The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-05-09
WHAT DO YOD KNOW?
A reply to letter.
The Rev. Charles Baird Mitchell, B. ID.

/, at nfxht-worId's without number.
The force of grayitation holds them
in their orbits: each -Dnrsues its own
pathway and does notzcrash into It's
neighbors: but. grayitafion IS only
name. No one has even seen the
thing itself. We have seen nantes
tations of something we call gavita-
ton.
science says also that we are all
upborne in an infinite ocean OF ether,
but what is ether? No one ever saw
it; no one ever consciously touched
il, but II is necessary TO scientific
thors<ht. The worlds and the atoms
OF which they are composed all be-
have as IL they swan in this b1iiowS
ether Something in nature invisible
irdescribable. in which the worlds
live and move and have their being
And these unseen forces are inter
changeable; and 50 they reduce to one
in the last analysis But even then
that single force which operates IN
so many ways is dependent upon
something further back-something
in which imbues intelligence, wis
dom and love, as we know these
things in man. Is it too much to be-
lieve that the hidden life out Of which
spraas the worlds. and the forces
which keep them, is the life that we
call God.
There are other kinds of evidence.
therefore, besides that which appeals
to the senses, besides that by which
we prove the existence OF a house
or a mountain.
We know the soul. by its mani
festations within, by experience; we
know God by His manifestations
without and within. But I prefer
the word believe to the word know
And this is my answer when l am
asked. why, by my correspondent and
by others whom he represents.
I believe in God and IN the soul
and in Immortality. because
I Am Made That Way.
cannot help it. These convictions
are a part of me. / did not argue
myself into them: l cannot be argued
out of them. Often people say to
me: Il am not made that way !
have none of these convictions What
shall 1 do" I believe they are there.
cred up deep Neglect may have OBJ
scured them. But down deep be-
lieye you will find the divine treas
IRE: and be made to realize the
truthfulDess of what the wise man
said. God hath set eternity IN their
heart
No I cannot see God. but it would
not be much of God that 1 could
see and touch. / cannot see the soul:
but soul that could see and handle
would be just about as material
substance as my body or my coat.
believe that the best things in
life are the things We do not see:
truth and justice. l believe in friend
ship and love. although l cannot see
my friend. These qualities are in
visible: but they are real as this
l.
the face. the form, the dress of our
friend-these and these only The
real self we do not and cannot see.
The person. the soul is yelled. Back
there somewhere out OF sight. your
friend exists. Now and again. the
soul shines through, like sunshine
out of a cloud; it speaks and you
answer. Ii shows you thought or
tells you its love. You and your
thing invisible as the ether, powerful
as gravitation, binds you together.
Where does this loving and binding
come from? Who inspires it? Some
times it rests on all the people in
company. or II rests on a nation so
that they would die for one another.
II rises in US, but we do not make 1t
1t flows in upon US, as If IL arose in
the depths of the universe. Is not
this also what men call God?
You cannot see your friend. You
see the form and features. and the
lights or shadows. the smiles or
frowns. that play upon them. But
the day comes when only the form
and features of your friend remain.
Something has happened. They are
the same that they were yesterday.
Eut that which lit them up is not
there Something has gone. The
eye is there, but that which beamed
from it is not there. What has be-
come of 1t? The instrument is there:
if that is all. why is there no music?
The body is there; il your friend was
nothing more than that. why does he
not smile and speak? There was
something more than that body
there was something more than that
broken instrument. That which
used this instrument-that was what
you knew and loved.
You never saw your friend or that
which made him; you cannot follow
him into the unknown and uneS-
pIored. He is hidden from sight