^ We are all writing our life-histories here, as if with one of those " manifold writers," a black, blank page beneath the flimsy sheet on which we write ; but presently the black page will be taken away, and the writing will stand out plain on the page behind, that we did not see. Life is the unsubstantial page on which our pen rests; the black page is death; and the page beneath is that indelible transcript of our earthly actions, which we shall find waiting for us to read with shame and confusion of face or with humble joy in another world.^
The deeds we do, the words we say, — Into still air they seem to fleet.
We count them ever past;
But they shall last, In the dread judgment they
And we shall meet.^
ii. The Book of Influence.
There is another larger book on which our words and actions write themselves; for they influence not only ourselves but others. We print our thoughts, our doings, on those we live with, on thousands whom we shall never see, but whom our work
* A. Maclaren, in Christian Endeavour World, May 12, 1910, p. 644.
* J. Keble, Lyra Innocentium.
284 THE OPENING OF THE BOOKS
has influenced. We die, but this writing of ours does not die with us. Its power for good or evil still continues. Its book still speaks to bless or curse. Even on the whole race, so closely are we bound together, something of us is written. Our book is there, in prose or poetry, in song or tale, our unconscious literature, fraught with joy or pain to men, with good or ill.
Babbage spoke of the traces spoken words leave on the physical atmosphere. There is a moral atmosphere which presses on us all, though as in the case of the physical atmosphere we feel not the pressure, and scarce take note of its existence unless when its motions are unusually violent. That atmosphere is the public opinion of the community in which we live, which is practically the law that regulates our conduct. On the wholesomeness of this atmosphere our moral health in great measure depends. But it too responds obediently to every impulse communicated to it by those who live in it. Public opinion is, in short, nothing but the aggregate representation of the moral sentiments of each indi- vidual of the community ; and plainly each change in the moral condition of any individual affects that of the community ; in an infinitely small degree, no doubt, but the great changes in nature are the results of the accumulation of movements each infin- itesimally small. Yet, however small the direct effect of the action of one individual on the whole community, it might be large enough in his own immediate neighbourhood. Poisonous miasma which might have no perceptible effect when diffused through the whole atmosphere might be enough to make a whole house uninhabitable.
^ Science has been showing us of late something of the force residing in the actinic rays of light, by which it transfers im- pressions from one object to another. Wherever light goes, it carries and leaves images. The trees mirror one another, and opposing mountains wear each the likeness of the other upon their rocky breasts. These fine properties in nature suggest corre- sponding probabilities in man. It is poor logic to accept these fresh miracles of nature that are being so often revealed, and hold that we have compassed man and his possibilities. If such a process as this is going on in the dull substances without, how much more surely is it going on in the soul. All contact leaves its mark.^
1 T. T. Hunger, The Freedom ef Faith, 858.
REVELATION xx. 12 285
The lost days of my life until to-day, What were they, could I see them on the street Lie as they fell ? Would they be ears of wheat
Sown once for food but trodden into clay ?
Or golden coins squandered and still to pay? Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet ? Or such spilt water as in dreams must cheat
The undying throats of Hell, athirst alway?
I do not see them here; but after death God knows I know the faces I shall see,
Each one a murdered self, with low last breath. "I am thyself, — what hast thou done to me?"
"And I — and I — thyself," (lo ! each one saith,) "And thou thyself to all eternity I"^
IV.
The Book of Life.
1. Judgment is tempered with mercy. In the text, as every- where in the Book of Eevelation, there is a touch of mystery, through which, as through a veil, we seem to see the form of truth. We read : " And the books were opened." But we read further: "And another book was opened, which is the book of life." We know that, throughout the Apocalypse, "the book of life" is that record in which God keeps the names of those who, in this world, are faithful to Jesus Christ. In it are
inscribed the names of those who live the " overcoming life "
those who hold this world to be a field of battle, and who, with their deepest and truest will, are contending for the life of the Spirit. Of these, the names are in " the book of life."