will not and cannot meet. That is demonstration. A fever patient when
in a state of delirium, and a frightened child in the dark, see
things. We do not deny that they do, but their testimony does not
prove that the things they see are real.

"What is this I see before me?" cries Macbeth, the murderer, and he
shrieks and shakes from head to foot--he draws his sword and rushes
upon Banquo's ghost, which he sees coldly staring at him. But is that
any proof that what he saw we could see also? Yes, we could, if we
were in the same frenzy! And it is the revivalist's aim, by creating a
general excitement, to make everybody _see things_. "Doctor, Doctor,
help! they are coming to kill me; there they are--the assassins,--one,
two, three--oh, help," and the patient jumps out of bed to escape the
banditti crowding in upon him. But is that any reason why the
attending physician, his pulse normal and his brow cool, should
believe that the room is filling up with assassins? I observe people
jump up and down, as they do in holiness meetings; I hear them say
they see angels, they see Jesus, they feel his presence. But is that
any evidence for you or me? An intuitive argument is not communicable,
and, therefore, it is no argument at all.

Our orthodox friends are finally driven by modern thought, which is
growing bolder every day, to the only refuge left for them. It is the
one already mentioned. Granted that Jesus was an imaginary character,
even then, as an ideal, they argue, he is an inspiration, and the most
effective moral force the world has ever known. We do not care, they
say, whether the story of his birth, trial, death, and resurrection is
myth or actual history; such a man as Jesus may never have existed,
the things he is reported as saying may have been put in his mouth by
others, but what of that--is not the picture of his character perfect?