a human life until the gulf is closed, and
the continent of conduct meets the continent of creed, edge to edge, lip
to lip, firmly joined forever.

It is not a blessing to know the things that Christ teaches, and then go
on living as if they were false or doubtful. It is a trouble, a torment,
a secret misery. To know that God is our Father, and yet to withhold
our love and service from Him; to know that Christ died for us, and yet
to deny Him and refuse to follow Him; to know that there is an immortal
life, and yet to waste and lose our souls in the pursuit of sensual
pleasure and such small portion of the world as we may hope to
gain,--surely that is the deepest of all unhappiness.

But the right kind of knowing carries in its heart the doing of the
truth. And the right kind of doing leads to a fuller and happier
knowing. "If any man will do God's will," declares Christ, "he shall
know of the doctrine."

Let a man take the truth of the Divine Fatherhood and begin to conform
his life to its meaning. Let him give up his anxious worryings, his
murmurings, his complainings, and trust himself completely to his
Father's care. Let him do his work from day to day as well as he can and
leave the results to God. Let him come to his Father every day and
confess his faults and ask for help and guidance. Let him try to obey
and please God for love's sake. Let him take refuge from the trials and
confusions and misunderstandings of the world, from the wrath of men and
the strife of tongues, in the secret of his Father's presence. Surely if
he learns the truth thus, by doing it, he will find happiness.

Or take the truth of immortality. Let a man live now in the light of the
knowledge that he is to live forever. How it will deepen and strengthen
the meaning of his existence, lift him above petty cares and ambitions,
and make the things that are worth while precious to his heart! Let him
really set his affections on the spiritual side of life, let him endure
afflictions patiently because he knows that they are but for a moment,
let him think more of the soul than of the body, let him do good to his
fellow-men in order to make them sharers of his immortal hope, let him
purify his love and friendship that they may be fit for the heavenly
life. Surely the man who does these things will be happy. It will be
with him as with Lazarus, in Robert Browning's poem, "The Epistle of
Karshish." Others will look at him with wonder and say: