The Philipsburg mail., 1899-07-07
The Moral Order.

OHe VI tHe most painful riddles OF
life is presented by the moral confu-
sion which pervades society; the ap-
parent escape of evil-doers, the ap-
parent failure of those who strive to
90 we'll. This is the aspect of the mys-
terry OF evil which most sorely per-
plexes men and prevents the greatest
obstacle to faith. willow can sin 20
unpunished under the government Of
righteous god?" is a question which
has been put in many languages by
multltudes of men since the beginning
of time. The more deeply men have
loved goodness and the more passion
ately they have searched for God, the
more keenly have they felt the dis
sonance between the idea of God as it
lay reflected in their own souls and
the distorted image of God reflected in
the disorder of the world. This per-
plexity and pain which the lack Of
harmony between divine idea OF
righteousness and the condition OF So
ciety have brought to the most SEN
sitive spirits is itself one of the evi-
dences of the divine birth OF the soul.
The instructive feeling that righteous
society is righteous world is inevi-
table if there be righteous God, and
that the apparent prosperity of evil
in the world is at variance with the
existence Of such a God, evidences the
presence of ideals in the suul which
are not born amid human conditions.
So long as evil remains. men ought to
feel perplexed and unhappy, because
between the thought Of God and The
presence OF evil there is deep gulf
fixed
But there is a radical distinction,
often overlooked, between mora! CON
fusion and moral anarchy. The two
are constantly confused, and yet they
are very different in nature ana in
fact. The world is full Of mcrai con-
fusion, but there is no moral anarchy.
So long as law is inflaxihy exec,ited
there may be many iawb: eaknrs and
much lawlessness, but there is no an
archy. Anarchy exists only whe,e the
law fails of execution. Now, az, mat
ter of fact, no sin has gone unpunish-
ed since time began; no act Of sGead,
brutality, dishonesty, impurity, has
ever failed to work it's instantaneous
effect on the wrong-doer. Like our
pagan ancestors, we are aIWays expect
ing to see the infiiction OF some exter-
nal penalty; for to most of lis pun
ishment is something which happens to
a man. We are still waiting, after al,
fhnxa opntnricS fa
to see the anger of the god take some
visible shape; we listen for the sound
OF the Furies wings in swift pur-
suit, and when no crushing pen
atty falls like thundeTbo.t from
! heaven, we charge another fail
ure Of Justice against the moral
structure of the world Society ap-
pears to be full of men who have
escaped the penalties Of wrong doing,
and who are enjoying its fruits. But
, Gods conception OF punishment d;f1ers
fundamentally from our conception
Punishment, in his view, is not some
thing which happens to man. it is
far more searching and terrible, for it
is something which happens in man.
~>O SASNi Aol solcIl VI Jtr :Et ifi l.'9 -
sary in order to bring IMAM 70 JUS
tice; the moral system Of life works
automatically and inexoilbly What
a man does instantly reacts upon his
nature and he becomes the product Of
his deeds. If a man could escape By
the loss of an eye or an arm it would
be an easy escape; but there is no es-
, cape from the action of the moral
nature; the doer and the deed are
bound together for ever; there is no
pause for dramatic rraignment and
CO lvictiOn, no post tponement OF penalty
L It'll another life; the evil deed works
its effect the instant it is committed
Dante, surveying the world under the
aspect of eternity" saw that sin and
its punishment are bound together in
time as we'll as in space In this pres
ent life men are already in hell or pur-