Page:Who is Jesus?.pdf/13

 they care to study the character and claims of any other.

Whatever truths other religions contain,—and they all contain some,—it is certain that the religion founded by Jesus, as given in his life and words, makes the truest appeal to the religious instinct, which is the highest instinct, or motive force, of our lives. Nineteen centuries have passed since he appeared upon the earth, and the interest in him is as fresh as it ever was; indeed, it seems to grow stronger as time elapses. It is as if his words had come true, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." His enemies during the ages since he came have been compelled to exclaim again and again, with the Pharisees of old, "Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold the world is gone after him."

Critics have disposed of him and his claims often enough to have eliminated any other man from human interest; but somehow he is not eliminated. When the mists of their criticism, like the smoke of a ﬁreworks display, has drifted away, we still behold him looming up above the plain, dominating the landscape like some lofty mountain peak which lifts our thoughts