Though the future is most glorious to these people, the past is also bright.  The hopes of the future are well grounded on the facts of the past.  An ever-present theme is that of Christ’s first visit to the spirit world, when, having died on the cross, He brought life and light and immortality to the world of spirits, entering even into the prison house where the disobedient had lain for a long time, and preached the gospel to them.

And among these who gloried both in the past and in the future were Rupert and Henrik.  Often they conversed on themes near to their hearts: 

“It must have been a place of darkness, of sad despairing hearts, that prison house, before Christ’s visit to it,” said Rupert.  “There, as in a pit, dwelt those who in earth-life had rejected the truth, and who, sinking low in the vices of the world, permitted themselves to be led captive by the power of the evil one.  Noah in his day preached to them, but they laughed him to scorn and continued in their evil ways.  Others of the prophets in their generations had warned them, but without avail; so here were found Satan’s harvest from the fruitful fields of the earth.”

“I can well imagine that long, long, night of darkness,” added Henrik.  “No ray of hope pierced the gloom of their abode.  The prison walls loomed around and above them, shutting out any glimpse of heaven.  These had rejected the truth, which alone can make men free.  They themselves had shut out the light when it would have shone in upon their vision.  They had chosen the evil, and the evil was claiming its own.  Outside the prison were their fellows who had chosen to do the right, basking in the light of a clear conscience, enjoying the approval of the Lord.  These faithful ones were going on to eternal perfection.  How long would it take the prisoners, if they ever were released, to overtake those ahead?  Between these was a great gulf fixed, which, in the ordinary order of things, could never be lessened or bridged.”

“But at last the time of mercy and deliverance came.  I remember how the events of the time have been described to me.  Just before the coming of the Lord, a peculiar, indescribable tremor ran through this spirit world as if one pulse beat through the universe and that pulse had been disturbed.  The spirits in prison looked in awe at one another, many crouching in terror, fearful that the day of judgment had come.  The vast multitude of the ignorant wondered what the ‘peculiar feeling’ could mean.  The righteous, who had been looking wistfully for some manifestation of the coming of the Lord, whispered to each other, ’The Lord is dying for the sins of the world!’