The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-01-07
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
BEAUTIFUL DISCOURSE eY THE REV.
-, DR.. c. 1. CooOELL.

Subject: A Suro Method With Donbt-Do
Not BE Impatient with It, op,y Con-
tinue to Move Toward the Light You
Do see-Truth will FREQ You.
BROOKLYN. n. Y.-Sunday morning. in
the Hanson Place NJ. F. Church. the Rev.
DR.. Charles J.. GoodeI preached on "a
Sure Method With Doubt" The text was
taken from Daniel V: l6, And 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 unimrared and
unimpeached he would be the busiest
man OF his time. And vet ours Is no
more an age OF doubt than any other
which preceded it. There was infide!ity
a hundred wears ago in our universities
and fppant 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 up of the indi..
vidual and the great questions of the soul
are personal questions. They mnst be
,, wrought out for the most part by indi-
vidual stress and struggle. There are
phases Of doubt that receive greater en-
phass than others at given time. In one
generation a deistic philosophy seems to
triumph in another agnostcism is at the
fore. The generation now passing has
fought out the great battles OF evolution
and we may fairly say that it's theory u
in no way menace to the Christian faith.
There have been hot battles on the field
OF biblical criticism. Positions once he'd
bv the two great forces have been proven
nntenable and the orthodox marty by CIV
ing up what could not be defended has
made its position stronger than ever be-
fore.
The doubts 70 which I wish to refer and
which I would he glad to scatter as spec
tiers 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.
Il is not strange or unreasonable that
we should have doubts. We begin life
knowing nothing We journey in The
land Of the unknown at every step. We
investigate and experiment and question
Little bv little with material brought from
the unknown we build the structure
which I've call knowledge and in doing
thi. we form a habit which masters us. 1t
will not let us rest. Life has become
great interrogation point. aid our jour
nev a voyage OF discovery. We sail into
every Reckoning bay One is a fair har-
Dor and nothing beyond: another a stretch
of sandbar and shoal and we are FORTH
nate IL we are able to nut again to sea; wnle
another proves TO be the mouth or
~reat river uD whose tide we 60 to gor'
ions discoveries in delectab'e country
The man who thin ks cannot stcn his
thinking. Often he is Knocked by Vt and
pitilesslv punished. like some adventurous
mountain climber but climb he must
though ne fail in his quest.
"That low man seeks little thing to do
Sees it and does IT:
This high man with a great thing to
Dies ere he knows it.
7. is no wonder. then. that we are driv'
10 doubt. for life is too short to know
all.
It IS not to be wondered Mt that orr
doubts concern themselves chiefly w'tn
religious truth. In the very nature nj
things religions truth is supernatural. 1t
is not so much contrary to. as beyond. our
senses. It's principles are not like the ak.
IONS of mathematics The whole field oi
religion is beyond the realm of the senses
and of scientific rules; therefore. It is to
be wondered at least Of all when we find
that in this field speculation and doubt
run riot.
There is another fact to be considered
which Horace Bushnell states admirably:
~Our faculty is itself in disorder. A broE'
en- or bent telescone will not see anything
rightly. So mind wrenched from IT'S true
lines Of action. discolored and smlrched
bv evil will not see trrly, but will mt
blurred, missbapen look on everything:
Truths vin snly be - good as srross and
doubts as natural IS they"
In view of all this, let us have done
with abusing those who doubt. Doubt
nroperly pursued il only knowledge in the
raw. and DR.. Parks was right when ne
said: 'Tnfdelty is the ultimate result OF
checking the desire for expanded knowl'
edge" Let us frankly tell our Young peo-
nle that doubt is not final condition, save
to a dishonest mind. Through the doubt
OF to-day they will come to the knowledge
of tomorrow, and let US also remind them
that what they hold as the truth to-mor'
row should have great expansive power,
70 that coming days will give more light
and add to the proportions OF the truth
sI have heard Of thee that thou canst
make interpretations and dissolve doubts
was the Kings greeting to the Hebrew.
This same Daniel had stood before the
Kings father when he, too, was sore bur.
dened with mystery. He did not Claim
for his own unaided wisdom the power
to settle doubts, but stout,y and honestly
owned the source of his power, saying:
There Is a God in heaven that revealeth
secrets 1t may be said truthfully that
the only sure method for the solution
of life's problems and the di.so!ving of its
doubt, is by entering into right relations
with Him. IF it is objected that One OF
the great doubts of life relates to Hi.
very existence the answer is, Every man
is conscious Of the great ethical impera-
tive, 1 ought. This relates him to some
great law, and hence to some great law
giver. 1t would not seem to be very
exalted prayer, "Oh God if there be .
God, enlighten nay soul, if have soul, %
and yet even 4 prayer like that, with an
honest purpose to follow each faintest ray
Of light, would not be unayailing.
In the matter of dissolving religious
doubts, the ultimate purpose is everything.
No man ever comes to the truth by being
simply curious. Speculation for specu-
lation's sake leads nowhere. The mind is
filled with conflicting arguments. 1t is a
poor cause which has not something plans.
ible about it. and 80 the mind ehases it.
self from sophistry to sophistry, from con-
troversy to controversy, darkening coun-