Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-01-09
Through Doubt to Faith.


the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, ]
will not believe.-John, XXX, 20.
We can hardly blame Thomas for his
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-
tradicted by all his own experience 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 becam e
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. 1t is one
stage in the evolution of the spiritual
! nature. The man who denies what all
the rest of the world believe 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 a question in your
childhood, provided your doubt leads
you to a careful examination of the
foundations of things, and results in
the construction 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 it's tainted at
mosphere all your days, you are great
ly to be pitied. And for this reason,
namely. that human nature is so con-
stituted that faith in certain funda-
mental facts is necessary to a 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 a given period
of your life you never dreamed of ques-
tioning any part of it-simply because
you never seriously examined it. You
absorbed a score of dogmas with your
mothers milk. They were part of
your childish environment, the foun
dation of your fathers muscular in
tegrity and of his domestic discipline.
You received them as a matter of
course, and to deny one of them would
have seemed little short of crime.
But the hour arrived when you be-
gan to think for yourself, and with
something like horror and dismay,
perhaps, you found that your mind was
compelled to withhold its assent That
| is a very critical period in mans life,
fateful period on which a great deal
depends. You give up one dogma af
ter another, always with reluctance,
and sometimes with a sense of guilt.
After awhile you discover that you
have surrendered nearly everything
and that very little is left. You are too
honest to be reticent, however, and too
brave to deny your doubts.
So far you have nothing to dread
You are passing through an unhappy
experience, Cpd you will probably have
many sleepless nights. Il is not pleas
ant to be ont of accord with the opin.
ions which prevail among your fellows
but it is very gracious privilege tC
feel that you are in entire accord with
your own best judgment, and that the
narrow space on which you do stand ii
not bog, but solid ground.
If you remain amid your doubts, thu
chances are that your life will be serl
ously impaired and possibly wrecked
for when man believes in nothing, ht
becomes demoraliZed. and all his high
motives are likely to be dissipated.
life without faith is apt to be a faith
less life, if not Il desperate oae.
1t is vastly needful, therefore, tina
you no sooner get through with the
work of destruction than you begin t.
build on new cOrnerstOnes, for every
man must have a shelter of some kind
To live out of doors is to degenerate in
to an animal.
Set about your task then with energ,
and daring The world cannot be on,
vast conglomerate of negations; there
must be truth somewhere, and it is you
business to possess yourself of it. Thu
same intellect which can tear dowr
what others have reared can also real
something which will satisfy the long
ings and cravings of your spiritual ma
ture, and that it is your solemn duty
TO do.
A great many people are compelled
to reject a certain proportion of the
doctrines taught by the Church, anC
when they find that they can't believe
everything they rush impetuously tt
the other extreme and refuse to believe
anything. That is a fatal mistake, de
structive of your own best interests.
you can't have just what you want t.
eat you are not very reasonable in con
icluding to starve yourself to death. III
one Church fails you go to another, anC
if they all fail you then formulate your
own creed and govern your life by it.
Surely you can find truth enough
somewhere to give you noble ideas OF
l duty for this present time, and a hope
of something better hereafter. If you
throw everything else aside and believe
simply in the Providence of God, in the
necessity of supporting the just and
| right as Jesus did, and in life beyond
the grave, and then shape your char
acter according TO those convictions,
you will be blessed by your brother
men, and certainly not unwelcome
when you go to heaven.
| Entertain your doubts with a gra-
cious hospitality, but regard them only
as guests who have come to pay you a
short visit and will then depart. They
have mission to perform, because
they will force you to examine the
grave problems of life. AS a golden
stairway up which you climb to higher
things they serve grand purpose, but
if you make them your close friends
they will certainly leave you il the
lurch in the pinch of circumstance.
| A man must have faith in himself and
In some power and authority outside
| of himself. He is not at his best until
| he both believes something and knows
| why he believes it.-Ne2C York Herald
Fast Living Americans.
We new world people are fast livers,
| nd in not bipU iC this moro NJ hi =,