"'Reward or punishment,' some reader will perhaps exclaim; 'what mockery,
when the essence of reward and punishment lies in their being felt by
those who have earned them.' I can do nothing with those who either cry
for the moon, or deny that it has two sides, on the ground that we can
see but one. Here comes in faith, of which the Sunchild said, that
though we can do little with it, we can do nothing without it. Faith
does not consist, as some have falsely urged, in believing things on
insufficient evidence; this is not faith, but faithlessness to all that
we should hold most faithfully. Faith consists in holding that the
instincts of the best men and women are in themselves an evidence which
may not be set aside lightly; and the best men and women have ever held
that death is better than dishonour, and desirable if honour is to be won
thereby.
"It follows, then, that though our conscious flesh and blood life is the
only one that we can fully apprehend, yet we do also indeed move, even
here, in an unseen world, wherein, when our palpable life is ended, we
shall continue to live for a shorter or longer time--reaping roughly,
though not infallibly, much as we have sown. Of this unseen world the
best men and women will be almost as heedless while in the flesh as they
will be when their life in flesh is over; for, as the Sunchild often
said, 'The Kingdom of Heaven cometh not by observation.
Pages:
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148