Arizona republican., 1908-02-10
TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

hiNlI1 EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The following is a synopsis of the
 sermon preached in the Trinity church Sunday morning by Dr J. w. Atwood The text was: 'Is it we'll with thee :?
 And she answered It IS we'll" King II, chap. 4, 26.
 How difficult it is for us to answer
 it is well, when the great calamities
 the awful tragedies come to us bring
 ing ruin and desolation in their train. And if it is not well. if it is not wise, | there is no explanation to the vast un- iverse, in which we live. There is no God of Love above who cares for us and watches over us, with the tender sympathy of a father. The maker Of
 the world in which we live is a malig-
 nant power or a blind working force
 that is unfeeling and unresponsive.
 There is no other way out of the ,diale-
 ma except to believe in the supreme Father ,or else in complete skepticism of a world which is only one vast pug gle. Suicide which is the logical re-
 suit of such a lack of faith as this
 means denial of Gods denial of an Over-ruling providence, who Ordereth all things well. It Is a cruel and cow ardly act for a man to kill himself but facing a great calamity it is q natural
 thing to do. if he has no trust in God, no true philosophy of life. no revalation of the divine love, in the sacred rela- tionship that bind him to earth.
 The sudden unforeseen blow that
 brings to an end the life of some child, man or woman whom we have loved, before it is come to what seems to us, its rounded completeness. is the tragedy which we have SO often to meet. In questioning amazement why is the precious life destroyed? Why does God allow the useless, the unloved the wretched and the vicious to ling CT, while the one who Is so sorely needed, so deeply loved, so fruitful in the outcome in his life is taken away. l admit the difficulty that confronts us here, and I believe that only the strong and firm faith of one who is near to the heart of God, can rise tri- umphant above the darkness of life and answer it is well. Even the pur- est and serenest trust can not fully understand and it certainly can not quench the anguish and loneliness of soul that death brings to us all. But if while we beleive in the beauty and majesty of this world we should grasp the fact that this is only a part, a fragment of our existence, that all life is continuous, progressive and eternal. that conditions unseen and unknown to us may demand Gods children and workers elsewhere. but still in active service, even though we no longer see them with our mortal oil l,
 How bitter the various experiences other than those of sickness and death which come to us, and how hard it is to answer, 1t is well: the hard and unlovely struggle with poverty. the loss of fortune and employment, the in- ability to provide through hard toll on our part even the ordinary comforts of life for those committed to our charge. helpless little children clamoring for food and clothing and education and recreation. The overworked fathers and mothers fill our hearts with a sense of dismay Then the deeper tragedy which brings us the deeper suffering still can be hardly spoken of Few families indeed escape these heavy trials which is sometimes described by the grewsome title of skeleton in the closet. The growing alienation of one member of the family from another, the betrayal of a friendship or trust, the turning of what was once love into hate and cruelty. The wife may see her husband falling deeper and deeper under the influence of some strong and over towering temptation. It may be drink; it may be some terrible narcotic, some vile drug, it may be a tendency to dishonesty. to untrUthfulness. to unfaithfulness, it may be gambling, that shakes her confidence if it does