by himself?  Having fled from Christianity as a religion whose foundations are insecure, can he repose with confidence in the building which he himself has reared?  Or, if he moves at all, must he not gradually slide into universal scepticism, and conclude that, since he cannot believe in Jesus, he can believe in no one else,—­that if deceived by Him he may be deceived by all,—­that if there is no such Person as the Divine Son, there is no such Person as the Divine Father,—­that if he must be without Christ, he must necessarily be without God!

He may, indeed, in such a case, profess to believe in a God; but is He the living and true God, or one who is but the product of his own mind, the shadow cast by his own human spirit?  Oh! hear the words of Him who is truth itself:  “Ye believe in God, believe also in me;” “All things are delivered unto me of my Father:  and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him;” “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!” May the Lord’s last prayer be answered in us:  “Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:  as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

IV.

WHAT IF CHRISTIANITY IS NOT TRUE?

Now to prove the Christian religion untrue, or to prove that the evidences on which it rests are insufficient, is a more difficult task than some of its opponents appear to imagine, if we may judge from the boastful language in which they record their supposed achievements.

Let it never be forgotten, that the Christian religion is founded upon certain alleged historical facts that must be disposed of before it falls.[A] The holy temple of a loving soul filled with the glory of Christ is spiritual, but it is nevertheless based upon facts as on foundation-stones, the chief corner-stone being Jesus Christ the personal Saviour, “who was dead and is alive, and liveth for evermore!” Without these facts Christianity could not exist.  The duty, for example, of supremely loving and devotedly serving Jesus Christ, implies the truth of other facts, such as the fulfilment of prophecies, miracles, the life and character of Jesus, His atoning death, resurrection, &c., all of which establish His claims to our faith.  But in addition to these, and as their evidence also and result, there is the experience of the whole living Church, derived from faith in Jesus as the resurrection and the life.