342 The Fundamentals Whether or not there was an existence beyond the grave was a matter about which I had speculated much but had dis missed it from my thought. Having become a thorough going rationalist (and being no more irrational than the gener ality of those who assume that self-flattering title) I took the ground that it was possible to believe only what could be made evident to the physical senses, and having rejected the witness of God, and so made Him a liar (1 John 5 :9, 10), and having disregarded “the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1), I was perishing for lack of knowledge while passing, in my own estimation and that of others, as a “very well-informed man.” I had become a church-member and communicant at the age of sixteen; had been for many years thereafter quite a regular attendant on church services, and had heard innumer able sermons; yet I was as ignorant as any Hottentot con cerning God’s one and only way of salvation. Such is the wretched condition of millions of excellent people in this “Christian” land and in this “enlightened” century. The Gospel is hid from them because “the god of this age” hath blinded their minds “lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:4). WORLDLY PROSPERITY UNSATISFYING “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again” (John 4:13). Let me add briefly, as touching my material circumstances, that in the practice of my chosen profession (law) I was sufficiently successful to gratify my own ambi tion and to excite the envy of others; that I was blessed with excellent physical health; and that my domestic relations were all that could be desired. Nothing seemed to be lacking that could insure or contribute to happiness and contentment. But peace of mind and rest of conscience are not to be found in what the world calls “easy circumstances.” Not-
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