rld, and as
will best bring the realities of the future to bear with beneficial
effect upon the present character of men. By a system of coloured lights
we contrive to warn the conductors of engines on our railways of danger
to be avoided on the one hand, and to intimate the line of safety on the
other. The things regarding which the engineers get instruction are not
within their view. A red or a white light are not like the things in the
distance that are to be dreaded or desired; but a red or a white light
displayed serves the purpose when the things themselves cannot be made
known. There everything is determined with a view to immediate practical
benefit. I think this helps me to grasp the difficult portions of the
parable. The purpose of the Lord was not to display his own knowledge or
gratify our curiosity. He ever acted as the Saviour of the lost; he
never swerved from that aim. It was his meat to do the Father's will,
and to finish his work. In this particular case, accordingly, the object
which he kept in view was not to convey to men in the body the absolute
knowledge of a state, for knowing which their faculties are unfit, but
to convey to them in time such shadows or signals of danger and safety
as the actual state of matters in the unseen world truly suggested, and
in such forms as that living men, from their view-point, and with their
mixed constitution, could comprehend and appreciate.

When this principle is permitted to dominate, the exposition of the
dialogue becomes comparatively both short and easy.

I do not know whether the saved are within view of the lost in a future
state, or whether any communication can pass between them; I only know
that this parabolic picture, constructed as from a view-point within the
present world, is the exhibition best fitted to make the diverse
conditions of the good and the evil beyond the grave effectual to warn
and instruct living men in the body. If any one should curiously inquire
about flame, what is its nature, and how it can hurt a spirit, I can
give no information on the subject, and I can gather none from the
parable. One thing I know, that this representation is a red light hung
out before me, as I am rushing forward on the line of life--hung out to
warn me of danger, and hung out by the hand of him who came to save the
lost. I understand perfectly what the beacon means to me: it is my part
to take the warning which it gives; and, as to the exact state of eve