The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1874-10-15
THE GOSPEL OF UNBEIEF.

A SERMON BY TEE REV. J. N. PARDEE.
Rev. J. N Pardee delivered the fol-
lowing sermon last Sunday in Chicago ::
Thomas, one of the twelves called
Didymus, was not with them when Jesus
came. The other disciples therefore
said unto him. We have seen the Lord
But he said unto them. Except I shall
see in his hands the print of the nails,
and thrust my hand in to his side, I Will
not believe.-John Xxx. 245.
The great problem that is troubling
the church at the present time is that of
scepticism. What is to be done with it?
This may almost De called, an age of
doubt. All over the world, old estab-
Hshed institutions are being pried under
and their foundation questioned. Polit-
lcal parties are broken, and revolutions
are taking place in governments. In re-
hgion, creeds are losing their hold upon
large masses, and even the divine prin-
ciples of the church foundations are re-
jected Even the being of Personal
God, and the authority of the Christian
religion is inquired into. It is well, then,
to consider well this subject, and proper
TO speak such things as at any other
time might prove Improbable.
[ make no apology, then, for my sub
iect.
We have no better type, then, of a
true doubter than Thomas the disciple
But In the disparaging manner in which
we call every one who questions dogmas
q doubling Thomas, injustice is done
the character of the man who was the
first to suggest to the disciples to follow
Jesus to the judgment-hall that they
might die with him.
He was, in fact, a nationalist, a mater
Ialist, if we choose to call him one, hay
ing more faith in the permanance of nat
ural laws than in the testimony of his
companions. He had never seen q dead
man come to life; how then could Jesus
appear among them if he was really
dead? The disciples might have seen a
phantom he therefore would not be-
heve until he could prove the statement
by the evidence not only of his eyes,
but of his fingers and his hands.
He saw and believed. BLESSED are
they who have not seen, yet believe"
Thomas is then the type of sceptic ::
one who is thoughtful, not credulous,
but seeking for the truth We often
hear the word sceptic flung from the
pulpit and religious press as if to be
doubter were to be criminal Yet the
world is full of those who are question
ing into the basis Of all our structures.
both religious and secular. What are
we going to do about it? The Romans
and Greeks put doubters to death. We
would far prefer to bring them to life.
Doubt has always been unpopular,
and few men like to speak about their
unbelief. There must, therefore, be
some reason why it should be kept hid
den, fhonest and true men are unwil-
ling to confess their sceptical tendencies.
1t is a terrible thing to having no firm
CONVICTIONS terrible to have no
faith and these terTors are ever before
him who finds his grounds of belief slip
ping from under him. To be in doubt
about vital questions is like being cast
upon the stormy ocean In frail barque
without compass or rudder, knowing not
how far we are from land, yet knowing
almost to certainty that there are rocks
somewhere on which we may be dashed
without moments warming.
Faith in God moves the inhabitants
of the world, and belief in some dogma
regulates their conduct.
Without a firm faith in something we
are never sure of our days work or NOR
rows destiny.
He who has the best belief is the rich
est of mind and soul.
But there are scepties after all
Skeptics, too, who are not such from
mere choice or on account of a nature
that loves to be on the unpopular side
or row against the stream of religious
faith.