You have seen such wrecks by the score, have you not, good friends?

CHAPTER XIX.

And now the victim of these adventures was in a worse case than ever.  Up to this time neither religion nor its lack had played any particular part in his being.  He had been a bad boy, truly, but in his former low estate he had thought little of anything that pertained to another world, or to the future in this.  Now he disbelieved all things—­man, immortality, heaven, God.

It is a condition which few fail to experience, in a greater or less degree.

I wonder if it is necessary that I pause here, just an instant, and interlard a remark regarding the scene through which I have just traced “Dodd” Weaver.  I do so, in any event.

In what has been said, I would not have it understood that I rail at, or deride, or impeach the honesty of the men who tried to help “Dodd” out of the sad condition into which he had fallen.  Neither would I underrate the value of religion, in such experiences, nor impugn its power to save sinking souls from death.  But I cannot help reiterating the fact that multitudes of young men have drifted on to the rocks of infidelity as “Dodd” did, because they have been promised too much by religious enthusiasts.

There is such an experience as genuine religion, and it is the most blessed estate that a soul can aspire to.  There is a place for prayer in the divine economy of God’s providence.  But neither religion nor prayer can help a soul that is sick unto death with the malady of doubt.  “Dodd” was thus circumstanced.  It was the zealous overstatements, the ultra promises, the unwarranted inducements held out to him, which, unrealized, threw him into this condition.

And then doubt is such a breeder of its own kind!  As a single bacterium will, in a few hours, under favorable conditions, develop millions like unto itself, and poison a man’s blood to the last drop, even so doubt grows in the soul, when once its germs are planted there, and its noxious growth blights all one’s being, bringing death hurriedly, if its course is not stayed.

“Dodd” Weaver was in a state of mind highly favorable to the development of unbelief.  The false promises of his well-meaning friends sowed the seed of distrust within him, and the crop was not long in ripening.

The fact is, truth is so loyal to itself that it will not suffer distortion, even for the apparent purpose of doing God service.  It can no more be swerved than God can!

If that point is clear, I go on with this narrative.

But “Dodd” had seen enough to understand that if he expected to live long he must stop short of absolute debauchery, and he rallied somewhat from the first awful overthrow that came when the clouds burst over his head.  He drank more moderately, and was seldom drunk.  He returned to his old haunts, however, and kept on in the main as he had before.  The only difference was that he loitered in a way now where before he had rushed along at top speed.