ute one
who tells us that he cannot see and cannot understand, though we may
lament and be astonished at his disabilities. Why a man upon the rack
should not be loved, or why the prime qualification for the Saviour of
mankind should be the plentiful possession of petty weaknesses, or why
it should be necessary for Him to be sometimes foolish and to have a
bad memory, or what necessary connection there is between hot-ears and
the salvation of the world, need not detain us long. For in spite of
this apparently curious longing for a Deliverer who shall be weak and
vain {192} and forgetful and hot-eared, and foolish, and of the earth
earthy, Mr. Wells shows us that the urgent outcry of his soul is for a
Being limitless in power and virtue and one's very brother; and though
he says that he does not find such a Being in Christ, it is exactly
what Christians have in all ages been finding. 'We have not an High
Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us
therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in times of need.'

III

The instance which we have cited is exceptional among modern doubters,
among those who have deliberately set themselves without violent
prejudice to study the claims of Christianity. Be it in poetry or
prose, in scientific criticism or in imaginative {193} biography, with
remarkable unanimity, while stubbornly refusing to accept the Creed of
the Church, they so depict Him that the natural conclusion of their
representation is, 'Oh, come let us adore Him.' There is scarcely any
of them who would not sympathise with the admission and aspiration of
B. Wimmer in his confession, _My Struggle for Light_: 'I cannot but
love this unique Child of God with all the fervour of my soul, I cannot
but lift up eyes full of reverence and rapture to this Personality in
whom the highest and most sacred virtues which can move the heart of
man shine forth in spotless purity throughout the ages. Even if many a
trait in His portrait, as the Gospels sketch it for us, be more
legendary than historical, yet I feel that here a man stands before me,
a man who really lived and has a place in history like that of no other
man: indeed I feel that even the legends concerning Him possess a truth
in that they spring from the {194} Spirit which passed from Him into
His Church. I know what I