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Yet the holders of such views do not differ as to the main truth, but only as to the fashion of conceiving of it. We all agree that the eternal I AM is the rightful Governor of the world and of our lives, and that His Word delivers us from evil, and that His Holy Spirit quickens us into the life everlasting. We agree that death shall be swallowed up in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from every eye ; and those indeed who have bowed down to the beast of fraud and violence must be judged by His mark, which they will bear in their souls ; but those who have followed the Lamb in innocence will receive the crown of patience in joy. So that the way to have the life of Christ hereafter, is to leam the power of His death now. We also agree, that the tempers and deeds which God has made conditions or instru- ments of entering into heaven, are the surest means of peace and happiness on earth. So that the kingdom of God is the same, now, and for ever ; and our faith has the promises of the world which now is, and of that which is to come.'' 520 NOTE ON CHAPTER XIIL I append here as illustrations, some broken extracts from the Rev. F. Robertson's Sermon on God's Revelation of Heaven, " Revelation is made by a Spirit to a spirit. Christ is the voice of God tvU/umt the man — the Spirit is the voice of God within the man. The highest Revelation is not made by Christ, but conies directly from the universal Mind to our minds. Therefor© ChLrist said, The Spirit shall take of miney and shall shew it unto you. And therefore it is written, The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, tlie deep tilings of God (1 Cor. ii. 9 — 12.) Now the Spirit of God lies touch- ing as it were the soul of man — ever around and near. On tlie out- side of earth, man stands with the boundless heaven above him : nothing between him and space — ^the confines of the sky touching him. So is the spirit of man to the Spirit of the Ever Near. They mingle, — in every man this is true. The spiritual in him, by "which he might become a recipient of God, may be dulled, and deadened by a life of sense ; but in this world never lost. All men are not spiritual ; but all have spiritual sensibilities which might awake. All that is wanted is to become conscious of the nearness of Grod Our souls float in the immeasurable ocean of spirit. God lies around us : at any mo- ment we might become conscious of the contact. " The condition upon which this Self-revelation of the Spirit is made to man, is Love. To love God is to love His character. For instance, God is Purity — to be pure, is to love Him. God is Love- to love men, even the evil, and enemies, is to love God. God i Truth — to be true, is to love Him. God is Infinite, and to love the boundless, reaching on, and rising upwards ever, aiming insatiablr to be perfect, even as the Father is perfect, — that is to love GJod. " This love is manifested in obedience ; or is the life, of whi<4 obedience is the form. Nothing can be love to Grod, which does net shape itself into obedience. Strong feelings, warm expressions ntf^ not usurp that sacred name. " To love, adoring and obedient, God reveals His Truth. Lore i? the condition, without which revelation does not taJce place. IV secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. No man hath •"• God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in ii With this man will He dwell, even with him that is of a meek i^ contrite spirit. If any man will do His will, he shall know of tk NOTES ON CHAPTER XIII. 521 doctrine. Reverence, love, meekness, contrition, obedience, these are the conditions upon which God enters into the soul, whispers His secret, becomes visible, imparts knowledge and conviction- '' There is no favourite child of nature who may hold the fireball in the hollow of his hand and trifle with it without being burnt — there is no selected child of grace who can live an irregular life with- out imrest ; or be proud, and have peace ; or indolent, and receive fresh inspiration ; or remain imloving and cold, and yet see and hear and feel the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. '^ The Cross is humbleness, love, self-surrender. These the apostle preached. To conquer the world by loving it, to be blest by ceasing the pursuit of happiness, and sacrificing life instead of finding it, to make a hard lot easy by submitting to it, this was His divine philo- sophy of life The disciples of the inward life recognised the divine truth, which this doctrine of the Cross contained. It was God's own wisdom, felt by those who had the mind of Christ. " If obedience were entire and love were perfect, then would the Revelation of the Spirit to the soul of man be perfect too. There would be trust expelling care, and enabling a man to reposa There would be a love which could cast out fear. There would be a sympathy with the mighty All of God. Selfishness would pass. Isolation would be felt no longer ; the tide of the universal and eternal life would come with mighty pulsations throbbing through the souL To such a man it would not matter where he was, or what : to live or die would be alike. If he lived, he would live unto the Lord ; if he died, he would die to the Lord "These are the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. Compared with these, what are loveliness, the eloquent utterances of man, the conceptions of the heart of genius ? What are they all to the serene stillness of a spirit lost in love ; the full deep rapture of a soul into which the Spirit of God is pouring itself in a mighty tide of Revelation 1" F. RoBEBTSON*s Sebmon, pp. 11 — 17. *^* In balancing the General and Special, it would have been important to notice, that remorse of the nerves, as a kind of physical sensitiveness, is no entire criteri9n of guilt ; for it ensues upon mistakes of manner, and trifles of misunderstanding, as much as upon deliberate sin. Yet it is an index to a ^EMnilty, which reason and faith are to train. 522 SCEPTICAL APPROXIMATION. CONCLUSION. "Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall aU flesh come." " With Thee is the well of life : in thy light we shall see light." "Well," said WolflF, hastening to interpose while Blan- combe paused for a little, ** you have been tolerably successful in removing the objections brought against Christianity, and your success seems to have resulted from a larger view of the working of Divine Providence in the world and of its religious development in humanity than some might be willing to take. Nor can I help admitting, on part of my Chdrvdca or mate- rialising clients, that so far as their materialism implies a denial of an overruling Deity, or of a spiritual world encompassing us, into which our spirits which seem akin to it may pass hereafter with a fair probability of surviving for ever, so far, I say, their cause appears to have broken down. For not only the clear consciousness of men affirms the first, and an immense instinct aspires to the second, (even the stories which it may have gene- rated bearing witness to its force,) but the belief compounded of these two thoughts has exercised so lively a sway throughout all history, that it has been proved one of the dominant forces of the world. So that, however the thing may have come about, I admit we must believe in God, and have reason to liope or fear, more or less distinctly, the possibility at least of a life to come. Nor do I wonder that such thoughts should both have vexed or swayed men's minds, and taken positive form in reli- gion, however obscure may be some of the questions involved in them. But still it is not clear to me, whether you have not shifted the idea of Revelation from its usually positive sense into a kind of spiritual growth, or something that more nearly resem- bles some Indian theories of a Divine spirit pervading and elevating humanity. Or even if you do not intend this result, yet your arguments for what is commonly termed an external revelation, either as the transfer from heaven to earth of a bodj SCEPTICAL APPBOXIMATION. 523 of information which is to be conned over like a map, or as a placing before men's bodily eyes, in some remote period, Divine objects, which are always externally opposed to us, and except on rare occasions within that period, not seen or cognisable by ns, — have not appeared so convincing as you may have desired.