The Tupelo journal., 1904-01-15
WHY DOES GOD SEND PAIN
Much of That Which Comes to Us Is
Not H~eaven-Sent, Hut Self
Inflicted.

At the outset let us eliminate from the
problem the pain which God does not
send but for which those who experience
it are directly responsible. The fierce
headache which follows a debauch, the
diseased organs which are the ultimate
result of physical and mental anguish
which men bring upon themselves, are
not chargeable to the Creator of this uni
verse. Of course, says the Boston Con-
g~regationalist, the Causist may ask
why the universe was 20 constructed that
it admits of pain anywhere in it. But it
is difficult to conceive of a world, ten
anted by moral beings at least, entirely
u~ninvaded by aches and pains. If dis
obedience of Gods laws never brought
disaster, if we could touch fire and not
be burned and touch pitch and not be de-
filed, we should have a rae OF f1abby,
nerveless, unsympathetic, british men
and women instead of children of God
heroically working out their destiny.
And yet when we eliminate the pain due
to mans misuse Of the world and of his
own powers, a vast deal remains and the
mystery of it all still Expresses us. How
can God bear it," said Oliver Wendell
Holmes in one of the moments when his
heart was drawn out in compassion
toward the Borrowing, suffering children
Of men. But God has been seeing and
bearing it these thousands of years as the
brute creation has beer born and suffered
and persisted, as men have wasted with
disease and bled their lives away in the
forests and on battlefields. Yet little by
little the area OF suffering is being re-
duced and modern science is discovering
ways to alleviate, if not to obviate, suf-
fering. And humanity keeps on its sor-
rowing way, sustained by the promise of
the final contamination when there
shall be no more pain"
Meanwhile We are driven back to the
spiritual Interpretation of it all. Whether
God might have used some other agency
or not, the fact remains that pain works
wonders in the moral sphere for those
who accept it as a messenger of God.
1t sweetens the bitter spirit, it refines
the coarse nature, it softens the hard
heart, it puts iron into the weak will. To
stand outside the circle of suffering and
curse God because the world is so full of
pain is n thing. 1t is quite another to
experience, ones self or in the persons
hand of God. The skeptic, the COM
palmer, the atheist are not as a rule the
persons who themselves suffer, but from
such patient, trusting souls have come
through the ages songs in the night,
poems of rejoicing, immortal psalms,
voicing their confidence in Him who doth
not willingly afflict or grieve the chill
dren of men.
Dean Stanley went from the bedside of
his dying wife, Lady Augusta, and
wrote to a friend: The more the marble
wastes the more the statue grows" He
could say this because Lady Augusta
had learned how to bear pain. Only the
other day a man honored throughout
New England, who within the last year
has lost by death the loved companion of
his advancing years, one Of the most bril-
liant and useful women of our genera
ton, wrote to a friend saying: Il am
trying to transform my private grief into
public service" Out of the mental an
guish consequent upon his bereavement
this man has gained new power for life
and a fresh conservation to good deeds.
Neither physical nor mental pain is to
be sought for it's own sake, but when it
comes it may be made a means whereby
we are lifted Godward and drawn out in
tender love toward our suffering fellow
men.