h the nebular
hypothesis. And where does that begin? "In the beginning"? No. It begins
by _assuming_ that two things existed, which the theory does not try to
explain. It assumes that matter and force existed, but it does not tell
us how matter and force came into existence, where they came from, or
why they came. The theory begins: "Let us suppose that matter and force
are here," and then, according to the theory, force working on matter,
created a world. I have just as much right as the atheist to begin with
an assumption, and I would rather begin with God and reason down, than
begin with a piece of dirt and reason up. The difference between the
Christian theory and the materialistic theory is that the Christian
begins with God, while the materialist begins with dull, inanimate
matter. _I know of no theory suggested as a substitute for the Bible
theory that is as rational and as easy to believe._

If the atheist asks me if I can understand God, I answer that it is
not necessary that my finite mind shall _comprehend_ the Infinite Mind
before I admit that there _is_ an infinite mind, any more than it is
necessary that I shall understand the sun before I can admit that there
is a sun. We must deal with the facts about us whether we can understand
them or not.

If the atheist tells me that I have no right to believe in God until I
can understand Him, I will take his own logic and drive him to suicide;
for, by that logic, what right has an atheist to live unless he can
understand the mystery of his own life? Does the atheist understand the
mystery of the life he lives? No; bring me the most learned atheist and
when he has gathered all the information that this earth can give, I
will have a little child lead him out and show him the grass upon the
ground, the leaves upon the trees, the birds that fly in the air, and
the fishes in the deep, and the little child will mock him and tell him,
and tell him truly, that he, the little child, knows just as much about
the mystery of life as does the most learned atheist. We have our
thoughts, our hopes, our fears, and yet we know that in a moment a
change may come over any one of us that will convert a living, breathing
human being into a mass of lifeless clay. What is it, that, having, we
live, and, having not, we are as the clod? We know as little of the
mystery of life to-day as they knew in the dawn of creation and yet
behold the civilization that man has wrought.

And love th