How, then, would they know when they had attained to this state of consciousness, of which he spoke, and which they but dimly understood?
How might they know when they had found this great love that was to make them "a new creature"?
First of all, they might know because:
LOVE NEVER FAILETH.
Love suffereth long and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up, does not behave unseemly; seeketh not its own; is not provoked; taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things.
In fact, LOVE NEVER FAILETH. Love is always a safe guide. No matter what may be said to the contrary; no matter how much suffering it entails; no matter how seemingly fruitless the sacrifice; or how ungrateful the results, love never faileth.
How can it fail when we "seek not our own," but only love for love's own sake, without regard to compensation or gratitude?
St. Paul, with all who have expressed in any considerable degree this cosmic realization, seems to have expected a time, when cosmic consciousness should become so general, as to bring the kingdom of love upon earth. This corresponds to the Millenium, which has always been prophesied, and which the present era fulfills, in all the "signs of the times" that were to usher in The Dawn.
Moreover, the idea that there shall come a time when death shall be overcome, is a persistent part of every prophecy, and of every religious cult. In these days we find that science is speculating upon the probability of discovering a specific for senile death, as well as for the final elimination of death from disease and accidents.
Whether or not this is to be the manner of "overcoming the last enemy," the fact remains that the almost universally held idea of physical immortality has a basis in fact, which this postulate of science symbolizes.