Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/231

Rh Thou art still in this world's surroundings. Thou art in Hades, and Hades is the air and space around the earth. See, thou art quite close, so far only art thou risen, as high as yonder tree. '

"Then I seized him by the white sleeve of his robe, and in my hands it felt soft like the downy clouds, like wool, yet without substance, and in deepest agony I cried: 'How then can I know whether I be saved?' 'Dost believe in Jesus, the Christ?' the Spirit asked. 'Verily and indeed I do,' I answered. 'Then the same hope that brought thee here will help thee still.'

"Then a great joy filled mine heart, a joy to which no earthly joy can be compared. The joy of certainty and rest, which no man hath on earth. 'Why, then, do men fear death?' I asked again. 'They fear what they know not. They believe in a life and a death of their own thinking. They live in dreams of their own making and waken but to die.' 'And who art thou?' I asked. 'I am the Spirit of Truth. In the world I cannot live, for Satan seeketh to destroy me, and he is the father of lies. Some I visit may seek for me, but there is no Truth on earth. Here I abide, and, when all dreaming and scheming and lying and cheating are at an end for any man, I meet the soul that hath loved Truth and I leave it not again. But thou must go back to the earth, and I cannot come with thee. See that thou speak the Truth and love the Truth and live it.'

"Then I asked him: 'What is Truth?' And the old man answered: 'Truth is that which a man heareth in his heart, and observeth not. 'T is the