Evening star., 1938-12-12

was there any atmosphere In which
the presence Of God was felt. The
general behavior Of people every
where made it plain that whatever
they professed when they were ques-
toned, they did not feel any such
Power within or about them. For
most of them It would have been an
entirely paralyzing thought, to have
been living in the presence, in the
sight and knowledge of an unseen
and silent Deity. With indefinite
powers of Intervention. The tension
would have become uncomfortable;
they would have screamed. They
dismissed the thought, therefore, and
they dismissed Him, not explicitly,
of course, but tacitly and practically.
On most Of their occasions, even the
professional religious people, from
popes and archbishops down to con-
hrmation candidates, behaved exact
ly like atheists-as we'll but no bet
ter.
Young Rudolph indeed heard very
little about the supreme immanence.
Mrs. Whitlow had a delicacy about
mentioning Him except in connec-
ton with the Lords Prayer and the
Ten Commandments and similar
formalities, and Mr.. Whitlow only
mentioned Him on occasions of dis
may-as, for example, when he
heard that Aunt Julia had come in
to see them. Then usually he would
exclaim, "Oh God!"
From the outset young Rudolph
put up considerable God resist
ance. He read such portions of the
Scripture as were chosen for his
learning reluctantly and with in
credulity and aversion. Father was
bad enough without this vaster
Father behind him. From all the
world around him Rud caught the
trick of putting divinity out of his
mind in the ordinary affairs of life.
But only by degrees. He had some
bad times, usually about judgment
day and hellfire. They were worse
to dream about than falling into
tigers dens. He had called ALI fool
several times. That he learnt was
hellflre business. And there was
very little on the other side of the
account. He had tried praying-as,
for example, at cricket for a score of
20, and then he had got out first ball.
Attracted by Idea Of Atheism.
"All right, God," said little Rudie.
you see"
Then he heard tell that old DR..
Carstall was an atheist. The school,
fellow who told him that spoke in
hushed tones.
whats a NatheiSt?" asked Rudie.
"It's-he don't believe there's any
God at all. Amt it orful?"
There was something about this
sinister idea of atheism that at
tracted him. 1t was frightful. Oh!
unspeakable, but it had a magnifi-
cence. Suppose really there was no.
body watching. ..
The things you might do! -.
Gradually his thoughts took the
shape of feeling that the God one
heard about in school did not exist,
that they didn't mean it whatever
it was about the Trinity, but that
nevertheless there was a God-an-
other God, that Maker-who went
away-so that you could do any little
things you wanted to do-who was
indeed away generally, but who
might at any time stage a tremen-
dous comeback. Then He would
ask everybody what they had done
with the things of His making, and
Rudie's impression was that most
people would look pretty silly long
before it came down to him. There
was no reason Rudie could see why
he in particular should be pitched
upon. He was quite prepared to
turn God's-evidence against one or
two people he knew.
tcopyrisht. 1888. BY the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Incl