CHAPTER VI.

FORESPLENDORS.

WE Come now to the only theory that remains to us of the future life, and our contemplations must be in accordance with its principles, if we think at all and think rationally on the themes of immortality. It ceases, however, in our judgment, to be a theory, for it is not one of those guesses at truth which are made by the wit of man. It is the sacred pneumatology unfolded to us in the whole course of Divine Revelation.

If any one will take his Bible and read it through with his eye specially open to those passages which bring the things of immortality clearly within his range, he will be amazed at the richness and fulness of the Divine disclosures upon this subject; and he will wonder whence could have originated the current aphorisms of non-belief, that "little is said upon the subject," and "we must not attempt to pry into it." From the beginning to the end of the Di

vine dispensations the fact of a spiritual world is assumed. No attempt is made to prove it logically, for the simple reason that rents and openings are constantly made, through which it floods the earth with sunbeams.

A spiritual WORLD, we say, and not a future state merely; a world of forms and substances, and organized existences, whose intense life and giant realities are in striking contrast with the pale tints and dull activities of this natural state of being. Why have these passages to so great an extent been blinked at and ignored? Is there any other reason than our habits of sensuous thought, which regards all objects but natural ones as only shadows?

The Scriptures adopt two distinct methods by which to give assurance to the believer and bring him under the influence of eternal things. The first is that of promise,― promise of the blessed inheritance, as Jesus when going away left the assurance that he would prepare mansions for his followers, or as Paul when he wrote to relume the faith of those who wept for them that had fallen asleep. The second is that of DISCLOSURE, the visible evidence which comes in those angelophanies which uncover eternal verities to human gaze. The former certifies us of the fact of immortality. The latter does more; it unveils its laws and methods, and in so doing

gives us in the Sacred Scriptures a clear, consistent, and beautiful pneumatology.

We will select a few passages of the latter class, and then we will indicate the laws of existence which they bring fully into light. The Old Testament abounds in them; but the New Testament is itself an apocalypse of the Future in the Present.

Genesis xxviii. 10-17. Jacob "dreamed," the record says. But while the natural senses were locked fast, an inner sense was touched, and opened, and made to apprehend other and higher things than dreams are made of. Another class of agencies appear rising rank beyond rank, and disclosing the future course of the Divine Providence. His natural senses open again, and so impressed is the patriarch with the higher verities that exist within and beyond them, that he pronounces the place "dreadful," and "the gate of heaven."

2 Kings ii. 9–12. The history and writings of a class of persons called prophets comprise a very large portion of the books of the Old Testament. The reader may not have noted the special significance of the fact that this class of persons have two distinct functions. One is that of prediction, by virtue of which they simply deliver the mes

sage that comes to them, with the formula, "Thus saith the Lord." The other is that of prevision, and is a higher and ampler endowment. By this the prophet has open view of the realm of causes, and with a new power of perception is confronted with the objects and environed with the scenery of a higher world. Let the reader keep carefully in sight this distinction between prophecy and seership in passages cited from the prophetic writings and history.

In the passage above cited we have the history of what is generally called the translation of Elijah. Both Elijah and his companions have premonitions that his transition from natural to spiritual existence is at hand. "Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day?" "Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace." In view of the solemn parting which was soon to take place, Elijah says to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee." And Elisha said, "I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me"; that is, I pray that I may receive in the fullest sense thine own special endowments. The reply is, "Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, IF THOU SEE ME when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so"; which means, if you have open vision of the change that awaits me, that of itself will

show that your prayer is granted, and that you have the highest prophetic endowment. And as they went on and talked, they were parted asunder, and Elisha saw the prophet ascend to heaven on "the horses of fire and the chariots of fire." What became of the natural body we are not told. But that this was not what was taken into heaven is clear from the fact that it required a new kind of perception to witness the spectacle. It was not a transfer from one locale to another, but from a lower degree of existence to a higher, and it required the gift of seership to apprehend it and the stupendous agencies which it involved. It was not therefore a translation, but a transfiguration; not an ascent through the air to heaven, but an ascent through the altitude of being, precisely like the changes of mortal dissolution.

2 Kings vi. 11-17. The mantle of Elijah falls on Elisha; that is to say, the highest function of the prophetic gift becomes his also, for he sees those objects that lie within the realm of causes. He reveals the secret counsels of the Syrian king, and becomes obnoxious to his vengeance. The king sends to arrest him. To make sure of success, he arms a great host, and provides horses and chariots; and they go by night and beleaguer the place where the prophet is abiding. It is the town of Dothan, which lies twelve miles