The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-08-11
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Among the
Many Mansions
By Rev. James Nudge, D. D.
Montreal, Can.

Too much can hardly be made of
the fact that heaven, in very i'm.
portant sense, in its essential ele-
ments, is here and now. Nevertheless,
there is, of course, life hereafter be,
yond this world, life eternal in I'm.
manuePs land There is place
where Christ is" a place which He
told His disciples He would prepare
for their final abode. What should be
our attitude toward it, our feeling
about it? What use can we proftably
make of it in the deepening of our
spirituality, the perfecting of our
character?
1t is test both of our faith and our
faithfulness. In proportion to the
vigor of our faith will be the clear
ness of our sight of the things I'M
seen by mortal eye. our realization of
the intangible. We may have a faith
so strong that there will be no more
doubt as to the reality of that world
than Of this, no hesitation whatever
in accepting the intimations concern
ing it which are found in the written
Word, no question as to the satisfying
solidity Of its joys, the permanency
of the rich possessions to which 1t
introduces the redeemed. What will
give us this faith? Our faithfulness
to God and duty, our living constant
ly in His presence, our cultivating
those faculties which apprehend the
things of the spirit. The doctrine
of Immortality it has been we'll said,
is an achievement and can be pre-
sent in power only as the issue of
that spiritual growth whose flower
and fruit it is to be-" If we would
achieve certainty about it we must so
live that it alone stands as the inter
probation and contamination of our
days. We must habitually cherish
such convictions in our soul, must
breathe such high spiritual atmos-
phere, must walk so closely with the
infinite one, with the Heavenly Fa-
Their, in our daily experience that no
other outcome of our being than its
blissful continuance beyond death
will seem In any way reasonable or
possible. Such is the only path to
perfect peace in this matter. How
can a man of evil life really believe
in the hereafter? How can he who
is living wholly, or mainly, or even
largely for this passing world obtain
or retain a firm hold on the fact that
there is another world far more i'm
portant palace to which this is but a
portico? He could not live as he
does if he did so believe. His choos-
ing that kind of life inevitably dead
ems or destroys his power of belief in
anything better by and by. We know
as to the future what we are capable
of knowing. If we would know more
we must be more If we would see
further into the future we must live
at higher elevation. This, and not
seances or table movings or supposed
materializations of the spirits of the
departed, is the way to get solid
ground under ones feet as to the 9TH
er world.
Should longings for Heaven fill much
of our thought and time? Not to such
an extent as to prevent the devotion
of all our energies to the work assign
ed us by the Master. Surely not to the
breeding of the slightest discomfort
with the duration of our tarrying
here. St PauIs position about it (Phil.
1:23) would seem to be ideal He
keenly appreciated the glorious gain
involved in the transition to the
splendor as yet so imperfectly reveal
ed, but he also appreciated fully. the
Joy of laboring for Jesus on this earth
and increasing the triumphs of the
gospel. He was sufficiently unselfish to
put aside his own Joy in favor of the
advantage of his converts and others
to whom he could do still further
good. 1t is certainly safe to leave the
decision as to the best time and man
ner Of our death with God, assured
that it shall be exactly Alright and
need not concern us in the least It Is
not natural or possible for those in
perfect health, in the springtime of
youth, with the inviting, untried ex.
perience of life in this world all be-
fore them, to feel about another world
as they reasonably may who are
manifestly near 1t and whose friends
are mostly there. Yet at all ages it is
wholesome to keep In the background
of our thought the solemn fact that
we are pilgrims and strangers on
these shores of time, and soon to
launch forth for a voyage to fairer
climes
The gospel view of death, that It is
gain, not loss, to the believer; sunrise,
not sunset; transition, not destruc-
ton; birth into higher state of be-
ing; something to be hailed with 10Y,
not shrunk from with horror. is far
too rare. Most people, as the apostle
says, are "all their lifetime subject to
bondage through fear of death" (Heb
11:15), not knowing that Christ hath
abolished death and brought life and
immortality" Gil Tim. 1:10). What a
pity that they should thus miss.
through lack of faith, one of their
chief joys, the deliverance assured to
them in Jesus. 1t Is our privilege, as
Browning says, to greet the unseen
with a cheer" to feel that 1t wei &C.
cords with the nom day, the hustle
Of mans work tima ~ tbi,1y 80 49,.