The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-05-07
CHI qnteIbqsrter,
suEpTICs AM sKEPrICIsa.
SermOp Last sunday by Rev. David
swing, OF Chicago.

ChlcaSo TFtbunsa FeP0r[
Prof. Swing preached on Sunday morn
ing to 4 large congregation in the Contra
Church. His theme was "sksptics anC
SkeptiCism." Following ia the sermon:
Thy way is in the sea- and Thy path in the grea
waters, and Thy footsteps are not knoVn'-PIaIH
irIrii 10,
Skepticism and absolute unbeliel have
always accompanied belief, It may pe
that our age has more than the common
supply OF doubters and doubt, but each
generation since Christ taught first His
assemblsge Of doctrines has furnished q
regular army OF persons allow or unable to
believe. The early Christian fathers
found great opponents-msn the equal OIL
themselves in mental power and in
scholaTship, and at all times there have
been men to deny what there have been
men to affirm. 1t was q question fore
seen by the prophets, whether the Mes
siah would find faith. The song pre-
coded Jesus: "Who hath believed our
report, and to whom is the arm oil
the Lord revsaled?" LsCtantius, one
OF the earliest and greatest OF the
Christian apologisls, found akepttCtsm Ss
real in the fourth century as We lind 1t in
the nineteenth. Unbeliet was what was
feared most by the Founder OF Chri1tiani'
~, and thus came 90 often the inquiry
Belieyest thou Me2 Unbeliet has thus
been q lifelong companion OF Christian
belief, and should not seem TO any clergy.
man as . wicked product Of our times and
ss needing q kind Of wrath and rhetoric
that Would seem able to NIP 1t In the
bud" II uubeliet were not an old and
widespread evil, Me pulpit pr the past
would find 1t difficult 10 produce now .
reason for existence. The PHILOSOPHY OF
the pulpit lies In the perpetual fact that
there are propositions which are so yalua.
BILE, and at the same time so removed from
mathematical denomination, 90 10 create
reason for the office Of a persuasive aud
learned ministry. The condition Of the
mind in spiritual matters has made long
and pressing demand for that kind Of
pleading which is,Commonly understood BY
the word pulpit" That profession did
not take rise In the clearness oil religious
statement and proof, and in the universal
disposition OF society to live righteously,
but It spTaug from the wide demand for
persons able and willing 10 satisfy the mind
and guide the heart, When any clergy.
man, therefore, arraigns the skeptical oil
to day as though they were gross vice OF
the times and applies to them the most
severe terms Of denunCiation Of the vocab'
ulary, he seems under some misapprehen.
sion as to the origin and import OF bis
calling. The unbeliet OF the human race
ia as constant a fact as the sickness or
health, the happiness or unhappiness, Of
mankind. How to deal with this immense
and ever self.renewing doubt Ia q question
OF many answers, but there must be o
method for almost each one lost in this
wilderness, and q method for each age;
but amid oil these variations the time for
harsh language towards those outside the
Church will seldom come.
Let US not to-day touch upon the fact oil
unbeliei, but rather upon It's causes and
qualities. Assuming that our age contains
vast amount Of religious skepticism, let
us seek tlhs reison for such want OF
spiritual vision and hope. 1t comes as O
first explanation that ali these atti rmations
about God, Rnd divine Mediator, and
a second lie, are more open to denial or
distrust than are the dCta Of mathematics
or OF material things. For reasons un.
known to man the Creator has seen Ct to
conceal Himself from the gaze Of His
children. He has never been as evident
as the fact OF sea, and sky, and land. The
assertion that man does not wish 10 be.
lieve In God, and therefore cannot dis.
cover His presence, Ia Of very limited ap.
pllCstion, for man does not wish 10 be-
lieve in death, butthe evidence rides over
all his prepoesessions on that subject. II
remains to he inferred that the existence
of q God Is not as obvious as the fact Of
desth-it Ia based upon considerations
which do not compel conviction. The
argument Is partial, the evidence circum.
stautial, and has bssn Of such quality that
even good men have prayerlully sought
some evidence which might fully satisfy
their heart. It has always been possible
for a lew minds to affirm that
the universe came by chance, or
by what is called The Law OF material
things; and out Of this easy possibility
have come the great arguments reaching
all the way from Job and Plato to Paley,
to help establish the belief In Supreme
Being. This arguments ton has been long,
and most kind and most patient, thus dis.
closing the fac! that the existence oil God
has always been ahatCopCealed truth, and
that some persons OF upright lie have In
all ages walked in the shadowsot unbelief.
No arguments have been elaborated for
mankind by Plato, or Socrates, or st. Paul
or Bishop Butler to help on the belief in
the existence Of land aud water, food and
rainent, pleasure and pain; but to estsb.
lish public faith In q personal Creator ar.
puments have reappeIred In many forms
Ia each generation, making II rndeniahle
that Nature hides 80 behind heavy cur.
tsins the cause Of all things. The Bible,
In lis narrative and liz rich literature OIL
Jab and David declares that Jehovah hides
Himself away, for the favored Moses saw
only movements as oil garments, and David
saws the footprints oil God are made In the
sea, go that no one can discover them
The water at once closes up and grasses the
heavy footballs. An inquiry into the skep'
ticism which shall emit this obstacle
offered by Nature will be most Imperfect
and unjust treatment Of the whole case.
But the existence ola personal God is mol
the only proposition Of religion, and many
persons who escape the clouds In that one
narlicular are liable 10 trouble elsewhere
| In The career Of faith. The doctrine Of q
second life lies before man, 10 be accepted
or rejected, and here too the fact 10 &c
much concealed that often doubts arise
among thoes who most desire to believe ID
a heaven to come. Indeed Il is among the
good this form OF skeptiOlsm is very com
mon in our day. Persons Of the highest
character and education arc often found
| in the deepest sorrow because they can
not be assured that they will meet lhelI
scattered family beyohdthe grave. THEFT
hope depending largely upon the history
OF Jesus Christ, feats come that that his
tory may have been composed BY mistak
en- writer's, or by writer's anxious to found
a new religious dynasty. has been thl
expefisnce Of liAny Of you to be CALLED
upon to speak words Of cheer 10 itiendt
who, when death has entered their homes