To Infidelity and Back

Henry F. Lutz
To Infidelity and Back

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Title: To Infidelity and Back
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TO INFIDELITY AND BACK
To Infidelity and Back
A Truth-seeker's Religious Autobiography
How I Found Christ and His Church By
EVANGELIST HENRY F. LUTZ
_Author of "Economic Redemption; or, Hard Times: the Cause and
Cure" etc._
"I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in
paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them,
and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them and not
forsake them"--Isa. 42:16.
"Slight tastes of philosophy may perchance move one to atheism, but
fuller draughts lead back to religion"--Lord Bacon
CINCINNATI, OHIO
1911

DEDICATION
To the sacred memory of the pioneers of the great Restoration
Movement of the nineteenth century, who forsook the religious
associations of a lifetime and cheerfully endured poverty, persecution
and every hardship in their endeavor to restore Christian union on the
primitive gospel, and who held forth a beacon-light that helped me to

find the truth in its simplicity as it is in Christ Jesus.

My Soul Struggle in Symbolism
Upon the fly-leaf of my Bible I find the following, which was written
shortly after I emerged from the stormy sea of heartrending agony
through which I passed in my conflict with sectarianism, rationalism,
infidelity and doubt. It was not written for the public, but was simply
an effort of my soul to express in a measure, through human symbols,
the painful experiences through which it passed. It will seem
extravagant language to those who have never had their souls lacerated
by doubt and despair. But the sensitive souls who have endured similar
experiences will understand, and it is with the hope of reaching and
helping them that it is given to the public.
"A TEN YEARS' JOURNEY
From the childhood land of ignorant innocence to the kingdom of
Christ: by way of deserts of negation; mountains of assumption; rivers
of irony, sarcasm and conceit; bays of contention; gulfs of liberalism;
and oceans of infidelity, doubt and confusion--swept by undercurrents
of selfish passion, tempests of blind sentiment, maelstroms of fear and
despair; covered with black clouds of prejudice and preconceived ideas,
dense fogs of theological speculation, gigantic icebergs of indifference,
monstrous sharks of procrastination, and ruinous rocks of materialism;
through the strait of darkness and absurdity, over the sea of twilight and
joy, into the haven of rest.
"In the ship, religion; pole-star, faith in God; rudder, free will; compass,
conscience; sextant, rationalism and experience; anchor, hope; guiding
chart, creeds and opinions of men vs. the Word of God; pilot, Jesus
Christ.
"Motto: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
"Prayer: O God! thou knowest the secret desire of my heart. Thou
knowest how earnestly I have sought the truth. God forbid that my life
should be a barren waste; that I should so use the powers that thou hast
given me that the world shall not be better for my having lived in it.
Lord, grant I may ever find the work that thou wouldst have me do.
'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts,
and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting. Amen."

This, in substance, was my daily prayer for ten long, dreary years; for,
while my intellect was in doubt and confusion, my heart continued to
cling to God.

INTRODUCTION
One of the clearest expounders of the Scriptures in my acquaintance is
the
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