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A Sermon Preached in the Congregational Church,
Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 18, 1879.
—BY-
Fev- w H. R.Y.D.E.R.
\ the interest and
1 - 11 - 6 o
THE BELIEVER'S ATTITUDE IN A TIME OF DOUBT,
“From that time many of his disciples went
back and walked no more with him. en said
Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?"—
John VI, 66:67.
These words mark a most important
crisis in our Lord's ministry. Before this
He seems to have been steadily enlisting
ining the favor of the
people. There had been some occur-
rences, indeed, like the rejection at Naza-
to reth, and the request of the Gadarenes
that He would depart out of their coasts
which suggested at least an undertone of
N º and fear. Still, the people had
een gathering about Him, the rulers
even had been deeply impressed with His
works of power and words of wisdom,
and the “common people heard Him
gladly.” His miracles had been numer-
ous and mighty, and there was a cheerful-
ness and hopefulness in His instruction
which, in great measure, disappeared in
the later months of His ministry. He
had just performed one of His mightiest
works, feeding a multitude of more than
five thousand souls from five loaves and
two fishes—a miracle which was fitted to
move a crowd profoundly, not only be—
cause it revealed His complete control
over nature and its laws, but also because
it broadly hinted the advantages which
might accrue to those who united them-
selves with Him. It was not strange,
therefore, that an eager but thoughtless
crowd followed Him around the sea and
pressed closely upon Him. Standing
there, at the sea side in Capernaum, He
reproved the multitude for their worldli-
ness and thoughtlessness and then deliv-
ered the wonderful discourse recorded in
this chapter. He strove to break up their
expectation and their desire of a j
who should bring great temporal advan-
tages, and to turn and fix their attention
upon the , spiritual blessings which,
through His own sacrifice and death, He
designed to impart to them. But this is
not the Messiah they are seeking, this is
not the form of blessing they desire, and
with disappointed and angry faces they
turn away and leave Him. Jesus makes
no effort to recall them; He does not
Soften or explain His doctrine; He does
not plead with them to remain and listen
further and consider the subject in all its
bearings before they make their decision,
but without a word of explanation or de-
fence He calmly turns to His disciples
and asks, “Will ye also go away?” That
was a supreme moment in the history of
our Savior's life, in the history of His
church and of the world. So far as hu–
man wisdom can discover, the scheme of
saving the world, depended at this mo-
ment upon the faithfulness of eleven half-
taught and half-converted men. The
had been listening to doctrines which
crossed their Jewish prejudices and
. their Messianic ambitions, they
stood beside their Master and ed into
the faces of the multitude and saw the
expression of eager interest and expect-
ancy fade away, giving place to looks of
disappointment, of incredulity, of dis-
ust and anger. The tide of human be-
ings which had been surging towards
Jesus begins to ebb, and it seems probable,
if not inevitable, that it will carry with it
the little band which had been associated
with Him for the past few months. It is
not difficult to imagine the eager expres-
sion of the Savior's face as He turns
away from that retreating throng to the
disciples, but no word .# explanation or
of pleading falls from His lips. He
makes no effort even to divert their
thoughts or to tide them over the trying
hour; but leaving them entirely free to
decide the momentous question under
these trying circumstances, He simply
compels them to decision by pressing
upon them the question “Will ye also go
away?”
This was a time of falling away
of the superficial and insincere; it was a
time when new and hard questions were
pressed upon the attention of the honest
and devout. It was a time of doubt, and
it should be of special interest to us in
these days to mark the way in which our
Lord deported himself at such a time.
These are days in which hard questions
É. upon us for decision, and doubts
oat in the very atmosphere—doubts con-
cerning the existence, the personality, the
government of God; doubts concerning
the person and mission and character of
Jesus Christ; doubts concerning the ori-
gin, the freedom, the destiny, even the
immortality of the human soul, and the
question is,how shall we, who believe, and
who regard ourselves as the representa-
tives of our Lord Jesus Christin the world
esteem these times and how shall we de-
port ourselves in them? -
I. We should not look upon a period
of doubt as wholly bad in its tendencies
and influence. It is not my purpose to
praise doubt or to encourage doubters. I
do not say that a period of doubt is bet-
ter than a time of faith. But when, un-
der the permissive providence of God,
questions, which it was supposed had
been settled, come up for reexamination,
when flaws are discovered in old lines of
demonstration, when souls are breaking
away from former moorings and trying
unknown seas of speculation, and a voice
seems to be ringing in the ears, even of
the faithful few, asking “Will ye also go
away?” it is not wise to be filled only
with fearful forebodings and pessimistic
premonitions. We may infer, from the
fact that God presses these hard ques-
tions upon us, and does not give us at
once the answer, that there is some ad-
vantage to be derived from the experience
which this demands, and may mark the
incidental advantages which may be derived
jrom a period of doubt.
1. In such a time as that in which we
live the purely selfish reasons for profes-
sing faith in the Gospel are reduced to
their minimum. Although our higher
schools of learning are largely under the
control or direction of Christian people
and churches, &et the youth who enters
one of them is not required to give his as-
sent to any creed or profess his belief in the
Christian religion. He receives the same
consideration from his teachers, and is
eligible to the same privileges and honors
whether he be a Christian or an infidel.
Church membership is no longer a con-
dition of suffrage, and in our country no
public officer is required to take a test-
oath, to receive the Holy Communion, or
to attend upon religious service, Indeed,
in our land and in our day, a man may
publicly disavow his belief in all religious
truth, in the existence of God, in the im—
mortality of the soul, even in the bindin
force of the moral law, and yet be .#
to office which involves the greatest re-
sponsibility and the most delicate trusts,
by the votes of Christians. The most
confident and zealous believer in the
truth of the Scriptures never thinks of
stopping to learn the religious faith of his
butcher before he orders his dinner, or of
inquiring into the creed of a tailor before
he permits him to measure him for a suit
of clothes. Bear in mind that I am not
saying that there are no evils, connected
with such a state of public feeling and ac-
tion. We are trying simply to fix our at-
tention upon some incidental advantages.
I do not compare the advantages and dis–
advantages, or affirm that the former are
greater or more numerous than the latter,
but simply that in this condition of things
there are some advantages which we can
discern and that it is well for us to note
these and to make the most of them.
One very obvious advantage is that this
condition of society tends to keep those
from connection with the church who
would unite with it from merely selfish mo-
tives. The slightest acquaintance with
church history makes it possible to recall
many instances, since the days of Ana-
nias and Sapphira, and Simon Magus,
when there have been not a few who have
desired to be reckoned with the people of
God that they might reap some profit
from it. The church has often been .
swamped in this way, for every insincere
man who is connected with the church,
not only fails to add any power to it, but
decreases the power which the church
would possess without him. He is a bur-
den and the strength of the church must
be consumed in carrying him; he is a poi-
son and tends to destroy the genuine life
with which he comes in contact; he is a
false light and decreases the value of
every light—house on the coast. The
power of the church to redeem the world
depends very much more upon its charac-
ter than its numbers. A little band of
sincere and devout men can do more to
save the world than a great company of
hypocrites; can do more alone than they
can if they associate with them those who
serve God for gain.
It is well to note in this connection also
the great evil which comes to an individ-
ual in permitting himself to be influ-
enced in the decision of religious ques-
tions by worldly motives. Certainly con-
scious, deliberate hypocrisy must be very
disastrous. When sincerity and truth
fail, the whole character is undermined,
and it may fall a complete ruin at any
moment. But probably, under the cir-
cumstances which are most favorable to
the development of hypocrisy, the cases
in which it is thoroughly conscious and
deliberate are comparatively rare. Men
are quite as eager to deceive themselves
as to deceive others, and quite as apt to
be successful in the effort. Now, when
the profession of personal faith in the doc-
trines of the Gospel of Christ brings mani-
fest and great temporal advantages, the
danger .# self-deception is very great and
the temptation very insidious. I am
not sure but the man who blindfolds
his eyes is in greater danger of per-
manent destruction than the man who
recklessly lives a lie. The latter is hold-
ing by main force a conscience which is
struggling to gain its freedom and assert
its Fightful authority—the former has
drugged his conscience and it lies in a
stupor from which it may never be
aroused. These insidious evils which
have been considered are constantly
threatening the church, and especially in
the times of its greatest prosperity. Per-
secution is the means which God has some—
times taken to purge His church. Under
its fiery dispensation conscious hypocrites
beat a hasty retreat from what they had
supposed to be its sheltering precincts,
and the half hearted, aroused to a sense
of their condition, either join in the re-
treat or awake to righteousness, and the
church by its severe ordeal is purified and
strengthened. Is it not true, that at pres-
ent the prevalence of doubt, and the fact,
that, as a consequence, very little wordly
advantage accrues to the man who pro-
fesses Christianity, is accomplishing, in
some measure, what has usually been ac-
complished by persecution? While,
therefore, we lament this period of doubt,
as we lament a time of bitter persecution,
may we not mark this great, though inci—
dental, advantage and bless the Lord for
that? Why, in these days. the easiest
way even for a Christian minister to gain
popularity is to proclaim himself a doubter.
It is not serious thonght and honest and
laborious scholarship and self-denying
zeal to save men which draw a crowd or
gain the applause of the multitude, but
negative criticism and the denial of seri-
ous views of the guilt and danger of sin
and of the justice of God. ell, let us
not grieve unduly over this. It is doing
mischief, but less, perhaps, than it seems
to do. When Gideon's army was reduced
from thirty-two thousand to three hun-
dred men, those who went back from fear or
who were rejected from want of zeal
or because of idolatrous tendencies,
suffered no serious evil from the
discovery of their true character and
their proper classification, and their
removal increased the strength and
efficiency of the three hundred de-
vout and believing men.
2. But we should observe the more
positive and personal advantages which
those who are striving to be sincere and
devout may gain from this prevalence of
doubt.
A time of doubt tends to develop inde—
pendence of thought and action. We are
all social creatures, we like to go with the
crowd, and we are in danger of going
simply because the crowd goes. The
Lord through Moses gives this suggestive
admonition, “Thou shalt not #. 8,
multitude to do evil,” for when a multi-
tude is drifting in an evil way then is the
time of special danger. There is always
danger of being borne on a tide, and so
far as one's personal character and experi-
ence are concerned, it signifies less than
we sometimes think, whether it be a
flowing or an ebbing tide.
It is a truth which it is very hard for us
to learn that in our profoundest experi-
ences we must always be alone. We may
be convinced by arguments and moved by
appeals which fall from human lips, we
may be influenced by human actions, we
may be comforted and strengthened by
human counsel and sympathy, yet every
one whose soul has been profoundly
moved, who has stood face to face with
some momentous question of faith or
duty, has been compelled to feel that, so
far as any human presence is concerned,
he must stand alone.
Now, I say, when a spirit of doubt is
prevalent one tendency of it is to force a
serious and honest man to independence
of thought and action. He sees that intelli-
gent and upright men are divided in their
opinions and their conduct upon funda-
mental religious questions. If he is
tempted, as most men are, to cast himself
upon the tide of public sentiment to be
born impassively upon the current, he is
compelled, to decide upon which tide he
shall cast himself, and being compelled
at the very beginning of a earnest
life, consciously to face this ques-
tion and seriously to decide it, he is
greatly assisted in learning at once this
most important lesson, that character and
salvation are strictly personal matters,
that while a man may behave well simply
because it is the fashion, no man can be
holy except through the independent ac-
tion of his own soul, that while a man may
attend church and assent to creeds and of-
fer long prayers because others do, no
man goes to Heaven except through per-
sonal devotion to God.
But this suggests another kindred ad-
vantage which may be gained through
the prevalence of doubt, viz., the tend-
ency of religion in such a time will be to
become thoughtful rather than emotional.
Far be it from me to depreciate religious
feeling, whether it appears in the form of
fear of divine wrath or of joy in God's
salvation. The sensibilities properly play
a most important part in our religious
life. But the proper place for emotions
is in thorough subordination to reason
and intelligence. We should feel because
we think and believe and know, and our
religious feelings should be the spur of
thought rather than, immediately, of ac-
tion. Serious thoughtfulness ought to
encamp 'round about the will and jeal-
ously guard it from all intrusion of mere
feeling. Our best and most abiding feel-
ings.if they do not make for righteousness,
make for religion. So far as the emo- .
tional side of our nature is concerned, we
are distinctively religious beings, and the
great trouble with men in the past has not
been that they have had no religion, but
that their religion has been one of senti-
ment rather than of intelligence and rea-
son. Now, while doubt may ridicule the
emotions, it has no controversy with
them. It attacks the intelligence; and by
this very conflict with doubt the intelli-
*
gence is strengthened, and trained. The
mind is compelled to look at facts and
truths. The emotions are disciplined and
held in check. The religion which sur-
vives a period of doubt will be a vigorous
and muscular religion. . It may lack
somewhat of those tender sentiments,
which sometimes have blossomed in sur-
3. loveliness and exhaled a rich and
elicate fragrance over the very corrup-
tion of medieval and popish superstituons,
but it gains in strength more than it loses
in beauty, and for this life strength is worth
more than beauty; and strength cannot be
gained without conflict. I do not mean
that we should enter into conflict with
doubt by taking our stand as champions
for religion, throwing down the
gauntlet to every doubt and doubter, de—
termined to defend religion at all hazards.
The true battle, which every sincere soul
must wage, requires unspeakably more
courage and self denial and severe tension
of thought than this mere championing
of a cause. . It consists in the earnest
struggle to know the truth, whatever the
truth may be and whatever it may cost to
know it or to accept it, in the fixed deter-
mination to attack every lie, in whatever
camp it may be found and whatever uni-
form it may wear. No one can arm him-
self for such a warfare, and steadily car-
ry it on, without finding his powers of
mind and heart daily growing strong.—I
believe more than this. I believe, with
all my heart, that, while the soul which
enters honestly and fearlessly into such
a struggle, will have many hours of great
perplexity—times, perhaps, when it seems
as if the effort to conquer truth must be a
a fruitless struggle, the end of such con–
flict will be established faith and not doubt;
sooner or later he will come to see that
he does not fight the battle alone, that he
is under the guidance of an Infinite
Father, that he has the presence and grace,
though he knew it not, of an Almighty
Savior, and that he shall not perish in the
conflict but shall live in glory forever.
But this leads us to notice; that this
necessity of thoughtfully examining re.
ligious doctrine, not only strengthens the
mind but makes it more discriminating,
giving it power to apprehend the more
subtile arguments and to penetrate to the
more profound and spiritual truths. How
well this is illustrated in the incident from
the account of which the text is taken. It
was when Simon Peter was brought face
to face with Jesus' most serious and most
momentous question, that the light flashed
down and revealed profounder depths of
spiritual truth than he had before
apprehended. With this new light
shining into his mind he exclaims
“Lord, to whom shall we O?
Thou hast the words of eternal life,
and we believe and know that Thou art
the Holy One of God.” It was Christ's
question which compelled him to look at
the foundations of his faith, and brought
him to that clear apprehension of it. Ot
many months after this, we read that
Jesus led the disciples to the coasts of
Caesarea Philippi, away from Jewish as-
sociations and influences, and there
pressed upon them the question “Whom
say ye that I am?" The same Simon
Peter, having gained even a deeper in-
sight into the nature and mission of Jesus
Christ, answered, “Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God.” It is evi-
dent that he gained this insight into
deeply spiritual truths by being compelled
by these questions to trace the truth which
had discerned down to its foundations.
Now it is manifest that when faith is
easy it is apt to be superficial; when the
drift is towards the church and towards a
religious life, even sincere men will not
be careful to take their soundings. But
when the multitude tends the other way,
when the Christian begins to feel that if
he maintains his stand, he may soon be
standing alone, then he is constrained to
cxamine his foundations. If one is to
stand alone he must be sure that he has
the rock beneath his feet. A period of
doubt may, then, not only assist in devel-
oping a purer and more masculine faith,
but may also compel faith to go deeper, to
lay hold of more subtile and more spirit-
ual truths, and thus to build a more mas–
sive and enduring edifice.
II. But before we dismiss the subject let
us try to answer briefly this question,
How are wewho believe who have, perhaps,
come to our settled beliefs through much
of doubt and painful thought—how are
we to treat the doubts of others?
1. We should treat them with thought-
ful consideration. Some, at least, who
profess to doubt are honest, and honesty,
however mistaken it may be, is entitled
to respect. We must not be in undue
haste to convert such men to our beliefs.
It is our duty to keep them thinking, to
guide and help them, but we must not try
to carry them or to badger them into the
kingdom of grace. With all the help that
can be given, every man's religious beliefs
must be his own discovery. We may
help him to see where he may find the
truth and help him grind his tools, but
after all he must do his own digging and
we must be patient with him, certainly as
long as he will keep at work. God is pa-
tient with such a soul, and we can afford
to be.
Even when skepticism is superficial and
insincere, as doubtless very much of it is,
we gain nothing by manifesting contempt
or ill-temper. An immortal soul should
be treated with respect and tenderness,
even when it is behaving in a very stupid
and wicked way, and rudeness and ill-
temper but confirm one in his foolish
skepticism, and lead him to infer that
there can be no truth in a religion which
does not make its professors unore
thoughtful and gentle. Thus we have
overthrown none of his old arguments
but have given him a new and a better
On 8.
2. We should compel ourselves and,
so far as we have influence, lead others to .
serious investigation for the truth, seek-
ing for it “as for hid treasures.” A
time of doubt should be a time of thought.
The great danger of our times is not from
skepticism but from indifference and
thoughtlessness. The great danger from
the infidel lectures and sermons of our
day is from the fact that they
are so exclusively destructive and
negative in their influence, that
they deal so largely in mere
caricature, and aim to start a laugh or a
sneer, or to develop mere hostile criticism.
How many, do you suppose, are led by
these critics to go directly to the sources
of Christian faith, and search independ-
ently and patiently for the truth? The
prevalence of doubt may be the occasion
for such faithful search, but it will devolve
largely if not exclusively upon Chris-
tian believers to lead men to engage in it.
We must make men see that honesty
is the one essential virtue and that, what-
ever a man may profess to believe, he is
not honest unless he thinks for himself
and with all sincerity and severity seeks
for light from every source which is open
to him, and follows the best light he can
get, wherever it may lead him.
8. Lastly, we must insist at all times,
and especially in such times, or the su-
premacy of conscience and the reign of
duty. hatever doubts prevail,it is still
preach doctrines less,
“right to do right” and it is still wrong to
do wrong. If there be no God, if Jesus
Christ was but a feeble man, if the soul
goes out like an extinguished taper into
utter darkness, if the gracious promises
of the Bible are but a tissue of extrava-
gance and deception, still conscience is
left ; it is still right to be pure
and true and brave and helpful,
and the soul which anchors itself
there and waits for the morning will have
a morning of clear and glorious light.
Let us, then, in our lives and in our
teachings exalt duty. Let us not
but duty more,
striving to be good and true and to
make others good and true, and thus shall
we come ourselves and lead others to Eter-
nal Goodness and Eternal Truth.
My dear brethern, we live in times
which try men's souls, but it is a time
when we should above all things maintain
clear heads, and steadfast hearts. It is no
time for trembling fear. God's truth will
triumph and we can rest in that. The
church, like that little boat on Genesa-
reth, may seem to be at the mercy of bois-
terous waves, but the Lord of glory and
of power is in it, and in his own time he
will arise and rebuke the waves, and
they will know their Master. These very
doubts will be the occasion,in God’s prov-
idence, for the developing of a better faith,
While we should strive zealously to save
those who are in danger of shipwreck, we
need not worry about the storm. It will
pass in God's time, and we shall see then
that it has demonstrated the strength of the
ship and cleared the air and saved us
from the greater danger of stagnation and
corruption.
Tann Arbor Democrat Print."
me UNIVERsmy of Michigan
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