For this fluctuation of purpose and failure to reach its high ideals, stern sentence is passed at the inner bar of judgment, and though the censure of another is resented, the soul bears great scars of flagellation, self inflicted. The standard of measurement by which the life tests itself and others is a new consciousness that there is absolute right and absolute wrong apart from all external coverings. The statements of others are examined, their actions are stripped of all veneer, profession and practice are balanced, and death sentence is passed upon the influence of any life that fails to meet the test. The compassion that remembers that we are but dust has no place in the heart as yet. Suffering will call out sympathy, but not failure to reach the mark. A life must ring true to God, true to its fellow men and true to the ideals conceived as belonging to it by these self-appointed judges, if it is to be of any help to them. It is therefore not a question whether the professing Christian, be he parent, teacher or church member, can indulge in doubtful amusements or uncertain practices without injury to himself. It is rather, "Are these things included in the ideal of a Christian life, as it is held by those whom I want to touch?" If they who bear the name of Christ exemplified more completely the ideals by which they are measured, would there be so many who question the reality of divine things?
It is during the closing period of Adolescence, ending with young men about twenty-four and with young women about twenty-one, that doubt most frequently appears. It comes rather as a questioning and bewilderment to the Christian, and scepticism to the one who has had no experience of divine things. Spiritual truth is not accepted because another has said it is so, but each desires to know for himself the foundation upon which he stands, that he may have a reason for the hope that is in him. Investigation seems to show that at least two out of three pass through this period of intellectual unrest, young men being in the majority.
Many causes contribute to this condition, but chief among them is the maturing strength of reason and will. The new power to think God's thoughts after Him, to trace cause and effect, to understand subtle relationships, intoxicates the soul. Everywhere in the world around, the pre-eminence of reason is acknowledged. The atmosphere of the university and the college which surrounds the favored young men and women is an atmosphere of scientific accuracy, where reason applies the tests. The world of business, of finance and of statecraft all bow to reason,—why not the spiritual world, and then by searching, the soul attempts to find out God. As in the wisdom of God divine things do not yield up their treasures in intellectual investigation but in revelation, the thick darkness gathers. Even that which had been once known by faith seems strange and unreal from this new view point. It is a critical time for a soul when it is learning that in one realm reason does not go before, but faith. Any harshness or lack of sympathy on the part of another or evident disappointment in the life is very serious at this point. The will asserts itself under such measures and from the pliant attitude, "I cannot believe what I cannot explain," it takes the defiant attitude, "I will not believe what I cannot explain."
The marvelous dealing of our Lord with Thomas is a picture of His gracious dealing with every doubting heart, and ought to be the perpetual model for every one who attempts to give help at this time. When the Master stood before that disciple who said he would not believe unless he had the indubitable proof of a physical testing, He spoke no words of censure, no words of His pain that Thomas had been so long time with Him and yet did not know Him in faith. "Jesus said, 'Peace be unto you. Reach hither thy finger, and see My hands, and reach thither thy hand and put it into My side and be not faithless but believing,' and Thomas answered and said unto Him, 'My Lord and my God!'"
With like patience and infinite tenderness, the Spirit deals with the troubled heart today. He makes the past days with God live again in memory, if the life has known Him, and the soul can not deny in its reason the reality of what it has lived through in its experience. He uses every Christian life that can bear the search light as an irrefutable argument of the verity of the unseen. He brings the peace of God that passeth understanding, yet fills and thrills the soul as every service for Him is rendered even in the darkness. He calls through hard experience where reason can bring no comfort and the will is palsied, through the abiding unrest and longing of a heart that is feeling after God in its own way, instead of His, and through the drawing of childhood habits of love and trust. When at last, spent out with struggle and longing, the soul is willing to come back to the Heavenly Father as the little child who used to be, asking only to walk hand in His, in dark or light, a new consciousness dawns, clear, sure and absolute that, "Thus saith the Lord," is more than reason, and the triumphant song rings out, "I know whom I have believed, My Lord and My God!"
APPLICATION TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK
The Sunday School touches a life just entering maturity at the focal point toward which all nurture has been tending. Enriched by years of absorption, with ideals defined and channels of expression traced, the soul faces an open door, bearing the inscript "Service." It is that each soul may enter the door and give back to a waiting world its best, that nurture has brooded and guarded through the years.
The great work of the Sunday School is to impel the soul to take this step, and taking it, say, "I am debtor." This can not be done through any system of methods, neither are narrow interests or unexacting tasks sufficient to arouse all that the soul has now to give. The great sweep and mighty force of world movements are alone adequate for a soul in touch with God and infinities.
There has never been a time in the history of Sunday School work when there were such far reaching, thrilling movements through which to appeal to manhood and womanhood as at the present time, and God's Hand is not hidden in the matter.
The Adult Bible Class movement, enlisting the greatest company of thinking men and women ever gathered for the study of the Word, is a call to open loyalty to the Book and to the church, that is winning recruits by the thousands.