Through impatience and discouragement alone, many give up the quest for knowledge as hopeless, and while too well-balanced to drift into dissipation, they suffer from ennui and become pessimistic.
Real knowledge will not come all at once, like a vision, or a complete revelation.
The first real Light that comes will be that of Faith, a term generally misunderstood and misused.
Faith is the complete antithesis of blind dogma and superstition. It is born within the soul, and never imposed by outward authority enforced by fear.
“Faith is the soul’s intuitive conviction of that which both reason and conscience approve.”
To give intellectual assent to belief in God is one thing; to be able to declare with light and warmth that uplifts and inspires, “I know that my Redeemer liveth” is another thing entirely.
The impatience above referred to would see the end from the beginning, and know all about the development and destiny of the soul before it has learned the first lesson that guides and determines both.
When, however, Science and Religion clasp hands, and the facts of nature guided by the light of Faith, build character and guide progress, there is revealed a Philosophy of Life that needs little revision. It is like the compass that points continually to the pole, and gives unqualified assurance as to the direction we are going.
So also every step in the past enables us to get our bearings and verify our course by checking backward.
Faith is no longer a blind dogma, but a compass in the box of experience, the wise mariner’s guide in the voyage of life.