has come into being
no one knows how or whence, and that is running on no one knows whither,
unguided by any intelligence outside of itself, wholly governed by laws
which have grown out of some impersonal force of which nobody can give
any good account. Difficult as it is to believe in Christ, it is surely
still more difficult to believe in the only alternative, a world wholly
material, in which matter rules and spirit is a mere accident of no
account. If there are inexplicable things in the gospel, there are also
in us and around us facts wholly inexplicable on the atheistic theory.
If the Christian must be content to wait for the solution of many
mysteries, so certainly must the materialist be content to leave
unsolved many of the most important problems of human life.[26]

3. The third reason which Peter assigns for the unalterable loyalty of
the Twelve is expressed in the words, "We have believed and know that
Thou art the Holy One of God." By this he probably meant that he and the
rest had come to be convinced that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah,
the consecrated One, whom God had set apart to this office. The same
expression was used by the demoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum.[27]
But although the idea of consecration to an office rather than the idea
of personal holiness is prominent in the word, it may very well have
been the personal holiness of their Master which bore in upon the minds
of the disciples that He was indeed the Messiah. By His life with them
from day to day He revealed God to them. They had seen Him in a great
variety of circumstances. They had seen His compassion for every form of
sorrow and misery, and His regardlessness of self; they had marked His
behaviour when offered a crown and when threatened with the cross; they
had seen Him at table in gay company, and they had seen Him fasting and
in houses of mourning, in danger, in vehement discussion, in retirement;
and in all circumstances and scenes they had found Him holy, so holy
that to turn from Him they felt would be to turn from God.

The emphasis with which they affirm their conviction is remarkable: "We
have believed and we know." It is as if they felt, We may be doubtful of
much and ignorant of much, but this at least we are sure of. We see men
leaving our company who are fit to instruct and guide us in most
matters, but they do not know our Lord as we do. What they have said has
disturbed our minds and has caused us to revise our