The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-08-06
9burt germrons
For
5unnap Dalf-Dour
Theme:
REASON IN RELIGION


By Rev. Charles E. Jefferson, D. D.
Text: "Come, now, let us reason to.
pether, saith the Lord."-lsaiah l., 1s.
+ 1, !.
The greatest of the Hebrew
prophets puts these words into the
mouth of God. The Almighty is rep
resented as bewailing the fact that
men do not think enough in their re-
ligion. Israel doth not know, my
people doth not consider" so runs
divine arraignment. According to
Isaiah, God wishes men to think. and
He wishes them to think with Him.
The weakness of religious people in
all generations has been that they
have not thought enough.
1t is wicked not to think. A man
gives up his manhood who does not
think. We are unworthy who do not
think. We are unworthy of the Chris
tian name if we are too timid to scru-
tinize and investigate and reason
about every doctrine which the reli-
gion of Jesus teaches. Suppose that
thinking does lead you into doubt.
Doubt is oftentimes medicinal. There
Is more faith in honest doubt than in
creed about which you are afraid to
think. Doubt is an experience which
belongs to growing life. A man must
fight his way through doubt to the
al ht111 ltr, hA
yond. He can do this only by hard
and honest thinking. Come, let US
reason together" saith the Lord.
This has been the exhortation OF the
Almighty from the beginning. In the
fulness of time Jesus came, and in
Jesus we hear God saying. Come,
now, let us reason together" Jesus
was always reasoning. 1t has been
said that He never argued, and that
is true II we mean He never argued in
the form of Occidental syllogisms;
but in the deepest sense He was al
ways arguing. His whole speech was
a reasoned argument. His questions
are mightier than syllogisms and COM
pei the mind to reason. "1s not a
u
think ye? If man have hundred
sheep and one of them be gone astray.
doth he not leave the ninety and nine
and goeth into the mountains and
seeketh that which Is gone astray?"
The priest, the Levite, the Samari-
tan: Which now of these three think
est thou was neighbor unto him that
fnn th. q
lord Of the vineyard cometh, what will
he do unto those husbandmen?" "If
ye, being evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much
more will your Heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him." The Christian religion is Gods
voice saying Come, now, let us rea.
son together"
Many a man is not a Christian be-
cause he is not willing to reason the
matter out with God in Christ. II
our convictions are becoming f1abby
it is because we do not think. II the
old distinctions between right and
wrong are fading out it Is because
we have ceased to reason with God.
If the sense of sin is to-day disappear
ing from the hearts of men 1t is be-
cause they are too busy to sit down
and mediate with God. l have heard
men bewail the fact that they had no
time to get acquainted with their
wives and children. This indeed is
tragic to have no time to get ac-
quainted with ones self. We never
know ourselves until we think about
our life with God. Let us, then,
spend more time in reasoning with
him. Let US pick up the things which
we have lost. Let us sit down and
think about that man which we fully
intended to be and which, alas, we
have never yet become!