The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1911-02-18
Is Life Worth
Living?
By REV. ?. M. HUBBELL
Passor Of Congregational Church
MayviIs. N. D.

TExT-My soul is weary OF life.-Job
XII
At one time Job. with a large happy
family. had lived In comfort surround.
ed by focks and herds and great abun-
dance. But calamity after calamity
fell upon him. The Sabeans carried
OF his oxen; the lightning fell upon
his sheep; the Chaldeans 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
one Of 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 80 much upon the expe-
riences, painful and pleasurable.
through which he passes, as upon the
Significance which he attaches to those
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
there comes back to our question, now
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 mans philosophy of life
u 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 10
worth living.
Take the first man who denies the
existence Of 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 crear
ture Of circumstances, developed from
a material thing-call 1t protoplas-
mic germ-into sentient being that
burgers 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 ruftian 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 time Is Of nc
avail, for Immortality has no mean
The soul is but Pigment Of the imag
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 40
ospted 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 IL 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 Sod discoverable from ma
turef This man admits a controlling
purpose. The apparent invariablenesI
Of natural law seems shut out the pos
sibility of special Providence. Though
! his whole nature cries out to God II
prayer, he has no assurance Of being
heard. And he feels the burden o.
sin with no hope of mercy. Conscienc,
cries out his guilt: swift penalties fall
ing when physical law IL violated sug
gest dire consequences for the viola
ton Of moral law.
To square himself with an angry
God he initiates his body, consigni
| his children to the flames, expects Il
| become an Ixyon bound to revolving
wheel. a Tantalus with an Unsuitable
thirst. To drown the voice Of con
science he plunges into dissipation Of
throws himself into the turmoil O
trade. and yet conscience speaks
He tries to fulfill its behests, but tn,
man, tempted In all points like as he
yet without compass or rudder. ht
struggles In turbulent waters to entel
harbor Of safety.
And that harbor may be the verJ
vortex Of a whirlpool, for he knows
not his own destiny. To this man who
knows not Jesus Christ, 1t is rea
question whether life be worth living
Job never doubted the existence o.
God, but he knew him not as faith
or. and In the hour Of calamity ht
cursed the day Of his birth.
To the Christian man, however
there can be only an Affirmative an