ristianity always runs away when it comes to the critical point.
Fugitives from the crisis, every man of them! And what of that radiant
optimism that broke out by the shores of the Galilean Lake? Well, it
came near to breaking-point, as near as it could without actually
giving way. But it held! It carried him through! The infinite
Friendliness did not forsake him in his extremity, as his followers had
done. At one point he thought it had forsaken him, but it had not.
For its nature is to be as true to the loyal soul as any loyal soul can
be to it; waiting to attest its presence wherever the courage exists to
make the experiment of trusting it. All prayers to it sum themselves
up into one, which when it comes from the heart makes other prayers
almost unnecessary--"Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." _In
tuas manus, Domine, meam animam commisi_.

So far, then, as I am able to understand these high matters, there is
no such thing for any of us as getting rid of religious perplexity.
But there is such a thing as exchanging the perplexities which depress
and weaken our nature for those which exalt and strengthen it. This
world is ill adapted to the fearful and the unbelieving; but most
exquisitely adapted to the loyal, the loving and the brave. To
poltroonery of one kind or another the Spirit makes no concessions; it
wears the face of a hard master to all pusillanimous demands. To its
own children it is not only gracious but faithful. It gives them
commissions bearing the sign manual of God; shares their perplexities;
goes with them into their battles; stands by them in their time of
need; interprets their bright hours to a tenfold brightness; and
changes the mystery of their pain from an unfathomable darkness to an
unfathomable light.

Behind the battle of the Creeds lies the battle of life--a much more
serious affair. Wherever the seriousness of the greater battle is
deeply felt the acrimony of the lesser is mitigated. The two battles
are not unconnected, but let us take them in their right order.
Churches and sects which begin by fighting for their creeds are apt to
end by fighting for their own importance--which is contrary to the
spirit of the Christian religion and to the express command of Christ.
Are there not some among us who think that the way to establish their
own creed is to destroy the creeds of their neighbours? But is that
so? Does the flourishing of my form of Christianity depen