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CHAPTER FIRST.

The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." [David. Ps. xii. 5.]

Christianity, alone of all the religions, seems to be such a religion as the Creator would give to man.

In the preceding book, we have found that there is a great First Cause of all things; that this First Cause is a personal intelligence ;-a being of all-power, all-knowledge, and all-goodness.

We may say then, that we should expect that this God would reveal himself to the men whom he has created. We should expect that a God who created man with a desire for children, friends, society, food, knowledge, beauty and many other things, and who also created and arranged all these several things to satisfy man's desires; and who also put in every man's bosom a monitor telling him not to do wrong and telling him to do right; we should expect, I say, that this God would love man whom he has created, and when man falls into sin, and is in great trouble and despair, we should expect that God would reveal himself in some way to man and show him a way to escape from sin, and that he would help him to do this in the best way.

We should expect this from a God of infinite power, wisdom and love; having the power and wisdom needed to help man, he would not be a God of love, if he did not exercise his power and wisdom to help him.

Hence we may take as the first proof that Christianity is the true religion and from God; the fact of its radical difference from all other religions. We shall consider here, those points of difference which mark Christianity as the religion we should expect the Creator to give man. We cannot reason how God would reveal himself to man or how he would provide a way for man to escape from sin and its punishment; but we can expect the following things in

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CHRISTIANITY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER RELIGIONS.

regard to such a revelation.

1. That it would come from God, as a direct revelation, and not be thought out by man.

2. That it would be given to man from the beginning; that God would not wait many hundreds, or thousands of years before he revealed himself to suffering, sinful man; but that he would reveal himself to man as soon as he needed him.

3. That it would be worthy of God; that it would appear to be a revelation, such as a being of infinite power, wisdom and love would make, or in other words, that God's wisdom, power and love were all engaged in trying to help man.

4. That it would be adapted to man's nature; that it would be such a way of help as the Creator of man's nature would devise, and so in harmony with man's nature; and moreover, that it would fully satisfy all man's needs; for help, for pardon, for peace, and for his hopes of a future life.

5. That some knowledge of these revelations, or a record of them would be found among men in the world, and also a system of religion, purporting to be revealed to man by this Creator.

Hence we may say that if we find among the many religions in the world, one which purports to have been given to man by this Creator, and which satisfies all the conditions and expectations mentioned above, we ought to carefully examine it, and if true, to follow it. Just so, if we find in the world a revelation which purports to have been given to man by the Creator we ought to examine it carefully and see if it is not the true revelation from the true God. we admit there is a God, then we ought to expect to find a revelation from this God to man, and a true religion in the world. Instead of doubting if there is one, and beginning the search with minds prejudiced against the fact of there being one, we ought to begin the search expecting to find one, and surprised if we do not find one.

If

Coming now to the comparison of Christianity with the other systems of religion, we remark, 1. That Christianity, alone of all the religions, purports to have come from God. Mohammedanism is an apparent exception, but Mahomet founded his religion upon the Bible; it is but a perverted offshoot of Christianity, as is Mormonism.

The Christian religion had its origin in the love of God. It is all expressed in the 16th verse of the third chapter of John, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only

EARLY ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY.

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begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life." God loved erring, sinful man enough so that he made revelations to him and even came down to earth in person, became man, and suffered and died in his stead to save him; Christianity differs from all other religions in this; they all have their origin in man ; Christianity, alone, has its origin in God and from his love.

We remark 2.--that Christianity, alone, had its origin from the very beginning of man's need, the beginning of the race. As soon as man sins and needs a Savior, we see God graciously appearing and promising a Savior and revealing to man the way of salvation. The gradual revelation of God and of the way of salvation, as recorded in the old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi, is just such as we should naturally expect. It is all preparatory to the more perfect revelation, and yet it provided a present salvation through the promised Savior yet to come.

Although we may believe that man was created with a full grown body, and that the powers of his mind were complete, yet in knowledge the first men were infants. Language, science of all kinds, including the science of God and of the soul,-all spiritual knowledge, was in its infancy; and this latter knowledge was in its childhood for thousands of years. The true science of God and all spiritual science is only blossoming into its manhood now, after six or seven thousand years.

Notwithstanding thousands of years of training, which the race had had; and, especially, two thousand years of special culture which the Jews had, as God's chosen people, Christ's own disciples could not grasp the spiritual meaning of his teachings. He was compelled to enclose his choicest spiritual truths in parables which should preserve them to men of after ages, who in the gathered light of the spiritual lore of the ages, should comprehend their true meaning. If our Savior had come down to this world sooner, his mission of mercy would have been nearly lost upon the world. There was needed the development of language, and the development of an idea of spiritual truth among men, in order that the mission, the teachings, the life and the death of the Savior might be apprehended and remembered. There was also need to accumulate evidence during thousands of years, so that when the Savior came, it could be shown that he was indeed the long promised Savior, in very truth the Son of God. There was need to accumulate evidence of this as clear as the blazing sun at noonday; with

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PREPARATION FOR CHRIST'S COMING.

out this, mankind would not receive their divine Redeemer. This preparation for the coming of Christ was the object of all the history, prophecy and symbol which are recorded in the old Testament. The convulsions of the ancient nations, every law, every type and symbol and every prophecy recorded in the old Testament points to Christ, either as a preparation for his coming, or as a preparation of men to grasp the great truths of God's holiness and character; either as prophetic of Christ, or as evidence that he was in very truth the divine Redeemer.

Noah,-one just family,--was saved by the flood; see 1-Pet. iii. 20. Had not the wicked race of man been destroyed at that time, God would soon have been entirely forgotten among men, and he could not have wisely saved a righteous seed in the earth, from whom the promised Savior could have been born. With the same end in view, Abraham, two thousand years before Christ, was called to leave his country and his kindred, who were already beginning to worship idols,see Josh. xxiv. 2,—and go and live in a strange land, where he would not be so strongly tempted to worship idols.

Again, Jacob and his children were placed for hundreds of years in Egypt, among a strange people, whose language they did not know, and then brought out again with signs and wonders, having before them, during forty years, the visible emblems of God's presence night and day, receiving from the hand and mouth of Jehovah on the quaking mount of Sinai, a code of laws which they were to follow for 1500 years, including a varied symbolical worship, in which they they had enacted before their eyes every day the type of Christ's atoning sacrifice; while once each year, on the great feast day, the whole nation were commanded to assemble in and around the temple, and each family killed and offered up before God, the symbol of the Savior whom they were taught to expect. 1-Cor. v. 7.

Then, at the appointed time, the one which had been foretold, the promised Savior came, fulfilling all the types of the old Testament, giving the perfect system of truth which has been taught in his name ever since, and becoming by his sufferings and death the perfect Savior which men need.

We find thus, as we look into the Bible, that the religion of Christ dates back to the beginning of the race; that through the first thousands of years there was the symbolical religion pointing forward to Christ, and then Christ

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