that opens between this life
and that life only "open inwards," and that none have come back to tell
us what in that after life they knew about us and about our doings on
earth. Yet this ignorance of ours is not the same thing as knowledge of
the contrary, any more than silence is always equivalent to denial.
Because we cannot see with our eyes, nor hear with our ears, and cannot,
by our actual senses, put the question to the test, we are not on this
account justified in denying. Do we not know almost nothing as to the
limits of the powers of the spirit world? All we can say, so far as
reason can be our guide, is this, that it is _possible_ that souls in the
Intermediate State, if they are conscious of themselves and of their
present condition, if they retain memory, if they have means of holding
intercourse with one another, may have means of knowing what goes on
here: I say that reason will tell us that this is at least possible, and
that it is quite impossible to prove the contrary.

But does the Bible throw any light upon this mysterious subject? I think
it does. It will be remembered how, in the narrative of the rich man and
Lazarus, Abraham is made to say to the rich man, "They have Moses and the
Prophets, let them hear them." We may ask, how could Abraham, who lived
more than 400 years before the birth of Moses, have known of the
existence of Moses, if there were no possible means of communication, by
which occurrences on earth could be made known in the unseen world where
Abraham was? What could he know of the prophets who lived more than a
thousand years after his time, if no possible communication could find
its way to that other world? {96} And we may trust this inference
because, in a narrative of this kind, whether it be historical or not, it
is not to be supposed that our Lord would have introduced a false detail.

Let us, however, turn to another passage. In the scene on the Mount of
the Transfiguration there appeared, talking with Christ, Moses and
Elijah. In what condition were they present? They were still in the
Intermediate State. The general Resurrection had not, and has not yet,
come. "In glory" they appeared. Yes! some outward clothing, as of a
bodily form, gloriously radiant was thrown round them, so that they
became visible for the time to the eyes of the three disciples. But in
no resurrection bodies did they come; for in those they could not yet
present themselves, since they ha