when the
soul dwells apart from the body, there, in the stillness of that
"cloistered and secluded life," the powers of memory will be undistracted
and perfect. Even in this life, as we are told, some, in a great crisis,
have seen at a single glance the whole story of their past experience,
and scenes and events, long since forgotten, have flashed in an instant
before the mind, clear and vivid. Such clearness, we may well suppose,
will the memory have in the Intermediate Life, as it recalls in that
quiet stillness the actions of the past days on earth. Here is the first
equipment then for the work of cleansing. All the evil things done in
life, all the forgotten sins, in all their naked and uncouth colours,
will stand undisguised before the mind. Nothing will escape the
memory:--nothing. The days of childhood, of youth, of middle age, of
elder years will give in their report. The soul will see things then as
they are, no longer tricked out in false and flattering guise. There, in
all their miserable littleness, and coarseness, and meanness, and
cowardice, bygone sins will rise up before the stern tribunal of the
unsparing memory, each as it was, each as it is, each as GOD saw it at
the time, each as GOD sees it now.

2. But this is not all. The souls of those who have received
forgiveness in life, and have passed into the Intermediate State in GOD'S
favour, are, we must remember, "with Christ"; with Christ, however
imperfect their characters, however scarred with traces of former wounds
of sin. The malefactor's character at his death must have been full of
blemishes, yet he was to be ushered and welcomed into Paradise by Christ
Himself. S. Paul again and again spoke of his own departure at death as
that which would lead him into the presence of Christ. It may, however,
be suggested that to be with Christ is to be with GOD, and that the
vision of Christ must be the same thing as the vision of GOD. But the
vision of GOD is specially reserved for the redeemed in heaven, while the
vision of Christ is possible in Paradise; for where Christ is there is
the vision of Christ. For Christ has assumed the form of man, and was
seen as Man by men. But no man hath seen nor can see GOD. He dwells in
the light which no man can approach unto. This is the vision of Him Who
is to mortal eyes in His essence invisible. That vision will be granted
to the pure in heart in the infinite glory of Heaven, granted to those
who