The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1883-06-20
Does God Exist ?
WHAT HENRY WARD BEECHER BE.
LIEyES ON THE SUBJECT.
An Able Article Which 1t Would be
Wolf tn Rca1.

10 the depth of the riches both OF the wis
dom and Knowledge Of God how unsearchn-
bile are his judgments and his ways past hnd.
ing OUT Fol who hath known the MIND oi
the Lord ? or who hath been his COUNSEL or?
Or who hnth first given to hfmi nnd IT shall
lie recompensed unto him again? For Of him.
and through him. ind to him. are all things :
to whom be glory forever. Amen Romans
xi: 33-38.
This sublime cutlery arose from a perception
of the wisdom Of providence for the snl vntion
of the world. not rs the Jews had fnndiy I'M
nsincd 1t would he, but the new and living
way through the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
perception Of the new and its superiority to
the old, OF the unexpected and how much bet.
ter II was than the expected. PnnTs mind was
kindlcd with Il sense OF admiration nnd grnti.
tude thai the wisdom Of God WINS SO mich
higher than human wisdom: You VIII oh
serve that all the way through he represents
God rs the ~unknnwablc; the unknown: scrip
limits Of human knowledge on the subject of
the divine nature,-the existence, attributes
and government Of God. To-day this subject
Is more interesting out OF the sacred desk than
In It. apparently. a very wide sphere Of dis.
custom has been opened or this subject. and 1t
becomes necessary to the ministry OF the
sanctuary. at any rate In some proportion
that the existence Of God and the divine ma
turc should enter into discussion and minute
criticism. am aware of the wisdom Of that
saying Of one OF the greatest Or French moral
philosophers, Hubert !: he says, "'Fear God
has made many men plons; the proofs OF the
lists" Accept and act on the theory OF the OK.
istence OF an Intelligent God. That runs well
with human HE and wisdom, but nm argl'
mcnt that undertakes to bring dow Into the
court of human criticism the questions OF n
divine nature Ia apt 10 raise contrary suppnsi-
tions.-indccd, such dlversllics of reason that
multitude Of men stumble by the way and be-
come absolute atheists.
Now, In ordinary instruction 1t Is better to
assume the existence OF God wiser, better for
all. Yet, where decided atheism exists among
honest men. 1t Is not fair that they should be
passed by the ministratiOn OF the Gospel; 1t
Is not fair for the church that there should be
outside OF It, m argument that we dare not
examine and meet. It Is not right TO let men
think that we take the existence. OF God ior
granted, and that it will not stand the test OF
reasoning. Moreover, there Is n still more
dangerous class Of men. the agnolstics. / do
not ridicule or derlde the atheist rs such, nor
do l derlue the %agnOStic RS such. Both OIL
them are very mlschievous,-l know not
which is the more 80. AgnOStlcisin Is the
science of nescicncc. 1t Is the holding Of things
ms possibly true hut unprovahle, and there.
fore always in doubt. Now the new turn OF
new and more Sensitive methods Of tests and
evidence. have brought forward q multitude
Of men who do not pronounce absolutely as
the atheist does that there IL no God. but VINO
say: Every test by which we do obtain
knowledge In other respects falls here. There
MAJ be n God but he exists, II he exist. un.
der such conditions that we cannot test that
fact; and we merely say that we 40 not
them say themselves: "Sentimentally, We
accept the existence of God scientifically; we
are debarred and cannot acknowledge ~
In so far as the divine character, the moral In:
%fuence. all that history processes has flowed
from divine will. is concerned, agnostsclsm. a
much more amiable thing of Itself, Is rs dis.
God, the other clouds him; and in neither case
Is there any light or any growing influence
proceeding from faith In the existence Of
God.
tainly produced n leavening md relaxing ef-
fort upon the minds OF multitudeS. Ihere
are q great many acute minded young
men, young lawyers. young artists, young
physicians, thinking business men, who have
an ambition to live abreast of their age, and
to now the hest things that arc going; and
they arc reading the works OF Mr.; Huxley, q
Mr., Spencer, Of Mr.. Darwin, or Mr.. Tynuali
s eli sci,ool. These are books that are
peculiarly attractive, first. because In almoS!
every one of them the style Is charming. II
Is not q baggagc-wngon style. loaded down
pellucld. clear, ~forccful. Moreover, there Is
very kindly spirit in the most part OF II, o
frank spirit which stands In contrast with
that Of n great deal Of professional religious
It 1t Is not swectened up according to many
orthodox cookery books Of piety. It's clear,
manly discussion, md that takes with the
young. ought to take, too, with those mat are
credit Of seeking the truth. do not regard
them as perfect by any means. ! do not re-
gard them MS holding all the points that they
hold OF good and sufficient grounds. | am an
admirer Of the men and Of their writings, and
have for years and years read them. les
more than forty years ago. ] was infected. II
you choose TO Use that term. or lnocnlaiea,
Will, the doctrine Of evolution. / found the
r. Nj Nf [ ~ Y,calf &, fln nuy ruSt0 mont ann
when. In the latter years, found 1t had be,
come the theory Of the world, l accepted II
with very great Eladness. as throwing Hoods
OF light on obscure questions. 1hoid II to-day
alone because1 think / seethe evidence of tho
fact OF It's existence, but because / see that 1t
Is going 10 pour n flood of ightupon the aues'
tions Of Christianity, because | think 1t IS go.
not had. cleansing 1t from many obscuritiess,
giving IT. to US in a,purer form and a more OF.
fectual way. But / would not on that account
be supposed to hold every part and partlcti'
principle TINT is held. For instance. think
the age Is indebted very much to Hubert
Spencer. There tx no other known example,
l Think, in which any single mind undertook
much learning. ability and truth. But there
are certain lines Of thought, subtle. profound,
in which differ from him, and ON none more
than on this question OF agnoSttclsm or
uGSClcICS. N Dt1OISS " lbltb W.
Investigators to whom the world Will scarcely
pay Its debt until they are passed away but
In this regard ! cannot hold with him. Tor l
do think that God Ia movable. with proper
limitations. Anything that tends to destroy
belief In q personal God. and to turn the
world and the universe into a vast mnchince
without consciousness, intelligence, or an el-
tective will, making creation depend upon
simple evolution Of that which liz within ~,
and all the results OF creation to be merely an
unfolding of foregoing germs without any al.
rectlng power-is. 1t seems to me, In the long
run disastrous and degrading to the moral
sensibility and the intellectual honesty oil
mankind.
Now, as to this question of creation n de-
~velOp1nent, ! do believe that things, rs they
stand In this world, are evolved from forego.
Ing elements,-but where did the force that
inheres in natural laws com from? Where
were the foregoing elements, or how were
they created. or X they were not created. now
did they exist? Admit that the old argument
enlarged; admit. rs we must needs admit,
that the creation as 1t stands now Is not a Gre
alton which sprank up all at once At me voice
OF God, but that 1t has been the result OF sue
cessive unfOldings. running through. we can
not tell how many nges OF centuries; ADMIT
that al things which we SEQ have been IN
folded from preceding, md these from sun
preceding. and thai the world as u stanuS 10.
and result of evolutionary un~fo!dingIthe
question Is not Mt all solved. / asked where
these races OF animals came from, ana am
pointed back to the preceding. wen, Where
ceding type. mt from that to one still preced.
ing and SO back in succession until we come
to the very lowest form OF emsn anu
where did that come from Where was me
power Of God by which these lower clemens
still unfolding. attain to larger and larger ul,
mansions? Natural law. What Is natural
law? Where do natural laws themselves
come from? Were they born without a birth.
nf,I uroof nI ,rtflnrf n praoflnn0 Ia NntntnQ
more powerful II q Something? 1sthe whole
creation sprung from the loins of absolute
nothing? To these questions 1t Is a requiem
reply to say thnt the ChT!Stinn d rs c psGec aon,s
from ?" This seems plausible enough at first,
but IL Is not plausible when we come to eX-
anime 1t, for all things Of which we are speak
Ing, namely, the things. which are created.
that have been unfolded. are things within
the circuit of our knowledge and are 70 DC
judged therefore MS we judge familiar things.
1t Is the universal sentiment OF al TEX
cept idiots that nothing happens WITHOUT a
fore-nnd we are reasoning about secondary
creations-in regard to all OF them the well
established law OF the universe Is tnat eS eyyS
effect has n cause. But when we come ABOVE
the physical universe, and reason IN respect
to personal existence and mind, the laws OF
evidence in regard to matter are not the laws
intelligence. q great wifi and power, Is not
along that level; 1t Is not n fnir anal.ogical
comparison with the question Of the begin
nings Of things. ] do not know the existence
OF God any more than I know the fubstance
of all the wonderful circuits or ways or the
divine nature. admit that that question IL
an u~nanswerable question, but contend maj
1t is n kind Of question very different rom
the other. and that inability to answer " does
not work the same logical results MS inaoillty
to answer dOesin regard To matter. In rcgird
to that law of cause ard effect. we know that
1t Is within the circuit Of our knowing fncul-
ties, and we see that everything we can con-
ceive Of and take within our cOgnition re-
quires that there siould be n preceding force
and evolution. When 1t goes back therefore,
to tina point where evolution apparently be-
gins, the Irresistible impulse Of every reason.
Ing mai Is to admit that there was n creative
force behind that, n that II the world has
gradually unfolded rs It. las, 1t Is In sT1
the d!vinely implanted force that comrjipelled
II, n force that Is working out not o1tqording 10
the old-fnshioned notions. A. ,ordinp The
diving 4ethod y s. an intelligent per-
sonal creatOr-through regular and recognlza-
BILE modes that we call claw"
The sacred Scriptures IRE very modest.--out
first, before I touch on that. let me say that
think that much Of the difficulty which turns
men towards scientific agnosticism has arisen
from the 0ver-pOsitiveness OF theology. Men
have overleaped the sublime simplicity OF the
coored Crrint1rep Thny Drntond to hive