The Penn's Grove record., 1911-02-10
Is Life Worth
Living?
By REV. r. M. HUBBELL
Pastor Of Congregational Church
Mayvfle, N. D.

TEXT-My soul Is weary of life.-Job
x, !.
AT one time Job, with a large happy
family, had lived in comfort surround
ed by 1ocks and herds and great album.
dance. But calamity after calamity
fell upon him. The Sabeans carried
off his oxen; the lightning fell upon
his sheep; the C~haldeans took away
his camels; a 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
n of a vast multitude who, crushed
to earth by the relentless weight of
adversely, have eked out a 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 ~pleasurable,
through which he passes, as upon the
significance which he attaches to those
experiences. This is c~onclusively
shown from the fact that from nc
quarter are the answers uniform.
Out tof similar conditions one be,
walls existence while another rejoices
in it. From the fires of persecution
there comes back to our question, now
a positive negative, now as possible
an Affirmative, and again a 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 reye.
lation of God-and they reach differ.
ent exclusions as to whether life is
worth living.
Take the first man who denies the
existeIce of a personal God. Then, fol-
him, Here's no conscious, intelligent
volitiolal cause for his existence. His
W nnsntal and heart powers are sim.
ply un4ue products of such materials
and fCces as food, water, light, air,
heat aud electricity. He is but a crea,
ture OF circumstances, developed from
a matrial thing-call it a protoplas
mic gem-into a sentient being tina,
hungeB and thirsts, suffers physical
pain. Frithes in mental agony.
Morl responsibility is excluded;
there's no moral source for it-no
~highefmoral to be held responsible to
TLenH here'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 uffer to no purpose, for no di
rectin God means no directing pur
poSeI To endure for a time is of nc
avail, for Immortality has no mean
The sul is but a Pigment of the imag
inati6; imagination is but a bubble
oozins out of brain tissue; human
love ferely the ~effervescence which
passes off from chemical reaction.
Thetbald pessiminism of Won Hart
man aid Schopenhauer is a widely &C
cepted doctrine of life today. Vor
HartHn finds no purpose in history;
progress simply increases mans con
selouAess Of the vanity Of life. Schop
enhade sayA: ITO live is to desire
to desfe is to want, to want is to sui
fer; hnce. to live is to suffer.
But he average man cannot escape
the anviction 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
purple. The apparent i~nvariablenes.
Of natral law seems shut out the pos
sibilit of special Providence. Though
his Wlole nature cries out to God IL
prayei he has no assurance OF being
heard And he feels the burden Of
sin viii no hope of mercy. Conscience
cries klt his guilt; swift penalties fall
ing WIDEN physical law is violated sug
gest Dire consequences for the viola
ton oimoral law.
To quare himself with an angry
God b mutilates his body, consigns
his Children to the flames, expects tt
becoh an Ixyon bound to a revolving
wheel a Tantalus with an Unsuitable
thirst To drown the voice OF con
sciene he plunges into dissipation OF
throw himself into the turmoil OF
trada and yet conscience speaks
He tres to fulfill its behests, but the
man, tempted in all points like as he.
yet Without compass or rudder, he
struggles in turbulent waters to enter
a haIlor of safety.
And that harbor may be the very
VORTEX of a whirlpool, for he knows
not hh own destiny. To this man who
knowf not Jesus Christ, it is a real
uuesti,n whether life be worth living.
Job lever doubted the existence OF
God. but he knew him not as a faith
er, aid in the hour OF calamity ne
CURSE the day of his birth.
I'd the Christian man, however,
there can be only an Affirmative an.
swerIto our question. God is Christ
reyeaed to him; aad he is borne ire
sistiby onward through all circum'
STANDS. murmuring: All things work
togetfer for good Not a sparrow falt'
eth, Whom the Lord loveth ne chas,
tcneth' Adversely yieldeth the peace
able fruits of righteousness, surely
he hat, borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows.