The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1911-12-01
Can We Know That ThereIsa a Godp

Mr.. Spencer believed that the exist
enee of a God as an explanation Of the
universe is unknowabIe, because the
origin Of God cannot be known and ex-
planned in thinkable terms, nor his ma
ture clearly and definitely interpreted,
because no positive Interpretation can
be given of God.
But it is doubtful, whether Spencer
se;:l;.l haze siran narfeetlv certain in
depreciation OF himself Everything in
nature at certain point seems to touch
or pass into the infinite. There is a
Why about all existences that no
scientist or philosopher can explain.
The humblest flower that mods by the
wayside is at bottom mystery. 1t is
not strange then that God cannot be di-
rectIy and absolutely accounted for by
the unaided mind of man. A God alone
could Immediately interpret God. But
this limitation of man. does not contra
dict the existence of Deity any more
than it does the existence of the flower.
Man himself is an effect, and with
all his purely natural powers he falls
entirely within the limits OF the natural.
And through his sense perceptions, or
unaided natural faculties, he can have
direct correspondence with natural
things alone, and Immediately cognize
them alone. (The intuitive higher con-
sciousness seems more properly to be-
long to the souD. But there is way
to reason from the seen to the unseen,
from the known to the unknown, from
the created to the Creator, and to arrive,
| if not at absolutely certain, at least to
perfectly logical and reasonable conclu-
sions about the first cause or God.
Everything in nature follows in logi-
cal sequence and every phenomenon
bears a certain relation to its cause, and
through known effects we may reach
unknown causes. And thus are we CIV
en- the key by which to unlock or inter-
pret the universe. Every effect has its
cause, which is often itself, an effect of
another cause or causes, and on indefi-
nitely. But behind all natural phe-
nomenon, behind all natural causes and
effects, we know that there must be
first cause, an uncaused cause, and
therefore, unthinkable and mysterious
as it may seem, self-created, or, rath-
er, self-existent cause. This much seems
absolutely certain, though self-existence
is beyond all human understanding,
much less human demonstration.
If the universe were crazy; if men
walked on their heads instead of their
feet; if birds flew heels upward; if APP
plies, loosened from the bough, went up
as often as down; if suns moons and
worlds whirled aimlessly here and every
where like gnats in the sunshine, often
coIliding, with wreck and ruin-then
indeed no rational conclusions could be
arrived at as to either the origin or
meaning OF all natural existences. But
all things in the cosmos operate accord
ing to sane and orderly laws. Waters
run down hill, clouds fly with the winds,
the sun rises in the east and sets in the
west, always; and worlds are balanced
with worlds and systems with systems
so evenly that no planet deviates for
moment from its respective orbit. The
universe is like vast organ in perfect
tune and playing forever grand march
to the majestic steps Of the ages. So
the conceit of the poets that. the stars
sing is not so far-fetched as it may
seem. And thus we are assured that
the universe is very sane and very trusty.
Certainly then it is not strange il an in
telligent being, like man, can read it
back along logical lines and come to
some very sane and certain conclusions