r a hideous mistake in the universe, an awful nightmare, or a cruel
mockery. Paul, using language as men used it in his time, spoke of death
as an enemy. That he was speaking popularly, rather than technically, is
evident because he also said that the sting of death--that which made it
dreaded--is sin. Jesus, however, justified the method by which men are
perfected; and His teaching harmonizes with what may be learned by a
reverent scrutiny of the nature of things. The more carefully "the
Cosmic process" is studied, the clearer it becomes that events are so
ordered that, sooner or later, everything helps toward richer and better
conditions. A tidal wave or a pestilence may seem to be inexplicable,
but even pestilence teaches men habits of thrift and cleanliness, and
tidal waves warn them of their points of danger.

What has made the average of human life so much longer than it was
formerly? That very mysterious pestilence has turned attention toward
its causes, and thus the race has been made cleaner, purer, more fit to
endure. Why do men live in houses with scientific plumbing, fresh air,
and have well-cooked food? Because that fierce teacher, pestilence, has
taught them that any other course means weakness and death. Whom nature
loveth she chasteneth is a truth as clearly written in human history as
"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth" is written in the Bible. The true
attitude toward the austere, for a philosophic as for a Christian mind,
is one of complacency. Every severity is intended for benefit. By wars
the enormity of war is made evident. By disease the necessity for
observation of the laws of health is emphasized. Even death, in the
order of things, at last is a blessing, for one generation must give
place to another, or the evils that Malthus feared would be quickly
reached. Moreover death, in its proper time, is only nature's way of
giving the soul its freedom. Hindrances in its path do not indicate the
presence of an enemy but of a friend who discovers the only sure way of
securing its finest development. The cultivation of the philosophic and
Christian temper, which are practically the same, would make this a
happier world. We could endure trials with more courage if we would but
remember that they are as necessary to our growth as the cutting of a
diamond is necessary to the revelation of the treasury of light which it
holds.

The heights of character are slowly reached, and, usually, only by the
ministr