I did not myself see clearly at the time, that the adaptation of
Christianity to man's wants, to man's nature, and its tendency to
promote man's temporal as well as his spiritual welfare, was really a
proof of its divine origin. I saw that it was a valid answer to the
infidel objection that it was useless or mischievous; but not that it
was a decisive proof of its divinity. Hence though I employed it as a
refutation of infidel charges against Christianity, I never pressed it
further.
And though I got at length much larger views of the excellency of
Christianity than those presented by Soame Jenyns, I saw not half, I saw
not a tenth of its worth and glory. I saw not a tenth even of what I see
now. I now see there are no limits to the excellency of Christianity, or
to the power of the argument supplied by its glorious character, in
proof of its divinity.
And the worth and excellency of Christianity you can carry continually
in your mind. They present themselves whenever you open the Gospels, or
look at Jesus. They move you whenever you think of the happy effect
Christianity has had on your own hearts and lives. They come to your
minds whenever you look on the prevailing vices and miseries of society,
which result from a want of Christianity.
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