1870] CHRISTIANITY AND SUPERNATURAL 113 



We come then to this conclusion. So far as our belief 

 in the postulates of Christianity is based on mere 

 phenomenal probabilities, it contains no moral element, 

 and does not justify an apologetic. So far as it resolves 

 itself into a belief in a person or persons there is a moral 

 element involved ; but we should not despair of gaining 

 an objective criterion of the truth of our beliefs. There 

 is no reason why here, as elsewhere, men should not come 

 at length to a consistent judgment as to how far this 

 personal faith is justifiable. Whatever, on the other 

 hand, lies beyond the limits of those personal relations on 

 which Christianity rests is not a subject for apologetic 

 treatment but for impartial criticism. 



It is not difficult to see the practical bearing of 

 these somewhat abstract arguments. What makes our 

 Christianity precious to us is that it is essentially a real 

 fellowship between God and man mediated through 

 Jesus Christ as our Redeemer from sin. It is a personal 

 relation to Christ and to God in Christ that we seek in 

 Christianity, and it is the reality of this relationship that 

 we are concerned to maintain with all the energy we may 

 against all who deny it. 



Here for the first time we come in proper contact with 

 the subject indicated in the title of this essay. 



For such a fellowship with God as Christianity con 

 templates is necessarily supernatural. To say that no 

 such fellowship naturally subsists between God and 

 man is no more than to say that mankind is sunk in sin 

 and misery a fact that lies patent to all observation 

 and in no sense is a specifically Christian doctrine. But 

 what Christianity does assert is that there is no remedy 

 for misery where there is no redemption from sin, and 

 the hope that Christianity holds out for the world is 

 the hope of entering into new and deeper personal relations 

 with God. The universe of man is not and never can be 

 self-contained. God must come down into the world 

 and appear working among men, loving man and loved 



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