Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-02-22
UNCONSCIOUS FAITH.
We Cannot Deny Truth Without Changing
the Laws of Nature.

the Laws of Nature.
By Rev. B. j. H. Shaw First Cong'l Church.
SceptlclSm is always more apparent
than real Doubt and denial are never
absolute: they do not mean that the
man who doubts or denies truth is
no longer under its influence; if it
were so. then truth would be poor
and impOtent thing, limited in its
sway and defeated in its purpose by
mans unbelief. There could be no
divinity CT eternity in such truth.
The truth which lives for ever must
have supreme pOwer-an inherent
power by which it lives and grows
unaffected by any resisting influences
Having a purpose to fulfil it must
have perpetual lifa-a power which
can conquer all resistance. The truth
must be a universal principle of life-a
part OF the nature of man and not
something outside that he can refuse
as useless: it must be vital to life.
impossible to reject it without destroy
ing himself. The rejection, however.
is not thorough or final: it does not
affect the deepest life of truth, but
only some transient form of it. If all
mans denial of it had been real and
effective there would not be much left
in the world. 1t has survived every
doubt, and risen into new life after
every denial, proving its eternal vigor:
it has not suffered therefore from
mans ScepticiSm: it is more harmless
than we often take it to be; it cannot
injure because it does not touch the
essence Of truth. If we look deeply
into lind unconscious fnif n
hidden in the scepticiSm. We shall
see this by the help of some illustra-
tiOnS.
Take, first, the belief that the crea-
ton Of the world shows the marks of
design and is the unfolding Of pUr-
pose. The argument was. that tie
world proved the existence of a Crea-
tor and Designer as a watch was
evidence of matchmaker. The
design could be seen in all the details
of the WOndrOuS construction. That
view is no longer accepted by thinking
men. The modern theologian as well
as the modern scientist is dissatisfied
with it. They cannot accept the idea
of God outside the world as the
matchmaker is outside the mechanism
of the watch. The theologian does
not believe in God who is sepa-
rate from the world in that
way, and the scientist cannot find
that everything fits SO precisely as all
the various parts of a watch do. But
though they reject the old theory of
argument abideS. What was vital in
it lives in the newer thought and
gives grander conception of the world
a. n C,l, + l1n al LOT &c TDC
to it. The divine life is imminent in
the world. unfolding a great and sub
lime purpose from within, and this
stands as an essential, fundamental
truth. And yet, there have been men
who denied it, such men may be found
today. They contend that the whole
came by chance and still continues
without purpose. They do not believe
that the world is a rational system at
all. And what sort OF men are these?
Are they monsters of iniquity, or dan
gerOus lunatics? That is what we
should expect if they were perfectly
consistent in their scepticism. How
could man be sane if he really denied
that reason made and governs the
world? These men maintain their
mental balance Notwithstanding their
doubts about the sanity of the uni
verse. They are very much like the
men who hold the beliefs they deny.
They order their own life: they pur-
pose, and plan, and reason just as if
they were convinced of an All-WiSe
purpose: in spite of what they say
about the irrational world they live a
rational life.
EpictetuS begins his chapter
against EpicureaDs and Academies. -
with these words: "BeliefS which are
sound and manifestly true are of neces-
sity used even by those who deny them.
And perhaps man might adduce this
as the greatest possible proof Of the
manifest truth Of anything-that
those who deny it are compelled to
make use of it"
If we study our natural activities we
find it is just aS EpictetuS said, we
cannot avoid using what is true. We
cannot use our natural powers except
in obedience to laws: these laws are
inward truths, the truth is not outside
the mind and heart, but their Utmost
llfe--wrOught into the substance Of
tho Ight and emotion, SO that the
honest use of the mind develops the
latent truth and makes it manifest
We cannot deny truth therefore with
out changing the laws Of our nature.
EplcuruS was one Of those who did
not believe there was design in crea-
ton. He held the atom theory-that
atoms falling in space made worlds, no
mind, no intelligence had been at
work. But EpicuruS bethought him
self and saw such atoms would fall
perpendicularly and would not COM
bine. there could be no world in that
way. To escape this difficulty he
theOriZed that the atoms Sweryed in
falling and so tumbled together. We
are not told how they came to swerve.
According to his theory there IS no
design and no designer. only atoms in
space: then. after this great denial he
makes the atoms behave as ii they
designed something. The theory of
SWerving atoms was virtual abandon
ment of the theory Of chance and an
unconscious confession of the truth of
design. The man who insisted that
all was chance had to endow chance
with some of the qualities of design
ing intelligence. And why? Because
that truth was in the nature of things,
and in spite of the effort he made to
account for the world without intelli-
gence, the truth asserted itself, in
using his own intelligence the real
truth came out.
And this is what happens to those
who, today, deny the nationality of
the world. We sometimes find men
in the church who do not act up to
their creed and we regret it. But
we also often meet with men.
in the world who do not act down to
their creed and we thank God for it.
II the man who fancies be belieYeSsthe