THE KING’S BUSINESS
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in the air insects full of blind wrath, cre ated to devour as the fire is to-consume; on every side are these anatomists, dis sectors, !destroyers, without sobriety, mod eration, or pity, devouring whatsoever is unclean, and keeping the world pure as with a consuming flame. And are there not in the world of spirits stern laws ever 'working to maintain its purity? Are there not .unpitying messengers casting out of the higher kingdom whatsoever does offend? Are there not living executioners eliminating and destroying the morally unclean, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie? Let us be sure that as death and filth are seized upon in the physical universe and cleansed away forthwith, nothing that is defiled, nothing that defileth, shall escape in tljat moral universe, in the centre of which sits One the eyes of whose glory cannot llook upon iniquity. Listen .hot to flattering wordsr .God is merciful, but fire does not? forget to burn, teeth to tear, water to drown, and no transgression of the Law can pass without detection and punish ment. “And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay.” God’s complex system of retri bution permits not the cleverest sinner to slip through. BE NOT DECEIVED 2. Let us not deceive ourselves because appearances seem to promise immunity. The lad who determines to rob his employ ers acquaints himself with the business methods of, the house in which he is engaged—the store-keeping, the book-keep ing, the system of checks; and at length, feeling perfectly sure of the situation, he proceeds so skilfully to work in hjs embez zlements that- detection seems simply impossible. But the acute youth forgets that society is a great deal older than he is, that it is a great deal cleverer, that through vast experience it has elaborated a delicate and comprehensive system of detection, and the young sinner is forthwith entangled in the meshes of -the law. We sadly smile to think of the boy’s infatuation, of his folly in matching himself against the ages.
But think of the Divine system of retribu tion—how wide-reaching, exact, inevitable ! Our severest supervision, our keenest espionage, our most adroit arrangements, our most vigilant police, our most exquisite and effective instruments, all are coarse arid clumsy compared with the working of that delicate and inevitable law inwrought by God into the very constitution of the rfice, and into the very constitution of things. When Joseph’s brethren had thrown their young brother into a pit and left him there, how utterly hopeless seemed the lad’s condition ! He was to all intents and purposes buried alive, and it seemed absolutely impossible that he shduld ever avenge himself upon the fratricides.- But in due time the wounded riian was on the throne of Egypt, and the strong-handed, clever sinners were lamenting, “Verily we are guilty concerning our brother.” And we. may be sure that this was no singular instance of God’s retributive government, but rather a dramatization of that vast eternal justice which works sleeplessly in the life and destiny of all men. Our modern knowledge of science; of the unity and interdependence of all things, of the continuity and persistence of force and motion, of the inviolable integrity of all organisms, ought to make it easy to us ,to„ believe that whatsoever a man sowe.th that shall he reap, however appearances may promise otherwise. Let us not be beguiled by the immediate aspects of life and cir cumstances. God’s blind 'men watch us; His lame men run us down; His deaf men filch our secrets; His dumb men impeach us; His wôunded men arise, every man a messenger of revenge. v JUDGMENT IS SURE 3. Let us not deceive ourselves because judgment is delayed. Scherer objects to ^Milton’s, conception of Satan: “How are we-to comprehend an'angel who enters on a conflict with God, that is to say, with a being whom he knows to be omnipotent? . . . The idea of Satan is a contradictory idea : for it is contradictory to know God and yet. attempt rivalry with Him.” [Essays
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