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VOL. LXXXVI. RICHMOND
A STRON
"Art thou he. that should come, or do we look
Jar anothert11:3.
Yes, the questioner here was John the Baptist!
John, who in the rapture of vision had seen
heaven opened, and the Spirit descending on the
head of Jesus like a dove. John, who had first
n-cognized and pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of
(jod. John, who had said, "I saw and bare
record that this is the Son of flod " And +,ha
question was asked of him to whom 'hie liad borne
this testimony?"Art thou he that should come
or do we look for another?"
At first we are well nigh stunned by the question,
and by the thought that he whose testimony
only a few short months ago had rung so clear,
should now himself be the victim of doubt, of perplexity,
of questioning. And we very naturally
concern ourselves first of all as to
tiie "why" op John's doubt.
When we look into it, I think we shall find
that it is something which was not at all unnatural
under the circumstances?that no one
who knows anything of the human heart will
scarcely venture to condem his momentary in(lppUinn
This question was asked out of a prison cell,
into which Herod Antipas, the "pettiest, meanest,
weakest, most contemptible of all titular
princelings," partly influenced by political fears,
partly enraged by John's blunt refbuke of his
adulterous life?had flung him. Josephus tells
us that this prison was the fortress of Machaerus,
a strong and gloomy castle, on the borders of the
desert, to the north of the Dead Sea, and on
the confines of Arabia. John's previous life had
been one of the wild freedom of the desert. He
had always lived in God's outrof-doors. His rain
wnry naa neen one of activity, uncompromising,
severe, and bold to rashness. He could not endure
confinement. And now shut here in -this
g'.eomy dungeon, in enforced idleness, as yet a
young man, but feeling?which is always a bitter
thing for any heart to feel?that his mission for
this life was over; that nothing appreciable for
him to do remained, is it any wonder that heartbreaking
despondency should visit him? The
Prison confinement began to tell on his nerves
and his health. That prison became a doubting
castle. John wondered if he could have been
tni.taken about Christ. The best of people are
Mr**- -
a i ways at tneir best. In moments of despondency,
Shakespeare thought himself no poet,
and Raphael doubted his right to be called a
Painter. Elijah and Jonah long before had had
their Juniper tree experiences.
How often in. the world's experiences have
Pven the most generous and dauntless spirits been
'Wished by such hopeless captivity?
When the first noble rage or even resignat'on
is over, when endurance is corroded by
forced inactivity and maddening solitude, when
the great heart is cowed by the physical la^itude^j
I
, NEW ORLEANS. ATLANTA, SEPTEM
IG MAN'S
By Rev. Ernest Thompson, D. D.
Charleston, W. Va.
/Iaor>n 1 m r\f a Pa 1 /vPf 4*a ?^?4* ?*tta*? ? ?"? ^V* a
auu uuopan vi a 111c icjji iaj ivi tx>?av ill uiic
lonely darkness, who can be answerable for the
level of depression to which he may sink? Savonarola,
Jerome of Prague, Luther, were men
whose courage, like that of the Baptist, had enabled
them to stand, unquailing, before angry
councils and threatening kings; will anyone in
forming an estimate of their goodness and greatness,
add one shade of condemnation, because of
the wavering of the first and of the second in the
prison cells of Florence and Constance, or the
phantasies which agitated, in the castle of "Wartburg,
the ardent spirit of the third?"
To John it doubtless seemed as if he had been
neglected not only by the God above, but by the
living Son of God on earth. John was pining
in Herod's prison?fastened it may be to one of
those iron staples of which the holes are still
visible in the walls of this ruined dungeon?while
Jesus in the glad simplicity of his early Galilean
ministry, was preaching to rejoicing multitudes
among the mountain lilies or from the waves of
the pleasant lake. Languishing in prison for
the truth's sake, without any prospect of rescue
?"After all," he questions, "is Jesus King or
Herod!" '
Remember, too, in what terms he had predicted
the Coming One: "Now also the ax is laid
unto the root of the trees." . . . "He that
cometh after me is mightier than I." . . .
"Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly
purge his floor, and gather his wheat into his
garner; dux ne will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire."
Did not this betoken a work which would be
swift, severe, thorough, very different from anything
of which he could hear in his prison cell?
The coming of the Kingdom was too gentle and
too slow for the stern, impatient Baptist. All
things taken into consideration, is it to be wondered
that the eye of the caged eagle began to
film, and that he sent messengers unto Jesus with
the question of the text?
Now I for one am
gi.ad that john's doubt was recorded.
To the truly thoughtful mind it is no weakening
of the testimony of John; while it is full of
comfort for the honest doubter, giving him the
assurance that even when the most serious questions
trouble him?even though the very foundations
of his faith be shaken?"there hath no
temptation taken him but such as is common to
man," such as even a brave and true soul like
John had to face.
I am well aware of the fact that along the
line of one's faith, life presents many perplexing
L problems. Few there be perhaps who have come
VES7 ERN PRESBYTERMN.
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*iEf?N Pf?ESBYT?f?fAA'
BER 18, 1912. NO. 38.
DOUBTS
out into a strong faith that have not had first to
pass through a season of questioning and doubt.
With these perplexities and doubts which enter
men's minds, I have the sincerest sympathy and
hope that God will always give me the most
plentiful patience for them.
I believe that there are men and women in this
congregation today who are honestly seeking to
know whether after all Jesus is the Saviour of
the world, or whether there may not be something
better to hope for than the gospel has really
brought. Is Christ to be to us what he has heen
to our fat hem? Is he still to preside in the
future as he has done in the past, over the growth
of all that is worthiest and best in human nature?
Is the gospel to be sitill the inspiration and the
restraint of men ? Or have we to put that away
and look for something else?
There are times when through the failures and
disappointments of our personal religious lives,
we begin to wonder whether or not in Christ
may be found all that we need. Sbme have
been restless for months, perhaps years, about
their sins. They will tell you that they have appealed
to Christ again and again, and the peace
of Christ has not come to them. They are almost
ready to say, "Art thou he that should
come, or do we look for another?"
Some have no trouble about forgiveness. Long
ago they were able to bring their sins to the feet
of Christ and leave them there. But their
Christian life has not had the brightness and
power they had hoped for. Ani this Docause
they have not come on to find more about Christ;
for if we do not go on to find more in him, even
what we have found will become doubtful. I
suppose there is no kind of doubter more common
than the doubter who has onee been fervently
evangelical. And that is not at all tli..
i.iuir or tne ?vacge realism, it is the cault of some
slot iifulness i,r ruddiness that lias kept a iiia*.
from improving his knowledge of Christ, and
that keeps him walking not in the light of
Christ's presence, but in the light of some
far away, and often fading recollection of
Christ.
There are moments when even the most d ;vout
Christian must ask and get confirmation of his
faith. The signs of the time are startling. There
has been such a letting go in certain quarters of
the fundamentals. The Sabbath, the family
auar, tne I5vt>le, the sanctity of the marriage
vow, reverence of God's house, these and many
other safe-guards are being forgotten by so
many. Good and earnest men sometimes have
a sort of feeling of disappointment when they see
that God is so slow as men count slowness that
things do not go swiftly in their way; and they
say art thou he that should come? As men stand
by Christian altars today, they ask, "Is this the
regenerative force which was to come, in which
all nations shall be blessed, or look wo for an