El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-05

swer is possible. He gives US his an
swer, the one that satisfied him and
one which may satisfy us.
Just when he feels the burden heav-
Test, just when he realizes the futility
of the arguments of his friends, a
vision of God is revealed and this vision
satisfies him and answers his question.
Doubt vanishes. What matters it IL
some righteous men do suffer and some
wicked men prosper, so long as we are
sure that God rules and controls the
wOrld2 Why should petty man expect
an immediate reward for his goodness
and demand immediate punishment for
his wickedness so long as an infinite
father rules over all and only Justice
can be the final result of a god Of
Justice. Reason may not solve our
query of doubt but faith answers where
reason falters; faith responds where
reason doubts; faith assures where rea-
son hesitates. Where we cannot know,
IS it not well to have faith and be
carried on the wings of faith to a
higher and a better life2
Faith Not Blind.
And faith need not be blind. It may
be q reasoned faith, as it was with Job.
Faith need not be a trick, but reason
developed to the highest point and
when all else fails, our hopes NAV be
intuitively adopted. Why should we
expect a reward for our goodness and
immediate punishment for our sins2
Is such the way of mortal man? Why
Inen expect It to be the way of the
immortal father2 Do we love that
from our love we may garner happi-
ness and joy or do we love simply
because we cannot help but love and
our love brings US sorrow as well as
happlness2 Are we patriotic simply
because we expect certain definite re-
suits from our patriotism or are we
patriotic simply because we cannot
help but love the land of our birth or
our adoption And does not this love
for our native land often bring US
sorrow as well as happiness2
Has the Russian Jew, fighting in the
armies of Russia, any cause for thanks
TO government which gives him no
rights? Yet he is patriot in spite
of all his suffering and 100000 are
fighting for the land Of their birth.
And in the battle Of life ought we not
do right, not for such thanks or favOrs
as we may receive, but simply for the
sake of the right? Righteous men may
suffer and wicked men may prosper,
yet God rules and each one will be
better if the vision of God becomes
real in his life and real in his deeds.
The Problem Of Problems.
Job gives US no soIutIon because no
solution is possible. But he presents
to US in a most exquisite form the
problem Of problems, he places before
bus as no other writer, ancient or mod
ern, has done, this eternal mystery.
And one Of the great lessons we can
learn from the drama Of doubt is clear
" put by FrOude, THE poet restores
Job in the book; but in life it need not
have been So He might have died
upon his ash-heap, as thousands OF
good men have died and will die in
misery. Happiness, therefore, is not
what we are to look for. Our place is
to be true to the best which we know,
to seek that and do that; and if, by
virtue its own reward" be meant that
the good man cares only to continue
good, desiring nothing more, then il
is true and noble saying. But if vir-
tue be valued because it is polite. be-
cause in pursuit of it will be found
most enjoyment and fewest sufferingsi
then it is not noble any more and it is
turning the truth of God into a lie"
This is the lesson we must carry
with US from the drama Of doubt. Not
a solution of the problem of suffering,
not an answer to the eternal query
why the wicked prosper, but a deter
mination to do the right and live the
right; and with a firm faith that God
rules and ruling, He will mete to US
the true measure of our desert, some
where, somehow and sometime.