Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-11-07
The AgnOstic and the Christian.
PART l.

PART l.
Exhorting them to continue in the faith
Acts xiv, %.
1t is hardly possible to doubt the
statement that great ideas have ten
dency to broaden and deepen the man
who ponders them, while small ideas
have an opposite influence. Large
thinking makes large living. If it be
true that man is known by the COM
panions he keeps, the rule may be ap-
piled to his thoughts as well as to his
friends.
What is needed to make men com
plete, to develope human nature until
it assumes grand proportions, is a series
of lofty motives. If you feel that some
thing is very desirable, and that it is
possible for you to attain it, you are
afiame with enthusiasm, and the hard
est work you can do is a constant de
light provided it brings you nearer to
the accomplishment of your purpose.
And the reverse is equally true; for
if you are convinced that it does not
pay to do the hard work, that the
chances are against your reaching the
end you seek, your conviction dissipates
all zeal and saps the courage which is
required to overcome difficulties.
Now, there are two widely divergent
theories of life, advocated by equally
honest, cultured aad well equipped
scholars, and an examination of their
practical results, or, in other words, a
fair and impartial comparison of two
lives which represent them. will be
both suggestive an d instructive.
The agnostic is one who would like
to believe, but cannot. H has reach
ed pretty definite conclusion that a
man is an exquisite piece of machinery,
composed of certain chemical elements
which ultimately return to the earth
and air. The man ends his career at
death. The drama is in one act, and
when the certain drops there is moth
ing more to look forward to. Of i'm
mortality and heaven, of soul which
will continue to exist, of a God who is
something more than eternal Energy,
of Providence which overlooks and
guides our destiny, tempering the wind
to the shorn lamb, hesimply says, mot
proven"
The Christian-but let uslinger mo
ment in order to define terms. We dc
not refer to the ecclesiastical Christian
who has formulated an iron creed an
who sends you to the pit unless you &C
cept every proposition in it, for no man
ON earth SO crudely misinterprets the
Scripture as he does, or so poorly rep
resents his Master. We have in our
mind that other kind of man who is
pervaded by the generous, the plying,
the loving spirit of the Nazarene.
This man, who is no more willing to
be unscientific or unphilosophical than
his brother the agnostic, believes that
God reigns supreme everywhere; that
we are all His children, and that the
children can communicate with the
Father by means of prayer; that life
may be rough journey, filled with
hardships and sorrows, but every one
of them may be turned to good account
if we meet them bravely; that above us
are unseen beings, a cloud of witnesses,
invisible but potent, who are always
ready to extend helping hand; that
beyond us is a Home where those who
have departed are awaiting our arrival.
Be it understood that for our present
purpose we do not engage in any con-
either theory. Neither do we in the
slightest degree question the honesty
of either contestant. The agnostic is
just as loyal a lover of truth as the
Christian, and the Christian is as I'M
willing to be led mentally astray as the
agnostic. They are both in search of
facts which can be trusted and both
desire to be entirely fair and just. We
can admire these doughty knights who
fight under different banners, for they
are without fear and without reproach.
1t would be folly to denounce the ag-
nostic and pure bigotry to declare that
he will not go to heaven for the reason
that he has never believed that there
is one, because we may be sure that no
brave and noble soul will be excluded.
When Christ sits as judge He will con-
denim no man who has done what he
could and all he could.
But this we do say, without any
hesitation whatever, that the motives
which flow from these two theories are
wholly unequal for the protection OF
the virtues which make life beautiful
and human character symmetrical. The
evidence of the worlds experience is
decidedly in favor of the Christian and
pitifully opposed to the agnostic. In
the language of Huxley, mo man who
has studied history or even attended
to the occurrences of every day life
can doubt the enormous practical value
of trust and faith
If one has no faith and no trust he
SOco lAUO OlO SOoo HSHU do d lOlIOTu
hope. He can look only to himself, can
worship only himself, and from the flu
ture comes no reckoning hand. The
Christian can proudly assert that the
world would be better if the spirit of
the Nazarene pervaded it's councils,
and no man dare offer contradiction
The agnostic must needs admit that if
all mankind thought as he did. and if
that wide range of incentives which
are only partly operative in society
were eliminated, it would be little short
of moral catastrophe.
There is a subtle something in relig
ion which braces the soul to meet
emergencies, and subtle something in
unbelief which robs us of strength
when most we need it. The man with
no faith is not the peer of the man who
feels the pressure of an almighty and
supporting Arm when he is nigh to
falling under the sorrows which come
to every one of us.
This, then, is all we say for the pres
ent-that if we look at life from a pure-