be one
of the most powerful elements of its permanence." (Vol. ii. p. 487.)

It is quite clear from this testimony of an enemy to the Christian
religion, as it appears in the Scriptures, that if the Supreme Moral
Governor had desired to give to man a revelation of the principles and
sanctions of His moral government, He could not have chosen a more
fitting instrument. Such a character seems to have been made for the
purpose. If He has not revealed God, no one has.

Now, who is this Man Whose figure stands thus prominent above His
fellows?

We believe Him to be our Redeemer; but before He redeemed, He laid down
the necessity of Redemption by making known to men the true nature of
sin and righteousness, and the most just and inevitable Judgment of God.
He revealed to us that there is One above us Who is to the whole race,
and to every individual of the race, what our consciences are to
ourselves--a Judge pronouncing a perfect judgment, because He perfectly
knows the character of each man, perfectly observes and remembers his
conduct, and, moreover, will mete out to each one a just and perfect
retribution.

But still, how are we to know that He has authority to reveal to us such
a thing as that God will judge the race and each member of it by a just
judgment? Natural laws reveal to us no such judgment. Nature teaches us
that if we transgress certain natural laws we shall be punished. But it
teaches no certain judgement either in this life or in any future life
which will overtake the transgression of moral laws. A man may defraud,
oppress, and seduce, and yet live a prosperous life, and die a quiet,
painless death.

How, then, are we to know that Jesus of Nazareth had authority to reveal
that God will set all this right in a future state, and that He Himself
will be the direct Agent in bringing the rectification about? How are we
to know that what He says is true respecting a matter of such deep
concern to ourselves, and yet so utterly unknown to mere physical
nature, and so out of the reach of its powers? What proof have we of His
Revelation, or that it is a Revelation? The answer is, that as what He
revealed is above mere physical nature, so He attested it by the
exhibition of power above physical nature--the exhibition of the direct
power of God. He used miracles for this purpose; more particularly He
staked the truth of His whole message on the miracle of His own
Resurrection. [155:1] The Resurrection was to be