2l6 I GO A-FISHING. 



working for them. ' Except the Lord build the house, 

 they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep 

 the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain 

 for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of 

 sorrows. He giveth to his beloved while they sleep.' 

 No, sir, there is no night and no sleep there, and no 

 need of sleep, for the eternal joys are not to be weari- 

 some." 



" But you don't believe that we are to lead a life of 

 eternal repose there. I can't say that I have any fancy 

 for the heaven that some people look to, of everlasting 

 quiet and calm and rest. Is labor then necessarily pain 

 that men think it a blessing to get rid of it ?" 



" For them that labor and are heavy laden, there is rest 

 there ; but I agree with you in believing that the rest is 

 only refreshment for eternal work and the enjoyment of 

 it. The keenest sense of happiness which man has here, 

 is found in doing something for the objects of his affec- 

 tion. The most perfect contentment is to be found in 

 being useful. I often wonder what ideas Augustine had. 

 He used a word once which made me fancy that with all 

 his eloquent thought about heaven, of which his works are 

 so full, he never quite appreciated it." 



" The word ?" 



" He said ' Ibi vacabimus' I don't like that word vaca- 

 bimus ' Ibi vacabimus et videbimus, videbimus et amabi- 

 mus, amabimus et laudabimus. Ecce quod erit in fine sine 

 fine.' I remember the passage because I often say it over 

 to myself, and it closes his greatest work, ' De Civitate 

 Dei.' But I don't believe the life hereafter will be any 

 such as is properly expressed by that word vacabimus. 

 Old friend, I was taught from childhood to believe in a 

 local heaven. We shall be there with these eyes of ours. 



