192 The First and Great Commandment
shown when men halt and refuse acceptance and deny super-
natural truth on the ground that, as they say, they do not
understand it; on the ground that mystery still remains
which cannot be reduced to terms of sight, terms of physical
sense. To refuse to be convinced about supernatural truth
on the plea of not understanding it, not comprehending it,
comes about in reality not because the reason cannot be ade-
quately satisfied, but because intentionally or unintentionally
reason has actually been abandoned; because a sense test,
a demand for physical so-called demonstration has been
substituted in place of the reliable processes of reason.
For men to remain purely critical, refusing to accept
supernatural truth, questioning Christ but not following
Him, claiming that they cannot believe because they assert
they cannot know; this is in actuality to deny that faith has
any knowledge; it is to make faith the antithesis of knowl-
edge instead of making it the antithesis of sight. The
contrast should not be between faith and knowledge, but
between faith and sight. The knowledge which goes with
faith reaches further than that which goes with mere sight;
it includes the activity of mind and heart and will. The
demand for faith does not mean that religion is based on
ignorance; but that God has revealed Himself sufficiently
to meet the capacities and needs of His human creatures,
and that to this revealed truth we are to bring our thought
and love and loyalty. Again, the effort to make religion
only a matter of intellect, to substitute ideas entirely for
life, appears when doctrine is made to supplant obedience
instead of being an indispensable stepping-stone to obedi-
ence. The creed and the deed must go together; both are
necessary; and they are not to supplant each other.
There must be some creed; the question is to have the
right one; and then it is to be a help to life.