Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-01

After this great experience Charles Kings
ley tries to comfort Huxley. They were
two men who loved each other, one of
whom came through the south gate and the
other the north gate. and Charles Kings
ley went around on the outside of the
wall, as it were, to help Thomas Huxley
come In through the south gate also.
Think Of the subdued emotion in the let
ter that Huxley writes to Kingsley, in
which he says: I cannot accept your
point of view Your sincerity, your
earnestness, your desire to help me. l ac
cept, but | cannot accept the way it
comes | know that ninety-nine men out
of a hundred will call me atheist, infidel
and all the other hard names. / know
that if my butler should steal my over
coat today. as the law stands in Enaland
| cannot appear against him. But one
thing the English people shall never
Let us thank God for the north gate.
thank God that men who say they do not
believe In God. who do not believe as you
and do, who cannot accept the conven-
tlonal interpretations and forms of re-
ligion. let us be thankful that there are
men who dare to say, men may call me
inf1del. they may call me atheist, they
may bar me from the gate. but one thing
they shall never say, that lied.
And / suppose the north gate is for
just such people. There must be many
Of them or else the prophet would not
have seen fit to supply that demand.
There were three of these great portals on
the north side Of the city. and so human
nature, which approaches religion from
the ratfonalistic side, if it be sincere and
honest with itself. comes at last into that
city which descended from God and has
the glory of God.
And, then, just as truly there is the
south gate. 1t is more popular. The
road is better trodden, ana one is sure
to fall in with wholesome companions
These people sing as they go through the
entrance. We have the Wesleys. Fran
els Havergals and countless thousands
and millions of people who have found
the Spirit of God, not in argument, not
In reason, but through human devotion
and the warm passion of their own heart
Let US thank the Father for that.
'Then through the east gate there comes
that long procession of men who come
into the city through the strange road OF
mysticism. They are men and women
whom it is hard for US to understand.
They seem further removed from us than
the Huxleys and the Tyndalls, who go in
at the north gate. Does this mean any
thing to you and to me? l hope it does.
Here comes man who knocks at this
eastern gate-his name is Eckhart, and he
is in the city. He says. God and I are
one, in vision and in knowledge. The
eye whereby l see God is the eye where
by God sees me. God has become man
that may become God Does that mean
anything to us? Perhaps not, but 1t is
ground on which we may very well put up
the warning-'Take the shoes from off thy
feet for the place wherein thou stand
est is holy ground And so there has
come this vast procession of men and
women of all ages who come in through
this eastern gate whose prospect is toward
the rising gun, who find spiritual realt-
ties not in the processes of reason. not
In the unrestrained emotions, but who find
them in the still small voice, when in
the closet He who hideth himself reveal
eth himself to them.
And then there is the west gate, where
the practical man of affairs comes in, he
who says: I do not trouble myself about
the nationals of r-lision: a on :
warm emotions / know nothing and care
less: about those ecstasies of the my
tics / know nothing. One thing I do
know. and 1t is the psalm which begins,
He that hath clean hands and a pure
heart shall enter into the city.