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COPYRIGHT DEPOStr.
HOW TO DEAL WITH DOUBTS
AND DOUBTERS
INDIVIDUAL WORK
FOR INDIVIDUALS
By H. Clay Trumbull, D.D.
ONE of the most popular and helpful religious
books of the day. Has received the high-
est commendations from leading ministers
and laymen and from the religious press.
A PAPER EDITION
has been issued the lower price of which permits
its wide distribution by Pastors, Church Societies
and Associations. Orders have been received for
the book in lots of from fifty to ten thousand.
The Presbyterian Evangelistic Committee has
purchased more than thirteen thousand copies of
the paper edition for distribution.
Sixteen mo, 1 86 pages. Cloth, 75 cents ;
paper, 35 cents.
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS
3 West 29th Street, New York
HOW TO DEAL
WITH DOUBTS
AND DOUBTERS
ACTUAL EXPERIENCES
WITH TROUBLED SOULS
BY
m CLAY TRUMBULL
Author of " Individual Work for Individ-
uals," "Illustrative Answers to
Prayer," etc.
NEW YORK
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE
OF YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN
ASSOCIATIONS
I903
"b
$>
NOV I
9UiS$
Copyright, 1903,
By H. CLAY TRUMBULL.
(November.)
Untro&uctors
Any one who is familiar with the work-
ings of the human heart knows that more
persons are ready to question or doubt
than to rest and trust. And it is ever
easier to strengthen the faith of one who
enjoys firm confidence in God and in the
eternal verities of the universe, than it is to
remove the ever-changing doubts in a mind
which gives way to them. Hence practical
suggestions as to wise ways of dealing
with doubts and doubters are likely to be
helpful to one who would serve God and
help perplexed souls.
The following series of doubts expressed
and doubts met is a result of actual experi-
ences in heart-to-heart struggles in real
life. While each chapter is not the literal
record of a single doubter's words during
a discussion with the narrator, all that is
recorded of incident or of utterance is
veritable fact. In some instances the sub-
stance of several conversations is condensed
into one ; and in some cases similar doubts
Intto&uctotE
by different doubters are here given as if
they were the doubts of a single doubter.
But all the doubts were actually expressed
by a doubter to the narrator, and were met
by him in the line of thought now re-
corded. The result was in every case as
here mentioned.
This by no means covers all the instances
of perplexity in doubt in the narrator's per-
sonal experience. It is simply a series of
actual experiences in dealing with doubts
and doubters, where help was given by
the methods here stated. If the methods
given as successful should, by God's bless-
ing, prove suggestive to other workers in
similar fields, it will be an added cause of
gratitude to
H. CLAY TRUMBULL.
Philadelphia, September n, ipoj.
VI
Contents
i
Considering Doubts Rather Than
Beliefs 3
II
Seeking Help Inside of Self, not
Outside 11
III
Not Ready to Give Up One's Will . . 21
IV
Waiting to be Good Enough to Join
the Church 29
V
Waiting for Something Inside to
" Break" 35
VI
Facing "the Unpardonable Sin" . . 43
VII
Waiting for More Faith 51
vii
Contents
VIII
Troubled Because Enjoying God's
Service 61
IX
Considering Our Desires, Instead of
God's Love 70
X
Is Lack of Right Feeling a Barrier
to Right Action ? 83
XI
Troubled Because Finding No Enjoy-
ment in Prayer 90
XII
Unable to Believe in Miracles ... 99
XIII
Not Believing in Any Spiritual
Existence in
XIV
Inconsistency of Christian Doubters . 123
Vlll
HOW TO DEAL WITH DOUBTS
AND DOUBTERS
Considering Doubts IRatber
TIban Beliefs
A man has more power through believ-
ing one thing than in disbelieving ten thou-
sand things. It is a man's duty to disbelieve,
or to doubt, at a proper time, when the mat-
ter has been well considered ; but no man
is capable of disbelieving, or of doubting,
intelligently and sensibly, unless he first
has strong and positive beliefs. A man's
real power either to do or to doubt starts
from his beliefs, and if a man gives atten-
tion to what he does not believe, rather
than to what he does believe, he makes no
progress, and he lacks practical power in
any direction.
Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts,
who was a man of tremendous convictions,
and who made thousands believe as he be-
lieved because he had those convictions,
3
Mow to Steal witb 2>oubts
said, just before the opening of the Civil
War, of Abraham Lincoln, " I'm glad
weVe got a man now who believes some-
thing." And that was good ground for
our hope in those days, as it is in any day.
Yet to-day, on every side, there are young
men and older men who think little about
their beliefs, or about their convictions if
they have any, and much of their disbeliefs
and doubts and questionings.
Such persons are not always proud that
they are so ready to doubt and to ques-
tion ; sometimes they regret the tendency
of their minds to work in this direction,
but it seems to them that they are helpless
through the constitution and nature of their
very being. Many of these persons feel the
need of help, and sometimes ask it from
others. What can be done for these per-
sistent doubters ? How can those who dis-
believe and question continually, concerning
matters about which they would fain be at
rest in their minds, be helped to a wise deal-
ing with their mental and spiritual troubles ?
4
ConsiDering 2>oubts IRatber tban beliefs
Very often one's best way of dealing
with one's doubts is by letting them alone,
and refusing to consider them just now. I
heard Dr. Bushnell, in giving the charge to
a keen-minded young pastor, say on this
point: "If you have doubts that trouble
you very much, do not try to solve them at
once. Hang them up in your study for a
while, and attend to things that you have
no doubt about. By and by, when you
have leisure, and feel so inclined, take your
doubts down. Very likely you will find,
when you attempt to examine them anew,
that they have settled themselves." There
was a world of wisdom in that bit of advice
by Dr. Bushnell.
One who had been brought up in com-
parative strictness of belief reached a time
when she began to question the truth of
one doctrine and another that in her early
life she had accepted as correct because
others to whom she looked up said so.
Dwelling on her new disbeliefs, she came
to be practically controlled by them. In
S
Mow to Deal witb ©ou&ts
her troubles of mind, she was telling me
one day of certain views of truth that she
could not now believe. At this I said to
her : " You say a good deal of what you
do not believe ; why don't you say some-
thing of what you do believe, however
little that is?" That was a fresh thought
to her. She took it home, and acted on
it. It proved a turning-point in her life.
She began to consider what she did be-
lieve, and to find comfort in the thought
of this. Her disbelief vanished out of
sight, as the darkness in a room vanishes
when a window is opened to the light.
She came to find pleasure in leading others
to see and know the truth, and she often
told me afterwards that her new start was
taken when she began to think of what she
did believe, instead of what she did not.
In this she simply illustrated a truth that
is always worth considering by one who
would help, or be helped, in the perplexity
of doubting.
A young man who had been for years
6
Considering Doubts IRatber tban JSeliets
active in Christian work and study, and
whose desire and purpose were to be in the
ministry, came to me at one time in North-
field and told me his story, asking if there
could be any cure in his case. He said that
he had wrestled first with one doubt, and
then with another, but his doubts had grown
faster than his wrestlings, and he had lost
ground steadily, until at last he had nothing
left to be sure of except that there is a God.
He positively was not sure of any truth in
the Bible or Christianity except just that.
At this I seemed not at all surprised, but
simply asked : " What do you think of
murder as a regular business?"
"I don't understand your question," said
the young man.
"Why, the Bible teaches that murder is
wrong. I want to know what you think of
murder as a business, apart from the ques-
tion of the statute law on the subject."
"I have no doubt about the moral law
laid down in the Bible," was the response
of the young man.
7
ftlow to Steal witb 2>oubte
" Then there's one thing in the Bible that
you believe, outside of the truth that there
is a God."
Then I went on to ask one question after
another as to some point of duty enjoined,
or wrong act forbidden, in the Bible, to
every one of which the young man said
frankly that he had no doubt as to that
point. He believed that the Bible teach-
ings were to be believed so far.
" Do not think, my friend, from my un-
expected questions, that I lack sympathy
with you in your troubles of mind," I said
to the young man; "but you told me, to
begin with, that you had no sure belief ex-
cept that there is a God, and now at my
questions you have told me that you have
a firm belief as to a good many other
things. Now I want to interrupt this con-
versation just here for twenty-four hours.
Go to your room, and take up the Bible.
Turn over its pages, and when you see a
statement that you believe, make a note of
it. If you find anything that you do not
8
Considering 2>oubte 'Ratber tban beliefs
believe, or that you doubt, pass it by, — pay
no attention to that for now. I want you
to look for things in the Bible that you be-
lieve, and to count them up as a whole
when you have done with the examination.
Keep your mind entirely on what you are
sure of, and then see, when you are through
with the search, whether it really amounts
to anything worth holding on to. Come
back to-morrow, and tell me the result of
your search.,,
The next day I watched for the young
man, but he did not call. The day follow-
ing, I met him on the street, and asked
him why he had not returned to continue
the conversation. There was a new look
on his face as he replied :
" I went home that night, and began to
look in the Bible for things that I believe.
I found more of them than I thought for.
I kept finding them. As you requested, I
didn't stop to consider anything that I had
a doubt about, so that I don't know from
this search what there is in that line ; but I
9
Mow to Deal witb Doubts
find so much that I do believe that IVe
come to the conclusion that I believe pretty
much everything now."
And there was one more soul made
newly glad, changed from gloom to cheer,
from doubt to confidence, through God's
blessing, by his simply looking at what
can be believed, instead of what may have
been doubted. That is the way for such a
doubter to deal with his troubles of mind.
If one would give help to a doubting
Christian of this sort, let him bear this
in mind.
io
II
Seefttng Melp Unsf&e of Self,
not ©utsf&e
It really is strange how many seek relief
from their doubts, and help in their mental
and spiritual unrest, by looking within in-
stead of looking without. It would seem
as if some actually expected to find a
Saviour, or at all events to find evidences
of their salvation, by an examination of
their inner state of mind and being, and in
the play of their personal feelings. This
foolish custom was far more common a
century ago than it is to-day; yet there
are still many who do themselves harm,
while they get absolutely no good, by in-
dulging in this pernicious and unscriptural
endeavor.
In my own case, I suffered much by such
hopeless and injurious efforts to gain some
evidence from my emotions or my con-
ii
tflow to Steal witb Doubts
scious course of conduct, that I was truly
a child of God, and might trust as such.
The more I studied myself, the more I was
dissatisfied with myself. Again and again
I heard it said, or I read the statement in
books of religious counsel, that the way to
be rid of doubts about one's spiritual con-
dition was to be actively at work for Christ.
Yet I knew that that was no prescription
for my case. I was engaged in specific
Christian work seven days in the week,
and the more I did of such work the less
spiritual comfort I had. I was a constant
sufferer in my habit of searching my in-
most being for evidences of my Christian
fidelity that were not to be found there.
Some told me that I should carefully
examine myself, and decide what I would
do in a test case, as showing whether I
was a child of God, or one of God's ene-
mies. This experiment I tried again and
again, but I had to admit to myself that I
was really seeking personal comfort or gain
in this effort, and not putting God's glory
12
Seefttns Welp Insi&e of Self, not ©utsiDe
foremost, regardless of my feelings or in-
terest. I really gained nothing, while I lost
strength and rest and peace, in my desire
to find a hope of salvation within myself.
As the years passed on in this mistaken
and useless search, I had less and less en-
joyment in Christian activities, in which I
still persevered, and I suffered more and
more keenly in my self-reproaches because
of my lack of hope and of spiritual repose.
This was after years of Christian work
in my army chaplaincy and in my Sunday-
school missionary work. In a sense, the
more I did the worse I felt My ex-
haustion in and through my well-doing
incapacitated me for calm and sensible
self-examination. Often, after several ser-
vices on the Lord's Day, I have actually
agonized for hours on my room floor,
vainly seeking spiritual rest by means of
internal evidence that I was a child of God.
One day I said despondently to a ma-
ture Christian believer, whom I had known
from boyhood :
13
Mow to Deal witb S>oubts
"I wish I could have some rest in my
Christian faith."
" Why shouldn't you have ? You know
that you are a Christian, and that Christ
takes care of you all the time, and for
all time," said my friend.
" No, I don't know that I am a Chris-
tian," I replied, " and that's the trouble."
" You know that you want to be a Chris-
tian, and that if the choice were left to you,
and you understood it, you'd decide for
Christ's service."
" No, I can't say that I do know that,"
I replied, despondently.
My friend, seeing my real condition,
caught hold of me, and said sharply :
" Stop that analyzing of your insides,
and look up. Turn away from yourself,
and look at your Saviour."
That blunt putting of the truth was a
turning-point in my mind and in my spirit-
ual life. I had long enough sought help
inside without gaining it. Now I looked
up where it could be found, and my being
Seeking IKelp tneibe of Self, not ©utet&e
was at rest. From that day on to the
present I could never be induced to ex-
amine myself for evidences of salvation.
I have looked up for help, and I have
urged others to do likewise.
One day there came to me a student,
brought up under Christian influences, and
said to me :
" I am troubled all the time because I
can't be sure that I'm a Christian."
Perceiving his condition of mind, I re-
sponded :
" Why should you be a Christian ? "
" Why should I be a Christian ? I don't
know what you mean by such a question."
" Is there any command in the Bible for
you to be a Christian ? I don't remember
any such. Is there any promise of salva-
tion to Christians ? Are you sure that you
could be saved if you were a Christian ? "
" You bewilder me," said the doubter.
" I want you, my friend, to look squarely
at the important matter you came here to
15
IHow to 5>eal witb Doubts
talk about. Whom did Jesus Christ come
into this world to save ? "
" Sinners."
" Kx^ you a sinner ? "
" Yes," came out heartily, " I've no doubt
about that."
"You are not deceiving yourself now
with a false hope, my friend ? "
" I think not," and a feeble smile played
over the doubter's face. " I think I can
feel sure on that point, whatever other
doubt I have."
" Well, now, my friend, you see for your-
self how the case stands. Jesus Christ came
into this world to save sinners. You are
one of that sort ; Pm another. You say
that you can't satisfy yourself that you are
a Christian. I was in the same fix for years.
But you do know that you are a sinner. /
also felt sure on that point. So I came as
a sinner to trust Christ as a Saviour. I ad-
vise you to do the same, leaving out of
mind for a century or so the matter of be-
ing sure of being a Christian. Let us trust
16
Seeking Help InslDe of Self, not ©utstDe
the Saviour of sinners as our Saviour, and
let us find joy in working for him."
And another troubled doubter became
a cheerful, trustful, saved sinner, by being
helped to look outside of himself, instead of
inside. He was for years active in leading
others, in the home field and in the foreign
field, to trust the Saviour of sinners as their
Saviour.
Christ is above us ; let us look to him.
That is the direction in which to look, in
order to get rest and peace. It is so for
those who are troubled with doubts. It is
so for those who are ready to trust. This
is a thought for all who would give help
to such doubters, and who would lead to
rest and peace troubled and anxious souls.
It is so with all who are looking within
for evidences of their acceptance with
Christ. Christ, not the sinner, is the evi-
dence. One who has once learned this
lesson is not willing again to leave the sure
reality for any fancied substitute. One who
17
Wow to Deal witb Doubts
was mistakenly trying to induce doubters
to be satisfied as to their condition by self-
examination told, in my hearing, the follow-
ing illustration used by Theodore Monod,
of Geneva, that the speaker thought might
help another.
"You find in your heart evils, defects,
imperfections, and you feel that that heart
is not worthy of being counted precious by
Jesus Christ. But even a diamond, when
it is first taken by the lapidary, is often
rough and soiled and hidden from sight by
foul accumulations; yet it is a diamond,
nevertheless. Then the lapidary cleanses
and cuts and finishes the rough diamond,
and makes it fit to be set in the crown of
a sovereign. Thus with your rough and
defiled and uncut jewel of a soul. It is a
diamond, and it is to shine in the diadem
of the King of kings. Be sure of that."
As I had suffered for years in looking
inside for evidences of salvation, or of my
worthiness, I responded heartily to this
illustration :
18
Seefcins Welp UnstDe of Self, not ©utst&e
" I've all confidence in the Lapidary, but
no confidence in the uncut stone, so far as
my case is concerned. I never found any
rough diamond inside of me. But I am
told that, chemically, charcoal and the dia-
mond dust have much in common. Now,
when I look inside of myself, I see the char-
coal. So I say to the great Lapidary : * I
bring you this charcoal, and I trust you to
transmute it, by your almighty power, into
a diamond. Then, in infinite love, place
that diamond in your diadem, and to thee
be all the glory/ "
When I said this, a fellow-believer who
had been troubled with doubts as to his
spiritual condition through his habit of
looking inside for grounds of hope, instead
of looking above for assurance of a Saviour,
seemed touched by this view of the ground
of hope, which was fresh to him. Speaking
out heartily and with new hope, he said :
" I can find charcoal inside of me every
time. There's no lack of that comfort
for me."
19
Mow to Deal witb Doubts
And he turned his thought from the
material to be transmuted to the all-power-
ful Lapidary. I then realized afresh that
the way for a sinner to find hope is by
looking up to the Saviour of such sinners
as himself. Is there any better way than
this to deal with doubts on such a point ?
20
Ill
Jtlot IReafcs to Give lap ©ne's TKatU
A friend called on me one day, desiring
to secure my aid in reaching spiritually a
man whose condition seemed sadly in-
volved, if not, indeed, desperate. The man
in behalf of whom counsel and help were
sought had been prominent and efficient in
a large and prosperous business enterprise ;
but he had, by failing health, been for some
time confined to his home. While thus shut
in, his business, of which he was chief man-
ager, had become hopelessly involved, and
bankruptcy stared him in the face. Mean-
time his physician informed the man's wife,
although not communicating the fact to
him, that he was not likely to recover from
his present illness. In heaviness of heart,
she had sent the mutual friend to implore
my effort to bring her husband nearer to
her Saviour. While upright in character
21
Wow to 2>eal wttb Doubte
and reverent in spirit, the sick man was
averse to conversation on the subject of
personal religion, and even in his illness
had declined to have his wife send for a
clergyman.
Although I had well known the man in
former years in another place, I had never
visited him in his present home, and it
would be a delicate matter to make the
first visit for the avowed purpose of reach-
ing spiritually one in such trouble. Yet
the request was an earnest one, and I could
not refuse to respond to it. Imploring
God to prepare the way for the interview,
and to guide in it, I called at the sick man's
house one Sunday afternoon. By God's
ordering I could not see him then, as he
was asleep when I called. So, seeing his
wife, I left an old friend's love for her hus-
band, and came away.
On learning of this call when he awoke,
the man regretted his failure to see his old
friend, and sent word desiring me to call
again. On my second call, I had the ad-
22
Hot IReafcE to ©ire lap ©ne's TUBill
vantage of coming at the sick man's re-
quest, and the interview was a natural and
free one. The man told of his misfortunes
and regrets. As he spoke, I said naturally
that he certainly needed in his troubles,
and I hoped he could have, his Saviour's
sustaining presence. At this he spoke
with some bitterness of his hopeless help-
lessness, and he then indicated his realest
source of doubts. He was a man of diminu-
tive appearance, but of intensest energy and
enterprise. Unaided, he had fought his
way up to success, in spite of many diffi-
culties and obstacles.
" I know what you would say to me,"
he said. "All I have got to do is to give
up my own will, and trust myself to the
Saviour to take care of me. ' Give up my
will ? * But all there is of me is will. I
started life a poor, sick boy, with nothing
but will. My will kept me alive. By my
will, I worked my way to success. By my
will, I built up a great business, and had
prosperity and a good home. By my will,
23
Wow to Deal wftb Doubts
I supported my parents, and helped others
to do well. But sickness came, and, while
sick, my business broke down, and all I
have in the world is likely to be swept
away. Everything is gone but my will.
And now you ask me to give up that.
You don't know what it is you would be
counseling. Everything else but my will
is gone, and now you ask me to give up
that. What would be left of me if that
were gone ? "
" But I have not advised you to give up
your will," I replied. "You need a stronger
will, not an abandonment of all that now
remains of you. Your own will, strong as
it is, with its present hold, could not keep
you from sickness, could not continue suc-
cess to you in your business. You need
more will, not less. Wouldn't a touch of
Omnipotence help you, in your present
state? I think that if you, with your
strong will, will lay hold on One who is
all-powerful, and who can do even those
things which you confess you are unable
24
Hot IReaDE to ©tve Tap ©ne's Mill
to do even when you long to do them,
you will be using your will in the right
direction, and will have more will and a
better will than ever."
This was to him a new way of looking
at will. He who had ever wanted to use
his will aright, in response to the question
whether he would like me to pray with
him that he could lay hold with a strong
grip on the All-Sufficient Will, said that
he most surely would. And as I kneeled,
on that first visit in that sick-chamber, and
prayed with and for that sick man, who
had no idea of his wasting illness, I was
sure that my old friend was finding joy in
the thought that his will could, in Christ,
keep him through all trial and sorrow,
through life and through death, giving him
final success in God's way. And from that
hour it was apparent that he was grateful
that God had chosen this way to lead him
to a right understanding of the gain of a
strong will properly directed.
The following months, when I went
25
IHow to Deal witb Doubts
every few days to cheer that new believer's
heart and to strengthen my own grateful
faith by Christian counsel with that glad
saint as he was ripening for glory, I found
that talk about his will had given place to
loving words about his Saviour. Rarely is
one to be met who has fuller joy and peace
in Christ than had this man who had
feared the barrier of his determined will.
He had long lived a life of purity in duty-
doing in God's service, but he had been mis-
taught as to what was required of him if he
would be one with Christ. He had con-
founded his determined purpose in what-
ever he had to do, with wrong self-seeking.
When he saw the light, he turned to it, and
rejoiced in it. He seemed to have forgotten
that he had any troubles.
He spoke only of the bright side of his
present or his future. When he realized
that he had not long to live, he was ready
to see better things in prospect than he had
ever ventured to hope for. His grateful
and glad-hearted wife found cheer and
26
Hot IReafcE to ®ive Tap ®ne's "501111
gave him cheer as they communed to-
gether of their Saviour's love and constant
presence. Each day seemed brighter than
any that had gone before. As to his will,
he did not have to give it up, but only to
lift it up.
Fresh trials came to him as he lay help-
less in that invalid-chamber, which proved
to be his death-chamber; but he had now
strength and faith to bear them all. His
aged mother, whom he had for years sup-
ported, was stricken with a fatal disease.
The knowledge of this was kept from him,
lest he should be unable to bear it. But
when she was dead, they were compelled
to tell him of it. He received the intelli-
gence with joyous faith. He said pleas-
antly :
" It will not be long before we shall be
together again."
It was evident that life with Christ was
already more real and precious to him than
this earthly life. His will was still un-
broken, but it was now wisely directed.
27
IHow to Deal witb Doubts
And when at last he bade me farewell as
he entered peacefully into rest, he seemed
glad of the lesson he had freshly learned,
that one who wants to do his duty needs
not to have less will, or determination, but
to have his strongest will, or purpose,
rightly directed toward his loving and all-
sufficient Saviour. Thus directed, the
more will a man has, the better it is for
him in God's service.
28
IV
TKHattfng to be <Soo& JEnouob to
Join tbe Cburcb
Among the mistaken ideas in the com-
munity as to the significance of the act of
connecting one's self with a Christian
church, is the thought that it indicates that
one has made progress in character and well
doing, and desires to testify to that fact
before his fellows. Underneath this error
there is, of course, a mistaken view of the
nature and object of the church itself, but
how to correct this mistaken view must be
decided differently in different cases.
When I had for some time been absent
from my old home, I found, on returning
to it, that a near neighbor of mine had just
connected himself with the church. Glad
to learn this fact, I went to that neighbor,
and said to him heartily :
" I'm very glad to know that you have
29
Wow to Seal witb Boubts
taken the step of connecting yourself with
the church, and I want to congratulate you
on it"
To my surprise the new communicant
said, with a show of modesty, and yet with
a somewhat confident air :
"Well, I thought the matter over for
some time before taking that step. I
know I'm not so good as I might be, but
I'm better than the average, so I decided
to join the church."
At this I thought it not best to say any-
thing more in the line of congratulation.
Nor did I think that the church was to be
particularly congratulated on its new mem-
ber. Later on I found that other men than
that neighbor had that standard of fitness
for church-membership. Some are modest
in their doubting, honestly thinking them-
selves unworthy to be counted with the
Christian host. Others desire to live as
well as they can outside of the church fold
without being judged by church standards
of conduct. Yet others again, like the per-
30
Wafting to be 0ooD JCnougb
son instanced, have only a doubt as to their
relative goodness, and settle it by them-
selves in a self-confident mood.
A church-goer, who desired to be right
and to do right, when urged to connect
himself with the church, expressed the fear
that he was not good enough. This seem-
ingly was his sincere feeling. For years he
waited outside in the hope that he would
grow better. Appeals from his friends for
another course were of no avail. Then he
was taken seriously ill, and he was brought
to face death. As he prayed for recovery,
and as he was prayed for, he seemed to
have a different view of Christ ; and when
he was restored to health, he was glad to
think of his Saviour as one to whom he
ought to show gratitude. When his pastor
urged him to come into the church, as one
who desired to evidence his thankfulness
and trust, he came forward as a loving,
trusting follower of Christ. It were better
to come just as he was, he thought, than to
wait outside indefinitely to grow better.
3i
Mow to Deal witb 5>oubt6
A man of upright walk in life persistently
refrained from connecting himself with the
church, claiming that he loved and trusted
Christ as his Saviour, and that he would
^how to the world that he was doing this
without being a member of any church.
At this I said to him :
" Do you expect Christ to save you ? "
"Assuredly I do."
" Yet you persist in refusing to confess
Christ before men, as he has particularly
enjoined it upon you to do. Is that fair ?
Jesus says, ' Every one therefore who shall
confess me before men, him will I also con-
fess before my Father who is in heaven.'
Yet you say that you are not willing to be
with those who confess Christ before men."
" Oh ! I am ready to be known as a
lover of Christ, but I don't want to be in
the church where men claim to be better
than other men. I will try to be as good
as they are without saying so."
" You apparently mistake the idea of
Christ's church, to begin with," I said.
32
TKHaiting to be Good JEnougb
"The church is not an exhibition hall,
where good men and women show them-
selves. The church is a hospital where
are those who need and want to be saved
by Christ. Yet, as I understand you, you
are unwilling to be counted as one who
needs the hospital or the Great Physician,
but you want to stand off outside and
prove that you can cure yourself. Is that
making an honest show ? "
" I don't want to have it look that way."
" I shouldn't think you would."
So another man concluded to join the
church, not because he thought he was as
good as the average, but because he
felt he needed hospital treatment as much
as the average church-member.
It is important for every person who is
in the church to bear in mind this truth as
to the nature and mission of the church.
It is not as an exhibition hall, but as a
hospital, that it calls for members and that
members continue in it. No man has
made such progress in the Christian life
33
Mow to Deal wttb Soubts
that he no longer needs the helps that the
church supplies to him. The more prog-
ress one makes the more he desires prog-
ress. If he feels that he is good enough
to be a church-member, he gives evidence
that he has no right view of the church of
Christ, or of right life in Christ.
34
TKIlafting for Sometbing Unstoe
to "Break"
A barrier to the conscious service of
Christ is, with many souls, the fear that
a desired and necessary change in their
inner being has not taken place. This
fear is commonly caused by a sad error
on their part, resulting from the wrong
preaching and teaching to which they
have listened, or from their misreading
of the Bible as improperly translated,
or as incorrectly understood. But what-
ever has caused it, the barrier, real or
supposed, often exists, and it must be
met and wisely dealt with.
As illustrative of a multitude of similar
cases, a single instance may be cited out
of my sphere of observation. A promi-
nent man in a New England community
had been brought up under the best re-
3S
Wow to Deal witb Boubte
ligious influences then prevalent in that
region. He had from boyhood been ac-
customed to read the Bible and pray day
by day. He was regular in church attend-
ance. He was careful and strict in his
morals. But all this was, as he had been
taught, of the outer man ; it did not touch
or indicate the inner life or spiritual being.
He had been taught from the pulpit and
by the religious literature of the day, that
until he had been converted, or regenerated,
he would have no right to count himself
an accepted child of God. And for this
change, which he had no power to com-
pass, he waited and hoped and prayed.
When he grew up and married he was
ready to do anything and everything in
his own power to show his readiness and
desire to be Christ's, but for the essential
change of spiritual nature he felt he must
wait God's time and act. He was faithful
in personal and household worship. He
conducted family prayers regularly. He
asked a blessing at his table. He taught
36
TKHattina for Something Inst&e to " JSteaft
t»
a class of young men in the Sunday-school.
But he felt he had no right to count him-
self a converted, a regenerated, a new-born,
soul. All that he could do in God's ser-
vice he was ready to do, but conversion, or
regeneration, was God's work. For that
he must wait God's time and method.
More than half a century passed away,
leaving him as it found him so far as this
was concerned.
His children, brought up under these in-
fluences, were led by their Sunday-school
teachers and companions to confess Christ
as their Saviour, and they became active as
teachers and as church workers. But the
good and sad-hearted man remained out-
side the recognized fold of Christ. This
was so to the last of his earthly life. It
was doubtless a blessed surprise to him
when he was welcomed by his Saviour as
one of his loved ones, when his spirit-eyes
were opened beyond the veil of flesh. Yet
that good man was only one of multitudes
who have lived and died in Christ's service
37
Wow to 2)eal wftb 2>oubt0
thinking that they had no right to trust
Christ as their Saviour because some mys-
terious change, which they could neither
understand nor secure, had not been
wrought in them. What a realm of doubt
and of doubters is opened before us by
such an illustration !
Years after this, which was my first ac-
quaintance with one of the " outside saints,"
— kept outside by the barrier of doubt raised
by mistaken teaching, — I was brought
into close association with another doubter
of the sort, who was even more positive,
although less intelligent, than the other,
on the subject. The son of a godly and
strict father, whose views in the line of a
certain phase of old-fashioned orthodoxy
were pronounced and outspoken as to
man's inability of himself to turn to God,
was near me socially, and sat near me in
church. In him I became much inter-
ested, and I sought to lead him to an open
confession in Christ's service. But I found
that the young doubter was positive as to
38
TRttatttnQ for Something InstDe to " 38reafcM
his right or power to act until God made
him willing and able. In response to the
most tender and earnest invitation, he said :
" I wish I could trust Christ as my
Saviour, but I know it isn't possible until
my heart is changed."
" But have you nothing to do in the
matter ? "
" My part is to wait and be ready. I
come to church and prayer-meeting regu-
larly. God knows how I feel about it, but
until he converts me I cannot be a Chris-
tian. I cannot convert myself. So there
it is."
That erroneous view was a barrier ot
doubt. My words, with my knowledge
and experience of them, unfortunately did
not move it or him.
In another case, one with whom I
prayed was helped to imagine that he
had evidence that God helped him over
that barrier, and his fancy was suggestive
as showing the working of many a man's
mind. He was a man who had been a
39
Wow to 2>eat witb Bou&ts
soldier in my regiment in the Civil War.
After the war, when I was preaching on a
Sunday evening in the pulpit of a friend,
in Massachusetts, I saw this man before
me. At the close of the service the man
came up to greet me, and I invited him
to go with me to the pastor's house for a
talk. He came, and we were soon to-
gether in a room by ourselves. After a
few words over old experiences, a conver-
sation somewhat like this ensued :
" Have you ever confessed Christ as
your Saviour ? "
" No, I have not ; but I wish I could."
"Are you ready to give yourself to
Christ with all your heart ? "
" Indeed I am. But I suppose I must
be converted."
" God will take care of that, if you will
commit yourself to him without keeping
anything back."
The man had been a good soldier in war
time, and he knew what enlisting meant.
" Are you ready to enlist in Christ's ser-
40
XBfflaftins for Something Ineibe to "SSreaft
t>
vice here and now, not merely for three
years, but for all time?"
" I am, and I'd like to."
Then we two dropped on our knees
together, and I told the Lord that here
was a new recruit who wanted to be under
Christ's flag, and in the Saviour's service.
I asked the Lord to accept him and to help
him to be true.
As we rose from our knees, the hearer
of the evening, with the light of joy in his
face, exclaimed jubilantly:
" Chaplain, it's all right now. I'm sure
it is. When you prayed there, I felt some-
thing sort o' break inside of me. I think I
needn't have any doubt any more."
I knew the soldier spirit of my old com-
rade. He was loyal and patriotic. He was
glad to enlist, but he thought that God
had a special work to do, for which he had
waited. And now he was encouraged to
believe that, as we prayed, a sign of
God's willingness to accept the recruit had
been given. This he called the feeling
4i
Mow to Deal witb Doubts
that something inside " sort o' broke." The
way of duty and of faith was plain thence-
forth to him.
The command " Be converted " was an
improper translation in our old Bibles.
The phrase is correctly rendered, in the
Revision, "turn/' or "turn again." Turn-
ing toward God is a simple duty whenever
one is on the wrong track, however often
he needs to turn. Theological errors of
generations cannot always be removed by
formal discussion with an anxious soul,
but that soul may be led to see that God
is now ready to take him just as he is,
and that God will cause to " sort o' break "
whatever inner bond had held back the
willing soul.
42
VI
facing " tbe xanpatftonable Sin "
If there is one mental trouble above
another that seems to call for sympathy
and tenderness of treatment, it is the fear
that one has committed "the unpardonable
sin," and now stands facing hopelessly the
eternal consequences of this wrong-doing.
Nor is this fear an utterly exceptional one.
Many a sensitive conscience has suffered
from it for years. It is worth serious
thought on the part of all those who
would help souls.
Several conversations which I had with
one of these troubled souls illustrates one
phase of this difficulty, and a way of
meeting it. A young man who was ac-
tive in Christian work, and who was a
confessed follower of Christ, had puzzled
over the words of our Lord that blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit could not be for-
43
Wow to 2>eal wttb 5>oubts
given (see Matt. 12 : 31-37). Thinking
over the subject persistently, he had come
to fear that he had committed that sin, and
he was oppressed accordingly.
"As I read the Bible," he said, "' Who-
soever shall speak against the Holy Spirit,
it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, nor in that which is to come/ Now
I fear that I have, at some time, spoken in
that way. If I have, there is no hope
for me."
" Did you do this deliberately, and with
a purpose of doing it ? Or did you merely
do it triflingly and irreverently ? "
" It is the thing itself that is spoken of
by our Lord, without reference to the inner
spirit of the speaker."
" Have you regretted your thoughtless
and irreverent evil speech ? "
"Yes, indeed I have, many and many
times. But that doesn't make any differ-
ence in the case of a sin that will not be
forgiven in this world or the next, in spite
of our repentings."
44
Jfacfng *' tbe TUnparDonable Sin
tt
" Does it seem like a loving God, to
be watching for one slip of the tongue,
or one thoughtless or irreverent word,
and then to refuse to forgive that wrong,
however penitent or humble the wrong-
doer finally is ? God sent Jesus into this
world to show his love for sinners, and
Jesus 'is able to save to the uttermost
them that draw near unto God through
him, seeing he ever liveth to make in-
tercession for them ' (see Heb. 7 : 25).
Is your view consistent with the Bible
teachings about the never-failing love of
God?"
" I shouldn't think so if it were not for
those words of Jesus about this one sin as
different from all other sins. But there his
words stand, and I'm fearfully troubled be-
cause of them.,,
" Well, now, my friend, don't you mis-
read those words as they were spoken and
as the record of them stands ? When did
Jesus speak those words ? and to whom ?
and under what circumstances? They
45
IKow to Deal wttb Boubts
are too important to be perverted and
misused. Have a care, therefore, on that
point. Read over more carefully the pas-
sage in Matthew's Gospel, and see what
the words mean. Jesus was working won-
ders of grace. He was showing the love
of the Father and the power of the Holy-
Spirit. He was opposing Satan and his
works. Then those who opposed Jesus
said that he and his disciples were repre-
sentatives of Satan. At this, Jesus sug-
gested that one who counted the Holy
Spirit and Satan one and the same, was in
a hopeless state; God could do nothing
more for such a man. If one who sees
God's work and Satan's work says that
there is no difference between the two,
God is powerless in that man's behalf.
God has nothing better than the Holy
Spirit's work to show to a man in this
world or the next. My friend, can you
see nothing better in the Holy Spirit's
work than in the work of Satan ? "
" Indeed, I can see a great deal that is
46
jfacfng "tbe IHnparDonablc Sin"
better. There is no comparison to be
made between the two. One is all good ;
the other is all bad."
" Then you have no doubt as to where
you would stand on that issue ? "
" Of course I do not"
" If, therefore, the unpardonable sin is
being on the side of Satan against the
Holy Spirit, as the great issue in the con-
test, in this world or in the next, you
would feel that you were on the right side
and in the right state, — would you ? "
"Yes, I would, as you state the case.
But I have not been looking at it in that
way. I have not read the words of Jesus
in this way before.,,
"Well, that is the way that I read those
words, as they were spoken according to
the Bible record. I find a meaning in
them consistent with the spirit of Jesus,
with the general teachings of Scripture,
with the peculiar circumstances of their
utterance, with the lessons of sound
reason, and with the very letter of the
47
Mow to Deal witb Doubts
text. On the other hand, you find a mean-
ing in the words as you read them that is,
as you admit, not consistent with what you
have known of the love of the Father, with
the spirit of Jesus, or with the known
workings of the Holy Spirit. Which of
these two methods is to be preferred?
Tell me frankly.,,
"Your view, I admit, does seem the
most reasonable."
" We may always be sure that a positive
command or threat of God is based on a
principle prevalent throughout all God's
domain. It is never a mere specific of-
fense or transgression that he refers to as
cutting one off from hope, but rather an
attitude of being, which would be the same
in this life and beyond. Thus it is in this
instance. But, tell me, did it ever trouble
you to think that the sin you had com-
mitted had shut you out from God's love
and presence ? "
" It has caused me agony unspeakable.
I have mourned over it, and prayed about
48
ffactns "tbe Iflnparfconabie Sin"
it day and night; and oh, how I have
longed for help! "
" That is in itself proof that you have not
committed the unpardonable sin. Jesus
speaks of that sin as putting its doer in a
hopelessly hostile attitude toward God.
If you had committed that sin, or were in
that attitude of being, you would not want
to be forgiven or loved of God. No, no,
my friend, you have sins enough that can
be forgiven, which you ought to think
about and strive to overcome, without
worrying over the unpardonable sin which
you do not comprehend, and which you
evidently have not committed."
And that long-troubled soul was led
into the light, and found peace and rest
in the assured love of God. May every
soul similarly perplexed have like rest and
peace !
He had been worrying over a sin which
he had not committed; but which if he
had committed, he would have ceased to
worry about. So, in fact, his very worrying
49
Wow to Deal witb Doubts
was proof that he had no cause for worry.
How Satan gives trouble to those who
are his determined enemies, leaving alone
those of whom he is already sure !
So
VII
TKHaiting for flilore JFattb
That faith is essential to spiritual life, no
one can doubt who reads intelligently the
Old Testament or the New. Abraham had
faith, and that faith was reckoned to him
for righteousness, — for a right state before
God. Inspired prophets tell us that the
just, the righteous, are to live by their faith,
by their restful trust in God. Hardly any
single injunction is more frequently ex-
pressed by the Saviour of men, to those
who desire his help, than the command to
" have faith in God." It is their faith that
Jesus insists on. It is on their faith that his
help depends. It is by means of their faith
that they are saved. So clearly and positively
is this truth expressed in the Bible that those
who would be guided by the precepts of that
Book are ever ready to give prominence to
the duty of faith as their ground of hope.
5i
Mow to Deal witb 9o\xbte
Yet a clear idea of what faith is, and of
what it is to have faith, is anything but
common among Bible readers and seekers
of peace and rest. Of course, systematic
theology has done much to mislead and
confuse those who would know and have
right ideas of God's teachings. Thus theo-
logians have told us that there are different
kinds of faith, — that there is intellectual
faith, and formal faith, and lifeless faith,
and, again, that there is saving faith. This
leads the anxious to wonder what are the
distinctive characteristics of that kind of
faith of which prophet and apostle had so
much to say, and on which Jesus seemed
to pivot his power to help life-seekers.
Faith is not a possession or attainment,
the having of which enables a man to be
strong, and to have knowledge, and to
work wonders in his sphere. Faith is an
attitude of being toward God, a condition
of mind and spirit that makes one ready to
accept as sure what God has promised, and
what God has said he will do. President
52
Watting for more ffaltb
Mark Hopkins once said simply and
wisely: " There is no conflict between faith
and reason. Faith is the believing that God
will do as he has promised. That certainly
is not unreasonable." Again, good Dr. Bush-
nell said : " Faith is not a mysterious posses-
sion, it is a simple act. Faith is that act by
which one person, a sinner, commits himself
to another person, a Saviour."
It is indeed strange that so many per-
plexed doubters have worried for years
over the question whether they had enough
faith, or whether the faith they had was of
the right sort. While faith, true faith, is so
reasonable and so simple, one who has for
years had much to do with perplexed
doubters has no hesitation in saying that
no other cause of doubt has been so com-
mon or so persistent, among those who
have sought his help, as the lack, or the
quality, or the relative measure, of faith.
About the necessity of faith most are
agreed. About the possession of faith
there is much doubt.
S3
Kow to Deal witb Doubts
One who had been for years an active
member of a prominent church, and who
was at that very time a Sunday-school
teacher, came to me as one who, as he
thought, gave evidence of faith, while he
bemoaned his own lack of it. To me he
said longingly :
" I wish I had your faith, my friend."
" What do you want of my faith ? " was
the reply. " You'd better have your own
faith. YouVe nothing more to do with
my faith than with my pocket-book. Let
every man have his own faith."
" Then I'll say I wish I had more faith,
— more faith of my own."
" You have got more faith now than you
are willing to use. What would you do
with any more? If you've faith as big
as a grain of mustard-seed, and will use
it aright, you can uproot big trees and
mighty mountains, and do other great
things. Your difficulty is not in being
without enough faith, but in being unwill-
ing to use what faith you have. If you
54
Waiting for mote tfaitb
believe one thing that Jesus promises you,
and are ready to do accordingly, you are
using a little of your faith. Then you are
ready to have and to use more faith. Hav-
ing faith is of no use except as you use it."
Encouraged to take this view of faith
and of truth, this doubter came to exer-
cise faith, and his faith grew accordingly.
Finally his faith actually evidenced itself
to the ends of the earth, — while he was an
active foreign missionary, — and he rejoiced
in his faith, or in the Saviour on whom it
rested, and others were thereby benefited.
For years a seeker after truth and light
suffered in doubt because she thought she
had not faith enough, or that the faith she
had was not of the right sort. She was
constant in prayer and longing. She was
ready to do every duty which she knew.
She studied the Bible for counsel and com-
fort. She got help at many points, but at
other points she was met by the injunction
that even in seeking help from God she
must ask in unwavering faith, and that re-
55
How to 2>eal witb Doubts
quirement seemed a barrier to her. In
telling of her troubles to one of whom she
sought counsel, she stated the case in this
way:
" When I found the invitation in James
i : 5, I thought I was helped: 'If any of
you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God,
who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth
not ; and it shall be given him/ That was
encouraging. The next verses, however,
staggered me : ' But let him ask in faith,
nothing doubting : for he that doubteth is
like the surge of the sea driven by the
wind and tossed. For let not that man
think that he shall receive anything of the
Lord; a doubleminded man, unstable in
all his ways/ I'm afraid I'm a double-
minded person. My faith sometimes wavers.
I wish I could have a faith where there'd
never be a doubt."
" Do you mean that you sometimes
think that Christ is to be trusted, and at
other times you do not think that he is to
be depended on ? " That was the question
56
OTaitina for more jfaitb
put to the doubter by the one whose coun-
sel she sought.
" No, I never have any doubt about
Christ. I'm only speaking about my faith
in Christ. I don't always have the same
feeling of faith in Christ."
" Then it is not a matter of your faith,
but of your personal feeling, that troubles
you. Your faith depends on what Christ
is, and what you understand him to be.
Your feeling on the subject may depend
on any one of a dozen things. Sometimes
a walk in the fresh air will change your
feelings. Sometimes a little soda-mint or
spirits of ammonia will set things straight
inside."
And she was thus shown to be another
of the many who are needlessly in doubt
because they confound their feelings about
faith with faith itself. Faith is indeed im-
portant, but one's feelings about faith are
of no importance.
Another doubter about his faith I visited
at a time when the doubter was in bereave-
57
Wow to Deal witb Doubts
ment, and when he regretted that he could
not count himself a child of God. He was
a man upright in his personal life, a lover
of the Bible, a constant church attendant.
He was in the habit of personal prayer, but
he did not think it would be right for him,
without faith, to confess Christ as his Sav-
iour. I sought to induce him to evidence
faith in confessing Christ before men.
"I'd like to," he said, "but I have no
faith in Christ/'
" Why don't you have faith ? " asked his
friend.
" Because it is not in my power to have
faith."
" Do you believe that Christ is worthy
of being loved and obeyed ? "
" Yes, indeed I do."
" Then why do you not love and obey
him ? "
" I do love him, and I obey him in
everything except when he tells me to
have faith. In that one thing I am power-
less."
58
TRUaiting for fllore jfaitb
" Let us see about that," I said. " Sup-
pose that this very night you were to know
there was to be a struggle between the
friends and the enemies of Jesus, and you
were told that those who wanted to be
true to him must line up on the other side
of the street, while those who were against
Jesus, or who were in doubt about their
position, could stay where they were ; what
would you do ? "
" I'd go over on the other side of the
street, where his supporters lined up."
" Would you do this if it would cost you
your life, and when you might risk your
soul ? "
" Of course I would," he said.
" That is what Jesus counts faith," said
his friend, "and standing up to confess
Christ before men is lining up with his fol-
lowers on his side of the way."
And on the next occasion when new
members were received into our home
church, I rejoiced to see the long-time
doubter stand up in line with those who
59
Mow to Deal wltb 2)oubt6
were ready to declare their trust in Christ
as their Saviour. How many there are
who have doubt about their faith when
they have no doubt about their Saviour,
and who are ready to show this, at any
risk, in a testing time !
60
VIII
Uroublefc Because Enjoying
(Sob's Service
It may seem strange, but it is neverthe-
less undeniable, that many Christians have
been troubled because they were finding
enjoyment in God's service. They have, in
fact, been disturbed because they were not
disturbed; were unhappy, because they
were happy. And, after all, this is by no
means to be wondered at, with human
nature as it is, and with God's grace work-
ing as it does. But it is an important aspect
of truth to be considered by one who would
give help to doubters.
It is true that it is easier to slip down
than to clamber up ; more inviting to enter
the broad and thronged road to death than
to walk in the less-trod narrow path that
leads to life. But one who continues to toil
upward may after a while find enjoyment in
61
Mow to 2>eal wttb Doubts
surmounting obstacles and breathing the
purer air of the loftier regions. And as
the years go on there is more true enjoy-
ment in the strait and narrow way of life
than in the broad and easy road of death.
These things are not, however, always
borne in mind by one who looks at a single
side of the case.
Probably the difficulty was more com-
mon in former days than in these; but
there are still manifestations of it among
believers. It is back of the idea of penance
and self-mortification. Many a man has
thought he had a better prospect of wear-
ing a white robe in the next life if he wore
a haircloth shirt in this. Scourging the
body with whips has often been undertaken
as a help to saving the soul. This has
been practiced not only among heathen
and idolaters, but among followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ in the later as well as
the earlier centuries.
Within my memory it was a prevalent
idea that there was a superior sanctity in
62
GroubleD 38ecau6e Enjoying <3oD's Service
a long face and a gloomy expression of
countenance. Cheerfulness in looks or in
voice was supposed to be at variance with
true religious devotion. If one would
rightly observe the Sabbath, he must avoid
giving positive evidence of enjoyment or
happiness between sundown on Saturday
evening and sundown on Sunday evening.
So far did this idea extend that many an
earnest Christian actually believed that true
enjoyment was inconsistent with a right
performance of religious duty. Not only
must a man do right whether he found it
easy or difficult, pleasant or disagreeable ;
but to find duty-doing easy and pleasant
was an indication of a wrong spirit, if,
indeed, it did not show that he had mis-
taken the path of duty.
As a practical consequence of this way
of looking at duty, many felt that to find
pleasure in God's service was to throw sus-
picion on the acts of service which could
cause pleasure rather than pain. Of two
lines of effort, one attractive and the other
63
Mow to Deal witb Boubte
repellent, the repellent one was thought to
be more likely than the other to be right,
because the human heart inclines to evil
rather than to good. It may seem strange
that any intelligent believer could have
reasoned in this way ; but that many have
thus reasoned cannot be denied. Hence in
this case, as in many another, it is the dutv
of one who would give help to the doubter
to perceive in what he is most unreason-
able, and to enable him to see its unreason-
able side.
I knew of one instance of this sort
which is illustrative of many others. A
prominent Christian worker had begun
very early in life to walk in the narrow
path, and to clamber toward the spiritual
heights. His time, all his powers, and his
every worldly possession, he counted as a
trust committed to his charge, to be used
in God's service. As the years went on he
came to find most enjoyment in doing what
he felt God would have him do. Nothing
else was to be compared with this, in his
64
troubled because JEnjoEfns <3oD'a Service
estimation. And this began to trouble
him. It was so at variance with much that
he heard from the pulpit and in the prayer-
meeting of his day, and that he read in the
current religious literature, that he ques-
tioned himself as to the possibility of his
being on the wrong track in life. As to
the fact that he really enjoyed life in his
present course he could have no ques-
tion. Where was the cause of trouble?
Coming to me, whom he knew inti-
mately, he stated the case somewhat in
this way:
" For years I have been in the habit of
giving systematically a regular portion of
my income. As God has prospered me in
business affairs, I have for some time had
quite ample means to dispose of, and I
have been enjoying this distribution. And
now the pleasure I find in it is seriously
troubling me."
" Have you been guided in your particu-
lar gifts by the enjoyment you would have,
or by your sense of duty?"
65
Mow to 2>eal wftb Doubts
" Of course I have tried to do my duty
in every instance of giving."
"What has been the nature of your spe-
cial gifts?"
" Besides my giving to causes presented
in our home church, I have helped persons
whom I knew to be in need. I have
helped widows and children who required
assistance. I have given or loaned money
to students struggling for an education."
" Have you sought prominence by the
size of your church donations ? "
" On the contrary, I have tried to avoid
that. If I desired to give more than usual
to a cause on our church list, I would give
about as much as would be expected of
me in the regular church collection. Then
I would send an extra sum anonymously
to the society direct. In such ways I have
tried to avoid prominence as a giver."
" How about the needy and worthy per-
sons helped by you ; have you given either
ostentatiously or recklessly ? "
" I have been as careful as possible about
66
troubles because Enjoying Go&'s Service
that. I have avoided prominence and any
show of generosity. I have taken the op-
portunity of quietly lending a hand, as it
were, to those who needed a helping hand.
In the case of young students, especially
those whom I knew desired to be in the
ministry, I have made a loan rather than a
gift, so that the student might be more
independent and self-respecting/'
" Do you think that your gifts have been
made for your own reputation or enjoy-
ment, or in the line of supposed duty and
at the call of God ? "
" Of course I have given in each case
as I thought was in the line of duty, and
where God would have me give. But I
am finding such enjoyment in thus giving
that it disturbs me. Where does the self-
denial come in? We are told to deny
ourselves."
" We have no right to give in order to
gratify self, or in order to secure selfish en-
joyment. But do you think there is any
merit in personal discomfort, or in doing
67
Mow to Deal witb Doubts
what we shrink from, or what we are re-
luctant to do ? "
" I confess that I have felt that the best
doing, and that reluctant doing, were likely
to go together, if, indeed, they were not
identical."
" If that is the way you look at it, and
there is any reason, or true ground, for
your feeling as you do, I think I can sug-
gest a cure for you, or can propose a plan
that will avoid your present trouble. Sup-
pose you try this method.
" When next you learn of a worthy poor
widow with children, whom you might be
inclined to help, just quietly refrain from
giving her of your means, and let her and
her little ones suffer. And when you know
of some struggling students who have hard
work to get on unaided, resolutely abstain
from doing as you have done hitherto, and
see that they have no help from you."
" Oh, I couldn't do that ! "
" But wouldn't it be harder and more
discomforting than if you gave ? "
68
GroubleD because Enjogtns (SoD's Service
" Of course it would.,,
"Well, there is where the self-denial
would come in, if the measure of discom-
fort is the true test of right."
" I don't really know that it is."
"Well, I don't even think that it is.
No, my friend, my idea is, that you'd bet-
ter do as God would have you do, whether
you like it or not, whether it is agreeable
or disagreeable. Why should you be
troubled while bearing Christ's yoke and
burden in his service, even if it proves, as
he promises, that his yoke is easy and his
burden is light ? "
" I don't suppose I should, as I now see
the matter."
And from seeing the matter in a new
light, that child of God lived for the rest
of his life having enjoyment, instead of
trouble and worry, in giving help to others
as God enabled him.
69
IX
Gonstfcerfng ©ur ©esires, instead
of (Bob's Xove
It is so much easier for us to feel the
force of what we wish in the light of our
present conditions and surroundings, than
it is for us to comprehend what God wills
in the light of His infinite knowledge and
boundless love. And it is natural for those
in the close limitations of humanity to be
correspondingly unreasonable. Most per-
sons are readier to judge God for his acts
as affecting their supposed interests than to
be judged by God for their actions as re-
lated to his disclosed purposes for their
true welfare.
I was hardly more than a boy when this
truth was first strongly impressed on me
by the course and words of a young father
whom I knew. The young man's wife was
a lovely Christian woman ; but he had never
70
©ur Desires, tnsteafc of (Soft's Xove
committed himself trustfully to God's guid-
ance. While reverent toward God in all
his outward acts, his position was rather
that of an outside observer of God and
God's children than of one who desired to
be one with them. When his first child
was born he was very happy. When that
child was taken sick he was very anxious.
Everything that medical skill and nursing
could do for the child's recovery was
secured. The father was even glad to
have the wife's pastor called in to pray for
the sick child's recovery. But when, after
all, the child was taken away by death,
the grief of the father was extreme; and
there was bitterness in that grief.
The father was now childless, — and this
by the act of God. Instead of being in any
sense submissive, the bereaved father
seemed actually angry at God. He did not
hesitate to say that it would have been a
small matter to God to spare that child,
and he had been asked to do so, and had
refused to grant the request. The loss of
7i
Mow to Deal witb Boubts
that child was a great thing to the father,
and God knew it would be so. And now
the father's feelings were well known to
God, and God could not expect to have the
bereaved father's support or approval
thenceforward while that father lived.
This determined attitude toward, or
against, God, greatly shocked my young
mind, as it was the first revelation to
me of such a state of mind in view of
God's providential dealings with the chil-
dren of men. Yet afterwards I found that
this instance was by no means an isolated
case. Again and again, as I came to be
more among men, I found this attitude of
the human mind existing; and I sought
to deal with it as it was, instead of wonder-
ing why it was so.
One afternoon I was asked, under pe-
culiar circumstances, to call on a young
mother who was ill and in trouble. I
was not acquainted with her, and I was
told that she did not wish to see me ; yet
the circumstances as told me were such
72
©ur Desires, instead of (SoS's ILove
that I felt it to be my duty to go with her
husband, as he told her story and made the
request for the visit. She had a bright
young son, who was for some years her
only child. She had wished he had been
a daughter. When, after some years, a
little daughter was born to her, she was
full of happiness and hope. But in a
few weeks the babe sickened and died.
Then she was inconsolable. Neither hus-
band nor son could give her comfort. She
had no peace or rest in a Saviour's love.
It was under these circumstances that I
had been asked to visit her, and that I
responded to the call.
She was unable to rise from her bed,
and as I, the caller, sat by her bedside, I
realized that I was unwelcome. Knowing
her husband and boy, I spoke of them,
and then said that I was sincerely sorry
to learn of her great loss. I told of my
own sorrow when a prisoner of war in a
South Carolina jail, and the first letter that
came to me through the lines by flag of
73
Mow to 5>eal witb 2)oubts
truce told of the death of my youngest
daughter. I couldn't go to the sorrow-
ing mother to try to comfort her; nor
could I even write to her except in a
brief letter which the prison authorities
must read before allowing it to pass.
"That was pretty trying, you will be-
lieve. So I know how to sympathize with
you," said I.
" Yes, that was hard," said the rebellious
mother. " But was she your only daugh-
ter?"
" No, I had two other daughters ; but
she was my loved baby daughter."
" But my baby was my only daughter,
so you see my trial is greater than yours.
You had your other daughters to love and
care for. I have none."
"Your case is a trying one," I said.
" But where do you think your dear baby
is now ? "
" In Heaven," she replied. Every stricken
mother is glad to believe that truth, how-
ever she may lack confidence in God's love.
74
©ur Desires, instead of 0oDrs Xove
" Do you suppose she is happy in
Heaven ? "
" 1 don't doubt she is."
" Do you think it tends to make your
dear baby happier, or gives her pain, to
know that you are grieving that God has
taken her to himself, and made her so
happy because he loves her and loves
you?"
At this question the young mother
turned on her bed with a start, and, look-
ing at me earnestly, said, " Do you sup-
pose that my baby now knows anything
about me and my feelings ? "
"Why shouldn't she?" I asked. "If
she is in Heaven, with all the enlarged pos-
sibilities of that state, loved of God and
loving God, why shouldn't she have an
interest in those whom God loves, and to
whom she is bound by precious and spirit-
ual ties ? "
At once the relations of myself and
the interested mother were on a different
plane. She was glad to think and talk
75
How to Deal wttb Doubts
about her little one, and its possible con-
dition in Heaven. The more we talked
the more comfort the mother found in
what she still had, in love and hope, with
her darling in God's presence. At the
thought that her dear little girl was simply
away from her for a season, having more
of happiness and profit than would have
been possible to her had she remained
here, the temporary separation could not
only be borne, but could be seen in a
bright light.
When I left, the mother who had had
no wish for my call asked me to come
again and continue the conversation. God
was seen in a new light when his love was
made prominent even in the event that had
seemed wholly dark before. I went to that
home again and again, and the mother and
the father of the little one in Heaven were
glad to draw nearer to Him with whom
their darling was forever in joy. Together
they soon stood up in the same church
fold and confessed the Saviour of their little
76
©ur Weeitce, instead of ©oD's love
one as their Saviour. How much differ-
ence it makes when we look at God's provi-
dence in the light of his boundless love,
instead of in the light of our poorly in-
formed personal desires !
The mistake which that bereaved mother
made in thinking of her baby daughter
who had been taken from her when she
longed to have her grow up in her earthly
home, is made by many another person
who prefers to look at every trying provi-
dence in the light of one's personal wishes,
instead of in the light of God's bound-
less and all-seeing love. How common
it is to want to have God consider us as
the center around which the universe re-
volves, instead of our thinking of God as
the center whose love and dealings we
should look to as indicating our duty and
privileges ! Ourselves first, God as con-
forming to our wishes ; that is the way we
would have things.
A Christian woman, who was active
and useful in Christ's service, had a loved
77
Mow to Deal wttb Doubts
home where were a godly father and a
saintly mother. The years passed on, and
precious memories accumulated in that
home. The present was so delightful, and
the past was so sacred, that there seemed
no place for thought of, or longings for,
anything better, or even anything as good,
yet to come. Continuance, not change,
was desired. But in ripe old age father
and mother passed out of that home into
endless rest. The devoted daughter in
maturity of years was called to a new life
for which she had not made full prepa-
ration. She missed those to whose com-
panionship she had been accustomed all
her life long. This change was a shock to
her that seemed to break her down, and
to destroy her faith and her present enjoy-
ment
It mattered not in this case that the
event was one which should have been
looked for in the ordinary course of nature.
Reason as well as faith is likely to be lost
sight of by one who is inclined to complain
78
©ur Desires, fnsteaD of (Sob's Xcwe
of God and God's dealings. Self was the
center of thought in this case as in many
another. No way of looking at it seemed
to lessen the trial of one who would have
God plan and perform for the personal ease
and enjoyment of the complainer. Con-
tentment was out of the question; even
resignation or submission had no place in
mind or heart. The stricken one ceased to
pray. Intercourse seemed to be cut off
with God, since he had ceased to shape his
doings according to her personal longings.
As I had long known this home and
all its inmates, I earnestly sought to give
sympathy and help in this time of need.
But as I talked I found that the main
thought then was of the home life inter-
rupted, when God knew that the desire
was to have it continued. Then I sought
to turn the thought to the new happi-
ness of the parents, taken from all the
trials and toils of earth, and of our reason
for thankfulness that they were such gain-
ers, although we had some trials in con-
79
Mow to 2)eal witb 5>oubte
nection with this providence. Thus an-
other phase of persistent doubting showed
itself. This was suggestive.
" Do you doubt that your parents are hap-
pier now than they could be here? " I asked.
" No, I do not ; but they would have re-
mained here longer if the choice had been
given them, and they knew it would make
me unhappy to live without them."
" If they look down on you now in your
complaining spirit, do you suppose that
they would be glad, or sorry, that you feel
as you do ? "
" I know they would be sorry."
" Ought you to be willing to make them
sorry ? or ought you to do what you can to
increase their joy ? "
"They understand me well enough to
know that I couldn't feel otherwise."
Seeing this persistent way of looking at
the one side of the case, and knowing of
the complaining, rebellious, and prayerless
course of the mourner, I held up another
thought to be considered.
80
©ur JDemce, insteaD of (Sofc's Xove
" If God were to take you from this life,
wouldn't you like to join your parents in
God's presence, and be with them ever-
more ?"
" Of course I would."
"Are you in a state to do so now?"
" I know they'd be glad to welcome me."
" Yes ; but they do not open or close the
doors of Heaven to any soul. That is God's
work. Are you not now opposing God,
complaining of God, defying God ? Why
should God take you where your parents
are, when you feel toward God as you say
you do?"
That was a new thought to the com-
plaining doubter. Thinking of it a few
minutes she inquired :
" How can I feel differently ? "
"Admit that God has been doing the
best he could do, even if he has done dif-
ferently from what you would have pre-
ferred or advised. Remember that God
has some rights as well as some power,
and, if you cannot pray to him gratefully,
81
Wow to Deal witb Doubts
at least go to him submissively, and tell
him that you want to conform yourself to
his known will, and to come into a state
that will fit you to be like your parents as
you knew them while they were here, and
as he knows them where they now are.
" Such a course, you may be sure, would
be approved by your parents, whom you
say you do love, and by God, whom they
love, and whom you ought to love more
than you do. Any other course is an-
tagonism to your father and mother, and to
their and your God."
After talking this view of the case over,
it was admitted that it was a proper view.
And when once the thoughts were turned
from self as the center to God as the only
true center, it was a simple matter to learn
that light is better than darkness, love is
better than discord, right is better than
wrong ; and that what we ought to do is
better than what we are sometimes tempted
to do.
82
Us Xacft of TObt Reeling a Barrier
to IRiQbt Hction?
Men who know their duty, and who fail
to do it, often console themselves with the
idea that they will at least not claim to be
on the right side when they are not there
in reality. They think that right feeling
is more important than right action, and if
they do not have the first, it is only an
added evil for them to attempt the second.
They make the great mistake of supposing
that hypocrisy is somehow worse than
bare-faced, defiant villainy; that, unless
one really is in all things on the right side,
it is wrong for him to express any sym-
pathy with those who are there.
It is a man's duty to show approval of,
and sympathy with, the right, even if he be
not ready to act always on that side. The
other view of the case is, indeed, the mistake
83
Mow to Deal wttb Doubts
of many a person who has been led astray
in his conduct, while his inner life and heart
impulses are in the direction of the right.
A young man who had been well trained
at home, and who had enjoyed himself in
Christian life and its activities, was for a
time in " border life," under evil influences
in a community of reckless wrong-doers.
He yielded to his surroundings, and went
sadly astray. Then he was again in the
society of Christian people, where religious
life was prominent and, in a sense, popular.
The young man was naturally drawn to-
wards this better life, so like that in which
he had been brought up and in which he
knew he should be happier. Yet he said
to himself, when he saw the church-goers
leaving their homes and going to the house
of prayer, and was inclined to join them:
" No; I know I've gone sadly astray, but
I'm not yet a hypocrite. If I should go to
church as if I were a church-going man, it
would seem as if I wanted to pass myself
off as a well-doer, — which I know I am not.
84
IRtQbt Jfeeltna a Harriet to IRiQbt action!
I must first get myself right, so that I feel
right ; then it will be time enough for me
to act as if I were right."
So that young man, who had been
trained to both feel right and do right,
deliberately postponed doing what he ad-
mitted was in the line of right-doing be-
cause he had not yet resolved to do right
and feel right in all things. His clear duty
to act as if he approved of right-doing was
neglected, while he hoped that, sometime,
he would do right. And in this he made
a sad mistake.
His mistake in this one thing at this
testing-time led to similar mistakes on his
part in many another thing. Even when
he had broken away from the evil in-
fluences which led him into more flagrant
acts of wrong-doing, and sought to con-
form himself to the limits of well-doing in
outer conduct, he still thought that it was
not right to go to the communion service,
or to a prayer-meeting, or to have a part in
any religious gathering, while his feelings
85
Wow to Deal witb 5)oubts
were not as they should be. He made his
personal feelings on the subject the test
of his duty to begin with, rather than his
consciousness of the right, in view of God's
commands and his providential surround-
ings in the church and the community.
Then it was that I sought to show him
his error in giving such prominence to feel-
ing rather than conduct in his course of
life. As I talked with him on this subject,
I asked the young man :
" Did you never feel very angry with
somebody who had wronged you — so
angry that, at the time, you were inclined
to injure your opponent by harming him
or by destroying his property ? "
" Oh, I have felt so at times ! "
" What was the right course for you to
pursue — to do what you knew to be right, or
to do what you felt at the time like doing?''
" Of course, I ought to have done right,
however I felt."
"Then your feelings were not a safe
guide for your action at such time?"
86
IRigbt JFeeling a Harriet to IRiflbt action!
" Certainly not my feelings for the time.*'
" All feelings are for the time. Feelings,
which are liable to change, are one thing.
Convictions, which are not fleeting and
temporary, are another thing."
At another time I asked the young man :
" Suppose you were started up from a
sound sleep in the middle of the night by
a consciousness of a fire in the house, that
was liable to destroy the building or to
cost precious lives, what would be your
first feeling ? "
" I might be tempted to go to sleep
again, or not to heed the first call, for I'm
a sound sleeper."
" Which course would be the right one
for you to pursue — ought you to yield to
your feelings, or to go against them at the
cost of comfort or personal safety ? "
" I ought to get up, of course, whether
I felt like it or not."
" I knew you would think so, and in the
end you would feel so."
And so in other illustrations :
87
Wow to 2>eal witb JDoubte
" In case of a public election, what ought
to be your guide of duty, — your personal
feelings on the subject, or your conscious-
ness of the way the result would affect the
community ?"
" I ought to act in view of the conse-
quences to others.,,
" If a church meeting were to be held for
the calling of a pastor, or for the taking of
action on a new mission about to be started,
and you had a vote, ought you to exercise
your right of voting, even though you had
been shrinking from seeming to assume a
right Christian spirit ? "
" Claiming a legal right to vote, even in
the church, is different from claiming to
have a proper spirit when going to the
communion table, or attending a prayer-
meeting."
" Feeling right is your duty ; but acting
right is also your duty. If you cannot do
both, you should do that which you can
do. In the long run you are more likely
to feel right by doing right, whether you
l?fgbt jfeellng a SSarrter to IRtcjbt Action?
like it or not, than by neglecting your
known duty until you may feel like do-
ing it."
" I think you are right about that. I
know that when I kept away from church,
out on the border, I used to feel that I was
losing ground as I saw the people going
by me to the church while I was waiting
to feel right. I was losing in right feeling
all the time. I am glad to have had this
talk on the subject. I think it would be
better to do one's duty, however one feels
about it"
Feeling right is a duty, and it ought to
be attended to. But doing right is also a
duty, and it has a constant claim on one,
even if for the time the feelings and im-
pulses run in the other direction. A man
ought to feel kindly toward those whom
he meets and with whom he speaks. But,
if he cannot feel kindly, he ought at least
to look and speak kindly without reference
to his feelings. A man who fails to act on
this principle makes a sad mistake.
89
XI
TEroublefc Because ffin&tno IQo
Enjoyment in prater
An active, earnest, devoted Christian
worker was disturbed because she did not
always find enjoyment in prayer. She did
not intermit nor neglect prayer ; hence her
state of feeling, or of her lack of feeling,
was not a result of her failure to be regular
and faithful in her attention to this duty.
But when the hour for prayer came she did
not always heartily welcome it, nor regularly
and really enjoy its privileges. This was a
cause of grief to her, and she sincerely
sought to find the reason for this, and to
learn what it indicated. She asked herself,
" Is this a proof of my spiritual decline ?
Ought I not to be at all times in such an
attitude of spirit that it would be, not only
my duty and privilege, but an occasion of
conscious enjoyment to me, to go to my
90
ffinDtuG Hlo Enjoyment in prater
Father and tell him of my needs and de-
sires, and confidently to ask his sympathy
and help ? Would not this be the case if
I realized my duties and necessities as they
are, and my Father's love as it is ? "
In her perplexity of mind over this mat-
ter, the disciple came with her trouble to
me for judgment and counsel, and, stating
the case to me, she asked me to tell her
frankly if the lack was in her spiritual con-
dition, and, if so, how it was to be reme-
died. I, knowing her earnestness of Chris-
tian character, and seeing her trouble as it
was, said to her :
" According to your own statement of
the case, your trouble is a physical one.
You say you do not have enough of physi-
cal feeling about the matter, although you
have not changed your opinions about
your duty or privilege. The lack you
lament is a lack of physical emotion or
sensitiveness."
" No, it is not a lack of physical sensi-
bility that I lament ; it is spiritual sensi-
9i
Wow to Deal wttb Doubts
tiveness that I should have in this matter.
Prayer is a spiritual exercise."
" Yes, but you are still in the body, and
fatigue, exhaustion, and other conditions of
the body, affect the spirit within the body.
Being faithful and persistent in prayer is
one thing, having enjoyment in that exer-
cise is another thing. One shows the spir-
itual state, the other shows the physical
condition. When Jesus was in Gethsem-
ane, he asked his chosen disciples to watch
with him while he prayed. But they fell
asleep, and that more than once. Yet
Jesus did not count John as lacking in love
for him. He saw that what might seem to
be a lowered spiritual tone was really an
exhausted physical condition, and he said,
* The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh
is weak/ While we are in the flesh, the
conditions of the spirit are affected by the
conditions and surroundings of the flesh.
Yet the spirit is lovingly considered by Him
who knows us as we are. He sees it as it
is rather than as it seems. And we must
92
jftnDfns Hlo 3£njoEment tn ipraget
try to look at ourselves according to the
same standard."
The one whose mind was troubled be-
cause of her lack of enjoyment in prayer
seemed to gain from this view of the case.
As other believers have been similarly
troubled, there may be a gain through its
further considering.
Enjoyment, or a sense of enjoyment, is
largely dependent on one's physical condi-
tion. We cannot have a sense, or a con-
sciousness, of positive enjoyment while in
excruciating pain, nor while in utter exhaus-
tion, and unable to frame words or to think
consecutively. Yet even at such times
one's spirit can be just as truly faithful and
devoted and loving as at any other time.
One may be in spirit at such times as truly
a good father or mother, or as loving a
brother or sister or child, or as devoted a
friend, or as self-sacrificing a patriot, or as
consecrated a missionary, as while thrilling
in every nerve with keenest enjoyment of
the sacred privileges of the relation in which
93
IHow to Deal witb S)oubte
he or she is honored. The spirit of the
relation is one thing, the sense or con-
scious feeling of enjoyment in that relation
is quite another thing.
This applies to all spheres and practices
in human life. Even in the primal and
fundamental necessity of, and desire for,
food and drink, it is much as it is in the
higher and more ethereal cravings of our
nature, — as for human affection and for
human approval. So soon as a child comes
to life, it comes to a craving for nourish-
ment. It must have nourishment because
it lives, and if it would continue to live.
An enjoyment in having this craving metis
as natural to a normal child as is the crav-
ing itself. And so on as one grows from
childhood to maturity. But it is often the
case that one comes to lack the conscious
desire for food, or the conscious enjoyment
in the meeting or satisfying of this desire.
Yet this lack of conscious desire or of en-
joyment is wholly physical, and in no sense
spiritual. While I was in full health and
94
aftnDing Hlo Enjoyment in prater
vigor, I had, long years ago, through my
army experience, and by my prolonged
travel in desert and woods, come to do
without a craving for food at regular times.
In consequence, I could go all day without
a sense of special desire for food. Yet I
had the need of, apart from the desire for,
nourishment. I would grow steadily weak
from my lack, even while my long training
had overcome my sense of desire for food
at regular intervals. I could, in fact, starve
to death without being hungry. Yet I was
watchful of my needs and duty, and I took
nourishment regularly at specified times.
My lack of desire was a physical lack ; but
my having a care to take needful food regu-
larly, and my gratitude for this privilege,
evidenced so far my good spiritual condition.
So, again, a loving Christian worker
whom I knew, whose whole time was given
to Christ, was by disease incapacitated from
enjoyment in partaking of food. Each day
his taking of the needful supply was a season
of intense pain. He shrank from it ; he suf-
95
IHow to 2>eat wttb Doubts
fered during it ; it was to him only an occa-
sion of unnatural effort. Yet he persevered
through all, and this that he might have a
little more physical strength for added
spiritual work for his Master and for his
dear ones. Rarely have I known one who
showed such high spiritual devotion, in
taking needful physical food without any
resultant or incidental enjoyment in connec-
tion with it, as this noble sufferer. And
he was but an illustration of the complete
separation of duty-doing as a spiritual exer-
cise, and of physical enjoyment in connec-
tion with that exercise.
Similarly in the matter of taking needful
physical exercise in the open air. A will-
ingness to perform the duty is one thing,
finding enjoyment in that duty is another
thing. The two things should not be con-
founded. A man who in his normal con-
dition was peculiarly active, and seemed to
enjoy exercise, had been so weakened by
an extended illness that in his convales-
cence he found most pleasure in indoor
96
jflnDtng Hlo Enjoyment in ©ta^ct
occupations. His physician then directed
him to take exercise out of doors.
" But, doctor, I have no desire to go
out," said the patient. " My enjoyment is
found in my room. I have lost my old
pleasure in being in the open air."
" It is not a question as to what you en-
joy or desire," said the wise physician ; " I
want you to go out because I think it is
best for you. You should make the effort
for your own good, even if it is an unpleas-
ant effort to you."
And that case is an illustration of many
cases in life as life is. The doing of duty is
one thing, finding enjoyment while doing
one's duty is quite another thing. Doing
as duty what one cannot find enjoyment in
doing is often a test of manhood, and is
sometimes an evidence of sainthood. In
one's school studies, and in one's maturest
exercise of high scholarship, it is often
necessary to pore over books that one can
find no enjoyment in. Much of our social
intercourse has to be with persons in whom
97
Mow to Deal witb 2>oubts
we can find no enjoyment. Indeed, it is
oftener our duty to do that which we do
not find pleasure in than that which is in
itself to our liking. This being the case,
our true attitude of spirit is better shown
by our perseverance in duty-doing while
we lack enjoyment or a sense of pleasure
in a given occupation, than in our doing of
that in which we find the highest enjoy-
ment.
It is true that, if we persevere in right-
doing while we have no pleasure or en-
joyment in it, we may come to find added
enjoyment in that very occupation. But
that is a result and reward of doing our duty
while we found no pleasure in such doing.
We should not be disturbed because we do
not have the full result of our best duty-
doing at the beginning, or all the way along
in our progress.
98
XII
TUnaMe to Relieve in fllltracles
As a general thing, a man who says he
does not believe in miracles has no well de-
fined idea of what he is talking about. He
does not know just what he does believe,
or just what he does not believe, in that
sphere. Ordinarily he is simply express-
ing an inclination to doubt something that
he does not understand, without having
fixed in his own mind the limits of the be-
lief or of the unbelief he is talking about.
Many a Bible reader of to-day seems to be
as poorly informed in this matter as Bishop
Colenso or as Ernest Renan, both of whom,
in their books of unbelief, made blunders
in referring to the claims and statements of
the Bible text that would be unworthy of
the average pupil in the junior department
of a well-conducted Sunday-school. To
say that one does not believe in miracles is
Mow to Deal witb Doubts
to suggest that the doubter lacks an under-
standing of himself, and of what he is talk-
ing about.
One of these doubters said to me as a
probable believer :
"I value the Bible for the truths it
teaches, and for its wise counsel as to im-
portant duties. But I am free to say that
I do not believe in the Bible stories of
miracles. I count those as Oriental fic-
tions, not to be taken as reasonable fact."
" Do you refer to any particular narra-
tion in the Bible as incredible, or are you
making a general statement?"
" I mean that I do not believe in such a
thing as a miracle. I believe that all things
are within the course of the known laws of
nature. Any event claimed as outside of
the laws of nature is not to be accepted as
true. I cannot believe it."
" Then you do not believe in any future
state — any continued existence after this
life?"
" Yes, I do believe in that as probable,
ioo
THnable to aselteve in miracles
although yet unproved. But that is in an-
other realm than this. In another life the
laws of nature as we now understand them
may not limit all possibilities.,,
"Then you are willing to admit that
there may be in the universe possibilities
beyond what we now call the laws of
nature ? But you are confident that God
never permitted any child of his, whether
Moses, or Joshua, or Elisha, or even Jesus,
to exert any power in God's service except
within the limits of nature's forces as we
perceive them. Is that what I understand
to be your claim ?"
" In a sense, that is what I believe."
" Is it not possible that some of God's
servants of old were familiar with, or were
directed to act in accordance with, the
workings of natural forces, in ways that
seemed wonderful or more than natural to
observers of then, yet which are well un-
derstood to-day in the light of modern re-
search and of scientific discoveries? For
example, the crossing of the Red Sea by
IOI
IHow to Deal witb Doubts
the Israelites ; the overthrow of the walls
of Jericho by the marching host ; the going
forward or backward of the shadow on the
dial in the days of Hezekiah — as explained
by Professor R. A. Proctor; and various
other Bible wonders."
" Of course, I am ready to admit that
any event called a miracle in the Bible
that is shown in the light of modern dis-
covery to have been within the scope of the
laws of nature can be accepted as true.
But those are exceptional cases. What I
disbelieve are the unnatural or supernatural
miracles, of which there are so many in the
Bible narrative."
"Yet all these miracles which are ex-
plained to us by modern science had their
supernatural side or phase shown in the
Divine directions or interposition given as
to time or place, which unaided men could
not have known about."
" I believe that God often gives to a child
of his a prompting or guidance that may
affect his most important interests. Yet
102
TUnable to Relieve fn miracles
these are always in the line of the laws or
forces of nature."
" Yes, the Bible miracles differ from
other Oriental wonders in that the latter are
unnatural, while the former are simply
supernatural, — directed from above nature.
It is in this that the Bible miracles are
wholly unlike such stories as those in the
Arabian Nights and other Oriental works.
The Bible miracles are never unnatural, or
anti-natural, while they evidence a super-
natural power, — a power above nature."
"But I do not think that there is any
place for a special ' miracle ' in our present
sphere, when God's ordinary laws are
operative under his control, and in accord-
ance with his plans."
"Are you sure you know what you mean
when you say 'miracle'? At least three
different Hebrew and two Greek words
are in the common version of the Bible
translated 'miracle/ These words mean
severally ' a wonder/ ' something wonder-
ful/ 'an act of power/ 'a sign/ Do you
103
IHow to Deal wttb Doubts
deny or doubt that Moses or Joshua or
Elijah, or that Jesus, in some cases per-
formed wonders, or did acts of power, or
wrought what were signs or tokens of their
representative character or mission ? "
" Of course I do not. I have never
doubted that."
" Then you do not mean that you deny
or doubt ail ' miracles' in the strictest
meaning of the words thus translated in
the Bible?"
" I admit that there is an ambiguity as
to the meaning of the word ' miracle/ as
ordinarily used."
" Yes, it is evident that you, like a great
many other doubters, including Bishop
Colenso and Ernest Renan, and even men
who are called scholars and thinkers, and
who would not want to be called culpably
careless or ignorant as writers or speakers,
have used pivotal words with reference to
important truths that do not mean, or even
fairly indicate, your views or position as to
Bible truth."
104
Tunable to ffielfeve in miracles
" But I used the English word ' miracle ;'
and I intended it to be understood in the
sense in which that word is commonly, or
popularly, used. I do not believe in mira-
cles in the sense of something not to be
accounted for in the ordinary or established
workings of the course of nature, and
claimed to be wrought by the direct exer-
cise or intervention of divine power. Such
miracles I cannot believe in, even if they
are recorded in the Bible.,,
" Yet you have said that events recorded
in the Bible, which seemed at the time to
be miraculous, and which in the light of
then you could not have believed, have, in
the progress of human knowledge, been
shown to be wholly credible. That you
still admit."
" Of course I do. I deny the claim of
events that are not to be accounted for
except by a direct interposition of divine
power, and that obviously are not within
the established order of nature. Those I
cannot accept."
105
Wow to Deal wttb Doubts
" If it had been said a few years ago that
one man had communicated with another
at a distance on or over the ocean without
a connecting wire or cable, would that
have been counted a miracle ? "
"With our knowledge of then, we should
have been likely to say that it was claim-
ing miraculous power, and the fact might
have been doubted by one who had not
positive evidence of it."
" But in our day one has no hesitation
in believing it."
" Of course not."
" Is your claim, then, that your belief as
to miracles is contingent on your measure
of personal knowledge, or on evidence that
is satisfactory to yourself, with an explana-
tion that will convince you as to the forces
of nature newly brought in play ? In other
words, that your measure of belief* in the
miraculous is a sliding scale, which de-
pends on your growing progress in ma-
terial knowledge ? Must you be prepared
by intellectual attainments for any fresh
106
Tunable to JBelicve in miracles
disclosure of God's goodness or power
before you can accept as true what is
claimed by others as a result of science
or as an act of God's love and power ? "
"I am -glad to believe that I am con-
stantly making progress in knowledge and
faith. I see, in these days, the reasonable-
ness of many things that our fathers spoke
of as miraculous!'
" You admit, then, that your doubt about
miracles is more indefinite, less surely lim-
ited, than you counted it in the beginning
of our conversation; that it has changed
from time to time in the past ; and that it
is still liable to change in certain undis-
closed particulars.,,
" Strictly speaking, that may be so as to
my use of the word. But I say confidently
that God's course in nature is established ;
that God does not interpose his special
power for the benefit of one of his chil-
dren in the manner suggested by the
word 'miracle/ or ' miraculous/ In other
words, I do not believe in special or par-
107
Wow to Deal witb ©oubte
ticular providences as often claimed and
pressed."
" It seems unnecessary for us to discuss
this question any farther. It is pleasant to
know that you believe as much as you do
in God's love and power as back of all
the workings of what we call the estab-
lished or ordinary forces of nature. Your
present doubt seems to be one of faith and
its direction, rather than as to the miracu-
lous in the sphere of human activities. As
to that, we differ widely. Not wishing to
discuss it, I desire to state my own belief
on the subject, and to leave that before
you as my testimony as to what God is to
me, and what he is ready to be to whoever
trusts him.
"With God there is neither great nor
small. His providences, as affecting us,
are both general and particular. In him
we live, and move, and have our being.
We are as dependent on the exercise of
God's personal power for the next breath
we draw as are the stars in the courses
1 08
Tunable to JSelieve in ttlitacles
dependent on his keeping in play the great
forces of the universe. In the Bible, which
tells of these " miracles " in the line of God's
plans for his children, God invites us to
tell him of our needs, and to trust him
for their full supply. Myriads of trusting
souls have turned to him in their time of
need, and have had those promises more
than made good to them. Of course, God ] r
employs the forces of the universe when )
he would answer the prayers of a child of
his who in faith asks for help. But God
is not limited to the self-action of those
forces. God has at least as much power
of direction as a telephone operator when
he uses the force of electricity in sending a
message to an apothecary for a vial of
spirits of ammonia for a person who feels
faint. God can act in particular cases as
well as in sweeping generalities. He has
more love and power than has a telegraph
operator or an electrician.
" Personally, I will say gratefully, that,
for more than half a century of experience
109
Wow to Deal wttb Doubts
in the Christian life, I have lived in confi-
dence in those specific promises, and God
has never failed me. More surely than the
most devoted father, the tenderest mother,
the wisest physician, God has ministered
to me in supplying me with specific direc-
tions, often including detailed counsel, not
to be accounted for by any known law of
nature, — directions including my personal
actions and the course of others, affecting
my life, my health, my business affairs, the
interests of the community. These were
not merely remarkable occurrences; they
were miracles, events out of the known
order, and wrought by the intervention of
divine power. As to the continuance of
this mode of life I have no doubt, while
God continues to be God, and his children
continue to need and to trust him. Does
this sound ' miraculous ' ? I think so."
no
XIII
Slot Believing in Ens Spiritual
Existence
Unbelief, or non-faith, is more or less
sweeping according as a man knows too
much or too little to rest on and to enjoy
God's disclosure of his love and wisdom as
he shows himself in the universe and as he
has revealed himself in his Word. More
careful thinkers draw a clear distinction
between an infidel, a deist, an atheist, a
materialist, and a modern science-proud
" agnostic," or confessed " know-nothing "
in the realm of the greatest certitudes. Or-
dinary unbelievers or non-believers con-
tent themselves with asserting that they do
not believe much of anything, without be-
ing sure in their own minds what they are
talking about, or thinking about, in the
larger realm. Each sort of denier or of
doubter has to be dealt with as he shows
in
How to Deal witb 2>oubt6
himself, without considering him as one of
a class.
Once, while a regimental chaplain, I sat
in a field hospital, talking with a couple
of wounded officers. Sitting on the edge
of the next cot to them was another
wounded officer, talking with a friend.
As his back was turned to me, he did
not know that his words were being heard
by me. Speaking of the dangers of battle,
he said confidently:
"I can't die but once, and when I die
that's the end of me. All this talk about a
life after death is sheer nonsense. There's
nothing of me but what you see here. The
idea of a spirit existence is absurd."
The two young officers with whom I
was talking, hearing this remark, looked at
each other and at me, as if wondering what
I would say. I simply shook my head
sadly, and said as if I meant it:
"The captain says there's no more to
him when he dies than there is to a used-
up mule or a dead hog. He ought to
112
Slot Relieving in Bng Spiritual iEitetence
know himself better than we do. I don't
know where we could begin an argument
to show he is mistaken. You and I know
that there's something more than that to
us ; and we thank God that there is."
The argument of the instinctive self-
consciousness of an immortal spirit showed
itself in the recoil of those officers from the
thought of the captain's gross materialism.
They fairly shuddered with disgust. One
of them exclaimed :
" What a thought that is ! "
The other responded :
" If the captain should hear that, I think
he'd be ashamed that he ever said what he
did."
And the way was thus opened for an
earnest talk between myself and the two
officers on the truth which their own inner
consciousness made evident, that a man's
spirit, as apart from his body and mind,
distinguishes him from the brute creation
more than does the outer form.
A man who was exceptionally intelli-
113
Wow to Deal witb Doubts
gent and thoughtful, a university graduate,
said honestly that he could find no evi-
dence of the existence of God. He would
be glad to be convinced to the contrary,
but all his reading and searching were of
no avail. He was asked :
" Are not the evidences of God's exist-
ence to be seen on every side in the uni-
verse ? Is not our very confidence in the
courses of nature, in the changes of the
seasons, in the laws of growth and decay,
and in all that we have, or can have, or
can hope for, an evidence and a proof that
all is ordered and controlled by a Supreme
Intelligence or Almighty God ? "
" Oh ! I believe that we are affected by,
and are subject to, the courses and the laws
of nature. No intelligent person can doubt
that."
" How can you have any confidence that
the same system will prevail in nature year
by year and age by age, unless you believe
that an Intelligent and Omnipotent God is
over all ? John Stuart Mill, who began
114
Jlot ^Believing in Hn£ Spiritual Existence
his studies as an atheist, admitted that the
very term ' laws of nature ' presupposes a
God over nature. There can be no law
without a lawgiver. Both making and
enforcing laws require knowledge and
power — or Almighty God."
" That is an anthropomorphic idea. You
seem to think that the controlling force or
forces in the universe must be a person or an
individual, like a mammoth man which you
call God, but which I speak of impersonally
as Nature. That is the difference between us."
" Then you do not see any signs or evi-
dence of a Supreme Person or God in the
universe, who is over all, and who has an
interest in all existing creatures ? You see
no proof of this ? "
" I do not. I should be glad if I could,
but I do not."
" Does not this show you to be excep-
tional ? Are you, in this, exceptionally
strong, or exceptionally weak ? Is it be-
cause you are above, or below, others in
your spiritual perceptions ? "
115
Wow to Beal witb ©oubte
" I certainly do not claim that it is a
proof of my superiority; yet I do not
think that it is, in itself, an evidence of my
mental lack. I know that some of the
world's superior thinkers, and men of un-
questioned ability and character, have been
unable to perceive proofs of the existence
of a God. I simply confess that I am of
this number. I do not perceive the proofs
of the existence of God, while I would be
glad to be thus convinced."
"As something to aid you in deciding
whether your failure to perceive evidences
of God in nature and above nature is a sign
of your progress or of your backwardness,
have you considered whether the world,
in its advances, is toward fuller faith or
freer doubt?"
" I suppose that as the world progresses
men are less likely to accept without good
reason many of the beliefs of their an-
cestors as to the unseen and unknown
world ? In view of that truth, I suppose it
would hardly be claimed that it shows a
116
Hot Relieving in Bns Spiritual Existence
lack of intelligence to wait for evidence of
the existence of spiritual beings in another
sphere, and of an Almighty God above all."
" Is not the belief in a spiritual being, or
in spiritual beings, which are above and
beyond sight and sense, as general in our
race as the belief in those things that are
disclosed to us by our senses?"
" I would hardly admit that. While
mankind generally inclines to the idea that
there are spirits unseen to be placated or
invoked, there have always been those
among the more intelligent of our race who
would not admit that the fancies of super-
stition, or the proposal to solve in a certain
way the mysteries of the unseen and un-
known spheres, were to be accepted as
satisfactory."
" Similarly there have always been indi-
viduals who were lacking in more or less
of the five senses which we deem essential
to highest efficiency in our natural life. But
even though one like Helen Keller gives
proof of high capabilities while deaf and
117
Wow to Deal witb Doubt*
blind, this hardly proves that those persons
are mistaken who have and use their eyes
and ears.
" Look at the record of our race in the
matter of recognizing the existence and
personality of an Almighty God. There
has never been a people in any age, or in
any land, so advanced, or reaching so su-
perior a plane in intellect and learning, as
not to have had its best and wisest men
such believers. Thus with Egypt in its
glory, with Babylon in its pride, with
Greece in its palmiest days; with Rome,
and Arabia, and India, and with other
of the mightier peoples of earth. So it
has been with peoples of the least civiliza-
tion and culture. No people has been
found so low, or so lacking, as to be with-
out a prevailing belief in God or gods.
So we can say that this belief is as wide-
spread among men as is the use of the
five senses."
"But has not non-belief, or doubt, or
agnosticism, among those of the highest
118
Hot JSetieving in ang Spiritual Existence
intelligence, including some of the foremost
thinkers and students in the world, in-
creased, in these later years, with the prog-
ress of the race ? "
" Such superior persons as you speak of
who are doubters, or agnostics, are still as
exceptional as the deaf and blind Helen
Kellers of our day. Over against them are
those of firm belief and of reverent faith,
the equals of, if not superiors to, and in
numbers far exceeding, the doubters and
agnostics. At the close of the nineteenth
century a larger proportion of the scholars
and thinkers and wise men of the world
than at the close of any former century in
history were firm believers in Almighty God,
and were rejoicing in their belief. These
men, who now include eminent scholars,
great thinkers, foremost scientists, are men
influential among their fellows. Some of
these were for years agnostics, but have
passed through to a higher plane and
stage.
" For myself, I can testify to the knowi-
ng
THow to Deal wttb Doubts
edge of, and to the loving help from, God
day by day and from year to year, for
nearly half a century. And in this I am
by no means unique or exceptional ; thou-
sands upon thousands can testify similarly,
and their numbers are increasing, both
actually and relatively, with the progress
of knowledge and science in the world.
To me God has long been more real than
ever was my devoted mother, and readier
to give me help in little matters and in
great. No pastor, or physician, or wise
teacher, has been so sure a guide in any
special sphere as the Almighty God — my
spiritual Father and Great Physician and
ever-present Helper — has ever been ready to
prove himself in my need and faith. The
truth is not a matter of spiritual belief. It
is the realest and most practical truth of my
every-day life/'
" In your experience and conviction you
are certainly to be envied. I wish I had
such faith."
" Why, then, do you not have it ? God
1 20
Hot Relieving in Sn£ Spiritual Existence
is ready to give it to you, if you will ask
it, — if you will take it."
" But I lack the belief, or the evidences
that give belief, that such an experience is
possible to me."
" You remember, perhaps, the story of
the atheist, who, turning doubtfully toward
the light, dropped on his knees, and cried
out in prayer : " O God, if there be a God,
save my soul, if IVe got a soul ! " Such a
prayer God will welcome from one who
comes unable to pray more confidently, but
who is ready to receive added light as it is
given to him. Are you willing to kneel
with me now in prayer, while I ask help
from God for you in fresh spiritual knowl-
edge ? "
" I am, even though it be in doubt."
We two knelt side by side. With my
arm about my friend, I talked with God as
one who knew God and trusted him fully.
I spoke of my companion and his need,
and asked help for him as God saw that
need and could relieve it. Then I asked
121
Wow to Deal witb Doubts
my doubting companion to speak to God
for himself, and tell him not what he doubted
about, but what he would like to attain to or
to receive. The feeble cry of the doubter
went up to God ; it was heard ; it was heeded.
And that was the beginning of a new day
to that darkened soul. The light that then
faintly dawned shone more and more unto
the perfect, or complete, day. He who had
before had doubts as to the very existence
of God, came to be not only a firm believer
himself, but he grew to have power in
bringing others into the full light and joy
of God's service and favor. God is ever
ready to work wonders for and with those
who come to him in need and desire.
122
XIV
Inconsistency of Cbristian
2>oubters
A strange tendency of the human mind
is to accept readily much that might seem
most wonderful and contrary to all reason,
while at the same time rejecting as un-
worthy of belief, or at all events seriously
doubting, what is far less wonderful, and
what is not at variance with the dictates
of the soundest reason. This unmistakable
fact is recognized in the telling adage,
" Many a man who does not believe in a
God believes in ghosts."
All of us have known men who reject
the Bible as a guide of life, or as worthy
of consideration as the most remarkable
book in the world, who are disturbed for
days or weeks when they see for the first
time in the month the new moon over
their left shoulder, and who seriously hesi-
I23
IHow to Deal witb Doubts
tate to begin any fresh undertaking on Fri-
day. It is a well-authenticated fact that
many an unbeliever or declared opponent
of Christianity is positively affected in his
life course by the influence of signs and
omens, and lucky and unlucky days and
seasons.
We generally speak of "superstition"
and " religion " as if they were two entirely
different forces, affecting entirely different
classes of persons; but it might be difficult
for us to draw the line between the two
forces even as the line exists in our own
minds. It would be still more difficult for
us to describe just the sort of persons who
are influenced by the one force, and not by
the other. This truth, or the inevitable
confusion with reference to this truth,
should be borne in mind in dealing with
those who evidently have an open mind
with reference to the Bible and Christian
truth, yet who seem unable to accept the
Bible record of some prominent Christian
truth. It may, in their case, be simply a
124
Inconsistency of Cbristfan Doubters
result of a peculiar working of their mind,
and another indication of the strange ten-
dency of human nature. Such persons
deserve considerate, sympathetic treat-
ment, in order that they may be helped
into fuller and clearer light. They do not
mean to be unreasonable, even though
they are.
A young Christian worker came to me,
one day, with a confession of a doubt, be-
cause he thought I was always ready to give
sympathetic counsel to an honest doubter.
The young worker had been for some time
prominent in Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation work, and in religious effort among
university students. He was himself a
university graduate, and was considering
the Christian ministry for his life work.
He had the reputation and the appearance
of an earnest and devoted Christian man.
There was nothing that seemed to suggest
the caviler or the doubter, even when he
confessed his doubt. It was evident that
what he believed he believed heartily, and
125
Wow to 2>eal wftb Doubts
that he would be glad to believe more.
He seemed to be sorry that he had to con-
fess any doubt.
After speaking of his manner of life and
his habits of thought, as if he would have
it understood that he was not inclined to
a doubting mood with reference to Bible
truths, he said, half hesitatingly :
"The only thing that troubles me in
the story of Jesus is the narrative of his
miraculous birth."
" Do you think there was anything ex-
ceptional in the life and work and words
of Jesus ? " I asked.
" Oh ! I think he was in all things ex-
ceptional. I don't doubt him. I trust
myself fully to his guidance, and for my
salvation. It is only about the circum-
stances of his birth that I have any doubt."
" How do you think Jesus compared
with the people of his generation ? "
" I think no one was for a moment to be
compared with him. He was way above
all men of his day and generation."
126
Inconsistency of Christian ©oufcters
" How do you think it was as to the
men who had gone before him, the wisest
and the best and the greatest of them, —
men like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Solo-
mon and David and Samuel and Joshua
and Caleb and Moses, and other leaders
of thought and action ? "
" Oh ! I think he was far above them all.
None of them was to be compared with him.
I have no doubt on that point. It is, as I
tell you, only about the matter of his miracu-
lous birth that I have any doubt.,,
" You think, then, that Jesus came into
this world with the world as it was, and
drew a new line of being and character
and conduct in it, setting up here a new
standard for men, even the best and wisest
and greatest of men, to imitate and to strive
to live up to from that time forward ? Do
you believe that the example and teachings
of Jesus, his work and his words, had any
influence over his fellows while he was here
in this world, and that they have continued
to have this until the present day ? "
127
Bow to Deal witb 2>oubts
" Yes, I most firmly believe that. I be-
lieve there was never anything like it. He
was never equaled or approached. I have
no doubts on these points. My only doubt,
as I said to you, is about the story of his
miraculous birth.,,
" You speak of the influence of the work
and words of Jesus, not to say anything
about the incitement and the new motive
and the help furnished in his death and
resurrection, — what do you think has been
the result in the lives of those who, since
his day, have sought to live up to his stan-
dard? What proportion of his followers
compare favorably with his example ? "
" I do not think that any one of them
could be compared with him.,,
" Not even with his example and teach-
ings and influence before them, and with
two thousand years of progress and moral
growth in the world's history ? Not a
single one of the most progressive pupils
has come up to the standard of the old-
time teacher ? "
128
Inconsistency of Christian Boubters
" Not one. Oh ! I tell you, I count
Jesus all by himself. No one was, or is,
to be compared with him.,,
" Well now, my friend, just look at the
case as you present it to me. You say
that you believe that two thousand years
ago there appeared in this world one who
was greatly superior to his fellows, one
who was far above the wisest and the
greatest and the best who had ever lived
on earth ; and that during the years of his
life he was such a teacher and example,
and had such an influence on his disciples
and his generation, that the world feels it to
this day; that he was such a Being that
you are ready to trust him as a Saviour for
this life and the next; and that, even with
all the teachings that he gave for men's
guidance, and with all the helps that the
church which he organized has set at work
for good in the passing centuries, not one
of his followers or imitators has approached
his standard of spiritual and moral excel-
lence. You say you believe all this, yet
129
ttow to Seal wttb 2>oubt6
you cannot believe the Bible record that
there was anything peculiar about his com-
ing into this world and life. You prefer to
believe that he was born just like every other
man in order to be unlike every one who
ever had been, or who then was, or who
ever was to be.
" That belief of yours, my friend, is a
great deal more difficult than my belief. I
am glad that my mind isn't subjected to
such a test as yours is. Believing what
you and I believe as to the utterly unique
life and character of Jesus, and of his place
in the universe, it seems to me most reason-
able to suppose that there was something
peculiar in the coming of such a being into
this world; and it would seem most un-
reasonable to suppose that he was born
into this world just like an ordinary man.
Don't you yourself think so ? "
" Yes, I do, when I look at it in that
light/' said the doubter.
And it will often be found, with many
another doubter of some point of Christian
130
Inconsistency of Cbrfstfan Doubters
truth, that he fully accepts and firmly be-
lieves more wonderful things than that
which he doubts; and that his accepted
beliefs are more reasonable, if taken with
the one which he doubts, than without it.
Christianity is more consistent with itself
than would be any substitute for it accord-
ing to our f&ncies or preferences.
Christianity is more reasonable than are
the beliefs of those who deny or doubt its
claims. This is true as to the more promi-
nent unbelievers and scoffers. It is also
likely to be the case with the doubts of
honest Christians who have troubles with
particular points of belief. They are almost
sure to be ready to accept without a ques-
tion truths that are less in accordance with
reason than that which troubles them. In
view of this truth, it is well that one who
would help honest doubters should bring
out by his questions this phase of their un-
reasonableness. It is not too close an ad-
herence to reason, but a lack of it, that
multiplies doubters in the world.
131
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