64 



THE GUIDE. TO NAURE 



and do everything over again in another 

 way. 



Let us be perfectly frank. Human 

 beings would be called either foolish or 

 vicious if they talked in that way about 

 their human landlord, who had provided 

 a good home for them in best possible 

 conditions. Why do we complain because 

 God has made it necessary for us to work 

 out our human problems for ourselves? 



God is omnipotent only within the 

 bounds of consistency, while we poor 

 human beings are constantly asking Him 

 to be omnipotent in inconsistency. 



It is true that the Bible in several places 

 makes the statement that "with God all 

 things are possible." But that self-evi- 

 dently means omnipotence within con- 

 sistency and wisdom- Is it thinkable 

 or possible that God in His all-power 

 can make Himself inconsistent, or weak, 

 or that in His wisdom it is possible for 

 Him to do foolish things ? 



The North and the South in our Civil 

 War were both right in praying to God 

 for victory. The prayers of both zvere 

 granted- Both North and South were 

 victorious in settling a human question 

 for the best good of all. To the South 

 belongs the greater gratitude because of 

 its greater sufifering and sacrifice, that all 

 may enjoy for all time the settlement of 

 a human question in which both sides 

 were right. 



But you argue the South might have 

 behaved herself and stayed in the Union 

 and not brought all the pain, loss and 

 sufiferiuig upon herself and the North- 

 Yes, but the question would still be un- 

 settled. Could any referee nation have 

 passed an opinion that would have set- 

 tled it as securely as now? Could God 

 have continued free will of North and 

 South and settled it without permitting 

 the struggle? 



Don't enjoy the benefits of struggles 

 and then blame God or doubt Him for 

 permitting struggle- 

 God always looks to the happiness of 

 the individual. It is not true and not 

 substantiated that God cares for the type 

 and is careless of the individual. Salva- 

 tion has never come to a nation but to 

 individuals composing that nation. All 

 natural science tells us that there are 

 many types. Indeed, nature does not 

 recognize any such thing as a type ex- 

 cept as a collection of successes. 



Put an hundred oak trees and an hun- 

 dred ash trees into competition and it is 



only a struggling of individuals. Buffa- 

 loes, carrier pigeons and extinct species 

 of the past just as readily compete in this 

 struggle as do any individuals of those 

 classes, only a type represents a collec- 

 tion and there are always fewer collec- 

 tions than there are individuals compos- 

 ing that collection. It is recognized at 

 once that rigliteousness cannot exist 

 where there is no evil and even Omnipo- 

 tence cannot be inconsistent with itself- 



Flowers not to be Honored, but to 

 Honor. 



Human beings are to consider the 

 lilies of the field and from them to 

 draw lessons and inspiration. Flowers 

 are taken into a church to honor the 

 church, not to be honored by the sacred 

 edifice. 



A correspondent in New York State 

 calls attention to the fact that in an 

 Easter day talk to the young children 

 of the Sunday school, a clergyman said 

 that the lily bulb had what he called a 

 lowly position in the earth and strug- 

 gled hard to grow and be something, 

 and that finally as a reward for its ef- 

 forts it was awarded the honor of a 

 place in the church for T)ublic observa- 

 tion. The correspotT^ent asks if that 

 explanation is not wrong end to. We 

 think it is. A wo"k of man, even if 

 consecrated, cannot honor the humblest 

 flower that comes direct from the hands 

 of God as His masterpiece of handi- 

 w^ork. The works of man are honored 

 by the presence of the Supreme Work- 

 er's beautiful production. That clergy- 

 man had a glimmering of the true no- 

 tion, though things with him seem to 

 have been a little twisted. What he 

 evidently meant to tell those children 

 was that some of the grandest works of 

 God have an humlile beginning, but that 

 there is always the possibility in draw- 

 ing life from Him so to influence others 

 by beauty and usefulness as to honor 

 and inspire every one with whom that 

 life comes in contact or association. 

 The lily has apparently an insignifi- 

 cant and lowly beginning but how gor- 

 geous it becomes, how useful and how 

 inspiring to others because it has re- 

 ceived its life from God. That lesson 

 may be followed in the development in 

 any human being, however lowly or 

 humble the surroundings in which he 

 may be placed. 



