that has been in his way.
Thirdly: TALKING ABOUT DIFFICULTIES, AS A RULE, ONLY AGGRAVATES
THEM.
Entire satisfaction to the intellect is unattainable about any of
the greater problems, and if you try to get to the bottom of them
by argument, there is no bottom there; and therefore you make
the matter worse. But I would say what is known, and what can be
honestly and philosophically and scientifically said about one or
two of the difficulties that the doubter raises, just to show him
that you can do it--to show him that you are not a fool--that you
are not merely groping in the dark yourself, but you have found
whatever basis is possible. But I would not go around all the
doctrines. I would simply do that with one or two; because the
moment you cut off one, a hundred other heads will grow in its
place. It would be a pity if all these problems could be solved.
The joy of the intellectual life would be largely gone. I would
not rob a man of his problems, nor would I have another man rob
me of my problems. They are the delight of life, and the whole
intellectual world would be stale and unprofitable if we knew
everything.
Fourthly--and this is the great point: TURN AWAY FROM THE REASON
AND GO INTO THE MAN'S MORAL LIFE.
I don't mean, go into his moral life and see if the man is living
in conscious sin, which is the great blinder of the eyes--I am
speaking now of honest doubt; but open a new door into
The practical side of man's nature.
Entreat him not to postpone life and his life's usefulness until he
has settled the problems of the universe. Tell him those problems
will never all be settled; that his life will be done before he has
begun to settle them; and ask him what he is doing with his life
meantime. Charge him with wasting his life and his usefulness;
and invite him to deal with the moral and practical difficulties
of the world, and leave the intellectual difficulties as he goes
along. To spend time upon these is proving the less important
before the more important; and, as the French say, "The good is the
enemy of the best." It is a good thing to think; it is a better
thing to work--it is a better thing to do good. And you have him
there, you see. He can't get beyond that. You have to tell him,
in fact that there are two organs of knowledge: the one reason,
the other obedience. And now tell him there is but One, and lead
him to the great historical figure who calls all men to Him: the
one perfect life--the one Savior of mankind--the one Light of the
world. Ask him to begin to
Obey Christ;
and, doing His will, he shall now of the doctrine whether it be of
God.
That, I think, is about the only thing you can do with a man: to
get him into practical contact with the needs of the world, and
to let him lose his intellectual difficulties meantime. Don't ask
him to give them up altogether. Tell him to solve them afterward
one by one if he can, but meantime to give his life to Christ and
his time to the kingdom of God. You fetch him completely around
when you do that. You have taken him away from the false side of
his nature, and to the practical and moral side of his nature; and
for the first time in his life, perhaps, he puts things in their true
place. He puts his nature in the relations in which it ought to
be, and he then only begins to live. And by obedience he will soon
become a learner and pupil for himself, and Christ will teach him
things, and he will find whatever problems are solvable gradually
solved as he goes along the path of practical duty.
Now, let me, in closing, give an instance of how to deal with
specific points.
The question of miracles is thrown at my head every second day:
"What do you say to a man when he says to you, 'Why do you believe
in miracles?'"