of doubt. I have spoken already of His strange partiality for the
outsiders--for the scattered heretics up and down the country; of the
care with which He loved to deal with them, and of the respect in
which He held their intellectual difficulties. Christ never failed to
distinguish between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is "_can't believe_";
unbelief is "_won't believe_." Doubt is honesty; unbelief is
obstinacy. Doubt is looking for light; unbelief is content with
darkness. Loving darkness rather than light--that is what Christ
attacked, and attacked unsparingly. But for the intellectual
questioning of Thomas, and Philip, and Nicodemus, and the many others
who came to Him to have their great problems solved, He was respectful
and generous and tolerant.
And how did He meet their doubts? The Church, as I have said, says,
"Brand him!" Christ said, "Teach him." He destroyed by fulfilling.
When Thomas came to Him and denied His very resurrection, and stood
before Him waiting for the scathing words and lashing for his
unbelief, they never came. They never came! Christ gave him
facts--facts! No man can go around facts. Christ said, "Behold My
hands and My feet." The great god of science at the present time is a
fact. It works with facts. Its cry is, "Give me facts. Found anything
you like upon facts and we will believe it." The spirit of Christ was
the scientific spirit. He founded His religion upon facts; and He
asked all men to found their religion upon facts.
Now, get up the facts of Christianity, and take men to the facts.
Theologies--and I am not speaking disrespectfully of theology;
theology is as scientific a thing as any other science of facts--but
theologies are