APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 147 



sin to sorrow is as certain as that of the earth to the 

 sun, and more so — for experimental proof of the fact 

 is within reach of us all — nay, is before us all in our 

 own lives, if we had but the eyes to see it. 



CCCVI 



Not only do I disbelieve in the need for compensa- 

 tion, but I believe that the seeking for rewards and 

 punishments out of this life leads men to a ruinous 

 Ignorance of the fact that their inevitable rewards 

 and punishments are here. 



CCCVI I 



If the expectation of hell hereafter can keep me 

 from evil-doing, surely a fortiori the certainty of hell 

 now will do so ? If a man could be firmly impressed 

 with the belief that stealing damaged him as much as 

 swallowing arsenic would do (and it does), would not 

 the dissuasive force of that belief be greater than that 

 of any based on mere future expectations ? 



CCCVIII 



As I stood behind the coffin of my little son the 

 other day, with my mind bent on anjrthing but dis- 

 putation, the officiating minister read, as a part of his 

 duty, the words, " If the dead rise not again, let us 

 eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." I cannot tell 

 you how inexpressibly they shocked me. Paul had 

 neither wife nor child, or he must have known that 

 his alternative involved a blasphemy against all that 

 was best and noblest in human nature. I could have 

 laughed with scorn. What ! because I am face to 

 face with irreparable loss, because I have given back 

 to the source from whence it came, the cause of a 



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