ird of the whole New Testament. The reason is that St. Paul
and his people were not greatly interested in the Intermediate Life.
They looked for the Lord's coming in glory during their own lifetime.
Even if some died before, the intermediate waiting time would be so
short that it excited no absorbing interest. They did not dwell on it.
It could not concern them as it concerns us.

CHAPTER III

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE NEAR HEREAFTER

We are now to enquire about that life into which our departed ones have
gone from us. "I" has gone on his mysterious journey into the strange,
new land. We are standing in the darkened death chamber, where the
dead body lies, with close shut eyes, like an empty house whence the
tenant has gone out, closing the windows after him, and the sobbing
friends are feeling the inevitable pressure of the questions, "Where is
he? What is he doing? What is he seeing? Can we know anything at all
about his condition now?"

Many of them say, "No, we cannot know anything; all is vague, shadowy,
unreal. It is vain to torment our hearts by thinking." So they lock
away his photographs and letters, and they gradually, reluctantly let
him drop out of their conversation and their prayers, and, as far as
possible, out of their thoughts, trusting sadly in the healing
influence of time and forgetfulness to quiet the aching questions in
their hearts. Ah! it is a poor comfort!

Some of them even think that there is something presumptuous in
intruding into mysteries which they say God has not revealed. "Do not
the secret things belong unto the Lord our God?" What a pity they do
not complete that text, "But the things that are revealed belong to
us;" and then go on to find out whether, after all, God has not
revealed a great deal more than they think about that mysterious
journey on which the beloved one has gone. A reverent curiosity
concerning the life of our departed is surely not displeasing to God.
"I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren," says St. Paul,
"concerning them that are asleep."

I wish I could comfort those sorrowing questioners, as I have comforted
myself, by thus searching for what God has revealed. I do not want to
offer mere sentimental guesses. I want to find for them the "things
that God has revealed," and if I draw some conclusions which I cannot
definitely prove from Scripture, they are only such as seem to me
reasonable and probable from a fair considerat