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Rev. J. Kennedy, M.A., D.D.— Dr. Irons has said with great truth, that 
any criticisms made on this admirable paper must be rather in the way of 
supplement than in the way of correction or of opposition. It struck me 
as I heard the paper read, that a great deal of it would be admitted by those 
who deny the supernatural origin and character of Christianity— those, in 
fhct, who deny the very essence of our faith ; but if they do make these 
admissions, we have a right to ask of them that they will explain the 
acknowledged superiority of Christianity. How comes it to pass that Chris- 
tianity has wrought, and seems capable still of working moral changes in the 
world which no other system has worked, or seems capable of working ? 
How comes it to pass that the character of our Lord has so transcended 
the character of all other professed reformers or teachers, as is admitted 
by the opponents of the Christian faith ? I do not think they can give 
a sufficient answer to this question. In order to find an answer, we must 
ask wherein consists the moral power of Christianity? That it has a 
wonderful power, and that it has produced great changes and effects is in- 
disputable ; but wherein consists its moral power ? Is it to be found simply 
in the beautiful moral character of its Founder, or in the beautiful moral 
precepts of its Founder ? We are prepared to say that it is not in these ; 
and here I think we should take our stand, and say— “ It is not enough for 
you to admit that certain practical effects have been produced by Chris- 
tianity ; you must find the root and source of those practical effects.” When 
we ask this question, we, as Christian teachers, are prepared to show, that 
from the very beginning Christianity was the supernatural thing, if I may 
use the expression, which it is to-day ; and that that supernatural element 
was not something superinduced upon an earlier and simpler faith, but was 
the very essence of the earliest form of Christianity. Then we may proceed 
to show that it is in its wonderful Essence that its real moral power consists, 
and that no other sufficient and adequate explanation of that moral power 
can be found. When I speak of that wonderful Essence, I refer to the per- 
son of our Lord, as the Son of God, to His character as a Mediator and a 
Saviour m the work of redemption, and to the Holy Ghost, to which we 
as Christians ascribe the great influence which has been exerted in the world 
by the Christian faith. I know how imperfectly I state the matter, but 
I have at all events indicated where I think we ought to take our stand. 
Then I am not quite sure that the learned Professor sufficiently meets the 
objection raised by Mr. Greg. His answer is a figure, and figures in matters 
of logic are not good weapons : they are capable of different interpretations, 
and they convey different ideas to different persons. Professor Lias says— 
• ^ r ‘ ^ as “i s * aken the scum on the surface for the stream — deep, 
rapid, and pure— which runs beneath. He has forgotten that the leaven at 
first works below, and that it invariably comes to the top last of all.” 
But I confess that I do net exactly know what the Professor means by that 
