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 men 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 words 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