T XIX PURPOSE OF SUFFERING HE question of suffering and its benign purpose may well come under this caption, showing the goodness of God in His relations, adaptations and purpose. Many will ask, How is the goodness of God shown in the sufferings of mankind? Can God be just and good in allowing man to suffer under the pressure of these relationships? It is said that when God had created man He pronounced him, with all creation, "very good." To keep man good, as proclaimed, a warning voice was given, suggesting a penalty for violation of law. Self-indulgence, flouting the command, met the penalty inexorable in the first violation as it relates to God. As in the case of Cain, jealousy or envy marked the violation as related to others. In whatever way we may consider the first violation of law, as in the case of Adam, or as related to other men or neighbours, as in the case of Cain, we note that self-indulgence in the former case caused the break. In the case of Cain the violation was against his brother, which, likewise, led to estrangement and penalty. And down through the ages these two phases of violation of law-violation directed against God (in contradiction of the law, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,") and violation against man ("Thou shalt love thy neighbour," etc.) have been the great outstanding features of all law violation. The same laws remain inexorable to-day. "In the day that thou eatest thereof" (violate my law thou shalt surely pay the penalty), suffering must follow. The law must stand and suffering is marked not necessarily as punishment for violation, but as a disciplinary provision to guard against repetition. All good law requires a sufficient penalty. The excuse that it will not be as severe as decreed is conceived in childishness and is the common plea of law violators. As the Psalmist says: The brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this." 66 "God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." From the earliest times this law of sequence, cause and effect in life has been recognized. It has become axiomatic: Like will produce like. The warnings are held out as a red flag at a railroad crossing, crying stop." But, again, as the Psalmist says: "Fools, because of their folly, perish." They heed not, neither do they understand. 66 As our Creator made provision called penalties for violations of law, we must consider them as good. The writer, in conversation with a wise university doctor, on a railroad train, suggested the permanency and stability of law as being good. The wise doctor remarked: "If it were not for this law the railroad would be clogged with the killed and injured so that the train could not pass." So, without suffering, man would perish; and it might be said that the law of suffering is the one great law which saves the human race. It may not kill but only injure as a reminder. Without suffering the race would not put violation of law behind and make progress towards the goal of righteousness. The Biblical writer says: "I reckon that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to the weight of glory that shall be revealed in us." It is an economic factor to preserve the race. Suffering was then introduced to save the race from obliteration; were it not for the suffering and penalty, all men, women and children would become careless and cease to make progress towards better conditions of life, in sanitation, in treatment of one's neighbour, laws of health, care of the child's life and other conditions which minister to man's happiness. Suffering is as discipline and a schoolmaster to remind us, bringing us into line of duty and to perform our obligations, also to require us to avoid those conditions of life which would pull us down, mutilate our lives and eventually destroy them. If we put our hands upon a red-hot stove it would burn to a crisp if the nerves would not warn the king in the palace of the danger by suffering. As the suffering of the physical body reflects the warning of the nervous system that the parts affected need attention, as shown by the chapter on "The Palace We Live In," so mental suffering, as differentiated from the physical, may be caused by the reflection of the censors of the mind which function to warn of dangers and abnormal conditions in the relations of the physical body to other physical bodies which might hurt or threaten injury. Or it may come from a sense of abnormal relations in the social, educational, industrial or political life, which may reflect such unusual relations causing mental suffering. Unless there were mental sufferings from these abnormal conditions, the King in the Palace would not be advised to remove such conditions and replace them with happier relations, bringing back the normal mood. |