Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-01

read its meaning. Can it mean love? Is CO.
lover Is God good?
Now let us understand clearly at the begin
tell us anything whatever about the characte
| of the canser of the pain. He may be bad o
| good. The mere fact of pain throws no hgn
| on that whatever.
IS THE WORLD so BAD?
I believe, indeed, that the common sense ant
experience of people in general finds great ex
aggeration in the pessimistic opinion OF thu
world. 1t is not such bad world. There Is no
in reaIity any such overbalancing Of pain agains
pleasure. In the animal world. especially. tneI.
can be little doubt but that we great!
overestimate both the quantity and the quall!
| of pain. But put all experience and common
| sense to one side take the pessimistic opinion
| as 1t stands and instead of subtracting from IL
multiply it by 10; still it remains true that tht
| mere presence of pain in the world does no
tell us either that God is cruel. or that Is IN
different, or that He is good. For pain oe
| pends for its meaning upon purpose. lts pSar @
Ing upon character rests upon its motlve. Ine
| one question which can alone interpret pain IL
| the question "Why?"
1t would be cruel thing to mix together
great mess of bitter drops and make little
child drink it. unless the person
who did the mixing was pnysieiia,aa
sas was to heal the
much there is of it, no matter though the
whole world be full of it. That does not show
tnat God is not good. 1t may show that GOO
tell
Now pain, when it is interpreted by purpose,
is found to be of three possible kinds: There
may be pain with bad purpose, or pain with a
good purpose, or pain with an unknown pur'
pose.
or these three kinds of pain, however, we
may say at once that the first kind is absolutely
undlscoverable in the realm of nature. There
is enough of it. no doubt in mans part of the
world. That we will study presently. But in
nature, in that part of life to which we go to
none of it whatever. There is no part
of the organic economy of any living creature
of which it can be said, This was set here
for the purpose of making this creature miser-
able. There is no act of the elements of ma
ture, whether in fire or flood, in earthquake or
tempest. of which anybody can say, This was
done from malice. There is no pain in the
whole universe which anybody can reasonably
point to as proof that God is cruel.
MUST BE GOOD PURPOSE.
On the other hand, we may reasonably affirm
of the immense proportion of all pain, that the
purpose which lies behind it is good purpose.
That evidently must be good purpose which
tends toward the betterment and happiness of
man. But the betterment and happiness of
man depend, we can see clearly, upon mans
obedience to two great systems of law by which
we are surrounded We live in perpetual rela-
tion to two great systems of law-the law Of ma
ture and the law of righteousness. If we
are in right relation-that is, in con-
dition of knowledge and obedience-to the
law or nature, we are physically happy. If we
are in right relation-that is, again, in a condi-
tion of knowledge and obedience-to the law OF
righteousness, we are spiritually happy. The
Detterment ana happiness of man lies accord
ingly along that path which leads to perfect
kno Sledge and obedience to these two great
systems of law.
Suppose that the law of nature is perfectly
known and kept, there is an end to all disease
and to all premature death. Think how much
pain that would take out of human life! Sup
pose that the law of righteousness is perfectly
known and kept. There is an end TO all injus-
tice, cruelty, unbrotherliness, to all inhumanity
OF man TO man; that would be the millennium.
Now, how can perfect obedience to these two
great systems of law be brought about? 1t can
be enforced IN either one of two ways: by par
alysis or by pain. We can be compelled to Keep
these laws by such a change in our
nature that disobedience becomes impossible;
or we can be taught to keep them by getting
schoomaster over us, the grim pedagogue,
pain. The choice is between paralysis or pain.
Either world of free men and women, with
pain; or a world of smiling dolls, with no pain.
WHAT GOD CANNOT DO.
The alternative is absolutely inevitable.
There is no getting away from It. We speak
of the omnipotence of God, but there are
many things which omnipotence cannot pos
sibly do. God is all-powerful In the same sense
in which He is all-loving. He cannot love SID,
neither can He do anything which is contrary
to the direction of power. God cannot make
a straight line other than the shorte st distance
between two points. God cannot lie. God
cannot make man who shall have the
gift of free will, and yet not be able to make
choice between the better and the worse, ana
choose the worse. If he will And God cannot
bring about the betterment and happiness of
man who possesses this supreme gift of free
will except by teaching him the folly of a
wrong choice; and the only efficient teacher is
pain.
And so we come back to that old dilemma of
which spoke, and we see where the fsllacy of
it lies. "lf God is omnipotent He can take
away pain" Yes. "And if God is good, He
does not take away pain, therefore He is
either not omnipotenr or not good" There is
the mistake. God does take away pain. But
He takes it away gradually. not suddenly. If
God were to take away pain suddenly He
would have to put paralysis In the place of it;
He would have to take away free-wlll with it.
Century by century man has been growing,
learning under rhe tuition of pain to leave the
worse and choose the better. The pain which
comes with sickness has taught him to keep the
laws of: nature better. The pain which
comes with sin has taught him to keep the laws
of righteousness better. Century by century
the race has been improving, has been going on
along the path of betterment and happiness,
guided by pain. Pain means progress.
THE MILLENNIUM.
The day will come when pains work will be
ended The race will have learned the supreme
lesson. Man will keep the law of nature and
the law of righteousness, not because he has
been changed into doll and must walk in the
way of obedience, but because he willingly and
gladly rejects the evil and chooses the good re-
nembering the instructions of pain. In that
lay there will be no more sickness and no more
'in. and sorrow and signing will flee away
But II the purpose of pam is good if pain |
ends toward the happiness and betterment of |
nan. then He who permits pain is good. God |
good. And this good purpose, which we see |
% be in the Interpretation of some pain must,
would seem, be the Interpretation of all pain. |
There is no pain with bad purpose; there is |
much pain with a good purpose. and we can |
Irgue about the unknown purpose of pain only |
rom what we know.
The scientist finds much which he cannot as yet |
explain, for which he has not as yet found any |
'lace In the realm of order. But he believes |
most confidently that order pervades all |
hlngs. We maintain with equal reason and |
With equal confidence, that goodness pervades |
I'll things. Behind all which Is apparently dis |
rdered lies order somewhere; and behind all |
,ain, which is apparently without purpose lies |
GOODNESS somewhere. Even without revelation |
We m ay be sure of that.
God is good. GEORGE HODGES.