The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-08-25
Sermon.
BELIEF: ITS NATURE AND SOURCES.
BY REV. e. w. WHITNEY.
(Cincinnati.)

lord believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mark. tx. 24.l
Abstract of a sermon preached in the Nc
MILAN Street Universaist Church, Cincinnati,
o., June 8.
In the notable letters on religion,
published in the North american Reuie,D,
by Rev. III. M. Field D. D., and Robert
G. Ingersoll, the latter makes the fol-
lowing statements:
1.-THE truth is, that no one can be
justly held responsible for his thoughts.
The brain thinks without asking our
consent. We believe or we disbelieve,
without an effort of the will. Belief is
result. It is the effect of evidence
upon the mind. The scales turn in
spite Of him that watches. There is
no opportunity of being honest or dis
honest in the formation of an opinion.
The conclusion is entirely independent
of desire. We must believe, or we
must doubt, in spite of what we wish. :"
This statement is significant, because
religion beyond the realm of personal
experience, is of necessity based upon
belief. knowledge rests upon certain
ty, upon what we can see, or touch, or
experience, but belief is founded upon
probability, which may vary in strength
from the faintest conjecture up to over
whelming evidence. Beyond the range
of knowledge, belief holds sway in all
the broad fields of human thought.
How little man knows, or can knowl
AT best his life is short, and when the
time devoted to sleep, work, and re-
creation is subtracted, how little re-
mains to be devoted to the attainment
Of knowledge. Moreover, the senses
are very limited in their range. Sight
and hearing extend but few miles,
while taste, touch, and smell are limit
ed to immediate contact. One can not
know what occurred before he was
born. The history of past ages is to
us a matter of belief, not of absolute
knowledge. At the present time we
can not know what is transporting in
England, Germany or Australia, and
some may find it hard to even believe
without large allowances, the kilograms
and reports from these distant lands.
A greater part of so-called knowledge,
is, therefore, only belief, though our
faith in it is SO strong, that it answers
every practical purpose of knowledge
itself.
l. Consider for moment the nature
of belief. The Gothic word be-lifan,
from which belief is derived, signifies
that by which person lives, the code
of morals and religion by which he Or
ders his life. Belief may also be defin-
ed The acceptance of fact as real or
certain, without immediate personal
knowledge" The field of belief is I'M
speakably wider than that of personal
knowledge. 1t extends to science as
well as to religion, to the past, and the
future, to the material and the spirit
ual alike. How apparent is the folly
of many of the objections urged against
belief. One man says, II will only
believe that of which / am certain"
Happily no one can act upon this
declaration. The greatest sceptics ac-
cept as true thousand things Of which
they are not and can not be certain.
Every one believes that George Wash
ington was the father of his country,
but how many now on earth ever saw
him or even heard his voice? Can you
be certain that such man ever lived?
No, but no sensible man doubts the
fact! If person were certain of
given event or truth it would no longer
be a belief, but a matter of positive
knowledge. Belief pertains to uncer-
tainty. He can not believe that which
to his mind is certain, for then he
would know it.
Others have said, 81 will not believe
that which 1 can not understand"
Were that the fact ones range of belief
would be exceedingly narrow. Few
indeed, of the commonest events of
nature or life can any man understand.
Who understands the processes of
digestion, the growth of blade of grass,
or the simplest of the laws of nature?
These are all explained in technical
terms, but this learned nomenclature
is hardly more than cover for mans
Ignorance. The wisest philosopher is
very near the border land Of mystery.
Shallow and empty must that mind be
which only believes what it can under
stand. Belief is about all that any
man can attain in religion. The
unseen and eternal transcend the mar
row limits of human knowledge. Can
finite man know the infinite God? His
wisdom, power, and love can be faint
ly apprehended, but none born of
woman can fully comprehend them. In
a strict sense can we be conscious of
Immortality? OF mortal life we are
certain, but who can be absolutely
sure from present experience that his
individual life shall continue forever?
However strong the evidences in favor
of it may be, it is still true that 1--WE