THE WAYS OF GOD

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 150, 22 December 1922, Page 21

THE WAYS OF GOD

A PASSAGE FROM A NOVEL.

In "The Cathedral," by Hugh Walpole, reviewed in this column last week, there is a fine passage which will interest many readers who find it very difficult, sometimes, to reconcile the trials they may have to undergo with the idea of a loving God. Archdeacon Brandon, a proud and imperious, but otherwise good and' brave man, has recourse to his bishop, discussing certain heavy trials that he has experienced. The novelist lets his reader into the sanctity of the confessional, as it were, and the aged bishop thus tries to comfort the crushed and sorely-tried archdeacon, and succeeds:—

lac ways of God are mysterious and past our finding out; tut all of us, in our lives, have known that time wheneverything has suddenly turned against us—our work, those whom we love, our health, even our belief in God Himself. My clear, dear friend, I myself have known that several times in my own life. Once, when I was a young man, I lost an appointment on which my whole heart was set,, and lost it, as it seemed, through an extreme injustice. . It turned out. afterwards that my losing that- was one of the most fortunate things for me. Once my dear wife and I seemed to lose all our love for one another, and I was assailed with most desperate temptation —and the end of that was that we loved and understood one another as we had never dofie before. Once—and this was the most terrible, period in my life, and it continued over a long time—l lost, as it seemed, completely all my faith in God. . I came out of that believing only in the beauty of Christ's life, clinging, to that, and saying to myself, "Such a friend have I—then life is not all lost to me"—and slowly, gradually, I came back into touch with Him and knew Him as I had never known Him before, and, through Him, once again God -the Father. And now, even in my old age, temptation is still with me. I long to die. I am tempted, often to look upon men and, women as shadows that have no longer any connection with me. I am very weak and feeble, and I wish to sleep. But the love of God continues,. and, through Jesus .Christ, the love of men. It is the only truth—love, of God, love of man—the rest is fantasy and unreality. Look up, my son, bear this with patience. God is standing at your shoulder, and will be with you to the end. This is training for you. To show you, perhaps, that all through life you have missed the most important thing. You are learning through this trouble your need of others, your need to love thesj, and that they should love you—the only lesson worth learning in life.' . ',■•.'.■

"The bishop came over to Brandon and put his hand on his head. Strange peace came into Brandon's heart, not from the old man's words, but from the contact with him, the touch of his thin trembling hand. The room was filled with peace. Bonder was suddenly of little importance. The Cathedral faded. For a time he rested."