Article May 9, 1925 Issue

Causation is Spiritual

ROBERT ELLIS KEY

It can never be doubted by any sincere thinker that the infinitely wise God knows enough to govern His own creation wisely; and, conversely, that man, the idea of infinite wisdom, knows enough to be governed by the all-wise creator. To suppose God to be a tyrant, at whose whim mortals suffer and perish, would be to enthrone and worship a devil. To believe that divine wisdom sanctions or creates a single element which has not the impress of its own perfectly wise and holy character is to divorce God from His own creation.

It was long believed that God sent trials in order to punish His children, and that they could not be fitted for His kingdom unless they were afflicted and chastened before seeking admission to the heavenly mansions. But this theory is fast fading into the shadows; for it is unthinkable that God, who is Love, would penalize His own creation, or punish His ideas for doing what they could not help doing. It is certainly true that false sense must be disturbed and discomfited before it will yield and give place to the real; but this occurs only that evil may give place to good, darkness to light, ignorance to intelligence, disease to harmony. Such a process is indeed cause, not for regret, but rather for rejoicing, and is what Paul meant in his second epistle to the Corinthians when he wrote, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

When one finds himself as man, the image and likeness of his creator, he no longer stands upon a disturbed or disturbable platform, but upon a spiritual foundation, which is unmoved and immovable. This spiritual basis is symbolized in the Scriptures by a rock, against which the winds and waves of materiality beat in vain.

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