Arizona weekly citizen., 1884-02-09
An Open Letter to Hon. Eugene r.
 Ware.

DEAR Sm:-I have read again and
 again with iudescribable pleasure and
 sadness, your ''Washerwoman's Song"
 -pleasure because il is really beautiful,
 and voices correctly the joy of Christ's
 poor ones; sadness because you say you
 are shut out from hope. winch. tbougb
 not always SD bright and cheerful, IS
 worth more than all else this world af-
 fords. You vii pardon me for address
 ing you in this public manner. for I know that many men of intellect and
 culture occupy positions not iissinilar
 to your own, and 1 hope in this way to
 make some suggestions which will
 reach both you and them, and not be in- appropriate to the subject, whether they shall prove valuable or useless. Head
 ing between the lines l think I can see thoughtful interest, a sort of inquiry, a
 desire tO possess a hopa like, or at least
 equal to the heroine Of your song. If this were not SO, I could scarcely n- terest myself sufficiently to write you,
 for l confess l have but little patience with that class Of criticisms that fippant ly brushes aside the motives of God. Christ and immortality as it only for the contemplation of "wOmen and children" To me these mysteries are the pro- loundest depths. l have no plummet heavy enough or line long enough to reach the bottom. I may push them aside for time while other things en- gross me, but they come untIdden again and aSaln across my path. lt IS SO with | you.
 What Is God? It may be insufficient | to an~ver, God Is a spirit, infinite" 1 etc, but this answer gives but very little l hghT to me. And yet l know that am l amenable to laws definite and certain |
 -it.s-rell;7 ltls5 positive and fixed, which |
 which l can never change, and WHICH trU I
 man or men can ever change, even the
 most minute particle. Whence these laws? Is nature. with it's eXactItude, a chance? Who believes that? l have doubted whether there Is a God, but 1 never disbelieved i. Bringing all my
 reasons to bear upon 1t, find that the best ] can do is c. dismiss the doubt as far as I can. and accept the fact. Still but little Is gained practically. The laws are known and the cOnse- quences If disobedIeuce are known. What matters ic whence the laws came I have never seen God. l shall not see him with these eyes. do not under- stand the methods of his government. | They seem tJ be harsh and severe as often as they are kind and mercifuL Death takes all too soon the gentle mother from her untrained child, as well as the worthless vagabOnd of whom | tho world IS well rid. You do not un- | derstand 1t Gny better than I, but the ! fact remains. To know then that there is God is nothing to Us. unless it be c | foundation upon which we can build
 something more.
 l Who then was Christ of whom the | washerwoman sung day after day?
 That such a man existed k not doubted. Think over the best men you
 ever knew and then select the very best,
 and tell me # be does not fall too short
 for comparison. There are good men living now Bs ever have hved-men fully
 equal to Daniel, Isaiah or John; and far
 better than Moses, David or Peter. Among the best Christ stands alone. and yet he was the boidest impOster that ever appeared on earth, fl he was uOt divine. Christ Was and Is a fact. He | comes across our way and must be dis posed of. He Was either the exemplii- cation of God Co men, or Q most trans parent fraud and hypocrite. have } doubted whether he was God mani
 fested in the flesh" but I never disbe
 lieved. IT he was divine, then
 The stories that aret told
 2 or the miracles oi old
 : are easy Of bcheL
 - As Co the proofs of immortality. yOr b have doubtless pondered them well Q They rest partly on God and Christ, and f partly on the unsatIsfying nature of thl' O life It is said that the average human s life is thirty-fOur years. Who can sa. t that It IS worth living fl that IS all -- Pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, hgh e and darkness. are about as equally dls n tributed as day and night. Who tha S has lived t would ask tO live Il again T O just the same way, and without an Y benefit from the exper1encc alread n | passed2 Infancy prattles into child q hood. childhood glldes into youth, yout l. leaps into manhood, and manhood goo
 grudgiu1ly into old age; and m eac
 succession the dreamer anticipates th' s the next will bring something mol 10 substantial and satisfactory, but tt a anticipation is never realized, and th .e substantial and satisfactory nev' sr come. Do you not find 1t so: haV |, doubted my immortality, but l nev' le disbeIeved t. ts If you ask me why the truth as l. these nlomentous matters IS not mol in clearly revealed. or why we were nt sr given reason and judgment to fathol 1 and understand them; I answer do ns ID know But that does not dispose ( s. them. IT I were tO ask you why 70 IS, nave not reason and judgment ut decide Gt once, and wisely, the te be l thousand questions ot every day ht ne your answer would be, do not knO' as But nevertheless you go on reasonln ID doubting decldmg, and doubling aft
 you decide, fortunate indeed If you a
 generally right; and certain indeed
 be often wrong.
 ,x. I have written thus far SO ns tO T. able to say, that when you write, re scarce believe a thing your true poi bv tiOn is, that you doubt whether Il IL woman has real foundation upC be- which to build her song. And 1T a .t. ! right in this, then further to sugge N. l that there is nothing unusual or ui i'd reasonable in such doubt Nay nor ,e when reason, judgment and all oth' e- ffaculries and means for arriving st trui 1e are imperfect. 1t seems to me that pc ve feet faith is unobtainBble, and dout
 becomes a necessity; of questions hk