74 
truth. Light bursts on the mind. It bows before its all- com- 
manding power. It awakens corresponding sympathies in our 
spirituaf being. We discern that our former course of ac j ;1 ^ 11 
was wrong. Our feeling of responsibility is intensified by 
all the forces of religion being brought to bear on it. Our 
reason contemplates the relationship in which man stands to 
his Creator. It becomes a conviction. Corresponding emo- 
tions are generated in the mind. It contemplates our re a- 
tionship to God in Christ. The profoundest emotions are 
generated in the soul. It bows before the image of perfect 
goodness. At length, in the intensity of conviction, he .be- 
comes the centre around which its affections turn. Such aie 
the moral forces employed by Christianity. 
61. The case stands thus. Our Lord said, “ Sanctity them 
through thy truth.” Philosophy teaches that the only way 
in which man can be made better is by creating in the mm 
a firm conviction in conformity with that which is always true. 
Philosophy produced few deep convictions. Christianity has 
generated profound ones. Philosophy sighed after an ideal of 
goodness, but could not create one. Christianity portrayed 
a Christ, and exhibited on the sphere of life one who stands 
in solitary grandeur, to whom no subsequent speculation has 
produced a fellow. Philosophy spent itself on speculations in 
the schools. Christianity nerved the missionary's arm and 
sent him into the world. Philosophy looked on the multitude 
with contempt. Christianity expended on them the resources 
of her spiritual power. Philosophy placed all her hopes o 
acting on man for good in the acquisition of a coercive powei , 
but no state would entrust her with the power of legislation. 
Christianity has not only penetrated to the depth of m 1 - 
vidual being, but has created a spiritual State, the Christian 
Church. Philosophy gathered around her a select few. Chris- 
tianity has influenced the destinies of man. The whole course 
of history has been modified by her influences. To all these 
her acts, philosophy, when she tests the deep springs of human 
actions, affixes the stamp of her approbation, though she was 
unable to discover them. The investigation of her principles 
proves that Christianity has produced the antitype of what 
philosophy saw in type. Is this the work of fishermen and 
peasants ?* . 
62. But let us suppose that a man is fallen into such a state 
that when a moral or spiritual idea is introduced into, the 
mind, no corresponding force is kindled in the affections. 
* The state of the question as between all previous human thought and 
Christianity is fully discussed in “ The Jesus of the Evangelists. 
