ting and inspiring of all
the objects of faith known to man. But he that is governed in his life
and conduct, solely by the fear of some dire punishment in the
after-life, or some hope of bribing the Infinite to give him a
comfortable berth in heaven, is at best but a little and weak soul.

No need to go into any argument here upon the question of whether, "If
a man die shall he live again?" Our social and moral obligations to
live right with our fellowmen are none the less, whether there is an
after-life or not. In fact no man can be right with God,--a part of
whose life he is,--while wrong with his fellow-man.

_THE PROBLEM OF EVIL_

This brings us to a consideration of the problem of evil. "Ever since
human intelligence became enlightened enough to grope for a meaning and
purpose in human life, this problem of the existence of evil has been
the burden of man." (John Fiske.) Out of some attempt to solve it,
every religion on earth was born. I do not offer to solve this
problem; but to try to take a rational view of it.

Good and evil are relative terms. How could we know anything about the
one but thru its contrast with the other? If there were no such thing
as evil, how could we be conscious of the good? How could we know that
it was good? We cannot know anything except by its contrast with
something else. Some element of unlikeness must appear before we can
distinguish anything from something else. To quote again from Fiske:
"If there were no color but red, it would be exactly the same thing as
if there were no color at all." There could be no music except for
variety and contrasts in sounds. If we had never tasted anything but
sugar, could we know what bitterness is? But having tasted the bitter
we then know what sweetness means. Likewise, if there was no such
thing as moral evil in the world, we could not possibly know what moral
goodness is. We could not know what happiness is if we did not have
some knowledge of sorrow and pain. Just why this is so, I do not
pretend to know. I am only stating facts as they are; and the great
Creator, who is the author of both, if of either, knows; and we may
know in proper time. Another pertinent question from Fiske may be
asked here: "What would have been the worth of that primitive innocence
portrayed in the myth of the garden of Eden? What would have been the
moral value or significance of a race of human beings ignorant of evil,
and doing beneficen