I envy not quality of the mind or intellect in others; not genius, power, wit or fancy; but if I could choose what would be most delightful, and I believe most useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief to every other blessing; for it makes life a discipline of goodness,—creates new hopes, when all hopes vanish; and throws over the decay, the destruction of existence, the most gorgeous of all lights, awakens life even in death, and from corruption and decay calls up beauty and divinity; makes an instrument of torture and of shame the ladder of ascent to paradise; and far above all combinations of earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful visions and plains and amaranths, the gardens of the blest, the security of everlasting joys, where the sensualist and the sceptic view only gloom, decay, annihilation, and despair.
The point
Religious faith is more valuable than intellectual gifts or earthly blessings; it creates hope, meaning, and vision of divine beauty.
Alternate wording
The Blessing of Religious Belief108 words
I envy not the quality of the mind or intellect in others, nor genius, power, wit, or fancy; but if I could choose what would be most delightful and, I believe, most useful to me, I should prefer a religious belief to every other blessing; for it makes life a discipline of goodness, creates new hopes when all hopes vanish, awakens life even and death, makes an instrument of torture and of shame man’s ladder of ascent to paradise, calls up the most delightful visions, the gladness of the blest, the security of everlasting joys, where the sensualist and the sceptic know only gloom, decay, annihilation, and despair.