The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-02-22
DOUBT AND ITS LOGIC.

Doubt can raise objections against any
thing. even the facts OF the universe. Doubt,
reduced to absurdity, is illustrated by man
who said he did not believe there Is such
country as China, because he had never seen
1t. Doubt attacks life itself-that is to say,
its value. That Christianity has been, and
is, doubted bysome minds, proves or dis
proves nothing. For it Is the necessary
property of mind to be able to act as a SOL
vent, as we'll as an architect. Ridicule. wit,
smart epigrams, on the one side or the other,
do not show the yunerability or the 1nVuE
nerability of religion.
It is easy to conceive that an assembIage
of intellIgences, imperfect ones, as numerous
as the race of man, might be led, through
inadequate light, lack of knowledge. and
misrepresentation. to doubt and gibe at
It is plain also, that fact or truth, are not
invaIidated by being unknown tho ough
ages Of time, and to multitudes OF people.
This Is illustrated by the law OF gravitation.
Hiding or unveiling does not alter the TACT.
That inf1del positions, considered satisfac-
tory to the minds of unbelievers in one age,
are often given up and recognized as unten-
able In later times, is also plain. The theory
that religion was invented by priests, IN
order to secure power. Is now universally
rejected. The theory OF the insincerity OF
Christ never existed is now advanced by no
one. Many Of these old weapons once shot
against the fortress of religion, now lie out
side the walls blunted and broken, as stone
arrow beads lie useless in our fields; many
of them once considered deadly, now are
curiosities. As curious collection Of out
worn and outgtown weapons, as in the Brit.
ish Museum, could be made OF old 1nhdel
axes. arrows, cross6Ows and lances. They
are the singularities Of past modes Of war
fare.
Christianity is historic. It belongs to the
records of the race. To invalidate it. is to
annul all the records Of the past. II this is
not history, what Is? The tactics OF thor
ough-goiug deniers ore to make all history
fables. II Christianity could not rest Sc
curely on an historic basis, We would be cut
loose from the whole past. and we would
stand together without anything but myths
behind US. What NihilSm is this, that
would reduce all human records and faiths
to thin air!
There is a book-the Bible. It is big
fact: as much 30 "a fact of nature What
can be done with it: Accept it. or reject it.
II you reject it, you throw away multitudes
of facts, demonstrated and corroborated.
Reject It, and you reduce man to creature
of day, without future You cast in your
lot with the plants and beasts. You de-
throne God, whom all nations nave, IN
some manner. often 'fgnorantly." worship
ped. You leave this universal frame with
out mind"
You dethrone Christ, who by his won
drous character. life has won the reyer.
ence of all, and centered in him the love and
hopes Of millions. You dethrone man from
his high place as a child Of God, and make
him but one of the many forms of law and
matter. You repudiate the faith and hope
of the nobIest people the world has seen.
You do what Byron declared monstrous !:
'Suppose that all the best people who have
ever lived have been FOOLS"
With Christianity, 60 to the morals OF
Christianity. That morality exists through
the sanctions Of religion. Without that
sanction Christian morality is but an ideali-
zation Of nature. Among the data OF the
ethics of positivism you do not find the data
of the ethics of Christianity.
Destroy the sanction Of religion and the
residuum is the morality of function.
And what would that mean to multitudes
of people? We contemplate an abyss.
With Christianity. you have the supernal;
you have beatifc faith in the heavenly
Father, in the redeeming and saving Son of
God, in the Word OF God, which has been
the ineXpressible comfort, the unfailing In
spiration. and the celestial guide OF countless
souls, and In the immortal life. the hope OF
HEAVIER. n.-[From the Presbyterian.