HOW SHALL WE CONCEIVE OF THE FUTURE LIFE?
1. Its relation to the present constitution of things
Granting that there is a future existence, are we not wholly in the dark
as to what it is like? Is it possible to form any conception of heaven
that is not offensive to the intelligent mind? Professor Leuba says:
"As soon as, no longer satisfied with a general assurance of unruffled
peace and unalloyed enjoyment, we demand specifications, we find
ourselves in the presence of ideas and pictures, either absurd or
repulsive, or void of real attractiveness. The best gifted religious
seers succeed in this descriptive task no better than the cleverest
mediums."
Have we, then, no facts on which to build a rational conception of the
future state?
I believe that a satisfying view is a possible achievement, because we
have some very important and fundamental facts from which to construct a
picture. The minor details, of course, are unknown to us, but the main
outline, which principally matters, may be very clearly conceived. As we
have previously shown, the future does not have to do with a new God and
a new universe and a new soul; but with the present God, the present
universe, and the present soul to-morrow. The future is not some new
thing; it is the old realities a little later, and a little more fully
developed. That God will remain a stable factor in the equation, we may
rest assured. And we can read nature well enough in this scientific age
to understand that it is no sudden and fickle movement void of law and
order. Neither are we entirely ignorant of our own rational souls that
organize themselves into civilized communities by combining and giving
shape to the forces of nature in which we live. We have plainly seen
that neither God, nature, nor man has any worth or significance when
separated from each other. In the future life, therefore, there is but
one factor that is different from those found in the present
constitution of things, and that is the loss of the present human body.
And even this difference between the present and the future will be
largely rectified, according to the Scriptures, by our receiving new
bodies. For too long we have foolishly tried to show that the soul could
live without a body; and this in the face of the Scriptural teaching,
that God will give us new bodies. In our effort to show that the soul is
able to live independent of a body, we have likewise run counter to
experimental psychology and philosophy. Scriptures say we shall have new
bodies. Psychology shows that the souls with which we are acquainted are
dependent upon the body for consciousness and every intellectual
achievement. Philosophy likewise teaches that man can not exist outside
of God. Therefore when these bodies with which God now enfolds us die,
He must again enfold us or we shall perish. There is no reason for
thinking that a soul can live if disconnected from God, and the universe
of God, in which it lives. If God again enfolds a soul, that new
enfoldment will be its new body. And it will not be a spirit body
because that is a contradiction of terms. As the Scriptures teach, it
will be a _spiritual_ body; that is, it will be a highly refined and
delicate instrument of the spirit--yet a real body. This new body, as
was the case with the old, must be our first point of contact with the
universe of God. And in the future life, as here, the whole universe
will be our augmented body as we progressively become articulated with
it.
So all the old conditions of the present life will be restored on a
higher plane. Whether the new and refined body will closely resemble the
old, is a matter of speculation. However, it must be the instrument of
the spirit; and therefore it will have functions similar to the higher
intellectual and spiritual uses of our present body. We shall be
conscious in it and think with it, and through it we shall manipulate
the forces of the universe. If we can keep well, and work without
friction, and all pull together I see no reason why we should not
accomplish marvelous things in this universe, and at the same time
derive a very dignified satisfaction from it all.
However much advanced the new life may be, we shall still be the same
persons living in the same God and in the same universe as now. We shall
still be living for the same social and righteous ideals as now, and
our motive will be the same old motive of love and good will. God is not
a naked spirit hiding behind nature. He is a Loving Intelligent Will
revealing Himself by His outgoing energies which we call nature. In the
future life, the same as here, God will be trying to come to the surface
through the bodies which he provides for Himself and His children. And
He will be striving, likewise, for a full expression of Himself through
all the institutions that His children will be organizing out of His
beautiful and boundless energies.
Nature is not the gross, crude thing that ignorant people take it to be.
Neither is it something apart from God. With the little intelligence
that a few have acquired on this kindergarten earth, we begin to see
what a divine thing nature is. When it is better known and more wisely
and lovingly used by God's children, all nature will be vocal with God's
wisdom and love.
2. Where is heaven?
Heaven is some place, or many places, in our present universe. God will
never leave His beautiful universe that is so infinite in its
complexness, so vast in its dimensions, and so rich in its millenniums
of development, and go off into nothingness to build some sort of
mystical and ethereal heaven. Heaven will be as much a part of the
universe as is this earth. And this earth is infinitely closer in its
relation to the whole than we are now able to comprehend. Almost daily,
scientists are discovering new bonds between the earth and the rest of
the universe. The inhabitants of heaven will not be less closely
connected, but much more vitally and intelligently related to nature
than are we.
There are doubtless many spheres in this universe that would make good
sites for a heaven. And it would be interesting to know how many of them
are already so utilized. "In my Father's house are many mansions." When
we speak of mansions in the skies it would be well to remember that the
earth is a pretty good mansion in the skies. The trouble is, being such
poor Christians, we have not built upon it a very good heaven. While we
have not been wholly recreant in building a heaven on earth, yet we have
often cursed this mansion by constructing many hells of smaller or
larger proportions.
Another reason for believing that God does not plan for a heaven outside
the objective universe, is the deep desire of man to make his richest
ideals tangible and objective in a book, a piece of art, a musical
composition, a noble building, or some splendid institution. Life
without expression and achievement, as we know it, is both
unsatisfactory and dangerous. The same must be true in relation to God,
as evidenced by His vast and beautiful works that have come forth
unfolding out of the infinite past and now promise to expand and
differentiate into the infinite future. Even in the sphere of human
lives He has impelled men to express His wisdom, beauty, and purpose
according to human modes of expression.
It evidently is not God's design to abandon His works of nature and draw
back into His own thoughts and spend eternity in self-contemplation. He
rather intends to utilize the unlimited capacity of nature, and the
unbounded ability of His children, to give the fullest possible
expression both of His children and of Himself in a kingdom which has
form as well as soul.
In Chapter III I gave a description of the kingdom of God on earth. I
shall now repeat that statement as an equally good description of the
kingdom of God in heaven:
"The kingdom of God is a loving intelligent family, organized around the
Father's good will, living in the universe as His home, using the forces
of nature as the instruments of His will, and making all things vocal
with His wisdom, love, and power."
So little has the kingdom of God been realized on earth that it is like
a kingdom on paper in comparison with what has doubtless been realized
elsewhere in the universe.
3. Will there be a Holy City?
There will doubtless be many holy cities and plenty of country too. The
Holy City described in the book of Revelation was, in the thought of the
writer, to be located on earth. While it should be our aim to build an
ideal city on earth, yet like most of our aims it will probably fall
short. If in some respects the City of Revelation does not appear to be
the most desirable kind of place in which to live, nevertheless, as a
thing of symmetry and beauty it is a marvelous picture. A perfect city
is a wonderfully attractive thought; and none the less so because one
enjoys a vacation in the country. If there is no ideal city in this
universe, there should be. New York, London, and Paris, in spite of the
ugliness, squalor, crime, and disease which they contain, are very
fascinating. They bring together so much knowledge, wealth, and power
that one feels the mighty impact of it all upon his soul. If one lives
under the most favorable conditions in a great city, his consciousness
so blends with the whole that the city seems to be but his larger self.
This is simply the fuller experience of that law of consciousness which
makes a man feel larger when he puts on a fur coat, or taller when he
wears a silk hat, and causes a woman to feel like her silks and plumes
and fluffy garments. A city without crime, disease, poverty, or
ugliness; a Holy City filled with art, music, knowledge, love, and every
kind of fascinating employment; such a city would lift one into a sense
of joy and greatness beyond words to express.
From our present meager knowledge of the universe, what kind of a city
would be possible if all the laws and resources of nature were fully
utilized? Considering, then, the millions of people who have grown rich
in wisdom and character through millenniums of experience in the
congenial company of their fellow citizens of a heavenly kingdom, what
is it reasonable to suppose they have done in the way of realizing these
possibilities? Even with our limited knowledge of nature's resources,
we know they could have built a city that would make the one pictured in
Revelation look like a beautiful Christmas toy. And if the departed are
living in our universe and not in a vacuum, what could have prevented
them from achieving such a glorious result?
"For thee, O dear, dear country,
Mine eyes their vigil keep."
Every one is justified in viewing his life in the light of this larger
perspective. For by so doing he not only prepares himself for better
citizenship in the life beyond, but at the same time accomplishes a
larger and better piece of work on earth. When we break our lives and
the universe up into fragments, as so many do, we are like children
playing with broken pieces of china. For each of us there is one life,
in one universe, under one leader. Beginning in weakness, life grows
into strength; beginning in ignorance, it develops into wisdom;
beginning in selfishness, life expands into a kingdom of love and
righteousness. At first we are submerged in the material; but finally we
discover that the material is of spiritual origin, and that it can be
turned to spiritual ends. Like true artists, we no longer scorn the
material forces, but see in them all the latent image of the divine.
Whether the image that finally appears shall be a devil or a God will
depend upon the hands that shape the material.
4. Will there be music?
Though we may laugh at Mark Twain's caricature of the saint with his
golden harp, yet music is not to be laughed out of this universe. There
will be music, of course; though heaven will not run all to music, yet
there will be plenty of it and it will be of the right quality.
We know perfectly well that this vibrant universe has unlimited musical
possibilities, and that we have scarcely begun to utilize these
possibilities either in the way of music or instruments. With the
instruments improved a thousand fold and multiplied a million fold, they
would call for such noble music as has never yet been written. With the
technique possible to more highly refined bodies, with time to outgrow
all amateur execution, with the leadership of all the musical geniuses
of the ages, and with an unlimited number of voices and performers to
select from, the music of a heavenly city should surpass our wildest
dreams. And there is no sensible reason for thinking that there would be
music without sound or that there would be musicians without
instruments. We have no right to think well of God, and at the same time
think ill of His forces with which He enfolds us.
5. Shall we meet our loved ones?
I see no difficulty in the way of meeting our loved ones in a future
state. Of course, I could not abide permanently with my parents, and
they with theirs, and so on clear back to Adam. The great population
would, of necessity, be scattered over a wide area. After reaching
maturity we do not, as a rule, live with our parents here on earth. The
connection is kept up by the different modes of communication and by an
occasional visit. And though the distances there would, doubtless, be
much greater than here, yet the means of communication and of travel
would much more than rectify the difference in distance. In heaven, as
here, we should probably have some friends near by and others remote
from us. However, we have already overcome space to a marvelous degree
on earth; and have scarcely commenced to use the resources of which we
are aware. We not only have the omnipresent mail system, the telegraph,
and the telephone, but we have made some use of the electrical pen, and
are rapidly developing the wireless telephone. Scientifically it would
be possible, even now, so to develop the wireless telephone that a
speaker could be heard by every one in the United States at the same
time. If we could project the images of those speaking, as we are hoping
to do, we should have a very good hint of the possibilities of
communication in a future state. With finer bodies, and finer
instruments, and a better knowledge of nature's forces, it seems
credible that we could see and hear our friends with but little regard
to distance. There is no reason for putting limitations on the
possibilities of nature, even here on earth; and much less reason for
doing so in connection with the future state of existence. All the
suggestions are in the opposite direction. The X-Ray enables us to see
through solid bodies. Radium, which has no appearance of light, will
affect a photographic plate through a foot of iron. Actinium, one of the
radioactive substances, is said to have a chemical activity which is
about a thousand million times swifter than that of radium. And the
discovery of new rays is getting to be a common occurrence. Everywhere,
nature is suggesting heretofore unheard of possibilities; it is
apparently vindicating what we have been saying, that nature is of God,
and that we are enfolded in His energies for the purpose of using them.
Nature, that proceeds from God, is doubtless as exhaustless as God
Himself. There are no indications that it will ever fail His children as
they move on and out into largeness of life and richness of experience.
We little children on earth, as previously illustrated, are in quest of
omnipresence; and we are slowly achieving it by progressively taking on
the universe as our augmented bodies. Then how much more rapidly may we
realize this process of enlargement under the new conditions to which we
are going? Not only shall we have finer bodies, but we shall be in
company with those who for thousands of years have been learning the
secrets of God and His universe. Our increased knowledge of the world in
which we live does not raise new barriers between citizens of heaven,
but suggests a thousand rational modes of contact inconceivable a
hundred years ago. Every day I am more amazed at the way the natural
sciences assist Christian faith. Yet this is as it should be if all
things come from God.
6. Shall we see God?
Certainly not as a ghost; but we shall see Him in the face of Jesus. We
shall likewise see Him in our loved ones. Since all bodies are primarily
God's, we shall see Him in every face, when the purified souls of His
children permit Him to come into possession of His own.
One glorious evening in the springtime, I sat in the gloaming with my
father by the roadside. From an exceedingly hard day's work we were
"dead tired." Yet for our healing, the air was filled with the scent of
newly turned turf and the fragrance of blossoms. A large drove of swine
was crunching the corn which we had just provided them. The woods,
beginning at the other side of the road from which we sat, extended into
the deep valley. From the dark shadow of the woods rose the incessant
din of the whippoorwills. As we sat there, feeling a thousand influences
from the sweet mystery of it all, my father turned to me and said:
"I know you are very tired; we have really worked too hard, but the
debts must be paid. I want you to know that I appreciate what you are
doing. You have been a good boy, and I have confidence in you. It will
not be long until I am gone. But what a satisfaction it is to feel that
you will be a good Christian man accomplishing in the world, when I am
gone, things which I have not been able to do." As the golden glow of a
late evening sky fell across his face, it mingled with the light from
his soul and clearly revealed the Eternal. God had looked into my soul
through that face, and I had looked into the heart of God no less than
into the heart of my father. Yes, he has been gone many years, and I am
here fighting the good fight, but oh my heart, what shall I see when
next I look upon his face!
We may depend upon it, the invisible soul of God and the invisible souls
of His children shall become visible through their bodies, through their
activities, and through their institutions which are in common. Their
spirits shall likewise become audible through music and speech. Our
Father in heaven differs from our God on earth only in this: On earth
there is so little to express Him, while in heaven there is so much. God
truly has a throne in heaven, but the great white throne is the pure and
loyal hearts of His children.
7. Will there be burdens to bear in heaven?
Heaven will not be too "soft" for our good. There is much bad work to be
righted, and unfinished work to be completed. We shall have glorious
tasks to perform, and splendid problems with which to grapple. Sharing
God's purposes as well as His joys, we shall still be discovering the
mind of God, and getting a firmer grasp upon His laws and forces; we
shall still be organizing nature and society into a more glorious
kingdom of love, beauty and power. We shall be making the ideal real,
and the unseen visible. We shall accept God's will in our souls. We
shall accept His will in the forces of nature, and make His instruments
more vocal and more radiant as time rolls on in eternity.