The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-03-25
SATURDAY NIGHT
M, SERMONS
>WS@ BY
2 ! a!!ySAnuEL
WpURVISDl
THE MYSTERY OF PAIN.


Text. IF we suffer we shall also reign"
II Tim. II. IL.
It's rare food for your infidel friend.
BE leans back and views you as
though he were visitor from another
planet. why does your God allow
pain?' says he. That sounds judicial
Makes you blink. "If He is almighty
why doesn't He abolish it?" Notice |
his IF were God" air. IF He were
all loving would He permit it," That's
n squelcher. You wrigge and squrm
mentally. You cough and strange
like dog that's swallowed q fly. Be-
fore you can stammer forth something
about the ways of Providence being
inscrutable he is gone and you feel
as though you had been caught burn.
ing incense to your house cat. Then
you remember that you would have
liked to ask his theory of why the
blind impersonal force" he believes in
permits pain. His non-God is as cruel
as your personal God and doesn't
profess loving intelligence. But he's
gone and you're alone with your pain.
Come soon or late pain will get you.
II ushered you into the world 1t may
bow you out. However. the amount
between birth and death is curiously
exaggerated. Three rainy Sundays out
of thirteen will tempt the preacher
(also his excuse making church men,
ber) to declare that 'it always rains
on Sunday! Some of our pain we
have earned honestly and ought to be
ashamed to mention 1t. Human wars,
with not only shot and shell, but ex-
posture and camp diseases, have hand
ed down quite few to our human
credit or discredit. Modern psyche
therapeutics prove that envy. jealousy,
hatred and some other unenviable
traits are responsible for quite a
brood. It's not very polite to blame
God for these.
Pain as Warning.
Pain is signboard. Your physician
tells you. scientifically pain results
from or accompanies deranged, over
strained or otherwise abnormal action
of the body and serves as a warning
of danger" True. Nature warns there's
something wrong. Don't hush the pair
remove the cause! flushing the pair
IS removing the red lantern, the dan
ger signal, from wreck on the rOat
instead of removing the obstruction
Without pain practically every Il
would be fatal, because the cause O.
the pain would not be removed.
Ever see mother watching her year
old fodder? The button box, the stove
the scissors, the steps, even kitty
claws" are unknown quantities an,
qualities to baby-it doesn't know pail
hence mothers watchfulness. Ate
awhile "the burned child breads th
fire" and some other things. Withou
pain the race would be wiped out o
existence. Some babies of older year
would walk heedlessly in front of tro
leys-fenders are needed even now
others would wander over precipices
some would cut hands and fingers of
Pain is a protection
Philosophy of Pain.
Your infidel friends questions star
ed from wrong assumptions. He ha
many such. One is that what hurts
necessarily evil. Another is that pres
ent immediate happiness is the chic
end of life. And his notion that Go
of love would not allow sufferin
shows he has a crude idea of the nG
ture of love. He would train his son t
believe that boy scouts are best dc
veloped on ice cream sodas and cake
while his daughters basketball tear
best builds muscle on pickles an
fudge. Love is an unselfish devotio
that seeks anOthers highest gooG
whether for the moment it gives pleas
ure or pain. Life Is not an entertain
ment; it's an education.
This world is Gods university. Deaf
Is commencement day; pain has beel
prominent on the faculty. The oak i
a tree plus some storms. A statue
marble plus the chisel A soldier Is
man plus battle. The martyr Is fesl
and blood plus rack and fagot. II
aviation the first rule of fight is t,
turn the machine against the wind
Mankind rises through adverse wind
of suffering. The higher your nerv,
organization the more you suffer. Tea
an arm out Of crab, it will still live
indeed, may grow a new one. Tea
an arm from man. he will die
Mans body is marvellous harp. "Bu
do not subhuman creatures suffer p
Yes, but only relatively. Cut some O.
the simplest forms of life in half an(
they go on their way-two existence!
now instead Of one. Doesn't the fish
worm wriggle under the hook" Yes
but 1t wriggles before the hook touches
it. "And the horseY Yes, the more
highly organized he is the more hi
suffers. But even he has been known
to hobble around on a broken leg, nib
bling grass in apparent contentment
| Sand the inferior races?" | have seer