hristianity is able to do justice to all the
truth involved in the doctrine of evil, avoiding any superficial optimism,
and recognizing the fact that all true life must partake of the nature of
a battle.

The positive side of Egyptian religion we saw to be a recognition of the
divine element in nature, of that plastic, mysterious life which embodies
itself in all organisms. Of this view we find little stated explicitly in
the New Testament. But that the principles of Christianity contain it,
implicitly, in an undeveloped form, appears, (1.) Because Christian
monotheism differs from Jewish and Mohammedan monotheism, in recognizing
God "_in all things_" as well as God "_above all things_." (2.) Because
Christian art and literature differ from classic art and literature in the
_romantic_ element, which is exactly the sense of this mysterious life in
nature. The classic artist is a [Greek: poietes], a maker; the romantic
artist is a troubadour, a finder. The one does his work in giving form to
a dead material; the other, by seeking for its hidden life. (3.) Because
modern science is _invention_, i.e. finding. It recognizes mysteries in
nature which are to be searched into, and this search becomes a serious
religious interest with all truly scientific men. It appears to such men a
profanity to doubt or question the revelations of nature, and they believe
in its infallible inspiration quite as much as the dogmatist believes in
the infallible inspiration of Scripture, or the churchman in the
infallible inspiration of the Church. We may, therefore, say, that the
essential truth in the Egyptian system has been taken up into our modern
Christian life.

And how is it, lastly, with that opposite pole of religious thought which
blossomed out in "the fair humanities of old religion" in the wonderful
Hellenic mind? The gods of Greece were men. They were not abstract ideas,
concealing natural powers and laws. They were open as sunshine, bright as
noon, a fair company of men and women idealized and gracious, just a
little way off, a little way up. It was humanity projected upon the skies,
divine creatures of more than mortal beauty, but thrilling with human life
and human sympathies. Has Christianity anything to offer in the place of
this charming system of human gods and goddesses?

We answer that the fundamental doctrine of Christianity is the
incarnation, the word made flesh. It is God revealed in man. Under some
doctrinal type thi