The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-10-17
eoseR rAoueAra Foa ao.sMn psoplt !
cRRpuLrrY.

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cREDuLITY.
We know of no finer vantage
ground ON which the cham pion of
truth can plant himself than that
of the greater eredulity which must
be shown in the rejection. than in
the reception, of Christianity. The
faith required from those who deny
revelation is far larger than that
demanded of its advocates. He
who thinks the establishment Of
Christianity may be satisfactorily
accounted for on the supposition Of
its falsehood, taxes credulity vast
deal more than he who believes in
all the prodigies and all the mira
cles recorded in Scripture. The
most marvellous of all prodigies
and the most surprising of all mir
acles, would be the progress of the
Christian religion, supposing. it
untrue. He who believes that such
a wonder has been exhibited, can
have no right to boast himself
shrewder and more cautious than
he who holds that, at human bid
ding, the sun stood still, or that
tempests were hushed and graves
ritied at the command of one
found in fashion, as ourselves.
No candid mind can observe the
speed with which Christianity
overran the civilized world, COM
fpelling the homage Of kings, aud
casting down the altars of long
cherished superstitions; and then
Icempare the means. with the effect
the apostles, men of low birth and
poor education, backed by no
authority and possessed of none of
those high endowments which
characterize the achievers of diff
cult eriterprises-we are persuaded,
we suy, that no candid mind can
set what was done side by side with
the apparatus through which it
was effected, aud not confess, that,
of all incredible things, the most
incredible would be that a few fish
ern1en of Gali1ee vanquished the
world, upheaving its idolatries and
mastering its prejudices, and vet
their only weapon was a lie, their
only resources were jugglery and
deceit. And this is what the skep-
tic believes. On this belief he
grounds his claim TO sounder.
and shrewder, and less fettered
understanding than belongs to his
fellows. He deems it the mark of
a weak and ill-disciplined intellect
to admit the truth of Christ rais-
ing the dead, but appeals, in proof
of a staunch and well-informed
mind, to his belief that this whole
world was convulsed by the blow
of an infant. He scorns the mar
row-mindedness of submission to
what he calls priestcraft; he counts
himself large-minded because he
admits that a priestcraft, only
worthy his contempt, ground into
powder every system which he
thinks worthy his admiration. He
laughs at the eredulity of suppos-
ing that Ged had anything to do
with Christianity, and then ap-
plauds sthe sobriety of referring to
chance what bears all the marks of
proving himself rational
by holding that causes are not nee
essary to effects. The phenomena
of Christianity can only be ex-
planned by coneeding its divinity.
If Christianity came from God
there is an agency adequate to the
result, and you can account for
Its marching over the face of the
earth. If it prove clear-sighted
intellect, to believe that unsupported
men would conduct a system surpass-
ing the wisdom of the nohlest OF the
heathen; and that this weak and un-
equipped band would 60 through FIRE
and water, brave the lion and dare
the stake, knowing all the while that
they struggled for lie; If a belief
such as this prove clear-sighted in
tellect, he is welcome TO the lanrels
of reason, and we shall contentetllv
nerd with the irrational who are weak
enough to think IL credible that the
apostles were messengers of God; and
only incredible that mountains fell
when there was nothing to shake
them, and oceans dried mp when there
was nothi4ag to drain them; and that
there passed over creation an unmeas-
ured revolution, without a cause, and
without mover, and without Deity.