' ¦'¦ ¦ . .. :'¦¦."/¦'' 'laenc YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 1942 CHRISTIAN . EVIDENCES. BY EZEKIEL GILMAN ROBINSON, D.D., LL.D. LATE PRESIDENT OF B'COWN UNIVERSITY, AND FORMERLY PRESIDENT AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AT ROCHESTER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY J MORE RECENTLY, PROFESSOR OF ETHICS AND APOLOGETICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, AND LECTURER ON APOLOGETICS AND CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES AT CROZER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY, New York . . . BOSTON . . . Chicago. 1895. Copyright, 1895, By Silver, Burdett and Company. "f dS^ K55 BEnfoctsttg $tcss : John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. PREFACE. THE Lectures contained in this small treatise were given in the years 1892-93 and 1893-94, at the University of Chicago, and at Crozer Theo logical Seminary, Chester, Pa. They are but the Second Part of what was originally designed to be a volume including both Apologetics and Christian Evidences. It had been the hope of the author to complete this volume in the sum mer of 1894, but failing health delayed the work. In rewriting the Lectures for publication, he began with these now given to the public, and had proceeded as far as page 131, when he was obliged to lay down his pen, never again to resume it; they have have been completed chiefly from his unrevised notes, and have been added to only where their extreme brevity made some expansion necessary to clearness or to completeness of the thought. IV PREFACE. I wish to thank Rev. Robert Kerr Eccles, M. D., for the preparation of the Index, and Professor Milton G. Evans, Rev. F. F. Briggs, and Rev. B. D. Stelle, for kindly sending me their class-room notes, which furnished me with the order of the later Lectures, and otherwise aided me in completing them. HARRIET P. ROBINSON. Boston, February 21, 1895. CONTENTS. $art I. THE EVIDENCES SPECIALLY RELIED ON BY JESUS AND HIS APOSTLES. CHAPTER I. PAGE Self-evidencing Power of Truth n CHAPTER II. Miracles 13 Sect. I. Objections to Miracles. ... 14 II. Value of Miracles as Evidence 21 CHAPTER III. Prophecy 26 VI CONTENTS. fart II. ORIGINAL EVIDENCES WHICH ARE STILL AVAILABLE. CHAPTER I. The Appeal to Consciousness 31 CHAPTER II. Evidence from Miracles 33 Sect. I. The Resurrection of Jesus ... 36 II. Conversion of the Apostle Paul 43 III. Person and Teachings of Jesus . 48 CHAPTER III. Evidence from Prophecy 56 CHAPTER IV. Evidence from Christian Experience ... 70 CONTENTS. fart HI. EVIDENCE FROM PAST AND PRESENT ACHIEVE MENTS OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAPTER I. Beneficent Influence of Christianity . . 81 Sect. I. Allegations originating in Mis- judgment of the Facts and Teachings of Christianity . . 82 II. Objections arising from an Iden tification of Christianity with the Church 93 III. Positive Benefits of Christianity 98 CHAPTER II. Conditions under which Christianity achieved its First Victories 112 Sect. I. The Preparation wrought by the Jews 113 II. The Preparation furnished by the Greeks 116 III. Preparation by the Romans and the Roman Empire .... 120 VU1 CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. Divine Origin of Christianity as seen in Three of its Inherent Qualities ... 125 Sect. I. Its Self-recuperative Power . 126 II. Its Power of Self-development 131 III. Expansiveness of the Spirit of Christianity 140 CHAPTER IV. Divine Origin of Christianity as seen in the Completeness of its System of Moral and Religious Principles 144 CHAPTER V. Divine Origin of Christianity proved by its Fitness to become the One Universal Religion 147 CHAPTER VI. Inadequacy of the Visible Means of Chris tianity to the Production of its Ends . 150 CHAPTER VII. Philosophy of the Method of Producing the Christian Type of Character ... 153 INDEX 157 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. A PROPER study of Christian Evidences pre supposes a settled conviction, on the part of the student, of such fundamental truths of religion as the existence of God ; the immortality of the soul; the moral nature of man and an eternal moral law to which that nature responds; the opposition of man to the law of God and his need of redemption ; and the validity of the Sacred Scriptures as the History of God's re demptive dealings with the race, and as the Record of His will and laws by which it should be lifted from its sinful degradation to purity, holiness, and a participation of His own life. Accepting these truths, we may proceed to a consideration of the immediate evidences of the Divine origin of the Christian religion. These may be distributed under three general heads. First. Those adduced by Jesus and His Apostles, and then specially convincing. Second. Those adduced by Jesus and His Apostles, and still available. Third. Those developed in the progress of Christianity in the world, and now specially applicable. IO CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. PART I. THE EVIDENCES SPECIALLY RELIED ON BY JESUS AND HIS APOSTLES. TOO many treatises on Christian evidences seem to imply that the first and main reliance of Jesus was on the miracles He wrought. Brief examination of the Gospels, however, suf fices to show that miracles were neither the first Evidences nor ^e principal evidence adduced, relied on t>y but were resorted to only in dealing Hi a dis- with minds already prepared to be classified, convinced by them. Some were im mediately convinced by what Jesus said and in Himself was; others required the persuasive influence of miracles, or of Divine interposition in His behalf ; others, few in num ber, were won by a recognition of Jesus as the One foretold in Messianic prophecies. The evidences adduced by Jesus and His Apostles accordingly were : — I. An appeal to consciousness, or the self-evidencing power of truth. II. An appeal to Divine attestation by supernatural signs, or the working of -miracles. III. An appeal to prophecy, or a showing that the prophecies were then being fulfilled. SELF-EVIDENCING POWER OF TRUTH. II CHAPTER I. SELF-EVIDENCING POWER OF TRUTH. I. It is noteworthy that, according to all four of the Gospels, the Twelve were won The twelve to discipleship by the teachings of ^nb/teach- Jesus, and not by His miracles. ing of Jesus. 2. The first formal teaching of Jesus and avowal of His mission, according to Teaching of the first three Gospels, were at Naza- *^^ pre" reth, and, immediately afterwards, at miracles. Capernaum. To His first miracles wrought at the latter place He was naturally led by His teaching. 3. Jesus seems to have resorted to miracles only to reach those less receptive minds uncon vinced by His teachings. When His „. , „ J _ ° Miracles for teaching was obj'ected to, He replied, unreoeptive "Though ye believe not Me, believe the mm "' works " (John x. 38). And when Thomas refused to believe in the Resurrection except on visual and tactual evidence, the words of Jesus were, " Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed " (John xx. 29}. 4. The teaching of Jesus is repeatedly said to have been with " power " and " authority," 12 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. and officers sent to arrest Him declare, " Never man spake like this man " (John vii. 46). The "power" and "authority" are not to and"au- be explained by emphasis, or tone, or the words personal bearing, but by the self-evi- of Jesus. fencing power of the truth He uttered. This is evident from the general wonderment as to the source of His knowledge and wisdom, unlettered carpenter as He was (Matt. xiii. 54; Mark vi. 2). His teaching was not only wholly unlike the teaching then common, but carried such conviction to the heart as to be, in the minds of the Apostles at least, wholly unac countable, unless Divine in its origin. " Thou hast the words of eternal life," said Peter to Jesus ; " and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God " (John vi. 68, 69). 5. The Apostles' method of procedure was like that of their Master. Their first and main Apostles reliance, as is evident from the Acts powof and from their Epistles, was on the truth. self-evidencing power of the truth. MIRACLES. 13 CHAPTER II. MIRACLES. A SECOND kind of evidence adduced by Jesus and the Apostles consisted of supernatural signs, ordinarily known as " miracles." They _ . . J J Jewish ex- were wrought in obedience to a univer- pectationofth i_r3] c 1g s . sal Jewish expectation that the Messi anic reign would be introduced and authenti cated by them. In Jewish history successive dispensations — patriarchal, Mosaic, and pro phetic — had been miraculously introduced. Jesus, in working miracles, complied with the challenge, " What sign showest Thou ? " Three terms are used in the Gospels to desig nate miracles; "sign," "power," and "won der"; the first denoting the design; T]iree the second, the source; the third, the terms used to desig- effect on the beholders. The last and natemir- least important of these has unfortu nately, through its Latin equivalent (jniraculum), given to Theology the term " miracle " as repre sentative of all three. The Gospel of John com monly uses the generic term " works," expressing the twofold idea of " source " and " design." Combining the meaning of all the terms, we may, with proximate accuracy, define a miracle 14 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. as a phenomenon aside from the uniform course of nature, wrought by superhuman power, and adduced in attestation of one's claim to be a messenger from God. To add to this definition the statement that a miracle is either a violation, or a suspension of the laws of nature, or that it is wrought either by a hastening, or by a retard ing of the processes of nature, is to give a theory of it rather than a definition. Section I. — Objections to Miracles. Objections have been urged against miracles on three grounds ; they are said to be incred- Miracies ible, because contradicting the uni- on thret *° f°rm»ty of nature ; because, with our grounds. scientific knowledge of nature, its forces and its processes, the occurrence of miracles cannot be conceived as possible; because the occurrence of miracles, even if they could be conceived to occur, cannot be proved. I. Incredible because contradicting the uni- That they formity of nature. If nature be the uniformity work of God, then God would contra- of nature, diet Himself in working miracles. a. The objection from uniformity of nature is discounted in the very idea of miracle. presup- Uniformity is presupposed by it. If poses uni- . r . formity of nature were not uniform, miracles nature. could have no evidential value. MIRACLES. 15 b. We have already shown a Divine or super natural revelation to be both possible Supernat. and probable. Whatever can show the urainess of ..... r . . ... Revelation probability of such a revelation will makes show equal probability that the Divine ^"i^y Messengers communicating it would be attested Messenger. supernaturally attested. c. According to every writer in the New Tes tament, Jesus Christ was Himself a moral mir acle, — the greatest conceivable. In Jesus mm- the language of Simeon, "Set for a ^maSs sign ["miracle] that shall be spoken prohatie u J r subordi- against." He could have been such natemir- only by a direct contradiction of the aoles' uniformity of nature. But the uniformity of nature, in the sense of a combination of uni formly acting forces, cannot be conceived as existing for its own sake. The material and physical are everywhere subordinate to the organic, the organic to the vital, the vital to the mental, the mental to the moral. If for moral ends the uniformity of nature was broken in the moral miracle of the personal sinless Jesus, then it is by no means incredible that the uniformity of nature should be broken in the lesser miracles wrought in support of the ends for which Jesus came into the world. d. The miracles of the Gospels — both those of healing, chiefly dwelt on by the Synoptists, 1 6 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. The Gospel and those of majesty disclosing the ht^ony " SlorY of Jesus. dwelt 0n hY John ~ are with the all in most perfect harmony with the spirit and ... . . , , , . teachings spirit, character, mission, and teaching of Jesus. Qr jesuS( an(} are so fitted to win to a reception of Himself and His message as to fur nish in themselves good grounds for believing them to have occurred, whatever may have been their relation to the uniformity of nature. 2. The inconceivability of miracles in a world like ours, or the impossibility of their occurrence. They can be said to be impossible only on one of three grounds; on the ground of a false definition of miracles as a violation of Miraclesnotimpos- the laws of nature; or on the ground of a false theory of nature and of God's relation to it; or on the ground that physical science gives us so complete a knowledge of all the forces of nature, and of the laws regulating their action, as to warrant us in affirming that they afford no scope for the interposition of the supernatural equal to the production of miracles. a. As to the definition. To define a miracle as a violation of the laws of nature is to inject into the definition an assumed or ar- tionofany bitrary conception of its relation to natural or natural law. Nothing in Christianity, moral law. • ° J or in the Christian Scriptures, warrants us in supposing that God ever accomplished any end by an arrest or a violation of any one of His MIRACLES. 17 laws, physical, mental, or moral. The whole Christian system is an illustration of rigid con formity to, and fulfilment of, every known spe cies of law. The least breaking of the least of laws, or the slightest interference with orders of sequence physical, mental, or moral, would throw suspicion on the whole system of Chris tianity as not of Divine origin. A violation of any moral law would be a signal of moral con fusion and disorder throughout the realm of spirits ; a violation of the least of physical laws would precipitate disaster and ruin in the phys ical universe. In order to the stability of the universe every conceivable force in it must act in harmony with every other. The slightest interference with any one of them, a violation of the law of the least of them, would throw the universe into chaos. b. A false theory of nature and of God's rela tion to it. Thus, nature is conceived to be a self-existent and self-sustained system impossible of forces mechanical and chemical, ^^ theory which work uniformly and by a neces- of God'a J relation to sity inherent in themselves ; God, if He nature. exists, must exist apart from nature ; and if He works by it and through it must do so by com ing to it from without and striking in upon its self-acting mechanism, a mode of action inad missible, it is said, because inconceivable. But this deistic and dualistic theory of the world has CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. no real support either from science or philoso phy. Science may detect mechanical and chem ical modes of action in the processes of nature ; but modes are not causes, and can never account for the existence of phenomena. The nicely balanced interdependence and harmony among natural phenomena, resulting in a perfect equi librium and unity of the whole, can be explained only as the product of an indwelling and ever present Intelligence and Will. With an intelli gent Will thus ever present and working in and through the natural processes always uniformly, it certainly is not inconceivable that, working through two or more simultaneous and connected processes, it may produce unwonted phenomena on given occasions and in support of specific and definable ends. There is no more difficulty in conceiving the possibility of miracles so wrought than there is in conceiving of unwonted phe nomena wrought by man, whenever he chooses to avail himself of known mechanical and chem ical modes discernible in the processes of nature, or, of changes in the phenomena of the human organism in obedience to the dictates of an in dwelling intelligence and directive will. In fact, the whole world, ourselves included, abounds in phenomena quite as marvellous in themselves considered as are the miracles of the New Testa ment, but they fail to impress us because of the commonness of their occurrence. MIRACLES. 19 c. The assumption that science has given us sufficient knowledge of physical forces and of physical laws to warrant us in affirm- ^d^the ing that no event is possible which is assumption . , .... ... . that we clearly aside in its origin from natural havecom- causes. An event not produced by ^ledge natural causes, it is said, is an uncaused ofaiipossi- event, in other words can be no real, Cai forces but only an imaginary occurrence. andlaw3- Science, it is claimed, shows the forces of nature to be a closed circle, acting and reacting by an inherent and unalterable necessity. But Science is rapidly discovering, or at least gravely sus pecting, the existence of forces, or perhaps we should rather say a power, working within and without this circle, that is neither mechanical nor chemical in the modes of its action. Neither the power itself nor its methods of action come within the range of the senses, and thus within the scope of natural science. It is known to exist only through effects. Unless physical science can prove itself possessed of an exhaust ive knowledge of every species of force or power disclosed through natural phenomena, it has no ground for affirming the impossibility of miracles. 3. Impossibility of proving miracles to have occurred. This objection rests on the theory that all human knowledge is the pro- objection , - . r-, , . thatexpe- duct of sense experience. The objec- rienoediB- tion is sometimes stated in this way: ^^ea 20 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Nothing can be believed to have occurred which contradicts our experience of the uniformity of nature; miracles contradict this experience and are therefore incredible. Sometimes it takes this form : A belief in miracles rests on the testimony of others ; we have had experience of the falsity of human testimony, but of no such changes in natural phenomena as are denominated miracles. No amount of human testimony, therefore, in behalf of miracles can counterbalance the weight of experiential evidence against them. To say nothing of the indefeasibleness of the psycho logical theory here assumed, viz. that all our knowledge is derived from the experiences of the senses, suffice it to indicate two defects in the reasoning which vjtiate its conclusions. Its major premise is, that we have experience of uniformity in nature, and its minor premise, that we also have experience of uncertainty in human testimony. But individual experience is, of course, too limited to warrant a statement of uniformity in nature everywhere and always ; it must be corroborated by testimony. But the minor premise is that testimony is uncertain. The major premise is made to assume ground which the minor repudiates. The premises thus contradict rather than confirm the conclu sions drawn from them. Again, the argument from experience against miracles proves too much ; it makes the Apos- MIRACLES. 21 ties and their associates to have been ^j.™^^ either fools or knaves. Testimony is proves too much. invalidated by only one of two causes ; either that witnesses are self-deceived, or that they are intentional deceivers. To suppose the Apos tles and their associates to have been deceived, is wholly inconsistent with what we know of them from their writings and from what is told of them in the Acts. No trace of over credulity on their part, or of defective critical judgment, is anywhere discernible. And if they were mis led in their judgment of miracles it must have been by their Master, Jesus ; a supposition which is totally impossible. To suppose them to have been intentional deceivers is to suppose them to have united and to have persisted in falsehoods to which there could have been no rationally conceivable inducement, but from which every known human motive must have dissuaded them ; it is, in short, to suppose a moral mira cle on their part quite as wonderful and unac countable as any miracle to the occurrence of which they have testified. Section II. — Value of Miracles as Evidence. There are two reasons why this value should be briefly considered. The first is the exag gerated estimate placed on it by many writers in the last century and in the first half of the 22 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Two reasons present century, who not only make forconsider- miracles to have been the principal ing value of miracles as evidence adduced by Jesus, but to be evi ence. a most essential part of the evidence that should be adduced in our day. The second reason is a depreciation of the value by certain writers of our time, who not only declare that the miracles of Jesus can have no weight as evi dence for us, but insist that the miracles of the New Testament are a good reason for doubting the trustworthiness of those who wrote them. In forming our own estimate of their evidential value, it will be well to remember : — I. The immediate design of the miracles of Jesus was to authenticate Himself as a Divine Design of Messenger, the expected Messiah, LTsrfJe"- and t0 d° trns only to those who were sus wasto addressed, and before whom the mira- authenti- cate Him- cles were wrought. It was only in a vlne^es-1" rem°te way, if at all, — probably not senger. at all, — that they were designed to authenticate the truth or the authority of His message. That they were expected to be wrought by the Messiah is evident from the re ply of Jesus to the inquiry of the messengers of John the Baptist, " Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another ? " — " Go your way and tell John what things ye have seen and heard ; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead MIRACLES. 23 are raised." No miracles are ascribed to Jesus prior to his entrance on the Messianic office. 2. The miracles of Jesus are so much a part of His mission of love and practical benevo lence, and stand in such relation to His Necessary teachings in the Gospel narratives, that ^i°nofiS they form a necessary integrant of the love- whole. Some of his teachings are intelligible only as we remember the miracles that suggested them, as, for instance, the discourses following the miraculous feeding of the five thousand on the eastern slope of the Sea of Galilee, and the raising of Lazarus from the dead at Bethany. 3. To eliminate from the Gospels the miracles and all the teachings of Jesus that need the miracles to give them force and point, Miracle3 would be to throw the remainder into necessary to the con- confusion, and make it impossible to sistencyof . , . , , . . the New arrange it into a continuous and con- Testament sistent whole. It would also make it narrative- difficult, if not impossible, to explain the claim of the Apostle Paul for himself and the other Apostles of the possession of miraculous power (Rom. xv. 18, 19; 2 Cor. xii. 12). 4. Jesus made no display of miracles. He evidently set no great value on the possession of power to work them. When He had T r Jesus made conferred miraculous powers on the no display r , of miracles. seventy, He charged them not to re joice because of their possession of the pow- 24 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. ers, but " because their names were written in heaven" (Luke x. 20). To those benefited by the miracles he gave strict injunctions not to re port nor to talk about them to others (Matt. ix. 30, xii. 16; Mark i. 44, iii. 12, viii. 26; Luke v. 14, viii. 56). The three witnesses of the Trans figuration were enjoined to say nothing about it during his lifetime (Matt. xvii. 9; Mark ix. 9). If the miracles of Jesus, instead of having actu ally occurred, had originated in tradition, or in a desire of the writers of the Gospel to glorify Him, these writers could hardly have been at so much pains to represent Jesus as depreciating their importance. 5. Jesus wrought miracles reluctantly and only in obedience to the needs of a class of Miracles minds deficient in spiritual insight wroughtte .. meet the (Matt. xii. 38 ; Mark viii. 11, 12) ; and mildYdefi- He commended those whose faith cientin needed no aid from experience of the spiritual r insight. senses (John xx. 29). The evidential value of miracles has been sup posed to be impaired, if not invalidated, by the Notinvaii- New Testament recognition of satanic "^ftanTc miracles. But it should be remembered miracles." that only what is valuable is counter feited, and that a counterfeit always proves the existence of something genuine. And it is not to be forgotten that miracles, like all other kinds of evidence of moral and religious truth, can MIRACLES. 25 prove at their best nothing more than strong probability. Moral and religious truth admit of no demonstration. Between truth and error every one must decide for himself according to the light he has. Between a real miracle and a counterfeit, and between miracles wrought for Divine ends and for satanic purposes, every one must evidently discriminate for himself. As aids in the discrimination regard must, of course, be had both to the character of him through whom the miracle is wrought and to the ends for which it is wrought. 26 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. CHAPTER III. PROPHECY. In considering the nature and weight of the evidence from prophecy, we must distinguish between the use Jesus made of it and in the use the use afterwards made of it by His by Je°suseoy Apostles. In the nature of the case, and by His Jesus, as the active agent in the pro cess of fulfilling prophecy, would dwell less on it than did the Apostles in their subse quent reflections. The force of the evidence would be much less discernible while the fulfil ment was in progress than when it had been completed. In respect to the fulfilment of prophecy1 as evidence of the Divine origin of Christianity, it should be borne in mind : — i . That Jewish history recorded in the Sacred Scriptures is prophetic as well as historical. The Jewish people were reared for the spe- TVTos^i^i hip prophecy cific purpose of providing a light for SZghthe a11 nations, — a light that in its ful- oid Testa- ness was to shine in and through a di vinely appointed person, the Messiah. 1 "The rule for the relation of prophecy to fulfilment is: A prophecy can only be rggarded as fulfilled when the whole body of truth included in it has attained living realization.'' — Orelli's Old Testament Prophecy, § 7. PROPHECY. 27 Every step in Jewish history was prepara tory to His coming. Writers through succes sive centuries foresaw and foretold His coming. A golden thread of Messianic prophecy ran throughout the sacred writings. The Jewish imagination was roused to the use of the most glowing imagery in describing the majesty of this expected personage. And when Jesus came, the public mind, through a combination of various causes, was alive with expectation of His com ing. To call attention to the fulfilment of proph ecy as evidence that He had come was both natural and necessary. 2. From the words of Andrew to his brother, Simon Peter, after his first interview with Jesus, " We have found the Messias " (John i. inference 41), and of Philip, on the day following, *™w to Nathanael, " We have found Him of ^d pmip- whom Moses and the prophets did write," we naturally and necessarily infer that in these instances Jesus must have said enough to them of prophecy and of His fulfilment of it, to war rant them in pronouncing Him the Messiah. 3. To the charge that His teaching contra dicted the Scriptures, He replied, " Think not that I am come to destroy the law or Reply of the prophets; I am not come to de- J«™t°the stroy, but to fulfil." (Matt. v. 17.) And His teach- when He had read the sixty-first chap- ^f^cted ter of Isaiah in the public service of the ScriPture- 28 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Synagogue at Nazareth, He said to the villagers among whom He had been brought up, " This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." 4. The allusion of Jesus to the miracle or sign of Jonas in the whale's belly as emblematic of the miracle or sign of His own burial and resur rection (Matt. xii. 40), and His allusion to the stone rejected by the builders and becoming the head of the corner, are not so much instances of evidence adduced from prophecy as they are illustrations from Old Testament history. 5. A complete and comprehensive explana tion of the relation of Jesus to prophecy and „ , ,. , His fulfilment of it was not made by Relation of r J Jesus to Him till after His resurrection. But not'ex-"7 He made it on the afternoon and even- after"Histm *n§ °^ tne very day of His resurrec- resurrec- tion. And the language employed in His explanation seems very clearly to imply that He had already before His cruci fixion said enough of prophecy and the necessity of His fulfilling it, to have made things clear to minds not too much beclouded by self-interest and by erroneous conceptions of the nature of the kingdom He had come to earth to establish. 6. When the minds of the Apostles had been sufficiently clarified in respect to evidence from Apostles' prophecy, they made haste to use it use of with frequency and force. The Gos pel of Matthew abounds in citations of PROPHECY. 29 prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus; and John in his Gospel (xii. 37-41) cites Isaiah liii. 1, "Who hath believed our report?" as having been fulfilled by the Jews who had re fused to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. The use made of prophecy by the Apostles in the first days of the Church is one of the most notable features of the earlier part of the Acts. The remarkable speech of Stephen wholly turns on the fulfilment of prophecy by Jesus. The Epistle to the Hebrews is simply an elaborate argument from fulfilment of Judaism as a grand whole of prophecy. 30 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. PART II. ORIGINAL EVIDENCES WHICH ARE STILL AVAILABLE. SOME of the evidences employed by Jesus and His Apostles carry conviction to honest minds to-day, just as they did when first used. J WO ClRSSOS ofevi- Others having been local, national, temporary, could avail in their origi nal form with those only to whom they were personally presented. To the first of these classes belong the appeals to consciousness; to the second, belong the miracles known to us to have been wrought only through the New Tes tament accounts of them. The court of the universal consciousness is still open; miracles of world-wide significance and universally intel ligible are now addressed by the Church of the Living God to all mankind. THE APPEAL TO CONSCIOUSNESS. 31 CHAPTER I. THE APPEAL TO CONSCIOUSNESS. The self-evidencing power of truth is still as effective as ever in dealing with unbelief. It is even more effective now than when „Response relied on by Jesus and His Apostles, ofuniver- In fact, it is in pulpit apologetics aciouTness the most effective method of reaching *? Chris' 0 tian truth. minds whose chief hindrance to be coming Christians is sluggishness and indiffer ence. Christian truth is the voice of God speak ing into the ear of the human soul; it is as audibly and as unmistakably Divine as when it called Adam to a consciousness of his sin. The supposition that Christian truth by its long continuance in the world has lost some of its original freshness and novelty, and so of its power to arrest attention and beget conviction, wholly misconceives the essence of truth. Like human nature, it remains perennially the same through whatever vicissitudes of human society it may pass. Doubtless familiarity with the letter of truth combined with indifference to the spirit of it may fortify against its power of conviction. But as a counterbalance to the hardening effect 32 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. of this familiarity and indifference should be borne in mind the influence of Christianity on the common consciousness of all peoples who live under the light of its teachings. This light, even by its reflected shining, irradiates the inner nature, wakening into life the better but dormant qualities of the soul, intensifying and clarifying consciousness itself, and thus imparting a sus ceptibility to the power of Christian truth such as neither Jew nor Gentile could have possessed when that truth was first proclaimed by Jesus and His Apostles. One of the most convincing evidences of the Divine origin of Christianity to enlightened but unchristian minds in our day is the response of consciousness to its moral and religious teaching. EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 33 CHAPTER II. EVIDENCE PROM MIRACLES. The miracles wrought by Jesus and his Apos tles were designed for, and fitted to convince, those only for whose benefit they were New Testa- . . t-.. r T . ment mira- wrought. 1 hey were for Jews only, oles ^ and for Jews of that day, to facilitate *™dedfOT •> J ' their own the planting of Christianity among *"»«• them. There is no evidence that they were designed to carry conviction either to Gentiles or to Jews eighteen hundred years after their occurrence. To attempt in our day to prove the Divine origin of Christianity by the mira cles of Jesus is to assume the needless task of proving that the miracles were actually wrought before we can bring them into court to testify. Evidence needing thus to be vouched for as trustworthy hazards the credibility of the thing to be proved. When there shall be wrought miracles of the same kind as those appealed to by Jesus, or, in fact, of any kind that are equally shown to come directly from the Divine hand, they who witness them will not greatly err if they shall look for other and accompanying evidences of a 3 34 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. new dispensation. According to all Biblical his tory, miracles were wrought only to authenti cate messengers who came with new messages. Old and familiar truths, by whomsoever reiter ated, have needed, and now need, no corrobo ration. Doubtless many marvellous effects are wrought in the human organism simply by a strong faith. The power of the mind over the body sometimes comes startlingly close to a resemblance to Divine power. But to call this mental power miraculous is a misuse of language. But Christianit)' as it now exists in -the world has its own accompanying miraculous evidences. The higher Jesus announced them as certain to miracle. come, and the New Testament expli citly avows them as existing. One species of miracle was specially promised by Christ Him self. The Apostles and their associates were commissioned and empowered to do the same works which He himself had done, and through their faith in Him as the risen and glorified Lord who had returned to the Father, they were to be enabled to do even greater works than He had wrought, — greater not in degree but in kind. They were to be the instruments in the hand of God of working the moral miracles of raising human souls from the death of sin to a life of righteousness. The moral miracle of the resurrection of a soul from spiritual death shows EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 35 forth the glory of God more clearly, if we will but see it, than did the bodily resurrection of the literally dead. To this kind of miraculous evidence the Apostle Paul frequently alluded. All miracles are, of course, exhibitions of Divine Paul,s power. Their entire force as evidence references r to it. lies in the assurance given that the power of God produces them. The Apostle Paul is accordingly very fond of attributing the regenerative process of the Gospel in the soul of man directly to the re-creative power of God. He makes all to be due to " the exceeding great ness of God's power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (His miraculous agency), which he wrought in Christ when he raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." With Paul it was the power or miracu lous interposition of God that raised Jesus from the dead, the same power that rescued and transformed himself from the bitter persecutor to the loving advocate; and to the miracle- loving Jews, he was content to point to Jesus as Himself the •' power of God," or miracle they so much craved to see. Among other conspicu ous evidences of Christianity we may therefore point to the resurrection of Jesus, the conver sion of the Apostle Paul, and the Person and teachings of Jesus. 2,6 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Section I. — The Resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection was the last and the climax in the series of the miracles of Jesus. He refers Theresur- to it as the one finally decisive evi ration the dence of His Messiahship (Matt. xii. climax in r v the series 40 ; Luke xxiv. 46; John ii. 18-20). miracles of To it above all others the Apostles in Jesus. tjie ^cts ancj jn t^e-lt Epjst]es refer, as the ground of their confidence in Christ as Son of God and Judge of the world, and the basis of their assurance that all His promises would be fulfilled. They were at great pains to state that as Apostles they were specially appointed to be witnesses of the resurrection. The resurrection is the one miracle of Jesus that must be specially emphasized, and is spe cially available as evidence to-day. The Apos tle Paul makes it to be the fundamental fact in Christianity, — an event on the real occur rence of which Christianity must for all time rest its claim to be a trustworthy religion. Ac cording to Paul, if it did not occur the Apostles were false witnesses, and the religion a fraud. Various attempts have been made to explain the account of it in the New Testament records in some other way than by regarding it as a real occurrence. Five theories have been proposed to explain it ; these have been severally desig- EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 37 nated as the theory of theft, of swoon, of vision, of telegram, and of gradual growth from exag gerated statements of the Apostles' belief in the immortality of Jesus, or of His survival of death. 1. The theft theory is too absurd on Theft the face of it to require refutation. theory. 2. The swoon theory of Paulus, that Jesus, swooning from pain on the cross, was revived by the coolness of the tomb, is more plausi- swoon ble than the theft theory ; but evidence theory' of actual death seems to have been incontestable. The theory is, moreover, wholly irreconcilable with the character, teachings, and subsequent conduct of the Apostles. The deception im plied in the theory could have been maintained only with the connivance, if not actual co-opera tion of Jesus, an impossible admission, to say nothing of the impossibility of a successful con tinuance of so stupendous a fraud. 3. The vision theory advocated by Renan, Matthew Arnold, Prof. T. H. Green, and others, is still more plausible than the swoon vision theory, but is indefensible, (a) The tneor5r- Apostles had visual and tactual evidence, " many infallible proofs," of the real bodily presence of Jesus after the resurrection, (b") The Apostles, overwhelmed and dismayed by the crucifixion of Jesus, were in no state of mind for such vis ions, and were incredulous at the first report of His resurrection, (c) The Apostle Paul says 38 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. he saw Jesus (i Cor. ix. i), and he distinguishes between his seeing Jesus and his subsequent visions (Acts xxii. 17, 18; 2 Cor. xii. 1-8). (d) The hallucination of visions intensifies itself in those subject to them till there comes an end to it in exhaustion and disappointment, whereas with the Apostles Christ's appearances soon ceased and ended in settled convictions,1 a com plete transformation of their ideas, aims, and expectations, and in arousing them to achieve ments which nothing but the clear-seeing and deep-seated faith of cool-headed men can ac count for. 4. Keim's theory of " telegram from heaven " is, that the spirit of Jesus from the other world Telegram reported itself to the Apostles in a vis- theory. ua^ bociiiy forrri) — a species of materi alization.2 The aim of the theory is to account 1 Keim says (Vol. VI. p. 356) : " The visions not only came to an end, they even made way for a diametrically opposite mental current." He concludes an extended critical examina tion of the vision theory with these words: " If there was ac tually an early, an immediate transition from the visions to a calm self-possession and to a self-poised energy, then the visions did not proceed from self-generated visionary over excitement and fanatical agitation among the multitude. ... All the be fore-mentioned considerations compel us to admit that the theory is only an hypothesis which, while it explains some thing, le'aves the main fact unexplained, and indeed subordi nates what is historically attested to weak and untenable views." 2 See Keim's Jesus of Nazara (Ransom's translation), Vol. VI. pp. 359-364- EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 39 for the transformation of the Apostles from de spair at the crucifixion to the triumphant exal tation they afterwards exhibited; but it does violence to the Gospel narrative, and gives no explanation of what became of the real body of Jesus. 5. The gradual growth theory of Martineau is, that the Apostles believed so strongly in the continued existence of the spirit of ¦ r ¦ . Gradual Jesus after the crucifixion, and so em- growth phasized this belief, that they came in eory due time to have visions of him as risen, and to affi/m that they had seen him ; 1 thus giving rise to traditions of the resurrection which were in corporated in the Gospels; — a theory which can be maintained only on the assumption that the Gospels are neither genuine nor trustworthy. The direct evidence of the resurrection of Jesus may be summarized as follows: — 1. The four Gospels detail with minuteness the circumstances accompanying the resurrec tion; the Apostles make it the first whoieNew and foremost fact in all their preach- testifies to ing, never failing to give fc promi- X™- nence, whomsoever they might be action. addressing; and the conspicuous recognition of it in every part of the New Testament, what ever the subject under discussion, bespeaks at 1 See Martineau's Seat of Authority in Religion, pp. 363- 37°- 40 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. once the reality of its occurrence and its im portance in the scheme of Christianity. 2. The real occurrence of the resurrection can alone account for the sudden transition a osties' through which the Apostles passed change of from the disappointment and utter dis- feeling after . . . , theresurrec- may into which the crucifixion had plunged them into the boldness and exultation exhibited by them on the. day of Pentecost and ever afterwards. 3- The resurrection was one of the necessary steps towards a correction of the erroneous con- corrects ceptions so deeply seated in the Apos- Apostles' .11., • , ,- " , notions of ties minds respecting the nature of the torf*" kingdom of Christ. During all their Christ. attendance on His personal ministry, and even after they were assured of His return from the grave, they were dreaming of a tempo ral kingdom and of a reign of earthly magnifi cence. The death on the cross had shattered these hopes ; seeing him returned from the grave, their hopes revived. It was only after Jesus had explained the meaning of both the death and the resurrection, that they were en abled to comprehend the kingdom He was to found as a reign of righteousness and as the conservation of spiritual life among men. The resurrection was the midway fact between the sacrificial death of Christ and His ascension to the throne of the universe. It was the one de- EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 4 1 cisive event which proved at once the Divine origin of His religion and its power to save the souls of those who believe in it. 4. The resurrection alone furnishes the key to a complete understanding of the New Testa ment as a whole, and to an understand- Akey to insr of the philosophical consistency theunder- & r r 1 1 • 1 standij:is °f of its parts as a system of theological the New and ethical thought. The death of the Testament- Son of God without a resurrection would have left an unbridged chasm in the theology of the New Testament, and the death, as a procuring cause in human redemption, without a resur rection, would have been neither effective nor intelligible. 5. If Jesus did not rise from the grave, no reasonable account can be given of the exist ence of the Christian Church. With- E laina out the resurrection, it is impossible to existence , ¦ , , , , of the explain the sudden exchange on the christian part of the Apostles' minds of their urc ' long cherished materialistic notions of the Mes sianic kingdom for the spiritual principles announced by them on the day of Pentecost. But with the resurrection and the repeated interviews of the Apostles with their Mas ter after that event, of which we have ac counts in the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke and the first chapter of the Acts, all becomes clear. 42 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. The resurrection alone can explain the recall ing of the Apostles from the dispersion and hiding into which the crucifixion had Explains the sub- driven them, and the holding them in course1 of waiting for the outpouring of the Spir- u*ApT '*¦' — ^e Spirit without whose prom- theirstrong ised guidance the Church could never have been organized. If Christ did not rise from the grave, then the Apostles must have conspired in hiding His body and in pro claiming, the most aimless falsehood ever set afloat by man. That men capable of such con spiring, deception, and falsehood,. could have organized the Christian Church, making it the embodiment of the moral and religious princi ples they taught, is a supposition too foolish to be thought of. So far as any mind can now see, had not Jesus Christ risen from the dead all that He had said and done and suffered would have speedily passed into a fading reminiscence of a great and transient light. 6. The conversion of the Apostle Paul turned on the appearance to him of the risen Jesus. Conversion Whatever else may have been requi- Apostie site to his conversion, the Apostle him- Paui. seif always referred to his arrest on the way to Damascus by the risen, personal Jesus as the efficient cause of it. So sudden and so overwhelmingly surprising was the appearance, and so astounded was he by it, that for three EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 43 days he " neither did eat nor drink." The resur rection to him was the most absolutely certain of facts, — a fact on which he staked the whole truth of Christianity, — and by it, he assures us in the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans, Jesus Christ was declared to be " the Son of God with power." 7. The resurrection of Jesus was necessary as a ground of assurance to the faith of those putting their trust in Him. No amount Resurrec. of promise could suffice to win faith in tion neces" sary as a one as a Helper in a future world who ground of had gone into the grave and had given no evidence of His survival of death. Jesus was " raised again for our justification," and by His resurrection our faith in Him is justified. His resurrection was necessary to demonstrate the reality of a future life, and to assure us of our own resurrection to participate in the life eternal. Section II. — Conversion of the Apostle Paul. This naturally follows the resurrection of Jesus, and is inseparably connected with it as evidence of the divine origin of Chris- Evidential tianity. Its evidential value is seen Aversion6 from the following considerations : — of Paul- 1. As we have already stated, the conversion of the Apostle Paul, in the accounts he gives of 44 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. it and in the allusions he makes to it, is always Effected b declared to have been instrumentally appearance effected by the appearance to him of ofChrist. , y .. ,V . _, . the once crucified but risen Christ. 2. Paul had been carefully bred in the Jewish religion, and was profoundly versed in its histo- Ascrupu- ry> prophecies, and requirements. He lous Jew. was most devoutly loyal to his religion, practising its requirements with utmost scrupu losity. A fiery zealot in defending it, he resorted to the most violent measures in punishment of any apostasy from it as from the one and only religion of God. 3. Up to the time of his conversion he was convinced that the Christian religion was an Determined iniquitous scheme, which it would be todestroy an acceptable service to God to an- tianity nihilate, and whose adherents he was determined, if possible, to exterminate. 4. There was nothing in the Christian Church which could possibly appeal to any selfish mo- tive to induce a change in his estimate to selfish- of it, or in his temper towards it. On the contrary, its spirit, its interpreta tion of the prophets, its antagonism to Pharisa ism, and its loyalty to the sacrificed Jesus, all conspired to repel him, and to stimulate his zeal against it. 5. Identification of himself with Christians, even if he had seen anything attractive among EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 45 them, would have necessitated the sacrifice of the highest possible prospects that sacrifice of could then lie before a young and am- mteresta- bitious Jew of Paul's ability and attainments. He well knew that " making havoc of the Church " was directly in the line of service which was sure to procure advancement and bring the most coveted prizes of life. 6. Granting all that can be claimed for natu ral causes in Paul's change of mind, and doubt less not a little was due to them, they Oniysuper- cannot account for the suddenness and causes can completeness of his transformation. a;CC0Ullt for r his conver- The speech of Stephen, we may well ai Once for all, He was a realization of the ideally perfect man ; He was a living Miracle. 5. Jesus apparently was not conscious of His Messiahship till at, or after, His baptism. This consciousness, however, was after- „ ' ' Conscious- wards explicitly avowed, and sinlessness nessofTVFo^sTjih - claimed by Him (John viii. 46). No ship after consistent explanation of this claim and baptl8m' avowal is possible except on the ground of their reality 6. An absolutely sinless character in the Founder of Christianity may easily be shown, both theologically and ethically, to Sinlessness have been necessary to its complete- of Jesus ness as a system of religion. Theologi- "heoiogt7 cally the Christian religion becomes cf^yand J _ ° ethically. effective in accomplishing its end only through faith in Jesus as a faultless Sufferer in our behalf. Faith in one as a helper whose suf ferings might have been suspected of being due 52 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. to his own faults would, of course, have been abortive. Ethically, Jesus is the example whom we are always to follow. Only a perfect being can safely be presented to men as their ideal and pattern. These theological and ethical ne cessities, however, are never so much as hinted at by New Testament writers, and cannot, there fore, be referred to as explaining their portraiture of Jesus as perfect. It has been only through a progressive and philosophico-theological expo sition of Christianity as a whole, that the fitness and necessity of a perfect character in Jesus have become fully apparent.1 II. The Teachings of Jesus. — In appealing to the teachings of Jesus as evidence of the super- Teachings natural origin of His religion, it is not unmSed claimed that nothing taught by Him with error. }jacj never been taught by any one else. It is not difficult to parallel many of His ethical sayings by citations from Old Testament proph ets, from Apocryphal and Rabbinical writings, and even from heathen writings like those of Plato, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. What 1 "All other religious men go into the presence of God with a cry for pardon. But he who dies upon the cross never sobs out, 'Father, forgive me' Theology may be right in arguing from this to the highest holiness. The absence of all confes sion may imply a Divine Humanity; it is fatal to a human humanity." — Columbia College Lectures, Primary Convic tions, p. 83. By William Alexander, D. D., Bishop of Derry and Raphoe. EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 53 we can and do claim is, that Jesus taught a sys tem of religion and ethics unequalled by any religion before His time or since, and that in it He taught truth unmixed with error. On this truth stands the legible stamp of its Divine origin. If the truth is from a superhuman source, so also is the religion that embodies and illustrates it. Notice : — 1. The absolute originality of the two most elementary and yet most comprehensive prin ciples in the whole body of Christian originality truth, — the Fatherhood of God and °fu>e<™™ most com- the brotherhood of man. Not a peo- prehensive , 1 , • , r 1 truths of pie on earth recognized either of these Christian- principles in the Christian sense of it, lty- when first they were uttered by Jesus. To the Jew every man not of his race was a dog, to the Greek the foreigner was a barbarian, and to the Roman every alien was fit only for Roman enslavement. To-day among all enlightened peoples the Fatherhood of God and brother hood of man are the commonplaces of the Christian religion and accepted as self-evident. 2. No well supported proof can be adduced of a natural and human origin of other more distinctive principles of Christianity. otherdis. Striking passages can be gathered tinctive a r ° ° principles from writings of the Maccabean pe- taught by riod, and from the so called Apoca lyptic and Wisdom literature of the age imme- 54 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. diately preceding the birth of Jesus, and these may have sustained to His teachings a relation not unlike that of the reddening dawn to the rising sun ; but there is not a fragment of evi dence that He had even a hearsay acquaintance with these, much less that He read them and borrowed from them. Among people of His rank and social level, religious life and thinking were of the dreariest. His teaching was to all classes alike astonishing and unaccountable. " How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" was the common inquiry. If He was familiar with the Apocalyptic and Wisdom literature of His time, or with earlier Stoical writers, it is not credible that some among His hearers should not also have been familiar with them, and, knowing His indebtedness, should not have exposed Him as a plagiarist. 3. Let the simple facts speak. A peasant-born Jew, bred and toiling as a mechanic, acquainted His teach- wltn none other of the literatures of the ingshaye world than the Jewish Scriptures, at stood the J r ' test of thirty years of age gives to the world a body of moral and religious truth which more than eighteen centuries of severest criticism and practical testing have utterly failed to invalidate, or in any degree to dis credit, and which now, more than ever, is proving its fitness to be the one universal reli gion. A religion standing thus apart from, and EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 55 superior to, all others, gives evidence, if evi dence can be given, of having originated with the Supreme Mind of the universe, and of being fitted to fulfil the ultimate end for which the universe exists. 4. The final commission of Jesus to the Apos tles, to evangelize the whole world, implies on His part an assured consciousness of „ . * He rmpart- having given to them truth, absolute, ed absolute immutable, and unqualified. What He was conscious of, history is vindicating with an increasing distinctness. 5. Nothing in the Apostolic development of Christianity, or in the subsequent unfolding of the Apostles' exposition of it, has Him3elf added to, or withdrawn from, the sub- the Divine stance of what was given in the person, tion of in the deeds, and in the oral instruc- ra tions of Jesus. He Himself was all that He required His disciples to become, — was the Divine incarnated. The development of Chris tianity has been simply a disclosure of the hidden nature of the Divine-human Jesus. 56 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. CHAPTER III. EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. In treating of Prophecy under Part First, we saw that Jesus declared Himself to have come Fulfilments *nto tne world to ^mn^ b°th the Law ofprophecy and the Prophets, and, on a given oc- recorded in i. ° New Testa- casion at Nazareth He assured His fellow townsmen that one very striking prophecy of Isaiah was then and there being fulfilled ; and after His resurrection, He imme diately pointed out to His disciples that His life and death had been necessary to fulfil what the Prophets had written concerning Him. On this teaching of their Master, the Apostles and their associates at once proceeded to enlarge. They represented Judaism as foretelling, alike in its institutions and in its Sacred Scriptures, the coming of a religion far better than itself, and, especially, the coming of One anointed of God, who should build up the new religion out of the old. Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms are all appealed to as prophesying of this new religion and its Founder; and their prophecies are claimed to have been fulfilled in the person and the work of Jesus. In fact, the New Tes tament viewed in its relation to the Old Testa- EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 57 ment is throughout a detailed fulfilment of the prophecies and predictions found in the Old Testament Scriptures. And yet the New Testament contains only specimens * of the prophecies and predictions that were fulfilled in the person, the prophecies death, and the resurrection of Jesus. ^^ Such only are mentioned as the spe- tles- cific topic treated of by each speaker or writer called for. Intimations, however, are not want ing that others might be cited ; and in the light of those given, it is not difficult to interpret the others. Under this light writers subsequent to the Apostles proceeded to cite other fulfilments. Examples of this are found in the Epistle of Barnabas, written according to Delitzsch be- 'tween the years 70 and 120; in Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, written between the years 140 and 148, and in St. Augustine's " City of God," written near the beginning of the fifth century. With these and many other writers of the earlier centuries, predominance among the evidences of the Divine origin of 1 "The New Testament references to Old Testament proph ecies are limited, rather accidentally than designedly, by the occasion afforded in the Gospel history and the apostolic trains of thought. Hence it has come to pass that many Messianic passages of prime importance have remained unnoticed, e. g. Isaiah ix. 6, 7; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6; Zech. vi. 12, 13." Delitzsch, Messianic Prophecies, § 10. Compare Riehm's Messianic Prophecy, Part III., p. 222 of Muirhead's translation. 58 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Christianity was given to Prophecy. And it was not alone to Messianic prophecies that those who wrote for Gentile readers gave attention. They dwelt also on the large range of prophe cies relating to foreign peoples, and to the Jew ish nation and to God's dealing with it ; lines of argument still available, and, when rightly con sidered', not easily set aside. Thus we have fulfilments of prophecies against Assyria and Babylon and Moab; and of the special predic tions of disaster to the kingdoms of Israel and Syria who had formed an alliance against Judah ; and of the overthrow of the army of Sennache rib, King of Assyria, when laying siege to Je rusalem. But as evidence of the Divine origin of Christianity the Messianic prophecies are more in point, and the fulfilment of these is more demonstrably clear. Various causes have contributed to the de preciation of the value of Prophecy as one of Deprecia- the Christian evidences. The earliest Prophecy and most active of these was the un- throughun- criticai habit of finding fulfilments in critical ° treatment, support of preconceived systems of thought, a treatment of the Sacred Scriptures which Biblical criticism has not been slow in exposing as an abuse of them. Rationalism, availing itself of Biblical criticism and adopting a rigid grammatico-historical method of interpre tation, has been prompt in its endeavors to show EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 59 that prophecies, Messianic and all alike, afford no evidence of a supernatural origin, but may be otherwise and easily accounted for. Thus some of the prophecies, it says, are no more than the forecasting of political or ethical sa gacity ; certain Messianic predictions, when com pared with their fulfilment in Christ, are declared to be only fortunate coincidences between what had been uttered originally of Jewish function aries and what had occurred in the personal history of Jesus; and when all other meth ods fail of evading the force of the argument from the fulfilment of Messianic prediction in the life and death and resurrection of Christ, rationalism does not hesitate to affirm Attempt of that the predictions must have been j^^^y written after the occurrence of the Prophecy. events predicted. But Biblical learning and crit icism advance with an ever widening knowledge of Jewish history and with an ever deepening insight into the nature of the Messianic proph ecies, and of their connection with the whole of the Jewish religion. The more sober critics are fast coming to see with equal distinctness the mistake of theorists who would find in the fulfilment of prophecies a justification of pre conceived notions, and the far greater mistake of rationalists who refuse to see traces of anything supernatural in any of the Old Testament proph ets. The truth is, the more thoroughly the 60 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Jewish religion is studied and its Sacred Scrip tures are understood, the clearer becomes the evidence that throughout, from the beginning onward, there were an ever growing prom ise and expectancy of a coming of something better than had at any time been attained or attainable, and that the introduction and con summation of all should be through the coming of the Priest and King anointed of God to found a Kingdom of Righteousness that should know no end. The argument in support of the Divine origin of Christianity from the fulfilment of the Messi- Prophecy anic prophecies was never more con- as evidence yincing to ingenuous minds than it is more con- ° r °# vincing to- to-day. Biblical criticism, so confi- ever bfr dently relied on to destroy the argu- fore- ment from prophecy, has only served to show its impregnability. Precedence has been given it over any other kind of proof. Miracles of power, of whatever description, can be effective and convincing to those only on whom, or before whom, they are wrought. Their evidence is necessarily both local and transient; and their effectiveness as evidence can be added to neither by repetition nor by multiplication. Too many of them would weaken it. As every day occurrences, they would cease to be evi dence at all. But prophecies — miracles of knowledge — are limited neither to place nor EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 6l to time. Once uttered and fulfilled, the voice goes sounding along the centuries, ever gaining in articulateness and emphasis wherever the light of Christianity is shining. Fulfilment gives to the words of the prophets the character of living witnesses. The oftener any single prophecy is fulfilled, — and fulfilments may be repeated, — the oftener the testimony of the witnesses is heard; and the more there are of prophecies fulfilled, the greater the number of the witnesses to testify. The whole Christian world now tes tifies to the truth of the predictions of the old prophets of Judea. In appealing, however, to Old Testament prophecy as Christian evidence, regard must be had to the manifest distinction Distinction between " type " * and " prophecy," between 'v . , f , "type'-and and between prophecy in the broader "proph- sense of outline of the future and ecy' prophecy in the narrower sense of prediction 1 "By type we understand the inadequate presentation of a divine idea which is to be more perfectly realized afterwards. The Spirit of God not only reveals Himself in definite words which He suggests to consecrated seers ; He also rules in his tory, shaping it with significant reference to the future. ... As to the type, the rule is that it is known as such only by the appearance of the antitype, in which it is fulfilled, except where it has been explained in its prefigurative significance by pro phetic speech. It is fulfilled when the idea imperfectly hinted in it has found its adequate exposition in realization." — Orelli's Old Testament Prophecy, §§ 5 and 7, pp. 37, 38, and 54. See also Briggs's Messianic Prophecies, § 19. 62 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. of persons and events; and, more than all, to the difference between the major function of the prophets as preachers of righteousness and their minor function as seers and proclaimers of the future. These distinctions bear on the question of proof as derived from prophecy. Thus the Jews were an elect people chosen of God from among the nations, not for their own sakes, but for the accomplishment of Divine ends. The ends were moral and religious, and were attain able only in an indeterminate future, and by means not then intelligible. Of these ends, under one aspect or another of them, every office and every office-holder among the Jews was a type, and to them every rite, ceremony, and ordinance of their religion symbolically pointed. Their whole life was one of awaiting expectancy, — of eager longing for the coming of something better. For the attainment of the better, obedience was inexorably required to the moral statutes under which Moses had placed them at the beginning of their national life. Enforcement of moral obligation, of obe dience to the Sovereign Will of the infinitely Holy One whose chosen people they were, was the one great function of their prophets. They were the recognized preachers of righteousness. In performing this function, they necessarily denounced national iniquities, and forewarned of national judgments which were sure to ensue. EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 63 From contemplation of national perversity and the national ruin induced by it, the prophetic mind turned naturally to the promises of the great future which had been given to Abraham and Moses and David. Within these promises the Omniscient Spirit that guided them — the " Spirit of Christ " Peter called it — opened their eyes to see what they have prophetically depicted. On the dark background of threat ened judgments they painted in glowing colors their pictures of an ultimate endless reign of righteousness and peace. Out from amid the gloom of impending calamities they saw and pictured the righteous King, Founder of the endless kingdom. In adducing fulfilment of Prophecy, further more, as Christian evidence, caution is to be exercised not to fall into the mistake - . - , . . Cautions of trying to find too minute a meaning against too in all the symbolical imagery in which ^retaT" the prophecy is couched. Against this tionsof r r J t> Prophecy. two considerations should warn us. The first is a lack of information on our part for such interpretation. Each prophet's imagery and phraseology were determined by his individual endowments and experiences, and reflected his own time and surroundings. Of all these, our knowledge is too meagre to warrant minuteness of interpretation, even if it be admitted that minuteness of meaning was in the prophet's 64 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. mind. A second consideration is, that the sym bolical imagery and incidental language of a prophecy are not so essential to its meaning as to require, or even to admit of, a minutely exact interpretation. To insist on such interpretation is no more reasonable than to insist on finding doctrinal meaning in the mere drapery of the New Testament parables. In using parables, Jesus had a single and definite purpose in each of them. Except as drapery, or setting for that purpose or end, the drapery had no meaning. In like manner, the symbolical imagery and in cidental terms of the Old Testament seer, except as drapery or setting for the single event or per son he was foretelling, were without significance. The various and often conflicting meanings that persons of vivid fancies have thought themselves justified in extracting from prophetic imagery, have brought the whole argument from prophecy into unmerited disrepute. They throw distrust on the prophets by trying to make out a great deal more than was pretended to be seen. The New Testament, in its citations of fulfilled prophecy, affords no illustration of this misuse of them. In using the prophetic argument, it is also not to be forgotten that prophecies, especially the Messianic Messianic, did not occur as sporadic notPspoC-ieS and isolated outbursts of the prophetic connected* sP'r't- They were a connected series series. constituting an organic whole. They EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 65 are a clearly definable integer of Jewish his tory, and form, in fact, the core of it. They reveal as nothing else does, or can, the Divine purpose in rearing and training the Jewish people, and the connection of that purpose with the broader and eternal purpose of hu man redemption.1 Towards a fulfilment of the broader and eternal purpose, every prophet was made to contribute his quota, and his quota was determined by his position in the prophetic line. Select whatever item we may of his Messi anic predictions, its full meaning becomes clear only as we look at it in the light of the whole series of Messianic prophecies. The argument from prophecy in Christian evidences, like the argument from design in Natural Theology, becomes conclusive only when the instance of design selected to reason from is seen to be simply a unit of a complex but unified whole. 1 "When we consider that the prophets were linked in a chain, and that their predictions are combined in a system, — an organic whole which no individual prophet could possibly comprehend, which now stands before the scholarly world in marvellous unity and variety as the object of the study of the ages of the past, which absorbs the energies of the present, and which arches the future even to the end of the world, — we are forced to the conviction that the one Master of the Hebrew prophets was the Spirit of God, and that the organic system of prophecy is a product of the mind and will of God." — Briggs's Messianic Prophecies, § 16, p. 42. Compare Riehm's Messi anic Prophecy, Part II., and Orelli's Old Testament Proph ecy, § 3- S 66 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. As in the material universe, the countless adjust ments of parts to one another and to the unified whole proclaim unmistakably a foreseeing and presiding Intelligence, so in the great whole of Messianic prophecies, the manifold adjustments of single predictions to one another and to the unified whole proclaim, with equal or with greater distinctness, a foreseeing and foretelling Divine Intelligence ; and as in the material uni verse it is impossible to resist the conviction that within the whole has always dwelt the Supreme Directive Mind, so in Hebrew proph ecy it is equally impossible to resist the convic tion that within the whole the Supreme Mind has always presided and directed. God is equally immanent in human history and in the material universe. Nor does it invalidate the foregoing to admit that there are prophecies in the Old Testament Prophecies which have not been fulfilled, and now no^Deen*™ never can De> the nations to whom they fulfilled, referred having passed utterly away.1 When national or individual sins, against which penal woes were announced to be forthcoming, ceased, and were followed by repentance, as 1 " The fulfilment of prophecies depends, of course, as a rule, ufion further conditions, expressed or tacitly assumed, which belong to the sphere of human freedom, and hence many a prophecy, though announced in the Spirit of God, may remain unfulfilled.'' — Riehm's Messianic Prophecy, Part III., p. 223 (Muirhead's translation). EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 6j was the case with Nineveh and the prediction of Jonah, and with Hezekiah and the prediction of Micah, (see Jeremiah xxvi. 18, 19, Micah iii. 12, and 2 Chron. xxxii. 26,) the predictions of course became inoperative. Other Old Tes tament prophecies may not for like reasons — reasons not recorded as were the prophecies — have been fulfilled. In prophecy, furthermore, as in universal nature, provision is vastly in ex cess of the supply needed for specific ends. Nature is intent on perpetuating every species of life existing within her domain. To this end she has provided every plant, tree, and animal with self-perpetuating seeds; but the seeds are immeasurably in excess of all that are needed for reproduction. Prophecies were doubtless in excess of the number that were either expected or intended to be explicitly fulfilled. The prophetic element is not alone found in the Old Testament. The New Testament also had its prophecies and its predictions. Jesus not only predicted the destruc- tament tion of Jerusalem, but many things °p eoie8' respecting the kingdom he had come to earth to establish. The entire New Testament abounds also in predictions of His second coming. Its prophetic warnings against apostasy and against recreancy in the performance of duty, throw floods of light on what has already transpired, 68 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. or is now transpiring, in the history of the Church. In fact, the whole New Testament was, when composed, quite as much a forecast of the future as it was a record of what had passed, or was then passing. It is largely by its prophetic character that it to-day throws so much light on personal duty, and becomes to every one who devoutly consults it the source at once of illuminative truth and of quickening energy. Against the misuse of Scripture prophecies now awaiting fulfilment, it is hardly possible to protest too earnestly. They can have Misuse of * J J Scripture for us no bearing whatever as evidence on the question of the Divine origin of the Christian religion, and they are sadly mis used when attempts are made to forestall their fulfilments by showing just what these must be,1 when meanings are put into them in support of preconceived theories, and when they are inter preted as telling us the how, the when, and the 1 " The great symbols of Hebrew predictive prophecy re mained riddles of comfort and warning — all the more dread from their profound and awful mystery — until they were re solved by the events predicted. The first advent is the first great resolver of all Old Testament prophecy. Jesus opened the understanding of His Apostles that they might understand the Scriptures. The second advent will give the key to New Testament prophecy. It is the Lamb that has been slain, the everlasting and blessed One who alone opens the sealed book, solves the riddles of time, and resolves the symbols of proph ecy.'' — Briggs's Messianic Prophecies, § 19, p. 49. EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 69 where of the occurrence of certain events fore told and definitely expected. Of all wastes of time and misuses of Scripture, few, if any, have proved so radically mischievous as attempts to interpret unfulfilled prophecy. Strange that more than two thousand years of failure in such attempts do not deter men from persisting in them. Only when their meaning has been " writ large " in the actual occurrences of history is that meaning fully intelligible, and only then is it available as proof that Christianity is from God. 70 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. CHAPTER IV. EVIDENCE FROM CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. THIS, in its initial stage, is not unlike the evi dence relied on when there is simply an appeal Difference to consciousness, but in its fulness, it in- between eludes much more. In the first, there evidencefrom con- is merely a response elicited to the sciousness . r . . . /- . . , and from self-evidencing power of truth, — a re- expenence. Sp0nse which is more or less immedi ate on presentation of truth ; the second is a practical testing of truth by honestly accepting it and sincerely complying with its requirements, a testing that may be more or less progressive and protracted. The validity of the proof from experience is made apparent by a variety of considerations : — i. A religion to get itself established among men must satisfy some at least of the wants of the human soul. A religion which is to win for itself the confidence of men as of Divine origin in a sense that no other is, and as having exclu sive authority from God, must show itself equal to a supply of every existing, and of every de veloped, need of every human soul. The Chris tian finds that no want of his soul, however deep, or subtile, or urgent, or progressively ca- E VIDENCE FROM CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 7 1 pacious, is unprovided for in Christian- Ev ity. The more completely and the ofthesoui ... provided longer he tests its provisions, the more forinChris- profoundly he becomes convinced of tianitr- its Divine origin and authority. There are reli gions, gross in their ideas of God and burdened with superstitions and puerile conceptions of the duties and destinies of man, whose adherents accept them as divine because they think their souls' wants satisfied. And doubtless the more immediate and superficial of these — the allay ing of their fears of the future, and the assur ance of the favor of their deities — are satisfied. But for a thousand other latent needs of which they are unaware, no provision is made. Christianity, on the other hand, is a religion that not only allays fears and reconciles with Deity, but takes every one who accepts it under its imme diate tuition, and proceeds at once to enlighten him and to train him to a standard of personal perfection as found in the Author of Chris tianity; and, in the light of that perfection, it discloses to him his own deficiencies and deeper needs. It surrounds him with every needed inducement to advance in self-improvement and proffers all needed aid in his striving for it. To quicken him in his striving, it brings him into fellowship with the Supreme Being, with the Son of God, and with the select spirits of the universe. The farther he advances and the more 72 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. completely he avails himself of the resources of his religion, the more clearly he discovers that no emergency arises, and no want of his soul discloses itself, for which his religion has not provided, and for which it does not furnish immediate and ample relief. Its requirements and its promises unite in filling him with the profoundest satisfaction. In his experience the Christian finds an inward and convincing proof of the Divine origin of his holy religion. 2. In becoming a Christian one comes into direct personal communion with Christ, the The Chris- Author of Christianity, and in Christ, into direct communes with "the Father of the personal spirits of all flesh." The essence of communion r with Deity, every religion must consist in an inter change of thought and will (communion) be tween its deity and his worshipper. The essence of Christianity pre-eminently consists in this in terchange ; only in Christianity the Deity com muned with is a real personal Being. What a religion says to man and requires of him is a message from the deity the religion is supposed to represent. Man's acceptance of the religion and compliance with its requirements is his re sponse to its deity. There is an interchange of thought and will. In Christianity Christ speaks directly to us, and invites to a personal relation ship with Himself, and thus with the Eternal Father. His words are revelations of His own EVIDENCE FROM CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 73 nature, — statements of realities, — and thus are truths. In practically testing these truths the Christian comes into immediate personal rela tionship with Him who spoke them, — com munes with Him. In this communion the Christian has direct and immediate evidence of Christ's personal existence, and thus, of the existence of the Eternal Father. The evidence of an actual interchange of thought and feeling with a real personal Being is not unlike in kind that of an actual interchange between fellow beings. In his experiential testing of Christian truths, — of the words of Christ, — the Chris tian finds within himself evidence of both the Divine origin and the Divine authority of his Holy Religion. 3. The Christian finds in his consciousness a certification to the Divine origin of his Chris tian convictions, emotions, and aspira- christian tions ; and in these, the product of his springs religion, he also finds certification to f^™0™" o ' . sciousness its Divine origin. To have become a oftheiove r*., ...... «' Jesus Christian is to have been born into the Christ. Christian consciousness; just as to have been born a human being is to participate in the con sciousness common to mankind. In conscious ness subject and object must always coexist. Without an object clearly perceived to be dis tinct from the subject that perceives it, con sciousness can never exist. The object thus 74 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. necessarily conditioning the existence of natural consciousness may be a mere sensation, or it may be a thought, an emotion, a purpose ; what ever it may be, its origin and its nature are easily discerned. And this is true of objects that ne cessarily condition the existence of the Christian consciousness; their nature and origin are easily discerned. The Christian is clearly conscious of the origin of his distinctively Christian convic tions and emotions, and of his Christian aspira tions. Of nothing is he more fully assured than that these deepest and most sacred of the Chris tian contents of his heart have sprung into being only through knowing and loving Jesus Christ, the Author of the Christian religion. 4. The experience of the Christian so far as relates to the moral and religious teachings of Present ex- the New Testament is not unlike that perience of the Chris- through which the speakers and writers iiS that'of °f the New Testament must themselves the writers have passed. These speakers and writ- of the New * r Testament, ers, turning over in their minds, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the facts of Christ's Person and works and the words He spoke, experienced what they said and wrote. The believer who now devoutly studies their teachings, guided by the same Spirit that was in them, reproduces in himself their experience. And as in their experience they were sure they knew and expressed the mind of Christ, and EVIDENCE FROM CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 75 thus the mind and will of God, so we, in the reproduction of their experience in ourselves, have a like assurance that in the New Testa ment teaching we have the mind of Christ, — a revelation of the mind and will of God. Nor is this a fanciful assurance. The convictions, emotions, and aspirations of the Christian ex perience bear the unmistakable stamp of their origin. Divinely originated, they breed in us a desire for the Divine presence. The Spirit that begat them bears witness with our spirits of their origin. And they are both begotten and kept alive and vigorous only by means of Christian truth as recorded in the New Testament. With out reliance on the trustworthiness of that record, experience may begin in illusions, and, sooner or later, will end in fanaticism. In and through the experience of this power of Christian truth, we have an inward and convincing proof of the Divine origin of the Christian religion. 5. Christian experience proves the Divine ori gin not only of the teachings of Christianity, but also of the Christian religion as a „, . . 0 Christian whole. It not only teaches man what experience he should believe and do, but, when he accepts it as'his religion, it assumes complete control of him, and promises amplest provision for all his spiritual necessities. Along whatever pathway and through whatever vicissitudes he may be led, his ultimate triumph is assured. y6 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Fulfilment of its promises breeds the conviction that the religion must be what it claims to be, — a religion given by revelation from God. And the more varied the experiences of fulfilment, the stronger the conviction. The evidence on which the conviction rests being cumulative, the conviction grows in strength throughout the longest life. 6. Objection to the validity of the argument as being individual, and of force with him Thatexpe- only who has had the experience, is rienceis nol; wejj grounded. As well object to individual ° J does not the reasoning of the mathematician on itasevi- the ground that his premises, his pro- dence. cesses, and consequently his conclu sions, are unintelligible to him who is ignorant of mathematics ; or to the reasoning of the phi losopher, on the ground that only those ac quainted with philosophy can appreciate it. Inability to appreciate an argument in no case invalidates it. If one would see and feel the force of mathematical and philosophical reason ing, he must know something of mathematics and philosophy. If one would estimate aright the argument from Christian experience, he must have the experience. And this experi ence every one who will may easily obtain. Unlike the long training requisite for mathe matical or philosophical reasoning, it may begin on the instant, and enough of it be speedily EVIDENCE FROM CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. J J acquired to enable one to feel and to wield the force of an argument from it. It is not the argument from experience which is at fault, but the objector who refuses to comply with the conditions for appreciating it. Even if it be admitted that the evidence from experience is individual, and can be convincing to him only who knows what the ex- ..... Most con- perience really is, yet to him it is the vrncing . . . c ,, t, ¦ /• , , evidence to most convincing of all. It, in fact, alone him wno fully qualifies him for an appreciation na3.the ex" J ^ rr penence. of Other evidences. He became a Christian, not because outward evidences per suaded him, but because consciousness of in ward want impelled him. This inward want once satisfied, the meaning and worth of out ward evidences are easily understood. They are invaluable as defences against outward as saults. Assailed by critics, he fortifies the out works of his faith by evidences gathered from every available field of knowledge; but that which holds him in perfect peace and assurance of safety, is the felt power of his faith in the personal and living Christ. Nor, after all, is this evidence from experience exclusively individual and private. In one sense it becomes general and public. Individuals, multiplying and unit ing in their testimonies through successive gen erations, make public proclamation to all human intelligence. Countless millions of these testi- 78 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. monies, rolling up through all the Christian cen turies into the vast volume of Christian literature, constitute an array of evidence in behalf of the Divine origin of Christianity which unbelief can not on any plea set aside. ACHIEVEMENTS OF CHRISTIANITY. 79 PART III. EVIDENCE FROM PAST AND PRESENT ACHIEVEMENTS OF CHRISTIANITY. THE Christian religion has now existed in the world nearly nineteen centuries. Throughout this period it has been giving evi- Chri3tian. dence of its superhuman qualities and ityjna:<;: 1 x r cord with power, and thus of its Divine origin, eternal It has done this by its re-creation of hurn'an the character of those believing in it, p™^688- and by its gradual uplifting and transformation of races and nations among whom it has gained a footing. Had its influence been corrupting and degrading, instead of elevating and refining, this would have been regarded as decisive evi dence against any claims that could have been made for it as coming from God. The con tinuously refining and elevating influence shows it, on the contrary, to be in accord with the eternal laws of human progress, and thus to represent the Eternal Mind that shapes the des tinies of individuals and nations. The special aim of Christianity is to induce individuals to such an acceptance of its promises 80 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. christian- and compliance with its requirements tadivfduai as shall result in that personal renova- renovation. fion ]^nown jn the Sacred Scriptures as " Salvation." Jesus Christ announced that He had come into the world to make this salvation attainable, but that it must be attained, if at all, by each individual for himself. Every one seek ing this salvation is instinctively moved to seek, and to associate himself with, others of like disposition. In this way, under the directing power of the Holy Spirit, originated the Chris tian Church ; and by the same instinctive move ment of individuals, and under the same directing power, the Church has been perpetuated. Each individual sheds a light only on his own imme diately surrounding darkness. Many similar lights shining together illumine an ever-widening area. The salt of a single Christian example, at first affecting only one's own limited environ ment, diffuses itself, with a constant extension of its preservative quality, through the masses of society. Thus Christianity, in addition to its specific work on the hearts and on the charac ters of a chosen few, also confers manifold bene fits on society at large and on the national life. INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAPTER I. BENEFICENT INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. AMONG the distinguishing characteristics of Christian nations none are so marked or so easily traced to their origin as those Beneficent due directly to Christian influence, influence It is not, however, forgotten that the lt£^~ beneficence of this influence is often cfte" denied. denied. It is declared to have been mis chievous, and sometimes even baneful. Some of these allegations have originated in a mis understanding and misjudgment of the facts and teachings of Christianity, and some have been based on an abuse of Christianity by organ izations supposed to represent it aright, and ordinarily known as Christian churches. The real Church of Christ — the actual " kingdom of God " among men — is a living organism, made vital in every part by the presence of the Spirit of the personal Christ. Ecclesiastical organiza tions, known to the public by their function aries, and designated " churches," have often so presented Christianity as to furnish apparent ground for serious charges against Christianity itself. The difference, however, between Chris tianity as Christ gave it, as the New Testament 6 82 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. presents it, and as a select few in the churches illustrate it, — between such a Christianity, and the ecclesiastical organizations popularly sup posed to represent it, cannot without confusion of thought be overlooked. Section I. — Allegations originating in Mis- judgment of the Facts and Teachings of Christianity. i. It has been charged that the influence of Christianity has been unfavorable to temper- charge ance ; that the first miracle of Jesus — that Chris- , , . r ... tianityis the turning of water into wine — was wetotem- *°r t^ie Pr°duction of a dangerous lux- perance. ury, and in needless profusion. The miracle, it is said, warrants a free use of wine, and the use of wine prepares the way for the use of spirituous liquors, and so for intemper ance. Christianity is thus declared to be, though in a remote way, but to an appreciable degree, responsible for intemperance among the so called Christian nations. And it cannot be denied that the Turkish use of the terms " Frank " (Christian) and " drunkard " as synon ymous, is not so wholly unwarranted as might at first appear. Buddhism and Mohammedan ism, the only religions now competing with Christianity for supremacy in the world, both of them prohibit the use of all intoxicants as INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 83 drinks. The superiority claimed for these reli gions over Christianity in the matter of temper ance is not, therefore, judging by the habits of the people professing the religions, so utterly chimerical as some have been disposed to think. But the objection to the beneficent influence of Christianity on the ground of its permission of the use of wine, is urged mainly by a , , Christian- few extremists among the advocates ity deals of total abstinence. Like other extrem- deriving ists among reformers, they are impa- fo™e8 tient of whatever may appear to obstruct gradually their way, and denounce it as unqual- re orm' ifiedly evil. Over zealous in pursuit of their object, they would accomplish in a day what God will bring to pass only through compli ance with the laws of the slowly moving forces of society. They forget that Jesus in planting Christianity in the world recognized and partici pated in all such established usages of His day, social, civil, and religious, as were not in them selves positively evil, and did so that, by im buing them with His Spirit, He might in time either bring them to an end, or so refine them as to transform them into agencies for good. Marriage among the Jews was always a fes tive occasion, and was celebrated with wine. Jesus, coming to Cana accompanied by Miracle at a few friends who had recently attached Caiia- themselves to Him as disciples, accepted for 84 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Himself and his friends an invitation to such a marriage festival. The unanticipated presence of Jesus and his disciples required more wine than the bridegroom had provided. The mother of Jesus privately suggested to Him that, as He and His friends were the occasion of the unexpected deficiency, it would be a fit thing for Him to procure an additional supply ; but not a word in the narrative implies that she expected He would do it by a miracle. The emergency called for His interposition. He produced the wine, not to sanction its use for all time, either at marriages or on other festive occasions, but sim ply to meet the requirements of a Jewish custom. Time and place called for it. But he was estab lishing in the world a religion whose precepts and spirit should in time purge all usages of their elements of evil. And it is not to be for gotten that it is Christianity which furnishes the friends of total abstinence with the purest and most effective of their motives. The methods of defending Christianity against the allegation of its non-beneficent influence in False and the matter of temperance, especially for!cedof against the allegation that the miracle themiracie. at Cana countenances the use of intoxi cants, are not all of them in exact accord with the facts of the case. Thus, when it is main tained that the wines of Palestine were devoid of the alcoholic element, and that the wine pro- INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 85 duced by Jesus was no more intoxicating than the simple juice of the grape, a position is assumed which accords neither with John's narrative of the event, nor with what was un doubtedly true of Palestinian wines. Nor again does it meet the case to affirm that the water did not actually become wine, but that, through hallucination or mesmeric influence, the ruler of the feast thought he was drinking wine while drinking only water. The supposition could accord neither with the honesty of Jesus nor with the truthfulness of the narrator. The only rational conclusion from the narrative is, that the ruler of the feast partook of real wine. But there is no evidence in the narrative that all the water in the six jars was transmuted into wine. The natural interpretation of the language of the account is, that only so much of the water became wine as was drawn out for use. The charge, therefore, that the miracle was wrought for the production of a luxury, and to an amount alto gether in excess of the needs of the occasion, falls to the ground, as having no basis of fact. Only the lack occasioned by the unexpected presence of Jesus and His followers was pro vided for. To plead this provision as evidence that Christianity warrants a festive use of intoxi cants is to misunderstand both the purpose of Jesus and the spirit of His religion. 2. It is alleged against Christianity, that by 86 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. the motives propounded to induce to an individ- Appeaito ual acceptance of its offer of personal lowmotives salvation — viz. by appeals to fear of charged on christan- perdition for refusing its offer, and to hope of endless happiness for accept ing it — it makes a direct appeal -to self-regard, and selfishness is systematically cultivated. In considering this allegation it is first requi site that we free our minds of the vulgar and erroneous conception of the salvation True idea r of "Saiva- offered. It is not a mere release by fiat of incurred penalty, and a bestowal of blessedness with a promise of its endless continuance. The salvation proposed by Jesus Christ is both a rescue from the dominion of moral evil, and the impartation, through Divine discipline, of a personal righteousness. The blessedness promised is an unclouded conscious ness of harmony with God. To the charge that Christianity breeds selfish ness, it is sufficient to reply that its very method Deals a of conferring the offered salvation not toselSlT only deals a death-blow to selfishness, ness. Dut plants in the soul the opposite prin ciple of self-denial. The salvation offered in the Gospel is attainable only through loving trust in One whose whole earthly life was an unending act of self-sacrifice. The loving trust that initiates the rescuing process soon deepens into conscious fellowship ; and fellowship is INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 87 partnership of spirit. To the believer, like the Christ in whom he trusts and with whom he communes, the highest satisfaction, the purest and most abiding joy, is in denying himself for the good of others. That Christianity in its initial dealing with man does appeal to self-regard is evident from every page of the New Testament ; but a^ of from the same pages it is equally evi- ^hrjBti^" dent that self-interest is appealed to man with only that it may be made to give place noblest mo- to something higher, and something tlves- capable of endless improvement in quality and in power to control and refine the soul. It is the glory of Christianity that it possesses in itself a range of motives reaching to the lowest depths into which man can fall, and to the high est stage to which he can ascend. The farther the Christian ascends in the scale of being, less and less is self regarded, until he finds his su preme satisfaction in identification of himself with the best interests of the universe, and with the perfect will of Him who has called all into being. Christianity takes man as it finds him, plying him with such motives as he can appre ciate; but having once won his attention and his love, it never loses its hold on him until it brings him into harmony of purpose with God Himself. 3. The Christian Scriptures, it is said, recog- CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. nize, and by recognizing perpetuate, class dis- ciassdis- tinctions in society. They represent tmctions. jesus as specifying the preaching of the Gospel to the poor to be one of the distinc tive marks of the Messiahship. They also everywhere make care for the poor a Christian duty. Alms-giving is enjoined as of universal obligation. Warnings against a craving for riches and against a love of them when pos sessed, are manifold and of the gravest nature. The tendency of these teachings, it is charged, has been to strengthen and perpetuate class dis tinctions, rather than to weaken and obliterate social inequalities. The poor have often felt encouraged to regard themselves as the favorites of heaven, as having before them the prospect of superior blessings in another state of being. By becoming habitual recipients of alms, they have been demoralized and degraded into per manent pauperism. Poverty has been regarded as a guaranty of Divine favor, and among certain religious orders poverty and mendicancy have been exalted to the dignity of virtues. Into the minds of alms-givers has also often crept the feeling of complacency as doers of meritori ous acts. And the very rich, conscious of being objects of unfavorable regard with their fellow men and stigmatized of God, have often become morose, selfish, and defiant alike of God and man. INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 89 But it is not to be forgotten that injunctions in respect to the poor and the duty of alms giving, and warnings against riches, had m-unctions their origin mainly in the condition of explained 1 t 1 1 r • 1 kv state of the Jews and the state of society when Jewish so- the injunctions and warnings were first oiety- uttered. The Jews were a conquered and op pressed people, and their poor were hopelessly and helplessly poor. The rich had mostly got ten their riches by extortion, rapine, and exces sive usury. Christianity could not do otherwise than recognize the existing condition of society when it began its work, and point out the mutual obligations resting on its several classes. But there have been peoples who much more needed to have the Christian duties of industry, self-re straint, and practical morality, than that of alms giving, urged on their attention. The excessive alms-giving and pauperism among certain peo ples of Southern Europe have been due to no teaching of New Testament Christianity, but to the traditional notions of the merit of alms-giv ing and to the example of the mendicant friars. The most effective cure of it all would be the open New Testament in the vernacular, and in the hands of the common people. It nowhere encourages indiscriminate charity, and nowhere warrants the practice of begging. The teach ings of the New Testament are one-sided on no subject, but accord with the requirements of all 90 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. national laws and of the common sense of man kind. Its teachings are comprehensive of the needs of all peoples and of all states of society. And no state of society has yet come, or is likely to come, in which the vicissitudes and unavoidable disasters of life will not demand practical charity to the suffering, and will not bring rich blessings to the charitable. 4. Christianity, it is charged, though distinct ively moral in its requirements, is, inconsistently chargethat with itself, unfavorable in its theological of vicarious doctrines to the cultivation of morality. rrnmOTaT^ Vicarious salvation, it is said, is one of its effects, the most fundamental of its doctrines; and to trust in what another does and suffers for us rather than in what we do for ourselves, it is "declared, is to rob morality of a chief incentive to the cultivation of it. To this it is sufficient to reply that the vicariousness of what Christ did and suffered is undoubtedly a Christian doc trine. The Sacred Scriptures also very plainly teach that man is incapable of saving himself by his own works, but must do it, if at all, through faith in One who has interposed in his behalf, and who, by His resurrection from the dead, has proved His interposition to be efficacious to all who will trust in Him. But this vicarious ness may be, and often has been, strangely mis understood and misapplied. It is misunderstood when the metaphorical language in which the INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 9 1 Holy Scriptures describe it, is taken in a strictly literal sense. The metaphors are borrowed from courts of justice. But when to these metaphors is given a literal and scientific meaning, and on „ °' Perversion this is built up an exact juridical of the doc- atonement, leaving " nothing great or small for us to do," a subtle Antinomianism may easily creep in, and a robust morality may fail to be acquired. The fault, however, is not in the doctrine of the vicariousness of the life and death of Christ, but in an inexcusable per version of it. Few truths are more self-evident than the doctrine that every man becomes like the person he most profoundly loves and believes in. Jesus Christ lived, suffered, and died for us — in our stead — vicariously, that we, coming into a loving and trustful fellowship with Him, should become like Him. The vi cariousness of Christ's work and death avails for no man who does not through his faith avail himself of it. Rightly understood and believed in, instead of robbing morality of one incentive, it gives to it many of the strongest and most effective conceivable, — incentives that gather strength with every new experience in life. 5. Christianity has been objected to as culti vating the softer and more feminine cultivates virtues to the comparative neglect of a^^, the hardier and more masculine ; that virtues. 92 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. it is, accordngly, in its moral discipline a religion for women rather than for men. And it may be admitted to surpass Judaism and other an cient religions, as well as Stoicism and other philosophies, in its production of the gentler virtues. It does this by its method of dealing with man. It begins its work with him by plant ing itself in his heart and assuming control of his affections. Other religions work from without the man, inward; Christianity from within, out ward. Christ* the Source and Centre of the religion, was Himself the embodiment, and prac tical illustration of the highest spiritual refine ment. One of the distinctive marks of the Christian type of character is gentleness and refinement of spirit. But Christianity is neither neglectful nor un productive of the sturdy and heroic virtues. In Heroism of fact, the sturdiest virtues and the high- christians. egj. hero;sm are alwayS found to spring from a heart of gentleness and purity. Physi cal courage, the source of the vulgar type of the heroic, requires neither mental reflection nor the finer qualities of heart to give it birth, and it is every way inferior to moral courage, as this is to Christian courage. The impetuous Peter could at midnight draw his sword and slash away at Malchus, cutting off his right ear at a stroke, and before morning, cowering in the presence of a servant-maid who accused him of INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 93 having been a disciple of Jesus, could deny that he ever knew Him. But when Peter had re covered from the mortification into which his moral cowardice had betrayed him, and when his Christian courage had become mature, he could without the quiver of a nerve face any danger, even the most torturing of deaths, for the love he bore to the Master and to the cause he had by his moral cowardice so much dis honored. Among all the heroes of the world's history none have yet equalled the heroes of the Christian Church, who in the name of Christ have fought the fiercest foes and have achieved for mankind its richest and most enduring blessings. Section II. — Objections arising from an Identi fication of Christianity with the Church. Christianity presents itself in the world under four aspects: first, as a spirit and life derived from Jesus Christ; secondly, as a collection of sacred writings and creeds by which the lives of its adherents are to be regulated ; thirdly, as a cultus or worship paid to God as Supreme ; and, fourthly, as associations of men and women organized into churches for the cultivation of the Christian life according to the Sacred Scrip tures, and for offering public worship and other religious services to God. It is rational, there fore, that critical estimates of the value of Chris tianity should turn either on judgments formed 94 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. respecting its teachings, or on judgments formed respecting its churches. Having glanced in the preceding section at the estimates founded on erroneous judgments of its teaching, let us con sider briefly the allegation against it arising from identifying it with the Church.1 i. The Church, it is said, has often been in league with oppressors ministering to the rich charge that and powerful rather than to the poor the church anj down-trodden. The charge may has minis- teredtothe be true of certain churches and at cer- thanthe tain periods, but lies neither against poor' Christianity, which is supposed to be represented by the churches, nor against the Church in itself considered, but against domi nating members of the churches, or against self ish and faithless officials who have perverted the Church to their own private and personal ends. Christianity, as we have seen, has been criticised adversely for the emphasis it lays on care for the poor. It is not its fault if its pro fessed adherents have been untrue to its teach ings and spirit. 1 The word " Church " is here used in its collective or ge neric sense, not as denoting the spiritual, invisible aggregate of true believers, but as comprehending all those organiza tions, under whatever name known, which have been commonly understood to be representative of Christianity at different peri ods and among different peoples. The allegations specified may have been true sometimes of one, and sometimes of an other, of these organizations. INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 95 2. The Church, it is said, has often engaged in bloody persecutions for opinion's sake, claim ing in doing so to be acting on au thority from God, and to be fulfilling the church one of its own legitimate functions. ^e^ef„sre" It has burned heretics and has waged opinion's desolating wars in support of profess edly religious ends. And it is against no single branch of the Church that the allegations can justly be made. Churches in alliance with States, and empowered to inflict the death pen alty, may have seemed to be most cruel perse cutors, but not less relentless have been the churches that could inflict only ecclesiastical penalties, or cast unjust aspersions still harder to bear. All have gone upon the supposition that if they could stifle convictions by penal inflictions, they could preserve from error and establish in the truth. No species of persecu tion, however, can justify itself by any precept or principle of Christianity. In fact, any resort to force is wholly alien to its spirit, and a viola tion of its plainest precepts. The origin of per secution is in a total misconception of the office and of the responsibility of the Church, as well as of the method by which men are induced either to accept or to reject any belief. No form of persecution ever yet won to a love of truth, though it has persuaded multitudes into a hypocritical pretence of loving it. Christianity 96 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. is, throughout its teachings, too thoroughly ac cordant with the laws of human psychology to commit the blunder of persecuting for non- acceptance of its declarations or of its offers. It was neither Christianity nor the Church, in itself considered, that burnt Ridley and Latimer in England, or Servetus in Switzerland, or witches in Massachusetts, but the bigotry and ignorance of Church functionaries. 3. The Church, it is also alleged, has often refused liberty of thought in other directions That it has tnan 'n theological thinking. It has resisted the resisted with fiery opposition the pro- progress of science and gress of both Science and Philosophy, Philosophy. and the truth of the charge cannot be denied. The most discreditable chapters in Church History are those which detail the hos tility in past centuries of ecclesiastics to every advancing step in scientific and historical in quiry ; but the hostility was born neither of the spirit of the Gospel nor of New Testament teaching, but of the dense ignorance and fa naticism of ecclesiastics. Christianity of itself breeds thoughtfulness and stimulates inquiry. Neither it nor the Church proper was respon sible for the ill treatment of Roger Bacon or of Galileo, or for the burning of Giordano Bruno, or for the apprehension of danger alike from Roman Catholics and Protestants, felt by Des cartes, any more than Greek Philosophy or the INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 97 Athenian State was responsible for the fate of Socrates. 4. The Church, it is affirmed, has often con nived at great social and political wrongs. It has winked at, and even defended, CharKetnat domestic slavery. It is sometimes the church , • , , ,,,',. r , nas defend- claimed that the holding of men and ed social women in chattel bondage has the wronsa' defence of Apostolic authority. The Apostle Paul, it is said, recognized and virtually ap proved of slavery by returning the runaway slave Onesimus to his master Philemon, and by prescribing rules of conduct for both slaves and their masters. The Apostle Peter is equally ex plicit in enjoining faithful service on slaves. Both Peter and Paul commanded obedience to the ex isting government, even though it should chance to be, as was the case then, a government admin istered by one of the bloodiest of tyrants, — one under which they both suffered martyrdom.1 But there are two considerations which they, who have pressed these charges against the Church and against the teaching of the Apostles, have been quite too ready to overlook. The first is, that the Church, unconsciously influenced 1 Prof. W. M. Ramsay, in his " The Church in the Roman Empire before A. D. 170," Ch. xm., maintains that the First Epistle of Peter was not written under the reign of Nero, but under the reign of Vespasian, and somewhere between a. d. 75 and 80. And the reasons adduced for this belief are not with out weight. 7 98 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. by motives of interest, have put upon the lan guage of the Apostles a meaning which they do not warrant. Instead of sanctioning slavery, they simply prescribed rules to be observed by the Christian master and the Christian servant, well knowing that in due time Christianity, in the fulness of its teaching, would cut up the whole system of slavery by its roots. Christian ity, as taught alike by Christ and His Apostles, did not seek to correct the wrongs of society and the injustices of governments, by inciting to sudden and violent revolutions, but it aimed, by the inculcation of just ideas and the infusion of a right spirit, to effect a radically progressive improvement of human society, and thus, a re construction of human governments. The high aim has always been so to inspire a people with a love of justice and righteousness as to effect a permanent cure of all wrongs, both social and political. Let us glance at some of the benefits which, in pursuit of its purpose, it has already bestowed on our race. Section III. — Positive Benefits of Christianity. There are three ways in which these benefits have become apparent in the world's history; comparison two of them general, and one special. of christian In a broad and general way, these may and non- . christian be seen in a comparison of Christian nations. anc[ non-Christian nations; or, ia a INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 99 comparison of a Christian nation as it is to-day with itself as it was prior to its Christianization ; or, in a more specific way, by noticing certain single and distinctive results produced by Chris tianity among peoples, that have accepted it as their religion. Thus, first, if we compare in a general way any one of the so-called Christian nations with any other nation under the sway of a religion not Christian, the difference in the influence of the two religions is too marked not to be immedi ately recognized. The influence of Christianity in refining the moral tastes and exalting the moral character of a Christian nation is too evi dent to require any justification of its claim to be regarded as beneficent. Or, secondly, if we compare any one of the so-called Christian nations of to-day with itself as it was when Christianity first came comparison to it, we may at once discern evidences °f nation8 J before and of a progress which nothing inherent after be- in itself can explain, and only the forces chrfstLi- of the Christian religion can adequately lzedi account for. Thus we may take England and trace her course as she emerged from the sav agery and barbarism in which the Romans found her, down to the present day, when she stands in the van of the nations of the world. Many bloods have commingled in forming the amalgam of her character. Many forces have IOO CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. contributed to mould it, some of them coming from remote plains of India, some from the wilds of Saxony, somexfrom the rocky shores of Denmark, some from Greece, and some from Rome. But over all has dominated the Chris tian religion, controlling the conscience and permeating the heart of the nation; and thus fusing all forces at work in it into a clearly definable unity. Christianity above all else has made the England of History and the England of to-day. But, thirdly, the actual benefits con ferred by Christianity may perhaps be more clearly discerned by specifying some of the distinctively Christian results produced by it among nations that have accepted it as their religion. Thus, — i. The Christian religion both by its precepts and its spirit has uniformly tended directly to spirit of the eradication, root and branch, of ev- christian- erv species of human bondage, whether ity adverse ... . . , , to human in the form of domestic slavery,1 of social caste, or of political tyranny. Its two doctrines of individual responsibility and 1 J. H. Muirhead, in his " Elements of Ethics," § 97, says, " Slave emancipation, in more recent times, was the result of the discovery that the system of industry founded upon slavery was an unprofitable one, and unable to compete with free labor." This statement requires a much larger qualification than he seems disposed to allow it. Unprofitableness was not the cause of the abolition of slavery either in the British colo nies or in the United States. INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. IOI of the common brotherhood of mankind struck directly at self-aggrandizement, and begat in its stead sympathy with the weakest and lowliest. Though Jesus gave no injunctions about slavery, His loving pity for all who were in distress dis closed the power of religion to melt the bands of oppression. His requirement that every one shall love his neighbor as himself both re minds us of His example and prompts us to follow it. Slowly but surely His religion, from the beginning of its work in the world until now, has been making the wrongs of men increas ingly clear, and as the time has been ripe for it, has been bringing some of them to an end. And it has done this, not by superficial remedies, but by radical cures. Throughout the centuries it has been making it more and more clear that the onlyjust ground for distinctions among men has been in their personal characters. The evi dence of a beneficent influence has been all the more apparent from the groundlessness of the charge already considered, that Religion has con nived at oppression, and has sympathized with oppressors rather than with the oppressed. 2. Christianity has done for woman what no other religion has done, or has conceived it as possible to do. And what it has done christian- for her has proclaimed to all the world Novated its beneficent influence. Enlightened woman- women, bred and living under other religions, rec- 102 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. ognize this influence, and see in it a ground of hope for the relief of their sex. A comparison of the condition of women as it was at any one of the great centres of civilization, such as Athens, Rome, or Jerusalem, when Christ came into the world, with her condition at any one of the centres of Christian civilization in our day, will show what a change has been wrought for her. From being the slave of man, the prey of his lusts, a toy for him to play with awhile and to fling aside when tired of her, she has been placed by his side by Christianity, his companion and his equal. Nor can it justly be said that the worship of Mary has done this. Nor, again, has it been mainly by the example of Jesus in His care for the welfare of women during His stay on earth that His religion has wrought most effectively for her. Nothing less than the whole scope of His teaching and the broad spirit of charity which it inculcates, working through many centuries, will account for what has been accomplished for woman, — a religion which teaches us that in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, but all are one in Him. 3. Christianity gave to the world a practical and an effectual philanthropy. Jesus Himself in- _ troduced it when in founding the king- Has given & & a true phi- dom of God on earth He performed lanthropy. „. . , His gracious works of healing. His disciples followed His example in caring for the INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 103 sick, the helpless, and the destitute. The Chris tian world has since become studded all over with Hospitals, Asylums, and Homes for the forsaken and forlorn. Other religions have, it must be admitted, also recognized the duty of philanthropy. Buddha, more than five centu ries before Christ, enjoined care for the sick and suffering, and his disciples provided Hospitals and Asylums. But a religion which recognized no God of mercy and pity for man, and made it man's highest duty to aim at the extinction of every desire of his soul, was not a religion which could breed a living and abiding phi lanthropy. The Stoics also a century and a half before Christ had uttered beautiful senti ments about the unity of the race and the com mon nature of .all men, and the consequent duties of humanity and philanthropy. In the first and second centuries after Christ, the two most distinguished of Stoical writers, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, were unqualified in their praise of what is now called " Altruism," — re gard for the welfare of mankind. Epictetus, to quote the language of Zeller, advocated " the most comprehensive and unlimited philan thropy," and Marcus Aurelius urged the duty of a philanthropy " the most limitless and unself ish," and even urged it while putting to death, on account of their religion, such Christians as Justin Martyr and his associates. But a religion 104 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. or a philosophy, or whatever else Stoicism may be called, which could both advocate and prac tise self-murder when life should promise no pleasure in the continuance of it, was not a re ligion or philosophy which would either origi nate or perpetuate a practical or an effectual philanthropy. Christianity alone could do it. In our day, however, attempts are made to give to philanthropy a scientific form and a scientific basis. Under the name of Socialism it proposes by scientific and statutory methods to recon struct human society. But divested of the inner life and nature which Christianity, its real parent, originally gave it, the issues of its endeavors no prophet is needed to foretell. Only by its re-Christianization can it ever control human wills and become world-wide in its aim and its power. Signs of a fast-spreading enthusiasm for humanity are all hopeful, but only when this enthusiasm shall be touched with a conscious ness of co-operation with the infinite love of the Infinite Father will it become an effective and a world encircling philanthropy. 4. Throughout the Christian centuries there has been a slow but steadily growing improve- improve- ment in jurisprudence and penology. jurispm- Organized jurisprudence in the mod- dence. ern world had its origin in ancient Ro man law, modified however by canon law, which itself also showed traces of the shaping influ- INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 105 ence of the theocratic laws of Judaism. The aim alike of Roman law and Jewish law had been the maintenance of justice, but of justice as enforced by the law of retaliation. The Church was too closely allied to the State, and too deeply imbued with its secular spirit, to be alive to its opportunity to work mercifully for man in its canon law. The old idea of the function of law as the administration of justice through vengeance still kept its place, and kept it with the sanction of the Church. Only slowly in the history of the Church has the Christian method of dealing with crime been understood ; only at a comparatively late period in its history has the spirit of Jesus towards criminals got itself recognized by those who have enacted criminal statutes. In two ways has the result of this recogni tion been manifested in jurisprudence: first, in adjusting penalty as nearly as possi- A..ust_ ble to degree of guilt as ascertained mentof , . . , penalty. by scrutiny of the disposition and mo tive of the criminal, instead of punishing all crimes of the same name with the same pen alty; and, secondly, in seeking by penalty not alone to inflict vengeance on the criminal, but, if possible, to effect his reform. It is Christian ity that has transformed the pestilent prison and dungeon into the well-lighted and cheerful reformatory. 106 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. On a broader scale, and in a more conspicu ous way, the benign influence of Christianity „ J . has been shown in its modification of Mode of dealing the mode of dealing with national of- tionaiof- fences. Never, perhaps, in the history of the world was there an illustration of this influence on penology more striking, or attended with a notoriety more world-wide, than was furnished in what occurred at the close of our late civil war. When the great Rebellion had been suppressed, the national government was confronted with one of the most difficult problems that can come before the rulers of a nation, — What should it do with the arch-con spirators with whom responsibility for the re bellion rested? They were either already in the hands of the government or were within easy reach. The national Constitution had stated with exactness the nature of their offence, and had prescribed its penalty. Should the penalty be inflicted? Two opposite answers were given, and vigorously maintained. The one was, that a great organic law had been violated, and, unless the offence were avenged, it would be repeated, and endless disaster would ensue ; the other was, that amnesty, or at least a simple remission of penalty, would be safe, and much more in accordance with the principles and the spirit of the Christian religion. The latter view prevailed, and a great Christian nation approved INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 107 it. It is more than doubtful if it could have prevailed in any earlier century, or would have been sanctioned by any other than a free, self- governing, Christian people. 5. Christianity, if it did not absolutely origi nate International Law, has at least supplied it as it now exists, with its most determi- intema- native principles. Just when it origi- tionallaw- nated is not certain. We only know that the nations prior to the Christian Era knew nothing of it. There are no traces of it among the older races of India, and none among the Greeks., Among the early Romans are found dim fore- shadowings of it, as, for instance, in their re quirement of the sanctions of religion before deciding on the proclamation of war, and still more in their so-called Law of Nations {Jus Gentium), a code for the government of van quished peoples in the provinces. It was de rived in part from Roman law, in part from the laws and usages of the peoples to be governed, and in part from the dictates of nature. From the Roman Law of Nations International Law has doubtless borrowed, but it bears in every part of it unmistakable traces of a Christian influence. In fact, Christianity may be said virtually to have created it, though in the pro cess of creation, it has wrought into the frame work of it certain self-evident laws of nature, and certain other laws, which, though in them- 108 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. selves not less laws of nature, had been handed down from Rome. During the earlier part of the latter half of the centuries of our era, there were occasional recog- Hugo Gro- nitions of the applicability of Christian tiuson precepts to the intercourse of nations, the "Right r „ , . c . ,. of War and as well as to the intercourse of indi viduals; but it was not until well into the seventeenth century that Hugo Grotius, the scholar, theologian, and publicist of Holland, wrote his great treatise on the Right of War and Peace {De Jure Belli et Pacts'), and first system- ized the principles of International Law. He built avowedly on the twofold basis of Nature and the Christian Revelation, assuming that the God of Nature is also the God of Revelation, and that what He has wrought in the former He has both corroborated and made clearer in the latter. Some of the supposed laws of nature incorpo rated by the Romans into their Law of Nations, he repudiated as contrary to the laws of nature, and justified his repudiation by an appeal to Christianity; one of these supposed natural laws was the right of a conquering nation to make slaves of the conquered. Throughout his famous treatise, his ultimate test of the truth of his principles was the spirit and precepts of Christianity. The writers who since his day have treated of International Law, even when professedly basing their principles on natural INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 109 laws, show very plainly that their interpretation of these laws has been affected by the light that Christian Revelation has shed on them. The steadily growing recognition of arbitra tion in some form — by referees or by national commissions — as a just method of settling na tional disputes, and, more than all, the success ful resorts to such arbitration in recent years, particularly by Great Britain and the United States, strongly mark the advancing, as well as the benign, influence of the Christian religion. All this warrants the belief that the time is yet to come when all the great nations will unite in the creation of permanent international courts, before which all national differences shall be peacefully and definitively settled. The far-off day foreseen by prophets, when nations shall " beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks, and none shall learn war any more," may not, after all, be so very remote as has commonly been feared. Mean while, till peace shall come to earth to remain forever, let us notice : — 6. How an advancing Christianity has be,en progressively ameliorating the horrors of war. Comparison of the usages of war com- AmeUora- mon when authentic history began, J*™*,?" with those now prevailing, shows at of war. once how vast have been the gains for humanity during the intervening centuries. But the ame- 1 10 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. liorations occurring between the time of Joshua, or that of Samuel four centuries later, and the tenth or twelfth century of our era, are scarcely more striking than those which since then have taken place. Under Moses, the command to Joshua was to exterminate the Canaanitish people utterly; under Samuel, King Saul was commanded to " smite Amalek and utterly de stroy ; spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling." Saul spared Agag, King of the Amalekites, and Samuel deposed him for his disobedience, and, sending for Agag, " hewed him in pieces." These bar barities may not have been equalled in the Middle Ages, but the cruelties then prac tised are only slightly less shocking to the sensi bilities of the Christian of to-day. It was far along in the Christian centuries before even Christian nations ceased to seize and either slay or enslave embassies sent during war to sue for peace. Enslavement or mutilations worse than death were the not unusual fate of captives taken in war. It has been only within the pres ent century that Christianity has begun to exer cise its divine office in assuaging the agonies of war. Though its influence has not yet become strong enough to restrain nations from waging wars, it has sufficed to make combatants as con siderate of each other as the exigencies of war will permit. Its ministrations before the walls of INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. Ill Sevastopol, and on the fields of America during our great civil war, have declared its power to alleviate the woes of war in a way which the human race will never cease to remember. And it will be more and more distinctly recognized as one of the thousand ways in which God is teaching man to be merciful to his fellow man, in accordance with His holy religion given to us through Jesus Christ His Son. 112 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. CHAPTER II. CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CHRISTIANITY ACHIEVED ITS FIRST VICTORIES. LIKE the beginning of every other great epoch in the world's history, the beginning of Prepara- Christianity was made possible only christian- by conditions then existing. The con- ity- ditions had been long time forming, and, when completed, bore marks of formal ad justment to one another, and of an adjustment of all to a common end. They were marks such as no merely fortuitous concurrence of circumstances could account for. Nothing less than a foreseeing and predisposing Intelligence, supreme in its control of nations, could explain them Three distinct lines of preparation, running through many centuries, but ending in the needed conditions, were simultaneously carried forward by three independent nations, — the Jewish, the Greek, the Roman. When Christ came, the fulness of time had arrived ; the world had been made ready for Him. But when He had come, the very preparations made for His coming became, through the perversity of man, the most formidable of obstacles to the pro- PREPARA TION FOR CHRISTIANITY. 1 1 3 gress of His religion. The Divine Hand that so plainly had directed in preparing for it, was not less conspicuously displayed in making it victo rious over every obstacle. The Divine origin of Christianity is not less plainly seen in the power that made its triumph certain, than in the wisdom and power that made its beginning possible. Section I. — The Preparation wrought by the Jews. Theirs was a twofold task: first, to develop crude germs of ethical and religious thought into the ideas to be utilized by Jesus ; prepara. secondly, so to accustom the Tews to the tion h? tne ' . Jews in de- thought of a Messiah, and so to keep veioping alive in them the expectation of His utiuLdby coming, that when He should appear Jesus- they would be willing to listen to Him. Thus, first, a system of moral and religious ideas was to be made ready. This required a long pro cess. To make such ideas clear and compre hensible to a people like the Jews under Moses, there was necessary a succession of steps from a lower to a higher level. They must be dealt with as we deal with children : words must first be used in a sense level with their experience and understanding ; as their intelligence grows, the words first used take on a deeper meaning, 8 114 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. and as intelligence still advances, terms be come metaphorical, and the meaning deepens and widens and becomes clearer. So with the Jews. It was but vague meanings they could at first attach to the terms Faith, Law, Right eousness, Justice, Holiness; and but dim con ceptions they could form of the office of their ritual, or of the future foretold by their proph ets. Nothing less than the meanings which had been reached in the use of these when Jesus came, could have sufficed for the use He was to make of them. It is difficult, if not impos sible, to conceive how He could have begun His teaching when He did, or have introduced the Kingdom of God as He did, except through use of what Judaism had made ready to His hand. The second function of the Jews was to awaken and keep alive the expectation of the „ , Messiah. To do this was the special By keeping * alive the work of the prophets, and most effectu- tionofthe ally did they accomplish it. For hun- Messiah. dreds of years they rang changes on His coming and His offices, each generation adding to the emphasis of the preceding. The expectation had never been so strong as when Jesus appeared. Without this expectation it is next to impossible to conceive how His Messiah- ship, with all His want of outward insignia, could have been successfully pleaded. PREPARA TION FOR CHRISTIANITY. 1 1 5 And it is also equally difficult, if not impos sible, to conceive how Christianity without the Jews could have gained its first foot- By giving ing among the Gentiles. The Jews ^^ were scattered far and wide among the tnea- Gentile cities ; and wherever twelve of them, resident heads of families, were found, there, according to uniform custom, a synagogue was opened. Connected with the synagogues were often those known as " religious prose lytes " (Acts xiii. 42), attracted from the more morally earnest heathen. To these synagogues the Apostle Paul and his associates in their missionary tours always immediately resorted when they entered a Gentile city, and there began to preach the Gospel of Christ. Converts from among both Jews and proselytes thus made in the synagogues, formed the nuclei of Churches, and through these the Gospel was brought into contact with heathen minds. With out the Synagogue, the missionary labors of the Apostles would have been at a most crippling, if not fatal, disadvantage. But no sooner had Jesus begun His work as Messiah, than Judaism arrayed itself against Him. Its opposition was fierce and Jewish implacable. Every available expe- 2fg*£" dient was adopted to discredit His tianity. teaching and to crush Him. Not content with murdering Him, the Jews exhausted every re- Il6 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. source in vain attempts to exterminate His fol lowers and annihilate His religion. Judaism thus made itself to be the dark background on which the Almighty, who had planted and always protected it, could trace in letters of light, to be read of all men, that the Christian religion was a religion which His own Right Hand had planted, and which could not be uprooted. The whole history of the Jews from Abraham to John the Baptist had been one continuous and luminous illustration of the Di vine Presence and Power, raising them for an end higher than themselves; when they would thwart that end, the same Divine Power was still more conspicuously manifested in bringing the end, in spite of them, to its full accomplishment. Section II. — The Preparation furnished by the Greeks. They furnished it in two ways, — by their Philosophy and by their Language. They were Greeks pre-eminently the thinkers and the in- prepared vestigators among the nations. They the way for . . . . christian- carried philosophical inquiry to the ut most limit then attained or attainable by the human intellect. They also cultivated their language with an assiduity and to a degree equalled by no other people. They gave to it a degree of excellence surpassed by no other PREPARATION FOR CHRISTIANITY. 1 17 tongue ever yet spoken among men, — a lan guage suited alike to the uses of Poetry, Phi losophy, and History. By their philosophy was accomplished a two fold purpose. First, by it was shown the in ability of the unaided intellect to know, By their i.e. to find out, God. Religious in- M,K0* quiry, and one might almost say the same of ethical, was carried to the utmost limit, but only to prove the fruitlessness of the search. Sec ondly, Greek Philosophy, by its careful and dis criminative use of concepts, its scrutiny of mental processes, and its multiplication of terms for the expression of different shades of thought, sup plied Christianity with a needed terminology. Without this terminology, Christian ideas could have had no adequate expression. The changes wrought in the soul of man could have been neither fully nor intelligibly described. The Hebrew or Aramaic vocabulary was too meagre, and would have been unintelligible outside of Palestine. The Latin tongue was too inflexible, and too scantily supplied with terms descrip tive of mental action and emotion. Neither the Hebrews nor the Romans had attained to any clearly definable psychology, or had given any attention to philosophy, and consequently could offer almost no terms such as Christianity had special need of. But it was a still wider service than this that 1 1 8 CHRISTIAN E VIDENCES. the Greek language rendered to Christianity. By their In fact, it was only as a part of this Language. broader service that, through the ma nipulations of Philosophy, it was enabled to pro vide Christianity with its needed terminology. When the Christian Era began, Greek was both a written and a spoken tongue alike at Jerusalem, at Damascus, at Rome, throughout the cities of Asia Minor, and at Alexandria in Egypt. Roman arms had conquered Greece, but Greece in return had, with her language, philosophy, and art, mastered Rome. So thoroughly had the Jews, scattered in the foreign cities, become accustomed to the use of Greek, that in Pales tine they were known as Hellenists or Grecized Jews. For more than a century and a half be fore Christ, the Hebrew Scriptures had been translated into Greek. This translation, known as the Septuagint, had accomplished the double result of familiarizing the Jews with the use of Greek in their religion, and of making known to the heathen, especially the proselytes, the moral law and the ritual of Judaism. No language then in use was accordingly so well fitted to be the one in which the New Testament Scriptures should be written. Usage had prepared no other for so clear an expression of Christian ideas, and no other was so universally used at the great centres of population. Indeed, no other language then existed which could have PREPARATION FOR CHRISTIANITY. 1 19 served the ends, and met the various needs, of Christianity. Absolutely indispensable as Greek was in the introduction of Christianity, not less necessary was it in the propagation of it. All Christian literature for the first two centuries, at least all now extant, was in Greek, and, so far as we know, the preaching of the Gospel during these centuries was in the same tongue. And when one traces the process through which the Greek tongue was prepared for its Christian offices, it must be an obtuse or a perverse intel lect that fails to discover in it evidences of the foreseeing and controlling agency of a Supreme Intelligence. But no sooner had the Christian religion be gun to make itself known among the nations as distinctive and separate from all others, Greek op- than the Greeks, who had done so chritSn-*" much to make the introduction and "y- propagation of it possible, treated it with scorn. The heralds of it were " babblers," and their preaching was " foolishness." Salvation through One who had been condemned and publicly executed was to them the height of absurdity. The resurrection was " the hope of worms." A blessed immortality was the dream of poets. Seeing the futility of its derision, Greek Philos ophy tried its flattery. Proposing to assist Christian teachers to an understanding and a rationalized statement of some of the profound- 120 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. est and most mysterious of the truths of their religion, it decoyed them into the construction of systems of Gnosticism. In attempting to philos ophize these truths into doctrines that should be regarded as matters of real knowledge, instead of belief, they elaborated the most dangerous and actually damaging heresy that the early Church was called to encounter. In spite of the efforts of Greek Philosophy to thwart the ends it had just subserved, the Divine Hand made the ends certain to be fulfilled, and, in ful filling them, gave evidence to every one who will see, that Christianity is a religion of Divine, and not alone of human origin. The same Di vine prevision and power that had so plainly prepared the Greek tongue and philosophy to subserve Christian ends, were displayed with equal plainness in bringing the ends to pass, in spite of every obstruction that human perversity could devise. Section III. — Preparation by the Romans and the Roman Empire. This, in the order of time, was subsequent to that of both the preceding. It also affected the preparation beginning and progress of Christianity bytheRo- jn ways very different from those of mans, politi- cai and in- either of the others. The preparatory stitutiona. serv;ce 0f the first was distinctively religious ; that of the second was philosophical PREPARATION FOR CHRISTIANITY. 121 and literary ; that of the third was political and institutional. The Romans prepared for the coming of Christ, and for the diffusion of His religion, in three ways : — I. By subjecting and direfully oppressing the Jews. The desperate and fruitless struggles of the latter for liberty ended only in their being more remorselessly trodden into the dust. On the verge of despair, they bethought themselves of the Divine deliverance which had been vouch safed to their forefathers, and of the promises that had been made to these of protection for their descendants. With eager eyes they scanned the words of the old prophets in search of some ground of hope for relief. The more they studied the prophets, Roman op- , . ,,..,. pression of the stronger became their conviction tne jews that their only hope was in the promised ^^f °d Messiah. Apocalyptic literature cen- Deliverer. tring in the Messianic idea rapidly multiplied, so that when Jesus came, the universal atmos phere of religious thought was in motion with Messianic expectations. False conceptions of the expected Messiah springing from too literal an interpretation of prophetic imagery doubt less prevailed, but popular expectations were none the less inflamed by them. Without these vivid expectations it is more than doubtful if Jesus, so unlike the idea that had been formed of the Messiah, could have gained for Himself 122 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. a hearing. In all this the Divine Hand used the Romans to make the Jews ready for their ap pointed, but their misunderstood Deliverer. 2. As masters of the then known world, the Romans had brought all nations and tribes Roman gov- within their reach under one supreme ™' government. Over them all, the au- gdiVo pro-- *-^ tection. thority of Roman law, with such slight modifications as a recognition of local customs and institutions made politic, was unyieldingly enforced. Under this authority Roman citi zenship, whether a birthright or purchased, everywhere gave to its possessor assurance of protection and safety. Of this protection the first preachers of the Gospel among the Gen tiles, like the Apostle Paul and his associates, were not slow to avail themselves. Without it there is good reason for believing their course would have ended at its beginning. 3. In the vast extent of the Roman Empire it was indispensable that communication be- , ., tween its distant provinces and the cen- Gave facil- r ity of com- tral seat of authority and power should munication. . . be as immediate as possible. Broad and solid roads were accordingly built for the march of armies and the transfer of military equipments. Roman control of the Mediter ranean and adjacent seas also gave protection to maritime commerce. Without the great roads, and without the safety on both the roads and PREPARATION FOR CHRISTIANITY. 123 the seas, which only the authority of the Em pire could give, the heralds of the cross could have made little or no progress. The Almighty Power that had made the Egyptian and the Assyrian subservient in their day to the Divine Will in all their relations with the Israelites, made also the Roman in his day subservient to the same Will in opening the way for the coming and the spread of the religion for which alone the Israelites in all their career had been shielded and disciplined. But when the Messiah came, for whose com ing and whose religion the Romans had unwit tingly done so much to prepare the way, the supreme power of the Empire was at once ex erted to destroy both Him and His religion. 1. This supreme authority lent itself to Jew ish malignity in crucifying the Messiah, though the sole representative of that authority Permitted in Palestine frankly admitted that he thecruci- could discern no just cause for His execution. The supreme authority of the em pire was thus vainly exerted to strangle Chris tianity at its birth. 2. The Romans also killed the two chief Apos tles, Peter and Paul, and afterwards, slaugh tering like sheep hundreds of thou- Kmedt]ie sands of other disciples of Jesus, did two chief Apostles. their utmost to stamp out of existence every vestige of the new and hated religion. 3. The Emperors prohibited, under penalties 124 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. of torturing deaths, every form of profession of Prohibited Christianity. The fanatical zeal of the Chris- people against Christians could be sat- tianity. f _ , . , . isfied with no measures less stringent. The kind-hearted and liberal-minded Trajan found it extremely difficult in the face of this zeal to arrest persecutions and to exercise clem ency in the treatment of Christians. Hadrian was compelled to yield to it. Even the large- minded and large-hearted Marcus Aurelius, whose " Meditations " abound in sentiments of humanity and charity, could put to death with out hesitation men of the most blameless lives, like Justin Martyr, whose only offence was loy alty to Christ and His religion. Surely if any thing could have exterminated Christianity in chrf f these earlier centuries, Roman perse- itypre- cution could have done it. But instead served . . . . , - , because of exterminating it, the fiercer the per- divme. secution the more rapidly spread the religion, and the deeper were struck its roots. Nor can this be explained as the natural result of persecution. Nothing less than a Presence within the religion, and a Wisdom and a Power presiding over and directing it in its course, can explain its final triumph. The same Divine Being who had put upon the Christian religion at its birth the stamp of its Divine origin, stamped it anew, by giving it its victory over all its foes, as a religion He had Himself given to men and would Himself protect. INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 1 25 CHAPTER III. DIVINE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY AS SEEN IN THREE OF ITS INHERENT QUALITIES. THESE qualities are, first, its power of self- recuperation ; secondly, its impulse to self-devel opment; thirdly, its capacity for self- The chxadh expansion. These are the qualities directed by L . .an indwell- not of an artificial scheme of religion, inginteiii- nor of a religion that the religious in- Eence' stincts of mankind are sufficient to account for, but of a living organism animated and directed by an indwelling and a self-conscious Intelligence. This organism is known in the Sacred Scrip tures under the comprehensive titles of " king dom of God," "the body of Christ" "an habitation of God through the Spirit," " the Church of the Living God." Its mode of mani festing itself is through a visible, tangible, active organization known as the Church. Of the inherent qualities of this organization under the title of the Church, we will notice the most com prehensive and important. 126 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Section I. — Its Self-recuperative Power. This is its power to recover itself from every disaster, whatever may have caused it, — a power Preserved to recoup itself when betrayed and de- mitsperiis. sp0jiecj by alien alliances such as a union of Church and State, — or when decoyed into perils by false or by misguided friends. Examples of the exercise of this self-recuper ative power in the progress of the Church along the centuries, have been indefinitely numerous and unmistakably clear. To enumerate them would be virtually to write the History of Chris tianity. Sometimes the perils into which the Church has been plunged have been such as apparently to threaten the continuance of Christianity as a vital power on the earth. Only specimens of these perils can here be enumer ated. i. At the beginning of the second century the Apostles were gone ; there was no canon of Penis of their writings for the guidance of the dayifof the churches they had planted ; and there church. were no religious teachers or leaders competent to take up their work and to carry it forward. Heresies abounded. An overesti mate of the merit of martyrdom begat in weak minds a fanatical and most dangerous craving to be martyrs. They purposely irritated the heathen that they might thereby insure their INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 12 J own martyrdom. Christianity was in imminent peril. Its pure and gentle spirit was threatened with extinction by a rude and obtrusive fanat icism. The recuperative power of the indwell ing and divinely given Spirit of the Church, the Holy Ghost, working in and through a select few, saved it. 2. The Church was again in extreme peril from the overwhelming influx of half-Christian ized heathen under Constantine, the periisfrom first of the Christian Emperors, near ™fl"x°f r Christian- the beginning of the fourth century, ized The re-creative Spirit energized the hearts of the people, and in due time, at Nicsea, the Church at its first General Council, amid violent controversy, expressed itself in the for mulation of the Nicene Creed. 3. Papal corruptions, that from the sixth century prevailed for nearly a thousand years, were as deadly a burden as the Church paPaicor- could bear and still survive. The re- raptlons- vival of learning in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with a restoration of the ancient liter atures of Greece and Rome to their long lost supremacy, brought with it also a revival of the old spirit of heathenism which these literatures embodied. The so-called Humanism of the new learning carried mildew and blight into the heart of the Papal Court, as well as into the hearts of not. a few leaders of the Church else- 128 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. where, outwardly threatening the very life of the Church itself. But the divinely re-creating Spirit was at work in His own quiet but effective ways through all the dreary centuries. Some times it was a pious monk who was moved to action and to utterance of his emotions in hymns that in various translations still linger in the hearts and on the lips of saintly souls. Some times it was a Thomas a Kempis who was in spired to write an " Imitation of Christ," over which worshipping souls still pore with godly enthusiasm. Again, it was some obscure scholar whose name has not survived, who was quick ened into writing a condensed theology (Theo- logie Deutsche, Theologia Pectoris), so full of the very marrow of the Gospel as to fill with profoundest satisfaction the souls of the most eminent of Christian scholars. And still again it was the same retrieving Spirit that incited Tauler, and Wycliffe, and other reformers be fore the Reformation, to the utterance of burning words and the kindling of wide-spreading flames ; and it was the same Spirit that finally gave to Christianity the victory over Papal and other corruptions. 4. Christianity has also, at different periods and in special localities, been affected disas- Misuseof trously by misuse of its doctrines. doctrines. Some of its fundamental truths, "sev ered from their relations to other and qualifying INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 129 truths, have at times been magnified to a degree that has transformed them into deadly errors. Two or three instances of this may here suffice. Thus, Divine Sovereignty has sometimes been so exalted as to make Christianity a system of fatalism, instead of a living interposition of God in behalf of man. Again, the position of man in the scheme of creation, and his natural ca pacity for attaining it, have been so set forth as virtually to make God to be no more than the equal of man in the moral and religious move ments of the world. The rescuing Spirit has always in due time intervened. At one time Latitudinarianism in England was carried to the point of disparaging possible religious convic tions as at least needless, if not mischievous. Religion almost lost its vital power. The re newing Spirit through the Wesleys and White- field brought back to it a new and vigorous life. In New England the Half-way Covenant came near bringing spiritual death to the churches. The same Spirit, through Jonathan Edwards, interposed to save them. In Germany Ration alism did its deadly work. The never-failing Spirit through Schleiermacher and his associates wrought effectively in repairing the ruins. 5. The Church has also often fallen into perils no less dangerous than those already mentioned, when it has persisted in usages, rites, Formalism formulas of doctrine, and modes of life andoant- 9 130 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. from which the spirit that gave them form and meaning has long since departed. Formalism and cant are among the deadliest foes of Chris tianity; and when the recuperating Spirit suc ceeds in breaking these up, and, to the great horror of formalists, in revolutionizing the whole existing type of religion, it never fails to bring to the Church new life and power. And this recuperation of Christianity, these rescues of it from its perils, have not been due Recovery to any intelligible law of natural evolu- andup- tion, but in every case to a recurrence ward move- mentofthe and re-recurrence, under guidance of its own ever renewing Spirit, to the personal Christ, and to the Holy Scriptures through which the mind and will of Christ are revealed, and the mind and will of the delinquent Church are enlightened and quickened. And in every instance of recovery from tem porary decline, it has been not a mere reinstate ment of Christianity in its former condition that has been accomplished, but a movement to a higher position and an exhibition of ever increasing evidence that a Divine Wisdom and Power first gave it to mankind and still per petuates it among men. INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 131 Section II. — Its Power of Self- Development. A second inherent quality of Christianity is its ceaseless impulse to disclose progressively the fullness of its meaning, its spirit, its Three power, and its resources. It does this "^evei- in three ways : first, by developing opment. itself as a body of moral and religious ideas; secondly, by developing through progressive knowledge of its truths a constantly improving type of character in its adherents ; thirdly, through progressive knowledge of its truths and continuous improvement in its type of character, it develops and organizes for itself an ever increasing variety of effective forces. Fullness of truth and perfection of character were at the outset clearly exhibited in the Person of Christ, and through the development of these conjointly and historically in the personalities of the living Church there have been called into being the ever multiplying forces of the Church. The ideas, the character, and the agencies were all necessarily in forms determined by the age in which they originated. They embodied "meanings deeper and broader than by any possibility could then be understood. Only by a process of unfolding running through many centuries could these meanings be de veloped. 132 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. i. Development of Christian ideas. These as first given were definite and fixed, admitting Develop- of neither addition nor subtraction. CMsttn But they were given in Oriental im- ideas. agery and in metaphorical terms. To disentangle the meanings from this imagery, and to get them out of metaphor into literal statements, have required a succession of steps now easily traced in history along the Christian centuries. a. Progressive understanding of the Christian idea of God. This idea, so slowly apprehended, was given by Christ, both in His own IdeaofGod. ^ fa , . TT. ' T . Person and in His words. It is com plex, made up of various attributes. Of these attributes one or another at different periods has preponderated in the minds of men and distorted the whole conception. Thus at one time the Sov ereignty of God has been so magnified that He has been made an arbitrary Despot, who was to be approached only remotely through symbolic services or through a series of intermediary agents. At another time justice has been made so to overtop every other attribute as to become the pivot on which the whole scheme of the universe has been conceived to turn. At an other time every attribute has been submerged in benevolence. The action and reaction of these one-sided conceptions of Deity have led to a minute examination of the grounds of each, and INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 133 of the different points of view from which they were derived. Oniy by degrees, through com parison and combination, has there emerged what is now so generally known as the Chris tian idea of God, — that comprehensive idea of the Fatherhood of God in which the most op posite attributes are united and reconciled, and which includes the idea of the eternal filial relation of man. b. Development of the Christian idea of man. No single text of the New Testament teaches it; only by critical analysis of a great 1 / ... Ideaofman. variety of texts can it be definitely as certained. In one class of texts we have a pic ture of man as he was before he became con scious of his guilt; in another we have a view of him after knowing that he was a transgressor ; in a third class we see him as he is when made a new creature in Christ. Christianity sets forth in these and other texts man's primal, essential relation of sonship ; that sin is a progressive alienation from the Father; that it is destructive of that blessedness which should attend the nor mal relation of Divine Father and created child ; and that this awful rupture of normal relations has its origin in man's perverted self-seeking. All the terms used for sin as an inward state contain this idea. In expounding Moses, Christ teaches that sin is in the desire, not in the overt act. 134 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Christianity teaches that holiness, on the other hand, is an eternal beatific advance toward per fect union with the Father. It exemplifies a perfect manhood in the person and life of Jesus, and enjoins it in His command, " Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." This ideal type of humanity is exhibited alone by Chris tianity. It is not found in the Old Testament, nor in any pre-Christian philosophy. The truths Christ taught are not the deductions of reason, but the flashings forth of His own Divine con sciousness and His Divine knowledge of the souls of men ; and there has been through the centuries a gradual unfolding of these truths to the Christian consciousness. They have revealed man to himself. Becoming thus self-evident and self-convincing, they appeal ever more and more to the consciences and hearts of men. c. Progressive understanding of the redemp tive work of Christ. Until the fifth century, „ , the various aspects of man's nature and Redemp- L tivework relations had not so engaged the at tention of believers as to excite con troversy. But from the time of Pelagius and Augustine, discussion never ceased; out of the contests have arisen the various theories of the atonement from Origen, through Ansel m, Lombard, Grotius, and others, down to the present day. One theory has superseded an other, and each new aspect of the truth has INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 1 35 added something to the apprehension of it. But while it is true that these successive theories have looked at the doctrine from a progressively wider angle of vision, yet it also remains true that the endeavor to set forth a complete ratio nale of the atonement has burdened Christianity with errors, which all through the centuries have obscured the faith, or offended the intelli gence, or oppressed the hearts, of devout Chris tian believers. The New Testament simply sets forth the fact and the effects of the atonement. Our theories as to the Divine process, however useful, are necessarily Only imperfect ways of explaining a Divine method which is above and beyond all human philosophy. The effects of Christ's atoning life and death, as set forth in the New Testament, are a present salvation from the supreme love of self, and hence from the. love of sin, a practical belief in the Fatherhood of God and in the brotherhood of man, and a sure faith in the Holy Spirit at work in the hearts of men for their final redemption from sin. The attempts to construct a rational theology on purely philosophical bases have always ended in contradiction and confusion, or in Theology . t^t • , /->, TT. not con- flat negations. Neither Christ nor His stmcted on Apostles ever attempted to explain the f^^f" inexplicable ; and all subsequent efforts bases- to do this have only more and more taught us the great truth, that, in the whole realm of ex- 136 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. istence, wherever the Divine and human touch, there must of necessity be mystery. The re generating process on the human side is clear. Man, feeling himself debased, a slave to sin, finds that he cannot escape the thraldom ; recogniz ing his helplessness, he casts himself on Jesus Christ and finds peace. This divine remedy, faith in a crucified Christ, was " to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness." But to the renewed man Christ has become " the power of God and the wisdom of God." He may not be able to explain how his redemption has been accomplished, but he cannot gainsay the fact. He is a new creature in Christ Jesus. By actual experience of regeneration, men know it to be an eternal truth of God. About the beginning of the eighteenth century, this ex perience, through a progressive recognition of the work of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of men, was formulated into the theological doc trine of Regeneration. Thus, with a clearer recognition of the limitations of the human understanding, and of the agency of the Holy Spirit, has there gradually emerged a profounder conception of the redemptive work of Christ. 2. Progressive improvement in the type of Christian character. The new kind of goodness improve- which Christ in His own character ex- type 0? hibited, and which He in His teachings character. set forth, notwithstanding the many INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 137 perversions and distortions which at times have deformed it, has been gradually penetrating the hearts and controlling the lives of men. Its pro gressive work through the centuries may be the more easily traced by noting some of the more striking forms which the Christian life has as sumed. In the various orders of monasticism, in the different moral standards of the laity and the priesthood, in the laws and ranks of knight hood, in the penances and purgations of the Roman Church, in the legalism of later Prot estantism, in the puritanism of England and America, in the pietism of Germany, we see not only crudeness, extravagance, or one-sidedness, but also an earnest struggling for a higher type of Christian living; and in spite of perversions, exaggerations, and puerilities, we discover in the midst of rude or licentious civilizations an ever increasing desire for the ideal type of Christian character. The existing type in the Church at large, notwithstanding its imperfections, plainly sur passes that of any previous age. It Bxigtin expresses more fully that which was type of C h ri T£LCfcr?T the central principle and ruling motive mthe in the character of Jesus. This im- Churcn- proved type is illustrated in the change which has been wrought in all our social and civic institutions. Legislatures regarding the interests of laborers and children; the elevation of woman ; 138 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. the abolition of slavery ; our courts of justice ; our penal regulations looking toward reform rather than vengeance ; — all these, and much else that might be mentioned, are only the exponents of the gradual elevation and purification by Christianity of individual character; and along with the Hospitals, Orphan Asylums, Homes, and all the various appliances for helping the unfortunate, they are just so many signs of that Divine principle of love which is the constituent principle of all that is highest and best in Chris tian character. 3. Christianity has wonderfully developed its resources for aggressive work. This may be seen to-day in the organized forces at Resources J ° foraggres- work in our own country and else where. Sunday Schools, which devel oped in England out of the Ragged Schools, are the growth of the last hundred years ; only about thirty years ago they were introduced by a gentleman of Brooklyn into Germany, where they have continued to spread. The Brother hood of St. Andrew, originating with a few young men in a church in Chicago, has enlisted thousands of eager men all over the country in Christian work; the Society of Christian En deavor, including both men and women, is bringing into activity a vast amount of other wise unused power. " Revivalism," with its various methods, including that new form of it INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 1 39 called " Missions " in the Episcopal Church, has brought truth home to a multitude of con sciences. Missionary Agencies, Home and For eign, are always multiplying their forces. The Young Men's Christian Association, with its numerous beneficent activities, is another mighty agency which Christianity is using for its pro gress in the world. The Salvation Army, that miracle of modern times, which has penetrated more deeply into the sin and wretchedness of cities, perhaps, than any other Christian agency, has met its reward in raising to spiritual life multitudes whom society had despaired of as beyond all possible moral resurrection. All these and many others, including that power ful agency, the Religious Press, have developed their strength for the same divine end, • — ¦ to raise the fallen, to help the weak, to feed the hungry, to instruct the ignorant, and to preach the Good News to all who will hear. But it must not be forgotten that all this Christian work is indi vidual work, — the product of the faith and zeal of men working individually, — and that the his tory of Christian organizations shows that they multiply and prove effective in exact propor tion to the work of the Holy Spirit of God on the hearts of individual Christians. 140 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. Section III. — Expansiveness of the Spirit of Christianity. The difference between body and soul is uni versally recognized. The distinction between spirit and letter and spirit is not less real, though christifn- ^ess commonly apprehended. The let- ity. ter, like the body, is the outward form of an inner life which it attempts to declare, but cannot adequately represent. The letter is ap preciable by the senses, the spirit only through the soul's experience. Christianity is known to us through both its letter and its spirit. The former in its facts and statements is historically and unalterably fixed; the latter has always been, and still is, progressively experienced. Limited by the letter of its historic facts, no progress of the race can outstrip the expansive ness of its spirit. It keeps pace with, and appro priates to itself, and sanctifies to its own ends, the spirit of all truth, of all real beauty, and of all moral goodness. Thus the spirit of Chris tianity is in harmony, — i. With the spirit of Science and Philosophy. Science and philosophy are two distinct meth- spiritin ods of human inquiry, each possessing harmony . .... . . . with the its own distinctive spirit, and with that s^ncfand sPirit imbuing its votaries. Thus the Philosophy, spirit of science is a self-sacrificing search for the demonstrably real. Its most dis- INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 141 tinguishing characteristic is intellectual hon esty. Philosophy is equally honest and earnest in its endeavors to bring the real and the true into direct relation with human life. There may be both scientists and philosophers who are not true to the spirit of their callings. Preposses sions, pride of intellect, and self-conceit may mislead them. But with the genuine spirit of science and philosophy Christianity is always in accord, — has always found them, and, it is safe to say, always will find them, among her most serviceable handmaids. The absolutely real and true, whether of science or philosophy, can never be otherwise than absolutely harmonious with religion. 2. With the spirit of Civilization. Civiliza tion, necessarily, has its outward and visible forms of law, government, social regu- ^harmony lations, conventionalities, and civilities; with the ... spirit of but the spirit of civilization can be civiiiza- known and appreciated by those only who have lived in its atmosphere. Its outward forms are necessary to control and subdue, and imbue humanity with the spirit of it; but its spirit is subtile and refining, and has its seat in the soul of man; and it is capable of almost unlimited advance from its elementary stages. The farther it advances, the more readily does the spirit of Christianity assimilate it. Only under a Christianized civilization can Christian ity achieve its best results for man. 142 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 3. With the spirit of Beauty, — Beauty in na ture and in art. Nature in her phases and in her productions appeals to something With the * rr fc> spirit of in man which we call his sense of beauty. The sense becomes acute and refining in proportion to the degree of one's aesthetic culture. Imitation of beauty in nature has given us the fine arts; in its metaphorical sense, it is applied to intellectual products (Shelley's Hymn to Intellectual Beauty) and to moral character (beauty of holiness). The spirit of beauty in all its forms may attain to an extreme degree of dignity, delicacy, and refine ment ; and the spirit of Christianity, which sym pathizes with it at every stage, surpasses it in giving the finishing charm to its highest pro ductions, which it then appropriates as means of moral and spiritual culture. 4. With the spirit of Worship in all its forms. The spirit of Christianity is expansive enough to be at home in, and to exert its power on, every form of ritual, from the most elaborate, imposing, and gorgeous, down to the tamest, baldest, and most barren. One worshipper may be just as devout and spiritual-minded in the use of the former, as another in the use of the latter. 5. With a true Catholicity. It is expansive enough to admit of sincere and hearty fellowship Spirit of w'th all disciples of Christ, however catholicity, narrow-minded may be the sects into INHERENT QUALITIES OF CHRISTIANITY. 1 43 which they are divided, and however rigid and sharply drawn may be their lines of separation. A religion expansive enough in its spirit to advance and harmonize with the spirit of sci ence, philosophy, civilization, and art, to main tain a vigorous life under any ritual and no ritual, and to override in its fellowship all the hedges and barriers of the narrowest sectarian ism, gives good evidence of having originated with the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and of being a religion which will eventually command the allegiance of the world. 144 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. CHAPTER IV. DIVINE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY, AS SEEN IN THE COMPLETENESS OF ITS SYSTEM OF MORAL AND RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES. I. The moral and religious are but two sides of one body of truth. That the two sides Moral and may be separately considered, and yet two^ide'sof neither one of them wholly separated one truth, from the other, is fully comprehen sible. Science may show that the principles of morality are grounded in natural laws, or are constitutive of personal being, and do not have their origin in the Sovereign arbitrary will of God ; and psychology may show the principles of religion to be in absolute accord with every law and principle of the human soul. But the utmost that either science or philosophy can do is to confirm, each in its own way, what Christian revelation has taught ; they cannot improve upon its teaching. 2. After the most exhaustive analysis and the most exact synthesis of the moral and religious „ , „ principles of the New Testament, these Moral and r r religious are found to be so correlated and co- narmoni- ordinated one to another as to consti- 0U3, tute an harmonious and unified whole. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES. 1 45 The ablest and acutest intellects have thus far failed to point out disharmony or defect. 3. The religious principles of the New Testa ment have furnished the materials for the pro- foundest and most complete Philosophy Pnilosopll of Religion yet constructed, and no °f Religion & J found in philosophy of religion has yet been New Testa- thought out which in the slightest de- ment' gree invalidates New Testament teachings, or has furnished a system that can be properly called more rational. Natural science may not know how, with its physical tests, to admit the facts of the incarnation, the Trinity, the atone ment, and the resurrection ; but a profound phi losophy of religion finds them to be indispen sable factors. 4. It is not to be forgotten that a philosophy of religion was something of which the writers of the New Testament were entirely „ . , J But not innocent. They had no such philos- known to ophy of their own, and they never dreamed of any such that might be deduced from their writings in after generations. They wrote either as historians or as dogmatic teach ers, but each according to his own divine en lightenment. There is no evidence whatever that they wrote either with an individual or with a concerted purpose to develop any kind of philosophy or system. Yet unwittingly they laid down essential principles. God guided 1 46 CHRISTIAN E VIDENCES. them, and " they builded better than they knew." 5. Neither is it to be forgotten that there ex isted no a priori system of doctrines, either in No a priori the minds of the public or of indi- system of viduals, which the New Testament was doctrinesheld by written to illustrate. Such a system Ne^Testa- is discernible in the New Testament, ment- and can be constructed out of its writ ings, but only after a minute and critical study of these as a whole; just as the science of Ge ology, for example, can be constructed only after a minute and careful study of all the facts of nature gathered from the earth's surface or extracted from its crust; or a science of Soci ology can be constructed only after a careful collection, critical analysis, and classification of all the facts of human society. 6. That nine men so different in intellectual endowments and acquirements and in natural complete temperament as were the writers of the harmony .. T of their New Testament, working each on his though'"' own independent line of thought and working action, should have so entirely accorded indepen- # . J dentiy. in all their moral and religious concep tions as to furnish a completely harmonious system of theological and ethical thought, can be rationally accounted for only on the theory that they were all Divinely guided, and that they have left us the records of a religion which origi nated in the omniscient mind of God. FITNESS TO BECOME UNIVERSAL. 1 47 CHAPTER V. DIVINE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY PROVED BY ITS FITNESS TO BECOME THE ONE UNIVERSAL RELIGION. Christianity bears the unmistakable marks of the climate, of the age, and of the people where it originated. Its records are full of Oriental imagery and of Oriental hyperbole. It none the less shows its fitness to be universal. 1. A religion which is to be universal must be one whose doctrinal principles (principia) cannot be undermined or overthrown A religion by knowledge derived from any other tobeuni- J ° ' versal must source. The Sciences and Philoso- becon- phies have not only not invalidated any aii other of the truths of Christianity, but have traUl- served to confirm them. 2. A universal religion must be able to vindi cate its conceptions of the natures of both God and man at the bar of human reason. Must have Reason was given to men to be used, o^Qod^j and Christianity has stood the test. man- Christian conceptions of God and man, as found in the New Testament, not only now command the 'assent of reason, but are used to furnish the 148 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. basis of theories which are proposed as substi tutes for Biblical Christianity. 3. A universal religion must not only set up a perfect standard of character for man's attain- Musthave ment, but it must meet the needs of standard of man> ms fears> his weaknesses, his character, wants. It has furnished the one in the Person and commands of its Divine Author, and the other by its precious promises and offers of Divine help. 4. A religion for the whole human race must, in all its processes, whether in raising men to its laws its standard or in its cultus, accord cord with strictly with the known laws of men- kno°wn8r ta* acti°n, i- e- with the demonstrably laws. clear requirements of pyschology. The Christian religion pre-eminently among all re ligions does this, though originating among a people little given to a study of their mental processes. This agreement of Christianity with the laws of pyschology is becoming increas ingly clear. 5. A universal religion must, in its whole spirit, requirements, and methods, be capable Must keep of keeping pace with the progress of pace with the race, and, instead of being out- thepro" . 1 J -a A gressof grown, must ever lead as guide and patron of all good learning and art, and as an inspirer to all pure and noble living. In these respects, among all nations Christianity leads the van. FITNESS TO BECOME UNIVERSAL. 1 49 6. A universal religion must be able to make itself a home in all climates, in all stages of barbarism or civilization, and under all Adaptable forms of government. Christianity has toallcil- 0 cumstances abundantly proved its power of adapta- and cii- tion to all these conditions, never failing ma eB' to elevate and refine, working always from within outward, from its own centre towards the better ment of its environment and the overcoming of adverse forces. 150 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. CHAPTER VI. INADEQUACY OF THE VISIBLE MEANS OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE PRODUCTION OF ITS ENDS. So far as we know, God never accomplishes His ends by fiat, but always through the use of MeanBused means or second causes. The means tianity employed in planting Christianity were fitted to various and manifold. While they ends, yet J inadequate, were specially fitted to the ends to be accomplished, they were in and by themselves wholly inadequate to the results produced. I. The Miracles of Jesus were specially well fitted to convince the world of His Divine com mission. They appealed immediately Miracles. to the senses, and so commanded atten tion. They were wrought independently of all' known law, and were clearly not the result of human might or skill. They thus compelled faith in their Author as One exercising Divine power, and in the truth of His teachings. To the same end the apostles received from Him " authority," along with their commission, to work miracles. Prophecy was equally well suited to its own ends. VISIBLE MEANS INADEQUATE. 151 2. The truths of Christianity, both ethical and religious, pertaining both to God and man, were exactly suited to the work of influen- „_ „ ' Truths. cing to an acceptance of Christianity. All truth, simply as truth, is fitted to persuade to the end contemplated by it. As real existences, men instinctively accept the real and reject the unreal or false. Christianity as a revelation of the real is pre-eminently fitted to persuade men. 3. Man has many instinctive fears and yearn ings. Christianity abounds in considerations and promises suited to allay the one . . Promises. and to satisfy the other. Its promises are accompanied with positive assurances of ability to fulfil. 4. The demonstrable certainty of immortality given by the resurrection of Jesus, coupled with the assurance of final awards as results immo,.. of the earthly life, have secured to tali*y- Christianity the most effective power yet pos sessed by any religion known among men for determining to righteousness of life. 5. Christianity, honestly accepted and com plied with, produces results individual and so cial which command the approval of H,B3Uit3in all impartial and reasonable minds. Presentlife- Its enlightening, regulating, and humane influ ences on society are fitted to extend it to all the nations of the earth. A religion so richly qualified to meet all the 152 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. requirements necessary to the accomplishment Made ef- of its end ought not, one would think; by Holy"17 to meet with long delay in winning to spirit. jts service the whole human race. But the miracles, the truths and the promises of Christianity, its assurance of a future life, and its provisions for a happy life in the present, have all proved inadequate means for the conversion of the world to righteousness. They have suc ceeded so far only as they have been accom panied and made effectual by some energizing spiritual power. They have won, and still win, the assent of the understanding, but another Power has always been requisite to secure the consent of the heart. To gain that consent has ever been and still is the prerogative of the renewing Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit works on men individually. Before society can feel the renovating influences of Christianity, men, one by one, must have felt the renewing, power of the Holy Spirit. And the quickening Spirit alone can give vitalizing effect to the means Christianity uses. Through all time, in the first century as well as in this nineteenth century, this work of the Spirit is a seal on the soul of the believer and a sign to the eyes of the world, attesting Christianity to be a religion of Divine planting and of Divine perpetuation. CHRISTIAN TYPE OF CHARACTER. 1 53 CHAPTER VII. PHILOSOPHY OF THE METHOD OF PRO DUCING THE CHRISTIAN TYPE OF CHAR ACTER.What the Christian type of character is, we have already seen. The Ideal of it was derived from the Real in the Person of Jesus. The Ideal In Him centred every virtue, and ofChristian each virtue in Him harmonized with found in every other. The Christian type of Chriat character is a Christ-like character, consisting not of mere outward and negative, but of inward and positive virtues, — of inward purity or holi ness, and of its outward realization or personal righteousness. The Christian type also includes alike. the gentler virtues of patience and forbear ance, and the hardier and sterner virtues of cour age, and of whatever enters into true heroism. It is the high aim of Christianity to bring the human race into an approximation, as close as possible for finite and erring mortals, to the ideal perfection reached in the person of Jesus. It aims to make of each individual, and thus of the race, the utmost possible morally, socially, and intellectually. Now it is its production of character for both 154 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. the individual and the race, which constitutes the Aim of crowning test of its worth, and thus of christian- jts relative value and authority among lty to pro- J ° duceinthe the religions of the world. In the final perfect and rapidly approaching conflict of character. Cnristianity witn the old religions of the world, the issue of the struggle will turn, not on its doctrines, but on the question, Is it fitted to do, and is it actually doing, the highest and best for man, — among all the religions, is Chris tianity best adapted to purify, elevate, and sanc tify human character? The principles which philosophy discerns as working co-operatively and co-ordinately in the production of facts, are said to be philosophi cal in their operation. There is thus seen to be a profound philosophy in the Divine method of producing Christian character. I. Christianity is profoundly and soundly phi losophical in its initial steps in the production of Phiiosophi- Christian character. It begins by re- caiinits constructing the substructures of char- first steps in the pro- acter in the human heart. It does this christian by supplanting selfishness, the root of character. ajj ^j^ ancj implanting love of God and man. It imparts this love through conviction of personal guilt and a consciousness of the removal of this guilt by and through faith in the all-loving and self-sacrificing Christ. This was a philosophy too profound for the philo- CHRISTIAN TYPE OF CHARACTER. 1 55 sophic Greeks to understand, but is too sound, too hygienic in its results on character, for any honest and intelligent psychologist to misunder stand. 2. Christianity is profoundly philosophical in its method of upbuilding character on the foun dation which it lays in the heart of p^o™^ man. It utilizes the most effective of caiinits it 1 • • • method of all the constructive principles which upbuilding disclose themselves in the human soul, character- — the principle of faith. Every man becomes like the being or object he most thoroughly believes in and loves. Faith and love always co-exist, and conjointly reproduce in the believer the character of the one he most loves and be lieves in. 3. Profound philosophy is also seen in the moulding and uplifting influence of sympathy, communion, or fellowship, to which the Through Christian is introduced by believing in an?com^ Christ, — communion with God, with m™ion- Christ the Saviour, Master, Example, and com munion with all saints now living on earth or in heaven. The influence of this fellowship on character is distinctively Christian, and bears the stamp of a Divine Wisdom or Philosophy. 4. The moulding influence of earthly disci pline under the omniscient eye and guiding hand of God shows a more than human By earthly wisdom. Christianity alone taught that diaoiPlilie- 1 5 6 CHRISTIAN E VIDENCES. whom the Lord loves He chastens. Even Christ is said to have been made perfect through suf fering. The whole history of the Church is a history of discipline. The pride and folly of men within it have brought chastisement, repentance, reform, and a higher life; and the persecutions of the world outside have given to it increased humility, devotion, and strength. The life of every individual man is a life of discipline; he makes plans, and God overturns them; he stretches his hopes toward a larger future, and God's restraining hand is laid on him; he looks forward to long and active usefulness, and health departs. Christianity alone teaches him that this severe discipline is from the hand of a lov ing, watchful Father ; that it comes by the wise and tender mercy of God, educating him to be, like his Divine Master, humble in spirit, devoted to the work given him to do, and above all faith ful in heart, — faithful even unto death. This is the Divine Philosophy of Christianity. INDEX. Arbitration due to Christianity, 109. Buddhism, 103. Cana, miracle at, discussed, 83. Canon law, 105. Christianity, its accordance with laws of human progress, an argument for its Divinity, 79; beneficent influence of, 81- 1 1 1 ; said to be unfavorable to temperance, 82 ; said to make its appeal to selfishness, 86; said to perpetuate social ine qualities, 87 ; said to be through its theology unfavorable to morality, 90 ; said to favor unduly the softer virtues, 91 ; positive benefits of, 98-1 11 ; its tendency to eradicate human bondage, 100; its influence on condition of women, 101 ; its practical philanthropy, 102 ; its influence on jurisprudence and penology, 104; and on conducting of war, 109; the preparation which the Jews made for it, 113; that made by Greeks, 116; that by Romans, 120; its power of recuperation, 126; of self-development, 131 ; of aggressive resourcefulness, 138 ; its harmony with scientific and philosophic spirit, 140 ; with that of civilization, 141 ; with the Beautiful, 142 ; with all degrees of ritual, 142 ; is catholic, 142 ; its Divinity proved by completeness of its moral and religious principles, 144-146 ; these rest on a profound philosophy, 145 ; inde pendent of any theological system in minds of Apostles, 145 ; or of any a priori system elsewhere, 146; the harmony of nine writers of New Testament, a proof of Divine guidance, 146; fit to become a universal religion, 147-149; inadequacy of visible means to produce its ends, a proof of its Divinity, 150-152 ; work of Holy Spirit in connection with its accept ance, a proof of its Divinity, 152; philosophical in its steps to form character, 1 53-1 56. 158 INDEX. Christianity, objections to, arising from its identification with the Church, 93-98 ; aspects it assumes to world, 93. Church accused of leaguing with oppressors, 94 ; of persecut ing for opinions, 95 ; of resisting Science and Philosophy, 96 ; of conniving at social and political wrongs, 97 ; existing type of, highest yet obtained, 137. Consciousness, popular, influenced by Christianity, 31. Evidences adduced by Jesus and his Apostles classified, 10. Evidences, Christian, their threefold division, 9; one of the most important of, 32 ; from Prophecy, 56-69 ; from Christian experience, 70-78 ; from achievements of Christianity, 79-1 1 1. Experience, Christian, as an evidence of Divine origin of Chris tianity, 70-78; attests the soul -satisfying nature of Christian ity, 70; attests a real communion with Deity, 72; attests Divine origin of its phenomena, 73; its evidence cumulative, 75; its evidence though individual not invalid, 76; the earli est and most central of all Christian evidences, 77. Greeks, furnished a preparation for Christianity, 1:6; yet op posed, 119. Grotius, Hugo, his exposition of international law, 108. International law, relation of Christianity to, 107. Jesus, the Miracle, 14, 35, 51 ; His Person an evidence of Christianity, 48-52 ; such perfection necessary to the com pleteness of the Christian system, 51 : — His teachings an evi dence of Christianity, 52-55; Divine origin of, proved by freedom from error, 53 ; and by their originality, 53. Judaism, a preparation for Christianity, 115; yet antagonistic, 115. Jurisprudence, modern, 104 ; influence of Christianity on, 104. Miracle, the moral, a sinless Jesus, 15. Miracles, of Christ, their place as evidence, 10-13 ; their rela tion to His teachings, 11 ; terms for, in Gospels, 13; defined, 14: — objections to, considered, 14-21; apart of Christ's mes sage of love, 23 ; essential to consistency of Gospel narra tive, 23. Miracles, evidence from, 33-55 ; for whom designed, 33 ; their evidential value now, 33 ; " greater " accomplished by apos tles, 34. INDEX. 159 Nature, uniformity of, implied in "miracle," 14; exists for mental and moral ends, 14. Paul, his conversion, an evidence of Christianity, 43-48. Penology, influence of Christianity on, 104. Prophecy, as an evidence relied on by Jesus and Apostles, 26- 29 ; Messianic, a characteristic of Jewish history, 26 ; evi dence from, 56-69 ; found in Old Testament, 57 ; Rationalis tic explanation of, 58; has precedence of all other evidence, 60 ; " type " to be distinguished from, 61 ; an organic whole, 64; conditional, 66; in New Testament, 67 ; the advents in relation to, 68 ; misuse of unfulfilled, 68. Religion, Christianity a universal, 147-149 ; its doctrines har monize with universal truth, 147; its teachings vindicable to human reason, 147 ; presents a perfect standard with helps to its attainment, 148; accords with psychological law, 148; keeps pace with progress of race, 148 ; makes itself at home in all the world, 149. Resurrection of Jesus, as an evidence of Christianity, 36-43 ; still available as evidence, 36; five theories of, investigated, 36-39; direct evidence of, 39-43. Romans, furnished a preparation for Christianity, 120; opposed it, 123. Science, its approach toward the discovery of a power not mechanical or chemical, 19. Slavery in New Testament, 97. Socialism, 104. Vicarious salvation, not immoral, 90; liable to perversion, 90. Principles and Practice of Morality, . . OR . . (Ethical principles wi&tu&etn ana #pplirt>. By EZEKIEL GILMAN ROBINSON, D.D., LL.D. i2tno., cloth, 264 pages. Introductory price, $1.50. AC LEAR, vigorous, incisive presentation of the vital truths of Moral Philosophy, with practical application to conduct and character. The author's ripe scholarship and his keen perception of the needs of students, growing out of his long and honored service in college and university life, have enabled him to pre pare a manual that appeals both to the reason and the con science, and furnishes a most valuable text-book in Ethics for High Schools, Seminaries, and Colleges. 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