News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1914-03-18
NOT FOR HUMAN eye
Insight Into the Mysteries OF
Gods Plans Concealed From
His Children.

There are many paths of thought
and experience which lead to atheism,
but none perhaps which is more fire.
quently travelled than that of the in
ability of the human soul to interpret
nationally and morally the workings
of the universe. Again and again we
find ourselves standing dumb and
helpless before the inexplicable mys-
teries of earth How to explain the
stupendous cataclysms of nature, the
universal horror of the struggle for eX-
istence, the innumerable agonles or
animal life, mans inhumanity to man,
the ravages of disease, the barbarlsms
of war, the sorrows of death-how to
reconcile the hard facts of evil with
the conception of an all wise, all just
and all powerful God-this is ques-
ton which we cannot seem to answer.
And, falling to answer, we jump at
once to the sweeping conclusion that,
these things being true, there is no
God. Il cannot understand the uni
verse;" is the line of argument, "and
therefore | cannot believe in God"
lnfideity Not Logical.
Now, that we should find it difficult
to understand the world of nature and
of man is not a thing to be wondered
at. The further we penetrate into the
great world of being the deeper be-
comes the mystery in which we find
ourselves involved. But that we should
Immediately assume, because of the
inability of our little minds to fathom
every depth and scale every height,
that God is a sheer Pigment of the
imagination is certainly thing to be
wondered at to the very end OF time.
For when has failure to understand
ever before been taken to be bona tide
evidence that there is nothing to I'M
derstand? The schoolboy is undoubt-
eddy unable to work out the answer to
his algebra problem, but what right
has he to throw down his pencil and
shout that the problem has no answer?
| certainly fail in miserable fashion to
decipher the inscription on this broken
tablet from the Egyptian desert, but
this does not prove that the letters
have no meaning.
Not Given Us to Understand.
For countless ages men saw nothing
but conflict and disorder in the world
of natural forces, but this demonstrate
ed not that the universe was chaotic
but that the human reason was not
yet acute enough in observation and
daring enough in imagination to be-
hold the law and order which has
since been unveiled. And so with the
great question of God. 1t may be true
that / cannot see any evidence of d.
vine goodness and wisdom in the
world. 1t may be true that l cannot
understand the place of food and pes
thence and sudden death in world
created and ruled by benefcent
Deity. 1t may be true that can work
out no answer to this tangled problem
of existence. But who am |, pray, that
l should expect to do this thing? And
why should my failure be taken as in
any sense proof positive that it is not
to be done at all? Where is the logic
of such a conclusion from such
premise? Is it not more logical to
argue that my failure to understand is
perhaps a reflection upon my powers
of understanding, rather than refiec-
ton upon the understandable charac-
ter of the problem itself? Is it not at
least possible that the answer is there,
even though l cannot see it, and that
some day a mightier understanding
than mine will make it plain?
So at least l try to think. 1t is my
faith that God lives and that his reign
is at once wise and good, even though
| fail to understand. 81 believe; help
thou mine unbelief. John
Haynes Holmes.