d if by chance they are
sincere Christians as well as able men, let us rejoice; if they are not
professing Christians at all and yet bear witness to the beneficial
influence of Christianity and the unique power of the words and
character of Christ, let us hail with {178} pleasure their tribute of
admiration as a testimony impartial and unanswerable to the
pre-eminence of our Lord, but let not our faith in God, our knowledge
of our Saviour, be dependent on their verdict. The Faith of the Gospel
does not stand or fall with their approval or disapproval. In matters
of criticism we do well to defer to scholars, in matters of science we
do well to defer to men of science. But in matters pertaining to the
inner life, to the development of character, to the knowledge of things
pure and lovely and of good report, such men have no exclusive claim to
be listened to. And it would be absurd to say that we cannot make up
our minds as to whether Christ is worthy to be revered and loved and
followed until we have ascertained what is said about Him by
authorities in physics, or geology, or astronomy, by statesmen or
novelists or writers of magazine articles, by inventors of ingenious
machines or authors of {179} sensational stories. If they speak
scoffingly, if they do not recognise any sacredness in His Spirit and
Life, it will be impossible for us to take Him as our Moral and
Spiritual Guide.

We might almost as well say that we will not trust the truthfulness or
goodness of our father or mother or brother or friend of many years,
unless, from persons eminent in literature or science or politics, we
have testimonials assuring us that our affection for those with whom we
are so closely associated is not a delusion. That is a matter, we
should all feel, with which the great and distinguished, however justly
great and distinguished, have really nothing to do. It is a matter for
ourselves, a matter in which our own experience is worth more than the
verdict of people, however learned in their own line, who do not, and
cannot, know the friend or relative as we know him ourselves. Still,
we regard it as an additional {180} compliment to his worth, and an
additional confirmation of our own faith, if those who have been
jealously scrutinising his conduct declare that they can find no fault
in him.[3]

If it is made plain that the positive teaching of men unconnected with
any Church, untrammelled by any creed, is a virtual assertion