Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-01-09
SURE METHOD WITH DOUBT
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon By Rev.
DR.. c. T. GoodelI.
Do Not Be impatient With Il, OnIy Continue
10 Move Toward the Light
You Do See.

DIR. Charles J.. Goodell preached on "A
Sure Method With Doubt" The text was
taken from Daniel V: lG. And ! have
heard of thee that ,hou canst make inter.
pretations and dissolve doubts" DR.
Goodell said:
IL Daniel were alive to-day. with his
ability to dissolve doubts nnimrai-ed and
unimpeaehed, he wonld be the busiest
man of his time. And vet onrs is no
more an age of doubt than any other
which preceded it, There was infdelity
hundred wears ago in our universities
and a fippant skepticisni among educat.
ed people which is now quite ogtgrown.
but il will ALWAYS rer'ain true that every
generation must settle its own doubts.
The generation is made I'M 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-
phasis than Others at a given time. In one
generation a deistic philosophy seems to
TRUMP II another agnos;ioism j. at the
fore. The generation now passing has
fought out the great battles of evolution
and we may fairly say that its theory -
in no way menace 10 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
antenable and the orthodox marty 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 / would be glad to scatter as spec
tiers of the night are not much Of the
Theoretical as of the practica, sort. They
are the kind which make stout hen weak.
which raralyze great upward movements
in society, and cut the nerve OF personal
devotion.
II il 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.
Lite bv little with material BROUGHT from
the unknown we build the structure
which we call knowledge and in doing
this we form habit which masters us. IL
will not let us rest. life has become
great interrogation poir.. ard orr Jour.
ney voyage OF discovery. We sail into
every Reckoning bay. One is fair har-
Dor and NOTHING beyond: another stretch
of sandhar and shoal and we are fo-tu-
nate ii we are able to nut a"ain to seq: While
another proves To be the mouth of
treat river un whose tide we 20 TO glor-
ious discoveries in de,ectab'e country.
The man who thinks cannot ston his
thinking. Often he "a Knocked hv it and
pitilesslv punished. ike sor,e adventurous
mountain climber. ous climb he must
though he fail in his quest.
"That low man seeks little thing to do,
Sees it and does il:
This high man with great thing to
pursue
Dies ere he knows it,"
II is no wonder then. that we are d-iv.
en- TO doubt, for life is too short to know
all.
II Is not to BE- wondered at Tat orr
doubts concern themselves chiefly with
religious truth. In the very nature III
things religious truth is supernatural. II
is not so much contrary to. as beyond. our
senses. Its nrinciples are not like the ax.
IONS of mathematics. The whole field of
religion is beyond the realm OF the senses
and Of scientific rules: therefore. ii 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 brok
en- or bent telescone will not see anything
rightly. So mind wrenched from its true
lines ri action. discolored and snirched
by evil, will not see trn,ly. but will nut
blurred. misshapen look on everything.
Truths viii only be as good as errors and
doubts as natural as they
In view of all this let us have done
with abusing those who doubt Doubt
nroperiy pursued is only knowledge in the
raw. and Dr. Parks right when hr
said: "Infde.itv is the ultimate resui. Of
checking the desire for expanded knowl-
edge" Let us frankly tell our Young peo-
ME 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.
so that coming days will give more light
and add TO the PROPORTIONS OF the truth
81 have heard OF thee that thou canst
make interpretations and dissolve doubis.'
he To no
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 n God in heaven that revealeth
secrets" 1t may be said truthfully thar
the only SIRE method for the solution
of hfe's problems and the dissoiving OF its
doubts Is by entering into right relations
with Him. Ii it is objected that one of
the great doubts OF life relates to His
very existence the answer is. Every man
is conscious OF the great ethical impera-
tive. ! ought. This relates him to some
great law, and hence 10 some great law
giver. 1t would not seem to be a very
exalted prayer. ''Oh God. If there be a
God enlighten my soul, ii have a soul"
and yet even prayer like that. with an
honest purpose TO follow each faintest ray
OF hight. would not be unayaiing.
In the matter oil dlsSO.vlng 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 noVhere. The mind i
filed with conflicting arguments. 1t is a
poor care wtieI: has not something plaus.
ible about it. and so the mind chases it.
self from sophistry to sophistry, from con.
troversy to controversy, darken'ng coun.
sci and coming out nowhere.
The first thing Tor an honest seeker al.
ter truth to do is to pledge himself to
abide by the truth as he finds it. To pay
fast and loose with ones convictions is the
first and second death. To fail to use
the light we have to refuse to live up To
That we know is right, is TO put ones
self into the darkness of eternal doubt.
Plato was right when he said: Atheism
is a disease OF the soul before it becomes
an error OF the understanding" French
atheism was a foregone conclusion when
one considers the condition OF French NOR.
ais. Why should a man believe in God
when his life was one long rebelling
against Him. Why should he not cry
''after US the deluge" when conscious tina.
nothing but an unfathomable sea could
cover the putrefaction OF his life: When
man has made up his mind TO give him.
self to the sensual and the material, il is
Hollow mockery for him to profess n de.
sire 10 know the truth. The truth anides
with no man who will not use it. and. on
the other hand, ii he be- like ROmanes.
pure OF heart and purpose, he will think
hin way out of the darkness into the full.