CHAPTER X 



RATIONALISTIC VIEWS OF PHYSICAL EVILS; AND THE 

 LAW OF "INIDEALITY" 



All Rationalists make much of so-called " physical 

 evils," and ridicule the idea of their being consistent with 

 a good, just and Loving God who cares for Humanity 

 and other creatures He has made. 



For if God be the author of Creation, He must 

 knowingly have made the world so that man should 

 suffer by catastrophes, such as storms, deluges, volcanic 

 outbursts, etc. 



Of course, this so-called paradox has perplexed men 

 from time immemorial, before and after the days of Job. 



The question is. What is the Christian interpretation ? 



The Old Testament idea of "judgments" has long 

 ceased to be held, since our Lord alluded to the Tower 

 of Siloam ; but He taught us to read a moral lesson from 

 accidents and catastrophes. 



Why is it that some men, such as Rationalists, seem 

 to see something very terrible and inconsistent in Nature's 

 forces, when man suffers from them ; but Christians, who 

 see them too, do not feel them to be so heavy a burden 

 on the mind ? May not the answer be that the Christian 

 has no fear of death ; while the man who believes that 

 he will vanish altogether and not survive it, regards it as 

 terrible ? 



(327) 



