In reply to this, one observation only need be made--_If Christ were not more than a Socrates, then a_ _Socrates He was not._[1] But this opinion is not only unhistorical, or, to speak more properly, _anti-historical_, because it is in utter opposition to all covenants, testimonies, authentic records, and even Christ's express declarations; but fully as much, and even still more on this account, that if we once remove this divine keystone in the arch of universal history, the whole fabric of the world's history falls to ruin--for its only foundation is this new manifestation of God's power in the crisis of time--this hope in God abiding unto the end. For, although I do not consider a formal demonstration of the truth of the Christian religion as falling within the province of profane history; yet the belief of its truth--a faith in its dogmas, is the only clue in such investigations. Without this faith, the whole history of the world would be nought else than an insoluble enigma--an inextricable labyrinth--a huge pile of the blocks and fragments of an unfinished edifice--and the great tragedy of humanity would remain devoid of all proper result. Confining myself within those limits which the very nature of the subject, and the force of circumstances prescribe, and which I have here thought it necessary to mark out with exactness, I shall now, in order to see under what circumstances Christianity first arose in the world, and appeared on the domain of history, direct your attention more immediately to the Jewish state.