In destroying his faith
you may destroy him. Pardon me, if I ask you to please remember
that faith in God and a future life is more vitally important to
some of us than our daily bread. We may not be able to explain it,
but we must hope and trust or perish. To go back to your nautical
illustration, suppose some who had been wrecked were clinging to
a rocky shore, and trying to clamber up out of the cold spray and
surf to warmth and safety; would it not be a cruel thing to go
along the shore and unloosen the poor numb hands however gently and
scientifically it might be done? Loosing that hold means sinking
to unknown depths. With complacent self-approval and with learned
Athenian airs, many of the savans of the day are virtually guilty
of this horrible cruelty."
"I do not take sides with the Athenians who called St. Paul a
babbler," said Van Berg, flushing; "yet truth compels me to admit
that I could worship more sincerely at the 'Alter of the unknown
God,' than before any conception of Deity that modern Theology has
presented to my mind. That does not prove much, I am bound to say,
for I have never given these subjects sufficient attention to be
entitled to have opinions.
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