Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-01-14
TO THE DOUBTERS
OUR REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON

OUR REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON
An Eloquent Plea to the Doubling
Ones and the Methods of Dealing
With Their Doubts.
BROOKLYN, n. Y-Sunday morning, in
the Hanson Place NJ. E. Church, the Rev.
Dr. Charles L. Goodell preached on GA
Sure Method With Doubt The text was
taken from Daniel v: l6, ~And I have |
heard Of thee that thou canst make inter
pretations and dissolve doubts" DR. |
Goodell said:
If Daniel were alive to-day, with his
ability to dissolve doubts unimpaired and |
unimpeached, he would be the busiest
man of his time. And yet ours is no
more age of doubt than any other
which preceded it. There was infidelty
hundred years ago in our universities
and a fippant skepticism among educat-
ed people which is now quite outgrown,
| but it will always remain true that every
generation must. settle its own doubts
The generation IS made un OF the lndi,
vidual and the great questions of the soul
are personal questions. They must be
wrought out for the most part by indi-
vidual stress and struggle. There are
| phases Of doubt that receive greater en-
phasis than others at a given time. In one
generation a deistic philosophy seems to
triumph in another agnosticlsm is at the
| fore. The generation now passing has
fought out the great battles of evolution
! and we may fairly say that its theory Is
in no way menace to the Christian faith.
There have been hot battles on the field
of biblical criticism. Positions once held
by the two great forces have been proven
untenable and the orthodox party by CIV
ing up what could not be defended has
made its position stronger than ever be-
! fore.
The doubts to which I wish to refer and
which I would be glad to scatter spec
ters of the night are not so much OF the
theoretical as Of the practical sort. They
are the kind which make stout men weak,
which paralyZe great upward movements
in society, and cut the nerve of personal
devotion.
It is not strange or unreasonable that hat
, we should have doubts. We begin life
, knowing nothing. We journey in the
land of the unknown at every step. we
e Little by little with material brought from
the unknown we build the structure
which we call knowledge. and in doine
this we form habit (which masters us. Ii
u will not let us rest. Life has become ;
great interrogation at r0n a1a We our sa 'Gu1
u every beckoning bay. One is far har
y Dor and nothing beyond; another stretcl
i OF sandbar and shoal and we are fortu
. nate if we are able to put again to- sea; whil
another proves to be the mouth OF
n ~reat river up whose tide we go to glol
e ious discoveries in a delectab,e countr!
- The man who thinks cannot stop hi
5 thinking. Often he is Knocked by it an
le pitilessly punished, like some adyent9roy 1,e,!
81 mDuutafn climber, but Climb he mus
though he fail in his quest.
"That low man seeks a little thing to d.
Is Sees it and does it;
lg This high man with great thing
f. pursue
- Dies ere he knows it,
~ It is no wonder, then that we are dri
- en- to doubt, for life is too short to kno
It is not to be wondered at that o.
doubts concern themselves chiefly Wi
'o- religious truth. In the very nature
at things religious truth is supernatural.
is, is not SO much contrary to, as beyond, o
DO IONS of mathematics. The whole field
I'M religion is beyond the realm of the sens
ke and of scientific rules; therefore, it IS
re be wondered at least of all when we I'll
that in this field speculation and dou
run riot.
ler There is another fact to be consider
no which Horace Bushnell states admirabl
- ''Our faculty is itself in disorder. A brce
on en- or bent telescope will not see anythl
he rightly. So a mind wrenched from its tr
en-, lines of action, discolored and smirch 15
ra- by evil, will not see truly, but will put
-" 20 blurred, mi,shapen look on everythi'
'ln- Truths will only be as good as errors a
doubts as natural as they" ..
;oo In view Of all this, let us have dc
ice with abusing those who doubt Do,
she raw, and Dr. Parks was right when
nle- said: "Infdelity is the ultimate result
checking the desire for expanded kso
sue edge.'' Let us frankly tell our young p
all nle that doubt is not final condition, s.
eer to dishonest mind. Through the do
IL, 70 +1o l. 10
oO of tomorrow, and let us also remind tn
that what they hold as the truth tom
row should have great expansive pow
so that coming days will give more Il
and add to the proportions of the trutl
; 'I have heard Of thee that thou ca
make interpretations and dissolve doub
&. was the Kings greeting to the HEIR
This same Daniel had stood before
Kings father when he, too, was sore
u1lv dened with mystery: He did not cl
' for his own unaided wisdom the po
to settle doubts, but stoutly and hone
the owned the source Of his power, say
+ s:There is God in heaven that revea
|. secrets.' It may be said truthful1y
part the only sure method for the sotu
Of life's problems and the dissolving o1
4 doubts is by entering into right relat
the great doubts of life relates to
very existence the answer is, Every
enos is conscious of the great ethical lmr
nter tive, I ought. This relates him to S
great law, and hence to some great
e of geraited glsIt nraver. ooh God, if there |
IS Of God. enlighten my soul, if l have sc
and vet even prayer like that will
hon honest purpose to follow each faintest
low of light, would not be ,unayailing :.
the In the matter OF dlssoiv!ng rellf5
a. No man ever mes to the truth by /
nish- simply curiou& Speculation for 81
slack lation's sake leads nowhere. Inc iIt' H.
and hlieo VIII VIII wh;nh cJi has not something D
new ible about it, and SO the mind chase
are self self from sophistry to sophistrTy, from
troversy to controversy, darkenlng
sci and coming out nowhere
this The first thing for an honest ,seeke
; the ter truth to 90 Is TO paeage hiii1se Te
aches aude Dy tne 'ruit u;+h one's convictions i
7ards first and second death. To fail to