A YOUNG man from one of the provinces of France, who Ad, was sent to Paris to finish his education, had the misfortune of getting into bad company. He went so far as to wish, and finally to say, “There is no God; God is only a word.”
After staying several years at the capital, the young man returned to his family. One day he was invited to a respectable house where there was a numerous company. While all were entertaining themselves with news, pleasure and business, two girls, aged respectively twelve and thirteen, were seated in a bay window reading together.
The young man approached them and asked, “What beautiful romance are you reading so attentively, young ladies?” “We are reading no romance, sir; we are reading the history of God’s chosen people.” “You believe, then, that there is a God?” Astonished at such a question, the girls looked at each other, the blood mounting to their cheeks. “And you, sir, do you not believe it?” “Once I believed it; but after living in Paris, and studying philosophy, mathematics, and politics, I am convinced that God is an empty word.”
“I, sir, never was in Paris; I have never studied philosophy, nor mathematics, nor any of those beautiful things which you know; I only know my Bible; but since you are so learned, and say there is no God, you can easily tell me whence the egg comes?”
“A funny question, truly. The egg comes from the hen.”
“Which of them existed first, the egg or the hen?”
“I really do not know what you intend with this question and your hen; but yet that which existed first was the hen.”
“There is a hen, then, which did not come from the egg?”
“Beg your pardon, miss, I did not take notice that the egg existed first.”
“There is, then, an egg that did not come from a hen?”
“Oh, if you—beg pardon—that is—you see—you see―”
“I see, sir, that you do not know whether the egg existed before the hen, or the hen before the egg.”
“Well, then, I say the hen.”
“Very well; there is a hen which did not come from an egg: Tell me now who made this first hen, from which all other hens and eggs come?”
“With your hens and your eggs, it seems to me you take lie for a poultry dealer.”
“By no means, sir; I only ask you to tell me whence the mother of all hens and eggs came?”
“But for what object?”
“Well, since you do not know, you will permit me to tell you. He who created the first hen, or if you prefer it the first egg, is the same who created the world; and this Being is God. You, who cannot explain the existence of a hen or an egg without God, still maintain the existence of this world without God.”
The young philosopher was silent, and presently he quietly departed—if not convinced of his folly, at least confounded by the simple questioning of a girl. How many there are who, like him, professing to be wise, are really foolish, speaking evil of things they know nothing of, and denying things that in many cases they have never even investigated.
How much more satisfactory the faith of the child of God, who says, “God is, God made, God lives, God gave His Son to die for me. His only begotten Son, by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross, atoned for sins—MY SINS. I accept the testimony of God; I believe, and I have ‘everlasting life’ (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). May you be enabled to say, ‘Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid’ (Isa12:2).”
H. H.