Paul had a dream--an
absurd dream let us call it--of an immediate millennium, and of the
return of his Master surrounded with divine splendour, judging
mankind and adjusting the balance between good and evil. It was a
baseless dream, and the enlightened may call it ridiculous. It is
anything but that, it is the very opposite of that. Putting aside
its temporary mode of expression, it is the hope and the prophecy of
all noble hearts, a sign of their inability to concur in the present
condition of things.
Going back to Clem's wife; she laid hold, as I have said, upon
heaven. The thought wrought in her something more than forgetfulness
of pain or the expectation of counterpoising bliss. We can
understand what this something was, for although we know no such
heaven as hers, a new temper is imparted to us, a new spirit breathed
into us; I was about to say a new hope bestowed upon us, when we
consider that we live surrounded by the soundless depths in which the
stars repose. Such a consideration has a direct practical effect
upon us, and so had the future upon the mind of Mrs. Butts. "Why
dost thou judge thy brother," says Paul, "for we shall all stand
before the judgment-seat of God." Paul does not mean that God will
punish him and that we may rest satisfied that our enemy will be
turned into hell fire.
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