In the little affairs of a day it seems sometimes as if the wicked prosper. The gambler is flush, the lecher flourishes, the swindler gets away with his swag, and the pirate, the assassin, and the robber feast on their booty. But when this sort of thing is stretched out over any considerable space of time or territory, so that the cosmic laws, which move slowly, have a chance, it is sure to break down.
What we call righteousness and justice is just as much a part of nature as the physical laws. It is just as true and certain that lying brings disgrace, robbery cannot be made a permanent basis of business, uncleanness ends in shame, tyranny brings revolution, and cruelty eventuates in counter-cruelty and insecurity, as that water runs down hill and flame mounts upward.
It is the glory of the Hebrew that he first saw and made clear to the world these spiritual verities. His Bible is a book of spiritual chemistry and physics.
When he said that “the ungodly shall not stand,” “the covenant with hell shall be disannulled,” “though hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished,” and “be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” he was not indulging in sentiment, but he had a real vision of cosmic law.
It was the supreme genius of Jesus that He saw the majestic certainty and fatefulness of this law, and recommended to His followers that they let it alone, and trust in it.
“Vengeance is mine, I will avenge, saith the Lord.” Time, evolution, destiny, nature, God—all these flow onward as irresistible tides, and even the inventive ferocity of an efficient nation gone mad cannot stop nor delay them.
The Prussian military steam-roller could only get so far, then it had to stop. The steam-roller of spiritual law carries on.
HEAVEN
I have discovered where heaven is.
Wherever you are, it is somewhere else.