THE PREACHER'S WORLD
can be found in the neglect of public worship; in the indifference to the Bible; in the astounding ignorance even amongst well-educated people as to what Christianity really is; and in the prevalence of the type of humanism we have already referred to, which dethrones God and sets man in the centre of the picture. The causes of the sceptical mood are various. Some have been driven from the citadel of faith by the formidable assaults of science. Others have found their religious beliefs crumbling away before the ruthless, terrifying aspect of a world at war. Others have felt the desolating stab of doubt and misgiving as they grappled with the mystery of suffering. Many have lost the vision through failure to maintain a disciplined devotional life. Many have lacked the necessary powers of resistance to ward off the infection of a predominantly secularist society.
There, then, is the challenge you are called upon to meet. I am not thinking now of that flippant, superficial type of scepticism which will stand in the presence of the profoundest mysteries without a trace of awe or wonder, which will talk jauntily of its emancipation from the ethics of Christ, and smile patronizingly at the prayers of the saints, and look with pity upon those who still frequent the worship and ordinances of the Church. Nor am I thinking of the intellectually half-baked scepticism which has a naturalistic explanation for every phenomenon of the religious life, which calls prayer auto-suggestion, and conscience a utilitarian social contract, and immortality flagrant wishful-
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