Some may say, "this is nothing but the wayyousee things, why not give us something more?" No one has anything to give beyond what he sees, unless he gives what some one else has seen; and that is entirely uncalled for if he can not tell it better than the other man has done. The only justification for the appearance of another book is that the author thinks his vision is sufficiently like what others see, and at the same time enough different to make it useful. "But I can't see it your way," some reader may retort. Well, I am sorry. Obviously, if we are sincere, it is for us to go on living and preaching the gospel with the hope that some day he may come to see. The Master Himself was shut up within the same circumscribed method. However, my contention is that ifwe have "pure hearts," and are not unnecessarily confused in thought, or possessed of erroneous thoughts, we know God here and now. This is the luminous present that clarifies the hazy future. Not all men know God, but in my opinion all may know Him if they go about it in the right way. Every human being, consciously or unconsciously, must submit to having his life moulded by a world with a God or by a world without a God, and the finished life will be as different as the two worlds.
3. The final step in the effort to know God
To know God and to win the hope of immortality one must do more than formulate a set of correct ideas. Correct ideas will greatly aid, yet alone they are utterly inadequate. When the scientist gets his idea, he proceeds to experiment with it. If he does not at first get the hoped-for results, when the idea is clear and impelling, he performs his experiments over and over again in the most painstaking manner. In religion, however, many will never go beyond the idea. They wish to have the idea fully established without experiment or application. The reason for this difference is that, in religion, the experiment can not be made on carbon and zinc, but it must be made on the man's own soul. The experiment cuts right into his moral, emotional, and sentimental nature. How often a man will admit, "I can see no flaw in your idea, but I am not convinced that you are right." When the scientist gets his idea, whether it is true or not, heacts as if it were true until he has tried his experiments, and does not always abandon the idea when his tests fail; he realizes that the fault may have been in the experiment. Many of the greatest facts in science have long been baffled by faulty experiments. Like consequences occur in religion. If instead of going on to the experiment and application one keeps repeating forever the question, "I wonder if the idea is true," he will never get anywhere except into a deeper state of doubt. A wise person while putting his best idea to the test will say, "I am hopeful that it will turn out favorably because it is such an attractive, promising idea." Religious ideas must be planted in the soul as seeds are put into the ground, and allowed to remain undisturbed long enough to germinate. It is most fortunate when children, through experimental knowledge, have been taught to love good types of religion and music; and this while they are receptive, and before they are ensnared by a thousand other influences. Yet no one, at any age, dare neglect his religious duties and privileges if he wishes religion to be an impelling power in his soul. In my youth, mathematics was a great inspiration to me, but through neglect my mathematical lamp burns low. To keep mathematics interesting and alive one must work problems applied to constructive business.
For an example of a man who attained unto great religious certainty, take Paul. He experienced a radical revision of his religious ideas, but his improved ideas were not enough. To test their validity he hurled himselfupon the Christian verities with all the force of his being; and in consequence, found a life of intimate friendship with God. Thenceforward Paul had great things to tell and magnificent things to achieve. "I can do all things in Him that strengthened me." He felt that nothing could break this new bond. "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." His friendship with God gave him a new conception of, as well as a new interest in, society. "So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another." God the Father "Is over all, and through all, and in all." Paul's insight broke all former bounds; it elevated him to a boundless and timeless world; his insight gave him a deep sense of God and became the evidence of many things not yet achieved. Here was personal assurance of God and immortality deep, strong, and jubilant. Whence came it? Such assurance is inherent in a life spiritually nourished and divinely employed. Hope simply comes to such a soul, like color to the ripening apple.
This generation, though engaged in many noble charities, shows marked signs of under-nourishment; its mind is active in the acquisition of material knowledge, and its body is overworked in the effort to accumulate wealth, yet its soul languishes. And there is a near likeness between a starved soul and a starved body.
Without hope or courage, a little girl sits staring out of great innocent eyes because she is under-nourished. This poor fading flower is in striking contrast with the little apple-cheeked girl in bloomers who believeth all things and hopeth all things and (as her brother knows) can do pretty much all things. This startling difference requires no lengthy explanation; nourishment and exercise tell the whole story.
So in our day many languid souls ask, "Where is thy God, and who knows whether there is a life beyond?"
For an instructive contrast, place beside such a life the life of Jesus. Living in the bosom of the Father, doing the Father's will day by day, seeing life in the light of divine love, and witnessing the effect upon those whom he won to a life of love and service, made it impossible for Jesus to lose faith in immortality. While enduring the pain of the cross He could say to the malefactor, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."
The abundant, buoyant life nourished in the life of God and exercised in the service of God and man, is the source of hope for the life that is yet to be.
4. Conscious of the existence of God, we become certain of immortality
It is clear as daylight that God Himself will be defeated if Heloses His family. Attention has already been called to the fact that, with the loss of His family, God would be reduced to a child-god playing with a toy world; andthat without the coöperation of other wills He could not finish His toy. He would be in the position of having a world full of raw material, material capable of infinite, spiritual and social uses, only He would be destitute of any such help as would enable Him to turn the universe to any account whatsoever. If He were left solitary in the world, all God's labors in creation would lead directly to shameful defeat. Without other inhabitants than Himself, the universe would become one colossal piece of junk. Yes, it would be worse than that; even junk has value where there are people. Without intelligent souls to inhabit the universe, an appalling night would settle over all creation. Love, truth, wisdom, righteousness, and the last semblance of a kingdom would be gone; and God Himself would as well die with His children; He would be destitute of character, and incapable of completing that which He began on such a magnificent scale. Having a universe like the present on His hands, with no one to use it, nor to inhabit it, God would be an object worthy of ridicule. The idea that God could murder His children, or carelessly allow them to perish, and then spend an eternity in an unfinished and depopulated world shatters reason itself; such a thought is too appalling and abhorrent to be entertained for a moment. Just as sure as there is a God, we shall continue to live. Anyone who believes in God and does not believe in immortality surely never gave two consecutive logical thoughts to the subject. (1)Ultimately God will have no children at all, (2)or He will have an endless succession of short-lived children, (3)or He will have children that survive all changes.
The first obnoxious idea we regard as impossible and unthinkable. A being that could live in perpetual and absolute solitude, with no more reason and character than such a position would warrant, is not a person that we should call God anyway.
The second thought of God having an endless succession of short-lived children is in some respects worse.
In the autumn of nineteen hundred and fourteen, a friend said to me:
"Whatisthere, I should like to know, in Christianity? Here we've had the Christian religion for more than nineteen hundred years—and now this war. Oh, there is nothing in it!"
"No," I answered, "we have had Christianity about thirty-three years; that is, a few people have had it."
When asked what I meant by such a statement, I told her that the earth was inhabited only by children; that the average age of all living people was only about thirty-three years; and that they would scarcely get beyond the spanking period until their places would be taken by another set of babies; and that these new babies would scratch and bite, and be tempted to lie and steal just as all the babies before them had done; and that these in turn would soon give way to another set of babies. I told her that all the knowledge and character on earth would, in a few days, need to be transferred to the minds of babies not yet born, or it would entirely disappear fromthe earth. "Moreover," I said, "how do you know what Christianity has accomplished? You have never been where the Christians have gone? What do you suppose the Apostles and all the Christians who are nineteen hundred years old have been doing; and the multitudes who are eighteen hundred years old, and so on down through all the centuries? You have seen only a succession of kindergarten classes."
Though progress on earth rests exclusively upon successive groups of children, yet we gladly recognize the social achievements that have been made during human history. We keenly realize also the sin we all share in not having produced better social conditions than now exist. Nevertheless, I am absolutely certain that no succession of infants will ever be able to put this universe to its highest possible uses. God will never get far with His great cosmic enterprise if He employs only ignorant little children; and that is clearly what He is doing if death ends all. What a pity and shame it would be to throw away such a universe; a universe of infinite intellectual, spiritual, and social possibilities. And what a crime it would be to destroy the intelligent beings who could turn the universe to full account if only they were allowed ample time. That God will not do anything so foolish and wicked we may safely rest assured.
At the close of one of my services a man came forward and spoke to me, saying:
"If everybody were good, your job would be done."
"Now I must scrap with you," I said. "If all weregood, I should have a larger and a better job. The good people, and not the bad people, have the greatest desire for Church. Why is the engine put on the track at all unless it is to go somewhere? For what purpose does anyone become a Christian, except to learn more about God and His plans in order that he may embody them in a kingdom of love and righteousness? I am too young and ignorant to preach you a very good sermon now, but if you will come around where I am a thousand years from now, I will preach you a sermon that will make you sit up and take notice." Something must be left out of the mental structure of one who can make such a statement as this man made to me. In the face of such conceptions of life one wonders that religion commands the respect that it does.
There is no doubt concerning the unlimited possibilities of the universe, nor of the limitless possibilities of the human spirit if it is given a chance. Standing as many of us do on the threshold of these greater possibilities, who but a devil could shut the door in our faces? If God wanted us when we were ignorant and sinful, He wants us even more now that we are a little wiser and a little better. If He intended to crush us before we were fairly started why did He ever raise us to such hope by allowing us to see the infinite possibilities?
As to our ability to survive the shock of physical death, if God made us live in the first place, He can make us live on through all changes. If, however, God alone survives He will be quite worse off than His dead children;they will simply be extinct, while He will go to the gloomiest sort of hell. Who could wish to be a mad god living alone through eternity in a graveyard? With everybody dead, and all kingdoms gone, and all work at an end, the universe would be one vast—desolate—hell; such as a bad God would deserve. Howcanany one believe in God and not believe in immortality?
1. How can one live as he should?
Some say, "What difference does it make whether we believe in immortality, if we live as we should in this life?"
We also would ask a question. How can one live as he should if he eliminates God and His plans? God planned a "whole" or He planned nothing.
We willingly admit that some honest doubters have a larger share in God's life than they realize. They have heard the message of truth and love, and though confused as to its origin, they accept much of it as binding upon their lives. In many things they conscientiously do God's will without recognizing it as such. No one is so bad but that he sometimes obeys God. The meanest man thinks some of God's thoughts after Him, and makes some voluntary sacrifices. It may never occur to him, however, that God has any part in the matter. Yet no one lives as he should until he lives the highest type of life of which he is capable. It is easily possible to bedoing good in one direction while exerting a baneful influence in another direction; and easier still to be overlooking something of grave importance. Many well-meaning persons pursue courses of action that work great harm to themselves and to others in the long run. No one should flatter himself with the thought that he has lived as well as he should, until he has lived as well as he could. No man on the outside of a business can do what he would if he were on the inside. A really good man must try to know God and the plans of His kingdom from within; he must take daily orders; he should be strictly honest toward God; he should feel the joy and enthusiasm that come from partnership with God in a great enterprise. But this type of good man will most likely feel sure of immortality. A lack of assurance is a practical proof that something has gone wrong in the life; it may be confusion or indifference, but more likely it is both.
2. The difference in social service
Unless we know what the superstructure is to be, it is impossible to lay the right kind of a foundation. A good foundation for a bungalow would not answer for a fifty-story skyscraper. And to put a skyscraper foundation under a bungalow would be the most foolish waste of time and money. Paul gave up everything that the average good citizen holds dear, and spent his entire life in laying the nobler foundation. He believed that the superstructure would be stupendous, and of eternal duration. No sane person would live the life Paul lived unless he believed in immortality. The same is true of Jesus. Here is a clear-cut and portentous cleavage between good people who are Christians and good people who are not Christians. I do not mean to intimate that a patriotic agnostic would be any more reluctant than a believer to die for his country. It is largely a question of what he considers is worth while. A good sceptic is willing to help educate and civilize in a general way, but he will put forth no effort to evangelize. He does not realize the impossibility of civilizing a non-religious world. He would permit the whole race to be non-religious like himself. He would send all the billions yet to be born into the future life without any knowledge of God or any spiritual achievement. His attitude would so over-populate the future country with dwarfed and degraded people that our missionary work in a future state, if we are permitted to undertake it, would stagger a St. Paul. When we see the number and quality of our neighbors over there we shall realize the enormity of our mistake. And still they will come, the uncivilized and unchristianized descendants of ancestors whom we neglected. Almost every civilized community in the Christian world had its foundations laid by missionary effort; and it has been kept civilized by a work very similar to that of missions. The firmest ground of hope for the civilization of the race is in the combined educational and religious work of missions. Darkness cannot come to the light, but light may go to the darkness. The longer missionary work isneglected the more of it will there be to do; and that which we leave undone here will be accumulating for us over there. With what amazement non-missionary Christians will face their accumulated missionary tasks in the future life! It is my impression that fifty per cent of the Church members do not believe in missions; that is to say, they do not believe in extending the religion of Jesus if it involves any work or expense for them. They themselves will first need to be saved, if they are to be like their Master and share any of His vision and compassion. Then there is probably another twenty-five per cent of professing Christians who believe but little in the extension of the gospel. So between the agnostics and the half-Christians, we are not doing a very good piece of social work throughout the world. And this is true whether we have in mind the future history of society on earth, or of society as it shall migrate to our future home. Whether or not we have Christian assurance of God and the future life makes a tremendous social difference both for this life and for the life to come. Unless we are active and aggressive in the work of extending the kingdom, every form of vice will thrive and multiply in our most cultivated and civilized communities. What hope then is there for benighted peoples where there is neither salt nor leaven? My experience of thirty years in the ministry convinces me that those who have their eyes on the whole earth, do several times as much work for their home communities as do those who believe exclusively in home missions. It is astonishing what narrow service so-called broad-minded people can render, and what wide achievements can be accomplished by so-called narrow-minded people. Observation will show that it makes a vast difference in the kind and extent of social service rendered if one believes in God and immortality.
3. The difference in personal preparation
We tell our young people entering high school that they should decide at the outset whether they are going to college; and if possible which college, as the entrance requirements of colleges differ. What should we think of one who would ask, "Why need I bother my mind about a possible college course in the future if I keep busy and learn something well? What difference can it make?" Yet we grow weary with hearing the question, "What difference does it make whether there is a future existence if we live as we should in this life?" Do they suppose that it is easier to make the freshman class in heaven than it is to make the freshman class in college? I dare say the requirements are different, but if heaven is worth going to the requirements can hardly be less specific or exacting. Many people who never went to college are far advanced in things pertaining to God and His kingdom, while some college people do not know the a, b, c of religion. Their standing in a future life cannot possibly be the same.
Like many others, I was brought up to be honest andhard-working from the beginning. According to ordinary standards, I was living as I should. Yet when I heard of college, and had hopes of going to one, a subtle change came over my whole life. While the old duties were performed in the old way, at the same time a complete revolution was taking place within me. The imagination and will readjusted everything to the new and larger sphere for which I hoped. Since no one thus far had gone to college from our frontier community, some of the neighbors thought me to be a foolish dreamer. What good would it do me anyway, was what they wanted to know, since I was already good in "figgers"? When I was probably fourteen years old, a young man told me of some one in another township who was going to study Algebra. "What is that?" I asked. "Well," he said, "it is something like Arithmetic, only they use letters instead of figures." "Now that," I promptly told him, "sounds foolish. Why aren't figures good enough?" "Ah," said the young man's father, "Algebra is a mighty fine study! You have noticed that merchants mark the price of their goods with letters. Now if you know Algebra they can't cheat you." So I made up my mind then and there that I would study Algebra.
My first experience with college catalogues, which came a little later, was both interesting and amusing. I had often wondered what there could possibly be to study beyond history, geography, and the three "R's." But at last with a college catalogue in my hands here it was: De Amicitia, De Corona, Trigonometry, etc. Afterreading pages of unheard-of and unpronounceable words, I scarcely knew whether it was about something to eat or something to wear. Theological terms seemed plain English by comparison. In those primitive days it took one more year of preparation to enter the classical course than it did the scientific. For that reason alone I promptly decided to take the classical. Although I knew nothing of what either course was really about or what it was good for, yet I did not want to bear the stigma of any short cut. I wanted to learn it "all."
Though it did not take long to learn what the college course was about, yet it did take some good faithful application to prepare for entrance examinations.
Many people take their religion as some lazy boys—found in every high school—take their education. These boys have a very light regard for college requirements. John is certain that he is as good a student as Charles or a half dozen other fellows. He emphasizes the fact that a "grind" like James is the most unpopular fellow in school. All suggestions of future trouble fall on deaf ears. Every year train loads of these fellows go to take their entrance "exams." Yes, they arrive at heaven, or college, and may chance to see the lord of the institution. But some one calls them in to test their Latin eyesight, and another to determine their mathematical vision, and if their power of penetration is not sufficient for college subjects, back they go. This is a tragic experience for the lads, to be sure, yet they must learn that promotion means fitness. I have known ofyoung men entering the academy of the college town because they were ashamed to go back home. They were good fellows, but they lacked college fitness. Think of a good sensible fellow who has never studied arithmetic going to college! And then think of a good sort of person going to heaven who has never acquired the spiritual insight to know God! A man in college who is mathematically blind, and a man in heaven who is God blind! If one thinks of God as a visible Ghost in heaven, he will overlook many of the essentials until the pitiful disillusionment comes. And if he thinks of the future home as a doll's heaven, he will make no thorough preparation for entrance. When a young girl was once lured to a very superstitious church, a friend said to me:
"Well, what difference does it make—we are all going to the same place." But when I asked her if she would be willing to send her daughter to a poor day school or to some wretched music teacher, she had never thought but what that was different. Everything but religion must be properly taught; how that is taught does not matter, "because we all are going to the same place." On that basis, if all were going to live in New York City, I suppose it would make no difference what kind of superstition they were taught. The expectation of joining a higher and holier society after this life cuts as deeply into my present life plans and purposes as did the expectation of going to college when I was a frontier lad. No matter how upright and industrious one is in the ordinary affairs of life, take away the hope of collegeor the hope of a future life, and it makes a difference at a thousand vital points.
I once intercepted a stone mason who was building a wall where the specifications called for a window. He was not at all inclined to be convinced of his error. After reading the specifications again he said, "I am right." "But," I replied, "you are confused as to directions." Then he appealed to a weather vane on a near-by steeple. When I informed him that the church had been moved and that the points of the compass were entirely wrong, he pulled down the wall that he had so perfectly built. He did not ask what difference it made so long as he was doing a good piece of masonry. He was glad to get the wall down before the superintendent saw it.
If, now, we go on the assumption that God has no plans in what He is building, then we must conclude that He is the most ridiculous person that ever went into the construction business. The shock of disillusionment when it comes, as it is bound to do, will be tremendous.
It is one of my greatest sorrows that so many of my friends are building solid masonry in their lives where God's specifications call for windows; and windows where there should be solid masonry. The windows in the life of Jesus all looked out on the side of love and eternity. The light of a heavenly kingdom was always streaming into His soul.
We make the same mistake in building our cities and social institutions. They but vaguely represent the human temple called for in God's specifications. And thefarther we depart from the plan the more difficult it will be to return to it. Paul told some of the people of his day that they might escape with their lives as from a burning building, but that what they had built contrary to the divine pattern would be reduced to ashes.
I once knew a merchant who had twenty acres of new land broken and planted with onion sets. A temporary house was built to care for a dozen or more workmen. The ground was pulverized to ashes, the onions were planted, and the weeds were kept down so that none ever appeared from the road. It was a fine piece of work. The men toiled, the onions grew and finally blossomed, and the field presented an attractive sight. But alas! the merchant had purchased winter-onion sets, and in all that field there was not one bulb to reward him for his pains. What difference did it make—he and his men surely did some good work?
Many there are who flourish like that field during the days of their strength; but when they ripen there is no bulb, nothing to garner. One of these men with the meaning of life exhausted at sixty remarked to me that one was too old when he had passed forty.
A short time before his death Washington Gladden was a guest in my home. As he sat in an easy chair after dinner speaking of other days, and especially as he spoke of his sainted wife, I noticed how old he had grown. Though his body had about run its course, yet the light of his soul had not been dimmed. In my heart I said, "What a dear old man you are, Dr. Gladden. You arenearly all soul!" He had kept the faith. And it had made a difference; for him, for me, and for all the world. While the old man sat there and conversed with the family, the light of his soul sent a shining ray
"Far down the future's broadening way."
1. Its relation to the present constitution of things
Granting that there is a future existence, are we not wholly in the dark as to what it is like? Is it possible to form any conception of heaven that is not offensive to the intelligent mind? Professor Leuba says:
"As soon as, no longer satisfied with a general assurance of unruffled peace and unalloyed enjoyment, we demand specifications, we find ourselves in the presence of ideas and pictures, either absurd or repulsive, or void of real attractiveness. The best gifted religious seers succeed in this descriptive task no better than the cleverest mediums."
Have we, then, no facts on which to build a rational conception of the future state?
I believe that a satisfying view is a possible achievement, because we have some very important and fundamental facts from which to construct a picture. The minor details, of course, are unknown to us, but the main outline, which principally matters, may be very clearly conceived. As we have previously shown, the future does not have to do with a new God and a new universe anda new soul; but with the present God, the present universe, and the present soul to-morrow. The future is not some new thing; it is the old realities a little later, and a little more fully developed. That God will remain a stable factor in the equation, we may rest assured. And we can read nature well enough in this scientific age to understand that it is no sudden and fickle movement void of law and order. Neither are we entirely ignorant of our own rational souls that organize themselves into civilized communities by combining and giving shape to the forces of nature in which we live. We have plainly seen that neither God, nature, nor man has any worth or significance when separated from each other. In the future life, therefore, there is but one factor that is different from those found in the present constitution of things, and that is the loss of the present human body. And even this difference between the present and the future will be largely rectified, according to the Scriptures, by our receiving new bodies. For too long we have foolishly tried to show that the soul could live without a body; and this in the face of the Scriptural teaching, that God will give us new bodies. In our effort to show that the soul is able to live independent of a body, we have likewise run counter to experimental psychology and philosophy. Scriptures say we shall have new bodies. Psychology shows that the souls with which we are acquainted are dependent upon the body for consciousness and every intellectual achievement. Philosophy likewise teaches that man can not exist outside of God. Therefore when these bodies with which God now enfolds us die, He must again enfold us or we shall perish. There is no reason for thinking that a soul can live if disconnected from God, and the universe of God, in which it lives. If God again enfolds a soul, that new enfoldment will be its new body. And it will not be a spirit body because that is a contradiction of terms. As the Scriptures teach, it will be aspiritualbody; that is, it will be a highly refined and delicate instrument of the spirit—yet a real body. This new body, as was the case with the old, must be our first point of contact with the universe of God. And in the future life, as here, the whole universe will be our augmented body as we progressively become articulated with it.
So all the old conditions of the present life will be restored on a higher plane. Whether the new and refined body will closely resemble the old, is a matter of speculation. However, it must be the instrument of the spirit; and therefore it will have functions similar to the higher intellectual and spiritual uses of our present body. We shall be conscious in it and think with it, and through it we shall manipulate the forces of the universe. If we can keep well, and work without friction, and all pull together I see no reason why we should not accomplish marvelous things in this universe, and at the same time derive a very dignified satisfaction from it all.
However much advanced the new life may be, we shall still be the same persons living in the same God and in the same universe as now. We shall still be living forthe same social and righteous ideals as now, and our motive will be the same old motive of love and good will. God is not a naked spirit hiding behind nature. He is a Loving Intelligent Will revealing Himself by His outgoing energies which we call nature. In the future life, the same as here, God will be trying to come to the surface through the bodies which he provides for Himself and His children. And He will be striving, likewise, for a full expression of Himself through all the institutions that His children will be organizing out of His beautiful and boundless energies.
Nature is not the gross, crude thing that ignorant people take it to be. Neither is it something apart from God. With the little intelligence that a few have acquired on this kindergarten earth, we begin to see what a divine thing nature is. When it is better known and more wisely and lovingly used by God's children, all nature will be vocal with God's wisdom and love.
2. Where is heaven?
Heaven is some place, or many places, in our present universe. God will never leave His beautiful universe that is so infinite in its complexness, so vast in its dimensions, and so rich in its millenniums of development, and go off into nothingness to build some sort of mystical and ethereal heaven. Heaven will be as much a part of the universe as is this earth. And this earth is infinitely closer in its relation to the whole than we are now able tocomprehend. Almost daily, scientists are discovering new bonds between the earth and the rest of the universe. The inhabitants of heaven will not be less closely connected, but much more vitally and intelligently related to nature than are we.
There are doubtless many spheres in this universe that would make good sites for a heaven. And it would be interesting to know how many of them are already so utilized. "In my Father's house are many mansions." When we speak of mansions in the skies it would be well to remember that the earth is a pretty good mansion in the skies. The trouble is, being such poor Christians, we have not built upon it a very good heaven. While we have not been wholly recreant in building a heaven on earth, yet we have often cursed this mansion by constructing many hells of smaller or larger proportions.
Another reason for believing that God does not plan for a heaven outside the objective universe, is the deep desire of man to make his richest ideals tangible and objective in a book, a piece of art, a musical composition, a noble building, or some splendid institution. Life without expression and achievement, as we know it, is both unsatisfactory and dangerous. The same must be true in relation to God, as evidenced by His vast and beautiful works that have come forth unfolding out of the infinite past and now promise to expand and differentiate into the infinite future. Even in the sphere of human lives He has impelled men to express His wisdom, beauty, and purpose according to human modes of expression.
It evidently is not God's design to abandon His works of nature and draw back into His own thoughts and spend eternity in self-contemplation. He rather intends to utilize the unlimited capacity of nature, and the unbounded ability of His children, to give the fullest possible expression both of His children and of Himself in a kingdom which has form as well as soul.
In Chapter III I gave a description of the kingdom of God on earth. I shall now repeat that statement as an equally good description of the kingdom of God in heaven:
"The kingdom of God is a loving intelligent family, organized around the Father's good will, living in the universe as His home, using the forces of nature as the instruments of His will, and making all things vocal with His wisdom, love, and power."
So little has the kingdom of God been realized on earth that it is like a kingdom on paper in comparison with what has doubtless been realized elsewhere in the universe.
3. Will there be a Holy City?
There will doubtless be many holy cities and plenty of country too. The Holy City described in the book of Revelation was, in the thought of the writer, to be located on earth. While it should be our aim to build an ideal city on earth, yet like most of our aims it will probably fall short. If in some respects the City of Revelation does not appear to be the most desirable kind of placein which to live, nevertheless, as a thing of symmetry and beauty it is a marvelous picture. A perfect city is a wonderfully attractive thought; and none the less so because one enjoys a vacation in the country. If there is no ideal city in this universe, there should be. New York, London, and Paris, in spite of the ugliness, squalor, crime, and disease which they contain, are very fascinating. They bring together so much knowledge, wealth, and power that one feels the mighty impact of it all upon his soul. If one lives under the most favorable conditions in a great city, his consciousness so blends with the whole that the city seems to be but his larger self. This is simply the fuller experience of that law of consciousness which makes a man feel larger when he puts on a fur coat, or taller when he wears a silk hat, and causes a woman to feel like her silks and plumes and fluffy garments. A city without crime, disease, poverty, or ugliness; a Holy City filled with art, music, knowledge, love, and every kind of fascinating employment; such a city would lift one into a sense of joy and greatness beyond words to express.
From our present meager knowledge of the universe, what kind of a city would be possible if all the laws and resources of nature were fully utilized? Considering, then, the millions of people who have grown rich in wisdom and character through millenniums of experience in the congenial company of their fellow citizens of a heavenly kingdom, what is it reasonable to suppose they have done in the way of realizing these possibilities?Even with our limited knowledge of nature's resources, we know they could have built a city that would make the one pictured in Revelation look like a beautiful Christmas toy. And if the departed are living in our universe and not in a vacuum, what could have prevented them from achieving such a glorious result?
"For thee, O dear, dear country,Mine eyes their vigil keep."
Every one is justified in viewing his life in the light of this larger perspective. For by so doing he not only prepares himself for better citizenship in the life beyond, but at the same time accomplishes a larger and better piece of work on earth. When we break our lives and the universe up into fragments, as so many do, we are like children playing with broken pieces of china. For each of us there is one life, in one universe, under one leader. Beginning in weakness, life grows into strength; beginning in ignorance, it develops into wisdom; beginning in selfishness, life expands into a kingdom of love and righteousness. At first we are submerged in the material; but finally we discover that the material is of spiritual origin, and that it can be turned to spiritual ends. Like true artists, we no longer scorn the material forces, but see in them all the latent image of the divine. Whether the image that finally appears shall be a devil or a God will depend upon the hands that shape the material.
4. Will there be music?
Though we may laugh at Mark Twain's caricature of the saint with his golden harp, yet music is not to be laughed out of this universe. There will be music, of course; though heaven will not run all to music, yet there will be plenty of it and it will be of the right quality.
We know perfectly well that this vibrant universe has unlimited musical possibilities, and that we have scarcely begun to utilize these possibilities either in the way of music or instruments. With the instruments improved a thousand fold and multiplied a million fold, they would call for such noble music as has never yet been written. With the technique possible to more highly refined bodies, with time to outgrow all amateur execution, with the leadership of all the musical geniuses of the ages, and with an unlimited number of voices and performers to select from, the music of a heavenly city should surpass our wildest dreams. And there is no sensible reason for thinking that there would be music without sound or that there would be musicians without instruments. We have no right to think well of God, and at the same time think ill of His forces with which He enfolds us.
5. Shall we meet our loved ones?
I see no difficulty in the way of meeting our loved ones in a future state. Of course, I could not abide permanently with my parents, and they with theirs, and so on clear back to Adam. The great population would, of necessity, be scattered over a wide area. After reaching maturity we do not, as a rule, live with our parents here on earth. The connection is kept up by the different modes of communication and by an occasional visit. And though the distances there would, doubtless, be much greater than here, yet the means of communication and of travel would much more than rectify the difference in distance. In heaven, as here, we should probably have some friends near by and others remote from us. However, we have already overcome space to a marvelous degree on earth; and have scarcely commenced to use the resources of which we are aware. We not only have the omnipresent mail system, the telegraph, and the telephone, but we have made some use of the electrical pen, and are rapidly developing the wireless telephone. Scientifically it would be possible, even now, so to develop the wireless telephone that a speaker could be heard by every one in the United States at the same time. If we could project the images of those speaking, as we are hoping to do, we should have a very good hint of the possibilities of communication in a future state. With finer bodies, and finer instruments, and a better knowledge of nature's forces, it seems credible that we could see and hear our friends with but little regard to distance. There is no reason for putting limitations on the possibilities of nature, even here on earth; and much less reason for doing so in connection with the future state of existence. Allthe suggestions are in the opposite direction. The X-Ray enables us to see through solid bodies. Radium, which has no appearance of light, will affect a photographic plate through a foot of iron. Actinium, one of the radioactive substances, is said to have a chemical activity which is about a thousand million times swifter than that of radium. And the discovery of new rays is getting to be a common occurrence. Everywhere, nature is suggesting heretofore unheard of possibilities; it is apparently vindicating what we have been saying, that nature is of God, and that we are enfolded in His energies for the purpose of using them. Nature, that proceeds from God, is doubtless as exhaustless as God Himself. There are no indications that it will ever fail His children as they move on and out into largeness of life and richness of experience.
We little children on earth, as previously illustrated, are in quest of omnipresence; and we are slowly achieving it by progressively taking on the universe as our augmented bodies. Then how much more rapidly may we realize this process of enlargement under the new conditions to which we are going? Not only shall we have finer bodies, but we shall be in company with those who for thousands of years have been learning the secrets of God and His universe. Our increased knowledge of the world in which we live does not raise new barriers between citizens of heaven, but suggests a thousand rational modes of contact inconceivable a hundred years ago. Every day I am more amazed at the way the naturalsciences assist Christian faith. Yet this is as it should be if all things come from God.
6. Shall we see God?
Certainly not as a ghost; but we shall see Him in the face of Jesus. We shall likewise see Him in our loved ones. Since all bodies are primarily God's, we shall see Him in every face, when the purified souls of His children permit Him to come into possession of His own.
One glorious evening in the springtime, I sat in the gloaming with my father by the roadside. From an exceedingly hard day's work we were "dead tired." Yet for our healing, the air was filled with the scent of newly turned turf and the fragrance of blossoms. A large drove of swine was crunching the corn which we had just provided them. The woods, beginning at the other side of the road from which we sat, extended into the deep valley. From the dark shadow of the woods rose the incessant din of the whippoorwills. As we sat there, feeling a thousand influences from the sweet mystery of it all, my father turned to me and said:
"I know you are very tired; we have really worked too hard, but the debts must be paid. I want you to know that I appreciate what you are doing. You have been a good boy, and I have confidence in you. It will not be long until I am gone. But what a satisfaction it is to feel that you will be a good Christian man accomplishing in the world, when I am gone, things which Ihave not been able to do." As the golden glow of a late evening sky fell across his face, it mingled with the light from his soul and clearly revealed the Eternal. God had looked into my soul through that face, and I had looked into the heart of God no less than into the heart of my father. Yes, he has been gone many years, and I am here fighting the good fight, but oh my heart, what shall I see when next I look upon his face!
We may depend upon it, the invisible soul of God and the invisible souls of His children shall become visible through their bodies, through their activities, and through their institutions which are in common. Their spirits shall likewise become audible through music and speech. Our Father in heaven differs from our God on earth only in this: On earth there is so little to express Him, while in heaven there is so much. God truly has a throne in heaven, but the great white throne is the pure and loyal hearts of His children.
7. Will there be burdens to bear in heaven?
Heaven will not be too "soft" for our good. There is much bad work to be righted, and unfinished work to be completed. We shall have glorious tasks to perform, and splendid problems with which to grapple. Sharing God's purposes as well as His joys, we shall still be discovering the mind of God, and getting a firmer grasp upon His laws and forces; we shall still be organizing nature and society into a more glorious kingdom of love,beauty and power. We shall be making the ideal real, and the unseen visible. We shall accept God's will in our souls. We shall accept His will in the forces of nature, and make His instruments more vocal and more radiant as time rolls on in eternity.
If the Bible contains errors, how do we know that any of it is true?
As this volume is designed to be a simple guide in the deeper and more perplexing problems of religion, it would be incomplete without a brief consideration of how God has revealed Himself through the Scriptures. In the selection of material and in the method pursued, the author has been guided solely by what he considers the safest approach to the Scriptures and the best "first aid" for wounded Christians.
"In my opinion, the Bible is just about one-half true."
This was the quiet and serious remark of a young woman who had recently taken a Bible course in college. Like many others, she was judging the Bible simply as a work of history, literature, and science. Its progressive revelation of religion she had largely overlooked. The Bible is not properly appreciated, even as literature, without taking into account its main purpose; namely, to teach religion, and not to write infallible history nor infallible science. The biblical writers undertook to setforth, in a perfectly human way, the religious ideas and sentiments that God awakened in their souls. Through succeeding centuries these truths grew clearer and more comprehensive until they culminated in the life and teachings of Jesus. The most elevated religious ideas and ideals found in the Scriptures constitute, in my opinion, the absolute and universal religion. Ideas and ideals superior to these are not known to man. That anythingcouldsurpass them, I cannot conceive. To convey these inspired truths to the world, the writers wisely made use of poetry, fiction, tradition, history, and physical phenomena; they conveyed the divine treasure to us in earthen vessels; and though the vessels are beautiful, yet they bear the marks of human imperfection. We all know that an illustration may clearly illustrate without its own truth being verified.
Our young college friend had lost the Bible of her childhood but, unfortunately, had not found the larger and better Bible easily within her reach if only she had known.
As already intimated, even the religion of the Bible was not fully revealed at once. Certain crude ideas lingered until they were pushed aside by a fuller revelation.
To be able to follow the inspired truths from their beginnings in the Scriptures until they appear full-orbed in Jesus is of very great value. Their full worth first appears when we know all the vicissitudes through which they passed while struggling for a place in the sinful,stupid lives of men. The history of a truth is just as important as the history of a man; and fortunately the Bible furnishes a fair human history of every great religious truth. As the streaks of morning light grow brighter and brighter unto the rising of the sun, so the rays of God's light shine through the Scriptures more and more until the Christ appears.
As a progressive, trustworthy, and indispensable revelation of religion, the Old and New Testaments cannot be too highly appraised; but as books of science and history, they are sometimes overestimated. To believe that its religious value is destroyed if the Bible contains errors in history and science, is a position as dangerous as it is false. We theorize about the Scriptures more than we study them. Even in ministers' meetings, I have listened without profit to many heated discussions on the subject of inspiration. The discussions were worthless because they had nothing to do with the facts of the Bible. We might as well claim that the casket is a jewel because it contains a jewel, as to claim that the literary forms of the Bible are a revelation because they contain a revelation. It would be as sensible to affirm that the whole mountain is gold, as to declare that the human element of the Bible is infallible. Yet no one turns away from a rich goldmine because the whole mountain is not gold; neither does he fear that the precious metal may not be distinguishable from the rocks,—else it would be of no more value than the rocks. If God had made one mountain of pure gold, it would have saved much trouble in mining;but He did not give us gold in that way. He mixed the precious metal with common elements, and He mingled His truth with human thoughts and human institutions. All things considered, both religious truth and gold are more valuable for having been given in the manner they were. To deny the facts, or to quarrel with them, does no good. The sensible thing for us to do is to seek the gold and the truth with all our might; for if we seek we shall find. If one is careless, he may mistake "fools' gold" for the real. But, fortunately, there are ample means for testing both gold and religion.
How shall we find the treasure that is in the Bible? In the same way that we find the treasure in the mountain; by using our intelligence and strength in company with those who know most about it. Our prospects for finding God's word are good; because His word will find us if we are entirely sincere. If a person studies his Bible with the help of competent teachers, and at the same time keeps his heart wide open toward God, the great verities of the Scriptures will surely find him; and they will find him deeply; they will find him so deeply that he will be thrown into the dust of humility and, at the same time, lifted to the sky of hope. Yet who pretends to have found all the truth there is in the Bible? We can only find that which finds us. If we wish the Word of God to find us more deeply we must give it a better chance.
"Then the Bible is only for the learned," someone will say. No, the least educated mind can readily graspthe most essential facts of religion as set forth in the Scriptures, and as expounded by a consecrated ministry. He can likewise hold to these facts with deep feeling and true devotion. If one is ignorant of science he is not troubled by unscientific statements. Whereas, the educated man is greatly distressed if told that he must either believe statements which he knows are not true, or else throw all religion overboard. If the Church tries to carry all the ignorance and all the trumpery of the ages as a part of her precious message she will break down under the load. Multitudes will turn from her with scorn. It is a sin against God and the human soul to make claims for the Bible that are manifestly not true. The Bible is so good that we do not need to lie for it; the light that shines through the Scriptures is able to make "wise unto salvation." Having found the great pearl that is in the Scriptures, one will experience the joy of being rich; and when he is once rich, he will not readily part with his wealth. Besides, other rich souls will bear testimony to the intrinsic value of his treasure; and best of all, God will bear witness with his spirit that he is not deceived.
The reader may ask, "Is it possible to find in the Bible that which nothing could induce us to relinquish,—something more precious than life itself?"
It is my testimony that we can. The religious truth of the Bible, having completely conquered my reason, commands my conscience. Its supreme message fits my soul as a glove fits a hand. The best that the Scripturesteach, I find myself thinking. And I cannot avoid thinking the same without being a traitor to my own soul. Though I cannot believe every statement in the Bible, yet I think I should be committing mental and moral suicide if I did not believe and practice the essential teachings of the Scriptures; especially the matchless teachings of Jesus. Moreover, if one believes and practices the best there is in the Bible he will be a Christian whom the Master delights to own.
Important as our discussion thus far may be, it is not the main thing; it is simply our attitude toward the Scriptures, and not the truth which they proclaim. It is one more appeal for a rational religion without stating what the rational religion is. This generation has had altogether too much of that kind of exhortation. If we would but tell the good Christian people what the rational religion is, possibly we should not need to exhort them to accept it.
How may one find the Word of God, contained in the Scriptures? The method illustrated
1. The story of Creation
What message of permanent religious value is there in the story of creation?
In the story of creation, one thing stands out clear and distinct.The universe is God's loving wish. Creation is God's will going forth.God simply said, Let it be, and it was. So far as Christian scholarship has yet advanced, it does not realize how a thought more fundamental, spiritual, and moulding could enter the mind of man. That a loving God wills the universe, is the great diapason note in the hymn of creation. And the next great note is that of Divine appreciation,—"God saw that it was good." Then follows the note of blessing. And, finally, the child bearing God's image is made lord over all. These four epoch-making truths constitute the imperishable word of God.
These four truths represent the sum and substance of all I have been trying to elucidate throughout this book. Slowly, but surely, modern philosophy and science are helping us to understand this superb affirmation of Genesis, uttered thousands of years ago. Not that physical science knows anything about God, but that the discoveries of science make it easier for the intelligent Christian to believe that God willed, and continues to will, the universe. This idea of one good God causing and sustaining the universe by the mere fiat of His will, did for religion what the Copernican theory did for astronomy. As the Copernican theory made modern astronomy inevitable, so this view of God and His universe led unerringly to the Christian religion. And the Kingdom of God, in its vast sweep through eternity, will rest upon these fundamental facts so beautifully expressed in the first chapter of Genesis. That they were uttered so long ago, in a world of polytheism and low morals, fills the mind with wonder and praise.
The writer of this story, however, did not have a scientific knowledge of the universe which, religiously and philosophically, he so perfectly related to God. But the religious value of the story is not injured in the least by the author's manifestly crude knowledge of astronomy and geology. In spite of all our advancement in science, since Bible times, our knowledge of the universe is still very crude. To learnallabout nature scientifically will require eternity. It was the poetical, philosophical, and religious significance of the universe that the inspired writer discovered; science could abide its time. The writer of Genesis, like his contemporaries, regarded the earth as the center and main bulk of the universe. His universe was the child's universe, the universe of the unaided senses. On a very large scale the world, in his thought, was something like the old-fashioned cheese dish with a glass hemisphere over it. This huge covered dish floated in a universal sea. The glass cover, or firmament, kept the upper sea out except when its windows were opened to let the sea through in the form of rain. The dish, or earth, kept the lower sea out except in time of great floods when, as they supposed, the sea worked its way up through crevices in the earth. The sun, moon, and stars were supposed to be inside the vault.
This ancient conception of the universe pervades the Scriptures. In the twenty-fourth Psalm we read, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: for Thou hast founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods." Religiously this is superb, but scientifically itis incorrect; the earth does not rest on a sea. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof:" for Thou hast hurled it into space and lovingly marked out the way that it should go.
The Babylonian bible, which is many centuries older than the Old Testament, says that Apsu and Tiamit first created the gods of order, or light. This corresponds to the first day in Genesis. But our author discards all these gods and goddesses when he tells us that "God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Whether light was the first act of creation or not, the best modern philosophy would confirm the statement that light was the result of God's wish. Light energy is a mode of the divine Will.
The Babylonian bible tells us that after Marduk had slain Tiamit in a great battle, he took his sword and cleaved her in two as you would a fish. With one half of her he made the firmament and fastened it to keep out the upper sea. This corresponds to the second day in Genesis. While the biblical writer does not change the Babylonian day, yet he has no use for the monstrous idea that the firmament was made out of one half of a goddess. According to our Bible, "God said, Let there be a firmament, and it was so." Our author, as the narrative shows, in keeping with the crude science of his times, thought that the firmament separated the sea that was above the firmament from the sea that was below the firmament; and that the sea under the firmament covered all the earth until God gathered the waters under thefirmament unto one place and caused the dry land to appear. But if we know anything at all, we know that there is no firmament. God could not have made a firmament, for there is none. He could not have made space on the second day because space is nothing. And according to the story itself, He made the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day,—the day after He had made grass and fruit trees. When, as a child, I thought that the apparent ceiling of the earth was the floor of heaven, my scientific ideas were no more crude than those of the writer who thought God made a firmament. But if there had been a firmament, as it appeared to the untrained senses, then it would have been made exactly as our inspired writer affirmed; and not after the ridiculous manner of the Babylonian bible. Our author's philosophy and religion in this case were perfect, but his science was wrong. So what is the use of trying to make out that the Bible always harmonizes with science, when it is absolutely certain that it does not?
When in college I asked my professor in geology how the earth could exist and grow grass and fruit trees bearing fruit before the sun was made. He replied that the sun, of course, was made previously, but that it did not appear until the fourth day when the vapor had settled by virtue of the earth's cooling. However, that would leave no creation for the fourth day; and besides, the second chapter of Genesis tells us that there was no vegetation yet because the Lord God had not caused it to rain. According to my professor's explanation it was too wetto see the sun, and according to the second chapter of Genesis it was too dry to grow grass. The biblical writers were not inspired to write science, but religion. And it is just as certain that they did not know much science as it is certain that they did know much religion. In this story of creation the writer took his crude, yet beautiful, little world and lifted it up into such perfect relation to the Infinite Creative Will that no one has ever been able to improve upon it; and the more we learn, the more certain it appears that we never shall be able to revise his statement of how the world is related to the Divine Will. Besides, the thought is so precious and so fruitful that we have no desire to change it.
A message may be perfectly true while the material used to convey the message may be mixed with error. For instance, I once used an illustration in electricity to make plain a deep spiritual truth, and the evidences were unmistakable that my purpose was realized. However, on the way home my little son said, "Oh, papa, I was awfully ashamed of you to-day, you made a mistake in your electricity." Convinced that I was wrong I said, "It is too bad." Then he tried to comfort me by saying, "Oh, well, I don't suppose that more than two-thirds of the people knew the difference." Nothing could have been more true than the religious idea I was trying to elucidate. Those who did not notice my error in my electricity, in addition to getting the idea, thought the illustration a good one. And while those who did recognize the mistake may have inwardly smiled, yet they toograsped my meaning equally well. Every one present knew that I was not trying to teach electricity, but religion. In like manner, while recognizing the crude science in the story of creation, we may adore the matchless revelation of God in His relation to the universe.
It is as if I had made something beautiful and ingenious for the people of darkest Africa. At first, they would be afraid of it. Not until they were persuaded that it was made in love would they come forward and cautiously lay their hands upon it. Then as their fear subsided and their appreciation increased they would exclaim, "And devils didn't make it, and it won't hurt us, and you made it for our good!" But after their first curiosity had been sufficiently satisfied, I would touch a spring and awaken new wonder by showing the invention to be different from what they had thought, and ten times more wonderful. And thus, at every new revelation of the gift, their mistaken views would be corrected, and their admiration and love for me would be increased. So, in the story of creation, God presented the world to His children by first telling them that devils did not make it, and that vicious gods do not infest it; but that it all proceeded from His will as a loving gift to them. Though they still thought the universe like that which their unaided senses reported to them, yet the thing of supreme importance was that the loving gift came from a good God who rules over all. Than this revelation, nothing could be truer, nor more calculated to put their hearts at rest from fear. It marked a complete transitionfrom a polytheistic and immoral conception of the universe to a theistic and ethical conception. Through all the centuries that have followed, this new revelation of God in His relation to the universe has been arousing the noble ambition and commanding the loving obedience of men. As men have studied their good gift from God, a growing scientific knowledge has enabled them from time to time to unlock the mysteries of nature; and behold, their good gift was not a snug little world floating in a sea, as they had thought, but a magnificent solar system flying through space, and pulsating in an infinite sea of ether; and the supposed firmament was but a light effect on particles of dust in the atmosphere, caused by the light as it makes its journey of ninety-three million miles from the sun. And once more devout men exclaimed with awe, "Is this what the good God made for us by the mere fiat of His will?" That God said, "Let there be light: and there was light," was the affirmation of an inspired man who little realized that light travels the distance of eight times around the earth in one second, and yet requires more than four years at that speed to come from the nearest star. Thus science may forever change our conception of the world, and our sense of the Creator's majesty.
Someone may say, "Is not this upsetting our old Bible?" I think it is. But when a friend expostulated, "Pat, don't you know that your stone wall will upset if you build it on that swampy ground?" Pat's reply was, "Faith, it is two feet high and three feet wide, and ifit upsets it will be a foot higher than it was before." It is but truth to say that our old Bible is two or three times higher than it was before modern learning upset it; and may scholars keep on upsetting it as long as they can make God's word stand out clear and strong above all human learning and bigotry and superstition.
2. The story of the garden
When I was a boy, nearly every one grew gourds on his picket fence. And at almost every well there hung a gourd dipper. How many cool and refreshing draughts of water I have taken from gourd dippers I dare not say; but the memory is precious, and I should be delighted to repeat the experience now. No one, however, was ever foolish enough to tell us that after drinking the water we must eat the gourd. Now, the Bible is just full of gourd dippers from one end to the other,—and for this I am pleased.
Let me present one of these gourd dippers. It is the story of the Garden. Here is refreshing and life-sustaining water. It is not in a well, but in a spring that bubbles clear up to the surface. You need neither rope nor bucket,—nothing but the gourd; and a child may help himself. This story is a bit of inspired genius, if ever there was any. My library contains great fat books on ethics, yet I never knew half a dozen men or women in my parishes who had the grit or grace to read one of them through. The mental discipline in reading them isgood for ministers, though the conclusions arrived at in these books are identical with the teachings in this simple story. If the methods of these writers on ethics had been adopted by the biblical writers, very few people would be any the wiser for the Bible. But, from the dear old gourd a child may drink with ease and satisfaction.
This beautiful allegory was true to fact when it put Adam and Eve in a garden. Human beings can live only in a garden; they must have a base of supply in the products of the soil. But what about the forbidden fruit? As a child, I did think it too bad that the Lord put the forbidden fruit in the garden when He must have known that it would cause no end of trouble. However, when I became a man I realized that even God could not make a garden that was fit to live in, without its having forbidden fruit in it. The grave is the only place where there is no forbidden fruit. Recently I spent ten days in our Capital City. And itisa beautiful garden, with many things "good for food" and "pleasant to the eyes." During the ten days, Washington was my garden; and the other occupants there made me feel that I was very welcome. But did not they and I know that there were at least a dozen kinds of forbidden fruit that I might not partake of without running the risk of being tarred and feathered? Forbidden fruit is not bad fruit, it is fruit that belongs to some one else, or to us at some future time. It is all ours now, in a way; the wealth, the beauty, and the people are ours within certain limits; and it is this that makes our lives worth living. When,however, we begin to break up families, or to take anything that belongs exclusively to others, we have eaten the forbidden fruit,—and the curse is upon us. "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This is the infallible word of God, spoken to our first parents, to us, and to all mankind. Instead of haggling over the question of swallowing the gourd, we should preach this truth about forbidden fruit until offenders feel their hearts filled with holy fear and wholesome disgust.