T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
356
ever cost to be led in the way of tru th and duty. Remember th a t no amount of evidence can overwhelm w ith con viction an unw illing mind. You w ant your h ea rt in th e rig h t place, and if your h ea rt is Christian your head will not long stay heathen. Few men are ever ensnared in skep ticism w ithout a t some tim e being con scious of it, and instinctively feeling th a t in accepting the “ doctrine of doubt” , they are_ believing a lie. There are serious, sober moments in a human life, when a man’s faith is sorely put to th e test. There are furnaces of sor row and suffering in which skeptical opinion and eyen a trad ition al belief burn up w ith a rapidity th a t shows they are but chaff, and in which intelligent Christian faith burns only as precious metals do, to release its dross, and glow and shine w ith a celestial radiance and brilliance.
may even come to uphold It as the most reasonable of opinions. The primary cbhdition of clear moral vision is the disposition to see. W ithout th at, all the evidence of tru th may be poured in, like light, upon the eye of the soul, and the eye only contract th e more. Christ said, therefore, “Every one th a t is of the tru th heareth my voice” . A disposition to h ear and heed th e tru th opens th e whole man to its reception. The un derstanding is quick to perceive it, the h eart to welcome it, th e conscience to approve it, the will to choose it. A bad h eart begets a perverse will and a d ark ened mind. And hence it frequently happens th a t th e in stan t a man’s h eart is moved to th e choice of a holy life, th e doubts of a lifetime vanish like morning mists. During a revival in D etroit a young man gave a brief account of his con version. Embarrassed w ith doubts and difficulties, he had postponed his choice of Christ till he should have some questions answered. But, moved by th e voice of the Spirit, he yielded himself to the tru th in a full surrender to God, thinking th a t he would ask his questions afterw ard. “B ut,” said he, “ I found I had then no questions to ask .” Out of th e h ea rt proceed th e very vapors th a t becloud th e sun, and th e surest way to clear th e atmosphere is to cleanse the heart. He th a t comes to the light, welcoming its gentle reproof, always finds th e light. He who feels afte r God finds Him. F irst of all, then, cultivate candor. Be tru e to yourself and your convictions if you wish to know th e tru th . Examine for yourself. If you examine th e spec ulations of doubters and deniers, be sure your investigation does not end there! Don’t confine yourself to the theories of infidelity. Bring to the study of th e tru th a mind w illing to be,con vinced and a h ea rt w illing to be con victed of error, and desirous a t w hat
I appeal to you, as sober men and women. There is one hour when above all others our absolute sincerity is pu t to a fiery ordeal. Hundreds embrace the various plausible theories of modern un belief, help perhaps to construct these cold, poetic, philosophic creeds, if creeds they may be called, which con sist mostly of negations, who, in th e hour when everything m ortal and ma terial is receding from th eir grasp and vanishing from th e ir eyes, will behold th e ir skeptical theories dissolving to th in vapor like a palace of ice beneath th e intense beam of an equatorial sun! It is- peculiar to th e Christian faith th a t in the crises of life it most exhibits its com forting and supporting power. Nothing else enables one to say, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.” There comes an hour when all earthly things vanish and, even earthly ties break, but th a t is the hour of exulting hope to a tru e believer. He cries, “Whom have I in heaven but thee, and IF YOU KNEW—WOULD YOU DO?
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online