IF Dr. Matthews in his book about Madagascar, where he was for thirty years a missionary, describes this native custom : " The prisoners were kept in chains, but they had to earn their own living, and were confined to prison only during the night. On the days, however, on which the Sovereign appeared they were not allowed to leave the prison ; or if allowed out on these days, at noon, before the Sovereign was to appear, they had all to return
ISAIAH 211
to prison, were counted, and locked up. Why ? Because if one of those criminals managed to secrete himself, and then emerged from his hiding-place to gaze at and salute the Sovereign as she passed, wearing her diadem and beautiful in the glory of her royal apparel, he was a free man, whatever his crime had been. His chains were at once struck off, for he had looked on the Sovereign in her beauty and saluted her, the salutation being, ' Is it well with you, my Sovereign?' and no one could do that and still remain a prisoner."
2. " They shall behold the far-stretching land." What is heaven ? Everybody who cares to call himself a Christian hopes to go to heaven when he dies, and heaven means his idea of happiness. But if we try to get nearer people's thoughts as to what they really understand by heaven, we soon find that it means a different thing to different people, and except to a very few has really only a negative meaning. For instance, people think of the sorrow and the trouble there is in the world, and they say, " Thank God, in heaven there will be no more sorrow nor sighing, for God shall wipe away all tears from off all faces." Or again, they think of the toil and weariness which is the lot of many, and the unkindness which makes so many a life sad, and they look forward to that place, " where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." And I have heard, too, of people rejoicing in another of the negative joys of heaven, which, though not stated in the Bible, we all feel to be a fact. I have heard people say there will be no sects in heaven, no divisions or strifes, either religious or social. We feel at once that these cannot be where God is, for divisions are the work of sin and selfishness and self-assertion; and God is Love. And others, who feel a longing for knowledge, look forward to the fulfilment of the promise that " there shall be no night there," none of those things which puzzle and confuse and distract us here, but that we shall have risen above and beyond our present partial knowledge, and shall rejoice in the Truth.
If we turn from these negative ideas and ask, What has God revealed to us by His Spirit ? we find —
1. Heaven is a happy place. There is no doubt about that. " In thy presence is the fulness of joy ; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." It is natural, no doubt, that men should conceive of this happiness as the opposite of all that
212 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
makes them unhappy here, let it be sorrow or suffering, or want or sin. But happiness has a deeper meaning. It is simply the condition of that created thing which is doing that for which God created it ; realising, as we say, the idea of its being.
2. Heaven is a holy place. It is because it is holy that it is happy. Nothing that defileth can enter in. The Church trium- phant, i.e. the Church in heaven, is adorned as a Bride for her husband. It is a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
3. And just as it is happy because it is holy, so it is holy because it is the presence-chamber of God. We return to the first part of our text — " Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty." See Him as He is, in all the majesty of holiness and the tenderness of perfect love. We shall all be with Him, and near Him — nay, more than all, " we shall be like him when we see him as he is." That, then, is the great central truth which God has revealed to us about heaven. All else follows from this — the holiness, the happiness, the joy of heaven. " In his Presence there is the fulness of joy." ^
How know I that it looms lovely that land I have never seen, With morning-glories and heartease and imexampled green, With neither heat nor cold in the balm-redolent air ? Some of this, not all, I know ; but this is so : Christ is there.
How know I that blessedness befalls who dwell in Paradise, The outwearied hearts refreshing, rekindling the worn-out eyes ; All souls singing, seeing, rejoicing everywhere ? Nay, much more than this I know : for this is so : Christ is there.
0 Lord Christ whom having not seen I love and desire to love, 0 Lord Christ who lookest on me uncomely yet still Thy dove, Take me to Thee in Paradise, Thine own made fair : For whatever else I know, this thing is so: Thou art there.