The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-09-17

GOu, plain punt, brutal ueIlldl VI -dllS
God and Father at all for an orphaned
world; ca those who insist that all the
efforts of mankind for all these centu
ries to find God have absolutely fail
ed. They have found not sign of a Goo
anywhere in sun or sky or star; In run
ming brooks or tossing sea; no auto
graph of His name on leaf or cloud, OF
shore-no mark or sign of His being
anywhere; while they may not abso-
lutely deny His being, they can find nc
sgn of It; and, (3) those who deny the
possibility of ever knowing that God
exists, and hence Go not look for any
proof of 1t. That the divine being
If he exists should make Him
it as impossibillty. Revelation Is
impossible. God could not if He want
Led to, write his name across the sky,
using the lightning flash or the sunset
glow; nor could He put His autograph
upon leaf, or bud or flower; to indl-
cate His presence or power or point His
finger In any ineligible way in the un-
foldings OF human history. Such a
God you will say, might as well not be
as to be, and that is the conclusion of
atheism--a denial of the divine exist
ence. There Is no evidence, they say,
that God, If there be one, takes any
concern In the affairs of this world.
Matter In some form Is eternal, and Is
eternally endowed with certain proper
ties. and 1t is due to these that we have
the varied life of the world and the
motions Of the heavenly bodies. With
| aho 10 Ia, Of l,a
Matter and not mind Is eternal Matter
ard not the creator of matter Is the
fashioner and guide of all life and des
| tiny.
| 1t will not do TO say that only bad
men are atheists. With some, atheism
has been mere speculation, n matter
! of philosophy, and not force In life.
No doubt many bad men have been
atheists-and bad because they We're,
and wanted to be bad; for with them
there is no moral accountability beyond
the social compact.
However you may look at it, men do
lose moral fiber when you abrogate
moral responsibility Tell lots of men
there is no God-no moral law or ac-
countability-no future life or Judgment
VI pClllIly lOl WIbIG upllISs ciiiu lllty
will throw restraint to the winds and If
there be no future hell they Will make
one here.
Some men are good because they love
goodness, they take delight in it be-
cause it is the best mode of life, and
tends to the worlds bettermen. They
are not good because the whip of the
law and the threat of punishment are
held over them. Others are kept half
way decent only because they are
afraid to be more wicked than they are.
Your honest cashier is bonded because
your weak or wicked cashier must be.
In the one case it is wholly unnecessary
in the other T. Is a necessity.
There can be no question concerning
the great utility of the doctrine Of God
Of the divine government, of human ac-
ccuntability to the divine law with its
eternal rewards and punlshments. Man
kind cannot raise above motive. What
ever you do there Is motive lying
behind it. They who believe in God,
and whose belief gives rise to love and
reverence have the highest kind of mo-
fife for well doing, They who do not
believe in God have no such motive. 1t
is argued that you ought to be good and
love virtue and practice benevolence
because these are the best things to do:
but who found that out? Who made |
the discovery? Who erected the stand |
ard Of morality? In the beginning OF
the race, who told Cain that might was
not right? The gospel of Drawn has !
been the gospel of a good many ever |
since, but it is not the gospel of Christ |
who taught the strong that they must |
help the weak and bear with their an |
firmities Who brought home to Gains |
the sense Of his responsible |
ty? He at once put In the plea of athe- |
ism Who has any right to question |
me? Am I responsible to anybody be-
yond myself for what ! do?"
And the Lord said until him-Thy |
brothers blood crieth unto Me-not I'M
to the fog, nor to the wind. nor into
empty air but unto Me-the Creator of |
you both-who made law and establish
ad order-you, Cain, are responsible to |
Me for your conduct, good or badl
This awakened Cain to a new sense
Of his moral accountability to the SUI
o.eme Being for what he had done. and
IL dChHOWieuGeu the justice, though ne
,ried out under the weight Of the di-
vine judgment
Although there is now, as always, a
good deal Of unbelief in the hearts of
men, yet 1t rarely takes on the distinct
'olor Of atheism. Atheism was never
more unpopular than to-day It has
oeen bombarded with argument. borne
Town with reason, beaten under cover
md driven into retreat. A new word.
to be less obnoxious, has been
invented under which modern unbellef
las taken shelter, viz, agnosticism,
coming from the two Greek words
meaning not knowing Under shelter
If this term, modern unbelief of all
hades and colors has tried to find a j,
COMMON standing ground, but with very
unsatisfactory success. If | mistake
lot the scientific world in whose inter-
SITS and for whose comfort the word
vas invented and used is not 30 fond
f 1. as formerly ,
For one thing to be an agnostic Is to ,
Re unphiosophic and unscientitic In
ny great matter that so intimately ,
oncerns the welfare of society and of ,
1en as religion, 1t Is not possible for 7
ne to be content with the simple as r
ertion Il don't know" The human
lind is not SO constituted that it can /
aslly rest at any such point. The ,