The record-union., 1899-08-16
WHAT EDISON THINKS.
Believes in God, but Says 1t Is an
Insult to Ask of Him.

After nineteen centuries of belief in
religion through the evidence of mir
acles and moral utterances has science
at last demonstrated beyond doubt the |
existence of a God? This is the ques-
ton put to Thomas A Edison, in his
laboratory the other day. Here is what
he replied:
Chemistry undoubtedly proves the
existence of a supreme intelligence. No
one can study that science and see the
wonderful way in which certain ele-
ments combine with the nicely of the
most delicate machine ever devised,
ana not come to the inevitable conclu-
sion that there is a big engineer who
is running the universe.
why after years of watching the
processes of nature. I no more doubt
the existence of an intelligence that
is running things, than 1 do the ex-
istence of myself Take for example
the substance of water that forms the
crystals known as ice. Now, there are
hundreds of combinations that form
crystals, and every one of them, save
that of ice, sinks in water. Ice, l say,
doesn't And it is rather lucky for
us mortals, for if it had done so we
would all be dead. Why? Simply be-
cause if the ice sank to the bottom OF
the rivers. lakes and oceans as fast as
it froZe, these places would soon be
frozen up, and there would be no wat
er left. That is only one example out
of thousands that to me prove beyond
the possibility of a doubt that some
vast intelligence is governing this and
the other planets
What else does nature tell you about
the supreme intelligence?'
Nothing more," said Edison, shaking
his head. That's all can read. Some
other person may come along by and
by and discover other attributes ma
ture teaches about this Being. But
intelligence is all my research has re-
vealed Indeed. the scientist of the fu-
ture may make nature tell US as much
about this intelligence as the Bible pro-
fesses to reveal"
Would you not call this intelligence
the Creator?' was asked
No said he quizzically. Now you
are leaving science and getting into
the meshes of logic. Nature does not
spell Creator for me. though it does
spell Mind"
do you believe this Supreme IntelH-
gence hears and answers prayers?"
mo. SIR said the inventor, with en-
phasis. Its an insult to the wisdom
of the Engineer to ask Him to do this
or that, as though you knew better how
to run things than He does. He is big
enough to need no advice from US little
babies''
Besides" continued he warmly, "law,
absolute law, holds everything in its
grip like a wise. Just as certain COM
binations of chemicals harmonic, and
others when brought into contact result
in an explosion. SO if we obey the laws
that rule the world we viii be happy,
and if we don't, we are liable to get
hurt" said Edison. smiling grimly.
The world is run just like a great
railroad-only better. Here the sys-
tenn of rules is so perfect that the Pres
ident can go off on a vacation when
ever he feels like it, and all trains will
run along as smoothly as ever. Do
you suppose the Intelligence in charge
of the universe, with it's billions Of fly
ing planets, has time or inclination to
be at the beck and call of every Tom,
Dick and Harry that happens to stub
his toe against one of the eternal laws
and wants the law altered to suit his
selfish convenience? No. sir
do you believe in a future life?" was
asked
Il don't know anything about this
life, to say nothing Of the life here
after. What are we here for? Who
knows? I don't" said the inventor,
turning around suddenly and peering
into my face with a look Of sympathy
and sadness. Are you happy? Well,
most people are not. Many are sick;
nearly all are miserable from some
trouble or other. If I could solve the
riddle of this life I might have some
ideas about the next. Oh, 1 don't
know!" he said, meditatively, half clos
ing his eyes and leaning on bench in
the laboratory. 4 know something
about science-abOut steam and iron
and electricity-but this matter Of
destiny-why we came here and where
we are going-is beyond my ken
! New York Herald.