People may be divided into a great many different classes according to their attitude toward belief and beliefs—­toward the meaning and value of belief in general—­toward their own beliefs and those of their neighbors.  We have the man who does not know what “belief” means, and who does not care; the man whose idea of its meaning is perverse and wrong; the man who thinks his own beliefs are important and those of his neighbors are unimportant; the man who thinks it proper to base belief on certain considerations and not on others—­the man, for instance, who will say he believes that two plus two equals four, but can not believe in the existence of God because the grounds for such belief can not be stated in the same mathematical symbols.  These are only a few of the classes that might be defined, using this interesting basis of classification.  But before we can take up the question of instruction in the church’s beliefs, about which I have been asked to address you this evening, we must recognize the existence of these classes, and possibly the fact that you yourselves are not all in accord in the way in which you look at the subject.

What I shall say is largely personal and you must not look upon me as representing anybody or anything.  I may even fail to agree with some of the instruction that you have received in this interesting and valuable course.  But I do speak, of course, as one who loves our church and as a loyal and I hope a thoughtful layman.

First, what is belief?  We surely give the word a wide range of values.  A man says that he believes in his own existence, which the philosopher Descartes said was the most sure thing in the world—­“Cogito, ergo sum.”  He also says that he believes it will rain to-morrow.  What can there be in common between these two acts of faith?  Between a certainty and a fifty per cent chance, or less?  This—­that a man is always willing to act on his beliefs; if not, they are not beliefs within the meaning of this address.  If you believe it will rain, you take an umbrella.  Your doing so is quite independent of the grounds for your belief.  There may really be very little chance of its raining; but it is your belief that causes your action, no matter whether it is justified or not.  You could not act more decisively if you were acting on the certainty of your own existence.  It is this willingness to act that unifies our beliefs—­that gives them value.  If I heard a man declare his belief that a fierce wild animal was on his track, and if I then saw him calmly lie down and go to sleep on the trail, I should know that he was either insane or a liar.