The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-11-07
Travelsr,' Guide.
GheQntelIia
Tho religion Of John stuart MIN.


The following arc extracts from the
Essays on Religion" by the late John
Stuart Mil, recently published:
Those iwho have been; strengthened
in goodness by relying on the sympathi-
zjng support Of a powerful and good
governor Of tho world have, l am salts
tied, never really believed that governor
10 be, in the strict sense OF the term ON
nipOnent. They have always saved his
goodness at the expense Of his power.
They have believed, perhaps, that he
could, II he wllled, remove all the thorns
from their individual path, but not with.
out causing greater harm TO some one
else, or frustrating some purpose Of
greater Importance TO the general we'll
being. They have believed that he
could do any one thing, but not any com.
blnation OF things; that his government,
like human government, was system Of
adjustment and compromises; that the
world is inevitably imperfect, contrary 10
his intention. And since the exertion Of
sll his power 10 make It as little imperfect
IS possible leaves II no better than Il is,
they cannot but regard this power, though
vastly beyond human estimate, yet as
IN itself not 1nerelyIfnite, but extremely
limited.
THE notion OF q proVidential govern
ment by an omnipotent being for the good
Of his creatures must be entirely dismiss
cd. The common arguments
Tor Immortality are-the goodness Of
God; the improbsbility that He would or !
dsin the humiliation Of his noblest and |
richest work after the greater part oil its |
few years Of lie had been spent in the &C. |
QUESTION OF faculties which time is NOT al. |
lowed him to turn TO fruit; and the spe-
Cial improbsbility that He would have
implanted In us an instructive desire OF
eternal life, and doomed that desire TO |
complete disappointment. These might
be arguments In q world the constitution |
OF which made It possible without contra.
diCliOn 10 hold it for the work Of a being |
at once Omnipotent and benevolent. But |
they are not arguments in a world like
that in which we live. One
thing is quite certain in respect to Gods
government Of the world, that he either
could not or would not grant 10 US every.
thing we wish. We wish for lie, and He
has granted US some lie. That VIC wish,
or come OF US wish, for boundless ex-
tent Of life, and that It is not granted, Is no
exception TO the ordinary modes Of His
government. Many man would like to
be CrGsus or an Augustus Caesar, but
has his wishes gratitied only to moder-
ate extent OF 81 week or the secretary
ship Of his trade union. There is, there
tore, no assurance whatever Of life after
teslh on the grounds of natural religion.
"But then adds Mr.. Mill to one who
feels 1t conducive either TO his satisfaction
or 10 his usefulness to hope for future
state as possibility, there Is no hindrance
10 his INDUCING that hope. Appearances
point TO the existence Of being who has
great power over us-all the power i'm
Piled in the creation Of the kosmos, or its
organized beings at least, and Of whose
goodness we have evidence, though not
Of its being his predominant attribute;
and as VIC do not know the limits either
Of bis power or his goodness, there Is
room to hope that both tho one and the
other may extend to granting US this gilt,
provided that ii Is beneficial to US.
Human lite stands greatly in need Of
any wider range or greater height OF
aspiration for itself and its destination
which the exercise of the imagination can
yield to it without running counter 10 the
evidence oil fact; and that It is a part Of
wisdom TO make the most Of any even
small possibilities on the subject which
furnish imagination with any footing to
support itself upon. And l am satisfied
that the cultivation OF such tendency
in the imagination, provided it goes on
p1ri pdSSu with the cultivation of severe
reason, has no necessary tendency 10 per-
vert the Judgment; but that it Ia possible
10 form perfectly sober estimate OF the
evidence on both sides Of q question, and
yet TO let the Imagination dwell by pre-
ference on those possibilities which are
nj once the most comforting and the most
improving, without in the least degree
overrating the solidity OF the grounds for
expecting that these rather than any
other will be the possibilities actually re.
allied"