In the early days, when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking,
Men conceived the world to be a battleground.
Our fathers believed in sin and the devil and hell as constituting one force;
they believed in God and righteousness and heaven as the other.
They were opposed to each other in the nature of them
forever in deep, grave, irreconcilable hostility.
Man, so our fathers held,
had to choose sides; he could not be neutral.
For him it must be life or death, heaven or hell.
And if he chose to come out on God’s side,
he could expect open war with God’s enemies.
The fight would be real and deadly, and would last as long as life continued here below.
Men looked forward to heaven
as a return from the wars,
a laying down of the sword to enjoy in peace the home prepared for them. . .
