t, so also the Father exists only through the Son, and the Son
through the Father, and in this sense Jesus feels and declares himself the
Son of God, and all men who believe in him his brethren. This revelation
or inspiration came to mankind through Jesus. No one knew the Father
except the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and those to whom the
Son willeth to reveal him. This is the Christian revelation in the true
sense of the word. It has long been attempted to make an essential
difference between Jesus, the only begotten Son, and his brethren, through
an exaggerated feeling of affected reverence. But if this is carried too
far, the temple which Jesus himself erected for mankind is destroyed. It
is true that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus, and that
Jesus is the only begotten Son, for he is in the Father and the Father in
him (John xiv. 10), nay, he and the Father are one (John x. 30). The
distinction is therefore there, but the unity as well, for Jesus himself
says that he is in his disciples as the Father is in him, that they all
may be one, as he is one with God, and God with him (John xvii. 21). To
many there may be no sense in this, because their ideas of God and of the
Son of God are altogether materialistic, but to those who have learned to
feel the divine, not only without but also within, these words are the
light of the world. In this sense we need not be ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, and can be prepared to look all the Horseherds of the world in the
face as intellectually free, yet at the same time as true Christians, in
the way Jesus himself would have desired; often in error, like the
disciples of old, but still loyal and honest followers of the Son of God.

The main issue in all these questions is honesty, honesty toward ourselves
even more than toward others. We know how easily we may all be deceived,
how easily we are put off with words, especially when they are words of
ancient use. It was the sincere tone of the Horseherd that prompted me to
public discussion of his doubts, for doubts are generally anticipations of
truth, and to be true to oneself is better than to possess all truth. It
gave me pleasure to learn recently that he is still among the living,
although for an interval he was beyond the range of the usual postal
facilities, so that my letters did not reach him. Whether he thinks me as
honest as himself, we must wait to know. I did not seek either to persuade
or to co