The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1881-03-24
MIR REECHER
on THE SPREAD OF DOUBT AND THE
LIMIT WHICH 1T CANNOT PASS.


on THE SPREAD OF DOUBT AND THE
LIMIT WHICH IT CANNOT PASS.
In the course of one of his late
sermons, Mr.. Beecher said: We are
living in an age in which mems
minds are very much unsettled on
the subject of religion. There are
large classes of thinkers, artists,
literary men, scholars, scientists,
| physicists of every opinion in
vestigating the subject. There is
a vague impression. an unsettled
ness of mind as respects POSITIVE
truth, and this is one of those things
in which doubt is as bad as unbe-
lief; that is to say, if man doubts
whether medicine is good enough
to keep him from taking it, the
doubt is just as powerful as if he had
the positive assurance that it would
not do him any good. That feeling
OF doubt is creeping through the
community. The tact is undeniablc
that religious ideas are changing;
the ideas that have been formulated
in regard to religious truths are be-
ing doubted by men set to teach
them. Now, it is certainly true that
theology is going through q process
Of evolution. The facts which I'm
derlle the philosophy are valid
and sound, but the theology that has
undertaken to explain the facts has
been subject to a process of unfold
ing, and will continue to unfold until
perfect system is evolved. This
generation will not see it. | shall be
where l shall know all things before
a true system of philosophy will be
given to the human race. But be-
cause we cannot bsFe all is no rea-
son why we should not use the best
that we have. 1t does not follow
that because L can't wear pantalets
that L can't wear pantaloons. / look
only with combativeness upon dog
mas and systems when they are
crowded upon us and undertake to
dispense with and overbear the lar
ger views of truth, but, looking upon
them historically, am in profound
sympathy with them as being the
best that could be had for the age in
which they prevailed. Bat if they
are to be put in place of the clearer
light that we now have | revolt and
will have none of them. If | were
not Protestant would be a Ro-
man Catholic. The idea that the
Bible is a sepulchre, and that all
truth is buried in it, [ revolt from,
and where the Roman Catholic
comes and says God reveals the
truth from age to age, there is not
only something true in it but some
fhinpr crrhl,rfnn fhat. lao
gone further and said that all good
men, and in every age and every
nation, are probably receiving in
spiration, that idea is the true one.
The mistake of the Roman Catholic
Church isl say it humbly; no, /
don't feel humble about it, | state it
as a fact-that God does not make
his revelations to men through
the Church, but he makes them di-
rect to the humBn race. In conse-
quence of this spirit of investigation
that is abroad | see that there is
great deal of disenchantment. The
views men held in childhond or early
in life depart from them. l mourn
over what L have had to give up in
the way of belief almost as much as
hlOuih IuO lOoo VI my CAuuICL, anu
if a man loses all''these early beliefs
and gets nothing in their place
woe is him. The actual c0ndi-
ton of the human race, however,
will show the correctness of the
statements of the New Testament as
to its sinfulness. and as to the neces-
SHY of a change Of heart-a resur-
rection-the need of being born
again. Just above the criminal class,
the dangerous class, as they are
called-theugh | don't think they
are as dangerous as bad men in the
upper class of society-but Just
above these are men that live not
exactly in the line of their appe
tites, but without any adequate con-
ception of their manhood. Consider
how many men there are that plod
along with the idea that the world
owes them a living and they are
going to collect it. If the world
paid its debts to this class halters
would be dear and the sections
business good. The world owes them
burial more than anything else.
What have they ever done2 They
live on their fathers or on their
mothers, and rather like il; they live
on their neighbors, and the only
Scripture they ever read to profit
was, 60 10 the ant, thou sluggard,
consider her ways and be wise,' and
so they fall back on their aunts.
Haughter.) These men die and
leave nothing behind them-they are
not even good for manure. Rising
higher then that, how many men
there are that begin to take hold up
on life, organizing their lives by the |
lowest ideal. They are good cifi-
zens, do not violate the laws of the
land; they take the lowest forms of
industry and prosecute them for
good. Higher than this are those |
that have organized households and |
are amassing wealth, yet how low
down that is compared with the |
highest ideal; how high it is
compared with the lowest. And |
SO when the New Testa- |
ment says that all men are sinners,
is it not so according TO actual ex-
preston, and ought we not to so or
der our lives as to reach, as near as
we can, that higher nature-higher
than the intellectual, higher than
the moral-the spiritual!p