BELIEF 159
closed mind, a mental state which lies at the opposite ex treme from doubt.
There is, of course, a form of doubt which is called dis honest, and dishonesty should always be severely dealt with. But careful discrimination should be exercised in this mat ter. If doubt really exists, no matter what influences have induced it, it is a real state of mental uncertainty; and de nunciation is misdirected if aimed at this state. Let it rather be directed at those courses of conduct which have induced it. If evil courses of conduct Have resulted in doubt as to religious verities, it should be remembered that deeper down than these perverse habits lie the old vital needs which, when they can find voice, speak always in favour of the religious interpretation of the world. To remove the doubt thus originated, the most effective method is to awaken from their somnolence these vital needs and make them vividly conscious, that the soul may be flooded with those primal and powerful feelings on the waves of which belief rides to rightful dominion. Criticism of the immoral conduct, coupled with sincere sympathy for the transgressor, is the appropriate means for the preacher to use. To de nounce the doubt as such is more likely to strengthen than to dispel it. To demonstrate that the doubt is not justified on intellectual grounds is ineffective, because it does not really originate in the inconsistency of belief with the intel lectual system, and therefore a merely logical reconciliation of the two will not remove it. If the mere disagreeable- ness of the religious truth is the only real cause of its being held in the suspense of doubt as is the case in the kind of doubt we are now considering it is only necessary, in order to turn the scales in its favour, to arouse a more pow erful counter-feeling which springs from a lower depth of the personality. ^\
But it is a more difficult problem totfjeal effectively with the doubt which arises from a real connect between the pos tulates of the heart and the intellectual system of the doubter. Here denunciation is manifestly absurd. Denunciation im-
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