41.
[Sidenote: To-day and To-morrow.]
One man says the present is everything, that eternity is nothing. The other man says eternity is everything, that the present is nothing. I believe the real truth is that both are man"s chief concern, and neither view comprehends all truth. In this matter, the general rule I have so often pointed out will harmoniously apply. That rule is: Avoid extremes.
Those who believe that the Now, the Present, is the all-important thing in man"s life have the fashionable or favorite point of view.
Man has much definite information about the present, he knows much about life. He is in the midst of life--it pulsates all around him and in him.
We know positively that the law of compensation is inexorable in its demand for right and positive in its punishment of wrong.
We know that on this earth kindness, love, occupation, help, truth, honor and sympathy are investments which bring happiness to-day. You get your pay instantly when you have done a helpful act, and you get your punishment instantly when you have done a hurtful act.
[Sidenote: The Hereafter.]
That there is a future most of us agree, because good sense and logic point to that sane and reasonable conclusion. So be it. With a belief in the future estate, it is reasonable to a.s.sume that our acts and lives in the present will have influence on our future estate.
We know positively of to-day; we know the happiness we can get from good deeds done to-day. We come to this knowledge by experience.
If we will have power in the future to look back on to-day"s acts, well and good if to-day"s acts are worth while.
The other view, that Eternity is everything and the present is nothing, is the antiquated view, the narrow view--the, I might say, illiterate view.
That view warps the present life; it calls for present self-chastis.e.m.e.nt, present gloom, present sorrow and present misery.
It takes the tangible definite to-day, calls it nothing, and accepts the intangible unknown eternity as everything.
[Sidenote: A Cheerless Philosophy.]
It trades the definite for the indefinite. It calls life a bubble, a vapor, a shadow. In fact, it throws a pall over to-day"s sunshine, and regards our earthly life as a sort of purgatory--a dismal unhappy punishment ante-chamber where man exists and waits, peeping out of his cell windows for a little imagined view of eternity.
He waits and endures the unpleasant interval, steeled against the definite pleasures of to-day, his whole outlook colored by a fanatical and intoxicated belief in the expected happiness of the undefined future.
He refuses to think of the definite life of to-day that we all know, and spoils the thought of those who do.
He is a blockade to progress, a disagreeable part of life"s picture.
He gets no happiness in the to-day which is in his hands; he loses his opportunity to be of service here, and lives in the hope of a vague and nebulous future state which has no connection with the realities of every-day life.
Both theories as ultimate beliefs are wrong, yet each has some truth in its conclusion.
By taking the words "Eternity" and "Present" and saying that both mean everything, we avoid extremes and form a truth that is rational, and harmonious to good reason.
The man who says that the present is all, does so because he is an utilitarian. He reasons from the definite and the seeable, and refuses to believe in the abstract. Anything that is outside the sphere of his vision and action is of little concern to him.
The man who says eternity is all, wastes a golden opportunity and warps himself into a miserable hermit.
Life is irrevocable. Every act in our life is placed, set, and fixed.
Every act goes in the record book of yesterday, and it cannot be changed.
Acts that hurt others will rebound and hurt us. Deeds that help others will rebound and help us. This much is certain.
There is a future, I believe that. There is a G.o.d, I believe that.
Just what the future is, and just what G.o.d is, I do not know in perfect detail.
Reward for good and punishment for evil is part of G.o.d"s plan, and I am conscious of this truth.
I know that justice prevails in this life, and this life is what I am living now.
[Sidenote: The Good That Lies at Hand.]
If I live and act to-day in accordance with what I sincerely believe is in tune with G.o.d"s purpose, I shall, in my future estate, benefit by those acts. If I live and act to-day in disregard of all around me, selfishly catering to my personal desires and believing that eternity is everything and the present nothing, I am neglecting the opportunity to do good now in the hope of a future personal reward, the very nature of which is unknowable. I shall therefore strive to do, and to be, right--to be kind, helpful, cheery and smiling now, for the reward such acts bring now.
And I shall doubtless have as good a record and pa.s.sport to the future as the man who suffers now and lives only upon his selfish hope of the future.
His is the faith of fear, mine the faith of reason in the all-wise, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing Ruler of the universe, who gave me my life, my brain, my reason, which I am trying to use, as well as my limitations will permit, in helping myself and helping others to smile, to be happy, to be serene, to be confident, to be competent, to be useful.
Everything lives and dies in accordance with the plan of the Creator of the Universe, and you are an atom and I am an atom in that Universe, which is governed by a power too big and too great for us to comprehend.
Verily we presume when we say: "We have all the truth; think as we do or you are lost."
The old world has not told its full story. The Universe of which this world is a part is still a deep, unfathomable mystery.
We shall not know all truth until the great revealing time.
[Sidenote: The Use of To-day.]
We cannot change the pages of the millions of years gone by. We can do every little to change the pages of the millions of years to come. What little we can do, we can only do TO-DAY. To-day is yours and mine; let"s do the best we can with our possession in act and thought and word.
The sun goes down behind the sky-line on the West as it has done for millions of years. I lay aside my pen with a bigger view, a deeper appreciation of the Creator, and a profounder faith in His wisdom and works than ever.
G.o.d made. G.o.d rules. G.o.d plans. And verily, we are weaklings and foolish who presume by selfish prayer to suggest to Him what He shall do.
Let us strive to be appreciative of Him; let us try to lift ourselves to the sublime plane of realizing that we are part of Him and His plan, and that failure is impossible to us, if we keep up and on, doing good, speaking softly, dealing gently, showing kindness to-day, and living in accordance with the big, broad, generous, charitable plan instead of in the little, bigoted, narrow, selfish, conceited idea that we are sole possessors of truth and that the man who differs with us in belief is in error.
This chapter is about big things, and in it is a big moral for all who are big enough to grasp it.
42.
"I believe in him because he is so sincere."