No, there is nothing on the face of the earth that can, for a moment, bear a comparison with Christianity as a religion for man. Upon this the hope of the race hangs. From the very first, it took its position, as the pillar of fire, to lead the race onward. The intelligence and power of the race are with those who have embraced it; and now, if this, instead of proving indeed a pillar of fire from God, should be found but a delusive meteor, then nothing will be left to the race but to go back to a darkness that may be felt, and to a worse than Egyptian bondage.
Mark Hopkins (1909). “Evidences of Christianity: Lectures Before the Lowell Institute, Revised as a Text Book, with a Supplementary Chapter Considering Some Attacks on the Critical School, the Corroborative Evidence of Recently Discovered Manuscripts, Etc., and the Testimony of Jesus on His Trial”
