lower animals so far as his mental and moral qualities are concerned,
and in many instances ranks far below the so-called brute, let us
examine fora short time his religious nature. No evidence exists to
show that man was aboriginally endowed with the ennobling belief in the
existence of an Omnipotent God. On the contrary, ample evidence, not
from hasty travellers, but from men who have long resided with savages,
can be adduced to show that numerous races have existed, and still
exist, who have no idea of one or more gods, and who have no words in
their languages to express such an idea. If under the term religion
is included the belief in unseen or spiritual agencies, the case is
entirely different, for this belief seems to be almost universal
with the less civilized races. Nor is it difficult to understand how
it originated. With the development of the imagination, wonder and
curiosity, and of a moderate power of reasoning, man would naturally
have craved to understand what was going on around him, and even have
vaguely speculated on his own existence. According to McLennan man
must, in his efforts to arrive at some explanation of the phenomena
of life, feign for himself. Judging from the universality of this
life, the same author remarks that “the simplest hypothesis, and the
first to occur to men, seems to have been that natural phenomena are
ascribable to the presence in animals, plants and things, and in the
forces of nature, of such spirits prompting to action as men are
conscious they themselves possess.” Probably, as has been clearly shown
by Tyler, dreams may have first given rise to the notion of spirits.
Savages do not readily discriminate between subjective and objective
phenomena. When a savage dreams, the figures which appear in his vision
are believed to have come from a distance and to stand over him, or
the soul of the dreamer goes out on a journey and returns with a
remembrance of what has been seen. That tendency in savages to imagine
that natural objects and agencies are animated by living or spiritual
beings may be illustrated by a little fact which I have frequently
noticed. Standing on the corner of a street, waiting for a closed
snow-sweeper, which was driven by electricity, to pass, my attention
was directed to a young horse that was geared to a hansom. The horse
was at rest, and its driver, evidently awaiting some one, sat upon
the box. Upon the appearance of the sweeper the horse reared, turned
his face directly toward the object of his fear, pawed the pavement
in the most impatient manner possible, and then looked wistfully and
pleadingly at his master, as though imploring protection from some
fearful and gigantic monster. Another sweeper passed while I was
still in waiting, and the poor animal went through the same trying
and fearful ordeal as before. He must, I think, have reasoned in a
rapid and unconscious manner, that movement without any apparent cause
indicated the presence of some strange living agent, which was about
to do him some serious physical harm. Belief in spiritual agencies
would thus easily pass into a belief in the existence of one or more
gods, for savages would naturally ascribe to spirits the same passions,
the same line of vengeance or simple form of justice, and the same
affections which they themselves experienced.
Religious devotion is a highly complex feeling. Love, complete
submission to an exalted and mysterious superior, a strong sense of
dependence, fear, reverence, gratitude, hope for the future and other
elements enter into its composition. No being could experience so
complex an emotion unless his intellectual and moral faculties had
attained a moderately high level. Some approach to this high state of
mind is visible in the profound love of a dog for his master, for it is
associated with complete submission, some fear, reverence, gratitude
and perhaps other feelings. A dog’s behavior towards his master, after
a long absence, is widely different from that which he shows towards
his fellows, for his transports of joy in the latter case are less
intense, and his every action savors of a mere sense of equality. But
upon his master, as Prof. Braubach goes so far as to maintain, he looks
as on a god.
These high mental faculties, which first led man to believe in unseen
spiritual agencies, and subsequently in fetishism, polytheism and
monotheism, would infallibly lead him, as long as his reasoning powers
remained at a very low level, to various strange superstitions and
customs, many of which, such as the sacrifice of human beings to a
blood-loving god and the trial of innocent persons by the ordeal of
poison or fire, are too terrible to contemplate. It is well, however,
to reflect occasionally on these superstitions, for they show us what
an infinite debt of gratitude we owe to improved reason, science and
accumulated knowledge. How much better is the life of civilized man
than that of the savage, for as Lubbock has well remarked, “it is not
too much to say that the horrible dread of unknown evil hangs like a
thick cloud over savage life, and embitters every pleasure.”
From the opinions advanced, it is evident that the belief in God has
been the ultimate outcome of belief in unseen spiritual agencies.
There has been a gradual leading up through fetishism and polytheism
to monotheism. If religion implies belief in unseen agencies, as
well as belief in a personal agency in the universe strong enough to
influence conduct in any degree, then it is obvious that there has been
a progressive advancement in religious thought, each succeeding form
of religion by its superior advantages over its predecessor tending
to supplant it wherever and whenever its beneficent influences are
felt. It is true that fetishism and polytheism still prevail among
rude, uncultured peoples, as well as the worship of false deities
and prophets, but with the spread of the civilizing and elevating
influence of Christianity these religions in the fitness of time
will disappear. Christianity, from its foundation in Judaism, has
throughout been a religion of sacrifice and sorrow. It has been a
religion of blood and tears, and yet one of profoundest happiness to
its votaries. While fakirs hang on hooks, and pagans cut themselves and
even their children, for the sake of propitiating diabolical deities,
yet Christianity, which has its roots in Judaism, has no need for such
practices. It is _par excellence_ the religion of sorrow, because
it reaches to truer and deeper levels of our spiritual nature, and
therefore has capabilities both of sorrow and joy which are presumably
non-existent except in civilized man. They are the sorrows and joys
which arise from the fully-developed consciousness of sin against a
God of Love, as distinguished from propitiation of malignant spirits.
These joys and sorrows are wholly spiritual, not merely physical. “Thou
desirest no sacrifice.” God’s only sacrifice at the hands of sinful man
is a troubled spirit.
Estimated by the influence which He has exerted on mankind, there can
be no question, even from a secular point of view, that Christ is much
the greatest man who has ever lived. That the revolution which His
teachings have effected in human life is immeasurable and unparalleled
by any other movement in history is unquestioned. Though most nearly
approached by the religion of the Jews, of which it is a development,
so that it may be regarded as of a piece with it, it is evident that
this whole system of religion is so immeasurably in advance of all
others that it may be truthfully said, if it had not been for the
Jews, the human race would have had no religion worthy of serious
consideration. Had it not been for this religion man’s spiritual side
would not have been developed in civilized life. And although there are
numberless individuals who are all unconscious of its development in
themselves, yet these have been influenced to an enormous extent by the
religious atmosphere by which they are surrounded.
Not only is Christianity so immeasurably in advance of all other
religions, but it is no less of every other system of thought that has
ever been promulgated in regard to what is moral and spiritual. Neither
philosophy, science nor poetry has ever produced results in thought,
conduct or beauty in any degree comparable with it. What has science
or philosophy done for the thought of mankind compared with what has
been done by the single doctrine, “God is love?” The Story of the
Cross, from its commencement in prophetic aspiration to its culmination
in the Gospel, is preëminently the most magnificent presentation in
literature. Only to a man wholly destitute of religious perception can
Christianity fail to appear the greatest exhibition of the beautiful,
the sublime, and of all else that appeals to our spiritual nature,
which has ever been known upon the earth. It is not only adapted to men
of the highest culture, but the most remarkable thing about it is its
perfect adaptation to all sorts and conditions of men. Its problems,
historical and philosophical, open up to you worlds of material, over
which you may spend your life with the same interminable interest as
the student meets in the fields of natural science.
Whatever our theory of the origin of man, there can be no doubt that
we all feel that his intellectual part is higher than the animal; and
that the moral is higher than the intellectual, whatever our theory
of either may be; and that the spiritual is higher than the moral,
whatever our theory of religion may be. It is what is understood by his
moral, and still more by his spiritual qualities, that make up what is
called his character, and, astonishing to say, it is character that
tells in the long run. Morality and spirituality are two different
things, for a man may be highly moral in conduct without being in any
degree spiritual in nature, and the reverse, though to a less extent.
Objectively, the same distinction subsists between morals and religion.
Intellectual pleasures are more satisfying and enduring than sensual,
or even sensuous; and spiritual, to those who have experienced them,
than intellectual, an objective fact, abundantly testified to by those
who have had experience, which seems to indicate that the spiritual
nature of man is the highest part of man--the culminating point of his
being. That there will always be materialists and spiritualists, as
Renan says, is probably true, inasmuch as it will always be observable
on the one hand that there is no thought without brain, while, on the
other hand, the instincts of man will always aspire to higher beliefs.
If religion is true, and life is a state of probation, this is just
what ought to be. It is not probable that the materialistic position,
which is discredited even by philosophy, is due simply to custom and a
want of imagination. Else why the inextinguishable instincts which we
have thus shown to exist?
[Illustration: ERA OF MIND AND HEART.
Things as They Will Exist in a Future Earth-Life.]
Evolution, not only of the earth, but of its organic machinery, by
natural causes, is now no longer doubted. That this has taken place
by degrees is equally unquestioned. Now, if there is a Deity, the
fact is certainly of the nature of a first principle, and it must be
first of all first principles. No one can dispute this, nor can any
one dispute the necessary conclusion that, if there be a Deity, he is
knowable, if knowable at all, by intuition and not by reason. From
its very nature, as a little thought is sufficient to show, reason is
utterly incapable of adjudicating on the subject, for it is a process
of inferring from the known to the unknown. It would be against
reason itself to suppose that Deity, even if He exists, can be known
by reason. He must be known, if knowable at all, by intuition. If
there is a Deity, then it seems to be in some indefinite degree more
probable that He should impart a Revelation than that He should not
have done so. As a mere matter of evidence, a sudden revelation might
be much more convincing than a gradual one, but it would be quite out
of analogy with causation in nature. Besides, a gradual one might be
given easily, and of demonstrative value, as by making prophecies of
historical events, scientific discoveries and other things so clear as
to be unmistakable. But a demonstrative revelation has not been made,
and there may well be good reasons why it should not have been made.
If there are such reasons, as, for example, our state of probation, we
can well see “that the gradual unfolding of a plan of revelation, from
earliest dawn of history to the end of the world, is much preferable
to a sudden manifestation sufficiently late in the world’s history to
be historically attested for all subsequent time.” Gradual evolution,
as has been said before, is in analogy with God’s other work. If
Revelation has been of a progressive character, then it follows that it
must have been so not only historically, but intellectually, morally
and spiritually, for in such sequence could it be always adapted to the
advancing conditions of the human race.
Thus it will be seen that all through the ages some mighty influence
has been at work, directly or indirectly, in preparing this earth
by slow and gradual changes for a steadily progressive succession
of vegetable and animal life. That life best fitted to meet new and
changing conditions of environment being preserved by a process of
natural selection. And from a few primordial types, far simpler than
the lowest of existing structureless moners, or from some living
protoplasmic mass, elaborated by some form of energy acting upon
inorganic nature, there have been evolved in the millions of years of
earth-life our existing flora and fauna. Man, the pinnacle of animal
life, has come up through the life that preceded him, and bears in the
history of his development from the ovum to the adult state the line
of his descent. Not only has his physical nature been evolved through
the action of natural laws impressed upon living matter by Deity, but
that subtle principle, termed mind, which has attained such a wonderful
growth in his civilized condition, is but the outcome of the mind of
a long line of life antecedent to his appearance on the globe. His
moral nature was similarly acquired, and most probably in the manner
already explained. Palæolithic man, like the Australian of to-day, was,
as has been shown, but little superior in intelligence to some of the
animals with whom he was contemporaneous. He lived the life of the mere
animal, and as an animal could be said to have had no preëminence above
a beast. Like the latter, he was a living, breathing frame, or body of
life; a _living_, but not an _everliving_, soul. In time, as conditions
became favorable, he passed _into_ the moral stage of his being, but
not without increased intellectuality, and would thus have continued,
but going on and adding to his mental and moral possessions, had not
Deity, in the fitness of time, prepared the way through Christ, whereby
his corruptible nature should be made incorruptible and immortal.
Unless man is “born of the spirit” he cannot inherit the kingdom of
God. He must be “changed into spirit,” put on incorruptibility and
immortality of body, or he will be physically incapable of retaining
the honor, glory and power of the kingdom forever, or even during
Christ’s reign of a thousand years upon earth.
That there is a distinction between _a living soul_ and a _spiritual
body_ cannot be questioned. Speaking about _body_, the apostle Paul
says, “there is _a natural body_, and there is _a spiritual body_,
but he does not content himself with simply declaring this truth, but
goes further and proves it by quoting the language of Moses, saying,
“for so it is written, the first man Adam was made into _a living
soul_;” and then adding, “the last Adam _into a spirit_ giving life.”
And in another place, speaking of the latter, he says of Him, “now
the Lord is the spirit. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding
as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are changed into His image
from glory into glory, as by _the Lord the Spirit_.” Therefore, the
proof of the apostle’s proposition, that there is a _natural body_ as
distinct from a _spiritual body_, lies in the testimony that “Adam was
made into _a living soul_,” showing that he considered a natural, or
animal body, and a living soul, as one and the same thing. If he did
not, then there was no proof in the quotation of what he affirmed.
Mortality, then, is life manifested through a corruptible body, and
immortality is life manifested through an incorruptible body. Hence,
the necessity laid down in the saying of the apostle, “this corruptible
body must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality,”
before death can be “swallowed up in victory,”--a doctrine of “life
and incorruptibility” that was new to the Greeks and Romans, and
brought to light only through the gospel of the kingdom and name of
Jesus Christ. To them it was foolishness, and to many at the present
day incredible, because they do not understand the glad tidings of
the age to come. God could have created all things upon a spiritual
or incorruptible basis at once, but in that case the globe would have
been filled with men and women equal to the angels in nature, power
and intellect, and hence would have been without a history, and its
population characterless. And this would not have been according to
His plan, for in it the animal must precede the spiritual just as
surely as the acorn must precede the oak. The Bible has to do with
things and not with imaginations; with bodies and not phantasms; with
_living souls_ of every species; with _corporeal_ beings of other
worlds, and with incorruptible and undying men, but is as silent as
the grave about such _souls_ as men pretend to cure. For the sons of
Adam to become sons of God, they must be the subjects of an adoption,
which is attainable only by a divinely appointed means. It must be by a
process of selection. “Since by a man came death, by a man also came a
resurrection of dead persons. For as in the Adam they all die, so also
in the Christ shall they all be made alive. But every one in his order.
Christ the first fruits; afterward _they that are Christ’s_ at His
coming.” Here it is obvious that the apostle is not writing of all the
individuals of the human race, but only such that become the subject
of _a pardon of life_. It is true that all men do die, but it is not
true that they are all the subject of pardon. Those who are pardoned
are “the many,” who are sentenced to live forever. The sentence to
pardon of life is through Jesus Christ who in pouring out His blood
upon the cross, was made a sacrifice for sin. “He was delivered for our
offences, and raised again for our justification,” that is, for the
pardon of those _who believe the gospel_. As it is written, “he that
believeth the gospel, and is baptized, shall be saved.” Hence, “_the
obedience of faith_” is made the condition of righteousness, and this
obedience implies the existence of a “_law of faith_,” as attested
by that of Moses, which is “_the law of works_.” Having believed the
gospel and been baptized, such a person is required to “walk worthy of
the vocation,” or calling, “wherewith he has been called,” that by so
doing he may be “accounted worthy” of being “born of spirit,” that he
may become “spirit,” or a spiritual body, and so enter the kingdom of
God, crowned with “glory, honor, incorruptibility and life.” From all
the above, it must be obvious to the unbiassed mind, that all will not
arise to newness of life, “for as many of you, as have been _baptized
into Christ_ have put on Christ, and if ye be Christ’s, _then_ are
ye the seed of Abraham, and _heirs_ according to the promise.” When
they have been thus baptized, then they have received the spirit of
adoption, or have been elected into God’s family, and then they can
address God as their Father who is in heaven.
Thus adopted into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ, it must
not be supposed that they have attained to that perfect condition of
knowing all that is to be known. New glories will continually open
up to their admiring vision, and new facts be revealed through the
eternity of futurity. Man will carry his earth-acquired knowledge into
the other world, and little by little will he add to his fund. Those
who have made the best of their time in their probationary existence,
will rank as much above their fellows in the heaven-life as they
did in the earth-life, and like the others will reach up to higher
acquirements. There will be no equalization of talents, capacities
and possessions, but each will be satisfied with his own, and all
will endeavor to be as like unto Christ as the conditions of their
heavenly environment will permit. There will be grades of ability and
character in the new life, but all of the very highest standard when
measured by what prevails in the earth-life. This is the teaching of
the Scriptures. “_There is_ one glory of the sun, and another glory of
the moon, and another glory of the stars; for _one_ star differeth from
_another_ star in glory. So also _is_ the resurrection of the dead.”
Now as to the part that animals and plants shall figure in the new
existence. Revelation, as has been seen, was given to man. This does
not imply that the lower forms of life were not made “partakers of
the divine nature.” When man was placed upon this earth, or rather
when in the sequence of events, which was brought about by the
prescribed scheme of Divinity, he appeared upon the earth, he was
given the control of all the creatures of God’s hands, to rule them
as his judgment seemed best. They were a necessary part of the plan
of creation. God gave the man directions concerning them, and what
they are, and we refer to the domesticated species especially, they
have thus been made through man’s wise, intelligent and thoughtful
selection. This has been the instrument through which God has worked
in building up a history and a character for the humbler works of His
hands. That they shall pass into the future life with him, at least
such as have shown their fitness to endure, there can be no doubt
in the mind of any one who pauses a few brief moments in the rush
and turmoil of everyday life and considers the matter with all due
seriousness. All existence, as we have elsewhere claimed, is a unit.
All life, like all love, is divine. There can nothing exist that does
not contain some sort of development of soul. There is no escape from
this assertion. Instead of isolating ourselves then from the humbler
creatures of God’s workmanship, let us recognize them as our kin and
include them in the grand scheme of redemption, and as partakers with
us in the future state of Divine Love and in higher and endlessly
higher development and progress.
MAN’S PREËMINENCE.
There is a popular tradition that somewhere in the Scriptures we are
taught that of all living denizens of the earth, man alone possesses
a spirit, and that he alone survives in spirit after the death of the
material body. Were this the truth, no room would exist for argument
to those who profess belief in a literal rendering of the Scriptures,
and who base their faith upon that literal belief. However much such a
statement might seem to controvert all ideas of benevolence, justice
and common-sense, such believers would feel bound to accept it on
trust, and to wait a future time for its full comprehension.
Even the possession of reason is denied by many persons to animals,
their several actions being ascribed to the power of instinct, and it
is therefore not the least bit strange that all but a comparatively
few should believe that when an animal dies, its life-principle dies
too. The animating power, they claim, is annihilated, while the body
is resolved into its constituent elements so as to take form in other
bodies.
Two passages of Scripture, one in the Psalms and the other in
Ecclesiastes, are almost entirely, if not wholly, responsible for
this belief. The former, which runs in the authorized version,
“Nevertheless, man being in honor, abideth not; he is like the beasts
that perish,” is that which is generally quoted as decisive of the
whole question. “Man, being in honor, hath no understanding, but is
compared to the beasts that perish” is another translation, but differs
not materially from the other. The second passage referred to from
Ecclesiastes, reads: “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward,
and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” Now,
it is upon the strength of these two passages that we are called upon
to believe that when a beast dies its life, like that of an expired
lamp, goes out forever. Nothing is more dangerous in the exposition of
Scripture than attempting to explain a passage, however simple it may
seem to be, without reference to the original text, for the translator
may have mistaken the true sense of the words, or he may have
inadequately expressed their signification, or, owing to a change in
meaning, the words of a passage may now bear an exactly contrary sense
to that conveyed when they were first written.