Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-09-10

1t is sometimes said that God could
not suspend one of his laws without
stopping the universe, but do we not
suspend or overcome the law of gras
itation every day? Every time we
move a foot or lift weight we telG-
porarily interfere with the operation
of the most universal of natural laws.
and yet the world is not disturbed
Science has taught us so many
things that we are tempted TO con
clude that we know everything, but
there is really a great unknown which
is still unexplored, and that which we
have learned ought to increase our
reverence rather than our egotism
Science has disclosed some of the ma
chinery of the universe, but science
has not yet revealed to us the great
secret-the secret of life. 1t is to be
found in every blade of grass. in every
insect, in every bird and in every ami
NAL. as well as in man. Six thousand
years of recorded history. and yet we
| know no more about the secret OF life
than they knew in the beginning. We
live, we plan, we have our hopes, our
| fears, and yet i'll a moment a change
may come over any one of us. and this
body will become a mass of lifeless
clay. What is it that. having. we live
and, having not, we are as the clod ?
We know not, and yet the progress of
the race and the civilization which
we now behold are the work of men
and women who have not solved the
mystery of their own lives.
And our food-must we understand
/ it before we eat it? If we refused to
eat anything until we could uAder.
stand the mystery of its growth, we
would die of starvation But mystery
! does not bother us In the dining room.
! Only in the church is It an obstacle
! was eating piece Of watermelon
some months ago and was struck with
| it's beauty. | took some of the seed
and dried them and weighed them and
found that it would require some FIVE
thousand seed TO weigh a pound. And
then applied mathematics to that
forty pound melon. One of these
| seeds put into the ground when warmed
| by the sun and moistened by the rain
goes to work. 1t gathers from some
where two hundred thousand times its
own weight and. forcing this raw ma.
terial through a tiny stem. constructs
a watermelon. 1t covers the outside
| with coating of green. inside of the
green it puts layer of white, and
| within the white core of red, and all
through the red it scatters seeds each
one capable of continuing the work of
reproduction Where did that little
seed get It's tremendous power? Where
did il find its coloring matter? How
/ Gid it &C Get its ,favoring extract
How did it build d watermelon? Tn
! til you can explain a watermelon do
not be too sure that you can set limits
to the power of the Almighty or say just
what he would do or how lie would do
! it. l cannot explain the watermelon.
but / eat it and enjoy it.
Power That Is Infinite and Divine.
Everything that grows tells like
story of infinite power Why should /
deny that a divine hand fed a multi
tude with a few loayes and fishes
when | see hundreds of millions fed
every year by hand which converts
the seeds scattered over the field into
an abundant harvest? We know that
food can be multiplied in few
months time. Shall we deny the pow
er of the Creator to eliminate the ele-
ment of time when we have gone so
far in eliminating the element of
space?
But there is something even more
wonderful still, the mysterious change
that takes place in the human heart
when the man begins to hate the
things he loved and to love the things
he hated. the marvellous transformation
that takes place in the man who be-
| fore the change would have sacrificed
the world for his own advancement,
but who after the change would give
| his life for principle and esteem it Il
privilege to make sacrifice for his con
! yictions. What greater miracle than
| this that converts selfish, self cen
tered human being into center froai
|
every direction, And yet this miracle
has been wrought in the heart of each
one of rs, or may be wrought and We
have seen it wrought in the hearts OF
/ those about us. No; living in the midst
of mystery and miracles. shall not
allow either to deprive me of the bene-
fits of the Christian religion
! Some of those who question the mir
acle also question the theory of atone
ment They assert that it does not nc
cord with their idea of justice for one
to die for others. Let each one bear
his own sins and the punishments due
for them, they say. The doctrine of
vicarious suffering is not a new one.
1t is as old as the race. That one
should suffer for others is one Of the
most familia- of principles, and we see
the principle Illustrated every day of
/ our lives.