In the first place, _we are born questioners_. Look at the wonderment
of a little child in its eyes before it can speak. The child's great
word when it begins to speak is, "Why?" Every child is full of every
kind of question, about every kind of thing, that moves, and shines,
and changes, in the little world in which it lives.
That is the incipient doubt in the nature of man. Respect doubt for
its origin. It is an inevitable thing. It is not a thing to be
crushed. It is a part of man as God made him. Heresy is truth in the
making, and doubt is the prelude of knowledge.
Secondly: _The world is a Sphinx._ It is a vast riddle--an
unfathomable mystery; and on every side there is temptation to
questioning. In every leaf, in every cell of every leaf, there are a
hundred problems. There are ten good years of a man's life in
investigating what is in a leaf, and there are five good years more in
investigating the things that are in the things that are in the leaf.
God has planned the world to incite men to intellectual activity.
Thirdly: _The instrument with which we attempt to investigate truth is
impaired._ Some say it fell, and the glass is broken. Some say
prejudice, heredity, or sin, have spoiled its sight, and have blinded
our eyes and deadened our ears. In any case the instruments with
which we work upon truth, even in the strongest men, are feeble and
inadequate to their tremendous task.
And in the fourth place, _all religious truths are doubtable_. There
is no absolute truth for any one of them. Even that fundamental
truth--the existence of a God--no man can prove by reason. The
ordinary proof for the existence of God involves either an assumption,
argument in a circle, or a contradiction. The impression of God is
kept up by experience, not by logic. And hence, when the experimental
religion of a man, of a community, or of a nation wanes, religion
wanes--their idea of God grows indistinct, and that man, community or
nation becomes infidel.
Bear in mind, then, that all religious truths are doubtable--even
those which we hold most strongly.
What does this brief account of the origin of doubt teach us? It
teaches us