Newport weekly independent., 1903-01-02
WHY 1 AM NOT AN AGNOSTIC.
A Believer Gives R eMs OnS for the Faith He Has-ShOws How un-
 reasonable Is AgnOsticism.

\ am not an agnostic, writes Judson KEtupton, i'll the Chicago Standard, be- sFause l believe that God can be known ssy the human mind. l do not believe an the unknown God; 1 believe that &sod is such being that the pure in heart may see Him, and the seeking soul nlay' find Him, and may afterwards say: Il know Him in whom have be- . Eeyed-' The agnostic would not agree with this. He would say: Khere may be a God, but we do not AnosS Him and cannot know Him, and 1t is not reasonable to suppose thatwe can know anything about Him. be- aieye that it is reasonable to suppose Ahst we can know Him, and that as a matter of fact men have known God, and held communication with Him, aEd talked with Him as friend talks w5th friend.
 Let us first look at the reasonable ness of this, and then at the matter of Hast. We have admitted that there is q God. And that God is an orderly be- ang, law giver, an artist, a mathe- Eaatieian, mind, because He made a snowflake, and sent it down on my sidewalk for me to shovel off. The ef- Hect must have had a cause. l make wooden snow shovel; am the cause, ahe shovel is the effect. But what is My cause? Who made me? That great r1ind- Either immediately, at my birth, sr mediately ages ago, back there in ahc sea slime of evolution Gad made ne, .ns stes.ttcc5 gong the evolutionary maehsnery which causedlme, Git makes aNsae difference which, so far as this argEnent goes.) God is the great first cause. The effect cannot be greater than the cause. A man, how xser- is something more than snow flake, work of art, beautiful con- struction. That is, some men are. But all the attributes that are found in man at his best, must be found in his maker Therefore, God must be some GhIng aore than mathematician and an architect and a draughtsman in white lines. I love, God must be a asser; | hate, God must be hater; N AhoW AiC NiutIttlCt DttNetu 2Oou and evil, God must be moral being; am at liberty to choose between right and wrong, God must be free niiIs5s, bOund up in no chains of panthe- sxan; ' Nave will of my own, God Must have will which He wishes me so do in earth as it is in Heaven; have personality, God must be a personal a5y1 have the power of communicat- Sng smy will and my thought and my love to those whom l wish around me, God must have the power of, communi- srating His will and His thought and His love to those whom He wishes. sxs other words, it is reasonable to xhink that God is knowable. It is 1easoNable to think that God can make Himself known to me, if He wishes to skp so.
 The only question thatremains, then, zx- Is it reasonable to suppose that God wuuid wish to do this? Is this not the Rey 10 the situation? Can we not say xhis: God eff He is the infinite being, ahe Creator of the universe must bel will have a care over all His works :? And, if He is God of love Gas He axust be, if there is love in the uni wersel, He will wish to communicate Ais thought and His will and His love Ex, all His creatures who are capable s1 comprehending and doing and lov- ag the good, the true, the beautiful?
 Now man is capable of this: He is Ao far superior to all other creatures shat he lives as in different world. He aas mind capable of meditation on SAe things that are true, the things khat are pure, the things that are hon. sess. the things that are lovely, the shfGgs that are of good report He has rhe thoughts that wander through sxeruity. He thrills with noble pur- scse and glows with high resolve. He svieyes for sin and sighs for holiness. ae lifts his forehead to the sun. Like God, he is capable of self sacrifice xud deeds of heroism. Man is capable st loving God. Listen to this:
 ~as the hart panteth after the water
 brooks
 Ss panteth my soul after Thee, O God Ny soul thirsteth for God. for the living
 God;
 EEen shall I come and appear before
 GodZ'
 DSd ever lover write a more pas sssaate letter than that love song to Ais1? If. therefore, this satisfies us -.ssss man is capable of loving God, of sffSaking His thoughts, of doing His VIII, and if our former argument is iHzend, it follows that it is reasonable