The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-03-21

Il propose" said Mr.. rockingham
Sunday morning. 'to track to his hid
ing place the author Of disbelief. That
there is great deal Of disbelief III our
modern society need not be disputed. !
do not mean wha. is popularity called
disbelief in any special doctrine or sys-
TEN of theology Not what Christians
call disbelief or what Jews call disbe-
lief. l mean something very different
from that-a disbelief that goes much
deeper; that touches all the tundsmen-
tai ques.inns and reaches even the Sc
cret places Of heart and life-the disbe-
lief that enervates all neral eaTnestness
and under,nines the foundation Of char
acter. There is great deal of that iu
our modern society. and the question is,
Who is responsible for it, l received
letter from another State last week.
/ written Ivy q woman whom | never
| knew nor SAW. 1t was n sad bitter let
! ter. written by "a women who was not
uncuitivated. nor unframed, nor unrs-
| fined. She kne " how To write English.
and wrote it we'll. She had evidently
read books and reflected much upon
tuPul, Ott Sue Iuuk tuiS OtttCE HIpUiCtu
before me. Is there any such thing as
truth Is there any such thing as du-
ty? Is there anything worth living for,'
| Then. she said she had been reading
Spencer, Huxley and Darwin, and
wished to know if could remove this
awful shadow of doubt that had settled
down upon her life. Now. who was
responsible for that state of mind! Not
those men whose writings she had been
reading. Not Spencer, nor Huxley nor
Darwin. for she began to doubt. before
she came to them; and besides. If wished
Ia convince any one there was such q
thing. rs truth, to certainty of truth.
| would refer them TO these very men.
They believed in thought. study and
earnest quest after truth. They may not
have believed rs Christians believe
they may not have defined any OF the
articles of faith as they are defined by
earnest theologians; bat they believed
that there is such thing as truth. aud
they sought it. They were the apostles
| of their generation. Pure. thorough
and virtuous in their lives irreproach
able, simple, sincere. single minded.
These men devoted their attention to
the organization of duty, Of finding the
truth and disclosing it; therefore, these
men were not answerable for this poor
womau's desperate state of mind.
! Whence then came her doub.s! Some
say they may come from the nature of
/ the mind. which is unable when it gets
off the path of Christian truth, to find
any truth at all. That cannot be 10.
for it is the natural tendency Of the hu-
man mind TO believe. not TO disbelieve
The instinct is to seek, to ask, to ques-
tion, when there is no knowledge
Credulity is one Of the ancient facts of
history Haste to believe. Superstition
i. the belief Of the imagination, belief
without reason, question or Judgment
| the belief ot fancy; therefore. / say
that those two universal facts prove
that belief, not unbelief. Is the natural
attitude Of the human mind. What
are the visionary forms of doctrine that
prevail over the intellectual mind to
day, but SO many efforts TO come st
things 50 many yearnings after what Is
! undiscovered There is no creed on
the face of the earth that was not in It's
time a positive creed. As men go for
ward they believe nore and more rs-
tionally and inselligen.iy. Science
opens the world of material things
the earth. the skies-io the knowledge
of the human mind; reveals the laws
II physical nature so that We can feel
tha, the world is not . sport Of chance.
knowledge of history is simply a
knowledge Of the laws by which human
,ty has been developed from age 'o age
Psychology tha, looks into the eot'd''
,,on II the human mind has for It's OBJ
iec, this presence of law. So II Is ~ii',
art that tyie. 10 penetrate the realms o'
beauty. knowledge aud belief are
,yuony mous terms. The belief oi
ignorance We call credul;'y the belief
4 knowledge We call faith There
fore il was NOT ..o~in. ~ tue
natural uabelief of the human min'i
that This poor. di.hcst'ened woman hAs
gone down the depths It sorrow, Nho
!. r,,.tonable Who the author Ihe
nersou. whoever il i<-.hc system what
ever II is-that which shuts the ~ih-
dow Of truth. shuts tGs dnoF of know
edge aud prevents people goins "as "'
their iynorance into light. Is'here any
such person Is their any sueh system .
There j. II is needless 10 say Ne ali
know there is system Of theology
~h,ch claims TO be Of Divine origin aai
descent. commended by Divine revsiA'