I will show you three fools. One is yonder soldier, who has been
wounded on the field of battle--grievously wounded, well-nigh unto
death. The soldier asks him a question. Listen, and judge of his
folly! What question does he ask? Does he raise his eyes with eager
anxiety and inquire if the wound be mortal, if the practitioner's
skill can suggest the means of healing, or if the remedies are within
reach and the medicine at hand? No, nothing of the sort. Strange to
tell, he asks: "Can you inform me with what sword I was wounded, and
by what Russian I have been thus grievously mauled? I want," he adds,
"to learn every minute particular respecting the origin of my wound."
The man is delirious, his head is affected! Surely such questions at
such a time are proof enough that he is bereft of his senses.
There is another fool. The storm is raging, the ship is flying
impetuously before the gale, the dark scud moves swiftly overhead,
masts are creaking, the sails are rent to rags, and still the
gathering tempest grows more fierce. Where is the captain? Is he
busily engaged on the deck, is he manfully facing the danger, and
skillfully suggesting means to avert it? No, sir, he has retired to
his cabin; and there, with studious thoughts and crazy fancies, he
is speculating on the place where this storm took its rise. "It is
mysterious, this wind; no one ever yet," he says, "has been able
to discover it." And so, reckless of the vessel, the lives of the
passengers, and his own life, he is careful only to solve his curious
question. The man is mad, sir; take the rudder from his hand; he is
clean gone mad!
The third fool I shall doubtless find among yourselves. You are sick
and wounded with sin, you are in a storm and hurricane of Almighty
vengeance, and yet the question which you would ask of me this morning
would be: "Sir, what is the origin of evil?" You are mad, sir,
spiritually mad; that is not the question you would ask if you were
in a sane and healthy state of mind. Your question would be: "How can
I get rid of the evil?" Not, "How did it come into the world?" but,
"How am I to escape from it?" Not, "How is it that fire descended from
heaven upon Sodom?" but, "How may I, like Lot, escape out of the city
to a Zoar?" Not, "How is it that I am sick?" but, "Are there medicines
that will heal me? Is there a physician to be found that can restore
my soul to health?" Ah! you trifle with subtleties, while you neglect
certainties.