The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1879-09-17
FAITH.

tably so. Nothing is truer than Sir James
Mackintoshs remark about that wall of
adamant" which every speculative mind
first realizes by virtue of 'the shock which
drives him back "-admonishing him that
he cannot cross that line. The very ex-
istence Of God is an inexplicable mystery
We cannot conceive self-existence, or an
unoriginated being. We cannot-if we
turn to Nature-conceive the immensely
of the starry spaces, nor the incalcula-
bic @ons Of geology, nor the incomput-
able numbers of microscopic life, nor
the manifold subtleties of meteorological
structure, nor can we form any idea of
what life is, or what that conscious self is
which constitutes our personality and in
dividuality. These are profound mystic
ries, and after all our knowledge is ac-
quired, we can only wonder, as we might
imagine child to wonder who should in
simultaneously realize his existence and
the existence Of the world around him.
There must therefore be in a Revelation
from God a world of mysteries which
our finite minds cannot grasp and can
not explain, as for example the Trinity,
or Gods permission of all the suffering
which often so sadly perplexes us. And
yet we know that evil is liable necessa-
rily to appear in world of free creatures,
and that the very fact of their freedom
must open the door to-wrongful acts
There could be no moral government, and
no such thing as right and wrong, if Gods
creatures were not left free to choose
and what sort of world would that be
where there were no moral agents ? The
existence of evil is therefore Ito our ap-
prehension) not by any means the great
est Of mysteries indeed we do not per-
ceive how it could have been avoided
unless Gods creation had been confined
to mere unreasoning brutes.
But after all mystery remains-many
things that we cannot understand, and
which it was not intended that we should
understand--things which God keeps
within his own counsels to exercise our
faith. He gives us assurance of his good
ness, of his sympathy, of his love, of his
justice, and he requires US, when we won
der why there is so much pain in the
world and such fearful retribution for
the wicked in the future world, to trust
to leave that to Him as His business, not
ours-as matter which He will do right
about, whatever we, with our poor lin
tied faculties, may think about it. If all
were plain, there would be no field for
faith, and the development of that He re
CARDS as absolutel " essential to the for
nation of our characters. "Shall not the
Judge of all the earth do right?' If one
is in wonder why the punishment which
God inficts on unrepentant sinners is
eternal, this challenge comes to him from
heaven, Shall not the Judge of all the
earth do right? Shall a Being of infinite
love and infinite knowledge and infinite
power make mistake in melting out JUS
tice to the violators of His law? Perhaps
men like Canon Farrar or DR.. Edward
Beecher cannot explain it; but can they
not trust that Faithful Creator will not
commit in this, or in any other matter,
the smallest mistake? If they cannot,
then that is precisely what God would
ascertain; whether they have faith?
That is the point he would bring every
one of his children to-and that was the
way in which he tested the soul Of Abra-
ham, when he bid him to prepare his
child for the altar.
Therefore, in discussing question of
this sort, those who engage in the discus
sion, ought not to appeal to their own
judgments Of what ought to be; but to
the letter of the fundamental law which
God has provided as the constitution of
the Church, and the inquiry should be,
How is it written? If it is plainly set
down that the punishment in question is
an unending punishment, it is presump-
tuous irreverence for man to refuse to re-
ceive it on the ground that his moral
sense does not approve it
1t is the same with the DEGREES of God:
many perPlex themselves on this subject:
many refuse to accept the plain Biblical
teaching because they do not choose to