corroborating Christianity.

By all means let us retain our independence of judgement; but this is
pre-eminently a matter in which pure agnostics must abstain from
arrogance and consider the facts impartially as unquestionable phenomena
of experience.

Shortly after the death of Christ, this phenomenon which had been
foretold by Him occurred, and appears to have done so for the first
time. It has certainly continued to manifest itself ever since, and has
been attributed by professed historians to that particular moment in
time called Pentecost, producing much popular excitement and a large
number of Christian believers.

But, whether or not we accept this account, it is unquestionable that
the apostles were filled with faith in the person and office of their
Master, which is enough to justify His doctrine of regeneration.


_Conversions._

St. Augustine after thirty years of age, and other Fathers, bear
testimony to a sudden, enduring and extraordinary change in themselves,
called _conversion_[66].

Now this experience has been repeated and testified to by countless
millions of civilized men and women in all nations and all degrees of
culture. It signifies not whether the conversion be sudden or gradual,
though, as a psychological phenomenon, it is more remarkable when sudden
and there is no symptom of mental aberration otherwise. But even as a