THE REV. SIR W. ROBERTSON NICOLL.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15369, 28 August 1915, Page 9

THE REV. SIR W. ROBERTSON NICOLL.

"When the wounded go home"—how do they find it then? Among all the tender and wonderful words of Christ there are none more tender and more wonderful than these: "I go to prepare a place for you." Wo cannot fully comprehend them. Underneath are the great abysses of the Eternal Love.* How should Christ need to prepare a place for His people? Is it not enough that they should join Him where He is, and behold His glory? But if He is with them, is it not enough? With a word He made earth fit for created man, but He does not with a word make heaven fit for the regenerated He goes to heaven Himself as' a loving host to see everything set in order against their coming. These dear lads, struck to the ground, came into a world where a place was prepared for them. Before they entered it many a loving thought had been given to making ready for them. The garments in which they were first arrayed were the handiwork of their mothers. "Little cap* in eecret scwa And in many a quiet nook.* 1 They were received, most of them, with the gladdest and most loving weloome. So when they pass to the other side, to the new country, they are waited for. They are expected. All the things they need are ready. Their needs arc anticipated and supplied, and the homo of each differs from the home of every other. Nothing is too good for them. Everything must be the-best. Our Lord is engaged in preparing and in interceding. He does not take any of His redeemed till the fruits are all mellow and the flowers are all full blown Then they enter into nobler service .In a beautiful little book, "The Gospel of Hope," by Dr. Walpole, Bishop of Edinburgh, we read of the young Boldier fallen in battle. "I picture him still going forward, only without the limitation and hindrance that the flesh imposes on He passes immediately into Paradise, and rests from labour, but not from work. Everything

■ ■■ 1 — -- - ; j -- ' is looked at from within. "Intuition takes tho place of sight, faith that of knowledge." "Everyone feels at home at once; there is no strangeness, no gradual getting used, to things, no wondering whether you will Uko it, for all those old friends which, though we admired and praised on earth, wo constantly found escaping us, aro there in full strength." Wo must copy tho beautiful passage m which Dr. Walpolo describes the comforting greeting of the Divino Lovo to tho young soldier whoso name has been inscribed on the roll of honour:— "Away from thy homo thou wentesi, not knowing -whither thou wentast, and so tbou understandest My going forjh Vo succour tho world. In tho trenches thou hads» no cover for thy head, no rest for thy limbs, and thou kmrnedftt then the weariness of Him who had no whero to lay Ilia head. For days thou hadst short rations and 'hard fare, and in uncomplaining cheerfulness didst support the courage of thy followers, and so didst thou enter into the Fa»t of the Son of Man. Again and again 1 saw thee in the night watches, facing tho mystery of death and agonising in the conflict that it brought the*, and there "thou didst have thy share in My Gethsemane. And then in ohedienoo to the call that thou knowest meant death thou didst willingly lay down thy life, and so hast learnt the secret of Calvary more surely than a thousand books could have taught thee. All this was My plan for thee, that in a few weeks thou shouldst sum up the whole of life, and entering into the fellowship of My sufferings mightest share the rest that leads to tb© glory of Kerorrection." For Resurrection is tho goal. Paradise is a home of rest and of joyful work. But it is also a preparation for the Resurrection glory. Tho nappy spirit in tho consummation is united to the body. Tho Resurrection of Christ is tho guaranteo that those united to Him shall rise in the day of His appearing. For their bodies are redeemed as truly as their souls, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy, when this corruptible puts on lneorruption, and this mortal puts on immortality. Death admits tho faithful to a larger and more loving life. But that life is crowned on tho Resurrection day of which Easter testifies. Thus has Christ our Redeemer opened wide His hands and poured forth more than gold.