54 THE LIGHT OF DAT 



region of heroism. But neither fact nor set of facts 

 contains any hint that can lead to a rational expla- 

 nation of how the death of Christ benefited mankind 

 other than in the way the death of every hero bene- 

 fits us. This is an esoteric, mysterious doctrine 

 upon which no light can be thrown by an appeal to 

 any known fact or law of the visible universe. 



The eloquent preacher tries to help out his ana- 

 logy by an original conception of Sin as " a single 

 world spirit, exactly as electricity, with which the 

 universe is charged, is indivisible, imponderable, 

 one, so that you cannot separate it from the great 

 ocean of fluid. The electric spark that slumbers in 

 the dewdrop is part of the flood which struck the 

 oak. Had that spark not been there, it could be 

 demonstrated that the whole previous constitution 

 of the universe might have been difierent and the 

 oak not have been struck." Every separate act of 

 sin is the manifestation of an original principle as 

 broad and universal as this — the world spirit, the 

 spirit of evil. Grant this, and still the connection 

 cannot be made. Grant that this world spirit slew 

 all the prophets, opposes the good in every age, and 

 crucified " the Just One " himself, as, of course, it 

 did and does, how did the death of Christ modify or 

 conquer or remove this spirit, or shield man from 

 the supposed wrath of his Creator, in any other way 

 than the death of every just person for a worthy 

 cause accomplishes these ends ? These are myster- 

 ies that cannot be explained, or the explanation even 

 hinted at. The human faculties of reason and in- 



