'Wheresoever Christianity has breathed it has accelerated the movement
of humanity. It has quickened the pulses of life, it has stimulated
the incentives of thought, it has turned the passions into peace, it
has warmed the heart into brotherhood, it has fanned the imagination
into genius, it has freshened the soul into purity. The progress of
Christian Europe has been the progress of mind over matter. It has
been the progress of intellect over force, of political right over
arbitrary power, of human liberty over the chains of slavery, of moral
law over social corruption, of order over anarchy, of enlightenment
over ignorance, of life over death. As we survey this spectacle of the
past, we are impressed that this study of history is the strongest
evidence for God. We hear no argument from design but we feel the
breath of the Designer. We see the universal life moulding the
individual lives, the one Will dominating many wills, the Infinite
Wisdom utilising the finite folly, the changeless truth permeating the
restless error, the boundless beneficence bringing blessing out of
all.... And what shall we say of the future? ... Ours is a position in
some respects analogous to that of the mediaeval world: the landmarks
of the past are fading, the lights in the future are but dimly seen.
Yet it is the study of the landmarks that helps us to wait for the
light, and our highest hope is born of memory. In the view {225} of
that retrospect, we cannot long despair. We may have moments of
heart-sickness when we look exclusively at the present hour: we may
have times of despondency when we measure only what the eye can see.
But looking on the accumulated results of bygone ages as they lie open
to the gaze of history, the scientific conclusion at which we must
arrive is this, that the course of Christianity shall be, or has been,
the path of a shining light, shining more and more unto the perfect
day.'--G. MATHESON, _Growth of the Spirit of Christianity_ (chap,
xxxviii., 'Dawn of a New Day').
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