In His Image by William Jennings Bryan
page 114 of 242 (47%)
page 114 of 242 (47%)
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To justify myself for what my better judgment has often seemed to be
essentially irrational, I have ever made sundry excuses." "Others have doubtless other difficulties, but mine is chiefly, I think, that of an undue regard to reason as against heart and will--undue, I mean, if so it be that Christianity is true, and the conditions to faith in it have been of divine ordination." In time he tired of the husks of materialism and started back to his Father's house. It was a weary journey but as he plodded along, his appreciation of the heart's part increased until, on pages 152 and 153, he says, "It is a fact that we all feel the intellectual part of man to be 'higher' than the animal, whatever our theory of his origin. It is a fact that we all feel the moral part of man to be 'higher' than the intellectual, whatever our theory of either may be. It is also a fact that we all similarly feel the spiritual to be 'higher' than the moral, whatever our theory of religion may be. It is what we understand by man's moral, and still more his spiritual, qualities that go to constitute character. And it is astonishing how in all walks of life it is character that tells in the long run." On page 150 he answered Huxley's attack on faith. He says, "Huxley, in 'Lay Sermons,' says that faith has been proved a 'cardinal sin' by science. Now this is true enough of credulity, superstition, etc., and science has done no end of good in developing our ideas of method, evidence, etc. But this is all on the side of intellect. 'Faith' is not touched by such facts or considerations. And what a terrible hell science would have made of the world, if she had abolished the 'spirit of faith,' even in human relations." In the days of his apostasy he "took it for granted," he says on page |
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