The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1918-10-03
HEART TO
LIE AIT TAKXC
TEAK 1ALhS
By Oscar Godfrey Klinser.

to utter its thought was the poet of
the Vedic Hymns. In that far-off
hday, when the migrations of a new
tribe were pecpling the known world,
the band that conquered India was
resting for brief time in the noun
tains that form the western boun-
dairy of that country. AS their eye
swept the plains Of the Gauges and
the valley of the Indus, their poets
burst forth with song, hymning the
glories of the land that was to be
their home. In this ilrst voice of our
kinfolk there is one note of sadness,
recognition Of the world-sorrow
which springs out of the deep, dark,
challenging mystery of existence.
This mystery is threefold in it's ma
ture: The mystery of Self, of the
Universe, of God. 1t has been pecu-
liarly the problem of the Aryan peo-
pie and has tinged its literature with
tones Of gray. All the intellectual
progress of the race has been made
in the effort to solve this threefold
mystery. To the question, "What am
II" philosophy is the answer; to the
question, "What is the Universe?"
science replies; to the question,
"What is God?" metaphysics and the
ology make answer. All that we know,
all the knowledge that is treasured in
all the books of the civilized world
has come into existence through the
effort of men to solve the mystery of
existence.
Of this mystery, the question Of
the being of God is the most vital.
It throbs in the brain of Africa's
lowest tribes and is the chief prob
lem of the worlds thinkers. From
Thales (B. G. 5000 to the present
time the ratnoial quest for God has
gone on. How varied the answers !
The "Will-to-live" Of Schopenhauer,
the "Unknowable" of Spencer, the
"Cosmic Force" of Fiske and many
such, not one of which can satisfy
the religious consciousness. The
truth is that God in His nature and
will can never be discovered by I'M
aided effort-there is no ladder long
enough to reach from earth to the
heavens! The law of all organic be-
ing is that the higher must reach
down and lift up the lower, and if
God is to be known it must be by
His own self,revelatron. God must
come to men.
The question of greatest moment,
then, concerns itself with the fact of
Gods self-revelation. If tnade, it
must be in terms which human nature
can understand; it must be by the
agency of man in the language of
man; it must be by incarnation in
human flesh. If made in any other
way, it would be unintelligible and
hence fail as self-revelation. Where
shall we look for the revealing of
God? In Buddhism? But the name
and idea Of God are not found in that
system. 1t is purely ethical and de-
spair is it's keynote. In Mohamme-
danism? But Allah there is a sort
of deified Devil, counselling murder
and polygamy, substituting fate for
freedom. In Nature as known to
science? But there we have Force
acting according to law and merci-
less in its operations, demanding its
pound of flesh for every law violated.
The God we need must satisfy our
religious consciousness, must be
without malignity, must be merciful
and forgiving, the friend of sinners.
He must dwell on heights inaccessible
to human thought, yet make the hu-
man heart His temple.
/ turn to book that lies open
before me and there find the portrait
Of God that meets every require
ment. The book is single volume
with perfect unity of subject from
cover to cover. And yet it is not
one book, but many books, not by
one writer, but many writer's; it is
in fact the choicest literature of a
wonderful people! 1t is composed of
66 books, written by about 33 au-
thors during a periof Of 1000 years
and through them runs a golden
thread which binds them together to
make one Book, That golden thread
is the progressive revelation which
God is making of Himself. At first
it is done by the lips of legislators,
historians, story-tellers, poets and