The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1905-06-02
For Sunday Reading
Why?

' Augustine Birrell warns US against
the danger of specializing concerning
things that lie far outside our daily
walk in life. We ought, he says, not
to bother much about the authentici-
ty of the fourth gospel, but to read
books crammed full with needs of
herOism, ever remembering that the
world is kept going, and that truth
and honor are kept at the front, only
by the men that do their duty without
much questioning of consequences.
Lamb, he tells Us, who played crib
bage every night with an imbccile
father,.was of more use to the world
than all the Coleridges and Habits
put together, There is a militant
quality in life that can not safely be
ignored. If we can not always
reason why" we can at least do
and die Surely unanswered ques-
tions ought not greatly to distress
any man that realize the imperious-
ness of the moral law. We can know
that God is good. that life is oppor-
tunity, and that each of Us deeds the
help of the other, even though we
can not construct a cohering philoso-
ply.
The why has played a large, and
a not very useful part in religious or
theological speculation. Job under
stood this long ago when he heard
the Lord speaking out of the whiri
wind
''Who is this that iarkeuetf counsel by words
without knowledge Grid up thy Ioins ike
a man; for 1 will demand OF thee and answer
thou Where vast thou when / laid the
found ,tions OF the earth2 declare. If thou hast
understanding. Who hath laid the measures
thereof, If thou kuowest2 or who hath stretched
the line upon It: Whereuqcu are the fouuda
tions thereof fastened? who laid the corner
stone thereof when the morning stars sung to-
gether, and all the of God shouted for joy>
Yet our doctors ask the same old
questions, discourse learnedly-and
foolishly,
OF providence foreknowIedge, will and tate:
FiX'd fate free will toreknowIedge absolute:
and of the whole unknowable, ire
| mendous miracle of creation. They
but darken counsel by words with
| out knowledge" The only question
which they should set themselves to
answer is, "Where vast thou when |
laid the foundations of the earth?''
We all of US need the calm and
| strength which come of a willingness
| to admit that there are some things
| which we can not answer. For there
. is a limit to human knowledge,
| boundry to the empire of the human
| mind, no matter how imperial it may
be. Something may after all be said
| for the agnostic. 1t must. of course,
| be admitted that much has been &C
complished by mans presumption,
| by his persistent demand for an an
| swer to his question, ''Why?" Science
| is based on curiosity. And progress
is the result of heroic interrogation
/ of nature But there are limits. The
| old Frenchman in Mr.. Moody's poem,
| who reiterated, as the sum of human
| life, the word, ''Pourquoi?''kwas not
an unhappy man, and he was a phil
| osopher. And in the voice from
/ Japan we are told that ''why" is the
cry both of infancy and senility. The
| strong man, cheerfully doing the
work of the world, has something else
| to think of. And he knows that if he
| can not master metaphysics he can
master duty-which is vastly more
| important. 1t is something, to be
! able to accept meekly and courage
! ously the refusal of an answer TO our
| questions. The gods may beIdumb-
! but there are gods nevertheless.