But we
can ENJOY our God, if we have one, in advance of all that labor. I
myself believe that the evidence for God lies primarily in inner
personal experiences. When they have once given you your God, his
name means at least the benefit of the holiday. You remember what I
said yesterday about the way in which truths clash and try to 'down'
each other. The truth of 'God' has to run the gauntlet of all our
other truths. It is on trial by them and they on trial by it. Our
FINAL opinion about God can be settled only after all the truths
have straightened themselves out together. Let us hope that they
shall find a modus vivendi!
Let me pass to a very cognate philosophic problem, the QUESTION of
DESIGN IN NATURE. God's existence has from time immemorial been held
to be proved by certain natural facts. Many facts appear as if
expressly designed in view of one another. Thus the woodpecker's
bill, tongue, feet, tail, etc., fit him wondrously for a world of
trees with grubs hid in their bark to feed upon. The parts of our
eye fit the laws of light to perfection, leading its rays to a sharp
picture on our retina. Such mutual fitting of things diverse in
origin argued design, it was held; and the designer was always
treated as a man-loving deity.
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