ndeed!

"Comfort? comfort scorn'd by devils! this is truth the poet sings,
That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things!"

But what can the unbeliever himself expect to gain by its destruction?
"I have nothing to do with consequences," may be his reply, "but with
truth only; let every lie be tested and exposed, whatever may be the
real or imaginary gain or loss to myself or others." Brave words! with
which we have the deepest sympathy; for if they are the utterance of
a truly sincere heart, they evidence belief, and not unbelief; they
assume that there is an order and government in the universe, which
is on the side of truth, and that we may therefore, at all hazards,
discover what is true, and cling to it in the full assurance of
faith,--that ultimately the right and true are in harmony with all
that is worth loving and worth living for. Amen! we say from
our heart. At the same time, it is well to look at some of the
consequences which the destruction of Christianity would involve even
to him who destroys it.

It is obvious, for example, that should it cease to exist to us as
a reality, other realities would remain irrespective of our belief.
Existence would remain, and it _may_ be one as eternal as the life of
God; sorrow and suffering would remain, to gnaw the heart, darken the
world, and cast deep shadows over a life which must end with that
dread event, death, and the passing away of ourselves and of all we
have from the memories of mankind as if we had never been--and whither
I Worst of all, _sin_ would remain--dark, mysterious, and terrible
sin! And "obstinate questionings" would remain to disturb and perplex
the mind in moments of earnest and silent thought. Men would still
ask, What if we are responsible to God for this whole inner and outer
life of ours, with its beliefs, purposes, and actions? What if sin
and its consequences continue beyond the grave, with no remedy there
unless found here? What if there is no possible happiness but in
fellowship of spirit and character with God; and what if this is
morally impossible for us to attain without a Saviour and Sanctifier
What, in short, if all the evils which Christianity professes to
deliver us from remain as facts in our history, just as diseases
remain though the aid of the physician, who reveals their nature, and
who offers to cure them, is rejected? or, as a vessel remains a wreck
in the midst of the breakers after the life-boat whic