessor I.e Conle, of the University of California, another geologist of repute, a de- cided evolutionist of the Iheh'- type, but therewith also a pro- nounced believer. Then mig,.. be named Professor S'oung of Princeton College, one of the first astronomers in the States- and, in the medical [irofession. Dr. Willard Parker, of New \ork, not long ago deceased, commonly repuleil to have stooti at the head of his profession in .surgery ; and the late Dr. Agnew for a long time one of the most distinguished oculists in the htalcs ; all of them decided Christian men. The late Professor vVrnold Guyot, of I'rinceton, who had an enviable reputation as an authority in Physical Geography an,l Geology on both sides the Atlantic, it was my privilege for many years to know as a man of the most devout evangelical spirit. I remember well a remark which I once heard from him in a lecture to my own class m the college, which well shows his position : ' Voung gentlemen, Gtxl has written two books, the Iwok of the Word and the book of the Kocks, and it is perfectly certain that lie has written the .same thing in both of the.se lx>oks. If, in any case we are not able to see this distinctly, we mu.st consider that ii can only be because our knowledge and understanding of one or both of the two books is as yet imperfect.' To these names I might atlii from a somewhat earlier generation, the late Professor Joseph Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D C and Professor Samuel .Morse, whose names are both closely connected with the invention of the electric telegraph ; as also many others; but these will probably suffice for your purpose.- 112 JAMES rwSSELL LOWELL. I'l I received leiisure in :uid ii slil),sei|uenl n.ile from I)r, liiiK, ;is fell,, Kell. 'KK, wliicll I have ' I hatl 1 ins, when in one iif lul just seiil my ncjlc iind end the subji :cl of my \a.\Kn I found Insure to you this morn- IW" extracts be your lecture, which are from such aiith,, arinK . ily and ; exce ent, .hat I take the liberty to sen,l them, ,hink„« that lK>ss,bly you mtgh, like „, ntake use „f one or l„,th of thettt The first,., frotn the An.etican poet anrl man of letters James Uussell I.owell, lately U. S. Minister to Great Ilritain I ,.ol a sctentthc man, yet his hi^h re,a,ta,io„ as a K'entletnan of htsh and broad culture, an.l of extensive opportunities of „bser vatton, w, 1 ntake his words to have wei«ht with manv. On a certa.n pubbc occasion in KrtRlaud several person. ha,l expressed thentsehes ,n a contetnptuons way regarding Christianity, when Mr. Lowell, ,n hts speech, said : • When the microscopic search ../ scepttcstn has turned its attention to hutnan society, an,l ^un, a spot „„ this pkt^t ten tniles s,,uare where a decern ,nan can h^. ,„ deceno, comfort, and security, supporti.iK unen, every other land is expected to he oi>en. '* Politiaiily, L'liristianity has wuvcn its iclcas into the weh of national life with an ever-wider woof. The test of national in- tegrity, in rulers atid in [leople alike, is ccmformity to Christian principles. The criticisms passed hy John Stuart Mill on the state are criticisms suggested to him hy the essential teachings of Christianity. The * civic conscience' of Christendcmi has lx:come a factor to he primarily reckoned with hy all legislators ; the inspirer of that conscience is Christianity. The nations thus influenced arc becoming the world-rulers. They practicall) divide the earth between them, either in the form of colonies, suzerainties, or ' spheres of inHuence.' The [xipulation of those countries whose accepted ideals ami standards of moral conduct are Christian is placed ai almost 500,000,000. These govern, or help to shape, the [X)litica! action of almost 900,000,000 of the world's inhabitants. "The achievements wrought Iiy Christianity in the j(?cia/ con- ditions of the world are luminous. To-day the results wrought by Christianity in ameliorating or destroying vicious social cus- toms roll up such returns as pronounce Christianity a blessing to the home and to the individual from Natal to Point liarrow. The number of its a»fr. While ihi» imiticl upon ihc furciKn world has \xm pniKrcssinn, Christianity has stri.'n(;lhcniil and incri'aswl hir resources in all hiinii; lands. Hi-r spirit it is, whi'lhfr acknowlwlRwl nr unarknowlfdRfd, that pt-r- vadfs the chief jjltirics .,f nuKlern civilization, its safety, its integrity, and its helpfulness. " Besides lalioratory returns there are other returns, not so tangilile perhaps, Imt none the less existent and significant. Christianity has achieved new faith in itself. The study of com- parative religions h.is given to Christi.mity an e.stahlished con- viction of its own pre-eminence. It helieves that it is the final and complete religion. A new understanding of the .Scriptures has lieen .secured. Their place i.s more fixed and their mission more practicable than ever. Criticism has liecn very incisive and iias cut aw.iy many theories concerning the nature of in- -spiration that had nothing to do with the validity and u.sefulness of the Scriptures, Imt the pre-eminence of the Scriptures lif)th remains and triumphs." (The recent progress of Christianity may be further illustrated by the case of the .Societies of Christian Kndeavor, the first of which was established only twenty years ago.) The Chrislian Endeavor World, in its special anniversary issue, 19CI, gives the following summary of the society's achieve- ment during the |Mst twenty years ; " In 1S81, a single .society ; in 1901, societies to the number of 60,750. "In iSSi, a memliership of 57 ; in 1901, a mcmlicrship of 3,500,000. "In 1881, a single denomination touched ; in 1901, more than forty denominations ix'rmeated. "In 1S81, an extreme corner of one countrj' ; in 1901, all coimtries on the face of the earth. "In 1881, the Knglish language; in 1901, literature in Chinese, Japanese, Malagaiiv, Persian, .\rabic, Turkish, Hu!- garian, Armenian, Siamese, German, 1-rench, Italian, Greek, lis C//R/STIAX ENDEAVOR ASSOCIATIONS. Spanish, SwciliNh. Ouicli. N'.irwi-jjian. WVMi, Atistriiin, ('i.plic, Mexican. rurUinuL-sf, hiiiian, ifu- many i(.n;;ncs ..f India ami Africa. "In i8Si, nil naiinnal nrj^jaiii/ation (lrcaniL-oi, national Christian Kmlcavnr orj^ani/atiuns in the United Stales, Canada. Knyhmd, Scutland. Ireland, Wales, Australia, Irance. Sjttin, (icrniany, Suinh Africa, India. China, Mexicn, JaiKin. "In i8Si, n(t periiMlical th(m^:ht^)f: hi 1901. the Christian Endeavor ll'orlii, ihe linjjlish Christian End.avoitr, the Jai)ane-.e EnJfavor, ihe Australian (loiUni Link and h'oU t\ui, the South African Cohiai Chain, (he Spanish E'r:o Ciistiano, the Mexican Es/or-^ador, the (lernian y«.j.v«tale, city and denoniinaiional Christian Kndeavur organs. "In 1881, only the N'ounf l'eo])le's Society'; in 1901, the juniors, intennedi.ite, seniors, floating; societies, mothers' soci- eties, prison societies, travellers" societies, societies in factories, schools, colleges, alnvshoii-.cs and asylums. "In 1 88 1, a sin^jle ni\\-.|)a|K-r article; in 1 901, scores uf books, hundreds of pamphlets, and Christian lindeavor articles by the thousand every week in the leadinj^ secular and reliyious journals of the world. . . ."' 119 I N D K X (■|iri--ti;uiity what ii j^ 'llir ( hri,li;iii i.lnil • • ■ |l.IurKi.ll illHlUIHl^ AS slii.iMi ljy hivior) ■ ■ l-!\irt,-ni\M.KlirUliaiitly.irf -.t ni.M.y kiii.l What inn\ aihnittcil or nd t* ('hri>i\ ii'^iimony . ■ . I Ii'. Ui-nrrtitiiin His niliir iiiiraclL's - ■ ■ Cndihiliiy nf thr iiiiracks ■ Kili.il.ilii) ..f New TcNla- iiuiil narratives (liri-.! a iimral iiitratli . S^ lUiilh.ri Usliin..iiy (•> tin mir.nK> oi [iwi-.li ii siinmiiy ■ - t,2 Ui "iirrcitinn Ulitvnl ]>y Chri-iiiaii'. In'rn lir>t ■ 50. J 2 Tin- wiirMV iliinkir^ f)j I'ro^iO". iif ( lirJMi.itiiiy in lir.t lun crnturii-. 75 l;u-t- as III nirnl |jr"j;it-.>. uf ( lirj^tj.itiily 7. 102. 1(J«), 1 15 ('uiirliHlin^ I'li^i fvaliitn-., lir^'I liiUirt' ... (fS t'-iiulmlin^^ iiI'vrNatiun^, -ifniml U'clurt- . - . 10^ (^H(Tr.vnoN> 1 Ko\i nk Ki.n.KKM r.i 1 Arniilil, Matilitu - - - 107 Hilili' SiK-'iflifs .... loj lIiKiaiia 2S IIiilLr, Hi.li<.|, . . . . y, C'arlyk-, Tlinnias - • - 107 <';ivan, Klv. Dr. ■ - ■ 40 CVKii.-H ()i (,'Iiri.siian IJiik-avur Snci. ctiL->i - . - . 7, loj. M.S I'Jicycln[).ulia llriinnnica - 22 Mpwortli Lca^ur ■ • - loj l-rcre, Sir Harllu - ■ - 1114 Iliixli-y, l'riifi-,s(ir -S. *'4 Kelli)^^f, ki'v. Dr. - - III I.awreiiCL', Lord • . - - 104 I'L'cUy 25. 107 I.nwflt. Janus Kusscll 11 J, 114 Mlicj^arcl, I'ri)fc->^or - - ■ ll> .Mcl'liirc. Ul-v. |. (;. K. - ii(> Milhodisis 102 .Mill, fi.lui Stuart 2(').49.64.(i7.SS .Mmiirn .\Iiv-«ii)n> - lo^ \u[)t)It.i)ll 2^ Niitiiihr 06, ()] N'. A. Rcvifw, July, iSS5 - loy 121 Ori^jcn -■■-■. ()i I'atil, St. - ■ 5 J. (to, f>7, KJf) I'arlvhurst. Kiv. Dr. ■ - 109 I'civr. Si. io() rial.. 2S I'vil.lic ( »|tinion(\L'w Vnrk) 115 I7 SaKalinii .\riiiy • .17. lo^ Sniitli, (ii.Idwin . . . . f^, S..cralL> 2S Stiil(iniu> 61 Slraiis- 24, 69 Suiiday-x-liculs .... jqj Siipt-rnatiiral Kc!it;i(in - - 27 Synnpti.N . . : . (,j ,.f -,,/. I nilfd Statr^- - 104, ^09, 111 \..lialri- .... 102. 109 W'liim-n's Cliri.stian .V-mi- ciaiions .■-..- 103 \''niii^' Mc-n's Clirisiian As- Miciatiuns ■ 17. 103