to imagine the state of the world before they gave it the products of one life, or previous to the invention of the steamboat, telegraph, telephone, electric cars, electric light, et cetera. But as every question has two sides so, also, has this. What good could come of granting unlimited life to the low and depraved, and those who have no desire for perpetual youth only to further their own ends? If regeneration were granted these, gain knowledge they would for it is accessible to the evil disposed as well as to the good, and often the learned are the most cunning and deceptive, but the understanding of the fundamental laws of nature, the science of eternal life, is obtained only by union with the Supreme. What effect would a man like Napoleon, with his indomitable will and selfish ambition, have upon the world, if he had perpetual youth bestowed upon him? Long ere this he would be sitting down weeping that there were no more worlds to conquer. imagine the carnage before he would reach such a crisis. But With a few Napoleons with perpetual youth, life would not be worth the living. Again the love of money, which is the root of all evil, has compelled "money kings," who have had only their selfish ends in view, to give employment to thousands, and to make great improvements in the world, by furnishing the intellect and the means for carrying on manufacturing, commerce, agriculture, mining, building, et cetera, and if perpetual youth were universally granted it does not take much penetration to see that the wealth of the world would soon be in the hands of a few men like Vanderbilt, Rothschild, Gould, Rockefeller, and others, and as at present, "money is king" the rest of the world would be mere subjects or slaves. Thus we cannot but conclude how dangerous immortality would be in the hands of some; for the world would soon be turned into chaos; and our wise Creator will grant it to those only who seek it on purely impersonal grounds, those who seek it for no other reason than the uplifting of humanity. To all those seeking "the tree of life" for any other reason there will always be a "flaming sword" guarding the "gates of Eden." We hear some one say: "Has no one, since Adam was driven from Eden, had power over death?" and we answer, We know of One. In speaking of his life and death he said, "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." Then why has no other son of God been able to do what Christ has done when he plainly said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father"? Among all the great souls whom this world has produced has there not been one with love broad and deep enough that it would not have been a great blessing to humanity for him to have eaten of "the tree of life"? If we look over martyrology, the calendar of saints and martyrs, and "Fox's Book of Martyrs," from the first martyr, Stephen, we will find all that host who suffered death during the early stages of Christianity; and last, but not least, if we count those great teachers, the missionaries, who have taken their lives in their hands, as it were, forsaken all, father, mother, sister, and brother to take the Gospel to the Heathen; who have braved the cold and hunger of the North, the heat and pestilence of the South; who have suffered tortures and outrages from savages and have lived alone and unfriended; and who, at last, laid down their lives for the love of their brothers, unwept and unsung; there is but one answer, there certainly have been many, for "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Then what could be lacking or wanting to accomplish this result in all these martyrs and great missionaries like Carey in India, Judson in Burmah, Livingston in Africa, Morrison in China, Gardner in South America, and Williams in the Islands of the Pacific? They lacked the knowledge of the fact that there was immortality in the flesh in store for them and consequently the knowledge for accomplishing it. "They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." But I hear some one exclaim, "Out of all the geniuses who have delved deep into mind and matter, and into the depths of philosophy and mysticism, and into the different religions and secret orders of all the ages, and who have attained even unto the wisdom of Solomon, has there not been one who has eaten of 'the tree of knowledge' sufficiently to become regenerated in the flesh?" There surely must have been some. Then why has no one ever accomplished it? There is evidently but one answer, that there has never been combined in one man both the wisdom and a great impersonal love. True it is, that there never was a time in the world's history when there has been so great a number striving to gain these two ends and with the aid of the Great Spirit, and the stimulus and inspiration of so many minds working toward the same end some mortal will put on immortality. Christ, "the firstfruits of them that slept," came when he did because so many devout souls had been looking, prophesying, and praying for his coming, all along the ages. Isaiah prophesied his advent over seven nundred years before it took place. As all great truths are very simple when understood, when regeneration in the flesh has once been accomplished by one soul, others, who are now striving for those ends, will be aided and inspired by that regenerate one and many will follow and say, "How easy it is, why did no one ever accomplish it before? We have just to become as little children' to enter the kingdom of heaven." Max Muller says: "If I read history rightly, the victory of reason over unreason, and the whole progress of our race, have generally been accomplished and achieved by such poor fools as ourselves rushing in where angels fear to tread, till at length the track becomes beaten, and even angels are no longer afraid." And those who have made no attempts to live . this life will exclaim: "Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such a thing? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once!" Isaiah lxvi. 8. But what will become of those who have no desire to live the regenerate life? That can be answered by the history of nations. History will repeat itself in this instance as in others. How long has a weak race existed before a strong one? Could a regenerate race and one living in generation exist long in the same land? The weak would fall before the strong. The regenerate man would become a literal "flaming sword to keep the way of the tree of life." THE BEST CHOICE. By Julia C. Dorr. I would be quiet, Lord, nor tease, nor fret; I am not wise to know what most I need; I dare not cry too loud lest thou shouldst heed Lest thou at length should say, "Child, have thy will; What I most crave, perchance thou wilt withhold, As we, when childish hands would play with fire, THE DOOM OF THE EGGSHELL. By Gemini-Leo. MATTHEW. Chapter xxiii. 37. O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings. It is often the case that the most homely and common incidents of life are analogous to the greatest and most profound spiritual realities. What will be more certain of fulfillment than the prediction that the shell of a healthy egg is doomed to be broken asunder when put under the care of a faithful sitting hen? Jesus is often spoken of as the Good Shepherd tending his flock, and he also likened himself unto a faithful hen caring for her brood. There is something more than a mere figure of speech in this simile. The hen hatching out and brooding over her chickens is the process of the unfoldment of a certain quality of life on the physical plane. Which is just like the work Jesus is actually doing on the spiritual plane. This is the reason that there is such a great difference between all the other great religious teachers of the world. They all came to teach us about God, righteousness, and true life; but Jesus came to enter into and to bring to ultimates the process whereby we may attain unto that life. This makes true Christianity something more than a religion, as the word is generally used, for Christianity is something more than its precepts and doctrines. It is the manifestation of natural law in the spiritual world. If its teachings are faithfully adhered to, it will bring the individual to a condition like that of a developed chick in an eggshell; and further than that, like a chicken that has bursted its narrow limitations and has entered into the freedom of God's glorious sunshine. |