714. Among the best precepts afforded by the gospel is that of laying
up treasure in heaven, in preference to seeking to become rich in
this world. To pursue the last-mentioned course has been alleged to
disqualify us more or less for entering heaven. Certainly, however,
honest exertion for the acquisition of wealth is the corner-stone of
human prosperity, and money seems in most instances necessary to the
effectual exercise of that fellow-feeling in the cultivation of which
human virtue pre-eminently consists. (See Influence of Mundane wealth
on Celestial Happiness.)
715. How can a man display charity, hospitality, or contribute his
_means_ and _time_ to objects of philanthropy, unless he beforehand lay
up wealth? How could the Samaritan have assisted the traveller who had
been maltreated by thieves, had he not taken care to have something
beforehand, not only for himself, but for the needy? But still the
precept, Lay up treasure for thyself in heaven, is precisely the course
which Spiritualism indicates. Precepts may lead, but examples will
draw. Those who have gone before us to eternal life, furnish us not
only precepts, but examples also. They furnish exemplifications of
the consequences of their conduct, if followed. With few exceptions,
my intercourse has been with those only, who did lay up treasure in
heaven, by doing on earth as they would have others to do unto them.
Of the spirits with whom I have communicated, only two alleged or
indicated that they were unhappy. Of these, I was informed, one bore an
ill character upon earth.
716. Another, after having suggested to his inquiring brother
some measures relating to his surviving wife’s temporal concerns,
spontaneously added the following words: “I am not _hapey_.” The
inquiry being made for the cause of his misery, the resulting reply
was, “I did not do _rite_ when I was in this world.”
717. Another admitted that he was drowned, in consequence of getting
dead drunk. On being asked if he were happy, he answered, “Damned
happy.” In reply to an inquiry whether he was sorry to have quitted
this life, he replied in the affirmative.
718. Having evidently been a seaman, who had sailed under an officer
who was present, he had preserved the usual fondness of sailors for
tobacco and grog. This propensity he could not avoid displaying,
notwithstanding his having passed death’s dread portal, and the obvious
inutility of expressing to mortals his craving for those pernicious
stimulants.
719. Thus it appears that in the spirit world one means of retribution
for the indulgence of bad propensities in this life, is subjugation to
their ungratified cravings.
720. Of course, the more of these a spirit carries with him, the
greater is his misery; while the more he founds his happiness on
the indulgence of good propensities, the greater his power and
opportunities of enjoyment.
721. As an illustration of the manner in which happiness may arise from
the indulgence of good propensities, one of the enjoyments of a spirit
of the fifth sphere is, as I am informed, in looking after children of
relatives and friends, who have not as yet followed them to the spirit
world.
722. Believing in the existence of a spirit world, where there are
thirty-six grades of existence, corresponding to degrees of purity
and intellectual acquirement,—purity alone giving exaltation merely,
while cultivation of mind secures breadth of consideration,—we have,
in the first place, to adhere strictly to truth, honesty, justice,
benevolence, and doing as we would be done by, to reach a sphere higher
in proportion as we are more successful. Yet, among those on the same
plane, superiority in mental attributes gives precedence.
723. Nothing is better known than “while precepts may lead, examples
draw,” and that subjection to bad examples, even when checked by good
precepts, is generally irresistible by the young. But when there are
no precepts to check, but, on the contrary, ill counsel as well as
bad example, few human beings, however well constituted organically,
could resist the tendency of such educational evil. Let bad hereditary
propensities be superadded, and what can ensue but a climax of
wickedness? Manifestly, however, all this is independent of any choice
on the part of the victim. A high degree of virtue may consistently
be inferred to result if all these conditions be inverted, and good
precepts, good examples, co-operative in improving a mind of the
opposite kind, one which owes to its progenitors goodness of heart and
high intellectual capacity.
724. Much stress is laid upon free-will, but is will ever free from
the joint control of reason and passion? What is will, if it be not
the resultant of the conflict or co-operation of these? It may be
a question whether, without passions, a man would act at all; but
certainly he would act like an idiot or baby, so far as his will should
be entirely independent of his reason.
725. It must be conceded, then, that the prodigious diversity between
virtue and vice is the consequence of contingencies, which are no more
under the control of the individual affected than the colour of his
hair or the number of cubits in his stature.
726. The great features of the spiritual religion are, as I understand
them, as follows:—Its foundation is laid in the belief of an all-good
Deity, whose power is manifested to us by the immensity, profundity,
sublimity, ingenuity, and adaptation of the means to the ends in the
creation ascribed to the co-operation, if not origination, of his mind.
The Bible of the spiritualist is the book of nature—the only one which
by inward and outward evidence can be ascribed to divine authorship.
727. In this book we read, as matters of fact, that there is an
infinite series of gradation in the rank of animals, as well as variety
in their dispositions and propensities. This may be seen, from the
half-animal, half-vegetable known as the polypus, up to man, there
being gradations not only of genera, but of species and varieties.
Thus amid men there are various races, rising one above the other
in development, from the Bushman, Hottentot, or lowest Negro, up to
the most highly-developed race of white men. But when we have passed
through the gradation of the races, we have to enter upon that of
individuals, who in the same race are by diversity of organization or
education, or of both, made extremely different as to intellectual,
moral, and scientific pre-eminence.
728. It is difficult for human reason to reconcile with impartiality
this immense diversity in the lot of the creatures of God; but that
such is the law of nature is self-evident: it is an intuitive truth. To
reconcile it with the all-goodness of God, we must suppose a limitation
of power, and that it has been beyond his power to put created beings
more nearly upon a level. But, as Seneca observes, all have received
more than they had a claim for. Some may think that the parable of the
hiring of labourers for a vineyard, conveys an idea like that of the
Roman sage.
729. These considerations being premised, it would seem that punishment
in the spirit world is only the carrying out of the same system,
excepting that while the deficiencies or vices which have arisen in
this world become a punishment in the next, they also operate as
the means of improvement, or, to use the language of that world, of
“_progression_.” It may be inferred that as in this world the power
of the Deity, although commensurate with the all but infinite universe
in which we exist, was so restricted by conditions as to induce that
enormous diversity of position in the scale of animation which has
been presented to view. Yet in the world to come these defects and
vices are liable to be remedied; and, though they react upon their
victim, it is with a view to his own ultimate benefit. There is not
a malevolent devil to seize the poor miscreant, and, like the savage
Indian, torture him with a fiend-like pleasure. He is regarded with
compassion, and as soon as contrition is induced, treated with sympathy
by the higher spirits, and assisted by counsel and enlightened by
instruction. Unable any longer to indulge his bad propensities, the
desire of rising to a higher level becomes a passion. Intellectual and
social pleasures begin to be enjoyed. So long as he remains under the
influence of his mundane appetites, he has to consort with spirits
who are similarly actuated; they read each other’s mind, and thus are
made acquainted with the deformity of their own. They eventually thus
become instrumental in reciprocal correction. So soon as an aspiration
for a better state is awakened, they rise to the next plane or circle
above that in which they may have been existing; the only difficulty
is in taking the first step. Progression grows with its growth, and
strengthens with its strength, so that all beings may sooner or
later attain to the highest sphere in the spirit world. It should be
understood that there is no pardon for existing sin. Pardon can only
exist as a consequence of reform, and in proportion thereto. (92.)
730. An assailant of Spiritualism, who not long since lectured at
Sansom Street Hall, founded one of his charges on the commiseration
felt by good angels for sinners, agreeably to Spiritualism. But from
the examination above given respecting the origin of the difference
between the virtuous and vicious, does it not appear that the fate of
the latter is quite as hard as can be reconciled with justice, even
under the more benign institution of Spiritualism? According to this,
there exist in the spirit world six spheres, each subdivided into six
circles or planes, forming together a succession of grades in which the
soul finds its place according to moral and intellectual merit. The
first of the spheres is throughout comparatively hideous in its aspect
and disgusting in its inhabitants, who are designated by a dark halo
in lieu of the effulgence which distinguishes spirits of the rest of
the spheres. Moreover, this distinguishing effulgence, as well as the
beauty of the spirit world, augments with the grade of the being whom
it envelops, thus making a series of ranks in society founded on real
nobility of head and heart. When it is considered that this immense
diversity ensues mainly from contingency in organization, education,
and greater or less exposure to trial, it must be clear that the
difference made between the good and the bad by Spiritualism does not
fall short of the degree which human reason can reconcile with justice.
731. The assailant of Spiritualism to whom allusion was made,
while admitting the truth of the evidence given of communication
with spirits, explained it by reference to Satan. It is remarkably
inconsistent with this idea that this evidence is of a nature to
abrogate the existence, and of course the sovereignty, of that
imaginary arch-fiend. Again, it can hardly be conceived that the
greater commiseration for sinners should come from a malevolent devil,
and the urging for everlasting and cruel torture from a sincere
disciple of the benevolent Jesus Christ. But how much, then, must it
shock one who embraces these views, that in addition to the misfortune
of being badly organized, badly educated, and badly tempted, the being
subjected to these disadvantages is to be exposed eternally to misery,
typified, if not realized, by broiling on burning brimstone! I am
aware that doing away with the more horrible attributes of hell will
be alleged to be subversive of one of the restraints upon criminality;
but, in the first place, it is evident that a man who is restrained
from crime solely by the fear of punishment is only a more prudent
villain than one who is not restrained by that selfish apprehension.
When a man is deterred from crime only by prudence, hope of reward, or
fear of punishment, he ought not to have a higher grade in heaven than
the perpetrator of the crime.
732. But, agreeably to experience, of all restraints upon crime, none
are more efficacious than the fear of degradation. The lawyer who will
do the bidding of a caucus (or of a powerful demagogue in the executive
office) in order to get a judicial appointment, when securely seated
therein, will not give a charge which will degrade him in the eyes of
the legal profession, and consequently in that of society, as well as
in his own estimation. The dishonest gambler, who neglects to pay his
tradesman’s bill, will not fail to pay his gambling debts. The debtor
who will take every advantage in getting a high price for his goods,
and who will put off any other payment as long as possible, fails not
to pay his note at a bank. Sovereign states, who pay no other claims,
take every means to meet the interest on their funded obligations.
“Failure” in the one case, in the mercantile adaptation, involves
the loss of reputation for good financial faith, abroad as well as at
home; but the just complaints of domestic claimants, not heard upon
the exchange, are unheeded. The great object, in many cases, is not
to leave the crime “undone, but to keep it unknown.” The corrupt,
selfish politician, who would promote war in order to give himself an
opportunity of emolument or official pre-eminence, when facing the
enemy in the field of battle will _nominally_ die for that country
whose interests he has sacrificed. But not from the alleged motive will
he die, but either to avoid being degraded as a coward, or for the hope
of popularity which may help him to office.
733. In the spirit world, all are seen through and justly estimated,
so that degradation and vice, or elevation and virtue, are inevitably
associated by spiritual intuition. Yet there is, in my opinion, far
more satisfactory proof of the truth of Spiritualism than of any other
creed involving immortality; while, so far as adopted, it must tend
to do away with priestcraft, sectarian malevolence, and religious
intolerance. Man will go to the spirits of his ancestors for his
religion, not to a fanatical, bigoted, or interested priest. Should
spirits actually exist, as supposed, and convey the same religious
knowledge all over the world, all men will agree that virtue is to be
the means of salvation, not bigotry, under the name of faith.
734. It is conceived that Spiritualism has all the desirable attributes
of religion, as stated in the second page of the introduction of this
work. It sanctions the idea of the existence of one Supreme Being,
who is represented as all love to his creatures; while his powers
are made known to us by the sublimity, profundity, magnificence, and
inconceivable extent of the creation which he rules. It does not
represent him as selfishly creating us for the purpose of worshipping
him, as capable of jealousy or implacable wrath for the result of
errors which his alleged omnipotence could by a _fiat_ correct. On
the contrary, we have been created to be happy sooner or later; evil
existing not through design, but in consequence of conditions which
he cannot control or cure unless through the operation of general
principles.
735. With a view to mutual happiness, reciprocal beneficence is
enjoined. We are required to obey the precepts of acting toward others
as we would have them act toward us.
736. This innate law is appealed to instinctively by any child who
is oppressed by another larger than itself, and was consecrated by
Confucius six hundred years before its judicious sanction by Christ.
737. Spiritualism has the merit pre-eminently not only of furnishing
a knowledge of immortality beyond the grave, but a precise knowledge
of the spirit world in lieu of the silence of the Pentateuch and the
vagueness and inconsistency of the gospel. An effort to establish the
truth of these allegations will be made under the next head.
THE HEAVEN AND HELL OF SPIRITUALISM CONTRASTED WITH THE HEAVEN AND HELL
OF SCRIPTURE.
738. On the first spiritual manifestations occurring, the great object
of the mass of observers was to see the physical effects. In the
next place, intellectual communications were sought, but these being
obtained by a tedious process, it was deemed sufficiently interesting
if a few sentences could be made out, or even one. It was, moreover,
a great object with inquirers to ascertain by the interchange of
language, whether the spirit of a relation or friend were really
present, as alleged by the supposed spirit. Hence, the communications
were very deficient as respects any information of the spirit world.
It is not surprising, therefore, that prejudicial unbelievers should
have taken up the idea that there is nothing inviting in the heaven
of Spiritualism. I hope that, agreeably to the communications from the
spirit world recorded in the preceding pages, there is enough to create
an ardent desire to become a dweller therein.
739. But is it not unreasonable for a person to disdain a state of
existence which is by the spirits themselves described as “ineffably”
happy? Alluding to the progression, which is to carry spirits
eventually among the ministering angels of God, I observed to my spirit
friend, Dr. W. E. Channing, that I did not consider him in heaven yet.
“Were you situated as I am,” said he, “you would not say that!” But
let us see how far the ideas of heaven, as warranted in Scripture, are
comparable with those which have been communicated by spirits.
740. In a work by the Rev. Mr. Harbaugh, of the German Reformed
Church of Lancaster, Pa., a great effort is made to collect all the
hints respecting heaven which have been given in the Old and New
Testaments. This learned divine quotes the following paragraph from
Dr. Chalmers: “The common imagination,” says Dr. Chalmers, “that we
have a paradise on the other side of death, is that of a lofty aerial
region, where the inmates float in ether, or are mysteriously suspended
upon nothing—where all the warm and sensible accompaniments which give
such an expression of strength, and life, and colouring to our present
habitation, are attenuated into a sort of spiritual element; that is,
meagre and imperceptible, and utterly uninviting to the eye of mortals
here below; where every vestige of materialism is done away, and
nothing left but unearthly scenes, that have no power of allurement,
and certain unearthly ecstasies, with which it is felt impossible to
sympathize.”
741. After reading and believing the representations of heaven given by
the immortal inhabitants of the spirit world, who can avoid turning in
disgust from the portrait thus cited by Dr. Chalmers?
742. The most favourable idea of heaven given in Scripture seems to
be that which identifies it with Paradise; in other words, a most
beautiful garden. But who would conceive an _eternal_ residence in one
garden, however superlative its attractions, as desirable? The idea
of the spheres assumes a succession of gardens, with every pleasure,
every joy of which the human heart and intellect are capable; and
beyond those gardens the whole universe is open to us, and an ultimate
ministration as angels under our Heavenly Father.
743. The portraiture cited by Chalmers is not approved of by the
Rev. Mr. Harbaugh, but in order to confute it he does not resort to
any better picture given in the Bible, but to reasoning. This shows
that, learned as he is, and idolatrous as he appears in worshipping
the Bible as an adequate fountain of light, he cannot get from the
object of this idolatry any passage tending to prove the inconsistency
of the idea quoted from Chalmers with Scripture. Were there not the
greatest poverty of instruction on this all-important subject, the
ideas alleged to exist as above mentioned, upon the high authority
of Dr. Chalmers, could never have had sufficient currency to merit
notice. It may be assumed that no Christians can conceive themselves
to be better entitled to the joys of heaven than the twelve apostles
of Christ. In order to show how far any expectations of a bliss higher
than that afforded by Spiritualism could have been entertained by those
disciples consistently with Scripture, I deem it in point to refer the
language held to them by their Divine Master. I subjoin a few lines
from Dr. Harbaugh, wherein he quotes the query put to that Master, by
the _twelve_, and the consequent reply. Nothing can be farther from my
idea of a happy state than the benefaction promised to them. The query
and reply are subjoined, in order to enable the reader to judge of
both:—_Behold, we have left all and followed thee: what shall we have
therefor?_ The Saviour answered the above query when made by Peter, as
follows:—_When the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory,
ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel._ Here is a direct answer by Christ to an inquiry respecting
the nature of the reward which his disciples were to have for their
merits as his faithful devotees. They are to be made severally worldly
dignitaries; each is to sit on a throne, judging a tribe of Israel.
That is, they are to have worldly pre-eminence, accompanied, of course,
by all the vexations attendant on such stations, as well as the
uncertainty and limitation arising from liability to death and disease.
How weak and worldly-minded must his disciples have been, could such
a prospect be alluring to them! I ask for any sectarian to say in
candour, whether a governorship over one of the wealthiest States, the
presidency, or any sovereignty in Christendom, would be deemed a heaven
in comparison with that eternity of ineffable happiness enjoyed by the
immortal spirits of the higher spheres? Yet Mr. Harbaugh, with the
simplicity of blind faith, quotes this without perceiving how meagre is
the gospel evidence thus afforded of the joys awaiting the faithful as
a reward for their good conduct in this life.
744. The following remarks, made by Mr. Harbaugh, demonstrate how
partial sectarians are in reading Scripture: “_What shall we have
therefor? This is a question that frequently arises in the Christian’s
mind, as he endeavours to cheer his ofttimes drooping spirits with
a look toward the recompense of reward. What shall we have? We have
left all for thee, and by following thee we have confessed that we
are pilgrims and strangers upon earth. In this world we shall have
tribulation; but thou didst overcome the world; what shall those have
who overcame with thee?_” Harbaugh remarks: “_Here then is curiosity
which the Saviour himself approves, because he satisfies it. The same
pious curiosity still manifests itself in the minds of God’s people in
their holiest hours, and shall there be nothing revealed to satisfy
them? Yes, God will approve of such inquiries, and will grant the
influence of that Spirit, who leads unto all truth to all those who
search the Scripture for an answer._” Drawing an eloquent picture of
the aspirations of the soul for some realization of the vague ideas of
the rewards of the faithful in a future state of existence, he exults
that this _curiosity_, as he calls it, should be sanctioned by Christ,
“who approves this curiosity because he satisfies it.” How does he
satisfy it? Is it by holding up the hope of a judgeship for each? It
seems it was not then foreseen that instead of performing the part of
the Jewish Messiah, with which he thus identified himself, that of
gathering together the _chosen_ people of God, he was to put forth
opinions which were to scatter them through the world. “Wo unto you,
Chorazin,” &c., for the heinous offence of not admitting him to be
both the Messiah and the Son of God. The promise of the judgeships was
quite consistent with the former character, and strengthens the idea
that he never pretended to any higher mission. With this the promise
in question is consistent, but is wholly irreconcilable with his
divinity, which would make these judgeships worse than giving a stone
for bread or a serpent for a fish. In order to have bestowed these
judgeships, the Roman empire must have been subverted. It seems that if
(as stated by the worthy Mr. Harbaugh) _the curiosity of the disciples
was truly and correctly satisfied_, that this satisfaction was the sum
total of the heaven with which they were remunerated; since not the
slightest hint is given that they were, like the penitent thief, to
be with their object of devotion in paradise. It would seem, on the
whole, that the rewards of the thief and the beggar Lazarus were of a
more heavenly nature than those promised to the apostles, even had the
latter been susceptible of realization, instead of being irreconcilable
with the doom which awaited the Hebrews, and consequently a mere _vox
et præterea nihil_. But while, in lieu of an eternal progressive
happiness, Christ holds up the transient, precarious, and limited
supremacy from which a truly pious and wise man would turn in disgust,
when hell is to be represented, we have eternal torments typified
by fire, and weeping and gnashing of teeth in _utter darkness_, in
despite of this fire. The situation which Christ, the Son of God, was
to have, was to bear manifestly a relation to that of his disciples.
His situation would be somewhat analogous to that of Washington, when
he was in the presidential chair, and the thirteen States were governed
by as many of his faithful followers in the Revolutionary War. Yet
Washington did not find his chair worth retaining longer than the good
of the country made it important to remain. I am confident that neither
would that great man leave his position in the seventh sphere for the
presidency, nor any spirit among those who held the gubernatorial
dignity, as suggested, find a governorship now a motive for leaving
their bright abodes in the celestial world.
745. Dr. Harbaugh sanctions the idea that the revolutions of all
the constellations with which telescopic examination has made us
acquainted, may take place about a central sun, bearing the relation
to other suns analogous to that which God has been represented to
have to the other potentates; whence the title of “King of kings.”
The existence, then, of a _sun_ of _suns_ is suggested, about which
the constellations formed by inferior bodies of the same kind revolve.
It would seem, then, that a more fitted allotment had been made if,
enthroned by his Father’s side on that sun of suns, he had allotted
to each of his disciples a constellation, than have assigned to them
miserable transitory judgeships in Judea: a speck of territory, in this
speck of a globe, which in a field of vision embracing the universe,
would be imperceptible.
746. There being in Scripture so much more stress laid upon the
torments of hell than the joys of heaven, is probably the reason why
the horror of death is so great among Christians in general. Their
practice in this respect is to speak of death as a great calamity.
Here and there may be found a believer who is thoroughly convinced
that the efficacy of his peculiar tenets, combined with the absence of
criminality, and the redeeming influence of repentance, will insure
him a passage to heaven; but the predominant language is to represent
the death of any large number of human beings as a great calamity.
Those who are exposed to danger pray most earnestly to be saved, and
their death is always treated as a cause for deep regret by surviving
friends. Hence the weeping, the grief, and the mourning called for by
custom,—the relations and connections wearing black for months. Hence
the dark hearse, the black pall, and bitter lamentation over the grave;
which shows that it is not realized that death is only a glorious
spiritual birth! I am confident that spiritualists will soon abandon
a custom which must on their part be inconsistent; since they must
look on death as no more a bereavement, than a residence in a foreign
country, the means of communication being within reach, and a happy
reunion foreseen.
747. When on board of a steamer under way at night, the possibility of
her going down occurring to my mind, I felt cheered by the idea that
I should not go down with her, but soar to the spirit world with my
immortal friends, who would flock to meet my apotheosis. (Page 101.)
748. It has been urged that a most substantial idea of heaven, given
in the old Bible, is that of a restoration to Paradise, of which the
description gives the idea of an exquisite, beautiful garden; but
Spiritualism gives the idea of garden above garden, improving in beauty
with their elevation. Then there are thirty-six gradations in all, and
in the five happy spheres thirty; so that there is excitement arising
from well-rewarded emulation as a source of interest. Into the idea of
heaven, as suggested in Scripture, intellectual ability and improvement
form no part and give no superiority; whence the tendency of the more
strict constructionists to turn a cold shoulder to every acquirement
which is not coupled with scriptural knowledge. Neither the Athenæum,
nor any library, is to be accessible on Sunday. If the time devoted
at meetings and at church were given to the study of the real book
of God, how much more learned would be those who thus employ their
Sundays! It is held that the lowest and most ignorant person who is
educated to believe implicitly the tenets of a sect, when he would by
the same process as easily be made to believe any other tenets, is
in heaven to be as high as the most enlightened as well as virtuous
man, who has the only merit which can be attached to belief in a high
degree—that of ardent desire for truth, and taking the pains to form an
opinion for himself. Nay, the ignorant bigot is to be higher in heaven,
if the free-thinker alluded to, should not agree with the ghostly
adviser, of the devoted sectarian with whom he is compared.
749. The idea of living in the finest garden which imagination can
conceive, without the enjoyments and progression which my father’s
communication attributes to the spheres, would beget tedium rather
than the ineffable happiness which my spirit friends profess to enjoy.
But while one of the Jewish ideas of heaven in its best form, is thus
deficient, the description given by the learned Josephus of hell is
horrible in the extreme, that of heaven being disgusting. I give it as
I find it quoted by the Rev. Mr. Harbaugh:
750. “Now as to Hades, wherein the souls of the righteous and
unrighteous are detained, it is necessary to speak of it. Hades is a
place in the world not regularly finished, a subterraneous region,
wherein the light of this world does not shine; from which circumstance
in this region there must be perpetual darkness. This region is
allotted as a place of custody for souls, in which angels are appointed
as guardians to them, who distribute to them temporary punishment,
agreeably to every one’s behaviour and manners.
751. “In this region there is a certain place set apart as a lake of
unquenchable fire, whereinto, we suppose, no one hath hitherto been
cast, but it is prepared for a day aforedetermined by God, in which
one righteous sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men; when
the unjust, and those that have been disobedient to God, and have
given honour to such idols as have been the vain operations of the
hands of men as to God himself, shall be adjudged to this everlasting
punishment, as having been the causes of defilement; while the just
shall obtain an incorruptible and never-fading kingdom. These are now
indeed confined in Hades, but not in the same place wherein the just
are confined. For there is one descent in this region, at whose gate,
we believe, there stands an archangel, with a host; which gate, when
those pass through that are conducted down by the angels appointed
over souls, they do not go the same way, but the just are guided to
the right hand, and are led with hymns, sung by the angels appointed
over that place, unto a region of light, in which the just have dwelt
from the beginning of the world, not constrained by necessity, but
ever enjoying the prospect of the good things they see, and rejoicing
in the expectation of those new enjoyments which will be peculiar
to every one of them, and esteeming those things beyond what we have
here; with whom there is no place of toil, no burning heat, no piercing
cold, nor any briers there; but the countenances of the fathers and
the just, which they see always, smile upon them while they wait for
the rest, and eternal new life in heaven, which is to succeed this
region. This place we call the bosom of Abraham. But as to the unjust,
they are dragged by force to the left hand, by the angels allotted
for punishment, no longer going with a good will, but as prisoners
driven by violence; to whom are sent the angels appointed over them
to reproach them, and threaten them with their terrible looks, and to
thrust them still downward. Now these angels that are set over these
souls drag them into the neighbourhood of hell itself; who, when they
are hard by it, continually hear the noise of it, and do not stand
clear of the hot vapour itself; but when they have a near view of this
spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great prospect of fire, they
are struck with a fearful expectation of a future judgment, and in
effect punished thereby; not only so, but when they see the place (or
choir) of the fathers and of the just, even thereby are they punished,
for a chaos deep and large is fixed between them, insomuch that a just
man that hath compassion upon them cannot be admitted, nor can any one
that is unjust, if he were bold enough to attempt it, pass over it.”
752. So much for Josephus. Mr. Harbaugh subjoins as follows: “This
extract is exceedingly interesting. It shows to what extent of
distinctness the Jewish ideas of the future state had attained. The
dreamlike underworld is here considerably illuminated. The righteous
and the wicked are separated, and already share the first fruits of
their eternal reward. The righteous are surrounded with intimations
and shadowy promises of better things to come, in the expectation of
which they are already happy; the wicked are surrounded with tokens and
forebodings of more fearful ill, much of which they already suffer in
awful expectation.
753. “Through this picture,” says our good parson, “we see in faint
but terrible glimmerings, in the distance, the region of eternal fire,
which awaits the wicked when the judgment-day shall remove them from
Hades; on the other hand, we see also the dawning of an eternal day
for the just, the rest and eternal new life which is to succeed this
region. This kingdom of the dead, beyond which the thoughts of men
in the early ages did not wander, is considered only as a place of
detention for judgment, while the idea of a final state, both for the
righteous and the wicked, is believed to exist beyond it.”
754. How can any person sincerely pretend that those who rely on a
happy idea of our immortal life are indebted for it to the source
from which this Hebrew Pharisee derived the impressions given in the
preceding quotation? Yet the Pharisees were the only conspicuous
Hebrew sect who believed in heaven. The Sadducees did not believe in
immortality.
755. The history of Lazarus and the rich man, (says Harbaugh, page
168,) “plainly teaches that both the righteous and the wicked on death
pass into a fixed and eternal abode, where no change is possible;”
and he further states (pp. 169-70) that “the misery of the wicked
commences immediately after death, and before the resurrection, and
their condition is unchangeably fixed.” According to St. Luke, (chapter
xvi.) in the page alluded to above by Harbaugh, we are informed that
the wicked, while in the torture of hell-fire, are within the view of
the righteous, (verse 23.) The righteous are near enough to converse
with those in torment, and yet there is an impassable barrier between
them. The rich man is not tortured for his sins, but simply because
he had “_enjoyed good things_.” Yet Abraham, who turned his son and
son’s mother out in the wilderness to starve, and twice exposed his
wife to prostitution, is represented as enjoying the reward due to the
righteous.
756. How little sincere, heartfelt belief there can be in the words
of Christ, may be estimated from the fact that scarcely any Christian
but seeks for the good things of this life, instead of qualifying
themselves for heaven by undergoing the rewarded privations of a
Lazarus.
757. It is utterly unintelligible to my mind why repentance and
reformation should not avail after, as well as before death, as it is
represented to be in the spirit world.
758. There is a coincidence between these representations of Josephus
and those of the gospel, so far as that both represent the righteous as
witnessing the torments of the wicked. Would not such a situation make
heaven a hell to good-hearted angels?
759. According to Matthew, (chapter xxv. 24,) the blessed, after
the day of judgment, are to _inherit the kingdom prepared from the
foundation of the world_. Of the joys that kingdom would afford there
is no description. But, as usual, hell is made sufficiently horrible,
(chapter xxv. 41,)—“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels.”
760. In this respect, if in no other, there is an immense superiority
in the conceptions of futurity given by my immortal advisers, in
comparison with those attributed as above to Christ.
761. It has been urged that human conduct is so much dependent on
organization, education, temptation, and example, neither of which are
within the option of any soul, that the orthodox doctrine respecting
sin is manifestly wrong. But admitting the culpability which that
doctrine imputes, it has been shown that the gradations of sinfulness
between the extremes of vice and virtue are innumerable. Suppose for
each gradation a strand in a ladder, like that of which Jacob dreamed,
and human souls supported severally at elevations commensurate with
their respective pretensions. This adjustment being made, suppose a
plane at any level to divide the vertical row into two portions, all
below the plane being considered as goats, all above the plane as
sheep. Evidently, between the soul just above, and that just below the
plane, there would be only a shade of difference; yet the one would
have to go to hell, the other to heaven, eternally.
762. According to Spiritualism, on entering the spirit world each soul
finds its just level by a sort of moral specific gravity, in which
merit is inversely as weight. Every soul, moreover, has the privilege
of reforming, and rising proportionally to the improvement thus
obtained.
763. One of the most agreeable conceptions attending our future
existence in the spheres, is that of being restored to the appearance
of youth; the decrepitude and wrinkles of age, of disease, mutilation,
deformity, ugliness, are all avoided in the spiritual body. The insane
are restored to reason, the idiot gradually improved in mind.
DISCORDANCE AS TO THE WHEREABOUT OF THE SCRIPTURAL HEAVEN.—INSTINCTIVE
IMPRESSION AS TO HEAVEN BEING OVERHEAD.
764. There is no small degree of contradiction in Scripture respecting
the locality of heaven. In addressing the thief, paradise is identified
with heaven by Christ. “_St. Paul is alleged to have been taken up
into paradise_,” says Harbaugh; yet, according to the map accompanying
the work of Josephus, Paradise is represented as being upon the river
Tigris, near the Persian Gulf. The idea given of the abode of Adam
and Eve, in Genesis, conveys the impression that it was a terrestrial
locality.
765. In the Decalogue the abbreviation of life is threatened as the
punishment for not honouring parents, and God is alleged to have
held out the promised land to Moses, instead of comforting him by a
clairvoyant view of a place of blissful enjoyment in some celestial
region.
766. Elijah was carried up to heaven in the sight of Elisha. The
commandment makes heaven above, the earth beneath. Christ was seen
ascending by his disciples, and according to the apostles’ creed, after
descending into hell, he arose on the third day and ascended into
heaven. Yet Josephus consigns both heaven and hell to a subterranean
region, like the Elysian Fields and Erebus of the heathen, but places
them on each side of a lake of everlasting fire. This representation is
sanctioned in the allusion by Christ to Dives, Lazarus, and Abraham;
the former, broiling to eternity, requests that Lazarus should get a
little water to cool the tip of his tongue. This Abraham declares to be
_impossible_. Hence it appears the parties were so near as to converse
with each other, and for those who were blest to witness the sufferings
of the damned. Thus, according to Christ as well as Josephus, heaven
and hell are in immediate proximity, and both must be in the infernal
regions.
767. The actual effects of the old Bible were to produce either
_unbelievers_ in _immortality_, like the Sadducees, or _immoral
believers_, like the Pharisees, whom Christ especially denounces as
_vipers_, and _internally corrupt, like whited sepulchres holding dead
men’s bones_.
768. Christ never singles out the Sadducees for denunciation, but
speaks of the Pharisees particularly as hypocritical and corrupt. But
in what did their hypocrisy consist, if it was not in that insincerity
of their professions as respects belief in futurity which was shown by
their worldliness.
769. Thus the evidence of the existence of a future state was such as
to produce avowed unbelievers, or professed believers whose morality
was so deficient as to create an expression that they were corrupt
hypocrites, as odious as vipers.
770. It is not the feebleness of the impressions respecting the
existence of another world, where happiness is proportional to good
conduct, that renders the existing system so inoperative in preventing
those vices which it especially interdicts; as, for instance,
combativeness, cupidity, and revengefulness; so that the course usually
pursued by professed Christians, does not merely amount to a neglect
of Christ’s precepts, but renders an adherence to them disreputable?
Nothing is more degrading throughout Christendom than poverty or tame
submission to blows. The last excuse Christians in general will make
for any omission or deficiency is their poverty.
771. If they really believed that they would broil to eternity, like
the rich man, merely for seeking the good things of this life, would
the attainment of those good things be made the great object of their
existence?
772. Notwithstanding the representations of Josephus, sanctioned, as
above shown, by Christ, of the subterranean localization of Elysium,
there seems, nevertheless, an instinctive propensity to assume that
heaven is overhead. Clergymen all look upward when they address God,
and the Thespian artists universally follow their example. Whenever
heaven is referred to, it is customary, I believe, for all devout
persons to turn their eyes in the same direction.
773. But if heaven be above, what does this term _above_ mean? It
practically designates a vertical direction relatively to this globe
at any point over which a speaker who uses the word may stand.
Consequently, it indicates a space overhead, having everywhere the same
relative position to the terrestrial surface; in other words, a region
concentric with that surface, like that within which the clouds float.
This floating takes place rarely at a less distance than two, or more
than six, miles.
774. The spiritual spheres are estimated, as already mentioned, as
being between sixty and one hundred and twenty miles from the earth’s
surface. They are, therefore, analogous in position to the region
of the clouds, though at a much greater distance and vastly more
capacious.
775. According to Christianity, there is no immortality for animals
below the grade of humanity; but according to Spiritualism, animals
that are favourites of man in this world are his companions in the
next. Much stress is laid on the singing of birds in the account
given of the spheres. There is a line of demarcation below which the
privilege of an existence after death is not enjoyed. Respecting that
boundary my information is at present incomplete.
776. In order to do justice to the excellent and learned clergyman to
whom I have so often referred, I will annex the whole of those pages in
which he conceives himself to give the “_true doctrine_” respecting
heaven. However unsatisfactory it may be to me, I hope it will be found
interesting to those who, like the author, look only to the Bible for
information respecting their existence beyond the grave.
“THE TRUE DOCTRINE”
_Respecting Heaven, according to the Rev. H. Harbaugh, Pastor of the
First German Reformed Church, Lancaster, Penna._
“One gentle sigh their fetter breaks;
We scarce can say, ‘They’re gone!’
Before the willing spirit takes
Her mansion near the throne.”
777. “The different theories by which the souls of saints are supposed
to be detained from entering heaven immediately at death, have now been
exhibited. They have led us a long and dreary chase. The groundlessness
of these theories has been, in part, shown in connection with a
statement of them. They will, however, be more completely overthrown
by a statement of the true doctrine, and by the arguments that may be
adduced in its support. Various arguments that, in passing along, were
offered against these false views, will also substantiate the true
doctrine; thus the same implements that have been used to tear down the
old building may be employed to erect the new. If, therefore, any thing
should be presented in this section, among other things, which may
seem to have been presented before, it must be remembered that though
they are the same tools, they are now used to do a different kind of
execution.
778. “We consider the true doctrine of God’s word on this subject to be
this: The saints do immediately, at death, enter that place which is
called heaven, where the body of the Saviour now is, where the divine
manifestations are most clearly and gloriously made, where angels have
their proper home, and where all the heirs of Christ shall finally and
forevermore be assembled.
779. “That the saints pass immediately at death into heaven, is taught
in the symbols in some of the most pious and learned denominations in
the church. We grant that this does not prove it absolutely true; but
it has much weight, as showing how the Scripture on this subject was
understood by many pious and learned men who had the same interest
in and motives for the truth as we have, and were, we may therefore
suppose, just as sincerely anxious to be led into the truth as we can
possibly be. The conclusions, therefore, to which they have come, and
which have been adopted by their numerous successors for centuries, are
valuable. Beside furnishing us with the testimony of so much learning
and piety, it serves to show that this is no new idea, and that it is
not the faith of a few, but is the testimony of the church.
780. “The first symbolical testimony we produce is the Heidelberg
Catechism, published first in 1563. This symbol has been the embodiment
of the reformed faith for more than three centuries. Its influence
has been very extensively respected and felt. It has, since its
publication, been translated and read in at least fourteen different
languages; and it is said that _half a million editions_ of it have
been published in Germany alone. In this country it is received as a
symbolic book, both in the Dutch Reformed and in the German Reformed
churches. In the fifty-seventh question it is asked, What comfort is
afforded to us by the doctrine of the resurrection of the body; and the
answer is: ‘That not only my soul after this life _shall be immediately
taken up to Christ its head_; but also, that my body, being raised by
the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul, and be made like
unto the glorious body of Christ.’ Here the doctrine is plainly taught,
and has been responded to with a joyful amen by millions during three
hundred years.
781. “The next is from the Shorter Catechism, received as a symbolic
book in the different branches of the Presbyterian communion. It is
in answer to the thirty-seventh question: ‘What benefits do believers
receive from Christ at death? The souls of believers are at their death
made perfect in holiness, _and do immediately pass into glory_; and
their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves
till the resurrection.’ In the eighty-sixth question of the Larger
Catechism this same doctrine is taught in more words. The following
quotation is from the Westminster Confession of Faith: ‘The bodies
of men, after death, return to dust and see corruption; but their
souls, (which neither die nor sleep,) having an immortal substance,
_immediately_ return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous,
being _then_ made perfect in holiness, _are received into the highest
heavens_, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting
for the full redemption of their bodies.’ The declaration that they
are ‘_then_ made perfect in holiness,’ is no doubt directly aimed
against the idea of a process of purgatorial or medicinal preparation,
mentioned in a previous section. The declaration that they are then
‘received into the _highest heavens_,’ is intended to stand in
opposition to the idea of a middle abode in all its forms.
782. “The book of ‘Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal
Church’ is silent on this subject; but, so far as I have been able
to learn, the proper Protestant doctrine on this subject is held in
that large communion. Their views of the nature of justification and
sanctification would admit of no other to be consistently believed
among them. It is believed that this is also the prevailing sentiment
among Baptists, and other Congregationalists.
783. “What is here presented from symbols as the united faith of so
many learned and pious men living in different ages, and in different
parts of the world, is also founded on holy Scripture. By no wresting
and violence has the church, in the general stream of its theological
views, been turned aside from this faith. It is vain that men hope to
annul, by means of violent and unnatural interpretations, the plain
declarations of Scripture, to serve a theory.
‘Truth, crush’d to earth, will rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers.’
784. “The Saviour said to the penitent thief on the cross—‘To-day shalt
thou be with me in paradise.’ Now the question arises, Where and what
is that paradise in which the Saviour promised the dying penitent that
he should be with him that day? This can be seen by referring to other
passages in the Scriptures where the word paradise is used, and where
its sense cannot be mistaken. This can be seen by reference to 2 Cor.
xii. There it is said that Paul was caught up into paradise; and in the
same passage the place into which he was taken is called the _third
heaven_—the highest and holiest place in the universe. In Rev. ii. 7
we are told that the tree of life stands in the midst of the paradise
of God; and in Rev. xxii. 2, we are told that that same tree of life
stands by the side of the river which flows from the throne of God and
the Lamb. From this it is evident that paradise is the heaven where God
dwells and the Lamb. Is then the middle abode, Hades, the kingdom of
shades, the peculiar abode of God and the Lamb?
785. “The objection that the Saviour himself did not go to heaven
that day, but was for forty days afterward on the earth, and that
therefore he could not be with the penitent thief in paradise, has no
force. During the three days that intervened between his death and
resurrection, he could as well be in heaven as in Hades. Indeed, it is
evident that he was in heaven during those three days, from what he
says to his disciples shortly before his death: ‘A little while, and
ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me,
_because I go to the Father_.’ Moreover, his tarrying on the earth and
appearing among his disciples does not conflict with the idea that he
was also in paradise. When he was yet in the flesh on earth, he could
say: ‘And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but that he came down from
heaven, even the Son of man which _is in heaven_.’ In the same way
that he was in heaven at that time, he may have been in heaven with the
penitent thief during the forty days between his death and ascension.
786. “The history of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke xvi.) plainly
teaches that both the righteous and the wicked, at death, pass into
a _fixed_ and eternal abode, where no change is possible. No comment
on the passage is necessary. This portion of Scripture has a thousand
times been tortured out of its meaning by errorists of various kinds,
and as often has its testimony fallen back into the church’s healthful
stream of sound views. As a sheep, carried away from the fold, returns
when set free, so this passage always comes back again; for the voice
of a stranger it heareth not, nor followeth!
787. “In the Revelation, John, in his vision, saw the souls of departed
martyrs and saints ‘in heaven,’ ‘under the altar,’ ‘before the throne
of God,’ &c., and in the company of each other, of God, of Christ, and
of angels, in the central and highest heavens, and in that place where
the saints go no more out forever. Let it be remembered, also, that all
this is _before the resurrection_; and if the following passages are
carefully considered, they will leave no doubt on any candid mind that
the saints are, immediately after death, admitted into heaven. To quote
them all would be too tedious; a reference to them is sufficient: Rev.
v. 6-14; vi. 9-12; vii. 9-17; xiv. 1-6; xiv. 12, 13.
788. “For further proof still the reader is referred to Acts vii. 59; 2
Cor. v. 1-9; Phil. i. 21-24; 2 Tim. iv. 6-9; Eph. iii. 15. In this last
passage, the whole family of Christ is represented to be at two places,
in heaven and on earth; but according to the other theory, there ought
also to be some in Hades, or the third place.
789. “It may also be remarked that the misery of the wicked commences,
according to the Scripture, immediately after death, and before the
resurrection, and that their condition is unchangeably fixed. This is
evident from Luke xvi.; and also from that passage in Jude where he
says that those who had died impenitent in the destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah were, at the time he wrote, ‘suffering the vengeance of
eternal fire.’ In like manner it is said of the righteous at death,
that they are blessed ‘from henceforth;’ and of those who were clothed
in white robes, having come up through great tribulation, it is said,
‘therefore _are_ they before the throne of God.’
790. “These passages are plain, and it would, in all probability, never
have been attempted to make them mean any thing different from their
plain sense, were it not for some difficulties, which, it is thought,
stood in the way of the doctrine that the souls of the saints pass
immediately at death into heaven. Let us look at these, and see whether
they are not fancied difficulties, which one glance at the truth ought
to remove:
791. (1.) “It is said that the soul, in a state of separation from
the body, cannot be in the same state, nor properly in the same
place, as it will be after the resurrection; and as heaven is to be
the eternal abode of the saints after the resurrection, it cannot be a
proper abode for them before. This objection has, however, no force.
There is, for instance, in this world, a great difference between a
person in childhood and old age, yea, before he is born and after, or
between his sleeping and waking state; and yet he is in all these in
the same world, in the same place, and is the same person. The state
and condition of the Saviour differs widely from that of any saint or
angel, and yet both are in heaven. So angels and human spirits differ,
and yet both are in one company and in one place. So in heaven the
condition of the saints before and after the resurrection may differ
much, and yet they may be, in both cases, in the same place.
792. “(2.) The saints cannot enter heaven, it is said, before they
are judged; and as the day of judgment is represented to be after the
resurrection, the saints cannot enter heaven until after that, and
consequently not immediately at death. We may, however, consider, as
is generally done, that the day of judgment is only a public and final
consummation of the decision of man’s destiny. Although God can, and
no doubt, does, for himself, judge and decide for each one when he
dies, yet it seems necessary for the glorious praise of his justice and
righteousness that all other intelligences should see the propriety of
his decision. This is necessary, that every mouth may be stopped; and
in order to do this he has appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained.
793. “(3.) It is also said that the condition of many is represented
in that day to be undecided. Thus many are said to be disappointed;
coming to be judged, they find that their expectations of heaven are
vain, and they say, ‘Have we not prophesied, cast out devils, and
done many wonderful works in Thy name?’ Now it is said that if these
persons had been in a fixed state before, they could not have been in
doubt on this matter. The force of this objection is only apparent.
The representations of the judgment are after the manner of men, and
consequently our conceptions of it must be more or less according to
what we are accustomed to see on earth. The Saviour is warning his
hearers not to delay preparation for death; and, in order to impress
his solemn exhortation, tells them that many will find themselves
disappointed in their expectations in reference to the final decision
of their judge, and that their hopes of heaven, being built on the
sand, will fail at last. It does no more exclusively refer to that day
than the many warnings to prepare to meet the Son of Man refer to the
time of his second coming. He is always coming, and to prepare for
death is to prepare to meet him. So to find ourselves deceived at the
day of death is the same as to find ourselves deceived at the day of
judgment.
794. “(4.) Again, it is said that in some cases the full effects and
consequences of persons’ actions are not fully worked out when persons
die. Thus, for instance, it is known that the labours and writings of
many infidels, who are long since dead, are still working for evil;
and on the other hand, the labours and writings of many good men are
still working out good. These consequences must, in a certain sense,
come into the consideration of their punishment or reward. Hence it is
thought their destiny cannot immediately be decided. But to this it may
be replied that God, who judges, knows how these consequences will work
themselves out, and is able, therefore, to give a just judgment as well
at the day of death as at the end of the world. At the last day, when
all consequences have run out their history, it will be proper that
they should be exhibited in a solemn public judgment, that all may see
for themselves that all his ways are just and right. Besides, there is
nothing unreasonable or unscriptural in the belief that the happiness
of the righteous in heaven, and the misery of the lost in hell, will
increase in exact proportion as the consequences of their actions on
the earth are developing themselves, until the day of judgment, when
the cup will be full, and then the full draught of happiness or misery
will be taken finally and forever! Oh, what a moment will that be!
795. “Some additional considerations will serve more completely still
to answer these and other objections, and reconcile the serious and
thoughtful mind to the idea that the souls of the saints are in heaven
before the resurrection of the body.
796. “We shall only gain proper ideas in reference to this interesting
subject when we have corrected our ideas of heaven, for many of them
are evidently wrong. We are inclined to think of heaven as affording
to the saints a fixed or stereotyped condition, without attaching to
it the idea of degrees and progression. When we maintain that the
saints pass immediately at death into heaven, we do not mean that they
enter then upon their final condition, or into their highest state
of perfection, but only that they enter into that _place_ which is
their final abode. When, for instance, a child is born into the world,
it is in the world; but it is limited in its observations, actions,
ideas, capacities, and enjoyments, and yet all these are in their
state perfect; all its faculties occupy their place symmetrically,
and we have in the child a uniform but not a perfect being. Analogous
to this may be the primary stage of our future celestial history.
The child is in the world before it is born and during its infantile
years, but how different is it, and how different is the world to it,
from what it will be when all its faculties are ripe! So in heaven.
The child before self-consciousness appears to enjoy an indistinct and
floating life, but happy too; so may it be with our future condition
before the resurrection of the body. The condition of the disembodied
spirit will, no doubt, be somewhat isolated and lonely, (in a pleasant
sense,) its happiness being derived much, though not entirely, from
the flow of its own harmonious existence, and not from its connection
with things external. Its future connection with its body will arrest
its floating condition, and connect it again more consciously with
locality and materiality. Thus it will become more capable of social
relations and joys; just as the child emerging from its floating state
in infancy has its social powers developed by being furnished with
self-consciousness and speech, by which it learns intelligently to
separate and distinguish itself from the general mass of being, which
makes its enjoyments higher in their nature and more acute and sensible
in their quality.
797. “Perhaps the state of the saints previous to the resurrection
of the body, and in the first stage of their future being, may be
analogous to (but of course higher than) a state of ordinary sleep,
with active, pleasant dreaming. In dreams, the spirit acts and enjoys,
unconscious of the body; and may we not suppose that the spirit after
death may, to a certain extent, act and enjoy without the body? Perhaps
it may in this state pass profitably and pleasantly through the first
stages of its future history. It may, so to say, become habituated to
eternal things, and develop its spiritual capacities to such a degree
as to be prepared, at the time of the resurrection, to enter upon a
more tangible and positive state of existence. It may thus, also,
become acquainted with purely spiritual beings, and with the modes of
purely spiritual existence. This will be useful, because the saints
after the resurrection will be required to hold communion with things
material and immaterial. While the saint is in this world, in the
body, he becomes conversant with material things, and habituated to
them; now, in the other world, in a disembodied state, previous to the
resurrection, he will become conversant with and habituated to purely
spiritual existence, so that after the resurrection, when soul and body
are again united, he will be able to hold converse and communion with
either material or immaterial existences at pleasure.
798. “To this it may be objected that while those who lived in the
early ages of the world would have a long time to remain in this state
of celestial pupilage, those who live in later ages would have less,
and those in the last days scarcely any.
799. “This objection, so far from militating against this idea, most
beautifully illustrates and confirms it. Thus the souls of men are more
developed in spiritual things now, and will be still more in future,
than they were in the earlier ages of the world. Those who lived in
the morning of the world had very limited and indistinct ideas of
divine and eternal things. Their views of a future world, especially,
were exceedingly misty and obscure. As the church advanced, life and
immortality were more and more brought to light. Revelation passed from
types, shadows, and ceremonies, into brighter and clearer realities;
and spiritual conceptions gained a firmer and more distinct hold upon
the consciousness of men. The new dispensation was an advance upon
the old, as under the old the age of prophecy had been upon the
law, and the law upon the simple twilight of the patriarchal age. In
what a different light those who lived after the new dispensation
dawned, stood from those under the Old Testament, is clear from what
the Saviour says—‘Among those that are born of women, there is not a
greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he that is least in the
kingdom of God’ (in the new dispensation) ‘is greater than he.’
800. “At the present day, clearer views are enjoyed than were enjoyed
in the early history of the Christian church. Let any one read the
history of the patristic controversies, and he will see how the most
learned stumbled among propositions in search of truth which are now
clearly comprehended by intelligent Sabbath-school children. And so
it will go on into the future. Spiritual ideas which are as giants
to us, and the nature and relations of which we do not see, will be
apprehended by our successors at once. Thus, under the tuition of the
Spirit, revelation will show itself progressive, and new things, as
well as old, in reference to the spiritual world, will be constantly
and successively brought out of the treasure of God’s word, of which
the divine Spirit is the commentator. How, you ask, does all this apply
to the subject in hand? Thus the earlier a saint lived in this world,
the longer time for this heavenly pupilage he will have in the next
before the resurrection, and he needs more; the later he lived in this
world, the less will he have in the other before the resurrection, and
he needs less. Thus those who enjoy in this world superior advantages
on account of living under the clearer dispensation of divine truth
in the last ages of the church, shall not have any advantage over
those who had less on account of living in the first ages, since those
who had less will have longer time in the future world before the
resurrection.
801. “With this idea in view, the passage in 1 Thess. iv. 15 becomes
beautifully intelligible: ‘For this we say unto you by the word of the
Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,
shall not prevent’ (that is, shall not go before, anticipate, or have
any advantage over) ‘those which are asleep; the dead in Christ shall
RISE first: _then_’ (when they have risen) ‘we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air; and so shall we be ever with the Lord.’ Those
who shall live in the last moment, having had their spirits fully
enlightened and prepared for a future existence in the brightness of
the latter-day glory before death, shall not ‘sleep’ at all, for there
will be no necessity for it; but ‘shall all be changed in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.’ ‘The dead shall be raised
incorruptible,’ having been prepared for their incorruptible body, but
‘we shall be changed.’ 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.
802. “This theory may be seen in the same way to illustrate itself
consistently when applied to those who are lost. Those who live last
in the world, when superior light is around them, sin against greater
light than those who lived earlier, and are therefore sooner prepared
to have their doleful station fixed finally in hell, in the union of
soul and body.
803. “The doctrine we present in reference to the condition of the
spirits of the saints in heaven, differs from the idea of a middle
state, in a third place, in several important particulars. It excludes
the idea of a middle place entirely, and of course all idea of
probation, which is generally attached to it in some form or other. The
state of the spirit in heaven, though imperfect, being the celestial
childhood of the spirit, is nevertheless final, and not probationary.
Our enjoyments there will be in exact proportion to our capacity; and
as fast as our spirits are unfolded, will our joys increase.
‘The more our spirits are enlarged on earth,
The deeper draughts they shall receive of heaven.’
804. “What an interesting moment to the spirit will be the moment after
death! What scenes will open up before it! The friends will stand
weeping over the now tenantless body, but the spirit is—oh!
‘My thoughts pursue it where it flies,
And trace its wondrous way!’
805. “The Christian need have no unpleasant anxiety about what scenes
will open to him, for he knows that the glory which will then break
upon his astonished spirit will exceed his keenest anticipations.”