As sunlit clouds by a zephyr borne
Seem not to stir,

So to the golden gates of morn
They carried her.

'Now open the gates and let her in, And fling it wide,

For she has been cleansed from stain of sin,' St Peter cried.

'Though I am cleansed from stain of sin,' She answered low,

'I came not hither to enter in, Nor may I go.

'I come,' she said, 'to the pearly door
To see the Throne,

Where sits the Lamb on a sapphire floor
With God alone.

'I come to hear the new song they sing To Him that died,

And note where the healing waters spring From His pierced side.

'But I may not enter there,' she said;
'For I must go

Across the gulf, where the guilty dead
Lie in their woe.

'If I enter heaven, I may not pass To where they be,

Though the wail of their bitter pain, alas! Tormenteth me.

E

'If I enter heaven, I may not speak
My soul's desire,

For them that are lying distraught and weak
In flaming fire.

'I had a brother, and also another,
Whom I loved well;

What if in anguish they curse each other
In depths of hell?

'How could I touch the golden harps,
Where all my praise

Would be so wrought with grief-full warps
Of their sad days?

'How love the loved who are sorrowing,
And yet be glad?

How sing the songs ye are fain to sing
While I am sad?

‘O clear as glass is the golden street Of the City fair;

And the tree of life it maketh sweet

The lightsome air.

'And the white-robed saints with their crowns and palms

Are good to see;

And oh, so grand are the sounding psalms !

But not for me.

'I come where there is no night,' she said,

'To go away,

And help, if I yet may help, the dead
That have no day.'

St Peter, he turned the keys about
And answered grim,

'Can you love the Lord and abide without, Afar from Him?

'Can you love the Lord who died for you, And leave the place

Where His glory is all disclosed to view
And tender grace?

"They go not out who come in here;
It were not meet;

Nothing they lack, for He is here,
And bliss complete.'

'Should I be nearer Christ,' she said, 'By pitying less

The sinful living or woeful dead

In their helplessness?

'Should I be liker Christ, were I
To love no more

The loved, who in their anguish lie
Outside the door?

'Did He not hang on the cursed tree, And bear its shame,

And clasp to His heart for the love of me My guilt and blame?

'Should I be liker, nearer Him,
Forgetting this,

Singing all day with the seraphim
In selfish bliss?'

The Lord Himself stood by the gate,
And heard her speak

Those tender words compassionate,
Gentle and meek.

Now pity is the touch of God
In human hearts,

And from that way He ever trod
He ne'er departs.

And He said, 'I will go with you,
Dear child of love;

I am weary of all this glory too
In heaven above.

'We will go seek and save the lost, If they will hear;

They who are worst but need Me most, And all are dear."

69

1

Salvation by Creed.

HE doctrine of salvation by creed has been

THE

called, and I think justly, a pestilent doctrine. It involves one or other of two assumptions, both of which are false. It implies either that we are to be saved by creed without any reference to conduct; or that there is a necessary correspondence between the two, that if our creed be correct, our conduct will inevitably be right. The first assumption-that we are to be saved by creed without reference to conduct-has been much more common than you are perhaps aware. It is distinctly the teaching of high Calvinists; and it is in fact only a logical deduction from the doctrine of "justification by faith."1 Did I

1 Of course I know that this doctrine is often professed by those who recognise the importance of conduct; theologians are rather fond of professing contradictory propositions.