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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 are the people whose God is the Lord" (Ps. cxliii. 15).
