| Show THE philosophy OF PAIN HUME HOME the english historian and anc noted skeptic wrote III if f god goc would have prevented pain but bul could not he is not omnipotent jf il he could have prevented it but bu aou would ld not he is a malevolent being this sort of reasoning is ig specious but not deep it takes with a certain class of skeptics and PU puzzles zales superficial readers and persons person unaccustomed to analytical reasoning but though the first proposition it contains may be correct the second is transparently fallacious the uses of pain are not aken into account nor is the question ol of the possibility of benefits f from r om pain considered god may have been abundantly y able to prevent pain and yet have permitted it for a benevolent purpose pain may be a valuable educator it may be punitive and even in that sense muse beneficial as leading to reformation and perfection there is another point to be also considered it does not appear th that at pain was waa a creation of deity or that 1 it w was as originally inherent in man the biblical account of t the he bringing forth of all things in the beginning declares that Wey came from the hand band of the creator they were pronounced very good it a also ISO appears ppe ars that if man had remained under the conditions which environed him in his innocent estate he would have suffered no pain but from choice he violated the law of his being and so BO brought upon himself the natural consequence quen ce of transgression pain resulted from disobedience to laws that if obeyed would have kept him freij suffering there would have been no pain to him if there had been no sin in his conduct it will wil I 1 perhaps be argued by the skeptic that the fact of mans deviation proves a defect in his constitution a disposition to do that which resu resulted red in pain but the answer to this is man was made mad e a free agent that is good and evil which are existent coexistent co elisten t were both before him he had the pit of choice his will was fr free power to do good or to da on his own volition ahl w a mark of im perfection imperfection I 1 in n it essential nature but the vei yeiyei stamp of his possible per perfecta he had bad no volition he aou would I 1 d been but a human buman machine 1 out free agency punishment would be unjust and re reward ward J 14 righteousness would have no tion to rest upon nature which some people ona J 41 I 1 and worship in preference doe to ZOOM def carries in its operations the aph same consequences as those athi attached to the revealed di compliance with its laws baw bri pleasure violation thereof arl arta I 1 pain this is recognized amy byl kotees of N nature a ture as enkin proper and beneficial because ik it 9 preservative humanity to is valued by pain of the danger of deette dest tion which is the inevitable matt of continued Ili infraction fraction of nataie laws why this should d be consid considered benevolent in impersonal but malevolent in personal diddy is if one of the peculiarities of sk skeptical reasoning the logic of which we fall fail to perceive legal penalties for crime we are re cognized as necessary in human government why should they not also be essential to the divine economy and if punishment for fai y sin is proper in a moral or spiritual I 1 code why should not pain be pr prop as punishment for violation of the 8 laws of physical life and if 11 1 r why should the divine being ato 1 institutes such regulations be thewl for denounced as malevolent fl pain not only has its uses ai aa i preserver of human exis existence tenee bif its reminders of the consequence of transgressing established provi provisions provia 4 hut but it is valuable for its discipline ta it cultivates the virtues of patience endurance and humility it in the redemption of fallen man aa his elevation to the state in there is no pain because there Is isaf 81 bin n it teaches the good of 4 action by demo demonstrating nitrating nat rating the leftwo 4 of wrongdoing wrong doing all things have their and add it is by contrast that we I 1 leaba and appreciate the joys of ex existent if there were no pal pain a how could n experience and fully sense bl P pleasure leasure is if there were no dah new ness who could comprehend f immense benefits of light if never tasted of death how enjoy all the possibilities of per life it to is an imperfect and vain osin j sophy which recognizes no in those things that are called evils and it is shortsightedness and arrogance which lie behind these skeptical assaults upon the creator because he has not dot ordered the universe to suit their narrow notions of what ought to have been and they argue from the standpoint of mortal and temporary existence when we accept the doctrine of eternal and conscious identity our views are am broadened and reach up to immeasurably greater heights that which before was obscure is edw now luminous that which was a mystery to is now simple and uninvolved he who declines to investigate the divine econom economy from other ground than that 0 armans ans end at death will always fall short of comprehending the realities of human existence of mans relation to his maker and of the plans and purposes of an eternal god |
