But they did this, undoubtedly, with all their delusions; they developed the _thought_ of immortality among the most benighted races of men.
Their most perplexing unrealities kept the mind restless and almost eager for some supplementary manifestation; so that, when the Star of Bethlehem shone out in the sky of Palestine, there were men looking heavenward with expectant eyes at midnight.

From that hour to this, and among pagan tribes of the lowest moral perception, the heralds of the Great Revelation have found the _thought_ of another existence active though confused.

They have found everywhere a platform already erected, like that on which Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill, and on which they could stand and say to heathen communities, "Him whom ye ignorantly worship declare I unto you! That future life and immortality which your darkened eyes and hungry souls have been groping and hungering for, bring we to you, bright as the sun, in this great gospel of Divine Love." Had the Star of Bethlehem appeared a century earlier, it might not have met an upturned eye.

If the Saviour of Mankind had come into the world in Solomon's day, not even a manger might have been found to cradle His first moments of human life; no Simeon waiting in the temple to greet the great salvation He brought to our race in His baby hands.
Here, then, commences, as it were, the central era of the soul's training in time.

Here heaven opened upon it the full sunlight and sunwarmth of its glorious life and immortality.