ome Deists have refused to believe so hard a thing as this.

Yet I am asked to believe, in addition to this, that he, Christ, "has
become," as Renan says, "the corner-stone of humanity so entirely, that
to tear his name from the world would be to rend it to its foundations."
I am asked, also, to believe, with Renan, the prince of Deists, that,
"Whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus will never be
surpassed. His worship will grow young without ceasing; his legend will
call forth tears without end; his sufferings will melt the noblest
hearts; all ages will proclaim that among the sons of men there is none
born greater than Jesus." I am asked, with this same Renan, to "place
the person of Jesus on the highest summit of human grandeur." Is it not
hard to believe all this about Jesus, and at the same time believe that
he gave to the world a false religion? Truly there are many things hard
to believe--"_I can't see them!_"

I can not believe that "the passion of an hallucinated woman gave to the
world a resurrected God." I can not believe that his legend was the
fruit of a great, altogether spontaneous conspiracy. A conspiracy
implies conspirators; and I can not believe that the apostles were such
outrageous fools as to make a conspiracy, and work so zealously in it,
and cling so firmly to it, when it promised nothing but stripes,
imprisonments, hunger, nakedness, and death. Neither can I believe that
these unlearned Galilean fishermen had the ability in themselves to
concoct a conspiracy that would, and did, deceive nearly the whole
civilized world. Nor can I believe that an ignorant, deluded Nazarene
founded a religion that has held the attention of the thoughtful of all
ages. He that refuses to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, along with
the claims of the Bible, has many more and greater difficulties in
accounting for the existence of Christianity. It is here, and its
existence is the greatest miracle man has ever witnessed. To deny its
divinity only increases its wonderfulness. We can not have an effect
without an adequate cause. It is hard to believe that humanity is an
adequate cause of Christianity. For eighteen centuries it has been
living and acting; persecuted by enemies without, and torn and betrayed
by enemies within; oppressed by government, and corrupted by Popes and
priests; shorn of its grandeur and glory by paganism; its spirituality
crippled by stripes and animosities; its fervid love and deep