The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-05-09

/ Peter SIS. BE ready always
to give an answer TO every man that
/. asketn you, reason concerning the
hope that is in you, yet with meek
ness and fear"
as a result of a published sermon
I received from a young man let
ter containing many questions OF
which these are specimens: How do
you know anything about God2 How
do you know that there Is one? How
do you know anything about the
soui? About destiny? How do you
know that we shall live again
These are only specimens. but they
will serve. The same questions come
TO many. They want the reasons for
The hopes we cherish, they want 10
get down. IL possible. TO the final
realities. and when attempt TO give
them, 1 am sure l can comply with
the apostles directions. to answer
with .smeekness and fear We re-
spect that spirit. We do not want
any one TO accept a religious prln-
cipIe, any more than an historical
fact. until he is satisfied. But what
can we say? When such volIeyins
demand for absolute knowledge IS
dred at one, be may well hesitate.
1 am afraid that ! do not know Eers
much about any OF these question;
least
do Not Know
IN the sense which l suppose the
ouestioner has in mind; but l be-
lfeye in a great many things which
do not know-that is. which can
not demonstrate, as one would DEM
onstrate a problem in mathematics.
/ have faith in them; l have some
very positive convictions. But when
say this to my young friend. per-
haps he will insist that we have only
shiSSed matters without setting them
H -ouId probably come back in this
way: Why do YOU believe You
cannot see God or the soul; you can
not see the spirit. If there IS one
when ii is released from the body;
Won cannot see the other world open
10 receive tiff there is another
world" No. And 1 could not see
shis world, if I were suddenly str1ch-
en- bind; but the would be there IN
sr<te of the curtain that fails over
r.y ewes. The same pavement would
stretch beneath my feet; the same
buildings would rise about me; the
same sky would expand overhead II
is all there, whether l see IL or not
So there may be another world, or
another sphere OF existence, peopled
by spiritual beings, beyond the range
of my present vision. There may De;
but after all, my young friend wants
to know
The Question of Evidence.
What kind OF evidence. l wonder.
has he in mind2 He did not state
that. What kind of proof would con
vince him2 There must be more
than one kind of evidence. because
there is more than one kind or class
of facts.
For example. You would not un-
dertake TO prove the existence OF COG,
In the same waythat you wouto try
to prove that Hannibal and his army
crossed the Alps. You would not un-
dertalse TO prove the existence OF the
soui hereafter in the same way IN
which YOU would undertake to prove
the existence of the new art museum
TO a stranger. You would simply
take MIN to the spot and say. mere
it is" But that IS precisely what
we cannot do in this case. This IS
What nuzzles my friend and others.
There are some things. we must know
If we know them at all-in diff
ferent way. and by proofs of another
kind GU know when you are an
sry: but how do you know It? You
know when you are happy; but no"
do you know it? You know wheh
Won feel that you have done your
duty; but how do you know GU
cannot see anger or happiness or
duty. You cannot take anger AND
happiness and duty and set them
before your eyes in visible form You
cannot put forth your hand and toncn
them and vet you knowthem You
know them BY the testimony Of some
thing inside OF you: not by the senses;
You know them by the testimony OF
consciousness. You know them By
experience. That IS
One Kind of Evidence.
There are ether things which we can
not see. even in the natural world
ard WHICH we must accept upon the
testimony of their manifestations
who has ever seen electricity? How
do YOU know 1t. and what do you
know about it, We have seen the
lightning jaggedly cleaving the SKY
at midnight: we have seen the spark
or the fash of fire from the wires;
but we have not seen electricity It
1elf-we have only seen one or two
manifestations The same is true OF
steam: it is invisible. We only see
vapor We look out upon the stars