The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-06-25
GhnGmteItigetrteas
The Question Of Faith.

From the st. Louis Republican,
It would he amusing, II the question
were not so serious, to hear learned d.
vines thunder forth Sunday after Sun
day: Believe thus and so or you will
be daulned.p As ifbeliet could be had
Tor the asking, or even for the begging
As Il the wish to believe must necessarily
produce belief As II the most tempting
rewards or the most fearful punishments
could manufacture belief to order, and in
quantities to suitl How often, how very
often, in our daily experience do we try
with all the energy that is in US, to be-
lieve certain things in worldly matters,
and yet fail utterlyg WhyP Because
the evidence seems to us insufficient
Others more sauguine than ourselves
having the faith faculty more strongly de-
veloped, accept the evidence as salts
factory and believe accordingly. We do
not say that they are not the happier for
it, but we do say that they deserve no
credit for the natural outgrOwth OF a
temperament which they did NOT make,
but received from the Creator. 49,.
The variations in the quality OF faith
are quite as remarkable as those oil guam.
tity. For instance; A gentleman related
To his friend certain curious expert
ment he had witnessed in animal mag
netism, The friend openly expressed his
disbelief. "Why, do you doubt my
veracity2 ~ was the response, "Cortainly
not" answered tho other, "but the thing
is 20 incredible that / would not blieye 1t
iiIsaw it with my own eyes, Yet the
sceptic in this case had no difficulty in
believing that the "sun stood still upon
Gideon and the moon in the valley Of
Aialon," at the command Of Joshua. His
illlh staggered ut the assertion that a
common dinner-bell came up from under
table without the Intervention Of hands,
yet he was able to accept without so much
as murmur OF dissent q phenomenon
which neccssitaled the absolute suspension
OF the motive power OF the universe,
The reverend gentleman who Is report.
cd to have said last Sunday that the
writer OF recent article In tho RepRbH-
can must be q very ignorant person, else
he would have known that history makes
mention Of several instances where noun
tains we're removed by prayer, undoubt-
eddy had an exceedingly lively faith in
a particular direction. But the owner Of
this magnificent faith.laculty would
doubtless reject with pious scorn the geo.
logical facts which Sir Charles Lyell col
locted in long Lifetime Of patient labor,
He believes unhesitatingly, we presume,
that the laws OF gravitation have been
abrogatcd In response to the petitions Of
sinful mOrtals; and Just as unhesitatingly
we presume, he disbelieves all revelations
in regard to the inCorrectness OF the Mo-
sale cosmogony. Plainly, then, we are
not oil gifted alike with that mysterious
article which "is the substance Of things
hoped for and the evidence Of things not
seem"
II our conclusion is logical, II follows
that those more favored in this respect
should at least put Il charitable constrnc-
ton upon the incredulity OF their less
favored fellow beings. Ifthe quantity and
qualify of faith mainly depend upon pro.
cliyitics implanted at birth and fostered
by early education, surely those whose In
heritaRce Of faith Is small and whose edu'
cation in faith has been limited, ought "a
be tenderly dealt with by that class which
has enjoyed superior advantages. And
considering the tendency Of the times, II
seems to us the duty Of religious and sec
ular teachers should be to cultivate and
encourage, as far as practicable, the pecu
liar kind Of faith which Is based upor
sober reason and sound common sense. II
may not be as brilliant or as manageable
as the other, but 1t will have more last
ing effect upon the character, q greater
influence upon the conduct, and be nearer
in harmony with those grand movement
Of the human mind, which, in spite OF al
obstacles, are gradually making the worlC
wiser and better.