Religion and Theology: A Sermon for the Times

There is much talk in the present time of the difficulties of

religion. And no doubt there is a sense in which religion is always

difficult. It is hard to be truly religious--to be humble, good, pure,

and just; to be full of faith, hope, and charity, so that our conduct

may be seen to be like that of Christ, and our light to shine before

men. But when men speak so much nowadays of the difficulties of

religion, they chiefly mean intellectual and not practical

difficulties. Religion is identified with the tenets of a Church

system, or of a theological system; and it is felt that modern

criticism has assailed these tenets in many vulnerable points, and

made it no longer easy for the open and well-informed mind to believe

things that were formerly held, or professed to be held, without

hesitation. Discussions and doubts which were once confined to a

limited circle when they were heard of at all, have penetrated the

modern mind through many avenues, and affected the whole tone of

social intelligence. This is not to be denied. For good or for evil

such a result has come about; and we live in times of unquiet

thought, which form a real and painful trial to many minds. It is not

my intention at present to deplore or to criticise this modern

tendency, but rather to point out how it may be accepted, and yet

religion in the highest sense saved to us, if not without struggle

(for that is always impossible in the nature of religion), yet without

that intellectual conflict for which many minds are entirely unfitted,

and which can never be said in itself to help religion in any minds.