If there is anywhere on the earth a soul that trusts and
prays, then must the world be wrong in its belief. A law is a rule of
conduct, a law of nature is a rule of God's conduct, and though we have
abstracted the personality and freedom, they are none the less there.
There is also a mitigated form of this atheism as follows: many believe
in a personal God, yet conceive Him to be fettered by his own laws; as
if He had made the machine of the universe, wound it up, and could now
only stand helplessly aside to see it go. Prayer is of no avail to such
a God; thus the first need of the soul is left unsatisfied, and man
stands in the universe alone. Herein is their error: because He has
always acted in this manner, they reason that He always will, and then
go farther and think He always must; not seeing how He stands behind and
moves the law. When the hammer in the pianoforte rises, the wire will
sound; but there is one who sits unseen at the key board and controls
the wires of the hammer. When the lightning bolt falls, the tree is
shattered; but God holds the lightning in His hands.
Succeeding a mechanical idea of God, we have a similar idea of man. The
fundamental question of human nature is that of free will or necessity.
The history of philosophy is but a history of the conflict of these two
ideas: in the life of the individual also, the same great question
arises, whether he can be what he will, or will be what he must.
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