The Inquirer

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVI, Issue 7, 19 December 1925, Page 10

The Inquirer

SEEKING AND FINDINC. AVliy should December 21 be chosen for St. Thomas’s Day? We might have supposed that it would have been more appropriate if the story ol his sceptcism and the supremacy of his faith had been commemorated during the Easter Festival, for it was not until the risen Lord appeared to him that the Apostle made his great confession. Why is he commemorated just before Christmas Day ?

Christmas loses its true sigxiificanco except as we regard it in the light of the faith which St. Thomas attained. The birth in Bethlehem, according to the witnesses of the Christian Church, was not merely the entrance into this world of one who, gifted with unique spiritual insight, revealed tho Divine love to mankind, and on account of this supreme service has won our homage. This is not the meaning of Christmas, nor does it explain the Christian faith. It is because the Church has always believed that in Jesus of Nazareth God was manifested in our nature that we hold this festival - In His birth God became Man. This is the fact that gives Christianity its significance. It has never been denied that it is hard to believe in the mystery of the Incarnation. Few men when first confronted with it find it easy to accept. From the beginning it has given rise to anxious questions of many kinds, but there is only one answer to them. He whoso birth is celebrated is Divine. ]t is this fact which gives its appropriateness to tho date assigned to the commemoration of the. Apostle whose doubts are still in many minds. He is the representative of those in every generation who inquire: “How can these things be?” And because his doubts were real and he was ready to test the worth of such answers as were given to him, he learned to accept vhrist as the Lord. That belief was the end of his inquiries. I’rofessoi- William James once engaged in an interesting discussion on Chilord’s advice, to the effect that a man should believe nothing, but keep I his mind in suspense tor ever, rather | tiian by dosing it on insuiheient cvij dence incur the awiul risk ol believ- ’ ing lies. Janies .on the other hand, maintained that we may judge the risks of being in error a very small mat- ■ ter when compared with the blessings i.of real knowledge, and that we should | be ready to b*e duped many times in

our investigations rather than postpone indefinitely the chance of guess■mg the truth. We may agree with i James, but this does not satisfy the ‘ conditions of faith in the .hiet which Christmas implies. Here there is no question of guessing the truth. Its ! apprehension brings a conviction which enters into the very life of men. When ! St. Thomas cried: “My Lord and my i ' Gcid” ho made something more than a splendid guess. It was something moru than the acknowledgement of a strong probability. A triumphant conviction of laith in Christ as Lord came to him. Of course, it was not the result of logical processes. He i could not offer proofs which would ■ satisfy any court ot inquiiy established by his fellows. The evidence belongs , to the spiritual sphere, and the appro- , hension of its worth is possible only bj i spiritual perception, the perception which comes from faith. To-day many raise a preliminary

question. Is this religious experience of ! curistians really justified? That such experience exists is plain, for the evidence is before our eyes. Jbe history of Christendom manifests its existence with undeviating constancy. But is it after all based on an illusion? There the many who would answer that question in the affirmative and claim the support of a not inconsiderable group ol modern pbychologists who deny that religion is anything more than the product of men’s fears and hopes. But this is to . commit the error of scientists of a former generation who, convinced ot what they called the uniformity of nature, denied the existence of i spiritual reality. We are now generally agreed that they blundered m forgetting that there is something m human experience beyond their measures, and that men, as we know them, cannot be accounted for by merelv natural processes. And so far as psychology is a science it cannot within its own range account lor or describe what belongs to the spiritual sphere. . . When we turn to the conditions in winch a man attains the conviction of Christianity’s truth we recognise how much must depend on the inquirer, the character of his life, the purpose of liis questions, and the nature of his tests. If he makes Ins inquiries into the mysteries of faith in tho spirit of one who spends his time in trying to solve riddles, which fie regards as means of proving his acuteness, rather than having any practical results, ho will never come to any real understanding of their meaning. Religion is something more than an interesting sphere of investigation; it has a life and purposes of its own. •Christianity must be tested in-ex-perience before it can be understood. It is impossible to frame its “argu- I ment” in a scries of syllogisms. An inquirer into its meaning must needs conform to the conditions in which it can bo learnt. He must try the worth of its affirmations in his own life, for only in this way can he become acquainted with its character. It is to be feared that much which is mere ainiIcssiHss fr apathy is misMiamed doubt to-day. To be a good doubter a man must bo terribly in earnest. For honest doubt implies sincere inquiry. Sir \\ illiam Hamilton reminded us that doubt as a permanent state of mind would be little better than intellectual death. Men do not undertake any quest with all their might except when, they 1 clievo that it may be successful. ! Let the inquirer, thei'efore, turn once i more to the Gospels and examine the witness oi tho Master’s continuous ! power in human history. If he puts i himself to school to that Divine Teacher, and seeks with strong desire to ■ find the truth ho will have his reward.