Returning to Deborah's song and her vision of the coming of God in the
impetuous storm, we see the practical value of Theism. One great idea,
comprehensive and majestic, leads thought beyond symbol and change to
the All-righteous Lord. To attribute phenomena to "Nature" is a sterile
mode of thought; nothing is done for life. To attribute phenomena to a
variety of superhuman persons limits and weakens the religious idea
sought after; still one is lost in the changeable. Theism delivers the
soul from both evils and sets it on a free upward path, stern yet
alluring. By this path the Hebrew prophet rose to the high and fruitful
conceptions which draw men together in responsibility and worship. The
eternal governs all, rules every change; and that eternal is the holy
will of God. The omnipotence nature obeys is the omnipotence of right.
Israel returning to God will find Him coming to the help of His people
in the awful or kindly movements of the natural world. Our view in one
sense extends beyond that of the Hebrew seer. We find the purpose
disclosed in natural phenomena to be somewhat different. Not the
protection of a favoured race, but the discipline of humanity is what we
perceive. Ours is an expansion of the Hebrew faith, revealing the same
Divine goodness engaged in a redeeming work of wider scope and longer
duration.
The point is still in doubt among us whether the good, the true, the
right, are invincible. Those who go forth in the service of God are
often borne down by the graceless multitude. From age to age the problem
of God's supremacy seems to remain in suspense, and men are not afraid,
in the name of foulest iniquity, to try issues with the best. Be it so.
The Divine work is slow. Even the best need discipline that they may
have strength, and God is in no haste to carry His argument against
atheism. There is abundance of time. Those bent on evil or misled by
falsehood, those who are on the wrong side though they consider
themselves soldiers of a good cause may gain on many a field, yet their
gain will turn out in the long run to be loss, and they who lose and
fall are really the victors. There is defeat that is better than
success. Other ages than belong to this world's history are yet to dawn,
and the discovery will come to every intelligence that he alone triumphs
whose life is spent for righteousness and love, in fidelity to God and
man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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