Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-23

| EllZaOeth ana never quite Sob On. uaIe
say that the fault is mine, but the fact re-
mains-we are sisters, but we are not inti-
mate. Well, my brother fell Ill of a fever,
and for a long time he lay between life and
death, and 1 prayed for him as never
| prayed for anybody or anything before-yes,
| I prayed that might die instead OF him.
| Then he passed through the crisis and got
better, and thanked God, thinking that my
prayers had been answered; oh, how happy
1 was for those ten daysi And then this
happened: Ny brother got chill, re-
lapse followed, and in three days he was
| dead. The last words that he spoke to me
were: oh, don't let me die, Beel'-he used
to call me Bee. Please don't let me die,
dear Beel' But he died, died in my arms,
and when it was over 1 rose from his side
feeling as though nv heart was dead also.
prayed no more after that. 1t seemed to me
as though nv prayers had been mocked at,
! as though he had been given back to me for
! a little while in order that the blow might
be more crushing when it fell"
"Don't you think that you were little
foolish in taking such view?" said Geot-
frey. "Have you not been amused, some
times, to read about the early Christians?-
| how the lead would not boil the martyr, or
the lion would not eat him, or rain from a
| blue sky put out the fire, and how the
cepted a great many difficult doctrines
| without further delay. The Athanasian
{ creed was not necessarily true because the
| fire would not light or the sword would not
cut nor, excuse me, were all your old be-
| lIefs wrong because your prayers were un-
\ answered. 1t is an ancient story, that we
cannot tell whether the answering of our
petitions will be good or i'll tor us. OF
course 1 do not know anything about such
things, bnt it seems to me rash to suppose
that Providence is going to alter the work.
ing of Its eternal laws merely to suit the
passing wishes of Observation-Disclosures, too,
that in many cases would bring unforeseen
sorrows if fulfilled. Besides, daresay that
the poor child is happier dead than he
would have been had he lived. 1t is not
an altogether pleasant world for most of
u.s."
eyes, Mr. Bingham, I know, and 1 dare
say that should have got over the shock
in time, only after that began to read. 1
read the histories Of the religions and COM
pared them, and I read the works of the
writers who have risen up to attack them.
1 found, or thought that found, the same
springs of superstition in them all-super-
stitions arising from elementary natural
causes, and handed on with variations from
race to race, and time to time. In some I
found the same story, only with slightly
altered face, and 1 learned, moreover, that
each faith denied the other and claimed
truth for itself alone.
"Aiter that, too, went to the college and
there fell in with lady, one Of the mis-
tresses, who was the cleverest woman that
ever knew, and in her way a good woman,
but one who believed that religion was the
curse of the world, and who spent all her
spare time in attacking it in some form or
Al =
so, YOU see, what between these causes and
the continual spectacle of human misery,
which to my mind negatives the idea of
a merciful and watching Power, at last
it came to pass that the only altar left in
nv temple is an altar to the "Unknown
God
Geoffrey, like most men who have had to
think on these matters, did not cSre to talk
about them much, especially to women.
For one thing, he was conscious of a ten
dency to speech less reverent than his
thought. But he had not entered Beatrice's
church of darkness; indeed, he had turned
his back on it forever, though, like most
people, he had at different periods of his
past life tarried an hour in its porch. So he
ventured on an objection.
''I am no theologian," he said, "and am
not fond of discussion on such matters. But
there are just one or two things 1 should
like to say. 1t is no argument, to my mind
at least, to point to the existence of evil and
unhappiness among, men as a proof OF the
absence OF a superior mercy; for what are
men that such things should not be with
them? Man, too, must own some master. If
he has doubts let him look up at the mar
shaIing of the starry heavens and they will
vanish"
''No," said Beatrice, "I fear not. Kant
said so, but before that Moliere had put the |
argument in the mouth of a fool. The starry |
heavens no more prove ANYTHING than does |
the running of the raindrops down the win |
dow-pane. 1t is not question of size and |
quantity"
81 might accept the illustration" an
swered Geofrey; zone example of law is as |
good as another for nv purpose. see in it |
all the working of living will, but of |
course that is only my way of looking at it,
not yours"
. ''No; L am afraid" said Beatrice, call |
this reasoning drawn from material things |
does not touch me. That is how the pagans |
made their religions, and it is how Paley |
strives to prove his. They argued from the |
Out to the In, from the material to the |
spiritual. 1t cannot be; if Christianity is |
true it must stand upon spiritual feet and |
speak with spiritual voice, to be heard, not |
in the thunder storm, but only in the hearts |
of men. The existence of Creative Force |
does not demonstrate the existence of Re- |
deemer; if anything, it tends to negative it,
for the power that creates is also the power |
which destroys What does touch me- how |
ever. is the thought of the multitude of the |
dead. That is what we care for, not for an |
Eternal Force, ever creating and destroying. |
Think of them all-all the souls of un- |
heard of races, almost animal, who passed |
away so long ago. Can ours endure more |
than theirs, and do you think that the spirit |
of an Ethiopian who died in the time OF |
Moses is anywhere now?"
"There was room for them all on EARTH"
answered Geofrey; "the universe is wide. !
1t does not dismay me. There are mysteries |
in our nature. the nature we think we know |
shall there be none in that which we know |
not? Worlds die to live again when, after |
millions of ages, the conditions become once |
more favorable to lite, and why should not |
a man? We are creatures Of the world, we |
reflect its every light and shadow, we rejoice |
in its rejoicings, its every feature has tiny |
parallel in us. Why should not our fate be
as its tate, and its fate is, SO far as we know,
eternal. 1t may change from gas to chaos, |
from chaos to active lite, from active life to |
seeming death. Then it may once more pass
into its elements, and from these elements |
back again to concrete being, and so on for |
ever, always changing, but always the same.
So much for natures allegory. 1t is not a |.
perfect analogy, for Man is thing apart |
IRON all things else; it may be only hint |
or a type, but it is something.
"Now come to the question of our religion.
confess 1 draw quite different conclusion 1
from your facts. You say that you trace the |
same superstitions in all religions, and that |
the same spiritual myths are in some shape
II