CHAPTER I. WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? An Inquiry now that the Critical Era has passed by and the old faith must be restated. It is a proverb that the experience of one human heart is the experience of all mankind. Believing this to be true, all the orators, from Cicero to Wendell Phillips, have chosen one hearer out of the vast audience, and have addressed themselves to him, knowing that to carry his judgment and to persuade his will was to carry the multitude over to the new reform, or institution. Not otherwise, the doubt of a single individual is often a voice that interprets the inquiry and unrest of many deeply reflective minds. The old faiths have gone, for many, and they know not how to build up the structure of a new working faith. Doubtless every busy pastor, every religious editor, every teacher in the college or university, has received a letter of inquiry similar to the one that will be used in these pages to give point to these studies in the Christian life and the building of character. "I have cut loose from all my old moorings, and am adrift, having lost my sky-pilot, and having no hope of a harbor of refuge or a haven of mental peace," exclaims some youth. Doubtless this represents the attitude of a large class of educated young men and women. It seems that he is a college man, and has enjoyed all the opportunities of the higher education. He is interested in the great social problems, and has read widely in every realm. Unfortunately, through much reading, he has become involved in mental doubt and perplexity. He has read modern science, and has noted its bearing upon religion. He has read the Higher Criticism, and it has changed his ideas about the Bible. He has come to confess the uniformity of law, and at last has found in it a basis for a belief in the doctrine of God's providence. He concedes that it is possible that the era of skepticism is giving way to an era of faith, optimism, and happiness. "You have been telling us," he exclaims, "what is left of the Bible, what is left of prayer and providence, in the light of modern science, and you have given us the new thought of God, and Christ, and immortality. |