phy, of social manners, of government, of invention, are con stantly appearing, till the Absolute Religion, the Religion of Humanity, shall at last be attained. They do not admit that God has given any religion-according to their conception of things it would be essentially out of accord with His administration to give a religion—in an early time, to a special people, as the ultimate system for the world, in all ages.

Such antagonists of the paramount claims of Christianity are many and able. They have often been nourished in knowledge and power by the religion whose place of solitary preëininence in the world they dispute or deny. Its authority they repel, but its vital impulse is in their blood. They become more numerous, rather than less so, as civilization advances. They are not to be confounded with the ribald and furious assailants of Christianity, whose vulgar roughness of attack, whose malice, and sometimes their mendacity of spirit, have done so much to heap moral discredit on the name "unbeliever"; or with those who, in reckless eagerness for applause, 'to win a clap, would not scruple to sink a continent.' These men, who simply put Christianity, in its origin and authority, on the level of other religions, regarding all as equally destitute of any supreme Divine claim upon human regard, are frequently as delicate as they are diligent and dexterous in their war with the sentiment in which they were nurtured. In the dignity and charm of their social spirit, of their moral habitudes, as in the vigor and variety of their mental action, or the abundance of their mental resources, they are often deserving of cordial esteem.

While then, on the one hand, the Christianity which is brought to us in the New Testament asserts for itself this supreme and enduring authority, as being, in a sense transcendent and exclusive, revealed from God; while other religions claim much the same thing, at least as related to the peoples which receive them, and gather around their ancient origins the shining mists of alleged Divine converse with men; and while speculative philosophers, in indifference to all, with a controlling Pyrrhoric tendercy, rule all alike out of the category of Divine institutes, and attribute all to the more or less cultured spirit of man: it becomes to us a duty, than which hardly any can be more urgent,

to examine this stupendous claim of Christianity. and to see if there appear reason to accept it, or if, on the other hand, there be such an absence of reasons for this that the claim may by us be properly dismissed, as either exaggerated or wholly untrue. There has never been a time, in the last eighteen centuries, when it was not appropriate and important to do this. I might almost say that there never has been a time when precisely this office was not being accomplished, by the inquisitive minds of men, by their reflective and searching hearts. And there will not come a time when the pertinence and significance of such a discussion will not be obvious, so long as there are those still living on the earth, in the same communities, with minds interacting upon each other, who on the one hand with confidence affirm, and on the other hand with eagerness deny, this impressive and surpassing proposition.

But at no time in the Past has the question more distinctly demanded discussion, at no time may it in the Future, than it does at this moment: when the world, by the superb advances of its general civilization, seems in the judgment of many to be growing superior to the need of religion, as it certainly is becoming less sensitive to its influence; when it seeks, as by a general impulse, in cultivated lands, to shake itself free from what it fears as a fetter on its thought; and when science, philosophy, history, are invoked, to show alleged faults or crude apprehensions in this religion, or to overturn its essential declarations. Not any more ingenious objections than had before been urged, not any larger array of learning on the side of unbelief, not any more attractive and elaborate eloquence conveying the materials for assault upon the Faith-not any of these, so much as the general drift of inind, in Christendom at large, toward secular aims and secular success, and toward a correspond ing indifference or aversion to the sovereign claim of Christi. anity upon it-this makes it needful to consider that claim, and to decide for ourselves whether it be as sound and imperative as many have believed it in the Past, as many still gladly believe it. We cannot surely be indifferent to the question; and it is a wise maxim which Carlyle repeats, in closing his second essay on Richter, 'what is extraordinary, try to look at with your own

eyes.' I know of nothing to which the maxim applies more directly, with greater force, than to the claim of Christianity upon us.

And certainly for no others is such an inquiry more pertinent or important than for those who expect to teach this religion, that others may be led to accept and obey it. Clearness and thoroughness of conviction, on the subject of the Divine origin of Christianity, are to such men indispensable; unless they would build the whole structure of their work not so much on the sand as on the surface of shifting tides. They must have canvassed and felt the proofs that God has given superlative authority to the message which they carry, or their words will be as deficient in power to move mankind as is the mimic agony of the opera, as wanting in heat as is pictured flame.

This, therefore, is the subject which we confront, and concerning which I would bring such suggestions as I may in this series of Lectures. The line of argument which I hope to exhibit is not suddenly conceived, though it has, of necessity, to be rapidly and very imperfectly presented. I found in it long ago, and have found in it since, a delicate yet strong persuasion for myself of the truth of the claim which Christianity makes. I would fain hope that it may in a measure impart this to you. At least, I trust that He whom all but the atheists accept as in Himself the perfect Truth will keep me from saying anything untrue, or anything misleading in its impression; and that He will so guide and control us in considering the theme that all our words, and all our thoughts, in their final effect, shall conspire to His glory!

Two embarrassments detain one at the start, in advancing to the subject. One arises from the fact, obvious to all, that opinions widely differing have prevailed, and still prevail, as to what Christianity actually is, in its substance and scope, in the intimate and organizing elements which compose it. They prevail not merely among those who stand altogether outside the range of its discipleship, but in the societies which accept it; among those who equally feel and affirm that they are adherents of the religion. So it may be naturally asked, "What is this Christianity, the claim of which to a Divine origin, and a related Divine authority, we are to investigate?"

Is it the doctrine that Jesus was a man, singularly gifted, nobly consecrated, of a really surpassing genius for religion, with ex traordinary power for morally impressing and inspiring others, who spoke words of such sovereign significance that the world has not been able to forget them, who gave a rule of action and of spirit exceptionally pure, while his life corresponded, in its harmonious beauty and majesty, with the precepts which he uttered; who has thus been able to affect generations subsequent to his time, in parts of the world which he had not traversed; but who stood after all on a level of nature with ourselves, and only surpassed us in the fineness and reach of his moral intuitions, and in his power of imparting to others of the fullness of his rare and kingly spirit? Is this what you mean the precepts, rules, and thoughts of truth, announced by this manwhen you speak of Christianity?

Or is it the doctrine, widely accepted, that He, being essentially Divine, but taking upon Him our nature in the wonder of the Incarnation, founded an organic visible Church, to abide on the earth, with ritual and hierarchy, into which one is brought by regenerating baptism, in which he is nourished in goodness and truth by effectual sacraments, and through whose authorized officiating priests he obtains absolution and remission of sins; a Church in which the Lord is evermore personally although mys tically present; which is, therefore, empowered to teach perpetu ally, without doubt or error, in His name; through whose sacraments, as orderly administered, His personal energy is continually exerted; and by which, in its continuance on earth, His Incarnation becomes perpetual, and is made universal throughout the Church? Is this the Christianity, whose claim to be considered Divine in origin and authority you would wish us to consider?

Or is it, again, that system of doctrine which sometimes is called "the evangelical," which is also accepted in large parts of the world where this religion, coming from Palestine, has got itself established: which teaches that man is by nature depraved, in the governing temper and tendency of his heart; that this depravity reveals itself with certainty in the natural and con tinuing action of his life; that Christ came to the world as a

Redeemer, uniting in Himself the human nature with the Divine; that He died on the cross to make atonement for humar transgression; that having then ascended into heaven He sent forth thence the Holy Spirit, to enlighten, convert, and purify men; that the Church on earth is simply the great invisible communion of those who believe, love, and obey, with reverent affection, this Son of God; and that beyond our present palpable sphere of being are realms of recompense, for evil and for good, into which each shall pass at death, and in which character, with the destiny involved, remains indelible? Is this, or any similar system not essentially divergent from this, the Christianity, concerning whose origin, and whose rightful authority, you would have us inquire?

I admit, of course, the propriety of the question, after one has come to a definite impression, or, better still, to a serious conclusion, that there is a system, whatever in the end that may show itself to be, which is presented in these ancient writings, and which has fair claim to be considered as having originated in a mind above man's, and in the will everlasting and Divine. But it is precisely that preceding question which I am to consider while, after an answer to that has been given, affirmative and decisive, it will be in order for each to consider, with the most sincere and intent application of his supreme faculty for the work, what is that system which composes "Christianity." The question before us does not forestall that. It simply leads toward it, and prepares the way for it. I may see that the earth has been builded by a Power invisible and supernal, though I do not yet know the interior secrets of its material or chemical constitution: what gulfs of fire are under its crust, or how it is balanced on other stars. One may lead another to the front of a palace, and make him aware that it was surely erected by a king, though he has not as yet seen the treasures within, of jewels, mosaics, pictures, marbles, and costly marquetry. So it is plainly and surely possible to have a conviction that that religion which lies in the writings that by common consent contain Christianity has come from God, and not from the genius or will of man, though we have not as yet developed for ourselves, and set in their relations, its constituting doctrines. It is