The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-11
MAN VIOLATES THE LAWS
OF NATURE AND SUFFERS
Rev. Stansheld Answers Question
docs God Send Suffering" In
First of Two Sermons.
SORROW RESULT OF SIN
Would Be Immoral and Ungodlike
to Change the Natural Order
and Law of Things.

Meridian-street NJ r Church was filed
yesterday morning for the first of series
OF two important sermons by the pastor
Rev. Joshua StansheId, on the question
docs God Send Suffering" These are to
be, as stated by the pastor. "a candid con-
sideration Of Christian doctrine in the light
OF the facts OF life. Yesterday mornings
discourse was. IN part, as follows:
Text, "Our Father which art in heaven,
the father of all mercies, the God OF all
comfort"
"An intelligent knowledge Of and conf
dence in God is the highest philosophy Of
life Jesus goes so far as TO say that It is
life eternal, for He said; This is eternal
life that they might know Thee, the only
true Cod and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast
sent To know who and what God is. and
his relation TO us in all the affairs Of our
life. is. we believe. 20 give basis OF con-
fidence and hope which shall carry one sue
cessfuly through all the vicissitudes Of life.
The revelation Of God in these Scriptures is
q revelation In and through human lives
God IS made known in and through the ex-
periences of men. That there is a develop
ment in that revelation none will deny, and
that IL comes TO its fullness in Jesus Christ
all Christians are agreed AS revealed then
by Jesus Christ, God is the loving Father
OF men, and there is nothing in the life OF
His children In which He is not interested.
His care for them and His love toward
them are ever affirmed. And 70 those who
thus know God, Paul speaks Of Him as the
God Of all grace and comfort Indeed, II
Is pretty generally understood that such is
the relation OF God to His children, that in
Him they should find comfort and conso-
lation and peace and hope, and assurance
IN all the things of life. The Christian re-
Igion In its entirety Is such that that eX-
perience is what believers are told TO ex-
pect. In my pastoral work, however. for
nearly twenty years l have found that the
facts of life do not justify that estimate of
Christianity. There are large numbers of
persons who in the trying experiences of
life seem to find no comfort whatever in
the supposed Verities of our faith, and
have asked myself again and again how Is
1t that there should be such a disparity be-
tween faith and life. and after most care
ful consideration OF the matter i am fully
convinced IL Is because OF the all too gen
eral misconceptiOn which obtains among
Christian people as TO the character OF Coo
and His relation TO the affairs or our life.
However IL may have come about, 1t Is
certainly true that In our hymnolOgy and
in our religious phraseOlogy, in prayers and
Christian talk God is regarded as the au-
thor OF the sorrows, the sufferings, the dis
catastrOphes of life
Let US, then, ask a few questions as to
what Is the Bible teaching as TO the cause
OF sorrow, suffering, sickness, death, ana
ascertain 10 whether this quite general
conception that God is the author or suffer-
Ing is Scripture and correct. True, there
is an ultimate sense in which we may speak
OF God as the cause Of all, and il Is In this
sense often. that the Hebrew prophet and
poet conceived Of Him. Hence one could
say. Is there evil in the city and God hath
not done IL.
what the ancient mind thought is now
being rethought and restated In the most
scientific terms of to-day. Some Of the best
religious thinking Of cur age energies from
this fundamental conception of God as the
ultimate in life. 1t is thus that men are
thinking and speaking OF the fall. and sin.
and suffering. and death, as an essential
and inevitable part Of those evolutionary
processes of life by which the race Is to
come 10 it's highest and its best. But upon
this we shall not now dwell.
May i ask you, rather, 10 consider what
Is the Scriptural teaching as to sin and Its
suffering. sorrow. death. Is
not this fair Scriptural statement by Paul
by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, and death passed upon
all men in that all hath sinned? Sin is re-
vealed as a new ana potent fact in the
world. brought about by the wrong choice
of man. Do not always think of Adam
and Eve before their sin as free from dis
ease. and sorrow. and suffering, and
shame. and death? Nay. indeed. il not the
Scriptural suggestion this, that even nature,
outside OF man, is blurred and distorted and
impaired by mans fall? Was II not on ac-
count OF human sin that the ground was to
bring forth thOFns and weeds, and does not
Paul affirm that the whole creation groan-
eth and travaieth In pain together until
now? In other words. is not the teaching
OF Scripture this. that man. as the highest
part or creation, has by mis- sinful choice
brought moral and material disorder into all
Gods world Is ii not further the teaching
of Scripture that man was seduced by some
euperhuman, malignant power called the
devil. or Satan. the prince of the powers Of
the air. and such names? And is IL not true
that in the Scripture. right from the old
book or Job down TO the gospel records of
the life Of Jesus. that IL is this same evil,
malignant power that is the cause-sOme-
times traceable through sin and its cOnse-
quences-and sometimes inexplicably put
forth, the cause. we say of some OF the
diseases, the suffering. the bereavements
and the sorrows Of our life?
so most OF the sorrow and suffering OF
Efe may be directly traceable through sin
10 the violation OF the natural order OF
things. and some In the ScTiptural records
finds It's explanation IN the malignant DOW
er OF Satan. but both reason and revelation
are unit In their word that the sufferings
OF life are mostly attributable TO the in
fraction OF the divine order by sin BY sin
man dashes and breaks himself upon the
unalterable laws OF life. But. say some IL
the natural order OF things is for a good
and perfect life and man has snned and
fellen short, why does not God change the
order? We can only answer. because the
divine laws of nature. being essentially
good, IL would be neither beneficent nor
moral 10 lower that order, but rather is il
children in the trying experiences of their
lite and By His personal and grace help
them turn earth's bitterest experiences 10
higher advantage and good. Ii is at pre-
cisely this point that we have the greatest
Bible doctrine. the Incarnation OF God.
that Is God with Us and I'm our very life
and He thus comes as the Savior from sin
the comforter of His people. the destroyer
or OvercOmer of death-I am the resur-
rection and the life. he that believeth in
me she'll never die, and he that belicveth
In me. though he were dead vet shall ne
live again He opens the vistas OF an i'm
mortal and victorious life TO mantle opens
the kingdom OF heaven 10 all believers In
word God has not LETT man TO the dire
consequences OF SIN 10 the inevitable re-
suits OF his own failure. He is our Father
and God. He has come near % us. entered
our very life. and j. previously near 10 those
who know and trust Him. A very present
help-the God OF all grace and comfort"
Next Sunday morning viii consider
what Is really meant By The VIII OF God
the Chastisements of God. and Divine Dis
cipline."
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