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Show CREDULITY AND INCREDULITY. Towering high over all failings of human nature, na-ture, even over that of superstition, is incredulity. It boasts its devotees by the millions. It is as powerful as its antithesis, credulity. In the business bus-iness world it makes great havoc. At its gaunt beck financial institutions and their governors find untimely graves. In the political realm it unmakes un-makes or hampers great statesmen. It knows no barrier that it must respect. The smile of derisive deri-sive incredulousness crosses the countenance of the great emperor, the eminent ecclesiastic or the humble. peasant. Sometimes it is justifiable, more times it is not. Men are too prone to doubt as they are too quick to believe. In the latter case, it is self-interest and the seeming opportunity of monetary aggrandizement that make for gullibility. gullibil-ity. But it is in the religious world that stubborn, stub-born, unreasonable, bigoted propensity of incredulity incre-dulity finds its greatest number. In the ages of the crusades, a large number of people existed no doubt who were too quick 'In believing many incidents inci-dents apparently above the natural order as having supernatural sources, but that is no defense for the millions of people of this age who will believe be-lieve no supernatural interposition in human events. Such incredulity is both detestable and accursed. The multitudes of this world are nothing noth-ing more than sheep in their beliefs and disbeliefs. disbe-liefs. They are ever ready to follow the misleading mislead-ing voices of false shepherds who are really wolves, rapaciously eager to devour the goods and innocence of humanity. "Feed my sheep," says God to Peter, "for there will come in among them ravening wolves," says St. Paul. It is one of the greatest mysteries of life this willingness of men to follow what is false and ridiculous. It is a failing- common to all ages and nations. Is it love and overweaning ambition that make certain individuals at periodical time3 set themselves upon pedestals of greatness and assert as-sert they are from heaven? Christ tells us that there will be many false Christs at the end of the j world. What causes a human being to pose as the God-Man of Bethlehem ? But if we are puzzled at these things, we are far more puzzled to understand under-stand how so many can be deceived. Over cred-ulous cred-ulous in this one important point, and stubbornly incredulous in cases where good reason does not warrant disbelief. Men ever rush to extremes, and the extreme that now prevails is incredulity. What is the invisible power that forces us to be credulous cred-ulous where we should disbelieve and incredulous where we should believe? |