ion of the evidence, and
I shall draw a clear distinction between the authoritative teaching of
Scripture, which you are bound to accept, and any conclusions which I
draw from Scripture, which you are free to reject.

Let me first put your questionings into clear, definite shape, as you
look upon the face of your dead. Is it a life of sleep and
unconsciousness into which he has gone, or is he as fully alive and
conscious as he was an hour ago? Is there further probation in that
life? Is there growth and progress? Does he still remember? Does he
still love? Does he still know or care anything about the old home and
about us who are left behind? Can he help us? Can we help him? Are
we to think of him as one gone absolutely into the unknown, or may we
think of him as we do of our other absent one who went to India last
year, only with the difference that one writes home and the other does
not?

II

As in all our troubles, we had best go first to our Lord. As He is the
only one who really knows all the questions of our hearts, so He is the
only one who really knows the secrets of the invisible world. He is
the only one on earth who has ever gone away into that strange land and
then came back to tell us anything about it. In all things He is our
great forerunner. He, the Son of Man, has gone before us poor sons of
man in all the experiences of life,--childhood, youth, manhood,
temptation, struggle, sorrow, disappointment, victory, joy. And He has
gone before us, too, into the Unseen Land, as if to lead us and say to
us "Be not afraid."

He does not speak much about it. As I have already shown you, this was
to be expected. In the first place, in our present imperfect, limited
condition, with senses fitted only for this poor earthly life, it would
probably be impossible to teach us anything definitely about the higher
life of the spirit world. How can you teach a blind, deaf man about
this world of beautiful sights and sounds in which you are living? How
could God teach us definite details about a life which no experience of
ours can help us to imagine? And, besides that, Scripture is intended
to guide our conduct in this world, not to gratify our speculations
about another world. At any rate, there is a marked reticence and
reserve all through the Bible in speaking of the Hereafter, which
reticence and reserve we shall do well to imitate.

Section 1

First, watch our Lord draw the curtain a l