CORRESP ONDENCE. 



497 



of their riches than they, the poor, get out of their poverty. This, 

 as you will at once recognize, is in the line of what Mr. Lester 

 Ward calls Dynamic Sociology, and, though it is not the acme of 

 the application of dynamics such as that which knocked Hebraism 

 out of Saul of Tarsus, I beg to remind you that, until German sci- 

 ence has made further progress in the application of electricity, we 

 lack the means of producing the necessary phenomena by which 

 alone such effects can be secured. A. P. 



®0m*s^j0ttxlcH cje. 



FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 



Editor Popular Science Monthly : 



Sir: In your editorial, in the issue of 

 September, you speak of " faith as the 

 organ of religious apprehension." This 

 suggests some important facts that are 

 not always apprehended, or are forgot- 

 ten. There is no organ for the discov- 

 ery, the proof, or the apprehension of 

 truth but reason, whether facts of Na- 

 ture or of religion. " Faith " is not a 

 sixth sense which we do not use in sci- 

 entific pursuits, but which comes to our 

 help when we seek for religious truth. 

 Much of the difficulty comes from the 

 fact that the word " faith " is ambigu- 

 ous, having two meanings, which are 

 not distinguished. It is (1) simply be- 

 lief of a fact because of evidence pre- 

 sented to and apprehended by the rea- 

 son; or is it (2) trust, confidence in, be- 

 lief in, as in a person, resting on the 

 belief of that person's competency and 

 truthfulness, that belief resting on evi- 

 dence apprehended by the reason. Be- 

 cause of this " faith " in the person we 

 accept his testimony as to facts beyond 

 our personal cognizance, we believe them 

 not because we have discovered them, or 

 may be are competent to discover them, 

 but because of our " faith " in a per- 

 son whom we have seen reason to be- 

 lieve is trustworthy — i. e., competent and 

 truthful. 



Now, these two meanings of " faith " 

 are often confused, interchanged. Hence 

 the discredit thrown upon belief of re- 

 ligious truth, because an illegitimate use 

 is made of the place of " faith " in its 

 justification. And writers defending re- 

 ligious belief have been great sinners in 

 this illegitimate use of " faith." 



VOL. LTI. — 39 



The place of " faith " is the same in 

 science as in religion — i. e., it is the con- 

 dition and justification of our accept- 

 ance of truth which is beyond our per- 

 sonal cognizance. We accept it be- 

 cause of the testimony of men in whom 

 we have learned to have faith — e. g., 

 How few of us who accept the reve- 

 lations of the spectrum analysis as to 

 the composition of the stars have any 

 other justification for accepting them 

 than just this? We believe them sim- 

 ply because men, whom we, in the ex- 

 ercise of our reason, have come to be- 

 lieve competent and truthful, tell us 

 what they have seen. We believe on 

 their testimony because we trust them. 

 Our process involves three steps: (1) Be- 

 lief of their competence through appeal 

 to reason; (2) trust in them because of 

 this belief; (3) belief of their testimony 

 because of this trust or " faith " in 

 them. The only organ we have used is 

 reason, in its initial act of belief of the 

 competence and truthfulness of the wit- 

 nesses. Error in the use of reason here 

 vitiates all that follows. Correct use 

 of reason here gives a legitimate condi- 

 tion for correct results of the other 

 steps. But reason must go along with 

 US and guide us in these, that we may 

 come to a rationally accepted belief of 

 the truth. 



Here is the place of " faith " in sci- 

 ence, as belief and as trust. By its use 

 we accept the great issues of scientific 

 truth which we believe, and do it legiti- 

 mately. 



It is the same in all right acceptance 

 of religious truth. Here appears a per- 

 son in human history claiming to reveal 

 facts beyond our sphere of cognizance. 

 Now, the first (1) step is belief in his 



