Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1878-03-02
9bspberSstuwn Register.
The Mistakes of Prejudice.

HE N31StnheS Oh ETcI AuASCe
The following excellent article was
written by Luther L. Smith, graduate
of this Office, and at present a student
iu the Theological Seminary, at Roam
oke College, Salem, Va, aud published
in the Roanoke Coiegian, of a recent
date, from which we clip it, under the
above caption. We copy the article
and make these remarks without his
knowledge, but we hope he will excuse
our temerity. We substitute the arti-
Gle as leader, believing that nothing
better could be inserted at this time
He writes over the nom de plume Of
"Clotario" -
Few individuals are free from prejudice,
and the phenomenon is not strange, only
in that people cling so tenaciOusly to it.
Many forces, strong in their tendency,
bear on the culture of people that event.
ually mould their manner Of thinking,
and cause them 10 see things in most
unreasonable light. When a man is heard
conversing, giving opinions on current
topics, discussing intellectual, moral, so
cial, or financial questions, the place OF
his birth, the influence of early training,
and the hobbies of kindred and friends,
are glaringly manifested. The strength
of prejudice is seen in the child, when it
follows and adopts the political and social
beliefs of its parents, and is 80 strenuous
in their advocacy, although il may not be
able TO give an intelligent reason for these
opinions, as we have all experienced in
the huzzas sent forth for ''free trade and
sailors rights"-the shibboleth of our
fathers party. The germ is here sown
i'm the hearts, which ''are wax to receive
and marble TO RETAIN" from which hid
eous and irrational bias is generated-an
illiberality and narrowness binding, hand
and foot, intellectual independence and
self-reliance. This child's way of acting,
taking and accepting ideas and opinions
as they are received from our prOgenitors,
nursed and carefully cultivated, develops
a Slavish mana mere mechanical factor
and imitatOr. And the results of this are
seen in a great multitude of men, who
never rise above early trammels, both in
opinions and actions, following in beaten
paths, and but for the few, who are lead
ton, in its various departments, would be
arrested in its development.
Examples OF this truth are numerous,
as any one can readily see who observes
the conduct of his fellow-men. How
strange 10 see many persons make social
distinctions on the basis that some have
better blood in their veins than others, or
claiming superiority on account of family
lineage, stutifying themselves that they
are natures noblemen, simply because
their father or grandfather was general
or colonel in the Revolution! Stranger
still are the assertions of some persons,
reared under the influence of slavery, that
the colOrcd man is radically different
from the Caucasian, possessing neither
soul, intelligence, moral faculties, nor the
Capability of Improvement. Again, not
many devoted party men can see any good
in the measures proposed by the opposi-
ton, reaching the conclusion at once that
emo good can come out of Nazareth" and,
therefore, often the wisest and most salu-
tary legislation is defeated from the incl
dental circumstance that it Is the OFF,
spring of the minority. Such an effect
has this evil principle on great political
parties. Another manifestation OF it is
exhibited, both in the foes and friends of
revelation, and among the educated OF
these classes presents the highest cultiva-
ton. The foul-mouthed Atheist of the
Ingersoll type can not see redeemlng
feature, single blessing, in the Christian
religion, but consider it only as an ulcer
Gus spot Oh our civilization, though boast
ing to be liberal, independent thinkers,
when in realty they are bound by the
rankest, deep-Seated bias. So blinded are
they that its destruction would be their
Joy, though nothing would be offered in
return for its conserving energies. Yet,
on the other hand, some theOlogians can
see in the advance of modern science only
the insidious, undermining influences of
error, and that it is just another effort of
the devil TO ovcrturn revelation. They
say that if so and so in science be true,
then the Bible falls, not once thinking
that, perhaps, the interpretations drawn
from Scriptures by the weak, pu-
ny intellect Of man, may be mere hal
lucinations. The great Calvin who wrote
about twenty years after the COpernican
system attracted attention, in his COM
mentary on Genesis boldly affirmed that
the Ptolemaic system of astronomy was
the system taught in the Bible, and even
at the beginning of this century, the Ger
man nationalist, Bretschneider, said that
in 'the overthrow of that system (Ptole-
maic) all the distinctive doctrines Of the
Christian religion, the incarnation, atone
ment, ascension, final judgment, heaven,
hell, have fallen to the ground like the
play-houses of children in storm" The
truth, that the Bible sets forth no system
of science, was never flashed across their
minds, and, still, science, If it be true sci
ence, can not conflict with its teachings,
and when it apparently does, the fault is
in our apprehension OF its truth, and not
i'm the Bible itself. Nature and revela-
ton, properly understood, always, har-
monize, never contradict. So in the above
instances, though the Ptolemaic system
has long since been abandoned as errOne-
Gus, nevertheless, the great fundamental
principles of the Gospel are as firmly be-
lieved today rs ut any period mall the past.
This blindness of educated men can be at
tributed to the peculiar tendency of the
schools in which they have been educa-
ted, and from which they are unable to
extricate themselves. "They seeing, see
not; and hearing, they hear not; neither
do they understand"
An individual is liable to fall into these
errors, so long rs he is in the least influ-
cnced by the prejudices of birth, educa-
ton and social training. In the investi-
cation Of any subject, certain allowance
should be made for these weaknesses.
Above all, education should eradicate
these defects, giving an unbiased and un-
trammeled reason and judgment, so that
the truth can be readily distinguished
from error. How admirable is the exam
pie of Descartes, whose first step, Oh leav-
ing college when but nineteen years old,
was to renounce the authority Of all his
books and to efface from his mind all
scholastic dogmas and prejudices. From
this important action, l have no doubt,