The Claim that Christianity is the only True Religion—­The Peculiar Tendencies of Modern Times to Deny this Supremacy and Monopoly—­It is not Enough in Such Times to Simply Ignore the Challenge—­The Unique Claim must be Defended—­First:  Christianity is Differentiated from all Other Religions by the Fact of a Divine Sacrifice for Sin—­Mohammedanism, though Founded on a Belief in the True God and Partly on the Old Testament Teachings, Offers no Saviour—­No Idea of Fatherhood is Found in any Non-Christian Faith—­The Gloom of Buddhism and the Terror of Savage Tribes—­Hinduism a System of Self-Help Merely—­The Recognized Grandeur of the Principle of Self-Sacrifice as Reflected from Christ—­Augustine Found a Way of Life only in His Divine Sacrifice—­Second:  No Other Faith than Christianity is Made Effectual by the Power of a Divine and Omnipotent Spirit—­The Well-Attested Fact of Radical Transformations of Character—­Other Systems have Made Converts only by Warlike Conquest or by Such Motives as might Appeal to the Natural Heart—­Christianity Rises above all Other Systems in the Divine Personality of Christ—­The Contrast in this Respect between Him and the Authors of the Non-Christian Systems—­His Attractions and His Power Acknowledged by all Classes of Men—­The Inferiority of Socrates as Compared with Christ—­Bushnell’s Tribute to the Perfection of this Divine Personality—­Its Power Attested in the Life of Paul—­The Adaptation of Christianity to all the Circumstances and Conditions of Life—­Abraham and the Vedic Patriarchs, Moses and Manu, David’s Joy and Gratitude, and the Gloom of Hindu or Buddhist Philosophy—­Only Christianity Brings Man to True Penitence and Humility—­The Recognized Beauty and the Convincing Lesson of the Prodigal Son—­The Contrast between Mohammed’s Blasphemous Suras, which Justify his Lust, and the Deep Contrition of David in the Fifty-first Psalm—­The Moral Purity of the Old and New Testaments as Contrasted with all Other Sacred Books—­The Scriptures Pure though Written in Ages of Corruption and Surrounded by Immoral Influences—­Christ Belongs to no Land or Age—­The Gospel Alone is Adapted to all Races and all Time as the Universal Religion of Mankind—­Only Christianity Recognizes the True Relation between Divine Help and Human Effort—­It Encourages by Omnipotent Co-operation—­The All-Comprehensive Presentation of the Gospel.

APPENDIX 381

ORIENTAL RELIGIONS AND CHRISTIANITY

Lecture I.

THE NEED OF UNDERSTANDING THE FALSE RELIGIONS