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 were good, 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. How _can_ any one believe in God and not believe in immortality?
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHETHER WE BELIEVE IN IMMORTALITY IF WE LIVE AS WE SHOULD IN THIS LIFE?
Some say, "What difference does it make whether we believe in immortality, if we live as we should in this life?"