ETERNITY IN OUR RECKONING.
By John G. Woolley
“THE kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, . . . and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.” Parables are word-cartoons. They are scientifically unreliable. They are artistically negligent. They have no critical value. Their object is mere suggestion; their purpose, broadly moral; their sphere, now; their truth purely relative. The people that followed Jesus were fuller of anxiety about heaven, hell, eternity, and such unrevealed and unrevealable things than they were about straightforward, present righteousness, and this parable was spoken at the exact level of the audience, as if to say: What does a seine catch?—Everything. What do you do with the seine after the cast?—Haul it ashore. What do you do with the fish?—Sort them. What do you do with the good ones?—Preserve them. What with the bad?—Destroy them. Well, building heaven is at least as intellectual a business as fishing. Meanwhile, whatever eternity is, this moment is a part of it. Whatever destiny is, quality determines it; and quality is character, and character is the sum of conduct, and conduct is action. You can’t act in the past or in the future; now or never is your eternal opportunity and duty. The notion of “eternity” is inspirationally powerful—not otherwise. It is a kind of psychological pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night to impel us to progress and to allay our fears. The “eternal” man is the hope of earth and heaven. The man who sees not this eternal shine can do nothing for other men. The woman who feels not the backing of this eternal origin can not make a home, in the high, great meaning of the word. The teacher whose knowledge lacks the grandeur of this immensity is mullet or dog-fish in the net of “destiny.” The way of noble living, loving, learning, is high and hard, and the great rewards of knowing, enjoying, or suffering are impossible, invisible, to him who never hears his imagination saying, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” —John G. Woolley.