Having determined what is the relative importance of these evidences, it will now be my duty to lay before you a sketch of the line of argument which the exigencies of modern thought require us to place in the front of the Christian position.

We have seen that the great difficulty with which the argument from miracles is attended is the intricacy of the proof by which it is necessary to establish their occurrence, and the doubts which have been suggested with respect to portions of that proof. The question therefore becomes of the highest importance, Is there any other species of evidence which will lead us to the same result by a less circuitous route? The whole course of modern thought has produced in the minds of men an urgent demand that our beliefs should be based on facts which admit of some species of verification; and a conviction that long processes of reasoning which are incapable of being submitted to such a test, are unreliable. This being so, the method which I propose to pursue in this inquiry is one in strict conformity with the principles of the inductive philosophy. I shall inquire, therefore, whether we can discover either in the history of the past or in the facts of the present anything in Christianity which manifests the action of a superhuman power; and whether it is possible for those facts connected with it, the truth of which is beyond dispute, to be accounted for as the mere result of the ordinary forces that energize in man.

I shall base my reasonings only on facts which are either verifiable in the history of the past, or of which we have present experience. In drawing inferences from them I shall assume such only to be valid as are in conformity with the realities of human nature and the past experience of history. This mode of inquiry is strictly analogous to that by which our discoveries in physical science have been effected. In fact it involves the application of the inductive method of investigation to the facts and phenomena of Christianity, a method which is strictly in conformity with

the requirements of modern thought. I shall therefore directly put the question, Do the known forces which energize in man give any rational account of the might with which Jesus Christ has energized in history? If not, it must be the manifestation of a superhuman power. If we can discern distinct manifestations of a superhuman power energizing in Christianity it will form a far more decisive proof of its being a divine revelation than the long and intricate argument from miracles.

My argument is founded on the principles of common sense. If Christianity is divine we ought to be able to discern in it the clear indications of the operation of a superhuman power. If Jesus Christ really was what the writings of St. John and St. Paul affirm Him to have been, surely we ought to be able to discover in Him the presence and action of forces different from those which operate in ordinary humanity. If He is the light of the world, that light must be visible to those who seek for it. If He is a living power energizing in the Church, its Governor and Head, indications must exist of that life and energy; or to put the same idea in other words, the action of Jesus Christ in history ought to have been different from that of all other men however great. If a divine attractiveness dwells within Him, He ought to manifest such a power of attracting the human heart as has been manifested by none other beside Him. If Jesus Christ was a manifestation of the divine on the sphere of the human, then His entire work and teaching ought to manifest a breadth and depth which has been possessed by no other man-one which is absolutely unique in fact His entire character, and not merely those actions which are commonly called miraculous, ought to be instinct with the presence of the divine.

The great question therefore for us to consider is, Are any such manifestations of the divine discoverable in connection with Jesus Christ? On these and similar points the evidence is of no doubtful character. Present facts, no less than the unquestionable testimony of history, prove

that He stands on an elevation which among the sons of men is solitary and alone. But if He be the one man who has no peer, His solitary greatness must be due to some cause different from those forces which have produced not only ordinary men, but all great men; for a unique effect must have a corresponding cause. If so, He must have been a manifestation of the superhuman.

My argument briefly stated will stand thus :-As an event manifesting purpose, for which the action of the forces of the Material Universe is insufficient to account, is a physical miracle, and proves the presence of a power different from those forces, so an event in the moral and spiritual worlds, for which the forces that energize in a man are insufficient to account, must be a moral miracle, and must prove the presence of a superhuman power. I claim on behalf of Jesus Christ, that His character and action in history constitute a manifestation of such a power, the presence of which admits of an actual verification in the history of the past and the facts of the present.

If it be objected to this line of reasoning, that we are not sufficiently acquainted with those forces that energize in man, and the laws of their action, to determine when an event is a moral miracle; and that man may possess within him a number of latent powers of which we have as yet no knowledge, my reply is, that our experience of them lies over an historical period of not less than three thousand years, during which they have had ample opportunity of manifesting themselves and proving what they can accomplish. If, therefore, Jesus Christ was the result of their activity, it is clear that during this long interval of time they must have produced other men at least approaching to His greatness.

Further, if I can establish the fact that Jesus Christ has acted on history with an energy which is absolutely unique, the proof of the miraculous actions attributed to Him in the Gospels will be rendered easy; for it would be far more improbable that such a person did not manifest a super

human power in the Material Universe, than that He performed the miracles in question. In other words, the à priori difficulties attending them will disappear, and their occurrence can be proved by the evidence which is valid to establish the ordinary facts of history.

Such is my argument. My inquiry therefore must be directed to ascertain the following points:-What is there in Christianity, and in its action on history, which distinguishes it from every other system which man has invented in the past or in the present? Is there anything in it which stands out absolutely unique? Surely, if Christianity contains a manifestation of the superhuman, this is where we ought to be able to discover unequivocal traces of its presence. To this question there is only one possible answer -that it stands out in marked contrast to every other human institution, in that its entire system, its inner life, and its sole principle of cohesion is based on the personal history of its Founder.

I ask your deep attention to this most remarkable fact. The inner life of Christianity, as I have shown, consists not in a body of moral precepts, or of dogmas, or in a ritual, or a system of philosophy, but in a personal history. To this the entire history of man presents nothing parallel. Take a careful survey of its wide range. He has originated religions without number; and every form of political and social institution; but the inner life of not one of them is based on the personal history of its founder. Not to speak of others of inferior importance, three great religions, exclusive of Christianity, now existing in the world, viz. Brahminism, Buddhism, and Mahomedanism, probably number among their votaries between seven and eight hundred millions of the human family. Two of these have known founders, whose memory is held in deep reverence by their votaries. Yet the essential principle of each consists in a body of dogmatic teaching, and not in a personal history. As systems of religion, the personal history of their founders might be removed out of them, and yet leave their fundamental prin

ciples intact. The same is true of every other religion which has existed in the past, or still exists in the present. But to take away the person of the Founder of Christianity out of His religion would be its destruction. Its doctrines and its precepts would lose all cohesion: the key-stone would be removed from its arch, and its whole superstructure would collapse.

If we take a survey of all the various philosophical systems and political and social institutions that have ever existed, we shall arrive at the same result. Individuals may have founded them; but that is all. Their vitality and cohesion have never been based on their own personal histories. A common agreement in a number of dogmatic statements has formed the bond of union among all the philosophic sects which have ever existed in the ancient or the modern world. The last thing which would have occurred to the leaders of ancient thought would have been to found their systems on their own persons. So it has been with every political and social institution. A common end or purpose, not a personal history, has constituted the principle of their inner life.

But further, although Christianity has set the example of basing itself as a religion, and the Church as a society, on a personal history, it has never yet found a successful imitator. A vast number of sects have sprung up within the Church, but the bond which has imparted to them unity and vitality, has been a doctrinal one, and never the events of an historic life. Here then we are in the presence of a fact which is absolutely unique in the history of man.

It is needless to attempt to prove that the supreme attractiveness of the person of the Founder of Christianity has imparted to the Church the whole of its vitality. To this fact all history bears witness. Nor is its testimony less certain that of all the influences that have been exerted in this earth, that of Jesus has been the most potent. Enumerate all the great men who have ever existed, whether kings, conquerors, statesmen, patriots, poets,