NATURAL VERSUS SUPERNATURAL 67 



of the ethics of Christianity, — of charity, of mercy, 

 of justice, of gentleness, of purity, or righteousness, 

 or of what the world has in all ages taught to he 

 highest and hest, — we can understand him ; he 

 speaks. the language of truth and soberness. When 

 he says with Marcus Aurelius, that there is but one 

 thing of real value, — " to cultivate truth and justice, 

 and live without anger in the midst of lying and 

 unjust men ; " or when he says with Peregrinus, 

 that " the wise man will not sin, though both gods 

 and men should overlook the deed, for it is not 

 through the fear of punishment or of shame that he 

 abstains from sin : it is from the desire and obliga- 

 tion of what is just and good ; " or when he says 

 with Micah, "And what doth the Lord require of 

 thee but to do justly and to love mercy, and to 

 walk humbly with thy God ? " or when he says 

 with Solomon that " the fear of the Lord is to hate 

 evil ; " or with Jeremiah, " He judged the cause of 

 the poor and needy — was not this to know me ? 

 saith the Lord ; " or when he says with St. James, 

 "Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the 

 Pather, is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in 

 their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from 

 the world," he gives utterance to sentiments that 

 appeal to the best there is in every man, and that 

 agree with the highest wisdom of all ages and races. 

 Science can understand it and verity it. 



But when he talks to us about Jesus in the lan- 

 guage of the evangelical churches, — about the atone- 

 ment, original sin, sanctification, saving grace, etc., 



