He lifted her up and she threw her arms about his neck and kissed him again and again.
"What a beautiful place this is!" she said. "O, mamma, I am very happy!"
"Yes, Alice, we are all happy--happy beyond expression. We now can partly understand that glorious truth taught us, that "spirit and element, inseparably connected, receiveth a fulness of joy.""
Alice was playing with the fishes and the swans in the garden, and the husband and wife were sitting by an open window, gazing out upon the city.
"Brother Volmer has not been to see us yet," said he. "You remember he was our brother Sardus?"
"I remember him well," she answered.
"His musical talent is now of great blessing to himself and to the cause of G.o.d, as he is a musical director in the Temple. He understands now why he lost his hearing while in mortality, and he praises G.o.d for his then seeming misfortune."
"Husband," said she, "I am thinking again about our children. How long will it be before we shall receive them all?"
"Not long now; but each in his order. Leave that to the Lord."
They looked out at Alice. The swans were eating from her hand, and she was stroking their curved necks.
"To look back," said he, "and see the wonderful ways through which the Lord has brought us to this perfection, fills my heart with praise to Him. Now we are beyond the power of death and the evil one. Now the pure, life-giving spirit of G.o.d flows in our veins instead of the blood of mortality. Now we can know the two sides of things. We understand the good, because we have been in contact with the evil. Our joy is perfect, because we have experienced pain and sorrow. We know what life is, eternal life, because we have pa.s.sed through the ordeal of death."
"Yes, Father teaches a good school."
"And we have learned this truth," said she, "that existence itself is a continuous penalty or reward. The children of G.o.d reap as they sow from eternity to eternity."
"Yes; then dwell on this thought for a moment: Our lives have just begun, as it were. We have eternity before us, and we are only now equipped to meet it."
"I am lost in the thought. But tell me about this thousand years of earthly peace and the last great change. Husband, I am a pupil now, and you the teacher."
"There is much to tell in contemplating not only the realities but the possibilities of the future. This earth has for some time been enjoying its Sabbath of peace and rest. He who rebelled in the beginning and fought against G.o.d is bound, and Christ is sole King of the earth. His laws go to the ends thereof, and all nations must obey them. The Saints are building holy places, and working for the living and the dead. No graves are now made, as the bodies of the Saints do not sleep in the dust. Thus it will go on until the thousand years are ended. Then Satan will be loosed for a little season; but his time will be short. Then comes the last great scene. The Lord will finish His work. In the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, He will be seen with all His angels. The mortal Saints yet on the earth will be instantly changed and caught up to meet Him. The holy cities will be lifted up. Then the elements will melt with fervent heat. The earth will die as all things must, and be resurrected in perfection and glory, to be a fit abode, eternally, for celestial beings. All things will become new; all things will become celestial, and the earth will take its place among the self-shining stars of heaven. Then shall we receive our eternal inheritance, with our children and our families. Then shall we be in possession of that better and more enduring substance spoken of by the prophets. All things shall be ours, "whether life or death, or things present, or things to come;" all are ours, and we are Christ"s and Christ is G.o.d"s."
"Why, then we will be like unto G.o.d."
"And is it strange that children should become like their father?"
"I remember now," said she, "as distinctly as though it were yesterday, what Father promised us in our first estate, that if we were faithful, we should be added upon, and still added upon. Do you remember it?"
"Distinctly," he answered. "It was to be "glory added upon our heads for ever and ever." Father is fulfilling his promise."
Then they sat still, not being able to speak their thoughts, but looked out towards the cloud-encircled towers of the city.
Alice came running in. "The people are coming," she said.
They looked out of the window and saw two persons approach, viewing the grounds with interest.
"It is Henrik and Marie," exclaimed Signe. The newcomers were greeted rapturously.
"Come in and see the results of my husband"s planning," said Signe.
The visitors were led through the house, and shown the gardens surrounding it. As they had been separated for a time from their friends they had many things to tell each other.
"Do you know," said Henrik, as they were all sitting by the playing fountain, "on our way here, we met Rachel!"
"Is she also risen?" asked Signe. "Oh, why did you not bring her with you?"
"Well," said Henrik with a smile, "I told her where we were going and asked her to come along. But she naturally preferred to stay with her husband who was taking her to see some of his own people; so she graciously declined, but said she would visit with us some other time."
"Right away?"
"I can"t say. She clung pretty closely to her husband. They are a splendid pair. I am glad, for I will admit that I once thought Rachel"s case was hopeless."
"We couldn"t see very far, could we, brother?" remarked Rupert.
"Our faith was weak, and we did not trust the Lord enough."
"Yes; I used to wonder how the Lord would ever straighten out the ma.s.s of entanglements that seemed to exist in the world. We failed to comprehend the providences of the Lord because we could not see beyond the narrow confines of the world in which we were living; we could see only a small part of the circle of eternity; we could not see how that visible portion, which was often rough and unshapely, could fit into anything beautiful; but now our vision is extended, and we have a larger, and therefore, a more correct view."
"And this I have found," said Henrik, smiling at Signe and Marie as with arms around each other, they sauntered down the garden path, "I have found that our work never ends. While in earth-life my mission was to seek after those of my people who had gone before me, and to do a work of salvation for them in the temples. In the spirit world, I continued my work preaching to my fellowmen, and preparing them to receive that which was and is being done for them by others. And now, I find, that I am busier than ever. We are teachers, directors, leaders, judges, and our field is all the earth."
"Yes," replied Rupert, "I attended the laying of the corner-stone of the one-hundredth temple the other day; and we have only just begun. The time, talent, wealth, and energy that formerly went to the enriching of a few and that was spent to build and sustain armies and navies, now are directed to the building of temples and the carrying on the work in them. I used to wonder how the needed temple work could ever be done for the millions of earth"s inhabitants, but now I can see how simple it is.
Tens of thousands of Saints, in thousands of temples, in a thousand years of millenium can accomplish it. Every son and daughter of Adam must have a chance; every tangled thread must be straightened out; every broken link must be welded; every wrong must be righted; every created thing that fills the measure of its creation must be perfected;--all this must be before the "winding-up scene" comes. All this can be accomplished, for now we have every force working to that end. The earth is yet teeming with our brothers and sisters in mortality; there is continual communication between the spirit world and this world, and then here are we, with our kind; we have pa.s.sed through the earth-life, through the spirit world, through the resurrection--and we, as you said, are busier than ever, because with our added knowledge and wider view comes greater power. Our services are needed everywhere. And what a blessed privilege we have in thus being able to help the Lord in the salvation of His children and the hastening to its destined end of celestial glory this world of ours."
Alice was playing with some birds, which she seemed to have well trained, as they were flying back and forth from her hand to the bushes.
The two women now came back along the path, stopping now and then to listen to a bird or to look at a flower. They joined Rupert and Henrik.
"I have quite a lot of names from the spirit world to bring to the Temple today," said Rupert, "among them fifteen couples to be made husband and wife."
"I have heard it said," remarked Marie, "that in heaven there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage."
"Neither is there," answered Rupert, "any more than there is baptism for the remission of sins. Neither this world nor the world of spirits, where live the contracting parties, is heaven."
"Isn"t this heaven?" asked Marie, looking around on the beauty with which she was surrounded.
"As far as we resurrected beings are concerned," replied Rupert, "we have heaven wherever we go; but this earth is only being prepared for its heavenly or celestial state. Until that is finished, there shall be marrying and giving in marriage."
"I"m glad of it," said Signe; "for there is--"
She was interrupted by Alice, who came in with the announcement that others were coming up to the house. Henrik and Marie were greeted for the first time by visitors who continued to gather. For some time, white-clothed persons had been directing their steps towards the Temple.
Now they were hurrying.
"It is time to go," said Rupert.
In a few moments they had changed their clothing, and with the speed of thought, they were within the Temple grounds. Entering, they took their places. Volmer pa.s.sed, and he paused to speak to them. Soon the hall was filled.
The Lord of Life and Light was there, and lent of His light to the scene.