You may think of our Lord
in two ways. You may think of Him as having gone very far away, millions
of millions of miles into the sky, and not to return till the last day,--
and then, I do not say that you will weep and lament. There are not many
who have that notion about our Lord, and yet love Him enough to weep and
lament at the thought of His having gone away. But your religion, when
it wakes up in you, will be a melancholy and terrifying one. I say, when
it wakes up in you--for you will be tempted continually to let it go to
sleep. There will come over you the feeling--God forgive us, does it not
come over us all but too often?--Christ is far away. Does He see me?
Does He hear me? Will He find me out? Does it matter very much what I
say and do now, provided I make my peace with Him before I die? And so
will come over you not merely a carelessness about religious duties,
about prayer, reading, church-going, but worse still, a carelessness
about right and wrong. You will be in danger of caring little about
controlling your passions, about speaking the truth, about being just and
merciful to your fellow-men.
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