, 1881-09-18


to impose upon mnn. Man has stood tho
tcst.' The purpose Of evil and calamity she
inds to be discipline. In other words, pain
is good for man and suffering is u blessing in
disguise, ~."We are not asked.". says Miss
Phelps, 'tto writhe ourselves into the bellef
that this is happy world, We are asked
peacefully to admit that it was not meant to
be happy one. We are not lured like
girls to love our Creator because lie treats us
induleently We are expected like soldiers
to love Him although He treats US sternly.
We are required to discover the character
istics Of a loving and a faithful parent In the
appearance of severe and mysterious
ruler"
Miss phelps' answer to hesquestion is not
new nor original 1t has been made thou
sand times. 1t is the only emotional answer
that can be made. It is peculiarly the an
swcr Of woman's faith. But, all the same,
it is solution Of the question, one branch OF
which man never has accepted, and never will.
He will not admit that calamity and. suffer-
ing, pestilence and pain, poverty and starva~
tion are for his good. lie looks upon Nature
rs his inexorable enemy. She sweeps HIM
of the sinking vessel into the ocean as
remorse1esly and as pftllesly as she
does the rats and yermin In 1t, and
she is as needless and dumb to his
cry for mercy or for life as II she
were made of adamant. He Knows that
there is no rclcnting in the earthquake, the
lightning, the tornado. the fire. the famine,
the pestilence. He looks upon their mani
festatio1ls as evil to him, not as good, and he
struggles against them with all his might,
however puny it may be. No matter how
long he may live, to youth, middle or old
age, by all methods, wise and ullwise, which
ARE called "science,' he seeks to avert or esr-
cape the operations of Nature and the decrees
of fate which are said to be for his good, and
if he cannot avert them he dies fighting them.
1t is poor consolation to tell a man that ca
la1nities and annillilations are for his good.
Ills experiences, his instincts, his reason. his
suffering, his desire to live and to escape mis-
cry, tell him they are not for his good. It's
fatalistic refuge that everything in him re-.
coils against, and not all the assurances that
logmatic faith can offer will ever reconcile
him to these evils that chase him
like fantoms Of horrible shape from
the cradle to the grave, and are not
satisfied until they have destroyed him, nor
will he ever consent that they are for Ills
good. Prometheus chained to his rock is
the universal type Of man struggling against
the imp1acable evils OF merciless Nature,
and despite the hopelesness of the odds
against llim-the immensity, theinetitabi1ity,
the crushing cruelty of the enemy-1le will
always keep UP the struggle, even to the last
man smitten down with its relentless darts,
and perishing with the immemorial protest
OH his lips.
The most that man will admit is, that it
may be part OF the system of the Universal
Providence set i'll operation for some general
or inscrutable purpose by an all-peryading
and oyerruling power, but, whatever may be
his faith after death. man will never at heart
acknowledge them as ''good" for him, but
will grimly submit to irresistible fate, be-
cause he can't help himself. Giye him the
power to resist the calamities. OF life and he
would never accept the feminine logic that
they were "blessings in disguise, "nor would
his hctpnate then try to persuade him to
believe it.