The tissue of the life to be
We weave with colors all our own,
And in the fields of destiny
We reap as we have sown;
Still shall the soul around it call
The shadows which it gathered here,
And painted on the eternal wall
The past shall reappear.
(745)
* * * * *
Rev. Frederick Lynch tells in _Christian Work_ the following story
of Henry Ward Beecher:
In a public assembly a minister arose and said: “Mr. Beecher,
my congregation has delegated me to ask this question of you:
We have in our congregation one of the purest and most lovable
men you ever saw. He is upright, honest, generous, the heartiest
supporter of the church we have--the friend of the poor, the
beloved of little children, a veritable saint--but he does not
believe the doctrine of the Trinity. Now, where do you think he
will go after death?” Mr. Beecher was equal to the occasion.
Hesitating a moment, he said: “I never dare say where any man
will go after death, but wherever this man goes, he certainly
has my best wishes.”
(746)
* * * * *
A polliwig swims about in a muddy pool and appears happy and
contented. It is in its element. After a while it develops into
a frog and climbs up on the bank. Altho it has attained to a
higher state of existence, it has a tendency for the old life.
It does not go very far away from the muddy pool. It stays near
it, that it may take an occasional dip. A boy comes along and
stones it, and it leaps back into the muddy pool. The boy looks
about for some other moving object. He sees a lark not far away
and hurls a stone at it. The skylark spreads its wings for
flight. As it soars upward, it sings clearer and sweeter until
it is far above the reach of its tormentor.
The contrasted tendencies of men resemble those of the polliwig and the
lark. There is a world of meaning in the brief statement about Judas,
“that he might go to his own place.” (Text.)
(747)