individual Faith.
I am firmly convinced that there _ought to be a God_ and a Life
Hereafter. But my faith in such facts is paralysed by the haunting
doubt that they may both be such stuff as dreams are made of, after all.
On the whole, I believe the best way is not to think about them at
all--or as little as we may. The one question which really and truly
concerns us--and most certainly only concerns God, if there be a
God--in His relation to ourselves, is _this life_ and what we make of
it for ourselves and for other people. Don't ask yourself always and
for ever _if_ there be a God? _Act as if He existed_! So far as
possible, _play His part on earth_. Then all will surely be well with
your Immortal Soul in the Long Here After!
And, if the reward of it all--if "reward" is what you seek--be but a
Sleep Eternal, do not weep. If you have done your best, you will have
left the world happier and better, and so more beautiful. To those
around you, to those who walked with you a little way along the Road of
Life, you will have brought Hope where before you came there was only
resignation and despair; you will have brought laughter to eyes long
dimmed by tears; you will have brought Love into lives so lonely and so
desolate until you came. God surely can ask of no man more than this.
That, at least--is my Faith. That is also my "religion." Theology is
unimportant: FACTS, concerning the reality of God and a Life
Hereafter--matter little or nothing at all.
What is all-important is that _here on Earth_--in the world of men and
women around us--there are many less happy than we; many infinitely
lonelier, poorer, more desolate and depressed. To these--even the
lowliest among us can give comfort, bring into their darkness some
little ray of "light"--however small.
Let the "Christian" Churches quarrel as they may. The uproar of their
differences in Faith, each seeking to be justified, is stilled before
the Great Reality of those really and truly in Human NEED. Let us do
all the good we may--nor ask the reason why, nor seek a heavenly
reward. At every step we take along the Road of Life--there is someone
we can help, someone we can succour, someone we can forgive. A truce
to violent controversy around and around the Trivial. True religion is
an _Act_--even more than a Belief, infinitely more than mere articles
of Faith. By the greatness of our sacrifice, by the unselfishness of
our Love; by the way we have tried to live up to "the best" within us;
by our earnest wish at all times, and with all men--to "play the
game"--surely by these things alone shall we be judged?
FINIS.