Is it then a necessity, or an advisable thing, that before a man can
become a worker with the Church he must pass an intellectual test? Is it
imperative for him to find exactly what he does not believe? That makes
it almost impossible for him to get back afterwards. The effect on the
unfortunate heathen of warring messengers, all calling for different
faith tests for membership in Christ's Church, has always seemed to me
little short of disastrous. The theory of Christianity wouldn't convince
the heathen of the Congo that religion is desirable, or make a Russian
Jew wish to adopt Russian Christianity. The same applies to the Turkish
views of Austrian Christianity, or the attitude of the Indian of South
America towards Christian Spain. As for me, I am satisfied in my own
work, and I think my Master was, with the faith that makes a man anxious
and willing to come and help me, ever believing that he that is not
against us is on our side.
Joshua, a servant of God if ever there was one, is often quoted as
saying, "Decide," "Choose." We must remember that what he said was,
"Choose whom you will _serve_," not what your final belief is going to
be. Christ never sought for admirers, but for followers. The most
voluble protestants of their faith in Jesus as God's Son were devils.
They knew it, but benefited little by it. Thank God, Jesus never made
the opposite of confessing our belief in him before men to be the
non-apprehension of his divinity, but always the denying and being
ashamed of his service and becoming a stumbling block. Though I know
what a wonderful thing it is, as a source of power, to be able to
confess our faith in Jesus as the Son of God, and what infinite peace it
affords to have that confirmed by experience.
The shrewd judgment of Wall Street would not lend a man ten cents
because he had been accepted as a member of a church on confession of
faith. Often enough members of the same church wouldn't either, although
they probably both would to a doer, like Livingstone. So let us abandon
the creed-judging of others. Jesus accepted the following of the
adulterers, publicans, and the harlots, and the man who has honest
doubts may be a Christ follower or a Christian, who ever says the
contrary.