The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-11-06
The Resemblance Of Faith.

IL 10 dSSeIleu Wy ShepllcS tndG IHe
Christians faith is irrational; that it is
belief without the exercise of reason
and in conflict with reason. If there
could be such thing as belief without
any evidence or intellectual persuasion
of the truth of the matter believed, and
in face of a conviction of its falsehood,
! it would indeed, be irrational. But
the faith supposed never existed. 1t is
impossible to a sane mind. The human
mind is so constituted that no man can
believe without what appears to him
sufficient reason for believing. Faith
always presupposes rational ground
of confidence and conviction, and some
exercise of the understanding in es-
| timating the value and force of evil
dence. Without this, anything that
may be called faith is mere folly and
credulity.
Whatever may be said of the validity
of the Christian evidences, they are the
basis of the Christians faith. He be-
lieves upon evidence which he considers
sufficient. And because the processes
by which he arrives at conviction are
intellectual and rational. his faith is
rational. Indeed, he only believes
because it seems to him more rational
to believe than not to believe. If the
evidences of Christianity are insufficient,
it belongs to the obiector to prove it;
but it is as disingenuous as it is wide of
the truth to assert that faith is essential
ly irrational, and that only those are
truly reasonable who ignore faith and
rely only on the evidence of the senses
and the deductions of ''pure reason"
The Inconsistency of those who make
this assertion is proved by the fact that,
in common with all other men, they are
as dependent upon faith as they are
upon reason itself. They believe far
more than they can prove or under
stand. They cannot advance single
step without faith. They are compell-
ed to act upon faith alone in the most
important concerns of life. They pro-
coed in their business plans, in their
blowing and sowing, buying and sell
ing, with no other foundation for their
conduct than their faith in the regular
return of the seasons, and in the
veracity of their fellowmen. Faith,
in the form of mutual con-
tidence, lies at the basis of every
scheme of human life, and is the cor
ner-stone of the temple of human hap
piness. 1t is to the moral world what
gravitation is to material worlds, and
would, if perfect in it's sway, produce
among all personal beings an order and
harmony like that which gravitation
produces in the heavens. But let either
be wholly withdrawn from its depart
ment and there would be utter chaos.
Without faith, all the operations which
maintain life would be suspended.
There would be universal distrust,
which would produce universal want
and anarchy-the total disintegration
and destruction of society.
The ability to believe, to accept truth
on adequate testimony, is a natural and
most essential endowment of mankind.
1t is necessary to the perfection of hui
man nature, and is the source of intel
lectual as well as moral progress. A
mind incapable of believing would be
as great monstrosity as a body with
out heart or lungs. God never cre-
ated either the one or the other. If a
man is incapable of believing it is his
own fault. For, like every other faculty
with which we are endowed, the faith
faculty requires exercise to prevent its
decay. If faith be allowed to decay by
disuse or by willful disloyalty to the
truth, the mind loses its desire and
ability to acquire truth. The refusal to
believe would result in the complete
mental and moral degradation of the
race. Bishop Kingsley said: "The
imbecility of idiocy and the decrepitude
of old age lower over the intellect that
refuses to believe" The men who
have done most to bless the world ma
terially and spiritually have been men
of strong faith. The moral, mental and
pecuniary pauperism of the world is
found among those who have no faith
in God or in one another.
The great hindrance to an unwaver-
ing, comforting faith is not any consti-
tutional inability to believe, but fail
ure to comply with the conditions on
which that faith depends. The condi-
ton of an assuring faith is obedience.
If any man will do His will, he shall
know of the doctrine" The dispo-
sition and effort to do God will are in
dispensable to faith in Him. eff our
hearts condemn us not then have we
confidence toward God. IN W. Chris
tian Advocdte.
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