The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1894-11-01
THOROUGH DOUBT 70 FAITH.
Doubt Not a Crime.
BELIEVE SOMETHING.

print OF the nails, ana put nv hnRer
into the print of the nails, and thrust
my hand into his side, l Will not be-
lieve.-Jobn, Xxx, %.
We can hardly blame Thomas for bis
incredulity. BY mental constitution
and temperament he found it impossi-
BILE to believe on the mere hearsay Of
any living person that the Lord had
risen from the dead. The statement of
his comrades that they had seen Jesus
was SO startling and so obstinately con-
tradlcted by all his own experiences
that he could not take even their word
but insisted that he must see with his
own eyes and feel with his own fingers
the wounds which had caused death.
But after he was convinced he be-
came one of the sturdiest defenders OF
the new religion, and preached with an
eloquence and energy which persuaded
tens of thousands.
To doubt is not a crime. l. is one
stage i'm the evolution of the spiritual
nature. The man who denies what all
the rest of the world believes is not to
be scorned, but patiently helped out OF
the network which entangles his feet.
We are inclined to think that the
strongest faith is always preceded by a
season OF doubt. 1t does no harm to
throw aside all the doctrines which you
accepted without question In your
childhood, provided doubt leads you to
a careful examination of the founda-
tions of things, and results in the con-
struction of a new faith which shall
furnish the moral and spiritual policy
of your life.
If you cross the bog of doubt in your
search for the upland of faith, you will
have no reason to regret the despair
which the damp malarial mists engen-
dered, but if you find no way out of the
bog, and must breathe its tainted at
mosphere all your days, you are greatly
to be pitied And for this reason,
namely, that human nature is SO con-
stituted that faith in certain fundament-
al facts is necessary to life that shall
be satisfactory to yourself and useful to
others
Suppose we take very simple illus
tration. You were brought up to be-
lieve in the long and complicated creed
of the Church. Up to given period
oil your life you never dreamed OF ques-
tioning any part of it-simply because
YOU never seriously examined 1t. You
absorbed a score of dogmas with your
mothers milk. They we're part OF
YOUR childish environment, the found
alton of YOUR fathers muscular integr.-
ty and of his domestic discipline. You
received them as matter of course,
and to denv one of them would have
seemed little short of a crime.
But the hour arrived when you be-
gan to think for " urself, and with
something like borrow and dismay
perhaps, YOU found that your mind was
compelled to withhold it's assent. That
ls very critical period in Il mans lie
a fateful period on which great dea
depends You give up one dogma after
another always with reluctance, ano
sometimes with sense of guilt. Attel
awhile YOU discover that you have sur
rendered nearly everything and tha
:. very little is left. You are too homes
to he reticcnt however, and too brave
to deny your doubt.
So far you have nothing To dread
( You are passing through an unhapy
e experience, and you will probably ha>'
e many sleep)ess nights. II is not pleas
ant to be out of accord with the opin
ions which prevail among your fellows
4 but it is very gracious privilege t
\ feel that YOU are in entire accord wit
" your own best judgment, and that th
K narrow space on which you do stand
not bog, but solid ground.
If you remain amid your doubts, tn
chances are that your life will be 81
riously impaired and possibly wrecked
q for when a man believes in nothing b
q becomes demoralized, and all his hig
motives are likely to be dissipated.