A religion of faith is simply a question in geography. Keep your
locality in mind and you are all right. On the banks of the Red Sea
murder and slavery were a religious duty. On the Ganges infanticide is a
virtue. In Rome you may steal or lie; you may deceive an innocent young
girl and blast her life forever; you may stab your friend in the dark,
and you are all right: but if you eat a piece of fried pork on Friday
you are a lost man! China arranges her prayers in a machine, and turns
her obligations to Deity off with a crank. There is usually more or less
intimate relationship between prayer and a crank. Our God loved human
sacrifice in Galilee, and rewarded Abraham for it. He abhors it
in Pocasset, America, and his followers threaten to hang the only
consistent follower of Jehovah who has come amongst them.
If you live in Utah, or had lived in Jerusalem, your most certain
hope of salvation would have been the possession of numerous wives. In
England or New York more than one is sure damnation.
Lose your bearings and you are a lost man! Make a mistake in your
county and your soul is not worth a copper. A traveler is not safe five
minutes, and I doubt if an accident policy would cover his case.
God and the Devil have been held accountable for about every crime that
ever has been committed, and it has been very largely a geographical
question which of the two was responsible. If it was longitude 35∞ 14'
east it was the Lord! If you shifted to longitude 70∞ 58' west it was
the devil.
When locality becomes the all-important question, we do not wonder at
the old lady who felt relieved when the new survey threw her house just
across the state line into Ohio, after she had been under the impression
that she lived in Indiana. "Well," said she, "I am glad we don't live
in Indiana; I always did say it was a very unhealthy state. Now, our
doctor's bills won't be so high."
Pocasset, Mass., is in the devil's country, and murder is not safe;
it is a crime. Abraham and Saul lived in a healthier climate--in God's
congressional district, where murder was above par and decency was out
of fashion. Take it all in all, and the devil seems to make the best
governor.
Now it seems to me that Sunday-schools should teach nothing so much as
geography, so that a man may not be in doubt as to who is his Secretary
of State, and when an order comes from head-quarters he may fairly be
expected to know whether it is safe to obey--whether obedience means
glorification on earth and a home in heaven, or a sprained neck and a
bright fire. It seems now that Pocasset is over the line and out of the
Lord's clearing.