FAITH. 171 



existence is a pure fancy ; there is no such thing as a 

 man, a world, a universe. If it does exist, it is all but a 

 microscopic affair ; its size is no larger than the millionth 

 part of a drop of water, within which millions of animal- 

 cules live their lives and die their deaths as you and I do. 

 How can you prove that all this is false ? Why, only by 

 your faith. You must take something on trust, you must 

 believe something on blind faith, in every attempt of hu- 

 man reason, as the foundation of every argument, on 

 every subject on earth or in the world of spirits. And 

 who are you, rationalist, infidel, liberal reasoner, whatever 

 you call yourself, who are you to tell me how much or how 

 little I am to take on faith ? This truth that I am teach- 

 ing you is as old as the Aristotleian days ; it is the old 

 truth that has been hurled in the teeth of rationalists in 

 every century since the jargon at Babel, and yet there are 

 always men who go about the world ridiculing faith and 

 preaching the age of reason. I would rather believe every 

 thing that is not harder to believe than to disbelieve. 

 This much I do ; I take it on blind faith, absolute, indis- 

 putable, that this Book is the word of God, inspired of 

 God, and I defy the stoutest reasoner of all the modern 

 schools to make me doubt that, any more than I should 

 doubt my own existence. 



In the great contest now and always going on in the 

 world, the defenders of the faith, good men who strike 

 boldly for the truth, nevertheless allow themselves to be 

 led off from their vantage-ground by the rationalists. 

 They are eager to defend, but they go down into the open 

 field of reason with the men who attack them, and lose 

 half the battle by so doing. Their shield is faith. The 

 breastwork behind which they fight is faith. Let them 

 stand there, and no rationalist can touch them with any 



