Are not the Beatitudes beautiful--no matter who said them? To
strengthen this position they call our attention to Shakespeare's
creations, the majority of whom--Hamlet, Othello, Lear, Portia,
Imogen, Desdemona, are fictitious. Yet where are there grander men, or
finer women? These children of Shakespeare may never have lived, but,
surely, they will never die. In the same sense, Jesus may be just as
ideal a character as those of Shakespeare, they say, and still be "the
light of the world." A New York preacher is reported as saying that if
Christianity is a lie, it is a "glorious lie."

My answer to the above is that such an argument evades instead of
facing the question. It is receding from a position under cover of a
rhetorical manoeuvre. It is a retreat in disguise. If Christianity is
a "glorious lie," then call it such. The question under discussion is,
Is Jesus Historical? To answer that it is immaterial whether or not he
is historical, is to admit that there is no evidence that he is
historical. To urge that, unhistorical though he be, he is,
nevertheless, the only savior of the world, is, I regret to say, not
only evasive,--not only does it beg the question, but it is also
clearly dishonest. How long will the tremendous ecclesiastical
machinery last, if it were candidly avowed that it is doubtful whether
there ever was such a historical character as Jesus, or that in all
probability he is no more real than one of Shakespeare's creations?
What! all these prayers, these churches, these denominations, these
sectarian wars which have shed oceans of human blood--these
unfortunate persecutions which have blackened the face of man--the
fear of hell and the devil which has blasted millions of lives--all
these for a Christ who may, after all, be only a picture!

Neither is it true that this pictorial Jesus saved the world. He has