The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-02-21
LIES JOYS AND HAPPT-
NESS ARE REVEALED
We Cannot Plant One Thing
and From it Reap Another
of Unlike Nature--We Can
not Set Aside the Law of
Nof11~o1 n..doe

of Unlike Nature--We Can
not Set Aside the Law of
u Natural Order. e
Written for The Review by W. .Gattis Foster
! IT is the natural law of the floral, or
/ botanical, world that like produces
like. Whatsoever we SOW that of
its like kind shall we also reapif we
reap anything. This is biblical
teaching and we know it's true. Ii
is in obedience to a Divine mandate
and not q man-made law. With
this immutable law of order all will
readily agree to it's beauty and JUS
tice and then many will fOoGshly
pursue an opposite and contrary
course, blindly expecting things to
work out right in some way in the
end. But he cannot do it and
disastrous failure is the reward for
this mistaken course.
| There is in every production in
| the material world the Similitude of
that which produced it as well as
the germ of its own likeness by
which it may be further reproduced
in the progeny of its own image,
however different in many ways one
may seem from the other. If a.
grain of corn be planted and there
be reproduction there can be only
corn as the increase or grain repro
duced. Conditions of the soil, the
season and the cultivation of the
young plant are all vital factors in
its growth, development and matur-
ity, but in its reproduction there can
be only one kind, or species, of
grain, the kind like that which was
planted.
| And thus it is in the moral and
spiritual world as in the material, or
plant kingdom. We cannot plant
one thing and from it reap another
of unlike nature and we need. not
try to set aside the law of natural
order, or of cause and effect. Wrong
does not produce right, neither can
goodness be the father of evil. Like
follows like as truly as day succeeds
the night and darkness gives way
beforszthe effuigent light of the ris-
ing 8l1n If we commit aD.unkind-
act VI doa kind one, and either falls
on the feStIe and proper hoarf-N"il
of the recipient, we can only receive
in return of its like nature as the
reward of such an act, if there is
any reproduction at all. We may
sometimes receive evil and suffer
wrong from some entmy of the right
scattering tares where we had sOWn
good grain, but we should see to it
that it comes not from our own
planting.
While happiness is universal de-
sire of the human heart, q condition
of life for which we toll land live its
presence is always incidental and
dependent upon condition. Ii we
are happy it is because of something
we have, have had or hope to have
as well as what We are. 1t is an alb
stract quality, inherent in and pro-
duced by something in our hearts.
Thus its presence is felt and is de-
pendent upon two conditions, some
thing to create it and place in which
| to live and impress itself.
| In seeking happiness one beauti-
full fact should not be forgotten
that it comes most to those who try
most to carry it to others, and so is
reflective. To bring the blessings of
happiness into the lives of others is
good seed sown in fertile soil to
spring up and yield in rich returns
of the same good seed and abundant
harvest to bless and enrich the
sOWer.
From this logical fact none will
dissent. but many there are, to their
own sad loss, who refuse to make it
a consistent example of their lives.
Beautiful in theory? Yes, but more
beautiful in practice.
1t is more blessed to give than to
receive" is biblical teaching and we
readily agree that it is true, but
there are many who would prefer to
let others do the giving while they,
would rather seek the blessings by
some other <oute, contentine them
selves with only the receiving, and
then when it does not measure fully
with their expectations, complain OF
the cold selfshness of human ma
ture. :.
Our needs may be few but our
wants are many. The human mind
is ever reaching out and seeking for
things new and different. Pleasures
are tickle and taste uncertain. The
heart may grow cold and tired of
things of long familiarity and ASSOC
citation and we find it difficult to
make our wants, or the things we
so ardentlv desire harmonize viii,