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I. Even if the Christian faith were a product of the human mind, and were as tentative and doubtful as the opposite theories, belief would still be better than unbelief, more beneficial in its results, and therefore presumably nearer to the truth. The unbeliever often regrets the past days when he enjoyed peace in believing, and wishes that they could return. No upright believer has ever wished to disbelieve; the corrupt and vicious alone desire to be rid of their faith that they may be free from its restraints and reproaches. The thought of God, of His watchful Providence, His love, and the equity which will one day remedy all the wrongs of life, gives a strength and peacefulness such as unbelief and self-indulgence can never afford. Even the thought of God's rigorous holiness and His vengeance on sin is for our comfort, as restraining those irregular impulses which are prejudicial to worldly happiness and progress. So essential is religious belief to social order, that one has well said that, if there were no God, it would be necessary to invent the idea. Suppose, however, that there were no presumption in favour of belief over unbelief, and that each theory were equally uncertain, the believer exposes himself to no risk; if all things end at death he has suffered no harm; but if the unbeliever should prove to be wrong, what a fearful awakening it will be to discover that he is cut off forever from the perfect life which he obstinately rejected. Rejoice in your possession of the faith. Truly "happy is the people whose God is the Lord" (Ps. cxliii. 15).
II. The theory of human life proposed by faith is far better than the blank ignorance which is the only alternative. Man is forever speculating and seeking a solution of the tragical enigma of his destinies. Christianity supplies the only answer; it is complete, consistent and rational. It tells us of our origin and the purpose of our being, it gives us an object worth living for and suffering for, it explains (Page 159)
the great mystery of sin, the uses of evil, the means of neutralizing it, and it comforts us with the assurance that good will one day triumph. Christianity affirms the dignity and equality of all men as sons of God and objects of His love. It assures men of a future life, of the permanent results of their efforts, of their final perfection. If it humbles us by telling us we are fallen, it tells us also of the redemption that counterbalances the evil. The world needs anything that will add to its fleeting moments of happiness, that will rouse men to a sense of their dignity, and stimulate them to brave and noble action. There is no greater barbarity and cruelty than to rob mankind of such ideas; mere conjecture or doubt can never justify that course. Pray God to enlighten the victims of such calamitous unbelief.
III. One of the chief objects of our belief is Jesus Christ. Even if it were possible that the mind of man could have evolved such an ideal, that conception would still be the greatest intellectual and moral treasure of our race. To raise a hand against it would still be a treason and a sacrilege. The figure of Jesus is the only adequate manifestation to us of infinite goodness and beauty; it ennobles our conception of human nature; it has inspired directly or indirectly every step of progress, every activity of the human soul, every work of beneficence, every branch of art. The most perfect among men, the most useful and venerable lives, are those which have been modelled after Christ. The thought of Him is the illumination of the death-bed. How much poorer would the world have been, even on the natural level, if it had been deprived of this ideal? Apart from all consideration of the supernatural, which is the nobler and more useful system, that which has proposed such a model of perfection or that which blasphemes against it? If you would promote the cause of good against evil in the world, strive first to love and serve Jesus, and then to make Him known.
Meditations on Christian Dogma,
Right Rev. James Bellord, D. D.,
The Newman Press, 1961
