those truths, outside of himself, of science and arithmetic, more fully
and deeply. Men were not all astray in the first thing that they were
seeking after, though they were wofully astray in many things that they
said about it, when they talked about faith and works. Faith enters in
through the soul that does a noble deed, and in the coming in of that
faith the higher deed becomes possible to him. Hear the words that Jesus
said, words that our age must take to itself until it shall be wiser
than it is to-day: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God." "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God." Ponder those words, my friends. See how
reasonable they are. See how important they are. See how they have the
secret of your own life, of what it is to do, of what it is to be,
forever and ever sealed up in them. These two things, I am sure, are
true with regard to the method of belief--that no man can ever go
forward to a higher belief until he is true to the faith which he
already holds. Be the noblest man that your present faith, poor and weak
and imperfect as it is, can make you to be. Live up to your present
growth, your present faith. So, and so only, as you take the next
straight step forward, as you stand strong where you are now, so only
can you think the curtain will draw back and there will be revealed to
you what lies beyond. And then live in your positives and not in your
negatives. I am tired of asking man what his religious faith is and
having him tell me what he don't believe. He tells me that he don't
believe in baptism or inspiration or in the trinity. If I asked a man
where he was going and he told me he was not going to Washington, what
could I know about where he was going? He would not go anywhere so long
as he simply rested in that mere negative. Be done with saying what you
don't believe, and find somewhere or other the truest, divinest thing to
your soul that you do believe to-day, and work that out: work it out in
all the action and consecration of the soul in the doing of your work.