River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-02-09
Is Life Worth \
Living :? /
By REV. F. M. HUBBELL IL
Pastor of Congregational Church Is
Mayville, N. d. is

fell upon him. The Sabeans carried
off his oxen; the lightning fell upon
his sheep; the Chaldeans took away
his camels; storm buried his sons
under a fallen building: he himself
was smitten from head to foot with
loathsome sores. And Job began to
wish that he was dead-perhaps he
even thought of committing suicide.
But calamity stricken Job is only
one of a vast multitude who, crushed
to earth by the relentless weight of
adversely, have eked out miserable
existence, while perhaps the mind has
been crowded with thoughts of self
destruction. We are moved therefore
to ask, with Job Of old and with the
poor wretch, the tragical ending of
whose life is noted in last nights pa
per.
Now ones answer to this question
depends, not so much upon the expe-
riences, painful and pleasurabie,
through which he passes, as upon the
significance which he attaches to those
experiences. This is conclusively
shown from the fact that from no
quarter are the answers uniform.
Out of similar conditions one be-
walls existence while another rejoices
in it. From the fires of persecution
a positive negative, now as possible
an affirmative, and again mere Ques-
ton point. Such different estimates
of life grow out of a mans funda-
mental beliefs-they seem often to de-
pend absolutely upon his experiences
the experiences often affect the be-
liefs; but a mans philosophy Of life
is the determining factor.
One man declares there is no God:
another believes in the Christ reve-
lation of God-and they reach differ
ent conclusions as to whether life is
worth living.
Take the first man who denies the
existence of a personal God. Then, for
him, there's no conscious, intelligent
volitional cause for his existence His
own mental and heart powers are sim
ply unique products of such materials
and forces as food, water, light, air,
heat and electricity. He is but a crea-
ture Of circumstances, developed from
a material thing-call it protoplas-
mic germ-into a sentient being that
hungers and thirsts, suffers physical
pain, writhes in mental agony.
Moral responsibility is excluded;
there's no moral source for it-no
higher moral to be held responsible to-.
Then there's no obligation resting up
on the strong to regard the weak; the
midnight ruffian is as innocent as the
babe he murders, groveling millions
must suffer to no purpose, for no di-
recting God means no directing pur-
pose. To endure for a time is of no
avail, for Immortality has no mean
The soul is but a Pigment of the mag
nation; imagination is but a bubble
oozing out Of brain tissue; human
love merely the effervescence which
passes off from chemical reaction.
The bald pessiminism of Won Hart
man and Schopenhauer is widely ac-
cepted doctrine of life today. Won
Hartman finds no purpose in history;
progress simply increases mans con-
seriousness of the vanity of life. Schop-
enhauer says: ITO live is to desire,
to desire is to want, to want is to sui.
fer; hence, to live is to suffer.
But the average man cannot escape
the conviction that God lives and
reigns. What answer, then, does the
man make who knows only the stern,
relentless God discoverable from ma
ture? This man admits a controlling
purpose. The apparent invariableness
of natural law seems shut out the pos
sibility of special Providence. Though
his whole nature cries out to God in
prayer, he has no assurance of being
heard. And he feels the burden Of
sin with no hope of mercy. Conscience
cries out his guilt; swift penalties fall.
ing when physical law is violated sug-
gest dire consequences for the viola.
ton of moral law.
To square himself with an angry
God he initiates his body, consigns
his children to the flames, expects to
become an Ixyon bound to a revolving
wheel, Tantalus with an Unsuitable
thirst. To drown the voice Of con-
science he plunges into dissipation or
throws himself into the turmoil of
trade, and yet conscience speaks.
He tries to fulfill it's behests, but the
man, tempted in all points like as he,
yet without compass or rudder, he
struggles in turbulent waters to enter
a harbor of safety.
And that harbor may be the very
vortex of whirlpool, for he knows
not his own destiny. To this man who
knows not Jesus Christ, it is a real
question whether life be worth living.
Job never doubted the existence Of
God. but he knew him not as a faith
er, and in the hour of calamity he
cursed the day of his birth.
To the Christian man, however
there can be only an affirmative an
swer to our question. God is Christ
revealed to him; and he is borne ire
sistibly onward through all circum-
stances, murmuring: All things work
together for good Not sparrow fall
eth Whom the Lord loveth he chas-
tcneth,' Adversely yieldeth the peace
able fruits of righteousness, Surely
he hath borne our griefs and carried
our SORROWS.