158 A Walk from 



veloped the thought of immortality among the most 

 benighted races of men. Their most perplexing un- 

 realities kept the mind restless and almost eager for 

 some supplementary manifestation ; so that, when the 

 Star of Bethlehem shone out in the sky of Palestine, 

 there were men looking heavenward with expectant 

 eyes at midnight. From that hour to this, and among 

 pagan tribes of the lowest moral perception, the heralds 

 of the Great Revelation have found the thought of 

 another existence active though confused. They have 

 found everywhere a platform already erected, like that 

 on which Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill, and on 

 which they could stand and say to heathen communi- 

 ties, " Him whom ye ignorantly worship declare I unto 

 you ! That future life and immortality which your 

 darkened eyes and hungry souls have been groping and 

 hungring for, bring we to you, bright as the sun, in this 

 great gospel of Divine Love." Had the Star of Bethlehem 

 appeared a century earlier, it might not have met an up- 

 turned eye. If the Saviour of mankind had come into 

 the world in Solomon's day, not even a manger might 

 have been found to cradle His first moments of human 

 life ; no Simeon waiting in the temple to greet the great 

 salvation He brought to our race in His baby hands. 



Here, then, commences, as it were, the central era of 

 the soul's training in time. Here heaven opened upon 



