whole Christian teaching concerning
immortality. God is the God of the living. Bishop Pearson in his
exposition of the Apostles' Creed has an impressive passage, which I
quote: "The communion of saints in the Church of Christ with those who
are departed is demonstrated by their communion with the saints alive.
For if I have a communion with a saint of God, as such, while he liveth
here, I must still have communion with him when he is departed hence;
because the foundation of that communion cannot be removed by death. The
mystical union between Christ and His Church ... is the true foundation
of that communion.... But death, which is nothing else but the
separation of the soul from the body, maketh no separation in the
mystical union, no breach of the spiritual conjunction, and consequently
there must be the same communion, because there remaineth the same
foundation."[9]

[Footnote 9: Quoted in Welldon's "Hope of Immortality," page 332.]

Jesus taught that death is but a change of the form of existence. On the
Mount of Transfiguration Moses and Elijah appeared alive, and as
interested in human affairs. If death is not cessation of being, but
only a change in the form of its manifestation, why should we think
that human sympathy ends when breathing ceases, and why should we
conclude that mutual service may be rendered impossible by "a snake's
bite or a falling tile." Tennyson in "In Memoriam" gives the Christian
doctrine exquisite expression,

"Eternal form shall still divide
The eternal soul from all beside;
And I shall know him when we meet."

Jesus teaches the reality of immortality He represents those gone from
us as not dead but as still living and still interested in human
affairs. If His teaching is true, is it not as reasonable to try to
serve those of our loved ones who are out of the body as those who are
in the body? So far as we can see, the only way in which we can serve
them is by prayer, although they may, possibly, minister to us in other
ways.

If immortal existence means the possibility of unceasing growth, then
every reason which prompts prayer for those who are bodily present
remains a motive when they have entered the state which is purely
spiritual.

But what efficacy will prayers for the dead have? My answer is two-fold.
All the efficacy that prayer ever has. If death is relative only to a
single state of existence, and if those whom we call dead are living,
and still free agen