Speaking of the materialism of heaven, Dr Chalmers truly says:--"The
common imagination that many have of paradise on the other side of
death, is that of a lofty, aerial region where the inmates float on
ether, or are mysteriously suspended upon nothing; where all the warm
and felt accompaniments which give such an expression of strength, and
life, and colour to our present habitation, are attenuated into a sort
of spiritual element, that is meagre, and imperceptible, and wholly
uninviting to the eye of mortals here below; where every vestige of
materialism is done away with, and nothing left but certain unearthly
scenes that have no power of allurement, and certain unearthly
ecstasies with which it is impossible to sympathise," The
sensitiveness with which many thus shrink from almost alluding to the
physical element of enjoyment in heaven, because it is unworthy to be
compared with the spiritual glory that is to be revealed, arises, no
doubt, from the half suspicion that there is some necessary connexion
between materialism and sin; thus forgetting that the body, and the
outward world which ministers to it, are God's handiworks as well as
the soul; and that it is He himself who has adjusted their relative
workings. And surely it is quite unnecessary to remind you at any
length how exquisitely God has fashioned our physical frame, as the
medium of communication with the outer material world. The nostrils
inhale the sweet perfumes which scent the breezy air, and rise as
incense from the flowers that cover the earth. By the eye the soul
perceives the glories of the summer sky, and searches for its midnight
stars; recognises splendour of colour, and beauty of form; gazes
on the outspread landscape of fertile field and hoary mountain, of
stream, forest, ocean, and island; and contemplates that world of
profounder interest still, the human countenance, of beloved parent,
child, or friend, strong with the power of elevated thought, sublime
with the grandeur of moral character, or bright with all the sunshine
of winning emotion. The ear, too, is the magic instrument which
conveys to the soul all the varied harmonies of sound, from the choirs
of spring, and the other innumerable minstrelsies of nature, as well
as from the higher art of man, that soothe, elevate, and solemnise. It
is true, indeed, that there are grosser appetites of the body which
many pervert so as to enslave the spirit; thus abusing by gluttony,
drunkenness, and every form of sensuality, what God the merciful and
wise has intrusted to man to be used for wise and merciful ends. But
even here there is already perceptible a marked difference between
those appetites and the more refined tastes alluded to; inasmuch
as the former are found in their abuse to be, strictly speaking,
unnatural, and destructive of man's happiness; and even in their
legitimate use they decay with advancing years, thus proving that
the stamp of time is upon them as on things belonging to a temporary
economy; whereas such tastes as those that enjoy the beautiful in
nature or in art, for example, abide in old age with a youthful
freshness, and more than a youthful niceness of discernment; and so
afford a presumption that they are destined for immortality. To the
aged saint "the trees clap their hands, the little hills rejoice, and
the mountains break forth into singing;" and when the earth is empty
of every other sentient pleasure, it is in the beauty of its sights
and sounds, still full to him of the glory of his God.
And so must it be for ever! The glorified saint is not "unclothed,"
but "clothed upon." He inhabits "a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens." The future body is called a "spiritual body" to
express, I presume, its pure and immortal essence; for though it will
be somehow related to the present body,--as the risen is related to
the sown grain which has perished through corruption,--it must be
changed into a new and higher form. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God." "We shall all be changed." "He shall change our
vile bodies, and fashion them like to His own glorious body." It is in
this new body, once sown in weakness, corruption, and mortality, but
raised at length in power, incorruption, and immortality, no more to
suffer, and no more to die, that we shall tread upon the new earth,
gaze on the new heavens, and walk in the paradise of our God.
And who can tell what sources of refined enjoyment, through the medium
of the spiritual body, are in store for us in God's great palace of
art, with its endless mansions and endless displays of glory! Well may
we say of such anticipated pleasures what good Izaak Walton says of
the singing of birds: "Lord, if Thou hast provided such music for
sinners on earth, what hast Thou in store for Thy saints in heaven!"
For if this little spot of earth is full of scenes of loveliness to us
inexhaustible; if, contemplating these in a body buoyant with health
and strength, we feel it is joy even to live and breathe; and if when,
seeing God in them all, the expression of praise rises to the lips,
"Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all:
the earth is full of Thy riches!"--oh, what visions of glory may be
spread before the wondering eye throughout the vast extent of the
material universe, comprehending those immense worlds which twinkle
only in the field of the largest telescope, and vanish into the far
distance in endless succession; and what sounds may greet the ear from
the as yet unheard music of those spheres; while, for aught we know,
other means of communication may be opened up to us, with objects
ministering delight to new tastes; and sources of sentient enjoyment
discovered which do not exist here, or elude the perception of our
present senses. Add to all this our deliverance from those physical
evils and defects which are now the causes of so much pain, and
clog so terribly the aspiring soul. For how affected are we by the
slightest disorganisation of our bodily frame! A disturbance in some
of the finer parts of its machinery, which no science can discover or
rectify; a delicate fibre shadowed by a cloud passing over the sun; or
a nerve chilled by a lowering of the temperature of the atmosphere,
will tell on the most genial temper, relax the strongest intellect,
and dim the brightest imagination; while other physical causes, quite
as mysterious, can make reason reel and lunacy become ascendant. The
very infirmities of old age; the constant toil required to satisfy
our cravings for food and raiment; the wounds and bruises the body
receives, and which agonise it, and the deformity which so often
disfigures it, cramping the spirit within a narrow and iron
prison-house--these form a terrible deduction from that joy which we
are capable of deriving even now through the medium of our physical
organisation. Such evils cannot here be rectified. They are the
immediate, or more remote consequences of man's iniquity; and under
Christ belong to that education by which bodily suffering is made the
means of disciplining the soul for immortality. But in the new heavens
and the new earth the body will no longer experience fatigue in
labour, or be subject to hurtful influences from the elements, nor
ever grow old; but be glorious and beautiful as the risen body of
Jesus Christ! "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
I wonder not, indeed, that Paul should exclaim along with those who
had the first-fruits of the Spirit, "Even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the _redemption of our
body_."
With these bright hopes let us who are now alive seek to glorify God
in the body which is to be glorified together with Christ. "The body
is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." "Know ye not that your
bodies are the members of Christ?" "Know ye not that your bodies are
temples of the Holy Ghost? If any man defile that temple, him will God
destroy." "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which
are upon the earth." Let us honour the body as a holy thing; and
beware how we put the chains of slavery upon it, or from our
selfishness expose it to hunger and nakedness. Let us endeavour even
to make art, that ministers to our sense of the beautiful, minister
also to our sense of the true and good; and ever speak to us of God
as seen in His works; or in "His ways among the children of men." And
finally, as we contemplate the body of a departed saint, let us behold
it in the light of this revelation. Let the grave in which it lies
no longer be associated in our thoughts with the worm and corruption
only, and with all the sad memorials and revolting symbols of
mortality. Let the voice of Him who is the resurrection and the life
be heard in the breeze that bends the grass which waves over it, and
His quickening energy be seen in the beauteous sun which shines upon
it; and while we hear the cry, "Dust to dust," let us remember that
the "very dust to Him is dear;" and that when He appears in His glory,
He will repair and rebuild that ruined temple, and fashion it in glory
and in beauty like His own!