The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-11-09

~ we poor chllQren OF IOlnlng. alone OH
this lonely shore,
Born OF brainlesS nature who knew not
that which she bore.
And l remember that l threw myself
Oh the grass there, with the sunshine
all over me and birds singing about
me. with everything. apparently, to
| make me happy. in the depth of my
loneliness 1 felt like child who had
lost its mother. What more did l
| want? l will tell you what wanted
| what you want. what every man and
woman hungers for with a hunger
| deeper than any physical longing. l
| wanted His Spirit to bear witness
| with my spirit that l was child of
| Go. Nothing else could satisfy; moth
ing else ever can satisfy the deep hum
ger of the human heart.
One might say that such youth
| was abnormal, insane, if this were an
extraordinary experience, but is an ex-
perience common to us all. Here is a
song composed by some unknown sing
| er 1000 years ago. singer Of differ
ent race. in a far away land. under en-
| tirely different circumstances from
| those in which we live, but this song
has been taken up and repeated by
| millions Of human beings because the
words express the ever recurrent senti-
ment of the human soul in all ages and
all lands. Gas the hart panteth for
| the water brooks so panteth my soul
after Thee, o Cod" You shall find
this sentiment expressed in ten thou
sand hymns. In million churches on
| this Sunday morning it is being sung.
In million mosques it is being chant
ed. In a million Buddhist temples it
| is being uttered. All around the earth
all classes and conditions Of men, rich
and poor, wise and foolish, good and
bad, high and low. are longing and
praying to have His Spirit bear wit
ness with their spirits that they are
children Of God.
And not only do the people who be-
lieve in God testify to this. The most
remarkable and pathetic testimony
| comes from those who Intellectually
deny that there is sufficient reason. to
believe in the existence Of God. 1t
seems to me that almost the wreariest
words that ever fell from human lips
| were uttered by Professor Clifford
when he felt himself compelled intel
lectually to take the atheistic position.
II have seen the spring sun shine out
of the empty heavens upon a soulless
earth, and have felt with utter loneli-
ness that the great Companion was
dead" And you will remember that
Professor Romanes. though at the last
he saw a great light and went to his
death full Of trust like one who wraps
the drapery Of his couch about him
and lies down to pleasant dreams" at
one time wrote a book called "a Can
did Examination Of Theism," and in
this examination found no rational
ground for belief in God. He closed
his book with these words: 81 am not
ashamed to confess that with this vir-
tual denial of God the universe has lost
its soul and loveliness, and when at
times I think, as think at times I
must, of the appalling contrast be-
tween the hallowed glory Of the creed
that once was mine and the lonely
mystery Of existence as now find it,
at such times it will ever be impossible
to avoid the sharpest pangs of which
my nature is susceptible" Take note
Of these words Of an absolutely sincere
and fearless man, THE SharpeSt pangs
Of which my nature is susceptible
Now why should one feel like that?
Suppose there is no God, what of it?
Suppose it should be proved that this
world has been produced by the opera
ton of physical forces working in ac-
cordance with blind and heartless law,
what Of it? Is not the sky just as blue,
the grass as green? Are not friends
as dear? Why should we not get along
without God? Why should we care
whether God is or is not?
A friend told me this incident the
other day: There was family consist
ing of an aged man and woman. q
number of sons and daughters and a
little group of grandchildren. The aged
grandfather was enjoying serene and
happy old age, loved by all, and the
home was one Of peculiar brightness.
One night the aged man, as usual, took
his evening paper and sat in his accus-
toned place to read, wiped his glasses,
made q comment or two to the white
haired wife knitting opposite, and af
ter little, as his custom was, fell into
one of those quiet slumbers peculiar to
old age Around him the other men,
bers Of the family talked and laughed
and joked till one said, Father seems
to be sleeping very soundly," and, plac-
ing his hand upon the old mans shoul-
der, discovered that he was dead.
Now, ask me, will you, what difference
is made? The home was left, the lamp
burned as brightly, the newspaper
filed with interest was there, nothing
was apparently changed. Was not the
Fsky just as blue: and the grass just as
green and did not the stars shine as
brightly? What difference did it
make? Why, if he was dead his spirit
could no longer bear witness to the
spirit of the aged wife that he loved
her. His spirit could no longer respond
to the joy Of his grandchildren. There
is a difference between a dead body
and living man that makes one stand
in the presence of his living friend
with Joy and in the presence Of the
friends dead body with unutterable
misery. There is difference between
a dead universe and living universe.
That is the reason for these utterances
of black despair from those who do
~ h11s i,,H al