The History of Christianity - John S. C. Abbott (bookstand for reading .txt) 📗

Here is food alike for all,—for the peasant, for the philosopher, for the dairyman’s untutored daughter, and for the profoundest philosopher who ever honored humanity by his intellectual achievements. Indeed, Christianity carries its own evidence. “If any man will do his will,” says Jesus, “he shall know of the doctrine.”221 And again: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.”222

It is true that any child can ask questions which no philosopher can answer. The infidel, be he never so weak in mind and shallow in attainments, can easily present difficulties which no philosopher can solve. The infidel is almost invariably a self-conceited man of “little learning.” To him the remark of Lord Bacon is applicable: “A little learning tendeth to unbelief; but more bringeth us back to religion.”

And what is this religion of Jesus, which is ever winning in such increasing numbers the homage of human hearts? What are those principles which have undermined and overthrown the proudest systems of ancient idolatry, and which seem to be now commanding the assent of every honest mind?

There is one God, existing as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He is the common Father of us all; and therefore we are bound to love and worship him. All men are brothers, of whatever race, color, or condition: as kind brothers, they should seek to promote each other’s welfare. All men have been and are sinners: they should therefore repent, implore forgiveness, and abandon every thing which an enlightened conscience teaches to be wrong. The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, assumed human nature, and, by his sufferings and death, made atonement for sin. Salvation is now freely offered to all who will accept that Saviour, and honestly and perseveringly endeavor to return to a holy life. God’s desire to save his rebellious children is so strong, that not only has he given his Son to die for us, but he has sent the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, on a special embassage to plead with us, that we may return to him. All who yield to these strivings of the Spirit, and, with penitence and faith, try to live as the Son of God by example and precept has taught us, will be received to heaven, and made eternally happy there, as if they had never sinned. All those who refuse and continue in rebellion will be forever excluded from heaven, and will be imprisoned with the Devil and his angels, where their wickedness will make them ever wretched, but where they can no longer mar the happiness of those who love and serve God.

Now, these are the fundamental principles of Christianity, as avowed in the creeds and confessions of the overwhelming majority of Christians, of all languages and every name, through all the centuries. How simple and how grand are these principles! It must be manifest to every candid mind, that in their acceptance is to be found the only hope of our lost world. It is manifest that each individual can here only hope for any permanent happiness in this life or in that which is to come. In this wilderness of time, in the midst of the storms with which we are driven and shattered here, there can be no repose for the soul but in the well-founded conviction that peace is made with God through penitence for sin, and the cordial acceptance of salvation through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

One fact is certain,—no man will deny it,—there have been hundreds and thousands, who, on a dying-bed, have mourned most bitterly, with anguish more dreadful than words can describe, that they have not lived in accordance with the teachings of Christianity. In that dread hour, gloom impenetrable has settled down upon the soul as the dying sinner has exclaimed, “The harvest is past; the summer is ended; and we are not saved.”223

Another fact is equally certain: there never was an individual, who, on a dying-bed, regretted that he had repented of sin, accepted Jesus as an atoning Saviour, confessed him before men, and that he had endeavored to live the life of the Christian. There cannot be found, in the history of the world, one single such case. On the contrary, there are millions—more than can be numbered—who have found, in the hour of death, that faith in Jesus has dispelled all gloom from the dying-chamber, and has inspired the departing soul with the most triumphant and rapturous joy. It is the Christian alone who can say with Paul, when upon the pillow of death,—

“I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”224