The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-02-02

vi ~
ward and the outward sides Of us are
in complete agreement. Either there
are certain opposing evils in the out
ward man which cannot be taken into
heaven, or certain opposing goods
which cannot be taken into hell.
Lazarus m ct be Invested of his rags
and sores, and Dives must be stripped
| of his purple and fine linen.
And this is the ordeal through
which we see the two men passing
in that fleeing glimpse Of the world
of spirits ~vouchsafed to us by the
| Great Teacher. The function Of that
| intermediate stage of the other life
is analogous to that OF the stomach
in the human body-the separation
and absorption Of that which Is capa-
BILE of being assimilated by the heav-
I emily society and the segregation OF
the rest.
A most painful experience it must
be. Surprising that Jul Utmost mo-
| tives have been Godly-that we have
been making a brave struggle to do
| Gods will, and supposing that we
have been largely defeated by certain
inherited defects of our outward ma
ture-infrmities of the temper, weak
nesses of the hesh-which we have
not succeeded in wholly overcoming.
These things, because they are super
| fetal in us and not central, because
we hate and do not love them, be-
cause, in short, they form no part OF
| our secret wills, will be removed IN
the world of spirits, and we shall
! finally be introduced into some posi-
ton Of greater or less usefulness and
hardness in the innumerable heaV-
ems, high and low. But 1t Is far bet
| ter to get rid Of them here, for here
they can be removed gradually and
painlessly, and being removed by the
exercise Of our own will of good,
their removal is accompanied by a
great development and enlargement
of all our powers Of JOY and service.
| While in that world of spirit, they
are simply cushed out Of us, or burnt
out, or pulled out by the roots. 1t Is
what Swedenborg calls the process OF
vastation-the spoliation and re-
moval, for instance, of the knowledge,
the talents, the cultivation, which
have made part of u natural man
in this world, but which we did not
embody in our secret and real selves
by regarding them, not for our "
glory and pleasure, but for Gods SER
vice. Ana If we carry any serious
faults with us to that final reckoning
with God, which still have any deep
roots in us-though We reach heaven
at last, we shall reach it though such
wales OF anguish, through such cruel
bles and threshing floors of torment,
with such tearings and rendings OF
the spirit, that we shall look back
upon the very worst Of our suferlngs
here as the merest pastime.
No doubt Lazarus had been trodden
in his wine-press Of pain in that in
terval between his death and the mo.
ment when Dives sees him with his
head on Abraham's bosom. But, oh,
the agony of Dives! For it is just in
that process Of VISITATION in the vesti-
bule of the hells that we behold
Dives and all his kind-the people
who have great possessions and Will
not give them to Gods poor and
needy in the spirit of lowly n low
ing service. Only that while Lazarus
Is being relieved of all that made his
soul ugly, Dives Is being stripped OF
all that seemed to make his soul beau
tiful. Though the will was selfish
and Goddess the intellect is still full
Of the truths Of religion, and by that
failing light his true character is be.
ing revealed to him in all its ugliness,
and he can now fully measure the
horror of his loss and his despair.
His eyes turn inward and he is made
to know that with all his moral vir.
! tues and amiable traits he never had
a motive that was not selfish, and he
now finds himself spiritually isolated.
1t Is a time Of s~elf-revealing con.
seriousness and remorse. He is still
capable of seeming consideration for
others, for though in a spirit Of self.
| justification, he pleads that a warn
ing be SEN to his brothers on earth
The flames of torment are the burn
ing appetites which he can no longer
crafty, and through the gathering
darkness he feels himself sinking.
while all his hopes and all his dreams,
the ornaments and beauties OF that
higher life to which he had aspired,
but which had never entered into a
motive Of self-sacrifice, fade from HE
grasp as he sinks down, down into
the abyss. 1t is the rending apart
Of a soul. ,
It is of Divine mercy that there
should be no such hell as that-that
the torments of Dives should be but
of the transition only. For Dives for
gets! The mere shell of him in which
he had resided here, all that might
have made his life sublime-the un-
lived truths, the outward elegancies
and powers and virtues, are all
stripped from him. Presently the in.
ternal, animating, selfish soul and
love Of him have changed the out.
ward appearance to their w hid
eousnesE.
We have before us a most terrible
warning. We know what we now
seem to be, but we know not what
we shall be. Our natural gifts are
but loaned to us for a season. They
are not a part of u permanent pos.
session, unless, in the way of His
service, we build them into the in
most fiber of our most unselfsh loves.
If used for our own pleasure and ad.
vancement they will be stripped from
us at last. God help us to use them
from His Spirit and in His service.