Los Angeles herald., 1905-11-27
BRINGS MESSAGE
TO SKEPT|CAL
RECTOR SOUNDS WARNING TO
DOUBTERS
DR.. J. J. Wilkins of st. Paul's Pro-
Cathedral Tells Interested Conere-
cation Incidence Is the Chief
Aid to Infdels

"The Message of the Gospel to the
Doubling" on which DR.. j. J. wilkins,
dean and rector of st. Pauls pro-ca-
thedral, is preaching a series of Sun
day evening sermons especially for
young men, is creating much interest
DR.. Wilkins is dealing with the topic
from the various standpoints each
week. He said in part:
"The gospel to the doubling ad-
dresses two different classes of men,
There are those who doubt their own
acceptance and there are those who
doubt their own salvation. Time was
when this latter class were rather out
side the church than inside. They
were, generally speaking, SCORERS
swearers, blasphemers, profigates. The
press might reach them. but not the
church. The existence Of such doubt
was as improbable in the church as its
avowal would have been thought Ill
hammered and offensive in society.
But times have changed. For one
man who doubts his own standing In
Christ, ten men doubt whether there be
any such thing as salvation. What we
have now to face is not a rude, blatant,
ignorant skepticism, but the shaking
of opinion, the shattering of founda-
tions; attacks upon the faith by men
Doubt Comes From Incidence
The doubter now is commonly the
skeptic, or at least the man who has
been shaken by skeptics; the man VINO
has read, or has been told, in that
confident tone which skepticism loves
to assume that Christianity itself is
doubtful. that there is many a loose
screw and many missing link in the
Iat id han
that the whole fabric of Christian
faith will some day so collapse, that
there shall not be found in the burst
ing of it shred to take fire from the
hearth or to take water withal out OF
the pit. And this distant ripple, this
reflected echo, is the thing that is
making chief havoc, I think, among
the young and vigorous people of to-
day.
doubt is elevated into philosophy,
exalted to a heroism and canonized
into a sanctity. But this need hard
y say, is not the message of the gos-
pei of Jesus Christ to the doubling. -.
"The message of the gospel is a call
to action. Much of modern doubt is
sheer Incidence, an idle acquiesence in
misgivings and fears, Intellectual diff
ficulties or sin. 1t seldom tries to come
to a decision. 1t frequently has no
care to come to decision.
Infidels Will Fail
Thousands who are skeptical about
the being of God, the inspiration of
the Scriptures, the divinity of Jesus
Christ and other like mysteries, have
never thought upon them, studied their
nature or examined their evidences.
And when they do read on these great
subjects they are content for the most
part, with such idle vaporings as AL
lens "Reign of Law" and to consider
only such opinions as strengthen and
fortify their doubt and administer
soothing opiates to their unrest. Much
of modern doubt, indeed, Is merely a
mental yawn-a state of mind which
is neither vigorously awake nor sound
ly asleep. And for all such idle doz-
ing the Gospel has but one sharp, in
cisiVe word-actipn!
"Inhdels think they can destroy the
Bible and Christianity. What of it?
So great a man as Macaulay predicted
the end of Christianity within COM
paratiVely short time. Many of you
have to be told of that prediction; you
do not have to be told of Christianity.
Many good things have been destroyed.
child can destroy crystal vase,
which not all the power of men could
restore. An incendiary can, with a
match that does not cost hundredth
part of a penny, burn down a palace
on which thousands of men have toiled
for years. A slanderer can smirch
spotless name with stains that may
never be effaced; but what is gained
by such exploits? Infidels have vain
ly tried for years to destroy the Bible
and Christianity They have not sue
ceeded. They win never succeed, for
Christianity is bedded in the imper-
vious instincts of the soul"
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