And so it is with many of our beliefs. They are
instinctive; and reason, when it becomes reasonable enough to deserve
the name, will advise you to cherish those instinctive beliefs as your
life, in spite of all the infidel philosophy and reasoning on earth.
But even honest and well-disposed men of science sometimes form bad,
defective, or one-sided habits of thought and judgment unconsciously,
which render it impossible for them to do justice either to Nature or
Christianity as revelations of the character and government of God. And
these faulty habits of thought and judgment, and the anti-Christian
conclusions to which they lead, pass on from men of science to literary
men; and literature is vitiated, and books and periodicals which should
lead men to truth, cause them to err. Thus skeptical principles pervade
society. They find advocates at times even among men who call themselves
ministers of Christ. The consequence is, that well-disposed, and even
pious young men, are perplexed, bewildered, and some who, like John the
Baptist, were "burning and shining lights," become "wandering stars,"
and lose themselves, for a time at least, amidst the "blackness and
darkness" of doubt and despair.
CHAPTER III.
ANOTHER CAUSE OF UNBELIEF--BAD FEELING.
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