Dominant Ideas. 793 



the same degree depressed and emasculated. ( See Numbers 5:21; 

 Matt. 17 : 20 ; Matt. 9 : 22 ; Luke 17 : 19 and 18 : 42.) 



The following is taken from a report in the Evening Tribune, of a ses- 

 sion of the Baptist Missionary Conference held at Minneapolis, Feb. 15, 

 1892: "Dr. J. C. Clough, the Telugu missionary, followed in an in- 

 formal talk, in which he related a peculiar incident. He once called on 

 a native magistrate who would not allow the native converts to live in 

 peace. The magistrate refused to treat the natives with fairness, and 

 Dr. Clough invoked the wrath of God, telling him that his life would 

 be required in two months. l Two days from that talk, ' said Dr. Clough, 

 'that magistrate was attacked with a huge .carbuncle on his neck, and 

 two months from that day his body was being cremated. ' ' The pre- 

 sumption intended to be conveyed by the above, appears to be that the 

 chief was " removed " by supernatural agency, upon the recommenda- 

 tion of the missionary. But perhaps the result might have been a con- 

 sequence of the superstitious terror of the magistrate himself. In 

 either case it was a mode of " working off" an objectionable party, very 

 superior to most of the methods in common use. 



A great many ideas are handed down from one generation to another, 

 which are supposed to embody the wisdom gained by the experience and 

 observation of the ancients. Many of these ideas exercise a dominating 

 influence over our actions and lives, and often continue to do so even 

 after they are proved to be wrong, because the average man finds it 

 easier to take the consequences of a wrong idea, if it did not kill his 

 father, than to pull up the deep-rooted habits of hereditary cerebral organs. 



Our habits of belief give us peculiar conditions of receptivity. We 

 easily credit those statements which do not contradict what we already 

 believe in. But if a new fact is inconsistent with our established opinions, 

 it is hard to be believed. ( See chapter 67. ) When the belief in mira- 

 cles was current, the most marvelous tales were accepted with little in- 

 quiry. Tertullian said, " Credo quia impossibile est." " I believe (it) 

 because it is impossible. " That is, since miracles are perfectly credible, 

 it is easier to account for an unusual event as a miracle than to disprove 

 it as an event. If the thing is impossible as a natural event, it is none 

 the less credible, because it is then a miracle. Belief in miracles and 

 the theological dogmas of the Trinity, of the fall of man, of baptism, 

 of the resurrection, of heaven and hell, &c. , together with most of the 

 moral precepts, have come down to us as heirlooms from our ancestors. 

 They exercise a dominating influence upon us ; and if anyone rebels, he 

 inaugurates a civil war amongst his internal senses, which may be long 

 in reaching a satisfactory peace. 



Among the ancients, the opinion was more or less prevalent that wo- 

 men were essentially depraved. This is exemplified in the story of 



