72 
study of philosophy ; and even then I am afraid that the view 
to he attained was a very hazy one. What could come from 
the contemplation of the avro ayaOov ? In the form in which 
it was conceived of by him, it was a pure intellectualism, in- 
capable of being presented to the mind in an objective form. 
I cannot understand how he conceived it possible that man 
could get a glimpse of it as long as he continued subject to 
bodily conditions. It was to be found nowhere in the gene- 
rated or sensible world. It existed only in that of ideas 
beyond' the boundaries of time and space in the regions of 
eternal truth. Wherever they were situated, or how they were 
to be scaled, the philosopher either did not teach, or, if he 
did, it will take us long years before we shall be able to 
understand his method of arriving at it. Still, however, we 
have gained a most important point. The general principle 
of Christianity was admitted and seen in dim vision by 
philosophy. 
56. What philosophers sighed after Christianity has accom- 
plished. What Plato aspired after as the privilege of the 
choicest of human spirits, Christianity has made the posses- 
sion of universal man. The philosophers talked of con- 
templating the amo ayaOov, or the idea of good, through a 
remote participation in which the imperfectly good things 
which are in the world possess their goodness. This ideal 
was banished to a lofty world of oixuai, where corruption or 
genei’ation entered not. Christianity presented J esus to man- 
kind, a living entity on the theatre of human life. He is its 
avro ayaOov , fitted to be contemplated by every member of 
the human family ; and an overwhelming majority of the 
wisest of mankind have been unanimously of opinion that the 
essence of perfect goodness shines brightly in his person. In 
him the philosophic avro ayaOov has become a reality in the 
sphere of the changeable and the corruptible ; the objective 
embodiment of the highest idea of goodness ; the goodness 
which can be conceived of as belonging to God, and that 
which can be imaged as belonging to man. So far, then, I 
contend that Christianity, as a moral and spiritual revelation, 
is in accordance with the soundest principles of philosophy. 
But it transcends them. It is the filling up full, of that of 
which the highest philosophy only saw the most feeble and 
most unsubstantial outline. 
57. It will, perhaps, be objected that this reasoning pre- 
supposes that the moral and spiritual powers of* man are able 
to form a conception of the ideal of goodness ; and therefore 
that any discovery of it from any external source, such as a 
revelation, is unnecessary. If the mind can recognize the 
