Esoteric V10: July 1896 - Iapsop.com

18Hi.] Os TilE Hrm.Jo: ANO Rclf.NCE. 301
t·ighti'On~ne!IR as no other revelation of Gotl could have dono.
The \\r m·cl hf!came fle11h and clwelt among us. This chx~trine
ig natm·al to the thei11ti1~ evolntioniRt.
DDIUHT..\J.ITY ANO TH Jo: DOt 'flUS Jo:
ANI> l'trNISIUH:~T.
OJo' tn:w Altnil
I low tlneil the them·.v nf evolution afftwt the Clu-istian doc·
trineM of •·~wartl antl puniKhment, and of immortality'! Theae
:\re mo!!t tlifthmlt lJUestionil, and I do not pt·etend to Nee tuy way
through them. "A black beetle (11\UIIOt be expellte1l to fnrmnlate
1\ them·y of thti milky way.'' Bnt it ~~eems plain that if 11in ia
a tranilgrt>Rsinn, and gtlOilnes.~ the fulfillment of tlu1 law of a
mau'11 higher natnre, the I!OUReqnenceK of sin and of g()()(lnesM
are not arbitrary nor external; they are in onrselve~. They
a•·e the being what we have become; the Rinking to the lower
or the rising to the higher. That is .the penalty, anti that the
'rewat·tl,-a very real hell or heavtm. And forgiveneu is the
f{etting rid of the Rin, not of the penalty-for with the sin
diNappeat•s the penalty. The doctrine of personal immortality.
apart from the ilpeoial a.sRua·arioe involvetl in Christ'11 resnrrtltl•
tim1, ~~ettms to me rvndered muoh more diffloult by the theory
of evolution, beoanse human life is by that tbaot•y so closely
liOt'l'elatt>d with ainmal life. The difficulty of onntinuity ootnes
in het•e a11 everywhttre. At what point in the chain doea oou.
soiommess, ft·eedmn, personality, conRdenue, Roul, immortality,