The book of Job, an inspired drama revealing the necessity for suffering, the effect of suffering, and the philosophy of the imposition of human suffering

Preface

In 1892 the writer issued a small volume for private circulation. In it were promised additional writings developing the same general line of thought in a more matured form. That promise was not an idle one, and there has never been a day since it was made that it has not been the purpose of the writer to fulfill it. The delay has been because of the keen appreciation of the fact that each year was the better preparing him for the duty imposed upon, and thus publicly assumed by, him. The present seems to be an opportune time to give to those who may enjoy the reading of it the following paper, which is fairly complete within itself, upon the subjects as outlined upon the title page. The overwhelming sense of duty which compelled the publication of the preliminary book referred to remains unchanged. In submitting to it I can be happy. In resisting it I can not be other than depressed and miserable. I feel that the experiences of more than thirty years' duration, ^nd the convictions which have .remained unchangeojfor more than fifteen years, must govern me. I cannot safely act upon the advice of anyone, hence it is useless to seek it. My own sense of duty must be my only guide, and upon it alone I act. If there be error in the act, it is my own error. If there is error in the thoughts presented and you accept it, it is your error and not mine. That which I have received and accepted, I give. That which I may have received, and have not accepted, I do not give. I hold it in abeyance, awaiting settled conviction and judgment. The truths which you will find in this book are not new truths. They may be new to you in form of expression or in the breadth of meaning given them. It lies with each for himself to determine how far he may go in accepting them in the form in which they are declared. This is a matter of indifference to me, for my whole duty ends in the presentation of them as found in the following pages. When I shall see my way clearly in reference thereto I shall follow these truths with others of the same nature which have come, or shall come to me, accompanied with a settled conviction on my own part as to their value for limited or general publication.

I. N. Mast.

Ottumwa, Iowa, January, 1904.

Chapter I. Truth And The Method Of Its Discovery

Truth has existed from the beginning of time, yea, from the beginning of all existence. Truth is eternal, as God is eternal; but truth must be discovered. It does not come to us without effort; it can not come to us without effort. The effort which is required to acquire it is confined to no age, no country, no people. It belongs to all ages, all countries, all peoples. The Book of Job is one of the clearest evidences of this assertion that can be produced. Unknown as to the age which gave it birth, the country from which it came, or the author who gave expression to it, it stands as a monument marking the course of divine revelation to the human race. The mind which could conceive and accept the truths contained in it was no ordinary mind. The intellect which discovered them to mankind was an aided intellect. In this lies the proof that they were inspired. Inspiration is aided human intellect; aided human spiritual comprehension; aided human expression of conceived and accepted truth. This is all that there is of inspiration. This is all that inspiration can be. God according to his own purpose leads a human soul into a conception of truth, then into the acceptance of such truth, then into the expression and recording of such truth. When this has been done such truth is both divinely inspired and revealed. It lies beyond the reach of the unaided soul. It may lie beyond the conception of the unaided soul. It may be such truth as experience alone can bestow the knowledge of upon the soul. If it be the latter, such soul is led of God up to and through the required experience, whether it be to endure, to suffer or to enjoy it. In either case the experience is not the voluntary choice of the soul. It is forced upon it. Joy therein can only arise from the knowledge which the experience brings.

The human soul shrinks back from the controlling power of destiny whenever it feels itself within its grasp. Doubt, dread, uncertainty lie ahead; an irresistible force impels. The fearful, doubting soul next feels itself to be within the scope of an infinite purpose of its God and yields in final submission. Then comes that trial which only comes and only can come to it. "Tempted of God," it has been called. Its meaning is known and knowable alone through experience. Such is the truth which Job received. Let us follow him in the record of it as far as it is permitted to us to go.

Job was a perfect man. Job was tempted of God; and Job has revealed these two truths and declared the reasons for their existence through the writing which bears his name. When we say that Job has revealed these things we mean that God has revealed them through the medium of Job himself. Job, unaided, was powerless to conceive or to express these truths, because they lie beyond the range of unaided human comprehension. A human soul may be led by slow degrees into the comprehension of spiritual truths, which truths it, unaided, would be absolutely powerless to acquire. Having been so led it may express and record such truths for the benefit of other souls seeking them. This is what happened to Job and what Job did. In following this record we will outline our thoughts as follows:

1st. The soul which is thus led must be itself perfect.

2nd. It must pass through some preparatory training and experience.

3rd. It must assume and bear responsibilities which no other soul assumes or bears.

4th. These responsibilities must be forced upon it against its will.

5th. When its will has finally yielded to the divine will, its yielding constitutes a covenant between it and its God, which covenant God cannot break, and it cannot break without sin.

All this Job experienced, suffered, and then rejoiced in.

1st. God uses means in accomplishing his ends, and in this man imitates God. If man would accomplish perfect ends, then the means used by him therefor must be perfect for the uses required of them. This we can all readily comprehend because it comes within the range of our own experience. From this let us accept the same truth as applied to God. God purposes an end, that end to be reached through means. It follows that the means to be used must be perfectly adapted to the end to be reached. In this case God purposed to declare unto man certain truths and the reasons for them, as we have above set forth, and he purposed to do it through the life and character of Job as a means thereto. The life and the character of Job must therefore be perfected as the means to be used for this end. In this lies the necessity for the affliction endured by Job and which came from the hand of God direct. Without such affliction Job could never have been prepared to receive that revelation of truth which came to him and which has been revealed through him for the benefit of all subsequent ages.

If these assertions are true, then it follows that in human life some individuals are tempted, not of their own human nature and desires, but of God himself. Such temptation can only come to a soul as a preparation for some duty imposed up it individually, and separate and distinct from those duties common to all the human race. If this be accepted as truth, then it follows that God does impose upon individuals duties not common to all, responsibilities unknown to all others, and does lead such individuals into a comprehension of spiritual truth otherwise unattainable during human life. The instances of this stand out prominently in the record of the revelation of spiritual truth, which has come down to us. Such is God's method. Such is God's purpose.

2nd. The next thought is that some preparation is necessary before any soul can travel out beyond the boundary of the ordinary spiritual comprehension of truth, common to all. If it had not been for such special preparation in individual cases the comprehension of spiritual truth would have reached a fixed limit and would have remained stationary thereat throughout time; or rather would have receded therefrom as the intellectual powers of the race had developed and had thereby blunted spiritual con : ception. To overcome such retrogression and to lead the human race ever to a broader and fuller comprehension of spiritual truth, God has bestowed upon individuals spiritual genius, which is neither more nor less than an abnormal development of one or more spiritual powers or faculties in a person appointed of the purpose of God for such ends and prepared of God for such duties. Such preparation is as essential to the comprehension of spiritual truth as is a special preparation necessary for the comprehension of physical truth. The difference is that the latter may come of our own will and effort, while the former can only come from God direct according to his own purpose, and wholly without the power of human will and purpose.

3rd. Such appointed soul must assume and bear responsibilities that no other assumes or bears. This is inevitable because of the power of spiritual comprehension thus bestowed upon it. To fail to use such power when once it is bestowed is in itself sin, and would sink such soul into spiritual death from the instant of such choice. Life is bestowed upon us all for a purpose. Life is not our own to do as we will with it. It is ours to fulfill the purpose of its creation, and if we, knowing such purpose, refuse to fulfill it, we commit sin and sink our souls into spiritual death through such refusal. Thus I may not by my own will and act take my own life out of this human existence without sin, any more than I may take the life of another out of this existence without sin. It is our duty, one and all, to bear the burdens which rest upon us here, whether they be great or small, until such time as God's will releases us from our human state.

4th. Such special responsibilities must be forced upon the soul against its will. If they were not, it might glory in them, which it may not do. Whatever of glory, or honor or praise there may be in them belongs to God who placed them and not to the soul which bears them. Job did not seek his affliction or that knowledge which came to him and which was bestowed upon the world through him, as the result of such preparation. He was humbled before his God and remained so to the end of his life.

5tb. The yielding soul thus burdened with responsibility enters into covenant relations with God. Such covenant is in effect throughout its human existence and cannot be disregarded. What the terms of covenant are may be unknown to all except to the one who enters into it, but to such one there is never doubt. No one who earnestly seeks to know God's will can remain in doubt as to what such will is.

The second great truth which is revealed to the world through the book of Job is this : That suffering constitutes a necessary preparation for the soul's highest enjoyment of all that God has bestowed upon it. Is this a truth ? Can it be demonstrated ? Yes, it is both a truth and it can be made clear unto many.

It cannot be demonstrated to all. It is kindred to the truth that evil is necessary in order that good may exist; that a knowledge of evil is necessary in order that a knowledge of good may be possessed; that it is darkness that renders light visible; that it is discord that reveals harmony; that it is mental and physical suffering that make us conscious of health. The same truth applies to all knowledge which we possess and which rests upon individual experience. As all spirtiual knowledge rests upon individual experience, the foregoing declaration must apply to all spiritual truths. Every positive state or condition presupposes a negative or opposite state or condition. Every positive and fixed relation in life presupposes a negative or opposite relation. Life and all that life contains is measured by one common unit of measurement. That unit of measurement constitutes the difference between the positive and the negative of all that appertains to life, as determined by the individual experience of the soul. To know good the soul must first know evil, and it measures its own goodness and the joy it experiences therefrom by its degree of removal from the evil and the sorrow which it brought, according to its former experience. Is this saying that every soul must sin before it can enter heaven? It is not, but it is saying that every soul must either experience in itself the bitterness of sin, or the negative condition of that intermediate state into which it was born, before it can be conscious of the positive state of obedience and heaven. Heaven is more to the redeemed sinner than it can ever be to the soul which never knew sin positively through actual transgression, but only negatively through its existence in the intermediate state. Unrepented sin damns the soul forever. Repented and pardoned sin intensifies the joys of the soul in heaven forever, because its unit of measurement based upon its individual experience, and by which it measures its own joy, embraces more degrees of difference between its two states, than can that of the other soul. Sin is therefore both a blessing and a curse; a blessing to the repentant and forgiven sinner, a curse to all who fail to repent. Job was led through the depths of mental and physical suffering in order that he might rise to otherwise unattainable heights of joy.

If these declarations are truth, then why do not all suffer even as Job suffered? Why do not all sin and sin outrageously? The answer to both these questions is this: God's will and purpose assigns to each soul a definite and fixed course throughout both time and eternity. The soul is powerless to vary from that course by even a hairsbreadth, and yet its every thought and word and act is free, absolutely free. That divine purpose requires the life of every soul that is born on earth, some to attain the highest possible joy, some to suffer the greatest possible sorrow, but in no case can the joy or the sorrow be without or beyond that infinite purpose. Such infinite purpose is formed in infinite love, governed by infinite power, and limited by infinite wisdom. It concerns the ultimate and everlasting happiness of all God's creatures, both human and super-human, both now in existence and hereafter to be created. Shall we, as nnits in an eternity of manifested life, question the power that brought us into being and purposed that we should suffer or enjoy? Let us rather thank God for what we suffer and for what we enjoy, knowing that infinite love compels it all.

Chapter II. The Gift Of Life

Should man ever condemn his Creator for the gift of life? It would seem that if this could ever be proper it would have been justifiable on the part of the allegorical personage, Job. The lesson taught is that it is never justifiable. Job is represented as a human creature living to fulfill a divine purpose, suffering all that humanity can suffer, and himself regretting that to him had been given life in its human state. The lament of Job recognizes and reveals the truth which we have before declared, that the only possible entrance into spiritual existence is through human existence, but such human existence may be of the shortest duration and wholly unconscious. Job would have died at human birth and would have entered into spiritual existence through the door of human death. Job does not reproach God for bestowing upon him existence, but only for giving to him the human phase of existence beyond that necessary to usher him into the spiritual phase of it.

This requires us to take up the truths of life, death, and the after-life, as these are presented by Job and to declare the revelation which is thus declared through him. This we will attempt to do under the following heads:

1st. What is life?

2nd. How is it bestowed upon the human race?

3rd. That which is inseparably connected with human life.

4th. What is death?

5th. That which is inseparably connected with death.

Many thoughts which will follow under these several heads must necessarily be a repetition of what has been before presented, but our object is to present them together and in their proper order.

1st. What is life? To answer this question clearly and fully is an impossibility, just as impossible as it would be to answer the question, What is God? Life is a manifestation of God. Life is a revelation of God. Life is from God. Life is of God a part.

This is true of all life from that of the highest created intelligence to that of the lowest form of manifested life. All created life is of God, but all created life is not all of God. God's life is above and beyond all created life. The latter is simply a part of, a manifestation of, the eternal life which is God. Beyond this we cannot go in seeking an answer to the question, What is life? Beyond this human intelligence cannot go either in its present existence or in that existence which follows and is everlasting. The mystery of life is unsolved and is unsolvable. It is the mystery of the manifested life of God.

2nd. Of how it is bestowed upon the human race we may know something, but that something is very little. We may know that human life is of the will of God and is not of the will of man, save as the will of man becomes and is the will of God. Human life lies beyond the limit of all the powers of human beings, just as do all other forms of manifested life. All the powers of all the living united cannot produce the life of one plant, one tree ; cannot produce the life of one living animal form. We may know that it is in obedience to an unknown law of life that life is perpetuated. The law itself is past finding out. It belongs to the mysteries of the Infinite, the unknowable to human intelligence. Human agencies enter into and become a part of that law, but how or why this is true we even do not know. Human life has been created without the aid of any human agency. This is self evident, for otherwise there could have been no beginning of a human race. Human life has been created without the aid of the ordinary human agency, for otherwise the life of Jesus Christ could not have been more than human. The lift of Jesus Christ was both human and divine, human as to maternity, divine as to paternity, for it is in this sense alone that his life, his mere existence, is any other or greater revelation to man of the Father's life than is the life of every individual human creature. Christ reveals God to man in a double significance of that phrase : First, by his existence upon the earth as one born of woman, but not born of man, he reveals the existence of God as the author of all life. This is the same kind of revelation of this truth as we have through the creation and existence of the first creature of the human race, typified as Adam, and the first helpmeet to that race, typified as Eve. We say of Eve, helpmeet to that race, because while woman was linked to and became a part of that race, she is the higher, the purer, the nobler part thereof. The human race is duplex, both in creation and in character. The two parts are inseparably allied as male and female, they are also unalterably separated and removed the one from the other, as male and female. The character of man is not the character of woman, and the character of woman is not the character of man. They occupy two separate and distinct planes in the order of manifested life, and no effort of man or of woman can ever change this decree of God.

Whether woman be thus recognized as a separate and distinct creation with a separate and distinct character from the creation and the character represented by the first man, Adam, or not, we have in these creations three instances wherein the law of life as commonly recognized and known to us has been varied. This simply establishes the truth that we do not know the law; we only know a part of the law. From the foregoing we may reasonably draw this conclusion: In creating human life God uses a law unknown to us except in part. Under this law life and one phase of human character were bestowed upon the first man of the human race, allegorically called Adam; under this same law life and another phase of human character were bestowed upon the first woman of the human race, allegorically called Eve; and under the same unknown law human life and the divine character were bestowed upon another, whose new existence was thus created human. This is what God has revealed to us as to how life is bestowed upon those who possess human character in its lowest, its higher and its perfect expression.

3rd. We have thus seen how life is bestowed. Let us next consider which is inseparably connected with life. In doing this we will consider the following as essential elements of human life and which must appear in every life in order that it be classed as human.

First. It must have faculties and power which render it capable of knowing its Creator. Life not possessing these is not human, but is sub-human.

Second. It must have the power of independent reasoning.

Third. It must have the power of imagination.

Fourth. It must have the power of development, without limitation upon that power.

Fifth. It must have those minor faculties which adapt it to existence in a physical world and render it possible for it to be happy and contented therein.

First. All human beings may know their Creator. No sub-human creature can know its Creator. Human life is the lowest expression of life to which such knowledge is possible. This is what constitutes it human. It is not reason which distinguishes man from the brute, for reason is neither more nor less than expanded or developed instinct, which is so bountifully bestowed upon the brute creation. Reason is given to man for his use in his physical environment, and is of little value to him thereafter. While reason will not perish in the spiritual existence, its use therein must be necessarily limited. The earthly life of the soul is the period of the greatest activity and of the highest development of the power of reason, for it is the period in which that power can serve the soul in largest measure. Reason never revealed God to any human creature, and never can. Therefore when the earth-life of the soul is ended the purposes for which reason was bestowed upon it have been in the main fulfilled. Development in the knowledge of God the Father is the work of all spiritual existence, and in this work reason has no part. Such knowledge can come to the soul alone through its spiritual powers of worship and obedience, as we have heretofore explained. The same is true of all those faculties and powers of the soul which adapt it to the enjoyment of its physical state of existence. They all either perish as wholly physical in their nature and use or become subservient and unused powers if spiritual in their nature. Whatever is adapted to the soul's happiness and contentment in its spiritual existence remains unto it and is freely used by it. All else perishes, either because it is wholly physical in its nature and cannot be used, or because it is not so essential and is unused. An unused power perishes from non-use. This is a law which is revealed through nature in this world. Second. While all this is true of the power of reason, yet reason is necessary to render life human. Man without reason could not maintain a physical existence, could not conquer or subdue nature, could not discover the forces, laws and powers of the physical creation and subject them to his use. It is reason that makes human life on earth possible, and that makes development during human life also possible. Reason is the master power of the human soul while its existence remains human. It is the earthly sovereign of all the powers which the soul possesses in its human state, but its reign ends with human death. Thereafter it becomes one of the soul's lowliest of remaining powers, itself subject to those which are wholly spiritual.

Third. The soul in human life must have the power of imagination. Without this power it could develop none of its spiritual powers, could resist none of its human inclinations, would be powerless against temptation, would be unhuman in all its developments. Imagination is the most powerful aid in human life to correct and upright living, and to the faithful discharge of human duties and responsibilities. What is that which we thus call imagination? It is the power of the soul to contemplate facts and relations which do not exist, but which might exist, and to deduce conclusions therefrom, the same as if they actually did exist. Such conclusions thus deduced are the guide and the support of the soul throughout its earthly existence. Imagination is denied to all life sub-human. It is inseparable from all life which carries with it moral obligations and moral responsibilities. Therefore imagination can never cease as an active power of the soul.

Fourth. Human life must also have the power of development, and that power must be without limitation. This does not mean that such power must be infinite, for infinity does not apply to anything created. Infinity cannot be attained by any power which is itself created, but within infinity there can be no bounds set to the development of any power bestowed upon a life created morally responsible. Such limitation would be inconsistent with the bestowal of the power. Individual effort is made the measure of individual development, and this will be ever true.

Fifth. It must have those minor faculties which adapt it to its existence in a physical world and render it possible for it to be happy and contented therein. This the infinite love of the Creator necessitates in every form of life which is created, and this truth is revealed through all life created. Life without such faculties would in itself deny the attribute of infinite love. To deny this is to deny God. Life is in itself the fullest and the clearest revelation of God's existence which the world contains. As we advance in spiritual understanding this truth will be forced upon us all. We may not accept it in this world, but will be forced to accept it in the world to come. Life anywhere which is unbearable is an impossibility. Life which is a burden is an impossibility anywhere, except such burden be selfimposed. This is true of life in hell. It is not true of any other state or condition of life either among intelligent or non-intelligent creatures in so far as knowledge is given us. We therefore have to deal only with the happiness which God has created, and not with the sorrows which man has imposed upon himself. We will therefore treat of life as wholly contented, wholly happy. In order that life should be wholly contented, wholly happy, it must be endowed with faculties perfectly adapting it to the environment and the capacity bestowed upon it. This is true of all life as it was originally created. It remains true of all life which is below intelligent existence. It remains true of all human life except where it has been modified by our own acts or the acts of those through whom life has been bestowed upon us. Barring inherited conditions, we are each born with faculties perfectly adapting us to our environment and our capacity. We have the power to satisfy every desire and every longing which belongs to our human existence. Perfect happiness is neither more nor less than such satisfaction. If, therefore, we are not perfectly happy and contented it is because of our own acts or of inherited conditions. How, then, are we to account for human unhappiness, and for endless and hopeless sorrow in hell? Unhappiness rests upon human error. Sorrow in hell rests upon purposed disobedience. The human error may be our own or it may be of those who have preceded us. We have the power to guard against both, therefore we have it in our power to be perfectly happy. We have the power to obey and we have the power to disobey; therefore if we choose disobedience the sorrows of hell come through our own act. It is impossible that we should possess intelligence and should be contented and happy, without possessing the power to follow our own wills. This power goes with and belongs to intelligent existence everywhere. The two are inseparable.