religious consciousness Christianity is unquestionably the highest
product.

When I wrote the preceding treatise [the _Candid Examination_], I did
not sufficiently appreciate the immense importance of _human_ nature, as
distinguished from physical nature, in any enquiry touching Theism. But
since then I have seriously studied anthropology (including the science
of comparative religions), psychology and metaphysics, with the result
of clearly seeing that human nature is the most important part of nature
as a whole whereby to investigate the theory of Theism. This I ought to
have anticipated on merely _a priori_ grounds, and no doubt should have
perceived, had I not been too much immersed in merely physical research.

Moreover, in those days, I took it for granted that Christianity was
played out, and never considered it at all as having any rational
bearing on the question of Theism. And, though this was doubtless
inexcusable, I still think that the rational standing of Christianity
has materially improved since then. For then it seemed that Christianity
was destined to succumb as a rational system before the double assault
of Darwin from without and the negative school of criticism from within.
Not only the book of organic nature, but likewise its own sacred
documents, seemed to be declaring against it. But now all this has been
very materially changed. We have all more or less grown to see that
Darwinism is like Copernicanism, &c., in this respect[59]; while the
outcome of the great textual battle[60] is impartially considered a
signal victory for Christianity. Prior to the new [Biblical] science,
there was really no rational basis in thoughtful minds, either for the
date of any one of the New Testament books, or, consequently, for the
historical truth of any one of the events narrated in them. Gospels,
Acts and Epistles were all alike shrouded in this uncertainty. Hence the